"Over" came to me early on, but how to fit it? Then there are those circles. They must be there for a reason.
After struggling all day with a work problem, the light bulb "over" my head gave me encouragement to figure out the paying problem. And I did not need to glance at the column as I often must do on Thursdays.
1
What am I missing--thought color scheme referred to black and white. Aren't Oreos brown?
1
@Jon, yes, indeed they are.
cf 'black is beautiful' ;)
I loved those old fashioned rebus. Did tons of them as a kid! Still enjoy them now from time to time.
2
Cute and clever puzzle theme! I kept looking for a revealer, and there was none, but I figured it out anyway. I enjoyed the "over" trick.
I didn't like the two old tv names stacked on top of each other in the NE corner, which gave it a naticky feel to me.
I did enjoy the clue for M*A*S*H, an old tv show I'm familiar with because my mom is obsessed with it. Three stars... very clever!
I did not expect to come to the Wordplay column and see a picture of Oreos. Too funny! All the times our cookie mascot has been in the puzzle, and today it's the featured picture. Nice that it was a unique clue. I also got a chuckle out of "drivers use rude hand gestures, and failing that, grenades."
Homerun on both the puzzle and the column today!
7
Regarding the crossword Dec 2, 28 across .
The clue says “rational selves, according to Freud”. The answer you are looking for is obviously “egos”. However Freud never referred to the rational self as ego, he used the word ich. Please correct.
Herr Mechlin,
I trust you realize that unless otherwise indicated in the clues, this is an English-speaking crossword puzzle?
8
Tuesday we had ONE L
Yesterday we had MORELS
I was betting on seeing Zero MOSTEL today.
7
@Andrew
In three weeks, you’ll see NOEL.
7
@Steve L
That's in the other direction of the aphabet.
i still don't get what a rebus is. I got MASH because when I read 3 stars - after dropping the idea it had anything to do with the cast - i thought 3 stars? Generals! Which led me to MASH. Folks this is how I use to approach Geometry in School and why my final grade was a D!
5
@Dev h
A rebus is when, as a restaurant employee, one of your coworkers insufficiently cleans a table, so you have to re-clean, or rebus, the area.
2
Tricky, tricky. I was expecting rebus, but this was like rebus squared. It's always nice and challenging to get a bit extra added to the puzzle - appreciate the fan service. Thank you, Neville Fogarty!
4
I was stuck on a clue so I took a break and picked up a Sedaris book and there it was, the word nub, and things fell into place.
6
What did I miss? How was I to know not to fill the circles with the missing letters? I got all the answers but added the OVER into each circle.
@Sylvia
When you filled the circles with the missing letters, did the down entries make sense? That would be the first clue.
1
@Andrew Well, it did if I read around the OVER. I guess I have never encountered a puzzle with part of the answer existing in my head. And, I'm afraid of where that kind of thinking might lead me. LOL
4
@Andrew Well, it did if I read around the OVER. I guess I have never encountered a puzzle with part of the answer existing in my head. And, I'm afraid of where that kind of thinking might lead me. LOL
So, written answers must make sense across and down? OK
I’m not even gonna LOOK at the rest of the comments until I get this out of my (very happy) system. I just know everyone is gonna say “Easy for Thursday” and similar. PHOOEY!!
BAM! BAM! BAM! A definite “Solve” and almost a new PB time for the second day in a row. Would have been a new PB except that I spent too much time figuring out the first “OVER” thing for SAND SHAKERS. I figured out the theme as I neared completion and had some entries which just “weren’t right” - but, the very first one eluded me for a minute or so. Ah well! Still very satisfying.
If I were into “exotic cigarettes”, I would want a supply of what it “might”, (I’m not making any accusations here.), have taken to come up with this rebus mechanism, the theme to go with it and, then put it all into a crossword puzzle. I’m in awe.
P.S. I didn’t know “we” were allowed to say DAMN in this arena.
3
@PeterW In general, if it has been in the puzzle it’s allowed here. Within reason. :)
1
@PeterW
Ditto "almost a new PB time for the second day in a row." Damn yeah we can use DAMN! 😊
Loved this puzzle. My first Thursday solved without any googling, and just a shade over 20 minutes. I thought it was clever while still being attainable.
5
Afterthought:
What is this "dark mode" of which many commenters speak?
I gather it has something to do with one of the ways other than AcrossLite that people solve, but I'm confused. Is it part of the deep state? Does it have to do with dark money? Is it a way of doing the puzzle without the NYT knowing? What conspiracy is it a part of?
3
Deadline,
I think it's AKIN to The Dark Side (see Star Wars) or The Dark Web (see lots of commercials).
2
@Deadline
The app now has a display mode where instead of bright white and black, the puzzle appears in darker colours. (Sorry, I’m colour blind). I use this mode at night as it is easier on the eyes.
2
@Andrew
Sounds as if it would be easier on the eyes indeed.
But I'm still concerned that the Deep State may be invading our XWPs.
Holy cow. Even after finishing it I didn't get it. Kudos to the constructor.
4
Same. I brute forced this one accepting that something odd was going on with the across answers. Came here afterwards.
1
Also has me wondering -- has this construction ever been used in a Puns and Anagrams puzzle?
Invites other constructions. For instance:
Clue:
Watergate peccadillo
Fill:
C
UP
3
@Dr W
Or a MASH-up of a recent puzzle entry:
"Office survival rule":
C
YOURBUTT
1
@Dr W
Too many others to list!
1
@Ron
Yep --
It goes
pretty well!
1
Seems that today there are a lot of WPers who are taking the term "OVERthinking" waaaaay too literally!
I didn't get the gimmick right away. First, for some reason my brain never registers the existence of circles, so they don't, at least initially, figure in my solve. Second, I didn't have much at all in 20A because I never heard of this AISHA person and was thinking of that plastic webbing stuff for the deck chairs.
At the U.N. clue, though, I remembered that it was Thursday, and with --GNSTATE showing tumbled that there was a rebus, or something rebus-like. Shelved for later.
Continued down the east coast until I got to the NASA clue, with enough letters showing to tell me what I wanted. Then I suddenly saw the circles, and the placement of the one that was OVER the entry I was working on, and the penny dropped.
Back up to some empty squares: MOVERS AND SHAKERS, yes! SOVEREIGN STATE, yes!
Chugged right along, across the south and back up the west. Brief stop because I thought maybe the narrator of "How I Met Your Mother" was DAD, but I knew BALDO and never heard of Xmas CHEAR.
Delighted to see COVERED BRIDGES and wrap up my understanding of the gimmick, which I quite enjoyed.
HOT DANG before that Yankees adjective. ID before CD CASE. Didn't remember Mr. Kravitz's name.
Aren't 42D, DOING, and 66A, DO IT, a dupe (doop?)?
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to all.
4
@Deadline
Like you, suffer from a lack of circle vision...got the gimmick early, but did not see the circles until reading the column...
1
Worth a "yikes". I filled the entire puzzle with no issues then couldn't "get" the theme until I came here. Cleanest-looking un-obvious fill I ever did. Guess that counts for something...
Spent the longest time thinking of power sanders for 20A. And -- like another confessed physics type here -- thinking of eigenstates ....
1
I'm so over this puzzle.
10
I got MASH immediately... and then floundered. Lots of the crossings filled in, lots of the others filled in, but the theme eluded me. All at once it hit... this is a rebus! It's Thursday, after all! But what kind of rebus I could not ascertain until I read the column. Thank you Deb! Most enjoyable Neville Fogarty! But I must admit, I am getting weary of Oreos.
2
I enjoyed the clue for OREO, but having recently switched over to the dark mode on the app, it gave me some pause
1
I cannot finish the puzzle, because it will not fit more than one letter in a space which this puzzle requires.
@Pearlman
no it doesn't. read Deb's column.
5
@Pearlman It doesn't, actually, AND your app will let you do this! In iOS, at least for me, click the "More" button on your keyboard, and there is an option for "Rebus."
2
@Pearlman
Hi there! Take a look at many of the earlier comments. . . You don't need to put more than one letter in any square. It's a visual puzzle that you have to read literally--"CoverEDBRIDGES."
2
I liked this. I was ignoring the circled letters, but when I had most of "eignstate" via crosses, the Sover clicked in. Once I had that the others were easy. I did this Thursday in 13.5 minutes -- much less than my usual 30+ min.
4
I was so tempted to click on the Wordplay column for help, and I'm so glad I did not - it clicked into place with the NASA clue, and then with delight I ran back and filled in all the other problematic crossings. What a lovely theme and some really fun cluing as well.
(For the holiday feeling in 5 letters, personally I was feeling ENNUI this morning; happily, that's been completely overcome with the help of this puzzle.)
4
I solved this puzzle and still couldn't figure it out until I read your column. Quite clever!
As a huge Terry Pratchett fan, I'm disappointed to see that MORPORK is not in the Spelling Bee list of words.
5
Thought I had caved to my lack of knowledge after I filled out the puzzle but when I checked the answers on line, I discovered that my answers were correct— I just didn't understand the trick. I'll get over it :-)
3
Cool theme. I couldn't figure it out even though I solved it. I knew the letters were missing, but didn't catch on to the pattern, and had to read the blog to get it. Wish I had put it together on my own.
1
I really liked this puzzle, except for all of the TV references the Constructor celebrates. I'm inclined to guess that people who live for the Times crossword may not spend as many hours as most Americans sitting in front of the boob tube.
6
@racul
I understand the assumption, and perhaps I am the exception, but I am both a pretty regular television viewer and I do the NYT Xword each day. I even read literature! Perhaps with the current streaming and other options of fine programming available, television has moved beyond the "boob tube" stage?
6
@racul I watch hours a day and I have a 262 day streak with no googling. Expand your idea of who can be good at the puzzle :) oh PS....I PLAY VIDEO GAMES!
3
@racul Just because I knew ABNER from Bewitched without having any of the crossing letters doesn't necessarily disqualify me from completing any of the NYT puzzles. Enjoying an OREO on occasion doesn't mean you can't also appreciate a pain au chocolat as well.
7
I wish there was more consistency with the REBUS rules in the online puzzle. This time we just used the first letter (omitting the other four) in the squares of interest, and it was accepted w/o a problem. But apparently that would have also been the case had we actually used the REBUS key and schtumped in all the REBUS letters. OK. So that is being "liberal". But not long ago, we put in all the REBUS letters and it was rejected-- in that other puzzle we were apparently required to ONLY put in one letter.
So: can the rules please be consistent?
4
@David A. Completely agree. I had all the "right" words, but I included the "over" within a Rebus. I get that it's the conceptual "over"top of the word, but we're left with non-words in the boxes, with the exception of "sand." Not a fan.
6
Hi folks,
This was *not* a rebus puzzle. Happy Thursday!
8
@RPJ & David A.
The rules are 100% consistent. If you entered any form of a "rebus" = squeezed letters into the circled squares, or any adjacent squares, they would have to be incorporated, in some way, into the down answers. They can't, they couldn't. It wasn't a "squeeze the letters in" rebus. It couldn't be. You're complaining about it being _consistent_, not _inconsistent_.
To put it simply: if you entered "cover" in any way whatsoever, it had to fit with the downs. It doesn't, it won't, therefore: don't do that thing! I.e., consistent.
11
So, a circle in a crossword puzzle means that letters need to be added around it to complete the answer to a clue? I mean, usually a hint is provided in one of the clues.
1
This is a Thursday, so the gimmick can be expected to be novel and tricky. A circle around a letter means there's something special about that letter, but the specific meaning has to be figured out for each puzzle.
13
Still waiting for BOG to be the answer for a British can.
I had took an early flier with _ _ _ _ _MAKERS (I actually had most of the first part of the answer filled in), because I had no idea who Ms Tyler was (or is....), and I was betting on some variation of RAIN MAKER as the answer to "Power players."
I had the entire puzzle completed (minus one incorrect letter and the happy music), before I finally cottoned on to AISHA instead of AISMA--and at that moment, and only at that moment was it all (OVER) for me.
I did laugh at the clue for OREO, and I am always in favor of heroic dogs appearing in the puzzle.
Nice puzzle, and I'll register my vote for visual puns.
3
@Puzzledog - Oh, I was waiting for a bog post...
https://youtu.be/QjvzCTqkBDQ?t=622
2
@David Connell I think I've set you up to link to that video before.
@Puzzledog - (it is an awfully good video to be set up for, howsomever.)
1
Spelling Bee panagram for yesterday. Puzzle creator really reached hard for that compound word. I’ve only seen it with the final consonant doubled and ING attached. Is that a gerund? Memory fails me.
1
@Christine Peterson - I clap my hands at your objection. Exactly once.
I don't really understand objections - in reaction to a word game - to words. Real words.
When I was an altar boy, we worked hard to get to "first master" status - the one whose principal job was to indicate when certain actions should happen (go get the incense, go get the Bible, move those candles now) - with the indication of a single clap of the hands. A handclap, that would be. A real word for a real thing. One clap of both hands is a "handclap". Ain't no other word for it.
I'm all in favor of posting objections to good useful words (pakora, anyone?) being _off_ the list. But when a good useful, real word is on it, I can't get behind the objections. Words are words.
5
"Ain't no other word for it."
What about the word "clap"?
1
@polymath - my real reply was emufied... let's see if this one gets through
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIcEQ1gLSKM
1
At 27D, we have Robert the BRUCE. Not Robert Bruce, mind you, but Robert THE Bruce. Which is to say, of all the Bruces, he is far and away THE Bruce, the one that matters.
It might be intriguing if other names were styled similarly. Bill the Clinton, George W. the Bush, Barack the Obama, Donald the Trump. Or (and now I'll really show my age), Karen the Carpenter, James the Taylor, Carole the King. (And on and on.)
Anyway, thanks to Neville the Fogarty and Will the Shortz for this fine puzzle, and to Deb the Amlen for her fine article.
Yours,
Alan the Jones
(See, some of these work, and some don't. Oh, well!)
8
@Alan J
James the Great
Robert the Red
Ethelred the Unready
James the Lesser
James the Elder
Gregory the Great
Catherine the Great
"The Donald" is - I would be willing to bet a great sum on it - going to survive as a thing. Because, how could it not?
2
@David Connell
Your examples are quite different because they are descriptive attributes added to each person's name -- Great, Red, Unready, etc -- that are characteristics particular to them. Robert the Bruce, in contrast, is commonly known by that name because his father's birth name was Robert de Bruce. In other words, it's a family name that has been Anglicized.
5
Did somebody say Bruce?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ojhtq51Ya8
2
MOVERS AND SHAKERS indicated a trick was in play and SOVEREIGN STATE confirmed what it was. I've seen these sorts of puzzles before, with words represented by positions, and I love them. What rounded out this crossword so nicely was the fill that contained so much "misdirection" like BLAME for rap, CD CASE for media protector, and LOO for place to go. Thank you Neville Fogarty for a good one.
7
Clever! It took me a trip to Wordplay for a one$clue jump start, but then I the lightbulb came on.
My original plan was to post my protestation that SANDSHAKERS weren’t A Thing, but I’m glad to offer kudos instead. A satisfying solve.
3
Like others, the clue for OREO set me off in the wrong direction with it's "scheme.. theme? Regardless, I solved the puzzle correctly even without grokking the theme.
Did anybody else think (FOREIGN STATE?)
I did get that it was MOVERS AND SHAKERS, COVERED BRIDGES and a GOVERNMENT AGENCY but never connected that we needed to add OVER to the circled letters.
Ah, the wicked web you wove, Neville Fogarty! Beautifully done, I might add. If only I'd been sharp enough to get it!
6
@Johanna I thought FOREIGN state at first also!
1
Me too, Johanna! FOREIGN STATE before SOVERIGN, but even then I couldn’t see what was going on. I had to look at Wordplay for the needed hint from Deb. Once I saw it I was impressed and delighted, but this type of rebus puzzle—in a crossword—was new to me. Very clever, Mr. Fogarty. I’m sure I’ll remember this little trick.
@Johanna Your comment reminds me of something the CNN tour guide said years ago -that the only "F word" at CNN is "FOREIGN". Employees were cautioned to use "international " instead.
1
Now THAT was what I look for in a Thursday. The AHA when the theme clicked was (to quote My Fair Lady):
L
RLY
15
@ethan f.
Shouldn't that be :
L
LY?
1
Or should I not have said:
Wouldn't it be
L
LY?
6
@ethan f.
S
y clever!
6
That was a very fun puzzle that had me deeply bewildered about the theme until very far along. (For a while I could not imagine what the physics term eigenstate would be doing in a NYT puzzle, without its middle E, yet.) Then the crossings protected from the weather gave me just enough hint to finish. Somewhere in my brain was the tiniest engram of Balto, and that did it.
4
@polymath
Same! It brought back terrible memories from engineering math of eigenvalues and eigenvectors (though at least I recognized the latter when Tony Stark employed its use in the last Avengers movie).
I'm looking
A four-leafed CL
That I
looked before.
I knew Lloyd and Beau of course, but couldn't place ED BRIDGES, so peered back at the clue and realied the answer hadda be COVERED. At which point I saw the Circle-C OVERhead and had my 40-watt moment.
Up till then, I was satisfied to think of the SAND_SHAKER as what you leave the beach wearing; we've all been there, right? SANDpiper at the waterline, SANDpaper in the bathing suit...
Altogether a fine theme, not at all OVERdone. Mild regret for missing my Pythonesque favourite: My H/over/CRAFT is full of eels. Any phrase translated into every known language (including Esperanto and Klingon) should be worth considering, eh?
Some residual Qs:
With 1A being M*A*S*H, did anyone else see 4D going to HOTlips?
Is it LURID or LOO-RID?
Considering much recent foofaraw, is it:
HONK if you love EGGO
-or-
HONK if you love EGGOs?
Can you really EARN URN and NOIR RENOIR over and over again?
How can a NICE PROW find CHEER without PROWess? What if it's a MERE UNIX?
As for RiA, ABNER drew a blank; it must have been his wife Gladys I remembered as the nosy Bewitched neighbour. Also as for RiA, that 5,6, 16 corner was the last to fall. These were minor BUGs in a thoroughly KEMPT puzzle.
Neville, I really like what you did with this No-fog, Very-arty construction. Overall, I think you look great in Denim, and in this, I shall not be SUEDE.
Happy Thursday, all y'all!
12
@Leapfinger How about this one, courtesy of George M. Cohan:
And we won't come back till it's
there.
3
Over and over, I kept telling myself there has to be a trick somewhere. :)
Need to keep the wordplay picture from giving away that "TREAT" was a noun not a verb!
As a physicist, I kept seeing EIGENSTATE as perfectly reasonable but it wouldn't fit.
Seeing BEN near to OBI was fun. Episode IX a'comin'
7
@Robert Michael Panoff
Hands up for that STATE(ment) too.
1
I wish they would put rebus puzzles in a separate category so I could avoid them. I should just avoid Thur. altogether. I detest this type puzzle.
@spartan Just keep practicing! I used to get annoyed by this type of puzzle too, but the more of these you try, the quicker you'll start to recognize when something is "up", and now Thursday is my favorite puzzle of the week!
11
@spartan, how does this type of pule make you feel?
This isn't what I would call a 'rebus' puzzle, as the trick is the recognize a positional relation of some [thing] being above -- or, in this case -- OVER another [thing]. We've had similar puzzles that DROPPED or ROSE or [skipped]
I think Deadline has a name (Wordies?) for today's kind of trick that would interpret the following mix of clothing, suitable for the snowy cold some are experiencing
BLUE
COAT
WEAR
RED
2
@Leapfinger
I don't think I get all four but how about adding
P
A
R
K
A
Is that RED BOTTOM by the way (under WEAR)?
A complaint: when I inputed the rebuses (rebi?)--mover, gover, etc--the puzzle would not show as solved. Very disappointing.
Mike,
They aren't rebuses; the "over" isn't to be entered.
(Note: they wouldn't work for the Downs.)
4
Barry...Thanks. I removed from rebus OVER and the gold 🌟 star appeared!
3
Barry, reread Deb's column...the OVER is in my head, not in the rebus square. I started the puzzle on an iPad and finished on my Android smartphone.
I loved Mr. Fogarty's theme in today's puzzle, but were the circles really necessary? I suppose that it would have been Friday or Saturday "hard" without them, but pointing out the location of a rebus seems unusual.
The Alabama Shakes’ “OVER My Head” seems appropriate for this puzzle. My hope is that whoever is elected Pres. next year, Brittany Howard will sing at the inauguration. She’s a national treasure:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc9jM9DVQcA
3
I am going to write this comment as though I hadn't first peeked to find out WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?????. Puzzles like this are why I first started coming to crossword blogs about six years ago. It's not that I couldn't finish this puzzle, because I did, but once I had, I couldn't explain what had just happened or why.
I knew there were letters that were missing at the beginnings of three answers. I had no idea what they were in the case of SANDSHAKERS. I knew that COVER was missing in EDBRIDGES, that GOVER was missing in NMENT AGENCY and I thought that FOR was missing in EIGN STATE. Seeing FOREIGN STATE instead of SOVEREIGN STATE left me with "GOVER FOR COVER". I had no idea what that meant, much less what it had to do with OREO. I still don't get the whole OREO part of the equation.
I'm gobsmacked that so many found this easy. In my case, the trick went way OVER my head. I was pretty frustrated during the solve. Still, very clever and very challenging -- a bit too challenging for me, I fear.
4
@Nancy
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "GOVER FOR COVER". It seems as though you had the gist of the idea. What helped me was seeing that each of the incomplete entries has a circled letter immediately above it. When that letter proved to be a G in one case and a C in the other case, all that was missing was OVER.
OREO had nothing to do with the theme. It was just a clever clue for a tired entry.
1
@Andrew -- If I had had GOVER SOVER COVER instead of GOVER FOR COVER, I would have seen the "OVER" connection even before connecting it to the circled letters above. (As how could I have not?) Then, maybe, just maybe, I would have understood the trick. But not necessarily. As I've said many times -- though more on the Other Blog than this one -- I'm not at all visual. And a high proportion of my epic Puzzle-Solving Failures involve a failure to visualize something that's not immediately in my line of sight. In this instance, I didn't relate the circled letters to what was below them; I sort of forgot they were there.
As for OREO -- I just found out on the Other Blo that it's not related to the theme at all. I assumed it was.
@Nancy
Ah! I mistook your FOR for a preposition! Too much Wordplay. Not enough FORplay!
2
Head-slapping, belly-laughing, foot-stomping, tub-thumping Aha! moment when I got the theme at last. Well done, Mr. Fogarty!
10
@archaeoprof
Reminded me of Cracker Jacks!!
"Lip-smackin’, whip-crackin’, paddy-whackin’,
knickin’-knackin’, silver-rackin’, scoundrel-whackin’,
cracker-jackin’ Cracker Jack"
I read 'Treat' as a verb, making 14A so confusing that I left and went down to the bottom of the puzzle, where it was NICE and BALTO was there to help me recOVER.
Neville, Neville, Neville--great IDEA. Really loved the clever clues (because I was in the zone or on the wavelength and got them right away. Probably wouldn't feel that way if I'd been baffled.)
On with the day!
4
I can't get
what clever themes the constructors come up with, and think today's is especially fun.
Cute clue for LOO, although, Deb, it is not a word for a bathroom here, just toilet. Not long after we got here, knowing that phrases like powder room or rest room weren't used, I boldly asked for the bathroom in the restaurant we were in. "Don't you mean the toilet, luv", I was asked, "unless you are wanting a bath".
Thanks, Neville for a great Thursday puzzle, my favourite day.
9
@suejean
You reminded me of a situation that occurred when I was in elementary school. We had a substitute teacher one day who, judging by her accent, was originally from the U.K.
The shyest little girl in the class put up her hand and asked, "May I please go to the bathroom?" The response from the teacher was loud and sarcastic. "Why? Do you want to take a bath?!!!" The poor girl remained frozen in shame and embarrassment. The rest of us just gasped.
3
@Andrew ,
Luckily my guy was gently teasing, not like that miserable teacher.
@suejean
There are pockets of the South where the polite expression is "Necessary Room" . . .
2
I’m not even gonna LOOK at the rest of the comments until I get this out of my (very happy) system. I just know everyone is gonna say “Easy for Thursday” and similar. PHOOEY!!
BAM! BAM! BAM! A definite “Solve” and almost a new PB time for the second day in a row. Would have been a new PB except that I spent too much time figuring out the first “OVER” thing for SAND SHAKERS. I figured out the theme as I neared completion and had some entries which just “weren’t right” - but, the very first one eluded me for a minute or so. Ah well! Still very satisfying.
If I were into “exotic cigarettes”, I would want a supply of what it “might”, (I’m not making any accusations here.), have taken to come up with this rebus mechanism, the theme to go with it and, then put it all into a crossword puzzle. I’m in awe.
Curious??? The puzzle itself can include the word “HOT****” - but one cannot get the word “****” past the EMU.
Re: "Curious???"
PeterW,
It hasn't been explicitly stated here in the coments since yesterday, but please be aware that there are three separate style guides/rules for (a) grid entries, (b) clues and (c) comments.
2
[E.g., in the comments, we can spell comments coments!]
3
@Barry Ancona
As it turns out, one CAN get the word “****” past the EMU. My original comment eventually showed up - - - TWICE for some reason. One has to just “love” the NYT comments (or coments) support system!!
Help! I’ve finished and solved it in the IPad app but it isn’t showing solved. I’m on a 31 day streak and I do not want it to end!
@PK
Since the puzzles can be solved while not connected to the internet, make sure that you are in fact connected.
Otherwise do a careful re-check of every square. Sometimes a "0" instead of an "O" can be the culprit.
1
@PK
This happens sometimes to most of us and we swear there must be an error in the solution, but alas, it can be said with 99.99% confidence that the error lies with the solver, not the app. So you have to look harder. Sometimes it's a silly typo related to the way you can accidentally jump over a letter because a crossing word wasn't skipped. Sometimes you have an answer that seems absolutely correct to you but is one or two letters away from what the puzzlers had in mind.
What I do when this happens is put the puzzle away for an hour and come back to it fresh and slowly check clue by clue, thinking: could there be another answer here? Consider checking online any factual answer (e.g. RENOIR) or word you only know vaguely and might have misspelled.
If you've done all that and are still really, really stuck, you have to decide whether consulting the answer key and solving it that way keeps your streak alive. Some want their a streak to reflect solving it with no help; others don't care. It's completely up to you. If you tried going through the answer key and still don't see the problem, do it again letter by letter. Or reset the puzzle and fill it in again slowly from scratch.
1
@Clutch Cargo Does solving in app actually update the website streak? I use the Android app, and it seems to track my streak separate from the website or iPad app.
Wouldn't call it quick, but a relatively smooth solve for a Thursday. Was a bit misdirected early on thinking that the clue for 14a (didn't get that answer right away) might be a subtle reveal and that the theme was going to be the names of colors in rebuses (COVE RED BRIDGES? - well, wasn't going to fit anyway).
Had two of theme answers almost completely filled in before it finally dawned on me and the rest of the theme answers became pretty obvious. Three complete unknowns as clued - TED, AISHA and ABNER (yeah, I used to watch that show but that name never stuck in my memory). Looked up the history on ABNER and it was almost always "Li'l" (or a variation) or Doubleday or a biblical reference. If you go way (way) back - like to the 1940's, it was clued a couple of times as "Lum's radio partner (or friend). Oddly enough, I would have remembered that one.
Beyond those 3 unknowns, this was surprisingly straightforward cluing for a Thursday - not really any misdirection anywhere, so it all pretty much came down to figuring out the theme.
One more answer history search was for BEASTS (and the singular too). Was kind of surprised that neither was ever clued to llama(s), though both LLAMA and LLAMAS have mentioned BEASTS multiple times in their clues.
1
@Rich in Atlanta
Almost forgot. Regarding 48d, I will just say that there are some of us down here who would like to see Georgia become UN-KEMPED.
11
@Rich in Atlanta
I also hope he doesn't stay, see?
1
@Rich in Atlanta
You jogged my memory on this one!
My Dream (by Ogden Nash)
This is my dream,
It is my own dream,
I dreamt it.
I dreamt that my hair was kempt.
Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.
1
All I can say is, I’m all over it. I wanted to use a rebus in those spots but finally realized it wasn’t necessary.
2
EDNA St Vincent Millay always reminds me of being young, penniless, and in love in New York ... and NYC's most unappreciated icon, the Staten Island Ferry:
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/14404/recuerdo
21
@Jamestown Ararat
Joni Mitchell appreciated the ferry.
5
Based on the number of riders on my trips on it last month, I would not call it unappreciated.
3
@Barry Ancona Used doesn't necessarily mean appreciated.
1
I didn’t get the theme until I was more than halfway through the puzzle and had “eignstate” from the crosses. Since “reign state” (the only single letter I could think of to stick in front of “eign” to make a word) made no sense, I realized there was more missing and was able to work it out from there, but I had to work the rest of the puzzle with that apocryphal snail mail address dancing in my head...
@Rachel Reiss
[lol] TIL that apocryphal snail mail addresses can dance; quite an uncommon mental image in attendance, I can tell you. Be that as it may, I expect they continue to have very staid little ballrooms.
[edit]
2
I just realized I left out the address—although in this company I doubt it is needed:
WOOD
JOHN
MASS
(John Underwood, Andover, Massachusetts)
1
OK puzzle, but I kept trying to force a rebus in those four key squares. Damn! I keep overthinking these Thursday puzzles.
1
Me too.
Great puzzle, thanks Neville
Caught on with the very first themed clue, leading to my all time fastest Thursday completion (and the 2nd day in a row I've set personal bests!)!
The only thing that caused me pause was trying to figure out how the rebus fit into the down clues. Luckily 1D was clearly MOMS and I couldn't see any way MOMOVERS made sense and was able to move on.
1
Liked seeing ANNABEL LEE, which was rigged upon by Josh Ritter in the great song "Another New World": https://youtu.be/87OXw7r44zQ
2
@Dan M riffed!! Oh autocorrect, you vexatious thing.
2
One of my quickest Thursdays in a while, and I caught the theme pretty early, after realising that tata needed to become ciao in order for Robert to become The Bruce instead of The Brute (which he may have also been; I never met the man).
2
NICE, Neville. NICE.
4
Whew, part sauna, part Santa, the latter being the magnificent aha that was figuring out the theme, the former being the beads of sweat produced by the cluing, which was reticent to give anything away. This offering took me through what felt like the apple to zebra of emotions, in other words, my prescription for one terrific puzzle. Many many thanks, Neville, and I'm greatly looking forward to your next one!
2
p.s. -- ANNABELLEE made your resident alphadoppeltotter stand up and take notice.
4
I learned why BALTO has his statue in Central Park and that almost made up for today’s trip down the rabbit hole. I may come to appreciate the puzzle gimmick later in the day. Now, I shall be content with the fill and the oddly humorous clue for our favorite cookie.
Thanks Neville
2
LETTER BOXED THREAD
Dec 5 2019
S - M (7), M - H (7)
YESTERDAY:
FLITCH HUMANER (ouch!)
FILCHER RUMINATE
FULMINATE ETCHER (my favorite)
3
@Mari YESTERDAY:
MIRTHFUL LANCE
SPELLING BEE GRID
DEC 5 2019
O A C K M P R
WORDS: 53, Points: 149, PANAGRAMS: 1, BINGO
A x 5
C x 20
K x 2
M x 5
O x 2
P x 11
R x 8
4L x 33
5L x 15
6L x 3
8L x 2
4 5 6 8 Tot
A 3 2 - - 5
C 11 8 - 1 20
K 1 1 - - 2
M 3 2 - - 5
O 2 - - - 2
P 7 2 1 1 11
R 6 - 2 - 8
Tot 33 15 3 2 53
63
@Mari Hints for Today: A modern cross-breed of dog; a tree grown for its fibre, which is used as a filler; a type of shark and a type of whale; a mother and a father; a small wool ball; a light-hearted movie; 2 words related to chocolate; a shortened version of soldiers' combat wear; a musical direction, or style of playing, on a stringed instrument. Pangram starts with the 16th letter of the alphabet.
14
@Mari the movie hint gave me QB, thanks. The C5 South American grassy plain was new to me, but perhaps I’m just forgetting it. Not sure which was the wool ball. There was also a computer shortcut.
8
@Kevin Davis now I know which one was the wool ball. I think of it as a cheerleader’s accessory.
8
In dark mode, the circles are effectively invisible ( this could be fixed), and the screen looks nothing like any Oreo I’ve ever seen. So, a bit of extra obscurity.
@Alan Young
I use dark mode too, but since the default mode for crosswords since time began is the standard black and white, I decided to change modes for this puzzle after reading 14A.
I can't believe it. I've solved every puzzle this week (Mon-Thur) without any lookups. I am guessing I'm toast for Friday though.
Yeah, yeah - easy Thursday - blah, blah, blah
Interesting how on Tues/Wed, there are references to Nash's ONEL LAMAS, and Wed/Thurs, Poe's THERAVEN and ANNABELLEE. Coincidence? Or curated genius?
7
@Newbie ,
I meant to mention the Poe connection as the "coincidence" for today.
3
Loved it!
1
I had to go back
the puzzle to see my error of Ned for TED
5
I thought we were in for a colourful puzzle with 14A. I even switched out of dark mode for the occasion. I left it blank and went on my way. When I got to 53: Kellog treat, I made a knee-jerk crosswordese move and filled in OREO. Oops!
I clearly remembered Gladys Kravitz as the busybody Bewitched neighbour. I needed most of the crosses before I remembered poor old ABNER, who always seemed more annoyed with his wife than with the strange activities across the street!
I thought a “Nappy” was a diaper, so was rather surprised to learn that they come in SUEDE. I didn’t know that “How I Met Your Mother” was a TED talk. And I don’t think I have ever spelled 51D, but I would have assumed it to be spelled SCHTICK.
Over.
5
@Andrew
SUEDE has a nap, meaning you can rub it one way to smooth it down or the other to rough it up. Like a cat’s fur, but safer.
And “cotton” didn’t fit.
6
@Doug
But “terry”, the towelling like material used for old-fashioned (and eco-friendly) nappies did fit.
Until it didn’t ;-)
@Andrew Same thought regarding SHTICK. Looked up the answer histories: SHTICK - 9 times; SCHTICK - 5 times.
In crossword terms, it's probably just a matter of what fits with the puzzle.
2
Loved the gimmick (not sure I would call it a theme). A perfectly challenging Thursday puzzle, considering that part of the challenge is that one doesn't need to use the rebus function.
3
I smiled at the return of BALTO, the sled dog with a statue in Central Park. BALTO was acclaimed as the hero of the “Great Race of Mercy,” delivering diphtheria serum to Nome Alaska in 1925.
BALTO last appeared in the Feb. 10, 2019 puzzle and was featured in Caitlin’s Wordplay column: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2019-02-10.html
The interesting thing is that the sled dog TOGO was the true hero, having run the most difficult legs of the relay. But BALTO crossed the finish line in Nome and got all the acclaim.
Eventually, after campaigns by TOGO’s musher, Leonhard Seppala, TOGO got a smaller, but unnamed, statue in Seward Park: https://www.sewardparkconservancy.org/present
You can read a full account of the serum run at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome
10
@Ron O.
On that day in February, my then 6 year old happened to look over my shoulder while I was reading Deb’s column and excitedly said, “Oh, it’s Balto!” I had never heard of Balto and had looked up that answer, but she had just read a 1st grade-level book about him and filled me in on all the details!
13
@Ron O. TIL thanks for the info!
I think I have everything except four squares SW. Some dog B_L_O and S_E_E cloth. Or an island called O_H_ and a narrator of what I suppose is a TV show, _E_. Ben? Ken? Ted?
Oh, the possibility of Ted (or Ned) made me think SUEDE and how stupid I was not to recognize the name of the island I lived on over half my life until less than two years ago! A few moments ago I was going to leave those last four squares until morning, but now I'm down to one! T? N? R?
I searched balto before sticking in the T, but at least one square is amiss. So I will leave it till morning. Wish me luck.
5
@kilaueabart
It only cost 14 seconds to find my booboo. Last night I had thought "talent show entries" might be ArTS and failed to worry enough about how rDCASE could be a "media protector." A really fun puzzle and considerably faster than my one-hour average for Thrusdays.
Solved the puzzle after finally abandoning attempts at a conventional rebus. The OVER theme was OK, but:
The OREO "revealer" remains something a mystery: I get that oreos are black/brown OVER black/brown, with white in the center. Notwithstanding the fact that blue is the color for the fill in the online puzzle, I accept that there are some dinosaurs out there actually do the crossword off-line [but even they might have used a red or green pen, rather than black (do brown pens exist?) to do the puzzle manually [a distant memory for me]. Even assuming they use a black/brown pen, and I can accept the OVER link to the cookie design, what about that white center?
@NICE CUPPA I think you are overthinking it. A xword grid is black and white. So is an Oreo.
12
@NICE CUPPA
To put it another way:
You were
thinking it.
stand it.
Or you didn't quite
(Or you were just putting one
on us.)
2
@NICE CUPPA When I do it online the fill is still black. I'm not sure why yours is blue.
Why is an URN a "brunch" vessel, as opposed to just a vessel? That clue confused me for a long while. Can anyone explain?
2
I’m guessing all you can drink coffee comes in an urn? I’m stuck on Rap being a clue for BLAME. Is this as in a “rap sheet”?
2
@Doug Yes, as in 'He took the rap for the crime'
5
I think it is because brunches at restaurants are most often buffets.
4
Somewhere
the rainbow bluebirds fly.
Birds fly
the rainbow why oh why can't I?
18
haha, that was fun!
2
“OVER”
Wait what?
Is that it?
I don’t ... uh ... get it.
Challenging and sort of fun but getting the solve was a little gimmicky - worse when there is no theme revealer to explain the gimmick.
Shout out to BALTO though, the non-fiction hero of Jack London’s imagination.
Cheers
2
and Elke
HOTDAMN- a test for this "two-faced" Canadian:,
One face saw the completed puzzle grid- i.e. every square filled in, and my "other" face saw that some answers made no sense.
Nearly ran my fingers into NUBs trying to sqoosh "covered" into 49A, but had no IDEA until got to Deb's column (Thanks for saving my fingers, Deb).
Of course this CHEERed me a lot, but I left the gray/white OREOs to be tested by another GOVERMENTAGENCY, like EPA or OSHA.
CIAO- this was NICE after all.
5
@Elke
My people’s jaws dropped at your comment, which arrived Just In time. It was like a True Dough rising. Ciao to our good friends [ ] the border.
5
@Puzzlemucker
and Elke
Reminds me of a joke from the 60s. Background: Judy LaMarsh was a prominent Liberal cabinet minister. So was Justin’s father (and future prime minister). Here’s the joke.
There’s a rumour that Judy LaMarsh is pregnant. It’s not Trudeau.
11
How’s about a special shout out to “how I met your mother” which featured narrator ted’s love of Will shortz and puzzling.
3
Question for the Venerable Collective Brain Trust of Wordplay: why is M*A*S*H spelled with three stars? I know what MASH stands for and that 3 stars signify the rank of an Army Lieutenant General, but I don’t know the relationship of the latter to the former.
I’ve never seen the show and I only know the basic trivia from crossword puzzles and day-to-day intergenerational osmoregulation. Father Google offered no elucidation.
1
@Sam Lyons
It appears that the title, which was originally MASH in the original book, was stylized with asterisks for the advertising for the movie that followed, even though there were no asterisks in the movie itself. Then the TV series followed, in which they adopted the asterisks from the movie posters and made them part of the TV show's actual title.
2
@Steve L
So the clue was just a word play on the shape of asterisks resembling stars, then. I thought it was alluding to some other significance. Thanks, Steve.
1
@Sam Lyons
Yup. Just like the "star key" on your telephone.
1
That was so clever! I am so amazed that each day there is something new to enjoy.
I think an advantage to doing it on paper is that you could not possibly finish the puzzle without understanding the theme.
I loved it!
10
Today's puzzle fit neatly with my strategy regarding themed puzzles: Don't worry about ferreting out a theme if the solve is rolling along.
When COVERED BRIDGES didn't fit in the space provided at 49a, I set my curiosity aside and stayed with what was working. A quick post-solve review of the theme entries and the circled letters revealed the theme.
When is a rebus not a rebus? When it's an implied rebus.
Great use of circles to "reveal" something essential to understanding the theme.
And the clue for 14a definitely gave the OREO a fresh taste.
Nice work by Neville Fogarty.
7
Theme? There was a theme? News to me.
11
@Queenie
Yes there was. Over.
5
Nice.
2
I had no idea what the theme was, yet I managed to get one of my best Thursday times. :-)
Overthought it and confused myself mightily, like RAH below, trying to squeeze in little "OVERs" here and there. Finally got it, and said, "Oh! HOTDAMN!"
3
I figured out the theme with G(OVER)NMENTAGENCY. Fun and fast(er) from then on. Enjoyed the non-rebus rebus.
3
@Rodzu
Same here.
I was
joyed. :)
5
I’m only frustrated because it took me a bit to hunt down the last square. I got hung up on what I thought needed to spell out CD CASsettES crossing with SIGNatory STATE.
Since neither fit the theme (and a CD and a cassette are from different music storage eras anyhow), I’ll get [over] it.
A challenging puzzle is a great puzzle.
5
This one was a right-to-left solve for me. Thinking at first grads for May honorees and wondering about rebuses, so I skipped over to the NE and started filling things in there fairly quickly. Moved back to center N, and got those fairly well filled in and noticed the …SHAKERS, and noticed there was not enough room.
Kept working down the right side and back to the center and started wondering about the other probable theme answers and the lack of space for them.
Then I noticed the position of the circles, and that they were OVER the theme clues… bingo! That solved my problems and led to quickly finishing the puzzle.
Liked the clues for OREO, SEAN and BLAME.
One of the first clues I encountered was "Treat with the identical color scheme as this puzzle". I said to myself, oh, good, we're going to have to put colors into the puzzle.
Then I got the answer (see picture). Oh.
Try the June 13, 2010 or Nov. 21, 1993 (the first Shortz era puzzle) for color schemes of a completely different hue. Or hues.
1
@Steve L — No spoilers! (:-)>
I'm actually not a fan of the clue at 14a. I get that it's a pretty common word in crosswords and there need to be a number of different and fresh ways to clue it, but I solve on my iPad in dark mode, so my puzzle is black and grey. An OREO with that color scheme is not one I would want to eat.
The clue strikes me as outdated, making the assumption that crosswords exist only in print.
I also use dark mode, but it was a recent thing for the crosswords app I believe so I’m guessing this puzzle was submitted before the change!
1
Or perhaps the puzzle was submitted following the release of... wait for it... black and grey Oreos! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Oreo released a special package of cookies that had some sort of celestial imprint, with grey filling. Yum.
While I wouldn’t try one (okay, maybe I would, stop twisting my arm), I took note when I first saw the package, because it reminded me of a different grey icing — that one surrounding an armadillo cake — and coincidentally, that movie turned 30 this year!
3
Am I ever tired of seeing that cookie appear in almost every second puzzle! (Makes me never want to eat one again.)
But the only oreos I've ever seen are not black at all — they're dark brown, including the ones in today's photo.
2
The first thing you have to take into consideration when doing a Thursday puzzle is the fact that it is Thursday.
41
@Steve L Maybe I'm a masochist, but I love Thursday puzzles!
Figured out the theme without too much trouble.
My error was trying to use the rebus feature to squeeze OVER into each square below the circled one.
Ditching the rebus got me the happy music
6
Today's puzzle uses sorghum to clue CROP. My father, among his memoirs of his early years, describes how the sorghum they grew as one of the CROPs on the farm was crushed in a mule-driven mill to extract the juice from the sorghum stalks, and the juice was then boiled down to make molasses. He said that most family farms could grow and process from twenty-five to seventy-five gallons each year.
He also mentioned a rather lackadaisical farm family who never seemed to get much yield out of their land, but always put up a good bluff about how well they were doing. Someone asked one of the young sons if they had grown any sorghum that year. "Yes, sir, we made a good CROP." Well, how much did you make? "Well, we made a quart, and a pint, and some in a bottle."
4
@Alan J hmmm sounds suspicious. I wonder if the farm was a front for something.
I've noticed that the more obscure the "trick" is, the easier the fill is. That would seem to be the case here. Even though I recognized that the letters "over" were missing from the theme answers I didn't connect this to the placement of the circled letters over the answers. So perhaps i didn't really solve the puzzle. But my time was my best ever for a Thursday, although I had to get the television related answers from the crosses. Hard "trick", easy fill.
1
I think offline solvers are less prone to say "I solved the puzzle but I didn't get the theme" since there is no happy music or bell or fireworks to signal a "correct completion of the grid," which some online solver equate with "solving" the puzzle. Without the external reward, one is less likely to shrug off an entry like NMENTAGECY and claim a "solve." The squares are filled in, and, to be sure, in a tournament you'd be done, but the puzzle has not been solved.
19
@Barry Ancona
We AcrossLite solvers don't get music or a bell or anything, but when we have filled in all the squares we either get an appearance by Mr. Happy Pencil or a message saying that the puzzle is completely filled. The latter signals that you need to go back and find your error.
I can't imagine shrugging off an entry as you suggest, but I do the puzzle for the fun, not for any kind of competition.
Oh my! ABNER Kravitz!! OTOH to Deb’s comment about NJ traffic signals, the blinker is one that is sadly underused and this results in hard horn HONKing and those fun hand gestures. I had horn before HONK and NUB was elusive . Theme was fun!
3
@Elke
How do you know a fellow driver in New Jersey (or New York) is texting while driving?
If they are not giving you the finger.
22
@Puzzlemucker that’s great! Thanks for the laugh!
1
@Elke
Hate to besmirch all of New Jersey and New York. Actually, most drivers here are courteous, and can be incredibly helpful to others (as I recently experienced when a NJ driver helped me jumpstart my car). But to drive in NJ or NY often requires a thick skin and the ability to ignore the occasional "hand signal."
Fast solve — got “congrats” on first past — but I would never have figured out the gimmick without reading the column. Left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied.
7
@Christine Peterson My sentiments exactly. Easy to solve, hard to figure out.
5
If there is GOO in your LOO, it might be time to see a doctor.
3
@Mitchell
Methinks more likely, a plumber.
5
@Steve L
I wonder whether @Mitchell doesn't have the inside track in this case. First of all, the total population is 300 million, so even with 2nd bathrooms and powder rooms, I think GI tracts outnumber facilities. Now I'm no plumber, but am a regular user and a trained observer, and I'd hazard the opinion that the standard throne is a fairly simple and mechanically sound construction which 'mainly' clears its burden unless a septic tank or main decides to fritz out. I also have a gut feeling that the human component is still putting away way too much stuff that would be best used eternally, if at all. I mean to say, just look at what's coming up within short weeks: the Sugar Bowel, the Orange Bowel, the Aloha Bowel.... and then tell me it's the plumbing and not the irritable people.
Flush with pride.
1
@Leapfinger
"...the standard throne is a fairly simple and mechanically sound construction which 'mainly' clears its burden unless a septic tank or main decides to fritz out."
Or if, during building-wide rehab, the landlord saved money by installing "new" (read second-hand) pipes that were narrower than those they were replacing and that do not work well with the low-flow toilets.
1
If you don't like today's offering:
Get
It
81
Got the theme at some point relatively early, though still not sure if I was supposed to fill in the circle with [MOVER], [SOVER], [COVER] and [GOVER] or simply imagine the OVERs being there for purposes of the accompanying long Acrosses.
Despite getting the theme, I still struggled with the left Midwest, mainly because I had HOT DAng and forgot about the [correct] saltier alternative I had rejected earlier until, HOT DAng, I recOVERed.
This must be Poe week, with ANNABEL LEE today after THE RAVEN yesterday. Hope tomorrow features another Poe poem/story. Fun puzzle all the way around.
4
@Puzzlemucker
Ah, M “over” SANDSHAKERS, etc. Now I fully “get it” (I think). On to read Deb to see if that’s true.
@Puzzlemucker I had hotdang and hotdawg before I realized you’re allowed to say DAMN in the NYT Xword. I’m still a little shocked. :-)
13
@Roberta
Yes. Even though it has appeared 89 times! (per Xwordinfo), it still feels a bit too profane.
2
No. Just. No. Dnf. Didn't get any of it. Even the small fill was a complete block.
3
a faster than usual thursday which, despite solving, i still needed to read the column to learn the gimmick. better than some of its ilk but still too clever by half.
1
Anyone else have BLARE and HOTDARN?
1
@Dan I hotdang.
@Kevin Davis I had hotdang. Once again, I wish you could edit your comments.
@Kevin Davis, of course you can edit your comments. You just have to do it in a 2nd step and in public after they posted.
(I have a sticky Z key and keep posting about 'pules' which my Spellcheck decides is a word and therefore doesn't give it a squiggle. I've decided not to worry about it the times it slip past me.
1
My fastest Thursday solve to date!
1
This one felt easy and went by fast.
What I liked: figuring out the M OVER, C OVER, etc, without too much trouble. A neat way to get a couple of 16-letter phrases into a weekday puzzle!
What I didn't like: obscure references to TV shows that are 50 years old--I'm looking at you, "Bewitched." At least the TV references were easy to get from the crosses.
And I was surprised at seeing 4D. And delighted to see the RENOIR clue.
All in all, it was fun, but it felt more like a Wednesday than a Thursday.
5
I had the puzzle almost completed before I figured out the gimmick.
I was interested to discover that one didn't really need to know the gimmick to fill all the squares. Maybe that's why this was a very fast solve for me and other commenters.
4
I had it completely solved before I figured out what the gimmick was.
13
I assume by "solved" you mean "all the squares filled in." I too had SANDSHAKERS filled in, for example, but I didn't consider the answer to be "solved" until I spotted the "M[over]."
7
Agreed: solved ≠ completed.
8
My best time for a Thursday!
2
Thank goodness that's over.
20
Super fast Thursday at 11:03. Not my best but within 3 minutes of it. I guess you could say that’s how much I went
2