Lamest Thursday crossword I’ve done in a long time.
To soon - surely too soon no?
@katy got it...
that should be to son though right?
Fabulous, brilliant, fun to figue out and solve, tasty; not a bad clue or answer to be found.
I’ve been doing the NYT puzzle for years and this is the first puzzle that inspired me to write a comment. Ingenious idea! It was hard to figure it out because I had entered “EIGHT” as the rebus, but once I figured out the double OO and switched the “Eight” to 8 it was such a satisfying solve.
4
The NYT app was a BIG disappointment on this puzzle.
It accepted answers which did not “play by the rules”.
A standalone ‘O’ was acceptable where an ‘8’ was appropriate - and a rebus of ‘OO’ was also acceptable.
BAD APP!! BAD APP!! NO biscuit! Go to your crate!!
1
Loved this puzzle!
1
I loved hating this puzzle!
2
Perhaps the online puzzle should not have accepted a single O for 8, although it does look like a Piece of Eight.
My favorite NYT puzzle yet!
1
Count me as another who entered the rebus as ATE/OO in each square. Also count me as another who feels like this should have counted as having correctly solved it. I understood that the OO looks like an 8 turned on its side, but it seemed odd to require either JUST the OO (which doesn't seem correct for the across answers) or the figure 8.
For me, it's a minor nit to pick, as I do the puzzles for the enjoyment rather than the streaks or anything, but it would be nice.
Overall, a wonderfully fun puzzle! Took me just under half an hour, which is about my threshold for time I'll spend on a puzzle. I had a great time sussing this one out, and I felt my time with it was rewarded by the end.
I loved this puzzle and (mostly) solved it on my own. However, I don’t get the answers in 51 down/62 across - for “Whoopi” and “crater” the OO square was solved with a single O, neither an 8 nor a OO - the puzzle said it was correct and solved. What am I missing?
I rarely comment on these articles but this puzzle was fantastic. I didn't get it all, but I loved doing it. Impressive construction and I hope Mr. Deeney creates more.
1
I got stuck on CANTINA not because I didn't know what it was, but because I thought when a clue was in a language different from English the answer was also in the same language. Thus the fill for 1A wouldn't be BAR because for all intent and purposes that's an English translation of CANTINA, no? Perhaps in the Southwest part of the US cantinas are part of the normal geography, but not up here in the Midwest (and Word just gave me the red underline signaling it's not in the general dictionary). What say you, Deb? Not a major crime, perhaps - only a misdemeanor but it is still irksome when it seems the rules get switched out of nowhere.
By the way, I filled in OO everywhere too because I figured out that was what the rebus was but I was totally mystified about what the heck was going on until I read your column. I figured out that 00 meant ATE in the across fill but I never thought to associate it with the pirate them at all and had no idea at all why OO was taking the place of "ATE". The number 8 never entered my mind, even after the reveal in 53A. But I am very slow in getting themes as a rule, anyway, and often have finished the puzzle before I realize there is/was a theme LOL! (Especially if the layout is involved)
Does the title of the puzzle appear in other versions of it? I play online through the puzzle app and it's very rare to get any title for the puzzle and never any introductory remarks from Will. Thanks in advance.
I wondered about CANTINA too. I also use the app and when there’s a title, the i icon in the top right blinks. If you click on that, the title (and sometimes other helpful info) will appear.
I’m a day L8 (or LOO).. But just stopping by to say how much I loved this puzzle!! Definitely had a wth look on my face for a bit, but oh when it clicked! What a delight.
And maybe someone said this already.. but I also loved Pieces of Eight, on 02/20/2020 🌝!
1
This is insanely clever. More please!
1
I’ve only been solving puzzles since December and this is the first tricky one I almost managed to figure out by myself! I loved the clues, the theme, the fill, and the trick itself. Every clever puzzle I’ve tried has taught me something new, but this one especially - my mind has been expanded. 🤯👍
Thank you, Joe Deeney, for the care and effort in putting this puzzle/lesson together - it made this beginner solver’s day! 🙏
1
Baloney
1
Something you ate?
1
What did the number 0 say to the number 8? Nice belt.
Good grief if a rebus with letters is not bad enough, now numbers. Soon we will see that hell hound as we go to heck in a hand basket.
Started out putting in 2 Os but it was clear that 2 Os do not make an 8. Oddly only off my "normal" time by 34 seconds.
NYT and Puzzle did not open this AM. The rain seems to mess up WIFI: Who knew.
2
I filled the rebus squares with "OO" Guess it worked 'cause after finishing the puzzle they were all replaced with 8's. Whatever.
It makes me sad to see feedback that throws shade at great contributors like today’s constructor or Kevin Davis. Folks, these are games! Made to be played! And play can lead you to new discoveries if you relax and enjoy the experience.
My thanks to all who make these puzzles for our enjoyment and to those who add to the fun with their helpful and informative comments!
8
Devilishly (or perhaps piratically) tricky! I too ended up with oo in the downs and ATE in the acrosses, so I resorted to a peek at the column which helped clear things up (and I wonder why so many are willing to break their streak rather than getting a hint that way? but then we all have our own personal rules I guess.). I haven’t encountered a rebus puzzle quite like this, so I’m sure I will remember the concept for the future. I had a long hike today and commitments in the evening, so didn’t have time to finish until very late. Glad I can go to bed having completed this challenge. I just have time to go and do the Mini and see the connection.
2
Q: What did zero say to eight?
A: Nice belt!
Joke heard in a presentation today—no idea whether the person who told this does the puzzle, but it seems thematic.
4
nice one!
2
I was very gratified to learn that I had solved the puzzle
even though I didn't know why. I had filled in all of the
double "OO's" which was appropriate for the down
answers but, of course, didn't work for the across
answers. I studied the OO squares and realized the
word "ate" was the appropriate answer. It's too bad the
rebus button couldn't print the OO vertically I would have
finished the puzzle faster. It was a real challenge and
a lot of fun. Thanks.
1
First ever comment after doing puzzle for years. Rebus should have also accepted ATE/OO. I believe OO is representative of 8...lazy 8 on its side. Super frustrating. Streak crushed. Grr.
7
Loved it! Very creative and fun!
4
This was a fun puzzle. At first I was baffled why the "ate" and the "oo" should occupy the same square, even when that solution became predictable. What did "oo" have to do with pieces of eight? I came to the rather uneasy conclusion that pieces of eight must be "doubloons," double oos, so I got an extra laugh on myself afterward when the Wordplay section pointed out that the stacked o's make an 8.
3
Finished it. Ugh. Moronic. Not clever. At all.
3
@Derrick McPhee I and I think most of the solvers here are in complete disagreement - this is a very clever puzzle and well worth the time we have all invested in solving it.
18
Clever. Intriguing. Pointless
1
Crosswords mean real words, with real meaning. This was garbage
3
@Timothy Buck
Have you been on the internet or twitter l8ly? You're likely to see "spelling" like that from time to time. This puzzle took it to another level and made the solvers use their brains in a different way, which for most of us was inventive, clever, intriguing, and challenging.
12
Which words weren’t “real”?
3
Best Thursday I’ve encountered in quite a while! Lots of fun, the double rebus was quite tricky, and led to a great “aha!” moment. Thanks for this!
7
Absolutely loved this puzzle. I knew something was up when a bunch of my answers wouldn’t fit. But when I filled in 53A it all fell into place. Finished a few minutes short of my average. I would have thought that impossible after my first pass through the grid.
3
I was in MA this week and solved the Thurs puzzle on he train leg back to NYC -- took an hour.
It occurs to me this is a Schrodinger puzzle -- with two different aspects of the rebus fills in the same squares. Has anyone else noted this?
Thumbs and big toes up. :-)
4
We did not treasure this puzzle.
3
Why couldn’t the rebus take ATEOO?
6
I enjoyed this one, but I have to confess to being a bit disappointed that the answer to 9-down wasn't "Peter O'Toole".
4
PHEW, I first had WHEW, and was thinking recent winners before getting RIPTORN. My reveal was THE FOURTH ESTATE, but I certain ly needed the explanation for reading down 8s as oo. This fun puzzle was certainly a challenge for me...thoroughly enjoyed it. Congrats to the Constructor.
3
I forgot, it’s Thursday.
4
What’s the point?
2
Oh dear.
Having a bad day? Existential crisis?
6
To pass some idle time? What else is it ever?
1
Kevin,
Spelling bee needs you! It’s not nearly as fun as it is with your hints. I can mostly get to genius without, but QB is impossible without you. Plus it’s fun figuring out your clues. Please reconsider!
3
I've just started to regularly work on these crossword puzzles. I didn't get the OO and 8, but I did realize there were missing letters which were sometimes associated with an O. I guess that's a start. Waking up is exciting - I can't wait to start on the next day's puzzle. Less Twitter, less news, and life is good! Thank you to all of the constructors.
6
Really good puzzle. Was stuck on the NW corner, until I randomly guessed OLEG, and it fell into place. Don’t know where I got that from. I imagine we’ve seen it before.
I didn’t even think of using a number 8, because I thought OO made such perfect sense as “pieces of eight,” which implicitly completed the rows. But if you use the 8 instead, the columns use its pieces. Very nice how that works. Much as I dislike using numbers to stand in for words (see “Word Crimes” by Weird Al), I’ll have to remember it can be done in the crossword.
2
The most fun puzzle I’ve encountered so far (my eureka moment involved the movie title and the 4th branch, clicked the whole puzzle together but I went with ATE/OO). After the w8 writing from in ATE, remembered that the first letter is accepted, O(h), then I heard the ditty and did a dance.
Mr Deeney, thank you for all the funstration.
Deb, thanks for outfitting us common lay-puzzlers with the tools to tackle the trickiest grids.
6
I've had my kiester kicked a fair bit lately, so getting this one was a triple joy.
The third joy being when my search for an error led me to replace "eight" with "8" and i got the congratulatory message.
What a thrill when i cracked the code for down versus across.
Excellent puzzle!
2
There was a clue to solving this one in today's Mini puzzle. Even then, it took me a while to realize what was happening with the double OO's. I got the down answers first, then only later realized that ATE was for the across answers. Oy, matey.
6
This isn't a crossword puzzle, it is a Wagnerian Opera. Rebus that.
4
Like many others who entered “ATE/OO” instead of “8”, I want my streak back!
19
So do I! It should give us credit for ATE/OO!
3
I didn’t get the music either, yet I entered “8” in all the right squares. Also lost my streak 😕
This reminded me of the "Cracking Wise" puzzle of 2/4/18, where Y was interpreted as a V over an I for the down entries. Without this experience, I don't know if I would've gotten the trick here. Like some others, I filled in ATE/OO for the 8 cells in the top half, and went to bed knowing there was more to it. Typically, it was in bed that the trick dawned on my. Funny how often that happens!
I can't W8 for another, Mr. Deeney! 👍
4
First time I figured out the rebus without needing to check the column! Although the app accepted just a single O which slowed me down a bit.
6
Such fun! I was completely tickled by this one. Thanks!
5
Got 16A ICEE from the crosses. Never heard of it, must be a NYNY thing. It happens and the rest of us have to play along.
Stopped at the lights this afternoon outside the mall; multicolored van next to me with ICEE plastered all over. Well, what do you know, NY has come to KY.
5
@Andrew
I would have put money that ICEE came from the South. But a quick search tells me it came from Kansas.
5
@Andrew I only got it because it's appeared a bunch of times recently in the crossword the past few months. With that batch of letters, I expect ICEE will definitely be worth remembering. :)
1
@Andrew
All around Ohio when I was growing up
And in at least part of Pennsylvania now
2
Finally... but editor needs to review Ximenez Rules of Fair Play
4
The only problem with this great crossword is not with the puzzle itself, nor is it on the constructor or the editors:
All "authorized" online formats of the puzzle should accept -- and only accept -- entries that would be "correct" in the paper (i.e., if it's a rebus, only the rebus is accepted).
Solvers should not "get" the rebus but then not know how their format will accept it; likewise, one should have to actually get the rebus, not enter one letter, for a solve.
We shouldn't have to be discussing the mechanics of entering data at all; we should be enjoying the puzzles!
17
@Barry Ancona
This situation is like the universal health care debate. There's one format out there that is about 20 years out of date, and the people who use it love it. They would hate for the puzzles not to be available on it, and they defend it to the death. At the same time, every little unusual rebus or similar feature renders that format unusable to one extent or another. But clearly, other formats are vastly superior.
I suspect that it's this particular format, and no other, that is giving some people trouble. The NYT app and online solve accepts any variation of the rebus a solver can come up with.
6
"The NYT app and online solve accepts any variation of the rebus a solver can come up with."
Steve,
As I just wrote, that's not acceptable either.
3
@Barry Ancona
I do the puzzle online through the app on my tablet and through the Times on my laptop. I always feel very frustrated with the way the rebus works in limiting the fill. Specifically, if this puzzle, I entered only one O - which I did a few times before I picked up on the scheme, and then realized it was a rebus and wanted to go back and correct it, the puzzle does not allow you to do it. And the, as you say, it marks you as correct at the end of the puzzle.
I use autocorrect and I would much rather have the fill marked as incorrect if it is a rebus and I haven't recognized it as such and thus filled it in incorrectly. I don't want "credit" for a half-right fill, especially when getting it is especially egregious as it was in this puzzle. Just filling in one O and then having the algorithm accept it as correct when it really needed to be either OO OR 8 is just totally lame and it makes the puzzle easier than I want it to be.
So thank you, I'm with you 100%
Since Joe asked for feedback, it was a very nice and fun solve for me. I got through it pretty quickly because the "oo" rebus became apparent early on (figured out the 8 trick on h8trs. Very cool, IMO).
Nice one, Joe.
2
Only the gratification I got when I finally succeeded in solving enabled me to give up my annoyance and resentment for what I initially saw as foul play. I will say though, that combining two tricks in one puzzle was pushing the envelope.
Well done, and kudos to Joe Deeney! And a hearty Har, har!
3
Tricky and clever! A great challenge.
7
Many days I feel bad for Joel Fagliano. His minis are quickly finished and mostly passed over for praise. I was reminded of this today when the answer at 4D/7A involved the same number as the main puzzle.
Thank you, Joel, for the challenge of your little gems and the pleasure of a quick (or quickish) fill.
23
I conquered the OO rebus fairly quickly (thanks to SCHOOLDAZE, WHOOPI and TOOSOON) and once I got to ONADate, it all CLICKed. A personal best for this newbie!
11
Infinite brilliance.
Got "oo" on the downs but the crosses didn't make sense. After finally getting the reveler I changed those to "ate," but then the downs didn't make sense. As we've had other puzzles where the correct response is implied I was flummoxed. Certain that all of my answers were correct I had no recourse but to appeal to Deb for help. The moment I saw that bolded number and changed those squares yet again I was dazzled. Not only is this one of the cleverest puzzles I've ever finished, all of the fill was as smooth as butter. I only had to research a couple of clues, much less than usual for a Thursday. Felt especially tickled that I remembered KEPI.
I could have stared at the puzzle for infinity and never have seen it. Mr. Deeney, I salute you.
9
@Keta Hodgson
If you stared at the puzzle for infinity, your 8s would be sideways.
10
Way slower than my average time for a Thursday, but enjoyed it all. My mistake was filling in the rebus with ATE all the way through, and I had to read the blog to realize I need the numeral 8. There were a few TIL entries, which I almost always appreciate, and it was just fun in every square.
6
@George I also entered ATE and was confused when I didn't get a solve. Took about 5 minutes before I realized the correct entry.
Great puzzle and a lot of fun ... I was annoyed however, that the standard method of entering a double rebus didn't work. That is, entering ATE/OO was deemed incorrect. I had to read this column to learn that entering the numeral was required. Given the two-way appearance of the figure 8, that makes sense, but my "hard way" should also have worked!
8
This was my experience as well. I suppose "8" is more clever than "ATE/OO," but the latter is still correct. What isn't correct is simply filling in "OO," since it neglects the across answers in those squares; I have yet to attend a TAILGOO PARTY or see an XROOD movie. Notwithstanding, the app deemed that option correct, while deeming "ATE/OO" incorrect. Thumbs up for the puzzle itself, but thumbs down for its implementation on digital platforms.
8
@Nathan If you look at OO sideways, it is an 8. Acrosses are not neglected.
2
Before I fully applied this puzzles trick, I was looking for an answer to 14d, "Flub." I already had the FUP part of the answer so I wrote in EF to spell "EFF UP." I then thought the NY Times would never allow this and, if they did, Wordplay would be buzzing with complaints. Alas, it was not meant to be --- it was an initial GOOF UP on my part.
2
aaah this was the GR8EST thing ever, such a delight to unpack and gradually fill. I managed to complete "pieces of eight" with most of the puzzle still blank, stared at the rebuses I'd put in T(OO)S(OO)N, and then I squeaked as the theme clicked right into place. The rest of the puzzle was so much fun. I've never done so much verbalizing during a puzzle before.
TIL that there's a river Roosevelt in Brazil, that there's a specific term for a visored cap, and that the XFL is still a thing.
Also, thank goodness the rebus accepted "OO" and "8" interchangeably. Good work, NYT tech elves, this stuff is for sure challenging to digitize.
8
I have come l8ly to NYT crosswords and have often been f8led, but this one was a d8zie! I briefly h8d it but then l88ved it and finished just under my Thursday average (but I did have to sn8p at the explanation).
1
@Phillipa Rispin I forgot to mention that I was el8ed, with my ego rather insuffl8ed. A top-r8ed puzzle! ( OK,OK, gonna stop now.)
Be sure to do the mini today.
5
@Nancy D now that IS a gem!
1
My last fills: PLOWS and STRIP! Wow! Gr8t puzzle.
1
There is a technical flaw in the way this rebus works on my iPhone. In several places an “O” was accepted by the puzzle when it should’ve been an “8”. made it impossible to complete properly.
1
@Julie
It is intended that when there is a rebus, the app will accept the first letter only. Since they deemed that OO was valid as well as 8 in those key boxes, a single O was considered an acceptable answer.
If you had entered an 8, it would have been accepted as well.
Loved this puzzle! Got held up momentarily wondering if the Spike Lee movie was SKOOL DAZE, because that fit, but I was able to shake it off (Taylor Swift reference for 35A) and cruise to the solve.
2
Joe Deeney, your devilishly clever prankster pirate came out today ...thank goodness!
To me this was a perfect Thursday puzzle packed not only with those fun to find PIECES OF EIGHT but also packaged in a perfect grid. I didn't even need a map!
Thank you, Joe! Your next puzzle can't appear TOO SOON for me!
11
Got the “ate” and the “oo” , but didn’t get the connection, even after I got “ pieces of eight”. Ruined my streak..
1
I loved the theme, kepi was fine.
I did need the public-service-announcement, I initially filled in "ATE/OO", but got it when I realised the '8' was OO downwards, very clever.
Is ATEOO the new Natick? 😀
2
LOVED this puzzle! Although at first I had ATE in the rebus squares and was quite confused for the down answers. I ended up using OO which made tons more sense and I even finished 7 mins below my average. I do love a good Thursday!
5
@Ms. Cat Me, too, Ms. Cat. Loved it! I left those squares blank initially, then inserted ATE, got the Keep Trying and went back and exchanged them for OO and finished it in good time. Now I'm gonna go back and change those to 8s, cuz I think it'll look cooler
1
Like many others, I was able to spot the rebus and even solve it, but no happy music. I had ATEOO in all the '8' squares because I was stuck on the rule that in a rebus the across letters are first (still true if there are multiple letters?) and down letter(s) last. I forgot that a rebus may also be a number or a symbol (or multiple numbers or symbols?). I wasn't going to ruin my 75-day streak on a Thursday puzzle when I knew I was close, so I checked the solution. When I saw it, I had mixed feelings: I was disappointed I didn't think of putting an 8 in the rebus squares, but I also thought the construction was very clever and eminently solvable - if we remember our rebus rules. I've only been solving for a few months now, and it seems I learn something new every Thursday.
3
Any puzzle that has an answer like XR8D is a winner in my book. Thanks, Joe Deeney. I hope to see more of your work soon.
5
I solved it fairly quickly after PIECESOFEIGHT and ONADATE/FOOLS but even after trying every combination in the rebus squares - 8/OO, 8/O, ATE/OO, ATE/O - still no solution. And I'm on a 62-day streak. Ugh.
5
Same. Sigh. But I checked the solution so I wouldn't break my streak!
I liked this one a lot. It took just long enough to figure out that OO's were eights to be fun, but not long enough to be maddening.
1
Got the "OO" part fairly early on (SchOOl Daze), but couldn't get to ATE until much later. I couldn't figure out how one entry was going to end HOO and another STOO. Now that I've solved it I think it's pretty brilliant, but I sure didn't think that while I was tearing my hair out!
5
Loved this one! First Thursday puzzle in a long time that I finished unassisted by google or this article. TOOSOON (T∞S∞N?) crossing TAILG8PARTY made the theme crystal clear early on. I’ve always thought of 8s as stacked Os, so the intention was obvious for me. Hunting for the other six squares was exhilar8ing!
5
Like the flight on which I solved it, this puzzle had some bumps and turns, but in the end the clouds parted and I came in for a smooth landing in tbe sunshine.
Crazy brilliant construction!
13
@archaeoprof Centre for the win!
1
I’m curious. Why do people solve in Across Lite as opposed to the official app? It seems like that’s far more likely to have problems especially if you’re concerned about streaks.
@pmb - What's the official app?
1
@pmb Across Lite was the original format that The Times used to offer online solving. It’s possible that old habits are just hard to break, but I think the web game and the app are more flexible for solvers too.
5
@Deb Amlen That makes sense. Thanks for the info!
1
Figured out "ATE/OO" early on, but then couldn't shift it to "8" -- I'm amused, but also kind of annoyed. Good work?!
@Name
Although, the "8" in the daily mini should have clued me in -- that was such a shocker! -- first time I've ever seen that level of trickery there.
2
Not living there, had PARKS --> POOLS--> POLLS for what closes at 9 in NY.
If I could count I wouldn't have tried the fifth estate. . . which unfortunately has replaced much of the fourth.
3
Hmm? 28D = tosoon. I'm thinking "too" soon would be correct. Maybe I'm missing something.
Hard to see in that one, but you’re missing another 8.
@Rin F found it right after posting this. thanks. double entry wasn't expected.
Thanks Mini for alerting what (8 (8ball)) is to come l8r!
3
Deb, I read the explanation about rebuses in the main Wordplay column, and I have a small niggle. I had done an archived puzzle where the across rebus was blue and the down rebus was red and I just wanted to clarify that I had to put a slash in between those two elements. You have a nice clear diagram but there’s no mention of the slash in the text of your explanation. It took me a few years of solving to figure out that it has to be across rebus first, /, down rebus, and I bet some solvers would benefit from reading that column.
The comments section was closed there so I just thought I’d mention it. I’m one of those people who almost always concentrate on text first so I had to backtrack through it.
H8RSGONNAH8 was the moment I loved the puzzle unconditionally, even if it took a minute beforehand to figure out how to make the rebus work. PIECES OF EIGHT clarified that soon enough.
Just what I hope for in a Thursday puzzle. Thank you, Mr. Deeney.
23
@Liane I am totally with you with my love of this puzzle, but once I got the sort of double rebus theme here, I thought "Boy, are the rebus haters going to doubly hate this one!" I was pleasantly surprised to see relatively little h8 there is here for the puzzle!
2
@ChiaviDiBasso - ditto, neighbor!
I was in the ATE/OO crowd for a bit.
Puzzled a bit by the revealer, until I figured out that OO was 8 on its side.
Then puzzled about why I didn't get the happy music, until I realized that "8 "satisfied both vertically and horizontally, and dropped in the numerals.
I liked the way this puzzle combined visual and aural play: 8 = ATE across, OO down.
POLLS, PARDON and PIECESOFEIGHT (silver....) created a bit of an unhappy pattern where I'm sure none was intended. Thank goodness for THEFOURTHEST8,
11
After completing this clever puzzle fairly quickly -- though the SW corner was a little bit of slowdown -- I swiped right. Hey, I learned some (more) pop culture yesterday. And I did not have to look any further than the NY Times crossword.
LETTER BOXED THREAD
F-M (8) M-R (7).
@Liane
F - M (8), M - E (5)
little and large animals.
1
@Liane My solution was I-W 6 W-K 9 My first two word solve in three days!
@EskieF
Finally got a solution today thanks to your hints.
Yesterday:
HAPLOIDS, SKUNKY
Gr8 puzzle! More like this one -- don't let the h8ers get you down.
4
KEPI is my favourite thing about this puzzle.
6
@Frances It was maybe the only thing I liked. Generally speaking, I h8 gimmicky puzzles like this.
1
I entered OO for the rebus entries. I quickly realized the answers used OO for the down and ATE for the across, but it wasn’t until I completed the puzzle and the app turned my OO entries to the digit 8 that I realized how it worked. I presume if I had entered ATE for the rebuses that would have been accepted as well. The reveal of the 8 is a benefit of solving on the app rather than paper - on paper I never would have realized that.
Bummer -
I do the puzzle daily in my browser.
After I figured out the trick, I entered "ATE" in the rebus squares for the across clues. The online browser version gave me the "ooops" screen that there were errors. I changed the rebus entries to "ATEOO". Still no good. So I filled in the rebus entries going down with "OO" and got the completion screen.
Spoiled my two-week streak!
@mark
You still solved all the clues and got the theme, even if you initially put the wrong letter combinations in the rebus squares. Personally, I think it counts towards your streak!
Surprised I got the gold star after typing in OO in the rebus clues instead of 8. Thank you New York Times. Love competing a rather tough, albeit maybe unfair, Thursday.
1
When I was seven years old I would walk to school with my sister everyday. One day she was sick, so she stayed home and I had to walk by myself. When I got home at the end of the day I remember thinking how proud I was of myself.
That was almost 48 years ago. But solving today’s puzzle brought that feeling right back.
34
@Paul Geoghegan
Through the snow, uphill both ways?
..
6
@rich
Barefoot?
4
I feel a little sheepish taking the gold star today. I had this rebused as OO/ATE like others here, but the 8 thing never clicked for me. After reading this article, I went and changed all the rebus squares to 8s assuming I’d have other mistakes in the puzzle. Turns out i didn’t, and got the gold star. Am I a cheater?
1
@Dylan There’s no such thing as a cheater when solving the puzzle. It’s for fun.
12
@Dylan Deb did say that there were multiple ways to enter the rebus that would be counted as correct, but even so, sometimes it can be tricky to figure out how a rebus is meant to be entered. Personally, I wouldn't consider you a cheater. You got the answers, it was just a matter of knowing how to enter the rebus. If you feel terribly guilty about an unearned gold star, I'd say next time such a situation arises, maybe turn on autocheck or something so it won't credit you for a gold star you don't feel you earned. Don't worry though... I expect the crossword police will let it slide this one time! 😉
2
A very clever Thursday trick. (Glad I had plenty of time to solve so we wouldn’t be L8.)
5
@greg
Can only laugh this morning as the first "word" I saw was chipanddip. I seem to recall this "fad" from the 70's!
1
This was one of the easier Thursday puzzles. Very enjoyable.
I had no problem figuring the rebus but I entered "ATE/OO", "8/0", "80" but couldn't get it right. Finally, I checked this blog and saw that either "8" or "'0" were permitted. Recognizing the rebus was one hurdle but figuring out the presentation was much harder.
4
@Dr. OutreAmour Just now looked a bit more closely at your name and photo. It was on last night and I watched it. Here's your closing scene (an all time favorite).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIpTE-aHEZ0
..
1
I sat up in bed when I got the trick, and had to show my wife (who's not into crosswords). Loved this puzzle, and it was very fair once you got it. Gr8 job!
4
Of the 4500 NYT puzzles I’ve completed on this app, today’s puzzle is one of my favorites. Thank you for the challenging and gratifying experience!
6
Tip of the tricorn or perhaps sombrero today to the constructor. I looked at the double o’s as if they were doubloons, the other name for Spanish pieces of eight. And the double referring to the portrait on each side - Ferdinand & Isabella. I would also add that hat names make great clues.
1
I filled the rebus spaces ate/oo. I think that should have counted as accurate.
Yes. That was accurate. Or maybe even “accuroo”.
2
Whew. That was different. Filled in PIECESOFEIGHT early on, but then it took me a long time to figure out how the themers were going to work (and of course where they were going to be). First one I got was the WHOOPI/CRATER crossing and at that point I was baffled as to how the OO thing was supposed to work. Finally dawned on me a bit later. And I solve in Across Lite so OO was the only thing it would accept. That seemed a bit odd as well.
Quite a workout but very satisfying in the end. Had one failed check because of the rebus issue I just mentioned - even though I put in OO, I decided to try 8 and ATE to see if it accepted that as well and of course it didn't. And I looked up a couple more things than I would usually allow, but I'm going to count this one anyway. So, still tied with suejean on a four day streak.
Will tell my favorite pirate joke in a reply, as I'm not sure it will get past the emus.
1
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened, and with apologies to anyone who might find this a bit over the top...
A pirate captain walks into a bar. He has a ship's wheel attached to the front of his pants. The bartender stares at him for a long moment and finally says, "what the heck is that thing?"
The captain replies, "it's drivin' me nuts."
16
This made me laugh a little too hard :)
1
@Rich in Atlanta
???? My AcrossLite accepted the 8s.
2
This was very hard for me, as a newer solver. I had to look things up to finish it, and "pieces of eight" was one of the last things I filled in.
I was able to get many double O's, and 1 of the 8s, but I didn't really get the whole because I didn't realize you could have two separate rebus rules. So I was looking at an 8 and a bunch of 0's maybe and looking for other numbers, two/too, one/won etc. So = fail. But I see others got it really quick. Maybe with some time I'll be able to get things like this.
1
I don't know about others, but I sure didn't get it "really quick" at all!
4
Wow, that was hard. Long after getting that "ate" sounds seemed to be rebused, I didn't understand why the letter O also had something funny going on with it. Even after filling in the pirate plunder, this still took some time to work out. Finally the different readings of across and down entries fell into place, so decided to convert all the weird squares to O's and Bob was my uncle. Nice innovative theme! that was quite a challenge.
Really 8 this one up. In ink, on newsprint, no errors, under 20 minutes.
4
It took a lot of mental sweat to figure this crossword out. But when I had my AHA! moment, it was one of the most satisfying ones I've had for a puzzle. Admirable execution of the idea. Enjoyed the extra twist on a simple rebus.
4
I loved this. I got an 8 eight pretty quickly, but didn't quite grasp what was going on because I thought 28-down was going to be 2 SOON.
I'm a little frustrated because I haven't seen an x-rated film in years. Wait. I mean, it's been 30 years since x was replaced by nc-17. Maybe the clue should have been "Adult, once"? That might have been helpful for those of us unfamiliar with the Xylophone Foosball Legion.
1
Bravo! Wonderful puzzle! I love Thursdays when they're done right, and this is just what a Thursday oughtta be.
Figured there'd be a rebus somewhere when THE FOURTH ESTATE was too long. Also wasn't sure what was happening with the crossing SCHOOL DAZE, so I left that for a bit and went on. When I saw that the next such crossing was also ATE and OO I started to catch on, and even finally noticed that the ATEs were in the As and the OOs in the Ds. I had entered the OO the first time, so stuck with that for the sake of consistency. But that's as far as I got theme-wise, and figured that the revealer would tell me how these two things related to each other.
Well, it didn't. For the longest time. When I finished the puzzle (in AL) and MHP didn't appear, I figured it was another example of entering the "wrong" combo in the rebus squares. But instead of changing my OOs to ATEs, I decided to give it a bit more thought.
Thought for a while. Then a while longer. Then ... Aha!
One of the most satisfying Ahas I've ever had. Changed the rebus squares, coaxing MHP out of hiding, and felt really good.
Never heard of ADRIAN Dantley, OLEG Bureg, or XFL (guessing it's something like Extreme Football League, but I'm not gonna Google).
The only Chicago expressway I know is the Eisenhower.
I could fall in love with Joe Deeney if he didn't have a vacuum cleaner on his head. Still, hope to see more puzzles like this.
Thanks to all involved!
3
@Deadline
THE FOURTH ESTATE and SCHOOL DAZE was where I figured out what was going on. LOL at your comment about Joe.
1
Brilliant!!!! What fun.
Having ‘SLOG’ instead of PLOW stumped me for a while. And I had to PLOW through at the end to find a mistake - RRATED instead of XRATED (cross with XFL). Sports are always my undoing.
3
Glad I WOOED until after my first cuppa tea to solve this clever puzzle! I suspect I’d have HOOED it if I’d tried to solve it earlier this morning.
Snow is on the way to central North Carolina today, and I’ve got to fight the panic shoppers at the store for milk. Hope I’m not too LOO.
3
Being admittedly too literal instead of numerical, I put in the ATE everywhere instead of the number 8. I knew I had it solved but it kept telling me at least one letter wrong. Panicking because I have a 431 day streak going, I knew that the double OO was the alternate rebus and voilá. I think you could call this a double Thursday-a rebus within a rebus.
Curious about my thoughts, are you, Mr. Deeney?
Ow, Pow, and Wow.
In that order.
Great tricky Thursday that was devilishly fun to solve, plus I learned what CDG's hat is called.
Thanks!
5
Did it!! I've been patting myself on the back so much that I've worn away the skin.
My eye hit the revealer immediately and I knew PIECES OF EIGHT immediately. When you've read "Treasure Island" and seen "Peter Pan", it's a slam-dunk. (Though this being Thursday, I did check some crosses first.)
So I was primed to write numerical "8"s in everywhere I had the "ate" sound. That was the [relatively] easy part. But nothing worked for the Downs. I was completely flummoxed for a while. Utimately, I picked up the OO at SCHOOL DAZE, a film I didn't know but got from the crosses.
So PIECES OF EIGHT are represented by OO? That I didn't remember from any of the pirate stories. (Look, it was a very long time ago and I barely remember what I had for dinner last night.)
I normally love rebuses where the Acrosses and Downs are represented differently. This one not so much. And that's because OO is pretty much meaningless to me. If I had known that symbol, however, this puzzle would have been an absolute Wow.
2
@Nancy I thought 00 was the shape of the Spanish coins. It turns out that 2 0s stacked looks like an 8.
@Santi Bailor -- Thanks so much for the explanation. I just figured it out, based on a comment on the Other Blog, and this is what I just wrote over there:
Oh, wait -- I see now. You put one O right below another O -- as you do in the case of the Downs -- and the two "O"s now look like an 8. Sort of. I mean you can create an 8 that way, but how many people actually do? Still, at least it explains the "OO"s as PIECES OF EIGHT -- each O is one PIECE of the 8. I get it. And I'm very happy to have this explanation, to tell the truth.
1
@Nancy I kept looking for something connecting OO and ATE to no avail, even tho I'm a skater and we have all kinds of logos and memes in my club saying Sk8 Sk8 Sk8. I just didn't see it at all. At least you got the ATE 8!
1
YES!
2
35 Across H8RSGONNAH8 appears as HORSGONNAHO in the app. Wouldn’t accept the former.
1
I don’t H8 it.
2
Best AHA ever! I had oo all over the place but didn’t get the 8 until CR8D. All those oo’s looked like a sideways 8 to me so I did my rebus like that. So much fun to go back to those that had me puzzled and that became so obvious.
I also liked being reminded of my favourite tennis match @8D.
I’m also chuffed that my streak is now half of 8
5
lol, suejean! Good times in Harrogoo!!
7
Good one, Leapy
Really satisfying! Congrats on a great Thursday treat!
1
After I got the revealer, tipped off by crossings, I was no longer FOOLED but EL8ED. Such a delight that I was actually kind of sad to complete it! Fantastic Thursday !
1
Very clever! Had a HUNCH something was UP. Groked the double Os first and then the ATE! PHEW!!
1
I started with the ATE/OO rebus, but when I found I had to write in (I do it in pen first) the OO vertically, I stumbled onto the gimmick. 59A was when the dime dropped. All in all, a lovely puzzle.
Doing the mini puzzle on the phone app where there are no numeric keys to be found. Frowny face.
@Marcia Do you see a More key on the left of your keyboard? If you hit that, you should be able to access numbers, etc.
1
On my android phone and tablet the puzzle keypad has a key labeled "..." (three dots). It's below the A. Tapping that key produces a new keypad that includes the numerals, and provides a box labeled Rebus where the answer will go.
2
Used rebus ATE/OO. Haven’t checked the comments, but can’t think I was the only one.
2
We’re definitely not the only ones :)
2
Me three!
1
IMHO, this is just OTT BS. We’re supposed to figure out that “ate” in one direction is “op” in the other?? (See? my phone won’t even let me type two o’s there).
I did my first run through, realized it was somehow quirky in the extreme, and opted to read about it. Yuck, hard pass for me.
3
@Bruce
Agree with you. No thank you to this puzzle
1
@Bruce if your phone is an iPhone, it will let you type oo. You just have to hit the quoted autocompletion in the bar above the keyboard
Am I the only who who solved the puzzle by writing in “ATE” instead of 8? Once I put the 8 in, I got the happy music.
2
@Jim In Georgia That's how I started.
1
Frustrated by the online version for this puzzle. 26D should be SN8PS but the app has an O where the 8 should be. Otherwise, enjoyed the clever use of 8 and OO. I love rebus puzzles!
1
Yeah looks like the app takes a plain 'O' in all the spots (or at least also in 28 down) which is quite annoying as you can't correct it since it's 'correct' already.
Loved the 2-20-20 crossword puzzle the way you can't stop pressing a bruise to see if it still hurts. Is that hating to love it or loving to hate it?
6
Silly me . I got the theme but thought the OO were doubloons -ie PIECES of eight ! DUH
3
Both “brilliant and cruel”— exactly. Brutal but lots of fun.
3
I guess whether you think this is a gr8 puzzle or bl8dy awful depends on your perspective. ☺️
Very clever.
22
Loved this puzzle. It hit me out of the gate that the need was for an OO and in other cases an ATE. Took me a while to see that each needed both. But it wasn’t until I got PIECES IF EIGHT that I decided I was looking for 8 ATEs. It never dawned on me that the 8 itself was a OO going down - until I read the write up. SO CLEVER!! Loved it. One of the most fun puzzles ever.
2
Seeing in the comments that a lot of people got stuck on R vs X rated for the clue "Adult".
I'll put it this way: next time you watch an R-rated movie, tell everyone the next day that you spent the evening watching an adult movie and see what kind of reactions you get.
9
come on, 8 vs. OO/ATE....
@thibault
Huit just a moment...
That's a neuf.
6
@Etaoin Shrdlu
Dix onze for you: say see bone!
3
I'm going to claim a victory even though the online gods have not yet given it to me. I tried all the rebuses (is that the plural?) as ATE knowing that down it needed OO. Some squares are wrong. I tried OOATE, I tried OO/ATE and it still wouldn't give it to me.
It took a while for the light to dawn. It's Thursday so it's probably a rebus. I start in the NW and work my way down so when I got SNOOPS I started to wonder. At UPLATE - well, OK. By the time I got down to the reveal I was looking for 8 different ways to represent the 8. Will my scanty knowledge of foreign - HUIT, ACHT, OCTO etc. - be tested here? When the penny finally dropped I was an hour into the puzzle.
Only one Natick in the SW. Mature can be R or X which means the mysterious league is RFL or XFL, neither of which is familiar to me. I eventually went with the X because it sounded more likely.
A gr8 grOO grATE puzzle. I spent more time on it than I have for many Saturdays.
3
I haven't actually read @Deb's wordplay column yet.
I just wanted to jump in and say that this is one of my favorite crossword puzzles of all time. Absolutely loved the theme (probably because I caught on to it immediately, which is unusual for me), and the fill was really fun too.
The "appropriate number" in the revealer clue felt like a dead giveaway and after that it was off to the races. I knew right away where several of those went because I had the answer on first pass but it wouldn't fit (until it did). Even finished 11 minutes below average.
Sorry if this sounds braggy (I know it does), but Thursday puzzles are so often a struggle that when you actually "get it" it's exciting.
I hope everyone else enjoyed this as much as I did, but I'm guessing once I read the column and come back to the comments that will turn out not to be the case.
40
Having now read Wordplay and many of the comments, pleasantly surprised to see that many, possibly most, solvers shared my enjoyment of this puzzle.
Congrats to Joe Deeney on a great first-time Thursday puzzle!
7
@Rob
That doesn’t sound braggy so much as you had great fun solving the puzzle and wanted to say that. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
2
This one took me longer than average, because I had guessed that maybe “tolls” close at 9:00 in New York...
Still loved the puzzle!
1
Cruel? Sadistic,maybe. But indubitably admirable.
3
Once I got the theme, I thought it'd be an easy solve but I got stuck awhile in the NW corner until I realized that 14D wasn't 'effed up' after all. That would've been pretty salty language for the NYT and I should've known better.
I filled the grid but something was amiss, so I changed all my 'oo' entries to '8'. No happy music. I thought I must have a typo, but it turned out (after much frustration) that I had 'R' for 'X'. Adult, indeed!
2
Yipe? Yipe? Had the whole thing solved rather quickly except for that. Yes, should have gotten the ‘p’ from PLOWS, and did. But YIPE?
Sorry, should have added that, other than YIPE, thoroughly enjoyed this. I love the rebus puzzles.
The streak continues.
3
@Horst Witherspoon what's wrong with "YIPE"?
Google it. The definition turns up, and if you look at images, you can see where I remember it from. . .old bugs bunny cartoons.
Biiiig AHA and HAHA when on the app my double-0's turned into 8s and I saw those 0's go vertical!
I'm not going to detail my solving process on this gem of a puzzle; I'll just say that it was gradual and very satisfying.
What I most of all want to say is this. I have done many competently-made crosswords over the years that just felt like exercise for exercise's sake. That is, that despite the able construction, the puzzle came off as vapid, it fell flat, and I left the puzzle thinking that my time could have been better spent. Only very rarely has that happened with the NYT puzzle, which consistently has wit, spark, and shine, today's fine puzzle included.
High credit to Shortz and co. for the effort and talent to pull this off, to keep the bar that high. And to you as well, Joe, for one terrific solving experience!
17
Lots of fun.
Nit: PITAS are pockets of Greece (and of countries that use the Greek word); in the Middle East, there are a number of Arabic names for round, "pocket-able" bread.
@BarryA
'...pockets of Greece' Eeeww...
Don't forget the Thurberesque variety, as per Mitty: Pocketa, pocketa!
2
Leapy,
The Hellas, you say!
I say hibbiz, close to Google's khubz.
SpanakoPITA? Fatayer sabanekh.
Ouzo? Arak.
It's all yummy,
2
@BarryA, you had me at spanakoPITA.
But I draw the line at ouzo, retsina and such. I'd sooner floss with a pine cone.
2
The theme leapt right out at me, for whatever reason, and I had fun finding all the treasure! I also liked the connection with the Mini.
Loved seeing m'girl PATTI Smith repping.
KEPIs are ridiculous-looking toppers! TIL
4
@Ann
Had to listen to Land and Gloria before I could go to bed last night.
Good fun. Nice job.
1
Very satisfying to have it all come together, even though it took me a bit longer than normal.
Thanks for a gr8 helping of cleverness.
1
Thanks!
Best puzzle in I can't remember how long. A pretty, unified design, with just enough resistance.
4
Is the NYT app accepting the 8? Because I can't find my mistake yet. Looking at answer key, I've got the same but I erased my oo/ate and replaced with 8's, no music.
@Santi Bailor Definitely taking the 8s. Could it be the 59D sports league? That was my last fill.
@Santi Bailor
Having the exact sameness issue on the app. Started with rebus OO, but then switched all those squares to 8.
I’ve checked every answer 8+ times, but still not stopping timer.
Frustrating!
@Veronica
Found my error. Hope yours gets resolved soon!
This was a puzzle where I definitely needed @Deb’s help to do the rebus, with it meaning different things across and down. Still, there were some clues that stumped me for a while. My last entry was BOUTS for “fits.” I also had trouble deciding between whew and PHEW, and yike/YIPE.
It was a novel and clever design though.
6
I put oo/ate in every box so now I feel dumb. Did anyone else?
7
@Santi Bailor I put ateoo.
Seems to me trying too hard to be clever.
@Santi Bailor Yes me too.
@Santi Bailor I started out with ATE, but pretty quickly realized the downs had to be OO, and thus realized it was 8. Sometimes it just clicks instantly in your head and sometimes it doesn't.
But certainly no reason to feel dumb - we've all been there!
1
Nice round-up of Brit solver experiences in this one. Apart from working out the rebus with a twist, we had the unexpected US spelling (it’s PITTA bread here), the unknown product with a wacky spelling (ICEE, worked out in the end, unlike yesterday’s LYFT), and the plausible punt that turns out to be wrong - NY’s PARKS closing at 9. But got there in the end.
5
@Peter Biddlecombe
Why would an American spelling be unexpected in the NEW YORK Times? And how do you pronounce PITTA across the pond, anyway? Is it like PITy, or like PETer?
@Peter Biddlecombe ICEE Is not real common here but I see it daily in crossword puzzles. It's a must-know for crossword puzzles. I don't even know where one could get an ICEE to eat, I may have had one when I was a kid. So it's not a must-eat.
2
@Steve L I think what you meant to say was “Good morning!”
Despite its name, The New York Times has an international readership, and it is perfectly reasonable that someone in another English-speaking country might, out of habit, try to enter the spelling that is most familiar.
Even so, there have been plenty of variable spellings in the puzzle. It’s true that there is no indicator here, but British solvers play by different rules, and it was merely a guess on Peter’s part.
12
Fantastic puzzle! I’d figured out several of the double O down clues but got stumped on the Acrosses as I had no clue what a TAILGOO PARTY was. As soon as I started telling my wife how cool the puzzle was, it all clicked. Nice job!
5
Heaven help me. I’m beginning to like rebus puzzles. I’ve gone all the way from ‘what the heck???’ To ‘I know you’re in there and i’m gonna find you!’ I never, and I mean never, thought that would happen.
Congrats on a very clever puzzle Joe. Deb said it best .. it is cruel and brilliant. Heaven help me. I’m really beginning to enjoy that, too.
46
I love it when we get a convert to these fun puzzles.
That was supposed to be a reply.
10
Loved this puzzle. At first I thought the treasure might have been doublOOns as I was entering text in the rebus boxes. The flippable rebus was a brilliant idea, I thought.
2
Gr8 fun!
2
SPELLING BEE THREAD
02/20/20
Center Letter: I
6 Letters: A C D H N P
32 WORDS, 132 POINTS, 1 PANGRAM
First Letters:
A x 6, C x 13, H x 2, I x 2, N x 2, P x 7
Word Lengths:
L4 x 12, L5 x 10, L6 x 8, L7 x 1, L8 x 1
Grid
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
A 2 2 2 - - 6
C 5 5 3 - - 13
H 1 - - - 1 2
I 1 - - 1 - 2
N - 1 1 - - 2
P 3 2 2 - - 7
Tot 12 10 8 1 1 32
66
@Greg
Responding under the grid post. Usually the pangram is the first word I find, but this time it was the last.
A number of words not allowed:
CANDIDA, CHICANA, CHINCH, NICAD, NIDI, PAPAIN, PIPPIN.
18
@Greg
An amusing article from Slate on the Bee:
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/02/spelling-bee-new-york-times-praise.html
19
@EskieF Note: The article mentions a whole Twitter community dedicated to the Bee. As I don't 'do' Twitter I was not aware of this - are any other members of the 'Hive' here also engaging in Twitter discussions on the Bee?
1
SPELLING BEE
32 words, 132 points, 1 pangram.
9
@Kevin Davis A berry, 2 insects, former trendy “pet” plant, pretentious slang,, stamp substitute, water nymph, vitamin, sandwich, typeface size.
20
I had a lot of fun with this one! Thanks Joe!
2
Any one else notice the Daily Mini had an 8 in it too? I thought that was odd, but now realise Joel was dropping a massive hint.
Nice one. 😍
9
@Carlos I enjoyed that aspect of the mini.
H8ED every minute of this, but I respect the integrity of the construction.
6
Guybrush Threepwood would be proud!
Very clever theme and trick. Didn't love the NW corner with UP L8, SIT UP, & GOOF UP all in the same puzzle. My lack of sporting knowledge tripped me up in the lower W but that's on me.
1
The hunt for the eight 8s was a lot of fun.
I liked fLICK more for "Hit it off" than CLICK.
1
Jaw-dropping puzzle. A work of genius.
(I entered OO as a rebus in the eight appropriate squares, got the happy music, and saw all my OO's turned into 8's. Nice. Maybe in the future I'll remember you can enter numbers as well as letters.)
4
Brilliant puzzle. Had I been solving on paper, after getting the joke I would have stacked the double O’s vertically instead of having them side by side as the iPad app has them, making it easier to read them as 8’s, but aside from that technological obstacle I just loved the whole thing. Bravo!
3
Aha, I see that I could also have used digits in those squares. I just never think to use anything but letters...
2
I am a pretty new solver, and didn't quite reach the idea of using either an "8" or "OO" in the squares. Instead I just used one "O" and then pronounced that O as "ate" in my mind for horizontal words. I was still able to solve the puzzle this way.
Just thought I'd report this third option.
3
@gesamtkuntstuerk
Most rebus puzzles can be solved by using only the first letter of the rebus entry, so for example, if "stop" was the rebus, you could solve just by using the "s".
@JayTee ah, cool -- thanks for the tip!
That was a treasure of a puzzle! With TOO SOON and SCHOOL DAZE, I had the rebus, and how tickled I was when THE FOURTH EST8 revealed the additional layer! And even then, the rest of the puzzle did not surrender easily. Such fun!
And the Mini had an 8!
7
I set my mind on the idea that it was a straight rebus and played it that way all the way through. All those oo's were baffling, of course, but I figured (or hoped) that sooner or later such chaos would dissolve into something that made sense, and it did.
By the way, Deb, no self-respecting pirate would ever say "Arrgh," unless some crew mate dropped a cannonball on his foot. Aarrh, and only Aarrh, is the expression, and it's used to indicate thinking, pondering, or scheming.
1
...or agreement, as in "Aarrh, m8tey"
2
@paulymath Ahoy, matey! Ye be right to scupper the "arrgh", but the right word be spelled "arr(r)!" Lest ye think me barmey, the swabbies at TalkLikeAPirateDay (http://talklikeapirate.com/wordpress/sample-page/) and sundry online glossaries and translators spell't this way.
(I learned t' parley like a Pirate from a course at me local library: https://mangolanguages.com/available-languages/learn-pirate/)
Can anyone please shed light on "nation's borders" being ens?
I don't get it.
1
@ashevillein
NatioN
The word "NatioN" has the letter N on each side, making Ns (or ens) the border of the word.
7
@ashevillein I thought it stood for East North South but the other explanations make more sense
Great puzzle with a clever and nuanced theme.
It took some engineering to put together and it felt like an accomplishment getting it solved.
The NW corner was the last block of letters to fit together, with the X of XFL being the last letter to need amending.
I thought maybe there was a Robot Fighting League with GUARDIANS and DRAGONS.
Cheers!
3
Worst puzzle trick ever.
4
If you've never listened to Patti Smith's debut album, "Horses", please give it a try. I'm not at all a punk rocker and I think it's amazing.
7
I had 7/8 of the rebus clues in one form or the other before I figured it out. Then tried the ATE/OO and that didn’t work. I even had PIECES OF EIGHT, and still was stumped! Finally, after peeking at the comments, I realized that maybe it was just T8 L8 for my brain to function!
4
This puzzle belongs in the Thursday Hall of Fame for perfectly hitting that sweet spot on the crossword tuning fork, where some magical, elusive wordsmithing involves (but is hardly limited to) a rebus, and leads to a solution that snaps perfectly into place yet still requires lots of explanation.
57
@Calvin
Thank you for expressing my own reaction to this puzzle so beautifully!
2
thank goodness i don't have streaks that last more than a couple of days. i am sure this would have done me in.
like many others, i had ATE in the eight rebus squares. i couldn't reconcile why down was OO and across was ATE, but I think it is odd that while ATE didn't create happy music, according to Deb, OO works.
i'm bummed only in that i figured out the rebus; figured out the "ate" sound across, "oo" sound down; identified all the correct rebus squares; but didn't get happy music. i wasn't smart enough to figure out it was "8", but still, it stings a bit.
great thursday hough. best day of the week.
3
Both "oo" and "8" can be thought of as either "oo" or "8," with a little work; "ate" cannot.
5
@Newbie Me too. I tried ATE and OOATE and OO/ATE and none of them worked. It wasn't until I came here that I realized a simple 8 would have given me the gold star.
1
@Andrew
Sadly, I can’t offer you a gold star. Only the “newbie golf clap of approval”. Which is represented in emojis as 💩. Or maybe 🎖🏌🏻♂️👏🏼
1
Wonderful puzzle!
PS Why are pirates called pirates?
Because they arrrr!
11
@Lester Jackson
What's a pirate's favorite letter?
AARH!
No, matey, it be the c!
5
and Elke
No deb8 , I can st8 that I did not sk8 to the trick easily, but did not h8 it.
Was sure there was a typo for the constructor- had to be Dr. Bruce H8 (Haight) He had an " 8 " puzzle once, which played on his name.
Was lots of fun.
3
The best puzzle themes seem to reveal themselves just in time; before frustration sets in but after spending time in all areas of the grid without filling in any completely.
Today, my HUNCH paid off when I realized that the answer to 26d SN_PS had to be SNOOPS, so a rebus would be required. Then I saw that 28d T_S_N could use the OO rebus as well. And then the AHA moment, when I realized that 40a TAILG_PARTY was another interpretation of the OO rebus, this time as an eight, or ATE sound.
How cool, a Schrödinger's Cat rebus puzzle!
So I had found the map to the pirate's treasure: PIECES OF EIGHT.
Congrats to Joe Deeny on his first rebus puzzle, one which pushes all the buttons for this veteran solver. A well deserved POW.
14
@Mike R, question: would a full-on “rebus Schrödinger” have to be one where there were *two* possible answers (both across and down), one using the “ATE” and the other using the “OO”?
Or maybe this is just arguing over whether the cat is “dead or alive” vs. “dead *and* alive”...
@Margaret: I was simply referring to the fact that the information in the rebus takes on different values depending on which entry, down or across, was using it. Perhaps it's not a precise analog to Schrödinger's cat, but I'm not a real theoretical physicist.
@Mike R, haha me neither. The most recent S puzzle I recall had two different answer versions *for the same clue*. So for instance, a single clue that could be answered with either “understATEd” or “understOOd”, etc.
Solving this puzzle brought me joy.
16
Did the crossing of UP at G8FUP and SATUP bother anyone else? I loved the puzzle and the theme, but I was convinced I had a mistake here as I thought the double UP wouldn’t be allowed.
6
@Brian
I thought it was a little cheap, but I liked the whole puzzle so much I decided it was ok.
1
@Brian the u must be tricky to fill around. i believe i have seen other puzzles where across and down both read as UP. we have to allow exceptions to the rule.
I H8 rebuses, but I'm getting better at them. I filled them first with a mix of ATE and OO, then tried ATEOO, and when all else failed I went with OO and found success. As often happens, Deb's column explained what I had just figured out. That's 42 in a row, eclipsing my PR of 41. The goal now is to break Joe D's record of 56.
2
I got hung up a bit having put SUIT for Hearts or spades before filling in GAME. Shouldn’t Spades be capitalized in this context? Too bad couldn’t fit Crazy Eights in there.
8
@James Hamje
Crazy 8s - gr8 idea!
@James Hamje
Do you capitalize chess? Checkers? Baseball?
TIL that names of games are in fact lower case unless a name in the game is normally capitalized or is a trademark.
1
Couldn’t figure out what THE FOUR THE ST8 was for far too long than I’m prepared to admit.
7
@Chris
I've never heard the term THE FOURTH ESTATE. I kept thinking the answer was "enemy of the state," but couldn't reconcile it with the crosses. i'm sure this phrase has some long historical significance to it, blah, blah, blah...
I'm more partial to "haters gonna hate". now there's a phrase that's gonna stand the test of time..
2
@Newbie
Well, if history is blah, blah, blah to you, nobody need go to the trouble to explain the Fourth Estate, and that's your loss.
P.S.: It's possible to dig Taylor Swift and know some of the astounding stories from history at the same time.
23
@paulymath
I find it funny that you thought I was serious. I figured the ... was a giveaway.
What I enjoyed more is that 15 people share your disdain. And for the record, I am/was team Katy.
But, you know that saying about h8rs...
I really enjoyed this one! It’s probably the first rebus I’ve solved with no hints at all, almost certainly as a result of pencilling in PIECES OF EIGHT early in the game. That triggered me to start thinking about “ATE/8”, especially since I was already wondering how to wedge TAILGATE in there. The “OO” behaviour in the vertical is frankly brilliant.
8
Clever, but I would note that for a couple where I gave up early on and asked to reveal square it gave the answer as the letter “O” not 8, which didn’t make any sense. Eg “CROR” for what a volcano may leave, not “CR8R”.
I got around the double-O eventually, but was pretty sure that the answer had to do with "doubloons" somehow. It took quite a while to come around to pieces of eight. Also, I had the whole grid filled in with "ATEOO" before I finally worked out the 8, which left me feeling smart and dumb all at once.
7
This turned out to be a fairly quick Thursday for me, strangely enough, as I figured out the gimmick with UP L8 (which I didn't have to be to finish), and I didn't G∞F UP after that. It wasn't all easy, as I had a few HUNCHes that didn't pan out. I was stuck on wHEW for the longest time; had a bit of difficulty remembering OPAH, didn't know OLEG; but managed to guess correctly on PATTI (wasn't sure of her genre).
I was el8ed to finish well under my average. I would like to congratul8 the cre8or for a gr8 puzzle.
5
Tricky! I had to come here to find out what the website wanted--I had ATE as a rebus--but otherwise I got it. Fun puzzle.
2
@Adina I had ATE as well, and all the clues filled in, and wasn't getting the "you've solved it!" music. So I looked at it again, hard--and figured it out. Fiendishly clever.
2
TAILGooPARTY: what happens in Texas when you remember to pack the food but not the ice.
56
@Sam Lyons Phew! For a moment, I thought you were going someplace completely different from where you ended up.
Loved this one! It was gr8!
4
Lately, rebus puzzles have been few and far between but very inventive and rewarding when they do appear, both of which suit me just fine!
11
THE FOURTH EST8 was where I first saw the need for a number 8 and the cross of SCH8(OO)L DAZE gave me my aha moment.
I love a tricky Thursday puzzle, and Holy RIP TORN, this was one!
As others have said, this was GR8!
:-D
8
And Candace Millard's 'River of Doubt' is a very good book IMHO. Highly recommended. A couple of days ago we had Xanadu in the puzzle, which Roosevelt keeps muttering in his fever.
Ok, enuff from me.
2
Extremely clever, I enjoyed that.
3
I almost always "solve" the Mini before moving on to the daily crossword . . . and I use the word "solve" in quotes because it usually is just an exercise in typing speed.
Often, though, Joel F. finds a way to work a clue/answer or two from the main puzzle into the Mini, to tie the two together. Sometimes on a Thursday, though, he will reveal the rebus or trick, which isn't all that cool (IMO).
Long story, um, longish by now, I guess I have to stop doing the Mini on Thursdays . . . even before opening the puzzle, my brain was looking for answers with "8" in them. The double meaning ("oo" sound in the down crosses) was quickly apparent as well...
Overall, great Thursday puzzle . . . great theme with tight and interesting answers. Close to record Thursday time for me (7 and change), but probably would have been in the 9-10 min range had my brain not been primed how to illustr8 the theme by the Mini!
4
@Dave Strongly agree, Mini kinda spoiled a bit of the fun.
For whatever reason, I have always treated the Mini as a dessert, trying to get the happy music to come right back after solving the regular puzzle. I guess you two have convinced me that I should keep that up!
8
@David Connell
I treat the Mini as a pesky fly to swat before the puzzle. I’m less civilized.
1
Major teeth-gnashing for me on this one up until the third (fourth? fifth?) pass when I finally figured out the trick in the NW. This is my first experience where figuring out the rebus only gets you part of the way!
This was a beautiful construction and it really floored me. What a satisfying solve.
7
Joe Deeney's being too hard on himself. What's wrong with Oleg and Kepi? Good words IMHO. I tried Igor and Alec (just because its Russian) before I got Oleg. And Kepi is just a good word. Otherwise it was fun. I caught on about midway through, which is what I'd think a constructor would shoot for. Thanks!
13
My time for this was the longest in my solve statistics. Not only did it take me a while to catch on to the nature of the "rebus," but the clues were teeming with TV stars and rock stars and movie names I had to look up (I don't follow popular culture much). Once I figured out the gimmick, it went pretty fast.
2
@Mary A.
I caught on to the "8" trick almost right away but I still couldn't have finished the puzzle without looking up some names. ODIN and OBAMA and of course OAHU easy, but then I couldn't even get WHooPI without looking up who played in the movie, because I had PLOd
and dH instead of WH. PATTI? POTTS? LOHAN? OLEG? No way!
1
And still another 8, in today's Mini puzzle!
8
@Philly Carey Another good reason for warming up with the Mini - I was emboldened early on to enter UPL8. Thanks, Joe & Joel !!
Figured out half of the trick by putting OOs for 28D - TOO SOON - knew that had to be right. But didn't figure out the other half (that across the OO is pronounced ATE) until 61A, because it was definitely ON A DATE. Then TAILGATE PARTY made sense.
The rest was pretty straightfoward. XRATED wasn't easy, I mean, who knows XFL team names? Just because they recently re-launched doesn't mean people knew the teams.
Had a hard time with the SE corner, mostly because I had LAVA instead of CRATER and put LAVAR for 51D because I always mix up "The Color Purple" and "Roots" in my mind. I knew the hat but couldn't remember the name KEPI. It wasn't until I wiped the corner clean and restarted that it all started to CLICK.
I enjoyed this puzzle - it's playful and tricky. For people who really didn't like it...to quote the puzzle "H8RS GONNA H8".
57D - I knew the answer thanks to various people who comment here. The clue for PEW - heh.
8
Ah! I see I could have used 8 instead of ∞ (OO). Works both ways. Pretty cool!
2
Gr8 Thursday fun! Clever and well clued. Really enjoyed this one.
1
“For whom Wednesday is named = ODIN” is true for Old Norse Ódinsdagr and its modern pan-Scandinavian descendant onsdag but not for English “Wednesday.” That would be phonologically impossible. Proto-Germanic /w/ is preserved in modern English, but in Scandinavia, it went one of two different ways: before the vowels a, e, and i, it changed to /v/ (vagn/wagon, vaka/to be awake, varmr/warm; vefa/to weave, veikr/weak, vel/well; vika/week, vindr/wind, visinn/wizened); before the rounded vowels o and u, it disappeared (ord/word, ormr/worm, odr/Middle English wode “mad, insane;” ull/wool, undra/to wonder, úlfr/wolf). Wednesday gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon deity Woden; if it were a Norse weekday-name, it wouldn’t begin with w, er, ouldn't.
17
Woden is a doublet of Odin, so it’s literally from the same etymology of Odin.
10
Fun puzzle ! at first I was totally stumped, then I got to XR∞ED, and the trick was revealed. Other fill was pretty str∞forward after that.
2
This puzzle had Multiple Frustration Opportunities, aka MFOs, a sure sign of a delicious Thursday. First, the frustr8ion of not knowing what the heck was going on, with a rebus of some sort appearing to be the most likely suspect, but none fitting. Second, the frustr8tion of finally getting the theme! but the puzzle still not yielding easily. Admittedly, a big part of that for me was a typo of sorts at T8S8N. I entered TOS8N, rather than T8S8N, and didn’t catch my mistake for a good while, blinding me from the fantastic H8RS GONNA H8. Third, well, I’m not sure what my third frustr8ion was, but I’m pretty sure there was one.
All that frustration made the solve all the sweeter, average time be darned.
Joe Deeney, this wasn’t just a G Thursday puzzle.
8
D
It was GR8!
33
People Have The Power (PATTI Smith/Fred “Sonic” Smith)
I awakened to the cry
That the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
It's decreed the people rule
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPR-HyGj2d0
12
@Puzzlemucker I was EL8ED by this puzzle--hit all five phases, especially that very special moment going from despair to enlightenment, which I got with ONAD8. I knew the OOs were involved, but that's when diabolical reality set in. Favorite Thursday in L8 memory.
3
The willing suspension of disbelief comes through again for a fun Thursday!
I had them all as “OO”, somehow thinking they could represent two coins (y’know, like whatever two coins add up to one piece of eight). But agree that putting “8” there is cuter.
8
Not a fan of this one. I prefer crossword puzzles that use rely on words to present a theme.
8
Is this a first time for HATERS GONNA HATE? Or should I say H8ERS GONNA H8? Or the way I entered it, HOOERS GONNA HOO? Not a hater tonight, thanks...
5
@Brian - one appearance in each year 2014, 2015, 2016, and not since then.
1
Here it was 11 characters —H8RSGONNAH8 — which IMO is a bit of a cheat. To be consistent with the other “8”-containing answers in the puzzle, the correct version would be H8ERSGONNAH8 (with an included E) wouldn’t it?
2
@Eileen Cohen
Wouldn't that make the first word "hateers"?
6
At first this puzzle seemed impossible. Then it dawned on me that ATE was simply not going to work as a rebus entry, but '8' might. And so it did.
Once I figured that out, the rest of the puzzle went smoothly (and, as a previous commenter remarked, pretty quickly).
5
@Chris R.
After trying ATE and ATE/OO with no success, I hit Reveal.
No other errors. Hmmm.
2
@Al in Pittsburgh
I also did the ATE/OO rebus. Once I peeked at the comments, I corrected those boxes and was fine. I never caught on to the 8 = OO going down.
Guess I'm slow today.
2
After ATE didn’t pan out I tried OO, which worked. But I didn’t fully get why it worked until reading Wordplay. It seems that only OO and 8 work because both can be read (with help of 90° rotation) as needed — either as “ate” or “oo.” But ATE cannot be read as “OO.”
[Note that a lot of posts contain the infinity symbol, which I’m guessing is somehow being automatically substituted when people type the letter “O” twice.]
This was quite a lot of fun! I didn't have much after a first pass at the Acrosses, but with the Downs, I figured it was a rebus with 00 in the special squares. But then. . . . TAILG00PARTY? Aha, a figure 8 looks like two 00s. So for a while I did some 00s and some 8s, but that looked too confusing, so I decided to go with the Acrosses and changed them all to 8s. This reminded me of one of Bruce Haight's (I think?) puzzles a few years ago that stacked up letters or used Hs or something (wish I could remember!).
The far SW corner--XFL and RIO was my last fill, once I figured out X-R8D.
I really did want ALIAS to be PEN NAME, so I would have preferred a different clue there.
5
@Liz B
Don't you mean Bruce H8...?
1
It hadn't dawned on me till reading LizB"s post that the weird squares could be thought of as filled with numeral 8's, phonetically reading "ate" across and "oo" down. Instead thought the O's were depictions of the coins.
1
@Liz B I too think I've seen this trick before, but it was with 8 and two stacked o's, just like today's.
Clever trick! The mini helped enormously!
8
I like how the revealer clue used the word "appropriate" for the number of squares - that there are 8 of them, and that the word has the same ending "8" in it.
Fun, but fast.
30
Gr8 catch, David. I didn't notice that.
6