Ms Kinnel presented her work i(salt)ear and concise manner; bravo.
why have there been so many religious, specifically christian, references in the crossword lately? if i wanted this sort of entertainment i would subscribe to infowars.
1
How were supposed to put NACL in the squares using the mobile app?
On thé iPhone app you tap “More” in lower left corner of the keyboard, then tap “Rebus.”
1
I too was using the mobile app and unable to enter the correct answers. This was only the second time I was forced to use “reveal”, which was a bummer. At least I see I’m not alone.
1
I’m “catching up” after out of state travels - but this one still deserves a comment.
I can award myself a solid, gold-star “SOLVE” in spite of not being able to work on the puzzle until Tuesday after publication.
And I have to say this is among the cleverest uses of a theme I have come across in the past two years (i.e. since I started this endeavor). The theme was discoverable and, one discovered, was essential to figuring out several of the theme answers - and their corresponding crosses.
I’m not sure how “Strain” goes with TUNE - but maybe it will dawn on me. The rest could be sussed out with the aid of crosses.
Ms. Kinnel deserves very high marks for this one!!
1
Loved this puzzle, but can’t get credit for solving. I use the I-phone app. I have entered the rebuses every way possible with no results. I hate to lose my streak!
I am grateful that is ANNOYANCE(s) is distracting me from the OODLES of real problems in the world today.
Super duper fun. A+ puzzle. I kept making myself laugh by reading the theme answers saying "NaCl" or "sodium chloride" instead of "salt". You are the sodium chloride of the earth.
I loved this puzzle! A perfect Sunday grid. Thank you ...I’m grateful to NYT and all who are boosting women puzzle makers.
I normally don’t like a rebus but I did like this one. (This is a rebus, correct? I picked up on the salt “theme” pretty early on so it was fun for me to try to spot them. The only problem was, for some reason, my iPad changed “salt’’ to the letter “N”. Don’t know why but I still enjoyed the puzzle. I literally groaned when I figured out that the “president” clue was Perón.
@Jaime Not sure, but did SALT getting changed to N have something to do with the answer being NACL? Maybe the ACL got cut off.
@Toby
Ouch!!
That ACL getting cut off made my knees hurt.
Some ERAS MUSt be experienced in order to be believed.
Thank you, Laura Taylor Kinnel, for adding to the CREDIT side of this one, with the must varied, intelligent and up/downright delightful puzzle of decent memory. The seasoning was impeccable.
Supersizing it for a Sunday was just casting another PURL to the OPALS.
Hope you become a regular on the NYT XWP menu.
1
Liked! Fun to have two AHA moments.
2
I figured out that SALT was needed in various places, but for the life of me couldn't see or get the NACL shift. With no "hint" or revealer answer anyway I thought this was a bummer. The puzzle was difficult and not a lot of fun for me.
6
Some puzzles have great theme answers but awkward fill; others have contrived theme answers but with decent fill. This had the best of both. I hope to see more work from Laura Taylor Kinnel.
4
Really? Why?
This puzzle busted my streak -- even though I solved it correctly. I Googled NYT Crossword double rebus and found instructions that first letters (i.e. S/N) would be accepted... it wasn't, though-- only SALT/NACL was accepted. Either the instructions are incorrect or there was a bug in the software -- either way it was an annoying way to have my streak busted.
1
How are you supposed to know that you can put four letters in one square on mobile?
1
RIGHT???? I figured it out the NACL bit and put S in those squares. There was no way on the mobile app to enter multiple letters!!!!
press the three dots
There’s a “rebus” button!
4
That was a wunnerful Sunday puzzle!
2
I do the Sunday puzzle from the paper and then transfer it to the app to keep my streak. When I was plugging my answers into the app, I noticed the listed clues for 109A are different on paper vs online. The answer is the same, though. Felt like finding a little Easter egg.
2
What are the differences in the clues?
@PhilO
The clue in the paper was “Wimp,” rather than “Get cold feet with ‘out’”.
2
Awesome theme. I caught on to the rebus change with PIN(NACL)E. I’m actually shocked I remembered something from high school chemistry 35 years ago!
3
Awesome theme. I caught on to the rebus change with PIN(NACL)E. I’m actually shocked I remembered something from high school chemistry 35 years ago!
i get TAX CREDIT, but not AXE (Big feller?). Can someone explain?
1
As in “to fell a tree”
6
Frustration again... Once again, the app for my tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab A) refused to accept some of the rebus entries as correct, even though I got NACL right off the bat. Only the third and fifth ones. I hate it when I lose a streak because the app is wonky!
4
I had the same problem.
PLEASE FIX THE APP!!!
1
Loved this puzzle. It’s everything I love about a Sunday: clever with a great aha moment for me but with quality fill (there were no areas where I felt the author was phoning it in or obscure crosses or anything—the fill was just the right amount of challenging for me without being frustrating). I didn’t fill a ton in my first go through but even as a bit of a slower burn, I still felt that overall it wasn’t super hard—just what I’d want out of a Sunday. Thanks for a beautiful puzzle!
2
Very pleased to finish this after a slow start. My final bafflement turned out to be a bit of sans font trouble - wondering how chum could mean the same as roil.
2
I haven't gotten to the Sunday Puzzle yet, but enjoyed the Sunday mini this morning, particularly the clever BEER/BUDWEISER clue.
I really enjoyed last week's puzzles; superb efforts from the constructors. Yesterday's Saturday puzzle was one of my favorite Saturday puzzles ever, and I, too, enjoyed the Wednesday puzzle's fun trickery.
1
Great puzzle, and a great week! More puzzles by these women, please!
3
Great end to a great week! (Especially loved the Wednesday trickery!) 👍
3
Did this one early this morning, but had a busy day and didn't have time to come here and comment.
First of all, very amazing and original idea and a truly impressive feat of construction. Just a great puzzle all around.
But, for me... I got all the across theme answers and filled in SALT as the rebus. It was clear that that just wasn't working for some of the down answers, but it never dawned on me to try something else. Oh, and I was still stuck in a number of other places - in some part at least, due to the lack of the down crosses. I'd like to think that if I'd put it aside and come back to it later that I might have had a shot, but I didn't. Really sorry to have missed the great big 'aha' moment.
2
This was truly an incredible week with nary a dud puzzle in the bunch. Truly the best whole week in NY Times Crossword Puzzle history! Which should show the Times that they need to publish more puzzles from women since they are very talented constructors.
From my fingertips to Will Shortz's ears!
7
This puzzle was truly incredible! The idea that someone could create a symmetrical grid that included answers that read “salt” in one direction and “NaCl” in the other direction - the mind boggles! Hats off to Ms. Kinnel, and thanks for an exciting end to a wonderful week!
9
Really enjoyed this puzzle - and it's a new Sunday best for me!
1
Clever puzzle, two thumbs up, although I'm tempted to throw the RED FLAG on 60D, as I struggled to work the NaCl gimmick into the long entry there. I guess I expect symmetry in Rebus puzzles.
New word for the brain bucket: LLANERO instead of VAQUERO for a South American cowboy.
can someone explain how 71A STRAIN = TUNE?
7
@Will Elliott They're synonyms. You may recognize the song lyric "that old familiar strain from way back when..."
1
They are near synonyms when referencing music. I tend to think of a strain as a snippet of a song. So when hearing a piece of music I might say, "Those last few strains were lovely."
3
@Amrie that’s new to me but thank you!!
1
Erasmus is my favorite writer! Is this his debut in the puzzle. I have been doing the puzzle for decades and don't ever remember seeing his name. And Deb is write about the appropriateness of his name being near SATIRES. Erasmus' "In Praise of Folly" is considered the return of the satirical voice to European letters, not heard since classical times.
1
Francis,
ERASMUS has been here before and clued to "In Praise of Folly" before, but his most recent prior appearance (Nov 2018) was clued: Who wrote "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
(My father was a 1930 graduate of Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School.)
4
My father attended Erasmus, too. :-)
help! my 100 day streak is on the line!!
my puzzle is done and accurate, but the app is not recognizing it as complete!
I can share screenshot, if necessary.
4
Try deleting a box and typing it in again
It is sometimes hard to find your error in the Sunday puzzle but trust me. If it says you made made an error, you made an error.
3
@Daniel Tried that. On both my phone, and my laptop.
2
When it comes to SALT,
King
LEE
AR
had it right.
But wheN A CLear
case is maid
to PERUSE an other,
And we remember...
ISN'T it
INN Othello?
...it's EUR EGO
So SUTURE SELF...
But I'm gonNA CLose
with Thanks EMILIAn!!
4
Enjoyed the puzzle but I'm new at rebuses and when "salt/nacl" didn't work, I looked up some directions and figured I must need to put "s/n" instead. Nope, still wrong. So I gave up and checked the answer. Not "salt" but "nacl." Clearly, the directions I read were wrong. Clearly, I also need more practice at rebuses. Still, a fun puzzle.
4
@How We Did It
Not sure what happened there. "SALT/NACL" worked for me on a desktop PC.
fun puzzle, loved it!
3
This was a wonderful puzzle, and finished off a wonderful week of puzzles! So inventive, so fun, and not a dull one in the bunch.
6
The. Best. Sunday. Ever.
8
FWIW, Laura, I like your original title much better. I love wordplay, and the double meaning of "Table" is great.
5
Except that NaCl is not in the periodic table of *elements*.
@Treegarden But Na and Cl sure are.
2
I was wowed by this super puzzle, glad to see that I’m not alone.
I got the GRAIN OF clue first and spent a long time trying to figure out how that was going to work with Peak, but what delight when I thought of NACL! That was what I entered as the only rebus and it was counted as correct in Across Lite on my iPad. (Although only the NA showed up)
Laura has beautifully wrapped up what has been a fabulous week.
10
In the spirit of enjoying the cultural references in the NYTXW, I've started a to build a playlist on Spotify of songs referenced in the daily puzzle. The Playlist is https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vxpMh06oxbZz1YCwGfiic?si=ZV1yMHw6SRawTMJGujeasw
Today I added "All I Have to Do is Dream" by the Everly Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Old McDonald", the Overture from "A Life for the Tsar" by the Bolshoi Theater Choir and "The Pearl Fisher's Duet" by the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureaux.
I've also set up a spreadsheet that anyone can comment to add a new song, following the template I've set up. I think it'd be fun to see what kind of list each year puts together.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13Ld8gVTHnIOMN0ePvgmPue7lyYi054TSPnkgd2e275A/edit?usp=sharing b
4
Can't believe I boned this one. Such a simple fix too... really PUT salt in the wound!
2
LETTER BOXED
A-D (8) D-T (8j
There may be something shorter, but as I was thinking of brunch this leapt out...
75 D is a second clue in today's puzzle with an operatic twist.
There are multiple operas in which the soprano makes her first entrance accompanied by her attendant/maidservant, etc... During this scene, the soprano converses with/complains to the servant, providing background to the opera story.
These "compromario/a" characters are typically sung by a mezzo soprano. Later in the opera, she will vocal balance during quartets, sextets, etc..
In this Act III quartet from Otello, Stefania Malagu (Emilia) joins with Jose Van Dam (Ludovico), Michel Senechal (Roderigo) and Aldo Bottion (Cassio) as they respond to Otello's condemnation of Desdemona over that missing handkerchief.
https://www.opera-arias.com/verdi/otello/quell-innocente-un-fremito/
2
An uncanny day with Spelling Bee. l was charmed by a spry little beetle doing laps across the top edge of my netbook. I turned away to tell my wife about it. Then I turned back and made Genius.
4
@Speede
A Spelling Beetle, was it? I'll bet it was there just for AULD Lang Syne.
1
Terrific... and if you liked the sneaky trick here go try today’s cryptic puzzle. Full disclosure: they’re my favorite puzzle and I would love to inspire more fans.
3
@Susan S. If you like cryptic, have you tried English versions. They are killer and I have never solved one completely. Scrip to London Times is relatively cheap.
3
@Kevin Phillips
I’ve tried them and I agree with you. Too hard for me to finish. The ones in the Times have various levels of difficulty within each puzzle, but with enough effort can be completed. Today’s was really fun and the Wordplay column would be a good place for a beginner to start to learn how they’re solved.
@Kevin Phillips The Financial Times has cryptics Monday through Saturday and they're free. ( FT.com) I find them challenging but most days I can get them mostly solved. There is a blog that discusses various British cryptics called fifteensquare.net which is very useful. (And if you think Wordplay has nitpickers you haven't seen the best of them!)
Haven't read all the comments - maybe this is mentioned elsewhere also. Can't help but think of the McGarrigle sisters' song, "NaCl (Sodium Chloride)" with lyrics like "unsuspecting chlorine" and "handsome sodium." http://www.mcgarrigles.com/music/the-mcgarrigle-hour/nacl-sodium-chloride
4
I imagine a lot of us were torn between IAM and SUM for the Descartes thing. In my pen and paper days I would have entered both and waited for crosses to decide. On line, I went with SUM which slowed me down slightly. But as bedtime neared, I had changed my SALTs to NACLs and things were clicking along so steadily that I couldn't stop. It was nearly half an hour beyond bedtime when I got the "something wrong" message and knew I had to wait until morning. Then I reset my alarm clock to DST and got to bed an hour and a half late.
This morning, it was easier to fix than I had feared. I misspelled PeRL; had wondered at the time how "AcNO expense" could mean "free," but SecURES seemed reasonable for "Sews up." Now to see what Caitlin has to say and then probably post this, half a day late.
@kilaueabart alas, PERL and ACNO secured the end of my mini-streak! I knew something was off but couldn't find my error. ENDRUN also didn't make sense to me (not a football fan) but at least it looked plausible.
1
To use such a difficult combo of letters as NACL in a rebus is a remarkable thing and I'm impressed. I also always like it when the Acrosses and Downs work differently in a rebus, so I really liked this aspect as well. The only disappointment is that once I had the rebus, I had it, and the rest of the puzzle became too easy. To have a rebus that is altered in some way throughout the puzzle makes it more challenging.
But so what if I didn't "suffer" enough today. I suffered enough the last three days to make up for it. Two splendid themelesses on Fri and Sat, preceded by that missing letters puzzle on Thursday that I mistakenly thought was a rebus. All I can say is that the women have acquitted themselves well this week. After what was for me a very, very disappointing Mon and Tues, the rest of the week has been really good. Nice work!
3
Well, that was totally satisfying and tons of fun! The BUGLER alerted me to the fact that SALT IN THE WOUND was not going to work....delightful Aha! Moment.
I wanted SUM (Cogito ergo sum) instead of I AM, and the fact that the M was correct made it harder to reconsider.... And I was looking for more things that shake (hands, earthquakes, dice, milk, unbalanced washer-loads) but gave that up quickly.
Hoping for more from this constructor!
2
In whatever language, "I think, therefore I am" is a fallacy.
Because the first clause uses the word "I" it already assumes the conclusion.
Not that you asked.
3
@polymath
If he had said “Unicorns think...”, would your logic still hold?
1
Steve and polymath,
I hope you're both kidding...
6
Another potential rebus error. While rechecking the rebusses, I found I had a leading blank space in front of one of the NACLs. Fixed it and got my solve. A leading [space] does not show up in the filled in square, but it will prevent a solve.
4
If I TAP CREDIT (not a noun as suggested by clue) wouldn't that increase what I owe instead of decreasing it? Or at best, not change my overall debtif I pay one obligation by tapping into a line of credit?
@Common Tater
Thanks for the laugh!
You might want to check the crossing where you put the P and try some other possibilities.
I had the same mistake for awhile. It should be TAX CREDIT and AXE.
1
Common Tater,
I agree with you that if the third letter in the 42D answer
had been a P, the clue would have been incorrect. Lucky for us, X marks the spot.
I have been solving the NYT Xword on a daily basis since 1989, and I put this puzzle in the very top tier of all the crosswords I have ever seen. It has wit, style, substance, class, and charm. This morning we are in the presence of greatness.
26
Sometimes the Universe does such interesting things... I cottoned on to the rebus element fairly quickly (or so I thought) but for some inexplicable reason, I decided to use the NYT online short cut of only entering the first letter. I have *never* done this before, always liking how the tiny letters look in a single square, but for some odd reason, today I just entered "S" for salt. Imagine how proud of myself I was when I discovered that the rebus was not salt, but NACL. All I had to do was change the "S" to an "N" and it was off and running again. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket today...
Anyway, I liked this puzzle! I've seen only a small handful of puzzles where the rebus was used differently in the across (or down) entries than in the down (or across) entries. It's that extra layer that takes the puzzle from (oh, OK it's a salt rebus) to (hey! wait a minute - what the heck is ISALTUMP??? Yeah, that was a fun *DOH* moment!
Thanks to the entire NYT team for making this week of women constructor puzzles such a great success. This was a great week of solving!
3
@Steve Faiella, I successfully completed the grid using salt, not nacl, and it was accepted as a winning entry. That said, when I opened it up again the rebus had been changed to nacl.
5
@Simon
I was wondering, even as I changed my SALTs (I had three of them at the time) to NACLs, whether SALT would also have passed. Thanks for the confirmation.
1
@Simon
Aah! So either S or N probably would have been Ok...
CaN A CLue SPICE UP an entry?
Proof positive with with Sounds everywhere for BAA BAA; Big feller for AXE; What flies usually become for OUTS; Moved like Jagr for DEKED; Agent of change for DYE; This for one for CLUE (portmanteau of Cloy and gLUE?)
Although Ms Kinney didn't like it, I thought I[NACL]UMP was just fine.
Tasty, and perfectly salted.
4
Welp... there goes my average time. Spent so much time trying NACL, NACL/SALT, SALT/NACL etc... went over the puzzle again and again. Saw the comments about a bug. Thought, let’s have one last go around and realized it wasn’t SPRATt - which is how we spelled in the old country. Doh! Always read the clue carefully.
1
Ok, I’ve put in every combination of NACL/SALT, SALT/NACL,NACL and SALT and still get “keep trying”. What’s up?
2
@Roger k
AAARGH! Any chance we can lay off the rebuses for a while? Seems to be becoming an overused trope, yes?
3
@Roger
You only need NACL (actually, you only need a single letter - "N"). The "salt" comes from reading NACL as it's more commonly used term.
Likely you have another error somewhere. Either SALT or NACL should have worked if the rest of the puzzle is correct. Check again, then hit yourself upside the head when you find it.
1
I liked that "salary" was in the middle. From the Latin "sal" (salt).
17
How does one get into rebus mode on the iPhone app?
Bottom left of the keyboard, there is a “More” button. Tap that, and a “Rebus” button will show up.
6
@Jesse Thank you!
I finally finished the main puzzle. I was surprised that it only took me the same amount of time as last Sunday. I was really lost in the weeds.
The theme was very clever. I enjoyed how the rebus worked differently in both directions.
Many answers made me chuckle once I got them.
4
How am I supposed to put nacl into one space on line?.........
@David Go to the square in question and the hit the 'rebus' button just above the DOWN clues. Then enter the rebus letters (NACL in this case) and move to another square.
2
@David
I'm going to sound like a broken record today, but you only need the "N" (first letter of rebus) when solving electronically (using the NYT app or website - I can't speak to Across Lite or any other solving app).
Maybe for you. But for me, on the app, entering N or S or NACL or SALT all resulted in “keep trying.” Lost my streak trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong -/ though I hadn’t, as it turned out. Annoying.
I've never seen a puzzle with a rebus before which made this totally maddening. Maybe include an explaination or a link to an example rebus next time...
2
@gabe
There is an article here on the wordplay blog titled "Yes, you can enter more than one letter in a square" (or words to that effect). It will explain all about rebus entries and how to deal with them.
1
The first rebus I encountered made me mad as a wet hen! Fast forward a couple hundred puzzles and now I love 'em!
4
Rebuses are a common feature of Times puzzles. They are most common on Thursdays and Sundays. There's got to be a first time for everyone- unfortunately, your first exposure was a more nefarious example. Next time hopefully you won't be caught off guard.
2
To me the difficulty level felt more like a Wednesday. But the theme answers were well crafted.
Cindy,
The editors should be pleased. We hear the difficulty of a Sunday puzzle is supposed to be about Wednesday level, with the possibility, as here, of some Thursday-like tricks.
4
So salty ! Just to my taste !
3
I finally broke and used autocorrect, which I have never done before. I’m told that the “o” in “(salt) in the wound” is incorrect. I think not! How do I get my streak back?? How do I get my happy music?
1
@Melissa
Did you check and see if it was the letter o and not the number 0. That’s broken many a streak for me in the past!
2
@Melissa
Once you use any of the help functions (autocorrect, fill in a letter or word), your streak is over. Time to start a new one! :-)
I thought of that, but it would be a hard mistake to make in the phone keyboard since you have to switch from letters to numbers. Oh well.
I wouldn't wanNA CLaim this one was easy?
8
Anybody else having a problem with the rebus function on a Macbook Pro/Yosemite? I have combed through this puzzle repeatedly and see no errors. Have tried entering "salt," "nacl," "saltnacl," and even "salt/nacl" but the puzzle will not complete. I'm at a streak of 672 and was hoping to hit 1000 before I let it slide but this one may end it.
5
Yeah! I’m not on any streak at all, a trudger in a field of sprinters, but it still hurts to get the puzzle all right and just not know how to put Nacl/salt into a single square on my iPhone. It’s like the frustration of coming up with perfectly good words on Spelling Bee, only to have them rejected “just because” (not proper nouns, in the dictionary)
4
@Lorene Lavora My MacBook with Chrome is happy with just NACL in the rebus squares.
@Andrew Thanks. I have tried that - and I've tried it in Chrome and Firefox! I'm starting to wonder if it's old OS related. (Retired IT person here...)
2
This puzzle was solid and engaging, sans ANNOYANCES, and I left it very glad that I did it. Thank you for your efforts in making and remaking this, Laura!
I greatly like the nerdiness of having NACL as a rebus, and I enjoyed cracking what seemed like many fresh clues. My favorite wordplay clue was [Lightly roast] for TEASE. I did notice that RED FLAG was appropriately raised. Finally, I'd love to listen in on the conversation if the following were sitting at the same table: Harper LEE, ERASMUS, Shirley MACLAINE, and GANDHI. Oh, and throw in puzzle-neighbors CAP'N OODLES.
7
@Lewis I had, after a couple of cross letters, ToaSt for 'Lightly roast.' I must admit I was a little annoyed by this - I don't think that there is a rule that the clue and the answer cannot rhyme but it seemed a little off to me. So I was glad when I had to abandon it and TEASE arose from its ashes. A very pretty clue.
2
[gazes at the puzzle adoringly]
How utterly over the mooN A CLever puzzle can leave you!
Also, yesterday’s HOME SWEET HOME turned out to be a prelude to today’s shout-out to my hometown. OH TO drive past the [NaCl] Flats again on a weekend getaway to play 25-cent poker in that mecca of iniquity, Wendover, NV, pop. 2,000, just two hours away from SLC (if you got pulled over OR were doing the speed limit). Just now even the half a closet of 2002 Winter Olympics gear my better half refuses to part with in case the weather in Austin turns arctic is leaving me misty-eyed.
9
This was so much fun! As a biologist, I am always very happy to see science clues. This one was charming.
8
12A/13D/15D was a Natick for me and I guessed wrong. I should have spent more time on APE/TAPCREDIT since the latter didn’t really make sense in the context of the clue.
1
@Jim
You weren't alone, apparently. There's a confused Texan on the board just now....his was the first Comment I saw, and I had to laugh out loud.
SPELLING BEE GRID
L A B D G U Y
WORDS: 44, POINTS: 158, PANGRAMS: 1 (1 Perfect)
First character frequency:
A x 5
B x 12
D x 6
G x 10
L x 10
U x 1
Word length frequency:
4L: 22
5L: 11
6L: 6
7L: 2
8L: 3
Grid:
4 5 6 7 8 TOT
A: 3 2 - - - 5
B: 5 3 4 - - 12
D: 3 2 1 - - 6
G: 5 3 1 - 1 10
L: 5 1 - 2 2 10
U: 1 - - - - 1
TOT:22 11 6 2 3 44
Two letter list:
AB-1 AL-4
BA-5 BL-2 BU-5
DA-1 DU-5
GA-3 GL-3 GU-4
LA-6 LU-4
UG-1
61
@Doug
QBALTBBM (after a long time but by myself)
Where are:
BALDY -- a guy like me
BALLBAG -- anybody coach Little League?
BAGLADY
BUAL -- anybody drink Madeira?
BABBLY
???
At least we have that nice GL4 we had missed.
Time to finish my wine.
**S P E L L I N G B E E H I N T S**
44 words, 158 points, 1 perfect pangram.
Yesterday my hints never got posted after I submitted them, today I got the DST time change backwards. It's 12:14 am on the West Coast, but 4:14 am in New York. For some reason I thought I would have to wait until 1 am my time for the new Bee.
Hints coming up.
18
Lots & lots of adjectives & adverbs.
Hints:
Skillfully
What builds up on an aquarium, singular noun & adj.
Put (fears, e.g.) at rest
Song performed by a minstrel
An overfull pocket, adj.
Sound of drinking or pouring, only recently allowed
Soviet labor camp
More easily duped, adv.
Water-worn ravine
Red, spotted flying garden beetle, perfect pangram
Worthy of praise
Hawaiian party or feast
A doozy
33
I forgot a hint for my last word, the one I needed the grid to find.
A slow online game or connection, adj.
3
@Kevin - I have a feeling we’ve had these letters before.
2
It would be great for those of us prefecting our crossword skills to be
able to delete incorrect rebus answers when we toggle autocheck off in
both the iOS app and on Safari in iOS.
I've run across this before. In today's puzzle, I couldn't change the word
salt to the formula NACL, after I realized my error.
Any plans for a fix a fix?
I’m on an iPad, I could change it by tapping the square, then the rebus key, use the backspace key, and retyping the correct letters. Maybe this will help you?
7
@Ellen
You only need the first letter of any rebus, entered like any other letter, for the puzzle to recognize it. Saves time and effort if you need to change it (although as I mentioned earlier, I do like seeing the mini letters in the single square). LOL.
@Robert Rutherford
Thanks so much. After using all my brainpower for crossword solving, I guess not too much was left for dealing with an app.
Ellen
I figured out the SALT rebus with a grain of salt and rubbing SALT in the wound. I love rebus puzzles but dislike the guessing game for how the crossword expects you to enter it.
Would have finished about five minutes sooner (using the iPhone app) but had a mishmash of SALT and NACL initially. Replaced all with SALT, then NACL, finally guessed at NACL/SALT and got my gold star.
Solving time 31:43
4
@Scott Adolph I just had NACL - no SALT - in each rebus spot - worked for me. (MacBook/Chrome) I cannot imagine doing the puzzle on a phone: it's hard enough with a full screen.
3
Another streak-busting rebus puzzle that doesn't work properly in the NYT Android app.
This didn't use to be a problem.
How about we get the app fixed before the next rebus puzzle?
6
@Rebecca B I agree, seems to be a new glitch for the Android app. I haven't had trouble with rebus boxes before but this one was very resistant to the correct NACL entry; i had to reenter several as SALT/NACL before it completed the puzzle.
1
Didn’t work in my iPhone, either.
The original title ("On the Table") would have been delicious above the puzzle, but in the constructor notes is the next best place.
The replacement name ("What's Shaking") lead me to think for a while that maybe the down answers had the letters from SALT 'shaken up' in that spot!
3
@Aarglefarg
I agree! I think her title is brilliant, but I'm not sure I would have got the double meaning on my own.
1
My first problem was BRAGS instead of CROWS, but that didn't last long. Knew 2D had to be RAN A CLOSE SECOND, but knew it didn't fit, so that was my first rebus hint. Also knew 17A had to be something about salt in a wound, but figured out from the title it had to be something with salt. BUGLER gave me RUB, and knew salt had to be the rebus. But then looking a 2D again, I saw raNACLosesecond, so NACL is what I put in all the rebus squares, which helped out with the crosses where salt didn't make sense. This was a lot of fun to work on, despite getting messed up with APE/ABE/AXE, which is what I ended up fixing to finish up.
It's been a great week! Thanks to all the constructors, and looking forward to another Women's Week next year (or anytime).
2
45 Across, SALARY, etymologically comes from Ancient Rome, where a soldier's salary was the amount he got to buy SALT.
36
I noticed that and was wondering if Laura did it on purpose.
1
I believe there were instances when payment would be made with salt itself. Even though salt is a pretty humble commodity in modern age, it was enormously important in ancient times, not only for flavoring and preserving food, but for preparing leather, dying cloth, some kinds of metallurgy, and in animal husbandry. Et cetera. I remember some years back, Noel from New Mexico recommending a slim book simply called SALT, about its role in the commerce and history of nations. He was absolutely right; it's a fascinating read.
Well, off to the salt mines.
SALT came quickly. But for a long time I couldn't see how the downs worked. When NACL popped into my head, my jaw literally dropped. A thing of beauty!
12
A tricky little thing with a clever scheme. I'm not a huge rebus fan, but I can see them coming. I knew the words were right, so it was driving me nuts. I am hardcore about not looking anything up, but I finally did a web search on the double rebus. I had tried the slash and also a blank between them, but had the words reversed. That did it, and now I can go back and fix the other double from a couple weeks ago. :)
2
Fun puzzle.
I must say, I've been very successful this week solving the puzzles, which is definitely not close to the norm for me. I am guessing every day was "easy" for its respective day. Maybe minus Wed.
Great concept. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if NACL wasn't an answer from last week. I know it was a coincidence, kinda like how one-up kept showing up this week.
I also liked how the rebus had to be NACL, not SALT. So no amibiguity. I'm still kinda "salty" from that 8/OO rebus a couple weeks back.
Let's just make it women's month. Why did we stop at one week?
9
@Newbie
Nice job! Practice definitely makes better, if not perfect. Seemed like a range of feedback re the overall difficulty of the puzzles this week, so I don’t think you could say they were necessarily “easy” or that you shouldn’t feel great about solving all of them. Took me way longer than a couple months to get through an entire Saturday when I started doing crosswords many moons ago.
(If you’re looking for archived puzzles, I did a couple of Joe Krozel Thursdays today that I liked and were tough but doable: 6/19/08 and 4/2/15)
4
@Puzzlemucker
Thanks for the kind words. I’ll definitely look up your recos. Hope I’m as successful with them as you were.
Trust Newbie to come up linking women with monthlies.
@Puzzlemucker, good on you for your choice! Aren't we seriously overdue for a good Joe Krozel molar-crunching? He must be off lollygagging someplace.
1
I was watching an old West Wing episode after the puzzle, and the character CJ said, "You've got to be a cryptographer. They speak in combinations of letters that don't spell anything but end up meaning table salt." The puzzle took me longer than usual but brava!
13
Fantastic theme. Cultural references a bit more obscure for me than I'm used to seeing on Sunday, but no complaint, an enjoyable challenge. It's been a great week, thank you ladies all. Definitely looking forward to more Women's Weeks!
1
This is a beautifully conceived and constructed puzzle, with a clever theme, many witty clues, and no fake words in the fill.
I was a bit thrown off (but dealt with it) and also a bit disappointed by the random placement of the themed answers. Usually they follow some kind of symmetry so they don't have to be hunted diwn. Ultimately, though, this is a smallish quibble, so this puzzle gets only an A++ instead of an A+++.
Bravo.
When will we see your next effort?
2
@alex Horizontally, which words are part of the theme are symmetrical but not the placement of the rebus within those words.
2
As a chemist I am ashamed to admit that it took me a while to see the dual reference to salt/NaCl, but I have to say that I really loved it. The author truly earned her NaCl today. I especially liked the clue “what flies become”. Also I could not help noticing that OBI and WANd were side-by-side. Thanks for a good challenge.
22
I've only just made a 1st pass in the main puzzle, but I finished the mini. When I saw the last across clue, the blanks interspersed with letters, I assumed words went in the blanks. I didn't notice the "fill in the missing letters" in the clue. Only after I completed the puzzle with the down answers did I get it.
A fun Sunday well worth its NaCl!
6
By the time I got to NaCl Lake City, Utah it was same ol’ same ol’. Having read a few of the gushy comments below looks like it’s just me! :)
1
Very nicely challenging! I think I saw the theme with 112A--I tried to enter THE SALT OF THE EARTH, but that didn't fit, then I tried SALT OF THE EARTH, but that didn't work with the crosses I had. Same thing with RUB SALT IN THE WOUND. So I had some empty squares for a while, figuring that if I continued to fill in what I was sure of, I'd eventually see what was supposed to go into the empty squares. And I did!
Enjoyed it a lot.
2
Mistake in the Sunday Mini. The character in The Odd Couple is Felix UngAr, not UngEr.
1
@Sandra Wilde
This came up recently. It's Unger in the TV show; Ungar in the play and movie.
4
@vaer
Which may be why the clue today said "TV's Odd Couple". The earlier clue did not specify; still not wrong, since if it is sometimes true, it's a fair clue.
1
This was so much fun to do! The trick revealed itself very quickly which, of course, greatly facilitated getting the other ones.
I do have a tech-type question. A few months ago I asked how to get into Rebus mode on my Windows laptop, and several kind commenters told me "Press ESC." My next question is, how do I get out of Rebus mode just using the keyboard and without everything turning blue? TIA, again!
@Millie I tested this out just now on an old puzzle to make sure. Just pressing Enter gets you out of Rebus mode and keeps what you wrote. Pressing ESC gets you out of Rebus mode and discards what you just put into the rebus box. Neither of these Checks the puzzle or puts it in Autocheck for me...
1
@Aarglefarg
Thank you very much for going to that trouble and writing this comment!! I will love not having to mess with the mouse!
How do you get into rebus mode on an iPhone, I’m wondering? I’ll have to look it up, I guess. It’s an iPhone 11 so should be doable. By the way, functionality very low on certain bottom-row letters like “n” and “c” on the iPhone, O all-knowing NYT (just musing aloud here)
1
I don’t usually do the Sunday (or any) puzzle this early. Today, in an effort to distract myself from the news, I thought I’d just do a first pass. But I got hooked! (Not DEKED—though I’m still not sure what that is, only that it relates to hockey.)
Once I saw the NACL rebus, I just couldn’t stop. I saw it fairly early on, when I wanted to enter “WITH A GRAIN OF salt”, but it didn’t fit. First I tried “salt” as a rebus but that didn’t fit with the PIN_ E that I had coming down through it. Then I saw that PINNACLE worked there if you just used the letters as they were without translating it to “salt”. Wow! Such a cool concept, reading across as “salt” but down as NACL—which is something we’ve seen before (the rebus 8 as “ate” going across, but as OO going down). I loved every bit of it and it definitely distracted me. So now I guess I’ll have to do an archive puzzle to get through tomorrow.
4
"Deke" is a move in hockey in which the player with the puck makes a move to get around a defender.
Jagr is a hockey player, not to be confused with Jagger... the old rocker for whom "I've got the Moves Like Jagger" was written about. 😎
2
Being on a SALT-avoidance diet, this one definitely had the potential to raise my blood pressure! But it was "Keep calm and carry on" all the way. 2D and 20A set the tone for "NACL" down and "SALT" over. Fun fun! Well done! What a week, eh?
7
Brava, my sister! (If you'll accept my attempt to enter your rarefied realm.)
I've replied to an early comment about double-checking myself on how to enter the competing NACL/SALT rebus entries.
After I'd (thought I'd) finished, though, I didn't get Mr. Happy Pencil and had to double-triple check my entries. Asked Ms. Check, who told me I'd made two errors.
The first was that I had entered DEMISOFT instead of SEMISOFT at 16A. Not knowing anything about Australian (or any other) basketball, I hadn't expected that the entry would be a word I'd recognized. When I thought of SEMISOFT, and OPALS became apparent, I hung my head in shame. Nice team name. Good for those women in Australia.
My other error was marginally less embarrasing: I had confidently entered APE at 52A, but couldn't for the life of me figure out what a TAP CREDIT was supposed to be. It took an alphabet run for me to get to the problematic X and see how foolish I had been.
So here I am, with two errors, and an admitted failure. But an enjoyable failure. One thing that's nice about not being a speed-solver or a streak-solver is that I can seriously (or gigglingly) enjoy my own mistakes.
Thanks to all.
16
There's a genuine ambiguity here.
TAB CREDIT is a reduction in what one owes.
ABE was a tall feller who split rails.
Although TAX CREDIT is more idiomatic than TAB CREDIT, "big" fits ABE better than it does AXE. And "feller" fits a log-cabin type in two senses.
2
I think feller refers to something that can fell (ie bring down) big things, namely trees. so an AXE is a feller of big trees.
2
I am (almost) speechless at how brilliant this is. I am doing the Wayne’s World “we’re not worthy” bow in the constructor’s direction. WOW!
12
It was a very clever puzzle, but I'm admittedly more impressed by this constructor's previous Sunday grid that was linked in the entry. That theme had me in awe as I discovered wrinkle after wrinkle in how the whole theme came together.
2
Throwing a compound consisting of an alkali metal and a halogen at someone is a salt.
(I'm sodium tired of these puns.)
45
@Mike
Do you just dash these off?
14
@Puzzlemucker
It's just a thing briney guys like @Mike do as they go saline off into the sunset.
4
OODLES of love for this whole week of puzzles! Each was a satisfying solve that I wish I could do again for the first time!
6
This week’s puzzles were seasoned to taste. Liked ‘em all but Tracy Gray’s Wednesday ONE UP stood out for me. On second thought, CC’s “Look hands, no MA” Thursday puzzle was a tour de force. Oh, oh, Friday’s barn burner by Caitlin Reid rocked THE CASBAH and took Jeff Chen’s POW! And, of course, Robyn Weintraub’s first ever Saturday was as smooth as a Saturday can be, and had some great stacks. And then there’s this graceful Sunday (only Laura Taylor Kinnel’s second ever puzzle, wow!) with a great theme nearly perfectly executed, OODLES of good clues, and bonuses like DRIVE UP A WALL, RED FLAG, TAX CREDIT, SHOWOFFS, and SPICES UP. Great week. Let’s do it again. Soon!
19
@Puzzlemucker -- I love your post, but a slight correction. This is Robyn's fourth Saturday, according to XwordInfo.
1
@Lewis
Thanks, Lewis. My memory is getting terser every day. As a good friend likes to say, “Of course, you should double-check everything I tell you.”
1
I dont usually enjoy the rebus puzzles, but this one was fun. I got the SALT part, but didnt get the NACL part until I looked at the hint (hanging my head in shame!). It was a great week of puzzles. Thanks!!
1
@Navcad82
What hint? Do you mean the title?
@Navcad82
I also got the rebus SALT fairly early on and for one fleeting moment thought that maybe it was the scientific alter ego NACL in the other direction, but quickly discarded the idea as being too devious. I should know better.
I thought that this puzzle was a fun exercise and, when the device of the SALT/NACL discovered, a marvel of construction.
Good job Laura!
Good fun!
How do you enter the double answers?
1
Generally you get away with one or the other. At least in the NYT app.
2
Esther,
With teeny tiny letters. (It's really rough for those of us who still solve with chisel on stone.)
10
@Esther Lee
Use AcrossLite, and then cheat the way I did:
Saw the SALT-across/NACL-down gimmick early, tried to enter SALT/NACL or NACL/SALT in the rebus squares, but AL wouldn't accept the slash.
So here's the cheating part: I opened another blank grid in another window, entered SALT in one of the rebus squares, and went to check for that square. Rejected. Changed it to NACL, checked again,l accepted.
So thereafter I entered NACL instead of SALT in each of the ambiguous rebus squares.
I dunno what all y'all who don't use good ol' AL would have to do.
1
"Au fond du temple saint"
From THE PEARL FISHERS (Bizet)
Jussi Björling, Robert Merrill
https://youtu.be/5PYt2HlBuyI
(No, not sung by LEILA, but a favorite excerpt nonetheless.)
12
thanks, that was beautiful.
2
@Alan J
This duet is just ... sublime. A long-time favorite for me. And your example of it is one of the best, although when I'm the mood to hear different versions, I'm not super picky about which two singers it is as long as they're actual opera singers.
I first put her in as LAILA instead of LEILA -- I think I've seen too many LAILA ALIs in crossword-world.
3
@Alan J Yes that duet - the Björling/Merrill version - was my first thought when I saw the clue. I know nothing more about the opera and certainly could not have told you that Leila was the object of their affections. Fifty years ago an ex ex ex ex ex girlfriend's father introduced me to the recording and I've loved it ever since. Thank you Mr T.
1
NACL certainly SPICES UP our Sunday puzzle! A DREAM to end Women's Week!
4
Did you hear about the ear of corn? It was arrested for a salt and buttery.
(Take that, Mike of Munster!)
33
@Steve L
Speaking of CROWS. A group of working crows? Murder for hire.
8
Steve,
Time for a field trip: https://www.asaltandbattery.com/
@Steve L
I'm amaized!
8
Caitlin, the link that says want to get back to the puzzle page at the end of your column takes you to the answer key.
Thank you! Will fix!
@Caitlin Can anyone suggest why I can not get to the AL versions of Xwords (since last Monday)?
carljs@optonline net