Saturday Themeless by Doug Petersen and Christina Iverson
Unlike some recent walks in the park, today the bear almost got me and I had some real struggles. Oddly, though, I really enjoyed the puzzle and only 7. "The Song by God" scripture: BHAGAVAD GITA was an impossible "get" but served as some real learning. Some of Doug and Christina's fiendish cluing stymied me but then amazed me when I found out the answer. Of the thousands of puzzles I have done, this is among the most difficult I have ever tackled but I would do another puzzle by this combo again, any time. As I always say, I am smart enough to know how little I know.
Across:
1. Flies past: SHOOTS BY - What the years have done as I am now in my 55th year of being in front of teenagers.
9. Supported in the garden: STAKED.
15. Co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy: HIAWATHA - Did he do this "By the shining big sea water"?
16. Pottsylvania spy Natasha: FATALE - I never knew her last name. I was pretty sure she was not Mrs. Boris Badenov.
17. __ calculus: INTEGRAL - I used this graphic two weeks ago to show how INTEGRAL calculus can figure the area under a curve
18. Choice in luxury leather: OX HIDE.
19. Practice figures, for short: MDS - My surgeon from last month is an M.D. who practices medicine.
20. Raced while supine: LUGED - Whoa!
22. Fell upon: BESET.
24. Critics, e.g.: OPINERS - If you know the source, you probably will know the slant of their OPINERS
26. Many a custom Gibson: FLYING V GUITAR - A reflection of the times
30. Freetown currency: LEONE - This Toyota is available in Freetown (the price is in SLL Sierra Leone Leones) Conversion site
31. "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" playwright: ALBEE.
32. Grandstand division: ROW.
35. Kicks out of Oz?: UGGS - Kicks is slang for footwear and Oz is slang for Australia (a phonetic abbreviation for its first syllable) where these shoes are made. 😀
36. NSFW: ADULT - Getting ADULT images on your computer that are Not Suitable For Work can be a dangerous practice.
37. Noodle house noodles: SOBA.
38. Drag strip?: BOA - People who dress in drag may very well have a BOA strip/stole as an accessory. 😀
39. Fibber of old radio: MCGEE - Fibber McGee and Molly were a mainstay of NBC radio from 1935 to 1959
40. Salmon, e.g.: COLOR - My family's first car
41. New York neighborhood also called El Barrio: SPANISH HARLEM.
44. Shiny fabric: SATINET - ARGH!
46. Architectural projection: EAVE.
48. Stagger: AMAZE.
50. O, for one: MAG.
53. Company whose logo is an alien named Snoo: REDDIT.
55. Line at an entrance: ADMIT ONE.
57. Many "The Twelve Days of Christmas" gifts: AVIANS - 😀 I count 23 AVIANS.
58. Used: LEANED ON.
59. Illinois River port: PEORIA - The Spirit Of Peoria sails on the Illinois River out of PEORIA, IL.
60. Culture club?: ART SCENE.
Down:
1. Level: SHIM.
2. Golden __: Drake's ship: HIND - Here's a $39 model kit
3. Aveeno ingredient: OATS - No ALOE here.
4. Be somewhat shy: OWE.
5. "The Breakfast of Champions," e.g.: TAGLINE.
7. "The Song by God" scripture: BHAGAVAD GITA - ARGH! What I learned
8. Rory Gilmore's alma mater: YALE - A fictional character in The Gilmore Girls
9. Alaska Airlines hub: Abbr.: SFO.
10. Uncle Sam's piece of the pie: TAX BITE.
11. Goddess who oversaw the Argo's construction: ATHENA - Here she is shown, seated at the left in this bas-relief, adjusting the sail
12. Deli choice: KAISER ROLL - K _ _ _ E R seemed to call for KOSHER but Kaiser soon became apparent.
13. Honored one: ELDER.
14. Lowdown: DEETS - Slang for details
21. Train pulled by a pair of locomotives: DOUBLE HEADER - With trains now over a mile long, there can be more than two locomotives doing the pulling. This appears to be a quad header.
23. Spare parts?: PINS - So clever! I had _ I _ S and put in RIBS, but noooo... 😀 Boomer would not have been fooled!
25. First name in geometric art: PIET - My first thought was M.C. Escher but nooo.... It was Piet Mondrian who I have never heard of. Here is one of his paintings adapted to a pair of leggings.
26. Blow: FLUB.
27. Toy company based in Billund, Denmark: LEGO - A gimme
28. Place to stretch one's legs: YOGA STUDIO - Duh and ARGH!
29. Binders: GLUES.
33. Wind often made from grenadilla wood: OBOE - The name of this African wood is, uh, foreign but a four-letter wind instrument was pretty easy.
34. Close, in a way: WARM - 😀
36. Skin concern: ACNE.
37. Put out: SORE - If a baserunner is "put out" he might be "put out" if he thinks he was safe and "put out" of the game if the protest gets out of hand.
39. Bit of Borat attire: MANKINI - You'll have to look it up to believe it. ARGH!
40. Sudden collapses: CAVE INS.
42. "Learn what you are and be such" poet: PINDAR - ARGH!
43. Strong suit?: HAZMAT.
44. Like a lemon, eventually: SCRAP - 😀
45. Naproxen brand: ALEVE - $10.99 and $3.99 respectively
52. Factor in cilantro tolerance, e.g.: GENE - You may be genetically disposed to taste cilantro as soap
56. Noir sleuth: TEC - Slang for deTECtive
Well, that was certainly a difficult puzzle but I managed to get through it. But, my fellow Cornerites, I have a confession to make. These days, I don’t buy newspapers. I do the puzzle on my smartphone. And, if you do the puzzle electronically, you get the success “flip-over” when everything has been entered correctly. So, if I don’t get that “flip over” I keep going until I do. There have been times when I have given up (TITT) and taken a FIW but they have been few and far between. So I guess that gives me an unfair advantage over people who use a pen or pencil and actually buy a newspaper. Still, you have to give me some props for knowing about the “Bhagavad-Gita”. In fact, in my hippie-dippie youth I actually attempted to read it! Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy. And happy to be here!
ReplyDeleteDNF. No idea about HIND or HIAWATHA and I actually had ScOOTS BY. "Level" could mean a bajillion different things, and also "practice", so that part of the NW was a mystery. Lots of unknowns in general, and I somehow solved most of it, but BHAGAVADGITA was a killer. SATINET could've been SATINEL or SATINEE or whatever, for all I know. MCGEE is gettable, I guess? But FLYING_GUITAR x BHAGAVADGITA was a straight up Natick. Overall the trivia clues seemed to greatly overshadow the actually clever ones ("Spare parts?" took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out).
ReplyDeleteI was well aware that "lemon" was very likely to refer to cars, but SCRAP as an adjective? Not too keen on the wording of the clue.
Good morning!
ReplyDelete'Twas not to be. Started right off with wHOOshes at 1a. (Have I ever mentioned...?) BHAGAVADGITA is one of those "You do it, and you'll clean it up" sorta things. Got the lion's share of this one, but California was still snow-covered. The UGGS cluing was fiendishly clever -- too clever. Thought those "Spare things" could be tire LUGS. Fibber MCGEE was a gimme (Don't open that closet!), but SATINET? Really? When PIET showed up, I thought of PIET Hein, the guy who invented the 7-piece Soma puzzle. Interesting exercise today, but I can't say I enjoyed it. Thanx, Doug, Christina, and Husker. (I think that confederacy was founded in "the wigwam of Nokomis.")
COLLY Birds? Weren't they "calling birds?" Nope, they were colly birds. Who gnu?
Nope. Filled 22, 20 correctly. Missed with even for SHIM and aloe for OATS. Proud to get MODE, and got the autofills ELDER, ACNE, ANON and OBOE. What, no SNL? Erased sea for SFO and udon for SOBA.
ReplyDeleteI never watch those Hollywood awards shows, but I would watch the Golden HINDs. I hope (crossword favorite) Jessica Alba gets the first one. Or two.
I don't think I've ever had pico de gallo with pineapple. Sounds great! The first time I went to Hawaii I was surprised that the grocery store prices for whole pineapples was the same as they were in LA. I asked a tour guide where the locals buy them, suspecting that they weren't paying those prices. He said "well, actually, locals DON'T buy them." And I was wondering why the fields didn't have fences. I guess helping yourself isn't the same as being on the Dole.
Thanks to Gary for the narrative that was much more interesting than the puzzle.
At least I didn't spend much time on this one.
I was on Lanai when Dole burned the pineapples! Terrible - built resorts and golf courses instead.
DeleteSub- I 'try' to complete puzzles the old fashioned way- in the newspaper and today's offering had a lot of dead ends. I managed to correctly fill everything above GUITAR but it was spotty below it. When I had BHAGA filled I didn't worry about the rest as I wouldn't have know if I'd filled it correctly. But BHAGAVAD GITA wasn't the only alien fill or clue. Kicks, Oz, SATINET, Snoo, DEETS, MANKINI, FLYING V, Rory Gilmore- words unknown to me. DNF today.
ReplyDeleteOATS- Fifty years ago a little company named Cooper Labs had two products, Oral-B toothbrushes and Aveeno Colloidal OATmeal Bath, which was used to relieve skin itching.
GENE- thanks. I'll tell DW the reason she won't eat anything with cilantro. I never could figure out why.
Gary- where did you see a copy of The New Orleans City Park Stadium Beatle's Ticket? My grandson's HS (Jesuit) plays their football games there.
FLN:Speaking of 86'd . Here's an interview with Terry Gross by the author, Dan Fante.
ReplyDeleteIt started to fall apart at PINS. "had _ I _ S and put in.." RIms
It only got worse from there. I should have known that slap would be to simple for Blow.
But…
What killed me was the GUITAR. Not STRING but FLYING. I was left with ROOM STUDIO. Ugh. It got worse…
I had big UNKs on BOA and LEONE and forced in tyco/LEGO
And got the rest 100%. Last week I rued not going online and didn't learn nuttin
Having BH.. got me the GITA. At least I'd heard of ALBEE. Just a few too many curveball like FLUB. WARM and SORE I got.
WC the woulda, coulda guy
DNF. This is the most difficult puzzle I ever attempted. Had only 14 correct answers after more than an hour. Thanks for the informative write up. I had a lot to learn.
ReplyDeletePS. I do the LA Times Crossword on paper, no Googling.
ReplyDeleteNope
ReplyDeleteDNF. This CW had me tied up in knots, hardest I've seen in quite a while. And I'll be happy if we don't see another like this again. Phew!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThumper and I agree with everything that HG said in his fair-minded and diplomatic review.
Thanks, HG, for the dazzling visuals and, especially, the photo and quote from Sue Grafton, one of my favorite authors. I read her entire A-Y series featuring the indomitable Kinsey Millhone. Sadly, Ms. Grafton left us too soon.
Have a great day.
Ms Grafton never got to Z!
DeleteGood Morning! I haven't tackled today's puzzle yet (& I haven't peeked 😉!) but I wanted to stop by early to say Thank You!! to Husker Gary, sumdaze, Jayce, Anon-T and Tante Nique for your good wishes last Wednesday. I means a lot to me. 😊 My surgery went well, and I can see without Glasses!! Yea!
ReplyDeleteI've had a busy few days with my niece and her husband visiting (& seeing me through the surgery) so today I'm going to go back & catch up on the puzzles & CC Blogs. See ya later!
And to Anon-T, I've taken your PSA to heart and will be following up your good advice. Thanks.
Well this was one big challenge -
ReplyDeleteI solved on-line today as there was a snafu in getting our paper. I can't do this on paper, but I resorted to an alphabet run on the cross between the Hindu poetry and the FLYING V GUITAR which could have been any letter of the alphabet. I had heard of the text which was a favorite of Gandhi - but more mentioned when the yogis became popular in the '60s when the Beatles and others started flocking to ashrams, but wasn't sure of the spelling
I had SATIN__, but had to wait for perps to finish it.
Thanks HG for the fun blog and Doug & Christina for the challenge!
I struggled, and I enjoyed. I knew enough to get a lot by crossings. So I learned a lot: NSFW, mankini, Fatale, Snoo, Oz, Piet, Pindar, cilantro gene. Had to look up three - to learn some more: Leone, Spanish Harlem, and Peoria. I love reading here, and admire y’all as a “culture club”. Thx
ReplyDeleteThanks for splainin' the OZ reference - neither "Over The Rainbow" nor a TV host/erstwhile politician reference.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @9:51 - yes, a lemon eventually becomes scrap (noun), so why does the clue start with "like"? That was perplexing.
ReplyDeleteHorrible way to start my day:(
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the hardest puzzles I’ve done and no fun to boot! Even the learning moments won’t stick with me because they were just too obscure:(
DNF, the NW remained blank almost since I kept even for SHIM and aloe for OATS. So many unknowns for me like DEETS, SATINET, FATALE, LEONE, or traps I fell in. Many perps helped, but not enough. I should have remembered NSFW since A-t went through the trouble of explaining it to me some time back.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of clever clues like the lemon SCRAP, mean relative, YOGA STUDIO.
Saturday puzzles are supposed to be difficult and unlike HG, I think we’ve had harder ones in the past.
RosE. Glad all went well for you.
TITT (Threw In The Towel)
ReplyDeleteHTRB ( Hit The Reveal Button)
NSFW? I had forgotten this one, but had fun getting reacquainted thru research. Sorry I can't link any here, as it is NSFB...
The clue for admit one is bugging me, "line at an entrance?"
It's a line on a ticket maybe, but nowhere at an "entrance" will you see "admit one."
(Am I just being grumpy?)
Admit One? I just don't see it....
Nope. No how. No way. Got me good, DNF, finally TITT.
ReplyDeleteI stuck with it for a looong time, and was surprised by how many answers I was able to get, but was got in the end. Did know Ms FATALE....big Rocky & Bullwinkle fan. Fibber Mcgee was a given...my Grandma had the radio on all day long. She always said TV was too distracting, and interfered with getting things done, while her radio shows made a pleasant background. DOUBLEHEADER. This phrase kind of died out with the end of steam locomotives. Back then, adding an extra engine meant adding another engine crew. Now, they just plug in the number of units to match the tonnage, with a single crew.
Thanks Doug & Christina for a Saturday FIR. This was a real slog, but I was stubborn as H*LL and worked until it was all filled. Husker tells me I filled it right.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks Gary for another great review.
Some favs:
9A STAKED. TRELLISED wouldn't fit. We just STAKE low growing plants like peppers and eggplants. For tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans and other climbing plants we use U shaped conduit frames with loosely netted plastic clothesline rope for supports.
23D PINS. All over the LANE no doubt.
17A INTEGRAL. I remembered that diagram Gary.
20A LUGED. First it was BIKED, but that wasn't very WARM.
31A ALBEE. Silvia was a character in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona. She also inspired a song by Franz Schubert called "Who is Silvia?" ("Was ist Silvia?". Click Show more for explanation and English lyrics.
35A UGGS. It perped, but I didn't get it until Husker 'splained it.
36A ADULT. NSFW stuff on his laptop got one of my old bosses fired.
7D BHAGAVAD GITA. VIDWAN we miss you! I read this book many years ago while exploring various world religions. IIRC correctly it's an extended dialogue between the archer ARJUNA and his charioteer KRISNA about the detachment needed to do your duty, even if means opposing your family in war.
28D YOGA STUDIO. A tie in to 7D.
42D PINDAR. It was 6 characters long, began with a P, and ended with an R. What else could it be?
43D HAZMAT. Clever clue and one of the last to fall. Didn't get it until I got 48A AMAZE for "Stagger".
56D TEC. Started with GUY [NOIR] the radio detective on PHC, who is still probably "pondering the answers to life's persistent questions". In this skit he solves a crossword puzzle while solving a case of mistaken identity.
Cheers,
Bill
Hand up this was tough. Hand up SEA before SFO. Hand up RIBS before PINS. Hand up coin toss for SCOOTS vs SHOOTS. Last fill to FIR.
ReplyDeleteThe UGG company was founded in the US, not OZ. They are now owned by Deckers. The headquarters are a mile from our home and they sponsor local events. Still, the clue was clever even if it was wrong.
Here I was riding my unicycle in Solstice in my PIET MONDRIAN leggings with my friend Danielle.
I just emailed Danielle a few minutes ago to plan for our big juggling festival in a few weeks.
I had a feeling I should’ve gone to the online version instead of printing it out and trying the old fashioned way. I might have had a chance then. Just too hard for pen and paper. This one wasn’t any fun at all.
ReplyDeleteVery hard! Knew Bhagavadgita but had to look up correct spelling. Didn’t know Fatale, Reddit logo, Leone. Some “cheating” necessary. And I’d happily do it again! Thank you, Doug and Christina! Excellent and fun challenge!!
ReplyDeleteDear Subgenius, what is TITT?
ReplyDeleteLove your comments! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhy not just have the crossword with no clues? It would be as helpful.
Thanks to the authors for deciding how smart they are, and to the “editor” who needs a new job.
Note: these are supposed to be “fun”.
ReplyDeleteTITT….Thrown In The Trash.
Most worthy comment.
Thank you, Subgenius! I may need that in the future! LOL
DeleteThis is the best comment of the day. So true and sad to see the LA Times crossword reduced to rubbish by the editor.
Delete....TITT or TOSSED IN THE TOWEL.
ReplyDeleteA third Saturday DNF in a row. Again after several futile tries to get 'er done on a puzzle printed out from the website by DH, hoping a break would help solve a few more clues, I gave up and peeked at a word in Husker Gary's review. Those letters, entered in red ink, gave me a chance to make some progress on my own, entered in green ink to contrast with my original entries done in blue ink. It turned out to be quite a colorful grid as I repeated this process as necessary.
ReplyDeleteEven when the puzzle was completed, I needed HG to explain some nuances. But no serious complaints as I learned as I understood. So thanks to all involved this truly puzzling activity today, Doug, Christina, and Husker Gary!
My first two words filled in were MCGEE and SOBA. I had never heard of SATINET and tried to fit SATEEN, which I knew was a material for sewing. I thought of LUGE but didn't tumble onto it needing the D for past tense. I was thinking of a noun form: LUGER, and yes, I mean a person who LUGEs, not the pistol!
PEORIA, I knew but since it's in the middle of the state didn't think about it being a port on the Illinois River. Since I grew up in Illinois, I am chagrined. I also had the BHA and the GITA but no clear idea of the middle's spelling. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.....
So good to hear of your second successful eye operation, RosE.
And great leggings, Picard! Looking good.
WC, the Woulda, Coulda guy. Clever!
Today you talked like a pirate, HG, with all your ARGH comments. Fun.
Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteNope. Just a bit in the Northwest (all wrong by the way), SE kinda filled, and, knowing FATALE* (at least I have that going for me), the NE.
IMHO, this grid wouldn't play in PEORIA //Pop's DW grew up there.
RosE - great to hear you can see again.
Jinx - LOL "being on the Dole."
From recently: isn't just an idiom
I've not read everyone yet 'cuz I gotta run. DW wants to hit Old-Tomball BBQ again :-)
Cheers, -T
*on one network, I named all the boxes after Rocky & Bullwinkle characters. It was LOL when I sent "Byte Me" to a buddy (and accidentally sent it to everyone!) from my computer, Natasha. Everyone thought it was her (we had a Natasha at the company.)
As Charlie Echo said, "Nope. No how. No way. Got me good".
ReplyDelete-T @2:47 PM Don't know what that last link was apropos of, but you're a hoot! I'm all ready for tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteAnon-T got me in the mood...
ReplyDeleteSo I went looking for the best of Natasha Fatale...
I dunno,
There might be a missing gem here,
I dont know who Natasha is, but Boris is a well known actor,
And I think the farmer might be Jonathan Winters...
and fearless leader... we all recognize this actor!
(Why have I never seen this? Is it that bad?...)
HuskerG's presentation of a Peterson/Iverson (DoubleSon?) PZL...
ReplyDeleteNot so tough, after all.
My point-of-entry was the "Golden HIND." I remember Drake's ship from grammar school studies--and maybe because my mom insisted we are descendants of Drake. (More likely, from one of the captains who served in Drake's fleet.)
ALBEE's play, The Goat..., is one of the few times I observed other patrons walking out in the middle of a play. At the Mark Taper in L.A.
(Er... This is not "GOAT" in the sense of a football champion.)
Loved the relief of ATHENA "adjusting" the Argo sail.
Especially fond of the artist's inclusion of her Owl on a little shelf behind her head.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals, far side.
The central diag offers an anagram (12 of 15) that designates a weak, amateurish softball club, the kind of team fielded on a Sunday afternoon by flabby middle-aged guys who just want to fritter away a few hours before supper.
I refer to a...
"PIDDLING NINE"
Staggering (as in 48A or not?!) Saturday. Thanks for your effort Doug and Christina, and HuskerG for explaining. (I was hoodwinked by those PINS.)
ReplyDeleteThis CW was above my pay grade, and the dirty towel bin will be fill if we all contributed.
Vast seas of white (yes, on the newspaper page) required me to resort to Google, and even that was inadequate. I entered The Song by God” as in the clue, but apparently BHAGAVADGITA is “The Song OF God”. I’m confused or did Patti miss an error?
UGGS was just Ugh.
I see that SFO was a California hub yesterday and today is an Alaska Airways hub. Their own website says “With West Coast hubs in Seattle; Portland, Oregon; Anchorage, Alaska; San Francisco and Los Angeles; Alaska calls Seattle home.” Everyone who entered SEA should be remarked and credited IMHO. Or do we just enter SFO whenever a Hub is clued.
I’m with CED about ADMIT ONE. I wanted Queue but the line was too short.
I had no idea about that wood, but entered OBOE by rote (similar to Oreo for any cookie).
My train was a DOUBLE engine before HEADER (that’s baseball IMO).
I’ll not bore you with the rest of my mess.
RosE- wonderful news re success of your cataract removal
Picard- great Mondrian pants. I remembered his name and that art work but not PIET.
Wishing you all a good evening.
23. Across: if the answer is in Spanish, shouldn’t the clue be in Spanish as well to indicate that? “Pina” is Spanish for pineapple. “Fruity addition to pico de gallo” might have been clued “Adicion afrutada al pico de gallo” to indicate a Spanish answer? Most would know what pico de gallo is, could easily parse “adicion” as addition, and afrutada not far off from fruit, basic Spanish. A long rant for a short answer!
ReplyDeleteOK, so a TEC is a Detective, but is it a noir detective? I don't think so. A boa is a "strip". I don't think so.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFinally took time to go back and read the review. Nice job, Husker.
It was a tough puzzle to solve. It even took Stella 3m 22s to solve.
For anyone that's interested, there's a new PC (Pepper/C.C.) crossword over at the USA Today.
Fiendish obfuscation indeed!
ReplyDeleteHaving been a guitar guy since age 10, I got FLYINGVGUITAR after several minutes of trying to make LESPAUL fit…but I had to do semi-cheats to finish the slog through this one. AAAARRGH!! is an understatement,@Husker!
(Btw, noir slang for a sleuth has always been DICK; never have heard of a TEC…)
====> Darren in L.A.
Anon @5:38 PM TEC is crosswordese for deTECive.
DeleteI used to do the nyt puzzle, and could get thru Thursday, and an occasional Friday or Saturday. But today's LAT? WEES.
ReplyDeleteNo BBQ 'cuz Tomball is having German Fest this weekend and parking in the tiny town was scant. So... we drove back to Spring and went to an Indian restaurant both DW & I have wanted to try. Pretty dang good. [get the pistachio gelato for dessert]
ReplyDeleteIn my earlier post, I was remiss: Thanks HG for your excellent 'splain' of the grid and thanks Doug & Christina for the effort - just another learning Saturday for me.
Picard - Love the tights. LOL that you have the same ones HG pictured!
CED - I never watch movies that are reboots of old cartoons - they just disappoint [kids made me watch Scooby Doo - The Movie. Nope]. But, yes, I think that is the great Johnathan Winters and wonderful George Can't-stands-ya [Jason Alexander].
@3:58 - I'm vaguely aware of the atrocities that happened to Hawaii when the missionaries (and C&H) came in, I just thought Jinx's turn of phrase was funny.
TEC is common enough if you spent any time reading old dime-store pulp (or solving puzzles).
Waseeley - we had idiom yesterday (6a) and C. Moe said "see the light" was one, ergo the link. I meant to link yesterday but, you know, life happens. Thanks for the Guy Noir link!
It gives me comfort to see most of my puzzle-pals also had a rough time with today's grid. Nice to convalesce with eFriends.
Cheers, -T
-T @7:01PM The amazing thing about the Guy Noir link was that I just threw a dart at a list of clips and up pops one with a thread on crosswords! Very meta.
DeleteDang it! I had this all cue'd up and forgot. ATHENA [The Who]. C, -T
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteI finished it in less than 6:00, and found it one of the easiest puzzles ever
[if you believe that, I have a bridge for sale you'd be interested in ...]
Thumper
HG, are you rooting for the Blue Jays in the NCAA Tournament?
Go Jay’s!
DeleteMore times have been posted (to go along with Stella's 3 minutes 22 seconds) to solve today's beast by Doug and Christina.
ReplyDeleteJoon - 5 minutes 2 seconds
David - 3 minutes, 34 seconds
Glenn - 4 minutes, 13 seconds
I believe them. They are some of the best solvers in the world, for sure. By comparison, we are all rank amateurs. Hopefully though, we all enjoy the quest of the solve, and don't take it too personally when we get our rear end handed to us. No need to take out frustrations on the constructors or the editor.