THEME: a shrink ray at a party ... (?) — theme clues ask you to imagine a party where a "scientist was demonstrating her new shrink ray" ... theme answers are familiar phrases clued as if they were small foods (or food-related items):
Theme answers:
19A: "At the party where the scientist was demonstrating her new shrink ray, [ZAP!] the punch ladle turned into a ..." (LITTLE DIPPER)
28A: "When the appetizers were passed around, [ZAP!] the potato wedges turned into ..." (SMALL FRIES)
38A: "When the main course was ready, [ZAP!] the six-foot hoagie turned into an ..." (ATOMIC SUBMARINE)
45A: "When the dessert was brought out, [ZAP!] the pudding cake turned into a ..." (MERE TRIFLE)
53A: "Finally, when the still-hungry guests went back for more, [ZAP!] the additional helpings turned into ..." (MICROSECONDS)
Word of the Day: "I, CLAUDIUS" (15A: 1934 novel made into a hit 1970s BBC/PBS miniseries) —
The "autobiography" continues in a sequel, Claudius the God (1935), which covers the period from Claudius' accession to his death in AD 54. The sequel also includes a section written as a biography of Herod Agrippa, a contemporary of Claudius and a King of the Jews. The two books were adapted by the BBC into the award-winning television serial I, Claudius in 1976. (wikipedia)
• • •
This felt really ragged. The very premise was odd, and then each clue and answer felt contextually tortured in their own particular way. There's an implement, three foods, and a word for "more food." Some of the party-related answers are not reimagined much at all (the LITTLE DIPPER is called that precisely because of its resemblance to a "ladle"), while others are changed radically by the cluing ("trifle" being the most obvious of these). ATOMIC SUBMARINE is weird in that you'd call the sandwich a "sub" or maybe a "sub sandwich" or maybe a "submarine sandwich" but just a "submarine?" "Dipper" "fries" "trifle" and "seconds" are all what they say they are—they are all the things you'd imagine at this party. I cannot imagine a "submarine" at this party, in that I would never call the sandwich that. I dunno. The theme answer set is just all over the map. Extremely arbitrary. It made the party-going experience feel really awkward and implausible. Worse, you definitely had to solve the themers in a very specific top-to-bottom order even to understand the context. This is not unheard of, but today I didn't really *get* that you needed to go back and look at themer one in order to find the absurd premise of scientist + shrink ray + party. I hit the clue for ATOMIC SUBMARINE first and sincerely believed I had stumbled into some weird superhero theme. "Why are these foods turning into superheroes?," I wondered. "ZAP!" is such a comic-booky term, and strange transformations were obviously happening, so, yeah, foods that are somehow superheroes—that's what I thought this was. If Atom and the Sub-Mariner are comic book characters with superpowers (and they are), then, well, when you throw in "ZAP!" you can maybe see how my mind went to superhero transformations. "Shazam!" Anyway, I wish the theme had been the Legion of Superfoods. I would've liked that better.
Why is ADES in this puzzle? It's a small matter, but I can't imagine putting ADES in a puzzle when you could put ODES in a puzzle or ALES in a puzzle (68A: Citrus drinks). The only place anyone uses the plural ADES is in crosswords. Nowhere, literally nowhere else. So why is it here? Why do you not scrub obvious crosswordese like this when the fix is easy? The NW is already a little gunked up with repeaters, and LATEEN alongside AMON-RA is a pretty gruesome twosome as well, so why add ADES into the mix when you absolutely do not have to? Sigh, moving on ... The puzzle was *very* easy. Weirdly, the answers that gave me the most trouble were all very short: NILE (58D: Home for many hippos), FLAP(7D: Tizzy), and FLAW (32D: Scratch or nick). Had -ILE and still no clue, had F--P and could think only of FLIP (to have a "Tizzy" is to "flip," right??) and "Scratch" and "nick" read as verbs to me. The one place my flow was interrupted was toward the end when I had SECONDS and no idea what word should come before it (MICROSECONDS is not a term I really know or use). And I opted for ABE before IKE at first down there (54D: Old presidential nickname), but at least I was *very* aware that the answer could be IKE, so I wriggled out of that mess fairly easily. No obvious sticking points today, so if nothing else, you get the joy of a puzzle easily dispatched. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. if you're not mathematically inclined (and I haven't been since high school): LIM just stands for "limit."
I kinda stumbled through this but I liked it. High wacky factor in the theme made it fun. RATHOLES eluded, evaded me when it should have popped right in. I had RATnests, RATsnest, and RATtrapS trying to prevail. I chose my Wordle starter and moved on to that.
Wordle 243 5/6
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I am claiming a par. It became a game of chance after the third try.
I love the kind of theme where you get the gimmick right from the start and try to get the remaining theme answers with zero or just few crosses, and when you succeed, it brings not only a feeling of accomplishment and an “aha!”, but because there’s humor in the answers, they bring a smile as well.
And here it is, with several of those lovely theme moments for me. I think the theme answers are brilliant, each with a “meal” meaning and a “real life” meaning. I especially like SMALL FRIES and MICRO SECONDS. In the grid itself, there’s a trio of one-syllable answers – GASP, WAFT, and DELVE – that I find beautiful. And I like the geographically-appropriate WAFT up and STEP down.
The solve gave me enough rub to make my exercise-hungry brain happy. And seeing the excellent work of a new constructor in the Times made my heart smile. Thus, there was happiness all around in today’s journey, which took me from neutral to buoyant. Thank you for making this happen, Aaron, and congratulations!
Once again, Lewis is the anti-Rex this morning. I disagree strongly with both of them but I'm closer to Rex. The themers are kind of clunky.
We spend a week or so every year on Maui, right across from Lanai. I've never heard it called the Pineapple Isle. They don't grow pineapples there now. But in the 20's, Dole owned the island and grew 75% of the world's pineapples. Now most pineapples come from Costa Rica. The pineapples they serve in Maui come primarily from the Philippines.
Cute little puzzle - should have run early week though. A little brit feel with TRIFLE, NAN, TORY, ELIOT etc. Goofy looking layout with the short stuff in the center - BAE is an unfortunate addition to any grid.
Thought all the themers were neat - SMALL FRIES stood out for me. The non theme longs were solid - liked WINTERIZE and STAR TOURS. Clue for LIBIDO was fun.
Interesting - I’ve been complaining about the verbal synonyms for like a week now, and today we get one straight out of the gate at 1A (GASP = [I’m speechless!]). I thought only Rex had that effect on WS, oh well . . .
Rex already pointed out that LATEEN alongside AMON-RA is pretty rough (crossed by something called a REN Faire, no less) - hopefully the theme is at least passable on a day when the collateral damage is so significant.
Nice job on the made-up word today (ONZE) as well.
I got STARTOURS then LITTLEDIPPER and thought I was in for a nice celestial theme but nope. That alone made the rest of the theme answers disappointing.
Setting aside everything else, I was just not on the cluing wavelength this morning. Easy? Har! Four writeovers and multiple “no idea what this is going for” on first pass. And then there was that brief moment of dread when I thought this was going to be a quote puzzle. Nope, just a “bad puns but not bad enough to be good” puzzle.
So maybe it was just that I was not on the wave length of this puzzle, but the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids conceit just didn’t work for me. I didn’t crack a smile or a groan even once. And the convoluted clues? Blrrgh. If you’re going to make me read that much the payoff needs to be funnier.
@anon7:45 - The best I can come up with is that your ARCHenemy is your principal enemy.
@Tom T - Now your themer made me chuckle.
@OffTheGrid - I had your missing letter in my second guess, so it was much easier to get the par for me. I went with two diphthongs in my first guess today.
@anon late re my “abnormal” comment - I think most people realized I was referring to myself. @anon upset by my link - Why do you read what I post and link to? Your odd obsession with me is a little weird.
In a combing form, either at the beginning or the end of a word, arch- means principal or chief (e.g., archbishop, archdeacon; archenemy; matriarch, monarch, ArchieManning (the chief of the Manning family which includes son Eli and Peyton), etc.
@Anon 7:45 - I originally had "main" for "principal," but "ARCH" is the same idea. ARCH, as in "primary." The first definition of ARCH as an adjective in Merriam-Webster is "principal, chief."
So AMON-RA is yet another variation I have to add to my arsenal? I've finally gotten AMeN-RA and AMuN-RA down, only to learn AMON-RA is also a thing. A triple kealoa. I should double check on AMaN-RA and AMiN-RA just to be safe.
I thought for sure ATOMIC SUBMARINE would be commented on, but I guess it's just me. I'm only familiar with "nuclear SUBMARINE" as a phrase. For bombs, sure, either work, but for subs, I can't really say I've heard ATOMIC as the modifier. Maybe it was old timey, or maybe I just haven't been paying attention. The fact that no one is commenting on it makes me think I've just missed it for whatever reason. As for SUBMARINE vs SUB for a sandwich, it's very rare, but I have heard the full SUBMARINE (without "sandwich" following) used to refer to one. But, yes, almost always, it's just "sub." (Unless you're from one of those goofy places where they call it something else...I kid, I kid.)
LANAI is the only isle I've visited in Hawai'i (I'm not an island person), but they did very much tell us that it was known (or at least once known) as the Pineapple Isle and that Dole owned something like 90% of it (or 90% of it was used to grow pineapples -- I can't remember; it's been two decades). So that one went in without a budge.
Overall, this played more medium than easy for me. I got stuck in the west by LATEEN (what is that?) and AMONRA (was expecting one of two vowels there, when it was a third one) and not seeing ATOMIC.
I guess the thing that disappointed me the most was how quickly I flew through this, given it’s Thursday. However, I am fairly easily amused by theme answers so I didn’t really roll my eyes at some of the things @Rex pointed out.
I’ll have to look at the constructor’s background to see if he is a Brit or Anglophile with the TORY and NAN answers. Just guessing but haven’t heard any ‘Muricans say MUM or NAN. No matter…I got it.
This was a really well done and kind of fun to solve puzzle. But it’s not exactly what I want on a Thursday. When I got the first themer, I had a sinking feeling and thought, oh please don’t let that be all there is. It was [sigh].
Had it run yesterday I probably would’ve loved it. Oh well. @amyyanni is thankful it wasn’t a rebus and I’m disappointed it was not. You can’t please everyone but you did do a nice job of trying, Aaron. Congratulations on your NYT debut!
I like what this puzzle is trying to do, but I don't think it does it all that well. The clues seem overlong and somewhat tortured. They tend to make any answer, even if it's cute, seem anticlimatic. Perhaps the clues could have been pared down without losing their ability to, well, clue.
As far as the easiness for a Thursday: the exceedingly slam-dunk NW set the tone for the rest of the puzzle -- even if the rest of the puzzle did get a bit more challenging. If that corner could have been toughened up, it would help helped a lot.
A cute idea that I think falls a bit short (pun intended).
Hi folks, constructor here! Just wanted to thank you all for sharing your feedback even if (especially if) you didn't care for today's puzzle. I made this one a year ago, and if I were to do it again today I would avoid some of the deficiencies that I brushed aside the first time.
I stand by the consistency of the theme set though. The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food". To the party guest, shrinking the ladle is just as bad as shrinking the punchbowl. (Canonically, these party guests refuse to drink straight from the bowl.)
I don't believe this. I could have had an eagle. Instead I have a bogey. This is the kind of Wordle puzzle -- the kind where guessing one letter that could be one of many, many choices, plays too big a role. I may just call this an eagle and have done with it.
@Aaron M. Rosenberg - Thanks for being so brave. If I were a constructor I don’t know that I’d come by here to read the comments. We’re a tough crowd. Candid and mostly fair, but tough.
Ay frijoles negros...My mind went into a LITTLE ATOMIC thought: "Why is this so easy and what on this good earth have you done to my party food..." It's my party and I'll cry if I want to... I had no problem getting the LITTLE DIPPER and the SMALL FRIES. I didn't understand why you ZAP in your clue. (Thank you Rex for clarifying) ... Ok...so now I understand what the scientist was doing...I don't think I'd invite her over to cater the food at my place. This is what you'd most likely get at my casa: Mini prawn tacos. Loaded potato skins. Jumbo shrimp Small crab fritters And just for @Z: Homemade rye on ale crackers.
Everyone's invited.
My only little trouble was getting I CLAUDIUS. I don't think I've ever watched it. In the 70's I watched "All in the Family" and that's all remember. Were they on PPS? I think back then we only had three channels. I really never watched much TV because all I had was a little black and white sitting on top of my book case. I had rabbit ears made from my clothes hangar and it was a perfect place to hang my undies to dry.
I had the same Wordle situation as above, where I was just missing that fifth letter. But my first four guesses were wrong, so I had a DNF for the first time on Wordle, ever.
I liked the theme, but I kind of agree with Rex that it seemed a little clunky. MERE is a bit different from ATOMIC, which is a different scale from SMALL or LITTLE. And some of the foods were plural and some weren't.
Wordle people!! When you get down to one missing letter and there are several possibilities, it does NOT become a guessing game! There is a method to maximize the possibility of identifying the missing letter. THNIK ABOUT IT, and don't claim eagles and pars when you don't earn them. (And...do we have to turn this into a World blog????)
Sorry, I didn't know spoilers for the mini weren't allowed here as the answers are all front and center for the daily.
Anyway, I figured out my problem with the mini. Most of the emojis in the clues didn't show up on my machine, only the plus signs. I called it up on my phone and there they were. Now it makes sense!
I forgot to add that this particular theme aided considerably in the solve which may be why some are saying it was so easy. However, I don’t see that as a shortcoming but rather as the sign of a skillfully constructed crossword.
@Veronica (9:03) Archie comics? Now there’s a blast from the past! I know it was Mr. Weatherby, then Miss Grundy, Mr. Flutesnoot and Coach Kleats but I don’t remember any first names. My cousin and I used to save our allowance and could hardly wait to get to the drugstore when the new issues would come out.
@Aaron M. (9:19) Always an honor when a constructor joins our conversation. Can’t recall that I ever drank straight from a punch bowl but not saying it couldn’t have happened in my younger partying days. Hoping to see more puzzles from you in the future.
If one has developed the machinery to change the molecular structure of an object to change its size, why go for shrinking? I mean, the list of things I'd like to shrink is actually pretty small. If my shrinker were precise enough, I'd zap the fat around my waist, that's something I'd shrink. I really can't think of anything else I'd like to shrink in my immediate vicinity. I'd maybe like to go to Russia and shrink all the tanks and armored personnel carriers and artillery they have surrounding Ukraine and shrink them to the size of toys. However, if I could do that with impunity I really wouldn't need an atomic shrinker, I'd just need rags soaked in gasoline to put in the fuel tanks or ammo dumps to blow them up. I bet blowing them up is more fun than shrinking them.
Now, things I would like to make larger, that's a different story. That pitiful pile of gold bullion hidden a drawer upstairs? Definitely. Krugerrands the size of truck tires, baby! That cheese danish right in front of me? Of course, where to you think my gut came from.
In non-puzzle related news, the garter snake that lives in my terrarium, aka the window well in my basement, has emerged from hibernation today. Spring is here! Now to find a mouse to feed it. Or, maybe I could use my zapper to make it big enough to climb out by itself, I'm guessing it would need to be about 20-25' long. It's ok to create a 25' long garter snake, right? What could go wrong with that?
Hey All ! LIBIDO and it's clue. RAWR! NYTXW getting risqúe. Feels a bit naughty. 😊
When you begin a Bus excursion to see celebrities homes, do you START OURS STAR TOURS?
I liked this puz. It was a fun-filled puz. Overthinking Rex showed up again today. Relax, and take in the fun factor. You'll live longer. See also, rant on ADES. Dang.
ATOMIC SUBMARINE I don't think is a thing, but hey, close enough. SUBMARINE is a name for that kind of sandwich, but usually gets shortened to SUB. Ergo, we have SubWay, not SubmarineWay. Others are hoagie, grinder, hero, po boy, and others I'm probably missing.
AMONRA. Har. Put in AM_NRA, and waited. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Y in there eventually.
Nice puz, Aaron. Debut, according to others. Gee, shut down the world for 8 months, and everyone turns into a puzzle maker. Too bad it takes a year for your puz to come out.
Glad to see I was not the only one with a 6/6 when it could have been a 3/6 with better guessing. Rex says the only place 'ades'ever appears is in crosswords, so why is it here? Well, Rex, this is a crossword so that's why. Duh.
Easy and cute, with MERE TRIFLE getting my "inspired" award. I liked that there were two rounds of meager fare, with the hungry guests going back for more but faced with equally non-sating MICROSECONDS. I did notice the HAM over on the side, but maybe it was still hanging UP for curing.
Do-overs: wow before AWE, lie before FIB, dNA, CARo, RATtraps. Help from previous puzzles: BAE. No idea: LIU.
@Aaron Rosenberg, thanks for stopping by and for providing this witty treat.
Thanks Aaron for a fun puzzle! It make me laugh and challenged me in a good way. BTW fellow bloggers, "atomic" is a legitimate sub sandwich size that is much smaller than a six foot one. Unfortunately I have eaten way too many sandwiches in my day so I'm all too familiar with this!
Easy speedy here, the only minor slowdown was wanting a SMALLER something but changing the E to an F cleared that up. Never heard of "Taobao", so I learned something there.
I always like seeing HUFF, because it makes me think of Groucho, viz.:
If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a HUFF. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a HUFF.
@Pete--if you want to know what could go wrong with a really big snake, I highly recommend Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiassen, which is hilarious.
Otherwise, I missed a Thursday with some tricksiness, this one was just a little too straightforward.
Thanks for stopping by, AMR. Please accept All Mixed Responses to you effort in good faith, and congratulations on your debut and your willingness to improve.
One's reaction to something that is supposed to be humorous is a very personal response. I think I can find humor in things easier than others who post here. Not a criticism, just an observation. That my sense of humor is closer to that of Shortz than Sharp and perhaps Chen is neither right nor wrong. It's just the way it lives. Some can live with that, some have difficulties. I had no difficulty enjoying this puzzle and solving how to characterize the theme. AAnd three cheers for the constructor for reading this blog which admittedly can be fairly brutal at times.
Mathgent: Did you have any pineapple wine when you were in Maui? I did. Quite sweet. Too sweet for my taste so I did not buy any bottles. But overall I was a bit surprised by the winery. Or so my very fading memory seems to say.
(Sorry. First and only Wordle comment I'll ever make):
@fuzzle47 -- if you're playing "easy" mode, you're right, there is -- just pick another five-letter word where that contains as many of the possible letters and see if one hits. If you're playing "hard" mode, you have to use the letters you know, so, yes, it does become a guessing game at that point. (Though, as I see the posted results, nobody who has posted so far is playing "hard" mode, as "hard mode" has an asterisk after the score. On another message board, most people play hard mode.)
I saw the theme the way @Aaron intended it--the shrunken things aren't foods, they're just puns. I kind of enjoyed the variation in the size things were shrunk to. and the Zap! made all but the first theme clue shorter.
I spent too much time wondering whether the informal name for a Fiat was Fiat, but sensibly waited for the crosses. I couldn't believe my eyes when I got LIBIDO, though -- I had to double check that I wasn't solving a puzzle from AVC or the Inkubator.
If you're missing your weekly rebus, it's in the mini today. But I had to solve it online, rather than in the paper, because the pictures were printed too small to make out what they were.
Tip to new solvers: when confronted with an obscure clue for a Hawaiian island, just count the letters and wait for crosses. There are two with four letters, two with five, the big island has six, and Molokai (which probably isn't crossworthy) with seven. There are more islands, but they're too small to make the puzzle.
OK, looking up the Amun-Ra trivia. Apparently, these are all the ways the name can be spelled, but I don't know how many of these variations have shown up in crosswords. If someone has access to the puzzle database, feel free to chime in. Amun-Ra seems to be the most usual spelling. We also have: Amen-Ra, Amon-Ra, Amon-Re, Amun-Re, and Ammon-Ra. So no Amin-Ra or Amyn-Ra to worry about. And the reason for the hyphen is Amun and Ra were two separate deities before being merged into one somewhere along the way.
fuzzle 47 -- Of course it's a guessing game with one letter missing. What else could it be?
(This will in no way give away today's Wordle, Mods):
Here's your challenge, @fuzzle. You already have PRO?E.
You have not yet used your B, your N, your S or your V. You have a chance to get the answer with your next (second) guess.
If you play [conservatively] for the birdie, you might try to eliminate some possibilities by guessing BANES or VANES or VIBES. But if you want that eagle -- so much rarer and more desirable --you're going to use the four letters you have and take a stab at the fifth.
I'm quite a risk-averse person in my real life. But in Wordle I always go for broke. If not here, where? :)
Loved the mini-skirts Tom T (7:01), and the (8:34) Archie Manning reference, W. Strunk!
Correcting ABE to IKE reminded me of how old I am. Since I was alive when Ike won in ’56 (and have a memory of it happening), I didn’t think of IKE as an “old” presidential nickname.
That was a good race for us puzzlers: Ike pops up often, and the vowel-laden Adlai is useful from time to time. One anecdote Stevenson is known for is his response when an admirer told him “Every thinking voter in America will vote for you.” He reportedly said, “That’s not enough, I need a majority.”
Easy. Nope, not a Thursday. This would have made an excellent cute/amusing easy-medium Wednesday but as a Thursday it is kind of disappointing. My only serious hang up was seeing the double AA in what turned out to be AFRIKAANS and pausing for several nanoseconds. Changing lie to FIB fixed it.
A nice debut on the wrong day. Jeff at Xwordinfo said this could have been a POW on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
I join those who wish the wordle - or whatever the hell it is - crowd would get their own site and not clog up this one. On the other hand, you can use this to speed through these comments a little quicker: as soon as you see the little colored stuff - skip the whole entry and move on. I use this along with people who give their solving time. Like Ed Norton's "Song of the Sewer," it keeps things moving along.
@Aaron M. Rosenberg: I stand by the consistency of the theme set though. The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food"
OK, I'll bite. How does ATOMIC SUBMARINE fit that bill??
What a wonderful puzzle. Five longish themers put a lot of pressure on the grid, and this one really did not disappoint. LIBIDO was the high point of the day. A delight to puzzle through, as I sit on the couch with a head cold, and NO IDEA how I got it, since I've been very mask-conscious. First cold in over two years, as you might guess!
@Anonymous 10:46 - I hadn't even thought of that objection to ATOMIC SUBMARINE, but ATOMIC can be used to mean "small." Merriam-Webster online gives "minute" as the third definition and the example sentence fragment: "made atomic adjustments to the clock's mechanism to keep it from whirring as it ran." Dictionary.com gives "extremely minute" as its fourth definition. I do confess, it's not a word I hear being used in that context much at all, but, for whatever reason, it didn't strike me as odd when doing the puzzle.
I loved this theme! Anything that gets zapped with a ray gun is up my alley. I didn’t get stuck anywhere on the grid, but there was a nice amount of pushback when my more obvious answer to the clue didn’t work. Just sheer fun this morning.
Another fun puzzle - thanks to the Wacky-Factor! NE was a little tough for me, since I didn't know ICLAUDIUS and STAR was eluding me when it shouldn’t have.
Thanks Aaron. I’d bring a modest red by any party you share in future. I have to follow @Lewis’s take on the grid today though others seem inclined to agree with Rex. And perhaps today’s BAE will stick as go to crosswordese as easily entered as ACELA?
Especially liked the commentariat today:
@z repeated his wry rye link to send me sailing off to Norway for a second visit
@whatsername gently pointing to the positive
Pmdm reflecting on Maui’s pineapple wine brought back memories of our first circumnavigation of the island via the infamous Hana lunch stop….certainly an experience, though the wine didn’t leave sweet reminders of the dry side drive
I thought this was fun and funny. Stuff transformed by zapping. What's not to like? Thought there might be some link to bug zappers, but went there anyway. Maybe a little easy for a Thursday, but the NE gave me pause.
Still don't understand the wordle beefs. We talk about everything here that tickles our fancy, or offends us, or violates our sensibilities, or sparks memories, or warms our cockles, or inspires us. Wordle's not fair game?
I can't imagine why day of publication is a factor in one's opinion of a puzzle. To say "I hated this but would have liked it yesterday" doesn't make any sense.
@Nancy I guess I'd always rather earn the birdie with skill rather than the eagle by dumb luck...the flip of a coin, the roll of the dice, or whatever. There's nothing to brag about there. And your example IS a slam-dunk birdie! What really prompted my reply earlier, however, were the claims for the better score before that last letter had been determined.
I'll swallow the obscure bit of ATOMIC definition, but what about the core objection: The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food".
how does an ATOMIC SUBMARINE, not, explicitly according to the constructor, a food item, "make it difficult to consume food"???? being in a nucular sub is a hard place to eat?? how come???
@Ldrusilla 8l:27 LOL. I guess I agree with those who say "we talk about anything here", but I always found the wordle postings a bit boring. Now I find them annoying because since it moved to the NYT site it will not come ump on my computer and I miss it.
Fun theme, Rex way over thought/griped Did seem a bit easy for a Thursday.
@thfenn (12;10) Good question. Let me take a stab at it.
I would say the a ARCHconcern, from my perspective, is that Wordle postings have become more than something that "tickles our fancy, or offends us, or violates our sensibilities, or sparks memories, or warms our cockles, or inspires us. " That is, Wordle appears to be becoming more than just an occasional topic, and, more than something sparked by the Xword puzzle or by others comments. Instead, it seems to be taking on the role of a regular daily feature - one with a life and status of its own that is unrelated to the NYTimes Xword Puzzl, Rex's blog, and the commentary here (except in the very broad sense that Wordle is a game/puzzle - as are hundreds of other things).
So the question then arises, if Wordle can now become a regular feature because a small group of people on here are interested in it, then why shouldn't other topics become regular features, too? If a small group on here want to use the forum everyday to talk about baseball, or tennis, or knitting, or baking, or NASCAR, or model trains, why not? It doesn't hurt anyone, and everyone else can just skip over their comments (or so the argument goes).
So (continuing from my perspective), I think it has something to do with the integrity of the comments section. Sure, comments range all over the place, as you noted, but the focus still remains on the NYTimes Crossword puzzle and Michael's commentary. And no matter how far-ranging and bizarre the comments may be, the focus continues inevitably to return to the core topic. These diversions do not generally affect the fundamental integrity of the comments section,
The Wordle postings, however, are introducing a second independent regular topic, distinct from the stated topic and, therefore, creating a dual focus in the comments.
Concern about that is a question is worth taking seriously.
I'm with @Hartley70 on liking this theme a lot. Each answer gave me a smile. And I didn't find it overly easy - things like having no idea about West ELM or LIU Yifei kept things lively.
@RooMonster, I laughed twice at your comment - first at the idea of SubmarineWay and then your AMyNRA. I played the same waiting game for my third letter in 27D as you did. (Also at 54D, with the E in place.)
Aaron M Rosenberg, congrats on your debut and thanks for such a sweet Thursday puzzle. And for coming by to visit us at Rexblog.
You all know I rarely dislike a puzzle and this one is no exception. All the jokes cracked me up. SMALL FRIES and LITTLE DIPPER were especially fun. Like half the world, I waited to see just how we were spelling AM_NRA today but I think that’s kind of fun. Even tho many of us know the crosswordese, we have to work a little harder to get the answer. I’m feeling all smug at Knowing I CLAUDIUS and stand corrected on my wrong spelling of AFRIKAANS.
We’re getting another big snowstorm today so tomorrow will be play in the snow with the Mals. That takes the sting out of being snowbound out here in the sticks. We’re also getting ice; fingers crossed the power stays on.
Seriously, folks, just skip over the Wordle stuff; it’s pretty obvious.
I think I need to rethink my strategy, such as it is.
The top was the last to fall for me, and I actually laughed at LITTLE DIPPER. I dunno why.
And right after that, I was shocked to find that "Float" was not RAFT!
Every time I see the word ATOMIC I remember that when first used in English it was supposed to mean "indivisible". Thus it was used to describe atoms, which were presumed to be the smallest particles, but soon turned out to be quite divisible. So now we often use it to mean "tiny".
[Spelling Bee: yd got to pg in 3:20, but finished at -1. Like @RooMonster, I missed this word.]
@Fuzzle47. Once you have your first word in Wordle, you use your reasoning to make further entries based on what you learn as you go. In so doing, let's say you have 4 greens and a black after 3 entries. You have 3 more entries and let's say there are 4 letters that could complete the word. You could get a par, a bogie, a double bogie, or a loss. There is no way to "think" to get the right answer. So one guess is as good as another. So I give myself a par but continue to see what the puzzle's "guess" was. I will get the score that the puzzle gives me, but I know that it's due to chance. Yes, it's just a little mind game I play
@Wundrin: bocamp started it! He used to try for Queen Bee but it took too much of his day, so now he just goes for pg and times it. I like it too; it puts some pressure on. (But I still go for QB.)
Finally the starving guests gave up and went out for Chinese, but the scientist came with them and (ZAP!) turned their plentiful array of snacks into a PALTRY (DIM) SUM.
CARO is the masculine form of "dear" in Italian so they could have switched ADES to ODES without changing the down clue. Or they could have made the clue be about British composer Thomas Adés.
@ H. Gunn. I vote for NASCAR which is a very timely suggestion on your part as the Daytona 500 is this weekend. Daytona is one of two restrictor plate tracks, so the cars have to have plates on the carburetor to limit how fast they can go. This usually results in a very bunched up field as it is difficult to pass other cars due to the speed restrictions. When the racing gets really intense (usually with less than 10 laps remaining) there is invariably a multi-car wreck referred to as the BIG one.
Good stuff - look for Chase Elliot to make some noise in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet.
@Whatsername & @Veronica - The woman ahead of me in the checkout lane yesterday pardoned herself as she put the ARCHie digest back with, “excuse me, when’d did ARCHies start costing $10?”
@H. Gunn - Thank you for your well stated post. What’s interesting to me is that wordle seems to have displaced the spelling bee comments. Those nice people even came up with an unobtrusive code in response to complaints, and there were still complaints. Personally, if people come here to discuss the puzzle and then also discuss other puzzles I have no problem with that. Just coming here to post a wordle score seems odd to me, there are other places to discuss wordle, but it seems entirely normal that people who like discussing the crossword and things arising from the crossword might also like discussing puzzles like the spelling bee or wordle. The reaction against others discussing what they find interesting is censorious and not infrequently rude. So much so that your thoughtful post stands out as being uncommon.
@Anonymoose - While not a fault of the constructor, the difficulty progression is a pretty basic expectation at this point. I think this is like an overhyped movie that disappoints not because it is bad, but just because it did not live up to the hype. A Tuesday puzzle has very different expectations than a Thursday puzzle. This puzzle would easily exceed people’s expectations on Tuesday, but failed to meet people’s expectations of a Thursday puzzle because it is too easy for a Thursday.
@Peter P - Anyone can look up how many times an answer has appeared here. Just go to xwordinfo.com, click on “solution and notes,” scroll down to clues and answers, and click on any answer. You can then modify your search for other entries. Just be aware that it searches for exact text, so AMON-RA has only appeared 7 times, but AMON has appeared 148 times.
Not my day today. I disliked this puzzle a lot -- I found the premise bizarre and the cluing on non-themers often just bad. 5A I wanted RAFT and when I figured it had to be a W I just couldn't understand how WAFT meant "Float". At first I thought there was some sort of dumb speech impediment joke going on, that's how far away the word WAFT is from "Float" in my world. It's like the constructor grew up on a different plant than me.
And Wordle. First time I've not been successful. Came down to a guessing game with way too many possibilities.
Today's puz right on my TURF - though I haven't seen hippos on the Nile, I've seen them in other parts of Africa; that's where I learned AFRIKAANS, so of course I knew all about the AARDVARK.
Not sure how to Share Wordle to this site, as technologically challenged in the aspect of hitting the Share button, but not knowing how to get it here. (Which is probably a good thing, as no one wants another Wordle thingie displayed.) Anyway, got it in 5. 😁
Hitting the WORDLE Share button is like hitting Ctrl + C (copy) on a computer, so after copying, just hit Ctrl + V (paste) here and the colored WORDLE boxes showing your score will magically appear.
Oof, Blockading over Wordless.?!!! In a year, probably less, it will look like Holland’s tulip mania. My God. Take step back. Then refrain from posting about a fad.
Liveprof @10:45 your Adlai E. Stevenson quote about needing more than just the vote of every thinking voter in America in order to win the election reminds me of a quote attributed to WWII British Prime Minister Winston Churchill saying that the best argument against democracy as a form of government is a five minute conversation with the average voter. These days I think that can be shortened to a minute or less. Maybe just a tweet!
I don't understand the complaints about the Wordie thingies gracing the comment board these days. Who doesn't love those vibrant piss yellow and pus green colors? Throw in some black and white squares with those and the combination is worthy of an inner city pawn shop sign. And with all those pixels, upwards of thirty in some cases, the possibilities for creative designs are practically limitless. What's not to love?
Just checked out some images of the British dessert TRIFLE. Doesn't look like the pudding cake got shrunk at all.
Thursdays crush me more than Fri-Sat do. SW - AFRIKAANS crossing ENMITY,CARA,ONZE was a showstopper for me, and I had AMENRA and ANEMICSUBMARINE, not knowing LATEEN.
Murdoch burned the ripe pineapples when Dole owned Lanai. Workers lost jobs. To increase real estate and tourism. The ancient source of water was capped for the golf course.
We were staying on Lanai the year that Murdoch had all the ripe sugar cane burned. He was there when it took place. Workers immediately lost their jobs. Only remaining employment was by two Murdoch-owned hotels.
Really nice set of themers, and a really nicely filled grid, completely undone by the cluing. Whatever you call the style of theme clue used today, it is not for me.
Clearly the people who just come here to complain about Wordle posts need to get a blog of their own to post those complaints.
Bravo to the constructor on hi debut. But honestly, why is the editor giving the green light to stuff that needs a lot more polish than this diamond in the rough? ATOMIC just doesn’t work in this context. The best one of the lot was MICROSECONDS. The others are groaners.
Kinda Thursday-tough for me, with some misty cluing and a theme that doesn't really hang together well. It's okay though: brain needs workout to get ready for the weekend. Lucy LIU scores a double! Par.
Alright then...2 wrong letters. Can you guess? I spelled AFRICAANS with a Z at the end, and thought LASzES was - who knows? And then PITT started out as some form of "the Pats," and the a got left there. What I know about sports I forgot in 6th grade at Connie Mack Stadium with the rest of the safety troop.
Usually "story" puzzles can be frustrating, but this was kinda cute. Just a lil bit, ya know?
NAN had CHARM as A MERETRIFLE of A LASS meeting IKE, the ATOMICSUBMARINE skipper, whose LIBIDO gave him the GALL of an ASS, so NAN GASPed, “I’d get ADES from that LITTLEDIPPER!”.
Took a few MICROSECONDS longer than usual due to some obtuse cluing/crossing. Or maybe that was me. The corners are on another PAGE. LIU Yifey, yeah BAE BAE. Soon time to de-WINTERIZE. I hope.
I loved this puzzle! It was so lively and creative. Most puzzles don't tell you a story. It was fun to imagine this shrink ray at a dinner party. I found it had plenty of crunch for a Thursday!
Okay, doing this one 6 months late, but came here because I thought *someone* would make the same mistake I did: if you don’t know LATEEN, and you’re okay with an alternate spelling for AMEN-RA, you get “ANEMIC SUBMARINE”, which I thought could not possibly be wrong cause it fits the theme so well. Oh well.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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122 comments:
I kinda stumbled through this but I liked it. High wacky factor in the theme made it fun. RATHOLES eluded, evaded me when it should have popped right in. I had RATnests, RATsnest, and RATtrapS trying to prevail. I chose my Wordle starter and moved on to that.
Wordle 243 5/6
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I am claiming a par. It became a game of chance after the third try.
Super easy. Only overwrite was @Rex abe before IKE. Liked it a lot more than OFL did.
Anyone else bamboozled by HAZEL in yd. Dordle? DNF here.
I love the kind of theme where you get the gimmick right from the start and try to get the remaining theme answers with zero or just few crosses, and when you succeed, it brings not only a feeling of accomplishment and an “aha!”, but because there’s humor in the answers, they bring a smile as well.
And here it is, with several of those lovely theme moments for me. I think the theme answers are brilliant, each with a “meal” meaning and a “real life” meaning. I especially like SMALL FRIES and MICRO SECONDS. In the grid itself, there’s a trio of one-syllable answers – GASP, WAFT, and DELVE – that I find beautiful. And I like the geographically-appropriate WAFT up and STEP down.
The solve gave me enough rub to make my exercise-hungry brain happy. And seeing the excellent work of a new constructor in the Times made my heart smile. Thus, there was happiness all around in today’s journey, which took me from neutral to buoyant. Thank you for making this happen, Aaron, and congratulations!
At the build your own fajita station, [ZAP!] the steaks turned into ... MINI-SKIRTS
I don't think Rex likes doing this anymore.
Haha. My first ever 6/6 on wordle and I, like you was missing only one letter, from my second guess.
Once again, Lewis is the anti-Rex this morning. I disagree strongly with both of them but I'm closer to Rex. The themers are kind of clunky.
We spend a week or so every year on Maui, right across from Lanai. I've never heard it called the Pineapple Isle. They don't grow pineapples there now. But in the 20's, Dole owned the island and grew 75% of the world's pineapples. Now most pineapples come from Costa Rica. The pineapples they serve in Maui come primarily from the Philippines.
Cute little puzzle - should have run early week though. A little brit feel with TRIFLE, NAN, TORY, ELIOT etc. Goofy looking layout with the short stuff in the center - BAE is an unfortunate addition to any grid.
Thought all the themers were neat - SMALL FRIES stood out for me. The non theme longs were solid - liked WINTERIZE and STAR TOURS. Clue for LIBIDO was fun.
Tuesday like but an enjoyable solve.
can someone explain how 'principal' = 'arch' (51 Across)
Interesting - I’ve been complaining about the verbal synonyms for like a week now, and today we get one straight out of the gate at 1A (GASP = [I’m speechless!]). I thought only Rex had that effect on WS, oh well . . .
Rex already pointed out that LATEEN alongside AMON-RA is pretty rough (crossed by something called a REN Faire, no less) - hopefully the theme is at least passable on a day when the collateral damage is so significant.
Nice job on the made-up word today (ONZE) as well.
Of course that BBC/PBS show's real name is I, CLAVDIVS
Rex nailed it, again
@Tom T (7:01) - FTW!
I got STARTOURS then LITTLEDIPPER and thought I was in for a nice celestial theme but nope. That alone made the rest of the theme answers disappointing.
Setting aside everything else, I was just not on the cluing wavelength this morning. Easy? Har! Four writeovers and multiple “no idea what this is going for” on first pass. And then there was that brief moment of dread when I thought this was going to be a quote puzzle. Nope, just a “bad puns but not bad enough to be good” puzzle.
So maybe it was just that I was not on the wave length of this puzzle, but the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids conceit just didn’t work for me. I didn’t crack a smile or a groan even once. And the convoluted clues? Blrrgh. If you’re going to make me read that much the payoff needs to be funnier.
@anon7:45 - The best I can come up with is that your ARCHenemy is your principal enemy.
@Tom T - Now your themer made me chuckle.
@OffTheGrid - I had your missing letter in my second guess, so it was much easier to get the par for me. I went with two diphthongs in my first guess today.
@anon late re my “abnormal” comment - I think most people realized I was referring to myself.
@anon upset by my link - Why do you read what I post and link to? Your odd obsession with me is a little weird.
Speaking of - This caught my eye last night. FWIW - No middle schoolers allowed in the Placebo & Tentacle.
Wordle 243 2/6
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Shot a dart right at the center of the green, and luckily it rolled right in for my first eagle. 7-under after 15.
**** Daily Mini ******
Forget the made-up stuff, they’re using hieroglyphs today. Very sad.
Honestly, it's get's getting super annoying that people insist on posting comments about the NYTimes Xword and Rex's commentary on the puzzle.
Can't you all just post your Wordle scores and be done with it?
And by the way....don't touch the figs.
Ira Sy
@Anonymous 7:45
ARCH is a adjective used to modify rival or enemy.
Side note - this is definitely a Wednesday or even Tuesday puzzle. Knocked 30 seconds off my best time for a Thursday
In a combing form, either at the beginning or the end of a word, arch- means principal or chief (e.g., archbishop, archdeacon; archenemy; matriarch, monarch, ArchieManning (the chief of the Manning family which includes son Eli and Peyton), etc.
@Anon 7:45 - I originally had "main" for "principal," but "ARCH" is the same idea. ARCH, as in "primary." The first definition of ARCH as an adjective in Merriam-Webster is "principal, chief."
So AMON-RA is yet another variation I have to add to my arsenal? I've finally gotten AMeN-RA and AMuN-RA down, only to learn AMON-RA is also a thing. A triple kealoa. I should double check on AMaN-RA and AMiN-RA just to be safe.
I thought for sure ATOMIC SUBMARINE would be commented on, but I guess it's just me. I'm only familiar with "nuclear SUBMARINE" as a phrase. For bombs, sure, either work, but for subs, I can't really say I've heard ATOMIC as the modifier. Maybe it was old timey, or maybe I just haven't been paying attention. The fact that no one is commenting on it makes me think I've just missed it for whatever reason. As for SUBMARINE vs SUB for a sandwich, it's very rare, but I have heard the full SUBMARINE (without "sandwich" following) used to refer to one. But, yes, almost always, it's just "sub." (Unless you're from one of those goofy places where they call it something else...I kid, I kid.)
LANAI is the only isle I've visited in Hawai'i (I'm not an island person), but they did very much tell us that it was known (or at least once known) as the Pineapple Isle and that Dole owned something like 90% of it (or 90% of it was used to grow pineapples -- I can't remember; it's been two decades). So that one went in without a budge.
Overall, this played more medium than easy for me. I got stuck in the west by LATEEN (what is that?) and AMONRA (was expecting one of two vowels there, when it was a third one) and not seeing ATOMIC.
think archenemy; archbishop.
I guess the thing that disappointed me the most was how quickly I flew through this, given it’s Thursday. However, I am fairly easily amused by theme answers so I didn’t really roll my eyes at some of the things @Rex pointed out.
I’ll have to look at the constructor’s background to see if he is a Brit or Anglophile with the TORY and NAN answers. Just guessing but haven’t heard any ‘Muricans say MUM or NAN. No matter…I got it.
Well at least it wasn't a rebus. For that, it gets points, and I was able to use the theme to get answers. Happy Thursday.
This was a really well done and kind of fun to solve puzzle. But it’s not exactly what I want on a Thursday. When I got the first themer, I had a sinking feeling and thought, oh please don’t let that be all there is. It was [sigh].
Had it run yesterday I probably would’ve loved it. Oh well. @amyyanni is thankful it wasn’t a rebus and I’m disappointed it was not. You can’t please everyone but you did do a nice job of trying, Aaron. Congratulations on your NYT debut!
No mini spoilers please.
I like what this puzzle is trying to do, but I don't think it does it all that well. The clues seem overlong and somewhat tortured. They tend to make any answer, even if it's cute, seem anticlimatic. Perhaps the clues could have been pared down without losing their ability to, well, clue.
As far as the easiness for a Thursday: the exceedingly slam-dunk NW set the tone for the rest of the puzzle -- even if the rest of the puzzle did get a bit more challenging. If that corner could have been toughened up, it would help helped a lot.
A cute idea that I think falls a bit short (pun intended).
Hi folks, constructor here! Just wanted to thank you all for sharing your feedback even if (especially if) you didn't care for today's puzzle. I made this one a year ago, and if I were to do it again today I would avoid some of the deficiencies that I brushed aside the first time.
I stand by the consistency of the theme set though. The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food". To the party guest, shrinking the ladle is just as bad as shrinking the punchbowl. (Canonically, these party guests refuse to drink straight from the bowl.)
@Peter P - Don’t forget Idi AMiN-RA.
@W. Struck - 😂🤣😂
@L. Drusilla - That was funny. I don’t agree, but still got a smile here.
Thx Aaron, for an engaging Thurs. puz! :)
Med.
Avg Thurs. time, but felt longer.
Not so much that I wasn't on Aaron's wavelength, but my inability to quickly suss out the themers meant fewer crosses for the downs.
Didn't know I CLAUDIUS, so that slowed things down in the NE.
Main before ARCH.
Dropped AFRIKAANS right in (with the exception of using a 'c' in lieu of a 'k'); IKE came to the rescue.
Anyhoo, my kind of a challenge; most enjoyable adventure. :)
@okanaganer 👍 for 0 yd
___
yd pg: (4:01) / Wordle 4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I don't believe this. I could have had an eagle. Instead I have a bogey. This is the kind of Wordle puzzle -- the kind where guessing one letter that could be one of many, many choices, plays too big a role. I may just call this an eagle and have done with it.
Wordle 243 5/6
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@Aaron M. Rosenberg - Thanks for being so brave. If I were a constructor I don’t know that I’d come by here to read the comments. We’re a tough crowd. Candid and mostly fair, but tough.
Ay frijoles negros...My mind went into a LITTLE ATOMIC thought: "Why is this so easy and what on this good earth have you done to my party food..."
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...
I had no problem getting the LITTLE DIPPER and the SMALL FRIES. I didn't understand why you ZAP in your clue. (Thank you Rex for clarifying) ... Ok...so now I understand what the scientist was doing...I don't think I'd invite her over to cater the food at my place. This is what you'd most likely get at my casa:
Mini prawn tacos.
Loaded potato skins.
Jumbo shrimp
Small crab fritters
And just for @Z: Homemade rye on ale crackers.
Everyone's invited.
My only little trouble was getting I CLAUDIUS. I don't think I've ever watched it. In the 70's I watched "All in the Family" and that's all remember. Were they on PPS? I think back then we only had three channels.
I really never watched much TV because all I had was a little black and white sitting on top of my book case. I had rabbit ears made from my clothes hangar and it was a perfect place to hang my undies to dry.
I had the same Wordle situation as above, where I was just missing that fifth letter. But my first four guesses were wrong, so I had a DNF for the first time on Wordle, ever.
I liked the theme, but I kind of agree with Rex that it seemed a little clunky. MERE is a bit different from ATOMIC, which is a different scale from SMALL or LITTLE. And some of the foods were plural and some weren't.
Wordle people!! When you get down to one missing letter and there are several possibilities, it does NOT become a guessing game! There is a method to maximize the possibility of identifying the missing letter. THNIK ABOUT IT, and don't claim eagles and pars when you don't earn them. (And...do we have to turn this into a World blog????)
Sorry, I didn't know spoilers for the mini weren't allowed here as the answers are all front and center for the daily.
Anyway, I figured out my problem with the mini. Most of the emojis in the clues didn't show up on my machine, only the plus signs. I called it up on my phone and there they were. Now it makes sense!
I forgot to add that this particular theme aided considerably in the solve which may be why some are saying it was so easy. However, I don’t see that as a shortcoming but rather as the sign of a skillfully constructed crossword.
@Veronica (9:03) Archie comics? Now there’s a blast from the past! I know it was Mr. Weatherby, then Miss Grundy, Mr. Flutesnoot and Coach Kleats but I don’t remember any first names. My cousin and I used to save our allowance and could hardly wait to get to the drugstore when the new issues would come out.
@Aaron M. (9:19) Always an honor when a constructor joins our conversation. Can’t recall that I ever drank straight from a punch bowl but not saying it couldn’t have happened in my younger partying days. Hoping to see more puzzles from you in the future.
Onze is the number 11 in French.
Not a made up word.
If one has developed the machinery to change the molecular structure of an object to change its size, why go for shrinking? I mean, the list of things I'd like to shrink is actually pretty small. If my shrinker were precise enough, I'd zap the fat around my waist, that's something I'd shrink. I really can't think of anything else I'd like to shrink in my immediate vicinity. I'd maybe like to go to Russia and shrink all the tanks and armored personnel carriers and artillery they have surrounding Ukraine and shrink them to the size of toys. However, if I could do that with impunity I really wouldn't need an atomic shrinker, I'd just need rags soaked in gasoline to put in the fuel tanks or ammo dumps to blow them up. I bet blowing them up is more fun than shrinking them.
Now, things I would like to make larger, that's a different story. That pitiful pile of gold bullion hidden a drawer upstairs? Definitely. Krugerrands the size of truck tires, baby! That cheese danish right in front of me? Of course, where to you think my gut came from.
In non-puzzle related news, the garter snake that lives in my terrarium, aka the window well in my basement, has emerged from hibernation today. Spring is here! Now to find a mouse to feed it. Or, maybe I could use my zapper to make it big enough to climb out by itself, I'm guessing it would need to be about 20-25' long. It's ok to create a 25' long garter snake, right? What could go wrong with that?
Quit the puzzle at 49 A when all my obvious and straightforward answers ("liar", "fool", etc.) just wouldn't work.
lower left hard for me: SPLIT/MICRO, ABE/IKE, RNA/DNA, RAID/HEAD, LIE/FIB
Take your Wordle somewhere else please
Hey All !
LIBIDO and it's clue. RAWR! NYTXW getting risqúe. Feels a bit naughty. 😊
When you begin a Bus excursion to see celebrities homes, do you START OURS STAR TOURS?
I liked this puz. It was a fun-filled puz. Overthinking Rex showed up again today. Relax, and take in the fun factor. You'll live longer. See also, rant on ADES. Dang.
ATOMIC SUBMARINE I don't think is a thing, but hey, close enough. SUBMARINE is a name for that kind of sandwich, but usually gets shortened to SUB. Ergo, we have SubWay, not SubmarineWay. Others are hoagie, grinder, hero, po boy, and others I'm probably missing.
AMONRA. Har. Put in AM_NRA, and waited. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Y in there eventually.
Nice puz, Aaron. Debut, according to others. Gee, shut down the world for 8 months, and everyone turns into a puzzle maker. Too bad it takes a year for your puz to come out.
yd -1 (that E word! C'mon Sam!), should'ves 0
Six F's (HAIL Aaron!)(Har)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Glad to see I was not the only one with a 6/6 when it could have been a 3/6 with better guessing. Rex says the only place 'ades'ever appears is in crosswords, so why is it here? Well, Rex, this is a crossword so that's why. Duh.
Easy and cute, with MERE TRIFLE getting my "inspired" award. I liked that there were two rounds of meager fare, with the hungry guests going back for more but faced with equally non-sating MICROSECONDS. I did notice the HAM over on the side, but maybe it was still hanging UP for curing.
Do-overs: wow before AWE, lie before FIB, dNA, CARo, RATtraps. Help from previous puzzles: BAE. No idea: LIU.
@Aaron Rosenberg, thanks for stopping by and for providing this witty treat.
Would the Wordle folks please get a blog of your own.
Thanks Aaron for a fun puzzle! It make me laugh and challenged me in a good way. BTW fellow bloggers, "atomic" is a legitimate sub sandwich size that is much smaller than a six foot one. Unfortunately I have eaten way too many sandwiches in my day so I'm all too familiar with this!
Easy speedy here, the only minor slowdown was wanting a SMALLER something but changing the E to an F cleared that up. Never heard of "Taobao", so I learned something there.
I always like seeing HUFF, because it makes me think of Groucho, viz.:
If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a HUFF. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a HUFF.
@Pete--if you want to know what could go wrong with a really big snake, I highly recommend Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiassen, which is hilarious.
Otherwise, I missed a Thursday with some tricksiness, this one was just a little too straightforward.
Thanks for stopping by, AMR. Please accept All Mixed Responses to you effort in good faith, and congratulations on your debut and your willingness to improve.
One's reaction to something that is supposed to be humorous is a very personal response. I think I can find humor in things easier than others who post here. Not a criticism, just an observation. That my sense of humor is closer to that of Shortz than Sharp and perhaps Chen is neither right nor wrong. It's just the way it lives. Some can live with that, some have difficulties. I had no difficulty enjoying this puzzle and solving how to characterize the theme. AAnd three cheers for the constructor for reading this blog which admittedly can be fairly brutal at times.
Mathgent: Did you have any pineapple wine when you were in Maui? I did. Quite sweet. Too sweet for my taste so I did not buy any bottles. But overall I was a bit surprised by the winery. Or so my very fading memory seems to say.
(Sorry. First and only Wordle comment I'll ever make):
@fuzzle47 -- if you're playing "easy" mode, you're right, there is -- just pick another five-letter word where that contains as many of the possible letters and see if one hits. If you're playing "hard" mode, you have to use the letters you know, so, yes, it does become a guessing game at that point. (Though, as I see the posted results, nobody who has posted so far is playing "hard" mode, as "hard mode" has an asterisk after the score. On another message board, most people play hard mode.)
Not sure I’d like a dinner party where the main course is a hoagie, but I enjoyed the puzzle and the story it tells. Congrats to Alan on the debut.
Then when everyone at the party had finished their MICROSECONDS, [ZAP!] the barrel makers at the table turned into MINI Coopers.
I saw the theme the way @Aaron intended it--the shrunken things aren't foods, they're just puns. I kind of enjoyed the variation in the size things were shrunk to. and the Zap! made all but the first theme clue shorter.
I spent too much time wondering whether the informal name for a Fiat was Fiat, but sensibly waited for the crosses. I couldn't believe my eyes when I got LIBIDO, though -- I had to double check that I wasn't solving a puzzle from AVC or the Inkubator.
If you're missing your weekly rebus, it's in the mini today. But I had to solve it online, rather than in the paper, because the pictures were printed too small to make out what they were.
Tip to new solvers: when confronted with an obscure clue for a Hawaiian island, just count the letters and wait for crosses. There are two with four letters, two with five, the big island has six, and Molokai (which probably isn't crossworthy) with seven. There are more islands, but they're too small to make the puzzle.
Hard Mode shows black squares for misses:
Wordle 243 5/6
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OK, looking up the Amun-Ra trivia. Apparently, these are all the ways the name can be spelled, but I don't know how many of these variations have shown up in crosswords. If someone has access to the puzzle database, feel free to chime in. Amun-Ra seems to be the most usual spelling. We also have: Amen-Ra, Amon-Ra, Amon-Re, Amun-Re, and Ammon-Ra. So no Amin-Ra or Amyn-Ra to worry about. And the reason for the hyphen is Amun and Ra were two separate deities before being merged into one somewhere along the way.
fuzzle 47 -- Of course it's a guessing game with one letter missing. What else could it be?
(This will in no way give away today's Wordle, Mods):
Here's your challenge, @fuzzle. You already have PRO?E.
You have not yet used your B, your N, your S or your V. You have a chance to get the answer with your next (second) guess.
If you play [conservatively] for the birdie, you might try to eliminate some possibilities by guessing BANES or VANES or VIBES. But if you want that eagle -- so much rarer and more desirable --you're going to use the four letters you have and take a stab at the fifth.
I'm quite a risk-averse person in my real life. But in Wordle I always go for broke. If not here, where? :)
Loved the mini-skirts Tom T (7:01), and the (8:34) Archie Manning reference, W. Strunk!
Correcting ABE to IKE reminded me of how old I am. Since I was alive when Ike won in ’56 (and have a memory of it happening), I didn’t think of IKE as an “old” presidential nickname.
That was a good race for us puzzlers: Ike pops up often, and the vowel-laden Adlai is useful from time to time. One anecdote Stevenson is known for is his response when an admirer told him “Every thinking voter in America will vote for you.” He reportedly said, “That’s not enough, I need a majority.”
Easy. Nope, not a Thursday. This would have made an excellent cute/amusing easy-medium Wednesday but as a Thursday it is kind of disappointing. My only serious hang up was seeing the double AA in what turned out to be AFRIKAANS and pausing for several nanoseconds. Changing lie to FIB fixed it.
A nice debut on the wrong day. Jeff at Xwordinfo said this could have been a POW on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
@Peter P:
I join. ATOMIC SUBMARINE is just nonsense, in the themer sense. I know of no use of ATOMIC to mean small.
I join those who wish the wordle - or whatever the hell it is - crowd would get their own site and not clog up this one. On the other hand, you can use this to speed through these comments a little quicker: as soon as you see the little colored stuff - skip the whole entry and move on. I use this along with people who give their solving time. Like Ed Norton's "Song of the Sewer," it keeps things moving along.
@Aaron M. Rosenberg:
I stand by the consistency of the theme set though. The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food"
OK, I'll bite. How does ATOMIC SUBMARINE fit that bill??
Wordle 1 4/6
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Wordle 2 4/6
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Wordle 3 5/6
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Wordle 4 4/6
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Wordle 5 4/6
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What a wonderful puzzle.
Five longish themers put a lot of pressure on the grid, and this one really did not disappoint.
LIBIDO was the high point of the day.
A delight to puzzle through, as I sit on the couch with a head cold, and NO IDEA how I got it, since I've been very mask-conscious.
First cold in over two years, as you might guess!
And in more important news:
Wordle 243 4/6
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@Anonymous 10:46 - I hadn't even thought of that objection to ATOMIC SUBMARINE, but ATOMIC can be used to mean "small." Merriam-Webster online gives "minute" as the third definition and the example sentence fragment: "made atomic adjustments to the clock's mechanism to keep it from whirring as it ran." Dictionary.com gives "extremely minute" as its fourth definition. I do confess, it's not a word I hear being used in that context much at all, but, for whatever reason, it didn't strike me as odd when doing the puzzle.
I loved this theme! Anything that gets zapped with a ray gun is up my alley. I didn’t get stuck anywhere on the grid, but there was a nice amount of pushback when my more obvious answer to the clue didn’t work.
Just sheer fun this morning.
Another fun puzzle - thanks to the Wacky-Factor! NE was a little tough for me, since I didn't know ICLAUDIUS and STAR was eluding me when it shouldn’t have.
When the champagne was poured[ZAP!] it turned into ….
TINY BUBBLES
I don’t know about 34A HAMUP in a multi course small food puzzle. Isn’t UP the wrong direction?
But I’m not storming off in AHUFF. This puzzle was delicious. Congrats on a great debut, Aaron M. Rosenberg.
@JC66 (10:38 AM)
Correct!
___
I played 'hard mode' for a couple of weeks before realizing it can be officially turned on in the settings (resulting in an asterisk).
Bottom line: if one uses all found letters on each turn, they are in 'hard mode' regardless of whether or not it's turned on in the settings.
@Nancy (9:26 AM)
Your unlucky guesses were slightly better than mine today. 😂
Wordle 243 6/6*
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___
td pg: (8:58)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Thanks Aaron. I’d bring a modest red by any party you share in future. I have to follow @Lewis’s take on the grid today though others seem inclined to agree with Rex. And perhaps today’s BAE will stick as go to crosswordese as easily entered as ACELA?
Especially liked the commentariat today:
@z repeated his wry rye link to send me sailing off to Norway for a second visit
@whatsername gently pointing to the positive
Pmdm reflecting on Maui’s pineapple wine brought back memories of our first circumnavigation of the island via the infamous Hana lunch stop….certainly an experience, though the wine didn’t leave sweet reminders of the dry side drive
I thought this was fun and funny. Stuff transformed by zapping. What's not to like? Thought there might be some link to bug zappers, but went there anyway. Maybe a little easy for a Thursday, but the NE gave me pause.
Still don't understand the wordle beefs. We talk about everything here that tickles our fancy, or offends us, or violates our sensibilities, or sparks memories, or warms our cockles, or inspires us. Wordle's not fair game?
@Anonymous 10:23. I'll have you know I'm a HUMBLE narcissist.
Too easy for Thurs. And the mini has a rebus of sorts?
Wordle 243 5/6
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Only time it's taken me 5 tries!!
I don't understand the golf scoring. I have mostly 3s, a few 2s and 4s.
Wordle 243 5/6
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And I agree with @Nancy and others. Sometimes it's just a guessing game.
MFCTM.
Tom T (7:01)
L. Drusilla (8:27)
Nancy (10:54)
I can't imagine why day of publication is a factor in one's opinion of a puzzle. To say "I hated this but would have liked it yesterday" doesn't make any sense.
@Nancy I guess I'd always rather earn the birdie with skill rather than the eagle by dumb luck...the flip of a coin, the roll of the dice, or whatever. There's nothing to brag about there. And your example IS a slam-dunk birdie! What really prompted my reply earlier, however, were the claims for the better score before that last letter had been determined.
Super easy for me today - new Thursday record!!
12:16. My Thursday average is half an hour.
Oh! "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food"! Of course! Makes all the difference!
Really wanted split seconds.
@Peter P:
I'll swallow the obscure bit of ATOMIC definition, but what about the core objection:
The premise isn't "shrunken food", it's "shrunken things that make it difficult to consume food".
how does an ATOMIC SUBMARINE, not, explicitly according to the constructor, a food item, "make it difficult to consume food"???? being in a nucular sub is a hard place to eat?? how come???
@Ldrusilla 8l:27 LOL.
I guess I agree with those who say "we talk about anything here", but I always found the wordle postings a bit boring. Now I find them annoying because since it moved to the NYT site it will not come ump on my computer and I miss it.
Fun theme, Rex way over thought/griped
Did seem a bit easy for a Thursday.
@thfenn (12;10) Good question. Let me take a stab at it.
I would say the a ARCHconcern, from my perspective, is that Wordle postings have become more than something that "tickles our fancy, or offends us, or violates our sensibilities, or sparks memories, or warms our cockles, or inspires us. " That is, Wordle appears to be becoming more than just an occasional topic, and, more than something sparked by the Xword puzzle or by others comments. Instead, it seems to be taking on the role of a regular daily feature - one with a life and status of its own that is unrelated to the NYTimes Xword Puzzl, Rex's blog, and the commentary here (except in the very broad sense that Wordle is a game/puzzle - as are hundreds of other things).
So the question then arises, if Wordle can now become a regular feature because a small group of people on here are interested in it, then why shouldn't other topics become regular features, too? If a small group on here want to use the forum everyday to talk about baseball, or tennis, or knitting, or baking, or NASCAR, or model trains, why not? It doesn't hurt anyone, and everyone else can just skip over their comments (or so the argument goes).
So (continuing from my perspective), I think it has something to do with the integrity of the comments section. Sure, comments range all over the place, as you noted, but the focus still remains on the NYTimes Crossword puzzle and Michael's commentary. And no matter how far-ranging and bizarre the comments may be, the focus continues inevitably to return to the core topic. These diversions do not generally affect the fundamental integrity of the comments section,
The Wordle postings, however, are introducing a second independent regular topic, distinct from the stated topic and, therefore, creating a dual focus in the comments.
Concern about that is a question is worth taking seriously.
I'm with @Hartley70 on liking this theme a lot. Each answer gave me a smile. And I didn't find it overly easy - things like having no idea about West ELM or LIU Yifei kept things lively.
@RooMonster, I laughed twice at your comment - first at the idea of SubmarineWay and then your AMyNRA. I played the same waiting game for my third letter in 27D as you did. (Also at 54D, with the E in place.)
Aaron M Rosenberg, congrats on your debut and thanks for such a sweet Thursday puzzle. And for coming by to visit us at Rexblog.
You all know I rarely dislike a puzzle and this one is no exception. All the jokes cracked me up. SMALL FRIES and LITTLE DIPPER were especially fun. Like half the world, I waited to see just how we were spelling AM_NRA today but I think that’s kind of fun. Even tho many of us know the crosswordese, we have to work a little harder to get the answer. I’m feeling all smug at Knowing I CLAUDIUS and stand corrected on my wrong spelling of AFRIKAANS.
We’re getting another big snowstorm today so tomorrow will be play in the snow with the Mals. That takes the sting out of being snowbound out here in the sticks. We’re also getting ice; fingers crossed the power stays on.
Seriously, folks, just skip over the Wordle stuff; it’s pretty obvious.
I think I need to rethink my strategy, such as it is.
Wordle 243 6/6
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@SharonAK
You're probably trying to access WORDLE in Safari. You can either clear the cookies there or use another server (Chrome, Firefox, etc.)
@H. Gunn
You're right. If the other topics you mentioned in your post were as popular as WORDLE, we'd have a bunch of comments about them here as well.
The top was the last to fall for me, and I actually laughed at LITTLE DIPPER. I dunno why.
And right after that, I was shocked to find that "Float" was not RAFT!
Every time I see the word ATOMIC I remember that when first used in English it was supposed to mean "indivisible". Thus it was used to describe atoms, which were presumed to be the smallest particles, but soon turned out to be quite divisible. So now we often use it to mean "tiny".
[Spelling Bee: yd got to pg in 3:20, but finished at -1. Like @RooMonster, I missed this word.]
@Fuzzle47. Once you have your first word in Wordle, you use your reasoning to make further entries based on what you learn as you go. In so doing, let's say you have 4 greens and a black after 3 entries. You have 3 more entries and let's say there are 4 letters that could complete the word. You could get a par, a bogie, a double bogie, or a loss. There is no way to "think" to get the right answer. So one guess is as good as another. So I give myself a par but continue to see what the puzzle's "guess" was. I will get the score that the puzzle gives me, but I know that it's due to chance. Yes, it's just a little mind game I play
When did the Bee become a timed event?
@Wundrin: bocamp started it! He used to try for Queen Bee but it took too much of his day, so now he just goes for pg and times it. I like it too; it puts some pressure on. (But I still go for QB.)
I was hoping that the answer to the ladle clue was "Coke spoon" and when I realized it wasn't, I lost interest.
Had a well-needed laugh thanks to AuntHattie @10:08
This really made me laugh. Thx
Finally the starving guests gave up and went out for Chinese, but the scientist came with them and (ZAP!) turned their plentiful array of snacks into a PALTRY (DIM) SUM.
CARO is the masculine form of "dear" in Italian so they could have switched ADES to ODES without changing the down clue. Or they could have made the clue be about British composer Thomas Adés.
@ H. Gunn. I vote for NASCAR which is a very timely suggestion on your part as the Daytona 500 is this weekend. Daytona is one of two restrictor plate tracks, so the cars have to have plates on the carburetor to limit how fast they can go. This usually results in a very bunched up field as it is difficult to pass other cars due to the speed restrictions. When the racing gets really intense (usually with less than 10 laps remaining) there is invariably a multi-car wreck referred to as the BIG one.
Good stuff - look for Chase Elliot to make some noise in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet.
@Whatsername & @Veronica - The woman ahead of me in the checkout lane yesterday pardoned herself as she put the ARCHie digest back with, “excuse me, when’d did ARCHies start costing $10?”
@H. Gunn - Thank you for your well stated post. What’s interesting to me is that wordle seems to have displaced the spelling bee comments. Those nice people even came up with an unobtrusive code in response to complaints, and there were still complaints. Personally, if people come here to discuss the puzzle and then also discuss other puzzles I have no problem with that. Just coming here to post a wordle score seems odd to me, there are other places to discuss wordle, but it seems entirely normal that people who like discussing the crossword and things arising from the crossword might also like discussing puzzles like the spelling bee or wordle. The reaction against others discussing what they find interesting is censorious and not infrequently rude. So much so that your thoughtful post stands out as being uncommon.
@Anonymoose - While not a fault of the constructor, the difficulty progression is a pretty basic expectation at this point. I think this is like an overhyped movie that disappoints not because it is bad, but just because it did not live up to the hype. A Tuesday puzzle has very different expectations than a Thursday puzzle. This puzzle would easily exceed people’s expectations on Tuesday, but failed to meet people’s expectations of a Thursday puzzle because it is too easy for a Thursday.
@Peter P - Anyone can look up how many times an answer has appeared here. Just go to xwordinfo.com, click on “solution and notes,” scroll down to clues and answers, and click on any answer. You can then modify your search for other entries. Just be aware that it searches for exact text, so AMON-RA has only appeared 7 times, but AMON has appeared 148 times.
Not my day today. I disliked this puzzle a lot -- I found the premise bizarre and the cluing on non-themers often just bad. 5A I wanted RAFT and when I figured it had to be a W I just couldn't understand how WAFT meant "Float". At first I thought there was some sort of dumb speech impediment joke going on, that's how far away the word WAFT is from "Float" in my world. It's like the constructor grew up on a different plant than me.
And Wordle. First time I've not been successful. Came down to a guessing game with way too many possibilities.
Wordle 243 X/6
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Today's puz right on my TURF - though I haven't seen hippos on the Nile, I've seen them in other parts of Africa; that's where I learned AFRIKAANS, so of course I knew all about the AARDVARK.
Still working on finding a pg.
Not sure how to Share Wordle to this site, as technologically challenged in the aspect of hitting the Share button, but not knowing how to get it here. (Which is probably a good thing, as no one wants another Wordle thingie displayed.) Anyway, got it in 5. 😁
RooMonster Adding To The Wordle Hurdle Guy
Hey @Roo
Hitting the WORDLE Share button is like hitting Ctrl + C (copy) on a computer, so after copying, just hit Ctrl + V (paste) here and the colored WORDLE boxes showing your score will magically appear.
Oh boy, now were instructing others how to display wordle crap.
I got it in two tries. Who gives a ----.
Since Comments has permanently jumped the shark, I shall post several more of my poems. From the forthcoming Dordle Anthology of Short Verse:
Smile, proud Truck Crust minor!
•
Grand stile bugle level: {F-L-E-C-K}
•
O, a ten lurks— truce, knave!
•
Juice roast; cream cedar
Elude...
exude
Wordle New York Times
Is A Game We All Enjoy
Until The Grids Post
A Haiku for the Wordle grids posted haters. 😁
Roo
Oof,
Blockading over Wordless.?!!!
In a year, probably less, it will look like Holland’s tulip mania.
My God. Take step back. Then refrain from posting about a fad.
@Drusilla 8:27 By the way, you're a goddess now.
Liveprof @10:45 your Adlai E. Stevenson quote about needing more than just the vote of every thinking voter in America in order to win the election reminds me of a quote attributed to WWII British Prime Minister Winston Churchill saying that the best argument against democracy as a form of government is a five minute conversation with the average voter. These days I think that can be shortened to a minute or less. Maybe just a tweet!
I don't understand the complaints about the Wordie thingies gracing the comment board these days. Who doesn't love those vibrant piss yellow and pus green colors? Throw in some black and white squares with those and the combination is worthy of an inner city pawn shop sign. And with all those pixels, upwards of thirty in some cases, the possibilities for creative designs are practically limitless. What's not to love?
Just checked out some images of the British dessert TRIFLE. Doesn't look like the pudding cake got shrunk at all.
Thursdays crush me more than Fri-Sat do. SW - AFRIKAANS crossing ENMITY,CARA,ONZE was a showstopper for me, and I had AMENRA and ANEMICSUBMARINE, not knowing LATEEN.
Oh well, at least I had this today!:
Wordle 243 2/6*
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Murdoch burned the ripe pineapples when Dole owned Lanai. Workers lost jobs. To increase real estate and tourism. The ancient source of water was capped for the golf course.
Try this reset link for Wordle, provided by NYT customer care:
https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/reset.html
Worked fine for me.
Please! Enough with the wordle posts! Start your own blog!
We were staying on Lanai the year that Murdoch had all the ripe sugar cane burned. He was there when it took place. Workers immediately lost their jobs. Only remaining employment was by two Murdoch-owned hotels.
Haha Agree:
Brain farts👎🏽
Bodice rippers👍🏽
Really enjoyed this one.
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Really nice set of themers, and a really nicely filled grid, completely undone by the cluing. Whatever you call the style of theme clue used today, it is not for me.
Clearly the people who just come here to complain about Wordle posts need to get a blog of their own to post those complaints.
Bravo to the constructor on hi debut. But honestly, why is the editor giving the green light to stuff that needs a lot more polish than this diamond in the rough? ATOMIC just doesn’t work in this context. The best one of the lot was MICROSECONDS. The others are groaners.
Kinda Thursday-tough for me, with some misty cluing and a theme that doesn't really hang together well. It's okay though: brain needs workout to get ready for the weekend. Lucy LIU scores a double! Par.
Alright then...2 wrong letters. Can you guess? I spelled AFRICAANS with a Z at the end, and thought LASzES was - who knows? And then PITT started out as some form of "the Pats," and the a got left there. What I know about sports I forgot in 6th grade at Connie Mack Stadium with the rest of the safety troop.
Usually "story" puzzles can be frustrating, but this was kinda cute. Just a lil bit, ya know?
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
HAIL WISDOM!? (SECONDS TORY)
NAN had CHARM as A MERETRIFLE of A LASS
meeting IKE, the ATOMICSUBMARINE skipper,
whose LIBIDO gave him the GALL of an ASS,
so NAN GASPed, “I’d get ADES from that LITTLEDIPPER!”.
--- CLAUDIUS ELIOT
Took a few MICROSECONDS longer than usual due to some obtuse cluing/crossing. Or maybe that was me.
The corners are on another PAGE.
LIU Yifey, yeah BAE BAE.
Soon time to de-WINTERIZE. I hope.
From Syndication Land
I loved this puzzle! It was so lively and creative. Most puzzles don't tell you a story. It was fun to imagine this shrink ray at a dinner party. I found it had plenty of crunch for a Thursday!
Okay, doing this one 6 months late, but came here because I thought *someone* would make the same mistake I did: if you don’t know LATEEN, and you’re okay with an alternate spelling for AMEN-RA, you get “ANEMIC SUBMARINE”, which I thought could not possibly be wrong cause it fits the theme so well. Oh well.
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