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Classic Langston Hughes poem with a comma in its title / SAT 7-12-2025 / First score during extra time in sudden-death soccer / Order that might include mortadella and capicola / Las pinturas de Frida Kahlo, por ejemplo
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Constructor: Katie Hoody
Relative difficulty: medium-ish, probably??
Word of the Day: INFOBOX (Fixed-format summary of an article, as on Wikipedia) —
An infobox is a digital or physical table used to collect and present a subset of information about its subject, such as a document. It is a structured document containing a set of attribute–value pairs, and in Wikipedia represents a summary of information about the subject of an article. In this way, they are comparable to data tables in some aspects. When presented within the larger document it summarizes, an infobox is often presented in a sidebar format. [kinda have to cite wikipedia if the clue mentions it]
• • •
Hey hi howdy hello, Christopher Adams once again copy-pasting the intro and filling in for Rex today! I think this puzzle is pretty much summed up by 1-Across: WHAT A BLAST!
I'm a sucker for grids with beautiful, symmetric layouts, and this one certainly fits the bill: four triple stacks of tens, all feeding into a not-terribly constrained center with an eye-pleasing layout of black squares that don't touch but do repeat in a regular pattern. From the looks of it, I expected each stack to sing, since each part of the grid doesn't really put much pressure on other parts of it. And boy howdy, did this one deliver.
First stack I filled in was the right one: suspected [Actress Diana of "All Creatures Great and Small" (2020)] might be RIGG, even if I've never heard of it, and the gimme clue for I, TOO pretty much confirmed it (in that stacking those two answers gives great letter patters to start all the downs). GOLDEN GOAL and GO EASY ON ME were the standouts there, and soon I skittered over to the left side, where SPEED CHESS went in without crosses and TRAVELOGUE somehow dredged itself up from browsing through airport bookstores, etc.
Then down to the bottom, with possibly my favorite clue in the entire puzzle, [Adjunct faculty?] for SIXTH SENSE. Question mark fully earned here, delightfully stretchy, and for a good entry on top of that. I wouldn't be surprised if this stack was seeded with that entry just so they could use the clue. From there, moved back up to the top, which was slightly harder than the rest, but gave me the satisfaction of finishing on the onomatopoeic, so absurd it's actually good WHOP. Like I said at the top, WHAT A BLAST!
not exactly SPEED CHESS [Rush to find a mate?] but i love these videos
Also among the first impressions: how much more there was in the clues compared to yesterday! I printed both off (all the better to mark up and annotate thoughts as I solve) and the difference in font size is very noticeable. And the puzzle is so much the better for it! There's fun facts galore: HOBO, HYENA, GUAM, CLAIRE, and more mentioned below.
There's clues for familiar fill that are anything but familiar, and that have personality and genuinely feel like there's a real person behind this puzzle: ALDA, AMOS, and especially DOH, which actually made me laugh out loud and, as the last clue in the list, felt like a mic drop and made the puzzle go out with a bang (actually three bangs, I marked that up with !!!, and had about ten others with !! as well).
And even in the shorter clues, there's some misdirects that actually feel natural and don't give off the impression of obviously being up to something. [Terms of a trade] got me at first, I was thinking an actual business deal, but no, it's "words used by people in a certain industry" and not "parameters for an agreement". Ditto for [Skipping music, say], which I was sure would be something about playground chants for jumping rope, and was pleased to find was absolutely not that. Even the ones that signaled their tricks with the ? still came across as clever; [Went from 0 to 60?] for AGED was my second favorite, after SIXTH SENSE.
And even in the shorter clues, there's some misdirects that actually feel natural and don't give off the impression of obviously being up to something. [Terms of a trade] got me at first, I was thinking an actual business deal, but no, it's "words used by people in a certain industry" and not "parameters for an agreement". Ditto for [Skipping music, say], which I was sure would be something about playground chants for jumping rope, and was pleased to find was absolutely not that. Even the ones that signaled their tricks with the ? still came across as clever; [Went from 0 to 60?] for AGED was my second favorite, after SIXTH SENSE.
the most recent car seat headrest album was EAGERLY AWAITED by yours truly; i just wish i liked the album as much as i wanted to, but at least it still has a few good songs
Olio:
- EAGERLY / AWAITED [Like the upcoming release from one's favorite band] — Only four halfway longish answers crossing the stacks, and they all hit: the aforementioned INFOBOX, the wonderful Quinta BRUNSON, and the somewhat audacious, definitely hilarious (in a good way) cross-referenced pair here. Like, the puzzle didn't have to do that, but it did, and it made the entries better, and in general it feels like Katie dared to shoot their shot with cluing and tried to see how much good stuff they could get away with. (And props to the editors here, too, for having all this fun stuff and allowing a voice to shine through.)
- GO EASY ON ME ["I'm ready, but be nice"] — To quote Sufjan Stevens' review of Adele's "30", which contained "Easy on Me": "Girl, please. We know you're 33. It's on your Wikipedia page. B+."
- ANY ["No preference"] — As with the previous entry, love the conversational vibe; this one does it a little better because "no preference" actually sounds like something someone would say
- AMOS [Biblical book with the line "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me"] — What a banger of a quote, absolutely love it. [ETA: actual clue is [Biblical prophet whom Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as "an extremist for justice" in his "Letter From Birmingham Jail"], which is no less of a banger of a clue; the
Timesblogger regrets the error.] - EYRE [Jane who says "Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation"] — What a banger of a quote, absolutely love it.
- YALE [Law school for Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor] — Every other justice on the Supreme Court went to Harvard Law School, with the exception of Amy Coney Barrett, who went to Notre Dame Law School.
- ETHICS [Important subject in law school] — Would that most of the justices mentioned above actually have some (to say nothing of actually upholding the Constitution, etc.).
- FIST [Symbol of defiance and solidarity] — Love it when the gestalt of the clues makes you feel like the author really has something to say here.
- VALE [Latin for "goodbye"] — lol, lmao even. anyway, goodbye!
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107 comments:
Thanks for the write-up. But my version of the crossword (on the ipad) had a different clue for 3D (AMOS) than the one you quoted, namely: Biblical prophet whom Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as “an extremist for justice” in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Any thoughts as to why that might be??
Yes Christopher you nailed it! This was a classic Saturday; I bogged down and thought I would not finish, but in the end I got there in just over 30 minutes which is a nice tough Saturday. It's amazing that I got OBOE SONATA, which I have never heard of, from the crosses. Although WHOP was tough because... never heard that.
Nice to see Diana RIGG because in the 1960s series The Avengers she costarred with Patrick MacNee who (humblebrag) for some unknown reason, narrated my grandfather's voice in a 1950s CBC documentary about his final voyage as a captain tending the BC coast lighthouses (title: "CGS Estevan").
Anyway, unlike yesterday the Unknown Names (ITOO, ELLIES, BRUNSON, GUAM) were fairly crossed and I got them all. Although on that right side there were a heck of a lot of names, in fact 6 of the first 9 acrosses were names. A bit too much! Please NYT try to avoid that. Actually I know their response to that: 54 down.
Typeover: SPEED DATES before SPEED CHESS, because "find a mate"?
Toughish, a welcome challenge after yesterday’s whoosh. That said, the top half was, unlike @Christopher’s experience, actually pretty easy for me. The bottom half was where many nanoseconds went to die.
Costly SE erasures - IMmad before I WONT and nada before ELAN.
In the SE the clues for HYENA, ELAN and LOCI were tricky and INFOBOX was a WOE. Getting ICONOCLAST finally opened it up for me.
In the SW the CHESS part took a long time to get (I was thinking dating not CHESS) as did IN SUM. Plus, SULU and CLAIRE were WOEs…tough bottom half!
Solid with quite a bit of sparkle, liked it a bunch, or what @Christopher said!
Certainly didn’t like this as much as our guest blogger did. In fact, I didn’t like it much at all. Too many tortured clues designed to put me off. 43A might serve as a god example. You might raise something to build it up but you don’t RISE it. Doesn’t ring true for me. And 33A PRIG is, to me , someone put off by something risqué, whereas a snob is a classist. The puzzle was rife with this sort of thing. Too annoying to be enjoyable.
I’ll sleep on it and review it in the morning. Just too peeved to deal with it now.
I love how the black squares in the middle look like a tilted square!
The NW took me waaay longer than the other corners. It felt properly Saturday-tough the whole way through, like in the clues for SPEED CHESS, LINGO (!), SIXTH SENSE. Then the NW was like Stumper-hard. In fact, the grid took me longer to solve than the Stumper, just because of the NW. TEES unlocked that corner really quickly once I considered it, but I wan't thinking of that "supporter" angle because I have no idea what you would need TEES for in baseball. Can anyone explain?
I knew that the "wind" and "movements" were musical in the 17A clue but OBOE SONATA only became clear with -OE once I got TEES. But then there's WHOP (?), the unknown (to me) HOBO spider, the clues on BRO and SETS which could be anything, the misdirect on 5D (I've seen this [Skipping [some kind of class]] trick before, not a fan of it), another vague clue + awkward -ER answer at 10D, and that crosses DISC which could've also been DISK. No wonder the NW was so crazy hard for me.
Easily the best puzzle of the year. And hardest. I think I may love this constructor.
Yes. Great cluing!
The online version has a different (but equally compelling) clue for Amos.
This puzz was indeed a true delight— one of those that may seem PRIGgish at first, but soon reveals its true ELAN. Thanks Katie!
Medium-Challenging. Didn't like it as much as @Christopher did.
Overwrites:
Fell into the "Mate" trap at 26D and wanted something to do with SPEED dating instead of SPEED CHESS
spED(?) before AGED at 29D
autoDIALER before ROBO at 64A
WOEs:
Sad to admit I didn't remember EARL Sweatshirt from the other day.
ELLIES at 24A
INFO BOX at 44D
CLAIRE Smith at 51A
D'OH in the Simpsons episode name at 65D
@dgd from YD: I didn't mean to imply that the clues were unfair, just that they were misleading. As you noted, misleading clues are what puzzles are all about.
Finished it with multiple cheats. Very hard cluing. I had "game winner" before GOLDENGOAL, a phrase I've never heard.
Challenging for me, that's for sure. Took me about 35 minutes. Got stuck at the end... Had no idea about the poet, but I've heard of INGE so I put that in, but had COtS instead of COBS and so no happy music. Looked all over, ran the alphabet a couple times, and then finally got the joke on "cylindrical containers of grain" = COBS--like corn cobs! I can definitely say "D'OH" unlike Lisa. Anyway, great puzzle, really enjoyed the challenge, loved the cluing as @Chris mentioned. NW/SE corners were easier for me, took me FOREVUH to see SPEEDCHESS (kept wanting SPEEEDdates or something like that) and also took me a long time to see RIGAMAROLE even though I had RIGA. Thank God for the ITALIAN SUB otherwise I would have never gotten the NE corner. Thanks Katie for a great Saturday AM Mental workout.
I had a different clue for AMOS:
Biblical prophet whom Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as “an extremist for justice” in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail”
I had a different clue for AMOS - a Martin Luther King Jr quote. Weird!
Interestingly, solving on the NYT website, I had a different clue for AMOS. Mine said [Biblical prophet whom Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as "an extremist for justice" in his "Letter From Birmingham Jail"]
Oh my. Here it is. Beauty, humor, wit, and skill at the top level in the box today. The art and science of the crossword puzzle paradigmed for our viewing and solving pleasure.
Even before filling in the first square, that gorgeous grid. It reminds me of those fireworks that transform through various colors, and end with a matrix of popping dot-like flashes. There’s that matrix centering the grid. Those black squares are not random, as this grid has both 90- and 180-degree symmetry.
So, Katie started with the grid design rather than let it change during the grid build. That can be constricting, but this answer set shows no strain, no hints of desperation. No, it shines and shimmers with beauty, unblemished.
Look at those triple-stack 10s! Every one of them interesting, adding spark. Six of them have never graced the Times puzzle before – GO EASY ON ME, GOLDEN GOAL, HOME BREWER, OBOE SONATA, ROBO DIALER, WHAT A BLAST.
And the cluing! A clinic. Not only searing wordplay and wit – [Adjunct faculty?] for SIXTH SENSE, are you kidding me? – but even mini clue themes, like three involving the word “spot”. Misdirects, sparkling riddles, clues that yield several answers, like [Zip] – is it meaning “nothing” or “spark”?
I came in with great hope, as your last puzzle had me singing high praises, Katie, and my hope was more than met. Thank you for a marvelous outing. You can be sure that your next one is EAGERLY AWAITED. Bring it on!
Likewise. I like the clue Christopher quotes much more.
Man, I regret my recent complaints about how easy the puzzles have been getting. This was a real toughie for me, much, much longer than my average time. Yes, a few nits to pick, as others have pointed out, but on the whole a worthy Saturday challenge. More, please!
Brutal. The NE section just obliterated me - a stack of eight contains 5 PPP entries and a Latin test (RIGG,ITOO, ALDA, ELLIES, BRUNSON and VALE). That was just too much for me to overcome.
I also usually need plenty of crosses to discern answers like SIXTH SENSE and SPEED CHESS - and today I just couldn’t get enough traction to make any significant progress. Looking for a silver lining, I did quickly discern OBOE SONATA and ROBO DIALER, so all was not lost.
Fortunately, I’m not discouraged (I’m well aware that I’m punching above my weight class on a Saturday). Today’s grid just got the better of me.
Truly awful puzzle. One of the worst of the year.
At 4 or 5, sporty kids often join T- ball (or tee-ball) leagues. A baseball or softball rests on a high tee, so the batter does not have to face a pitcher. This helps kids learn how to hit the ball and enjoy the game earlier than they might otherwise
Ok. I get that there was a lot to like in this puzzle. But I got WHOPped straight out of the box with 1D. While it is a real word, is it really? I am assuming that TRACER refers to skip tracer but who knows. Struggled to finish but did so in the NE so maybe that left me with a bit of grumpiness about what was otherwise a well constructed puzzle with the right degree of difficulty for a Saturday.
Very good puzzle, and fairly challenging. All the long answers are really good, except of course for RIGAMAROLE which we established a couple of months ago should be rigmarole.
Same question here!
That was awesome. A real struggle but achievable. Excellent Saturday.
Surprising fact: The Avengers ran for six seasons: Diana RIGG was only in two of them.
Tough Saturday. Too many proper names & arcane knowledge-based clues (rule of thumb: if it's 4 letters it's probably ALDA). Too much political commentary in the write-up.
Wow, a great selection of clues and phrases. I didn’t know CLAIRE or BRUNSON so unfortunately can’t claim to have finished on my own, but really enjoyed figuring out the longer answers. As someone in the blog anticipated yesterday, this one was a huge counterpoint to yesterday’s kinda soft puzzle.
Think Tee Ball - the “tee” “supports” the ball for young kids to swing at
A “tee” in baseball is a slender device that holds a ball in place at the right height to be hit. Usually has some kind of rubber cup at the top so mishits are not painful.
Checkmate!
You might carefully reread our guest hosts comment to answer your question.
Great to get a challenging Saturday. Some really fun clues and misdirection. A little too much crosswordese trivia and, perhaps just me, but OBOESONATA is just an absolute no go, tear down in my book. Old fashioned fuddey duddy, inside crossword staleness.
Good lord. RIGG on top of ITOO on top of VALE on top of ALDA, then a short break before BRUNSON. All that for GOLDENGOAL?
There's no coming back from that. Total fail.
Enough! No mas! I can't take it any more! I'm outta here!
Well. many of you have been clamoring for a really tough end-of-week puzzle -- and you certainly got one today. At least I thought so.
I couldn't start in the NW, so I started lower down, hoping I'd be able to fill it in later. And with enormous effort, I was. This was going to be a keep the faith solve, just as I had hoped.
Except it wasn't. Because now I couldn't get anything in the SE other than ICONOCLAST and ETHICS.
ETHICS gave me the H of the matriarchal clan. I thought it was one of those tribes -- HUTSI or HUTTI or something like that. The U gave me UCLA instead of YALE for the SCOTUS school. Who on earth would think of an animal, a HYENA, as a member of a "clan"?
But I should have known that 9 out of every 10 Supreme Court Justices went to YALE.
Anyway, I bailed. I couldn't sit and stare at this grid forever. It was making me absolutely crazy.
Hey All !
Good ole fashioned toughie SatPuz here. Stuck everywhere, but with patience, including rereading some clues several times, managed to finish error free!
SE corner toughest for me. I actually left doing the puz for a few minutes, and when I got back, started filling in things I thought were correct, and was able to pattern-recognize the longs for the finish. Strange how a slight break helps.
Waste=BLOW? Anyone? BLOW away? Like shoot?
Had SPEEDdateS, sure I'm not the only one on that. Had iHAdABLAST at 1A, slowing things down nicely. Nice to see Crossword friends ECRU and LULU, been a minute for ECRU. REAR for Buns. Gotta get the ASS in somehow. Good ole EARL Sweatsuit, er Sweatpants ... shoot, Sweatshirt!
Snobby sort being told to stop being such an ASS?
PRIG, REDO LINGO
That's enough FENRID from me. Have a great Saturday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Thought this one was a bummer.
In college I had a Teaching Assistant who always walked around with half a dozen or so oboes on his head, so OBOESONATA was a gimme.
In the capitol of Latvia, parental responsibilities are sharply defined. Each couple has its RIGAMAROLE and its RIGApAROLE. First offenders are put on RIGApAROLE.
I think I,TOO remember a quote from an old PBS series. It went, I, Claudius am an I,CONOCLAST.
I cringed at how easy this might be when I read the clue for 1A and slapped in WHATABLAST to start my solve. Boy was I wrong. Fresh entries with delightful and often difficult cluing made this a total gas. Combined with the beautiful grid layout, I would definitely put it on @Nancy's POY list if she were to ask me. Thanks a ton, Katie Hoody.
Started in the NE after the NW was going nowhere and soon was filling in answers as fast as my little pencil would write, and thinking, "where's my Saturday", and then remembering to be careful what you wish for, as on went the brakes. Picking away here and there, as the clues were delightfully misleading. Toeholds at EAGERLY AWAITED, which was a good guess, and TRAVELOGUE, as Mr. Theroux is one of my favorites, and eventually got 'er done, as the good ole boys say.
I had just seen IHADABLAST somewhere and that was the last answer to fall, as IHOP and DEES didn't make a lot of sense, as I eventually realized . SLAP before WHOP didn't help either.
No clue on CLAIRE or SULU as clued and TIL ELLIES and INFOBOY, who sounds like a nerdy superhero. Couldn't remember HOBO until the "train" connection kicked in.
"That was fun" said the clue, and I agree. Good work, KH, I Knew Half of the trivia and could figure out the rest. Thanks for all the fun.
No clue on
BLOW, as in you blew all of your paycheck at the racetrack.
Same solving experience here - fingers-crossed all the way, but success!
BLOW as in “He's going to blow his chance at a GOLDEN GOAL..”
It all falls into place when you cheat :(
Too many names, didn't quite enjoy that one.
Lots to like in this one bur WHOP and OBOESONATA pretty much wiped out all the good vibes from this rest of the puzzle.
Now that's a Saturday puzzle! Great grid, and outstanding cluing - tough but generally fair. Just had to keep digging for some traction and access to crosses. No problem finishing, but it's been years since a NYT puzzle took me 15 minutes.
Really liked the NE corner with GOLDENGOAL and LINGO.
Think I may have to find a good OBOESONATA later today, but yard work first
I bailed as well and while hanging my head in shame, had decided to just lurk and not even post today. But I feel much better about it now.
Whup, yes. Whop, no.
Estoy listo, pero se amable.
WHOPing good puzzle and a mind melting workout. Wish I would have known more of the proper nouns in it. All new to me RIGG, ELLIES, BRUNSON, the Glen Miller song, CLAIRE, and Theroux. Weirdly, the guy I dropped in no problem is the way overplayed by our beloved editors EARL Sweatshirt. They got me good on COBS (embarrassingly, I even looked it up).
So proud of UMBRA around a star, but POSSE it is. I like the NEST and HYENA clues for their pro-mom smooshies. And [Adjunct faculty?] is a winner. I plan on dying with as little soccer knowledge as possible. And of course we'll debate the spelling of RIGAMAROLE, but I prefer this one.
The upcoming release from my favorite band will be a BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. I think the M in music should be capitalized since you're skipping an actual class, not a general concept. I'm pretty sure ETHICS is the least important subject in law school.
Almost an historic puzzle with no partials as I always let BRO and REFS slide, but NESS showed up in the penultimate slot and blew the save.
People: 6
Places: 3
Products: 6
Partials: 1
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 18 of 72 (25%)
Funnyisms: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: GO EASY ON ME Buns.
Uniclues:
1 Caveman commenting on his friend's gawd-awful swill.
2 This is me sleeping under a bridge, this is me begging on a freeway off ramp, here I am bathing in the Starbucks bathroom, and this is the view from the emergency room when I didn't assess the barbed wire fencing in the railyard properly.
3 What ya gotta go through to get a cookie.
4 The correct way to dazzle in yoga pants.
5 The fierceness of pasta-lovers under water.
1 I TOO HOME BREWER (~)
2 HOBO TRAVELOGUE
3 AMOS RIGAMAROLE
4 LULU ETHICS
5 ITALIAN SUB ELAN
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: What I told the salesman at the backpack store as I returned to the university. NEED HELLO KITTY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A worthy Saturday which was too good to call a slog but it was an uphill struggle all the way. There was no hope for me without multiple cheats which I was just not in the mood for. I don’t mind having to look up a name or two on Saturday, but this one was asking me to bite off more than I wanted to chew. Like @Nancy, I decided I WON’T go there today. I’ll soothe my wounded pride with the knowledge that I was at least in good company.
If a thing builds up, it might also be said rise. Temper, for example. Just two ways of saying the same thing.
Very good Saturday challenge. It's not often that I can cold guess 1A just off of HOBO and TEES but still have the NW be one of the last sections I fill in. No idea on BRUNSON or INFOBOX. Thankfully RIGG and SULU gave me anchor points. I tried to make DIEDRE work before CLAIRE.
This was a perfect return to puzzling. I haven't solved in a couple of months. Too busy with work. This is puzzlehoarder just incase my name no longer automatically shows up.
@Christopher: I actually liked that you quoted the scripture instead of repeating the clue. It saved me having to look it up - so thanks.
Supposed to be "That's enough DEBRIS from me."
What in tarhooties is FENRID? Maybe - A fat fingered typo?
RooMonster FENRID Guy
One of my most favorite books is The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Thoreau. He crosses Asia along the route of the Orient Express and has intriguing encounters along the way. Knowing that he had written other books on travel, I filled in TRAVELOGUE. My only gimme. Amazingly, I was able to build on it and solve the damned thing. But it took a long time.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Really liked the clue for HOBO spider for its internal hint.
My dead tree edition clue for 'Rigg' was simply "Actress Diana" -- space limitations, I guess.
I'm with @Christopher in reacting with WHAT A BLAST! (I loved the rhyme with ICONOCLAST). For me it was three quarters easy and one quarter "Can I finish?" I got a fast start up top with BRO x BLAST and RIGG x ITALIAN, followed by smooth sailing on the east side down to SIXTH SENSE. On the left, though, I got stopped by not knowing CLAIRE and having pEEp, pEEr, and pEEk as stabs at "Look." I was really stuck, despite having EGOS and SULU. Finally I saw IN SUM and finished up. Great cluing, lots of fun entries - what a good Saturday!
Do-overs; i HAd A BLAST (hi, @pablo); dadS before TEES; pEEp, pEEk, and pEEr before SEEM. Help from previous puzzles: I,TOO; EARL. No idea: ELLIES, BRUNSON, CLAIRE.
Best crossword I've done in forever.
Can someone explain HORN as the answer to 55A? Surely this isn't being used as a synonym for bell, HORN seems entirely inappropriate here as do several clues in this puzzle.
I'd have got the job if I didn't BLOW the interview.
I posted this before the blogger’s addendum
DNF, big time. All I had in the whole NW block was TRUANT and AWAITED--and one of those was wrong--or, IMHO correct, but the puzzle was wrong. ABSENT just doesn't capture the sense of "skipping" the same way TRUANT does--so it never occurred to me to change it, and it blocked all 4 of the across answers up there.
The rest of the puzzle was on my wave-length--I goto SPEED CHESS, TRAVELOGUE, RIGAMAROLE, AND ITALIAN SUB with very few crosses; also ROBODIALER, SIXTH SENSE, and OCONOCLAST with only a few.
To my mind, a DISC does not have a hole in the middle, so I stuck with OVAL for too long;; I knew there was an I in it, but that led me only to 'ring,' which was in the clue.
For your listening pleasure, this relevant song from Oklahoma!
Ah, yes, nothing like a decent night's sleep.I can see now that I was misinterpreting RISE. This morning with a clearer head, I tried the old "how would you use it in a sentence" exercise and, voila, 'As tensions RISE in ..." Duh! Did a similar sort of thing with BLOW at 56A, when my mind just refused to notice that the "waste" in the clue was not a noun and you could say "BLOW an opportunity". Oh well, I guess you could say I blew the opportunity to enjoy this puzzle.
Tough puzzle lovers--today's Saturday Stumper is a good one, about 2X a NYT Sat. for me.
This ended up being pretty easy for a Saturday. Often when I'm whooshing through a Saturday puzzle, I leave room in my mind for the moment when the difficult section will appear and stop the whoosh. Leaving the NE for last, I was rather expecting a hold-up there but it ended up not happening because I knew RIGG, I, TOO and guessed ANY. Pattern recognition sufficed for GOLDEN GOAL and BRUNSON.
Quinta BRUNSON, I am so sorry I can never bring your name to mind. I haven't seen the widely acclaimed "Abbott Elementary" but I did read an entire profile of the woman in the New Yorker and she sounds amazing. I'll work on that name memorizing.
Guessing YALE would be the law school (four letter law school, what else?) led me to guessing HYENA for 58A, a great misdirection of a clue that didn't work on me.
Thanks, Christopher, for the rah-rah write-up, and Katie Hoody for a nice Saturday romp of a puzzle.
That was a workout, and it didn't end successfully for me. The NW was a killer. Even though I got WHAT A BLAST, I JUST COULD NOT GET TEES or HOBO or SONATA, just couldn't figure that section out without cheating. Disappointing after feeling proud of myself for getting the rest of this tough puzzle!
Nice puzzle. Just wish 40 across clue had been point guard for 2025 NBA champion. Mostly wish that had been true!
Hockey
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=URS-gZP2mEo
A challenging but fun puzzle. Started the crossword feeling defeated. "How the heck am I supposed to know the names of sub-saharan matriarchal clans?" but then of course the constructor proved their cleverness.
Completely stumped in SW corner. Had HYENA, not sure why I guessed that, and suddenly ICONOCLAST popped into my head and I was home free!! Yea for my subconscious mind!!
A horn ends a period of a basketball game. Maybe other games too.
A basketball game section (period) is ended by a horn. Maybe other sports do too.
I went with the air HORN that is frequently used in amateur athletics (especially high school) to signify the end of the period / half during football games and the like. There may be other, better explanations though.
I find it ridiculously difficult, and not in a fun way. After 30 minutes, I barely had any of the left half done and couldn't find purchase there, I had to come here to find the answers. Just an absolute barrage of trivia that I had no hope of getting. I'm glad others enjoyed the difficulty, but I did not.
Robodialer was feeble. Siri made me type it three times because it’s not a thing. Then six total strangers on top of vague cluing made it a quick puzzle for me. I quit while I was ahead.
As a former hockey player it worked for me. The official sounds the HORN to end the period.
This was the hardest Times puzzle I’ve done in ages. Definitely cheated to finish it. Felt like a real Saturday when many no longer do.
A horn sounds at the end of a period in hockey, for example.
Moo-cow easy solvequest. And that's a load of bull.
Really had trouble entering a first entry. Finally got OVAL/TAILER for 20-A/10-D, and was on a nice, confusin roll.
Finally got a couple of right answers at RIGG/RIVAL. Always know you're in trouble, when the only entry you could score was a celeb name.
Anyhoo, survived the solvequest, but, INSUM, sheesh!
staff weeject pick, of only 4 choices: DEM. Interestin dese declension item.
Some faves: All the clever but feisty clues. Don't think there were over 2 or 3 of them ?-marker clues, but it seemed like there were hundreds of the little RIGAMAROLErs.
WHATABLAST was a primo opener. GOEASYONME was good, but kinda seemed misplaced, in this suffer-rama of a puz.
Thanx for the WHOppin, Ms. Hoody darlin. Always EAGERLY+AWAITED, as a SatPuz challenge.
... pizza, anyone ...?
"Pizza Toppings" - 7x8 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Think end-of-period signals in sports
Loved this puzzle for all the reasons that were so eloquently pointed out by our guest host @Christopher as well as @Lewis and others. It was on the difficult side for me but what a great workout.
All the long ones, across and down were stunners. I wasn't quite as crazy about OBOESONATA, and GOLDENGOAL just would not fall for me but neither took anything away from all the fun.
All the wonderfully clever cluing, the misdirects, along with the very cool grid layout made this one snap, crackle and pop at every turn.
Had a couple of self inflicted hold ups - put in HUBRIS instead of the correct DEBRIS for a couple minutes (I somehow convinced myself that it could make sense??) but then ADEN clicked and I realized my (pretty silly) error. I also rushed to enter BUD for 6D - "Amigo!". That made HOMEBREWER a little tougher than it already was. But all the struggles I had were loads of fun to get through.
I'd have to think very hard as to what my favorites would be today, so I'll stop thinking hard and say I just loved it all and go on with my weekend.
What a beauty (and BLAST), Katie. More like these please!
I thought of the end of a period in basketball.
Try the Poulenc Oboe Sonata. It’s a beauty.
https://youtu.be/1JiACTMS5yw?si=PzFg7CThxUm6lb0Y
(Wish I knew how to post a live link…)
I had “I’m mad” until the bitter end… messed me up down south.
Hey Rex ... The Detroit Tigers have the best record in the major leagues! Gonna try to catch 'em sometime this season. It's been a long time since 1984!
"Gestalt" - an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
The reviewer says, "Love it when the gestalt of the clue makes you feel like the author really has something to say here."
The Dude said, "That's just, like, your opinion, man."
Everyday and all the time, these puzzles and this editor lean one way and everyone knows it.
Thanks to all who informed me about BLOW. Unsure why the ole brain couldn't get there.
Roo
The updated guest host comment/clarification didn't happen until sometime after 8:00 am EDT, so Anonymous couldn't have known. I had the same question when I read the unedited version.
I like the way the reviewer called out many good clues.
Best clue of the puzzle: 36A “Terms of a trade” for LINGO. Definitely had me stumped for a while.
I also really liked seeing the conversational Latin at 18A: VALE.
NESS? (61 down)
Overheard in an elevator. (Not kidding.)
A: Max got kicked out of law school.
B: Why?
A: For arrogance.
B: That's like getting kicked out of Florida for being tan.
Impossible with way too many names. I hated this. Just absolutely brutal. OBOESONATA??!?!!?
Absolutely amazing! Amazing, that is, that anyone can solve this without cheating. I feel small.
Agree with all of the positive comments today and delighted to see the talented trailblazing writer Claire Smith recognized.
Conrad
Maybe I misread you yesterday !
I also had trouble with EARL despite the clue Earl——————
not long ago. But I did remember it began with e so guessed EAsy. So at least I got half of it! I think part of the reason why we had trouble remembering is that these 2 words seem totally unrelated to each other.
Southside Johnny
FWIW
ITOO has come up fairly frequently of late. It has very useful letters, and as it happens the poem has a powerful impact. So it will probably show up again.
I just hope it doesn’t become crosswordese.
Rigg who died only a few years ago became famous in the’60’s from the British series the Avengers ( as Okanaganer reminded us). But she remained in the public eye and was celebrated for her acting in one season of Game of Thrones as well as the series mentioned. Again useful letters. She will appear again here!
Kitshef. I did look up rigamarole. (Just noticed autocorrect didn’t co
Kitshef
Rigamarole v rigmarole. I disagree about rigamarole vs rigmarole. After about 700 years, there will be some variations in spelling of the word. These days rigamarole is a very common variant. Popular use is the standard for the puzzle so there is nothing wrong with it being used as an answer.
Kitshef
I forgot that about Rigg. But I think I stopped watching it.
My experience exactly! TRUANT and OVAL were hard to erase.
Christopher
Well Alda is the very definition of crosswordese. Been in the puzzle a lot, to put it mildly. Four letter actor beginning with A you got to at least think of him.
Rigg is a quite famous actress, particularly with baby boomers and not long before her death was praised for her acting in Game of Thrones.
Brunson not so much but she is in a very successful multi season sitcom on ABC. In any event, just because I don’t know the names, even crossing names , I would never call a puzzle a fail. NC Wyeth crossing Natick MA is very different. (The original Natick).
The NW was the hardest for me but overall I rate the puzzle moderate
Some people got really annoyed at the puzzle but I think it is fair to say most liked it.
My favorite aha moment was when I got HOBO. I had no idea initially but I suddenly made the right connection: train in the clue leads to HOBO. I love clues like that. Tricky but fair, and not dependent on trivia.
As I said ( and Gary Jugert agrees) rigamarole is fine.
And ELLIES. I forgot ELLIES. And WHOP crossing OBOESONATA. Sweet feathery Jesus.
I don’t think of oboes as particularly high winds so I resisted that for a while. Just read an article in the paper this morning about the spread of the jOrO spider so when I had -O-O I happily filled that in. And “I had a blast” felt so right to me, I thought maybe iHOP was street slang for smack…like heroin. What do I know. Kids these days make up the strangest terms!
Different Diana Rigg clue in the newspaper version.
I absolutely loved this puzzle- one of my favorite Saturdays in a long time. Lots of fun clues, and nothing too unfair while still being of Saturday difficulty (and on the medium-hard side for me).
IKR
wit-ness. Kind of weak clue imo. If it makes you feel better, I also didn’t understand it at all until I thought about it for a minute after my solve
I have to agree with our lively Court Jester on the disappointment with the theme. Since I solve on paper on Sundays (homage to Gran though in pencil not ink as she did). Wondered about the "great divide" going down the grid, and anticipated an exciting theme, and hopefully a tough but clever solve. Alas, not tough; clever idea; weak execution for anyone not solving electronically. I don''t ever want to be spoon fed, but since the editors often add important information at the top of the puzzle and this one didn't, the experience was a letdown.
From the start, this solved like a themeless. I cruised along and came to BREAK THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE. That got me fired up. I now had the reason for the "divide," and knew that the theme was The DOORS. Super. Obviously there would be a clue such as "what you need in order to do as the answer to 68D and 18D suggest." You need DOORS. And I never found them. Had to resort to the NYT blog to find the extra information. I give our constructor huge kudos for the idea and the execution of said idea. Caveat, the "see note" info needed to be printed under the byline for those of us so old school to use paper.
That said, this absolutely is one time when I applaud the electronic reveal. It does work once I saw the note by going online. And it's clever. And this is one of the best constructed and executed themes in a very long time. My being an old fuddy duddy is my doing. But, any constructors out there, take note. Think of all the folks out there who still (either by choice or necessity) solve on paper, and make sure all critical information for a successful solve appears printed on the puzzle's page of the NYT. I have been acquainted with several folks at my various public libraries who, for one reason or another depend on paper newspapers, either discarded or with the crossword copied. I don't question. I have chosen to continue to solve my Sunday puzzle on paper - with pencil; can't risk the ink.
Enough. This was fun to solve, I loved the theme and it's execution. It's the best use of a techno-reveal in a very long time.
My one nit was "Morse ____" because it just doesn't work Nobody refers to the DITS and dahs of Morse Code as "Morse DITS." Also not a fan of the Latin or Latinesque plurals, here UVULAE. Yep, sometimes a constructor just needs a letter. I have simply accepted that things that just haven't changed in crossworld for the 60+ years I've been solving aren't going to.
My only speed bumps were that I was momentarily unsure if the rainbow goddess was I(s)IS or IRIS. Just a momentary oops. I loved the clue for the IRS, "collector's org." Just brilliant. And the one thing abut which I was in total darkness was 75A "Website feed initials," for RSS. thankfully I didn't need to know. And still don't.
Super fun Sunday. I always look forward to a Brandon Koppy and hope he continues to construct for Sundays. This one's a winner.
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