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Heat setting, perhaps / SAT 8-30-25 / Old-fashioned TV antenna, jocularly / Classic warning to a knight
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Constructor: Maddy Ziegler
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: ESPN8 The OCHO (10A: Another name for ESPN8, with "the") —
ESPN8 The Ocho is a special program block showcasing seldom-seen obscure sports that airs on the networks of ESPN Inc. The Ocho is also offered as a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel on the Roku Channel, Prime Video and DirecTV Stream.
The Ocho consists of lesser-known, unconventional and humorous sports, occupational competitions, esports and other competitions with some athletic, competitive or physical skill component. The block is traditionally presented in early August, the eighth month of the year. Much of the programming consists of previously recorded content and reruns previously aired on the ESPN networks,[3] some as far back as the 1990s.
• • •
Two things I really liked about this puzzle. First, HERE BE DRAGONS, a worthy central marquee answer (33A: Classic warning to a knight). I always think of the phrase as THERE BE DRAGONS, but HERE is right. The Latin phrase is "hic sunt dracones" ("here are dragons"); it's a phrase that became associated with medieval maps, though I just learned that there are only two extant globes that bear this phrase, and that the standard phrase used by medieval cartographers for parts unknown was actually "hic sunt leones" ("here be lions!"). So HERE BE DRAGONS is an anachronism. The clue involves a warning given a knight (33A: Classic warning to a knight). Maybe that's why I thought THERE and not HERE. If I'm warning a knight, I imagine he and I are not already standing where the dragons are ("here"). I'm telling him not to go to some place we're not, namely there. Unless I'm advising him while standing over a map or globe, in which case I guess I could point and say "HERE BE DRAGONS!" Is this warning "classic" or do we just imagine it's "classic"? I don't know of any examples of a knight being given this specific warning. Still, the phrase feels right, and it's colorful, and I liked it.
The second thing I really liked is an extension of HERE BE DRAGONS—COME TO A BAD END sits right on top of it, and then NOT A GOOD IDEA runs right through both of them. So you've got not just a warning to a knight, you have a whole damn conversation. "HERE BE DRAGONS. NOT A GOOD IDEA. You might COME TO A BAD END." Like HERE BE DRAGONS, RIDDLE ME THIS feels like one of those quaint phrases that's been around a long time, but whose origins seem misty. I feel like "RIDDLE ME THIS, Batman" was a phrase the Riddler used in the old Batman TV show. Is this canonical, or does this just feel like something canonical. Whatever, I got the answer easily, and since it feels right, I'm good. My only real complaint today is that NANAS and NANNY share the same grid. Yes, they are clued as different things, but they just feel too similar. Balked at NANNY for sure because I already had NANAS and thought "no way they're putting NANNY in here too—too close to a dupe." But they did it. Bah. If there are any other tricky spots, or any particularly ugly spots, I didn't notice.
What else?:
- 1A: Title typically abbreviated to its first and last letters (SEÑOR) — I did not know this. Or ... maybe I would've guessed this, but I don't see this abbreviation very often.
- 14A: ___ Perry, award-winning author of 2022's "South to America" (IMANI) — if I were she, I would probably have appreciated if the clue had bothered to mention that the "award" in question here (or one of them) is the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2022). "Award-winning" is the kind of vague phrase you use to make someone or something seem bigger than it is, like "best-selling." Who knows what it means, exactly? But the National Book Award is the National Book Award.
- 34A: Kick-starter program? (KARATE LESSONS) — cute clue. Simple. Plays nicely off a pre-existing phrase. See also 43D: Head to town? (MAYOR).
- 6D: Janelle of "Hidden Figures" (MONAE) — if you didn't know her, the time for not knowing her is now over. MONAE is going to be with us for a while so just learn it and store it in your bag of "Future Crosswordese." You're gonna need it. She's kind of a big deal.
- 49A: What dilapidated buildings and rampant graffiti may be a sign of (URBAN DECAY) — the very phrase sounds like something muttered with a judgmental headshake by some suburbanite who's afraid of cities and never sets foot in them. The word "rampant" intensifies this tone. I know that URBAN DECAY is a phrase that exists, and a concept that exists, but most American cities are safer than ever, often safer than suburban or rural areas, so I bristle at anything that imagines urban spaces as crime-ridden dystopias.
- 53A: Moving well over 60, perhaps? (SPRY) — 60!!!! Ouch. I thought you had to be at least 70 before anyone condescendingly called you "SPRY." Maybe if I imagine the clue as meaning "still moving (at all) when you are well over 60 years old," I can live with SPRY as the answer.
- 33D: Tasteful invitation? ("HAVE A SIP") — this comes awfully close to EAT A SANDWICH territory, but I think framing it as an "invitation" really saves the phrase. Seems very natural in that context.
That's all. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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115 comments:
Very disappointing for a Saturday. There’s been more and more commentary about how the NYT has dumbed down the puzzles lately, including Rex’s comments yesterday but I found myself just saying, “Yeah, you guys just want to complain about something, anything.” But tonight I’m ready to join the chorus. Some of the answers were really good, especially the triple stack across the middle and 5D RIDDLEMETHIS and 21D NOTAGOODIDEA. But the clues were just too obvious. 49A URBANDECAY dropped in with no crosses. And when IMANI Perry is the only thing that seriously holds you up, something’s wrong.
RE: 53A. I played competitive hockey into my late 60s and if, while lining up for a face-off, some 35 year old had said. “You’re pretty SPRY for an old guy”, I would have driven him hard into the boards first chance I got.
Best clue/answer combo in the puzzle, for me, was at 27A: “Heat setting, perhaps” for MEET. Got it from crosses and then just stared at it for about a minute before muttering, oh yeah. Good one.
Nice puzzle, Maddy, just wish it had a bit more bite.
Broke my Saturday record by 10 seconds today. Nice Wednesday level puzzle.
Easy.
I did not know IMANI, SID, SENOR, and OMANI.
Not particularly costly erasures - eRS before ORS and HuH before HEH.
….I had the same problem that @Rex did with the MEET clue.
Very smooth with a boat load of sparkle, liked it a bunch.
Re: Late week puzzles getting easier lately: I have done all the Friday and Saturday puzzles from the archive. Although I have not kept a detailed record of difficult vs. easy puzzles, my over all assessment is that the ratio of easy to hard puzzles has gradually shifted in favor of easy puzzles in the last decade or so. There were definitely easy puzzles in the mid ‘90s and the ‘00s but they were the exception not the norm. That is clearly not the case these days.
If you are jonesing for tough puzzles I would recommend Brendan E. Quigley’s Monday puzzles Crossword Puzzles by Brendan Emmett Quigley or Tim Croce’s Club 72 site with over 1000 puzzles that are all a whole lot tougher than the NYT August | 2025 | Club 72 . Be forewarned that Croce’s puzzles do not follow NYT rules.
. This played like a Tuesday puzzle. Not bad, just too damn easy
Not gonna lie, my brain was too fried so I just came here for you to explain the meet/heat thing for me. Cheers.
I was surprised to learn that as someone over the age of 60 (way over) that anyone would refer to me as spry. I still run over 40 miles a week (okay a lot more slowly than my marathon days and I guess could be called a walk/run) and I can still bench press 300 pounds and I have multiple myeloma. I and my fellow seniors are not spry—we are in great shape—this is a new generation of seniors. As to the puzzle on a whole , I had virtually an identical experience to OFL, and I even went so far as to try spelling Sebastian as Sabastian. Ultimately, It played like a Wednesday for me. Spry? Bah humbug.
Easy. I agree with @Les S. More and @Anon 04:23 that this would have been a great Wednesday themeless. The things I didn't know or entered incorrectly were easy to infer or get from crosses.
Overwrites:
16A: afaR before DOOR
20A: tRAde mArk before BRAND NAME
WOEs:
OCHO as clued at 10A
IMANI Perry (14A)
50A Director RIAN Johnson
I was totally on the same page as Rex re MEET. P.S. Shouldn’t the clue for EARS have been plural (antennae)? P.P.S. Am I the only person who never before realized that Legally Blonde was a pun?
Okay, apart from too easy and the meet-heat poser, this was a fun solve and loved the triple stack in the middle.
Rex’s “too easy” rant from yesterday, though spot-on, is more appropriate for today, IMHO. I solved this MUCH faster than yesterday’s, and it’s supposed to be harder. Almost my record. Some nice answers and clues, just not the challenge I look forward to on Saturdays. If anyone from the NYT reads this blog, please pay attention: Not everyone wants easier puzzles!
Proud of myself for getting MEET with no trouble.
14 minutes for me which definitely lines up with "Easy" for a Saturday. But I don't mind, gives me a chance to get on with my day! Enjoyed the nice triple stack, had some of the same hang-ups as @REX, (HERE vs tHERE whch didn't fit, thinking for a minute or two before finally dropping in MEET). Love the central stack story--even extends to KARATELESSONS, right? Here be the dragons, Mr. Knight, so you better attend every Karate Lesson you can, or you'll come to a bad end. Thank you, MADDY, this was a great puzzle!!! : )
Fun and splashy - not Stan Newman worthy appropriate but a nice exercise. Agree with the big guy on that central stack - all top notch.
This Year’s MODEL
Ride the 1 train to 242nd or the entirety of the A train and you’ll understand URBAN DECAY. It’s a thing and not difficult to understand. CEREAL BAR was a little flat but the other long downs were wonderful - HOME RUNS, RIDDLE ME THIS and NOT A GOOD IDEA. The 3s and 4s were a little clunky.
MEET The Beatles
Not a real challenge but an enjoyable Saturday morning solve nonetheless. Winston Emmon’s Stumper has two tricky central spanners today and will provide slightly more bite.
John SEBASTIAN
Very much agree ... we need a new rating category: "too easy."
You didn’t like NANAS and NANNY. How about IMANI and OMANI in the same puzzle?
I always loved "beyond this place, there be dragons" written by cartographers on the edge of early maps ...
easy for me, too. I disliked the clue 'Here Be Dragons' as it is largely associated, even if falsely as Rex shows, with maps, not knights.
A nice, clean, Friday-like whooshy puzzle. I had DORM instead of HALL and IMAMS instead of EMIRS in there for way too long. Guess I’m not that SPRY…
A one-square DNF. I wanted SEBASTIAN, but I could not (but now can) make sense of MEET for 'Heat setting'. Went with SaBASTIAN/MEAT.
I hate to repeat from yesterday, but [yawn]. Two themelesses in a row that just didn't do it for me.
A fairy tale beginning. Maddy’s been making puzzles for less than two years and she lands a Times Saturday. Bravo!
Apt to have an outstanding set of first-time NYT answers in a debut puzzle. There are eight, including beauties ON THE BEAT NOT A GOOD IDEA, and HERE BE DRAGONS. I don’t remember ever hearing the latter but it’s so quirky and sounds so pitch-perfect, that I love it. It’s my favorite answer in the puzzle.
That middle stack is popping with spark (two answer debuts and one once-before) – three abutting 13s with zero ugly crosses. Wow!
I liked the mini-theme of titles, with SENOR, EMIRS, MAYOR, and a backward SRI. I loved [Heat setting, perhaps] for MEET – wordplay, direct clue, and opaque, all at the same time. Mwah!
Congratulations, Maddy, and it’s clear to me that you’ve got the knack. I’m hoping for more … please? Thank you for a splendid outing!
I also wanted MIAMI for the "Heat" clue, but it's one letter too long. That clue was one of just two (mild) bumps in my whooshing today, the other being my guess of SNL at the start of 11D, "confirmed" by ELMS. Very easy overall (more of a Universal Freestyle or easy New Yorker Tuesday level) but with some nice long answers, COLD OPENS, RIDDLE ME THIS, and especially HERE BE DRAGONS.
Yesterday, Rex mentioned the Stumper as one of the few really crunchy puzzles remaining out there. Well, today the Stumper was also disappointingly easy, which means about as hard as a NYT Saturday should be.
ESPN the OCHO was originally from the movie Dodgeball. Never knew it became a real thing. Life imitates art, I guess.
Should I be concerned that my solving experience has been more and more tracking Rex's these days?
I agree that this was an easy-ish Saturday but I enjoyed it. Loved the middle stack, especially HEREBEDRAGONS. It somehow makes me think of a simpler time when your biggest problem might be an actual dragon, rather than the rampant chaos in our daily lives and impending destruction of the government by a malign, feeble-minded wannabe dictator.
Had MELT for the longest time but obviously SLBASTIAN wasn’t right so I put in the E and got the happy music. Took me a minute or three to puzzle out why that was right.
I can see how this would be easy for many people, but it bit me pretty good in a couple of places. I saw COME TO A BAD END coming into focus, but just didn’t trust it. It just seemed too pedestrian - like it’s kind of a phrase, but not really. I also didn’t think it was strong enough to describe ruin - to me, COME TO A BAD END would be more like when a MEET CUTE doesn’t work out, as opposed to describing utter destruction.
Complicating matters in the center, I was also dealing with the Heat/Meet situation and HERE BE DRAGONS didn’t sound right (grammatically). That sounds like slang from when I was in college a half-century ago - thanks to Rex for providing some background on that one.
So, I kind of lucked out a bit today - my trials and tribulations around the equator were actually a bit of a blessing, as it gave me something to struggle with in this era of “easier” weekends.
Rex, I enjoyed your elaboration on hic sunt dracones / leones. A fun tidbit to know. Thank you!
I found this more challenging than some other but I was still well below my Saturday average (since 2018). The difference between this and some other easier Saturdays is that it was fun! Here be dragons! Come to a bad end! I needed the explanation for "meet", and didn't love "have a sip". All things I've said - have a taste, have some, try some, wanna try it?.
I’m so weak at crosswords that pretty much anything the NYT presents is a challenge. And this one had some fun answers—HEREBEDRAGONS among them. NYT crosswords are clearly getting easier—my Dad left me a bunch he never finished (a challenge for him was to do the Sunday puzzles acrosses only). One clue that stopped him was the name of a root of a rare tree that grew only in the Philippines…took me some wild and lucky tangential Googling to find that answer. How anyone did those puzzles without access to modern search engines is beyond me. I’m guessing that today’s puzzles attract a wider audience.
I’m so weak at crosswords that pretty much anything the NYT presents is a challenge. And this one had some fun answers—HEREBEDRAGONS among them. NYT crosswords are clearly getting easier—my Dad left me a bunch he never finished (a challenge for him was to do the Sunday puzzles acrosses only). One clue that stopped him was the name of a root of a rare tree that grew only in the Philippines…took me some wild and lucky tangential Googling to find that answer. How anyone did those puzzles without access to modern search engines is beyond me. I’m guessing that today’s puzzles attract a wider audience.
Mr. does the same first/letter thing as Sr. I also finished up confused by MEET (at first).
Rex is overthinking the DRAGON thing a bit but it was enjoyable to read!
I guess it was easy, but it took me over an hour. I had "game" before GATE and "Samba" before SIMBA. Didn't get RIDDLEMETHIS until the end, mainly because HEH made no sense to me (still doesn't). No cheats, so I'm happy. Heh!
Same here on meet. I was shocked when the puzzled solved and didn't understand it till I just read it here.
There is a moment when I finish a Saturday puzzle and feel accomplished, right before I come here to realize it was, in fact, easy. Oh well! Anyway I just wanted to say that as a newly minted 70 year old I am not offended by the use of the word “SPRY”. It pretty much describes me as I run after my very active grandson.
You guys make me feel really dumb complaining about how easy this was. I didn't see it that way. It was about average for me. Not impossible but not what I would call easy. I thought I solved it but no music. Gave up and came here to discover MEET not MEAT. I was thinking it meant an oven setting.
Assuming you're in your later sixties or early seventies, benching 300 pounds (now is this an exact figure, or do you mean 315, or what?) is I believe quite unusual. So maybe you've earned gratuitous bragging rights (and yes, you must be in great shape). But "this is a new generation of seniors", as if you and your prowess are somehow typical for that cohort, sounds absurd on its face. I'm 64, and know a lot of guys around your estimated age, and it's simply not so. You just hang around a lot of very strong aging dudes, apparently.
Yesterday was not so easy for me (contrary to what most others experienced, I know), but today went pretty smoothly. Maybe this one was just more in my wheelhouse; the long phrases came naturally, I knew at least some of the names, etc. Nothing much to comment on, really, except a slightly negative theme, with dragons, decay, and bad ends astir!
I had the same experience.
My take on this almost identical to OFL’s. What I really want to address is yesterday’s (continuing, it seems, into today’s comments) discussion re the recent apparently reduced difficulty of late week NYT themeless puzzles.
I tend in general to agree with this assessment. I finished yesterday in about 24 minutes, 7 under my average (over about 10 years), but 10 over my best Friday time; today I did slightly better. I do not view this as a problem. I consider myself to be a fairly average typical solver among the puzzle’s loyalists. I’m happy that I can sometimes get the “whoosh whoosh” feeling from a Friday that @RP prizes so much, despite being nowhere near his skill level.
Dealing with a harder puzzle is also OK by me—I can usually make it through, though sometimes at the expense of a hour’s effort or more, which I’m willing, even pleased to do occasionally, but would not want to accept every week. As was pointed out yesterday, there were sometimes relatively easy late week NYT puzzles in days of yore, and there are now still occasionally quite tough ones, as well as other outlets that consistently provide high level challenges. (The WSJ’s Saturday “contest” grid routinely crushes me—to the point that I’ve stopped trying.) I think the current NYT balance is just about right. (BTW, I finished the recent Saturday that has been repeatedly cited as a hard one in about average time—there is clearly a lot of interpersonal variation.) Comments so far today suggest that there were at least a few challenges and joys for elite solvers—probably enough to justify the few minutes they need to invest in the effort.
A puzzle may be difficult owing either to devilish wordplay, or to obscure factual reference. I have long maintained (and occasionally shared here) that the right way to approach the latter, after a sincere effort on the basis of crosses, is to google the damn clue! (I try first to get by with just the “hit list”, and avoid x-word specific links.) I refuse to accept that this is “cheating”. Just who am I wronging by doing this, outside the realm of formal competition? No one, that’s who! Getting a foothold or maintaining momentum via lookups allows me to enjoy more the pleasure of wordplay challenges, the ones that really count. So there, Nancy!—and many others whose names do not spring to mind. (Nothing personal…) Plus, there’s a learning opportunity, though not typically in an area where I have much interest.
PS—Do others agree that the recent reformatting of personal stats presentation in the NYT app is an abomination? What can be done about it?
webwinger
You mean 242nd and Broadway, where you can enjoy Van Cortland Park, visit a horse stable, have some Lloyd’s Cheesecake, shop at any number of mom and pop shops or new chain developments? Visit the spectacular gardens of Wave Hill or 3 of NYC’s ritziest private schools.
Got Naticked by HORA and HEH. Now that I see KARATE, I guess I should have been able to figure it out. But one was not on my mind culturally while the other as an answer for 'Funny how that works' just really doesn't in my book. I would say 'huh'. HEH is a laugh to me.
Nice puzzle, but another example from “The New Will Shortz”: a way too easy Saturday. Not a Saturday puzzle. Please, Will, give us something to sink our teeth into. As Rex has said, we spent years honing our solving skills, now we have to look elsewhere to use them properly.
Sometimes you had to wait for the next day’s paper for the answer, then look it up in a thing called a “dictionary”:)
"...most American cities are safer than ever, often safer than suburban or rural areas, so I bristle at anything that imagines urban spaces as crime-ridden dystopias." Well, 🦖, greetings from Albuquerque, a city very different than "most." People are so nice here, but I wrote in URBAN DECAY with no crosses because I know it cold. I drove past a striking canvas of decay on my way to work this morning. I believe you are correct that generally speaking crime rates across the country are on a downward trend, but that is only one measuring stick of URBAN DECAY. Things might look very different in pretty college towns in New England, but across vast sections of this country, URBAN DECAY is real, and caused by a long list of dystopian reasons -- mostly rich people not paying taxes -- but to "bristle" at its mention is odd. Most of the solutions we're trying here in New Mexico treat symptoms, not causes, and so homelessness, drug addiction, mental illness, infrastructure failure, and income disparity have grown worse, and a lack of opportunity keeps the situation hopeless for many. It's part of the reason many voted for a racist dictator and his pathetic clown car. Oh, and in a later post today, I will hand out weekend trophies for the "this puzzle is too easy, but I keep showing up every week anyway" Chicken Littles. 🏆
Rex spent a looong while describing his troubles with MEET, which surprised me greatly as he is usually so much quicker than me in picking up on such things, but to me that one was dead obvious.
I guess the puzzle was "easy" in the sense that it didn't require great trivia knowledge, but to me it played more easy-medium. I'm sure I've (IVE) never heard RIDDLE ME THIS in the wild, and I can't imagine ever saying it myself. The intersection of SIMBA and IMANI was somewhere in the Boston area (is it "Simba" or "Samba"; is it "Imani" or "Amani"?). But where I really flubbed was putting in ODEum instead of ODEON; maybe my brain farted in backtracking from the plural "odea" to the singular, and mixing up Latin and Greek formations along the way -- but the consequent "NuDE" going across (for "Botanical joint") really should have rung my alarm bells louder. NOT A GOOD IDEA to ignore the inner whisperings, is it?
There's TELL again -- we had "Poker Tell" the other day, a particular type of TELL specific to the game of poker, making that a standalone phrase of solid standing no matter what Rex says.
The puzzle was very decently crafted IMHO. I counted only fourteen "terrible threes". Well DONE, Maddy!
Easy for a Saturday, but it still took me 40 minutes. I know it’s a challenging Saturday when I have to chip away at it for well over an hour. BNAI and HORA today. YAHWEH yesterday. They have a real Judaica thing going. I still don’t fully get the Stadium Sales/GATE clue/answer. I sort of see the connection, but I feel like I’m missing something. You buy tickets for the stadium at the gate?
Both can be true at the same time. That’s part of the fun.
There’s more URBAN DECAY now than there was 20 years ago, but remarkably less than there was 20 years before that.
@burton - as a proud Jasper alum and NYCT employee I know the area like the back of my hand - as you say a bucolic section of the City. But wander around any of the stations between 96th and Dyckman and it’s a different world. I see URBAN DECAY as a daily reality - not used as a pejorative but the sad result of decades of these neighborhoods being neglected.
I recently got some personal advice by calling DialALAMA, the help line of the DALAILAMA.
I was disappointed that "martial law" didn't work for [Patrolling a neighborhood].
I was puzzled, in a sort of mini-@Rexian "why these" way about 20A [A & W or L & M] for BRANDNAMES. Could it be that the "AND" in BR-AND-NAMES is suggested by the ampersands? Or could it be that I'm overthinking this by about a bazillion percent? Ultimately, I settled on the latter.
My oldest boy is a neighbor of Baja California, so I don't know if 24A is a SONORA State.
Billionaires term for owning 5 identical cruising behemoths: YACHT-zee!
Puzzle was good. I'm with the crowd pushing for greater challenges, but still had fun with this. Thanks, Maddy Ziegler.
I liked it, although I think of HERE BE DRAGONS as a warning to sailors, not knights. Again I associate it with maps and areas off the map in the ocean. But still a fun answer.
I don't think I knew a single one of the proper names today aside from the DALAI LAMA (though not without a number of crosses). That includes SEBASTIAN from Twelfth Night, which, lets face it, is more than fair to assume people know. Way better than obscure film stars from the 20s with the right combination of letters in their name.
So this slowed me down a bit. I had OPERA for ODEON so that messed up the northeast for a while, and the center stacks took a while to fall. Great long answers today though. I got a kick (heh) out of KARATE LESSONS.
I also played myself on SPRY, because that was my first thought for "moving well over 60", but the "perhaps?" made me think it couldn't possibly be that and had to be something related to cars or racing or whatever. I kind of like when the puzzle makes me realize I'm think I'm more clever than I actually am.
Nice to see I have lots of company in the MEET heat WTF crowd. Knew it was right but happy to have an explanation.
Otherwise, yep, very easy. I'll take OFL's advice and learn MONAE if he learns that Sr. = SENOR, which was obvious to me. I'll also try to remember IMANI and RIAN. And TIL there's another YOM, good to know. I did like the longer answers but they were a little too easily clued for a Saturday, as many have pointed out. ASTIR always bothers me and "The OCHO" just sounds wrong, a little like cluing "Texas city" as "The Paso".
Moved Zoomingly through this one, MZ, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Speaking of thanks, many thanks to Roo, egs, Les S. More, jberg, dgd and Gary Jugert for the anniversary wishes yesterday. This blog every day is like hanging out with old friends. Good times.
I doubted it would count as a warning, being more of an encouragement, but “It’s only a bunny” fit before crosses….
The time I spent on today’s puzzle was between my Wednesday and Thursday average. But the result of the recent trend to minimize solving effort is that I'm finally beginning to learn to work cryptics — a real delight.
MELT also & didn't know the Shakespeare clue. Had to work around the edges (URBAN DECAY a big help)
till it was obviously SEBASTIAN & woosh the whole grid filled just like that
I had virtually the same experience as Rex with MEET/MODEL/(rabbit)EARS/SEBASTIAN. The only different was that I had guessed MEET/MODEL already. My problem was that I fat-fingered a random D over the B in ABLE which wasn’t easy for me to spot for some reason. So I ended up wasting time second-guessing the clusterbangbonk.
What's the opposite of SPRY? I made it past 70 okay, but 75 doesn't pull any punches. You know that movie "Free Solo" with the rock climber? They're shooting "Free Senior" now, featuring me climbing the stairs to the bedroom each night.
Easier than most Saturdays but enjoyable just the same. I don't get HEAD TO TOWN=MAYOR - head OF town, maybe? And was thrown by RIDDLE ME THIS but it all worked out. Thank you, Maddy & congrats on your Debut - on a Saturday! :)
& 'MEET' of course
Hey All !
Comment wouldn't load! Dang.
Seemed like this puz fought me ever so slightly, seemed to take longer than YesterPuz, but I finished in a faster time. Strange.
Had Janelle's name spelt MONET at first. Thinking how many known people have that last name?
Are you telling me that ESPN8 The OCHO is a real channel now? I thought it was just a made up thing from the movie Dodgeball. I like obscure sports, maybe I'll see if I can find the channel.
Stu for SID first. I have a friend named SID, you'd think I'd remember that movie kids name.
Anyway, time to get my ASS in gear.
Have a great Saturday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Fun puzzle - many colorful entries and a few amusing clues. My favorite was the movie titles clue for PUN.
I entertained myself with two mistakes leading to correct answers: 1) After some rumination I came up with my own interpretation of the MEET clue: “heat” can mean law enforcement and they can set up MEETs - no? 2) In a flash of lunacy, I somehow misread the 14A clue as “South to Africa” (!) which actually helped me think of IMANI right away.
Agree this would have been a delightful Wednesday puzzle.
IMANI Winds: Red Clay and Mississippi Delta
You are correct that before Google, doing late week puzzles could be a substantial challenge. I used to keep a little cheat sheet with some of the less common crosswordese and answers I thought might be repeated. Then there was this fantastic publication called a crossword puzzle dictionary which was worth its weight in gold. I even had the NYT version of it.
The great thing about crossword puzzles is that no matter how accomplished a solver you are, there are still snowblind moments. I am referring to the heat meet cluing today. For what ever reason my brain didn't go to the sports definition. Easy and difficult rating are subjective. This part of the puzzle made me work and to me, that's what it's all about
I was embarrassed by how long SEÑOR took me. My brain stayed in English, and tried to make DOCTOR and FATHER and SISTER and BROTHER all work, and even wondered if a college SENIOR could be the answer. I did indeed know the Spanish abbreviation; just took way too long to go there.
Other than that, I’m embarrassed by how long MAGI took me, and the H in OCHO was my last letter. Thus all my real trouble was on the top.
Second puzzle in a row that everyone was calling "too easy" and that I struggled through -- but without an ounce of pleasure or curiosity. Didn't know any of the names. Felt that many of the clues were borderline unfair, including the ridiculous one for MINIDONUTS. I felt that, once again I was being tested on tiny bits of arcane information that I didn't remotely care about. I'm glad this puzzle made so many of you feel smart. It made me feel dumb as a post.
I don’t see the conflict of Nana and Nanny. Yes ungrateful kids use nana for a nanny with the subsequent revenge of spoiling the youngsters, but they aren’t the same so I have to nit pick the nit.
I was thinking oven too but instead of meat, I had MELT. And I agree about the difficulty level. I rarely finish a Saturday without help so I always feel pretty good about it when I do, only to come here and have my ego shredded by the pros. I’ve long aspired to become one of them but even at my SPRY old age, I’m still hoping.
Exactly. On the map of current Washington DC it should read “Here be Malignant Charlatans.” Nice breezy puzzle, though. Took my mind off the dangerous times for a while.
Too easy for a Saturday… Although I did have Saint before Señor, which worked with Simba, but nothing else… And dorm before Hall… So that slowed me down a little bit.
I know from experience when this 63 year-old man tackles one of his sons at the annual Thanksgiving Day football game, SPRY is not the adjective they use when getting back on their feet.
Send the film crew to my house. They can get some great footage of me trying to get up off the ground after working in my garden. 😂
I really liked five of the clues today: 27A, 33A, 34A, 53A, and 33D. Nice puzzle. Not too easy for me.
Thanks to Rex for identifying the origin of the dragon phrase. I hadn't come across it before.
Really appreciate your comment on urban decay.
First reaction to this Satpuz: "There are **eight** ESPN's?!?"
Wanted MIAMI for the Heat settin .. wondered what their 4-letter nickname was gonna be. har
staff weeject pick: HEH. Funny how that clue worked.
fave stuff: Almost all the longball answers. The Jaws of Themelessness. MEET's feisty clue [yo, almost everyone]. MAYOR clue. KARATELESSONS clue.
Thanx for the reasonable maddy-ness, Ms. Ziegler darlin. Liked it. Great debut. Congratzes.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
... ok ... soooo ... y'all want harder themeless puzs? You long for some of the hardness of them olde NYTPuzs? ...
Stumpy Stumper on Steroids:
"No-Know Bonanza" - 7x7 15 min. themeless runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
p.s
Let m&e know. If that "no-know bonanza" ain't hard enough, there will be flamy-ier dragons to come, here.
Like Rex, I puzzled over MEET/MEaT and had changed my original meet answer to MEaT with the idea that it was a pre-programmed setting on an oven or microwave. I put my pen down, finished, and suddenly the alternate meaning of "heat" came to me and I changed it back to MEET. A good Saturday clue!
SENOR started me off in the NW after MisteR didn't fit. I do know who Janelle Monae is, originally because I saw "Glass Onion" but also after someone on this blog recommended we all watch the video Tightrope, which I did. Wow, she's amazing.
The DALAI LAMA clue was much more straightforward than the one from last Saturday's puzzle, "Noted line in Buddhism". The clue for YACHT was nice. And as a 65 year old who's signed up for a 10K in October, I agree with Rex that the age specified in the 53A clue seems a tad low. Maybe they were going for a misdirection toward car speeds?
Maddy Ziegler, thanks for the breezy Saturday puzzle.
I remember when the NYT used to publish a "New York Times Gothic" on their web site with answers to the day's puzzles like Rex. I used to print it out & take it to work with me. It's what helped me "get so smart" & learn to do xwords in the old days - lol :)
Too bad IMANI and OMANI couldn't be symmetrical, but they come close. Similarly, MINIDONUTS are certainly a major cause of URBAN (tooth) DECAY. And certainly the DALAI LAMA has one hell of a BRAND NAME. So there was a lot to like about this puzzle.
Only minor faults; those primitive antennnae are "rabbit EARS," no one ever calleld them just EARS--the whole point was that they stuck up straight. And HERE BE DRAGONS was something mapmakers put on maps when they did not know what was actually in the territory being mapped. Knight-dragon combat was usually initiated by a knight going after a dragon whose whereabouts were well known.
I was going to ask how MEET was a heat setting, when I suddenly realized that we were talking about a track MEET. Good one!
I didn't have a problem with NANNY because I thought it was a reference to goats -- ie, a female goat (NANNY) tending baby goats (kids). So when I then circled back and finally got NANAS, I thought that one was different (about grandmas). On the other hand, Omani and Imani was annoying.
Where I come from, that phrase is more dire. "Mark my words, that boy will COME TO A BAD END" meant prison, drug addiction, or death, all of which can be considered "ruin."
SRSLY
In the world of paid entertainment (sports, theater, etc.), GATE is used to mean the size of the crowd, and/or the gross revenue from ticket sales.
I get the point about the puzzle's being easy, and hard puzzles can be fun -- but this one did have a lot of fun in the nifty long answers and the tricky wordplay. I enjoyed it.
Like @Nancy, I had trouble with the names, but that’s not unusual for me on a Saturday. And like @jberg, I tsked at EARS because that contraption was never commonly referred to as such. They were called rabbit ears. MEET tripped me up as it seems to have done to everyone else, so at least I feel better. But overall, a good solid Saturday. Congratulations Maddy on your official entrance into NYT Society. (Sorry, I’ve probably been watching The Gilded Age too long.)
Unfortunately most people commenting on the times article loved how they could finish it quickly.
Unfortunately most of the comments on the Times site are from people who loved how easy it is. 🙄
No, you're not, and I had to google "Is Legally Blonde a pun?" to have "legally blind" explained to me.
I got the MEET answer from a slightly different angle. A couple of my nephews were competitive swimmers and, out of a sense of avuncular duty, I attended some of their MEETs. As much as 6 hours of sitting around watching young men and women thrashing their way down narrow, watery lanes is not really my cup of tea, especially when my chosen favourites might only spend 6 to 8 minutes of that day actually performing. I'll take team sports or (@Nancy) even tennis any day.
The Saturday puzzles were much more challenging in the past. Since the start of Covid when I had free time and needed a distraction, I've been working my way back in time through all the NYT Saturdays. I just did Feb 12, 2000 yesterday. Go to the archive and try it. The cluing! Once it's done you might be surprised at the reasonable fill, but getting there is an excellent test of mental flexibility. I wish they were still like that.
@Easy Ed, my mom and dad were Sunday crossword doers, too - and had at hand a stack of so-called crossword dictionaries full of just that sort of arcana. "Polynesian canoe," 4 letters, no problem :)
Personal best Saturday. Played like a Tuesday. Too easy. Maybe I’ll visit the archives.
I’m ROTFL!! But it’s hard to get up :)
Who has decent puzzles? The NYT have gotten terrible. This was USToday level easy.
I don't even try to do Saturday puzzles, but having finished all the other games (well not Sudoko) I decoded to read the comments.
Egsfor breakfast made it worth while
Like @Rex, I thought the interlocking of HERE BE DRAGONS, NOT A GOOD IDEA, and COME TO A BAD END was terrific. I also liked the add-on of KARATE LESSONS, as if they might possibly be a useful addition to a knight's arsenal in the dragon-fighting department. And I'm with @jberg 12:10: an easy Saturday, yes, but so much to enjoy.
Qualifier: easy, that is, except for my troubles in the NW. My "little dippers" were MINnowNeTS, which I held onto way too long. And I'll stake my identity as a Midwesterner on "HuH" being the equivalent of "Funny how that works out." Anyway, those two errors masked RIDDLE ME THIS very effectively.
Help from previous puzzles: TELL, because we just had it; RIAN. Help from reading the Arts section: the fantastic reviews of Twelfth Night now playing at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, with Lupita Nyong'o as Viola and her brother Junior as SEBASTIAN have me envying all of you who are in easy travel range. Too far away for me, alas.
Totally agree! A really great Wednesday puzzle!
Rex, thanks for the book tip today
Definitely had the same "60!!!!!" reaction to the Spry clue as Rex did! Reminded me of when I used to teach middle school (in my 20s, no less) and knew all the kids looked at me as the Crypt Keeper.
Thanks for the Irina book tip, Rex
Test comment here.
A single antenna is called rabbit ears. If it were just one rabbit ear no one would identify it as such...
Less weight to carry up the stairs if you first chew your arm off.
Graffiti is a sign of a vibrant street art scene! Cops being in charge of art is the real URBANDECAY.
I had FEET for the longest time, thinking it meant a heat setting in the car. As a northeasterner, I love the feet heat setting! I didn't know ISBN or RIAN (terrible with directors) so that corner was a struggle, but I eventually got it when IRS clicked.
The day of the week is not decided by the constructor of course. Clever clues - Very much enjoyed this puzzle and I didn’t have to google anything!
Thanks!
@jb129 11:47 (in reply to Easyed)
I thought you were making a reference to the printed edition of the NYT! At least until you mentioned printing it out (presumably yourself). Gothic-style typeface in the nameplate. The answers in the next day's paper. And the newsprint is called a web as it travels from the roll through the printing press - a web site.
Maddy Ziegler the constructor is apparently not the same as Maddie Ziegler the dancer, in case anyone else was wondering.
I liked this one a lot, even if NYT should have run it on a Wednesday. I’ll take an easy Saturday over whatever that was a week or two ago, where it was nothing but Naticks and obscure names crossing other obscure names.
Anonymous 5:32 AM /8:44 AM
Aging and spry.
My brother and I are close in age.
He has been particularly physically active, riding his road bicycle at high speed thousands of miles a year. I have been more conventional, walking and exercising in a gym. This continued as we reached our seventies. Then illness struck both of us, my brother (older) then me. He has worked his way back part way in his road bicycle riding but he has to accept he can’t get to where he was. I am happy to take a walk every day
The point is. I learned how suddenly things can change, especially when you are a “senior citizen “.
David Grenier
Sebastian
It annoyed me I still had to get a few crosses before I remembered. It
You see Twelfth Night is playing at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and I read a review in the Times of the production (BTW a rave). Yet the brother’s name didn’t stick!
Peanut
Loved your comment
About the problem of ROTFL in our age group!
Teedman. I would also agree the SPRY clue was an intentional misdirection.
But I immediately thought of spry for some reason, maybe because I am in my seventies?
Carola
About Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater. I read the review and the interview of the sister and brother. I was equally intrigued. I have a nephew who lives in Brooklyn and I live a reasonable train ride away. But the tickets are “free”. so you have to know how to get them. (My nephew has zero interest in Shakespeare. He likes Oh Mary!).
So I never got a plan together.
Anyway, the theater was just reopened after a major multi year rebuilding and it got a rave review also!
I was quicker than Rex at remembering the heat at the meet but I still had to stare at it for a bit. I was surprised that Rex had so much trouble. Obviously, something about the clue interferes wit solvers’ misdirection sensors.
As usual, dupes or near dupes like nanny and nana bother me not at all. They clearly don’t bother WS either.
I liked the puzzle.
So well said, @jberg, especially your hilarious first graph!
The ISBN has nothing to do with library cataloging. It’s only used by publishers and booksellers.
I am going to accept the editorial direction toward “solvable by more people” if, and only if the editors work harder to accept better “more solvable” puzzles. Today was head and shoulders above yesterday and had some cleverness. Keep trying, Times!
I had the same two errors, and at 89 I’m still SPY! 😊
Me temo que evitaría eso.
Survived another day and it's time to re-muse on what y'all have already mused upon. The next puzzle is already up, so nobody will read this. I can't believe there are eight ESPNs, especially in light of how unwatchable ESPN1 has always been.
Like many of y'all, MEET was my last answer, to a brilliant clue. And who thought up the spelling for YACHT?
MINIDONUTS is a great answer with a ungreat clue for a divine confection.
❤️ HERE BE DRAGONS. The clue and answer for KARATE LESSONS. RIDDLE ME THIS.
People: 8
Places: 2
Products: 4
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 of 70 (31%)
Funny Factor: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: HEH, ASS.
Uniclues:
1 Inner monolog of everyone enduring grampa's humor.
2 When city libraries return to the Dewey Decimal system in Earth's final days.
3 The bosses get tipsy in Doha.
4 The kitchen counter at grammas in the morning.
1 HEH, MEET PUN
2 ISBN URBAN DECAY
3 EMIRS HAVE A SIP
4 NANAS CEREAL BAR
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: The hatefulness of complicated lingerie. BRA STRAP'S SPITE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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