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Handled vessel in a museum / SUN 3-15-26 / "Refreshing" web shortcut / Rejuvenate digitally / The "U" of UX / Alternative to X / Psychologist Solomon / Start of a pirate-y pillaging song / Some savanna groups / Las Vegas football player / Stile coins that have gone out of style / Olden honeyed drink / Expressions of appreciation, in texts / One of two elected magistrates to the ancient cursus honorum
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Constructor: Miranda Kany
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
The "IDE"s:
- AIDED / IDÉE FIXE (1D: Provided assistance / 19A: Notion that's difficult to dispel)
- DIVIDEND / SPIDER (24A: Stockholder's portion / 9D: Certain silk spinner)
- HIDEOUT / NO IDEA (42A: Lair / 32D: "Haven't a clue")
- BEWARE THE IDES / GUIDE (69A see above / 59D: Tour leader)
- ASIDE / RAIDER (75A: Digressive remark / 64D: Las Vegas football player)
- PRIDES / STRIDE (110A: Some savanna groups / 92D: Big step)
- DERIDED / SNIDE (130A: Contemptuously laughed at / 123D: Slyly disparaging)
- DIJON MUSTARD (4D: 3/4 teaspoon, Grey Poupon preferred)
- OLIVE OIL (7D: 1/2 cup, slowly drizzled and whisked to form an emulsion)
- LEMON JUICE (35A: 2 tbsp., for acidity)
- ROMAINE (22A: One large head, shredded, with the outer leaves discarded)
- GARLIC (51A: One clove, crushed)
- PEPPER (86A: Ground, black, to taste)
- BREAD CUBES (107A: One cup, seasoned and lightly toasted until crispy)
- ANCHOVY PASTE (67D: 2 tbsp., for a briny flavor)
- EGG YOLK (125A: One, coddled or raw, add an extra for a richer flavor)
- PARMESAN (89D: 1/2 cup, freshly grated)
Extra theme answer:
- MIDDLEMARCH (40D: George Eliot masterpiece ... or a punny hint to seven squares in this puzzle) (because the IDEs of March are in the "middle" of the month (i.e. the 15th, today))
User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with and experiences a product, system, or service. It includes a person's perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency. Improving user experience is important to most companies, designers, and creators when creating and refining products because negative user experience can diminish the use of the product and, therefore, any desired positive impacts. Conversely, designing toward profitability as a main objective often conflicts with ethical user experience objectives and even causes harm. User experience is subjective. However, the attributes that make up the user experience are objective.
• • •
The SW corner is ... in need of deletion. CTRLR? (108D: "Refreshing" web shortcut). Uh, yes, that's a debut, but I don't think you should be proud of it [repeatedly slaps "Not All Debuts Are Good" sign]. RIS? It hurts. The Grafton answers always hurt. Any letter of the alphabet + IS, bah! RIS used to be clued as a Parisian's laugh or as the culinary RIS de veau, but in the Modern Era, it's usually "R IS for [something]," and it's always ugly. But the worst answer down there has to be TYS (118D: Expressions of appreciation, in texts). Time was, if you had to use TYS, you clued it as "multiple guys named Ty." So, [Cobb and others], e.g. Then in 2023 someone got the idea that it could be the plural form of a texting abbr. that is never (ever ever ever) pluralized. Ever. By anyone. Ever. And now here's TYS again with the same damned preposterous clue. "TY" is indeed an abbr. for "thank you." But I swear to you that it is unpluralizable. It would be like if I saw PLSS or THXS or BRBS or CYAS in a grid. Like, what? What are you doing?
Most of the "IDE"s are tucked into short answers, so we don't even get the benefit of very many inventive hiding places. I really liked IDÉE FIXE, but then NO IDEA came along and basically doubled up "idea" (Fr. "idea" + English "idea"), which is a no-no, or should be. Further YOHO cannot stand alone, no matter what past crosswords have told you (58D: Start of a pirate-y pillaging song). Also, "5/8" is V-E Day, not V-DAY!!!! Again, I'm baffled by the cluing there (57A: 5/8 or 2/14). In short, I think this puzzle is a true architectural marvel. It just bored me (when it wasn't outright bugging me).
Bullets:
- 41A: Psychologist Solomon (ASCH) — never heard of him. Apparently really important in the psychology of conformity. ASCH crossing USER (37D: The "U" of UX) was probably the toughest part of the puzzle for me (I'd never heard of "UX" and assumed that the "U" stood for UBER) (UBER X is a thing, after all—six NYTXW appearances since 2021).
- 25A: Handled vessel in a museum (AMPHORA) — very pleased that this technical term came to me rather quickly. I don't think I've ever seen an AMPHORA outside of a museum or heard one referred to outside of (art) history books.
- 39A: ___ Jones, bobsledder and hurdler who has competed in both Winter and Summer Olympics (LOLO) — I kinda sorta remember her, but it's been a while since she was in the spotlight (late '00s, early '10s). I get that it's a big deal to have been an Olympian in two completely different sports (hurdler in '08 and '12, bobsledder in '14), but ... if you don't win a medal, your name just isn't gonna have legs (even if it's as crossword-friendly as LOLO). I'm surprised that it took this long to get her in the puzzle. LOLO has made two other appearances in the Modern Era, both times as Obama's stepfather, LOLO Soetoro.
- 73A: Creature to take a gander at on Haleakala? (NENE) — cutesy clue for crosswordese. A NENE is a Hawaiian goose (hence the "gander" pun).
- 94D: Alternative to X (BLUE SKY) — social media app. The only one I use with any regularity. It's like Twitter before it got captured by a billionaire white supremacist. Unlike X, it doesn't push its users rightward without their even noticing.
- 129A: Stile coins that have gone out of style (TOKENS) — I don't think "style" has anything to do with it. Are rotary phones out of style? Or were they just rendered obsolete by newer and more efficient technology? I guess the "stile" / "style" pun was too tempting.
- 113D: Open before December 25? (PEEK) — "peeking" is not "opening." These are not synonyms.
- 15D: Curmudgeon's exclamation (BAH!) — yes! True! This curmudgeon says BAH! An accurate clue!
- 116D: Olden honeyed drink (MEAD) — it's true that this drink is associated with "olden" (specifically Anglo-Saxon) times, but it's still around.
 |
| [Ornamental chalice not required] |
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
15 full-size American-style crosswords
3 cryptic crosswords
1 variety cryptic crossword
1 “rows garden” variety puzzle
1 acrostic
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162 comments:
Hello all! I LOVED this puzzle, 🧩 in part because it was so clever to publish it on March 15! Loved the Caesar double entendre. Also we were in Rome for a month learning about All Things Caesar and flew back yesterday so it was especially timely for us. Very fun solve, my husband is just starting to get into crosswords so its relative easiness was great for us. Friendly reminder - Oscars are tonight at 7 pm!
I thought stile was short for turnstile. We used to put tokens in them to catch the subway.
I was impressed by the design and, unlike Rex, DID find it an enjoyable solve. Had several moments of, “Well, isn’t that clever.” Only quibble is it was a bit easy, but I think that’s been true of most NYT puzzles the last few years. Overall, the constructor deserves some props for this one.
I am in awe of this puzzle. Here, perhaps, might we even find, at long last, the key to all mythologies? And I am grateful, as well, that there are no German words to translate.
So, there I was at the point where I was correctly filling in the rebus squares, and had filled in the theme cross of MIDDLEMARCH and BEWARE THE IDES, amazed that the sixth letter of each is E. “Cute theme,” I thought.
“But what is all this gorgeously written recipe stuff?” That question crescendoed as I went along. Just as the riddle reached fever pitch, I filled in CAESAR.
When that answer’s double meaning hit me, it was like when you trim the Christmas tree, plug it in for the first time, and it transforms the room. It lit ME up – my jaw dropped, I broke into a wide smile, and that grin feeling permeated my entire body and beyond.
“Now THIS is what crosswords are all about!”
After the fill-in I looked closer at the grid-build. Because the recipe answers were symmetrical, its TEN ingredients had to fall into four pairs, each with the same number of letters – BREAD CUBES / LEMON JUICE, ANCHOVY PASTE / DIJON MUSTARD and so on. There’s only one way to say EGG YOLK, ROMAINE, GARLIC, PEPPER, OLIVE OIL, PARMESAN and the others. How can it be that the recipe for Caesar salad consists of five such pairs? How???
Stunning. Otherworldly. And she fit all that plus the rebuses and magnificent center cross in the box!
That E square dead center in the box at the nexus of MIDDLEMARCH and BEWARE THE IDES? I have decided it stands for Exquisite. You have made an exquisite puzzle, Miranda, and thank you for making it!
If Miranda’s Caesar salad is as good as her puzzle, then she must run the best restaurant in Philadelphia, An enjoyable Sunday treat.🎈🎈🎊🎊
I got stumped on 65A – "Sch. whose team name is a poisonous nut." The answer had to be Trump University, but I just couldn't make it fit.
Actually, I really enjoyed this puzzle! It was much like eating a big salad made up of tasty nuggets — an xword Theme Salad. 🥬
I got it from crosses but what part of the clue for idee fixe indicated it was going to be in French and not English?
Subway stiles used to take tokens. A gimme for NYC residents.
Yeah, yeah, nifty puzzle with a very clever double theme and lots of bonus theme-related answers like ROMAN, CONSUL, and PREP. But ANCHOVY PASTE? The server is supposed to come to your table with a wooden bowl, take a whole anchovy and rub it into the wood until it disappears, then add and toss the other ingredients. Maybe if you are mass producing the salads in the kitchen you need the paste as a shortcut, but I'm not buying your salad. Of course here in the USA I can't buy it anyway, because the powers that be do not allow use of a raw egg. It makes sense for health reasons, so OK, but I'll make my salad at home with an egg from my son's backyard, or fresh off the farm.
I guess symmetry required calling croutons BREAD CUBES, so OK, I'm not THAT much of a stickler.
As for no March to go with the IDEs--I think you don't want both MARCH and MIDDLEMARCH in the grid, so you have to make a choice--and she made the right one.
This has to be the MOST puzzle I've ever seen. Unbelievably impressive construction. It was in no way a hard puzzle, but definitely a great one.
Easy/medium? Nothing "medium" about it. Mid, maybe, but not medium.
I recognized the ingredients for the salad as soon as I hit ROMAINE and then had basically half of the grid given to me. I still struggled with the propers, and boy, there were plenty of them.
The rebus squares were pretty easy to identify as well, so an atypical type of solve for me today, as I had a relatively easy time with the theme and the rebus entries, but (as usual) I struggled with the propers and the PPP.
Hey All !
My goodness. Here's a Theme, There's a Theme, Everywhere's a Theme Theme. 26 Themes in one puz!
Impressed at cramming so much stuff into one (not too shabby) grid. We get CAESER salad ingredients (symmetrical! As Rex pointed out [although BREAD CUBES is suspect, they are BREAD CRUMBS {but for symmetrical sake, it'll do!}]) Then we get Rebussed IDE, hence IDES (only 7, Rex erred saying 8). Then a Revealer that'll work with both. Then, a centered Down bonus Themer, that crosses the centered Across Themer/Revealer. Holy moly. Too bad @LMS isn't here. She'd be able to explain the denseness better than me!
Fill didn't turn out too drecky, considering everything that needed to be worked around. (Quite a lot!) Do agree with Rex on the TYS clue, go back to Cobb, et.al. as the clue. I had TkS in there at first.
Enjoyed the solve. Pat yourself on the back @Miranda, for churning out this one. Talk about tearing out your hair to get any semblance of actual things in the fill. I know of a good wig place ...
Great rIDE. Take prIDE in your puz. And I'm not even a paID Extra!
Have a great Sunday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Very willing to endure a few forced answers for this overall dazzling feat.
"113D: Open before December 25? (PEEK) — "peeking" is not "opening." These are not synonyms. "
Oh, yes it is. Perhaps you are one of the few parents who never learned how adept children are at the dark art of unwrapping presents, peeking, and then re-wrapping them with nary a clue that they have been tampered with. Children spend hours planning these forays and sharing among themselves the best techniques. It is a dark art that will never go out of style.
Cuidado con los idus de marzo.
Happy stab your Caesar in the back day. This puzzle was seriously fun even with an ocean of short stuff. I love finding rebii in any puzzle. I also love real Caesar salads with a couple of big ole anchovies grossing out the weak kneed. Over on Tumblr this is the most important holiday. Lots of knives and death to tyrants comedy.
And speaking of humor, my post yesterday rankled a couple. The joke was supposed to suggest Yahoos are nicer than you think if you're stuck in an ivory tower, but it came across kind of mean about the editors of the NYTXW. I even suggested they drink boxed wine. In truth, I imagine our editors are hard-working fair-minded pleasant and smart people with wonderful senses of humor, but it's far more amusing imagining them as Quasimodos lurking in dingy basements of a rat infested city lonely and bitter their Ivy league education has them looking up the Wikipedia page for Yoko Ono again and desperately searching for the word ASS in puzzle submissions. Comedy explained. E.B. White's frog is dead. Moving along.
I learned today that a vase is an AMPHORA and there are some sweet Greek ones. I also learned ASCH is somebody's real name and not a random collection of letters. And BREAD CUBES is probably right, but why have we always called them croutons? But mostly I learned I don't know what a CEDILLA is and can't begin to explain why we still need them.
😩 JAVAS.
People: 14
Places: 3
Products: 15
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 44 of 144 (31%)
Funny Factor: 6 😐
Tee-Hee: BALD.
Uniclues:
1 Beginning holiday songs sung while sneezing.
2 The NYTXW crew, realizing they've got it made, refuse to let themselves be caricatured as box wine drinkers.
3 The bad feeling you get when you find a peanut stitched into your underwear.
1 PEPPER PREP CAROLS
2 EDITORS AT EASE RESIST
3 SEWN GOOBER OMEN
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Advice from the rapacious. DON'T GO CHASTE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I noticed italicized clues before I knew about the rebus element (I was pretty sure 1D was AIDED, but maybe the gimmick could’ve been skipped squares, changes of direction, etc.). I’m so glad this wasn’t just a Sunday-sized recipe puzzle and there was some theme trickery.
I didn’t even notice the constructor byline until reading the blog. Her first two puzzles were GUACAMOLE and JAMBALAYA recipe puzzles that simply spelled out the corresponding food item in circled squares.
Naticked at the cross of ASCH and USER, where I went with a 'b' (thinking UX was Uber X). That cross definitely needed a better clue for USER, given that about 4% of solvers know ASCH. (Apparently Eric Hougland of Diary of a Crossword Fiend also finished with that error, so I’m in good company.)
Very confusing during the solve, with two or more themes seemingly vying for attention. Not until way down at 126A did things become clear. Which is how it should be.
YOHO is absolutely OK as a standalone. It's even the name of a song. Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me.
Re: 67D, anchovy paste.
I've been waiting since December for an excuse to share this. It was billed as "the world's greatest anchovy joke" (admittedly a fairly narrow lane), by a member of the Dull Men's Club (UK Chapter), A. Spragg.
Three lads go for a meal at a new pizza restaurant, whose pitch is that you can totally personalise your pizza: you just have to choose any three ingredients from a huge list, and voila: made to measure pizza.
So the first guy who is a total carnivore opts for a venison, kangaroo, and biltong pizza. The second guy who is an out-and-out veggie opts for an artichoke heart, salsify, and banana blossom pizza. The third guy, who just loves anchovies, doesn't want anything outlandish to distract from the anchovial loveliness, so he opts for anchovy, onion, and tomato.
Appetites duly whetted, they sit back to await events. After a bit, three pizzas get delivered, and the first two guys are raving about theirs and how generous all the portions are of their chosen toppings. Meanwhile, the third guy is looking at his pizza and wondering what went wrong. He calls the waiter back. "My two mates are raving about their pizzas, no complaints there. And mine ... well, no complaints about tomato and onion, but they were just supposed to be a foil for the anchovies. Where are they all? There seem to be only three of them!"
And the waiter, looking a bit dumbfounded, replies "But sir, most people don't like anchovies."
This is the first time I’m commenting because this was out of sight clever. Sharp, challenging clues but no awful out there, can’t possible figure out clues. And the bonus was the Caesar salad. All absolutely outstanding. Thank you, Miranda, for making my Sunday morning extra terrific. (Needed this joy as we had no power for 15 hours due to high winds.)
Ide is incorrect. The original Latin word is Idus, so Ides is singular. The whole theme falls apart and I can't believe the editors didn't catch this.
WTF is a BREADCUBE. Do you mean breadcrumbs or croutons? Perhaps a little critical of the substitution here, but that’s a little loosey goosey. Ain’t nobody ever heard of BREADCUBES. It’s like the Coneheads going out to eat. (Dan Aykroyd-monotone and stilted) “COULD WE GET SOME BREADCUBES PLEASE”
This was a really cool puzzle. I was onto the theme(s) after about being done halfway but had been suspecting a rebus for some time. My only (minor) complaint was a high number of PPP's, including PPP crosses. But still, very clever and innovative!
I don't disagree with Rex's critique, but giving this puzzle 3 stars is, well, perhaps a bit curmudgeonly...
Hand up for finishing with the same AbCH/UbER error. If I’ve ever heard of the psychologist, I’ve forgotten his name. My ignorance of UX is embarrassing, though, considering that my daughter works in the field of user experience. If she’s used that abbreviation in any of her futile attempts to explain to me how her job works, it slipped past me. Both my kids work in tech, and any time I ask them how their jobs are going, I brace myself for the tsunami of terminology that’s beyond my comprehension.
@Gary Jugert. Don't apologize or explain your sense of humor. It is a treasure shared with us most every day, and I'm sure I speak for many others.
I was only about half way through the 31 volume biography of Winston Churchill when my vision started going. Pictures of Winston flashing the victory sign began to look like he was flipping me off. I had to quit after visiting my eye doctor who said, "Egs, you're BIOPIC!"
My Aussie PCP, OTOH, when told about my pain while urinating simply said "VDAY?".
All-Star pitcher Hershiser's parents couldn't initially decide if his given name would end in "M" OREL.
I'm just happy to be where the IDESOFMARCH puzzle fell on the right date. Hope this hasn't been in the queue for years waiting for a 3/15 Sunday. I thought this puzzle was scrumptious. IDE like to say thanks, Miranda Kany.
I got stumped in ne with deage, asch and what u x was, other than that I got the themes and the fill. I liked the nene clue. What would have pushed the puzzle to legendary would be if Brutus was an answer somewhere
It is, and clued as such
I'd give it 4-1/2 stars, maybe 5. Brilliant feat of construction, combining two themes with a common thread. I might be biased, because I caught on to the trick quickly with AIDED and finished it without a cheat (I have friends in the church choir whose last name is ASCH, so that became a lucky guess).
I didn't realize immediately that Caesar's Ides of March coincided with today's date; the constructor must have submitted it with this Sunday in mind.
I first encountered amphora in high school in William Faulkner’s “odor of verbena” where the avenging woman is described as a Greek amphora priestess. I was taught she stands hands on hips (the shape of an amphora) while advocating revenge in the style of Greek dramas like Elektra. It’s stuck with me.
It’s usage is common enough that it doesn’t need to indicate its foreign origin would be my explanation.
I was coming here to say the unless you have an X-ray machine, or found the gift in your parents’ closet, you have to open it to PEEK.
Well, just like the recent cassettes, the replacement for TOKENS (metro cards) have also just gone out of style…
I had the same aha as Lewis today on both the rebus (not expecting this with the obvious italicized theme) and the salad recipe. Fill was fine, but just took a little while to get going on it, then whoosh.
Easy. There were rebus squares (which I don't like) but the clues for the words containing them were very straightforward. My lists of Overwrites and WOEs were what I'd expect on a Medium Tuesday.
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
My interpretation of "UX" in the 37D clue was UbER X, not USER eXperience. This made 37Dx41A the only real sticking point of the puzzle.
I thought turpentine might be derived from beeCH trees before I learned it can come from LARCHes (102A).
TkS before TYS for the text appreciation at 118D
WOEs:
Actor Ian HOLM at 38A
Bobsledder LOLO Jones (39A)
Psychologist ASCH Solomon (41A)
I'd probably heard of ARSENE Lupin (48A) but I needed every cross.
The Samurai sword KATANA at 127A
Agree with OFL about the missing SALAD and OF MARCH. Also, thanks @Rex for explaining why VDAY (sorta) fit the 5/8 part of the 57A clue.
I HAD to read the Wordplay column on this one. The constructor, Miranda Kany, is a chef- hence the recipe. She also says, “ There’s a lot going on here — a definite case of “more is more.” Or, as my sister Jessica says, “this thing got put through the Complicator.” “ Yes, indeed, Jessica. (Oh, for the record, I HATE rebuses. Thankfully, these weren’t all that bad.’
🙄
USERX crossed with ASCH is 100% an inexcusable Natick in my mind. I, like many others had UBERX. A thing I've heard of.
Way underrated by OFL. This was at least 4.5 stars in terms of the joy that it brought me. I make my own Caesar's with identical ingredients. And, add a rebus! Then, mix in some Shakespeare and Roman history. It brought a big smile to my face. Kudos to Miranda.
Interesting rabbit hole. The singular is apparently “idus” but the plural “ides” was always used because this was a monthly occurrence and therefore never singular, in a way similar to “scissors” in English.
But, yes, the idea the “ide” is somehow the singular of “ides” is fanciful but probably irrelevant to almost everyone solving or reading this.
Once prepared they're croutons but the clue is for the ingredient, BREAD CUBES, so correct.
Peeling back the corner of the wrapping paper to peek and then retaping it is definitively not “opening” and it’s weird that you’re confidently arguing otherwise
Not bread crumbs, rather an ingredient (with oil or butter) of croutons, BREAD CUBES.
I loved this puzzle! So much going on and very clever. Also loved that it fell on the Ides of March, no beware intended. My one quibble is that I've never had or made Caesar salad without worcestershire sauce! I'm willing to overlook that foible, however!
geez... am I the only one who didnt "get it"? I competed the puzzle, no errors. And got the IDE rebus/March/CAESAR/MIDDLEMARCH theme easy enough. I was confused by all the ingredients. But once I got the happy music I didn't suss any further and did not really "get it" until I red Rex. What a puzzle! congrats to the constructor and the ability to have such thematic density. I missed out on a big AHA moment, but I did enjoy the puzzle none-the-less. PS I never heard of a LARCH tree but I remember LOLO Jones very well.
BREAD CUBES are uncooked croutons. Read the clue.
Google "bread cubes" and discover how common it is! You can even purchase a bag of bread cubes!
Same US/UB confusion here and since I solve on paper, I didn't realize there was a mistake. Maybe why I solve on paper. I have a son who is a "web architect". I don't even try to get him to explain to me what he does, but he's invaluable for computer issues.
On @Gary. Seconded.
Rex was quite the nitpicker today. I mostly dislike Sunday puzzles and only complete them to keep my streak alive. Today's was a refreshing exception; lots of clever theme answers made it fun. (Even though I had a typo that took forever to find which is one reason I dislike Sunday puzzles.)
I LOVED this one! To me, it was perfection! Very enjoyable to solve! Loved the center cross, loved the ingredients, loved discovering the "IDE"s, loved the jokes.
BREAD CUBES is correct as clued. The chef is to cut BREAD (preferably a few days old/slightly stale) into CUBES and then toast them into CROUTONS.
Correct! ✅
Yes, I'm sure the constructor submitted a puzzle about March 15 with March 15 in mind.
OMG!! A rebus that I not only whooshed through but loved. Not going to ruin my 'glowing' review of this fantastic puzzle - well, yes I will - was TYS & I never use BREAD CUBES in my Caesar Salads always CROUTONS (just nitpicking).
A really, really a great Sunday REBUS (which I usually hate) & thank you so much, Miranda for this amazing feat.
When I got to BREADCUBES at first I thought it was crumbs, but the CUBES made me say "oh, maybe we're making a salad - CAESAR!" A true "aha" moment (or should we say, EUREKA!)
On another note, there is an inaccuracy in 27A: Bon ____ ("Skinny Love" band). While Bon Iver has now grown into a band, in 2007 when the album For Emma, Forever Ago was recorded and released, featuring the single Skinny Love, Bon Iver was the solo project of singer-songwriter-producer Justin Vernon.
But if you have IDE as a rebus, 7 separate times, then you have IDES. It doesn't matter whether ancient Romans or Greeks thought it was a plural or not. For the sake of the puzzle, it's more than one IDE...so it's IDES.
Simply amazed at how many people have never heard of UX/user experience. It's an absolutely massive field for any product creation--especially if you've ever had to deal with anything web-related, but also for physical goods. It's been around for decades.
Whereas I'm not sure how many people are making their living handling amphorae.
I loved the clever puzzle even if it wasn’t overly hard. Amohora: having two handles. If you are of two minds, ambivalent; can work two handed, ambidextrous.
Caught the rebus in three clues and cruised down the west coast like I was on packed powder on a cruiser trail (our local area closes today). After that there was almost no resistance except for the UBER USER thing (see below, as they say, but in this thread it's really see above), I never remember Ms. Clooney's name. I think I'll have to connect her to the Night Visitor guy with no H or something.
Today I learned that we say a "head" of ROMAINE, which I somehow have not heard. "Head of lettuce" and "head of cabbage both make sense to me because they look like, well, heads. I used to use "cabbage" as a memory aid for "cabeza", head in Spanish, when I was teaching Spanish I. Apologies to those of you who may have heads that look like heads of ROMAINE.
I join others in having found this a brilliant feat of construction. Is there a COY award? With more fun answers I'd say POY, but sorry, MK, I Mostly Knew too much stuff right away. Thanks for a bunch of fun anyway.
Then there's the deli advertising they'll make ANY sandwich. A smart Alec orders whale on rye, the waiter calmly writes it up and goes to the kitchen. Comes back and asks how many whale sandwiches the customer wants. "Just one please". Waiter leaves then comes back, "Sorry, the cook doesn't want to cut up a whole whale for only one sandwich!"
“. I mean, there are ten ingredients in the damned CAESAR salad alone, and then eight "IDE"s, which means sixteen additional theme answers, plus CAESAR, plus MIDDLEMARCH, which (if my math is correct) means there are twenty-eight (28!)” . . . Then there were those extra food prep clues! OMG!! Except for that dreadful “DEAGE” answer, an outstanding puzzle.
I have often bought bags of bread cubes to make stuffing for a turkey on the "fourth one in November". See 68 across!
lol! Sad but true!
It seems that many restaurant diners can’t abide fish in their salad. They will, however, not take offense to anchovy paste incorporated into the dressing. Not the way I make it at home, but preferable to not having any anchovies at all.
I love you all but this cliquish clubhouse behavior, this rushing to defend each other against any criticism, it’s unnecessary. You protect your own and snap at outsiders and it makes you seem soft. Nancy for instance behaved embarrassingly and you indulged her because you just protect your own uncritically. This comments section is fun but not when you all encourage each other’s bad behavior just because you know and like each other. And especially not when you all act like you’ve been horribly victimized when in reality someone simply told you they didn’t like your post. This place should be welcoming to all not just people who think like you.
Hard disagree. Gary claims to be temordeful about his gratuitous insults yesterday then in the next breath insults them again. That’s not funny; it’s rude.
Croutons are toasted bread cubes that have been tossed with a little olive oil, butter and seasoning. The clue could have been reworded as “ready for toasting” but it works fine for me as is.
Held my breath as I put in ROARK to finish crossing AMAL and KATANA, not knowing any of these. Came here to see if I lucked out.
If you peek and know that the gift is, then as far as the giver is concerned the gift is “open.” The two are synonymous from that perspective
After I got my first rebus at the cross of NO IDEA and HIDE OUT and shortly after hit upon ROMAINE, the game was up and it was just a matter of getting to the end. A bit of a Sunday slog. Somewhat better than the hockey game I was watching, though. At least jn the puzzle there was some action - rebuses, two themes, MIDDLEMARCH, and CAESAR salad.
Most people these days go the supermarket and buy a head of romaine, rip it up, add a bunch of dry croutons from a plastic bag and slather it all in a prepared bottled caesar dressing. So I’m glad that Miranda Kany was able to come up with a reasonable recipe but, please Miranda, no anchovy paste. Finely chop your damned anchovies and mix them in. You have a knife and a cutting board, don’t you? Oh, maybe you don’t. Okay then, use the paste. It’s better than omitting the anchovy flavour. And homemade croutons are the best - and so easy.
An impressive puzzle.
I dnf'd at AbCH. I did not like the look of it at all but thought UbER X might be a thing. So I was not surprised at all when a "check" of the puzzle showed that square was the hold-up of the happy music.
I got the IDE rebus at SP[IDE]R and had fun finding the rest. I got CEDILLA early on also because I was artificially giving myself a random solve by jumping around the grid. With the IDEs tie-in to CAESAR and C__S__ at 6A, I threw in CaeSar in that spot. OLIVE OIL made me change it.
As someone who mostly eats vegetarian (pescatarian), I have eaten more than my share of CAESAR salads. It's reliably an option at bar restaurants, along with cheese pizza and dinner salads (hold the real bacon bits!) I like CAESAR salads but I also prefer more of a selection. (No, I don't want chicken added to that, thank you.)
Miranda Kany, I found your IDEs puzzle fun and amazing!
That was my mistake and DNF also! In fact, I was so confident it HAD to stand for Uber X I had to do “check puzzle” to find it.
Have to echo the praise heaped on by earlier commentators. Would have given this more than three stars for the depth of theme and relative lack of crosswordese. In terms of solving, I made it much more difficult than it had to be—I got IDEEFIXE right away, then dropped in “apsE” instead of NAVE, after which I had to leave the NE to the very end to solve and knew OLIVEOIL had to be in the mix somewhere.
Funny you mentioned it but I also had not thought of ROMAINE as a “head” for the same reason as you. Now I know!
Anon 10:51
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Thank you
Easy-medium. I caught the IDE rebus pretty early and didn’t encounter much resistance after that. Knowing how to make a Caesar salad was probably helpful.
Really enjoyed this one, breezy and fun. Liked it a bunch!
What a lavish treat of a puzzle - Julius Caesar meets Middlemarch, and then toss in all of the relevant salad ingredients and publish it on the Ides of March. So much fun to solve and gradually understand the complexity. One detail I particularly liked was the cross of ROMAN and ROMAINE, Caesar himself and the star of Caesar salad.
Thank you to the New Yorkers who explained "stile" and TOKENS. Count me among: those who had no idea what UX stands for (but did know AMPHORA). Help from previous puzzles: KATANA
@Anon 10:09. What's this "peeling back the corner" thing of which you speak? From the time I was 6 or 7 years old I could, if left unattended for a few hours, unwrap and re-wrap every gift under the tree. It became a game. My timid and clumsy siblings would pay me to pre-check for them. I rarely got caught.
A very nice Sunday puzzle with so many clever angles in the theme! It was fun to find the IDE rebus squares plus the Caesar salad ingredients. MIDDLEMARCH is so apt and icing on the cake. I learned what UX means today so I don’t even care I had a one square DNF. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll remember Solomon ASCH.
I’m getting a kick out of the BREADCUBE resistance today. It looks like we don’t have many folks that make their own croutons. I am one of those people, because well…I’m lazy.
Some winemakers use amphorae (instead of oak barrels or stainless steel tanks) to age their wine before bottling. This is related to the natural or low-intervention wine movement. In Ancient Rome, wine was aged in an amphora.
Same problem for me. I had to run the alphabet to get to the S.
Oh my! Now I must needs defend myself for defending another commenter whose comments bring me joy. And my attackers are, to my great shock, anonymice! "It is a curious fact that people are never so trivial as when they take themselves seriously." –Oscar Wilde
Completely agree about the puzzle, especially 40 down. Are you a many-times-removed cousin?
Chalk it up to a certain (unnamed) demographic. I’m an old lady and I’ve listened to that kind of “wit” my whole life. I think it’s okay to comment when one is particularly offended (although my posts then are often not published - I wonder why), but the “clubhouse” mentality here is relatively mild and I just try and ignore it.
Rex doesn’t like these meta conversations, so I’ll probably be censored, but I encourage the “outcrowd” to keep posting and ignore the “incrowd” back slapping.
No one has attacked you egs.
Agree with Anonymous above that ROARK/KATANA/AMAL was the most treacherous part 9f the puzzle.....I, too, consider myself lucky. Honorable mention to those stumped by ASCH/USERX though... the rest of the crossings made the remaining PPP discoverable, making for a rather pleasant solve...
Rex said: "...and then eight "IDE"s, which means sixteen additional theme answers" I only counted seven IDEs and that is what 69A stipulated, so where is the extra IDE?
Hey Les, I’m guessing that the ANCHOVY PASTE and BREAD CUBES were a concession to symmetry and the grid construction constraints. I’m actually surprised that the fill wasn’t even more choppy due to the extremely ambitious theme and the associated stress that it puts on the grid. But I agree with you that fillets are the way to go (and I think the salad is even more spectacular when it is prepared table side at a nice restaurant).
Easy and fun for me. I'm a chef! I liked the whole IDEa.
Rex, you aren't excused from the table until you finish your salad.
@egsforbreakfast 9:01 AM
Aw. Thanks. But stay out of the arroyos as a river of Anonymoti tears is flowing. More importantly, I really think you're reading too much about Winston Churchill. Ever Yours, the untemordeful gj
My attempt at ASL was unclear so I had to RESIGN.
LEVEEs are jeans that attempt to hold back the flab from overlapping.
Never mind Iran: I AMPHORA regime change right here in DC. (Peaceful, of course.)
What should I do to include my maiden name? DONEE.
Two answers that left a sour taste in my mouth: GOYA and ROARK.
I have boycotted GOYA for years. There are many good alternatives to their Trump-loving products.
And what can I say about anything Ayn Rand.
re: CEDILLA
comme ci, comme ça
sloppy music claims irk me as well. films which are set in a specific year but play a song that hadn't been released take me out of the flow.
IDEE FIXE & NO IDEA felt sloppy instead of clever to me, but that's not nearly as bad as the terrible experience of going from the 67D "2 tbsp" clue IMMEDIATELY to the 68D answer of TBSP. the cluing was sloppy and all in service of a puzzle way way way too concerned with the construction instead of the solving experience.
Ah, Gary, you're such a brute!
I kinda liked yesterday's post. But I have a problem with today's! Gird yourself! BREAD CUBES or, as I say, cubes of bread, are not croutons any more than a bowl of batter is a waffle. They are the main ingredient of croutons and are lightly oiled, seasoned and toasted or roasted so that they are crisp on the outside, but not all the way through. (I don't think any frogs were killed in the making of this rant.)
And for this to come out on the ides of March! Love it
Despite the easiness, I found this puzzle to be an absolute delight—I figured out the IDES theme on idée fixe in the upper-left corner (after scrolling through the clues to figure out what I might be missing) and was delighted to discover the secondary theme. And unless I'm mis-remembering, not a Star [Wars or Trek] nor a Harry Potter in sight!
Rare to say, but we think you’re off on this one Rex; too eager to put down. Best Sunday of the year so far.
Oh, by the way, it is lovely and, may I say even serendipitous, that both Julius Caesar and Caesar salad provide the framework of today's puzzle, they are in no way connected.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar, César and Cesare), also known as Caesar's salad, is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons commonly dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan and black pepper.
The salad was created on July 4, 1924, by Caesar Cardini at Caesar's in Tijuana, Mexico, when the kitchen was overwhelmed and short on ingredients. It was originally prepared tableside,[1] and it is still prepared tableside at the original venue.
VDAY? Made my day!
remarkable!
@Copro. I can only say, "I wish I'd said that". You might reply, "You will Les, you will". And, indeed, I already have and I will do it again, but rest assured I will credit you.
Fun to see that most commenters liked the puzzle as much as I did I put a smiley face beside three clues 73A ,129 A and 12D. Pity Rex couldn't enjoy the fun in 129A instead of quibbling about the use of the word "style", which I thought perfectly appropriate. I've often heard, or used it that way.
Enjoyed a number of humorous comments ( the main thing I read the comments for. Being on the far west- not as far as Hawaii- I'm kind of out of the conversation. No place to post a comment when I finish puzzle the night before, very late in the conversation by the time I'm up in the AM.)
I liked the answer to 111A "ris" because I just saw it as "r is" and I like the titles of those mystery novels.
I would add that when Vernon (solo) sings on other artists' tracks, he is credited as Bon Iver.
Basically, this bothered me too. Bon Iver is really just one guy.
thoroughly enjoyed this double themed/single themed puzzle. very accessible to puzzle doing newbies. and clever to boot.
Egs—-there’s no need to degend yoursek because you’re not bring attacked. Only your posistion is being wuestionex— not you, or your personhood. One of the anons anove had it right:: this nlog is mot only insular, it too ofyen mistakes disagreement with insult.
I didn't catch the salad theme until I had totally finished, and thought: what's with all the spices and stuff? Then I rechecked the clue for CAESAR... oh! Nice bonus double theme. Very impressive that the ingredients are all symmetrical.
Typical typeover: Bon JOVI before IVER, and weird that they both have a V but in different slots.
YOHO could have been clued as the spectacular National Park in eastern BC... except of course 97% of non-Canadians have probably never heard of it. And so weird to clue GOYA as... a brand of canned beans? Ugh.
Gary—
Nonsense. Not only are you continuing to engage, you”re continuing to mock.
Taking a pot shot about typos does not adress the issue which started this thread—namely that you think insults are humorous.
@Liveprof. Loved the joke. I think I've heard it before, but it's still good.
I have friend who hates anchovies so when i serve Caesar salad, I have to separate his before adding the little fish bits that are so crucial to the dish. One day I decided to try a little experiment. I had some white anchovies in the fridge (tinned with oil and vinegar or lemon juice, much lighter and cleaner tasting than brown anchovies, called boquerones in Spain). I added some Worsteshire sauce to the dressing to make up for the missing umami and we all loved it. I think he just hated the *idea* of anchovies.
BTW, boquerones are delicious when set out on a board with fresh crusty bread, maybe some Serrano ham, some sliced fresh veggie like cucumber, and some Manchego cheese. Because I don't have a fave Spanish white wine, I tend to go with a French Sauvignon Blanc. Heaven.
Funny how our experiences are all unique. Yesterday I dnfed on HUD. Today I put in UbER first, but quickly changed it to USER when I realized ASCH was more likely. 26 mins for me which is easy for me on a Sunday with a Rebus. Great puzzle, thanks, Miranda!
Haha…same for me on Jovi and IVER, and for some reason kinda remembered IVER once I knew Jovi wrong. GOYA sells delicious beans that are usually used in Mexican/Hispanic/Latin dishes…meaning you won’t find “Great Northern” variety (I think) in the repertoire. They are very good.
@Sharon…I feel for you (and me). I’m on the far west of the Eastern time zone and my daughter lives in Anchorage. We often have to set phone appointments since she 1) works, and 2) I may be starting to want to snooze before she is free.
amphora has gained in popularity among those of us reading 'he who fights with monsters'... a very good and funny litrpg that isn't dungeon crawler carl.
@SHARONAK. Very much with you on the posting times. I'm down the coast from you (Vancouver) and I really wish there was a way to type my ever-so-brilliant comments just before I go to bed about midnight (my time) and have them pop up as soon a Rex activates in his time zone. I must know a techie who can work this out. I'm certainly not going to get up any earlier.
And get off my lawn! 😉
Ok. I wrote something in a reply about GOYA. Wow. I truly don’t know how people know all these things (like GOYA is Trump-loving). I guess I’ll just say it’s “effing hard” to be “vigilant” these days. Oh. This is an observation…not a criticism at you. But…maybe the constructor doesn’t know this?
Great puzzle. Agree the revealer seems like a partial. Nice to see the X alternative. Not a user but I chuckled when I read Nate Silver’s description:
“ Bluesky honestly feels like a miracle where you take the most annoying people in the world and stick them in a broken elevator together.” Also Amal Clooney and resist, who wouldn’t love this one.
Yes chef!
Loved the BAH rant @Rex, and the David Byrne duet was divine
Ah, yes, @Anon, you are correct. Bread crumbs are what you cost stuff with. BREAD CUBES are indeed pre cooked croutons.
RooMonster Wrong Streak Continuing Guy 😁
Carola…great catch on the cross with ROMAN and ROMAINE! As for TOKENS…who the heck knows WHY I knew that or that STILE meant turnstile. I just know that last time I was on a subway (Chicago, Montreal?) I found it “challenging” and would’ve welcomed a TOKEN and STYLE.
Et Tu Brute! wink wink - what's not to love! granted a bit on the easy some clunky clues but overall a lot of Fun
Haha…I’m not a vegetarian/pescatarian but enjoyed your comment because it made me think of the “add protein” option on menus these days. (Salad is usually not the WHOLE meal for me) Not to mention we made same mistake on UbER/Abch. NOW I think I just HAVE to look up the psychologist…
My quickest solve ever! Only problem came down in the southeast where I wanted txs instead of TYS - but EGGYOLK solved that one
idee fixe as the opening teaser seals the deal - aside from a few clunkers this is what a fun puzzle is all about -- self deprecating genuinely humorous too - yeah wish it was tougher but this level of construction is 5 star and the puzzle is too 5 stars
wondering if people will get the inference here or if Rex will dig deeper into what the puzzle just accomplished considering the political situation we are in now - its absolutely brilliant on so many levels saying what can't be said over a Ceasar Salad - Bravo Miranda I hope this gets posted its a 3 level superstar puzzle
The NLRB / ARSENE crossing sucked. I hate when the key to finishing a puzzle is just entering letter after letter to complete it in that last square. Totally underwhelming. Otherwise a pretty ok puzzle!
@Southside and @Les…first…very nice for you that you chop up your anchovies. Maybe Miranda does that with her private dinners and I’m sure she knows how to “finely chop.” But, if she is a professional chef she just MIGHT know that many folks might like anchovy taste…but not anchovy “bits.” Um…not dissing either of you. Let’s just say I might love “grasshopper” paste, but HATE knowing grasshopper “bits” were in my salad. Crazy? Yes. Nonetheless true.
Good one @Les! Of course…I NEVER did that…
Remarkable double-themed SunPuz. Liked.
staff weeject: Gotta be IDE, a la squished.
some fave stuff: MIDDLEMARCH right down the puzgrid middle. Clues for LIDS & EAT. CAESAR salads, with or without GOOBERS.
Nice clue of mystery for USER. Managed to turn it into a no-know. Lost precious nanoseconds, when ASCH did nuthin to help.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Kany darlin. U musta really suffered, gettin all this puztheme info to behave itself so well.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
Have only skimmed through the comments, but has anyone taken note of 88A PREP and 70D EAT - which i am pretty certain are also theme answers related to the Caesar Salad recipe - since all these ingredients add up to exactly nothing until you PREP and EAT them.
Silver hates blue sky because people there see him for the creep he is and he’s got very thin skin. I’m surprised anyone still listens to that guy about anything. An amoral self promoter way over his skis. Just listen: “It's probably foolish to think a NYC mayor will successfully translate into being a national political figure, but I still think Eric Adams would be in my top 5 for "who will be the next Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden?".
@Anonymous (10:09 am). So I suppose if you are in a grocery store shopping for milk, and you pick up a container, remove the cap, sniff the milk, replace the cap, and put it back in the dairy case, you have definitely not opened the milk?
I mostly agree with Rex's observations, but liked the puzzle anyway. For me, it hit the Sunday sweet spot of clever/entertaining/not too sloggy. I'm impressed that the double theme didn't lead to a lot more gunk! Like so many others, I guessed "Uber" for "The U of UX" but then wasn't too surprised that AbCH turned out to be wrong.
Now you've got me thinking about all the boquerones I ate as tapas in Spain, and I'm hungry. Nothing quite like them here.
Clever
@SharonAK, Beezer, Les... I remember about 12+ years ago when I first found this site, Rex would stay up late enough to do his writeup in the evening. He would post it about midnight Eastern, which was 9pm for me and perfect timing. Plus!!!! ... when you posted a comment, it went up instantly... no pre moderating. Ah, the good old days.
Was walking on Tinker St. in Woodstock, NY yesterday and saw about 50 superannuated hippies protesting and carrying signs such as NO BLOOD FOR OIL, and IMPEACH TRUMP. I think they are Bluesky’s core demographic, God Bless ‘em.
I'm boycotting Goya as well due to his love of the Inquisition.
One year I kept hounding my dad to tell me what he got me, and finally he decided to just tell me. He got about two presents in and I realized it would ruin Christmas to know in advance I yelled at him to stop, and never asked him again.
Good little lesson. Used it on my kids and it worked like a charm.
CAESAR was a very satisfying revealer, in that it brought the two themes together in one swoop. Quirky no-no: the answer to 68D (TBSP) was literally spelled out right above it in the 67D clue.
Don't be afraid to speak your mind here. I agree the puzzle was top drawer.
Kitshef
& 4 others
I am glad I had company. I did the puzzle in the Magazine. I knew it was a trouble spot but , at the end, without the online warning, I was sure I was right! I should have known AbCH was an unlikely name but I never heard of UX for user experience. Even Rex say it was the hardest cross in the puzzle.
Bob Mills
My response to the IDE criticism is exactly the same
(People forget it’s an English language puzzle not a Latin lesson).
I don't understand the need to label people and define them as someone's "demographic." Aren't we all better served by engaging one another's concerns, positions and arguments for what they are rather than accepting or rejecting them by putting them in our own self-created boxes?
Interesting to see how many people were unfamiliar with UX. I wonder if folks in that boat would have done better with UI or if that would be equally unknown.
I say this as someone who loved this puzzle: You are absolutely right- that is truly horrendous construction. If I were grading, I'd knock it down half a star for that alone. There HAS to be some way to make the section that includes 68D (which has PEPPER as its only theme answer) not required TBSP. Legitimately, that's awful.
Egs /Gary and Anonymous attackers
While people post here usually with nicknames, punny names and abbreviations, but they are consistent on site. So we know who they are.in a way . The contrary group are quite critical and consistently anonymous. What a coincidence
Of course Gary doubles down As I said yesterday, he has a long running joke about the editors, which started with the recent frequency of ASS in the puzzle. His style of absurd humor is his over the top response. Like Egs, it is a great laugh for me. (Note to the anonymous: he does not use names like Shortz but actually imaginary editors as targets ).
People can be blunt here. No one is being over protective. They actually pay attention to what Gary is writing not looking to take offense.
I note a gratuitous insult addressed to Nancy who quit because of comments like that. I don’t remember her insulting people on this blog like that one. She could be blunt about subject matter she didn’t like But that is not ad hominem criticism of other commenters, or Shortz for that matter.
Alice Pollard
When I read your comment I was struck by the fact I didn’t know LOLO Jones at all but did know LARCH trees!
Anonymous 10:37 AM
UX. I had no knowledge of this abbreviation of user experience so I can’t say how well known it is. But Rex noted he had no clue. He implied that he went with ASCH / USER as as an inferable letter, which is why he didn’t call it a natick. While within the Tech industry it maybe wildly known, don’t assume it’s well known among puzzle solvers just because it has been around for decades.
Beezer
Somewhere along the way I learned that a stile was inserted in fences in England to allow people to go through but not animals. That has stuck with me and helped with this style /stile joke
Unlike Rex , I liked it.
Liveprof 12:38 pm
Liked great bunch of puns Liked all of them!
I appreciate your response to my comment and the comments of others yesterday. I understand better your attempts at humor.
But your attempts at humor are at the expense of real human beings and their reputations. And, as far as I can tell, your caricatures have no basis in reality.
Satire, however, builds on core truth and facts. Yet I don't find any of that in your caricatures of New York Times editors or of others, including of anonymous posters, and no evidence upon which to build these. I find only your fantasy about what you have devised in your own mind about what eastern elites must be like, or how unworthy anonymous posters must be.
Further, you condescendingly dismiss challenges to your caricatures because you claim they come from people who just don't understand you and your humor (see your dismissive comments relying on E.B. White's frog).
The fact is that your attempts at humor are not at all misunderstood by many of us. They are, on the contrary, understood and deemed offensive and, frankly, juvenile and petty.
Late to comment as usual.
Loved the puzzle. DNF’d at USER/ASCH but I should have done a letter run so I thought it was on me. Not a natick because the S is inferable ( his classic definition of the word he invented says the crossing letter must be uninferable. Like N in N.C. Wyeth and the town of Natick, MA)
Except March has 31 days.
The middle day of March will be tomorrow, the 16th, not today, the 15th.
You are wrong. "Ides" cannot be a form of the fourth-declension noun "Idus", as any first year Latin student will tell you. "Idus" appears only in the plural, and "Ides" is an anglicization as a plural noun, and therefore can have the singular "ide".
Thanks @Charles Kelley. Discourse works. I have worked over 40 years being a mostly successful local government “solution facilitator.” My approach was pretty much exactly what you replied to @Nora Temple 6:52PM. Well said.
@SharonAK et al. I couldn’t agree more. With all of the opinions. This was one of the most enjoyable Sunday solves and one of the most creative, complicated and expertly engineered themes I have ever seen in a Sunday NYT, and that’s saying something from a very consistent solver for over 60 years. I think OFL hasn’t adjusted to DST yet; I know I haven’t!
And, as a west coaster now, I get frustrated with being late to the party.
Because I made CAESAR salad for dinner last night (of course I made the dressing à la minute!), I caught that part of the theme very quickly. The IDEs took me a tad longer; just a few wonderings whether to rebus or not to rebus.
I was very reluctant to jump right to the IDE rebus at 1D because we have had some pretty sloppy/questionable clues and as I mentioned more than once, some downright sloppy clue editing (from a strict grammar/usage standpoint) over the past months, but with only 3 blanks for AIDE/AIDED, and the remainder of the NW demanding one or the other, I was frustrated early. Also, the “OFF” of OFF COLOR took me longer than it should have so the NW corner didn’t come together immediately. But, I decided to go ahead and rebus the IDE and see what happened. That today is March 15th just didn’t hit me until later.
I blame it on oxygen deprivation. My allergies have never been this bad - ever. Nothing works and the doc says to do what I can and essentially suck it up. Great. OK, she did prescribe an inhaler and some stronger stuff, but my nose is red, swollen and has what looks just like when my daughter had diaper rash! Oh, geeze, sorry about that.
So, by the HIDEOUT/NO IDEA cross, I did in fact have an idea, and if you could have seen my brain’s speech bubble right then, it would have said “‘Wow, a double theme!” It was time to open up my green and yellow CRAYOLA box and color me gobsmacked.
Honestly, I think OFL was a TAD über picky, but it’s his blog, his opinions, he’s the expert and I’m not. I just had a really good time today.
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