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Cock-a-hoop / SAT 6-27-26 / Kitchen project with minimal cleanup / Word repeated in a fit of disbelief / Defense council? / Hit the hay, to a toddler / Walks with a wobble / Multipurpose shortening? / Diamond pattern / Way up a mountain, perhaps
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Constructor: Adrian Johnson
Relative difficulty: Very, very easy (except for the bottom stack, for me)
THEME: None
Word of the Day: TOLEDO (10D: City between Madrid and Ciudad Real) —
Toledo (UK: /tɒˈleɪdoʊ/ tol-AY-doh;[2] Spanish: [toˈleðo] ⓘ) is a city and municipality in Spain. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and the de jure seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha.
• • •
Hi again friends! As promised yesterday, this is Rafa back again for some more crossword chitchat. Hope everyone is happy and healthy and able to maintain a comfortable temperature in their homes. Completely unsurprisingly, we have another themeless puzzle today. This one has some chonky quad stacks, so maybe someone heard me mention that yesterday's grid felt like it didn't have a lot of white space chunks. |
| A volcano SPEWing lava |
What stood out most to be in this solve was the discrepancy in difficulty between the stacks. The top stack felt Monday-easy for me. HOW ABOUT NO came to be immediately, then I plonked down WHO'D, HONE, TAPERS, ABORT, RUMI, ETES ... and the rest of the corner fell within seconds. It felt like the fastest I had ever broken into a Saturday puzzle. But then the bottom stack put up a bit more resistance. GO BEDDY BYE was a totally new idiom to me (I don't have kids, and don't really spend much time around kids, so maybe that's why), and the downs in that area had tougher / vaguer clues than the ones up top. [When many rebellions emerge for the first time] was a hard clue for EARLY TEENS, too, so that whole region took some trial and error to conquer.
 |
| Feijoada is a Brazilian STEW (I know it's not clued that way but I wanted a picture of food) |
The vertical stacks felt like they were somewhere in between, but still on the easy side for me. The clues felt more straightforward than usual for a Saturday, and nothing gave me much pause. That's a testament to the very smooth grid, without much crosswordese. We got a suffix -ITE and prefix AER- (Aer Lingus deserves a break!), and then mostly short fill that you see out in the world.
 |
| This is the AGRA Fort |
What else? The long entries were are all super solid. I guess I wish maybe one or two had a tad more zing? LEGO BATMAN and HEY, WATCH IT! were my favorites. It's hard to allow for a "seed" entry when you're stacking four answers, though. As I mentioned before, the clues felt a bit too easy overall. Like, [Prom night rental] for TUX? That's a Monday clue. Ditto [Like a fired up sports crowd] for AROAR. I'm seeing straightforward clues everywhere I look.
[Dancer's restraint?] for REIN was clever (Dancer as in Santa's reindeer), but I can't remember other good "aha" moments. A fun solve overall, though!
[Dancer's restraint?] for REIN was clever (Dancer as in Santa's reindeer), but I can't remember other good "aha" moments. A fun solve overall, though!
Bullets:
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- ANTS (47A: ___ climbing a tree (Sichuan noodle dish)) — Fun angle for this very common answer
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- THROWBACKS (25D: Homages to a prior era) — Related to my post yesterday, here's another example of a lively one-word answer.
- RYDER (35A: U-Haul competitor) — Never heard of this company, but its name made it pretty easy to infer.
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114 comments:
I agree this was pretty straightforward. 19:56 for me, so on the easy side of medium. Loved all the stacks--especially LEGOBATMAN crossing RINGOSTARR. Woes for me included RUMI and especially IJEOMA--so that whole area, everything that included IJEOMA, took me a much longer time, as I couldn't confirm anything with the crosses. In our house, it was more like mid-teens.... maybe boys are late bloomers? Thanks, Adrian. I feel like we've seen you here before, right? Great puzzle!!!! : )
Oh, and I think we're on day 6..... Lego yes, superhero yes, but no SW! : )
LEGO BATMAN was delightful, as well as the cluing for WAR CABINET. I pretty much never finish the Saturday before I GO BEDDY BYE on Friday, but this was a breezy end to the night
Much easier than yesterday. The only section that had any real late week resistance was the very NE corner. The NW fell quickly when TAPERS gave me ONEPOTMEAL and RTE. I was pretty sure of RUMI so that was a lot of leverage in a section that didn't need any. With the exception of WARCABINET the SW was even easier.
The NE must have stumped me for awhile because my time was average but overall the puzzle felt early week. IJEOMA was unknown to me but it didn't matter as I backfilled the SE off of STAIDLY and ARGYLE.
Way easier than yesterday! Definitely not Saturday material.
Hi Rafa! Nice to hear from you, and what a bonus to be able to comment in the evening right after doing the puzzle. And it was fairly (but not "very very") easy for me at 18 minutes.
Wow, I loved the stacks. WHAT A TREAT! I can't find any of the answers that wasn't great. Probably AIR CURRENTS was the least exciting, but it certainly wasn't bad. In the upper left, for me HOW ABOUT NO is something I've never heard. But elsewhere GO BEDDY BYE is totally a baby talk thing. Totally! GETTING OLD and IM ALL ALONE are kinda true... sigh... now I'm depressed. I can't really remember my EARLY TEENS! There, I commented on the entire stack.
AROAR again! Sam Ezersky, are you watching? Why is this not allowed in Spelling Bee! Sam??
Odd puzzle. A mixture of interesting long stuff and real dreck. The stacks in the NW and SE were pretty good and the long verticals in the other two corners were okay BUT, BUT what’s with the clue at 11A, “Cock-a-hoop”? Really? Who says that? And AXMEN? We call them lumberjacks and they hardly ever use axes anymore. They have these things called chainsaws now. (I’ve seen them use the back side of an axe to pound in wedges to control the fall direction of problematic trees, but I still wouldn’t call them AXMEN.)
Yard signs for grads. Is that really a thing? Couldn’t you just announce it on your Facebook. “We thought Cutter would never make it out of high school but he’s done it and he’s looking forward to a fabulous future as an Axman”.
I was going to rant about AERology, too, but I’ve looked it up and it seems to be a thing.
I’ll leave you with IJEOMA Oluo, well known writer, speaker, and “internet yeller”, or so her website says. (I'll try to read some of her yelling in the morning, but it's late now and time to GO BEDDY BYE.)
Easy. I kept waiting to hit the tough part but it never happened. @Rafa - kids and grandkids = GO BEDDY BYE a gimme.
No costly erasures but IJEOMA was a major WOE. Fortunately the crosses were cake.
Very little junk, plenty of sparkle, RINGO STARR, liked it, but much too whooshy for a Saturday.
Agree about the rating: shockingly easy on the top, and a very different story on the bottom. As far as tricky clues go, I thought the “letteral” [Diamond edges?] for DEES was decent. I was curious if AER in a puzzle that includes AIR CURRENT counts as a dupe. But over all, not much to complain about, though might fall short of a full-on WHAT A TREAT.
Easy-Medium. Just a tad too easy for a Saturday. Found it a bit tougher than @Rafa did.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
TeeTERS before TOTTERS for the wobbly walk at 6D.
Got my French and Spanish confused. ErES before ETES at 8D (I don't speak either language).
I had no idea what cock-a-hoop means. Thought it might be a Game. It's GLAD (11A).
DNA SampleS before STRANDS at 14D.
Thought there might be such a thing as AXial teeth, but no, the 39A choppers were AX MEN.
At 42D, I thought SoberLY fit the clue. And maybe it did, but the puzzle wanted STAIDLY.
WOEs:
Persian poet RUMI at 7D.
Author IJEOMA Oluo at 46D.
The Sichuan dish ANTS climbing a tree at 47A.
Aerology at 50A.
I'm not a great solver and I finished it rather quickly, with no lookups. The bottom stack went in last. Guessed IJEOMA from the crosses. STAIDLY seems to have been dredged out of a wordlist. Nice puzzle, but very little sparkle.
Fastest Saturday ever, and enjoyable. In fact, 1A answer!
One of the easiest Saturdays in a long time, and almost a personal best time. Nothing gave me much pause; as @Rafa said, I flew through the top half and the east side of the puzzle and then worked the west and south. My only stumble was DNA Sample rather than STRAND, but AND fixed that pretty quickly. Too easy for a Saturday but clean and fun nevertheless.
Same experience as Rafa - easiest entry into a Saturday ever! The NW downs quickly landed me on a DESERTISLE, a brief consideration of which of the two three-letter GPS Calculations was which, a slew of gimme crosses quickly gave me the NE and SW downs….then the SW corner gave me a pause. STATELY for STAIDLY held me up for a bit but that corrected and the puzzle surrendered. Also got a 2 in Wordle, so all signs point to a pleasant day ahead.
As a Brit, I’ve got to say a chap is NOT a ‘British Buddy’, it’s most commonly used for when you don’t know the person, ‘who’s that chap over there?’ ‘He seems like a nice chap’. Chum, yes, mate, sure, Chap, no. Am I missing something?
Apart from that possibly the easiest Saturday I’ve done.
I also found it easier than usual, especially up north. If I’m having an easier than usual time on a Saturday that’s generally an indication to expect a chorus of “too easy” complaints today.
Characteristically, RUMI and IJEOMA sound to me like they are from outer space, but luckily I did know RINGO STARR and LYNN Swan. I wanted DNA “sample” for a while, but when I realized it was RINGO on the cross I had to pivot. Sorry to all of those who keep hoping that WS will turn up the thumbscrews on Saturdays, but I would be very content with more puzzles like this (maybe without the trivia that sounds like the name of aliens, but I’m even willing to concede on that point if the crosses are reasonable).
I think Rafa nailed it - this was an overly easy late week puzzle. I was looking and expecting the wordplay and misdirects but not to be found - straightforward and basic. Generally fine content but over pretty quickly.
RINGO and Molly
The four corner stacks were all fine - and connected with RINGO and WAR CABINET works. ONE POT MEAL, IM ALL ALONE, HEY WATCH IT are all solid. Limited glue and light on trivia - the model is great - the result belongs midweek.
Level of difficulty aside - this was a pleasant Saturday morning solve. David P. Williams’ Stumper today offers a much more segmented grid and more fire - recommended.
In a barroom in TOLEDO, across from the depot
On a barstool, she took off her ring
Agreed, easier than I’d like on a Saturday, with a solve time about half my average. WHO’D and HONE went right in and gave me the two long acrosses in the NW. The only difficulty in the NE was self-inflicted: I thought “cock-a-hoop” was more about insanity than happiness and guessed GAGA(?) before GLAD. The south half was harder, and I assumed I had something wrong with IJEOMA, but got the happy music when I put in the last letter.
Easy-Medium. The bottom half took longer, in my case part of the reason was that STAteLY wasn't the answer; it was STAIDLY. Also over at the bottom right there I had vanE before KITE. But none of that matters. What does matter is that this is a remarkably clean and polished grid, and a pleasure to look back on. I loved GO BEDDY BYE, and LEGO BATMAN. The stack in the NW and the colonnade in the SW, beautifully done. I enjoyed every single long entry in both those locales.
I find it hard to critique any of the entries. Some might say that TBAR is GETTING OLD -- BUT if that ITSY-bitsy nitpick is all there is, then better to keep one's mouth shut.
I'm GLAD for this puzzle, and thank you very much Adrian Johnson. I'm very poor at remembering constructors' names, and poorer still at linking names with style and quality, but I sure hope I'll remember yours.
Mostly easy, but like Rafa I had a problem down below, with "growing old" instead of GETTINGOLD (because I had "do well" instead of DOTELL). A look-up gave me IJEOMA, and that fixed it.
"Moves a lot" is a devilish clue for AWES, but most of the cluing was straightforward for a Saturday.
Yes, Les, yard signs for GRADs are a real thing.
Timothy McVeigh bomber the Oklahoma Federal Building with a Ryder rental truck, if you're old enough to remember that...
Hey All !
Easy side SatPuz. Flowed through with a few sticky spots, but finished in a good time (for me.)
Did have an error, though, had BAG tIE/ tO BEDDY BYE. Dang it.
All the Longs (Across and Down( are pretty nice, solid answers. Hardly a whiff of dreck holding all this together. That's tough to do, though Adrian made it seem easy (albeit with no F's. 😁)
Uniclue:
What Ezersky does in the Spelling Bee?
ABORT AROAR
Har.
Nice puz.
Hope y'all have a great Saturday!
No F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I actually miss the days when I looked at the Saturday puzzle, and it made me feel stupid. I want there to be things I don't know. The NYT puzzle used to be a tool for learning, now it's just an exercise in seeing how fast I can solve it. :(
My parents said, ”Time to GO BEDDY BYE”, to me, and I said it to my kids, and I don’t remember hearing that phrase even once since way back then. Uncovering it today kindled my heart and brought images of being tucked in by my mom, with love in her face, and scrunching the blanket around each of my kids while their faces glowed with comfort and gladness.
That is an unbeatable start to the day.
Add a couple of “Oh, that’s clever!” bursts at [Moves a lot] for AWES, and [Multipurpose shortening?] for ETC, not to mention uncovering beauty in THROWBACKS, ONE-POT MEAL and TOTTERS, and uncovering answers I liked that have never been in the Times puzzle before (GETTING OLD, HEY WATCH IT, and, of course, GO BEDDY BYE).
And a happy ping at seeing a backward DNA crossing DNA STRANDS.
Left me feeling warm and happy, just like being tucked in. Thank you for a sweet solve, Adrian!
ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: Faced with a firm deadline on a creative project, for which every moment of my free time must be dedicated, I shall be away for a week. I will post my Monday favorite clues list, however. Eager to return to this community I love, and wishing you all well!
Definitely too easy for a Saturday, but I loved "gobeddybye" over "earlyteens." Your kid is growing up!
I’m not a speed solver by any stretch of the imagination. Finished this one in under 10 minutes. Either the puzzle was remarkably easy for a Saturday or I was simply on the same wave length as the constructor. It’s nice to occasionally have my old brain accomplish something.
10 minutes after a bit of last-minute LEGOBATMAN x GRAD x DOCS juggling. But nearly 7 minutes. Like a Wednesday; or even Tuesday. What the heck?
Easily my fastest Saturday time ever. I think I beat some of my Monday times. Like Rafa, I hesitated in the bottom stack, but once I got BAGGIE and IMALLALONE, everything fell into place.
Then, as an adult, hes/shes "allalone," and finally "gettingold." An entire life cycle in one stack. Lovely.
A “Delightful” puzzle and so easy my time was more like my average for a Wednesday or maybe a tough Tuesday. But I did learn the name of that author whose name I’ve already forgotten how to spell. Who can resist the memories of GOBEDDYBYE?— unless of course you are too young to have such memories.
Such an easy Saturday! I did have a harder time in the SW, where I can say WHATATREAT to work on puzzling it out. I really enjoyed it.
Should also mention the delicious irony of WARCABINET in light of the recent renaming of the Defense Dept.
I got that one because the podcast Small Town Dicks is covering that at the moment.
So so easy. Just too easy. I enjoyed it but miss crunchy Saturdays!
Started writing in stuff immediately in the NW and wondering, how long will this last? Quite a while, as it turned out. Instantly stuck in the NE "cock-a-hoop??" so straight down I went where ANTS and ARGLYE and LYNN led to the longer answers, HEN and BTS and ACTS gave me the SW, back to the NE. An Indian city? Probably AGRA. Yep. A Hindu rule? Probably SUTRA. Yep. It helped that the long drive into a local high school by my son's house was recently lined with signs featuring the likenesses and names of all this year's GRADs. Not something I grew up with.
Today's total WOE was IJEOMA. Every single letter was from a cross. Also, I have not said STAIDLY in quite some time, and neither has anyone else, sez me.
Sometimes a breezy Saturday is A Joy, AJ, and this was mostly that, But to scratch my Saturday itch I'm off to the Stumper. Thanks for a decent amount of fun.
19:41 for me which is very good. So I agree easy. But the bottom was tough. Ijeoma is new and needed every cross. Unlike Rafa I wanted go beddy bye but wasn't sure it was right for a while. Also lego batman was hard for me having zero interests in legos.
At least around my area, yard signs for grads started with HS graduations maybe 10 to 15 years ago, but now have morphed into 8th grade, primary school, and even Kindergarten and PreK. Gee whiz! Very unnecessary.
A regular Tuesday, an easy Wednesday? What are we doing here? The puzzle was fine but the editorial decision to run this on a Saturday is confusing if not downright embarrassing. I am getting pretty tired of this complaint being widely repeated. Frankly it is feeling like it is time for a new editorial team if this is the direction they are moving the crossword in.
A nice enough puzzle, but I expect to be challenged on Saturday. Far from it in this case.
One write-over (eeny before ITSY) and a 12 minute solve means a very easy puzzle indeed. Though my "hard spot" turned out to be the SW. I couldn't think of an alternative to U-Haul until I saw HEY and that broke open that sector nicely.
GO BEDDY BYE was a gimme but I thought the first rebellion might start at the terrible twos, which didn't fit. And it's nice that "spork" didn't fit at 45D.
Thanks, Adrian Johnson.
It was 30 minutes under my average time (40 minutes is not truly representative of my Saturday time now but 11 minutes is a record)
Felt like I ingeniously sussed out HOW ABOUT NO and IM ALL ALONE and made an educated guess at RINGO STARR (all contributing to my zippy finish) only to come here and learn that everyone had much the same experience. So not so genius. The only thing I can say to distinguish myself from some is that I found the whole grid pretty easy - no discrepancy between the top and bottom. mate before CHAP and STAtelY before STAIDLY but small hiccups rectified quickly. 15:05
Shout out to NFL Films Lou Schmidt who helped immortailze Swann with the line “… levitating leap and kangaroo catch..”.
Didn’t hurt that john Facenda was the narrator, but that’s a pretty evocative bit of prose.
And now I know “DNA STRANDS” and “BLOOD DROPS” both have ten letters.
Aquí estoy solo yo.
Everything flew by so fast until I hit the southeast and kapow the good times got a punch in the kisser. I suppose three-fourths of a puzzle being good is a solid C.
Plenty to like elsewhere and plenty to mock everywhere, but I find I've arisen in a cranky mood, so it'll be better if I take the morning off.
People: 5
Places: 2
Products: 5
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 20 of 70 (29%)
Funny Factor: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: SPEW. Cock-a-hoop... I bet the author and editors high-fived over this clue.
Uniclues:
1 My meek request when my dominatrix is dressing me for her pink pony club.
2 Everything in the outgoing box is a sandy SOS.
3 Little dudes smoking cigars and making plans to invade the pantry.
4 Little dramas I perform to get out of work.
5 My nickname among college girls.
6 Recommendation in a cannibal's cookbook.
7 What the coolest kid at prom wears.
8 Heroic honker.
1 HOW ABOUT NO REIN
2 DESERT ISLE DOCS
3 WAR CABINET ANTS
4 GETTING OLD ACTS (~)
5 GO BEDDY-BYE CHAP (~)
6 STEW EARLY TEENS
7 GRAD ARGYLE TUX (~)
8 LEGO BATMAN OBOE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Number one fan toots. STAN ACES ODORS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
HS grad signs became very common here beginning with the pandemic class of 2020 and have persisted albeit not as many.
Here, this should speed your commenting along:
MONDAY-LY EASY Hall of Fame © @Beezer
absurdly, actually, appropriately, awfully, boringly, certainly, childishly, definitely, despairingly, disappointingly, disconcertingly, embarrassingly, equally, eventually, extremely, fairly, frifly (?@kitshef), incredibly, insultingly, laughably, mind-numbingly, mostly, normally, overly, painfully, preposterously, probably, psychotically (lol@Liveprof), really, relatively, ridiculously, satisfactorily (@Roo enters on little cat feet), stupidly, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously (!@egs of course), surprisingly, terribly, trivially, undeservedly, unfairly, and unusually EASY.
First ever Saturday I've done without hints, so I knew this would be the consensus from Rex lol
Hi again, Rafa,
Aside from IJEOMA & (clue) Cock A Hoop, I liked this a lot. Easier than the usual Saturday, but a pleasant change from some of the puzzles of late.
AROAR - well, take THAT Sam Ezersky!
Thank you, Spencer.:)
As a Steelers fan I am familiar with the names of all of the big players from the 1970s, even though I didn’t start watching football until the early 2000s. So LYNN Swann was a gimme. But only because the last name was provided. If you asked me who the MVP of Super Bowl 10 was I *might* do the math and realize it was one of the Steelers victories but would know if it’s Franco Harris, Mean Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann… so many to pick from!
After the LEGO plural issue of yesterday, too bad 12D wasn't clued as a plural, and correctly answered (?) as LEGO BATMEN without controversy.
OMG - Where'd I get 'Spencer' from? Oops, yesterday. There goes my credibility.
THANK YOU, Adrian :)
For me to do a Saturday puzzle in 14:26 means it’s way too easy.
Not a Brit, but also had Chum before CHAP. Vindicated! Thanks, @Matt!!
Dearest Lewis, your joyous, secure bedtimes help to explain your sunny outlook on life!
A fun easy puzzle. I had to back in to Ijeoma as a lot of us did. But I seem to be the only one to have had to back into glad. I’ve never heard of cock a hoop.🎈🎈🎊🎊
Wish it was harder on a Saturday 🙁
Seems like an unusual degree of unanimity AS TO how easy this was for a Saturday.
With eight (nine if you count French ETES) of my least favorite "___" clues, the phrases must have resonated with solvers.
The clue 54A could have been personalized for me as "DAVInHOP, e.g.".
Exemplary batch of uniclues!
I was told I needed to read IJEOMA Oluo''s book once by somebody who thought his own anti-racist credentials were unimpeachable due to one of his many ex-wives being black. So I had a vague idea of what those letters were, if not the order they went in. Gavrila Derzhavin, on the other hand, I had never heard of. Late18th century Russian poet. It's a long poem, reading the first stanza did not make me want to continue to the end.
O Thou, who's infinite in space,
Alive in ever-moving matter,
Eternal in the flow of time,
God faceless, with a trinity of faces!
Soul unified and omnipresent,
Who needs no place or reason,
Whom none can ever comprehend,
Whose being permeates all things,
Encompassing, creating, guarding,
Thou, called by us God.
Joe Greene was probably the best player of those dynastic Steelers, but it’s rare for a defensive player to win SB MVP.
Chuck Howley did cop one for the Cowboys in a loss. Randy White and Harvey Martin shared it for the Cowboys seven years later. Richard Dent claimed it for the ‘85 Bears Took another decade lbefore Larry Brown won it, yep, as a Cowboy. The last three decades have seen an uptick. Murderous Ray Lewis scored one for the Ravens, Dexter Jackson two years later .Malcolm Smith for tye first Seahawk SB win and finally Von Miller for the Broncis in SB 50z.
Thats 9 players in Super Bowls over 60 years. Not rare as hen’s teeth but unusual certainly.
Easiest Saturday ever for me. Wednesday level.
Matt, I've noticed that the editors favor alliteration in clues relating to non-US usage or foreign words, like "Munich mister" for "Herr." I'm guessing that here alliteration won out over nailing the meaning. BTW, I can just hear a British friend of mine using "chap" exactly as in your examples.
WHATATREAT was my reaction after my solve. Yes, a bit on the easy side for a Saturday but who cares? This was a joy from beginning to end with almost nothing that made me get even close to wincing.
The in-the-language of both stacks in the NW and SE made me smile and I didn't see too much of a discrepancy in difficulty between the two neighborhoods. The long downs were very solid as well.
As @Rafa pointed out, the cluing on REIN -16A, was very clever and I thought the double Diamond clues were kinda neat as well.
Adrian, thank you for this. You puzzle gave me good feeling vibes all around!
Hall Of Famer Lynn SWANN caught only four passes when he was named MVP of Super Bowl X but they were good for 161 yards and sealed Pittsburgh's victory over Dallas. He was such a model of speed, grace, and power that many receivers today seek to emulate SWANN'S way.
How Trump mispronounces the iconic war memorial honoring our fallen Marines: IJEOMA
Magician's stage name: Wizard of AWES.
The folder was labelled "New York," so I didn't know whether to file it under city or UNDERSTATE.
The brilliant catcher Carlton Fisk played for Boston for twelve years and for Chicago for twelve years. So battle lines were drawn over whether he'd enter the Hall Of Fame as a Red Sock or a White Sock. A compromise was proposed under which he'd go in as an ARGYLE. In the end, he's sporting a Boston cap on his plaque.
Yup. I've driven over many a lawn and through many a flower bed to see where Brent or Claudine is going to college.
Easy and (but?) engaging. Like others, I got a fast start in the NW, with WHO'D and HONE giving me confidence in WHAT A TREAT. But next door in the NE, I didn't know what Cock-a-hoop meant ("awry?") and needed GRAD x REIN and AGRA to get me on the right path. After that smooth sailing.
I loved GO BEDDY-BYE! Especially over "I"M ALL ALONE" - the infant realization that they've been left by themselves, caregivers having tiptoed out. WAHHHH!!
Pedantry warning: Ryder is no longer a competitor for U-Haul. Hasn't competed in the homeowner market for a good 15 or 20 years. But close enough.
As a Yank, I had the same thought. I initially entered CHum.
And to echo the general sentiment, a pretty easy puzzle.
Technically GPS (Global Positioning System) gives you only your location and the time. Wayfinding software, built on top of GPS and digital maps, gives your RTE and your ETA. But I recognize this conflation has entered the language.
seems like a missed opportunity to refer ti as a THROWBACK to your comments yesterday!
HOF QUIPS!
Hilariously easy for a Saturday. Seriously, this is closer to an average Tuesday than anything else, and though I can't be certain, I think is the fastest I've ever solved a Saturday.
Only two overwrites: DNA SampleS before DNA STRANDS and TeeTERS before TOTTERS.
Fisk played for the BoSox 11 seasons (10 really ; his first season in ‘69 was all of two games)
Thanks for letting us know, Lewis. Whether or not I like a given puzzle, I almost always look for your cheery comment to warm me to it, so I can say that you’ll be missed!
Not sure if CHAP is a "British buddy" -- wouldn't that be "MATE"? I thought "CHAP" was more synonymous with "fellow" or "guy" ("He's a good chap."). Or is this just a nit?
What a treat! Now what am I gonna do. Sill gotta half a cup of coffee.
D'oh!
Easier by faaar at our house than yesterday's solvequest ... only two out-and-out no-knows: IJEOMA & RUMI. WHOD have thought.
staff weeject picks: RTE & ETA. They gave off a nice clue echo effect.
some fave stuff: HOWABOUTNO. GOBEDDYBYE. HEYWATCHIT. AIRCURRENT's !-marker clue. GLAD's cock-a-loopy clue. ETC's ?-marker clue.
Thanx, Mr. Johnson dude. Cool quad-stacks, NW & SE. Not sure what yer seed entries were, if any.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Easy (for me 17 and change) but pleasant. GOBEDDYBYE went straight in with no crosses.Need to figure out how to work “cock-a-hoop” into everyday conversation.
SPEW/STEW in the SW, GLAD/GRAD in the NE.
Is that usually in the small print?
Lived in Manhattan for a couple of years on the early 80's. Standing on a corner in midtown, I felt a sudden tug at my back pocket, and whirled around to find a young would-be pickpocket. (Fortunately my tight jeans thwarted his attempt.) He just stood there, in no hurry to move on. So I summoned my deepest well of anger and squeaked out a powerful, "HEY, WATCH IT, kid!" He was devastated. 😁
Before CHAP I, too, had CHum though I didn't trust it: I know I never use that one for the appropriate social class or setting. But it's what I call my Ozzie mate who got bitten by a shark.
@Les, I too couldn't believe the person in a yard sign was GRAD. I don't think I've ever seen that around here. Bumper sticker, yes.
@Matt 6:35 am, there is quite a gap in slang between the USA/Canada and the rest of the English world. I was reading a book series written by an excellent British author. Suddenly one book is set in the USA and... he had college guys calling each other "mate". Really cast a pall over that book.
Correct me if I'm off but Defence council for WAR CABINET seems pretty straightforward. Because of the "?", I way over-thinked that one as I was looking for a metaphor/pun/idiom-literalization. Is the "?" out of place there?
That's what I wondered about
I may be an outlier here, but I get a little tired of too many “talky” answers in themelesses. The Times seems to be prioritizing cutesy expressions like WHATATREAT and HOWABOUTNO (to say nothing of GOBEDDYBYE and the like). These are fine when used sparingly but they seem to be crowding out plenty of other interesting longish words and phrases. Mix it up!
Mrs. Egs refuses to go to the giant indoor shopping arcade with me, so IMALLALONE.
If I had to choose just ONEPOTMEAL it would be a bowl of gummy edibles with milk and sugar.
I hear that The History Channel, in a bid to broaden its audience, while soon AIRCURRENT events.
ANTS Climbing a Tree is good, but I prefer the old school lunch favorite, ANTS ANALOG.
My aluminum silver wedding ring is disintegrating. Next time I'll GETTINGOLD.
I briefly enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks, Adrian Johnson.
Is STAIDLY even a legitimate word??
I wanted DESERTED something or the other for 19A "Castaway's place, perhaps". I only know DESERT ISLE as a resort in Palm Springs, CA.
I liked the "He's credited as the director of photography for the 1967 film 'Magical Mystery Tour'" clue for 28A RINGO STARR. Wait, didn't the Beatles have a song "I Am the AXMAN"?
I grew up in an ANALOG world. The digital version keeps leaving me further and further behind. GETTING OLD hit a little too close to home.
Sad trombone.
I forgot Jake Scott.
I don't do Saturdays consistently because they're usually too hard for me, so imagine my surprise when this one took less time than the Thursday this week (improved my personal best time by about six minutes)
So I said in my original comment, typed late last night, that I had never heard of IJEOMA Oluo but a a quick check with Google revealed that people, including herself, I think, call her an "internet yeller". So I've watched a couple of videos of her this morning and I can't figure out where that term comes from. I can't recall any yelling. She seems like a reasonable (calm) woman with some very good things to say about understanding the questions of being a person of colour in a white world. And about being a white person in that world trying to understand racism. I'm going to be reading (and viewing) more of her. Thanks, Adrian Johnson, for bringing her to my attention.
First had MATE for 60A and FOOTPRINT for 14D. Anyone else?
(Please ignore my previous comment)
I normally don't even do Saturdays because I can't finish them consistently, but this one felt *really* easy, I ran here to figure out if everyone else was feeling the same lol
6:42, which is an improvement over my previous Saturday PB by about six minutes (??!)
Other than STATELY for STAIDLY, absolutely no resistance in this one
Great puzzle and write up an I agree with Hugh! Saturday with no lookups is rare for me, but there were few names, a good thing. Felt very British to me, somehow.
Enjoyed this, thank you!
I wondered if anyone else was disturbed by cock-a-hoop. Google says British. Try that.in polite company and see what happens.
Okanaganer and Les
GRAD yard signs very much a thing in the US Maybe a cultural difference so not in Canada? It feels very American.
But the older kids must be very embarrassed!
Dr. Random.
As far as Shortz is concerned, dupes (except for clue/answer words) are just fine ) After all they appear very frequently here. He probably doesn’t even think air/aer is a dupe at all.
About CHAP
Before I got any crosses. I put in mate. Fortunately I didn’t think of chum.
Carola is right. The editors sometimes choose borderline clues because they sound good. Matt thanks for confirming my that doesn’t sound right reaction.
Lewis
It wasn’t just Rafa who didn’t know go bedding bye. So it must be dying out. Another indication of old I am
Have a successful week!
On Dancer, not a "REIN", but a "hitch line", connecting the reindeer to one another. The rein (or jerk line) would be connected only to the lead reindeer, Rudolph, for communication from Santa.
Mello
The Times is very loose about when the crossword clue has a ? or not. I thought today maybe because it was w slight pun a defense attorney?
Staidlly.
I looked it up. Answe yes.
Cock-a-hook heard and read many times but can never remember its meaning. Maybe that’s why the NE was by far the hardest for me. Otherwise easy. Unlike most people. The NW was Wednesday territory but I don’t think the whole puzzle was.
I liked it AERologist is a very odd word. to me. But easy to get. I thought some of the clues for the short answers were good.
War cabinet is a term not really used in US despite the alleged (not legally) retro name of the Department of Defense) it was however used in Britain during WW II. , referring to the cabinet headed by Churchill with opposition members in it.
A sad commentary on present day US.
So happy you are subbing in, Rafa. I always enjoy your analyses. You hit both yesterday and today on the nose at least in my opinion. Today’s themeless with two big stacks and two other little corners is one of my favorite grid styles. Every time I open a puzzle that looks like today’s, the excitement builds. I hope for clever clues for the stacks and some tough spots with shorter answers clued with misdirects or multiple possible answers. Today we got the stacks but disappointingly not much challenge. The answers themselves weren’t awful, just too easy for a Saturday.
As for the fill, I enjoyed yesterday’s “too easy” end of week offering more than today’s. For me, the fill was more fun.
I am not going to complain - again - about the editorial department’s slacking off, or not very much. The gaggle of folks who work with Will Shortz to decide what puzzles are “good enough” and who also (supposedly) assist the constructors by suggesting improvements that tidy up sticky spots in the submission under consideration apparently don’t appreciate what a sweet gig they have.
I often imagine what an absolute pleasure it would be sit around discussing crosswords all day , admiring the ideas and the creativity and helping to polish the quality of puzzles submitted to the Times. To be privileged to do so with members of the impressive group here in CrossWorld would be a delight. I admit that I am emerald green with envy and more than a little disappointed with the apparent editorial work ethic - or lack thereof.
Oh well, I shall keep solving and simultaneously hope that the powers that be decide to return the puzzle to its former glory. After over six decades, I’m not about to quit, so what’s a few more? Hope springs eternal.
Felt like a a Wednesday. Not worth waiting all week for.
As the parent of a two year old, I confidently say neither my partner nor I have ever said, “go beddy bye”. We (and most parents we know) say, “ni-nite” or some iteration of that.
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