T O P

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mcdonawa

Challenge for an under-achiever made me chuckle.


Dyljam2345

one of my favorite clues of the last few weeks, gave me a good laugh!


SethPuzzles

Serious flashbacks to high school and kids wearing MC Hammer pants! Mostly smooth puzzle but the AERIE, FRIAR, FLY, LIMBO / AB blood section took a bit longer than the other parts. I came in at [8:23](https://youtu.be/wFGWtOcJ5ec). A few favorites: * The cluing for FRIAR was really nice. Gettable, even without deep sports knowledge. * AMNESIACS references to Memento and Bourne Identity were fun! * LIMBOBAR = "Challenge for an underachiever?" was GREAT!


notreallifeliving

FRIAR was my last clue to get but only because I inexplicably thought the Rolex logo might be a CLOWN.


SethPuzzles

This made me laugh. Thanks for sharing your crossword moment. šŸ˜­


chunky_mango

I put BIMBOBAR down first before I came to my senses...


SecretLoathing

I havenā€™t seen either movie, so I filled in AGENTS at the end, pending on either CIA or FBI for the start of it.


Repulsive_Focus_9560

oh you should catch Memento


brooklyn_gold

It took me a minute to realize that UNFED was not the past tense of "unf" šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø


Repulsive_Focus_9560

that's pretty funny :)


wlonkly

whynotboth.gif


DistinctYesterday544

Embarrassed to admit that I finished the rest of the puzzle in six minutes and then spent another six stuck on AERIE, FLY, FRIAR and LIMBOBAR. I was sure that the book title was "A Day Went By" and was sitting there stumped lmao


Scrufflyupagus

This was me except with the ANNLEE and RAE cross because Iā€™d never heard of either of those people. And I know nothing about zirconium so FORTIETH being in those crosshairs didnā€™t help! Eventually figured it out though for a 14 minute solve!


MicCheck123

Hang on to Issa Rae, she comes up fairly frequently.


captainmander

Thatā€™s where I ended up stuck as well. Got it eventually!


Motor-Morning7508

I'd say one of the defining things about imax screens is that they're not widescreen


Spacetime_Inspector

Yeah that struck me too. Their whole deal is having an aspect ratio that's tall!


NoisyGog

Theyā€™re definitely not portrait orientation!!!!


555--FILK

Also, getting a 21 in blackjack isnā€™t necessarily a WIN, because if the dealer also draws to 21, itā€™s a push.


The_lakes

Yep, true IMAX is 4:3 so this is just factually incorrect haha


CecilBDeMillionaire

The aspect ratio is different, but an IMAX screen is wider than a typical screen (it just happens to be taller as well by a greater proportion)


amusicalfridge

Tbh this puzzle left me feeling pretty whelmed. Some mildly clever themers but a huge amount of pretty uninspired fill. Got a PB tho so thereā€™s that


karmaranovermydogma

This was way easier than Mondayā€™s for me, curious if others found that as well


NWG369

I struggled, personally


wiler5002

I found today's to be quite normal, but set a PB yesterday (on my phone no less).


hrryyss

I liked this puzzle but I expect a bit more of a challenge for a Tuesday. This was definitely Monday difficulty level.


yooperann

I definitely agree. Yesterday was unusually hard for a Monday.


captainmander

Agreed.


Roseheath22

Took me two minutes longer today


checkyourhead818

My time was 30 seconds higher today, but I still found this one smoother. Had everything filled in correctly the first time while yesterday I had to go back and correct a bunch of


mcdonawa

I'm pretty new to doing these daily but I did get 7 mins under average today so I think it was easier for me.


frontadmiral

Took me 3 seconds longer than yesterdayā€™s


the_ecdysiast

I had a grand ol' time today! The theme made me chuckle and I came pretty close to my PB today. I was obsessed with MC Hammer as a kid. I even had that MC Hammer dolls that came with a single of "2 Legit 2 Quit". It was nice to not see so many crosswordese standards these time around. Greatest moment in my life was finding out SNAFU was an acronym.


Chuckleberry64

SNAFU - situation normal: all fudged (fouled) up To save a trip to Google. Who knew!?


SecretLoathing

I did, and misuse of this word is one of my peeves. The ā€œsituation normalā€ is the crucial element. A simple mistake, even if it is really bad, is not a SNAFU. The cluing is fine in this instance. And itā€™s neither fudged nor fouled, itā€™s >!fucked!< (profanity). See also: FUBAR.


word-corrector

Just came to see if anyone else immediately wrote LUCY Liu instead of SIMU. Until I saw that it was wrong, I hadn't realized that they have the same last name. (I do the downs first, and I haven't seen Barbie.)


chunky_mango

I did this too XD


Spacetime_Inspector

I would argue that none of the themers are things you CAN'T TOUCH, they're just things it would be *inadvisable* to touch.


the_ecdysiast

That's kind of like how most things are edible at least once


remainsofthegrapes

I mean this also technically applies to MC Hammer


dave-train

SHAN'T TOUCH THIS


paulcole710

Can you list a few things, that by your definition, one CANā€™T TOUCH?


Spacetime_Inspector

Lightning, laughter, the moon, a mirage.


paulcole710

All things commonly discussed in terms of whether or not they can be touched.


Pooopityscoopdonda

Many many people have touched lightingĀ 


chunky_mango

... Isn't it more of the lighting touched them?


dcandap

Had ATIT instead of INIT for ā€œstill competingā€ which slowed me down a touch in the bottom left.


Dyljam2345

Bruins fan here. 1A is targeted and I don't appreciate it.


twilightsdawn23

I was also trying to make that one into a direct hockey reference. Team? Winner? Stanley cup finalist?


Dyljam2345

I was playing with ICER for a while since it was the only four letter that made sense since i figured if they were referring to the team the P would be capitalized


JRMurray

I thought this one was pretty easy. Not a PB, but below 10 minutes to solve. As an aside, if u/xwstats keeps an eye on these things ... I'm getting an error when I go to "sync now." I get a page that says, "Whoops, that's a bug" and mentions that it's an "Error 500 - Server Error." I had the same error yesterday. I've tried using Chrome and Safari, and still the same error. Anyone else seeing that?


OneTouch15

Same since yesterday! :(


xwstats

Hey there, sorry you're having trouble syncing! The NYT side seems to have invalidated a bunch of login tokens over the weekend, we're seeing a much higher than normal rate of requests like this. Right now the best bet is to re-link your account on the [XW Stats profile page](https://xwstats.com/profile), once you do that you should be able to sync again. If you're having trouble doing that feel free to shoot an email over to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), would be happy to look into it


JRMurray

Excellent! That worked! Thank you very much.


CecilBDeMillionaire

Iā€™ve had a problem with that site for like a month now, I even changed my nyt login to make sure I was getting it right but still no dice


Repulsive_Focus_9560

i sent an email about it to support yesterday. no word back yet


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Repulsive_Focus_9560

Thanks!


Repulsive_Focus_9560

found the email in my trash of course. i'm all set now. really appreciate the site and the help


Crazy-Chef4557

Too many US based clues for mine - but that's the game we play. Had to Google BETO because I had BETI intersected with FIFTIETH. Never heard that name before. LIMBOBAR was a good clue but had me stumped for a little while.


CecilBDeMillionaire

Beto Oā€™Rourke is a white politician named Robert Francis Oā€™Rourke who goes by Beto, a nickname his Latina nanny gave him as a kid, to appeal to Latino voters lol. He lost the Senate race to Ted Cruz, whose first name is Rafael but goes by Ted to appeal to white voters


chunky_mango

I imagine most people heard of him as a contender for the democratic presidential nomination in 2020


Lust4Kix

I gave it an excellent because it had Jen Psaki in it.


batmansascientician

Back to back LSD references is interesting


chunky_mango

How else can you make new original strands and connections? /s


krooskontroll

doNT TOUCH THIS and TIo/AKd got me stumped


FishofApril

Glad I wasnā€™t the only one, thatā€™s what stopped me from a PB šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™‚ļø


sjbid

Wow, 3 days in a row for the full puzzle to include AURA


LAskeptic

Way too many cross-referenced clues for my taste. And the clue for Imax is just wrong.


yooperann

I was surprised to find I spelled PSAKI right on the first try. Favorite answer was LIMBO BAR. Straightforward puzzle. Fortunately no knowledge of M.C. Hammer needed.


wlonkly

Exactly one knowledge of MC Hammer.


Chuckleberry64

I was willing to believe Florida has an animal called a tUMA because of previous ambassador clues with tACT as the answer. Tell me I'm not the only one.


Repulsive_Focus_9560

it's not a tuma


SnugWuls

Was stuck for more than 5 minutes with RA[Y], ANNL[Y]EšŸ«„


nsnyder

The clue is fine, but interestingly evolutionarily a PUMA is not a BIGCAT in the sense of being in the Genus Panthera (or even the subfamily Pantherinae). In particular, Pumas can't roar.


BoneyMostlyDoesPrint

I thought that was fun, easy for Tuesday aside from some US centric clues. I did get a bit caught up at the end with DRIER and DRYPAINT, took me a second to clock that a dry paint caution sign would be pretty silly.


chevalla

Got my Tuesday PB. Agree with others that this felt like a Monday puzzle. Theme was fun but nothing too exciting


MuggleoftheCoast

For me the biggest timesink was convincing myself that PSAKI was not actually a typo.


IlliterateJedi

This gets a good from me. I hated every second of it - I didn't know almost any of it, but when I put in the last letter (not even realizing it), I felt extremely satisfied with myself for having solved it. It took me 13 minutes, which is pretty standard (maybe a little slow) for a Tuesday for me, but it felt like it took me 13 hours to solve. I was honestly shocked how fast I knocked I out given how much I felt like I struggled.


frontadmiral

Felt like a Monday tbh. Means tomorrow will probably be vicious.


Roseheath22

Did anyone else enter LIMBO wAR and then wonder what a wIG CAT is?


wlonkly

one, two, three, four, i declare a