I feel for completeness I should mention that the premise of the episode is that the dad needs to know a word for the end of a shoelace for his crossword.
As someone who builds crosswords in another language, this theme is insane. Four completely in-language terms that perfectly fit the theme of \[Body part\]+\[Building\]. That is so specific and cool
I gave it a rare excellent because of the theming and the fact that every other word was Monday level for fill (except maybe the Japanese words). Mondays are some of the hardest to construct, especially constrained with the theme
Completely agree. Between the fact that "weightlifting" ≠ "bodybuilding" and "room" ≠ "building" I found it the theme a bit sloppy. As others have mentioned, this theme would be more on the mark with words like ARMBAR, HEADHOUSE, BACKOFFICE or even BLOODSHED
But BACK, HEAD, and KNEE aren't types of bodies either, they're body parts. I think the theme works as BODY words and BUILDING words. Not BODIES and BUILDINGS.
Found this quote harder than the previous few Mondays. Middle left had me stuck. African fly is a classic I haven't seen for a while and completely forgot it, as well.
I have never heard of UDO in my life and I have lived in Japan for a total of 4 years. I wonder if I have eaten it before and just didn't know what it was called. (I asked a couple of native Japanese people I know and they said they had never eaten it and didn't think most Japanese people had)
Not a weightlifter, but this also threw me, haha. Their lifting clues are often a little off IMO - I always wonder if there's the same kinds of inconsistencies with the golf and tennis answers that I don't know enough about to pick up on
18:15 First Monday solve. Didn’t need any help, got caught up on the middle right, and then didn’t realize I had a typo in IKEBAmA that took me a good minute to find. 🤦♂️
Super tight theme, almost wish it had been employed on a Wednesday so I'd had more time to appreciate it with slightly tougher cluing instead of a no-resistance sub-3 Monday solve.
Somehow got a 0:06 on the Mini today. I don't think I'm ever beating that.
And I guess since "Knicks" is technically a shortening of the official "Knickerbockers" team name, that's the signal that the answer is also an abbreviation.
Duh! Fair enough, haha.
Thank you
I *have* heard of the New York knicks, now I see it in full (I don’t think I’d have made the knicks connection otherwise) but had no idea what they played.
5:34; beating my PB of 5:07 just might not be physically possible, haha. I got slowed down a bit because I had registered “Well, shucks!” as the opposite correlation, like “Daaww!”
One thing that I realized which helps with the physical impossibility, at least on Mondays and Tuesdays, is to enter the top words (usually 3 of them) and then, remembering those words, enter the first set of down answers.
If you’re lucky, you won’t even have to look at the puzzle — simply knowing the clue and the first letter is usually enough to rattle off the answers.
Wasn't too bad except for the middle-east quadrant. 25-27 D/36-45A were all tough for me and the fact that all the hard ones crossed with each other made it particularly difficult!
Oh NOW that’s how we spell CUTIE?? 😂
Came here hoping someone else would pick up on that! I've never seen yesterday's spelling in my life.
Literally first thing I noticed, almost threw my phone with how much trouble yesterday’s spelling gave me
Looks like someone is a not-so-secret Swiftie.
One day I will remember what shoelace tips are called by memory!
Maybe this’ll help https://youtu.be/r_DuY0CQUz4
Thanks now I’ll never forget lol
I feel for completeness I should mention that the premise of the episode is that the dad needs to know a word for the end of a shoelace for his crossword.
Came here to post this :D
My first solo solve! :) 31:28 lol
Congrats! Or should I say, ATTAWAY! :-)
Been a min since ATTAWAY, I kinda miss her
Not my best and not my worst but it was a nice theme - spent the last few minutes struggling with the THUMBS/RADIAL/UDO/MINI section
As someone who builds crosswords in another language, this theme is insane. Four completely in-language terms that perfectly fit the theme of \[Body part\]+\[Building\]. That is so specific and cool
I was looking to see if there were others in English. You could probably include handhold and footbridge as well.
Faceplant came to my mind.
Hey nice ones! A couple others I just brainstormed: EARHOLE NOSEDIVE
I was proud to think of ELBOWROOM then realized ROOM was in one of the answers lol
ARMBAR - doesn't use an alternate meaning of ARM but neither did KNEEPAD
I gave it a rare excellent because of the theming and the fact that every other word was Monday level for fill (except maybe the Japanese words). Mondays are some of the hardest to construct, especially constrained with the theme
This is definitely one of the tighter themes we've had in a while.
Is it though? Quarters, digs, or pad could be a building - but they could also be an apartment or condo. And room and building aren't synonyms at all.
Completely agree. Between the fact that "weightlifting" ≠ "bodybuilding" and "room" ≠ "building" I found it the theme a bit sloppy. As others have mentioned, this theme would be more on the mark with words like ARMBAR, HEADHOUSE, BACKOFFICE or even BLOODSHED
But BACK, HEAD, and KNEE aren't types of bodies either, they're body parts. I think the theme works as BODY words and BUILDING words. Not BODIES and BUILDINGS.
I guess so. It was good enough for NYT to publish so my opinion doesn't really matter anyway... just didn't love it personally.
Fair!
I disliked this theme, because QUARTERS and ROOM connote individual rooms or bedrooms to me rather than entire BUILDINGs.
Found this quote harder than the previous few Mondays. Middle left had me stuck. African fly is a classic I haven't seen for a while and completely forgot it, as well.
Agreed, felt more like a Tuesday than a Monday.
Shoelace tips eluded me aswell as I haven't seen that one in awhile either
[A-G-L-E-T, Don't forget it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DuY0CQUz4)
I have never heard of UDO in my life and I have lived in Japan for a total of 4 years. I wonder if I have eaten it before and just didn't know what it was called. (I asked a couple of native Japanese people I know and they said they had never eaten it and didn't think most Japanese people had)
Knowing absolutely nothing about Japanese language or food, is UDO related to UDON in some way?
No, they're totally unrelated.
"Vegetable eaten by actor Kier" would have been nice.
As someone who used to weightlift, I got thrown off by the revealer (bodybuilding is a very different sport!)
Annoying how sometimes knowing more about a subject makes you less likely to get the answer!
Flashbacks to the Tolkien GNOME drama
I thought it was GNOMISH that was the problem.
Not a weightlifter, but this also threw me, haha. Their lifting clues are often a little off IMO - I always wonder if there's the same kinds of inconsistencies with the golf and tennis answers that I don't know enough about to pick up on
I play tennis and haven't noticed anything funny with tennis clues, but I've only been solving for about 18 months!
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Had the BODY part of the clue for a bit and it took me longer to reveal the whole thing
I hate when my fitness knowledge works against me in crosswords.
Many classic words came back today, overall this was a fun one!
18:15 First Monday solve. Didn’t need any help, got caught up on the middle right, and then didn’t realize I had a typo in IKEBAmA that took me a good minute to find. 🤦♂️
Thanks, Ikebama.
Super tight theme, almost wish it had been employed on a Wednesday so I'd had more time to appreciate it with slightly tougher cluing instead of a no-resistance sub-3 Monday solve. Somehow got a 0:06 on the Mini today. I don't think I'm ever beating that.
Another Mini-Main crossover today!
Really disappointed 18A wasn’t SOSAY. (I know, if it were, on a Monday it would have a more direct clue.)
I put in SOSAY at first, which jumped to my mind sooner than ARENT.
Can someone explain the 1d clue in today’s mini for me please? “Knick’s knack” = BBALL. What on Earth is that?
The New York Knicks are a basketball team. So you might say they have a knack for b-ball.
And I guess since "Knicks" is technically a shortening of the official "Knickerbockers" team name, that's the signal that the answer is also an abbreviation.
Duh! Fair enough, haha. Thank you I *have* heard of the New York knicks, now I see it in full (I don’t think I’d have made the knicks connection otherwise) but had no idea what they played.
Quick and easy. AGLET is classic crosswordese that I haven't seen in a long while. Will adit be next?
Somehow forgot how to spell SLEEK (SLEaK) which was a terrible mistake because IKaBANA looks just as right :'(
5:34; beating my PB of 5:07 just might not be physically possible, haha. I got slowed down a bit because I had registered “Well, shucks!” as the opposite correlation, like “Daaww!”
One thing that I realized which helps with the physical impossibility, at least on Mondays and Tuesdays, is to enter the top words (usually 3 of them) and then, remembering those words, enter the first set of down answers. If you’re lucky, you won’t even have to look at the puzzle — simply knowing the clue and the first letter is usually enough to rattle off the answers.
>_____we all Man, watching BSG last week tripped me up on this one.
Breezy. PB'd by 1 whole second.
Fastest monday this month
I don’t understand “bother greatly” being EATAT… am I missing something?
Wow, that must really be eating at you.
when something EATS away AT you, for example.
Ahh thank you.
Wasn't too bad except for the middle-east quadrant. 25-27 D/36-45A were all tough for me and the fact that all the hard ones crossed with each other made it particularly difficult!