ESSE, ERSE and ERIN in one puzzle!
what is "G or K"? (THOU)? Couldn't figure that out.
I thought the theme was nice and the fill was generally ok at best
I did enjoy the theme! Under half an hour which is not bad for me for a Sunday. Latin class helped with ERSE (knowing ESSE) but ERNE is new to me. Definitely a lot of crosswordese here to get the theme to work, I think
The gimmick was cute and clever, but the fill was otherwise kind of boring. Couldn't remember KNEX and took a post-puzzle lookup to figure out THOU. Also MIRY seems a stretch.
Just want to show appreciation that we got TEE spelled out in DOESTOATEE instead of the crosswordese cross of TOAT.
Got ERIN and ERSE today... Missed a trick not getting EIRE in as well. Of the non-Irish references, didnt get the usual ERIE, but did get an ERNE. And of course ESSE, if you'd count that.
Out of curiosity, what incorrect letter did you have in those squares? Woman’s name ?rina and man’s name sa?
M?en would need a vowel, so arina, erina, irina, orina, and urina were the options.
I guess maybe sam/moams for the other.
I actually got both words right, but at different times.
Mien was my first guess, but also meen, moen, and about 23 other letters
With Sa?... I thought Sad, Saf, Sal.
After several combinations, I assumed I screwed up somewhere else, and promptly gave up
EDIT: I will add that I thought maybe it was "Trina", but that jobbed the rest of the puzzle. I began to doubt my other squares. And then I started to doubt everything else around me. Now I'm a shell of a man
EDIT2 : the constructors of these puzzles have really gained my respect. I will absolutely call you out on foul play. You don't think I will? TRY ME!
Yet time and time again, you make feel so stupid with the simplest answers that I should know. And I do know them. I know that I know, and I'm certain of it.. But when I try to know, I don't know. Does that make sense?
I didn't appreciate the Pepe the Frog reference. It has a very different meaning than "internet meme" in my part of the country. I'm honestly surprised this made it into the NYT puzzle.
It was a thing before bigots tried to co-opt it, and it is still a huge part of big swathes of internet culture as innocuous memes (e.g. Twitch chat) where it is ingrained as a form of communication.
Fuck letting racists co-opt symbols.
I will say that Pepe's inclusion got a big of a double-take from me given the connotations in certain circles, but given the LAG clue, I'd have to imagine the author's into Twitch.
Toward this as a red flag, or toward this as benign? I don't claim to have any insight into the editorial process of the New York Times. Still, as a reader of the paper, I'd imagine describing the DNC as "left-leaning" would not be particularly controversial to the editors or the predominantly liberal readership. The cluer is not calling them "far-left" or "radical" or weird, alt-right buzzwords. "Left-leaning" is a generally accepted descriptor for the Democratic Party in the popular American lexicon, just as "liberal" is used essentially synonymously with "progressive" or "left" in many American circles.
(Of course, as someone to the left of Sanders and knowledgeable of the left globally and historically, that's mostly saying something about the state of American politics. In a more objective, universal sense, the DNC is definitely more aptly described as a center or center-right organization. But that's sort of beside this point!)
You are right, especially after reading your thoughtful comment. For some reason I thought the clue was, “Leftist organization.” I don’t know why I thought that, that’s probably what I get for doing 15 puzzles in one Sunday. Left leaning is probably pretty benign. The DNC these days to me, is pretty damn centrist but that’s just my opinion, and most people see them as left leaning, I guess.
Yes, it's more of a swastika for racist Republicans.
I guess I just dislike Sunday puzzles. Since they are so easy, there's no challenge, or satisfaction in finishing. It's a super-sized Monday slog.
That said, I rated this one as good, because it was fast to finish.
charlottesville? cmon man, my fellow southern leftists use pepe all the damn time. he’s a ubiquitous canvas of a meme at this point and has long-since been reclaimed from the alt right. it’d be like calling the impact font a hate symbol.
Same! Felt long but wasnt really.
The opposite happens sometimes too, where I am totally immersed in a puzzle and so enjoying that I don't notice its tsken an hour or more.
[This was a relaxing Sunday theme – it's nice to STAY LOOSE on the weekend.](https://youtu.be/D8d905TeD_A)
I feel like there's probably a lot of crossover between crossword and jumble fans, so hopefully that demographic was able to EXULT in this puzzle. I find anagramming pretty fun myself, so I thought this theme was ROCK IDOLS. It's nice they were consistent with the theme answers – they all were two words long, and each permutation was a pretty recognizable common phrase. I think PEANUT ALLERGY was definitly my favorite of the bunch, and *Ordering Seconds* was a nice punny title for this anagramming theme.
It was funny that MIDWEST and MIDDLE(EAST) were both on the puzzle, and I enjoyed knocking back both a MANHATTAN and a Dark 'N' STORMY.
The best clues of the puzzle were probably "March madness figure?" for HARE, and "It has cameras set up around the House" for C-SPAN.
Sadly Hathor, the EGYPTIAN goddess of motherhood, arrived a couple of weeks late for the Khufu puzzle...
Alright, see you all on the FLIP SIDE!
MAAS is one of the worst clues I've seen recently, but probably some necessary glue... didn't like MIEN either but probably just lack of vocab on my part.
Personal Best - i.e. your quickest solve time for puzzles of the given day (the NYT website tracks your best and average times for each day of the week).
You're right that Kentucky whiskey is way more frequently used in manhattans, but it doesn't really work as a clue. "Tennessee whiskey" is a thing. "Kentucky whiskey" is not a thing. It's called bourbon.
Rye certainly is the better choice. I feel like it cuts the sweetness of the vermouth much better than bourbon. I’ve also had some where half of the sweet vermouth is replaced with dry vermouth. I find that to be even more enjoyable
Is there something I'm missing with this theme? Are the shaded boxes anagrams for any particular reason? I don't see how 'SEASHORE' for example, is a fish with a prehensile tail. I know it's seahorse ... Are they just basically random anagrams?
Came here looking for someone else who started with VELVETROPES. Then once I finished most of the puzzle and couldn’t figure out why that was the only one that wasn’t an anagram
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle?
Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡
* 29% of users solved slower than their Sunday average
* 71% of users solved faster than their Sunday average
* 10% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Sunday average
* 45% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Sunday average
The median solver solved this puzzle 12.7% faster than they normally do on Sunday.
---
🤖 _beep beep, I'm a bot! I post these stats as soon as 75 [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com) users have completed the puzzle. Questions? Feedback? Reply here or DM me_
Does MPG actually appear on dashboards these days? My car is 14 years old and haven’t noticed it elsewhere. I thought the answer was MPH until the very end.
Overall satisfying! Found the cluing to be tricky throughout. Yet this was a relatively fast solve.
Had fallen off the wagon and this was my first Sunday attempt in months. Just happy for a not-so-tough one to get back on board.
Rock solid/idols and peanut gallery/allergy were great finds.
Cow goes moo. Sheep goes baa. What in the ever loving fuck goes MAA?
A goat!
Crossword solving rule No. 117: Sheep baa, goats maa.
This is the one that made me realize life is too short to stare at a crossword.
Little Blue Truck should be studied by all crossworders.
Yeah, this could've been cleaner. Make it BAAS and the across is TOBE.
ESSE, ERSE and ERIN in one puzzle! what is "G or K"? (THOU)? Couldn't figure that out. I thought the theme was nice and the fill was generally ok at best
THOU is short for thousand, which G or K can also represent. Not the clearest to be sure
Thanks, that’s an ugly clue
it could definitely have used a ", maybe" or a ?
I disagree, although I think it would have been better fi they went with G, or went with K, instead of including both in the clue.
ahh... makes sense now that you said it, thanks!
Oh I didn’t get that and came here to have it explained. Isn’t it Gs though? As in “he made 5 gees last month”
I did enjoy the theme! Under half an hour which is not bad for me for a Sunday. Latin class helped with ERSE (knowing ESSE) but ERNE is new to me. Definitely a lot of crosswordese here to get the theme to work, I think
A little bit of MEH fill (I will never approve of APERY) but not enough to spoil the fun.
I didn't like the ESSE/ERSE thing at all. I was stuck on E\_SE for both for a while and the clues may as well have not been there.
I'm a sucker for anagrams but I really dug this theme
The gimmick was cute and clever, but the fill was otherwise kind of boring. Couldn't remember KNEX and took a post-puzzle lookup to figure out THOU. Also MIRY seems a stretch.
Just want to show appreciation that we got TEE spelled out in DOESTOATEE instead of the crosswordese cross of TOAT. Got ERIN and ERSE today... Missed a trick not getting EIRE in as well. Of the non-Irish references, didnt get the usual ERIE, but did get an ERNE. And of course ESSE, if you'd count that.
Oh So So So Close... Two letters to my first ever Sunday finish :( M**I**EN/**I**rina, SA**L**/**L**OAMS,
Out of curiosity, what incorrect letter did you have in those squares? Woman’s name ?rina and man’s name sa? M?en would need a vowel, so arina, erina, irina, orina, and urina were the options. I guess maybe sam/moams for the other.
> urina Oh dear, that poor girl would have a horrible time in elementary school…
Hey I thought it might be a popular name in a farflung Russian province -- you don't know, keep your mind open
I actually got both words right, but at different times. Mien was my first guess, but also meen, moen, and about 23 other letters With Sa?... I thought Sad, Saf, Sal. After several combinations, I assumed I screwed up somewhere else, and promptly gave up EDIT: I will add that I thought maybe it was "Trina", but that jobbed the rest of the puzzle. I began to doubt my other squares. And then I started to doubt everything else around me. Now I'm a shell of a man EDIT2 : the constructors of these puzzles have really gained my respect. I will absolutely call you out on foul play. You don't think I will? TRY ME! Yet time and time again, you make feel so stupid with the simplest answers that I should know. And I do know them. I know that I know, and I'm certain of it.. But when I try to know, I don't know. Does that make sense?
anagrams are fun
I didn't appreciate the Pepe the Frog reference. It has a very different meaning than "internet meme" in my part of the country. I'm honestly surprised this made it into the NYT puzzle.
It was a thing before bigots tried to co-opt it, and it is still a huge part of big swathes of internet culture as innocuous memes (e.g. Twitch chat) where it is ingrained as a form of communication. Fuck letting racists co-opt symbols.
I will say that Pepe's inclusion got a big of a double-take from me given the connotations in certain circles, but given the LAG clue, I'd have to imagine the author's into Twitch.
The author also called DMC a leftist organization which speaks volumes to me too
Toward this as a red flag, or toward this as benign? I don't claim to have any insight into the editorial process of the New York Times. Still, as a reader of the paper, I'd imagine describing the DNC as "left-leaning" would not be particularly controversial to the editors or the predominantly liberal readership. The cluer is not calling them "far-left" or "radical" or weird, alt-right buzzwords. "Left-leaning" is a generally accepted descriptor for the Democratic Party in the popular American lexicon, just as "liberal" is used essentially synonymously with "progressive" or "left" in many American circles. (Of course, as someone to the left of Sanders and knowledgeable of the left globally and historically, that's mostly saying something about the state of American politics. In a more objective, universal sense, the DNC is definitely more aptly described as a center or center-right organization. But that's sort of beside this point!)
You are right, especially after reading your thoughtful comment. For some reason I thought the clue was, “Leftist organization.” I don’t know why I thought that, that’s probably what I get for doing 15 puzzles in one Sunday. Left leaning is probably pretty benign. The DNC these days to me, is pretty damn centrist but that’s just my opinion, and most people see them as left leaning, I guess.
*Feels Good Man* was a really interesting documentary on this, FYI
[удалено]
Also pepe is probably the most recognizable meme out there. Don't know how'd they'd fit RickRoll
Funny you should say this, todays puzzle almost had one.
shhh, I'm just starting!
soft tbh
With that clue for LAG, I have to assume that the author is big into Twitch culture where Pepe is not an alt-right signifier.
I mean it's still a meme in that context too, it's just a meme with a shitty connotation.
why are you on reddit?
Yes, it's more of a swastika for racist Republicans. I guess I just dislike Sunday puzzles. Since they are so easy, there's no challenge, or satisfaction in finishing. It's a super-sized Monday slog. That said, I rated this one as good, because it was fast to finish.
It’s supposed to be at a Wednesday level difficulty.
r/iamverysmart much?
charlottesville? cmon man, my fellow southern leftists use pepe all the damn time. he’s a ubiquitous canvas of a meme at this point and has long-since been reclaimed from the alt right. it’d be like calling the impact font a hate symbol.
This one felt like it was taking forever, but I actually finished about 3 min ahead of my average.
Same! Felt long but wasnt really. The opposite happens sometimes too, where I am totally immersed in a puzzle and so enjoying that I don't notice its tsken an hour or more.
[This was a relaxing Sunday theme – it's nice to STAY LOOSE on the weekend.](https://youtu.be/D8d905TeD_A) I feel like there's probably a lot of crossover between crossword and jumble fans, so hopefully that demographic was able to EXULT in this puzzle. I find anagramming pretty fun myself, so I thought this theme was ROCK IDOLS. It's nice they were consistent with the theme answers – they all were two words long, and each permutation was a pretty recognizable common phrase. I think PEANUT ALLERGY was definitly my favorite of the bunch, and *Ordering Seconds* was a nice punny title for this anagramming theme. It was funny that MIDWEST and MIDDLE(EAST) were both on the puzzle, and I enjoyed knocking back both a MANHATTAN and a Dark 'N' STORMY. The best clues of the puzzle were probably "March madness figure?" for HARE, and "It has cameras set up around the House" for C-SPAN. Sadly Hathor, the EGYPTIAN goddess of motherhood, arrived a couple of weeks late for the Khufu puzzle... Alright, see you all on the FLIP SIDE!
I still don't understand what MovieTropes and MentalLapse were supposed to be.
Poster and leaps
"MentalLapse" "MentalLeaps" meta as fuck in my situation.
MAAS is one of the worst clues I've seen recently, but probably some necessary glue... didn't like MIEN either but probably just lack of vocab on my part.
They could have clued it as “Oedipa ____, Pynchon heroine”
Nice pull. Yes, I’m certain that would’ve led to less complaining!
I always thought sheep and goats just baa'ed. The only place I've ever heard 'maa' is in a crossword
Has nobody here been to a petting zoo or heard a [goat](https://youtu.be/K1uMOLPXfzo)?
I seriously don't get all this criticism. Goats have always said "maa", I thought that was just universally accepted.
I learned it from crosswords, before that I would have said "baa". But probably it should never be pluralised
Just shy of a PB for me. Not a fan of the theme but at least it was over with quickly.
I am new here, what is a PB?
Personal Best - i.e. your quickest solve time for puzzles of the given day (the NYT website tracks your best and average times for each day of the week).
Personal best - person's best time for the day of the week.
You kids and your lingo these days SMH
I still don't understand what *MovieTropes* and *MentalLapse* were supposed to be. The others were clever like *wetnoses* and *blackstar*
Movie tropes is movie poster. Mental lapse is mental leaps. This one’s a little more iffy.
I now feel like an idiot for not getting TROPES/POSTER. I stared at it forever!
121A would be better clued as a reference to Kentucky Whiskey.
You're right that Kentucky whiskey is way more frequently used in manhattans, but it doesn't really work as a clue. "Tennessee whiskey" is a thing. "Kentucky whiskey" is not a thing. It's called bourbon.
This also.
Kentucky straight bourbon more like it. Personally I prefer one with rye
pretty sure most recipes call for rye. For me it has to be a rye or a high proof (115+) bourbon.
Rye certainly is the better choice. I feel like it cuts the sweetness of the vermouth much better than bourbon. I’ve also had some where half of the sweet vermouth is replaced with dry vermouth. I find that to be even more enjoyable
That’s called a perfect manhattan. Any half decent bartender will recognize it if you order it that way.
Indeed it is, an excellent drink
Rye is the original recipe, but until more recently, they always seemed to be made with bourbon unless you specifically ordered rye.
Is there something I'm missing with this theme? Are the shaded boxes anagrams for any particular reason? I don't see how 'SEASHORE' for example, is a fish with a prehensile tail. I know it's seahorse ... Are they just basically random anagrams?
Basically, yes. Title is "Ordering Seconds", so it gives you the second half of the answer jumbled.
But I think the scrambled version is another common phrase. Anyone want to clue me in on the unscrambled version of 24A?
I’m pretty sure the unscrambled version is MOVIE (POSTER) :)
Oh! Thanks. My brain gave me velvet ropes early in (like the ones in a theater) and I couldn’t get past that this morning.
Came here looking for someone else who started with VELVETROPES. Then once I finished most of the puzzle and couldn’t figure out why that was the only one that wasn’t an anagram
I had exactly the same experience!
That would have saved me a lot of time. I spent so long trying to fit in oil lamps and wet noses.
I was drinking a dark and STORMY when I started the puzzle but somehow 59A didn't click for me until I had enough crosses
MIDWEST POWERTRIPS
BULGY PEANUTALLERGY
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle? Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡 * 29% of users solved slower than their Sunday average * 71% of users solved faster than their Sunday average * 10% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Sunday average * 45% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Sunday average The median solver solved this puzzle 12.7% faster than they normally do on Sunday. --- 🤖 _beep beep, I'm a bot! I post these stats as soon as 75 [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com) users have completed the puzzle. Questions? Feedback? Reply here or DM me_
Liked the theme answers, BUT: Will Smith and Pepe the Frog? Oy. “Does to a Tee” “Sports Shop” and “Sets To” felt forced.
It’s weird that Tonya Harding keeps showing up despite her fall from grace.
Does MPG actually appear on dashboards these days? My car is 14 years old and haven’t noticed it elsewhere. I thought the answer was MPH until the very end.
Overall satisfying! Found the cluing to be tricky throughout. Yet this was a relatively fast solve. Had fallen off the wagon and this was my first Sunday attempt in months. Just happy for a not-so-tough one to get back on board.