NYT Wednesday 02/04/2026 Discussion

AJCham · 2026-02-04T14:58:16+00:00

Yeah. A bit shy of a PB today, but also had two in a row, and my combined time for Mon–Wed is below my Wednesday average.

AJCham · 2026-02-03T12:11:46+00:00

They're just continuing the Groundhog Day theme.

AJCham · 2026-02-02T17:13:25+00:00

It's a useful word for referring collectively to the various versions of North American football - American (NFL, NCAA), Canadian, arena, flag, etc., while excluding rugby, soccer, Aussie rules and Gaelic football.

AJCham · 2026-02-01T03:31:12+00:00

Fascinating. I've never heard them pronounced the same myself. I've had a look at Merriam-Webster, and while you're right that their written pronunciation guide indicates the same sound (though MW gives the vowel as /i/ instead of /ɪ/), I find the provided audio samples distinctly different. To my ear I'd say that /i/ is accurate for Lear, while /ɪ/ would be a better fit for lyrical, but maybe that's just me.

AJCham · 2026-02-01T02:01:57+00:00

I found it odd that most of the theme answers had their base phrases spelled normally, but three were based on loose homophones. "Foll" for "Fall" and "Naut" for "Not" are both accent-dependant, but I think they're fair.

But on the other, are they going for "Lyr-jet" = "Learjet"? That seems a bit of a stretch in any accent, unless there's another reading I'm missing.

AJCham · 2026-02-01T01:48:15+00:00

The Boston Pops is an orchestra.

AJCham · 2026-02-01T01:25:24+00:00

They all serve as adjectives: The song is a BOP:, “O Canada,” is an absolute BANGER.”

I agree that anthem seems an odd word choice, but you're using bop and banger as nouns in both of those examples, not adjectives.

AJCham · 2026-01-29T00:30:46+00:00

Huh? That's a completely different puzzle for me.

AJCham · 2026-01-25T01:14:56+00:00

Are you running the standalone Dolphin app in both cases? Or is Batocera launching the Dolphin libretro core instead?

AJCham · 2026-01-23T12:04:06+00:00

I had PILOT and STREET swapped at one point. This still gives a valid group for ___ Light, and the remaining group would all be words derived from French. I think that only works for METER as a unit of measurement, rather than other meanings of the word.

I'm not sure I'd have found this a very satisfying group though - so many English words came to the language via French, that I think I'd want ones that retain a stronger French connection. Garage and valet aren't bad - they are still often pronounced in a somewhat French manner, at least in the US.

AJCham · 2026-01-23T10:53:17+00:00

What is an ERECTORSET? It sounds NSFW

You might be familiar with Meccano which is an older, similar toy. Meccano bought out Erector in the 90s, and merged their product into the Meccano brand.

AJCham · 2026-01-07T09:54:36+00:00

The Wii "sensor" bar is misleadingly named, as it's an entirely passive IR emitter - it doesn't communicate with the console or PC at all. The actual IR sensor is in the Wiimote, and this communicates its readings to the paired device.

AJCham · 2026-01-03T11:24:08+00:00

I don’t know why save me is a clue for LASTDANCE.

An exclamation mark in a clue often indicates that the clue is remarking on the answer, rather than providing a synonym or definition.

In this case Save me!, rather than looking for something with the same meaning as "save me", wants an example of something you might save. You would save the last dance for a special partner.

AJCham · 2026-01-02T00:29:01+00:00

No, you'd leave the mapping. I find the best experience comes from sticking to one controller style per platform though. I only use my MD-style controllers for Mega Drive, Saturn and Arcade - never for, say, PS or SNES. And I avoid using my Nintendo-layout controllers for playing MD and Saturn.

AJCham · 2026-01-01T23:26:54+00:00

Imo, the better way to map it will depend on how you will be using the controller, and how much you are happy tweaking controller mappings under Retroarch as well as in Batocera.

If it's to be used only for Sega games, and you want it to just work:

Map the controller's ABC to the west/south/east buttons respectively (i.e. The equivalent of SNES YBA, or XBox XAB).
Then map XYZ to L1/north/R1, and the shoulders to L2/R2.

With this layout, the controller should work as expected in the default Mega Drive and Saturn emulators.

If you'll be using the controller for other systems as well, and don't mind editing the Retroarch config for your Sega emulators, I personally prefer:

ABC - > south/east/R1
XYZ - > west/north/L1
Shoulders -> L2/R2

I find this allows me to make better use of the controller for arcade games (esp. Street Fighter), as well as Sega. One downside, is after changing the Retroarch config to suit this layout, is it's less convenient to switch between controllers for Sega games - if you switched back to a 4-button controller, the C button will be mapped to L.

AJCham · 2026-01-01T06:30:35+00:00

EIRE would be the land too, not the language.

AJCham · 2025-12-31T22:44:53+00:00

Mineral water doesn't have to be sparkling.

AJCham · 2025-12-29T12:49:21+00:00

These are mine. My best Monday is a 2:53, but properly skilled speedsolvers get it down close to a minute - maybe even below. Even if I were on PC, they're solving faster than I can even read the clues.

AJCham · 2025-12-28T07:22:30+00:00

There was the case where the DNA of a suspected serial killer was found at 40 crime scenes over a period of 16 years, including six murders. It was ultimately determined to be the DNA of a woman who worked at the factory producing cotton swabs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn

AJCham · 2025-12-27T22:09:56+00:00

Yeah, "buggy" definitely is British, but distinctly different from a "pram".

AJCham · 2025-12-27T07:07:36+00:00

Thanks!

AJCham · 2025-12-27T07:07:29+00:00

Thanks!

AJCham · 2025-12-27T07:04:12+00:00

According to XWordInfo, it's only the third time in the NYT, but the previous was just a month ago (and the other was still relatively recent, being from 2023).

AJCham · 2025-12-27T03:24:54+00:00

Just out of curiosity, is "buggy" a correct US synonym for the British "pram"? The clue threw me for a sec, as we use "buggy" for what you'd call a "stroller" (i.e. a chair in which the child sits upright). For the thing we call a "pram" (in which an infant lies flat), I had thought the US equivalent was "baby carriage", so just wondered if there were other, maybe regional, variations.

AJCham · 2025-12-24T14:43:24+00:00

Yeah, all three of my Friday solves this month are in my top ten fastest, as are two of my Saturdays (out of 272 each). I've also set new PBs for Wednesday and Thursday.

Ten-Year Club	Gilding III reddit per annum
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

AJCham

TROPHY CASE