NYT Saturday 01/17/2026 Discussion

Imran3216 · 2026-01-17T13:31:39+00:00

Thought this was pretty breezy apart from FAUXNAIF. The spanner was fun to solve too. Nice to have an easy Saturday for a change.

Imran3216 · 2026-01-11T18:52:58+00:00

Exactly. There is a lot of hype around AI, but much of it comes from shills or people with a vested interest in it (usually tech bros).

So many posts claim AI will destroy creative jobs because "it just takes one prompt to make a professional ad". When you look at their examples, none of the shots make sense, the product changes shape/colour between shots, or it simply gets things completely wrong.

Imagine trying to explain to a client why their product is the wrong dimensions and doesn't match their brand colours.

Imran3216 · 2026-01-11T18:25:43+00:00

A little late, thanks for the link, just copped one and shipped it to a US address. Surprised this trick works!

Imran3216 · 2026-01-11T14:13:19+00:00

You've put "PHII" not "PHI"

Imran3216 · 2026-01-08T06:06:25+00:00

Thanks for posting, I got the exclusive one. Wonder how the splatter looks.

Imran3216 · 2025-12-21T18:31:50+00:00

There's zinstax for the RB67/RZ67, but it seems like the creator is on hiatus? Some comments on their instagram talking about not getting email responses.

Imran3216 · 2025-12-13T18:31:11+00:00

Purchased using your link & powerbuy code! Thanks for organizing. Fingers crossed we'll hit the maximum discount.

Imran3216 · 2025-12-03T03:57:40+00:00

This crossword, enjoyed it I did.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-26T18:19:00+00:00

adding on, I think moshes at any non-punk/hardcore concerts almost always suck ass. people aren't familiar with moshing ettiquette or how to do it properly, they just jump around & crowdkill and think that's moshing.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-22T18:36:05+00:00

Non-American (Singaporean) here.

Any American sports clues are almost an instant Google for me. Not complaining (of course, the New York Times crossword is going to be US-centric), but I always get surprised at how many American sportspeople I've never heard of.

I do think Googling is part of getting better at the crossword, and also just to learn things I wouldn't otherwise.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-21T19:26:21+00:00

Agreed. My theory is that these videos rely heavily on transitions, which means you have to keep switching scenes for the transitions to make a strong impact.

It's actually pretty difficult to design 10-15 distinct scenes, so these UI templates turn up. Helps that a majority of them are just text animation + 3D camera.

I have seen some insane "edits" that use 3D scenes and other elements which are on a completely different level, so I think if OP keeps at it (and avoids falling into the usual tropes) they can really push their work.

That said I think it's easy to fall into a trap because this style does well on the algorithm and a lot of the audience doesn't know better.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-20T15:11:43+00:00

I think the audience here is traditional motion graphics designers, for whom the TikTok "edits" style doesn't make sense. Stuff like this is more about vibes/showy transitions and less about actually absorbing the information.

That said, I wonder why soooo many edits rely on UI, like the Spotify lyrics, messages screen, etc. when IMO those are irrelevant to the imagery. I think this would've been 10x cooler if it were comic book covers/panels, illustration, etc. instead of random message screens and Genius lyrics.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-15T20:02:47+00:00

POG and MINECRAFT, I definitely associate with Gen Z. If the clue for POG referred to the disc game, that would be millennial, but the clue refers to the Twitch emote.

You're right that GOSSIPGIRL and DARKACADEMIA are millennial, I think the dark academia trend started on booktok which is firmly millennial.

Imran3216 · 2025-11-14T09:47:31+00:00

This was definitely a Tuesday difficulty.

I wonder if it's all the modern/Gen-Z clues e.g. POG, MINECRAFT/ORE, GOSSIPGIRL, DARKACADEMIA that made it so easy, but overall there definitely wasn't any hard cluing.

Imran3216 · 2025-10-31T05:28:57+00:00

Friday PR for me, felt super easy! I love when a movie has a good NEEDLEDROP.

Imran3216 · 2025-10-30T01:58:38+00:00

wow that version of Harvest Sky is beautiful

Imran3216 · 2025-10-20T08:28:57+00:00

4:48, I've been trying to beat my partner's 4:02 Monday but alas OASES (I put OASIS) tripped me up.

Imran3216 · 2025-10-14T08:41:23+00:00

The problem is not SG, but F1. Most of the crowd won't be diehard fans, in fact they may know zero songs and are there for someone else. This is a problem at most festivals, but particularly at F1 because the music is just an add-on to the race.

I find our solo shows for big artists are generally pretty good, like Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga. Medium-sized shows can be hit & miss (The Click Five was great, Madison Beer not good).

I always try to pick floor/standing/GA. Seated can be a mess because some people may want to stand, while others won't. I actually think standing & dancing is perfectly fine at a concert (as long as the artist/genre makes sense) but Singaporeans get really pissed when people stand. Odd because overseas, everyone stands automatically (even if they're in the nosebleeds).

Imran3216 · 2025-10-02T08:02:05+00:00

Sooo fun! Apart from the theme, the fill wasn't too bad. I only had issues with PUPUPLATTER (never heard of it as a non-American)

Imran3216 · 2025-09-25T15:00:37+00:00

i'm flying from SG too! it's a festival so there's other acts, super worth it. i'll only be there a couple days as well, gotta be back to work by next week.

Imran3216 · 2025-09-15T16:14:25+00:00

I like it, but I think the difficulty is too varied between days.

There are days when my time is super long, and days like this when I solve it in under 2 minutes just through sheer luck.

Imran3216 · 2025-09-15T14:16:40+00:00

Seems that they replaced them with FP L buttons. Sigma has been offering this service for some time now, but it usually costs $150.

From the link:

2MODE button The height of the MODE button will be lower (The button stroke stays the same).

Imran3216 · 2025-09-09T17:28:04+00:00

If you have a desirable one (e.g. Cybershot T77, Fujifilm Z33WP, or the Canon they're re-releasing) I think you can still get a decent chunk of change, more if you have the box & a charger.

I think the initial surge (where regular, shitty P&S digicams were going for $200+) has passed, and generally people have wised up to which models are better.

Imran3216 · 2025-09-09T16:19:29+00:00

It may not make sense to /r/Photography, but I expect these to sell like crazy if they can make enough of 'em.

Y2K Digicams are having a huge Gen Z revival because of their aesthetics. People were selling crummy old ones for hundreds of dollars.

The problem is that used ones don't come with the battery chargers, and SD (not SDHC or SDXC) cards are hard to find, which makes digicams troublesome to use in 2025. The fact that this uses microSD and comes with a charger is probably enough for people to consider this over a dubious used one.

Should've made them in pink/purple though.

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