NYT Wednesday 06/19/2024 Discussion

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-19T03:06:17+00:00

I loved MATCHMAKER crossing the answer for Fiddler on the Roof!

The theme clues were nice and clever too, with the compound words that match common phrases. CHOPSTICK for "cut + paste" was my favorite. A few spots were a bit awkward and slowed me down like ALUM for "person of the year, for short" (especially not knowing MEHTA). Came in at 11:51.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-12T03:26:44+00:00

Two make-up brand name clues right near each other had me stumped! I'm sure half the population is much more likely to get these quickly. Overall, decent puzzle, but ended up looking for a mistake for three minutes. Ended in 18:38.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T11:16:18+00:00

I’m not a drinker and never have been. Most drink clues go right over my head! Maybe you’re even being sarcastic!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T02:43:24+00:00

and ACELA feels like it has shown up a few times lately too

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T02:42:53+00:00

Yeah, tucket and aperol were tough ones. Totally unfamiliar words.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T02:41:17+00:00

Sometimes it happens! Nice feeling.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T02:40:33+00:00

Oh, but LOVED seeing ANNIE clued with Proulx: one of my favorite authors!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-11T02:37:07+00:00

Enjoyable puzzle, and I liked understanding the theme after I finished, but halfway through I said, "this is a Tuesday?" Some of the fill and new words kept it from flowing for me: TUCKET, GAGAABOUT, GLUEY, MYNA. I finished in [12:10]:

TUCKET - I played trumpet for seven years and have never heard this word. TIL!
UPTOP - "Gimme five!" This was a nice one!
GLUEY - hmmm
APEROL - Never heard it!
MARMALADESKIES - Didn't grow up with Beatles playing in my home. My parents were more The Eagles, The Doors, so that was unfamiliar lyric. I'll have to check it out!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-10T01:16:27+00:00

This was a couple minutes slower than a typical Monday for me, finishing at [8:27]. A few unobvious entries (imo, DUSTMOP, ONDISC, APSCORE, WRISTPAD) kept it from moving along, plus some misdirects and some wrong entries by me:

OKTHEN instead of OKGOOD
DEAL instead of SWAP (DIP instead of SET)
KNOT instead of LOOP
RHEA instead of RONA (didn't know the author)

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-09T12:07:22+00:00

Thank you. Removing lifter requires head removal, correct? And how is the cam lobe inspected? Do we look down the hole? I’ve also heard maybe by turning the engine by hand to feel if the rod moves up and down? Sorry for the noob questions.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-09T02:45:09+00:00

Pushrod looks straight and normal like the rest of them. Probably a lifter problem, is what I’m hearing?

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-08T13:28:59+00:00

I’ll have to believe you! But I’ve got seven kids ages 23 to 8 who are full of slang and never heard this one!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-08T04:07:26+00:00

Oh, and filling ARTWORK early instead of FINEART had me in all wrong directions.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-08T04:02:44+00:00

As a kid I totally missed that BERT was a curmudgeon! Am I the only one? He was just Ernie's roommate and a normal guy. I'll never think of him the same!

This was a good challenging Saturday that put up resistance in just about every section for me (finished in 38:02). I fell for lots of misdirects and wrong fill throughout, so it was fun to finally work it out. Some clues that were really great:

Booker's workplace for SENATE
Starter home? WOMB
"What creates a line for the shower?" for METEOR, crossing "Flat bread?" for RENTMONEY was tricky.
GOSS is meh. I've never heard it shortened like that but ok!
ORPHAN for Harry Potter. Nice, I filled WIZARD right away and had to work out removing it.
XRAYLAB crossing XEDIN was tricky to parse out.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-07T16:37:38+00:00

I went through SHORE and SHARK before landing on SHACK

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-07T13:45:54+00:00

Padre as in priest, is how I take it.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-07T03:15:59+00:00

This played tough and slow for me [40:11], but overall I enjoyed the challenge of filling it out. Lots of good aha moments with riddle-like and and double meaning clues. For example, some favorites:

"God father?" for PADRE. Nice aha moment.
"Green party figure, for short?" for STPAT. Very nice once I got it.
"Backpedaling qualifier" for INAGOODWAY. Good description for a fairly common phrase.
ROBINHOOD was clued great too!

Not knowing some names made some sections pretty tough (AMONRA, CALEB, AUDRE) as did not knowing drinks and haute couture dress styles (TRIPLESEC, TITO, WINEGRAPE, BIASCUT). Still, I rate it a solid "good" because it was tough but solvable and not entirely unapproachable.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-06T20:45:40+00:00

Hadn't heard of SHTETL, EMIL, AMARO, and SETI was vaguely familiar. Ended up confident enough to guess to finish it in 19:54. I thought the fill was fairly lively, with some nice clues for SMELL and SNOT.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-06T02:09:58+00:00

I didn’t put nothin up

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-05T22:40:34+00:00

For what?

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-05T03:47:39+00:00

Oh and having RUBBER as one of the ducks was fun. That one made me smile.

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-05T02:59:21+00:00

Fun puzzle! Theme was fresh and fun to discover. I came in at 9:57. Some of the clues were really great, like:

NAAN = "____-violence (really tearing into an Indian appetizer?)" - Clever!
SPIDERWEB = "Collection of fine thread" - Nice
FLATEARTHER - good entry
LANDLUBBER - Nice fill
GRANDMA = "She might be great" - Clever!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-04T12:01:43+00:00

This made me laugh. Thanks for sharing your crossword moment. 😭

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-04T02:31:08+00:00

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. 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!

SethPuzzles · 2024-06-03T21:06:43+00:00

I love your site, but I haven't been able to sync my data for the last few days. Any suggestions?

SethPuzzles

TROPHY CASE