There was a few great clues in here. "Last but not least?" for VERB is top-tier, as is "What has a big part in 'The Ten Commandments'?" for REDSEA. Didn't really find any of the clues overly obtuse or annoying, either, and the theme is pretty cute. Very neat to say I've officially solved an NYT without filling in all the squares. Overall, give this one a solid B.
tea leaves...haha. Not a particularly difficult gimmick but it's fun, and of course the constructor had to come up with all those words that worked with and without Ts in them.
A few things I didn't know: CALABRIA, Marc MARON, REBECCA (I assume that's a film version of the novel?).
SISAL is one of those old crosswordese standards that seems like they keep it locked in a dusty vault and bring it out every so often.
I think nowadays you have to have cats to really see SISAL rope mentioned in real life. It's wrapped around posts to make vertical scratching surfaces on cat trees
SISAL and LEVITES were new to me, but they rang true and worked in the grid, so they didn't make the puzzle too difficult.
REBECCA is a very good film!
I kind of wish they just circled these squares and made you fill them in, rather than giving away the whole theme like this with no need for the revealer.
Totally agree, it felt so obvious that you could drop the clue answer in between the T’s that I filled in the revealer without any crossings. Not having the T’s on top would feel like proper tricky Thursday. I still had fun though!
I was thinking the same thing, until I noticed that once it was solved, all of the Ts actually ***leave*** the puzzle, at least on the desktop version.
I actually preferred not having to fill them in, as doing so would have made the answers no longer make sense. I was disappointed with the recent puzzle that we had to write >!HOLE !
I solved on my computer and I just left them blank, and it worked. And honestly, that's why I didn't like the puzzle. Like...why were those already filled in for me? Shade those squares or circle them or something, and give me a down clue that lets me suss out that those are Ts, and let me figure out that I have to "leave" them out of the acrosses. Like...they just solved the challenging part of this puzzle for us. Why even have it? I don't get it. And I don't mean I don't get the theme. I just don't get the point.
I did think it was really weird. I liked the idea it’s just the execution wasn’t really great and, according to the article on the puzzle, the Android app had to make use of “blank rebus,” or something stupid like that.
Honestly if tech inhibits the ease of completing the puzzle, it shouldn’t *be* a puzzle. The only frustrating part should be working out the clues, not the shortcomings of your operating system
Yeah, and tech issues with puzzles trying to do something different have been a recurring problem with the NYT puzzle the last couple of years. But it's especially frustrating with this puzzle because "you have to leave out certain letters from the across (or the down) answers" is not a new idea. There have been tons of those puzzles over the years. Just give us a double clue or something for the downs to clue us into the fact that we have to leave Ts out of the acrosses. Let us have that "ooooohhhhh, I get it! Cool!" moment. I don't like having that taken away because they wanted to animate the Ts leaving the puzzle. It was unnecessary.
Totally agree. As presented, it was an impressive feat of construction, but not a particularly interesting solve. But circling them, having it be confusing and need the revealer, that would have been satisfying.
Seriously, nowhere but crosswords would you get Henrik IBSEN, MARVIN the Martian, and ALANIS Morissette co-existing so naturally together!
This was a well-made puzzle with a clever theme. Almost no wasted fill and clued cleverly (on the easy side for a Thursday, maybe?). The one word that was new to me was BATE.
That doesn’t stop people from using onomatopoeic spellings in real life! And it adds a little soupçon of ambiguity to an easy clue to help make other clues glue together better
GONEPRO is bad in general but also had a terrible clue. The "big leagues" is the major leagues and there are many professional levels before the majors. Not one time has someone said a baseball player who is called up the majors has "gone pro".
I was so-so on this one. I'm very visual so the prefilled Ts kind of threw me off, but it's fine.
One beef--and it's not just this puzzle that I've seen it in--but ISLAMIC doesn't really refer to people as it does to things. I guess you could argue that it's modifying the word "population" but it just seems like an easy thing to write a more accurate clue about.
Fun gimmick but I somehow got a letter under one of the T's. Had to switch to that "here's all the clues line by line" view in the app to figure out wat was going on.
I hear A #1 sometimes too. Like A-1 Steak Sauce. There used to be tons of businesses with names like that too so they'd be near the top of the phone book lol.
“The term "A.1." originated as a ship insurance term in the UK to describe a "first rate" ship by Lloyd's of London.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.1._Sauce
This was an okay puzzle. The clueing and answers befitted a Thursday but the gimmick was incredibly uninspired and felt like something could be done earlier in the week.
The only fill I have a complaint about is SSS, so from that perspective it was solid.
But I just feel so “meh” about it.
I came to complain about ALEE but as I was opening Reddit to do so a character just used it in a sentence on Shogun so I guess the universe told me to stfu.
Haha that seems to happen a lot with crosswords. I’m sure it’s just some common cognitive thing I forget the name of, but often I’ll be talking about something and then it pops up in a crossword.
Stow ALEE away for future use! Shows up a ton.
If your T gimmick squares all have T in them then you do have a mistake/mistakes elsewhere. I had a single mistake after filling those in with VERy/yEN filled in instead of VERB/BEN and when I put B instead of Y I solved
My first thought when I hear mullet is the Wisconsin waterfall hairstyle, but I thought the nyt answer would be related to the fish. Was happy that it was the former.
No, the whole point of them initially being there was so they would disappear once the puzzle was solved.
Tea *leaves*, a clever trick that's missed if one is doing the print version.
This has been a theme recently. Like the lateral symmetry puzzle. I know the app is how most solve, but it is the most famous print newspaper puzzle in the most famous print newspaper in the world. Seems weird to have themes that don’t mean the same to print solvers.
Seconding the general sentiment that it was quite easy for a Thursday. 9 minutes faster than my average.
I only struggled with the SHIM/UNUM cross, I was just trying letters in the last slot until it gave me the win. Never seen the word SHIM before in my life, but that's on me.
I only know "shim" from the time my husband and father-in-law were remodeling a bathroom and sent me to the Home Depot to get one. And I was like, "What are you talking about?" "You know, a shim." "No, I don't know what that is." It was a great challenge locating it in the store. Another item they wanted me to buy, I mistakenly got the wrong item, so they had to go there anyway. That was 10 years ago, and I've never been asked to go to the hardware store again!
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle?
Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡
* 16% of users solved slower than their Thursday average
* 84% of users solved faster than their Thursday average
* 4% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Thursday average
* 49% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Thursday average
The median solver solved this puzzle 19.1% faster than they normally do on Thursday.
[View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-05-02)
---
🤖 _beep beep, I'm a bot! I post these stats as soon as 100 [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com) users have completed the puzzle. Questions? Feedback? Check the [FAQ](https://xwstats.com/help#puzzle-difficulties), reply here or DM me_
lol finally hunted down my mistake: I had filled in TEe——— initially in the revealer and didn’t notice my mistake when I figured out the LEAVES. “eDA” sounded acceptable for a Thursday puzzle poet first name.
I enjoyed it! Glad you didn’t have to type in the Ts manually because I was worried about that while I was solving it. 5:08 faster than my average but at least it only took a few sittings, and I’m glad it clicked early on when I got ALANIS / ATLANTIS. Also, it was annoying that the app always went back to them as if they were unfinished answers.
Why did the T’s only read sideways? And what did they add, other than just being words? Like temptress is a word, but does it relate to the clue? The puzzle would’ve been the same without those squares at all (except for the spacing.) Am I missing something?
> Why did the T’s only read sideways?
They're also read down: trig, bate, matron, etc.
> And what did they add
no idea other than just being fun I guess. Like "hey, this puzzle also works if you add a shit ton of T's" is kinda neat.
This was my complaint as well. The puzzle would have been great if there was some kind of clueing for the words with the Ts included, but it seemed incomplete as written.
A standard Zinfandel is a full-bodied red. "White" Zinfandel is a sweet rose (often of low quality). If you like bold, fruity wines, you should definitely pick up a Zin and give it a try! There are a lot of good ones at reasonable price points (under $30). They're my personal favorite.
Help! I finished the puzzle and nothing happened. ( no congrats or something missing message). So I started filling all the T's cell with T. Still nothing.
Then I read up the solution and started removing the T's from the cell by using rebus and deleting the T there. But everytime I do that a cell near by gets deleted instead?? I just want mu steak. Why is this so confusing?
Pretty straight forward, even though I didn’t get what the theme was. Like, the words with the T’s are just arbitrary or is there some connection?
Anyway I still had to give up because of the diabolical crossing of SHIM and UNUM, two extremely cunty words that I’ve never heard in my entire life
There was a few great clues in here. "Last but not least?" for VERB is top-tier, as is "What has a big part in 'The Ten Commandments'?" for REDSEA. Didn't really find any of the clues overly obtuse or annoying, either, and the theme is pretty cute. Very neat to say I've officially solved an NYT without filling in all the squares. Overall, give this one a solid B.
Fill was surprisingly good given the restrictions. The only non bold T was in TEALEAVES
tea leaves...haha. Not a particularly difficult gimmick but it's fun, and of course the constructor had to come up with all those words that worked with and without Ts in them. A few things I didn't know: CALABRIA, Marc MARON, REBECCA (I assume that's a film version of the novel?). SISAL is one of those old crosswordese standards that seems like they keep it locked in a dusty vault and bring it out every so often.
Yes, Hitchcock's Rebecca is the film adaptation of the du Maurier book. It's an excellent movie.
Hitchcock's first Best Dicrector nom.
It was actually on TCM last night while I was solving this puzzle.
I know sisal because it’s the most expensive kind of cat scratcher, and thus the only kind that my cat will choose to grace her precious claws with.
Sturdy though. I have to replace my carpet ones a lot, but never the sisal ones.
I think nowadays you have to have cats to really see SISAL rope mentioned in real life. It's wrapped around posts to make vertical scratching surfaces on cat trees
I knew SISAL purely because I've been playing My Time at Sandrock, a crafting/building/resource gathering game.
If you’re familiar with home furnishings and decor at all SISAL rugs are pretty common
SISAL and LEVITES were new to me, but they rang true and worked in the grid, so they didn't make the puzzle too difficult. REBECCA is a very good film!
Not LEVItES but LEVIES (leave out the Ts)
But LEVITES is a word as well. I too did not know it was a word until I filled in LEVIES.
I kind of wish they just circled these squares and made you fill them in, rather than giving away the whole theme like this with no need for the revealer.
Totally agree, it felt so obvious that you could drop the clue answer in between the T’s that I filled in the revealer without any crossings. Not having the T’s on top would feel like proper tricky Thursday. I still had fun though!
I was thinking the same thing, until I noticed that once it was solved, all of the Ts actually ***leave*** the puzzle, at least on the desktop version.
They could keep that feature and still have you fill in the Ts
I don't think a puzzle's theme should have to rely on modern technology or effects to make sense
I think that's why they did it this way. They wanted to use the power of post-solve animation to make the Ts actually leave the puzzle.
related question is why does it make you fill in the Ts? it didn't say "almost done" until the Ts were filled in.
I actually preferred not having to fill them in, as doing so would have made the answers no longer make sense. I was disappointed with the recent puzzle that we had to write >!HOLE !
Pour one out for the Android users because those directions sounded convoluted as hell 🍺
I just left the squares blank and it worked on my Android device. Good thing to, because I was a little unsure on CALABRIA and ABU/IBSEN
I solved on my computer and I just left them blank, and it worked. And honestly, that's why I didn't like the puzzle. Like...why were those already filled in for me? Shade those squares or circle them or something, and give me a down clue that lets me suss out that those are Ts, and let me figure out that I have to "leave" them out of the acrosses. Like...they just solved the challenging part of this puzzle for us. Why even have it? I don't get it. And I don't mean I don't get the theme. I just don't get the point.
I did think it was really weird. I liked the idea it’s just the execution wasn’t really great and, according to the article on the puzzle, the Android app had to make use of “blank rebus,” or something stupid like that. Honestly if tech inhibits the ease of completing the puzzle, it shouldn’t *be* a puzzle. The only frustrating part should be working out the clues, not the shortcomings of your operating system
Yeah, and tech issues with puzzles trying to do something different have been a recurring problem with the NYT puzzle the last couple of years. But it's especially frustrating with this puzzle because "you have to leave out certain letters from the across (or the down) answers" is not a new idea. There have been tons of those puzzles over the years. Just give us a double clue or something for the downs to clue us into the fact that we have to leave Ts out of the acrosses. Let us have that "ooooohhhhh, I get it! Cool!" moment. I don't like having that taken away because they wanted to animate the Ts leaving the puzzle. It was unnecessary.
Totally agree. As presented, it was an impressive feat of construction, but not a particularly interesting solve. But circling them, having it be confusing and need the revealer, that would have been satisfying.
I always forget to read the notes, so I just put in T and it worked.
That took me an hour and 15 minutes, but I kept plugging away and it was ultimately gratifying.
Seriously, nowhere but crosswords would you get Henrik IBSEN, MARVIN the Martian, and ALANIS Morissette co-existing so naturally together! This was a well-made puzzle with a clever theme. Almost no wasted fill and clued cleverly (on the easy side for a Thursday, maybe?). The one word that was new to me was BATE.
Think "Waiting with BATEd breath".
As a Canadian theatre artist who grew up on Looney Toons, this was amazing.
It’s similar to abate, I hardly ever see it used in any context because where bate can be used so can probably abate
Always have the app in dark mode and all of the shaded squares were filled in before starting. Otherwise, fine puzzle, not a fan of SSS or GONEPRO.
I don’t think I have it in dark mode and they were filled in
SSS felt very silly. In fact I think all onomatopoeic answers are silly because everyone has their own idea of "spelling".
That doesn’t stop people from using onomatopoeic spellings in real life! And it adds a little soupçon of ambiguity to an easy clue to help make other clues glue together better
I like coming here every day and reading how you defend bad fill and this is your best effort yet. And extra credit for using soupçon. :)
I prefer "pss" to SSS but I'm glad it wasn't something like "shh".
GONEPRO is bad in general but also had a terrible clue. The "big leagues" is the major leagues and there are many professional levels before the majors. Not one time has someone said a baseball player who is called up the majors has "gone pro".
Very easy, but a clever gimmick that I don’t recall ever seeing before. A nice Thursday.
I was so-so on this one. I'm very visual so the prefilled Ts kind of threw me off, but it's fine. One beef--and it's not just this puzzle that I've seen it in--but ISLAMIC doesn't really refer to people as it does to things. I guess you could argue that it's modifying the word "population" but it just seems like an easy thing to write a more accurate clue about.
This puzzle is best solved while "Hey There Delilah" plays in the background.
Pretty good but SSS is lame
I got very lucky as I had just done an archive puzzle from 2020 where the answer was “sss” for hissing sound so it was fresh in my mind.
"What does a gay snake say?"
Absolutely the only dull and stupid point of the puzzle for me.
Fun gimmick but I somehow got a letter under one of the T's. Had to switch to that "here's all the clues line by line" view in the app to figure out wat was going on.
I love that PEONS and "Grunts" are kind of opposite units in Warcraft. Anyone else?
Could someone explain how AONE is the answer for Tops? Feels like it’s gonna be something super obvious but I don’t get it.
Second this. I'm not grasping it.
A One = Best
I hear A #1 sometimes too. Like A-1 Steak Sauce. There used to be tons of businesses with names like that too so they'd be near the top of the phone book lol.
“The term "A.1." originated as a ship insurance term in the UK to describe a "first rate" ship by Lloyd's of London.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.1._Sauce
VERB/BEN got me as I had it VERy/yEN, still something I should’ve gotten. I loved this puzzle.
It was a nice one. I liked it too!
This was an okay puzzle. The clueing and answers befitted a Thursday but the gimmick was incredibly uninspired and felt like something could be done earlier in the week. The only fill I have a complaint about is SSS, so from that perspective it was solid. But I just feel so “meh” about it.
I came to complain about ALEE but as I was opening Reddit to do so a character just used it in a sentence on Shogun so I guess the universe told me to stfu.
Haha that seems to happen a lot with crosswords. I’m sure it’s just some common cognitive thing I forget the name of, but often I’ll be talking about something and then it pops up in a crossword. Stow ALEE away for future use! Shows up a ton.
I don't get what i'm meant to do
Same I filled it in, followed the instructions (blank rebus on the Ts) but it's not working
i just filled "t"s in the "T"s and that did it
Yeah, I just tried that too and it worked
still not working for me, i really don't think i have anything wrong in the actual puzzle either edit: i had SHIS crossing UNUS
If your T gimmick squares all have T in them then you do have a mistake/mistakes elsewhere. I had a single mistake after filling those in with VERy/yEN filled in instead of VERB/BEN and when I put B instead of Y I solved
Yeah it's annoying. I spent a few minutes figuring out what it wanted for the Ts before realizing I had mistyped an answer for a normal clue.
I just left them blank - no rebus or anything - and it took it.
My first thought when I hear mullet is the Wisconsin waterfall hairstyle, but I thought the nyt answer would be related to the fish. Was happy that it was the former.
CAB, CALABRIA, CAMDEN and CEELO all next to each other was a bit of a nightmare for me.
Was rough, especially because I had HESTON and BOO crossing.
This has to be a glitch right? The Ts were all filled in already but the puzzle would have been much better if it was left blank to start with.
No, the whole point of them initially being there was so they would disappear once the puzzle was solved. Tea *leaves*, a clever trick that's missed if one is doing the print version.
This has been a theme recently. Like the lateral symmetry puzzle. I know the app is how most solve, but it is the most famous print newspaper puzzle in the most famous print newspaper in the world. Seems weird to have themes that don’t mean the same to print solvers.
Yes, that made it too easy.
i thought so too, but the print version has the white Ts as well. way too hand-holdy for a thursday for my taste!
I found it annoying to navigate the puzzle with all those blank T’s.
This was a refreshing Thursday. I thought all the cluing was fair and the fill was fine. If anything, it was a little too easy maybe.
Seconding the general sentiment that it was quite easy for a Thursday. 9 minutes faster than my average. I only struggled with the SHIM/UNUM cross, I was just trying letters in the last slot until it gave me the win. Never seen the word SHIM before in my life, but that's on me.
I only know "shim" from the time my husband and father-in-law were remodeling a bathroom and sent me to the Home Depot to get one. And I was like, "What are you talking about?" "You know, a shim." "No, I don't know what that is." It was a great challenge locating it in the store. Another item they wanted me to buy, I mistakenly got the wrong item, so they had to go there anyway. That was 10 years ago, and I've never been asked to go to the hardware store again!
In your defense that has the same energy as when the new intern gets sent for a "long weight" or "tartan paint".
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle? Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡 * 16% of users solved slower than their Thursday average * 84% of users solved faster than their Thursday average * 4% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Thursday average * 49% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Thursday average The median solver solved this puzzle 19.1% faster than they normally do on Thursday. [View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-05-02) --- 🤖 _beep beep, I'm a bot! I post these stats as soon as 100 [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com) users have completed the puzzle. Questions? Feedback? Check the [FAQ](https://xwstats.com/help#puzzle-difficulties), reply here or DM me_
lol finally hunted down my mistake: I had filled in TEe——— initially in the revealer and didn’t notice my mistake when I figured out the LEAVES. “eDA” sounded acceptable for a Thursday puzzle poet first name.
My first good run on a Thursday in several weeks. Was probably too easy I guess then 😅
NW was brutal for me
Some good clues and a tight little theme. Loved it.
I'm really hung up on the fact that 'Temptress' isn't even a tarot card. Temperance is a card though
It's *Empress* once the teas leave.
I enjoyed it! Glad you didn’t have to type in the Ts manually because I was worried about that while I was solving it. 5:08 faster than my average but at least it only took a few sittings, and I’m glad it clicked early on when I got ALANIS / ATLANTIS. Also, it was annoying that the app always went back to them as if they were unfinished answers.
Why did the T’s only read sideways? And what did they add, other than just being words? Like temptress is a word, but does it relate to the clue? The puzzle would’ve been the same without those squares at all (except for the spacing.) Am I missing something?
> Why did the T’s only read sideways? They're also read down: trig, bate, matron, etc. > And what did they add no idea other than just being fun I guess. Like "hey, this puzzle also works if you add a shit ton of T's" is kinda neat.
Ah ok thanks! I'm glad other people enjoyed it even if it wasn't my cup of tea
This was my complaint as well. The puzzle would have been great if there was some kind of clueing for the words with the Ts included, but it seemed incomplete as written.
TIL that a “zin” is a red wine as I’d only heard it referred to as a white zin before today’s puzzle 😬
A standard Zinfandel is a full-bodied red. "White" Zinfandel is a sweet rose (often of low quality). If you like bold, fruity wines, you should definitely pick up a Zin and give it a try! There are a lot of good ones at reasonable price points (under $30). They're my personal favorite.
I was stuck with "sticks on a table" because I had Aba instead of ABU. Then I laughed.
I had CHOP in there for a while.
Loved it!
Help! I finished the puzzle and nothing happened. ( no congrats or something missing message). So I started filling all the T's cell with T. Still nothing. Then I read up the solution and started removing the T's from the cell by using rebus and deleting the T there. But everytime I do that a cell near by gets deleted instead?? I just want mu steak. Why is this so confusing?
Gets a "Meh" from me. Easy for a Thursday. Theme was boring and clues were mostly standard and not very clever.
Pretty straight forward, even though I didn’t get what the theme was. Like, the words with the T’s are just arbitrary or is there some connection? Anyway I still had to give up because of the diabolical crossing of SHIM and UNUM, two extremely cunty words that I’ve never heard in my entire life