Saturday, March 22, 2025, Katie Hoody

This was a doozy! It started out easy, with DADA (Style of Duchamp's so-called "readymades"), DONTMOVEAMUSCLE ("Stay still!"), and even the guessable ETON (____ blue (original team color of the Chelsea Football Club)) and ANTOINETTE (____ of Bourbon, grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots). But the CONTROLLEDCHAOS (It's not as random as it seems) at the bottom of the grid was like a TICKINGTIMEBOMB (Plot device in some suspense thrillers). 

I initially guessed shoES for "They come with strings attached," and from that entered smU for "The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf." I have never known anything about college sports. If it weren't for Doug Flutie I might not even know that it's the Boston College Eagles. Anyhooo... I could remember hearing other English actresses talking about ELLIE Bamber, so that helped put a few letters in, but still it was a long time before I would figure out that "Cry before a shot" was SMILE. And me, a photographer! On the other hand, I was thinking as a photographer when I read "You might sit for one," but no, this time it's babysitting a KID! Hah!

Another slowdown was entering sidES instead of EDGES for "Pentagon quintet." I did not remember the ICEPALACE (Massive hockey arena in St. Petersburg, Russia) until it was forced on me by DRAGONCON (Annual Atlanta gathering of sci-fi/gaming fans) and the excellent DAISIES (Links in a certain chain). And then it was SODA (Pop) that finally squared the pentagon clue.

I've seen mis-directions like "Angled for attention?: Abbr." before, but did it help me to think straight and enter ITAL? No, it didn't. See also: "Cream alternative." I was seeing all kinds of plant-based milks, but not the color ECRU! And how about "Way-out fun?" (MAZE). Wow. Took me a long time to get into that one! 

Overall, I loved it. What did you think about it, Kelly? ;)

- Horace

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, Hanh Huynh

Another lovely Tuesday puzzle. I was rolling right along in this one, minding my own business, when I got to that SE corner and found three clues so good I had to write about them. 

Nine to five, for example - RATIO
A red one is rare - STEAK
and
Make two dos, say? - TRANSLATE

Nice! 

The revealer, IMSHOOK ("This news has got me rattled!" ... or a hint to...") (An all-too-common phrase these days), is a fun one. I was a photographer who used 4x5 Polaroid film for about twenty years, and I never shook them - I rubbed them between my palms, but I have seen that shake, so I'm not complaining. And does a TAMBOURINE really "jingle?" Maybe so... and people definitely shake those. Sometimes rather too much. :)

There's a little bit of an unfortunate cross in OHHI/OHYOU, but, hey, I came here to write about it because I enjoyed it. Did you?

- Horace

Tuesday, February 18, 2025, Erik Agard

I had to come back to say a few words about this puzzle. And those words are: I loved it. 

This is pretty much a perfect theme, executed perfectly. The first three themers: ICANTBELIEVEYOU, WHODOESTHAT, and THEAUDACITY, all clued with "Seriously?!," seemed like a solid theme all on their own, but then when I hit the last "Seriously?!" clue and understood what was going on, I laughed out loud. 

And for a theme like this, on a Tuesday, I am willing to look the other way when 1A is ROH ("Ruh-____!" (Astro's "Yikes!")(Maybe part of the "Seriously?!" theme?). TAE (____ kwon do) is another partial, but aside from that, the fill is solid. And I liked the Indigenous American mini-theme: "918 or 539, on the Cherokee Nation" (AREACODE), "Important powwow figure" (HEADDANCER), and "New Mexico site of the largest radioactive accident in U.S. history" (CHURCHROCK) (this CRISIS polluted the water source for Navaho Nation). 

I had missteps at "Emphatic rejection" (HECKNO) (I tried something a little stronger) and "Enough already! I'll do it!" (OKOK) (tried OKay), but other than it went pretty smoothly. 

Lastly, I liked "Ones vowing payback?" for IOUS.

Excellent puzzle.

- Horace

Saturday, June 1, 2024, Thank You

The first Saturday puzzle I reviewed in this blog, on March 16, 2013, took Frannie and me, working together, an hour and thirty-three minutes to finish. In April of that year we spent nearly four hours on a David Steinberg puzzle before taking a D.N.F. Today's Saturday puzzle, which I solved alone with coffee, was done in thirteen minutes. 

Over these ten-plus years, Frannie and I have both become faster solvers. Whether Colum, who started blogging with us in 2015, or Philbo, who started last year, have gotten any faster, it's hard to say, because each was lightning fast to begin with. 

Solve times are a touchy subject. One reason I started this blog was to give a different perspective, to give average solvers a place to go where they wouldn't hear the jaded grumblings of someone who can finish near the top of most crossword tournaments. (Yes, I realize that Amy Reynaldo also finishes near the top of most tournaments. I love her blog, Diary of a Crossword Fiend. We link to it on the sidebar.) I haven't written this before, but I started this as an alternative to Rex Parker. His was one of the first blogs I ran across, and I found it to be petty and sour. I won't say I've never sounded that way myself - I have more than once told the story of when I met Bruce Haight for the first time, after having savaged a stunt puzzle of his, and how he changed my mind about constructing and made me regret my angry post (Sorry - and thanks - again, Bruce) - but I think that for the most part, we have tried to present a balanced viewpoint.

But back to solve times. During one of the breaks at the 2016 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, I started talking with another contestant in the hallway. We chatted for a bit, and I asked him how he was doing so far. He said the same thing I probably said to him, something like "Oh, I think I'm doing ok. I just hope I haven't made any stupid mistakes." I took note of his name, and when I had a chance to look at the leader board, I tried to find him. Turns out I didn't have to look very hard, because his name was Howard Barkin and he was sitting in third place. I found him again on Saturday night (he would win the tournament on Sunday) and I asked him more about solving so quickly. He seemed almost apologetic about the speed, saying that he wished he could go back to the way it used to be, to when he just solved for the joy of solving and didn't worry about moving on to the next clue so quickly. 

Some of my favorite memories in life involve a crossword puzzle clipped to a clipboard, being passed around on the porch on a lazy vacation morning. I can just hear my brother handing it to me saying "see if you can get 47-Across, I've filled in a few letters for you." or my dad asking "How do you know that?" to one of us. I will continue to marvel at the novel themes, and I will always smile at a clever clue, but for the next few months, I won't be writing about them. We here at HAFDTNYTCPFCA have decided to take the summer off. Tomorrow I will turn off the timer feature on the NYTX app, and I will try to just solve for the sheer enjoyment of solving a puzzle. In September, we will see if we miss the blogging, and if we do, maybe we'll start up again, but I cannot make any promises at this time. 

Thank you, Frannie, Colum, and Philbo, for agreeing to write reviews with me. Thank you to all our readers. To those of you who took the time to comment (Kelly, Jim, Huygens, and others), we give you an extra thank you. But even if you have only lurked, we appreciate that you have taken the time to visit us, and we wish you all happy solving.

- Horace

p.s. If you would like to contact me about the blog, or anything at all, please feel free to email at thomas.lingner@gmail.com. Thanks again for reading. I wish you all a sunny, peaceful, happy summer.

- Tom

Friday, May 31, 2024, Aidan Deshong

I liked the look of this grid when I first opened it up - its chunky corners and that odd rectangular middle section looked new to me. And the fact that grids, just by themselves, can still look new and interesting after over a decade of doing and writing about puzzles, well, that's a good thing.

Sometimes, when a grid looks daunting, and yeah, I thought this one looked a little bit that way, I feel like the clues can get a little easier to help you get started. Today's CAPTCHA (One might read "Select all images with bicycles") seemed a little too much so.

"Ones dealing with joint inflammation?" (STONERS) was cute. And "Like many opera lovers" (SERENADED) was very nice. At first I was thinking about lovers of the opera, but it's the lovers in the opera. Heh.

"Dessert that rarely lives up to its name" (TART) was sadly true. But a good rhubarb TART ... that might make Aidan Deshong happy.

Trickiest trio today - "Rings" (PEALS), "Beat" (TIRED), and "Sick" (DOPE). But nothing was too, too tough, as I was done in just over ten minutes.

- Horace

Thursday, May 30, 2024, Royce Ferguson

The outer edges of this slightly taller than normal 15x16 puzzle are stretched even more by the inclusion of four rebus squares. THEWALLSHAVEEARS as the revealer tells us, and it's true - "Routine damage" is W[EAR]ANDT[EAR], "Cry from a town crier" is, of course, H[EAR]YEH[EAR]YE, "Open and honest conversation" is a H[EAR]TTOH[EAR]RT, and - the trickiest of the four, I think, was remembering the "Investment bank that folded in 2008" (B[EAR]ST[EAR]NS). Of course, by that time you're looking for two ears in the middle, so it wasn't really all that hard. In fact, I'd say this puzzle played on the easy side. I was just over nine minutes, but I never really felt held up anywhere.

Well, I said I didn't get hung up, but I initially entered nevER for [EAR]LIER (Not now or later), and I tried to cram "iridesce" in where OPALESCE (Shimmer with an array of colors) belonged. 

Nice nod to our Canadian friends (Hi Philbo!) with "Bird on the Canadian dollar coin" (LOON). And perhaps with the "French homophone of 'haut'" (EAU). 

It's nice how JANEROE and ATECROW rhyme side by side there... and what the heck is a PREGAP?

- Horace

Wednesday, May 29, 2024, Jeanne Breen and Jeff Chen

Erstwhile blogger Jeff Chen teams up with Jeanne Breen on this RECIPEFOR DISASTER themed puzzle. Three mixed drinks named for destructive natural phenomena - or are they just referring to the effects of the mixed drinks themselves? - make up the theme material:

MUDSLIDE - Vodka + coffee liqueur + Irish cream + heavy cream
HURRICANE - Light rum + dark rum + orange juice + passion fruit syrup
FLAMING VOLCANO - Rum + brandy + pineapple juice + orange juice + orgeat syrup + fire

Orgeat syrup, by the way, is made from almonds and sugar, with a little rosewater or orange flower water. Originally, it included barley too, and it is from this now absent ingredient that it gets its name, as orge means "barley" in French.

SMOLDER (Do a slow burn), MEASLY (Skimpy), SLEUTH (Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot), and COPSE (Small group of trees) are all nice entries. "Hard knocks?" was cute for RAPS, and I thought "I can't think with all this racket!" was an interesting way to clue QUIET. 

Overall, an enjoyable solve.

- Horace