this is the thread where we complain about the new york times crossword puzzle

Tracer: I'll complain that the Sundays are surprisingly boring and tedious considering their fame.

Saturday's NYT puzzle is really the hardest for me, because the answers are longer words. I can do it maybe 50% of the time. Monday-Thursday I can almost always solve, Friday about 70%. Sunday takes longer, but I can usually do it easier than Saturday's.

My complaints for this week are: "dais" twice in a row, with practically the same clue, what's next, "microphone's environs"?

I catch this thread a year after the fact, and wowee: I totally remember this one! I really enjoyed it! One of those dramatic Thursdays where figuring out the theme opens up a whole new world. It's like the moment in action movies where the hero's getting his ass kicked by an unstoppable creature and then suddenly the geek calls in and says "it's fire, he's only vulnerable to fire," and then the hero turns around all refreshed and lays his smack down.

plus did the circled spaces actually spell anything? i feel like there was something i was missing

the circles were "crossings", as in down-clue crossing the across-clue (or vice versa, I forget).

"columbus" was the first of those that i got, and i was all like "aha! columbus circle!" but no. i liked that. but then the circles proved to mean 0. i even took the circled letters and tried to anagramatize them, but they make nothing.

i obv thought "tee" at first, but then that makes the clue that goes through it "Big Eest" .. "Big East", surely?

WTF, Shortz?

Am I the only one who's a bit skeptical about this?

SLAWS may be the funniest word.

The Nintendo DS NTY Xword game is pretty sweet bcz you can have a friend (w/no cartridge even!) share a game & you solve the crossword together, each collaborating on yr own DS's screen. So much better than trying to arm in over each others' arms and omelettes and coffee while mutually solving.

Some of my favorite times have been tackling the xword with friends at a diner.

that "slaws" clue STILL has the power to bother me. more than three years later

i finally had coleslaw on a burger, yesterday - it was great - but no matter how many bowls of different peoples' coleslaw was out there, it would all just be "slaw"

the plural of "slaw", in other words, is "slaw"

Not if you had multiple kinds of slaw.

Hurting otm

No, different kinds of slaw results in "slaw", you can trust me on this

slawz

slols

slaws are made 2 be broken

fwiw tracer i have been trying to figure out what they mustve actually meant myself for like 5 minutes now

If you were at a slaw tasting, you would be asked "Which of the slaws do you like best?" not "Which of the SLAW do you like best?"

"which slaw do you like the best"

he is correct imo

BTW, did you know that "coleslaw" literally means "curly slave" in German?

if i was at a slaw tasting i'd look out over the long rows of tables, all laden with heaped platters of vinegary cabbage, and say softly to myself in awe, "that's a lot of slaw"

xpost: no, that is fantastic

no, I made that up

'Ah done reckon I'm hanckerin' for a slaw somrgasbord yee haw rootin' tootin' frick frackin' slinga-ling-dongin' hogwarshed guldurned rabbit!"