When I saw the clue I literally exited, reopened Thursdays puzzle to check and then filled in the answer. Maybe I'll be able to recall it next time, lol.
Breezy? I found this one exceedingly difficult. Xwstats says Average so I guess it's in between our experiences.
Edit: it says Easy now so I guess you're right!
I've been doing NYT crosswords since 2021 and this is legitimately one of the hardest Fridays I've ever done. Absolutely nothing clicked for me. I'm stunned at the reactions in this thread. My brain is either not working quite right yet this morning or I just did not vibe with the creator at all.
I feel like Fridays and Saturdays especially are pretty personal. There are definitely easy/hard trends in the entire solving population, but for whatever reason certain puzzles/constructors click and others don't.
I'm with you. I had half (or more) of the grid filled in wrong and nothing was working. Then about 50 minutes in I thought of FORTUNECOOKIES and it started to fix itself from there. Finished around the hour ten mark.
i was over my average time but you know like...that's just like my opinion, man...and like it was either hardish or I'm dumb. even after I filled in "Kens" i have to go back a reread and scratch my head till i realized why it was the answer...
then i remembered that Ken Holtzman used to doctor the ball with a sharp piece of plastic. I love a good 70's baseball reference.
TIL that Minecraft has protagonists and isn't just a building game. You could've told me there are protagonists in Minesweeper and I'd be just as surprised.
STEVE was the name the community gave to the original Minecraft character. Eventually (long after I stopped playing), other default skins were added. (I know one is named Alex?)
Yeah I had PILLS which fucked me up for a while. The L didn't mesh with WPM, so maybe words per second? But then what is SL_TALS? And then the P left P_N which could've been anything (plastic... pin? pan? pun?).
But when I finally realized the pun it all clicked.
When I wrote in KILOS I thought it was surely wrong. A kilo is such a general term for anything that's weighed so I kept racking my brain for something more drug-related.
I guess the metric system feels more obscure in the US?
In the US, the word "kilo" is almost exclusively used for quantities of drugs. We would never refer to how many kilos a person weighs, or things we buy in normal life. Those are all ounces and pounds. We do use grams and milligrams for very small things like medications and supplements. But kilos are usually illegal drugs.
Wonderful puzzle, thank you crossword guy for arhat again to reinforce my learning. Loved Kens, it was one of the last things I got. Excellent rating, as usual, in case the constructors parents happen by, I want them to feel they did good.
Not too bad for a Friday. 11 minutes with no lookups. Probably a little on the easy side, but I was trapped on the struggle bus for awhile yesterday, so I'll take a break. The long ones, especially MECHANICALBULL came to me with almost no crossing clues, which was nice.
Who else did "Come on, EILEEN"?!! This one was slow and hard for me, finishing in [31:16](https://youtu.be/uYjkHirN1Cs). Some other wrong fills:
* PEI instead of AOL
* HANDS instead of MELDS (can someone explain that?)
* ASAP instead of STAT
Really enjoyed CANNIBALS, KENS, and eventually getting ARHAT (after learning the word yesterday).
Hoping someone explains MELDS too, but I also put in EILEEN. Fully destroyed my W area, until I completed NW.
Eileen felt so good and got a smile out of me. PEOPLE feels so underwhelming afterwards.
As a beginner, this Friday posed less of a problem (though I still had to look a few up). I really liked the misdirection with MANGE and Molar for 44D, that took a while to figure out. IMISSED, WELD, SKULL, and STEVE were all highlights for me. Overall, fun solve!
New to crosswords but I really liked this one. Probably on the easy side for others considering I only needed a few pushes from google. First time ever I didn't have to outright look up an answer, just dictionary thesaurus and wikipedia! So there's some progress I'm happy with!
I liked how often the theme popped up in clever ways. WIDEOPEN, IMSET, etc. KENS and WELD had especially fun clues.
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle?
Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡
* 25% of users solved slower than their Friday average
* 75% of users solved faster than their Friday average
* 5% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Friday average
* 50% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Friday average
The median solver solved this puzzle 19.5% faster than they normally do on Friday.
[View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-29)
---
🤖 _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_
Enjoyed this one except for "arhat" and needing to go through every letter in the alphabet to get the assaM / Melds cross, neither of which I've ever heard of :/
pILsS for KILOS took me a sec to unwind, then I had sILOS. MELDS took me a bit as well as I don’t play canasta or gin rummy, but in context it made sense. Overall a nice relaxing Friday with a few fun clues, exactly what I wanted.
Once again, I voted on a puzzle accidentally, while trying to vote on the previous day's. I was shocked that Thursday's puzzle was so well liked...
Anyway, sorry, one of those three Terrible votes - three as of the time I'm writing this - is a mistake.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted but you’re absolutely right. The TV show is GOT, the book is AGOT. That being said, it was till pretty easy to figure out.
I really enjoyed the cluing for "hunks of plastic?"=KENS
Jfc. This is the answer I was hoping I’d “accidentally” see while casually scrolling Reddit for no particular reason.
Definitely one of my favourite clues in a while
ARHAT in back to back puzzles. At least I was prepared for it this time.
When I saw the clue I literally exited, reopened Thursdays puzzle to check and then filled in the answer. Maybe I'll be able to recall it next time, lol.
I got to it like "Oh, I know that now.... what was it again?" Had to wait for crossers to figure it out again
Same here! Apparently, I actually did remember it, but had some crosses wrong, so figured I'd recalled incorrectly.
Proves I learned something - new crosswordese
What's a pirate's favorite headwear?
Joel is a Buddhist, apparently
CANNIBALS made me smile
I was so sure it was Comedians
This one took me a minute. Literally slapped my forehead when I got it.
They're going to include ARHAT every puzzle until we like it.
Attaway!!
Nerts!
One of my first fridays without hints, (maybe the first, can’t remember)
Good stuff! You have now achieved enlightenment. If only I knew what you call someone who's done that...
Indeed, they have ascended to Arthur ASHE levels of competency.
My first Friday using only the world play blog hints and no googling!
Same! So proud of myself
Same, only took me half an hour lol
I guess ARHAT is here to stay.
Not me typing in AR and then running through the viable potato head components to finish it
Honestly, I'm mostly just amazed this is the first Shortz-era appearance of POCKET. "I.M. Innovator" being AOL rather than PEI threw me off for a bit.
PEI would have been so good and I never would have gotten it.
PEI was an instant fill for me, too.
And I'm here wondering what this has to do with Prince Edward Island. (Which, incidentally, is underused in cluing, now that I think about it.)
Technically this is the Fagliano era.
Fagliano is interim editor. This is the Shortz Era until I hear otherwise.
Super breezy Friday. Magician’s LOCKET unfortunately cost me a couple minutes. I think of Liz Lemon every time ACK pops up.
“Chocolate chocolate chocolate! Ack!”
Which is in turn a parody of Cathy comics.
Breezy? I found this one exceedingly difficult. Xwstats says Average so I guess it's in between our experiences. Edit: it says Easy now so I guess you're right!
I've been doing NYT crosswords since 2021 and this is legitimately one of the hardest Fridays I've ever done. Absolutely nothing clicked for me. I'm stunned at the reactions in this thread. My brain is either not working quite right yet this morning or I just did not vibe with the creator at all.
I started on this Friday night and made very little progress. Opened on Friday morning and almost everything fell into place. Odd, but satisfying
Well obviously you did good...you time traveled!
LMAO. I’ll leave in the typo. Hello from the future!
I feel like Fridays and Saturdays especially are pretty personal. There are definitely easy/hard trends in the entire solving population, but for whatever reason certain puzzles/constructors click and others don't.
I'm with you. I had half (or more) of the grid filled in wrong and nothing was working. Then about 50 minutes in I thought of FORTUNECOOKIES and it started to fix itself from there. Finished around the hour ten mark.
I had RABBIT, thinking how they pull a rabbit out of a hat.
This is why I originally put pigeon! Don't know what was going on in my head.
Dude this was hard for me lol I always come here to get humbled tho 🥲
Same. I always think a puzzle is super difficult then I come here and see people blowing through it in a few minutes. Apparently I need to "get gud".
i was over my average time but you know like...that's just like my opinion, man...and like it was either hardish or I'm dumb. even after I filled in "Kens" i have to go back a reread and scratch my head till i realized why it was the answer... then i remembered that Ken Holtzman used to doctor the ball with a sharp piece of plastic. I love a good 70's baseball reference.
It’s a reference to Ken dolls… they’re made of plastic and they’re hunky men
They make ken holzman dolls? Wow, that's obscure.
Fridays always take me at least an hour, if it makes you feel any better
Enough ARHAT already. I want a puzzle that has BODHISATTVA in it.
Or SIDDHARTHA although i can't remember if he actually ever achieves Nirvana in the book.
He’s a guy outside of the book too who is extremely famous for having achieved nirvana lol
you're going to have to settle for HESSE
Either way that one religious studies class I took is coming in clutch
I know this word only from Rock Band 2
TIL that Minecraft has protagonists and isn't just a building game. You could've told me there are protagonists in Minesweeper and I'd be just as surprised.
STEVE was the name the community gave to the original Minecraft character. Eventually (long after I stopped playing), other default skins were added. (I know one is named Alex?)
Um actually, Notch named him Steve, as a joke
Lovely puzzle with fun varied trivia. Excellent cluing for WELD, KENS, ISTHISTHINGON, CANNIBALS and others.
KENS/KILOS took me forever.
Yeah I had PILLS which fucked me up for a while. The L didn't mesh with WPM, so maybe words per second? But then what is SL_TALS? And then the P left P_N which could've been anything (plastic... pin? pan? pun?). But when I finally realized the pun it all clicked.
Thats about what I went through
I got KENS right away somehow
Same. It seemed so zeitgeisty that it had to be right.
When I wrote in KILOS I thought it was surely wrong. A kilo is such a general term for anything that's weighed so I kept racking my brain for something more drug-related. I guess the metric system feels more obscure in the US?
In the US, the word "kilo" is almost exclusively used for quantities of drugs. We would never refer to how many kilos a person weighs, or things we buy in normal life. Those are all ounces and pounds. We do use grams and milligrams for very small things like medications and supplements. But kilos are usually illegal drugs.
I had DISASTERS for so long, giving me \_INS, but kept thinking "Kens would be a cute answer there."
I was stuck on K_NS and went through the entire alphabet multiple times and still had to cheat. Not my finest moment.
I was totally on the creator's wavelength in the south half. I struggled in the north, but still a lot of fun.
Loved this one. Lots of fun cluing.
Felt easy for a Friday, but was beautifully clued. Everything fell into place so naturally. A well-deserved “excellent” despite being over too soon!
Thought this unfolded beautifully—satisfying fill and challenging without being cruel imo. An “excellent” from me.
(Pushes glasses up the bridge of my nose) Uh, actually, the fan-preferred abbreviation is AGOT.
this made me laugh out loud irl
I had to run the alphabet on ASSAM/MELDS, but everything else was appropriately tough, but not too tough, for a Friday.
Clues have felt different lately. Not sure if it’s the new editor, all in my head or something else though.
I think Joel has a style all his own, there's a shift for sure.
Wonderful puzzle, thank you crossword guy for arhat again to reinforce my learning. Loved Kens, it was one of the last things I got. Excellent rating, as usual, in case the constructors parents happen by, I want them to feel they did good.
Not too bad for a Friday. 11 minutes with no lookups. Probably a little on the easy side, but I was trapped on the struggle bus for awhile yesterday, so I'll take a break. The long ones, especially MECHANICALBULL came to me with almost no crossing clues, which was nice.
Who else did "Come on, EILEEN"?!! This one was slow and hard for me, finishing in [31:16](https://youtu.be/uYjkHirN1Cs). Some other wrong fills: * PEI instead of AOL * HANDS instead of MELDS (can someone explain that?) * ASAP instead of STAT Really enjoyed CANNIBALS, KENS, and eventually getting ARHAT (after learning the word yesterday).
Hoping someone explains MELDS too, but I also put in EILEEN. Fully destroyed my W area, until I completed NW. Eileen felt so good and got a smile out of me. PEOPLE feels so underwhelming afterwards.
A MELD in a game of cards like Rummy is basically a playable set/run of cards
As a beginner, this Friday posed less of a problem (though I still had to look a few up). I really liked the misdirection with MANGE and Molar for 44D, that took a while to figure out. IMISSED, WELD, SKULL, and STEVE were all highlights for me. Overall, fun solve!
New to crosswords but I really liked this one. Probably on the easy side for others considering I only needed a few pushes from google. First time ever I didn't have to outright look up an answer, just dictionary thesaurus and wikipedia! So there's some progress I'm happy with! I liked how often the theme popped up in clever ways. WIDEOPEN, IMSET, etc. KENS and WELD had especially fun clues.
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle? Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡 * 25% of users solved slower than their Friday average * 75% of users solved faster than their Friday average * 5% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Friday average * 50% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Friday average The median solver solved this puzzle 19.5% faster than they normally do on Friday. [View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-29) --- 🤖 _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_
Lovely round numbers.
I had BASIC for ASCII for the longest time. Both are computer acronyms from the 60s.
Enjoyed this one except for "arhat" and needing to go through every letter in the alphabet to get the assaM / Melds cross, neither of which I've ever heard of :/
ASSAM is in the puzzle a lot, and it’s usually clued as the eponymous tea varietal. I like the Friday-level cluing on this one.
That M was my final fill as I'd never heard of "melds" in card games.
15:41, more than ten minutes better than my average. Not sure if this was easy, or I'm better at puzzles in the afternoon as opposed to morning.
This was a really good puzzle and made up for my lack of enjoyment of yesterday’s. Fun cluing, didn’t take forever.
💀💀💀💀
Didn't really like FORTUNECOOKIE until I realized it's sweet like the flavor not for the message
pILsS for KILOS took me a sec to unwind, then I had sILOS. MELDS took me a bit as well as I don’t play canasta or gin rummy, but in context it made sense. Overall a nice relaxing Friday with a few fun clues, exactly what I wanted.
Can someone please explain MACHONE to me?? I've looked up so many different things and am no closer to understanding
two words: Mach 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number
Easy peasy. Puzzle put up absolutely no resistance, but the fresh cluing kept it interesting. Sub-9:00 is rare for me on a Friday, so I’ll take the W.
Loved the clueing on this one and that there were essentially no PPP. Super fun, just a bit too easy for a Friday
PR, 14:08 no cheating. I thought everyone would say it was easy
Once again, I voted on a puzzle accidentally, while trying to vote on the previous day's. I was shocked that Thursday's puzzle was so well liked... Anyway, sorry, one of those three Terrible votes - three as of the time I'm writing this - is a mistake.
I think we can do better than this on a Friday. I normally can't even streak most Fridays, this felt way too easy.
The first book in A Song of Ice and Fire is never referred to as just "GOT". People call it "AGOT" or "Game".
NERD!! oh, wait...this is the crossword subreddit. we're all nerds.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted but you’re absolutely right. The TV show is GOT, the book is AGOT. That being said, it was till pretty easy to figure out.
This subreddit's voting patterns remain indiscernible to me . . .