Note: No Fireball or WSJ puzzles due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Have a wonderful holiday and please eat responsibly.
Ricky J. Sirois’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Average (11m58s)
Ricky J. Sirois’s New York Times crossword, 11/28/24, 1128
Today’s theme: this puzzle is stacked
- SUB / SUB / SUB stack (Digital newsletter platform)
- SHORT / SHORT / SHORT stack (Pancake order)
- HAY / HAY / HAY stack (Place to find a needle, maybe)
- SMOKE / SMOKE / SMOKE stack (Factory chimney)
Very nice. Rebus puzzles have become de rigueur on the challenging end of the spectrum over the last ~ten years, so it’s always nice to see a grid that pulls off the curveball. It reminds me of Paolo Pasco’s “Groupthink” Fireball puzzle from 2018 (see here).
Cracking: PIED A TERRE, which is French for “Terry’s foot”
Slacking: cluing ILSA as anyone other than Ingrid Bergman
Sidetracking: speaking of Bogey et al — Key LARGO blew up the keys long before the Beach Boys were singing about fictional islands in the Caribbean
NYT: I loved it :)
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.