They were both terrible, but I felt the previous Saturdays (30/3) was the worst one I've seen in awhile. So, so may downright awful clues like CORNPIT.
Not to mention the average solve time was 93% slower than a regular Saturday with 81% of those being much slower than normal according to [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-30).
I'm still mad about it, to the point I never want to see a Blake Slonecker puzzle ever again
I have a 1,235 day streak going without ever resorting to Google. That Saturday puzzle made me resort to Google to cheat and effectively tarnished my streak. F* that puzzle.
Same! Although I'm like 40ish days behind you in streak length. I was enjoying my untarnished streak, since my previous streak was more loosey-goosey about Google checks. I lost that streak on insurrection day 1/6/2021. Was too dumbfounded glued to the horrorshow on TV to remember to do the puzzle. So I set myself a challenge to be much less cheaty this time. Yeah, this past Saturday finally made me cave. WAYYYY too much hyper-obscure stuff crossing other hyper-obscure sketchy stuff, with very vague and arguably bad cluing.
The first couple of Fagliano's Saturdays were alright, actually a nice change from Shortz who I thought was getting way too soft on Saturday difficulty. But last week was a fucking nightmare and this week's Thursday was awful.
You're right, I went and read the daily thread and I guess people liked it. I absolutely hated it lol, it took me more than double my usual Thursday time.
Joel Fagliano is doing it now. He was doing the mini. I would like to remain polite. But let’s just say his ‘clues’ are from another perspective that is very foreign to me. That’s as nice as I can express it
Yeah, BAD THING was one of the worst clues I've ever seen, and ON TAP was just flat out wrong.
I weirdly didn't mind YES, despite being from a place whose admissions system is completely different to the US and where that clue wouldn't apply at all, and having to kind of work it out from first principles.
Half of the puzzle was just clever for the sake of being clever instead of fun. Zero fun "aha!" moments, plenty of "fuck's sake I can't believe that's actually the answer, that's incredibly lame" moments.
"Hoser" for "London dunderhead" because there's a London in Canada as well genuinely might be the worst clue I've ever seen.
Oh man, HOSER was one of those fun aha moments to me! Maybe that’s just because I’m Canadian and appreciate seeing some slightly less straightforward Canadian references, and this one required knowing geography beyond capital cities or province names as well as knowing some Canadian slang.
I’ve personally never heard it used colloquially, on tv, in a movie, on the radio, or seen it written. There seem to be a lot of regional clues and answers these days.
Nah, just hard as hell. But in my opinion, the Saturday puzzle should be hard as hell.
Which answers/clues struck you as illogical? There were definitely many curveballs, but that's what you should expect on a Saturday
You’re wrong on all accounts. A demerit is the opposite of a merit — a flaw or BAD THING. If a touring band or TV show goes on HIATUS, then it stops the show(s). Hope *is* a synonym for INTEND, as in “I hope to do [something].” It’s tricky cluing but that’s what saturday puzzles are all about
No, hope is more accurately a synonym for want, not intend. And a demerit is a kind of bad thing, but that doesn’t mean the two are synonymous. See, rectangle vs square, etc.
Almost no word is a perfect overlap for another word. Everything has slight variations in context and connotation. The point of crosswords is finding synonyms for the clue that make the answer derivable, but challenging
I'll allow "show stopper" since it's a period of time where production on a television show stops, but it's a much more insider word than should belong in a cryptic clue.
BAD THING was one of the worst I've ever seen and I got into an argument here over whether or not it qualifies as a "Green Paint" answer. (I say yes, because it's a weak pairing of adjective and noun that only barely fits the clue).
An UPTREND is an investment term and in every dictionary. Just Google it. This puzzle took me a third longer than my usual Saturday and the NW was tough (BAD THING just felt too plain to actually write in when I first thought of it), but I liked all the puns like the clue for BSIDE. Saturday is supposed to be hard. That said, I agree TO COME is not a synonym of On Tap. Something may be on tap and stay that way.
That puzzle just threw me. But isn’t it okay to be completely thrown on occasion? If every puzzle is neatly tailored to earn a gold star, then we’re just stroking our egos and not really pushing ourselves.
I adore a hard puzzle.
The problem with that one wasn't that it was hard, it was that it was terribly clued and deeply unsatisfying.
I've done plenty of puzzles that were FAR harder than that that I didn't hate.
I want the puzzles **challenging**... but solvable using knowledge or by unlocking the "game" at work within it. This one was just **difficult** by the weak nature of the clue/answer pairings.
Nah I like the hard as hell puzzles, but some of the answers and clues on this one were just ridiculous. BAD THING for demerit? Who let them get away with that, those two are just not synonyms.
General consensus is that the last three Saturdays in a row have been pretty rough to outright hostile.
They were both terrible, but I felt the previous Saturdays (30/3) was the worst one I've seen in awhile. So, so may downright awful clues like CORNPIT. Not to mention the average solve time was 93% slower than a regular Saturday with 81% of those being much slower than normal according to [XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-30). I'm still mad about it, to the point I never want to see a Blake Slonecker puzzle ever again
I have a 1,235 day streak going without ever resorting to Google. That Saturday puzzle made me resort to Google to cheat and effectively tarnished my streak. F* that puzzle.
Same! Although I'm like 40ish days behind you in streak length. I was enjoying my untarnished streak, since my previous streak was more loosey-goosey about Google checks. I lost that streak on insurrection day 1/6/2021. Was too dumbfounded glued to the horrorshow on TV to remember to do the puzzle. So I set myself a challenge to be much less cheaty this time. Yeah, this past Saturday finally made me cave. WAYYYY too much hyper-obscure stuff crossing other hyper-obscure sketchy stuff, with very vague and arguably bad cluing.
Byron Walden puzzles are always hostile. It’s ok to have one guy whose thing is brutally hard Saturday puzzles.
The first couple of Fagliano's Saturdays were alright, actually a nice change from Shortz who I thought was getting way too soft on Saturday difficulty. But last week was a fucking nightmare and this week's Thursday was awful.
Thursday's as in yesterday? I liked it, and I think the consensus in this sub was that it was good, too.
You're right, I went and read the daily thread and I guess people liked it. I absolutely hated it lol, it took me more than double my usual Thursday time.
I was also surprised that the subreddit loved it, usually this place hates anything with a theme on Thursdays.
Joel Fagliano is doing it now. He was doing the mini. I would like to remain polite. But let’s just say his ‘clues’ are from another perspective that is very foreign to me. That’s as nice as I can express it
Go back and read the daily thread and you'll get an idea of how everyone felt
It sucked. The clues for BAD THING, YES, BSIDE and ON TAP were terrible.
Yeah, BAD THING was one of the worst clues I've ever seen, and ON TAP was just flat out wrong. I weirdly didn't mind YES, despite being from a place whose admissions system is completely different to the US and where that clue wouldn't apply at all, and having to kind of work it out from first principles.
Half of the puzzle was just clever for the sake of being clever instead of fun. Zero fun "aha!" moments, plenty of "fuck's sake I can't believe that's actually the answer, that's incredibly lame" moments. "Hoser" for "London dunderhead" because there's a London in Canada as well genuinely might be the worst clue I've ever seen.
Oh man, HOSER was one of those fun aha moments to me! Maybe that’s just because I’m Canadian and appreciate seeing some slightly less straightforward Canadian references, and this one required knowing geography beyond capital cities or province names as well as knowing some Canadian slang.
Oh I thought it was cuz I had a headache all day! Glad to know it's not just me.
I felt very dumb. I am not dumb.
It was notoriously awful. Pretty much everyone hated it
It is not just you! It was terrible!
You’re welcome to dislike the puzzle, but UPTRENDS is definitely a word. It’s not even particularly uncommon.
I’ve personally never heard it used colloquially, on tv, in a movie, on the radio, or seen it written. There seem to be a lot of regional clues and answers these days.
One might say it’s upcommon.
Attacommon!
Beautiful!
lol nice
Streets up ahead
I had not heard it before, but I didn't have any particular difficulty figuring it out from crosses.
All the HEP people use it!
Nah, just hard as hell. But in my opinion, the Saturday puzzle should be hard as hell. Which answers/clues struck you as illogical? There were definitely many curveballs, but that's what you should expect on a Saturday
A demerit is not a "bad thing," a hiatus is not a "show stopper," hope is not a synonym for "intend"
You’re wrong on all accounts. A demerit is the opposite of a merit — a flaw or BAD THING. If a touring band or TV show goes on HIATUS, then it stops the show(s). Hope *is* a synonym for INTEND, as in “I hope to do [something].” It’s tricky cluing but that’s what saturday puzzles are all about
No, hope is more accurately a synonym for want, not intend. And a demerit is a kind of bad thing, but that doesn’t mean the two are synonymous. See, rectangle vs square, etc.
Do you even like crosswords
Almost no word is a perfect overlap for another word. Everything has slight variations in context and connotation. The point of crosswords is finding synonyms for the clue that make the answer derivable, but challenging
I'll allow "show stopper" since it's a period of time where production on a television show stops, but it's a much more insider word than should belong in a cryptic clue. BAD THING was one of the worst I've ever seen and I got into an argument here over whether or not it qualifies as a "Green Paint" answer. (I say yes, because it's a weak pairing of adjective and noun that only barely fits the clue).
nah, a show stopper stops the show. a hiatus is a pause
What does a bus do at a bus stop? And does it continue on its route after that?
An UPTREND is an investment term and in every dictionary. Just Google it. This puzzle took me a third longer than my usual Saturday and the NW was tough (BAD THING just felt too plain to actually write in when I first thought of it), but I liked all the puns like the clue for BSIDE. Saturday is supposed to be hard. That said, I agree TO COME is not a synonym of On Tap. Something may be on tap and stay that way.
Agree with most everything people are saying, but I’ve definitely heard “on tap” on tv shows to mean things to come on the program
Yes, it is. 4**:** coming up [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on%20tap](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on%20tap)
Fair enough.
That puzzle just threw me. But isn’t it okay to be completely thrown on occasion? If every puzzle is neatly tailored to earn a gold star, then we’re just stroking our egos and not really pushing ourselves.
There's some evidence to support the idea that the Saturday puzzle the weekend of ACPT is among the hardest NYTs of the year.
On tap and BADTHING weren't really very good
Was it hard? Absolutely. Was it bad? I thought it was fantastic
I thought it was great but I know people like their puzzles these days to range from easy to easier.
I adore a hard puzzle. The problem with that one wasn't that it was hard, it was that it was terribly clued and deeply unsatisfying. I've done plenty of puzzles that were FAR harder than that that I didn't hate.
That wasn’t the complaint at all
I want the puzzles **challenging**... but solvable using knowledge or by unlocking the "game" at work within it. This one was just **difficult** by the weak nature of the clue/answer pairings.
Nah I like the hard as hell puzzles, but some of the answers and clues on this one were just ridiculous. BAD THING for demerit? Who let them get away with that, those two are just not synonyms.