There are plenty of other crosswords besides the NYT, both mainstream (often appearing in other publications) and indie (more typically online only). Some of the indie crosswords have entries that are more “niche” (e.g. rappers that I’ve never heard of).
If you’re not a sports fan, you need to know Bobby ORR, OREL Hershiser, and Mel OTT. And soon you will have to remember Naomi OZAKI. Names are like gifts to cruciverbalists.
Not to mention Major League Baseball’s various ALOUs.
OSAKA
Also, did anyone mention Isao Aoki?
Good grief. Who was I thinking of? Must have been the fabulous Dr. Naomi K. Ozaki, a neonatologist in Torrance, California.
ILENE Graff, OONA Chaplin, IONE Skye, Yoko ONO …
There was an episode of M*A*S*H where they’ve gotten ahold of a copy of the Sunday NYT, and it takes the whole base working together all week to finish the Sunday puzzle. That’s definitely not relatable now.
Ah, yes, as a crossword lover, I definitely remember that episode. The clue that was preventing everybody from completing the puzzle was, “Yiddish bedbug.” They eventually ended up calling somebody’s friend, who was a crossword fanatic, back in the US.
Also, ESAI Morales, SELA Ward, TERI Hatcher, IRA Glass, India ARIE, Lance or Midori ITO, UMA Thurman and YMA Sumac.
But of course, there would have to have been at least two words that nobody could get. Nobody ever asked about the words crossing “vonts”.
The full clue was “Winter fogs giving Kelly’s possum chills. (8)”
POGONIPS
Oh well why didn’t you say so, the full clue makes if obvious!
I don’t get it. The result is not a word, although it is an anagram of a word. What in the clue gives a hint that it’s an anagram? Fogs? Chills? Winter?
I’d never heard of it before.
More than 30 years ago a great family friend gave me a book of Daily Telegraph cryptics originally published in the early 60s. I have never looked at the answers in the back, and as a result of its difficulty and its heavy reliance on British references both geographic and cultural, I have literally only finished three of them, but I take cracks at it semi-regularly.
He passed away 20 years ago, so it’s a great way to remember him, and the few times I’ve been able to finish one I notify the family and everybody has a brief, mini celebration in his memory.
Now I get it. There are √2 πi Pogonips in a nip.
Possums have 13 nipples arranged in a ring of 12 with the 13th in the center.
And Thursday is when you might have to use the rebus button. That is, it’s the day when HOUSE or TIC or STAR might take up a single cell.
Or various other gimmicks, like some answers making a right turn at a corner, or a few squares with different letters across and down, or the like. Usually one of the long clues is itself a clue to the gimmick.
14 K of g in a pogonip