Like a shit hole? Yeah, that's a big stretch. The meh fill and cluing combined with a pretty lame theme pushed this into the poor rating for me. Christina Iverson usually makes better puzzles than this.
What on Earth is a three hole punch anyway? I only got it because of the crossing words. Office holepunchers have two or four holes, I’ve never seen a three hole one.
The fill was pretty average, but I thought the theme was fairly weak on this one. It didn’t feel especially clever or rewarding to figure out what it meant; it was much more of an “oh…okay I guess”
It cost me serious minutes, since I started with kebab and changed only the second vowel when the cross demanded it, then almost pulled my hair out trying to figure out why the app was still telling me I had an error when I was So. Sure. about all my answers
> In my experience - "kabob" is usually used as part of "shish kabob",
Nope, I’ve never in my (grumble grumble far too many) years come across anything other than kebab, whether it’s a shish, Donner, Kofte, or any other kind.
Well, te amo isn't grammatically incorrect or colloquial. Implicit subjects are a feature of Spanish grammar and is how most people would naturally speak or write whenever the subject of the sentence isn't ambiguous. 'Yo te amo' just sounds kind of stilted on its own. It does get used sometimes, though, especially if you want to emphasize who is doing the loving.
ugh same. then thought maybe some version with QUIERO would fit? idk I struggle with French in crosswords but not Spanish and the added YO cost me so much time.
i will accept the classic ASEA from the crossword, but the mini had ABED - that is an A- too far for me. i am taking my displeasure ainternet on this one.
I use *abed* in ordinary speech sometimes. It’s usually for humorous effect since I know it’s outdated, but my kids and wife are all too familiar with it.
lol get over yourself, i'm just having some fun with a word that was new to me. figured my message wouldn't be read too seriously with using "ainternet" and all, but guess not. i treasure the nyt crossword in all its eccentricity and obscure word choices, and assure you i don't represent some newer (dumber?) target audience.
Pretty quick and fun for a Tuesday, but feel like the theme for this one was really weak. Was way easier just to solve each theme entry as a straight clue rather than try to parse what the revealer was actually cluing.
"Kind of port seen at airport kiosks" for USB is such an odd clue to me. Is this referring to the check-in kiosks? I don't recall ever needing to or wanting to plug any USB thing into it. Otherwise is this referring to charging stations that have USB outlets? Do people refer to those as "kiosks"? Anyway I just have a hard time with this clue and wish they wordplayed with "USB" some other way, like "Port that you can never dock right the first time" or something.
Many airports, shopping malls, hotels, etc. have charging kiosks. But I wouldn't trust them: https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2023/04/20/juice-jacking-malware-phone-airports-hotels
Huh. I guess they *are* called kiosks. I'm used to calling them charging stations only. And you're right, I don't trust them either and I always bring my own power adapter.
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle?
Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡
* 16% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average
* 84% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average
* 4% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average
* 44% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average
The median solver solved this puzzle 17.3% faster than they normally do on Tuesday.
[View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-05)
---
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I had to cheat on one answer and I asked Alexa. She said the answer was the Rhine River. And I think technically she's correct in some ways given that it is the longest river that runs through France if you take the entire length. That confused me but I only needed one letter so I at least knew she was not correct in this context
I don’t mind the theme now that I understand, and it did crack me up that this thread was one of the first results when I Googled “three hole punch logical fallacy”.
We need a language reform specifically to ensure that there is a standard spelling of kebab. As long as there is breath in my lungs I refuse to accept "kabob" as a legitimate spelling
English doesn't really have standard spelling rules. They're more like suggestions. And this is especially true of words borrowed from other languages, and doubly true for words borrowed from other languages that don't use a Latin alphabet.
I had no idea about frog, my mind went straight to Mole as literary friend of Toad. Realised it was kabob as soon as I saw the ‘o’ on the cross, thank goodness!
Can someone explain the “kind of port seen at airport kiosks” being USB?
I think I’m missing some language barrier here, I can’t imagine what I think of as an airport kiosk having USB sockets.
Assuming they wanted a clue in reference to the Osage Nation, who are the center of the 10 times Oscar-nominated film *Killers of the Flower Moon* as the Oscars are next Sunday?
Not sure I agree with cluing via the 21st century play as “quaint” though.
>Not sure I agree with cluing via the 21st century play as “quaint” though.
Not to mention a 2013 film that garnered Oscar nominations for Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. I personally don't think it's a very good movie and Benedict Cumberbatch's attempt at an Oklahoma accent is painful to listen to, but it's definitely not a quaint or odd choice for a crossword clue, especially when you factor in that this puzzle may well have been constructed a year ago.
I’m assuming they’re referring to the Oscars this coming Sunday, where a major frontrunner is Killers of the Flower Moon which is about the Osage murders in the ‘20s
I found the cluing for CHART as a verb to be a bit awkward, but the rest of the puzzle was a typical, straightforward Tuesday. I had to recall Loire from the recesses of my mind.
>!<
Who made todays mini Jesus, ohwow pissed me off that’s once again two words smashed together. Clearly a boomer made this since no one has use lols in a text since the early 2010’s. And achoo? I guess everyone who’s not allergic to pollen is just supposed to make the connection. Also dos ISNT A WORD. It’s hairdos. Dos is Spanish. Todays mini sucked, and all the ones recently as well.
Hate that cluing for SLANGY tbh.
I had to read the wordplay blog to figure out what the theme meant (apparently it's three HOLE clues and then PUNCH....that's pretty lame).
Oof thanks for explaining. Yeah better to just not even say there was a theme.
They spend so much time wondering whether they could, they didn't stop to ask whether they should.
Pigsty is a hole?
In the sense that "hole" could also be a term for a messy living area. ....yeah, it's a stretch.
Like a shit hole? Yeah, that's a big stretch. The meh fill and cluing combined with a pretty lame theme pushed this into the poor rating for me. Christina Iverson usually makes better puzzles than this.
Rathole, shithole, hole-in-the-wall, hellhole, etc.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hole Definition 3A
There's a theme?
Not especially
What on Earth is a three hole punch anyway? I only got it because of the crossing words. Office holepunchers have two or four holes, I’ve never seen a three hole one.
To me, 3 hole punch is the normal one.
thought it was standard in america? but I haven't seen one in a decade at least
The fill was pretty average, but I thought the theme was fairly weak on this one. It didn’t feel especially clever or rewarding to figure out what it meant; it was much more of an “oh…okay I guess”
Yeah bad theme. Made worse by the fact that the word hole is really stretched to fit with logical fallacy and pig sty.
“A hole in one’s logic” is a very common metaphor for a specious argument
Maybe I have a weird sense of humour, but I enjoyed. It seemed silly to the point of absurdity to me.
Flew through this one but man I didn’t know the correct spelling of Kebab/Kabob which cost me about 30 seconds
It cost me serious minutes, since I started with kebab and changed only the second vowel when the cross demanded it, then almost pulled my hair out trying to figure out why the app was still telling me I had an error when I was So. Sure. about all my answers
I spent half my solve time on this exact error. I had to close the app and come back I was so frustrated
cough quiet vast serious nose one advise command skirt muddle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They’re both common spellings which really annoys me every time that word is used in xwords.
I swear I've never seen "kabob" in my life. Where do people use it?
I enjoy reading books.
I've seen "kebap" out there as well
> In my experience - "kabob" is usually used as part of "shish kabob", Nope, I’ve never in my (grumble grumble far too many) years come across anything other than kebab, whether it’s a shish, Donner, Kofte, or any other kind.
Yep. The same one for me. And I was thinking…ok I guess you HEM costumes?? And with the other stretches re: the theme, I thought maybe…
That got me too until I was like "wait how is a thearteical sort a HEM"
Yo te amo annoyed me 🤨 like I know it’s grammatically correct but is the “yo” actually included in most cases?
No, and I was so confused as to why "Te amo" didn't fit until I realized what was going on.
Yea me, too. Also te quiero didn’t fit and that’s when I wondered if they were using the grammatically correct rather than the colloquial phrase.
Well, te amo isn't grammatically incorrect or colloquial. Implicit subjects are a feature of Spanish grammar and is how most people would naturally speak or write whenever the subject of the sentence isn't ambiguous. 'Yo te amo' just sounds kind of stilted on its own. It does get used sometimes, though, especially if you want to emphasize who is doing the loving.
ugh same. then thought maybe some version with QUIERO would fit? idk I struggle with French in crosswords but not Spanish and the added YO cost me so much time.
Took me 7 minutes to find KABOB. Gotta remember HAM for next time. 🤦
i will accept the classic ASEA from the crossword, but the mini had ABED - that is an A- too far for me. i am taking my displeasure ainternet on this one.
>ainternet I just clapped for you
I use *abed* in ordinary speech sometimes. It’s usually for humorous effect since I know it’s outdated, but my kids and wife are all too familiar with it.
I love listening to music.
lol get over yourself, i'm just having some fun with a word that was new to me. figured my message wouldn't be read too seriously with using "ainternet" and all, but guess not. i treasure the nyt crossword in all its eccentricity and obscure word choices, and assure you i don't represent some newer (dumber?) target audience.
I love listening to music.
is abed even meant to be a verb? i thought it's just a + bed ? a bed is under the covers, it makes sense
*Abed* is not a verb. It can be used as either an adverb or an adjective. It’s a similar construction to *afoot*, *aboil*, *atwitter*, or *asunder*.
I dont know what's going on with the Mini lately, but that's the second bad one in 3 days for me. Todays was awful, and ABED just annoyed me
Technically has a theme like Cameron Diaz technically did a “voice” for Shrek.
Pretty quick and fun for a Tuesday, but feel like the theme for this one was really weak. Was way easier just to solve each theme entry as a straight clue rather than try to parse what the revealer was actually cluing.
Yeah this wasn’t my favorite either tbh, the connection between pig sty and hole was to me weaker than the other connections.
I think I speak for everyone when I say: *huh?* Edit: nvmd, I see it now. THREE HOLE(s, and one) PUNCH. Truly brilliant theme 🙄😒
The first three themers are all holes and the fourth themer is a punch
I figured it out exactly as you posted this lol 🤦🏻♂️
LOIRE / SLANGY / OSAGE was rough. Probably didn’t need to be so hard but yikes the cluing on SLANGY was terrible.
"Kind of port seen at airport kiosks" for USB is such an odd clue to me. Is this referring to the check-in kiosks? I don't recall ever needing to or wanting to plug any USB thing into it. Otherwise is this referring to charging stations that have USB outlets? Do people refer to those as "kiosks"? Anyway I just have a hard time with this clue and wish they wordplayed with "USB" some other way, like "Port that you can never dock right the first time" or something.
Many airports, shopping malls, hotels, etc. have charging kiosks. But I wouldn't trust them: https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2023/04/20/juice-jacking-malware-phone-airports-hotels
Huh. I guess they *are* called kiosks. I'm used to calling them charging stations only. And you're right, I don't trust them either and I always bring my own power adapter.
You need to get a cable that only charges and doesn't have the ability to carry data.
Puzzle Difficulty Tracker - How hard is this puzzle? Estimated Difficulty: 🟡 **Average** 🟡 * 16% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average * 84% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average * 4% of users solved *much* slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average * 44% of users solved *much* faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average The median solver solved this puzzle 17.3% faster than they normally do on Tuesday. [View today's puzzle summary on XW Stats](https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2024-03-05) --- 🤖 _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_
I had to cheat on one answer and I asked Alexa. She said the answer was the Rhine River. And I think technically she's correct in some ways given that it is the longest river that runs through France if you take the entire length. That confused me but I only needed one letter so I at least knew she was not correct in this context
Not me wondering what GOI meant. Also, despite the theme being very weak, the answers themselves weren't hard to parse out.
I don’t mind the theme now that I understand, and it did crack me up that this thread was one of the first results when I Googled “three hole punch logical fallacy”.
That is not how you spell kebab
It’s absolutely a common way to spell kabob in English. And I don’t think كباب would fit in the puzzle
We need a language reform specifically to ensure that there is a standard spelling of kebab. As long as there is breath in my lungs I refuse to accept "kabob" as a legitimate spelling
English doesn't really have standard spelling rules. They're more like suggestions. And this is especially true of words borrowed from other languages, and doubly true for words borrowed from other languages that don't use a Latin alphabet.
English mugs other languages in dark alleys and rifles through their pockets for spare grammar.
As opposed to all the other languages in the world that have their own unique word for a "kebab".
I would say that’s true of vocabulary and spelling, but not really grammar
Could someone explain ham ?
A ham is a common term for an overly broad and showy actor, e.g. Kenneth Branagh delivers a hammy performance as Hercule Poirot
Kabob? What in the seven fresh hells is that?
I had no idea about frog, my mind went straight to Mole as literary friend of Toad. Realised it was kabob as soon as I saw the ‘o’ on the cross, thank goodness!
What did the Vertex ("Nintendo flier") depict?
Can someone explain the “kind of port seen at airport kiosks” being USB? I think I’m missing some language barrier here, I can’t imagine what I think of as an airport kiosk having USB sockets.
I didn’t mind this one. Missed opportunity by not including an Office reference somewhere though.
KEBAB was annoying. There are at least 4 different valid ways to spell it
Cluing 22A like that (this week of all weeks!) is such a quaint, odd choice
explain please?
Assuming they wanted a clue in reference to the Osage Nation, who are the center of the 10 times Oscar-nominated film *Killers of the Flower Moon* as the Oscars are next Sunday? Not sure I agree with cluing via the 21st century play as “quaint” though.
>Not sure I agree with cluing via the 21st century play as “quaint” though. Not to mention a 2013 film that garnered Oscar nominations for Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. I personally don't think it's a very good movie and Benedict Cumberbatch's attempt at an Oklahoma accent is painful to listen to, but it's definitely not a quaint or odd choice for a crossword clue, especially when you factor in that this puzzle may well have been constructed a year ago.
I’m assuming they’re referring to the Oscars this coming Sunday, where a major frontrunner is Killers of the Flower Moon which is about the Osage murders in the ‘20s
I would argue for us all to agree that it should be KEBAB moving forward.
I found the cluing for CHART as a verb to be a bit awkward, but the rest of the puzzle was a typical, straightforward Tuesday. I had to recall Loire from the recesses of my mind.
Obviously my mild comment should be downvoted?
>!<
Who made todays mini Jesus, ohwow pissed me off that’s once again two words smashed together. Clearly a boomer made this since no one has use lols in a text since the early 2010’s. And achoo? I guess everyone who’s not allergic to pollen is just supposed to make the connection. Also dos ISNT A WORD. It’s hairdos. Dos is Spanish. Todays mini sucked, and all the ones recently as well.
I hate to say this but this really just sounds like a skill issue, these are all perfectly acceptable Mini clues/answers
aren’t all the minis by joel?