Thursday: Help! Stumped By a Theme! - 1 June 2023 New York Times Crossword

Today's theme really stumped me until nearly the end of the puzzle! But it was worth it-it all came together in a beautifully clever way. How did you fare? Join me for the solve! - If you'd like to directly support this channel, consider signing up to my Patreon to receive exclusive bonus content: / dailysolve
To toss me a one-off donation of your choosing, use my Ko-Fi page: www.ko-fi.com/...
This is the New York Times crossword puzzle for Thursday, 1 June 2023:
www.nytimes.co...
Support the channel via Patreon:
/ dailysolve
And chat with other solvers on Discord:
/ discord
Twitter: / thedailysolve
Facebook: / thedailysolve
Twitter (personal): / chrisremo
Thumbnail headshots by London-based Siorna Photography:
siornaphotogra...
#crossword #DailySolve #nytxw

[@seanfraser9162]

Nice solve. Wow.

[@brian5553]

The OBOE is definitely the official instrument of the NYT

[@raffishrabbit]

Seeing that moment of realization was a genuine serotonin hit 🙆 I hadn't caught it yet either so it was an exciting reveal

[@terry94131]

The most fun I've had on a Thursday in quite a while!

[@formulaeternal]

That was a tough one

[@kalli-ope]

"How" is considered a good question in the setting of e.g. a job interview, because it elicits longer answers than just "yes", "no" etc. and therefore can give more insights into the interviewee's way of thinking and expressing themselves.

[@corosequis]

It just occurred to you immediately that it was a rebus puzzle? Pretty wild.

[@danh87612]

Every Thursday, you should expect some twist in the puzzle.

[@jimbomaher]

IDLE THUMBS FOREVER! i miss important if true too...😢

[@anyprophet]

sticking with "decaf" as the answer to 17D really hoisted you here. it was my first fill but it's what eventually opened the puzzle up to me because it says "less kick" not "no kick".

[@michaelblazin4093]

That one led me down a path of using telephone keypads. D = 4. I did not get the “half” element until after I solved all the across clues that used the numbers. I solved the puzzle but took awhile to know why.

[@longwaytotipperary]

I couldn’t figure out why he stuck with “4D”. I saw “four” as the “f” to complete “of” and “our” as the next word, but didn’t understand how “d” had any place in that phrase….

[@KevinWeatherwalks]

​@@michaelblazin4093 same. Also thought b=2 for BAD but it wasn't fitting.

[@ryanlandsberg3619]

im proud to say i figured this one out

[@KevinWeatherwalks]

As a former poker player, I loved the "River gamboler" clue.

[@scaredyfish]

Man, I got this whole puzzle except for the numbers, and I had no idea what was going on! I had to give up and click the 'reveal' button!

[@nixhixx]

I'd say 'This Is Spinal Tap' is a spoof of 'Rockumentaries' and 'Biopics'

[@terry94131]

Tap is still really big in Hungaria. Or one of those ..garias. I'd rate them at eleven.

[@KevinWeatherwalks]

Is there a difference with the display between different web browsers? I use Chrome and saw a thick line separating the rebus squares. They appear to be missing in Chris' grid.

[@papusman]

I had the same lines. Seems that without them this is a much tougher theme.

[@akowalz]

I saw a comment from someone on the NYTGames team that said there was an issue preventing from displaying for a while, which they eventually fixed

[@geo4888]

OPEC is the organisation of petroleum exporting countries!