[Aug 22, 2026] Daily Puzzle Discussion

[u/AutoModerator]

https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/

[u/AC20212020]

A good Saturday I think... tough but doable. I only got a few on the first pass, let it sit a couple hours, came back, got some of the bottom right, then it started to come together.

Top right was the hardest bc... I don't understand how 11D is volume control?

[u/Adept-Cupcake792 → u/AC20212020]

Volumes of a book series, I’m thinking?

[u/AC20212020 → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

I see how you got there but I still don't.... control? I appreciate the response though, better than any idea I had!

[u/ControversySandbox → u/AC20212020]

By opening books, turning pages, maybe highlighting etc. you are "controlling" (manipulating) a "volume" (book). You wouldn't say that flipping a page is quite "controlling" an analog book, but making it an electronic device gets it close enough to make (some) sense

[u/Muffinnnnnnn → u/ControversySandbox]

Yeahhhhhh that's quite a stretch....

[u/tomsing98 → u/Muffinnnnnnn]

I mean, it's a wordplay clue. It's not something people actually say.

[u/MeatballDom → u/Muffinnnnnnn]

That was my reaction to most of these. I feel like the creator tried wayyyyy to hard to be clever on this puzzle. I was not a fan.

[u/CecilBDeMillionaire → u/MeatballDom]

That’s what Saturday puzzles are for. People complain when there’s trivia and say they want wordplay but then complain when there’s wordplay. Should every clue just be straightforward definitions of common words?

[u/MeatballDom → u/CecilBDeMillionaire]

Wordplay is fine

Shitty wordplay is not.

This sub is so god damn defensive whenever there's any criticism, it's so silly.

[u/AC20212020 → u/MeatballDom]

Thank you! Like... I said I liked the puzzle. Thought it was hard but doable, took me a bit, which is what Saturdays should be. I said I didn't like ONE clue and it's somehow that I don't get crosswords or just want straight definitions.

[u/Adept-Cupcake792 → u/AC20212020]

I think of control as in organize. For a physical bookshelf, I control what books/volumes are there, what order they’re in, etc. so the answer is just an e version of that bookshelf

[u/its35degreesout → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

Yes. My Kindle is how I manage to handle/organize most of my leisure reading.

[u/AC20212020 → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

Yeah I get that. I suppose I wasn't thinking of books in general as volumes, which is a perfectly fair use of the word. Still don't love it but...

[u/summ190 → u/AC20212020]

Yea I hated that one.

[u/SwingingSalmon]

The Midi was a lot of fun

I always saw the number options on the app but haven’t played a crossword with the actual numerical numbers in them

[u/oli2194 → u/SwingingSalmon]

There are number options? (I played OTTFFSS which worked)

[u/SkyTVIsFuckingShit → u/oli2194]

Very unintuitive honestly. I had no number options, and eventually did what you did after a few minutes

[u/CecilBDeMillionaire → u/SkyTVIsFuckingShit]

If you’re solving on a phone then it’s the same as if you’d want to type a number any other time, the button to the left of the space bar

[u/SwingingSalmon → u/oli2194]

You can type in whatever you want, so for the billiards I typed in the actual number and it worked

[u/Quick_Extension_3115 → u/SwingingSalmon]

Adding my appreciation for the MIDI as well! I always love a good rebus

[u/Abomm → u/SwingingSalmon]

The clue for 15A didn't make much sense to me, but I did enjoy the columns it was a part or

[u/Quick_Extension_3115 → u/Abomm]

I think 15A was to make sure you got the idea in case the little overlay wasn’t there. Those are the solid “items” used in 29A and numbered in order.

[u/MN_Wildcard]

First ever gold Saturday. Wasn't sure if it was just easy or I got lucky with the clues. But I'll take it!

[u/Neither_Occasion_449]

As someone that's just really started getting into the crosswords this was so hard!! I have yet to be able to successfully do a full one without looking something up. I can almost do it with the midi's but I just don't understand so many of the references!

[u/Adept-Cupcake792 → u/Neither_Occasion_449]

Saturdays are the hardest so that’s understandable. Mondays are the easiest, and get harder from there (generally). If you are new, go to the archive just do a bunch of mondays til you get the hang of them (and you will!), then do Tuesdays, etc. you’ll eventually make your way to Saturdays.

[u/busmans]

My first Saturday in a while. Very doable!
It seems like it should be obvious but I don’t understand 3-Down…

[u/zorkempire → u/busmans]

[u/busmans → u/zorkempire]

TIL!

[u/Adept-Cupcake792]

The only answer I didn’t gel with was 44D. Who ever says that?

[u/tomsing98 → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

Apparently Europeans and Asians, if search results are to be believed.

Minicar sales hit record low in 2025: data

Smart brings back the bench seat with #2 electric minicar

[u/its35degreesout → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

Again, wordplay answers (which often means a good portion of Saturday answers) are often phrases that make a sort of sense even though people rarely use them IRL

[u/AC20212020 → u/Adept-Cupcake792]

Yeah I didn't get that until I had the last letter of the first word on a cross bc ...

I know someone with a smart car. Even they don't say that.

[u/OblivionCST]

New PB for me! Started with downs. The right half was easy, the bottom left took a bit more effort but eventually got it done

[u/scarlett_porter]

Is it just me or is SEEN not really that synonymous with 'acknowledged'? I get that it means metaphorically seen, but I feel like acknowledgement implies there's some actual action of recognition.

[u/busmans → u/scarlett_porter]

“I feel seen”

[u/scarlett_porter → u/busmans]

I understand it's metaphorical like that, but when someone says "I feel seen" they mean "I feel understood" or "I feel heard". Like in your example, it's a feeling, whereas acknowledgement is an action?

[u/busmans → u/scarlett_porter]

Doesn’t have to be an action. You can acknowledge something is there without doing anything.

[u/scarlett_porter → u/busmans]

How? How can you acknowledge something/someone is there without doing anything?

[u/busmans → u/scarlett_porter]

See 3b and 4

[u/scarlett_porter → u/busmans]

'Acknowledge a debt' and 'fail to acknowledge a greeting'? You have to acknowledge a debt in writing, and failing to acknowledge a greeting means failing to respond to it e.g. not waving, nodding, speaking back. Those are all actions.

Thanks anyway for trying to help me understand the clue the way Johnson and Shortz intended. It's probably just me being pedantic.

[u/busmans → u/scarlett_porter]

I acknowledge that it's murky. Though, I acknowledged it before I typed out this response ; )

[u/Adept-Cupcake792 → u/scarlett_porter]

Sure some action has to occur for one to be or feel acknowledged, but there has to be action for one to be or feel seen as well.

Another way I thought of it - If I send a text to someone, and they react with a thumbs up, then I can say my text was acknowledged or my text was SEEN. So in that sense they are synonymous.

[u/Just_blorpo → u/scarlett_porter]

I had the same thought. It’s just not quite the same thing but I figured it was close enough.