I'll take Adrian's smooth themeless flow over last Sunday's tortured Art Heist anytime. Today's really did flow nicely, with no obscure names, gluey bits, or cutesy clues. I accept the occasional "easy" puzzle as one of those gifts like a work meeting ending 30 minutes early: you finish fast and get a half hour back. When you're my age, you take it.
@The Whip And I am completely the opposite. I very much enjoyed last Sunday's puzzle and I especially missed it today. It was fun! But I can agree with you on meetings that end early. Especially those meetings that could have been an email. 😉☺️
@The Whip - Last week's puzzle was great! I just hope the Times puzzle editors don't dumb down the puzzle for those who lack the chops to solve harder puzzles.
Santa uses the chimney. It soots him just fine! (But sometimes he gets the flue.)
Delighted to get back to a classic, unfussy Sunday solve. Needed that after last week.
Bring a newish member of the PART B Medicare club, and seeing that crossed with DOLLAR TREE…, it felt like a tiny bleak theme: Come to the dollar store! They’re having a special on cholecystectomies, three for $5. Bring two friends, and be sure to use EXPRESS CHECKOUT. If, PERISH THE THOUGHT, your advantage plan has denied coverage for your hip replacement, fear not, the dollar store is doing a special on those next month. They have medications too, cheap, a real LIFESAVER when your part D has reached some limit or other. If you desire an ALTERNATE ENDING for the saga of obtaining health care without needing to use the dollar store, consider who you vote for. Or you could try a LETTER TO SANTA.
@Cat Lady Margaret Co-pay for your meds are $500? Perhaps you'd prefer Cherry LIFESAVERs?
Well, there was a rather Christmasy theme with the competing earworms of Frosty and Rudolph schnoodling together to make: Frosty the Snowman had a very shiny nose, Rudolph the Reindeer was a jolly happy soul. They went on a dinnerdate to Pinkberry and on bended snowball did Frosty propose. He gave jolly Rudolph a ring of coal, and Santa officiated (he goes with the floes!) Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say "Rudolph will your partner and you drive the sleigh? I've had a few too many bellinis after jog-trotting Equatorial Guinea and if I drove who knows what may ensue? Perish the thought but I ain't like what I ought." Frosty the Snowman knew the sun was hot down there but he said "Let's run and have some fun before I drip drip drip down to my underwear!" Well anyway, I think I'll stick to my day job (not songwriting). Very wintry, holiday feel though, hot cocoa, letters to Santa, dripping icicles and all that. Dear Santa, please give me an earworm removal kit for Christmas: these Christmas jingles are killing me!
Ah, puzzle-induced trips down the memory lane… My parents never took me bowling because my mother couldn’t abide the idea of (horrors) renting a pair of SHOES someone else had worn. (We all have our phobias.) So, sophomore year, I (secretly) signed up for a bowling class and, for one joyous semester, myself and three girlfriends all of whose names ended in -ie traipsed out a side door and across the road to a bowling alley to experience bliss (because bliss it was). Afterwards, the three -ie’s and I would traipse out the bowling alley door and across the road again, but then double back to an ice cream shop for the kind of giant sundaes only a Utah ice cream parlor has ever made. Of course we cut Health to do it, and eventually our absence on sex ed day was noted—‘cause that day signatures to our awareness of the evi…er… dangers of all that were required. The abstinence pledge was optional. Not really. Parents were called, messages were left on answering machines, which were promptly erased prior to said parents’ getting home, of course, but then letters were sent and not all of them were successfully intercepted, what with 15-year old brains forgetting to check the mailbox every day. Then epistolary missives were sent in the other direction on the evi… er… dangers of letting children learn an other-people’s-shoe sport in lieu of mandatory tennis. Ah, the 90s. What a time it was. Thank you, Adrian Johnson, for the memory. (I can still bowl 200 if I’m showing off.)
@Sam Lyons I enjoyed your trip down memory lane! These puzzles truly do evoke memories. I think that’s half of why I’m hooked on them. 🎳
@Sam Lyons I unknowingly married into a bowling family. My husband worked for Brunswick (Balke Collender) for years. I had bowled a little in Girl Scouts, but having nerdy parents, they didn't encourage it. I have a Brunswick bowling pin clock that I adore. One of my husband 's cousins died, and at his funeral there were three pews roped off for the "ABC." I had no idea what that could mean. It was for the American Bowling Congress, which thrilled me to no end.
@Sam Lyons Your comment about shoes made me laugh. When I started to go bowling regularly (many years ago) one of the first things I did was buy my own shoes. I can still remember the horrible feeling of putting on shoes that were still warm from someone else's feet - yuk!!
Doh! All this time I've been writing letters to Satan. That explains so much.
ad absurdum, You may have been getting better presents. (Who the L knows?)
@ad absurdum You must've listened to Flip Wilson, " the devil made me do it"!
@ad absurdum <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Santa_(2024_film" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Santa_(2024_film</a>) The plot revolves around a child with dyslexia accidentally writing to Satan, who is played by Jack Black, although it later turns out the real Satan is Ben Stiller (spoiler alert too late). Yes, I am not kidding. Yes it's every bit as dreadful as you might think. Yes, it was produced in 2024 and not 1974 and yes, for some godforsaken reason I watched most of it. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
for those of us who look forward to a clever sunday theme, a themeless puzzle on a sunday is disappointing. there's nothing wrong with today's puzzle, but it feels more like a long wednesday than a sunday. though as a child of the 70s, i did appreciate the appearance of lite brites. 🙃 i am also astounded by the continuing hate being poured on for last sunday's art heist puzzle. i thought it was great fun!
@Hope Levav I also look forward to a Sunday theme. This was a clever puzzle, easier than it first appeared to be. I haven’t checked out the crossword comments lately, and am surprised to find ART HEIST was disliked by many solvers. Once the “aha” moment arrived, I thought it was great fun.
@Hope Levav Amen on all counts!!
@Hope Levav Me too, I can't believe people still need to gripe about a puzzle that's a week old. I thought I had trouble letting go of things!
@Hope Levav I agree with looking forward to a themed Sunday puzzle but I totally disagree with enjoying last Sunday’s -I did not, although I had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it.
@Hope Levav Agree with all of this. I can't believe the hate last Sunday's puzzle got! I guess I thought all crossword people were puzzle masochists like I am. I loved today's puzzle and got a personal best time out of it, but I'd rather be tortured by a really crunchy one.
@Hope Levav so did I. I love themes. Themeless is just blah & too much trivia.
This felt smooth as butter to me. Relaxing. I didn’t fly through it, as I often do early in the week, which can feel electric, but not tranquil. Nor was It full of hitches, like driving on a rutty road. No, this was soothing, like tubing down the river. And that felt good. Enough resistance to keep interest and motivation, enough open doors to make the forward progress feel like a glide. Ahhh. What helped was kind cluing and the low number of out-of-wheelhouse answers, at least for me. I love the swirly grid design – never used before in the Times puzzle -- even with the suggestion of a Superman S in the middle, and with many long answers (the normal Sunday has 140 words, this one has 124). Even with the long answers, it’s cleanly filled, a testament to Adrian’s grid-building chops. Lovely answers enhanced the journey: PERISH THE THOUGHT, VANITY CASE, SCHNOODLE, TEARJERKER, PEWTER, and the fetching EQUATORIAL GUINEA. I liked seeing FORA near FORABIT, and ALTERNATE ENDING abutting the actual ending. You sent me peacefully and placidly into my day, Adrian, for which I’m most grateful. Thank you!
@Lewis I needed smooth and relaxing (and fun) today. Hope things are returning to normal where you live.
I feel for the editors having to come up with a title for this one, with no theme for guidance. No PB for me, but well below my Sunday average. Never got stuck, just cruised along, one clue to the next. As the mayor of our least populous capital city, I'm not worried about losing that title to Pierre, since they have about six thousand on us. Still, you might not even need to go to school to learn that Pierre is the capita of South Dakota. <a href="https://youtu.be/Y8j565lLvJU?si=1Crhjb8Fj2ZEH7Vq" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Y8j565lLvJU?si=1Crhjb8Fj2ZEH7Vq</a>
@Jack McCullough nice to know you are in our midst, Mr Mayor! FWIW - PIERRE is the only state capitol that doesn’t share any letters with its state. Fun fact that will challenge most every trivia crowd.
Lovely Sunday themeless. Finished the puzzle, but got the dreaded error message; doubly dreaded on a Sunday, when there's so much puzzle to re-examine. Where did I goof? At first, I though it was in the zone in the south. Water-BORNE? Certainly possible, but not necessary. But all the crosses were clear. JELL and JOG TROT? Again, suspicious, but crosses seemed to tell me I was good. Oh! Now I see it! "Tradition at the end of a graduation ceremony". I initially had entered hAt TOSS, but corrected the first letter to a C, but failed to correct the third letter. Certainly we're all familiar with the tradition of the graduation CAt TOSS!
@The X-Phile We just watched the movie The Jerk, and so Cat Juggling is fresh on my mind. :D
Comments to the Sunday crossword creator's comments? THIS is the nerdiest part of NYT.com, but I'm so glad I found it (at last). So much more enjoyable to read than all the flamethrowing over the latest David Brooks column. Happy holidays everyone!
@Matthew I like to think this may be the only place we say, “David Brooks (et al.) who?” and what a breath of fresh air it is. Welcome to the ‘hood.
@Sam Lyons Most of us just choose to leave it at the door. But maybe that's what you're saying.
It appears I'm the rare bird who liked both last Sunday and this Sunday, albeit for different reasons. Today was one of those where I felt the constructors brain was hard wired to my own. FWIW- under 16 minutes to solve. More importantly, I had fun and got several smiles out of the clues, and never had to run to Google for help. Last Sunday took me longer, and stumped me. No gold start. Such is life. Again, I got a series of smiles and didn't feel like anything was "stolen" from me.
@Greg I'm with you! I loved both of them. For different reasons, as you say.
@Greg, easy got me a new PB as well, under 20 minutes. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Greg, Last Sunday's puzzle should be in the running for Sunday of the year, if only for those who solve in print. For print solvers, the only correct thing to enter in the ten theme squares was the single letter called for in the puzzle note to reveal a message. Those single letters are shown in this week's answers in The Magazine as the only correct entries. The print puzzle did not require and would not solve with rebuses. The rest of last week is in the running for disaster of the year. The answer key linked in the column did not show the correct print solve, which was also one of the accepted digital solves on the NYT website nut may not have worked elsewhere. The answer key at xwordinfo.com showed both the single letter and Across rebus answers. The NYT website also accepted the Across rebus answers which mat or may not have been accepted elsewhere. I have no idea if any digital format accepted single letter/rebus. A great puzzle; a terrible online solving experience for many, many people.
How refreshing after last week’s all-time clunker. May have been a little *too* easy for a Sunday (or I was just very lucky) but still an enjoyable fill.
Finished a Sunday all by myself! Started last night and let it marinate. The best advice from #Deb Amlen. Happy Sunday everyone!
What a difference a week makes..
I saw the title and figured it had something to do with rivers. It actually had to do with nothing. As I was solving, I realized I wasn't seeing the theme as I was going along, and this was going to be one of those themes that absolutely had nothing to do with the solve. I guessed I'd figure it out after I finished. Turns out there wasn't any theme. So why bother with a title when it doesn't really mean anything? I'm not a big fan of Sunday themeless puzzles. It's been a while, and I thought maybe they decided to finally drop them. This one played nicely, though, and I guess that if we have to put up with themeless Sundays once in a while, this one wasn't that bad. Some missteps and pauses: PINK MANGO for PINKBERRY. There is a froyo chain called Red Mango...I don't recall ever seeing PINK MANGO, though. I guess I mixed up the two somehow. WRYER or wrier? Or drier? Or dryer? The stringed garment (APRON) wasn't a TALLIT, the Jewish prayer shawl. And it had to be plural anyway. OMG for FTW, the latter of which I'm not likely to ever use. And on a happy note, it was nice to see my wife's current position shouted out at 86A (LAW CLERK), which she will be until mid-February, when she finally gets to retire! MOWED for HEWED.
@Steve L Steve, I am not sure you saw my note of thanks for your extensive explanation to my query. Your knowledge and patience are impressive and appreciated. That's part of what keeps me coming back to this place where we can learn, "politely" argue, joke and tease. For me it is some terra firma in this often shaky world. I am grateful for having like-minded companions, but also eager to hear from others around the world and around this country of ours. May the week ahead be a happy one.
Enjoyed this puzzle after having to wave the white flag last week. FTW was new to me, lol—I had entered ‘OMG’ at first. Boy, am I a dinosaur.
@Nancy I had OMG first, too. Then FTD because I entered dRYER as the Down. And changing that D to a W was the thing I had to flyspeck at the end.
My first Sunday under an hour! Great puzzle.
@Crab yes! I beat my average by about 15 minutes which was a nice start to my Sunday (I still haven't finished the last 2 Sundays before today!) It was easy for a Sunday but a good break for me.
What a breath of fresh air after last week
The FTW/WRYER crossing was my undoing, otherwise pretty smooth sailing. Ali and I reviewed the puzzle extensively and could not locate the error. Never heard of FTd, but dRYER just seemed correct. For some reason I feel like I’ve made this mistake before. Those who forget the past are doomed…
@Jim I'm glad to have some company. I don't use many of the shorthand initialisms and find them tiresome.
@Jim mine too bub
🎵Easy like Sunday morning🎵 <a href="https://youtu.be/saaLW0jiiUE?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/saaLW0jiiUE?feature=shared</a> And I don't mean that in a derogatory way. I don't mean easy as in easy-peasy and what's the fun in that. I mean easy as in mellow easy, laid-back easy, let's-do-the-waltz-1-2-3-1-2-3 easy. Easy as in la dolce vita easy. Yes, that kind of beautiful easy. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for letting me sit back and Go With the Flow this Sunday morning, delighting in your puzzle every step of the way. 1-2-3-1-2-3...
On the easy side? Maybe. But sometimes you just need an easy win - and boy, after the past week, this is just what I needed. Thanks to the author for a fun puzzle!
Well, on the bright side, that was a new Sunday best.... by very, very, very far. I kept waiting and waiting for a fun theme or tricky trick. I eventually tried to PERISHTHETHOUGHT that it might be my first ever Sunday themeless. I honestly didn't know that could happen but alas, here we are. The other bright side is that my lucky husband is going to get to hear me sing, "Ain't no sunshine" to him for the next many hours. I promise to try very hard to not change the words to "Ain't no Sunday when the theme is gone... " but I am famous for changing words, so I can only promise to try, not to do. And to be clear, I don't think this was a bad puzzle. It's a very fine themeless puzzle. Just not what I hope for on a Sunday. But since I finished it so absurdly early, I guess I can head to the archives for a proper Sunday fix. ;-) Congrats to Mr. Johnson for achieving his goal.
Wooo my first completed Sunday without any hints or lookups!hookups! 34:58
@Rebecca Err. My phone did some weird autocorrect thing. Was just supposed to say "without any hints or lookups!" Not sure why it added hookups to the end???
@Rebecca Hookups, eh!? I have so many questions of you.... Autocorrect can be so naughty, right!? Mine once invited my friend's b00bs to have lunch with me. 😂 I changed the Os to zeros to see if the emus will let this post through this time.
My first clean Sunday solve. Took about an hour and was really enjoyable. Felt like a big Wednesday. I'm glad that they're a little less intimidating once in a while. It's a confidence boost for us noobs.
PB for me with 29:13, and even more exciting, my first Sunday with no look ups whatsoever. Despite a grid that seems daunting initially with 14-letter answers, things slowly but surely fell into place
@IZ Same for me- 36:24, no look-ups. This seemed easy for a Sunday.
@IZ Same. 32:03, so quite easy although I never got the connection between the theme and the solutions. Flowing without knowing.
@IZ PB for me too, at 28:39. No lookups. I knew I was going to have a good day when I got 1A immediately. "Ooooh, I used to watch that show." Deadliest Catch FTW!
@IZ Sunday PB here too, at 20:31. I thought i would finally break the Sunday 20 minute barrier but alas MIPS don’t sway in a hula. I guess this is what we get for complaining too much about last Sunday. Happy holidays all!
@IZ Merry Christmas to all! Not quite a PB for me, which was 27:20 on New Year's Day 2023. But very happy with 32:31. A lovely flowing solve!
Fun puzzle! yes, easier than many. This was a holiday gift after last weeks challenge! Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy kwanzaa to all....
I did indeed GO WITH THE FLOW, and I went much too quickly for my solving pleasure. I was disappointed to find that my winter solstice present was a large themeless Tuesday. I really hope everyone else's mileage varied. Lumps of coal Wednesday?
@Barry Ancona large themeless Tuesday was exactly my thought too
@Barry Ancona It was easy for me too--though not into the under-10-minute time that some xword ACES have just boasted, but I figure the Times owed us one after last Sunday. I enjoyed that one too, but as they ask at Fesitivus: Am I too easily made glad?
Rudolph the red knows rain, dear. Where was I? Oh yeah - not anywhere near a record time for me - just a typical Sunday workout. And I spent a good long while off and on near the end trying to grasp what the theme was. A themeless Sunday just never occurred to me. No big deal. Might put a puzzle find in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Maybe a revealer clue like "Connection between the title and the puzzle" with the answer THERE IS NONE would have saved us both a little time. I even started imagining a few connections before I gave up.
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from February 13, 1972 by Bert Rosenfield with the title: "On cloud nine." That would have the eve of Valentine's day that year, so I guess that was the basis for the theme. Just seemed a bit.. odd. Anyway - 24 answers in that puzzle that appeared for the first and only time. 13 other answers that were appearing for the first time (and several of them only ever appeared in one other puzzle). And 16 more that never appeared in a Shortz era puzzle. Anyway... the theme seemed to partly revolve around VALENTINE (or near homonyms). Three answers being: MYFUNNYVALENTINE JIMMYVALENTINE RUDOLPHVALENTINO And - the other part of theme was 'heart' or near homonyms for that word. Some examples; SENVANCEHARTKE RODGERSANDHART HEARTSOFCELERY DEARHEART And then you can add: GOVERNORJOHNLOVE and SWEETSTOTHESWEET And then you can toss in a number of non-theme answers that were appearing for the first and only time. ETAWAH CREPUSCULE BATLET RETOTS ASTORIAORE ADENIN And several other unfamiliar terms. I do a heck of a lot of looking at older puzzles and just don't recall another one anywhere close to that in terms of unusual and uncommon answers. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=2/13/1972&g=18&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=2/13/1972&g=18&d=D</a> I'll shut up now. ..
@Rich in Atlanta I mainly came here to find out what I was missing that tied all of these disparate things together. I had No Glue.
It's a cold, rainy Sunday morning in Paris - and a perfect time for this charming puzzle with a café au lait. Thanks for a fun 39 minutes!
@ExpatByChoice Not much nicer further south either. Tempete!
I did indeed go with the flow, and it jelled smoothly. Seemed like a lot of American pop trivia, my sympathies toward our international solvers. My LETTERS TO SANTA are asking for some ALTERNATE ENDINGs to the conflicts at Christmas.
I liked this puzzle. It was such a palate cleanser after Saturday's twenty eight 'cheat' slog. Sure, I had to 'cheat' a little, but only six times, and this always flowed and felt breezy. I love the pleasing sense of triumph when I figured out an answer. Thank you, Adrian!
Sounds like a few, but definitely my PB for a Sunday… could’ve shaved a few more if I was more wry than dry…
Bonus points for the first person to use "Cocker Terriusky" as a clue with the 4 letter answer of MUTT
@Joshua Cooper Have we been transported to an ALTERNATE Universe?? We Cat People don't join in those Dog-eat-dog games
Fun to see “Moanin” clued. It was written in 1958 for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers by its pianist at the time, Bobby Timmons. Timmons also wrote two companion hits, “Dis Here” and “Dat There,” for Cannonball Adderley’s group. Sad to say, Timmons died way too young from liver disease.
Hey, New York Times Crossword Crew, did you have this lovely and pretty-darn-easy puzzle in your backpocket all year for that moment after everyone complained about how hard the previous week's puzzle was? And you knew you could throw it in to show us that you really loved all the puzzle gripers no matter how much they agonized and complained. This was sweet, but I can't wait for the next challenging one.
Haha finished the puzzle quick but with one error... somewhere... 20 min later... I cannot spell my way out of a wet paper bag - PaRISHTHETHOUGHT!
I, too, felt as if I was "going with the flow" the way this puzzle was constructed. Nice and smooth. Great start to the week...happy Sunday everyone!
Okay, maybe there was no theme, *but* mine had a theme. It’s title was “CC Searches For a Theme.” For a minute it was, “CC Doesn’t Know What’s Happening,” but eventually my genius brain figured out it was a ghost hunt. Fun, lovely, playful puzzle! Hope it’s a relaxing Sunday for all!
After learning about a new-to-me beverage, I went back to The Bee and put it in...to no avail. The Bee doesn't honor The Puzzle entries, I see. Among other flaws.... BURKA (pretty sure I have some company with that one) OASES (for the poor marathon runners) OMG (excitement about the flower arrangement that arrived) COCOAS? (Skiiers don't need no stinkin' cocoa!) Our home was a LITEBRITE, Atari/Mario/Pacman, FroYo, and SCHNOODLE-free Zone. Cat People. Given PhysicsDaughter's life-long love affair with horses, I had great difficulty accepting JOGTROT (after attempting to enter CANTERshoot)... Carter the Palomino does not do JOGTROT. Enjoyed the solve even though those countries did not exist when *I* studied GEOgraphy in school. Felt as if I was BORNE on the breeze.
Interesting reading for those who have never encountered (or don't remember encountering) a themeless Sunday NYT Crossword: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2018-11-04.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2018-11-04.html</a>
I love a big open themeless, and this didn't disappoint. Was it too easy for Sunday? Maybe, but wooshing through the grid, top to bottom, getting those long ones with minimal crosses, was a lot of fun. Thanks Mr. A. J.!
Actually, this was pretty flow-y -- so I went with the flow wherever I could. And while a great theme on Sunday is always preferable to a themeless puzzle -- giving you a macro solution along with a lot of micro ones -- a nice flow-y themeless that requires some thought is preferable to a drab, tepid theme that allows your mind to wander. I enjoyed this and was never either bored or impatient. There was plenty I never heard of: LITES RITES; PORESTRIP (why does that sound sort of unappetizing?); SOSE; ESTELLE (does she ever get confused with Adele?); MOANIN; and even SCHNOODLE (I wanted some sort of DOODLE, but I assume it's a cross between a schnauser (sp?) and a poodle. And, btw, how the heck do you spell schnauser? Don't want to leave the page.) Which reminds me: Is SOSE correct? I forgot to look. Have you ever heard anyone say JOGTROT?. I certainly haven't. I thought the cluing here succeeded in being interesting, but only one clue was truly tricky. Loved the clue for TEARJERKER. One of the more enjoyable Sunday puzzles, but not one of the most memorable. But it kept me engaged on a bitterly cold morning when I'm not going anywhere.
Seeing all the personal bests being reported today makes me wonder if this puzzle was the NYT’s holiday gift to the stat conscious solvers.
@Marshall Walthew 18 minutes below my Sunday average. This time of year, I can use the time. Oh wait, I just lost 3 on this comment.
@Marshall Walthew I had dRYER instead of WRYER at 48D. The time it took me to find that error was just enough--16 seconds--to keep me from a new P.R. Like Caitlin, I pretty much flowed (FLOEd?) from one clue to the next. A very enjoyable, relaxing puzzle for a Sunday morning.
What a nice Christmas gift! Thanks Mr. AJ! Good puzzle, great clues, fun fun fun!
Maybe five or six years ago, due to some kind of device mixup, I completed most of a Sunday puzzle but it came up blank in the app, even going back to the original device. So I redid it, and of course, it was pretty easy second time through, and I set a personal record, which gave me a number that seemed at the time a record I could never break. But then the pandemic came along, and I started doing the puzzles daily, and a few times I’ve come within a minute or so of that record. This being the time of year when my weekly calendar isn’t very important, I started today’s puzzle not thinking it was Sunday, and I was zipping through it. I thought wow, this is easy for a Saturday, a misconception enabled by it being themeless (or close to themeless? I’ll read the column). I entered my last fill, and shoot, an error somewhere that it took me a couple of minutes to find and correct (oaRED instead of BORNE — I knew it was wrong but forgot that I had left a bad entry in place). I looked at the time and thought that despite the error, a fine time for a Saturday puzzle,.. And then, wait a minute, it’s Sunday! I broke my unbreakable personal best! So I feel like my personal best is now legitimate.
@dvdmgsr How 'bout them Nittany Lions?!
So this was a perfectly fine themeless Sunday, enjoyable, good fill, a little easy but no complaints. Nonetheless, for all the grousing about last week’s Sunday, I’d rather solve one of those than 20 of these. Your mileage may vary.
This was the easiest Sunday I’ve ever done. Set a Sunday PR of under 17 (used to be like 25). Very amused by the hints today! Great puzzle.
Fun puzzle that took me little time to complete. My only comment is that I prefer themed puzzles. Themeless is akin to drinking a nonalcoholic beer without the accompanying buzz.