Cool puzzle but there should be an easier way to find the theme clues at a glance. Perhaps clicking on one would highlight the rest of them?
@T I expected selecting 69 down to highlight the clues for it. That’s usually how the themed clues work. I agree, finding the hints for it was a giant pain.
In "the newspaper," the five themer clues were easy to spot: they were in italics.
@T I came here to say the same thing; why not highlight the theme answers as is often done in other puzzles. A closing animation of an opening door would have been the cherry on top. Even so, I enjoyed this one a lot.
@T I felt the same way at first, and then I realized that I was being (overly) concerned with my speed. "Slow down, enjoy yourself," I told myself. Ultimately it wasn't too hard to find the relevant clues, and it took a bit longer to decipher them. But that was part of the pleasure of this puzzle. A couple of the letter were easy to puzzle out, and I could easily have guessed the final escape word, but I took my time to solve all four clues, and had a very pleasant time...although well below my "personal best," I pity the solvers who guessed at 69-Down rather than taking the time to enjoy *both* puzzles.
Agreed. Loved the puzzle (as always), but felt as though the clues could have been a little more straight forward. I enjoy eating snacks for lunch.
A puzzle within a puzzle? Are you KIDDING me? This is easily of the most unique and fun crosswords I’ve ever done. Incredible theme (obviously) but the cluing was also light enough that it didn’t bog down solving the lock in the center. So so so well done!!
@Nico M Totally agree. Figuring out the key was a big stretch and so fun. I loved it too.
@Nico M If you enjoy crossword puzzles with a meta puzzle within the puzzle, check out Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest!
I was expecting something to happen when I completed it. Colors, flashing letters, some kind of whiz bangs.
@R.J. Smith Exactly, yes. Was expecting an escape animation of some kind. So what's with the blank gray square then?
@R.J. Smith Yesterday you complained about animated effects and rebuses (even though there weren't any on the day), and today you seem to be disappointed by the lack of special effects... 🤷 As a grump and curmudgeon myself I can appreciate a good complaint - but c'mon, be consistent!
I really can't believe all these "it was soooooo easy" posts. I thought the body of the puzzle was easier than normal. BUT the clues to the four-letter word were brutal. I finally cracked it with the X in square four. I had the T, but thought it was ducT, because of "end of the road". It was not al all easy for me. This, for me, was a classical example of more than half my time finding one or two letters. Clever, but I really didn't enjoy it very much. Maybe I'm just grumpy because someone sold my country to someone else.
@Francis. Hi Francis - I was searching for anyway to qvetch about this puzzle, which I thought was pretty dull, but your last sentence hit the nail on the head. I’m pretty grumpy too, for the same reason. All the well meaning columnists end with: You are not alone. But sharing my grumpiness with you about this dumb puzzle felt just right. Thank you!
@Francis The “x” was the only clue that made any sense to me. I just assumed the word had to be exit. Lucky I suppose
@Francis I agree about so easy posts. I solved the puzzle okay but even reading the explanations for the final answer I was dumbfounded. However, I appreciate new approaches and I'm not all grumpy about it. Just surprised that people found it so easy. I would suspect that anyone who found it easy (who didn't just guess) does other puzzles like cryptic.
@Francis I also thought the answer might be DUCT, and a friend told me it was LOCK, which I thought was clever, but couldn't understand. Then another friend said it was EXIT, but apparently got the answer by going to one of those cheat sites, so she had no other explanation either. Finally I found someone who explained the answer, and I was peeved that Shortz didn't give any hints, or there wasn't some indication in the twice-removed clues. I'm glad some found this to be fun, but I just found it dumbfounded, frustrating, and, ultimately, annoying. I expected it would result in much hate mail, and perhaps an apology from Shortz. Guess I'm wrong. Happy 15th anniversary, indeed.
The vast majority of the fill was straightforward and easy; the theme, on the other hand, was just terrible: too convoluted by half, and not in the least bit satisfying.
@Tim In LA yes I’m afraid I have to agree. I found the vast majority of the grid to be quite easy, although I got stuck on a couple of slightly poor clues (BADRAP, PEELEDOUT). The central puzzle was too clever and convoluted. Frustrating.
A BAD RAP is either an unfair accusation or conviction (or possibly music from Vanilla Ice). A “bad rep” is a negative reputation. Or at least that’s how I’ve always understood these phrases.
Please don't do this again. Puzzle was fine. Exit key was too esoteric and tricky for me. Not feasible to crack. Not fun.
@Tzvee skill issue. This was my fastest sunday time ever lol
@Tzvee Very fun and very easy to crack. Heck, all you really needed was the X to guess the rest. I didn't really get the E clue reasoning though. That's on me. One for the road.
@Tzvee Just because you didn’t have fun, doesn’t mean the puzzle was inherently unfun. I had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed solving the extra clues for the key. You may find this comments section more fun if you frame your opinion as an opinion rather than as an absolute
@Tzvee Sunday puzzles might not be for you. This is a quintessential Sunday theme. The "tricky" essence is a feature, not a bug.
Possibly the funnest crossword I've ever played 👏🏼👏🏼
I’m so impressed at how the puzzle was created so there is literally just one “C” used. Those hundreds of hours paid off. Bravo!
@CV That may be the single most impressive thing to me. Some said that there are an average of 8 or 9 (8 point something) C's in a typical Sunday crossword. So there were some pretty severe restraints on the answers the constructors allowed themselves.
Very very cool concept, love the build and I was excited to finish a Sunday so quickly and with only one "check puzzle" usage. My only sadness was that the grey square didn't, like, do something, haha. After the "blinkers" puzzle earlier this week I was half expecting some silly celebration animation. Give a mouse a cookie...
Sigh and sigh again. First, I thought this was REALLY fun. I enjoy spending my time on the puzzle, so I very much appreciate any extra layer that lets me crunch on it a little longer. Anyone else recall the lovely experience as a kid of having a parent or some other smart and loving adult lay out a treasure hunt for you? It feels... special. Like they took the time to *create* something for you to enjoy and be engaged with. That's what a carefully considered puzzle puts me in mind of. These constructors worked together to put something fun out in the world for us to enjoy. Now, can they be sure that *everyone* is going to enjoy it? Obviously not, and I enjoy the different viewpoints on the puzzle - to the extent that they reflect personal opinions. Folks who don't care for the escape room experience, people who don't enjoy riddles, etc etc - that all makes sense to me. What'll never make sense to me and what I'll not soon stop commenting on is the folks who paint the puzzle or (especially) people involved with a broad and imperious negative brush. "Shame on Will Shortz"? Seriously? *Shame*? "Incomprehensible and irrelevant"? When are people going to learn that these kinds of comments say more about the commenter than they do about anything else? Ms. Zhang, Mr. Curry: thanks very much for your efforts. I thought the cluing was more than generous to support lots of successes today, and even the theme clues were really pretty straightforward. Looking forward to your next.
@Regine Sadly too true. Will live in an era in American history when *any* negative experience requires some revenge somewhere, somehow. And the revenge almost always comes at more or less innocent people, like Will Shortz, which of course stirs up the hatred for the next round. We are duplicating the Middle East right here in America.
@Francis It would be very kind of you to consider curtailing such negativity for a while. I can appreciate your opinions, but you go a bit far with the anti-US comments. I get your angst, and I say this with the best of intent and civility. Thank you
A Sunday grid dressed in Monday fills, all of which seemed to be in service of the four final letters. I was so weary by the time I finished writing all the letters in all the boxes that I wasn't up for playing a different kind of game to solve 69 down, so came to the column. Forgive me if I seem annoyed, but I wanted to get away from it all and this didn't provide much escape.
@dutchiris There seems to be a kind of malaise in the air of late. I feel I'm letting more of my inner cantankerousness shown than usual. Though I by no means disliked it, I think I would have liked it much more had my mood been better.
I really thought something was going to happen with the blocked out, differently shaded squares above the key entry. A little disappointing to realize they're just aesthetics to make it look like a padlock. I think just leaving that area black would have been fine.
@Shrike Agreed, especially with BREAKOUTSTAR, I thought perhaps at least one of those squares might turn into a star.
@Shrike Agreed. I was expecting a star or something. Disappointing. I felt that the theme and steps to “open” the padlock were contrived. The rest of the clues were early-weekish. So, overall, I didn’t enjoy it much for a Sunday puzzle.
The theme is so attention-getting, two items deserving of praise re this puzzle’s construction may have flown under the radar: • A Sunday answer set containing just one C! I was curious as to how many C’s are in the typical Sunday puzzle, so I looked up the number in all the June Sundays, and the average is 8.4. Making a Sunday grid with just one C is quite constrictive, and Zhou and Kevin did it so smoothly, I’m guessing hardly anyone noticed, before the UNDER THE SEA riddle came into play. • This is a puzzle debut for Zhou, who came up with this theme idea. High props and a hearty congratulations on that, Zhou!
@Lewis as soon as I solved UNDERTHESEA, which was quite early, I scanned the puzzle for the letter C and saw there were none. I kept watch for what I knew had to be the lone example from that point on. I *love* this kind of added element and I adored this puzzle.
The only disappointment for me was the lack of an animation upon solving! Other than that, chef's kiss!
@Drew This was me as well. I was expecting the whole screen to go white or something. Even better.... It could have led to another crossword, as some escape room exits will lead to other rooms.
I’m trying really hard to put myself in the shoes of people who absolutely hated this gimmick. I really am. I just don’t understand how people who like to be challenged by a crossword don’t like to be challenged in other ways. I will occasionally be stumped by a theme, go to the column or comments to find out, say AHA—and usually it’s fair but difficult, or even if I thought it was too hard today just say, well, someone was cleverer than I was. I suppose if you really don’t want themes at all go to a crossword site that doesn’t have them. But if you are going to have themes then it’s natural that they will be stretched or unusual or challenging sometimes—and if not then it’s just boring. To my brain this one was pretty clear how to solve and I get that it wasn’t to others (not a comment on intelligence, just people’s brains interpret things differently). So say, I didn’t get it or too hard for me or whatever, but saying that it shouldn’t exist as a crossword because the theme was beyond you is a slap in the face of everyone who was delighted by it.
@SP I enjoyed this puzzle, but viewing the comments of others as a "slap in the face"? That might be being a bit too sensitive, imho. I disagree with a lot of comments here, but the only ones that truly annoy me are the ones that criticize the hard work of the constructors.
@SP The reason I like this puzzle is that after you solve the crossword puzzle, we get a second puzzle to find the key in the lock. (I assume that's why you like it, too.) But it doesn't surprise me in the least that there are many people who enjoy the first puzzle, but not the second. And since they came here for a crossword puzzle, their dismay at having to solve this second puzzle in order to finish the first is understandably dismaying.
@SP Why in Earth do you think somebody who enjoys some challenges must enjoy them all? I enjoy a good crossword, I don't enjoy riddles. Is that really so hard to understand? Should I enjoy a boxing match against a tough opponent because I enjoy a hard climbing route? What kind of "logic" is that? Seriously...
@SP You are my favorite commenter on this blog, Dr P. Hard to understand the vitriol. Puzzles are for people who like figuring things out.
Kind of like that puzzle a few years back, a Sunday where in doing the puzzle you were actually playing a game of Clue. This one did have the Escape Room vibe. This wasn’t one of those puzzles you could successfully complete without figuring the theme out. For filling in the Key Word, you had to rely completely on your wits – no crossing letters to help you. You had to crack the riddles to get out of the box. Highly creative. A tale of two puzzles – the fill-in and the get out, that is, the escape. I loved this!
@Lewis Or you could just use Occam's razor. As Barry said, try the simplest of possible escape routes before even trying to unravel the clues. First "door" then EXIT and you're home free.
I am quite certain that the clue for 114D is incorrect. Should it not be “formerly concerned”?
@RIch Garella ha, yes, and 78A is a useful suggestion
The clues were all easy, but the steps to get 69 down is just…not how my brain works, at all. Had to read all the hints, which made it pretty unsatisfying to finally solve. Not the kind of logic puzzle I like, so this was a big miss for me, but glad others enjoyed it.
I've never posted before, but I had to for this one since I loved it so much!
Honestly, I found this puzzle too clever by half. It seems like the constructors were so focused on getting the gimmick to work that they neglected picking really interesting fills and challenging clues. Sometimes the gimmicks are great (like a fairly recent once that forced you to solve outside the grid!), but for my money, this wasn't worth the payoff. In fact, I would have preferred the central code word to be less obvious, forcing the solver to interpret the meta-clues correctly.
This was too easy as a crossword and too hard/not what I signed up for as an escape room. Solved all the crossword clues in among the fastest times I’ve ever done, then was left with a non-crossword puzzle that was simultaneously dopey, uninteresting, and inscrutable. I can go elsewhere for riddles, this is the crossword, and while themes and games can be part of it they shouldn’t overtake the crossword element, which they did here.
@Holt I agree with you 100%. The gimmicky riddle, 69D, completely deviates from what a crossword is intened to be. Shame on Will Shortz for accepting this puzzle.
@Holt yes! What's more, once I understood the theme, I expected the different colored squares and "ATM" to do something that was cute, crosswordy and escapy all at once. When they did nothing at all I was disappointed all over again.
@Holt this is interesting: how does it manage to be dopey and inscrutable all at once? Surely you're not suggesting that it's low-level overall and yet still beyond your own reach?
This one broke my 15 day streak with no lookups because I could not figure out 69 D. In my opinion, 69 D is just too cryptic. I am surprised that Will Shortz approved this puzzle. It's not a test of one's vocabulary or croossword skills, but rather a test of one's ability to figure out the WAY to far off the wall trick. Ugh. Not fair. Boo, hiss, and a big raspberry.
@Laura Stratton I for one loved it and found it clever...no more esoteric or convoluted than other Sundays or Thursdays I've encountered. Streak stays alive just shy of 23 minutes. Bravo to the constructors.
@Laura Stratton (I bet this one broke many an honest person’s streak)
I really liked the puzzle in a puzzle but...No animation? I wanted the key to open a potral and suck me into a parallel universe. Oh well. Next time 😁
@Lsm Haha! Same on both. Well, I was less ambitious and thought the grey square would become an asterisk that flies around (BREAK OUT STAR).
@Lsm I envisioned the black squares that make up the "door" exploding across the surface of the puzzle, while the letters of BREAKOUT STAR flashed in multiple colors. Perhaps it's better to leave the animations to our imaginations!
@Lsm I was thinking, "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom! Delays, delays"
@Justin in a parallel universe this did happen 😉
How do I get out of the escape room? Mikey. (Posting that pun was a lock.)
Okey dokey, Mikey! (Loch Michigan?)
@Mike Seek your way out. (Pro techs shun that method.)
@Mike I guess you felt secure with that combination. That's the key thing.
Clever theme & finished almost 28 minutes faster than my average. Maybe it’s just me but I was expecting some type of animation when I was done 🤷♀️ like the “key” opening the lock? Or maybe I’m just spoiled with these crossword puzzles 😁😆. Bravo to the constructors 👏 & Happy Anniversary 🫶
@Dawn on the road Same! I was hoping for fireworks or something!
@Dawn on the road I, too, was expecting an animation at the end of the solve, maybe the black squares that make up the "door" exploding? That would have justified the BREAKOUT STAR clue, as well. Left me feeling mildly disappointed, but it was still a nice puzzle (or two puzzles).
Holy cannoli, that was fun! Swimming along hardly making any mistakes and thinking I'll make my Sunday best time. Ooooh, then spend 2x the time figuring out the lock. D'oh! More! More!
Clueless in Pittsburgh here (Tom Hanks plays me, and Meg Ryan plays my love interest in this rom-com about falling in love over a shared passion for crosswords), still locked in the room, having not figured out the EXIT thing. Oh well. Really I'm here to comment on witches and gourds being warty. A bit harsh there...I know plenty of witches with faces smooth as porcelain and have rattled a multitude of gourds with flawless surfaces. Perhaps SOME witches and gourds are warty, but who is to say they all are, or that they do not have wens, cysts, moles, or simply growths, some benign, some malignant, and let us not forget tumors, nodules, beauty marks, boils, blisters, and excrescences? During the Black Death, the bubonic plague caused buboes or carbuncles, typically appearing on the groin, armpits, or neck and face, sometimes growing quite large. In advanced stages of the infection, the buboes might rupture and begin to ooze, and Bocaccio says they were quite painful. Regarding crones and hags, I cannot comment; but on the whole, enchantresses and sorceresses are clear-complected. Trust me on this. The child of a friend of mind worked summers at an escape room in Durham NC. We were privy to stories of dates gone wrong (commonly, one person getting out early and going home, leaving her date stranded and still inside), of amor in the chambers (yuck), of freakouts on ketamine, and of the liberal use of the rooms as latrines. As Samuel Goldwyn would say, "Include me out!"
@john ezra Amen as to the witches and gourds—and especially escape rooms. Or, should I say, so mote it be.
This was truly a blast. My husband as I have been doing a crossword each night while we wait for our four month old daughter to fall asleep. This puzzle had us excited - especially about the unlock word - and we both felt it was like an escape room before seeing the title. Thanks for such a brilliant puzzle and evening!
As an old maths teacher I read [Four square] as being 16. So, even after the hint about cross referencing, I was still scratching my head about X.
@Patrick J. I took 16 to be the 16th letter of the alphabet. That delayed me for a long time. L
@Patrick J. I got the X first. Filled in the rest without needing the clues.
@Patrick J. - I did the same thing you did, realized it didn't work, then instead of squaring 4, I squared the answer in the 4 square (X), which gave me 100, or C.
@Patrick J. Same! So I went to the 16th square in the grid, which was A from GIZA and then sat staring at _aIT wondering what the word could possibly be (I didn't get the end of the road clue at all).
Awesome! I wish it had animation with the key turning when the puzzles was finished.
I dunno… maybe I’m just “old school”. I’ve been doing the Sunday Puzzle for 55+ years, and I liked them better when the answers were actual words… not cutesy little phrases. But I can live with the cutesy phrases. Oh well…. The “themes”, though…. Most are OK, but OMG: I like crossword puzzles because they’re crossWORD puzzles. Too arcane, and they’re not word puzzles anymore. I like to spend half an hour on Saturday evenings with a crossWORD game… not deciphering the Enigma code!!! Leave that stuff for another puzzle… another day. …and then TODAY’S (7/6/25) ridiculous “theme”!!! Today’s was just plain stupid. Really a waste of time searching for the absurd “key”. NYT can do MUCH better than this.
@Matt I'm 45 so probably not old school, but I feel the same as you about gimmicks like today's. I don't do a crossword to solve some riddle-based code for a single, unchecked entry - it's not the same as solving actual clues for words crossing with one another. I'm ok with a rebus, I'm ok with hard clues, but this.... Meh.
@Matt that’s what Sundays (and Thursdays) are, though. Lots of crosswords out there to do if the themed ones aren’t your cup of tea.
Count me in team loved this puzzle. The board was elegant and the experience of solving the final puzzle was incredibly satisfying. I especially loved that every one of the four clues to the key needed a different tactic, giving real escape room vibes in how there are different types of puzzles to solve to get out. And like doing an escape room with friends, each person is going to have a different strength and probably find a different "in" to the final four clues. My "in" was recognizing that UNDER THE SEA probably referred to looking under a letter C in the puzzle. My knee-jerk reaction was "ok, but how will I know which C?" When I scanned the grid and realized there was only one C in the finished puzzle, I was pretty blown away.
I thought I posted this earlier but I guess the emus blocked it. Anyone else have an initial guess for “number twos” that was less than breakfast table friendly?
@SP Well I had TPs for a little while. Does that count? ;)
@SP oh yes. Blunt margaritas, to use emu-friendly words, but really just the first letters thereof.
@SP Definitely. Perhaps it was because my mother was a nurse, but I was sure the answer was BMs. As a result, that corner was a bit… shall we say, constipated… for a long time.
"106D Alternative to truth" From the cross, I see that it starts with a D. But no matter how many times I try writing in "-onald," there don't seem to be enough boxes. :-(
Felt compelled to comment as there is so much negativity and just plain nastiness in the comments today. I'm happy to admit when I'm just not on the constructor's wavelength or just not experienced enough for a puzzle, doesn't make the puzzle bad or stupid. This was a breezy delight, personal best by far and the reveal was a treat. I only missed the "D" in End of The Road, but the fix was apparent immediately. So delighted to see Enid Blyton in the clues - her books were a mainstay of mine growing up.
@TholosTB That's true. But there is also some genuine enthusiasm about it, as well. I was mildly negative, but I definitely think it was more me than the puzzle.
76 Across is NOT only solvable by the crossing clues: it is a dash, and a single dash is Morse Code for T. So while it is in keeping with the use of the dash as meaning no clue provided, there are two meanings of that dash.
@Ian in that case it is not consistent with no clue provided! Thanks for making it even worse. 😂
@Ian exactly. I got TEE from the dash and moved on, so I had no idea that was meant to be clueless. I also kept expecting that "turning the key" would result in a seven letter word starting ATM, and that led me astray for a long time.
@Ian That's quite an interpretation, and a good one, at that. In past crosswords, the dash has indicated a continuation of an adjoining square, or simply a Freeform space. In this case, t-total could possibly be the emphasis on total, but that's my mind. I was so excited to finally finish this puzzle, I didn't give it much thought.
Like you, I thought initially that "END OF THE ROAD" must mean "D"; and when I got the -XIT, realized it had to be "E." But I never made the "RODEO DRIVE" connection. I rationalized that, since the clue began "END OF THE," the "E" was the end of "THE."
@Julia Gerson I like this better than RODEO DRIVE.
@Julia Gerson I thought we were supposed to see the column as a road and go to the end. The letter at the bottom of the column is an 'e'. Turns out that was a coincidence! 😅
@Julia Gerson my rationalization was that the clue didn’t specify *which* END OF THE ROAD, and END OF THE ROAD starts with E, so…
I giggled while solving this one. Actually chuckled. Audibly. Hubby looked confused so I handed him my iPad and he said, “Huh. Looks like you gotta open that lock.” Most days I’d be a bit bummed the solve was so crazy quick. No crunch as far as my eyes could see. Until the final four. Crunch time! Bring. It. On. Was expecting animation on the solve, I’m not gonna lie, but this was a 💎 even without further fanfare. Submitted my latest rejection last night, but this one has me raring to go again! Today feels good. Hopeful. Silly. Happy Sunday all!
I have never commented on a puzzle before, but i just love love loved this one! Such a satisfying solve and a fun challenge at the end. Bravo to the constructors!
That was a very cute and enjoyable puzzle with a fun 'central' theme. Perfect for a relaxing Sunday morning. My only complaint, which isn't really one, is that I also hoped for a key-unlocking animation 😆 To all you Moaning Myrtles, I say BOOHOO to you and WOOHOO to me!
@Sebastian Dag nab it, I just realised I unwittingly engaged in Rowling-related ribbing! Grrrr.
I'm sure I wasn't the only one expecting this puzzle to end with an explosive animation worthy of BREAK-OUT STAR. And I thought that would be the only way to justify having so many black squares at the heart of this puzzle (and the number of short answers that required). So, color me a little disappointed. But still it was a nice Sunday puzzle, Or rather... Two, two, two puzzles in one.
FOUR SQUARE was obvious - it had to be an X. However, I'm way too impatient (and possibly not smart enough) to do riddles, so I ignored the other themed entries and just checked the column for the solution to the theme. The fill was Tuesday-level. The theme was unenjoyable to me. So yeah, I did not like this puzzle. It didn't help that going to an escape room is one of the least pleasant ways to spend time I can think of (I hate being locked up and I don't enjoy riddles), so already the puzzle's title primed me to dislike it.
Oh and, ReSIN had to have been right, right? I guess LeUD looked weird, but what else than ReSIN could it have been? ROSIN... I needed to check the puzzle because of that. In Polish we call that substance "kalafonia" (apparently you do, too, sometimes, as "colophony", or so Wikipedia tells me).
Also, freedom of the press, eh? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jul/05/trump-attack-us-media?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jul/05/trump-attack-us-media?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other</a>
@Andrzej I've never been to an Escape Room, but surely it can't be as unpleasant as going to those incredibly annoying Mazes that seemed to spring up everywhere a few years ago. Why would anyone subject themselves to that???
I loved it. The fill and clueing were fairly basic, but the riddles of the lock were clever and the lone C itself was an impressive feat of construction. I also appreciate the lack of junk fill. These are trade offs I’m happy to take on a Sunday morning.
I loved the puzzle, and the aha moment of realizing that you had to search the grid the same way you night search an escape room was really satisfying! For me, this realization was immediately followed by the thought, "Wait, is it possible this puzzle has only one C?"
Excellent and very fun puzzle!!! And the idea of there being only one C in the whole puzzle threw me but wow, impressive.
I’m on the love side of the fence. I love all types of puzzles as does my entire family. We always have a jigsaw puzzle out that everyone is working on. Once it’s completed, we bring out the next one. We do escape rooms together wherever we travel. It’s great family bonding time and each clue within those rooms seems to cater to one of our strengths. Needless to say, this one was right up my alley. Thank you, Zhou and Kevin. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this one 😍😍😍
@Jacqui J coincidentally, I just solved Mallory Montgomery and Zhou Zhang’s puzzle in Apple News+. Congrats on two puzzles published today, Zhou!!! 🤩🤩
Brutal. I had no problems swiftly solving the rest of the puzzle, but the lock thoroughly stumped me. I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out without checking Wordplay (the “ If you’d like a more specific hint,” section did the trick).
Glad to be out of this one. Cute idea, but not all that much fun for me. An awful lot of 3-letter entries to support the grid design. It would have been very helpful if, when we clicked on one of the four keyhole squares, the corresponding clue were highlighted. Took me a long time to relocate the clues for those four squares. Maybe such functionality is not yet available? I suppose the incredibly obvious EXIT was a safe choice for the "keyword", but I did enjoy making sense of the four clues. DOESNTHAVEACLUE for the T was quite mysterious, since I got TEE from the crosses and never even saw the clue for 76A. I'm assuming that ENDOFTHEROAD refers to the E at the end of RODEODRIVE. The X and I clues were obvious enough. Took me about thirty minutes, though I could have saved at least five minutes by just typing in EXIT rather than trying to locate and make sense of the four clues.
@Xword Junkie big second on the recommendation to highlight the corresponding clue for the four letter center. And I’m sure that functionality is there, it seems like clues are linked with highlights all the time?
Absolutely not. Will return tomorrow.