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And with that, I hit my first 365 day streak! For years I have been wanting to teach myself how to do a "proper crossword", and somewhere along the road, stumbled across the NYT crossword. As a Brit with a different approach to spelling (what's the colour of aluminium I hear you ask?!!), I definitely didn't make life easy for myself but regardless, started plodding away day by day. Only 18 months ago I managed to break free of the shackles of the Thursday, progressing to the Friday (with huge thanks to the Easy Mode newsletter for teaching the tricks of the trade!) and the tackle the impenetrable Saturday. Replacing the social media app so often clicked on my phone front page with the NYT Games app, doing puzzles instead of doomscrolling, the streak started in earnest. With a little assistance from my "partner-in-crime" wife still on the weekends (Sundays are her fav, she can't resist getting involved!) , the year flew past with the fun, discovery and challenge of puzzling. Thanks so much to all the constructors and the NYT puzzle team over the past 365 days for their hard work - it has been a wild ride, and long may it continue! Right, time to start delving the archives!

This was absolute Sunday agony as we struggled to see how this one was working, getting more and more frustrated with ever clue... And then when the penny dropped it was a moment of bliss! Very very clever and a massively satisfying ending to a long old slog! Oof, I need to take the rest of the day off, but smiling with the reveal of this! Great work setter!

Absolutely brilliant - 63A had me laughing very loudly in an airport terminal when I finally got the answer 😂 Well worth the embarrassment and stares from others! Thanks for a superb puzzle.

Definitely the most enjoyable reveal of the theme I've seen on a Sunday, and brilliant construction for the clues to "escape" too. Superb work, well done constructors!