Anna in Bellingham

Yesterday I ventured to observe in this space that many recent puzzles have been EASYWINS, but NOTTODAY. My comment amounted to a FALSEALARM. The editors apparently read my hollow BOAST and thought "THATSO? Well, then, ITSABET" and evened the SCORE with this SCUD that has WRESTed my false pride from fueling any further EGOTRIPS. Clearly I am no WONDERWOMAN. Well played, editors, and hats off to Jesse Cohn. That was a doosie!

I miss the dastardly kind of Thursdays where you went in knowing the tricks could be any sort of cruciverbal gymnastics that might take liberties with our expectations of the grid -- not just rebuses, but words that turned corners, or climbed stairways of squares, or ghosted themselves out in the margins. I felt offended at first -- "How can they do this?" -- but hung in there long enough to get addicted to the incredible "a-ha!" feeling when I finally cracked the code of a real brain-bender. The experience was often excruciating, but it helped keep me sharp, and open to new possibilities in ways that had impact beyond just solving a puzzle. Tricky Thursdays were hands down my favorite day of the week, even on those occasions where the solution remained elusive before I called it quits. Nowadays Thursday is just another day. And my brain feels flabby. Maybe my obsession with the NYT crossword has run its course.

ICE RAIN? Hmmmm.

Now that was a great Thursday puzzle! A mind-bendingly clever trick that was fully integrated into the solve, snappy cluing, some really fun entries -- especially liked AMSCRAY, LUCHADORA, and LADYBUG. Well done, John Kugelman!!

Brilliant Saturday puzzle! Elegant, lively, seemingly impossible at first pass, but once I found a purchase the solve was breezy and super fun. Love the clue for HOMEMADEBREAD, and chuckled at HEYBATTERBATTER (those baking references blended together by a small AMT.) Also delighted by the cluster of SOWHAT/OHWAIT/WOWME/HERESATHOUGHT -- felt like I was listening to one side of a conversation. Well done, Oliver and Juan -- seems like you had a DATEWITHDESTINY today!

Absolutely fantastic Saturday challenge. No look-ups, but after combing through the clues twice and still staring at a vast wall of white squares with precious few toeholds, I did invite collaboration over coffee with Sports Fan Husband and Very Clever Daughter. The former reminded me that Dr J was a SIXER instead of a LAKER; knew the Kings of LA were not movie stars but a hockey TEAM; and rattled off DABO Swinney like it was his best friend's name. Clever daughter immediately saw through the misdirect at 32A and corrected IRA to COT; she also loved SCARYMOVIE, which I never have never seen because I dislike scary movies. I am a MEREMORTAL, but with my family's help I KINDASORTAMAYBE muddled through. Great puzzle.

Wow. Super fun solve, and the multi-layered theme is brilliant -- the mind boggles to think that anyone has come up with such an idea, let alone executed it so deftly. Hats off!

Solved the puzzle. Recognized the structure of the theme clues about halfway through, but failed to see how the clues correspond to the answers. Read the Word Play column. Still don't get it. How does "tressed" solve to HAIRYBACK? And how is a "spat" a COUNTERARGUMENT instead of just a plain old "argument," or "smart" RETROCHIC instead of simply "chic," or a "swap" a FLIPOFASWITCH instead of either a "flip" or a "switch"? DRINKSALLAROUND makes sense, but none of the others line up as far as I can tell. Alas.

Fantastic puzzle!! Appropriately daunting for a Saturday. Hats off to the constructor!

Great workout!! More like this please. 52D recalled my father's annual recitation of "The Cremation of Sam Mcgee" round our family campfire. "There are strange things done in the midnight sun/by the men who MOILed for gold. . ." Miss you, Dad.

I caught onto the theme early on but was stymied by the NE corner. I realize SAMLET is sanctioned by Webster's, but as a 30-year resident of the PNW I can tell you no one but no one in these salmon-worshipping parts has ever heard of the term. Baby salmon are ALEVIN when they're hatched and FRY, SMOLT or FINGERLINGS as they develop. Other than failure to indicate what I can only assume is a legitimate British usage, it was a great puzzle.

The Saturday challenge I've been waiting for -- thank you!!!

Super smooth and satisfying solve. Less of a head-scratcher than what I usually expect for Friday, but definitely not one to be attempted ONAUTOPILOT. So many fun entries -- TIL that CHOPIN has a namesake airport; loved the clues for MOSQUITONET and GOTEAMGO; the crossings of ZESTY/TODIEFOR and CUPCAKES/CREAMERY made my mouth water. Nicely done, Jake Bunch -- take a couple VICTORYLAPS!

Excellent Friday challenge - tough but totally fair, with flair. Loved the long entries. Nicely done!!

Breezy cluing and a smooth, speedy solve. A truly enjoyable Wednesday puzzle!

A really hard solve, not because the clues were difficult, but because it was so hard to see where the cursor was blinking and whether I was heading across or down. I didn't realize the colored squares had significance beyond a decorative flourish until I was nearly finished -- oddly enough I managed to fill in all but the blue rings without realizing my answers were missing anything. The cluing on the crossings were easy enough to allow that to happen. In the end I discovered the theme was more clever than I'd given it credit for, but it definitely would've been more fun if I'd keyed into the gimmick before suffering through all that visual obfuscation.

Tough but fair. I couldn't seem to get on the constructor's wavelength today. . .

I was as speedy as a MACO shark on 22D, a misspelling which led me to a variety of attempts at 25A that would end in ACES -- for a long time I struggled with the so-so NOTREALLYACES. The SHAVEDHEADS finally straightened out my SLANTS. Thanks for a great Friday work out!

Been solving for a long time and have learned to look forward to a brain-bending workout on Thursdays. Lately, though, the Thursday tricks seem to highlight extraordinary feats of cruciverbal construction at the expense of the solver's experience. I cruised through this quite smoothly -- which is not what I hope for on a Thursday! The circles and themed clues indicated there was something unusual going on, but it was possible to fully solve this puzzle without actually parsing the trick. Hats off to the constructor for being a genius, I guess. But the brilliance was lost on the likes of me.

What a work out! Totally flummoxed me until it didn't. A fun theme and a worthy return to Tricky Thursday's most deliciously dastardly form. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!!

Tough Sunday work-out -- like it's supposed to be. Enjoyed this immensely!!

Fair puzzle, but not much fun. I just couldn't get on the constructor's wavelength today. Afraid I CRAPped "out"!

Very clever theme; great debut! In the end I was done in by the MEEPLE/EELIER cross. Never heard of the former; as for the latter, it's a tad disconcerting to have a generic fill word like EEL deployed in a starring theme role. But that's picky of me. Overall, very impressive.

Great puzzle! The SE corner took me longer than the rest combined, but managed to finish in under 30 with no look-ups. The clue for 41A was the only false note, as it gave us no indication we were looking for an informal or slang equivalent. TUDE is righteous slang, but standard English it ain't.

Terrific puzzle! Congratulations on both your first publication and your graduation!

This was a perfectly acceptable puzzle. I still miss tricky Thursdays.

Great tricky Thursday -- keep 'em coming!

That. Was. Awesome.

Now THAT was a great workout! Thanks for a worthy Friday challenge!

Perfectly fine puzzle, but the bolding in the clues was surprisingly irritating. I have a headache now, alas.

Fun puzzle. Never heard of Wen Liu (but now I have, and she sure is pretty) and the clue for 62A was definitely tricky. Otherwise this felt more like a Wednesday -- but the smooth solve gives me more time for the rest of my day!

I'm sorry for your loss, Deb. What a sweet tribute to your dad.

Appreciate the more challenging puzzles of late. I had a hard time with this one, but what tripped me up wasn't an issue with the construction -- it's that my own mind is CLEARASMUD this morning. I initially tried ARDENCE at 33A, which sounded slant, but close enough. Ultimately resulted in NOSILE at 6D, which should've been an easy error to spot. But I'd somehow gotten stuck on the notion that disregard of privacy is described not by a single word but by some ARCANE phrase beginning with the word NO. NO _____? Doh! More coffee, please.

huh.

Awesome puzzle -- seemingly impossible until suddenly it wasn't. Got hung up for a while with LEMUR instead of LORIS at 6D and SPOT instead of ABET at 48D and had to consult Google translate for the Italian version of ATHLETE at 25D. Loved the long entries. Just altogether a fun solve -- thanks!!

So much fun!! Oh, for the good old days, when the worst we had to fear was a falling anvil!

Great Saturday workout!

What a great puzzle!! I was pretty much stymied until the mid-section -- thought I was falling FLAT but Michael CERA convinced me I was READYTOGO, and suddenly I had the GRIT to carry on. Loved the clues for the low digits and many bees. The NW corner had me stumped for the longest time, but somehow managed to finish in under 27 min with no look ups. Perfect Saturday work-out!!

Terrific Saturday work out -- after this, the rest of the day should be a breeze!

A well-crafted little amuse-bouche. It was apparent from the get-go that the theme would involve rebuses ("rebusi"?) Overall the entries were solid, but the cluing was ever-so-gentle -- this would've made a fabulous Tricky Tuesday, if there were such a thing. Still hoping for that brain-bending Thursday challenge, though. Maybe next week!

Cute puzzle. Super quick solve, especially for a Thursday. But that's fine as I'm running late this morning -- hope the rest of the day is accomplished as HANDily!!

Great Tuesday puzzle!

A pleasant puzzle. Solidly constructed, with some fun clues. But honestly, it was just too easy for a Friday. . . This seems to be a trend lately; in my experience the puzzles are getting easier, especially later in the week. I'd like to think it's because I'm such a genius, but the rest of my life assures me that's not the case. Nor are my solving skills that much better than they were, say, five or ten years ago. I think the puzzles are just not as challenging as they used to be. And that's disappointing. A minor disappointment, in the scheme of things, but still. To answer Deb's question, I used to approach Tricky Thursdays on full alert, like I was embarking on a great mysterious treasure hunt where any square might be part of a hidden pattern that provided the key to completing an otherwise impossible grid. But too often these days it seems that understanding the trick is only incidental instead of integral to the solve. Yesterday's puzzle was an example of that. Cute theme, artfully executed. But the solving experience was a kind of a let down for a Thursday.

Great Wednesday puzzle -- breezy, fun, just challenging enough. Thanks!

Easy, breezy & fun. May the rest of the day be so!

Excellent Thursday trick!

Knew something was up with the circled letters, and got the revealer pretty quickly, but didn't understand what was actually going on with the theme until after I'd completed the puzzle. Mind totally blown. Coming up with such a theme is clever in and of itself, but then actually pulling it off is just 115D.

I'm grateful to Deb for patiently teaching us to appreciate the complexity of a puzzle from the constructor's pov. Still, appreciating someone else's achievement is not the same as actively grappling with a challenge yourself. This was a cute theme and a breezy solve, but not much of a work-out. I miss Tricky Thursdays of old.

Super fun puzzle! The cluing sparkled and the theme was solid. Thank you, Joseph Gangi!

Super fun puzzle! Theme was cute; clues were fresh; and, yes, I got hung up on LIPS and PANCECREW. A bit of a challenge for a Monday, which is fine by me. Somebody might be cranky, but it's not me. Thank you!