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Maybe the editors and columnist should have realized after writing up fourteen “tricky clues” that this was ill-suited for a Tuesday. Just a thought.

Wholly unsatisfying puzzle with a worthless and inane “theme” to boot. After yesterday’s mess, I’m left thoroughly disappointed in the late week puzzles.

A mess. The ugliest fill of a puzzle in recent memory, a niche theme that, as Isaac Aranow writes, makes the puzzle "way harder" (read, impossible), and trivia/naticks galore. (Hey you, you got it? It wasn't impossible for you? Cool, I wasn't talking to you. Congrats, but I don't need to hear about it.) Kudos to the constructor for debuting here, but I found this a total slog to get through. Pass.

Just wanted to come here and say that all three crossword puzzles — the main, the midi, and the mini — were all very fun and enjoyable. I didn’t really care about the theme, or even understand it now, but it was a really pleasant experience. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures today!

Some uneven cluing leading to some dry spell areas, as others seem to have also experienced. Would have liked to see it more even overall, but enjoyed the challenge and the theme was cute.

Not a fan of this one at all. Way too difficult for a Wednesday. What has been in the water this week? They've all been bad. Gave up and pressed "reveal all" at about the 70% mark because I didn't have the patience for this one today. Pass.

Loved all of the movie themed clues in this one. The gimmick didn’t do much for me, but they rarely do, so hey. Perhaps a tad on the easy side for this late into the week, though the SE corner was brutal. Putting the name of an old golf player as the vanguard to a trivia-heavy section made it pretty impenetrable. Why it wasn’t included in the Wordplay column as a tricky clue, even when it was alluded to, is beyond me. Not bad, not great. Happy Thursday!

APECOSTUME… … sure dude, whatever

Atrocious puzzle. Please never make another.

Sometimes solving a puzzle can feel like having someone speak to you in another language: it can be confusing and frustrating trying desperately to understand what they're saying until, ultimately, you have to throw in the towel and recognize you're not equipped for what they are trying to say. That was this puzzle for me. I don't have anything nice to say about it, and plenty I could criticize for MY personal taste, but I don't think it was poorly done. Just not for me. I'll avoid this constructor in the future.

Hard to criticize a Monday for having some disappointing answers. “A pair” — DUO would have been a more satisfying answer (and one that made more sense) than the dull TWO. “Expression of contempt” — BAH. Sure, I guess. Ugh. Arg. Fun to see OHIO in the puzzle, a proper noun with plenty of vowels that seemingly doesn’t get much time in the spotlight here. Have a good week.

Bizarre cluing today ranging from very straightforward to completely ungettable. Not the biggest fan but not the worst puzzle ever. Y’all complaining about the difficulty of the puzzles need to go outside and touch some grass and feel the sun on your face.

A really fun, and somewhat challenging, Monday puzzle! Bravo, great work here!

Unsatisfying. I found the cluing in this puzzle really poor and the answers gave the old “I guess?” response one too many times. The gimmick wasn’t fun or interesting and made the rest of the puzzle a total slog.

Ever get a steak that had too much gristle? That was this puzzle. Chewy and not fun. Pass.

Rebus. Pass.

A wanting theme today. Not a huge fan. The fact that all but one themed entry started COMP (and the other COMB) was a tad sloppy, and the revealers themselves felt deflated and uninteresting. The fill overall was nice and the cluing was pretty spot on, a good challenging puzzle for a Wednesday — even if some of the answers felt intentionally esoteric. A good puzzle, but one that could’ve used one more pass through editorial, I think.

Transphobia in the comments is disappointing but not surprising. Y’all need to do better.

A puzzle made artificially difficult with trivia and esoterica. Barring the Thursday themes which I always auto-reveal because I can’t be bothered with that ridiculousness, there was some fun cluing even though the answers remained unsatisfying, making the puzzle a negative for me, dawgs. Oh well, at least it wasn’t a rebus.

Absolutely wonderful puzzle today!!

Does hiding half of your answers behind question mark-riddled clues and specific trivia references that only you understand make you a better constructor? Does it create satisfying puzzles? Pardon the poison pen, but this puzzle was godawful.

A fun puzzle, if too difficult for a Monday. Some problems: “Tops of cups” — LIDS. Hmm, not quite. A lid is something else entirely. Once I reviewed tricky clues (in this case, incorrect), that opened up the rest of the NW. Jack in the Box was ungettable for me, which really hindered the middle. Still not sure I fully understand (or even care about the theme). ASSN for “association” feels too specific to be a satisfying answer for this clue. I guess I appreciate that this Monday had some fight in it, but I’m left unsatisfied when the actual answers don’t feel in line with their clues. I can’t imagine a newcomer feeling that this puzzle was manageable but YMMV. Onto Tuesday.

Such fun! Theme was maybe a little clunky with the tenuous sea/C connection, but I found the cluing really inspired today, and, most importantly, the theme actually helped solve the puzzle, which is just what it should do. Happy Tuesday!