Catherine

@Lewis You've echoed my thoughts exactly. My brain is deliciously happified this rather gloomy afternoon

@Eric Hougland I grew up in London in the 60s and 70s. Never went on any long road but I Spy was played and it was always "I spy with my little eye..."

@Bruce I'm a 62 year old Londoner but I've done enough NYT crosswords to know what MRE is 😄

@Vaer Yes while I was there I did get drawn in and happily stumped up the $20 (or should that be 20$?- actually for me it was €19) to go further down the NYT puzzle rabbit hole. Cheers

@Sal Yup, the puzzle title is there to set us thinking, "how do I apply this to what I'm about to see?". I wouldn't countenance embarking on the puzzle without checking over the title. Fathoming it out is part of the pleasure of the solve. Very much enjoyed today's puzzle. I got my Aha moment and had a little bit of a stretch but nothing agonising. I knew idiolects though unsurprisingly it doesn't crop up a lot in daily life so I had to sift it out of the linguistic depths

@JohnWM yes I wasn't mad about the awarded bit. As if being a married woman was some sort of promotion in life

@Heidi I always read the title of the crossword prior to solving. Preferable, to me than being mystified during the solve. I like my aha moments to come when I can then utilise the knowledge gained to complete the grid. I really enjoyed this one btw

@Nora Going out for pints, possibly after work

@sotto voce My immediate thought re Flipper was burgers! Pinball or real estate (or snorkelling) didn't spring to mind at all

@G O Absolutely a thing though in the UK and Ireland generally referred to as Cosy Crime. Writers such as Richard Osman frequently top the best seller lists. He arguably relaunched the genre this century and has sparked quite an industry now.

@Helen Wright I was puzzled too as I saw nothing offensive at all in the crossword. A perfectly enjoyable tea fest. Like you I'm from England and now live in Ireland which is the world capital of Unnecessary Swearing

@Helen Wright I get exactly what you mean with "Have at it". It still sounds very strange though! (Londoner living in Ireland )

@Kelly H Agree with you. I put 'seeds' in initially as all the bulbs I have ever bought are for planting out Sept to Dec. They wouldn't even be as promoted in the gardening catalogues in the Spring! I keep procrastinating on dealing with bag of bulbs languishing in my garage at the moment!

@Cat Lady Margaret I only learnt about Opera Cake as it's featured on more than one series of "The Great British Bake Off". It's quite the challenge to create

@Helen Wright As a late boomer Londoner all of the slang went over my head. Solved using the puns only and only caught on with slang aspect from the column. I needed full explanation 😄

@Helen Wright Enjoyed that one too. Dunzo was a new one on me though and I've been having a party with the NYT crossword archive over the years. Like you pulled a face at Kayo and moved swiftly on

@SBK I relish misdirects. Enjoy having to tweak various answers to nudge them all into accordance. I don't often read Tuesday comments but am currently avoiding dealing with a 'gift' that one my cats brought into the garage. It is not feathered...

@RozzieGrandma It was hilarious! It gets shown fairly regularly on UK Gold here in Ireland. I feel that it's held up well. A good few of the cast would have been familiar from other UK tv programmes. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are almost "National Treasures" ! I'm 62 so watched it when it first came out

@Sukey I'd come across idiolects before but then I live in a very wordy and quiz mad household.

@Andrzej I got 8D with one letter in. I've done a lot of the crossword archive so have developed a familiarity with SNL. Had to Google 17D though...

@Dave S I love a slog. I enjoy wrestling a puzzle into submission! We all bring different experiences to a solve. Raki for example, I got that with no crosses but other answers had to be patiently waited for and experimented with. Went over my Sunday average but hey I learnt new things

@Steven M. Out of that crossing only Edom was unfamiliar. Nicol Williamson would be better known to UK solvers maybe... I'm wearing a peridot ring so that helped. It's the August birthstone. Thanks to the NYT crosswords I can never forget that the opal is the birthstone for October. On another note what is a Golden Month?

@NYT Newbie I thought that might well be the case. I grew up in London and worked in a couple of major colleges (one in South Kensington, which is something of a centre for French culture). Met a lot of French students. They were very chilled people and didn't strike me a quick to take offence

@Chris I'm always baffled as to what HAS AT is supposed to mean. It crops up fairly regularly too

@BamBam Completely the other way around for me! Got Abfab pretty quickly but had to research Pop Warner. That was my only foray into the internet. I've done a lot Sundays from the archive so have become fairly familiar with good few US institutions, brands and public figures. Didn't recall that one from my previous solves though

@Elizabeth The euro is the name of the currency, the clue isn't referring to just €1. The plural of euro is euro anyway so the clue is ok

@chris One of my cats is called Mimi and she was sleeping near me as I solved. A favourite clue was "The stuff of Persian myths?" There was also 'cattish' of course. Not a word that I'd ever heard or used but I appreciated the extra feline content

@Lauren The tuxedo is a black and white cat. I'm from London so I don't call my own cat a tuxedo. Learned it from online cat groups. My only lookup was the the NY mayor. I was very stuck on that corner!

@Linda Jo I always click on the 'blinking i' on Sunday as it helps to know the title of the puzzle. Today was a bit tricksy though as the hints there stated that there were eight bonus clues but only listed six of them...

@koty Can you explain 53A for me? It was the last to fall and I only got it on crosses!

@richelle I'm relieved that it wasn't just me!

@Jacqui J Of course, should have guessed that! I'm fortunate to have a few of those

@Beth in Greenbelt I did see one complaint about this but moved gracefully on. This puzzle had the perfect amount of crunch for me

@G Now I want idli! I grew up in north west London close to a very good South Indian restaurant. If my friend and I were calling in for a takeaway to share with my elderly mum back at home we would have a sneaky dosa whilst waiting and I'd always order idli and sambar to have for breakfast the next day. I didn't even know then that they are a breakfast dish! A shop in the small town I live in sells idli mix. I'm tempted to try it...

@HeathieJ I dislike the phrase "no brainer" for exactly the same reason. I immediately visualise an empty skull!

@SBK and Irish accents too as you know!

@Bruce In London we called in Knock Down Ginger! I was well onto the I/O thing by then so it didn't matter that it was unfamiliar. Learned something new

@Becky Good luck tonight v Chelsea. Will be rooting for the Gunners!

@Jacob I understand the scoring but I only ever watch the Wimbledon matches where the score in this case is announced, for example as "Advantage Świątek". Unfortunately when this question comes up in the crossword I struggle to recall the ADIN / ADOUT version

@Kim Absolutely! Movie trailers aren't teasers anymore they're edging on being spoilers. I too have felt sated enough by an overlong trailer and consequently haven't bothered to go and see the film

@Maya For me 'career' was my first thought. The phrase 'careering out of control' leapt to mind easily. Perhaps it depends on which side of the Atlantic you are located