Lm

@Charlie for me, it felt like the challenge wasn't on the page. Personally, I like Saturdays when I can pick apart clues and the puzzle reveals itself slowly. The challenge today seemed artificially enhanced by obscure trivia and rare alternate spellings. Mostly attainable from crosses, but that just meant that I had fewer clues to actually solve. I never had an 'aha' moment solving RIATA, for instance, I just brute forced it. Not an interesting, picking Chloe, just straightforward trivia check. In addition there was some standard crosswordese fill to diminish my enjoyment, like ETNA. I know puzzles used to always be this way, but we've seen they don't have to be anymore. If we're getting more submissions than ever, why do we have to settle for unsatisfying or easy? Especially when the editors have shown us puzzles that can be both challenging and don't waste clues.

@Anonymous they're referring to 29D clued as "Jalopy". I also had never heard this but Merriam Webster's third definition of crate, informal + somewhat old-fashioned: "a dilapidated old car or airplane". Their example dates to 1983.

@Mean Old Lady I thought it referred to a champagne flute, the NYE stemware.

@AGW also was next to obscure trivia (TESH), both of which forms a key part of one of the theme spoonerism. Somehow had to guess the boutique items = cotillion? If only there was any other way to indicate cotillion would be spoonerized in the clue itself instead of making me guess large numbers and eventually get the correct answer while feeling no satisfaction. Hardly a clever puzzle when the wordplay is extraneous to the clue altogether. Most of the rest was ponderous but this section was egregious, and easily fixable with better clueing. I'm ok not loving every puzzle but please editors clean these up

@SP thank you, that was exactly what I was looking for. The kind of comment that helps editors and constructors, leads to better discussion, and a more aware solver. Appreciate your time

@Barry Ancona I know you make a habit of this kind of comment but it's hard to take you seriously sometimes, and I do want to keep giving you the benefit of the doubt. AD-IN crossed with ADUE and GUNLAP is not Tuesday fill by any means. Plus fill like PATE, SEXER, and SALTTAX meant this puzzle had very technical and arcane terms, as well as a fairly clever theme that should require some crossing answers to complete.

@SP for me it often can read as boasting, especially when devoid of any specifics. From more experienced solvers I would appreciate hearing what in particular caused it to be easier. Today's for instance has some generic fill and rather well-known trivia. But it also has deep stacks and really clever misdirects, as well as other more obscure trivia. So it's hard for me to believe anyone thinks it's a Tuesday. But I'll quote a not of dialogue from 1956's Bigger Than Life: "Do you want these crossword puzzles? / No thanks, too easy these days"