Katie

I love how the crossword in recent months is committed to the only significant meaning of ELON being a North Carolina college. That's true Southern shade.

IN A WORLD where PLAYTIME'S OVER and popcorn comes in TINS, a PRUDISH MINISTER, a ZEN TEAMSTER, and a SWAMP RAT go AWOL, go PRO, go for BROKE, and go BOOM. With an ICONIC TWIST you won't see coming, PROTEIN SHAKES this summer and so will you. WAR STORY, coming soon to a theater near you.

In retrospect, I filled in "Cattle call" as MOOOOOOOO a little too hastily.

Delighted to see DARKACADEMIA and GOSSIPGIRL in this one. Finally something for me! It can't always be golf and retirement accounts. More puzzles by women, please!

Oh, I absolutely loved this one! So many fresh subjects and fun angles. RIOT GRRRL (which I believe Anna Shechtman, talking about women's exclusion from the crossword world, specifically had called out as a once-rejected answer), Linda PERRY, PAD SEE EW and negitoro rolls, Pequod crossing AHAB, DEAD TREE EDITION, Tu Youyou... and probably my very favorite clue of all, "Pixar franchise in which buses and taxis exist, despite serving seemingly no purpose," which I immediately sent to my sister, as she has watched CARS so many times with her 4-year-old that she has made this very complaint about the worldbuilding. Jiahe, please let this be the first of many!

This was much brainier than I expected for a Wednesday, with clues and answers that felt fresh-- what a joy! The fellowship is giving us many of the paper's best puzzles. And grousing is the natural response to symphony puns, of course.

Loved the theme, completely original! This was a joy to do. Hope the creators contribute many more, either together or separately.

"The Thin Man terrier" should be a World Heritage crossword clue by now. I remember my grandma (who loved complaining about the crossword) pointing out what an old standby it was many decades ago.

Beautifully constructed, and made me hungry. Got to be one of the finest Sundays. (Though now I want to see a themed puzzle where LARCH appears as no. 1.)

I absolutely loved this one. And the little minesweeper bombs at the end! What a delight. My favorite this year.

Yes, yes, you filled this one in quick, but did you do it in time to the overture?

Spent at least a third of my time trying to identify the one letter I had wrong (I had ACCEDES rather than ACCEDED), but I would forgive this puzzle anything for that delightful "Blue blood vessels?" clue.

Count me with those immensely pleased to see local author IJEOMA Oluo in the crossword, and with those who immediately checked the comments to see if everyone else had MATE for CHAP.

I don't know how I got convinced that POULTRYBAR is a thing.

Absolutely loved this one -- it was worth the slight trickiness of filling it in the app, and got me to spend a while reading about giraffes afterwards on this holiday weekend. Surely a highlight of the year.

That Xena clue made my day!

Love the botanical theme, but I don't think the HIBISCUS is as strongly associated with lei-making as pikake, tiaré, orchid, and plumeria. It's more likely a flower behind the ear.

Loved this. Thank you. This crossword was such a gift, I had to tell my partner all about it (we were the first queer couple married in our synagogue, before Obergefell came down).

FURSONA in the NYT crossword. Truly, an historic day.

My niece who shares the name is a fan of the old classic Blueberries for Sal, so I was particularly happy to see that one.

Rena Cohen's crosswords go down so smoothly to me, without awkward crossword-ese. I like to see real phrases that people actually use, like THEMUNCHIES and LOCKANDLOAD. (Though ever since I watched the Inside No. 9 episode about cryptic crosswords, I can't see NINA without wanting to look for a nina.)

I found this to be a breezy Tuesday (fun theme!), but then "the SERE, the yellow leaf" is never too far from my mind, as I age.

I had to resort to looking up the P in ADP/RIPSAW, but at least that's finally i. I'm bea.

Loved the clue "It's a no-brainer." I know I'm a millennial because TOTES unwillingly made me flash back to that commercial with Malcolm McDowell and James Earl Jones, like a character with PTSD in a police procedural.

Finished fast but had to read the column to understand the theme. I couldn't figure out what a "bad carer move" was (I missed an E) or what a "winless season" is (sports, apparently). On the other hand, I'm always happy to be reminded of elk bugling, and MUG got me just as I was grumbling to myself "who even calls it a coffee urn, anyway."

YOOHOO-- pardon, "I'm this-a way!"-- I just sent you a "Ding thing?", so turn down your EARLAP and read it. After all, as they say, [Comment from one who's going along].

Answers like RMONTHS and MUNI really make me feel like I'm the wrong class to be doing these puzzles.

GEEKGIRLCON in the NYT crossword, what a fun surprise! I resisted the impulse to fill it in right away because I thought something so niche that I've been to so many times had to be too obscure for the crossword, but no!

Loved seeing all the OOs and SNORLAX. I can't be the only one who got stuck on "Hindu counterpart of Eros" because the capital-E suggested the god rather than the concept, right?

I'm always surprised that proper nouns seem to be unpopular-- if not for answers I knew like JEANRENOIR and LEHANE, I would've given up early on this one.

Missed opportunity to write a clue about Louis RIEL, but a fun theme I totally missed seeing until almost done.

Love a puzzle that actually makes me get off the phone for a minute and go look at something (a keyboard in this case!)

Just gonna say that I happened to be doing a puzzle in the 2024 archives the other day, and was so pleasantly surprised that a clue used the term "sex worker."

Absolutely loved this one, and was quite pleased with myself for filling in all the notable women right away. Seeing such a fine tribute to International Women's Day really brightened up my day. May the USA someday never need reminding to celebrate it.

I want to see LONELYISLAND more than I see DIGITALSHORTS. Make it happen, NYT.