Mark

Dear constructors and editors: I hope this comments section has no impact on the decisions you make. Please keep challenging us with fun, creative themes. I enjoy these *because* they’re difficult, and I hope you keep finding news ways to make my brain hurt. Thank you for another great puzzle!

Didn’t expect to be thinking about Ayn Rand, cruise missiles, and catholic royalty on a Wednesday morning, but here we are.

More than double my average Saturday time. No celebration, just relief. No fun, just work. For those who just assume I need more experience, could you be more specific about how much? Are my 3,000 puzzles not enough?

An addendum to 14D: Sources of retirement income (for Gen X and above). Sincerely, A disgruntled millennial

Woof. Did I accidentally enter a crossword competition or something?

Bold move presenting OCTOPI to a room full of word nerds. Also DAO just undid years of training my brain that “it’s T, not D”

Being stuck on loADS and not knowing HANK left me dumbfounded with the SALONS and CLERK crossing. Spent half my overall time trying to suss that one out. Nearly double my average time. Thanks for a nice Friday challenge!

Ah yes, MILKSOP! I think I remember hearing my 300 yr old British friend use that in a sentence once. Side note: isn’t it odd how we attribute value to new words learned based on their potential usefulness to us in the future? Quite often I’ll be confronted with a new bit of trivia and think “oh that’s good, I’ll have to remember this!” Whereas I see milksop and think “I will never see this word again.” The irony is that it’s left such a strong impression, I know I’ll never forget it now!

A bit tougher than I expected for a Wednesday. Really enjoyable! Thank you for a great puzzle!

Really enjoyable puzzle. I must say BURSAR crossing BRER, ERATO, NAIR, and SRS was a bit cruel, especially to anyone under 40. Kids these days don’t know who wears short shorts!

Thank you for a great puzzle, Sara. Congrats on the debut!

Did anyone else accidentally invent the term datadive while solving this morning? I think it has great potential! Could be referring to digging through old documents or social media posts.

Very satisfying revealer. Thanks for a fun puzzle!

Several proper nouns I had never heard of. Didn’t have the resources to devote to figuring out the theme. Was afraid this may be a repeat of 08/16/23, the Wednesday that will live in infamy. Luckily guessing letters led me to franks, fala, and the chime.

As much as I hate seeing OCTOPI, I have to concede that this was a really fun theme and enjoyable solve. I left the right-side theme answers blank, knowing that it wasn’t going to be straightforward. Got BARHOP with the downs and was able to figure out the theme from there. Thank you for a great puzzle!

+100 for Dis/cuss. Absolutely loved that clue. -1000 for AMAZEBALLS. Some things are better left in 2012. Very clever placement of ELK, where an SAE-centric person may have put MPH and assumed ELm without reading the clue. Overall tough, enjoyable solve. Thanks for another good challenge!

Happy to be offered a very hard fought aha moment. Thanks for a great puzzle!

I did what some others did, filled in the down answers straight, and conceded a flipped letter in every other across answer. No music. I then braided them, still to no avail. Turns out the “twos column” being the nOES was the wrong line of thinking. After finally realizing the intended meaning of row and braiding the theme clues again, success was achieved. Thanks for a nice challenge!

Took 50% over my average time to solve. I found it tricky, interesting, and really enjoyable. Thanks for a great puzzle!

Really hate seeing stuff like 1D still getting included. Otherwise, really enjoyable puzzle!