Puzzled

@Hillary It works both ways. I'm well over the age of 50, and I know very little about Korean boy bands, or the meaning of words like DEF or STAN or DOPE, or various Game of Thrones characters, or Lululemon, or the lyrics to the latest rap songs. (All of these have appeared in recent puzzles.) But I can learn. And I do---by doing crosswords every day. Rather than insisting that crosswords cater to your generation only, may I suggest you open your mind to classic rock, old movies, Nick at Nite, literature, history, and various other sources? If I, at my apparently advanced age, can open my mind to current music, movies, books, and video games, you should be able to do the same. In the words of a 50-year-old commercial: "Try it! You'll like it!" And maybe you will.

@Adam B. I see only 4 that might specifically appeal to us geezers: Lady Marmalade, Paul Simon, Frank O'Hara, and Liberty Valance. They're balanced by Lady Gaga, Bantu knots, and Brokeback Mountain, which are of more recent popularity. Then again, there are references to Monet, Notre Dame, Oliver Cromwell, and even Pompeii, all of which predate even me. I'd say this puzzle has something for everyone.

@Joan Sometimes the "too easy" comments sound a bit like humblebragging. (BTW, that term would be a good grid-spanning answer.) I look at my time when I'm done, but that's just to compare my today self to my previous self. I'm more interested in comments about particularly good (or bad) clues; questions/comments about an answer; and various jokes, puns, or wordplay.

@Mike Did you see the three circles in the puzzle? That should have clued you in to the fact that it had a "gimmick," and you could have skipped it at the start.

@Andrzej I always enjoy your comments; they're an interestng look into your culture. And it's also fun to see the American things you think are odd. It makes me look at my own culture differently.

@Francis In a college town, there's sometimes an implied conflict between those who live in TOWN and those who will eventually wear a graduation GOWN.

@Andrzej I always enjoy reading your comments. I can't imagine trying to solve a crossword in a language other than my native tongue, much less deal with idioms, grammar, and other vagaries of the English language. You inspire me to move beyond my American mindset (especially nowadays). I'm too old to learn to speak the Polish language, but I enjoy learning about it through your comments.

@Tom Read it a different way: "what can symbolize 50" is the Roman numeral L (a capital L)

@Edith Maor Rocked is a slangy term for "wore it well." From Webster's: to wear, display, or feature (something striking, distinctive, or attractive)] From Pete the Cat (children's book from 2011): "Here comes Pete, strolling down the street, Rocking red shoes on his four furry feet."

@Nate S The word BANG without the (!) worked for me. It turned into (!) when the puzzle was done.

@Tony Poirot would say gREY Holding a pair of tREYs And drinking comfREY While pursuing his pREY.

@Steve L This rural Ohioan has seen plenty of tractors, and while I can see it in the link you posted, it's a real stretch as a meme. But my state also is famous for a game called cornhole, so there's that.

@Michelle Celebrate all your PBs! Soon you'll watch them fall even lower, and you'll get those elusive end-of-week ones too. NEVER SAY NEVER, and LITTLE BY LITTLE you'll get there!

@john ezra Wow, that's deep! You win [the comments] by a mile. Take a bow--you're due for one. I dare not add on anything else, or else you might find me odd.

@Francis Sadly, Francis, I have to agree with you. a long, cold, lonely winter.

@Mike In my 40-year career as an editor, you can bet I knew the difference between en and em dashes. It might seem esoteric to non-editors, but if all answers were easy, where's the fun in that? I thought it was a fair clue. I'd let it stand [STET], to use another common crossword answer.

@Fact Boy That's a maxi answer for a mini puzzle :)

@Steven M. Running the alphabet can be tedious, but it's worth it to keep a streak alive. I always review all my answers before that process; it's surprising how often a typo somewhere else needs to be fixed before running the alphabet has any effect--for me, at least. Yesterday I had 3 unknown letters, and finding the right combination was taking forever. Finally--finally!--after all that I found a typo in a different part of the puzzle that I swear wasn't there the first three times I went through it. I finished almost twice my usual time, bloody but unbowed--and my streak lived to see another day.

@Bart Congratulations! I sometimes get annoyed with the "it's too easy" crowd; their comments can sound like bragging.

@Barry Ancona I see what you did there.

@Pezhead I'll finish it out. For me, the SE was the last to fall.

@Lige Welcome back, and good health to you!

@Al in Pittsburgh Does using the loo in Buckingham Palace require a royal flush? But in any house, a flush is always better than a full house.

@B Most quilts are made of blocks of fabric stitched together and surrounded by a border. The blocks themselves may be made of smaller blocks, and so, ad infinitum. (Thank you, Ogden Nash)

@Lige That pun fell flat.

@Tom I was a copyeditor/proofreader for 40 years. After about 25 of them, the powers-that-be decided to switch from AP style (no serial comma) to Chicago (serial comma). The whiplash I suffered has yet to subside fully.

@Eric I also liked the 3 consecutive vowels in RITEAID

@Marshall Walthew The more famous version was by Gene Pitney. The song itself was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, who teamed up for a lot of hit songs in the '60s and '70s

@Bethany Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

@Whoa Nellie That's absolutely stellar!

@acjones I usually solve in silence, except for the conversations with myself as I talk myself into an answer . . . or out of one, just to realize later that the first one was right all along. I have very engaging conversations: "Good clue!" "Ooh, that was a tricky one, wasn't it?" "It has to be right; why doesn't it fit?" "What the &%#$ does that clue even mean?" "Oh, now I get it!" "No, that's not right, either." Music while solving is a distraction to me. Music as an audible "Congrats!" is fine.

@Steve It's learned in a first-year Latin course, i.e., Latin One (or, using a Roman numeral, Latin I).

@Ann You could try chocolate graham crackers, which are probably thicker, so you'd have to add more whipped cream. But what's wrong with that? Even better for NYT crossword fans: Our old friend OREO can be found as a large round cookie (without the filling). Its suggested use is to make ice cream sandwiches, but crossword puzzlers are inventive enough to give a new recipe a try.

@Annie Congrats on the streak!

@Francis Only if they're baby emus. Adult ones have already lost their down.

@Grumpy I think the 4A clue (Adviser to an acting president?) was perfect for a Friday puzzle. The question mark signals that there's something of a misdirect. Your suggested clue would be more appropriate for a puzzle earlier in the week, in my opinion.

@Rick Box That's what I had, too. But I found two more 7-letter, 1-point countries: TUNISIA and AUSTRIA. And they share the IA ending with ESTONIA.

@john ezra Yeoh received the statuette in 2023; she won it for her work in 2022.

@HeathieJ Boomer here who also knew YEET. Also YEESH and YAWN. But YAXES needed a second look for it to make sense.