Rebecca
MA
My first ever gold star on a Saturday!! 28:15. NW corner was the last to fall. I had eSs for 22A for wayyy too long though. And EmAil for 27D. And ScARFING
@Isabeau me too. That was my last square.
Wooo my first completed Sunday without any hints or lookups!hookups! 34:58
Wow! A sub 20 minute Friday with no lookups! Very unusual for me. Proud of myself... before I see all the comments saying it was easy. But shouldn't it be SPIDEySENSE?? I also don't really like BEREAL. The phrase is get real.
A little tough for a Tuesday! But a lot of good clues. 53D is a little meta. Well, but for this puzzle. But as a crossword clue in general. I liked 62A. Very clever bit of misdirection. But maybe a higher level of misdirection than you'd usually see on Tuesday!
Got the theme really fast - in my first pass with acrosses. Saw it in the NE corner, and was able to get the other circle areas filled in quickly. But.... I reached the revealer and Oregon Trail didn't fit! I was so sure that was what it was going to be!
ASCENTOFMAN made me smile. Last to fill: the I in PAIGExMIR. I knew neither, but it seemed to be the only letter that would work, and it was right.
@Rebecca Err. My phone did some weird autocorrect thing. Was just supposed to say "without any hints or lookups!" Not sure why it added hookups to the end???
5:14! A new record for me! By a good 30 seconds too
My fastest Monday ever at 5:57! An easy but fun one
Fun, pretty quick one! Faster than average Monday but not my fastest. Though, I was able to fill in the revealer without having any of its crossings. Grew up with that album (born in 86 and my dad was a big fan of it).
@Megan I had the exact same experience! Finished the puzzle but it wasn't done, and found I had MAGeZINE
@Paul R I knew ZARA and ULTA, but I had a natick issue with SAL/ELON. I first put in EtON ... that shows up in crosswords sometimes. When something was wrong after I filled everything in, I decided maybe SAt didn't look quite right and tried L
I loved this one! I figured out there was a PHI rebus early with DELPHI, but was so confused because I knew DINGDONG and FLIPFLOP and HIPHOP, but couldn't figure out how that was supposed to work. Didn't help that I wanted CRoSSwordPUZZlE and shipSHAPE, and had their rebus in the crosses, but couldn't figure out how they matched the others and went with the rebus. Very satisfying to figure out what was actually going on!
The very first thing I filled in was PWNED. Not sure what that says about me. Wasn't sure if it would be a P or O, but I thought using the zeroes in the hint implied it would be a P. Not quite finished with the rest of the puzzle, but I'm pretty sure at this point that one is right.
Naticked on V_GODA/_MPEI and S_P/_ERI. Had to guess until I got them.
@Beth in Greenbelt That seems aaaaalmost like using check puzzle. I've been over this puzzle like 17 times now and I can't figure it out. Have to sleep on it. I'll find it in the morning
I loved this crossword! I confidently filled in JAZZHANDS with no crosses. Dunno. It just stuck out to me. And I knew NOOB (second time we've seen pwned in a matter of days!). And then I filled in DONEZO with only the Z and O. Was shocked at that one. My husband says it all the time but I don't think I've ever heard anyone else use it. Kinda thought he made it up. Everything else went pretty smooth except top middle because I spelled BUOY wrong. Transposed the U and O and it threw me off for a while.
6:30! That was a reeeeally fast one! It helped to fill in TIMEMACHINE without any of the crossings.
Finished really fast, but something was wrong! Turns out I spelled YAgHTS and had AgE for point of no return. Took me forever to find!
I first filled in Kvelled for Was Verklempt. And I had Ryder for Flynn. Threw me off for a while. Good puzzle though, with some fun clues!
I had never heard of the jeans brand, but I filled in Simcha since that also means happiness in Hebrew. And then I filled in SAlmon, which messed me up in that corner for a long time.
I had EluDE instead of EVADE, so I had NUNuVUT instead of NUNAVUT (looked right to me), and LIE instead of VIE. Had everything filled in and couldn't figure out what was up, until I realized I wasn't entirely sure LIE could mean "struggle." Almost 5 min slower than my average Tuesday because of that error.
Took a while to get the theme, but 17:49 with no lookups, no checking, no looking at this column... has got to be one of my best Thursdays ever.
Error and by NW I mean NE, but that's probably obvious
@Eric That was my only square I had to fix flyspecking. I also had PRIZEBOTS x BAR
I must have been on the same wavelength as the constructor! I have never finished a Friday so fast (especially with no lookups). 13:50, ten minutes faster than my average Friday. It helped that I managed to think of BLENDEDFAMILIES and NEPOBABIES with only one or two crossings, and THECATINTHEHAT was a gimme. Fun puzzle with lots of good words!
Finished the puzzle but something was wrong! I had CANITRY instead of MAYITRY, which led to CANGO instead of MANGO (I was thinking.... could be someone's name??) and ANO instead of AYO (a name I didn't know). Frustrating! Good puzzle otherwise - pretty fast for a Friday!
@Lewis I initially put in Mercury because it was the right number of letters, and I used the U. Had nothing else in that corner for way too long because nothing seemed to work. And then I figured out it could be Neptune
@Jim mine was 13 seconds faster than Tuesday. I think both Tuesday and Wednesday were at Wednesday level difficulty
@Jane I got it!!!! I had GENe and BUCKeROUGE. Never would have found without your comment. I didn't know Gena either, and Gene was a name. I guess I apparently didn't know the spelling of buckaroo either because I didn't notice it was wrong. Saw "Gena" in your comment and was like "I don't remember a Gena in this puzzle"
@Times Rita I knew SACHA, but I had BUCKeROUGE! I didn't know GENa, and didn't notice the misspelling. Finally got it.
I finished it but something isn't right! I can't for the life of me figure out what it is, but I don't want to use check puzzle!
@B Yes! Katz and Atari were gimmes for me
On the easier side for a Wednesday, but I loved the theme clues! They definitely got a chuckle, or at least a smile
@Dave I initially filled in CLEANANDJERK because it was the right number of letters. Quickly figured out that wasn't it though.
@Marshall Walthew I'm from Wynnewood! I know the restaurant! I also filled in MAPO TOFU from the clue without having any of the crosses
@Dave those were my last three fill-ins too. And I was just guessing at things that sounded like names.
@Zach My two mistakes were alter instead of altar and heal instead of heel! Took me a while to figure out, and ended up with slower than my average for a Tuesday, but found the errors.
@The Poet McTeagle Me too. And JAM was the first one I filled in, and I was still going "is there a 'jam pickle' ??? Like a bread and butter pickle?"
@Grant Yeah really. A bit ironic that he said place instead of name, as Black Panther's birth place is probably more memorable for most people than his birth name!
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