John

Nice one. I knew it had to be DYNASTY, but how to fit that in - REDHANDED confirmed the rebus and it was off to the races. "Minute" hand - love it. And to echo the Caledonian Correspondent - an old Scottish drinking companion once commented: "It takes 12 years to get the water oot, and ye dinnae put it back in again."

I agree with "Crapper." This one was tedious, with what may be a record of six trivia clues in the bottom five lines. Then the slang - maybe it's just me, but I have never heard of a corn pit or a nose rag. Oh well, hoping for a better one tomorrow.

Wanted to do the crossword, but found a trivia quiz in its place. Please go back to wordplay, not pop culture.

Nice one today - thank you. Solved 35A and a lot of things fell into place. Any trivia questions were readily answered by cross-clues. Some nice wordplay. All in all, great puzzle. More like this, please.

More like this one, please! I enjoyed the wordplay, it required some thinking - CREASED, for example. And there was no reliance on silly trivia. Bravo!

I think 46A summed it up for me. So much trivia. Please, let's go back to wordplay and not Googling.

Nice one today. No references to superhero movies, historic third basemen, or texting abbreviations. More like this please.

Finished it without help, but no idea of what the theme clues meant. After reading the description, still not sure. Too cutesy by half.

Another good one today - no need to look up any trivia, though I did Google "yeet" after putting it in. "Eboy" is not a word I have ever seen, but enough of the downs were doable to get it. I echo others on the spelling of "mooshu," but, again, enough of the downs were good. Like others, I had "James" before "Crowe" and "gawk" before "gawp," but the other clues forced the changes. Overall, very pleased to see back to back crosswords that did not have interlocking pop culture. And the theme was fun. Keep it up!

Far too much trivia to be enjoyable.

I don't get it. I had to look up the Randall's daughter one, and only a crossword solver had it as TESS - it's given as Deja anywhere else. Either way, no idea which is right, and I don't really care when setters insist on using pop culture references. Never heard of Josh GAD, but that was given by downs. Can someone explain "TIE" as the answer to what looks like a telephone number for some service or other? Does dialing 811 tell you what tie goes with that shirt? So lost. Never heard of NATTYICE, and proud to say that I have never drunk it, now that I know about it. Some of the other clues were pretty good, and TESS was the only one I had to look up. I just wish that setters would not rely so much on TV shows. That clue could have been "Hardy heroine," for example. At least SQUIDGAME was enough of a phenomenon to make the papers.

Nice one today. Very little trivia nicely scattered around and therefore solvable with intersecting clues. Some fell out nicely (SAMADAMS is a Boston beer, the Schubert key had to be _M__NOR, and where else would you have the Eiffel tower and a cowboy hat but PARISTEXAS?). The theme was cute. Troubled in the SE corner because during the summer season I think LIFEGUARDS not MALLSANTAS, but after LAM and ANTE that was resolved. A very satisfying puzzle, thank you.

Two in a row of excellent puzzles. I had never heard of SADD (or some of the other trivia clues - who does the NYT Xword and has read 50 Shades?), but all the unknown trivia were answerable with wordplay cross-clues. Please keep up the good work.

That's four in row that didn't require googling of obscure people! I hope this ushers in a new age of NYT crosswords that aren't trivia-laden. Thoroughly enjoyed this morning's.

I thought it was the Springfield Isotopes. Live and learn. Like others, I didn't see the rides supposedly depicted, except maybe the ROLLERCOASTER. And why, of why, do setters persist in including obscure authors (not obscure in a good way)? Hands up if you've ever heard of Louis SACHAR. Without that spelling, how are we supposed to get made-up drink names (HATERADE, I'm looking at you).

Got stuck on the Northeast corner except for ABBA (and thank you for not using "Fernando group" or some such silly clue for that). No idea what an "ANDONE" is, nor what Woody's surname was. Had to look those up, because I wasn't getting any of the others up there. ABBOT was clever. So, apart from the obscure trivia, a good puzzle this morning. Got the theme with "RUMMY" and the others became easy to fill in. Like others, I question whether "OLITH" really equates to "OLD THING," but close enough.

More like this please! My first horizontal pass netted about five answers, and my hopes were not high, but a few key verticals made for a nice framework. Very few trivia questions, and they were solvable from their surroundings, just a nice Saturday morning mental workout. Thank you.

Nice one today - easy for a Saturday, but pleasingly short on trivia - just words. This is what a crossword should be.

Didn't really enjoy this one at all. I still don't understand "IHOPESO" - can someone explain how that is an eggcorn for “From your lips to God’s ears”? The other ones I get, though I find them horribly contrived. Also, as others have commented, "HET", "VET" - a bit niche for my taste. I had "CIS" for a long while until I found nothing would fit. And "ROOK" could be either a bird, a chess piece, or a swindle, I thought. Now I know better.

Started off really not liking this one - names of obscure comedians and Tik-Tok artists (really?), slang for gamers - yuk. But with a bit of wrangling, the cross-clues came together, and I was just left checking to see whether the trivia names that fell out really existed - they did. At least, if setters have to use stupid trivia, make them solvable with other clues.

Great one today. Major head-scratcher - no, that doesn't fit - until MISIDENTIFY resolved itself. That was the aha moment, and the rest was a delight. More like this please.

Solved it all fairly quickly using rebuses, but it was wrong. I don't really enjoy puzzles that require one to guess exactly how the setter wants one to present the answers.

Nice one today. I was scratching my head and muttering until I got the "down" word of the theme, and that changed everything. Very little trivia, which was nice, and that was all solvable by intersecting clues. More like this one, please.

What is it with NYT setters and superhero movies? Otherwise, this was an OK one.

I liked this one. Didn't have to go to google to find out the names of pop artists/3rd basemen/B-list actors, and I always hate having to do that. I had never heard of Pinky and the Brain, but without other stupid trivia clues intersecting, it filled itself in. I didn't see the complete theme until the final reveal, but it didn't actually matter because it worked anyway. (I never pay attention to the theme in the puzzle name, just the one that emerges from the puzzle itself.) More like this, please, that require more time spent on quiet reflection than googling pop trivia.

Very nice one today, which makes two in a row that weren't overburdened with trivia. Never heard of Fred Armisen, but the surrounding clues got it. Quick question though - what do people in the US call people who create crosswords? I thought everyone called them setters.

Needed two pieces of help on this one. I've never heard of a country singer called Oslin I had IN, so guessed TWAIN (one of the few C&W names I know), and, of course that made the SW corner impossible. And I had RETINA, so made it RETINASCANS, which made the NW corner impossible. Otherwise, the trivia quiz was solvable.

Nice one today. Thank you, and more like this, please. All the pop culture trivia was solvable with cross clues.

Another one that is just too, too cute. Really impressed that even after finishing it correctly, it doesn't show as completed. I clicked "Check Puzzle" and no errors. "Reveal Puzzle" similarly shows nothing that needs to change. So I now have an unfinished puzzle that I can do nothing with. If you must do rebuses, please fix the website so that the program works. Better yet, drop the cutesy rebuses.

Nice one today, not riddled with trivia. I am unfamiliar with the word "dinger," but the down clues filled it in. I'm not usually keen on phrases, because there can be so much ambiguity, but enough of the other clues were solvable to nail them down. I so much prefer ones that challenge by figuring out words rather than the intent of some of the oh-so-precious setters, and ones that don't require googling of b-listers, old sitcoms, etc. Keep up the good work!

Very unimpressed. Changing the rebus rule part-way through a puzzle, seriously? All of them ?/? (don't want a spoiler here) except 45A/D. And all the arcane sports trivia: if I wanted trivia, I'd stick to the news quiz. Pshaw.