Michelle

Finished in 25:19, a PB for me, with no hints from the Crossword Column for help. Someday I'll be able to say the same about a Saturday and a Sunday puzzle. I've been enjoying both the challenges in the puzzles throughout the week and the comments. It's never dull in here!

I really enjoyed this puzzle, especially the reminder of Toni Morrison's wonderful body of work. As a relatively new solver of the NYT crossword I appreciate the chance to successfully solve a puzzle in under 30 minutes without looking at the Gameplay article for any clues and today's puzzle was a great boost! Thanks again for a nicely designed tribute puzzle.

What a brilliant puzzle week it's been!! Sure it took me nearly an hour today with a bunch of look ups and all the Wordplay clues, but I completed it and that's my goal. The more puzzles I do the better I get and the more I appreciate the sheer talent, skill, grit, determination, and brilliance it takes to construct a crossword. And a week of puzzles of this caliber, just wow!!! This week I celebrated my 1 year anniversary with NYT games, I've been challenged,frustrated, annoyed, and enjoyed every day of it. Thanks to all the constructors and editors. This past year has been a joy and I'm glad I joined the party. Here's to many more years of happy puzzling.

I really enjoyed this puzzle and am happy to say I feel like I am starting to get better at solving Thursday offerings...at least this week! I got a chuckle out of the clue for an appropriate nickname for a gumbo chef. :-) The theme was unique and engaging, as well. Thanks for a fun Thursday puzzle, Mr. Seigel, and happiest of birthdays to your mother.

Long, challenging, but enjoyable solve. Took some look ups to get to the finish, but I got there. I enjoyed headlines and the clever clueing, especially, "where people typically go to the mat." That one had me baffled for a long time, then made me laugh just as long once I finally got it! Thanks for a fun Sunday challenge!

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle and even more so enjoyed the number of comments about CATCHAIR. We share our home with four felines and as you can imagine every horizontal surface equates to a cat resting place, no matter it's original purpose! I wonder how many times a day my husband or I say, "I'm coming back and taking my chair back, Kiki/Nala/Otis/Milo." Now that my Tuesday puzzling is complete, I'm going to make some of those CHRISTMAS COOKIES that were also mentioned. Happy holidays one and all!!

A puzzle packed with sneaky, crafty clues and unusual letters, everything but the W, if I'm not mistaken, makes for a great Saturday puzzle! This one took some thinking and some help from my husband, the Gameplay column, and the comments, but was doable. I guess after more than a year of consistent crossword solving I am getting better, not necessarily smarter, but better and more willing to know when to look things up. I'm okay with that now. :-) Happy weekend and solving, friends.

Wow, that was a tough puzzle!! But, what a fun challenge! It took lookups, the Wordplay column, and help from my husband, but I solved it and added another gold star to my collection! I'll take it and I can say I learned a thing or two. And that's why I keep on tackling weekend puzzles. Keep the challenges coming NYT!! Now, on to Sunday!

Now that was a fun Tuesday! Four grid spanners in one puzzle, a new animal to learn about, a new show to check out, and some funny, funny clues that made me laugh out loud. I thoroughly enjoyed Kate's puzzle and had a good time figuring out the challenging clues that were mixed in with the rest of the entirely doable fill. Thanks for the fun Tuesday, Kate!

Great Thursday puzzle, gentlemen! I especially loved the nod to Star Wars with the USE THE FORCE and EMPIRES cross. I look forward to your next clever entry.

I really enjoyed the very clever trick that made for a unique and doable puzzle. An enjoyable Sunday that took less time than my average. I'll call it a win all around. Thanks, Mr. Coulter!

My goodness, that was a fun, fun puzzle! It was full of such funny, laugh out loud clues that took the edge off the difficulty and kept me plugging away. I really enjoyed the challenge and the creativity. I hope to see this duo's byline again. Thanks for an awesome Sunday romp!

I really enjoyed this Saturday puzzle and they are usually a slog for me, requiring a lot of lookups just to complete the grid. Today, though, I steadily worked my way through, often relying on crosses to help with clues I was, ahem, clueless on and a little help from Gameplay. Thanks for a fun Saturday puzzle, Alina! I look forward to more of your grids.

I found this to be a fun Wednesday puzzle that was challenging, yet doable. Yes, I needed to go to the Wordplay column to get some help, but once I had those clues in place the remainder of the puzzle fell with relative ease, with no additional look-ups. I'll take that solve and say thank you to Ms. Bloomer for a crunchy, sweet puzzle. I appreciated the chuckles over the cereals mentioned, too! Reminded me of going down the cereal aisle and begging Mom as a child. We never got any KIX, TRIX, or CHEX, but Grandad always had TOTAL! :-)

An enjoyable Saturday solve that took the combined efforts of me, my husband, Gameplay, and Google. Once we got rolling the answers fell smoothly and ended up just a hair under my Saturday average. I got a chuckle out of the clues for SALAD and PRISMS. I enjoy the challenge of clever cluing that makes me shake my head when the penny finally drops. I look forward to Mr. Guzman's next offering.

Alright, that was challenging, but fun. I had to laugh once I figured out where the rebus was, got the music and the lines connected the circles. The pun was revealed and my husband, of course commented, "Oh, that one's rather punishing, isn't it?" I know, his puns are really bad! I live with them day in and day out. Thanks for the Wednesday challenge and entertainment, Brad & Nicole!

Thoroughly enjoyed today's puzzle. Thank you for your enjoyable debut, Robert. I look forward to future entries from you.

What a fun puzzle to start the week! I especially enjoyed the HERDING CATS clue since we herded our group of four felines up this morning to visit the vet for microchipping. They were not amused by the car ride! Thanks for the fun debut puzzle Dena, I look forward to your next entry.

What a friendly and fun Friday puzzle, especially after some toughies earlier this week! Thanks, Mr. Musa, it was an enjoyable and challenging 30+ minutes of brain stretching.

What a great way to cap off a fun week of puzzling! This one was just crunchy enough to be challenging, yet still accessible, and chock full of laugh out loud puns! Mr. Rooney, if this is what you are writing for musical theatre, I look forward to seeing one of your shows. Thanks for a brilliant tribute to Sir Connery. I look forward to more from this creator. I hope they all have this level of fun and challenge.

An enjoyable Tuesday puzzle, made even more so by the fact that I got to solve it while sitting with my cup of coffee at hand and cats surrounding me in the morning! Snow day here in my part of Ohio! Congratulations on your debut, Jonathan. You are a testament to the power of perseverance. Here's to your next puzzle.

Whew boy, that was a doozy, but a fun doozy! Gave my brain a workout and was exhilarating to chip away at clues that wouldn't come, until they finally did! I loved the fun use of the rebus and the insanely clever clues kept my interest for the hour plus it took me to finish. Thanks for the fun puzzle, Mr. Kwong, looking forward to your next tricks!

A fun, fresh puzzle to start the week. I'm not a huge movie buff and don't have any quotes to share, but I did have a lot of fun going through the comments, reading all your quotes and quizzing my husband to see how many he knew. He knew a lot of them (he watches too many movies when we're off for the summer!) and really appreciated that there are a lot of Monty Python and Princess Bride fans solving crosswords. Thanks for the fun start to the week, Dena and Andrea, I hope you have another collaboration for us soon.

Such a fun, engaging puzzle! Both my husband and I got quite a few laughs out of the cluing today. "Room for growth?" and "Creator of a lot of buzz on the music scene" really made me chuckle. As we are heading to London in a few short days I am going to keep my eyes peeled for pubs named The Red Lion. I hope to see a lot! Thanks for a fun Wednesday puzzle, Dan. I look forward to your next submission.

Two thumbs up for a great debut puzzle, Mr. McClung! I especially enjoyed the clue, "People looking for hookups, informally," this one made me laugh hysterically. I hope to see your name on a puzzle again soon.

Great Monday puzzle! I appreciated the reminder of summer camp sleeping arrangements on this bitter cold morning. Great collaboration and congrats on the debut, Jeff!

What a fun puzzle to start the week! And a PB with no look ups always feels great! Thoroughly enjoyed the cluing today and will be hearing the incomparable Ms. Menzel and Queen+David Bowie for the rest of the day, but what great earworms! Thanks for the great Monday puzzle, Erica and Kate.

Whoa!!! Your second NYT crossword at 13! I'm impressed and I thoroughly enjoyed today's puzzle. Thanks for a fun Monday solve filled with clever and creative clues, Harrison. I look forward to more of your grids, young man.

Fun little puzzle! I enjoyed being able to breeze through it after slogging through the weekend's offerings. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy (usually!) the challenge of Thursday through Sunday, but appreciate the relative ease of Monday through Wednesday. Thanks for the sweet breather, Christina.

I thoroughly enjoyed this punny puzzle! It was just crunchy enough for my Tuesday taste. I really liked the clever wordplay and grinned throughout, especially after the clues landed. Thanks for a fun puzzle Ginny.

Such a fun puzzle, Tarun! Congratulations on your graduation and best wishes as you embark on your college adventure. I hope we see more of your crossword work in the future. I continue to be awed by the level of puzzle making skill the teens and young college students have been showing with their witty and challenging puzzles. I look forward to more of the same.

Getting to do a bunch of puzzles with some fun wordplay in both the clues and the answers has made for a lot of laughter for both my husband and me. We've thoroughly enjoyed the goofy puns and silliness liberally sprinkled throughout the puzzles! Thanks for the fun, puzzle creators and editors. It's been a blast! Today was no exception.

I am continually amazed when I read the Wordplay column and learn that a puzzle is a debut. Then, even more so when I read on and discover that today's puzzle is not only a debut, but from the mind of a 14 year old!!! Color me impressed, Mr. Cheong!! I certainly look forward to more of your work. Fresh, challenging clues that make me work for the gold star are always a good thing, even when I grumble a bit. Thanks for the fun ride, Bryan Cheong, keep on constructing!

That was a nice change of pace for a Thursday! It was nice to not feel like I had to stretch my solving powers to the max after a day of meetings or wonder if there was a rebus hiding among the clues. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good rebus most weeks! Thanks for a fun debut puzzle, Mr. Prock and Mr. Chen. I enjoyed the word play and the reminder of how much I enjoy cracking open a new can of Play-Doh!

So much fun!!! I did have to read the clue for 20A to my husband, of course he promptly answered with a, "Seriously, you asked me that one today?" look and the answer. He's used to my ignorance of most things movie related! In my defense, I quickly figured out the theme and rolled with it.

Such a fun puzzle! Loved the lighthearted and clever wordplay throughout. I found the cluing bright and fresh, as well. Fun way to start the week. I look forward to more from this constructor.

Fun puzzle! I loved the theme and the super clever inclusion of all the F-X words. Congrats on NYT puzzle three and the inclusion in the book, young man! What an incredible accomplishment!

What a fun puzzle! I loved that I was able to solve without looking at the Gameplay and only had to ask my husband for assistance on a few clues, none of them being the songs, surprisingly. I'm notoriously bad at remembering song titles!

What a fun way to start the week! I loved this debut puzzle and look forward to seeing more entries from Dana Edwards. I thoroughly enjoyed your witty clues, especially after I slog through the weekend puzzles. Thanks for a great kick off to the week.

This elementary school SLP thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. I use a lot of these crafty items when I co-treat with the OT in my building or just have fun creating while learning with my students. I always look forward to the beginning of the week puzzles when I am confident I can solve with a minimum of look ups, and today was no exception. I got a laugh out of 64A mainly because it grossed my husband out, he doesn't like goat cheese or that articular root veggie! Thanks for persisting, what a crafty, fun way to start the week!!

Very enjoyable puzzle today. I appreciated the mix of clues that made me scratch my head, ask my husband, and those that I was able to get right off the bat. Thanks for a fun puzzle Mr. Agard, I look forward to your next entry.

Fun Monday puzzle to solve on a cold evening after work. I appreciated the humor and clever clues that were still within reach of my sleepy brain after a week off work! Thanks for a fun entry to the work week!

Great Monday puzzle after a beast of a Sunday puzzle! Solving this one with just help from my hubby on the football clue, and a PB, is a great way to start the week. Thanks, Ailee Yoshida.

Just a flat out fun puzzle on a coooooooold Tuesday!! Thanks for the entertainment, Mr. Agard.

Enjoyable Tuesday puzzle with just enough challenge. The feathery females and bestrewn with droplets clues were clever and made me chuckle, especially when they clicked. Nice debut Gene! I look forward to your upcoming entry, as well.

Whew, that was a toughie, but doable and I learned a few things. There were some gimmes to balance the answers I had to get out of the Wordplay column and those I just had to puzzle out. Not all puzzles are ones I love, but getting to the end, even if I have to look things up are a win in my book and an opportunity to learn and stretch my brain a little.

I enjoyed this quick and fun puzzle. It's nice to have a relaxing puzzle to remind me I do have a brain that works, especially after questioning that over the weekend! :-) And after a day spent wrangling kids who may or may not particularly want to do what I need them to do! Having seen my parents, then years later my sister and her family, go through the aftermath of a house fire, my heart goes out to Nate and his husband. The joy will return to your life, it takes time. Keep plugging away, friends. I look forward to seeing your name on another puzzle in the future.

Great puzzle! Thanks, Katie Hoody. This one was the perfect amount of crunch, clever clues, and just plain fun. Looking forward to your next entry.

Fun puzzle, took me back to middle school and fun with calculators! Thanks for the early Sunday puzzle challenge.

What a fun puzzle on a Thursday filled with gloom and darkness. Thanks for the enjoyable and accessible puzzle. I look forward to more of your clever double clues to come.