Darby

I really enjoyed solving this puzzle and it also warms my heart reading about the constructors journey to getting a crossword published. Today’s puzzle was the perfect combination of all of the things that make crosswords so fun and addictive: a great theme, some funny plays on words, and plenty of those delicious “aha!” moments that urge (or is it MERGE) you forward.

Got the theme, got the rebus, figured out all the weird niche answers, but somehow managed to get stuck on 108D for an embarrassingly long time. I forgot screwdrivers were also drinks lol. Overall great puzzle, and I had so much fun solving it, LET(TU)CEWRAPS clued me in, but didn’t give away the theme yet, it was such a delight when I got 70A, I was actually giddy. Not even a huge Star Wars fan I just love a good theme.

This week was definitely topsy turvy for me, I struggled on Tuesday/Wednesday and finished Thursday/Friday faster than normal! But still, all in all I’ve throughly enjoyed all of the puzzles this week, and certainly learned a few new words at least. Now if those pesky Sundays could just stop soiling my streaks…

For everyone who didn’t know what SHAKSHUKA was I highly recommend making it sometime! It’s simple and delicious and a favorite of mine to make for breakfast with friends. I absolutely love when my own obscure niche knowledge overlaps with the daily puzzle! Overall great Saturday, it used to take me well over an hour (or even two) and now I can consistently get them in under an hour, it’s nice to see how I’m improving over time. Although ZOOMIES and HADNOCHILL certainly helped as this was slang I was very familiar with (GenZ club), but the ANIMALFARM quote was totally unknown to me; we read 1984 and A Brave New World in school, but not this classic.

Absolutely loved today’s crossword, it was such a delightful solve with lots of aha moments. I remember Mr. Koppy’s last Sunday puzzle on May 4th. He has such a great wit for putting together these types of puzzles, where they’re just such fun from beginning to end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, I noticed a lot of proper nouns which are usually my weakest point, but I was able to get through them with the crossing clues! All in all an enjoyable solve.