Bard

I really liked this one.

After 2 years doing NYT crosswords, I'm so tired of seeing the same clues and answers over and over and over again. Makes the puzzles way too easy when you just need to memorize the list of go-to words, which happened without any effort on my part since they're used so often. Editor should really set a higher standard for originality. I'm cancelling my subscription and going elsewhere in the hopes of finding more original crosswords. (I'm not saying this particular puzzle is any more or less egregious than all the others.)