michael mccann

@Paul If I take you at your word, I'm befuddled as to how you drew that conclusion without looking at the puzzle. Did you have divine inspiration about its usefulness? Did a colleague convey their sentiments about the puzzle to you? Did Son of Sam's dog tell you about the puzzle? I'm puzzled. 🤔

@Jack M Do "tell" 🤪

@Endall I don't think you can treat the comments section as a representative survey of everyone who has completed, or attempted, the puzzle.

@Gareth No need to be smug. Difficultly varies for many people.

@VN Easy for some, incredibly difficult for me. 😱 And I was feeling so good after getting yesterday's in record time. Oh well, my mileage did vary.

@Tim That saying, which is interchangeable with "counts heads", apparently goes back to the 1600s. See here <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/count-noses" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/browse/count-noses</a>

@Nancy Sometimes people are "in tune" with the constructor and see the meaning of the clues quickly. I was not so attuned today, though. 😱 I do agree with you about the theme, nice one.

@Jordan Hi Jordan, see this wikipedia article about pica <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(unit" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(unit</a>)

@Nancy I agree about the SNEAKER issue. I was sure it couldn't be that since that only works for a person with one foot. Oh well, otherwise a good challenge, and since I have never even tried to make a crossword puzzle I really don't feel like I can complain, at least not too much. 🤪

@ST Or, "your mileage may vary"

@Barry Ancona Your logic is faulty.

@Alison my cats only do the wordle, they turn up their noses at the other puzzles like they were generic cat food 🤪

@Asher B. Debate and questions are good things, in my opinion, but some comments are snarky and some people seem to like be rude and condescending. That sort of stuff does detract from the sense of community, Of course this is just my view.

@lucky13 I would tell them to you but I don't want to sound catty 🐈‍⬛

@Pat Don't rush? Have a cup of coffee or something to slow yourself down so you can savor the clues more?

@Kathleen880I just put an "a" there and it gave me the solve music, so i missed the rebus bit, so inappropriate for the theme 😱🤪

@Nick It was tough, and I had to look up two answers overall, but I wouldn't call part or all of it "rubbish".

@Margaret Some people have to crow, others lament. Everyone's mileage will vary in life.

@Nora that would be "clink"

@Lex b Yeah = informal Yea = formal at least that's how I see those words

@Chuck Pruitt Not sure what was "too technical " about it, or how the possible use of computers by the constructors (how would one know that was done, and, if it was, why is it bad?) was an issue. As for lacking common sense, I don't see how puzzles can have common sense. It was hard, took me 90 minutes, and I had to look up the "former alliance" answer, but Sunday's are supposed to be hard, aren't they? Anyway, I enjoyed this one, but more so once I was finished.

@Gergo It seems it is used both to describe the engine and an aircraft powered by such an engine, see <a href="https://www.atr-aircraft.com/turboprop" target="_blank">https://www.atr-aircraft.com/turboprop</a>/

@Darren Well, as is often said, your mileage may vary. Seriously though, I worry when it seems that things like puzzles elicit strong negative emotions. Hopefully it is just exaggeration due to exasperation.🤪

@Heidi I had headboy for a while too. Took a few crosses to convince me to give up on it. I just kept remembering "I'm headboy, step aside!" or whatever the one Weasly brother kept saying 🤪

@Pam Yes but the clue was about the nursery rhyme so I'm still confused.

@Elbridge Gerry Yes, in my view a very unfortunate word to use. I tried multiple ways to put in rebuses (rebusi?) and never got the completion. All of my mistakes were trying to make stop and go fit with red and green. I certainly understand why unusual things like this make some people (myself included) a bit unhappy, since it's a twist on a twist. Lots of thought and effort but you can't get to the solution. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow's will be less "unusual " for me.

@Barry Ancona you're not helping

@Linda Jo are the aliens among us, or are cats doing crosswords now?🤔

@Amy Take a look at the comment above from "Mike Hunt" (never heard that one before) about the constructor. Very rude, in my view. But, I do agree with you in general, there are many supportive people here, and I do appreciate reading their thoughts and suggestions.

@Cherry I think what is meant is that the full answers to those clues are words, while the shaded squares are anagrams of the unshaded squares in the same answer. PUL and LUP, etc, not that the letters in all of the sets of shaded squares also form words by themselves, although some do. I had the same question after my first read of wordplay, but then I realized what (I think) was meant there.

@Xword Junkie Me too. I just finished it on my iPad. I needed help with a couple of clues but the rebus button worked fine for me.

@Jared Now I want a cannoli, or cannolo, or cannolis! 🤪

@Bruce "No capes!"

@Linda Jo Please don't take the joy of solving a Thursday puzzle with only one mistake (yes, whip, not whap) away from me! 😱

@Erik P I'm with you on that. This made me think there must be a rebus there, i kept trying to make it "rateable". oh well

@Barry Ancona That was sarcasm. Yes, I've heard it before. In terms of the column, I seem to recall Sam writing about people being rude towards the constructors. That is the case, in my opinion, in the comment to which I was referring.

@RachelJNYC me neither, so now i feel better about it, wasn't just me!

@Tom I'm confused, what is the reference to Kipling?

@Pedant Me too but then i put together "track meet" and "heats" as in individual races and "setting " as in location " good one in the end 🤪

@Barry Ancona But AMASK also fits, and not everyone watches tv, so I don't think it should be surprising that some folks (myself included) found it a bit frustrating.

@JessieSquirrel aah! I should have seen that but is was stuck on rent as payment. thanks!