Jessica

Kudos to Jackson for this crossword. I like it enough to bookmark it for later. There might be kickback from crossword cranks who think the theme is lacking but I found it corking and was quite taken with the idea. Solving wasn’t a cakewalk, I did have to backtrack in a few places and use my keen knowledge. To celebrate I’ll have a milkshake and a knickerbocker glory!!

As a teacher and frequent reader of The Very Hungry Caterpillar I am always sure to point this out to my students that butterflies create chrysalises, not cocoons (as Mr. Carle erroneously writes). When I saw the clue at 70A I had a tiny spark of hope that maybe there was some other clever entry that I hadn’t figured out yet. But alas, it was not to be! I am gratified to see other puzzle goers noting this error and I suppose, as lauded as they are, the puzzle editors are only human and may be afforded a mistake here and there. This oversight aside however, this was a clever puzzle that I quite enjoyed. It seemed a tad easier than a typical Wednesday but I think it’s just that solving flowed more me and I didn’t get stuck in any particular spot. Extra kudos for the volume of work I’m sure it took to ensure there really was only the one ‘i’.

Surprised that MENOPAUSE is making its debut! Feels a worthy addition that many of us know oh too well!!

This crossword felt so good. The simple elegance of the theme with no revealer or explanation felt like a nod to seasoned solvers, like the constructor was nudging us and saying “you know what to do”. The puzzle definitely wasn’t a breeze, but it flowed nicely and was a satisfying solve.

Personally, I wasn’t a fan of this puzzle. It was ok, but the theme felt a little all over the place. Two theme answers used puns of letter names, one had the actual letter when phrased differently, and one had the letter existing as a standalone in the original phrase. This mismatch of the theme answers really took me out of the puzzle. I know Wednesday are where we usually get a twist or a trick but this didn’t feel tricky, it just felt stylistically wrong! Of course ymmv, and the rest of the puzzle was decently interesting. Didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either!

Well…this was a slog! Cute theme but there were many entries that just dragged the solve down. Definitely didn’t flow with the ease of a Tuesday that I would normally expect. Definitely not the worst puzzle I’ve solved but far from the best too.

Oh this puzzle was fun!! I got the initial part of the theme early on and know my fruit varieties well enough that I could fill in the vine early on. When I got to, and filled in, the 13/61D revealer I only had “rumors” solved but was absolutely thrilled at the play on words!! The remaining words, once I got them, were equally as delightful. Overall the puzzle was really smooth to complete and I didn’t find myself getting stuck in any area. I wouldn’t exactly call this puzzle easy, but it definitely went down like a nice, smooth wine! Thank you Sid for this playful Sunday offering.

Delightful theme. Being obsessed with Bracket City lately I figured out the (somewhat similarish) theme right off the bat and could get the answers without much trouble. I grew up with Ukrainian immigrant grandparents so knew the revealer right away too, having spent my childhood (ok…and adulthood) playing with many a nesting doll. Having the five long theme answers in my first pass greatly helped the rest of my solve and I finished rather quickly for a Wednesday but the process didn’t feel too easy and definitely wasn’t boring. Really, really liked this one!!

Haven’t even started the puzzle- but I had to come to the column to confirm the co-constructor was indeed *that* Nick Offerman. Was already looking forward to this solve as it’ll be my 2000th Times puzzle solved (not as a streak- that’s in the mid 600’s). Will come back post solve to see how I fared!

I agree with others, the sheer volume of theme material is very impressive. As someone who has never seen a second of Star Trek I still knew enough from the zeitgeist to figure out the theme without too much trouble. I did feel like the rest of the puzzle suffered a little- there were quite a few clues/entries that felt rather meh (two entries had ‘the’ in them, cluing for 16D was incorrect, quite a few abbreviations or shorthand as fill) but I can empathize with the difficulty of working around such a dense theme. Even though Star Trek isn’t my thing, I still appreciate and applaud the inclusion. Pop culture, especially when it is so significant and/or longstanding definitely has a place in the crossword world!

Haven’t even finished the puzzle but wanted to give a shout out/congrats to Rachel Reid for making it into the crosswords universe! This fellow Canadian is proud!!!

This was such a delicious, savoury crossword to complete. I absolutely ate up this theme and the playful cluing left me hungry for more from this culinary duo! I know rebus puzzles can give some people a stomach ache and reading through the comments it seems this particular puzzle left a few people rather gassy (perhaps they are just lactose intolerant- they can’t handle the cheese) but I found the clueing clear enough that I didn’t have to chew on any one clue for very long. The fun visual upon completion was just the perfect dessert. I am definitely ready for a second helping from either/both of these constructors!

Being familiar with BIG LOVE I knew pretty early on that something rebusy was going on, when I got to 35A the mechanics of the theme clicked. However I confidently had ATE OUT for 32A and spend a good chunk of my solving time grumbling about how if you have a theme where the ‘U’s are pockets then there really shouldn’t be any non-theme ‘U’s anywhere else. Alas, I eventually realized that, of course, Mr. Steinberg had followed protocol and it was I who was in error. A happy and satisfying realization and an overall enjoyable puzzle. Breezy for a Thursday, but fun nonetheless!!

Fun theme for a fun puzzle! Nothing overly hard for me plus getting the theme early on really helped. I really enjoy when clues or answers line up with a current trend or news piece despite being written months (or years) ago- was delighted to see AYO Edebiri show up given her recent skillful handling of an interview question! fwiw I’m team meep meep

Ho hum. Was the construction skillful? Absolutely. But this crossword was not for me. No real thrills, interest, or clever wording and a bit of a bummer to not get a theme. My lack of enjoyment definitely wasn’t helped by the hefty (imo) number of names required- over all it felt a bit bogged down. I think the content was sacrificed a bit for the sake of construction goals. But that’s just me- I am glad others liked it and I did, after all, do the whole thing so it can’t have been that bad!

Type AB+ is a universal receiver but type AB- is not, was pretty disappointed with this factual error in the cluing of 47A!

I know it’s the end of the day so this comment might not get seen but can anyone explain the clue for 22A? I got NAIL from crosses but I’ve puzzled over the clue all day and it just reads as four unrelated words to me- I cannot parse any meaning out of ‘catch dead to rights’- what am I missing??? 😫