Jane Wheelaghan

Come back soon, America.

I enjoyed this one - Beethoven instead of rapper, Frost instead of a baseball hero! I learnt all about Popeye - memories of childhood, when we had no idea what spinach was, it didn't arrive in Scotland for a long, long time after. But it's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and we started with Janet and John.

The clue about salmon and scenery? I immediately tried to fit in Scotland/Speyside/Highlands somehow! Sadly much of Scottish salmon is farmed nowadays and they're not doing very well. As a child in Scotland, tinned salmon sandwiches were the absolute most luxurious treat for Hogmanay (NY Eve). Crossword a little harder than Mon/Tues but not bad. Didn't know the snack company or the rapper and got everything else through the crossers again. What do people call 'cheating'? Revealing to me is cheating, but what about looking up eg names of sport stars? Anything US sports based I allow myself to reveal because just too many and too obscure.

I'm definitely improving. Only one square revealed, the T for both TNUT and the channel. A Knickerbocker Glory is a tall ice cream sundae with layers of fruit, nuts, syrup and cream, which originated it New York City in the early 1900's! Named after the Knickerbocker Hotel. We say 'snicker' not 'knicker' because 'knickers' are underwear for females. When my old auntie saw a handsome man she would say: "It's a sad horse that doesn't snicker at the sight of hay."

Sadly, I found this extremely difficult and I almost didn't carry on but decided to look up or reveal when the crossers didn't help. I didn't know many proper names/brand names: PUSHPOPS, FLYNT, PONTIACS, MOCHI, OORT, NIH, IMED, TYRONE, RAGTOP, EDNA, NEO, PRESTO CHANGO (I got PRESTO) ANNIKA, LAMOTTA, IAGO, (in Aladdin?), ODIE, POM, ZAHN, TKO I do feel a bit weedy! Some clues were just mystifying, meaning I didn't understand the solutions! POKY, USO, CALL, ECON, LAST, ORS. Other names were ok, I've seen Nils Lofgren, and EWERS and SPOOR were familiar. Roll on Monday.

A good crossword for me, I checked how long it took (Usually don't bother) and it was 30 mins. I know, some people solve in about 6 mins but some crosswords here take me up to 2 hours! I had to look up a few, like Crimson Tide, obviously and the crossers solved some mysteries, like 'seven layer dip' and 'ball club VIP - is that General Managers?

I'm enjoying the crosswords, with or without themes. I'm glad NEE and KOS were mentioned because I couldn't work those out. Annoyingly, I thought I was being clever in NOT assuming 'flat' meant 'apartment' and referred to a flat tyre! I thought 'bone' for courage was an American term, and 'less dress' referred to stars wearing revealing clothes! (quite clever) so didn't cotton on to the presence of a theme. As for 'seat drivers'? Another mysterious term from the US. I need to use knowledge of the language when general knowledge doesn't help. Could Britney be singing about Topic, Tonic, or Toxic? Aha, this gave me the bakery call, which I didn't know. I was sidetracked by thinking of a word joining call and bakery items, which would be a cryptic clue. Soup and salad? Got it from the crossers but not something I would think of, since soup is a winter and salad is a summer dish. Great fun.

Lots of proper crosswordy clues instead of names, but still hard! Only seen onesies with zips, and snaps are press studs which I would 'undo'. I didn't know SPITBALL (nice!) or BANC, AARP, STEINS, SHORE, TOTS (how is that squirts?) PINKY swear, METS, cable channel, CNN clue, and I also think of FOR a LARK, not heard of a PARTY BUS, and KINDASORTA, but knew all the rest, and revealed a few. OK for a foreigner.

Wow! This was as hard as the NYT first crossword I ever tried, but excellent cluing. I particularly enjoyed the wordplay, like PECLASSES, VITAMINS, RIPTIDES - real clues. But ..... some clues just too obscure for me, like the abbreviations and the hats. The US elf (with the stripey socks) invaded our shores a few years ago, and is strenuously marketed with toys, clothes and books, but it's not a huge part of the culture yet. Like Hallowe'en, it will expand and make money. So far, Valentine's Day remains directed at adults in a relationship, not at absolutely everyone. When an American friend once sent my small sons Valentine cards I was startled and did a "Yuk"!

Oh no! I had to reveal one square - I had a complete mental block for ITTY meaning wee. I had ITT but ITTY is so unknown to me that I just couldn't get it. The down clue was just as bad - I had AOK but couldn't think of what could come next. You know the song: "She had an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini ..."

Re the NONE/ZERO controversy - surely crosswords are an art not a science? The clue points towards meaning, but isn't a synonym. Like the nice crossword clues - PARKAS, SAINTLY, BURN UNIT, TEEUP. As many are pointing out, quite a lot of trivia today; really made it difficult for me, but that's not a complaint, I just don't happen to know Disney films, arcades, podcasts, Bond films, Japanese food. Geography is hit or miss, obviously. But I too read "Cry the Beloved Country" at school. However these: TSA? RAS?

Happy St Andrew's Day to all Scots and those of Scots heritage. Not too bad today. Except. I got one BATTER from the crossers and combined with 'at home' in the clue .... I was thinking could something really unpleasant be in the rest of the clue? I never would have guessed a sporting link. We have batsmen in cricket, saying 'batter' is unforgivable, you'd get sent off. I think our horse races are in furlongs - the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting, it seems. A few complete unknowns as usual, some guesses, some from crossers - OAKIE, SEES, Mr Rogers, SHOGI, what is a 'RIGHTY'? But I get the SO WHAT connection.

I knew I couldn't solve with inverted commas full stops hyphen and tried FORWARD SLASH Like others, I only got the theme through crossers and after seeing SLASH. I assumed one clue was about dog food (meaty sauce on top of dog biscuits?). Hot dogs have never really become popular here, unlike burgers. There are tins of orangey things. I lived in NYC 1974-5 and tried one hot dog from a street vendor, just for the experience. Some complete unknowns, a few too obscure to guess at. But lots of easy clues too, and I like clues like 'ballet bound'.

After yesterday, this was enjoyable. I dimly remembered lid as a hat, as is tile Old song, "Where did you get that hat, Where did you get that tile?" More trivia: a hat could also be a 'titfer" from old rhyming slang 'tit for tat' = hat. I tried with W using phonetics and linguistic history (double V) and was surprised to see from the crossers it was an hotel. The only tricky clue was HOOD! What I call a car bonnet.

Excellent crossword today, lots of clever clues, like the one with salt and pepper. Some were non-guessable even with some crossers, but that's usual. I don't know if I'd ever get all the general knowledge clues - like Alabama and Alaska clue - I was thinking along the lines of midnight sun (I don't know if Alaska is far enough north) or snow. I don't get ACCT? Or ETD and CIO? It is incredible how many stars of music and TV/film who are astoundingly famous (according to Google) and who I've never heard of! REBA for example and TITO PUENTE. The crossword lent itself very well to support from crossers.

Well I knew SNARF! I don't know why. Enjoyable today. The crossers were exceptionally helpful for me today. I had only 2 to look up - LOUIS FONZI and HAL; fortunately the other proper names revealed themselves. Some previously mysterious solutions have appeared before, as others have mentioned, also for me BAIL, COOTIE, HERO, PLOWS not ploughs. Let's hope WMD remain a distant memory.

I got them all, bar the taro dish. Unknown words were solved by the crossers. Almost too easy! Given that sometimes I hardly get any, I'm grateful for small mercies.

The first time that I didn't finish. I'm glad so many people enjoyed it (not sarcasm) but I'd never heard of Zamboni and only got 2 ICE clues. (If you know nothing about ice skating, how do you get it anyway?) Got no film references, proper names, TV channels, but did get a lot of others. It just took too long. Well, there are plenty of cultural references the Scots use that wouldn't understand in England and only a few hundred miles away! I knew silage, basal and Adam Smith, the Scottish economist who invented "the invisible hand" - the Adam Smith ice-skater was a joke? BUSS and TAUPE have been in not long ago. Just one completely foxed me and hard to look up - FEELME?

I liked DIE and ONES clever. I didn't even consider that there might be a theme, it was such hard work getting the solutions! Big decision - keep using knowledge of English to solve, or give up and reveal? First, I only reveal one square and see if it helps. With HEYYA, OOHBABY, FLAUTAS, EHOW, RBI, NAPA - I had to reveal squares. I looked up ETAL in the dictionary .... I vote for bare-faced but it had to be bold. PRAM is giving way somewhat to buggy, but never to stroller. Is it a generation thing or a cultural thing that I cannot ever imagine saying "Oops, my bad" rather than "Sorry"?

I've only been doing this crossword for a few weeks and a hair removal cream has been a solution 3 times, which seems funny to me! Too many names and trivia for me, but I got a lot from the crossers.

Got most of these. I knew the shaded squares meant something, so I tried to put them together to make a phrase, but failed, of course! I forgot about the concept of the revealer. I accept that I won't know the answers re MNSBC, the theatre and restaurant chains, the Kryptos sculpture, NCAA, but - Why would Monday meals lack meat? I revealed a few squares because - I forgot about the word TAD, I forgot about TO GO (I would say "to take away"). Is there actually something called a kid's table in restaurants? It's come up before. Children sit with the adults where I am. And the word SPUNK has a completely different meaning in the UK, the dictionary says "very vulgar" and I won't attempt to explain it here.

I did this is an hour and 38 mins, since so many people are mentioning times. That's quite good considering I knew not one single brand name or proper name or film reference and went over the whole crossword multiple times checking crossers, guessing from what letter might be next, and revealing 6 squares. I had the B but would never have guessed PARTB was something to do with ambulances or that there are T TOP cars. It was frustrating with SRS related to a J - I was thinking elderly people, and juniors in the UK refers to children aged 7-11!

Lots of very clever clues. My usual culture issues - it took me quite a while to find the meaning of 'ten dollar words', until I followed the helpful link. I've never heard of it Others have explained RAT. I thought TSPS referred to another texting convention! Even the meaning of 'shot glass' took a while to remember. Yesterday it was PROM referring to king and queen, and the mysterious FRAT. Amazing how often EKE and ERR crop up.

Am I the first to say I found this really hard? Not a complaint! So many reference to things and people I don't know. But I solved all the clues that were not names, even SEE RED! But I did get bogged down in looking up answers. Not a complaint! I'm not experienced enough to have been able to solve the theme. I'm used to "Trevi", not TREFI so that didn't help. And not knowing instinctively that ten relates to dime and penny is one cent (I do know, but not as a reflex thought) made it harder. The explanations for five-year olds show me that I'm not yet on the right wavelength. Maybe later.

Thanks for all the commiserations for the non US solvers. I found out that Welch's is sold in the UK but it is called grape juice, not soda. Not that I knew it! But hello BBC.

I was able to solve 90% of the clues without looking up or revealing - a record for me. There was a lot of doubling back and back to check crossers and a bit of guessing. I forgot what AARP was, though it's been used before. I think of goad as more provoking, badgering, than to URGE ON. I couldn't think of another way to say no thanks, and where does the word COOTIES come from? I think the equivalent might be "the lurgy" or lurgies, not sure. Altoids - sounds strange to me, too like adenoids. Enjoyable.

So sorry to hear about your father Deb. Some nice clues - CONSOMMÉ, ATOM, POEM Alas, I don't know of The Incredibles, Taylor-Joy, Reznor, COMMON CORE, roasts (not related to cooking) GENESIS, cornhole. Weird flexes was impenetrable. Could someone explain how MOBSCENEST relates to brouhaha and most appalling? Marketing fodder and SKIT? TSA PRE? H and ETA? But hey, I now know MY BAD, I look out for OBOES, (sadly no Oreos today). For people with epilepsy and some forms of cerebral palsy, SPASMS are not weird but pretty routine.

Yes! Not one single reveal and finished, first time ever. I know it's Mondays, but after the weekend I was for giving up. Unknowns were revealed by the crossers, I'm not that clever. I do know Dick Wolf since Law and Order is one of the very few US programmes I watch (we have the BBC ....) but Ole Miss? TAC? I didn't realise there was a theme, again, but could see it was Tom, Dick etc. Maybe it's used more in UK? Busy bee in April - answer didn't help me, but it's there, like tai and mai and gyro. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Oof - so hard! I cleverly assumed BUTT referred to a part of the anatomy, using my knowledge of US speak, (I would say cigarette end), which presented an interesting picture....

I've baked and bought thousands of scones but never had a lemon scone! Plain, cheese or fruit only. Too many unknown facts for me today, but I got an enormous amount of clues by the crossers, even JOBSACT although I had no idea about the theme. I looked up unknowns like RINO and NECCO but I knew IDIOLECT somehow. And I thought JA must be a basketball/football player's name - and I know German!

My fastest time ever, only 15 mins 6 secs. I expect it's just luck I was on the setter's wavelength (I'm not yet ready to talk about wheelhouses). Only clue I couldn't even guess was SASH; when I was a Girl Guide there were no sashes. It helped that there were no proper names or brand names or TV channels (so many!).

Quite delightful. I had to reveal a couple of brand names and proper names which weren't easily guessable but I expect that as a foreigner. Interesting that 'wee' has occurred a few times in the crosswords, a term that is used probably several times a day in Scotland but never in England!

Naw, naw, this wisnae easy! I tried hard to think of a 4 letter word that meant 'can' (as in Yes we can) or can as in 'can of cola'. As for the bat - I am still mystified - does SWEET SIXTEEEN connect to an actual clue? Even more mystified by CATCH TWENTY TWO and AIR - but you all seem to find it so easy! I assume everyone knows lots about surfing, even if you don't live near the sea; I confess to feeling dispirited. Area 51 .... had no idea. Toon and Boots.... Deets .... As for SICEM?! NBA STARS? REUP! Yet I found Mon-Wed really easy! At least I got TUBA and BALAYAGE. And I learned about the Dred Scott decision, of which I knew nothing. Onwards

My most favourite crossword yet. Not easy but not impenetrable. Except I need help with: 5 down - clue and solution 39 D - SSN Please. PS Why all the references to chicken soup - where does that come from? I had vaguely heard of it, didn't realise it was quite so popular.

Clever crossword. For me, some unknowns, like PTO - bankable vacation, both not known to me, and the hot dog eating, the names of famous people and Final Four. I saw Star Wars in 1977 and what who said to whom is long gone. I thought UAE must be a University!

This was good fun, despite the usual culture caveats! - I assumed Estes Park was a park and wondered why everyone in the US would know about it? - Very occasionally I eat a pancake (never for breakfast) but only one, rolled up with lemon and sugar, and not a stack. - But a Scottish pancake is about 10 cms across and eaten cold with butter - A Scottish crumpet is completely different from an English one - I forgot that a pitcher is a jug - My son's birth certificate has 4.1 kgs -Only use bum as a noun, not a verb Then felt sad because there are very few English elms left because of Dutch Elm Disease.