Hitch

'Arid' as an answer to jejune is tenuous at best!

Bit of a 'meh' puzzle. Unsatisfying in so many little ways, but I can't quite say exactly why.

A bit too trivia-heavy for my liking. Probably should have been a Tuesday puzzle with some better clues. There's always a fine line between an enjoyable, difficult puzzle that stands on its merits, and a simple puzzle made difficult with random trivia and overly obscure clues. Unfortunately, this fell into the latter for me. It didn't have the substance to be challenging on its own merits.

Creators are getting way too lazy by using arcane trivia to make puzzles hard. It's OK when you can infer by other answers, but that wasn't the case today. All in all, a bit of a disappointment. Feel like I wasted my time today, with very little satisfaction when done.

I have to disagree with the general sentiment here - That this was a good puzzle. We've been so starved of good puzzles lately, we are conflating difficulty with quality. This one felt like a slog, with very little reward.

Very 'USA' puzzle today. Not so fun as a foreign solver. I'd assume it was quite a simple solve for North Americans. I'm not a fan of puzzles made difficult by brand names and foreign languages. It feels lazy to me. Anyway, those are my two cents. I hope Friday redeems the last two days.

Very weak and disappointing puzzle! Some extremely obscure answers to tenuous clues, interspersed with random trivia. As for 7 across the clue could have been, "insert random letters here." Absolutely nothing clever about this puzzle. If I wanted a general knowledge quiz I would have gone elsewhere. I'd suggest that debut creators cut their teeth on a Monday to Wednesday puzzle, certainly not a Friday or Saturday.

A little too 'clever' for the creators own good. When I was done done didn't go 'aha', or 'that's clever'... I went 'meh'. Did of a waste of my Sunday.

As a non-US solver, I always struggle with how the clues 'dagnabbit', and 'bah', are used for any kind of backwater colloquialisms. Surely there are better clues to be had.

Been asking for a difficult one, and boy we sure got it! Now if we can just go one step further - difficult and clever. I want 'aha' moments, not obscurity. Especially when that obscurity is down and across in most of the puzzle. I'm a relatively new solver (5 years), but the archived puzzles seem to be so much better.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else feels the crosswords are beginning to feel dumbed-down? I used to be a 4/7 each week, now I'm hard-pressed not to be able to finish one. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in particular have been excessively weak lately. Is there a large turnover of puzzle creators? Are puzzles published on merit, or some 'other' metric nowadays? The NYT crossword used to be at the pinnacle. The best way I can describe it recently is 'meh...'.

From all the love for this puzzle, I'm going to assume it is popular amongst Americans. For anyone not intimately familiar with American history and culture this was unsolveable. There was no balance between difficult answers and getable ones. So for now, I will say that this was a terrible puzzle for everyone else. What has happened to the creators that could make a difficult puzzle without resorting to arcane and regional knowledge? All that being said, I thing the clues were very challenging and unique, and if the creator would close the encyclopedia for a second I think she could create some legendary puzzles!

All good until 'lon' and 'counting noses.' Still don't really get 'lon', as it isn't a homophone for lawn. And 'counting noses' is not a term anyone ever uses. Ruined a satisfying puzzle in the end. As usual, this seems like an editor issue, not a creator issue. Could have easily been corrected.

Thought it was oldie but goldie? And I agree, let's keep the 'creative' names out of the actor clues. On the whole too much random trivia, not enough actual clever clues. It seems to be a 'shortcut' too many puzzle creators are taking lately to create difficult crosswords.

Nice Wednesday puzzle. Not easy, not difficult. Just enough thinking for the middle of the week. Plus a fun little theme at that! Well done to the creator. This puzzle left me well satisfied!

A bit the easy side, but overall a nice, fun puzzle. Well done to the creator. I always feel that Thursday must be the hardest puzzle to select. Finding that balance of difficulty is extremely hard, and it takes a great creator who knowingly submits a Thursday!

Great to see someone going through so much effort to create such an excellent, well constructed, and fun Tuesday puzzle. It's a lowly day to have your first puzzle published, but you've done yourself proud! It takes a lot of skill to create an 'easy' grid that brings so much joy to the solver.

Going into independence day for the US, I'd like to give a shout out to France, who made it all possible.

Suppose everyone comes here to praise the puzzle(r), so I thought I'd give it some balance. Not the best! It's very hard to make small puzzles difficult, and I don't feel the author did a very good job here. If you have to rely on obscurantism in your questions to make it difficult, perhaps it means a puzzle of this level is beyond your perview...

Really didn't enjoy this puzzle. It's another very ordinary puzzle only made (slightly) difficult by US trivia. I'd assume US solvers would have found this way too easy. The theme provided so many opportunities for something fun and clever. Unfortunately we were left with the mundane.

Was about to have a rant about a stupid puzzle with tenuous clues... Until I got it 🤣.

Stop trying to make 'the olds' happen. It is a term old people think is common amongst the youth. It is not! I cringe everytime a creator uses it. Also, while I'm moaning, creators need to pick their lane, and that lane is 'amok', not 'amuck'.

Nice Sunday puzzle. Well done to the creator. As a non-American, I spent a bit too much time trying to figure out why the rebus was what is was. Penny dropped with Western Union, but a few too many 'americanisms' for me made me throw in the towel after I had to check hbcus. I'm a 'finish unhelped, or check the puzzle as soon as there is an answer you cannot get' kind of guy.

Great Friday puzzle! Well done to the creator and editor! Difficult without becoming too obscure, vague, or ambiguous. Something we don't see that often recently! (And nothing too US-centric for us foreigners 🎉.)

It looks like a lot of effort went into this well balanced Wednesday puzzle. Perhaps a tad on the easy side, but that would be nitpicking a very solid, and well-executed grid.

Clues too cryptic and obscure to enjoy. No balance in this puzzle. Every clue was so vague you couldn't get a foothold...

April fools! It's a Monday puzzle on Wednesday!

Couldn't finish. A few too many 'americanisms' for a lowly foreign solver 😩

Sat down with my coffee and thinking cap for a challenging Thursday puzzle. Finished the puzzle, then the coffee... Now what?

Nice puzzle. Not the hardest, but I reckon it's difficult to challenge long time solvers without resorting to random trivia. All in all a fun, and satisfying, themed puzzle. I'm happy with the occasional confidence boosting Thursday before the challenges ahead! 😂

Nice, well balanced Thursday. No ungettable clues running across one another. Took a second to realise the theme, but it's a quick solve after. Well done to the creator and editor!

Hard Tuesday, fine Wednesday, weak Thursday...

I can't say much about this puzzle other than that it is for Americans only. I'm interested to know how they feel about it? Good or bad? Difficult or easy?

Nice, solid Friday! A fitting send-off for the constructor. We'll done!

Nice Thursday. Slightly on the easy side, but still took a bit of brain power to solve...

Pitifully easy...

Great puzzle to start the week! Simple, but clever. Here's hoping for some real challenges come Thursday!

When puzzles miss the mark by a little, as I feel this one did, I feel it's the editor who should take the blame. Reading the completing puzzle, everything makes perfect sense. You need the outside perspective to point out the flaws, and this clearly did not happen in this case.

Nice puzzle all in all. I do wish they'd stop pushing random people's names like Tarana though.

Fun theme. It's been a while since the clues were puzzle. Takes a bit of time, but once you get it, you get it, and a satisfying solve. Well done to the creator! Very enjoyable!

Not my favourite puzzle. Seems a bit all over the place. Clues and answers ranged from cryptic, to standard, to tenuous. I prefer a nice solid themed puzzle. But that's just me 😜

Great Friday puzzle. Challenging, but doable. Well done to the creator(s)!

I enjoyed this one. Challenging crossword without also being a 'puzzle', which can be hard. Took a bit of thinking, but all very doable, with a good balance between down and across difficulty. Definitely worthy of a Friday, or a difficult Thursday.

Way too many 'Americanisms' for this foreigner. It's a pity, because I was enjoying the puzzle immensely until I hit a dead end of colloquial knowledge. Feeling a bit deflated after spending more than an hour on this 😞...

90% good, other 10% ruined the puzzle. 18 down was a joke. Seriously... Know your punters when creating a puzzle! Anyone can find random trivia, but this is an English puzzle, generally aimed at the English speaking world. If you are unable to create a difficult one without resorting to foreign languages and arcane knowledge, then this is not the platform for you. What has happened to the quality creators? Or more pertinently, the good editors? This puzzle could have easily been rectified.