Marc A. Leaf

WOWED, I’m just WOWED by this theme and its execution. Even the idea of imposing a formal restraint on every single square in the grid is daunting. To implement that theme across four spanners, with a bare minimum of crosswordese, is truly impressive. But to finish off the meal with a few choice mignardises like crossing [bonds tightly] with [local bond] and two members of [Santa’s team] —that’s real class. Take a MIC drop Mr. Herrmann!

There is something perfect about a Sunday crossword filled with bad (meaning good) puns. Thank you Mr. Ross for a delightful puzzle. I’ll even forgive you for 28A.

I loved it. The fill and clueing were fairly basic, but the riddles of the lock were clever and the lone C itself was an impressive feat of construction. I also appreciate the lack of junk fill. These are trade offs I’m happy to take on a Sunday morning.

@Lewis — I’m grateful for your perceptive comments. They really help me appreciate grids like this, which for some reason are not my cup of tea. I started grumbling at 2D and never quite got into the swing of things this morning. Well off to choir practice. We’re doing the Schubert Magnificat tomorrow. Rehearsing with orchestra this morning!

With all the talk of solving times I tried my hand at a speed run—but I have to say it left me feeling a bit flat. Reading the column afterwards made me feel that I had missed half the fun. SPAMBOT, ASPERSE, and MOHAWK all filled on crosses, so I never had the DOPAMINE RUSH of feeling those pennies drop. Tomorrow, I’m going back to the leisurely solve over coffee.

Challenging but fair in my book. Loved the way it slowly came together. Like @ George Stepney I only had two answers the first cut through, but one of them was wrong! Great cluing. Congrats to the constructor!

Love it when a Monday puzzle is so engaging. Thank you Mr. C.

Loved this puzzle, particularly the intelligent cluing and 44A. It tracks for me that the constructor is a college professor!

Wow, that was a HUMDINGER!

That was an absolutely charming puzzle. Really got me thinking about why some grids “spark joy” as someone put it the other day. Fresh entries help, and a good sprinkling of longer words or phrases, a sense of humor, not taking itself too seriously, but there’s also another quality—flow perhaps—that you notice most when missing. I enjoy my morning puzzle break every day, but some days are better than others. Or perhaps it’s just my frame of mind!

Deb: Oboe comes from the French hautbois, or “high wood”, so the clue works and is very clever!

Loved the crisp vertical spanners in this breezy Saturday puzzle. Fun to be reminded of Chuck MANGIONE’s catchy hit, which was ubiquitous my first year in college. Had Temple before DREXEL, then dADJOKES, but it all filled out as smoothly as well made Crème ANGLAISE (with a hat tip to the Great British Bake Off for having that fill on my lips). Thanks to the constructor!

Quick solve. Cluing was a bit on-the-nose.

Cute puzzle. A Wednesday PB, for me, which I guess means I’ve spent too many nights around the piano at Marie’s Crisis!

I’ve lived 65 years without using SNARF or SNARFING and now twice in one week! Is it a regionalism? Great puzzle!

Took me longer than usual for a Tuesday, but I enjoyed the solve (and found nothing unfair or Natick-y about it). I’m glad that each of us has a different jumble of facts rattling around in our heads. What a bore it would be if we all had ham on RYE for lunch.

Great puzzle, Tarun. Congratulations!

Congratulations on your NYT debut, counselor! Loved the fresh fill.

“Wallops” is a delightful word and a lovely way to add some sparkle to a common clue/answer combination for ACES.

Super fun and well-executed.

Not to be picky, but years of television commercials taught me that [Dove] beauty bars are not SOAP, but rather “one quarter cleansing cream”! @deb Why is nothing more useful than an OWLET?

50A is a perfect clue, because the [1961 merger] is reflected in the composite name “frito-LAY”.

@Sam @Deb Amlen @Francis I headed over here to congratulate the constructor on a challenging, fun and inventive puzzle. Then I read the column and wanted to thank Deb for explaining the trick so clearly and generously. You do so much to keep our community growing, Deb. But then I started reading the comments and just want to say to Francis that I hope you’ll continue to solve and post here. I enjoy your posts and value your perspective.

Well done, Kunal Nabar! Loved the open grid, the diverse references, and the sneaky misdirects. Just hard enough for a Saturday (IMHO). A real CLASS ACT.

What a splendid Thursday puzzle. I’m so impressed with folks who can solve a UK-style cryptic crossword. I needed all the crosses to get these. Always a pleasure, Alex Wagner!

Clever cluing, appropriately difficult for a Saturday, and oh so satisfying to complete! Looking forward to more open grids from Ms. Hoody.

For me, this one was hard, fun and fair! As one of the commenters noted, just what Saturday mornings were made for.

I enjoyed the puzzle. Agree that the graphical flourishes (and unnecessary parentheticals in the measurement clues) made things a bit too easy for my taste. But every now and then it’s nice to have a single-cup-of-coffee solve!

Bright and breezy puzzle with a cute theme. 44A was a fun variation.

Thank you, Jess and Adrian for a fresh and inventive grid! Chewy enough to be satisfying, but not too much of a [Rocky Road]. As for the two truths and a lie challenge, my guess is that one of you does not find ice cream to be entirely SAPID.

Loved the fresh fill and clever cluing and thought it was just the right level of difficulty. 9D would have been easier if I hadn’t watched all those Hanna-Barbera cartoons growing up on a black and white set.

Fun puzzle, just difficult enough for a Saturday! READPALMS and HIBERNATE were cleverly clued, and [small roll] for SNAKEEYES was devilishly good. I didn’t know PAH, but it’s in all the online dictionaries as an accepted interjection. CROCKER would have been better clued as “grocery surname” rather than [grocery store surname]. But all in all, a good outing. Congratulations to Ms. Lin!

Loved this puzzle, in spite—or perhaps because—of the it’s difficulty for me. I’ve never played video games, but after the second cup of coffee my son helped with the turtle sidekick. The “P” gave me SOUPY and the rest of the dominoes fell easily after that. Thanks for a great Saturday morning!

A generally workmanlike puzzle with a few sparkling entries—MUSCLECAR over SPEEDWAY; FRUITBAT. But I do think clueing ORAL with a wholly unnecessary brand name reference showed a lack of imagination.

Poignant to see VANITY PLATE. The vanity of all mortal pursuits is a common theme of still life painting in the early modern period.

I’ll be on the lookout for more “catchy” puzzles from this pair of collaborators. A delightful Monday with charming spammers for the theme!