Josh

I really think we need to shy away from stating things are clearly easy. I know this has already been addressed by journalists in the comments, but the fact remains, everyone learns and solves differently. The answers were more readily apparent for frequent Times solvers, but let’s not eschew potential puzzle players away with what could be misconstrued(or fairly interpreted) as condescension. What if you took away the intense gratification someone felt for solving something they thought was a real challenge, or worse, robbed them of the joy of attempting to solve future Time’s Crosswords because they were too stupid to do something that was deemed easy?

Perhaps for those that solve frequently and have developed the skill set of the adept puzzle solver, this was far too easy for a Thursday. I am not one of those people. I found the puzzle challenging, and was eventually able to solve through it without help, but it did take some time. There have been Fridays I thought were easier solves others have said were difficult. I believe it will always vary from person to person. I don’t really care what day of the week it is. I just like solving these puzzles, and I usually learn some new words along the way. To me, it felt like a well balanced puzzle. It was nice having an easier theme, as some of the smaller clues were definitely new entries in my lexicon, so having the extra crosses was a big help.

Excellent puzzle. Fine use of the usual suspect clues, done in a unique way to scratch my brain. It allowed for logical thinking and problem solving to make one’s way through the entire grid, even when not all trivia is known. Perfect for a Wednesday and amazing debut. Look forward to more excellent wordplay from Stacey Yaruss McCullough. Congrats!

Monday’s puzzle was a let down. Using “set” repeatedly was not creative, and then jump to this puzzle, that just didn’t feel clever and was a slog to get through. Tucket, seriously?! It just felt cut and pasted together. Hoping for a better Wednesday.

Such an excellent Sunday edition. Wonderful crossword that doesn’t “nickel and dime” you with tedious trivia. Fun word play that allowed me to thoroughly enjoy those “aha” moments . Loved the REBUS, very clever. Great work Kareem!

You either know it or don’t. Good idea for the theme, caught on to NATO quickly, but the rest…meh. I like puzzles that are solvable through skill. The crosses were not helpful at all. Most answers just seemed cherry picked for the sake of obscurity. Not for me today. Hoping I’m on a similar wavelength with the next creator tomorrow.

This was an exceptional puzzle. I am usually prefer themeless, but this was so clever. Using vending machine for MARTini was the icing on the cake. Well done Adam; such an enjoyable Thursday solve!

The theme was easy enough to get, but no chance I would have ever gotten farriers without a hint. Able to get through the rest. Love carless as an answer.