Cherry

When the instructions say, "After completing this puzzle rotate each dial …” you are saying you need to complete the puzzle AND THEN there will be one more step to solve. But NO. At least in the app, on an iPhone, you cracked the code for me. I didn’t ask you to do that! As soon as I saw the grid, and read the instructions, I was looking forward to cracking the code. But I didn’t get the pleasure of doing that. Great construction, poor app execution. 😔

I SOLVED A SATURDAY PUZZLE WITHOUT LOOKUPS! I do not know how that happened. There were plenty things I didn’t know but I just kept plugging away at it, correcting answers, making educated guesses, etc. Today is going to be a good day! 😊

The theme was clever, but 17 proper nouns? On a Tuesday? 25A and 32D also seemed obscure to me. Had to look up one of the things I had never heard of to solve it. I’m sure others found it delightful. I did not enjoy it.

Ya know, when you hit your personal best for a Thursday, and you have a 6-day streak going that started on Saturday (‼️) and you find out that the median solve time was still 3 times faster than your personal best, and nearly everyone complains about how ridiculously easy the puzzle was, y’all kinda ruin it. 😞 That said, we’ve established here before that some of the easier puzzles come from trying to bring in new solvers (like me 🙋🏼‍♀️!). I’m sorry, not sorry that my joy in solving the puzzles brings you so much pain. We’ve also established that people just get better over time because you learn all the repetitive fill and you get better at spotting letter patterns (like me 🙋🏼‍♀️!). Could some of it also be that collectively, our vocabulary level has gone down a bit? When they use words nobody has heard of, we all complain. 🤦‍♀️ Personally, I’m grateful to @WillShortz for doing the impossible job of trying to make this group happy. 😊 And I’m grateful to be part of this community where we can all argue with one another, and still come together, differences and all, to enjoy one of life’s simple (at times, too simple) pleasures. ❤️

I liked this puzzle! Why? 1) I love gimmicky puzzles! 2) As a Monday-Tuesday solver, I rarely solve Sunday puzzles without significant help. 3) I solved this one 5:28 faster than my average (with a few lookups, which I consider acceptable). 4) I found most of the cluing just the right amount of challenging for me. About the dashes/hyphens: I figured out the trick pretty quickly after seeing the title. I actually had “I’s” instead of dashes because I was writing them vertically. 😂 When I didn’t get the music, I changed them all to hyphens. No biggie. Lots of people have suggested that “LINE” should have been accepted. I disagree. Then the crossings would make no sense. Thank you Mr. Zheng for an enjoyable puzzle! 😊

I’ve solved 52 Mondays in a row! I have about half that many Tuesdays in a row. Hopefully, I can keep that one going too!

Got quite a bit of this one without lookups, but couldn’t quite get to then end without them. A little irked by NO HIT GAMES (I’ve never heard them called anything but “no hitters”) but yes, before someone points it out, in the crossword world it is technically correct. [sigh]

I have a 7-day streak with NO lookups! What is happening? I think the emus are plotting something for tomorrow! 💭 When will someone give us an emu emoji? 💭

I solved this in half my average time for a Wednesday, but until I read the column and well over half the comments, I didn’t get it. Let me see if I understand: the quip was not really a quip in order to make fun of puzzles that use quips? And that’s the “joke”? Sadly, if the joke requires an explanation … well, you know. I feel bad for the constructors though. It sucks when a joke falls flat. Still, kudos for 22A [Bone that squeaks, maybe]. I love that! 🦴

This was the most I have ever enjoyed doing a Wednesday puzzle. POY nominee for me! As a woman, I was slightly irked by the terms for women, but then took note that the constructors are women and they were sawing these terms in half! I love it!

Another Wednesday POY nominee for me (third one this year!). I absolutely loved everything about this puzzle … no lookups, solving it five minutes better than my average, the visual portrayal of the SUPERNOVA, the sneaky rebus (which I got right away), the additional space-themed answers, and one of the best clues I’ve seen all year: 59D, [Invasive plant?]. What a stunning debut! Gold star 🌟 to the constructors! I hope to see more of your puzzles! I’m starting to like Wednesday puzzles! Do emus give out gold stars? ⭐️

This is my favorite Thursday puzzle of the year! I love the cleverness of the theme and difficulty level of the construction. I was tempted to look up the spelling of 7D, but just kept working the puzzle. I made educated guesses about stuff I didn’t know and managed to solve it without lookups just a slight bit over my average time. The NE corner almost did me in with 10D and 12D (which I didn’t know), but I finally thought of TOKE (16A)! I also didn’t know 14A in the NW corner, but managed to get it on the crossings. What a satisfying solve! I have a four-day streak going!

I absolutely despised this puzzle (and I don’t say that lightly)! I have never understood pig latin (but knew that’s what “Ixnay” indicated), and I have never liked “sounds like” puzzles because they’re too subjective. So I went right to the column to see if someone would explain how pig latin works. Yes! I thought that would actually help me solve the puzzle. No! I went back to the column again - even the answers don’t make sense! Could someone please NICELY explain how the theme works? I finally gave up, decided it wasn’t worth the frustration, and revealed the puzzle, which I have never done. 😠

I didn’t see anyone explain the “valley” part of UNCANNY VALLEY, so here it is from Google: The "Valley" part refers to the line graph of human likeness (x-axis) vs. affinity (y-axis). A sudden dip in emotion at 75–90% realism creates a "valley" before rising again for real humans.” This was definitely a crunchy Tuesday! I had never heard of HOKUM, HOLST, or ASAHI, or UNCANNY VALLEY before, which seems like a lot for a Tuesday! (Though I was still 7 minutes under my average) And I’m on Team Human, thank you. Let’s find a way to use robots and AI responsibly and ethically. I would like to keep using the skills I have and get paid for them. We may be flawed but we’re still the pinnacle of creation.

Nice debut, Kathleen! I thought the theme was clever but I got stuck in the SW corner. I had never heard of Dave STIEB even though I’m a baseball fan. I had also never heard of ETNA in that context. I’m shocked at how many in this group have never heard of cozy mysteries, given the popularity of “Murder, She Wrote,” “Diagnosis Murder,” and all the other shows that take place in small communities that make you wonder, with a murder rate that high, why does anyone live there?

If I’m going to spend 90 minutes doing a puzzle (my typical Sunday solving time), I want it to at least have a theme. Meh.😑

I didn’t manage to solve this without helps, but greatly enjoyed this one. No ice! How timely! Oh, that we could treat people with the dignity and respect they are afforded for being made in the image of God!

I read somewhere that the editors need more Thursday and Sunday puzzles. Could we cut them some slack and recognize that maybe they ran out of good options this week and had to punt? Even the Kansas City Chiefs have to punt once in a while (that’s a football reference for all the sports-reference haters out there). Perhaps some of us should learn how to construct crosswords to help them out. As a freelance writer/editor, I found this puzzle delightful. Also, it was 18:43 faster than my average, so why would I complain about that? Happy Thursday!

Ten minutes over my average today! Didn’t know about a NIQAB. Mistakenly thought it was a HIJAB. Totally different thing. Also had no clue who 10D or 18D were. Had ONADIET for 29D. 😞 Maybe I should’ve got my ☕️ first this morning!

Nice debut! Possible Griddy for me. I loved the musical puns and the lack of repetitive fill. The Naticks tripped me up briefly, but I was able to make educated guesses to solve it 5 minutes under my average. I’m confused though, why so many here are holding puns to such a high standard. None of these seemed off the mark to me. Comedy is hard, people!

We usually celebrate pi day by pampering our cat Pye (short for Pyewacket). Her name comes from an old Jimmy Stewart movie called “Bell, Book, and Candle,” in which a cat puts a spell on people. The cat in the movie is Siamese; ours is a black American Shorthair. But Pye charmed us at the shelter 8 years ago, so we think she’s pretty aptly named. Happy pi (Pye) Day!

Didn’t love the single PEC (I’ve never heard anyone refer - with pride, no less - to only one of their pecs!) OPENENDER or EMEND (spare me the smug lectures) but 36D [One paying half for quarters, say] is the clue of the year thus far. Well done, Mr. Lim! I was able to solve this one with just a few lookups! I am learning that I will need to learn a little Spanish, French, Latin, and Greek gods and goddesses if I ever want to regularly solve a late-week puzzle.

This one had two things I strongly dislike in crossword puzzles: 1) a “sound” answer (37D) - too subjective, though this one was thankfully fairly straightforward, and 2) whatever you call the ZEE/ZED pairing at 33A/D that has no real clue. Shouldn’t one of the clues be [Last letter of the alphabet]? Despite those, I did enjoy this puzzle’s theme. So clever!

Thought this might be my fastest Saturday ever … then I hit a wall on the east side of this one. My brain just couldn’t come up with the answers. Oh well. There’s always next Saturday! I appreciated the amazing construction feat though. Very cool!😎

@Lewis I forgot to post my favorite clues yesterday, but I don’t think there was any overlap with yours! (I am easily amused) Favorite clues of 2025: * [Words before someone finally snaps?] SAYCHEESE 1/3/25 (Colin Adams) * [Permanent location?] SALON 7/29/25 (Peter Gorman) * [He might be carrying a big picture] LEAD ACTOR 8/3/25 (Jeremy Newton) * [Digital file?] EMERY BOARD 9/27/25 (Adrian Johnson & Christina Iverson) * [Someone who spends a lot of time baking?] BEACH BUM 10/10/25 (Colin Adams) * [Felt something on your head?] FEDORA 10/29/25 (John Donegan) * [People looking for hookups, informally] R V ERS 11/26/25 (John McClung)

This one leaned a but Tuesdayish to me, but I enjoyed all the interesting answers like THE WIZARD OF ID (19A) RAW BAR (47A), and DODO BIRD (8D). After my dad retired, he enjoyed making wooden dodo bird garden ornaments. The body was attached to the stake in the ground, and head was attached by a metal strap. Their heads would bob up and down in the wind. Those were my favorites. 😊

Solved my 7th Wednesday in a row! I am starting to actually enjoy Wednesdays. They are challenging enough to take a bit of thought and educated guesses, but not so hard that I can’t solve them without helps. Hopefully, next Wednesday won’t be impossible now!

I understood that all the circled words were signs pointing to the middle. I had an 8-ball growing up, so I understood that all signs point to YES. But it seemed like two different themes to me. What does YES have to do with all of those particular signs? Nothing. To me, they don’t go together like other themes do. And for a Tuesday, the Natick of 32D/41A was too hard. Just had to run through the alphabet until I got the happy music. Still, I solved it 5:00 faster than my average, so it wasn’t all bad. Just didn’t get it.

This one proved too tough for me to solve without lots of help, but I liked it more after reading the comments! It is an impressive feat of construction and I love that the double-crossers DOUBLE-CROSSED their victims! A great use of breaking a crossword rule.

I’m considering this one solved, though I had to look up the list of the original 13 colonies because VT and ME were not working. I had thought of IMDB, but it didn’t click. I also had to double-check what 1800 would be in Roman numerals. This one was a chewy but fun tribute to our country. Let’s hope we have at least 250 more birthdays to celebrate … if we make it through this one (I never know these days).

My mouth is agape at this puzzle! I didn’t even realize the full trick until I read the column! Some of my circles had doubles and some I left blank and I thought that’s just how it was solved given the revealer. Wow! This is top-notch constructing! I love it! POY nominee!

This is, by far, my favorite Wednesday puzzle of the year. I solved it without any help! And it’s so cute with all the 🦆 🦆 🦆! (Or rather not in a row!) What a clever theme! And I am definitely using 14D the next time I go to an Indian restaurant! Also, now that I understand what emus are in crossword puzzles, I love seeing them pop up in one. Do emus and ducks get along?

As a Christian, I’m fascinated by the Jewish roots of my faith. I enjoy learning about Jewish traditions. Loved the article that was linked to in the column (made of clay). What a skilled writer! I have always been curious about how dreidel was played, so thank you for that. We always watch the Hallmark Hanukkah movies (often some of the best holiday movies!) this time of year. I enjoy learning about other cultures. Loved this puzzle! What a great start to the New Year!

I did not enjoy this puzzle. Seemed much more like a chewy Wednesday to me. I didn’t even enjoy the themed clues (which is highly unusual!). But maybe these clues just were not in my wheelhouse. Ugh, maybe I should go back to bed! Or maybe I’ll find a good Tuesday puzzle in the archives to do instead!

Loved this puzzle! What a debut! I loved the theme and the fill. As someone else said, the juxtaposition of middle English with modern slang was brilliant! I hope we get more puzzles from Adam. I also appreciated the breezy beginning to the week. Last week, I went over my average time on every puzzle except Friday of all days! Here’s to an enjoyable, breezy week! 🍷

I liked the theme … after I read the column. First, I got 37A then 58A, but couldn’t figure it out. After a couple of lookups, I was done. I told the hubby there was a tricky gimmick in the puzzle today. Gave him [Deport?] and he spouted off the answer instantly. 😕 Tried to come up with a clue for my home state. The best I could do was, [Wiretail?] KOHLS. And for my current state: [Gasting?] YELLOWJACKETS (GA Tech team). They’re not great, but it was fun to give it a try.

I agree with all the pedantic objections to this one. I would add [“You bet!”]. “It is” often follows “You bet,” but I don’t think of them as synonyms. However, on a fun note, I did like learning that all the adults in “Peanuts” were voiced as a muted trombone!

That was delightful! Done in half my average time. I particularly liked 45D [Sewer lines?]. Quite clever. I think the emus need to eat some Oreos though!

I didn’t love the theme. How many languages are we expected to know to solve a crossword puzzle? Weird trivia and strange cluing in this one. One bright spot? 15D [Part of a belt] ASTEROID. Clever!

I have been featured in a crossword (I’m a REDHEAD)! Can I count it? 🤞By the way, redheads are less than 2% of the world’s population! 👩‍🦰 My dad likes to say I got my hair from rusty pipes! 😄

I loved this puzzle! I had no idea that SET had overtaken RUN as the word with the most dictionary entries. I had two or three SETs but couldn’t make myself enter them until I just couldn’t deny that had to be the theme. This rule-follower enjoyed breaking this type of rule! I still was three minutes over my average because I had some wrong entries: “Awoke” for STOOD (1D), “thus” for ERGO (16A), and “step stool” instead of TIPPYTOES (33D). Then I still didn’t get the music because I had “dots” instead of DITS in 70A. I still love it though! And I have a 17 Mondays-in-a-row streak!