Ian

I can't tell if the feedback re: gathering clouds is just people speaking facetiously or half-seriously

Lovely! Speedy but fun, and I loved the 10- or 4-letter constraint topped with a dazzling grid. I've whined about proper nouns too much lately, and this constructor handled them perfectly. I'd never heard of LAKE ITASCA but was totally able to get it with crossers. I'd always thought of ESTD as being "established," never "estimated." TIL it could be either! Thank you for the fun Sunday puzzle

Finally, what the people have been asking for: a puzzle with apparent typos for answers, with OO LA LA and SLEEVELESS T

Loved BATARANGS, did not love the crossing of a Kansas city I've never heard of with Burkina Faso's name from 1983 that I've never heard or read and the name of a naturalist whom I've never heard of. I'll have to look up STET, because I didn't know that was a word -- I kept on filling ediT which fit with BALDIes. Plenty of fun misdirection here, CH-CH-CH-CHIA was nice nostalgia, and BARFS had me thinking "No way this is actually the answer... maybe BAReS to spell DIAN with an E?" This Saturday wasn't within my reach, but not every puzzle's gonna be in my own Goldilocks zone.

I got the gold star and generally love Thursdays. This one? I'm glad it's over. DRINKS ALL AROUND, I certainly could use one!

Great puzzle, CUREL/TRUE LEAVES beat me. After about half an hour of flyspecking and running the alphabet multiple times on MAMET and GRACE PALEY. I threw in the towel and checked puzzle, and I don't feel like I would've ever gotten it. I guess Curel sounds kind of familiar, but true leaves will need a quick lookup. I had BeTTER/eSp/HAIRpETAL for quite a while, falling for the poison misdirect, imagining "hairpetal" goes with terms like LD50 in exterminator lingo.

I was so smug putting ACK (Nantucket airport code) for "Mass. summer setting" and STEVE COOGAN for the Sinners director. It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know for sure that just ain't so. Two hours later I sorted it all out and got the gold star. Tough but fair. May be my hardest clean solve. Whew!

Right, M&M's. Got it. The bold on each clue was repetitive and irritating (and made 1A an out-of-the-gate gimme), the theme wasn't particularly clever, and the whole thing felt a bit like a slog The NE corner was the last to fall, and boy am I glad I remembered BATH! I didn't hate the puzzle, but the bolding thing spoiled it for me. I will somehow persevere through my day in spite of this.

Nice puzzle! I had a sparse NW corner until going out on a limb with a totally unsupported "SWANK" cracked it. LAME as "Shiny material" baffled me. For whatever reason, I usually have a harder time with Fridays than Saturdays and this week was no exception. My "Reply All" story is from my first big office job (with two monitors and everything!), where I had a stinky coworker who apparently didn't believe in deodorant. I emailed a colleague joking about it. That was not a reply all, that was just a regular email. But later that day, I was on an email thread about a problem on the website my team would need to fix, so I replied all with an attached screenshot of how it looked on my computer. But my screenshot was double-wide. It had my secondary monitor with my sent email about the office stinker. I noticed at the last possible millisecond before releasing the mouse button to click send and avoided certain disaster. Pro tip: Always clear the "To" field empty until you're done writing and editing.

I thought the theme was kind of fun actually, not sure why all the pooh-poohs from the peanut gallery. I got LOBSTERS pretty much right out the gate, had to consider when M would be L, then when I got SIZING UP I had my eureka moment. AXLES was a nice unexpected twist. Nice breezy Thursday for me with some fun wordplay sprinkled in. I liked it!

Nice work! Things were looking bleak on my first pass until I hit 57A, which sounded just too weird, leading to an aha moment. btw, I haven't heard USENET in forever, good pull!

Spent about half an hour flyspecking around Sal Mineo and Elaine Stritch (never heard of either) until I realized Costner didn't play GARP and PGA green wasn't it Really had to work for the gold star on this one

Fun! And I agree that "HOLE" should not be accepted as a rebus fill. Did anyone try the hole emoji 🕳️? The SW corner had me nice and puzzled for a while until I quit trying to use "MEDIUM" as the steak option. "Industry" kept me in suspense for a stretch while I tried to remember the state. Four letters... Ohio? Iowa? How satisfying to recall The Beehive State! Another gem from Zhou Zhang! With a lovely note, congratulations to her and hers

Great theme, fun Thursday Never heard of HORA, had to look up ECOTEUR afterwards (ah, "ecological saboteur"), and I think of CHOP and dice (and mince for that matter) as distinctly different things, but all gettable with the crossers Nice puzzle, as soon as I figured out the theme I was racing for the next themed clue. PEAS IN A POD was a delight

What a deligbt! SKEDADDLED!? The mini in the middle was beautiful and was the last section to fall for me. Bravo bravo bravo!

Awful. Proper nouns crossing proper nouns. Christine LAHTI crossing LOLA Falana did me in. Never heard of either. Not familiar with MANZANILLA. First time I've heard of DONHO. Still don't get SOT for "Elbow-bender." GOD for "Holy moly" seems weak. Had to reveal puzzle on this one.

I liked this one, although I agree with the "triple Natick" comment re: crossing a salsa artist, a writer. and a Chicago exchange. That was my last area to fall when "Is long ago?" finally clicked. But it was all educated guessing for the proper nouns. I also hit a roadblock at the crossings of Italian music term, a director, British slang, and French composer. Still managed a clean solve! Chewy enough for me, and if all the answers were in my wheelhouse, it just wouldn't be any fun. Fun theme too, I got the rebus immediately but was expecting seasons, not spills. Nicely done!

Loved it. Very fun, and the doubled-up ZZZZFUYWUY was a treat The NW corner (with León throwing me off) was the last to fall, finally entering the name of a SNL host whose surname sounded familiar Nice Thursday!

A fine Thursday puzzle with a fun gimmick. I'm puzzled by all the haters, but agree the clues overall were on the easy side. And given that the comments section of a crossword puzzle column is a safe space for pedantry, I'll add that today's gimmick is more like an ENDLESS CAROUSEL (or honestly just a carousel in industry terms) than an INFINITE SCROLL where different content just keeps on coming and coming. MACS for buds is a head scratcher for me, and BIAS for pollster's concern felt like one too until I realized it wasn't a plural ("What the heck is a BIA?"). D'oh! I did enjoy the feeling of dread when I started on the downs and got a long spell of diddly-squat.

Whew! Tough but fair, and what a workout. I thought my streak had met its end until I nearly gave up and just started throwing in my best guesses, eventually piecing together JACK AND COKE and then the long acrosses. The NW corner was the last to fall for me. It had me stymied as I kept coming back to the (wrong) IT'S NEW, SONG of Solomon, SEETHE, and TRAY Young. Chewy solve with a satisfying end. Thank you for a solid Friday puzzle!

Holy smokes, I can't believe I got a clean solve on this one. The SE corner was hopeless until it wasn't. I took a big leap of faith and just started filling in the downs with wishful thinking type answers until WHITE NOISE and PROBLEM SETS appeared. I only got SOONER because I used to work with one, who was more than happy to explain the origin of the term. And that luck made HAND DRYERS appear. Majestic! Wonderful Saturday, I loved it.

Very nice! I was in battle with the SE corner for just the right amount of time. I'm not familiar with Satie, Erica Jong, or that Eliot quote, and the lack of an "abbr." indicator on RECON had me second-guessing myself (that's not a complaint, especially not on a Friday). With ONTHEROckS throwing me off the trail for a good long while, PARASITIC landing unlocked it for me, though I still kept waffling on SISYPHEAN vs SISYPHiAN, even briefly contemplating SISYPHaeN like an absolute brute. Lots of fun wordplay here, spanning lots of categories while doing a respectable job avoiding crossing proper nouns. Even though I couldn't remember if it was spelled with an I or a Y, I particularly enjoyed finally recalling the name of a SPIROGRAPH. Nice Friday.

Just in time for Halloween! Fun puzzle, good Wednesday, good chewiness rating. LEOI had me puzzled until I realized it was "Leo I" -- a classic dook. Thank you!

Whew! I got the rebuses pretty handily but that NE corner was the last to fall for me, with sAILS leaving me grasping at LAs_D_ for a wavelength symbol. Once I asked myself for the Greek L, it landed. I'd have had no hope for getting WTA TOUR any other way. That North section also had me on the wrong trail with "mock" for made an impression, giving me "oval" for ring... oh boy! Excellent tribute to Butts today. Thank you for the solid Thursday!

A Saturday solved in Thursday time, with a gimmie out the gate. I was halfway hoping 1A was actually "Hammer" but the crossers said no. Some fun misdirection here, and MR. MISTER was a delight. GROUP SELFIE, HAD A SOLO, and BOXING MATCH were sparkling, plus I got to excavate BOOGIE DOWN BRONX from my memory of some 2000's rap song. Speedy but nice, thank you!

Lovely debut! Speedy but fun, nice theme. Thank you. The NE corner was nearly blank for me until I finished everything els. I've never heard of a GIBE but enjoyed lots of other parts of the puzzle, including LIB and ERASERS, and I got ISLAND faster and with more glee than I would like to admit. I'm looking forward to many more from McKay Fritz!

Loved the theme, great puzzle, very clever. I NEED SOME SPACE? I DONT SAY THIS LIGHTLY? Brilliant! BEE gave a moment of revelation, NE corner was nice and chewy. I had my speaker turned up and entered what I thought would be the last letter... and got a dud. I was sufficiently lost and flyspecking until I figured out how to spell UMLAUTS. Perfect Sunday, thank you!

I'll call foul on silent film actor I've never heard of crossing the name of an actor in a film (or show?) I've never heard of Not sure how "some Ivy Leaguers" are ELIS REC room could have used a signal that an abbreviation was afoot, never heard of COCOONED as a verb But against all odds, I persevered and earned a gold star. Despite all my whining: fun rebus! And I particularly liked the British English suffix

Nice and breezy Monday, that gave me a few "What's that word again? Ahhh yes" moments with EAVES and SIKH. Well done

Lovely! Just the right amount of chewiness for a Sunday. Bonus points for a fun gimmick that amazingly didn't feel like it was being filled by stretch answers! ESPORT and COMMIT TO PAPER were heavenly. MERCS, PLUM JOB, and AD SALE felt like they needed me to play along a bit, but still reasonable enough. Great Sunday, go Ravens!

Nice chewy Wednesday. I had a nearly empty SW corner and was able to infer RINGER, which I think is my first time using a puzzle's theme to get unstuck. Solid theme, clever! Minor nit, SRO was totally gettable but I thought it was a rule that acronyms need "for short" or "(abbr.)" or similar. Something with wordplay would be nice but I'm coming up shy on a better suggestion. "Bad news for the short (for short)" is ho-hum. I had a good embarrassing facepalm moment changing "the ocean" to "ATLANTIS" for Aquaman's domain. D'oh.

I've never heard of Las Palmas but it sounds lovely, and I've never heard of Suni Lee but I understand the US women's national gymnastics team is widely watched. Until MANLY landed, I was at sea with WANLY; I remembered that it's a word but not its meaning. Lots of words (especially COATI) surprised me today with their early week appearance. Tough for a Tuesday! I managed to get my gold star, but not without a fight. If this was Monday and Tuesday, I can only imagine what the rest of the week holds.

I have this feeling like if I can successfully finish a Friday, it was too easy. Too easy! Great puzzle, lots of misdirection with satisfying answers I wrinkled my nose when TOP GEAR gave PAP as "Print maker" and was relieved to switch that out when I couldn't think of any kind of CAT that was raised at Dia de los Muertos

I didn't catch the theme until just now. Four T's?? Brilliant!

What a treat! I got the gold star after mucking around in the SW corner for a short eternity trying to clear up KEYPAD, EBOW, and YOS. I just happened to look up the major conferences last week so ACC was a gimme, but I would've been running the alphabet otherwise trying to cross with EPICENE, which I've never heard of. EPISTOLARY NOVEL was pretty unreal and I can't believe I got it. Loved this one! Tough but fair.

I descended into madness and came out with the gold star. Crossing an acronym with an uncommon surname of a character from "A Woman of Substance" something was pretty rough. Is that a book? The NE and the NW corners required a lot of leaps of faith to solve, but I got em. MANSE and HENIE were pretty tough, plus a musician from 1960? The crossers made it all possible but what a workout.

A perfectly calibrated Sunday for me, and lovely conclusion for a wild week of crosswords. Natick-free, fun theme, Goldilocks zone chewiness. I expected Oklahoma to be mentioned for SOONER STATE, not Delaware, but the rest all clicked perfectly. Thank you!

Bonanza, Lil Abner, and Talia Shire? Huh. Thank goodness for crossers! I liked the theme and would have liked more wordplay. Overall a fine Monday, thank you.

A very nice industrious Wednesday. Rebus surprise! I don't know if it was a coincidence that Stonewall INN led into U TURN but I liked it. BASENJI was a head scratcher (I just looked it up, never heard of 'em) though totally gettable with crossers. Any puzzle that I can solve (most important part) that's got an animation is a delight in my book. Thank you for a fun breezy solve.

I was blasting through this one and loving it until I hit the crossings of JEMISIN/ELIE, PEI/ETE, and AREEL/EFTS/I'M ALONE. I'm got lost on IMA_ONE for "out of date" -- without the L I kept thinking about whether "date" was a fruit, expiration deadline, timeline (like you've been teleported to prehistoric times), age group, or romantic partner. I'm guessing it's like if you're asking for a table for one? Or like if you're at a party surrounded by others outside your age group? I'm stumped. Lovely theme, but I didn't love those crossers which did me in. PEI/ETE alone would've blocked me without running the alphabet or at least the vowels. No gold star for me today.

Well done, almost got me on a Wednesday! I spent about twenty minutes going in circles second-guessing NETTLE/BIOTA/LAYLA and APSE/APPEAR/EKES. I'm still lost on how EKES works here; I expected ExES, which gave me PEEx, so I tried PEEr which then gave ErES, which almost could be ErrS, but then that gave PANr. I had a similar wumpus hunt with NETTLE/BIOTA/LAYLA, trying to make BIOme work. Just before giving up, I noticed I had MER for "Besmirch" because I had ALLeN instead of ALLAN. Hehe oops. Always in the last place you look.

I was doomed until I wasn't. I had to work from the inside out and had a stark grid for a while, but in the end this one took me about half the time as Friday, and Thursday even. This week has been a tough one, so I was expecting Saturday to be "Final Boss"-level! Fun puzzle, easier than expected but with some nice twists and turns. Natick-free, and a pretty grid to boot. Thank you! I'm now bracing for an absolutely brutal Sunday to finish up the week. I get the feeling I'm not out of the woods yet, like a roller coaster with a fake drop at the start.