George
NY
Excellent puzzle. Tough but fair. The clue for DELETEDSCENES is the best in a long time. 10/10.
Names should not intersect with names. 0/10
Weak fill. Too many black squares. Boring theme. Crossing proper nouns with university abbreviations. 2/10
Clever theme, solid fill, good clueing. Could be more difficult, but very good Tuesday puzzle overall. 9/10
Great Thursday puzzle. Nice fill without esoteric trivia. Good difficulty and although similar themes have been done before, this was done well. 9/10
As glad as I always am to see 15-letter answers in a puzzle, and as much as I respect the construction of this one, it was much, much too easy for a Saturday, bordering on Wednesday-level toughness. Disappointing. 5/10
Nice grid and long entries. Still too easy for a Saturday. 7/10
Excellent Friday puzzle. Very good clueing overall, and the clues for WORKLIFEBALANCE and ELDERCARE were great, especially the latter. Slightly too easy for what a Friday puzzle should be, but very solid. 8/10
This could have been an excellent puzzle. Some of the clueing was great, but it was too easy for a Friday. Also, proper nouns should not intersect (OLSON/KORS) 6/10
@Steve L 11D 23A It was only typical "Thursday-level fill" insomuch as it was too easy for a traditional Thursday puzzle, but that had been the norm for at least a year now. And yes, I did understand the theme, which is why I thought it was weak. It was neither clever nor novel. I don't care if you think my comments are "drive-by". I will make a comment based on what I think of the puzzle, whether it's good or bad.
Terrible. The fill was too easy, the theme was weak, and some of the 'homophones' only exist in some US accents, namely 'squirreled' and 'world', and 'squatter' and 'water'. Not fun. 2/10
Themeless Sundays should not exist. Boring. 0/10
No theme. Not worth doing. 0/10. Looks like it's the archive today.
Good but easy fill. Average clueing. Weird theme. 5/10
@Cree jay entering PHI worked just fine for me
The theme, while not novel, was tricky and well-executed. But, OCTOPI doesn't belong in crosswords without a 'var.' note, and names shouldn't cross (PERETTI and TAIO) 6.5/10 P.S. I'm aware of the 'octopuses', 'octopodes', 'octopi' usage debate.
Not bad. I think the clue for SLUE should have had a (var.) note. But overall, this was solid, and I liked the UNCANNYVALLEY entry, and the clue for GUTTERBALL. 8/10
This is not a Saturday difficulty puzzle. 1/10
Nice fill, good theme, slightly on the easy side. 8/10
Not too bad. The rebus was easy to work out, and it was a nice touch having them in theme answers—STREET, AVENUE, etc. The fill was good, but the puzzle was easy for a Thursday. Personally, I didn't like AFTS as an answer. YMMV. 7.5/10
Weak theme and easy fill. A few of the clues were nice. 4/10.
It's always impressive when a group of two-word answers like this have connections between the first and second word. Great theme and construction. Slightly too easy for Tuesday, but fantastic puzzle. 9/10
Nice grid, some good cluing, good attempt to make some clues different to ones we've seen many times before. The clue for BARTRIVIA was great. But this was far too easy for a Friday. Editing team needs to do better. 6/10
A difficult but fair and enjoyable Saturday. Proper nouns shouldn't cross. A bit heavy on black squares, but this was solid. 9/10
Wednesday level difficulty. 3/10
Great puzzle. It reminded me of the first Sunday puzzle of the Shortz era, which can be found in the archive. I appreciated the novel clueing for many crosswordese answers. 9/10.
Nice Saturday. Could have been more difficult, but the fill was solid and the clueing was good. 8/10.
Good fill with some nice clues and a few tricky sections. 8/10
One of the laziest and easiest Wednesday puzzles I've ever done. Boring theme, very average fill, forgettable clueing, and not in the least challenging. 1.5/10
Nice grid, some good fill. Terrible editing: too easy for Saturday. Crossing proper nouns — not good. 3.5/10
Nice Wednesday puzzle. The theme was clever and well-executed, and the fill was solid. 8.5/10.
Good fill, and although not a novel theme, one that hasn't been done in a while. Decent Wednesday. 8/10
Great puzzle. The proper noun crossing AVERY and LEVI aside, this was a good Friday. And I especially liked the clue for ONION RINGS. 9/10.
Some nice clues, decent dill, but this was far, far too easy for a Saturday. 4/10
This had a nice grid and fill, with a few nice clues. But this was too easy for a Friday. 5/10.
This was decently challenging for a Saturday, with good fill overall. Nice clues for SPEEDCHESS, SETS, HOME BREWER, and a few others. Names should not cross (INGE and BRUNSON) 8/10
A few nice entries, but this was Tuesday-level difficulty. 3.5/10
Solid Friday and now Saturday puzzle after a very weak start to the week. This puzzle had nice cluing overall, and the one for ARMREST was great. Too many names for my liking. YMMV. Proper nouns shouldn't cross (PATAGONIA LONNIE) This could have been harder, but at least it wasn't too easy. 7.75/10
Good fill. Good clueing ... for a Tuesday. 3/10
This theme was poorly executed. First there is CLASSICALCLOWN, adding 'ical' to the common phrase 'class clown', with a similar addition to 'top dog' making TOPICALDOG. Nice start. But then the theme entries include homophones (LYR/lear) and alternate spellings as in ...POPSICLE. Very sloppy. 2/10.
Lackluster. Proper nouns shouldn't intersect (ARTCARNEY and RUE). 5/10
Weak and easy theme. Weak fill. Easy puzzle. 3/10.
The fill was quite good, but that's about the only good thing here: as far as rebus puzzles go, this was very unimaginative; and the cluing was average. But worst of all, this was a Monday/Tuesday level of difficulty. 3/10
Quite solid. The SE corner was clunky for me, I still don't understand MORES? But overall this had decent fill and good clueing. 7.5/10
The clue for BALLOONANIMAL was nice, and the fill was overall quite solid. But this was Tuesday/Wednesday level of difficulty. A shame. 4/10.
This had some nice clues and the fill was clean. But overall, this puzzle had the difficulty of a Tuesday puzzle. The constructor should have seen this, and the editing team should have done better to make this at least slightly challenging for a Friday. 3.5/10.
Not bad. Fewer black squares than normal makes for decent fill, but this was still easier than a Friday should be. 7/10
The theme was ok, but it was too easy for a Thursday and there were too many black squares. 5/10