Nathan

Blehhh this one relied on too many extremely obscure proper nouns.

A lot of very cheap, very vague and very finicky clues in this one. I think it went beyond challenging into unfair territory.

Ohhhhhh how I loved this puzzle. Some great jokes throughout. LESBIANBAR and CHARLIEBUCKET both made me laugh out loud. Lots of intuitive “spoken phrase” clues too.

I’m sure at some point in the Indy 500’s stories history, someone has said “Stay fancy.” Great puzzle, you get a big Wormh-OLÉ from this bro.

Finally, a puzzle for nerds like me! Also, if you don’t know what WAP means… don’t look it up.

This may be the first time I’ve solved a rebus without an ounce of help. That being said (and sorry if I missed it somewhere), but isn’t there usually a theme clue somewhere that hints at the rebus? If there was a clue in this puzzle I missed it and only figured things out based on context. Either way, this was a lot more fun and less frustrating than I usually find rebuses.

Glad I wasn’t the only one flummoxed by the Lenape/Bela thing. Banjoists don’t belong on Tuesday puzzles. Frankly I’m not sure they belong anywhere. I also don’t really understand how the theme question in the center has anything to do with the circled theme bits. Yes they’re all words that preceded “sign”, but no they don’t all point to yes. I’d say all signs point to “meh” on this one.

One of the most brilliant themes I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s a miracle that it all worked out.

I really enjoyed this one. After my first pass, I didn’t think I’d be able to finish without cheating, but things started clicking pretty quickly. Good challenge level for a Saturday (I believe last week’s made me pull my hair out).

Pretty spicy for a Wednesday. Hate to say that I did not understand the theme until coming here. Very clever but there seemed to be a lot of very esoteric clues here.

Ooooof it really is a bummer that the theme clues weren’t correctly formatted in the app, because dang, what a fun theme. I’m guessing this was easy for a Thursday because I finished it fifteen minutes faster than my average, without cheating and without understanding the theme (since I was missing vital information). Either way though it was a good time and again, what a cute theme.

I guess this was on the easy side, but it was a sweet and refreshing salve after a cruel and unfair late week last week (I’m looking at you, Friday and Sunday). One of my favorite parts about Mondays is that they almost never stump me, and that makes me start the week feeling like a little genius (sometimes it’s the only time I feel that way in a week). This puzzle was delightfully smooth, made elegant use of crossword language, and had a fun and cute theme.

Good Thursday puzzles make me feel accomplished, and the discovery of the theme is such a sweet feeling. This puzzle did not provide me that in any way, and the theme felt quite forced.

Can’t say how tickled I was by the animal crossing theme. I was less tickled by some veryyyyy tricky words, but I’ll let it slide for such a cuddly reference to one of my favorite games.

I had a horribly difficult time with this fill, had to do some pretty copious googling I’m sad to say. That being said, when I finally understood the rebus I got very excited. Great puzzle that was a bit too spicy for my taste.

Yowza, going blue today, NYT! I’m here for it.

I completed the puzzle in decent time, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to look a few things up. My brain was never meant to hold onto words like Obeli or Melisma. I also still don’t understand the Univision clue or its corresponding fill.

Fun puzzle! Reminded me that I need to work harder to memorize my crossword-ese. Definitely sure this is not the first time I’ve seen appearances from Mr. Orr, though sports knowledge is way out of my wheelhouse. It’s also time to try to actually learn what an ERG is.

Very fun and satisfying.

What a delightful puzzle. Really loved seeing the alternative theme entries as well. If I have any complaints, it’s that I don’t believe that the word OATY has ever been used outside a crossword. Still, whenever I solve a puzzle using it, it always makes me roll my eyes and chuckle.

Cute theme. Boo for “dap.” Overall a fun and fairly easy solve.