Doug

Haven’t finished the puzzle, and probably won’t for a while, but wanted to register kudos for any puzzle that includes GRACE HOPPER

I like rebuses, and this is one of the cleverest ones I can remember. Kudos, Mr. Sirois!

A fine puzzle overall, and the clue for FOOT, once I finally got it, gave me the best forehead-slap I’ve had for a long time.

In my book this is a 10. Clueing was just right for a Wednesday—challenging but with enough places to get traction. Once I realized that “I have to wash my hair” was a FIB rather than a lie, 007 was clearly BOND, and the theme fell into place pretty quickly. But I’d guess that the set of people who recognize 666 has limited overlap with the set that recognizes 420.

One of the cleverest Tricks in recent months. A winner!

Very clever—and quite different from the usual Thursday tricks! Yeah, I had a quick solve too, but mostly I just enjoyed the ingenuity of the gimmick.

In the very first episode of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard and Sheldon are walking up the stairs in their underwear after trying to reclaim a tv from Penny’s very large ex-boyfriend, and Sheldon says “Well, it wasn’t my first PANTSing, and it won’t be my last”. If you can’t trust Sheldon, who can you trust?

It took me a long time to figure out the Trick, but in the end it was fun! With 8 words encrypted, the difficulty of the crosses was just right.

I don’t usually enjoy AES puzzles—he often seems intent on flaunting that he’s younger and hipper than 80% of solvers—but this one was first class, both in the theme (yes, you REALLY SHOULD read the title on Sunday) and some of the clues (I especially liked “Layer of 42 across). Thanks, Alex!

A good Tuesday puzzle overall, but can someone explain the clue for 28D, LASH?