IZ

Laughed when I figured out 66a. Cute and fun one today!

First Friday with no look-ups whatsoever! Loved it

I really liked this Thursday! Good mix of simple clues and others that really needed some thought. I did have a couple of look-ups, mostly the proper nouns. I am happy nonetheless as this was one of the first times I figured out a rebus was needed without coming to the Wordplay for help! Extra pleased as I figured out the stack theme organically as well.

PB for me with 29:13, and even more exciting, my first Sunday with no look ups whatsoever. Despite a grid that seems daunting initially with 14-letter answers, things slowly but surely fell into place

I liked this theme! At first I thought not being American would be a hindrance, but actually most of the theme clues are pretty well known facts/trivia (e.g. GULF OF MEXICO - that was my favourite clue of today 👏🏼 ). Sorry to anyone from Arizona or Delaware but I know nothing about your states and had to rely on the crosses to get those two answers

Loved this Thursday! A good mix of simpler clues and ones that required more thought. I think that the theme was difficult enough that I didn’t get it right away, but once I figured out the theme entry, it made sense straight away. 38 Across is what made it click as I knew the word USER had to be in there somewhere, but couldn’t see how it would fit using all the across. Loved it!

Made my PB for Thursdays today with 10:26. And the best part is that it’s my first Thursday with no look-ups whatsoever. It was satisfying when I finally understood the theme after filling in three of the theme clues. Bravo 👏🏼

Congratulations on the debut, and I’m sorry to hear about your loss. It’s an inspiring story and I was quite moved. I really enjoyed this puzzle, only one second off my Friday PB! I was able to get the north full spanner’s surprisingly quickly, while the south relied on a lot of crosses.

Loved it! HELMET is what brought it together for me

My first Thursday without needing to look anything up, I really liked the theme today and the way I had to think about it

I liked this Friday! Not too America-centric which made it easier for me!

I liked this theme! And I loved how the revealer clue made it clear what was happening. Very fun

EENSY? Another one to add to my mental list of tiny words…

Thursday PB yahoo! And no look ups required. I did get the gimmick and I liked the ‘Aha’ moment it gave me when it clicked. Good puzzle, I enjoyed it

First Friday ever that I got through without needing any help (except for looking up the definition of accouterment). Yay, loved this one. It’s so satisfying when you figure out the grid spanners

Got my Friday PB! 11 mins faster than my average, wow. This is the first Friday I didn’t need any help with at all, not even the wordplays column

Easier one for me today. No lookups and managed to get the answers I didn’t know via crosses. Not a PB, but close!

The theme felt shoe-horned in. The clues were good and it was a nice puzzle that didn’t necessarily need the revealer. That said, I enjoyed it.

TINCT got me, I had TINge in there until the very end, didn’t help I’d never heard of that pasta shape!

Either I’m getting better at Fridays, or today was not as challenging as I expected. Either way I really enjoyed it - only needed help with FIRE SALE as I’ve never heard of it and the crosses confused me as I am not American so didn’t know what CERTS are, TIL.

That was fun!

I liked the theme here, I cottoned onto NATO pretty fast but didn’t understand the theme clues straight away. I needed some Wordplays help like I always do on Thursdays, but I didn’t love how the theme was given away in the Tricky Clues section. Usually I like to get those tricky clues out of the way to then make my attempt at the theme. Today it was sort of spoiled for me

What does it mean in these comments when someone refers to something as a Natick?

Fabulous! No notes. Loved it