Marek

I did not enjoy it. Yes, you can make a puzzle hard by using obscure references. You can use vague clues. But to be this does not result in a smart puzzle, just something I wish to be over and hope for the next day's one to be better. I kinda expect to be told to just quit it altogether or keep my opinions to myself as this is US paper for the great US nation, so be it.

A clue 'xxx at/in yyy' point to how something is said in the language of jargon of yyy. Only an US American newspaper could dream up something like KIL for kilometres. This kind of stuff borders on cultural appropriation. Or should 'unit at Daytona pitstop' be INC, since that's first three letters of inch? Or POU because that's first three letters of pound? A few of such nonsensical entries can really rob the joy from solving an otherwise well designed puzzle.

One thing that ticked me off in today's otherwise enjoyable puzzle was the clue for 71 across. This is not packaged in sticks. We are not in a looney tunes cartoon, while the clue can be decoded, it's sub par to me, NYT clues may exploit stereotypes but should not perpetuate misconceptions.