Juanita

@john ezra I loved your "que seurat seurat" ! I confess I was hoping to see some reference to Seurat in the puzzle as the artist who made the painting "Sunday in the Park with George." Oh well, as you said, que seurat seurat.

@Sean I too think that "els" is problematic. The answer I think is best is "ill". That is truly in the center, with 4 letters preceding it and 4 following. It took me a while to change to "ELS."

@Gregg One of the many things I appreciate about solving the puzzles on paper is that I'm not concerned with how many minutes and seconds it takes me to do them. And I don't feel compelled to beat my (non-existent) personal best.

@Andrzej You're certainly not alone is finding this puzzle difficult and some of the clues rather obscure. I had never heard or seen MENOMOSSO before, nor had I heard or seen IGOTTAJET. I much prefer your choice of RUN rather than JET. "I gotta run" is definitely something people say. And I'm still mystified by CSA. I finally decided not to spend still more time on the puzzle. I just want to add that I'm amazed that you can do so well with NYT puzzles when English is not your native language.

@Striker Well, perhaps the community will be a lot more fun without some of the folks who seem to get their pleasure from constantly complaining about how the puzzle is too easy for a [fill in the day].

@Joan I too thought first of doc, which at least made sense to me, unlike my eventual answer, ASK. Can you or anyone else explain that answer to me?

@Striker I too thought SNOTNOSED meant something like "childishly bratty," not "young and inexperienced."

@Francis I really appreciate your messages about the people who constantly complain that the puzzles are too easy. I would say more about such people, but I suspect the emus wouldn't approve. Anyway, many thanks!

@VN Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought of QT before DL.

@john ezra Yes, I too had no idea what the song title was, and since "THIS" rhymes with the word "bliss" in the clue, I took that as a hint that the title was THIS. And, like you, I thought PENCILS was all that was needed, just as it would be for "trousers" and "capris." CASHIN did give me pause, but I decided that that was just another example of modern slang that I didn't know.

@JayTee Yes, my first thought was OOPSmybad, but then I realized thst "my" was in the clue. OOPS.

@Grumpy I'm with you, Grumpy. I solve with pencil on paper, in part because that's what I've always done, but in part becaue I don't want to find myself thinking/worrying about how long it's taking me. I'd rather spend more time enjoying the puzzle.

@sotto voce Over at Diary of a Crossword Fiend, Amy said that for her, Lon rhymes with John, while lawn rhymes with brawn. I agree with her.

@Francis I agree that the answer to 22D is CAB, but I think that the CAB inside the wine bar is the red wine Cabernet, while the CAB outside the bar is a taxi.

@Steve L Yes, in fact I had restaurant waiters in mind when I was doing the puzzle. It was only when I read today's blog that I realized the answer could refer to anyone who waits. Duh.

@dutchiris Thanks very much, dutchiris, for your gracious response to VN (and perhaps to some unnamed others).

@Francis I used to be a passionate baseball fan, but I confess that when I first came upon R/H/E in the puxzle, I was totally mystified. I stared at the clue for an absurd amount of time, and then suddenly I realized what the answer was. So yes, I got the answer with no crossings, but I'm astonished that I didn't immediately recognize it.

@SP Yes, I noticed this too, but you beat me to mentioning it. Congrats to Peter Gorman, and to you.

@Carol SN I came here to say the same thing. Where is the discussion of WEDNESDAY'S puzzle? Have both the person writing Wednesday's blog AND the person responsible for Thursday's lost their mind? Sigh.

@CW You're right that his name has only one T, but there's no error in the puzzle, which correctly spells his name ELLIOT.

@NovelaMaven Completely off topic, but are/were you active on Caray Caray?

@TMD I too first had TOOBADFORYOU. I got rid of TOOBAD pretty quickly, but held on to FOR much too long. Too bad for me.

@Gina D I too had grouNDruleS for the longest time, which kept me from seeing the DOS in DOSANDDONTS and hence the point of the bracketed part of the clue. And that would have alerted me to 44A and 52A. And probably 26A as well, even though I don't know Danish or Norwegian. Sigh. Oh well, clever puzzle, though I still might have been done in by the crossing of 8D and 22A, especially since I had never heard of 14A.

@lis Yes, I agree with your symphony conductor. And when, just to confirm this, I asked Google "Is The Moonlight Sonata a song?' Google's AI replied in no uncertain terms, "No, the Moonlight Sonata is not a song." It went on to tell me that it is "an instrumental piece of classical music. Specifically, it is a piano sonata writteen by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801"

@SBS I'm impressed with your ability and your perseverance, but there's one important thing you haven't mentioned. 2016 was ten years ago. I suspect that there were many contemporary references that would have been well known to puzzle solvers in 2016 but not to solvers in 2026. That doesn't mean that the puzzles in 2016 were harder for solvers then, but rather that solvers in 2026 have a different set of references.

@VN I agree that the puzzle is quite doable even if one knows nothing about baseline. Indeed, not knowing may even help. I know a good deal about baseball, and I spent quite a while after I finished wondering what in the world TATER and JACK have to do with baseball.

@RA I think that's the plural of bass, someone with a very low voice.

@Zack - At first, I didn't get it. And when I did get it, I didn't like it.

@katie I too spelled it with s J at first, but when it didn't seem to work going across, I took another look at the clue and saw Var. And GRAPH looked a lot more promising than GRAPJ.

@Andrzej My experience with this puzzle was very much like yours. And, like you, I often find myself floundering while others complain the puzzle is too easy.

@Francis I vote for DUNZO. Never heard it, never saw it, never want to. Your other candidates--KAYO, YURI, and OZARK--were all well-known to me.

@Patricia Henry I had no trouble spelling MITZVAH, but I knew that girls as well as boys had this rite of passage, but for girls the term is BaR MITZVAH, and it took me a while to decide which one the puzzle wanted.

@Juanita Oops--I should have written that for girls the term is BAt MITZVAH

@Becky So did I! I thought perhaps the statue had some special name that I had forgotten. It took me forever to see that "Giant" wasn't referring to size.

@SP Thanks for pointing this out!

@Ged Well, I'm from the USA, but I too got done in by that crossing. And on a Monday, sigh.

@John, My first thought was Francis, but that clearly wouldn't fit, so then I too thought of XVI.

@CW Oops, sorry, I misread your message. I then tried to erase my reply, but I didn't succeed.

@Steph So did I!

@Gina D I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one.

@Tom I too thought first of etta, but I knew that 21 down had to be RENE. I nonetheless kept trying to find a way that etta could be right but finally gave up and tried to think of someone whose name started with R. I finally got it, but only thanks to the crossings.

@Vaer I have never heard of ASMR nor have I ever experienced it. I was convinced my answer was wrong. Oh well, more often I am sure I 'm right, only to find that I' m wrong .