Ellemarie

Today I completed my second ever Sunday puzzle. Last week's was my first, and it took me just over two hours! (Not all in one go mind you. I often have to set the Thur, Fri, and Sat puzzles down, and let things 'stew'.) Today, I was able to get it done in 1h15m. The icing on the cake is that I now have a 7-day streak--my weakest streak by far, as far as NYT Games are concerned, but I'm so pleased with it! It's true what they say--practice makes perfect when it comes to the crosswords 😊

re: Gesso, not many Bob Ross lovers/viewers here, it seems. 😉 re: the grousing about how difficult today's puzzle is with it being a Tuesday and all, to borrow from the world of marathoning and paraphrase one of its more popular adages, "The puzzle owes you nothing."

I've never read Fifty Shades of Gray or seen the movies, but for all the pooh-poohers here in the comments—and there seems to be quite a few—I feel the need to recommend Janet Radway's Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature.