Andy

Playing from the UK i found this very Natick-y, but I was on the right wavelength for the wordplay ones so it wasn't a total exercise in frustration. 'Shticky' bothered me though.

I suppose with enough patience, anything can be a pasture noise. But that tripped me up.

Top right was tricky for us Eurotrash - ARCO have no presence, and SCAD is either a fish or a disease here...whereas SCUD is occasionally a group noun (it's a versatile syllable). That was the error I had to look for, and then brute force, when I didn't get the solve. Otherwise though this was plenty of fun.

Struggled playing this one from the UK - most of the US-specific clues were ones i could eventually work back from, but it made for a tricky Tuesday. CAYS/LAYETTE completely stumped me though!

Loved this one. A few unfamiliar clues but nothing I couldn't work back from (apart from hoosegow)...

Difficult one. Had to look up a few in the second half when I ground to a halt but, balancing that out, those answers usually set me free for a few others. Enjoyed the wordplay and didn't find any of it unfair, just struggled when it crossed with slightly Natick-y entries

Bit of a curate's egg. I enjoyed everything that wasn't Natick-y, but quite a lot was, even among clues I managed fine; as with many others though, Elon/Sal and Ulta/Inuk were icebergs. (Zara is familiar this side of the pond, and Inuk was eventually one of those ones that wriggled out of my memory when I saw it written down, but otherwise it was all new information.)

Having had a few Wednesdays and Thursdays recently that felt like the setter was beating me up and taking my lunch money, a gentle Friday was entirely welcome. I absolutely smashed my Friday solve time record here though. Down from ~10 minutes to just under 7. Had to do a double take when the screen came up! Reading how other people fared I think I was definitely leading a charmed life though. I knew all the general knowledge-y ones, and I recognised all the turns of phrase, and I didn't get misled on any of the tricksy clues. It wouldn't have taken much to get stuck in a few blind alleys...

51D/54A had me turning to professor google but otherwise a fun Tuesday

Got there in the end with some intermittent recourse to google. I didn't mind the rebus but I struggled with the Americanisms. Not just the local brands, but the Naticky slang/word uses. I get that it's the NYT so I'm not outraged by it, but it was draining nonetheless