Sebastian

Loved this, not only for the two Spice Girls entries, but because it's the first NYT crossword that I've genuinely not had to look up one of the answers... yes, that included Monday crosswords as well. YOUHAVENOIDEA how relieved I am to hit this milestone. Thanks, Mr Caprera!!

First time I’ve heard of a BOXSOCIAL. Ironically, or perhaps moronically, it took me ages to realise it was an X I needed for XIN 🤦🏾‍♂️ And don’t get me started on AMNESIC. I know it’s a variant of ‘amnesiad’ but it looks so wrong and hurts me to my very soul. So I’ve decided I’m going to forget it ever happened.

That was pretty NEAT. And I'm also a fan of getting rid of ICE.

Seeing EEO in the crossword made me sad. It's heartbreaking to watch the US devolve from my little corner of London. It's enough to make one "stress-eat" (see what I did there). It took me eons to figure out how the picture clues fitted in with the rest of the puzzle but once did, I was pretty impressed by the creativity. I did find it tough and had to lookup four or five answers. I'm sure trying to solve it at 2am on Sunday morning straight after completing that killer Saturday puzzle was a bad idea but the naticks didn't help either: - ELENA and ALAINA - MEGAN with MIRREN (these I knew as I'm a big fan of both) - ROSSELLINI with GILDA. I knew the former but the latter also crossed with IDEM (which I'd forgotten as I haven't read a research paper in yonks) and ADOUT (which was also a bust as I don't watch tennis). TIL: - OSH Kosh B'Gosh is an actual store. I've heard it said many time but I thought it was just a random cobbling of non-words that sounded funny. - ARDENCY is a word. I kept trying to stretch ARDOR out. Even the British spelling didn't fit! 🤦🏾‍♂️ - AGESPECS are not a thing 🤓 - TIL stands for things I learned 😆 Special mention to 18A. Lifted one's spirits for MADEATOAST was inspired 👏🏾 I hadn't heard of the Weird Al parody of Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow (White & NERDY) but I do love the Funny or Die version called Black and Jewish which hilariously laments the plight of the forgotten subsection of the Jewish population... the Black Jewish. Check it out.

For a Thursday rebus, this was surprisingly fun to do at 5am when sleep eluded me. I think it might even be my fastest rebus yet. After the first two, I could guess what the others were without looking at the clues. Right, I'm heading back to sleep now. Wishing my fellow Puzzlers across the pond a Happy Turkey Day. Over here, it's just another Thursday. Cheerio. Pip pip.

OKAY, WHAT? That thoroughly kicked my MCNUGGETS! I'm off to HAILACAB for ONEPLEASE. I've bought an ECONOMY ticket to stay in a MANOR in IBIZA and drown my sorrows at a SAKEBAR. 😆

Companion who might take your breath away - BLOWUPDOLL was completely inspired. Bravo 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾

Ok, I'm going to start boring myself soon. Ha - as if! I'll never stop being amazed when I complete the crossword without any lookups. For the first time this week and today makes it the third day in a row. 🤯 I wonder if solving it later in the day means I'm a bit more patient? There were a few times I was so tempted to wander into Googleland especially with the Americanisms but I resisted and persisted and subsisted! (If that isn't a saying, I'm patenting it ASAP. No chance I'll manage this tomorrow - Fridays and Saturdays give me palpitations - but I'm pleased as punch right now. Even after reading a comment from someone saying it was rather easy and finished in eight mins. Only 40mins quicker than me but he's in Texas and I expect knowing the start of the Declaration of Independence wasn't a five-min process of elimination 🤣 Hats of the constructors for making a rebus puzzle that was both clever and fun! Mazel! 👏🏾

Weirdly, it wouldn't let me post my original comment until I broke it into separate posts. Didn't change any of the words either - well, apart from this intro! :) Part 2: As a fellow queer person, I was pleased to see GAYMARRIAGE sprawled across the centre. I'm also a big theatre geek but I still haven't been invited to any CASTPARTIES. And who else got excited when they saw INSYNC, realised it wasn't what they'd hoped for, but didn't care anyway? "It's gotta be may!"

The moment you go from "I'm so confused" to 'it all makes sense now' is such a magical one (I believe crossword constructors call it the Aha! moment 😆) I'd also forgotten what day it is so this is my first April 1st crossword. I started on May 1st so my one-year anniversary is coming up soon. Apparently, the correct gifts would be 'paper' or 'clocks' - apt, much? 🤣 I may not have a decent streak but so far, I haven't missed any. Long may it continue. Happy April Fool's Day!!

Never before have I heard of the phrase, CLEANONESCLOCK and now that I have, I reckon I'll promptly eject it from my memory 😬😆

I LOVED THIS FOR ME 😁

That was a very cute and enjoyable puzzle with a fun 'central' theme. Perfect for a relaxing Sunday morning. My only complaint, which isn't really one, is that I also hoped for a key-unlocking animation 😆 To all you Moaning Myrtles, I say BOOHOO to you and WOOHOO to me!

Boy, am I always glad when another Monday comes along. (I should stress, this is for crossword reasons only) 😆

Spent far too long thinking 'Average killers' was BEES ie average grade/killer bees. Otherwise a lovely solve before bed on a Saturday night. Yup. That's me. The party animal. Roar.

CAN and CANT MIMEs keep MUM A 'famous' BRIT is Rita ORA LEO and Kate WINSLET OSCARNOMINATIONS for LEO, WINSLET, Citizen KANE and GORILLAs in the Mist LEO could be the name of a big KAT CATE is another spelling of Kate (WINSLET) or even KAT If you're SANE, you're TUNEDIN And Scott McMahon having MAHON as an answer. Priceless. I might be seeing what I wanna see, but I'm glad I'm seeing it - Sebastian in London, 2025

That was fun though it took me a while to realise the last bidirectional rebus wasn't TV or did not in fact have two letters. Wasted a lot of time there.

Yesterday, I was proud to announce to the world that, after 8.5 months of NYT crosswording, I finally achieved a milestone and completed a puzzle without any lookups. (In my defence, I don't even go here - here being America. And yes, I just quoted Mean Girls!) Oh. Em. Gee. (Note: this isn't a HARDG.) Now slap my face and call me a Valley Girl, I've just gone and done it again. Two days in a row without any lookups. Is it a full moon? A blue moon? That other moon variant where it looks super huge... I forget what's it's called?!! 🤔 I BEAMED. I stared in AWE. I downed a couple of shots of SAMBUCA to celebrate. I'll need a couple of ALKA-Seltzers in the morning but who cares, I'm gonna go LOCO tonight. OKBYE.

I love when a Monday puzzle has aspirations for a Tuesday. I'm always in favour of upward mobility. You go, Monday. Don't stop believin'! ANDALE.

Holy oleo, that west side was THEWORST. GRR. At one point, I was SOOVERIT, I had to pause for a VAPE (SHOCKING, I know). When I returned, I decided to PIGGYBACK on some Google searches (don't go all NARCO on me) which gave me the juice I needed to finish, DARNIT! Perhaps it's because I'm a medic but I thought UTERUS for Development Area was inspired. And despite my amateur dramatics, it was a rather lovely puzzle and one of my fastest Saturday solves. Thanks, Sam!

Well done, Mr Schiff. This was elegantly done, from the double rebuses (let’s make rebii happen) to the grid construction. 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾

This was fun but I'd forgotten ETALIA could also be ETALII so had to check that cos I couldn't figure out what an OKAE was (now I know it's OKIE as in a person from Oklahoma). I'd also never heard of the author so the cross with SEEDEDTEAMS and SYST were lost on me. At least I know what CBS stands for now, I'd never thought about it before. Doh! And not being a fan of rye breads, the revealer remained veiled until I checked the comments. Despite this, I still enjoyed the solve. Thanks, Dan!

Fun puzzle that chugged along nicely. Very few lookups (unusual for me) as the crosses filled in lots of the letters. The theme didn't jump out at me until I'd finished but nay matter, it worked out in the end. PURIST had me stuck for a while, I had PEDANT initially. Similarly, CATLIKE for CATTISH, TRIPSUP for SLIPSUP and SODA for RYES. Special mention to PITCREW, VOWS and TUNE for the excellent wordplay in their clues. It's 3.50am in London and way past my bedtime. 😴

That was ACute one. Unexpected, but cute.

Would have finished so much quicker but I didn't get the music so another fifteen mins later, I realise it's COMETOABADEND, not CaMETOABADEND. I didn't help that I'd never heard of a HORA before 🫣 HEREBEDRAGONS - despite the explanation - was most unpleasant 🤣 I know some of y'all are tripping cos it's was more of a Friday crossword but there's nothing wrong with skipping leg day once in a while. Enjoy it. It's only a crossword. Calma! 😃

Now, that’s more like it. Yesterday’s was awful while this was fun and breezy. Dare I say, you could even have swapped both days over (I’d still have hated yesterday’s though 😁)

Solved this in a flash 🤣 Coincidentally, I also have a scar on my forehead akin to our Harry's. But who got his first...

Fun crossword that kept me moving at a steady, if not zippy, rate. Only sliced 90 secs of my average time. I think I read someone did it in 10mins. Crikey, who are these crossword geniuses? Then again, I only started in May. Calma, Sebastian! Keep sidling along, you'll get there.

Got stuck on SPECIALINQUEST for ages before the penny finally dropped. Fun puzzle, nice and breezy with some clever clueing.

This was fun. It didn't start off feeling that way. I had to double check what day it was and if I ever really knew how to count, but once I figured out ONE OFF, life made sense again.

Clever puzzle. Didn't get the theme till I read the explanation though 🤣

ATOB and HALL were not my favourites.

I was entertained.

Sad to say I hated this. I’m ATALLOWEBB indeed.

Loved today's puzzle; apparently, I'm a word (and maths) nerd - who knew! Took me a while to figure out why the numbers wouldn't fit so left them all blank until I got to 131A. Then it all made sense. Definitely prefer it to my archenemy - the dreaded rebus square. More, please! 😀

My quickest Monday yet and for that, I'm grateful, AES. It was definitely needed after a pretty painful, albeit enjoyable, Sunday crossword. I can feel the heat finally begin to dissipate from my over-strained brain. And to think we do this for fun?!! 🤣 Favourite clue: He-Man's twin sister. The joy I felt was immeasurable.