Daniel

I know Owen personally (not very well, but still). Even when solving other puzzles he's constructed, it's never crossed my mind how much a constructor's character influences the puzzle. I guess this is because I regularly do the New York Times crossword, and where his crosswords have been published in other places those are not crosswords I usually do so I expect to see Owen there. The point is: crossword-constructing is an art, and one can see the artist in it as much as any other art form.

Enjoyed it but it was too easy for a Saturday. Good solving and I liked the cluing for ENLIST, SLEUTHS, and DNA TEST, though I came in at under half my average solve time indicating the difficulty really wasn't there (and I was on my phone where I'm slower).

I have to say this theme was very weak. I genuinely had no idea what was going on until I came here. Being from MASSACHUSETTS myself, I kept looking for something to do with the meaning, and the connection to sneezing just was not there. Still a quicker-than-average Monday for me but the same crossword would've been far stronger without forcing a theme on it.

I loved this puzzle. It was one of those that needed to simmer for a bit - I did around half of it, including the NW corner, last night, and then got stuck, so I put it down, and when I came back this morning everything just fell into place in my head so neatly. The clues were great because they were of that kind were at first they make no sense but then when you understand it's incredible.