DIVAS IVLIVS

In my defense, sometimes earrings do need to be rescued.

Someday many years from now, a Wordplay column few of us will be here to read will begin, "Today's puzzle is by Bryan Cheong, whose first puzzle was published way back in 2025 when he was just 14."

Within a ten minute walk of every MUNI line and I still put BART in first.

The puzzles aren't getting easier, I'm getting smarter. Yes, that must be it.

I appreciate having a new type of rebus to dislike.

Perfect Wednesday puzzle.

You open a case with a statement, not an argument.

This is the hardest puzzle I've ever solved without looking anything up. Need to look up a few answers now to understand what they mean, though.

My nominee for Best Monday Puzzle Ever, thank you Kenneth!

Genius-level puzzle. Well done.

That was hard! Way over my average.

Nice puzzle. Great revealer.

Are party hats and balloons associated with SQUARE DANCEs and BOX SOCIALs? Are there really gatherings called CELL RECEPTIONS or is it just a play on words (uniquely, among the themed answers)?

Chewy for a Tuesday puzzle. Well done.

Tolstoy would have used KAtarINA too if he had thought of it, probably.

Genuinely surprised by the strong negative reactions. Seemed pretty typical for a Sunday puzzle.

Sure it was Loonie, wondered who Mel H is.

Chewy for a Wednesday. Good stuff.

Thank you, Deb, and best wishes! I started puzzling as a distraction from the pandemic and I doubt it would have been any more than that for me without your joyful, inspiring columns. It won't be the same without you, but you got me hooked and I won't be quitting anytime soon!

Now that's a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle! Well done!

Feeling lucky that it only took a couple of minutes to find and fix UnLIT/nEWEES for the happy music.

Yes, this puzzle was too easy and lacked a certain something, that's why it took me so long.

My car is parked on NOE and I am drinking a PERSIMMON smoothie, does this still count as an unassisted solve?

Also still singular if you instead add an A at the beginning.

Down answers need to all be real words or phrases as written (just not the right answers to their clues) for this to work.

Great Tuesday puzzle. Made me work for the happy music!

A new record for me! (Slowest Saturday solve.). But no look-ups. I'll take it.

My average Monday time has been going up recently and I love it. The puzzles have been really good.

Perfect Wednesday puzzle.

Brilliant!

Epic puzzle, thank you!

Polyphemus was not "the" cyclops, he was one of many cyclopes. But he probably did yell something like "I can't see" when he was poked in the eye by No Man/wily Odysseus. Too bad the constructor couldn't get that one "I" into "Poseidon," Polyphemus' father.

An allele can be dominant, but not a gene.

My golden-doodle resents being reduced to a caricature. But I thought it was a great puzzle.

Crediting my dog with the co-solve as walking him cleared the mental logjam.

Spent forever trying to fix answers that were correct (MAUD, NOCAP, AIT). Turns out I was DOUBLECROSSED by "DOUBLECROSSEs." Going to blame my high school German for thinking that HAsST was correct.

Nice puzzle, impressive debut. Self-driving cars have been a constant presence in my neighborhood for years and I assure you they are vastly less dangerous than human drivers, Deb.

Resisted the urge to pick up Suetonius' "Lives of the Caesars" literally sitting next to me. Ground out GALBA the hard way FTW.

Has the letter "F" been used like that before in a Times puzzle? Not complaining.

Just barely doable--my favorite kind of Saturday puzzle.

Love the early week themed puzzles, keep them coming!

"...eats crisps while using..." would have been jollier.

Great theme, thanks.

65D--not today.

"Spam" felt too right to be wrong for 48D. But sometimes you need to kill your darlings to get unstuck.

The constructor's "Bicfoot" story is like the Simpsons episode where Chief Wiggum installs Flanders's new toilet next to the refrigerator because it was too heavy to lug upstairs.