Dean

The preponderance of “LSD” in recent crosswords does raise questions…

Good Tuesday. I liked how the O-U-R’s led to “Oh You Are…”

Using an “S” instead of a “Z” in STYLIZE/REZ caused me way too much trouble. Took me a long time to find my mistake! I’ve really enjoyed this entire week’s puzzles. The challenge really amped up relative to recent weeks.

I almost protested at “Alfa,” but thankfully did a little research. I did not know “alfa” was acceptable (or even preferred) in lieu of “alpha” in the NATO alphabet. Learn something new every day (and every puzzle).

Good one Philippe. Enjoyable and fun….really liked the wordplay. If only “What’s Opera, Doc” could have worked in Bugs Punny…. I’ll see myself out now.

Proper Friday, sir….not just for show.

One hell of a puzzle. Enjoyed it immensely.

Very enjoyable puzzle, Barbara….thank you. I thought many of the clues had a decent amount of ambiguity to make it challenging in spots, and the theme was a positive spot! Some don’t consider it a proper Thursday unless there is self-flagellation or an injury involved. Finished roughly 15 minutes ahead of my Thursday average BUT I think I got very lucky on many first guesses ( NANOBOTS, FROST, RHINO, etc) and therefore had a fairly accurate foundation for the rest of the full. Knock-on-wood I don’t regret that statement in the future!

I found it difficult…38 minutes slower than my average. The NE corner and some middle squares (CRONIES) were falling just out of reach, until I lucked upon WAZOO. All started falling into place then and the final solve proved most satisfactory! Very nice Saturday!

Loved the trick today!! Got the middle section fairly early but took me until almost the end to fully “ccnnect the dcts” on the italicized clues. That was fun and a great aha moment….well done.

Fun puzzle. Not overly difficult (“COATI” notwithstanding) but it did take me a little while to understand the theme. I actually got more hung up with “ZONK” instead of “CONK” and had difficulty finding my mistake.

Holy cow. That was a slog, and thank goodness I remembered “VINNIE”…that finally blew open the SE corner and got the solve. Damn good Friday (but not Good Friday).

Fine debut, Adryel….that seemed to land square in a Monday-Tuesday sweet spot.

When I want a refresher on true First-world problems, I come to the comments and read the complaints of “too easy.” Three minutes faster than my average but I had fun, learned some things, and was able to forget the crash blossoms of the world for a while. Thank you!

Not the most familiar with “By Gum” and the fact “Vangles, Mangles, Dangles, Bangles” all worked wasn’t helpful! Fun puzzle. Figured the play with “ConAir, Nae, Hit, and ENE” and the puzzle opened up a bit. Thanks for an interesting Thursday!

Had “cow” instead of “sow” and “tramp” instead of “stamp” for a bit, and couldn’t reconcile what kind of “rice patties” would and people into hiding. Not old enough for ‘Nam either.

I began doing the NYT Crossword in passing during my senior year at West Point back in 1997-98, thanks in whole to the influence of my roommate. Every cadet had a required subscription to the Times and we’d get a print copy outside our room every morning. He is a NJ native and had been a crossword fan for years already…it became a daily competition to see who could complete more of a puzzle. They did seem more difficult in the roaring 90’s (pre-Google, of course). Seems like Sam has fired a shot or two across the bow on puzzles structure today. No problem at all with fewer -er’s here and -en’s here!

Nice breezy palate cleanser after the Sunday, Freddie…some would say no trouble at all. Appreciate your contribution!

Bit of a tangy Tuesday. Nice little surprise.

Breezy little Monday. Serious question….given the crosswords are created by different constructors and I assume in a vacuum/silo, what explains the often very-close repetition of certain answers? Example today is “OHARE,” which I’m fairly certain was also used a few days ago. I understand that two times does not a pattern make, and some words like “OREO,” Brian “ENO,” and “LSD” lend themselves to helping fill a grid. Even so, some not-so-common words (like OHARE) occasionally make a run. Coincidence or contrivance?

FANTASTIC Saturday. Well done.

I had a streak of 44 gold stars through this past week, but alas…reality reared its unwelcome head on a devious Thursday and continued to remind me of my limits through Sunday. “Poor Icarus!—to soar so high, Then fall! For you 't was vain to try…” -Florence Earle Coates