D
OH
180
Comments
-0.344
Avg Sentiment
32
Positive
49
Neutral
99
Negative
OH
@Nancy J. It’s like a bad joke. You can explain it as many times as you want, but if it’s not funny it’s just not funny. That doesn’t mean everyone will think the joke wasn’t funny, but when a large portion of people feel a certain way, perhaps the problem is not the people.
I don’t have particularly strong feelings about a puzzle so contrived in its theming and construction. Its cluing was so esoteric that it became completely unsatisfying to solve, but that’s about as far as it goes. It’s kind of just…nothing. At least now I know to avoid this constructor. 😬 Happy Thursday.
Absolutely wonderful puzzle. Not big on celeb names so had to reveal many of the themed answers. Other than that though, I thought this flowed nicely and the harder entries were helped by the crosses, as it should be. Great job!
@Katie Please go so we don’t have to hear any more of your complaints 🙏🤭
Rebus. Closes puzzle. Please stop.
@Beth in Greenbelt Nah. People are allowed to voice that they didn’t like something. Nobody asks for examples when a comment is only glowing praise.
The Peacekeepers are out in full force this morning defending this puzzle. 😂 Watch your wrongthink, everyone.
So the NYT moderation team is just deleting any comments critical of JKR then? Very telling.
Didn’t stand a chance here, which is never a good feeling. Finally had somewhat of a foothold when I reviewed the Tricky Clues and started plugging away. The SW corner was impenetrable for me and I ended up revealing the rest. Unfortunately, difficulty in crosswords seems to come from trivia or vaguery and this puzzle relied on both. Ah well, you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s hard to be upset at a themeless puzzle like this, and I’m sure many will enjoy it, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience for me.
@D Oops. 😂 Too much trivia. Too much math. Some inspired cluing otherwise. Not for me. Happy Sunday.
YAY for enby rep! This was nice. Again, a little easier than I would like for a Wednesday, but better than the surprise rebus from last week. But I can’t complain! Happy Wednesday. 🐪
When I came to Wordplay to look for hints and saw how many comments there are, and saw how contrived the theme was, it was a “reveal all” and move on kind of day. Just awful.
Just too many things I didn’t know in this puzzle. Not bad but way out of my wheelhouse for this to be enjoyable. Oh well.
Hoo boy, I was not in the mood for this one today. Utterly unenjoyable. Could be a me-thing. But from some other comments I’m seeing, I’m not alone. Hard pass.
Extremely frustrating and not worth the effort. Shouldn’t have been published. At least it wasn’t a rebus. Next.
A really tough Friday with a lot of really great clues here. Count me in the ranks of one who revealed many of the clues because I just couldn’t get there. Maybe too much of a reliance on names and characters, etc. Really impressed with a lot of the wordplay even though without auto-check I would never have gotten this. Happy weekend’
@D Oof. This came off harsh. I was in a rush all day but I actually loved this puzzle and thought it was a fabulous debut!
Asinine construction that left me feeling frustrated more than satisfied. Super disappointing.
Ha - I knew it. Commenters complaining about a puzzle being too easy and not a peep from anyone while I was made to feel bad for a joke yesterday. The hypocrisy is sad. I’m totally vindicated. Anyway, it was a fine puzzle. Love the inclusion of SIAMESECAT. Happy Friday.
Didn’t love this one. I thought the theme was fine. I appreciated the construction and that it helped me solve the SW corner. I also appreciate there was little in the way of trickery - no dreaded rebus. However I found the collection of answers a bit vague and obtuse, obscure for the sake of being obscure, intentionally zagging when anyone would zig, if that makes sense, which left me feeling dissatisfied with the puzzle as a whole by the end.
Not an enjoyable puzzle. One that sacrifices enjoyment to fit a poor revealer with milquetoast themed answers. Constructor trying to be too clever and forgot to inject the fun. Pass.
Hopefully next week has better offerings.
I wanted to love this one but it left me wanting a little more. I’m incredibly happy there’s very little rebus today (and honestly, I could have done without even the last two BLANK squares). Themeless 4 lyfe. lol. I do think the spanners being largely you-know-it-or-you-don’t trivia is a huge misstep. The cluing felt all over the place in terms of difficulty from too straightforward to too much of a stretch. Hamburger connection, I’m looking at you. I LOVED the inclusion of the word EIDETIC in a crossword puzzle. Such an amazing entry. Sorry to add more negatives than positives in this write-up, but again the feeling this left me with wasn’t particularly positive. I’m really happy the constructor was able to publish this puzzle as they clearly love Scrabble and this was a worthy tribute to the game, but I do feel this was published either on the wrong day or needed some elevating from the creative team.
Wholly unenjoyable and with a worthless rebus to show the constructor’s failure at constructing? Hard pass.
@Alan I was still in Dickens mode and wrote “plot”
Inane theme, but apparently that’s par for the course for this constructor? The themed answers were insta-gets (other than EDUMACATE, which… well, I don’t feel bad for not getting that one. Dumb.), and a lot of the fill was also pretty straightforward if a little too reliant on trivia. Overall not a bad puzzle but where there were bumps in the road I really felt them.
@SP Interesting that any comments critical of that woman have been deleted.
“This is a rebus crossword, in which…” Closes app. Next.
@Barry Ancona Where are your questions for the people who say they loved it without explanation?
@D Oh… “Constructor Notes Brad: Just for the record, I did NOT write a computer program to find today’s theme answers. That would be cowardly and shameful. Instead, I made this puzzle the good old-fashioned way: I asked Nat to write a computer program.” Glad I didn’t waste my time on computer generated slop.
@Barry Ancona You wouldn’t need to keep defending this puzzle in every comment if it was actually any good. You can stop now.
Fun one today. Had to guess a couple of spots but they came through correct and got the gold star. Happy Tuesday
@Cyndie Thank you. I genuinely appreciate your encouragement. ☺️🫶
@J Cooler fact: I’m allowed to express my dislike of something in the comments section. Just like you’re free to comment how much you enjoy it in your own comment.
Quite a few lookups for this one unfortunately. RIGLEL/ADELA was a natick.
@Elbridge Gerry But then how could Steve prove how much smarter he is than everyone else in the room at any given opportunity?
@Steve L Come off it. We know where you stand. You just like feeling smarter than people. The fact is that some people don’t like these gimmicks. They’re cheap ways to inflate difficulty when the actual puzzles aren’t up to snuff. That’s what people don’t like. You take every opportunity to punch down on people. Just scroll to the next comment. You’ll be fine, promise. You’re right on one count: people are absolutely free to voice their opinions. The shame is that we have to hear yours too.
Cute puzzle that was very well constructed! Perhaps a tad on the easy side with some of the cluing. Didn’t know the themed answers, but the constructor allowed the other clues to assist in that aspect of the solve — well done!
@Blaise Hey, good on you for trying and sticking with it :)
Holy natick city, Batman! A fine debut, but jeez some of these crossings could have been reworked. I wonder how many comments today will be met with remonstrance over not knowing x, y, or z, and be told that they are blaming the puzzle for their own failings, or if that will only apply to me again. 😂
Too artificially hard for Wednesday and a useless rebus? Just no.
Cluing was a bit too obtuse for a Tuesday. Revealed was a complete nothing-burger, but the starred answers helped me get there, so that’s worth something, I guess. Crossing two Spanish language answers was… a choice. Not a great puzzle but nothing terribly offensive either.
Utterly unenjoyable. A 20% then hit reveal all day. Shame.
@Times Rita Trust me, I’m well aware lol
A fine puzzle ruined by a rebus. Shame.
@Andrzej That’s fair; however, I don’t threaten to cancel my subscription and leave. Katie is free to go whenever they want — they constantly complain about the puzzles being so far below their skill level — but to keep hanging a cancellation over the NYT heads as if they care is a little annoying to have to read.
Didn’t care for it. Some nice entries, but the cluing was inane thus making the “theme” ungettable. Not a pleasant experience. And before you comment: this is my experience with the puzzle, not a commentary on everyone else’s. Sad I need to put a disclaimer but here we are. Save the snark.