AudreyLM

You have every right to be proud, Matthew Faiella. This was a brilliant debut and I hope we will see a great deal more of your work. Sometimes Thursday puzzles contain impressive feats of construction that I admire but that don't actually impact the solving experience . . . in fact you can solve the puzzle without ever getting the trick. But yours was the opposite--I couldn't have solved the puzzle without light dawning (oh, I see, SET without BACK). And then dawning again (Ohhhh, it goes in all directions), and one more time with the revealer. I haven't had this much fun on a Thursday in a while. Chef's kiss.

I am unashamedly here to spread the smug. This was the hardest puzzle I've encountered in recent memory (which, at my age, isn't entirely reliable). I do the crosswords around 3:30AM every morning, as one does, and this is the first time it's taken me to late morning to actually finish it. More to the point, I almost gave up several times, also highly unusual for un castor comme moi. Seriously though besides the smug, I also came here to marvel at that extraordinary property of time wherein answers that were impossible at one point suddenly jump to mind at another. It's why I rarely give up. Though I almost did today. Something will deflate my head soon enough, but for the moment, I am basking.

Loved it so much, though I'm a tad worried about the comments to come . . . I sometimes imagine that Deb, for so long the heart and soul of this column, now chooses to emcee Thursdays because she has the thickest skin . . . the comments are so often brutal. I personally love Thursdays because they twist my tiny brain in delightfully maddening contortions before enlightenment dawns. David Kwong, you are a 'rilliant 'rainiac. This was worth the wait.

Kareem Ayas, this was brilliant. I don't come to the column too often anymore and always either to spread the smug or offer my truly humble awe and gratitude for feats of construction like this. Today is the latter. Thank you for your persistence, woohoo!

Wow, Jess, that was tough. Congratulations on your NYT debut. I'm not even smug, just exhausted. Yesterday's and today's puzzles remind me of the ones from the mid-90s which were super hard . . . I gave up on some of those (when I was younger and had less time on my hands) but once again, patience was key to finishing today. Also several visits. I have never heard of PADIDDLE but that may be because I forgot to have children. Going back to bed.

This was the most difficult puzzle I've done in the last few years. I actually didn't expect to finish it, and it took almost an hour and a dozen return visits, which is longer than any solve I can remember. What I've learned from this puzzle is just to never give up. I came closer than I ever have to taking a hint, and I didn't ultimately need to. What this puzzle tells me is that I could have probably finished puzzles I gave up on years ago (they used to be harder, in my experience). So that's my lesson du jour. Thank you Mr. Walden.

Loved it and marveled at the skill in construction. And because I don't care about streaks, I hit reveal when I just KNEW every word was correct but the happy music wasn't forthcoming. Which is when I learned a brand new word which I will never use, ABYSM. Spread peace and kindness, my friends. There's enough cruelty in the world.

My favorite kind of Sunday puzzle--beautifully constructed, cleverly but fairly clued, with delighted ahas at each reveal. Thank you, Sam Brody!

Now THAT was a Thursday, my favorite in a long time. All five phases of Thursday puzzling transpired: Confidence, Bafflement, Despair, Enlightenment, Smug. That hasn't happened in a long, long time. Great debut and collaboration.

So much fun, thank you! Also, baby skunks are extremely cute, as are baby anythings even though a lot of them grow up to be real stinkers. Imagine a baby Godzilla. Or a baby fisher cat. Or a baby politician. Whatever gets the oxytocin flowing. But I digress. I solved speedily and was surprised to get the error message . . . had to reread the grid twice to spot my error. I personally considered Andy Warhol's work IRONIC and knowing nothing much about vehicles I kinda liked the award winning LURID AIR. Finally, Ray Davies was way ahead of his time.

Oh Sam, that was humbling. And I do like to suffer on Saturdays! But ouch. As a proud (occasionally smug, I admit it) eschewer of look-ups, I finally gave up and hit "check puzzle" (also something smugly eschewed till now). It was the ZTILE. That was a great clue--I just figured STILE was some sort of 10-point basketball move. Although in retrospect, that's a lotta points. Anyway I will go conquer some other puzzles in order to restore my withered self-esteem.

Excellent job, Colin, and we are here to assure you that adulting isn't as hard as it's made out to be (except when it is). Looking forward to more puzzles from you. Go Eagles! PS I thought stand-up person was NOSHER, which is an example of pure projection. Heading to fridge . . .

One of my favorite Thursdays in a long time! Thank you, Joe. This was a puzzle to truly enjoy and admire (sometimes it can seem to be one or the other).

That was tough and fair, a delightful Saturday. Some of the entries made me feel old though . . . I guess I am fossiling.

Wow. That was hard. But the usual step away, step back process prevailed. It always does! And yet I always doubt it after the first three or four mostly unfruitful forays across the grid. A few words were unfamiliar but I got them with the crosses. If I did this, so can you. Very satisfying Saturday, thank you Ryan.

Excellent Saturday outing, thank you Jesse G. And I am here to attest that yes you can complete this puzzle without knowing anything about the Mario universe. Because I did and I don't.

Just wow. My head hurts from even attempting to understand how a human brain can construct a puzzle like this. OR WAS IT AI??? JK. Great job, Sam Brody . . . and how kind of you to offer to mentor new constructors. Excellent Thursday adventure.

Congratulations on a killer debut, Ryan Judge! I hope and trust there will be many more from you. This one was HARD for me, but commensurately so satisfying to finish. Many visits and blank stares till light dawned, in pretty much every quadrant. When I got the "admire your puzzle" prompt, I actually did.

That was WAY too easy for a Saturday. Not. I sweated this one and thus the completion was especially gratifying. My first jaunt through the grid I got very few words but eventually the puzzle revealed itself as it always does eventually. This is my favorite kind of Saturday puzzle--when you think ok I can't do this on my own and then see that I can, based on excellent, fair, natick-free construction. Thank you Adam Aaronson.

Excellent Saturday, just the right amount of despair before the lights went on (i.e. post-yule). Only got stuck in one place for a little while--had WAIFS before NAIFS and no knowledge of anything related to fishing. Also, if PISCINE means pool in French, does that means they swim with the fishes? J'espere que non. Merci, Mr. Slonecker.

Deb! Thank you for your brilliance, wit, grace and (almost) infinite patience with us all these years. You will be sorely missed.

Not listening to Mr. Paul, but totally paying attention to you, Mr Last! Excellent Saturday. And by that I mean there was no way I was getting through this one until I did. My favorite kind of late week puzzle. I love to suffer but I do need to eventually prevail. Thank you.

Loved it. Very satisfyingly nasty Saturday--the SE required a few visits. Brilliant funny clues from Sam and his team. Yes Will is a legend and a sweetheart and his absence must leave a gaping hole in your grid. Hope he's relaxing and healing and will be back soon. Also, TIL UHOH is one word.

A quick scan of the clues tells me that I am very not alone in trying to fit LINE instead of dashes in the blanks . . . EMUS IT'S NOT TOO LATE!! Change the algorithm to accept LINE right now and you will get so many more happy solvers for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle and am not burdened by streaks so I finally hit "reveal" to see those pesky little dashes. Thank you Harry Z.

I often surmise that our initial guesses can reveal a lot about ourselves. In my own experience, yup. My answer to 1D (common first word) was MINE. This will not surprise my husband. It reminds me of the story about CG Jung, where he had a patient of many years who one day said to him, "Dr. Jung, I fooled you!! I made up all those dreams!" and Jung responded, "yes, but YOU made them up."

tell that emu to get back to work

Loved it so much. Keep 'em coming, Jesse. Suffered appropriately for a couple of passes but each quadrant slowly revealed itself. Finished, no music . . . so reviewed and changed RAWR to ROWR (I am two with StarWars, as Woody Allen once said about nature). An unfair benefit to online solvers to still get the win amidst personal naticks, which I exploit on the daily.

Jesse Goldberg, you are a genius. My brain can't even compute what it takes to construct a puzzle like that. Bravo. If I cared about streaks I might be miffed that it didn't accept the three letter answers I so painstakingly entered into each of the relevant squares but I don't so I'm not.

Ooh that was a lot of fun, loved it. And I too find that as I get on in years, if I want to learn something new, I have to jettison some of the 70s song lyrics that take up so much space in my cerebral landscape. It's a tough choice but this week I'm letting go of Fleetwood Mac. Let the new wisdom rush in!

The 36D of featuring 54A