Lisa Marshall

This was such a clever theme! I too had NOBLEGAS instead of INERTGAS. I also had IKE instead of DDE. Got there in the end without going around the BEND.

Having lived in Iceland for 8 years, I object to this clue for SAUNA. Saunas are not really an Icelandic thing at all, though they have some now for tourists. I liked my answer better, ASKJA, a well known active Icelandic volcano, but alas that was wrong. Instead of EASYPEASY I had EASYASPIE for quite awhile. NOPROBLEM also fits. Luckily we lived in the UK for a while where all our kids learned to say “easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Finally, was I the only one to test out SNORTSCOKE for 1 Across? 😂

From SYNOD to SNOOT, this was a hoot.

I was foiled by OXFORDCOMMA for far too long. I also had SCUSI and couldn’t for the life of me figure out ISOTERIC 🤦🏻‍♀️ Fun puzzle. East meets West.

This was a fun puzzle to solve on my 29th wedding anniversary! Like marriage, some parts were more enjoyable than others. Some groaners and some real head scratchers, but worth sticking it out.

A very fun solve. A bright spot on this dark day for the nation. The blinker seems to be stuck on R.

What are the odds that ARMANI showed up in this puzzle on the day of his death?!?!?! He was a guy who knew how to scale up. R.I.P.

I have no beef with AHNOLD, I thought SEACRAB was a stretch and I’ve never heard of a BARCADE, nor do I want to go to one. All that noise and flashing lights plus alcohol, I’d be a HOTMESS. Very fun puzzle!

Very clever and not an easy solve for me. I had GOTHS instead of GAULS for the longest time and also COLA instead of SODA. I knew about loofah and luffa, but loofa was a surprise.

Gotta love a puzzle constructor who credits his mom! This was a fun Monday puzzle. I had HIGH and FIVE in the reverse locations at first, but once I fixed that, the solving was a smooth as silk.

I was shaken and stirred by this puzzle.

Fun puzzle and nice and easy. One quibble. River otters are not seen on their backs, that’s Sea Otters. Different animal.

To Deb, I’m pretty sure that USH is meant as a verb here, not a noun. This was a relatively easy Thursday for me maybe because I own a collie (HERD),I love Mary Cassatt (THETEA) and I majored in geology (FJORD and ATOLL). Or perhaps after a few months of solving I’m getting better at this? The Jeopardy clues were so much fun. I got WHATISLOVE right away and after that the rest were a snap. Bravo! I think AlLEX would have loved it.

Happy Monday, everyone. This was a nice easy palate cleanser after a challenging weekend! I wasn’t allowed to watch cartoons as a child, my mother deemed them too violent, but even I had little trouble with these, especially when I had a few crosses filled in.

Now I’m imagining Captain Holt getting Zhuzed up on Queer Eye and I’m giggling. I enjoyed this punny puzzle.

Cowabunga, that was cool!

Was happy to see BARBACOA and SALSA on Taco Tuesday!

Stuck in Reykjavik during a record-breaking snowstorm and got my best ever Tuesday time!

When I was in 5th grade we moved to a town in NJ where it was very important to have Sasson jeans. I didn’t have any and I didn’t have any idea how to get any. My social status as new kid with home sewn clothes and no Sasson jeans was doomed from the start. I did get SASSON right away for this puzzle, however I was stymied by SAMLET.

Oh, ice cream! I didn’t get it. Enjoyed the puzzle anyway. It would have been fun and informative to throw in some classic ice cream flavors. Overall this puzzle was more VANILLA than ROCKYROAD.

I enjoyed this puzzle tremendously and not only because it was my fastest ever Saturday solve with only a few lookups. Funny thing is, I had COBRAPOSE right off the bat, but then I took COBRA out when I didn’t get a single down from it. Much later I tried it again and of course it worked much better the second time. The northwest corner was the hardest for me, but it finally “clicked” when I got NIKON and I confess, I looked up Mr. Diaz. I didn’t understand LONGU until I read the Wordplay. Thanks for a great puzzle! Happy weekend to all.

I saw SPOON and STOVE and BONE so I thought the revealer was KITCHEN! Took me a bit to dig my way out of that hole, but I got there in the end. JUGBAND is much more clever (cleverer?).

As a huge fan of Fiddler, I enjoyed this puzzle, but I have a gripe. A Neg is not a rare blood type.

I enjoyed this puzzle and was able to solve it with a bit of help from my husband and Google. One quibble, OXES is unacceptable.

Congrats to Ms. Martin on her debut puzzle! And for being a cool person (my evidence is that she knits and crochets). I enjoyed the puzzle and got through it in reasonable time inspite of having EDAMAMEBEANS instead of SEAWEEDSALAD. My only quibble is SPIDERSENSE instead of SPIDEYSENSE. For the longest time I tried to make OYLESS make sense for the cross. Oy!

I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Thought it was going to be easier than it was when I got the fist three across right away. Ha! I should have known, there’s no such thing as FREEMEALS. 😉

Huzzah! Today was a personal best. I didn’t understand the theme until I read the Wordplay, but no matter.

Lots of fun! Great way to start the week. I even got the theme before I read the Wordplay!

Congrats on your successful debut! It was my best Tuesday solve. I didn’t get the theme though.

Clever and fun. For once the revealer actually helped me with the solve. Congrats on a terrific debut!

Very fun and clever and SO much easier than yesterday!

What a delightful puzzle! A great way to start the week! Looking forward to more collabs by these two puzzle makers.

I had UNPIN instead of UNPEG, LUFFA instead of LOOFA, and ECLIPSE instead of NEWMOON and PLUS instead of GLUT, when I went to sleep last night. My morning brain sorted it all out. I saw RAISININTHESUN off Broadway when I was young and it was deeply moving. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Would have loved to see BOOKWORM hidden in there somewhere.

First I had DUNKERBALL and DROP, then BUTTERBALL and BLOB (I was struggling to relate basketball to Turkey), but I finally got there with a groan (and perhaps a TSK). I think a ? would have been helpful for this clue. I also had ADVIL for far too long. Fun puzzle. I particularly enjoyed RINKYDINK! After this I’ll need an ONIONROLL and a cup of coffee to revive me.

Nice palate cleanser after Sunday’s puzzle which was a slog for me. I enjoyed the HARRYSTYLES theme.

My fastest Saturday yet though I’m sleep deprived from doomscrolling. (I wonder whether GROYPER which is a word I learned yesterday, will appear in a future puzzle.) I had to do some Googling (EINAUDI and ELGIN for example), but that’s normal for me past Wednesday. Those triple stacks were terribly clever. Only the bottom one seemed contrived. RANKS really threw me for a loop and I had SAUCES instead of DANCES until the end. Hoping I can be LOOSEASAGOOSE the rest of the weekend.

WITHOUTADOUBT an enjoyable puzzle that brought back tweenhood (not a real word) memories. My fastest Wednesday solve to date. OUTLOOKGOOD for future submissions by this puzzle-maker. Ruby, ITISCERTAIN you’ve got a keeper.

Diabolical theme! Or maybe I’m just jet lagged. Congrats to Mr. Raskin on your debut.

Very fun and challenging even though I got the revealers quickly and figured out what they meant. Today is my birthday and I enjoyed coming back to the puzzle throughout the day until it finally came together.

I’m very jet lagged so that may be why this felt hard for a Tuesday. I tried to make WarnerBros fit for way too long! And I’m not happy about the cluing for EDGE, but otherwise, this was a fun one.

Oof this was a hard one! The clueing was particularly obscure (no golf reference for BOGEY?) At least I knew SUMAC.