M&M

So many folks seem to complain about rebuses being used in the puzzle, mostly we think, because they add a perceived level of difficulty for folks who may already believe they tip-toeing into the deep water of a Thursday puzzle. Our strategy for solving a puzzle with rebuses; First, when you believe there is a sensible answer staring you in the face, but it just won't fit, concentrate on the fill crossing that answer, see if sections of that 'obvious' answer materialize. If that doesn't work, don't hesitate to move on to another section of the puzzle, but be prepared to find another answer that doesn't quite fit. After we have a section of an answer that seems right, it's time to start looking for letter sequences that make any kind of sense when isolated into one square. This puzzle identified the rebus squares up front by circling them for us. To play fair this doesn't always mean they will be rebuses, but the constructor clearly wants us to wonder why they would be circled. Then some smooth Wednesday fill to provide further clues that your crossword intuition was correct. Hopefully this will shine more light on multi-dimensional crosswords, so folks can enjoy a satisfying 'aha'! moment instead of darkly griping about the editors. Hats off to Kareem and the editors for an educational Wednesday!

Our Sunday crossword puzzle solving group found this one perfect, with something for everyone. The description offers up 5 trivia clues for a fast trivia nerd fest. Then the puzzle title led us to debate the colorful grid until we had a strategy for solving for the theme. After some experimentation with the crosses, we deduced that there was an easy way and a hard way to go about this. We found that all the colorful across entries were going to require extra brain power, even as it became clear what was going on here. However, if this becomes too taxing to deal with, we could always default to just solving all the down entries we could. The downs seemed to provide smooth sailing. At a certain point, we decided to see how far we could get doing only the across entries (yes, we enjoy debating that kind of headache). Then we realized that every colorful puzzle entry would solve to both a solution to the provided clue and another completely different, but reasonable crossword entry if the 'color' is ignored. We very much appreciate puzzles that provide some method of "cross checking" your entries. Isn't this what crossword puzzles are all about? By the time we got to 113A we were ready to applaud Adam Wagner, Thank you!

We had a great time repeating these theme answers out loud as we went, sharing a laugh each time. The effort put into such an extensive theme list and the care taken in choosing the fill shows. We surely appreciate smooth puzzles like this! Thank you for another entertaining brunch puzzle.

A fun puzzling brunch with this one. I haven't had to crack a manual in at least 20 years, since the Internet... But we truly appreciate the puns and unique sense of humor. It seems very clear that this kind of theme isn't going to be written by A.I. any time soon. Looking forward to your next effort.

I am told that I make a very specific face when I reach the point in a Sunday puzzle where I am having a good time. This morning as I realized that the dermatologist had MADEARASHDECISION, the folks across the table from me exclaimed, "that's the face"! Apparently I experience a combination of "Oh, you think you are very clever don't you"! and "Now I have the confidence to finish the rest of this theme off"! But this is really because they seem to get more enjoyment from giving me their opinions of the puzzle while they watch me solve, than from solving on their own. Such is family And of course we laughed our way through the theme, and made short work of the fill. We have been enjoying the recent Sunday puzzles, even though we seem to be speeding through them faster than we might like. Keep them coming

Surprised so many have never heard of INXS: <a href="https://youtu.be/F93ywiGMDnQ?si=tV7hMc-B7N1MTYvB" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/F93ywiGMDnQ?si=tV7hMc-B7N1MTYvB</a> Seems like they have been in the puzzle grid for decades...

A most sublime "Aha" moment. The painstaking hard work to get this one right certainly shows. It is hard to remain un=phased by the eloquent execution of this puzzle. Our brunch-time solving group thoroughly enjoyed being lured into this puzzle by the NE corner; quickly guessing what a black circle might mean; but confused/amused by an N and an M in circled squares; there is definitely a learning curve to this puzzle! Soon enough the light went on, as we entered the MOON light while SMOOCHING with the Lone Ranger! We all had to stop and enjoy the beauty of this grid, aware of how effortlessly we had all accepted the exquisite deployment of MOON lit rebuses (no small feat to get our group to agree there was no other way this could be executed). And finally taking the outer tour of the grid, poking at all the corners, with the varying degrees of difficulty, we enjoyed taking turns solving each outer section. This was the Sunday we have been hoping for! Thank you so much, Jefferey & Jeff, for the many hours of hard work.

Now that is what we expect on a Saturday, Thank you

You had me at 10D I had the great privilege of starting my broadcast career by working with Linda on NBC News Over Night News. I stood by watching each night as Linda and Lloyd Dobyns (and later Bill Schechner) worked to find just the right turn of phrase and calculated smirk, to comment on the evening's news. I didn't realize until much later that she had instilled in me a healthy skepticism of how we present news and entertainment to a mass audience. This has served me well for all these years. And so it goes

After so many Sundays filled with Dad jokes, we were giggling our way through this puzzle that seems to us to be chock full of Mom jokes. Thank you Christina & Katie, for reminding us how much fun we had trying to converse with our toddlers as we made our way through various colds and allergies, during those years. The resulting abused (toddler) language is still part of our family conversation.

This puzzle makes us (the entire household) very happy. And when we are happy, we actually slow down the solving in order to savor our Thursday. Which is good, since you always need to slow down and try to anticipate what's around that right angle turn. And, any time there are dashes instead of road signs, you need to do a full 360 degree inspection of all the surrounding signs to figure out how they might extend/bend this grid. We had already done both those things by the time we got to the super store gimme. Then there are only a few things those circles could mean; imagine our delight when we realized it was two great puzzle twists together. Our hats are off to you Simeon, you have made our day!

Frequently I like to do the puzzle early, after making my coffee. This usually leads to a strong sense of JAMAISVU, particularly on Saturday mornings. As I sip my coffee, if I am lucky, some of the clues will stimulate a new sensation of "presque vu" or "just on the tip of my tongue". Finally, after the coffee has all been drained, I am joined by my old crossword puzzling friend, "deja vu", and am able to finish the puzzle. Puzzle solving requires a frame of mind and it's not always immediately available to me, but with some work I can usually find it. YMMV

Very pleasurable Thursday. Nice easy to see theme answer to start off up top, followed by harder theme answers to keep us guessing. Its particularly enjoyable when I don't feel like the puzzling is over just becasue I figured out how the theme answer works. Thanks for reminding us why Thursday is fun

A very satisfying puzzle, particularly in light of recent offerings. This puzzle offers two different theme answers for each starred clue! All of them provide elegant sets of answers. Knew we were gonna be thrilled when we ran into Mendel. And of course if you're stuck all the crosses work out smoothly as well. A good tight puzzle reveals even more ways to solve as you proceed. As you proceed, your work should continue to confirm that you are on the right track. That is why the crosses are so important in a 'crossword puzzle'. They provide a cross check. Any puzzle that eliminates the opportunity to use the crosses is by definition inelegant. This puzzle was a great example of breezy fun. Thank you to Jeffrey & Will

We are very much loving this recent trend of Esher staircases with mind NUMBING misdirecting clues! Thank you Larry!

truly appreciate elegantly fun puzzles like this, where suddenly it's clear that the typing is going slower because of the slight smirking, the savoring of the answers. instead of speeding forward, because all these elements might be familiar, sometimes there is more fun to be had while enjoying how smoothly they all fit together. thank you Daniel

Amazing debut! Congratulations and please continue to build crossword puzzles and with them, new relationships. Thirty five plus years into our puzzling relationship, we are still thrilled to hear about relationships formed over crosswords, this seems to be the best way of synchronizing your thoughts with another human being. Thank you for sharing with all of us

Wow! Just Wow What a rollercoaster of a solve! Can we go again?

Having enjoyed KenKen for many years, I felt well prepared for this theme, but others who regularly solve the Sunday puzzle with me were befuddled by the math... "Not fair, there wasn't supposed to be any math"! Completely fair I say, we are simply substituting one expression for another. And it's always great to run into 54A,

Anagrams got me like: <a href="https://youtu.be/QhmtXpWsAdU" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/QhmtXpWsAdU</a> Anybody else feel like Lisa?

Yes it was tough, but hard work helps us learn and remember new things. After 40 plus years of puzzles it takes a Saturday puzzle to make me learn new things. TIL that while 44D is technically the correct answer, those sounds mean so much more. I could not believe that an instrument would survive for 1000s of years simply because it makes a DRONE. Have a look: <a href="https://youtu.be/IRMxLwOfKGQ?si=kvrYYBJ3E6i_3AOt" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IRMxLwOfKGQ?si=kvrYYBJ3E6i_3AOt</a>

Sorry to say I just read all about the strike on Salon. Everyone here should go have a look. This will set a precedent for the tech industry. We will have to go dark for a while; go back to copying the puzzles at our library for a while. But today's puzzle was right up our alley, loved the cluing and all the alternative cultural references. Made us smile. A lot. Thanks, Evans

TOOCUTE! Who couldnt like such a cute rebus

Solved this morning in the magazine, over brunch at our favorite diner. 24A & 28A were a gimmes, so we just sang along after that. Went straight down the center doing all the theme answers and their surrounding fill first, to confirm. Forgot about the theme revealers (even though they were mentioned in description), until the very end, since we were more entertained by the musical fill. Seems like Mike's software makes for nicely themed fill. Looking forward to more from him.

Cute fun, For years we've said to our peers, "don't get mad, do better"! But now we are going with 98A How about the rest of you posting here? Thanks for some good fill that felt like we were 30 years younger and solving. More please

Recently the puzzle has gotten much more interesting on Wednesdays! I now look forward to what new twist my Wednesday will take. And now I'm not so sad when there's not a rebus on Thursday. Thanks to Jesse for a new twist, and thanks to the editors for making it work well.

Hats off to Mr. Leach! Having raised children to adulthood, who were all happy to get 41As with us this week, we are so well versed in Real Dahl and Dr. Who that we chuckled through this breezy Friday. Mr. Leach notes that he usually constructs Saturday puzzles, then describes the subtle cluing changes made by the editors. I will go out on a limb and say his original clues were perfectly cromulent clues, for a Saturday. Interesting to see what perhaps the editors think will make them Friday clues.

Our family does the Sunday puzzle as a group verbal event, so we are used to sounding things out. It was a stretch of my brain to start talking these clues out in an otherwise empty room. But I always enjoy anything that stretches my brain anew. Thank you, for pointing out a new dimension of word play

a refreshing, bubbly spritzer! Thanks for the summer fun

Like a breezy family scrabble game, over too quickly. Cracked the theme as soon as someone read the clue for 98A. We have been loving 98A lately in AppleTV's 'Slow Horses" Here's a clip of her and Gary Oldman talking about it: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6EjiKIDOCg&t=15s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6EjiKIDOCg&t=15s</a>

Was having trouble remembering the WEIMARERA, but then as I typed in DEPRAVITY the light went on! Roc, Ani, Emu, any day I see one in the grid is good

Thanks Jeffrey, for some very pleasant word play! Hope to see you on Thursday soon.

Saturday usually takes 2 cups of coffee, with the appropriate pause to think while making the second cup. So it was quite a surprise to fly through before finishing the first cup. We rarely pay attention to our stats, except when they deviate so much from the norm. This one took about a third the time of our Saturday average, much more like a Wednesday morning. Our maybe it's that new grade of French Italian Espresso we have been brewing; <a href="https://www.portorico.com/store/product173.html" target="_blank">https://www.portorico.com/store/product173.html</a>

WHAT A TREAT! a romp, thanks

Fastest Tuesday in a while

It seems like the editors New Years resolution was to help improve everybody's solve times. These days whenever I finish a puzzle I check my watch to remind myself what day of the week it is. After 40+ years of completing NY Times puzzles I have to say I really do like to be stumped, it has helped keep my brain expanding for years. I don't mind if it takes longer.

34D is a fine clue for those of us who grew up shopping on weekends (outdoors) at the Garden State Plaza and later were amazed someone would build a larger an indoor mall, Paramus Park. And yes, in years later we always stopped at the Campmor outdoor store on our way to the Adirondaks. And yes we saw that Barry was the first to say this, but felt the need to speak up anyway.

Smooth multifaceted fill, a lot of unique things to think about, a pleasant Friday. In response to Deb's question, the only difference solving a Friday from Thursday, for us, is that when we think we might be encountering a Natick - we can at least be sure that it's not because a rebus or other theme play is afoot. It's usually just because we did not consider the clue properly. Or maybe because we didn't complete our research on ancient aztec rap covers by South Korean boy bands... When stuck on Friday or Saturday, it's time to consider the Spelling Bee for a few minutes and come back to the grid. When stuck on Thursday, try doing an old Tuesday puzzle from the archive, before returning. Or just breath for a moment...

Such a fast and furious Saturday. Didn't even get to finish the first cup of coffee. Now we are wondering if January is just gonna be an easy puzzling month, maybe to allow for everyone who got a new subscription to Games this xmas

Good fun, but over far too fast for a rainy Saturday morning

After some meditation I was able to remember how to spell 38A's name. Felt like that gave me a big leg up today. A great actor and a supportive person to work with. After that the theme was a breeze.