John H
Wilmywood, NC
It was tougher than many past Fridays, but not impossible. Made you think. I like that type of puzzle.
It was hard to start, but if you keep plugging, you will fill it. Nice long-fill, got a good hold on the bottom third and worked my way back up. First time thru the top resulted in very few answers.
Quick one. Easier than Thursday, the rebus was tricky. And, side note, I voted today!
Good puzzle. Made me work for it. Just keep plugging and you can get it. Scattered answers thru out, finally put it all together.
@Steve L I was right there with you.
Much too easy for a Saturday, but I guess to go with the Valentine's Day theme, there might not have been a lot of alternatives.
I hate ALer or NLer of NBAer etc. Liked the quote though. I picked up on the theme pretty quickly but didn't know the quote until I could phill in enough crosses.
Nice stack in the middle. It looked harder than it ended up. Top was a little tough, worked my way thru once and then went bottom up.
OH SNAP and OH CRUD in the same puzzle? OH NO!
Clever twist. Once you got it the gist, it went pretty quick.
A nice challenge. I thought I was lost after my first run through, but I continued to plug along and got it. Nice long intersecting answers, and I liked the layout look before I even started.
Wow, I blew through that one in a hurry. Not that challenging or right in my wheelhouse. Can't decide which.
@Nom De Plume In baseball, a pitcher wants a low earned run average (ERA). That's my take on it.
I did it in 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Just kidding, but it was a fast one. Had my pizza today, a day early. Loved the layout and knew the theme right away.
I was cruising along in near record time and then ran up against the northeast. It killed me for a while, until I got 10D and then it all filled in nicely, but added an extra 50% to my time. Really liked 18A, 27A (got it with only the middle two letters) and 57A from my childhood. Good puzzle.
@Puzzlemucker Breezy - yes, fun to solve - yes, too easy for a Friday - YES.
My only slip-up was putting in mankini for the portmanteau. It must have been in my head from the recent story about the australian equestrian. I know how current events sometimes seem to slip into the puzzle.
Nice theme. I had some of the big answers without fully understanding the trick. Finally got it about 3/4 thru and finished it up quickly. Good work.
Good puzzle, kept me interested and concentrating. Wrapped it up pretty quickly. NE slowed me a little.
I cranked thru this one very quickly. Very few hesitations and no corrections needed. A little too smooth for a Friday. Some clever answers though.
The first half of 10 down and 15 across. Getting a little risque!
I flew through the top half and then hit a wall. I had to change some of my answers, and then change them back because they were right to start with. A challenge, but still pretty quick.
Nice, smooth flow throughout the puzzle. Top was mostly completed fairly quickly, but the bottom took some thought. I liked the challenge.
@Steven M. I think they switched the Saturday and Wednesday puzzles. Like you said, a really quick one. All you needed was a few crosses to get the long ones.
@John I should add "2 thumbs up from me"
Looked tough to start. turned out not to be.
A little too quick for a Friday. I liked a bunch of the answers but they were easy to fill in.
@Mick - and even lower in North Carolina
@John from NC I liked the Wendy's clue and the beverage clue. Never heard of the plant based company, but the wordplay of the name made me smile
It's Friday! It should be a tough puzzle. Stop complaining. I had to rely on crosses for some of them, and got held up in the NW, but it was a good Friday. (oops that was last week).
I liked it. It was more challenging than quite a few recent Friday puzzles. 10 minutes in and all I had was the NE corner, plus a few stragglers. I worked my way down and then back to the SW and finally filled in all the rest in less time than it took for the NE. Patience is the key.
I got all the three letter answers first. Not because i wanted to, but that was all I could get. Then it finally started to fall into place, but some tricky ones out there.
Tougher puzzle. Putting the E in 54A gave me problems. And 40D had a little twist.
Much easier than Friday (for me). And that's all I'm going to say about that.
I liked it! Tough but fair clues. It took me a while to get some decent traction (in the lower half), but once I did, I rolled thru it.
I was not so confused. A very quick solve for me. Sometimes it is in the wheelhouse. I usually struggle with Friday's more then Saturday's.
I thought I was clever and had La Brea for 43-D. I was wrong. And 23-A brought back some fond but hazy memories.
Cute. Pretty easy to spot the theme. Nice answers.
@RI guy I had SalamiHat for a little while. I thought it was like a Green Bay Packer cheesehead hat, but I knew it was wrong, oh so wrong.
How could i forget Ed McMahon? That slowed me down a little in the NW. Otherwise a pretty smooth solve.
A nice challenge, but it was a little quick for a Saturday. Good looking grid (maybe a little scary at first glance). Switched my strategy of starting with the acrosses and moved to the downs.
@Steve L It was challenging, but no tricks or silly words. I sometimes have more trouble with Friday than Saturday puzzles. Not sure why.
I flew thru the top half and got stuck for a while on the bottom. Last to fall was the middle right with 33D being a little unfair. Got it thru the crosses.
I liked the long spanners, but it was a quick one for a Friday.
@LisaK Maybe that's why we had the double ZZ in 22D! Good catch Lisa K. Welcome back Will. Looks like he's been back all week.
too quick. sorry not that difficult for the rebus.
I had to make a lot of corrections, but still did it pretty quickly for a Friday. Lots of potential alternate answers that were WRONG.
My only issue with this puzzle is that in the UK and Germany (for the two big answers), the date is written as 14.3 or 14/3. Not quite Pi.
cute, and the coloring was a clue on-line, but very quick. Too many 3 letter answers for my liking.
Anyone else put in Top Gear for 11D? I had the T from 7A, and thought I was so smart since I was watching Top Gear on Roku this morning.