Lisa S

I've never commented on the crossword but I do have some thoughts on the easy/hard debate. I've been doing the NY Times crossword sporadically for 30 years. Traditionally I would do Monday and Tuesday (sometimes) and spend the rest of the week on the Sunday from the magazine. It would literally take me all week to finish. Sometimes I wouldn't finish. Friday and Saturday I wouldn't bother with because I couldn't even fill in one answer. So a year ago I started doing the whole week and was surprised to see I could now finish a Friday and Saturday with look ups. That was fun. This week I finished Saturday in less than an hour with no look ups. Today, Sunday same. The crosswords have gotten easier. No doubt. Friday and Saturday should be very difficult (if not impossible) for the average person to finish without look ups. It's tradition. I absolutely understand the complaints. If the Monday or Tuesday became so easy that a second grader could do it, we would all be unhappy. And I'm most alarmed by the people who want everyone on this board to stop complaining That is the most enjoyable part about reading these comments. I would hate if every comment was just a feel good post. It would be so boring. And to all the people who do these puzzles and English is your second language, I'm in awe. Just my thoughts.

As a person who grew up in the SF Valley, I felt nostalgia from this theme. Yes, we absolutely talked like this and worse. I have old videos as a 12 year old saying “totally” and “for sure” and our parents always tried to break us of the “like” habit. But we persisted. The kids from the valley were so maligned at that time, going to the beach was a risky business. “Vals go home” graffiti was a threat, but we still made the journey. Two bus transfers, many hours of travel and disgust from locals would not defeat us. Have a rad Sunday everyone!

I was almost at the point of giving up on late week xword puzzles after Friday which was so difficult for me. I thought maybe I wasn't smart enough especially since the comments said the puzzle was easy. One hour in and half the grid unfinished, I had to look up everything else. Not one answer fell easily into place. So I started this puzzle with worry and ended it with joy. I loved this one. Not that it seemed easy, but I understood the cluing and enjoyed solving it.

I had BArTER and COrLAW for way too long and could not figure this out on my own. I’m really hoping that all of these deep dives will help my brain in the long run. Fingers crossed!