JD Gold

Too, too many clues that basically hang on whether you watch as much (or the same) TV/ movies as the constructors. So many NYT crosswords like this these days. It just comes across as a very lazy way to increase difficulty, and is a far cry from the clever brain teasers and twists that these puzzles used to feature under a prior regime.

Honestly felt like just a bunch of inside jokes and references between Ms Hoody and herself mixed with a bunch of the most obscure Google search results. Finished in decent time, but absolutely joyless.

Worst puzzle I have seen in years. Less a crossword, more a meandering and unenjoyable journey through uninteresting trivia made difficult not through clever challenges, but rather simply deliberate obfuscation and terribly obscure cluing whose answers bear a relationship to the clues mostly in the constructors head alone.

A fun puzzle today with a nicely calibrated challenge. My only issue is cluing "bonus entry" as a "kind of contest." An "entry" is not a type of contest any more than an "at bat" or "overtime period" is a type of sport, even if that is the realm in which they occur.

Feels like “end at” has a very different , almost opposite meaning to “stop by.” Otherwise, a fun solve, thanks.