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.

I don’t normally comment, but after having done these puzzles every day for years, it is impossible not he become annoyed that difficulty has turned from challenging vocabulary and wordplay to, “do you consume the same pop culture and hobbies as the constructor.” It is lazy, and uninteresting and a cop out. It’s not a bad puzzle, but this trend has really sapped the fun and challenge from these puzzles.

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.