Jeff T

This brutalized me today. Just wasn’t on the same wavelength, never worked out the theme, and the straight knowledge questions eluded me. Tossed in the towel after fighting with it too much of the day. Great puzzle, but, er… not my jam.

This one eluded me more than expected for a Tuesday, but no complaints about the puzzle or cluing. Almost every puzzle has some stretched-so-thin-you-can-see-through-it clues, so all good there. Just harder than expected for a Tuesday. Guess I was the TUTEE today.

I loved this one. How someone could construct this type of themed puzzle with the loops… well, it’s pretty amazing. Super crafty. Really fun. Of course, my app worked properly. My condolences if yours didn’t—woulda been a nightmare.

Mannnnnnn this was HARD. I got the theme after what seemed like forever, but it didn’t help me much. I was probably 20 mins over my average time, with the NE and SE proving most impermeable. But hey, ya know, some are like that and that’s why we play. Some Thursdays are counter butter and some are fridge butter and there’s a rare freezer butter. This was closer to freezer, but it thawed eventually.

TIL NERTS 🤷‍♂️ You?

As opposed to yesterday’s intercepted TDPASS, this somewhat SLYDOG, but no man OFWAR, had DOUBT and is pleased the ROOTCAUSE isn’t total dunderheadedness. I shall stroke my SMUG GOATEE today as I forgive the COMEDY of DINGS that was Friday. Probably should DIGITALDETOX. IGOTTARUN. CIAO.

Thought this was really clever. Was stuck at about 60% complete because while I could see how IT was omitted in italicized clues, I wasn’t connecting the back/forth of IT. Once that (finally) dawned on me, the puzzle pretty much completed itself. I love Thursday puzzles.

Fun and ultimately accessible,Tuesday puzzle. A little more meat to chew than a Monday, some good cluing, snd brilliant two-letter word phrases. A touch over my average time for a Tuesday, but I’d welcome more Tuesdays like this. Well done!

This was challenging and I couldn’t get a toe hold for far too long. Methodically worked through it and super pleased to have it come together. Nice one, Mr. Constructor!

One of those days where I went through clue after clue looking for a toehold… and then again and again. Just couldn’t get rolling anywhere. Finally had a big breakthrough when HAUTECUISINE just popped in my head. Finished 20 mins below my average, but that’s OK. Just one of those days where you need to be a crossword RASSLER.

Tough puzzle today. Couldn’t get a firm toehold, had to put it down several times and then lean on my wife for the Shakespeare jester. Once I had that, I got rolling and the whole board filled steadily besides NW. I was sure PENCILS was correct, but I was blank on all the rest. Just… blank. So I lost patience and checked the daily writeup for tricky clues and saw POWERUP. The rest flowed easily from there. Haven’t had to cheat like that in a long time and if I had more patience, maybe I wouldn’t have. But who knows. Tough puzzle today.

Fluid puzzle, seemed to be on the same wavelength as the constructor ending in a new Saturday record for me. Friday’s took forever on the other hand. Such is the way of the crossword.

Smoother today for me than yesterday’s, which took me twice as long to solve. Really enjoyed today’s—it was tricky, but accessible if you could get some crosses here and there.

I say this often on Saturdays, but it’s supposed to be hard. A younger constructor will have references the older set among us will struggle with and vice versa. Worst case is you learn something. BOOKONCD was definitely anachronistic, but whatever. It was still true. It was hard and was supposed to be. Happy solving!

Day late, but this just absolutely eviscerated me. Was not on the same wavelength as these clues and answers. I got the whole right side, but just couldn’t get the left side to make sense. Had to seek help via Tricky Clues guidance. Oh well. On to the next one…

This was a great puzzle, but I just flat wasn’t on the same wavelength and struggle-bussed it to the end, resorting to a few lookups. Ah well… “Like ICARE.”

Yeah, echoing others… that was hard. I had MONSTER for “Cookie, e.g.” even though I work in digital and should have thought of that. SE came first, then SW, and I honestly don’t know how I muddled the through w/o lookups. Once CHCHCHCHIA landed, the NW flew and donezo. Nothing novel to say, not really anyway, but needed some element of commiseration. Happy fall ya’ll.

Wooooooof this was HARD. 20-ish mins over my average. But, I legitimately laughed out loud at CRAPPER. And, sure, lots of obscure trivia, but that’s OK. For every player like me that doesn’t know, there’s someone who does. And I get to google stuff and learn.

This one just seemed to hit too many blind spots and the wrong wavelength for me today. Took forever to get about 2/3 of it and never found *any* kind of flow. Total, utter slog. Even when I knew the answer, I couldn’t figure out the wording for the answer. Sorta ashamed to admit I gave up for the first time in forever. When I saw the reveal, it confirmed the fact that today wasn’t my day. Onward we go.