Chris G

Absolutely brilliant. Best Wed puzzle of the year?

Ushes?

I thought this puzzle was great. Some of you don’t like “Thursday gimmicky puzzles”, apparently. But isn’t that what the Thursday puzzles are all about? And to come up with something completely new? I thought this was a fun one (although I did get stuck on the top left for a bit!)

Can we bring back Thursday tricks and rebuses? It’s been a pretty disappointing stretch. There’s nothing here but a moderately tough fill, with a lot of clues and answers that made me sigh. There’s a theme, but meh.

OMG, just read Deb’s column. Shows how carefully I read the clues — couldn’t for the life of me figure out why CLUBFED fit for “relatively nice PERSON” haha.

Good puzzle. Very tough to see/follow in the colored squares on the aop though.

Good one. Btw, things I’ve never had: Texas toast, corn on the cob for Thanksgiving (!), and while I suppose mint sauce is a thing, I always think of mint jelly.

Tough one. Upper left corner had me stuck till the end.

Easy enough even without the underlined letters, using the app. Just figured it was about the first part of the answer, with “and (something that finishes a common term). But yeah, would have made more sense (and easier still?) if it appeared correctly. Note to NYT puzzle editors: please consider how puzzles will appear in app version. Don’t most people use the app, these days?

A great debut puzzle, kudos! For once I solved the revealer early on, and then everything made sense, and became a little easier to solve. Some great clues in here. Had a big smile when I finally got OUTEAT. Same when I realized how “lettuce” fit with the answer!

Fun puzzle that made me laugh as I figured out some of the themed, rebus clues. Can’t ask for more.

Should “stooge” have been capitalized? I’m assuming the answer, MOE, refers to one of the “Three Stooges.” Proper noun, title, etc. Had me pausing to use MOE for a moment there.

Serious question. Have Fri (and Sat) puzzles become much easier over the years, by design? Feels like I can cruise through the newer offers with relative ease. But when I go back to archives (for example, 2018 or earlier), some seem next to impossible, without loads of lookups. Just me?

“Pan in the butt?” has to be one of my favorites in quite a while.

Some cute clues, but this one won’t do much to quiet the “puzzles getting too easy” crowd.

Finally a proper Thursday!!

I love a good rebus, and today I got my ‘fill.’ I thought the puzzle was brilliant. And fortunately, with enough easy clues to be able to identify the right letter combinations around the edges. Definitely helped to start from the middle, and the “stuffed crust” solve laid the way.

Terrific! Loved the theme. Nothing wrong with a little rebus action to liven up a Sunday.

Good puzzle. Got stuck on that middle bit. Had FLY as big, with YSL as letters on a “bow.” Was pretty sure there was no such thing as a LPRIT, but took me a bit to find my error and finish. Btw, agree with others, “pone” isn’t a word I’ve seen used by itself, on a menu.

Kudos to the constructor. But…Is “one off” such a dire trick, this needed to be a Thursday? I miss rebuses!

Is today Wednesday? Fun enough puzzle but odd choice for a Friday.

Not “hard”, per se. But plenty of good misdirects. Glad I was doing it online and not with a pen!

Easy one today, but super clever. Great debut!!

As a martini lover (near and dear to my heart — although vodka, no vermouth) I did enjoy the theme. Btw, great Dorothy Parker quip re martinis came to mind, but definitely “NSFW”! My only complaint is, I miss the trickery I’d come to look forward to on Thursdays. This seems a little more “Wednesday” to me. Bring back the rebuses! (Rebi?)

Nice puzzle, but lacking the tricks I prefer on a Thursday. Yes, I had to pause a bit after finishing to see the “oh say can you see”, though. (And didn’t quite connect that with holding onto my hat — which would imply “get ready for a surprise!” Or maybe that’s the point?) (-;

Couldn’t you have approached the answers the opposite way (I did, then couldn’t understand why I wasn’t showing as complete). I thought in today’s “double reverse”, you kept the across entries as you’d expect, but reversed letters for the down entries. Made the middle pretty tricky! Anyway, it all worked and I loved it….till I discovered reading Deb that I had to go back and flip all the across letters. (-;

Seems like the puzzle should have been considered solved whether you entered the ANGEL rebus, or just the A. Took a while for me to first check all my answers, then try replacing with A’s. But still, clever puzzle. Enjoyed it.

Clued like a Monday or Tuesday.

Fun puzzle. I agree with others though, that the -ER didn’t always help, or make the answer more clear; eg, JUNK DRAW vs DRAWER of junk? But I did see where it was going. And loved some of the puns! (Btw, another where online/app users miss out on something — no title, so no “Er” hint.)

Fun, relatively quick one. Probably didn’t need the solver.

I ultimately had to read Deb’s article to figure out why my puzzle was showing as wrong. Thought I could enter as I/E somehow (ie — no pun intended! — they could reverse down and across). But going “IE/EI” made more sense. Didnt love this puzzle for some reason. Maybe just because it took me a bit longer than usual to see what they were doing.

More of a Tuesday puzzle? Odd selection, other than today being pi day.

I did like it… and would have enjoyed another set of holes to balance it. Some weak fill (“echoey”?), and it felt weird to only have the rebus work in one direction. But all in all a fun Thursday. (Agree with others that the “holes” could have remained empty, at least in finishing online version.)

I couldn’t stop the timer until I tried typing a T over the first dance square and held it down. The T didn’t enter, but suddenly puzzle finished and timer stopped. Not sure if that’ll help others?