MikeW

Clever and fun Thursday gimmick but I'm here for "Call for delivery" (what a great clue) crossed with "Baby carriers".

Good puzzle but it took a while to make any IN ROADs. I considered looking up an answer but decided I WOULDN'T, it's not my STYLE. I decided I would SIT HERE and LEAN in and one LITTLE THING fell at a time and I came through without too many BATTLE SCARS. When I finished I thought I'd SEXT the MRS about TATAS but instead of saying ITS HOT she called me a CREEPO. Guess I'm TOO OLD.

So the theme is just entries that can be broken up into two unrelated words at each end joined by one of many different words that are synonymous with "join"? I think I was expecting some punny revealer or something. Didn't spark joy for me but hats off to the constructors anyway; better than I could do!

Proper hard. Liked it.

I can never remember if it is NEMEA or NaMEA where Hercules slayed THE BEAST. If I HAD TO, I could probably find that INFO in an INTRO CLASS. WHOA, what an IDEA! (Sorry, this WENT TOO FAR)

What's the VERDICT? This puzzle was LEGIT and the clueing was really SUPER. Brava, Ms Park! Emus: I'M NOT A ROBOT!

Had to come here to tell some word nerds that AS OF NOW I hit 1,000 on my streak today. Most normal folks would be BEMUSEd but not amused. Cheers!

Hated it until I loved it. I had 3 letter rebuses all along the tops until I realized the trick. Extremely clever and impressive construction.

Hope it's not a SPOILER but that was a BEAUT. Sorry... I HAD TO.

I loved, loved, loved this puzzle. Fantastic clueing. I had a I GOTTA GET/HAGIS at the end and was pulling my hear out.

Felt like a proper Saturday. Seemed hard the whole time but everything fell into place piece by piece. Had "sell the farm" at first for 32A, which slowed me down a bit. Feel like I've got my NERD CRED for the day.

Felt KINDASORTA like a Wednesday. Galactic scale is a brilliant clue and made me guffaw when I got it. But When you want to keep a bet going, you LET IT RIDE. When you're not bothered by something you LET IT slide. END OF RANT. I don't want to get IN HOT WATER.

My wife sometimes orders an ESPRESSO MARTINI after dinner. Going forward, I will never not regale her with this clue when she does so. Sorry, Hon.

I'm just here to tip my hat to the clue for 30A.

Super quick for a Friday but I enjoyed the wordplay in the cluing (clueing?). Especially liked "Minor change" and "Not in English".

I wrote a brief comment last night to say (read, brag just a little) that solving this fine puzzle brought my streak to 1,000, which I'm kinda proud of. As I noted, there aren't many other groups of folks in the world that might appreciate it. I was BEMUSEd this morning to find that my post had been eaten by emus. Anyway, thanks to Mr Cappel for pushing me over the top.

OK, help me out. I don't understand the answer to 24D. Also, and apropos to today, nobody should be one.

Liked this puzzle a lot. Even more so because I just hit two years on my streak (counting the leap day)! Resisting the urge to trumpet 53A but it's hard. :)

So many false starts today. 25A: COW herder 55A: dozen 56A: beta tests 60A: DOpe 61A: fASt FIXES 52D: Imho Just right for a Saturday

Liked this puzzle except for the cross of 24D and 39A, which was sort of a "you know it or you don't" situation.

Pleasantly Thursday. Took me a minute to figure out the gimmick, but the revealer revealed it, and knowing the gimmick was helpful to solve the rest of the puzzle. Just the way it should be. Also good cluing. I got tripped up at first in the northwest with airplane and then airLINER. Also inventor.

This went pretty smoothly until I crashed up against the rock of GIBRALTeR. Also, +1 for the stacking of NILLA and OREOS.

I liked it. Challenging but tractable. I got it on crosses but I didn't understand the answer to 9A until I looked here. I didn't think the bar in the middle of 64A was necessary, although I guess all of the other theme answers have some sort of graphic embellishment so I suppose that explains it.

A lovely puzzle. [Spanish uncle?] was just brilliant. Also loved [Day break]. [Append] next to [Append]. And AWOKE above ABED. I don't completely agree with Deb regarding "no junk in the grid at all" but I'll happily tolerate WSW and ENE for a puzzle of this caliber. I had "one hitter" at first for 61A, which led to AREO___ for [Entertainment centers] and led my mind immediately into the gutter. I hope I never have to grow up.

Apparently, in my part of the world we have SUkER MOONs.

This album will always remind me of 7th and 8th grade school dances. Too bad that the puzzle wasn't published next Monday on the actual anniversary of the release. Hard to argue this needed to be any later in the week for difficulty.

Pretty straightforward but the clue for 38D was gold.

I'm working my way back through the archives and just did a Saturday from January 2011 that took over 40 minutes and required a couple of lookups (don't judge). This one took me less than 7 minutes. I get it that general difficulty is calibrated down these days, and I support making the puzzle more widely accessible, but this feels like it's not even the same game. A little disappointing. Thank goodness for the archives.

Good puzzle. Hard at first then came together smoothly. Then...took me five minutes to find that friggin' Z.

Timely theme and just the right level of (extra) difficulty for a Thursday. Got through the rest of the puzzle without getting too twisted up but then had to stare at the intersection of 44A and 35D for a long time trying to figure out the rebus I knew had to be there. When I figured it out I still didn't get the happy music until I discovered that 52A is spelled with and I at the end not an E.

Clever theme but it would have been more elegant if the rebus squares were on (or at least closer to) the cardinal points.

This was a bit tough for me. I cruised through about two thirds then hit a wall on the middle and SW. I really wanted 37A to be Break (would have been funnier). Wanted 52A to be mags (where's my mind?) and had the right answer for 39A but then second guessed and thought it might be LSD. The breakthrough was getting 26D and then the rest fell into place STEP BY STEP.

Like many, I worked today and I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow so when I sat down to do the puzzle my brain was geared up for a Saturday and I was surprised at how fast it fell. It wasn't until I sussed out the theme after finishing that I remembered tomorrow is only Thursday. It was a fun puzzle and I'm glad that I still have my two favorite solving days of the week to look forward to. Happy Fourth!

Super. Was stuck for a minute with 65A but then counted the symbols and it fell right into place. As an aside, I've never been able to remember L and D: which one is 50 and which one is 500.

Very nice. Really liked the wordplay in the cluing. 48A is one of my favorite clues ever. Also especially liked 34D, 42A and 21D. Ended up running the alphabet at the intersection of 27A and 18D but both answers seemed obvious after the fact (as they do).

Solid Saturday. I got that run of Qs about half way through the solve and kept expecting to see some other related letter play, maybe a run of Xs, more Qs or other less common letters.

A bit challenging and some good wordplay but JUST FYI I didn't love RIB TIPS. Emus don't make good PETS

Hey now, 37D. Weir everywhere. #NFA I've got those Deep Emu Blues...

This puzzle's theme popped right up at me. I flew through it until I got tripped up in the SW corner. I can never remember how Justice Kagan spells her first name (the Es and As seem interchangeable) and an errant A in the ski town had me scratching my head. The hammer fell once I had that sorted.