Liz H

Got stuck in the NW and needed a lookup for the meat substitute. Otherwise very happy with my puzzling the other clues out. Feeling happy I'm getting better at the Saturdays! And now I can sleep a little longer tomorrow a.m. Just want to express my gratitude to all of you in this "puzzleverse". I love the puzzles, the Wordplay column, and all of you commenters.

Didn't like it at all. Hardly ever say that. but the lock graphics made it hard to see the boxes to fill. I got the words amiss message but by then my eyes were too tired to go looking for my errors, so there goes my streak!

I had to smile when I solved GLOP--my mom was not a great cook, and often when I asked what was for dinner, she said GLOP. That could mean any type of meat and veg casserole, or bean dish, or spaghetti. Miss you, mom, this Mother's Day weekend! And the Mary Poppins lyric--that was one of the first movies my mom took us to. Feeling happy on a Saturday morning!

Fun and smooth solve; sadly, one less thing to do on Sunday morning. But I'll need the time to shovel the snow, and make the snacks for the Super Bowl party. Looking for more distractions from the current state of affairs.

Loved this! Loved all those songs. The first three are from my G-G-G-G-GENERATION. The Lady Gaga song I heard for the first time when I saw the figure skater Johnny Weir skate to Poker Face at a showcase event in Lake Placid around 2008-9, and even though I'm probably on the older side of Lady Gaga fans, I went to see her at Citi Field in around 2017-18. Great performer, love her! As for the puzzle, it was fun, and I got a little stuck on GIFS/CODA, so had to look that up. It was interesting to read about the famous CODAs in history--I didn't know much about this and appreciated learning about it. And the little litter of skunks, to top off my evening!

Glad I'm not the only one who thought what the heck is a SESAMEST? Could it be something from medieval times? I was picturing some kind of striped tent with Punch & Judy shows. Loved the puzzle, great debut!

Loved it! I solved it last night before Wordplay was published or the comments section was opened, and was eager to read the comments this morning. Seems like most thought it was fun, clever, and a great debut. I loved the three bears!

This was terrific! Especially loved 65A "Naval Disaster." I had gotten LIPS from the crosses and that helped me get the theme. Thanks to Rich Katz for a really clever and fun puzzle. And one puzzle off my game list for tomorrow morning. Wordle, Connections, Strands, and Spelling Bee. I am really bad at Connections. I was always bad at analogies on standardized tests so I think this is kind of the same weakness.

I concur with Deb's question: Do trolls and ogres really look alike? If you click on her links to images, they really don't. As a kid, I had a bunch of troll dolls like the one she pictured and I made little outfits for them. Still have them somewhere in storage. But I guess we needed a new clue for OGRE since it appears frequently. Fun puzzle today!

I miss Pier 1! Fun puzzle today and congrats to Shaun!

Congratulations on your retirement, Deb! I've enjoyed your column very much. And this was a fun and challenging puzzle to wrap up your career on!

I loved this! Was worried at first with few answers on first pass but got enough downs to think of Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie Mercury/Queen being one of my favorite musicians. Got me thinking about other associations with mercury and I just puzzled my way through it. Very satisfying. Thank you, Sam E.

fun and challenging! I loved NIKE crossing with SNEAKER, ACAI crossing with the Chinese greeting which ends with ACAI, and (kit) KAT crossing with CATDAD. Plus, ELFHAT!

Fun and quick, but my butterfingers will never let me get less than 10 min. on a Monday. I don't know how the faster solvers do it! It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Enjoyed the Super Bowl, was hoping for a 50 yard line proposal.

I sure do miss my tuxedo cat! Answering that clue brought back happy memories. Fun puzzle!

Lots of fun and great cluing! Loved that our Hawaiian goose friend found a nesting place on golf courses. Congrats Zhou Zhang on your puzzle! Very clever.

Fun theme and some great entries. Especially loved GREAT ESCAPE, SPIELS, OCCASION, and AERIES. I'm a dedicated OXFORD COMMA user (I mean SERIAL, though I wasn't familiar with the term).

If you do the Spelling Bee, you are well acquainted with the NENE (Hawaiian Goose). Enjoyed this puzzle. The spanners were fun phrases. Happy weekend all.

today's Strands was fun, visually very cool!

Happy New Year! I broke my streak yesterday; just didn't get the theme and couldn't find my error. Disappointing way to close out the year. But today, I got a PB for a Monday puzzle, so 2024 is off to a great start, puzzle-wise! Fun puzzle, Harry Zheng, thank you! And check out Tick Tick Boom if you haven't seen it.

Loved it! I had almost nothing on my first pass with the acrosses. Guessed PONIES for 12 A correctly, that's about it. But then (having dressed babies in onesies many times), I got UNSNAPS for 3D, and the rest of the puzzle unsnapped for me one cross at a time. Fun way to start my Friday morning! Thank you Robert Logan.

Late to the party. Did the puzzle after coming home from a wedding, so I was happy to continue the celebration! Especially loved MOTHERINLAWN, since it was an outdoor wedding with lots of high heels getting stuck in the grass. Congrats to the mother and daughter constructor team!

I am sure my orange kitty would have won that competition in Bangkok. She was purrfect. Fun puzzle today! Thank you John Kugelman.

So much fun, and my best time ever on a Friday! HOW CAN I RESIST ONION RINGS?

dnf even with the Wordplay column my brain is too tired to figure this one out.

I'm enjoying today's comment section as much as I enjoyed the puzzle! Have a great Monday, everyone!

I started the puzzle around 10:30 p.m. NY time, not realizing it was the Thursday puzzle, so I was confused by Wordplay and the comments for a bit. I read quite a few comments complaining it was too easy for a Thursday, and sure enough, when I checked my stats, it was a PB for me. Very enjoyable and I loved the clue for GOAT. Now I have to go backward and do Wednesday's puzzle.

I usually think I don't like poetry, but the verses from Rilke in the comments make me reconsider, and look up more of his work. And what a lovely puzzle! Fun phrases and a new (to me and many others, it seems): SAPID.

I thought this one was clever and pretty challenging. Only needed one lookup-22A simoleons. I kept thinking they were a type of primate. Enjoyed the theme. Happy Sunday and glad to see the sun come out after yesterday's downpour. Almost 3 inches here in Westchester.

Loved this puzzle, all the flowers made me happy. And loved 30A, unfortunate wedding forecast: RAINY. My daughter just celebrated her first wedding anniversary and it poured all day during her wedding. It's said that rain during a wedding is a sign for a long and happy marriage. They are off to a great start!

Wow! fun and hard, and I'm so surprised I finished it and got the music with no typos. I loved that there wasn't too much trivia and the phrases were common enough that I could suss them out, but there was still a lot of challenge. But rare for me on a Sunday--no lookups! My biggest issue is the type size on my computer is very small and hard to read. I don't have this problem during the week; only Sundays.

Great fun! Looking forward to summer "down the shore" for some great mini-golf courses. Thank you Jeremy Newton for this "eagle" of a puzzle!

Loved this! Spent countless hours at rinks when my daughter was a figure skater in her younger days, and loved watching the Zambonis do their magic. One of the skating coaches would often repeat "Now that's a nice sheet of ice!" Thanks for bringing back that memory!

My fastest time ever for a Saturday--half my average time! I don't solve for speed but was surprised how quickly it went, when I saw all those stacks. I started with the Downs and got enough that I could figure out the longer phrases. Love 1A. Palindromes are fun and for some reason I remember them.

I don't love air travel and always carry a crossword book with me. I have several of the Sunday Crossword series, edited by Stanley Newman. They are billed as medium difficulty and some of the older books have dated trivia. They are spiral bound, with nice smooth paper, and fit very well on the tray table! Fun puzzle today, and happy April Fools Day!

Like others, I found the SW challenging. I could picture a MOLCAJETE but couldn't remember the exact word. Didn't help that I had LASSOS instead of LARIAT for 47A. Then I guessed JETS for 42A and that unlocked the rest. My favorite clue and answer was 35A, ROARING, for activity that Simba practices on the Lion King. Watched the animated version so many time when my kids were small--we still have the VHS tape (no VCR, alas). Wonderful memory.

Saw "Boys in the Boat" last weekend so 17A made me laugh. Fun puzzle all around, thanks, Chloe and Alissa.

I loved this one! Funny and great answers, especially tin foil hat. And that photo is just priceless. Great way to start the day.

Another puzzle that has us counting! Was it Sunday that had us counting backwards from ten, and it took me forever to get? This time, I was on to the trick! Fun puzzle! ONE-EYED JACKS DOUBLE AGENTS (well, two) THREE WISE MEN FOUR-H LEADERS

I'd never heard of the Schrodinger puzzle concept before. Thought this was very challenging and amazingly clever. Just went back to look at it again and realized the "attractions" were in their respective corners of the puzzle. Wow!

I had no idea of the themer but my husband is a big fan of Midnight Cowboy and knew it with no crosses. He's usually no help except for baseball stadiums and names of airlines.