Kathleen

I had to stop and get some popcorn for today's comments. Deb Amlen, you seem to have far more lovers than haters. You have gotten me through more than one tough puzzle. Keep up the good work making the medium sized bucks.

Able is he and he is Elba might be my favorite clue ever.

This was fun. For longer than I should have, I wondered why I hadn't heard of the popular wedding song, "Shoot."

This was a great puzzle and now I will have The Doors hanging out in that space between consciousness and my subconscious for a few days. There seem to be a lot of solvers who have an idea of what they think a crossword puzzle should be, and if a puzzle doesn't fit that idea they consider it a bad puzzle. I continue to be impressed by the imagination of puzzle constructors. These folks keep me on my toes - I'm not sure what to expect. When I can complete the puzzle in a reasonable period of time (the time that it takes my morning coffee to cool off enough to become undrinkable, with maybe a warm up zap or second cup on a Sunday), learn a thing or two (IMGUR, RINSO), and maybe overcome an "I know it is right" moment when it can't be right (BOCCI) by checking my crosses, it was a good puzzle worth my time. Thanks!

My early morning brain was not flexible enough for this one. Maybe on another day I would have understood the theme without help, but I stared at the completed puzzle for quite a while before I gave in and read the wordplay column. Does this mean I think the puzzle wasn't good? Absolutely not! Being stumped is part of the fun. If you don't have any "ooooh, I see now" moments in life, you aren't learning, growing and exercising your brain.

Loved the INGs next to each other in SW corner. I thought, that can't be right...

I do puzzles for fun so I don't worry about how long it takes me to solve. It was fun to mull over this almost completed puzzle while drinking my coffee this morning. When I had to move on to making macaroni salad for a picnic, I took a look at Gameplay and saw that each key clue leads you to another answer in the puzzle. Once I figure it all out, I said to myself, well, if I had time to just sit here and look at it for a while longer, I would have eventually figured it out without getting that info from Gameplay. That was a lie I told myself. I never would have figured it out. But I did enjoy it!

This was a great puzzle. The top came more quickly than the rest, and I had to look up a few just to get something on the grid in some places. Perfect Saturday puzzle, except when you have guests coming and your house is a bit of a mess.

It was definitely harder than a usual Tuesday, but that just meant I got to spend a couple of extra minutes with my coffee and the puzzle this morning. What a treat! It usually goes so fast on Mondays and Tuesdays and then I'm off to my office to get started on work for the day. I enjoyed the unexpected indulgence this morning.

Took me a hot minute to catch on to this one. Some days, you just can't see what's right in front of you. I like it when it takes me a while to catch on. Great puzzle.

I thought DOORDIE was a new word for me, so I looked it up. Chuckled when even Google knew it was DO OR DIE.

Evil genius.

I've never been frustrated while solving a NYT crossword and then not appreciated the puzzle in the end. But, there's a first time for everything and this was it. There was nothing redeeming about this one. It wasn't particularly clever, there were no times when I finally got a clue that perplexed me and it made me chuckle that it took me so long to get the hook, etc. It was mildly disappointing. At least I have coffee.

More of a Wednesday level of difficulty, but there is something satisfying about filling in those long answers with confidence. Agree with the column and others that the "butter up" clue was less clever than forced. When I have to figure out an answer from crosses, when I finally get it and it was a clever clue, I smile and think, gosh people are clever, and then share it with my partner, because clever fun should be shared. If, after solving, I still need the column to help me understand it, I'm either learning something new (yay!) or I'm thinking, they tried clever and missed. "Butter up" tried and missed for me.

This was a fun one. It was hard and did not fall into place quadrant by quadrant - I had to chip away at it. It took me forever to get how "good words, so to speak" became PLUGS. That P was the last letter entered, and I stared at it for a few minutes after I completed it before my brain caught up. Funny how that happens. I feel successful for having completed another Friday puzzle. Sets me up for a good day ahead.

Tough one. NERTS and AGGRO had me second guessing all of their crosses, and some of those clues were a bit tricky for a Tuesday. But, if the puzzle wasn't somewhat challenging most of the time, most of us wouldn't enjoy it, right?

The revealer didn't help me at all, I caught on toward the end, and I found this to be a fun puzzle. Glad I read the constructor notes to see the alternate clue for LGBT, and I hope I see it used some day!

I love seeing the Indigo Girls pop up here and there. Such a great band for so many reasons. Everyone should have a favorite IG song. This is mine right now. (It can change with my mood.) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAQZ6OdQYE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAQZ6OdQYE</a>

Great puzzle. PEEkHOLE led me to SkIN class and that gave me a really good laugh for the morning.

Great puzzle! Like others, despite many hours of playing minesweeper in the 90s, the iconic look of the numbers didn't tip me off right away.

How, with the BIE there, did I not get DOOBIE right away? I got the theme very early, but my brain just blanked on that NW corner. Went out for coffee and when I got back with my venti misto, it all came together. There's very little that coffee can't fix.

Yet another glaring illustration of my lack of music knowledge, but that just made it more challenging, and challenging is good for my old brain.

This was fun!