John Appleseed

Sam, your opening sentence made me laugh out loud. I didn’t come here to complain, but I did come here thinking “I thought they only did rebuses on Sunday and Thursday”.

You can have any DVD from Rick Astley's Pixar collection, except one. Because he's never gonna give you UP. I really enjoyed this puzzle, and managed to solve it without looking anything up. Put me in the PRO rebus column.

I loved solving this puzzle! I laughed out loud when I finally figured out the theme, then again when I figured out the gray squares. Thank you, Mr. Hasegawa, and well done!

I never knew about JAMAIS VU. Or perhaps I did but feel like I didn't? Now I'll spend the rest of the afternoon in a mild existential crisis.

I feel strangely drawn to this puzzle.

A clever and enjoyable puzzle. I've had Cole Porter's "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" stuck in my head ever since I saw the title.

Caitlin, thanks for the column and especially for including the origin of BENEDICT. I got it from the crossings, and guessed that it was an allusion to a literary or historical figure, but you saved me some googling.

This was a gentle lesson in humility for me as I have been doing well on the Saturday puzzles for last month or two. This one put me in my place (but I still enjoyed it).

Oof, that was a tough one, but all the more satisfying when I finally cracked it. I took a chance that surmount could mean REST ON as well as "pass over and keep going" (which I confirmed in the dictionary after completing the puzzle). MR LONELY is one of my personal self-pity anthems so that came fairly quickly. And the photo of GOAT BUTTERS made me laugh out loud.

I waited until the afternoon to try this because I didn't think I'd do well on a Sam Ezersky puzzle while nursing a baseball hangover (I listened to all 15 innings last night). BROEY was questionable but I decided to allow it. Like others, I tried ORE instead of ROE as the smelted product but Count CHOCULA put me back on track.

Today's earworm: Will the circle be unbroken/By and by, Lord, by and by.

Count me as one who forgot to remember the title before solving. I managed to figure out the theme without realizing the "last word" element. I had never heard of a BIALY, so I made a lucky guess there, informed by speculation that Mel Brooks may have picked Bialystock as a character name for The Producers as some kind of Yiddish inside joke.

Danna Rosenberg, congratulations on your debut? If you want to see a real-time solve of your puzzle, I posted mine on YouTube (which you can find by searching there for "John Appleseed"). Spoiler alert: I solved it with no hints, but I did struggle with LAICS, OPDOC, and NEIL/ETALII.

Tough one with lots of clever misdirection. I laughed when I finally got "mouthful for the foulmouthed".

Loved it. Like others who have commented, I didn't use or understand the alternative clues until after I solved the puzzle, but I chuckled once I figured it out. Then I chuckled again at some the theme-related answers in the grid (like SCHISM, CHASM, HOLEINTHEWALL).

I figured out the MINE rebus quickly but I am flabbergasted that I didn't understand what the 1s and 2s were for until I got to the revealer. It was one of those forehead-slapping "of course!" moments. Well done, Aiden.

What a challenging (and satisfying) grid. I thought of it as four independent midis. And oh how I chuckled when I finally figured out ce qui n'est pas du fast food.

Fascinating. I stubbornly kept to the notion that all the circled letters would spell one word or phrase that fit with all the themed clues. Once I realized that was illogical, it was a straightforward solve. I liked this one a lot.

I was genuinely moved to see ALEX appearing as an answer. What a lovely inclusion. And I'll just quote briefly from Sammy Cahn: You're hand in hand beneath the trees, And soon there's music in the breeze. You're actin' kind of smart Until your heart just goes WHAP! Those trees, that breeze - They're part of the tender trap.

Was CHANDLER's BONUS for his work on the WENUS?

I came here immediately after solving to say: Eric Warren, gee I think you're swell... for teaching me the correct spelling of ELENORE and reminding me of a great song I haven't heard in years. I'll be singing it to myself all weekend.

I enjoyed this one a lot. It took a few seconds of "what do I do now" at the end but eventually I connected the right wormholes.

Congratulations, John for a wonderful puzzle, and the ending animation was a delight. I had one error, NENaS crossing ANSaL, but I have no one to blame but myself. Let’s do that hockey!

The TENREC/CROCKER crossing with the brilliantly misleading "grocery store surname" did me in and I had to use a hint. Fair play to Barbara Lin!

Oof. I rarely have to resort to "phone a friend" but I googled MENOMOSSO and STAVE. ECHOISM is a new one for me but it made sense.

My fragile EGO took a beating with this one. I ended up with CRAcKS out after trying KNOCKS and WHACKS and foolishly though cIKON might be a Japanese computer mouse manufacturer that I haven't heard of. Live and learn, I guess.

Finally, a Sam Ezersky puzzle that didn't leave me muttering under my breath. And as for "the game", do people voluntarily deprive themselves of watching the Bing Crosby-David Bowie duet? That's a cherished Christmas tradition for me!

I must admit some of these titles were new to me but once I figured out the theme that didn't hold me back. Thanks for making this one, Alex.

Today's earworm: Let's get down to business to defeat the HUNS.

When I read Death of a Salesman in my high school English class, one of the quiz questions was "which character has a symbolic name?". I answered "Happy" but of course the teacher wanted Willy Loman (low man). I wonder if 28A was included by design or just a HAPPY coincidence.

Amsay Ezersky once again shows why he is on my list of difficult constructors. I'm going to be late for church because I couldn't stop solving this gem. I was a little thrown because "extra bold" and "not your average joe" would work for their clues, but that's not the case with the other themed answers.

What a fun puzzle (and I think I would have liked it even without the celebrity connection). LIBRA took me a while to figure out. I'm curious about whether Nick Offerman ever appeared in The Master Builder or if a critic ever accused him of EMOTing.

I expected some griping here about TRUEDAT, but I am pleasantly surprised. No griping from me either; I am older and I got it fairly quickly. Has it shown up in the puzzle before? And put me in the Fred Astaire column for PUTTINONTHERITZ.