Greg4734 in Oakland

33A (Half of LV) is so great. I was baffled at the idea of how to do 1/2 of a V in roman numerals. Then I thought the answer might be ELL or VEE. When I got it, I was very pleased.

The rebuses were annoying me today in that I thought a single letter of the double would work. When I finally just deleted them all, the puzzle was complete. Question about 15D- I thought "scusi" was more appropriate. What tense is "scuse"? Also, more familiar with C note than C spot which yields some... non-monetary results on google.

I got mojito really quickly to change to mojo, but it took me a while to get that i needed those "it" letters in the other answer with circus. So that turned out to be pretty fun. Now, I'll read the journalism part of the nyt and be horrified at reality again.

Great theme. Lovers gonna love.

This theme is really amusing. I appreciate that it's about the sounds words make, and how your ears can get tricked in to hearing funny things. Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle!

Not my cup of tea for a theme, but so it goes. I like plenty of other puzzles that folks on here dislike. Give me rebuses all week long, lol.

I agree with those that find the themed answers annoying. It's not funny enough to make me like it.

I was pretty annoyed by 25A's "since" being related to "cuz" (because). But this helped me accept the clue: <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/as-because-or-since" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/as-because-or-since</a> Also didn't know briticism could be done with a "c" and i get it, but not sure i approve =)

I thought there was some good wordplay in this one. And any puzzle that references anticapitalism is going to have some sway with me.

Did not enjoy this theme. Supposed to just tie in with the new NYT game that I'm also not super into? Wow, I try to not be negative on this forum, but I'm going for it today.

Well done theme today!

I'd call that a solid theme. Good wordplay without seven steps of logic that only five people can understand.

happy day to me- i got my best Friday time! interesting how "of the moment" puzzles can be. I was recently working on some NYT Saturday puzzles from a book published a few years ago, and it is so hard, and I'm doing okay at Saturdays after many years of trying

That was a great theme. Well done!

I thought that 32A would be “finger painting” , but it didn’t fit. Good puzzle today. Personally for me, no internet lookups of trivia or use of the nyt help. Feeling good!

Not too hard today. 23 seconds away from my best Thursday time. Pretty witty theme. Thanks!

I figured out to fit currency into these answers, but the "trick" is not that amusing to me, even after reading the column. Oh well.

67A clue was just confusing because it sounded like a sentence, with no clue/question. When i realized "his" meant "this person's", the clue makes much more sense.

Enjoyable puzzle! Definitely not as rough as yesterday’s which was impossible for me without Wordplay column hints. Appreciated learning the Steinbeck quote.

The theme was really well done today. 63A also a really good clue/answer.

I'm a fan of the x-men,(at least from the 80's and 90's), so that was helpful in figuring out the rebus. I'm also glad for the 5d clue that led to an answer outside US borders. Witty internationalism.

DEMS makes more sense to me than LEFT, but mostly because I don't think the Democrats are really all that Left. I think if answers are going to be given, it would be helpful if something from each quadrant was examined.

Something about the way theme clues lit up during this puzzle made it very distracting. Is there a way to make it less annoying to look at? Or is there a setting I don't know about I can turn off? I basically went past as many of the themed answers as I could so I wasn't looking at a switchboard light up. Then, when I had to, I finished the puzzle's theme answers. Puzzle was fine, the tech gave me a headache.

good challenge! wow. I haven't felt the need to look at the wordplay column for answers in a good while. and then all the answers given were ones i had already! i had to just slog through. now i'm properly satisfied

OMG. I got through this with no NYT clues or internet searches, but I have to say I am never a fan of roman numerals. I will pick up certain things so I can do the crossword well, but these archaic numbers drive me crazy.

I did not enjoy this one. Asterisks kicked my *** today.

I wasn't liking it, and then I liked it a lot. Had no idea what Paramus was, but got it from crosses.

The answer for 47A seems more like a "situation" than a "style" of fighting, but i guess it's about the wordplay. I got the theme quickly, and it's witty.

That's two Saturdays in a row I've had a heckuva time finishing. Weird trivia for sure. So it goes, I guess.

I kept thinking 47A started with POWER, which was tripping me up. 14A was great. 57A also a creative clue. Good start to my Friday. =)

hmmm. fun...ish. i don't love roman numerals.

I thought "lute" was a European term (which made me somewhat annoyed at the sitar question, but I've now learned it's general term for stringed instruments. Wikipedia article here for those needing a rabbit hole to dive into: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instruments#:~:text=The" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instruments#:~:text=The</a>%20lute%20family%20includes%20not%20only%20short%2Dnecked,also%20bowed%20instruments%20such%20as%20the%20yayl%C4%B1

nice one

What makes "altercation" so funny here? I'm not enjoying the joke. The other theme answers are fine.

I thought this was a "family game" so I wasn't expecting 56A to be so 1D.

29A: The name of the character isn't in the title of the Disney movie. How does that make it titular?

I guess I'll accept, after a google search, that "lie in" is a term. I used "sit in" and "die in" before the crossings made me change my answer. I've attended a die in before, and I've never heard of lie in before this puzzle, really.

I guess I know there’s an eN dash now.