Sparrow

@Raj T For me that made it a stronger design and better puzzle. I wasn’t being told which answers might be implicated in the trickery, and figuring that out for myself was powerful.

@Linda Jo I’m glad I didn’t have a fresh sip of hot coffee when I got to your comment. To Steven - thank for the theme, I’ll be singing Hadestown for the rest of the day.

@Joe It’s too much to ask for it 100% of the time. It’s not just making updates that work, it’s making updates that work whether a user has updated their app or not, whether they’ve updated their operating system or not, no matter which operating system or browser someone chooses to use, whether a user has added browser plugins that interact with how sites work, whether the code works with all variations of accessibility settings a user may have toggled, whether a standard code library they rely on changes something with little warning, and sometimes having to do this fast due to a newly discovered security vulnerability. Things look easy from the outside. Like constructing exquisite crossword puzzles.

@Petrol same here. Used them all up yesterday

Only a gimme for me thanks to the excellently named interrobang (‽) and a sideline in geeking out about typography

I used to regularly pass an apartment building called “Isle of View” and always felt for the people who lived there and had to say, then spell to explain, every time they described where they live. I hope they all kept a good sense of humor handy. I also think it didn’t have much of a view.

@Andrzej I had haKE for far too long as well. My mayflies at 16A didn’t help either

I entered it on my first pass through the empty grid, and thought, “that can’t be right but what else could it be?” I was tickled when it held through the crosses. So, me?

@Sarah This one was a gimme for me, with two <18yo gamers in the house, so now you have me curious about this as an age divide vs divides across platforms or other splits.

@Steve L Now stated, I expect that fact to fall within the year. I can feel the community thinking “I hear a challenge!”

A lot of us got MUGged by URN. Right there with you.

@Matt Merriam-Webster is happy enough with them as synonyms. I had to think of it as a verb rather than a noun before it felt more right to me. To ENDEAVOR / To STRUGGLE both have a sense in common usage of trying harder, perhaps having to overcome something. I sometimes hear ENDEAVOR (noun) used colloquially with less hardship.

@Steve Daniel - Thank you - I couldn’t remember why I wanted it to be BEAK so badly

@Mike - It’s good we’ve been taut to respect arch humor. Otherwise you’d be way off target. As it is you’re the apple of our eye.