mirle234

Anyhow, anywho, any...hoo? Throwing me for a loop here. Speaking as an empty nester, keep the nest warm, because they do fly back sometimes when the crosswinds are strong.

A sign that I need stronger coffee: staring for the longest time at the word "notok" and wondering what language that's in.

Thank you for the ASCII art. Keep the arcane crafts alive. But I'm not sure emeet is a thing. (And kind of hope that it isn't)

gosh, I thought I was done but I was done in because I didn't know how to spell kabob, kabab, kebab... I'm just relieved the reality TV show wasn't that other one (The App......)

if you're performing au naturel, you may want to use a stage name or request "no peeking"

This was a fun one. I was stuck on 33A/33D until I went through the alphabet letter-by-letter.

Fun puzzle! Seems like almost a theme, with meeting cute, puppy love, and Mr. Right Now.

Fun puzzle, though I spent a while pondering what "goup" meant, and whether the ou sounded like "goop" or "gout." But anyway! In the midst the tragedies of our time, is it wrong to cry for a lost rose? Not if we're still human.

Great puzzle! But lox as a topping for latkes? We cook up a lotta latkes every year at our holiday party. Served with apple sauce and sour cream, but I never knew people put lox on them. If it's really a thing, I'll have to try it.

Love a birdy puzzle! Just got back from seeing the whooping cranes at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

I once had a room-mate, a former Marine, who greeted each dawn with a call that sounded, to my ears, like "AROOGAH!" I guess it was OORAH, the Marine Corp battle cry. Anyway, it sure scared the birds.

Tiger eye is a favorite of mine. My father once made a bracelet for me with tiger eye stones (I still have it). But being from Texas, my first thought about inflatables was "toob" (it's a thing here), which slowed me down at that corner. Overall, very enjoyable puzzle.

Tuesdays are just right, not hard but not too easy. Is there really such a thing as a clap-o-meter? My sleep-o-meter says I should have stayed in bed another hour, but you know how it is. At least I have enough brain cells for a Tuesday puzzle. We'll see about Wednesday tomorrow.

Overnight, the weather went from the 90's to the 30's. Woke up to a blue-norther migraine. That's my excuse for taking more than 15 minutes to complete a Monday puzzle. Got it in the end. Very clever. Sui generis.

Figured out the trick at the Guns n' Roses clue. (That tells you what generation I'm in.) Fun puzzle all around. Wednesday is my favorite. The Goldilocks of crosswords.

Ooh ah! Very cool looking now that it's done. This kept me preoccupied for quite a while.

With no disrespect to the Dalai Lama, I could not remember how to spell Dalai.

I was about to give up when I spotted the merlots. As long as the puzzle has some wine reference, I'll keep at it.

A nod to the pollinators, who are busy these days. Blooming in our garden now: Jerusalem sage, Mystic Spires salvia, African daisies, Mexican bush sage, autumn sage, thryallis, rose mallow, and several native and hybrid lantanas.

I enjoyed this puzzle very much

Knd of tough. 1-down gave me trouble, since I wanted it to be "genetics" but that didn't fit. 26-across was interesting.

Tripped up on idealdate vs. idealmate. Windy City exchange is new to me. Stuck until I got 33/34 figure out, but I got it.

Saw the party balloons and hats and thought "oh no!" But it turned out to be a breezy puzzle. Had a little trouble in the southwest corner until I figured out the green bloom. We are not going out tonight; the "kids" (all grown ups) are coming here. Hope 2026 is a good year for us all - good health and happiness!

Uh oh, the new comments format has landed! Goodness gracious great balls of fire! I'm going up to Blueberry Hill and never coming down again.

Very clever and pretty tough! (TIL, the plural of "gas" is "gases".) We have several new roundabouts in Austin. Sometimes traffic comes to a complete halt as folks ponder the options and what their future may hold, eternal circling or an exit to the unknown.

Tough NE corner. Sparge? And what isn't in shepherd's pie? Otherwise, a pretty breezy Wednesday, done before the coffee got cold. Good workout before the dreaded Thursday.

Greek for folded paper was a twist. Also nice to see a Disney princess who isn't Elsa getting crossword respect.

tough corners on this one, especially the starting. Good puzzle.

I thought the hat was darn cute, even though I haven't seen the show. I saw Mandy Patinkin in Evita back around 1980. I was a college student and got a cheap last-minute ticket for a seat in the first row. Patinkin, as Che Guevara, spent much of the show at the spot on stage right in front of me. It was memorable.

Fun puzzle, challenging in spots. Mahjong or bridge? My mother played bridge. Said it kept her mind sharp. Locally, Mexican Train dominoes is popular, but I'm afraid it doesn't have the same mental challenge (except when it comes to arguing about the rules).

Nice to get a little music education with my morning coffee & crossword. An hourglass filled with sand brings to mind the classic opening for the soap opera "Days of Our Lives." Here's a link if you're curious - <a href="https://youtu.be/Og7-6YubuS4?si=KOv2nNIEe_1AaE7o" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Og7-6YubuS4?si=KOv2nNIEe_1AaE7o</a>

Head covering indeed. Esai not Esau tripped me up, combined with the punny answer. Skipping a beat was also a tough one. Does have a Whursday feel to it.

I hope there's no complaining today that the puzzles are too easy. In a million years, I wouldn't have guessed some of the tough clues on this one. The crosses helped some, but not enough for me. Better luck next week, maybe

Pretty smooth sailing until I got stuck with MINI bar instead of TIKI. Are Tiki bars still around? "Not OK" looks like NOTOK, which sounds like some kind of snowboot. "Just a sec, let me get my notoks on!"

So many Q's! I could hardly believe it. Solved in my typical Saturday time of about 30 minutes. Hope I can get faster. Fun puzzle!

Fun puzzle, but something "evel" about it slowed me down

A breezy Thursday to raise my stats. Big wheels in the Vatican is a cute clue. I was picturing kids on big wheel bikes rolling through.

For a Tuesday, this was a tough one. Took me longer than usual. Once I got the theme worked out, I thought it was pretty neat how it all fit together.

exqq me, this was a tough one.

Very nice! I was trying to make it a rebus puzzle, putting both grades (C and D, for example) into the square. But I finally got it! This explains how I got an A in creative writing last semester (in my continuing education ventures).

Good morning, Ladies and Germs! Would it be disingenious to say one is faux naif? Was confused by saps being good marks -- on a tree, perhaps? But then I saw the comment below explaining that a sap is a good mark for a con.

Takes a bit of macgyvering to get through a Thursday puzzle. This one was fun. (Better than last week's, IMHO). Kudos!

Late to the party, but just to say I thought the literary clues were a lot of fun. Great puzzle!

Whoa, tough one, particularly in the SSE direction. Why is a Tahoe Runner a "mac"? I don't get it. But overall, a good challenging Friday.

I had the whole thing filled in, but one letter was off. Turned out it was the clue about bit of cacao that threw me. (Today I learned... )

Fun and surprisingly quick and easy for me. My best Tuesday time yet. I saw the top execs clue and then got the other ones based on that. No use trying to fit in fried potato pancakes or latkas with applesauce.

Fun Sunday puzzle. I was nervous given the theme, since I haven't been to an off-Broadway musical since The Fantasticks in 1982. (Odd, that one didn't make it into the puzzle.) Turns out the wordplay didn't require theater knowledge, but a tough one anyway. Got stumped on "career" for "law but not order' and "colas" for pop group. Made it through in better-than-average time.

aarggh! There are some Thursday tricks I just can't figure out. I'll take another look at it later.