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“I never comment on crossword puzzles” That’s for the best, these disgruntled diatribes against works that many of us enjoyed aren’t useful, interesting, or pleasant. Someone put a lot of work and love into this puzzle. If you didn’t enjoy it, there’s always tomorrow.
As a crossword newbie, honored to say this is my first Saturday NYT CW solve! With almost no help- my missus came in clutch on the assist with MRS. Shoutout to the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ for the assist in helping me solve SLOOP!
Some fun and clever clues here, enjoyed! Is there anything more humblebraggardly in a NYTCW comment section than complaining that a puzzle was too easy? “More like a Tuesday puzzle amirite!?” Fie on that 😉
Happy SWEET(forty) to me! A fun puzzle to kick off my quickly crossing over the proverbial hill. I personally am never one to complain about a puzzle being too easy, but prefer to pat myself on the back for a good solve, and congratulate the constructor on an enjoyable creation.
INUK crossing DEKE was a stumper for me, but otherwise a fun, challenging, but not too difficult Tuesday! I LOL’d at all the punnies.
@George are you referring to your own comment?
@Killian Olson At first, this puzzle was driving me crazy, but it has really groan on me!
HeHi(s) for “pronoun pair” and (s)op for “something to wring” threw me off for a second, both seemed plausible. Had to go through the puzzle twice with a fine tooth comb to finally see it was better as HEHIM and MOP!
Clearly not my intent. Criticism when thoughtful is fair and welcome, their comment is just petty and childish. Big difference.
The hardest thing about Sundays for us phone solvers is navigating a larger puzzle on a tiny screen. That being said, I enjoyed today’s puzzle a lot, even with all the zooming and panning! Good mix of challenge and reward, with some clever twists.
Well, I finished half of this one without needing some clue help. :/
@Gail the best Italian I’ve ever had was in Portland Maine. Yum. Had some good lobster rolls too!
@Brooke just seconding this for more visibility.
Enjoyed this one, fun start to the week! Just enjoyed seeing my neighborhood teddy-bearish GOLDENDOODLE when I sat down for this puzzle so thinking of her helped me with 27A.
Never in a million years would I have guessed CUR for junkyard dog. Combined with thinking “cheat sheet” was clueing CLIFNOTES (I know, it’s cliffs notes), that NW corner stumped me. 🫤 Also was trying to make SEED fit for STEM and THOU for THEE, but ENZYME clued me in to the right answers there.
I’ve never heard it said as plaything, I’m only familiar with the form presented in the puzzle. Google seems to agree that several variations exist and the puzzles is the most common. It’s not unusual for there to be variations of sayings.
@Nicole that one was the one snag for me too- after checking and rechecking the puzzle, I had to read wordplay to figure out what I was missing.
@K there was an animation, you might need to update your phone or app to see it, it’s worth it!
@bayonetta haha, same for me. If I get through Saturday with minimal or no lookups I expect a barrage of “TOO EASY!” in the comments. I enjoyed this one a lot.
@Andrzej I’m a relatively new ish solver and that was my first get of the puzzle, surprisingly. I knew the clue / answer relationship had to be some kind of a play on words or stretch and assumed 1D would start with U for university, so that got me there!
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