Indy Puzzler

This was beyond the scope of a true Saturday IMHO. More like a championship puzzle for the best of the best and I agree that clueing was not the greatest. Maybe I am a sore loser!

Life is too short for a puzzle like this. I'm almost always game for a toughie, but this one...

In addition to doing the puzzle, I love the Comments. Mean Old Lady (Now in Mississippi) is my favorite-maybe it's partly the name but she always comes up with something interesting!

C'mon-give us some tougher puzzles so we can complain about how bad they are and be thankful for some easy ones once in a while and then start the cycle all over

Loved it! What a good natured puzzle-reminds me of a Robin Weintraub one. Strayer seemed a bit of a stretch but if that's what it took to get the rest of it-OK!

Loved 6 Down! Sam Corbin is right-this word should be used more often. A one hour and 47 minute speech might be an example.

Wait a minute-I thought it was Saturday

I was initially put off with some of the trivia (1 across) but decided to push on. Ended up in below average time after persisting. Nice puzzle and very impressive for a high school senior! I expect we will hear more from him in the future!

Thanks, Deb for a fabulous column and finding so much commentary on the hobby we all love. Best wishes.

Too much trivia for me-seeing Sam's name was a warning it would be too hard.

I stooped to Autocheck level on this because I am on vacation and it still took me an an hour and 1 minute. Never used Autocheck before but this one was just too hard and a bit obscure and obtuse.

Which is worse-autocheck or multiple lookups? A friend was asking. My answer was autocheck with no lookups. LOL

Sam-you need to work on your New Year's Resolution some more. Please lighten up on the trivia too.

There were some very clever elements in this puzzle but it was flawed with excessive trivia and obscurity IMHO

Never thought I would have a record Saturday time for a Kameron Austin Collings puzzle!

When I do the Sudoko on NYTimes Games, I have the option for Easy, Medium or Hard. If crosswords were handled in this way, maybe there wouldn't be so many upset people on both sides of the fence.

First pass was alarming! But, as usual, once I got started, the answers filled in. Nice puzzle and good cluing made for my slow start.

Meh

Record Saturday for me but enjoyable!

kinda sorta easy

Love the editors efforts to branch out to new constructors and I don't want to write discouraging comments to them. Can easier puzzles be placed earlier in the week and let us crotchety solvers have our challenges on Friday and Saturday?

After my first pass, I was at the bottom of the puzzle before finding something to fill. Somehow it came together though in under average time. Never say never...

Lively fill and quick to finish

What a talented new constructor! And a very lively and cheerful fill!

Deb hit the nail on the head for me-just not on the same wavelength but eventually got it above (way) average time.

I quit doing Sunday through Thursday puzzles because they weren't that challenging. I guess that's why I continue to comment about Fridays and Saturdays being too easy. Hate to be discouraging to those who are stretching but we should have at least one or two chanllenging days and something to aspire to.

One look at the author's name and I wasn't sure I would be able to complete this. Very solvable with strident effort.

SE corner was not in my toolbox. I knew jamboree was wrong (how could it be?) but prevailed in the NE. Tough puzzle.

I wasn't sure I would make it through this one because it seemed so hard to get traction. A few good guesses got me started and I did finish a little below average. Nice introductory puzzle!

Great Saturday puzzle and super misdirect cluing!

Cute story about "Is Pepsi OK?-pays to be persistent. Also loved the clue "Alt tab"!

Breezy puzzle for me! Only snag was AOL building for AON.

When I noticed the puzzle was by Ryan, I thought to myself it will be an above or way above average solve time. Not today-nice puzzle!

I'm starting to wonder if we should re-calibrate our expectations of difficulty for Friday and Saturday. While difficulty is an objective criterion, it seems the puzzles have been getting consistently easier for these two days. The fill, however, has remained enjoyable.

Nice puzzle but can we get a little more challenge on Saturday?

Spent about 15 minutes on the NW corner-the rest wasn't that hard.

Nice puzzle. Mr. Mehta can often times be a bit more challenging than he was today.

Loved the cluing and the clue "rotary dial". Thanks to Deb for the adorable video of the two boys trying to figure out how to dial!

Nice puzzle and very enjoyable. Didn't seem like a Friday level though.

Nerts! (?) This one was a toughie!

Nice puzzle-not that hard but kink shame?

A quick fill but it was a delightful. Probably didn't take prisoners...

Nice puzzle-was worried when I saw Hemant's byline thinking it might be a stumper!

Nice puzzle but not really Saturday caliber. Never heard of ass hat before.

I thought this puzzle was going to be too easy since the west side came together so quickly for me, but then the south east side happened. Nice puzzle-but bestrew took a minute

Way too easy-even with nail polish brands and Taylor Swift songs I would never know. Really a Tuesday puzzle maybe Wednesday

Fast solve for me.

Curious about something. X Word Stats requires a sync to know one's time. This makes me wonder if the Times has an average or a median solve time.