Thomas Clark

While I enjoyed the concept of the puzzle, the four misspelled cryptids created an anxiety that took away from the fun. Understanding that the fill would have been impossible without them, there was a neat solution hiding in plain sight. 38-down used the word "Sic" and clued some basic definition. If Jeff Chen was a brilliant at puzzle creation as he and everyone believes he is, he would have linked the "Sic" clue with the four misspellings. For example, "letters needed to understand the greyed areas."

Am I the only one who initially had "POTUS" for 1 down? Interesting that Deb's first answers were the last for me. Gilbert O'Sullivan was the anchor for me.

Of course, Barry Ancona will disagree, but the intentional misspelling of cryptids because it makes the full possible is lame. Making it less lame would be a clue explaining that the "Cryptozoologist" (<- spelled correctly in the grid, which is also inconsistent with the other answers brings homonyms) was a bad speller. If only there was an answer like "Sic" in the grid that could be used to tie it all together (Of course, there was but the clue was a dud). P.S. Jeff Chen is overrated.

Following up. Not one of the 182 comments referenced CATARACTS as being a tricky clue. Some mentioned Rita Ora as being tricky, which to experienced solvers, occurs fairly often. But choosing to clue cataracts as a waterfalls something I have never seen, nor was I aware of the term. Yet, nobody saw it as tricky. Is everyone just cheating, and it has become so common that it is not even worth discussing?

As someone with a decent solve rate (82%), who doesn't cheat or continue trying after finishing a puzzle incorrectly (side note: why is the solve rate by day not available?), I am fascinated that the "tricky clue" that I fail to solve is NEVER a clue mentioned in the days' summary. I mean NEVER, and rarely is the clue explained in the hundreds of comments. Today's example is "cataracts" which I am supposed to know doesn't just refer to the extremely common eye ailment, but also is an obscure reference to waterfalls. How is that not tricky?