Ali J

I typically don’t comment on puzzles, since my experience with them waxes and wanes because I tend to fall asleep working them, or I get distracted, so my thinking isn’t always clear and quick and my solve times are erratic. That said, I feel a strong desire to call out probably my favorite answer I’ve ever encountered in my now 2+ years of solving: LEONIDS just delighted me! I am often staring at the sky in wonder, picking out constellations or taking a moment to be dazzled by the moon. I’ve done this since I was a kid, when I learned how easily I could find the Big Dipper. I have witnessed more than a few meteors streak across my view while driving home at night or standing in my backyard after midnight. I managed to just catch what I’m pretty sure was a fireball meteor last week! Each time I’ve seen one, I’m left awed by the vast unknown expanse before me, and so deeply connected to my humanity. It’s as if I can envision being alive thousands of years ago, seeing the gods in the stars, while at the same time I feel myself connected to those YET TO COME, knowing they will certainly one day experience the very same beauty. It’s simultaneously a super grounding and weightless feeling. Thank you to constructor Katie Hoody for inspiring this reflection in me today! I hope all of you get a chance to look up at the stars once in a while. The Lyrids will be at peak visibility in the US at the end of April!

I had DOUBLETROUBLE for the longest time and just couldn’t make sense of the middle 🤦‍♀️ I re-read the clue several times when I suddenly realized I was missing the incredibly obvious, lol. This was my first puzzle since taking a long break from NYT games in August, and it was exactly the kind of challenge I was hoping for. Nothing felt particularly out of reach but it still required some deep thinking. Ironically, the one error keeping me from gold at first was 7-down, though I’m a native of NY (not S) so I think I get a pass!

Captivating, clever, and heartwarming (like a bowl of warm ____) are all adjectives I would use to rat(e) this puzzle! I’ve been improving my crossword game on and off for about 2 years now, and I’ve had a few favorite themed ones (I remember a pizza-shaped reveal early on that really tickled me), but this one seemed to touch on a lot of my own personal strong points. ESTOS, NIHAO, MME and SCUSE (though I also had SCUSi for a long time) helped me fill in a lot of otherwise totally unknown spots, as did a lot of those simpler three-letter fills and I had a lot of those lovely little aha moments that have kept me coming back to the NYT Games. I think my favorite discovery was AERIES. I have shopped a fair amount at American Eagle Outfitters, so that answer was PLEASE-ing when I suddenly realized that’s why their sister store is called Aerie, hehe. Thank you to the creators and editors for this delightful Wednesday! :)