Joshua
United Kingdom
@Tim I feel this is often what explains why some commenters think a puzzle is easy and others don't. If you know the US-centric fills (college sports mascots, SNL members from 40 years ago, and airport codes) then it gives you a decent skeleton for the harder clues. I'm not complaining, as part of the fun of the NYT crossword is learning about another culture, but I do wish there was a button to pre-fill all the US trivia!
Really enjoyed this one until it came to the SE corner. MYRA, HADER, NAGANO and BUNYAN all in a row? Ouch!
I’m not normally one to complain, as I think that most seemingly offensive crossings or grid patterns are a complete coincidence rather than malicious, but I was surprised to see clues about usury and Judaism crossing. Overall this puzzle didn’t quite click for me - too many obscure references - but I enjoyed the cycling theme.
@Steve L Oslo is in Norway; IKEA is Swedish. Why would it have been clued for Oslo?
Surprised that the answer to 40A was clued in 42A; I thought clues had to avoid all but the most common words that appeared in the fill. Unfortunately too many proper nouns, combined with the rebuses, for me to be able to finish this one without some help. But I did enjoy the theme.
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