Andrew

Did anyone else get ONEG for 63A and spend valuable minutes wondering why the universal blood type was the force felt on earth?

This came together in dribs and drabs (that's one of those things like zig and zag - I'm never entirely sure which is which) - e.g., I knew 35D was SEURAT but I can never remember how to spell him. Speaking of which is which - flotsam is stuff that floats because it fell overboard or the ship wrecked, while jetsam is floating material which was deliberately thrown overboard (jettisoned) perhaps to avoid sinking. There is a huge difference in marine salvage law. Not many people know that.

For the longest time I had 'AN EN' as the answer to what had to be added to one to make zero. I was so sure it was true I kept it well beyond its 'best by' time and consequently took a shade over an hour to do this, worthy, puzzle.

I see the constructor lived in St Louis so he must know what he is talking about. But I lived in Columbia MO for years, and never heard it called 'The Lou.' Mind you, as a native Brit I suppose my friends did not want to tell me they were on their way to 'The Lou' in case I misunderstood them. Could be.

White rice used to contain talc: it no longer does at least in the US. Talc and sugar were for years added to rice to make it look shiny and appetizing; as far as I know it is not illegal but I think manufacturers just stopped doing it. The advice always used to be to wash the rice before preparing, and this would remove the talc. I still do it as a matter of habit - in any case, it removes excess starch (rice powder) which gives (IMO) a nicer texture to the finished rice.

Well worth it. I have never had a martini and have never been tempted (I'm strictly a beer and wine man) but I think I might change the habits of a lifetime and tell them that Deb and Kevin sent me. Some great clues - I especially liked the Scott Joplin one - not difficult, but a good snort of laughter.

Can we get back to Friday puzzles being hard, please? This might have been a Tuesday just a few years ago. I'm not asking for one hour puzzles all the time but this was a typing exercise.

Thoroughly enjoyable. It took a while to see CRUELLA as a DOUBLE REVERSE for CURE ALL but it was a thrill when it became evident. More like this please - I wish we had more Thursdays in a week.

Loved your original idea for 23A - I wish it had survived. No idea what a BOSS BATTLE is but I can see how it can be the highlight of a video game. I should have got the English word + Spanish equivalent = Boy's name but I was looking for a 2 + 2 and I was still wondering until a few seconds ago why (Spanish) DY should be the same as (English) AN. D'oh! (or is it DUH? - someone here will correct me).

Weird. I usually get a Saturday done in 30 to 40 minutes - so I'm not fast, but I usually get there in the end. A real Natick for me at 51: I had LO TAR and LORA. EVENER? Really? ORANG?? Yes I know it's in the dictionary. Clunky overall.

Morel support? and Sending help? were worth the price of admission.

I didn't spot the semi-revealer at 39D until Sam pointed it out. Loved the Potter clue although I am wise to that little trick and I saw it immediately. 15A Pre-nursing homes? was a great clue. Good fun and a classic Wednesday - pitched just right IMO.

And for those who need to know. Thomas CRAPPER was the English plumber (fl. latter C19) who invented the water closet and the U bend and generally did a lot to improve domestic hygienic. It is tempting to assume that his name is the etymological source for the vulgarism often used for that necessary human function but not so. It may be an early example of nominative determinism because that word predates Mr Crapper by decades or centuries (opinions differ).

Glad toi see I am not alone. Much harder than your average Wednesday.

After yesterday's display, normal service has been resumed. A very quick Saturday for me - maybe the days were reversed by the editors?

Nice puzzle. I was in the mood for a quick one tonight, and by my own less than Olympic standards, it was. But I didn't get the 'curled up' bit for 17A. Whenever I see the 'SERIF' word as in 62A meaning the little tail on a font I am reminded of the Guardian's April Fool supplement in 1977 about the 10th anniversary of independence in the tiny tropical island group which was San Seriffe. I'm a native Brit and a Guardian reader for 60+ years and I remember this issue and reading the supplement with growing incredulity. Take the time to Google it: Guardian San Seriffe - you'll be glad you did.

Had to come here to figure the theme. I solved it OK with crosses but had no clue how they worked until Deb told me. It's amazing to me how, after doing these for a while, 1A Hot topping for a cone? = LAVA comes to me in a few seconds, yet I can still be outfoxed by a theme staring me in the face. Life's rich tapestry etc.

I also went the KEG route for a while there, Deb. Fun; and I enjoyed the retelling especially the very practical end to it. I remember Frost at Kennedy's inauguration, perhaps my oldest TV memory.

I thought Tina was the glamorous Turner even though it sounded like a very un-Tina quote. When I abandoned that eventually because I could make nothing fit around it the rest fell into place.

Very rapid Friday for me which means nothing more than that the constructor and I were on the same wavelength for once. 2D Booster, perhaps I tried SEAT and SHOT and both led nowhere so I had to erase them. And I did have Emily's list confused with Angie's list for far too long. Shame on me.

A very dense crossword. Nothing was easy: for example I had AXEL as the skating jump - it's the hardest one - but of course QUAD works. And for the Beethoven key - I had no idea but you know the second letter will be M - and I quickly surmised that there was no way 54A would have J as its penultimate letter so it had to be a MINor key. And 10x 10-letter answers!

Nice gentle trick that was perfect for a Wednesday.

A reasonably straightforward Friday; some nice clues. We need more PRIDE FLAGS and SOLAR POWER and it was good to see them lined up together there.

A very quick Sat for me. But my daughter did it 4 minutes faster - the old man is slipping.

I also suffered from the SETTLE METTLE thing - not sure if that was very clever or serendipity on the part of the constructor. Some wonderful clues - the best drivers, the opening line, the sweaty exercise. 64A could have been NIT or NET (a hair net can be scratchy - ask me how I know!) and I have to admit that I'm a little puzzled by 36D. I recall in the first Star Wars the robots were R2D2 and C-3PO; so I can see how Artoo arose but not THREEPIO. All in all very satisfying and well over my Thursday mean.

There will no doubt be laughter in some solving quarters about the notion that the Acela Express is high speed. Some great clues - like Deb I liked the FLUTE SOLO one; and 28D. My in was TINY for the Lilliputians; some long forgotten and dusty neuron told me that TITO was one of the Jackson 5; I sussed the Hall mate in seconds; I guessed that TAFT was the car owning president; and the whole unpromising grid began to fall. Fun and quickish for a Friday.

SEA STARS is a technically preferable term for what we used to call, sloppily, 'starfish' - which are just not fish. Fish are vertebrates subdivided into teleosts (cod and the like - 96% of extant fish species) and elasmobranchs (sharks and rays which have cartilaginous skeletons). Sea stars - of which many have more than five arms - are invertebrates. I knew those marine biology courses I did would come in handy one day.

I had the initial P for 'Cops, in slang' (53D) and I have to say, I thought it was a little 60s-ish. Some relief when I eventually got the right answer . . .

Loved the 'Bacon bits' clue. Otherwise quickish.

A great puzzle and my (so far) candidate for POTY. I got the theme and the accompanying 'Aha! You can't fool me!' moment reasonably early on when I presumed that Lincoln was the first to have a PET in the WH which made 64A PART HORSE which made no sense but I thought it might eventually as would EMA which broke Reddit. And if I changed PET to CAT suddenly CART | HORSE and AMA became meaningful. But for far too long I had DONKEY as the party animal.

A very meaty Wednesday. Some great misdirection clues - eg 30A (Often in stock = BONE). Not too difficult but well worthy of a NYT crossword.

Way too easy for a Thursday. But obviously themed for Independence Day so you get a pass. Minor beef: if 7A is the London sort of BOROUGH, the last OUGH is very much a short U sound and not the long O necessary for the theme which is more like the NYC pronunciation.

I didn't notice the π in the grid and I didn't know that it was also Einstein's birthday. Euler's identity is just beautiful. Bringing together the irrational constants π and e as well as the imaginary number i in one equation is breathtaking.

I'm retired now, but the company I worked for for years was heavily involved with the ESA and all the other environmental legislation of the 60s and after; and I am wearing an old company T-shirt (ESA-themed!) while I am doing the puzzle. I totally missed the Before and After elements as I was solving it and thus the theme seemed a little Meh! as if they had backed into it and had found a post facto LION and RHINO etc. So the theme, much appreciated by me, was a lot cleverer than I had thought. Nice one, gentlemen.

I was much quicker than yesterday - not sure what that means. I think there was more 'young 'un' knowledge in the Friday puzzle. My daughter was much quicker than me yesterday - if she is slower than me on today's it might help to confirm my theory. If not, of course, it just shows how I am slowing down in my old age. I'll let you now.

Too many obscure 'facts' for my liking. And like others here I had never heard of the Metal Umlaut thing - I knew they were fake, like the one in Häagen-Dazs, but I didn't know they had a name. I also appreciated the Petty person? clue.

A few seconds off my PB. Nice to see that we gave a shout out to the EMUs who keep us all out of mischief.

I really thought I was not going to make it here - just far too many unknowns. But some of my early guesses that I mentally penciled in - e.g., BANC - survived to the end. That was the only French word I could think of with four letters that was chair-ish, so I put it in fully expecting it to be eventually erased. And then the SW corner slowly came into focus. WHOD seemed like a possibility; a neuron stirred and gave me WEBB for the telescope; BRER came from nowhere; and of course Ralphie and his Red RYDER BB gun was there all along. I had one tiny stepping stone to the other side and I made it under my average. An excellent Friday-level puzzle and well worth the effort.

Loved it. Solved all the starred across clues by brute force (i.e., crosses) and only realized the themes after I had solved the revealer. Great Thursday.

Absolute pleasure of a puzzle.

Nice one. Took me ages to understand the trick. Once I did, it all came together quite quickly. Thoroughly enjoyed it.