PC

To me this is an ideal Friday. Nice long fills with some twist clues, and what is there is tough but elegant. Every clue felt well done in this one. My own personal preference is that fill should resemble idiomatic usage when it comes to phrases and blank fills, and this was great in that respect. Side note: it’s interesting the fill streaks the puzzles have sometimes. In this case, arhat on consecutive days was a bit of a surprise (but made today easier).

Wow, not much to say, other than this is brilliant. What a fun one to work out. The constructor definitely did not take the L here.

Wow, the new app is terrible. The old one was clean and functional. I could access everything I wanted, the elements were well arranged, and there weren’t all these awful huge ui elements clogging up the screen. Who decides to break something that is working very well in favor of something flashier but less functional? Why was this necessary‽ Who is trying to justify their job here? I wish people would follow that old adage about not “fixing” things that aren’t broken. The puzzle was fine. The picture clues are cute and all, but easy for a Thursday.

Easy for a Saturday, but *so* well constructed. Beautiful long fills, clues that perfectly mixed trivia, wordplay, and some solid crossword puzzling. On top of that, there was nothing overly obtuse or dubious. Everything felt like it flowed so well up and down the puzzle and all the crosses were well placed. Anyway, I really enjoyed it—a good puzzle from a talented constructor.

Wow, this was a debut? This was a great Friday puzzle! The Fridays recently have been knocking it out of the park, but something this smooth in a debut is always impressive. I could see the NW corner being pretty rough with the clustering of proper nouns (particularly for non-Americans), but MVP was enough to get me started. Fridays live or die on the long fill, though, and these were well constructed, amusing (for the sushi one), and fresh. I was not familiar with the former prince’s memoir, so it was fun puzzling that out from crosses. Puzzles like this are why Friday is my favorite day of the solving week.

I spent most of the puzzle feeing like I was completely stuck and like I was flailing with my guesses, but still ended up finishing below my average time. I guess I must have had an aha moment at some point. Something I really liked about this puzzle: it uses a lot of phrases, expressions, etc., which can sometimes be an issue. These all felt idiomatic and well clued, though, which meant that when they clicked, they clicked.

A very enjoyable solve. I really felt like I was on the constructor’s wavelength for the whole thing and had a rollicking good time. The theme was also fun. Of course, my first attempt was wrong and I had to hunt around for a while. I had “ice” as a delivery that can’t be returned—because it melts, of course :).

Wow, I always love a Hoang-Kim Vu puzzle. He’s one of the few constructors I recognize, because every puzzle I do by him feels so great to fill in. I loved the theme. It took me a second, because I couldn’t figure out how to fit “petit-four” until I started working my way through the down clues. I had such a great time with it when it clicked! I always come away from one of his puzzles having really enjoyed the experience.

You know, as someone in my mid twenties who doesn’t particularly care for television, I sometimes feel like I’m doing these crosswords on hard mode. At least I know what a VHS tape is! This puzzle is actually a really good example of a well-constructed crossword in that regard, though, I think. Everything is so well placed and mixed that things that I could never in a million years have guessed I could fill from crosses. Friday and Saturday are usually my favorite days of the solving week, and this week has certainly not disappointed. These were a particularly strong pair. While I particularly enjoyed yesterday’s puzzle (and would love to see some more fresh ideas from constructors from my generation) this was also the most enjoyable Saturday puzzle I’ve done in a while. It’s nice to end the week on a high note for sure!

This was a fun puzzle. I enjoy rebuses when they accompany a theme, and these worked really well. I figured there had to be some sort of trick when “black eyed peas” didn’t fit, and I got “seize” the moment from crosses so it all clicked into place rather nicely. That said, certain number of the non-theme clues, like the past couple weeks, seem to really lack the wit, elegance, and tautness that I associate with the Shortz era. I don’t know that it’s made them that much more difficult, on the whole, but they have been notably less fun for me. I know Mr. Shortz’s time as editor is finite, and I wonder if we will see his like again on the NYT crossword. I hope he is recovering well (not for the sake of the crossword, just for him as a human being).

Guess I missed out on theme clues on digital, but not too hard to figure out what goes in from the crosses. Honestly, I thought it was a “related common phrase” type puzzle or something. Incidentally, I finished in well under half my usual time for a Thursday. Either some sort of gas leak in my apartment suddenly stopped this week, or the NYT saved all its “very easy for the day they’re intended for” puzzles for the start of the year. Could be either! Hoping for a couple of tough ones to round out the week.

This was the third excellent puzzle in a row (in my opinion). I quite liked the cluing on this one and enjoyed working through it. The theme was fun to figure out. There was definitely a little thrill going from thinking “rhinoi is nonsense, what hole did the constructors pull that out of” to the eureka moment. My only bit of caviling is that I wish it had worked both across and down. I know that would have been much tougher to construct, but I think it would have made it an even more rewarding solve.

A record Friday time for me, and by quite a bit! This was one where the proper names and slang terms just clicked for me. I was able to race through the grid, which was a nice feeling for a Friday. It was fun seeing a bit of my generation’s meme vernacular in 18A, even if the clue kind of misses the mark on how it’s used. Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle. It was nice having a breezy, open puzzle after yesterday’s choppy, gluey affair.

I liked the theme clues for this one a lot. The theme felt very unique, and this was a puzzle where I did use the hint clue to get the others, which is always fun. It’s also always nice to see a puzzle with a fair number of historical and language-based clues as well. I particularly enjoyed the double entendre of “Cover for Claudius.”

I thought the theme in this one was fun, but like all the puzzles this week, it felt noticeably easier than usual. I have absolutely ripped through all three. Actually, I would say I have really enjoyed the construction and particularly the theme clues in all of them, but-alas-all over faster than I would like. Thats only a downside because they’ve been really fun, though.

Does anyone know of a good way to search for crosswords from a specific constructor? The only thing I have found is looking for wordplay columns that mention the author’s name. I ask because I have not been doing to crossword for super long—so I’m sure there are more out there that I haven’t done—and I’m still blown away by how good the construction and clueing was in today’s puzzle. I’d like to enjoy more of the author’s work!

Boy, the top left corner ended up taking as long for me as the rest of the puzzle put together. Most of that was on me, I guess. “Vortices” rather than “vertexes”, and “eye” for online school closing (which is maybe more indicative of how I found trying to move class online a couple years back). The only thing I can legitimately quibble with is the choice to cross “Jetsons” trivia clues in the middle of some fairly difficult clues overall. Natick-adjacent at minimum for those of us not in our senescence.