Dave

Finishing this puzzle felt like solving the combination to a wall safe.

The longer the notes or instructions, the more tedious the puzzle.

Lots of off-kilter clues, errant answers, backtracking, blank stares, frustration. In other words, the type of Sunday puzzle I would like to see every week.

Finishing this puzzle has been the proudest moment of my life. I want to thank the Academy for this huge honor.

"Headless Body" is the greatest headline, followed by "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29."

Decent puzzle, but including "KOYAANISQATSI" in an answer would have kicked it up a notch.

Yikes. At first, I was in complete despair and thought I would never ever complete this. I pressed on and can now declare victory. This is the kind of challenge I like in a Saturday puzzle.

A gold star is not enough of a reward for those completing this puzzle. Maybe the Times can throw in a free Tesla?

In my view, I deplore something that someone else did but I regret something that I did. Sort of analogous to envy/jealousy.

Satisfying puzzle, but not as much as watching the Dodgers crush the Yankees.

Is this the first appearance of aislop? I don't recall having seen it before. If it is, it certainly won't be the last.

This puzzle has spunk. I hate spunk.

All done. Bartender, a round for everyone, on the house!

Now let's see the constructor make a puzzle using "column."

Some very tough clues alongside some absolute gimmes. Also, it's still hard to believe that Stanford and Cal are in the ACC.

Veni, vidi, solvi

Some of the comments here are tldr.

Three clues labeled as colloquial or slang with answers I've never encountered anywhere. An average number.

Anyone seen that tan Ciera?

The gold star isn't enough today. The Times should award at least a platinum star for completing a puzzle like this.

I dare someone to give an example from a book, newspaper, movie, TV or anywhere that includes USHES.

A perfect day: puzzle solved and Michigan beat that other school (again).

Just one square away from a gold star. Couldn't the Times award me a silver medal or a participation trophy?

This was a struggle but got the gold star. Stared and stared at the "a to b" clues until suddenly the light bulb lit. That's why I do these puzzles.

The first time I heard "popo" was when Kima said it in The Wire.

Finishing this puzzle is almost as good as watching the Dodgers beat the Yankees AND the Mets this year.

Great puzzle and not a single niche cultural signifier.

I was tempted several times to hit Reveal, but resisted. Felt great when I finished the puzzle unassisted in around my usual time. More like this, please.

We rely so much on our computers yet they fail so often that all the long answers are familiar to us.

I think the editors and constructors enjoy the griping and complaining. That's how they know they're doing their job.

Yikes! Tempted to cheat but didn't. Sometimes the cleverness is annoying, but this was a true challenge and I HAD TO FINISH IT.

In Moscow in the nineties I bought a matryoshka with Gorby as the largest doll and Tsar Nick as the smallest.

I'm aware of sigils only because of repeated references to them in Game of Thrones.

My cable service has a channel that runs TOS,TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise six nights a week from 8 pm to 1 am. After a final episode, each series starts again. I occasionally dip into it.

This sprang to mind: He wear no shoeshine, he got toe-jam football.

There's only one true answer to "result of shopping spree": BILL.

Hercule Poirot must have his tisane.

A softball if there ever was one. The editors are making amends for last Sunday's disaster.

Slight panic when first go-around came up with almost nothing and settled in for a slog, but came through in the end and emerged victorious. (Enjoyed the baseball clues.)

Hey "number", your feeble attempts to trick me don't work anymore. Just letting you know.

Tricky but fun clues. I'll add to the numerous weather reports in the comments that in LA it's sunny and 70.

So that I can move on from this puzzle, I'm gonna have some Armagnac in a martini glass. Maybe a couple more.

This is one of those puzzles where there is so much misdirection that the answers practically jump out.

Is it Monday already? (Ooh, I hope that doesn't trigger anyone.)

The NYT crossword comments page: a never ending source of dime store erudition.

Last Sunday's theme was such a fiasco that the editors have given up on them altogether.

The rebus haters were out in force on Thursday. They're certain to be heard from today.