Jonathan

@Sam it was definitely a brain teaser, but it is consistent: the answer you need to write in the crossword is always the larger one: L instead of M (m/lobsters) S instead of XS (exs/spouses), M instead of S (aquarius/m) and indeed XL instead of L (al/xles). It may be confusing because XS is smaller than S, but XL is larger than L

@Pat I can only speak for myself as a beginning solver, but I do find it incredibly useful to use the pencil feature for answers I'm not sure about. That way, they could help me in crosses, but if it conflicts with an answer I'm more sure about, I know the pencil answer will be the first to go. It also helps to, in the end, if I get the message there's some errors, I can go to the grey squares first to double check. Hope the emus allow my comment.

@Charlie Fuchs it's used in exactly that way in improv, "yes and" is almost a verb basically. It means whatever gets thrown at you, you take it and build upon it. I've heard it pop up a couple of times outside that world too already

@Nancy a thing casts a shadow in the shape of itself, so a tree casts a tree-shaped shadow, etc. That's how I understood it, anyway. The shadow of the Hollywood sign also reads "Hollywood" not "some hilly terrain in California"

@Johnny small but vital correction: Ray Eames was Charles' wife and business partner, not brother.

@Ginny Same! I was checking to see if Pierre Curie somehow maybe spelled his name with one R, but saw Irene mentioned in the related searches instead, after which things did fall into place there, but very tricky side indeed!

@Mr Dave I can only speak to the situation in Belgium, but we have a few Oreo offerings in our grocery stores and I think I've also been exposed to that brand in media and online, however, I had almost never heard of Nilla before starting with crosswords.

Matt there is a grace period where you can solve the puzzle the next day, if you do it before that day's puzzle. I'm not sure how long the grace period is, however

@Gabe as a Dutch speaker I have the advantage that more often than you'd think, the more obscure English word is just a Dutch word. Lading/laden is Dutch, as are alas (helaas), stiver and dorp

@Allie RW yes, I came to the comments to see if anyone else mentioned Mt. Doom. It's not a huge barrier to solving, but it threw me off for a little bit since Mordor has the same number of letters and doesn't contain an abbreviation

@Wayne Harrison the Cosa Nostra is also a common expression for the Sicilian mafia, which would work better grammatically in this sentence

@drew exact same experience here, faster than average solve while completely blanking on the theme. I'm not one to complain about too many America-specific clues (it is the New York Times after all), but I can't deny being a non-American was a significant handicap today.

@Vaer plus Salma Hayek playing a Muse-turned-exotic dancer, and Alanis Morrissette in a brief but impactful role

@Seth A Muphry's law strikes again. It's actually spelled Juliett (without the final e). I know you were correcting the correction, but I like quoting Muphry's law :)

@Jonathan that's generally a rule yes, but I didn't see it broken here. Which one are you referring to?

@Spelling Marauder a rat as in someone who blabs or 'rats out' a conspiracy/criminals. The interrogators made them 'sing'

@ST I can thank Brennan Lee Mulligan's epic rant on Game Changer from Dropout for that one!

@Bill in Yokohama hmm, I was thinking Spain based on Europe/climate, but with the driving on the left perhaps it's Malta?

@Ian Livengood loving Pips so far! Was wondering if at one point it's planned to introduce streaks for Pips?

@Andree yes, it's not a common phrase in french and the clue doesn't match it very well. Belle dame, Belle femme, beaute, but the amie in there is completely out of nowhere