Amy

@Joe Horton I've noticed it too! For me, the lag is there only if the puzzle has been completed correctly. If I have a mistake, it tells me that right away, which is just mean. Anyway, I find this new lag surprisingly annoying. I hope it gets fixed soon.

@Doggydoc I agree with you. I'm so sad to see Vertex go. I always find it so relaxing to do, and love seeing what picture emerges from all those dots. I suspect part of the reason it's going away is that most people access the games on their phone. Vertex is relatively hard to play on a small phone screen and so it doesn't get the traffic that many of the other games get. And yes, Tiles is not at all a reasonable substitute. I too quickly got bored with Tiles and almost never play it. I will really miss Vertex!

@sotto voce If you start saying "chocolate", but then stop after the first two syllables, then that would rhyme with taco. At least the way I say those two words.

@C Congratulations! A year of Saturdays! I'm trying to get to a yearlong streak myself. Currently up to 202 days.

@Steve Yes! And I was so pleased with myself for getting it right away... And then it turned out to be wrong. Oh well.

@Amy G Wow, very impressive!

@SteveG_VA Thanks for sharing! I had no idea what the answer to 51A was either. I eventually got it from the crossing words, and then forgot about it by the time I finished the puzzle.

@Paul "If people want to know every word before they attempt a puzzle they should try the Wordsearch" LOL, that is just too funny!! I love that line. But you're right that some puzzles are easier than expected, some are harder. A few just wow the socks off me with their brilliance, while sometimes one doesn't impress me at all. But that's how it goes. They're all good. I'm currently trying to reach a 1 year streak of solves. I think I can do it,I hope I can do it. But if not, that's okay. I'll just start again at zero. I'm enjoying the challenge of my goal. As you say, it's about the journey.

@Ettagale In order to get a gold star when you solve the puzzle, I'm pretty sure you need to have solved the crossword puzzle without using the check or reveal helps, and also solved it within about 24 hours of it publishing (before solving the next day's crossword puzzle, for sure). You don't see the gold star immediately upon solving, but instead after you exit out of the puzzle. The crossword puzzle icon will be replaced with a gold star if you met all of the requirements, or a blue star if you solved it, but did it with help.

@Francis Hate to break it to you, but Denver isn't even the second highest state capital! Cheyenne, Wyoming is higher in altitude than Denver. Denver is third.

@Man and 2 dogs I think you're absolutely right. And thank you for explaining it. I got it, but didn't understand it. And it didn't help that like some others, I've never heard of the phrase NO QUARTER. But now I'm very impressed with how clever this puzzle is.

@AK Congratulations! Enjoy your day. And even though I'm mostly a Broncos fan, I'll be rooting for the Bills today too.

@Rebeck Me too! Except that I thought it felt more like a Thursday puzzle than a Friday puzzle.... and then finished it and realized, oh yeah, today is Thursday!

@Julie Yes, I did! And I was so sure that it was CAN ARTISTS that I checked everything else first when I didn't get the solve music. And I had no idea what the answer for 2D was, so that didn't help me, or clue me in that maybe I was wrong.

@Heidi I had never heard of it either, and I live in NM! Although it did happen when I was a child, and I moved here decades later as an adult. But yes, thank you for enlightening me too!

@Michael Gaobest I was the same. Got the bottom half first, and then struggled through the top half. But I got there eventually. Hopefully you will too!