Andrew

congrats on a first puzzle! that’s awesome. once i finally read the 63 across clue more closely and saw that it referred to the starred clues rather than the answers, i got the theme and finished up. nicely done. so my critique is not with the theme. it is with a few of the other clues, where the connection to the answer seems tenuous. 2D - eh… seems like a stretch 8D: i would describe nilgiri as being “on rice” more than “over rice”. subtle difference but in context of food, “over rice” connotes more of a larger bed or scoop of rice, not a tidy square of rice that the fish covers. . 62A: i don’t see how “points” gets us to codas. yes, i understand that a coda is a final passage in a musical score. but “points” seems to have no connection to the answer. it only has a connection to the pun aspect of the clue. 66A: i guess you can argue that “dunno” elides the “t” sound. but elide refers more to dropping syllables and vowels, which is not what’s happening in “dunno”. i understand that these nuts are pedantic, but this is what i mean by some of the clues being just a shade too removed from the answers - leaning in favor of cleverness at the cost of accuracy

LOVED the theme clues!! especially bc the answers were long and distinctive

loved this puzzle

i’ve been traveling / busy so i’m a week behind and the comments section for last sunday’s puzzle were closed long ago. still, i wanted to ask, in a grumpy / skeptical tone: why have a theme-less sunday puzzle? it feels like a “rule” violation, without some interesting payoff. sometimes symmetry rules are broken in order to create an image or the like. but no theme, without any reason. and yet, the puzzle is listed with a title, which implies a theme. i finished the puzzle just fine. but that editorial choice is not for me.

really enjoyed it. no notes. just wanted to give kudos

i love the shape of this grid. 9 15-letter answers?! awesome. and answers like “hotel california” and the panama palindrome. loved it. (one nit: how does an individual song win “record of the year”, as implied by clue for 53 across?)

loved the theme :-) didn’t need it to solve the grid but fun puzzle to figure out anyway - clever clues