Paul R

One of the most disappointing themes in quite a while. I solved the puzzle, thought I understood the idea behind the theme answers, but still only PARTYSUB made any sense at all to me. Fortunately I could go to Rex Parker’s blog to find the explanation for what I just solved. Really clever idea that could have been an amazing theme. But alas, the actual execution of the idea was pretty awful.

My streak is over 1000 days of completing the NYT crossword. I managed to complete this utter slog, but it was probably the most difficult of that 1000. And not a fun challenge. Trivia trivia trivia everywhere. I can’t imagine a casual solver getting anywhere close to solving this.

Crossing ORRIS, SISI, and IOLANI was brutally tough. Otherwise pretty easy.

ABYSM/ABYSS and MAXIMUM/MAXIMUS. So frustrating. I figured it out eventually, but this seems like a poor decision.

Clever theme, but how many potential Naticks are you going to put into one puzzle? Not a clue who NADIYA is and the N crossing with the trickily clued LINEDOUT made that a tough square to get. And the random first name ELLEN crossing with the -BOK that’s not a springbok. At least that’s pretty guessable because the name is common. The worst was mountain trivia ELBRUS crossing with hair care trivia SUNIN at the U. I solved it, but sigh.

Two Naticks in one Tuesday puzzle is rarity. SAL/ZARA and INUK/ULTA. All four words were completely new to me.

Very easy Wednesday with a NE corner that belongs in a very tough Friday. There are question marks in two clues (ATTIC and BUTTONS) plus one more that needed a question mark (MATCHMAKERS). Add the TINGE/TINCT thing. I knew SUMNER immediately and still I spent half my solve time trying to dig my way letter by letter through that corner. Weirdly edited. Just give ATTIC an easier clue and you still have a challenge there with the other clues.

If you were looking for the target audience of people who’ve never heard of either Sebastian STAN or Josep Maria SERT, I am raising my hand. Why cross two trivial names like this??

Percy Erhu should be my new alias.

Very solid puzzle that’s a perfect Friday. A fair challenge and an excellent debut for the constructor.

An utter slog and not a fun slog either. That NW corner was the most brutal thing to solve in months — ARDENCY?, EARCLIP (which is a Bluetooth aid exactly how?), NOSILY?, GALE instead of GUST. The only redeeming feature was learning about INCAS freeze drying food.

In the app, if you do rebuses for all the squares next to the colored lines, the app won’t accept the answer. You have to remove all the letters that comprise the colors to get credit for completing the puzzle. As often happens, clever puzzle marred by technical execution.

Excellent Saturday puzzle. Tough but a totally fair challenge. Took me a bit more time than usual but never felt like a slog. Getting each corner done was a little triumph. Well done!

I’m astonished by those who found this easy. This took 20 minutes over my 35 minute Saturday average. Definitely a worthy challenge and no complaints except for PAH, which is absolutely absurd. I guess there are some constructors who have a cluing style that is hard for even some experienced solvers to jibe with — while other solvers just zip through quickly.

On an already particularly challenging Thursday, using a deliberately tricky clue on METTLE (“Resolve” which could easily be answered with SETTLE) seems like piling on. I stared at SYMAN for the longest time…

Kind of clever idea badly hampered by tons and tons of misdirection clues that made it into a joyless slog. This could’ve been a nice Tuesday with a light-hearted theme that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. But instead we get fill with ridiculous cluing that’s there, I guess, to justify its placement on Thursday. TIL on OCEAN of wisdom, but was that cluing really necessary?

Just a brutal amount of pop culture trivia, but all were gettable on crosses. I guess this is why this is a Friday. TIL on TIPROAST.

That MAHALO/LIPASE was pretty brutal. Is how to say “thank you” in Hawaiian common enough knowledge? I got it all on crosses, including the L, which was a guess on another new to me word, LIPASE. Weird square on what was otherwise very easy.

This is the second time the app was a cluing fail. Maybe you should QC your clever puzzle gimmicks in the app before sending it out?

I had to come here to understand CHARLIEBUCKET. That confluence with JILLION (could have been M/B/ZILLION) and the trickily clued JUDGESROBES was quite a challenge, but that’s why it’s a Friday. Otherwise an easier than average Friday. Enjoyed it!

So many many MANY names that I’ve never heard of, including crossing Michael Who?? with Kaitlin Who?? Solved it by guessing that the missing letter in OLS_N was either an O or an E. KORS vs. KERS was a coin toss, but the O got me the solved music.

I enjoyed the puzzle, but disappointed that the bonus answers were automatically filled in for me by the app. Why go to the trouble of creating the eight extra clues when the app just answers them for you? Major flaw IMO.

Nice Valentines Day theme, but it was a total slog. Were you thinking that V Day falls on a Saturday in 2024?

Very very easy until that AGGRO/CHIANG cross. Typed random letters until I found the G. Weird Tuesday.

I thought the theme was pretty good, though the digit squares were kind of swamped in the huge Sunday grid. What irked me about this puzzle was so many “first name of someone I never heard of” clues. I hate the AMEND/EMEND ambiguity of English and it’s particularly frustrating that it crosses the word SEEP (or is it SEAP?). Also not a fan of cluing LIT as “Turnt” - ???? and crossing it with TIGER (“Bucko” - I guess…).

I completed the puzzle without understanding the theme. I had to go to Rex Parker’s blog to get an explanation of the theme. When the theme is so obtuse that after completing the puzzle the theme is still unclear, that’s a bad theme. Also, was there supposed to be some animation when the puzzle was completed? I saw nothing on the iOS app. Once again QC on these puzzles is bad. Overall, not a fun puzzle.

I thought TSAR was the standard answer for Russian emperor and CZAR is a government official.

Clever puzzle, but such a slog. There are two more days in the week. If this is Thursday, I can’t believe what Friday and Saturday have in store,

I don’t know whether to be impressed or complain, but I managed to complete the puzzle, saw WORDCHOICE as describing the theme, and was completely mystified. Lost, I read the Rex Parker review and only then did it register that there were W or D versions of each theme answer. This was all after I completed the puzzle and just wanted to understand what I just solved. Weird. And impressive I guess.

Extremely tough Friday. The WSW area was a slog. But this is what Friday and Saturday should be about, so no complaints. But can anyone please explain why “Gauge earrings” is PLUGS? I don’t have a clue.

Very easy for a Saturday — except for 27 across, which seems to be a deliberate attempt to make the puzzle harder with deceptive cluing. Should have given 27A a more standard clue and run this on a Thursday.