Oscar Pansy

Really fun, nicely chewy puzzle. I was very interested to learn about the Ggantija structures--thank you!!

CHIWETEL EJIOFOR--now, there's a household name for you. As a person who dislikes sports in general and despises basketball in particular I can't say I particularly enjoyed this otherwise easy puzzle. In my own solving I give myself a free pass to look up sports celebs, rappers, and obscure cable TV actors, all of which constantly clutter up NYT crosswords and which I do not in the least blame myself for not knowing.

Like you, Deb, I both wrestled and had a good time. 45 minutes over my average, but savored every minute. My breakthrough came when I finally gave up "teacher" for "preacher." Excellent challenger, very well clued!!

Sports clues are my pet peeve. So two tennis clues, two b-ball clues, and a running clue in one puzzle are really too much, IMO.

Never heard a $5 bill called an Abe. "Fin" kept my NE corner unsolved to the bitter end, prolly my first failed Tuesday in ages.

Yet another puzzle spoiled for me by a single letter mistake--this time "acer" crossed with "atno" (I tried "icer" which I hoped might make some sort of hockey sense). A pet peeve for me is how much sports content appears in nyt puzzles (that, and throwaway contemp celebrities from obscure cable shows).

I thought "eureka" meant "I found it," not "I have it." And I can see how Mercury (planet) can HAVE an apparent retrograde motion, but it sounds odd to say it's "in" retrograde.

Clever and fun. I enjoyed the "aha" moment when I "ripped" away the "ab"s from the starred answers.