Bryan

@jes it’s really incredible to me that someone could even “read” all the clues in 15 minutes while also typing more than a character per second!

@Steve L Hardest Wednesday I ever remember seeing. Rexes, evo, piu, moshe - no clue,

@Kelsey “joined” for “one” definitely works and is pretty straightforward, as in “two become one”

@Sam I don’t think there was any inconsistency. Did you read the column?

@Cat Lady Margaret Best thing I think I’ve ever read in the column :) “Imagine laboring over the same essentially trivial task, every single day — I shudder to think of it. Anyway, I’ll see you all back here for tomorrow’s crossword.”

@GaryR I say all the berries and marries, respectively, are homophones. I know someone from Philly, though, who says something like “burries” (rhymes with “furries”).

@Marshall Walthew I love when he’s talking to the guys in the bar and asks them “What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was the same and nothing you did mattered?” 😂

@NYC Traveler Buddy Holly??

@Fender Also - this is another great example of the “tricky clues” in the column being selected seemingly at random. “Tree canopies”, for example, has to be one the simplest, most straight forward answers in the history of NYT Saturday crosswords.

And last, sadly. I even googled “arinity“ to see if maybe it was a word :)

@Selective Walrus for some reason, I found the bottom half closer to a Wednesday, but the top half was a proper Friday for me.

@Brendan either my brain is is slow to start today, or the trivia was just not for me. I finished the Thursday and Friday this week, and found the NE corner pretty easy today, but then had to give up on this one. I *never* would have gotten: Naiad Nemean Curly braces Nerfs Neopets Smeagol And remain confused by “eraser pen”, “air horn”, and others.

@Amy K “ta ta” for “good bye”

I almost convinced myself that “sad soda” was a thing. Like, maybe a jack and coke with no alcohol :)

@Mark Haubrich Are you being funny? I don’t think it works - the other two pairs of clues “reshuffle” the first four letters of the first answer into a different word in the second answer (with a different clue). To me, that was an unsatisfying theme to begin with, but the “GOOFOFFS” pair literally used the same clue and same answer twice, while - I guess? - highlighting that the letters “o” and “f” appear multiple times in “GOOFOFFS”? Ok…

@Your Fired Read the column.

@Ian and “sorter” and “sal soda” nearby. That was too much for me.

@Andrzej Yeah, in a true case of YMMV, I thought 16A, 37A, 3D, 13D, and 16D were among the easiest clues in the whole puzzle. On the other hand, I could have stared at 31D, 32D, 44A, and 52A for the rest of the day with no guesses coming to mind.

@john ezra I don’t remember whether I’ve ever seen it described as Hanlon’s razor, but that is definitely one of my favorite analytical tools.

@Fender I had no idea what either the clue or the answer were referring to.

@Isabeau Thanks. Somehow this one didn’t click for me the same as the others.

@john ezra If you think “ignorance is bliss” is more “Orwellian propaganda” than “eternal truth”, you have a lot to learn :)

And… “Veinte” is not a word. Come on!

@Chuck Berger yes 100% - gasoline is NOT a fuel source.

@NancyA yeah I have never heard sopor or sparge.

@HCTabak I still don’t understand the theme. Is the theme “take the first word of each theme answer, subtract the letters ‘less’, and then plug the resulting word into the blank in each theme clue”? Or is there some more elegant part of the theme that I’m missing?

@Steve L Yeah… that’s what I said. I guess it works… but “why” would you ever take the “win” from “winless”? Is there any logical reason to do that? Or is it just “pattern recognition across the four theme clues”?

@Steve L I just got it. Took me that whole time. The *clue* is a “win-less” “season” :)

@Barry Ancona I finished it, but it took 50% longer than my Wednesday average.

So… why was Spot capitalized?

@Charles The only one that delayed me today was the Olga - Alb crossing, both new to me.

@Andrzej you found “drumkit” and “oink” to be more difficult than “Paiute” ???

@Ιασων I was completely ok with those. Had to throw in the towel on ski planes, tetromino, anil, and menu. Im still not sure what those last three mean :) had no errors on the rest of the puzzle.

@DJ I agree about “no end”. Does that clue actually work?