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This one wasn't fun at all for me-- SO many obscure words. I'm not expert in crosswords, but have been trying to do the NYT crosswords for a couple of years now, starting from scratch as an adult in my 50s--had never done any before! I'm an academic so I tend to think my vocabulary is pretty strong, and I've been building up my crossword acumen. Can even do most Sundays now without looking up any answers, and even some Saturdays, too! But ones like this where I have to look up so many clues really aren't any fun at all--just a slog to try to finish for finishing's sake and simply discouraging. I said out loud, "what the heck?" after this one. I got the theme, but it wasn't a sufficient reward for what I thought was a mess of a puzzle.
@Andrzej I completely agree with everything you said, including the amount of time it took you, and your comment about if you see someone saying this was too easy 🤣 ... I started out doing all the across entries, and I got so few of them on the first pass that I wondered if today was going to be a complete fiasco. I was delighted as the answers slowly started revealing themselves as I went through the down entries, and revisiting the across ones. So many aha! moments, and wonderful word play. I also made it through on my own and am very proud of myself. But I am entirely in awe of the masterful clues! Kudos to Katie Hoody! On top of that, what really got me is what she wrote in the constructor notes--her beautiful love letter about and to her Uncle Tim. As I was reading, I was so moved -- and was getting worried that at the end she was going to say he passed away. So relieved when she didn't, and she ended with such tender sentiments and even more word play. You show us how it's done, Katie. Wow!
Woe is the fate of the puzzle that comes the day after Katie Hoody's! JK! Today's was like a fresh breeze after a week full of blustery winds which gave us both fits of frustration and deluges of delight. A nice, smooth ride...
I'm really bothered by the OPTICLOBE answer. Optic lobes do not exist in humans (as other have pointed out). As a neuroscientist, I'm feeling offended by having something this blatantly inaccurate here.
This was one of the awesomest puzzles ever for me. Bravo, Mr. Vu! Really enjoyed it all-- from the start with being totally confused by what seemed like really odd turns of phrase for every single one of the across clues-- was every clue some weird wordplay? What day of the week was this? To gradually revealing hints of the answers through the down clues, to the 3 fun reveals, and the biggest AHA! and WHOA! moment I've had since starting as a newbie in doing the NYT crossword a couple of years ago (never did any crosswords previously in my life, and I'm middle aged!). For me, a giddy thrill. Every single across clue. I thought that was a tour de force.
@Teresa LOL, as well as Sanskrit, sports jargon, obscure geography, dinosaur trivia...
@Andrzej That's the point for me-- to get the constructor's perspective! I am fascinated by the creative process in general: what was the inspiration, what makes the creators tick, how they approach the project, what roadblocks did they hit, what is meaningful to them, etc. And whatever joys or struggles they describe make them more human to me. If they're willing to share something about themselves and the lives they lead, for me it's a gift. As I mentioned, I thought what Katie wrote was beautiful--and particularly memorable.
@Becca I feel your frustration; as Elizabeth mentioned the puzzle does NOT accept all three letters, only the correct third letter--and I painstaking had to rip out all 3-letter "rebus-style" answers for ALL the relevant squares. It should have accepted both, IMO. I found this to be a really painful Thursday puzzle, even though I figured out the theme early on; e.g. I know nothing about shoe polishes, so the actual answer escaped me...
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