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@Karl A supergroup is a group formed of the best musicians from a number of musical acts. So George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne (of ELO fame) joining to make music together is pretty much the definition of a supergroup. The clue was an easy gimme for me.

@Tom I think the clue "how __ you?" is forgivable because it follows right on the heels of the same clue in Spanish: "como __ usted?" Certainly not the most entertaining clues, but it gave me a little smile (particularly on April's fool day). And I actually didn't mind IKEAS today because to my very american ears a "snodrottning" pillowcase sounds silly and silly things bring a bit of joy and humor to my day. If you look at pretty much any early week puzzle you'll find some overused, boring fill holding everything together. The question is whether they are clued in a fun way or at least the rest of the puzzle is enjoyable enough that you overlook those answers. Sorry that wasn't the case for you today.

@Remy I personally think the editors are trying to help us out by having repeat answers back to back. The only chance I have at remembering a new name is seeing it three days in row. Ayo Edebiri Ayo Edebiri Ayo Edebiri What a bear! Hah. Maybe now it will stick.

@Jessica Bloom FANning is (according to an earlier post) a baseball term for striking out (because it makes a fanning motion?). There is an old, archaic definition of "meet" that means suitable or FIT. I can search the comments on my macbook by using command f. I do have to load all the comments first by scrolling all the way to the bottom and it doesn't find any matches that are hidden behind "view all replies" though. Hope that helps.

@Helen I hear ya. Pretty much every solver here has been where you are. The thing is, it’s now over. You’ve been exposed, figured out what’s up, and you never have search through the nyt website to find out how to deal with a rebus again. One moment of confusion and frustration for a lifetime of future puzzling fun isn’t too bad. And the nyt really does its best to direct newbies to the rebus page; the rebus element, complete with a link to the rebus page, is mentioned at the top of today’s wordplay column. And yeah, I see how the tone of the rebus page could irk someone who is already annoyed, but it’s meant humorously (angering subscribers isn’t a good business model) and given a little time I think you’ll be able to read it that way and even look back with a smile on today because, again, this is something of a rite of passage for nyt puzzlers. Welcome to the club.

@J&A Interesting side note perhaps (hah), but the puzzle and clue are clearly in English, so objecting to a clue that would be wrong *if* it were in a different language seems kinda wrong...

@D Aren't you putting down everyone who liked this puzzle when you say it's "sad" that they only liked it because of a "little trick?" While I thought there were some rough spots in the fill, I'm happy to work through them in exchange for the fun Yoda fill. Certainly more entertaining than a lot of "acai" and "eras" crossing "car loans" and such.

@lawrenceb56 The "frog sticks" clue is in reference to diner lingo used by the waiters and cooks. It's fun and often colorful (possibly to make orders easier to remember?). As for the mullets, I maybe would have clued it as an 80's hairstyle, but maybe that was considered too obvious for a Saturday puzzle. The clue really doesn't label or insult anyone, just makes note of a hairstyle preference. I'll wait to be offended until lesbians are never mentioned at all for not fitting in with the heteronormative agenda.

@H Agreed. My least favorite entry in this puzzle. Surprised by the constructor's notes that it's a "fun and quirky phrase that I hear in conversation." Happily I've never heard it before (I would be confused rather than amused) and I can't even imagine how it came about as "buckets" is nothing like "beaucoup." Oh, well. Different strokes and all that.

@JWDinSC Adding a slash got me a star (solving on a laptop). It's also quite possible, at least from my experience, that you still have a typo/mistake that your eyes have been skimming over... (and over... and over...) Also, if you are on a computer, make sure you didn't type any zeros in place of "O"s

@Greg Glassman In my experience, if the answer is a similar phrase the clue will always be in quotes. No quotation marks, different kind of clue. "It's a date!" = See you then It's a date! = Rendezvous

@SFGrynch Great Mysteries of the Universe 1) What is the meaning of life? 2) What is dark matter/energy? 3) What are the NYT rules for maintaining streaks?

@Renegator I had "ill" as the fulfillment center for a moment. Whoops. And I had such trouble ditching SPACESHip. I knew "lep" couldn't be right for 42A, but I held on to that ship for sooo long. Even tried to think of a variation of "golden rule" or "got engaged" to fix my "lep" problem... Didn't help that tennis and car models are not in my wheelhouse.

@Liana There is a lot of leniency in how to input the rebus answers. If you're not getting a star I'd check the rebus squares for typos (they can be hard to spot when small) or just put the first letter (an I or an E) in those square. Then check that none of your Os are actually zeros. Then check the rest of the gird. The surer I am that it's all correct, the harder it is for me to see a mistake. The brain has a tendency to see what it thinks is there.

@Shannabanana The only puzzles that count toward streaks are the ones you get a gold star on for completing without reveal or autocheck and (relatively*) on time. "Blue star" puzzles don't count/break streaks. If you're getting gold stars, but they are not being added to your streak, I'd think it's a technical issue and I'd email them at address given at the top of the comment section. (*There is some discussion on how late a puzzle can be done and still have it count towards your streak. I often do the puzzle late at night or even the next morning without issue, but a pause of more than day has broken my streak.)

@Sian Anti-fascism is a core moral value. ANTIFA is "a political protest movement comprising autonomous groups affiliated by their militant opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology." The two are not synonymous.

@MmmmHmmm There are over 170,000 words in current use. Do I (or even most of us) need to have used them all in order for them to be legitimate? I personally like rare words in my crosswords (though aglare, aglow, agleam, etc seem more poetic than rare?), especially if the alternative is an emu in need of an oreo asap. Keeps things interesting.

@LivelyB Man(kind) includes everybody; gentlemen does not. I don't see a reason to get upset over a gender-neutral term just because it is more commonly used to refer to a single person of a particular sex. I do think English could use more gender-neutral terms, both to simplify addressing groups of people and because addressing people differently based on their sex is odd, no?

@B I'm not sure how closely the puzzle editors monitor the comment section for feedback as much as some people seem to think they do. Either way a few comments with hundreds of recommends should convey the same message as hundreds of individual comments about the same issue. I'm interested in what people think of a puzzle, but I also like the punsters comments and those who offer up interesting factoids or anecdotes and on days like today those other comments get completely buried amidst the exact same complaint posted over and over and over... If people must type out their grievances maybe they could do it in reply to someone else's so they stay in a few threads and allow other comments to see the light of day?

@xworder Turn on "show overlays" in your settings.

@MF When it's a rebus puzzle the rebus squares have to work both ways. I can't see a way to add the letters of the colors without messing up the downs. Eg, you get uRsEoDpen, instead of usopen if you used the rebus to include RED. Given that, and the "inside the lines" revealer, I thought it was pretty clear that the lines were already representing the colors and no rebus was necessary.

@Bill Is this really an issue? I have to scroll down a lot to see the photo. I only scroll down enough to center the grid and then there are no (potential) spoilers until I want one.

@H.E. Because 22D is? "That lady" could be nominative or accusative case. That lady (SHE) gave the apple to that other lady (HER).

@Bonnie Ann Both can mean "catch sight of." I made out/espied a figure in the distance.... Just some slightly stretchy cluing (on top of a lot of other stretchy clues). I agree this puzzle was a full mental workout.

@LAGrit Sounds like your browser might be causing the issue? Either it's old/needs updating or it's an uncommon one that doesn't work with the site well or maybe you have an overactive ad blocker? I'd open up today's puzzle in a different browser or app and see if you can't find one that displays the puzzle correctly.

@Michael I too was annoyed at first, but thought the gimmick made up for it.

@LJADZ I'd check again. It's amazing how easily (and repeatedly!) ones eyes can pass over a typo or discrepancy, especially on a large Sunday grid. Also, you entered hyphens, right? (As opposed en or em dashes.)

@Jon Onstot The revealer does not ask for the squared number, it says that “square the circle” is a hint to reading down answers. If you put just the squared number in the circle it doesn’t work with the across answers and I’d think I was supposed to square the number again when reading the down answers because the revealer says to square what’s in the circle. If you’re just going to enter one number I think it should be the not-squared, across number.

@Andrzej But is it "sad" that you liked it? Must all "good" puzzles be largely trivia free?

@Dan Because it's not a big deal? The problem you mention is a wee bug with the clock on the puzzle, but rest assured your actual solve time was recorded and can be found on your stats page.

@Jason "He accompanies/sees her to the door."

@Delg ETTA is well known name. Not sure the same could be said of "Ette."

@festy I know you’re not a newb, so apologies if this is something you’re well aware of, but are you sure your problem isn’t a zero in place of an “o”? There were certainly a lot of tiny moons to hide a typo today.

@Mercury Yes, he could think of men’s names, and even added one that ChatGPT missed. What is more time consuming (unless you use an algorithm) is finding possible crossword answers that have one of those names hidden every-other-letter in odd-indexed letter positions. Why on earth would anyone spend hours, days, weeks trying to think up good possibilities when a computer can spit out in a few seconds a more comprehensive list than you could probably think up in a year? You can then cherry pick the best answers, finish making your puzzle, and get on with your life. Objecting to the use of a search function to expedite a project—a just for fun puzzle, no less—seems ridiculous.

@Sue S There is a newsletter you can get that gives a set of easy clues to Friday puzzles. There's a link near the end of the wordplay column to sign up if you're interested.