Louise

Not sure why, but I really dislike those ‘playground retort’ clues/answers.

Perhaps appropriate,with BRAFITTING everything fell into place.

Muni runs along the Embarcadero, BART goes everywhere else.

Not sure why but I really dislike those “playground retort” clues.

At 1A I automatically thought 1920s. Gotta stop that now I guess.

After two passes I had a lot of open squares so I read Gameplay but had already figured out everything listed there. Then I came to the comments to tie up loose ends, but found nothing helpful and managed to decipher those on my own. Sort of like open-book exams in school: knowing the help is there relaxes the mind to finish the solve.

Best clue of the day: 22A

While I like a good rebus, it's annoying to lose time trying to determine the 'correct' format! Otherwise, I solved this one without errors - grrr.

I thought this was just right for a Thursday. Who knew how often those social insects occur!

The notable property of a fire opal is not fluorescence (reactive to ultraviolet light) but rather irridescence.

Ha! Figured out the trick early on and finished in record time without consulting any hints. Satisfying solve and clearly an easy Thursday.

Boomer here: I never heard a Beatles cover of Maggie Mae but it’s an absolute classic Rod Stewart hit and one of my first memories of FM radio!

Well how could I not get SPAM right away! Then very proud of THE SUN ALSO RISES and VINAIGRETTES (spelled correctly!) without any hesitation, but it turned into a slog after that. Now all filled but there’s an error somewhere. Hmmm…..

I gave in and followed the link to solve 113/115 across and a good thing too. I had never heard of that one and the crosses were not helping. Otherwise, though, a good challenging puzzle.

Nice one! Filled it in 22 minutes without clues, but need to find incorrect square(s) for the gold star. I enjoyed the Valley Speak clues - one place where “like” is acceptable.

Nice one! Filled it in 22 minutes without clues, but need to find incorrect square(s) for the gold star. I enjoyed the Valley Speak clues - one place where “like” is acceptable.

I finished today's crossword, the time stopped, and I got the gold victory screen. However, it still shows up as incomplete blue on the home screen and on the archives. I'm not a stickler for streaks but being over 100 at the moment I'm not willing to give it up on a glitch that is not my doing. I even rebooted, to no avail. I hope the algorithm, emus, or whatever, will correct this. At least I have the personal satisfaction of finishing, I guess.

I've traveled to and through both of Chicago's major airports over the years. If I'm on the El, I'm going to/from Midway; for O'Hare it's the subway. A simple change of airport name in the clue would do it.

Grrrr! This time the timer kept going even when it was paused. And it added two more minutes after I successfully finished.

Grr! I've spent an additional 5 minutes trying to get the rebuses 'correct' to no avail. Everything else is good but I'm not getting the win. Happily, I don't care about streaks because this one is broken today. Done!!