Emkay

I had mEATWAVES. mEH!

Wishing you smooth skies ahead Deb! It was a real pleasure to read your column and improve my solving skills. You gave us all a boost with insightful and encouraging commentary. I reviewed my early days of solving in 2018-19, when I could only finish Monday and Tuesday without help. Now I can usually get through every day, even if it takes me awhile. Thanks for all your guidance!

Super clever puzzle! Thank you Zhou Zhang for taking us on this journey of ups and downs. :)

It took me quite a while to complete today, but a satisfying finish without any hints. It seems like there are posters who have gone on and on about puzzles being too easy, and now when there’s a more difficult one, they are not happy with that either! There is always going to be variability around any solver’s knowledge set and how it aligns with the constructor’s. Clues are often brilliantly clever, and other times rather obscure or imperfect. Learning how to navigate the imperfect is a valuable life skill. I admire the constructors’ efforts and give them grace considering how difficult their job must be. Easier puzzles, I try to improve my solving time. Harder puzzles, I am just lucky to get through and seek hints from Wordplay as required. I am frequently astonished at how often I achieve a breakthrough by putting the puzzle away and coming back to it a few hours later. The quirky themes and gimmicks are challenging and enjoyable for me, even the rebuses. Variety is the spice of life!

I really enjoyed this one as well. One of my faster Wednesdays but i think it was a Potter-like mind meld that allowed some subtle or tricky answers to pop out of my head! Sanka… Askafter… Lariat… Hold Dear…. It felt great to finish it!

So much easier than yesterday! And I feel like I’ve arrived as a puzzle solver… my immediate thought for 7A was the correct answer, rather than INNS or LODGES, irrespective of the # of letters.

Took me over 2 hrs but finally conquered it without any help! NW corner was my struggle, like many of you. I also had DEFER instead of DETER. Once I got CUTE, then AD SITE occurred to me as the destination, and the rest came tumbling down. Pleased with myself that I can get the tricky sports clues (thanks to growing up with 3 bros and a sports-nut mom): Alley oop, Pele, American League. Very challenging but fun puzzle!

This was a real wrestling match for me but I eventually got it without help. I had badBREATH in for 16A and denIES for 19A for the longest time so my NW corner was a mess. It’s been a long road to build the lateral thinking skills to be able to solve a good end-of-week puzzle, but it’s very satisfying to succeed!

We loved this one! It was a team effort. What a satisfying feeling when the theme finally fell (upwards) into place. Thanks a million, Michael! :)

I loved the Utne Reader back in the day pre-online media availability. It was a great way to access the most compelling content from across the more niche publications. Surprised to see it here!

This was one of my fastest Wednesdays. Nice puzzle. New one on me about the kids’ make believe game, The Floor Is ____.

I am not a fast solver in any case, but that took a long time. I must be in the minority being familiar with PDQ Bach from my childhood piano lessons. Between that, Hazmat and 3605, the rebus presence was not too difficult to detect. Jaguars always bring to mind a jumble of X,J,K,E and S letters for me. Overall I enjoyed completing this Sunday, and very impressed with the construction!

I am woefully weak on WW II monuments, or I would have realized that OAHU was not right. After stepping away and returning later I realized the down was probably GIS and that triggered GUAM… Boy I wish I had solved those sooner!

I didn’t get the theme. I thought BUTT would be the letters pushed out, after solving uNIT. Eventually got through it given a couple lookups. Overall it was clever and enjoyable.

This week overall was easier for me than typical weeks. Like others, I got the west side quickly but the east was slower going. I enjoyed each of the span answers, especially the yummy one! May try to do some baking while the temps are moderate this weekend!

Apparently you need to update the app to see the new game!

It’s not often that my tiny state appears in the puzzle! Woohoo! Our Sen Whitehouse punches above his weight, I believe. I finished but only after a struggle with a few spaces in SW corner. Finally I thought of DART! I was not familiar with SAPID but now I know!

Great puzzle! We enjoyed this one and were able to figure out the theme without too much angst. Hope you manage another collaboration, Dena and John!

Record time for me on Thursday. Much more fun than a couple days from last week! I got 6 down and the theme answer very quickly. Willow was probably the enabling trigger and then the rest fell in,

Once I removed stag from 27D and pale from 28D, it got a lot easier!

I liked this puzzle! I often have trouble with Thursdays but this one i got through by talking through a few clues in the top right with my friend. Thank you Ella!

That was a very gratifying Thursday puzzle. I caught onto the theme on RAREEVENT. The top corners were tricky for me. Coming back after a break always makes the difference when I get stuck. The benefit of a brain rest amazes me!

Great puzzle! I was stuck in SW corner, came back to it and OWL popped into my head. Then the rest came tumbling down except for i had DEcK instead of DESK. Originally last was my thought there as in a relay race. It wasn’t a fast solve but a very satisfying one! Thanks Katie.

We had a team of six or seven finishing this puzzle today… had more fun than you can imagine! Thanks Peter for a fun one. As others did, we are objecting to ACNED…. But otherwise we loved it.