William

@Your Fired Even after many years (decades) of devotion to the NYT crossword, I am sometimes confused and even irritated by these "gimmick" puzzles. But usually I find that the best approach is to ignore the puzzling clues (such as "-" in this one) and just focus on completing the answers that make sense to me around them. Eventually one or two of the trickier answers start to take on some form that helps my brain to realize that it needs to work a little harder to suss out what's going on. For instance, in this puzzle, I was immediately annoyed by the "-" clues I kept seeing. But I forged on with the others. In the lower section of the puzzle, I suspected that the Victoria Cross was a likely answer for the clue about a British Military award, but obviously that didn't fit. But when I saw that the letters V-C-T were popping up from the "down" answers it helped make me feel more confident that something about the Victoria Cross was probably the correct answer. That jogged my brain to look around more creatively to parse out the answer. Eventually the, having figured out ONE of the "gimmicky" answers, I was then more easily able to work on the other ones I'd skipped over. Once you find the right groove, having that AHA (or today, OHO) moment is, at least for me, a big part of the fun.

@Red Carpet - It is also my birthday today and so I enjoyed today's GHD references. Please wish your son a happy birthday from a "co-celebrant" who, nevertheless, hopes that both he and the Groundhog are wrong about 6 more weeks of winter! (My husband's family lives in Chicago, so we recently relocated here from California and I'm finding the cold a little ... oppressive. Having a February birthday does help a little, though. LOL)

@SP First, let me say "I hated your comment." If it is acceptable and sufficient, as you seem to indicate, to simply say "I liked this" (without any further explanation) it would seem completely logical to accept that someone stating "I hated this" is similarly acceptable and sufficient. Perhaps you've lived too long in a world where everything is always expected to be sunny and positive. But in reality, just as people sometimes have a need to say "YUM" without detailing their thinking process there are times when people have the need to say "YUCK" without being required to defend or define their reaction. Obviously such comments are not of any particular use to the writer or editor of the puzzle but I think that one of the benefits of a public forum such as this one is also to give people the opportunity to vent their feelings ,,, and perhaps even offer some sense of community to other readers who similarly may have felt nothing more complicated than "I loved it" or "I hated it."

@Katie - I disagree. To the extent that some people want to declare how much they love a certain puzzle, it makes equal sense to provide a forum where people want to express that they didn't like it. Otherwise what's the point? Personally if I dislike a puzzle I like to explain why -- but if people can't just say "YUCK" then you also have to ban those people who just say "GREAT."

I miss the smooth feel of writing ink onto newsprint while doing the puzzle. On the other hand (or, I suppose, NOT on the other hand) I don't miss getting printer's ink on my hand. I've reached the sad age where I'm missing a lot of things from the past.

@William Kash As I recall the jingle, it was not sounded like a Cha Cha dance. It was sort of like a train chugging sound, or the sound in the word RICH (or perhaps more accurately, the sound of someone stuttering- "Ch-ch-ch -CHIA") <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o92wNzZgQeE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o92wNzZgQeE</a>

@CCed Thank you. I wasn't aware that one could turn off the timer. It is certainly a temptation but for the fact that I usually try to solve the puzzle over my morning tea and the timer is the only way to (sometimes) make me aware that I am spending far too much of my day procrastinating with the puzzle!

@Merrick Indeed. If every puzzle was squarely within my wheelhouse/knowledge bank, I would lose interest in regularly coming back to complete them. Of course, it's frustrating at times but the ways in which the puzzle slightly expands what I know and how my brain thinks about things is a large part of the fun. If people don't enjoy this and just want a way to pass the time without being challenged, perhaps they should go look for a WORD JUMBLE puzzle somewhere. (N.B., "Word Jumble" should be read with a slightly sneering tone. LOL)

@Paul - WHERE DOES "NOCAP" COME FROM? Not here to complain, just to learn. I'm happy to pick up current slang (even though I know that if I try to use it I will probably just get eyerolls. LOL) Can anyone educate me? What is the basis or root of "NOCAP"? How did it come to mean "dead serious"?

@Jack McCullough Almost every country in the world, except perhaps for the vert smallest, has some sort of regional governmental organization covering an area of towns, cities and countryside.

@Mean Old Lady - The Meerkat is also a character in Disney's "The Lion King" (not that I could easily remember the name...)

@Puzzled Brit Congratulations! That's really the secret goal most of us have worked for at one point or another. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

@KFC The difficulty is part of the fun, although admittedly it doesn't always feel like that! As others here are saying, if you keep on with solving you will experience (probably slowly) the sense of accomplishment of getting past just Monday and Tuesday and reaching a point where you can regularly get through all or most of the week. I still remember the first time I solved a Sunday puzzle all on my own. I've been working the NYT crossword (on and off) for over 50 years now (God, I'm old!) and enjoy both the fact that Mon and Tue are usually a little too simple and that Wed through Sunday still regularly need a little effort. It's a nice as a regular challenge and a reminder that my brain can still work.

@RQ - on my computer, if i touch the ESC key when my cursor is in a square, I am then able to type multiple letters in the square. Alternatively, in the line of text above the puzzle and clues, the word REBUS appears. If your cursor is in the appropriate square, click on REBUS and you can then enter multiple letters.

@Tony So I DO speak Spanish yet I continued for a bit to be puzzled by the answer to "Once e.g. (NUMERO) even when it completed the puzzle for me. And when I DID figure it out I was sort of irked by it. I guess having a foreign language answer to a foreign language clue feels like a step too far.

@Mr Ochie Same problem with my Rebus key. Maybe it's the system but it was particularly irritating in this puzzle where I was sort of trying to guess where some of the rebuses were placed.

@Linda Jo Some years ago I realized that when I find the ACROSS clues daunting (like when they require extra long answers or, as here, when they just don't make sense) I will stop and switch to doing the DOWN one first in order to avoid too much early frustration. However I don't think I could allow myself to do ACROSS and DOWN answers at the same time. (At least not until I have made at least two passes attempting all the ACROSS followed by all the DOWN.) If feels .... unsanitary???? I guess that isn't how my mother taught me to do the puzzle so, as with so many things I learned from my mother, 50 years later guess I am just stuck with it. I admire your ability to solve the puzzle so freely!!

@mirle234 Z and Q are the only 10 point tiles. J and X are worth 8 points. (There are no 9 point tiles.) And, of course, the 2 blank tiles -- when the right opportunity presents itself -- can be invaluable.

@Emma Sure. I don't think I was expressing any thought other than it felt a little too easy for me. No shade to people who found it more difficult. I think it's fair to assume that EVERY puzzle is hard for some people and easy for others. Every one has their good puzzles and their tough puzzles. We all know different things.