Jim

Ah. I love reading the comments after I struggle endlessly with a puzzle only to see how easy others found it. Insecurity: confirmed!

It always makes me feel good when I struggle with the clues and find the "tricky clues" section starting with how none of the clues were tough..

Was so sure "Lead Follower" was talking about the element on the periodic table.. Here I thought I was clever for once!

Looking at 14A as a Philadelphian and I already know I'm unhappy, since it's either misspelled or misused based solely on the number of letters.

I don't know whether to feel embarrassed at how many answers I didn't know here. "Tyro", "screenager", "iroc"... I liked the theme a bit, though!

"Rotgut" is a great name for bad alcohol. I'm glad to know about it thanks to this puzzle!

This was a lot of fun. Really loved the theme clues. Once I got one, I was excited to go back to others.

I don't think I've ever struggled so much with a Monday. I am sad that I didn't remember the phrase 'EAT CROW' from its inclusion in a puzzle last week, but I'm certainly eating it today.

Fun theme! I enjoyed this puzzle quite a lot.

I only thought of RON thanks to rapper Cam'Ron. Thanks, Cam!

Well, this is a no-go for me. Sometimes the crossword makes me feel stupider than my inner critic ever could, or maybe that's just the other inner critic.

When I first read 27D, I immediately thought 'axes', but the five spaces threw me off. Why I knew 'axes' but didn't think either X-AXES or y-axes is beyond my small brain.

Fun puzzle, though not a fan of [Lab reports?]!

Adorable. Also, very interesting fact about Scotland. Today I learned!

I always thought a buff was an expert, not a lover of something. Frustrated with that one!

Well, if you don't know naval terminology as I don't, this is a struggle.

Was thinking 'baritones' not SUBWAY ADS, but fun clue there.

Thank you, Sean, for sharing your experience with Hades 2. I empathize.

I feel shame at how long the theme took me to crack. Perhaps it's because I'm used to saying "hominEM" in logic lectures so much. I like getting the themes first from the hint clue, but it took that answer one of the others to figure it out.

I really don't like "ego".

This puzzle just made me feel brainless...

Maybe 'crib notes' is old terminology, but I have never once seen that phrasing. TIL!

"Alee" / "A one" frustrated me for unbelievably long. I've never those before in my life.

Just want to say: I've been to countless hip-hop shows and I've never once seen a HYPE MAN.