Catherine

Who had EPISODE for the SNL clue right up until the bitter end when they had to grudgingly admit that it was incorrect? Anyone? Just me? That was a very fun puzzle, and I solved it surprisingly quickly. I was SYNCed with the constructor!

Well, slap my knee and boop my nose! That was a fine puzzle!

This one was a no go for me. I finally had to download the pdf of the answer key to figure it out. When it's this difficult it's just no fun.

You can also target your ABS, but you're never going to finish the puzzle. I had no clue what the name of Michael Jackson's first SOLO concert was. It could have been BAB, right?

I needed ALL the answers provided in today's column to give me any hope of breaking this puzzle. I had just finished patting myself on the back for whizzing through yesterday's crossword, praising myself for being "on the same wavelength" as the constructor. No coinciding wavelengths today, sadly. It was just too difficult for me. Thank goodness for this article, or I'd have been lost.

Ooh! A extra little dopamine hit after the music! We get to see what's in those pockets! What a fun puzzle.

It's "meep meep". Fight me.

I really hoped SAYNOMORE was going to be in there somewhere!

My solve was 14 minutes slower than my average. This was a difficult but very satisfying puzzle for me. I didn't know the first names of the Olympians, and I had "OHISEE" instead of "OKISEE", so I thought there were some athletes out there whose first names were Herri! The Chinese greeting was completely unknown to me, and I got it from the crosses. Always good to learn new things!

I'm certainly not the fastest solver; a Sunday crossword typically takes me a hour. I completed this one in 44 minutes with no lookups! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians.

I guess I'm showing my age when I answered "CDs" as "Items stored in plastic protectors". I didn't get the happy song until I checked my downs, and changed "WCI" to "WII".

I fell for the rebus trap. Wasted a lot of time making sure I had spelled everything correctly before thinking to "unrebus" the puzzle. Grr. I do get it now though.

I had total knee replacement surgery today, and finished the puzzle tonight seven and a half minutes slower than my average for a Thursday. I'll take the win. And I kept my streak! 🦿

KAREL crossed with a sports reference put the KIBOSH on my ability to finish the puzzle without peeking at this article. Fortunately, that clue and its answer were mentioned!

Cute little dopamine hit at the end of the puzzle!

I don't understand BASH for "Put on blast". Anyone?

I haven't read all the comments, so I'm not sure if anyone else had this problem. I wasted a lot of time trying to find an error, and couldn't find a thing. All my rebuses were the word "bang". I decided finally to try replacing them with exclamation points, and the puzzle completed. That was annoying because I thought that either "!" or "BANG" would be considered correct. I was doing the puzzle online, on the app on my android phone.

Having watched many Zambonis in action, and always being entranced by the process, the animation in the app at the end of the puzzle was particularly enjoyable!

WOAH instead of WHOA, and LAY instead of LIE. My adult children use both of these words incorrectly, and I can't convince them to correct themselves. Sigh.

According to the app I use, my solve time was almost 15 minutes faster than my usual! Having said that, it still took me 23 minutes to solve, but I found it to be quite easy. (It just occurred to me that I frequently leave the app open when I get another cup of coffee or something, and the timer is still going. I need to stop doing that!) The hardest one for me was that dang southern dog that don't hunt. I've never heard that expression before (and I'm old!)

I whipped through this puzzle - 15 minutes faster than my average for a Thursday. I guess I was on the same wavelength as the constructor. That, or I read my tea leaves right this morning. It was a lot of fun to solve! I used an Android phone, and I didn't have to touch the T squares; the happy song played, I went back, and the Ts were fading in and out just like they were supposed to.

When I figured out A LITTLE HELP HERE?, I heard it in my mind being said by Archie Bunker, in his oh so sarcastic drawl!

I was 52A when I learned of a person named Ray Kroc. I've been doing the crossword for years, and I do not recall ever having seen his name. And I had no idea who he was until I looked him up. I was trying to fill an answer like "INNOUT", to no avail obviously.

I so wanted Denver to be about a sandwich! I enjoyed this puzzle very much (although I cursed it just a wee bit at the beginning).

I did exactly the same thing! Lost valuable minutes trying to find my mistake, but still finished 15:29 minutes faster than my average.

What a super reward after the happy music, going back to view the solved puzzle, and seeing all the enlarged words for the fingers! 🖐️ Fun puzzle (although I did need to sneak a peek at the Wordplay article to figure out which letters needed to be doubled).