Danni S

I'm approaching the 2,000 NYT crosswords completed milestone this year, and building on a 550 day streak. My 2026 crossword goals: hoping to focus on honing my themeless solving skills and remembering to appreciate the joy solving brings me. Also hoping to be active in the wordplay comment section, this community has some of the most thoughtful internet participants out there. On today's puzzle: Very disappointed and may need to turn in my elder millennial card after taking too long to remember IAGO is Jafar's Parrot. I just kept repeating Gilbert Gottfried in my head! Similarly, MUFASA and SCAR should have been gimmes, but required a significant cross-solve for it to dawn on me.

I was surprised to see "YOINK" as a "Tricky" clue, perhaps because the Simpsons embedded it so deeply in my lexicon that nearly every single time I grab something I say "yoink!" aloud. It could literally be as simple as retrieving cereal out of the pantry, but a sonorous "YOINK!!" will echo through our kitchen. It must be said loudly and with a very specific inflection. Why? I don't know, ask Dan Groening I guess! Also, I love when the column and constructors highlight first time appearances. I swore I'd seen KOTEX before, but it's probably just the traditional TAMPAX/KOTEX mixup. Very enjoyable solve! Great work to this duo of constructors!