KD

Man, I don't think I could transcribe an answer sheet in the time some people claim to solve these puzzles! I muddle along, trying not to look up anything, scratching my head at the misdirects and vague clues, finally getting it filled only to have to look for something amiss somewhere in a giant grid. This time I was stuck on bottom right, since no nickname for brewers came to me, and I don't watch reality shows. Finally looked up the lohengrin soprano and put it all together. Theme was fun, and I enjoyed meerkats, malaria, and ibexes. Surprised to see the debut 20a in a puzzle.

Fun, went smoothly, but I have never seen the term gest. The dictionary supports the definition though. Enjoyed the clever theme and revealer. Kept struggling with abstain, couldn't see how the answer fit. Doh.

Gung Hay Fat Choy everyone, which is how I always saw it. So I had trouble figuring out the mandarin version in this puzzle. I did appreciate the new year shout out since I am year of the dragon. Managed this one in sub-average time with no help, unless you count confirming elote and rotelle were correct. Never did figure out how nail could be right, until I saw the column. that had me doubting the whole east side for awhile, especially tearstain which was on odd word to me. I knew taurine was an amino acid first found in bovine tissue so that helped. Just wondering, what US president had a PhD.? Probably honorary. Pretty sure it isn't Trump.

Got a PB on this one, very smooth. I didn't notice the chemical half of the theme but kudos for the added elegance. Never heard of naenae, and eggcream was a guess since I've never had one, but I got moog and elementsofstyle right away. the llama trivia was neat. Enjoyed it!

Not sure what to think of this one. It was hard and took me over my average, but I am now trying not to do any lookups. I think with lookups of obscure trivia it would have been reasonable. I did finally succumb and google the fast train and jessica jones, but everything else was laborious trial and error. Had to change midseason to mudseason when my filled puzzle didn't complete, since didn't know abu. I was proud of figuring out most of the tricks, but the significance of the shaded parts didn't register until I read the column. Are these the emotions engendered by this puzzle, I wondered.

Whew, this one blind-sided me. Took twice my average time for wednesday and about a thursday average. Didn't expect any tricks, and this was a hard one. Finally looked up the Elvis song and figured out why there were so many double letters that shouldn't be there. Had never heard the bartender joke so that didn't help. Had to check a periodic table to confirm tin was right. Thought a-to-f might be modulation but my music theory was not up to the task. Just now figured out what Haji meant, thought it must be star trek. No hints, only the one lookup so not too bad. Just slow.

Above my average on this one, but I used to look things up that were obscure. Still I took too long to think of biceps or arsons, wecard or earth. Luckily acaibowl was in a recent puzzle, as was ergo. I was glad to see torpid crossed with piranhas, and I did think of Psi quickly. Enjoyed the challenge but I felt I was slow. Kicked myself when I finally got freddy mercury, and I didn't know the mercury were a basketball team. I had usedcarlot in there at first, thinking of the old mercury cars. And I kept looking for a reference to the use of mercury in hat making.

Got it with no lookups, about my average. Did take a few breaks though. Same as others I thought teentsy was unexpected, orbed raised an eyebrow, but my main problem was SE corner where there was a semi natick. A proper name crossed with a multi-answer which was crossed with another obscure clue. I had kid instead of rib, kagu sauce since I'd never heard of soffrit, and dert instead of bert, since I had never even heard of those shows. when it didn't solve I decided to try bert since it was a better name than dert. Once again iras comes to the rescue. I liked the wrigley clue, learned where naipul came from (put in calcutta at first), and rev for gun caused me some trouble. I enjoy the accomplishment of puzzling through these.

These songs baffled me at first, though eventually my memory dredged them up. Only one I knew right away was Lady Gaga. Kind of fun but made the puzzle hard if you didn't know them. I still don't know what CODA stands for, thought it was the end of a verse or music piece. Glad to have a few easy fills like hemoglobin and italic. Had popart for the warhol clue, and I don't think evil geniuses have lairs, I think they could do better than that as geniuses. Still, beat my average, no lookups.

Odd for me that we get a pep talk in this column, since this friday was one of my smoothest solves yet, just over my best. I somehow intuited onemanband and vexations immediately and it was off to the races. I had a bit of trouble with ineedahand crossed with peds, but I then tumbled onto rain instead of naan after getting rap. I also had nicki crossed with facie since I don't follow skateboarding, but searching for changes when it wouldn't solve got that one sorted. I love it when a plan comes together!

A little below average with no lookups but not easy. I did look up spelling of ogallala, and found conflicting spellings, which impeded figuring out locs and apop which were far from obvious to me. Spree was also a stretch but I get it. I was proud that I guessed humancannonball right away, but I hadn't heard of goldbergs, and didn't expect lapdance. A good mental workout which is all I can ask for. BTW, I don't refer to clues by number; why look at comments before doing the puzzle?

tough one for me with no lookups, took over an hour. Even tried to look up the plant protein brand but couldn't find anything that would fit. so technically no lookups. asmr was a new one, had attaboy for a long time, never heard of hatewatch; but all of these eventually solved themselves. neighbor of montana had me stumped until I realized it could be in canada! These puzzles are supposed to be therapeutic but have me even more worried about my cognition.

I've been getting by with no lookups for a few weeks now but today broke down and googled the neolithic scottish site. Then after staring at the lower right corner that was the last remaining area, I weakened and looked up the frozen clue and the bug's life clue. Smooth sailing then, but it would have taken quite a bit longer hard core. I think I need more sleep.

Decent time on this, near my best for a thursday. As usual I missed part of the theme. It would have helped to realize the reversals were in tandem with opposites. That would have helped the SW corner where I didn't know the video format, the spice girls, and was trying to make haddown work. Finally looked up video formats to get it resolved. I also struggled to make Yeahbaby work for AP, but I did remember ohbehave finally. Did not think of captchas until got it with crosses. Vaguely remembered Lear going mad on the heath so that helped. I apologize for missing the cleverness of the themes so often, altho I appreciate it in hindsight

Arghh, first sunday xword in over a year and I picked a doozy to start back on. Took almost 3 hours, but with almost no lookups. Looked up rachel weisz, but that was before I noticed the rebuses. I was stuck on SW corner and looked up pedro martinez to get a break. Also had NRA for Bush org. until finally gave up and found CIA. Otherwise just blood sweat and tears. So many tricky clues and rebuses. A tour de force of crossword design, including the pangram which I didn't notice, but a little too hard for enjoyment. Just a sigh of relief when I finally filled in trex/k. hopefully I won't go on another year hiatus from this.

I tend to like the themeless puzzles, though the clues can be deliberately misleading but clever. vitaminc took me awhile. A bit under my average today with three lookups: syms, benny, conte. I tend to regard obscure proper names as fair game to look up if needed, but to avoid if possible. I got stuck on the middle despite getting the long down clues, but wordcred messed me up on the long acrosses. A quick glance at the column sorted me out, but I only get partial nerdcred now.

Fun puzzle, close to my thursday best. Usually don't like rebus puzzles (since the rules vary widely) but this one was great. Guessing tabernacle early was a big help, along with the hint about U being part of the theme.

almost a personal best, despite not knowing babka, and never hearing the name elissa. Also don't associate esprit with clever wit, but whomever. Now I have to look up how an eclipse confirmed theory of relativity. Theme was a big help with ghostkitchen and zombieoffice, unfamiliar terms.

Filled the whole thing out using rebuses, (no lookups ofc) in a way that made some sense to me. The down entries all used only the letter fused with the re in my interpretation, but completion was given. After much scrutinizing for mistakes I read the column and found out you could just decide to reuse the re without writing it in, or fusing it as a rebus! An OHO moment for sure. Went back and retooled it, tada! Otherwise, learned some spanish (claro), some tv trivia (derek), an alternate meaning for tour de force (coup), a hot tourist destination (temple in hanoi), and a few other nuggets. Live and learn. Relieved to finish this one.

Nice and smooth, as befits an early week puzzle. A bit under my average. No complaints, though I never heard "pend" used that way. The x in sexes was the last letter I filled, because I wasn't expecting that, but unlike Sam I have heard it used in various contexts. Apologies, but the comments were closed by the time I finished the Sunday puzzle, partly due to the super bowl, but also to the difficulty. I got a blue star due to the lateness, so there goes my streak. No lookups until my fill didn't complete, and I couldn't spot the culprit. Turned out to be gamepan/pop, once I checked it on google. Did not know the term and pop seemed reasonable. should have thought of pol. Sorry again for the late comment.

Fun puzzle, would have had a fast time if I hadn't dozed off. Bottom right was fun with the tricky clues to translate, steak, and ratio. Got my gold star and read the column before getting the point of the theme. I thought we waved the polaroids, guess we were shaking them.

Took a long time on this one, even after looking up sprouse and lemar. Got yoda right away though. Ground to a halt on NE corner, until checked the column and saw the tricky clue answer to pens. Rest fell into place then. Not sure why I struggled to figure out diamond meant baseball so cut was wrong, or to think of earfuls. Learned about olive oil coffee from this one so I have been warned.

On a cruise in the Bering Sea but stopped in to do this puzzle. Took me extra long but got it with no real lookups, just a few confirmations, like the spelling of shakshuka which I'd never heard of. I did confirm Adlai was the opponent of Ike in 1956, and I made sure reiki was what I thought. I would have gotten factorial more easily if I could have seen it was ! and not a I. Last square was the cross of CSI and ASL, which I got just by trying different letters. Clues made sense once I got it.

Tough one for me, double my usual time. I got most of the tricky ones in the column on my own, but had to break my rule and look up a few others: fenty escaped me, never heard of yoinked; never watched the show so alan thicke had me stumped; and I kept trying to make aqua regia work. I've used shine on for many years however. Wanted to make Pink Floyd part of this but then I thought of Mare Umbra. NW corner was my last part until I thought of preach, and I should have thought of godot sooner. Had to wait for that one. Good exercise.

Fun solve, though as usual I didn't get the gimmick until the end, since I did strip poker last. Surprised the column didn't highlight pre-nursing homes, that was a tricky one.

Got it all filled out, no lookups, even sort of understood the reversed double rebusses, but I didn't know about the convention of using a slash. Just thought there was some random reversal mechanism going on. Couldn't get a completion of course. Read the column and after many typos got the rebusses properly sorted. Naturally hurt my average solve time. A bit too technical for my taste. I was reminded of my anger at archie griffen for getting two heismans.

Enjoyed this one, even figured out the theme before finishing the entire thing! A bit under my average with no lookups, but still not speedy. To my mind, tcby is a business that sells frozen yogurt, not the name of the dish itself. One of the last entries I made since I didn't know bal harbor either. Had bee bat at first, which is a thing, before having to change it. I first thought of the lotus position, which is seated, and it crossed with masters, which I thought of before pgatour. But it was all good and I would never have gotten the edsel song without knowing the theme. Thanks!

Got stuck on the cross of french grammar and the Oz abbreviation, finally checked the column and got the completion. Not particularly quick but I figured the rest out with no help. Embarrassed that I was thinking of phone texts instead of biology for cellular messenger for awhile.

Fairly fun and smooth for me but I hate proofing a large grid when it doesn't complete. Finally checked it so didn't get the music. Mistake was APP crossed with PBS. Somehow I thought it would be plural APS, and I have never watched Downton Abbey so didn't think of the network. Curses, foiled again. I did get the theme fairly early, but the NW corner with AIART gave me some trouble. I enjoyed seussian though I have never heard it used.

I worked through about half of this including the revealer, before I got a hint there might be a rebus involved. The Lye soap clue did it for me. I had not heard of eve's diary, will have to check it out. Better than usual for a thursday, no lookups, enjoyed this one, and I don't usually like rebuses. Push/uteri was neat, and I put setae in first, and was surprised it worked.

Congratulations, what a 21st birthday! Found it a bit challenging for a wednesday, with some unusual food clues: congee, taro, aloo, arepa. I was not familiar with enbanc, cynophilist, dorothy's last name, or the elle character, but I muddled through a bit over my average. Did have to look up the mathematician since I thought the boba was going to be thai. Learned a few things today, thanks!

Like others I needed a morale boost after yesterday. PB with no help for a saturday. That dog hunted today.

Lots of names I didn't know, but worked through it fairly smoothly, no hints. Glad to see elided was used, as I first thought of that. Nice to learn there is a town named after Edison. Didn't get the theme until almost finished, which is typical for me. Glad hounddog was the answer, since my Elvis repertoire is limited. I was raised on octopi, but I guess it is no longer in vogue. I will try to remember roto for the future, though I still don't understand it.

Just started doing a few puzzles again after a year or so hiatus, and my first thursday was my first ever rebus stack. Had to resort to the column to figure out how to fill in the squares, since I'd never put full words in a rebus. Always something new to learn. Enjoyed it, and happy Thanksgiving all.

slogged through, over my average. no lookups, though I did consult column for smurfs. Had bafta instead of boffo but needed it to be one off instead. Didn't even get some of the jokes, like how holiday inn could be right. Finally figured out esses though. Final insult was when it wouldn't complete and I had to check it. I had imed/isl instead of dmed/dsl. Either one should work I think. Too many sudoku today, a result of being snowed in.

Tough and a bit frustrating. Had to look up a few, including the Kors/olson natick, which I needed to get a foothold on the NW part. my third lookup was versa, out of frustration. I tried reading up on ribeirinhos but nothing referred to their esteemed berries. Finally just put in acai which often appears in these puzzles. What really killed me was putting in ares instead of ajax, which I only corrected when I resorted to a puzzle check at the end. I had paradeday instead of pajamaday. Still took my average even with these cheats. At least I got the "tricky" clues on my own.

I am often one of the few who doesn't get a gimmick, but I am apparently in good company today. The closest I got was some irritation at the sloppy creator when I saw that multiple letters would work in some cases (jet/net/met). I often think "too clever by half" as an old friend from Oxford used to say, but I appreciate the craft in hindsight. As for the fill, I had no idea who the Cars singer was, and I couldn't remember the high fidelity star, but I did play a certain game called simcity back in the day, so that helped with no googling.

A tad below my average but I had to look up a few obscure names crossed with other obscure names (leonora/antoinette). I knew dada but took a while to think of deco. I got samovar crossed with psilocybin with no other letters and was proud of myself, but turns out everyone else did too. Fun and feel accomplished. Now on to basketball.

Enjoyed this one, got it filled without any help, but it didn't solve. Finally checked it and had the early smart phone wrong as it crossed with what I thought was apt for special skill. Changed the p to r and bingo. Hate combing through a sunday puzzle for a single error.

I start my crossword week on thursday, and definitely expect a rough ride. Today was fun and the theme helped. Although I didn't notice the circled letters spelled male names. Normally I hate pop culture clues since I don't google, but was able to guess them all fairly quickly. Riri was the last one I filled in.

Started this last night on my desktop, where I had the parentheses and capital letters. Still didn't figure out the trick until I came back refreshed this morning. Fun puzzle! Had to rack my brain to remember the trapp family, and I learned about atta flour from this puzzle. 0 to 60 was a good misdirect for me, and I had sir instead of sri for awhile. Overall, a positive judgement!

Enjoyed the theme answers, made the long entries approachable. No lookups so takes me awhile, just have to stare at it until the neurons connect. Didn't appreciate yiddish crossed with spanish, as I didn't know either; also I think most folks refer to their jeans as levis, not strausses. Tried to calculate how many teaspoons in a gallon and it didn't seem right but I doubt I will try again.

Took me quite awhile but finally got it, with only one partial lookup in the SE part: I knew Kia, but no clue as to the model. So I had to get Rio from google. Otherwise I just persevered. I should have gotten brainsurgery and rocketscience right away but it was fun when I finally did. I guessed baas and was glad it worked. Cubism was cute, and Cteams eluded me for awhile. Proud that I knew gnosis and Solti. Challenging, over my average, but rewarding. thanks!

Persevered and finally filled it in, but had to look up a few. Karl for example. Once again the theme was too clever for me, I put in the double letters and noticed a few that would work without them, but didn't quite get the full intent of double or nothing. Impressive. Never heard of hundos, verb for hit or miss was a late fill, dotted i was the only reason I had to change egos, which is a rock band, to egot. Glad I came back to this after giving up, somehow that makes things click that resisted before. Had Brian instead of Riley but didn't last long. Nice to see lissome used in a puzzle.

Struggled until I had the theme explained by the column. Then I enjoyed it. Looked up a couple names before i had the theme to work with. Not my best effort, but who cares. Nice puzzle.

Would have been a smooth solve until I hit the lower left part. Could not figure out how to make fourth work for the minus part. Broke down and googled Corbyn's name and that didn't help either. Didn't help that I had no idea what the pre-covenant biblical name meant. And the Time clue was no help, had "out" for the answer for awhile. Finally completed with write fourth about even though it didn't make sense. I don't like baseball but that is no excuse. Sheesh. Palm to forehead.

Tough until I got the theme at confession profession, then it was fun. Thanks!

Enjoyed this one. I even figured out the theme for once, sort of, though ldrs and teas didn't fully make sense at first but they solved the puzzle. I only occasionally have time to do the crosswords but I will miss your columns Deb.

Tough but rewarding to persevere and finally see the light. No lookups except selene, which pointed me to luna. Surprised that mnemonics worked when I put it in early. I liked staple and aunaturel, didn't much like likeliked and last dance or parentese which was my final entry. Pomelos was a new one for me, also. Nice ending to my day.

Did not know semana or yaren, but got by crosses. Takes me awhile since I don't look anything up. what got me was the x in uberx crossed with sxsw since I knew neither. This was the problem when I checked the puzzle at the end. Just had to guess after that for the right letter. I had keys for island chains for awhile until I saw it. Fun theme.