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"An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an 'Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order' sign, just 'Escalator Temporarily Stairs'. Sorry for the convenience." -MH

I saw a grid that I thought was pointing to an easy Saturday, but I was (gladly) wrong. The clueing had me *just* off balance, looking for wordplay where there was none, and vice versa. That's just good construction. I'm always puzzled when crosswords like this get labeled a 'slog' - yes, I was way over my average solve, but I was having fun the whole time.

Three Saturday stunners in a row. Loads of aha! moments due to clever but solvable wordplay. I don't get the 'obscure' arguments - this is one where you need to tilt your head and squint harder than normal. And since when does time correlate to fun? It took you longer, you worked harder; but therefore it wasn't fun? Who cares if it busts your average when the puzzle is this good! This is another that makes the subscription worth it.

What. A. Beast. Just a tremendous puzzle, a true Saturday benchmark. Can't begrudge Sam on how much this blew out my average because it was so darn good. Inspired my first post ever, and I'm running a 700+ streak. Marvelous.

Excellent Saturday challenge. As soon as I solved 'derats', I knew the comments section was going to be entertaining. I got a number of things, like 'plosives', very quickly, but got bogged down in the south west - but it didn't feel like a slog, just clever clueing slightly out of reach until it all snapped together. Overall a lot of nifty wordplay and *just enough* crosswordese.

Thinking over the 'easy' vs 'hard' debate. First, I'll say that the most aggravating thing is people saying that a puzzle 'annoyed' them or that the constructor is 'showing off', etc. I mean... we're here to do puzzles? Which by definition require some thought to solve, and also by design require more thought on different days? If thinking is annoying, wow, you are in the wrong place. I'm much more likely to praise a well-constructed grid (on any day of the week), generally more so if the puzzle took me extra time with good wordplay. I think that's where some (most?) of the 'easy' comments are coming from - not from a place of denigration, but more like feedback ('I would have liked this to be harder '). So, today I liked the theme a lot, but would agree that's it an 'easy' Thursday, and that's just where I am in my solving journey. And for all the folks in the 'hard' camp - enjoy the journey! We've all been there. Keep on solving. Time spent solving matters - there's so much crossword-ese and convention to pick up on, and intuiting that is really key to cracking the late week puzzles. 99% of the sharp solvers are in no way looking down on you, perceived tenor of comments aside.

Delightful, if a bit fiendish. Had to go really deep on this one, but getting the solve was deeply satisfying. It seems like I mostly chime in when there's controversy, but serious question: if you're a Friday/Saturday solver, why do you want every week to be a "gimme" that fits in your average solve time? Personally, these are the ones I cherish and remember, because it forces me up to my game and reconnects with the aspect of me that got me started solving in the first place: the desire for a challenge, and the satisfaction of overcoming it. I think it is important to remember that the constructor (and editors) *wants* you to solve the puzzle! The wordplay is not just for their enjoyment, but for yours as well! Have a great long weekend to those in the US, and here's to more great puzzles from the NY times crew.

Development area, fudge substitute - lots of wordplay to love here. Despite getting 'bechamel' and 'adamsilver' on the first pass, I got stranded in the northeast for a looong time, then everything clicked into place. I always enjoy Sam Ezersky's puzzles, and continually feel that I'm a better solver as a result of them.

Had to dig deep on this one! Great wordplay. For new-ish solvers this is a puzzle where you might need to throw some guesses out there, try to get a cross, and give yourself a toehold. That gets easier with experience and you can spot more letter patterns quickly. As always, I can't relate to the "obnoxious" or "annoying" comments. This took me more than my average time, but at no point did I find it boring. It's the NYT Saturday puzzle, it's supposed to be a challenge, and this was a superb example!

What a thing of beauty. This is what makes the subscription worth it. A Saturday benchmark. (And one that just blew right past my average solve time and kept sailin'.) Stunned by the complainers - this should be the kind of puzzle you look forward to at the end of the week!

The constructor knows how to bring da ruckus! This puzzle is for the children. IYKYN. (I do wish I had read the instructions first, though).

Clever theme with excellent execution. Strong clueing with a few groaners ('urning'), but hey, that's a lot of squares to fill and they were easy to get off of crosses. If I had one concern, it would be whether or not the range of the constructor's musical taste is reflected here - no sane mind could handle both Duran Duran and Nickelback.

Had three empty spots when I got the revealer, so it was a cool 'aha' moment when it clicked. Neat trick. Overall, though, the trend of easy fill on Thursday continues - I think? I went with 'et voila' immediately, but an answer in pig latin was unexpected (and funny). YMMV, at they say.

Just a really nice flow to this puzzle. Interestingly, I'd skip a clue, hopeless, only to quickly double back on a cross as the answer clicked. I panicked on the riyal/repair cross - my brain kept trying to fill in an 'o' instead of an 'i' there and I couldn't keep my eyes off the clock. But then it fell into place, like the rest of the puzzle did; an interesting experience. I just might have caught the author's wavelength.

Two Saturday stunners in a row. Loads of aha! moments due to clever but solvable wordplay. I don't get the 'arcane' or 'obscure' arguments (except, ok, WKRP - but if you're solving at this level you should know to work the crosses...) - this is one where you needed to tilt your head and squint harder than normal. This is another that makes the subscription worth it.

Oof. Looking back over the answers, I don't agree with the 'obscurity' comments (with the exception of 'apia', but I got that on a cross). All of the words and phrases are reasonable, just clued in an exceptionally clever way. Just *filthy*: 'famous potatoes', 'adds' - fair play to the constructor, I fell for the wordplay. Given where I'm from, I do take exception with 'scrod'! But that's a common mistake. All in all, a worthy Saturday, not at all a slog (although I doubled my average solve time!), I enjoyed every minute.

I made a post yesterday - with considerable thought - that explained my rationale for generally favoring constructors (and by extension, the editors) when a puzzle is 'hard'. I stand by that. The southeast in this puzzle, though - yikes. After I finished I stared at GNEISS / ANTECEDENT / CENAC / LUGER / GEE / TADAS and just had to laugh - I'm not sure that's an entirely fair set of clues. STEFANO and SKOSH - man, if you had either at hand, hats off to you. I solved around my average time but it *felt* way longer.

Wild to see a reference to my favorite childhood author, Lloyd Alexander - I genuinely thought that was a lost name. I still love 'The High King'. In general, I'm staunchly on the side of the creators/editors of the Times puzzle, but it has been disappointing that the last few weekends have featured harder-than-average-Wednesday puzzles. This happens occasionally, but this feels like a sustained funk.