Tuesday

@Lin it’s like if “rainy weeks” was used to clue SUMMER. It’s not technically wrong because there are rainy weeks in summer, but it’s both a really bad example of summer weather and an accurate description of other times of year. Mods as a category don’t always include cosmetics and many cosmetics are acquired in the course of normal gameplay. The issue isn’t that the clue is overly specific, but that it uses such bad examples that the answer no longer fits.

@abelsey that and YOLO are about a decade outdated. I should know because that’s when I graduated high school!

@Andy G agreed! My friends and I are pretty big gamers. Mods are a significantly broader category than merely cosmetics (as specified in the clue) to the point that for some games, cosmetics are even considered to be their own thing, not mods at all (eg. “custom content” in Sims 4). I penciled in the right answer, but thought it was probably wrong until I literally finished the whole puzzle because of how poorly it fit the clue. I’m guessing the puzzle maker and editor aren’t gamers, which is how they ended up on this clue. Speaking as someone who is though, I’d suggest MODifying it. Perhaps “new move or accessory…” or “new map…” to stick with the video game theme.

@Joe “backed” in this context means funded, so “backed a work” means funding a show

@Margot I found it a little difficult for a Monday too. For me, the level of difficulty would have been a better Tuesday fit. Sometimes the editors evaluate a puzzle as harder or easier than most solvers find it to be. Other times, a puzzle ends up being harder or easier for me than for most people. No harm done either way, it seems to happen in both directions (hard puzzles too early and easy puzzles too late in the week), neither very frequently. Difficulty is hard to evaluate because one person’s gimmes are another person’s stumpers. Unless this becomes a pattern of misplaced puzzles, I don’t think the editors are doing something wrong. Definitely a frustrating solve for both me and you today though!

@Cat Lady Margaret I don’t believe I’ve ever done so, but as a kid, my dad once humored my request to go around the rotary multiple times for fun. RAMA LAMA DING DONG had me completely stumped. Usually I can figure out unfamiliar song names by guessing words once I have enough crossings, but this one was, as my husband put it, intentionally unguessable nonsense. It was a big frustration for me in an otherwise enjoyable puzzle, especially as one of the theme clues (I loved the loop de loops once I got my app updated).

@Keith A that’s my experience more often than you’d expect and I too found today’s puzzle easier than yesterday’s! I think once it gets to the end of the week, difficulty is a bit more individually determined. Much of it seems to comes down to what I know and don’t know, plus how well my thought process aligns with the clue writer’s. Very open grids are especially tricky for me, and I’ve notice them more often on Fridays. It really is so individual, so I think a Saturday for me could be someone else’s Friday and vice versa.

@APNerd same! I got the rest of the puzzle on my own, but ended up needing the column and the comments to figure out that NW corner.

@Elie Levine thanks for putting the notice in the info section of the puzzle and making the i blink! The circles only showed for me after updating, so that notice was the difference between me solving the puzzle and being utterly baffled by it.

@cal 65A really bothered me too! Why did the clue have an abbreviation, but not the answer??? I got “one” on my first pass, but discarded it immediately for that reason and only hesitantly wrote it in after a corroborating cross.