Wendy

This puzzle reminded me of one of my favorite web comics: <a href="https://www.buttersafe.com/2011/02/17/crosswords" target="_blank">https://www.buttersafe.com/2011/02/17/crosswords</a>/

I kind of feel like NYT has taken the feedback that the puzzles are too easy and have ramped up the difficulty as of late. Cue the comments about the puzzles now being too hard.

A nice little boost of confidence since it was the first Saturday I have solved without any hints, auto check, or peeking in a very long time :)

I personally found this very satisfying! It was a nice steady fill in process for me, where I didn’t have much during the first pass but successively kept filling in more and more after each pass. The fact that this is rated as “Very Hard” on xwordstats also makes me feel like I have evolved so much as a crossword solver in the past year. Regarding the fill itself: I smiled at SHOWER BEER since I remember being introduced to this concept by my first post-college roommate :)

Cute puzzle! I wish my brain had enough lateral thinking ability to recognize when letters in words can be switched around to make new words. Alas, my brain doesn’t work in that way so I will just simply admire those that can think like this :)

CMG

Really enjoyed this puzzle! Fantastic cluing! Thank you to the creator for putting this delight together.

I loved this puzzle! It was a fun brain tickler to start a leisurely Sunday morning. I was really impressed by the theme!

Crunchy!

It felt like Wednesday and Thursday were switched this week. Very enjoyable nonetheless!

Difficult but fun brain teaser. Felt extremely satisfying to get the gold star on this one. Thank you for the great puzzle.