Tain

The speed at which you lose control? Tempo tantrum

As a solver from across the pond, it gave me great joy to see Sam describe 'Ken' as crosswordsese. It was one of the first clues I was sure about! So much so, I even started to doubt myself, thinking it was too Scottish to be right!

Far too many proper nouns and US-specific terms, and even spelling & phrases that no one uses, for this to be enjoyable. As a British solver I've done my best to learn a lot of Americanisms, brands, history, etc. and often get stuck, but I rarely fall flat on a Monday crossword.

I found this quite tricky, but still a 'Wedneaday' level tricky. Well judged IMO.

Has no one mentioned that 87 down 'lunged (for)' is a rugby reference?

Tough gig for those of us solving outside the US

I need to kick my Britishisms to the kerb if I want to persist with NTY crosswords. And also learn that asymmetry as two m's.

56A! If you're playing in dark mode, the 'e' in the clue looks to be part of the strike through, but it isn't! Can cause issues if you get the theme before the answers!

Definitely a grid I'm thankful to solve on an app rather than ink. I had the entire bottom right solved bar one entry before realising I had made several mistakes. Quite rare, but also quite enjoyable - having a lot of something wrong is so much nicer than having a lot of nothing because I don't know.

I got done by the mini! Maybe it's a British thing to 'SLAY' someone, but even worse is how snuggly 'YOLO' fit as the across!

What's the rule on whether an early week puzzle has constructor notes or not? Is it just a matter of whether the constructor wants to say something or not?

I'm from the UK. 30D means something *very* different in my neck of the woods.