Heather K

"You! All of you!" I laughed out loud when I filled in SOLVERS! Some clever clues... "Hold, please?" I NEED A HUG! 😁 Had a good time with this puzzle; thanks.

Thought I would get a start on tomorrow's puzzle, and I was so captivated I ended up doing the whole thing. Very clever! I didn't know JA RULE at all, so that was the last to fall. I also really enjoyed Deb's column...love her solving method tips! Hee hee. I've definitely employed "staring woefully;" maybe I will add in "sighing plaintively" in the future to help even more!

What a great puzzle! It took me awhile to figure out how everything worked, although in retrospect, it does seem obvious 🙃. I was delighted to see Bend, Oregon in the puzzle...my mom moved there (all the way across the country, from Maryland) when she retired, and my sister lives there now, so I am quite familiar with all the roundabouts! We are starting to get them here in northern Michigan, and I think they are great. My dad was also a traffic planner and advocate of roundabouts, so I may be biased. A couple favorite clues...[20/20], which turned out to be a nice straight-forward math clue...and [gray and yellow, perhaps], which turned out to be verbs...love that! Thank you, Michael and Oliver Schlossberg! A very enjoyable start to my Sunday!

Wow, this was just a good, solid puzzle, with everything interesting and no garbage. Enjoyed from start to finish. Thank you, Corry Cropper! More, please!

Wow. Just wow! I'm about two thirds of the way through, and just figured out what is going on. I laughed out loud and sat here with my jaw hanging open for a good long while, taking it all in. I guess I can erase those extra letters I've been putting in, now that I can see ... well, I don't want to totally spoil it for anyone here who has not figured it out, but if you have, you know what I was going to say! And now, back to this GREAT PUZZLE!!

A great Friday puzzle! Thank you, James McCarron! Loved TODAY YEARS OLD. And [Image just over a foot]; ha! Good one. TIL where Kotoka International Airport is, and that Brokeback Mountain was not filmed mostly in MONTANA (though it fit so perfectly!). Had a few wrong things in there (TIE on a rack) but kept circling back around and eventually everything fell into place. Great clues and great puzzle.

Very clever! I happened onto the revealer early on, so that helped a lot. Impressed that all the in-betweeners were also real words. A fun puzzle; thanks John Kugelman!

Best. Clue. Ever. "Canniest, for instance?" Ha! Luckily I already had all but one letter filled in, or that would have taken me a lot longer. As it was, I filled it in, then took awhile longer to figure out this glorious, very clever trick...I could kind of see what was going on with the right-hand side of the grid's circles, but was not quite clear on what would work on the left or how the whole thing worked in general. (I'm being obtuse because I don't want to give anything away here!) But when it all became clear, it was a big wow!! What a great Sunday puzzle; thank you, Daniel Grinberg!

Wow, this was really fantastic! I am very impressed! I had SOUTHEAST filled in and was trying to think of things in the southeast for the answers to the starred clues...it was clear one of them was OLD FAITHFUL, and I thought "How could that possibly be considered the Southeast??" and as I filled in the others and noticed they were all in their spots on the grid as in real life, it dawned on me that maybe we were dealing with multiple possibilities for the revealer answer...and yep!! Wow, masterfully crafted! Thanks for a very fun "a ha" moment!

Great puzzle! I particularly loved the WHOSAGOODDOG clue. I love dogs and can't imagine life without them, but I still didn't think of this angle when reading the clue...until I finally did and then a ha! So fun! HEGIRA was lodged somewhere on a dusty shelf in my brain, but I did look it up to confirm. That's the fun of puzzles; learning (solidifying?) new things!

A fun and clever puzzle! Very satisfying that O-U-R British was used so neatly as the revealer!!! Need to file OGEE away for future arch-related questions...it was there somewhere in the back of my brain, so helped me with the Spanish article, which, as somone just pointed out, could end with one of three letters. Been away from the crossword for awhile...we are fostering-to-adopt a little puppy from our local shelter. He came with a broken leg, so that has been taking most of my attention. What a delightful puzzle to come back to; hope for more from John Ruff! HA! I just looked up the author of this puzzle to write the above, and I am chuckling that the author's name is so befitting of my dog-oriented world these days!! 🤣

I thought this was an absolutely perfect Thursday puzzle! Ingenious! I am not quite finished with it because I am stuck in the NE corner with ones that are apparently not tricky for anyone else...I came to the column for a tip, but I already had all the ones in the column! Back to it; I'm sure something will occur to me eventually. What a fun puzzle to wrap one's noggin around!

This was just a totally great puzzle; thanks!

Wow, what a great puzzle! Gem after gem! So much fun to figure out these clever clues!

A very fun and clever puzzle. Thank you!

So clever! I loved it! I don't know much about football, but I had enough on the crosses by the time I got to the bottom of the puzzle to figure out that it was REVERSE, and then A HA! GLOATS finally made sense! Great puzzle...just the right amount of "Huh?" before the "A ha!" (I love Thursday puzzles, you can probably tell!)

Wow! Another amazing, ingenious, totally clever idea! I'm only halfway through (bottom half done), but had to come here and say wow!!

Wow! Amazing puzzle...I love that the theme answers still make words! Didn't notice until I had filled in the second one, then went back and looked at the first and was appreciative and amazed. So clever! and yep, probably the quickest revealer fill-in ever for me...the first song I thought of from Wicked turned out to fit perfectly, and from there I filled in Elpheba (albeit in the wrong order; had to reread the clue and correct). Great puzzle, Howard Neuthaler; thanks! PS I want to put in a plug for seeing Wicked...it is an interesting take on a childhood story, and so well done by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the current movie version. And part two is coming out very soon! Or read the book it's based on, if that's more your jam...Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

Smoooooth and fun!! My favorite clues: [Small branch of Marvel comics?] [Jalapeño topper] [Steps on a scale] That last one just made me smile, as I am a community choir director and I should have thought of it! but was thinking of the kind of scale that weighs things. Such a great puzzle today; thank you, Robyn!

SO FUN!!! How do they think of these ideas? I appreciate you so much, puzzle creators!

What a fun puzzle! Thank you, Jacob McDermott! I had an errant "O" until I realized I had spelled TANDEM wrong (TANDOM; whoops!). Trying to make CLEAVE into CLEOVE to make the trees sides match didn't work at all. 😆 Happy holidays to all!

That was a toughie, but I liked it. I had to look up the Apple TV show...I had _AMAL and I tried JAMAL, which was wrong, but netted me the correct answer. Believe it or not, I did know the iconic phrase from Taxi Driver, but of course it made perfect sense once I put in K instead of J! And TIL what a ratite is. Good puzzle.

Fun puzzle; thank you!

I liked today's puzzle a lot. Had to put it aside and come back to it a few times...I'm always amazed how that somehow helps! Little by little it all fell into place. Some clever clueing...I liked filling in NEARSIGHTED, because that is totally me! Right above it I had madetheCASE for the longest time, but aE didn't look like a likely ending for a [tiny opening], so I had another look at those two and figured out the right answer. Thanks for a great puzzle, Zachary, and also, I just enjoy someone who uses the word "paucity" in general conversation. Appreciation from your fellow word nerd.

A very pretty grid; I was impressed right away. Wasn't getting too far on my first pass around the clues and thought about putting the puzzle check on, but I have surprised myself by completing it with no look-ups, using the technique of just keeping at it! Sometimes I find stepping away and coming back later brings new thoughts to the things that stumped me before. Interesting the way the brain works.

A delightful puzzle! So much fun to figure out! I'm amazed it's a debut. Well done, Avery Gee Katz!

Very clever puzzle; great fun. Thank you, Kareem!

Good puzzle! Very chewy. I went all the way around on it last night and was not coming up with much...I thought well, this might be one to solve with the puzzle check on, so I can still have fun...slept on it, came back in the morning; voila! a few more fill-ins, and on each pass, it just came together a little bit more. Crosses helped me guess most of the trivia I didn't know, and when I was still stuck in the SW corner, I came here and got some help with KITES; thank you! KSU, not ASU. Here's one I was sure of that was wrong: NICE, for something that can mean excellent, okay, or bad, depending on the context. I had first filled in WHOA, and that was clearly wrong. Then I thought of NICE and was so pleased with myself! Ha. It took a long time to give that up. 😜

Nice!! Very fun effect with the online version!! Well done, Adam Wagner and NYT crossword team!

This was a good puzzle, and I am proud of myself that I did it without the puzzle check on. I'm going for a gold December! (Other months I just try to make nice-looking patterns with gold and blue, and there usually ends up being a nice blue wall on the right-hand side. 🙂) I wasn't getting much of anywhere the first bunch of passes around the puzze. I resorted to penciling in (I'm solving online) a bunch of stuff, some of which helped and a lot of which was wrong. But verrry gradually I began to get a few answers, and then more and more fell into place. The last to get solved was the top section...I had FOOD COLORINGS for the longest time. TIL a few things...that an OTTER is a relative of a wolverine...that popes used to wear a TIARA...that little awks are SEA DOVES and morning prayer is MATINS (must have adopted from the French?). Thanks for a good workout, and my take-away is "If at first you don't succeed, go 'round, go 'round again" (and maybe put it aside and come back to it later...and also look at it and sigh! a la Deb--ha ha!)

This was a great puzzle, fun from start to finish. I enjoyed figuring out the little trick...I saw a Mark was missing, but needed to solve more to figure out the variations and subsequent theme answers. So clever! Great column, too, Sam!

Great puzzle! Enjoyed the cluing and all the theme answers. The last to fall for me was the Beavis and Butthead sequel (no idea) crossed with the Philippine marinades (also no idea). With only one letter to fill in, I tried a few (AmOBOS? with mARIA as the sequel...ApOBOS...AlOBOS?) and then lucked out with ADOBOS. Will file that away for future reference! Thanks for a clever and engaging puzzle, and yes thanks also for your work with Dogs for Better Lives, placing assistance dogs.

Fun puzzle; thanks Adryel W. Robles Ojeda! Muy divertido!

Great puzzle! I didn't know what those circles were for until I had finished the whole puzzle, and then I saw what he had done with the entries at the top; wow!!! I am impressed. Very clever! Really enjoyed it.

Fun and clever puzzle; thank you, Mac Motz! Quite a feat to get all the clues with two starting m's...I didn't mind the bold. Looking back, I realize they did it because there are other m's in the clues, too, and they wanted to emphasize the starting aspect. Didn't bother me. Thanks for a great start to my day...look forward to more from you!

Totally fun! Loved the animation at the end. Thanks!

Love this puzzle! Thanks, Royce Ferguson!

Wow, that was a really a feat! Great puzzle!

Fun puzzle; great Thursday! Thanks, Simeon Seigel!

Great puzzle! I laughed out loud at 45 Down, "They're right at 90 degrees." Perfect Monday!

Great puzzle! Very clever; I loved it! Also, I love birds, so double bonus. To answer Sam's question about the shaded squares...hmm. I think I would have eventually figured it out, but it would have been frustrating; as it was, it was pure fun! I am used to there being shaded squares when there is trickery afoot, so that is a factor. I think I would have enjoyed it and figured it out either way, but I like it the way it was. Thank you, Alex Murphy!

Very cute puzzle! Loved the graphic at the end. I would not have come up with that competitor, but all became clear when I figured out the sacred bird of ancient Egypt (Isis? no, that's a goddess...Iris? no, a flower...) I-something-I-something, and suddenly I remembered the beautiful IBIS. Fun solve today! Thanks, Jonathan Raksin and Jeff Chen!

Good one! Enjoyed figuring this one out. At first, I thought maybe it was only the clues with blanks in them...NUEVA YORK was the first to fall for me, although I had already filled in HARP and a few others. They just seemed a little weird, but my brain was just taking the gist and automatically adjusting. But there were only two clues with blanks, so that didn't seem like it could be it. I finally realized they were *all* backwards and then everything fell into place. Fun to have two revealers for this, so nicely placed around the one long reminder for the downs. Well done, Hoang-Kim Vu!