Matt

This puzzle was deeply unsatisfying. I won't fault the theme for being corny—by itself that's not a crime because not everyone has the same sense of humor. But the horrible clues, trivia, and boring standard crossword fill that surround the theme entries feel like Messrs. Kahn and Shortz have created a "heads we win, tails you lose" scenario for us. Quite a week.

Reading through the comments, I’m surprised that HOMERUNTROT isn’t earning more criticism. It’s American-centric, as people have pointed out, but as an American, I feel that’s it’s clued in a too-clever, not-quite-used way. A home run trot is certainly a thing, and it’s certainly a trip around something—I have no objection to the answer—but the field? Perhaps the infield, perhaps the basepaths, but the field in baseball is green. A home run trot happens on the brown. In this era of AI, I encourage constructors and editors to put a focus on staying very close to actual usage. It’s how we distinguish ourselves as humans.