Nikola

Dang, surprised to see the vitriol on this one! Everyone complains that NYT puzzles are too easy or that rebuses are circled or there are too many hints to the theme, and then when there's an actual hard theme that you have to figure out for yourself, everyone complains! For the record it took me until I was almost finished to figure out the theme, but once I did I thought it was clever.

Fuzzy Wuzzy made me laugh out loud, I loved this puzzle!

I did not care for this one. It was kind of all my crossword pet peeves rolled into one: - Even once I had all of the circled letters and the rebus, I couldn't visualize the pattern. - Two themed clues where they spanned across the whole board is rough, especially when the crossing clues were in many cases a stretch. - Too many proper nouns - The clues and theme did not feel appropriate for the day of publication, this felt much more like a Thursday. - Only one rebus? And surely there was a different way to represent that portion of the pattern? Not enjoyable for me, was able to eke out a solve but felt like a slog.

Delightful theme! I found myself smiling as I filled.

Wonderfully fun puzzle, with a perfect theme for Earth Day! Kudos, Hoang-Kim Vu!

I loved this one! Mobsters > Lobsters made me giggle out loud.

I don't personally enjoy puzzles where the theme centers on a single piece of media. I don't know anything about Roadrunner and had to solve this one with just the crosses. Not a fun one for me but not every puzzle appeals to everyone and that's okay.

E MINOR would have one flat, not one sharp!