Adam Smith

This was a painful trivia-fest. I'm hoping that Mr. Shortz is able to come back soon--I think that Mr. Fagliano is letting through puzzles that just aren't ready yet, and NYTXW quality has really been hurt this past month. There was some stuff to like here, but a corner with a random Swedish city near a random TV journalist, with some modern slang thrown in? I don't google things I don't know when I solve, and this just took me hours. And in the end, there wasn't any cleverness to appreciate. It was just...trivia. Not fun.

Since when do ORCs come from mud? I got it from crosses, but ?????

Is anybody else having issues where this puzzle keeps resetting? I was having that problem, and my wife just lost all her progress.