Dave

An overly-elaborate feat of construction often goes hand in hand with the unfortunate byproduct of being a slog to solve, due to all the less-than-ideal fill that is usually needed to pull off the gimmick. Not here, though. Wow. I've been solving the puzzle here every day for about a decade now, and I can't recall a better example of an amazing construction combined with tons of fresh clues/answers. I am in awe of this puzzle. Just an amazing job, all around!

Robyn Weintraub just doesn't swing and miss with her Friday puzzles . . . ever. She is SO consistently great.

Thanks Deb, for sharing that heartfelt tribute. I have been on a similar journey with my dad the past few years, and I try to call him daily because we really don't know how much longer we have with him. As for the puzzle, I had to smirk when the one letter that I couldn't get without peeking at the answer was the U in BRUH. I had BRAH instead . . . I guess I thought PACKS seek goals too?? With a 11- and soon-to-be 13-year-old, I've heard countless iterations of BRUH, BRAH, and now everyone (including females) just get called BRO. Needless to say, my kids would be none too impressed with my solving skills today :) My one nit with the puzzle is OBSCENEST, especially since it is part of the first themed answer. Is it technically a word, sure, but so is OBSCUREST, and it is most obscure to see either word in -est form!

Whenever I solve a Friday or Saturday puzzle especially unusually quickly, I like to hop on here and see if a lot of others similarly breezed through the puzzle or if this was just a puzzle where the clues were in my wheelhouse of knowledge more than average. Sometimes it is both . . . the puzzle can be objectively and subjectively easy (or difficult). At any rate, I enjoyed this one as well as its relative lack of 3-letter crosswordese. And being a Gen Xer born in 1976 (a Dragon year, so I was aware 2024 is as well), I happened to get 16A right off the bat, which opened the puzzle up very quickly for me (especially for a Saturday).

YADIG crossing with LYDIA and GARI? Oof. "Ya dig" sounds like something the guy who speaks "jive" in the movie Airplane would say . . . just ridiculously outdated and stereotyped jargon. Other than that, I thought it was a fun puzzle with a cute theme.

I'll echo the general sentiment so far: great puzzle (especially for a debut), but the theme--while unique and interesting--makes this puzzle a better candidate for a Tuesday...

Fun Thursday puzzle with a great and innovative theme. Two thoughts though: 1. KAMAHAMEHA crossing with both MOLTS and NIHAO is definitely one of the more glaring (double) Naticks I've seen in a while; and 2. I was going to make some crack about the GULFOFMEXICO but I'll pass

I'll echo what others have almost uniformly said so far: that was quite the breezy Thursday puzzle! I enjoyed it for the short time I solved it . . . well, that is except for 56 Down. (The last thing I want or need to think about before going to bed is the f@%#ing NRA . . . ugh.)

CROCUS crossed with DISTROS was definitely approaching Natick territory for me, but besides that cross, I thought the puzzle flowed nicely, with a good mix of interesting clues, answers, and not too much bad fill at all. Nice job :)

Nice puzzle, although it felt way more like a Tuesday-level of difficulty. Fun and breezy throughout, although I'm not sure I agree with Sam's characterization of TSKTSKED being "delightful." :)

As a lawyer and West Wing lover, I definitely smiled when I realized POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC was an answer. I also really like the rest of the puzzle too . . . enough to look past IZZATSO, which has to be in the running for Worst Fill of 2024. (Has that word ever been uttered more than a few times outside of a crossword puzzle? Google doesn't seem to think so...)

I liked this one a lot; fun with a well-executed and clean theme/gimmick. I wonder, though, why this puzzle was slotted on a Wednesday . . . I have done the NYT daily puzzle every day for almost a decade now, and today's sure feels most appropriate for a Thursday... At any rate, hats off to Mr. Hale :)