Keith

@Kathleen Henry I think the question mark makes it fair. That tells me there's something askew. In this case it's representing a committed abstention as a habit. Not how you'd normally characterize it, but with a couple of crosses in place I think it's guessable and within bounds for a ? clue.

This is my personal best which, along with the comments from others, might have convinced me that it’s too easy. Or maybe we all got immensely better at the same time.

@Sarah this kind (or some kind) of gimmick is commonly deployed in Thursday puzzles. Most of them have some kind of twist you have to decipher. This was a tricky one for me but fun.

@Fidelio this was probably my fastest Saturday solve too. But it FELT like a challenge all the same. Really fun puzzle.

@M It used to be frequent but now I rarely don’t finish without help. If you keep solving you learn some trivia and (more often the case for me) just learn to chip around the edges until it falls.

@Dave exactly my experience too.

@Wayne I feel the same way on all counts.