Robby

The NYT crossword comments section reminds me of traipsing through the woods behind my house as a kid. Back then, I would also lift up rocks to see what lived under them. It's fine to not be familiar with extremely common knowledge like late night hosts (I myself solved PAAR on crosses) or classic optical illusions, but don't pretend your own perspective is the default if you're not willing to get out more.

Euterpe is the Muse of lyric poetry, generally. ERATO is specifically the Muse of erotic poetry, which can be lyric, but that clue feels under-researched. (All of the references I could find to ERATO being the Muse of lyric poetry are either not credible or relatively modern, leading me to suspect this is a case of bowdlerizing.)

This is one of the best crossword puzzles I think I've ever done! I'm a big fan of escape rooms. I think there could have been a bit better cluing regarding the fact that we needed to search the other clues for the answers, as that's fairly nonstandard, but once I figured that out it became a very fun scavenger hunt that absolutely approximated the fun of an escape room in my own apartment. Thanks for a great time!

One of the Mini clues is misleading. Not only does 300 not depict accurate ancient Greek attire, but the answer is a Roman garment, not a Greek one. They should have cited Gladiator or Ben-Hur or Spartacus or one of the other million movies set in Rome.

Wasted a lot of time because the HYDRA is not a sea serpent. It is serpentine, I guess, but it quite notably lived in a lake. Misleading clue.