Dave

Thank you, Garrett! This was immensely fun, with a neat theme and just the right difficulty for a Thursday. I agree wholeheartedly with everyone else's sentiments about your wonderful crossword construction and congratulations on your recovery! Big thanks to Deb Amlen too, for a poignant column today that perfectly sums up one of the main reasons I (re)started my daily NYT crossword routine a year ago. Working on the crossword is merely fun some days, and some days it's a welcome and necessary distraction from life's setbacks and tribulations. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who feels the same. Thank you very much, Deb!

WOW! What a gift for Star Trek fans, and the most fun I've had on a Sunday in ages! I picked up on the theme almost immediately, but it was still a real challenge. I didn't notice some of the great details until I read the column, like why the names were spelled upside down. Ha! Thank you Mr. Newton for a fabulous puzzle! 🖖

Hats off to Katie Hoody--this was a really fun puzzle today! Oddly enough, I immediately got ZYNGA, SAMOVAR, PSILOCYBIN and some others in the SE corner, but I struggled with others that were more straightforward, like DENTS (and especially KITES). 😄 Thanks for a fun Saturday morning! Looking forward to seeing more from Katie! 😀

I don't often comment here, but today's puzzle was so good that I couldn't resist adding my 2 cents! This was a lot of fun, with just the right difficulty and an amusing theme. I had to use the palindromes to fill in "backwards" more than once to solve a few clues, but it felt like an acceptable strategy given the theme. Definitely agree with other folks here who called this one of the best Sundays ever. Thanks, Mr. Chen!

Like other folks mentioned, this was much, much tougher than usual for a Wednesday. That said, it was fun, and learning Nick Offerman collaborated on this one was an extra treat. Sam Corbin's intro and Nick's humble commentary were entertaining too! I'm looking forward to more collaborations like this one!

Wow, what a fun Sunday! I managed to split the difference between my best solving time and my average. I think that's a good indication that the difficulty was spot-on for me. The last two that fell into place for me were 13D and 104A/106D. I didn't know IRR, so I guessed PARR for the last names of The Incredibles. I had SHOPPING LANES and didn't know IRINA. Fortunately today's column explained 104A, and I finally managed to get SHIPPING LANES. 🤦‍♂️ Looking forward the more from Mr. Larson & Mr. Peterson!

Enjoyed this one, but like others here, I didn't grasp the theme until after I read the column. No worries though--I love reading the column and learning new things!

I agree 100% with so many others; this was great fun and really impressive! Thank you!

Agree with many others here that this one was a real bear to read/solve on my phone's screen. The colors made it difficult to track where my cursor was and whether I was entering letters across or down. However... The theme and overall quality of this puzzle made it *extremely* fun to solve! Kudos to Mr. Pasco & the NYT! Keep up the good work--these great Sunday puzzles really light up my Sunday mornings!

Congratulations on your puzzle and graduation! This was a fun one that felt perfect for a Tuesday; just the right difficulty, and I especially loved seeing PELE & Jackie CHAN together!

WHOA! 🤯 Bravo, Mr. Rooney! 👏 I'm really hard pressed to remember the last time I had this much fun with a theme, and on Sunday, no less! I've been a lifelong James Bond fan, which I wholly attribute to my late dad. He was such a 007 devotee that he built secret closets into his office & house, and he both a Minox spy camera and a Walther PPK. I read all the Ian Fleming novels as a kid and loved discussing them and the movies with my dad. We also both agreed that Sean Connery was our favorite Bond actor! Thank you so much for making one of my all-time favorite NYT crosswords, and thank you even more for the opportunity to reminisce about 007 and my dear old dad! 🙏

I agree with today's column; this was a lot of fun and a great way to start the week. The reference to the great song by Paul Simon and the "tuba" clue made me smile, too! Thanks @Elliot Caroll for an entertaining Monday puzzle; I'm looking forward to your next one.

This was a really fun one! The difficulty felt just about right for a Thursday too. Like @Jay, @David Hancock, and others, I managed to figure out the theme about 1/2 way through, which helped immensely. That doesn't happen very often, and I like to think it's a sign of both the puzzle's quality and my own improving skill.

Managed to finish a hair quicker than my usual Saturday time, which is a perfect way to start the weekend! Lots of fun clues, and I loved Katie's story! Growing up in FL, I had the opposite experience; we made long drives north for our vacations in the Smoky Mountains. Now as a snowbird, we've been making the MN - FL drive twice yearly, and the feelings are still the same: a little occasional boredom, plenty of appreciation for great scenery, and anticipation towards the end! 🛣️🚙

This was a fun challenge that took me back to my college days as a philosophy major. Without that under my belt, I would have had a *much* harder time with the themed entries. As it turns out, I managed to guess those but had a heck of a time with many of the "easier" ones. 😄 Lots of great Sunday puzzles this month! Thanks NYT!

Congratulations, Shaun, this was breezy & enjoyable! I'd never heard of 49D, but thanks to Sam Corbin's link, I learned something new, interesting, & fun today! Thanks! 😀

Thank you, Mr. Lieberman, for a very pleasant start to the week! The difficulty was perfect for a Monday, and the theme and revealer were clever (& a lot of fun). Really looking forward to more of your work!

I just had to comment on this one--I loved it, and like others have said already, the sound effect clue for 44D was so much fun! Really brought back memories of the old days of the internet and dialing up with a 1200 baud modem! 😄 Does anyone else remember the really old acoustic coupling ones that required you to put your telephone handset onto the modem? I think the first time I saw one was in the movie War Games. 🤔

Thanks, Sarah, for a fun, clever, & seasonally relevant puzzle! It was somewhat easy (of course, being a Tuesday), but it took me a while to catch on to the theme. I first thought the nutcracker teeth were bridges! 😄 Thanks to Sam too! I don't feel I've fully completed each day's crossword until I've read the Wordplay column. 😀 Happy Holidays! ⛄

Deb, thank you *very* much for a moving, wonderful column that prompted me to think hard about my family and our own relationships. This puzzle was a little tougher than I expected for a Thursday, but I managed to get through, and when I reviewed it again after reading the column, all the clues/answers made perfect sense. My favorite is 21A! It took a minute for me to read "A to M," but once I saw it, I loved it!

Like others have already mentioned, it took me a long time to get the theme. That said, things became much easier after that, and I went from "this is too hard for a Thursday" to "wow, this is really clever!" I especially enjoyed 40A. I've been driving one for 8 years and never knew the origin of the name! 🤦‍♂️😄

This was the most fun I've had in a while, and it felt perfect for a Sunday! I uncovered the theme about half way through, which made things a bit easier (and more fun). Thanks for a fun puzzle, Mr. Brody, and keep making more!

I got an inkling of the theme, recognizing "PARA" meant doubling (pairing) the words, but it wasn't until reading the column that I understood "pair of," which made everything much clearer. Great debut and a fun Tuesday puzzle!

I immediately got ERLENMEYER FLASK & EYE IF NEWT, except that they didn't fit... until I figured out the rebus quite a bit later. Once the theme became clear, those two (and the rest) fell into place. What fun! This is exactly what I look forward to on a Sunday!

Thank you *very* much Andrea & Christina for a very fun trip down memory lane. Like other folks have already mentioned, I was hooked on Looney Tunes as a kid, and I'll take any chance to revisit Bugs, Daffy, and the rest! (I wasn't a big fan of Woody Woodpecker, though; I think it's because he seemed more obnoxious than the other characters.) Mel Blanc was certainly a genius, too. Has anyone already mentioned the story of how his son was able to rouse him from his coma? I first heard it on Radio Lab many years ago, and it's absolutely fascinating! (My apologies if this was already posted.) <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_strange_day_when_bugs_bunny_saved_the_life_of_mel_blanc.html" target="_blank">https://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_strange_day_when_bugs_bunny_saved_the_life_of_mel_blanc.html</a>

Lots of fun & just challenging enough for a Thursday! It took me a little while to catch onto the theme until I saw NEW/T. I also didn't understand WENTAPE until I came here and realized it was WENT APE. 🤦‍♂️

Yikes! This was a real challenge. Tough, but fun!

Loved the animation at the end! I figured out the theme about halfway through, but the connect the dots element eluded me until the end. I kept trying to connect them alphabetically instead of according to the shape. 🤦‍♂️😄

I don't post here too often, but when a puzzle is this fun, I can't resist. Great theme and wonderful music, literature, art, film, etc. references! That said, there were a few stumpers that I still don't get (like GAS), but they didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. Like others have mentioned, I experienced *a lot* of nostalgia while solving this one. Thanks, Ms. Lucido!

This was so much fun and a great theme! The SW corner had me stumped for a while. I had to resort to checking today's column to get 121A, but the rest fell into place after that. 77A was a new term to me, but then again, my college dorm was all single rooms, so I never had a roommate to temporarily banish. 😄 Thanks, Mr. Kirk for a a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday!

Thank you Fritz Juhnke for a fun Friday, and thank you Deb for another great column (as usual)! There were a few clues that gave me trouble and required checking the column for a hint, e.g. REGNANT. As others have mentioned I learned SPLOOT today too--can't wait to use it in a sentence with friends and family!

A great debut and a fun Tuesday puzzle! I temporarily had the same error as several other folks when I entered "MADAME." Glad I'm not the only one!

Terrific fun, and the animation at the end was a wonderful bonus! Like other folks mentioned, the rebus hung me up for a while too, until I took a peek at today's column.

This puzzle was so much fun (and the column was entertaining too)! Brought back fond memories of the 80's, including that Zappa song. I still remember when it debuted on MTV. Nostalgia overload! 😄

What fun! Several clues really had me scratching my head, and there were several "Eureka!" moments, e.g. 3D & 13A. Overall, the difficulty was perfect; I surprised myself by solving in 10 minutes less than my Saturday average, but I felt like I was getting a real mental workout the whole time. Thank you, Mr. Judge!

From a neighbor across the river, thank you Ms. Alswager! This was a fine (& fun) debut! I managed to solve it in almost exact 1 minute longer than my Sunday average, which makes it almost perfect in my book! FWIW, I'm an older Gen X'er who played hours of the the original Mario Bros. in the arcade but never played Super Mario Bros. on the NES. That said, I was able to figure out all the themed clues from crosses and bits of gaming trivia floating around my memory banks. Count me among those folks who enjoyed this one and don't understand what all the fuss is about!

Loved RIBALD, one of my favorite words! This was a really great puzzle all around, but 26A still confuses me; how does "go through" solve to "use"?

This was a real challenge, and I reluctantly had to look at today's column for a couple hints. That said, I enjoyed it immensely and really appreciate Mr. Kugelman's hard work! I agree with Caitlin, this was a great summer puzzle!

Though I recognized the theme fairly quickly, I still took a while figuring out GRATER & PETSIT. However, I blame insufficient coffee, not the constructor! This was a good Thursday puzzle that I finished in more or less average time. Thanks for a a fun start to a leisurely Juneteenth day off!

WOW! This was really challenging, but it was a lot of fun (and perfect for a Sunday)! I partially understood the theme about 1/3 of the way through, but I didn't see the extra clues until I was 2/3 finished. I managed to figure most of them out, but I didn't catch THE DOORS until I was 100% done. Thanks for a heck of a theme; I'm looking forward to Mr. Koppy's next one! 😀

Though it seemed a little easy for a Wednesday (as someone else mentioned, almost as if Tuesday & Wednesday flipped this week), this puzzle (and theme) was a lot of fun! As other folks mentioned, Peter Pan had me a bit stumped. I never knew it was a bus line, but I'm glad to add it to my trivia stash!

Great puzzle and a lot of fun, though it took me a lot longer than it should have to realize it wasn't a rebus. I recognized that "ice" was missing pretty early on, but it took reading Deb's column (and a gigantic forehead slap) to realize I just needed to omit the letters. Once I sorted that out, the rest fell into place pretty quickly. Looking forward to more like this from Mr. Ayas!

This was an enormously fun theme! Once I figured out 22A, I had a hunch about the rest, which made things a tad bit easier. Perfect for a Sunday morning! I totally agree with the note about TikTok and 57A. 18D was right in my wheelhouse and such an amusing surprise that I immediately sent it to my friends who played Doom with me back in the 90's! Thanks for that great bit of computer game nostalgia!

Wow, this was a fun one! Like other folks, I didn't even catch on to the W/D theme until I read the column and went back to look at it again. I'm looking forward to lots more from Mr. Boroughs!

Thank you, Kathy Lowden! This was a lot of fun, and I (re)learned a lesson about the value of reading carefully. When I didn't hear the music after finishing, I spent a while reviewing everything I had entered, only to discover that I had rushed through and typed OODLES OF NOODLES without reading the clue. Doh!