Bibliocat

Great mix of easy and tough clues. WiiiU, Toadette, and alii were new to me! As a lifeLONG solver I love learning new words and cultural references from the puzzle every day. I kind of sympathize with folks who don’t know current references to games, music, and whatnot, but then again, what about younger solvers who’ve never heard of The Waltons (Will Geer), Jane Eyre, Janis Joplin, Gulliver’s Travels (Lilliputian), or even old episodes of The Simpsons? I think a good puzzle is a pleasant mix of the old and the new so that we don’t get stuck with predictable clues and answers. I will admit, though, that when I saw “suhweet” I thought, “Oh boy! There will be complaints! Lol!”

The puzzle was lovely, but the rotary phone video absolutely made my day! One YouTube commenter said that “Kids today will never know the satisfaction of slamming down the phone after an argument.” So true! (Although I’ve never been a slammer.) I’m looking forward to many more puzzles from Ms. Weintraub!

Terrific puzzle! Very much enjoyed it. The theme answers really made me smile! I love the moment when the light bulb goes on and I’m suddenly in on the secret.

Very challenging! I’m so grateful to be able to come to the Wordplay column and the comments section for explanations of answers such as SYN, SENT, MOS, CEES, and DET. Normally I can figure answers out eventually, but these were stumpers. Thank you all for your contributions!

Alas, I had to remove my comfortable OXFORDSHOE and replace it with a stiff ETONCOLLAR. This was a very enjoyable Friday puzzle with no lookups or naticks. TIL: Fats Domino’s real name, Salish, and Mojo Dojo Casa House. (I saw Oppenheimer instead.) “Famous British rock group“ is my favorite clue of 2024!

Please take good care of yourself and get well soon, Miss Deb! Today’s puzzle was surprisingly easy for a Friday, but nonetheless delightful. I looked for a pattern amongst the long answers, but they were just long—and fun! TIL Satie, unicorn startups, and Joao.

Terrific puzzle! I ran out of turkey sandwich and apple before finishing it, but soldiered on. I tried to rebus a couple of answers (NEWagers, headstONE) until Fargo+NE became the aha! moment. Thanks for another terrific Thursday teaser!

This puzzle was a delightful bit of California dreamin'. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Great puzzle but kind of tough for a Sunday! Today I learned about notelet, idiolect, and lemon scones. Had to check the puzzle title about halfway through and was pleased to finally have the Aha! moment at last! Lovely work throughout.

Wonderful puzzle! No lookups or naticks today. Had SOON in place of CMON for quite a while, but everything cleared up when I took out the SO. I really enjoyed the theme. Super-duper!

Great puzzle! Very enjoyable, and I loved all the misdirection. Such a nice bit of fun for a Saturday afternoon!

An easy Friday with no lookups—I must be living right, lol. I’d love to name some favorite clues, but there were so many! At any rate, today I learned KINPIRA. 😺

A tricky Tuesday with a delightfully clever theme! I had to resort to a few lookups but that’s okay because I always learn in the process. I’m looking forward to your next puzzle!

Lovely puzzle! I really enjoyed it, but the theme had me totally stumped! This is only my second visit to the Wordplay column, but I am tremendously grateful to have a place where I can come for some friendly chitchat about the puzzling theme! I also enjoy the discussion of the tricky clues. Sometimes I’m nodding my head in agreement, while at other times I’m thinking, “Oh shucks, I got that one right away.” Today, though, I struggled a long time to think of the math term—with a B in it!—for the endpoint of a radius. Ha! Got me!

A sweet puzzle! Very enjoyable. I’ll be checking out that Halloween puzzle!

The baby bear in the basket was totally worth the price of admission. I really enjoyed the puzzle! TIL Ken Jeorg, Rumi, and bidirectional rebus. As a lifelong baseball fan, however, I was surprised to learn that there is an “oh-fer” stat!

What a pun-filled delight! And a breeze, too. Usually I get them done the night before, but home renovations got in the way and the crossword had to wait until this evening. This was the perfect end to a busy day! Now I need to look up competitive punning!

Another challenging but fun Saturday puzzle! I was so torn between TOMatoes and POTatoes, and was sure I needed to pour some Ragú on the angel hair. Thank you for the link to the license plate backstory! Really enjoyed it!

So much misdirection, so many groans as I realized my errors! Thank you for a fun and challenging puzzle worthy of a Saturday slot. TIL: Cerebro!

Fun puzzle with an effortless fill. I enjoyed the volleyball theme even though I can probably walk under the net without ducking. Will never get a spike at my height! Sam, your volleyball story almost made me tear up. Good on you! I hope you still have the medal. It was a lovely gesture and well-deserved.

This was a fun theme in a pleasant puzzle to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon. No lookups, and I enjoyed watching the world’s fastest pit stop! I now know the official term for the way I talk to my cats. (PDS, not “cattish,” LOL)

Loved the puzzle! Got the theme part way through and came thiiiis close to putting in Mister Potato, but stopped myself just in time!

Great puzzle which went quicker than I expected after the first pass! My biggest stumble was filling in HEART transplant instead of ORGAN transplant. That stymied me on the down clues for a bit, but the digital version makes it so easy to make adjustments. I thought I’d make it all the way through without a lookup, but 12D (À votre ___) got me, alas. The Stanley Cup . . . I laughed out loud! Lovely play on “vessel.”

Loved the puzzle! Great fun but, alas, over all too soon. Very much enjoyed the reminder of Fawlty Towers. Someday I must try making a Waldorf salad!

Lovely Thursday puzzle with a fun twist! TIL “balayage.” I was so sad to have to remove “thesweetspot” from 19A, but very pleased to get it back again with some help from 16A. I wish there had been a couple more of the theme clues—they were delightful!

Great puzzle! Really enjoyed it all the way through. Had to Google Teagan’s partner but that was my only lookup. This was the perfect lunch (too late for brunch) accompaniment!

Great puzzle! Loved it and solved 9 minutes better than Thursday average. I’m looking forward to more from Jem—I dig!

I am currently on an 83 day streak, but when I go to the archives and open a puzzle to review, all the answers are gone! I just opened today’s puzzle—completed this morning—to discuss with my husband, and it’s blank. I play on an iPad Pro and I notice that I keep getting logged out of my NYT account. This is happening with Safari. I checked the archive in the NYT Games app and the answers are still there. Whew! Fun puzzle today, by the way!