Mark

My, my, my. Most everyone seems cranky and not too nice today! Stephen, believe it or not, some of us enjoyed your puzzle! It was a great debut! I hope to see more from you.

I love it when a puzzle seems daunting at first yet presents itself nicely as I ply the grid. I had almost nothing for half the time it took me to solve, but then it all came together marvelously. Kudos for this debut!

Having been at odds with this puzzle might have to do with the fact that I am recovering from heavy anesthesia. I finally got through it! I just underwent a heart ablation to fix my AFib. I am thrilled that my heart is now beating at a steady rate! Resting rate is 50 which is a lot better than my all time low of 30. When I am active the rate is averaging 58. I can’t exercise for a while but I hope to be back on the trail soon to see how I do getting my heartbeat up to target. Last time I hiked I went into AFib and almost passed out. If you aren’t sure you want to undergo an ablation I’d like to assure you that it’s not a bad experience at all. Some discomfort, that’s it.

According to a lab analysis, I have more Neanderthal DNA than most anyone. Yet, I was still able to finish this puzzle in good time.

I really appreciate a puzzle where the themed answers are so thoughtful and fun, as well as clever. For me it clicked at MAKE AN IMP ACT. Great job, Garrett Another reminder that it is Mental Health Awareness Month, since OCD is an answer in today’s puzzle. OCD is something that has been made light of, but it is really not a laughing matter. I suffered from debilitating OCD when I was younger. In one of its many manifestations, I would go back and check my front door dozens of times to make sure I had locked it. I didn’t go out much, it was too exhausting. Fortunately, I have worked through my anxiety for the most part and enjoy a fairly normal life. I cringe when I hear people use the term casually and/or callously.

This puzzle stacked up nicely! I always like a rebus. 👍 Happy Thanksgiving, fellow solvers. ✨🦃

Luckily SEXILE was easily inferred because I hadn't heard that one before. It made me laugh. Actually, the whole puzzle made me laugh. It was a romp! I always wonder what goes into a puzzle so clever, and now I know how many attempts might be needed. Seems the eleventh time is the charm! Thanks for sticking with it, Andrew. Surely more will follow in rapid fashion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this crossword, especially since I live at 7200 feet! A fine collaboration by Willa Angel Chen Miller and Matthew Stock! Thanks you two! I found the clues to be clever. I like when I encounter a word, such as 9D, where I have to think about its applications. 31A is the kind of clue I find very entertaining. There were a few things I had no knowledge of, but after circling around a few times, I figured them out. A fun one solved in average time!

This was really a great themeless puzzle to work through. Seldom am I this impressed by a themeless. Dynamic, clever and fluid like molasses. It was a slow and sweet solve. Some of my family tree has roots in farming, TEAT made me chuckle. Although milking is usually done by machine these days, who doesn’t want to try their hand at it just for fun? When I was 43 years old, my father finally came around as a father, and apologized for being a terrible, neglectful one during my childhood. He gave me a Gameboy that came with a POKEMON game for my birthday that year. I was stunned that he would even think to purchase such a novel thing. Then realized he had actually put some thought into it, and that was really a novel thing. I was addicted to playing POKEMON every spare minute for quite a while. I still have my POKEMON games and Gameboy tucked away in a box with other happy memories.

Nice solo debut, Harrison! Thanks for taking us for a spin!

This one wormed its way into my heart ❤️

Landon, congratulations, your dogged perseverance is commendable! Thanks for taking the long and winding road and arriving at this wonderful Wednesday wordplay.

Today’s comments are a highly entertaining study in contrasts, the gamut from the easiest/fastest ever (Do we really believe this?) to the most hated (hyperbole, no doubt) to advice for the constructor/NYT on how to improve a perfectly wonderful puzzle.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day, from one who has 7% Irish DNA! For those who have asked: Today marks six weeks since my heart ablation to fix AFib. It has changed my life! I have regained all the energy I had been losing at a steady rate. Although I keep in mind that it is not considered a success unless one remains free of AFib for a year. If it should return, I would gladly undergo a second ablation. That usually does the trick.

A sort of fun, sort of annoying crossword. Great theme but too many proper names. Solved nearly the entire puzzle but got stuck in the weird and unseemly convergence of highbrow and lowbrow stuff in the NE corner. It turns out I was vaguely familiar with all but one of the answers. I needed one look up - Lisa Ling - then the rest came to me. So a fun puzzle overall but lacking some thoughtfulness with the crosses.

A wonderful puzzle today. I solved it in good but not record time. The circled letters had no bearing on me solving this, however, I always marvel at that sort of wordplay. Thoughtfully clued through for the most part. Fascinated by the history of the House of Tudor, I loved that there were two of the six wives of Henry VIII included in this puzzle. It's always sad to contemplate the fate of any of Henry's wives, but I feel the most (although hard to choose) for the dutiful and pious Catherine Parr. Within her short life of 36 years: she outlived two husbands; was almost ready to marry a third when Henry chose her to be his queen/nurse; the ailing Henry dies; she has to marry her previous beau in secret since it's only four months since the king died; she dies after childbirth less than eight months later. Her husband, Thomas Seymour, is beheaded for treason six months later, and her orphaned daughter's whereabouts afterward is not known for certain. (I think I have that right, but feel free those historians among us.)

This puzzle was perfection! Everything in this masterpiece fell into to place steadily and wonderfully, but not without difficulty. Thankfully, never once did I feel a word was shoved in with a shoehorn. Many thanks, Paul! Two days in a row now I have felt such gratitude for puzzles so thoughtfully constructed, so organic, and so so clever. Yes, perfection!

I've only recently begun to comment here and on other NYT game forums. I have caught on fairly quickly that grousing about a puzzle, or worse, succumbing to braggadocio are recurrent themes. Now, I do my best to avoid anything that might hint at these things. If you hate the puzzles so much, why bother with them? If you find them so easy, why bother with them? I guess these great mysteries will never be solved here in Wordplay purgatory. To those of you who are truly clever, I truly enjoy your quips and insight.

Just as most solvers state, this felt more like a Wednesday. Took me quite a few minutes more than usual. A great puzzle with many clues that took a bit to crack. Quite a few aha moments! Loved it, Dana!

My condolences, Deb. I am glad you had so many wonderful years with your dad and that thinking of him brings an emotional response. He seems to have been a great dad. I am happy he introduced you to the world of puzzles. One of the very few good things I remember about my father was solving crosswords with him. All I learned from him otherwise was how not to be. Fortunately I am a quick study. I loved today’s crossword! I’m glad Deb drew the lenticular art analogy because that describes it so well. Thanks Rebecca and Adam for coming up with an unusual twist for today’s themed answers! I really enjoyed solving this one.

Wow, Ryan, I am glad you persisted in your quest, and that you are now among the amazing contributors whose puzzles entertain me daily here in the NYT. Forty times, now that is dogged! Congratulations on your triumph today. I enjoyed your debut crossword puzzle so much. I hope every one of your next forty makes its way to these pages!

It finally dawned on me as I studied the ARTOIS/BARHOP connection, then I was able to complete the puzzle, a true Thursday puzzle at that! Thanks, Hannah!

This one brought a smile to my face. A clever puzzle with some fun clues that require a bit of pondering (e.g. What's deep in a pit?). This one took me a tad bit longer to solve than my usual time for a Monday. Thanks, Elliot, for all your work on this crossword! Another wonderful debut among many of late.

A very cleverly constructed puzzle with a great reveal! Evocative of the feeling one gets when a real tree is lit for the first time. I was greatly amused when I saw that the O's represented ornaments. Thanks, Jacob, for all that went into constructing this crossword! A fairly straightforward puzzle otherwise, but took me two minutes longer than my best time for a Wednesday.

As one who frequently forgets what day of the week it is, I just thought I had it wrong, once again! 😂 Once I got the theme it all made sense. Fun!🤩

Both the Crossword and Strands puzzles have wonderfully creative grids. Even the Mini had a twist. A great puzzle day! Thanks to all the constructors!

BANANASEAT made me laugh, and gave me hope that I might solve this Saturday puzzle without too much trouble, and so I did. A lot of unknown trivia but so thoughtfully crossed that it was not insurmountable. Ryan McCarty’s clueing is tough but fair, and always entertaining! Kudos once again!

After perusing the puzzle a bit, I got a foot in the door at SELSUN Blue. From there it was a fun and pretty steady solve aside from the occasional clever misdirect. But I never cried uncle, even though it took me a while to get NO MAS. Who says a Friday puzzle can’t be fun? It can be done!

Great puzzle! Mr. Bodily certainty embodies the qualities of a fine crossword constructor. So many complaints about PAN IN, ad nauseam. Aren’t we all used to this sort of license by now? Maybe not. I’m pretty sure most of us figured out the answer without too much difficulty.

Quite the wow factor! An amazing conceit! I marvel at this sort of ingenuity. Not too difficult but highly entertaining. It was fun to see TREACLE. I like treacle pudding a lot. Something I seek out when in England. It is more a steamed cake than what we call a pudding in the USA. Comfort food. I have never seen lychee spelled LITCHI, so that was puzzling, yet it had to be QUINTILLION. Thanks, Kareem!

That was a big no-no! And I mean that in the best way.

Solid hour for this one. I am not a person who has ever clicked with pig Latin, but even so, the knowledge that it was in play helped me figure this whopper on my own. Believe it or not, I solved this on my iPhone mini. For a while, I thought about switching to my laptop, but I like that the phone travels well. I am ashamed to say I was a boob and took the bait at 79D!

I loved this clever one! By the time I reached 37A I knew the theme even though I have not seen the majority of films mentioned. I appreciate the care that went into the construction of this puzzle, one that never resorts to iffy entries, that is, not one groaner. Kudos to Jerry for his highly entertaining crossword!

A fun puzzle! Thanks, Kathy Bloomer and Jeff Chen. I will point out that they missed the sixth sense, though. Sorta predictable!

Fun and quick! The construction is admirable and adorable. Happy 2025! ✨🎉💥⚡️❄️🎆

A fun and challenging crossword with difficult yet realistic clues. I really clicked with this one. Thanks, Robert, for an enjoyable puzzle.

A clever one. Hey, rebuses that actually are rebuses! Wonderful! It took some "Concentration" to figure this one out. I had trouble in the SE: never heard of MOORE, the phrase STEALS UPON is a bit quaint, I have an aversion to the (over)use of ly words such as RUDELY, and for some weird reason I had "string" on the brain instead of THREAD! I finally got through it when I thought of aye MATEY! What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday? Aye-matey!

I had to sleep on this one. Sometimes I finish the crossword in one spell but the eyelids grew heavy. Woke up, resumed, and like magic, everything appeared. That made the solve all the more fun. Lots to like in this puzzle. Thanks, Colin, for the smiles! Even though I was able to figure out the trivia, I see in the comments that many struggled with it. I lucked out. Quite a few things I hadn’t heard of but the crosses revealed them. I could see, though, how others would have trouble.

Although I have never heard of the PHENOM Caitlin Clark, I have seen THE MONA LISA who is also quite phenomenal. The first time I saw her, so long ago, one could see her up close. Now she has become a bit ANTISOCIAL and who can blame her, not a moment’s rest. NO WORRIES though, the Louvre has so many other artworks, beautiful things that are practically ignored, that one can admire in peace. Today’s puzzle was great! 👍 Thank you, Christina and Jacob.

This was a tough one. I didn't have the patience by the time I ended up in the NW corner, which really should have been pretty easy. It is funny how one's mind does(n't) work. Maybe it is no coincidence that Mental Health Awareness Month and Mother's Day both come in May. Please remember that many of us have not known a loving and/or sane mother. If there is someone you know who is "distant" maybe they are suffering in silence. Give them a call or a text today to let them know someone is thinking of them.

This one was on the money!

Caryn Robbins has made a great debut! Kudos to her! This puzzle was clever, fun and mildly challenging. It took me a little while but I steadily circled around and solved it without issue. So many quibbles about a puzzle that was very enjoyable. Crossword constructors frequently take license and any solver knows to expect that.

Another finely crafted New York Times Crossword debut. Thanks Henry! I circled back a few times and figured everything out in my usual manner, but not in record time. A bit tricky but never did I feel duped. Deb, wishing you a speedy recovery, and thanks for delivering your commentary in spite of your terrible ailment.

I solved this in the wee hours during an AFIB attack that kept me from sleep. I left a brief comment then. Now, I just circled back to see what everyone else thought of this puzzle. Very mixed reviews. Many say it was too easy. I instead marvel at what went into constructing this puzzle. So although I solved in record time for me, I took a minute to stop and smell the roses. Six weeks and counting until I have a procedure that should take care of my AFIB. Looking forward to doing the puzzles after a good night's sleep!

I am glad this was so easy for many. For me it was a bit of a challenge. I hadn’t heard of whatsboutism, and it took a while for ten-dollar words to come to mind. Fortunately, the clueing was telling yet clever enough. I worked this one out in a bit over my average Saturday.

I floundered around a bit until I figured out KAMEHAMEHA, and then the rest came to me steadily. I loved the theme. A fairly easy yet fun Thursday puzzle.