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@Bellevue Bob Everyday? I just checked the past week of puzzles and didn’t see a single clue about transgender people other than the one in this puzzle. Perhaps you are referring to clues related to pronouns? But if you associate any reference to a part of speech used in nearly every sentence spoken in the English language as a secret political demonstration about trans people rather than an accessible way to clue answers that are quite literally pronouns… the real question is why are you so obsessed with trans people?

@Bruce Just wanted to say that I appreciate your ability to share where you struggle and not immediately blame the constructor and editor like so many people on here do. When I have a puzzle that I need to cheat on, I try to remember the little facts and tidbits I learn from the answers. “Hey Ya” is a very fun classic from the duo OutKast (Andre 3000 was one of two if you’ve heard of him? He dropped an instrumental album that surprised many featuring his phenomenal flute playing in 2023). “Ms. Jackson” is another classic. I really like “SpottieOttieDopalicious” (some amazingly clever lines that I think a crossword player would appreciate) And try some flautas sometime at a mexican restaurant (unless you’re gluten-free… stick with taquitos that use corn tortillas instead lol). Tasty tasty! Then you’ll remember them forever the next. Cheers to learning new things and continuing the solving journey!

@Vj One did the movie, the other did the musical. And I can never remember which is which… lol. Fortunately for crosswords, both have different amounts of letters :)

@JohnWM You are not entitled to easily solving a puzzle You are not entitled to easily solving a puzzle You are not entitled to easily solving a puzzle You are not untitled to easily solving a puzzle I will never understand the commenters who go awry on these posts when a puzzlemaker does something different than they expect.

@Barry Ancona I find your insinuation that this puzzle was full of obscure trivia surprising. I went to play your linked puzzle and was immediately hit with 3 clues in the top left corner that felt like obscure trivia to *me*. I don’t know generals, French physicists, or what BPOE stands for. If I committed to the whole puzzle, I’d hope I could start filling in crosses and figure them out. In nearly every puzzle the Times publishes, I see a comment along these lines. Might some trivia deemed “obscure” for you be common knowledge for another? I expect crossword puzzle clues to change as time passes. When I started to do the puzzle in your link, I struggled with the clues more than I do with current puzzles. Likely because I am a different age or of different cultural experience than you. Or a byproduct of two puzzles created at different times. I checked this Sunday’s puzzle again after seeing a few comments along your lines. There were a few names or trivia that I also did not know, but I figured them out via crossing words and some educated guesses for spellings. For example, when I had STE_IE, I thought a W made the most sense. Obscur for me, but now I know something new about a sport rising in popularity (women’s basketball). In the grand scheme of things, I am relatively new to crosswords. Maybe there’ll come a day when I find the clueing annoying or too niche. But I hope I remain open to what I learn from the process.

@BJ Omg. JKJK. I hadn’t finished the puzzle and realize its SWIRLS now hahahaha