Ben

I was convinced “#2s” had something to do with pencils. Got there in the end tho.

Took me a bit, but I got there. Slowly learning and getting better. I feel I’ll get a clean Thursday solve sometime soon. Enjoyable theme and revealer.

Big ol yikes

Though STEAM is a byproduct a geyser, in geologic terms geysers erupt water. A thermal feature that produces steam is called a fumerole. This is very nit-picky, I know, and I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, but I’ve spent too long teaching in and about Yellowstone not to say something… :-)

That SW corner, phew! Fun puzzle.

Enjoyed this one. Fun revealer.

I don’t speak French, and I’d spelled “HOKEM.” Took me 11 additional minutes of searching for typos before I finally got it. Phew! Enjoyable puzzle.

Small point, but cacti have spines, not needles. Interestingly, fir trees do have needles.

I enjoyed this one. Also, I find it interesting that I solved Wednesday and Tuesday this week more than five minutes faster than Monday. I realize it’s all subjective to the solver, but as one relatively new to the NYT crosswords and their vagaries, I was surprised.

Love that Emmet Otter was an inspiration for a puzzle, and, wow this was a weird and tough crossword. Felt very obscure and contrived to me. More like a Friday that happened to have a theme.

Yeesh

Lovely!

I’m a huge soccer fan, and yet… yeesh. This puzzle was brutal for me. I guess I learned some new things?

Huh