Nick

I found this to be somewhat tricky for a Tuesday. Not hard necessarily, but for me there was more thought required than a typical Tuesday. Similar to “Chris” from Boston, the crossings of HOLST, LASE and SITSKI were my final fills.

Though I solved slightly faster than my average time, I thought this puzzle had a touch more bite than a typical Wednesday.

Well, like others, I smashed my personal best for a Saturday. Unlike others, my minutes weren’t measured in single digits, though the double digit minute count did begin with a one. I don’t know how people post those 4, 5 and 6 minute times. Even on a Monday where the answers come seamlessly, I can’t read and process the questions and type my responses that quick. Maybe the fact that I’m solving on my phone has something to do with it? Anyway, my hat’s off to those capable of the feat.

Too…. tough… for…. a….. Tuesday. I was literally about to call an end to my second longest ever streak when I happened “play” (as in, I won the lotto!) just the right combination of mystery letters I was stuck on, and the gold star was very (very, very, very) luckily had. Won’t bore people with the combination of letters I was stuck on in various parts of the puzzle, but a skim of the comments suggests I was not alone in my difficulties.

Now that was a Saturday! I was becoming disillusioned with my personal best streak because so many puzzles of late have been, shall we say, undemanding. But this puzzle demanded my full concentration and persistence. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when completing such a puzzle.

To preserve my personal best streak, I pushed this one right to the time limit and couldn’t get it done. In the end, it was the southwest corner that did me in, though the whole puzzle was a brutal, grind-it-out, slog. But if a streak is going to end, I guess I’m glad it’s on a puzzle that no “Aha!” moment was going to save for me. In any event, I’m proud of my 61 day no lookup and no hints streak. A few years ago I’d never have imagined achieving such results.

Monday easy. Yesterday’s puzzle should have been today’s.

That was just right for a Thursday! I didn't get the theme until ~ 95% complete, but ultimately decoding A Star is Born to read as A Star is B or N was essential to getting me the rest of the way home.

Nifty theme. Took me a while to get it but, even when I did, it still required careful thought to complete several of the themed entries. Hard Wednesday/easy(ish) Thursday for me. I liked it!

My misplaced confidence that pAniC was assuredly right led to me being stymied in the NW for a long time. A long, long time. I nearly called it quits on my decent (by my standards) 19 day streak. The aha(!) moment came when I realized, in spite of being sure an “I” was the fourth letter in 19A, that AUTOS was nonetheless the correct fill and therefore pAniC was not the sure thing I assumed it to be. HAVOC immediately followed and the NW rapidly fell into place. My middling streak lives on at 20.

Per Deb, I absolutely admired 24D. I thought it in the moment, and I’m glad to see I wasn’t alone. There have been myriad great clues over the handful of years I’ve been doing the NYT Crossword (about 7 maybe?), but this one stands out as one of my favourites.

Ok, this is frustrating. I’m at a 99 day streak (my longest ever) and needing the gold star for this puzzle to reach 100! To my eye, I think I have this puzzle solved. But I’m not getting the oh so coveted (particularly in this case) yellow star. Is there something special I need to do with the “roundabouts” that I am missing? I get that the across entry leading into each roundabout from the West combines with the three exits (South, East and North) of the roundabout to form answers to those respective clues (recognizing that the South, East, and North first letters are additive… i.e. the East solution includes the first letter of the South entry; and the North solution includes the first letter of both the South and East entries), and the answer to the North entry runs from bottom to top. For example, the answer to 72D is MICHELINMAN. Is there anything else I need to do? PLEASE, NO HINTS OR CLUES to the solutions as I am very strict with myself about no lookups or cheats. If it’s not something odd about how to input the roundabouts, then I’ll have to flyspeck yet again, but I’ve literally revisited every entry of the puzzle three times, with progressively more attention each time, and I simply do not see an error (admittedly this has happened a couple of times in the past and, well, there has been an error!) Thank you in advance!

Was well on my way to a Friday personal best (and probably by a significant margin) until I got modestly bogged down in the middle south of the puzzle. Never had a MOCHIDONUT and never heard of one either. AMFM, CEL and the “sloshed” of GETSLOSHED crossing that darned donut didn’t help. But ultimately it all came together and still at less than half my average time. While my personal best streak continues, my satisfaction with the accomplishment diminishes with every “too easy” puzzle that is published. I know, be careful what you wish for but, with the odd exception, there has been a very notable decline in the difficulty of these puzzles starting maybe 5 or 6 months ago (not coincidentally around the same time that my current streak began) and I, for one, would prefer stricter tests. My current streak is 66% better than my previous best from about two years ago, but I don’t think I’ve gotten 66% better. It’s a close call, but my previous streak may have been more fulfilling. I know that “Games” have become a major revenue driver for the NYT, and I suppose the thinking is that participation/revenue can be grown further via more “accessible” puzzles. But at some point the brand is diminished, and I fear that tipping point may soon be at hand.

I’m Canadian, and I know my provinces. But ALB had me hung up to the end. I got the gold star solvent by way of the cross of LOUD, and only had the “aha!” moment after the fact.

Good. Creative. Challenging. Fair. More Fridays and Saturdays like this please.

A meaty Tuesday. I like.

Dunno how to feel. Inventive (and difficult) theme which I admired. Challenging cluing, bordering on obscure, which I didn’t. Got it done without lookups, but it was a difficult slog. In the end, I probably lean toward admiration because this is a puzzle I will remember.

I did not PB any of Friday, Saturday or Sunday. But I am confident that this three-day Friday, Saturday and Sunday stretch was easily my quickest such stretch ever.

Proof that a puzzle doesn’t have to be particularly hard to be fun.

Ok, so I just established a new personal best streak (adhering to my very strict no lookups, cheats or hints policy) at 62. If it weren’t for a slap the forehead mistake 63 puzzles ago, my streak would stand at 81. No false modesty here, I’m proud of the streak and where I’ve come from when first taking on the challenge of NYT crossword puzzles after previously limiting myself to the far easier local newspaper puzzle here in Vancouver (for those interested, the newspaper is The Vancouver Sun). However, proud as I may be, I’m questioning the quality of the streak: the past few months of crosswords have either been easier than the typical puzzle of the previous 5 years (or so), or I’ve legitimately gotten better. I’d like to believe the latter, but suspect the former. FWIW, when my previous best of 61 ended, it was a Sam Ezersky puzzle that broke the streak. Im certain in saying there have been no puzzles as challenging as the one produced by that (notorious?) constructor, but I’d dare say the average puzzle has been easier this time round also. Thoughts?

Agree with most posters so far - it was an easy Saturday. Very close to my PB, and about 70%(!) faster than my Saturday average. There was another extraordinarily easy Saturday 6 to 12 months ago. That and this one are true outliers.

Not getting the gold star even though I think everything is correct. Is there anything special that must be done with the “dark horse” squares? I know the letters that should go in each of the six black squares so identified, but I have not added those letters to any of the surrounding squares thereby creating rebus(es? rebi?). For example, for 5D I have ORC(black square)EST(black square)ATE for “orchestrate”. Is this methodology correct? Please no other hints as I follow a strict no lookup/cheat/hint policy and I’m in the midst of a personal best streak (personally, I don’t consider asking how to fill/not fill the black squares to be a cheat). If my lack of a gold star has nothing to do with the completion (or lack thereof) of the black squares as I described then I shall have to go over the grid yet again - though I’ve made at least a half dozen passes already and cannot find a mistak. Thanks in advance!

My goodness, did the intersection of 59A with 60D have me flummoxed in the Southeast corner for the longest time. I was sure oWN was the correct fill for 60D, and my stubbornness clinging to that belief was my hindrance, though not undoing. Once I let go of my incorrect assumption, the corner came together and my unaided steak lives on at 54. Phew!

Not afraid to admit this theme flew WAY over my head. After reading Wordplay, I get it, but never would have without the explanation. Nonetheless, I managed to solve it while adhering to my “no lookups” personal rule.

For me, this proved very difficult. Though I muddled through in the end, the left half of the top stack of three (i.e. the NW quadrant) was an impenetrable minefield of trial and error for the longest time. The breakthrough came with CESAREANS (not sure why that took me so long to see), and then DISTRESSEDDENIM when I had the toe-hold of a confident “S” as the third letter. Though I wouldn’t say the rest fell into place “quickly”, completing the NW took but a fraction of the time I had previously spent staring at a bunch of blank squares. I would likely have given up were it not for a personal best streak that I was keen to extend. Mission accomplished…. phew!

I haven’t read word play nor any of the comments because I don’t want spoilers. Just want to ask, without seeking a hint, if there was a mistake in today’s crossword or more than one viable solution? I’ve double, triple and quadruple checked, and I can’t find what I think to be an error in my fill. Usually I have a pretty good idea if something may be amiss, but I’d have to say that I’m reasonably confident my fill is valid. My best ever 51 day streak (no lookups) is at stake! Yes/no?

Question for the community. Is there a way to have a gold star removed from my record? When solving, I’m quite strict about no lookups - for me, that’s just what feels right. On Sunday, I felt sure I had several mistakes in my puzzle and resigned myself to check the comments. I had no idea of the New Jersey Burrough, but felt confident I was correct in the chosen Pope’s names being SIXThS (as in 5 Popes had been the 6th to choose a particular name). I’d never heard of SIXTUS, so when I saw it in the comments I changed my “h” to a “U” just to see if it would help me uncover the other mistakes I was sure I had. Well, lo and behold, immediately popped up the gold star. If it was just some random Sunday I’d let it slide. But this Sunday puzzle pushed by personal best streak to 49 when it should only be 48. It just doesn’t sit right with me…. especially when I’m unsure if or when I’ll be able to duplicate or better this particular streak.