CelineinFrance

Hated every minute of this. It felt more like a pub quizz filled with trivia (proper noun, proper noun, proper noun) than a difficult Saturday crossword. Any good and challenging clue was drowned in a sea of names. I have to question why, considering how many proper nouns were used, 23D has to be clued as a name rather than the word's general meaning. Compare this puzzle to anything by Robyn Weintraub to see how you can create a challenging crossword that's not exclusive.

Was this crossword sponsored by General Mills?

As a non-American, ESL, solver, this completely bemused me. That said, you don't need to understand what is going on, though it would help a lot. I did solve the crossword without having a clue (no pun intended) at all : I simply worked out we were looking for regions or counties or geographical references in the USA. I do wish Deb had explained all of the clues as she used to. Why such a short column today?

Nice puzzle, but for a Thursday??? What the heck? Way way way too easy. I have never ever completed a Thursday in 15 minutes, until now. I guess there's a first time for everything.