Jim

Throwing the flag on “at a guess”. Otherwise fantastic.

Wrack didn’t ruin me but it sure slowed me down. I am the only person in the world who has never seen Frozen, but if I solve enough puzzles I think I will learn the entire cast of characters.

Super tough one for me. Lots of clever misdirection and no real groaners. Double my average time. A+.

I will join the chorus, great puzzle that seemed impossible at first but then just melted away sweetly. Dinner theater was my entry point.

Fun puzzle. Am I the only one who’s never heard the phrase SUNKEN PLACE?

31 across with no question mark is one of my favorite clues ever!

I didn’t even think of it as a rebus, just put in the f everywhere. Was briefly stuck in the NW corner but changed ragged to frayed and it all fell into place.

Just right for a Sunday. I like how the gimmick shifted around and the fills brought smiles. Nice work!

Very impressive and challenging. All those long phrases and no groaners.

Joining the chorus, very nice Thursday. If this one doesn’t win over the rebus haters then I don’t know what would.

Very well made and challenging, best Friday in a while

Two nice toughies in a row! Made this one a little harder by leaving my anchor on the deck

Tough but fair. Two thumbs up. No cheating 😎

I’ve been a professional geologist for over thirty years and never seen or heard the term freestone as defined here. I know it as a term to distinguish rocky rivers from limestone streams. Learning!

Excellent Tuesday, good difficulty and cute theme.

A rare case where I figured out the gimmick right away but still had to work. Excellent Thursday.

Tough but fair, and glad to know that skin tags are benign

The first time in recent memory where I got the theme early enough for it to help me fill the grid. Great puzzle.

Took me almost 20 minutes to get the gimmick and then it actually helped. Fun twist, nice Thursday.

Really enjoyed this one, difficult with a fun gimmick that helped in the end!

Pretty easy for me, got Dad Jokes right away. Anyone else have RAF for Snoopy group? Sopwith Camel?

The reef dweller crossing with the coloring tool was all I needed, quickie for me today

Excellent Friday puzzle, one of those that seems impossible until it isn’t

Pretty tough, and I can see how it would be quite opaque to younger folks. Ford to City was my breakthrough, remember that moment very well. Good Sunday puzzle, I approve.

A slow start with a video game reference had me ready to go all Grandpa Simpson on this one, but His Eminence led the way. I was a Minesweeper nut and this is my favorite Thursday rebus ever. Ten stars.

Great clues, no groaners, awesome Friday

Tough one, I had to cheat on the Gore Vidal quote to get that corner. I don’t think “dark side of the Moon” was a good clue. The mares as I understand them are dark regions on the side of the moon that we can see. The question mark suggested a pun or other cuteness.

Fun, difficult puzzle. I love the clueing on seven ten split.

Nice tough puzzle. Had to look at a map of Glasgow to get that SE corner

Nice one, looked impossible at first but IUD to the rescue!

Nice tough Saturday with fun misdirects and no gimmick. Five stars.

This was a fun, hard puzzle with a clever gimmick. Four stars.

TIL there was no Elster Howard. Just the one lookup, I’m keeping my streak.

The small marsupial appears here one day after it was a total stumper on Wordle. I smell a rat.

Great Thursday! Took me a full minute after getting the revealer to stop looking for the Spoonerisms in the grid. Well hidden in plain sight!

Love this one. Challenging, clever clues, no dirty tricks!

Cute gimmick that actually worked! No lookups and a very fast time, feeling smug.

Very nice gimmick. I did rebuses along the colored line when I first figured it out, but left them out for all the others as it was so cumbersome. When I got the fail message I took the rebuses out and bingo! The rebuses are unnecessary because the missing letters are represented by the rainbow lines. Excellent Sunday puzzle.

Nice tough Sunday. I thought for sure those words were Hindi.

Got a good start with the singing bar, but completely stumped in SW corner until I realized that both Bali and sloe were wrong. Good Saturday.

No way I would have gotten this without the clue. Embarrassed that some found it easy. Streak intact but damaged.

Zonk and bonk cost me at least five minutes. Fun Thursday!

Dang that was hard! Some very clever clues. Zarf is a WFW word that I had run into before. The NW corner was the last to fall partly because I was sure I had spotted a double crested cassowary. Much more poetic than the real answer.

I think that was the first time that the revealer was the very last thing I filled, and only then did I get the gimmick! Twelve stars, best Tuesday ever.

Enjoyed this one. Very tough and slow but no cheating. At first I thought “uh oh” was two words but it’s hyphenated, innit?

Wasn’t a big fan of the gimmick on this one. Is there a gambling game that uses keyholes? Head smack at the end over what a mama ewe says to her offspring.

Had to cheat on the Heart song, and I’m glad I did 😎. Love its poignant placement at the heart of the puzzle!

Very tough until the NE corner fell into place. Almost cheated on the German author but powered through! Fun puzzle.