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Honestly, it seemed awfully easy for a Thursday, and the payoff for getting the theme, (though not much of a theme) just wasn’t very interesting..

I solved the puzzle, but I had NO idea how diabolical it was! I just resigned myself to the fact that all the attractions were somehow in the NORTHEAST. I’m glad I read the comments once I finished. BRAVO! That was genius! (And I am NOT a genius!)

Can someone tell me what 27 across means? I’m totally clueless. Why is that word a heat setting?

I wouldn’t have figured it out in a million years… And the only re-parsing I came up with was “As tar is born”. Which made no sense and was only FOUR words. A complete fail for me today!

I finished the puzzle and thought that it was nothing special for a Thursday, even though I had no idea what the ‘ theme’ clues meant. Then I read the article, absolutely BRILLIANT! WOW!

I wouldn’t have figured it out in a million years. Chalk up a loss for me today !

I wouldn’t have figured that out in a million years. I DID manage to complete the puzzle, but I had to look at the comments. Very clever!

Were there actual circles in the print versions? Because there were NOT circles in the online version. Without the circles I was “at sea”! (See what I did there? One phrase that appears in a lot of your crosswords!} Thanks, I love the games and the NYT!

As for the missing circles, I have an older iPad, which I was using, I just checked on my iPhone, there they were! I will check that next time before I comment. Thank you!

Never mind. Saw it in the article. That’s pretty obscure. BOOO! Though I guess it IS Saturday.