Ash

Today marks my first ever 30-day gold streak! 🙌🏼 I can't believe it! I thought for sure I wouldn't make it on Saturday and Sunday. I'd like to thank the Wordplay columnists, this forum, my son for the assists on physics/math and Spanish language clues, Ms. Zhang for a LOVELY Monday puzzle and beautiful notes, and, of course, Ayo Edebiri. DUNZO!

I'm so grateful I rediscovered my love of crosswords this year, and made NYTCW part of my daily routine. Thank you to all the talented constructors, and to everyone here for the daily laughs. Wishing you all a joyful 2026! May you indulge in Oreos and IPAs while listening to Brian Eno or Yoko Ono, and may you never be chased by orcas or emus. 🎈🥳🎉

This felt like a good mix of gimmes, tricky clues, and don't-knows: perfect for a Friday. One of my favorite things about crosswords is the brain's ability to be confidently wrong. For example, I misread "peel" as "peal", as in RINg, giving a Christmas villain named HEROg. "Yeah, that sounds right." 😂 My other favorite thing is the diversity we bring to solving. Different generations, regions (even countries), life experience, all brought together by our love of puzzles. One person's "gimme" is another's "don't know", and we all learn something new! (AUTODIDACT is new to me, but I knew EVOO thanks to Ms Ray!)

"No no no, it's Wreck IT Ralph. And TonKATsu. And meerK....oh. Aha!" Love a clever rebus and a good Aha moment! Beautiful puzzle!

TIL that Monaco and Tuvalu contain the same number of letters.

Well, if I needed any further proof that I am indeed a millennial.... The excitement when I saw the ELLEFANNING clue. "Wait, I KNOW that one!" 😂 This was a fun theme, even if I wasn't familiar with some of the names. I think the DONLEMON clue was my favorite.

One of my favorite puzzles of the year. Too many brilliant clues to mention here, but I was smiling and saying "wow" throughout the solve (AND it's my birthday, so thank you for a perfect Sunday morning!). I think FAREISFOUL AND FOWLISFAIR was my favorite. A few spots really tripped me up, and I was flyspecking for a while looking for my mistake (I'm looking at you, TRICE!) but that's part of the fun. What one might say about a big, punny puzzle? Levity is the soul of wit!

I do believe I have my very first 7-day gold streak!!! I'm still slow at Fridays. I probably stared at the NW corner for a solid 20 minutes, due in large part to my confidently wrong entry of ivESTROGEN. 🤦🏼‍♀️I did think an IV seemed like overkill. 😂

MTV Cribs and Myst?! My elder millennial heart overflows with nostalgic joy! I thoroughly enjoyed this one, though for the longest time could not let go of a 1a DIs, and chose to accept that "seALIES" must be an esoteric nickname for seals, and they would indeed want to mind the nets. 😂 Also loved the rebus clue. Excellent Tuesday!

I should know better than to let myself think "wow, this is really easy for a Saturday" when I'm only halfway through. Sheesh! The bottom section had me completely stumped. Not really knowing the Avengers movies, AVENGERS ENDdays seemed perfectly logical 😂 that mistake tripped me up for a looong time, along with several others in that section. Persistence finally paid off. Thanks for the workout! Hope everyone is staying warm and safe!

GAH! So many don't-knows for me in this HUMDINGER. I had more empty squares throughout than on a typical Saturday! Luckily my millennialness gave me EFRON, TERRENCE, and KESHA as a foothold, and I encountered NOISOME the other day in the archives, but much of the top half eluded me. I thought the theme was cute and well-executed. I can't complain about a solid challenge in the middle of the week.

Sheesh. I started out breezing through this, thinking I was really on the right wavelength. Maybe I'll even get a PB! Nope. Not even close! The bottom half had me thoroughly stumped! I refused to let go of STARTREK for much too long. Excellent clues all around. Thanks for the challenge and for teaching me some new words! (I'm looking at you, BACTRIAN and NAZCA).

Menopause mentioned 🙌🏼 I was definitely on the constructor's wavelength today, despite a few don't-knows (I'm looking at you, BoER and SNOCAnS.) Loved seeing CHARLIXCX here, but my favorite clue was for CAT BEDS. I ended up donating our unused cat beds to a shelter, as mine much prefer an obliging suitcase, my desk chair, or the highest traffic areas of the living room floor. This was a fun one!

Turns out JUST PEACHY contains the same number of letters as YES INDEEDY 😂 I lucked out today with several gimmes in the NW ...ACTION HERO, SHONDALAND, PTOWN, and figured the second half of 1a was TRAPPED (as I find myself frequently cat trapped, like right now). I clearly remember the anxiety of attempting to lay a sleeping baby down without them waking up. Phew! But that SE corner had me stumped for a long time. I loved the clues for STEW and WONDERBRA. I kept thinking of push-pops instead of push-ups and was trying to come up with an ice cream brand that starts with W 😂 nicely done!

Coincidentally, NYT games replaced DOOMSCROLLing for me. 😂 Still a lot of screen time, sure, but I get to exercise my brain, learn new things, and feel a sense of accomplishment. Huge improvement! I enjoyed this theme, and found myself stumped for an embarrassingly long time before ALP came to me.

A perfect Saturday puzzle, IMO. A few gimmes to crack it open, a few "same wavelength" lucky guesses, long stretches of "I have no clue" followed by glorious aha moments...I love Saturdays! So many good misdirects today. Sixthsenses before SPIDEYSENSE, TONgue before TONSIL, ADe before ADS, SwordS before SABERS. I absolutely loved WHALE SONG and its clue. More from Adrian, please!

What a delightful puzzle! Fresh clues, fresh fill, and it must have been on my wavelength because all of my guesses turned out to be correct (with the exception of ARI before RIO), probably the first time this week that's happened. I didn't know most of the proper nouns, which kept things interesting. Thank you, Mr. Mehta, and thank you Deb for your constant wit and joy. You will be missed!

Thank you for everything you've taught us, Deb, and always in the warmest, most joyful way. I hope you'll drop in occasionally while enjoying your next chapter! As for the puzzle, thank you APBIO for teaching me XYLEM in high school! I think this was my second fastest Friday, but I enjoyed every second. Excellent clues throughout. And now maybe I'll remember how to spell FIBONACCI 😂

mATERHORSES, dING, and DoTS.... Oh my! I tried my DArNDEST! I, for one, found this delightfully challenging. Loved seeing FRIEND OF DOROTHY.

Absolutely loved this theme. Well done! I laughed out loud at DOTS, and just so many good clues throughout. Schitts Creek and the LEVYs mentioned!!! 🙌🏼 My favorite comfort show. Thanks for a truly enjoyable puzzle, Rena!

TOASTS to this puzzle! My insistence on Prod before PSST (cause, you know, poke and prod? Clever) produced 3 nonsense downs that I chose to accept, and delayed my solve time by at least a solid 30 minutes. 😂 I was laughing out loud at some of my mistakes once I figured them out. Really great clues throughout (loved DIVEBAR and CIRCA). I thought this was a perfectly Friday level Friday, and I'm looking forward to the next Friday the 13th! 🫶🏼 to Minnesota

Coincidentally, I just dropped my daughter off at our local comic con to display her INNERGEEK! Loved that clue. I have a thing for collective nouns (and sometimes making them up) but did not know that FERRETS make a business! Love that!! I'm picturing them having a serious meeting in bowties. Fun clues. I had DELETEDemailS first, and was stumped on CREASED. Well done!

The "aha" moment when I said out loud to my disinterested cat "Oh! They're anagrams! I love this!". This was another bottom-up puzzle for me (like yesterday). The North kept me pretty stumped until I finally let go of "prankS". Some clever clueing for a fun Sunday puzzle!

The comments have me LOLing today... the number of people who parsed HAVEATIT differently 😂 I thought the theme was fun, but that Willow/Rock/Netflix character section was my tough spot. Phew! Loved the MNEMONIC clue. A trip to Costco may yield an AmpleSample? 😅

Wow. I thought I was getting good at these. Basking in the meager glory of my nascent gold streak. And then along came today's puzzle to humble me. 😂 Thank you for the challenge.

Brilliant! This was so much fun and on my wavelength. Perfect crunchiness. I was about to give up and check puzzle when the aha moment finally came...I had St. barTS, which made for some nonsensical crosses. That's when I realized that I DID actually know the Russian word! Huzzah! Lovely wordplay all around, and my nascent but personal best gold streak is still intact (barely. Phew!) It brings out the kid in you... Absolutely brilliant.

What an impressive feat, Mr. Schiff! Just brilliant. I got the phi rebus pretty quickly, but it took about 3 theme entries before I figured out the I/O business...a lovely aha moment. "Sound from a ragdoll" was great!

Thank you thank you for a solid Saturday challenge! The first pass felt hopeless (which I expect for a Saturday!) but then it slowly and steadily cracked open from the bottom up. My ultimate trouble spot ended up being the little cluster around TRAILED. Anyone else? I thought maybe great athletes played with pain 😂 I didn't know Sidney, and for the life of me could not figure out the word after TRIVIA... Trivia bees? Trivia teas (lol)? Trivia keys? Ah.... TRIVIA TEAM... Of course! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I have a print from the TATE MODERN hanging on the wall right next to me, and yet all I could think was "Who is Tate Modern?" 🤦🏼‍♀️

Somewhere, buried in my garage, I still have the Netflix DVDs I accidentally kept. 😂 Probably the most expensive DVDs I own and they weren't even good movies! Sounds like today was tougher for me than most. Those corners! Tough but satisfying. BABYSTEPS indeed!

What's a CAUCUh? And Smart COOKIt? Oh, right, it's SEIZE, and not hEIst 😂 For the first half, I was feeling a little underwhelmed and disappointed at the lack of a trick. Then I realized what was going on. Anagrams! I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but I love them, and I just now realized what TONGUETWISTER means 🤦🏼‍♀️ very clever. I'm in awe of the thought that went into this one.

Core memory unlocked: ONOUROWN. I had forgotten about that show. I couldn't tell you a single character or plot point, just that I remember loving it (I was probably 8 or 9). I figured we had a rebus when I had IMNOTHIDANYMORE, but I thought it was I'm not A CHILD anymore and went nuts trying to figure out the significance of the missing AC-L! I finally figured out the trick, but it took a while. Loved NBAREF.

What a lovely Shunday theme! It started out so breezy for me, but then about halfway through it slowed way down. "MOVE YOUR ASH, Ash!" Indeed! The theme solves had me giggling. Lovely tribute. Not knowing the green gemstone, NICOL, or the biblical city made that spot especially tricky for me. I got the dreaded "keep trying" and figured out my mistake was actually on the opposite side: "EtU/KEt". 🤦🏼‍♀️ A brilliant debut, and I can't wait to see more!

Well, GORP! Several don't-knows for me in this one, but I'm looking forward to looking up Octavia's works. The East and West cracked open pretty easily for me (loved AMNESIACS!), but North and South had me stumped! Thanks for a crunchy Saturday, and for the nod to the Utah Jazz 😊

Wow. Just wow. Apt crossing of 35a and 27d. I think this was one of my favorites, and on a Tuesday?!

I guess I was on the constructor's wavelength today. Absolutely loved this one! One of my favorites. Clever theme (which I suspected with REEVE but confirmed with PELICAN), no junk fill, great misdirects. fillY before HINNY slowed me down. A superb, perfectly crunchy Thursday. I've already forgotten about yesterday's numbers! 😂

Ah, the memories of that sloshing and rattling sound as you shook the magic 8 ball in anticipation, and the frustration that 50% of the time you got a corner and no message. Loved this nostalgic theme! I think I was on the constructor's wavelength today, as it was a Wed PB! Congrats on the debut (and the anniversary)!

Deb, you will be greatly missed, but congratulations on this exciting new phase of life. I've only been a part of this lovely community for a short time, but I can tell you your clever wit and delightful humor have become a central part of my morning routine. Thank you. As for today's puzzle, congrats on the lovely debut! I always look forward to a clever Thursday trick, and this did not disappoint! I figured something was up when the GOESAPE/ROLLS EYES crossing wouldn't work, but I didn't figure it out until ROFAPPLAUSE. Loved seeing DENEB, and thanks for the mention at 1a 🙌🏼

I give this puzzle two thumbs up. 👍🏼👍🏼 Congrats on a solid debut, and thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was a teen when Armageddon came out, and I thought it was the best thing ever at the time 😂 it reminds me of two of its terrible contemporaries.... Anyone remember Dante's Peak and Volcano? I wonder what Ebert said about those two 😂

Congrats on a lovely debut, Zachary! I'm looking forward to more from you. When my son was about 4, he went to the driving range with his dad, and when his dad hit the ball my son said, very seriously, "You have done well, young Padawan." 😂 Despite that answer being a gimme for me, its spelling was not, and I was flyspecking for probably 10 minutes before deciding to change PADoWAN/AVo to PADAWAN/AVA. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I thought the theme was excellent, and it helped me with a few of the fills. Well done!

What an incredible debut, Mr. Spooner! Congrats on a solid Friday puzzle. The smattering of personal don't -knows with difficult, but gettable, crosses was the perfect balance. Speaking of...the "balancing act" of the two crossing spanners? Well done! Also, I don't know if it was intentional, but I smiled at "short diner order" adjacent to a short "stack", which was my first thought before BLT.

Sheesh. Other than DEATHMETAL, this was so not on my wavelength 😂 I had wAlDO before RANDO (which I personally thought was awesome), spelled LOOPDELOOP incorrectly, knew almost none of the proper nouns... My brain is completely ALOP today! But that's on me. Really clever clueing throughout, and I'm excited to look back as Katie's other puzzles.

XOXO to this puzzle! Mwah! Absolutely loved the theme, and I'm in awe at the skill and creativity in its construction. Bonus that the stolen X's and given O's resulted in real words. A very satisfying Thursday! Also, PANTERA mentioned 🙌🏼

A symmetry within asymmetry! IDBET that was difficult to construct. Longer than my typical Tuesday, but no complaints. SALMONBERRY reminded me of growing up in Washington State and eating them right off the bush, along with huckleberries and blackberries. Great memories. I had no idea they are paired with salmon, and assumed they were named for their color!

Like many a Saturday, it was a slow start for me. I finally cracked it open with the SE. I had several lucky guesses and a few I was sure were wrong but couldn't be (MEET, GATE). As always, some confident early mistakes too (HuH, swag for "giveaway", went back and forth between ORS and eRS). Fabulous cluing for the long entries! So much fun. And now I'm craving the MINI DONUTS we get every year during the Christkindlmarkt. 😋

😒 TIL that sometimes numbers go in CW puzzles. Good to know. I had to come to the column for this one. On a positive note, I learned some new words today (e.g. robot anime, SICKOUT, IDEM). A tough Wednesday! What will tomorrow bring?!

I thoroughly enjoyed this theme. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to pull off. And the notes on OLIO were the icing on the cake 😂 I didn't understand ENDGAME until I read the column. Brilliant!

The Q stack!!! 🥰 That, along with the pic of the water vole in a Pringles can, made my day! I felt like I breezed through most of this one and then spent a solid 20+ minutes in the NW. I thought for sure I'd end up having to look up "bandolier" or something, but some persistence and lucky guessing paid off! Thank you for a lovely puzzle. I'm going to spend the rest of the day trying to forget MEATSWEATS.

Turns out allowANCE has the same number of letters as LAST DANCE. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I was so sure of that one. Lots of good misdirects for me today. A solid, junk-free challenge!

I'm a little behind on puzzles after a whirlwind road trip, so I completed M-W back-to-back. I was delighted this one was so on my wavelength after Tuesday's ... well ... just wasn't. Always happy to see ELLEWOODS (my daughter's namesake!). I recently saw a fabulous production of Legally Blonde the musical, and I highly recommend it! Also loved the clue for JETLAG, and the juxtaposition of DOGLOVER and "cat lady" (of which I'm the latter). Thank you, Adrianne, and happy birthday!