Joe

After slogging through this one on autocheck, I decided to cheer myself up by scheduling a root canal. That was rough. Mimosa time!

This was fun. 12 months ago I would have yelled at my phone, poured a mimosa and cursed the blue sky. Slow improvement in something via practice is almost as enjoyable as drinking a mimosa and cursing the sky. Cheers!

I'm pretty certain that my teenage daughter is realizing her attraction to females. The comments in this forum warm my heart to know that her choice will not be met with the same vitriol that many of the older commenters had to face. Thank you all. Cheers.

For once my years of watching sports pays off. I'm still physically recovering from the Wicked puzzle last week. Happy Saturday to all! I must also take a moment to "cheers!" all of the wonderful posters in this forum. The Spelling Bee forum is like being swatted with a ruler by the nun teaching me in 2nd grade, where this forum is like an institution of higher learning where thoughts are embraced. Time for mimosas!

My first Mon-Fri of gold stars. Sweet! Is it too early for a mimosa? Cheers and Happy Friday!

Fun top 2/3s. Absolutely brutal bottom third.

I know it has shown itself before, but KAYO really IRES me.

Well, after not even coming close to finishing this one, I scheduled a root canal to cheer myself up. Good grief, that was hard. Picked the wrong week to stop drinking everclear. Cheers!

After finishing this puzzle, I scheduled a root canal to cheer me up. Yowzas, that was difficult. But, with puzzles like these, I break a smile for the experts, many of whom likely enjoyed this one. Cheers yall.

Well, as expected, this killed my 5 gold star streak. After completing the last 30%ish with autocorrect, I thought this Saturday would have been very fair and solveable after a few more years under my belt. The cluing seemed very appropriate for the day. Nice puzzle, creator. Cheers folks!

52A made me angry, because I am a nerd and I couldn't figure it out. Then I crossed it and got angrier, because it still made no sense. Then I added a mental hyphen and peace returned to the cosmos. That's why I love crosswords. Cheers!

Congrats to the seasoned CW veterans; I suspect most of you loved this one. For me it was brutal, but, gotta start somewhere. Cheers.

That SW corner was brutal. NEWMEXICO did not do me any favors. Did anyone else notice the timer was moving a half-beat faster than a second? Or maybe I'm just moving slower. Cheers!

I'm not gay, but I loved the Pride Month puzzle. The comments were so inspiring and uplifting. So why are so many people so vexed over a video game theme? It's a known genre for anyone born in the 70s and later. Who didn't like the book and movie of Ready Player One? Mimosa time! Cheers, folks. Be happy it wasn't another Wicked puzzle.

Nice job, dude. Fun puzzle.

The brain is amazing when you let it be. 40yrs ago in highschool, I noticed a large format book in the fantasy section at the BookStop (remember book stores?), with someone pointing a sword in the sky, titled "Avalon". I never bought it because it was too expensive but the image just popped into my head this morning to help me with that clue. Crazy. Cheers yall.

Once again KAYO rears its head. During the World Cup it will be PEEKAYS in OHTEE. Even the BEE KO'd KAYO. But, EMCEE survived. And Barry, don't bother with your OK/OKAY analogy. We agree to disagree. Cheers!

Finally gave in and looked up APUTRILOGY. Another blue star Saturday. That NE corner was brutal. Time for mimosas. Cheers!

Well, this was a rare no-lookup Thursday for me. I typically get irritated with all of the "?" clues, but, I guess I'm just getting improving at crosswords because I was able to figure them all out. A fun theme and a good Thursday challenge. Thank you, Creator. Now to be humbled by Friday and Saturday, but great reasons for mimosas. Cheers!

What a nice, fun puzzle for a Monday. Thank you, Creator. And Cheers! to my fellow humans of Earth. Remember the old saying, 'this too shall pass'.

As a 2yr puzzler, I've learned my place in the heirarchy and instead of yelling at my own lack of knowledge, I now start Thu/Fri/Sat sans-help in the AM and then let them stew, and enjoy the augmented finish in the PM. Rarely a goldstar but still fun to ponder clues during the day while working and finish with a tasty beverage. Cheers!

I was very excited to get a rare Sunday gold, only to read the comments on the ease of the puzzle! [crying emoji here]. Oh well, the solve was hilarious throughout. Great fun and even better with some champs and the mandatory eye-dropper of OJ to make it a mimosa. Cheers folks.

I entered JIVE because, well, Mrs. Cleaver in Airplane. BRO because, well, I still don't understand BAE. BATTER over STEREO was painfull. MERCURLEVEL was just dumb on my part. TOPHAT over FEDORA was a palm-plant. Tough. Nice job, creator. I have multiple handprints on my forehead, but I guess that's what Saturdays are for.

Phew. A long but fun no-lookup Sunday. A 3-gold star Fri/Sat/Sun....I might get my first 7-day gold streak. Probably jinxed it. Oh well, there's always mimosas. Cheers. Hook 'em.

Blech is spot on. Yeesh.

If I ever watched The Bear or Wicked I'd shave 10 minutes off my average. Who knew Rihana would get a back-to-back.

My first Friday with no help. Spare RIB, DESSERTMENU, and SCARYSTORIES almost sent me into cracking open some Asti Spumante at 7am but I figured it out. Very fun puzzle. Thank you, creator. Cheers.

BOWEN/NAST, HONSHU/CHU, TRE/RENEE killed me. One day I'll get a Saturday gold. Cheers, folks!

I will take this type of Wednesday puzzle any time I can get it. Straightforward cluing, sports, nerdy computer jargon, all good! I must say, I'm fascinated with the number of times and variations that LSD shows up in NYT puzzles. Kinda weird. Anyways, cheers to humpday!

I usually enjoy a challenge but for some reason this puzzle just made me angry. Can't explain it, and not blaming anyone but myself. That's just the feeling it invoked. Oh well. Time for a mimosa and eggs benedict. Cheers!

I apologize profusely to the poster I berated yesterday on the subject of obscure sports clues. I stand corrected. As a mild afterthought, this might be the most unenjoyable puzzle I've ever engaged, both for a Saturday and overall. But, there's always mimosas! Cheers!!!

Well, I did 99% of the puzzle with no lookups but finally relented and used autocheck to get SALON and SALADA and SNARF, so sadly, no gold star today. I'd never heard the word SNARF vs SCARF and had not seen SALON used in that manner. If I never see a HAH, AHH, AAH answer, it will be too soon. Thank you, creators. This was a very entertaining puzzle.

I enjoyed this until 53D reminded me of the recent rebus torture device. All the times I watched Gump, I never noticed the chevrons. Thank you for your service, veterans.

I always look forward to Sunday, but jeez. This one was either tougher than usual or I needed an Irish coffee instead of regular. In the immortal words of Tommy Boy, "that's gonna leave a mark". Cheers.

Huh. Well. I love a good challenge, but sometimes an easy win is just the thing needed to kick off the day. Thank you, creator. Cheers.

Fridays always make me reflect on how bad I am at crosswords. Oh well. Challenging and some clever clues. Thank you, creator. Cheers.

Wow. I beat my PR by 43 minutes. Either this Sunday was particularly easy or I am infinitely smarter after a mimosa. Either answer works for me. Thank you, creator. Cheers.

6D might be one of the best clues and answers ever.

Yowzers, that was tough.