Chrissy

30A is the reason I’ve been doing crosswords for almost 35 years. Swimming in my grandparents’ pool circa 1989, my grandma calls out her frustration over a clue about a pitcher named Hershiser. I, her baseball fanatic, baseball card collecting 7-year-old granddaughter, yell out O-R-E-L… and then go over to see what she’s working on. Been working the daily crossword ever since! Also 1989 Topps are the best baseball cards ever. Also my favorite year for baseball even though my Giants blew the Battle of the Bay. The earthquake didn't faze me, but I cried over baseball for days. This puzzle was a BRIGHT spot in my weekend!

The first time I’ve ever just revealed a puzzle in disgust. I really take issue with some of these… CORNPIT? NOSERAG? CONGAME? This was so obnoxious on so many levels. These terrible clues and fill do not meet NYT crossword standards. I’ve done thousands of these and never been so annoyed by a puzzle.

I would be shocked if anyone anywhere got HIRT/REOS/DDS without cheating. Poor editing there.

This was brilliant, I loved it! Over 30 years of doing crosswords, I’ve encountered rebuses, answers that spill out of the grid, answers you have to imagine in three dimensions, clues that could have more than one answer that are both acceptable, answers that wrap around or go through wormholes, etc. I have nothing but appreciation and gratitude to get to enjoy the creativity and effort that goes into this format. All of my grandparents were absolute crossword fiends and I thank them for passing the habit down. One of my favorite pieces of inheritance is my nana’s handwritten crossword notebook where she collected difficult/interesting clues/answers.

I innovated a substitute for T.P. but it fell through the cracks.

I am continually in awe of the stuff constructors come up with. This was so fun and impressive!! Thursdays are always the best puzzle of the week!

LIONS OF PRIDE!!!! Yasss queen xo

OMG! How much time did I spend playing Minesweeper on the clock in my many boring desk jobs? An embarrassing amount! From someone who has done several thousand crosswords, this is an all time favorite. Way to go, Aidan!

A brilliant creation! Maybe one of my favorites ever!! I can’t believe what constructors come up with!

I love puzzles like this, where you start off with no hope, then slowly get a foothold and piece it together. This one was a journey! Really original clues, and I love the constructor’s baseball history. As a 7-year-old on the West Coast in the days of the Bash Brothers I was on the other side of the Bay, but that was a fun rivalry. Very sad what’s happened to the A’s. Actually very sad how greed and the ultra rich control baseball altogether now. The Dodgers just purchased a World Series title, for example.

This was some superior cluing! Super impressed!! I loved it!

Thank you, Simeon! This was a thrilling ride, and I didn’t even come close to losing my lunch. There’s something extra satisfying about 41A being ‘WHETIMES’ (setting aside the loops) because when you ride a roller coaster, it is “whee!” time! (Although being 41 now myself, I have to say the big coasters hit different these days.) This had everything I love about a Thursday puzzle!

Solved in just under 20 min and then kept returning to the completed puzzle to try to understand the theme without cheating. I gave up and read the column. Never would have figured that out in a million years. Count me among those thrown off by “six words”…

Truly out of this world, Kareem Ayas!! Congratulations on this stellar achievement!

GRR this was tough… I loved it! I was just telling my daughter earlier today that I’ve learned so many facts/trivia doing the crossword over the years… tomorrow morning I can’t wait to tell her about forest people!! Thanks, Sam!! 🫡

Brilliant!!!!! Bravo! As someone who routinely glances at an Amsler grid to monitor for macular degeneration, I was briefly alarmed LOL. My favorite clue: “The long way there”

What a graveyard smash! Wish I could say I caught on in a flash… I finished with only two of the rebuses filled in and then I couldn’t keep editing. I knew TEATEY was wrong somehow, so I might have found TROLL, but I have never heard of GOLEM (and MANGONADE seemed fair enough to me). Don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I liked the added touch of the crosses/crucifixes warding off any vampires hanging around this puzzle! Happy Halloween!!

I thought this was *brilliant* but I have to complain that I finished the puzzle with the extra-grid letters as rebuses, and when I didn’t get the music I spent a long time reviewing everything before I realized I just had to remove the extra letters. Why couldn’t the rebus entries be acceptable? To reiterate, though: GENIUS! I love Thursdays!!!

I *stumbled* at 54A, because I was positive it was a SKAG fin, and I had my stumblers saying “AR!” instead of “ER!” ERRRRRR I spent so long trying to figure out where the error could be!! Great puzzle!

Done in 11:35, beating my Friday average by 7 minutes. So many impressive clues here, and what a grid!! Kudos to the constructor and editor!!!

Shattered my PR for Wednesday. Loved the bolt animation at the end. (Go Chargers!)

This unearthed the memory of singing “I Wanna Drive the Zamboni” from the original Mighty Ducks soundtrack (which I had on cassette) with my brother. Excellent Sunday puzzle!!!!!!

Knowing pager code and having memories of writing 5318008 and 7734 on a calculator really came in handy here

Amazing puzzle! The grid was just beautiful to look at. I had almost nothing on the first pass, and a half-hour later I filled in EARL Sweatshirt, for the win. Never heard of him, I’ll have to check out a few songs. Really impressive construction and cluing.

Wow!! Hats off to Dan Caprera! One of my favorite puzzles in recent memory. Also learned a new word, in ARGOT! I guess that wasn’t in the argot portfolio of my day.

Simply genius! Hats off!!!!!!! Wow.

Such a tough puzzle!! A whole half-hour slower than my Saturday average. Made it through without cheating. I loved it!!

Had BREACH/BOPIN in lieu of PREACH/POPIN. Couldn’t find my error for the longest time!