I had to post abt the creative Sunday 11/30 #nytxw by @natanlast.bsky.social. Theme-rich IF you suss out the theme. I got gold w/out understanding & had to ponder what was up & then AHA!Unusual & fun for me on a Sunday. So clever, Natan! [And buy his 📕“Across the Universe”!] #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Popping in while still on #nytxw commenting hiatus to say that today’s 11/20/25 puzzle by @adamwagner.bsky.social is unsurprisingly fun and clever. A tad easy for a Thurs but that’s ok! Fear not, friends, my solving streak is intact. 😎

Hi! Streak intact thru my ongoing break. But I had to post on the Mon 9/15 #nytxw by Matthew Stock & @Footnote24.bsky.social bc it’s abt my fave sport, has a clever revealer, & I’m a fan of these guys’ work. Fun for these last regular season days…go Yankees! Thx Matt & Mike! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 8/12 #nytxw by @e-a-rly.bsky.social is a great early weeker by a favorite constructor. Of course I saw the common element in the themers early on, but when I hit the revealer I literally LOL’d. Nice one Erik! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Monday 8/11 #nytxw by @rebecculous.bsky.social - cute, clever, tasty. In fact I think I’ll have one now! Interesting entries, creative clues, great fun. Thanks Rebecca - a delicious start to the week! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

A pleasure to solve Fri 8/8 #nytxw by @rafaxword.bsky.social & Matthew Stock. Unsurprised, because both always deliver tasty puzzles w great clueing & lively colloquials. Had a little trouble breaking in but then it flowed south to north beautifully. Still LOLing at 55A. Thx! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 8/5 #nytxw by Gary Larson & Amy Ensz has a clever punny theme with no revealer needed. Always fun when you have to choose which pronunciation to go with in order to make sense of the clue. Nice one Gary & Amy! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Mon 8/4 #nytxw by Patti Varol is a fast solve that I at first thought had a ho-hum theme…until I noticed the vowel progression. Nice. Glad to see 18A & my fave 12D. NBD but surprised at theme-mimic 30D—feels like a rookie mistake but Patti’s no rookie. Overall good week start. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

We interrupt my slow commenting return on the #nytxw to cheer the Sun 8/3 puzzle by Jeremy Newton. A construction tour de force w/ubiquitous themers—for a 50+year fan like me, this is perfection. Shading, circles, visuals—this has it all. Loved it! Thx Jeremy wherever you are! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Excellent Sunday 7/27 #nytxw from John Kugelman. Really cleverly clued anagrams with some sparkly non-theme longs made for a fun solve. Thanks John! #GridSky #CrosswordSky

Saturday 7/19 #nytxw: @e-a-rly.bsky.social serves up a terrific themeless w his customary brilliant clueing, 5 gridspanning colloquials, easy flow, and as always things to learn. My brother did 10Ds in Baltimore so I was especially pleased to see that one. Thx Erik! #CrosswordSky #GridSKy

Random catchup begins… Thurs 7/16 #nytxw by Sam Brody reminds me of cryptics, sort of, fun to decipher. A couple of tough spots—I’m not up on my Chinese search engines—& a major spelling question in the vertical gridspanner gave this some lateweek bite, a good thing. Thx Sam! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Still here, keeping my #nytxw streak going uninterrupted from the Cape but taking a break from commenting. I’ll be back here—maybe catching up, maybe not, maybe a few posts on some notable past puzzles. Then back in the groove. I’m sure my readers have done fine without me! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 7/1 #nytxw by @aaaronson.bsky.social & Michael Garbus has tasty wordplay in an offbeat theme. A tight set, easy solve. Good early weeker. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Wednesday 7/2 #nytxw by Dan Caprera is easy to solve & hard to describe: an exposition of clues that inform & define the answers in a meta way. You see? Fun & clever. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Unsurprisingly, I love the Thurs 7/3 #nytxw by @adamwagner.bsky.social. Brilliantly constructed w his customary sense of whimsy. Lots of theme & a gimmick that works across & down in slightly different ways. And the payoff graphic when you get gold is perfect. Thank you Adam! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Monday 6/30 #nytxw by Dena R. Verkuil & Andrea Carla Michaels is a tight, excellent start to the week. Funny themers, pulled together well. This one hits the mark on what is sometimes a too easy day. Well done, Dena & Andrea! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sunday 6/29 #nytxw by Mike Hobin has a cute theme with punny answers that reveal the circles, so the themers are their own clues. Easy, but a stretch here & there. Had to laugh at 63A. Pretty standard Sunday fare, fun to solve. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tough Saturday 6/28 #nytxw by Jesse Guzman had a lot of good stuff but a 1A Mario entry followed by a 2nd one is off-putting for me. But I persevered & was happily surprised when I got the gold. Good Saturday challenge. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Friday 6/27 #nytxw by Carolyn Davies Lynch is a very nice themeless. Usually I like more pushback on Friday, but I enjoyed this easy solve with excellent long stacks, good flow, & lively clues. Nice one. (And I’ll be catching up on this hot week’s posts, if anyone cares!) #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sun 6/22 #nytxw by Ruth Bloomfield Margolin & Hannah Margolin (her debut) combines a classic June theme with a classic pun theme & it works. Cleverly done with a sense of humor. Nice Ruth & congrats Hannah! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Saturday 6/21 #nytxw by Christina Iverson & @xworddoug.bsky.social has an uncommon shape that facilitates sparkling longs. A slow start but then it explodes w 4 great gridspanning entries like 4D & sharp clues like 9D. Fun solve.. Thanks Christina & Doug, collaborators supreme! #CrosswordSky#GridSky

Friday 6/20 #nytxw debut by Adrianne Baik is a solid themeless featuring 6 snappy gridspanners including several colloquial expressions. All of that white space looked daunting at first but you chip away and find the answers. Very nice debut. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Thurs 6/19 #nytxw by Hannah Slovut-Einertson has a classic replace theme— clever, but the clueing is backwards. Following the instructions should yield the correct answer—replace A with B but you have to do that in your mind. Make it a rebus or rework. Editorial error IMO. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Wed 6/18 #nytxw by Eli Cotham filled in easily but w/out getting the theme. Then I hit the revealer which is completely unknown to me–never heard of it. I got that one by crosses & a few educated guesses, then the gold. Streak is intact but this one is not for me. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tues 6/16 #nytxw by Tarun Krishnamurthy, a high school student, has a clever meta theme. I would’ve preferred it w/out the circles so you had to think a little to solve it. Or don’t have a revealer. But it’s solid and well constructed, if easy even for early week.

Monday 6/16 #nytxw by Jill Rafaloff & Michelle Sontarp has a sweet theme that warms this grandma’s heart. Straightforward solve to start off the week. Nice. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sun 6/15 #nytxw by 2 of my faves, @adamwagner.bsky.social& @rebecculous.bsky.social. 12 themers & a sharp grid, w perfect revealer I wrote in fr just the last 4 letters. Fun to decipher their funny/tricky clues &I learned some. Loved it, Adam &Rebecca! (Missed the bonus tho!) #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sat 6/14 #nytxw by Barbara Lin is tough & satisfying as you hope a weekender will be. Good stacks, tricky, misdirecting clues. Unconvinced that 5D is a thing but I inexplicably knew that hedgehog if not how to spell it. Crosses helped. All in all a very good puzzle. #CrosswordSky #GridSky #NoKings

Friday 6/13 #nytxw is a debut by @evancomycin87.bsky.social who is also a reviewer on the Crossword Fiend. Nice to see his byline here! It’s an excellent themeless Friday w outstanding entries & snappy clues & multiple stacks all over. Hope for more from you Evan! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Thurs 6/12 #nytxw by Daniel Bodily has a familiar theme & a revealer that gives it away by directly pointing us to the affected downs. Why do that late week? Would’ve been more challenging if those letters spelled something but no. Nice attempt but too easy imo. YMMV. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Wednesday 6/11 #nytxw by Sam Koperwas & Jeff Chen has a cute geography theme that feels familiar - has it been done before? - but it is nicely done. Easy solve. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 6/10 #nytxw by @zlevymd.bsky.social describes what we all want but so often don’t get. Offbeat theme, well done. Just right for early week. Thanks ZDL - cracking! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Monday 6/9 #nytxw by @aimeelucido.bsky.social has cute themers well chosen, perfect revealer, nice longs. An excellent start to the week. Nice to see your byline again Aimee! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sunday 6/8 #nytxw by John Kugelman is a clever one that I admire but it has so much going on that it wasn’t easy to grasp the theme even after getting the gold. I got there, but it was a lot to sort out. Nonetheless I do like a challenging Sunday. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Saturday 6/7 #nytxw by Blake Slonecker played for me like this one of his from last year- except today he had 8 great gridspanners! Super challenge, Saturday pushback. Thanks Blake! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Friday 6/6 #nytxw Adrian Johnson has challenging stacks & creative clues plus some nice colloquial phrases & a modern, fresh feel overall. Excellent endweeker that makes you work for it. That’s a good thing! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Thurs 6/5 #nytxw debut by Timothy Gaetz is spot on. Starting in the south as usual, I plunked in the revealer fr the giveaway clue w no crosses so the theme was clear, just had to figure out which one went where. Nice that they went into real words. Easy for late week but fun. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Wednesday 6/4 #nytxw debut by Danna Rosenberg used a classic hidden word gimmick that’s cute, but the puzzle is easy and more of a Tuesday I think. Nice debut though. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 6/3 #nytxw by Boaz Moser has an oddball theme, or maybe I didn’t get enough sleep. Fun though. Now I’m caught up. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Monday 6/2 #nytxw by Anthony V. Grubb is a cute sartorial romp. Nice start to the week. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Catching up… Sunday 6/1 #nytxw debut by Sam Brody in a word. Anagrams. Fun puzzle! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sat 5/31 #nytxw by @aaronson.bsky.social & @rickycruz.bsky.social is another top notch themeless this weekend —this one’s a bit harder than Friday as it should be. Lots of creative entries, topped off by that last square in the SE corner—ha! Loved it. Thanks Adam & Ricky! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Friday 5/30 #nytxw by @rafaxword.bsky.social is a lovely themeless Friday that flows easily. Nice clueing, fun answers - on the wavelength with this one. Thanks Rafa! #CrisswordSky #GridSky

Thursday 5/29 #nytxw by John Kugelman uses a fun gimmick that’s well described in the revealer. I would have liked it a bit harder, maybe an added themer for Thursday challenge, but it’s a good one anyway. Thx John! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Tuesday 5/27 #nytxw by Ginny Too is a homonym puzzle with a fresh set of three rhyming phrases. And the revealer does double duty as another rhyme that explains the others. Nice one! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Wednesday 5/28 #nytxw by Peter A. Collins features my all time favorite Broadway musical: I saw it in more than one language & the movie many times. I even had a major part in a camp production in 1966. So this was a gimme for me & a nostalgic memory. Thanks Peter! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Monday 5/27 #nytxw by Ari Halpern has a cute cinematic theme for an easy start to the week. Lends itself to trying to think of other examples. Fun puzzle. #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Sun 5/25 by Dylan Schiff is diabolical. Multidimensional.. A construction feat. Too hard to concisely describe so all I’ll say is it’s a real headscratcher until you figure out what’s up & then a big AHA! I loved it altho it was hard to juggle on the app. Nice work! #CrosswordSky #GridSky

Saturday 5/24 #nytxw by Gene Louise de Vera is a themeless with a pair of nice mini theme gridspanners. There are some obscurities for me (2D, 11D, 43A, 44A)—but as usual, crosses to the rescue. Overall good weekender. Sunday’s is diabolical. Stay tuned. #CrosswordSky #GridSky