So this was a rare experience where I thought like the puzzle hated me, like it was saying ' OH, IT'S ON!' the way some dumb fake tough guy might, but I managed not only to defeat it, but to make friends with it as well. Nothing forced or ugly (well, ' GET 'ER DONE' is ugly, but it's unfortunately a very real thing). Not my thing, but not groan- or cringe-inducing either. And-the most important part-the fill was actually strong and clean. I could feel that it was probably a 'hard' puzzle-lots of tricky clues, lots (and lots and lots and lots) of names-but there was just no stopping me. Like Keanu at the end of 'The Matrix'-nothing could touch me. It's dead end after dead end and good luck to you.Īnd yet! Despite the 'not my vibe' content, despite the deliberately unfun grid structure, I enjoyed the solve, largely because it felt like the puzzle was really trying to fight me but I was knocking down everything it could throw at me-all the junk I don't really care for, all the potential traps and dead-ends, and *alllll* of the 'look at my tricky clue's! I felt immortal walking through this one. Whatever the opposite of flow is, that is what grids like this have. highly segmented, deeply quadranted, such that it feels like you're doing four separate puzzles (five if you count the middle), and you can easily get well and truly stuck in every corner. Plus, it has the grid structure I typically hate, i.e. Anyway, this was a CERTAIN kind of man's puzzle and that man was not me. It's even got cruelty ( MEANEST) and denial of responsibility (' IT WASN'T ME!'). It's a puzzle for the FRAT BOY-turned-suburban DAD. I mean, this puzzle's throwing all the 'Things Guys Like That I Do Not Care About' stuff at me-stocks & bonds ( YIELDS, RATE), welding ( ARCING), poker ( RIVER CARD), cars ( CAR ENGINE), right-wing white-guy catchphrases (' GET 'ER DONE!'). Friday's puzzle) is way way Way closer to where I live (or want to live) than Conservative Middle-Aged White Man (today's puzzle). And I thought *yesterday's* puzzle was not my vibe! Turns out that, as far as 'out of my wheelhouse' goes, Millennial/Gen-Z Woman (i.e. I liked this puzzle fine even though it was actively trying to make me not like it.

Psst follower perhaps crossword clue