If you thought that the normal release of my NYT debut was too hard, Christina Iverson made Easy Mode clues! This is a great idea, and I wholeheartedly support making this hobby I love more accessible to anyone who wants to start.
Indeed, I felt like the NYT editors chose to make many of the clues I'd sent in easier. Again, I think this is the right call — I'm the type of nerd who makes these for fun, so the difficulty level that'd be fun for me isn't the same as what'd be best for a general audience.
...aaaaand with all that said, I wanted to make a punny, terrible grid that's a level above the NYT Friday. Since the NYT owns the copyright for this grid, I'll happily take it down, if they'd like. Until then, though:
[not actually publishing this until the NYT piece goes live]