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Will and I are friends. We worked together for years at Games Magazine, and I'm a judge every year at his crossword tournament.

I solve a few crosswords. I do Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest puzzles, and Peter Gordon's Fireball crosswords. I solve the Times puzzle sometimes, especially the unthemed Saturdays.

As of the fourth quarter 2021, just over half of borrowers owed less than $20,000. Fewer than 10% of borrowers owed six figures, though the share of big-balance loans is growing.

Since undergrad debt is capped ($31,500 for dependent students and $57,500 for independent students), a lot of those big-dollar balances are from graduate students. (Some are also from parents of undergrads.)

But keep in mind that advanced degrees don't necessarily lead to lucrative careers. Your doctor friend may indeed be able to pay off his loans without much strain, but there are many who struggle -- in fields including social work, education, public health and physical therapy. --MK

Welcome to the chat! So, a lot of this has to do with dysfunction in Washington. Everyone agrees that the current system is broken, but no one agrees on how to fix it. Democrats favor broad-based loan forgiveness (of varying degrees) but that's a non-starter with Republicans, who in large want the government out of the student lending business. While everyone in Washington ignores the issue ... colleges are the one who benefit! They get all this uncapped, no-strings-attached money from the federal government. They like the current system as is. - AF

If I consider it crosswordese, I'd be happy to never see it again. My current top nonfavorite word is STYE.