Just wondering what others think
I thought this puzzle was more challenging than usual.
Usually I think of this 10 x 10 as something I can rip through easily. That was not true yesterday.

I did solve the puzzle. But it was more of a slog.
Perhaps, I was brain dead. It happens.

I thought it was pretty straight forward and then ended up with 3 cages at end which were impossible and had to then look for possible other solutions of other cages....but finally did get it right.....so, a little more difficult for me:)

in fact, I found it as usual, rather easy

I would agree, I don't usually do the Friday 10x10, but I did this week and it was very easy. I used only a small number of pencil marks as I solved it, most cages were straight forward solves.

Me thinks that no matter how hard a puzzle is, there will always be a number of users that will use the word easy rather than difficult or hard.....everyone has there own special puzzles that they have figured out and of course they become easy for them......whereas others have not been so fortunate as to figuring out same puzzles and therefore regard them as difficult/hard......so easy/hard are really neither.

And then there is the age factor!!

I take your point, but in this case it really is easy. The only step that I would say is not basic level is finding that the 14x cage (g7) is 2&7 and that solves the cells in the cage below it (5+), and that is not difficult. From there the entire puzzle is solved without doing any analysis, it is just finding values that are in only one cell within a row or column, and solving cages that have only one possible solution without needing to do anything other than allowing for solved cells within the same row or column. All the cages have just 2 cells so there are no complications there.

In a large puzzle it is sometimes easy to miss something, so my tip for the larger puzzles is to remember to look for the easy things first, and try to avoid too many pencil marks if possible.

Columns "e" and "j" had many small #'s in some of the cages.....when I get too many small # cages in the same column, I then work them out with pencil and paper.......and then the rest is not so bad .......and if I can do the puzzle, then it cannot be too bad.......I actually enjoy the challenge that this one plus the +3 -3 puzzle of the day before presents me

Here are a couple of images to show what could be done. I have put in more pencil marks than is really needed, but it helps to demonstrate what could be done with column I.

The first image just shows the first steps to get started: 14x cage = 2&7, then 5+ can only be 1,4, then 28x cage and then 32x cage.

This leaves only 3 unused values in row 10 (2,3,8), and without needing any pencil marks we can see that 8 can only be in i8.
Now if we consider column I we can see that 4 is only possible in the cell i7, I have put in all the pencil marks in the image, but even without the pencil marks it is clear that it can not be in any other cell in that column, the first cage is 7- so that will not work with a 4, the next 2 cages in the column are 5/ and 3/ and 4 is not going to fit in either of them, and we already have 4 in the lower 3 rows, so that leave i7 as the only possible 4.
Now with 4 in i7, i8 must be 9, i9 must be 7 and that leaves 3 in i1 & 10in i2 as the only possible values in the 7- cage. It is not needed but just to tidy up the remaining pencil marks: we are left with 1,2,5 & 6, and that gives 5/ cage = 1&5 and the 3/ cage = 2&6.

This demonstrates the importance of looking for the basic things like a value being in only 1 cell in a row or column, the 8 in row 10 and the 4 in column i make it all come together easily, but it is easy to miss in a 10x10 puzzle.

For column e, I don't think I used any pencil marks, after a few more solved cells I started from the top and everything just fell into place with only 1 option for each cage.

The Friday 10x10 is probably my favourite puzzle for the week. It is the only one I don't use pencil marks for. I enter in the possibilities when only one possible combination & then bold them when correct position is known. I find it a lot easier to compete that way rather then pencil marks everywhere. I start by entering the given numbers across top & bottom & bold them & then start on each column entering where only one combination is possible e.g. 14 x can only be a 2 or 7 so i enter them in either cell & then change around or bold as more options open up. I don't recall yesterdays being any harder or easier then any other Friday 10 x 10. Sometimes it just takes longer to find the one piece that seems to unlock the rest of the puzzle so can seem harder if you don't find that opening quickly.

Same.