That is Gorman's thing and I like it. Themed puzzles with pop culture references wedged into the clues. Plenty of dry ones where you spend 3 years working out an 18th Century mill owner's dog's name if that is your thing. I like cryptics and I'm getting better but when they also have massively obscure words then it puts me off.
I'm happy with one or the other - obscure words with gettable clues or mind-bending clues with more straightforward words. Where you have both incredibly unusual words and very difficult wordplay, I think that's unfair and no fun.
