I've been in more ACPT finals than anyone else, yet I have never found an NYT puzzle to be "too easy." That would imply the puzzle is beneath my intellect, or not worth my valuable time.
An easy puzzle is not going to take me more than 4 minutes on paper, so how is that a waste of time? Any NYT themed puzzle should have some level of interest.
Besides the NYT, I regularly do lots of other puzzles (even USA Today and Universal), and strangely, I don't find any of them "too easy" either, even the Sunday Newsday I did in 4:11 (Across Lite). It was a decent puzzle; it just fell somewhat quickly.
On the other end of the difficulty spectrum, when I can finish an NYT Friday/Saturday in less than 6 minutes or Sunday in less than 10 (not all the time, but often enough), I don't gripe that the puzzle was too easy. Instead, I'm happy that I was able to master the challenge.
Am I that dumb? That easy to please? Maybe I'm completely off base and all the complainers are going to cream me in the next tournament. Bring it on!