I asked C.C. about our constructor, and she told me that she needs to see the Chinese characters to know more about the author; as far as we can tell, this is a debut - congratulations, and if you are reading this, then please feel free to chime in here at our Crossword Corner. I loved this puzzle - a fresh, clever, and humorous theme of common 'food' phrases reworked to be the fermented and/or cured, and therefore, "processed", versions of the produce. Five fills, one a spanner - the one that unlocked the theme for me - two 14- and two 9-letter fills, my only nit for the puzzle being the number of names. Standard grid, no circles, a low count of 19 3LWs, two tastes, two bad fill-in clues ( for me ) and two cowbells~! The themers;
17. Marine animal with a cylindrical body, once processed?: SEA PICKLE - this one is the outlier, with the "processed" part coming last - cucumbers, when processed ( in salt water, dill, etc. ) ferment and become "pickles - ergo, a Sea Cucumber would now be a Sea "Pickle" 😆😜
23. Dearly beloved, once processed?: CIDER OF ONE'S EYE = Apples, processed
36. Dolls that come with adoption papers, once processed?: KIMCHI PATCH KIDS = Cabbage, processed; more here, and a recipe - The dolls were the source of an insane toy stampede in the 80's
20. Mastercard alternative: VISA - credit card companies
22. Put together: BUILT
27. Airport security containers: BINS
28. Check a final time?: MATE - Ah. I missed the chess reference; filled via perps, but very clever
29. Words of defeat: "ILOST." - That's exactly what the king🠅said . . .
31. Commotion: STIR
33. "I Think You Should Leave" star Robinson: TIM - No clue. The movie sounds humorous; name #1
40. Wane: EBB - Does Batman "ebb" to Bruce Wayne~?
41. Spits bars: RAPS - Friday cluing, and sorta clever - rap, the music genre
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
42. "__ Burr, Sir": AARON - it's still a name, dame, #2
43. Trampled (on): TROD
45. Lock screen display: TIME - as on one's smart phone
52. Readied a putt: AIMED - LIV golf was on the TVs at the gym last weekend; some controversy
53. __ tube: BOOB - slang for the "telly" - does anyone remember the movie "Groove Tube"~? I have mentioned it here at the Corner before
54. Fix unlawfully: RIG - elections, e.g.
59. The Eras Tour venue: ARENA - Taylor Swift, was, sadly (not~!), missing from this year's 2026 Super Bowl, as her fiancé did not make the playoffs 😁 - sorry KC fans . . .
66. Was a prelude (to): LED UP - Led Zep - excluding the "solos", which song is John Bonham's best performance~? My choice is this song - track one, Led Zeppelin I - see also 47D.
"Good Times, Bad Times"
2:45 of non-stop drumming density - More cowbell #1~!
DOWN:
1. Little bit: A TAD - Atwurd
2. Hocus-pocus: MAGIC - one of my "co-trainees" at the gym suggested Sarah J Maas as an author, so I am currently reading "Throne of Glass"
3. Condiment that adds strong, rich flavor, informally: UMAMI BOMB - new to me, but it has appeared in one other crossword . . . taste #2
5. Like Matt Smith's Doctor, on "Doctor Who": ELEVENTH - Despite having British parents, and being a hard-core Sci-Fi guy, I have never seen, or liked, [GASP] "Dr. Who" - name(ish) - the LIST
6. Sudeikis role: LASSO - Ted, that is, but another show I have never seen - name #4
7. Barley bundle: SHEAF - good WAG on my part
8. MiLB level: AAA - I did not know that Minor League Baseball was abbr this way
11. With little inflection: DULLY - "dull-ly" - not a word I would use in everyday convo - and then, whilst reading "Throne of Glass", I find the word not once, but twice - here's the first instance . . .
12. Largest Greek island: CRETE - geo name #6
15. "__ me!": "Comin' through!": " 'SCUSE~!" - Eliding over the "EK" part of excuse; not unique; in fact, it's not even a "rare" crossword fill . . .
18. "Suuuuure": "IBET."
21. April 15 org.: IRS - My "CPA" has my paperwork
24. __ jockey: DISC
25. Forgets, maybe: OMITS
26. Snitch (on): NARC - I do the Downs first, threw in "TELL"
29. Actor Barinholtz: IKE - name #7
30. Ad-__: LIB - Dah~! Got the wrong one #1 - not HOC
31. Fashion designer Kate: SPADE - the one name I did know, #8
32. Spigot: TAP - My favorite "TAP"
Nigel Tufnel, lead guitar, Spinal Tap
33. Michelin surface: TIRE TREAD - I like this clue/answer. It's not unique, either
34. Words of avowal: "IDO." - I 'DID' have this last week, too - I hope it's a sign of things to come
35. Bing portal: MSN - Bing being the search engine of MicroSoft Network - the Wiki
37. Wrinkle remover: IRON
38. Unpopular pet product?: HAIRBALL - Ha~! Clever clue; I tried NECK CONE - this thingy
He's faking it - theres' no way he would be that happy . . .
39. __ Sutra: KAMA - You can find the 'crossword position', chapter 18, section 5, verse 2 - here
43. Bird's sound: TWEET
44. Disposes (of): RIDS
45. Number of prongs on a bident: TWO
She's a "two-tining" woman
46. Short nails: TACKS - oops, not BRADS
47. Drum kit cymbals: HI-HAT - I play the drums, and the clue being "plural", I went with "RIDES" - the larger cymbal that sits "opposite" the Hi-Hat - which is a paired set of cymbals - in a kit
I added my drum set below, "backwards" for a lefty, like Phil Collins in Genesis; he switches from the Hi-Hat to the Ride @ 1:00 - my RIDE cymbal is low & inside the crash cymbal. More cowbell #2~!
48. Nail file material: EMERY
49. Only U.S. president born after 1960: OBAMA - OK, I knew this one as well - name #9
50. Place for a hat rack: FOYER
51. Holi celebrant: HINDU - Learned by doing crosswords; it occurred 4 March this year
Fun puzzle. And quite easy for a Friday, particularly because it was easy to grasp the gimmick right away. But I’m not complaining, after some of the “toughies” earlier this week. FIR, so I’m happy.
Tried WAH in place of WOO, but ROME and SOAR set me straight. Got the theme at CIDER, and it actually helped with the solve. Thanx, Yijing and Splynter. (I'd vote Tom Baker as the best doctor on Dr. Who -- #4.)
FIW, missing with TAgaL instead of TAMIL. I can never remember UMAMI, and don't really understand SIT (with.) build->BUILT, atom->ATAD, brads->TACKS, and scuze->SCUSE.
BOOB tube - Especially Cinemax.
I knew MiLB. That's the app where I get my updates on the mighty AAA Norfolk Admirals.
Thanks to Yijing for the puzzle. Loved the theme, but way too much A&E for my taste. And thanks to Splynter for another fine review. The obligatory leg shot was Taylor-made for me.
This was a great puzzle. Lots of fresh fill, clever-enough cluing, and a theme that even brought a smile to the face of this anti-themer (because so many of them are lame). Maybe it wasn't quite "Friday-level," but given some of the messy offerings we've had lately, this puzzle was more than welcome.
Fresh themes are not easy to come up with, but our author certainly succeeded with this fun and creative concept. I didn’t have too much trouble with the solve, except for the unknowns: Eleventh, Umami Bomb, Spits Bars, and Ike. I think the obviousness of the theme reduced the Friday-level difficulty level, but I enjoyed the solve, nonetheless.
Thanks and congrats, Yijing, and thanks, Splynter, for the enlightening commentary and fun photos, especially the coned-canine! It’s hard to believe Joe Pesci, the ruthless, psychotic mobster of Good Fellas is the same Joe Pesci, the bumbling, lovable, lawyer of My Cousin Vinny. Not too many actors have his versatility, IMO.
FIR. I had to work at this one, but it is Friday of course, and to be expected. Last to fall was the NE. Sea pickle took a while to arrive. Also I had no idea on the proper name Cokie. The theme suddenly made sense when I got "The Grapes of Wrath" clue. I am such a fan of all of John Steinbeck's books. So overall an enjoyable puzzle.
What made this CW particularly easy was the theme answers were obvious. And the gimmick of “processing” was clear after the first fill CIDER. (Not KrautPATCHKIDS? 😄)
Inkovers: hoc/LIB, name/NARC, floor/FOYER.
“I Think You Should Leave ” an unconventional, insanely hilarious series. 3 seasons. Tim was an SNL writer as well.
“Hocus Pocus” is a corruption of the phrase “Hoc est enim corporus meum” part of the consecration during the Latin mass.
Kate SPADE was new. UMAMI BOMB?
Had a classmate from Crete at Uni in Italy. When we wanted to tease her we’d call her a Cretən. She taught us how to play Bridge, go figure.
“Spits bars” odd(clever?) way to clue RAPS. HIHATS I learnt from these here puzzles. OBAMA, the only POTUS younger’n me. (But you know you’re really ancient when you’re older than the pope!)
CDC: these childhood diseases are no joke. Hope we wake up.
Leave SWFlorida tomorrow after a wonderful winter-free two months . Hoping my dark tan doesn’t cause me to be detained at the airport by the new “helpers”.
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Yijing (congrats on your debut) and Splynter. I thought I FIRed, and I got the terrific theme with the Steinbeck clue. That allowed me to finish the other themers. (I LOLed at the KIMCHI PATCH KIDS - I learned about Kimchi when my daughter was in S. Korea.)
But I arrived here to discover that I changed Yoo-hoo to Boo-hoo, and did not question that CHEESY bAY. Woo-hoo was needed.
This Canadian had an "almost Natick" at the cross of CDC and COKIE, but then I remembered the C. Sadly, Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel stated in December 2025 that Canada cannot rely on U.S. health institutions. I will not comment further as too political, but the CDC is one of those institutions.
The April 15th org. clue held up this Canadian temporarily. Our income tax submissions are due to the CRA by April 30th.
I Teeed up my putt (too many Es!) before perps gave AIMED. Perps also changed cART to KART.
This one moved along briskly; seldom was heard a discouraging word. Or an inscrutable or peculiar one, for that matter.
I enjoyed the cute theme, and appreciated the cluing, especially the misdirections. My favorite--being a cat lover--was probably "unpopular pet product" for HAIRBALL.
Thanks, Yijing, for an enjoyable Friday challenge. Hope to see you here again. And thanks, Splynter, for another helpful and entertaining recap.
Clever new theme from Yijing. Like RayO I also caught the conceit at CIDER.
In the I-need-new-glasses department, I quickly read 14A as Sounds of relaxation, thus AHHS. The cross of MiLB didn't help me. Rats.
Batman "ebb' to Bruce Wayne! Wish I had said that. LOL Knew Splynter would like a puzzle with with a HI-HAT, and you managed to throw in Bonham as well.
A fabulous Friday. Now that I know “umami” from doing crosswords I have heard Gordon Ramsey use the term on Next Level Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. I love kimchi as an appetizer when eating Asian cuisine. Thanks Yijing for a fun puzzle. Thank you Splynter for your entertaining recap.
Hola! I am not as enamored of this puzzle as everyone else. I do enjoy puns and I liked THE WINE OF WRATH. However, SEA PICKLE beat me, and I've never seen Ted LASSO so could not finish that top center. Also, i started with NIH before CDC kicked in so not an auspicious beginning. MATE is also not something I know. CHEESY WAY was clever, too, but I still prefer a more straightforward approach. Thank you, Yijing and Splynter. Enjoy your day, everyone!
Steinbeck caught my eye immediately, and the theme gimmick was readily apparent. But THE WINE OF WRATH was the best of the theme entries, which could not be called sophomoric because they seemed more like the yet-undeveloped cleverness of a 9-year-old. Apparently that suffices as full cleverness for a lot of people.
SEA PICKLE was as interesting as it got. CHEESY WAY is a tween-caliber analogy. The CIDER OF ONE’S EYE entry was marred by using “one’s” instead of “my,” the pronoun that’s usually part of the cliché. As for KIMCHI PATCH KIDS: I happened to catch the first couple of minutes of “Toon in with ME” (on ME-TV) right before I started in on the puzzle, and it featured a short tribute to the American Girl dolls, so that threw me for a while. The perps didn’t help much. UMAMI seemed obvious, but the BOMB part made it obscure. The SIT entry was clued oddly. ELEVENTH took me too long, but once I added the H, the KIMCHI jar was open.
Still, it was an easy Friday. I FIR in about 30 minutes.
My only other problem was the “spits bars” clue. RAP has been around for nearly half a century, but most of us still know nothing about it. “Spits bars” is way too jargony for that majority.
When I first started out, everything was just filling in easily. I thought, I must be on this constructor's wavelength. When I got to 4 letter blank tube=boob, I absolutely "knew" we were in tune... but when all the easy stuff was filled, I realized I had zero theme filled! I started with Cabbage, being the easiest, didn't work... grapes to wine gave me the processing, but Cheezy Way took time to coagulate in my mind... it was sea cucumber that was last to fill, A) because it was backwards, and B) because I read the clue for "dully" wrong! I read, with "A" little inflection, instead of with little inflection, turning that whole corner into a personal Natick...
It is like this puzzle was constructed by two different people!
I loved that I got sucked in easily, and yet had to work at it to complete it!
One question, I don't understand blank Burr, followed by "sir," being Aaron? (Can I get another clue please?)
Anywho, to finish off this enjoyable concoction, here is something I found this morning. When old Star Trek episodes get processed by Artificial Intelligence, you get some cool Romulan Jazz...
Thank you, Yiying Chen. Congrats on your LAT debut. Thank you, Splynter.
I solved this one late last night. I couldn't remember what my time was, so I solved it again this morning. It was FIR both times, but the second time through was much faster.
I didn't make the same mistakes in the NE corner that slowed me down the first time. Originally, the Journalist was NORAH, and the Public health org was the NIH.
My favorite clue and answer was "Check a final time" with MATE.
our trivia team name is "Don't You Understand The Tables Are Our Corn" from the Drivers' Ed sketch in season 2 of I think you should leave, just a perfect television program hahaha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBwPmla8QQ
Very clever and entertaining puzzle. My favorite was "check mate". I always enjoy the recap Splynter. This was enjoyable and way easier than yesterday. NE corner was the last to fall for whatever reason.
Very clever CW, thanx for the fun YC. 13 names but only DNK 3. Managed to FIR but took a full 30 minutes. YC, not only was the theme clever but you had loads of other clever clues. I hope to see more of your creations.
That all being said, I did have some W/Os: HHS/CDC, BRADS/TACKS, YOO/BOO/WOO, and it did take a bit to see the theme, although it is pretty obvious and I shoulda seen it with the first theme clue.
Thanx too to Splynter for the terrific write-up. Please know all the time and effort you put into it is appreciated. And the nice legs are appreciated, too.
Musings -A brilliant puzzle once APPLE/CIDER bonked me on the head! -KIMCHI took the longest to, uh, process -Check a final time/MATE was wonderful -Those airport BINS should start moving faster today -Spits bars/RAPS -Former FCC chairman Newton Minnow famously called BOOB TUBE content a “vast wasteland”. Now it’s even, uh, vaster. -Sorry Splynter, I enjoyed the occasional five-second images of Taylor and she brought three females in my family to the NFL -Will there ever be an ELEVENTH James Bond? -Omaha has had AAA MiLB baseball for over 70 years with the Storm Chasers being the latest version -My friend went to Doane College in CRETE, NE and we called him an EXCRETIAN -Irish, Joe Pesci was even more pshchotic and ruthless in Casino!
Interesting Friday puzzle, many thanks, Yijing. And thanks too for your commentary and pictures, Splynter.
Well, you can't get a more cheerful opening to a puzzle than the word AMUSE, which gets you ready for lots of fun. But we next get LSAT, CDS, and TAMIL, none of which made any sense to me, and aren't ready to give you any A-HA-s. Best just to leave all that stuff and see if we can find anything in the puzzle's VISA. The only treats I found were that ARENA, and when I finally checked the down comments, if was nice to see some MAGIC right away. That finally began to AMUSE me. But I think now it's best for me to see if I can check in with some of those TSARS, and see if they'd be willing to suggest anything to AMUSE me. Not likely, I suppose. But as the puzzle tells me: ADVENTURE AWAITS.
I loved working this puzzle. I laughed out loud when I got THE WINE OF WRATH. BOO-->YOO-->WOO. Misty used to say, "Woo hoo!" a lot. CHIRP-->CHEEP-->TWEET. TODO-->STIR. BOOB went in, then I thought, "Nah, too obvious," and took it out. I was wrong. It was indeed obvious but it was the right answer. Good reading all your comments.
Definitely a different type of puzzle with a product of the original item being processed.. The north and center had a lot of white, but the WINE OF WRATH opened it up. Other than "The Grapes of Wrath" there were no other A&E originals. It took perps and guessing to FIR because my knowledge of "Spits bars", NARC for 'Tell on", anything relating to "Dr. Who", or "I think you should leave" is ZERO.
TWO- Bident is a new word for me but a trident has three tines. The UMAMI BOMB bomb part was unknown and took a while to guess. My STIR started as a TODO and my NARC (unknown) was TELL (I was thinking BLAB). The abbr. MiLB was previously unknown but easy to guess after the first A was filled.
The NE was the last to fall, as I'd filled the wrong local reporter. ROBIN Roberts (the basketball player from SE LA University, not the HOF MLB pitcher) instead of my late Congressman Hale Boggs' daughter, the late COKIE Roberts. In 1972, Rep Hale Boggs was campaigning with Rep. Nick Begish (AK) running for Congress for Alaska and their plane was never found.
27 comments:
Fun puzzle. And quite
easy for a Friday, particularly because it was easy to grasp the gimmick right away.
But I’m not complaining, after some of the “toughies” earlier this week.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Tried WAH in place of WOO, but ROME and SOAR set me straight. Got the theme at CIDER, and it actually helped with the solve. Thanx, Yijing and Splynter. (I'd vote Tom Baker as the best doctor on Dr. Who -- #4.)
FIW, missing with TAgaL instead of TAMIL. I can never remember UMAMI, and don't really understand SIT (with.) build->BUILT, atom->ATAD, brads->TACKS, and scuze->SCUSE.
BOOB tube - Especially Cinemax.
I knew MiLB. That's the app where I get my updates on the mighty AAA Norfolk Admirals.
Thanks to Yijing for the puzzle. Loved the theme, but way too much A&E for my taste. And thanks to Splynter for another fine review. The obligatory leg shot was Taylor-made for me.
Took 10:03 today to process this one.
I didn't know: Tamil, eleventh, or dully.
Clever theme.
"Ted Lasso" is a great tv series.
This was a great puzzle. Lots of fresh fill, clever-enough cluing, and a theme that even brought a smile to the face of this anti-themer (because so many of them are lame).
Maybe it wasn't quite "Friday-level," but given some of the messy offerings we've had lately, this puzzle was more than welcome.
Good Morning:
Fresh themes are not easy to come up with, but our author certainly succeeded with this fun and creative concept. I didn’t have too much trouble with the solve, except for the unknowns: Eleventh, Umami Bomb, Spits Bars, and Ike. I think the obviousness of the theme reduced the Friday-level difficulty level, but I enjoyed the solve, nonetheless.
Thanks and congrats, Yijing, and thanks, Splynter, for the enlightening commentary and fun photos, especially the coned-canine! It’s hard to believe Joe Pesci, the ruthless, psychotic mobster of Good Fellas is the same Joe Pesci, the bumbling, lovable, lawyer of My Cousin Vinny. Not too many actors have his versatility, IMO.
Have a great day.
FIR. I had to work at this one, but it is Friday of course, and to be expected.
Last to fall was the NE. Sea pickle took a while to arrive. Also I had no idea on the proper name Cokie.
The theme suddenly made sense when I got "The Grapes of Wrath" clue. I am such a fan of all of John Steinbeck's books.
So overall an enjoyable puzzle.
I enjoyed this puzzle with its amusing theme and some creative clueing (especially for MATE).
A pleasant reminder of Cokie Roberts, a mainstay of NPR’s political coverage for many years.
Congratulations to Yijing Chen on your LAT debut, and thanks for the fun. Also enjoyed Splynter’s enthusiastic review - thanks!
What made this CW particularly easy was the theme answers were obvious. And the gimmick of “processing” was clear after the first fill CIDER. (Not KrautPATCHKIDS? 😄)
Inkovers: hoc/LIB, name/NARC, floor/FOYER.
“I Think You Should Leave ” an unconventional, insanely hilarious series. 3 seasons. Tim was an SNL writer as well.
“Hocus Pocus” is a corruption of the phrase “Hoc est enim corporus meum” part of the consecration during the Latin mass.
Kate SPADE was new. UMAMI BOMB?
Had a classmate from Crete at Uni in Italy. When we wanted to tease her we’d call her a Cretən. She taught us how to play Bridge, go figure.
“Spits bars” odd(clever?) way to clue RAPS. HIHATS I learnt from these here puzzles. OBAMA, the only POTUS younger’n me. (But you know you’re really ancient when you’re older than the pope!)
CDC: these childhood diseases are no joke. Hope we wake up.
Leave SWFlorida tomorrow after a wonderful winter-free two months . Hoping my dark tan doesn’t cause me to be detained at the airport by the new “helpers”.
See everyone Monday I hope. 🤞
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Yijing (congrats on your debut) and Splynter.
I thought I FIRed, and I got the terrific theme with the Steinbeck clue. That allowed me to finish the other themers. (I LOLed at the KIMCHI PATCH KIDS - I learned about Kimchi when my daughter was in S. Korea.)
But I arrived here to discover that I changed Yoo-hoo to Boo-hoo, and did not question that CHEESY bAY. Woo-hoo was needed.
This Canadian had an "almost Natick" at the cross of CDC and COKIE, but then I remembered the C. Sadly, Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel stated in December 2025 that Canada cannot rely on U.S. health institutions. I will not comment further as too political, but the CDC is one of those institutions.
The April 15th org. clue held up this Canadian temporarily. Our income tax submissions are due to the CRA by April 30th.
I Teeed up my putt (too many Es!) before perps gave AIMED.
Perps also changed cART to KART.
Favourite today was the clue for MATE.
Wishing you all a great day.
This one moved along briskly; seldom was heard a discouraging word. Or an inscrutable or peculiar one, for that matter.
I enjoyed the cute theme, and appreciated the cluing, especially the misdirections. My favorite--being a cat lover--was probably "unpopular pet product" for HAIRBALL.
Thanks, Yijing, for an enjoyable Friday challenge. Hope to see you here again. And thanks, Splynter, for another helpful and entertaining recap.
I had to wait until the WINE OF WRATH before I understood the theme, then once again I had a ball with it.
A few unknown names like SPADE and IKE as clued. I was a fan of COKIE Roberts for many years. RIP.
My favorite fill was HAIR BALL. 🐈⬛
Thank you Splynter. Great review. I liked the happy dog with the collar.
Clever new theme from Yijing. Like RayO I also caught the conceit at CIDER.
In the I-need-new-glasses department, I quickly read 14A as Sounds of relaxation, thus AHHS. The cross of MiLB didn't help me. Rats.
Batman "ebb' to Bruce Wayne! Wish I had said that. LOL Knew Splynter would like a puzzle with with a HI-HAT, and you managed to throw in Bonham as well.
A fabulous Friday.
Now that I know “umami” from doing crosswords I have heard Gordon Ramsey use the term on Next Level Chef and Hell’s Kitchen.
I love kimchi as an appetizer when eating Asian cuisine.
Thanks Yijing for a fun puzzle.
Thank you Splynter for your entertaining recap.
Hola! I am not as enamored of this puzzle as everyone else. I do enjoy puns and I liked THE WINE OF WRATH. However, SEA PICKLE beat me, and I've never seen Ted LASSO so could not finish that top center. Also, i started with NIH before CDC kicked in so not an auspicious beginning.
MATE is also not something I know.
CHEESY WAY was clever, too, but I still prefer a more straightforward approach.
Thank you, Yijing and Splynter. Enjoy your day, everyone!
Steinbeck caught my eye immediately, and the theme gimmick was readily apparent. But THE WINE OF WRATH was the best of the theme entries, which could not be called sophomoric because they seemed more like the yet-undeveloped cleverness of a 9-year-old. Apparently that suffices as full cleverness for a lot of people.
SEA PICKLE was as interesting as it got. CHEESY WAY is a tween-caliber analogy. The CIDER OF ONE’S EYE entry was marred by using “one’s” instead of “my,” the pronoun that’s usually part of the cliché. As for KIMCHI PATCH KIDS: I happened to catch the first couple of minutes of “Toon in with ME” (on ME-TV) right before I started in on the puzzle, and it featured a short tribute to the American Girl dolls, so that threw me for a while. The perps didn’t help much. UMAMI seemed obvious, but the BOMB part made it obscure. The SIT entry was clued oddly. ELEVENTH took me too long, but once I added the H, the KIMCHI jar was open.
Still, it was an easy Friday. I FIR in about 30 minutes.
My only other problem was the “spits bars” clue. RAP has been around for nearly half a century, but most of us still know nothing about it. “Spits bars” is way too jargony for that majority.
I too, absolutely loved this puzzle!
When I first started out, everything was just filling in easily. I thought, I must be on this constructor's wavelength. When I got to 4 letter blank tube=boob, I absolutely "knew" we were in tune... but when all the easy stuff was filled, I realized I had zero theme filled! I started with Cabbage, being the easiest, didn't work... grapes to wine gave me the processing, but Cheezy Way took time to coagulate in my mind... it was sea cucumber that was last to fill, A) because it was backwards, and B) because I read the clue for "dully" wrong! I read, with "A" little inflection, instead of with little inflection, turning that whole corner into a personal Natick...
It is like this puzzle was constructed by two different people!
I loved that I got sucked in easily, and yet had to work at it to complete it!
One question, I don't understand blank Burr, followed by "sir," being Aaron?
(Can I get another clue please?)
Anywho, to finish off this enjoyable concoction, here is something I found this morning. When old Star Trek episodes get processed by Artificial Intelligence,
you get some cool Romulan Jazz...
Thank you, Yiying Chen. Congrats on your LAT debut. Thank you, Splynter.
I solved this one late last night. I couldn't remember what my time was, so I solved it again this morning. It was FIR both times, but the second time through was much faster.
I didn't make the same mistakes in the NE corner that slowed me down the first time. Originally, the Journalist was NORAH, and the Public health org was the NIH.
My favorite clue and answer was "Check a final time" with MATE.
Super cool theme once I put it together. Really enjoyed this puzzle, and getting to see Tim Robinson and "I Think You Should Leave" get a shoutout.
our trivia team name is "Don't You Understand The Tables Are Our Corn" from the Drivers' Ed sketch in season 2 of I think you should leave, just a perfect television program hahaha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBwPmla8QQ
Great theme!
Very clever and entertaining puzzle. My favorite was "check mate". I always enjoy the recap Splynter. This was enjoyable and way easier than yesterday. NE corner was the last to fall for whatever reason.
Very clever CW, thanx for the fun YC. 13 names but only DNK 3. Managed to FIR but took a full 30 minutes. YC, not only was the theme clever but you had loads of other clever clues. I hope to see more of your creations.
That all being said, I did have some W/Os: HHS/CDC, BRADS/TACKS, YOO/BOO/WOO, and it did take a bit to see the theme, although it is pretty obvious and I shoulda seen it with the first theme clue.
Thanx too to Splynter for the terrific write-up. Please know all the time and effort you put into it is appreciated. And the nice legs are appreciated, too.
Musings
-A brilliant puzzle once APPLE/CIDER bonked me on the head!
-KIMCHI took the longest to, uh, process
-Check a final time/MATE was wonderful
-Those airport BINS should start moving faster today
-Spits bars/RAPS
-Former FCC chairman Newton Minnow famously called BOOB TUBE content a “vast wasteland”. Now it’s even, uh, vaster.
-Sorry Splynter, I enjoyed the occasional five-second images of Taylor and she brought three females in my family to the NFL
-Will there ever be an ELEVENTH James Bond?
-Omaha has had AAA MiLB baseball for over 70 years with the Storm Chasers being the latest version
-My friend went to Doane College in CRETE, NE and we called him an EXCRETIAN
-Irish, Joe Pesci was even more pshchotic and ruthless in Casino!
Interesting Friday puzzle, many thanks, Yijing. And thanks too for your commentary and pictures, Splynter.
Well, you can't get a more cheerful opening to a puzzle than the word AMUSE, which gets you ready for lots of fun. But we next get LSAT, CDS, and TAMIL, none of which made any sense to me, and aren't ready to give you any A-HA-s.
Best just to leave all that stuff and see if we can find anything in the puzzle's VISA. The only treats I found were that ARENA, and when I finally checked the down comments, if was nice to see some MAGIC right away. That finally began to AMUSE me. But I think now it's best for me to see if I can check in with some of those TSARS, and see if they'd be willing to suggest anything to AMUSE me. Not likely, I suppose. But as the puzzle tells me: ADVENTURE AWAITS.
Have a lovely weekend, coming up, everybody.
I loved working this puzzle. I laughed out loud when I got THE WINE OF WRATH.
BOO-->YOO-->WOO. Misty used to say, "Woo hoo!" a lot.
CHIRP-->CHEEP-->TWEET. TODO-->STIR.
BOOB went in, then I thought, "Nah, too obvious," and took it out. I was wrong. It was indeed obvious but it was the right answer.
Good reading all your comments.
Definitely a different type of puzzle with a product of the original item being processed.. The north and center had a lot of white, but the WINE OF WRATH opened it up. Other than "The Grapes of Wrath" there were no other A&E originals. It took perps and guessing to FIR because my knowledge of "Spits bars", NARC for 'Tell on", anything relating to "Dr. Who", or "I think you should leave" is ZERO.
TWO- Bident is a new word for me but a trident has three tines.
The UMAMI BOMB bomb part was unknown and took a while to guess.
My STIR started as a TODO and my NARC (unknown) was TELL (I was thinking BLAB).
The abbr. MiLB was previously unknown but easy to guess after the first A was filled.
The NE was the last to fall, as I'd filled the wrong local reporter. ROBIN Roberts (the basketball player from SE LA University, not the HOF MLB pitcher) instead of my late Congressman Hale Boggs' daughter, the late COKIE Roberts. In 1972, Rep Hale Boggs was campaigning with Rep. Nick Begish (AK) running for Congress for Alaska and their plane was never found.
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