It is my pleasure to review this duet from two of our own, Chris Gross and Zhouqin Burnikel, better known around here as Chairman Moe and C.C. Our hostess is very generous with her talents, and has constructed numerous puzzles with folks from the Corner, including myself. Chris often works solo, and his crosswords have appeared in several major publications. Together, they are a formidable team.
The revealer tells all:
37. With 40-Across, salad staple, or what a black square creates in rows 3, 5, 11, and 13 of this puzzle?: CHOPPED ⬛ LETTUCE. Hidden inside each of four pairs of theme answers are the names of common LETTUCE varieties, "CHOPPED" (BISECTed!) by a black square. Thursday appropriate with no circles - thanks, guys!
With what are essentially five grid-spanners, it chopped up the rest of the fill into small pieces. I guess that's the price you pay for going green. Sometimes when we get a puzzle such as this, the theme is only realized after the fact. This time, however, it helped with the solve. I temporarily skipped the GOBI part of ALOO GOBI, but when I filled in BBC ONE, I saw the double Bs. Theme to the rescue, I divined BIBB and back-tracked for the win. Good fun.
Lettuce not delay endive right in. Chop-chop! Don't worry, it won't make your head spin.
With what are essentially five grid-spanners, it chopped up the rest of the fill into small pieces. I guess that's the price you pay for going green. Sometimes when we get a puzzle such as this, the theme is only realized after the fact. This time, however, it helped with the solve. I temporarily skipped the GOBI part of ALOO GOBI, but when I filled in BBC ONE, I saw the double Bs. Theme to the rescue, I divined BIBB and back-tracked for the win. Good fun.
Lettuce not delay endive right in. Chop-chop! Don't worry, it won't make your head spin.
Across:
1. Snatch suddenly: GRAB.
5. Spot protected by a sun hat: NAPE.
9. Coding shortcut: MACRO. A MACRO is a saved sequence of commands or keystrokes that can be played back with a single trigger to automate repetitive tasks.
14. Home of the "American Gothic" house: IOWA. Grant Wood's 1930 painting depicts an IOWA farmer and his daughter standing before a house with a Gothic-arched window. Because the expression on their faces is emotionless and severe, viewers can never quite tell if Wood is celebrating these rural figures or quietly mocking their lifestyle. This ambiguity has made it iconic (and won the artist a $300 prize).
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| Wood used his sister and his dentist as models. |
15. Woes: ILLS.
16. Filmmaker Coen: ETHAN. ETHAN, along with his brother Joel, have written, directed and produced such classics as Fargo and The Big Lebowski.
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| ETHAN (left) and Joel Coen winning Oscars for No Country for Old Men in 2008 |
17. First experience with screen sharing?: FILM DEBUT. 1st half of BUTTER lettuce. Fun clue. The Coen brother's FILM DEBUT was Blood Simple in 1984.
19. Semesters and quarters: TERMS.
20. Turned into: BECAME. My youngest son BECAME an amateur magician (true!). He once turned my car into a driveway (sorta true!).
21. Multnomah Falls st.: ORE. On one of our family jaunts to the Pacific Northwest (our son lives in Seattle), we climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls in Oregon. Our reward was spectacular views of the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland. The pedestrian bridge in the background is about halfway up.
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| The hat looks like it's keeping my brain from getting rusty! |
22. Heads or tails, e.g.: CHOICE. 1st half of ICEBERG lettuce.
25. Citrus flavor in Earl Grey tea: BERGAMOT. Not my cup of tea, but learning new things is one reason I love crosswords (as long as they're fairly crossed as here). A BERGAMOT orange is a fragrant, natural hybrid of sour orange and lemon.
29. Owns: HAS. We own mango and avocado trees, but have no oranges.
30. GPS heading: SSE. South-SouthEast is a random compass point, yes, but preferable the direction between two unknown places, such as from Springfield to Centerville.
32. Encouraged: URGED.
33. Writer/actress Rae: ISSA. Additionally, ISSA Rae is an advocate for civil rights and women's rights movements. She's been listed twice in the annual Time list of the most influential people in the world.
35. World's largest peninsula: ARABIA.
37. [theme]
40. [theme]
44. Cut in half: BISECT.
46. One-named New Age singer: ENYA. She's a popular gal in xword land. With 80 million records sold, she's also popular with everyone else. That's why she can live in a castle.
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| ENYA's Manderley Castle near Dublin, Ireland |
47. Guarded areas in soccer: SHINS. Winner: Best Clue. 🏆
49. Condo management gp.: HOA. Home Owner's Association aka "Condo Commandos."
51. German article for neuter nouns: DAS. Equivalent to "the" in English.
52. Curry dish with potatoes and cauliflower: ALOO GOBI. 1st half of BIBB lettuce. ALOO GOBI is a simple Indian vegetarian dish made with potatoes (aloo) and cauliflower (gobi), along with spices and herbs.
54. The U.K.'s oldest TV network: BBC ONE. The flagship channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
57. Ballerina's hairdo: BUN. They wear their hair in a BUN for safety, balance and unobstructed vision. The identical hairstyles also keep the audience's eye focused on group symmetry rather than individual distractions.
58. Venue for shucked oysters: RAW BAR. As you'd expect, there are some great ones on the water down here in South Florida.
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| The ever-popular Southport Raw Bar in Fort Lauderdale. |
60. Scent: AROMA. 1st half of ROMAINE lettuce.
63. Comment after a big meal, perhaps: I NEED A NAP. Especially on Thanksgiving in a few weeks!
67. Small bouquet: SPRAY. Now available in cans*.
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| * not recommended for prom dates. |
68. Site for artisans: ETSY.
69. Common mixer: COLA.
70. Shiitake Happens nail polish brand: ESSIE.
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| It'll make your nails look like shiitake! |
71. Suits: FITS. This clue gave me FITS!
72. Understood: KNEW. But this one I KNEW.
Down:
1. Animated pic: GIF. Graphics Interchange Format for short, looping animations. I was thinking CEL.
2. King, in Marseille: ROI. Return On Investment? It's good to be the king! Unless you're in France, that is.
3. Tool used in manual lockstitch sewing: AWL. The lockstitch sewing manual says, "AWLways use the pointy end."
4. Thumper's deer friend: BAMBI. Punny clue!
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| Thumper with his "dear" friend Bambi. |
5. Some reunion attendees: NIECES.
6. Jessica of "Machete": ALBA. Jessica is an actress, entrepreneur, and advocate for health and wellness.
7. Pipe pro: PLUMBER. Nice alliteration.
8. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTEE. ESTÉE and her husband Joseph founded the beauty company in 1946.
9. Sat: MET. I needed to add "with" to figure this one out. Sat with or MET with.
10. Put away: ATE.
11. Safari alternative: CHROME. Two popular web browsers.
12. Muzzle-loading aid: RAMROD. During the American Civil War, well-trained infantrymen using standard muzzle-loading rifles were expected to complete a full loading and firing cycle in 15 or 20 seconds. That's amazingly quick for a soldier under fire.
13. First wave: ONSET.
18. Mo. for Advent calendars: DEC. Advent calendars count down the days of December leading up to Christmas. They often have little doors that are opened each day to reveal a surprise.
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| I'm starting my Santa wish list early... |
22. In vogue: CHIC.
23. Resolve, with "out": HASH.
24. __ buco: OSSO. An Italian dish traditionally made with veal shank.
26. __ Goldberg machine: RUBE. RUBE Goldberg was American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. He created drawings of complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in convoluted ways.
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| Here's his pencil sharpener. |
27. Tenacious quality: GRIT. It's true!
28. Banded rock: AGATE. Rock band: AGATE.
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| AGATE is a progressive rock band from Norway. |
31. One-named smooth jazz singer: SADE. The Nigerian singer/songwriter is one of the most successful British female artists in history.
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| SADE proved to be a Smooth Operator with this hit release in 1984. |
34. HS class covering genetics: AP BIO. A high school Advanced Placement Biology class.
36. Silicon Valley city Palo __: ALTO.
38. Signal: PING. A PING is a notification in chat platforms. It's also a test signal sent by a computer network to an individual computer.
39. Canadian gas brand: ESSO. The regional name derived from S.O., the initials for Standard Oil, following the 1911 U.S. Supreme Court breakup of John D. Rockefeller's monopoly.
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| They now call it Exxon, but it's still the same old gas. |
41. Walk back: UNDO.
42. One shade in the CMYK color model: CYAN. CYAN, Magenta, Yellow and Key (a term used for the black plate in traditional printing).
43. Lack of difficulty: EASE.
45. Tuscan red: CHIANTI. As we learned last week, CHIANTI is made from Sangiovese grapes.
47. Noisily enjoys soup, say: SLURPS. It's also a great way to eat oysters at a RAW BAR.
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| Some add a drop of lemon juice and a dash Tabasco. |
48. Pays tribute to: HONORS.
50. Homes for brothers or sisters: ABBEYS.
52. Cut down to size: ABASE.
53. To the point: BRIEF. This is a terse answer.
55. Like moldy food: BAD. Try these sandwich bags if someone is stealing your lunch at work!
56. Sound from a bat: CRACK. Sound from my bat: WHIFF.
59. Dominic of "The Wire": WEST. Dominic is an English actor, director, producer, and musician.
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| As Detective Jimmy McNulty in HBO's The Wire |
61. Juin preceder: MAI. May and June in Marseille.
62. "Yes, sailor!": AYE. "Hello, sailor...": EYE.
64. Persona __ grata: NON.
65. Taproom pour: ALE.
66. Bear hand: PAW. Another fun clue.
Kudos to Chairman Moe and C.C. for their soulful ballad. I mean bowlful salad!
Be good. RB
I wasn’t familiar with
ReplyDelete“Burgamont” as a flavor, color, or whatever. And spellcheck doesn’t like it either.
Other than that, I went through the puzzle rather smoothly, and the reveal helped with that process, too.
FIR, so I’m happy.
It’s BERGAMOT. RB misspelled the fruit.
DeleteThanks, CanadianEh, it is corrected.
DeleteFIR, but rte->SSE, terse->BRIEF, and sonar->CRACK.
ReplyDeleteI thought of "committee" for sat=MET. As in "the committee sat (or MET) on the second Tuesday of every month."
I used to be a member of the Kentucky Long Rifle Association. Our members owned muzzle-loaders, including some using flintlock firing. I melted lead and molded my own ammo, but bought black powder from a local hardware store. I didn't own any fringed leather clothing, so I stuck out like a sore thumb at competitions. I certainly didn't differentiate myself by my performance - some of those guys were CRACK shots. (One of our better competitors was called away for something just after loading, cocking and putting on a percussion cap. When he returned, he started to repeat the process. When his RAMROD hit the bottom of the barrel, the force released the rifle's hammer and blew the RAMROD and two shot balls through the palm of both hands. He somehow escaped serious lasting injury.
Thanks to our Chairman and Web Mistress for the fun Thursday challenge. And thanks to Rusty Brain for the chuckles, including the "when is a car not a car" dad gag.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWow, a corner trifecta! My TAMPER wasn't working. ORE steered me to RAMROD. There was a Grant Wood room at a downtown hotel in Cedar Rapids. Learning moment: I always thought that painting was a farmer and his wife, not daughter. D'oh. I have memories of Multnomah Falls. I'd caught the flu and tossed my cookies over the railing there. I'm sure the other visitors appreciated that. Thanx for the amusement, C.C. and C-Moe, and for the expo, RustyBrain.
FIR. This was definitely a Thursday presentation. There were several learning moments for me, bergamot and aloo gobi for example.
ReplyDeleteOnce I got the reveal I went back and uncovered the theme.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Whoa! I never noticed the CHOPPED LETTUCE. If there had been circles I might have seen the light, but not from the BUTTER lettuce; new to me. We mainly buy ROMAINE.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the unifier in the center, I skipped that area and struggled to FIR in the SW. Finally did.
Great work Moe & C.C.
ISSA, ALBA, ENYA & SADE show up so often they are auto fills. Ms. Lauder? Is there another one besides ESTEE. I'm glad that other gimme, RUBE, wasn't referring to a non-urbanite. I DNK the other four-letter person WEST.
Not so easy to guess the unknown Multomah Falls State of OREgon; DNK.
If 'moldy food is BAD ; explain those cheeses.
I've seen the word BERGAMOT before but had no idea what it was but the perps too care of it.
ALOO GOBI- thank you perps for that one.
RAW BAR- it seems like every restaurant around here (NOLA) has an OSYTER BAR serving oysters on the half-shell or grilled oysters. DW likes them. I don't.
We do have a HOA in our neighborhood, but it's strictly voluntary with dues of $60/year. Almost everybody belongs. The dues cover maintaining our flower beds at the two entrances, Easter Egg hunt, Christmas party for children, and other minor things. But also we gently enforce no overnight parking on the streets and no boats or trailers in driveways past the front of the house.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteBergamot, Aloo Gobi, BBC One, etc., needed the helpful perps, but the theme was easy to spot after the reveal clue. The cluing and fill were Thursday appropriate and the solve was satisfying and enjoyable.
Thanks, Chairman and CC, and thanks, RB, for the puns, fun, and facts in your humorous and informative review. Tummy rubs to Buster.
Have a great day.
Wow! This CW puzzle was right up my alley. My only unknown was ALOO GOBI. I did need the reveal to notice the BISECTed lettuces.
ReplyDeleteI’ve liked the word BERGAMOT for a long time for some reason. Multnomah Falls are truly spectacular. RB, I never made it to the top, only to the pedestrian bridge.
My only erasure was whACK to CRACK.
Thank you C-Moe and C.C. for a fun puzzle and RB for a great review.
A Thursday puzzle
ReplyDeleteFrom Chairman Moe and C.C.
What a great big treat
A Moe-ku from my partner-in-crime! Thank you for that honor, MM
DeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Gimmicks that are clever and helpful are ever so welcome!
-ALOO GOBI and BERGAMONT were obscure to me but worked themselves out
-We have a covenant, not an HOA, that says garage doors should be down as much as possible. The neighbor violates this constantly and his house is the first thing you see when you enter our development. He’s a good guy and we Nebraska Nice peeps just let it go.
-Our good friend SPLYNTER is a pipe pro of a different sort
-Those sandwich bags are a hoot!
-I really enjoyed that a talented trio from our merry band provided solid Thursday entertainment.
It never fails to amaze me that people can come up with clever themes after all these years of puzzles.
ReplyDeleteNice touch on the Green shading! And soulful ballad/bowlful salad made me smile!
other than that, I've got nothing...
Like an EZ Monday. PING was last to fill cuz I had no idea what ALOOGOBI was 🧐 But the theme went into orbit, waaay over my head 😳. Gimme ⚪️s instead of ⬛️ squares. Otherwise a fun challenge from CC and The Chairman
ReplyDeleteInkovers: alumni/NIECES, ste/SSE, posey/SPRAY
“safari” inevitably fools me. “Mulnomah Falls” ? (auto kept tryna change it to multitude then multinomad) SADE “Shah-DAY”
Didn’t know ya had it ENYA, 80 million records sold! but more importantly how many CW appearances??
“Condo commanders” can sometimes be real HOAs … ESSIE?, c’mon I just learnt Opi If the “suit” FITS wear it. ABBEY: homes for brothers, sisters, and Downtons
Great review Rusty
FIR in 14. Definitely a Thursday or Friday level. 19 names, 5 DNKs, plus DNK BERGAMOT, all perps. W/Os = FACE/NAPE, GOAL/SHIN. "Tuscan red" had me thinking color, not wine. Several perps needed before the V-8 can hit.
ReplyDeleteDang! I forgot to look for the theme, and didn't notice it while working the CW. Overall, a fun CW, thanx C.Moe and C.C.
RB, great write-up, thanx. I've been to Southport Raw Bar many times. Should you find yourself there, order a bowl of half-and-half: delicious! I used to eat raw oysters, sometimes 2 or even 3 dozen, but no more. I'm afraid of vibrio. Even though it is very rare, it is becoming more common as ocean temperatures rise, and I want nothing to do with a very aggressive flesh eating bacteria. Fried oysters are also very good, especially as a fried oyster po-boy, available at Suck-n-Dive, a NOLA styled restaurant very close to me.
Southport's motto: Eat Fish - Live Longer! Eat Oysters - Love Longer! Eat Clams - Last Longer!
DeleteThank you, Rusty Brain, for the great recap and kind comments! We are honored to be reviewed by you!
ReplyDeleteAs many of you might know, these puzzles go through multiple iterations before the end result. The idea - interestingly enough - came just a short while before the big recall this past spring/summer of all of the packaged "chopped lettuce" from Taylor Farms. As C.C. and I worked out the kinks I could only imagine that a publisher might reject it or delay publishing because of that scare. Fortunately, the scare passed; Patti and Katie accepted; and voila!, here we are
I recently was made aware of a crossword puzzle reference website that has a smorgasbord of resources. Two of which that I will use are the clue and entry words. As a "modern day constructor" it is always prudent to check both the validity of a word as well as its usage. I know that other oldsters (like me) will sometimes cringe when we see a name or clue that refers to someone or something that fits the Gen Y's and Z's. As a constructor, though, I realize that the wide audience of puzzle solvers wants and needs current content
Another feature of the site is the ability to check on various people. For grins and giggles, I checked my name and was surprised to see that this was my 31st published puzzle - 25 of which are solos and six collaborations (3 with C.C.). Our reviewer today, Brian, has two published puzzles; Renee (aka sumdaze) has 14; and Irish Miss has 35
https://crosswordreference.com
Good day all around. Thanks for that link.
DeleteWhat a treat to enjoy a challenge devised by our own Chris and C.C.! And a smooth and clever one at that. It was well-thought out, with the best interests of the solver in mind. Our constructors ensured that useful perps were near the occasional headscratchers like aloogobi or bergamot.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, RB, for the helpful and amusing recap.
thanks, Ken
DeleteHola! Thursday thrills! This was fun to solve. Thank you, Chris and C.C. I've seen ALOO GOBI in previous puzzles, but not together. Ditto the Coen brothers. I liked seeing AROMA over SPRAY. i have some very nice aromatic SPRAYS. I only NEED A NAP on those days when I've had insomnia the night before. Sadly, it's happening more and more often.
ReplyDeleteOur HOA is fairly benign and we hear from them only if there is a serious infraction, like not paying the monthly fee!
Thank you for the photo of ISSA Rae. It's nice to put a face to the name.
Yesterday our newspaper was not delivered because the AZ Republic has decided not to publish on certain days, including Veterans' Day.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Delicious puzzle with a helpful theme -- thank you, Moe and C.C.! RustyBrain helped make sense of the one clue that didn't make sense to me -- 9-Down. Sat: MET. FIR and enjoyed it. Nice photo at the Falls, RB, and I love your word play.
ReplyDeleteYikes! This puzzle is stuffed with names. There is nothing clever about name recall and trivia🤨
ReplyDeleteTook 6:14 today to leaf through this one.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actresses of the Day (Alba & Issa), but not the Actor (West), although he is in "War," which I'm watching. I definitely did not know "bergamot" or "aloo gobi."
Was a fine themeless puzzle while solving, although I did not like "German article for neuter nouns" (das). I've only heard the lettuce called "butterhead."
If we parse "aroma" to "a roma", then today we're only a "bacon" shy of a BLT.
One of our earliest submissions included circles; but I mentioned to C.C. that if we used them, our "anonymous" friend would not be pleased ;^)
DeleteMr. Chairman, thank you for your concern. I appreciate that.
DeleteCongratulations to you & C.C.B. on your puzzle.
A formidable and funtastic Thursday offering from our fellow cornerites.
ReplyDeleteI loved it.
Guarded areas in soccer … I had goals/shins.
You say 🥔 potato … I say Aloo
Aloo is a crossword auto fill these days.
Our constructors Let-Us have a worthy adventure.
Thanks RB. Always enjoy your recaps.
Forgot to mention: I did not get, and don't like, the SAT/MET 9D.
ReplyDeleteI've struggled all week with the puzzles, but somehow managed to get through today's puzzle and even get it right. Perfect timing on the Earl Grey Tea clue, which was Capt. Picard's favorite drink. Cheers to Patrick Stewart. I guessed at the orange substitute. Thought there were a tad too many names. I had a lot of guesses along the way that worked out. Thanks for pointing out the "deer" friend clue. I missed that, and also the whole theme of the puzzle. As I said, I was struggling to get to the finish line. Perfect timing on the Indian cuisine, I ate at a great Indian restaurant in Spring, Texas yesterday, and their sag paneer and fried cauliflower were excellent.
ReplyDeleteI loved this well-constructed puzzle.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this puzzle very much. Thank you CMoe and C.C. Even tho I loved Sade and Smooth Operator, my one mistake was SEE for GPS heading which messed up Sade. Whack>Crack. Favorite clue…Guarded areas in soccer/shins.
ReplyDeleteI love Earl Grey tea and the flavor Bergamot.
Thanks for the fun review, RB. Love the moldy sandwich bags!
Even though I don't love so many names in a puzzle, I learn about those that are unfamiliar to me, so that's a plus.
ReplyDeleteThanks to our constructors for a great Thursday puzzle. I enjoyed it and had fun which to me is the point instead of chasing down inane obscurities or enduring a vain constructor trying to demonstrate how clever he or she thinks they are. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteTerrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, CMoe and C.C. and RB.
ReplyDeleteI saw the CHOPPED LETTUCE early in the solve which helped. (BIBB is actually a variety of BUTTER lettuce.)
One inkblot to change RAMmer to RAMROD.
I was moving along well until I hit the South. It took a few perps to drag ALOO GOBI out of my CW memory bank. We had ALOO Gobi in a CW on April 28 2026.
I am not familiar with Tuscan red, but CHIANTI made sense when it perped.
I thought of Smell for 60A scent (I smiled that I had room to enter Odour, but I knew better!). AROMA won.
I LOLed at the name of that ESSIE nail polish.
Wishing you all a good evening.
Lettuce all rejoice over our esteemed colleagues’ treat for today, even though I never did grok exactly how the theme was fit into this puzzle (and I’ve never heard of Bibb lettuce…). Great fun, just enough Thursday crunch to not need croutons added; even the proper names were “gettable”. Like UncleFred, the only fill that gave me pause was the one for MET. Meh.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a fun cruise, Moe and C.C.! (I’m also gobsmacked by the depth of talent of our Corner colleagues — Irish Miss has 35 puzzles under her belt?!? That is impressive.
Well, no wonder you’re Rusty, with all that water on yer Brain 🤣 That guitar Advent calendar is my kinda holiday decoration, too — very kewl. And the Condo Commandos gag — I gotta use that, as I’m the current VP of the HOA up at our place in Mammoth 🤙🏽😎 Nice touch with the green type font, too (and I want to know where I can get some of those delightfully disgusting sandwich bags!).
Speaking of delightfully disgusting…Oysters. I just could never bring myself to eating one; they look like a giant booger 😝 (good thing for me, as it turned out I’m allergic to shellfish…).
====> Darren / L.A.
Ojai Guy. Fun solve. Always a pleasure from these constructors.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteBeing on C.Moe & C.C.'s frequency, made this puzzle fly by. I only slowed down to double-check perps before commiting ink to paper. Thank yous two for a fun foray to the salad BAR.
Thank you RustyBrain for adding the fixin's for the greens. You dressed it nicely.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: BERGAMOT, MAI, WEST, and SSE as (not) clued ;-)
Fav: I'm FAWNing over 4d's clue.
ALOOGOBI - lots of Indian restaurants around here. Good eats, them.
Enjoyed reading y'all today while Microsoft's email was (still is) down.
Cheers, -T
Thanks to C-Moe and C.C. for such a fun puzzle! I love a big salad so this one FITS. The NE was the last to fall as I was unsure about "Sat" for MET but the perps were clear.
ReplyDeleteHOA fees in HI can easily run in 4 digits...per month.
"Dressed it nicely." Good one, -T.
Thanks to R-Brain for the tour! FAV was the BAD sandwich bag.