You can take my cake, it never was my thing You can burn the cookies in the stove Or you can tell your friends I don't like cinnamon And you can confiscate my ice cream cone You can take my bars from Hershey's or from Mars You can take my marshmallows for s'mores Or you can tell my lips to stop with licorice And no I won't eat macaroons no more But don't take my tart, my flakey-bakey tart My taste buds wouldn't understand And if you take my tart, my flakey-bakey tart I might go out and order flan You can take my mousse with extra caramel sauce You can take my strawberry parfait Or tell your pastry chef to keep his chocolate chips I never really liked them anyway Or tell your relatives I don't want a sugar fix My fridge doesn't need that crème brulée Or you can tell my eyes to just resist those pies They're bigger than my stomach anyway But don't take my tart, my flakey-bakey tart My taste buds wouldn't understand And if you take my tart, my flakey-bakey tart I might go out and order flan (Don't dessert me for that one.)
@Mike You hit our sweet spot, Mike. I'm pie-eyed! ) ( ) 🥧
@Mike Billy Ray coming your way :) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDjbZVawd68" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDjbZVawd68</a>
Sam, a papaw is also known as a paw paw, a fruit that is very unlike the papaya. They grow here and are even more plentiful in western Maryland, but southern Ontario is also known for its paw paws, so next time you go ice fishing, you can try them out (and they're good bait for the pawpoises too!). I don't know if they make paw paw wine, but I'll ask around. Just in case you want to go into the paw paw ice wine business. Around here we sometimes play softball with them, but they don't usually last more than half an inning, if that. We need to find a better fruit. OK, back to reality. A fine puzzle, I came, I enjoyed, I solved. Not a perfect puzzle -- Double A Gents was brilliant but Three Wise Men would have improved if Mr. Wiegmann had indeed inserted Fyodor Doestoevsky; with only 2 wise men it just doesn't click right -- but I enjoyed learning the origins of jerky and pez, and there was a pluckiness to its spirit that I responded to with hearty good cheer. Speaking of which, Mr. Wiegmann, you should crank up some Miley Cyrus (she was so awesome at the VMAs!), grab a few brewskis -- what a word! and echoing Bruce up above -- and sit down with The Brothers Karamazov. Oh man, there's so much achey breaky hearts in that book it would cause even Billy Ray to slowly remove his hat, bow down, and sweep the hat along ground, in obeisance and servitude to his master, the king of jerky twerky heartbreaking Fyodor you know whooski... Dosvedanya...
@john ezra - each of the two men in the clue has three wyes in his name: they are men of three wyes: thus, three-wise men. Sam didn’t seem to get that either.
@john ezra I just finished The Brothers K. Not a lighthearted romp, to say the least!
As an Aussie, for some reason I always get Jack Nicklaus and Jack Newton (also was a golfer) mixed up. The latter had a bad accident in the 80’s when he walked into an airplane blade and lost an arm and an eye. So when I realised the answer was ONE EYED JACKS I was like….😳 wow NYT is getting a bit harsh with the clues!
So much fun to work this puzzle! I was wowed each time a theme fill unfolded, intricately constructed with clues that were delightful to figure out. FOUR H LEADERS was my favorite, until I looked back and saw ONE EYED JACKS, DOUBLE AGENTS, and THREE WISE MEN. I mean, really, how to choose? And almost as good were the other fills. No fat on this one. How'd he do that? Brad Wiegmann, you are a wizard of a constructor and I'm so looking forward to seeing your next one.
@dutchiris I grew up in a small town and our leader dubbed our club an urban 4H club, we did good deeds but never went to a farm.
Another member of the international contingent here. I think that with the exception of baseball and American football (oh God, so much sports), there's no telling what the internationals know. But I could certainly do with fewer QBS, team abbreviations and all that. I suppose it's an easy gimme for the core audience, though, and I respect that. And all that aside, I thoroughly enjoy my daily solve.
@Søren Thustrup As an American woman who detests most sports, I can do without all that, too. It's rarely an easy gimme for me, unless it's one that has been used in the puzzles ad nauseam.
Don't want to break my streak of commenting any time PEZ shows up in a puzzle. Fortunately, it was a pretty stellar puzzle!
@Pezhead Did you already know the origin of the word? That was a new bit of trivia for me! Maybe the emus will have some PEZ too - yum!
@Pezhead Have you visited the Pez Visitor Center? <a href="https://us.pez.com/pages/hours-and-location" target="_blank">https://us.pez.com/pages/hours-and-location</a> “Come see and experience the PEZ brand in person. Over 4,000 square feet dedicated to all things PEZ! See the largest, most comprehensive collection of PEZ memorabilia on public display in the world, PEZ motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers, the world's largest PEZ dispenser, viewing area into our production area, PEZ trivia game, retail area, interactive historical time line and much more. Learn about the brand that has been inspiring and innovating since 1927!”
The 'papaw' that is similar to custard apples is not a papaya.
@Henrik You are right. it is a pawpaw, native to 26 US states and our largest fruit. Some southern children call their Grandpa “Papaw”, but i never heard pawpaw called that. But maybe somewhere…Kind of a messed up clue and commentary. But still a very nice puzzle, in which i still have an error.
Lovely wordplay theme answers, the best being, in my view, DOUBLE AGENTS, that so wonderfully changes its meaning when you add that space between A and G. Worth the price of admission, IMO, elicitor of a mighty “Hah!”, and cause of one of those rare and wonderful crossword moments where I linger for a moment, and dwell in its beauty. I liked the mini-theme of ingestibles: PBJS, LIME, LEMON BAR, SARDINES, PAWPAWS, JERKY, SALSA, and see related GORGE and BITES. Also, BITES abutting CRIME reminded me of those McGruff the Dog ads. But mostly, I liked the twinkle in Brad’s eye, where I hear him saying, “Hey, gang, I found these cool bits of wordplay. They made me smile, and I want to share them, hoping they make you smile as well!” Well, Brad, they did, and thank you, sir, for brightening my day!
@Lewis Ya think a lot of solvers here remember "Take a bite outta crime." ??? I wonder. Maybe the same era as Phil D. Basket. :) :) :) :)
@Lewis ...and thanks for spelling PAWPAW correctly instead of the way it appears in the puzzle....
Wednesday wordplay! Sorry not sorry but I was thrilled to see FOURHLEADER in today’s puzzle. Although it’s been pointed out that 4-H is international, this organization was part of many happy childhood memories in the US. Bless my southern heart, my sewing stitch work made it to state competition. In SC of the late 1970s, that was no mean feat 😄. I also have memories of 4-H away camp, the county fair and so much more. Thank you, Mr Wiegmann, for that blast from the past! Despite my youthful amateur sewing prowess, I had no clue what the second number on a pants tag was. For some odd reason I put INSEts (??), which messed up the taunting laugh as well as most of Nebraska. Fortunately, I got the IDEA 💡after the only logical answer for Nebraska FARMLAND! Have a great day everyone, especially Mr Shortz!
@Pani Korunova The INSEAM is a major example of sexism in clothing. Why do men's pants come in sizes with a waist and leg length that can be independent of each other. My huband wears a 33/32. But they assume all women who are hip/waist size for a 12 must all want a 30" inseam. Nevermind that some of us are 5'1" tall and others are 5'9" tall. The short women can take up the hem, but women like me who want a 34 inseam are stuck wearing "floods." Or, as I did for years, buying men's jeans and khakis. And shirts/blouses are the same. Men get to choose sleeve length. All my female blouses are 3/4 sleeves, whether I want them that way or not. Thank goodness for Land's End catalog!
The PAWPAW is a relative of the custard apple, and indigenous to the eastern US and Canada.
@Rebecca Sweetser yes! Pawpaws are eastern North American trees/fruit that are similar to custard apples. Pawpaw is also another word for papaya, but papayas are not similar to custard apples.
I believe Sam Corbin is a Canadian, but she must be a city gal if she didn't realize there have been 4-H clubs in Canada for decades. I belonged to one in Nova Scotia.
@Ed Welp, there go my assumptions. You guessed right: I was mostly a city kid, and thus unaware this program existed in Canada, too — 4sHame!
So clever! So amusing! So imaginative! I love this! And I couldn't guess any of the themers ahead of time. The wordplay is just tricky enough and the answers are just different enough in how they employ that wordplay that getting one really won't help you with the next. Three of the theme answers are really embedded in the language and work beautifully. The last one, FOUR H LEADERS, is a little green-paint-y, but not so much as to spoil what's quite an enjoyable romp. Again, this is a puzzle that I imagine the constructor, once he he's found the people who can serve as his clues and once he's come up with theme answers that are happily symmetrical leaping out of bed in the middle of the night and shouting "Eureka!" Should I write this one down in a running list that I'm making for POY nominations at the end of the year? If only it were just a little bit harder... Oh, heck. I'll write it down anyway. It's so delightful.
@Nancy Disagree about FOUR-H LEADERS. That's the title. If you've never been involved, I can understand that you don't "get it," but to dismiss it out of hand is unfair.
Sam, you city slicker, you! "4-H Canada is an independent non-profit organization overseeing the operation of branches throughout Canada. There are 4-H organizations in over 50 countries; the organization and administration varies from country to country." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-H" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-H</a>
@Barry Ancona In Sam‘s defence, 4-H in Canada is a tiny organization which it would be pretty easy to miss. Canadian 4-H claims 20,000 members vs the 6 million who belong to the US organization.
Personally, I wasn’t a fan of this puzzle. It was ok, but the theme felt a little all over the place. Two theme answers used puns of letter names, one had the actual letter when phrased differently, and one had the letter existing as a standalone in the original phrase. This mismatch of the theme answers really took me out of the puzzle. I know Wednesday are where we usually get a twist or a trick but this didn’t feel tricky, it just felt stylistically wrong! Of course ymmv, and the rest of the puzzle was decently interesting. Didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either!
Loved this puzzle but for one tiny nit: 44D is the second number on a MEN's pants tag. Women's pants (trousers for you BE speakers) are not sized in this useful way. The only way I know anything about it at all is that my mother was a seamstress, and I worked in the menswear department downtown when I was a mere slip of girl. (Why they put me in men's I'll never know, but I wound up liking it almost as much as domestics, housewares, and the switchboard.) Otherwise a perfect Wednesday! Not too loose, not too tight and the clues were fun.
@Teresa I recall buying some women's jeans that were indeed sized this way. Not usually, but sometimes. Now it's just regular and petite (oh, and long/tall, but that's not in my wheelhouse).
I’m not convinced Sam’s column gets - or at least gets across - the full theme: The three wise men are two men, each of whose name includes three wyes. The four-H leaders are two leaders, each of whose name includes four aitches. Very clean theme. I worked with the husband of a happy couple who were very different in their personalities. I asked how they had met. They said they bumped into each other crawling under the tables at a Rathskeller in Germany. The large steins of beer came with a 1-Mark surcharge that you got back when you returned them to the bar; both had learned (as American students abroad) that they could find these in plenty near the end of a rowdy night.
@David Connell Rereading Sam Corbin’s column, it’s evident that she understands the theme. Her point about the THREE WISE MEN is simply that the clue identifies only two men whose names have three wyes. Perhaps she would have preferred a lengthier clue that included Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
@David Connell Great story! It seems that despite what you say are very different personalities, they certainly share a trait -- or at least did as students! Well, make that two: in addition to a novel income* concept, they both were interested in studying abroad. ☺️ * "Income" is likely overstating it! Let's call it spending-money. 🍻😁
As someone who has eaten them and enjoys a beer made with them, I've only see the fruit spelled PAWPAW. That threw me off for nearly five minutes. (I'm sure Barry Ancona soon will arrive with a reference to a PAPAW in an 1800s era farmer's almanac to correct me.)
@Jake Naw. Barry may very well do that, but it is, was, and always should be PAWPAW. 'PAPAW' is a wince-inducing nickname for a Grampa, similar to 'PEE-PAW' (which I first heard in Arkansas at the tender age of 7. Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in a basket Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.
Jake and MOL, "Where oh where is dear little Susie?" I have only heard and said PAWPAW for over 70 years, but at some point I did notice an accepted variant spelling in a number of dictionaries, so I'm not shocked to see it in the grid. Where oh where is dear little emu?
I tried to keep going with this theme but I will bet A silk pajama There isn't any Five-l lllllama. There is, however, Honaunau-Napoopoo, an area in our 50th state. Hawaii Five-O <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GiQa-yec2g" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GiQa-yec2g</a> Loved it. Thank you, Brad Wiegmann.
@Linda Jo Oh thanks for that link! It put a smile on my face. Best opening ever, past, present and future.
Playfully tricky and fun puzzle, thanks Brad! I love Wednesdays because they're usually gritty enough to get me stuck in a few spots, but surmountable enough to give a great swell of satisfaction when I get unstuck. And this one was a perfect example of that for me. Cheers!
I know next to nothing about knitting, in Polish and English, and I have no idea what a PAPAW is so I had to guess the letter at the PA_AW/_URL crossing. P was my first guess though, so I suppose I must have heard one or both of these words, even if I can't consciously recall it. I am somewhat justified in not knowing PAPAW, since Wikipedia tells me it's native to North America and apparently does not grow anywhere else. Yet again the theme was inscrutable to Polish me - punny themes involving sounds and different ways to write them down are largely inaccessible to a non-native speaker, apparently. Not knowing the four H thingie did not help when the H was the only letter missing there for me - but HAH made most sense for HA_ so I dealt with it. I also had to look up pig out and I thought I had to google Rathskeller, because I was convinced it was one of the zillion American brands I have never heard of. And then it turned out it was an alternate spelling of the German Ratskeller. I've drank many a beer in many a German cellar bar, pigging out on Wurst and Schnitzel, so if it were not for my brand-phobia, I suppose I would have figured it out on my own in the end. Overall I enjoyed the puzzle, even if the theme eluded me. Now I just have to memorize papaw.
@Andrzej The Ratskeller clue was a gimme for me, too. The RatHaus is City Hall, and many have a restaurant in the basement -- the City Hall Cellar, of course.
This puzzle was as joyful as any other in recent memory. I particularly loved "Double agents."
Pawpaws aren’t papayas. Two different fruits. Pawpaws are a native of the eastern U.S.
No need to go to the tropics for papaws. You can find them is southern Maryland (and they are tasty...)
@Lou Scheffer Right! We have some in southern Iowa, too, and they are definitely not papayas even though papayas sometimes are alternately called papaws.
@Mom Stiles. From Thailand, where I first ate them drizzled wit lime juice, to my local greengrocer’s I have seen PAWPAWS. Papayas have only appeared what I have been reading. Emu eggs, like pawpaws, are green.
@Lou Scheffer, they grow here in the Chicago area. My sister in Dexter, MI, has been growing them. She is frankly rather sick of the fruit. If you have any ideas of what to do with a bountiful harvest of pawpaws, please pass them on!
Any puzzle with LEMON BARs is okay by me. Enjoyed the theme entries, too. ************************** ************************** **************************
Well, the first thing I noticed was: ONE-EYED JACKS DOUBLE AGENTS THREE WISE MEN FOUR-H LEADERS As they sing on Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the other...one of these things doesn't belong... <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yyp4488a" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/yyp4488a</a>
@Steve L Also, there's a missed opportunity to clue the ridiculously clued 20D as "10D's bandmate Lofgren". !!! !!! !!! Members of the Emu Street Band, be gone!
@Steve L agreed! That bothered me too! (I’m Aussie, no emus please).
This puzzle was so clever and so much fun to complete. A perfect Wednesday submission for me. Thank you so much, Brad!!
I didn't know a pawpaw was spelled papaw. Unless you were referring to your grandpa. Hung me up for too long. I got every thing pretty easily and really liked the counting puns. I was trying so hard to make one-esed nicks, a thing. One-eyed jacks is so much better. LOL. Nice puzzle, thank you. I really liked this Wednesday puzzle.
FOUR H LEADERS and FARMLAND: HAR HAR HAR. You should have added feed lots :) Cute puzzle. You had us chortling. Thank you Brad
Lots of fun clues in this one, I just wanted to say how much I loved the cluing "Berth place". Instant smile on my face! Thank you so much, Brad!
Hi Sam! As a fellow Canadian, I regret to inform you that 4-H exists in Canada, too. You only need to have grown up in farm country to know this. I was completely unaware of it until meeting my partner who grew up on a dairy farm in the prairies. She participated in numerous 4-H activities as a child, and even had her own pet cow ("Wizard") as part of her 4-H duties.
@Brendan In Georgia, you didn't even have to grow up in farm country. Or have a cow. Or an emu.
I just found this. <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/11/17/issue.html" target="_blank">https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/11/17/issue.html</a> Article is titled "A familiar form of madness." It was part of a list of "75 Years of Crosswords" articles from NYT. The NYT thought crosswords were a waste of time! My husband was of the same opinion. He frowned when I worked on the paper version each morning at breakfast in the olden days. Then health news came out about how menopausal women shouldn't do hormone replacement therapy, but still needed to do things to keep mind and body active -- like crossword puzzles. I was vindicated!! He's stopped his grousing. :o)
Fun Wednesday puzzle. They all took a while to get and I really did laugh out loud when I finally got 41A THREE WISE MEN. Well done Brad.
@suejean THREE WISE MEN was where I understood the theme. It was an amusing answer.
As a relative newcomer, I was happy to solve this one without any lookups, even though I didn’t understand the theme until I read the explanation. Cross solves gave me enough to realize the themed lines started with numbers (although “double” instead of “two” held me up for awhile), and then I just filled in the rest with recognizable phrases. Not quite as satisfying as when the theme actually clicks during a solve, but it still counts and I’ll take it.
You are quite right Sam, this international solver has never heard of 4H and assumed I was wrong. I left it to concentrate on the rest of the grid, meaning to return to that pesky clue and try to figure out what the heck it could be. Imagine my surprise at getting the gold star. Your column shed a light on what was occurring. Thanks for that. Sometimes I’m left totally bamboozled as to how my completed grid is connected. Without Wordplay there would be so many gaps in my knowledge.
@Helen Wright Right? I had to make two guesses in the grid, and I expected them to be wrong, so I was very surprised indeed when the gold star popped up. . . . . Four Emu.
@Helen Wright My experience exactly! I was trying to read that entry as something starting with "for", like "foreign leaders" (but there aren't four n's in those names, and Humphrey is not foreign for the intended audience, and "han" is most definitely not a laugh, taunting or otherwise) or "forage leaders" (but "h" and "age" don't sound the same, and also, what the heck are forage leaders?). The gold star was as much of a surprise to me as the star of Bethlehem must have been to the three wise men.
@Helen Wright Just to pile trivia on top of trivia, it might (mildly) interest you to know that the 4 "H's" in 4H are "Head, Heart, Hands & Health." 4H is a club for kids that's especially popular in rural areas, probably because it focuses heavily (although not exclusively) on raising and caring for animals, large and small.
PAPAWaS a rolling... ... where was I. Oh yeah. Really cute theme and an enjoyable solve. Nice 'aha' moment when I tumbled to the trick fairly early but it still took me a while to work out the wording of each theme answer. Then just got stuck in the NW corner for quite a while in the end. Once again, well above my Wednesday average but managed to work it all out. Was surprised to see that three of the theme answers were making their Shortz era debut. And even more surprised that each of them had appeared exactly once in pre-Shortz puzzles. Odd coincidence. Answer history searches today led to a couple of absolutely impossible Sunday puzzles (for me). I'll put those in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First puzzle was a Sunday from August 11, 1996 by M. Schneider with the title "The Critics Agree." Some sample theme clues and answers: "LETHARGIC" LAZYSUSANSARANDON "SICKENING" TYPHOIDMARYPICKFORD "VENERABLE" SAINTVERONICAHAMEL Here's the Xword Info link for that one: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/11/1996&g=134&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/11/1996&g=134&d=A</a> ... And the other puzzle - A Sunday from October 22, 2000 by Henry Hook with the title: "Word Ladder." with the theme clues all referencing another clue/answer. Some sample clues and answers from that one: 1a. "Opponent of 120-Across" BUSH 23a."Change a letter in 1-Across to spell... :" COMMANDTOADOGSLEDTEAM (Wouldn't have gotten that one, but at least I grasp it) And that's not true of the rest of them. Anyway... next theme answer was... 46a. "Change a letter in 23-Across to spell... :" CLIOORERATO Followed by... 63a. "Change a letter in 46-Across to spell... :" STUBBORNBEAST Then two more theme answers following the same back-reference pattern. The last theme answer was: WHATOLIVERTWISTWANTED And here's the Xword Info link for that one: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/22/2000&g=85&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/22/2000&g=85&d=A</a> If anybody can possibly explain that, please let me know. ..
Fun, clever puzzle with satisfying finish. Tricky in just the right amount for a Wednesday.
20 minutes not looking for a single typo elsewhere because FOUR H LEADERS could not be a real answer. Super US esoteric. Speaking as one of the international contingent: “unamused” Bah… streak maintained but at not insignificant pain. The four emus of the apocalypse are on their way to you
Really nice puzzle. Just the right difficulty level for a non-morning person to solve on a Wednesday. The theme answers were funny, and not ridiculously difficult. I had to start over on a few guesses that didn't work out. But I didn't have to look up anything! A big plus. Could we have more puzzles from this constructor, please. But Henry the Eighth = 4H? Off with his head! (See history, or great old movie with Charles Laughton.)
The trickiest trick inn THIS puzle was the clue/entry at 61A. That was just mean. I read the book as a youngster and knew the yearling's name (FLAG) and identity (FAWN, not just DEER) but it was, alas, superfluous knowledge. Once I recovered and did the puzzle, looking askance at each theme entry as it emerged, the actual (clever) trick dawned on me, and once again I had to say, "How did the constructor come up with this???!!!" Wonderful fun, but isn't this just Wednesday? Listening to NPR music station: Scotsmen shall not yield!
Sam - no need to go all the way to the tropics for some papaw. Delicious varieties grow right here in Ohio and are available in the fall! (And apparently also grow in Southern Ontario - who knew?) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba</a>
@Chungclan Different fruit. (emu, sorry to bug you again)
Pawpaws are an actual fruit in itself in southern Missouri, not another name for papaya. They are getting more rare.
@Lyn also in Michigan, although I usually see it spelled pawpaw.
@Lyn I have Paw Paw trees growing in the Catskill Mountains which will provide fruit soon. Yummy!
@Lyn Remembered the fruit name from the song: <a href="https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2018/09/way-down-yonder-in-paw-paw-patch.html" target="_blank">https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2018/09/way-down-yonder-in-paw-paw-patch.html</a>
The wee pup BB gives two firmly-applied ARFs for this finely-crafted, amusing puzzle. One ARF for the clues (FROG TRANSFORMER had her human laughing aloud, e.g.), and a second ARF for the subtle nature of the structure, which happens to include my ol' pal Kierkegaard (subject of my senior thesis). BTW, in the Grimm's original, the princess doesn't kiss the frog, but rather, in disgust, throws him with all her might against the wall, which still leads to the desired effect, happily. (Miyazaki would have handled it perfectly.)
It couldn't have been easy to come up with names to fit the theme, so I'll pardon ONE, DOUBLE, THREE, FOUR. All around great puzzle, with the especially clever DOUBLE A GENTS.
I was confidently trying to work with ONE EYED NICKS for far too long
Weighing in on the papaw/pawpaw discussion. As a resident of Michigan and not too far from the city of Pawpaw, I am obviously pro double double w. That said, after some googling, it seems the papaw and the pawpaw are in fact two different fruits, with papaw being another name for the papaya, and indeed tropical. Whereas the pawpaw is a fruit native to temperate North America. Anyways that's what Wikipedia says (<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba</a>), with the clue correctly calling for the tropical papaw, not the local pawpaw.
@Mike I may be wrong, but I don’t think papaya is a custard apple.
Fun one today! Loved the theme clues. I lucked out getting the "Jacks" answer via other words pretty early on, so I was able to figure out the others fairly quickly after that. Missed my best Wednesday time by 8 seconds!
Another superbly constructed grid. Very clever, lovely reveal. As a Brit I had absolutely no idea what 4-H leaders were but readily accept a bit of trans Atlantic knowledge-gap on occasions such as this. Bravo
That custard apple relative has another W.
@ice9 What is the difference between papaw and pawpaw? How to use papaya and pawpaw Papaya and pawpaw (also spelt papaw) are different varieties of the same tropical fruit species originally from the Americas. Juicy and sweet, they're suitable for many savoury and sweet dishes, drinks and salads.
@Bonnie Just spelling difference. A pawpaw (papaw) is a north-eastern American (not tropical) fruit. According to Wikipedia it was probably named after the tropical papaya due to its similar appearance. And as far as I can tell, the custard apple IS tropical and not an apple though it is related to the pawpaw. The NYT has previously (and wrongly) equated papaya and pawpaw (similar names but unrelated fruits).