Beautifully balanced puzzle that allowed common sense (and some stabs in the dark) to reveal names I did *not* know! From 4th to 9th grade, our youngest let his crewcut grow into a *shocking* fauxhawk. With liberty spikes. 13” spikes that I had to spray glue gel and blow dry *every* morning. For 4 years. It was so unlike him. He was the most shy, gentle boy. He never called attention to himself in any other way. Never, ever got in trouble. His nickname in martial arts was The Gentle Warrior. We said he was a turtle born without a shell. But people would (obviously) stare, point, ask to touch it, take *so* many photos… I swear he just didn’t notice the spectacle. Oddly, very few of the looks were negative. If I did see a raised eyebrow, ready to judge, I’d smile and rub his shoulder or put my arm around him. (He didn’t notice the leering, he was just a snuggler.) I learned to see our local, adolescent scruffy boys in such a different way! When people asked (constantly) how long we thought he’d keep it, I always said, “I think the it’ll be the day he doesn’t feel he’ll disappear without it.” That day came, and he’s looked like he’s on his way to an interview at a bank ever since… Happy Friday all!
@CCNY I also learned to view teenaged boys through a different lens via my son and his parade of friends who made themselves comfortable at my house. Some scruffy, some spiffy, some speaking in "weird" (to me) jargon. They were polite and helped me lug in the groceries they also helped me eat. My door was always open to them, literally. Good times. Can't believe it was about 20 years ago.
@CCNY There was a kid like that at the HS my two attended--red-head with spikes. I loved seeing him, but I suspect he never realized he looked like an adorable dinosaur. It was always a treat to see him passing through the hallways.
@CCNY I sported a Mohawk in the summer before I went into the Army, because they were going to shave it all off anyway. If I'd done that while still in HS, I would have been sent home immediately.
I enjoyed this one. It had lots of twisty clues and plenty of fresh fill. It took me awhile to get going, but I picked up speed as I went along. The app generously added 17 minutes to my solve time, at least that’s better than the 3 hours it added a couple of weeks ago. The timing has become so erratic that I can’t use the stats to judge how I’m doing against my norms. I don’t solve for speed anyway, but I did like having a gauge as to how I finished a puzzle vis a vis my usual performance. Oh well. I don’t often quibble with clues, but, as a birder, I’m not familiar with any buff colored EGRETs. The snowy, great and cattle EGRETs are pretty bright white, and the reddish egret is not buff either. Anyway, if there is a buff EGRET outside the US, I haven’t seen one, and I’ll stand corrected. I was delighted to see Kenneth GRAHAME pop up in the puzzle, and he would have been one of my early footholds, if, that is, I’d remembered how to spell his name. I was only confident enough to enter the GRA until I had some crosses. The Wind In The Willows was one of my favorite childhood books. Mole rediscovering his old home always brings a tear of nostalgia to my eye and the Piper At The Gates Of Dawn chapter is one of the most lyrical episodes in all of children’s literature, and one of the best descriptions of a mystical experience in any literature. I look forward to reading it again with my grandson, and it may break my heart if he doesn’t share my enthusiasm.
@Marshall Walthew I understood “buff” in the clue to 29A to mean “strong.” Whether or not that is the case (they’re certainly large?) is beyond my purview!
@Marshall Walthew and @Mason Oh! I hadn't thought of "buff" as fit or strong- good idea! "Buff" did seem a little strange when I read the clue; In fact I thought it was an adjective for Marsh that I wasn't familiar with, so I kinda ignored it which helped with the answer considerably! After reading your comments I looked up "buff marsh" , and it doesn't seem to be a thing, although there are a number of people named something like Marsh Buff! So I guess "buff" in the clue could mean the egret is attractive.
@Marshall Walthew Now, by "buff" do you mean a color or ripped?
@Mason I think it's exceedingly unlikely that they meant buff as in muscular. If anything, that would be an even more odd choice seeing that we don't usually think of birds as particularly muscular creatures in general and egrets are especially thin and lithe in the bird world.
@Marshall Walthew I was puzzled by EGRET too - never seen one that wasn't white.
@Marshall Walthew I was surprised by buff as a descriptor for an egret as well. A post-solve search led me to this: <a href="https://sibleyguides.com/2012/05/an-unusual-cattle-egret-in-florida" target="_blank">https://sibleyguides.com/2012/05/an-unusual-cattle-egret-in-florida</a>/ Apparently, cattle egrets have varying degrees of buff coloration. Who knew?
@Marshall Walthew I, too, love the Wind in the Willows and almost wore out my childhood copy from all the many re-readings. I am now looking forward to reading it to my grandson and wondering what the best age would be. I can also never remember how to spell Grahame. Third attempt was the charm.
@Marshall Walthew Cattle regrets are mostly white, but have varying degrees of buff color depending on the season. The color comes from oil they secrete, so older feathers in certain areas will be more buff, freshly molted feathers will be white.
@Marshall Walthew Google suggests that "buff egret" or "buff-backed heron" are alternative names for the cattle egret (even though it too is partly white), so I guess that's in bounds. I also guessed Shrek first!
What kept sparking joy for me, every time I turned a corner, it seemed, was wordplay in the cluing. Wit that misdirected, wit that tickled. Look at [Exchange letters] for IPO. Its lovely double meaning misdirected me for a bit (and I find something very satisfying about being fooled through wordplay). It’s an original clue for an answer that has appeared more than 400 times in the major crossword venues. Look at [Big whoop] for YELL, which triggered a smile. Once again, here’s an answer that has shown up more than 200 times, sometimes clued as [Whoop], but never with the “big”, which, IMO, makes it infinitely better. Look at the lovely misdirect [Hint] for NOTE, another never-before-used clue for an answer that has turned up more than 400 times in Crosslandia. And there were quite a bit more that Willa came up with. Oh, I loved setting down the beautiful SHARDS, as well as the lovely PuzzPair© of ERAS and a backward AGES. But what’s going to spark joy when I see your name atop another puzzle, Willa, is the thought of entering another word playground. Thank you so much for making this!
@Lewis Agreed about all of those except Exchange letters, which I found simply awkward / too stretchy. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
A rather negative puzzle for such a positive experience...I'm talking the three long entries naysayingly phrased: NO GREAT SHAKES, IT'S NOT A RACE, NOT A LITTLE...with the related GOOD ENOUGH and the PITS, it would appear that the little dude inside this grid is not expecting anyone to leave a positive UBER RATING or yell ENCORE! Well, little dude, before you take your sob story to the tiki bar, I'm here to tell you that you did good. Better than good. And not just by a little. Encore! I admit putting down GRAND CHORD for a bit -- seemed like it could be a thing related to a minor chord -- and briefly entertained the notion that Bjorn Borg supports women in technology, which he very well might, but not as much as Anita does. Not as much...see? That negative talk, it's contagious!
@john ezra My first thought was of the Borg Queen from Star Trek--talk about women in technology!
@john ezra I haven't done the puzzle yet, but was alerted by a friend that our mutual friend Anita Borg was in it. She was a brilliant, wonderful woman who died, tragically, at 50, of a brain tumor. I'm glad to see her honored.
My knowledge of sweet beverages is a bit shakey. (But it used to be the dairy best.)
@Mike You're living in fanta-syland.
@Mike It soda sounds like you're whipping up a split decision when that pretty girl, the dairy queen, asks you what you want. No doubt she'll chocolate it up to another chilly whether.
Gnome was not the first capital of Alaska. 🤦🏼♂️
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, and thought the clues “Features of some monks and punks” for SHAVED HEADS and “Unfortunate twists” for SPRAINS were especially clever. I propose a new meaning for IPO …. Inspired Puzzle Offering. Congratulations, Willa, on your solo debut.
A testament to the skill of Willa Angel Chen Miller: I was unfamiliar with a whopping 10 names in her puzzle, yet her crosses were so well done that it was not an impediment to solving. I loved her conversational answers, like IT'S NOT A RACE, NO GREAT SHAKES, etc.
The town of Buford was NOT sold on eBay. That’s a completely false “fun fact” made up for a blog years ago. It was sold by Williams & Williams at auction.
@Harmon Good catch. There are several trustworthy sources that confirm this, for example: <a href="https://cnn.com/2012/04/05/us/wyoming-town-auction/index.html" target="_blank">https://cnn.com/2012/04/05/us/wyoming-town-auction/index.html</a>
I enjoyed the puzzle, despite not knowing quite a few answers. They came easily with crosses and I learned quite a bit today. I confess, I will probably never get a handle on gods, goddesses, and their offspring. This community encouraged me to read Moby Dick several years ago, and I did, and am better for it (only because of the puzzle, not because I enjoyed the book), but mythology and I are polite to each other in company, and avoid each other in private.
@Momerlyn "(...) but mythology and I are polite to each other in company, and avoid each other in private." I adore this phrasing and plan on quoting you, not just regarding mythology but all else that hasn't yet succeeded in sparking my interest (oh, hello, Moby Dick. And hello to you, too, The Old Man And The Sea...) Thank you for the inspiration.
It's been more than 25 years since the US minted quarters with an eagle on the reverse. Since 1999, it's been states, territories, national parks, American women and more. Of course, there are still a kajillion eagle-backed quarters from 1998 and earlier.
@Michael Weiland And I still think they all look simply silly. Other than being shinier they seem inferior in every way / gimmicky, and the variability is confusing. Luckily, cash and coin are now mostly irrelevant anyhow.... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
I puzzled and puzzled over Jörmungandr: world serpent, ouroboros, Loki's child? Once the haze lifted, it all opened like a flower, allowing a BRAVE (a great favorite among us fans of scaffy witches) march forward through the charmingly clever clues. Thanks for the fun!
@Foster My first impulse was for SEA serpent, which I probably remembered from reading Thor comic books.
An uplifting puzzle after a fraught Friday, despite the Debbie Downer SLANT. It may have been NOGREATSHAKES, but it was GOODENOUGH to slow me down, and no rEGRETS about the time spent solving It. Let's be honest here, it was a fun puzzle, and I'm looking forward to an ENCORE, Ms. Miller. Thank you!
Good but very chewy; an awful lot of unknown names (paint brand, old Alaskan capital, as well as people) held me up for a while. Was thrown by 1A; a SALAD is not a separate component of a meal here, simply one of a number of dishes in the starter course. Took me forever to work out we were talking food courses. Uber doesn’t operate outside of large cities here, so little idea of how they operate. I can barely find a simple taxi here in the sticks. Was very pleased with myself for getting both 9A and 42D. Completing a daily US based crossword is definitely starting to have an effect. All in all a very satisfying Friday; tough for me, but doable, with interesting fill. I particularly like the long entries at 6D, 25 and 40As. Plus who doesn’t love Wind in the Willows? Our battered family copy is in my eye-line as I fill in the puzzle.
@Helen Wright BEHR was easy for me. My uncle used to work at one of their plants in the small town we lived in. You'd be hard-pressed to find an Uber there, too. Every year my high school had a "Drive Your Tractor to School" day.
@Helen Wright Those of us who have rehabbed houses are acquainted with all manner of DIY brands--especially paints!
@Helen Wright Yes, SALAD was trouble for me, too. Ironic, since I had GAZPACHO immediately pegged as a meal course a while ago, which many complained about.
@Helen Wright getting salad was the beginning of my final sprint. I kept thinking of a college course. In a lot of diner restaurants, they bring your salad first.
Very nice puzzle Ms. Miller! Yeah it was crunchy indeed. We like crunchy though, keep 'em coming pls.
Great solo puzzle, Willa! Clever and fun to solve. Looking forward to the next one. And yay for women in technology!
This was a good puzzle. Lots of things I didn’t know: screenwriters, authors, movies, rap songs, mythological characters both Greek and Norse. But without undue difficulty I was able to get those filled with the crossing clues. In my youth my justification for doing crossword puzzles was that I often learned something. I don’t feel the need to justify myself these days, but if I did today would be a case in point. As people become more and more siloed in their own interests listening to their own subset of the multitudinous communication channels available these days, writing a crossword puzzle for a wide swath of the population must be more and more difficult. This one did a good job of it.
I have never used Uber--do the drivers rate the customers, as well as vice versa? That's what the (grammatical) voice of the clue suggests. I can imagine the reviews--"Don't pick him up--he smelled bad, prattled incessantly the whole drive, and didn't tip!" My first thought for 14D was the Borg Queen from Star Trek--talk about women in technology!
@Bill I remembered Kenneth G. spellt his name funny, but couldn't remember how--where, exactly, did that "H" go? But a little personal history-- My Partner--whom I often refer to in these comments--was not read to as a child. No sense of the "classics"--Pooh, the Wind in the Willows, the Little Prince. I have tried to rectify this, but with little success. When I was first getting to know him, we spent a weekend at the cabin in Northern (Lower) Michigan, which he bought with his Ex, and which sits in a small, inland lake. One afternoon, first we took out the pontoon boat, then we took out the paddle boat, then the tandem kayak. "I just being on the water!" he said. " 'Just messing about in boats!'--Oh my god, you ARE the Water Rat, from the Wind in the Willows--you even look like him!" (He has sandy blond hair.) "I'm not rat!" he countered. "No, you don't understand--the Water Rat is a very _good_ character. But I guess that would make me the Mole--I'm not sure I like that comparison."
@Bill Yes, drivers rate passengers as well. As with passengers' ratings of drivers, most are just ratings with no reviews. If you use a rideshare, you can see your rating in the app.
In other news, after scrolling through the comments, I'm much heartened to see that I finally got a gimme on a piece of American geography/history that gave some US posters pause. Alaska is the only US state I've travelled in extensively, and I've always been fascinated by its complicated history, along with Yukon next door. So there was a brief period when SITKA was the only solution I had on the grid!
This puzzle is a rare gem because I did not have to figure out who in 1955 baseball played on 3 different teams while breaking the RBI and home run records from the previous 10 years all while holding 4 different positions...! Yes, no sports clues, thank you Ms. Miller! Okay, the coin toss is sorta sports adjacent, and I thought it funny the photo heading the column was of a football player, but the clues were more of a kind you could SUSS out with crosses and/or some serious rumination. I know they'll be back, but today was just a breath of fresh air.
Fun Friday! The monks and punks clue was super cute!
Wow. This puzzle prompted a flashback. Almost 60 years ago, I worked in the maps, microtext, and newspapers department in the basement of Olin Library at Cornell. Part of my job was to put newspapers in chronological order for microfilming. Some of the papers were Chinese, so I needed to know Chinese numbers. Who knew that the real purpose of that job was to prepare me for today's puzzle? Alas, I got 5 Down only with the crosses.
@drsophila Many peaceful hours spent in Olin…
My first Friday 'Gold Star!' I am celebrating, even if it was on the easy side for the day!
@Cassidy Congratulations!! You should celebrate no matter what! I for one did not find this Friday to be on the easy side (and I'm pretty comfortable with Friday puzzles by now). 🎉🎉🎉
Not especially tough, but any puzzle with OTIS Redding in it is plenty GOOD ENOUGH.
@LBG I knew it. They’re going easy on us. Does that mean Saturday will be a bear 🐻?
I'll like to thank the Miller for the BRAN. Diverting solve. Utterly enjoyable.
“I’m giving those passengers a very poor three-star rating. They trashed the saucer after we visited the second star, and things just got worse from there.” But a very fast puzzle!
Oh, that was fun. Took me longer than usual -- I don't watch Succession, so I had IAGO, but if I'd thought about the title for even a few seconds.... Great puzzle. Very satisfying.
@Fritz I had a flirtation with IAGO, but then he wasn't very sad or repentant...
Pretty manageable except for the NW. Got stuck on several wrong answers that I was trying to make work: breAD for SALAD, staRRATING for UBERRATING, and iceMONSTER for SEAMONSTER. Anyway, eventually made it out the other side with the gold star (#699 in the streak!).
@Katie I had both staRRATING and pooRRATING at first
@Katie Wow, quite a streak! I too had trouble in the NW but managed to preserve (much shorter) streak of 85
great puzzle, was tricky to solve but rewarding when i finally did.
Screen turned gold and I let out a silent YES! so as not to wake the sleeper beside me. Felt like a solid accomplishment to end the day. Great puzzle!
I enjoyed this, but it shows me how differently from each other people think. I got the tricky clues first. I got the SHAVED HEADS with no crosses at all. But for some reason a CALL option took me forever. And a HINT=NOTE? Hm. Like many others, I had Bjorn first but realized that was probably not correct. And SEVENOFNINE didn't fit.
@Tim V. My wine has hints of oak and even a note of cherry… 🍷 🥂 🍷
Typical tough Friday for me, and had to cheat a bit to get going in a couple of places, but ended up being an enjoyable workout as things finally dawned on me. Nice puzzle. Answer history searches today: Somehow 29a (EGRET) led me to realize that one old favorite song is 15 letters: MISSOTISREGRETS And that's been an answer in 4 puzzles. And... don't even remember exactly how this one popped into my head, but also realized that WALTZINGMATILDA is also 15 letters. And that led to a quite remarkable puzzle. A Thursday from March 18, 1999 by Rand H. Burns. In that puzzle that answer was... sort of the reveal - clued as "National song, theme of today's puzzle." And some other answers: SWAGMAN JUMBUCK TUCKERBAG BILLABONG Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/18/1999&g=37&d=A" target="_blank">https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/18/1999&g=37&d=A</a> Might put another puzzle find in a reply later on. Maybe. I'm done. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened - one of the more remarkable puzzles I've ever encountered. In the vicinity of dad jokes. Anyway - a Sunday from August 5, 2001 by Peter Gordon with the title: "Homonames." Some theme clue and answer examples: "Ruins a good book?" WRECKSREAD "Bookie?" BETMIDDLER "Terse crackling sound?" CURTRUSTLE "Vacation by a pier?" DOCKHOLIDAY And some other theme answers: KNEELSBORE GYMNEIGHBORS CLAWEDREINS And there were more. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/5/2001&g=97&d=A" target="_blank">https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/5/2001&g=97&d=A</a> I'm done. ....
@Rich in Atlanta Fun to see both "Miss Otis Regrets" and Bette Midler in your comments. My group made a music video for her version in my HS filmmaking class (pre-digital). I think the rope was still in the willow tree in my friend's yard when it was cut down. I look forward to catching up to those in the Archives!
Ya gotta love a puzzle with a SEA MONSTER. And a lesson in Chinese numbers. ONE, two, three . . Thanks, Willa!
There was some truly great (and devious) clueing today. Bravo!
I don't know anything about "Succession," but I do know some Shakespeare. Iago wasn't working, so it had to be King LEAR. Wasn't that the basis for "Sons of Anarchy?" That one I did watch. Great Friday puzzle, with lots of clever cluing, but when's the last time we had an EAGLE on the reverse of the quarter? That would be 1998. I managed to collect all the states and territories, and most of the national parks, up to 2017, when I think I stopped using cash at the breakroom coffee machine.
Also, the 2015 quarter for Bombay Hook NWR (Delaware doesn't have a national park) features a great blue heron and a snowy EGRET.
@Grant I did not watch, but I think that SOA is most often compared to HAMLET, not LEAR.
Managed to get a few unknown proper nouns on crosses and guesses, but needed a couple of very grudging lookups to crack the areas around BEANE and OLGA, the latter of which should have been an easy guess from the two letters I already had. Had completely the wrong end of the "Chinese horizontal line"---knowing the names of the various strokes in Mandarin was actively counterproductive. But that was great fun, with some nice misdirection.
I was a friend of Anita Borg, and I was so touched to see her name in the crossword (that Institute for Women in Technology is not named for her -- the Anita Borg Institute). She was a great inspiration to many of us and I'm glad to see her remembered. Thank you Willa Miller
@Robin J. I wasn't familiar with her at all before this puzzle, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn about her and her numerous contributions! It's one of the many benefits of crossword puzzles, you can learn from the answers you could only get on crosses. And I'm sorry that you lost a dear friend.
@Robin J. Hi Robin - As I mentioned earlier to John Ezra, Anita was a good friend of mine as well. We were in a feminist study group (which devolved into a dinner party group) when she lived in NY. We celebrated her PhD award by spending a few weeks at her parents' house in Hawaii. I know it is contrary to our feminist beliefs, but I have to say, she didn't fit anyone's stereotype of a computer scientist: She was blond and looked terrific in a bikini!
@Robin J. I didn't know Anita Borg, but a little internet digging tells me that her birthday is---today! <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Borg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Borg</a> She would have been 76 today.
@Caroline Kearney This is what I love most about doing crossword puzzles! I learn so much every week from completing them and the best part is learning from our fellow solvers like you! Years ago, when I was single in my 20s and 30s working as a lawyer for Wall Street law firms, I used to complain that many of my male colleagues were looking for a woman who was a rocket scientist and had walked off the pages of Victoria’s Secret catalogue! Sounds a lot like your friend Anita! What a great package — brains and beauty in feminist wrapping!
Oooft. Too tough for me today, but that’s not me saying this puzzle was the PITS - I’m just NO GREAT SHAKER yet !! Enjoyed the bits I did manage, and after all, ITS NOT A RACE - the only people to compete with are the various versions of me. GOOD ENOUGH for this ONE.
Ms. Miller, I enjoyed your fun puzzle and it made me happy! Thank you!
Interesting, Deb's takes on tricky clues. For me, any clue including a question mark (e.g., 27D and 42D, which Deb included as tricky) is decidedly *not* tricky; the ? makes me look for word play/trickery. Today, the clues which gave me the most trouble were 1A (could not stop thinking of uni classes (yes, I know SALAD has been clued identically or similarly many times in the past)), and 4D, using "Ready" (to fight) as a verb.
@Bill in Yokohama 4D- even after I filled in the answer from crosses it took me a beat to process that clue... so tricky!
Completely enjoyed this. Not too difficult, mostly seemed I was on the same page as Willa, yet a few things required additional thought. Nice one!
Made me work for this one, so pretty typical Friday. Solved like a jigsaw puzzle, one piece at a time. Time was 10% less than average. Passed over "Ready to fight" several times before it dawned on me that ready was being used as a verb. I bet Steve L. was not so easily fooled. Who knew you could buy a town on EBay? (9A)
@Jim Thanks for the confidence, but actually, I already had SUSS and ABET, so all the across answers in that corner went in rather quickly. I didn't even notice 4D and its clue! But one good rule to solving: consider all possible parts of speech for the words in the clue!
Tough one for me. Kind of a slog. Never heard the phrase NO GREAT SHAKES in my life
Peter, It’s a phrase that mostly reminds me of my mother, who said it often. Another one she used was “I’ll be there in two shakes of a dead lamb’s tail” which seemed to imply she was busy, but would try to get there as soon as she could, but don’t hold your breath.
@JohnWM My mother said "two shakes of a lambs' tail" (not dead) to indicate "quick."
@Peter I've heard NO GREAT SHAKES occasionally. It's definitely a thing.
@Peter I've heard the expression and know what it means, but not why. My guess is that something is ground-breaking it "shakes things up."
I don't normally like conversational answers, but most of these just popped into my head fairly quickly. Two answers slowed me down a bit: a GRANDCHILD does not have to be a minor child. Mine just turned 18. And I thought for sure that once I got UBER so quickly it would be followed by SURVEY, since everyone wants you to do a survey nowadays, even though most don't get read. But overall a relaxing solve, so thanks Willa.
@Times Rita I liked the "relative minor" clue because of the musical association. Every major key has a relative minor, for example A-minor is the relative minor to C-major. I think this was deliberate dis-association, so to speak.
@Times Rita Your mistake was in taking the clue personally. While it may be true that your GRANDCHILD is no longer a minor, many others are. I have never taken an UBER, but I am aware of the ratings, so with the crossings, I was able to get that fairly quickly. But aside from that, you are so right about the surveys. I think I get them whenever I walk past CVS. Like they are grabbing my sleeve and saying, "Wait! Why did you walk past our door? Was it something in our architecture? Did our door offend you? Can you spare three minutes and we'll give you a $5 coupon that you'll never remember to take inside?"
Great Friday. My last and favourite fill was the features of monks and punks (24D).
I seemed to be on the same page as the creator of this puzzle. I just started filling it in. With only a few minor corrections (changing a t to a p, for example), I found myself done. Seldom happens (for me), but nice when it does.
So clever! And only two look-ups for me, which puts me in a good mood.
This was fairly quick for me for a Friday, and I see I am not alone. The clues were generally clever. I definitely struggled in a few places, but much of the puzzle fell in place as I moved along. With all of the you-know-it-or-don't answers, it was interesting that I often knew them, whether because of true knowledge or by knowing that certain words get a lot of use here. But as my times have gotten faster, I am no longer jealous of the people who report doing a hard puzzle in five or ten minutes. This one took about 22 minutes, and that was plenty fast. Any faster, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
Loved the conversational clues - they came easy for me, as they did for others, I see. Just last night I was doing a Tuesday from 12/2/97 and 17A was SITKA! Funny how stuff like that works out. Good, fun Friday - thanks constructor!
Kept thinking of "seven-of-nine" for Borg who co-founded the Institute for Women in Technology. Turns out this clue was set in reality!