"You're shredding all this cheese for yourself?" "No, it's for the grater gouda." ("Well, thank you dairy much!")
@Mike I would whey in with more cheese puns, there are stiltons more, but you havarti heard most of them, I’m guessing.
@Mike Asiago through your puns, sometimes it seems like you're stringing us along, but then I see that as a Muenster man, it's your feta to give us these. (I only hope you never have Emmental block!)
@Mike Clever as usual but I learned while living in Hong Kong that Brits (and perhaps others, maybe the Dutch?) say “gowda” not “gooda”. Just FYI 🤣
@Mike Just here to say a big “Hallo you”! (Perhaps you could honor me with a little “halloumi”?)
Mark, Brits? The Dutch? Mike is American, and this is his Kraft.
@Mike This moment is perfect for yor E - lightenment, Mike. You can E come one with Muenster.
@Mike These cheesy puns have curdled my stomach. There's no whey anyone finds them funny.
@Mike You are the cream of the crop. Solid as a brick. I cheddar-eal tear on days when you don't post.
Some ponies and their cronies Drank iced oolong by the pool While toy poodles with foam noodles Swiftly paddled a canoe. The snorlax awoke to the smell of fresh trout That (poof!) soon went in to his welcoming snout. The sky was azure, sunshine out the wazoo “Are we cool?” asked the ponies. But they already knew.
@Heidi You win the Internet today!
@Heidi Very, very cool. I especially loved the last line. "But they already knew." was a great ending.
It’s plain to see that Katie spends time with every clue, seeking fresh angles. I especially like how she zizzifies ordinary answers with out-of-the-ordinary clues, as she did with OWIES, MORN, PDA, HERS, GRATER and that terrific [Program for those trying to reduce screen time, familiarly?] for TSA PRE. Zizzification continued with the pop in the box from never-seen-before answers and their never-seen-before clues. Answer debuts aren’t guaranteed to be colorful, but Katie’s nine are today, including ARE WE COOL, MEDIA HYPE, SWEAR ON IT, YET TO COME, and TOO FAR GONE. Not to mention non-debut answer loveliness (AZURE, POOF, DROLL, USURP, SAUNTERS, WAZOO, TEETER), and – ooh! – eight double O’s. Total brain engagement and puzzjoy for me. I expected it, though, after experiencing your six previous puzzles, Katie, with their riddles galore, crackling cluing, pop, and beauty. My heart did a little happy-leap when I saw your name atop the box, and it will next time too – thank you!
As an American boarding a flight to Paris, this one was mine. All mine! Loved every minute. I’m exhausted. Need to sleep. Excited. But I saw myself in the puzz and that’s all I need. Beauty! Bon soir!
@CCNY My first thought for that one was INEXILE. Wonder what that says about my state of mind? Envying your April In Paris. Here is a very mellow remastered audio rendition by young Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong from 1932. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/3pbrksjy" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3pbrksjy</a>
Signs of losing my edge. I had the WATT part of 6A. I also had the second letter of I. I spent a truly humbling amount of time thinking "there's no way a kitchen microwave is using GIGAWATTs. Oh...right...KILOwatts. Beginning to see why that old dream of a Nobel prize never really materialized, there, Francis.
@Francis --- same! I really started to question whether I knew how much a gigawatt was. In part because early on I thought maybe "gracenotes" for the music thing and I couldn't shake that G. I really struggled in that whole upper right section.
@Francis Aw, Francis, you could always cajole some previous recipient into giving you theirs. Worked for someone else we know.
@Francis Given my commitment to anonymity, I won’t reveal whether or not I happen to be a Nobel laureate. But I will say that it took quite a while for KILO to occur to me as well.
@Francis Yeah, for a while I had gigawatt in there too (maybe the big microwaves at the office?) with the vague sense of having wandered off the route. What's a Saturday without a meandering trip?
@Francis I have one I can give you! I mean, really it's an old bocce trophy, but it was first place and I can put a post-it note that says Nobel Peace prize over it. ITLLBEFINE.
@Francis I had MEGAWATT for an embarrassingly long time.
I was so sure that the answer to "Where locks are set" would be SALON. But I couldn't make it work with LORETTA, of which I was even more certain. The only other Young in old Hollywood was Robert, and he was too short. For a while I couldn't find anything to confirm LORETTA. But once I thought of PONIES, which gave me an LP, which gave me SCALP instead of SALON for 1D, I was off to the races, so to speak. I needed five out of five letters to get OWIES for "targets of some kisses". Boy, was that a tough clue! But a completely fair one. In fact, the whole puzzle seemed comprised of clues that were both tough and very fair. A constant game of wits with the constructor. What fun! And almost no "who knows and who cares?" trivia that I needed to concern myself with. Oh, yes, there was SNORLAX, but I can forgive him or her or it because there was only one of him or her or it in the grid. My kind of puzzle. I had to put on my thinking cap throughout, but I didn't suffer at all. A most enjoyable and engrossing themeless.
@Nancy Yep, I had SALON right from the start, and clung to it to the bitter end. No clue about LORETTA Young, and briefly considered OPHELIA. And the only Pokemon I know is Pikachu. But I enjoyed the difficulty of the puzzle, overall.
@Nancy As a younger solver, it is a truly interesting perspective to say nobody cares or knows about SNORLAX, but it is of course obvious that there are two actors with surname Young in old Hollywood, one of whom is LORETTA and the other is Robert.
@Nancy Many, many, many people know, care about, and even love SNORLAX!
With both the TAU and its possible decay product the PION this puzzle was particle-ularly fun!
When you see Katie Hoody on a byline you know you are in for a treat and this didn’t disappoint. Like Steve L and Barry I solved it faster than yesterday but not sure it was “easier” and not sure that will be the consensus. It was just in my wheelhouse. Classic movie actresses (LORETTA)—check. Astronomy (LEONIDS)—check. Geek who still says “Up the WAZOO”—check. Piano player (LEDGERLINES)—check. Andrew Jackson trivia (kitchen cabinet CRONIES)—check. Particle physics (PION, TAU)—check check. Pokémon—OK, no, but I could at least guess it started with SNOR. And unfortunately my Gene Kelly/George Gershwin fetish didn’t help me with American in Paris, but still… Tons of fun misdirections—MORN, SHOES, AZURE, GRATER, HERS, SCALP, PDA—who says short entries can’t be clever? I had OODLES of fun with this one (or at least two OODLES)—thanks Katie!
@SP The first xwstats.com assessment was Very Hard, but that was based on a sample size (I assume) of three (33% vs. 67%; I guess it could have been six, nine, etc.). It has since moved to Hard, which is, I suspect, where it will, and should, remain.
And as of this morning, the xwstats Saturday median solve time is faster than the Friday median solve time.
@SP You said Geek who still says “Up the WAZOO”, but the clue was [Out the ______]. I point this out not to be persnickety but because this one was tough for me because I've only ever heard it your way. As in, "I've got couth up the wazoo."
a.a., I've heard "up" much more, but a bit of "out." More on the subject: <a href="https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4662/what-is-etymology-of-the-term-right-up-the-wazoo" target="_blank">https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4662/what-is-etymology-of-the-term-right-up-the-wazoo</a>
I typically don’t comment on puzzles, since my experience with them waxes and wanes because I tend to fall asleep working them, or I get distracted, so my thinking isn’t always clear and quick and my solve times are erratic. That said, I feel a strong desire to call out probably my favorite answer I’ve ever encountered in my now 2+ years of solving: LEONIDS just delighted me! I am often staring at the sky in wonder, picking out constellations or taking a moment to be dazzled by the moon. I’ve done this since I was a kid, when I learned how easily I could find the Big Dipper. I have witnessed more than a few meteors streak across my view while driving home at night or standing in my backyard after midnight. I managed to just catch what I’m pretty sure was a fireball meteor last week! Each time I’ve seen one, I’m left awed by the vast unknown expanse before me, and so deeply connected to my humanity. It’s as if I can envision being alive thousands of years ago, seeing the gods in the stars, while at the same time I feel myself connected to those YET TO COME, knowing they will certainly one day experience the very same beauty. It’s simultaneously a super grounding and weightless feeling. Thank you to constructor Katie Hoody for inspiring this reflection in me today! I hope all of you get a chance to look up at the stars once in a while. The Lyrids will be at peak visibility in the US at the end of April!
@Ali J What a terrific post! Exactly the kind that delights me so about this forum. There is a powerful comraderly with our long lost forefathers when staring at the night sky. We are looking at very much the same thing they looked at. Though not quite. The Greeks never mentioned Polaris as being the "North Star". That's because at the time it wasn't. It was several degrees from due north, and so it wasn't particularly different from the others. Also fascinating is the Big Dipper, part of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. Both the ancient Greeks and North American Indian tribes identified *those same stars* as a Great Bear. This would have been centuries before there was any contact between the two societies. A few years ago I indulged myself in my dotage, and bought a really nice amateur telescope (two, actually). While I was waiting for it to get off backorder, I watched "Our Night Sky" by Dr. Edward Murphy through the Great Courses. It was purely a naked eye exploration of the constellations, and was truly wonderful. Thanks you so much for a terrific post. Don't be a stranger.
Loved this! Tough, chewy, fair, lots of groans, and kept me guessing until the end. Great puzzle.
I assume there is a contingent here confessing that when they finally got 6D from crosses, they went "Oh, yeah...the Sutra thing."
@Francis I had KALI for way too long. In addition to all her other aspects as destructive, transformative and maternal, she is often depicted as quite erotic.
@Francis Was there anybody who did *not* go: Oh, yeah, the Sutra thing"?
@Francis I did, "Oh, yeah...the Sutra thing [god]," but without having to use the crosses. I call that a win.
The crossing of TOY POODLE, POOL NOODLE and ARE WE COOL was incredibly satisfying. As was the clue for TSA PRE. Thank you for an excellent Saturday puzzle.
OoooKay! All y'all who've been complaining about those puzzles that were too easy --(not that you were wrong, but...) Well, you can just HUSH now. There are claw marks on the tablecloth from my scratching and clawing to find a toehold. Of course I knew LORETTA Young at once, and EPCOT was a gimme...I even got OOLONG TEA (my fave.) But MANDALAS for the psychedelic art, something lacking HOPE for being "Beyond repair" and PUNNY for the barely-funny....Woof! A puzzle when one whips the LEONIDS and TROUTS into place instantly should not keep me busy wearing down the eraser on my pen! ADESTE fideles, indeed. I am hereby protesting the weensy skinny Comment box that won't expand as I type. One more inconvenience for the Solvers and Commentariat? Other than that, Ms Katie Hoody, I have this to say: WOW! Talent out the WAZOO. (I had that and took it out... tricky!)
@Mean Old Lady I don't like the comment box either. Not do I like the now daily changes to this forum.
I was TEETERing on the verge of having to sleep on this one and finish solving over my morning cup of OOLONGTEA,but I kept telling myself ITLLBEFINE, I SWEARONIT, the aha moment is YETTOCOME. And sure enough before I was TOOFARGONE, everything clicked into place. The NE plagued me greatly until KAMA, as in Kama Sutra, popped into my head. This was a good Saturday workout for me.
I think that settles the difficulty issue. Sometimes they do offer a particularly chewy one. It doesn’t mean that they haven’t evolved but this one was a Saturday to remember. TSAPRE for non USAians was a leap. I spent a long time in the top left. Started with CANOE went to Kayak/skull, experimented Salon instead of SCALP (gave the L for the brilliant LORETTA) and of course not knowing WAZOO SWIFT took a while to land. in the end it was solved by pure perseverance Thanks to the setter and editors
@Ιασων I enjoyed this and was challenged but had a better time than my average. And I think that is fairly typical — each puzzle’s solve time is a combination of knowledge, skill, cleverness, experience, and caffeine level.
While not as challenging for me as yesterday's puzzle, this was still an enjoyable puzzle. [Emily Dickinson's early period] for MORN was excellent. I wish I believed 37 A, but I'm struggling with that. If you have some time today, check out an event near you: <a href="https://www.nokings.org" target="_blank">https://www.nokings.org</a>/
@Nancy J. I'm with you on 37A. I'll be with you all in spirit though I wish it were otherwise.
@Nancy J. My mantra for today: “de escalate, de escalate, de escalate…”
Katie describes her grid (a) having double diagonal symmetry, and says it “incidentally” (b) has the usual 180 degree rotational symmetry. Exercise for the reader: prove that (a) implies (b), i.e. it’s not incidental. Ha- we just needed some math, right? to balance out the toy poodles playing with pool noodles!
TROUTS is used without comment in the Canadian Encylopedia (<a href="https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/trout" target="_blank">https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/trout</a>) as follows: "Trouts include the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and Atlantic salmon (S. Salar). Rainbow and cutthroat trouts are placed in the genus Oncorhynchus(O. mykiss and O. clarki respectively) along with Pacific salmon". And for the Yanks out there, Merriam-Webster says the plural is "trout also trouts" (<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trout" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trout</a>) So I conclude that as long as we're referring to multiple varieties, TROUTS (like fishes) doesn't really deserve any side-eye.
@Grumpy. As with fish and fishes
@Grumpy Excellent citation! I mentioned this elsewhere, but my only actual qualm is that brook "trout", despite their name, are actually char, not trout. Same with their cousin, the lake trout. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_trout" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_trout</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_trout" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_trout</a> A bit of obscure fishy trivia for a Saturday.
@Grumpy "Trouts" (as in, "varieties of trout") grates on me far less than "softwares", which results from "software" losing its status as a mass noun. Does one run "a software" on "a hardware"? I shouldn’t complain, though, because I didn’t mind when the same thing happened to "email".
Ed, Email as a message system never has a plural. Email as a message sent through said system often does. One of our aircraft is missing. Please don't say or write aircrafts.
I don't know about feelings, but this puzzle was hard. There were some blank spaces that refused to budge and I got some help, but I still didn't get any congratulations. At least the typo finally turned up without too much grief, and all the fills, when I finally figured them out, made perfect sense. (Well, IRE was a little iffy, but even so, we ARE cool.) Thank you, Katie Hoody. Nice to see you haven't lost your touch.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you so much. I actually feel like I accomplished something and it took 30 minutes. God, I love that feeling. The NW and the SW had me. That was really fun. I’ll sleep like a baby.
@Jake G Wake up ever two hours and cry? Wet the bed?
*TOY*POODLE? Pfft! <a href="https://imgur.com/a/lhXbssw" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/lhXbssw</a>
@Andrzej I've been waiting for a dog update photo! I love showing these to my daughter.
@Andrzej We are aware that Lucek is in a category of his own, a fact confirmed by your photo. Even my 2-yr old wire fox terrier (who is superior to all other dogs of any breed) was jealous of that haircut.
It did not disappoint! After yesterday's Saturday level, I was all set to remain hungry for brain food after today's, but nay. I am sated. I had large blank areas for the longest time, got called away and when I came back, still nothing. But then--something. And then--everything. Those opaque clues became paque. Which reminds me. My youngest brother used to invent words. You could purchase your own personal one for a nickel. I asked him what mine meant and he said the nickel only purchased the word, not the definition. I think he was 7 at the time.
@Lynn 🤣 Hilarious! I assume hs now a rich and famous head of industry with those entrepreneurial skills!!
Crikey! I asked for a Saturday and really got a Saturday! Tough tough tough but so much more gratifying to solve as a result. For anyone at the NYT reading … this is what a Saturday is supposed to be like.
@Gareth I'm pleased in my puzzle growth. I did need cheats, but only four of them. I found the 'a ha' moments of the longer answers delightful. Maybe after attaining a 1035 day streak, I'm beginning to reap the benefits and get more into the puzzle creators' mindsets.
More puzzles at this challenge level, please!
Breaking my first ever 7+ day gold streak (12 days!!!!) on this but I'm not upset at all:) I love when a clue that originally trips me up ends up making another appearance (as they often do) or becomes randomly relevant in an IRL conversation. "OMG I learned this from the crossword!" feels so good to say, especially around my friends that I've been BEGGING to try the crossword. Alright ... going to use Check Puzzle and finally say goodbye to gold ... remember meeee *fades to dust*
Katie Hoody is one of my top 5 favorite constructors. Her puzzles are always the perfect difficulty for me. This one took me twice as long as yesterday and I loved every minute.
Regarding TROUTS, I don't think any apology is needed. Any ichthyologist will tell you that, while "fish" is the plural when referring to multiple individual animals, "fishes" is the plural when referring to multiple *types* of animal. So by extension, surely the same is true for "trout" vs. TROUTS!
Didn't crack into this puzzle until 34A (ANOS). From there, correctly guessed PAISLEY and OOLONG TEA, and seemed to be off-and-running, having a reasonably quick time with the rest of the SW and SE. But, then, it got tough for me, as I nibbled away at the NW and NW, laboriously working my way toward the middle. Great puzzle. Thanks
I thought this was going to take me an OOHLONG time to solve, but it was actually significantly faster than my Friday puzzle, which was well over my average. Today's was well under my average. Just goes to show! I don't know what it goes to show, but I'm sure it goes to show something... LAT instead of ore was an excellent reminder to not rely too heavily on crosswordese. Good one! Enjoyed the long entries and the tricky little TSAPRE. All around enjoyable! And now I'm off to ride some ponies with my cronies, while trying to remember the rest of the words to Adeste Fidelius, which has at least for the moment replaced Lemon Pound Cake for the song playing on repeat in my head. Lemon pound cake!
@HeathieJ Obviously, I meant lat instead of oar.
@HeathieJ lemon pound cake! I see you HeathieJ.
@HeathieJ I'm with you on Fri vs Sat. Friday nearly pulled my eyebrows off but today was as swift as Taylor. 🤷♀️ I really disliked TSAPRE which is just as nasty in grids as it is at the airport. Feeling dessert-deprived with Passover rushing at me! I'd enjoy some lemon pound cake.
I found it difficult…38 minutes slower than my average. The NE corner and some middle squares (CRONIES) were falling just out of reach, until I lucked upon WAZOO. All started falling into place then and the final solve proved most satisfactory! Very nice Saturday!
I thought 50A started with "p" for a bit. I guess I don't know Dickensons's work very well.
@Elbridge Gerry Hey Elb! She was only 14 when you died so you probably didn't have much chance to appreciate it.
Hard enough for me. Couple of look ups giving me a few ILT moments. Looked to see if Emily Dickinson had a blue or grey period until I got enough cross letters for the "MORN" aha moment and smiled. I enjoyed typing Toy Poodle. I do miss my blind little red toy poodle, Rosie.
Before I started the puzzle this morning, I read a text I'd received overnight. It read, in part: "Your TSA PreCheck application has been approved. TSA has issued you a Known Traveler Number for immediate use..." Even so, I had TSAPRE completely filled in from the crosses and still didn't understand it. I was sure I'd made a mistake somewhere.
@Bruce, in case anyone sees this reply: I have had Global Entry for many years. I had the same driver’s license number for decades (and RealID for years). In 2024, Florida passed legislation to change driver’s license numbers because they embedded personal information. So when my license expired last year, I was issued a new number. It never occurred to me to update my info with Global Entry, and also my voter’s registration (which is tied to one’s driver’s license in many states). A friend mentioned it, and I updated both yesterday. Two important things to remember to update if you have received a new driver’s license number!
Great puzzle. Took me almost two hours which I love for a Saturday. And like all great difficult puzzles the clues were hard but the answers were gettable.
Tough one. Upper left corner had me stuck till the end.
TROUTS could have been clued as [Michael the Angel, and others] because every single person here loves baseball clues. I struggled with and enjoyed this puzzle which I(correctly) found to be more difficult than yesterday's. There was a musical entitled "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" about the president and his CRONIES. It was funny, sometimes in a juvenile way, with some really great songs. While it was controversial for what some thought was an overly generous portrayal of him, I thought it satirically yet accurately showed Jackson for the belligerent, prejudiced, dishonest populist(he knew about popular) he was. Sorry for the tangent that has absolutely no relevance to anything or anyone in the past, present or future.
Saturday's midi - a real scorcher! 🥵
@Whoa Nellie Agreed, this one actually had me legitimately stuck for a little bit. Doubled my normal time.
One of two typically used when rowing… I was thinking either oar, but it was LAT to be.
A tough one for me, not knowing any Pokemon whatsoever or Wazoos, and can't imagine ever saying ARE WE COOL, unless referring to temperature. I still think of Paisley patterns as something on the shawls my grandmother wore. From actual Paisley.
What a great puzzle! The top left bit had me putting in the wazoo, taking out the wazoo, putting in the wazoo, taking out the wazoo, over and over, until I finally saw what TSAPRE was. It was ugly, that’s what it was to someone unfamiliar with it, and ironically it increased my screen time. But the puzzle overall made up for it. Talk about amped-up coverage!
@JohnWM I'm not clutching pearls,but I was a little surprised that The Gray Lady allowed WAZOO; I guess it's a minced oath.
@JohnWM Maybe it's a Canada thing and the USians are used to it. In my grid it appeared via crosses -- and a good thing too because I would never have known it. Ugly, indeed! Now that I know it, how can I unknow it?
AREWECOOL -> TOYPOODLE -> POOLNOODLE was great!
Special shout-out to the misdirect at 36A where of course I had OAR as a gimme. Messed up 12D because with all its other letter O's I missed the extra one. Anyone else have AREWEGOOD and then ITLLBEGOOD and think something was going on here? Oh but Saturday's don't have themes (what never?) so eventually I fixed them both. very COOL GOOD FINE NEATO puzzle.
@RozzieGrandma yes I had AREWEGOOD for so long and hen couldn’t figure out a German exclamation that had a G in it, lol.
This took me forever! “It’ll be gone,” “good as gone,” did not know ledger line or Leonids, “DOB” for “Gen.” Probably my worst Saturday time in 20 years. In my defense, we have the whole fam down at a friend’s beach house on the Oregon coast and it is utterly cloudless, with temps in the 60s, so I was pretty distracted. Beach fire at sunset tonite! And I made crab cakes yesterday from the four Dungeness crabs I bought off the old guys on the bridge who were hauling them up from their pots. Wrap them up in foil and enjoy them warmed up with a cold beer soon. Life is good. And the dog is really, really tired.
I found this one to be a decent, solid puzzle, but quite a bit easier than the Friday one.
@Steve L significantly harder for me. tough to pin down puzzle difficulty
@Steve L I breezed through yesterday, whereas I found today's a worthy adversary. Funny how that works.
@Steve L Different strokes. Yesterday was almost exactly average for me. This one was 50% over average and I enjoyed every minute. (Well maybe not the one after my first pass.)
@Steve L Funny, today took me almost twice as long as yesterday — 30% slower than average today vs 9% faster for Friday’s.
Anyone else rack their brain tonight about whether northern Michigan (upper peninsula—U.P.—youppi!) ever had a baseball team?
Just realized my cat is a SNORLAX. SWEAR ON IT there are many more Saturday grids YET TO COME from Katie Hoody. ❤️
@Becky ITLLBEFINE indeed when we see her next one.
LORETTA was the first gimme that shouted out to me. so I didn't expect the NW to be the last to fall. As a pen and paper solver, I don't write in answers until I'm almost 100% sure of them, so I struggled mightily. I had a faint inkling of what a columbine is, so I thought it was "inter" instead of INURN. I also immediately thought of "salon" for 1D, instead of SCALP, and for WAZOO, I've only heard it - and used it - as "up the..." Finally, it all came together, and I was thrilled that for two days in a row we had puzzles that were appropriately challenging.
@Times Rita Exactly the same experience here—good to know I’m not alone!
@Times Rita Me too. Although didn’t have Loretta, so that corner was just a lot of staring at blank squares next to inter for a long time. Nice Saturday challenge today!
I can brook Katie's TROUTS, and this was a pleasant solve, but I was right not to "fear" Saturday after the tougher than recently usual Friday. In the old days, we would say the two days' puzzles were swapped.
@Barry Ancona I felt the same way. The longer answers made this easier for me. Other that LEDGER LINE, they were all very familiar, so they filled in a good portion of the grid.
@Barry Ancona My experience was reversed, I was four minutes faster yesterday than today, but both were a bit under my average. All in all an enjoyable weekend of solving. Big thanks to Katie and Zachary.
Feels like the Grey Lady gat an updo! Thanks, Katie, for a real treat! Great clues, great fill. Hope this crowd likes their grids al dente.. Somebody pass the cheese grater . . .