miniMeissner
OMA
@George On the one hand, I did get thrown for a loop when I (embarrassingly) misspelled "partical" and had no idea what a "lye socket" was. But on the other hand, a substantial amount of clever wordplay deals in homophones, so I think the aural element of some of the theme clues hardly defies convention or expectation. Maybe I'm biased as a spoken-word poet, but I found the execution here to be delightful.
Absolutely phenomenal puzzle! I was able to pick up on the fun gimmick of the theme early, and that let me place the "ical/icle" segments relatively quickly, but while I grasped the theme, it took far longer than I'd like to admit to finally wrap my fingers around a couple of the full answers, particularly that one about electrolysis. But it was wonderfully satisfying when each one finally clicked, and the only thing I had to look up was that last Spice Girl and keg size. p.s. "Messing up on the big screen" was a brilliantly evil clue, I loved it!
@Seward Parker I concur! Well, partly; this one was significantly harder to me than most Sundays (50% longer than my average 😅), but it was a very enjoyable solve for most of the way, and the theme clues were especially delightful!
Not a blistering pace for me today, although I never solve at a blistering pace, but I am pleased that this is the first puzzle I've successfully solved with only the across clues! And somehow nearly 40% faster than my average! I very much enjoyed the theme, and even made sure to read all the down clues after I finished it ^-^
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