Paul

"I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time’. So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance." If you're not familiar with Steven Wright, I recommend checking out a video or two. His delivery is key to the humor.

That felt like a relaxing stroll in the park after yesterday's marathon obstacle course. I'm not super into the computer jokes but still enjoyed the puzzle. For all my fellow ESL teachers out there, I hope your students are safe and sound (epescially those in MN and ME). One of my students asked me recently if you-know-who were coming to our school and what I would do if they came to our classroom door. Never thought I would have to answer a question like that in this country. René Magritte's work was a highlight of my visit to the National Gallery a couple of years ago. His themes seem apropos considering we are being told not believe what we see with our own eyes and truth has become subjective (to some). <a href="https://www.nga.gov/artworks/70170-la-condition-humaine" target="_blank">https://www.nga.gov/artworks/70170-la-condition-humaine</a> <a href="https://www.renemagritte.org/the-treachery-of-images.jsp" target="_blank">https://www.renemagritte.org/the-treachery-of-images.jsp</a>

I'm in the "mixed feelings" camp on this one. It is a marvel of construction when it comes to the complexity of the theme, but it came at the expense of fluidity and fun factor for me. I ended up looking up a few answers (which I rarely do these days) to get through it in time to make the game I'm headed to. Happy for those who had the time and bandwidth to thoroughly enjoy it. I also think this will be the last time I solve a Sunday on my phone. It's just not meant for a small screen.

I beat my average significantly despite not knowing the details of the theme. It's always nice to learn something new. I would have finished even faster if I would have known it's "gelt" not "gelb."

I came so close to resorting to a lookup, but persevered and eventually got it. Figuring out SEXTAPE was key. I'll join Deb in giving that CORKER a standing ovation. Being a language teacher, I had a good chuckle when ANTECEDENT finally clicked. I also like STROP crossing with PARER, and EDGES on the edge. All in all it, was a FRESH Friday with much to ENJOY.

I remembered to read the title and got CROSSSTICH and the first theme cross very early, which helped with the other theme crosses. My only goofs were putting SLIPUPS instead of SLIPSUP for a while and not knowing what a CRU was. Once I'd cleaned up that cluster, the rest was completed with ESE. Do I detect some subtle irony with ELON crossing MODELUN? I'd say his recent forays into international relations are a perfect model of what not to do.

Mickey went all out for their anniversary and got ___________ necklaces and diamond rings. For all the Hee Haw fans out there.

That was a very challenging puzzle with some clever clues. I was stuck on SPEEDDATING for a long time and had never heard of a LULU, which had some tough crosses. Several of the proper nouns were also unknown to me. I ended up needing a look up or two to finish in a reasonable time. The HYENA clue was a good one. I didn't know they were matriarchal. I read up on it a bit and learned their social organization is unlike other carnivores and more like primates. Fascinating.

I enjoyed the clever themers and the bonus lit-themed answers sprinkled throughout. For 106D my mind went blank on the name at first but went straight to the Hemingway book, then to the Metallica song, then to metaphysical conceit, and finally to DONNE. Funny how that works. It's a good poem for our times considering problems we have with ego-driven billionaires with private islands and luxury bunkers who don't value the contributions of everyday citizens who actually make the system work and contribute in so many interesting ways to the culture. Here's a recent article about van Gogh and the color yellow for anyone missed it: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-yellow.html?smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-yellow.html?smid=url-share</a> The yellow flowers in the background offer a nice contrast to the deep blue and violet irises in the foreground. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irises_(painting)#/media/File" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irises_(painting)#/media/File</a>%3AIrises-Vincent_van_Gogh.jpg

Fast and fun for the most part. I got held up for a second on WRACK and PLOTZ. I did know "verklempt" from SNL. It was nice to see MCA, Adrock, and Mike D make an appearance. Considering how women's rights (and everyone else's, really) are being trampled on, here's an apropos lyric from their more mature era: I want to say a little something that's long overdue The disrespect to women has got to be through To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends I want to offer my love and respect to the end And just because it's fun: I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast But I'm intercontinental when I eat French toast!

Looks like I'm not alone in getting a PB today. Most of the long answers came easily and the trivia was in my wheelhouse. I kept thinking I'd reach a section that would stop me in my tracks for a while like usual, but it never happened. Just a slight delay to get the B in ABA. Funny how hip hop lyrics sometimes help me with the crossword. They are often dense with pop culture references. This one from the song "Putting Shame in Your Game" helped today: I'm the Benihana chef on the SP12 I chop the f out the beats left on the shelf (FYI, The SP12 is a drum machine/sampler, and "chop" means to mix beats.)

I was happy to get AZTEC EMPEROR right away. It helps that I have students who speak Nahuatl. That "tl" is a big clue (and also very hard to pronounce). As is often the case, the names are mostly what slowed me down. The misdirection on the clue for CASK had me racking my brain for containers that are red, and I didn't think of wine until after I'd already filled it in. I seem to recall a similar trick from another puzzle, so I probably should have gotten it sooner. Like yesterday, this puzzle contains SLOP but is by no means sloppy. The constructors must have been paying attention to the word of the year discussion, as SLOP made the Oxford shortlist.

VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause. In the beginning was the word DIVINE. ONLY crosses with ONE(ida) to form the shape of the cross. We see ONE three times in the puzzle as well as the word THREE. This is the Holy Trinity SAGES and IDEA MEN attempt to interpret everything UNDER THE SUN but only see shadows. They cannot directly experience ultimate reality as it is in CAMO, seperated by the INSULATIONS of the window glass (Plato's cave wall). Wallace debated theodicy on his death bed. I BEG YOU crossed with AGAIN represent the searcher asking for answers. The suffering beseech the God that made both good and evil (the tiger and the lamb), "DONT RUB IT IN." How could the same God who DOTED on his creations have NONCHALANCE in the face of their suffering? The BANALity of evil exists along with the PURE of heart. CONTRARIANS question received wisdom, refusing to BET THE RANCH on one interpretation. NOD crossed with guilt-RIDDEN crossed with TREMOR references the story of Cain (evil) and Abel (good). Cain was sent in exile to barbaric NOD, the "land of trembling." Each part of the poem is a SNAPSHOT, a koan, a haiku meant to SPUR the reader towards enlightenment. We must SIT AT mediation as a BHUTANI Vajrayana Budhhists would rather than use reason. The wise man understands: The more I know, the more I DUNNO. The Dude ABIDES.

I was hoping for a positive experience but the theme repelled me. Seemed a bit forced.

Despite stalling in the N, I came in well under average. I enjoyed the interesting fill throughout. Was there a mini lit theme in the S? Sappho, Hesse, Oberon, fiction, reader, speller... I gave one of my sons the middle name Auberon, of which Oberon is a variant. It means both "elf king" and "noble bear." I got it from the book Little, Big, which I would highly recommend.

Got a personal best on this clever but gentle rebus puzzle. The creators really had POT on their minds. Does that make them POTheads?

This puzzle reminded me of my teenage years when I started listerning to the Doors and then had my mind blown reading Aldous Huxley and William Blake. I love a good music theme. While it's not my favorite Doors song (that would be "People Are Strange"), "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" has a great driving energy to it. A worthy first single. Another song, Elizabeth Cotten's "Shake Sugaree," helped me with the IN PAWN clue. This version with her granddaughter singing is a gem: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ViAIdO3i4" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ViAIdO3i4</a> I also enjoyed the whale clue to go with the hyena trivia from yesterday. It put me in mind of the book Becoming Wild, which is partly about sperm whale communication and culture. If you've read Moby-Dick, it's interesting (and tragic) to compare the modern science with the way sperm whales were understood in Melville's day <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/books/review/carl-safina-becoming-wild.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/books/review/carl-safina-becoming-wild.html</a>

HUZZAH! That was a fun, fast Friday. I beat my average by some distance. Being a fan of The Bear helped tremendously with that. I enjoyed the mini Spanish theme. Now I GOTTA RUN. My son is saying LET'S BOUNCE for the Halloween festivities.

Any Salukis out there? I have many great memories of roaming around Little Egypt during my time at SIU. Between the lakes, the Mississippi bluffs, the vineyards, and Shawnee National Forest, there was always something to do besides school work. There may have been a few parties involved as well. It's all a bit hazy. I'm not adept at Roman numerals, so I got most of 8D from crosses. Knowing only a few letters were possible helped with some crosses. Pretty decent Saturday overall.

To add to what Times Rita posted (thanks for sharing), I posted this song fairly late last night in response to a critique of Ochs. Verses 5 and 6 are especially appropriate. The title question is one that certain men who have been sent to "make our cities safer" should be asking themselves right now. <a href="https://genius.com/Phil-ochs-what-are-you-fighting-for-lyrics" target="_blank">https://genius.com/Phil-ochs-what-are-you-fighting-for-lyrics</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/-ai3uQVNv7A?si=fZlTzsH7bif8dD3j" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/-ai3uQVNv7A?si=fZlTzsH7bif8dD3j</a>

I was about to mention how this puzzle had little SLOP except right at the beginning with AFTS, but the constructor owned up to it first. Abbreviations are probably my least favorite type of answer because they are often not usages I've seen used much. I wonder how many others got fixated on the Kinks' song Lola before getting COPA. UNLIT kind of worked, CONA not so much. MOOG was one of my first fills. Here's an isolated Moog track from Here Comes the Sun for any Beatles fans out there. It's a great example of how they were ALL IN on FRESH sounds. <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/isolated-moog-track-from-beatles-here-comes-sun" target="_blank">https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/isolated-moog-track-from-beatles-here-comes-sun</a>/

Fun puzzle with another good music reference (and one better left unmentioned). I saw B.B. on the riverfront under the Arch in St. Louis when I was in college. He was a true legend. He used lighter gauged strings on the first three strings, which allowed him to bend them more easily and get a distinctive sound. His favorite strings were B strings, which are the SECOND STRINGS, which is a clue in this puzzle. Jus free-associating here, folks.

That was a just right Friday for me. I'm a big fan of katsu (with curry or Bulldog sauce), which helped with the tricky NW corner. When I lived in S. Korea years ago, my friend was such a fan of the Korean version of the dish that he got the nickname Johhny Donkas. I also appreciated the different cluing for ASP. I'd never heard of that toxic caterpillar but will be on the lookout as I am about to do some yard work in the southern U.S.

Well, after making good progress solving weekend puzzles with few or no lookups, this one made me feel like a beginner again. Some of the clues were a bit of a stretch as others have already mentioned, but it is Saturday, and it sounds like some the more experienced solvers enjoyed the workout. Hopefully tomorow will be more on my wavelength.

The constructor's starter, 29A, is a top entry for me. I always enjoyed the creatures of Middle Earth like the Ents, Tom Bombadil, and on the dark side, the Balrogs. They lent a sense of living ancient history to the world. Interestingly, "ent" is Old English for "giant." For those who struggeled with PO-PO (I had COPS first too), I recommend listening to some Outkast and others in the genre for context. The OED's earliest evidence for it is from the the 1991 DJ Quik song "Deep." Overall, a fun puzzle with a clever theme and some great fill.

Solved it in under half my average time. It was easy for a Sunday, but it was a pleasant surprise getting the gold star without having to pick through big the grid looking for one or two errors like I usually do. I figured out X first, which easily led to EXIT. I went back to figure out the other three clues before reading the column, but I thought the "I" was the one under the sea sometimes shortened to "the MED." Are there intentionally two clues in one in MEDICI? Like many others, I was expecting an animation and came here to see if it didn't work on my phone for some reason.

Today was just like yesterday. I finished in about half my average time but have no complaints because it was an enjoyable puzzle, and I don't mind the occasional quick weekend solve instead of the more common nearly impenetrable ones. Speaking of impenetrable, this English major spent more time in the Ulysses rabbit hole Ms. Lovinger sent me down than I did solving the puzzle. DOGSBODY leads to "ineluctable modality" leads to a Zen koan leads to Proteus leads the seahorses of Manannán leads to the ninth wave and so on ad infinitum...

Thanks for all the insightful, enjoyable commentary, Ms. Amlen. Count Basie has some suggestions for retirement plans. How does April in Paris and then Back to the Apple sound? <a href="https://youtu.be/enijgnO_UA8?si=glzA_R7QTuQOmwsm" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/enijgnO_UA8?si=glzA_R7QTuQOmwsm</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/txBOZ0129gM?si=NhZ9DGsxHI0Ggv1x" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/txBOZ0129gM?si=NhZ9DGsxHI0Ggv1x</a>

I don't usually complain about easiness, but thay was too easy. It felt like being on autopilot. It was the fastest I've understood a Sunday or Thursday theme in a long time. Having the initials made the theme fill very straightforward. It was clever, just better on another day. My only problem in solving was BRIER. MADAIRA looked wrong, but so did BRIER. I see now it's a secondary spelling.

I figured the trick must include shortened words with so many short themed entries. Once I saw BANDIT, I got the revealer and the rest came pretty smoothly. It was an enjoyable, somewhat challenging, Thursday puzzle. I was relieved to solve it without even thinking of autocheck or lookups because lately it seems like I get everything but one mistake or a typo on Thursday-Sunday puzzles. And, no, a taco is not a sandwich.

I flew through the NE but then slowed down drastically in the S. SILENTP was the last to fall. I thought I was clever putting TEE for "Culture center." Tough puzzle.

Brilliant theme. I got the idea almost immediately but did not know the spelling. Came in under well under average. That's been happening more and more lately. I've done 203 puzzles now and have come a long way. Some of it comes down to thinking in crossword mode by immediately being on the lookout for misdirects and wordplay. One of the biggest advatages, though, is acquiring a decent level of crosswordese. ETAL, would have given me pause months ago, but now it's a gimme. Same for ISEE.

Tricky theme. I completed the puzzle with some luck by prioritizing the correct down answers crossing each themer. I had to go back and stare at it for a minute to figure out exactly how the theme worked. Glad I did that before checking the column. It was a nice aha moment. Curious how many people knew YOINK from The Simpsons. I also enjoyed all of the Spanish clues. LAGUNITAS, ELOTE, and hearing AY PAPI? Sounds like a good night.

This was a fine, accessible Sunday for me. I came in well under average, though I did get caught up on the COTE/STALES area for a while because I'm not very familiar with COTE, and I never use STALES as a verb in that way (it is in the dictionary). I also had to flyspeck for a misspelling or two. Maybe as much as the puzzle itself, I enjoy the word controversies in the comments and how they lead me to learn new etymologies and current and past usages.

65A crossing 55D is surely a reference to this: <a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/rfKYqomIqNk?si=KCAOpHDZ0Xs1rB_P" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/shorts/rfKYqomIqNk?si=KCAOpHDZ0Xs1rB_P</a>

To quote the Beastie Boys, "we be makin' stacks like Stax Records." Thanks for the heaps of hilarity and the piles of puns! Just one question: Why did the turkey cross the road?

That was a tough but fun solve. I was optimistic when I got Tito Puente right away. I recently did a lesson on him with my ESOL class. He was a truly joyful and versatile musician. It's always nice when a somewhat obscure clue from the crossword overlaps with something from one's life. MOME was another gimme as I memorized the poem and recited it for my kids many a time. After a fast start, I got bogged down in the SW, eventually finishing just under my average time with no lookups. I'm pleased, as I've often resorted to lookups on Saturday since I started doing the crossword a couple of months ago.

That was fast (for me) and fun except ORALE crossing with ITAL and KOLA. Now I'm hungry for Japanese. I would make miso, but I'm low on katsuobushi and out of kombu for the dashi. Time for a trip to H Mart!