Evan

I always enjoy the photo that accompanies Wordplay. Sometimes they appear to be random and other times, more obvious. But it's fun figuring out how they tie into the puzzle theme. A shout out to whoever is choosing these! (And a fun puzzle today too.)

Looked up definitions online for "verklempt", (sounded German to me), and found "overcome with emotion. And "plotzed", found "extremely drunk". Hadn't heard either of these words before.

I did not find the puzzle to be easy but that is probably because I did not pick up on the BEFORE/AFTER theme. Still, I was able to solve it in a record 3 hours! ;) One clue did bother me a little; "Buck, in slang" is a "smacker". But isn't a buck slang also? Slang for a slang? Just me.

Thanks for explaining 26A! Even after solving the puzzle I still didn't understand that clue.

I got the "Bump in the road" theme fairly quick and that really helped with many of the solutions. But I got stuck in a couple of the corners for a while. I had "POUR" for "Prepare for a shot" and other clues just weren't clicking. I find if I stare long enough at the puzzle however, more options start to surface. Sure enough, "POSE" presented itself and the rest "CLUCK"(ed)!

This was almost a "gotcha" by the constructor. But I don't know if it was intended. I was not familiar with Ne-Yo. (Now I am.) I had SIP for "Soak (Up). Therefore going down I had Neyi. With the puzzle filled in I got the message I was close but not quite. As I checked for spelling errors I searched Neyi and found Neyi Zimu, also a singer. <a href="https://spiritmusicgroup.co.za/artists/neyi-zimu" target="_blank">https://spiritmusicgroup.co.za/artists/neyi-zimu</a>/ Still thinking that was correct, it took me some more time to change SIP to SOP. A better fit for the clue.

43 across, Purposely wrongs=SPITES. Very fitting for today's puzzle because I feel that's what the constructors set out to do to us today. But no! AHIGOTCHA!

What is MWAH? Something With A Hug? Heard of SWAK before, which is what I originally had. But not this.

Like most crossword puzzles, especially the harder ones, I try to get a foothold and build from there. I got the Rebus with BrEYErs ice cream and Shut EYE. Then from the main clue which said there where eight such squares, I was able to find the rest.

I was able to solve but just couldn't make the connection between the theme clues and the answers. Although solving NATO Alphabet got me at least the first half of the answers. So I looked forward to reading the explanation to tie it all together. Then of course it made sense. Except for G-ambit= GOLF RANGE. Anyone?