Agarre

I didn’t get the theme until the very end when PERMIT would not work with the crosses. Then I looked back and saw BARHOP is definitely not a clergy member, but I had gotten it with the crosses. So then I thought about what a clergy member could be, and BISHOP immediately came to mind. Then I looked at the « instruction » clue, and it was an Aha moment. I then went back and changed GUTTER to GRATER, PERMIT to PETSIT and made peace with SOCKED, which I had through the crosses but made no sense until you got the trick! Very clever. I almost gave up, glad I didn’t.

You could definitely tell it was a constructor on the younger side. Starbucks drinks. Star Wars prequel reference (Queen Amidala) and never heard of anyone refer to a “beastie.” But workable even for us oldsters!