brasticstack

@Francis And who uses ATE as slang for "did exceptionally well? One can "eat it" which is nearly the opposite thing, or "eat their lunch" in the context of a competition, but "ate" is just bizarre.

@Jrochest It's a "De pot", as in a pot that starts with the letter/sound D. For the record, this was my least favorite puzzle in a long time. I'm fine with not getting the theme, but when the crosses and the rest of the the fill are extremely vague or really reaching I lose enthusiasm.

@Jeff I had the same thought, so I looked it up: "Stepwise motion (also called conjunct motion) is melodic movement between adjacent scale degrees, moving by half or whole step." So it's following a chosen scale without skipping a degree, regardless of whether that degree is a whole step or half step. Confusingly named, for sure.

@Chris ooooh. I was thinking about the insects, not that I'd ever hear that particular baseball term before. Thanks!

@Anthony While we're at it, I'm sure TEC hasn't been slang for detective since at least my grandparents' generation.