Kal

I was sure "star cluster" was "anise".

For 38A, I had "UP AND DIES" which caused a bit of a jam there until I figured out the proper colloquialism. I think I was being too Midwestern.

See, "liquid gold" to me is "chicken fat" which is incredibly useful when rendered out and is also the proper color!

Given how many crossword puzzles rely on the familiar 'crosswordese' answers to wedge vowels in where needed, it's refreshing to see a puzzle built around a constraint. Breezy and fun!

Perfect for a Monday and features one of my favorite films ever.

Easy breezy for a Thursday, like a boat going gently down the stream.

That was a rough one. Not sure why some constant (and short!) crossword answers just refuse to stick in my brain, like the city where the Taj Mahal is and the other way to get up a ski slope when you have trouble with the lift.

I picked up on the first layer of theming, but as always the rebuses never occur to me until I'm all flustered. Not until after I filled it did the second layer of theming kick in. I'm impressed by the construction and despite some frustration, I enjoyed it!

A thoroughly entertaining Thursday puzzle. I knew right away what needed to be done after the revealer wouldn't fit. Before that, I thought they might be using X or O as the marker because of 14A.

Nice and quick for a Thursday, but a lot of fun. Once I got the theme, I tried to suss out the long answers with as little crossings as possible. "Big wheels in the Vatican?" was a great clue.

Well, at least I'm not alone in missing the word "clues".