Steve H

@Megan ‘A foil by any other name would smell as sweet’ but until it picks up another vowel or 2, I’m afraid it will be relegated to second fiddle in this realm. So I suggest the other fencing disciplines rename their weapons the EFEE and the SABEE purely in the interest of gaining NYTXWD presence, 😆 Or if the emus prefer, the SABU. (This was a lot funnier when it first popped in my head.)

@Name I thought ‘zero’ so I started a countdown - 10, 9, but it’s 3 letters so stop the countdown, skip the crosses and write in ‘one’. Seriously, when I run into these pedantic spots, I try to ask myself - - is it a possible usage? - does it guide the solver toward the answer (without being Monday easy)? Tomorrow the answer for same clue may be “Blastoff” or “Zero” or “Happy New Year” 3,2,1 Happy New Year! 🎊

@Helen Wright The Boston Pops’ long-time conductor was the legendary John Williams. Since Williams is the only thing I really know about the organization, I googled them and see that Arthur Fiedler was the conductor for nearly 50 years. I now recall that my parents had a record of the Pops with Fiedler. And although the ‘lyrical gangsta’ sounded familiar, I pulled up the video to make sure. Now I will be humming that hook all day, so… thanks for that🤣🤣

@Jane Wheelaghan BART is an acronym for Bay Area Rapid Transit that ties together the San Fran metro area, Silicon Valley, etc. Google tells me that Muni is the city of San Francisco’s transit system which includes the historic street cars and cable cars, plus buses and light rail. The question is - will I remember Muni if I need it in a crossword again? I’m not optimistic, but it will give me pause on BART.

@Doug As far as I can tell the down answers follow this format - The first clue/answer is with all letters included. The second answer works when one removes the circled letter - whether an L or R.

@Cat Lady Margaret I came here specifically to find this comment to recommend - just like I did yesterday.

@Jon H That one got me until the very end. Ad Hoc jumped out immediately, but that was before I knew there was a rebus - and it probably would not have fit anyway even with one. Then QUADRUPLE came along but then I didn’t have enough DOUBLES (or so I thought) until finally when there were only 2 blanks left and I finally saw it. Very slick puzzle.

@Weak @B I love Alone for the simple reason that the ‘drama’ or tension in the show is mostly just nature being nature. And not a vote has been taken in 10, maybe 12 seasons! Sure, the producers make the competition appear closer than it often is but still, major respect for what those humans can do.

@Gregg After reading a comment from someone in the UK who used the ‘120 miles’ (which would have been in the Atlantic Ocean), to steer him away from the British London, I wonder if the mileage was skewed intentionally as a hint (helpful or not).

@Andrzej @Roberto Since this was in a thread that included MAINER, it must be Maine and if so, that is indeed, very tricky trivia. But looking at the map, Maine juts waaay out into the Atlantic. CaptainQualog gives a beautiful description of the Down East sailing history of the term in another thread.

@Yael Yesterday I couldn’t string 2 answers together, but tonight i was dialed in. Like 38A - I was all over that LONG I. And Penelope - whoever she is - I guessed with 3 letters. DINKS and dunks. Maybe it’s the time of day - late night puzzling for the win!

@Ken They are soooo dumb!! And addictive - like other wonderful treats that may not be the healthiest for me! I can’t stop picking up the next Oreo I see! 🤣🤣 These comments, on the other hand, not dumb. But still addictive!🤪

@Theo I’m with you. After solving the mini I googled and googled trying to find just one instance of a “wawa” pedal. Nada. The only references I could find were misspelled for sale listings by people reselling Wah pedals. Not a Wawa anywhere - except on signs along the highway.

@Becky Congratulations!! I skip Friday/Saturday usually so I’ve only seen a 7 day streak once. On the rare occasions when I have tried them I find the challenge is to find something, anything to google. Fri/Sat clues are so tricky, a vague whisper that refers to a faint resemblance of the answer. So considering the investment of time and mental energy, employing every tool at my disposal to crack a Saturday, I take any star I can get! (I’m pretty sure I’ve had to turn on autocheck for every Saturday I’ve tried.)

@Steve Exactly!! And then it’s on - you try the others out - Tampa Bezh, The Dead Sheezh, and he would sound great on BUCKAROUGE! How about Emuzh?