Gary Scheele

Very nice puzzle ... and Thomas, about 12 years ago I had a stroke, brought about by diabetes. When I got home (after a month in the hospital) I was also reduced to just doing the Monday crosswords. Luckily I was also able to keep improving, and now I too can do pretty much all 7 days, so I can definitely relate. (Wonderful organ, the brain.) So kudos to your wife, and to you.

TIL - ADOUT (AD-OUT). Need to brush up on my tennis terms.

Whenever I hear "ups and downs" I always think of 'Auntie Mame', where the parents of the girl who Patrick is going to marry, whose name is Upson, refers to their house as Upson Downs. (Luckily, the marriage never happens.)

I enjoyed this one immensely. Took me a while ... and I did learn about the EDGAR haircut.

As a Catholic altar boy, the first time I ran across CRUET: these are used for the serving of the wine and water at Mass.

What a delightful puzzle! Brava to Miranda!

Had no problem with BRATS ... since growing up in Wisconsin, brats were always a staple at a barbeque,

I was complaining about a certain category in today's Connections, and lo and behold, it came up in today's crossword too ... but the crossword was challenging, and I loved it.

I'd like to thank Barry Ancona for pointing me (and others too) in last Sunday's puzzle, to print the italicized words in the puzzle. A godsend. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/svc/crosswords/v2/puzzle/print/May1726.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/svc/crosswords/v2/puzzle/print/May1726.pdf</a>

Also loved Urkel ... and lately, from an old Stephen Colbert clip, Jame Lee Curtis's story about him is just great. (available on YouTube)

If you are printing the puzzle, the italicized clues were not italicized in the printed version.