Rahul

Re-sharing an old Reddit gem on 44D. Always makes me smile. "When I was young my father said to me: “Knowledge is power, Francis Bacon.” I understood it as “Knowledge is power, France is bacon.” For more than a decade I wondered over the meaning of the second part and what was the surreal linkage between the two. If I said the quote to someone, “Knowledge is power, France is Bacon,” they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, “Knowledge is power” and I’d finish the quote “France is bacon,” and they wouldn’t look at me like I’d said something very odd, but thoughtfully agree. I did ask a teacher what did “Knowledge is power, France is bacon” mean and got a full 10-minute explanation of the “knowledge is power” bit but nothing on “France is bacon.” When I prompted further explanation by saying “France is bacon?” in a questioning tone, I just got a “yes.” At 12 I didn’t have the confidence to press it further. I just accepted it as something I’d never understand. It wasn’t until years later I saw it written down that the penny dropped."

Always found this piece of trivia interesting (probably more interesting for those of us who know Hindi/Urdu/Persian)- Seersucker comes from the Persian words shir and shakar, literally meaning "milk and sugar", from the gritty texture ("sugar") on the otherwise smooth ("milk") cloth.

"It may bring out the kid in you" was groan worthy but brilliant. Just brilliant. Clue of the week, month and year for me.

'Good knight sweet prince' made me guffaw. Loved every single groaner in today's puzzle. One of my favourite Sundays from the past year.

Solid, solid Saturday workout and a perfect example of the 'Tough But Fair' category of puzzles.

RAPINE was apt given today's headlines (and for US foreign policy in general as well)

Easy but fun Sunday puzzle. And nice to see some representation with quite a few India-themed clues.

Was expecting bordering states in the same rebus to go with the 'union' bit but that didn't seem to be the case. And was expecting all Western states for completeness rather than a few random ones. Didn't fully understand how the 'theme' was even a theme.

Natick Central. Ugh.

Looks like I'm in a minority here but I found this one to be an absolute slog. Wasn't particularly impressed that the fill without the colors formed legit 'words' since they were mostly 3-letter crosswordese anyway. Way too many naticks and proper nouns/obscure names for my liking.

Easy Friday but nice to see (almost) no crosswordese in the entire puzzle.

Phew. After a relatively easy Thu, Fri and Sat this week, that was one solid workout!

Trickiest Tuesday puzzle I've seen in the past year and enjoyed every minute of it. More Tuesdays of this difficulty level please!

Fun Friday puzzle. Had 'CHEESE PULLS' for 6D and was starting to form a rant in my head about how it's not a kind of junk food before I realised my mistake.