Tom

Boy, this was a rough one. Setting aside the theme, this has some of the worst fill I have seen in a long time. A particular lowlight are the ugly plurals: tams, ETAs, RTEs, Ikeas, OTs, and so on (Ikeas in particular) There's also a lot of just generally lazy, supremely trite fill overall: Ashe (and ashy), Otoe, ores, Anti/Ante, and ahas. I'm surprised Aer and Oreo didn't make an appearance. But by far the worst offense is an answer clued "how __ you?" Anyway, I guess I got pranked by spending my time doing a terrible puzzle.

I am always, always, excited when I see Hoang-Kim Vu as a puzzle's constructor; once again, I have been awed. This was truly an excellent puzzle in every respect.