Nadine

Enjoyed this one. But I agree about "okras." Come on, puzzle editors: kales? Arugulas? Maybe if the clue were about variants (are there different kinds of okra?).

The last thing I learned in 12th grade calculus was factorials. That's when I dropped the class, because I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I'd ever need to know what they are. Then, 56 years later, I found out why!

This was a great solve, beginning to end, across and down. My experience solving it was unusual. Woke up early, couldn't fall back to sleep, so thought I'd do the Monday puzzle. Why did I think that? Well, dog injured last Monday, followed 6 hrs in vet e.r. Wednesday, cooked all day Thursday, nsaids prescribed for dog led to diarrhea since Friday. He's doing better, but I'm exhausted. Here's the curveball: my thinking still that this was a Monday puzzle until reading comments here probably led to one of my fastest Sunday solves. 🤞pup continues to recover.

There were more TILs in this puzzle than ever before. I suspect that as I get older (73 now) & constructors get younger, this will continue to be the case. Nevertheless, LOVED this puzzle.

In all my 73 years, as a lifelong reader & crossword solver, & 42 years teaching English, I have NEVER seen saturnine refer to atmosphere. Other than that quibble, nice puzzle.

Favorite clue: 42 D. Got stuck on age; delighted by answer. Blush: 37A I went a bit further back in time to flipchart, something I used a lot in my classroom)

I actually filled the theme entries by ignoring the circles, then using the DS to fill those. But I thought "odd" referred to the names being 3 letters long, so I missed the theme. Still fun, if a little easy for a Thurs. I'm definitely a clencher on Thurs, Fri, & Sat.

Can someone explain 25 across?

Need explanation for 78 down.

Every once in a long while, I filli out a puzzle w/o the gestalt of the theme. Today was one of those times. I eagerly turned to Wordplay to see what I missed. Kind of like a cross between a brain fart & a senior moment.

Can someone explain the clues and answers for 1 down and across?

No note about 28 down? It's a TIL clue/answer for me.