Virgil
Minneapolis
The least satisfying themes are the ones where you fill in the answers because you know it’s a word but have no idea why until you read the explainer. This falls into that category for me; YMMV. That aside, there was some particularly sloppy clueing here: -CELEB with no clueing on “causally” or “informally” is a bit of a rule-breaker (“perhaps” clues wordplay, not truncation) -EVILEST is a word by the thinnest of margins. CATDOM isn’t a word at all but at least clues with a ?. -The quotes around “green” imply a figure of speech or turn of phrase (as correctly used in “See Ya”), not a prefix or truncation. -
The puzzle was a delight. The experience of trying to view and solve it on mobile, even for young, healthy eyes, was chaotic at best. This needed a second look for usability.
Fun theme. ELIAS crossing WELBY and SERE was fairly unpleasant.
Amid all the complaints about YABBER, I found TEHEE more iffy without a qualifier — TEEHEE is a far more common variant.
@Andrzej It is. I’d argue the usage is wonky enough to warrant a signifier in the clue (irregular, in some speak, etc) — but it’s in there.
@K. H. Correct -- that's why the decorator is telling you they're out.
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