Margaret

@Times Rita Thank you for posting again. We are repeating the history of the 1930s - 1940s, and again our Viet Nam and Civil Rights years. To quote another song - "when will we ever learn?"

@Dave My mother used to send me down to the local bakery in the morning for a loaf of Rye sliced with seeds. The ENDS never made it home.

@Jill from Brooklyn I have spent years explaining this transformation to people. I was called Peggy through my college years. Friends from back then still call me Peggy. I transitioned to Margaret in my early 30's. My mother told me that the great thing about my name was that I could be Peggy when I was little, Peg when I was a bit older and Margaret when I was a grownup. She died when I was 72 and she always called me Peggy

@Min That song from Kiss Me Kate has been running around in my head since I typed in the solver.

@Shrike I had watched Kiss Me Kate the other day. I have had the line "I'll even give up coffee for Sanka, even Sanka Bianca for you" running around in my head for a few days now.

@Bill in Yokohama I once attended a talk where the speaker misspelled multiple words on the flip chart. His comment was that anyone who can't spell a word more than one way lacks imagination.

@Dru I confidently typed in Britishism until I ran out of room. Got it from the crosses.

@Rich in Atlanta I found the Vietnam War Memorial very moving when I saw it. Seeing notes there, flowers placed there, veterans touching it, people holding up children to read names, made it a moving experience. I may have been opposed to the war but not the people who had to go. As a country, we treated you badly when you returned.

@Heidi I always try to get a window seat, and I keep to myself. I like looking out the window and I avoid people climbing over me. There are advantages to being short and small these days.

@dutchiris Thank you for your simple explanation of what "merit" used to be - not just skin color, but gender too.

@SIJ I knew it was wrong, but I kept wanting to put in ROMCOM BOOM. Eventually my brain found the right one. I thought of Einstein as I filled in TEMPTSFATE.

@dutchiris I was at Berkely at the time when Reagan closed the campus and a bunch of us spent the night on the campus so that we could go from there the next morning to picket the draft board and the induction center. I also remember the People's Park protest when two protesters were killed, one with bird shot and another with buck shot. The University needed to protect its property rights. Like Mean Old Lady, I hope to live long enough to get through this.

@Jim @John Sutton Years ago I went to a seminar where we were asked how many of us had ever driven in Boston. The speaker then went on to explain that the traffic signals in Boston were hooked up to a supercomputer at MIT and were actually accident indicators. If the light was RED, you were most likely to be hit from behind. If the light was GREEN, you were most likely to hit from the side. If the light was YELLOW, it was too close to call.

@Mike I spent Thanksgiving with my daughter and son-in -law on their couch petting their two (almost) black cats curled up next to me. This has nothing to do with the puzzle, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I had a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving

@Striker I went to Junior High in Queens and had to take two buses home. One of the stops where I had to change buses was at a Carvel store. If I timed it right, I could have a Carvel soft cone between buses.

@Cat Lady Margaret I was sure that I was wrong when I had SET crossing SET. Then I realized that I already had a few SETs and I realized that a crossword rule was being broken. Fun!!

@Joanne I am also doing the NY Times puzzle to stay alert. I am 80 and finished in 1 hour 5 minutes and 36 seconds. A smidgen slower than you due to age. Over the last few years, I have braved the Friday and Saturday puzzles. I am following in the footsteps of my grandfather who did the Sunday puzzle into his 80's.

@Lin Me too. I saw the clue and thought they would never put KREBS CYCLE in the puzzle. Then it fit.

@Andrzej Fascinating article - Thank you for sharing

@Mike Thank you for always being here for us. On a daily basis, I make sure to read the reader picks until I at least get to your entry (and frequently further). I appreciate how nice everyone (with very rare exceptions) is on this site

@dutchiris I'm glad she won. I knew someone when I was in graduate school at Berkeley (in the late '60s) with a similar situation. She was turned down for something because of a similar concern. She ended up running her own project.

@Teresa My parents voted for Adlai twice. I have followed in their footsteps, sometimes with success, and unfortunately, sometimes not.

@john ezra I moved to Pittsburgh from the New York area and love living here. I never bothered to change my location but really enjoy reading your comments

@Steve L Maybe if we use a little ALGEBRA on all these comments, we could determine the unknown solving times of all the responders.

@john ezra Per Deb, I was on the right wavelength except for the area around 17A. I stared at 5D and 6D until the lightbulb went off on 6D. Then I ran the alphabet on 5D. The other good news is that I now know the names of some songs by 26D so I might recognize her more often.

@Jenny For the longest time, I stuck with Onion on the pizza before I switched to Olive. I don't happen to like either on pizza, but I can pick the olives off, but the taste of the onions stays no matter what I do.

@dutchiris I know gender is still a factor - I had a mother as a role model in the sciences. I had to fight the biases. I had hoped it would be better for my daughter.

@HeathieJ Your comment made my day. There are some negative comments in this section, but your joy overwhelms all off them. LWORD your comment, a thousand times LWORD.

@Swift That was my last one as well, I ran the alphabet on Oxlip.

@Andrzej When my daughter would have a stomachache, the pediatrician would always recommend giving her flat (no bubbles) ginger ale. I always wondered whether he thought I kept it on hand for emergencies.

@Anita I got the name solely on the crosses too. The only reason I didn't panic was because I knew the name was Italian and a few extra vowels and ending with an "i" might be okay. I eventually recognized the first name as an Italian name.