Dave

@Jim. I liked your suggestion for future cluing for YAHWEH. The Roman Catholic Church - the nuns of the Archdiocese of New York parochial schools in particular - taught me the word YAHWEH. So it is their fault. Though they also informed me that it was unutterable out of respect for the deep mystery of G-d, and, as we read from the Old Testament, that the origin of Christianly was rooted in the Hebrew faith. Thanks for this comment as it bought me to consider, with awe, the deep mystery of G-d.

@Francis. 🤣

@Francis For what it's worth, after a double take, I got the wry joke and smiled.

@Mike. Took me a moment to recognize "Tiny Dancer." Of course and well done!

@Times Rita. It's actually almost 29 years since that election puzzle. Back in the days of pen and pencil in the paper.

@Mike. Everyday, I have a steady descent into something close to a mild paroxysm of laughter as I read your comment followed by the replies. Usually, when I read yours, it's a mild laugh with a smile and a groan, followed by a steady sinking into guffaws and groans as the puns pile up and get worse - as in funnier. Thank you cherry much Mike and everyone for this daily break!

@Kathryn. Not a neuroscientist here but I had a similar experience with Medusa. I find it interesting how the subconscious works. Many times if there is a word that I cannot bring to mind - or a whole section that I cannot solve - I leave it for a few hours without giving it a thought. On return I often find it much easier sledding. As if part of me was working at it while I was away.

@Don H Whats the worst that could happen if you submitted a puzzle?

@Andrzej. Not sure if that's meant to be a diss or a compliment, but I agree with Sonja. In "Fight Club," he diminished himself to not stand out. In secondary roles, he has raised the caliber of several movies - "Birdman," for one; and in "The Bourne Legacy," he raised the caliber of the action genre.

@Francis. Despite the discord - most current scientific advancement stem from Bohr's quantum model of the atom. In "Copenhagen," the excellent play about the meeting between the Jewish physicist Bohr and his former top student Heisenberg - then working to develop the atomic bomb for Germany in 1941 - there is one magical scene where they discuss the mysterious quantum atom in a very accessible manner. Highly recommend the movie, which is based on the Michael Frayn play.

@Barry Ancona W While it seems obvi to this middling puzzler that the stats indicate a heavy skew toward "way better than me" solvers (my median solve time for Saturday is probably 119 minutes - and for Saturday I use "solve" loosely. More like "finish" time.) But today's "solve" time was faster than usual - about 60 minutes -( for"ranks" I stuck with "pawns" - tripped me up so no happy music for me😝). But in this instance the faster solve time indicated by the folks who enter their stats held true for this fair solver. So, perhaps meaningful??

@Comet. Same!!! And on the Ides of March!! Though I missed the happy music because I had entice, uber and the improbable name ABCe? Lotsa fun.

@Mike Eggscellent puns today.

@Lige 🤣

@Francis. I have mixed feelings. 2 things: At that time - before huge salaries made the All Star game more of a show than a game - the players played a real game, not a show game. And second, a lot of people who played baseball have said that it's part of the game. Plate collisions were not uncommon. If a catcher is protecting the plate, as Fosse was, the runner can bowl him over in order to reach the plate. They have more recently (2014) changed the rule - catchers can't block the plate.

@Kenny I got stuck in a couple of places, particularly trying to finish up in the Southwest corner where I really had to work - look back at the theme, consider what "John" could mean("can" did not immediately come to mind), reconsider IPAD. It was this struggle that made the puzzle special for me and a small triumph on hearing the music.

@SBK. Have you heard the things coming out of his mouth the past few years? You think he is very wise??

@Chris //Many more to follow for sure!

@Steve L W hen I come upon a tough Saturday - I got about a quarter of it done - I always recall Paul Sorvino's comment about the Saturday Times crossword. It's unprintable, but came up in AI when I googled it. Always makes me laugh.

@Steven M. Reminds me of an SNL sketch: <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54vjte" target="_blank">https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54vjte</a>

@Francis And of course neon has the stable octet of electrons which renders it largely inert.