Austin

@Francis I sure had Acidic in there for a while until the crosses forced my hand.

@JGinDC and I think most would agree that it’s been one of the most egregious cases of “category fraud” in recent memory. The show belongs in Drama, not Comedy. Kudos to the constructor for calling them out!

@Alex Barry - “Fifth Beatles,” ranked: 1. Sir George Martin 2. Billy Preston 3. Brian Epstein 4. Stu Sutcliffe

@JNLA this comment was petty and unnecessary

@Franz Domurath the vertical entries need all four letters - H-O-L-E (“PEEPHOLES rather than “PEEPHS”); and the horizontal entries need the “HOLES” to be there to. Otherwise you’d have SCHOHWL rather than SC•O•WL

@Bluto exactly how I felt. Felt like trudging through mud for the first 20-30 min then eventually the revealer clicked and it all fell into place. Very rewarding after an arduous start!

@Bob T. Gotcha. I’m relatively new to this. I don’t see how a single letter in a rebus accomplishes anything but I can see how my reply wasn’t very helpful (or even condescending in light of this new info, which was not my intention). “H” on its own doesn’t solve the across or the down. How do rebuses historically handle that? Genuinely curious, as a newbie. Thank you!

@redweather yeah I tried BILLY PRESTON as a rebus but it wouldn’t work with the crossings ;)

@Winston same! I was bracing for an hour plus; it was a long, slow road until finally the theme clicked and I was able speed through the rest, coming in under average. What a great puzzle

@CLN I’m a 42-yr-old American having lived in TX, the Midwest and NYC for long stretches of time and don’t recall having ever heard or seen “BATIK.” I love learning new things via the Crossword and don’t mind a little crunch in my Mondays, but calling it “really common” is a bit of stretch.

@Rebecca Jay - I think half my solve time was spent in that corner.