James

@Fred "one up" is hardly an arcane term. It's a staple in nearly every classic video game. As in nearly all of them. If people need to know obscure authors, random operas, etc, to do a crossword surely "one up" is fair considering video games have been one of the most popular entertainment genres of the last half century.

@Endall it was a great puzzle, but perhaps just placed on the wrong day of the week. If this had come up yesterday or especially Monday nobody would be complaining. What's funny is that there was an unusually difficult Monday last week. These two puzzles probably could have traded places.

@Anthony The author didn't choose the spelling in this instance. If you look at any old Star Wars books, the credits at the end of the films, etc, the character's name is frequently spelled out as "Threepio" or "See Threepio".

@Morn the "roue" and "Ione" intersect got me. Surprised so many have never heard of CBGB, though. I thought that was coming knowledge enough for a Monday but I guess not.

@Barbara oh good grief, that's way simpler than whatever I was thinking it might be.

@Endall totally agree. It felt like a Monday to me. I breezed through it compared to my normal Wednesday pace.

@Sean McGowan Team "O" here. The cross clues make zero sense with the word "hole". What is a "classrholeholem"?

@Don H "The man charted a top 10 hit with a flugelhorn"

@Mos oh please. Have you never heard of a "classrholeholem"? /s

@Crevecoeur I hardly feel like Osiris or Tojo are Naticks. I had never heard of a "gamelan", though, and figured a primary person was a "POV", like the POV character in a book. Oh well.

@Convoid-04 I still don't quite get that one

@DocP The puzzle was fine. Aly Raisman is a crossword clue every third day, hardly a Natick. There were plenty of crossing clues to get the other ones. And Dali is hardly a Natick. "Absurdist mustache artist" being Dali should be obvious to anyone attempting a Friday crossword.