SBK in TO

@Derek And don't forget the cameo appearance by OXO!

@Greg Anderson But what was there to rebus? No extra letters needed. Just a letter-for-letter substitution for grades. Nice touch to have ABCs as an entry.

@J Been there, felt that. Good advice you'll hear a lot: when you're stuck, walk away. For an hour or a day or overnight. Just give your brain a chance to work without being prodded. It will surprise you with more than you knew you knew.

@Alex Nope. "Poured" involves moving something (usually a liquid) from one container to another. "Pored" involves closely reading something in writing. So, by way of example: I pored over the recipe book while pouring the sugar into the mixing bowl. New rule: Don't multitask while baking.

@Steve L For anyone with European ancestry in the last century, like me, we owe our existence to tens of thousands of Allied soldiers who decided or were forced to face death rather than yield to the Nazis. I owe them and their descendants everything.

@Paul H. It's a puzzle. The whole point is that it has tricks, misdirections, and unexpected pitfalls. For everyone who wants BEWARE HERE BE REBUSES at the top of the puzzle and at the top of the Wordplay column, there's another crowd clamouring, 'Don't spoil the surprise!' All solutions I've seen here to date leave one side or the other unhappy. Still waiting for any of the complainants to offer a solution.

@Francis Oh, Francis. There is no bottom to this pit. I would be very glad if humiliation were the worst of it, except that this guy will have to avenge his humiliation at his own hands.

@Andrzej Oh, Andrzej. As soon as I hit 17A, I knew this would be trouble. And I tried -- reeeeally triiiied -- to sympathize with the torture you must have undergone. But I couldn't. I was just too filled with glee, delight, and joy. Sorry, buster. Maybe tomorrow we'll have a morose, bitter, ravaged, intensely dark theme based on death, loss, and the futility of existence. But not today --tra-la!

@Kate Tani Count me on the other side of this issue. A person whose ability to walk is limited is correctly described as LAME, just as a person whose sight is severely limited is blind. The human instinct to group, compare, and adapt means that these physical limitations will be borrowed to make non-physical limitations more concrete by implicitly comparing them to these physical conditions. To adopt a less sensitive example, must we abandon expressions such as 'bald-faced liar' out of sympathy and support for the hairless among us? LAME is a perfectly respectable word with a clear physical meaning and a clear metaphorical meaning. Please note that I am /not/ saying that we should not treat anyone with these challenges in any way that denigrates them or limits their lives in any avoidable way. But these words have meanings that are important and express ideas that we should be able to use.

@Chris All the things you disliked are exactly what I enjoyed the most. The creation of a puzzle where again and again you have to juggle two plausible answers -- aim or arm? Ethel or Muddy? Pith or peel? Amber or umber? PC help or IT help? Bliss. And then there were the destabilizing moments. When the top of 31D was XIJ and I thought that can't be right...until I read the crossing clue. And then there was the D'oh response as I read the column and noticed that I had failed to notice a clutch of EGs. Well done, all.

@Wayne Harrison FAILLE can occasionally be seen in fashion magazines and 18th/19th C novels but almost never on humans' backs any more. Like many other natural fabrics (pima, rep, poplin, sateen?), it has been replaced by an agglomeration of petrochemical filaments. The new stuff may be cheaper (thanks to Big Oil's successful self-insulation against the economic and ecological costs of their stock in trade.) But the old stuff felt better, lasted longer, held dyes better, and brutalized the planet less. I've got two generations of heirloom clothes to prove it!

@SP Goodness! If that's holding it in, what happens when you let it out? Should we batten down the hatches? Will you give us fair warning?

@HeathieJ So glad you spoke up. Silence and exhaustion are relied upon by these thugs. As for ice: that's why I changed my location. We are with you. Not just people on this list but, if you can gird yourself to listen to nonUS news, people around the world. Cheering you on from next door.

@Lewis Nipping in early to thank you. As day succeeds day relentlessly, there you are again, pointing out to us the admirable features of that day's puzzle: the wittiest clues, the subtle echoes among the various answers, the choice vocabulary. Thanks a million.

@SP I love the story of the conductor who, speaking to the assembled corps of musicians about to play an old classical war horse, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, please remember that someone in this concert hall is about to hear Beethoven's 5th for the first time!"

@Sofiane I suspect you are thinking of Belgian. endives, tight-headed and mostly white. But curly endive AKA frisée is unquestionably green.

@Zaphod Sorry about your relationship's end, Beeb, but I would class this clue issue as a /you/ problem.

@Vaer Indeed. When I read Deb's pre-farewell, my first reaction was that we had finally exhausted her previously inexhaustible good graces. We have thrown literally thousands of posts at her lately and, no matter how gracefully the emus twist and writhe, inevitably some of those posts will land /splat/ in her lap. But her responses have always been gracious and friendly, whether we were asking for the impossible (technology- or otherwise) or nitpicking her column. Brava, Deb. This non-place will remain behind but there will always be an Amlen-shaped unfillable gap. Have a new kind of wonderful life.

@Francis Or reference to a major US pretzel manufacturer?

@Andrzej Speaking as a non-USian, I understand that Karo is not just any tradename but an iconic product, esp. in the southern US. Like Coke, it is /the/ exemplar for its category. Indeed, so much so that (again, like Coke) it is constantly fighting the lapse into genericity (like "zipper" and "aspirin", which are no longer US trademarks, having lost their brand specificity.) PS "Woof!" to the newest arrival.

@JH I am a sci-fi fan of decades' standing. While it's amusing that you claim that "this has been well documented on the internet", that is not conclusive. It's barely even evidence, these days. (Cf. AI slop) Star Wars is set in an alternate universe filled with nonexistent (so far) objects, cultures, and technologies. True, these are largely background and not plot elements where science is explained. It's just a space opera but it's also sci-fi. I'm not remotely offended by the clue. But you do you. Feel free to disagree.

@Francis Which reminds me: how many of us would favour a marker indicating when a comment has been taken down? We'd see the poster's name, time of posting, and placement in thread. I'd appreciate that. If you would too, please recommend this post. We'll hope the emus leave it up for voting!

@D I like gimmicks and puzzles both. And it's Thursday -- a day of riddles upon tricks, letters that vanish here and appear there, reverses and inversions, crossword as magic show! Unless this is your first week here (in which case, welcome and have fun!), you must have known that Thursdays are not regular, vanilla, button-down grids. Don't blame the zebra for not being a horse.

@Mark I abandoned all streak ambitions before I got here. Frequent two-day gaps and occasionally three days (two days' holidays preceded or followed by sabbath) meant streaks could not last more than a few months. Thanks, Mark, for the good wishes. May we all be inscribed and sealed swiftly for a good year.

@Weak Not a Spotify user but I enjoyed listening to a much younger radio announcer explain why Spotify pegged her as an 83-year-old. Her top play in the last year? Bobby Darren's 1950s hit 'Splish-Splash'. Why? Because it was her kids' bath-time song. She herself was in her early 30s. Moral: Statistics are just a fancier way to be wrong.

@SP SLYNOD and SYNOD: Has anyone ever done a theme on "Get the L out"? If not, they should.

@SBK Thanks, all, for letting me share my joy. It was, as usual with the Cardiac Jays, a come-from-behind victory. The moment came in the 7th inning when George Springer -- you remember him, he took a fastball off the kneecap in the previous game and had to be helped off the field because he couldn't walk -- he stepped up to bat and astoundingly hit a three-run home run. In his mid-30s, ancient in baseball years, after a miserable 2024 season, hearing talk that his remaining contract was now a write-off, George woke up in 2025, seemed to shake off Father Time's grimy paws, and had the best season of his career. Well, enough. I could write 20 such stories but this isn't the sport pages. My compliments to the Mariners, my sympathies to their fans. We're off to the World Series. I am crazy happy.

@Andrzej In my professional life, I have had to speak in public literally hundreds of times. Each and every time, I am frightened right up to the moment I open my mouth and start. Size of group, amount of prep time, nature of topic make no difference. So far I have always been a success. Know why? Because of my low bar: if I don't faint or run away and the audience doesn't throw rocks, that's a success. (No, I don't know where they would get the rocks.) I suspect that Kevin knows what it's like here. You don't submit to the NYT without having looked in on its pages. But if it matters to you, you do it anyway, despite what others say. True, fora like this seem to embolden us to say what we would never say in person (Andrzej excepted). I'm with Francis when he deplores scathing complaints. But every time we put on our street clothes and step outside the door, we're embarking on a voyage into the unknown. Better to do that than sit in the sheltering dark. My .02.

@Becky Ceci n'est pas un chapeau.

@Lewis No salute for the music section? I give you ALTOs, BASS, TUNE, OCTET, and a 'dulcet' clue at 20A. Lovely CIARA on LEAD, the BOYS from the backstreet, TAP SHOES syncopating down in front, and to make it all possible, Mr Mingus's CREATIVITY. Take a bow!

@Francis Goodness, what a stormy petrel you are! Whatever happens, I thought Gov. Walz stated the truth plainly last night: you and your fellow Minnesotans are an example of decency and responsibility. It is a great thing to see. That said, being an example stinks on a personal level. It is scary, difficult, unpredictable, and dangerous. I can't imagine how you are all getting up every morning and facing yet again a day under occupation. Good thoughts for you and all who are on the front lines.

@Andrzej Sacagawea is the name of an Amerindian who aided two 19th C. colonizing explorers to find their way safely into the western US, mapping routes for those who followed. Without her, they would likely have been killed or died at the hands of nature. A mere two centuries later, the US finally got around to acknowledging her by issuing a coin bearing her image.

@Jacqui J Thanks for your good wishes. I've been snickering at how surprised the US announcers are that our boys weren't just so much Dodger chow. It's a great matchup. Glad your Will did such a great job. And, when I try to explain to non-baseballisti the many reasons I love this game, these last two games are great examples. How to explain that the sprawling, lumpy, repetitive amoeba of a game 3 and the tightly pitched and defended game 4 are two examples of the same species? It's like learning that housecats and saber-toothed tigers are related. Gotta love that.

@Andrzej Why, Andrzej, I didn't know you had it in you! How too, too charming!《Bats eyelashes》

@crosswordcoffee @Allison @Kate Tani Thanks to all who provided thoughtful replies. I went back to see how LAMER was clued and see it is "not nearly as cool". Compare it to the physical equivalent: not nearly as agile. The latter, it seems to me, is moderately accurate in describing the status of someone with a physical limitation that would be briefly called 'lame'. I think it is the metaphorization that bothers people but trying to ban that would be the death of language. Can't someone be blind to an idea? Be crippled in their ability to express themselves? Don't we ask, 'Do you see what I'm saying?' We are constantly expressing abstract ideas by transmuting them into physical ones. With time and historical linguistic changes, we lose track of these correlations and forget them but they are part of language. Look up the etymology of 'supercilious' to see the process at work. It is a truism that the most moving, deepest, poignant words are the short ones: love, hope, death, fear, joy, etc. Hiding truth behind long Latinate expressions doesn't change the facts on the ground. What matters most is how we treat people, whatever their challenges are. I could say more but no room left. Your turn.

@dutchiris And please keep checking in, Francis. Among many outrages is that a perfectly respectable gentleman (as I assume you to be) can't engage in a little crossing of words in peace.

@JJ I'm with you and really disliked this clue. Not only is pasta water not golden in colour but I have /never/ seen it described this way. Schmaltz (whichever variant spelling you choose) doesn't fit the spaces but it is commonly described with this phrase, not least because it is actually gold. Very weak clue. Oy!

@Andrzej C'mon...if your toddler dropped a piece of pasta on the kitchen floor, would you say, "Pick up the spaghetto"? I doubt even a Milanese momma would make the grammatical distinction. Andiamo!

@Al in Pittsburgh Mine has two layers of jewels. It's called a stratagem.

@Bill in Yokohama Perhaps Connections is looking for new hires?

@JayTee Mmmm, contronyms.

@Eric Hougland Allow me to be the first to say: no, not that Gary Larson. Might as well get it over with. 😖