Henrik

If it weren't for SUNK COST FALLACY I would have given up today, but once I got that far I just couldn't give up

Glad to see this worked for some people - to me this was just a slog of obscure facts and hints just off my wavelength.

The 'papaw' that is similar to custard apples is not a papaya.

To be honest, I don't buy that 'out of joint' is a workable clue replacing 'out of [the] joint'. I know it's supposed to be a misdirect, but it crosses some invisible line in my head between ambiguous and just... wrong. I guess that's why I'm not an editor.

Ugh, crossing two names of people famous to Americans (?) always means you have to end with a shameful googling for the crossing square... And Heder/Hayes aren't the most obvious names to begin with.

I mean... I get that 'unwanted mail' in 4 letters is supposed to trick you into guessing spam, but I haven't once in my adult life felt that a bill was 'unwanted', compared to the rare times when I didn't get my bill and was dinged with late fees...

Ugh.. I was really hoping peacekeepers wouldn't end up being NATO but I guess it was too much to hope for

Even with the explanation this just looks like a mess to me.

I have to call a bit of a foul on crossing a children's book from 1872 with a sound that's often repeated, beginning with TS_... Given that TSE seemed perfectly reasonable, and that I'd never heard of this book, this one made me go for a look-up.

I have Laab Gai once or twice a month... It would never occur to me, or any of the restaurants I've frequented, to call it Larb Gai... but I guess it's an accepted variant?

Crossing Muni with Nene is one of those surefire ways to make sure us non-US solvers feel unwelcome... Which is fair, I guess