John

@Sean Ok, figured out the midi. The title of the puzzle is Slanted Views. The clues are in italics, so "Slanted". The answers are Tip, Lean, List. All mean slanted, in a way.

@Andrzej Good work! I too fell for the SILENT DONOR trap with the N from the most obvious clue. Doesn't help that there are two Winans CeCe and BeBe, so the E at the end was nowhere near helpful. Very devious.

@Hannah go back to the year 1978 when enthusiasts installed CB radios in their cars and called "Over and out good buddy" to truckers. Maybe not exactly. Watch Smokey and the Bandit to get the idea.

@David One that I do know, which is rare. Digestif is a liquor or cocktail served after a meal to "aid with digestion".

@SBK in TO Sorry, but I disagree. Saute, croissant, mayonnaise, heck even pate are all common words that a good number of English speakers are aware of. Gourmand or not. Mise en place is a phrase of chefs, Francophones, and food snobs. It has a very unfirm toehold in the English language.

@Andrzej I've been watching food television on PBS and other networks for decades. I'm an avid home cook. The French phrase was one of the easier clues for me to solve. Our experience, expertise, interests and locations vary widely. Yes, I agree that mize en place is a fairly specialized term. It's chef talk and it's French. In most commercial kitchens they call it a "prep station." It's not common English regardless of who has and will comment here says it is. For a Tuesday especially, it probably should have been clued a little easier.

@Weak I don't know the official-ness of noodlebowls, but it's something my spouse and I started making at home when we don't know what else to eat. The broth is always Asian inspired. Dashi, ginger, soy. But the accoutrements are whatever is in the fridge. So it is a very fusion dish.

@SBK in TO You misunderstood my comment. I hear echos of the poem in MLK speeches.

@HeathieJ I love how some are surprised that others think Lehane is obscure. I don't know that name from Adam. I know very little of modern fiction. It just doesn't interest me. But CeCe and BeBe Winans I know very well, and others seem to be unaware of the famous R&B family. I knew mica immediately. We know what we know, right? Our own esteemed crossword columnist herself admitted she didn't know Dragnet. I was very surprised about that. There's a 1987 film. A TV show that is in constant reruns. And it was a ground breaking, trend setting radio show. The whole franchise along with spinoffs is still an influence on procedurals and hospital dramas. Jack Webb's voice and mannerisms are still recycled in comedy and cartoons. Yet she had to look up Dragnet. We know what we know and shouldn't be surprised at what others don't.

@Selective Walrus Leave it to crosswords to keep archaic word forms alive :)

@Fredegunde I am no rules expert, but why include French in a clue for an answer in English? Just to be misleading?

@Asher can someone please explain the meaning of "ad out"? Not a tennis fan.

@Sean The next time I say C-store will be the first.

@Barry Ancona I think it's the phrasing that's off-putting. Poser, though rarely heard in this form, does mean a "puzzling question". We're so protective of the puzzle's feelings that we ignore the feelings of the solver. When condescending, it's far more friendly to aim at the puzzle.

@Al in Pittsburgh LEHANE is a new name to me. I don't read many new novels, don't check the NYT for reading suggestions, and don't pay attention to who wrote the book the movie was based on. But heck, puzzle solving requires a lot of trivial knowledge, which is why I never solve late week puzzles without help from these forums. I've forgotten 80% of everything I've learned.

@ThatPeterG Don't know if it is the intent, but I immediately thought of lop earred bunnies!

@Dfitz But I feel so smart when I know the football clue. Then they have to throw a tennis clue in there and I lose my mind...

@Barry Ancona Sorry, bogus clue. Brian Eno was in Roxy Music. Rocker does not describe Brian Eno. Did The Scooter hit a few home runs? Sure.

@HeathieJ Thanks! I will remember both. Yes, I. Did read Mr. hughes' poem. I hear echos of it in the speeches of MLK. A longing and dream that still resonates.

@Bill in Yokohama The New York Times article describing how to solve a crossword clearly states foreign language answers will be hinted in clue. This is widely ignored by constructors and editors. Defenders of the Crossword will point out that 100% of the time, the issue is the solver's. The foreign word or phrase is actually in common use by English speakers. Read the comments here and you'll see it would have helped those unfamiliar with mise en place to be told it was at least not English. I think that's a reasonable complaint on a Tuesday.

@Sharon Yeah. By definition, not a Natick, but same issue. I think the editors should have recognized that cross had two possible solves.

@Barry Ancona Still, chops? Maybe where you live. Boars Head "Chops" not a thing. Chicken cutlets, pasta salad. Not chops. Not a big deal, but regional differences make some clues head scratchers.

@Eric Hougland Thanks! Added it to my queue.

@John oh, NE

@HeathieJ Absolutely! I really wasn't directing my comments at you. I was just generally commenting on what's common for some is uncommon for others and we should all keep that in mind when posting in the forum here. Plus, wanted to support my fellow homies that didn't know the name of that author whose name I won't mention again ;)

@Renegator Well, the sitcom, soap opera, police procedural, variety show, and other common TV show types are all based on radio show formats. And radio shows took their inspiration from Vaudeville and other live art forms. So yeah, seems irrelevant now, but that's only if you like to ignore history. Glad I could inspire a chuckle!

@Sean Agreed. Does anyone wish to explain the midi theme in those clues?

@Joe Turducken is a mail order item for me. No store in my area sells them.

@Paul Still trying to learn this craft. What did new solvers do before we had a forum? I see the point of the hypen now. Thanks to you and Barry. Still don't like the foreign language misdirection. Verboten is not common English in my world. I struggle to understand when a foreign word indicates a non-English answer.

@Barry Ancona clearly you are not referring to me whose solve times are measured in hours. I did not see the see the cleverness until after the grid was mostly filled. Clearly I'm not one of the clever people here, but I'm enjoying learning to be one.

@Deb K Same. I just figured Sen was an abbreviation for some currency or an obscure reference to percent or the number one. Thanks to the forum for clearing this up. I'm learning that puzzling effectively requires learning common "industry" terms.

@Steve L the Clue is Station set up in a kitchen. In English, we usually call the work prep. Where the work is done is a prep station.