Elizabeth

@JayTee “complications” is actually a term of art from the watch industry! Apple adopted it for their small watch-face widgets during initial product development :) (Source: my husband worked on the Apple Watch team for many years, starting when it was still a secret project).

@Ιασων in the United States (and maybe in other anglophone countries?), potato skins are not the literal peelings from a potato, but rather a delicious pub food. They’re made from scooped-out baked potatoes that are filled with an assortment of toppings—often cheese, bacon crumbles, chives and sour cream—and baked a second time until they’re crispy. (The chives and sour cream are typically added after the second bake because otherwise they’ll get gross.)

@David Lundy there’s (apparently, I googled after completing the puzzle) an expanded model that adds some nuance: EKR’s model is Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. The seven-stage model is Shock and denial; Pain and guilt; Anger and bargaining; Depression; The upward turn; Reconstruction and working through; and Acceptance and hope. I make no assessments of the relative merits of either conceptual system, just sharing that it wasn’t made up solely for this puzzle! Plus, 5 stages of grief is better enough known that it's really an earlier-in-the-week clue :-)

@Francis inquiring minds want to know, do you prefer the long thin slimy worms, the short fat juicy worms, or the itsy bitsy fuzzy wuzzy worms? (I’m glad the TAPIRs are okay though!)

@Dan the VENDEE thing is an extension of the xxxOR (sometimes xxxER) / xxxEE dyad. For example, lessor and lessee: a property owner who leases out their property and the person to whom they lease it. Or payer and payee, someone who pays and the person they pay. The implied other half of the VENDEE dyad is, of course, vendor.

@Francis not everywhere. In California at least, servers must earn at least minimum wage *before* tips — and CA minimum wage is a lot higher than national. (Mind you, it’s still not a living wage in most places, and also old habits die hard, so most of us still tip.)

@Ms. Billie M. Spaight it’s gamer slang — it’s a synonym for “owned,” which in turn is a synonym for “defeated.” If you’re typing quickly it’s really easy to hit the P instead of the O, hence the origin. In a sentence: “We totally pwned those n00bs [note, newbie > newb > noob > n00b]” … except no gamer worth their salt would actually type that :D

@Sarah I have to assume it’s meant to be a rewrite of “K.O.” for knockout. I’ve never seen it styled as “KAYO” and wonder if it’s just a conceit for the puzzle.

@Ash I always heard it as “meep” (I also watched those 80s reruns!) but this puzzle was otherwise so delightful that I’ll allow the inaccuracy 😆 (I also-also didn’t parse ATOZ until I read it in your comment… Off to get more caffeine!)