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 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!)