Schroedman

I zeroed in on the "Why the long face" quip easy enough. It even filled in the number of letters top to bottom, but I was stumped trying to figure why the crosses wouldn't work. Finally the light went on. Duh... Yes, definitely leaning toward a Thursday. Nicely constructed!

Deb- So sorry for your loss. That hardly seems like a deep enough thing to say, but it does come from the heart. I lost both my parents some time ago but they never leave me. Not as long as I think about them, whether I smile or frown.

I was completely stymied by the northwest corner, but I stayed on Plan A. once I got down toward the center and got a couple of words I was sure of, it was smooth sailing. A fun grid I thought, well done!

Deb, I've enjoyed your Wordplay so much!! I don't see carrying my current 1775 day streak past Jan. 02. It just won't be the same. You will be missed. Awesome work!!

I shot myself in the foot right from 1A. I figured "5 letters? Must be fault." That started me on the road to disaster. When the crosses didn't fit I had to just wipe out the northwest corner and start over. Fun grid overall though. Nicely contrived!

Yes Deb, my hand is up in the air for the ALOE answer. Although, in fairness, even while I was typing it something in the back of my skull was saying "Easy boy. That could be BALM..." A lucky catch!

Lots of fun but I realized when I filled in ELMO as E-L-MO that I was barking up the wrong tree...

I was surprised to see the answer to 33A. I immediately entered TICKED OFF and then when I started with the Down clues, I thought "This doesn't fit. No. It couldn't possibly be... Oh wow!!!" Don't recall ever seeing the correct answer! Well done!!

I'm with you Caitlin!! I was stuck at the gas station for awhile!! Fun puzzle, definitely made me think!!

WOW! That was fun!! I was baffled until I hit a couple of words I was pretty sure of in the center and then just spiraled my way out from there. Nicely done!!

I was a bit baffled by a few of the clues but sorted them all out, save one. I had some figuring out what could be behind a drywall. Luckily I came around to the right way of thinking... Fun puzzle!

Hedgerow made me think of WWII France. Maybe I'm just getting too old...

I really like the grids with clues that make me think outside the box. When the answer could be two or three apt words that fit the grid, and the best fill you have is to try them all, one at a time. This grid had a few of them. Very nice!

Alone Again. As soon as I read the clue, I couldn't recall the name of the song but I had that tune running around in my skull. Until I was able to get enough crossers to fill in AGAIN... The rest was easy.

Fun puzzle. Some tricky clues. Yes Deb, I found out that "anted" didn't work too...

I had to do some fancy footwork with 11D. I first put in WEREONESHORT. That really threw me for a loop. Fun puzzle though!

I pegged 57A as NOTE TO SELF. Fit real nice, caused me grief for awhile.. It was a bit easy for a Saturday puzzle but still fun.

I didn't know what Philippics were either, Deb. Fortunately, my crosses were spot on!. I was well stymied at the first... (base...)