Scott Yates

So bummed about the loss of Vertex. It's the best way to pass the time when on a call that I need to kind of pay attention to, but need to not go crazy from boredom. Hey, editors! Can you at least make the archive of Vertex available? You've got them all, just put them up somewhere that we can go back and do them again?

In a fun bit of serendipity, _Costa Rica_ makes an appearance on Costa Rican Independence Day! 🇨🇷 _Pura Vida_ (Translated at "Pure life" but kind of a catch-all in the way that _aloha_ is used in Hawaii.)

While the [May Honoree] is of course accurate for the US, it falls in different months in other countries. It's actually interesting, there are a bunch of different ones that all came about organically in each place.

So, this grid is one column wider, so we have to solve an extra 12 letters, right? So doesn't that mean it's going to add about 6 or 7 percent to our solve time? Be interesting to see if the average among all solvers is indeed a bit longer today.

I'm not sure where else to post this... not crossword related directly, but... In the GamePlay email this week, there's a bonus brain tickler. The answer is supposed to be in the PS, but the answer given is one of the clues, not the answer. (GENERAL) Can someone help me out with what the answer is? Otherwise my brain will be tickled all day with no relief! ;-)