Brenda Bronner

@Petrol Shamash in Hebrew is a helper, someone or something used to enable. The shamash is used to light the other, more important candles of the menorah. A shamash in the synagogue is the custodian; he keeps the holy books tidy, etc.

@Moira In both senses of the word, bias means a leaning. A biased person tilts to one side of an issue instead of being impartial. The confirmation words in the puzzle are leaning, tilting to one side, rather than being straight.

@Søren Thustrup It’s un cognac a l’orange, somewhat like pie a la mode, where we wouldn’t say “the pie a la mode.”

@Jim The hint was “too,” meaning that there was someone else in the picture. “Not I” doesn’t reflect that aspect of the clue. “Nor I” alludes to the other person who is demurring.

@Nancy J. There are many variant spellings because they are all transliterated any which way from the Hebrew. Always an iffy endeavor. Note that the Greek expression mentioned in the wordplay isn’t palindromic when transliterated into English.

@Darren I hope that was a joke.

@Weak Before the icon turned into a little picture on a screen, it was a representation of a holy figure, often seen in houses of worship.

@Susan E A team of oxen is more than one =plural.

@Wendy I can’t leave this unanswered. Were there ever any hospitals in Gaza, or were they all covers for Hamas tunnels? Why did so many Gazans come to Israel every year for medical treatment (aided by the magnanimous kibbutzniks who were killed on October 7)?

@Grumpy Replace “be” with “is,” the present form of “be.” Is down in the dumps =mopes. Be down…=mope.

@Thomas Bar graphs don’t always depict a function. For instance, population by state.

@Catherine Patterson See the clue for 1 across to discover where the “g” goes.

@sotto voce Do I detect a hint to a Passover song? Not even sotto voce.

@Jeff Z I am so happy for you!

@Eric Hougland mondegreen

@Steve L It’s not obscure, features in the blessings given to a bride and groom, many times in psalms…

@OsteoSynth The clue was “in a trend line,” not “on.” For me, that means in the vicinity of. Happy solving.

@Michael I think it’s comic-ese for “yank,” meaning “pull.”

@Ben Glad that I wasn’t the only one thinking parcel carrier instead of aircraft carrier.

@Megan Never heard of that restaurant; ivs makes much more sense than ins for hookups.

@Andrzej I read it as a magic wand that casts a spell.

@Catherine Besides being a mail, it’s a paper clip. I looked it up when I saw nothing else fit.

@Darren I don’t know you, but I probably like the version of you before you posted this comment. Cheer up.😀

@Francis Andrzej, if I understand you correctly, we shouldn’t be doing the puzzle at all; we should be helping the poor of the third world survive. Maybe you are right.

@Ashley When either is off, it could be the other one = or. If both are off, it’s neither the one or the other one =nor.

@Peter G. Cheer up, you’re not the only clot with the blot.

@John If you have a crush on someone, you moon over them.

@Andrzej I certainly didn’t mean to offend you. I was taking you seriously and applying your perspective to my own situation. Maybe I should be doing more for the world instead of playing word games!

@Mean Old Lady I think the reference to the best of all possible worlds is from Pangloss in Voltaire’s Candide.

@Charles Peterson I hope this pipe is just a pipe.

@lucky13 The lowest scorer is the winner; the highest scorer comes in last.

@Mark The interesting thing about chalk and cheese is that besides starting with ch, they are superficially similar, at least in color and sometimes in shape, but fundamentally very different.