Alana

@EnviroLawProf My Baba used to say it. But I suppose as she’s left this world you may be right, that no one remaining on this planet says it. Maybe I’ll bring it back.

@Mitch Yes, but the physicist’s play on words turns at ‘em into ATOM. Har har

@Dave Munger That’s because Seattle cops would actually ticket you for jaywalking! Haven’t looked it up since moving back a couple years ago to see if that’s still the case, but it sure was 20 years ago. (ask me how I know)

@Anonymous Same here. Didn’t like WHOP much but it sure made a hell of a lot more sense than IHOP.

@lucky13 Along those lines, I was always perplexed by “the donzerly light” in the Star Spangled Banner. It sounded majestic, whatever it was!

@Fritz I really enjoyed it as well! I’ve read a lot of complaints about it so far this morning so am happy to find someone else who appreciated it.

@Grant Let us not forget noxious which really hindered my progress there for a while.

@sonnel Haha I always sang it as possum brown

@John Perhaps a word of caution also to men who are dads who might use it on babies who will grow up to be women…

@Darren I didn’t feel as strongly as you, but I also completed the puzzle without fully understanding the theme. Got hung up on the NW where I had pAN for gold. Didn’t take too long to find my error, RECpOR not being an actual word. Overall enjoyed the journey!

@jennie While goose and bumps are both words on their own, goosebumps is written as one word. GOOSEFEATHERS works better because its two separate words.

@Helen Wright Chewable indeed.

@Ashley Wharff I made the exact same error. Lots of unfamiliar names for me today, and I went with MIKe on this one. Took a long time to locate that SPEeR misspell.

@Suzanne Yes. So saying “UPC code” is redundant like saying “ATM machine.” And yet…

@Janine I, too, had DRopLET, and I didn’t want to give up SKIPApagE. Really made the rest of that section a struggle! Eventually got there with an eye roll (at my own expense).

@Matt Even as a non-beginner I found this more difficult than a typical Monday.

@Rrose Selavy I, too, filled in ENPLEINAIR which made that NW very confusing. Not knowing LARRY or ATAHUALPA sure didn’t help!

@Jay I had ALECBALDWIN in there for far too long before seeing the light. Then everything came together!

@Susan E Why thank you!

@Jane Wheelaghan The Oilers are their hockey team.

@Anonymous I had everything but the 2 and finally had to look up his discography because I’m not familiar with his albums or tennis. I suppose I could have counted the K’s, but at that point I felt a tad annoyed and just wanted to rip the bandage off quickly.

@John Carson That was my downfall today, and I missed it in reviewing my work before finally checking the puzzle and revealing my error. No star for me today. Sad face.

@Nancy J. That tapWATER really held up my NE. Lots of unknowns for me today, too. Thankfully also a lot of lucky guesses on my part. At first pass I thought I was doomed, but it came together on the end!

@Mean Old Lady I already had the T from DOTS so attempted sTrawberries, which obviously didn’t fit. At that point I figured it must be a trick! Or perhaps a new fruit…

@Fabio Juliano Agreed. I went through with my fine toothed comb upon completion and ultimately decided to change all my rebus boxes to just one letter. That did the trick, but not sure a trick was warranted. It should have accepted both letters as correct, imo.

@VBDC This cute little phrase will come in handy for me. Thank you!

@Dee That was a tough spot for me also. It didn’t help that I’d filled in oNTEMPO at 44D and so WHoM didn’t raise any alarms when searching for spelling errors at the end. Oops.

@mirle234 I didn’t understand NOTOK until reading your comment, so thank you for that. I’d parsed it out as NO-TOK and assumed it was some sort of TikTok slang I didn’t know about! 😂

@KK If you hire a car to pick you up at the airport they may be there as you exit the terminal with a sign awaiting your arrival.

@RayinVa I went with “i” first as a shortcut because surely there wouldn’t be just one lonely rebus in this puzzle. It didn’t like that so I relented and plugged in EYE. Interesting that it took E as a valid answer, but I think it’s not uncommon for a rebus to allow an abbreviated entry. Or so I’ve gathered from comments on other puzzles.

@loftyc 3D

@Mitzi Wow! And here I struggled to finish and ended up 17:08 slower than my average. Phew! A good challenge for me.

@N.E. Body I had the same issue on my phone. A little annoying but still enjoyed the puzzle.

@Steve L I think you’re forgetting one… but yes, AN A

@Allen Plus COMEON and AWWMAN

@Rob W I also did not know that, so thank you for clarifying.

@Smitheroons Same! And also a sucker for flipping them. Double win!