Grubber

This puzzle stands as a testament to its maker’s love for solving puzzles of this kind (i.e., fantastic Friday themelesses). It made me think of Robyn Weintraub, one of my favorite constructors, though the voice here is certainly distinctive. This really was, as another commenter has said, a ritzy-feeling crunchy. Caviar on a cracker, rather than a blini?

This puzzle reminded me that it’s possible to go, seemingly instantly, from absolute revulsion and irritation to awe, amazement, and adoration on ‘getting’ the trick of the theme. This puzzle absolutely murdered me but I can’t think of a rebus theme I’ve admired more in recent memory. Worth sticking with through all the tricky (for me) fill!

I just don’t see what’s ‘punny’ about ALTERCATION. What am I missing here….? I know I’ll feel silly once it’s explained. (Tonight’s write-up even falls apart at the explanation! Not sure what’s going on.)

Am I the only person in the world who has never encountered (or never locked into memory) this legitimate (dictionaries tell me) alternate spelling of HEP? Never in a million years would I have suspected HIP to be wrong. Sorry, I don’t know Milton BERLE, and ‘Berli’ didn’t scream unreasonable when it was a proper noun at issue. Just ruined what would otherwise have been, for me, a memorable and fun puzzle. I don’t think I’ll soon forget that you can be HEP to some things and not to others.

This isn’t just a STUFFED CRUST… there are two letters in each crust square. Kept waiting for a “DOUBLE” acknowledgement somewhere. (But I guess even double stuffed can be signaled by the more generic ‘stuffed’… )

How are the answers for 12D and 44A not considered repeats??