Tom

@Barry Ancona Yes, but they are military terms of art that should be respected. A better clue was called for here.

@Cat Lady Margaret Giddyup may be my favorite thing ever in the crossword. I'm still chuckling.

@Laura Stratton I cyberspace, when you scream, no one can hear you.

@Cat Lady Margaret The "Fab 5" were freshman basketball players fot the University of Michigan in the 1990s.

@Tom Ah, shoot, I blew the joke. In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.

@Jere Hallahan Agree completely. I don't get the appeal of these gimmicks. At least I didn't have to figure out how to deal with the shaded Ts. I left them alone and was done in what for me was a jif.

@Javafiend Agree totally. It's frustrating to have figured out the clue but not the way to enter it. When it doesn't solve, you wonder if there's a mistake somewhere. Also, entering hyphens via rebus was tedious, but I dididn't see another way, at least on Android.

@Paul I'm not sure it's true that "Stopping By Woods . . ." is not "well known. It may not be taught in high school now, but it was for decades, and those exposed to it will easily recognize "and miles to go before I sleep."

@Isabeau But we have Deb Amlen to explain it!

@Strudel Dad It really works both ways, doesn't it? Like you, my first thought was capita lA Atlas. With the Earth on his back.

@Dan This seems to happen pretty frequently. Years ago, I caught up using them archived puzzles. It was not uncommon, which surprised me.

@Oaktowner I'm just guessing here, but "peg" as a synonym for "throw" may come from sports writers from baseball's golden era. It was the style, among some, to avoid using the common word. So "home run" became "circuit clout," "left-hander" became "fork-hander," "double play" became "twin killing," and on and on. There were a bunch for "throw," including "wing," "toss," "chuck," "chunk" and "hurl." FWIW, peg as a verb doesn't seem related to peg as a noun, so "hit with," the idiomatic usage you're familiar with, is no more appropriate than "throw."

@Andrzej OK, but I'll bet you have a better idea of how cars and roads are made than you do of how a puzzle is constructed. I know I do.

@Janis @Katya @Beth: Okay, if you say so. But . . . I used a stopwatch app to see how long you'd have to draw out "wow" to match the 15 letters in the answer. The way I would read a w 13 o sounds and another w. I got to more than 7 seconds. But even at half that it seemed unnatural. Especially if the "wow" was, as I interpreted the '?!" punctuation, negative ( or at least snarky).

@Steve L Thanks for confirming that.

@Nom De Plume It's a pretty common trope: popped out, flied out, grounded out, fouled out--and the far more familiar struck out--describe how the batter was reired.

@Doug Well," line" does work for the across clues. I knew it would be hyphens, but thought if "line" was entered, once the puzzle was completed, a line might appear.

@Steven M. Wow, are you wrong. All perfect games are no-hitters. In a perfect game mo batter reaches base. Pitchers have lost no-hitters. Batters can reach base without recording a hit. Teams sometimes score all the runs in an inning without a hit.

@Steven M. Sorry, I misread your post. Apologies.

@Steve I kept looking, too.

@Janis I get it. I just think it's self-indulgent. Plus, "oo" is pronounced with a u sound. "Woot" for example. It doesn't sound like "wow." It wasn't that I thought the puzzle was difficult. I saw where it was going. I just thought it was lame.

@Andrzej No, it's salud on my puzzle, crossing with outdo.

@Marlene Thanks for the tip, but mine matches. I guess I'll just give up.