Michelle
New Jersey
The clue for 53Down is special to me — when my boyfriend and I met almost 9 years ago and told each other our last names (Smith and Jones, respectively) we both thought we had given the other an ALIAS ! Turns out we just have to opportunity (if we ever sue each other) to create the case name that every single law professor of mine used as an off the cuff hypothetical — Smith v Jones.
After getting the theme entries, I confidently entered FATFFIINNGGERRRSS into the revealer — and then spent a very confusing ~10 min redoing the whole southeast corner ! Definitely let my fat ffiinnggeerrss get ahead of my brain on this one - but a very fun and satisfying solve in the end!
@Jen You’re not alone — the NW corner confounded me! Until eventually I had my own AHAMOMENT and unraveled it, but well past my usual time. I’m down to blame it on the freezing temps too :)
@Sam Ezersky seeing your name on the puzzle always leaves me shaking in my boots a little bit, if I’m being honest — but I am so grateful to know that my puzzle solving ability and agility hasn’t peaked, and I’ve still got a ways to go! Thanks for keeping it challenging and for all that you do.
I got AGAPES from the context clue of it being a meal of *love* — surprised the column didn’t mention AGAPE is also a Greek word for the unselfish love between friends. I learned this fact only because there is a wonderful piece in the score for If Beale Street Could Talk by composer Nicholas Britell named “Agape”. Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle greatly and came in under my average time with no lookups!
@Amber Boehnlein And I thought the “tri” was for “elecTRIcity” because they were one of the first crackers manufactured with electricity? Hmmm.
I’m usually not anti crosswordese — and maybe I’m just cross because I went over time looking for the error — but AWGEE doesn’t do it for me. I liked the revealer all the same!
@Barry Ancona Some of us get confused and think Eugene ONEGIN is a playwright, even though some of us have seen and listened to the opera and should know better!! But I got to O’Neill in the end 🙃
@MAR1 I was sincerely stuck on OFFkilTER in lieu of OFFCENTER until the very end, my hubris wouldn’t allow me to believe I was, well, off base with my answer! As always, happy to have gotten there in the end.
All 9 comments loaded