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Constructor: Victor Fleming
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: TROLL (3D: Sing the parts of in succession) —
v., trolled, troll·ing, trolls. v.tr.
- To fish for by trailing a baited line from behind a slowly moving boat.
- To fish in by trailing a baited line: troll the lake for bass.
- To trail (a baited line) in fishing.
- Slang. To patrol (an area) in search for someone or something: “[Criminals] troll bus stations for young runaways” (Pete Axthelm).
- Music.
- To sing in succession the parts of (a round, for example).
- To sing heartily: troll a carol.
- To roll or revolve.
v.intr.- To fish by trailing a line, as from a moving boat.
- To wander about; ramble.
- Slang. To patrol an area in search for someone or something.
- Music. To sing heartily or gaily.
- To roll or spin around.
- The act of trolling for fish.
- A lure, such as a spoon or spinner, that is used for trolling.
- Music. A vocal composition in successive parts; a round.
[Middle English trollen, to wander about, from Old French troller, of Germanic origin.] (answers.com)
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A solid Saturday outing from Judge Fleming. Solved it in a leisurely manner, with pencil on paper, lying on my couch. Much more enjoyable than trying to plow through it on my computer (I like solving on the computer, generally, but I'm sitting at this thing So Damned Much that it's nice to be just about anywhere else, especially at the very end of the week). Nothing particularly sparkly here. Just solid fill and thorny cluing. Slightly on the easy side for me, but definitely Saturday-worthy. Got AFTA right away (1A: Brand seen near razors), even though I've never used the stuff and can't recall anything about it (what the bottle looks like, what the ad jingle is ... weird). AFTA has solid crossword cred, so it's the first shaving brand that came to mind (after ATRA, which this answer clearly wasn't asking for). Got a couple more answers up there, but then bogged down a bit as 19A: Roman _____ wouldn't come. That one took me a while. Honestly, I had the ACLE- and was looking at it thinking that there is No word in the English language that looks like that. ACLER? What's an ACLER? Then I parsed it. À CLEF. Roman À CLEF. Man. Parsing. Parsing! Rookie mistake.NE proved thornish (thornyish?) too, as I went for St. KITTS over St. BARTS (10D: St. _____ (Caribbean hot spot)) at first. Let me tell you, an errant "K" can !@#@ you up. Thank god the ultra-crosswordy, ultra-easy NIAS was up there to get me going (12D: Actress Long and others).
She gave me STE (21A: One may be prayed to: Abbr.), which made me pause — STE seems like it should be valid only in French. We don't spell female "saints" any differently than we do male "saints," do we? I have written "STE" in the grid a million times, but only now is it striking me as weird that there should be an "E" on this abbrev. *in English*. Also, does the "E" save the answer from being accused of replicating a word in the clues (namely, the BARTS clue)? I think so. Anyway, after I gave in to the Frenchness of 9D: Word of politesse and wrote in MERCI, things started to happen. First, PROPOSE MARRIAGE went down (17A: Inquire about a union contract?). Had that "G" from -SGT ... which turned out to be the rarely or never-seen-by-me TSGT (13D: U.S.A.F. NCO). Seen SSGT and MSGT; TSGT not so much. Figured 16A: Philosophy of Montague or Santayana was some kind of -ALISM. ARBOREALISM? Nope, doesn't fit. Took me til the last letter (i.e. the first letter) before I understood what the hell I was looking at. NEO-REALISM. Parsing!Once I hit the middle of the puzzle, things started to open up very quickly. Got NUMISMATIST (35A: Quarter master?) off just the "M" in AMIS (27D: "London Fields" novelist, 1989). The other two long Acrosses also came with very little coaxing. The main problem for me, after the top of the puzzle was settled, was figuring out what the tail end of 7D: Losing the fuzz? was supposed to be. I thought it was about ripening, like a peach, or else ... COMING INTO manhood. Like, "Oh look, no more peach fuzz — now you have manly whiskers. Enjoy shaving those for the rest of your life. Or wearing a bush on your face. Either way." Even with "F" from DECAF (which I got easily, despite almost never touching the stuff — 46A: Certain joe), I was still puzzled. FORCE? FORM ... S? FLOWER?
Honestly considered FRUIT, thinking something botanical was going on. Decided maybe just working on the other parts of the bottom section might help. It did. Whole bottom turned out to be reasonably easy. ELECTRICAL STORM came quickly (60A: Meteorological shocker?), and gave me the "C" I need to (finally) get COMING INTO FOCUS. I have to admit that the clue on that one is valid. It clearly did its job (being Saturday tough) for me today.Bullets:
- 57A: Father of Eleazar, in the Bible (Aaron) — got it after choking down EATER at 47D: One working on the side?, which resulted in the initial double-A. Of all the "?" clues in the puzzle — and there are a lot, as this seems to be the preferred way of adding difficulty to late-week puzzles — the EATER clue was the loopiest. It was the first thing that came to mind, but my initial thought was "No way. Ridiculous."
28A: Trumpeter with a prominent neck (swan) — not HIRT (whose neck I know nothing about)- 59A: Psychics claim to see them (aurae) — somehow I doubt that most psychics use the Latin plural.
- 64A: Model Melissa Aronson, familiarly (Emme) — had -MME before I ever saw this clue, so knew the answer right away. Famous "plus-sized" model who is in the puzzle a lot.
- 66A: Relative of a chestnut (roan) — horses.
- 5D: It'll cover you: Abbr. (ins.) — insurance. Really really wish this one had been tied to the answer it intersects at the "I": INCUMBENTS (5A: They're in seats) — those answers are synonyms! But I see that "in" is in the clue for INCUMBENTS ... and maybe INS is short for INCUMBENTS? I always thought INS just meant the people were "IN" office. Hmm. Anyway, I like that collision up there.
- 8D: Heavens: prefix (urano-) — something tells me I've seen this clue before ... and that it stumped a lot of people. Certainly stumped me until I got a few crosses. Daughter is very into mythology now, so I'm going to have to brush up on my Greek/Roman lore or be schooled by my daughter on a daily basis.
- 29D: Superior setting: Abbr. (Wisc.) — goes nicely with 53D: Mocha setting (Yemen).
- 30A: Hairy clue-sniffer (Asta) — something very disturbing about the proximity of sniffing and "hairy." ASTA is far too dignified to deserve such cluing.
33D: Seaman whose last words were "God and my country!" (Nemo) — Verne's captain from "20,000 Leagues." His name means "no one" in Latin. - 36D: Kindergarten "grade" (star) — love the contemptuous quotation marks. It's like a second-grader wrote that clue.
- 38D: Biological interstices (areolas) — If you want to be as unsexy as possible, that is the phrase you go with.
- 49D: Edible pomegranate parts (arils) — totally strange to see ARILS without its usual "seed coverings" clue. Even with ARI-S in place I blinked dumbly at the clue for a few seconds.
- 55D: Wellsian race (Eloi) — like NIAS in the NE, this was a neatly wrapped gift for any crossword enthusiast. "Having trouble? Here, have an ELOI. That should help."
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
I used google for three fills last night, and then wondered why I thought I needed to. Just ants-in-pants.
ReplyDeleteI thought the clue was "hairy glue sniffer." I'd better make an eye appointment.
I laughed out loud at "a second grader wrote that clue."
It's weird being first -- I'm wasting it! Only complaint is STE.
OFTENER than not, you would have commented on OFTENER.
ReplyDeleteNice Saturday. Not too hard, but solid. Only a few hiccups.
*AGE meant something WAGE for Inquire about a union contract? ASK ABOUT THE WAGE perhaps. Dumb answer. Wrong answer.
I got Quarter master? and then got scared because I realized I can't a) pronounce it or b) spell it.
NOM DE PLUME - dumb idea. Why would anyone write using a NOM DE PLUME? I will write my Roman A CLEF under my real name - AARON PARMA.
Got the bottom quickly, but was just out of sync with the rest of it, so a few googles along the way. Funny how some days you "get" it and some days you don't.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not easy for me! Had pragmatism for NEOREALISM, jib for CAB, Brut (aftershave) for AFTA, tinge for TINCT -- basically made the upper tiers impossible for me. Only gimmes were NTSB, the perpetual NIAS and OREOS. After that, a rough outing. Fun puzzle, a brain bender to start my week-end. Thanks Rex for the write-up!
ReplyDeleteThis blog will be the endofmyMARRIAGE. We are rushing around looking for cloth caps will skulls on them and DS car chargers and all other things essential for a week in a tent: not.
ReplyDeleteYou may assume that I was fully packed including wilderness rescue/first aide kit 2 days ago.
The Southern half fell like rain. Frozen north with bringsINTOFOCUS, thinking NOISE can not be right and still not knowing ACLEF even post-Rex.
"You better not be posting to that blog!" is the lightning strike from my raging ELECTRICALSTORM.
Would have liked to see Excelsior (NY Motto) in the fill.
Thanks Victor
@crosscan, I am with you on the NOMDEPLUME. I mean if you can't use your real name....
This is ROSE ROAN signing off for the week.
Pat on the back here, as I started with Roman A CLEF and hoped that would work, which it did. Lots of French in this one, plus Latin CARPE Diem!
ReplyDeleteI'd picked TROLL as Word of the Day too. Fa la LOL
Very good one for Saturday....
∑;)
No goggles unlike yesterday and Brandon Lee. I got it all and feel almost as clever as Judge fleming. But not quite. Was sure one eats the seeds of a pomegranate a la Persephone so that held me up for eons and caused much distress.
ReplyDeleteI typically like to do late-week puzzles on paper, but I'm on vacation with no access (or at least not very convenient access) to a printer so I worked this one in AcrossLite. And didn't have too much trouble with it. Yay.
ReplyDeleteI also got tripped up by St. BARTS, which I wanted to be St. KITTS. And with E--I--S-A-- in place for EMPIRE STATE, I entered ELLIS ISLAND. Me: "Huh. The ROSE is a symbol of ELLIS ISLAND. Interesting."
Really enjoyed this one.
@PG, I also had St KITTS, and St LUCIA could fit as well.
ReplyDeleteWow, I was born in ONTario and grew up in WISC. Finally, some geography clues that don't involve the Northeast (Nutmeg, Empire, Natick Etc.!)
Nice writeup, Rex. Man, you can sure crank out the commentary.
Really enjoyable puzzle, VF, even as one of the fastest Saturdays that I can recall.
ReplyDeleteThe SW fell first, especially with ELECTRICAL STORM dropped in on only two crosses. I had been thinking of a criminal on the lam for 7D, but with the terminal _CUS the answer was COMING INTO FOCUS. I liked the shout out to ACME, my favorite NAME dropper, in 58D.
As Doug pointed out, the fact that LUCIA would work for 10D kept me from making the KITTS mistake--I waited for the crosses and BARTS. My only write-over was ESTE for ASTI.
I can't believe we had "roman à clef" only weeks ago and still, it took me forever to parse it correctly.
ReplyDeleteThe NW was the hardest for me. I have the feeling that that is the case an unlikely number of times later during the week--do others have the same sense? If so, I would like to know the reason. If not, it must be some quirk in my brain--like my habit of first opening a book or magazine always at the end.
So, my (almost) namesake is a judge? I wouldn't have guessed... Fine Saturday puzzle anyway. Well, I always say that when I can complete it w/o googling
I expected that the big fat gimme in the NE corner would have helped me. It destroyed me.
ReplyDeleteWith no hesitation at all I confidently put in PRAGMATISM for Santayana's school of philosophy. And then got nothing else in that corner. So, finally, I doubted myself.
But couldn't think of anything else. So, sigh, I go of to the internet to confirm. Wiki page for Santayana and it says right there under his picture that his school is "Pragmatism." I click on that link and do a quick search for Montague, and yep, there he is. This locked the answer in so strongly that I had no chance at all.
I was also temporarily lead astray by 2D and, immediately below it, 33D. For a play genre I wanted ONE ACT and for the speaker of "god and my country" I wanted the actual real person who said it not a fictional charater: Admiral NELSON.
Obviously neither of those fit but they both contain "ON" so obviously I was dealing with some type of rare Saturday rebus puzzle.
Eventually completely everything but the NE with remain almost completely bare due to Santayana.
Enjoyed it. Easy-medium for me too. Solving experience similar to most everybody's, But not PuzzleGirl's Ellis Island.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mr.Fleming.
Yup, easy medium for me and an enjoyable Sat. from Mr. Fleming. I tried LIGHTENING before ELECTRICAL, TINGE before TINCT, and like HudsonHawk had ASTI for longer than I should have. But in all a pretty smoooth solve.
ReplyDeleteBite Me - this was not easy. Flowerlady9
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle did have a theme: HAIRY. From the two razor adjacent clues, the losing of the fuzz, to the aforementioned Asta cluing. Or maybe it's because I just grew a beard.
ReplyDeleteHad a quibble with St. Bart's. While that's often how it's referred to, it's really an abbreviation of St. Barthelemy. Are we to assume the "St" clues the abbreviation? I say no because of the other possible (non-abbreviated) fill like Kitts or Lucia. And really, who would ever write out Saint in a place name???
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, a good Saturday romp. That T at 1A/3D was my very last letter. Somehow Afta just didn't reach my frontal lobe, nor did any Christmas carol lyrics.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHand up for PRAGMATISM and TINGE, making the NE the last to fall.
ReplyDeleteRemembered Capt. NEMO from my favorite Viewmaster slides as a kid - I can still see the octopus' arm reaching into the submarine. too cool!
An enjoyable Saturday puzzle, thank you Judge Fleming!
I really, really wanted NUMISMATIST to be "semifinalist." Even when it wouldn't fit, I kept trying to get semi-something. I really, really wanted the two "setting" clues to be clock settings, and so struggled to understand them even when the crosses gave them to me. I really, really felt it was wrong to have AREOLAS and AURAE use different forms of plural in the same puzzle (though I fully accept that it is acceptable).
ReplyDeleteBut I kept at it and finished without cheating. A complete week with no googles--unheard of! My time was still too slow for ACPT, but I hope these complete weeks will start happening OFTENER and faster.
Good solid Saturday puzzle. Thanks Mr.Fleming.
ReplyDeleteHad a very hard time writing in OFTENER, even though I knew it was right,from the crosses.
Having been a second grade teacher, your "grade" comment, Rex, was perfect. Made me laugh.
Thanks for a great writeup.
Always liik forward to coming here.
Obviously still need to work on my typing skills.
ReplyDeleteAlways LOOK forward tocoming here.
Was wondering what food discussion would arise today in the blog.
May I say I use pomegranate infused vinegar on my salad. Has a nice taste.
I also have a pomegranate tree(bush? shrub?)growing in my yard. Like the Phoenix heat, but need a lot of water. Produces a lot of fruit, though.
Good Saturday! No errors and no googles. I did it faster than yesterday. There were some sparkles here like ELECRICAL STORM. I thought PROPOSE MARRIAGE was pretty "sparkley", as well. Over-all a well clued puzzle.Thanks VF and RP.
ReplyDeleteI got stuck on NATURALISM and TINGE and couldn't budge that corner until I erased everything and started over. Then INCUMBENTS and COMING brought it all into FOCUS. I am a paper-and-pencil solver... like to hold it in my hands curled up somewhere, not in front of the PC where it seems more like work than play. Thought this was a fun Sat. puzzle, just challenging enough to make me feel I have accomplished something.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first Saturday I have ever finished. AND I did it without googling! I would have done it even faster if I could spell incumbent.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping someone else would say what a TSGT is. According to wikipedia, it's a technical sergeant, one of the most difficult to achieve promotions in the US Air Force. They provide techinal mentorship to junior NCOs, and they rank between Staff Sergeant and Master Sergeant. There used to be TSGTs in the US Army, but it was replaced by Sergeant First Class after WWII. The pay grade equivalents in other units are army and marines--staff sergeant, navy and coast guard--petty officer first class. (I was trying to figure out how the gunnery sergeant ranked in a book I'm reading now; they are one grade higher)
ReplyDeleteI'll agree with the easy-medium ranking, there were more gimmes than I expected for a Saturday, but it was fun. I had trouble giving up my pomegranate seeds too. And PROPOSE MARRIAGE took way too long, I was thinking of salaries also.
I'm mad about OFTENER. If it's not a word you *should* use for the clue, I think you need a better clue. That is, if you were a writer and said, "What should I use to express 'not so rarely?'" 100 times out of 100 without a grid you're going to say "more often." I don't know what the fix is, but it bothered me immensely. Had RELATE-d problems in the NW, so you could say (and I would) I had a VESTED INTEREST in a better clue because that's the only part I didn't finish.
ReplyDeleteAlright, now I'm going OUTSIDE. That's not a clue, that was just for emphasis.
Ouch! I never finished this one even though I had NUMISTMATIST, ELECTRICAL STORM, and VESTED INTERESTS, ACLEF and EMPIRE STATE early on.
ReplyDeleteThe wordplay is killing me. PROPOSED MARRIAGE never came into focus, nor did COMING INTO FOCUS. I tried to think outside the box on these, but only succeeded in thinking inside a somewhat bigger box.
Any suggestions?
Like @Crosscan, I ‘had’ the answer to Quarter master? but didn’t know how to spell it or say it. NUMIS______________IST. There's room for a whole nother word in there.
ReplyDeleteHeh! Like @Treedweller I too got through the whole week without a google. Yay. But I did have YSMAN instead of YEMEN. So there’s room for improvement.
Preparations are underway for a trip to Berner Oberland starting next week. Will my Apple notebook just connect up effortlessly with the hotel's WiFi? Stay tuned. I would hate to have to go cold turkey on the blog for two weeks.
Was I the only one who had a problem with AFTA? I put ATRA down and only got AFTA through the crosses at the end. And I wondered where YSMEN was...
ReplyDeleteGot NEOREALISM through crosses, too, and it still seems wrong--at least as applied to Santayana, I don't know much about Montague.
@Frances, 12:12
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog. I rarely encounter another Frances, and am glad to see a kindred paper-and-pencil spirit.
I finished this one with no Googles, but it came in two spates, separated by a very wide arid stretch when nothing made sense. In the far SW, having TENS for "beauties" kept the correct answers at bay for quite a while, and in the NW, I couldn't think of any 5-letter words ending in F, let alone anything relating to those ancient Romans!
@JaneW
ReplyDeleteYou'll find AFTA after shave lotion and balm "near" the [ATRA] razors.
.../Glitch
Misread Montaigne and thought EMPIRICISM. Well maybe? Was working with MADE-UP NAME in sort of a Malapop.
ReplyDeleteHow many times have I mindlessly sung TROLL the ancient Yuletide chorus and not stopped to wonder what that really means?
I'm trying to propagate Pomegranates from clipped branches, but with no success.
@Clark - going cold turkey on the blog is nothing to fear!! as much as i love crosswords, i think i only thought about them and the blog once - maybe twice - on my vacation!
ReplyDeleteI did this last night, and it was definitely not the cake walk it was for everyone else. Seemed to have lots of fits and starts - bottom fell before the top. The whole NE stayed inscrutable for a long long time. not sure what the hitch was - it all seems so gettable in retrospect. just a bad hair day i guess.
Thank you Mr. Fleming.
ReplyDeleteThursday seems eons ago, but here is
ASTA.
I loved this puzzle, easy-medium for me as well. I couldn't start in my usual NW, I had to climb up and around from the SE, there were just too many "not sure" situations. Some answers just came very quickly, such as road, electrical storm, aurae and a clef. Had to change to Este from Asti, as well. Yet another way to clue those cookies! I was being much too difficult about 1D "for what it's worth".... Rex is so right, little crosswordesies like Nias and Eloi make a huge difference.
ReplyDeleteThanks VF and RP, a good puzzle Saturday. Enjoyed the LAT this morning a lot as well!
Had all the mis-starts as others, though in slow-motion. Luckily I did not write in PRAGMATISM (but did write in ASTI -- Italy's most famous town).
ReplyDeleteI liked OFTENER because the clue told you it had to be adverbial.
I was roaring along in high gear working from bottom to top, and then came to screeching halt in the NW. I had PROPOSED MARRIAGE, and FARCE intersecting and stupidly could not finish the rest! I think AT PAR was my biggest blind spot, along with reading Roman as in Roman Holiday...
ReplyDeleteIs that what ARIL is? The part of pomegranate that I've been eating all my life? Why didn't you say so? Do you know that pomegranate arils. red though they are, can leave anil-colored spots?
And cooking hint of the day: if you're serving hummus or baba ghanouj, decorate with pomegranate ARILS-- looks lovely and tastes good together.
@Foodie- And don't forget to sprinkle somepomegranate ARILS in your salad. Great taste, some crunch, and wonderful anti-oxidant.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find this one easy at all.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was much more fun.
I must have been absent the day we learned Roman a clef. No gold star for me.
@ dk, your post cracked me up. Good luck with the packing. Hey, what are you doing reading this? You're supposed to be loading the car!
I totally blew this one. Got stuck with NUMBER SUMS, BRINGING TO FOCUS, TINGE, and couldn't see my way out. Had to come here to get going in the right direction. Unlike yesterday, I was not in sync with this constructor's cluing. Moving on.
ReplyDeleteThought this was a great challenging puzzle. Finished with just a bit of help from the hubby. We both had never heard of Afta, got it fro the crosses. Also didn't know Rose (symbol of the Empire State, even though I grew up in NY). Loved all the word play. Thanks, Mr. Fleming for an enjoyable Saturday.
ReplyDeleteOFTENER still bothers me, five hours later. Very much so.
ReplyDelete@foodie and @PurpleGuy: Sounds delicious! I'll never think of ARIL the same way again.
ReplyDeleteHad to do this in pen last night.Did it in a friend's guest room last night. I much prefer pencil - I move so much faster when I can just throw things in and see how they work. More of a medium for me, really enjoyed this one. Doing my first triathlon of the year in the morning. (Boy, I hate typing on a blackberry - my fingers are too fat!).
ReplyDelete@still-learning-
ReplyDeleteTry blanking your mind and approaching the fill without referencing the clue. Fill strictly thru crosses then when you have several letters, starting guessing without the clue. I sometimes find that this kind of random approach is helpful.
I, too, thought PRAGMATISM was the answer but I oculdn't make it fit and blanked it out and used the method outlined above.
In the South AURAE begat SOUTER and PROMO and I built from there. FOCUS at the end of the phrase clarified that clue.
This allowed me to move into the NE and SMEE *SGT NIAS helped me break open the North. Recognizing URANO helped me see ***REALISM and swept me into NW.
The Midlands were the last to fall and VESTEDINTERESTS got me to endgame. This was an enjoyable puzzle by my lights but I found it a little more difficult than Rex did.
I would come here OFTENER but have too many things to do. Oh, come on, who says OFTENER?
ReplyDeleteI still liked the puzzle a lot.
@dk ... if you haven't motored off, I wish you a wonderful time!
I think of myself as a good speller, but I really had trouble with numismatist and Souter. And like others I hesitated with oftener. Otherwise, I agree that this is easy-medium for a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteI got a late start today which is very bad for Saturday. I slogged - very slowly - through the middle and the bottom section - and got some of the top before coming here to get some tips from Rex. I never feel like discussing any of the fine points of anything after one of these sessions, so I have that to look forward to someday. For the moment, I can look foward to Sunday.
ReplyDeleteDid the puzzle at the beach today. Seemed a bit difficult, but that might have been lack of concentration. Fine day until it started raining.
ReplyDeleteAmong my write-overs, two no one else has mentioned: For 47 D, One working on the side?, had EDGER before EATER (OK, question mark means my answer was too literal) and for 45 D, Brennan's successor, had SCALIA before SOUTER (pure ignorance, but, hey, starts with S and it fit!)
@Bob K
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel better, I thought about SCALIA too...and had ATRA till the bitter end...at first I wanted to put NAIR (and again in the NEET spot) but again, diff between girls and guys.
All depends on what you are shaving.
Where did I just read about men now shaving everything and how manscaping is now not just confined to swimmers, gay men, and metrosexuals??
Suffice to say, I have NEVER heard of AFTA. AFTRA, yes...
sort of a fusion of AFTA and ATRA, or should I say a union???
And I did spend about 15 minutes trying to say NUMISISIMISIST out loud.
Did NOT like NIAS, ELOI, OFTENER TSGT and I got it but don't know what NTSB is.
Actually, I felt guilty as I really like the constructor, but wasn't crazy about the puzzle.
I don't know why specifically except there was no joy involved. Is that mean to say?
Lots of bleedovers from this week: EMME, SLOPPY from Patrick's nice SLOPPYJOES Wed puzzle, and the inevitable OREO and ASTA. Surprised me for a Saturday.
Some close calls I would have tried to redress that others have pointed out...the whole St. Bart/STE thing, the INS/INCUMBENT crossing, even NOM/NAME (tho I think NOMDEPLUME was my favorite bit of fill).
@Hazel
Definitely a bad hair day, between AFTA, NEET, ASTA, FUZZ.