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Fusion pastry made with glutinous rice flour / FRI 4-3-26 / Brown on the outside / Hit HBO series inspired by a post-apocalyptic video game / Coy response to "Why do you ask?"
Friday, April 3, 2026
Constructor: Carolyn Davies Lynch and Brian Callahan
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: fillip (28A: Writer's fillip = SERIF) —
1a: a blow or gesture made by the sudden forcible straightening
of a finger curled up against the thumbb: a short sharp blow : buffet2: something tending to arouse or excite: such asa: stimulusjust the fillip my confidence neededlent a fillip of danger to the sportb: a trivial addition : embellishmentshowy fillips of languagec: a significant and often unexpected development : wrinkleplot twists and fillips
• • •
Oh, as for marquee answers, there's also HEARTBEATS, which is fine, if not thrilling. I enjoy drinking clues but I don't really enjoy drunkenness clues, so while GET SLOSHED probably deserves the same credit for originality that I gave to THE LAST OF US and MOCHI DONUT, above, it left me a little cold. I can see that the puzzle is basically well made, but it just wasn't entertaining to me. I liked PAN SEAR a lot, actually, and would've loved more answers like it—colorful but everyday answers with toughish, ambiguous clues (26D: Brown on the outside) (I figured "Brown" was an adjective). The only truly WTF answer for me today was ALDEN Ehrenreich. I saw Oppenheimer (not as big a fan as most of you) (#TeamBarbie), but I don't know which character this actor played. Hang on ... wow, I have seen so many movies he's been in and cannot remember him in any of them. Cocaine Bear! Weapons! Anyway, he plays a senate aide in Oppenheimer. He's 17th on the cast list on wikipedia. But he starred in Hail, Caesar!, which I saw, so ... why he is leaving zero impression on me, I have no idea. I'm sure it's a me problem. Looks like he was in the puzzle once before, in 2023, but I was either on vacation or sick because I didn't do the write-up that day. ALDEN has been in the puzzle a lot over the years, but almost always as John ALDEN ([Mayflower compact signer]). Anyway, it was like I was seeing ALDEN Ehrenreich's name for the first time today. Which I might have been ... except for, you know, all the times I saw it in the opening and closing credits of all the movies I've seen him in. My god he even did a Criterion closet video! I love those! I thought I'd seen all of them, or at least all the recentish ones. Maybe I saw his and just forgot that too!
Bullets:
- 1A: ___ Hoffman, member of the Chicago Seven (ABBIE) — this was a gimme, except ... I wrote in GABBY (possibly because of Gaby Hoffman, who I loved in last year's The Mastermind and have thought a lot about since). After I realized it wasn't GABBY, I was like, "oh, right ... ABBEY" (["incorrect" game show buzzer sound!])
- 20A: Corn whole? (EAR) — so not just a kernel but the "whole" EAR
- 21A: Hymn's finale? (SILENT "N") — a "letteral" clue, one that acts not as a definition in the traditional sense, but that points to itself, to a specific letter in one of the clue's words: today, the letter "n" at the end ("finale") of "Hymn."
- 28A: Writer's fillip (SERIF) — I got this easily, but only because I already had the "SER-" in place before I saw the clue. This is the 2b definition of "fillip (n.)" (see "Word of the Day," above): "a trivial addition" or "embellishment."
- 22D: What autopay helps avoid (LATE FEE) — read it as "autoplay" so was, naturally, baffled. Really helps to read the clues correctly.
- 37D: International fast-food chain without a location in Mexico, interestingly (TACO BELL) — is it? interesting? It's not surprising. Maybe it's supposed to be ... ironic? Since tacos are "Mexican food"? My reaction to this fact is not "hmmm, interesting," but "duh, why would Mexicans eat that when they have the real deal? Are there Panda Expresses in China?" (looks like one appeared to open in 2020, with the same logo and everything, but it was an unauthorized fraud).
- 51D: Bands together? (AM/FM) — "Together" like ... near each other on the radio itself, on the button? On the dial? OK. I guess that's OK. Not exactly a winner of a clue, but defensible, at least.
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101 comments:
Very easy for a Friday. Some of the longer theme answers came so quickly (THE LAST OF US, MOCHI DONUT, READY SET GO) that I felt I might actually be going too fast! It felt like the sensation of hitting a new top speed learning to skateboard. I did PR. ALDEN Ehrenreich is certainly obscure, but I enjoy the fresher reference than John Alden would have been. Cheers!
Easy-Medium. Some trouble in the SE.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
At 47A I thought Jay-Z's company might be Rap Nation instead of ROC
My 51D "bands together" was an Army before it was AM/FM.
I thought 53A Yellowjackets was on hbO, not SHO
WOEs:
Never heard of a MOCHI DONUT (57A)
Oppenheimer actor ALDEN Ehrenreich (10D)
Cute that 9D and 32D are the reverse of each other
10:52 for me today, which is easy for a Friday. I feel very hungry now…This was a great puzzle for a TASTETESTER like me! I’m hungry for some BANGERs and mash, or perhaps TILAPIA; the kitchen AROMAS from TACOBELL where they are PANSEARing their Carne Asada are making me salivate! You can EATIN first, then get some CORNDOGS followed by dessert-a MOCHIDONUT at the fair before GETting SLOSHED… Srsly! A real foodfest!!! It’s a great puzzle, 70 words, a fair number (12) of 3-letter entries, but none of them are atrocious, just some nice glue to hold the entire menu together! With all the food, I don’t think I can call it a themeless though… I'd give it 3.5 *s. I enjoyed this one, Carolyn and Brian! Thanks!
Mostly easy, except I had to change "fear not" to FRETNOT and "get smashed" to GETSLOSHED at he end. Nicely constructed puzzle.
I liked 23A and 15D, surprised Rex didn't mention.
I’m pretty much down with the big guy here - this one was flat. When you build your grid to highlight that center tri-stack it better be good - today it wasn’t.
HEARTbreak BEAT
Liked READY SET GO, OH KO REASON and CORNDOGS. Beyond that there’s just not much to latch onto. Some cute pop culture stuff I guess and some as Rex notes some scrabbly throw-ins.
Wham!
Didn’t know ALDEN - crosses were easy enough. Momm no pushback for a late week puzzle doesn’t help. I’m far from a prude but GET SLOSHED comes across as callow.
Buddy Holly
Something missing with this one - not an overly enjoyable Good Friday morning solve.
Irish HEARTBEAT
Rex, has the Star Wars Counter ever been greater than 1 day? Seems like it's always zero or one, and that can't possibly be true, correct?
You saw Hail, Caesar! and didn't remember Alden Ehrenreich? Would that it were so simple.
Thanks for pointing out the TONI/INOT line-up! Clever!
Can anyone explain 40 A? Nasal?
I guess I need another cup of coffee..
So easy for a Friday! And I agree, kind of dull. I misspelled TILAPIA (had TaLAPIA) and didn’t notice that I therefore had BaC instead of BIC, which meant no happy music when I finished. Also the NE corner was not so quick for me. ACID didn’t slip in and I didn’t know the name of the actor, so…but I got there eventually.
Hey All !
The cross of MOCHI DONUT and GET SLOSHED was toughest spot for me today. Throw in the tough clue in AMFM and TORE, and I was scratching the ole head there for a bit. But, got it all and finishing error free!
Nice FriPuz. Put up enough resistance for me. Anymore, I'd probably have gone crying to Google.
Accidentally erased YesterComments, was too lazy to go back and rewrite them! I'm sure y'all missed my scintillating words. Har.
Hope y'all have a great Friday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Highlights:
• FRET NOT – I’ve never used this before, but it has such a lovely aura of kindness, that I’m going to try.
• MOCHI – Don’t know about the donut version, but I find mochi melt-in-your-mouth addictive, and it’s fun to pan fry because of how it balloons up. Very worth a try.
• Pop in the grid today, with seven answers never seen in the Times puzzle before, including the entire triple stack in the middle, and my favorite answer, OH, NO REASON.
• I like how DOWNER goes from north to south.
• Semordnilap heaven! Not only the rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap SERIF, but IN OT right under TONI (Hi, @Conrad!).
• I love getting misdirected as I did with NASAL clued as a noun, and BROWN clued as a verb.
That’s a lotta like in a little box – thank you for this, Carolyn and Brian!
I liked this puzzle but too easy for a Friday.
A solid but unexciting grid. In a themeless puzzle the long answers - or at least a few of them - ought to dazzle. Today, not a single one does. CORN DOGS is probably the most interesting long answer in the grid, and that's just 'pretty good'.
The top third was extremely easy for a Friday and I was solving as fast as I could write. After that it provided a little more resistance.
Rex is not taking the "Bands together" clue literally enough - AM and FM are "bands together" in the answer on the grid.
As a Gaby Hoffman fan, I highly recommend the movie Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus. A fun romp plus Gaby at her most ethereal.
And you really should try a mochi donut. Prime example of “Q texture”, that sort of springy chewy texture that we don’t get much in the States. (Q TEXTURE would also be great to see in a puzzle!)
Advice to a bass player nervous about switching from electric to stand-up bass: FRETNOT.
The joke is on me, I wrote in GETS LUSHED (the crossing rap clue could have literally been any letter of the alphabet as far as I was concerned) thinking it was so stupid. I thought Rex was going to go off on how getting lushed wasn't a real thing. Sorry puzzle, my bad.
A "fillip" has gotten pretty expensive. I pulled into a station yesterday (in NJ). The attendant said "Fill 'er up?" and I said, "No, just give me $100 worth."
My misreading of "autopay" was more macabre than RP's "autoplay." At first reading I saw "autopsy." (Not kidding.) So, what would an autopsy avoid? Coming back to life? Here's an old husband/wife joke.
The wife dies and the husband doesn't know what to do. He calls their minister who says he'll take care of it. The minister arranges a beautiful service. The choir sings, a beautiful eulogy is delivered, and, at the end, six handsome young men gather to carry the coffin out. But they have to carry it through a narrow hallway around a corner, and it gets bumped into the wall at the corner. The lid pops open, the body bounces, and the wife comes back to life! Incredible! A miracle! It's a big story on the local news. Once the hubbub dies down, the couple resumes their normal life. Years go by and the wife dies. I guess we can say she dies again. This time the husband knows what to do, so he calls the minister who arranges another beautiful service. The choir sings. A eulogy is delivered, this time including the amazing story of what happened before. Again, at the end, six handsome young men gather to carry the coffin down the hallway. At this point, the husband jumps up and yells: "Careful around that corner, fellas! Easy does it now!"
On the easy side. Started off really easy, especially in the NW which I often find harder than other sectors. But then of course I ran into trouble putting in "Fear NOT" (making three E's running across -- something's up), which caused me to slow down, wondering whether I even had the right Zeno. (I think the place name for the other Zeno might have five letters, which lemme see... no, six, it seems to be Zeno of Citium, huh, 'kay.) Some slight trouble where ROC and SHO meet GET SLOSHED and CHIA, and I didn't know THE LAST OF US. And oh yeah, put in TORn before TORE. So with all that, it wound up being Easy-Medium for me. A few minutes faster than yesterday's.
It didn't really tickle my fancy much. OH NO REASON is vibrant, and I liked the cluing for FREE ADVICE very much. Oh, and there was some nice misdirection where the "Brown" (on the outside) BEHAVEs as a verb (PAN SEAR). But other than those, it seemed a little plain.
See you later, then.
I found the top third crazy easy, but slowed down a lot in the middle. And the bottom third was somewhere in between. Strange to have each third feel so distinctively different as a block (for me, anyway). I didn’t love it but was less meh than Rex.
Gotta admit, that made me laugh. :-D
Me too for reading the clue as "autopsy."
The hardest thing in the puzzle for me was 52-D, "Rent." I realized pretty quickly that it was a verb, but I tried Tear and then TORn before TORE.
Zeno of ELEA was the guy with the paradoxes. (I was in my 70s that I realized that Zeno the Stoic was a different person). Fortunately, I didn't notice the second part of the clue (about space, time, and motion) as that would have confused me no end.
I've heard of MOCHI--I've seen it being made--but not as a DONUT.
I'm generally in agreement with Rex on this one.
Serviceable Friday. No really off the wall clue/answer combinations. I suspected that “fillip” had enough definitions that almost anything could be lawyered into suitability, so I just hung in there for the crosses.
Post-apocalyptic video games are about as low as one can go on the list of things that I might be interested in, so I guess if you say so. Shakespeare sort of went there with his own style of pre-apocalyptic chaos, so I guess HBO can have a wack at it as well.
I’ve never contemplated a MOCHA DONUT before, but I guess it makes sense. Some people but chocolate in their chili, so why not try putting coffee in your donuts?
ALDEN crossing ANDRE isn’t much fun to stare at, but if you all of the crosses, that final N is about the only legitimate option if you have to guess.
Yes I did miss you, especially cuz I was waiting to hear your disappointment at the lack of F's, and wondering if the 'gh' in laugh would count for anything!
I read it as “autopsy” as well. My first answer was “lawsuit.”
m or n? Nasal. Why?
What did the Abbess ask the naked nun? Where's your HABITAT?
We went to see a vegan mariachi band last night -- THELASTOFUS.
Speaking of mariachi, our eight-person family is at the gate at SeaTac on our way to spring break in Mexico. Don't know how ell I'll be able to keep up with the blog for the next six days.
I'm tempted to tell you how MOCHIDONUT like this puzzle, but it would be a lie. I enjoyed it. Thanks, Carolyn Davies Lynch and Brian Callahan.
I enjoyed this puzzle apart from the names! Found the NE hard
I guess I’m alone in thinking that “after regulation play” isn’t a good clue for “in OT”. The tense is off - it should be “playing after regulation”, or something along those lines.
I have no idea what MOCHI is, but a puzzle with a DONUT and CORN DOGS is going to get my vote. Of course, if you want some FREE ADVICE: to keep your HEARTBEATS healthy, don’t eat too much of either one … and don’t get me started on TACO BELL. You’re probably shouldn’t GET SLOSHED too often either. But FRET NOT, if you do choose to imbibe, you may have your MIXES with ICE from a TRAY or NEATER. Come to think of it, this puzzle had a lot to whet the appetite - PAN SEAR, AROMAS, CHIA seeds, a BANGER, an EAR of corn - even a TASTE TESTER. No wonder I liked it.
Beyond the numerous menu offerings, this was a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. It wasn’t distressingly (that was purely for Gary J.) easy but what I would call smooth with a decent amount of resistance. I had a good time solving it and that’s what matters. With gratitude to the constructors and wishes for a pleasant Good/good Friday to all.
Same! I have no idea! Absolutely do not get it.
They are considered NASAL sounds since you close off the airflow from your mouth with your tongue (N) or lips (M) and the sound comes out through your nose.
Just looked up nasal in the dictionary!
a
: uttered with the soft palate lowered and with passage of air through the nose (as with \m\, \n\, \ŋ\, \ōⁿ\, or \aⁿ\)
So there are nasal vowels. It is a thing. There's a whole Wikipedia article about it.
Enjoy your trip!
Agree; clever cluing for two XW answer staples; and plurals at that.
Well, I never did see Hail, Caesar. But I saw (and loved) both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul; so I could only relate the clue to Mike Ehrmantraut. Got ALDEN from the crosses.
Anon, you're not alone. Said the same thing while tentatively entering "IN OT" (and on guard for potential need for overwrites).
And seconding another Anon (above) re how NASAL gets clued as "m" or "n". Lewis, you seem to get it ("clued as a noun"); can you pls enlighten?
I thought, wow, what an easy Friday puzzle. Then I got to the long answers in the far southeast. My senior moments became senior seconds. I just couldn’t finish it correctly. No 🎈for me.
Surprised Rex didn't mention the duping of "Corn whole?" and "CORNDOGS": I hesitated on filling in the latter, I thought surely the eds. wouldn't be that sloppy...
Played hard for me. Was ultimately done in by sushi donut instead of mochi donut [which I’ve never heard of] . . . Oh well.
Like Liveprof and jberg I saw AUTOPsY.
An avid golfer was out with his usual group at their favorite course. They played a few holes and were putting on the seventh green. Not far off a funeral procession could be seen. The man, about to putt, stopped, took off his cap and stood silently for a moment. His buddy commented on his thoughtfulness. "Well, she was a good wife", said the man.
SJ…it’s MOCHI…a Japanese dessert.
Didn't know MOCHI DONUT & SERIF was a Wordle answer earlier this week so that was a gimme for me. Pretty easy for a Friday.
Good post! Haha…I tried MOCHI once and it’s not my cuppa but many people love it. Maybe I don’t like the Q factor mentioned above.
My education has been sadly neglected. Have never heard of a MOCHIDONUT and had to take a wild guess at what the SHARP was. My guess (f) turned out to be wrong, and so did spelling TaLIPIA with an “a”, so I had faC instead of BIC, which ultimately made a lot more sense…
Husband and wife talking about the future, she asks if she dies first would he remarry, he says not, she insists he should. He relents, she asks if he would keep her favorite things for his new wife, again he says not, again she insists, her jewelry, her china, her golf clubs, etc. He says ok but...she's left handed...
Yep, fast start and not a whole lot of resistance anywhere. Slowed down by ALDEN (who?), ELEA, which I never remember, and TORN before TORE. The mysterious OFUS combination took some parsing as did the FRETNOT phrase, which sounds Elizabethan. An "airer" ending in O always makes me choose between HBO and SHO and needed CHIA to finish ROC, but knew pretty much all of the other stuff. Oh, and finished 38A with TASTER, which I sort of should have started with. Malapop?
Actually visited a guy in Honduras who was starting his own TILAPIA farm. Interesting.
It's an old music joke that if you don't CSHARP, you'll BFLAT, which is as close as I can get to the puzzle's BSHARP.
OK Fridecito, CDL and BC. I Could Demand Lots more in the way of tricksiness on a Friday, but I'll Be Cool and say thanks for a fair helping of fun.
PS-Opening Day at Fenway. Maybe that will help.
I liked it more than Rex did. I thought the clues for READY SET GO, GET SLOSHED, and, especially, FREE ADVICE were clever. And there wasn't much junk. A satisfactory Friday, if a little on the easy side.
Edging toward medium for me. I cruised along nicely until I wrote in "HEART rateS" crossing "clEan ENERGY, and my solving pace went into SLO-MO for a bit, until I got that area sorted out. Fun to write in: ICE TRAY, BANGER, DOWNER, FRET NOT.
Agree! Those were a nice touch.
@egs, I tried unsuccessfully to predict how you’d re-parse THELASTOFUS - very nice! Have fun and hurry back!
I liked this a good bit more than OFL. Good cluing here and there made for an enjoyable solving experience. I didn’t comment on the April fool’s puzzle but the relentlessly dull cluing on that one took all the fun out of the solve - a real DOWNER. Had to think a bit more today, which is the whole point.
I also got a couple of smiles for what others might say is, OH, NOREASON. A college roommate told me when her parents warned her little sister to BEHAVE she’d protest “I am BEing HAVE!” And I liked seeing BSHARP because I get a kick out of watching my students trying to wrap their minds around the fact there’s no note between B and C (or E and F) and that C flat is equivalent to B and BSHARP to C. Of course, if you can, you should pitch them slightly differently to account for their place in the tonal structure, so they aren’t actually “the same.” But no need to go into all that. I’ll BAGIT.
Hand up for TORn before TORE. I also had PANnEed before PANSEAR, which gave me THE_AnTOFUS. Finally coaxed the show’s name out of the tangle of things I didn’t think I knew. See also ROC.
Loved FRET NOT adjacent to SIGHS. Nice clues for GREENENERGY and TASTETESTER. BANGER HEARTBEATS sounds alarming.
Time to go look up the no “space, time and motion” guy.
Blah and easy -- not a good combination. One wonders how this puzzle was selected.
Easy. I put in ABBIE and just kept whooshing.
ALDEN was it for WOEs.
Spelling problems - TILAPIA (I had Ta at first), I also had Tear before TORE…and me too for ELiA before ELEA
Smooth grid, a bit of sparkle, liked it but @Rex is right about the lack of “Friday zing.”
Hmm, it's MOCHI (sticky Japanese rice that is pounded and formed into shapes), not MOCHA, That's what gives you CHIA pet for 48D. I think a mocha donut would be more tasty, tho! ;-)
MOCHIDONUT is a debut entry, and also a total no-know for m&e.
But I am certainly aware of its fine cousin: MUNCHIEDONUT.
staff weeject pick: Fairly respectable bunch of 12 little critters. Will go with EAR, on account of it havin a ?-marker clue.
fave stuff included: The Jaws of Themelessness. AM/FM clue. GETSLOSHED [background story: We went to an art museum soiree last night. With open bar. I picked somethin from the bar that looked like a pitcher full of pink lemonade, but it was actually a habit-formin blend of strawberry/cranberry juice, elderberry flour, and vodka (I'm told). Had 2.5 hits on that wonderful (but evidently potent) nectar. PuzeatinSpouse had to drive us home. Lotsa neat paintins by local artists on display -- not nearly enough watercolored ones, tho (an M&A fave).]
Also kinda partial to OHNOREASON & FREEADVICE & their clues.
hic
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Lynch darlin & Mr. Callahan dude.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
p.s.
A taxin runt puz:
**gruntz**
Sloshy M&A
I was pretty sure susHI DONUT wasn't a thing but since that bottom central section wasn't filling in for me, I couldn't help but wonder. 52D could have been Tear, TORn or TORE. The AM FM clue was odd (and pretty good, I can say after the fact) but it didn't help when I was staring at those last 9 blank squares.
I was trying to come up with a human influence for the inspiration of the Beatles - ACID, aha. CORNDOGS vs. "Corn whole" was weird and eye-rolling-worthy. Do writers add SERIFs to their penmanship?
I did like HEARTBEATS for "Ticks of a ticker" which is what my Dad called his own heart. I liked the attempt at old-fashioned speech in FRET NOT. I haven't decided if I like the double clues of 15D and 23A, mostly because one is a Monopoly reference, I believe, and that's a game I've hated since childhood as the biggest bore ever.
Carolyn and Brian, this was a clever Friday, thanks! Too bad we've regressed back to easy Friday mode.
Bob, re: yesterday's puz (I'm just reading the comments), you said "Crossword puzzle solvers have always placed letters (whether or not as part of a rebus) INSIDE OPEN SQUARES. This constructor said, "No. You place two letters (HA) on top of a line here." But the trick was that the lines WERE the letters (they were HA HA lines, or laugh lines), so you weren't supposed to write the letters in at all. The lines stood in for the letters HA HA.
sadly the counter usually pops up after a violation...i think we recently got to 6??
Mad Dog Cryptics. One of my recent puzzles defined CORNDOGS as "sticky fair fare."
Was fortunate enough to be sent to Oahu for work. Most if the staff stayed in Honolulu. I lucked out and got a fancy hotel —its now called the Ko Olina I think.
I mention it because while itvwas super deluxe, it was far from civilization—including bakeries.
But good hubby I am i woke up early one morning and made yhe drive intomthe city to get my wife of 7 months mochidonuts.
A big win for me.
It is interesting to see so many people commenting on MOCHI, a substance that in my experience exists in crossword puzzles and nowhere else. Never seen it on a menu, in a store, on a sign, in a commercial. It's as if the crossword community needed a convenient five-letter word and so just decided to pretend MOCHI is a thing.
It is good to see that at least one other commenter is as unaware of MOCHI as I.
Mhmmm…
Thank you!!!!
Duping enforcement in the puzzle is wildly inconsistent. I just did a puzzle from 1996 where two of the theme answers were 'deep breath' and 'breathless' (the third was 'waiting to exhale'). I can't imagine that would be permitted today, but the type of duping you note here - clue and answer - seems to have become accepted.
I thought the four times zones in the Lower 48 US were just one hour apart from one another. Didn't realize that they were actually one day apart from one another until discovering in today's puzzle that it's already Monday in the Northwest.
Loved THE LAS TOFUS. Enjoy the vacation, egs.
Haha, @kitshef. I am usually flummoxed by “food clues” but we have a small family owned Japanese restaurant near me that also had a “food mart” by it. My daughter took Japanese in high school, learned about MOCHI and we got some at the food mart. I will say that lately when I go to what I call “the boutique grocery” (it’s not Whole Foods) I’ve seen a small case that ONLY had MOCHI in it.
When I was living in San Diego back in the 70s there were mom-and-pop Mexican food restaurants all over the place serving delicious, authentic Mexican food. We locals were surprised when a fast food chain restaurant, TACO BELL, opened. We sneeringly called it "TOXIC BELL". To this day I have never EATIN' in one but they must be doing something right because they are still in business.
Also lived in Japan for two years and have no idea what a MOCHIDONUT is. Needed all the crosses to fill that one in.
Lots of FREE ADVICE in this one on how to decrease the ODDS of keeping healthy HEARTBEATS later in life. After lunch at a TACO BELL, have an evening meal of a BANGER or two, some CORNDOGS and MOCHI DONUT MIXES, an then GET SLOSHED. Yeah, that's LOCO.
Not sure how these things bubble up from some long dormant synaptic brain HABITAT but 39D B SHARP reminded me of this old Gillette commercial.
First encountered MOCHI via my 8-year old granddaughter, who got some from somewhere and is very fond of it. Had no idea.
Welp. I had THOUGHT I’d posted around 10:30, but it didn’t go through, and I’m certain it was a ME problem, because…well, because. I liked the puzzle, a little easy, yada yada.
Actually the only thing I said of note was what I called my “ridiculous nitpick” on FRETNOT. I’ve heard people say, in jest, “fear not!”, but I’ve yet to hear anyone say FRETNOT. But I’m open to the possibility that people say it IRL.
@jberg…you are SO far ahead of me because I learned of Zeno through crosswords and I think I thought there was only one…until your post. :D
@kitshef. Count me among the few who have never had MOCHI. Don't really know why. It must be readily available here; there is a very large Asian community in the Vancouver area. But, if I've seen it offered, I've not been tempted.
TILAPIA, on the other hand, I have had. A couple of times. And that's enough. It's dull, muddy, and mushy. No need to try it again, especially when there is so much really good seafood available here on the west coast. Mostly wild-caught and delicious. A lot of TILAPIA is apparently farmed in muddy, often polluted ponds in Southeast Asia, often alongside shrimp. I avoid them, too. I guess there is one advantage to those items; they seem to be cheap.
I don’t get the OVA answer for donations. Please explain.
I thought the entire top half was Monday/Tuesday easy, but I had a much harder time south of the equator. Part of the trouble involved two bad choices on a couple of longer Downs. For "Became lubricated," I went with GET SLickEr. And like Rex, I misread "What autopay helps avoid." Except having glanced at the clue, I read it as "What autopsy helps avoid." And with the L & A already in place, I dropped in LAW SUIT. [sigh]
Am I the only one confused about the clue for "EAT IN"? Aren't those examples the very definition of "EAT IN" vs "EAT OUT"?
Donated OVA are used in in-vitro fertilization.
I solved this puzzle this morning, came here, read Rex, posted a comment or two, then opened my email--and found an AVCX puzzle by Brian Callahan, one of today's co-constructors. Quite a day for him! It was a good puzzle in itself, but a bit too much contemporary pop culture for me. I had to look up a basketball player and a Hunger Games character in order to finish. But it wasn't all new stuff, there were some old-timey things as well. A predict a bright constructing future.
I hope it was elderberry flower liqueur (St. Germain) and not really flour! ;-) It sounds delish.
Think fertility clinic.
Ironic that Alden Ehrenreich's most famous role was as Han Solo in the movie Solo. Guess they didn't want to reset the Star Wars counter :)
For Anonymous 11:24: If it's OK with you, I won't belabor the point except to say, "If a vertical line isn't a line, instead is really two INVISIBLE letters, then what you're solving isn't a crossWORD puzzle...it's something else."
Vowels??
Had a MOCHI DONUT last time I had brunch in Berkeley - let's just say that, like this puzzle, it didn't do much for me
At least they saved bumping the Star Wars counter by not using what is likely Alden Ehrenreich's best-known role. He planned the young Han Solo.
In general too easy for a Friday. But I put in halibut instead of tilapia so that slowed me down and torn instead of tore… So that was another slow down.
Aquí vamos de nuevo. Suspiro.
Weirdly uneven puzzle. All four corners were quite simple, but the center area was almost inscrutable. Kinda funny in places, but overall a bit of a thud for me.
More LSD. I guess the fifth-grader-in-charge has suspended his ASS fascination for drug fascination. Pay attention constructor wannabes.
Thinking it was MOCHIDO NUT until I came here, I was prepared to go on another stoopid food names rant, but DONUT is way mo' bettah. Not better than TACO BELL, which is the best, but pretty good.
❤️ OH, NO REASON. FRET NOT.
People: 6
Places: 1
Products: 7
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 of 70 (31%)
Funny Factor: 6 😅
Uniclues:
1 Slogan for a Chihuahuan sanitarium.
2 One pastry to rule them all.
3 Adult film audio tech's resumé entry.
4 Those clearly in favor of the credit card company.
5 Barbiturate with less ice.
1 READY ... SET ... GO LOCO
2 APEX MOCHI DONUT
3 I DO SIGHS MIXES
4 LATE FEE ODDS
5 NEATER DOWNER (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: What my little brothers became when I taught them how to put a screwdriver into a light socket. OUTLETS OMELETS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Another vote for autopsy! And lawsuit! Great minds...
I am also #teambarbie, and I'm not zombie enthusiast, but the first season of THE LAST OF US was very very good. Heartfelt. Queer-friendly. Would highly recommend.
DAVinHOP
People responded and explained n and m are called. nasal sounds. (I looked it up. It’s because the nose is involved in making both)
About INOT. I disagree. Clues are called clues because they don’t have to be definitions. They can hints OT is after regulation. That is all that isn’t necessary for the answer to the clue.
belafonte & Kitshef
As far as I can tell, Shortz has no rule against dupes, except the same word in clue & answer Rex said there are so man he would only complain about egregious ones (his words).
Warren
But you do eat in a restaurant. Also eat in as opposed to takeout.
I did find it easy especially at the top. It helped that I saw the HBO series, which covered a lot of territory in the grid.
I enjoyed it.
Sloshed is not like calling someone “a drunk” or “a sot”. It is a condition a majority of adults have experienced in this country. ( with vastly varying frequencies of course) Rex seems to be equating sot & sloshed I don’t see anything whatsoever wrong with the latter. Don’t remember the last time saw it in this puzzle.
I put in TOR - today, even though I was expecting TORn Saved me some frustration. I guess it is a kea/loa.
Someone mentioned TONI/ ONIT
I would never notice such things but I was surprised that Lewis didn’t
@DAV -- NASAL can be a noun describing something with a nasal speech sound, like the letters m and n that involve the nose - you can't make those sounds if you hold your nose.
If a play happens after regulation play, it happens in OT. There is literally a one-to-one parallelism for this usage.
@Lewis, I gave it a try and it sounded like I was saying “subbit” and “keddle” rather than “summit” and “kennel”. Definitely missing the nasal-ness.
Not an important debate and I understand the defense of “In OT” - but imagine the clue was “a circle around a planet” and the answer was “in orbit”. It’s just a little off. (“Should” be: “circling around the Earth”…)
I still don’t see how TORE goes with “Rent”. Torn, yes, but not tore. Can anyone explain?
It’s a linguistics term, phonetics particularly, like fricative and plosive.
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