Saturday, March 25, 2017, Sam Ezersky and David Steinberg

0:36:23 (F.W.O.E.)

Hello World, it's me, Horace. I'm giving Frannie a day off, so she can focus on the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. And speaking of that, it's going really well so far. I can say that, because I haven't yet seen any results! Hah! And another thing, Misters Ezersky and Steinberg are sitting together two rows in front of us at the tournament! Yep, it's a special weekend for us solvers, because we can, for example, go right up to Mr. Ezersky and tell him how much we liked NOBODYCARES (66A: "Just stop talking already"). I would have discussed more entries with him, but at the time, I had not yet finished the puzzle. Frannie and I just finished it up together during the lunch break. Three puzzles down, three to go, and then one more tomorrow. Wish us luck!

But getting back to today's puzzle, I ended up really liking it, even though I did not get the J of JACKEDUP or JUMBLED until after being told that I had an error. I think I had an R in there at first, or maybe a B. Something that didn't really make sense with the Across.

Not much time, because we're heading back down to the ballroom soon, but I will call out several entries I liked:

GILT - 30A: Finished elegantly
DELUGE - 21A: Torrent
BATTERYACID - 17A: Coffee, in military slang
ABOUTME - 39D: Introduction to bio?
ROEVWADE - 33A: Classic case of making life choices?
FETCHES - 3D: Gets
FERAL - 6D: Unbroken

There was lots to love, really, and as the guy sitting next to me said of this puzzle, "If you get 1A, it goes quickly." Well, Dear Reader, I did not get 1A without, ohh, maybe eight crosses, and as a result, the puzzle did not go quickly. But, sometimes that's a good thing, especially on a Saturday.

Ciao for niao.

- Horace