Monday, May 31, 2021, Michael Lieberman

Good evening all!

Try not to get too excited: it's Cece, back again to review the Monday puzzle.

Today's puzzle was fun and easy, just how I like 'em. And can I just say, I love the placement of JORTS in the exact center of the grid. Gives it a little more character, I think. Sadly, that was the very last word I filled in, because for some reason I decided 36D (Places for tips) was bARS and was confused as to what a BoRT might be. It didn't take me too long to figure that one out.

I cannot say the same for 22A, ("Superbad" co-star Seth) which I was fully convinced was "Cohen." This made 11D (Flash of genius) quite confusing, as it would necessitate the spelling of "bright" like "brihgt." I wondered if perhaps the theme had something to do with switching g's and h's, before remembering that it's Monday and I was definitely just making a mistake. I then wondered if Cohen, in Seth's case, is spelled "Cogen" with a silent G. Then, in a "Flash of genius" I remembered that Seth Cohen is actually Seth ROGEN and all was right with the world.

Welcome to my brain!

Black and White Cookies

The rest of the puzzle flew by. I like all of the double letters throughout the puzzle. The ZZ, OO, and CC combinations in the bottom half are pretty nice. I also liked BLACKANDWHITES, a cookie that I loved when I was a little kid (but only the chocolate half, thank you very much).

All in all, a solid solve. Thanks for having me back!

~Cece