Saturday, October 8, 2022, Kyle Dolan

A challenging solve for this puzzler, dear Readers, but no FWOE today. I chipped away successfully, section by section for about 20 minutes, then I came to a grinding halt in the midwest. The unknown-to-me SEANETTLE ("Stinging jellyfish"), "Campus home of a UNESCO World Heritage site, in brief" (UVA), the trixy, "As shown" and my misspelling of VUVUZELAS (VevULZELAS) combined to stop my ROLEX. Eventually, I took everything out but the most definitive answers, thought harder about "Silver and gold" - this time coming up with HUES - and THUS finally being able to complete the grid in 31:31. 

Elsewhere, there was just enough fill that I knew or could guess like "Line from Pinocchio" (IMAREALBOY), the amusing "Bad time to take stock?" (BEARMARKET) and "Pop tribute?" (SODATAX), "Rightmost sybmol on Alaska's state flag" (POLARIS), and "Evangelistic sort" (ZEALOT) that BROKEOPEN other areas and provided a HINT or two to the more challenging clues like "Awful, or worse" (ZEROSTAR) - I was not thinking ratings! - "Dash of panache" (ZHUZH) - I don't think I've ever seen that word spelled out before - and "Longtime meat subsitute brand" (BACOS). I haven't eaten them in decades, but I never knew that they didn't have any meat in them. I looked them up on the World Wide Web, and here are the ingredients as reported on a page for them on Amazon.com: 

Defatted Soy Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Water, Salt, Sugar, Artificial and Natural Flavor, Red 40 and Other Color Added, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (Corn, Soy, Wheat).

Mmmmm, defatted soy flour.... 

There were loads of AONE C/APs today including "Subject of a drawing, perhaps" (DOORPRIZE), "Craft since ancient times" (CANOE), "What was once due to American pioneers" (WEST), DRUMSOUT for "Forces to leave," the excellent "Cow" for DAUNT, and how about "Sockdolager"?! A real LULU of a word. :) Also, "Mustard's rank: Abbr." (COL) - heh. A lovely way to finish the week. I leave you, dear Readers, in the capable hands of my OLE friend and esteemed co-blogger, Colum Amory.

~Frannie.