Friday, February 10, 2023, Kavin Pawittranon and Nijah Morris

And Friday's puzzle is full of FWOE. :( I had to take a KNEE at the 49A/33D cross. I hope I'll LEVER forget how to spell TERIYAKI again. You'd think I'd have gotten the Y from the cross, but INRE that mistake, I kept thinking it should be ILu - the infiltration of text speak has caused my brain to get LAX. Derp.

I really didn't have a CRAPLOAD of trouble - just that one spot. In fact, as FOYER the start of the puzzle went, everything seemed to CLICK. The ideas I HADON "Like some cutting edges" and "What no monarch wants to be" were less immediately clear, but I was able to ORDERUP some Down answers which cleared up the WORDSALAD. Our dear Readers may be surprised to learn that I was able to enter TREY and LAKER off the clue. I'm not sure how or why I know that the Lakers sports outfits are purple and yellow, but I do. OTOH, the fact that I knew Der SPIEGEL off the clue is a reflection of my long years studying German. :) I also got a CHEAPTHRILL when CANARY flew into my mind after I thought for a bit about about the Latin word for dog. 

The C/AP "Places where majors are of minor concern?" (PARTYSCHOOLS) was amusing. Some great long fill in here including the above mentioned CHEAPTHRILL, FREUDIANSLIP, and SLAMDANCERS. 

If you've STAID with me this far, thank you. To sum up, I completed all but that one blank space in about 15 minutes. Staring at the blank space took another four or so. I know IDITAROD thing entering a random letter in the grid, but the fact that I learned something from it FEELSOKAY.

~Frannie.