Tuesday, February 18, 2025, Erik Agard

I had to come back to say a few words about this puzzle. And those words are: I loved it. 

This is pretty much a perfect theme, executed perfectly. The first three themers: ICANTBELIEVEYOU, WHODOESTHAT, and THEAUDACITY, all clued with "Seriously?!," seemed like a solid theme all on their own, but then when I hit the last "Seriously?!" clue and understood what was going on, I laughed out loud. 

And for a theme like this, on a Tuesday, I am willing to look the other way when 1A is ROH ("Ruh-____!" (Astro's "Yikes!")(Maybe part of the "Seriously?!" theme?). TAE (____ kwon do) is another partial, but aside from that, the fill is solid. And I liked the Indigenous American mini-theme: "918 or 539, on the Cherokee Nation" (AREACODE), "Important powwow figure" (HEADDANCER), and "New Mexico site of the largest radioactive accident in U.S. history" (CHURCHROCK) (this CRISIS polluted the water source for Navaho Nation). 

I had missteps at "Emphatic rejection" (HECKNO) (I tried something a little stronger) and "Enough already! I'll do it!" (OKOK) (tried OKay), but other than it went pretty smoothly. 

Lastly, I liked "Ones vowing payback?" for IOUS.

Excellent puzzle.

- Horace