Saturday, June 7, 2025, Blake Slonecker

There are TSTORMS predicted today on the southern coast of Maine where I am today, but tomorrow promises to be sunny. Right now I am at a cafe that offers free wifi and I have to finish this review before my 93-year-old dad decides it's time to go home.

So let's see... this one is held together by eight - count 'em - eight grid spanners intersecting in the corners. The most surprising to me was ARMAGEDDONCHESS (Board game variant used as a last-resort tiebreaker). Like chess-boxing the other day, this is a new concept to me. Is it something that happens in actual chess? Or is it a different thing entirely? Ordinarily, I'd look it up, but the clock is ticking here. 

Things I liked: MAKEAFRESHSTART (Leave everything behind); RENEWEDINTEREST (What a retrospective aims to produce); "Annoyance in the middle of a season, perhaps" (SPOILER) surprised me; "Takes the field" (MOWS) was cute, as was "Leaves aside?" (PILE). "Change seats?" though, for SOFAS, might have been trying a little too hard.

My difficulty today came from guessing BEAsT for "Doozy" (BEAUT), which made SOURSON (Stops digging) difficult to see.

Overall, though, a fine Saturday. Played a lot easier than yesterday for me, but sometimes you'll have that.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

- Horace