Saturday, May 30, 2026, Malaika Handa and Erik Agard

We did indeed get a good, hard Saturday puzzle today. I have never heard of OVENBAGS (They hold roasts), and I guess maybe I've heard BREADANDROSES (Old political slogan of the women's suffrage and labor movements), but it did not come to mind until I had almost all of it in place. I think more about the "bread and circuses" that the Romans (and others...) used to keep the population superficially pacified. 

As far as cluing goes, "Vet's report" for WARSTORY was very good, and "Perpetual homebody?" was a cute way of getting to SNAIL. And then there's the "You've learned something" type clues like "Mutual aid event that originated in 1920s Harlem" (RENTPARTY) and "Fabric debuted by DuPont in the 1940s" (ORLON). And I knew neither LYDIA Ko nor Jessie REYEZ, so I learned something with those, too.

Overall, I guess I didn't love it though. I mean, it was good enough, and it was hard, but entries like STU (Music recording space, informally) and NODSAT (Acknowledges, in a way) left me a little cold. What'd you think?

- Horace