Friday, June 19 2026, Jack Hatchett

A really nice construction today, with eight long Across entries and four long Downs, with nothing spanning the entire grid.  This led to a pleasant, steady solve, all the way to the very end where I failed in the SE corner and FWOE'd.  More on that later.

Things were promising from the very get-go, with 17A "Chef's complimentary bite" (AMUSEBOUCHE).   After such morsels, I like to sit back and announce "Well, my bouche is amused", to the amusement of nobody.  Right above that was a nicely oblique QMC "Field trip", whose answer HOMERUNTROT definitely did not jump out at me. 

 

Lavish use of contractions was in evidence; e.g. 20A "Dish often served with tartar sauce, informally" (FISHNCHIPS) and 35A "___ Green (Kermit the Frog song)" (GOIN).  I don't necessarily object, but it did stand out a little bit.  

What's the deal with SHOWERBEER ("Cold one enjoyed during a hot wash")?  Never heard of such a thing.  BEERSHOWER, on the other hand, in my younger days, yes maybe...

My very last entry was the diabolical QMC at 32A "Off-grid connection?".  I thought it had to be IRL (you know, "in real life") until getting the real answer from the crossers : THE.  Brilliant!  When was the last time you saw this word in a crossword?

Finally, the very last Across clue "Chinese revolutionary Sun ____" was lost on me.  I guessed YATSEE but it's actually YATSEN.  I should have known - my guess was too similar to the dice game Yahtzee to really be plausible.  If anybody asks, I'll say I ATECROW on this one, hoping for the response OHCOMEONNOW...

See ya on the weekend!

-philbo