Tuesday, October 20, 2026, David Falkowski

ALLKIDDINGASIDE is literally what we find in the four theme answers WEENIEROAST, SLEIGHRIDE, BRUISEDRIB, SPACENEEDLE. The second word in each (ROAST, RIDE, RIB, NEEDLE) appears to the right side of the two-word nouns. All four, in this context, evoke an element of discomfort, although only "roast" and "needle" carry that element with them intrinsically. Even after I got the revealer, I didn't really get the theme answers until the grid was complete. Also, WEENIEROAST turned out to be my bête noire as I didn't know "Gymnast Suni" LEE, and spelled "weenie" with an interior EI. ERR. 

Other TRIALS for this solver turned out to be ECIG for "Device with an addictive aerosol, for short." Apparently, I don't know much about ecigs. I also struggled to find the parallel between the clue "Laid back" and the answer ATEASE, reading it as a personality trait rather than a position description. I found the correspondence between the clue "Appears to be going down the drain" and the answer SEEMSBAD to be LAX. And, the final issue I'll RAISE is the C/AP "Piece of goalie gear" for LEGPAD, which left me cold. :)

What helped pick up the PACE, though, were clue/answer pairs like "Flattering lines?" for ODE, "Loud speaker, maybe" (ORATOR), "Overlook" for LEDGE, and the fun-to-spell out ROLAIDS, of days gone by ("One way to spell relief, per ads"). FLAY, at 22A, describes some pretty harsh criticism, although, it also makes me think of the hilarious Simpson's Itchy & Scratchy episode, "Flay me to the Moon." Heh. 

~Frannie.