{"id":29,"date":"2026-09-05T13:43:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T13:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverlesswp-4gnqpg3wn-edisonlied.vercel.app\/?p=29"},"modified":"2026-09-05T13:43:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T13:43:25","slug":"september-5th-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"September 5th, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay, this was hard for me today. But Saturday\u2019s usually are. Many long answers, lots of cross-solving which is enjoyable, a good challenge for a Saturday morning. A few too many proper nouns for my taste but overall solvable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was some curious cluing going on here &#8211; ritzy feels like it should be swanky instead of SWANK, OHME I simply cannot imagine anyone ever saying (what happened to alas?!), AHEM feels more like a way to get attention than to be a smartass? Also three Western European language clues (NADA, ALTA, ELLE) felt like a lot. On the plus side no super \u201ccontemporary\u201d clues in this one which I have come to loathe for some reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is MASS EMAIL something people say? English is far from my first language but I have for years in UK and US organizations and I swear to god never heard this one before. Also never regret a Reply All, we all love a good email tsunami &lt;3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Stats: 63% top-tier<\/strong> &#8211; great Saturday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Delighted by:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201d___ ME\u201d (humorous \u201csign\u201d) (27-Across): If you accused me of having a childish sense of humor, you would not be the first one to do so. I love silliness, I love puns (see: my delight at MATT)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduced price? (31-Across): I only noticed this one when I went through the puzzle again. Top-notch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sarcastic response to boasting (63-Across): One of the clues you can just hear in your head. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Diminishing return? (62-Down): These are the clues that bring me back to the crossword, no matter how simple they are. It is, you know, a diminished return. Also I\u2019m an economist so any subversion is welcome in my field!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Well at least I learnt something:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201dInfection\u201d common among schoolkids (38-Across): I\u2019ve never heard of COOTIES and I would have put it automatically in US-isms, but turns out this one was brought back to the US by soldiers and got popularized in the 1950s. Way to turn something referencing lice into something vaguely cute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>US-isms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cracker alternative to Ritz (7-Down): Is ZESTA popular in the US? I have a weird diet so I\u2019ve missed this one in the grocery stores, I guess. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Game on a car trip (48-Down): Once again I would like to thank pop culture for getting this one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please retire:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Valley with gentle slopes (18-Down): I had seen enough GLEN, dell, lea clues for a lifetime. Make it related to the wonderful Glenn Close next!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201dWe\u2019re alike in that way\u201d (56-Down): Maybe in a Saturday one with a little modification you can clue Finland in Finnish (Suomi)? Or is that too much?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>And the tiers<\/strong>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top 4 makes up 64% &#8211; above the magical 50% territory! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Delightful (9\/70):<\/strong> MAGMA, WASH, AMT, ARENTYOUSPECIAL, CONGA, MATT, GENERALELECTION, LONGE, ECHO<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>You made me learn something (2\/70):<\/strong> COOTIES, OTHERS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>You made me think a bit (14\/70)<\/strong>:\u00a0SCHMOOZED, WHOATHERE, ALLTHOSEAGAINST, ETNA, LION, PLOT, CHLOE, EREADER, DONOTIRON, OSLO, UNCOUTH, ALLELE, TAR, PAK<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Okay<\/strong>, <strong>you can stay (20\/70):<\/strong> BLEAT, TALL, KEY, IDOL, DALAI, LULU, ELLE, POM, LAME, CALL, LIMO, LETON, SHAKEONIT, DEAL, ALIST, MASSEMAIL, NADA, ALTA, ICEPALACE, ATSEA<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I\u2019m afraid this will age (0\/70<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Absolute meh (15\/70):<\/strong> NOLTE,ROAD, ENTREE, MORE, ENDAT, ATOLLS, ENTER, SWANK, OHO, MBA, ATTHETIME, TEAL, AHEM, ITLL, INLET<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>US-isms (5\/70):<\/strong> ANAHEIM, STEALHOME, ZESTA, NULL, ISPY<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please retire (5\/70):<\/strong> SESH, CSI, GLEN, OHME, SOAMI<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, this was hard for me today. But Saturday\u2019s usually are. Many long answers, lots of cross-solving which is enjoyable, a good challenge for a Saturday morning. A few too many proper nouns for my taste but overall solvable. There was some curious cluing going on here &#8211; ritzy feels like it should be swanky [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}