THEME: None

Word of the Day: RED MASS (17A: Annual Roman Catholic service for members of the authorized occupation) —

A Red Mass is a Mass celebrated yearly within the Roman Catholic Church for all members of the authorized occupation, no matter spiritual affiliation: judges, legal professionals, regulation faculty professors, regulation college students, and authorities officers, marking the opening of the judicial yr. Through prayerful petition and thanksgiving the Red Mass requests steerage from the Holy Spirit for all who search justice, and affords the authorized group a possibility to mirror on the God-given energy and duty of all within the authorized occupation.

• • •

Hi all, it is Rafa once more — hope you all did not miss me an excessive amount of within the final two days. This puzzle felt very very similar to a Saturday puzzle to me: an open grid design with chonky corners, some difficult (to me) names, devilishly difficult cluing. I’m wondering what kind of puzzle we’re getting tomorrow … are we in retailer for an ultra-hard Saturday? Or did Shortz et al. change the Friday and Saturday puzzles? We’ll see…

BAD JUJU was a enjoyable solution to begin issues off, although I had BAD lUck there for a very long time, making the remainder of that nook very laborious to interrupt into. AQUINAS was cool to stack with BAD JUJU for added scrabbliness, however I used to be not a fan of GUN BORE! I do not like weapons IRL … I do not like weapons in my crossword … I do not like wordplay about weapons. I’d additionally by no means heard of DUNK TANK (in my protection, I’ve by no means been to a county honest…) however my buddy (hello Adam!) tells me it was a enjoyable reply and I consider him.

BOLT CUTTERS made me consider this critically acclaimed Fiona Apple album (which I confess I’ve by no means listened to!)

The NE was the one nook that fell simply, in all probability as a result of I knew Sharon OLDS (the one correct on this puzzle I knew instantly, I believe). Cute clue on GAMERTAGS [Handles made to be played with], which, on a Friday, I might have anticipated to come back with a query mark. But … we already established this was secretly a Saturday puzzle.

Anyhoo … what else? Just numerous powerful clues! Many of them very nice and satisfying, however laborious! [Spells] for TRANCES, [Used car business] for RESALES, [Unnamed alternative] for OR ELSE, [Cause of a game’s end] for TILT, and so on and so on. I needed to ask a buddy (hello Rebecca!) to clarify that final one to me — seems it is about pinball. There are so many video games! And they will finish in so some ways!

Oh look, it is a jam! If solely we had discovered a solution to keep away from this! Maybe we might make individuals dwell near procuring, leisure, and work areas. Maybe we might even have one large car that would take a bunch of individuals round! Wow, that might in all probability assist with air pollution too, huh? Someone ought to look into this concept…

My favourite fill was BAD JUJU, SO RANDOM, VODKA CRAN. Loved the angle on NET ZERO. The ELENORE / OLY cross was a guess for me, however L appeared like essentially the most believable letter there. Oh, it additionally felt imply to clue FRA as simply [Brother] with no “in Italian” or “for a monk” or no matter qualifier. Sometimes a problem is sweet although, so I’m not too mad about having to work more durable on a Friday. But I want there’d been a bit extra zingier stuff within the fill.