Friday, November 23 - Paula Gamache

When four women...all good cooks...join forces to create a Thanksgiving dinner, the resulting feast is quite spectacular. No one left hungry...that would be an understatement. Right about now, though, I'd kill for a piece of pie with my coffee. Thankfully, all the leftovers stayed with the host.

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving day...however you spent it.

Paula Gamache always dishes up an A-one puzzle, and today's was no exception. Stacks of ten-letter entries and more multiword answers than I can remember seeing at any time.

1A: Bit of income for the Department of Motor Vehicles (license fee).

15A: What someone might win after stumping a cultural group? (ethnic vote)

17A: Greek salad ingredient (goat cheese)...not feta.

26A: Where Yankees are found at Shea (visitors' dugout). I guessed that with the first U in place...that courtesy of 22D: Don in the National Radio Hall of Fame (Imus).

40A: Fan fare? (Ballpark franks). Clever cluing to boot.

53A: Axiom (basic truth).

57A: Witness to Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Adidala's secret wedding (Artoo Detoo).

59A: Rod Laver won two (Grand Slams).

7D: "A thousand pardons" (ever so sorry).

12D: Consecutive (back to back)...my favorite.

25D: Cuisine that may be served with a chork (Asian Fusion).

27D: "Everything's cool" (it's all good).

41D: Start of a little daredevil's declaration (look ma). I had betcha for too long. I was thinking more about the daredevil, not the declaration.

Related clues at 35D: Waste product (trash bag) and 30D: Put into a 35-Down (toss). I originally had trash can...also thought of trash bin.

Didn't know 1D: __ Mason (asset management firm) (Legg), 3D: Fictional character who first appeared in "The House Without a Key" (Chan), 5D: Robertson of CNN (Nic), or 28D: Ninth-century founder of the Russian monarchy (Rurik).

Spent too much time trying to figure out 51D: Wilson's vice pres. __ Marshall (Thos). Didn't make the abbreviation connection and wondered if we were dealing with a rebus...MAS in one square?

10D: Big shoe spec (EEE width) was a good guess which opened up a few spots. Other multiwords were 25A: Target (aim at), 45A: "Jeez!" (oh, gosh), 48A: Flawlessly (to a T), 2D: "__, dislike it" (start of Marianne Moore's "Poetry") (I, too), and 11D: Candidate for the proverbial glue factory (old nag).

Liked the cluing for 8D: They're not for you (foes), 14D: Related (said)...not the kind of related I thought they wanted and 32A: They're taken to the cleaners (suits).

It's been a long day, and I'm ready to call it quits. No early morning shopping for me, though. I did that once in my life, and that was enough.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G