Today’s was fun mostly because I got to compete with Calah. She has her own subscription now, so that lets me compete with her. You know, friendly competition. I eked out a win today, but she reached genius for the first time. It’s only going to get tougher for me from here.

Other than that, it was a weird short puzzle along the lines of what I’ve been grousing about the last few days.

But I missed some yesterday, and some of those I really thought I had gotten. So I don’t know what happened.

DUNNO: I didn’t realize this was a word that was acceptable in this way.
ODOR: It really stinks that I missed this one.
ROAR: I really thought I’d gotten this, but nope!
RONDO: My initial thought is 2020 NBA Finals Champion Rajon Rondo, but it’s a musical term whose definition is: A musical form with a recurring leading theme, often found in the final movement of a sonata or concerto.

Final score: 23 words for 89 points
Genius minimum: 71 points
First word: PAPAYA
Omitted words: PEEPEE, TAPPET