Happy two years together, Calah! Two years ago today was our first date. Pretty soon we’ll be married, so that’s pretty cool.
I pulled out 51A Oaf: PALOOKA because I happened upon that word rather than solving it.
palooka (n.)
by 1926, “mediocre prizefighter,” of unknown origin, credited to U.S. sportswriter and Variety magazine staffer Jack “Con” Conway (1898-1928), who might at least have popularized it. Non-boxing sense of “average person” is from Joe Palooka, hero of Ham Fisher’s boxing-themed comic strip, which debuted in 1930.
Theme time!
22A Snoozes (like participant #2 in one classic fable): TAKESANAP.
38A With 71-/72-/73-Across, participant #1’s strategy (or the moral of the story): SLOWANDSTEADY. WINS. THE. RACE.
57A Wagers unwisely (as participant #2 did): LOSESABET.
And the circled letters are TORTOISE and HARE.
But I have an issue with the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The tortoise got lucky. The tortoise had no hope to win the race. The hare got cocky. Slow and steady doesn’t win the race otherwise.
But what are you going to do?
Finished this one in 10:40.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average |
| Monday | 6:00 | 3:49 | 9:30 |
| Tuesday | 5:22 | 5:22 | 13:43 |
| Wednesday | 10:40 | 7:38 | 17:31 |
| Thursday | 13:09 | 29:54 | |
| Friday | 16:23 | 35:42 | |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 36:06 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 58:57 |