I thought I was going kinda slow with this one, as I did it while waking up, but that was wrong! I beat my old Thursday best by almost a minute! But this did feel like an overly friendly Thursday puzzle. And you see that the streak is at 46 now. Like I said in yesterday’s post: “Tomorrow’s puzzle will show that my streak really is still alive.”
I pulled out 22A Land of plenty?: ASIA because I don’t understand this answer. I had been under the impression that Australia is the land of plenty. That’s why it’s easy for them to reject temptation.
The theme for this puzzle was far out.
17A Ones sporting man buns and ironic T-shirts, say: HIPSTERS. Did covid bring back the manbun or did it never leave. And can it please go away for forever? I mean ironichaircut.com aside, meh.
20A Closest living relatives of whales: HIPPOPOTAMUSES. How do you stop a hippo from charging?
35A They enforce discipline among legislators: PARTYWHIPS.
42A Locations of some dives: SHIPWRECKS.
63A Little dipper?: PITACHIP. Awful answer. Really dumb. Pita chips can be big.
57A Inseparable … or like three pairs of answers in this puzzle?: JOINEDATTHEHIP.
That caused doubling!
1D Get back into shape: REHHAB instead of REHAB.
2D Come up: ARIISE instead of ARISE.
3D Lukewarm: TEPPID instead of TEPID.
27D Exhibited relief, in a way: EXHHALED instead of EXHALED.
33D It can be heavier in the summer: AIIR instead of AIR.
21D Admits: ACCEPPTS instead of ACCEPTS.
51D Run-of-the-mill: HOHHUM instead of HOHUM.
52D Upper echelon: ELIITE instead of ELITE.
53D Took performance-enhancing drugs: DOPPED instead of DOPED. But in the world of stonks and hodl, DOPPED seems real.
With the bonus:
32A Pelvic joints: COXAE.
I realize now that I’m disappointed the the puzzle didn’t make giant HIPs. The formatting should have extended.
OK I fixed it. HIP HIP HIP HOORAY!
Finished this one in 12:12. A new personal best for a Thursday.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 6:10 | 3:49 | 9:29 | 8:05 | 66 |
| Tuesday | 9:54 | 5:22 | 13:40 | 12:01 | 9 |
| Wednesday | 14:27 | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 |
| Friday | 16:23 | 34:55 | 28:15 | 6 | |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 36:25 | 38:17 | 6 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 57:44 | 43:20 | 6 |