BLATHER REVIEW

Boo!

It just occured to me that the guy who designed the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrapper was a marketing genius for using Halloween colors. That and, man, these things are yummy.

There's a slight gimmick to this puzzle that may cause a snag in completing the puzzle in Across Lite. Hopefully without giving anything away, my one-word clue to successfully getting Mr. Happy Pencil to appear is this: First! I'm sure that the meaning of that clue will be well understood as the solution unfolds.

Some of these clues were really hard to come up with, by the way. You'll know which ones.

And, for those who may be stopping by and who still don't have Across Lite on their computers, you'll need it to open .puz files.
Go hyar: ACROSS LITE

Downloading just takes a few seconds. All ya gotta do is click on that link, follow the ubersimple instructions and keep your snot-nosed kids out of my pumpkin patch.

Spooky Across Lite .puz file:
Click to solve.

Why?

Hey, why not? Coming up with titles for themeless puzzles is kinda like coming up with choreography for Beethoven's 9th. Completely unneccessary and ultimately gratuitous. But there it is.

Across Lite puzzle:
Click to solve.

And, per 1-Down,

Girls, Girls, Girls

I needed a picture for this post. Well, I didn't need one but I wanted one. I gave it a lot of thought. Then I got tired of thinking and just went with a no-brainer: Ava Gardner.

Across Lite file, comin' up:
Click to solve.

And, since we're on the subject, might as well enjoy Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse dancing to Michael Jackson.

That's Leslie Carron at the very beginning. The major part of this is from the film "The Band Wagon". Jackson was a huge fan of Astaire and this -- among other roles -- was the inspiration for his "Smooth Criminal" video.

This video was put together by a YouTuber named CatFromJapan. Excellent work, imho.

Not So Fast

Not for nothin', but I prefer food that takes more than 120 seconds to prepare.

Seven long theme entries makes for a very boxy grid with lots of three-letter words. But, add some fresh fill and some fresh clues to that fresh food and we've got a tasty snack, I hope.

And, for anyone who doesn't have the Across Lite yet, click HERE to download the program. It just takes a minute, and the best daily and weekly crosswords will forever be just a click away!

Across Lite file, as usual:
Click to solve.

Huh?

There's really nothing particularly "huh?" about this puzzle. Except that it's a 74-word themeless. Because I still suck at coming up with themes.

Across Lite:
Click to solve.