Milkshake

by Nancy Serrano-Wu

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• Difficulty: medium-hard

I think I need to stop solving crosswords before bed. My dreams have been haunted by roaming EMUS looking for AHI that giggle tee-HEE and sigh AHH, I mean AAH. What a nightmare!

I'm a bit embarrassed by my time on this puzzle; I don't think it's terribly difficult, even considering the amount of crosswordese. The theme is an interesting idea that comes off a bit milquetoast (sorry not sorry) with the world MILK scrambled within each of the themers, cryptic-style. I might've found it more impactful if I hadn't used a hint on 20A and spoiled it for myself, but I still think the words chosen as candidates are a little lackluster.

REIKI clued as "Energy-based wellness practice" seems a bit generous for something that is some alternative medicine pseudoscience. I'm linking straight to the Wikipedia entry because the Reiki homepage is too grotesque for my dear reader's eyes.

"Kind of dish you wouldn't want to lick" is a fun clue for PETRI, easily one of the highlights of this puzzle. I also thought TELLSTIME was clever. As a Californian, I'm not sure TSTORM is actually a thing, can someone verify that for me?

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