Colorful Pillsbury cake with a portmanteau name / SAT 4-17-21 / Series set in Middle-earth, for short / Targets of leg raises / Some Renaissance-era scientists

Once the puzzle comes out (at 10pm the night before), I don't look at social media til I'm done solving, precisely so that I know Nothing about the puzzle when I sit down to solve it. I don't want even the tiniest bit of information or inference in my head. Nothing. Nada. I have learned that when it comes to "spoilers," I have only myself to blame. Don't blame social media—That's Where People Go To Spoil Things. It's the raison d'être of the entire Internet—ruining things you love, or might love, before you've even had a chance to enjoy them. So I stay off. But I don't block texts from my family. Who could foresee such betrayal!? Et tu, Ella!? Anyway, I'm proud of her Saturday accomplishment (I couldn't finish a Saturday puzzle at all until I'd been solving for years) (they were harder back then, but still). But I knew this puzzle was "Easy" before I even started, so then of course I'd get frustrated with myself when any answer gave me trouble. "I WAS TOLD THIS WAS EASY!" Well it was easy, but not ridiculously easy, so I think my daughter's just better at solving than she thinks. Also, the constructor appears to be a young woman, i.e. she looks much more like my daughter than she does me, so maybe, Maybe, generational similarity matters, and it's simply more likely that you'll groove on a puzzle made by someone your own age than by someone who isn't. I like puzzles by all kinds of people, but it's not terribly surprising that my favorite constructor of Friday puzzles, Robyn Weintraub, is approximately Rex years old. And yet ... I liked this puzzle too! A constructor's generational similarity isn't the only factor in puzzle groovability. But it just might help.

I laughed when I looked up TOWER OF HANOI after I'd finished solving because I realized instantly that I have "never heard of this answer" at least once before. I definitely used it as Word of the Day before, because I remember the little puzzle-solving animation (above). Still, today, no idea, so I just got it all from crosses. It was the only thing in the grid that wasn't familiar to me. This includes FUNFETTI, which I know somehow, how? (1A: Colorful Pillsbury cake with a portmanteau name). Wait, what are the two words in the "portmanteau." I thought "fun" + "confetti" ... but it feels weird to call it that, since it's less a mash-up of two words than a pun on the first syllable of one word ("confetti"). Unless the "fun" comes from "funnel" or "fungible" or "fundament" (one of your less popular cakes, I imagine). Lots of good food stuff in this puzzle. Didn't know SAGE was a big deal in Italian cooking, but I do enjoy a SOFT CHEESE and an ICE CREAM CONE now and then and I have definitely been in a FOOD COMA. 

Nothing really sizzled today in the long fill department, except (ironically?) FROZEN SOLID. I also like the SW corner overall; it's a nice little stack. Good clue on DRAG RACERS too (38A: Zoom participants?). I am tired of Zoom, since it's where I do all my teaching, but apparently I'm not tired of Zoom-based wordplay. Yet. Was not fond of all the fill-in-the-blank clues (truly the lowest form of cluing). Five (5) of these!?!? Blank Star (sadly, not "DEATH"), blank bike, blank blue, On the blank, and then the blank in the Dorothy Parker quote. Had me longing for more "?" clues, which never happens (actually, there were five "?" clues today, which seems like the Perfect amount for a Saturday). OK, I have to run to the hospital to get blood drawn (far less dire than it sounds). Can't eat until that's done. so, goodbye. Cheers. See you tomorrow.