Cousin of a cassowary / WED 12-14-2022 / Short meeting? / Avatar of Vishnu

THEME: LUCKY BREAKS — Classic lucky charms are split across several words / black squares

Theme answers:

• NUMB / ERSE / VENOM
• RETRAIN / BOWL CUT
• GRISHAM / ROCKIER
• ABHOR / SESH / OEUF

Word of the Day: BRET Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero" writer) —

Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a writer, is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. His novels commonly share recurring characters.

Good morning, besties! Surprise Malaika MWednesday because our CrossWorld King is on vacation. I am a biiiig fan of this type of theme, where the words break across black squares. Shameless self-promotion alert, the first puzzle I ever received payment for had this theme, you can solve it here. This theme works best when there's an apt revealer, and Matthew nailed it here!

All four of the lucky charms he selected are well-known-- RAINBOW is maybe the weakest link for me, but I do still think it works. And I appreciate how they are arranged in symmetrical rows, even if the theme content itself isn't symmetrical. (Generally, I don't have any strongly-held morals inre symmetry.)

With "five" theme answers (sort of more, actually), it's tough to get fun long answers that have no relation to the theme. (We typically call these "bonus answers.") It's even tougher when the central answer isn't 15 letters long, because it locks in some black squares in the central row. But Matthew still gave us PARABLE and CRONUTS and even PANERA.

Time for a Soup Interlude!! I went through a phase (6th-ish grade) where my main activity was going to the mall with friends and ordering potato soup in a bread bowl from Panera. I feel like we should bring back bread bowls. I don't see them anywhere anymore, or maybe I'm just in a too-hipster part of Brooklyn. Today I have only eaten soup: French onion soup, while watching the Croatia/Messi, I mean,  Argentina game, and then ramen for dinner. Please leave your four favorite soups in the comments.

Not much else to say about this puzzle-- Matthew Stock sure makes them easy to love! Or did I miss one of your gripes? Let me know below

xoxo Malaika

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