Friday, May 26, 2023 - Three cheers for the MERCYRULE (and its application to tomorrow's puzzle 😀 😀 )

A challenging Friday crossword, especially the dreaded northeast corner, home to quite a few posers (31A, Tough nut to crack, POSER 😀), and one clue that required a lot of scholarship to suss out (10D, Knowledge, or a means to acquire it, SCHOLARSHIP 😀 😀). In short, this crossword was 14A, "Smart!", VERYCLEVER. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and ...