The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29065.
Could there be a theme somewhere in here? I started out with some quick answers in the NW, but slowed down before the end. I would not put this puzzle among Brendan’s best (a fairly high hurdle), but the well nigh all-pervasive theme is deftly handled.
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | CLEVER |
Some domestic leverets, by no means hare-brained (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘domestiC LEVERets’. A leveret is a young hare. | ||
| 6 | EEYORE |
Rabbit’s friend finally gave the okay to enter home (6)
|
| Last letters (‘finally’) of ‘gavE theE okaY tO enteR homE‘. The mention of Rabbit as friend to A A Milne’s character is mainly for the theme. | ||
| 9 | JABBER |
Rabbit‘s retreat from beach, going back into vessel (6)
|
| An envelope (‘into’) of BBE, a reversal (‘going back’) of EBB (‘retreat from beach’) in JAR (‘vessel’). | ||
| 10 | ARACHNID |
eg scorpion in car had run amok (8)
|
| An anagram (‘run amok’) of ‘in car had’. | ||
| 11 | HERA |
Divine female among she-rabbits, a variety of hare (4)
|
| Definition and two word plays: a hidden answer (‘among’) in ‘sHE-RAbbits’; and an anagram (‘variety’) of ‘hare’. | ||
| 12 | COTTONTAIL |
American rabbit time after time found in strange location (10)
|
| An envelope (‘found in’) of TT (‘time after time’) in COONTAIL, an anagram (‘strange’) of ‘location’. | ||
| 13 | WELSH RABBIT |
Cheesy offering for poor performer in red jersey (5,6)
|
| A charade of WELSH (‘red jersey’ – the first colours of the Welsh rugby and soccer teams) plus RABBIT (‘poor performer’). | ||
| 18 | WALKABOUTS |
VIP’s moving appearances in public (10)
|
| A slightly cryptic definition. | ||
| 21 | REAR |
Raise something that may be brought up by latecomers (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 22 | BRETHREN |
Article’s lacking in inspiration regarding name for fellow believers (8)
|
| A charade of BRE[a]TH (‘inspiration’) minus the A (‘article’s lacking’) plus RE (‘regarding’) plus N (‘name’). | ||
| 23 | ANGORA |
Old marketplace importing new kind of yarn (6)
|
| An envelope (‘importing’) of N (‘new’) in AGORA (‘old marketplace’). Fitting the theme, angora wool comes from a rabbit. | ||
| 24 | SEESAW |
Fluctuate in encounter, with tense change in second half (6)
|
| A charade of SEE (‘encounter’) plus SAW (likewise, in past tense). | ||
| 25 | BEATEN |
Punished author who supposedly prioritised catching hare, we hear (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘we hear’) BEETON, a reference to Isabella Mary Beeton, the Victorian author of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. The recipe starting “First catch your hare” does not appear in that book, and the origin of the expression is murky. The clue does say ‘supposedly’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VERBIAGE |
Extremely depleted bag, ie awfully bad result of rabbiting? (8)
|
| A charade of VER[y] (‘extremely’) minus its last letter (‘depleted’) plus BIAGE, an anagram (‘awfully’ – you can throw ‘bad’ in here if you want) of ‘bag ie’. | ||
| 2 | METRIC |
Satisfied with strain in neck reduced? Not like hands and feet (6)
|
| A charade of MET (‘satisfied’) plus RIC[k] (‘strain in neck’) minus its last letter (‘reduced’). The ‘hand’ in the definition is the non-metric unit used principally for horses’ heights, standardized as 4 inches. | ||
| 3 | HECATOMB |
He’s taken on terrible combat, making great sacrifice (8)
|
| A charade of ‘he’ plus CATOMB, an anagram (‘terrible’) of ‘combat’. | ||
| 4 | TOP HAT |
From which rabbits may emerge — often with tails behind? (3,3)
|
| Double definition: the magician’s act, and “top hat and tails” as formal wear (or perhaps the ribbons attached to an undertaker’s formal hat). | ||
| 5 | CRAZED |
Caught and destroyed, like hare at start of spring? (6)
|
| A charade of C (‘caught’) plus RAZED (‘destroyed’). The definition refers to the expression “mad as a March hare”, which arises from their apparently erratic behaviour in the spring mating season. | ||
| 7 | ELICIT |
Conclusion reached by judge on lawful extract (6)
|
| A charade of E (‘conclusion reached by judgE‘) plus LICIT (‘lawful’). | ||
| 8 | EASTER BUNNY |
Seasonal deliverer of eggs, but mostly in Queens etc (6,5)
|
| A cryptic definition, I suppose, although the association of a rabbit or hare with Easter eggs is German in origin, and even when taken up in the USA is more associated with Pennsylvania Dutch than the New York borough. | ||
| 14 | SIBERIAN |
Kind of rabbit from south of European peninsula (8)
|
| A charade of S (‘south’) plus IBERIAN (‘of European peninsula’). | ||
| 15 | IRRIGATE |
Doctor getting into hot water (8)
|
| An envelope (‘getting into’) of RIG (‘doctor’, verb) in IRATE (‘hot’ – two less than obvious definitions). | ||
| 16 | HARRIS |
Writer about cunning rabbit in part of Scottish island (6)
|
| Double definition, the first being Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote the Uncle Remus stories, taken from African-American folklore, with the central character of Br’er Rabbit; the second is half an island, Lewis and Harris, in the Outer Hebrides. | ||
| 17 | WARREN |
Architect’s taken over interior of barn for Peter’s home (6)
|
| An envelope (‘taken over’) of AR (‘interior of bARn’) in WREN (Sir Christopher, ‘architect’). Peter in the definition is Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit. | ||
| 19 | KITTEN |
Small violin and half of score for one of Hazel’s family (6)
|
| A charade of KIT (‘small violin’. So now you know) plus TEN (‘half a score’). I find that there is a Hazel the cat in a Canadian animated television programme called Pikwik Pack. | ||
| 20 | SHARER |
Second animal rather like rabbit, right? Not hog (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘second’) plus HARE (‘animal rather like rabbit’) plus R (‘right’). |
I came here looking for an explanation for EASTER BUNNY, read the blog but didn’t find it, and then figured it out. “but mostly” is BU, inserted in EASTERN NY (Queens is the easternmost New York borough, if my mental mapping is correct).
Altogether, though, a very enjoyable puzzle, needing quite a bit of knowledge (or guessing) of trivia and/or GK.
Thanks B and P.
(I guessed that this puzzle would be by Brendan from the shape of the grid – he really seems to love this one!)
On 19d KITTEN: I vaguely remembered that Hazel was a rabbit in Watership Down, and googling seems to confirm that in the book the young rabbits are called kittens.
Thanks PeterO for enlightening me about the surprising singularity of Lewis and/or Harris!
(In my family the apocryphal Mrs Beeton quote was always said to be “First catch your bandicoot”!)
Thaankyou DR. Whatson, I had the NY bit as New York, but did not work out the rest. I missed the, fairly obvious, BU if I had been looking harder, which would have left the EASTERN stranded. I was thinking BRER for the cunning rabbit, but had long forgotten, if I ever knew it, the author’s name and eventually arrived at HARRIS via the i8sland.
I too started off well but got bogged down at the end. Much crawling through swamps and briar bushes.
Thanks both for puzzle and blog’ I had completely forgotten RABBIT for the tail of a batting line-up.
After Brendan’s recent prize I found this a bit ordinary. There were clues that I liked including JABBER, COTTONTAIL, ELICIT, IRRIGATE, and WARREN but I ended up revealing EEYORE, BEATEN, and METRIC instead of stepping aside and trying these again. (I still would have failed with BEATEN, not knowing who Beeton was.) Thanks to both.
I enjoyed all the bunnies but still don’t understand the kit part of KITTEN. Definitely remember Hazel in Watership Down.
Many thanks, both.
Meant to add I parsed EASTER BUNNY as DrW above.
I’d only solved four clues after half an hour (including two I’d never heard of: HERA & HECATOMB), so I gave up.
I’d only recently moved Brendan from my “don’t attempt” list to my “good” list, after a recent triumph, but alas, I’ve just moved him back.
I thought it was Welsh rarebit.
It seems pochettes are a family of small musical instruments and the ones shaped like a tiny violin are called a kit violin.
Who knew?
It’s either/or Geoff.
Indeed, William @8, not this ex fiddler.
And I always thought the ‘hare’ lady was Elizabeth David, hey ho. Quite fun, ta BnP.
I was unhappy with 18 across, as I could find nothing cryptic about it at all. With Brendan every word usually counts, so I was disappointed to be wasting my time on something that wasn’t there.
Hard work, with EASTER BUNNY unparsed and plenty only half-parsed, eg the expression attributed to Mrs. Beeton. Never heard of KIT in the ‘small violin’ sense and HETACOMB was just remembered. WALKABOUTS might only have been ‘slightly cryptic’ (or even not cryptic at all, as per Uncle Toby @11’s comment), but it still took me ages to work out.
Nimrod in the Indy today and now Brendan here; life wasn’t meant to be easy.
Thanks to Brendan and PeterO
Was rather disappointed to get to the end with no Updike or Angstrom…
Answers either went in straight away, or weren’t going to happen in a million years. Not one of my better attempts, and not one of Brendan’s either, in my view.
Thanks to PeterO and Brendan.
Thanks for the blog and comments. I thought it was clever to get in so many clues relating to the theme. Thanks to Brendan. At the risk of carping, Peter Rabbit doesn’t live in a warren but in a rabbit hole that has a human kitchen, human furniture, as well as a shop where Mrs. Rabbit sells various items (that’s taken from Wikipedia). I was looking out for Peter but that rang false.
Well, thanks Brendan, but I didn’t really enjoy this. As some one pointed out, the grid doesn’t help, and I couldn’t parse several, and I had to reveal far too many. I did like the juxtaposition of CLEVER EEYORE, however; was it intentional?
I was annoyed not to get COTTONTAIL, as I had already run through The Tale of Peter Rabbit; and EEYORE, as I had already run through Pooh’s friends. And I was also looking for Rabbit Redux or connections.
Thanks PeterO for coming to the rescue with so many answers.
An initially intimidating all-pervasive theme eventually resolved into a set of clues that I really enjoyed. Plenty of variation in how Brendan has used his key themers and I am certainly forgiving of stretchiness (just look at one of my puzzles!!!!) when a setter is working with such a constraint. I allowed myself the luxury of checking a few things on Google, once hesitantly entered, and discovered the small violin, the alternative spelling of ‘rarebit’ (having dismissed Welsh rarebit several times!) and the location of Queens in Eastern NY. Big ticks for that last clue, for EEYORE, COTTONTAIL, METRIC, TOP HAT, HARRIS and SHARER. Whether apocryphal or not, the allusion to Mrs Beeton’s advice puts BEATEN at the top of my list.
Thanks Brendan and PeterO
Unlike some here I thoroughly enjoyed this. I like clues like METRIC, where you get the wordplay and then the definition dawns on you, but also like EASTER BUNNY where you get the definition and then the wordplay emerges.
Like Petert @18, I really enjoyed this. A good mixture of wordplay and General Knowledge. I did not parse ‘Easter Bunny’ once the solution became obvious, and now that it has been explained I can see what a cleverly constructed clue it is. I would always spell the cheesy dish ‘Welsh Rarebit’, but I’m not surprised that the alternative spelling has crept in.
According to Fowler, “Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong.”
(sorry George! 😉 )
Another thumbs up from me, and chuffed to think I got the Queens reference which escaped our Long Island blogger. I shall be unbearably smug all day now.
Also liked the TOP HAT and TAIL joined at a T-junction. Thanks B & P.
Frustrating but fun. Unknown: the KIT violin (and I spent ages mentally listing the dramatis personae of Watership Down before remembering that baby bunnies are kittens). I deduced that Queens must be in EASTERN NY, and although I knew about the author of Brer Rabbit, I failed to connect him with the clue (having failed to find a Scottish island including BRER either forwards, backwards or sideways…) And then, having got the reference, I happily filled in BEETON rather than BEATEN. First catch your hare…
Pity there wasn’t room for Bugs Bunny. Sssh! Be vewwy, vewwy quiet! We’re hunting wabbits!
I’m with the lmost recent (at the time of typing) commenters in having thoroughly enjoyed this.
I was looking out for ‘Watership Down’ characters as soon as I sussed the theme and so, like Justin @2 and William @5, I had no doubt about Hazel at 19dn.
I agree with SueB @15 about Peter’s home but I did give a tick to the clue for the construction and surface.
Other favourites were 6ac EEYORE, 9ac JABBER, 11ac HERA, 22ac BRETHREN, 23ac ANGORA, 25ac BEATEN,15dn IRRIGATE and 16dn HARRIS,
which reminded me – is anyone else ancient enough to remember? – of the Disney film ‘Song of the South’, which delighted me as a small child.
Many thanks to Brendan and to PeterO.
Sorry, gladys @21, for omitting you re ‘Watership Down’.
Tough puzzle made a little easier by the rabbit/bunny theme. Many of my answers were unparsed making this puzzle less enjoyable for me. I don’t like to give up but I left 3 clues unsolved: 1d, 9ac (I suspected it might be related to rabbit = chatter but that’s as far as I got), 16d – Totally not on Brendan’s wavelength for these and I doubted I could guess the Scottish island anyway. Never heard of the writer Harris either as it turns out.
I did not parse:
6ac
13ac – I would never have known in a million years that ‘red jersey’ = the first colours of the Welsh rugby and soccer teams
22ac apart from RE + N
25ac – was wondering who the author was.
4d
19d – did not know why small violin = KIT and who is Hazel and her family?
New for me: the fact that Queens is in east New York city; WELSH RABBIT (I usually see it as ‘rarebit’); SIBERIAN rabbit.
Favourite: WARREN.
Thanks, both.
Loved the theme. Cute, and tasty. Used to be a form of currency. But now a pest in this part of the world.
[Not related to Brendan’s crossie but a comment from the last day or so:
“Edward and Sophie helped at a puppy class for trainee Guide Dogs in Reading.” Are the dogs being trained in braille? ]
Excellent as always from Brendan.
I believe Welsh Rabbit was the original name and it was later poshed up to rarebit.
Uncle Toby @11: 18a is at least slightly cryptic as Peter says, because in the surface “moving” conveys “emotionally affecting” while in the answer it’s to be taken literally.
Many thanks both.
Well done, with Brendan’s typical imagination, though all over far too soon for me. Although I saw the NY at the end, I failed to parse EASTER BUNNY, so hats off to those as did (great construction, actually, and therefore my COTD). I wonder if this was originally intended as an Easter crossword?
It was lucky that I knew that rarebits were properly rabbits, and that a kit was a small violin (used originally by dance masters, I think, but I haven’t checked).
Although it was a write-in for me, I was disappointed with the clue for BEATEN – the famous line is of uncertain origin, as PeterO has referenced, but is often taken to be a misquotation from Hannah Glasse and certainly not Mrs Beeton (who shamelessly stole all her recipes from previous cookbooks but never this deathless phrase).
Joel Chandler HARRIS is a contentious author these days, accused of cultural appropriation. And ‘Song of the South’, with its racist stereotypes, has been quietly dumped from the Disney archive.
Thanks to S&B
Gervase@27-absolutely-Hannah Glasse was the author and didnt Mrs B say catch your rabbit
And with Jessica missing I would say no cigar
VERY rare for me to criticise Brendan but he was also alongside Nimrod who shone like the er….Ramsay’s goalkeeping?
[I remember the inset Brer Rabbit cartoons from Song Of The South being fun, but from what little I remember of the surrounding live-action plot, set on a romanticised Old Plantation, I’ve decided I’d rather not revisit the film.]
Lovely themed crossword
Many thanks to Brendan and PeterO
[gladys @29 – I, too, remember very little: I was a very little girl. 😉 ]
Solved this in fits and starts, once I had worked out JABBER, then finally the clever METRIC. Thought SEESAW quite brilliant. Loved TOP HAT too. However, impetuously early on thought WARREN might be the answer to “rabbit’s retreat” at 9ac, with an A crosser in place, until I discovered it was in fact the answer to 17d. Had to come on here to see how EEYORE and HARRIS worked. This lovely Brendan offering felt personally quite topical as I’m off later in the week to visit Wyken Vineyard, in deepest Suffolk, which has the leaping hare as its symbol…
Thanks both. Didn’t have much time to give to this this morning so a lot of pop-reveal and ponder. Very enjoyable for all that.
[I play the role of EASTER BUNNY in life and I am thereby challenged to contrive some slightly cryptic clues as to eggs’ whereabouts. It’s the nearest I get to setting a crossword clue in the course of the year – it’s not easy! Makes me appreciate the skill of Brendan et al all the more.]
For those wondering, the story goes that in the 18th century the gentry would go out for a day’s shooting on their estates. As they often came back empty-handed, they woud console themselves with a “Welsh rabbit” (since they had shot no real rabbits) or a “Scotch Woodcock”.
Hence Ambrose Bierce’s comment about humourlessness: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1161358
I had to reveal KITTEN and HARRIS but I really enjoyed the theme. Hats off to EASTER BUNNY and SEESAW. Another looking for John Updike’s marvellous series of novels. (Must revisit sometime).
Ta Brendan & PeterO.
Quite tricky in places but worth it for EASTER BUNNY, which was brilliant!
Didn’t know about the rabbit/rarebit controversy although the clueing was clear that the former applied.
Thanks Brendan and PeterO
Hare-raising crossword with rabbity bits.
I thought: “Surely, EASTER BUNNY is not an American expression”, doh! Thanks to DWO@1 for revealing all; a very good clue. I also enjoyed SEE SAW for the unusual tense that wasn’t a T, COTTON TAIL for the good surface and anagram, and IRRIGATE, where I took a long time to find the doctor. I thought WALKABOUTS was cryptic as I needed a word search to solve it.
Thanks Brendan and PeterO, with his name-check.
WELSH RABBIT was a common supper in my childhood, but the clue for it with the red jersey was beyond me.
News to me that VIPs were given to WALKABOUTS — I thought it was Australian young folk.
2d I’ve always said “crick in the neck.” Apparently “rick” is the British way of saying it.
Is Eastern New York a thing? Of course, every place has an eastern part, but I don’t recall this being a familiar phrase like, say Western Australia or the Eastern Shore in Maryland.
Thanks, Brendan and PeterO.
Eileen@22 Zippity-doo-dah to you, and I do remember Song of the South. I don’t remember the racist parts (I was very small too) but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Thanks for the blog, I liked JABBER for the use of BBE and METRIC for the hands and feet.
I thought SIBERIAN was a kind of hamster closely related to a Stranglers album.
( AlanC @35 your number 1 yesterday has been recorded, last week I made Number 1 in Azed by 1 minute and Azed counts double. Current score 21-10 . ]
Some wonderful illumination in comments as usual. Henceforth, I may use “a Peter” to refer to a Brendan-blunder, since I should have checked on that character’s domestic situation. DeepThought @ 34, thanks for reminder of The Devil’s Dictionary, a masterpiece, thus: “Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work”.
Thanks PeterO, as I didn’t know the contentious Beeton reference (but it was a plausible enough educated guess), inexplicably and inexcusably forgot about the March Hare which would have made 5d much easier, and thanks various for notes on Rabbit vs Rarebit (I only recall seeing the latter on menus in my youth and now it’s often further elevated to Croque Monsieur/Madame). I will see Essexboy’s smugness and raise it by my young son’s when I tell him that he succeeded where others failed on 12A. I’m with Wordplodder on 18a and thought 9a and 15d superb. Thanks Brendan.
Very good, I thought. METRIC was rather CLEVER. A few GK references passed me by, but the combination of theme, neat clueing and crossers got me a full grid. EASTER BUNNY was an easy spot from the definition but the parse made me grin.
Cheers both.
I found this quite challenging in parts, but got there in the end. Tried to make JAGUAR fit at 9a – it’s quite surprising how many hits I got for ‘jaguar rabbit’ on Google – but in the end I decided that beaches are not entirely deserted in August, so had to think again.
WALKABOUTS was a disappointment, but I was thrilled to have solved and correctly parsed EASTER BUNNY.
Many thanks to Brendan (nothing wrong with 17d – having a fully equipped human kitchen doesn’t mean it’s not a WARREN 🙂 ) and to PeterO.
25a I remember hearing first line of a recipe for bear steak … “First, catch your bear …”
Enjoyed this – and we actually parsed them all, which is very rare.
HARRIS reminded me of how I loved the Uncle Remus stories as a child. The Tar Baby who sed nuthin while Brer Fox, he lay low, a particular favourite. Thanks both.
Not an easy crossword, thanks to setter and blogger. I did know kit, as Prince Turveydrop in Bleak House plays one as he teaches dance classes.
Well I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderfully entertaining hop; bright and breezy and a joy to solve
Many thanks Brendan and thanks to Peter O
My paternal grandmother, were she still with us, would be going absolutely spare at the idea of Welsh Rarebit being called Rabbit. She was a professional cook and always insisted on foodstuffs, dishes and all other matters culinary “sticking to their traditional nomenclature”. (Thank goodness she never lived to see pineapple on pizzas…)
Other than that, a pleasant bunny-filled romp – though I’m another who was hoping to encounter Jessica Rabbit & Bugs Bunny.
Oh well.
And the inclusion of EEYORE was a delight!
Thanks Brendan & PeterO
Thanks both,
[Elizabeth David in Mediterranean Food quotes an 1898 recipe for lièvre à la royale that begins ‘You require a male hare, with red fur, killed if possible in mountainous country; of fine French descent …’ I tried to replicate the recipe once, including the required 20 cloves of garlic. It was very good. I suppose one is not allowed to eat hare these days.]
Fun puzzle, but I got stuck in the SW. I originally had VIOLET for 19 (VIOL + ETch). Google told me there was a Violet in Watership Down, so I skated over the obvious Viol = small violin issue.
Couldn’t see the WALKABOUTS. In 24, shouldn’t the clue say “encounters”, so that we can manipulate SEESEE to SEESAW? Still a bit confused by that one.
Lots to like as always. Thanks, Brian and PeterO
Questions…
6a – I was trying to shoehorn S & D into HOME. How do you know what words “finally” refers to?
12a- is TT always the answer to “time after time”? Never heard of COONTAIL.
18a – gibberish to me I’m afraid.
22a – how do you know this is a charade?
25a – does this require supreme levels of random general knowledge?
1d – how do you know this is a charade?
2d – should “strain of the neck” not be CRICK?
I have so many other questions!
Thanks heavens for Dr. WhatsOn @ 1. Thank you. A pity you didn’t write the entire blog.
Steffen@51
6a “finally” would usually refer to just one word, but sometimes to many, as here – you can’t really tell which. In this clue, I surmised the definition would be Rabbits’ friend (from the structure of the clue) but then I tried to put ok in nest, or something similar, so I was completely fooled by this – so one up to Brendan.
12a TT never seen this before as far as I can remember. COONTAIL is an anagram of “location” as PeterO pointed out.
25 I would think Mrs Beeton is reasonably well known, but not an author who immediately springs to mind. “First catch your hare” I had to rely on PeterO for the explanation for this, but I do remember reading the quote from somewhere. So fairly esoteric GN for this clue, I would say.
Steffen @51: Time often means the letter “T.” Times, time after time, double time, or teetotaler (or any of its synonyms) can also mean “TT.”
Steffen @51
22a/1d: you don’t know, but given there are no other ‘construction’ words like in, around, back, up, etc you might presume they are charades. You are just writing out the meaning of the wordplay in order.
2d: Strain of the neck could be Crick on another day, but not here because Metcric isn’t a word.
It’s a tricky grid layout this one and sometimes I found there weren’t enough helpful crossers which made it a tough solve for me, but I had a delightful time with the rabbit theme nevertheless. Felt quite pleased with myself like some others above when I worked out the parse for 8d EASTER BUNNY. Like phitonelly@ 50, for a while I had VIOLET from “Watership Down” instead of KITTEN for 19d (parsed as phitonelly did) until nothing else around it made sense, with WALKABOUTS clearly the solution for 18a. Thanks to Brendan, who always seems to be able to pull rabbits out of hats, and to PeterO for the helpful blog. I’ve enjoyed reading the comments too.
Yes, I really liked this one. Everything did actually parse quite cleverly, when I looked hard enough …
I thought this was a delight, even if I had to admit defeat on the last four or so. EASTER BUNNY was a write-in, but the parsing was a real ‘ohhh’ moment.