Sunday, April 14, 2024 - 🎶 All we are saying, is give PAESE a chance 🎶 🙄

A crunchier than usual Sunday crossword by John Rippe and Jeff Chen, a side-effect, perhaps, of a brilliant theme that had Jeff Chen's fingerprints all over it. There were many clever clues - 35A, Something you might break into, SONG (ha!); 9D, Game with annoying pop-ups, WHACAMOLE (raising again, that epic question, where'd the K go?); and 97A, Outstanding, OVERDUE (like Lucy v. Charlie Brown, we always fall for that clue!). But the pièce-de-résistance of the entire puzzle had to be the them...