Hard to get into the western section because of hyper-vagueness of 23A: Up *and* 23D: Well. Between the vagueness of 3D: Wear out ( TIRE) and the '?'-ness of 1D: Isn't oneself? ( ACTS) *and* 1A: Crash protection? ( AUTOSAVE), I had trouble just getting started. I struggled a lot, but primarily with the shorter, less generationally-specific fill.

This puzzle felt aimed at a younger generation than my own, but that's cool. CHICK LIT also just doesn't have the snap and crackle (and currency) of CHICK FLICK, which is what I wanted when I first read the clue (both titles being most famous as movies, not books-though they were certainly famous books as well) ( 14A: 'Waiting to Exhale' or 'Bridget Jones's Diary,' dismissively). books by and about women (I should add that most everyone I know is a woman)). I was (much) less happy with CHICK LIT, a stupid derogatory term that I know about but have actually never heard (most everyone I know is a huge reader and it's actually pretty rare for someone to talk shit about an entire category of book, esp. I like ' I MEAN, REALLY!' the best of all the colloquial phrases, because it is both current and right on the money, phrasing-wise ( 48A: 'Surely you know that's ludicrous'). I threw that across the grid with a prayer, thinking 'lol that's probably not right,' so when it was, I was happy.

As for ' HELL TO THE NO,' it's corny and dated, but I liked it ( 19A: 'As frickin' if!'). marks) ' THAT IS SUCH A MOOD,' one of the first hits is the NYT's own crossword blog, and yes, google knows me, and knows that I am a crossword person, and probably knows my favorite drinks and songs and what I had for dinner last night and blood type, but still, if a phrase is perfect, it generally won't return crossword sites on the first page of hits. I dunno, too formal? Not even a contraction on 'THAT IS'? When you go for something that's super-current, sticking the landing feels important. But ' THAT IS SUCH A MOOD,' while it's totally comprehensible as is, just feels. My daughter is Gen Z and my students are currently all Gen Z (and have been for year now) and 'mood' is absolutely ordinary slang, but the phrase I usually here is that something is 'a mood' or (more often) 'a whole mood.' Sometimes in texts or social media posts you just get stand-alone 'mood,' which concisely conveys the entire 'I can relate' sentiment. It has big 'I need to make this 15 letters' energy. It's just that the phrasing on that central answer felt off. This one is trying really hard to be 'fresh.' Really hard. A more traditional method is to use leaves instead of moulds. The tree holds the trays above the level of boiling water in a pot, and the pot is covered until the idlis are done (about 10–25 minutes, depending on size). The perforated molds allow the idlis to be cooked evenly. The finished idli batter is put into greased moulds of an idli tray or 'tree' for steaming. After fermentation some of the batter may be kept as a starter culture for the next batch. Next, the mixture is left to ferment overnight during which its volume will more than double. Once done soaking, the lentils are ground to a fine paste and the rice is separately coarsely ground, then they are combined. Optionally spices such as fenugreek seeds can be added at the time of soaking for additional flavour.

To make Idli, four parts uncooked rice (idli rice or parboiled rice ) to one part whole white lentil (black gram, Vigna mungo ) are soaked separately for at least four hours to six hours or overnight. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolised by the body.

The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice. Idli or idly (plural: idlis ) is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from South India, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. Word of the Day: IDLI ( 48D: Steamed rice cake).

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