Happy Thanksgiving!

Tonight, I am thankful for mashed sweet potatoes and Michael Shteyman. I was actually thinking this afternoon that it'd be nice to have another Shteyman puzzle soon. Here it is, a Thursday NYT puzzle with the bonus of a Fridayish difficulty level. We've got the standard gleaming fill, with entries like LIZ PHAIR, GAS TAX, US TOUR, CALLER ID, E CARD, and F TENS. We've got the standard Shteyman theme-with-circled-letters aspect, and the trademark shout-outs to college life (TESTERS SHOUT crossing EXAM). Not to mention the polished Shteyman/Shortz cluing, "Mind-set"? for MENSA being just one example. All that's missing is the Russian vibe, replaced here with Spanish and German. (Hey, does anyone else look at ONE CENT and think that it'd make a fine rapper's name?)

There's no Sun puzzle for Thursday since it's a holiday, but there is the cryptic crossword from Friday's Sun to work on while you digest your grand repast.

NYT 6:34
LAT 3:26
CS 2:56