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May 3 - 9, 2021 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Brian of "Chicago Med" 4. Applaud 8. "Your __ Parade" (1950-59) 11. Stewart or Steiger 12. "Jimmy Kimmel __!" 13. Hubbub 14. Role on "This Is Us" (2) 17. Source of quick cash, for short 18. "__ It Off"; Queen Latifah movie 19. One of the Simpsons 21. Meat market purchase 24. "The Last Man __ Earth" 25. Prefix for partisan or annual 26. "Whose Line Is __ Anyway?" 27. Dorothy's aunt 28. Couch 30. "__ of the Century"; game show of old 32. Crawling bug 34. Buddy 35. Omar __ __; actor on "The Unicorn" 41. Nigeria's official language 42. Linear measure 43. Suffix for govern or giant 44. Ames & Asner 45. Crematorium shelf supplies 46. "Are We There __?"; Nia Long/Ice Cube film DOWN 1. Refrain syllable 2. Very long time 3. Ferber's namesakes 4. Skelton's Kadiddlehopper 5. Cold sore site 6. Fifth or Pennsylvania: abbr. 7. Potpie ingredients 8. Speediness 9. Words that end bachelorhood (2) 10. Heavy weight 15. Sophia Loren & Gina Lollobrigida 16. "__ of Fortune"; 1990 Glenn Close film 19. Erica Durance's "Smallville" role 20. "Star Trek __ Darkness"; 2013 movie 22. Early fratricide victim 23. Green fruit 29. Cobra's teeth 31. Actress Kirstie 33. Health nut's lunch, perhaps 34. Prune stones 35. "The Singing __" (2007- 12) 36. "This Is the __"; 2013 James Franco film 37. And not 38. Night we watch "The Neighborhood": abbr. 39. 90 degrees from NNE 40. File drawer, perhaps Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By George Dickie It's a brave, new world for plus-size journalist Annie Easton as "Shrill" opens its third and final season on Hulu. Premiering Friday, May 7, the new round finds Annie (Aidy Bryant) en- ergized and finally free of her stiff of a boyfriend Ryan (Luka Jones) and back out in the dating scene, where she has wildly mixed experiences. At work at The Thorn, An- nie has managed to evade the cutbacks that have claimed other co-workers and actually thrived and gotten recognized for her work. But just as things seem to be going too well, a cold slap in the face comes from out of the blue. And in the season opener, that happens at the doctor's office, when the physician on duty sug- gests Annie have gastric bypass surgery during a physical. That, explains Bryant, comes from real life, in this case the personal ex- periences of both her and fellow series executive producer Lindy West. To say that Annie reacts bad- ly to the idea would be a gross understatement. "I know in my case, I went to a doctor for a physical just to be in a movie," Bryant recalls. "And he had never seen me before, had never done any blood work, and told me immediately that I should do gastric bypass. So I think, for a lot of fat people, that's a huge ex- perience going to the doc- tor, is this kind of massive advice that is life-changing that doesn't always feel like the right fit for you." Elsewhere this season, Fran and Emily (Lolly Adefope, Emily Fightmas- ter) take their relationship to the next level, Bill and Vera (Daniel Stern, Julia Sweeney) make a big announcement about their future and further shake- ups loom at The Thorn. As for Bryant, she's spent the last three years doing double duty with "Shrill" and "Saturday Night Live" and looks for- ward to having more free time, however sad she may be to say goodbye to Annie, a character she says she's grown with over the course of the show. "It's very bittersweet to me," Bryant says. "I'm, of course, sad that the show is ending. I love working with Ali (Rushfield, execu- tive producer) and Lindy, and our cast and crew in Portland have been such a transformational experi- ence to me. So that part, I'm incredibly sad about. But I also am so proud of what we've made, and it feels like a really nice beginning, middle and end to me. So that piece of it feels really nice." Annie dives headlong into the dating scene in Season 3 of Hulu's 'Shrill' The identity of the featured celebrity is found within the answers in the puzzle. In order to take the TV Challenge, unscramble the letters noted with asterisks within the puzzle.

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