Word▶️ #7: Streamline
A pressing dilemma.
This puzzle takes us past the halfway point on Word▶️, and we intend it to be a breather after the rigors of Man in the Mirror. (Thanks especially to those solvers who took the time to leave a note after finishing that one — always good to know you are picking up what we're putting down — and also to those solvers who reached out asking for a nudge, which is fair play in our book.)
As we mentioned in our post earlier this week, perhaps the best tool to assist with a tricky puzzle is fellow puzzlers, and if you don't have any of those in arm's reach, we recommend the online community of cruciverbalists on the streaming service Twitch. Today's cryptic is our salute to that crowd — you certainly don't have to be extremely online to solve it, though YMMV on certain 21st-century terminology.
Thanks to Andy Stilp, John Sams and Norah Sharpe for test solves, and to Bill MacDonald for his edits.