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Gentle giant on Game of Thrones / SAT 1-22-22 / Unrivaled champion in slang / Danish tourist attraction with multiple play areas / Person who lives on discarded food / Kind of coffee made with a flask and a filter
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Constructor: Daniel Okulitch
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: LEGO HOUSE (9D: Danish tourist attraction with multiple play areas) —
Lego House is a 12,000-square metre building filled with 25 million Legobricks in Billund, Denmark, located near Legoland and the headquarters of The Lego Group. It is also known as Home of the Brick with reference to Billund, where Lego originates. Visitors can experience a variety of activities during their visit, including physically and digitally building with Lego bricks, programming robots and animating models. The centre's visitor experience includes four experience zones, two exhibitions and the Lego Museum, which showcases the history of the Lego brand and company.Lego House has been recognised for its innovative design, which aimed to reflect the Lego brand. The building incorporates 21 staggered blocks that resemble Lego bricks, with nine roof terraces containing children's play areas. The house was designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group and was inaugurated on 28 September 2017. The building is owned and maintained by Lego System A/S. (wikipedia)
"Lego House" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 11 November 2011 as the third single lifted from his debut studio album + (pronounced "plus") of 2011. It was released as the second single in the US on 11 February 2013. It was written by Sheeran, Jake Gosling and Chris Leonard, and produced by Jake Gosling.
The song received its first radio play on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 8 September 2011 and was Sheeran's first song to make the BBC Radio 2 playlist. The remix featuring P Money premiered on MistaJam's BBC Radio 1Xtra show on 30 September 2011. The music video features actor Rupert Grint, as a play on their similar appearance. The song did well worldwide, reaching top 5 on Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK Singles Chart, and top 50 on other countries including United States. (wikipedia)
• • •
I do love a POUR OVER, so I'm excited to get this write-up finished and go downstairs for the Chemex ritual that marks the dividing line between early-morning blogging and the Actual Day. Best time of the day, by far: the coffee-making time. Just me, the coffee, the cats, and the morning darkness. The coffee reveries are strong this morning, where was I? ... Oh, yes, this grid is very clean and lively. We've seen FREEGAN recently, but it remains a good, current answer (13A: Person who lives on discarded food). I love a good PLOT TWIST, and I loved "The French Dispatch," particularly the segment that starred Frances McDormand and TIMOTHÉE Chalomet (lots of people thought this was the weakest segment, apparently, but it just *looked* so cool I don't see how that's possible). I enjoyed remembering BOTTOM even though most Shakespeare comedies leave me slightly cold (Looking forward to watching Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington in "Macbeth" some time very soon...; the tragedies, those are my groove).
I thought 28D: Chips, e.g. (SNACK) was STACK at first, because of poker. I had RES before I had LEX at 5D: Justinian law, which is really the stupidest error. I mean, I saw right through the clue, knew it had to be the Latin word for "law," and wrote in ... the Latin word for "thing" instead. Faceplant, albeit a brief one. The clue on BRAILLE was probably the trickiest one of the day, as it uses " with feeling" in such a misleading way (I wanted something to do with oration or recitation, obviously) (35A: Words read with feeling). I liked seeing HOT COMB, which is the title of a wonderful collection of comics by Ebony Flowers (15D: Hair-straightening tool); it's a collection I've taught in my comics class a few times now. Speaking of my comics class, I really Really gotta get to work on that syllabus today (the semester starts on Tuesday). Hope you enjoyed this puzzle as much as I did. Never gonna be mad to see a snappy Friday puzzle on a Saturday. Give me easyish and bright over tough and plodding any day. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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117 comments:
Easy as pie
I agree with the Easy rating. No real overwrites today. Had to get HORCRUX and HODOR from crosses, but they were crossed fairly. Didn't know POUROVER -- my coffee knowledge is limited to K-Cup and French press -- but it's inferrable. Remembered Eva LONGORIA because of Evan, the baseball player (they're not related).
"Ouch" is what one says after getting an "owie." I have never heard, nor read, "ouchie." You shouldn't get to simply make up words.
Another big edit fail today.
The Danish tourist attraction is LEGOS HOUSE.
I was loving this as I worked in a generally counter-clockwise direction. The NE, full of PPP, foreign stuff, and other junk(freegan), was ugly. I still liked the puzz a lot but that NE corner tarnished the overall experience.
Some highs and lows today. Excellent clues for BRAILLE and VALENTINE for example (HIRED GOON may have tried a little too hard, but ok - not too bad).
Unfortunately they went with the very trivial trivia strategy to amp up the difficulty for a Saturday (I obviously enjoy it much more when they to it via wordplay) - so today we have a plethora of pretty much one insomnia cure after another - HORCRUX, FREEGAN (once was once too many), HODOR (?), SOO, MES, TIMOTHEE (Dune), LEX, MANGE, . . . So a little bit of everything but a touch heavy on the esoterica for my taste.
I’ll note that the clue for MOLTO BENE was well done at least (get it?). I’ll finish with a trivia question of my own - does anyone know why MACH is persona non grata when it comes to SB ?
Lol, huge EGOBOOST, I am the Saturday solving GOAT. Look at me, calling a Saturday easy. MOLTOBENE me. Think I'll have some ICECREAM for breakfast.
Definitely had SLUrpeE before SLUSHIE, and THAT, of all things, LOL, slowed me down on a Saturday. Every letter of HORCRUX and HODOR came from the downs, as neither even rings a bell. Favorite problem was I didn't fix BASIS at 1A until the end. iDUE wasn't awful, and I started thinking I might have to look into this Justinian law thing a bit. But quickly fixed it and the chimes SANGTO me, with my fastest Saturday ever. Agree SPF was the most entertaining. Once again 7:20 and nothing to read, LOL, other than Rex, which I do enjoy enough to pay, just not sure I would without the rest of you. Happy Saturday, all.
LOL, forgot to mention I was hoping it was Wembley so we could talk about whether the UK is still in Europe...
Four minutes faster than yesterdays' solve. SARIS in the first set of downs set the tone for the entire puzzle. There's no clue that can mask an entry that obvious. Knowing that 1A was BASAL not BELOW I dropped in ARCHED and LEX just as fast as SARIS. HORCRUX jumped out at me before I even read the clue.
It wasn't all like a Monday. I considered BRAVADO before BRAILLE and the spelling of TIMOTHEE was once again confusing but overall the feeling was early week and a disappointment for a Saturday.
yd -0
I totally missed the charm of this puzzle as I briskly filled in the squares. Only four red plus signs in the margins.
*** Wordle alert ***
I like the golf analogy one or two of us have suggested here. Four is par, three is birdie, two is Eagle, and one is an ace. Five is a bogie and six is a double bogie. Today I got a par when my birdie putt lipped out. My third try had all the letters in their correct positions except for the first letter.
Ah, yes the comic book professor tells us to read a real book and then pops "horcrux" into the puzzle with no problem.
Had almost the identical solve as Rex today, even slurpee to slushie, and the gymnastics grid spanner off "me". Way too easy for my Saturday expectations, and a pretty crummy week over-all. We don't seem to get many all-star selections anymore, do we ?
Big football weekend, yay !
Easiest one ever, probably not really Saturday material, but I liked it. Now my Saturday best is faster than my Friday best.
A wide, handsome looking grid, limited 3’s and fun cluing - nice puzzle. A few short of a pangram - but nothing overdone. Didn’t really know LONGORIA at first and HOT COMB is new. Liked POUR OVER and EGO BOOST. Rex’s discussion was spot on.
That X in 19a really jumped out of the grid at me today - so from most of the band that made SLASH Records famous there’s this.
Enjoyable Saturday solve.
Super easy except for the NE, where I floundered fatally and had to look things up, I guess that means a DNF. Do not know any Game of Thrones anything (I’ve heard of Ned Stark), couldn’t remember Longoria, couldn’t figure out the Italian, had ‘gleaner’ instead of FREEGAN (a horrible word), put in ‘opaque’ instead of ADDLED. And, did not know the LEGOHOUSE. It was MESSY.
But the rest of the puzzle was easy and fun - love THIMOTHEE Chalomet, and I agree with Rex about The French Dispatch.
FH
Yes, it was easy, especially NW and SW, and I would have had a record (under 14.00) if I hadn't spelled SLUSHEE that way, and had FREEGAN as FREEMAN, which left me with EM_B__ST for 10 Down. Finally twigged LONGORIA and got the other 2 Os, neither of which I knew - - I disdain Hamilton (or more accurately, its veneration) as much as you-know-who disdains H. Potter (because J.K. stained her otherwise impeccable left-wing credentials with a few comments about gender). Soo I never would have been able to answer 25A. Finally finished in 15.56 but I coulda been a contender.
Easy-medium for me. There were enough misdirections and errors that it slowed me down significantly.
I remembered the recent FREEGAN discussion but not the word, so I put in ecovore (thinking it had to end in "vore"). I spelled SLUSHiE wrong. I had nEttED for REELED. Fixing those took some time and effort.
For the (good/clever) misdirections - It took me a long time to see AFLOAT because I was seeing "solvent" in the chemistry way, not financially. For PLOT TWIST, I was trying to come up with a specific example, such as the long lost identical cousin, surviving certain death when they have already buried a body, amnesia, etc etc.
The clue for SPF (screen rating) really got me. Good clue. I am sure I have seen it before but did not remember it at all - had to use all the crosses. I liked the clue for BRAILLE, and the one for SALON.
Good puzzle. Quite a bit easier for me than yesterday. This one was less than double my PR for today, and yesterdays approached triple my PR for Fridays.
@Rex - I agree that one should read outside the mainstream, but what can one use from Ursula Le Guin or less known SF or fantasy writers that we would find acceptable, even on a Saturday? I have seen "grok" in the puzzle from Stranger in a Strange Land (fabulous book btw), but it seems reasonable only because this word has made it somewhat into popular language, at least among science-types. Millions upon millions of people have been exposed to HODOR and HORCRUX, and all within the last decade or two. I expect that HODOR will become irrelevant as we get further from the GOT airings. HORCRUX may live a bot longer as the Harry Potter books were very widely read, and the movies continue to air regularly.
Thx Daniel; excellent Sat. puz! Always up for some MENTAL GYMNASTICS. :)
Easy-med.
Moved smoothly thru this one, with no major holdups.
Last to fall were the TIMOTHEE / MES & POUR OVER / HORCRUX crosses.
Recalled FREEGAN from a recent xword. Knew HODOR from reading and watching G.O.T..
Fun solve! :)
Good, crunchy cryptic this week; certainly doable, tho. :)
@puzzlehoarder 👍 for 0 yd
@mathgent (7:54 AM)
Like your Wordle/golf analogy. :)
___
yd pg (11:18) / Wordle 4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
If you really need Fantasy by someone who can really wrie, try The Absolute Book by Elizabeeth Knox. No book lover, or lover of good prose, could regret it.
@anonymous 6:56 - what about the Fauci ouchie? This is a real term used by some who have been arguing that we should not get vaccinated.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=fauci+ouchie&type=E211US105G0#id=17&vid=9b12d405593d2a190af5283a27152677&action=click
Is something bike rack related an acceptable Saturday clue for SARIS? It seems to me that SARIS and Thule dominate the market and so either should be crossworthy. I normally would oppose the PPPification of a clue but Mumbai wraps was so early in the week easy that i was wishing for something a wee bit more challenging.
HIRED hand/help/GOON was my only writeover. This felt much more Friday than Saturday to me. Sailed down the west side but the east side did use up a few more precious nanoseconds. Even with -DDLE- in place ADDLED was not immediately obvious. But that and not realizing why they chose “gorilla” for the 29D clue were my only slowdowns of note.
@The Joker - 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
As @Barbara S learned late yesterday, Blogger cannot handle emojis, including the Wordle™️ grid, if you preview before publishing. It’s annoying but Blogger is from before emojis and it shows.
**Wordle Alert**
@mathgent - Did someone suggest that golf analogy here? I first saw it on Twitter from OFL. If it has been used here I must have glossed over it.
After two guesses today I only had two vowels, one in the right spot. Still managed to solve in four but it took some effort.
@Southside: I suspect that SB doesn't like Mach because it's a proper name. I've never seen it written with a lower-case M. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number#Etymology), "The Mach number is named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach."
@The Joker 7:07 - Lego.com calls the site Lego House (not Legos House) on the VIP page where you can get tickets to attend. I would assume that they would be authoritative on this manner. It is also the same on the official site legohouse.com
https://legohouse.com/tickets/standard/picktimeslot/
This falls into the four mini=puzzle category for me. NW, easy, HOTCOMB gave me the M for MENTALGYMNASTICS (agree that the clue was a dead giveaway), SW easy, SE slowed by the SLURPEE SLUSHIE thing, and then the NE, with its SOO, HODOR, LONGORIA hold ups. Guessed the LEGO thing because of "Danish" and spelled MOLTO with a U because Spanish but everything eventually fell into place, even FREEGAN, which after I wrote it in said hello, how did you forget me so soon? Sorry.
Maybe HODOR will become one of those HP references like HORCRUX that I'll know without actually having read that far in the series. Looks like these things are here to stay, like it or not (I don't).
Sorry I misidentified Josh Sargent as Joe in last night's post. If you haven't seen his ridiculous goal from yesterday and you have any interest in soccer, please check it out.
Very nice Saturdecito, DC. Do Come back with more like this, and thanks for the fun.
I thought some folks coined "Fauci Ouchie" for their vax sites.
@Z, I think the short answer is "No".
References to Harry Potter, Dune, or Game of Thrones. Ugh. I’d like to see this stuff disappear from all future puzzles. Don’t judge me.
Glad of today's ease. Wide awake at 4 am, decided to try solving. Finished and went back to sleep. Must have been the satisfaction of achievement. Hope everyone stays warm today.
Thank you Rex. Thank you for slamming Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, two sources of just… plain… garbage.
Out there is Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series, which is so much better than anything Rowling has written.
And GOT… remove the violence, sex and nudity and you have… nothing.
Gee thanks, comic book professsor, for telling us we need to “grow up” and stop reading GOT. Literary gatekeeping, that’s nice. Judgy much?
@Joker: Someone should tell the LEGO people that they've got the wrong name on their tourist attraction:
https://legohouse.com/en-gb/
In fact, the use of "Legos" is chiefly an American usage (and is viewed as incorrect by most of the rest of the world.)
More of a cartwheel than MENTAL GYMNASTICS, but who doesn't like to feel smart on the Saturdee?
🧠
🎉🎉🎉
A ton of unknowns: SOO, HODOR, POUR OVER, HOT COMB, TIMOTHEE, but crosses all fair.
Had SLUSHeE in at first, and wondering what could possibly start with ECECR.
Great clue for BRAILLE.
But alas, absolutely no resistance. Remember how we all mocked Thurdsay’s puzzle for being too easy? This was even easier.
@The Joker - 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 - I feel less bad about people taking what I think are obvious jokes seriously.
To recap - LEGOs was in a puzzle awhile back, leading to one of our common discussions about plurals as correctness. As I recall, in the end we all agreed to LEGOpodes.
Rex,
Given that you continue to bang the same drum, I feel it’s reasonable to ask you, please,
define what a woman is.
@SouthsideJohnny (7:19 AM) re: MACH and SB
Further to what @Conrad (8:31 AM) said:
"Mach is a ratio that relates the speed of a moving body to the speed of sound in the substance that the body is moving through. Most often, Mach is used with a number such as Mach 1, which is the speed of sound, Mach 2 which is twice the speed of sound, and so on. The word Mach is taken from the name Ernst Mach, a physicist who was active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Note that the word Mach should be capitalized." (Grammarist.com)
Looks like MACH is good for Scrabble, tho:
• TWL/NWL (Scrabble US / Canada / Thailand)
• SOWPODS/CSW (Scrabble UK / International)
• ENABLE (Words with Friends)
(Scrabble Word Finder.org)
@Z (8:30 AM)
Agreed! today's Wordle was a bit scary. After two, I had only two letters, both wrongly placed. I was lucky to get it in 4.
___
td pg (24:45) / Wordle 4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
First of all, when I think of a GOAT (in a context other than agricultural), my mind immediately flies to my beloved Cubs, who have helped check a major item off my bucket list. The GOAT ritual at Wrigley Field is a sure sign that the best part of the spirting year is upon us. I never miss watching the news clip when a real GOAT is paraded through Wrigley to banish any evil vibes and ensure Cubs victories. Since the answer today was obviously THE GOAT, I tossed it in but was unsure of its meaning. So now I know.
I was a tad sluggish out of the gate only because I doubted myself. I felt way too sure of the NW answers intil I got to MENTAL GYM ASTICS. Once I saw that clue and the grid spannjng answer, I entered it and went back (literally) to “square one,” and nearly beat my Saturday record. And I have never read a word of or seen any GOT. I am often amazed at bow much trivia I learn about things with which I have zero actual knowledge or even familiarity. Thanks crosswords!
All I can say is great job Mr. Okulitch! I enjoyed the variety of answers and the care you took with clues. Thanks also to my dear niece, Emily who is single handedly responsible for my knowledge of all things Harry Potter. The books began to be published just as she hit school age. My favorite memory is helping her devise a magic wand that could “really” make a small feather move ny employing the appropriate wrist movement, the “swish and flick.” The magic of a child’s willing suspension of disbelief warms the very cockles of my heart, every single time.
A fine Saturday if easy, although I see trouble on the horizon. The entire week has been easy for me. I fear what is in store in the days to cone. I have never in memory had an entire week for which I have been granted the a “Wheelhouse Visa,” and am certain mine will expire soon. Been a fun week though!
Hey All !
Zoom! That was today's recap. Took 45 minutes to do YesterPuz, with cheating, today's took 24 minutes. Half the time. Um, puzs switched?
Great clue for BRAILLE. Wanted AMNESIA for PLOT TWIST, but too short. I think every character on every Soap Opera has had amnesia at least once. Was thinking EGGsomething at first for EGOBOOST. Har. Tough for me was to get rid of VINO for VINS. Looked back at the clue, and saw the "et". Ah, says I, must be plural. (The ole brain still functions on occasion.)
For 12D coffee clue, was looking for a type of coffee, not a method. Or is that a type I haven't heard of?
Monty Python DROLL? DROLL-ish. 😁 Wink Wink Nudge Nudge
So a nice non-brain straining puz. No SEE NOTEs, no what in tarhooties. No KINKs. To Daniel, I say MOLTO BENE!
yd -7, should'ves 3
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I count this as easy also since my stats showed that I might have had a personal best EXCEPT I was stuck at HORCR*X/AD*E and picked “I” as my first try. And how DID Rex know HORCRUX? Well, I suppose that is “crossed fairly” if you know ADUE. Anyway, an easy DNF for me!
Well, I didn’t read the books that comprise GOT but I found Rex to be a bit dismissive with respect to fantasy readers. My reading taste is all over the spectrum. I tried Ursula LeGuin once and could not get into the book. Might I suggest substituting Neil Gaimon for UKL with respect to fantasy? And, you have a REAL treat if you listen to an audiobook that HE narrates.
I am going to ask a stupid question. What does “clean grid” mean? Is it the visual or the substantive nature of the puzzle?
Ok, I bid you ADUE
Maybe easy if you knew HORCRUX, HODOR, LONGORIA, and TIMOTHEE. I should have known the last, as I've seen her name before; and I've heard of LONGORIA, but no idea she was connected to that particular show. So I really struggled; I basically got stuck after each of the little segments and had to start all over. My first entry was FREEGAN, but that led nowhere (I knew of Legoland, but not LEGO HOUSE). and then there was the SLUrpeE/SLUSHIE elongated kealoa, made even worse by the ee/IE indeterminacy at the end. I also made it hard on myself by wanting to put in MENTAL GYrations at first. Fortunately, I counted it out.
I almost put in dpi for the screen rating -- I had the P -- but then I saw SALON and the scales fell from my eyes.
I did like the clue for BRAILLE; and having the French word SINGES crossing the gorilla was a nice touch.
Well, it's Saturday, and this was a nice struggle. But not easy for me.
Philosophical question: does a SECT have to be small?
Well, let's see. Harry Potter, no. Desperate Housewives, no. Game of Thrones, no. Dune, no. Justinian Law, no.
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how'd ya like the play?
Actually, I liked it a lot. Especially Mental Gymnastics. Aside from the hell in Natick with the brutal Horcrux (oh please take that word outside and bury it deep) and Lex, fun.
Technically DNF. I had Basic for 1A (and see above). Check revealed Fubar, suddenly thought how "bout Basal and then just kept pelting letters at Horcru- / Le- until the music played. I think it played. I was just typing letters.
Loved clues for Parade and Braille. So clever. Rest of the cluing could've been looked at to see where some glitter could be sprinkled. As it was, the cluing felt like trivia questions.
But that's just a suggestion for the future puzzles I hope that we see from Okulitch.
My mother-in-law and I watch Days of Our Lives when I visit with her once or twice a week. The Plot Twists have included many kidnappings. Many, many kidnappings. And the police are never involved.
Loved this one! MENTALGYMNASTICS, LEGOHOUSE, AND BRAILLE with a terrific clue all made it totally worth it.
Record saturday time for us (Son and me) at 15:01. Terrific fun, thanks Daniel O for an amazing, if somewhat EASEier than average puzzle. Really enjoyed it!
Would have been fun on a Friday.
The J.K. Rowling rage always feels a mite performative, no?
@The Joker
"The Danish tourist attraction is LEGOS HOUSE."
Not according to its website: legohouse.com, or its logo on homepage of said website.
After cruising easily through 4/5ths of this very easy Saturday, I stumbled in the NE and couldn't finish. Not even with a HODOR cheat.
Look, I had ForaGer instead of FREEGAN for "person who lives on discarded food" and FORAGER is the perfect answer, I'm thinking. Especially when the F is confirmed by AFLOAT and the G is confirmed by EGO BOOST. There was no way that changing that answer would have ever crossed my mind.
But what do I do with ?O?LL for the Monte Python humor? And what do I do with R?NO for the young hombre? And what do I do with ?E?E? for "ventured"? And what do I do with ?R?T for "depression"?
My ill-fated Northeast venture today was not filled with Monte Python humor or any other kind of humor. In fact it was a cause for depression :)
Just kidding. I never mind a puzzle that stumps me -- only one that fails to engage me in MENTAL GYMNASTICS. That's my favorite answer in the puzzle, btw.
Isn't there some fancy French name for those cone/pot POUR OVER coffee makers?? POUR OVER is just to simple for Sat.
And way, way too many niche names. Come on guys.
Well what did I say yesterday? I was hoping for a yummylicious Saturday and, by gum, I got one. I yelled to my husband how much I loved this puzzle and he yells back "you love anything you can finish...." I told him that wasn't true...My bestie always makes her favorite creamed corn (which I hate) when we go for dinner and I always finish it.....mumble, mumble.
BARCELONA my first entry ...Go Gavi. Dios mio...I was hot to trot. I even knew HORCRUX and all the other names floating hither and yon. One favorite was seeing TIMOTHEE (he was terrific in "Lady Bird") and then being reminded of Dune. I read all of his books a few moons ago. While riding BART to Union Square every morning I'd get my fantasy dose. I was pregnant with our son at the time so I figured I had a good 8 or so months to be happily entertained. I was...My favorite was "Sandworms" and then wondering if Arrakis (sp?) would ever survive in the end.
I got MENTAL GYMNASTICS off of the ME and the GY. So I did my usual pondering. I only know of one orange GOAT who fits the description of having the mental ability to distort the truth. He's no longer in the White House but his march keeps beating on. We need a HIRED GOON.
Loved me some BRAILLE and best of all, VALENTINE...My husband and I have birthdays in February so we wait till Valentines to have a lovely dinner. This years it's going to be Lobster Thermador and File Mignon. A side of "papas bravas" and grilled asparagus. I also will chill our bottle of my favorite "Veuve Clicquot" Champagne that my sister gave me for Christmas. It shall be jolly and fun.
Thank you Daniel, you made me smile on a Saturday; nary a little peek at dastard Google.
Apologies Dept.-
Sorry for misreading our constructor's name. I plead absence of reading glasses and ask for a Do Over.
Too easy for a Saturday. Granted, this was total wheelhouse with HORCRUX and HODOR gimmes and MOLTO BENE as my go-to phrase during my week spent in Italy (twenty years ago now, yikes!). I join @jberg in trying to turn MENTAL GYrations first. And not knowing Spanish conjunctions, I tried for rojo before VINS. I jumped over to 21D figuring that central J would make it an easy answer and came up with...MANGE?
The hardest section for me was the SE because SLUSHeE had me looking for an eCE sandwich. But SPY ON confirmed my SANG TO guess and all was well.
Thanks, Daniel Okulitch, nice puzzle. But I think this should have been slated for Friday.
@Trey:
what about the Fauci ouchie?
You want an answer? Here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/19/czech-folk-singer-hana-horka-dies-after-deliberately-contracting-covid
A sure fire Darwin Award winner.
Had lots of fun with this puz tho the only PPP I DARED to drop in without guesses was BOTTOM. But best of all were the videoclips of two of my favorite directors, Coen and Wes Anderson! Might I VENTURE(D) Into a theater, you ask? Not yet!
Easy, with a few Medium touches, fun to solve, and offering a few gratifying EGO BOOSTs from seeing through tricky clues at first glance. With MENTAL GYMNASTICS in early, I did a sort of solver's zig-zag stitch up and down over that row that took care of most of the grid. Lots of pleasures in the long Downs.
Slow spots: I, too, expected a specific PLOT TWIST (to those already named, I'd add inexplicable blindness [Iris, The Young and the Restless]); my last square filled was the cross of LEGO_OUSE and _ODOR, where I wondered if the obvious H was a trap.
Do-overs: LONGeRIA, SLUSHeE, SEE also. Help from previous puzzles: FREEGAN, Xener cards, THE GOAT. No idea: HODOR.
On the website for the attraction in Billund it is called Lego House
@GILL -- I hope your creamed-corn-cooking bestie doesn't read the comments section today.
But, wow -- you have (cook????) Lobster Thermidor and Filet Mignon on the same night? Forget the Ritz in London -- I want to have dinner at your house, @GILL!
Lots of fun tho lots of PPP except silly BOTTOM was unknown. Enjoyed the videoclips for two of my favorite directors, Coen and Anderson. I haven’t DARED venture into a theater, but might I, you ask? Ummm maybe…
I go to a real-life hair SALON in Manhattan with a monicker that's every bit as good as 41A's "Scissors Palace", "Anita Haircut", or "Do or Dye". Are you ready for it?
It's "Shear d'Art" on East 84th Street.
ALAS, indeed, first DNF in ages. Easy MENTAL GYMNASTICS in 3/4 were fun Daniel, but that NE mini puzzle killed me. Two stage names & an absolute block at FREEGAN which I just couldn’t dredge coupled with Masa instead of MEAL…..well, some days are like that! Maybe I can find my Sharpie & have more luck with Wordle?
Certainly not easy for me and my compliments to those for whom it was. I had to work and even cheat a time or two to finish. Don’t know Italian and never heard of LEGO HOUSE but sounds like a cool place. Then there was my old nemesis Game of Thrones and the omnipresent Harry Potter trivia. Bleh! Eva LONGORIA however, was a breath of fresh air. Desperate Housewives is a whole lot more in my wheelhouse.
While I’ve made POUR OVER coffee many times I’ve never heard it called that.
I know of a real live SALON called the Cut Up, Curl Up and Dye. It’s been in business for years despite the rather sinister sounding name.
@Nancy: My pencil is sharpened and I’m anxiously waiting for the next Sunday by Stark.
@Everyone
His/her nom de blog is @The Joker for a reason (see @Z's 9:22 post).
@Non-sports fans
GOAT = Greatest Of All Time
Easy and it would have been easier if, like some of you, I hadn’t put SLUrpEE in before SLUSHIE. HORCRUX was a WOE but LONGORIA and TIMOTHEE were gimmes. Solid with some sparkle. Liked it and Jeff at Xwordinfo gave it POW.
Wondering why some posters need to make fun of someone's job? Isn’t that bad manners? And kind of snobby?
Perhaps Rex teaches the funnies to reach out to people who may not read medieval literature. Seems like an excellent way of introducing critical thinking literary skills to people who may not read classical writers.
Anon 9:28. What drum? I didn't see it or even hear it today.
I liked HIREDGOON and BRAILLE. The northeast was a little sticky. I don't know Housewives or Hamilton and I wanted HuUSE but corrected it when the happy music wouldn't play.
I also was thinking chemistry for solvent, and knew I'd seen FREEGAN but couldn’t remember it until I got the F.
So I finished a Saturday 1 hour and 57 minutes faster than my usual Saturday time. —- Sometimes I walk away with the timer running ;-)
Wordle was less than my best today.
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🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩
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As far as fantasy - I loved Martha Wells Murderbot series. The A.I. is more humane than lots of folks out there today..
Ah, amiga @Nancy 10:55. I wish we lived closer to each other. Of course I'd invite you. Both Lobster and Filet Mignon are easy to cook and don't take up much time. The potatoes probably take the longest but I parboil them the night before then fry them up in olive oil just before serving. I have a wonderful view in my kitchen of the mountains covered in snow, so I love spending time there and listening to Adele.
VALENTINE's is the best time to cook, eat and be merry......Well...any day is.
So much disdain for Harry Potter?! I have filled in ORC a thousand times for every HORCRUX. It was a delight to find. I'm willing to bet Daniel O has read more than one fantasy series.
Oops, I forgot this:
Wordle 217 4/6*
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@beverly c - Agree on Murderbot, just great stuff. If you haven’t already read them you might like Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.
@Alicat 11:17 - The stuff Rex teaches stands on its own. Take a look at some of these titles from the NYT Best of 2021 list for a sense of what’s available for a literature course.
@Future Posters, There was a tiff here recently on the plural of Lego. Officially is Lego. Not Legos. The Joker was making a joke.
@The Joker > joke > Legos.
I agree that this was an easy Saturday. I was briefly tripped up by the two kealoas: BASic/BASAL and SLUSHIE/SLUrpeE.
MESSY MANGE MEANT MISSED MEAL. MY random thought from today’s puzzle. Nice job Daniel Okulitch.
WORDLE ALERT:
In the new golf parlance, I’m shooting exactly par after 12 holes. I guess we should play 18, or maybe 72 and see who wins the tourney.
I have decided if I choose to look up anything G.O.T. related, it is not any kind of DNF. It was self-defense, Officer! Now LONGORIA is fair, though the name is forever associated with my SF Giants, in my mind.
Years ago, I used to hang out sometimes on Valencia St in San Francisco, and it was there I first had POUROVER coffee. It is somehow quite different from the drip coffee I make at home, which involves a paper filter too, and also grinding my own beans. In fact, I have been making coffee with a cone and filter paper since Hector was a pup. And I like it, but POUROVER in a fancy coffee joint is somehow different.
No need to second the many praises for the SPF and other clues. I live for those delightful OHO moments when I see the misdirect and can grin, and even cheer sometimes.
Delighted, too, to see BOTTOM. When we moved to Santa Rosa, we had the River Players, a theater troupe that specialized in Shakespeare's comedies. The undoubted star of those shows was a local public defender who was one of the best trial lawyers in our recent history. He loved playing the silliest roles in the canon, including BOTTOM. He ran against an incumbent for judge, and won, with much help from his longtime fans. And he was an excellent judge, too, but it was shocking to find him so serious, once on the bench, and by no means a pushover when he had to sentence some of the bad guys.
I should add, all the folks whom I have heard refer to the "Fauci OUCHIE" have done so without a hint of condemnation, as a humorous way of saying they got their shots.
Nothing to add to 🦖’s post except I loved the Harry Potter lit-crit rant.
🤗🦖🤗🦖🤗
Trying to sneak in a Wordle spoiler is a good way to have a comment disapproved.
@egs - I’m one under after 17.
0,1,6,5,3,2 - Those double bogeys really hurt. But what do we do with a DNF?
@JD 11:51 - That’s three explanations. Will it make a difference?
My favorite comments this morning.
bocamp (8:28)
Z (8:30)
Gill I. (11:21)
oldtimer (12:02)
Rex, you gotta get over the book thing.
@Trey They could conceivably get away with "EARTHSEA" as a fill, I think, for LeGuin.
For me to finish this in 13:09 means it was way too easy for a Saturday.
Game O Thrones, Potterville, Desperate Housewives, Roots.
A touch O Brady, and O noir, a saint, PIETY, and a KINKy PADRE. MENTAL GYMNASTICS PLOTTWISTS and ESPTESTS. Wonderfull and aptly-chosen fill and clues. A MOLTO BENE EGOBOOST.
Too easy for a Saturday:
SANGTO
ARCHED
PARADE
SALON
SEENOTE
REELED
REP
SPYON
and on and on.
To you Day of the Week fanatics: don't care, won't care. I'd say too hard for MTW, not weird for a Th, F or S: who can tell the difference? I did know that you were robbed of your Thursday and now you were robbed of your Saturday and I didn't care either day. And crunchy MTW don't bother me at all. I do like the regularity but the disruption is not bothersome. I'm hoping to live til next week.
Here to cheer you up is a wonderful 5 paragraph short story I stumbled across a few years back. By Lucia Berlin.
You may have to click on 'no thanks' and scroll down when you get there. Rotate your phone sideways for easier reading.
https://publishersweekly.tumblr.com/post/125367216056/my-jockey-by-lucia-berlin
Rex needs to read George RR Martin. The writing is unbelievably good. I read at least 80 books a year and I can tell you what bad writing looks like. GOT isn't it.
Wordle 217 4/6
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⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Par for the course!
SPF and MENTALGYMNASTICS were my favs.
I'm not a Harry Potter fan, nor a GoT fan, but heck, they're fair game.
Whether Housewives will survive the test of time is debatable, so while I think LONGORIA was a fair answer for today, in ten years' time I'm not so sure.
Nice puz, not far off my fastest.
People study comics in college? That explains a lot.
Just once, would like to see The Circles show up in a SatPuz grid. @RP would groan so loud, we'd hear him from here. @Nancy might bust open up a whole new window in one of her walls. @Z might drink his placebo-pub dry. Hey -- a masked dude can dream, yep?
Lotsa No-Knows: SOO. MES. TIMOTHEE. HORCRUX. FREEGAN. HODOR. Yet, only HODOR was a debut word, so the M&A memory bank misplaced some old deposits, again.
Vaguely recognized MOLTOBENE, tho.
staff weeject pick: MES. Well, OK ... but then that there clue for 19-d has to be: {Like Enero o febreo??} = MESSY. Will accept no substitutes, in the MES biz.
Kinda impressed by the mini-jaws of themelessness used in all 4 puzgrid corners to mount the whole sheebang into place.
Fave fillins: BOTTOM (from AMSND). BRAILLE clue. Early VALENTINE. MENTALGYMNASTICS. PLOTTWIST.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Okulitch. Super-good job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
Wow fastest Saturday ever, just over 12 minutes even with the extra 15 squares. Even with my POUR THRU coffee and my HIRED THUG that couldn't get the job done. Appreciated the lack of obscure (that means unknown to me) names; LONGORIA, HODOR, and HORCRUX were bad but KINTE was a blast from the past.
[Spelling Bee yd 0; quite a few tricky words but I somehow managed to track them all down.]
Re Mach: (39A) The clue is simply wrong. Mach isn't the speed of sound, Mach 1 is the speed of sound. Mach is a way to measure speed; as already quoted, is the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the medium through which the object is moving.
@Z. I thought at first about a mulligan for a DNF, but that would incentivize one to DNF once you were at 5. So, I think the DNF has to be taken as a triple bogey 7.
Like Rex, I breezed through the NW (thank you, HORCRUX) and filled in MENTALGYMNASTICS off of M _ N ... Thought I might be headed for a record Saturday, but like others ran into a big wall of LEGO pieces in the NE. Couldn't recall FREEGAN (although I did put in the GAN part) and almost gave up until ADDLED popped into my ADDLED brain, and I made a fortunate guess on LONGORIA finally with only 3 or 4 letters in place. Oh, and I'm completely useless on GoT stuff.
It didn't help that I had naStY, where MESSY belonged, and that MESSiness rendered MEAL and VINS and MOLTE as woes.
I spent well over half of my roughly 40 minutes in the NE! But I did prevail without any form of cheats or help. My Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) of the day is the palindromic TOOT (which moves in either direction between the 20A & 33D squares. I feel like TOOTing my horn for persisting to a successful conclusion. For a guy much closer to the BOTTOM than THE GOAT, it was a good day.
I've read all the "objectionable" things Rowling wrote and don't see them as thaaaaaat bad. So she disagrees with the position that women and trans-women and men and trans-men being perfectly the same. The bathroom stuff was about the idea of men using the excuse to bother women, not trans-women bothering anyone. I fear this reactionary outrage-machine stuff is going to have the opposite effect on public opinion than hoped for.
Consider an employer who might really want to hire a trans person, but wonders "what if there were accusations made about...whatever," and maybe if the person doesn't work out and needed to be let go and that could be misconstrued as bigotry, then social media backlash yada, yada, yada, and the employer decides the potential hassle is not worth it.
End result the trans person doesn't get the job, but for an ironic reason. Way to go angry zealots.
Let’s call this puzzle Hodor’s Horcrux. I knew both because I have read/seen both series. Sorry, guilty pleasure.
Would have been super fast for me but I had an error that I Could. Not. Find. Turned out to be BOLD crossing HOT BOMB. Well, it sounded like a possible way to straighten hair.
@oldtimer: If you're still in San Francisco, let me buy you a cup of coffee one of these days. jackabadsf@gmail.com
I've been kealoa-ed the last 2 days on wordle. I had the form of the word after the 2nd guess, but had to go through guessing the last square from the multiple letters that form words. Just as important to be lucky as good, I guess.
Puzzle today definitely an EGOBOOST.
Since Lewis isn't here, I'll point out that OVO is a semordnilap. BARCELONA anagrams to ENOLA CRAB, Enola Gay's grouchy cousin. REP is PER backwards and ESPTEST minus the P is the ever-popular ese TSE TSE. Oh, and thank you Daniel Okulitch for the brilliant puzzle....hope Lewis gets back soon, this isn't as easy at it looks.
@Nancy – in case I'm not here tomorrow: very nice Sunday puzzle, I enjoyed the theme, especially the entry at 89a. A little on the easy side, would be my only "complaint".
Today's puzzle song (which, coincidentally, @Nancy will like. I think.)
@Photomatte - De gustibus and all that but no. Just no. GoT is unreadable. Derivative I can live with if something interesting is going on, but it’s just soap opera in purple prose. There is stuff I read just because they are fun reads (Poul Anderson comes to mind as an example) but pick up some of Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné books and then get back to me on Martin.
@Joey - Seems to me that a Library of Congress Living Legend, ALA Margaret Edwards Award winner, USPS postage stamp figure, and National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters recipient is more Saturday worthy than lots of authors we do see. If some aria from a 19th century opera makes the puzzle we can hardly argue with Le Guin making regular appearances.
it seems I had the same problems in the NE as Tom T. Never watched "Desperate Housewives" so I had to dredge my mind for "Longoria". Haven't seen "Hamilton" so never heard of Phillipa Soo. "Freegan" hasn't entered my vocabulary. Never watched "GoT" so never heard of "Hodor". Had to work "EGO BOOST" from the bottom. I've heard of "MOLTO BENE" but that's it. I should have known "NINO". Got "LEGO HOUSE" from the ending "USE". And on top of that was having "NASTY" instead of "MESSY" for the breakup. It was a slog but finally got it.
Wordle 217 5/6
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8 holes: 3 birdies, 3 par, 1 bogey, 1 double bogey. Seems several of us had similar short putt today.
Ernst MACH was also one of the 19th century pioneers in what became known as psychophysics, the study of the physical nature of a stimulus, like a light or sound, and the resulting psychological experience of that stimulus. One discovery was that our visual system enhances the contrast between darker and lighter areas, making it easier to perceive edges and distinguish between figure and ground. MACH developed an illustration of this effect that is called .MACH bands. Maybe there's a Saturday level clue lurking there like "Physicist known for his bands".
How's this for a SNACK, a scoop of ICE CREAM AFLOAT in a mug of root beer, maybe with a POUR OVER of chocolate syrup. Gonna need a high BASAL metabolism to burn off those calories
My beloved Aunt Emma, may she rest in peace, was a voracious reader. Her biggest fear was loss of vision, so she took the trouble to learn how to read in Braille, just in case. (This was before audio books.) But the joke was on her, happily. She lived into her 90’s with perfect vision.
I'm so old (how old ARE you?) that 44 Across, HOSE PROBLEMS had to be RUNS!
Anon 11:18
The first sentence of Rex’s write up,his banging on the cancel JK Rowling drum
Z,
Wait. You say in matters of taste there can be no dispute, then dispute that Martin is worthwhile.🤔
Thanks, Joe D!! And I'm taking a stab at what the song in question will be -- before going to your 2:20 link. (I'm not cheating -- honest, Joe!) Because I had a thought of putting up a link -- hours ago -- and forgot to do it. When I saw SEE NOTE, I immediately thought of "Adelaide's Lament". AMIRITE? Going to take a look now.
@Anon 4:04 - Quite the paradox.
**Wordle Alert**
What I didn’t say earlier is that my first guess was 80% from the RSTLNE group. I would have been equally badly off if I had gone with a five letter word from the puzzle (although I see something in the puzzle that would have been a great first guess). I’m still of the opinion that anything under par is mostly to all luck. Still, I do it every day. I saw someone on Twitter say that she’s in a group that agrees to the same first word every day. I’m curious how much variation that group has.
Wordle 217 4/6*
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Z,
Not a paradox, because there is no veracity in your second assertion. Only opinion. That renders it outside the realm of paradox.
You’ve been tripped up with terms before. I’ll add you to my the souls I’ll be praying the rosary for tonight.
@Anoa Bob's link to Mach bands has me questioning every filled cavity I have, har!
Look - A new game - website at the bottom.
Big difference seems to be that it’s not one a day and everyone is playing a different puzzle. Oh, and you’re working on two words at once. Here’s my two attempts. Stopping now before I get sucked in.
Dordle 7&4/7 RUDDY&VAULT
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 QUOTA
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ PUNCH
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 FAULT
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 VAULT
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ GUIDE
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ BUDDY
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ RUDDY
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
Dordle 4&5/7 SLEET&ALERT
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 VAULT
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 PLANT
⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 ALIST
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 SLEET
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ALERT
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
@Nancy – I would *not* have remembered that lyric from "Adelaide's Lament", but it would have been a good choice. (You probably saw what I linked to by now.)
@Z (6:03) Well thanks, that was fun! Now I can waste even more time. 🤣 You really should repost the link again tomorrow because not that many people will see it this late in the day.
Dordle 6&3/7 ||SCONE&PAGAN||
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ||TRAIN||
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ||BEGAN||
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ||PAGAN||
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ||HONED||
🟨⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ||CLONE||
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ||SCONE||
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
@Joe D -- I not only saw your link, I wrote a comment about it hours ago that's disappeared. In it, I not only referenced your link but I also embedded my own link to "Adelaide's Lament". I said that now the blog would have the opportunity to hear two great theater songs.
I don't have the motivation to embed it again. Why do comments sometimes go missing? Sigh.
You people are evil.
Dordle 4&5/7 CHAFE&MORAL
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ AROSE
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ UNITY
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟨 🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜ ROACH
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ CHAFE
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 MORAL
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
Just what we need, one more thing to obsess over. After TIMOTHEE and SLUshiE. And unknown stuff from HP and GOT. All of those rhyme.
In our house HP was a distant second to Philip Pullman and third to Lloyd Alexander (previously, like before lunch, mentioned by someone). Older son commented that HP is like Hawthorne in reverse (long stretch, you'd have to know him) because every problem is solved by magic. In Hawthorne every non-problem is screwed up by human error. Or so he would have us believe.
Anyway, less HP happier me. GOT is OKish.
Dordle 6&4/7 ||LOWLY&PEARL||
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ||STEAM||
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜ ||PROUD||
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ||BLING||
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ||PEARL||
⬜🟩🟨🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ||JOLLY||
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ||LOWLY||
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
The schadenfreude is strong tonight.
This is fun!
Dordle 3&4/7 RATTY&ALPHA
🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ROUTE
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ SLAIN
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ RATTY
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ALPHA
zaratustra.itch.io/dordle
Not bad except for the NW corner which was jammed with LEX, ADUE, HORCRUX and OUCHIE.
Only one true guess, which I made correctly. So, after a week of horseshoes (almosts), I had complete success with the Saturday! A fine PLATTWIST for me - MOLTOBENE.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Back to crosswords (when did this become a wordle blog?). I couldn't believe that only one of you--hi, @Nancy--put in ForaGer ai 13a. "Person who lives on discarded food:" it's absolutely perfect for FORAGER. I suppose it could be argued that the word typically refers to animals rather than people--but really, aren't those people living more like animals than people? With AFLOAT and EGOBOOST already in and those crosses correct, how could I dislodge ForaGer? This entry was the single most unfair entry I have ever seen since I started doing these. You simply can't do that to us without adding a qualifier such as "in modern slang." That's a hit out of bounds and a two-stroke penalty.
The rest of it was easy. A few feisty clues, but gettable. If DOD Eva LONGORIA was MY desperate housewife, I'd work from home!!
Birdie -2 = bogey.
ha ha ha - you know I meant PLOTTWIST
(It's a PLOT)
Lady Di
Wheelhouse? Not even in my universe.
ADDLED VALENTINE
THE BARCELONA PARADE
caused BASAL MENTAL effects
against PAST PIETY made:
a PADRE DARED TO have SECTs.
--- LEX "NINO" LONGORIA
Pretty easy for Saturday; not MESSY, my grid is so clean I should frame it.
Around here there used to be the SOO Line RR.
Eva LONGORIA = HOT.
Finished with EASE.
Surprisingly gettable Saturday but, regrettably, ADDLED me in the NE.
Got most of the rest of it by playing off MENTALGYMNASTICS, LEGOHOUSE, VALENTINE. Lots of help from their crosses.
Elsewhere, wanted twig (“smallish branch”) before SECT.
Humph !
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