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"Hello, sailor!" / TUES 8-29-23 / Key of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony / Morrison with a Presidential Medal of Freedom / Corduroy feature
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Hello, everyone! It’s Clare, back for the last Tuesday in August. Summer has flown by, and I’m rather excited for the weather to cool off (*crosses fingers*). I’m also excited for the U.S. Open and soccer and football and and…! My sister and I placed second at trivia last night with the name “Team Coco,” so you know we’re rooting for Coco Gauff to win the U.S. Open. I’ve now been at my new job for a month or so, and I’m really loving it. I’m amazed at how much I enjoy going to work; I got to call a client the other day and tell her she was granted asylum, and that was pretty incredible.
Anywho… on to the puzzle!
Relative difficulty: Fairly easy
THEME: BOW TIES (With 61-Down, accessory worn by 19-/21-, 26-/29-, 45-/49- and 54-/56-Across, as depicted four times in this puzzle's grid)
- KRUSTY THE CLOWN (19A: With 21-Across, "The Simpsons" character who is a children's TV host)
- COLONEL SANDERS (26A: With 29-Across, fast-food spokesperson with a goatee)
- CHARLIE CHAPLIN (45A: With 49-Across, silent film star who portrayed the Little Tramp)
- THE CAT IN THE HAT (54A: With 56-Across, title Dr. Seuss troublemaker)
Word of the Day: ICE WINES (31A: Vineyard products made with frozen grapes) —
Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape juice to develop. The grapes' must is then pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet juice. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards. (Wiki)
• • •
This puzzle was pretty cute. At first, I thought there were insects crawling over the puzzle, before realizing that those were, in fact, bow ties that nicely cinched together the two parts of the theme answers. The design element of the puzzle really tied things together (see what I did there?), and none of the theme answers were especially hard to get. My least favorite was definitely THE CAT IN THE HAT (54/56A) because of the way it was separated; the other answers made sense, but breaking this answer as THECATIN and THEHAT looked quite odd. I was also super bummed that The Doctor didn’t appear in the puzzle!! The Eleventh Doctor (in the incredible TV show “Doctor Who”) is known for his epic bow ties and for saying, “Bow ties are cool.” (Which they are). Some of the fill was fun, but some was pedestrian. The SW corner, in particular, did nothing for me. The only answer that stood out there at all was CD TRAY (45D: Retractable feature of a PC or stereo, once), and a reference to a bygone, not-exactly-central feature of electronics isn’t especially a highlight for me. I got a bit tired, too, of the CAN I (22D: "Please?"), WILL DO (15D: "I'm on it!"), and ARE TOO (47D: "Am not!" response) type answers. See also: YOO (66A: "____-hoo!") and ELSE (68A: "What ___ is new?"). One of the central answers is NICE (36D: "Sweet!"), which feels rather basic. And, I have a vendetta against SELF HEAL (37D: Herb named for its medicinal properties). I’ve never heard of this, and the idea of that being an herb makes very little sense to me (even if a Google search tells me it’s kinda sorta a thing).
On the other hand, OCTUPLES (3D: Grows eightfold) was a fun word, DISRAELI (42A:
British P.M. before Gladstone) is a good old name to have in the puzzle, and I always love seeing TONI (20D: Morrison with a Presidential Medal of Freedom). PHO (23A: Dish eaten with both chopsticks and a spoon) is a fun word, too. EYE (24A: Camera lens, essentially) was nicely clued. TANG (55D: Zesty taste) and TART (56D: Fruity pastry) were symmetrical and played off each other well, and I got to learn all about ICE WINES (31A). I also let out an audible chuckle at SPF (53A: Block number, for short?), PLOT (1A: Feature of a garden or novel), and ABACK (5A: One way to be taken). Maybe it’s the margaritas we drank at trivia night talking, but I do think there were some clever and fun clues/answers in the puzzle!
All in all, this was a nice debut from Michèle Govier.
Misc.:
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Misc.:
- Mini marijuana theme in the puzzle, anyone? With CBD (10A), TOKE (58D), and sort of the SELF HEALing herb (37D).
- For 43D, I started running through all the symptoms I get when my allergies hit — runny nose, itchy eyes, breathing issues, etc. Funnily enough, the allergy symptom I don’t get is a RASH (43D: Allergy symptom).
- I initially saw 33A: MIO as being a Spanish word and started to break out the Spanish I’ve been relearning. I’ve got my little 18-day streak on Duolingo, and I’ve been reading a book in Spanish that I know well, watching a Spanish TV show, and listening to some Spanish lessons on the Metro. Maybe I’ll finally be fluent in, like, eight years.
- I know there’s no soccer connection in the puzzle, but hey, did everyone see the Liverpool game on Sunday?! The Reds went down 1-0 in the 25th minute and then three minutes later went a man down when our captain/star defender got a red card. Then a Liverpool player scored in the 81st minute. And he scored again in the third minute of stoppage time, to give us a 2-1 win. It was wonderful.
- I shall leave you with Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor:
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77 comments:
Medium. Iconic BOW TIE characters and cute grid graphics, liked it. A fine debut!
@Clare - I too did not know SELF HEAL.
I take issue with themer #3: The Little Tramp is the fictitious creation that wears a bow tie (and only sometimes). Charlie Chaplin is the portrayer of the character, not the fictitious creation.
And I give a fail to the grid art as well. I thought those little things were insects crawling between the answers when I saw them.
Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow
Ok, it took 21:25, but I actually solved this puzzle without error in the "Downs Only" mode! What's especially bizarre about that is I have never done that successfully on a Monday. (I've only attempted it a few times.) Getting enough downs in the North to recognize KRUSTY THE CLOWN gave me the BOW TIE answers, which made the other long theme crosses fairly easy to get. Finished with SELFHEAL, and was so surprised it was right--I have never heard of it.
Hi Clare! Okay CD and DVD trays may be "bygone", but they were VERY central especially playing music or a video. And as for computers...
I remember working in an architect's office in about 1992, where we did our drafting on Macintoshes. The office was burgled and ALL the computers were stolen, so we quickly got replacements because otherwise we couldn't work. And the new computers all had CD trays. We thought that was hilarious, but hey... I guess we can listen to music while we work! But they also came with CD-ROMs, a format we had never heard of, including... Microsoft Encarta. An encyclopedia, on a CD disc???! Minds... blown!! (Of course this was before the internet showed up.)
Just for the heck of it I tried solving down clues only and came very close! 37 down did me in because I've never heard of SELF HEAL. And those acrosses had so many possibilities: SPA and SPY (didn't think of SPF), ACRO AERO AFRO AGRO, SACK SICK SOCK SUCK.
[Spelling Bee: currently -1 missing an 8er. Can't get a streak going!]
Too bad one of the theme answers wasn’t Pee-Wee Herman. Since Paul Reubens’ death, he is the bow-tie aficionado that I think of first.
Before reading the clue I was hoping that 3D would turn out to be OCTOPodes.
Worked counterclockwise from the NW, which meant I had the HEAL part of 37D before I read the clue. If I'd gone in the other direction I might have confidently thrown in SELF HElp. Wikipedia lists several synonyms for SELF HEAL, none of which I've heard of before.
Help out a newb here - been doing nytxw dead tree edition since the '80s but I'm new to talking about it with other xword sufferers on a forum. Don't know the mores and customs of the tribe. I assume it's a Fail if I finish and the app tells me to keep trying?
I had a C/K problem, twice! With cRUSTY and (water) PIc. I was so sure of cRUSTY that I didn't even look at the down, but I would have guessed PERq there, never have written the word myself that I can recall. Didn't know the mushroom, and never have touched (or thought about) the tooth thingie. I still prefer the old days when product names weren't allowed, anyone else?
Part of me wants to whine that it's not fair or inferable, especially so early in the week, but I know I should suck it up and just do better. Broaden my horizon! No matter what day of the week, you need to know *some* trivia. Sometimes it's just not in one's wheelhouse.
Anyway, still fun even if finding the two mistakes took longer than doing the rest of the puz.
TWICE is not a “number of times.” The number of times would be TWO.
Today is August 29. August 28 is National Bow Tie Day. Why didn't this appear yesterday?
Didn't know KRUSTYTHECLOWN or SELFHEAL, and had BOO(hoo) instead of YOO(HOO). Easy except for that...ha ha.
I handily filled in the grid, save for the sections harboring the two words of the reveal, and faced a pair of riddles – what were those four little thingies inhabiting the grid, and what did the four theme answers have in common? On both counts, I was stymied.
What a gift on a Tuesday to an experienced solver, as I am, to have the brain churn in just the way it loves, cracking riddles, when Tuesdays are usually quickly over and done. And churn my brain did, all the way to “uncle”, when uncovering the reveal revealed all, to a “Hah!” an “Oho!”, and a “Brava!”
Then I got to thinking of notable bowtie wearers IRL and not: Winston Churchill, Bill Nye, Pee Wee Herman, Gene Shalit, Abraham Lincoln, Huckleberry Hound, Donald Duck, and Porky Pig. Who else?
Lovely PuzzPairs© of EYE / SAW, and ALLEY / CAT. And I learned WALE and the herb known as SELF HEAL.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Michèle, which, polished as it is, came off to me as anything but debut-ish! Those cute-as-heck bowties sparked up the grid, and your puzzle sparked up my morning. Thank you!
Learned that OCTUPLES is actually a word, pretty much defined exactly as it is clued. I wonder if that’s a phenomenon observed in nature as well as a mathematical concept (similar to the Fibonacci sequence).
My personal record is 16 RBI’s at DENNYS (it was well after midnight on a Saturday night a million years ago in my college days, and yes, a few TOKEs had something to do with it) - these days I would probably struggle to just launch a bases-clearing double.
I also thought the grid art looked like bugs at first, then made the connection post-solve.
Saw that too Clare. Darwin Nunez had a nice brace for Liverpool over Newcastle. I was hoping they would draw. Come On You Spurs. 😊
And congratulations on your amnesty application.
@Lewis - you can add the columnist GEORGE WILL to your IRL list (note that OFL may not be amused).
@Bulgie - welcome to the commentariat. I don’t think that there are many of us who are more trivia-averse than I am, so I obviously agree with you. The absolute worst is when you have trivia crossing trivial (welcome to Natick!).
For some reason I was convinced it was Krusty the Klown, and I've only been watching the show for a couple of decades.
Her's a Wiki list of Bow Tie wearers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bow_tie_wearers
I looooooove ice wines. They’re my favorite kind of dessert wine, but they’re much less common in restaurants and more expensive than the others. I’ll often opt for a fortified wine instead, which gets the job done. Clare, if you like sweet things, you should absolutely try a good ice wine some time.
Thx, Michèle; NICEly TIEd together puz! 😊
Hi Clare; good to see you again! 😊 Loved your 'granted asylum' anecdote.
Med.
Never would have TIEd the 'insects' – TIEd to the kitty-corner black squares – to BOW TIEs; very clever, indeed.
WALE was hazy, but CAROLE came to the rescue.
Like some others, learned SELFHEAL today.
Other than the above, smooth sailing all the way.
Very enjoyable solve! :)
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Croce's #836 was med. (4 x NYT Sat. avg); would've been easy-med, except for the NW, which took as long as the other sections combined.
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On to Anna Shechtman's Mon. New Yorker. 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
my favorite puzzle in weeks!
Harmless - I guess? Odd grid art - lots of short fill. It went quick and smooth but just lacking in something. Liked OCTUPLES and DENNYS.
We do get the great CAROLE today - some of my favorites of hers:
Jan and Dean
Skeeter
Crying in the Rain
Eric Burdon
Hi Clare,
Good luck with the new job! So nice to enjoy your daily work!
Can anyone tell me what version of the puzzle had the “little insect thingies” on it? I usually solve on the NYT app and I didn’t get that. When I first saw the puzzle I thought it looked like a Thursday but in fact was fun and Tuesday- like. It was a good way to start today!
@Joe: I thought they were antennae or satellites or some such at first.
The grid art works a little better when you include the two black squares - they make up the bulk of the fabric of the bow tie, albeit a very blocky one.
Wikipedia has a list of famous (for the most part) bow-tie wearers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bow_tie_wearers
Claire-jejune.
Hi Clare! Nice write up. Immigration law?
Did this one downs only and the themers were pretty obvious, although I found myself with KRUSTY thinking KRUSTY Krab? But that's a place, not a person (had one son who was Sponge Bob obsessed - we had to postpone his 8th bday party for 5 months so he could have it "on the day the SpongeBob movie comes out" - his decision).
I though they were bugs... and the placement threw me a little. Downs only meant that although I saw Disraeli (also, Disraeli Gears anyone?) I didn't have the clue for 40A, and I'm thinking, did *anyone* call him, like, Ben?? But that would make ENOKI wrong.... eventually realized that he wasn't known for BOW TIES.
Who is KRUSTY THE CLOWN?
Hey All!
Interesting idea. The BOW TIEs seem to be connecting Blockers that aren't related to the theme. I wanted to drop down, ala COLONEL MIO, to follow the TIE. Realizing they're there just to make a sort-of ladder to get from BOW to TIE is odd. You could've just put the BOW in a single Blocker-seperator.
Anyway, three fictional characters, one real person. Doesn't Bill Nye wear a BOW TIE? Too long, Bill Nye The Science Guy. NICE Michele found four symmetric BOW wearers.
Aren't stereos with CDTRAYS still sold? Man, I'm getting old. I actually have two all-in-one radio things, that have the radio, record player, cassette, and CDTRAY. Two.
Haven't had a Grand Slam at DENNYS in quite a while. They used to be fairly priced,, but now (to me) seem expensive! Same with IHOP. Even McDonald's prices keep creeping up.
Anyway, neat puz, spider-looking BOW TIEs, decent fill. Congrats on your debut. Please tell me it's at least your tenth submission! 😁
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Just because you can do something, does not mean that you should. The extra grid art was unnecessary and added nothing to the puzzle.
Benjamin Disraeli often wore a bow tie, so that was a little odd. Like a half-themer.
Thirty years ago or more I read a book either by or about Disraeli and coincidently worked for the law firm Thecatin, Thehat, & Thebigfatfee, LLP so Self Heal went down on the crosses.
I always thought that if I could have dinner with any three famous people dead or alive it would be Charlie Chaplin, Doris Day, and Colonel Sanders, so this was right in my wheelhouse.
Clare, nice to hear about continuing success! Michèle Govier, nice debut!
Solving online today. Any time I see the "yesterday's answer" feature in the bottom left of the puzzle page I know there will be a printing problem, so that was out. Got Krusty right away and had the BO of 6D and thought "Krusty wears a BOA?" I even thought the connecting doodles were quite boa-like, but that was entirely ridiculous, as it turned out.
Querida Clare-I congratulate you on your interest in Spanish and encourage you to pursue it, but you will find that "sole" is Italian and Spanish is "sol". MIO is the same in both. If it's any consolation, I sang that as "O solo MIO" forever until I discovered it was a song about the sun. Sounds like you're doing good work, so keep that up. Nothing like having a job you enjoy.
Thought this was a nice Tuedsdecito, MC, with Many Charming features, SELFHEAL being an exception. Thanks for mucho fun.
Side note-Today is our anniversary #53, and if that sounds like a lot, it is. Good for us.
What on earth is a "calming oil"? Is it a Valium-type dressing you put on your salad? Something you apply to your skin to "calm" down a flaring rash or insect sting? Whatever it is, I certainly don't know its initialed ingredients. CB-what's that third letter?
This is a problem because aren't DENNYS and KENNYS both restaurants? And for all I know there's a LENNYS and a BENNYS in some parts of the country I've never been to.
Big executive decision: I'm going with DENNYS!!! After I press "Submit", I'll go see if I'm right.
OCTIPLES is a verb????? Wouldn't OCTIPLIES be the verb? Like MULTIPLIES? Better go check that too.
Otherwise, no problem with this proper name-riddled but not especially difficult puzzle.
Oops! OCTUPLES!!!! So it's KRUSTY THE CLOWN, not KRISTY THE CLOWN. This was a different curveball than the one I was worried about.
But it's all good. Because you all know what I'm about to do about KRUSTY not KRISTY THE CLOWN:
I pronounce this puzzle "Solved!!!!!"
@Joe Dipinto 12:38 am. My clue for Themer #3 says: “With 49A, silent film star who portrayed the Little Tramp.” Your objection makes me think that you had a different clue.
I understand that Charlie Chaplin was dyslexic and would often wear a BLOWER.
When I saw the little bugs crawling around on the puzzle, I thought, “ANITA TOKE.” Had to settle for a CBD TANG.
To my ear, Stashes and CACHES (8D) aren’t a perfect rhyme.
Fun puzzle despite the bugs. Thanks and congrats on the debut, Michèle Govier.
They all wear bow ties????!!!! Who knew?
This is the sort of thing that, had I never discovered this blog, I would have gone to my grave not knowing.
Well this was great fun. I SAW the BOW TIES pretty quickly but agree with others that they look a little bit like tiny insects. It was so easy at the beginning that I got a little discouraged, thinking this is going to be boring, but then the clever theme started to appear and I could see what we were doing with the grid art. Really an outstanding Tuesday and NICE debut. Thank you Michèle.
As much as this aging boomer hates to admit it, I guess Clare is right about a CD TRAY being outdated. I just bought a new 2024 vehicle and it does not have a CD player. Salesman said they are no longer standard equipment in their entertainment packages. On the upside, it has a Wi-Fi connection and I can pipe in my own music but what the heck am I supposed to do with all these CDs now?
Nice puzgrid bow tiers.
Always kinda tricky to have a puz with all names in the themers, but I knew all four of these folks, sooo … ok. What Clare darlin said … Fairly easy.
staff weeject pick: CBD. Basically, what @Nancy said.
Thanx, Ms. Govier darlin. Cool debut.
Masked & Anonymo1Us
Was it an itsy bitsy spider? NO... It was a bunch of chaps wearing a BOW TIE. I'm assuming THE CAT IN THE HAT dude is a chap.
A fun little Tuesday that perhaps should've run on Monday. O MAN I would've had fun making up some story about KRUSTY and the gang.
If I knew how to construct, I'd make a puzzle about spiders: Tarantula, black widow, the cute little brown recluse...There's even one called the hairy mystery spider.
I digress but I still can't get the image out of my mind. I shall SELF HEAL myself.
I enjoyed that little HO HO HO AHOY YOO corner. I also enjoyed the puzzle. I hope AMITY SAD ANISE does as well....
@bulgie 6:14. Welcome welcome. AND...you have an avatar!. No mores and customs with this tribe...all you have to do is speak your mind. I remember when I first started here (many moons ago) and I tippy toed in. I was worried nobody would welcome me. I was wrong. This gang is welcoming and continues to be so. Come pull up a seat and join us!
@pablo (9:58) I was having the same printing problem until last week when I finally got it resolved with assistance from @M&A and his famous Help Desk. Instead of selecting Standard version, check the box for the Newspaper Version. Then when you go to print, adjust the Scale on your printer settings. Depending on your computer, it may have a percentage adjustment where you can reduce it slightly to fit or some other option. In my case (new model PC), I selected “Fit To Paper” and that magically made it appear perfectly on the page. I am ever so thankful to M&A. We have some pretty sharp computer gurus in this crowd.
@egs (10:26) ANITA TOKE and CBD TANG. I’m ROFLing! 😆 Agree on stashes/CACHES. CASHES was my first reaction - maybe because I tend to keep a stash of cash on ICE.
@Joe DiPinto. I just re-read your objection to Themer #3. I get it now. Sorry.
Hi Clare! The best part of having a new job is loving it! Best of luck!
This puzzle was quick & fun. Nice debut Michele. Hope to see more of you.
Hi Claire,
Nothing much to say about the puzzle but loved Darwin's two goals on Sunday. Ridiculous red card decision. That's two in a row. The refs have it in for us this year (and previous years as well) but we keep winning. That's all that matters.
Mark
Amen. Seeing the ties and expecting him to appear only made it worse. RIP.
I thought the puzzle was cute and well constructed. Only issue was the clue for 24-across: No way is the EYE like a camera lens! There are parts of each that are lenses, but the proper analogy is between the camera and the eyeball as a whole.
webwinger
@egs 11:37 – no prob. But yeah, someone mentioned Pee-Wee Herman above, and I would have the same issue if "Paul Reubens" had been a theme answer.
@bulgie (6:14) Your experience with the NYT app is a good example of why I choose to print my puzzles and do them on paper. I tire of dealing with technology and maybe I’m a little old-fashioned but I still prefer to put pencil on paper to do my crosswords. No s mart device telling me I’ve failed or playing some goofy tune when I don’t. I’ll find that out on my own, thank you very much. Oh and please don’t judge me for contributing to a dead tree situation as I do recycle every single page I use. Glad you decided to leap into the fray and hope to see you again. As @GILL said, it’s a pretty friendly crowd.
@Pablo(9:58) I forgot to say happy anniversary and yes that is a lot. Something to be very proud of in this day and age.
@Bulgie - I, too, have been solving on and off for quite some time (starting in the 1970's), but have never been a solver like those here. I am still a fan of the Eugene Maleska era and hated when we started to see product 'brand names and multi word answers. And after being a faithful reader of this blog since April, I still don't know what PPP stands for - people, places, products? Not sure. But, this blog has been my great companion through a particularly difficult time of my life. My brother, caretaker for my mother, diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, me leaving NYC to care for them both, as my husband and I still try to figure out a move to Italy (he and our cat are there now, so the plan is still in place) - my daily escape has been doing the crossword then waiting for Rex (or Clare or Rafa) to speak of the puzzle. Then the great joy of Lewis's amazingly positive and encouraging takes, Nancy's wonderful NY attitude and poetic grace, Becamp, masked and Anonymous, Whatshisname, Loren, and more daily commentaries, Gill's creative genius, Roo (costing f's) - Southside Johnny's ultraAmericanism (why are there foreign words in NY crossword puzzles) - they have been my friends through these months. I am never as skilled at solving . I am perhaps too critical - I don't understand why the bow ties had to be drawn, the black squares were enough - But this has been home. Thank you all.
@pablo - saludos a mucho más
At 60 and eyeing retirement on the horizon, I think I can say that I will go to my grave without having learned how to tie a bow tie. I may still learn how to fold a pocket square.
I really dropped in here on the late side to say that the New Yorker’s xword puzzle has a jaw-dropping clue/ answer combo today. The NYT may have gotten a little more risqué in recent years but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have used this! Hope I have intrigued you enough to check it out.
@Pablo
MAZEL TOV!!!
Felt like a lot of antique references and I’m 78.
I want to give a shout-out to SELFHEAL, that pretty little purple flower that was quite common in lawns (and therefore quite well-known to our forebears) before the advent of weed-n-feed type products. It's a very important plant to native pollinators, and its decline has contributed to theirs.
Overseeding your lawn with self-heal and white clover is a great way to encourage those native pollinators, and fall is a great time to do it. U of MN Extension has some good info on this to help you get started.
@pablo
Congrats on your 53rd! 💒 ⚭
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Re: SELFHEAL:
"Selfheal is a specific plant species within the genus Prunella, particularly Prunella vulgaris. It is also known by various other common names, such as heal-all, heart-of-the-earth, and all-heal. Selfheal is a flowering herbaceous plant that belongs to the mint family (Lamiaceae).
Key features of the selfheal plant include:
Appearance: Selfheal has square stems with opposite leaves that are lance-shaped and slightly toothed. The flowers are small and tubular, arranged in dense spikes. The flower color can vary, but it is often purple or blue.
Habitat: Selfheal is native to Europe and Asia, but it can be found in various parts of North America as well. It tends to grow in grassy areas, meadows, and open woods.
Traditional Uses: Throughout history, selfheal has been used in traditional herbal medicine. It was believed to have healing properties and was used to treat various ailments. The leaves, flowers, and stems were used to make infusions, teas, or ointments.
Culinary Use: In some cultures, selfheal was used as an edible herb in salads or cooked dishes.
Wildlife: Selfheal is also valuable to pollinators like bees and butterflies, making it an important plant for supporting local ecosystems.
The name "selfheal" implies the plant's historical use in folk medicine for various healing purposes. It was believed that the plant could help heal wounds and ailments, which is where the name originates.
As with any herbal remedy, it's important to exercise caution and consult with a healthcare professional before using selfheal or any other plant for medicinal purposes." (ChatGPT)
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
A new addition to my "stop-reading-and-go-immediately-to-next-comment" list: people bragging about doing the puzzles downs-only or across-only. I think if you're forced to toot your horn on this kind of site .. (fill in the blank.)
Congratulations!
@Whatsername 10:48....I still have my 2004 Ford Taurus that I hope to take to the grave with me. It has over 200,000 miles and still purrs to me when I start her...I still have a CD tray that I use and blast out load and sing along to Adele or Pavarotti. I probably have a million CD's. SO....I bought a small Sony boom-box from Amazon and it sits in my office where I play my music just for me. It's portable (and small) so you can take it to your car and let it sit in you passenger seat.....Problem solved?
@Anony 1:09. Who might you be? Give yourself a name and maybe even an avatar so that we know who you are and egg you on about your move to Italy with a cat!..... So sorry about the difficult parts of your life as well.
@pablito....Oye me compadre....en hora buena y que tengas mas anos con tu querida....Abrazotes.
Congratulations, Pablo!
I like to say my wife and I have been married for 29 wonderful years -- 34 in total, and 29 have been wonderful. (Then I look to see if she's laughing. If she's not, I run.)
@whatshername (12:56). Nice. Good reasons why some of us prefer doing the puzzle on paper. One of mine is being able to mark it up with my red pen.
I like having product names in the puzzle.
@Gill I. another spider you might want to add to your list is the peacock spider. Here's a YouTube video that clearly shows how they got their name.
for once i saw and immediately grasped the grid art. i knew KRUSTY THE CLOWN but didn't write it in immediately, because the online version highlights the little vertical BOW answer slot so i thought ok, KRUSTY first...then "THE" was supposed to go up there and then...CLOWN was too short to fill the end piece and i suddenly wondered if i had missed a couple days of my life and it was thursday. hey, it could happen. a brief hiccup though, and five minutes later i had most everything done.
but then...i spent longer than i did on the rest of the puzzle on just a few answers clustered together on the right. absolutely no clue on DISRAELI nor SELFHEAL. didn't grok that they were referring to an allergic reaction symptom vs. like, seasonal allergies and couldn't figure how to make any of those symptoms fit. further complicated by thinking aPt for block number, like...you know...your address number on the block? apartment number? that you live in? ok ok, tenuous and misguided at best, i know. eventually got it together but wasted quite a bit of time doing so. but all's well that end's well. (would have been better with PEE WEE tho, as others have said! long live jambi, long live pee wee.)
@Anoa 4:49....Good gravy! And they're cute! My spider theme could be "Staying Alive!".....
Congrats, Pablo!
@GILL (3:52) A boombox. At my age. Well, my 70 something birthday is coming up, maybe I’ll get myself one. I’m not a big music aficionado but I do like it on road trips so that’s actually a very practical solution. Thanks!
@Anonymous (1:09) What a lovely and touching post! I am moved to tears by all you have shared. First of all, you have my greatest empathy with your situation. I had primary care of my mother who passed 10 years ago, but to have your brother also seriously ill, well that’s heartache on top of heartache. I am so sorry. But also pleased to know that you have found comfort and solace here and that you feel welcome. You are. Why not add your own blog entry to your daily routine of solving and reading everyone else’s? But please do as GILL suggested and sign off with a screen name of some sort so we’ll know who you are.
“PPP” was coined by a former blogger named Z. It stands for People, Places and Pop Culture . . . I think. Or Proper names, Places and Pop culture - trivia, in a general sense. You get the idea.
FWIW saw an article in n the Times where a scientist was discussing creatures found on deep ocean vents. Yes he did say octopodes even though autocorrect just now wanted octopuses! (Interesting story because scientists are learning that not all “ octopodes ” are solitary. There were thousands of females grouped together on the vent brooding their eggs. The vent ‘warmth speeded the growth of the brood,)
Clues and answers aren’t definitions. The clue is a hint to the answer. Anyway twice = 2 times and that is a perfect answer to a number of times.
@Anonymous (1:09 PM)
My thots and prayers are with you, your mother and your brother. All the best! 🙏
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Didn’t know she wrote (co-writer?) Don’t Bring Me Down. Knew she wrote a lot of songs before her solo career But I just had started to pay more attention to popular music when the British Invasion hit and assumed they all wrote the songs. I did learn eventually about the origins of House of the Rising Sun and other covers done by those groups but never learned about this song. Thanks.
Was it a coincidence that they ran this puzzle on Bow Tie Tuesday? (Every Tuesday I, and others at work, swap a bow tie for the standard necktie. Today's was a Hawaiian shirt print.)
The hook was easy to figure out, and once you got it the theme answers were easy (and even if you didn't get the hook the themers were easy.)
This was a WALE of a puzzle. Didn't know that word, but the puzzle says it's fine.
Fourteen letters dooms you to being a bow-tie guy. There was a time when I knew how to tie a bow-tie and I actually wore them without irony, but then I discovered being a slob is easier.
Tee-Hee: TOKE, dude.
Uniclues:
1 How better British teeth could have begun.
2 Real name of everything on Broadway.
3 Gives silk fashion accessory to Goodwill.
4 What makes Pennsylvania worth visiting.
1 PIK DISRAELI
2 THE SHOW PRICEY
3 CACHES NICE TIE
4 AMISH TART KNEE (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: "I am so sick of doing all the work simply because you won't use lotion." LOOFA LETS IT FLY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
FOUL!! 2 counts of ignorance. a benefit is a perquisite ... shortened to PERQ. and technical ignorance is no excuse -- the eye has a lens like a camera has a lens. a camera lens is not like an eye-that would be the camera. sheesh
I was so disappointed by this!
Thank you!
Wow, interesting that this little puzzle/story and @Rex’s lively rant generated so much strong early morning response. It led me to do a web search of the origins of the name Dana in Scandinavian mythology and it seems pretty clear the author was prodding us (successfully) with the ambiguity in the name. So a silly but warmhearted story with some inventive or maddening fill-vocabulary depending on your reaction.
Hi, I’m here to praise to high heaven this delightful puzzle, and please bear in mind that my insistence on bestowing love on puzzles that are mediocre or even awful is in no way meant to suggest that I, myself, am a wonderfully generous and thoughtful person whose unremitting positivity deserves your praise. Just kidding — this puzzle is a disaster. As Rex has already noted the ridiculous answers, I will mention some of the cliche ones. Given that the theme allows for a tremendous range of answers, the return of so much familiar and tired fill is striking. LYFT, OBOE, EBAY (what? Not ETSY?), ADO, IDLED, STOW, and those are just the usual suspects featured in the story. TSARS and the initials of a state school and ISLE and so on also show up in the downs, on cue. Honestly, I find this puzzle to be more interesting than most, because most are meh in a far less unique way. So today’s puzzle has that going for it, which is nice. It’s the kind of disaster that’s fun to discuss.
I do the puzzle right before I go to bed. I’ve done 3,001 puzzles on the NYT app (and who knows how many on paper in the years before that) and with every clue kept asking myself “Is this the worst puzzle the Times has ever published?” The only answer I could come up with was: “Yes. Yes this is hands down and far and away the. worst. puzzle the Times has EVER published.” I could hardly bear to finish it - the only reason I did was so I wouldn’t break my streak. And all through the fill I lamented that I would have to wait until morning to read what I was dead certain was going to be a scathing assessment from Rex. Thanks, Rex, for delivering.
This puzzle had one saving grace: it was so easy it was over soon. But post-solve, I just had to Google ICEWINES. And whaddya know, they EXIST! I thought sure that was made up.
Too many themers cause a fill disaster. And even within them: THE x 3. Oh, and just in case you didn't think 3 was too many, we have THESHOW. It must go on, they say, but in this case it shouldnt've. Double bogey.
Wordle par.
YOOHOO
BOOHOO - I had no bow ties, as pictured.
Wow - I can't believe the folks who absolutely hated this! Why? Yes - it's easy. Try some "easy" puzzle anthology books - better yet - try constructing puzzles yourself. I, for one, remain in awe of constructors.
This was a fine puz for Tuesday.
WOOHOO
Who knew?
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Wrong twice Jmorgie! The standard accepted shortening of perquisite is PERK. Look it up.
You use your eye to focus on an object, as well as a camera lens. Clue and answer work together just fine.
I was a little surprised that some on here are unfamiliar with CBD. I see it at the checkout counters at gas stations and some stores. I believe it's legal in all fifty states, but restrictions do vary from state to state. Hemp derived CBD with less than 3% THC content is federally legal. On top of that, there are tons of infomercials and online ads. Hell, even Woody Harrelson's brother Brett has a product line, Harrelson's Own.
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