google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday February 27, 2022 Katrina Lee

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Feb 27, 2022

Sunday February 27, 2022 Katrina Lee

Theme: "Juicy Tidbits" - Four different teas are dropped from four long Across theme entries.

1A. Often abbreviated reaction to information overload: TO (O LONG), DIDN'T READ.

2D. Chinese for "black dragon": OOLONG.

32A. Completely different situation: A WHOLE OTH(ER BAL) GAME.

35D. Like some remedies: HERBAL.

70A. Middle-earth ring bearer: BILB (O BA)GGINS. And 12. 70-Across nephew: FRODO.

71D. Fett in "The Mandalorian": BOBA.

106A. Résumé alert about an unfinished goal: DEG(REE N)OT COMPLETED.

108D. Putting __: GREEN.

Reveal:

130. "Give me some gossip!" ... and a hint to this puzzle's sets of circles, which affect four Across answers: SPILL THE TEA.

Congrats to Katrina for her first LAT puzzle. And a Sunday!

I don't think we've seen a puzzles with a 11-letter Across, normally the first themer starts at the 3rd row. Amazing grid! "Dropping" theme is always trickier to design and fill.

 
Across:

12. Ukulele ridge: FRET.

16. "Gotcha" sounds: AHS.

19. Starter: HORS D'OEUVRE. 22. Altruism: SELFLESSNESS. Partnered with two more long entries: 120. Total removals: ERADICATIONS. 127. "The Crocodile" of early tennis: RENE LACOSTE.

20. Indian flatbread: ROTI. Not NAAN.

 

21. Laser pointer chaser: CAT.

23. Most of the 2010s: OBAMA ERA.

25. Span of a scale with three sharps: A TO A. Tricky to parse.

26. That, in Madrid: ESA. Or ESO.

27. Gucci of fashion: ALDO.

29. "Elements of Algebra" author: EULER. Wikipedia says he wrote the book around 1765 in German.


30. "Don't back down, bro!": MAN UP.

36. Certain carton components: EGG CUPS.

39. Reunion attendees: AUNTS.

40. Café freebie: EAU. And 112. Like a romantic dinner, in Paris: A DEUX. 117. Paris gal pal: AMIE. 28. Paris article: LES.

41. "Don't think so": I BET.

42. Nos. for alums: YRS.

43. Comparative data diagram: BAR GRAPH. So many fantastic entries in this grid: 64. "Play it cool": ACT CASUAL. 78. Raggedy: MOTH-EATEN. 92. Dad's referral?: GO ASK MOM. 15D. Zoom annoyance: TIME LAG.

48. "The Misery Index" network: TBS.

51. Bulgarian's neighbor: SERB.

53. Type of diet that might replace potatoes with cauliflower: LOW CARB. I'd be miserable with such a diet.

 56. New Deal agcy.: NRA.

57. "High Rollers" co-host __ Lee: RUTA.  Here with Alex Trebek.


59. Grams: NANAS.

61. Alert on the road: HONK AT.

63. __ in Charlie: C AS.

66. Prefix with treat or giving: MIS.

67. Blow a fuse: LOSE IT.

69. Sellers of KAFFEREP cinnamon buns: IKEAS.

74. Following: POSSE.

75. Tokyo airport: NARITA. Busiest airport in Japan. The first two characters 成田 is Narita.


77. Apple runs on it: IOS.

80. Hot state: IRE.

81. How three nursery-rhyme merchants went to sea: IN A TUB.

84. Trailer follower: MOVIE.

85. Laker legend, familiarly: KOBE. Bryant.

86. Votes against: NOS.

87. Soybeans served in the pod: EDAMAME. It's called "mao dou" in Chinese. Same thing.



89. Gawk at: OGLE.

91. With 6-Down, Rudolph's guiding light: RED. And 6. See 91-Across: NOSE.

95. Boarding precedes it: Abbr.: ETD. Also 14. ORD posting: ETA.

97. Penicillium, e.g.: MOLD.

99. Half a martial art: TAI. Tai chi.

100. Kendrick with a Pulitzer: LAMAR. For his album DAMN.

102. On the lam: AT LARGE.

113. Chef's protection: APRON.

114. Word with words or chance: LAST.

115. Org. with many returns: IRS. And 128. ID on many returns: SSN. Have not done ours yet.

118. Most sentimental: WEEPIEST.

125. Maiden name preceder: NEE.

126. __-Ball: SKEE.

129. Post: SEND.

Down:

1. What Rickey Henderson often beat: THE TAG. 1,406 stolen bases. Record of course.
 

3. NIAID director: DR FAUCI. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
 
4. Luzon, for one: Abbr.: ISL. Island. Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines.

5. JFK predecessor: DDE.

7. Thompson of Marvel movies: TESSA.

8. Beat it: RUN AWAY.

9. Night before: EVE.

10. ___ Technica: tech news website: ARS.

11. Make drinkable, as seawater: DESALT.

13. "Mr. __": Rami Malek drama: ROBOT.

 16. Amtrak speedster: ACELA.

17. Sultan's group: HAREM


18. Intimidate, with "down": STARE.

22. Identical: SAME.

24. Foretell: AUGUR.

31. Trivia night settings: PUBS.

33. Flings: HURLS.

34. "That's wrong __ many levels": ON SO.

37. Hammer parts: PEENS.

38. "Ghost Story" author Peter: STRAUB. Learning moment for me.


43. Forbid: BAN.

44. Flood shelter: ARK.

45. 23andMe discovery: ANCESTOR.

46. "Thank the Lord!": PRAISE BE.

47. Got a move on: HASTENED.

48. Instruction: TRAINING.

49. "__ Holiday": opening section of Copland's "Rodeo": BUCKAROO.

50. First woman to be named Doctor of the Church, briefly: ST TERESA. Sometimes we see AVILA clued as [St. Teresa's city].
 

 

52. __ B'rith: BNAI.

54. Tory adversary: WHIG.

55. __ de' Medici, first de facto Lord of Florence: COSIMO. Also new to me.

58. Berry in a bowl: ACAI.

60. Garlic genus: ALLIUM. Onion, leek, chive all belong to this genus.

62. Get plastered: TOPE. Not a word I use.

65. Piedmont bubbly: ASTI.

66. Classic U.K. sports cars: MGS.

68. Prepare, as beans: SOAK. I like peas better, esp black-eyed peas, widely used in Cantonese soup.



72. De __: again: NOVO.

73. Stain: STIGMA.

76. Short on iron, maybe: ANEMIC. Beans and peas are high in iron.

79. Serf of Sparta: HELOT.

82. Ruckus: ADO.

83. Cap with a pompon: TAM.

84. Convened in: MET AT.

88. Idea that spreads in a culture: MEME.

90. "First Lady of Song": ELLA. And 116. 90-Down's improv: SCAT.

93. Entrance porch: STOOP.

94. Teen dystopian novel narrator: KATNISS. "The Hunger Games".



96. Hanukkah top: DREIDEL.

98. Duchamp, for one: DADAIST.

100. CD precursors: LPS.

101. Lets out, say: ALTERS. Sometimes I struggle to fold Boomer's walker. Not fun when it's -12 and windy. I'm surprised that it takes a long time for my cracked finger to heal. I'm also surprised that the same spot can be cracked twice. I need to be a better glove-wearer.

103. Channel changer: REMOTE.

104. Kind of pig that's not a pig: GUINEA.

105. They can be tricky to run into: EXES.

106. Daybreaks: DAWNS.

107. Foil relatives: EPEES.

109. Designer Ashley: OLSEN. Here with her twin.



110. Like some cornered kings: MATED.

111. "You know the __": DRILL.

119. Just make, with "out": EKE.

121. Good name, briefly: REP.

122. "Star Wars" nickname: ANI. Nickname for the young Darth Vader.

123. German "Alas!": ACH.

124. __ the line: TOE.

We have another busy week ahead. VA every day. Thursday is tougher with four appointments, including Boomer's chemo infusion and a meeting with the neurosurgeon.

But there's no more below zero in the forecast. So happy. We had a tough time last Tuesday with the snowstorm.

C.C.

36 comments:

  1. DNF.
    Too much French.
    Too many names.
    Too many English words I didn't know.

    I did get the theme, an ingenious collection of overlapping words. I did get all of them before I got the reveal, which wouldn't have made an difference. Neither the reveal nor title would have helped, but did explain what I was looking at after the fact.
    But "spill the tea"? Never heard that expression before. It's "spill the beans". But that would have been coffee, wouldn't it.

    I did manage, after many passes, to get ~90% on my own, but that last 10% I had to give up on, and ask AcrossLite to reveal them. Most I wouldn't have gotten anyway.
    Too much French
    Too many names.

    If BILBO BAGGINS met BOBA Fett,
    I don't imagine either would FRET.
    Their different worlds
    With different rules
    Would let them meet without a threat!

    I will sing a paean to the BAR GRAPH,
    Showing which items are double or half.
    On a pie chart's round,
    Some things are found,
    But it's only bars that can be a giraffe!

    {B, B+.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning!

    Got 'er done, but this one went into overtime. Got the gimmick with the second themer, but never noticed that the circled words were all teas. Also never noticed that there was a reveal. Also forgot to read the puzzle title. [Sigh] This one had some really nice non-theme entries. I especially liked the long stacks top/bottom and along the sides. Impressive. Excellent Sunday debut Katrina. Guess I don't think of teas as "Juicy Bits," though. Thanx for filling in the gaps in my knowledge, C.C. (Sounds like you'll have your hands full this week with VA appts. Hope everything goes well.)

    IRS: Ran into a tax volunteer at Wally-World on Tuesday. She twisted my arm into returning to the Wednesday tax site to help fill a severe volunteer shortage. So, I'll be spending today studying, preparing practice tax returns, and taking the IRS exams.

    LOSE IT: Yup, sure did. My doctor phoned in three RXs (all common generics). Two days later when I went to pick them up, only one of the three was ready? Were the drugs in stock? Yes. So why weren't they ready? We just haven't gotten to them yet. Told the folks at Kroger that somebody should open a real pharmacy in their space. There's another "preferred" pharmacy in my plan, but it's five miles further from home. I may have to switch.

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  3. A tough puzzle, for sure. Any time you have "horsd'oeuvre" in a puzzle, I'd say that's a tough one.

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  4. It also took me some time to get the gimmick, but I finally did. And I finally FIR, so I'm satisfied.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good Morning:

    It took me forever to figure out what was going on but, once I did, I was very impressed with the execution. I was also impressed with the number of long, fresh answers. That said, I can’t say I enjoyed the solving process itself due to so many unknowns which made it a slog rather than a joy. No offense to Katrina, it’s just my usual ambivalence about Sunday grids. Filling in Anemic didn’t help my mood, either, as I had an iron infusion on Thursday with very unpleasant side effects. I’m having a second one next Thursday and am hoping for a better experience.

    Thanks, Katrina, and congratulations on your very accomplished debut Sunday and thanks, CC, for your positive and detailed analysis. I always enjoy your culinary comments and photos. Good luck to you and Boomer with this week’s demanding schedule. Make sure you wear your gloves!

    DO @ 6:45 ~ Surprisingly, my IRS refund was credited to my bank account this past Friday. I think it was less than two weeks since I filed. BTW, I’m having the same delays with my CVS as you are. I guess they’re overwhelmed with flu shots, COVID shots, pneumonia and shingles shots, etc. Fortunately, the pharmacy is 5 minutes from my house, so the convenience outweighs the slow service.

    FLN

    Misty, I counted 13, as well, but mistakenly thought I missed one, so your eyes are just fine!

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, extra time today . Didn't know the Tokyo airport or the financial network so it took a disappointingly long time in that section.

    Don't like skipping around for cross-referenced clues, that's actually easier the other six days of the week when I can work on paper.

    CC, have you tried moisturizer for cracked skin in the winter? It works on my heels.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A comment on busy pharmacies:

    My son is a Pharmacy Tech in the Midwest. What is happening at this time of year--and this year is the worst by far-- is that so many people have switched insurance companies (job changes, early retirement, went on Obamacare, etc.) requiring the pharmacy to get new prior authorizations, i.e., Has the cheaper medication been tried? Can we get documentation on that? Oh, that was done by your previous physician. Then you will have to get the forms signed for us to get permission to access your medical records. Or... your deductible has reset. Can you pay the $2,600 for this medication? If you can't, did you know that the manufacturer has a program for that? Here is their toll-free number. Etc. Etc.

    My son's pharmacy is currently backed up about a week at this point. What should take ten minutes is taking 2 hours. It is just starting to ease up. They can't use temps as certifications are required in virtually all states, and there simply are no temps to be hired.

    So, please be patient, and don't assume it is incompetence. (Suggesting the store gets a "real" pharmacy)

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  8. DNF, NW corner wouldn't fill for me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sunday lurking...(just finished Wordle in 3 😃)...Now time to start our local 2 week old NYT puzzle. Like reviewing your Sunday puzzle for future hints. (Just when I started to remember Naan)

    Sorry but couldn't stop myself 🙄

    Parking spaces for souls entering Hades HELOT

    Good luck Boomer.👍

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well,,,

    You knew this was going to be a long one before you started, didn't you...

    After two days of puzzles I could not comment on, due to themeless,
    thumpers, or just plain nothin funny, (H bombs come to mind),
    I think my tea kettle is about to explode...

    For some reason, I put the puzzle down thinking I had completed it,
    did a bunch of morning chores, went back and picked it up only
    to discover I had left ALL the hard bits! Rats! I was like starting all over again...

    This puzzle reminds me of folding maps,
    or beach chairs,
    or trying to get anything back in its original packaging...

    ReplyDelete
  11. If you were not a fan of LOTR,
    I can see how you might not have made it to the reveal.

    Even so, Boba, as a first theme reveal made some sort
    of sense, but I had to go thru the dregs of a lot of tea leaves
    to remember it was a Tea.

    And reading the tea leaves (leafs?)
    did not auger well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't want to sound the WEEPIEST, but having never seen LOTR, The Mandalorian, any Marvel movie, "The Hunger Games', or Mr. ROBOT I had a many empty squares in the puzzle. I did correctly fill A WHOLE OTHL GAME, TO DIDNT READ, & DEGOT COMPLETED, even though they made not sense. The BILBGGINS wasn't completed, as STRAUB & ALLIUM were unknowns and the theme fills made no sense anyway.

    I filled SPILL THE TEA but it didn't help. OWENKL- you're better than me in getting the theme but I left FIVE squares empty.

    RUTA Lee & "High Rollers", LAMAR Kendrick, TESSA Thompson, "Misery Index", COSIMO de' Medici,- more unknowns that I got by perps

    d-otto, the pharmacists at chain stores are not filling RXs because they are busy giving shots. CVS offers 15 different vaccines. If there is an independent (not a chain) drugstore use them; results may not be any better but at least you will know the people you are dealing with.

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  13. Well, Sundays are always a bit tough for me, but I always enjoy them, and this one was a pleasure. Many thanks, Katrina. And C.C., many thanks for your always helpful commentary. Hope your and Boomer's busy week coming up goes well--take good care of yourselves.

    My first entry into today's crossword was NAAN, which I was sure was correct. Nope: turned out to be ROTI. Not the best way to start the puzzle.

    My first down was DDE which had to be right. Yay! it was. But didn't help much until a bit later when I also got DR. FAUCI--one of my favorite TV personalities. He's so calm and reasonable and kind--the perfect doctor.

    The one that totally puzzled me was that "trailer follower." Come on, trailers are at the back of a driving vehicle--what would be attached behind them? Oh, wrong "trailer"--this one followed by a MOVIE.

    The best part of this puzzle for me was the bottom. My French may not be great, but I know AMIE is a gal pal.

    And what would protect a chef better than an APRON?

    Irish Miss, your counting was brilliant, compared to mine, yesterday.

    Anyway, fun way to end the week. Have a good day, everybody!

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  14. A word about Kobe Bryant. Back in the 1960s, the Minneapolis Lakers (With George Mikan) were owned by a gentleman named Bob Short. Mr. Short had a son one year younger than I attending Benilde High School. After the Lakers were moved to L.A. Mr. Short brought them back for a workout practice in my High School and a regular season game at a crummy stadium called the National Guard Armory in Minneapolis. I was a member of the Benilde High School Glee Club and we were the half time show at this event. Now on to recent history. Devon George was a graduate of Benilde St. Margaret's and and went on to a career with the Lakers. Devon's father Eddie bowled in the same league as I at Texa Tonka Lanes. Now and then he would have Devon substitute if they needed a player. The man was a decent bowler. I was happy to meet a fellow graduate although sadly he was in attendance at Kobe's Funeral.

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  15. OK, after a long struggle, I FIR and got the tricky theme! I saw what was happening with the circles with BILBO BAGGINS, but it was a while later before I saw the TEA varieties in the circles. My last fill was TRAINING, due to guessing HBO/PBS/CBS/TBS and not being sure of NARITA. The circled areas were challenging, but I enjoyed the new fill and it all eventually made sense.

    Thanks, Katrina, on your successful debut. Looking forward to your next. And many thanks for to C.C. for explaining and illustrating it all in her review. I hope the next week goes well for you and Boomer. So many appointments to get to is stressful, especially with winter weather involved, but we hope the result is positive. And besides moisturizer and gloves, try taping up cracked fingers while they heal. It helps my DH.

    Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Started at Dennys where I talk xword with waitress. Gave her Saturday TIC Clue but forgot my Sunday clue, EXES.

    Daunting challenge and the West doesn't look clean. Let's see CC'S take. Oh, yeah "Putting _____"? I read put not putt but perps saved me

    Spelling HORS D'OEUVRE was tricky. Another en francais. An old roommate called them Hores da Vors

    V8#1: CAT. Just got it; #2, NANAS for grams(not a meas)
    #3. IKEAS, Not a person(and Instruction is not TeAchING but training. FIW, I knew the West was toast. Btw, MR Stupidity wants to be referred to as Doctor S.

    It helped that we just had TESSA. I got the theme on HERBAL and that filled the Hobbit hole on Bilbo. I had a 10 year old stowaway at lunch yesterday so I read him my Jumble Hobbit. JRR was a genius.

    VA is very efficient with vaccines. Publix informed me that my non VA Dr won't refill without a visit.

    BigE is right about pop-cul plethora today, still, I hung around with teaching too long thinking it was solid.

    WC





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  17. Speaking of gloves. I had the opposite problem. Because of hot weather the fire ants are out and the @#$tard crept inside and bit. Hydrocortisone 3 or 4 times a day. Back of hand was all red just like CC's

    WC

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  18. Musings
    -The center of the puzzle blew me up. Four bad cells but some of the bad fill looked good.
    -TOO MUCH INFO worked at 1 A until the brilliant theme hit me
    -Steve Mossburg introduced me to “SPILL THE TEA” last November. My kids all knew it!
    -Odd learning yesterday: All U.S. bills weigh 1 gram. A pound of ones would be worth $457.
    -A very cool way to beat THE TAG
    -We are waiting for 23 and Me results. Daughter got us the kits for Christmas
    -COSIMO hired Galileo Galilei as his court mathematician.
    -Joann was ANEMIC during her second pregnancy and had to force down liver.

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  19. Arthur Godfrey (remember him on radio) used to call them horses doovers.

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  20. Thank you Katrina for an really excellent debut, which combined Saturdayish level cluing and complexity with the size of a Sunday puzzle plus a challenging theme to boot. Nice work! My only regret is failing to proofread one answer and thus ended with an FIW (see below).

    And thank you C.C. for an excellent explanation of the theme, which had me bending over FORWARD to understand. As soon as I saw the circles, I went looking for the reveal, but couldn't fill it right away and missed the fact that other than OOLONG, Katrina was SPILLING TEAS.

    A few favs:

    1A TL;DR When I finally filled 1A, I found this abbreviation.

    21A CAT. I think somebody posted a video of cats chasing lasers awhile back, and I got this right away.

    25A ATOA. Tricky, tricky, tricky.

    53A LOW CARB. I don't think it matters what you eat, it's how much. I've lost 10 lbs in the last month or so on what I call "The Feeling Hungry Diet". If you're FEELING HUNGRY you're losing weight!

    57A RUTA. A CSO to CanadianEh!.

    74a POSSE. Apparently it's more than an AD HOC FLESH MOB: it is also slang for a group of fans: an IDOL's "following"

    75A BIL(BO BA)GGINS. As I'd already gotten 17D FRODO I knew this had to be BILBO BAGGINS. As I'd already gotten BOBA for 71D, I began to suss the theme. But I knew the latter only as a Star Wars bad guy, not a tea and didn't see the big picture.

    99A TAI. I had the perfectly acceptable TAE(BO), but hadn't yet filled ANEMIC. When I did I just filled in the blanks without proofreading. My undoing.

    130A SPILL THE TEA. Learned this from my teenage granddaughter.

    1D THE TAG. Had THROWS first. I'm sure Rickey beat a bunch of these too as he sometimes had to dive back to first base.

    17D H***M. Blogger didn't like C.C.'s illustration for this, but I was able to retrieve the URL from the 403 message ("forbidden"). I don't see what all the fuss was about (the fill or the image itself?) so I'm linking to it here to let others judge. While attempting to locate the image URL, I stumbled upon C.C.'s original source on H***MS. Apparently they are not the 7x24 o**y sites that we Westerners (the men anyway) fantasize about.

    119D Just make, with "OUT". SMOOCH wouldn't fit.

    Cheers,
    Bill

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  21. Word of the Day blackguard

    Pronunciation: blæ-gê(r)d

    Part of Speech: Noun

    Meaning: A scoundrel, a villain, a rogue, a ruffian, a dastardly knave, a miscreant or, to put it another way, a real sleazeball.

    Notes: Drat! I won't be foiled again!The spelling and pronunciation of today's Good Word are sharply disjointed, so be careful of the pronunciation above! Our British cousins, from whom we inherited the pronunciation of this word, often overlook the middles of words (compare Worcestershire [wu-stêr-shêr] and forecastle, also spelled fo'c's'le). It was they who reduced St. Clair to Sinclair, too. Now, we have blackguard and all its kin, blackguardly, the adjective, and blackguardry, the stuff of which blackguards are made, as the blackguardry of blackguardly behavior—all pronounced with a silent CK!

    In Play: Here is a lovely old name for knaves and dastards that is much more expressive than the vulgarities that often slip from our lips when we become angry: "The blackguard pulled the chair out from under me just as I was sitting down and broke the disk with my presentation that I was carrying in my back pocket!" Unfortunately, you will meet blackguards at home as well as at work: "Phil Anders told me that he loved me, so I introduced him to my family. Now the blackguard is going out with my sister!"

    For more info see Word of the Day

    ReplyDelete
  22. Canadian Ruta Lee (no relation Katrina?; her birth name was Lithuanian-Kilmoney) was a constant on our little Zenith in the late 50s through the 70s as a guest star, a panelist and a series regular. I am impressed she is back working.

    The choices for the TEA theme were varied and made the puzzle harder but it was a nice Sunday challenge; as others have said we look forward to more.

    I am curious as to what the Harem link would show and the black eyed peas look like little fingertips.
    For a Sunday there was much I did not know.
    We eat more Roti than Naan as it is much easier to make.

    Have a very healthy week all and special thoughts for Boomer and PVX

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  23. So Bill spilled the beans (not the tea) on the forbidden link as I was slowly posting my comment; but- what is 7x24 o**y ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lemony @3:32. I'm fearful to write it out as Blogger may remove it. Let's just say, it's a 4 ltr word for group S*X. ❤️❤️❤️

      Delete
  24. Puzzling thoughts:

    FIW; mostly due to spelling errors, but I also looked up a lot of answers

    I always admire new constructors and applaud them for being published

    I’ve always referred to this sort of puzzle as a rebus

    Lots of w/o’s by me: BARS/PUBS; ARAB/SERB; AUGER/AUGUR

    Too many proper names I didn’t immediately recognize nor suss with perps. A few of the clues were too tricky or obscure, and pluralizing IKEA seemed forced. But my puzzles aren’t perfect either

    The entry of BILBO BAGGINS gave memory to this old limerick I wrote many moons ago:

    BILBO BAGGINS was recently scarred,
    And the news really caught us, off guard.
    He expired from infection
    After getting an erection;
    Guess it’s true that old Hobbits die hard.

    ReplyDelete
  25. It took me a long time to figure out this puzzle, but I was eventually able to finish it. I made one typo which delayed things and I needed to do "Check grid" to find it. I had typed TBA instead of TBS. Sometimes I do that: type the letter on the keyboard next to the one I intend to type, such as A instead of S and Y instead of T. All in all a pretty nifty puzzle! Congratulations and thanks to Katrina Lee.

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  26. Boy this was a tough one ... it took over 2 hours , including 4 breaks to 'powder my nose'
    I am doing a lot of that nowadays.... I had such a perplexing composition that i never paid attention to the teas ... although I knew all of them ... had BOBA only once.

    Thank you Katrina Lee for a big challenge ... that must be one tough undertaking and composition !

    Thank you CC for for an all encompassing review.... and all the explanations... I am not familiar with the movies and the Pulitzers etc so I had to google some of them.

    CC and Boomer, having personally endured a month long stay at the mad house, I especially emphathize with both of you. Even simple acts like going to the loo can be as daunting as going to the police station and just as, or much more, painful.
    My prayers and best wishes are for both of you tonight, as a;ways.

    1, Make sure you have help ... anybody nearby, in a pinch.
    2. Keep Faith in each other, and in God, or whatever keeps your spirits and hopes up.
    3. The Long journey of a thousand leagues starts and continues with small steps.

    Are we out of the woods yet ? No, we are never out of the woods, for our entire lifetimes, and that is what life itself is all about. I am reminded of the poem by Robert Frost::

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep
    ... and miles to go before I sleep
    ......and miles to go before I sleep.

    *******************************

    Lemonade, Roti is much more healthier than Naan, because Roti is whole wheat generally of the famous Canadian Durum variety, whereas Naan is just highly fermented enriched flour.

    For something really UNhealthy but very tasty, try premade, raw Parotha / Parotta/ Paratha frpm an indian or chinese store (?) . They are made in Bangladesh !!!, and are in the frozen section ... about $7 for 25 Parathas... each individuallly packed... heat at low heat in a skillet for 3 minutes each. Like a mini Naaan...

    COSTCO in New Jersey sells Rotis ... pretty decent uncooked , raw ones which you can heat up and cook, .... at a pretty good price. Not in all states, though.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Waseeley thanks for the info on Harems, ... well written article, and I was curious about the picture that was missing.

    Have a great week all, and a lovely MOnday tomorrow.

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  27. Desper Otto glad you are going back to IRS tax preparation ... always good to keeep your mind busy and occupied ...I would have loved to do sucha volunteer job but alas my circumstances are rather restricting. I am considered to be immuno-compromised for the next 24 months ...

    REgarding pharmacy aids and help and long lines and delays ... we are an aging population and there is a severe shortage of good qualified and decent help. in all fields , even snow plowing, to name one !! When I was temporily laid out, I even found a couple of mistakes in the med dispensation at the nurses station.
    We had to use CVS as a preferred provider for thelalast 4 years, but now the hospital system has taken over the med program themselves ,, and we either pick up or by mail.

    Just try to plan ahead if and when you can... for your drug needs.

    ReplyDelete
  28. C.C. and Boomer, Vidwan said it best - "My prayers and best wishes are for both of you tonight, as always (although I did change that semicolon to the intended l).

    ReplyDelete
  29. This was absolutely the Worst Sunday puzzle I've ever tried to solve ... SEVEN HOURS of angst. A total waste of a Sunday afternoon. Way too many twist and turns, coined words, misspellings to meet the needs of the theme. I thought a crossword puzzle was supposed to be a test of word knowledge, not a contest to unlock the quirkiness of the constructor's thinking process. Sorry, Katrina, but I'll toss any puzzle with your name on it ... too much angst!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Vidwan, my wife has bought and prepared Paratha. She seldom explains and I eat and like most of her creations, but not all.

    Bill you are a sensitive man and I assure you, neither blogger nor Corner police will remove your orgy...unless you post the video. That is why DMs were invented and why WhatsApp is successful

    ReplyDelete
  31. Foreign words,obscure names,ridiculous fill, somewhat clever theme. After a few passes I just tossed it.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Chiming in late - since we have out of town company so just completed it in fits and starts.
    I got the teas vertical way early - but took awhile to connect to the long horizontal fill.

    Thanks CC - hope the weather is a little better this week - prayers for sustaining grace this week! Congrats to Katrina for a very creative puzzle!

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  33. The worst Sunday puzzle I have ever done and I have been doing them for thirty years!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. What a weird basis for a crossword. Also, when did "de novo" start to mean "again." Since it literally means "new".

    ReplyDelete

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