Theme RANDO (R and O) (53. Total stranger, or a three-word
hint to the answers to the starred clues) - Each theme answers starts
with R* and O*.
16. *Playful semiaquatic mammal: RIVER OTTER.
24. *Seafood served on the half shell: RAW OYSTER.
36. *Really get down to the music: ROCK OUT.
38. *Floral perfume ingredient: ROSE OIL.
47. *Request with a tight timeline: RUSH ORDER.
59. *"Only the Lonely" singer: ROY ORBISON.
Boomer here.
RO, RO, RO, Your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily. merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. No medical appointments last week, hoping that's a good sign.
Across:
5. Sounds of revelation: AHAS. Gotcha !
9. __ bean: FAVA.
13. Cereal coveted by a silly rabbit: TRIX. I cannot have them. They are only for kids.
14. Garlic piece: CLOVE. Not a great taste. I remember there used to be a CLOVE chewing gum!
15. Baaing mamas: EWES.
18. Merit: EARN. Not much EARNing going on these days on the market.
19. "__ the Force, Luke": USE. May the force be with you.
20. Looked over: EYED. Hey look me over, lend me an ear!
21. Green shade named for a fruit: OLIVE. Popeye's girlfriend.
22. Electric car maker: TESLA. Is he gonna buy Twitter or what?
27. Flower starter: BUD. St. Louis' favorite beer.
28. Thompson of "Thor: Love and Thunder": TESSA.
29. Parcel of land: TRACT. We live in a townhome so we do not own the land. That means I do not have to mow!
31. Mammal with elephant and leopard varieties: SEAL.
32. Chiding sounds: TSKS.
40. Black as night: INKY.
41. Sail the seven __: SEAS. I never sailed. Flew over one once.
43. Spiteful, as gossip: CATTY. The chatty doll is CATHY.
44. Baseball Hall of Famer Stengel: CASEY. At the bat.
46. Campfire residue: ASH. What Casey's bat was made from.
51. Broadcast again: RE-AIR.
54. Incredible bargain: STEAL. Not sure that I like this clue.
55. Verdi opera: AIDA.
57. Hotel at JFK named for a defunct airline: TWA. Trans World Airlines.
58. Turn sharply: VEER. Sometimes in northern Minnesota you may have to VEER your drive to avoid hitting a deer.
62. Stiffly proper: PRIM.
63. Helps in a heist: ABETS. I placed a few bets in Danbury Wisconsin a few weeks ago.
64. "Do you __?": MIND. Your manners.
65. Moral lapses: SINS. I have found that it is difficult to SIN while fighting cancer for four years.
66. Fail to notice: MISS. The "'OL" state
67. Miranda of "Homeland": OTTO.
Down:
2. Pop up: ARISE. ALL RISE was on the back of Aaron Judge's jersey once.
3. Volunteers in the community one grew up in, say: GIVES BACK. Generally this will happen if you win a little at a casino.
4. Cord cutter?: AXE. Wrestler Larry "The Axe" Henning.
5. Take in or let out: ALTER. Also front and center at church.
6. Reason to get all gussied up: HOT DATE.
7. "__ Maria": AVE. "Hail Mary" in Latin.
8. Spanish verb similar to "estar": SER. To be.
9. Is completely comfortable: FEELS AT EASE. I'm feeling a bit better, but my legs are still a problem.
10. Anticipate: AWAIT. Social Security is going up a bit. AWAIT until January,
11. Vivacity: VERVE.
12. Ed who played Lou Grant: ASNER. WJM-TV in Minneapolis. I
still remember Mary Tyler Moore walking along Lake of the Isles in
Minneapolis. C.C. and I took that path many times.
 |
Boomer, The Mary Tyler Moore House, 8/16/2017 |
14. Playfully shy: COY.
17. Share a bedtime story with: READ TO.
21. Kvetching cries: OYS.
23. "Magically delicious" cereal: LUCKY CHARMS. I sort of stick to Grape-Nuts and Chex.
25. Has on: WEARS. Some times the puzzle WEARS me out.
26. Norwegian city with a Viking Ship Museum: OSLO. We have Vikings here. No museum.
29. Prefix with athlete: TRI.
30. "Apollo 13" director Howard: RON. Long career, right Opie?
31. Fine equine: STEED.
33. "Really? There's no more?": SO THAT'S IT?. Wrong - there's 15 more clues.
34. Tool set: KIT.
35. Wily: SLY. Fox.
37. Cold War initials: USSR. I wish they would leave Ukraine.
39. Egyptian beetle: SCARAB.
42. Long-fingered lemurs of Madagascar: AYE AYES. Yes Sir!
45. "You've got mail" ISP: AOL. We get ours from a mail box.
47. Politely declines, maybe: RSVPS. I'll be there.
48. Development sites: UTERI.
49. Greet and seat: SEE IN.
50. Very funny folks: RIOTS. Lots of campaigns coming soon.
52. Terse refusal: I WON'T. I will vote.
56. Rx writers, often: DRS. Some got into trouble for prescribing opioids.
59. Animal logo on a Dodge truck: RAM. Don't RAM another car or truck with it.
60. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.
61. Caveat in a text: IMO. In My Opinion.
Boomer
48 comments:
I’m not familiar with the word “rando” which is obviously a slang shortening of “random “ but the clueing made it obvious. Other than that, this was the usual Monday “walk in the park.” FIR, so I’m happy.
FIW. AHAh < AHAS + ηεϱ < Σεϱ .
Theme was spotted early, meh, but an interesting reveal, using a current slang term I've actually seen somewhere!
There seems to be a cereal sub-theme .
There are a lot of plural, some on things not usually plural: AHAS, EWES, TSKS, SEAS, SINS, DR.S, RSVPS, OYS, CHARMS, RIOTS, AYE-AYES [spellcheck doesn't like 5 of those]
She was COY when she first caught my EYE,
A ship-shape lass, but incredibly SLY!
She took my desire,
And stoked it higher.
But she was the captain, and I said, " AYE AYE"!
As I understand, they're not Kosher,
Not something a rabbi would ORDER.
When asked why he'd SIN
He said "OY vey," with a grin,
"But I like them -- OY, OY, OYSTERS!"
{B+, A-.}
Good morning!
Hand up for not recognizing RANDO as a stranger. With the OTTER, OYSTER, and BISON, it could've been a critter theme. Nope. Thanx for the diversion, Rebecca, and for 'splainin' it all, Boomer.
TRIX -- I remember a shaggy dog story that ended, "Silly rabbi, kicks are for trids."
OTTO -- SO to moi. We don't watch Homeland, but I remember her as Eowyn in LOTR.
OSLO -- Visited a number of Norwegian cities, but never made it to OSLO. Did visit an ancient ship museum in Stockholm -- the Vasa. It sank in 1628 on its maiden voyage. The wooden ship survived, because the Baltic water isn't shipworm-friendly.
AVE Maria -- As Tom Lehrer wrote...
"Ave Maria,
Gee it's good to seeya,
Gettin' ecstatic,
And sorta dramatic,
And doin' the Vatican Rag."
Good morning. Thank you, Rebecca, and thank you, Boomer
The word RANDO practically begged for an R AND O puzzle, didn't it ? Rebecca Obliged.
I liked it for a solid Monday level puzzle.
RAW OYSTERS, not so much anymore. There used to be this boat just off the Katy freeway feeder, around Wirt ... Desper-OTTO, TxMs, Dash T and Leo all probably remember that place.
Owen, I didn't notice the S words. Might have on another day. Kind of like names. Probably won't hear a lot of complaints about names today since most of them have been standard fill or are widely known.
Boomer, I mowed yesterday. I don't mind. 32nd time YTD. That's about normal. The least amount of times I've mowed by this date was 22 times in 2018. Yeah, I keep logs on that kind of stuff.
Didn't CASEY strike out ? Or was that another Casey ? :>)
FIR, despite never hearing of rando.
FIR, but erased lima for FAVA, which I've heard of but haven't cooked.
Local Channel 10 News yesterday interviewed a heartbroken homeowner whose koi had been reduced to scales and a few fish pieces. They showed security cam footage of a couple of OTTERs going to town on them. ("Footage" is kind of an oxymoron with digital cameras, no?)
The Eurythmics traveled the world and the seven SEAS and found that everybody's looking for something.
Ed ASNER played a creepy dirty old man in a Mom cameo. He nailed it, of course.
And this year's award for unnecessarily obscure cluing goes to Patti for cluing "long-fingered lemurs of Madagascar" for AYE AYES. Maybe it's just me, living in a Navy town and all.
OTOH, OSLO is always the Norwegian city.
Any music purchase by our own Anon -T would likely be a RUSH ORDER.
FLN - WC, Santa was right. And BC should be proud - it produced you AND Howard Stern.
Thanks to Rebecca for the fun puzzle, and to Boomer for the chuckles.
Today's took me 4:31 to finish.
Yep, seemed like a Monday.
FIR. But for a while I had USHER instead of SEE IN and RERUN instead of REAIR . That slowed me down. RANDO, no clue.
Yea! for Boomer’s appointment free week.
“Total stranger, or a three word hint…” So, isn’t it “R and O” where the R and the O stand for words? And what are those words that would make it a clue for a “total stranger”? RANDO in not a word, but if it was, it is only one word, not three. Also DNK AYEAYES. And not sure I’m familiar with FAVA beans. Only W/Os were where I carelessly filled MDS in 59D where I meant to write it in 56D, then had to W/O MDS in 56D with DRS. AIMA? No, AIDA, so it had to be DRS. 48D “Development sites” had me thinking TRACTS (doesn’t fit) LOTS (doesn’t fit) finally a couple perps and the V-8 can hit me. Clever clue. I did finally manage to FIR, in a disgraceful Monday time of (oh, geez!) 20 minutes. Yeah, I know. Well, I make everyone else feel pretty smug, so you can all be glad unclefred is here. Very nice CW, RG, thanx. And thanx too to Boomer for his usual enjoyable write-up. So, you don’t hafta go to the VA this week? I bet you’re gonna miss all that good cafeteria chow, aren’t you Boomer?
I FIR in spite of not understanding what was meant regarding three words. I got Rando early on and then all the starred clues. Yet I’m still wondering about three words….rando is one word. Anyone?? TIA
totally rando....
Good Morning:
A typical Monday solve with only Otto and Aye Ayes unknown, as clued. I, too, had Lima before Fava. Can’t see Fava without imagining Sir Anthony Hopkins as the evil Hannibal Lector in The Silence of The Lambs. I have seen the word Rando used but, for some reason, to me, it sounds like a slur or an insult.
Thanks, Rebecca, for starting the week off gently and thanks, Boomer, for your always upbeat and cheerful commentary.
Have to go for a blood draw later, not one of my favorite things.
Have a great day.
Fava beans made famous in the movie Silence of the Lambs. "....fava beans and a nice chianti." Chilling clip.
Rando, new word for me.
Thanks for a fun puzzle.
It said OR a three word answer on the clue
Damon Runyan had a famous description of CASEY running the bases*
I enjoyed this xword as a solid Wednesday or Thursday level puzzle
Howard is an Eagle? Unlistenable
Never grok'ed R and O. But before Anon-T RUSHes in let's hear My personal ORBISON fav
WC
** His arms flying back and forth like those of a man swimming with a crawl stroke.
His flanks heaving, his breath whistling, his head far back
The warped old legs, twisted and bent by many a year of baseball campaigns, just barely held out under CASEY Stengel until he reached the plate, running his home run home.
Then they collapsed."
Hi All!
Thanks Rebecca for a nice Monday puzzle to EASE in the work week.
Thanks for the chipper review, Boomer.
WO: limA -> FAVA (Hi, PK!)
ESPs: AYEAYES, OTTO, TESSA
Fav: INKY - made me think of Click & Clack "[...] from the INKY shadows [of the Quonset hut]"
{B+, A}
RANDO implies Weirdo. As in, "Some RANDO on Twitter asked for a HOT DATE."
IM - FAVA evokes the same Hopkins scene for me too... "with a nice chianti"
LOL Jinx - I do love some RUSH.
LOL "chillin' bird," CED.
Cheers, -T
Unclefred, et al, perhaps the clue should have used, "Total stranger, or WHEN PARSED IN THREE PARTS, a hint to the answers to the starred clues". Something like that, as technically, you are correct that the letters R and O are not words, per se.
We had RANDO most recently on Friday, June 10th. It may be the lone appearance in the LAT crosswords until today. You can use the archives on the right side of the main blog page to see the comments about RANDO from then. It has appeared in other venues more frequently.
Short for random person. A stranger, usually used in the context of a completely unknown someone that interjects themself into a picture (such as a photo bomber), or into a conversation, or into social media exchanges such as in blogs. In social media, randos are often associated with "fly by" snarky or inflammatory comments. Or they can simply be anons. Such as at 8:43, 12:01, 7:15 and 7:17 in the blog comments yesterday.
I never saw the clue or the answer AYE AYES until Jinx mentioned it. Didn't even see it when reading Boomer's review. Had to read the Wikipedia on them. "The largest of all lemurs ... nocturnal ... percussive foragers with long middle fingers" Neat.
If you're not acquainted with Roy here's more
WC
MDH loves Roy’s music. Thanks for the links WC.
DREARY. not Dready..lol
Good Morning.
Thanks, Rebecca. I needed that. Lots of the younger constructors are using "lingo" I don't know, let alone TV and films I don't watch. So RANDO worked for me as it made a bit of sense. Thanks Anon-T for pointing out its weird factor. Ah, the lessons of a long life. . . .
CED- I have just finished laughing enough to type again. That is hilarious.
Boomer, thank your for another fine tour. If you remember Clove gum, surely you remember Blackjack. The Goldenrod in York, Maine, stopped making clove taffy--at least for a bit--and added blueberry. I think they still have licorice. I'm glad to hear you are getting some help at home. Be well.
This past weekend was the Chicago Air and Water Show. The planes pretty much fly out of Gary airport, but it was great fun when the staging was at NAS Glenview before it became a mall. We really enjoyed the show overhead from our backyard as they made their way to the Chicago lakefront.
Have a sunny day wherever you are.
Sheesh, finally got it right...lol......
Had a bit of trouble with this one, a bit dicey for a beginning-of-the-week challenge, took a bit longer than usual.
Perpwaited NAVY (not "lima" bean withAWAIT and VAVA 🙄
CLOVE, is it garlic or a spice? "Cord cutter" I don't AXE 'em but I stax 'em resulting in a common CW answer ache😨...
aahs?, ahhs?, AHAS?, Oz!, yah never know 😀. .....AYEAYES? Lemurs? c'mon it's MONDAY, (agree with Jinx).. how about "Naval OK's"?
Couldn't find a Gunther Toody "Do you mind, DO YOU MIND!!" video clip
Remember a bit of a todo over the word RANDO as a puzzle answer back a piece, anyway my brain must be firing on all neurons cuz I parsed R AND O how they "pop up" in all the theme answers. Twice in ROYORBISON It's RON not Ronny Howard anymore (hey another R and O!!)
STEEDThere'll be no lambs, all RAMs, it's no ___ EWES
Had stuck together or had split apart...CLOVE
Sense needling...FEELATEASE.
____ you've been gone...SINCE.
Baby birther for shortb...OBI.
Dreaded start of the week, Boomer, no Dr appointment this week?...keep eating dem apples 🍎
I just realized I used the word "obvious" twice in my short review. Sloppy of me. I "obviously" was not at my best!
Hola!
I'll finish reading you all later. Nice CSO to OTTO.
R and O very obvious.
The only time I've had FAVA beans is in Spain.
ROY ORBISON was entertaining!
STEAL! Don't get me started.
Time to go. Have a beautiful day, everyone!
AYE-AYE
The ayes have it. I remember the aye-ayes striking eyes.
aye-ayes
Odd that "fava" was published as "vava" till I rebooted....🤔
Lucina..I thought fava beans were the same as lupini beans (Mom loved them and are common here) but LIU, they're a "horse" (bean) of a different color
😀
Congrats to the Burnikel team for a fine NYT puzzle today! Amazing that you have time!
Right On, Rebecca for including an impressive amount of R and O themed answers in today's puzzle.
RON Howard and his brother Clint recently wrote a book together called The Boys. It's about growing up as child stars in Hollywood. A good read, IMO.
TTP @ 5:58. I love that you keep data on your lawn mowing! How is one supposed to make accurate comparisons without quality data?!
Delightful Monday puzzle, many thanks, Rebecca. And your Monday commentaries are always a treat, Boomer. Have a healthy week coming up.
Yes, I too noticed some critters in this puzzle, but am not sure they hang out with each other. Would an OTTER be a friend of EWES or a BISON? Maybe he'd get along better with a SEAL. Well, the BISON might be pals with a STEED, I suppose.
Quite a few moral negatives in this puzzle, with people willing to STEAL, or at least ABET crimes, or just be SLY and COY and USE people. People should really avoid committing SINS, and avoid RIOTS, if possible.
But there was also much good spirit in this puzzle. I was especially pleased by the volunteers willingness to GIVE BACK, which would CHARM lots of folks, and make everyone FEEL AT EASE. And could even produce a little romance, with a PRIM MISS going on a HOT DATE.
Well, time to wish you all a really good week coming up.
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the doable & fun puzzle, IMO, Rebecca. Thanks for the chuckles, Boomer & CED.
Total stranger = RANDO took some serious mulling over. The puzzle was filled and I finally saw R AND O to relieve my puzzlement.
DNK: AYEAYES, OTTO, TESSA, SER.
YR, if AYEAYES have big eyes, you'd think they'd be called EYEEYES. Never heard of them. Learning moment. Thanks for the picture.
Hand up I remember RANDO from a previous puzzle. I think RANDOM originally was a thing at MIT and then it seeped into the broader language. We even had a RANDOM House dorm until the publisher threatened to sue. It was changed to RANDOM Hall. I stayed there briefly until I was evicted and became homeless for a month. Really.
We will soon be off to MADAGASCAR and off the grid for most of September.
Here DW posed with the ELEPHANT SEALs at San Simeon last year.
That was our first outing in almost a year during COVID.
From Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles Thank you for explaining BC!
From Saturday:
I did a Google search of WEIRD FLEX BUT OK and found the history. It started with a comment by Taliban survivor Malala. But it took off as a meme when Brett Kavanaugh said "I Was a Virgin in High School and Many Years Thereafter".
I couldn't believe the clue for 70a in today's NYT, considering who created the puzzle. Congrats, dynamic duo.
Picard...
If you meet up with any "Ayeayes" in Madagascar get some selfies. Don't take "No-no" for an answer.
PLATS fits, however...
Sorry, Boomer, "front and center in church" wb a-l-t-A-r.
"But wait, there's more." RONCO
I see from other comments that I am not the only one who's unfamiliar with RANDO. That slowed me down at the end, but I went with it.
Nevertheless, it is not a good response for "Total stranger."
Sure, a RANDOmly chosen person is likely to be a stranger, but there is a slim (very slim) chance to land at RANDOm on someone who is known to the chooser.
Ergo, it cannot be guaranteed to be a "Total stranger."
Enough nit-picking. This was in all other respects a fine Monday morning PZL from Ms. Goldstein, boomed out for us by the Boomer.
Alas, no diagonals...
~ OMK
I inadvertently selected the electric company rather than the county collector when paying my property taxes a week or so ago while using online banking "Bill Pay". D'OH ! Glad that I signed on Saturday to pay another bill and discovered my error. Just got off the phone with the electric company. They're sending me a check.
sumdaze, yes, I am actually kind of weird (anal?) when it comes to tracking things. Especially finances. I can open a spreadsheet and find out exactly how much I paid for electric in Mar of 93, or my natural gas bill Feb 2003. I do totals and averages by year, and can quickly find the sum total I'm paid for electric since about the time I moved into this house over 30 years ago. I know what every one of my credit card bills has been by account and by month since I've had them. Or car insurance, life insurance, home insurance, property tax bills etc. Just a habit I got into way way back. Takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation, such as when doing projections. I actually hold periodic financial reviews with myself.
At some point, it all spilled over to other things. So I have some specialized logs, some miscellaneous logs, activities logs, event logs, etc. I can even look up the winning Wordle word for July 9th or any other date since Feb 11, and see what words I played that day. I logged when I got my CoVid shots, when I last got new glasses, when I got my haircuts etc. Yeah, I guess I am a bit weird that way.
Today I logged that I sprayed my Star Magnolia with horticultural spray. It's being attacked by Magnolia Scale, and releasing 1500 ladybugs on Aug 12th to feed on the scale did not seem to help. I didn't even see any. Perhaps they went next door to my neighbor's gardens to eat her aphids.
Ol' Man Keith, look up the word RANDO in Merriam-Webster. I found that it is defined there after I posted my comments about rando this morning.
ProfMeritus - you brought this on yourself... Mr. Popeil [Weird Al].
Act now and they will RUSH your ORDER!
C, -T
Thank you Rebecca for a Monday Return to nOrmal after a RANDO weekend. And thank you Boomer for the usual Monday levity.
22A TESLA. I just hope he's on the first trip to MARS. And stays there!
24A RAW OYSTER. Chesapeake Bay sushi. Learned to eat 'em sitting on my father's lap.
4D AXE. Looks like Henning could run a one man home heating business.
14D COY. Japanese carp are known for being playfully shy.
17D READ TO. My grandchildren won't fall asleep until you READ TO them. Sometimes they have to wake me up and tuck me in.
21D OYS. A common sound on the Corner these days. Not so much today I think.
42D AYE AYES. Learned this from my precocious grandson. I'd never heard of them and told him to prove it, so he grabbed my phone and asked ALEXA.
56D DRS. Saw one this morning. It's my brand new hobby.
61A IMO. IMO this was a fun puzzle and a fun review.
Cheers,
Bill
TTP @2:26 PM You can take a guy out of IT, but you can't take IT out of a guy.
ProfMeritus @2:07PM Love your eponymous blog!
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Rebecca and Boomer.
I FIRed and saw the R AND O theme early (which helped the solve).
But I had two inkblots.
Aahs changed to AHAS. FEELS AT Home changed to EASE.
AYEAYES was unknown. I agree with Jinx about that clueing (and on a Monday!).
I smiled at the TRIX and LUCKY CHARMS cereals. Too sugary for me to buy for my kids (or grands). The occasional box of Fruit Loops was their treat.
I also smiled at the polite RSVPS vs the terse I WON’T. But sometimes any reply is better than no reply!
I’m with you Irish Miss re FAVA (and it was right above EWES!).
Hand up for having Lima first.
FLN- yes WC, we read you. It was not going into the ether.
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings
-An early morning appointment in Omaha with a former student turned surgeon, then 18 holes of golf and home by 2:00 p.m.
-The gimmick was obvious but I had not heard of the reveal either. Any puzzle with ROY ORBISON is aces with me.
-What you can say to slow players, “Do you MIND if I/we play through?” They should say yes.
-In the early days of EPCOT, the Norway boat ride with it gentle drop was the best ride
-Another four-letter Norwegian town is Bodø but that last letter might be an issue
-Hey, Irish, if you can make it to Bryan Memorial in Lincoln, my grandson is a great phlebotomist!
-An AYE AYE Lemur display in the Omaha zoo’s Lemur pavilion.
-Wordle crapshoot last week: I had one last guess with _ A S T E showing and five good candidates. I guessed correctly. Phew!
Gary, last week ? That was yesterday. :>)
Bill, I think you are correct. IT. Documenting everything from desktop practices to standard procedures, especially for Six Sigma and ISO certification. And then, the monthly financial reviews, and all of the dog and pony shows. Glad I am well past all of that.
I first thought AYE AYEs were some kind of joke but I see that they are real! Amazing!
I enjoyed solving this puzzle and reading all your comments.
Gary, too bad you aren't playing the Fedex Cup final this weekend in Atlanta. Fourth place pays $4,000,000, about the same as Arnold Palmer made in prize money over his entire pro career. Second place pays $6,500,000, more than Jack Nicholas made in prize money. And first place pays $18,000,000, nearly twice what Jack and Arnie - combined - won over the course of their storied careers.
Animal lover, wild and domesticated, former Houston Zoo docent, and avid fan of PBS's wildlife shows, I've never, ever heard of ayeayes! Dunno 'bout Patti.
TTP@5:58am re RAW OYSTERS - boat off of Katy Frwy @ Wirt? Was there a Capt. Benny's there? If so, Benny's has a few left in Houston. An iconic small building shaped like a boat - great seafood and gumbo. Luckily, there's one in my neck o' the woods at the NW Frwy @ 34th.
Anon-T@9:30am - RANDO implies "weirdo" - makes more sense than "random." Truly a generational term - thanks for educating your elders!
Well I turned 70 today ... Catfish
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