Saturday Themeless by Malaika Handa
This is my second themeless puzzle by Brooklyn resident Malaika Handa. 
Malaika is a software engineer who has been making puzzles for two years. You can see an archive of all her puzzles on her website: https://www.
Here is a link to a playful but instructive interview with Malaika that includes this wonderful quote from her:
Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test.
I added by subtracting on Malaika's challenging puzzle. SUGAR COATED medicine instead of CANDY COATED, DEW drop instead of MIC drop. Those changes opened up COMIC CON, RAVIOLI and NO MSG.
Across:
7. Trademarked sandwich: MCRIB - McDonalds seems to make a big deal of when they are and are not available.
12. Long, thin fish also called a grenadier: RAT TAIL - Not the comb this time
14. Worth giving up on: DOOMED - The wording of this clue was fun, uh, eventually! 😏
16. Fla-Vor-Ice rival: OTTER POP - I learned this in two recent puzzles
18. Settle early: PREPAY.
19. Hot items at a bakery: OVENS.
20. "Mario Party" dinosaur: YOSHI.
22. Slip-__: ONS - Skechers? ✔ Golf shoe? ✔ Slip ONS? ✔
23. "Duérmete __": Spanish lullaby: NINO - Rock-a-Bye Baby in Espanol. Duérmete translates as "Go to sleep" which a parent 1. Sings a lullaby, say: CROONS to a baby NIÑO or NIÑA
24. Cut: SAWED.
25. Destiny's Child, e.g.: TRIO - Beyonce : Destiny's Child :: Diana Ross : Supremes
25. Destiny's Child, e.g.: TRIO - Beyonce : Destiny's Child :: Diana Ross : Supremes
28. "__ Morgen!": GUTEN and 43. "Buona __!": SERA - We have German for "good morning" and Italian for "good evening".
29. Adds: CONTRIBUTES.
31. Easy to swallow: CANDY COATED - Spoonful Of Sugar jumped into my head and so I smugly entered SUGAR COATED. Oops.
32. High tied activity?: ROPES COURSE - Malaika!
33. Charlie and Lola: NAMES - Charlie is a perfume and Lola is a showgirl. What, that's not relevant?
34. Passionate: LUSTY.
35. "The Magicians" novelist Grossman: LEV.
38. "Ars Amatoria" poet: OVID - Written in 2 A.D. This 9th century transcript of The Art Of Love is the oldest known copy
39. Fools: DUPES.
40. Dove home: COTE - Am I the only one who put SLID?
41. __ drop: MIC - "So there!"
42. Speaks in Spanish: HABLA - ¿HABLA inglés? (Do you speak English?)
43. Temaki or futomaki: SUSHI.
44. Becky Sauerbrunn's sport: SOCCER.
46. Gossamer: ETHEREAL - We saw this two weeks ago
48. Far-reaching: GLOBAL.
49. Fish in stargazy pie: SARDINE - Wanna see this pie which has sardine heads sticking out of it? I wonder where Malaika learned about this pie or if this is Patti's clue?
50. Place to share stories, for short: INSTAgram
51. Had: TASTED - I have never seen or TASTED stargazy pie.
Down:
2. Baltic state with a maroon and white flag: LATVIA - Geographers and vexilollogists will know the LATVIAN flag is below the flag of Estonia and above the one of Lithuania
3. Go: ATTEND.
4. Legal brief writer?: STENO.
5. Links data: PARS - You can see what PAR is for each hole I play on my home course/links
6. Bit of a draft?: SIP - A SIP of draft beer
7. Letters for a research scientist: MD-PHD - I struggled for this one
8. Bush who is part of "The Squad" in Congress: CORI - Speaking
9. Ingredient that makes she-crab soup orange: ROE - Obviously missing in he-crab soup
10. Brought in: IMPORTED - In school meetings, anyone brought in from over 100 miles away is an "expert".
11. Skullcaps: BEANIES.
13. Program that rewards super users: LOYALTY CLUB - Here's one for a casino in Germany
15. Maker of the Corrale straightener: DYSON.
17. Popular item: POWER COUPLE.
21. Blog with "The Food Lab" columns written by J. Kenji López-Alt: SERIOUS EATS.
24. Historic Vegas hotel: SANDS - Once the home of "The Rat Pack". I wonder if Malaika has ever heard of them.
25. Private pupil: TUTEE.
27. Series starring Emily Deschanel as a forensic anthropologist: BONES.
28. Daring: GUTSY.
29. Like some 31-Down attendees: CAPED and 31. Event where folks may be super dressed up?: COMIC CON. Lots of hints in the clue and one Malaika told me she really liked!
30. St. __: Caribbean island: BARTS - It's about a 7 hr flight from Miami to St. BARThelemy
32. Filling dish?: RAVIOLI - RAVIOLI does have filling
33. Chinese take-out order?: NO MSG.
35. Finally crack: LOSE IT.
36. Colorless gas: ETHANE.
37. "The __ Virgin": Strazza statue in Newfoundland: VEILED - A beautiful and amazing statue sculpted by the genius Giovanni Strazza in the 1850's showing the beauty and translucence of Carrera marble.
39. Youngest girl in the Shazam Family: DARLA - If you're interested
40. Poutine topper: CURDS - Topping French fries
42. Qualifying race: HEAT.
45. Paramount+ network: CBS.
47. Feature of some uniforms: HAT - A big deal in Kim Jong Un's army
When I saw Malaika as the author I knew this would be good. Best puzzle this week by far, a complete 180 from last Saturday which was the one I enjoyed the least last week. So many great entries and clues plus the legendary crossing triple stacks in the middle. POWER COUPLE was my favorite clue/answer pair and helped me sort out the stacks. The NE corner was the toughest because MDPHD was tricky to see, and so was MCRIB since "orange" in the crab soup clue had me thinking YAM first. (In the NW, OTTERPOP helped a lot - I didn't know it last week but I sure remembered this time)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I finished by running the alphabet at ROPE_COURSE/SAND_ - I'm not familiar with ROPES COURSE, and the hotel looked like a "_ AND _" (_&_ with two random initials) kind of answer. Still managed to solve in under 10 minutes which is rare for me on a Saturday.
Well, the Natick of “Yoshi” and “Carli” got me. I thought it was “Carla” for sure. As D-O would say, “bzzzzt!” So I can’t say I’m totally happy, but I feel pretty good about getting all the rest of the puzzle, anyway. This was a tough puzzle, and I did okay, if not perfect.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteOh, so close. I made the same mistake as Subgenius -- though I think he meant CORI rather than CARLI. CORA/YOSHA looked OK to me, though when Husker showed me the error of my ways, I remember hearing of CORI Bush in the news. Drat, another DNF. Thanx, Malaika and Husker.
BALER : The machine of my ute created rectangular bales -- 60-75 pounds each, depending on the moisture content of the hay.
STENO : My niece in MN spent many years as a court stenographer. Today she runs her own business, primarily transcribing depositions -- shorter hours, higher pay.
Nope. Managed to fill 21 items, 17 correctly. Errors included SAWED<--slice, CORI<--cory, DARLA<--carla, and BARTS<--kitts. Is the "St." in the clue adequate to indicate that Barthélemy is truncated?
ReplyDeleteWell it was worth a stab, but not spending a lot of time on. But I'm glad that the more advanced Cornerites finally get a workable challenge. Thanks to Malaika for the arduous grid, and to Gary for the tour.
My experience was similar to Jinx. I normally don’t throw in the towel early, but I just wasn’t on the same wavelength.
ReplyDeleteBest LAT xword in months.
ReplyDeleteI fought my way through this one in 22:55. I'm sure Yooper Phil (and many of you) bested me again today.
ReplyDeleteThis was two puzzles for me: the lower-right, and everything else. I spent probably 10 minutes on the lower-right section alone.
I didn't know some guy named Lev, some character named Darla, some blog written/posted by someone, and some soccer player named Becky.
I always deduct points for foreign languages: Spanish (habla), German (guten), and Italian (sera). Other than that, good themeless puzzle. I liked the "NoMSG" even if it took me awhile.
FIW, couldn't remember Yoshi, and 7D had me flummoxed. Just couldn't see MD and PHD.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI finished this w/o help in 43:40 which is much longer than a Saturday solve usually takes me. On the plus side, there were only 8 three letter words which is always a plus in my book, and I also appreciated the fresh and sparkling fill. On the minus side, my minus side, there were too many unknowns, some as clued, others just plain unknown, to list. Suffice it to say, I felt like I was on another planet, or maybe another country as we had German, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese clues/answers. I don’t object to the use of pop culture in puzzles, in all its forms, whether it be music, slang, celebrities, rappers, gaming, etc., but what I do find fault with is the imbalance of it, skewing towards a singular demographic. Crosswords should be accessible to all, providing a fair challenge and, hopefully, a rewarding satisfaction of completion.
Thanks, Malaika, and thanks, HG, for your never disappointing commentary and vibrant visuals. Thanks for going the extra mile to include the constructors’ thoughts.
After three days and numerous phone calls, I finally got the liquor store gift card fiasco resolved. I received an apology but no explanation for the glitch. Murphy’s Law at its finest, I guess.
FLN
Thanks to Robin for dropping by and offering some thoughts on yesterday’s puzzle.
Have a great day.
Well - this was a challenge- which it would have been anyway- but I was solving it at my mom's with my sis, grandniece and nephew visiting from Texas - with ESPN Game Day on because it is at KU for the first time in football instead of basketball and they are playing TCU which is my Texas family's team. A little hard to focus ;)
ReplyDeleteA lot of challenges and figuring out from perps the unknowns- but a satisfying solve in the end.
As Anonymous said @ 7:27, "My experience was similar to Jinx. "I normally don’t throw in the towel early, but I just wasn’t on the same wavelength."
ReplyDeleteStrenuous Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Malaika and Hysker pG.
ReplyDeleteI had to take Malaika’s advice and visit Google to break open this toughie.
After my first pass, I was ready to throw in the towel.
Six lookups later, I succeeded.
I moved north from St Lucia to BARTS.
Air drop changed to MIC.
Spanish, German and Italian today. I know more French!
This Canadian had no idea about that statue in Newfoundland.
Off to prep for family Thanksgiving on Monday.
Wishing you all a great day.
I have been completing crosswords for over 35 years. I can count on one hand the number of times that I just gave up. This puzzle was one of those times. Maybe my bio-rhythm is off today.
ReplyDeleteWoW! Malaika really came up with a doozy today! Amazes me with the proliferation of new constructors and how they become so adept so quickly! A real challenge which took a LOT of thought and time, 95% of the fill was unknown at first glance, DNK’s too numerous to mention. Eventually I perped and WAGed my way to a FIR in 55:22 (wayyyy behind you today Anonymous). Personally I never give up on a puzzle, at worst I’ll fill the grid and accept defeat with a FIW. Like others today, I had to change the “a” to an “i” in the YOSHI/CORI crossing to get my congratulatory message. Favorite clue of the day, Chinese take-out order. Thank you Malaika for the mental exercise this morning, very pretty name BTW!
ReplyDeleteHG ~ another stellar write up today, with a wealth of info including a Balkan geography lesson which I’ll try to retain, something pertaining will eventually show up in another CW. The back nine on your home golf course looks a little tougher than the front due to an added 300+ yards, those long par 4’s get harder to reach in regulation as I get older.
ReplyDeleteI’m with Jinx and Yellowrocks.
I’ve adopted the attitude that the LAT is no longer worth spending any time on.
This crossword is another example of why. I just didn’t bother after a couple passes…just no longer worth the time.
Edward in Los Angeles:
ReplyDeleteDear Editor, please ban Malaika Handa from the crossword. Thank you. ;-)
Although I DNF (6 blanks) I feel I had a successful run for a Saturday. I loved Malaika's quote and I usually do look up unknowns as a learning opportunity. Today I wanted to see how far I would get on my own. Thanks HG for your expo.
ReplyDeleteLots of WAGs. Had OTTERPIE instead of POP. Had no idea of proper names YOSHI (20A) & DARLA (39D), so that contributed to my misses in the NW & SW.
BTW, the spell check is annoying in the Comments when it arbitrarily changes my correct entries to incorrect ones that I have to go and change back! Grrr.
D-Otto @ 5:50 a.m. - You’re right, of course, I meant “Cora” and “ Cori” and “Yosha” and “Yoshi”. I’m glad to know I wasn’t alone in my mistake !
ReplyDelete"Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test." To me, this is like saying if you can't run the marathon, take the subway. If I had known that attitude, I would not have started this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteCount me as another who failed with CORY/YOSHY which was just as reasonable. The only way the dinosaur thing belonged in the puzzle is if the name had something to do with dinosaurs.
Hand up SUGAR COATED before CANDY. Hand up SLID before COTE. I did something I never do: I did a red letter on the D in SLID. Even if I FIR after that, I would not count it as a FIR. Most gases are COLORLESS, so not much of a clue when crossed with utterly unknown LEV. Glad that some people found this a "challenge".
Here I visited my niece Hannah as she was finishing up the PHD part of her MD-PHD program.
From Yesterday:
Lucina Thanks for the explanation about the travel photos and your own travel. Hope you got to see the GECKO.
AnonT, CanadianEh Thanks for taking the time to look at my GECKO video. Yes, the camouflage is what is so amazing about this Leaf Tailed GECKO. And the video lets you see that clue of its outline as it lifts its foot briefly.
WilburCharles I am very sorry to hear about your severely limited WiFi data access. I am mystified how this affects your TV. How are you getting your WiFi and your TV?
Hola!
ReplyDeleteIt took two completed cups of coffee to finish this but since my motto is: "never give up" I persisted though did have to LIU YOSHI and LEV. Otherwise, it filled nicely. Only two splashes of wite-out mar the grid. CURDS instead of whatever I had there first.
CSO to my late mother who loved SARDINEs.
I don't follow the Superman/Superwoman series so DARLA was new to me. I'm sure my daughter and her husband would have known. They ATTEND COMICCON in full character dress.
ST. BARTS was not St. Lucia. Though I've been to Newfoundland I don't recall any VEILED statue. Also, I have never TASTED SUSHI.
I belong to the LOYALTY CLUB at the local grocery store and it does provide me with a discount on gas. These days, that comes in handy.
IrishMiss: It's great that you got the gift card fiasco solved.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Picard ~ I agree with your statement, I view the puzzles as more of a test of knowledge than a game, and also a learning experience, thus I never look anything up until after I FIR or FIW, but to each his or her own on that. For the most part, the very fine bloggers on here are really good at informing us, so that alone saves a lot of extra research into unknowns. But I’m also not aggravated or frustrated if I don’t always succeed with a FIR, I give credit to the talented constructors and editor for outsmarting me.
ReplyDeleteSo when you absolutely do not know and cannot guess, do you write in wrong answers, leave cells blank, accept one red letter reveal, or look up a fact or two to get back on track?
ReplyDeleteI do either of the latter two most times when I am totally in the dark. I learn a lot from it. When using a red letter reveal too often or looking up facts too often I throw in the towel. NO Fun!! I solve the puzzles for fun and for learning new things. Running a marathon is out of my league. Solving a few of these posers is out of my league. Why beat myself up and feel a failure over something impossible for me to do. When I broke my pelvis I used an aid, a walker, until I recovered. Not too proud to admit weakness.
YooperPhil Thank you for your comment. I may have been unclear in my meaning. I actually do want the puzzle to be a game that can be solved with reasonable common knowledge and information. It should not be a test of obscure knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAs many others have also pointed out, it is great when there are learning moments in the puzzle and we come to know about names, places and works of art that were previously unknown. But only if there is a reasonable way to play the game and figure out those unknowns. This usually means fair crosses.
But it can also involve creative guessing. For example, if the DINOSAUR in question had a name that involved names of actual dinosaurs, then it would be fair.
I was fine with the misdirection of meanings of DOVE that led to COTE rather than SLID. But at that point I was just too exhausted by the barrage of proper names.
Also, little mistakes in the clues get exhausting. RAVIOLI is FILLED, not FILLING. I know HABLAR is "To SPEAK" in SPANISH. But SPEAKS is not the correct conjugation in this case to go with HABLA.
If the constructor is telling me I should look things up to make up for a poor construction, that is a sign that I probably won't be happy with that puzzle. Others may have a different feeling.
GUTEN Morgen. When I started the puzzle I wasn't thinking "I'm Into Something Good" but DOOMED and a "Bad Moon Rising" is an appropriate term for my DNF today. I managed to get the left side but "There's a Kind of Hush" in the NE & SE. The unknowns YOSHI, MDPHS, CORI, ROE and DYSON didn't have a chance and McRIB never was a thought.
ReplyDeleteThe SE's 'Stargazy pie' was unknown along with LEV, ETHEREAL, and SARDINE never appeared. But at least I managed to guess some of the left side- LOYALTY CARD, SERIOUS EATS (unk), SOCCER & Sauerbrunn (unk), RAT TAIL (unk), I knew it wasn't SWEDEN's flag (yellow & blue) so LATVIA it was, and even ROPES COURSE, which I'd never heard before. I've heard of "learn the ropes" when you're new at a job but not the one in the inset photo. VEILED Virgin- nope, never heard of.
Well I gotta "Run Through The Jungle" to GretnaFest today with many great bands. Both John Fogarty and Herman's Hermits are finishing up the night starting at 10 p.m. I last saw Creedence over fifty years ago.
I took Malaika's suggestion to heart and looked stuff up. Lots of stuff. Would not have been able to finish even half of this puzzle without doing so. It rather quickly turned into a slog. Looking back on the finished puzzle, however, I see and appreciate the clever cluing such as the hidden meaning of "take out" in the NO MSG clue, "hot items" in the OVENS clue, and "super dressed" in the COMIC CON clue. In retrospect, I recognize a well-constructed, cleverly clued, quality puzzle. The process of solving it, however, was not particularly enjoyable. I suspect Malaika got more enjoyment making the puzzle than some of us did solving it. It makes me wonder what it might be like for her to come back a year from now and try to solve it.
ReplyDeleteI think Picard does make very good points when he says, "To me, this is like saying if you can't run the marathon, take the subway" and that most gases are colorless which renders the clue pretty much meaningless.
By the way, hand up for filling SLID before COTE, SLICE before SAWED, OTTER PIE before OTTER POP, and AIR drop and DEW drop before MIC drop.
Things I had absolutely no knowledge about but will now likely remember, at least for a while, include:
RAT TAIL fish, aka Grenadier fish
Duérmete NIÑO
Becky Sauerbrunn
Stargazy pie
ROE as an ingredient in she-crab soup
The VEILED Virgin by Giovanni Strazza.
Things I had absolutely no knowledge about, and will not likely remember, include:
OTTER POP
YOSHI the dinosaur (hello again, Picard)
ROPES COURSE
LEV Grossman
The Corrale straightener by DYSON (I know DYSON vacuum cleaners)
"The Food Lab", SERIOUS EATS, and J. Kenji López-Alt
DARLA.
Good wishes to you all.
I’ve been doing the LA Times crossword for years and years and this is one of the very few times that I’ve had to bail out. After about an hour I had maybe half the grid filled when I came to a brick wall. I resorted to the red struck throughs and the grid lit up in red. That’s when I put down my phone in shame. On a happier note, it’s Saturday, the foliage in New Hampshire is gorgeous for the first time in many years, it’s post season baseball and I’m a huge Atlanta Braves fan. In fact, I’m about to take my dog Chipper for a walk to downtown Concord. Happy weekend all.
ReplyDeleteWell, I start by observing No Diagonals in today's otherwise brilliant Handa PZL--well moderated by Husker G.
ReplyDeleteA pity too, because there is a fine mind behind this XWD.
Ths was a typically tough Saturday job. I only did a quarter of the work myself, before cheating ensued.
Note the passive voice: no need to say "I cheated," just that cheating was occurring.
(Rather like the avoidance of responsibility by Big Pharma in all those TV ad voice-overs, when acknowledging gov't-required "side effects"--that [ahem...] "lethal outcomes have happened.")
My favorite takeaway is of "The VEILED Virgin," and I am grateful to HG for providing the illustration. What a stunning piece of work by the modern sculptor, Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875)!
I was only dimly aware of the name (but not the delicate work!) of Strazza before this, so appreciate the guidance. Seems that "veiled" carvings are a whole genre of pre-mod and modern sculpting--and this bust is one of the finest examples.
~ OMK
Hi Y'all! Malaika lives in a different world & speaks a different language than I do. On first pass in the top half, I filled in only CROONS, TRIO & BALER. So SAD.
ReplyDeleteThe game is called CROSSWORD, not crossNAMES. Why has the NAME dropping become so ridiculous? Makes us cross.
That said, I did manage to fill the thing with the help of red-letters. Otherwise impossible. Like Lucina, I am too stubborn to just give up. I wish Malaika would find a new hobby that doesn't mess with our heads.
Gary, thank you.
FIW with some problems in Maine -- much better than I was expecting after my first pass. Slowly made my way west to east and started seeing the small hints in the clues (Hi Jayce @ 2:19). I had escORTED instead of IMPORTED. That blocked my access to a FIR. Congrats to Malaika H. on a Saturday-worthy puzzle!
ReplyDeleteShort clues for long fills are especially difficult for me: 3D "Go" and 51A "Had"
Thanks to Husker G. for his write-up. I agree with OMK @ 3:27 "My favorite takeaway is of "The VEILED Virgin," and I am grateful to HG for providing the illustration. What a stunning piece of work by the modern sculptor, Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875)!"
Hand up for FAV = Chinese take-out order. Here is my MSG story:
When I lived in Japan, I used to go to lunch every Wed. with 2 Japanese friends. One week we decided to try the local "Mexican" restaurant. When my order arrived, there was a big glop of white stuff on my plate. I dipped a chip in it expecting sour cream then choked when I realized it was mayonnaise. (I cannot explain this except to say that sometimes people look at a picture of food and use their own culture's ingredients to match their ideas of what they are seeing.) After I got over the shock, I noticed that the mayo tasted sort of good, sort of umami. I do not eat mayo so I was confused if this was because I just hadn't eaten it in forever or if it was something else. I asked my friends, "Why is this mayo so tasty?" They replied, "We put that thing in our mayonnaise that Americans do not use." I had to think a bit then asked, "MSG???" Yep, that was the secret ingredient!
The obvious difference between constructing and solving a crossword puzzle is that the constructor starts with the fill and then devises the clues to them while the solver has only the clues to start with (and the grid) and from the clues has to figure out the answers. That's why it is usually only from hindsight that the solver can come to appreciate the clues. Without that, it can often be a "what the heck does that mean?" situation, where the clue makes absolutely no sense until after the answer has been revealed. The ensuing "Aah!" can be a moan of satisfaction at having solved an answer, a groan of frustration at having to expend what seems an overly large amount of effort to solve it, or a groan of displeasure at feeling that you've been "had" by a "gotcha" clue. Hence the term "too cutesy" can apply. It can be fun and rewarding to solve a tough puzzle if you feel it was fair, but it is frustrating to spend energy and expect to derive satisfaction from a "stump the chump" puzzle. Of course, as is often said here, Your Mileage May Vary.
ReplyDeleteTWIMC, Hi. My post was deleted today. I thought perhaps I hit a wrong button so I re-posted it. Again it was deleted. I said positive things about the puzzle and HG's write-up then told my MSG story. I can't think of why this would be deleted. Can someone please tell me what the problem is? TIA!
ReplyDeleteWell now it's back. Hmmmmm.....????
ReplyDeletesumdaze,
ReplyDeleteSomething in Blogger's algorithm for detecting spam and/or reader comments not suitable for the blog's rating caused your comments to be removed. I don't know what words, combinations of words, or phrases in your comments were found to be objectionable by Blogger.
I couldn't get any traction at all, and I gave up early, like so many others. Oh well, the Blue Jays are leading!
ReplyDeleteSum, when I was in high school I had an opportunity to visit Europe, and spent a week in Rotterdam. I was told to try the French fries from one of the street vendors, and when I did, they served it with mayo. That sounded terrible to me, but it was delicious. I asked around and found out that their mayo is different than ours. (I tried the same combo when I got home, and it was just as bad as I had feared.)
ReplyDeleteBrian @6:03pm- fellow Canadian? Hope those Blue Jays can hold this game and then win again tomorrow!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBrian, C-Eh, I am tuned in. I can't believe what I just witnessed. I hope that Springer will be ok.
I just now finished. OK, I have to give equal credit to Phil for YOSHI which was gamer- given but eluded me .
ReplyDeleteBut that opened up a hopeless sea of white. Where NE was the last to go as Bonnets seemed to work. But I finally stuck a D on MDPHD and DOOMED fell for the hardest Saturday ever.
But, no with the family&friends exception the Wilbur motto is 'Never cheat!'*
DOOMED is going into my J-poem later; fits perfectly
GUtte became GUTEN and coop eventually became COTE to salvage the SE. Yes, I thought 'slid' but didn't ink it
I see brains runs in the family, Picard . MDPHD was one of my last but my son popped YOSHI immediately. Btw…
I used YouTube TV and now have DISH. Interrupts in both
I actually filled NW in 3 minutes but came to an Abrupt end..
WC
* My no cheat philosophy is psychological. If my psych can get me to cheat as an option I'm stuck. I began last night , got a couple this morning (YOSHI). Thought of ETHEREAL at lunch and finished after a nap.
I would have stayed away all week to keep trying.
I'm surprised that so many folks hadn't heard of ropes courses. During my time at GTE in California I attended a one-week management development course that began with a full-day ropes course. Shortly afterward I was promoted to an engineering supervisor and spent 4 more weeks there administering the program (professionals ran it, I just made sure everything happened as planned and handled any issues.)
ReplyDeleteThose courses were popular about the time that "proactive" and "paradigm shift" became trendy business jargon.
The reason GTE was so involved was that there needed to be a close alliance between engineering and construction. A common occurrence was for the construction folks to complain about engineers who wrote installation instructions that couldn't be achieved, and the engineers complained that construction 1) couldn't read specifications, and 2) changed the planned location of equipment to make the current job easier, to the detriment of future work. These courses actually resulted in better relations between engineers and construction supervisors, and it seemed to last longer than more traditional team building exercises.
Here's where we held the sessions.
Toronto fans (coughLeafs) are used to meltdowns, but this one could be a heartbreaker!
ReplyDeleteTTP @ 5:54. Thanks for your explanation!
ReplyDeleteJinx @ 6:11. I wonder if they had MSG in their mayonnaise, too???
Yes Brian, those Jays are done for this season . . . but hope springs eternal in the heart of every true Leafs fan!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jayce @ 2:19. "Stargazy pie"?? I move that clues be no more than 1.5 sigmas out there.
ReplyDeleteWow! I know the puzzle today was difficult, but not impossible. As I mentioned, I did look up a couple of things which not in a million years would I have known or even guessed. So much of solving a puzzle depends on prior knowledge and not just a bit of guessing.
ReplyDeleteSuper busy Saturday for me ....decorating my house for Halloween 🎃. Started this "puzzle" after a late dinner at 8:30 p.m. Quit, unfinished at 2:30 a.m. I've often said here that I TERRIFICALLY detest puzzles with "cutesy clues". Well, Ms Handa just won a medal with her "High tied activity"/ROPES COURSE pairing. Sorry gal, not even close! Probably because she's never even seen one???
ReplyDelete