Saturday Themeless by Kunal Nabar
Across:
1. Clip follower: CLOP - People who made sounds for radio and animated films are called Foley artists. Here we see one making the CLIP CLOP sound of horses on the left and Gene Autry doing the same thing on the right.
1. Clip follower: CLOP - People who made sounds for radio and animated films are called Foley artists. Here we see one making the CLIP CLOP sound of horses on the left and Gene Autry doing the same thing on the right.
5. Softens, in a way: DAMPS.
10. Clock toggle: AM/PM.
14. Big name in morning TV: RIPA.
15. Dread, perhaps: AWAIT.
16. Missouri representative Bush: CORI - CORI Bush represents the 1st district of MO
18. Delectable: TASTY.
19. Like Oberlin since 1837: COED - This 1855 picture shows that they were also the first predominantly white institution to admit blacks.
20. Small businesses?: MINI MARTS.
22. Oregon city on the Deschutes River: BEND - In the geographic center of Oregon, Bend is nestled between the eastern side of the Cascades and the high desert.
23. Pitching areas?: AD SPACES - Two areas of pitching can be seen in this facility
24. Pet that needs a sitter?: LAP CAT 😀 - Lily gets one any time she wants one.
26. Manipulate: USE.
27. Deliver letters?: DICTATE - "Take a letter Miss Jones"
28. Place to check in: FRONT DESK - I made many a trip to this FRONT DESK at Disney's All Star Sports Resort to replace room keys kids had lost.
31. Earring Magic __: collectible doll of 1993: KEN.
32. Colorful Victorian houses in San Francisco, e.g.: PAINTED LADIES - This one lists for $3.5M but "needs work"
34. Squeak of surprise: EEK.
35. Tosses: JETTISONS.
38. Island in the Cyclades: IOS - It's in there
39. Instruments that may have 21 strings: SITARS.
40. Creator of spine-tingling content?: ASMRTIST - My big fat "dunno"! ASMR is Autonomous Sensory Media Response: a feeling of well-being combined with a tingling sensation in the scalp and down the back of the neck, as experienced by some people in response to a specific gentle stimulus, often a particular sound. Speaking of CLIP CLOP, you can buy this:
46. Jump-starts a training regimen?: SKIPS ROPE 😀
47. Amanda of "Brockmire": PEET.
48. Buttonholes, e.g.: SLITS
49. "Seriously?": IT IS.
50. "Contact" org.: SETI - Will SETI's first contact happen like this great scene from Contact? (3:52)
52. Board sticker: DART - A fun video (2:34)
54. Orem resident: UTAHN - A frequent city from the Beehive State in cwds
55. Those, in Spanish: ESOS.
Down:
1. Taco topper that may be infused with lime: CREMA.
2. Spitting nails: LIVID.
3. Plays first: OPENS - or the first person to bid or bet in a card game
4. Street food also known as golgappa: PANIPURI.
5. Storage systems?: DATA CENTERS.
6. Savvy: AWARE.
7. Clipper parts: MASTS.
8. Places to retire?: PITS. 😀
9. Dump: STY.
10. Stomach: ACCEPT.
11. Lunar New Year treats: MOONCAKES.
12. Comes before: PREDATES - Entering PREDATES was PRECEDED by the wrong word
13. Start of summer or winter: MID - Halloween is the MIDpoint of autumn.
21. Need in some preservation efforts: MASON JARS - Roger Miller had a silly song about this
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24. Cartoon girl who popularized "meh": LISA SIMPSON.
25. Sue Bird's jersey number: TEN.
27. Lunch spot: DELI.
28. Part of a vampire costume: FAKE TEETH.
29. French crown: TETE 😀 - Yeah, TETE is French for head and crown is a euphenism for head
30. Rachel Carson subj.: DDT - Rachel Carson's book was fought by the chemical companies
32. Low points: PERIGEES - Halley's (rhymes with Sally's) Comet orbits the sun every 76 years and it will be visible on Earth next in 2061 when it is near the sun at PERIGEE of its orbit. No extra charge: Halley will reach apogee next month which is seen at the far left in the map.
33. Without getting worked up: IN STRIDE.
34. Some indie releases: EPS - Extended Play records
37. "Wonderful Tonight" memoirist Boyd: PATTIE - She was in the middle of all the British rock and rollers in the '60's.
40. Director Kurosawa: AKIRA - No help with ASMR. What classic American movie is based on this great Kurosawa film? (*answer at bottom of write-up).
41. "What's the __?": Kim Possible catchphrase: SITCH - I had "What's the CATCH for _ _ TCH which furthered bollixed up my three bad cells since I did not know Kim's catchphrase for "What's the situation?"
42. "Iliad" characters: IOTAS 😀 Gotta love meta clues! Iliad of course has two characters of IOTA when written in Greek - Ιλιάδα
43. VP between Hubert and Gerald: SPIRO - Humphrey, Agnew, Ford
44. Lab work: TESTS - It's said Edison TESTED thousands of filaments in his lab in Menlo Park.
46. Pallet piece: SLAT.
47. Free spot: PSA.
48. Big D campus: SMU - Inside all of that concrete.
*I'll bet you knew it!
Note from C.C.:
Happy birthday to MM's love Valerie and our blog adventurer Picard! Always makes me so happy to see this picture.
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| Left to Right: Valerie, MM, Merlie & Picard, 9/14/2021 |
42 comments:
Well, folks, the “great Subgenius” couldn’t solve this one. No way, no how. After struggling with it for almost TWO HOURS, I finally gave up and turned on the red letters. And saw a veritable sea of red, far more than I ever had before! Particularly in the northeast and southwest, if I have my directions right. With the help of the red letters I was eventually able to “solve” the puzzle, except for one letter I just couldn’t get. I had to do an alphabet run to come up with the “s” in “sitch” and it’s perpendicular, which I still don’t think I understand. So while I can’t say I’m happy about that, I am happy to be here with my fellow cruciverbalists. Subgenius out!
Good morning!
Not a chance. Nope. Nada.
Got my PC hardware issues sorted on Thursday, but still had a raft of software to reinstall due to drive letter changes. Never got around to trying yesterday's puzzle.
My experience with this puzzle was pretty much identical to that of Subgenius. If it weren’t for the red letters the grid would be a sea of white.
This was a tough one and I had to turn on the red letters at STICH and ASRMTIST . You live and learn.
I realized the constructor was of ‘Indian named’ immediately and sure enough Pani Puri ( literally ‘ puri, as a balloon, filled with water’ ) made its appearance up top. ….
The clues were very difficult and methinks that the editor had s heavy hand on them.
Have s great opening day of the weekend everyone … all you folks.
Well, after seeing Husker Gary's opening comments, and then SubG's and Desper-Otto's, I guess I shouldn't rue my few errors.
As Completed (25:15)
Showing the Errors (28:15)
Kicking myself for nor getting AKIRA. I know that. A fairly frequent fill. A sloppy error on my part.
Welcome back, D-O. I tried rounding up the cavalry (Dash T) yesterday to check on you.
DNF. TITT after filling 45, 36 correctly. But I was proud of getting PERIGEES and SPIRO without second thoughts. I had sails, not masts, among my errant ways.
Today is:
SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY (think local, shop local)
SHOPPING REMINDER DAY (from the bureau of duplication and redundancy)
NATIONAL PARFAIT DAY (best import from France since…er, never mind)
BLASE' DAY (my feelings inre: today’s puzzle)
NATIONAL PLAY DAY WITH DAD (hey dad – can you spare a few thou for spring break? After all, I got straight Cs last term. Aww, just playin’ with ya!)
DO - Did you add a new drive? I thought you were just replacing the old (I assumed) c: drive. (BTW, I have a clone of my c: drive on both my desktop and laptop. In case of failure, I just have to swap the drives and update my user data. I redo the clones after installing any new apps, and after major OS upgrades.)
Thanks to H.Gary for the clever review.
Getaway day. Leaving Raleigh for a short drive to Florence. Read everyone else later.
This wannabe solver named SIMPSON started in the NW thinking, but not writing, SALSA, LEADS, & HODA. Thought PLAIT & ALERT for the Dakotas. The first fill to get on the paper was the member of the House-CORI- and it OPENed up New England. MOON CAKES was unknown but easy to fill. Somehow I managed to get everything 'accept' ASMR-TIST and MARCO. (except). I knew of MARIO and Michael Andretti but not Marco. Definitely knew how to spell my own name. The Kim Possible saying- it might as well be in Swahili. No idea about SITCH.
"Knowing ASMRTIST would have solved my issues"-Gary- I still wouldn't have got SITCH.
There are no red letters in the newspaper and I never Google anything for an answer-DNF today. I'll just take this loss IN STRIDE. Win some, lose some.
SALSA became CREMA
LEADS became OPENS
ALERT became AWARE
PANIPURI- never heard of it but got it by perps.
PLAIT became AWAIT
FANG TEETH became FAKE TEETH
SLOTS became SLITS
PATTIE & PEET were unknowns filled by perps
DAMPS- I thought of it differently. DAMPS makes it wet and it 'Softens'. For 'softening' a tone I would think MUTES. But 'shock absorbers' are DAMPERS.
With perps and guesses I got it done except the SE corner. Had no good guesses for creator of spine etc or who Kim Possible was, so I ended up with hitch instead of sitch.(Didn't think a B would work.) I print out my puzzles so no red letters.
DNF. Asmrtist did me in. Also had no idea about Kim Possible's catchphrase.
I got tired of staring at so many consonants lined up in a row that I just threw in the towel.
This Saturday CW took me down.
Jinx, I replaced the IDE D: Drive with a SATA drive. No joy. The problem turned out to be the solid-state drive-on-a-strip C: drive. I removed it, making the 1TB SATA drive my only drive.
Good Morning:
The section highlighted by HG was my downfall and resulted in a DNF. Panipuri and Perigees needed perps as did the unknown Pattie and some other entries. I, too, had Fang before Fake, and Mario before Marco. Nose wrinkle at Damps but a smile at CC's favorite Moon Cakes. Some of the cluing was very clever but some was too clever by half and too "I gotcha" cutesy, IMO.
Thanks, Kunal, and thanks, HG, for a review that was far more enjoyable than the solve. Seeing the Ted Lasso video reminded me of how much I loved that Series. Jason Sudeikis was outstanding in that role.
Happy Birthday, Valerie, hope Joseph makes your day special! 🎂🎊🎁🎉🎈
Happy Birthday, Robert, and I hope Merlie does the same! 🎂🎉🎈🎊
Have a great day.
Took a bit longer but doable. Never heard of asmrtist or sitch but it worked out eventually.
Took 23:02 today for me to slog my way through this.
ASMR - we've had that before once or twice here (which is not to be considered praise or "accept"ance of it), which the only reason I was able to put it together, having already had "mrtist" firmly in place.
I didn't know the food (even if it's sold on a street, somewhere, anywhere), the French word, the Kim Possible quote (having _it_h helped), or Marco (like most, I imagine, I had Mario first).
I knew today's actress (Peet) and I guessed at today's WNBA reference (ten).
"Painted" was a guess once I had nearly all of the crosses in place.
I felt like I'd survived this one, and now I feel sense of accomplishment after reading that several of our very accomplished solvers (see above) didn't finish.
Nope. Got about 1/3 and gave up. Far too many DNKs. KN, you not only defeated me with this CW, you crushed me. ASMRTIST? What? Even after HG’s explanation I’m not sure…. Thanx HG for the terrific write-up. As to the classic American movie based on “Seven Samurai” I know it but can’t think of it. Seems like it was a Clint Eastwood movie? Did you tell us?
Unclefred, it wasn't Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. Husker did identify it at the end: The Magnificent Seven.
If the constructor's goal was to create a puzzle that a majority of dedicated cruciverbalists would be unable to finish, he appears to have succeeded. Not fun at all.
No way. No how. Even with lookups. ASMRTIST??? What is that even?
Wherever you go, there you are.
Turkey
I forgot. Happy Birthday to Picard, and Happy Birthday to Valerie.
I had no problem with the ASMR part of it, but the TIST part got me. We have had ASMR here multiple times, the bloggers have previously explained it and provided links to explanations and examples. (You can lead them to water...)
I think general acceptance of ASMR is resisted the way umami was resisted. How many of us were taught that there were only four senses of taste - Salty, Sweet, Bitter and Sour? And then, in relatively recent years, a new sense of taste was added - umami. It was always there, but just not as a classically defined sense of taste. I think it's the same for ASMR.
I was thinking of DAMPS in the sense of a damper in an HVAC duct, or in using a fader control in a recording studio. Never considered anything related to a woman's makeup, but that makes sense too.
One of my classmates went to Oberlin. A very smart girl, and her family could afford it. I couldn't even afford to go to Ohio State.
Speaking of which, time to get settled in for THE GAME. I'm not talking about the Illinois / Indiana game playing for the "Old Oaken Bucket." THE GAME - Ohio State versus Michigan. Most AP Top 5 match-ups all time. 13 times. Texas / Oklahoma is second at 10 times, and Oklahoma / Nebraska is third at 8 times. The winner will be the B1G East champion.
Congrats to the Iowa Hawkeyes for winning their 10th game yesterday enroute to becoming the B1G West champion. They'll play the winner of THE GAME.
Sorry, I meant Purdue / Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket
DNF. Done in by the north central section and the STITCH/ASMRTIST conundrum. Kept after it for a long time, but finally TITT. A Saturday-worthy puzzle that was just out of reach for me. I did like a lot of the word-play, and felt this to be more of a crossWORD puzzle than we have seen lately, and a lot of the clues were clever...too clever for me, today!
CC, TTP Thank you for the birthday greetings! Two for one with Valerie!
DW Merlie got up early to make this aRTISTic creation for me in our dining room.
Hand up this was simply impossible. I will be interested to know if anyone actually solved this without assistance. I like my answers better than the real ones:
WARMS instead of DAMPS
SWEAT instead of AWAIT
MATS instead of PITS
Had MASTS but changed it to RESTS, figuring it had some other meaning. Figured WSTA was some women's sports thing.
I only know MARIO not MARCO. HITCH made more sense than SITCH. Then there was the cross of unknowns PEET/PATTIE. Did WAG that OK. I have eaten PANIPURI, but never knew what it was called. Learning moment.
Here we posed with the PAINTED LADIES in SAN FRANCISCO.
From Thursday:
Jinx Thanks for the further explanation of the MEN's room sign at Ford's Garage. I think we went to Ford's Garage near the Ford Museum in Dearborn. I would have to dig for photos. I assumed that was the only one. Learning moment that it is a chain.
Along with the others I quickly figured out this was a grid designed not to be solved.
Congratulations. To the author…,Please don’t bother with another, your future contributions won’t be missed.
Have I ever mentioned my thoughts on the ”editor”? Hahahaha.
Thanks for the Birthday greetings, C.C.!
Hola!
Happy birthday, Picard! Happy birthday, Valerie! I hope you both have a wonderful celebration.
That's a beautiful creation from Merlie.
Well, I see that I am in good company with this puzzle. I managed to finish about 85% but like others the SE was impossible for me as was much of the NW until I LU PAN PURI then was able to complete that corner. I don't watch morning TV but I have heard of Kelly RIPA. It just did not come to me. Further complicating matters, I had INSULATE instead of IN STRIDE. Also I forgot about SPIRO!
Of course, Saturdays are meant to be difficult and as has been said, "win some, lose come."
Have a fabulous day, everyone!
Total bust. Gave up with only about 2/3 filled🤨
Inkovers: preceded/PREDATED
“Golgappa”? Huh? Although “clip follower” needed imagination as did “places to retire both clever clues. But AWAIT for “dread” meh… was also thinking of a part of a Rasta hairdo. Did KEN have a magic earring?
ASMRTIST? c’mon….”Siri/Alexa give me a clue that works with a nonsense answer that I’ve painted myself into a corner with. I don’t wanna hafta rework that whole part of the puzzle.”
“Amanda”from Brockmire Naticked with memorial “Boyd” so that ended that. I stuck with Mario, didn’t know there was a MARCO….For some dumb reason I first put AMFM😖. Knew the “Iliad” answer was hidden in the clue but couldn’t quite figure it out
To echo Picard @ 11:22: did anyone solve the puzzle without help? (Happy Birthday btw)
Seems the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas gets shorter every year. Always lug the 3 two ton dining room table leaves which seem to get heavier every year as well up and down the cellar stairs. So finally decided to do my back a favor and just keep them in place in the table till Christmas 😅
Over all, a nice challenge. Enjoy learning new words, but ASMRTIST is not one I'll ever use. Needed to look up the Kim P. catchphrase. Thanks for the challenge and the writeup!
H-G, thanks for the solution! I will echo Charlie Echo with fatal flaws in the north central section, as well as in the fateful crossing of ASMRTIST with SITCH. I had the very same wrong entries as Picard. Altogether, 8 wrong squares, and several lessons I will forget. Saturdays keep us humble.
There is a lot of this puzzle I liked, but, like many of you, the puzzle defeated me.
What I liked:
MINIMARTS
FRONT DESK
PAINTED LADIES (I knew this from my knowledge of San Francisco)
JETTISONS
MOONCAKES
MASON JARS
BACKDOORS
FAKE TEETH
PERIGEES
AKIRA.
What defeated me:
ASMRTIST
PANIPURI (I've had PURI bread but did not know this food)
SITCH (A totally made up "word")
IOTAS (I was thinking GREEKS, TROJANS, GODS, etc.)
Enjoyed your write-up, Gary, and all your comments, folks.
Happy birthday, Valerie and Robert!
Thanks Kunal and congrats on your debut! I slaved over this to complete all the fills, but when I came here I knew something wouldn't be right. Had TAMES instead of DAMPS and that just didn't perp to anything that made sense. I think the "?" in 5D led me astray, but everything else was okay.
Thanks Husker. Loved the videos, especially the Ted Lasso and Contact clips. And I did know that "The Seven Samurai" was the basis for "The Magnificent Seven", as we've seen both.
A coupla favs:
24A LAP CAT. Here are a couple of KNEE CATS, that my granddaughter was cuddling at Thanksgiving. They're too squirmy to sit on anyone's lap just yet.
32A PAINTED LADIES. DNK these houses and got with ESP, but they are very colorful.
Cheers,
Bill
I did not know PAINTED LADIES is what those lovely houses are called and it's a treat to travel across the city watching them. Oftentimes the shuttle bus takes different routes from the airport and so I get a different view from other streets. The shuttle takes me from SFO to San Rafael when I visit my friend who lives there. Sadly, my traveling days might soon be over but I shall keep going as long as I can.
Husker Gary working hard on this Nabar PZL...
ASMRTIST was truly beyond most of us.
Was anyone else ALSO THROWN in that corner by the attempt to locate Alfred Hitchcock somewhere near that "spine-tingling" clue? Especially when we find the letters ITCH (Egad!) showing up at 41D?!
And right next door to another film director, AKIRA?
~ OMK
___________
DR: Four diagonals, three of them on the far side.
The near diag's anagram (13 of 15) draws our attention to our automobile's rubber (plus synthetics) wheels.
SOMETHING ELSE TO WORRY ABOUT?
Should it matter at all if they are composed of material with a low Ph content?
If so, stay aware of your...
"TIRE ACIDITIES"!
The more I think on it, HG, the more our general failure (not just yours) to recognize the fill for 40A, is a failure--or at least a misstep--in construction.
We are gradually becoming familiar with the acronym ASMR, most of us through doing crosswords. So it is not entirely alien.
BUT it is new enough, I believe, that it does not yet lend itself to the invention of a combo word like ASMR-TIST.
That renders it pretty much unrecognizable.
And as I read over my colleagues' responses, it seems only a letter-by-letter filling was possible rather than using logic or word recognition.
Finally, the typical response to ASMR is not necessarily "spine-tingling." I would have preferred an adjective like "pleasing" or "even a broader hint such as "sound-engaging."
Anyhow, them's my two cents.
~ OMK
Thanks to Kunal for his puzzle. I am in good company again this week with a DNF in the SE.
FAVs: LAP CAT and clue for SKIPS ROPE
Thanks to H-Gary for explaining the SE! I just could not see DARTS and did not know IOTAS. I got the ASMR part because it's been used in some Monday puzzles but the "TIST" part was beyond me. I also had IS IT instead of IT IS because the clue has a question mark.
Great job with the Pitching areas illustration. You nailed it! Also loved the 007 clip...CLOP(?)
I had CATCH for a while but then I decided it could not be CATCH since the clue said CATCHphrase. I think SITCH is probably sort for "situation".
Today I learned that LISA SIMPSON and LUCY VAN PELT both begin with an "L" and have 11 letters.
Happy birthday to Picard and to Valerie!!
Hi Y'all! After 41:37 filling this puzzle with many red-letter helps, I know one thing: I do not speak the same language or live in the same world as Kunel Nabar. First pass thru I managed to enter six words. He works for Snowflake. What in tarnation is a business called Snowflake & what would an engineer do there? This crossword left me cross.
Thank you, Gary, for doing the hard stuff.
I did know PAINTED LADIES.
Happy Birthday, Robert! Happy Birthday, Valerie.
Arrived back from our Great American road trip to CO, so hit the puzzle. We listened to an interesting Malcolm Gladwell book on the drive back: "Talking with Strangers: What we should know about the people we don't know" All the books I've read of his have been so interesting: Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink
This was a challenge - but finished with P&P. I sat with ASMR learned from prior puzzles until the TIST came from perps.
PAINTED LADIES - familiar from my time living in the Bay Area.
CC has talked about MOON CAKES which are used for a celebration in China - before that I only knew of Moon Pies.
I thought of DAMP in the context of the DAMPer pedal on a piano.
Kelly RIPA's Live! with Kelly & Mark (her husband) is syndicated so in my market it is now an afternoon show competing with Kelly Clarkson and Drew Barrymore's shows.
Thanks HG for the fun blog and congrats to Kunal!
HBD to Valerie and Picard
Hi All!
//I'm going to start happy 'cuz this ends on a sad note.
Happy Birthday Valerie and Picard!
Nice PAINTED LADIES pic, Picard.
//I've seen 'em a few times and did the other SFO tourist things like ride the trollies, visit Haight Street, China & Japan towns, and drive down Lumbard St..
Nope. Another big-fat Saturday DNF.
Thanks for the grid Kunal (congrats on the debut!) and thanks for finishing it, HG - a great expo, as always.
Also, FIW with the following:
SALSA / clip-SNIP(?)
MELTS
My "Lunch spot" was my DESK
And, hand-up, MARIO.
I watched Kim Possible all the time w/ the Girls - I knew SITCHuation - so I've got that going for me.
MOON CAKES a CSO to our beloved C.C.
Fav (after cheating a bit) was MINI MART.
PK - I assume an engineer there designs Snowflakes :-)
//their website. DATA CENTER at 5d makes perfect sense, eh?
FLN - Eldest's singing is / will be online but I don't think you want to watch it. It was the "Celebration of Life" service for one of Youngest's BFFs* since second grade who passed away last month in her (pronoun: they) dorm. Apparently, the kid had a congenital issue and needed a shot when her (sorry, they) adrenal gland went wonky and she (sorry again, they) didn't get it.
Cheers, -T
*the kids were together in school, ballet, swim team, high school dance team, sleepovers, and every birthday party. The five Musketeers are down to four and too young for this shit :-(
FLN was for Lucina's ask. Mea... -T
Tony, I went back and read the ad for Snowflake that Gary had, but I still don't know what they do. Being obsolete is such a tragedy. One thing of which I am sure: I don't need their services. It snowed here today several inches and I have enough snowflakes to last me a while.
So sad about your daughter's friend. We had a similar "sitch" in our extended family recently.
Thought I got a good start with hitting on PERIGEES and SITAR on my initial run through — but then totally faceplanted from there on. At least I’m in good company here, as ASMRTIST seemed to be a universal “wtf” to y’all. And not only do I have no clue what PANAPURI is, I also haven’t ever heard of golgappa. Does not sound TASTY to me.
So, I classify this one as cruci-homicidal; it killed too many of our talented solvers, and along with another of my Anonymous brothers above, I can do without another CW of this ilk. Sorry, my man Kunal — this stuff is supposed to be at least a bit enjoyable…
====> Darren / L.A.
Darren @ 9:29 -- "cruci-homicidal", the word of the day ( and hopefully only for today .... )!
[ Now we are supposed to know about Indian street food varieties ??! Mercy, I have no room to spare; I only have 1.5 terabytes, all already allocated. ]
Startled to learn ASMRtist made an appearance In the Washington Post nine years ago!
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/ASMRtist
Very clever puzzle! I love a challenge, and this was certainly challenging. I learned a few new words, so thanks!
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