google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, January 30th, 2024, Zachary David Levy

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Jan 30, 2024

Tuesday, January 30th, 2024, Zachary David Levy

EBB

 The TIDE has been turned, reversed, and spelled backwards three times in the grid, and it was almost perfectly constructed, too, as the first theme answer broke down to E - DIT, followed by ED -IT, but we didn't get the final EDI -T; can anyone think of a way to build that into the puzzle~?  A relatively quick solve, with either "gimme" answers, or something rather vague ( I'm looking at you 39A. ).  And again, several proper names, yet none that didn't fill in on their own if I didn't know them immediately.  Somehow, I seem to have created an 80s songs sub-theme, too.  Oh, and we're missing just the "Z" for a pangram.

17. Playful tune: LITTLE DITTY - 'bout Jack n' Diane~?

John Cougar Mellencamp

27. Threw in the towel: CALLED IT QUITS - Men At Work, "It's A Mistake"

Lyrics @ 2:29

46. Roadside channel for water runoff: DRAINAGE DITCH - OK, 1976, so not quite the 80s

Blue Öyster Cult - see 26D.

60. Stage a comeback, or an apt title for this puzzle: TURN THE TIDE - and the TIDE is "high", by Blondie, which I did not know as a remake....

Is that Darth Vader~?

Washed Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. "I've been here before" feeling: DÉJÀ VU - yeah, I think I was here before, like, maybe last Wednesday~!?

7. __ and carrots: PEAS

11. Has been: WAS

14. Some dome-topped venues: ARENAS

15. Roger's rival, familiarly: RAFA - Tennis - Roger Federer vs. Rafael "Rafa" Nadal

16. __ crossroads: AT A

19. Half a score: TEN - a score being twenty, as in "Four score and seven...."

20. Low USN rank: ENSign

21. Fires up, as an engine: REVS

22. Converse: SPEAK

24. Japanese art genre: ANIME


26. Proper conduct, in Hinduism: DHARMA - Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, guitar master from Blue Öyster Cult

31. Ooze, as charm: EXUDE

32. Addition amount: SUM

33. Church bench: PEW - we have "pew pads" that clip to the tops of the benches so that we can utilize the space effectively with no damage done

Lynchburg, VA

36. Made readable, in a way: DECODED - I never had a "secret decoder ring" when I was a kid  :7((

39. Based on deduction instead of experience: A PRIORI - I have actually read/heard this term before

42. Two-time Super Bowl MVP Manning: ELI - New York technically has either "two" or "no" football teams ( the Giants and 3D. ), depending on your perspective on playing in New Jersey; I recall the "helmet catch" of an Eli Manning throw, Superbowl XLII.  BTW, the "big" game always "interferes" with my birthday weekend....

43. Male sheep: RAM

45. Elba of "The Wire": IDRIS - crossword staple

51. Bring on: INDUCE

53. Gave it a shot: TRIED

54. Threshold: VERGE

55. Kristen who was on "SNL" from 2005 to 2012: WIIG - no clue, filled via perps

56. Henson who created the Muppets: JIM - him I do know

59. Sweetie: BAE - I cringe at the use of this "word"

64. In the style of: À LA

65. "That makes sense": "I SEE"

66. Immune system components: T-CELLS

67. Fine stone: GEM

68. Sugar source: CANE - I had perps, so it wasn't "BEET"

69. Throat-soothing beverage: HOT TEA

aaah, that's better~!

DOWN:

1. Small valley: DALE

2. "__ go bragh!": ERIN - St. Patrick's Day is nigh

3. New York NFLers: JETS - us long suffering Jets fans had another "Really~?" season in 2023

4. Kitchen pest: ANT

5. Kilmer of "Top Gun: Maverick": VAL - I have, thankfully, never seen this, nor the original movie

6. Login requirement: USER ID

7. Flowering shrubs used as border hedges: PRIVETS

8. Uses (up): EATS - a series of rush plays in football "EATS" up the clock, especially inside the two-minute warning

9. Toward the tiller: AFT - nautical terms

10. Greets, with "to": SAYS "HI"

11. Wakeboarding, for one: WATER SPORT

12. Mr. T's squad: A-TEAM - I pity the fool

13. Maxwell House decaf brand: SANKA - I have heard of this "instant" coffee, did not know it was Maxwell House, and according to Wiki, it's where the "orange" diner carafe handle comes from

18. Singer Lovato: DEMI - learned by doing crosswords

23. Butter portion: PAT - I was 16 when this advertisement appeared


24. Big name in footwear: ALDO - not big enough for me - NIKE, AVIA, maybe; ALDO I have seen, but did not know was just footwear

How about ALDO Nova~? - more 80s music

25. Require: NEED

26. Hauler destination, perhaps: DUMP - ooh, a good guess on my part

27. Give up: CEDE

28. Figure skater's jump: AXEL

29. Certain state of awareness while sleeping: LUCID DREAM - I love it when I can recall my lucid dreams.  I try to retain the details every time I wake up - getting pretty good at it.  Does anyone think there's a 'hidden meaning' or something deeper to one's dreams~?  I believe there is....

30. Sine __ non: QUA - Latin "without which not", or, a thing that is necessary

34. Writer/illustrator Carle: ERIC - filled via perps, and a WAG at the "R"

35. Genie's offering: WISH - three from a bottle~?

37. Lake near the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ERIE - hey~!  I was just there - in the city of Erie, PA, where the Organ Supply Industries warehouse and manufacturing shop is located


38. Karate skill level: DAN - the Wiki

40. Attraction at a fair: RIDE

41. "__ my best": "I DID"

44. Afternoon show: MATINEE

47. Bit of floor decor: RUG

48. Like pickling liquid: ACETIC - BRINY and SALTY didn't fit, Saline was a weak maybe....

49. Moxie: GRIT

50. Half of a fourth: EIGHTH - good crossword fill with G-H-T-H; the math is 1/4 ÷ 1/2 - or - .5 * .25

51. ICU hookup: IV BAG - my first thought, but I hesitated

52. Writer Zora __ Hurston: NEALE - not familiar with her; I know of NEALE Donald Walsh, author of "Conversations with God" - I have most of the book series, but I just discovered there was a movie made in 2006

55. Small songbird: WREN - crossword staple

56. Leave at the altar: JILT - ah, that's the word I couldn't recall....

57. Not going anywhere: IDLE

58. City outside Phoenix: MESA - another good WAG on my part

61. Can. neighbor: USA - seems too easy and obvious, after the previous clue

62. Green beginning: ECO

63. Vietnamese New Year: TET - crossword staple


Splynter




42 comments:

  1. I wasn’t familiar with the term “privet(s)” but the perps were kind. Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.

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  2. Good morning!

    Easy peasy Wednesday. Figured the theme had to do with the word EDIT rather than TIDE. I'll still put this one in the win column. Thanx, ZDL and Splynter.

    PAT: I think I've written before about Wisconsin state senator Gordon Roseleip, a constant cheerleader for the state's dairy industry. He organized a taste test on the senate floor to prove that butter tastes better than margarine. Oops. He guessed wrong, because his wife had been secretly serving him margarine for years due to his heart condition. The press had a field day.

    PRIVET: Primarily European, methinks. Harry Potter lived at 4 Privet Drive.

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  3. Never saw the circles until the grid was complete. Had Aida before Aldo forced his way in.

    desper-otto, it is Tuesday.

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  4. Got PRIVET, ALDO, DAN, and ACETIC from perps. No such luck at the intersection of A PRIORI and QUA.

    "Fires up" implies "starts up" to me, not REVS. I could be wrong.

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  5. Thanx, BobB. When each day is like every other, it's hard to keep 'em straight.

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  6. FIR, but erased irris for IDRIS, hon for (ugh) BAE, and brio for GRIT.

    Today is:
    NATIONAL PLAN FOR VACATION DAY (I made my winter 2024/25 reservations last month)
    NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY (in 1839 August Zang brought Viennese baking techniques to Paris)

    for some reason, DEJA VU makes me want to listen to some old Dionne Warwick music.

    Cornerites might add CIQ to TITT.

    A "codec" is a device that codes and DECODEs. Take THAT, Ron Popeil. (Not to be confused with COMDEX, an annual gathering of computer nerds in Las Vegas that I used to attend faithfully.)

    In personal ads, WATER SPORT doesn't have anything to do with boats.

    One doesn't REV an engine when one fires it up (unless one hates one's car.) So cute when someone without any automotive knowledge tries to do a little ad lib cluing in gearhead land.

    ENS is a low OFFICER rank in the USN. Seaman (careful with the speling there) is a low enlisted person in the USN.

    Aren't QUA and A PRIORI both Latin? That cross felt like a kick in my PRIVETS.

    Thanks to Zachary for the mostly fun puzzle, and to Splynter for the fun review (except for the pan of Top Gun, one of my favorite movies.)

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  7. Took 6:10 today for me to complete this without the help of the Force from my J-edi t-rainer. (Don't be mad at me, I was prompted by the review.)

    I had pump before dump, and Avia before Aldo.

    "Qua" crossing "a priori" is unpleasant. Those types of foreign crosses should be avoided.

    Oh joy, circles!
    Thanks to the circles, we got to see the word "tide" spelled backwards - 3 times - oh, joy!

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  8. Wasn't familiar with many of the names. I also cringe at Bae. Never hear of a priori or privets.

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  9. TURN THE TIDE Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Zachary and Splynter.
    I FIRed and saw the theme (although I was thinking it was a middle EDIT until I saw the reveal.
    Anon@7:28 beat me to “Teaching for a warrior monks apprentice= Jedi Training”.

    I believe it was Monkey asking last week about pangrams. We have to take the Z from our constructor’s name to get one today. But when I see a Q, X, J in the CW, I start checking for a pangram.

    DEJA VU and LUCID DREAM were interesting.
    We have had A PRIORI before. I had to change Quo to QUA (and I had high school Latin!).

    For a Canadian, Roger’s rival could be Bell.
    I’m betting that those of us of a certain age entered Hon for “sweetheart”. I did have BAE in the back of my mind from previous CWs. Sure enough, it was needed.
    I’ll take a cup of that HOT TEA (even without a sore throat).

    Re Can. Neighbor = USA (and reverse with appropriate spelling, USA neighbour= CAN) - I will quote again from 1969 Trudeau #1. “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”
    We are starting to have that DEJA VU feeling.

    Jinx- CIQ?

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  10. I am familiar with PRIVET hedges. Perhaps the British influence.

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  11. CanadianEh!, CIQ = Calling It Quits.

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  12. FIR in a short time.
    WIIG was the only ESP fill, every single perp.
    I learned a priori when I was writing college research papers.
    Sine qua non literally means "that without which." Wind is a sine qua non for kite flying.
    A priori and qua are both English words borrowed from the Latin and are used frequently.
    Wake boarding is somewhat like skate boarding but done on the water. IMO it is as a much a water sport as water skiing.
    The clue for fire up should have eliminated the word ENGINE. You can fire up a crowd. You can rev up a crowd.
    Private hedges are grown in zones 6-8 in the US, which includes NJ. They are fast growing and need constant trimming. Escaped privet has become invasive in NJ.
    I have accepted BAE, but do not use it. Google says, "Along with LOL and LMAO, BAE is one of the most ubiquitous slang expressions. This term has spawned memes and countless bae-based words. The endless variations of this teenage slang term provide an opportunity for you to have fun conversations with your kid."
    Some lucid dreams I recall for a few minutes. Other I recall in great detail. These often recur. I go over them in my mind to help me fall asleep.
    Have a good day.

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  13. "Privet", or often "privet hedge" invasive plant, very hard to get rid of. Prime offender for us is introduction at Augusta Golf Club, Home of the Master's

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  14. Came to the final crossroads with P__ IVETS crossing __ AFA. WAGed R guessed right.

    Hey Splynt. Those folks posing in front of the Organ Supply Industries Are they donors or recipients?? 🤭

    “Wakeboarding” Waterboarding at a funeral home? 😮 shocking!

    Wanted it to be honnot BAE 😖 hand up for cringing

    “Pickling liquid” .. I was on the VERGE of picking acidic over ACETIC.

    Interesting that “MATINÉE in Fr. means something going on in the morning (matin) but an afternoon event in English. (It. cognate “matina” morning vrs “matinata” what goes on in the morning)

    After a legal separation his ____ for divorce….. EXUDE
    They make up the greater part of India….INDUCE
    Slang for an attractive person like IDRIS….HOTTEA

    JILT…. I’m sure there are many a day that DW thinks to herself. “I shoulda just gone shopping instead” 👰‍♀️
    😃

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  15. Good Morning:

    I thought the theme was fine for a Tuesday but was surprised by the unexpected reveal. I don't recall seeing this gimmick of using the same letters to achieve a reveal, and a different word, to boot. I needed perps for Dharma, Apriori, Aldo, and Eric, but no w/os and an eventual smooth solve. Lucina gets a hat trick CSO with Dale, Mesa, and Idris, again. 😉 Also, an indirect CSO to our protector of all creatures, mostly small, Pat!

    Thanks, Zachary, for a fun romp and thanks, Splynter, for the review and for pinch hitting once again.

    Have a great day.

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  16. RosE said...
    Good Morning! I agree with Splynter, this puzzle included gimmees & unknowns, but more on the plus side. I liked it!
    Thanks, Zachary and Splynter.
    ESP: RAFA – I didn’t know who Roger was and went from Roy Roger(s) -> Roger Rabbit. Tennis – not my thing.
    ALDO – more familiar with the old-time actor ALDO Ray, I never heard of the shoes.
    A PRIORI – Sherlock, hmm…
    WOs: cave -> CEDE; Wigg -> WIIG – I knew there was a double somewhere. I remember her from the movie Bridesmaids.
    PRIVET as a kid we knew not to play near them - they had thorns.

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  17. Hola!

    I DECODED this puzzle in a short time. Thank you, Zachary David Levy and Splynter.

    Zora NEALE Hurston's book "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is like decoding a secret document. It is written in dialect and filled with, for me, unknown terms.

    Some PRIVET hedges can be decorative and safe. We had many of those surrounding our property in California.

    Sigh. There's IDRIS again.

    The few times I've watched SNL I've seen Kristen WIIG.

    ERIC Carle was a creative writer. I loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar and other titles.

    Today we are having a Memorial for my late niece, Regina, so I need to get going.

    Have a wonderful day, everyone!

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  18. WEES. Easy enough with a few little hiccups that got taken care of by perps.

    Ray-O I even wrote in ACidIC. Tsk, tsk. And your remarks about the meaning of MATINEE in French and in English. Weird.

    Canadian-eh? I now look for pangrams also; an added level of fun.

    When we used to waterski, one of our friends used to just drop the skis and go barefooted. He was very good at it.

    Thanks Splynter for filling in. Great report.

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  19. Yes. I'll take a CSO at DALE and MESA, my neighboring city.

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  20. Musings
    -Wait a minute, there has to be more to this than EDIT. Never mind…
    -Forrest Gump said he and Jenny went together like PEAS and carrots
    -Have you ever taken the implied dare when someone next to you at a light REVS their engine
    -Did anyone else get a Captain Midnight DECODER badge in the 50’s?
    -A PRIORI – It seems like a good idea
    -Me too on “BAE”. Too cute by half!
    -We have kept the same USER ID on our bank account by they frequently want us to change the password
    -I remember the actor ALDO Ray
    -The cluing for ERIC and DAN was very un-Tuesday like
    -Doing ½ x ¼ is pretty easy. Adding ½ + ¼ is not.
    -IV BAG: Have you ever heard of a “banana bag” IV for hangovers?
    -MESA, AZ turns into Cubbyville for spring training. It won’t be long.
    -PRIVET hedges make for very nice borders but are susceptible to winter kill in our area
    -Nice job, Splynter, but I liked Top Gun too

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  21. Certainly did not have to TOSS IN THE TOWEL on this one! Went faster than yesterday, and the cap stayed on the WiteOut bottle. Pretty hard to REV up that engine until you fire it up. Top Gun: Maverick was one of the few sequels I have seen that was as good or better than the original.

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  22. Hmm,

    Jinx said: one doesn't rev one's car when starting, unless they hate it,,, (or something like that...)

    Made me think, rethink actually, that when my cheap Chinese scooter is hot, the only way I can get it started is by cracking the throttle wide open, followed by waiting several minutes for the automatic choke (fuel enricher) to engage and then disengage before riding... (timing is everyth8ng...)

    which rem8nded me, that someday I want to do this...

    This also reminds me that I would like to do this to my overly sensitive keyboard. Does anyone know how to turn off the automatic shift on these dang iPads?

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  23. Best example of A PRIORI ever, from the Monty Python routine about an epic soccer match between the great Greek philosophers and their German counterparts, after Socrates has scored the only goal of the game. “The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an A PRIORI adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics. Kant, via the categorical imperative, is holding that the ontological exists only in the imagination. And Marx is claiming it was offside."

    Speaking of sports, it’s Super Bowl (two words), not “Superbowl.”

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  24. I learned some new things❣️ -,incl. that constructors might try to use the whole alphabet in one fill; so now something new to watch for?! And, I’m reminded that context/perspective is everything: for “Roger’s rival”, I was stumped - but I know (from kiddies realm) Mr. Rogers and singer Raffi - didn’t work of course; and they probably weren’t “rivals”. Thanks to perps I was all good. And, I learned to not take “a priori” a priori - I have always read it as “by a prior thing”, “a given” - ever since I first came across it in seminary (having had a year of Latin in high school I thought I knew stuff); now I know better, and I still prefer mine 🤷🏻‍♀️

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  25. Puzzling thoughts:

    FIR after correcting DELL to DALE in 1-down; also, HON became BAE and SURE became I SEE

    As others said, the use of a circled word three times (EDIT) to morph into TIDE at the reveal was quite clever - well played, Zachary

    I, too will take a CSO for MESA as I lived there for three years, and now it our neighboring town. Lucinda, you and Margaret and I need to meet for breakfast or lunch someday

    Splynter thought of DHARMA from Motley Crue; I was think DHARMA from Dharma and Greg (an erstwhile sitcom)

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  26. Fun puzzle, Zachary, and a pleasant romp to the finish line!

    Splynter, when I have a LUCID DREAM -- that is, realize I am dreaming and can take charge of the action -- l look at the back of my hand to establish clarity, and then usually do something to defy gravity. Alas, I had no such control over the elements when I tripped and fell last weekend! And I haven't had much luck cultivating lucid dreams, either.

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  27. C-Moe @11:28. I used to watch Dharma and Greg.

    Interesting trio: DÉJÀ VU, A PRIORI, and LUCID DREAMS.

    But darn it, I’ve never had a LUCID DREAM, that I know of anyway.

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  28. Copy editor @ 11:20...
    "hold the presses!"

    Re: lucid dreaming,
    1st, you have to want to...
    The best way to improve your lucid dreaming, is to have a dream journal. The second you think of "anything" else after your dream, you are overwriting the memory of that dream. So if immediately upon waking, you write down your dream, you will get in the habit of trying to remember them, even before you fully awaken; ergo lucid dreams...

    If you are able to go back to bed, (being retired helps.) this is the best time to try it. Early in the morning, just before sunrise,
    (Sunlight does not help at all)
    Do your toilet, get the most comfortable, and try to go back to sleep. Most important, for visual dreams, "do not think of anything."
    (I know, this is almost impossible.) but one method, is to close your eyes, and ask yourself, "what do you see?"
    Usually, this will be either, nothing, or an afterimage of your room from just before closing your eyes, (something familiar) or perhaps just black and white snow like an off channel TV set. Keep looking around with your eyes closed. Is your image two dimensional, or three. Is there anything behind the snow? Or in front of it... most often, you will eventually see something very small and different in the snow. Concentrate on it, try to make it larger and clearer, and before you know it, you will be in REM sleep, but still conscious. And able to manipulate your imagery.

    if you are curious, for beginners...

    Note: I discovered how to turn off the annoying 8's instead of I's keyboard problem in the iPad.
    Go to settings, general, keyboard, and turn off something called enable key flicks.
    Unfortunately, this turns off several keyboard settings that are actually useful. So I'm leaving it on, and you will just have to suffer w8th my atroc8ous typ8ng...

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  29. @Yellowrocks @9:48, what world do you live in where QUA and A PRIORI are used frequently? And yesterday you claimed ULT was a common abbreviate for ultimate. I'm not buying it, and from other comments I am not alone.

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  30. Hi All!

    Thanks Zachary for the puzzle that was solved over (under) breakfast tacos.

    Splynter - I knew it was NOT Hahtoolah today but it was the '80's music that set me on to you (or Sumdaze doing double-duty). Fun music and mighty-fine expo.

    WOs: I put ATEAM in 13d's squares, WhIG -> WIIG, ACIdIC (untie!) and, hand-up, hon -> BAE
    ESPs: ALDO, NEALE, & DAN as clued
    Fav: ERIC Carle - we read his board-books to the Girls before they could talk (and later they tried to teethe on 'em :-))

    C, Eh! - it must be my love of Monty Python & other BBC goodies that PRIVET was familiar to me.

    Nice one: re jEDI Training, y'all.

    RosE - I thought Roger Rabbit at first too.

    I used to practice LUCID DREAMing. I got pretty good at spinning out of dreams into something more fun - like flying.
    The way I did it: During waking hours make a habit of reading things (a sentence, a phone number, etc.) twice and then confirm they are the same and say "Nope, I'm not dreaming." Then while you're asleep, do the same thing but you will notice it never the reads the same twice and say to yourself "Oh, I'm dreaming" and then take (some) control of the dream.
    As far as recurring dreams - I have three that replayed every time I'd quit nicotine; they were scary and I had no control.

    Copy Editor's Python link.

    I think it was Steven Wright that said, "I just had a sudden feeling of VUJA DE; that this has NEVER happened before."
    If that wasn't Wright, I know this one is: "Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."

    Cheers, -T

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  31. 💤 😴

    I don’t wanna remember most of my dreams. I’m either late for a class, forgot to study for a test, missing a flight, don’t know my lines for a play. Etc etc etc 😳

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  32. CED and A-t. Wow! I’m impressed with your LUCID DREAMing instructions. Unfortunately when I wake up my mind starts thinking and it erases the dream. I’ll have to practice not doing that.

    Tee hee. I often have amnesia and déjà vu at the same time.

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  33. Ray-O, I hear ya. My recurring nightmare is that I've re-upped for the Navy. In real life, the day I was released from active duty I hopped on my motorcycle and drove from San Diego to Tucson in case it was all a mistake and they wanted to call me back in. It was 400+ miles. Hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. And my butt was sore when I finally got to Tucson.

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  34. Like Splynter, WIIG, ALDO were unknowns. Had to change acidic to acetic for the pickles. Privet a word that I've never heard.

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  35. If you've ever been involved in gardening, PRIVET, would be familiar, especially in California where I see it.

    I just returned from a lovely memorial for my late niece, Regina, at the hospital where she worked. Her former co-workers wanted to honor her and invited the family. Regina often talked about what a nice group of people they are and today confirmed it. They had a nice spread of fresh fruit, drinks and dessert. The chaplain spoke about how much they admired her and missed her. Visiting with them was a real treat because Regina often spoke about them and I felt as though I knew them already.

    Afterwards my sister and one of my nieces and I went out for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant located near my house.

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  36. "So I don’t want to get pigeonholed as a snob or an elitist, or as someone who believes that one kind of movie is a priori better than another." New York Times
    "Among people who have good immune health, can I predict a priori that they will do as well during an infection." Scientific American Jun 21, 2023

    And dozens more citations

    "Water, of course, is a sine qua non for life as we know it, so even if there was absolutely nothing pre-organic aboard any incoming comets, they still helped get the planet biologically started."
    Time Jun 11, 2012
    "For decades, each weekday, ABC has broadcast the sine qua non soap trilogy of “All My Children,” at 1 p.m."
    New York Times Apr 15, 2011

    And dozens more citations.
    QUA was clued as part of sine---non.

    "I dispatched the Sauveur yesterday, according to your order of the 27th ult."
    Ult. is usually used with dates, meaning last month, instead of just "last." I find this often in historical novels.

    My world is that of an avid reader who researches what I read. Just because some word or expression is not in my world or your world does not make it invalid. I love to find that a word I haven't heard is quite known by others. Then I can learn something. An open mind receives knowledge more readily.

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  37. Some of this puzzle I liked and some of it I didn't like much. My eyes always hurt when I see BAE appear. Agree that the ENS clue should have specified "officer" rank. I had to change MANGA to ANIME and BEET to CANE. Took me a while to get ACETIC because I kept wanting ACIDIC. I like the cities of MESA, Gilbert, and Tempe. Gilbert has a nifty "in the round" theater and an aquatic (yep, aquatic) park.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  38. I am with Yellowrocks that A PRIORI is a term that is worth knowing. I know it from my work in physics, math, philosophy and probability and statistics.

    What bugs me is to have crossed terms that are not only obscure and unknown, but which just don't matter in the bigger scheme of things. A PRIORI matters in the bigger scheme of things. That is my take and your mileage may vary.

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    Replies
    1. DW and I are good friend with a Priore family who are worth knowing 😃.

      Delete
  39. Thanks to ZDL for his puzzle and to Splynter for his review! Funny you should mention box 39 in your intro.... That was my one-box FIW. Thanks also for another pic from your work. So interesting because you and your peers have figured out answers to questions I haven't thought to ask.

    FLN. Lucina@ 8:19 p.m. LOL! You're such a good sport!

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  40. sumdaze
    Thank you! Life is not much fun if you can't make jokes now and then even if they are a bit fishy.

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