Hello from Day 42 of the current California COVID constant curfew, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! By the time you’re reading this, it’ll likely be 2021. Yaaaaay!
This was an awful puzzle to end the year on, but it was classic 2020. It took way too long to complete, and at its end, it was just relief and nothing more.
But to both of those things, we did make it to the end, and that’s something to celebrate.
Both yesterday and today I did not go for Queen Bee.
Yesterday I missed the easier EXACT, NEATEN, NUANCE, TACET, TAUTEN, UNEATEN, UNTUNE. I also missed ACETATE.
Meatier misses
CETACEAN: A marine mammal of the order Cetacea; a whale, dolphin, or porpoise.
EXACTA: A bet in which the first two places in a race must be predicted in the correct order.
EXEUNT: Used as a stage direction in a printed play to indicate that a group of characters leave the stage. As the 366-day cast of 2020 is doing right now. Step lively, zozo!
Today’s summary
Final score: 51 words for 221 points.
Genius minimum: 219 points.
First word: LENTIL.
Pangrams: TELETHON and NEOLITH.
Tweets: