Hot, hot day in LA. First day of California’s reopening. Wow! And at the same time, Spectrum decided to be garbage all day. Not at all moments. But like 90-second outages at random intervals. It’s just long enough for it to make everything stop working and long enough where there’s a question as to whether it’s worth putting up with the slower speed of a hotspot from my phone.
Also I got notified that I have 500 likes of my posts! Cool! Thanks, everyone!
Yesterday I missed DROLL, FALLOFF, ODDBALL, OFFLOAD, and ROLLBAR.
Meatier Misses
BOLA: (especially in South America) a weapon consisting of a number of balls connected by strong cord, which when thrown entangles the limbs of the quarry.
DOLOR: literary A state of great sorrow or distress.
Related, from the Online Etymology Dictionary:
Dolores
fem. proper name, from Spanish Maria de los Dolores, literally “Mary of the Sorrows,” from plural of dolor, from Latin dolor “pain, sorrow,” perhaps from PIE root *delh- “to chop” “under the assumption than ‘pain’ was expressed by the feeling of ‘being torn apart'” [de Vaan].
LARBOARD: archaic term for port (as opposed to starboard).
Today’s summary
Letters:
Final score: 19 word for 96 points.
Genius minimum:
First word: BUOYANT.
Last word: BOOTY.
Pangram: BUOYANT.
My friend Daniel told me this joke years ago: “How can you tell if an ant is male or female? [OK, how CAN you tell?] You put it in water. If it sinks, it’s a girl, and if it floats, it’s a boy-ant.” We were in our late-20s when he told me this joke.
Tweet: