Wow today was humid and hot. I am beat. And wedding planning is still crazy, even though the attendance will be minimal. But they say thunderstorms tomorrow, so yay! Get them out of the way, please!
Yesterday I missed COCCI, COIN, COMIC, MIMIC, MINIM, MINIMUM, OMIT, TUITION, TUNIC, TUTTI, and UNIT.
Meatier Misses
MONOTONIC:
TOMTIT:
Today’s summary
Letters: MBELNOW
Final score: 19 words for 69
Genius minimum: 66 points.
First word: ENNOBLE.
Pangram: NOBLEWOMEN.
Tweet:
I hate to do this, but I will update this post tomorrow with fuller analysis.
Finished this one in 34:53.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 6:10 | 3:49 | 9:29 | 8:05 | 66 |
| Tuesday | 9:54 | 5:22 | 13:40 | 12:01 | 9 |
| Wednesday | 14:27 | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 |
| Friday | 33:30 | 16:23 | 34:56 | 29:22 | 7 |
| Saturday | 20:12 | 27:43 | 34:06 | 33:36 | 7 |
| Sunday | 34:53 | 15:11 | 56:47 | 42:24 | 7 |
24/7 ALL DAY.
Yesterday I missed DETECTIVE, DIETETIC, DUETTED, ETUDE, IVIED, TIED, VETTED, and VIVID.
Meatier Misses
DEICE/D: Remove ice from.
DEICIDE: The killing of a god.
EDUCE/D: formal Bring out or develop (something latent or potential)
EIDETIC: Psychology Relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.
“pertaining to the faculty of projecting images,” 1924, from German eidetisch, coined by German psychologist Erich Jaensch, from Greek eidetikos “pertaining to images,” also “pertaining to knowledge,” from eidesis “knowledge,” from eidos “form, shape” (see -oid).
Today’s summary
Letters: ICMNOTU
Final score: 26 words for 145 points.
Genius minimum: 145 points.
First word: COMMIT. (21 more days!)
Pangram: CONTINUUM.
I pulled out 50A Deck builder’s tool: NAILER because I have never heard a nail gun called that. Also when building a deck, I recommend screws instead. Now, I’ve never built a deck, but I’ve built other things, and deck screws seem like they’d be way more durable.
This puzzle was shockingly basic for a Saturday.
But I guess when you start out with 1A Popular brand of alcoholic seltzer: WHITECLAW, how can it be anything but?
I like regular seltzer in a few different situations, but seltzer is the best for egg creams and to drink right after eating ice cream.
If you’ve not had an egg cream, you simply gotta.
You mix milk and chocolate syrup together to make chocolate milk. And then you add sparkling water.
There’s no egg involved.
Sounds nasty? It’s not! It’s wonderful.
Finished this one in 20:12.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 6:10 | 3:49 | 9:29 | 8:05 | 66 |
| Tuesday | 9:54 | 5:22 | 13:40 | 12:01 | 9 |
| Wednesday | 14:27 | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 |
| Friday | 33:30 | 16:23 | 34:56 | 29:22 | 7 |
| Saturday | 20:12 | 20:12 | 34:06 | 33:36 | 7 |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 57:44 | 43:20 | 6 |
The end of a long week! Yay! I’ll save time on this intro by just saying that you should watch the The Catalpa Tree Update video in its entirety.
Yesterday I missed CLINICIAN, LILAC, LILT, PLIANT.
Meatier Misses
CATALPA: A tree with large heart-shaped leaves, clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers, and long, slender seed pods, native to North America and eastern Asia and cultivated as an ornamental.
LANTANA: A tropical evergreen shrub of the verbena family, several kinds of which are cultivated as ornamentals.
PALAPA: A traditional Mexican shelter roofed with palm leaves or branches.
PALATAL: technical Relating to the palate.
PALP: Each of a pair of elongated segmented appendages near the mouth of an arthropod, usually concerned with the senses of touch and taste.
PAPILLA: A small rounded protuberance on a part or organ of the body.
PINTAIL: A mainly migratory duck with a pointed tail.
Today’s summary
Letters: DCEITUV
Final score: 48 words for 226 points.
Genius minimum:
First word: DECEIVE.
Pangram: DEDUCTIVE.
Tweet:
I pulled out 2D Kind of treatment: ROYAL because that was holding me up from getting this pule done many minutes faster. For a long time, I’d had LOCAL in there instead. It made sense, I guess. LOCAL anesthetic, LOCAL bus, LOCAL dessert. But it was ROYAL instead. That let me knock out 17A Revelation: EYEOPENER and 4D Solid: STOUT.
No theme today, which is kind of a shame after some decent ones recently.
44A Spot of coffee?: BREAKROOM was a meh answer. I get the pun, but I don’t particularly like it.
I learned a little bit about geography with 41A Tasmania’s capital: HOBART.
64A Attraction at a water park: LAZYRIVER. I think the slides are far superior to the lazy river. I wouldn’t go to a water park to seek out the lazy river. But maybe I’m spoiled living walking distance from the ocean.
Finished this one in 33:30.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 6:10 | 3:49 | 9:29 | 8:05 | 66 |
| Tuesday | 9:54 | 5:22 | 13:40 | 12:01 | 9 |
| Wednesday | 14:27 | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 |
| Friday | 33:30 | 16:23 | 34:56 | 29:22 | 7 |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 36:25 | 38:17 | 6 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 57:44 | 43:20 | 6 |
I did not get the pangram today. I could not find it. Very frustrating. I got two-and-a-half-score words, and no pangram.
Yesterday I missed LOLLIPOP, LOLLOP, and POLO.
Meatier Misses
PULI: A sheepdog of a black, gray, or white breed with a long thick coat.
PURL: Denoting or relating to a knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the front of the stitch from right to left.
RILL: A small stream.
Today’s summary
Letters: LACINPT
Final score: 50 words for 201 points.
Genius minimum: 197 points.
First word: CALLA.
Pangram: ???????????????
I thought I was going kinda slow with this one, as I did it while waking up, but that was wrong! I beat my old Thursday best by almost a minute! But this did feel like an overly friendly Thursday puzzle. And you see that the streak is at 46 now. Like I said in yesterday’s post: “Tomorrow’s puzzle will show that my streak really is still alive.”
I pulled out 22A Land of plenty?: ASIA because I don’t understand this answer. I had been under the impression that Australia is the land of plenty. That’s why it’s easy for them to reject temptation.
The theme for this puzzle was far out.
17A Ones sporting man buns and ironic T-shirts, say: HIPSTERS. Did covid bring back the manbun or did it never leave. And can it please go away for forever? I mean ironichaircut.com aside, meh.
20A Closest living relatives of whales: HIPPOPOTAMUSES. How do you stop a hippo from charging?
35A They enforce discipline among legislators: PARTYWHIPS.
42A Locations of some dives: SHIPWRECKS.
63A Little dipper?: PITACHIP. Awful answer. Really dumb. Pita chips can be big.
57A Inseparable … or like three pairs of answers in this puzzle?: JOINEDATTHEHIP.
That caused doubling!
1D Get back into shape: REHHAB instead of REHAB.
2D Come up: ARIISE instead of ARISE.
3D Lukewarm: TEPPID instead of TEPID.
27D Exhibited relief, in a way: EXHHALED instead of EXHALED.
33D It can be heavier in the summer: AIIR instead of AIR.
21D Admits: ACCEPPTS instead of ACCEPTS.
51D Run-of-the-mill: HOHHUM instead of HOHUM.
52D Upper echelon: ELIITE instead of ELITE.
53D Took performance-enhancing drugs: DOPPED instead of DOPED. But in the world of stonks and hodl, DOPPED seems real.
With the bonus:
32A Pelvic joints: COXAE.
I realize now that I’m disappointed the the puzzle didn’t make giant HIPs. The formatting should have extended.
OK I fixed it. HIP HIP HIP HOORAY!
Finished this one in 12:12. A new personal best for a Thursday.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 6:10 | 3:49 | 9:29 | 8:05 | 66 |
| Tuesday | 9:54 | 5:22 | 13:40 | 12:01 | 9 |
| Wednesday | 14:27 | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 |
| Friday | 16:23 | 34:55 | 28:15 | 6 | |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 36:25 | 38:17 | 6 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 57:44 | 43:20 | 6 |
Today’s Spelling Bee had a much lower point minimum for genius. But somehow it took a lot longer to get there. But a Queen Bee of more than 400 points was truly ridiculous. Also just 24 days to go, Calah!
Yesterday I missed AIRY, ARIA, AVIARY, CIRCA, and PRAY.
Meatier Misses
CARPI: The group of small bones between the main part of the forelimb and the metacarpus in terrestrial vertebrates. The eight bones of the human carpus form the wrist and part of the hand, and are arranged in two rows.
PAPYRI: Papyruses.
PRIAPIC: Relating to or resembling a phallus.
Etymology first and then numismatics!
“phallic; of or relating to the cult and myths of Priapus,” 1786, with -ic + Priapus (Greek Priapos), son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, the god who personified male reproductive power. His name is of unknown origin. Earlier was Priapean (1690s).
There were coins that were made in honor of Priapus:
Today’s summary
Letters: LINOPRU
Final score: 25 words for 70 points.
Genius minimum: 62 points.
First word: PULP.
Pangram: PURLOIN.
Tweet\: