I pulled out 4D Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” for one: DYSTOPIA because whenever I hear that word, I think of Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia. I imagine that others in my board game night group also have thought about that game upon solving this clue. It’s a game that we’ve not yet played together, despite my repeated (albeit half-hearted) attempts to convince the group to play and threats(?) that the game is in the car, even though the game hasn’t left my home in years. Recently Calah and I played Balance of Power, a two-player game that is simple and exciting!
17A “Please continue your generous support of the church”: MASSAPPEAL. I am sad to miss the appeal during the High Holidays this year. Usually the speech that goes along with it is worth listening to. 27A “This device makes prepping cherries a breeze”: PITTERPATTER. Let’s get at ‘er. 44A “Students should report to the gym for a special presentation”: ASSEMBLYLINE. 58A “This medicine will reduce your temperature in no time”: FEVERPITCH. Not really pitching a fever, though. Really forcing it with this clue.
Beware the ides of December! If you went through today not worrying about the ides of December, you’re in good shape! If you were worried about the ides of December today, you’re two days too late, as it was on the 13th.
I pulled out 58D Cutting board wood: TEAK because I got a teak cutting board a few months into the Covid pandemic. I had been using an 18″x24″ Winco cutting board (straightforward naming model WCB-1824) that I got at Chefs’ Toys. It’s really heavy but has served me well. It’s a light-colored hardwood, and I just looked up which wood it is. The result? Rubberwood! The very same wood that I had bashed in a woodworking blog post about table legs. Now that I know I have a piece of rubberwood, my thoughts about it have changed only slightly: It’s good as a hard surface for cutting things on that will be gentler on your knives than plastic will be. Had I gotten rubberwood legs for my end table, it would have bene terrible. The color wouldn’t have worked. For those who are considering getting a rubberwood cutting board, make a different choice if you have an allergy to latex. The teak cutting board I got was from Lumber Liquidators. I don’t know if it’s real teak, but the cutting board is substantially smaller, lighter and less cumbersome to wash and dry. To round out the cutting board discussion I’m having with myself, I also have a butcher block table that was made by my grandfather, back when he had a sheet metal shop in Los Angeles where he made custom kitchens. He made it for my father out of excess countertop. I think the wood is maple.
Is it really an entryway table if it doesn’t have reusable bags under it?
Today’s theme is newspaper puns!
20A Where one might find Boston news reporters?: AROUNDTHEGLOBE. The Boston Globe is the newspaper, and reporters are/should be everywhere to capture what’s going on so they can tell us what’s going on. 37A Where a Baltimore news reader’s desk might be found?: UNDERTHESUN. The Baltimore Sun is the newspaper there. I only know of it because it’s in The Wire. Probably won’t have a desk outdoors–especially in December–so this really only applies to the newspaper name itself and the idiom. 56A Beaten to a news scoop in Los Angeles?: BEHINDTHETIMES. Remember when the LA Times broke the Bell story? Remember when the LA Times taught us how to drive in the rain? And then taught us to drive in the rain again the following year but by video because it’s that important? I do appreciate the NYT self-own with this clue and a nod to the paper that employslotsofgoodpeople.
Finished this one in 12:49.
It bears noting that my favorite name of a newspaper is the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I can’t speak to its content, but it bears a name with no pretense. Just telling it like it is.
Statement accurate through the publish date: I receive no compensation for the mentions of any products in my posts.
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