I pulled out 17A Orthodontist’s recommendation: RETAINER because I got Invisalign after my Moderna kicked in so I wouldn’t have a janky grill for my wedding. It took 10 weeks of dedicated tray-wearing, and then I got a retainer that I’ve been diligent about wearing. Go me for being responsible.
I pulled out 12D Making a scene, say: ONSTAGE because I like going to the Magic Castle to watch performers in the impromptu areas. Sure, there are a lot of great booked acts, but the impromptu areas can be more fun. I went to the Castle last night with my cousin, and we were in line for the Parlour of Prestidigitation after catching part of Phil Van Tee’s impromptu set next to the Palace Bar. Although we were first in line, the show was set to start in half an hour. I haven’t seen the performer who is in the Parlour this week, but I saw that it was a mentalism performance. Of all the mentalists I’ve seen, I’d absolutely wait in line to see Nader Hanna and Bob Gebert. So my cousin and I bailed from the Parlour line, and we got to see Tyler Rabbit and Dana Pleasant perform in the Cellar impromptu space. The mentalist may have been amazing, but I’m comfortable with my decision.
Theme!
It took me a while to get this theme. I knew there were missing letters, but it wasn’t till late that I realized which were missing. Then I filled in those letters, and when I completed the puzzle, the piano didn’t play. So I made them single-letter squares, and then it took it and filled in the extra letters in the black area.
5D It covers 90+ million acres of the U.S.: CORN (COR + N). 10D Many a TikToker: TEEN (TEE + N). This is what made me realize that the correct answers were longer than what the space allowed for. 23A Staff: CREW (CRE + W). 24A Back in college?: ENDOW (E + NDO +W). 25A Noble title: EARL (E + ARL). 32D Business that makes cuts in order to turn a profit?: SALON (S + ALO + N). 34D Smooth, lustrous material: SATIN (S + ATI + N). 50A Change states, perhaps?: THAW (THA + W). 51A Jostle: ELBOW (E + LBO + W). 52A Send out: EMIT (E + MIT). 59D Car radio button: SCAN (S + CAN). 61D Acronym in academics: STEM (S + TEM).
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Today is 11-10-21. 11+10=21. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.
Yesterday I missed THROWAWAY, AORTA, OATH, ROTARY, ROTOR, TARO, THATAWAY, THROAT, THROATY, THWART, TYRO, WORRYWART, WORT, and WROTH.
Meatier Misses
ARHAT: (in Buddhism and Jainism) someone who has attained the goal of the religious life. ARROWROOT: A West Indian herbaceous plant from which a starch is prepared. ATHWART: From side to side of; across. HORTATORY: Tending or aiming to exhort. ROTATORY: The adjective form of rotate.
Today’s summary
Letters: LDENOTW Final score: 48 words for 202 points. Genius minimum: 202 points. First word: NETTLE. Pangram: LETDOWN.
I pulled out 4D Lotion letters: SPF because Calah is convinced that I should wear sunscreen when I do woodworking. She thinks that sunscreen will help prevent sunburns and skin damage and will get in the way of me getting melanoma, which she claims is not one of the fun cancers. One of the fun Cancers is Calah, and a quick read of some astrology websites say that she’s a great match for me, a Virgo. I didn’t need an astrology website to tell me that she and I are great together, but it’s not like I’m going to call bullshit on everyone who roots for us. Anyway, I’m doing a lot better at the wearing-sunscreen thing.
Theme!
17A 56-Across, to a dairy farmer: LOWFATMILK. 22A 56-Across, to a smartphone user: DYINGBATTERY. see: mybatterydied.com and batterydied.com and ikilledmybattery.com. 34A 56-Across, to a gambler: UNFAVORABLEODDS. 46A 56-Across, to Occupy protesters: THEULTRARICH.
I pulled out 56D E-commerce site for homemade goods: ETSY because I may start making cutting boards to sell on my Etsy shop. I’ve got maple, walnut, cherry, and ash to use. I posted the final installment of the first cutting board series this morning in the woodworking blog. The second cutting board series starts next Tuesday.
Theme!
17A “God in his wisdom made the fly / And then forgot …”: TOTELLUSWHY. They never seem to go away. Then I shower. Then they go away. And then they’re back. Seriously, how many times am I supposed to shower a month? 24A “Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, / Is those things arms …?”: ORISTHEYLEGS. 47A “The cow is of the bovine ilk; / One end is moo, …”: THEOTHERMILK. 58A “The trouble with a kitten is that / Eventually it …”: BECOMESACAT.
39A Poet Nash, who wrote the lines in 17-, 24-, 47- and 58-Across: OGDEN.
During his lifetime, Ogden Nash was the most widely known, appreciated, and imitated American creator of light verse, a reputation that has continued after his death. Few writers of light or serious verse can claim the same extensive dissemination of their poems that Nash’s works enjoy, both with and without citation of the author. Certain Nash lines, such as “If called by a panther, / Don’t anther,” and “In the vanities / No one wears panities,” and “Candy / Is dandy, / But liquor / Is quicker” have become bits of popular American folklore. As Nash remarked in a late verse, the turbulent modern world has much need for the relief his whimsy offers: “In chaos sublunary / What remains constant but buffoonery?” Nash’s peculiar variety of poetic buffoonery combines wit and imagination with eminently memorable rhymes.
I pulled out 34D Feel sore: ACHE because that’s me today. Yesterday I played baseball with my old adult league team. I hadn’t thrown a baseball in more than a year, and I hadn’t hit off live pitching in many years. I went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout. I also made a diving catch in right field. The catch was a great because I caught the ball, but if I’d read the ball off the bat better, it would have been a routine catch and no scrapes.
I pulled out 9D Puerto Rico’s _ Telescope, formerly the world’s largest single-aperture telescope: ARECIBO because it’s not just formerly the world’s largest single-aperture telescope but it’s no longer the world’s any kind of telescope! It collapsed! We all remember it from Goldeneye (except for Calah, who hasn’t seen any Bond movies yet), but it went down almost a year ago.
I can’t for the life of me figure out the theme right now.
Tonight I made a sale of a #raabidfun T-shirt on my etsy store at shop.raabidfun.com. It’s always exciting when someone I don’t know orders from me. I hadn’t made a sale in a while, so this was a pleasant surprise, and Calah brightened up when I told her about it. She’s told me in the past that I should expand my etsy store to include woodworking projects. Since I started making cutting boards, those certainly feel like things that I can sell because there’s a huge market for cool-looking cutting boards, and the holidays are right around the corner. I might even be too late to the game this year for the holidays, but I don’t know. I can’t wait to share the second cutting board project on my Tuesday woodworking blog. I finished it yesterday, and it looks amazing. Way different from the first one. That series will start as soon as this one ends.
Yesterday I missed ACETATE, CADE, CAVA, DECADE, DETECTED, and EXEC.
Meatier Misses
EXACTA: A bet in which the first two places in a race must be predicted in the correct order. Classic horse racing. TACET: Music (as a direction) with the voice or instrument silent.
Today’s summary
Letters: LADNRUY Final score: 31 words for 135 points. Genius minimum: 135 points. First word: LUNAR. Pangram: LAUNDRY.
I pulled out 14D Amounts from a distillery, maybe: BARRELFULS because I’ve seen whisky by the barrelful when I went to Islay back in 2019. And since then I’ve been interested in the limited edition Laphroiag Cairdeas batches that I hadn’t known existed. I’m excited that I finally was able to order a bottle of the 2021 Cairdeas PX. I can’t wait to try it.
No theme in this one, but it was one of those triple stackers or whatever that had the full width answers in the middle.
Finished this one in 25:10.
Day
This Wk
Best
Average
4-Wk Avg
Streak
Monday
5:25
3:49
9:21
5:34
81
Tuesday
13:13
5:22
13:11
10:31
5
Wednesday
13:59
7:38
16:56
13:28
22
Thursday
20:28
12:12
27:58
19:18
8
Friday
26:12
10:29
30:02
18:45
22
Saturday
25:10
20:11
31:36
23:04
22
Sunday
15:11
51:57
36:41
8
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