I pulled out 30A Modern source of juice: WIRELESSCHARGER because my Google Pixel 3 has been on the fritz, and I wanted to get the 5A when it was on sale, but I rely on wireless charging. So now I still have a janky phone with no reasonable replacement.
No theme for this Friday puzzle.
Finished this one in 23:10.
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.
Finished this one in 46:36.
| 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 | 46:36 | 15:11 | 51:49 | 37:48 | 9 |
I pulled out 46A Home of the only world capital to border two other countries: SLOVAKIA because I’d put in DJIBOUTI initially (hoping it was right and half-expecting to boast about it being so), and I was surprised when it was a place in Europe.
It turns out that the bottom part of Bratislava is on the Hungarian border, and the left side is on the Austrian border.
Theme? Puns?
1A Cause for alarm?: BURGLAR. Be careful out there!
15A Work on some issues together?: COEDIT. Co-edit.
20A Old-fashioned endings?: DEES. Because both parts end in the letter D.
33D One who puts down a few chips?: SNACKER. Who has just a few?
40D Puts down a few chips, maybe: BETS. Let’s go, $MMAT!
Finished this one in 30:47.
Day This Wk Best Average 4-Wk Avg Streak Monday 7:37 3:49 9:26 7:25 73 Tuesday 5:22 13:21 10:18 0 Wednesday 10:53 7:38 17:12 11:00 14 Thursday 12:12 28:49 25:08 0 Friday 18:20 16:23 33:24 25:04 14 Saturday 30:47 27:43 34:03 30:50 14 Sunday 15:11 54:58 44:30 0
Still table issues.
OK so I’m still reeling from yesterday’s storming of the US Capitol, and I hope today starts our recovery as a country. There still were contests to counting the electoral votes last night AFTER all this went down. Absolutely absurd.
I pulled out 9A Outfit rarely worn out, for short: PJS for two reasons. The first reason is that it makes me miss college. I know I wasn’t the only one in the world to wake up right in time to bike to 8am Accounting Information Systems as long as I didn’t have to shower or change clothes. The challenge was, of course, staying awake for that hour and wondering why they decided every quarter to schedule the class about databases and flowcharts for that early in the morning. Ultimately it proved useful, and I’m happy I took it, but come on. The second reason is that in the COVID world, we’re not going out, so who even knew there were clothes other than pajamas?
The theme of this puzzle is crossing stuff out. It feels so topical.
16A Cocktail specification: WIXXXXWIST.
20A “Get your negative energy outta here”: DONXXXXE.
36A 2007 black comedy directed by Frank Oz: DEAXXXXAFUNERAL.
54A Fedoras, e.g.: FELXXXXS.
59A Words of correction … or a hint to 16-, 20-, 36- and 54-Across: STRIKETHAT.
16A WI[THAT]WIST. Some people find drinks to be more apeeling that way.
20A DON[THAT]E. Appreciate. Congratulate.
36A DEA[THAT]AFUNERAL. Never saw it. Probably should?
54A FEL[THAT]S: Hats are good for when you’re losing your hair. I’ve gotten really good at that in the last few years. Thanks, Obama!
Finished this one in 21:50 because it took me long to find that 28A Rare blood type, for short: BNEG was not ONEG, as a 23D Animal also called a steinbock: IBEX is not called an IOEX. Good to know.
I’m calling it. I should have a long time ago, but now that’s it.
I couldn’t resolve everything, and my guesses didn’t get me anywhere. There are probably a lot of things wrong on this, but this is as far as I’ve gotten. I’ll revisit it another day, but that’s it for today.
I really wish I could have gotten the answer to 61A, and usually I figure the one out that brings them all together after figuring out the thread and the other answers, but none of that happened today. Better luck tomorrow, right?