This puzzle just sparkled with love-at-first-bite puns and cluing. [Felt something on your head] for FEDORA was just brilliant. John Donegan, fangs for a fantastic Wednesday.
@Sam Lyons "Love at First Bite" is a very funny movie (but sometimes not PC), with George Hamilton and Susan St. James. A favorite clip: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtftS4MF0Y" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtftS4MF0Y</a>
Ah-hooo! A Warren Zevon mention is always most welcome. And the image of Dracula hopping around because light on his feet? Love it. I could really sink my teeth into this one. It was fun.
@Heidi His son and a whole lot of other famous, talented folks paying tribute to him at a benefit concert in L.A. a few days ago: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=so8nWasZ-ms" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=so8nWasZ-ms</a> He goes into the R&R Hall of Fame next month.
@Eric Hougland Link worked fine for me--Samsung Galaxy phone. Off to figure who all those people were and who was rocking the pink suit.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle and unlike others, thought the difficulty level was just absolutely appropriate for a Wednesday. Enjoyed many witty clues. Enjoy the rest of the week!
I note the lack of a commentary by Mr. Donegan. Could it be that the sun rose before he could post? Or were his thoughts too crypt-ic? Maybe the editors spiked his comments and sent them to the morgue?
How many more clues for Oreo will we see our lifetime? Haha
@Pcraves The brainpower expended for all the Oreo clues could probably power a small city. Almost all the clues are really good today.
@Pcraves I used to wonder if Nabisco was a sponsor. With all the free marketing, they should give the NYT a little kickback.
@Pcraves A lot, I hope.
@Pcraves. I suppose that depends on how much time we have left in our lives.
@Pcraves A certain English electronic musician's favorite cookie (or biscuit), I suspect.
Dracula's amorous activity? NECKING There, I did my own groaner. Does that make me feel better about today's theme? Not really 🤣
@Andrzej C’mon, the puns weren’t *that* bad.
@Eric Hougland As puns go, these were OK, but they were still puns. I would rather get kicked in the nuts by an old lady than a wrestler, but both cases would still be bad. Also, each time I see an acceptable-ish pun in these puzzles, I am reminded of the groany horrors inflicted upon me by the likes of John Kugelman. It's a cruciverbalist version of PTSD 🤣
Very funny. Very timely. Very easy (IMHO).
A frightfully good puzzle, right when it counts. Fangs so much, John!
@dutchiris <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtftS4MF0Y" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtftS4MF0Y</a>
Well, after yesterday's (or should I say, this morning's) endless game (18 innings -- the last 11 of them scoreless until the winning homerun, game lasted 5:39, ended at 2.45 AM (Eastern), both teams used every pitcher on their bullpen squads, etc.), the two bleary teams trooped into Chavez Ravine and provided a tidy, normal, under-3-hours, game. Which my Jays WON, 6-2. Whoo-hoo! We're all tied up in the series at 2 games each. Three games left, one in LA tomorrow and then back to Toronto for the last two. I am rejoicing. ⚾️🐦🍁🍁🐦🍁⚾️⚾️🐦🐦🍁⚾️
@SBK congratulations on the well deserved win tonight! I’ve been bleary eyed all day from that marathon game last night 🥱😵💫Got to see Will’s mom for lunch before she headed to the stadium.
@SBK, Gotta hand it to the Jays. Any team would feel pretty defeated after losing an 18-inning, 6 1/2+ marathon, but they came back ready to play. Against Ohtani, no less! Congratulations to your team.
@SBK Growing up a Dodgers fan, I had to stay awake until the bitter end on Monday night. But I think about the poor easterners. We did at least get to bed before midnight! Just barely.
54A was frustrating. I own over 20 guitars, and not one has a TREBLE knob - amps, yeah, but not guitars. I had "volume" there for a long time, as the only other knobs on electric guitars are "tone" or maybe "tuner"
I guess the tone knob controls the amount of treble, so, it could technically be described that way, even if it says "tone" on it.
@Mojo I struggled in the SW corner - I had no idea TREBLE could be a guitar knob, UNTROD refused to come to me even though I knew the word, and I had forgotten ONEIDA, even though I had seen it before in these puzzles. Looking up the lake was what I needed to finish the puzzle in the short time I had this morning.
@Mojo the Gibson Les Paul pickup selector is marked RHYTHM or TREBLE which is what I imagine is being referred to as that is a major guitar type. In my mind though a knob on a guitar is something you turn rather than a switch so I had VOLUME for ages
@Mojo Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I have long admired guitars as finely-crafted instruments (well, some of them). I am looking forward to seeing the guitar collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next time I visit NYC. (I’ll finally be able to repay my husband for the hours he’s had us in there looking at paintings, sculptures, furniture and clothing!) I always wanted to learn to play guitar, but I never had the time or money. (Nor, frankly, enough coordination or sense of rhythm.) In my mind, electric guitars have several knobs on the lower bout. I was perfectly willing to accept that one of those was for TREBLE.
@Mojo Huh. My Taylor 614CE has three knobs: volume, treble, and bass.
@Mojo That's a lot of changing strings! I have enough keeping my measly 4 tuned up, set up and restrung. <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/well-strung-4xBVMb3#2aP5uHn" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/gallery/well-strung-4xBVMb3#2aP5uHn</a> (The 4th one is in the case ready to go with us today)
Loved the puns in this timely puzzle. LIGHT ON HIS FEET crossing I HOP was a nice touch.
Enjoyed! But Dracula wouldn't eat a bat -- he *IS* a bat!!! Is he eating a friend?? This struck me as a cannibalistic faux pas! 🦇🧛♂️ Otherwise fun and fresh (I don't love the "tall boy" format, but this more than made up for it).
@Lpr Apologies I just posted the same observation but I didn’t see your post. Agreed!
@Lpr Alternative clues that might have worked better? “When Dracula attacked the baseball player?”
@Lpr that one annoyed me so much that I came here to comment. Along with "and his pals", it is clear we are dealing with the Hannah-Barbera variety of the Nosferatu rather than the Stoker one [/VanHelsing]
Always nice to have a puzzle you can sink your teeth into... Lots of fun!
Cute puzzle. Fun fact: I was supposed to star in the original version of that commercial--"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"--but the producers felt it was in bad taste. I'm like, "And?" Hope everyone's having as good a year as I am! Someone actually named their dog after me!
@Satan They did? Wow. Some people! Anyway. Here is Lucyfer the puppy and some random guy in a silly disguise: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/lFYXYYU" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/lFYXYYU</a> On another-ish note. In the US I was intrigued by road signs informing about possible debris: FALLEN ROCKS. I imagined the poor rocks, their life - once perfectly respectable - now a total a mess, their peers looking down on them, there, on the side of the road, in the gutter. So tragic. (Over here the sign is just a graphic of rocks falling down a cliff, no text)
The knobs in an electric guitar are typically volume and tone, not treble.
I’m all for a good pun, and this puzzle did not disappoint! Loved it!
Top half: This is easy! Bottom half: What is this fresh hell?
@Ernest Lower left for me. Upon self-reflection, part of the problem was that I had decided Drac didn’t feel seen during “self-reflection”.
I didn’t need a silver bullet to solve this puzzle. My problems vanished when it dawned on me that a SEWINGKIT contains a lot of darn stuff. A charming Halloween theme, and a nice touch to throw in a Warren Zevon reference via a Werewolves Of London clue. Aaooooo! For those who like vampire movies (and who can overlook Roman Polanski’s despicable character), his The Fearless Vampire Killers is campy fun. It is, however eerie to see Sharon Tate.
I feel like this is the first “easy one” (for its day) in almost a week. I got a DNF on Saturday (but I’m still battling), and that’s the second one I couldn’t finish on time recently. Friday *nearly* got me as well. All that to say, I feel like the puzzle has been stepping it up lately. Wondering if you all agree. If so, I think it’s a very good thing. I don’t feel I’m a strong enough solver yet to *not* get knocked out once in a while.
@Striker Yeah, I agree. For quite some time, it felt like the puzzles had been trending easier and easier, but now they seem closer to when I started in 2020.
Really enjoyed this puzzle. On the same wavelength. I am amazed at the various ways to clue “Oreo” into almost every puzzle. Haha.
While I was swimming this morning, I thought of: What Dracula hoped to get from Oliver? Blood from a Stone. Not as good as any of John's, and now I see it wouldn't have fit because the grid was only 14 columns wide.
First thing I typed (started with the downs) was ROMAN GODS, and it sure gave me trouble in the top left corner for a BIT until I realized my mistake. Very fun, enjoyable puzzle!
I was amused by “some jobs are ODD”. Thus: Job that Dracula considers odd, for being so indirect? PHLEBOTOMY TECH
I’m glad Sam is taking a well-deserved vacation but sorry she missed John Donegan’s fun puzzle. Perhaps while on vacation, a Wordplay columnist avoids all wordplay, but if I remember correctly Sam has a special connection to puns (a professional one) and no doubt would have had some “biting” commentary on today’s theme.
@M. Biggen Deb's commentaries never suck 🧛♂️
Loved so many of these clues, and don't think I can pick a favorite, though Pot Grower may stick with me the longest. Such a fun puzzle, and a raspberry to those who want to rain on our PARADE. (Or worse, HAIL.) I love a Wednesday that doesn't think it's Thursday. This was almost Tuesday-and-a-half, but that's, of course, my own experience. Your mileage may vary. Was thrilled to learn that our trick-or-treating will actually be on Oct. 31 this year, and last a whole 2 hours. When I was a kid, it started as soon as we got home from school. For my kidlets, it was as soon as they scarfed down the pizza for dinner (I had all their friends start at my house because most of their moms had jobs that were not as flexible as mine). I got them painted and costumed, and out we went. My son was done after one block. "That's enough," he would say. My daughter and her friends would be out for a good two to three hours, in our heavily populated suburb. Now I live in an area where, if we get 20 kids, it's a lot, and they came together in vans from who knows where. I don't care, we're prepared. George, our household ghost, loves Halloween, and is already preparing. Yesterday he messed with my Keurig machine, turning it off mid-pour. He also turns water spigots on and off, and plays with our stereo system. I'll be glad when the holiday is over and he settles down again.
@Marlene Sounds like what you really need is a good plumber and electrician.
@Marlene Well, I usually read only a few of the most recent comments and stop when I start seeing grouchy complaints and nits being picked. Your comment is my very favorite so far, so I’m quitting while I’m ahead. Love your positivity and sense of humor. We now live in a neighborhood where we don’t get many trick-or-treaters and never after dark (no street lights). So often it’s just the two kids next door, who are cute as can be. They have already told me what costumes they’re wearing. 😊👻
@Marlene After years of living first on a boat and next in a condo that had only two children in residence, we are now delighted to live in a thriving neighborhood with dozens of children. We’re stocked up and ready for Friday,
Well, that was a fun one!! Good, silly fun is one of my favorite of many kind of good fun! I have to admit, I didn't even make the connection to Halloween until the comments. It's never been a big part of my life, I suppose because growing up, we were not allowed to partake for religious reasons. The thought of it being evil never actually took with me but I also just don't care about it either.... We don't get trick-or-treaters where we live, so I often forget about it. Other than to buy cheap candy for the office afterwards. 😏 Hard to pick a favorite of the themers but of the non-themers, FEDORA for 32A Felt something on your head was great! Also really liked ODD for Some jobs and SATYR for Mythical luster And I liked including both ABASE and EDIFY. If only they'd crossed. RAPID took me quite a bit b/c I could only think of the band, and I didn't know the origins of the band's name, so until it dawned on me that it meant the sleep stage I didn't get it. Good crosses showed me the way... And then, I also learned that apparently, the band picked REM out of the dictionary and went with it as a name. Ha! Ah, the 80s!! (Though I only did a cursory glance of a search, so I may be wrong.) Happy Wednesday to all who celebrate! (Though it feels like a Friday to me, which doesn't bode well for my next two work days!)
@HeathieJ "we were not allowed to partake for religious reasons" As a kid I was encouraged by both my parents to explore spirituality and religion on my own. My mother was an atheist, and my father an agnostic (he has since progressed to atheism, too). My best friend Łukasz came from a religious, Calvinist family though, and the way he and his parents talked about god and what he meant in their lives sounded quite nice. I was fascinated, and very close to becoming a believer myself. My parents were ok with it. Everything changed in 1989, when the old regime fell, and the new one introduced religion as an (optional) subject at school beginning in 1990, when I started 4th grade. Given my beliefs at the time I went to those classes enthusiastically and with an open mind. Quickly I became disenchanted. It was Catholic indoctrination, effectively. Nothing the teacher - a nun - said was even remotely close to the joyous image of faith I had been learning from Łukasz. In 5th grade we got a new religion teacher - a middle aged priest. He was a bully who had no idea how to deal with preteens. He showed me the worst facets of Polish Catholicism, conservative, intolerant, allergic to joy, detached from rationality, and hypocritical. Within a year I was an atheist. Isn't it funny how religion classes, of all things, extinguished the religious spark in me? At no time in this religious evolution of mine was I pressured by my parents.
I found this to be just the kind of Wednesday puzzle I like. Many cute clues, not a lot of pushovers, and a nice theme. I confess that I didn't know how LIGHT ON HIS FEET connects with the Dracula / Hallowe'en theme. This definitely took longer than my average Wednesday.
@Dan If Dracula has (sun)light on his feet, then it would be like walking on hot coals for us.
Flitting in to add my congratulations to the constructor. Puns that made me laugh, clues that got me to go “a-HA”, and unusual word combos/choices (PAGAN not Roman, FALLEN, EDIFY). Best of all, no junk fill. Probably the tastiest puzzle of the year!
My favourite 🧛♀️ joke: Dracula is at a restaurant and the waiter comes over and asks: “Would you like a small aperitif?” Dracula says “No I’m happy with the ones I have already”
This one was bloody easy for a Wednesday, yet so enjoyable.
@Mark I see what you did there.
54 Across - electric guitars do not have “Treble” knobs. They have Volume and Tone controls.
@JT It appears bass guitars have a treble knob??
@JT They shd just clue this word using "radio." Dad was always saying, "Turn down the TREBLE and turn up the Bass!" He built our radio from components he scrounged up somewhere; I remember wires and parts strung together up on a shelf (where baby brother couldn't get to them) until Dad had the cabinet built...
@JT As mentioned earlier, my Les Paul has a TREBLE/Rhythm toggle switch, but it's not a knob. The constructor must be a drummer.
Fangs for the awesome puzz! Loved the puns. Have been blood-thirsty for a Halloween theme. Keep em comin! PS: Does anyone have a favorite Halloween themed puzzle from the archives that I should try?
There is never a "treble" knob on a guitar. Only a "tone" knob and "volume". Harrumph!!! 😂
@Kirk Woerner don't say never, no reason you couldn't put in a more complex EQ circuit.
@Kirk Woerner I was just about to say the same thing. You are 100% correct
A fun theme, a straightforward puzzle. I found the lower grid A BIT tougher than the top, but no show stoppers. The groany Dracula puns raised a smile on this chilly morning. Halloween isn’t such a big thing here, despite the best efforts of the supermarket chains to make it so by marketing a load of cheap plastic tosh. Now Bonfire Night (Nov 5th), that’s a different story. Think July 4th, but in the cold and dark. Burning Guy Fawkes isn’t done so much now, but to my mind burning an effigy of a real person feels far more gruesome than anything Halloween throws up. Or is that just a cultural thing?
@Helen Wright I'm torn about Halloween. On the one hand, it was completely unknown in Poland in my formative years - it's only become popular in the last decade or two. Thus, it means very little to me, and actually, kids ringing bells and making a mess annoy me. On the other hand, the opposition to Halloween in Poland reeks of medieval religiosity - some Catholics decry Halloween as "promoting occultism". As a kneee jerk reaction, that almost makes me want to celebrate it. Those Catholics offer an alternative - All Saints Parades, where children dress up as Catholic saints. They are one of the few reasons I regret not having kids. I bet the organisers would love it if I sent my son to the parade as St Barthlomew, flayed and carrying his own skin in his hands. Or a daughter as St Lucy, her face bloody, her eyes on a platter.
@Helen Wright My grandchildren like Halloween, although it's not a huge event. I too regret the plastic overkill, but we're a bit short on fun holidays - Early Spring Bank Holiday isn't exactly celebratory. I used to love Bonfire Night, when kids collected their own wood and every street had their own bonfire and fireworks. Horribly dangerous of course, emergency sirens going off all night.
@Helen Wright I think of "penny for the Guy" as rather more creative than demanding something sugary with menaces.
@Helen Wright RE: trick-or-treating not playing well in your new locale It could be worse; the next day is "dia de los muertos", when the food is more ornate, and the cuisine targets the favorite dishes of the departed rellies. If you find yourself dragged to a cross-cultural event and need to blend in, there are suitable costume concepts on-line. Just search for images under "Day of the Dead." Or, it could be a REALLY worse holiday excuse. What the heck is "wassailing?"
Bonfire night sounds like a hoot. In this region, the night before Halloween is known as “Fox Night”, a time for mischief (and occasionally mayhem in locales). This tradition is odd and, in my experience, really only for teens looking to stir up a bit of trouble. I recall arson being a concern in the Detroit area in the 80s The potential connection to “Fawkes Night” never occurred to me before.
Regarding the U.S. tradition of trick-or-treating, at least where I live, there are customs/rules which make the event more enjoyable for all. For example, the expectation here is that kids should only visit homes with the porch lights turned on (or other obvious decor), which is seen as an invitation to knock/ring. Also, there are specific hours designated within many areas (18:00-20:00, e.g.) which limits the disruption. There is very little “tricking”, except perhaps the candy companies fooling us all into buying irrational amounts of sweet treats. 😅 Certainly some unruly teens smash a few pumpkins, or perhaps TP a frenemy’s house, which most would say is bad form. Any of that is mischief carried out well after dark and quite dissociated from the trick-or-treating activity. I think that, in many neighborhoods, it’s really a pleasant time to walk (weather depending) around with your children, greeting your friends and neighbors with a wave from the street as they hand out treats to the kids at the door. Some even offer treats for the adults, such as a beverage or a cup of chili. Happy fall y’all! 🍁🎃👻
@Steve L I call the last quarter of the year Hallowthankshanachriskwanzamas, with Labor Day and New Year's Eve as bookends.
Two things show how tired I was when I started solving: First, I worked out the REFLECTION in 47A and confidently stuck in SELF- without looking at the clue. (At least, I think that I didn’t read the clue. It’s entirely possible that I just misread it.) Second, I read the clue for 36D [What contains a lot of darn stuff?] and immediately knew it was SEWING KIT — and got so sleepy that I put down my iPad without typing the final four letters. Now that I have slept for a couple of hours, and I feel much refreshed, I was able to finish up the puzzle in a few minutes. (My overall time was 23% slower than my running average for Wednesday. Considering how little sleep I’ve had lately, I think that’s not too bad.) Pun-based puzzles are hit-and-miss with me. Maybe my husband is correct and the puns I like the most are my own. But these all worked well enough for me. [to be continued]
@Eric Hougland I get you on puns. I am a pun hypocrite. I generally hate puns in these puzzles, but the groaners I or my wife come up with make me laugh, if in a cringey sort of way.
Earlier yesterday, my husband Les and I saw the movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. The puzzle fit nicely with that experience with the 54A clue [Knob on an electric guitar] and 32A FEDORA. “Bruce doesn’t wear a fedora!” True. But the first time I saw Springsteen on stage was with Les — July, 1978, at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium (which seated just over 1,7O0 people). At the time, I was working cleaning rental cars in Austin and taking just enough summer classes at UT for me to live in a dorm. My family lived in Dallas when I was in high school, but my dad changed jobs around the end of my first year at UT and they moved to the Pittsburgh suburbs. I wasn’t particularly interested in spending the summer where I had no friends and little opportunity to make any. Rental car customers leave stuff in cars all the time. Sometimes they want their stuff back and sometimes they don’t. I found a felt hat in one of the cars — maybe a fedora, maybe just something similar — and wore it all summer long. I’m glad there’s no photographic evidence of that hat, because it was a few sizes too small. I probably wore the hat to San Antonio and may even to the show. [to be continued again]
@Eric Hougland So you’ve known your husband for 48 years? That is awesome.
@Eric Hougland I know how much fatigue can add to solve times. I have my own business and work seven days a week. Every night the crossword is my time to detach and unwind. No matter what day it is, whether the puzzle is easy or hard, I fall asleep while solving, often multiple times. Although the puzzle times out when my iPad shuts off, the timer runs until it does. In other words you will never see me posting my solve times here! Loved the story about Bruce Springsteen, the hat, and your early days in Austin.
I'm a professional guitar player and have never seen an electric guitar with a "treble" knob. Only ever seen Volume and Tone. That one threw me off and I was frustrated to find out that "volume" was wrong!
@Jacob Kinda agree but there IS a “treble” pickup switch on Les Pauls. It’s not really a “knob” though.
@Jacob Agree that it is a bad clue.
@Jacob My Taylor acoustic-electric guitar has volume, treble, and bass knobs.
@Jacob this clue sent me down a fun rabbit hole, because I was trying to remember a single guitar I'd seen which might have a "treble" knob, and tried to remember an old one a buddy of mine had about 30 years ago which had many knobs and switches. Reached out to said buddy and used the internet and decided it was a Cort "Effector" and found pics! ...and it's a TONE knob :) Glad for the chance to reconnect with an old friend over it, at least!
@Jacob Same here. My Strat and Tele have tone knobs. The heresy!
@Jacob A friend of mine said a better answer for "Knob on electric guitar" would have been TED NUGENT.
@Jacob I got stuck for a bit w/ volume too. But the tone knobs control the treble. Tricky clue, for sure.
FANGS for a fun pre pumpkin puzzle! I too had TREBLE with VOLUME but was LES a PAULed than other solvers I do wish it had been VOLUME... and listed at ELEVEN across a CROSS???!!! sorry drac and nice 6º on ONEIDA since you play a guitar with your FINGERS... and the ONEDERS were the 1DERful fictitious band in the tom hanks movie THAT THING YOU DO! growing up in nearby toronto and being a geonut I knew many of the nearby lakes but never heard the FINGER tag but I NAILed it anyway we of course were drilled on the great lakes but long before students were TREATed to the teaching TRICKs of HOMES & Super Man Helps Every One wishing you all an ERIE holiday from HURON in (note to self: decaf?)
This was a very timely puzzle for me! For whatever reason, I've been thinking about Dracula a lot lately, for reasons unrelated to Halloween. (Also, that bizarre portrait of Vlad the Impaler where his mustache gives the impression that he's balancing a large cigar on his upper lip) Something I learned today is that when Albin Grau wanted to make a film based on Bram Stoker's 'Dracula,' he was forced by copyright restrictions to make various changes to the narrative. This introduced certain vampiric tropes that now seem ubiquitous, but weren't present in the original text. For instance, in Stoker's novel, vampires were only slightly harmed by sunlight, whereas in Grau's 'Nosferatu', they get burned to a crisp. In the end however, Grau still wasn't able to evade a lawsuit! (Source: Copyright Alliance)
This was a BIT Easy for a Wednesday.
What a great puzzle. I loved the clever clues that made me groan.
Blood sport in a Wednesday solve? Loved sinking my teeth into this one. Fangs a bunch!!
Loved the wordplay which generated plenty of smiles. Well done and thanks.
Very fun theme and puzzle. Just the right amount of difficulty for an enjoyable Wednesday.
Thanks for the fun puzzle. However, electric guitars do not have treble knobs. Ever. The tone knob is NEVER referred to as the treble knob. ahhh, i feel better now.
I enjoyed the vampire puns. Mostly an easy puzzle. When I got ICET through crossing clues I was like "Who the hell is ICET"? Then looked it up after and only then got it was in fact ICE T. Only one square I had to get by guessing all letters. ELIS/CIO. Still don't understand either of those clues.
Chris, (a) You're in Boston; ELIS are in New Haven (at Yale). (b) The AFL-CIO is a rather large labor union.
@Chris ELI YALE, founder of a university, so students are ELIs AFL, American Federation of Labor merged many years ago with CIO, Congress of Industrial Organizations. Both were umbrella organizations of trade unions.
Chris, Same issue with the I. Having read the explanations there's no way I was going to get either of those clues on this side of the various ponds that separate us.
@Chris Well remember them for the future, because you see them plenty in these crosswords
Chris, One follow-up question about your question: If you "looked it up after" to discover that ICET was in fact ICE T, why didn't you also look up A.F.L.-CIO and Ivy League ELIS?
What a great theme for a puzzle this week. 🧛🏻♂️ Halloween is probably my favorite “holiday” since I happen to share a birthday with that day 😏 🥳🎃👻 RIGHT OFF THE BAT struck a chord today as the bats were not all that hot for the Dodgers tonight. Congrats to the Blue Jay fans. On to tomorrow’s game! Still coming off of the high from last night’s marathon game and Will Klein’s phenomenal performance. Proud host mama over here 👈🏼🤩
@Jacqui J Thanks for your good wishes. I've been snickering at how surprised the US announcers are that our boys weren't just so much Dodger chow. It's a great matchup. Glad your Will did such a great job. And, when I try to explain to non-baseballisti the many reasons I love this game, these last two games are great examples. How to explain that the sprawling, lumpy, repetitive amoeba of a game 3 and the tightly pitched and defended game 4 are two examples of the same species? It's like learning that housecats and saber-toothed tigers are related. Gotta love that.
@ Deb Mazel tov on your anniversary! Wishing you many more in good health! (Wasn't able to comment on your FB page for some reason.)
Thank you, @Times Rita! I'm not sure why either, but you can always send me a friend request if we're not already. For those who are confused, the Resident South African and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday.
Really love a puzzle that makes me start the day laughing out loud . This one did the trick !
@Cathy Parrish I don’t remember any recently, but 26 across did it.