Ari
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So fun to get CHCHCHCHIA from the off, then shift to the NW downs to verify and have them all fall with NOTHINGBUT the toehold of that 1A. Kam, when can we expect a clue for Sea-Monkeys? Amusing to think of BALDISH in the context of an early growth stage of that outré Chia Pet spin-off, the Chia Head. DIAN FOSSEY, you saved my SE corner. Now you’re even more my hero. And in homage to another “Phenomenal WOMAN,” here's a link to Maya Angelou's poem and her reading of it: <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/04/04/maya-angelou-recites-phenomenal-woman" target="_blank">https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/04/04/maya-angelou-recites-phenomenal-woman</a>/
CHANCE —> chants? Elocution: F UTTERFAILURE (Actually, I quite enjoyed today’s puzzle. Just can’t resist a callback.)
Since the gift of this clever puzzle is already being so rightly celebrated, I’ll just add this to the cheery chorus: If you’d like to fix the order of the Ten Plagues in your memory for future 46Aish clues, you could do worse than turn to Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt. Here’s the movement “Their land brought forth FROGS,” with its perky, frog-hoppy air: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WIGbzovmo&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WIGbzovmo&ra=m</a> (No METRONOME in sight, but the pesky amphibians are leaping right on time. BOINK.)
Hi, @Andrzej, Sidebar from your question, and I do get you re: the Bee forum. But Weird Wild West though it may be these days, I still appreciate the wicked-clever and word-nerdy bees who created the Hivemind in a thread here within Wordplay before it migrated to its own forum (for better or worse or an olio of both). So, a shout-out to Puzzlemucker; Leapfinger; Annie Towne; Sam Lyons; Doug from Tokyo; RAH; White Plains Michael; Cheryl At Home, Like Everyone Else; Monicat; Martin from Yonkers; michaeltide; Little Deer; et.al. (and apologies to those getting lumped into that et.al.). Nice to see some of you still posting here from time to time.
As a (mostly) teetotaler, feels odd to say that my solve relied heavily on JACKANDCOKE. Big yay for this brain-tickling party of a puzzle and also I now feel a bit hungover.
If you'd like some FUNK with your ACTION FIGURE, enjoy Schoolhouse Rock's "Verb, That's What's Happenin’”: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=weaCffBvWGE&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=weaCffBvWGE&ra=m</a>
@Cherry As a nod to the mythology references today, here's a well-known metaphorical use from Tennyson's poem “Ulysses": “I cannot rest from travel: I will drink/Life to the lees"
@Ari Gah! Suddenly fretting that at a quick glance, it might look like I’m dissing the puzzle rather than making a joke. To be clear: I have no NIT to pick. I like this puzzle, I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO
What a horror show! Jk: enjoyed the cheeky theme + revealer for a Halloweek puzzle. I had more fun thinking about the fill than actually filling it, and will be taking from it the following safety cues: * No sleepovers at Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, with its uncanny WAXY statues (Thanks, Vincent Price) * No tête-à-têtes with anyone who LURES me into a HAZE * No traversing the Rue Morgue, lest there lurk a rogue ORANG (Thanks, Poe) * No exploring the ATTIC alone with a killer on the loose—especially if I've just informed my friends that "I'll be right back" Also couldn’t help but think of Hannibal Lecter initially telling Clarice she looks like a RUBE in Silence of the Lambs, or of the grisly deaths in Stephen King's dystopian The RUNNING MAN (80s film version). If instead of full-on horror, you'd like to see a quirky-clever mix of various horror genres with deadpan comedy for your Halloweekend, I recommend Widow's Bay (Kate O'Flynn and Matthew Rhys are priceless). A shipwrecked dude in dire straits LANDSADEAL with someone he shouldn't have, and much creepiness ensues. I'll be rewatching it, with my reluctant bestie INTOW.
I hear you re: the lingo, Andrzej. FWIW, a key SB convention is to refer to words from the current day’s puzzle using the first two letters of the word + total number of letters in the word. Example: NEPENTHE becomes NE8 (N.B. Some posters will include only the first letter, so N8 vs. NE8.) The spoiler-avoidant code was developed given that solvers would sometimes come to the Bee forum seeking hints or info before they’d finished the puzzle. Quite a different m.o. than the Wordplay forum. Hope this extra block of SB info isn’t irksome; just hate to see anyone feel excluded. Cheers and happy puzzling!
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