Thursday November 22nd 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 22:25
Thursday Average: 26:12
Best Thursday: 10:18

The crossword tricked me today by having nothing at all to do with Thanksgiving. Even so, it was a pleasant Thanksgiving morning solve with coffee and cider-mosas, both AT A TIME, of course. However, I hated both crosswords and myself when I saw the clue “K-12” and immediately wrote in ELHI, which I maintain does not exist outside of crosswords. IT’S A LIE! (Speaking of which, must we have the clue ‘Fake news!’?”

I dug the theme today, which featured missing letters at the beginning and ending of words to evoke certain phrases:
  • “OWARD” is ‘coward’ (took me a while to see) without the first letter and so becomes HEADLESS CHICKEN. I was looking really hard for Headless Horseman, because I think that ‘headless chicken’ is not a phrase; it’s a chicken with its head cut off.
  • “QUARR” is quarry without the y, so that’s a BOTTOMLESS PIT.
  • “SEASO” is, of course, ENDLESS SUMMER.
  • “IKINI” yields TOPLESS SWIMSUIT.
I just started lifting again, after returning from my 7 weeks of travel, which means I am nothing but ACHE right now.

Today I learned that MELMAC is Alf’s planet and ALAR is yet another chemical spray.

But I’m writing this entry IN HASTE so that I can return to festivities. Happy Thanksgiving! 

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