Sunday February 3rd 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 34:52
Sunday Average: 48:31
Best Sunday: 21:55

I filled in the majority of the grid this morning while waiting until I could leave for Ultimate winter league but couldn't quite figure out the theme and what ARM CHILI could possibly be. While driving to get my pre-ultimate CAFFEINE FIX, it finally clicked with ONEAL being the "ejected player," if you will, to make One-Alarm Chili. MESSI with AH COMPLEX made Messiah Complex pretty quickly after that, but the next couple were a little trickier since the players weren't ejected quite from the beginning of the phrases. RICE + P OF ADMISSION = Price of Admission and RUTH + THE T WILL SET YOU FREE = The Truth Will Set You Free. Rounding out the theme were the reasons for these players ejections with ILLEGAL SLIDE TACKLE, HELMET HIT, BEAN BALL, and FLAGRANT FOUL. This is everything I want from a Sunday theme.

Jean SEBERG sticks in my head more for her appearance in "Breathless" than "Saint Joan," mostly because I just love that haircut. But if you'd like to learn more about her, I'd recommend "You Must Remember This" Podcast's Jean & Jane series about her and Jane Fonda.

The brutal cross, of which most Sundays will have at least one, would be Margaret Atwood's "ORYX and Crake" and CALYX, clued as "Sepals of a flower." Apparently, sepals function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom and the Calyx is the set of sepals. I've probably blogged about at least one of these before and I don't expect I'll remember next time they come up. Meanwhile, I may add "Oryx and Crake" to my reading list.

Bella ABZUG, or Battling Bella, was in the US House of Representatives for New York from 1973 to 1977 and sounds like a general badass. Her campaign slogan was "This woman's place is in the House—the House of Representatives." Nice. 

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