Brad Wilber is a prolific contributor to the NYT puzzles and is known for his tough, themeless puzzles. I thought today's puzzle was a bit easier than last week's, and there were lots of great clues, too.
8A: Blitz initiator (PR MAN). Interesting fact: before Kurt Vonnegut became a best-selling author, he was a publicist for GE.
15A: Crumb (SLEAZO): "He's at the top of my crumb list! Matter o' fact, he's at the bottom of my crumb list and every crumb in between!"--Greg Brady, when he finds out that Marcia has scored a date with the jerk who beat him out for the first-string basketball team.
18A: El-Al no show? (BLT): El-Al serves only Kosher food, therefore, no bacon. Then again, you're lucky if you get a bag of pretzels on flights these days, let alone a BLT. However, El-Al has the best security of any airline in the world.
31A: What a ghost might be responsible for (MEMOIR). Some ghostwriters are better than others. If you want a quality memoir, expect to cough up anywhere from $8-$12K. Not a cheap undertaking.
33A: Turns, as a corner (DOG EARS). Personally, I prefer to use a real bookmark or post-it. I feel the dog ear does damage to a page.
41A: Cello bottom (END PIN). So that's what it's called.
62A: Rule often disobeyed by foreigners (I BEFORE E) . . . "except after c, or when sounded as an "a" as in neighbor and weigh."
3D: Heat, for example (NBA TEAM). This is one clue I got right away.
6D: Uncommon GPS recommendation (U-TURN). Since I don't own a car, I have no idea how a GPS works. I'll have to remember this if we ever buy one.
39D: Not especially edgy (VANILLA). Also referred to as plain, conventional, and boring. Maybe that's why I've always preferred ice cream flavors with a little something (rocky road, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate fudge brown) over vanilla.
The cryptoquote for today is by the late, great Nelson Mandela:
There is no passion to be found playing small -- in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
Following our passions can be scary and they can also change. I have cultivated many hobbies over the years (scrapbooking, making origami cards, collecting ephemera). The problem has always been I'm not willing to put in the long hours it takes to turn my hobbies into passions. They all are exciting at first, but they became too time-consuming for me.
The JUMBLE was unusually easy today. I solved it before I got all the words in the list. The picture shows a truck driver asking how much it will cost to change his tire. The caption reads "The tire repairman charged a ______."
Word list:
CLEET = ELECT
KALEN = ANKLE
FOCEFE = COFFEE
TOIWUT = OUTWIT
Scrambled solution: EEALFFT
Solution: FLAT FEE
That's all for today, my friends. Looks like we are going to end March on a soggy note.
Till Monday. . . .
Signing off,
The Puzzlechick
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