Tuesday, October 9 - Timothy Powell

I managed to get up at 6:00 this morning (even though my body screamed at me that it was only 2:00) and made it to my morning appointment. It was a bit tough to stay awake all day, but I made it. I think I may be moving beyond the jet lag. It's 9:35 as I start this, and I'm still awake.

Timothy Powell isn't a name I recognize, but I'm too lazy to Google to see if he's a known constructor. We may well have a debut on our hands.

This was fairly easy for a Tuesday puzzle, with variations on the spelling of B-O-R. The four theme answers are:

17A: BORE (tiresome windbag). We've all known a few of them.

23A: BOAR (tusked warthog). That reminds me of a Far Side cartoon, which I probably can't unearth at this moment.

48A: BOER (Cape Afrikaner). I wasn't familiar with this spelling, so this one threw me until I got most of the downs in place. My dictionary lists BOOR as an alternate spelling...that one I know.

57A: BOHR (Danish physicist). As I was writing in the answer, I had a brain lapse and wrote physician. That made it very difficult to get answers for 41D: Come afterward (ensue) and 52D: Wretched (ratty). Fortunately, I saw the light rather quickly.

Some rather quirky clues and answers...meaning that I loved them.

1A: Speaks, informally (sez). Like most people, I wanted an S at the end for a time. But when I figured it out...yesss!

9A: Smokey Robinson's music genre, for short (R and B). Gone are the days when a clue/answer like that would stump me.

28A: Nap (snooze)...what I managed to avoid all day. Loved seeing a second Z in this one.

29A: "Golden" song (oldie). That describes most of my favorites.

40A: Honeybunch or cutie pie (pet name). I'm glad Don doesn't call me either of those, although there may be some who don't like sweetie...and we do. My dad called my mom chickie.

2D: __ Yale, for whom Yale University is named (Elihu). I had a blank there for the longest time, then the name came to me from nowhere. Seriously. I have no clue how I got it...I had only the H in place.

3D: Six in 1,000,000 (zeros). The VERY BEST clue in the puzzle.

9D: Didn't have enough supplies (ran short) and 11D: "Don't worry about it" (no big deal). I love multiword answers.

34D: Sights at after-Christmas sales (mob scenes). Another multiword. The only mob scene we saw in Kauai was at the ABC Store when the cruise ship came in. It was not the time to be anywhere near the dock, so we quickly headed north.

39D: "Will you marry me?," e.g. (proposal). The wedding plans are coming along well. We have a reception facility, caterer, photographer, florist and disc jockey. To my knowledge, we still have a bride and groom, although I haven't talked to them for a couple of days. They're supposed to be here this weekend.

There were a couple of unfamiliar words. In most cases, the crosses were enough to make the difference.

44A: Painting surface (gesso). Probably a word I should remember...it looks like one that will reappear.

26D: __ dye (azo). Totally unknown to me.

33D: French weapon (arme). Crossed with gesso, so that really threw me.

54D: __ avis (rara). Latin. I should have known. It means a rare or unique person or thing.

I'm still downloading pictures from the camera, but I will keep that promise. There aren't many of me, and none that I really like, but there are plenty of good ones of Don. Guess who was behind the camera most of the time? Maybe I'll post a picture of Don. That's a good idea.

Here's today's grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G