Friday, November 24, 2017

Today's time: 12:43.

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Bruce Haight and David Steinberg created a really delightful visually-themed puzzle for Friday.  It's admirably clever, and there's the perfect satisfying a-ha moment when it all makes sense, and best of all, knowing the theme helps you figure out the themed answers.

So the middle black squares show a brimmed hat shape (four black squares under two black squares) flipping diagonally down from left to right.  This makes "with slight provocation... as suggested by some black squares in this puzzle" AT THE DROP OF A HAT, and "snapping" FLIPPING ONE'S LID.  What a clever theme!  It made me smile when I figured it out.

SASHIMI means "pierce flesh?"  I would have guessed shish kabob or something.

"Chocolate truffle filling" is GANACHE.  It's just a mix of chocolate and cream.

LHASA is the capital of Tibet, but I've never heard of Jokhang Temple, which is the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism and according to legend was built by a king for his two brides.

I'm surprised that QATAR has the world's highest per capita income.  I would have thought Monaco, which is only on the CIA's list, for some reason.  The IMF and World Bank lists do not mention Monaco. The CIA also has Liechtenstein listed first.

I immediately put ZORRO for "fictional hero who wears a sombrero cordobés," but I didn't know that was the hat's name.

For "heretofore" I put *YET but it's AGO, and that slowed me down.

For "its shell isn't hard" I thought of *SOFT CRAB (?) and then maybe even *SOFT TACK but it's the most obvious SOFT TACO, duh.

A STINGER is brandy mixed with crème de menthe.

Did you know NAN is also called khamiri?  Me neither.  Khamir is Urdu for yeast.  Khamiri roti is thus a leavened flatbread.

On October 8 we heard about the upright vrikshasana pose.  Today it's the hero pose (if you assumed it, you KNELT).  This is called virasana.

And Mercedes has some cars called A CLASS.  It is a compact car sometimes called the Baby Benz.

"Former Telco giant" is GTE, or General Telephone and Electronics.  It was acquired by Bell and become Verizon.  As did Nynex, remember?

Did you know the TAJ MAHAL is on the Yamuna River?  I knew once but had forgotten.

Hey, it's trattoria treat TORTONI again, last seen October 13.

I don't like the words ENPLANE or NONPRO.

Clever clues: "What can get two feet higher" is OTTOMAN. "Beam that might hit someone hard?" is JIM.  "Chip maker" is CHISEL.  "Cal tecs?" is SFPD.

And that's ALD o' the clues I wasn't sure about.  Fun puzzle!