Tuesday, December 5, 2017

My time: 8:14.

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Today's puzzle is by a newsman of whom I have never heard, Harry Smith, and Zhouqin Burnikel.  It has a punny news theme.  "Anchor man?" is POPEYE THE SAILOR.  "Beat reporter?" is ALLEN GINSBERG, ha ha.  "Sound technician" is MARINE BIOLOGIST.  Oh, so funny.  There is no capper.

For "tells to 'Do it!'" I had *DARES; it's URGES.  My answer is more accurate.

Why is an ORB a "space ball" more than any other kind of ball?

The "giant in health plans" wanted here is CIGNA, not *AETNA.

The BLOC clued as Freedom Caucus is a conservative libertarian group that doesn't disclose the names of its members.  They are all almost certainly hypocritical un-Christian shitheads.

I'm vaguely aware of the honey brand SUEBEE.  It has a Native American girl with a feather in her hair as a logo and is owned by the Sioux Honey company.

"ART is the creation of beauty" was said by Ralph Waldo Emerson according to the puzzle.  Or maybe Will Durant?

The Mesabi Range is found in Minnesota and is the largest is a collection of ranges rich in iron ore and known as the IRON Range.

An OBOE is the "instrument with cane blades."  I'm not entirely clear on this, but it seems to have something to do with the making of the instrument, not the playing of it.  They seem to be properly called cane splitters and cane guillotines.  Or a cane gouger?

Clever clue: "Executive producer?" is WHARTON.

AHH, that wasn't too hard.  And I learned something.