Saturday, January 6, 2018

Saturday's New York Times puzzle solved: January 6, 2017

My time: 18:35, pretty good for me!

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Peter Wentz delivers up a tough but fair themeless with some lesser-used fill: BRAKE FLUID, ONE AT A TIME, POWER LEVEL, DARE TO DREAM, MAJOR LABELS, DART GUN, and others.

"What you can do to 'Moon River'" made me think the answer was going to mean "sing it" but it's WALTZ because apparently Mancini wrote it in 3/4 time.  It has, however, been rearranged in other signatures.

I had forgotten about Paula ZAHN, the news anchor mentioned way back on September 20, who was apparently one of the original hosts of "American Morning," with Anderson Cooper.

I don't think of the EPEE as an Olympics event because I think of the whole thing, I guess, as "fencing."  But there it is.

CADENT ("rhythmic") is not a very common word, but that's Saturday for you.

I thought "chaser of un trago de tequila" should be "sel" or "lima" but it's AGUA.

The poplar "Price is Right" game is PLINKO.  It was introduced in 1983. At first I had *PLINGO, which seems to be the default name of similar rip-off games.

For "Chesterfield, for one" I immediately put *SOFA.  But it's COAT.  A Chesterfield is a long tailored overcoat, named after George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield.

"Noted Brit in the news" is HUME.  Not David Hume, the philosopher.  Does it mean John Hume, the Irish politician who was an architect of the peace process?  But he's retired.  I'm lost.  Is it a joke I don't get?

Ohio University's sports teams are the BOBCATS.  The mighty 'cats!  Go cats!  Etc.

Today I learned that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, located in ATL, has been the world's busiest airport by traffic since 1998.

For "high-end Hyundai" I put *ACURA, because I forgot that Acura is actually Honda's luxury brand.  This is a Hyundai model: AZERA.

"Places for braces" could be "teeth" or even "pants" if you're thinking British, but it's ANKLES.

"Wide-staring owl" is a phrase from Wordsworth's long work "The Excursion," part six, "The Churchyard Among the Mountains."

Clever clues: "kitty-corner things?" is LITTER BOXES.  "Something good for Charlie Brown?" is GRIEF.  "Sticking point?" is VOODOO DOLL.  "Terminals at London Heathrow?" is ZEDS.  "English channel" is THE BEEB.  "Deal breakers, for short?" is DEA.

OOF, that's a lot of clever stuff.  But I did pretty well today.

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