Theme solutions:

• Newbie crossword solver’s thought on a Monday: I’VE GOT THIS
• … on a Tuesday: WISH ME LUCK
• … on a Wednesday: I’D LIKE SOME HINTS
• … on a Thursday: WHAT IN HELL
• … on a Friday: GOOGLE TIME

Word of the Day: ANNA (“Veep” actress Chlumsky) —

In 2009, she appeared in Armando Iannucci’s BBC Films political satire In The Loop, co-starring with Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, James Gandolfini, and Mimi Kennedy, a quasi-spinoff of Iannucci’s BBC TV collection The Thick of It.[15] She performs Liza, a State Department assistant within the film. From 2012 to 2019, Chlumsky performed Amy Brookheimer, aide to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character in HBO’s Veep, additionally produced by Iannucci.

• • •

Congrats to Ms. Ewool on her debut! This puzzle had quite a lot of little NYC factoids, so I bought to really feel cool and particular for filling them in simply. (Stolen valor, perhaps– I’ve solely lived right here for 4 years.) LEX is between Park and Third, which, by the way in which, I hate. Why cannot we simply decide to numbered avenues??? I additionally hate how tenth simply randomly turns into Amsterdam. (Sorry, that is not associated to this puzzle, now I’m simply occupied with my Manhattan Geography Quibbles.) I did not get tripped up on the terse and mis-direct-y [JFK alternative] for LGA. And I put in RINKS (winter sights at Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park) with no crosses. But wait, circling again, can we speak in regards to the new fountain, I imply water function, at LaGuardia airport???? Oh my god. I watched it slack-jawed for like thirty minutes. Better than tv.

The theme entries have been lacking a little bit one thing for me…. a little bit sparkle, a little bit dazzle. Is it honest of me to ask to be dazzled each single day at 10pm? Perhaps not. But particularly, it feels a little bit meh when a time period appears to be adjusted so as to have the right amount of letters. For instance, I feel a extra pure phrasing is “I want a touch” or “I’d like a touch,” however neither of those have fifteen letters, so as a substitute we get the phrase ID LIKE SOME HINTS. Of course, it is powerful to inform with these conversational phrases. I nonetheless bear in mind once we had #discourse about whether or not it is referred to as “apple cider” or “sizzling cider” or “sizzling apple cider.” 

Some wonderful non-theme fill on this, like LAVA CAKE and DO THE DEW, and even shorter stuff like ENIGMA and SESAME. And I like the form of these curvy tendrils of blocks emanating from both aspect of the grid. And, clearly, I just like the reminder that you must Google solutions you do not know. That’s my primary rule of crosswords, and I really feel like now its been endorsed by the Times themselves! Happy Wednesday, everybody!

Bullets:

• [Item of wear named after an island] for BIKINI — I used to be discussing monokinis with my good friend, and that led us to surprise if bikinis have been genuinely referred to as that as a result of they’ve two (“bi”) items. (They aren’t, as this clue signifies.) This is, I imagine, an occasion of “rebracketing” the place phrases are assumed to have a sure etymology (e.g., BI / KINI) after which altered in accordance that (incorrect!) composition (e.g., MONO / KINI).
• [Bank statement abbr.] for INT — This actually slowed me down as a result of I do know INT as an abbreviation in programming (for the integer datatype). I used to be considering extra alongside the strains of end-of-month or year-to-date.
• [Like Legos, originally] for DANISH — I assumed this was type of a humorous means to consider the toy. I suppose it is referring to the truth that they have been invented in Denmark? But at what level did they cease being Danish? Also, are we going to battle within the feedback about whether or not the plural is “Legos” or “Lego”? Go forth, I suppose.

xoxo Malaika

P.S. In the previous, I’ve had individuals ask why my grid appears to be like blue– When I “examine puzzle,” it turns the proper letters blue. Anything I add between “examine puzzle”-ing and efficiently fixing, keep black. (In this case, you may see my error was at TIMID— I initially had “humid.”)

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