Theme solutions:

• Memoirs of a dance contest champion?– LIFE AND LIMBO
• Brushing, flossing, and avoiding sugar?– FINE TOOTH COMBO
• Disney basic with none additional options?– JUST PLAIN DUMBO
• What Mary might need had if she had been into Italian sports activities vehicles?– A LITTLE LAMBO

Word of the Day: HEDY (Actress / inventor Lamarr) —

At the start of World War II, she and avant-garde composer George Antheil developed a radio steerage system for Allied torpedoes that used unfold spectrum and frequency hopping know-how to defeat the specter of jamming by the Axis powers. Although the U.S. Navy didn’t undertake the know-how till the Nineteen Sixties, the ideas of their work are included into Bluetooth and GPS know-how and are just like strategies utilized in legacy variations of CDMA and Wi-Fi. This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Hey besties! It’s Malaika, right here to hang around on a wet, fall Malaika MWednesday, and earlier than we dive in I wish to briefly promote the Boswords fall themeless league. Every Monday for eight weeks, a brand new themeless puzzle is launched. One of them is written by me, however I’m not allowed to say which one 🙂 We’ve already launched the primary puzzle, however there’s nonetheless time to hitch and clear up and compete with us!

Okay, onwards to our often scheduled programming. This puzzle took me underneath ten minutes to resolve. I listened to this tune (it begins at 1:38) 3 times in the course of the clear up. I bought trapped on the prime: I refused to consider the Times would enable such an egregious dupe in ARE NOT / ARE SO, and I had “stated no” quite than TOLD NO, and “Doom” quite than THEM (I do not watch previous films or horror films). So I hit the trusty “verify puzzle” button and that helped me see the place I went fallacious.

I feel some folks take into account that to be a DNF, or a “didn’t end” however that form of confuses me… I did end the puzzle! And, to be clear, there are some puzzles that I merely don’t end. Natan’s on Saturday is an instance; it was too hard– I bought a couple of entries, after which stopped fixing. I didn’t reveal the grid, or look something up. I simply put it down and by no means got here again. To me, that is a DNF. But perhaps I’m simply not clear on the jargon.

Anywayyyyyy… themes like this are doomed from the beginning on the “Impress Malaika” entrance as a result of I merely don’t assume {that a} phrase could be made humorous by including a letter. I’m a misplaced trigger. I’ve solved many puzzles and these by no means make me snicker. The solely hope is to discover a good revealer, like ATTACHE, to make me say “Okay, cool, yeah.” When there isn’t a revealer, I shake my fist on the sky and say “What was the purpose of all of this???”

On prime of that, there have been no lengthy solutions that had been non-theme (though FAIL UP was good). And some bizarre stuff like RIEN and LIC and OLAS and TRA and ACT I and NHL FAN and SMALL B and NON US. I suppose I’m, in a phrase, underwhelmed! What about y’all? Whelmed? Overwhelmed? Let me know within the feedback.

Bullets:

• [Stars that are blowing up?] for NOVAE — I do not like how there are some plural phrases (like NOVAE / novas) the place each solutions are acceptable and the clue does not give us any trace to the ultimate letter. It’s the identical vibe as [That, in Spanish] and you do not know if it is “eso” or “esa.” 
• [Inc. or Ms.] for MAG — This took me a sec as a result of I anticipated titles to be stylized ultimately (italics or quotes)
• San Luis OBISPO — I crammed this in with no crossings and I do not know why. Why do I do know this?? Is this in crosswords? I do not even know what that is! A metropolis, presumably? But the place? Who put this information into my mind???
• [Champagne name] for MOET — Me and my sister had been discussing whether or not we may inform champagne from Prosecco in a blind style check. She thinks we each may, I feel that she may however I could not. We each agree that we do not favor one to the opposite.

xoxo Malaika

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