The weather was absolutely lovely in Seattle yesterday so I spent the entire day scooting around with Robin on our Vespas instead of blogging.
Today's Sunday puzzle (answers) is a straightforward effort by Cathy Millhauser, a veteran constructor who specializes in Sundays. It had a traditional rather than radical feel for me with ORT and OREO and an "add a syllable to change the sense of a phrase" theme that is common for Sundays, but it was a pleasure to solve this solid crossword.
ARC was nicely clued as "story development" — only the second reference to a story rather than a curved path in 117 definitions. "Seals are part of it" was a snazzy clue for US NAVY. SUSSED now has another NYT reference and that verb is on its way to becoming legitimate.
Did anyone else wonder what GOD IS FIGURE was supposed to mean? Since it was my first theme answer I was confused.
I love it when I fall for stupid tricks. "Child protector?" APRON? Does it protect the cook from children somehow? Ohhhhh. That Child.
Finally, in the "you learn something new every day by doing crosswords" department, for some reason "mandibular prognathism" was clearly a LENO reference even without any crosses but when I was done I wanted to understand the exact definitions of each of those two megawords. I've done the research so my readers don't have to. Here's the scoop, according to my dictionary:
Mandibular, and I'm surprised you have to ask because in retrospect it's obvious, means "pertaining to or of the nature of a mandible." Prognathous means "having a gnathic index over 103". Got it? Now you know.
I expect the hipper on-line dating sites now ask for both your zodiac sign and your gnathic index when you sign up. You know, to avoid those awkward situations later.
