MGWCC #783 — “Pressed for Time” by Erik Agard

[HeadinHome]

Sigh. Beaming up. Whatever.

Really lost my enthusiasm after last week’s fiasco… which I can now explain. I saw and circled all the homonyms in the themers:
TWO TOO
EWE YOU
OAR OR
SO SEW
but circled them sloppily, and when I circled EWE I didn’t catch the first E… so I saw “TWOS” by taking (what I thought was) the first letter of each pair. “Ah,” says I, “we have pairs of homonyms! They come in twos! Perfect!”

RIGHT after submitting it occurred to me that I had earlier noticed SOW elsewhere in the puzzle, and thought it interesting that it matched SEW in the themer. Then remembered the same for YEW. Uh-oh….

GAAAHHHHH!! There went my 100+ streak.

[MajordomoTom]

Beamed up

last week, I was in the shower and went "EWE, YOU, ... YEW!!! and knew the path to the answer.

[Bird Lives]

"Did you iron all your clothes?"
"No, I was pressed for time."

(Sorry if I board you.)

You mangled that one my friend!

I wonder how many know what a mangle is, er was, just as I wonder how many people know the origin of being "put through the wringer." In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see that one in print now as "ringer."

[Bird Lives]

I downloaded the .puz file and was mystified by that clue at 16D. What "brown blocks"?

[KayW]

Submitted.


EDIT: and beamed

[lbray53]

Beamed. Just as I hit submit I got a nagging feeling that maybe I was missing something. I thought of two other possible answers. So, either I guessed the correct one or they are all being accepted.

[ajk]

Beamed at #255 after very long meeting delayed the start. Speedy solve once I finally had the time.

[BarbaraK]

Now having all the other achievements, I'm dreaming of that 1-Across. Not thinking it's likely, but a girl can dream, right?

So today, since I was busy at noon when it came out, I didn't look at it at all until I was home and on my computer, and I noted the time when I opened the .puz file. 9 minutes later, I knew what the answer was. That would have put me at best at 8 on the leaderboard and a full 7 minutes behind #1 Lily. Ah, well.

[sharkicicles]

This took me way too long to figure out, but on the board.

[benchen71]

Awaiting the beam...

... and I'm beamed! Fun puzzle.

[Berto]

Got home at 6.30(ish), finished the grid, came up with a rather short word that meant absolutely nothing (even in 5-down), then - click.
Figured the leaderboard would be full to the gills (completely 1-down?) - but wow, looking like I’ll post a decent bowling score…

EDIT beamed at 281. Missed those last frame 10 strikes..

[hcbirker]

I forgot about the puzzle this morning (got used to it coming out on the weekend, I guess). Saw what I needed to see, then nothing. Put it down and looked at it again and there it was. That took me way too long.

[DCBilly]

Haha, looked at this one late Friday and snuck in just under #300. Tempis fugits.

[Bob cruise director]

Now having all the other achievements, I'm dreaming of that 1-Across. Not thinking it's likely, but a girl can dream, right?

So today, since I was busy at noon when it came out, I didn't look at it at all until I was home and on my computer, and I noted the time when I opened the .puz file. 9 minutes later, I knew what the answer was. That would have put me at best at 8 on the leaderboard and a full 7 minutes behind #1 Lily. Ah, well.

@BarbaraK

Waiting for the email will not get you to be #1 unless it is a very hard meta. I was at my computer and the email came in at 12:03 ET. I looked at the page and Lily was on at 12:02

[Joe Ross]

Now having all the other achievements, I'm dreaming of that 1-Across. Not thinking it's likely, but a girl can dream, right?

So today, since I was busy at noon when it came out, I didn't look at it at all until I was home and on my computer, and I noted the time when I opened the .puz file. 9 minutes later, I knew what the answer was. That would have put me at best at 8 on the leaderboard and a full 7 minutes behind #1 Lily. Ah, well.

@BarbaraK

Waiting for the email will not get you to be #1 unless it is a very hard meta. I was at my computer and the email came in at 12:03 ET. I looked at the page and Lily was on at 12:02

Pfft!

Waiting for email?

Not going to work.

Us mere mortals need to divine a best guess from the pre-posted title & meta clue - ON MATT'S SITE, then dump that WAG at 12:00:01 PM ET & pray for the best.

Forget the PDF

Forget the PUZ.

I had the answer, today at 11:48 AM ET, then allowed myself to be distracted from posting until, 12:03:&change, which was far too late.

[ReB]

Beamed up after a late start. Nice week one to start this special month.

[ReB]

I download the .puz file and was mystified by that clue at 16D. What "brown blocks"?

You'll have to view the PDF file to see the brown blocks, as they're black in the .puz file.

[woozy]

I download the .puz file and was mystified by that clue at 16D. What "brown blocks"?

You'll have to view the PDF file to see the brown blocks, as they're black in the .puz file.

For more clarification: There are three sets of squares. The outside squares are black squares that you do not write in. The white squares that you do write in form a sort of figure eight. The inner squares that you do not write in are brown in color in the pdf. In the puz file as the puz file can only render standard squares, writable white or inalterable blank black, these brown squares had to render as black.

What the entire grid resembles should be obvious but I'll never tell. 16D refers to what the inner set of unwritable blank squares represent.

[HeadinHome]

"Did you iron all your clothes?"
"No, I was pressed for time."

(Sorry if I board you.)

You mangled that one my friend!

I wonder how many know what a mangle is, er was, just as I wonder how many people know the origin of being "put through the wringer." In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see that one in print now as "ringer."

I remember my grandmother had a mangle in her basement, which she used on all her linens and even on some trousers (nice, defined pleats). I have many times wished I had asked for that thing when she moved! I still use my iron the top third (including top hem) of my sheets, remembering how smooth and crisp hers were because of that mangle iron, and how lovely those sheets felt. (This is the grandmother that just died in February, at age 103). : (

[Bird Lives]

I remember my grandmother had a mangle in her basement, which she used on all her linens and even on some trousers (nice, defined pleats). I have many times wished I had asked for that thing when she moved! I still use my iron the top third (including top hem) of my sheets, remembering how smooth and crisp hers were because of that mangle iron, and how lovely those sheets felt. (This is the grandmother that just died in February, at age 103). : (

Ever since I started living on my own at age 20, I concluded that ironed sheets were just not worth the effort, especially since for several years, I didn't own an iron. Even as a grown-up, I would see ads for "no-iron sheets" and think, "All sheets are no-iron sheets." Now you remind me of the pleasures of the bed that I missed. But there were others.