Stuffed sole stuffing / 8-9-10 / Actress Mimieux of "The Time Machine" / "Delta of Venus" author

Constructor: David Poole

Relative difficulty: I don't know


THEME: I'm glad there are only four theme answers — Theme answers are familiar phrases that describe actions beginning with a word that can be related to eating (but isn't in this particular phrase).

Hi, everybody. PuzzleGirl here with you today while Rex is traveling back home. Sorry this post is a little late going up. I didn't realize I was on for today and I was out kinda late last night listening to ghost stories at the Stanley Hotel (the big, creepy hotel where they filmed "The Shining"). It's in Estes Park, Colorado, where the PuzzleFamily is on vacation this week. We heard about the ghost story thing and thought the PuzzleKids would really enjoy it. Unfortunately, the Hour And A Half (!) long program could have been boiled down to roughly 20 minutes without losing any of its entertainment value. Oh well. The hotel is pretty cool. We'll try to go back during the day sometime this week to get some pictures. So far we just have pictures of the glorious outdoors (and I mean that sincerely — this place is heaven).


Theme answers:

• 20A: Accept an inevitable hardship (BITE THE BULLET)
• 27A: Ham it up (CHEW THE SCENERY)
• 43A: Fall for a flimflam (SWALLOW THE BAIT)
• 51A: Understand what's happening (DIGEST THE NEWS)

As is typical with a Monday puzzle, I was rolling through this one fast enough that I didn't fully grasp the theme. I recognized that the phrases were "[x]ing the [x]," but that was as far as my brain could take it while I was busy with the rest of the fill. It was only afterwards that I realized the "[x]ing" words were related. In any case, cute Monday theme idea with solid, colorful phrases. Well, except for DIGEST THE NEWS. I had to think about that one for a minute to understand its common usage, which I believe is "It took me a minute to DIGEST THE NEWS — the elderly couple on the landing were actually Mr. and Mrs. Stanley!"

Bullets:

• 5A: "Hannah Montana" star Miley (CYRUS) — My daughter is nine so, yeah, this one was no problem.

• 10A: Height: Prefix (ACRO-) — I actually started with ALTI- so that northeast corner was the last to fall.
• 48D: Site of many Chicago touchdowns (O'HARE) — I have to admit this one fooled me for a quick second. I'm going to say it's only because I have a friend who writes for NBC Sports in Chicago and she's been tweeting a lot about Da Bears lately.
• 56A: "How could ___" (I NOT) — Ooh. Clunky.
• 65A: Alternative to a convertible (SEDAN) — Raise your hand if you started writing in T-TOP but ran out of letters before you ran out of spaces.
• 3D: Stuffed sole stuffing (CRABMEAT) — This was a total mystery to me. I don't eat seafood so a dish made of seafood stuffed with other seafood isn't exactly on my radar.

• 44D: Conestogas, e.g. (WAGONS) — Nailed this one. It's been in the LA Times puzzle twice in the past couple of weeks and the first time I ever even Heard the word was at last year's Lollapuzzoola tournament, in what I refer to as the "Conestoga Incident." By the way, I hope you all are coming to Lollapuzzoola next week. It's not too late to register.
• 55D: Cry made while cracking a whip, maybe (WORK) — Whoa. I'm only coming up with some pretty horrifying circumstances where this clue actually makes sense. I think I might have gone in a different direction here.

That's enough outta me for today. The great outdoors awaits. You all have a great Monday and, with any luck, Rex will be back tomorrow.

Love, PuzzleGirl

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