{"id":21,"date":"2026-09-04T09:16:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverlesswp-4gnqpg3wn-edisonlied.vercel.app\/?p=21"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:16:58","slug":"september-4th-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"September 4th, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sort of a boring one today to be frank, it felt like a slog to get through at times. Also feeling baffled by 1-Across &#8211;  building up a JENGA TOWER is literally the least tense part of the whole game, took me ages to realize what the clue was hinting at. Maybe start of a tense takedown would have fit better? Also, inaugurate is way too formal for \u2018kick off\u2019, amirite? LOSES for drops didn\u2019t make all that much sense either in my eyes, you either drop in a ranking or you lose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday\u2019s can be tricky because the clues have to be harder but there\u2019s usually no whimsy. But still, so many baffling clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Delighted by:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hit a point of no return? (11-Across): As a moderate-level tennis fan and absolutely useless player I appreciated the shoutout. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Grammatical case in 48-Across (44-Across): ALL THOSE YEARS LEARNING GERMAN WERE NOT IN VAIN.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Longtime Pixar character who says \u201cI might be old , but I still got a spring in my step!\u201d (46-Across): Man, I love SLINKY DOG. As a kid I saw Toy Story in my native language, so took a while to come up with the English name but seeing this reference made me smile.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use a fork for, in a way (6-Down): Made me hear that little ding in my ears. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Precise and calculated (21-Down): Strategic, tactical, so many good candidates, loved stumbling upon SURGICAL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Well at least I learnt something:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mars rover named in honor of a 19th-century activist (24-Across): Funky rabbit-hole. The rover was named after Sojourner Truth (dope name, she gave it to herself, made me think of Beloved and I love thinking of Beloved), an abolitionist and civil rights activist. The rover was named in an essay competition &#8211; a teenage girl won after filling out a contest form based on a topic she was researching for a contest. This NYT interview with her is quite simply hilarious, especially the little sister\u2019s reaction .&#8217;<em>&#8216;It was so annoying,&#8221; Valerie&#8217;s 13-year-old sister, Josie, complained proudly. &#8221;In school, every time somebody mentioned Sojourner, everybody would look at me and sing, &#8216;Josie, Josie.&#8217; &#8221;<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/07\/14\/nyregion\/girl-who-named-mars-rover-stays-down-to-earth.html\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/07\/14\/nyregion\/girl-who-named-mars-rover-stays-down-to-earth.html\">Link<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>First country to to elect a female prime minister (1960) (23-Down): Another good rabbit hole.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Births (41-Down): I love a good proper plural.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I\u2019m afraid this will age:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Buff (21-Across): The kids will have a new word for this tomorrow (or maybe they already do). What\u2019s next, looksmaxxing?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be exceptionally good, in modern slang (33-Across): See Buff. Meh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>US-isms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ABC\u2019s realm (17-Across): National as in coverage? National TV makes me think of state-funded (or at least supported) media, and I was fairly certain ABC was private but I might be wrong. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>__ Mai, Grammy-winning R&amp;B singer (20-Across): Maybe I should know, but I most definitely never heard of them<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Agcy. tracking popular baby names (29-Across): I don\u2019t know man, do Americans know this? <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test not offered in high school, for short (55-Down): Thank you to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for teaching me this one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please retire:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vaper\u2019s purchase (34-Across): Not the first time seeing this &#8211; I\u2019m fairly certain a vaper\u2019s purchase is you know, a vape. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Super, slangily (49-Across): No.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>And the tiers<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top 3 makes up 36%, not too bad, but always hoping for a 50%. (: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Delightful (7\/66)<\/span>:<\/strong> ACED, DATIVE, SLINKYDOG, LATIN, TUNE, SURGICAL, GENESIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">You made me learn something (6\/66):<\/span><\/strong> SOJOURNER, ERHARD, SLUR, WALLOP, CORONAE, SRILANKA<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>You made me think a bit (11\/66)<\/strong>:<\/span> JENGATOWER, INAUGURATE, PANROAST, SECURELINE, NATASHA, GUINEA, REV, AMIWRONG, EVILEST, DESERTS, PUSHTOY<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Okay, I guess (16\/66):<\/span><\/strong> IRIS, MAGNETS, POTTAGE, MADE, TAKE, ATARIGAMES, OVER, JINGLES, ENAMORS, ONACID, SPEEDSTER, ONLEAVE, THICKEN, VITAMIN, EVIDENT, SOLACE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">I\u2019m afraid this will age (2\/66):<\/span><\/strong> SWOLE, SLAP<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Absolute meh (11\/66):<\/span><\/strong> MOVE, GMAN, LOSES, SIC, VEG, UNHINGES, PRESIDENTS, ORALS, DRAGGY, STINKERS, GURUS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">US-isms (5\/66):<\/span><\/strong> NATIONALTV, ELLA, SSA, TAMALE, GED<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please retire (8\/66):<\/strong> IRS, ECIG, HECKA, YENS, AGO, ETTAJAMES, RIRI, ASP<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sort of a boring one today to be frank, it felt like a slog to get through at times. Also feeling baffled by 1-Across &#8211; building up a JENGA TOWER is literally the least tense part of the whole game, took me ages to realize what the clue was hinting at. Maybe start of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.crossexamine.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}