LA TIMES CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Gave a darn 6 Personal bearing 10 Spongy earth 14 __ and kicking 15 Like a quaint
shoppe 16 Unknown author,
for short
17 Hors d’oeuvre often seasoned with paprika 19 Looped in, on
20 Corp. VIP 21 Quite
22 Infant’s cry
23 Skin pictures 25 Calm and
dignified
28 Picnic side dish 31 Double-reed
woodwind 34 Charged particle 35 Helena’s st.
36 Creamy dip for
buffalo wings 40 __ mater
41 “__ moved on”
42 Parrot in Disney’s
“Aladdin”
43 New England
seafood sandwich 47 Securities backed
by the govt. 48 Fought
53 Raw mineral in a
mine 54 Supermarket area with fresh cheeses
56 Hitchhiker’s hope 57 Foggy state 59 Minnesota medical center, or where one might learn how to prepare 17-, 28-, 36-, and 43-Across? 61 Scat legend
Fitzgerald
62 Brick __ pizza 63 Tiny spot 64 Overly compliant 65 Floating ice chunk 66 Auto body blemishes
DOWN
1 Military academy
enrollee
2 Name said to activate an Amazon Echo Dot 3 Fastener in a
girder
4 Kick out
5 Oscar winner
Benicio __ Toro 6 Not showy
7 Actor Robert who hosts the podcast “Not Today, Pal” with former co-star JamieLynn Sigler 8 Envelopepushing 9 Opposite of pos. 10 Expensive nut
from Hawaii 11 Advance slowly 12 Fish-to-be 13 Conclude 18 Sauteing
acronym 22 Director Craven 24 Oil cartel
acronym
25 “The Brady
Bunch” trio 26 Dance that takes
two
27 NYC summer
hrs.
29 TV station, e.g. 30 Shoe front 31 Wrinkle-resistant
synthetic fabric 3/18/24 Saturday’s Puzzle Solved 32 Hoodwink 33 Winning game
after game 37 Makes haste
38 Binge-watcher’s
device
39 River sediment 40 PC key near the
space bar 44 Casual shirt 45 Like a kiwi 46 Not of the clergy 49 Utter nonsense 50 Lightweight fabric 51 Formal decree 52 Cruise ship levels 54 Singer Grohl who founded the Foo Fighters 55 Watchful sort 57 __ and haw 58 Hoppy beer 59 Disorderly crowd 60 1960s hallucinogen, for short
Dear Abby: I recently hosted my husband’s birthday. It was a great party. I reserved for 85 people, including the DJ, his assistant, the party planner and her crew. On the day of the event, 20% of the guests who RSVP’d did not show up. One couple said their two daughters had a debut party that night. Another family said their son had an outing. Others had legitimate reasons, like being sick or the house catching fire.
I gave my guests ample time to RSVP. I sent the save-the-date cards four months before, the invitation two months before and the deadline to RSVP two weeks before the event. I even extended the invitation to allow other adults and kids to come to the party. I was too generous. I think it’s rude for the families who RSVP for a certain number of people to dismissively not show up because of another event, not considering that each head count means additional cost and planning for the meal, seating chart, etc.
How do I let them know I wish they would have told me ahead of time so I could have removed them and saved myself a few hundred dollars? Or should I even let them know?
Generous Host In Texas
Dear Host: If I thought a lecture to these boors would be effective, I would tell you to go ahead and do what you have in mind. However, a more effective and less confrontational way to save yourself a future headache would be to simply omit them from your guest list.
Dear Abby: My sister-in-law is a lovely woman – generous, with a heart of gold. Her husband, my husband’s brother, is a kind and gentle man who works hard to provide for his family. They do much for their community and seemingly have every moment of the day occupied with something.
But whenever I’m with my SIL, she never fails to whine about where her husband falls short. Sometimes, she does it in front of him. It’s uncomfortable because I don’t want him to think I agree with her. Almost always the problems are minuscule. Example: The house is never clean enough, or he’s not doing X-Y-Z to help her. (To me, it looks like he does plenty.) She says she’s always doing “everything herself.”
I’m not one for confrontation and don’t want to cause trouble in our relationship because I do enjoy her a lot, and I’m afraid of the repercussions of “going there.” But enough is enough. It makes me dread one-on-one conversations or not want to interact because it is draining. How do I handle this?
Zero Tolerance
Dear Zero Tolerance: Ask your sister-in-law to please stop complaining, because when she does it makes you uncomfortable. After that, when she starts again, change the subject to something else – cooking, gardening, even politics or religion if you think it will distract her. Good luck.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.