LA TIMES CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Half a situp 7 Commercial tune 13 “A Wrinkle in Time” novelist Madeleine 14 Timekeepers that don’t work on a rainy day
16 How baked potatoes may be cooked 17 Remove, as a
seatbelt
18 Gina Boswell of Bath & Body Works, e.g.: Abbr. 19 Sequel to Puzo’s
“The Last Don” 21 “Mean Girls”
writer Fey 22 Underwater plant with gas-filled bladders
24 Wayward
26 Time out? 27 Playground retort 29 Quirky habit 31 Cliche
33 French noble
35 Comprehend 39 Eurythmics lead
singer Lennox 40 Go from 4x6 to
8x10, say: Abbr. 41 Totaled
42 Busy restaurant’s notification device
43 JFK predecessor 44 Like some
purchases 45 “The __ is calm tonight”: “Dover Beach” opening 47 Mouths off to 49 Amtrak stop:
Abbr.
52 Silky 54 Guidelines: Abbr. 57 Ultimate
59 Creative works 61 Goal
62 Are cast
members of 64 Yukon neighbor 66 Prop for a rock
singer 67 Watering hole in
TV’s “M*A*S*H” 68 Unnerve
69 1984 mermaid
movie
DOWN
1 Hit it off
2 Zellweger of
“Judy” 3 Developing 4 CARE, e.g. 5 Sister of Erato
6 Knight cap
7 Ruling faction
after a coup 8 Baby
9 Contract that may prevent bad PR
10 Crux
11 Ancestor of the romance languages
12 Justice Kagan 14 Audiophile’s setup, and an apt description of the perimeter of this puzzle
15 Button alternative 20 Ate away
23 Feels sorry for 25 Fertile Crescent
river
28 Some combines 30 Origami birds 31 Stout spout 32 Messenger
molecule 3/20/24 Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved 34 Soccer
equipment 36 Youngest daughter of Nicholas II 37 Valvoline rival 38 Dad 46 Unscrupulous 48 Woolgathers? 49 Poetry event 50 Piglike rhino kin 51 Pet re-homing
org. 53 Provide a view 55 Sea walls
56 Huge success 58 Assessment that may end with “Pencils down” 60 Unappealing
food
63 NFL passing
stat 65 Communication syst. with hand motions
NORTH
♠ K J 9 6 KJ872 Q J
♣ 10 9
WEST ♠ 753 64 9854 ♣ K Q 7 3 SOUTH
♠ A Q 10 4 A
K 10 7 6 3 2 ♣ A 4
Opening lead — ♣ K
EAST
♠ 82
Q 10 9 5 3 A
♣ J8652
Dear Abby: I recently started planning my wedding. Half the friends I want as bridesmaids are very conservative. They think sex is sacred and should be talked about only discreetly, not joked about, mentioned on TV, etc. I used to hold similar views, but I no longer do. Neither do the other half of the girls I want as bridesmaids.
My dream bachelorette party is the kind you see in movies, a group of girls going out on the town getting tipsy – maybe being a little stupid – nothing dangerous, with sexy games/favors and casually swapping sex tips and doubleentendres. That may not be possible with my straight-laced friends, whom I really like and would like to include.
I pick up on others’ feelings easily, so I can’t ignore when someone around me is unhappy. I want all my girlfriends to enjoy the party, but two or three of them won’t appreciate the humor of drinking from a phallus-shaped straw. Should I split the guest list and have one prudish party and one sexy one?
Good/bad Girl in the East
Dear Girl: That’s an excellent idea! And we all know which one you are going to enjoy.
Dear Abby: I just found out my husband has been texting with his high school sweetheart for the last three years. He contacted her and shares all day-to-day activities, like our vacations, new dog, etc. She lives 2,500 miles away. She’s divorced, retired like us and has children and grandchildren. I snooped and read his email. I can tell by her responses that she is being polite.
I don’t understand why he contacted her after so many years and why he shares everything with her, as we have a close relationship and share everything. He did mention a year ago that he was in touch with her. I didn’t think much about it then, but now that I know how long this has been going on, I’m wondering why. Should I be concerned about this? Puzzled in Maine
Dear Puzzled: What is happening could be innocent, or it could be crossing a line. You will never know until you discuss this with your husband. You MAY not have to disclose that you read the texts if you say you recalled him mentioning that they were in touch “a while back” and let the conversation evolve from there.
Dear Abby: I recently received an Evite to a surrogate baby shower. I was happy to attend. Each guest was asked to bring a box of diapers, our favorite children’s book and a donation to help cover the surrogate expenses. A written explanation of how expensive the surrogate process is was also included.
In my opinion, when the couple started the surrogacy process, they were aware of how expensive it would be, and to ask the shower attendees to contribute to it is a little nervy. Was this proper etiquette?
Wondering in Nevada
Dear Wondering: No. Soliciting the donation was over the top. I can’t help but wonder how many invitees declined the invitation because of it. To ask for money was tacky.
Contact Abby at www.DearAbby.com.