PUZZLES Thursday, November 12, 2020 Basketball by Susan Gelfand 39 40 41 42 45 46 47 50 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Costa del ___ Tennis do-overs Birds in a V Adds some spice to Band bookings Yogi’s pad Elite athlete NBA rookie who plays for Charlotte? ___-ray Disc Volcanic output Alpha’s opposite Twosomes Excellent pair in poker Domain Skin breakout Disavow Peruvian peaks Barely makes do, with “out” DOWN 1 Avis competitor 2 “Pong” company 3 NBA hothead who plays for Chicago? 4 Snaky curve 5 Harmony 6 City districts 7 James who wrote “A Death in the Family” 8 Ship stabilizer 9 Shot with a kick? 10 Sink fixture 11 Skulk 12 Side of a jigsaw puzzle 13 Count calories 21 Blend together 22 Sterile workplaces, briefly 24 Takes one’s turn 27 Children mail them to Santa 28 Has a sandwich 29 NBA “goes by the rules” hoopster who plays for Milwaukee? 30 Line of rotation 31 Musical staff symbol 32 Muralist Orozco 33 Privy to 34 37 38 41 43 44 45 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 58 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 Mars Lifts Friday the 13th Curse “It’s ___ fun” Overabundance Beer barrels Expensively finished “Whatever you want” Moving day vehicle Sparkles < or > All by yourself Tricks Inapt rhyme of “sad” Speed contest Neck and neck Warning sign Enjoy a mystery Actor Daniel ___ Kim Safety Last by Jim Holland Universal Crossword edited by David Steinberg ACROSS 1 Bean type in succotash 5 Walk proudly 10 Derriere 14 Lebanese, perhaps 15 Indoor football format 16 On the subject of 17 Really fun group, it’s said 20 Gas hidden in “Marine One” 21 Aunt, in Acapulco 22 Green ___ (elite soldier) 23 Some brews 25 Pouches 27 Porridge thief in a fairy tale 31 Word between “talk” and “talk” 34 “___ on a Grecian Urn” (Keats poem) 35 Genre for Aretha Franklin 36 Cooks, as artichokes 39 Tourist attraction 41 Hanoi holiday 43 4:3, for instance 44 Most massive 46 Verdi opera set in Egypt 48 Ernie known as “The Big Easy” 49 ISP designed for Windows 50 Uruguay’s capital 53 ___ apparent 55 Alternatives to Wranglers 56 Earlier 59 Boxer Laila 61 Part of “SNL” 64 Protective setups suggested by the final few letters of 17-, 27- and 50-Across 68 Places to be pampered 69 Spanish direction opposite sur 70 Business communication 71 Answering machine beep 72 Peppery salad green 73 Big band and Prohibition DOWN 1 Most popular dog breed in the U.S. 2 Country once called Persia 3 Mule’s mother 4 Visiting Europe, say 5 Nickname that drops “vatore” 6 Brings forth for display 7 New loan arrangement, briefly 8 Reveal 9 Chinese “way” 10 Has an afternoon meal 11 Person who creates a password 12 Eye sore 13 Be the emcee 18 Signs up for the Army 19 “Days of Our Lives” channel 24 “Evil Woman” band, for short 26 Mule’s father 27 “Gee willikers!” 28 Loathing 29 Hosiery brand 30 Freshly washed 32 Had no love for A11 HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY MATHIS Universal Crossword edited by David Steinberg ACROSS 1 Fabled 51-Down loser 5 Up and about 10 Skipped town 14 Greek H’s 15 Pet parrots’ places 16 Quattro automaker 17 Cleaning cloths 18 Inch along 19 Craving 20 Cycle starter? 21 NBA MVP who plays for Houston? 23 Clever comebacks 25 Before, to a bard 26 Word before “standard” or “star” 27 < 32 Agreed (with) 34 Journalist’s slant 35 Kitchen gadget brand 36 Heavy burden 37 Sauce NYT Cooking described as “a mouthful of bright summer” 38 Work with needles East Oregonian 33 Novelist Zola 37 Commits a court offense? 38 Neither amazing nor awful 40 Where to hear clucking 42 Champions 45 Texter’s “I didn’t need to know that!” 47 Actress Aisha or Sandra 51 One on the stump 52 “Am I to blame?” 54 “To ___ is human” 56 Secretive attention-getter 57 Seized auto 58 Confident declaration 60 Harp’s ancient relative 62 Suddenly change direction 63 “Late Night” star Thompson 65 Forbes competitor 66 No alternative? 67 Call for help Waiting for luck seldom works, but lately, it’s also been pretty hard to figure out the recipe for making your own luck. This Mars transit lifts the curse of Friday the 13th by going direct after a 10-week retrograde. Barriers are lifted, thwarted business starts to flow again and frustrated efforts get breakthroughs. Superstition will turn into super-action. ARIES (March 21-April 19). Accept pangs of frustration as feedback that you should adjust your plan or alter your aim. These feelings only need to be experienced for a fraction of a second to have served their practical purpose. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The atmosphere will be a bit stale upon arrival and, as sensitive as you are, it will be clear that someone’s got to crank out the good vibes that will turn this around, and that someone is probably you. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You usually realize what people are protective of before you cross a boundary, but sometimes there are hidden rules you only know about once you come up against them and experience the pushback. CANCER (June 22-July 22). Go ahead and aim high while working low – doing the groundwork that will bring step-by-step, gradual success. A good plan will include simple measures and lots of repetition. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Social interaction can be so involving that it’s hard to know just how you’re feeling in the midst of it. Notice how you feel in the moments after you leave though because that feeling says a lot. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’ll have an exhilarating sense of forwarding movement today, though perhaps not in the area you want to move. That’s OK because progress in any area will eventually bring you forward in others. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). It is impossible to know how another person is seeing the situation; however, with a combination of curiosity and empathy, you will come about as close as it gets to this superpower. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). A past letdown has influenced you to view your present circumstance in a less-than-helpful way. Rethink and rewrite your history. Your opinion of what happened is what matters, and that’s something you can change. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). To put one’s head in an alligator’s open jaws is more foolish than bold, but that’s the price of the gator-stunt. Perhaps it’s also foolish to put one’s heart in the hands of another and hope for mercy, but that’s the price of love. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Jealousy is golden! It tells you what you really want and care about. Still, it’s often better expressed in a journal or some other private way, as it’s not the most attractive quality and can skewer the balance of relationships. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). It takes more than love to make a relationship work. Right now, it’s the simple act of making and keeping agreements that will tell you all you need to know about how the relationship is doing. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ll listen to the same story a few times, but when patterns become too repetitive, it’s both taxing and a sign that the other person isn’t holding up their end of the conversational bargain. TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Nov. 13). This solar journey has you keenly aware of how every experience changes you in some way. Because of this, you put yourself in the line of beauty and sign yourself up for the challenges that might blossom the qualities you desire to embody. You will be surprised and pleased by the results of these endeavors. Cancer and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 40, 44, 28 & 14. Universal SUDOKU SOLUTIONS HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY MATHIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020 New Scorpio Moon As the sign of transformation, Scorpio’s powers surge strongly through the hopes of the new moon, the lunar influence of becoming. In what area would you like to make a new choice? What vision is inspiring enough to make you want to start fresh, launch a different adventure and thus, change who you are? Focus there and believe. ARIES (March 21-April 19). If you had to put today’s problem into a box, then it would be a tiny box. Maybe you can live with this one and learn to see it as a quirk or feature instead of a problem. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Don’t let others frame the situation for you. If you have the feeling of being a piece in a game – played, not player – it’s a sign that you need to look carefully at the power dynamics and find your points of leverage. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). People will be persistent, trying to convince you of what is possible and what is impossible. These are only opinions. What’s your take? That’s the one that matters. CANCER (June 22-July 22). An exercise: Let your mind do funhouse mirror trickery on a situation and some scary, interesting, hilarious and creative ideas come of it. Then leave the funhouse, and the mirrors, and see it in the light of day. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ve been known to think about what would be the most attractive move, and there are other times when you just don’t worry about it and do only what you want. Either way works now, but you have to commit fully to it. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You can’t be vigilant about everything. If you could, you’d be perfect, and perfectly boring, repellant even, because humans tend to like those that are more or less like them, which is to say flawed. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). When you’re in it, telling yourself to do the next correct move, courage naturally flows. It is not until later, when you look back, that you will realize just how brave it is to live admirably in daily life. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Being supportive to yourself might not be your first instinct. Sometimes, it’s hard to think of the right ways to coach. Make the effort to figure it out though because progress depends on consistent self-encouragement. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You are typically so steady that people around you don’t expect you to change your mind, let alone change it three or four times, but such things are acceptable and naturally when you’re finding your way. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You get inspiration from multiple sources – the passing clouds, a picture that triggers a memory, the song on the radio, all channeled into sorting your feelings about someone. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Are you the most qualified person to assess your situation? The jury is still out. An outsider will either help you understand something you didn’t before or validate your own view of it. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). In games of cat and mouse, the mouse needs to disappear sometimes, thereby stopping the chase and creating in the cat an excited sense of anticipation for the next surprise appearance. TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Nov. 14). Often along this solar journey, you’ll find yourself acting for the sheer joy of it, or out of curiosity, or for the thrill of the experience. You will often be without expectation, and therefore relaxed and present to all the possibilities. Romance, friendship, family bonds and relationships of all kinds will be your specialty. Capricorn and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 1, 13, 20 and 6. Universal SUDOKU SOLUTIONS