PUZZLES
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Money Down by Emily Carroll
32 Like chewy
pretzels
33 Be dishonest
34 Some write
limericks
35 See 29-Across
36 They might cause
a brain freeze
38 Titter on Twitter
39 Enemies
40 See 29-Across
41 “___ of the Body
Snatchers”
44 L.A.’s ___ Air
45 Got a new
canine, say?
46 Pieces of
commentary
50 Gondola steerer
51 *Family-friendly
restaurant
offering
52 Subject of “Walk
the Line”
56 Unit of land
57 Get along well
(with)
58 Cookie with a
Golden variety
59 Its shoulders can
support many
tons
60 Relinquishes
61 Hammer sound
62 Holiday ___
DOWN
1 Country west of
Togo
2 Stereotypical
trivia whizzes
3 Printed handout
4 Colorful talkers?
5 Sailors’
salutations
6 Bills, when
signed by the
president
7 Go out, like the
tide
8 Saudi Arabia’s
capital
9 Symbol
10 Southeast Asian
tongue
11 Back in the day
12 “Nevertheless ...”
13 Design detail,
briefly
18 Writer of praiseful
verses
20 Unwanted looks
23 Vaults for
valuables
24 Subject of a
paparazzo’s pic
25 Disney mermaid
26 Actress
Witherspoon
28 Bravo host Andy
29 Illuminated from
beneath
30
31
32
36
37
39
42
43
44
46
47
48
49
51
52
53
54
55
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 Trap of Venus & Neptune
“Said ___ ever!”
Dig deep (into)
Endured
They’re on the
agenda
Fried squid rings,
e.g.
Blazing
Right away
Hits wrong, in
golf
Person who
takes covers
Gone up
Drone’s mission,
briefly
Fashionable
Donna
Winter
conveyance
Songwriter
DioGuardi
Org. closed on
Yom Kippur
Futbol cheer
Holed up
Corn throwaway
Cutoff Tees by Amanda Rafkin & Ross Trudeau
Universal Crossword edited by David Steinberg
When you show up ready to assess the situation and
give an opinion or judgment, you’ll see what’s wrong,
what needs changing, what could be improved. When
you show up in need, you’ll see only the part you
need. Given the trap set by Venus and Neptune, it’s
wise to show up sans agenda, with the soft heart that
allows for seeing what is.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). You deserve every rose
you’re flung and so many more. If no rose comes by
way of florist, metaphor or dirt, seek it out and gift it to
yourself, forgiving the critical oversight of the world.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The omens suggest that
you are still trying to make your needs fit nicely into
the matrix of everyone else’s. Are they also doing that
for you? Would they? Truth inspires adjustments.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You don’t have to say
what you want and expect people to feel it. Improving
relationships has to do with aligning expectations
with what a person can give and wants to give.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). When the flow of ideas
hits, it’s like a river rushing over the cliff of your
consciousness, crashing impressively down while
effervescing up, casting prisms into the sky.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Would you rather be mad
with the rest of the world or wise alone? Well, it’s a
binary choice of the past that no one with internet
connection needs to worry about. Whatever the belief,
there’s a tribe out there waiting for another member.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Wishing is fun. Pretending
is slightly harder though also quite fun. Doing it,
failing, doing it again, failing again... that’s the part
that’s considerably less fun and the only way to get
the skill.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). The message you give is
what someone needs to hear. This perfect meeting of
SOLUTIONS
HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY MATHIS
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020 Leo Moon Calls Cosmic Countdown
ARIES (March 21-April 19). Relationships, just
like any other endeavor, will roll much easier once
momentum kicks in. This never happens from a still
position. Things have to be moving to get moving.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The words “I love you”
translate nicely, though not directly. Anyway, you
know when you’re loved. You could tell them when
it happens and that would be a more accurate and
evidence-based approach.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). It’s as though, sign of
the twins, you are two people, one being perpetually
surprised at what the other wants and equally
impressed by what both are willing to do to get it.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You wanted it to be very
beautiful, and so you saw it as very beautiful. And so
it was. Perhaps there are objective standards to be
met but they are boring compared with the complex
metrics your heart searches to satisfy.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ll mentally scan
through your recent history, which will lead to a
broad array of feelings including (but not limited to)
pride, satisfaction, gratitude, hunger, compassion,
tenderheartedness and ambition.
41 Doesn’t suppress
45 Banish to an
island, say
46 Leave the oven
on, e.g.
47 Regret
48 Solver’s cry
49 ASAP
51 “Count me in!”
55 Select hay
pragmatically?
58 High woodwind
59 Where stage
directors learn
their craft?
62 Word before
“novel” or “store”
63 Support for a
flower bud
64 It may be made
with clasped
hands
65 Hit the brakes
66 Distinct period
67 Barking marine
mammal
DOWN
1 Where to find
petri dishes
2 French opposite
of “non”
3 Place to dip a
quill
4 Lisbeth Salander
creator Larsson
5 One may visit
Earth, in movies
6 Maine courses
7 ___ vera
8 Sign of healing
9 Antihistamine
brand
10 Person supplying
a wedding
11 Most lean
14 Truck, to a Brit
17 Contract to
protect trade
secrets: Abbr.
18 Star member of a
team, for short
21 Hams it up
22 AP exam
company
23 Whopper
28 “The Merry
Widow”
composer
(HALER anagram)
30 Spiritual teacher
32 Replenish, as a
pitcher
33 Hair-raising
34 Insurance giant
35 Word with a
record 430 OED
definitions
37 Longtime name
in publishing
38 Green legume
holders
39 Museum feature
40 Opera’s Puccini
42 Early chance to
buy discounted
goods
43 Belonging to us
44 Born as
46 Lumet film whose
title is Latin for
“horse”
50 Physician,
informally
52 Volcanic flow
53 Pampering initials
54 Pitches in
56 Maintain
possession of
57 Bat mitzvah, e.g.
60 Aegean or
Caribbean
61 “Blueberries
for ___” (kid lit
classic)
words and a receptive mind is made possible by your
willingness to show up, speak out and connect.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). The space between a
person doing his or her best and the person in need
of that service is sacred ground. The skill level or
perfection of the product has little relevance to the
exchange.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). This thing you want
– you’ve conditioned to think that it has to be given
by someone else or it doesn’t count. That’s ridiculous.
Be first to hand it to yourself and watch the line form
behind you.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). To think bigger is
to imagine what it means to other people outside
of the circle, across borders, over time, beyond
your generation. You’ll open yourself to the wider
philosophy, the various applications and implications.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Take your time.
Everyone’s process is different, and letting things
happen unhurried will allow you to learn, savor and
retain more. Soon, new information will surface that
makes the right decision obvious.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Like the elephant,
you don’t forget. If someone thrills you once, you’ll
anticipate the next time. Same goes for the one who
offended you, although such a person rarely gets a
chance at “next time” because you’re long gone.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Dec. 30). You keep pushing
past old patterns, playfully creating a new order of
living and loving. It allows you to vibrantly respond
to the exciting events of 2021, which include a
surprising professional turn, an exhilarating heart
connection and a long-overdue award. Also, you’ll do
something extraordinary with freed-up funds. Leo and
Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 3, 11,
20 and 18.
Universal SUDOKU
The theatrical Leo moon is a welcome emcee for
the New Year’s Eve countdown, especially in a year
when many will forgo the crowd and celebrate safely
with festive media. Leo moon pulls out all the show
business stops so the entertainment will glitter and
pop as they lift warm hopes for an improved world in
the calendar year ahead.
ACROSS
1 Lane of the Daily
Planet
5 ___ carte
8 Squid ink holders
12 Mother’s sister,
maybe
13 Laze
15 Show approval at
the theater
16 Surge in summer
swimsuit sales?
19 Ski resort near
Snowbird
20 Captain’s
declaration
before a team
hits the bar?
22 Stylishly graceful
24 LP speed
25 Exam for some
college srs.
26 Up to, informally
27 “Tarzan” actor
Ron
29 Man-eating
giants
31 What getting a
massage is an
example of
35 Little mouse?
36 Prophet from
Dublin?
38 Stereotypical
prosthetic limb
for a pirate
A13
HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY MATHIS
Universal Crossword edited by David Steinberg
ACROSS
1 Econ. stat hidden
in “signpost”
4 Rare gender for a
calico cat
8 Baton-passing
race
13 Butter type in
moisturizers
14 Captain of the
Pequod
15 Public relations
concern
16 Eggplant ___
(popular Italian
dish, for short)
17 Part of a Western
costume
19 *Bridge
maneuvers (note
each starred
answer’s first
word, plus four
letters below it)
21 Lentil dish in
Mumbai
22 Sources of some
nut butter
23 *Apt cocktail for
a biker bar?
27 “___ Miz”
28 Sweater material
29 With 35- and
40-Across, like
this puzzle’s
shady payments?
East Oregonian
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’re self-driven. You
still have to answer to people, but ultimately, they are
getting the sense that this protocol, while you may
follow it, means little to you. Your assessment is the
only one that matters.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You may be particularly
sensitive to stress triggers, but when you take extra
precautions to make yourself feel comfortable and
safe, you become quite impervious.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). All this talk about
expressing one’s authenticity and yet many don’t
realize that each person contains multitudes. You
embrace your complexity, which affords you flexibility
of expression.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Where you used
to have very few choices, you now have options
aplenty. So many, in fact, that many are paralyzed by
seemingly endless possibilities. Not you. You’ve an
uncanny sense for finding your perfect fit.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Maybe you’re not
consciously willing to let go of your old way of doing
things in the name of trying to form a new bond with
someone, and yet that is exactly what will happen.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’ll make a difference
by bringing awareness to issues that matter. Yours is
a gentle wake-up call, like an alarm clock that chirps
rainforest sounds at progressively higher volumes.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’re serious about
getting what you want – once you know what that is.
Right now, there’s no way to tell. You haven’t tasted
enough of the sample platter yet, but you will in the
days to come.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Dec. 31). Normally, you wouldn’t
consider the pursuit of pleasure a top priority, but this
year shows you reordering your internal organization
and becoming richly fulfilled. The surprise for you
will be in how much your happiness contributes to
the happiness of others. You’ll cash in an unusual
bestowal. Scorpio and Aquarius adore you. Your lucky
numbers are: 40, 25, 1, 17 and 36.
Universal SUDOKU
SOLUTIONS