Monday, July 24, 2023, John Ewbank

Happy Monday, Dear Readers. Today we are all dealing with SCARLET LETTERS. No, not because of adulterous affairs, but because all four theme answers are composed entirely of THE letters in "SCARLET." 

CATTLECARS
SALTCELLAR
STEERCLEAR
ARTCLASSES

A tidy little set. I suppose now I have to check to see that no other entries can be formed using letters from SCARLET ... well, REESE is, but it doesn't use all of them. LES, AER, CASAS ... but like I said, not all of them. Let's just assume no other words in the puzzle do. OK?

So, we went to BOSWORDS yesterday and had a good time. The tournament was held in a skating rink with astroturf instead of ice, which was great because it was quiet when people got up and left, there was a big scoreboard clock with the time remaining (we all wished they had let the "end of period" buzzer ring when the time was up), and the area where people gathered to talk was very far away, so there was never any distraction from that. But the reason I mention all this is to say that in one puzzle, the musical note SOL was rendered as just "so," a fact that did not go undiscussed. To see SOL in the grid today seemed almost like commentary. And fwiw, IMALLIN also appeared as an answer in one of the puzzles yesterday. Strange.

But what about the rest of today's puzzle? Is GOODLOSER a response to IMALLIN? Especially if you've tried your DARNEDEST? 

Anybody know what day UNDAY is? It's October 24th. I looked it up for you. You're welcome. 1945, by the way. But that was definitely guessable. 

OK, there are dogs barking everywhere, I'm SAD, and I GOTTA go. I hope you enjoyed this. I'll see you tomorrow.

- Horace