Light cotton fabric / SAT 8-8-15 / Heraldic border / Garment worn partly under alb / Ingredient in Brompton cocktail

Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: AMICE (29D: Garment worn partly under an alb) —

The amice is a liturgical vestment used mainly in the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, in some Anglican churches, and Armenian and Polish National Catholic churches. It consists of a white cloth connected to two long ribbon-like attachments, by which it is fastened around the shoulders of the priest. Before the liturgical reforms of 1972, its use was mandatory for all Roman Catholic Masses, but it is only required today if the alb does not cover the priest's ordinary clothing. Many priests choose to wear the amice for reasons of tradition or to prevent damage to their other vestments due to perspiration. (wikipedia)

I am in a Madison Avenue Starbucks that my companion Lena called "the saddest Starbucks ever" but I think that's a mild exaggeration. It's almost clean, so there's that. We were out late—or I was out late and she was out later—drinking at a place in the Bowery. Hence the tardiness of this post. I solved part of it this morning and then the rest of it sitting here with Lena and her boyfriend Brayden and my wife. "What was the stupid novel, again?" was a question that was just asked as we were trying to remember this puzzle we just did.  What do we have to say about it? I don't know. They're playing half-crappy music real loud in here. I think this is Usher I'm listening to. Here's what I remember about this puzzle. AMICE / ETAMINE. Brayden sews and he has never heard of ETAMINE. None of the rest of us has either. I had to run the alphabet to get the "M" because "alb" is the extent of my priestly garment vocabulary, and that word was in the clue for AMICE. Also, I figured (prayed) that no one would go for so obscure a clue for ALICE. So when I ran the alphabet and hit "M" it felt right. It rang some bell located in some horrible crosswordese experience in times of yore. And it was right. Hurray.

Lena thought NOHO was BORO. Then hypothesized that BO RO might stand for something. Boston Rosewater. Lena says it sounds like a sex act. Or when you use Guinness as perfume. "Splash a little rosewater on your neck." Me: "Why would you put Guinness on your neck?" Brayden: "Have you *been* to Boston?" Lena: "Shhh. Boston can hear you?" Now she's calling John Mellencamp "John Menstrual Cramp." Also Lena is an ex-bartender and is distressed never to have had a Brompton cocktail, even after finding out what's in it (it's not something you'd consume for pleasure ... probably). Last night we had Pimm's Cup and a whiskey smash and a 50/50 w/ "good" vermouth and pink gin and other stuff. And sherry. Lena will go *off* on the history of sherry and the sherry-making process. Brayden thought [Spread on a table] was OLEO and Lena is mocking his failure but I told him it was a reasonable guess. I did a "spread"-themed puzzle recently, so after I guessed OLEO and it was clearly wrong, PATÉ slid right in.


The stacks are OK. The fill isn't very good. NONU is paradigmatically bad. Easy for me, because it's so bad I remembered it. ORLE and ISTH, also pretty yuck. But pure "yuck" was actually not very abundant. Mostly this is adequate and forgettable. My favorite moment was imagining that [Woods in a pit] was TIGER. It's OBOES. I think I got sand trap confused with sand ... pit. I guess. We've got Brayden deep into belovedlinens.net trying to figure out what the hell is up with ETAMINE. Wearable KETAMINE? Brayden says 'no.' Lena has gone to find a restroom and Brayden is talking about his job with my wife. I don't have much more to say, so I'll wrap. I have a tournament to attend in like 90 minutes about 30 blocks from here. Oooh, the O'Jays is on now. "She Used to Be My Girl." Thanks for taking me out on a high note, Madison Avenue Starbucks!


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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