ably

Graduation Garb

For example, the answer to 17A’s “‘Sleep well!’” is NIGHT NIGHT. If you put CAP after the first NIGHT, you get NIGHT CAP. If you put GOWN after the second NIGHT, you get NIGHTGOWN.

The speed bumps I encountered were at 28A’s WHITE WEDDING, where I had to look up WHITE CAP (it’s a small wave crest breaking into foam, according to Merriam-Webster), and MUSHROOM BALL. I also was not familiar with MUSHROOM BALLs, even though I eat a lot of meatless meals. They sound delicious, though. I’ll have to give them a try.

Leslie Rogers: It’s a dream come true to make my debut as a New York Times crossword constructor! My mom introduced me to crosswords when I was young, and my obsession has grown in the last couple of years as I’ve discovered the New York Times Crossword app, tournaments and blogs.

I’m a software engineer from Silicon Valley, and in addition to crossword puzzles, my hobbies include backpacking, scavenger hunts, trivia nights, board games and cross-country skiing with my team, Aloha Nordic.

I originally met Andrea online, when she posted a message that she was open to mentoring and I took her up on her offer. Coincidentally, it turned out that we live right near each other, which made collaboration easier. I sent her several theme ideas and she picked CAP AND GOWN as having the most potential. We brainstormed dozens of caps and gowns, and I wrote a short script to print out all the combinations and filter them by entry length to help us choose. NIGHT NIGHT came quickly, WHITE WEDDING was next after Andrea convinced me that Billy Idol is crossworthy, and after another round of brainstorming, we finally came up with MUSHROOM BALL to round out the set.

I hope you enjoy the solve!

Andrea Carla Michaels: It’s been exciting to see a new awareness and push for new women to join the ranks of New York Times constructors!

Thanks to Laura Braunstein and Erik Agard for connecting me with Leslie. Many emails were exchanged before we realized we were both here in San Francisco. As a result, we were able to become offline collaborators, and she even popped by my birthday and was strong-armed into a night of “The Bachelor.”

Leslie has many many wonderful ideas and we started with this one, as it inspired both of us.

Because of our more than 30-year age gap and varying life experiences, she was able to learn about Glen Campbell and Billy Idol, and I was able to finally learn what a DATA SET was.

Leslie is a true Renaissance woman, as brainy as she is physical and beautiful. We will be seeing much more of this gal!

Honored to be part of her debut.

Almost finished solving but need a bit more help? We’ve got you covered.

Catholic poll body to monitor Philippine election

The Philippines' election body has given the green light for the Church’s poll watchdog to monitor midterm elections scheduled to take place in May. The Commission on Elections took into account the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting’s (PPCRV’s) track record in monitoring past elections and in election-related activities. "Considering that the commission is laboring under very tight timelines, it would accordingly need the help of all advocates of orderly and honest elections to assist," the poll body said in a statement. It said that the PPCRV has "ably demonstrated its capacity to promote the public interest" and assist the Commission on Elections in the performance of its functions and activities. "[The PPCRV] has played a vigilant role in overseeing matters relating or in any way affecting the right and exercise the right of suffrage," it added. The PPCRV will be tasked with helping cleanse the voters' list of illegal registrants, report to the commission violations on the conduct of the political campaign, election propaganda and electoral expenditures and encourage all registered voters to vote. The church group has played a major role in past elections by mobilizing volunteers to man polling stations and in campaigning for voter education. Formed in October 1991, the PPCRV is a parish-based association duly organized by and composed of Catholics from various sectors of society. Filipinos are expected to troop to polling stations on May 13 to elect 12 senators, members of the House of Representatives, and local officials, including mayors and governors.

Ably-Bidamon wants to ramp up state's control of mines

You will receive email notifications every time an article on your topic of interest is published on our websites. This service is completely free of charge.

Three ways to create your email notifications:

Key word in an article: select the key words in an article and click on «Create notification»

Search results: on the search results page, click on «Create notifications for this search»

Personal input: specify their title, the key words, the country and the publication of your email notification.

Do not hesitate to create your own notifications according to your interests : better criteria narrows down the results.

You can modify or delete your notifications or summaries in your account.