The Washington Post - 05.11.2019

C8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 , 2019

ACROSS

1 Works on a quilt

5 Team that won

the Women’s

World Cup in

2019

8 Winter skating

sites

13 Yawn-inducing

15 Melancholy

16 Love to pieces

17 Burr, to Hamilton

18 Black-and-yellow

pollinator

20 Fodder for

fantasy football

22 Cause for a

handshake

23 Waited to be

found, maybe

24 Tense tennis

moment

26 Classroom staffer

27 Word after

drinking or

driving

28 Maple extract

29 Many an eBay

user

31 Curtain holders

33 Jack of “Dragnet”

36 Honeycomb units

37 Volatile situation

40 Lion in “The

Chronicles of

Narnia”

43 Marquee name

44 24-hr. banking

conveniences

48 Sits on the

throne

50 Picture file suffix

52 Fish-to-be

53 Batting practice

area

54 Body part that

provides limited

motion

58 Fire pit residue

59 “Soldier of Love”

Grammy winner

60 Much paperwork

61 Mobile download

for single people,

and what the

starts of 18-,

24-, 37- and

54-Across have

in common

64 Takes a breather

66 Kagan on the

bench

67 “Take that!”

68 Chuckleheads

69 Guitarist’s aid

70 Moth-eaten

71 “Pretty Little

Liars” series

novelist Shepard

DOWN

1 Pronoun for a

mom

2 Way, way back

when

3 Sparked, as one’s

appetite

4 “Poison” shrub

5 Flash drive port

6 Riyadh resident

7 Jingle-writing

guys

8 Veil of gloom

9 Poem from an

admirer

10 Ritzy San

Francisco

neighborhood

11 Hanukkah toy

12 Farm machines

14 Traditional

stories

19 Dugout rack

items

21 Produce

offspring

24 Spoil

25 Opinion pages

26 Echo Dot

assistant

30 Prefix with

friendly

32 Place for

a play

34 Wager

35 North Carolina

fort

38 Place for a stay

39 Court filing

40 Hangouts for

video game

players

41 Chef’s condiment

42 Not as heavy

45 Dietary supple-

ment once

pitched by Anna

Nicole Smith

46 Centaur or

chimera

47 __ foot in: enter

49 Fluffy rug

51 Norwegian inlet

55 Twin Falls’ state

56 Mount Everest

is on its border

with China

57 Layered cookies

59 Piece of cake

62 Once __ while

63 Deg. of

distinction

65 Retirees’ benefits

org.

LA TIMES CROSSWORD By C.C. Burnikel

MONDAY’S LA TIMES SOLUTION

© 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 11/5/19

DOLLS

Pencil Nose

Fat Brain, $24.95.

Ages 8 and older.

Your nose may run, but can it

draw? In this team game, one

player wears dorky glasses with

an erasable marker attached

and tries to draw objects that

her teammates can guess. Can

your snout draw a trout? Find

out with this fun family enter-

tainment.

CHIP SAYS

On this day in 1974, residents of the District of Columbia

elected for the first time a citywide mayor, Walter E.

Washington, and a D.C. Council.

kidspost

KIDSPOST.COM

Do you like to draw? If so,

draw us a fall scene for

our weather forecast.

TODAY

High temperatures could reach the

low- or mid-60s on this mild fall day.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELLIE HOLLYWOOD, 8, ALEXANDRIA

American Girl Blaire

American Girl, $115.

Ages 8 and older.

This green-eyed, red-haired

beauty is the latest in American

Girl’s superstar lineup. Blaire is

a country girl who enjoys help-

ing out at her family’s farm and

restaurant. She has a lot of great

ideas, a bothersome allergy and,

like many preteens, a BFF she

doesn’t always get along with.

GAMES

IMAGES PROVIDED BY MANUFACTURERS

ARTS & CRAFTS BUILD & PLAY

ROBOTICS

Q-Ba-Maze 2.0

Colossal Stunt Set

MindWare, $199.95. Batteries

included. Ages 6 and older.

If bigger is better, this year’s Q-

Ba-Maze marble run is the best

yet, with 270 pieces. Attach the

cubes, rails and tubes in various

combinations to see where and

how fast the marbles will race.

Younger kids will need adult

help to build. Also, the set has

40 steel marbles, so keep it away

from any wee ones.

BY MARYLOU TOUSIGNANT

Dolls, games, crafts

among top new toys

W

hen KidsPost
asked toy expert
Stephanie Oppen-
heim what the
trends are for
2019, some of her answers didn’t
surprise us. Coding kits and toys
tied to children’s movies seemed
obvious. But a few of her answers
were unexpected. Unicorns, for
example, are found in several toy
categories this year, including
dolls and arts and crafts.
Perhaps the biggest surprise,
though, was that puzzles and
games are having one of their
strongest showings ever.
“Parents and kids are both
looking for ways to connect in
ways that do not involve
screens,” said Oppenheim, whose
independent group reviews
thousands of toys each year.

“There’s something very com-

forting about working on a puz-

zle — looking for strategies and

completing a task together. Hav-

ing some go-to games for your

family is also a great way of

creating memories.”

From her own youth, Oppen-

heim remembers battling with

family and friends over Monopoly

and Risk boards. “Learning how

to play a game — being a good

winner and loser — all of those

important lessons come from

playing with your family,” she said.

So make sure to check out the

fun games and puzzles among

her gold-medal winners for 2019.

You can read more about them

and more toys at kidspost.com

and Oppenheim’s toyportfo

lio.com. (Prices listed are those

suggested by the manufacturer.)

Harry Potter dolls

Mattel, $19.99.

Ages 6 to 10.

You will need a sorting hat to de-

cide which of these cuties you

want first. Most of the Hogwarts

A-team is available: Harry, Her-

mione, Ron, Draco (boo!), Albus

Dumbledore and Minerva McGo-

nagall... with wands, robes, hats

and Quidditch-ready broom-

sticks. Each doll has 11 movable

“joints” for action-packed fun.

Invasion of the Cow Snatchers

ThinkFun, $29.99.

Ages 6 and older.

Be honest: Who hasn’t wanted

to pilot their own UFO and fly

around snatching cows from

fields? This magnetic game de-

velops logic and problem-solv-

ing skills with 40 challenge

cards (rated easy to super hard)

and 20 genius-level cards. So get

ready to “Beam ’em up, Scotty.”

Spin and Spiral Art Station

Crayola, $19.99.

Ages 6 and older.

Fans of spin art and spiral art

will love that they’re combined

in this new Crayola product.

The kit has three spin gears, six

markers, three bottles of ink

and 15 paper discs (when they

run out, use paper plates). Do

each activity separately or com-

bine them for double the fun.

Artie 3000

Educational Insights, $69.99.

Four AA batteries required (not

included). Ages 7 and older.

Artie draws what you tell him

to, using forward, back and

sideways commands given from

a smartphone, tablet or comput-

er. There are pre-coded designs

for early learners, while older

users will be doing their own

coding in no time. Artie has a

built-in WiFi server, so no Inter-

net connection is needed.

PLAYMOBIL

Two astronaut

figures call this

Mars Space

Station home.

Mars Space Station and Mars

Research Vehicle

Playmobil, $79.99 (station),

$44.99 (vehicle). Batteries

included. Ages 6 and older.

Two astronauts and a robot call

the station — far left, with its

command center, sleeping area

and fitness room — home. To ex-

plore Mars, they hop into their

research rover, above. Both sta-

tion and rover have lights and

sound. Warning: An adult build-

er will need considerable time

to assemble the station before

it’s ready for kid occupancy.

[email protected]

Adapted from an

online discussion.

Dear Carolyn:

I’m scheduled to

be a bridesmaid

in my friend

“Claire’s”

wedding.

However, Claire

and her fiance are having

relationship issues, and there is

talk the wedding might be off. I

heard this through the

grapevine — friends who are

closer to Claire than I am. I’m

starting to stack up expenses for

the wedding and I need to put

in for vacation and so forth, so

is it okay to ask Claire directly,

even if it might be painful and if

she clearly doesn’t want to talk

to me about it?

— Bridesmaid Limbo

Bridesmaid Limbo: This seems

reasonable on its face, but then

we get to the details: What ex-

actly are you going to say to

Claire? “If you’re calling this

thing off, would you please let

me know ASAP so I can cut my

financial losses?”

Claire has to decide about the

rest of her life right now. She’s

busy. And, I imagine, miserable.

And, the implications on ev-

eryone else are very real and no

doubt weighing on her terribly,

but they’re also the last thing

that should have any influence

on her thinking. Do you know

how many rocky couples go on

to get married just because it’s

too awful to think about telling

the wedding party and all those

guests they can kiss their nonre-

fundables goodbye? I don’t, ei-

ther, but I know it’s more than

one and that one is already too

many.

You won’t know anything use-

ful until she knows for sure, and

she won’t know for sure until...

she knows for sure.

It’s a tough break for you, for

all of you who have rallied to

support her. But there’s nothing

you can do now except see how

it plays out, and maybe make

sure any arrangements you

make from now on are change-

able/refundable to the extent

possible.

Re: Bridesmaid: Why not go all-

in? You can sell the dress and

shoes online. Take the vacation

time and go somewhere fun! (Or

find a way to enjoy whatever the

destination was if they were

going off somewhere exotic.)

I don’t remember what other

expenses I racked up as a

bridesmaid — it’s been a loong

time — but I don’t recall more

than just those items.

I don’t mean you should

dance on the ashes of a dead

wedding, but it’s not shameful

to take advantage of the time

you’ve already set aside for it to

do something for yourself.

— Anonymous

Anonymous: The expenses rival

only sea levels in the terrifying

rate at which they have risen in

the past few decades, but, your

point is still valid. And good,

thank you.

I’ve also heard arguments for

dropping all-out — as in, telling

the bride she can’t be a brides-

maid after all. While she’s enti-

tled to do that, and should do

that in the event of financial

hardship, I also think that’s

more... mercenary than I’m

comfortable advising. A brides-

maid is supposed to represent a

support network, not an if-this-

gets-awkward-I’m-out network.

Which is why, of course, sad-

dling bridesmaids with huge ex-

penses is also a dubious choice.

Write to Carolyn Hax at

[email protected]. Get her

column delivered to your inbox each

morning at wapo.st/haxpost.

 Join the discussion live at noon

Fridays at live.washingtonpost.com

The question a bridesmaid can’t pop

Carolyn

Hax

NICK GALIFIANAKIS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST