Los Angeles Times - 02.08.2019

E1 2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

ACROSS

1 Center of the Milky

Way?

8 Calder creation

15 First state, in a way

16 Journey’s end

17 Cricket

19 Once, in olden days

20 2000 Bell Atlantic

acquisition

21 Slashed pronoun

22 Suspect

25 Cricket

33 Seed-to-be

34 LAX calculation

35 Energy source

36 They might help you

change your position

39 Prepare for coating, as

aluminum

41 Within: Pref.

42 Land of Freud: Abbr.

44 Scrooge

45 Cricket

49 Beat by a hair

50 Wheat species that’s

also a British past tense

54 Article in Bonn

55 Fraternity activity

59 [Crickets]

63 Like answers that lower

test scores

64 Pre-owned item

65 Top-rated TV show of

1984-’85

66 WWII vessels

DOWN

1 Source of tweets ... or

growls

2 Defunct fruit coating

3 Barrels into

4 Help the bad guys

5 Big mouth

6 Political refugee

7 Barista’s output

8 Understood

9 Start to cycle?

10 Many a Middle-earth

combatant

11 Eco-friendly carrier

12 Composer Charles

13 Plastering strip

14 Other than this

18 1946 Literature Nobelist

22 __ bargain

23 Sports gp. that

originally had “Lawn” in

its name

24 Nasty

25 Knocked the socks off

26 Grand Prince of

Moscow, 1328-’40

27 Litters’ littlest

28 John of music

29 “Barbarella” director

Roger

30 Formal identification

31 Deceive

32 Board at one’s

fingertips

37 How “The Banana Boat

Song” begins

38 Fills in

40 Drop

43 Soft leather

46 Takes the stage

47 Becomes harder to

afford

48 Legal scholar

50 Came out with

51 Inconsequential

52 Early banishment site

53 Pre-Euro currency

55 Start from scratch

56 Donald, to Huey, Dewey

and Louie

57 “Get lost!”

58 “... nor shall ever see

that face of __ again”:

Lear

60 Excluding

61 Shout

62 Syr. neighbor

ANSWER TO

PREVIOUS PUZZLE

8/2/19

8/2/19

SUDOKU

BLISS By Harry Bliss

KENKEN

Every box will contain a number; numbers depend on the size of the grid. For a 6x6

puzzle, use Nos. 1-6. Do not repeat a number in any row or column. The numbers in each

heavily outlined set of squares must combine to produce the target number found in the

top left corner of the cage using the mathematical operation indicated. A number can be

repeated within a cage as long as it is not in the same row or column.

FAMILY CIRCUS By Bil Keane DENNIS THE MENACE By Hank Ketcham

ARGYLE SWEATER By Scott Hilburn MARMADUKE By Brad & Paul Anderson

CROSSWORD

By Jeffrey Wechsler © 2019 Tribune Content Agency

Edited By Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

SPEED BUMP By Dave Coverly

COMICS

Aries(March 21-April 19):
Following your curiosity will
get you close to understand-
ing a person’s feelings, pas-
sions and drives.
Taurus (April 20-May
20): Doubts set in. Does
what you’re doing matter? Is
it adding up the way you
wanted it to? Avoid. March
right past it.
Gemini(May 21-June 21):
Taking on certain responsi-
bilities has become a com-
pulsion for you. You can’t not
volunteer. This job was
meant for you.
Cancer(June 22-July 22):
It feels nice to be under-
stood, but being misunder-
stoodis better for you. It
makes you work harder.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22):
Cultivating your aura and
then turning that vision out-
ward is not going to work in
your busy life. Calmly
breathe through life’s incon-
veniences.

Virgo(Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

You have something differ-

ent to give, and though they

might not realize it right

away, your contribution is as

vital as anyone’s.

Libra(Sept. 23-Oct. 23):

With your incredibly opulent

powers of imagination surg-

ing today, you can apply

yourself in any number of di-

rections.

Scorpio(Oct. 24-Nov. 21):

There will be many people

and personalities to contend

with, each with their own

agenda. Settle on an itiner-

ary you can all agree to.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-

Dec. 21): It will be fun to

spend time with the light-

hearted friends who know

how to keep the party sailing

along in any sort of weather.

Capricorn(Dec. 22-Jan.

19): Following through on an

impulse takes courage. Not

following through takes self-

control. Knowing which

choice to make in this regard

takes wisdom.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.

18): Expecting some manner

of reward from things is just

smart. And knowing the na-

ture of that rewardis even

smarter.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March

20): People will be drawn in

by your complexity, and your

mysterious ways will attract

fans.

Today’s birthday(Aug.

2): The bump in status that

is your cosmic birthday gift

is rather exciting, may make

you smile and certainly will

make you sweat, as keeping

this elevation takes work.

Just remember that status is

not the only way to power,

which is something you al-

ready possess. A special re-

lationship will bring light-

ness to your realm. Aries and

Taurus adore you. Your

lucky numbers are: 4, 31, 20,

45 and 18.

Holiday Mathis writes her

column for Creators

Syndicate Inc. The

horoscope should be read

for entertainment.

HOROSCOPE

By Holiday Mathis

Fuzzy thinking on de-

fense is a disorder from

which many players suffer. A

good defender distinguishes

the times when he needs fast

tricks from those when he

can relax and wait.

Today’s South slightly

misjudged the auction. East

would go down one at four

hearts, so South’s five dia-

monds was wrong — but

only in theory. In practice,

East took the queen of

hearts and tried to cash the

ace.

South ruffed, lost a

trump to the ace, ruffed the

next heart, drew trumps and

ran the clubs to pitch

spades. Making five.

West’s leap to four hearts

was preemptive, so East

couldn’t expect to cash a sec-

ond heart.

To prevail, he needs a

spade trick quickly, before

South draws trumps and

uses the clubs. (East can

visualize 11 winners for

South: six diamonds, four

clubs, one spade.)

At Trick Two East must

lead a spade. When West’s

king forces out dummy’s ace,

East cashes the queen when

he takes the ace of trumps.

Question: You hold: ♠6 5

3 ♥ 7 ♦K Q 10 8 6 4 2 ♣10 6. You

deal and open three dia-

monds. The next player bids

three hearts, and your part-

ner doubles. The player at

your right passes. What do

you say?

Answer: This is no prob-

lem. You should pass with-

out a second look at your

hand. Your preempt de-

scribed your hand, more or

less, and your partner is in

charge. You promised no de-

fense, but he thinks he can

beat three hearts and may

have it beaten several tricks.

Trust him.

North dealer

N-S vulnerable

NORTH

♠A J 10

♥J 9 4

♦J 7 5

♣A K Q J

WEST EAST

♠K 9 8 4 ♠Q 7 2

♥10 8 5 2 ♥A K Q 6 3

♦None ♦A 9 3

♣8 7 4 3 2 ♣9 5

SOUTH

♠6 5 3

♥ 7

♦K Q 10 8 6 4 2

♣10 6

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1 NT 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 4 ♥

Pass Pass 5 ♦ All Pass

Opening lead — ♥ 2

Tribune Media Services

BRIDGE

By Frank Stewart

Dear Amy: My husband

and I recently bought a

house.

Our next-door neighbor

had been close friends with

the man who had owned our

house for 30 years. This

neighbor was used to tres-

passing on our property.

We do not want this.

During renovations,

whenever we had workers at

our house, he would come

over and tell them how he

wanted the work done.

We stopped this by telling

the workers not to pay atten-

tion to him and giving the

workers directions about

how we wanted the work

done. We instructed them to

ask him to leave the proper-

ty. He did not like this.

This morning I saw him

trespass onto our property

and spray industrial-

strength weed killer onto

our grass (which does not

have weeds). We have rela-

tives, friends and pets who

because of health issues can-

not be near weed killer.

I told him to get off my

property. He said I was rude.

I am ready to go to the police

the next time he trespasses.

This person is an intru-

sive bully and a sneak.

How do you handle some-

one who does not get the

message to stay off our prop-

erty?

Upset Homeowners

Dear Upset:Your neighbor

might be experiencing cog-

nitive changes, brain illness,

or decline. The weed killer

episode is one clue that all

might not be well with him,

mainly because it seems ir-

rational. Either that, or he is

—as you claim — an intru-

sive bully (or possibly both).

Afence clearly delineat-

ing your property line would

be a good investment. You

should also consider in-

stalling anoutdoor security

camera.

Remember that he has 30

years of behavior to undo. If

he continues to trespass,

you may have to follow

through and get the police

involved.

Dear Amy:I have a “port

wine stain” birthmark,

about the size of your fist, on

the back of my thigh. Since

it’s covered by clothing 90%

of the time(and since I’m 68

and well past obsessing over

having a pageant-ready

swimsuit bod,) it’s rarely a

problem.

However, I’m about to go

on a beach vacation, where I

expect to put on a swimsuit.

How can I respond to the

eeeewww-level comments

from people seeing my birth-

mark for the first time?

Example:

Friend: “[Gasp!] What

happened to your leg?”

Me: “Oh, it’s just a birth-

mark.”

Friend: “Are you SURE?”

I’m hoping you can sup-

ply me with some responses

that will not seem rude or

overly sensitive, but will re-

inforce the wisdom of re-

fraining from any comment

on a person’s body. (Except,

“You look great!”)

Not Stained

Dear Not Stained: You

have been dealing with this

your whole life, and you are

in a better position than I to

cope with these comments,

rebuff them, or respond to

them.

I agree that any comment

about your birthmark, cer-

tainly along the “eeee-

wwww” spectrum, is not wel-

come, but this mark is on the

back of your thigh. Some

people — fearing that it

might be a recent bruise, in-

jury, or sign of illness —

might assume that you can-

not/have never seen it.

I agree that you should

respond: “Oh, it’s a birth-

mark. Don’t worry about it.”

If someone presses you

on this and you want to mess

with them, you can respond,

“Oh, did I say it’s a birth-

mark? I mean it’s a tattoo.”

Send questions to Amy

Dickinson by email to ask

[email protected].

ASK AMY

Our trespassing neighbor