Ferrari’s System 1 rival / THU 7-31-25 / Predominant element of steatite / “River Lea” singer, 2015 / Wonderful type of particular person to be a replica editor / Residence of the White Cloud Mountains / Thrifty competitor

McLaren Racing Restricted ( mə-KLA-rən) is a British motor racing crew based mostly on the McLaren Expertise Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The crew is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the crew. McLaren is finest often called a System One chassis constructor, the second-oldest lively crew and the second-most profitable System One crew after Ferrari, having received 199 races, 12 Drivers’ Championships, and 9 Constructors’ Championships. McLaren additionally has a historical past in American open wheel racing as each an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has received the Canadian-American Problem Cup (Can-Am) sports activities automotive racing championship. McLaren is one in all solely three constructors, and the one crew, to finish the Triple Crown of Motorsport (wins on the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Monaco Grand Prix). (wikipedia)

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Brief write-up right this moment for actual as a result of it is at the moment 3:54am and I’ve to be Out Of The Home at 5am, which implies … [hmmm … mental calculations … carry the 1 …] I’ve to rush is what it means. This was the simplest rebus I’ve ever executed, probably. I’ve executed loads, so perhaps that is a lie, but it surely would not really feel like a lie. I’ve hardly ever seen a rebus, particularly one so dense that did just about nothing to impeded my ahead progress by the puzzle. Straight away, at 1-Throughout, I used to be like “properly the X-Males are MUTANTS … however that will not match, so I do not know what this puzzle thinks they’re.” Then I did just a few extra solutions in that NW nook and as soon as I bought MUT-S for 1A: The X-Males, e.g., I assumed “alright, it is an ANT rebus then. I ponder if it is simply an ANT rebus. Perhaps there are different bugs hiding within the grid or perhaps ‘ANT’ is the start of some message that the rebus squares are going to spell out, or …” However no. Simply ants. Ten of them. TENANTS—that is your intelligent wordplay for the day. I counted, and there are, the truth is, ten, so the puzzle gave you what it promised … though there may be an “ANT” in TENANTS that did not get counted. Undecided why that wasn’t additionally rebusified. But it surely wasn’t. And that is nice. Fairly boring stuff total. An especially one-note theme, after which nothing a lot within the grid to tell apart it. Solely one of many “ANT” solutions was kinda sorta arduous to get, as a result of the “ANT” broke throughout two phrases (RAN TRACK). In any other case, I did not should go on the lookout for the ANTs a lot as they only confirmed up, making themselves apparent, the way in which they may in the event that they have been spoiling a picnic.

I am not one for Latin plurals however for some motive, perhaps as a result of it is such a elaborate phrase, I at all times suppose LACUNA ought to be pluralized LACUNAE (not LACUNAS) (22A: Empty areas). And I’ve lower than no concept about System 1 as a sport. It might be the one main “sport” under golf on my “care about it” rankings, although cricket might be down there too. However then we merely do not have cricket within the U.S., whereas I am fairly certain System 1 is not less than on TV. Anyway, MCLAREN = all crosses. The identify rings a bell, however solely faintly. Nothing else within the grid gave me a lick of hassle.  Whoops, I forgot “Shred the GNAR!” What an embarrassing phrase. By no means heard of that both. Nonetheless, not precisely powerful to (snow) plow by.

Tons and plenty of correct nouns (HANA Mandlikova, Rita ORA, VERA Farmiga—huge day for girls whose first and final names each finish in “a”), however they have been all properly inside my zone of familiarity. I believe I had my first in-the-wild Rita ORA encounter this week. I began watching Too A lot (Netflix) and the primary character (an American dwelling in London performed by Megan Stalter) has a brand new job producing a vacation industrial of some type that may characteristic Rita ORA. I laughed out loud once they dropped her identify. “There she is!” The present, co-created by Lena Dunham, additionally options Richard E. Grant, Rita Wilson, Rhea Perlman, and Janicza Bravo, and the episode we watched final night time had a featured efficiency by Naomi “Mulholland Drive” Watts. In order for you a rom-comy sit-comy present that can be very sex-forward and, plot-wise, a little bit of a runaway prepare, then you definitely may prefer it. We’re nonetheless on the fence about it, but it surely’s bought some very humorous moments and it is like nothing I’ve ever seen, actually, which (within the age of Algorithmic Mediocrity) is a large plus.