Let's relax into an easy game of Obfuscation.
Your goal is to recognize the common word described by all the clues.
Although it has seven letters -- a lot for us -- this noun is a real gimme. One of those letters appears three times in the word's usual spelling. And there's a variant spelling in which that letter occurs four times.
So at the most, you only have to come up with five letters.
? ... ? ... ? ... ? ... ? ... ? ... ?
The word means ...
◼️ The sloppier, perk-seeking partner in a pair of promotion-hungry, bickering San Francisco detectives who have been trying to ruin a racketeer but who, during Super Bowl weekend, instead try to protect him from assassins.
◼️ A type of thing of which a handsel is a subset.
◼️ A comp.
Our Aug. 29 word was "labor." I'll hand out today's answer Sept. 12, but feel free to email. I'll answer ... right after Labor Day.
Email:
cstorey@adgnewsroom.com