Theme: None
Total words: 72
Total blocks: 34
Barry anchors his puzzle with a grid spanner flanked by two 11s:
23A. Recipient of a record 16 acting Oscar nominations : MERYL STREEP. So talented.
39A. Playing surface with 24 points : BACKGAMMON BOARD. Could be Barry's seed entry.
47A. It's given for a second : SILVER MEDAL. Great clue/answer.
Triple stacks of 9s in the upper left/lower right & two pairs of paralleled Down 9s complete the grid skeleton.
A formidable challenge to me. Had problems everywhere I went.
Across:
1. "Finding a pencil," to Broadway's Charlie Brown : HAPPINES. Happiness is finding a pencil.
10. Proper : LEGIT
15. Like climbing the walls? : IDIOMATIC. Tricky clue.
16. Common compound : OXIDE. Like rust.
17. Scoundrel : REPROBATE. We normally get RAKE or ROUE as an answer.
18. Noble gas : XENON
19. Fashion model Wek : ALEK. Model from Sudan. Very pretty.
20. What 'n' may mean : AND
22. "Parker Spitzer" airer : CNN. Hosted by Kathleen Parker & Eliot Spitzer. Au courant clue. Good one.
28. Roy Orbison's "__ Over" : IT'S
30. Robert who played Sam Fujiyama on "Quincy, M.E." : ITO. Not familiar with this actor. Is he related to Judge Ito?
31. Pindus Mountains site : GREECE. And two cross-referenced answers: 7D. Letter from 31-Across : ETA & 25D. Meeting place in 31-Across : STOA
33. Koala bear, e.g. : MISNOMER. Not really bear. Hope Kazie nailed the answer.
38. Big name in financial advice : ORMAN (Suze)
41. Flower also called a marguerite : OXEYE. The "also called" part is unknown to me. Lovely daisy.
42. Warning words : YOU'LL SEE. Didn't come to me quickly.
43. Domain : SPHERE
45. "How about that!" : GEE
46. Gp. with the 1979 top-10 album "Discovery" : ELO. So many ways to clue ELO.
54. Carrier units, briefly : ACs. Sure was not thinking of the Carrier Air Conditioners.
56. Formerly : NEE
57. She played Linda in "Arthur" : LIZA (Minnelli). Stumped me.
58. It's a joint : ANKLE. Devious clue.
60. Peru was its leading exporter in 2009 : ASPARAGUS. Who knows?
64. __ the hole : ACE IN
65. Donut, possibly : SPARE TIRE. Funny clue.
66. British satellite entertainment option : SKY TV. No idea.
67. Fare computer : TAXI METER. Oh, taxi fare.
Down:
1. Whiskey's Walker : HIRAM. Learning moment. Hiram Walker.
2. Predecessor of Ginger : ADELE. Adele Astaire? I don't get this clue.
3. Proverbial payee : PIPER. Pay the piper.
4. Daffy contemporary : PORKY. Looney Tunes.
5. E-mail qualifier : IMO
6. Pick up : NAB. Definitely not in the "Pick up" = "Arrest" direction.
8. Lute cousin : SITAR
9. Vista : SCENE
10. Deli delicacy : LOX. Delicious!
11. Suit : EXEC. "Suit" here is slang for "business executive". The clue needs an abbreviation hint.
12. HUD corp. since 1968 : GINNIE MAE. Younger than Fannie Mae.
13. "Whatever" : I DON'T CARE. Great answer.
14. Number of hydrogen atoms in butane : TEN. Well, Al/Jazzbumpa/Husker Gary/Bob might know.
21. What a tiny circle may signify: Abbr. : DEG. Like the tiny circle in 37°.
24. Hangs around : LINGERS
26. 1969 rock opera : TOMMY. Not in my knowledge zone.
27. Snag : PROBLEM
29. Texter's command : SEND
32. Desire personified : EROS. We also have 61. Goddess of peace : PAX.
33. Quantum theory pioneer : MAX PLANCK. Drew a blank also. Nobel prize 1918. German.
34. Early rules for it were developed at McGill University in the 1870s : ICE HOCKEY. New trivia to me.
35. Island near Eigg : SKYE. See this map. Largest of the Inner Hebrides.
36. Rock genre : EMO. Offshoot of Punk Rock.
37. Makeup option : ROUGE
39. Big name in audio : BOSE. Expensive stuff.
40. Phil, say : NLER. National Leaguer. Did you think of Phillies when reading the clue "Phil"? I sure did not.
44. A, overseas : EIN
48. In any case, with "at" : LEAST
49. Piaggio transportation line : VESPA. The scooter maker.
50. Delight : ELATE
51. One, for one : DIGIT. One is a digit. "for one" = "for example".
52. Color similar to Brandeis blue : AZURE. Guessed.
53. Surgery tool : LASER
55. Cut : SLIT
58. Digital camera inserts : AAs
59. Letter carrier: Abbr. : ENV. Not postman.
62. Hebrew name meaning "lion" : ARI. Good to know.
63. Stage occurring several times a night, briefly : REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total words: 72
Total blocks: 34
Barry anchors his puzzle with a grid spanner flanked by two 11s:
23A. Recipient of a record 16 acting Oscar nominations : MERYL STREEP. So talented.
39A. Playing surface with 24 points : BACKGAMMON BOARD. Could be Barry's seed entry.
47A. It's given for a second : SILVER MEDAL. Great clue/answer.
Triple stacks of 9s in the upper left/lower right & two pairs of paralleled Down 9s complete the grid skeleton.
A formidable challenge to me. Had problems everywhere I went.
Across:
1. "Finding a pencil," to Broadway's Charlie Brown : HAPPINES. Happiness is finding a pencil.
10. Proper : LEGIT
15. Like climbing the walls? : IDIOMATIC. Tricky clue.
16. Common compound : OXIDE. Like rust.
17. Scoundrel : REPROBATE. We normally get RAKE or ROUE as an answer.
18. Noble gas : XENON
19. Fashion model Wek : ALEK. Model from Sudan. Very pretty.
20. What 'n' may mean : AND
22. "Parker Spitzer" airer : CNN. Hosted by Kathleen Parker & Eliot Spitzer. Au courant clue. Good one.
28. Roy Orbison's "__ Over" : IT'S
30. Robert who played Sam Fujiyama on "Quincy, M.E." : ITO. Not familiar with this actor. Is he related to Judge Ito?
31. Pindus Mountains site : GREECE. And two cross-referenced answers: 7D. Letter from 31-Across : ETA & 25D. Meeting place in 31-Across : STOA
33. Koala bear, e.g. : MISNOMER. Not really bear. Hope Kazie nailed the answer.
38. Big name in financial advice : ORMAN (Suze)
41. Flower also called a marguerite : OXEYE. The "also called" part is unknown to me. Lovely daisy.
42. Warning words : YOU'LL SEE. Didn't come to me quickly.
43. Domain : SPHERE
45. "How about that!" : GEE
46. Gp. with the 1979 top-10 album "Discovery" : ELO. So many ways to clue ELO.
54. Carrier units, briefly : ACs. Sure was not thinking of the Carrier Air Conditioners.
56. Formerly : NEE
57. She played Linda in "Arthur" : LIZA (Minnelli). Stumped me.
58. It's a joint : ANKLE. Devious clue.
60. Peru was its leading exporter in 2009 : ASPARAGUS. Who knows?
64. __ the hole : ACE IN
65. Donut, possibly : SPARE TIRE. Funny clue.
66. British satellite entertainment option : SKY TV. No idea.
67. Fare computer : TAXI METER. Oh, taxi fare.
Down:
1. Whiskey's Walker : HIRAM. Learning moment. Hiram Walker.
2. Predecessor of Ginger : ADELE. Adele Astaire? I don't get this clue.
3. Proverbial payee : PIPER. Pay the piper.
4. Daffy contemporary : PORKY. Looney Tunes.
5. E-mail qualifier : IMO
6. Pick up : NAB. Definitely not in the "Pick up" = "Arrest" direction.
8. Lute cousin : SITAR
9. Vista : SCENE
10. Deli delicacy : LOX. Delicious!
11. Suit : EXEC. "Suit" here is slang for "business executive". The clue needs an abbreviation hint.
12. HUD corp. since 1968 : GINNIE MAE. Younger than Fannie Mae.
13. "Whatever" : I DON'T CARE. Great answer.
14. Number of hydrogen atoms in butane : TEN. Well, Al/Jazzbumpa/Husker Gary/Bob might know.
21. What a tiny circle may signify: Abbr. : DEG. Like the tiny circle in 37°.
24. Hangs around : LINGERS
26. 1969 rock opera : TOMMY. Not in my knowledge zone.
27. Snag : PROBLEM
29. Texter's command : SEND
32. Desire personified : EROS. We also have 61. Goddess of peace : PAX.
33. Quantum theory pioneer : MAX PLANCK. Drew a blank also. Nobel prize 1918. German.
34. Early rules for it were developed at McGill University in the 1870s : ICE HOCKEY. New trivia to me.
35. Island near Eigg : SKYE. See this map. Largest of the Inner Hebrides.
36. Rock genre : EMO. Offshoot of Punk Rock.
37. Makeup option : ROUGE
39. Big name in audio : BOSE. Expensive stuff.
40. Phil, say : NLER. National Leaguer. Did you think of Phillies when reading the clue "Phil"? I sure did not.
44. A, overseas : EIN
48. In any case, with "at" : LEAST
49. Piaggio transportation line : VESPA. The scooter maker.
50. Delight : ELATE
51. One, for one : DIGIT. One is a digit. "for one" = "for example".
52. Color similar to Brandeis blue : AZURE. Guessed.
53. Surgery tool : LASER
55. Cut : SLIT
58. Digital camera inserts : AAs
59. Letter carrier: Abbr. : ENV. Not postman.
62. Hebrew name meaning "lion" : ARI. Good to know.
63. Stage occurring several times a night, briefly : REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
Answer grid.
C.C.
42 comments:
Hey C.C. and denizens of the corner,
Happy late night posting
How wonderful to find a Barry Silk on the door step; always a challenge, and always an entertaining journey. I just have to keep chipping away, until the light bulbs flash, like the Charles Schulz HAPPINESS IS thoughts, and REPROBATE a description which has been tossed my way. I imagine GINNIEMAE (from the acronym Government National Mortgage Association, GNMA) was hard for most, with FANNIE and SALLIE MAE more well known.
I can’t believe I had so much trouble with the cross pf MAX and OXEYE, even when I remembered Planck’s constant, I was not sure of his name, and I had OXEYE in a puzzle I blogged in September, though I got this MARGUERITE when i googled after finishing the puzzle. I must learn my daisies. I also know the SKYE terrier comes from off the coast of Scotland but did not know EIGG .
Predecessor of Ginger : ADELE. Adele Astaire? I don't get this clue. Fred Astaire danced first with his sister Adele, and then became most famous with GINGER ROGERS as his dancing partner.
I recommend everyone watch the 1969 rock opera : TOMMY.
A very fun, fair and enjoyable puzzle and write up, thanks CC and Barry.
@Lemonade714: I heart you.
Silent B
Holy cow, was this one tough to get started. Well over an hour spent on it. Lots of miscues that made it even harder. LOITER instead of LINGER, ELMER instead of PORKY. SONY/YES instead of BOSE/ELO. SKYPE instead of SKYTV. SNIP instead of SLIT. Wanted to squeeze in JONNY (without the H) instead of HIRAM for Walker whiskey.
The key for me was when I finally realized it was a Silky, and then started looking for words with X, Y and Z in them, which gave me XENON instead of ARGON or RADON, and OXEYE. It also finally helped me remember LIZA, which then gave me AZURE, LASER and ELATE. So, I actually managed to finish by myself with no help, with the starting NW corner the last to fall, but I really feel worked over.
So, to answer C.C.'s point, I didn't actually know TEN for butane, but I knew it couldn't be ONE or TWO (too few), or SIX (that would be ethane), and TEN was the only other three-letter number.
Hi all.
Also had trouble getting started.
This was a little "toughie".
Warren, just wondered because I had never seen anyone in black post a link. Gmail.com won't accept
Dilert no matter which variation I try. I was blue once and going back
might cause a maelstrom of protest.
I don't want to cause C.C. any more
problems. Love her and the blog.
Take care all.
C.C. Wonderful write-up.
Now as to ADELE ... well probably 38 or 40 years ago I asked my Mom why I should know Fred's sister.
Lemonade nailed it.
Seems they were a very well known dance team back in 20's my Mom explained.
What I remember most was that this became my 1st Crossword 101 ... then came iter etal.
Well this Silky looks like my Rorschach Ink Blot Test of the year.
Marsupal before MISNOMER
Argon before XENON
AJA before ELO
BTU before AC'S
Jeez ... what a mess, but I "got 'er done."
And, for the third time this week, my real initials ARI made the grid.
(Liked it better when our new buddy TESLA showed up regularly).
Then again, on the plus side, REPROBATE made the scene ... probably another "shout-out."
Cheers to all at Sunset.
Morning, all!
The "other" Barry reporting in here... ^_^
Most of this puzzle was fairly straightforward for me (and by straightforward on a Saturday, I mean tough, but doable). The NE corner really stumped me for quite awhile, though. I had chunks of it in place (HIRAM, PIPER, SITAR and SCENE) but just couldn't get the perps to fall. I guessed ELMER for 4D instead of PORKY, which didn't help matters anyway. I actually suspected that 2D might be ADELE, but I couldn't quite place the context.
Anyway, I finally left that section alone, and when I came back to it at the end I was able to fill in HAPPINESS right away. And that gave me everything I needed to finish that section in short order. I have no idea why I couldn't see it at first, but there you have it.
Oh -- and hands up for LOITER instead of LINGER at 24D. The was the second hardest section of the puzzle for me.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
Like everyone else, I was all over the place with this one, and fell into the same "traps". I still don't get 40A "Phil, say" for NLER. If it is an abbreviation for Philadelphia, shouldn't it have a period? If it is some guy's first name in the NL, who the heck would know? I just think it was way out there.
Same with "A, overseas"...doh, WHERE overseas? France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Japan, China? And if someone doing this puzzle in the UK read that clue, they might wonder "USA, Canada, Mexico?".
Much as I love my V8 can dents, I think the constructor should give puzzlers at least a fair shot of getting the correct answer.
That said, I did finish it but what a struggle. I was very happy to fill in SKYTV and get my "Tah-dah".
Have a great day everyone.
adele was Fred Astaire's dancing partner before Ginger Rogers
@HeartRx: The clue "Phil, say" for NLER does not stand for Philadelphia. It stands for Phillie (as in Philadelphia Phillies) and therefore does not need to be abbreviated.
HeartRx, remember to not be too quick to blame the constructor for bad or weak clues. As we have seen before, it is the editorial staff that makes a lot of the clues.
C.C. and fellow 4* travelers, the last time I worked this hard someone handed me a Master’s Degree! I also thought it was fair with 3 bad cells and some minor quibbles:
-EXEC for a suit with no abbr.?
-Fanniemae led me to tortured BEFIT (proper) instead of LEGIT and OXADE was just an unfortunate byproduct
- I never think of OXIDE as a compound but rather as the product that results from the union of two elements or compounds, e.g. Iron Oxide is the union of Iron and Oxygen. Sodium and Chlorine made the compound Sodium Chloride – table salt. Fairer clue? Rust’s chemical last name.
-Roy Orbison is the best rock and roll balladeer ever but had a face tailor made for radio. Roy sans glasses was the draw for Worst Movie Ever Made. I love all his music from Only the Lonely to the Traveling Wilbury’s but OMG did he ever jump the shark in Hollywood!
-I thought Daffy contemporary might be Dizzy Dean’s brother who was nicknamed Daffy for a second
Off to grocery shopping!
Good Morning All, When I started this puzzle last night, I wasn't making much progress and got bleary-eyed pretty early on. So I slept on it and that seemed to make all the difference.
I was definitely on Barry Silk's wavelength this morning. Most of the longer fill weren't a problem today.
HAPPINESS? No problem with a Charlie Brown clue. MERYLE STREEP? Heck, I just mentioned "Sophie's Choice" last night. BACKGAMMON BOARD? Sure. MAX PLANCK? Why not?
Even ASPARAGUS, SPARETIRE and TAXI METER fell easily with perps in place for DIGIT, AZURE and LASER.
There were some unknowns, like ALEK, AAS and TEN (Butane atoms), but the perps saved those for me.
About 40D "Phil, say"/NLER. In my sport challenged way, I figured there must be a guy named Phil who plays/played baseball. I g'd later...how about Phil Cavarretta, Phil Niekro, or Phil Nevin? Weren't they NLER's? We get obscure sport names all the time (at least they are obscure to me!) but lots of posters seem to know them.
Lemonade, Thanks for the "Tommy" clip. Even after 40 + years it is the definitive rock opera.
Lots of rain last night, and even though skies are blue right now, there is a dark gray splotch on the horizon. We are definitely in for more weather.
Hello To All ~!
Well, not that I could count the points to be sure, but CHINESE CHECKERS fit the spanner just right, and adding "I DON'T CARE" verified it...but neither LOITERS nor LINGERS would work, so I had to try again.
Glad I got "ICE HOCKEY" or I would have been ashamed of myself - favorite answer for today.
MERYL STREEP, LIZA, AZURE, SPARE TIRE, SILVER MEDAL - nailed 'em, and that's quite a bit for me on a Saturday.
I, too, had RADON for XENON to start.
A rare quick Saturday for me - the only snag was not knowing REPROBATE, and PORKY just wouldn't come to me.
Enjoy the weekend !!
Splynter
I used to enjoy doing the daily crossword puzzles, especially the Saturday puzzle, but I have to say they've turned into an incredible annoyance, they're so badly written. I also have better things to do with my time than spending 1-2 hours a day trying to solve word problems. The Dayton Daily News should find a better source. They used to have one, but after 30 years, decided to drop them.
Love your comments about the clues.
Hello Puzzlers -
Boy, was I glad to open up a Saturday Silky and find I knew the 1A right off! I was Charlie Brown in a school production in '74 or so. HAPPINESS is lots of things: two kinds of ice cream, finding your skate key, telling the time...
MAX PLANCK came slowly because I was thinking of last names only. He and all those other quantum theorists were pretty smart people. If you want to understand more about such things, I recommend Steven Hawking's "A Briefer History of Time". It's far less of a slog than the earlier version, printed in response to public demand for an easier work.
I always thought that ox-eyed daisy was another name for black-eyed susan. Apparently wrong.
I recall watching "Arthur" and wishing the spoiled brat would wake up and notice how lovely and devoted Liza was.
Wish I had a VESPA. They just look right.
Cheers!
I'm not going to blame the constructor or the editor, but I didn't get anywhere near finishing this. After spending about a half hour in frustration, all I had that was correct was: ADELE, PIPER, LEGIT, XENON, TEN, I DON'T CARE, AND, ITS,SEND, ----------BOARD,REM. I also had a few wrong WAGs, but they shrank in comparison to the number of blanks.
No, C.C.,I didn't get MISNOMER, I was going for MARSUPIAL, which was a letter too long. I spelled LOX LAX because I think of it as related to German Lachs. I had DAISY for the unheard of OXEYE and I wanted JOHNY for HIRAM though I knew I didn't know any famous actors starting with Y, but I have never heard of Hiram.
No, I don't blame anyone. I just don't know enough names, brands, music, sports, games. You name it, I'm a dummy when it comes to a lot of culture. I do think donut was clever, but I never would have got it.
I really shouldn't waste my time trying Saturdays. This week the same could have been said for Thursday and Friday too.
I have sympathy for vinnierusso99, though I wouldn't want to return to what we had before either.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone!
A very easy puzzle for a Saturday (21 minutes). Nothing much to even hesitate over.
Good morning C.C. and all,
chip-chippin' awayyyy...♪♩♬♫•*¨*•.❤.•*¨*•♫♪•.¸¸.•´♫♪♩♬*¨*`•.♥.•´*♫♪♩♬
I usually struggle with Thurs/ Fri/Sat puzzles and this was no exception, although I did finish, all but BOX 66, and by that time I wasn't going to look up one silly letter(all right, 2 words).
Leaving to make blueberry pancakes really helped get me going again.
Asparagus was a delight, but took a long time to fill.Also enjoyed sparetire..I keep chipping away at that too(pancakes don't help).
Not a Liza fan, but she was excellent in Arthur.
Great write up, C.C. and Mr. Silk, you always give us a good run.
Have a lovely day all.I am looking forward to Wed.Kittyb, Tarrajo, MamaP, xchefwalt, Lola, Martin, and BarbB, we hope you are still with us.
Vinnierusso99, is it that you think the clues are not relevant , or not accurate? Or is it just that the Saturday puzzles are a higher level of difficulty than you enjoy? I think we have all been in that last situation, but the more you work at it, the better it gets. Don't give up. Today's constructor, Barry Silk is always tough, but finishing one of his puzzles is worth the work. Even if you don't finish, you are sure to learn a new word, name, or term. Good luck.
Kazie, you may have been frustrated today, but I bet you will still be back on Saturdays to try again. You're that kind of "I won't quit" woman. Some of the puzzles that totally confuse me are often gimmes for you.
Tis the season....Quoth the Godfather...my sentiment, exactly. I wriggled out of driving to Modesto today to meet my daughter for a 'fursure' cold rainy sidewalk sale. (We'll see them all on Thanksgiving anyway) Just a few minutes ago, one of my best friends invited me to go with her to the annual craft fair at our local homeowner's association center. It is much closer than Modesto, my friend isn't a LINGERer (like my daughter) and it is a fund raiser for some local charities.....so....I guess I'd better get out of this getup that passes for pajamas and start getting ready.
Well, Bob, I'm glad you found the puzzle to be "smooth as Silk", I found it to be rough as sandpaper.
Several of the long entries dropped right in. Knew HIRAM and HAPPINESS and MERYL STREEP, but INIGMATIC sure screwed up the NW corner. I didn't know ALEK or ADELE, was thinking of contemporary as current and thought maybe PG RAY was some current cartoon duck. Oh, well...
I thought OXIDE was fairly clued. Oxides are always a compound containing oxygen and what could be more common than carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide iron oxide, zinc oxide and that most common one dihydrogen oxide.
NLER wasn't an obvious answer but when the _ER showed up I started thing of sports and knew that the Phillies are very often referred to collectively as Phils and they are an NL team, so that one seemed fair.
I started to fall into the marsupi.. oops it doesn't fit.. trap, but then I realized those aren't bears and MISNOMER popped up.
At one time I had a sizeable portion of my IRA invested in GINNIE MAE so that one wasn't difficult.
I really wanted SONY but I was pretty sure of ELO so had to look elsewhere. Well, DUH!, there's a set of BOSE speakers sitting right across the room!
Back and forth, up and down, a letter here and a word there, it all finally came together except for my mess in the NW.
With apologies to Charles Schultz, HAPPINESS would be finishing a Barry Silk unaided. Alas, happiness escaped me today!
Anonymous @ 8:34
Thanks for clarifying that nagging "Phil" question. So why didn't they just put "Philly" as the clue? Oh yeah...it's SATURDAY, and its SUPPOSED to be hard. I get it now...
Argyle, I wasn't really blaming anyone (as Kazie said). My main frustration was just my own ignorance of sports related clues. Especially if it has to do with hockey, baseball or soccer. But we have had "NLER" many times before, clued as either Buc, Red, Card, Phil etc etc etc, or any combination of those. And its still gets me EVERY time! So from now on, I'll just write in NLER if its 4 letters, and let it go at that.
But what about the "A, overseas" clue for EIN? That could be une, uno, una, ein, een, uks, ett... Oy Vey, thank goodness for perps!!
Hello and thanks, C.C.
My first entry was "miscreant" for 17a and had "jonny"(?) for HIRAM. Things went downhill from there. Had to goodle nearly all the pop culture clues, the exception being ADELE, which has been used before. In fact, I fell for all the misdirections as everyone else. Kept chipping away at it until it gave me the "tada." Took 56 minutes.
Hope everybody has a great Saturday.
Good afternoon. Nice write-up C.C.
Another Saturday Silky. A real challenging toughie but ultimately getable. Revisited it 3 times, partly due to having house guests. WAGS included ARI, REM, OXEYE, and ITO. Liked the science inclusions of MAX PLANCK and butane (CH₃CH₂CH₂CH₃) TEN hydrogens in a molecule. Took awhile but loved it when REPROBATE finally loomed. The NE and SW fell first, the rest of it was a real slog, but ultimately, no searches were needed. Learnt that Peru is a real powerhouse in ASPARAGUS husbandry.
A fitting challenge to the end of a challenging week.
Enjoy the weekend.
Hi all.
I have read the Kathy Reichs' books
so I know where McGill is located.
Montreal was one of the first six
In the NHL.
Sharks vs Columbus to night. Sharks
need fresh legs for the third
period.
Cheers Ari. The week-end of March
26-27 sounds pretty good with four
open wheel races.
Had hoped to see the Ill/NW game at Wrigley with only one end zone.
Take care. It's a cold and rainy
Saturday.
I usually post my comment on the puzzle before I read any of the posts, so I wasn't aware until afterwards that it was generally viewed as pretty tough. Sometimes the clues are centered around things you know, sometimes they aren't. Sometimes you make the right guesses, other times you have lots of false starts. I had a few of them, but I figured out pretty quickly that they wouldn't work. Occasionally everything just breaks your way when you are completing a puzzle.
Good afternoon CC et al., Excellent job, CC, as usual. But what a slog today! By the time the top half was done this morning, I was out of time. No 'silver medal' for my efforts today. Just an award from that old 'reprobate' bluebird
of 'happiness' who 'nab'bed my 'ankle', bit my 'digit' 'and' put my 'ginnie mae' under 'lox' and keys. 'I don't care'. It's all good. 'Pax' out.
Lemonade, thanx for the linx. Love
'Tommy'.
Enjoy your night. Cheers!
Bob, This was a pretty tough go for most of us and although I enjoy your postings when you actually address what it is in the puzzle, I don't think there is much utility in posting your time, especially when you enter no comments. My time today was over an hour but I got 99+% of it eventually.
Congrats on your fast time(s) but I hope you will post some of your great comments and put less emphasis on any speed stats which I feel is the not the point of the blog and I look forward to your future contributions.
I found this to be somewhat challenging, but not too tough. That really means nothing because sometimes others find puzzles easier than I think, and sometimes the opposite. By the way, I don't think "SPARE TIRE" was intended to be funny - that's just what some of the smaller automobile spare tires are called - although if it had said "result of a donut", I could see some humor there. My "eraser marks" (I actually use a pen only) were with "SKY TV" (I had "SPY") and "PAX" (I had "EOS").
@Husker Gary: Go easy on Bob. I'm sure he meant no offense. Besides, I wouldn't really call 21 minutes a "speed run"... ;)
C.A.,
Thanks for your encouragement. I must admit I felt pretty deflated today. As both you and others have remarked, it depends what hits your button, I guess. There are certain areas of knowledge in which each of us excels, mine just didn't come up today, and those that did were ungettable because of other things I clung to that didn't go with them.
For there to be only 30 comments at this time of the day is an indication of the difficulty for most people today, I think.
Well, I for one don't mind if Bob states his time and doesn't leave a comment. We know he's with us and doing well and then when he does comment-WOW- I listen.It's always new to me.
Happiness is....oh, so many things, and being unique is one of them.
Hi, everyone,
Well said, J.D. I for one don't feel at all diminished because others have finished in a shorter time than I. Bob, you're a very knowledgeable guy and probably lots better at concentrating than some of us. You are probably not as vocal as some of us (who do run oooonnn!) but it's always good that we hear from you and know you've always been part of the group. You've been very helpful to me and when you do comment, it is always worthwhile and enlightening! Thanks for everything you add to this blog.
This puzzke was not easy and took me a lot of time. I don't time myself because I have interuptions and I am not at all competitive. I seldom look up anything until I am sure I can't do any more than I've already completed. Today, in fact, this week, I've had lots of reasons to look things up. I learn something every time, too. The pleasure of this blog has nothing to to with competition and everything to do with friendship. I thank C.C. and all of you for this pleasure.
Hello everyone!
Worked Friday's puzzle (rather fun except for stupid hyphens) but haven't worked today's yet. Have been trying to eliminate whatever food is causing me to have perpetual bellyache. (I gave up gluten about a year ago, so that's not it.) Any suggestions?
CLEAR AYES et al.--Old auntie of my friend has not had a lifelong bad diet. She used to eat real, not junk, food. Her health has been going downhill lately. She is gaining unneeded fat and having lots of TIAs, it would seem. She won't take vitamins anymore. Powers of reasoning poor. I do not recommend the "strawberry jam" diet!
Friday's puzzle was fun after I gave up trying to interpret the stupid hyphen!
Has been raining like mad in Northridge. Great for trees but not so great for old invalid who is finally able to use two feet to get into wheelchair and be rolled outside!
LUCINA--Believe it or not, in my younger days I grew sweet corn, dried husks, used bagged masa and made my own green corn tamales (with cream and cheese and lard and other things I wouldn't dream of eating now). I did not have much help as I recall. They were great!
Happy rest-of-weekend all!
Agree with Barry & JD - I think Bob's posting of his time is very much in context with the intent/content of the blog, and of course it's only enhanced when he adds further comments.
Good Evening C.C. and all,
Thanks C.C. for your write-up.
This was probably not a good day for me to try a puzzle. I had a tight schedule and had to work in stages, which isn't always bad; but today I needed to concentrate on it, and I didn't have the time.
Quite a challenge.
Also, things I don't remember and don't care about: Elo, Emo,number of hydrogen atoms in butane; make-up option is not rouge; rouge is make-up.Ice hockey rules development. OK, I filled them in,er,uh perped them in ;many wag letters,etc. This post sounds as scattered as I felt with this puzzle. Still don't get 'exec' for 'suit'. Enough already!
Thanks, Barry.
Liked a lot of your across long fill-Backgammon Board.Nice.
Have a pleasant evening everyone.
Some of you may recall that I commented a week or so ago that I was being seriously hammered at school with a lot of heavy obligations, which was likely to leave me little time to do more than submit something minimal to the blog. That proved true, as I knew it would...hence my recent abbreviated entries here. I also missed two days of work this week due to illness and am still not back to 100%. I think the brain is functioning OK, but the lungs aren't. So, I'm sorry about my minimal submissions of late, but they couldn't be helped. Now that I'm on vacation for about 10 days, I'll try to chime in with something weightier. Thanks for your understanding and support.
Thanks for the feedback. I am still a newbie here (less than a year) and as I said I did not see the point of a very fast posted time with no comments. I truly missed this as part of the construct of the site and I too, as I posted, read all of Bob's informative posts. I will now construe them also as "I'm here and care enough to check in!" and move on.
Puzzle on my friends! I'm off to ABC to watch the Huskers!
Hola Everyone, I had about the same problems as others today. This was a hard puzzle, but challenging. I managed to finish with look-ups. I'm like Dodo in that I always learn something when I look up answers to unknowns.
Today my one big blunder was putting in Arboreal for Koala bear. That really threw off the section in the middle.
I had to attend an event down at the University this afternoon so I did part of the CW and then came back to finish. It did take a lot of time, though.
I managed to get downtown, and back on the light rail and miss the heaviest rain in the process. My friends and I were lucky to just be inbetween downpours.
Since it is a cold, rainy afternoon/evening it was nice to have the CW to occupy my time inside today.
Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone.
Barry: Fred Astaire danced with his sister Adele before dancing with Ginger Rogers.
Wow! Good evening, anyone who is still around. C.C. thanks for your explanations and links. I was at sea about some of them.
For the most part I was on Barry Silk's wavelength, then had to take my girls, daughter and granddaughter, shopping as they select their Christmas gifts and try them on if they are clothes then I wrap them. It took most of the day.
When I returned I was stuck in the NW corner and could not get traction so looked up fashion model Wek, ALEK and that broke it open.
I thought GREECE, STOA and ETA were all cleverly connected and even ARI which can be Aristotle shortened.
Saturdays are great challenges and as JD and Dodo mentioned, they contain many learning moments.
Today's were MAXPANCK, TEN, OXIDE and HIRAM Walker all of which were wagged.
So thanks to Barry Silk who always offers an opportunity to break out of the routine.
I hope you had a wonderful Saturday! I did.
Didn't we have a brief conversation a few weeks ago about criticizing other bloggers' posting styles? Differences of opinion on clues, fills, politics, religion etc., are to be expected, but why the hell would one blogger criticize the content of anothers' post?
Just for the sake of argument, let's theorize that a fictional blogger were to inform the group nearly every damn day that he or she had a substitute teaching job, shortly after retiring from that profession. Would it be appropriate for another blogger to say, "We really don't give a damn what the kids said at school today"?
I would say, no, it's not OK.
So let's not do it.
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