Words: 72 (missing J,Q, 2wks in a row)
Blocks: 34
Mr.
Sessa is another dreaded Saturday constructor for me, and today was
just what I expected from him. To be fair, this one had an even
distribution of "dig down deep", vagueness, proper names, and
letter-count entries - two near-spanners of 14, two 11- letters, four
9's, two 8's, and six 7's. Some of the longer answers;
20a. Whistle-accompanying words : GET A LOAD OF THAT - the wolf whistle comes to mind
30a. Create norms for : STANDARDIZE
39a. They're undeveloped : BLANK SLATES
52a. 1998 Coen brothers comedy : THE BIG LEBOWSKI - IMDb - gotta admit, I have not seen it, and I have heard it's great - didn't know it was the Coen Bros.
Ow, da R.N.~?
ACROSS:
1. 1953 comeback hero? : SHANE - before my time; "Come back" refers to the closing scene
6. Blood __ : CLOT - ah, not "TYPE"
10. Stare : GAWP - my only WTF moment today; I have heard of gawK, not this - but KAR (13d.) made no sense to me
14. China from America : LENOX - an "educated WAG"
15. Mishmash : HASH - rhyme time
16. Historic act signed by Pres. Nixon : OSHA - the Occupational Safety and HEALTH Administration (D'oh~!)
17. Gut feeling : AGITA - I considered "HUNCH", but I sensed it wasn't playing nice with my other answers
18. Gardner with plots : ERLE - learned from doing crosswords
19. Peterhof Palace resident : TSAR - my first inkling, but CZar, or TSar?
23. Marble counter feature : SLAB TOP - meh, a marble counter IS a slab top, no? maybe it's my construction background....
24. Bearish? : URSINE
26. Yet, poetically : E'EN - 'PC' for "even" - that is, Poetically Correct
27. Woodworking tool : ADZE - nailed it; but it was a bit of a WAG
29. "Solaris" author Stanislaw __ : LEM - His 1961 book became a 1972 movie, and then it was remade in 2002 with George Clooney
34. Strengthen, in a way : ARM
35. Window component : PANE - we've been "vagued" by this before; HEAD, RAIL, JAMB, SASH, SILL, an STOP would all work
36. It's at eye level : EAR - drawing instruction lesson #1 - I like when the proportions are distorted in caricatures
6. Blood __ : CLOT - ah, not "TYPE"
10. Stare : GAWP - my only WTF moment today; I have heard of gawK, not this - but KAR (13d.) made no sense to me
14. China from America : LENOX - an "educated WAG"
15. Mishmash : HASH - rhyme time
16. Historic act signed by Pres. Nixon : OSHA - the Occupational Safety and HEALTH Administration (D'oh~!)
17. Gut feeling : AGITA - I considered "HUNCH", but I sensed it wasn't playing nice with my other answers
18. Gardner with plots : ERLE - learned from doing crosswords
19. Peterhof Palace resident : TSAR - my first inkling, but CZar, or TSar?
23. Marble counter feature : SLAB TOP - meh, a marble counter IS a slab top, no? maybe it's my construction background....
24. Bearish? : URSINE
26. Yet, poetically : E'EN - 'PC' for "even" - that is, Poetically Correct
27. Woodworking tool : ADZE - nailed it; but it was a bit of a WAG
29. "Solaris" author Stanislaw __ : LEM - His 1961 book became a 1972 movie, and then it was remade in 2002 with George Clooney
34. Strengthen, in a way : ARM
35. Window component : PANE - we've been "vagued" by this before; HEAD, RAIL, JAMB, SASH, SILL, an STOP would all work
36. It's at eye level : EAR - drawing instruction lesson #1 - I like when the proportions are distorted in caricatures
37. A deadly sin : ENVY - ah, not LUST
38. Tedious : OLD
43. "King Kong" studio : RKO
44. "Symphonie espagnole" composer : LALO
45. Experiences : HAS
46. Chocolate-covered candy : KIT-KAT - I can't stand their TV commercials at all
48. Assigned work : SET TASK - ROUTINE fit, too
55. __ Southwest Grill: restaurant chain : MOE'S
56. "Movies You Grew Up With" channel : FLIX
57. Get behind, as a desk : SIT AT
58. Fix : CURE - not MEND, DARN, HEAL
59. Topnotch : A-ONE
60. Where to find Independence Hall? : C NOTE - very good - the image on the back of a $100 bill
61. Wee : ITSY - not TINY or IOTA
62. Medicare Advantage gps. : HMOs
63. Keats' "The Eve of St. __" : AGNES
DOWN:
1. Converts into metallic waste : SLAGs - doesn't sound right, but it's the back-formed verb from the word for the by-product of ore smelting
2. German idealism pioneer : HEGEL - I tried HESSE first
3. Baker with Grammys : ANITA
4. "Pay attention," in legal papers : NOTA BENE - Latin for "note well"
5. Lofty : EXALTED
6. For peanuts : CHEAP
7. Pastry maker's ingredient : LARD
8. Munch Museum city : OSLO
9. Gangsters' foes, in old films : "THE FUZZ", the heat, Five-O
10. Fourth-century Germanic invaders : GOTHS
11. Cop's quarry : ASSAILANT
12. "Of all the gall!" : "WHAT NERVE~!"
13. Course number : PAR - Golf Course
21. O'Neill's daughter : OONA - another crossword learned name
22. One leaving in spring? : TREE - LEAF-ing, that is
25. Woman-holding-an-atom statuettes : EMMYs - some history
27. Hersey bell town : ADANO
28. Clive Cussler hero Pitt : DIRK - anyone recall who DIRK DIGGLER was?
30. Foon's cousin : SPORK - oh, duh - my first thought was that a "Foon" was a type of bird, and STORK was looking pretty good....
28. Clive Cussler hero Pitt : DIRK - anyone recall who DIRK DIGGLER was?
30. Foon's cousin : SPORK - oh, duh - my first thought was that a "Foon" was a type of bird, and STORK was looking pretty good....
31. Chat to settle a spat : TALK IT OUT
32. Inclusive phrase : AND OTHERS - nice to see "et alia" spelled out
33. Utter : REAL
37. White House theater location : EAST WING
39. Yak : BLAB
40. Queen born Dana Owens : LATIFAH - Rapper/songwriter turned movie and TV star
41. Cowboy singer Wooley : SHEB - Learning moment - I have heard of THIS song, but not its performer
32. Inclusive phrase : AND OTHERS - nice to see "et alia" spelled out
33. Utter : REAL
37. White House theater location : EAST WING
39. Yak : BLAB
40. Queen born Dana Owens : LATIFAH - Rapper/songwriter turned movie and TV star
41. Cowboy singer Wooley : SHEB - Learning moment - I have heard of THIS song, but not its performer
42. Play that inspired Puccini : La TOSCA
47. Nurse Ratched creator : KESEY - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey's 1962 novel, and the great 1975 film - one of three to take all 5 major awards
48. Classifies, as kittens : SEXES
49. __ Martin : ASTON - James Bond's DB-5 was in "Goldfinger", which reappeared in "Skyfall"; the latest model was the DBS in Quantum of Solace - more here
50. Blade holder, maybe : SKATE
51. Wingless fliers : KITES - Great, more kites
53. Latch (onto) : GLOM
54. Start to type? : LINO - a LINOtype machine was used in printing
55. 2006 Verizon acquisition : MCI
47. Nurse Ratched creator : KESEY - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey's 1962 novel, and the great 1975 film - one of three to take all 5 major awards
48. Classifies, as kittens : SEXES
49. __ Martin : ASTON - James Bond's DB-5 was in "Goldfinger", which reappeared in "Skyfall"; the latest model was the DBS in Quantum of Solace - more here
50. Blade holder, maybe : SKATE
51. Wingless fliers : KITES - Great, more kites
53. Latch (onto) : GLOM
54. Start to type? : LINO - a LINOtype machine was used in printing
55. 2006 Verizon acquisition : MCI
Splynter
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear PK, the real one. PK used to be a newspaper reporter and must have exposed plenty of dirty tricks in those days. I hope it's a lovely day & you can work on your garden, PK.
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear PK, the real one. PK used to be a newspaper reporter and must have exposed plenty of dirty tricks in those days. I hope it's a lovely day & you can work on your garden, PK.
51 comments:
A Poem Is Like A Puzzle
- ---- -- ---- - ------
A poem is like a crossword,
The blending of words that mesh.
Carefully, thoughtfully constructed
With theme and expression fresh.
Each word is vetted for its length,
In count of letters or syllables;
But the meaning of each is vital,
Words are little miracles.
In a poem, it's the connotations
What's implied as much as what's said.
In a puzzle, it's the clue and twister,
Misdirection stands a word on its head.
For both the poet and peruser
There's palpable gratification;
For both the setter and solver
There's tangible satisfaction.
A word is learned, a mood is felt,
We come away older and wiser.
Time is not wasted if time is enjoyed
Of neither time nor words be a miser!
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, PK)!
Quite the challenge for me this morning. I almost turfed it in the South after misspelling LATIFAH as LATIFFA and putting in FINE instead of AONE as a result. I stared at GLI_ for quite awhile, trying to think of any letter that would make a word other than GLIB. I finally decided it had to be GLOM, which lead me to take out FINE and reset a bit.
Elsewhere, I've heard of SHANE but had no idea what "comeback" referred to, so that took all the perps. And hand up for STORK before SPORK. Never heard of MOES Southwest Grill (I'm guessing it's big in the Southwest and not the Northeast). Ditto for DIRK Pitt.
On the bright side, being a philosophy major finally paid off and I got HEGEL pretty easily...
Good morning, weekend warriors!
This was a tale of two puzzles. The east was straight-forward and filled quickly. The west was tortuous and gave my Wite-Out a workout.
I was certain it was SHEBA (Come Back, Little Sheba) crossing HESSE. The NW was the last to fill. I finally whited out the entire area, WAGged EXALTED and ANITA, and everything fell into place.
In addition to the Purple People Eater, Sheb Wooley made a whole slew of country music send-ups as Ben Colder. Here's his take on Bill Anderson's Still (3:08). Sheb was a regular on Rawhide along with another lilttle-known guy named Clint Eastwood. Maybe that's why Sheb got a part in Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI is a profane (but hilarious) romp. It raises micturition to a whole new aesthetic level. I invite you to GET A LOAD OF THAT, if you're not offended by raunchy language.
The first two thirds of this puzzle was solved quickly. Finally realizing a FOON was a SPORK gave me KITKAT and opened up the rest. THE BIG LEBOWSKI was all perps and wags. The B in it was a Natick for me, crossing with SHEB. I thought it could be a P and looked up the spelling of the movie. Too bad! It was so easy otherwise and I had to cheat on one cell.
I loved the book and the movie, SHANE. It has been rerun many times and, of course, it is on Netflix. At the end of the movie Joey speaks the classic line, "Come back, Shane!" Alan Ladd is so short he was filmed standing on a box, so I hear.
LA TOSCA was perps and wags. Knowing the opera helped.
Queen Latifah was a neat misdirection. I was expecting royalty.
Ursa/URSINE. Here is the -ine adjectival suffix again.
Bill G. Thanks for the neat Frame Puzzles. I was out of posts last night.
1) DOTHEPE/ the inside dope
2) AGB/ mixed BAG
3) WHEATHER/ CJANGE IN THE WEATHER
YR, I think WHEATHER is supposed to be a bad spell of weather.
Happy birthday, PK -- the real one. Speaking of retired newspaper reporters, Houston is "mourning" the retirement of Leon Hale. He retired from the Barnacle this month after 60+ years on the staff of Houston newspapers. I always looked forward to his Sunday columns, whether he was meeting with the Old Codgers, driving south to meet spring, or just having a conversation with the red mule.
Oh m'goodness, OwenKL! The poem this morning is the best yet! It's not just the rhymes...the construction...the thoughts! Loved it!
The CW, however, was harder for me than usual. Some of the clues were great...just beyond me.
Thanks for 'splaining it Splynter
Hello Puzzlers -
Stared at a snowy NW corner for a long time, and nearly threw in the towel. Exalted was in its proper place, but nothing else. All of a sudden Lenox came to mind - dunno why - and from that I could limp across the line. Tons of unknowns, and the question mark after Bearish seemed questionable.
Happy Birthday, Real PK! I enjoy your style.
Morning Splynter, I recall Dirk Diggler all right, the dish washer with a gift that somehow got noticed in Boogie Nights. More memorable to me, however, was a young, gorgeous, and shapely Heather Graham wearing nothing but roller skates. Get a load of that!
Good day, badly-missed friends!
I'm pleased to be back in the U.S.A. after three weeks of wandering in the Middle East on a fabulous trip, Israel, Jordan and Turkey (only Istanbul).
Happy birthday, PK!! I'm glad to be here to send you good wishes.
Since I was in the land of Queen Noor (former NY socialite) LATIFAH was the last consideration.
Like some of you I found this to be easy in the West and harder in the East but with enough guesses and WAGS it came together except an ITSY error at PAR.
GAWP? GAWK is more familiar and that's what I went with. ARM was clever for a three letter fix.
I also had to wait for TSAR/CSAR or could have been IVAN, too but GOTHS saved the day.
Anyway, except for on the plane yesterday, this was my first crossword since being gone and I'm glad I can still do them! I hope all has been well with all of you. It will take me a while to catch up on all your news and if I missed any birthdays, I hope you were celebrated in warm Corner style.
Now for the unpacking and laundry! Have a terrific Saturday, everyone!
This was looking like a DNF with a blank NW corner. Lots of WAGs there but no two that fit. HEGEL shouldn't have been so elusive for this one-time philosophy major but for some reason I thought "idealism" referred to the art world. I had ANITA early but it didn't fit with SENSE (for "gut feeling"). I think LENOX probably broke it open.
I figured "Foon" must've been a cartoon character I was unfamiliar with.
Put me down for GAWP as a nit.
A brief typo hunt changed AGIDA to AGITA and the sound of "TaDa!" was heard across the land.
[23:32]
Well every cell has a resident but I’m about as sure as to their correctness as I am sure that Kim Jung Un got 100% of the vote in North Korea a few days ago. What torturous fun, Ed.
Musings
-Error count - LEBOWSKI not LABOWSKI, REAL not READ, LALO (no chance) not LADO, SEXES not NAMES, no chance on LA TOSCA, six bad cells
-KESEY/MOES was right!
-AGITA, HEGEL, LENOX and SLAGS (as a verb) made NW interesting but “got ‘er done”
-“GET A LOAD…” Are they more offended if there is no reaction when men are GAWPING?
-Kindergartners are BLANK SLATES but become pretty programmed by 6th grade for good or ill
-If partial fill is second rate, isn’t there better cluing for CLOT? Pain in the vein, Blood block, Corpuscle dam, High LDL consequence…
-HASH was confidently OLIO first
-All I ENVY of young people is their youth
-I wonder if a KIT KAT is in the Munch Museum
-The FUZZ seems to be a hippy phrase more modern than the guys pursuing Dillinger
-OONA chose The Little Tramp over her dad
-Where we find a SPORK or FOON
-Most of my 5th graders knew Purple People Eater when I mentioned it yesterday. Huh?
-An Asian man in town here got very rich SEXING chickens
-STANDARDIZED testing across the state is a very big deal these days!
-HBD, PK, I have enjoyed our correspondences
Fabulous poem, Owen! Your words tell of the enjoyment so many of us get in our avocation here that the sour grape anon's will never understand.
Owen:
I failed to mention your brilliant work today! Loved it.
Good Morning:
This was a tough but, ultimately, doable offering. Like a Silkie, it required chipping away, a little bit here, a little bit there. Liked the clue for Shane, and also for agita.
Thanks, Ed Sessa, for a Saturday challenge, and thanks, Splynter, for your always delightful write-up.
Happy Birthday to our ONE and ONLY PK. Have a wonderful day.
Happy Birthday PK! Hope it's awesome.
Owen - I loved your poem, especially the last four lines. Bravo!
Good morning all!
Happy Birthday, real PK! You always bring down-to earth perspective to everything, and I bet it would have been fun growing up in your family. I hope you get to do something enjoyable today, even if it is just lazing in the sun!
¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫
Fun puzzle today, and I really didn't have any of the problems mentioned by others. The reason is that I pretty much left everything blank until I was sure of the right words. So GAWP, SPORK, LA TOSCA, HEGEL - all were patiently put on the shelf until perps came through.
Splynter, I'll just hazard a guess, but I think OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration. ;-)
Great poem today, Owen!
Wonderful to have you back, Lucina - when do we get to see some pictures?
Now I'm off to enjoy this first full day of Spring.
Hi again~!
D'oh~! I even looked up OSHA to make sure I had the right words for the acronym - but because my only dealing with OSHA at UPS is the "HAZARDous materials" requirement....
I am a Rangers fan, and I was born in 1971 - to me, PENN STATION was always "under" MSG. I did not know it to be similar to Grand Central - but I did watch the video, Al Cyone, and I thank you for that. You could say I owe my existence here on L.I. to the development of those tunnels.
I am also fascinated by the "eclipse" by Maya Lin, in the ceiling of the LIRR section of PENN.
Speaking of 'eclipses', I had a rare occurrence yesterday - I opened a fresh container of coffee, a fresh creamer, a and new box of sugar packets - I am curious to see how long it takes before that happens again....
Splynter
THE BIG LEBOWSKI.........one of the funniest movies, ever, and a commentary on all the pseudo-intellectuals and what they believe in!
Wow ~ this made a Saturday Silkie seem like child's play! I worked at it for quite a while but then decided to leave it to restore some brain cells. After a couple of hours I came back and managed to finish it all - I was amazed! I did have one wrong letter, though. I never noticed that I left 'Gawk' instead of GAWP (ugh) and didn't see the 'Kar.' Splynter ~ your write-up was fantastic - you explained so much!
~ I had so many write-overs - for 6A alone, - Blood_ Line/Ties,/Flow before CLOT.
~ CSO to Irish Miss at 63A. (I think)
~ Favorite: 22D - One leaving in spring / TREE.
~ Much erasing, many guesses, lots of rethinking, but a very enjoyable challenge.
~ Great work, Owen!
~ Happy Birthday, PK! I always enjoy your comments ~ you have such a delightful writing style. Hope you have a wonderful day!
Oops ~ forgot to say, Welcome back, Lucina ~ you've been missed!
Way out west there was this fella... fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. Mr. Lebowski, he called himself "The Dude". Now, "Dude" - that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so darned interestin'. They call Los Angeles the "City Of Angels." I didn't find it to be that, exactly. But I'll allow there are some nice folks there. 'Course I can't say I've seen London, and I ain't never been to France. And I ain't never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I'll tell you what - after seeing Los Angeles, and this here story I'm about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me. Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Sad'm and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. But sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Aw. I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I've done introduced him enough.
Good morning. Welcome back Lucina! I've missed you.
Happy birthday PK!
Great poem!
I had never heard of Moe's until I accidentally came across it on Undercover Boss.
Add me to the list of wanting GAWK instead of GAWP. I thought LENOX had two Ns but obviously I had misremembered. SHANE was vividly remembered. Otherwise, WEES.
Right you are D-O. WHEATHER was supposed to be "A bad spell of weather." Very clever I thought.
Lucina - a belated but most sincere Welcome Back! You have definitely been missed. Please tell us about your trip when you have the time.
Linda, you are correct.
Dear Ed Sessa, thank you, thank you, thank you! I got my first Saturday TA-DA in ages, getting my weekend off to a wonderful start! And I loved every minute of doing this puzzle, although I did struggle over FLIX, SEXES, and the spelling of LEBOWSKI. But what fun--especially after messing up on several of the weekday puzzles.
It helped that this puzzle had an unusual number of cultural references: The Eve of ST. AGNES, HEGEL, Ken KESEY, Eugene O'Neill, Munch, The Coen brothers, LA TOSCA and others. That really put me on the puzzle's wave length. Again, many thanks.
Great pix, Splynter, and great poem, Owen.
Never heard of AGITA.
Favorite clue: at eye level for EAR.
Welcome back, Lucina. And have a wonderful, wonderful birthday, PK!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
I really did not have time for a difficult puzzle today, & for the 1st time, cheated a bit by reading the 1st paragraph of Splynters write up before tackling it.
That one paragraph made me ditch the whole idea of trying to do this puzzle today. Therefore I have not done the prerequisite required for posting, but had to send a HBD to PK...
I did read the write up & Blog, & could not help but notice the comment at 51D. Don't worry Splynter, I won't post any more Kite videos.
(Hey, wait a sec,,, is Splynter telling me to "go fly a kite?")
Two things made me do a little research. The origin of Kit Kat.
"Use of the name "Kit Kat" or "Kit Cat" for a type of food goes back to the 18th century, when mutton pies known as a Kit-Kat were served at meetings of the political Kit-Cat Club in London."(Ala Wiki)
& I have passed over watching The Big Lebowski several times, but Dudleys comment @9:22 might make me change my mind...
Took a while, and red letters had to reveal which two letters I had wrong, but since I figured out what they should be without WAGs or look-up once I knew they were there, I'll still claim this as a win.
The red letters were both in C-NOTE, which I had as ON ONE. Knew it was a bill, but not which denomination. The two crosses I figured were just words I didn't know.
Hand up for OLIO before HASH, HUNCH before unknown AGITA, both LATTIFA and LATIFFA before LATIFAH. Never heard of MOE'S here in New Mexico.
Also CLEAN SLATES before BLANK, PLEX before FLIX, ENGEL (Marx's partner Engels) before HEGEL, ANY OTHERS before AND.
I'll be in the minority for liking GAWP & GLOM.
Anyone else know DIRK Gently and his Holistic Detective Agency?
Don't think I ever saw the movie, but SHANE was assigned reading in school for me, making it the only Western novel I've read in my entire life (and not many short stories, though I loved Westerns on TV). The "SHANE, come back" scene was in the book, too, though maybe not so prominent.
Hi again~!
Douglas Adams, OwenKL~!
Forgot - HBTY to PK~!
Splynter
CED, you've got the movie references mixed up.
RollerGirl is in Boogie Nights with Dirk Diggler a la Splynter's 28d comment. It's a movie about the 70's porn industry.
The Big Lebowski is a weird Coen Brothers movie set in 1991 Los Angeles that has a huge cult following. I enjoyed watching it at a friends house with some white russians. Coincidentally there is a porn star that is central to the plot in this movie also.
More common threads with those two movies:
Julienne Moore and fantastic character performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement on my poem today! Here's a reward:
Bedtime solver who wants to get your puzzle on time more often? Or missed one a couple weeks ago that you want to catch up on? If you use the Across Lite format you can crack the Cruciverb archive. Bookmark http://www.cruciverb.com/puzzles/lat/lat141231.puz. That location will give you a 404, but bookmark it anyway*. Then change the 6 digits at the end to the date you want -- Any time from 30 days ago to (if it's late enough in the day**) tomorrow, and refresh the page!
* -- you can also get that URL by right clicking the link on the Cruciverb page and using [Copy Link Location].
** -- I've gotten it as early as 9pm, even if the page link doesn't go active until after 10.
(I've cracked the Mensa site, too, but it's a lot more complicated, so I'll keep that my secret.)
Scroll down a bit, and here's a couple pictures of a LINOtype keyboard in something I wrote long ago.
Happy B'day, PK!
Well, I was waiting for this one, or rather, IT was waiting for me. It has been more than two weeks since a pzl skunked me, but this one did it. I got only 92% of today's answers-- because I looked up two in the NW corner and then settled for OLY (what??!) instead of OLD over at 38A.
Dad Rabbit!
Congratulations to all who did better.
Hi Y'all! Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Y'all make all my days brighter. Yes, C.C., I did uncover some dirty tricks and prevented a few from happening as the "community conscience."
I just returned from a Mexican food birthday lunch with my two daughters and granddaughter. Very enjoyable! I had a delicious pork chimichanga with a fruit side. Then my elder daughter took us to a specialty cupcake store where I had a Death by Chocolate goodie. I am sated (classier word than stuffed to the gills).
I had a long phone chat with my AF son earlier. His family sent me a bouquet of daisies and roses which arrived yesterday. One daughter brought me a dark pink blooming orchid plant today. Food and flowers, combined with beloved family makes a birthday bearable in old age.
As for the puzzle, I get along better with Sessa than Silkie, but still lots of unknowns, WAGs and retries. I did know LATIFAH & SHEB.
Foons? Took a while to get SPORKS. I thought maybe it was short for "buffoon" but that got me nowhere.
ENVY is the worst sin among old women, I find. Poisons so many relationships.
I did not post the above "essay" on the BIG LEBOWSKI. I saw part of the movie when it came out on video, but quit it part way through because I could not understand a word they were saying.
My brother who is a professor of genetics once had a request to do regular SEXING of ostriches a number of years ago when raising them was a fad.
Guess there were real problems in telling the difference between males & females. At least one lawsuit against the chick provider from a rancher who got all of one kind. They didn't breed well.
This puzzle was one of the more stubborn I can recall. Managed to muddle through, though. Last fill was the 2nd cell on the top. Did not know Hegel, and it took a light bulb moment to figure out Shane. At any rate got it done.
Busy day, and the Nebraska women's game starts in a minute, so gotta go. But definitely wanted to pop in and wish the real PK a very happy birthday. You rock, girl!
I to will miss Leon Hale in the chronicle. He made writing a column seem so effortless.
Loved the poem..very talented..
Thank you for the challenging puzzle, Ed. Thank you for the splendid review, Splynter.
I, too, found this harder than a Saturday Silkie. After my first pass, it was mostly white space.
I had absolutely no idea what a FOON is, and no perp help yet, so I checked for a definition of FOON, and entered SPOON.
At 1A: 1953 comeback hero? I had __AN_, so I answered GIANT. I was thinking Bobby Thomson but the perps eventually corrected that.
I knew AGITA from living in Central NY. We never hear it in SW OH. Hand up for knowing MOE’S from Undercover Boss.
A lot of unknowns, but the perps helped me. I persisted and eventually filled it in, but no ta-da. I re-read my answers and found nothing amiss.
I finally turned on red letter help and found one wrong letter. Hand up for OLY before OLD. OLY made no sense, but ANY OTHERS fit well. I changed the Y to D, giving me OLD / AND OTHERS, and ta-da! Ugly, but far better than yesterday.
Happy birthday to the real PK!
Welcome back, Lucina!
Sorry, thought I was done, but jigsaws are puzzles, too. Break of Day, 3/10/14.
This is my first time writing in in, but I've been lurking for a few months. You all seem like such nice people (with the exception of some the snarky anons). For the most part, I found today's puzzle to be fairly easy, except I had ASTIN instead of ASTON at 49D. I knew CNITE couldn't be right, but it never occurred to me that ASTIN was wrong. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.
Nancy
Saturday struggle today. I started in the newspaper and had lots of white space. Mr. Google was most helpful and Splynter explained the rest.
Hand up for TYPE and HUNCH. I had GAZE before GAWP.
UTTER=REAL? EXPERIENCES=HAS Meh!
Why did BEARISH clue need a ?
Like LaLa Linda, my favourite was ONE LEAVING IN SPRING=TREE.
Enjoyed the poem today Owen KL.
HPBD PK
Welcome back Lucina.
Welcome to the Corner, Nancy Murphy.
Welcome, Nancy.
Happy birthday, the real PK. I always enjoy your posts.
Welcome back,Lucina. You were missed.
IMO the clues, REAL and HAS, do have some redeeming qualities.
The pompous politician made an UTTER fool of himself. He made a REAL fool of himself.
She EXPERIENCES frequent nightmares. She HAS frequent nightmares.
Welcome Nancy, we are pretty easy to connect with.
HBDTY HBDTY HBDDPK HBDTY and many more
I love Ed Sessa puzzles, thanks Splynter
Dudley, I Googled Heather Graham with roller skates. I wasn't familiar with her but she can help me learn to skate anytime.
Remember I had a tennis (and otherwise) friend who died a few weeks ago? I went out to lunch with one of the other two friends from that group. I picked a new place in town; it is a small, trendy seafood place called Fishing with Dynamite. The seating was a bit cramped, the portions are smallish, it is noisy, the prices are high but the food was EXCELLENT. We split up a few raw oysters, a fancy scallops dish, a crabcake and an order of squash rolls. I would have split a slice of Key Lime Pie but my friend wanted to pass on dessert.
Thank you for the warm welcomes! This Corner is so nice to come back to.
Welcome, Nancy. I hope you decide to stay.
At the moment I'm fighting jet lag and trying very hard not to fall asleep just yet, at least for two more hours.
Jayce (and EE), I just cooked a magnificent slab of prime rib-eye steak from Costco. Even operating in bad light outside after dark, I hit all my marks and it came out charred on the outside and deep pink in the middle. I just had a taste and it a prize-winner. I wish you all were here...
Lucina, glad you made it back from the middle east okay. I thought that was where you went and kept hoping you stayed safe. Was the experience what you thought it would be? Had you been over there before?
Again thanks for all the birthday wishes. Very unusual cake, CED! Nothing can quite compare with your gift of bacon roses of a couple of years ago.
BillG.. and anyone else who might care... :) Dodgers and Diamondbacks are playing right now in Austrailia... :) :) channel 868 in Phoenix.... FSAZ ... not sure what it might be for you... but thought you might like to know...
thelma
Greetings!
Not much patience for this one. Red letters, eventually.
Welcome back, Lucina!
HBTY, real PK!
Great poem, Owen!
Back to taxes!
Thanks Thelma. Right now, many Dodgers fans like me are screwed. The previous management and Time Warner cable have conspired to get sole access to the telecasts. None of the other cable services are willing to pay their asking price and as of now, there is no way for me to watch Dodgers games without changing my cable service to Time Warner. We used to have them but their service was pretty bad and we switched to Verizon. Now I'm screwed again. (I won't switch back to TW as a matter of principle right now.) I'm hoping Dodgers fans will be able to figure out how to bitch and moan in some helpful way to put pressure on the Dodgers management to fix things. I've had a good feeling about the new management (including Magic Johnson) but we'll have to see how they handle this mess.
Bill G...
Can you get fox sports ? we are watching fox sports azhd.. 868... are you saying that fox has to pay time warner to show this - or any - game ?
It's the bottom of the 6th and L A is winning... :) go dodgers...... :)
Happy Birthday The Real PK... hope your day was great...
thelma
Right. Verizon or any other cable provider in this area has to pay TW to televise Dodgers games and apparently they want a lot for the privilege.
Bill... so.... directv can televise the game here and not in cali ?? even tho they pay for the right to televise it..... ? that makes no sense... :) :) my opinion only..... :) and we all know what that is worth... :)
I hope they have a change a heart..... do have a good rest of the late evening...
thelma
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