Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X)
Blocks: 30
Phew~!
I feel I've not been doing so well lately with my regularly scheduled puzzles, and
when my first pass through this one remained about as white as the
ground around these parts last week, I figured I was in for another
orthorunic beating. Ironically, it was a Frawnche word (and a sports
car) in the Down that helped me gain some traction, and despite a grid
with one too many (OK, more like 7 too many) proper names*,
I was able to wrap it up - alright, so I cheated on ONE....One 15-letter
spanner crossing a 15-letter climber, and some brutal 8- and 6- letter
corners - but I have to say, some clever non-fun-sponge cluing;
8. Acted insubordinately : TALKED OUT OF TURN - Once I filled the SE corner, I had enough to suss the "-ED OUT OF..." phrase, and guessed that the 'verb' was TALK
37. Mating setting : CHESS TOURNAMENT - and since we had TURN and "TOURN", I imagine it could make for a "theme"
I found some fascinating chess sets when I went looking for this image; I have always wanted to build my own set, and something original - both indoors and OUT.
I found some fascinating chess sets when I went looking for this image; I have always wanted to build my own set, and something original - both indoors and OUT.
~!
ACROSS:
1. Entry level? : AGE LIMIT - OK, a little 'meh' on the first clue; I was looking for something a little more clever, like "Ground Floor"
9*. "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges" co-author : SCALIA
15. Big picture : PANORAMA - I finally saw Star Wars VII - in IMAX 3-D, so that was my thought on 'big picture'
16. Fly-fishing gear : WADERS
17. Wet blanket : BUZZKILL
18. Surfaces : ARISES - dah~! I was trying to think of a synonym for a horizontal plane, but we're talking verb here
19. Purplish fruit : SLOE
20*. Robert Southey, notably : LAKE POET - my one Google; I had LAKE----, and I suppose if I wasn't feeling a personal urge to get this puzzle solved, I could have put some thought in, and maybe even tried a WAG
22. Got comfy : NESTED
24. Outlying areas : 'BURBS - I was thinking "URBS", yet (su)BURBS did not pop into my mind
27. Juanita's pal : AMIGA - ah. I had a final "O", but then again, I should have seen it was not Juan but his sister....
30. Leg up : EDGE - legs~? See 43A.
32. Carrying a grudge : SORE
33. Some trainees : CADETS
35. Fodder bit : OAT
36*. "O Were My Love __ Lilac Fair": Burns : YON
41. Lisbon greeting : OLA - good guess on my part
42. Invoice abbr. : AMounT
43. Forward, in Firenze : AVANTI - oops, had a final "E", and this is why;
44. Dump, perhaps : SELL - the last time "dump" was in the clues, it messed me up
46*. Michelle of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" : YEOH - the "Y" was my last fill
48*. Zollverein Industrial Complex city : ESSEN - Saturday crossword cluing for a common crossword answer - and I should have WAGed it right away
49. Set of closely related notes : TRIAD - very familiar with this "chord" formation; OK, my guitar cronies, get out your axes and tell my what song this intro, predominantly triads, is from
9*. "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges" co-author : SCALIA
15. Big picture : PANORAMA - I finally saw Star Wars VII - in IMAX 3-D, so that was my thought on 'big picture'
16. Fly-fishing gear : WADERS
17. Wet blanket : BUZZKILL
18. Surfaces : ARISES - dah~! I was trying to think of a synonym for a horizontal plane, but we're talking verb here
19. Purplish fruit : SLOE
20*. Robert Southey, notably : LAKE POET - my one Google; I had LAKE----, and I suppose if I wasn't feeling a personal urge to get this puzzle solved, I could have put some thought in, and maybe even tried a WAG
22. Got comfy : NESTED
24. Outlying areas : 'BURBS - I was thinking "URBS", yet (su)BURBS did not pop into my mind
27. Juanita's pal : AMIGA - ah. I had a final "O", but then again, I should have seen it was not Juan but his sister....
30. Leg up : EDGE - legs~? See 43A.
32. Carrying a grudge : SORE
33. Some trainees : CADETS
35. Fodder bit : OAT
36*. "O Were My Love __ Lilac Fair": Burns : YON
41. Lisbon greeting : OLA - good guess on my part
42. Invoice abbr. : AMounT
43. Forward, in Firenze : AVANTI - oops, had a final "E", and this is why;
LevantE pantyhose
46*. Michelle of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" : YEOH - the "Y" was my last fill
48*. Zollverein Industrial Complex city : ESSEN - Saturday crossword cluing for a common crossword answer - and I should have WAGed it right away
49. Set of closely related notes : TRIAD - very familiar with this "chord" formation; OK, my guitar cronies, get out your axes and tell my what song this intro, predominantly triads, is from
51. Measure of concern for aerobatic pilots : G-FORCE - waiting for the day this is clued as the good guys from the cartoon "Battle of the Planets"
53. Starbucks order : SOY LATTE
55. Beyond gross : RANK
59. __ call : CATTLE
61*. "Respect for Acting" writer : UTA HAGEN - this one I did get with just --HAG--, but then again, the name makes enough crosswords....
63. Bro : PAISAN
64. Empathize with : RELATE TO
65. Get promoted : ASCEND - pondered something like "RISE UP", but the "P" was not user-friendly
66. Tops in malice : NASTIEST
DOWN:
1. BOLO equivalents : APBs - Be On the Look Out, All-Points Bulletin
2. Caesarean section? : GAUL - har-har
3*. Footwear designer Angiolini : ENZO
4. Pharmacy buys : LOZENGES
5. Exasperate : IRK
6. Submits : MAILS - and a clecho; 26D. Submitted : SENT IN
55. Beyond gross : RANK
59. __ call : CATTLE
61*. "Respect for Acting" writer : UTA HAGEN - this one I did get with just --HAG--, but then again, the name makes enough crosswords....
63. Bro : PAISAN
64. Empathize with : RELATE TO
65. Get promoted : ASCEND - pondered something like "RISE UP", but the "P" was not user-friendly
66. Tops in malice : NASTIEST
DOWN:
1. BOLO equivalents : APBs - Be On the Look Out, All-Points Bulletin
2. Caesarean section? : GAUL - har-har
3*. Footwear designer Angiolini : ENZO
4. Pharmacy buys : LOZENGES
5. Exasperate : IRK
6. Submits : MAILS - and a clecho; 26D. Submitted : SENT IN
7. "Gotta run!" : "I'M LATE~!"
9. __ meet : SWAP
10. Evergreen with edible pods : CAROB - ah, similar to cocoa - did not know they were 'evergreens'; I was thinking "what can you eat on a pine, spruce, cedar or yew~?"
11. Parting words : ADIEUs - more Frawnche; see 39D.
12*. Berlioz opera based on the "Aeneid" : LES TROYENS - more more Frawnche; "The Trojans"
13. Land where hurling reportedly originated: Abbr. : IREland - oh, uh, this kind of hurling. I'm more familiar with the drunken stupor kind....
14. Beast in some fables : ASS
21*. Catherine's husband in "Wuthering Heights" : EDGAR - I know this Edgar
23. "Good __": Alton Brown show : EATS
25*. "Wuthering Heights" author : BRONTË - oops, went with ALCOTT
27. Buttonhole : ACCOST
28*. Composer of an incomplete Tenth Symphony : MAHLER
29. Romantic : IDEALISTIC - ah, not the "intimate" kind of romantic; I was trying to find a link to associate the two clue terms, but it was a little more convoluted than I expected
31. Site of Vulcan's workshop : ETNA - makes sense, but I went looking for a specific reference - found one here
34. Order in the court : STAY
38. 007's watch since 1995 : OMEGA - I'm annoyed that I missed "Spectre" in theatres; gratuitous image for C.C.
39. With, on le menu : AVEC
40. Car with a trident emblem : MASERATI
45*. "Tao Te Ching" sage : LAO TSE
47. Spot in the afternoon : HOT TEA - I got the TEA part; the HOT part was not obvious
50*. Subject of the Robert Shelton biography "No Direction Home" : DYLAN
52. Rational and irrational numbers : REALS
54. Generate interest, in a way : LEND
56*. Miracle Mets star : AGEE - a good WAG
57. Has to spend : NETS - tough to grasp the clue's concept at first, but the answer ties it all in
58. Stomach trouble : KNOT - not ACHE - 100% 100% wrong
59. Pro with schedules : CPA
60. Wireless keyboard inserts : AAs
62. Outline in the Arby's logo : HAT
25*. "Wuthering Heights" author : BRONTË - oops, went with ALCOTT
27. Buttonhole : ACCOST
28*. Composer of an incomplete Tenth Symphony : MAHLER
29. Romantic : IDEALISTIC - ah, not the "intimate" kind of romantic; I was trying to find a link to associate the two clue terms, but it was a little more convoluted than I expected
31. Site of Vulcan's workshop : ETNA - makes sense, but I went looking for a specific reference - found one here
34. Order in the court : STAY
38. 007's watch since 1995 : OMEGA - I'm annoyed that I missed "Spectre" in theatres; gratuitous image for C.C.
40. Car with a trident emblem : MASERATI
47. Spot in the afternoon : HOT TEA - I got the TEA part; the HOT part was not obvious
50*. Subject of the Robert Shelton biography "No Direction Home" : DYLAN
52. Rational and irrational numbers : REALS
56*. Miracle Mets star : AGEE - a good WAG
57. Has to spend : NETS - tough to grasp the clue's concept at first, but the answer ties it all in
58. Stomach trouble : KNOT - not ACHE - 100% 100% wrong
59. Pro with schedules : CPA
60. Wireless keyboard inserts : AAs
62. Outline in the Arby's logo : HAT
Splynter
42 comments:
Well, Life's Been Good So Far. This puzzle was fun, forget the price. I had some problems but it was still nice. Wango tango. Wan-go Tan-go. Wango Tango.
Morning, all!
Well, this one nearly brutalized me. I mean, it was tough all over, but I came awfully close to a massive DNF due to the NW corner and one stupid letter crossing on the East Coast.
I floundered around for awhile before finally getting CHESS TOURNAMENTS, which really gave me the foothold I needed to finish the entire lower half of the puzzle. Still a challenge down there, mostly due to the ramped up clues, but doable.
The cross that nearly killed me was the Y in LES TROYENS and YON. Never heard of the former and couldn't even guess how to parse it until I came here, although now that I see it it sort of makes sense (certainly much more than LE STROYENS or LEST ROYENS). But the rest of the perps were solid and YON seemed it fit grammatically in the quote, so I went with it.
Up in the NW, I had GINO as a guess instead of ENZO as well as TRY instead of IRK, and those two mistakes really held me back. Once I finally got enough perps to guess at LOZENGES, though, I finally took out both mistakes and that was enough to let me get PANORAMA and BUZZKILL, and then I was suddenly done. From impossible to finished in something like 30 seconds....
Good morning!
Got 'er done in normal Saturday solving time, and with minimal use of Wite-Out, so all is good. The NW was the toughest area, but once I changed CINERAMA to PANORAMA things came together. Thanx, Doug and Patti.
We've got Roman themed street names around here. One of 'em is Caesar's Circle. Some of us refer to that as the Caesarean Section. Well, a few of us do. OK, just me.
"Vulcan" reminds me of the huge statue of Vulcan in Birmingham. Saw it while driving through a couple of years ago. It's "billed" as the biggest cast-iron statue in the world. More than you ever wanted to know.
OK, Splynter, it's time for you to 'splain. What is an "orthorunic" beating? I looked it up, and the only reference I could find was another of your blog posts -- this one from a 2012 Barry Silk puzzle, and then you called it "orthorunic construction".
Hi Y'all! Okay hard puzzle, Doug & Patti! Felt like there was more I didn't know than words I did know. Courageous as ever, Splynter!
Did anyone else think there was a mini-theme going here with all the "A" words: ARISES, ASCEND, AVANTI, ACCOST, ADIEU, AVEC, AGEE, AAs (batteries) & ASS. Buttonhole, I figured was going to mean "grab on" or something. Took a while to ACCOST the proper word.
Didn't know CAROB was an evergreen or had pods.
Never seen a MASEROTI so don't know its emblem -- all perps & WAG.
Never even driven by a Starbucks or had a LATTE. Probably won't. SOY LATTE doesn't even sound good. And part of my income is from raising soybeans.
Caesarean section = GAUL LOL! Belly didn't fit. SLIT turned red. Can never spell Caesarean right the first time.
Pro with schedules = CPA = groan! I tried to do my taxes and didn't have two 1099's yet. Piddling little amounts so I am IRKed. But the one is from a cooperative where you have to pay on more than the cash they sent so don't know the amount.
CATTLE call? I guess this is a play casting term, not MOOOOO?
YEOH (that's a name? Really?) & HOTTEA was a natick.
Nope. Beat me up, down, and sideways. Just far to difficult for me. Huge DNF. Got five fills on the whole CW, then surrendered. Oh well.
Well, I redeemed my big fail of yesterday. I had more patience and time today because I face a very doable TO DO list. I got CHESS TOURNAMENT from just two letters and it opened things up big time. I enjoyed the challenge. I also got MASERATI from MA-- and LOZENGES from --NGES
HOT TEA does make sense. Does anyone refer to drinking cold tea as a spot of tea?
The ROY in the middle gave me LES TROYENS, which I have listened to. My ex, a music teacher, had an extensive collection of classics.
I had POET early. LAKE took a while.
YEOH was all perps.
REALS seems odd. Are real numbers ever called REALS?
Off to the gym with Alan. I'm glad he is up to it. He worked his regular hours this week.
Really really tough today. Started out quick with APBs and Sloe, then crashed. Picked a few berries here and there, but could never really get a strong toehold. Finally took a chance on Chess Tournament with only the final T in place from Sent In, and that helped enormously. Final fill was the Y in Yon, but I had little faith in it. Took more flyers on this effort than I can ever recall. And most turned out correct. But there was also a greater sense of despair than I ever remember. Nearly quite several times, but bit by bit it came together. Phew! Is right
Been watching this blog for a while. Thank you to all who contribute! The instances in which pictures of scantily-clad women are included in the explications is shocking. So, how about some scantily-clad men for a change? :)
Cattle Call(2:38) Slim Whitman
"Puzzling thoughts":
My first impression to this puzzle was "meh". On my newspaper page I must have that word written 8+ times to describe the clued answer. Also, had it not been for Google to look up 7 answers, this was clearly heading for a DNF. But, stubborn Moe prefers to finish what he starts. I guess I would compare today's puzzle to the old "open book" tests we had back when I was in college ... but I digress ...
Probably my most "hated" clue/solve was 11d - I was looking for a two word answer (ala BYE BYE, e.g.), not what the constructor offered
Splynter, your write up was both educations as well as entertaining - as I was doing the puzzle I was trying to figure where you would find a spot to insert a pair of pantyhosed legs! Didn't expect the clue you used; I thought you'd use 30 across, instead!
30 Across Image as I imagined Splynter using .... Of course this would've been the "plural" of it !!
Send him some UPS. Legs.
It's Saturday, so I gave myself as much time as it took. A struggle particularly in the NW, but it all worked out. I was hoping one of the of the "submits" would result in a "give in" rather than "send in" answer for a bit of Saturday asymmetry. I have to quibble a bit with the Venn diagram in the write-up. There aren't any reals that are neither rational nor irrational. Hence the irrationals should not be in closed region with unaccounted for space in the main diagram. This is a little closer with the stipulation that not all algebraic or transcendental numbers are real. (Some are complex.)
What is this habit of referring to French as Frawnch? It is repulsive,IMHO. Let's use true words instead of made up ones.
Well, I could post a DNF,
but to explain why I am here so early... (I cheated...)
Orthorunic? (A puzzle within a puzzle) Lets see, Ortho,
Greek prefix meaning straight, upright, correct.
Runic, possible meaning mystery, secret, but having to do with letters.
Hmm, Straight mystery?
Speaking of mystery, I was looking at old Popular Electronics Mags last night
& am I trying to (even with the answers) wrap my head around what the heck they are talking about.
Quiz?
Answers?
(You may have to enlarge these pics a bit to read them...)
Ack! I left my guitar upstairs for the triad quiz!
(I'll be right back...)
Ok Splynter, ya got me...
Sounds good, sounds familiar,
But that Db 7fret triad is throwing me off.
Yuk!
I had an easier and more enjoyable solve today than is usual for a Saturday. Therefore, I was expecting to see many posters commenting about how easy it was. Not! So I was fairly pleased with myself. Thanks Doug, Patti and Splynter.
YR, yes, the Real numbers are often called just REALS. They are all the numbers you will ever use or need unless you are an engineer or scientist where the complex or imaginary numbers are very useful in problem solving.
Hello Puzzlers -
Made some solid guesses right out of the box, and probably shortened the solve time considerably. Ran into a bit of trouble figuring out Lao Tzu/Tsu/Tse. Got there eventually.
A clearer view (if you are interested)
of the AC circuit - vector quiz can be found here.
(page 30 & 96)
Hi Everyone:
I'm not sure which gave me more agita: the NW or the SE. I had Mercedes for the longest time and, of course, could not get much traction until Maserati finally filled in. I just kept chipping away until I conquered the NW but, alas, no tada! I had sent on instead of sent in; silly mistake so a FIW, after all that hard work! ACK! Other missteps were swim/swap and port of/cattle. However, I did enjoy the solve, anyway.
Thanks, Doug and Patti, for a challenging exercise and thanks, Splynter, for the super summary.
YR, glad to hear the positive news about Alan.
Ferm, I forgot to mention Suits started this past Wednesday. I also forgot to watch it but that's what On Demand is for. I am really back logged on my DVR.
Have a great day.
Hmm, I may have gotten myself into a bit of a hole here...
(magnitude and phase relationships between voltage and current in an a.c .circuit)
Oh, wait sec!
If they had just mentioned ELI THE ICEMAN in the 1st place
it would have made sense...
(WTF? Help?)
Hmm, with this information,
and an afternoon with Tinbeni,
I might be able to figure out the meaning of the Universe...
(& don't say "42" I am trying to figure this out here...)
Tough, tough, tough! Huge DNF today. But enjoyed the challenge. Thanks, Doug & Patti, for the humbling experience.
Nice job, Splynter. I even liked Argyle's UPS Legs!
Bindo @ 553a
Does your car go 185? Be careful or you'll lose your license and won't be able to drive!
Then Ted will have to navigate.
What unclefred said.
I could see the puzzle was going to take a gaggle of Googles and I don't have time for that today.
Thanks Patti & Doug; thanks Splynter for the answers.
CED - I'd like to help w/ the phase shift, but I haven't done real-EE in so long... The diagrams ring a bell but I couldn't match the vectors worth a crap.
Have a great Saturday everyone!
Cheers, -T
Ow! Not at all on the constructor's wavelength today, but somehow managed to complete unassisted offline as I ate my breakfast with way, way more than my usual quota of tentative wags to provide some foothold to get past all the complete unknowns. Really made me work at it from beginning to end. Much like a Silkie in it's do-ability, but harder. SW corner was first to fall, then maybe a tie between the SE and center, then NE and finally the NW. A slow but steady slog all the way.
Have to agree about expecting two words for 11D, parting words. I initially was thinking along the line of bye-bye myself, having immediately rejected adieus as too obvious a crosswordese answer for a Saturday puzzle. Only other nit was with 27D buttonhole yielding accost, which I found too loose a match even for a Saturday. It may be legit, but I'd never really heard buttonhole used in that sense. Fortunately, like one of Barry's Saturday offerings, the perps provided me enough traction to sort it all out in the end. Always amazed and delighted both with the constructor and myself when that happens. But still, ouch!
Hi again~!
D-otto, that word is pure fiction, one I made up for my draft blog, which you found. It's merely an alternative to, say, "Cruciverb"; unsolved phrases in a strictly up/down & left/right pattern....
Anon @ 8:34am - you just have to look over some past Saturday postings, and you'll see some men, too. Stick around, I don't always leave the ladies out~!
CED, I know the feeling on that triad; I sometimes make the 'shape' of it as though it's a standard "C" chord, but tighter. It's this song that made me do a lot more practicing, since I was eager to learn - and it's got a fast pace, too.
NW Runner - you say "to - MAY - to", I say "Ta - MAH - to" - I stop at rational numbers, and nothing smaller than a 32nd....
As for the "legs", I figured I'd be a little less obvious, but I am still waiting for that package that Argyle "sent" to arrive at my terminal - and then I will be "intercepting" it
:7))
Splynter
We recently discovered we have The Cooking Channel(ch 1456). It resides near the Food Network(ch 1452). Probably had it for years since we switched to U-verse but we didn't know. Anywho, I been watching Alton Brown's Good Eats nightly at 11p. Really enjoy learning about the chemistry of food. Saw one a few days ago about making your own yogurt. Very interesting and am planning on attempting it soon.
Dan, you were in the spam filter for a bit. Sorry.
Wow this was tough. I quit and came back three times. Almost began to Google stuff but stopped. Still hard to believe I got the finish.
Learning moment re buttonhole as accost. The little grey cells had previously incorrectly treated like pigeonhole. I guess it is a bit in the sense of cornering someone, but only in conversation.
CED - I never had an AC circuit theory class. Vector representation is beyond my ken. Fun to read the old magazine, though!
A nice hard and enjoyable puzzle today. I echo pretty much what many of you said; lots of false entries that had to be changed. It usually helps when I fill some long answers but today it didn't help much. I knew LES TROYENS, MASERATI, and UTA HAGEN, as well as shorter answers BRONTE, MAHLER, and YEOH right away but they didn't make my solve any easier. Not knowing how the spelling of Master LAO's title (TSE, TSU, TZU?) would turn out, as Dudley said, required getting a perp or two first. Like some of you, I found some of the clues to be a rather long stretch from the answers, which I attribute to the constructors' efforts to make them Saturday difficult. A pretty awesome puzzle.
As for those voltage/phase diagrams, I repeat what Anonymous T said so well: "I couldn't match the vectors worth a crap."
Best wishes to you all.
Looks like someone got their wires crossed today. Speaking unreal numbers & electricity terms is as big a "hunh?" as Frawnch. Orthorunic maybe. LOL!
Even though, as an electronics engineer, I've been designing amplifiers and filters for over 30 years, I have never needed imaginary or complex numbers. The formulas involving only real numbers have served very well. This supports an opinion I have long held, namely that a lot of the book learning one is forced to learn in school contributes little toward learning a profession. I tell young people who ask me that it doesn't matter so much WHAT they get a degree in as much as simply GETTING one. Employers love applicants with PhD's, perhaps only because it shows that the applicant had lots of stamina and knows how to stick with an arduous task.
To me, BUTTONHOLE is a pejorative word. It is not nice. I picture someone putting a finger through an open buttonhole and holding me there. It means, “To accost and detain (a person) in conversation.” ACCOST means, “to approach and speak to, especially aggressively or insistently, as with a demand or request.”
My work for today is finished, all the year-end reports required of a legal guardian and representative payee. I can’t cross check for accuracy because the IRS W2 is for the calendar year, the representative payee form is for Oct.1 of one year until Sept. 30 of the next year. The legal guardianship is from the anniversary date of Jan 11 until the next Jan.11. I also assembled the data for a different kind of Medicaid which we will apply for this week.
I couldn’t find a writable form for the legal guardianship report. I am guessing I could have scanned it into word and then filled it in. Having done the hard work last year, I copied that one, wrote changes in WORD, then cut and taped them literally onto the new copy, which I then recopied. My elder CPA son is a wiz at computers, but this is his heavy corporate and partnership tax season. He is swamped with work.
A lot of the blog conversation today left me in the dark, not my spot of tea, hot or cold.
Dan N: I love Alton on Good Eats. I learned so many "basic" techniques that made my kitchen attempts better. My fav was brining the turkey - it's easy and removes any chance of dry white meat.
CED - It's slowly coming back to me. Transform the waves to the frequency-domain; do the algebra using Ohms-law, and then jump back to the REALS. Here's a Yale class (1:10:50) that kinda 'Splains it. If you want to keep looking, Laplace transforms is your friend. Or just ask Jayce :-)
FYI - I am not 2:50 anon. For 3:03 anon, yes there are reputable hackers (I'm one) who help secure stuff. I know how to break into things because I know how they work. My 9-5 (more like 24/7/365.2425) is to call out weaknesses at my company and relate the risk so they can accept, mitigate, or reject (or transfer via insurance; but that's slowly showing to be scammy) said risk.
Cheers, -T
Curses, foiled again. DNF because I had 'caul' not 'gaul' for 2D. That gave me 'ace limit' for 1A. It didn't look right but I assumed it was some obscure poker term. :-(
Easy...this backs up my feeling that, when the proper names are few, the puzzle gets easier.
Too much to do today but just got the puzzle done after getting back from Omaha for the second time.
Musings
-PANORAMA made me replace SYRINGES with LOZENGES
-We call student teachers CADETS around here. My last two have the worst and the best in that order.
-I wonder how many shares have been DUMPED in the last few weeks
-Seeing PAISANO = BRO was last fill area
-Considered ACT I for (Julius) Caesarean section
-Not much to add at this late time
-It was fun reading what y'all had to say
I was all over the place today-late-mainly because of all the proper nouns, books, and opera, of which and who (whom) I knew absolutely nothing about. So many false starts. SYRINGES to LOZENGES, UGLI to SLOE, CHORD to TRIAD, CURTIN to CATTLE, OUT OF LINE to TURN. I had MASERATI, ASS, ESSEN, and BURBS on the first pass.
PAISAN and LES TROYENS were Frawnch to me. LeSTAT became LAO TSE. All three were perps. I had ORNAMENT before TOURNAMENT and YEOH was my last fill with H coming in last. I don't drink coffee or HOT TEA nor have I been to a STARBUCKS, so SOY LATTE came by perps; I was thinking Moby Dick but there wasn't an apostrophe so that killed that reasoning. And I finished with no cheats.
But I did go to see a free 'Dr. John' in concert yesterday in Metairie. We parked a few blocks down the street a few hours early so we would be able to put our chairs reasonably close to the stage and then go eat at a restaurant. Big surprise- he was practicing with his band for 45 minutes and there was about 40 people there at that time. After eating, we came back and the crowd was about ten thousand. So we got a double concert. Then the Mardi Gras parade came by.
Hello, friends!
So very late to the party today and that's because another party was taking place in my clubhouse and the guests started arriving just as I went to post.
And I was really enthusiastic about posting because this puzzle filled in without assistance much to my shock and surprise! It was tough. But with a fill here and a fill there I finally got enough letters connected to finish the long runs, AGELIMIT, PANORAMA and BUZZKILL. The NE was actually fairly easy and did that first.
Although some obscure book references and authors held me back, the lightbulb went on several times. One thing that I couldn't let go of was BEST ROMANS at 12D but finally SCALIA forced my hand though only when I read Splynter's comments did I know how to parse it.
A good time, thank you, Doug and Patti. And as ever, thank you, Splynter for your guiding hand.
I hope you all had a delightful day! We celebrated January birthdays. Whew!
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