Theme: None
Total blocks: 30
I am sorry for the troubles many of you (mainly Internet Explorer users) went through last night accessing to the blog. The SNAFU was caused by the Site Meter, which brought down every blog/website with its tracking code. I removed it as soon as I discovered the problem earlier this morning. This was the first time I encountered such a glitch in the 6 months since I installed it.
Everything should be fine now. However, I do suggest you to download Firefox, which is much better than IE. And it allows you to do automatic spelling check when you comment. It's the best browser in my view.
OK, back to puzzle. I had a very tough round. Sliced my opening tee shot immediately. Did not know how to HOOK (1D: Peter Pan" pirate). I filled in SMEE. Then I could not see clearly where the fairways went in the next couple of holes. Too many unfamiliar names. Some of the clues were purposely made tough and I could not correctly read the breaks. Felt like I had to putt 3, or 4 times to sink that damned ball.
I was very, very flattered that Mr. Michael T. William thought I was capable of solving his puzzle.
Front Nine:
1A: Takes by force: HIJACKS
8A: Going one better than: BESTING. Are you OK with this clue?
15A: Prize presenter: AWARDER. I've never heard of "presenter" being called an "AWARDER" before.
13A: Catalog customer: ORDERER.
18A: Soprano Renata: TEBALDI. Foreign to me. Wikipedia says TEBALDI "is famous for being Maria Callas' rival and for her large, voluminous soprano that was widely admired for its tonal beauty and evenness of vocal line.
19A: Short-lived 1920s car: KESSLER. Completely unknown to me. I googled, and still could not find anything about this car.
20A: Indisposition: ILLNESS
23A: In an early stage of development: INCHOATE. Another new word to me. Only knew "incipient".
31A: Despotic: TYRANNICAL. Again, only knew "tyranny".
35A: Zest: ELAN. It reminds me of "pizazz", a word that confused me for a long long time. I never knew how to spell it correctly.
37A: Future rock: LAVA
38A: Jazz pianist Thelonious: MONK. Another unknown to me. Very strange given name. Here is his "Round About Midnight".
39A: Figwort family member: SNAPDRAGON. So delicate!
41A: Slammin' Sammy: SNEAD. Ben Hogan seems to have a more proununced hip move than SNEAD.
43A: Chatoyand gemstone: TIGER EYE. Interesting brown TIGER EYE.
44A: Sealed like flies: ZIPPERED. I did not know that "ZIPPER" is a verb also.
47A: Boris Badenov's cartoon partner: NATASHA. No idea. Pure guess.
50A: Pertinent: APROPOS
55A: Like bogeys: OVER PAR. "Below Par" is such a fascinating self-contradicting word. This puzzle has a slight golf theme. With SNEAD, TORSO (36A: Trunk of the body), HOOK (though it's clued differently) & TIGER.
56A: Ryder painting, "___ of the Sea": TOILERS. Here is the painting. I see no romance or mystic in that picture. Have never heard of Ryder before.
57A: Most in the pink?: ROSIEST. "In the pink" is a new phrase to me. The clue feels a bit strained to me.
60A: Puts to sleep: SEDATES
Back Nine:
3D: Clampett and others: JEDS
5D: Gordon Jump on "WKRP...": CARLSON. No idea. I googled the show.
6D: Short trousers: KNEE PANTS. I don't like the side slit, the color is OK.
7D: Saw-toothed edge: SERRATION. I only knew the adjective SERRATE.
8D: Hand-dyed fabric: BATIK. Another new word. Dictionary says it's also "a technique of hand-dyeing fabrics by using wax as a dye repellent to cover parts of a design, dyeing the uncovered fabric with a color or colors, and dissolving the wax in boiling water."
9D: "The Seven Year Itch": co-star Tom: EWELL. Unknow to me. I've never seen the movie. Knew this Marilyn Monroe picture though.
10D: Natural Paintbrushes: SABLES. I was in the ART direction. Why avoiding "Fine Fur", just to be politically correct? (Addendum: It's clued as "Paintbrush display" on line).
11D: Crossing the Arctic Circle: TRANSPOLAR. Another new word.
14D: Spanish cubist: GRIS (Juan). This is his "Portrait of Picasso".
22D: Repack for reshipping: RECRATE. This actually is a very accurate clue.
25D: Hart or Stephen: CRANE. Know Stephen, not Hart
26D: "The Simpsons" voice: HANK AZARIA. He was married to Helen Hunt for a short period of time.
32D: Pronounces an initial H: ASPIRATES. New term to me.
33D: Northwestern pine: LODGEPOLE. Odd red-colored pines. New to me.
42D: Scatter: DISPEL
47D: Sushi wrapping: NORI. Yes, this is the only seaweed you use to wrap sushi or rice ball.
48D: Bath's river: AVON. I've never heard of this city "Bath" before. AVON is easily inferable though.
49D: New Age pianist John: TESH. Got his name from the across clues. I think I saw his mug before. Who is that girl on his left?
52D: Partially carbonized moss: PEAT. Every clue seems to be very complicated today.
53D: Caen's river: ORNE. Learned from doing Xword of course. Have not seen ST. LO (Town near Caen) for quite some time.
C.C.
Total blocks: 30
I am sorry for the troubles many of you (mainly Internet Explorer users) went through last night accessing to the blog. The SNAFU was caused by the Site Meter, which brought down every blog/website with its tracking code. I removed it as soon as I discovered the problem earlier this morning. This was the first time I encountered such a glitch in the 6 months since I installed it.
Everything should be fine now. However, I do suggest you to download Firefox, which is much better than IE. And it allows you to do automatic spelling check when you comment. It's the best browser in my view.
OK, back to puzzle. I had a very tough round. Sliced my opening tee shot immediately. Did not know how to HOOK (1D: Peter Pan" pirate). I filled in SMEE. Then I could not see clearly where the fairways went in the next couple of holes. Too many unfamiliar names. Some of the clues were purposely made tough and I could not correctly read the breaks. Felt like I had to putt 3, or 4 times to sink that damned ball.
I was very, very flattered that Mr. Michael T. William thought I was capable of solving his puzzle.
Front Nine:
1A: Takes by force: HIJACKS
8A: Going one better than: BESTING. Are you OK with this clue?
15A: Prize presenter: AWARDER. I've never heard of "presenter" being called an "AWARDER" before.
13A: Catalog customer: ORDERER.
18A: Soprano Renata: TEBALDI. Foreign to me. Wikipedia says TEBALDI "is famous for being Maria Callas' rival and for her large, voluminous soprano that was widely admired for its tonal beauty and evenness of vocal line.
19A: Short-lived 1920s car: KESSLER. Completely unknown to me. I googled, and still could not find anything about this car.
20A: Indisposition: ILLNESS
23A: In an early stage of development: INCHOATE. Another new word to me. Only knew "incipient".
31A: Despotic: TYRANNICAL. Again, only knew "tyranny".
35A: Zest: ELAN. It reminds me of "pizazz", a word that confused me for a long long time. I never knew how to spell it correctly.
37A: Future rock: LAVA
38A: Jazz pianist Thelonious: MONK. Another unknown to me. Very strange given name. Here is his "Round About Midnight".
39A: Figwort family member: SNAPDRAGON. So delicate!
41A: Slammin' Sammy: SNEAD. Ben Hogan seems to have a more proununced hip move than SNEAD.
43A: Chatoyand gemstone: TIGER EYE. Interesting brown TIGER EYE.
44A: Sealed like flies: ZIPPERED. I did not know that "ZIPPER" is a verb also.
47A: Boris Badenov's cartoon partner: NATASHA. No idea. Pure guess.
50A: Pertinent: APROPOS
55A: Like bogeys: OVER PAR. "Below Par" is such a fascinating self-contradicting word. This puzzle has a slight golf theme. With SNEAD, TORSO (36A: Trunk of the body), HOOK (though it's clued differently) & TIGER.
56A: Ryder painting, "___ of the Sea": TOILERS. Here is the painting. I see no romance or mystic in that picture. Have never heard of Ryder before.
57A: Most in the pink?: ROSIEST. "In the pink" is a new phrase to me. The clue feels a bit strained to me.
60A: Puts to sleep: SEDATES
Back Nine:
3D: Clampett and others: JEDS
5D: Gordon Jump on "WKRP...": CARLSON. No idea. I googled the show.
6D: Short trousers: KNEE PANTS. I don't like the side slit, the color is OK.
7D: Saw-toothed edge: SERRATION. I only knew the adjective SERRATE.
8D: Hand-dyed fabric: BATIK. Another new word. Dictionary says it's also "a technique of hand-dyeing fabrics by using wax as a dye repellent to cover parts of a design, dyeing the uncovered fabric with a color or colors, and dissolving the wax in boiling water."
9D: "The Seven Year Itch": co-star Tom: EWELL. Unknow to me. I've never seen the movie. Knew this Marilyn Monroe picture though.
10D: Natural Paintbrushes: SABLES. I was in the ART direction. Why avoiding "Fine Fur", just to be politically correct? (Addendum: It's clued as "Paintbrush display" on line).
11D: Crossing the Arctic Circle: TRANSPOLAR. Another new word.
14D: Spanish cubist: GRIS (Juan). This is his "Portrait of Picasso".
22D: Repack for reshipping: RECRATE. This actually is a very accurate clue.
25D: Hart or Stephen: CRANE. Know Stephen, not Hart
26D: "The Simpsons" voice: HANK AZARIA. He was married to Helen Hunt for a short period of time.
32D: Pronounces an initial H: ASPIRATES. New term to me.
33D: Northwestern pine: LODGEPOLE. Odd red-colored pines. New to me.
42D: Scatter: DISPEL
47D: Sushi wrapping: NORI. Yes, this is the only seaweed you use to wrap sushi or rice ball.
48D: Bath's river: AVON. I've never heard of this city "Bath" before. AVON is easily inferable though.
49D: New Age pianist John: TESH. Got his name from the across clues. I think I saw his mug before. Who is that girl on his left?
52D: Partially carbonized moss: PEAT. Every clue seems to be very complicated today.
53D: Caen's river: ORNE. Learned from doing Xword of course. Have not seen ST. LO (Town near Caen) for quite some time.
C.C.
58 comments:
Good morning CC and gang. I bombed on this one. I also put smee for 1D, but then realized it was Hook. I did get 16A and knew Thelonious Monk.
Can someone explain 44A to me? Seal like "flies"??????????
I loved the Ryder painting.
The woman standing by John Tesh is a famous new, young actress, but I can't think of her name. I have seen her before.
I don't know how you get all these puzzles so good CC. If I had more time, I could probably get more of it on my own, but I only have a few minutes each morning to work on the puzzle.
I will be back Monday or Tuesday. Have a great weekend everyone.
Katherine,
Fly is the zipper on your jeans. I know the name of the girl who stands besides John Tesh. I just want those DF's to guess. Have a great weekend.
Oh how funny CC........I just didn't get that "fly" thing at all!
Good morning CC etal,
Actually not too difficult today. Only needed to google "ewell", "tebaldi" (seen it before but culdn't remember), and "snapdragon" - knew everything else or got it from the perps. Feeling successful today!
CC: Boris Badenov & Natasha Fatale were the antagonists in the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons - very "cold war-ish" and a great trip down memory lane. UTube it someday or check it out on cable, some of those shows were hysterical and even more so in light of the way the world has changed since then.
@ Katherine re: "zippered" - I can remember a time when there actually were leather portfolios for files that were closed with a zipper - perhaps that's what it refers to.
Hope all have a great Saturday!
A man's zipper is his fly.
Chris,
Lois will probably laugh out loud at NATASHA today. Were BATIK (8D) and INCHOATE (23A) gimmes to you?
Anonymous @6:40am & Chris,
Does it mean that the zipper on lady's jeans is not called a "FLY"?
CC:
"Batik", yes - my mom was a seamstress, so there's not much about fabric that isn't stuck somewhere in the recesses of my brain ;)
Got "inchoate" from perps - googled it after the fact to make sure it was the right word. I guess you learn something new every day!
CC,
I suppose a woman's zipper could be referred to as aa fly, although I've never heard the term used in that manner before. I googled around a little bit and came up with this, which makes sense since zippered trousers on women are a relatively new fashion in the grand scheme of things:
"Yet another meaning of this "fly" was "something attached by one edge," as a flag that flaps or "flies" in the wind. In the 19th century, "fly" (or the plural "flies") in this sense was applied to the tailoring detail of a flap of cloth, attached by one edge, covering a closure, such as buttons or a zipper. This use of "fly" was almost always applied to the closure on trousers, at the time a nearly exclusively male garment, so the term remained associated with men long after women began wearing trousers."
Good morning to all!!!
Had some trouble besting this one. Didn't know the Simpsons voice (can't stand the show), Tebaldi, Kessler (to me that is a whiskey), and Inchoate. Took awhile to relate flies to the opening in the front of one's pants (interesting connection between "flies" (located just bleow your "torso") and "kneepants."
To the best of my knowledge, the "fly" is not the zipper itself but the opening. There is no reason the opening on women's slacks/pants cannot be called a fly, though it is more common to refer to male pants when calling it a fly. Here is a Procedure to put a zipper in/on a fly.
I remember Bullwinkle and Rocky versus Boris and Natasha.
WKRP was here awhile back with Loni Anderson. Today it is Arthur Carlson. Gordon Jump also played a Maytag repairman. He was always "idle."
Do tiger eyes have sparkles?
Besting is okay for going one better.
Lava rocks go in gas grills.
I did batik along with tie dyeing a long time ago.
Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, National Ice Cream Soda Day, and Mustard Day.
Have a great Saturday.
Morning all,
I had trouble with the bottom half and asked husband for the Boris partner and he helped with Natasha. That cleared the way for the SW corner. Didn't know Ryder painting and Googled that.
C.C. you cleared something up for me. I also use Firefox and could never understand why people had sp. errors. Didn't realize that IE doesn't have a spell check. I am a former typing teacher and can type over 80 wpm but I still love a spell check.
Chris in la: From yesterday's blog, I didn't realize PA Dutch went out to Ohio. Loved your mother's quote. One of my favorite PA Dutch sayings is "We grow too soon old and too late smart". Now I have to "make groceries".
Dr.Dad: I think I'll have one of those ice cream sandwiches today.
Phew!!! Mr. Williams, What are trying to prove? My dumbness? Well, YOU DID!!!!
Theme to me: Where Are The Golfers?
C.C., agree... It's an exercise of futile work, but found the stuff the way I fill my golfer's card, but way too many bogies, double bogies, triple bogies and lost golf balls. I hope Monday's is a bit easier.
I did the crossword while I was having lunch at KFC so I didn't use google today. I think I did okay. I couldn't get 16, 18, 23 or 41 across nor 8, 9, 10, 25, 42, 45 or 47 down. I didn't know "Boris and Natasha" so I filled in Natalia based on the down clues. I felt frustrated because I didn't realise there was a golf theme: I thought a "bogey" was something that you picked up on radar.
Martin
Hey, Gang!
Yeah, this puzzle spanked me pretty badly as well, although I did manage to finish it unassisted after getting the TEBALDI / GRIS crossing purely as a guess. I knew that GRIS is the Spanish word for grey, so I figured it could possibly be somebody's name. But it just as easily could have been GRAS or GRES or GROS.
Like C.C., I immediately put SMEE for 1D which really messed up the NW corner for the longest time. It didn't help any that I've never heard of a car called the KESSLER and "Driveway-like" is an awfully obscure clue for ONE LANE.
I was lucky in that I used to be a big fan of WKRP back in the day and knew who Mr. CARLSON was. Ditto for the Simpsons (Hank AZARIA)and the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (Boris and NATASHA). I was also pretty proud of myself for knowing juicy vocabulary words like INCHOATE and A PROPOS.
Oh -- and with regard to 56A, I had TOILE_S and I swear all I could think of was "Toilets of the Sea". It took me awhile to think of another possibility.... ^_^
And I'm pretty sure the woman in the picture with John Tesh is Anne Hathaway, formerly of "The Princess Diaries" and lately of "Get Smart".
Took me a little longer than usual but, except for 18a and the related perps it was OK. Had to come here to get the right spelling. Once I had it everything fell in place fine.
Had no trouble at all accessing the site all day yesterday. From a couple different machines.
Rainy, crappy day here and we have a couple of outdoor parties to attend. Fun, don't ya think???
Good morning all except maybe good afternoon to Martin.
Here's what I found on Kessler:
from Szudarek's "How Detroit Became...":
------------------------------
quote:
"Martin Kessler designed an engine for the Chalmers Motor Co in 1907, and worked as an automotive consultant afterwards. In 1917, the Kessler Motor Company was formed to manufacture aircraft engines during the First World War.The Kessler Motor Co announced its plans for automobile production in January of 1920. The factory was located at 1297-1309 Terminal Avenue, at East Jefferson and the Terminal Railroad...
"...In September 1921, the Kess-Line Motor Company was formed...Martin Kessler was president, and W.H. Radford, prominent in car manufacturing since 1903, was V.P....The former factory of the Liberty Motor Car Company, on Lycaste Avenue and the Detroit Terminal Line, was leased for production. The factory had 70,000 square feet of floor space with a production capacity of 60 cars per day.
"The Kess-Line had a 119" wheelbase and used a 167 cubic inch tandem-four cylinder engine with a supercharger that produced 90-100 hp. The first car built was given 8,000 miles of the roughest road tests to prepare for production. The car was shown at the Detroit Auto Show in 1922, but never made it into production.
"The Kess-Line Motor was reworked and used in the Balboa produced in Fullerton, California in 1924-1925, with the help of W.H. Radford."
Thanks M____. I'm glad I now know the reason why I couldn't find anything about any cars that those two companies made; they never went into production. A big puzzle piece just fell into place!
and another thing; 10D, in my paper, is Natural paintbrushes, a lot better clue than Paintbrush displays I'd say.
Barry,
You are right. She is also in "The Devil Wears Prada".
Martin,
This is not a golf-themed puzzle. Saturday is always themeless. I mentioned the golf undercurrent only because there are several golf related words.
Argyle,
What does "Plant ya' now, dig ya' later" mean? You are right about the syndication clue on SABLES.
Good morning CC & DF's: not an easy one. Wanted to put seduces instead of sedates and toilets, not toilers. Perps got 'em today, I got 'em last night. Loved the links, CC. Thought it was ironic that such a dainty snapdragon could be part of the figwort fam. Would expect something more along the line of a toadstool. Inchoate? new one for me as well as that chatoyant gem. Love John Tesh and just envy anyone w/him...whoever she may be..and love jazzy Monk. Great style. Natasha made me laugh. Waiting for Boris or Rocky & Bullwinkle soon.
Enjoy this gorgeous day. I'm rockin' and ridin' on the beautiful open range. drdad, don't you miss NE?
good morning c.c. and all,
don't love themeless puzzles, but got through this one so quickly it surpised me. didn't know kessler, tebaldi, or toilers, and would not have thought of aspirates from its clue, but filled them easily from the perps. liked seeing batik .. my favorite style of fabric. lava made me smile, remembering drdad's definition of lava bomb. torso seems appropriately placed (apropos) .. right in the middle.
the marilyn picture reminded me of this memorable scene from 'the woman in red.'
@katherine: knew you'd know monk.
@clear ayes: i was one of the ones who could not access the site yesterday after about 4p. i would never stay away because of anything anon wrote. what is the news on the fire and smoke?
@c.c. thanks for the firefox suggestion. haven't used it lately but will download and try it again.
C.C,
I tried to post a similar message on your site for the CC DFs, but I couldn't sign in.
The technical savvy folks over at Rantburg have a nice thread on this situation.
Good Morning C.C.and everyone:
This one wasn't too shabby, a few unknowns that stayed that way as I didn't ask Mr.Google: 23A, 18A, 14D but did get 23A from 23D.
I didn't have any trouble accessing the site yesterday, but on Pacific time, there were already quite a few comments and I didn't want to go over the limit.
I had a difficult time but almost got it. I didn't know either TEBALDI or GRIS so I guessed TEBALDO AND GROS. I struggled with all of the NE corner.
Boris and Natasha appeared in Rocky the Flying Squirrel TV cartoon series. They were the evil Russian-like spies that were Rocky's nemeses.
WKRP in Cincinnati was mostly famous for Loni Anderson who played a smart blonde - an unexpected and refreshing persona.
I think John Tesh's companion is Anne Hathaway, recently of "Get Smart" fame.
back to french and swedish in one word (gris is grey in fr and pig in sw haha) have sufficiently recovered from yesterday's eclipse to admire the ryder painting...looks like they are going through one too--either that or the sun is being eaten by the fenris wolf...clever with zippered flies and inchoate is very formless to say the least...i think of the universe before big bang time...don't forget elan is also an animal...
Hey all,
I also put Smee in instead of Hook for the longest time, but finally put in Hook and the NW corner filled in nicely. I got inchoate from the perps. Had to google "Natasha" and "Tebaldi", but that's it. Spelled Tyrannical wrong to begin with but finally saw the light. Took a while to get this puzzle done but persevered! Drdad I commented on your blog I believe on Wednesday did you see it? Have a great day everyone!
Is there a reason why Saturdays puzzles are themeless?
There were some clever clues here. There were also some that were obscure to the point of Googling and, if Google didn't exist, some hair pulling. I'd never heard of a "Kessler". I bet the car show prototype would be worth a pretty penny now.
I had never heard of Senor "Gris" either. The only four letter Spanish artists I could think of were Dali and Goya, but neither were cubists, so I had to suffer for a while.
I did know "Tebaldi", since my father was a great one for opera as a Sunday morning wake up call.
After seeing "Mama Mia" yesterday, "Sparkles" was a gimme. The pre-credit was just about the most glittery, sparkly scene ever!
"Sealed as flies" had me thinking of insects trapped in amber and I laughed when I went back to work on the perps and got Hank Azaria.
I have mentioned before that I do enjoy the Simpsons. Hank Azaria is right on with with voice overs for various characters. In live action, he usually appears in comedies. A more serious one was "The Cradle Will Rock", about a group of actors involved in the depression era WPA arts programs.
mark: Thanks for yesteday's explanation for "Plumps (for)". Initially I thought it was a very weird clue, but now I can hardly wait to try it out on my Brit brother-in-law.
It looks like our fire is about 50% contained. Some of our friends higher in the hills were under voluntary evacuation orders, but now have be told they can go back home. What a relief for them and clear skies for us. Thanks for asking, Melissa bee.
c.c. I will try Firefox. re: my last comment yesterday, maybe I was a little paranoid. I won't do that again. Life is too short to spend time worrying about things over which we have no control .
Good morning C.C. and all. I loved the way you "putted" in the answers today. Isn't cubism fascinating? I loved Gris's painting.Hank Azaria was in the movie (from the novel) "Tuesdays with Morrie"; he was so believable, one of his best.
32D does not make sense to me.I thought awarder and orderer were poor choices for an otherwise great puzzle. Loved clue "future rocks."
Bath is a lovely town, known for their hot springs.It is west of London and somewhat close to Stonehenge.All of the buildings are painted a creamy off white hue. The ancient Romans built public baths there, as they also did in Rome.
Good morning C.C. and all. I loved the way you "putted" in the answers today. Isn't cubism fascinating? I loved Gris's painting.Hank Azaria was in the movie (from the novel) "Tuesdays with Morrie"; he was so believable, one of his best.
32D does not make sense to me.I thought awarder and orderer were poor choices for an otherwise great puzzle. Loved clue "future rocks."
Bath is a lovely town, known for their hot springs.It is west of London and somewhat close to Stonehenge.All of the buildings are painted a creamy off white hue. The ancient Romans built public baths there, as they also did in Rome.
"Plant ya' now, dig ya' later" is just old hippie talk for I'm leaving now but I'll be back. You dig, cat?
I mean, it's like, see you later, alligator and after awhile, crocodile.
jd - to aspirate is to breathe. In 32D the initial letter H in many words is simply a breath; How, Help, etcetera.
Calef
Hi c.c. an fellow d.f.s. (I can say that now that I figured out how to get my name in blue and underlined.)
Todays puzzle took 40 mins. but finally got it with a guess or two. Didn't know Toilers (56a) but got it from the perps. c.c., I , too, never heard of "awarders" (16a). Loved the golf clues Snead, overpar, "Tiger"eye.
In the comparative picture of Hogan and Snead, you'll notice Snead has a driver and Hogan an iron. Nevertheless, the swings should basically be the same for both type of clubs. Hogan's swing is "flatter" than Sneads. I'll take either one.
Having lived in Montana for 12 years, I should point out that the lodgepole pine picture you gave us is of a dying tree. Lodgepoles do not change color. The Vanderwolf pine does but it's not native to Montana. There is a fir or pine out there that does change but, try as I might, I can't remember the name. I want to say is has a woman's name, but am lost for the moment.
'Round Midnight is one of my favorite songs. Love Miles Davis' version.
Off to hit the little white orb and learn some new swear words. I will NOT share them here.
The 15 a clue is an excuse to tell you another thing that keeps me awake at nights. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
I must be off.
Seems I forgot how to get the "blues."
Hi, CC
Puzzle was pretty blaaaah for me today.
I found myself thinking as I was solving that you would be unhappy with all the plurals in it!
Make it a great day!
Ciao
Buckeye: You had it yesterday, so you should already be signed up. "Dot" Google/Blogger under Choose an identify. For Username type your email address, then type in your Password. That should put you back in the orange and blue.
Larch
Lodgepole
Goodmorning CC and DF's
Milissa bee thanks for the woman in red I had forgotten that part. Gene Wilder is a funny guy.
Argyle is right the pictured lodgepole pine is deseased, probably a bark beetle or some such maliday
John Tesh was host of Entertainment Tonight for about ten years. He is married to Connie Sellecca who was in the series Hotel.
Hello c.c., DF’s and all!
Horrible course today- fairways too narrow, high rough, too much water and concrete greens. After failing to break 50 on the front nine, I just played the back without keeping score. I did not get fooled by HOOK though (as I tend to SLICE, and SMEE is usually clued “Hooks mate” or something like it.
@clear ayes- My most gracious apologies for the Martin typo. What do you think Sigmund would say?
Hockey is just about done (one ice practice at 6:15), so I must attend the yard. I think I’ll cut my grass with my 5 iron.
no time today. I worked the puzzle while doing breakfast so I could confer with my xword-loving waitress. Reminds me of "As Good As It Gets" in some ways--I have my favorite waitresses (Lisa and Corinna, you know who you are).
I blew up on TEBALDI/GRIS, never having heard of either one. I know those names are gimmes for some of you, but I know little about art and nothing whatsoever about opera (except that so many operatic terms seem to crop up in xwords so frequently).
I had 55a: Like bogeys as ONE OVER for awhile, so that messed me up in the SW. Eventually got that straightened out only to crash and burn in the NE (as stated above).
NATASHA and Boris Badenov made me smile. "Rocky and Bullwinkle" was about the first adult cartoon show on television and it was terrific in all its black & white glory. (Predated "The Simpsons" by a good little while.) I had to go to Wikipedia to dredge up Natasha Fatale's last name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Badenov_%26_Natasha_Fatale
If anyone tries to hijack this blog, CC will prove how tyrannical she can be.
Meanwhile, when Lois spied the monks torso, she checked to see if the snapdragon was zippered. No, I'm not going to mention lodge pole in the same sentence with Lois.
Every once and a while we all need to just do a few inhales and aprerates when some anon posts a non a propos comment.
I'm going to sedate with a neat scotch... vodka to you CC & fellow DFs.
It looks like Saturday is a golf day for a lot of you. Addict Husband kicks back most Saturdays and some Sundays spending the afternoon in the den watching his idols accomplish what he can only dream of. I can hear him groaning in there right now. He's plumping for Phil rather than Vijay at Bridgestone. I know "rooting" would be a better choice, but I just had to use "plumping" somewhere. I hope Mickelson doesn't let Husband down; he always gets the blues when Phil fades.
xchefwalt: I was quite surprised that one of the Sirens didn't pick up on your Freudian slip. Actually, I liked your title better.
Regional terms: I'm a Chicago native and used, "I'm going with.", "Do you want to go with?". The "you", "me", "them", etc. was always left off. I didn't know a pronoun was needed until...well, maybe I don't know it. Every once in a while I still catch myself.
c.c. Firefox is running and I am so pleased with the spell check feature. I am amazed that I.E. doesn't have that option (plumpion?).
Thomas,
Pig? How odd! Why ELAN is an animal? In Swedish?
Anon @10:58am,
A themeless puzzle is always more difficult (very low word count, max 72), that's why it's often called a "Stumper" and placed on Fridays/Saturdays in various newspapers (including NY Times).
Melissa,
Thank you for "The Woman in Red". I've never seen it before.
Clear Ayes,
Thanks for the "paranoia" last night, I would not have fixed it so quickly without the comments/emails from you and other regulars. I am glad you plumped for the Firefox.
Xchefwalt,
Freud would say "good Job!"
Buckeye,
That's a good swing analysis. I like Ben Hogan's, very compact & efficient. Thank you also for pointing out the dying trees. I don't know "Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?". I cannot think philosophically. I have a very simple brain and I don't stay awake in the evening ruminating on those headachy stuff.
Sallyjane & JD,
This constructor lucked out on proper nouns KESSLER & TOILERS. Otherwise, this would be a very affixes heavy puzzle (E, ED, ER, EST). It must be very tough to construct a themeless without resorting to suffixes (esp S) I suppose. I don't know. I am still learning these intricacies.
Embien,
Your Saturday puzzle routine does remind me of "As Good as It Goes". Are you cranky?
Razzberry: You are hilarious! I have become 'transpolar' w/the (mtn)lodge pole being only one 'pole' that I have come to know...remember my nice 'pole' across the street that worked as my May'pole' a while back-from Poland? He's still coming over ( & over) -in VA tho'. When it comes to monks? Nothing is done 'on the fly' with them. Kneepants become shorts it takes so long to even find their snapdragons. One would have to really crane to see it let alone one that is not zippered. 'e-well', plenty of fish to hook and flies to (un)zip elsewhere.
Chef: Caught your Freudian slip. Was wondering what kind of movie or job you were thinking about. Funny stuff!
C.C.-Ah! I did not understand how hard it must be to put together a themeless puzzle...merci
Calef- thanks, I was trying to pronounce aspirate with an h sound in front..ha,ha..to figure it out.
c.c. Perhaps Thomas meant "eland" rather than "elan" when referring to an animal.
Clever double entendre in regard to xchefwalt's typo. You should be proud of your Sirenette status.
mark - Buenos Aires
Overall i failed on this. I did not get the golf conotations, besting awarder and orderer were poor clues.
I thought of Snead for slammin sammy but thought it must be a basketball guy. I have never thought of slamming putts.
Worst mistake was the bogey clue, I thought of a train´s undercarriage and the stuff that comes out of your nose but could not make anything fit, this despite my playing golf and 16 of 18 holes being a bogey or double bogey.
A bit chillie here today, just like an english summer.
chau
I finally made it to the puzzle about 9:45 this evening. My reaction to it was very similar to Melissa bee's, in the first paragraph of her comment.
As I started the across clues, I thought the puzzle was going to be MUCH harder than it was. By continuing to move across and down I filled in enough answers to figure out the rest. I think we've been conditioned the past few weeks to enter SMEE...sneaky of them, wasn't it.
One of our lurkers is my nephew (-in-law). He and his wife are expecting their first son in a month, and we hosted a baby shower for them this afternoon. I had a wonderful time, chatting with family, and seeing them open gifts. I had to laugh when he told me he'd rather get the answers here, than ask his wife for them. *S*
C.C., we have firewall issues I'll have to work out to be able to switch to Mozilla. One of my stepsons will give me a hand if we can match our schedules to arrange for a visit. I'm willing to try it, because the problems I have here may be Blogger related, or they could be caused by IE. I have a spellcheck program on my toolbar, but it doesn't run automatically.
I hope you all have a good Sunday!
c.c.:
Embien,
Your Saturday puzzle routine does remind me of "As Good as It Goes". Are you cranky?
"As Good As It Gets", actually. I may be an old curmudgeon, but I'm only cranky before I have my coffee in the morning and when the wine bottle is empty at night.
Thats a great movie, and I loved Nicholson's portrayal of an obsessive-compulsive character, though I could never buy into that May-December romance with Helen Hunt's character. So many truly hilarious scenes in the movie, though, that I let the carping go and just sat back and laughed.
And the scene with the gay guy sketching Helen's back after the bath was magical. (Sorry I don't remember the character names off the top of my head.) (further aside: Netflixers who are into bath scenes may enjoy Diane Lane in "Unfaithful". Pretty steamy.)
Oh, and don't get the sirens started on "cranky".
Embien: I think CC's mistake is actually hilarious b/c in china they don't 'come', they 'go', so her title is really funny - intentional? Talk about getting cranky! That wet t-shirt scene ought to get you cranked up a little bit. I agree with you on the movie at any rate. Nicholson is one of my most fav. You're right about so many funny lines. To Greg Kinear...you'll be back on your knees in no time... thought I would die laughing...just so many. Great movie. The 'better man' speech and then love that last kiss. Ok, I'm lookin' for a crank now by cracky. Where are those cowboys when ya need 'em?
Lois,
"Come"/Go: It's Japan, not China. That's what cc said.
(totally HIJACKing C.C.'s blog):
"Maybe we're just two people looking for warm rolls."
Ummmm.
Dagnabit, Lois, you made me go dig out my "As Good As It Gets" DVD and check out that last scene, lol.
Now I'm really cranky.
clearayes, Did I do it again???
Yeah!!!!
Yesterday, I went to the bank and deposited $25.00. They gave me this thing that will add, subtract, multiply and divide all by itself. It's called a calculator. My God!! What's next????
Anon: thank you. I obviously couldn't remember if it was China or Japan that 'goes'. I picked one. You know that's the story of my life...have a choice and pick one...it's always the wrong one... the line at the drive in teller, the grocery store, the welfare line...oh just anywhere. I'm going to choose a line and then take the other one just to see if I can improve my luck.
Embien: I woke up thinking about As Good AIG...'no sexo's here'... 'I think of a guy and take away reason...???'(love that whole scene)... just love that movie. Are ya still cranky?
Buckeye: you're right. It's not the same w/out Dennis. Hopefully he'll be back soon. Dick is on a business trip for 2 wks. Man, he's going to be shocked! The minute he turns his back and all hell breaks loose. That'll teach 'im to leave us alone again.
Hello everyone! I ended up doing this one online late in the day. The morning just got away from me. My wife found out that I had nothing on my agenda for the day so we were off to a quilt show at a living history farm. I love you guys but she takes first place always. The spell-checker here on Firefox is great! After Friday's fiasco, I switched over. C.C., I'll reserve judgment on Firefox being the "best browser", but I like what I've seen so far. Now I need to re-train myself to click on the correct icon.
I had the standard problem today. Too many unknown names! TEBALDI, KESSLER, HANK AZARIA, EWELL, GRIS were all new. INCHOATE was unknown. Chatoyant?
C.C., I believe we hart Hart CRANE just this past week in a puzzle. Bath England was my favorite city that I saw last year. Very elegant. Would cluing 48D as "Bath's water?" be too mean? I thought 44A was cleverly clued.
Argyle, thanks for the information on Kessler. Amazing what one can learn here.
Melissa bee, thank you for the "Woman in Red" clip. Wow!
Buckeye, IMDO or IMBO? Either way, waht does it mean?
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