Theme: The Sound of Music
17A: Chopin song to Caesar's enemy?: ETUDE BRUTE
65A: When King David sang?: PSALM TIMES
10D: Handel's reveries? SUITE DREAMS
25D: Strauss' NYT setting?: WALTZ STREET
Oh how I struggled with the theme today! I did not know the musical meaning of SUITE, and I had no idea that Handel wrote many keyboard SUITES. "SWEET DREAMS" kept popping into my mind and I started to think that this might be a wordplay puzzle.
I wish ACT (20A: Behave) were clued as "Play part" to further enhance the musical sub-theme:
44A: Famous fair lady: ELIZA. Here is the original Broadway poster.
31D: Webber hit: CATS
53D: La __ (Milan's opera house): SCALA
I also wish POLO (35D: Equestrian game) was clued as "China explorer" to pair us with ASIA (36D: China's land). I don't believe the clue for TIED (23D: Even-steven) is the contructor's original submission. She would not have overlooked EVEN (18D: __ as we speak).
Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle very much. It felt so feminine and pretty. Lots of girl power in the grid. And none of them is unyielding.
Across:
10A: Swedish auto: SAAB. I often wonder why this company name is SAAB AB rather than just SAAB, so repetitive.
15A: Stretch of land: TRACT. and 11D: Land measure: ACRE
22A: Show up for: ATTEND
24A: Cleansing routine: SHOWER. "Jump in the SHOWER...". Dolly Parton has such an enviable body, so sexy. I really want the rainbow, but I don't want to put up with the rain.
26A: "Dallas" matriarch: ELLIE. I lapsed into ELLEN again. I've never seen "Dallas".
30A: Secondhand ride: USED CAR
39A: Kind of queen: DRAMA
50A: Part of a poppy: STEM. I planted SEED first.
54A: Move it: HASTEN. I've never heard of "Move it". "Hightail it" yes!
58A: Rival of Athens: SPARTA. Pure guess. I don't know why SPARTA is the "Rival of Athens". Not familiar with Greek history or mythology.
69A: Actress Shire: TALIA. She is Connie in "The Godfather".
70A: Muppet with a unibrow: BERT. I don't understand this picture. What is that long stuff coming out of the peanuts jar? Looks elastic.
Down:
2D: Fire starter: MATCH
3D: Former planet: PLUTO. 冥王星 in Chinese. Literally "Star of the Underworld King". 王 means "King" in English. More than 7% of the total population in China has 王 as surname. That's about 93 million, 1/3 of the total US population?
4D: Punk rocker Vicious: SID. I don't know anything about his songs. I just love so much the "You were my little baby girl" poem he wrote to his girlfrend Nancy. So simple and sweet.
5D: J. Ringling's partner: P. T. BARNUM. Unknown to me. I pieced his name together from the across fills.
7D: Fry lightly: SAUTE. What's the difference between SAUTE and Stir-fry?
27D: Units of light: LUMENS. Another unknown. Easily gettable.
29D: Empower: ENABLE. I don't like the clue. I hate the repetition of letter (s) in both the clue and the answer. So many other ways to clue "ENABLE". The same with SLAB ( 58D: Thick slice). "Thick piece" would be just fine.
32D: Famous cookie maker: AMOS. This constructor clued AMOS as "Writer Oz"in her last puzzle. Listen, this is Melissa's favorite AMOS.
42D: One of the U.S. Virgin Islands: ST. THOMAS. Pure guess. Here is the map. Have you been there before?
45D: Plugging away: AT IT. OK, this is another phrase that bothers me. In which dictionary can you find "AT IT"?
67D: Big blue: IBM Think!
C.C.
17A: Chopin song to Caesar's enemy?: ETUDE BRUTE
65A: When King David sang?: PSALM TIMES
10D: Handel's reveries? SUITE DREAMS
25D: Strauss' NYT setting?: WALTZ STREET
Oh how I struggled with the theme today! I did not know the musical meaning of SUITE, and I had no idea that Handel wrote many keyboard SUITES. "SWEET DREAMS" kept popping into my mind and I started to think that this might be a wordplay puzzle.
I wish ACT (20A: Behave) were clued as "Play part" to further enhance the musical sub-theme:
44A: Famous fair lady: ELIZA. Here is the original Broadway poster.
31D: Webber hit: CATS
53D: La __ (Milan's opera house): SCALA
I also wish POLO (35D: Equestrian game) was clued as "China explorer" to pair us with ASIA (36D: China's land). I don't believe the clue for TIED (23D: Even-steven) is the contructor's original submission. She would not have overlooked EVEN (18D: __ as we speak).
Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle very much. It felt so feminine and pretty. Lots of girl power in the grid. And none of them is unyielding.
Across:
10A: Swedish auto: SAAB. I often wonder why this company name is SAAB AB rather than just SAAB, so repetitive.
15A: Stretch of land: TRACT. and 11D: Land measure: ACRE
22A: Show up for: ATTEND
24A: Cleansing routine: SHOWER. "Jump in the SHOWER...". Dolly Parton has such an enviable body, so sexy. I really want the rainbow, but I don't want to put up with the rain.
26A: "Dallas" matriarch: ELLIE. I lapsed into ELLEN again. I've never seen "Dallas".
30A: Secondhand ride: USED CAR
39A: Kind of queen: DRAMA
50A: Part of a poppy: STEM. I planted SEED first.
54A: Move it: HASTEN. I've never heard of "Move it". "Hightail it" yes!
58A: Rival of Athens: SPARTA. Pure guess. I don't know why SPARTA is the "Rival of Athens". Not familiar with Greek history or mythology.
69A: Actress Shire: TALIA. She is Connie in "The Godfather".
70A: Muppet with a unibrow: BERT. I don't understand this picture. What is that long stuff coming out of the peanuts jar? Looks elastic.
Down:
2D: Fire starter: MATCH
3D: Former planet: PLUTO. 冥王星 in Chinese. Literally "Star of the Underworld King". 王 means "King" in English. More than 7% of the total population in China has 王 as surname. That's about 93 million, 1/3 of the total US population?
4D: Punk rocker Vicious: SID. I don't know anything about his songs. I just love so much the "You were my little baby girl" poem he wrote to his girlfrend Nancy. So simple and sweet.
5D: J. Ringling's partner: P. T. BARNUM. Unknown to me. I pieced his name together from the across fills.
7D: Fry lightly: SAUTE. What's the difference between SAUTE and Stir-fry?
27D: Units of light: LUMENS. Another unknown. Easily gettable.
29D: Empower: ENABLE. I don't like the clue. I hate the repetition of letter (s) in both the clue and the answer. So many other ways to clue "ENABLE". The same with SLAB ( 58D: Thick slice). "Thick piece" would be just fine.
32D: Famous cookie maker: AMOS. This constructor clued AMOS as "Writer Oz"in her last puzzle. Listen, this is Melissa's favorite AMOS.
42D: One of the U.S. Virgin Islands: ST. THOMAS. Pure guess. Here is the map. Have you been there before?
45D: Plugging away: AT IT. OK, this is another phrase that bothers me. In which dictionary can you find "AT IT"?
67D: Big blue: IBM Think!
C.C.
76 comments:
Good morning, C.C. and gang - today's was the easiest puzzle I've done in a long time. No pauses, no shaky clues, just filling in squares as fast as I could write. Obscene time.
C.C., yes, been to St. Thomas; along with St. John, my favorite vacation spot. Magens Bay is absolutely spectacular.
Also, about the peanut butter jar picture - those are spring-loaded 'snakes' that pop out when an unsuspecting dupe opens the jar; scares the hell outta you if you're off-guard. One of the classic gags.
Beautiful day here in the NE; hope it's a great one where you are.
Dennis,
What is the exact meaning of "AT IT" (45D)?
JD,
Thank you for the "Salute the sky" link.
c.c., when someone's 'hard at it', it just means they're toiling away at doing something. Or in the case of the sirens, 'hard at it' has a much more pleasant connotation...
Good morning.
Another easy puzzle. Not as fast as yesterday but under 5 minutes.
Better than better = best (3 B's???).
"Used Cars" starred Kurt Russell.
A little bit of land involved in this puzzle as well - Asia, Iran, coastal, acre, Sparta, tract, St. Thomas. A "vast" array.
I still "miss" "Pluto" being a planet. Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (The Search for Planet X).
Who shot J.R.? One of the great mysteries of the time.
Talia Shire - "Yo, Adrian!!!"
The long stuff coming out of the peanut jar is a spring loaded "snake" (or something like that" that is used as a prank to scare people when they open up the can.
Fire Starter starring David Keith, Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, and Drew Barrymore (book was written by Steven King) was on TV in Rhode Island last night.
P.T. Barnum (a sucker is born every minute) - introduced General Tom Thumb to the world as well as Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese Twins.
Today is Middle Child's Day (gives recognition to the often overlooked middle child of the family). Also, since IBM is in the puzzle today (Big Blue), they introduced their personal computer in 1981. Finally, it is Vinyl Record Day.
Have a great Tuesday
Mornin' C.C.
I've been up for an hour and I seriously think we should all go back to bed!
I did the puzzle without help. Took me longer than dennis, as usual.
I was sure that you wouldn't care for 'better than better' for BEST. I wonder if the on-line clue is different than the one in the paper.
I'm not inspired by this puzzle. I just want to go back to bed.
See you all later....
I'm uncharacteristically early today. Psalmtimes it happens.
Easy breezy puzzle; record time for me (which would be painfully slow for Dennis, I know.)
Re: High Noon lyrics from yesterday –lol. I had to listen to the song again, and it still sounds like his’n. But thanks to Argyle (and Clear Eyes) I could read all the lyrics as I listened. Tex Ritter did change some words, but I guess he actually said his + and. What can I say? I watched the movie in 1952 when I was -- in utero? Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I agree with Dennis. This was mostly an easy one. I knew most of the names this time including Salvador DALI, ELLIE Ewing, ANNE Archer, ELIZA Doolittle and Marisa TOMEI. I got TALIA Shire from the perps.
(What I did was I questioned the perps individually and told them that if they didn't tell me what I wanted to know then their friends will and they'll agree to testify when the case comes to trial in exchange for a reduced sentence... unless, of course, they wanted to try cutting a better deal. They all told me what I wanted to know. You have to know how to deal with these perps!)
The only place where I got lost was in the bottom right hand corner: I had SEED instead of STEM and OPEN instead of ETON so I read 10 down as "suited roads" and thought "Huh?" I feel like an idiot because I knew what "reverie" meant. In retrospect, I didn't get CATS, AMOS or ST. THOMAS either!
I had trouble with the NE corner too: I originally wrote AUDI instead of SAAB. Audi is German (owned by Volkswagon) so it was close. I also considered SQFT, SQMI and AREA before settling on ACRE.
P. T. Barnum was a gimme for me... sort of. I knew "J. Ringling's partner" refered to "Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey" and I also knew RINGLING would have been too easy so it had to be BARNUM or BAILEY. I got P. T. from the perps. (I had to rough them up for that one: they didn't want to talk.)
Took me a long time to get BERT. I was thinking of the Muppet Show, not Sesame Street.
CC, back in the pre-Roman era European cities were city states, ie they each had their own king and their own culture and cities could go to war with each other. Did you see the movie 300? Well, me neither, but you probably know the line "THIS IS SPARTA!" yelled by the Spartan King before going to war with the Persians. (Yes, the Persians. Modern day IRAN. 300 sub-theme here.) Athens and Sparta also teamed up to fight the Trojans (Troy being another city state, this one being just West of modern day Istanbul.) Anyway, the Spartans made good warriors but the intention was never to actually take over Athens: they would fight the Atheneans and then go home. War was like sport to them. That's what my high school history book said anyway.
Technically "units of light" should be "units of brightness" for LUMENS. A "unit of light" would be a PHOTON.
I had a completely different take on "second hand ride". Some of you may be nodding in agreement, some of you may be shaking your head in disgust, some of you may be laughing your @$$&$ off and some of you will be just saying "Huh". I'll just leave it at that and hang my head in shame.
Finally, teachers will tell you when you are in school to "Keep at it". It's equivalent to the Chinese expression 加油. Heh. I know I've been in Taiwan for a long time because I saw the clue "Move it" and the first thing that came to me was ADD GAS.
Martin
Martin,
Thank you for the 加油. That makes perfect sense.
martin, I had exactly the same take on 'second-hand ride'. Fact is, sometimes they perform better when they've been broken in.
Dennis gave the example "He's hard at it". I gave the example "Keep at it." Another one: "He's been at it all day." It's a very common expression.
CC, I went to Singapore once (a modern day city state!) and I noticed that the people named Tan occupy over 100 pages of their phone book. Here in Taiwan, Wang takes up about 28 pages. The names are printed very small though so it's a lot of people. Some other common names here are Zhang (49 pages), Lin (76 pages), Li (29 pages), Huang (39 pages), Lai (25 pages), Yang (20 pages), Wu (23 pages) and Chen (80 pages). Altogether, the Taichung phone book is 730 pages.
Martin
Morning, folks!
Easy-breezy puzzle for me today, helped in large part by the fact that I'm a big fan of classical music and knew what a suite was.
I think the only real difference between stir-fry and sauté is that sauté is a French word and sir-fry usually applies to Asian cooking.
And no, I've never been to St. Thomas. Maybe someday...
For Buckley and all the D.Fs:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=egCeIwjIuZM
60A online - Picnic pests / paper - Uninvited kitcnen crawlers
Good morning, everyone,
Not much to say about this one. The above was the only difference between online/paper that I noticed. Even the late night complainer should be able to get this one.
I'm taking the boat tour of Lake George, "Queen of the American Lakes", today. It was called that by Thomas Jefferson when he saw it. I've lived here over half a century but never took the paddlewheeler the length of the lake. A little rain shouldn't dampen my spirits. It reminds me of the opening scene from Cooper's The Spy.
Have a nice day.
When I said "Here in Taiwan" I meant "Here in Taichung".
Martin
Barry,
But is Handel very well- known for his SUITES? Xchefwalt said yesterday that "I call Rachmaninoff “Rock” because the “Rach” is pronounced the same." Do you also call Rachmainoff "Rock"? With the same rationale or what?
Good morning everyone.........
This was an easy one for me, so it must have been REAL easy for everyone else. The only one I didn't know was 27D, lumens. I didn't get the "m".
I like the song/video of Amos Lee. I never heard of him. I will have to listen to the whole thing later.
That was a sad poem by Sid Vicious, but pretty.
Have a good day everyone......
Buckeye, Xchefwalt, KittyB & Barry,
"Rhapsody On a Theme From Paganini". What does "a theme from Paganini" mean? Is it a special tribute to Paganini or has it become an common musical term?
Martin,
Wang & Li are probably the most popular surnames in mainland China.
Argyle,
Which George was Thomas Jefferson thinking about? Enjoy your trip!
Katherine,
You are definitely a beauty-loving visual person.
All this talk of Rach/Rock reminds me of a joke. Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stalone and Arnold Schwartenager were hanging out at Club Hollywood and they were talking about making a movie together. "Let's not do an action movie," Sly said. "Let's do something with culture. What if we did a movie and we were all famous musicians." "That's a great idea!" Bruce said. "I'll be Handel!" "I'll be Mozart!" Sly said. Arnold considered the idea and nodded in agreement. "I'll be Bach!" he said.
Martin
But is Handel very well- known for his SUITES?
Well, he's probably most famous for his oratorios (especially his "Messiah"), but he did write quite a number of suites for a wide variety of instruments.
What does "a theme from Paganini" mean? Is it a special tribute to Paganini or has it become an common musical term?
Paganini wrote a piece of music for violin that had a particular musical theme running through it (in this case, a "theme" basically means a repeated melody). Rachmaninoff later took that "theme" and composed a march larger work that was based around it. If memory serves, the famous 18th variation that gets played all the time is actually the original theme played upside down and backwards (i.e., as if the sheet music itself were inverted.
And no, I don't have a nickname for any classical composers, sorry. Maybe I should.
Funny joke Martin!
Easy puzzle today.
C.C., and other golfers, you may enjoy this great joke.
"Do you need a good caddy?"
Golfer: "Think I'm going to drown myself in the lake."
Caddy: "Think you can keep your head down that long?"
Golfer: "I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course."
Caddy: "Try heaven, you've already moved most of the earth."
Golfer: "Do you think my game is improving?"
Caddy: "Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now."
Golfer: "Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?"
Caddy: "Eventually."
Golfer: "You've got to be the worst caddy in the world."
Caddy: "I don't think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence."
Golfer: "Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too much of a distraction."
Caddy: "It's not a watch - it's a compass."
Golfer: "How do you like my game?"
Caddy: "Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf."
Golfer: "Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?"
Caddy: "The way you play, sir, it's a sin on any day."
Golfer: "This is the worst course I've ever played on."
Caddy: "This isn't the golf course. We left that an hour ago."
Golfer: "That can't be my ball, it's too old."
Caddy: "It's been a long time since we teed off, sir."
C.C., I chose that quote yesterday because it's soooo true. Taxes ARE like lost money as they aren't used the way they should be used 99.9 % of the time.
Good morning, C.C., et al. As others have noted, this one was pretty simple. I like to take my time and work from start to finish in sequence. I don't get them all the time, but this one was very close to sequential for me.
@Martin. I was about to put photon when I saw I already had 26A. Good catch on your part.
I think it was the Limelighters or perhaps the Kingston Trio who had a bit of patter between their tunes. The subject was their trip to the Carribean and one of them wise cracked "They ain't the Virgin Islands anymore." That was pretty risque in the early 60s.
Great day to all.
Saute is high heat, little fat. Sauteed food is typically allowed to brown, at least slightly before moving it in the pan. Sauteing cooks the food mostly with transferring heat from the pan, through a process called "contact conduction."
Stir fry is also high heat, but more fat. Because the food is cooking in oil, it can be moved around without altering the browining process (Maillard reaction, usually). So, typically there's more agitation to insure the food cooks evenly. Also, the ideal pan is different -- for stiry frying that is a wok. A wok allows the cook to move food through a depth of oil, without leaving it there for a few minutes. While contact conduction plays a role, the physics of stir frying is much more dependent on liquid immersion conduction.
Barry,
Thanks.
Dr.Dad,
You are amazing! Tell me exactly why you don't like the word "foodie".
Good morning to all! Stayed up til after 3:00am watching the Olympics so I was nicely surprised to see such an easy puzzle today.
I was fortunate enough to see My Fair Lady at the London Palladium. Then again recently in Orlando, FL. One of my favorite musicals ever.
Martin and Flyingears loved the joke/jokes.
Drdad, "Great explanation" as always! I will check out your blog and see where we visit today!!
CC, I too had seed at first, because I was doing all my across fills first, but later changed it when I checked out the down words.
Have a great day everyone!
Flyingears: Another golf joke (I think it's supposed to be a joke) was in the St.Paul Pioneer Press Bulletin Board: "It takes a lot of balls to play golf the way I do". We liked it so much we had T shirts made for our golfing sons. I doubt they wear them while doing so.
good morning c.c. and all,
c.c., nice theme title again, not too long ago 'the sound of music' was a subtheme, remember? i noticed you changed yesterday's theme, why? thanks for the 'listen' link, he is indeed my favorite amos.
i don't know the science of it, but i thought wok cooking was at a much higher temperature than sauteing .. at least that's how i do it. also the shape of the wok allows you to cook hotter at the bottom (meat) and cooler at the top (veggies).
@martin: your DF colors are showing .. nice.
@barb b: i still like his'n.
@kittyb: this is a dangerous place to suggest 'we all go back to bed.'
@katherine: good to see you.
never been to the virgin islands. (okay maybe once, but that was a long time ago.. been hard at it ever since.)
In that one past puzzle, Finger Foodie just sounded lame to me. I like to eat and like to cook FOOD, not foodie. Probably not as good as xchefwalt but much better at it then my wife (Ouch!!! Don't tell her that (even though she knows it)).
Melissa,
You don't think the theme title "Rhymes Suck" might be too offensive to some people? I like the dysfunctionality in your comments, line by line. OK, the response to Katherine was functional.
Dennis,
Besides jarhead, what other nicknames do you have for the marines?
Danielle,
Your message yesterday @ 2:03pm,
"Now that you know, you'll probably hear it and think "oh yeah!". Why "Oh yeah!"? You were not word-playing on Parris/Paris, were you?
Dr. Dad,
You sound like a foodie to me. You seem to know a lot about food and drink.
Loved this puzzle. GREAT theme - clever & funny, and lots of good clues and answers, nothing that felt forced or totally obscure.
PT Barnum was famous for being a "huckster" - for figuring out ways to make people spend their money. He is credited with saying "there's a sucker born every minute" - very cynical and very willing to profit from people's gullibility.
TALIA Shire played Rocky's girlfriend (and wife in the later movies) which is why Dr Dad wrote "Yo Adrian" - that's what Rocky said to her character.
SID Vicious was probably the most famous punk musician. His love story with Nancy was made into a movie called (appropriately) Sid and Nancy.
PLUTO was discoved in my hometown - Flagstaff, AZ, so we are all quite sad that it is now a "former" planet b/c we were SO proud. =(
MARISA Tomei is a gorgeous sexy and very talented actress. Check her out in Untamed Heart, My Cousin Vinny, and Slums of Beverly Hills (all very different roles).
c.c. - as for yesterday's comment, it wasn't a word play (I wish I was that clever) - what I wrote just doesn't come across in text . . . what I meant was - a lightbulb moment, when you realize something and think, "now I see."
C.C., there's nothing at all offensive about "Rhymes Suck". Only the most ridiculously puritanical minds would see a problem there. The word is used everywhere from boardrooms to street corners to denote something that's really bad.
As far as nicknames for Marines? Well, besides yours, there's leathernecks, sea-going bellhops, Devil Dogs, Gyrenes, and I'm sure many other less-than-flattering tags.
melissa bee, can you describe "hard at it"?
C.C., Handel is famous for the "Water Music," which is a series of three suites. He wrote them to curry favor with King George I, and the premiere performance took place on a barge in the Thames River, as a backdrop to the King's conversation with his guests on the royal barge.
sallie, it's sooo true that one has to have a "lot of balls" to play the game... Maybe if "it isn't a joke" your joke IS very funny!!! First time I heard that one.
Morning to C.C. and everyone: This was very easy and a treat for me.
Only one I had trouble with was Webber hit...Cats (31D). I am not a fan of Musicals.
Barb, cute comment..I liked the "in utero", kinda where I was then :)
Sallie, great golf joke and T-shirt idea.
Martin, that was funny! Probably too true in lots of cases.
I loved Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny - great movie..she won Best Supporting Actress. Loved Fred Gwynne as the judge.
KnightshiftGood day c.c., DF’s and all! A very nice puzzle to start the day, I like the musical theme, although I got stuck by 65a, as I think it’s a stretch on words and not a direct musical phrase. A “SUITE” to me has always meant something similar to an OVERTURE, whereas the overture is the opening piece to a large scale composition that incorporates elements of the larger piece and is played at the beginning of it (like Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” overture), a suite is more of a stand-alone composition of snippets from a larger work (Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”. It is also a large composition comprised of small movements in the same key.
@drdad and barry- “Firestarter” was the most god-awful movie of a S. King book ever made. Who was the rocket scientist who cast GC Scott as an Indian?? All of your comments on sauté/stir-fry are right on the money, and Melissa bee is correct about the heat, woks are generally hotter than sauté pans. When I stir-fry, I usually have all key misen place separate, then stir-fry them (separate) then put them all together at the finish with the sauce. The sauté is usually deglazed with wine or stock and the sauce made in the pan with the protein (a la minute).
@martin 6:17- very good post on Athens/Sparta- only they were Greek, not Roman.
Here is Marissa Tomei in one of my favorite movies (parental discretion is advised).
My Cousin Vinny
Happy day all!
test
BTW- my golf t-shirt has a picture of a sand trap next to a greenwith the following underneath:
I hit two good balls today!
(I stepped on a rake).
Good morning CC & DF's: no time for puzzle at the moment. CC, just wanted to tell you that I answered you on yesterday's blog about the Ben Wa Balls...etc.
I'll be back.
Good Morning, I got the theme right away this morning and had no problem finishing the puzzle quickly. There were quite a few show business references; ELLIE, ANNE, TALIA, TOMEI, even ELIZA and CATS. I'm a movie/theater fan, so I had no trouble with them at all.
Marisa Tomei is a wonderful comic actress. (I don't think a funny woman is called "comedienne" any more.) She has also done some very effective serious roles. One of my favorite Tomei movies is "In The Bedroom."
Athens and Sparta were rival city states, but when the Persians attacked Athens in 490BC, Athens sent a runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to ask for help. Pheidippides After running from Marathon back to Athens to announce the victory, Pheidippides died. I think that is where the saying, "Don't kill the messenger." came from, even though Pheidippides brought good news and wasn't murdered. The 26 mile marathon race also comes from this episode in history.
Elton John has an album (Happy Vinyl Record Day!)"Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player", which has the same basic meaning, "Hey, I'm doing the best I can here."
G.A.H. and I visited John and Mabel Ringling's Sarasota FL mansion "Ca d'Zan" a few years ago. Not as big as Hearst's San Simeon estate in California, but every bit as oppulent. The circus was a big money maker for some. Blog contributor Jimbo might not have seen it quite the same way.
Melissa,
You don't think the theme title "Rhymes Suck" might be too offensive to some people?
@c.c.: well sure. it sucks that some people are looking for reasons to be offended and even "Rhyme with MUCK" might be offensive to them. 'rhymes suck' was very creative and i was sad to see it changed.
@dennis: i'll refer you to your own definition .. 'toiling away.' i'm nothing if not diligent. well that and offensive, i should be spanked. that doesn't suck .. or does it?
mmm,it erased my history lesson!
Do all of you have to sign up every day or are you able to just put in your name and password? I do that twice, it rejects me and then I sign up using the same password, deceipher that silly word and it goes thru and loses my comment.Help?
I loved today's puzzle because everything fell into place, which usually doesn't happen.Waltz Street did not come easily, as I had waves for tides.Tried to fill it in before I worked on all of the perps.
lumena-lumina-lumens! :-)
Adding to Martin's history lesson. Sparta and Athens were rivals in ancient Greece.Sparta was a full-on military state where boys, at the age of 7, were sent to live at military camps, and later on lived in barracks. They lived a very "spartan" life, and were taught to steal, but were severely
punished if caught. Being healthy and ready to fight was the goal of these Greeks.Babies were left to die outside if they were not born heathy. Their govt was an oligarchy where 2 kings ruled. On the other hand, Athens was a beautiful city state(Parthenon is still there) Boys went to military school for only 2 yrs(age 18), but also were educated if they were rich.Our democratic form of govt. comes from Athens and all those wonderful philosophers.
Good morning everyone! Only problem today was putting WAVES in for 52A. That slowed me a bit, but I made a mid-course correction to finish well.
I see that dennis has answered your BERT question.
So martin, you were the "bad cop?"
Drdad, interesting discussion of stir-fry and saute.
Went to the Canary Islands, and was disappointed to find that there were no canaries there. Went to the Virgin Islands and was really disappointed -- there were no canaries there either!
Have a great middle child day (Does #2 of 4 count?)!
JD, Don't forget to "dot" Google/Blogger. Your sign-in name is your email address. Then fill in your password. BTW, sometimes my posts disappear too. I've gotten in the habit of right-mouse-click and "Copy", so that I can "Paste" if my pre-publish note disappears. It isn't often necessary, but it saves frustration, particularly if you have a long post....Mea culpa.
Here's my favorite AMOS (Tori)
Here's SID Vicious and the Sex Pistols doing one of their most famous numbers God Save the Queen.
Here's Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in the stage version of My Fair Lady (Audrey Hepburn played the role in the movie).
Clear Ayes, You're right.
I've never been to Florida, nor were we ever a part of Ringling Bros Circus. My Dad however, did work for the "Monroe Bros" circus which featured "Black Diamond" The largest elephant in captivity at the time. Black Diamond had to be "put down" for going on a rampage and destroying property and lives.
Most of my show biz career came on later when dad began showing motion pictures in a tent. He started with silent movies and one projector, working up to "talkies" and two projectors.
I was too young
to remember much about the circus days; But was very much a part of the
latter.
We were not part of the "Elite", but we (was/were) very honest in our dealing with the public. (Most of the road show people were not).
All for now. Thanks for "listening"
crockett1947 - The Virgin Islands. It begs the question: If there were no canaries in the Canary Islands were there no
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ in the Virgin Islands? And no, the blanks do not stand for canaries.
drdad, 'men'?
@dennis: that would suck.
c.c., Thomas Jefferson described the lake as "Queen of the American Lakes". The first European name given to the lake was "Lac du Saint-Sacrement", so called by the French missionary, Isaac Jogues. After the English took over, Sir William Johnson renamed the lake as Lake George for King George II.
Loved today's puzzle. I, too, put in "Waves" instead of "Tide" but quickly changed it.
Loved the musical theme, but thought 65a was a little weak. I have heard The Book Of Psalms referred to as The Song Of Psalms, so I can live with it. I got P.T. Barnum easily.
Took my wife and two kids to Ringling Bros., B&B's summer village in Baraboo, Wisconsin years ago. Great fun. Don't know if it still exists.
Thought the men's gymnastics team would Silver but they "screwed the pony". (Messed up on the pommel horse.) Still, with the Hawn(?) twins out, they did a remarkable job. Let's hope the women's team can stay off their butts and do well against the Chinese children. (Bella Karoly is not a happy camper. He claims some of the Chinese girls are 12-13 years old with phony passports supplied by the Chinese government. The age limit is SUPPOSED to be 16.)
My golf story is true. A friend and I were playing on a private course in Cleveland with two members whom he knew. My friend and I had never played the course. Three of us were long time golfers but it was my friends first year playing golf and, as an "x" football player from Penn State, had a less than admirable golf swing. When it was his turn to drive, he took a Herculean swing, hit about two feet in BACK of the ball, tore up a divot about a foot and a half long, knocking the ball about an inch and advancing the figgin' divot about ten feet. He turned to the two members and said, "Damn! Tough little golf course you guys got here."
Also true; In my sports writing days (Monroe (Ohio) Times), I wrote a golf article and told about a friend of mine who would walk onto the tee box and yell "FORE RIGHT" and THEN hit his drive. Talk about a lack of confidence in your swing!!!! Generally, he was "right."
I must be off.
5:35 today one of my faster times. Not any unknown words for me. I loved the musical theme, also--a WALTZ in the park!
c.c., I answered your question about which puzzles I do in Monday's blog thread there.
c.c.: "I often wonder why this company name is SAAB AB rather than just SAAB, so repetitive."
AB originally came from the Swedish term we know as Ltd. or Inc. (aktiebolaget) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab
c.c.: "29D: Empower: ENABLE. I don't like the clue. I hate the repetition of letter (s) in both the clue and the answer."
You mean that both start with the letter "E"? I'm having trouble figuring out what is objectionable here.
Since we're well below the 100 mark I will edit myself. I wrote "friends" instead of "friend's" in my last posting. Also, I think the gymnastics twins are the Hamms and not the Hawns. My bad.
melissa bee, I remembered a book you might like. It's "Buddhist Yoga" by the Rev. Kanjitsu Iijima. It's about the relationship between Mind and Body. Check it out.
Speaking about mind and body, I don't always think that "If you want something done well, you need to do it yourself". Often, you can use "A little help from your friends."
IMBO
Dennis,
Why "Devil Dogs"? Kind of reminded me of "Deviled Egg".
Dr. Dad,
I sensed some misunderstanding on your part for the word "foodie". It refer to the person who loves food, not the food itself.
Xchefwalt & KittyB,
Is dancing always featured in SUITES? What is "A la minute"? I don't understand your 11:19am joke.
Martin & JD,
Thanks for the interesting Sparta/Athens information.
Crockett1947,
You've been incorrigibly corrupted.
Argyle,
I think I misunderstood your earlier George post. Anyway, did you enjoy your boating today?
Buckeye,
The age claim? Not true! Asian girls tend to look younger than their age. "You can use "A little help from your friends." Like what?
The 6"? To yip or not to yip?
Embien,
Yes, the E, technically it's OK, but visually, it bothers me. A simple "Make possible" would be fine.
RE: Olympics I'm sure that some of the tiny Chinese girl gymnasts can't be older than 12 or 13. They are ridiculously talented. Anybody under about 30 looks like a kid to me, so I'm probably not a good judge. I'm in awe of the swimmers. Michael Phelps is amazing.
Jimbo, you really should tell us more about your movie/tent days. Your posts indicate a fascinating life. You must have many interesting anecdotes you could share.
Buckeye, you do have a way with words...or perhaps,absence of them. Often it is what is not said, but what is merely hinted at, that is the most sensual. (There's that 6" between the ears coming into play.)
@C.C. Crockett1947,
You've been incorrigibly corrupted.
Always have been. It's the quiet ones you need to watch out for.
Ever watch "America's Funniest Home Videos?" You step on a rake and it will smack you in the groin, thus hitting a couple of.....
clear ayes: THANK YOU!!!! I was always putting JD as my username!
c.c., the Germans called the Marines "Teufelhunden", which translates to "devil dogs", because of their fierce fighting in WWI. The name stuck.
c.c., asian girls do indeed look younger than their age, but these girls look ridiculously young. I've got older underwear.
uh....let us not dwell on the older underwear comment.
Crockett1947,
Always have been? Man, I've been so wrong. But PLUTO is not a planet any more.
Dennis,
Why do you keep your old underwear?
Lois,
"Which really sent me lookin for 'brogan'(s), b/c where you find brogans, you find hard working Trojans...true 'so-fa'(r)in my experience". What's the connection between brogans and Trojans?
Finally got 'at it' and like you all had an easy time of it...except I went for my old friend the 'Pole' at first instead of 'post'ing (riding terminology). 'Iran' to my 'used car' with a hatchback and 'dali'ed a bit with some local 'mates'. We played Poker. It was a 'best' out of three games 'match'. It came down to two of us and my
'o-pal Bert' bet a 'vast' number of 'pesos' that I would
'miss'. I didn't. I 'saw' his 'ante', raised him, bet the 'nests', beat him, and sent him to the 'shower', crying like a little girl. He has a new 'saab' story that he can 'rant' about now.
Yeah, about that take on 'second hand ride'...Is a 'second hand ride' what happens when the first hand gets tired?
Enjoy your night.
Martin,
"Second-hand ride": Tell me what's going on in your mind earlier this morning.
CC: brogans are heavy work shoes (boots, maybe). If a cowboy dies w/his boots on, he was a tough hombre, is really a 'manly man' (in some opinions) if he makes love w/his boots on, and is ready for anything if he sleeps w/his boots on. A guy can either work hard like a Trojan or work hard wearing a Trojan (condom). In my experience, hard working men would be wearing both boots (brogans) and Trojans (condoms).
Sure glad lois took that in hand and answered the brogans/trojans connection. Well done, supper siren!
crockett, I have a feeling lois is gonna love being called a 'supper siren'...
Funny guys! Who's hungry?
@buckeye: thx for the book recommendation .. adding it to my list.
Crockett1947: Great new picture!!
Lois: how does it feel to be "food"?
Kind of like I did that time I slid down the bannister,naked, with a rose in my teeth, and announced "dinner is served?! Whew...didn't need to saute that!
@dennis- better to use “t-shirts” than underwear, it’s a much less brutal visual.
@c.c.- crockett1947 has adequately answered your question on my lame joke (unfortunately, it’s also a serious statement on my golf game).
“a la minute” is a French cooking term meaning “of the minute”. In practical terms, it’s something that is done right in the pan per order and not ahead of time. For instance, you can make Alfredo sauce in large batches and sauce your pasta, or you can make it “A la minute (pronounced minoot)” in the pan to order (I’ll do it that way if I’m making blackened chicken or shrimp Alfredo).
Good night all.
Carol, hilarious! What an image! I can not even hope to serve my supper a la Carol b/c of a dang finial half-way down the banister. However, I am always fresh, hot, and juicy and served on a bed of 'let us'...as in let us come this way and/or let us come that way.
Well, so much for spell check! Of course I meant SUPER!
c.c.
I think I misunderstood your earlier George post.
I could have worded it better to show that it was already Lake George when Jefferson visited.
Yes, we had a good trip, clear and breezy, with a little rain just before we came back to the dock.
Lois @7:35pm,
What is "Bet the NESTS"? Why "Sent him to SHOWER"?
Crockett1947,
I like your new picture. I like the way it's taken, esp the angle.
CC: Gamblers will sometimes 'bet the farm' when they're really having a hot streak. So, I just bet the 'nests' instead.
I sent him to the shower b/c he was all washed up, cleaned out,
stripped of everything - having lost it all to me.
Lois,
So "Ante" is not really an "ante" then?
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