Theme: J & J
18A: Denim item: JEANS JACKET
61A: Party punch: JUNGLE JUICE
3D: Jumpin' hot spot: JUKE JOINT
34D: Portly planes?: JUMBO JET
And more J words to intersect the above theme entries:
1A: M. Houlihan's rank: MAJ. "M*A*S*H".
24A: Horizontal beams: JOISTS
34A: Lively dance: JIG
58A: H-M connection: IJKL
4D: __ Mahal: TAJ
19D: King's comic: JESTER. I don't understand the clue and the answer.
49D: Prized trinket: BIJOU. New word to me.
57D: Member of the "Love Train" soul group: O'JAY. Unknown to me also. Here is "Love Train".
So many famous JJ names: Janis Joplin, Joan Jett and Jesse Jackson. Oh, don't forget Shoeless Joe (Joe Jackson). He deserves to be in HOF. If you build it, he will come.
I hope you enjoyed solving this puzzle as much as I did. It's a great construction. There are quite a few unfamiliar names, but most of them are inferable from crossing fills. I still had to resort to Google though.
The clue for SERER (47A: Senegalese language) made me laugh. How obscure! Barry must be very excited to find this language. Otherwise, he would have to clue it as "more dry", which might irk some solvers.
Across:
4A: Puccini opera: TOSCA. Does anyone know the meaning of "TOSCA la ha" (Emperor Gene Nelson sign-off line)?
15A: Turkish bigwigs: AGHAS. PASHAS are also "Turkish bigwigs".
17A: Shatner novel: "__ War": TEK. Got it this time.
20A: Skater's jump: AXEL. Can you believe the first AXEL jump was performed in 1882?
26A: Lymphoid organ: SPLEEN
28A: Geological period: AZOIC. No idea. Dictionary defines it as "noting or pertaining to the Precambrian Era, esp. that part formerly believed to precede the first appearance of life". Rooted in Greek ázō(os) meaning "lifeless".
33A: Insertion symbol: CARET
52A: San Luis __: OBISPO. Here is the map. I've never heard of it before. Wikipedia says Loren Roberts was born and raised there. He has such an enviable putting stroke, so smooth and unhurried. OBISPO is Spanish for "Bishop".
55A: Japanese sci-fi film: RODAN. See the movie trailer. So horrifying.
69A: Like some questions: YES-NO
Down:
2D: NYSE rival: AMEX. NASDAQ is very scrabbly too.
5D: S-shaped moldings: OGEES. Can anyone explain to me what exactly is OGEE? I cannot see any S-shape in this OGEE clock frame.
7D: Game with four jokers: CANASTA. Did you know that CANASTA originally came from Uruguay?
12D: "Guys and Dolls" song: SUE ME. I got it from the across clue. See the clip.
13D: Mythical giant: TITAN. ATLAS is a TITAN.
21D: Lane in Metropolis: LOIS. I like this clue. Much more interesting than "Superman's girlfriend Lane".
25D: Like navigable northern waterways: ICE-FREE
28D: Actress Baxter: ANNE. I guessed. Wikipedia says she won Oscar for best supporting role in "The Razor's Edge", which stars GENE Tiernery also (see 36D: Tierney of films).
33D: G. P. A. slangily: CUME (Cumulative). New slang to me. I wish I had attended some kind of school here in the US.
39D: "No Exit" playwright: SARTRE. I think his "Being and Nothingness" & "Nausea" are more famous. Speaking of existentialism, do you like Milan Kundera's "The Unbreable Lightness of Being"?
46D: Arizona tribe: HOPI. Does anyone collect HOPI Kachina dolls?
63D: Paul Anka's "__ Beso": His voice sounds so warm.
C.C.
18A: Denim item: JEANS JACKET
61A: Party punch: JUNGLE JUICE
3D: Jumpin' hot spot: JUKE JOINT
34D: Portly planes?: JUMBO JET
And more J words to intersect the above theme entries:
1A: M. Houlihan's rank: MAJ. "M*A*S*H".
24A: Horizontal beams: JOISTS
34A: Lively dance: JIG
58A: H-M connection: IJKL
4D: __ Mahal: TAJ
19D: King's comic: JESTER. I don't understand the clue and the answer.
49D: Prized trinket: BIJOU. New word to me.
57D: Member of the "Love Train" soul group: O'JAY. Unknown to me also. Here is "Love Train".
So many famous JJ names: Janis Joplin, Joan Jett and Jesse Jackson. Oh, don't forget Shoeless Joe (Joe Jackson). He deserves to be in HOF. If you build it, he will come.
I hope you enjoyed solving this puzzle as much as I did. It's a great construction. There are quite a few unfamiliar names, but most of them are inferable from crossing fills. I still had to resort to Google though.
The clue for SERER (47A: Senegalese language) made me laugh. How obscure! Barry must be very excited to find this language. Otherwise, he would have to clue it as "more dry", which might irk some solvers.
Across:
4A: Puccini opera: TOSCA. Does anyone know the meaning of "TOSCA la ha" (Emperor Gene Nelson sign-off line)?
15A: Turkish bigwigs: AGHAS. PASHAS are also "Turkish bigwigs".
17A: Shatner novel: "__ War": TEK. Got it this time.
20A: Skater's jump: AXEL. Can you believe the first AXEL jump was performed in 1882?
26A: Lymphoid organ: SPLEEN
28A: Geological period: AZOIC. No idea. Dictionary defines it as "noting or pertaining to the Precambrian Era, esp. that part formerly believed to precede the first appearance of life". Rooted in Greek ázō(os) meaning "lifeless".
33A: Insertion symbol: CARET
52A: San Luis __: OBISPO. Here is the map. I've never heard of it before. Wikipedia says Loren Roberts was born and raised there. He has such an enviable putting stroke, so smooth and unhurried. OBISPO is Spanish for "Bishop".
55A: Japanese sci-fi film: RODAN. See the movie trailer. So horrifying.
69A: Like some questions: YES-NO
Down:
2D: NYSE rival: AMEX. NASDAQ is very scrabbly too.
5D: S-shaped moldings: OGEES. Can anyone explain to me what exactly is OGEE? I cannot see any S-shape in this OGEE clock frame.
7D: Game with four jokers: CANASTA. Did you know that CANASTA originally came from Uruguay?
12D: "Guys and Dolls" song: SUE ME. I got it from the across clue. See the clip.
13D: Mythical giant: TITAN. ATLAS is a TITAN.
21D: Lane in Metropolis: LOIS. I like this clue. Much more interesting than "Superman's girlfriend Lane".
25D: Like navigable northern waterways: ICE-FREE
28D: Actress Baxter: ANNE. I guessed. Wikipedia says she won Oscar for best supporting role in "The Razor's Edge", which stars GENE Tiernery also (see 36D: Tierney of films).
33D: G. P. A. slangily: CUME (Cumulative). New slang to me. I wish I had attended some kind of school here in the US.
39D: "No Exit" playwright: SARTRE. I think his "Being and Nothingness" & "Nausea" are more famous. Speaking of existentialism, do you like Milan Kundera's "The Unbreable Lightness of Being"?
46D: Arizona tribe: HOPI. Does anyone collect HOPI Kachina dolls?
63D: Paul Anka's "__ Beso": His voice sounds so warm.
C.C.
78 comments:
Good morning CC etal:
Smooth sailing until SW corner - had to google "Isao" Aoki & oneacross "bijou" (new to me) & "usurp". Everything else that was unknown or obscure came on the perps with a few SWAGs.
Hope all have a great day!
Court jesters were the comics of their day, usually the personal muses of Kings. They often met trajic ends when royalty was not amused.
I did attend school here and have never heard or used the term 'cume'. Seems like a made up word for the convenience of the puzzlemaker.
err....tragic
Good morning Cc, DFs and DFettes...sort of a tricky one today. I raced through the top half slowed on the bottom half and in particular stumbled in the SW corner. I had upset for 68a and this did not allow me to see the solutions to the downs in that area. Once I realized that 62d was LSD and not LST (and I should have know this)this made 68a upend and everything else fell into place.
I had to visit Mr G to get 39d as I did not know 47a or 56a and I was missing the letters at the crosses. When I checked with Mr G the only Senegalese languages I could find were French and Wolof so I needed the crosses to fill that area. Once I got SERER and Googled the word it came up as a Senegalese people. Oh well oveerall it was sort of a fun puzzle.
Hope you all have a great day.
@ anon (5:41):
Kind of agree on "cume" as a stretch clue, but have heard the term used in reference to (ac)cumulative grade point average - a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I was in college.
Chris et al,
FYI, the record for letter J's in a puzzle is 9. We have 8 today.
Anonymous @ 5:41am,
Thanks for the explanation. Can you please leave your name next time? I am interested in what you have to say.
Mark,
Whom does your "setter" refer to?
Clear Ayes,
Now, "bear", noun and verb, is a typical homonym. I don't think "topical" is. It's just a common word with different shades of meaning.
Richshif,
I did not know that logs are treated with pitch when used in shipbuilding. What kind of construction field are you in?
Good morning, c.c. and fellow DFs/DFettes - an outstanding puzzle today; great theme, lots of thinking, and as usual with Silk puzzles, some new words.
anon@5:41, 'cume' is very common in my experience -- I've lived in the NE and the SE, and it was used freely in both.
Today is National Nut Day - I encourage everyone to enjoy some fine nuts today.
Have a great hump day - and GO PHILLIES!
Dennis,
Have you tried freshly hand-picked walnuts before? They taste so good, very sweet and crunchy. Two walnuts & one banana is a perfect after work-out snack for you. My grandma said eating walnuts can make me clever.
c.c., no, I don't like walnuts - which would explain my lack of cleverness. And I'm curious why you have an image of a banana and two nuts.
Hi. 20 minutes 1 second today. The only letter I had to guess was the E in CUME and SERER as AMEX, SUE ME, EIS, TOSCA, ISAO and OBISPO all came from the perps.
BIJOU is the French word for jewel. It wasn't a gimme but when I had **JO* I filled in the rest. I guess I must have remembered it from when I studied French back in high school.
Speaking of school - ARGH! - I didn't realise GPA meant Grade Point Average: I didn't go to school in the U.S, either. I thought GPA was a kind of accountant. (Yes, I know that's CPA.)
Martin
Dennis,
Carb & fat. An ideal combination, isn't it? Besides, I always try to limit my calorie intake to 200 when I snack. One more walnut will be too much.
Martin,
Thanks for BIJOU.
Morning all,
@Martin, thanks for the bijou explanation. Must add that to my bag of tricks.
Cume is very common in my area also. However, we spelled it cum; not grammatically correct but I went to a state college!!!
We have a walnut tree at the back of our property. Very difficult and messy to remove green, outer coat. Buy my walnuts at the store.
Go Phillies.
Morning, folks!
Mostly smooth (as silk) sailing for me today, except for the very center of the puzzle where SERER and CUME met head on. I finally guessed that CUME was short for "Cumulative Grade Point Average" (although I've never heard anybody call it just CUME), but was very unsure whether SERER could possibly be a language. It had me doubting that SARTRE and FSU were correct, even though they were. I dunno. SERER seems so insanely obscure that it really marred an otherwise stellar puzzle in my opinion. Well, that and the lame IJKL which just plain reeked of desperation.
The only other words I didn't know were AZOIC (I'm familiar with other eras, such as the Paleozoic), OJAY (who?) and JUNGLE JUICE (please tell me that's not a racial term). RODAN was a gimme for me, since I'm such a big Godzilla fan. BIJOU was also a gimme since, although I normally think of it as the name of a movie theater, I was aware that it came from the French word for "jewel".
But seriously.... SERER? CUME?
Good morning, c.c. and all.
I'm in tune with chris in la today. I had the same difficulties in the SW corner, and, sigh, Googled.
anon@5:41, I agree with you on CUME. I have never heard that phrase used. (I'm glad I'm not the only one with typos. *G*)
I really enjoyed the puzzle today, despite the French (BIJOU) and the incredibly obscure SERER. I hate having to Google, but I enjoyed the challenge of the rest of the puzzle. My first thought when I saw AMEX was, "Is this going to be a pangram?"
The sun crept over the horizon as I completed the puzzle. It's time to get to work. I hope you all have an enjoyable day!
c.c., if you were to look at that clock case from the side, you might be able to see the ogee. It starts out flat, and then it curves down and back up again before it gets to the flat surface around the face of the clock.
Jumbo Jet not Jumble Jet
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention...
1A was actually clued as "M. Houlihan's rank" and not "Mr. Houlihan's rank." Major "Hot Lips" Houlihan was most definitely female, and I can only assume the "M" in the clue is an abbreviation for "Major," which seems like a bit of a giveaway to me. Why not just have it clued as "Houlihan's rank"?
Don't worry about "cume" as slang for G.P.A. I grew up here, my daughter just graduated from college. Neither of us has heard of it.
Kittyb,
Thanks for OGEE.
Barry,
I just corrected my mistake. MAJ is an abbreviation, hence M I think. Not a good clue. Would you be happy if SERER were clued as "More arid"/"Arider"?
Because M. Houlihan = Margaret Houlihan.
Would you be happy if SERER were clued as "More arid"/"Arider"?
Well, it would be an awkward, ugly word. But at least it would be one that I could figure out with a few perps to help. Personally, I would have liked to see that entire center section rewritten to avoid that word all together. And, for all I know, maybe the constructor did have completely different words there originally...
I guess 'cume' is a regional thing; growing up in the NE & SE, it's been commonplace in my experience. Never heard anyone say, "what's your cumulative?" and only occasionally heard "what's your G.P.A.?" -- it's just "what's your cume?".
Hi all,
M. Houlihan was Margaret, so it's an initial.
Bijou is used in English (I think) as a trinket, a bit like bling, but in French it's the real thing, a jewel.
I had to google serer--tried to get a list of Senegalese languages, but couldn't, and found it in the ethnicity list in Wiki.
All my other guesses came from crosses, but the SW corner was definitely the only challenge.
Margaret! How could I forget?
All is forgiven.
Well, except for SERER/CUME, of course.... ^_^
SERER, CUME, AZOIC! Never heard of them. That said, this wasn't too bad I got AZOIC from the adjacent fills, but had to come here to get the fills around the other two.
WOW! What a week last week! There are so many of you in the woodshed (And under it) that we'll need to be building an addition! As for Dennis...........I guess ther's nothing to be said other than "You've made your bed, so sleep in it". You sure know how get yourself into situations that require digging deeper just to get out!! o:).
CC, Re; Jamming - Think of making jam, or jelly or any kind of preserves. You put in the ingrediants mix them together and (hopefully) the end product is enjoyable.
Same with music. You put together a group of musicians in an impromptu setting, they all do what they do and sometimes the end result is better than a rehearsed show.
That's one of the main reasons I like music festivals. There is a lot of "jamming" and musicians learn so much from each other. And if the end result isn't as good as it could be, we draw from that experience next time!
Yes, we're home.
Yes, we had a wonderful time.
And, yes, I was right! The rain followed us to VA and it poured all day Fri, but, although the weekend was cool, it was still GREAT!!!
CY'all later.
Good morning, C.C. and gang. Not many problems other than Rodan-Ojay. I didn't know and guessed AJAY. It's a nice puzzle, but I wish the editor would come up with new clues for old fills. Perhaps Dolphin family member for Orca. It is a dolphin, not a whale.
Ah well.
Word of the day. Lacuna: luh KOO nuh
1: A blank space or missing part: gap
2: A cavity or discontinuity in an anatomical structure.
Newly discovered documents filled many lacunae in the museum's archives.
In the days of latin, it meant a pit or lake(lacus is latin for lake) or cleft. Via French and Italian usage, we get lagoon.
@Clear Ayes: I echo other's thoughts on your poetry selections. I recently reread a few you've posted that I've saved. Those folks can really write, or could, should they be gone now.
Not too much to comment on in today’s puzzle. I had two wrong squares. The first was the final E in CUME. I am familiar with this shortened term for cumulative average, but would have spelled it “cumm”. Of course that made no sense with SER_R where a vowel was definitely needed. I also missed the O in RODAN where it crossed with OJAY. I had Radan and Ajay. For another 11 character J-J answer, how about JUMPING JACK?
Replies to yesterday’s comments:
@Dennis and Richshif: Thank you for the insight into ECHO as a “Studio Embellishment”. I had not considered that it might be a desired effect.
@chris in LA: Thank you for the link to the USA Today on-line puzzle. I just wish the NY Times puzzle were available on-line for no charge.
@jd: I loved the piece on “Why Sentence Structures are So Important”!
@Clear Ayes: Theatre vs Netfix. I am the wrong person to ask. As a person who takes film very seriously, I thing seeing a film in a theatre is the real experience and DVDs are simply a way of remembering what it was like to see the film in the theatre.
Finally…recently I heard this quote attributed to Winston Churchill on the radio. “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” Sometimes that seems to be truer than I would like, alas.
BTB...le bijou is the French word for jewel.
I forgot to mention earlier that I am more familiar with eozoic than azoic. Does anyone know if there's a real difference? I know eozoic refers to the age of rocks.
ken,
Interesting reference to lacuna. I wasn't aware of that usage in English, but in French the word lacune refers to a word for which there is no true translation into another language. It happens a lot when dealing with English, since we have so many more words.
Sorry for my post about the French origin of BIJOU. I did that post before reading others' comments.
@ken: Lacuna is a subtle joke in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind where the company that erases bad memories from your mind is called the Lacuna Corporation.
Hi c.c. and all,
I was just filling in left to right until the bottom half and then had to do some thinking. I only got Serer, Isao, Ojay and Eso from the perps. I had acted for 66A for the longest time, but knew 54D had to be Incan and it finally came to me, duh!
Dennis: I agree with you about "cume". I heard that term often and believe that GPA and cume were used interchangeable.
Barry: I agree with you on "serer" and only got it as I said from the perps!
Fun puzzle with all the "J's"
Janis Joplin
Jack and Jill (I know there's an and), but it came to mind
Java Juice
Have a great day everyone!
RE: 33D - I wish I had attended some sort of school here too.(LOL)
Never heard of the word associated with G.P.A. before.
Good Morning All!
I didn't like Jeans Jacket - I've always just called it a Jean jacket. I don't know if I've been wrong all these years, but it just sounds strange.
Have a good day!
dairygal, you're right - I didn't pick up on that when I did it, but it's always been called a jean jacket as far as I know. Good catch.
@kazie & doesitinink. I'm glad you find ties to the WOTD. Some of them seem pretty obscure to me, but I love learning a new one.
For you folks up on your computer history, I'm listining to a David Baldacci novel, with a character named Turing and a place called Babbage. If I encounter an Ada Lovelace, I wouldn't be surprised.
I'm also a fan of John Stanford's
"Prey" series. He has a character named Del Capslock.
Comments on yesterday's blog:
@Kelly: The only so-named turnpike I know west of the Mississippi is the Turner Turnpike from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. It may have been bypassed by a freeway since I was there.
@Dick. I had restoration in mind with my '34 Ford five window coupe. I bought the frame and chassis for $20, juice brakes from a '40 Ford for another 20, a '48 Merc flathead for $30. I learned as a teenager that if you could, work on a car while it is running so you can show off the improvements you've made. I'd just gotten it running when I went in the Navy and my dad sold it for garage space. Dang!
@Dennis. Did some of those Tigers have the 289 engine? It seems a shipmate of mine had one, but I could be wrong.
@Buckeye, Carl and Embien. I did take my MG on rallies in the Oakland/Eastbay area of CA. At Lake Merritt boathouse in Oakland on a Friday night, there might be a couple clubs running either gimmick or T&Ds. I spent hours forever lost in those foggy Berkeley hills. Great fun tho'.
Great fun today, until I encountered cume, serer, FSU, and Sartre. I received my diploma this week, and never heard of cume. We used GPA. I wonder if it’s regional slang.
Doesitinink,
If you don’t mind doing older NYT puzzles, you can work them at the Seattle Times website.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/comicsgames/
Today’s puzzle is from Wed, Oct 10. You can check your answers on Rex Parkers site.
http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com
Found this on CUME:
Definition: A radio station's CUME is similar to a newspaper's circulation. Abbreviation for cumulative audience. It is the different or unduplicated persons or households listening during a specified period.
And, yes JEANSJACKET. I actually didn't put in the "S" till the last 'cause I thought maybe it was yet something else I hadn't heard of!!
mark - Buenos Aires
c.c. "setter" is the same as compiler or constructor ie "crossword setter".
Doesitinink - Winston Churchill was supposed to have said "America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language" - Are his little sayings accepted in US because he had a US mom? My girlfriend can criticise Argentina but if I say anything contrary, all Latin fury is let loose!
(Its also reported that the originator of the "two nations divided...." quote are G B Shaw and Oscar Wilde.)
Mark,
That's true of families as well--I can criticize my brother, but just let anyone else try it! And my husband encountered the same thing as you when we lived in Oz too.
@All: Was it Gabby Hayes who said "Jumpin' Jehosephat"?. In the bible, Jehosephat was the 4th king of Judah. With 15 letters it would fit right in.
Hi All, I did all right in today's puzzle. The J's helped. Somehow I couldn't get SUE ME and CUME/SERER. I had hot lips as a LTN until the J's popped out.
I have always said Jeans Jacket as a plural. Maybe when they first starting making them they used several pairs of jeans??
I remember my 21st birthday in college, we made Jungle Juice out of punch and other miscellaneous alcohols. Also added fruit to absorb some of the alcohol. At least that is what I was told happens.
Take care all!
Good morning C.C. and everyone:
Had 4 unknowns: Azoic, Bijou, Cume and Serer. Had V-8 stumpers too, 19D "Jesters" just would not come to me. 29D "zoos" was really embarrassing because I had "-oos" - Oh well, some days are like that!
Dennis, last time C.C. mentioned a frozen banana and 2 oranges. Must be a connection there, huh?
Another "J" : "jumpin'jehosaphat"
Beautiful cool,sunny day here - We have to enjoy them while they last.
Happy Nut day to you!
Goodmorning All, I really liked this puzzle. It is aggravating to have to Google words, but now previous unknowns SERER and CUME are snug and secure in my Documents Crossword folder. I'm relatively sure I will never use either one in casual conversation.
But....maybe a Jeopardy answer in a "World Languages" Category. "Spoken by approximately 7 million Sengalese people", "Ooohh, I know, I know"
I've been adding Ken's "Word of the Day" to my list too. We know Barry Silk checks out this blog and he may be jotting down words like "Lacuna" for possible use.
Barry, Not to worry. From good old Wikipedia, JUNGLE JUICE "Generally, it is believed that the name originates from the drink's potency, causing an extreme state of inebriation and thus causing the drinker to exhibit animal like behavior."
C.C. You're right about "topical", different meanings, but the same root. "Greek "topik(ós)" - local, pertaining to commonplaces"
Doesitinink, about in-theater viewing being better than DVD. You are so right, but we have to drive about 40 minutes to get to a theater, so we have to be pretty picky about what we see first-run and what we wait to see on Netflix. Our area also skips most movies that aren't big money makers. ("In Bruges" was here for about a couple of days, didn't drawn audiences and disappeared before we could hitch up the horses, hop in the wagon and head down the trail. LOL)
On Existentialism, I didn't know until this morning (sorry, Buckeye) that Stephen Crane, who wrote "The Red Badge of Courage" was also a poet. Most of his poems were short and had an existential theme.
A Man Said to the Universe
A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
Stephen Crane
@Mark in Buenos Aires: I cannot speak for other Americans, but I respect, though not always agree with Churchill because he was an intelligent person, not because his mother was born in the US.
@barb b: Thanks for the links for the NY Times Puzzles! I don’t always have time for an additional puzzle, but I do love the NY Times puzzles because of their increased level of difficulty.
@ken: The phrase ”Jumpin’ Jehosephat” was also popularized by Robin in the Batman tv series.
ski,
I'm no authority on jungle juice, but when I was first teaching in 1967, we used to have a lot of parties at our apartment, and each time people would bring all kinds of alcoholic beverages and leave the partly used liquor bottles behind. So the next time we'd make punch out of these by mixing it with a gallon of pineapple or pine/orange juice. Tasted pretty good actually.
clear ayes,
We're in the same boat as to theater experiences here, and the nearest good movie locale is 65 miles away, so we use Netflix all the time. You make do with what you have!
Good morning C.C. & all
First - Thank you Mr. Silk for a thought provoking puzzle. Tough but doable. (Oops; brain freeze - I just had doubts whether doable was actually a word) I really enjoy seeing words that we've thrown out in this blog, actually showing up in these puzzles. Eso as opposed to ESSO - thank you.
Like most everyone else, I wondered about several words so I wasn't too confident until I scanned through C.C.'s answers. Serer & azoic were my biggest doubts. 'G' always feels like I'm admitting defeat. Anyway, thank you C.C. Ojay came as a real coincidence to me... I was listening to Love Train just yesterday. I had been listening to a different song with the same name by Big & Rich and that led me back to the O'Jays. But, I do ramble on.....
@Ski Once again welcome to the zoo. It's good to see another Oregonian in the mix. I think we O's are tops in the numbers count.
Did anyone else have trouble getting in here for a while? I just came back to check on everyone, and couldn't update. I hope it's back to normal now.
I, like Dennis, have grown up in the NE & SE, and have heard "cume" thrown around a lot in the college/university circles. I am currently applying for grad schools around the country, and the question often pops up, what was your GPA in your major vs. what was your cume GPA.
anonymous arik
Jeanne,
We used to color plastic strips with the messy green walnut coats to make yellowish green ribbons for our pigtails.
Bill,
You sound like a great guy to jam with.
Doesitinink,
What is "Jumping Jack"?
Ken,
Thanks for the ORCA alert. I allways thought it's a whale.
Barb B,
Congratulations on your diploma.
Carol,
It's frozen banana and 2 nectarines.
Carl,
I've been enjoying your analysis on music lately.
I think you "Car-Guys" will appreciate this. We received an email from G.A.H.'s brother telling us that a 1964 Plymouth Fury he had spent about nine years restoring has shown up as a collectible die-cast toy. He sold the car awhile back. It showed up at Barrett-Jackson a couple of years ago and sold for $69,000. B-I-L didn't get anywhere near that and was kicking himself that he didn't hang onto it longer. Here's a link to the model of B-I-L's Baby. He still has a couple of restored muscle cars in his garage. He figures they are his recession-proof investments.
@cc: Jumping Jack is an aerobic exercise.
@ Clear Ayes & other car nuts. I sold my MG for $2000 in the 80s in mid-restoration, ie pieces. I'd only paid $600 in Walnut Creek, CA in '64, so figured I was ahead of the game. That buyer did a fine job of restoration, winning many trophies on the Concourse d'Elegance circuit. He sold it recently for 30K. Ah well.
"Jumpin' Jehosephat" am I the only one who counts 16, not 15 letters?
And if you are wearing jeans on your bottom half, why not a jeans jacket on your top half?
Outlaw Jesse James
1st Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay
NASCAR great, Junior Johnson
TV jurist, Judge Judy
Well, I am back. I was out of town on a girls weekend last weekend then off to my foodshow Monday and Tuesday of this week. This was the first puzzle I have done in four days. I had trouble with the some of the same ones everyone else did so I won't elaborate.
C.C. a banana and a couple of nuts. Sooooo smooth.
And the parent saver, the baby bungee; Jolly Jumper. Here is another satisfied user.
@Argyle..er ..um...I think that is a backwards gotcha on me. I did count them, but only with 1/2 cup of coffee in me. Thanks for the fix.
More Java Juice, Ken?
Hi C.C.and all
C.C. Pitch and oakum were used to waterproof and seal wooden ships. I work for a commericial general contractor. We do interior build outs of Subway Restuarants and also Tropical Smoothie Cafes.
Today's puzzle was easy except for some of the fills in the SW corner. Did not know bijou and am not good with university cities.
@ken re: 10:23am
I read Simple Genius last year and really enjoyed it. It's good to the last page! If you haven't read them I highly recommend Split Second, Stone Cold, Hour Game, Camel Club and Last Man Standing(especially). I don't know about their availability on tape. Baldacci is one of my favorites.
7:58 today. A very enjoyable puzzle! AZOIC and SERER were my unknowns.
CUME was a gimme, and a well-known expression around here (Oregon) back in the day. And, it was always JEANS JACKET for me (with the 'S'). After all, you don't wear "jean" you wear "jeans".
@barb b: Thanks for the link to the NY Times crossword. The puzzle today (10/22) is the one from 9/10 in the NY Times--6 weeks behind which is the old syndication delay (the current delay is 4 weeks). Still, it's nice to have the Times puzzle online (for free) and I encourage everyone to give it a go--especially Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, which are the easiest days.
If you do today's online puzzle http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/comicsgames/nytimescrossword.html you can read the blog here: http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2008/09/wednesday-sep-10-2008-lucas-gaviotis.html
Dennis et al,
FYI, Barry Silk's original clue for SERER is "More dry and withered".
Argyle,
Nice J & J list. I like Jess James the most. What's the exact meaning of "Jumpin' Jehosephat"? I've never heard of it before.
When did you change the format for posting???
Carol,
I've changed nothing. Blogger is behaving weirdly.
C.C.
"Jumpin' Jehosephat" is an exclaimation used to express surprise or wonderment.
Richshif,
Can you give me an example using
"Jumpin' Jehosephat"? Thanks for the oakum information earlier.
Carol,
The format seems OK now.
Richshif's comment about Tropical Smoothies reminded me of Jamba Juice smoothie cafes. Jamba Juice is located in 30 States. That's the same number of States as Stein Mart from Saturday's crossword. so I guess it could be a valid, if perhaps unpopular, J & J answer.
I'm sure most of you are busy with the World Series and after clicking on Publish, I will be too.
G.A.H. is a Cincinnati Reds fan, so he is just marginally rooting for Philly. I've got $5 on the Rays (yeah, big bettor!), so we are at odds.
Have a good one.
It is not a modern expression, similar to "Good Golly" or "Gracious". An example could be as follows: Jumpin' Jehosephat, I can't believe that man jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
Hope this helps.
C.C. thanks, I didn't even think that the questions I asked posted. Glad it's all ok now. :)
Carl, thank for the mention of David Baldacci. I had never heard of him so went to G. His style sounds a bit like John Grisham, whom I really like. I will order some of his books from the library, as soon as I finish the 5 I have here now. Love my library!!
Off to watch baseball - I read through most of it.. but there are some exciting parts. I prefer basketball, something that moves a lot faster, but if I understood the game like Joe does, it would be more interesting to me.
C.C., here is another set of theme answers. If you are getting tired of these, let me know.
21*21 82 blocks United Features Syndicate
from The Chronicle (Glens Falls, NY) Oct.16, 2008
By Robert Zimmerman no editor given
Theme: Left to Right
23A) Newlywed taking care of her hair? - brushing bride
46A) Halloween strategy? - fright plan
78A) Prop for a rosebush? - bloom stick
108A) What to expect at a college reunion - grad to meet you
16D) Costume for Bo Peep's pet - frock of sheep
57D) Attentive chef? - crock watcher
I don't know why 78A changes the "R" to an "L".
whoo...I think I went through your town the other day on Hwy 212 on my way to Morton. Buffalo Lake right? I tried not to blink so I wouldn't miss it; and you rip on Cokato!! Where the heck do you get a drink and a samitch there? We could of used it at about 2pm on Saturday.
xchefwalt, are you out there? We haven't heard from you in awhile. I am sure you are working on all your lists of things you have going on. French fries, Green beans, Hockey and all that. Head hurt? I have a remedie.
In graduate school we had to take cumulative exams called 'cumes' for short that were part of the requirements for a Ph.D. I have also heard of it as short for Cumulative Grade Point Average. Maybe it has gone out of use but even us hick Nebraskans have heard of its use. So, to me it is not a made up word for the convenience of the puzzlemaker. As an aside we spelled it cume. Jeanne's spelling at 6:36 a.m. brings something else to mind.
I believe Barry assumes wrong. The M in M. Houlihan stood for Margaret (her first name). That way you have an abbreviation in the clue and an abbreviation in the answer.
Zoic is common for geological ages but not azoic (e.g., Paleozoic, Cenozoic, Mesozoic). Azoic is a word however. It is a group of dyes and pigments known as azoic compounds because they have two doubly bonded nitrogen atoms called an "azo" link and thus the compounds are colored and thus the name. I know because that is what I make in the lab and in production for a living.
@carol Grisham is great. If you need more for your list, add Nelson De Mille. Gripping stuff!!!
@C.C. I also noticed the format shift earlier. It was a substitution of template for some unknown reason... probably a maintenance thing on the blogger. Or, gremlins??? Halloween is getting close...
Carl,
As to the format shift--I asked this afternoon what was going on, when I couldn't update here for a while.
What's happened to c.c.'s how to do it instruction links on the right side here?
Drdad,
We also had Margaret Houlihan figured out hours ago. Maybe you can answer my question about azoic versus eozoic (9:41am)--i.e. Is there really any difference?
It's correctly called jean jacket for the same reason that Hillary Clinton wears a pant suit: jeans and pants are plural and no adjective in English is plural (cf "ten year old boy"). That jeans and pants are plural is clear because we say "pair of jeans" and "pair of pants" (cf "pair of scissors"). This rule in English comes as a surprise for non-native speakers: consider the fact taht we say "stamp collection" and not "stamps collection" even though a stamp collection is a collection of stamps.
C.C., I wanted JESTER yesterday for "court figure" but I was doing it online so I immediately knew it was wrong.
Martin
Congrats to the Phillie Phanatics. I'm sure you are celebrating with a Yuengling long neck and a Phillie cheese steak samich with grilled onions and 200 lbs. of Cheese Whiz (A product Wisconsin denies exists). The Tampa people are at the Green Iguana or Mangroves, sipping a cosmo, saying, "Tampa has a professional baseball team? Who knew?"
Clearayes: Your G.A.H. is a Reds fan? My God, we WERE separated at birth and you married ME, your BROTHER, in a different form. He's lucky he lives 3000 miles away so he doesn't have to suffer the ignominy of the Reds and Bengals. Now you know why I love the Buckeyes so much. They're the only winners in the entire state. The Indians and Browns? HA!!!!
Baldachi, Gresham, Turow, Evanovich, the Kellermans, Archer, Grafton, Box, Deaver, DeMille, Foresyth, Ludlum, Parker - a few of my favorite authors.
A long day. My cronies still insist on playing golf in the middle of the night. 9:00AM on a course 50 miles away. I have to arise at 7:00AM just to make it, and that's right in the middle of my deep REM sleep. Today, I had to struggle to break 70, and I almost missed the clown's mouth.
It's well past "Midnight At The Oasis", and time for a wee taste and off to slumberland. The great thing about posting so late is I'm assured no one will read this idiodacy. (I love making up new words). If they read it, they would know...
I must be off!!
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