Theme: Terms of Address for Women
20A: The Nine Days' Queen: LADY JANE GREY
36A: Sherwood Forest damsel: MAID MARIAN
42A: Musical set in Vietnam: MISS SAIGON
56A: Flaubert novel: MADAME BOVARY
Poor Mrs. Robbinson, I don't think Doug Peterson loves her at all. But I am glad IVANA is clued as "Former Mrs. Trump". Robin Williams' "Mrs. Doubtfire" should be a great theme entry too.
This puzzle SINGS (30D: Does a number) for me, full of pop culture and literary figures that I am actually familiar with: HEIGL, GARY SINISE, uncle LEO, JEM, MADAM BOVARY, etc.
Still needed a couple of googles and wite-out to finish this puzzle. But I enjoyed it tremendously. It did not make me feel stupid.
Across:
5A: Alda sitcom: M*A*S*H. I wish ALAN (6D: Novelist Paton) were clued as "5A star" for a tie-in. I've never heard of ALAN Paton. Fascinating, Wikipedia says his first book "Cry, Beloved Country" was picked up by Maxwell Perkins, the editor of genius (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, etc.).
9A: Capital of Belarus: MINSK. Do you know that Louis B. Mayer was born in MINSK?
18A: Colombian city: CALI. It's Colombia's second largest city. Lots of drug here, I am sure.
19A: Element #54: XENON. I googled this element. Can never remeber this noble gas.
24A: City in central Israel: LOD. Can not find LOD in this map.
31A: San Luis __, CA: OBISPO. Here is the map. It appeared in our puzzle before.
45A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS. Or "Adam's grandson". "Speaker of baseball" is TRIS.
52A: Tearjerker: WEEPER. Both sound like made-up words to me.
59A: Poppy product: OPIUM. I wonder if there is a way to legalize the OPIUM production in Afganistan. Did you watch "Charlie Wilson's War"? Philip Seymour Hoffman was simply brilliant as CIA operative Gust.
64A: Language of Iran: FARSI. I just learned the other day that "julep" is "rose water" in FARSI.
65A: "The King and I" actress: KERR. Here is a clip. I was thinking of Jodie Foster's "Anna and the King".
Down:
1D: Overflowed: SPILT. As in SPILT milk?
2D: Peninsula near Hongkong: MACAO. We spell it as MACAU in China. It's in south China. A former Portuguese colony until 1999. See it? See my hometown Xi'An?
4D: "CSI: NY" star: GARY SINISE. I like his Lieutenant Dan role in "Forrest Gump". He is also great in "Ransom".
5D: Paving material: MACADAM. Named after "J. L. McAdam, the Scottish engineer who invented it." PAVE was clued as "Macadamize" last time.
8D: Katherine of "27 Dresses": HEIGL. I like its happy ending, so romantic. I also like HEIGL's "Love Comes Softly".
9D: Motley assortment: MIXED BAG
10D: Judith of "Sister, Sister": IVEY. I've never heard of IVEY or "Sister, Sister". Is she very famous?
21D: "To Kill a Mockingbird" boy: JEM. Scout's brother. Great book.
26D: Joe of "NCIS": SPANO. He is very annoying in "NYPD Blue". I've never seen "NCIS".
33D: Nasser of Egypt: GAMAL. Got it from the across fills. I only knew NASSER when the clue is "Anwar's predecessor". His full name is GAMAL Abdel Nasser.
39D: Big wave: TSUNAMIS
54D: Susan Lucci's soap role: ERICA. Susan Lucci's beauty secret is to eat lots of sardines, What's yours?
57D: Champagne name: MOET. I've never had MOET et Chandon, have you? MOET is the M in LVMH. Louis Vuitton has probably spent more money than any other luxury brands to stop counterfeit products in China.
C.C.
20A: The Nine Days' Queen: LADY JANE GREY
36A: Sherwood Forest damsel: MAID MARIAN
42A: Musical set in Vietnam: MISS SAIGON
56A: Flaubert novel: MADAME BOVARY
Poor Mrs. Robbinson, I don't think Doug Peterson loves her at all. But I am glad IVANA is clued as "Former Mrs. Trump". Robin Williams' "Mrs. Doubtfire" should be a great theme entry too.
This puzzle SINGS (30D: Does a number) for me, full of pop culture and literary figures that I am actually familiar with: HEIGL, GARY SINISE, uncle LEO, JEM, MADAM BOVARY, etc.
Still needed a couple of googles and wite-out to finish this puzzle. But I enjoyed it tremendously. It did not make me feel stupid.
Across:
5A: Alda sitcom: M*A*S*H. I wish ALAN (6D: Novelist Paton) were clued as "5A star" for a tie-in. I've never heard of ALAN Paton. Fascinating, Wikipedia says his first book "Cry, Beloved Country" was picked up by Maxwell Perkins, the editor of genius (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, etc.).
9A: Capital of Belarus: MINSK. Do you know that Louis B. Mayer was born in MINSK?
18A: Colombian city: CALI. It's Colombia's second largest city. Lots of drug here, I am sure.
19A: Element #54: XENON. I googled this element. Can never remeber this noble gas.
24A: City in central Israel: LOD. Can not find LOD in this map.
31A: San Luis __, CA: OBISPO. Here is the map. It appeared in our puzzle before.
45A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS. Or "Adam's grandson". "Speaker of baseball" is TRIS.
52A: Tearjerker: WEEPER. Both sound like made-up words to me.
59A: Poppy product: OPIUM. I wonder if there is a way to legalize the OPIUM production in Afganistan. Did you watch "Charlie Wilson's War"? Philip Seymour Hoffman was simply brilliant as CIA operative Gust.
64A: Language of Iran: FARSI. I just learned the other day that "julep" is "rose water" in FARSI.
65A: "The King and I" actress: KERR. Here is a clip. I was thinking of Jodie Foster's "Anna and the King".
Down:
1D: Overflowed: SPILT. As in SPILT milk?
2D: Peninsula near Hongkong: MACAO. We spell it as MACAU in China. It's in south China. A former Portuguese colony until 1999. See it? See my hometown Xi'An?
4D: "CSI: NY" star: GARY SINISE. I like his Lieutenant Dan role in "Forrest Gump". He is also great in "Ransom".
5D: Paving material: MACADAM. Named after "J. L. McAdam, the Scottish engineer who invented it." PAVE was clued as "Macadamize" last time.
8D: Katherine of "27 Dresses": HEIGL. I like its happy ending, so romantic. I also like HEIGL's "Love Comes Softly".
9D: Motley assortment: MIXED BAG
10D: Judith of "Sister, Sister": IVEY. I've never heard of IVEY or "Sister, Sister". Is she very famous?
21D: "To Kill a Mockingbird" boy: JEM. Scout's brother. Great book.
26D: Joe of "NCIS": SPANO. He is very annoying in "NYPD Blue". I've never seen "NCIS".
33D: Nasser of Egypt: GAMAL. Got it from the across fills. I only knew NASSER when the clue is "Anwar's predecessor". His full name is GAMAL Abdel Nasser.
39D: Big wave: TSUNAMIS
54D: Susan Lucci's soap role: ERICA. Susan Lucci's beauty secret is to eat lots of sardines, What's yours?
57D: Champagne name: MOET. I've never had MOET et Chandon, have you? MOET is the M in LVMH. Louis Vuitton has probably spent more money than any other luxury brands to stop counterfeit products in China.
C.C.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteWere you disillusioned by the 1994 MLB strike? Did anything positive come out of it? Had you been Bud Selig, what would you have done differently to have avoided the strike?
Martin,
Pattispa was asking for a "general idea on fractal geometry" last week. Maybe you can explain to her.
Czenko,
After seeing your Ammon Shea & OED comment, I suddenly remembered that I listened to his interview on NPR a few months ago.
Argyle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ANIL yesterday. "Drawn to strong, war-like women"? Man, you surprise me often!
Geri,
Do you research genealogy for your own family or for others as well?
Katherine,
This week?
I didn't know the L in HEIGL or the Y in IVEY. Here is a map with Lod, Israel on it. And I could not get your picture of Joe SPANO so here is another. Thanks for the write-up cc. Happy Monday to all.
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
ReplyDeleteWell, this was a bit of a hammer for me. More googling than I'd like. I recalled seeing a lot of answers in previous puzzles but didn't log them into my brain. Not a good start to my Monday.
Today is World Peace Day. I wonder if we will ever really enjoy such a thing as peace all over the world.
This is also the 40th anniversary of the "Heidi Game" in football - NBC pre-empted the last minute of a very close NFL game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders with the movie Heidi on November 17, 1968. Sports fans were outraged. Oakland came from behind to win 43-32 during the last minute.
It is also electronic Greeting Card Day. Send them to those you care about.
A couple of others are Homemade Bread Day and Take a Hike Day.
Have a great Monday.
Morning, folks!
ReplyDeleteNot a bad puzzle, but I really thought it was more appropriate for People Magazine.
I did not know GAMAL, IVEY or SPANO, but was able to get them via the perps. And I got a bit hung up on MACAO, since I also wanted to spell it MACAU. I spent an afternoon there once, back in 2000. I remember all the street signs being in Portuguese (despite the fact that nobody I met actually spoke Portuguese), and there was a famous church that had been completely destroyed except for the front wall which had "miraculously" survived. I'm sure it was a big deal for the people who live there, but I kept thinking that a real miracle would have been the entire church surviving and not just one wall. But that's just me...
Anyway, an easy puzzle overall for me, although it didn't really excite me. With apologies to C. C., knowing lots of pop culture references doesn't make me feel nearly as smart as figuring out obscure clues or remembering arcane vocabulary words.
Good morning, c.c. and gang - a most enjoyable puzzle today for me - I liked the mix of new words and pop culture. Lady Jane Grey came from the perps.
ReplyDeletec.c., I also thought 'weeper' was pretty weak. And to answer your questions, nothing positive came out of the strike; lots of people just lost interest and never came back. And if I had been Bud Selig, I'd have blown my brains out back then to avoid looking like a total buffoon over the next 14 years...
On a side note, I saw Chazz Palminteri yesterday in his one-man show, 'Bronx Tale'. An absolutely brilliant performance; if you're a fan of the movie, I'd highly recommend seeing this should it come to your town.
Good morning CC etal:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Barry - this one was more like a "TV Guide" crossword puzzle. Lots of googles today, very unsatisfying. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Happy Monday!
Good morning, C.C. and all.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Barry, this puzzle is more suited to People. I didn't know LADY JANE GREY or MINSK, but they both came from the fills. With the exception of those two, the answers came as fast as I could type them.
C.C., it's a good thing that you are here to point out the theme and the construction. It all flew right over my head today.
We've had our first snow in Chicago. Snow that landed on leaves is still here; snow that landed on the grass has melted.
I hope you all have a great start to your week!
"Monday, Monday, can't trust that day"
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, C.C. and DF's,
Messed up on the "L" in Heigl and Lod (simple map). Lod was the birthplace of England's patron saint, Saint George, and home of Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion International Airport, I found out while looking for a simple map.
Song today, Killer Queen; "She keeps a MOET et Chandon, in a pretty cabinet."
Good morning CC, DFs and DFettes..this puzzle was not very exciting to me. I managed to complete the entire lower two thirds without help. The upper one third required some trips to Mr G. I did not know 2D MACAO nor 20A LADYJANEGRAY. and this certainly caused problems in that area.
ReplyDeleteGuess I had mixed feelings for this one, very smart on the lower part and very dumb on the upper part. Better luck for tomorrow. Hope you all have a great new week. Snow and cold here today. BRRRR!
C.C.,
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the question about fractal geometry but I can show people something interesting. This is a line going down from A to B.
A
!
!
!
!
B
This is the same line with a bump.
A
!
\
/
!
B
The line with the bump is longer. Now put a bump on each of the four line segements above. Each time you do this the line gets longer. There is no limit to how long the line gets, even though it still begins and ends at the same point. This is why you have to specify a map scale when you ask the question "How long is a country's coastline?" The more detailed the map, the longer the costline. It was from observations such as these that fractal geometry developed. Besides coastlines, fractals can be used to describe crystal formations such as snowflakes.
I'll discuss the puzzle in a separate post.
Martin
I liked this puzzle because it had a nice international flavour. Consider:
ReplyDeleteMASH*: American sitcom, but set in Korea.
MINSK*: Belarus capital
CALI: Columbian city
LOD: City in Israel
IMAMS*: Mosque, ie Muslim, officials
ONO*: Spanish "one"
MISS SAIGON*: British musical but set in Vietnam,
OPIUM*: Another ASIAN connection
FARSI*: Iranian language
KERR*: "The King and I" was set in Thailand.
TSAR*: Pre-Revolution (in Russia) ruler
MACAO*: Chinese city
GAMAL: Egyptian ruler's first name
TSUNAMIS*: Mostly an ASIAN phenomenon
PARIS*: French city
The clues marked with a * were all gimmes. It actually paid this time NOT to have been living in the US all this time! Yay!
Now for the words I didn't know. (Boo!) I didn't know JEM, MACADAM, MIXED BAG, IVEY, JANE GREY, MIXED BAG, OBISPO, SPANO or ENOS. I knew that element number 54 was an inert gas but I didn't know if it was ARGON, RADON or XENON. I also had SOLO instead of SOLE.
Anyway, that's all IRRELEVANT. I thought this was a GRAND puzzle or at the very least a very NICE one, certainly not the WEEPER that some of you have made it out to be. I did say I wanted them to be a little bit morfe difficult, didn't I? I need to be careful what I wish for.
Oh, by the way, there was this funny story that Chazz Palminteri told once on the tonight show: he was at this cinema back in 1996and there were trailers for three of his movies, Faithful, Mullholland Falls and Diabolique and the guy sitting in front of him said "Who's this Chazz Palminteri guy? Suddenly he's everywhere!" so he leaned forward and said to the guy "Do you have a problem with that?"
Martin
52A: Tearjerker: WEEPER. Both sound like made-up words to me.
ReplyDeleteHere's an example of a tearjerker.
A tearjerker means a movie that makes you cry. The most famous is 1939's Casablanca.
Casablanca DVD
This 1 hour 43 minute feature film is a DVD starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Colorful characters abound in Casablanca, a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but good-hearted American whose cafe is the gathering place for everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis. When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca.
Hey Martin, to my way of thinking, tsar/tzar can never be a gimme exactly untill the perp confirms the spelling. Of couse, it is usually one of those over-abundant "esses" that is the fill.
ReplyDeleteI have to concur with Barry's opinion on this. At first I expected to have to google the lot, but as I filled in the ones I knew, many others fell into place. The only thing I did google successfully was Lady Jane Grey.
ReplyDeleteI tried repeatedly to google a peninsula near Hong Kong but all that kept coming were those damn hotels. The word was starting to look as if it should be Macao though, so in the end I just put that in. I was stuck on spilt until I thought of smog and got the "s".
Not much to comment on today except to complain about the over abundance of proper names. Still I completed it quickly with no assists.
ReplyDeleteAlan Paton is a well-known South African most well-known for Cry, The Beloved Country which was made twice into movies, first in 1951 with Sidney Poitier, and again in 1995 with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. I remember wanting to see the 1995 version, but it came out at a time when I was still seeing mostly Disney movies. LOL. Here is a moving clip of the same name about Zimbabwe’s recent election process.
Madame Bovary is a book I first read when I was a teen, and I loved it! Anna Karenina is another book about an unhappily married woman who met a tragic end that I have enjoyed reading a several times.
I enjoyed Gary Sinise in the comic film noir The Big Bounce based on the book by Elmore Leonard. But I enjoyed Owen Wilson more!
Well, IMBO to my 9 am status meeting. TTFN.
Good Morning All, There wasn't much that stumped me this morning. I put POOH in 14A to begin with, and I didn't know LOD or SPANO. I was rather proud of myself for remembering XENON.
ReplyDeleteLADY JANE was a semi-historical 1986 movie starring Helena Bonham Carter and Carey Elwes. The emphasis is on "semi"
C.C. Your San Luis OBISPO map shows our previous home of Oxnard. The Oxnard brothers operated a sugar beet factory there and modestly named the town after themeselves. The climate is mild all year long and is well suited to the delicious strawberries that are grown there. It is on the coast and has some great beaches. Hmm, I wonder why we left??
This was a breeze. I was so happy to know the proper names; I usually don’t.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t posted for a while, I joined an art guild and I’ve been working like crazy to finish several projects. At the last possible moment, I decided put a few pieces at the local art show. Now my walls and table are bare, so I have to do more!
KittyB Is that a new quilt? Wow!
I found it interesting that the ultimate fate of the theme women depended upon the actions of the men in their lives. MISS SAIGON and MADAME BOVARY committed suicide and LADY JANE GREY was beheaded. Only MAID MARIAN, who was a prototypical feisty virgin, survived in song and story. But then, she wasn't the star of the show.
ReplyDeleteI like Argyle's Killer Queen better. This one is for you, Argyle. It makes me laugh every time I read it. You don’t have to be familiar with Oedipus to get it, but it helps.
Myth
Long afterward,
Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads.
He smelled a familiar smell.
It was the Sphinx.
Oedipus said, "I want to ask one question.
Why didn't I recognize my mother?"
"You gave the wrong answer," said the Sphinx.
"But that was what made everything possible," said Oedipus.
"No," she said. "When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered, Man.
You didn't say anything about woman."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women too.
Everyone knows that."
She said, "That's what you think."
- Muriel Rukeyser
Hi C.C. and all,
ReplyDeleteWell, at least I don't feel so alone in my struggles with this puzzle. As Barry said, it was too "People" magazine-like. I don't keep up with TV "stars" so had to Google most of them.
I noticed the letter 'M' starting 36A,42A and 56A and I got all those but I wanted 20A to start with an 'M' as well, funny it didn't, it seemed to throw the rhythm of the others off. Anyway, I didn't know 9A and really had trouble in the NW corner. I have never seen CSI:NY so had to Google that too. At least the lower portion was easy. I wouldn't want super easy puzzles all the time anyway, a challenge is always fun.
Off to ride my bike, and continue working on our basement floor. How much fun can a girl have?? (guess it depends on what I'm doing on the basement floor, doesn't it?)
Here is a link to a Moet advertisement: http://www.posterunlimited.com/imcg81659.html
ReplyDeleteAlphonse Mucha did a lot of ads for them back in the late 1890"s-early 1900"s in the Art Nouveau Style. They are a very well-known (and delicious) French Champagne that is readily available in the US.
I actually ended up being able to do the whole puzzle with the exception of filling in the L for LOD and the I and L (intersection) of HEIGL (never heard of her)...This surprised me as my first glance at all the names places had me thinking I would have a lot of trouble with this...Always nice to find out that you know more than you think you do!
Kathleen in CA
C.C, Tearjerker is a very common term for a movie or TV show that makes you weep. It's like Bodice Ripper for a novel that is set usually, I think, in Victorian times and the heroine falls for a strong – hinting at violent – man. Thus the term the idea of ripping her bodice ("the part of a woman's dress covering the body between the neck or shoulders and the waist")before making love.
ReplyDeleteSo no, tearjerker is not a made up name.
About Moet Chandon, I was fortunate to tour their facility in 1974. The guide was an American college student, and I was the only American in the group. Afterwards, we were offered glasses of the wonderful champagne. When the rest of the group left the student and I talked and finished off the bottle. I know I had a delicious dinner that evening that included another bottle of Moet Chandon. I remember very little of the dinner. And the next day I was totally wiped out. I believe there is nothing worse than a champagne hangover. Never repeated that experience.
ReplyDeleteHi C.C,
ReplyDeleteMost of the genealogy that I do is family. However, I have a long list of names and quite often help other researchers. Some of my ancestors came from England to Mass in early 1600, a branch of them later moved to Quebec in 1800.
I found in my line President Calvn Coolidge. Also another interesting thing was the witches of Salam. I found that we had a Mary Parker who was belived to be a "witch" and was later hung.
I could go on and on.
It is a lot of fun!!
Are you doing any researching?
Back to the c/w, the papa got me as wll as the pundits, I have watched CNN and their gang forever it seems.
Have a good day,
Geri
barb b, that's the quilt I used when I first started posting here. I should take a picture of the orange and black quilt I made for Halloween and post it, before I take it down for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteThere are easily 20 quilts waiting for me to make time to finish them. Binding for two is up next, and then I can finish my 1 year old grand daughter's quilt. Of course, for every project I finish, I start two more! *G*
My criteria for Tearjerker movies: they don't have to be good movies, but somebody's gotta die and it has to be a child (usually a daughter), spouse or best friend. The best friend could be a dog, if you are thinking of Old Yeller. Here's my top five tearjerker movies.
ReplyDelete5. Love Story
4. Steel Magnolias
3. Terms of Endearment
2. Beaches
1. Brian's Song (1971 version)
Sallie, I have the same reaction to champagne. It totally "fuzzles" me up.
Geri, how cool to find Silent Cal (and a witch) in your family tree.
Time for art class. See you later.
Good morning, everyone.
ReplyDeleteToo many unknown names for me today. Had to hit the G spot for answers and confirmations. LADY JANE GREY, GARY SINISE, ALAN, HEIGL, IVEY, JEM, SPANO. 3D made me think long and hard as well.
Nothing much to add to the other comments, so everyone have a bodacious day!
Barry,
ReplyDeleteI know. You love those ASTARTE & YESHIVAS words, which always make me feel stupid.
J.D.
"And our handsome SAE neigbors came down to have ovaltine". What is SAE?
Argyle,
I enjoyed your "Killer Queen" link. Where did you get the information that the valkries are "nine daughters of Odin so I doubt they waited on anybody"?
Martin,
ReplyDeleteNice "international flavor" comment, very observant! XENON is noble gas, isn't it? Or is it inert gas as well?
Democrat & Sallie,
Thanks for WEEPER and "Tearjerker". "Casablanca" did make me cry, esp the line "We will always have Paris".
Barb,
Nice to see you back! I missed reading your posts.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteI am going to study more about the 1994 MLB strike and other strikes. I've developed a strong interest in this form of protest.
Geri,
Compared with most Americans, I have a very very simple family background. Pure Chinese. My husband has a very complicated German, Norwegian, Polish background. His family tree is quite complicated.
Good day C.C. et al. I typed all this out earlier; I wonder what happened. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteHowever, I had some problems in the NW corner, but was in a hurry when I did the puzzle so perhaps didn't look at it long enough.
WOTD prehension pree HEN shun noun
*1: the act of taking hold, seizing, or grasping
2: mental understanding, comprehension
3: apprehension by the senses
Example: the new surgery claims an increase in hand prehension after a nerve transplant
From the Latin prehendere, meaning to seize or grasp. Other words include apprehend, comprehend, prehensile, prison, reprise and reprisal.
Have a great day all.
Clear Ayes. Sugar beets are, or rather were a thriving crop in much of the coastal area. There is a small town near Salinas named Spreckels for that family. Alma, the wife was still alive when I lived there in the 70s and Spreckels Sugar was in the supermarkets of the area.
good afternoon c.c. and all,
ReplyDeletewasn't in solving gear this morning i guess .. this one came slow for me. macadam, gamal and macao were nearly impossible, did not know how to spell heigl, and it took me forever to parse miss saigon.
i did rather like the theme. because i tend to filter musically, it made me think gordon lightfoot, who has written much about maidens and heroes. his 'songs the minstrel sang,' contains the lyrics:
hi derry day in the month of may
was the song the minstrel sang
to the good of robin hood
maid marion and all the gang
and who could forget don quixote.
tearjerker is quite common .. but weeper?
@argyle: LOVE old queen tunes, you linked a favorite, thx.
@dennis: chazz ... toldya. wish i could see it again.
7:28 today. I spent a good bit of time wondering why the "congratulations" screen didn't come up when I filled in the grid. It took quite a bit of puzzling (going over all the "iffy" letters) until I found I had spelled it MAID MARION instead of MARIAN. We have a MARION county here in Oregon, so that spelling didn't look at all strange to me. I should have thought of "Marian the Librarian" sooner, but I guess it's all OK since I don't attempt to speed solve.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Barry on the puzzle overall. I hate, hate, hate puzzles with so many proper nouns and wish they would stay in TV Guide where they belong.
@c.c.: we spell it MACAO here in the US. I'm very familiar with this territory since it is the new Chinese gambling mecca, with lots of construction, hotels and casinos being built (some by US casino companies).
I was very pleased to see a map showing Xi'an. I knew from your profile that was your home town but couldn't really place where it was. We Americans are pretty unfamiliar with that part of China probably because we don't have restaurants featuring food from that area (as we do, for example Szechuan or Hunan). Is there a kind of food that I'd recognize that is characteristic of Shanxi (sp?) province cuisine?
Hi C. C. and all,
ReplyDeleteFairly easy today, was slow in the NE corner. Macadam is new to me, was thinking of asphalt.
Martin, Spanish one is "uno" not "ono" don't know if that is a typo or not. The Hawaiian island is Maui, it wouldn't be Maoi.
Sallie, Tearjerker is definately a word, but I think they were questioning the answer of "weeper". My dictionary does show weeper and one of the definitions is tearjerker.
Leftover from the other day. CLIP is the old penalty. Currently it's "Illegal block in the back" which is why you may not be familiar with the term "clipping". If you watch any football games on TV these days I can almost guarantee you'll see the "illegal block in the back" penalty called at some point.
ReplyDeleteargyle @8:20am - Don't forget "czar".
ReplyDeleteYeah, I meant to type UNO.
ReplyDeleteDid anybody think POOH Bear instead of PAPA Bear?
Martin
Clear Ayes,
ReplyDelete"The Oxnard brothers operated a sugar beet factory there and modestly named the town after themselves". Is your "modestly" an sarcastic expression?
Doesitinink,
Some of your posts really remind me of the ideals of Wangari Maathai.
Embien,
Xi'An is the capital city of Shaanxi Province. Our cooking is similar to Sichuan/Hunan style, very hot and spicy. But we consume more wheat products, esp noodles and steamed buns (We don't bake in China).
C. C. said... Argyle, where did you get the information that the Valkries are "nine daughters of Odin so I doubt they waited on anybody"? 2:32 PM
ReplyDeletefrom my Uncle Willie's site. I'm kidding. I was looking for an image of the Valkyries (the one I linked.) It was on a site called My Uncle Willies, a site that sells plans for model airplanes, and one of planes is called the Valkyrie. It was the caption for the image that said they(the Valkyries) were the daughters of Odin.
A more reliable site says they are the foster-daughters of Odin and they do serve the slain warriors.
You are right, doesitinink, so there are two perps you may need to be sure of which czar/tzar/tsar to use.
Xenon We may see this clued as the blue/white car headlights we see on the streets these nights. The high-intensity lights are a popular upgrade for customizers.
Good evening Cc et al: Well, this one was not a 'weeper' and didn't send me to the bored 'room'. Interesting puzzle overall. Just missed Lady Jane Grey and a couple of perps there, but the rest was right. Thought 'does a number' was cute. Think I'll be Mme Bovary for next Halloween. I need to start practicing right away.
ReplyDeleteMartin: loved your international take on the puzzle. Very insightful.
Argyle: thanks for the Queen music. Great stuff. One of my favorites as well.
C.C. Yes, I was being sarcastic about the Oxnard brothers. I can understand giving your name to a family business, like Sears, or naming a town after a famous person, like Jefferson or Lincoln. I tend to think there is more than a touch of hubris in people who name whole towns after themselves.
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