Theme: Use it or Lost it
23A: Start of quip: THE BRAIN IS NO
37A: Part 2 of quip: STRONGER THAN ITS
47A: End of quip: WEAKEST THINK
Well, it's a twist of Thomas L. Masson's quote: "No brain is stronger than its weakest think." And it appeared initially as "The brain is as strong as its weakest think".
Is THINK a noun here? I don't think I fully understand the grammatical structure of this quip.
I also don't understand the clue for HORN (24D: Plenty, for one?). Why?
Easy puzzle though, very doable.
Across:
5A: Actress Bernhardt: SARAH. Known as "The Divine Sarah". She was so famous that the Le Figaro newspapers declared in 1899 that "everyone was coming to Paris to see two profiles: that of the Eiffel Tower, and SARAH Bernhardt''. But I've never heard of her before.
18A: Rot-resistant wood: ALDER. It's also resistant to water damage and insect infestation.
19A: Muffin pans: TINS. Hmmm, muffins, want some?
22A: City on the Rhone delta: ARLES. Here is van Gogh's "Cafe Terrace at Night in ARLES".
27A: President after Polk: TAYLOR. He is the last elected Whig president. And ABRAM (59A: Pres. James __ Garfield). "Pres." should not be abbreviated.
30A: Cameo stone: ONYX. What's the difference between ONYX and agate?
32A: Ste. Jeanne __: D'ARC. Jeanne is French for Joan, I suppose?
46A: Double dealing: DECEIT
62A: Hide in the shadows: LURK. I like how it intersects SKULKS (44D: Moves about stealthily).
Down:
1D: Glob of paint: DAUB. Move your mouse here and see if you can create your own Pollock drip masterpiece.
3D: Write off?: DELE. I like this clue.
4D: University near Tempa: SAINT LEO. I got it from the across clues. Wikipedia says Desi Arnaz & Lee Marvin attended this university.
5D: Undercoat material: SEALER
10D: Numerical array: MATRIX. Not familiar with this math term.
11D: Seed cover: ARILS. What's the difference between ARIL and testa?
29D: Mongol's tent: YURT. Turkish origin. Literally "dwelling place". Too strong an orange color inside his YURT.
35D: Needle case: ETUI. Dictionary says ETUI is rooted in old French estuier, meaning "to guard".
40D: V formation: NECKLINE. Yes, indeed, "It may be plunging".
46D: Rheostat: DIMMER. What? DIMMER in 1890 already?
C.C.
23A: Start of quip: THE BRAIN IS NO
37A: Part 2 of quip: STRONGER THAN ITS
47A: End of quip: WEAKEST THINK
Well, it's a twist of Thomas L. Masson's quote: "No brain is stronger than its weakest think." And it appeared initially as "The brain is as strong as its weakest think".
Is THINK a noun here? I don't think I fully understand the grammatical structure of this quip.
I also don't understand the clue for HORN (24D: Plenty, for one?). Why?
Easy puzzle though, very doable.
Across:
5A: Actress Bernhardt: SARAH. Known as "The Divine Sarah". She was so famous that the Le Figaro newspapers declared in 1899 that "everyone was coming to Paris to see two profiles: that of the Eiffel Tower, and SARAH Bernhardt''. But I've never heard of her before.
18A: Rot-resistant wood: ALDER. It's also resistant to water damage and insect infestation.
19A: Muffin pans: TINS. Hmmm, muffins, want some?
22A: City on the Rhone delta: ARLES. Here is van Gogh's "Cafe Terrace at Night in ARLES".
27A: President after Polk: TAYLOR. He is the last elected Whig president. And ABRAM (59A: Pres. James __ Garfield). "Pres." should not be abbreviated.
30A: Cameo stone: ONYX. What's the difference between ONYX and agate?
32A: Ste. Jeanne __: D'ARC. Jeanne is French for Joan, I suppose?
46A: Double dealing: DECEIT
62A: Hide in the shadows: LURK. I like how it intersects SKULKS (44D: Moves about stealthily).
Down:
1D: Glob of paint: DAUB. Move your mouse here and see if you can create your own Pollock drip masterpiece.
3D: Write off?: DELE. I like this clue.
4D: University near Tempa: SAINT LEO. I got it from the across clues. Wikipedia says Desi Arnaz & Lee Marvin attended this university.
5D: Undercoat material: SEALER
10D: Numerical array: MATRIX. Not familiar with this math term.
11D: Seed cover: ARILS. What's the difference between ARIL and testa?
29D: Mongol's tent: YURT. Turkish origin. Literally "dwelling place". Too strong an orange color inside his YURT.
35D: Needle case: ETUI. Dictionary says ETUI is rooted in old French estuier, meaning "to guard".
40D: V formation: NECKLINE. Yes, indeed, "It may be plunging".
46D: Rheostat: DIMMER. What? DIMMER in 1890 already?
C.C.
63 comments:
Good morning, c.c. and gang - someday there'll be an Olschwang quote that I'll enjoy; I think this one ranks among the worst. The puzzle itself was no problem, since it was full of the typical 'crossword words' such as ugli, etui, apia and enol. I'll betcha we get a hammer tomorrow or Saturday - it's been too long.
Ladies, today is Sadie Hawkins Day - make the most of it.
Have an outstanding day.
Dennis,
What's so special about Sadie Hawkins Day?
Kazie,
What's the difference between "I love you" and "I am in love with you"?
Anonymous @ 7:34pm,
I find most of Jodi Foster movies disturbing. I like "True Lies".
Argyle,
Oh, I hope your stocking is full of EXOTIC/EROTIC stuff for Lois. "Candy cane and a couple of tangelos"? So DF. Nice "Going to Extremes" theme.
Good morning CC, DFs and DFettes..nice challenging puzzle today. At first I thought it was going to be a breeze and then I hit the north center and SW corner and my mind shut down. I had to go get the second cup of coffee and restart the brain. On the second attempt things started to fall into place and I was able to complete the fills without help.
Cc there is "The Horn of Plenty" which means; Cornucopia, a symbolic, hollow horn filled with the inexhaustible gifts of celebratory fruits.
Crockett,
Compared with Latin and German, English is certainly easier to learn, don't you think so? Great photo!
Chris,
I watched "12 Angry Men" last night. Very intense indeed. Nice mix of different characters. I am fond of Jury #11 (the immigrant watchmaker), such a principled moral guy. I had no idea that this is Sidney Lumet's directing debut. I like his "Network".
Clear Ayes,
You are a great google researcher. You really make everything clearer for me. Thank you.
Embien,
Alton Brown is funny! Do you like "Iron Chef America"? I forgot to tell you I like the Sterns too.
Yeeeee HAWWWWWWWWWW! Sadie Hawkins Day! Look out guys!! Steel yourself Crockett; you may get a lot of attention due to that wonderful new picture. Dennis, I bet you'll run just fast enough to get caught, meanwhile, Dr.Dad will be offering Danish delicacies, and Bill will have (carefully) wrapped a white bandage around half his head, in hopes of finding a nurse who might give him TLC, Argyle has every woman on the blog eating out of his hand, Dick is irresistible with his 'Horn of Plenty,' and Embien and Xchefwalt are busy in the kitchen. Who can resist a man who cooks well?!
(stepping back and resuming my normally staid demeanor..) Good morning, C.C. and all.
Easy puzzle. (GRINS) It's a great way to start a day. C.C., I like the intersection of LURK and SKULK, too.
I have to go make 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies to put in college care packages. If I live, I'll come back to see how you're all doing.
kittyb one dozen chocolate chip cookies is enough for my horn of plenty.
Mornin' all! Doble? I guess so. But, I had to regroup a few times and get more coffee and re.start my THINKer a few times. Some answers I filled just didn't seem right so I stumbled a while. In the end they were right but it felt like I had to go the long way around to PROVE them to myself. The quip? That was a quip? Apparently my BRAIN didn't have a very strong THINK this AM, 'cause I THINK it's lame. NO, not my brain; the quip. Well, maybe the other, too!
Gotta run. My neighbor has hernia surgery today and I promised him transportation. He has no one with him and although he can drive down they won't let him drive home. So I volunteered.
CY'all later
Morning all,
This was definitely an easy x/word puzzle. Had to change sneaks to skulks to make SW corner to work.
I wonder if they still have Sadie Hawkins dances? Has anyone chaperoned a high school dance lately? I started chaperoning again in the late '90's and let's just say I was stunned.
Thanks for all the nice comments about my new picture. Fun to dress up once in awhile especially when I live in jeans and a sweater.
Morning, all!
Easy, breezy puzzle for me today. The only unknown was SAINT LEO, which was easy enough to get.
I wasn't overly impressed by the quip, though. "Think" can be used as a noun, but usually only in a humorous, deliberately ungrammatic sense. You may have heard it used this way before in the expression, "If that's what you think, you've got another think coming!" [As an aside, I've heard that expression all my life, and until very recently I thought it was, "You've got another thing coming."]
I see Dick already answered your "Horn of Plenty" question, but as to some of your others:
Sadie Hawkins Day is a traditional day for women to ask men out on a date (or to a dance) instead of the other way around. It's not a real holiday, since it originated in the Li'l Abner newspaper comic strip, but it has long become ingrained as a tradition in may parts of the country.
"I love you" and "I am in love with you" can certainly mean the same thing. The difference, though, is that "I am in love with you" usually only refers to romantic love, whereas "I love you" can also refer to non-romantic love. I can say both to my wife and mean the same thing. But, while I love my brother, love my cat, and love chocolate chip cookies, I wouldn't normally say I am "in love with" any of them (unless I want to be humorous when referring to the cookie, of course).
Good morning.
C.C. - here's a link to the history of Horn of Plenty.
Toss and Toss with effort (50D and 51D)?
We went through the "muffins" thing awhile back. As I recall, it had to do with a specific type involving ears.
a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular table of elements, which may be numbers or, more generally, any abstract quantities that can be added and multiplied. Matrices are used to describe linear equations, keep track of the coefficients of linear transformations and to record data that depend on multiple parameters. Matrices are described by the field of matrix theory. They can be added, multiplied, and decomposed in various ways, which also makes them a key concept in the field of linear algebra.
This also answers C.C's question about Sadie Hawkin's Day:
Today is World Kindness Day. It is also Indian Pudding Day (a day to enjoy puddings created by Native American Indians).
Finally, it is Sadie Hawkins Day (at least according to one source). It all began in Al Capp's "Lil Abner Cartoon in the 1930's. In the cartoon series, the mayor of Dogpatch was desperate to marry off his ugly daughter. So he created Sadie Hawkin's Day. On this day, a race is held and all the single men were given a short head start. If a woman catches her man, he had to marry her.
c.c.,
Was your love question about the French for it? If so, You could perhaps contrast je t'adore with je t'aime, but the latter is also used for simply "I like you". I guess "to be in love with" would really be "être amoureux de". If your question was for the English, Barry handled it very well.
I've never heard the quip expression before, and I took it as a play on the "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" expression.
The "plenty for one" clue could be just indicating that the "horn of plenty" is one example of an expression with "plenty".
All said I found this fairly easy--no g's and no other looking up, did it it 17 minutes even through breakfast and the dog begging to go outside.
...or one kind of horn, too, I guess.
drdad I noticed the two clues with toss and it seemed strange to me also. Happy to learn I am not alone in my thinking. I am surprised that CC did not mention it.
CC:
Glad you like "12 Angry Men" - as I indicated earlier, it's one of my favorites.
No real troubles with today's puzzle that haven't already been mentioned. I think "horn" of plenty clue would be more appropriate in a couple of weeks when we're closer to Thanksgiving (although "cornucopia" strikes me as a very "x-wordy" word, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the next few weeks).
I didn't like the quip much either - "think" is not a noun, but the "pun-ny" tongue-in-cheek take-off on "a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link" was somewhat clever.
Hope all have a great day!
PS - has anyone seen the film "Transformers"? Was bored last night & watched it (told you I'm a sucker for kid-flicks) and it was great! Humorous dialog with terrific special effects - it's amazing what those Hollywood folks can do with a computer.
How many different ways can I cheat? I googled "US Presidents" to get TAYLOR and I googled "STRONGER THAN WEAKEST THINK" to get the quip. I had trouble with the top portion: DAUB, UGLI, EDUCE, ALDER, ARLES, ARILS, ETUI and YINS were all unknowns to me and I don't know why HORN is "Plenty, for one?" Anyway, I wanted ASIDE for ADLIB and TONG for TINE. All in all, a very difficult puzzle for me. I did like the rhyming AREA and ARIA arranged symmetrically on the left and right, however.
C.C., when I first started teaching in the Philippines I had three classes: Mathematics for Science, Practical Physics and The Philosophy of Science. When I was in my Mathematics for Science class, I would be talking about matrices and derivatives and it was like I was talking to them in a foreign langauge. Come to think of it, i was talking in a foreign language, namely English, but I suppose math terminology seems like a foreign language even to native speakers. What i am doing now, teaching English as a foreign language, is not so different from what i was doing before.
Anyway, a rheostat is any device that introduces a variable resistance: place it in a circuit with a light bulb and you can vary the current and dim the light. I'm speaking in a foreign language again, aren't I?
I'll be in Taipei tomorrow and I won't be back until Saturday.
Martin
Barry,
I always thought it's "You've got another thing coming." This ungrammatical expression tends to give me trouble. Would have had no problem if it's "thought" rather than "think".
Kazie,
I was not thinking of French love. But I did think of your "The book fell on the floor" and the "The book was lying on the floor" examples when I asked you the "love" and "in love" question earlier.
Dr. Dad,
I had no idea that Heracles & Hercules is one person until I read the cornucopia link earlier.
Dick,
No, the "Toss" and "Toss with effort" clues do not bother me. In fact, I like them. Now I know how THROW is different from HEAVE.
Martin,
Shouldn't the "Filipino dish" be ADOBO rather than ADOBE?
a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular table of elements, which may be numbers or, more generally, any abstract quantities that can be added and multiplied. Matrices are used to describe linear equations, keep track of the coefficients of linear transformations and to record data that depend on multiple parameters. Matrices are described by the field of matrix theory. They can be added, multiplied, and decomposed in various ways, which also makes them a key concept in the field of linear algebra.
Oh dear. Let's see if I can't make some examples.
112 222 334
112 + 333 = 445
112 444 556
You can also multiply a vector with a matrix and get a vector.
[123]123 = [1+6+3,2+4+3,3+2+3]
321 =[10,9,8]
111
You can multiply entire matrices row by row the same way.
When drdad talks about linear equations he means equations like
x+3y+z=10
2x+2y+z=9
3x+y+z=8
The equations can be solved and you get the solution [xyz]=[123].
Martin
C.C., you're right about ADOBO. It's my pdf reader that's called ADOBE.
Martin
C.C. - Heracles is Greek, Hercules is Roman.
Chris in LA - I watched Transformers while on the plane to India. It was an okay film as far as I was concerned. Special effects were great but I wasn't as impressed at the plot and humor. I did like Bumble Bee transforming into the new Camaro when Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) calls his old Camaro version a "piece of crap" (not the word used in the film if I recall). The new Camaro looks pretty neat.
Morning All
The puzzle was fairly easy. Didn't have to google anything today. As usual, I don't like the quips/quote puzzles.
CC
Thanks for the link to create your own Pollock.
What fun.
Gray day today, but have to run errands
How do I subscribe to this blog?
Thanks.
@ drdad:
Agree on the plot (but it's a kid movie afterall), but disagree on the dialog. I was ROTFLOL during the "search for the glasses" scene and loved the earlier reference to EBay. The "Sector Seven" interactions also made me giggle, especially given the current political climate. I guess one just has to be in the proper mood. I was just amazed by the fight sequence at the end, though - last time I can remember thinking "wow" about special effects was waaaaay back when Star Wars first came out.
c.c.,
In German it's "sich verlieben in" (+ accusative) = to fall in love with. verliebt (in + acc.) sein = to be in love (with). Lieben = to love.
You're right, it's complicated.
But then, Martin's explanation of matrices is like a foreign language to me too! Linear equations I had in school (-> 1962), but new math is unknown to me.
An easy puzzle today…yet again! Some answers were repeats of other recent puzzles: ONYX, HEM, EROS, and the cluing was uninspired. In general this puzzle evoked a sense of ENNUI.
@cc: Cornucopia is another term for Horn of Plenty
@cc: I am curious, how long have you been working as a SAP Consultant? Why work in the computer field when you love cinema/literature so much?
Your first question is easy to answer. As of February I will have been working as an SAP technical developer for 14 years. I know a few people who have more experience that I, but having worked in SAP for this long, I am considered to be a very senior developer.
Your second question is much more difficult to answer, and I thought about the answer to it off and on last night. I have always excelled in math and science and studied engineering in school. I am very detail-oriented, a logical, linear thinker and excellent problem-solver, and I need to be constantly challenged in order to avoid ENNUI. So IT and SAP are “naturals” for me. I consider my love of literature and film to be avocations, but not interests that could support me. In my chosen field I am very well compensated. My income has allowed me to pursue many of my dreams including traveling extensively and for protracted periods of time as well as owning my own home and adopting three children.
I suppose the only other vocation I could picture for myself would have been had I studied plant biology/agriculture and made a career of helping third-world countries improve productivity organically and educating US farmers on how to use green technologies, thus lessening their dependency on fertilizers and pesticides through rotation techniques. This career would have combined my passion for growing things and traveling. But starting a new career is not an option now, and I am reasonably happy with what I do.
Back to yesterday's comments about T.S.Eliot's poetry: I took a course on 20th century poetry in 1951 at U. of Illinois. We studied T.S.Eliot extensively, and I had to have a book that contained references and translations. Don't have the help-book now, but do have a book with all his poems. I have certain phrases that still come to mind, such as '
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire...'. And we all have heard,'This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.' But we may not have known that it is from his "The Hollow Men".
And from "Burnt Norton"
'At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,...'
He is not easy, but is wonderful and sticks with you. I could go on and on, but won't.
Good Morning All, Ah yes, Quip Thursday...not too bad today, at least it was a respectable pun. I have to give Alan Olschwang credit for continuing to come up with these crossword-fitting quotes and quips.
All of my unknowns, SAINT LEO, TAYLOR, ABRAM and DIMMER (I didn't know what a rheostat was, but I do now. Thanks, Martin.)were completed with help from the surrounds.
Here is a link to a picture of Sadie Hawkins. Other than an overbite and a rather large nose, she wasn't so homely. Nowadays, a visit to a cosmetic dentist and a plastic surgeon would have her looking like the V NECKLINE Eva Longoria.
Anon @ 8:48 You already have joined the blog. To get a Google identity, just follow the blue underlined sign up instructions under the "Leave your comment" section.
Doesitinink, It is interesting what careers people would chose if they were going to start again. My choice would be a librarian. I still get a thrill when I walk through the stacks of a library. Dull perhaps, but true. What would the rest of you chose?
Like Doesitinink, I love to travel too. I haven't done as much as I would like, money and time have interferred.
TRAVEL
The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.
All night there isn't a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.
My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I'd rather take,
No matter where it's going.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
Good morning, C.C. and gang. I started out with stranger rather than stronger. Everything else filled well. I finally checked on St Leo and there that rascal was. That got me to redo 47A to get the quip right.
Here is a fairly easy mnemonic for 19th century presidents. Most of us probably know the 20th century order, but I've added a similar mechanism for the 20th century.
If you say it aloud with the accent on the last syllable, there is a fairly straightforward rhythm to it.
Wash ad j
mad mon ad jack
van harr ty
po tay fill
pi bu lincoln
J gray hayes
gar ar cle
harr cle mack
Or WASHington ADams Jefferson
MADison MONroe ADams JACKson
VAN buren, HARRison, TYler
POlk TAYlor FILLmore
PIerce BUchanan LINCOLN
Johnson GRAnt HAYES
GARfield ARthur CLEveland
HARRison CLEveland McKinley
Ro ta will
Har Coo WHO
Ro Tru Ike
K J Nix
Ford Car Reag
Bu Clin BU
The above would do, with a bit of work to get it memorize it, but a youngster might enjoy it.
WOTD battue bat TOO noun
beating the woods and bushes for game; Also the hunt that uses this procedure.
During the battue, rabbits scampered out of the bushes where they'd been hiding and out into the open field.
Have a great day all.
clear ayes, to answer your question, and without writing a book on why.......dolphin trainer.
Dennis et al, Fascinating choice, Dennis, it will either give us some insight to your personality, or will keep us scratching our heads...either way...excellent! I agree that an explanation isn't necessary, unless you want to explain.
Kittyb, you ought to 'step out' more often, great stuff!!
I think all our 'blog'guys have 'horns of plenty' ;)
Martin, you gave me another headache with all the equations! :0
Clear ayes, if I could start over, I would like to have done illustrations for children's books.
I think I would have chosen to be an engineer or an architect, but I would have had to do math past high school. Science was a weak point for me, but I think a lot had to do with the way it was being taught in an all girls high school
Clear Ayes: I've been involved in research, computers and finally teaching. I've enjoyed them all, but teaching most of all. I loved the Navy when I was part of it. For a few years, I owned a bookstore and it was 80 hours a week for about a buck an hour. It's a great way to work, but a terrible way to make a living.
I think, were I to start over, I'd be a linguist/teacher in Slavic languages.
Thanks for asking.
Hmmmm ---- a linguist, huh? I may reconsider my choice...
Dennis, you could teach dolphins to talk.
Cleareyes
I would have been a large animal vet, specializing in horses. Surprise!
carol -- wasn't quite where I was going with that, but you're right.
10:21 today. I had trouble with the cross at SAINT LEO and STRONGER. I initially wanted STRANGER, which seemed plausible in this mess of a quip.
@c.c.: Embien,
Alton Brown is funny! Do you like "Iron Chef America"? I forgot to tell you I like the Sterns too.
Actually, I don't much care for Iron Chef--I've never enjoyed the "make a dozen things in 60 minutes" type of competitions.
"Top Chef" has just started a new season (on Bravo) if you like that kind of thing.
Dennis, I know, I know... do linguists do tongue lashings too?
Good afternoon, everyone!
For 24D, think "horn of plenty" Others would be "of Africa," "French," "flugel," etc. Rats, I blew my run of consecutive complete crosswords today -- STRANGEST and SAINT LEA seemed to work out. Oh well, time to start another run, LOL!
C.C., I know that learning ANY other language would be difficult for me. I guess because I'm a native American English speaker I never thought to compare learning English with learning German, Russian, Chinese, or whatever. Thanks for the photo comment.
IMBO -- be back later
clear ayes, I've gotten to do what I wanted to do, in very low-key ways. Everything I love is the kind of activity that does not provide a great living. I like to read, do crosswords, make quilts, entertain, garden and I loved teaching instrumental music. As for my present job, I love the freedom of the hours, and the fact that my office is at home.
Having said that, it might have been more fun to put the bookkeeping on a back burner and studied garden design, or perhaps I could have followed through and created a quilting studio and run with the big dogs. I enjoy teaching beginning quilting, but that's not where you are likely to make a name for yourself. I might also have pursued a more active career in judging drum and bugle corps competitions.
I'd love to travel. Short bursts of travel, and then home again. I'd like to see the NW and NE corners of the US, and more of the coasts of Canada. I'd like to have time to see Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, England, the west country of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
It's a tough question you've posed. I'm lucky to have enjoyed so much of what I've done.
@ clear ayes, I have no regrets for what I chose to do as a career. I spent time in the nuclear industry, then 15 years in my own business which I sold to a major chemical company. Then spent the rest of my career working for that chemical company which is where I met my wife. Certainly no regrets and I would not change a thing. I really do not think I would change a thing.
Hello, all. I find I sometimes repeat myself when responding here, so I've cut back my input but still enjoy the info and banter y'all have supplied since I was a "lurker". I check you daily. I'll recap. Silk, as usual was difficult but solvable, with great cluing and, even though the editor messes up some of Barry's clues, it's still enjoyable and a good sense of accomplishment when I solve them. Fontaine has way too many Proper Nouns and movie/tv clues for me and Olschwang's quips can sometimes drive me nuts. I usually succeed w/o aid but I struggle.
I put Saint Lea at first, as did others, until I changed "stranger" to "stronger", then muddled through.
Martin and Drdad are so far above my head mathematically I feel I need a refresher course in everything I've ever studied in science and math. Also, Martin. I searched my x/w today and could not find "yins" or "adlib". What am I missing?
I'll post an experiment later that may or may not have anything to do with linear conception. I only know it works. Will explain later.
Clearayes. I always wanted to be a successful singer/actor in "A" rated porn movies. Can you imagine how exciting "South Pacific", "Oklahoma" and "West Side Story" would be if we had great singing, acting, dancing and explicit sex?
Damn! Here comes Nurse Ratchet. Maybe I can sneak back for my linear experiment later.
I must be off!
Buckeye your nuts but I like it LOL.
I noticed it's closing in on 6:00pm here in the EST zone, so I'll post this because I want as many responses as I can get.
Take a standard white piece of paper 8 1/2" x 11", tear it in half length wise. Then write a word on the 4 1/4" x 11' remainder. (Later, I want you to guess what that word is). Fold it three times so the word cannot be seen through the back of the paper and give it to your subject telling him/her to hold it between the thumb and first finger at the bottom of the paper with remainder of the paper (approx. 10") facing the ceiling and holding the paper in front of their eyes.
Your instructions:
"Keeping you eyes on that paper, I want you to answer a series of questions. They are NOT TRICK QUESTION. The answers are simple, but you must respond as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yes".
"I'm going to give you a number. I want you to give me BACK a number that when added to the number I gave you will add up to the number 10. For example, if I say zero, you would respond 10. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Then let's begin. Zero."
"Ten"
"Nine"
"One"
"Eight"
"Two"
Continue down, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one. After you say "Zero" and get the response "Ten" immediately say:
"Name a vegetable." If there is a pause say it again more forcefully.
In men, approx. 8 out of 10 times you will get the same answer. In women, it's anybody's guess.
What is that vegetable?
IMBO
What career? If I could go back 50 years I might be more tempted to pay more attention to my piano lessons than baseball. Now that I've become somewhat of a hack musician, I know that, had I continued, I could have been a h*** of a piano player. I have stuff running around in my head all the time but can never get my right and left hands to co-operate with each other.
SO, dream on, fool!
Good evening CC & DF's: Left my puzzle at work but remember thinking 'Holy Crap!& ended up leaving 2 vacancies somewhere. A very good indicator of the day.
Dick: I just gotta wonder about your horn/cookies ratio... only a doz? I had you morelly pegged for far more than that.
Dennis: a dolphin trainer? Not quite the tank of unfulfilled dreams I'd've put you in. However, Sea World did have a girl dolphin named 'Dolly' the last time I was there. The connection is coming clearer now. She was ridden by a voluptuous blonde. Good choice! Not so much a head scratcher any more.
Buckeye: LMAO Yeah, your unfulfilled aspirations for musicals sure put a new spin on songs like "Tonight", "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair", and "Oh What a Beautiful Morning".
Clear Ayes, I've always thought being an archeologist would have been exciting, but I can't imagine not teaching. I loved every day.
Dick, here's a PS to my cruise e-mail. In the Holland America newspaper you get the NY times puzzle. I could only do Mon,Tues and Wed. I had never seen a puzzle where the answers could be numbers, like 9to5.Any free time I had, I read. I loved "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle." Anyone else read it?We enjoyed our trip, but 16 days is a long time, so I am HAPPY to be home and in my garden.
CC, as usual you are remarkable. The 1st few days back I was so busy that I did not do the c/w, but I did read your c/w info, no time for the blog. I hope everyone was well and nothing traumatic happened. Computer time was .40 or so for each minute on the ship.
Martin. I searched my x/w today and could not find "yins" or "adlib". What am I missing?
ADLIB is 5d. YINS should be DINS. I get it now: "Rackets" refers to noise, not illegal businesses. Doh! And I assumed "Brandish" was an adjective so I had WEILY instead of WEILD.
Martin
Martin. My 5d is Undercoat material and is "Sealer." Were you online?
IMBO
A Horn of Plenty, also called a cornucopia (from the Latin: Cornu Copiae), is a symbol used for Thanksgiving.
Lois, yes-I can see Dennis on a dolphin with a booby blonde. He'd be 'horny plenty' then by gum ;)
for C.C. and the DF's - the difference between aril and testa is fleshy or hard. And now I run for it.
But seriously, aril is like the skin on a grape, while testa is like the shell of a nut. I learned that the spice mace is the aril of the nutmeg seed. From that picture, I would say the testa was the thick outer part and the aril is the part wrapped around the seed. Here is a picture of just the aril, at least for nutmeg.
Just said goodbye to 17 of my closest girlfriends. We had a holiday cookies exchange, as well as a lunch potluck and great gossip exchange at my house today. There wasn't any mean gossip, just what is going on in our little corner of the world. It was a perfect example of "women getting together" like we blogged about just a day (or two) ago.
Poor G.A.H. made his escape early this morning, took his "sticks" and went with another of the husbands to hit a few balls.
Buckeye, the answer is "Carrots". I have seen it before and am amazed that is the answer that pops up most frequently. My answer is "Rutabaga".....go figure.
I can just imagine you singing "With Me It's All 'Er Nothin'", or "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame" in the all together.
Sallie, I do love Eliot's "April is the cruelest month" line. It is one the reader has to spend some time on, to think about.
JD, What was your favorite port of call? Hope you had a wonderful time.
It is so interesting to read what everyone would have chosen for careers if they could have had any choice.
I seriously would have chosen to be a librarian, but taking a flight of fancy, I would have become a musical-comedy performer on Broadway. (No, Buckeye not that kind,...the kind with my clothes on.) I was just too shy to get beyond the high school show.
Hi C.C. and all,
Fairly easy puzzle today even with the quip. SW corner gave a little problem until I filled acorn then everything fell into place. Was thinking "nuts" for acorn but it didn't fit.
Did not like the 3D clue for dele. It did not indicate an abbrevieation for the answer. I was also thinking in lines of the financial world i.e. tax write off. I do not consider deleting sometihing as writing it off.
Clear Ayes, it's a toss up between Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and Punta Arenas, Costa Rica.Antiqua is 4500 ft above sea level, so we escaped the heat and humidity. Many volcanoes dotted the landscape, and 2 were steaming. The streets were cobblestones and dusty;high walls enclosed each city block. From the outside everything looked unkempt, but through every door we went through, the places inside were amazing, full of flowers, trees, beautiful old clean buildings.We were there on the Day of the Dead, a huge holiday for them. The cemeteries had a party atmosphere. The kids were flying kites, and people were picnicking.
In Costa Rica we took a 2 hr boat ride where the mangroves housed many animals: plenty of crocodiles and Caymans, monkeys,scarlet macaws and a huge variety of bird life,racoons, and Jesus Christ lizards(since they actually run across the water). Along the roads they use growing trees for their fences; they just cut off all the limbs. This way the fence won't collapse when the earth moves.
I think Martin means 6D for ADLIB, and DINS is 65A.
@kittyb Thanks.
ok, you two've convinced me to revise it - I wanna be a dolphin trainer trainer.
Dennis: I'm sure the ride would be more enjoyable that way and a lot safer.
Clearayes. You are too much. Yes, about 75% to 80% of men will answer carrots. Funny enough, the last time I tried this on a woman, she, too, said rutabaga. I asked her, "When, in all that's holy above and below the earth, under the seas and in heaven, was the last time you ate a rutabaga?"
And she said, "I don't think I've EVER eaten a rutabaga".
"Then why did you answer rutabaga?"
"It's what popped into my mind".
From women I've had rutabaga, korabi, beets, potatoes and limas. Only a few carrots.
So to my scientific friends out there. Does this mean men think more linearly than women, or do they just know more vegetables than we do?
Clearayes, I'm now signing off and visualizing you singing "What Ever Lola Wants" in one of my fantasy productions. I hope the stage lights keep things warm. I greatly fear shrinkage.
IMBO
That's scary, Buckeye. I thought carrot....or maybe carat! Yeah, that's the ticket. A girl's best friend!
for C.C.
This theme had me wondering.
from The Chronicle Nov. 6, 2008
By Robert Zimmerman
Theme: X Factor
23A) Pastry ingredient - shortening
25A) Second in command, perhaps - lieutenant
44A) They've got milk - contented cows
83A) Attentive audience - good listeners
107A) Rivals - contenders
109A) Like some consequences - unintended
36D) Ping-pong - table tennis
40D) Currency - legal tender
Buckeye, Truly strange....I've never eaten a rutabaga either. Like I said earlier, go figure.
Whatever Lola Wants...Damn Yankees has been a family favorite for years. Whenever my sisters and I get together, we pop D.Y. into the old VCR (we don't have the DVD version) and sing along with Ray Walston, Gwen Verdon and Tab Hunter....A Little Brains, A Little Talent....the local DF's should love it. Lola with Joe is the best.
Post a Comment