Theme: Verbatim
23A: Bankruptcy reorganization: CHAPTER ELEVEN
39A: Felon's full term: LIFE SENTENCE
61A: Annual muscleman contest: MR. UNIVERSE
85A: Repeat, but not verbatim: PARAPHRASE
104A: Japanese compact model: NISSAN STANZA
125A: Product for contemporary penners: MICROSOFT WORD
17D: Tim Allen film: THE SANTA CLAUSE
50D: NYC talk show host: DAVID LETTERMAN
I am confused by the theme title. All the above theme answers feel like part of a virtual epic poem. I don't know how they are connected to "Verbatim". Maybe I don't fully understand the meaning of "Verbatim".
Not a very tough puzzle. Some of the obscure answers are gettable from crossing fills. Still, I had to rely on Google for some thorny sticklers. But it's just such a bothering solving experience. I was/am clueless about the theme.
Some quibbles:
13A: Device for tossing empties: EJECTOR. It intersects OUSTED (18D), which is clued as "Ejected". Why not "Forced out"? Rod Blagojevich style!
41D: Dead Sea kingdom: EDOM. "Ancient" is needed for the clue.
79D: Crosses: SPANS. Intersects EONS (92D: Geologic span).
Is Barry Silk's "The Cruciverbalist" (NY Times syndication) puzzle in your paper today? Feel free to post your comments here. I am interested in what you have to say. Here is Dr. Dad's blog post on Barry Silk's LA Times themeless. Click here for Argyle's post on "Over and Over".
Across:
1A: Gloomy gus: SOURPUSS. Good clue alliteration.
9A: Lacking zip: SLOW. I interpreted "zip" as "oomph" rather than "speed". So the answer did not jump to me immediately.
20A: Irrationality: UNREASON. Did not know this is a word. It can also be a verb.
21A: Small and weak: PUNY. Mine was TINY initially.
28A: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. I can never remember this loopy word ANSA. Besides, I thought the plural form is ANSAS.
31A: Parts of bird wings: ALULAE. No idea. ALULAE is also called "Bastard Wing" or "Spurious Wing". Ala is Latin for "wing". The answer reminds me of "Spaces between leaf veins" AREOLES. Weird looking words.
38A: Radicals of the '60s: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). Not a familiar group. I was thinking of SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) which is often clued as "Radical group". But they are of '70s. Wikipedia says Tom Hayden is one of the founders of SDS. I presume all their activities are related to Vietnam War protests.
44A: In force: VALID
45A: Willie Wonka creator: DAHL (Roald). Another PETR style odd looking name. Maybe his mom did not know how to spell Ronald, as Mark said the other day. (Note: DAHL means "valley" in Norwegian language.)
48A: South of France: MIDI. Need Kazie's help here. I wanted SUD (106D: Nord's opposite). To me, MIDI is "noon". The best explanation I could find is that "Midday is synonymous with the direction of south because in France the Sun is in the south at noon".
68A: In an irregularly notched fashion: EROSELY. Like these EROSE lips.
84A: Part of AST: ATL. I blanked on this one. AST is Atlantic Standard Time.
90A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. This small moon escaped me long time ago. It's named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus, who, according to Wikipedia, was phallic being who grew so vast that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia herself. Tityos attempted to rape Leto at the behest of Hera and was slain by Apollo and Artemis. As a punishment, he was stretched out in Hades and and tortured by two vultures who fed on his liver. This punishment is extremely similar to that of the Titan Promeheus, whose liver was eaten by a huge eagle every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. Kind of like the dripping venom over Loki's face, right? Are you still reading? OK, what is phallic being?
96A: Racing org.: NHRA
102A: Dugout stack: BATS. Awesome bat. Every baseball bat I've seen seems to be made by Louisville Slugger. Why?
111A: Calais summers: ETES. See this map. Calais is French port nearest England. It's on the Strait of Dover.
112A: Soviet mil. intelligence: GRU. Absolutely no idea. I wrote down KGB. GRU stands for Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Uupravlenie (Chief Intelligence Directorate). Founded in 1920 as a complement to the KGB.
123A: Homo sapiens: HOMINID. New word to me. Are we all HOMINID?
130A: Dimensions: abbr. MEAS. Measurement I presume.
131A: Island in the Baltic Sea: SAAREMAA. Nope! Lots of those words end with MAA? I suppose it means "land" in local language.
132A: Linear distances: LENGTHS
133A: Comic Johnson: ARTE. His name is tailor-made for crossword.
134A: In a stupid manner: OBTUSELY. I felt dense. The answer did not come to me easily.
Down:
1D: For example: SUCH AS
3D: Seventh planet: URANUS. Fun trivia. It has 27 known moons. all of which are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
7D: Alphabetize: SORT. Mine was LIST.
8D: Macbeth's dagger: SNEE. Thought of dirk. Never know when to put which.
9D: Relieved: SPELLED. Forgot this definition.
10D: Jack Lemmon film: LUV. I guessed. Is it romantic?
12D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Ed WYNN is a comedian. Keenan the actor is his son. They were strangers to me.
13D: Of Icelandic tales: EDDAIC. Only know EDDA.
14D: "The Joker is Wild" subject: JOE E LEWIS. I googled this one. Played by Frank Sinatra. I like this Joe Lewis quote: "I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in 14 days I lost two weeks."
33D: Brennan and Heckart: EILEENS. I guessed. Don't know who they are.
42D: French student: ELEVE. Have not seen ECOLE in our puzzle for a long time.
47D: Fish for fertilizer: ALEWIFE. No idea. Why "fertilizer"? Are they not edible? Strange name. I can't find a fish that's named ALE HUSBAND.
55D: Indo-European: ARYAN. Why do I associate this word with Hitler?
57D: Distance measure: ROD. Unknown to me. "Distance" of what? And how long?
58D: Goddess of dawn: EOS. Aurora for the Romans. That's a perfect body. I want to have it.
63D: Slugger Garciaparra: NOMAR. He is married to Mia Hamm.
64D: Luigi's island: ISOLA. Is Luigi a common Italian name? Somehow I thought of the "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi and started to imagine an island in Transylvania. My mind is not well constructed.
67D: Missionary Junipero: SERRA. The answer revealed itself. Have never heard of this guy.
75D: "Magnificent" Medici: LORENZO. Would not have got his name without the crossing fills. According to Wikipedia, this dude was the de factor ruler of the Florence Republic during the Italian Renaissance.
97D: More accessible: HANDIER
102D: Town near Jerusalem: BETHEL. A bit north of Jerusalem. Hebrew for "house of god". I only know Bethlehem.
105D: Sultan's decrees: IRADES. Arab for "Will/wish". I was only aware of FATWA, which is often issued by those terrorists.
107D: Over distance: pref.: TELO. As in Telodynamic, "pertaining to the transmission of mechanical power over considerable distances, as by means of endless cables on pulleys". I don't understand what I just wrote.
108D: DNA code: GENOME. Forgot. It's a combination of Gene & (chromos)om.
109D: Of religious rites: SACRAL. Another new word.
115D: "Love Boat" co-star: TEWES (Lauren). Well, the only "Love Boat" I was aware of is our Vikings' Love Boat Sex Scandale. But Daunte Culpepper won't fit. Lauren TEWES looks pretty, very fine facial LINEAMENTS.
121D: Utah city: MOAB. Was this city a gimme to you? I was stumped. The 4-letter answer for "Utah city" is always OREM.
C.C.
23A: Bankruptcy reorganization: CHAPTER ELEVEN
39A: Felon's full term: LIFE SENTENCE
61A: Annual muscleman contest: MR. UNIVERSE
85A: Repeat, but not verbatim: PARAPHRASE
104A: Japanese compact model: NISSAN STANZA
125A: Product for contemporary penners: MICROSOFT WORD
17D: Tim Allen film: THE SANTA CLAUSE
50D: NYC talk show host: DAVID LETTERMAN
I am confused by the theme title. All the above theme answers feel like part of a virtual epic poem. I don't know how they are connected to "Verbatim". Maybe I don't fully understand the meaning of "Verbatim".
Not a very tough puzzle. Some of the obscure answers are gettable from crossing fills. Still, I had to rely on Google for some thorny sticklers. But it's just such a bothering solving experience. I was/am clueless about the theme.
Some quibbles:
13A: Device for tossing empties: EJECTOR. It intersects OUSTED (18D), which is clued as "Ejected". Why not "Forced out"? Rod Blagojevich style!
41D: Dead Sea kingdom: EDOM. "Ancient" is needed for the clue.
79D: Crosses: SPANS. Intersects EONS (92D: Geologic span).
Is Barry Silk's "The Cruciverbalist" (NY Times syndication) puzzle in your paper today? Feel free to post your comments here. I am interested in what you have to say. Here is Dr. Dad's blog post on Barry Silk's LA Times themeless. Click here for Argyle's post on "Over and Over".
Across:
1A: Gloomy gus: SOURPUSS. Good clue alliteration.
9A: Lacking zip: SLOW. I interpreted "zip" as "oomph" rather than "speed". So the answer did not jump to me immediately.
20A: Irrationality: UNREASON. Did not know this is a word. It can also be a verb.
21A: Small and weak: PUNY. Mine was TINY initially.
28A: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. I can never remember this loopy word ANSA. Besides, I thought the plural form is ANSAS.
31A: Parts of bird wings: ALULAE. No idea. ALULAE is also called "Bastard Wing" or "Spurious Wing". Ala is Latin for "wing". The answer reminds me of "Spaces between leaf veins" AREOLES. Weird looking words.
38A: Radicals of the '60s: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). Not a familiar group. I was thinking of SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) which is often clued as "Radical group". But they are of '70s. Wikipedia says Tom Hayden is one of the founders of SDS. I presume all their activities are related to Vietnam War protests.
44A: In force: VALID
45A: Willie Wonka creator: DAHL (Roald). Another PETR style odd looking name. Maybe his mom did not know how to spell Ronald, as Mark said the other day. (Note: DAHL means "valley" in Norwegian language.)
48A: South of France: MIDI. Need Kazie's help here. I wanted SUD (106D: Nord's opposite). To me, MIDI is "noon". The best explanation I could find is that "Midday is synonymous with the direction of south because in France the Sun is in the south at noon".
68A: In an irregularly notched fashion: EROSELY. Like these EROSE lips.
84A: Part of AST: ATL. I blanked on this one. AST is Atlantic Standard Time.
90A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. This small moon escaped me long time ago. It's named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus, who, according to Wikipedia, was phallic being who grew so vast that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia herself. Tityos attempted to rape Leto at the behest of Hera and was slain by Apollo and Artemis. As a punishment, he was stretched out in Hades and and tortured by two vultures who fed on his liver. This punishment is extremely similar to that of the Titan Promeheus, whose liver was eaten by a huge eagle every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. Kind of like the dripping venom over Loki's face, right? Are you still reading? OK, what is phallic being?
96A: Racing org.: NHRA
102A: Dugout stack: BATS. Awesome bat. Every baseball bat I've seen seems to be made by Louisville Slugger. Why?
111A: Calais summers: ETES. See this map. Calais is French port nearest England. It's on the Strait of Dover.
112A: Soviet mil. intelligence: GRU. Absolutely no idea. I wrote down KGB. GRU stands for Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Uupravlenie (Chief Intelligence Directorate). Founded in 1920 as a complement to the KGB.
123A: Homo sapiens: HOMINID. New word to me. Are we all HOMINID?
130A: Dimensions: abbr. MEAS. Measurement I presume.
131A: Island in the Baltic Sea: SAAREMAA. Nope! Lots of those words end with MAA? I suppose it means "land" in local language.
132A: Linear distances: LENGTHS
133A: Comic Johnson: ARTE. His name is tailor-made for crossword.
134A: In a stupid manner: OBTUSELY. I felt dense. The answer did not come to me easily.
Down:
1D: For example: SUCH AS
3D: Seventh planet: URANUS. Fun trivia. It has 27 known moons. all of which are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
7D: Alphabetize: SORT. Mine was LIST.
8D: Macbeth's dagger: SNEE. Thought of dirk. Never know when to put which.
9D: Relieved: SPELLED. Forgot this definition.
10D: Jack Lemmon film: LUV. I guessed. Is it romantic?
12D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Ed WYNN is a comedian. Keenan the actor is his son. They were strangers to me.
13D: Of Icelandic tales: EDDAIC. Only know EDDA.
14D: "The Joker is Wild" subject: JOE E LEWIS. I googled this one. Played by Frank Sinatra. I like this Joe Lewis quote: "I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in 14 days I lost two weeks."
33D: Brennan and Heckart: EILEENS. I guessed. Don't know who they are.
42D: French student: ELEVE. Have not seen ECOLE in our puzzle for a long time.
47D: Fish for fertilizer: ALEWIFE. No idea. Why "fertilizer"? Are they not edible? Strange name. I can't find a fish that's named ALE HUSBAND.
55D: Indo-European: ARYAN. Why do I associate this word with Hitler?
57D: Distance measure: ROD. Unknown to me. "Distance" of what? And how long?
58D: Goddess of dawn: EOS. Aurora for the Romans. That's a perfect body. I want to have it.
63D: Slugger Garciaparra: NOMAR. He is married to Mia Hamm.
64D: Luigi's island: ISOLA. Is Luigi a common Italian name? Somehow I thought of the "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi and started to imagine an island in Transylvania. My mind is not well constructed.
67D: Missionary Junipero: SERRA. The answer revealed itself. Have never heard of this guy.
75D: "Magnificent" Medici: LORENZO. Would not have got his name without the crossing fills. According to Wikipedia, this dude was the de factor ruler of the Florence Republic during the Italian Renaissance.
97D: More accessible: HANDIER
102D: Town near Jerusalem: BETHEL. A bit north of Jerusalem. Hebrew for "house of god". I only know Bethlehem.
105D: Sultan's decrees: IRADES. Arab for "Will/wish". I was only aware of FATWA, which is often issued by those terrorists.
107D: Over distance: pref.: TELO. As in Telodynamic, "pertaining to the transmission of mechanical power over considerable distances, as by means of endless cables on pulleys". I don't understand what I just wrote.
108D: DNA code: GENOME. Forgot. It's a combination of Gene & (chromos)om.
109D: Of religious rites: SACRAL. Another new word.
115D: "Love Boat" co-star: TEWES (Lauren). Well, the only "Love Boat" I was aware of is our Vikings' Love Boat Sex Scandale. But Daunte Culpepper won't fit. Lauren TEWES looks pretty, very fine facial LINEAMENTS.
121D: Utah city: MOAB. Was this city a gimme to you? I was stumped. The 4-letter answer for "Utah city" is always OREM.
C.C.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteSurprising Fun Facts about Brazil & Brazil nuts. You are nuts (salted, rather than honeyed, I feel) doing 200 situps a day. How did you celebrate "Public Sleeping Day" yesterday?
Kazie,
Re: Thine before vowel. Once again you helped us unveil the mystery behind those linguistic enigmas. You are awesome!
Argyle,
Re: Erected Stone ONEIDA & Turning Stone Casino connection. Sounds possible. Maybe Dennis knows the answer. He seems to know a lot about ERECT & Turning (or rather pitch, yaw, roll & THRUST).
Lemonade,
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between summons and summon (both as verb)? I've never called handsome boys or men "pretty".
PromiseMe,
There are guidelines to Mark's cryptic crossword clues.
Richshif,
GLITCH! Your "Do You Want to Touch" link does not work.
Mark in BA,
ReplyDelete"Cantilever and davit work on the same principle of a pivot and counterweight to facilitate the lifting of the load (or bridge)". I understand the load/davit part. Can you explain to me the bridge/Cantilever lifting?
Crockett,
"Attu is really the easternmost part of the USA!" Why?
Seattle John,
Many of the top crossword constructors are of math background.
You are nuts (salted, rather than honeyed, I feel) doing 200 situps a day.
ReplyDeleteWell, I weigh 225. I have a big appetite. I don't eat many "good for you" foods. And I don't want to weigh 250. How's that?
How did you celebrate "Public Sleeping Day" yesterday?
Unfortunately, I was unable to. However, I will celebrate today, National Pig Day...with bacon.
Snowing here today, with a major 'snow event' arriving later today; this after 70 degrees earlier this week. Seems like everybody I know is down with some kind of malady, and it's no wonder why.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the octopus tossing information.
Hayrake,
Re: "Of love". Nope. Not the answer I'm looking for. Give me something romantic and simple.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteHow tall are you? I am not surprised you have a big appetite, given your penchant for "abundance" in everything. It's cruel to celebrate National Pig Day with bacon!
How tall are you?
ReplyDelete6'1".
I am not surprised you have a big appetite, given your penchant for "abundance" in everything.
I do have a problem with moderation.
It's cruel to celebrate National Pig Day with bacon!
Hey, it's me celebrating, not the pig.
Crockett,
ReplyDelete"Attu is really the easternmost part of the USA!" Why?
Hey, Crockett, you got somebody to bite on that. I'll leave it for you to answer.
One of the earliest reason for a davit on ship was for raising the anchor away from the side of the ship so the flutes on the anchor didn't do any damage to the bottom or side of the ship.
I do not understand the major clue of "Verbatim". It does not make much sense in relation to the answers. As always I enjoy Mr Willie A Wiseman (also know as) when he prepares a puzzle. Maybe if he reads this blog, he can tell us the correct response. I do have a complaint because I still do not enjoy having some obstruse or unknown person as an answer that no one knows except Mr. Goggle. It used to be an answer based on operas, but now it seems that it related to to unknown movie stars or sports figures.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, would you belive that it is snowing in Alabama this morning. There is about two inches on snow on the ground and it is still snowing.
abogato in Alabama
Good morning CC and all, ...today was certainly not a walk in the woods for me. It was more like lost in the forest! Anytime I see movie/TV clues I know it is going to be a long morning. No matter as I was able to complete the puzzle with a few guesses, some perps, a few Googles and a hell of a lot of luck.
ReplyDeleteCC I really enjoyed you comment describing 107D. I got a good chuckle from that.
Dennis I guess the snow you are experiencing came form the south as we did not have any snow here yesterday. It was very cold but no snow. Nice and sunny today so you should get this weather tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great Sunday.
t iS IT ALLULAE OR ALULAE MY PUZZLE HAS ONLY ROOM FOR SIX LETTERS.
ReplyDeleteC.C.
ReplyDelete"Of Love .. give me something romantic and simple"
I could happily give someone so nice as you a one thousand word essay on 'romance' in love. But I cannot bring up one example of 'simple' in love.
Here's to a romantic month of March for all of us.
Hayrake
I don't get the theme either.
ReplyDeleteYes, Luigi is a common italian name.
rod: measure of length, 5.5 yds. or 5.029
A rod is 16 1/2 feet.
ReplyDelete4 rods equal a chain.
A chain has 100 links.
All the old deeds were measured in rods and links. Standard town roadway width was 3 rods or 49 1/2 feet.
Dahl is a common surname in Norway which means "Valley."
ReplyDeleteJ. Mydland (another Norwegian surname)
Good afternoon, C.C.,
ReplyDeleteNo puzzle for me today, except the Sunday NYT in the Lexington Herald-Liar. I don't usually tackle it, as I have not been up to it. But today's was the Cruciverbalist by Barry Silk. I now see why all your correspondents admire his work. And my skills have definitely improved since I found you. I turned off my TV in 1973 and only see one or two movies a year, so I have a bit of a handicap offset somewhat by my lifelong reading habit. My hat is off to your puzzle mastery given your recent arrival. Thanks for all you do maintaining this site. May I ask to what your sobriquet (CC) refers? As a recent participant I haven't learned that.
Windhover
you say your confused by the word ANSAE. Your right that ANSAS is plural, but the AS is plural accusative, while ANSAE is plural nominative. There are no case endings in English; we can tell whether a noun is a subject, direct object, indirect object, etc., by where it is in the sentence. In Latin and Greek the case endings indicate a noun's function, so the words can be be in any order for the most part. There are six cases in latin, but the answers to crossword puzzles would probably nominative.
ReplyDeleteIt gets confusing because Latin nouns belong to one of five declensions and has a gender. So what is relevant to crossword puzzlers is that 1st declension words end with A when nominative singular and AE when nominative plural (ANSA nom. si; ANSAE nom.,pl; ANSAS acc.,pl). In Latin, ANSA or ANSAE could be uses as the subject of the sentence, as in "The ANSAE make the jar easy to lift," while ANSAS is accusative and could be used as the direct object of the sentence, as in "The boy broke the ANSAS off the jar when he threw it."
2nd declension words end with US when nominative singular and with I when nominative plural. (CACTUS nom.,si; CACTI nom, pl.; CACTOS would be acc.pl)
3rd declension words are funny; their nominative singular form tends to be irregular, but nominative plural is ES. (ARS nom s; ARTES nom pl; means art or skill).
The 4th and 5th declensions are rather rare. Both nominative singular and plural of 4th declension is US, and both nominative singular and plural of 5th declension is ES. Hope this helps!
Windhover, may I ask to what your sobriquet refers? if you care to share it with us. ;~)
ReplyDeleteargyle :
ReplyDeleteGladly. It is taken from the title of the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem "The Windhover" which you can find easily by Googling. Hopkins was a 19th Century British priest/poet with a mystical bent and an obsessive attraction to the natural world. Although I share, to a much lesser degree, those qualities, and love his poetry, neither his religiosity nor any other brand hold much attraction for me.
Windhover is also the name I have given my
Farm. My actual name is Larry. Our waiter at the local Mexican restaurant Friday was Lorenzo. He looked a little confused when I said "So is mine".
Good Afternoon All, No Sunday puzzle, so not much to add.
ReplyDeleteThe Latin phrase verbatim ac litteratim means "word for word and letter for letter" (Thanks, Mirriam-Webster.). When a person or writing is quoted it should be verbatim. So chapter, sentence, verse, phrase, stanza, word, clause and letter all seem to fit into the theme for today's puzzle.
No access to the Sunday NY Times puzzle, so no Barry Silk's "The Cruciverbalist". Too bad, I really enjoy his clever clues.
The only thing to cheer me up is to celebrate National Pig Day with some BBQ ribs.
C.C. I think boys have to grow into handsomeness. To be handsome requires a degree of maturity. IMO, until boys acquire that maturity, they can only be described as "pretty". My 15 and 18 year old grandsons are very pretty (again, IMO), and I think they will one day be heartthumpingly handsome...but not yet! I wouldn't dream of telling them I think they are pretty. They would roll their eyes with embarrassment and moan, "Ohhhh, Grandma!!"
Not to be sexist, I think the same thing goes for girls. A 20 year old girl might be very pretty, but she won't be truly beautiful until she has added another 10 years (and maybe more). Strangely, after they reach 70 or so, women sometimes are described as "handsome".
And just to confuse the issue, pretty, handsome and beautiful have little to do with sexy...although they don't hurt.
PromiseMeThis, I'm glad you understood that yesterday's comment was just the end to a jokey anecdote.
It is snowing again today in Chicago, so my plans to clean up the yard had to be scrubbed. Instead I cuddled up in my rocking chair and alternately worked on the crossword puzzle and napped.
ReplyDeleteMost of the puzzle cam easily though there were a number of obscure words and names such as ALULAE, ELARA, GRU, IRADES, TEWES and SAAREMAA that resulted in three incorrect squares. Figuring out the theme early on helped me with STANZA, though I did not know the manufacturer of this car. Hint: Toyota does not work!
Friday night I saw Albion College’s production of Sweet Charity. My oldest was in the chorus. Though I knew the musical was based on a book by Neil Simon, I was surprised to read in the stage bill that the original screenplay was penned, among others, by Frederico Fellini! Anyway it was a very nice production, though the horn section of the orchestra could have benefited from more people playing on key.
So, windhover, you're not familiar with the older name for a kestrel?
ReplyDeleteArgyle,
ReplyDeleteI would add that 10 chains are a furlong, 8 furlongs, or 80 chains are a mile, 22 yards to a chain. All that is on the back of an old exercise book from my school days!
anon@1:10pm,
Thanks for filling in my missing memory on some of the other case endings for Latin declensions.
We were wondering about them the other day, and I couldn't remember if there were 4 or 5 of them.
c.c.,
Thanks for the compliment, undeserved, of course.
Le Midi, according to Wiki, actually covers most of the south of France, including Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Corsica, Rhone-Alpes, Auvergne and Limousin. I only thought of it as the area from Languedoc to the Pyrénées.
Argyle:
ReplyDeleteYes, I am, but I wasn't until I encountered the poem in a college class 15 years ago while I was out of farming for 5 years. The word just struck a cord, and I saved it until I returned, on a new and different farm. As I implied earlier, the poem, like most of Hopkins' work, has a lot of religious imagery imbedded, one of the most obvious being the phrase "Oh my chevalier". Another favorite Hopkins poem is titled "Pied Beauty". I've been trying to read (for several weeks) a Hopkins biography, but the man spent his adult life in monastic settings, and died at 44,so the narrative is not exactly fast-paced.
A lot of farm names contain the word "wind" (Windy Knoll, etc.), so not many people notice or ask about the derivation. I assumed someone in this perceptive group eventually would. Is that evidence of the "pretension" Dennis' friend noted recently? If so, is that a bad thing? I have a friend (and former professor) who calls his work the "war on ignorance". And, he says, like poverty and drugs before it, ignorance is winning. What say you?
Windhover
You may have noted I changed the photo here--seemed to be a movement towards using logo type objects instead of so many personal photos, so I chose one that was pretty.
ReplyDeleteClear Ayes,
I agree about how maturity develops beauty from prettiness. It's character that does it, I think.
For what it's worth... a ROD is also commonly used to measure portages in the BWCA, as the length of a standard canoe is 1 ROD.
ReplyDeleteI've lost the "Over and Over" xw. I didn't have the time to download it yesterday, and now when I tried I got a different one called "Monster Mash". Anyone know how to get the right one?
ReplyDeleteKazie: really like the new image.It's lovely and also eye-catching.
ReplyDeleteI also had the pleasure of the Barry Silk NYTimes xcword today and it is the very first that I have ever managed unassisted...I posted on Argyle's puzzle blog.
Windhover...I looked up your poet and will look for a book of his poetry. Also, I second your comment on ignorance. In 1997 Carl Sagan published a book called "Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark". He discussed this very subject, noting an increase in mysticism and spiritualism. I think that some of the insularity we see now is partly to due to all the personal electronic gadgets that encourage self-involvement. So many things like Twitter, Facebook, Blogsites(not this one!) encourage people to spend eons of time writing and commenting about themselves and where the most insignificant things gain over importance because they become world-wide almost instantly. People don't want to learn, they want to be entertained.
With all of of the wonderful new things available to us...one would think that people would become more world-wise and more interested in what is going on around them, but the opposite seems to be true.
Okay...I seem to have a lot soap boxes, so I'm done now. Cheers to all you lovely people who have inquiring minds! 80)
Go to map completion for a fun test of your geographic knowledge of the US states. I'm waiting to hear from Crockett on Attu, but I'm not sure he's got the dateline in the right place.
ReplyDeleteKazie...that was so much fun! I got 84% with an average error of 28 miles in under 10 minutes. Of course the only errors were the first few states which definitely weren't border states so I had guess the approximate location. After the first few, it was easy. We used to play games with our girls naming all the states, first with a wooden puzzle of the US then with blank maps. We all just did it again recently to see if we were up to speed for our Granddaughter. Amazingly, many US high School students can't accomplish this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link...I will probably do it again later just for fun. I am taking the 2 weekend days off from anything important.
C.C. re: HOMINID: Anthropological; A member of the Hominidae-a family consisting of man and his ancestors as opposed to:
ReplyDeleteHOMINOID: A superfamily including the great apes and man.
Wolfmom,
ReplyDeleteI got 88%, but I think it depends on what order the states come up. I expected my husband to get 100%, but he missed a few early on too, just by a fraction on a couple of them, It's a bit too exacting in the middle areas.
kazie said..@5:00 PM.
ReplyDeleteI've lost the "Over and Over" xw. Anyone know how to get the right one?
I've tried to email you a copy. Let me know if you get it. Anybody else?
Kazie...the order definitely makes a big difference. The 2nd time I started with more border states, so central ones were much faster and more accurate.
ReplyDeleteResults: 92% 17 mi. avg error in about 6 min.
C.C., Thank you for the link to Mark's Cryptic Crossword Clues.
ReplyDeletewolfmom, Thanks for the info about Sagan's book. I read Ken Wilber's 'Quantum Questions'. He showed how many of the most prominent 20th century physicists were mystics. I love your 'inquiring mind'. If you were single and I was straight I would want to google you!
ClearAyes,
I knew you meant no ill, though I cannot say the same for Brad Paisley. Still, I rue (somewhat) that late night post of mine. I am afraid I probably violated the rules of blog etiquette: 1) Do not post when tired late at night, 2) Do not post when angry, and 3) Do not post while intoxicated. I fear that I may have done all three. In my own defense, I did not start out angry and I must have not been THAT drunk, since I had the good sense to delete my original post. Never-the-less, as I said, I do rue my post. I do not wish to come across as a musical snob. If Embien enjoys Mr. Paisley's, music then obviously he finds it 'exciting'. He is entitled to enjoy himself (like Buckeye, I do it all the time ;). Besides, I occasionally enjoy some country music.
kazie, Here is the puzzle for you to do OVER and OVER, should you be so inclined.
Argyle, Sorry I didn't post on your blog. Sunday is not the best day for me. Between doing the Barry Silk NYT puzzle, watching the last of yesterday's Panther's game and trying to make some headway in Ken Follet's 'World Without End', I just ran out of time. I am sure you did a good job.
Here is Windhover.
Argyle,
ReplyDeleteThanks again--I did email you back.
Wolfmom,
I'm going to try the states again later on. I have a movie to watch now for a while.
Kazie, The "Know Your States" game was fun. I got 88% with an avg error of 22 miles. You're right that the border states are easiest and that big blank in the middle can be daunting.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to send the site to my grandkids and see what they do with it. They are fewer years removed from fifth grade geography than I am. I suspect that Windhover may be correct and that ignorance is winning. Even though the older grandson is in college and the younger is on his high school honor role, the things they don't know, that were run-of-the-mill when I was in high school, are pretty eyebrow raising.
You're also right about character being what adds attractiveness to a person's lineament (Yay!! I got to use it!). A person may be a character when they are young (I'm thinking grandsons here), but they haven't acquired character until they get a few years under their belts.
PromiseMeThis, re: Wolfmom...That's a couple of pretty insurmountable "Ifs". ;o) Maybe this is one of those cases where "Let's just be friends" is exactly the right thing to say.
PromiseMe...thank you for the flattery...I have LOTS of character but not the lovely lineaments(hoho) that you see in the photos of ClearAyes, Kazie, JD...et al(yes, Dennis, you too). For 24 hrs I will leave this photo of Me(60), my granddaughter Lucy(now 1 yr.) and my mom(83)at our daughter's house for Lucy's birthday party. Leaving it longer may scare off some of the posters here...after that...back to paintings. BTW I think the website is being loaded 2nite...will let y'all know.
ReplyDeletePMT...also thanks for the comic link...LOL!
There is no clue for 128 down in my paper.
ReplyDelete@kramer...the clue for 128D is "Capote, to pals".
ReplyDeleteI got 88%, 17 miles on the geo quiz.
ReplyDeletePromiseMeThis, here is the windhover I was trying to discreetly reference.
ReplyDeletewindhover
Good evening C.C.and all.
ReplyDeleteFinally, a rainy day. This morning I finished Over and Over, then did the Barry Silk puzzle. It was lots of fun, but I wasn't as successful as Wolfmom.BTW, little Lucy is darling, such big eyes.Truman is just a few months older.
Kazie, I also loved your new picture, and Bob and I have been having fun with the map. Yes, it is very particular about EXACT placement.I did well, as geography is one of my strengths, and I made sure my students learned it as well.
I am ready to check Monster Mash, another fun puzzle.
C.C., Father Junipero Serra was the priest who started all the CA missions. Well, he didn't establish all of them ,only 8, and other Franciscans opened 12 more after he died. The 1st one was in San Diego and they supposedly are a days' walk apart from each other. SanJuan Capistrano (swallows) and Mission San Luis Rey were recently on our c/w.
C.C., I noticed that hominid was in the c/w. Yes, we are all included in the family of hominids(homidae) if you believe in evolution. We are considered part of one biological family which includes extinct humans(such as Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and Australopithecines like Lucy), and includes chimpanzees,gorillas, and orangutans,... those who walked on 2 feet."Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was playing when Donald Johansen(sp?) announced their finding of an almost complete skeleton to his camp... so she became Lucy. She is a "Far Side' cartoon star.
ReplyDeleteHi C.C. and gang,
ReplyDeleteDo not get Sunday's X-word, just checkedn it and read comments. Regarding the Do You Want to Touch link; I tried it from the post and it worked for me. Had to click on confirm to allow me to view racy videos.
Wolfmom,
ReplyDeleteThat baby Lucy is darling, and JD, thanks for the info on Lucy the Australopithecine. I didn't know her name came from the Beatles' hit.
PMT,
Thanks for the puzzle--Argyle emailed it to me too.
I did the map again and still got 88% but with 41 mile error average. However, I don't feel bad--I never had American geography in school. And going through most of those states in 30 days on a Greyhound in 1974 was too much too fast too long ago for it to help with this! But I'm glad you all liked it, and it's certainly good to pass on to kids of all ages.
Kazie...I would bet that I couldn't even come close to locating places in OZ...Okay...well maybe a couple. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteArgyle@8:46 pm...incredible photo...very interesting info...that is what I was getting at about Shakespeare the other day...we don't always understand the word usuage of then v. now...actually kind of funny and more descriptive...though WINDHOVER has such a lovely romantic connotation...
I thought it was only fair to "show myself" albeit briefly...just to be fair. PMT...sorry if I scared you!Tomorrow...back to the paintings.
@C.C. Attu Station, the only inhabited area on Attu Island, is actually located at 52°51' north latitude, 173°11' east longitude, making it by one definition one of the easternmost points of Alaska (and the United States). Attu is nearly seven degrees west of the 180° longitude line. (Looked at it this way, another Aleutian Island, Semisopochnoi Island at 179°46'E is the "easternmost" location in the United States and North America, since it sits only 14 minutes westwards of the 180° line. The westernmost Aleutians are in the Eastern Hemisphere).
ReplyDeleteHow about "Red carded?" for 18D.
Nice link to Aurora!
@kazie The dateline jogs around the Aleutians so they are on the same time schedule as the rest of the U.S. I got 96%, 5 miles average error in 5 minutes on the map completion test. I knew learning geography would pay off some day!
Happy March to all!
Crockett...That takes a bit of visualization that the farthest west is actually east! That is incredibly interesting...must think on that.
ReplyDeleteSo...the 180 degree longitutde becomes the Eastern Hemisphere? Is that a time zone, next day thing? The fact that Russia, Europe, UK, Greenland, Iceland, et al are in between still means that that particular area of Alaska becomes East? So...Can you see Russia from there?
BTW my youngest daughter did the map in 297 sec, 94 % with a 6 mile average error...see, that map thing still works...waiting to hear back from the elder daughter.
I do not check it every day,however, some days I just cannot get thhrough the puzzle alone. And I thank you for your help... sunshinegrlpdx@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete