Theme: I Like "U" (I → U)
17A: Flared garb for Tarzan: JUNGLE BELLS (Jingle Bells)
24A: Manage to provide morning refreshment?: MUSTER COFFEE (Mister Coffee)
37A: Scarf makers?: BOA CONSTRUCTORS (Boa Constrictors)
46A: Wrinkle on a dessert topper?: CHERRY PUCKER (Cherry Picker)
57A: Wolves full of themselves?: BLUSTER PACK (Blister Pack)
Why BELLS for "Flared garb"? I don't understand the connection. My favorite theme entry is BLUSTER PACK. I've been opening so many Blister Packs of baseball cards. And it also reminded me of Kim Jong-il and his blustering brinkmanship. Insane!
Typical Dan Naddor puzzle. Lots of theme squares (61). There are also four noticeable 10-letter long Down entries intersecting three of the theme entries:
11D: 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis film: MY LEFT FOOT. Wikipedia shows that the film won several Oscars. I've never seen it.
12D: One putting on a show: IMPRESARIO
27D: Cutting-edge farm parts: PLOWSHARES. Gimme for Windhover. But it's a new word to me. PLOWSHARE does not sound "cutting-edge" at all, PLOWSHARP does.
28D: It's hoisted on ice annually: STANLEY CUP. Nice, timely fill.
Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is BLTS (30A: Alphabetical orders?). I got B & S in position, then I filled in BCDS immediately, completely ignoring the question mark in the clue.
Across:
1A: Debacle: FIASCO. I've got no interest to read the sequel to "FIASCO".
7A: Fish used in sashimi: OPAH. Holy moley! I love sashimi, but I've never had OPAH. Wanted TUNA.
11A: "Good Will Hunting" setting, briefly: MIT. Great movie. The setting for Kevin Spacey's "21" is also MIT.
14A: Racket: UPROAR
15A: Denpasar is its capital: BALI. I had to check my dictionary to see where Denpasar is.
16A: Sumac from South America: YMA. From Peru. Her name means "Beautiful flower".
19A: Old platters: LPS
20A: First woman to land a triple axel in competition: ITO (Midori). Interesting trivia.
21A: Crumb: LOUSE. Did not know crumb is a slang for "worthless person". Was thinking of bread crumb.
22A: Levels: TIERS
26A: Orbital point: APSIS. Thought of APOGEE first.
29A: Keisters: PRATS. Both are new slang to me.
31A: Mogadishu native: SOMALI. The only SOMALI I know is Iman, wife to David Bowie.
35A: Actress Wray: FAY. Stranger to me. Wikipidia says FAY Wray is the first ever scream queen, originating from her appearances in the 1932 film "Doctor X" and the 1933 film "King Kong".
40A: Wheat beard: AWN. Fun clue. It reads like "Wheat bread".
41A: Short stops: PAUSES. Another great clue. Made me think of baseball's shortstop.
42A: Silk, in St. Étienne: SOIE. And TASSE (13D: Café cup). Alliteration in both clues.
43A: Finely contoured: SLEEK. I like the sequential clue order of 42 "Silk..."and then 43 "Finely contoured".
45A: Ulan __: BATOR. Ulan BATOR is literally "Red Hero". Russia's Ulan Ude is "Red Uda".
51A: Clapton hit that won the 1992 Best Rock Song Grammy: LAYLA. Here is the song clip. It's about Pattie Boyd, then wife of George Harrison.
52A: Off-the-wall piece on the wall: OP ART. Excellent clue.
53A: Humanities degs.: BAS
56A: Tolkien creature: ORC
60A: Modern, in Mannheim: NEU. Same pronunciation as our "new", Kazie? What is German for "old"?
61A: Tales and such: LORE
63A: Sixth of five?: ESP. The Sixth Sense. Stumped me.
64A: Odessa-to-Waco direction: EAST. I like this new cluing.
65A: Lacing air: EYELET
Down:
1D: Big film maker: FUJI. Also the highest mountain in Japan. And of course, FUJI apples.
2D: "__ a Spell on You": 1957 Screamin' Jay Hawkins song: I PUT. Here is the song. I wanted CAST.
3D: Florentine flower?: ARNO. River flows, hence flow-er.
4D: Soak, in British dialect: SOG. No idea. Thought of RET, which is often clued as "Soak flax".
5D: "We want to hear from you": CALL US. Nailed it immediately. But when I looked at my finished grid, I kept seeing CALLUS.
6D: Ingredients in a McFlurry, perhaps: OREOS. Stumped. I've never had McFlurry.
8D: Not so bright: PALER. As in color?
10D: Memorable: HISTORIC
18D: "Despite what I just said ...": BUT
23D: "__ tree falls ...": IF A. "IF A tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?".
25D: Not quite a B: C PLUS
31D: Serpentine: SNAKY
32D: Home of the NCAA's Buckeyes: OSU (Ohio State University). Just learned that Jack Nicklaus attended OSU.
33D: Whitney et al.: Abbr.: MTS. Thought of ELI Whitney first.
36D: River to the North Sea: YSER
38D: In working order: OPERABLE
39D: 1917 abdicator: TSAR
44D: Goethe's "The __-King": ERL. Gimmie after yesterday's Schubert's "The ____-King" clue. So, the boy is indeed fevered and hallucinating about the ERL-King?
46D: Knockoff: CLONE
47D: Falls heavily: POURS. D'oh, rain!
48D: Discomfit: UPSET
49D: Ailurophobe's dread: CAT. Had to check the dictionary for ailurophobe.
50D: Last word in a doughnuts: KREME. Krispy KREME. Not a fan of doughnuts. I wrote down EAT ME first.
54D: Teen breakout?: ACNE. Got it immediately. Saw identical clue somewhere before.
55D: Game with no card lower than seven: SKAT
58D: Mauna __: LOA. Hope to see the full MAUNA LOA in a grid someday.
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A: Flared garb for Tarzan: JUNGLE BELLS (Jingle Bells)
24A: Manage to provide morning refreshment?: MUSTER COFFEE (Mister Coffee)
37A: Scarf makers?: BOA CONSTRUCTORS (Boa Constrictors)
46A: Wrinkle on a dessert topper?: CHERRY PUCKER (Cherry Picker)
57A: Wolves full of themselves?: BLUSTER PACK (Blister Pack)
Why BELLS for "Flared garb"? I don't understand the connection. My favorite theme entry is BLUSTER PACK. I've been opening so many Blister Packs of baseball cards. And it also reminded me of Kim Jong-il and his blustering brinkmanship. Insane!
Typical Dan Naddor puzzle. Lots of theme squares (61). There are also four noticeable 10-letter long Down entries intersecting three of the theme entries:
11D: 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis film: MY LEFT FOOT. Wikipedia shows that the film won several Oscars. I've never seen it.
12D: One putting on a show: IMPRESARIO
27D: Cutting-edge farm parts: PLOWSHARES. Gimme for Windhover. But it's a new word to me. PLOWSHARE does not sound "cutting-edge" at all, PLOWSHARP does.
28D: It's hoisted on ice annually: STANLEY CUP. Nice, timely fill.
Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is BLTS (30A: Alphabetical orders?). I got B & S in position, then I filled in BCDS immediately, completely ignoring the question mark in the clue.
Across:
1A: Debacle: FIASCO. I've got no interest to read the sequel to "FIASCO".
7A: Fish used in sashimi: OPAH. Holy moley! I love sashimi, but I've never had OPAH. Wanted TUNA.
11A: "Good Will Hunting" setting, briefly: MIT. Great movie. The setting for Kevin Spacey's "21" is also MIT.
14A: Racket: UPROAR
15A: Denpasar is its capital: BALI. I had to check my dictionary to see where Denpasar is.
16A: Sumac from South America: YMA. From Peru. Her name means "Beautiful flower".
19A: Old platters: LPS
20A: First woman to land a triple axel in competition: ITO (Midori). Interesting trivia.
21A: Crumb: LOUSE. Did not know crumb is a slang for "worthless person". Was thinking of bread crumb.
22A: Levels: TIERS
26A: Orbital point: APSIS. Thought of APOGEE first.
29A: Keisters: PRATS. Both are new slang to me.
31A: Mogadishu native: SOMALI. The only SOMALI I know is Iman, wife to David Bowie.
35A: Actress Wray: FAY. Stranger to me. Wikipidia says FAY Wray is the first ever scream queen, originating from her appearances in the 1932 film "Doctor X" and the 1933 film "King Kong".
40A: Wheat beard: AWN. Fun clue. It reads like "Wheat bread".
41A: Short stops: PAUSES. Another great clue. Made me think of baseball's shortstop.
42A: Silk, in St. Étienne: SOIE. And TASSE (13D: Café cup). Alliteration in both clues.
43A: Finely contoured: SLEEK. I like the sequential clue order of 42 "Silk..."and then 43 "Finely contoured".
45A: Ulan __: BATOR. Ulan BATOR is literally "Red Hero". Russia's Ulan Ude is "Red Uda".
51A: Clapton hit that won the 1992 Best Rock Song Grammy: LAYLA. Here is the song clip. It's about Pattie Boyd, then wife of George Harrison.
52A: Off-the-wall piece on the wall: OP ART. Excellent clue.
53A: Humanities degs.: BAS
56A: Tolkien creature: ORC
60A: Modern, in Mannheim: NEU. Same pronunciation as our "new", Kazie? What is German for "old"?
61A: Tales and such: LORE
63A: Sixth of five?: ESP. The Sixth Sense. Stumped me.
64A: Odessa-to-Waco direction: EAST. I like this new cluing.
65A: Lacing air: EYELET
Down:
1D: Big film maker: FUJI. Also the highest mountain in Japan. And of course, FUJI apples.
2D: "__ a Spell on You": 1957 Screamin' Jay Hawkins song: I PUT. Here is the song. I wanted CAST.
3D: Florentine flower?: ARNO. River flows, hence flow-er.
4D: Soak, in British dialect: SOG. No idea. Thought of RET, which is often clued as "Soak flax".
5D: "We want to hear from you": CALL US. Nailed it immediately. But when I looked at my finished grid, I kept seeing CALLUS.
6D: Ingredients in a McFlurry, perhaps: OREOS. Stumped. I've never had McFlurry.
8D: Not so bright: PALER. As in color?
10D: Memorable: HISTORIC
18D: "Despite what I just said ...": BUT
23D: "__ tree falls ...": IF A. "IF A tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?".
25D: Not quite a B: C PLUS
31D: Serpentine: SNAKY
32D: Home of the NCAA's Buckeyes: OSU (Ohio State University). Just learned that Jack Nicklaus attended OSU.
33D: Whitney et al.: Abbr.: MTS. Thought of ELI Whitney first.
36D: River to the North Sea: YSER
38D: In working order: OPERABLE
39D: 1917 abdicator: TSAR
44D: Goethe's "The __-King": ERL. Gimmie after yesterday's Schubert's "The ____-King" clue. So, the boy is indeed fevered and hallucinating about the ERL-King?
46D: Knockoff: CLONE
47D: Falls heavily: POURS. D'oh, rain!
48D: Discomfit: UPSET
49D: Ailurophobe's dread: CAT. Had to check the dictionary for ailurophobe.
50D: Last word in a doughnuts: KREME. Krispy KREME. Not a fan of doughnuts. I wrote down EAT ME first.
54D: Teen breakout?: ACNE. Got it immediately. Saw identical clue somewhere before.
55D: Game with no card lower than seven: SKAT
58D: Mauna __: LOA. Hope to see the full MAUNA LOA in a grid someday.
Answer grid.
C.C.
71 comments:
Good morning, C.C. and gang - what a slog! I guess I'm still feeling stupid from watching the Spelling Bee last night, but I had snags all over the place today. The theme, once it revealed itself, certainly helped, but I had a bunch of unknowns that I only got with perp help. Among them: didn't know Midori Ito did the first triple axel, didn't know 'soie', didn't know 'neu' (thought the word was nouveau), and I never knew 'prat' was a rear-end. I assume that's where pratfall came from. I know Buckeye will be happy with 32D.
I did enjoy all the long downs, and it's always nice to be reminded of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. 'Teen breakout', 'sixth of five' and 'alphabetical orders' were very clever clues. All in all, a very nice puzzle; most enjoyable.
Today is.......nothing!! It's 'make up your own day' day. What would you suggest?
Today's Words of Wisdom: "One must wager on the future. To save the life of a child, no effort is superfluous. To make a tired old man smile is to perform an essential task. To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope." -- Writer Elie Wiesel
Couple more Fun Facts:
- During a kiss, as many as 278 bacteria colonies are exchanged. Hmmmm - I wonder........never mind.
- Barbers at one time combined shaving and haircutting with bloodletting and pulling teeth.
C.C., bell-bottom pants are pants where the bottoms of the legs are flared out.
Off to the gym.
Dennis,
Now I don't feel so bad since you did not know PRAT either. We had SOIE before. And I linked this lime-colored peau de SOIE (soft silk) last time. Peau is skin. Mal dans sa peau = ill as ease. I accidentally swallowed a cherry seed earlier. It's not poisonous, is it?
Argyle,
Thanks for visual help on alpaca, llama and acrobat. Terrific!
Southern Belle,
No, I was not surprised by the number of "I don't really care" solvers. I think I understand the reason.
I think the Jungle Bells refers to the old navy garb and later fashion garb of Bell Bottom Pants...just my take on it. Doyle
It's no wonder Mt Everest was conquered on this day. Today's crossword had me conquered. Beautifully pieced together, however, I am not a fan of mixing up the spelling of words, or phrases, just to make things fit into place. Kudos to those who finished this thing.
I am always disturbed when a crossword is published to include meaningless variations on the straight and narrow. Perhaps this is a clue to me getting older. Never-the-less, my daily regiment requires me to drink coffee and 'DO' the puzzle.
Good Morning All,
Thursdays and Fridays are definitley harder recently. This one was tough. Lots of unknowns and I never came close to getting the theme. I couldn't get in sync with Naddor but once I got here and filled things in I thought it was a cleverly constructed grid.
Why is Knockoff Clone?
Five days and a wake up!
What a difficult puzzle, I had never seen PRAT apart from pratfall , though it is simple in retrospect; AWN, which is defined as “one of the slender bristles that terminate the glumes of the spikelet in some cereal and other grasses” is a new word as well, I also never heard of ‘glumes.’ I also took the longest time to unravel Falls heavily: POURS, and Florentine flower?: ARNO. I do not even know why I remember YMA . I really liked Sixth of five?: ESP, required some thought. Also, not to be picky, but SPACEY, has an E.
I do not think of a PUCKER as a wrinkle, but I know it is; and I am not sure why WOLVES.
Happy Friday
Solved a similar puzzle titled "If I were U".
Dennis:
Buckeye will be happy with 32D? Are you referring to the clue, or...? Now I have to go look; reminds me of a past girl friend.
I wonder if I can inspire someone to put GLUME in a future puzzle?
Well, must off to work
This one wasn't clicking for me today. I started to get the theme, realizing Jingle Bells and Mister Coffee, but then when the U changed to the second word in Pucker I lost it. Some clever clues with BLT's, LPS, ESP, etc. I knew that the donut was KREME, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what the chain was. I do happen to be a donut fan. Good to know that Dennis didn't know PRAT either, I was unfamiliar with this term.
MY LEFT FOOT is a fabulous movie, very worth renting if you get the time. DD Lewis is incredible.
Nice WOW Dennis. Elie Weisel always has something worthwhile to say doesn't he?
Interesting that LAYLA was a '92 Grammy winner, as it is a remake of his original version.
CC - McFlurry's are McDonalds version of the Dairy Queen Blizzards. They are shakes with candy or cookies blended in. Extraordinarily fattening.
Maniac - A knockoff is a copy of something, hence a clone.
Good day to all. Supposed to be beautiful today. I volunteer at school all day on Fridays so I get to see the kids one last time, and the moms that I volunteer with are having a celebration for two who are leaving and will be empty nesters next year. Should be fun.
Puzzle getting more clever all the time...enjoy the mis-directions the most. Having to "come here" less and less on Fri.-Mon. CC, thank you for providing this place/forum. I was one of those who "don`t really care" about puzzle forms. They are all enjoyable. As I`ve said before, doing challenging xw puzzles, over a period of time, is tantmount to a liberal arts education...especially with so diverse/learned a group as this!
Dennis; My suggestion for what day this should be:
"The golden rule" day, because we do reap what we sow, good and/or bad.
For Mr./Miz Anon at 2:53 AM:
You are quite correct in that the two you mentioned are "alike." They are both created in the Image of God, by God and well-loved by Him, as you also are.
Jimbo: What do you think of the song named after your sign-off?
Congratulations on the new Gbaby,Boomer mom!
Going to enjoy a get-away this weekend...see you guys Mon. or Tues. depending on the weather.
In England, calling someone a prat is like calling them an arse. Over there, an ass is just a donkey. I watch too much Top Gear on BBC, I suppose.
I had a tough time getting a toe hold in this one. A word here and there, then a few letters, a few more words, then the punny dropped on the theme. Usually, with a theme like this I see answers whne I am working other clues, and I'm not thinking about the clue at all. When I go back to the clue, I finally see it afterwards.
Acconidrg to a raceheserr at Cgbramide Uvtiinresy, it dosen't mettar in waht oderr the leretts in a wrod are, the only imnatport tinhg is that the fsrit and lsat letter be at the right pacle. The rest can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouhitt poebrlm. Tihs is bauscee the human mnid deos not read ervey ltteer by iesltf but the word as a wlhoe.
Lemonade, an excellent point regarding 32D. We'd all be pleased.
KQ, I still maintain that McFlurries and McShakes are made from vinyl.
Linda, 'do unto others' is a great 'day', and a nice way to spend one...
Al, what a great example! That must've been tough to even type.
Dennis, I agree with you on the McFlury's and Shakes. I never have them. I am a frozen custard fan, and is the only type of ice cream I will eat having grown up on it in Milwaukee. Nothing like it. As I usually don't do dairy, it is rare for me anyway. Sometimes I put up with the repercussions to indulge in the pleasure.
Al, that was the email I was thinking of the other day. I thought it just took out the vowels, but you got it right. Amazing minds we have. How is it I cannot remember what I walked up the stairs for when we can process that?
Linda, Every day should be Golden Rule day, I couldn't agree with you more. Have a pleasant weekend.
@Dneeis & QK: lysdexics untie!
Odessa to Waco isn't east; it's southeast. I know; we live in Odessa and my brother went to Baylor Univ. in Waco; so we made lots of trips. I thought this puzzle was just mean. Florence flower; give me a break Elaine
This one kicked my prat. I need some clarification on a couple of clues. “Wolves full of themselves” bluster pack? “Lacing air” eyelet? I had to hit the g-spot too much for my taste, soie, tasse, Denpasar. A couple of cute clues though in BLT, ESP, Op Art.
@Linda, very nice pick for the day.
@C.C. re: the cherry pit…I don’t think they are poisonous, and that too shall pass.
@Dennis, I wonder what makes up a bacteria colony, and what kind of fun would it have been to be a part of that study. What would you do unto others?
@Dennis, Lemonade, Windhover, I am still waiting for the 4" thumb explanation, as I am curious now about my 2 3/4" thumbs.
@Tarrajo, blister packs are those bubble shaped clear plastic packages to prevent people from pocketing something small. Wolves travel in packs, and to bluster is to boast or be full of oneself.
It's easier to put a shoelace through a hardened metal opening such as a formed eyelet than it is to put it through just a simple hole punched in the leather. The eyelet opening is bigger and the lace slides through easier. And I tried really hard, but I couldn't think of a way to not make that explanation sound DF.
Hi all!
I have to agree with anon @9:08--I thought this was mean. I got the theme, but also was somewhat thrown by the change in word order of the i to u words.
Got all the long clues except STANLEY CUP though--means nothing to my sportless mind. I was looking for a fishing hut--hoisted on ice each year around here. I definitely had to google too many for it to be satisfying or fun, though I did like LPS, ESP and BLTS.
I also did not know what PRATS were--I wanted REARS, and I forgot AWN.
Dennis,
Nouveau is French, it becomes nouvelle in the feminine form.
c.c.,
NEU sounds the same as -NOY in annoy. German EU is always that sound, also in names like Neumann, Neumeister, etc. A funny fact emanating from that is the way they pronounce the Euro (oyro) is different from the French pronunciation of "ero" (like the -ear- in our word hearse)
Tarrajo,
I think if you omit the "inch" you can see thumbs could be a measure of something else.
Good Morning All, We are having "system upgrade" problems with our ISP. So I am hurrying just in case it goes down again.
The tech I spoke to said it would be 24 hours. Now it looks like it might be 48. That will take us into the weekend, so who knows how long it will be messed up.
I'll be back as soon as everything stabilizes. In the meantime, I'll be going through blog withdrawal.
Greetings C.C. and Wizards,
Apparently I need to go back to school, read more books and watch more movies. Didn't realize I had led such a sheltered life. I just found out that what I don't know everyone else does. Needless to say I crashed and burned; But giving up is not an option. A "Jimbo" never gives up!!!!
Linda,
"Vaya con Dios" is one of my favorite songs, especially when done by Les Paul and Mary Ford. Perhaps my alltime favorite, though, is "LA Paloma" by Nana Mouskouri.
(Spanish version).
No---My ancestors were German. (In case you thought I was Spanish).
Anyway,
Vaya con Dios
Elaine, we've seen 'flower' several times now as part of a definition for a river, but it is misleading to look at.
Why, tarrajo, I'd do unto others all those things I'd want done unto me.
As to the 4" thumb thingy, it was just a vicious rumor that someone started, proposing that there was a direct correlation between thumb size and, uh, something else. These people are just so DF.
Kazie, my brain had Mannheim in France today; thanks for straightening me out.
Got my fanny kicked today. Brain must still be asleep. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Dennis-bday is Feb 21
WM-bet those kittens will be hell on wheels. We've had 2 different feral cats. The first pretty much lived behind our headboard. She would come out when I got home from work, her signal that I was to pet her when she ran back to her spot. When we moved from ID she went with the house. Our second, Cujo was one of the best cats we ever had. He died late last year. Two of my grandsons helped me pick out the next kitty, Violet. I swear some of Cujo's traits were channeled to her!!
Al-have seen your example before. Looks like some of the writing of the special ed kids I taught.
Almost have made it through May. Our family's horrible month. Six years ago yesterday my oldest granddaughter died of cancer. Three days before her 7th birthday. We will release red balloons on the 31st in her memory, and finally May will be done!!
Humidity here is nasty today. No yard work for me!!!
Morning all...I was up late last night so I printed the puzzle and did it then...my brain was definitely more awake(I am a night owl). Still, it was difficult to get started and, like C.C., I immediatly put in TUNA for 7A which totally messed me up. Actually put in JUNGLE BELLS first and then the Themes were easy, which has been happening lately for me...must be all that great training I get from here.
Liked OP ART, got SOIE, NEU and ESP with no problem. Remember as a child seeing King Kong and being terrified and then saddened at the end. So Fay Wray was a gimme. BLUSTER PACK was cute but a bit of a stretch. Prats was an issue because my german grandmother always used Keister as a euphemism for backside and to me a prat is an idiot...maybe that's a British thing or something.
I looked up SOG in my British/English dictionary and the word wasn't there...so????
treefrog...I am so sorry for your loss...how difficult that must be.
With all the people that have been here the last few days, the kitties have really socialized. They were all over the house last night getting into things. Whenever we pick them up they just start purring...I think the fact that there are the two of them will make it easier.
Jimbo...you are awesome!
Just one other thing...am I missing something with 59D Ante-PRE? Is it like ANTE...as in ANTECEDENT?
Hi C.C. and gang, quite a slog of a puzzle indeed! I messed up all over the map. I never picked up on the theme until I got here either. My wife got 37A: Boa Constructors before she had to leave.
I wanted the following link instead for 51A: Tears in Heaven for the 1992 Clapton hit.
"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell out of a 53rd-story window in his mother's friend's New York City apartment, on March 20, 1991. By all accounts, the death was simply a tragic accident, and Clapton was distraught for months afterwards.[1] This song is one of Clapton's most successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the American adult contemporary chart in 1992.
Hi C.C.and everyone:
I didn't know I had a PRAT either but it sure got kicked with this puzzle! I,like others, had to look up so many words, it took the fun out of it. On the up side, I did learn several new words. The clues and answers to the 'theme' are those I really dislike. I can never think of them (MUSTER COFFEE) booo!
Jimbo, I am glad you are not giving up, I won't either. I know what you mean by not realizing you 'live a sheltered life'. I must too, as I never know movie trivia or singers/songs.
KQ (8:57) LOL re not remembering what we went up or downstairs for. I can't tell you how many times that happens to me. I 'cure' it by going back to where I started and I usually have my V-8 moment and all is well.
Treefrog, I hope you feel better - what a terrible tragedy!!! I cannot imagine a loss like that.
WM,
I think from Al's comment you can see that if PRAT is the same as ARSE to the British, it does mean backside. They say arse instead of ass, short for arsehole, while ass only refers to a donkey. At least, after all the discussion, we should remember this new word!
Treefrog,
That must indeed be a terrible memory. Hopefully it will fade a little with time.
23D: If a man says something and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
AL...that's a given.
Kazie, as always, thanks.
Good Morning fellow bloggers. Or should I say sloggers?
I probably had a total of five words that never came to mind. Most of them in the N/W corner. I got uproar fairly early on, but fiasco and Fuji would not materialize. I also wanted Tuna for Opah. Though I knew a keister was a rear end, I have never heard it called a prat. The Ante-Pre clue and answer still doesn't make sense.
Oh well, I guess it's good to have a serving of Humble pie every now and again. Wouldn't want to become a Bluster Pack now would we?
Hasta Luego Amigos
Good morning, everyone. Stuck with this one and waded through the mire and got a Friday puzzle done with no help, once I realized the theme! WOW!
Ever hear of a BELT? That's a Bacon, Egg, Lettuce, Tomato sandwich. Heard that discussed in a restaurant in Ohio a few weeks ago. Never had one, and probably never will. I don't trust restaurant lettuce.
ITO was a gimme for this skating fan.
@mainic Where are you off to?
@al Aximng ins't it?
@kq Just CRS raising its ugly head.
@cc I agree with tarrajo. It'll just be a little pain in the prat!
@treefrog That sounds like a nice memorial tradition. Think the good thoughts and remember the good times.
@wm Yep.
@C.C. I think the opposite of NEU in German would be ALTE, but German was my least successful subject. So maybe someone else will chime in.
Have a great Friday, everyone!
Did better than I usually do on Friday, which really isn't saying a whole lot. Wanted IMAX for Fugi - looking for something that showed big films. Found Stanley Cup (go Pens, Bill!) and got started - something familiar there. Figured out the U theme but still got hung up on MusterCoffee. Same issues as everyone else. But you gotta love someone who gets 'Impresario' in a puzzle.
Al - on your 11:10 post - definite YES.
CC - have you seen Daniel Day Lewis in 'The Last of the Mohicans' - he's totally hot in that flick - not so much so in 'My Left Foot' but worth watching.
Ah, Krispy Kremes. Our local corner market makes the best donuts - if you go there in the early a.m. as they are frying them, you'd think you died and gone to heaven. I don't indulge in them much - would rather save my calories for wine but once in a while my will power lags and I indulge.
I'm taking my prat to the pool. Today my uncle starts to support my lifestyle so I may do something lavish in response.
OK Tarrajo, here you go. I could never stand to leave you in the dark. In the morning, maybe..........
Since Dennis is being uncharacteristically modest today, and I brought it up (no pun there), here it is:
Some time before you graced us with your presence, one of the fun facts of the day (and since we read it on the Internet, it must be true) was that the average man's package is 3x the length of his thumb. He then commented on the awkwardness of typing with 4" thumbs. No wonder he is "pompass" as one recent idiot anon stated. Speaking of anons, ...... Nah, let's don't.
Cutting hay today. Driving a tractor is not easy with these 2.33 inch thumbs.
Carry on, bloggers. $&@? Off anonymous anons.
For Al@11:10 and WM@11:11
A WORD TO HUSBANDS
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
- Ogden Nash
Tarrajo,
awhile ago I was adding daily trivia, as Dennis was putting in daily mensa word plays.
Examples:
* Your thumb is the same length as your nose.
*The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb
AND
*The average man's penis is 3X the length of his thumb
There, you have it.
Linda, I love your idea of the Golden Rule Day
It is International Jazz Day.
Joan, congrats on the birth of your grandson.
Read Pickles today. Spelling is important.LOL
C.C. Re the anon at 12:24... How do you say SPAM in Chinese?
@Al, thanks for the clarification on bluster pack and eyelet. Re: the eyelet, that makes sense that it would be easier to stick something into a bigger hole.
@Treefrog, I have a little guy that just turned eight not too long ago. Much to his chagrin he will be getting an extra hug and kiss from his mom tonight. I am sorry for your loss.
@Kazie, Dennis, JD, and Windhover thank you for telling me about the 4” thumbs. I guess I don’t have anything to worry about with my 2 ¾” ones. I will however take note of the size of a man’s thumbs here on out though.
I'm new. This one was hard for me. I messed up on bluster pack and cherry pucker so did not get betray. Is it O.K. to Google clues?
AL
Do not forget our 5 post rule; I really enjoyed your gibberish and understood it all too well. Hopefully you cut and pasted rather than typed.
Dennis, I always keep my eyes and ears open for stimulation.
Tarrajo, there is your explanation, from the source; it was JD's information to provide; I assure you, having attended boys schools, there is no obvious truth to the suggestion. It does however, put a different slant on thumbing ones nose.
Yes, conratulations on the new grandbaby, and condolences and strength for the memory of the lsot one. This group always has some new life, even if it is kittens.
Andee, sure it is. Hell, there's mornings I wish Rich Norris was at the house helping me.
We all get through these things as best we can.
Oh, and welcome; stick around and become part of our ever-so-eclectic group.
Treefrog -
Sorry to hear of your loss. Hang in there - better days are coming. Two of my first cousins lost kids to leukemia at about that age. I feel your pain.
Holy yikes - tough puzzle today. I had it all filled in with letters, but they weren't all the right ones. I had cherry purcer, which was baffling, but didn't look too bad on the perps.
Took the LW for her eye test this morning (she studied hard all week) and did the puzzle in the waiting room. Well over an hour, and I needed every bit of it.
I won't say it was mean, but a cross like SOIE and YSER does seem a bit unfair. And you know how I feel about foreign words and obscure geographical references.
Had MET for MIT, and, not knowing the movie, thought it made sense. I doesn't help that I can't spel "Emprasario"
Old in German is ALT. It can appear as alte, alter, altes, alten, or altem, since adjectives must agree with their nouns in gender, number and case, and there are strong and week endings. All very confusing to a humble English as a first language person.
Ever the voice of the minority opinion, I have to say I like this kind of theme - but I'm a lover of puns and word play of all kinds.
I try to figure out the arcane jargon on my own but cannot suss "DF." Can someone help this poor man?
Cheers!
Jazzbumpa, 'DisFunctional(s)'.
C.C.,
Holy Moley is Captain Marvel's trademark expression. Did you read his conic books?
comic books
Odd thought, re: Dennis @ 5:31.
Q: How did all those colonists get here?
A: They came on the buss!
Cheers
Jazzbumpa, sheer genius; just perfect.
good afternoon c.c. and all - i refused to do it online this morning, therefore, on paper i fell flat on my prat.
Anon @9:08 my sentiments exactly, Florence flower , give me a break.
Extra clever clues, and a very good puzzle all the same.
Al, had fun reading your dyslexic post but, could not not compute this puzzle ! Do you speak pig latin as well. or is the same ?
Raining cats and dogs here today, so i'll check the USA Today or the Naples News for easier cw/s
Adios muchacos, compañeros de mi vida, la la lalla. . . .
Thanks KQ, Never hear of that one.
I'm outa here for the weekend! Hopefully the rain will break so I can plant my garden. We had a frost Monday night so I haven't been to motivated. I started my seedlings to soon. They're getting so big we have to shuffle them around the sun room.
Off to a planning meeting for our fishing trip!!
Have a great weekend.
22:10 today. Wow! I loved, loved, loved this puzzle. Sure it was tough, but it was eminently solvable, and a lot of fun in the end.
Themes which involve substituting a letter in a common word or phrase, which then creates another wacky word or phrase, which is clued as such, often meet with mixed reviews. Some people love 'em, some hate 'em. For me, it's usually how much fun the wacky phrases are, and in this case, they are mostly home runs. Sure BLUSTER PACK is a bit of a stretch, but BOA CONSTRUCTORS and MUSTER COFFEE are sheer genius. Bravo, Mr. Naddor!
Since I solve downs first (usually), I didn't fall into the tuna sashimi trap, as I had already filled in OBESE for 7d: Very heavy. OPAH came easily after I finally got HISTORIC.
I'm with @WM my 59d: reads Ante- (with a hyphen at the end). I'm having trouble figuring out how the answer can be PRE. Can anyone help?
embien, ante- as a prefix means 'prior' as does pre.
Best I can do.
Just when I thought I had this guy figured out, I get stopped dead in my tracks. I don't google, I use the dictionary only as an aid. maybe tomorrow will be good to me. never got the theme today.
clear ayes-- here's my formula for a long happy marriage
A: I'm sorry, you were right, I was wrong
B: Please forgive me, I'll never do that again
C: I love you very much
35 years and counting.
Jim
NO! NO! and NO! This wasn't a crossword. This was a mini Websters."Cause to even get to know these words needed a LARGE dictionary. ANTE and PRE mean the same thing, so why not ANTE (syn) for the clue? JUNGLEBELLS? Bellbottoms? What the h*** does that have to do with Tarzan's garb? Even in the movie the only other clothes he wore was a suit that they paraded him around in. I realize Mr. Naddor was trying to evoke thoughts of the jungle.......................Oh, I give up. It was a stupid clue!
No more to say except--I know better than to try Friday x words 'cause this rant is the result!
Bye till an easier day.
Good afternoon, All,
Got a late start as today was Jean's psycotherapist day (she is suffering from depression). When we got home, we decided to work the puzzle jointly using separate printouts. I am proud to say we solved it, not without a lot of head scratching and erasures, but no cheating. We got onto the theme fairly quickly with junglebells and mistercoffee. Lots of good clues. I had earlier learned to be alert for "flower" and it paid off today. I have never been to Italy, but it seems the Arno flows through all the cities. I liked prats and blts, as well as pours. Also esp.
Any Friday where we can claim success with the LAT is a good Friday.
A fun weekend wish for all.
With all the talk of kitties and pets in general, I thought I'd share This Dog is not going to Heaven!!!!, a video I got via email recently.
c.c.,
The explanation given by two others of the German for "old" is totally correct. Sorry I forgot that question before.
Tfrank,
I can see how we'd be led to believe the Arno flows everywhere in Italy, but watch out--Rome is on the Tiber!
Treefrog, I believe it was your PRAT that got kicked today. So sorry to hear of you loss. I had a nephew that died of SIDS. Losing someone young is such a kick in the heart isn't it? My thoughts are with you. Hang in there.
Ante-pre appears to be the name of a school for very young kids: often written "ante-pre-school".
So it would be a place to park the wee'uns before they are old enough for pre-school.
I didn't do well today either. I must have had my head up my prat. Missed "flower" even though it had the question mark. And a little mistake like "awr" for "awn", had me looking for a star on ice.
Just have those days sometimes.
This puzzle was a fiasco!Too too clever for me, yet I was pleased with the portions that I was able to fill. Like Jimbo, I will keep-a-tryin'.
Boa constructors was my favorite. Bluster pack was my least favorite; now I know what a blister pack is.DOH! And, like WM, I thought a prat was an idiot.
Treefrog, so sorry about your loss.I hope they find cures for cancer in our lifetime.Each year on Mother's Day the A.C.S.sponsors a kids day at Great America.It is amazing and sad to see the hundreds of children who have cancer just in our area.I will be thinking of you on Sun.
Kazie,
that dog video is hilarious, i have seen it a while back but, i loved seeing it again !
Argyle (5:11) LOL (head up your prat)
Kazie: thanks for the dog video!! Loved it!
Bill: well said, bravo!!
Wow! What an odd puzzle. Never even saw 'Ante-Quo-usque. And why isn't the u capitalized?
Heard of skat before but never played it,don't know anybody who did either.
When I saw 'keisters', I thought "I know this one", put in 'rumps'. Well that was too easy. Wanted 'prats'. I thought prat meant something funny, like 'pratfall'.
BLTS made me hungry so I stopped to eat. Then I saw 'wolves full of themselves'. I was full but I knew it didn't mean me. I knew the answer tho, it was 'marines' but that didn't fit. By then I went to 'muster coffee' and quit.
Good puzzle though.
treefrog, that's just unimaginable; my heartfelt sympathy. I've never lost someone that young, and can't imagine how you deal with it.
Luxor, seriously, grow up. I tried to be nice the past couple days, but you evidently still want to act like a child. Doesn't belong on the blog. As I said, if you have a problem with me, email me and we'll talk about it.
Huh?
Luxor -
I've been a lurker & occasional contributor for just over a year. Your demeaning reference to Dennis (Marine full of themselves) tonight is childish and uncalled for.
Why do you continue this line of thought? It's negative nature is distracting from the intent of this blog.
I read the post from luxor @ 6:48 .
It was very lengthy but no reference to dennis was made. Stop bustin on the guy.
To mirror Lemonade's post last night on Jeannie (the lurker) keeping the peace. Luxor your comments and jabs at Dennis are a joke...you have no chance "sparring" with him; either verbally or physically. Give it up. Sorry, Dennis...I know you can take it, but as a long lost post friend it pisses me off. Sorry C.C. if I dissed this blog.
Wow, Jeannie...you have some spunk. Not sure why you aren't posting here regularly, but here's another thing to say to you anons. Have the balls to sign your name if you are taking a shot at me as you did last night. If you put me in the same categorie as Jeannie, count me in. She seems to have some class.
Note to everyone since PMT is absent temporarily...Absolutely under no condition...DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS...good blog etiquette...
Heya Jeannie...miss ya!
Thanks WM, and I should thank Linda too. I have a new role here as peace keeper so I have read and that is what I intend to do. The rest just got me into trouble.
Tarrajo...you are okay. Wit is a good trait in a person, and I can tell you are a very devoted Mom.
Bellbottom jeans (which one rarely sees these days, thankfully) are flared (expanded) at the bottom....excellent clue.
TS
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