Theme: B All You Can B
17A: Excellent performance: BANG-UP JOB
29A: Sci. class where many an "Eeuw!" is heard: BIO LAB
46A: Bill for what you drink: BAR TAB
62A: Satan: BEELZEBUB
11D: Betray by bad-mouthing: BACK STAB
39D: Angels or Dodgers: BALL CLUB
Another puzzle from our editor Rich Norris. Gia Christian is his alias name, anagram of "Again It's Rich".
There are total 16 letter B's (NY Times' record is 20) in this puzzle. And 1 Z, 1 J, 1 X and 5 K's. Quite impressive for a Monday puzzle.
I've never heard of BANG-UP referred to as "excellent". Argyle said the related words are: bully (?), corking (?), cracking, dandy and great.
My favorite fill today: KIBITZ (41D: Be a nuisance at the card game). I just learned this word a few weeks ago and I was able to nail it in one try. Quality word, very scrabbly.
Argyle co-blogged today's post with me. He will blog here alone next Monday.
Across:
5A: Beatnik's "I understood": I DIG. Whom exactly does a beatnik refer to?
9A: "I goofed": MY BAD. Can you imagine Shakespeare saying "MY BAD" to Anne Hathaway?
15A: The Beatles' "Love __": ME DO. Here is the clip.
16A: Italian violin maker: AMATI. Joshua Bell used his expensive STRAD for the famous subway incognito performance. Antonio Stradivari is a student of Nicolo AMATI.
19A: Big name in precision blades: X-ACTO. New brand name to me. Argyle said it's used by model makers everywhere.
20A: Dangerous household gas: RADON. Dictionary says it can cause lung cancer.
21A: Perp's excuse: ALIBI. Argyle is not OK with this clue.
23A: Author Kesey: KEN. He wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
24A: Winter fisherman's tool: ICE SAW. Is it electric? (Argyle said: bar, auger, yes. Saw, no. Saws are used to harvest ice blocks.)
26A: Out of kilter: AMISS
33A: Germany's von Bismarck: OTTO. He originated "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." Just learned the other day that OTTO has a "Wealth/Rich" root in German.
41A: Skewered meal: KABOB. Have never used KABOB alone. Always shish KABOB.
47A: Concorde, e.g.: SST. SuperSonic Transport. It's clued as "By gone boomers" in a NYT puzzle in March.
50A: Academy trainee: PLEBE. First year student. Thought of CADET first.
54A: The Big Apple, initially: NYC
55A: Eurasian range: URALS. The mountain range between Asia and Europe.
59A: Flourless cake: TORTE. This TORTE does have flour.
60A: Conger catcher. EELER. Rather ugly.
64A: Handles roughly: MAULS
66A: Old Bologna bucks: LIRE. Or LIRA.
67A: Round trip?: ORBIT. Great clue.
68A: Revue component: SKIT
Down:
1D: Rubble: DEBRIS
2D: Newton and Stern: ISAACS. A mathematician/physicist and a Jewish violin virtuoso.
3D: Smoothing tool: SANDER. Have never seen a SANDER in person.
4D: Science fiction award: HUGOS. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stores, according to Wikipeida. And the awards have been presented since 1955. See HUGO Awards logo. It has a rocket.
5D: Babysitter's handful: IMP. Little Beelzebub? I was thing of TOY.
6D: __ vu: DEJA. Opposite of "jamais vu". And the last vu is "presque vu".
8D: Desert largely in Mongolia: GOBI. True. It has a large presence inside China too (the Inner Mongolia autonomous region). We call GOBI Desert as "Gebi Shamo". Shamo is literally "desert" in Chinese.
9D: A stitch in time..." is one: MAXIM
10D: Vocalist Sumac: YMA. Just learned that her stage name means "beautiful flower/girl".
12D: Vouch for: ATTEST TO
13D: Singer Celine: DION. I like "The Power of Love".
18D: Lacking what it takes: UNABLE
22D: Eater of puréed peas: BABY
25D: Nintendo game system: WII. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to Wikipedia.
27D: Dubuque native: IOWAN. Got the answer. Don't understand why the constructor singles out Dubuque.
32D: Put on __: pretend: AN ACT
34D: Tout's hangout, briefly: OTB (Off-Track Betting)
35D: Eagle's nest: AERIE. 80% vowels in this word.
38D: 2012 is the next one: LEAP YEAR
43D: "Ten-four" speaker: CBER. "Ten-four" is OK in CB talk.
44D: "Krazy" comics feline: KAT. That KAT was a real kard.
47D: Belgrade's country: SERBIA. Kosovo is part of SERBIA, isn't it?
48D: Ringed planet: SATURN. Ringed indeed.
49D: Host who expects you to answer his answer: TREBEK (Alex). This is Jeopardy!
51D: Explode: BURST
53D: Carols: NOELS
54D: Verne captain: NEMO. Has anyone read Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"?
56D: First grade basics: ABCS
57D: Faucet problem: LEAK
58D: 18-wheeler: SEMI
61D: Connecticut Ivy Leaguer: ELI. Yale University is founded by Eli Yale.
Answer grid.
Arygle & C.C.
17A: Excellent performance: BANG-UP JOB
29A: Sci. class where many an "Eeuw!" is heard: BIO LAB
46A: Bill for what you drink: BAR TAB
62A: Satan: BEELZEBUB
11D: Betray by bad-mouthing: BACK STAB
39D: Angels or Dodgers: BALL CLUB
Another puzzle from our editor Rich Norris. Gia Christian is his alias name, anagram of "Again It's Rich".
There are total 16 letter B's (NY Times' record is 20) in this puzzle. And 1 Z, 1 J, 1 X and 5 K's. Quite impressive for a Monday puzzle.
I've never heard of BANG-UP referred to as "excellent". Argyle said the related words are: bully (?), corking (?), cracking, dandy and great.
My favorite fill today: KIBITZ (41D: Be a nuisance at the card game). I just learned this word a few weeks ago and I was able to nail it in one try. Quality word, very scrabbly.
Argyle co-blogged today's post with me. He will blog here alone next Monday.
Across:
5A: Beatnik's "I understood": I DIG. Whom exactly does a beatnik refer to?
9A: "I goofed": MY BAD. Can you imagine Shakespeare saying "MY BAD" to Anne Hathaway?
15A: The Beatles' "Love __": ME DO. Here is the clip.
16A: Italian violin maker: AMATI. Joshua Bell used his expensive STRAD for the famous subway incognito performance. Antonio Stradivari is a student of Nicolo AMATI.
19A: Big name in precision blades: X-ACTO. New brand name to me. Argyle said it's used by model makers everywhere.
20A: Dangerous household gas: RADON. Dictionary says it can cause lung cancer.
21A: Perp's excuse: ALIBI. Argyle is not OK with this clue.
23A: Author Kesey: KEN. He wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
24A: Winter fisherman's tool: ICE SAW. Is it electric? (Argyle said: bar, auger, yes. Saw, no. Saws are used to harvest ice blocks.)
26A: Out of kilter: AMISS
33A: Germany's von Bismarck: OTTO. He originated "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." Just learned the other day that OTTO has a "Wealth/Rich" root in German.
41A: Skewered meal: KABOB. Have never used KABOB alone. Always shish KABOB.
47A: Concorde, e.g.: SST. SuperSonic Transport. It's clued as "By gone boomers" in a NYT puzzle in March.
50A: Academy trainee: PLEBE. First year student. Thought of CADET first.
54A: The Big Apple, initially: NYC
55A: Eurasian range: URALS. The mountain range between Asia and Europe.
59A: Flourless cake: TORTE. This TORTE does have flour.
60A: Conger catcher. EELER. Rather ugly.
64A: Handles roughly: MAULS
66A: Old Bologna bucks: LIRE. Or LIRA.
67A: Round trip?: ORBIT. Great clue.
68A: Revue component: SKIT
Down:
1D: Rubble: DEBRIS
2D: Newton and Stern: ISAACS. A mathematician/physicist and a Jewish violin virtuoso.
3D: Smoothing tool: SANDER. Have never seen a SANDER in person.
4D: Science fiction award: HUGOS. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stores, according to Wikipeida. And the awards have been presented since 1955. See HUGO Awards logo. It has a rocket.
5D: Babysitter's handful: IMP. Little Beelzebub? I was thing of TOY.
6D: __ vu: DEJA. Opposite of "jamais vu". And the last vu is "presque vu".
8D: Desert largely in Mongolia: GOBI. True. It has a large presence inside China too (the Inner Mongolia autonomous region). We call GOBI Desert as "Gebi Shamo". Shamo is literally "desert" in Chinese.
9D: A stitch in time..." is one: MAXIM
10D: Vocalist Sumac: YMA. Just learned that her stage name means "beautiful flower/girl".
12D: Vouch for: ATTEST TO
13D: Singer Celine: DION. I like "The Power of Love".
18D: Lacking what it takes: UNABLE
22D: Eater of puréed peas: BABY
25D: Nintendo game system: WII. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to Wikipedia.
27D: Dubuque native: IOWAN. Got the answer. Don't understand why the constructor singles out Dubuque.
32D: Put on __: pretend: AN ACT
34D: Tout's hangout, briefly: OTB (Off-Track Betting)
35D: Eagle's nest: AERIE. 80% vowels in this word.
38D: 2012 is the next one: LEAP YEAR
43D: "Ten-four" speaker: CBER. "Ten-four" is OK in CB talk.
44D: "Krazy" comics feline: KAT. That KAT was a real kard.
47D: Belgrade's country: SERBIA. Kosovo is part of SERBIA, isn't it?
48D: Ringed planet: SATURN. Ringed indeed.
49D: Host who expects you to answer his answer: TREBEK (Alex). This is Jeopardy!
51D: Explode: BURST
53D: Carols: NOELS
54D: Verne captain: NEMO. Has anyone read Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"?
56D: First grade basics: ABCS
57D: Faucet problem: LEAK
58D: 18-wheeler: SEMI
61D: Connecticut Ivy Leaguer: ELI. Yale University is founded by Eli Yale.
Answer grid.
Arygle & C.C.
81 comments:
Greetings, and thanks for the blog! I love the additional information you provide. Please keep up the good work and know you have fans :)
I get my TMS puzzles in my local paper, The Morning Sun of Mt Pleasant, Michigan if you would care to add that to your list.
Thanks again.
John
Good morning:
Well I am back, and my son officially graduated. As you can see from my new avatar, he did so with bells on.
Speaking of bells on, I had to do lots of thinking for a Monday.
I am not familiar with that spelling of KIBITZ, there are many versions of KABOB (does any one watch Flight of the Conchordes) and while it was easy, OTB is not a place.
Anyway, a good week to all.
John,
I've added your paper to the list.
Lemonade,
Congratulations once again. As for KABOB, I really don't understand why there are so many different transliterations.
Clear Ayes,
I like the colors of your pretty temari ball. Great Ikea clip also. Thanks. What are your favorite top 10 musicals?
Kazie/Maria,
How do Italians pluralize their nouns? Not adding S in the end I presume?
Argyle,
Interesting read on the phallic symbol part of maypole. Thanks.
Embien & Two Anons yesterday,
Now I see. The TV program is "Grey's Anatomy". One letter off the original Gray's Anatomy.
Joyce,
So you do call lima beans as LIMAS?
Steve in PA, Joyce & Luxor,
I was surprised about those black circles in the theme entries. I wonder who made the changes.
Barb B,
Were you with Melissa for the vacation?
Donnie,
Dan Feyer finished Sunday's LAT in 4 minutes.
Anon HP,
Very clever CLINKER clue.
KittyB,
Your instinct is right. Sunday's puzzle is of the same difficulty as Thursday's. I find quilting to be very interesting.
Almost. I got to a bad start because I had SOUP for "Entree" instead of DISH. The other difficultlies were KEBAB/KABOB and LIRE/LIRA. Unknowns were YMA, AMATI and KIBITZ. I just got TIN EAR: I had TONEAR which I thought might have been an adjective meaning "tone deaf".
C.C., I lived in Montreal from 1990 to 1996 so I met Celine Dion a couple of times and have been to a few of her concerts.
Martin
Morning All,
I had Meal instead of Dish which messed up the NW corner. Sings for Carols in the SE made for some trouble as well. Left it for a bit then some erasing and filled it in.
Another nice start to the work week.
Have a good one!
Good Morning C.C. and all!
Argyle, I'm looking forward to your spin as our blogger next Monday. You always bring interesting info to light.
C.C., you're generous in so many ways! Thanks for your kindness.
Wow...asking Clear Ayes her top ten favorite musicals! I bet I can guess most of them, but not all. She has incredible depth of knowledge, and a bit of quirkiness to boot, so I might miss a few of her choices. I'll have to wait and see.
C.C., it's good to know that Sunday's puzzle was a Thursday difficulty. Of course, I was hoping that I'd grown smarter.
Thanks for reminding us that this is a Rich Norris puzzle today. I didn't sail through it, as I had anticipated, but I did finish it on my own. OTB threw me, because, as Lemonade pointed out, it's not a place. DEJA came through the fills. I don't think of a TORTE as being flourless. Xchefwalt, what's your take on that?
Thanks for the link on MYBAD. I've always wondered where the phrase originated. Is "Clueless" a movie that I should have seen?
Lemonade, congratulations on your son's graduation. You must be very proud of his accomplishment.
And I'm off to exercise. Have a great day, everyone!
My congrats Lemonade on your son's graduation - always a great day in a parent's life. What's next for him?
Very busy weekend - did not look at Saturday or Sunday's puzzles - no time. May go back if I get a chance if only to read cc's analysis and comments.
Thought this was a nice puzzle - maybe a tad harder than usual for me for Monday - had to think more than I wanted to. Got up early and went biking - my body was awake but mind not so much yet - need more caffeine. I too got caught up in the NW corner with Dish so started elsewhere and worked back. Did anyone notice there are no 'eb' endings 'all job, bub, tab, club' ?
I was surprised to see kibitz - one of my favorite words. Did enjoy and appreciate the scrabbiness of this one - fun to do.
Have a good Monday all!
2D: CC, you call Isaac Stern a " Jewish violin virtuoso."
Any special reason to call him Jewish? What's your point?
Greetings from Great Falls, Montana where the local paper, "The Great Falls Tribune" publishes the TMS puzzles.
Keep up the great work, C.C. I start my day by trying to work the puzzle and by reading your blog. Great way to start the day!
Sincerely,
Dave
KittyB and Lemonade,
OTB definitely is a place, at least in my neighborhood. It's a storefront location in high-traffic areas.
A bit harder than I was expecting for a Monday. I worked through the puzzle without much difficulty other than the NE corner. Started with STRAD but changed it to AMATI when I filled DION. Couldn't get my mind to release MAXIM or MY BAD. Finally got help from 'solve letter' for space number 9 and the rest fell into place.
Back from DC and visiting my folks in So Cal for my mom's 82nd birthday.
L714 - Mazel tov on your son's achievement.
Today's puzzle in the Chicago Tribune is all messed up. What's up with that?
C.C. Beatnik refers to a member of the "Beat Generation", a phrase coined by Jack Keroac to describe the non-conformist youth of the 1950s. Classic beatnik wore black, smoked reefer and played bongo drums. Comic beatnik was Maynard G. Krebs on the TV show 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis', played by Bob Denver, who later played Gilligan on 'Gilligan's Island'. Ah, the TV shows of my youth!
Good Morning all!
Lemonade,
Congratulate your son for us. He must be very smart to do so well.
anon @5:52(John), Welcome!
This puzzle was very enjoyable, though I had a slow spot in the NE corner, and thought it was going to be harder. But that fell together and then the bottom was almost a speed run.
I agree that ICESAW seems wrong. All I've seen used here are augers. And the clue/answer combination of carols and noels always annoys me. All carols don't have "noels" in them.
In Germany, the fastest growing "fast food" these days is KEBABS, an idea imported with the many Turkish guest workers. They're basically like gyros, but wrapped in a pita bread and eaten in the hands. The meat can be lamb, beef or pork, and usually is a mixture, roasted on a vertical spit that they shave bits off for the kababs. Then lots of salad veggies and yogurt sauce is added. It's yummy, and like meat pies when I go home to Oz, a must have at least once when I go to Germany, despite all the other really good food there!
Maxim I saw this word and this is what I thought of.
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born Briton Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun
THE MONKEYS DEAD THE SHOWS OVER SUE YA!
CC: Mr. Feyer not withstanding...any day I can do LAT and NYT in the time it takes to drink ONE cup of coffee...is a good day! 快樂星期一！
L714: My congratulations to you and your son. An Honors stole and medals!
This puzzle was fun for me today. It took some thinking and I had to jump around a bit but managed to complete it without hitting the g-spot. My favorite clue today was 2012 is the next one…leap year.
We were required to read 20,000 Leagues under the Sea my senior year in high school.
C.C. and all, an ice saw is legitimate and is usually gas powered. It is used a lot in spear fishing when the fishermen cut a big rectangular hole in the ice. Living in MN, and enjoying fishing I have seen this quite often. It is actually kind of neat as you can really see far down in the water. I personally don’t like to spear fish but the accuracy of some of those fishermen is impressive. You usually try to spear bigger species of fish like Northern pike or Musky. I like to ice fish for sunnies or crappies.
Lemonade, kudos on the graduation of your son. What was his major?
I am not much of a baker, but is a torte really flourless? Xchefwalt??
Tarrajo,
I think the definition of TORTE is very loose. In Germany they call anything with separate layers a Torte. They make delicious "Obsttorten", literally fruit tortes, which consist of a crust of different nuts and grains with geléed fruit arranged on top. But they also call their Black Forest Cherry Cake Schwarzwälderkirschtorte--never Kuchen, which is the common word for cake.
Funny, I'm getting into German food today...things that make you go hmmm.
Here are some pix of Schwarzwälderkirschtorten. Maybe I should have said yummy again instead of hmmm...
Good morning CC et al., First, Congratulations Lemonade714 on your son's wonderful achievements. I'm also interested in what is next for him. What a 'bang up job' you did! Outstanding!
This puzzle was a good one, fun with straight forward clues. OTB is a place here too, 'al bee' it, I've never been. "my bad" but I do like to 'dali' in horse racing. I lost money like an 'sst' the last time but it's not 'watt'
'otto' be goin' on there for me, but 'beelzebub' made me do it. The next time I 'check in' I think I'll just spend my money on the 'bar tab'.
I gotta catch up on Argyle's comments. I've missed something special.
Gotta fly. Enjoy your day.
c.c.,
I forgot--the masculine Italian words ending in -o change to -i, the feminine ones ending in -a change to -e.
Jano @ 8:11 AM. You call Isaac Stern a " Jewish violin virtuoso."
Any special reason to call him Jewish? What's your point?That was just a cut and paste from Wikipedia.
I stand corrected about ice saws.
Good morning c.c. and co.
As usual, Kazie is correct.
Una lira, due lire. (fem)
un italiano, due italiani. (masc)
una italiana, due italiane. (fem)
Easy enough today, but had to come here to finish, the NW corner was a bungledgupjob for me .
c.c. My bad, is an expression i learned from you here, nice to know it's origin.
And you continue to amaze me with your blog !
how you put all the bees together and come up with a theme, really !
And Rich Norris, is uncanny how many aliases he got out of his name, plus.
I wonder if he could get any aliases out of Desiderato .
Lemonade, CONGRATS !
p.s. Just between us, in italian "Lemonade" is a " she" but, i' m finally getting used to the idea that you are a " he ". Ha Ha
Btw , is
THE MONKEYS DEAD THE SHOWS OVER SUE YA!
another shakespearian quote ?!
Sorry, i couldn't help myself.
ta, taa.
The puzzle in the paper was totally messed up today. The numbers on the clues didn't match the numbers in the grid. Had to do it online where I found a different puzzle altogether! Someone goofed.
C.C. - Actually, in our house we don't say lima or lima beans. They are little packets of dust.
Kazie - I see the confusion over whoever and whomever. I think my example sentence only made it worse. I will check it out sometime in the future. All my grammar books are packed away due to a home improvement project.
Watch "Grumpy Old Men" for a funny "take" on ice fishing.
(Filmed in MN, CC!)
Hooray! My first completed crossword without any hints!
I don't know what is wrong with the Chicago Tribune but todays puzzle was all messed up they printed the wrong grid and the wrong clues neither matches your grid or clues. This is not the first time since the change to the new puzzle - what a dissapointment and what a crock of ****!!!
Come on Tribune GET WITH IT!!!
Anon, go to Chicago Tribune's website and print a clean puzzle.
Interesting. I didn’t find it as easy as past Monday puzzles, but very doable, so I like it. I got tangled up in the NE couner; didn’t know AMATI or XACTO, and I couldn’t think of MAXIM. But the B’s were a lot of fun, and then an x,z, j and y. I love the scrabbly puzzles. KIBITZ, KABOB, BEELZEBUB and BANGUPJOB were my faves.
Well, it’s back to work for me today. At least I enjoy my work, but I wish I could re-locate the entire staff to a healthier (for me) climate.
C.C, Yes, I was with Melissa. I had a fabulous Mother’s Day.
Kazie….you are killing me here. If you remember from last week, I told everyone about my nemesis…my sweet tooth!
Grumpy Old Men was a cute movie. They actually did quite a bit of filming of the movie in Minnesota. Fargo was another movie that was primarily filmed in Minnesota too; and no, I do not sound like the people in that movie when I speak! YAH sure…you betcha.
BarbB…I didn’t know you were Melissabee’s mom. Do I have that correct? If so, you have a beautiful and intelligent daughter.
Tarrajo, yes, Melissa is my daughter.
And yes, she is beautiful and intelligent, you have that right! :-)
I'm a very lucky mom.
hello, c.c. and all my nimble-minded knuckleheads.
Lemonade: Congrats on kid's graduation. BIG moment.
MontanaMirage. Welcome. Promise Me This and my family and I, used to live in "Big Sky Country". Great to hear a voice from the wilderness.
Jano beat me to it! OTB's ARE places.
My horse came in second in the Derby. If he would have won (6-1 odds), and the winner had come in second, I would have won a ton of money. I had Promiseof The Nile wheeled with the field. A 6-1 winner with a 50-1 place horse would have paid off handsomely.
Today's puzzle was a very enjoyable one for a Monday. X-Acto blades are very popular with people who do woodworking. The set comes with slicing (cutting) blades of various shapes and sizes and gouging blades. They are extremely SHARP.
"Bang up job", "I dig" and "tin ear" were gimmes for me. Fiddled with 1.a, "Dish" for a minute or two but "Debris" and "Sander" took care of that. Another speedy "solve", at just under a fortnight.
Things are still jumpin' here at GBRV. Nurse Ratchet is still working upstairs and Dixie Normous is still our "wrangler", here on the main floor. Chester Drawers still asks me stupid questions; like, "Do you ever wonder what happened to 'Preparation A through G'"? One day Chester stopped to think... and never started again.
I must be off.
kazie, you're making me drool! It's lunchtime and all these "tortes" are marching across my screen. YUMMMMM The kebabs sound pretty good, too.
Jano, I stand corrected on OTB. In reference to your 8:11 comment: I've been visiting this blog for quite some time, and with the exception of Buckeye's dealings with Nurse Ratchet, I don't believe you will find a single instance of a racial, ethnic or religious slur. This is a remarkably well adjusted group of crossword lovers, so give them the benefit of the doubt when you read their comments.
Welcome to the group, John and Dave!
Elissa, that was a great explanation of the Beat Generation and Maynard G. Krebbs.
Linda, I haven't tried the NYT yet, so I'm in awe of your accomplishment today.
Joyce, I rather liked your comment about "little packets of dust." I have an active dislike of lima beans, or did until I took a Cajun cooking class. The chef gave us a recipe for baby limas that made them palatable. I haven't raised them to the level of a bean dish I'd request, but I'd eat them now.
Where's Clear Ayes? I'm waiting for that list of musicals.
Good Morning All, Not bad at all today, but I did see a slight rise in the level of difficulty. C.C. did warn us that Rich Norris is through babying us with easier puzzles. I wonder what is in store from now on?
For some reason I can never seem to connect the clue "Old map letters" with SSR. I know we've had it many times before, but I must have some kind of mental block on that one.
I didn't get OTB either. I've heard of an OTB site, establishment, parlor, business or room, but not all by itself. But I'm not an OTB customer, so what do I know? I must bow to both Jano's knowledge and Buckeye's sadly unsuccessful experience. (Better luck at the Preakness.)
KIBITZ is one of those great Yiddish words that has been adopted into American English. Here's a list.
Lemonade714, You must be kvelling!
I liked seeing TREBEK. GAH and I are pretty dedicated Jeopardy watchers. It comes on here at 6:30, right after dinner and time for a glass of wine. We are just good enough to keep us feeling like know-it-alls, but not good enough to actually try out for the program. I'm good at the literature, movies and history catagories, but science related always wipes me out. Oh yes, I'm very good at the musical theater catagories. I'll be back C.C. with my top ten list in a little while.
First, thank all of you who have sent wishes on my son's graduation. I am very, very proud of him, and also kinda like him. His success in school is a product of more than brains; he really committed to his work (his degree is in Classical Archaeology, his honors thesis was on baths in Pompeii) and with a schedule which included 8 semesters of Latin, 6 of Greek and the rest of his course work, his results were amazing. In the fall, after taking time out to marry his high school sweetheart in June, he is entering a PhD program at SUNY Buffalo (also called University of Buffalo) in Classical Archaeology, with a specialty in Roman history. He has participated in a dig in Chetamura, Italy, in Tuscany, as well as one in the Greek Cyclades Isles, on Keros, which is part of the Kofinisi island community. He received a full scholarship, plus a research grant and a position as an instructor. Pretty good stuff for a boy who wanted to quit school when he was 14. I hope it does not sound like bragging, but he really did an amazing job in school, and I have restrained myself from listing all of his awards. If any of you ever need a Latin translation, or a discussion of Etruscan pottery, or Roman baths, you know where to come.
BarbB, Melissabee, it all makes sense, in a name context; oops where does KittyB fit in?
As far as OTB being a place, I believe it is an acronym for Off Track Betting in order to make it a place. you have to infer a location, i.e. OTB parlor, OTB office, OTB store. I do not think you would tell someone, "I am going to OTB." But, I may be wrong, as I do all my betting on line, and was glad I forgot to bet the Kentucky Derby this year, a 50 to 1horse won, which pleased a very few.
Speaking of Italy and flourless cake, I give you Torta, to welcome Tarrajo, and for each of you: C.C., Lois, Linda, SBK, BK, KZ, Elissa, Maria, Buckeye and CA and anyone I missed who sent me the kind words about Aaron and his accomplishments. I will be happy to bake it (actually my youngest son loves to bake and will be in town tonight) just tell me when to put the coffee on.
@lemonade714- congrats on the grad. My oldest will graduate from Ft. Myers HS this year and start at UCF this fall. We are both very excited.
I don’t know where you grew up, but in the New York metro area (NYC- 54A), Off Track Betting parlors (OTB) are plentiful, offering action at all NY and most other horse tracks across the country. Not that I have any first hand experience there, really- I’ve only seen them from a distance.
@jano- if you’re insinuating that either Argyle or C.C. are anti-Semitic, you’re barking up the wrong tree, dude.
@tarrajo- TORTES can have flour (most do not). They are dense (as they use no leavening agent and lots of eggs and sugar) and layered, with either icing or fruit between the layers, then heavily iced on top. I’m not much of a baker myself- it’s way too regimented for my taste.
Make it a great Monday everyone.
Lemonade714: Thank you soooo very much for that fantabulous torta..
holy mortal satisfaction! I have a bday cake to bake for Fri. I will try this one...and if in tasting it there happens to be none left, i will just bake another! Thank you!
Got through the puzzle, but it was a chore.
I agree with Argyle on 21A. Alibi and excuse mean totally different things. This kind of gross error carelessness really detracts from the fun of the puzzle.
64A "Mauls" is a level of injury far beyond "handles roughly," which could cause no harm at all. Nitpicky perhaps, but this kind of correspondence error is also careless, and also a flaw.
In 20A, the use of "household, makes me think of something you have around the house by choice, not by accident. Therefore, a misleading clue.
54A threw me. NY or NYNY. Dang, wrong number of letters . . .
I didn't get the theme at all. Seems kind of lame.
For the minority view: On balance, didn't think much of todays puzzle.
OK, I limited my musical choices to theater productions, rather than movie musicals. I’d have a whole other list for great movie musicals. (For instance, Man of La Mancha was an amazing theater experience, but it was a lousy movie.) The list is in a sort of order, from favorite on down. But I would go to see any of these again. Before you comment on the absence of The Sound of Music and Phantom of the Opera, I didn’t forget. IThe Sound of Music would be in my top 15, and (horrors) I didn’t care for Phantom much at all.
My choices are based on a great story along with memorable songs that fit the storyline and are (hopefully) easy sing-alongs for those of us who aren’t Susan Boyle.
Fiddler on the Roof
Man of La Mancha
Les Miserables
Cabaret
West Side Story
Oklahoma
Cats
The Music Man
Evita
Hair
I know that Cats didn't have much of a story, but it was so original and had such a show-stopper song, I couldn't leave it out.
Hello,
Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a lovely day at my daughter's in Vancouver, Wa. Her husband was a mere 35 and had just celebrated that morning with a triathalon. They told me it was a small one, but anytime you put swimming, biking and running in the same day it doesn't seem small to me. He was doing yard work when I arrived. Good food and good company.
Lemonade714, thanks for sharing your son's accomplishments in Classical Archeology. I have always been interested in how people lived. When they studied Pompei, and its tragic end it became a snapshot of that past culture. I would enjoy listening to his take on it. Congratulations!
Clear Ayes your project turned out so beautiful. Truly if that is 'simple' what is not. Great list, I haven't seen all these, but I agree with your criteria. Catchy song that you can sing always grabs me.
I didn't even get to first base on Sunday's puzzle, must have been distracted. I noticed the reference in the comments about Michael Caine though. I haven't seen a lot of his movies, but "Second-Hand Lions" is one of my favorites. If you haven't seen it, you will be glad if you rent it.
The puzzle today went down pretty easyily. I was only born in Minnesota and we came to Oregon when I was under 2, so I have never actually seen ice fishing, except for "Grumpy Old Men". But I sure didn't think of 'icesaw'. I wanted 'baseball" instead of 'ballclub'. I didn't get the theme, again, until I came here.
One thing I noticed is that we have some very knowledgible people in grammar. Please, don't look too closely at my comments. I am sure that I fail at grammar quiet often and punctuation even more.
Have a great day.
Toby
Buckeye,
What a way to start the week! I'm on the floor.
lol
Best to all,
Geri
That's an exceptional list, Clear Ayes. I'm very addicted to Rogers and Hammerstein, so I might have missed some of your choices. I'd probably choose South Pacific over Evita.
And there's A Chorus Line, My Fair Lady, The King and I, The Fantasticks, Porgy and Bess and Chicago, and we've only talked about recent musical theater. Someone is bound to mention the Pirates of Penzance.
Considering there was a time when we were afraid that the musical would be a thing of the past, it's still going strong. Ain't it great!?
Oh, I forgot earlier: Congratulations, Nate!
Clearayes. I beg to differ. I think "Cats" had a GREAT story line. I rank it First! I like "A Chorus Line" above "Hair". I would also add "Jesus Christ, Superstar", but I'm not sure, from your group, which one I would remove to put it in the top 10. Maybe it would be 11th.
Lemonade. I wish I could have gotten all those awards and grants (your son got) for my "digs". I once started a farm and ordered a dozen chickens,
DUG 12 holes in my back yard and planted them feet down. They all died. So I ordered a dozen more chickens, DUG a dozen new holes and planted them head down. They all died. I sent a letter to The Ohio State University Agricultural College explaining my plight and wrote back requesting a soil sample. No grants, no awards, no nothing. (No chickens either).
IMBO
Greetings all. I enjoyed today's puzzle. It was just the right difficulty for me. I had to think, found it interesting, had to return for Maxim, which gave me Xacto which I'd never heard before. I had ice axe at first (I'm a terrible speller), but soon saw that wouldn't work. (Couldn't resist.)
We are now beginning the third try for a replacement puzzle in the Naples News. It is harder and more interesting that the first two tries. It's Universal Crossword.
Cheers
...and THEY wrote back requesting a soil sample. Jeeze!! I'm not thinking well. I'm passing a kidney stone and my mind in elsewhere!!!!
IN HELL!!!!
IMBO
Buckeye, what are the top 10 musical picks for you?
Anna
Yikes! I can definately tell that the difficulty is ramping up, this was more difficult than any other Monday. I hope I get the hang of this soon!
I wanted "American GIRL" for American IDOL, so that slowed me down.
KittyB, All of your choices were great. I totally forgot about My Fair Lady. Shame on me. I'd probably have to drop Hair down to #11 and put MFL after Cats. South Pacific, as well The King and I and Carousel would be in my top 20. (I had to pick one Rogers and Hammerstein for my 10 and Oklahoma is just one great song after another.) Porgy and Bess is another top 20.
Gilbert and Sullivan wrote comic operas, not really musicals. Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado would be at the top of that category and all the rest would be theirs too.
Buckeye, I really did waffle about Hair or Jesus Christ Super Star in my top 10, but Hair had (at least for me) more memorable songs
On the other hand, I beg to differ about Cats. It is a terrific theater experience, but I think the costumes, staging, dancing and music were more important than the story. All the songs are essential to the enjoyment, however all but one are not particularly singable. I sing along anyway. :o)
Yeah brother, what are your favorites?
I know I'm in the minority (GAH, my daughter and sisters LOVED it) but as far as Phantom of the Opera is concerned....dopey story....unsingable songs. The only song line I remember is, "Blah, blah, blah and listen to the music of the night."
Argyle:
I realize I'm a day late on this, but didn't do the Sunday puzzle. The comment about "whoever" and "whomever" today did pique my grammarian interests, however.
Substituting "he" for "who" and "him" for "whom" is the easiest way to get away from a grammatical explanation. The problem arises with compound/complex sentences and inverted word order in questions. "Who" or "whom" usually begins a question.
Example:
". . . whoever posted the clip."
". . . he posted the clip."
"Whoever posted the clip" is a clause. The whole clause is the object of the preposition "of."
I couldn't resist jumping in on this one. Once a teacher, always a teacher.
Doreen
Well, I've seen better Monday offerings but this was doable. The biggest pause was the NW. For some reason I just couldn't sort DISH, and HUGOSout. And ICESAW was not in my vocabulary for a winter fishing tool. And, the way it's been described here, I don't believe it to be the tool of chioce, unless you're going to make a hell of a big hole!!! (one in which to launch your boat)
As Dennis said 7 and a wake-up!!!
CY'All Later
6:00 on the button today. The theme was a bit of a stretch, but there was lots of lively fill (along with the usual Monday quota of crosswordese), so it was all good on balance.
It was kind of fun to see the EEL in EELER, and another EEL in BEELZEBUB.
@kazie: And the clue/answer combination of carols and noels always annoys me. All carols don't have "noels" in them."Noel" and "carol" are synonyms. It doesn't mean that the carol has the word "noel" in it. From dictionary.com
2. (lowercase) a Christmas song or carol. @lemonade: If you can't brag on your son in this blog, then where can you? It's not like we all can chat over the back fence. My congratulations to both of you.
C.C., tell me, what determines whether or not you post an answer?
Oh, my take on OTB. Yes, it's an Off Track Betting place, parlor or whatever. But, here if you're not going to the track, you go to the OTB. I think, in this case the parlance has made the acronym an everyday word. And, those of you who have been paying attention know that I intensely dislike acronyms being called words!!
CA: Have you seen WICKED, AVENUE Q, JERSEY BOYS, or any of the other newer plays? I loved CATS (even ended up feeding Junior Mints to Rum Tum Tugger in the beginning of ACT II) but for costuming and spectacular scenery, I also loved LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. Of course, this is what makes life interesting, and I imagine most would add and subtract from your list. I, for example, was not thrilled by EVITA. Nice to be back.
Tobylee, when Aaron gets his thesis published, I will post it for all to read.
XCHEFWALT, my youngest is at UCF, majoring in Psychology. It is an amazing place, having exploded like it received some form of academic miracle gro. It also is a much shorter drive than Tallahassee.
BUCKEYE, you just have to dig deeper to find the gold.
EMBIEN, thanks; yes blogs are the new back fence of life.
Well good afternoon C.C. and gang,
Good Monday puzzle, no g-spot either!
Best clue to me was 67A (Round Trip).
Lemonade 714, my congratulations too. You have every reason to be proud of your sons' achievements! He has chosen a fascinating field.
As to 'My Bad', I was surprised to find it was from as far back as the 1970's.
OTB - that was one answer that did not come to me until I filled in all the ones around it. I had to read what C.C. wrote to know what it stood for.
Lemonade and Linda: thanks for the recipes, my dentist will be especially pleased! Wow.
Lemonade - your son leaves me awestruck! Unbelievable!!!
Nate - congrats on your 'first' - hope there are lots more. But getting that first one completed sure feels great, doesn't it.
In the South we have butter beans - I have no idea if they are the same as or different from limas but hate both. When I was a kid my mom made succotash a lot and I always picked out the limas and gave them to the dog who wouldn't eat them either. I'd call limas something other than bags of dust but it wouldn't be polite.
Buckeye - LOL on the egg story. My s.o. has some chickens - wait until I tell him this story. Last year he bought eggs, put them under his hens and nothing much happened. He changed chicken types and this year has gotten a fair number of eggs but they kept disappearing. Figured a snake got into the pen and last week found the snake lying there, curled up against the next having eaten all the eggs in the nest; apparently it was waiting for the hens to produce more - fresh from the hen so to say. Lucky for the snake it was a blacksnake and is currently residing in the local wildlife refuge instead of the dumpster having been relocated intact to a place far far from those hens. Maybe this year we'll finally have baby chicks. It's a process. But his best story is the time he had turkeys lay eggs in the yard and his curious 4 year old wondered what happened to the eggs. After getting an explanation of the process of how the turkey lays the eggs and then sits on them until they hatch she apparently was satisfied. About an hour later she returned to ask her dad if the turkey could still hatch the egg if it had cracked; apparently she decided to try to speed up the process, took one of the eggs from the next and proceeded to attempt to sit on it herself. You can imagine the result.
I love musical theater and had the privilege of being on the board of our regional theater company TheatreWorks, which has won many awards for producing New Works. I highly recommend the following new musicals if they come to your local theater:
MEMPHIS - music by David Bryan of Bon Jovi - A musical set in 1950s America, as the civil-rights movement ramps up, and black rhythm and blues crosses racial lines to bring together young black and white music fans.
EMMA - based on the Jane Austin novel - wonderful music
Well said, Xchefwalt
that post of Jano @8:11 did not sit well with me either but i did not know how to respond to such ignorant a question !
So, thank you !
Buckeyes & Clear Ayes,
so sorry to burst your bubble but, i have to tell you that when i went to see CATS in London many years ago, no one had prepared me for all those CATS slithering down the isles and rubbing against you, so Yaoww, i was out of there before you could say Lickety Split.
Granted, a cat lover i am not but , that was my worst experience in a theatre.
Linda. That chocolate "presto" Has peaked my interest, i printed it out for a future try-out
(i have to lose a few more lbs, first)
Although, Lemonade 's Torta looked enticing, I would only look for it on a Menu.
Imbo
It's always difficult for me to list things in order of preference. Being skitzo, my taste and moods are always changing -they are not - they are ,too -not-too. This applies to literature, art but especially music. I can't pick my favorite genre, let alone my favorites within a genre. That being said.....let us begin. Class, be seated.
Re; Clearayes. Gilbert and Sullivan are (is) considered comic/opera. Unfortunately, they are neither. Finger nails on a blackboard is more pleasing. I would take $1M and suffer a night through "The Mikado" but as for "Pirates" and "Pinafore"? - I'll take water-boarding every time. 'Nuff said. (This will be on the mid-term).
For a while "A Chorus Line" was my favorite. It didn't age well, but remains in my top, 10.
I already mentioned "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" as #1 and I'm sure the rest will change in a few years.
1. Cats
2. The Sound Of Music
3. The Music Man
4. South Pacific
5. Les Miserables
6. Porgy and Bess
7. A Chorus Line
8. Jesus Christ Superstar
9. My Fair Lady
10. Fiddler On The Roof
11. West Side Story
And tied for 12. Oklahoma, Carousel (I almost put this one first because my name is Bill and who can forget Gordon McCray singing "My Boy Bill?"), The Fantasticks, & Cabaret.
I left out Evita because I've not seen it.
Stay tuned for the cartoon. "BA-da, ba-da, ba-da, That's All Folks!"
IMBO
Egads, I forgot LION KING BEAUTY and the BEAST and my favorite local play, DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES REFLECT UP. There are just too many musicals, GREASE CHICAGO, the list goes on and on....
Maria (4:39) re your CATS experience - Wow, real cats going down the aisles in the theater? At first I thought you meant the actors/actresses, then after reading it again, realized you meant actual cats. That was not a well thought out introduction! Many people could be allergic to say nothing of being startled! Hope none of the cats were injured. Did others besides yourself leave too?
SBKaren, your cute story about the little girl and the turkey egg made me think of a story about my Dad. When he was about 3 he wandered out in his backyard to the chicken coop and found the baby chicks. He 'loved' one by one until Grandma went out to see where he had gone, and found all the 'loved' chicks were dead. I guess she reddened his back side over that! (They did that to children back in his day):)
Here is me eating crow, for calling out CC on her remark describing Isaac Stern.
Argyle has pointed out that it was a cut-and-paste from Wiki, and I must say I'm surprised.
I don't know CC or any of you well enough to assume bigotry on your part. This seems like a very open, fair and friendly blog.
But I have to deplore the comment on Wiki; it would be the same if they described someone in their first sentence as black, or Catholic, or anything else racial or religious. Maybe we all need to become aware of this distinction. Not that it shouldn't be said somewhere, what someone's roots are, but it needn't be a primary description.
Thanks for your gentle poking at me. I see it was called for.
In any case, please accept my apology.
Buckeye, So when Ma and Pa were blasting G & S on a regular Sunday morning basis, you thought you were being punished, while I was singing along with "With cat-like tread, upon our way we steal." I'd suggest reading the libretto for Pirates (very Marx Brothers), but it may be too late. It's just as well, I've got to believe you have some failings.
RE: Gordon McRae and "My Boy Bill"...."but what if it's a girl???"
Lemonade714, We took our grandchildren to see The Lion King and a couple of years later to see Grease for Christmas presents. A fine time was had by all, both of them are great shows. I haven't seen Wicked, Jersey Boys, or Avenue Q., but they are all on my "to see" list. We have to wait for National touring companies to show up here. That usually takes a couple of years. When we lived in So. Calif. we saw shows much sooner and often with original stars, so that was a plus.
Anything Bob Fosse is OK with me. I haven't seen Chicago onstage, only the movie, which was about as good as it could get.
BTW, it's wonderful to see so many musical theater fans. It is a great American art form.
@Sallie - Universal isn't as bad as some puzzles, but they use a lot of crosswordese. Tallahassee uses Universal every day, but Panama City runs the LAT on Sunday. Maybe you'll be lucky and get the LAT on Sunday,too. I still go on line and print out a blank puzzle during the week and have to also on Sunday because the paper is not delivered until after 7:30.
I'm off to the kitchen to try Linda's chocolate lover's dream in a mug!
Jano @ 5:13:
That was a very high class apology. Hope you didn't eat the whole crow, because I think you will find this a very warm and forgiving group who will welcome you to their ranks.
BTW, I totally agree with your comment about Wiki, or any other subtle form of racist rhetoric. I believe our blog hostess and host are innocent, though. She does not tolerate that (racist, etc.) kind of post. As I'm sure you will hear soon from others, welcome aboard.
Southern Belle: Let me know how the cupcake turns out...but if you`re like me...if I eat chocolate, I have to have coffee...and if I do caffeine after noon...I don`t sleep that night.
I pointed out it was cut and paste because I was the one that did it. Actually, I never got to the Wikipedia entry; I just grabbed it off the short description you get from a Google search.
Evening all, kind of busy today. Since I haven't been to any live musicals, I'll have to go with films. Along with Guys and Dolls and Jesus Christ Superstar, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog is probably my favorite. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is comes a close second. Even my kids really like both of those. Rounding out with Across the Universe, Amadeus, Fantasia, Music Man, Rent, and singing in the rain. I guess I'd throw Chicago in there too.
Cryptics today:
Unusually remote celestial body(6)
Verne displays impudence(5)
ClearAyes: I`m "ipodish" about musicals...I have only one or two at the most favorites from the shows you mentioned but "ShowBoat", "Finian`s Rainbow" and "Brigadoon" I love all the way through. We put on "Finian`s Rainbow" in HS and "How are things in Glocca Mora?" still makes me weepy.
"I don`t know how to love Him" from "JC Superstar" does, too. The best "Jesus" ever was Jeff Fenholt!!
And for clever lyrics..."Buttons and Bows " is tops.
Al: The second one is probably "nerve".
Maria and Southern Belle:
Corrected chocolate cake in a cup recipe:
4 Tbs flour, 4 Tbs. gran. sugar, 2 TBS Cocoa,1/8 tsp. salt, 1 egg, three TBS milk and 3 TBS oil and a "splash" of vanilla. Sorry for your "mess". It realy is good when you have the right ingredients.
@linda The cake was very chocolaty, but it definitely was helped by the vanilla bean ice cream a la mode. I'll have to try the corrected recipe some other day.
@jano You can go to wiki and edit that page if you so desire. Watch that eating crow -- around here we usually eat worms (when we miss an obvious clue/answer combo that was discussed previously).
@lemonade Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov! When you post Aaron's dissertation, please only post a link on the blog, LOL!
@Al Uranus?
Lemonade: No on Uranus. Read on:
Al: just saw your post, not. Thought you might be taking the day off from cryptic cluing today. My answers:
1) meteor (anagram of remote)
2) nerve (anagram of Verne)
Tomorrow I'll wait until evening to post my solutions (if needed) so that others get their chance for glory.
Thanks again for putting these up each day!
Best,
anon-hp
Sorry, I meant to address Crockett, not Lemonade, on my last post. I'm not sure how that ",not" snuck into my first sentence either. Probably was going to say "note" and changed my mind to "post" mid-type. Funny how mistakes leap out at you right AFTER you hit that publish button!
Best,
anon-hp
Hey Jano,
lighten-up man.
Elissa,
you have definitely dated yourself.
Doreen,
Thanks for "whoever". I knew that had to be right, but couldn't come up with the right justification. The whole clause as object irons out the problem. It saves Joyce rooting through all her buried books too.
I've seen none of the great musicals on stage other than amateur productions, and some of those weren't bad, but certainly not enough to come up with a list.
PMT, where are you? First Dennis goes away, then Lo-li-ta is banished, and now no PMT?
Hey, Crockett, just because I did not graduate with as much fanfare as my son, does not mean I have not figured out all the linking and other HTML stuff. AARON. Seriously, thank all of the well wishers, from early 'til late.
I always thought anagrams were the easiest of the cryptics; they tend to jump out at you.
Yes, good apology, and good group response; life is hard enough without paranoia.
@lemonade Thanks for the link on Aaron. Like you said, he sounds like quite the young man.
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