Theme: Gone Fishing - theme answers all end with names of fishing gear.
16A: Window treatment support: CURTAIN ROD. Fishing rod is the long and flexible tool used to extend the fishing line.
22A: Proceed cautiously: WALK A FINE LINE. Line is the sturdy string with the hook, sinker, float, etc.
46A: Sports show staple: HIGHLIGHT REEL. Reel is used to retrieve the fishing line.
56A: No longer in trouble: OFF THE HOOK. Hook is the curved and sharp device to snag the fish.
Martin here. Surprised? Me too. I think C.C. is letting me blog today provided that I don't make (or link to) any off colour jokes or add fuel to any fires. In other words, it's just like any day posting to this blog: we all have to second guess ourselves before we post.
Anyway, I didn't need perp help to get HIGHLIGHT REEL because I already had CURTAIN ROD and WALK A FINE LINE: the expression "ROD and REEL" came to mind and I expected to find REEL after getting ROD and LINE. If you solve a puzzle from starting at the bottom and working up then you probably had a different experience: HOOK and REEL would have made WALK A FINE LINE a gimme because you would be expecting HOOK to be followed by LINE and perhaps sinker.
A lot of straightforward clues today. Personally I think this is a good thing, a very good thing in fact, because not only did it mean I got to finish this in about twenty minutes without googling but, as I've said before, cryptic clues often tend to be a cheat designed to make the puzzle harder than it really needs be. I'll talk about this more as we go over the clues and fills.
Across:
1A: Magic amulet: MOJO. I originally wrote MORO which is a word that refers to the people of Mindinao. There's an old terrorist group in the Philippines that called themselves the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF. They are now called the Abu Sayaf. Can't imagine why they'd want to change their name.
5A: With 13-Across "Lonely Boy" singer: PAUL. And ANKA (13A: See 5-Across). PAUL ANKA was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. There's a Paul Anka Drive in the south-eastern part of the city, obviously named after him.
9A: UPS deliveries requiring payment: C.O.D.S. Cash on Delivery. UPS is United Postal Service (Correction. It's United Parcel Service). I'm surprised that it wasn't clued as a kind of fish.
14A: Ship to remember: MAINE. The USS MAINE exploded and sank on February 15, 1898 in an event that precipitated the Spanish–American War and also popularized the phrase "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!". Again, the obvious clue "Fish producing state" was apparently deliberately avoided so as to not hint at the theme too early.
15A: Related: AKIN. Straightforward clue.
18A: Christmas trio: MAGI. The three wise men. As in the O Henry Christmas story "The Gift of the MAGI".
19A: "__ Beso (That Kiss!)": 5- & 13- Across hit: ESO. Spanish for "that". Sorry, no video.
20A: Prefix with China: INDO. Indochina. Straightforward clue.
21A: Lukewarm: TEPID. Straightforward clue.
26A: The flu, for one: ILLNESS. Straightforward clue. C.C. can correct me if I am wrong but my students tell me that the word for cold/flu in Chinese is 感冒 (gan3mao4) but there's also the word 流感 (liu3gan3) that means simply flu (as opposed to cold, I presume). This would seem to imply that Chinese people consider the flu to be a type of cold as opposed to a separate disease. Several years ago, the big scare here was SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which was caused by a mutated coronavirus. Corona viruses along with rhinoviruses pretty much account for the common cold. Nowadays, people are worried about H1N1 or swine flu which is a form of influenza. The good news is that if you've been exposed to a specific virus in the past then you are less likely to get sick again: you'd be considered "immune". The bad news is that colds and flus can kill you. Good luck this winter, everybody. :)
28A: Dynamic start?: AERO. Aerodynamic. Also a delicious chocolate bar.
29A: God: DEITY. And HOLY (40D: Sanctified). Very straightforward clues.
34A: Looooong time: EON. Fairly straightforward clue. "Long time" could have been ERA.
35A: Blocker of offensive TV material: V-CHIP. Aren't people more concerned about internet porn than what appears on TV? Back in the late seventies people used to complain about Charlie's Angels.
37A: Penn & Teller, e.g.: DUO. Why not Batman & Robin?
38A: Put your John Hancock on this line: SIGN HERE. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, hence his signature is the largest (most stylish too). Now his name has become synonym for signature.
41A: Desert rest stops: OASES. Plural of OASIS.
43A: Chaplin's fourth wife: OONA. Eugene O'Neill's daughter.
44A: Weepy people: SOBBERS.
50A: Orderly display: ARRAY. Straightforward clue.
51A: Has a meal: EATS. Wonder what Fred's original clue for DIG IN (11D: "Let's eat!") is.
52A: Repair: FIX
55A: Reddish horse: ROAN. I knew ROAN was a horse colour but I didn't know it was also a breed of horse.
59A: Oklahoma city: ENID.
60A: Numerical relationship: RATIO. Fairly straightforward. My first thought was SERIES but it was too many letters.
61A: One-named Deco artist: ERTE. We've had this clue before.
62A: Personal dept. IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS. In Canada, we have SINS, Social Insurance NumberS.
63A: Greenish-yellow pear: BOSC. If you don't remember this fill from previous puzzles then you might have been stumped, but I imagine most of us here got this one.
64A: Treos and iPhones, briefly: PDA. Easy guess. In Taiwan, the most popular feature on one of these things is the ability to translate English to Chinese. That and games.
Down:
1D: Riot squad spray: MACE. I was surprised to learn that mace and pepper spray are not the same thing: the confusion arises because the Mace Security International company that used to supply tear gas to the police now manufactures pepper spray for personal protection.
2D: Weighty obligation: ONUS
3D: Harry Potter's creator: J. K. ROWLING. Great symmetry with its partner EDSEL FORD (31D: His name wound up on a lemon). Nice full names.
4D: Bit of granola: OAT. And 48D: Smidgen of sand: GRAIN.
5D: Bamboo-eating critters: PANDAS.
6D: ___ superiority: obvious confidence: AIR OF. When you go overseas to teach English it is very easy to assume an AIR OF superiority because you speak English and they don't. You have to keep in mind that you can't speak their language. Of course, once you do manage to learn their language that AIR OF superiority returns. :)
7D: Juan's one: UNO. Spanish for "one".
9D: King Arthur's realm: CAMELOT. A lot of the King Arthur legend may have been myth. The 2004 movie portrayed him as a Roman.
10D: Giraffe relative: OKAPI, with striped legs.
12D: Like a catty remark: SNIDE
14D: Expensive furs: MINKS. Straightforward clue.
17D: Dance company founder Alvin: AILEY. Founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
21D: La. on old U.S. maps: TERR. Territory.
23D: Bug in a colony: ANT. "Bug in a hive" would be BEE.
24D: "__ Said": Neil Diamond hit: I AM...I.: See this clip.
25D: Minimum-range tide: NEAP.
26D: March 15th, e.g.: IDES. In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, Caesar was told to "beware the ides of March". This foreshadowed his assassination by the senate.
27D: First of 13 Popes: LEO I. "Last of 13 Popes" would be LEO XIII.
30D: "___ Believes in Me": Kenny Rogers hit: SHE.
32D: Plaintiff: SUER. Fairly straightforward. In criminal law the plaintiff is the level government whose law you broke but in civil law the plaintiff is filing a lawsuit.
33D: Partner of turn: TOSS. You TOSS and turn when you can't sleep. I found the clues and fills starting to get a bit trickier at this point, which is fine.
35D: ___, vidi, vici: Caesar's boast: VENI. Another Julius Caesar reference. "I came, I saw, I conquered".
36D: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG.
39D: Words after Look, Ma: NO HANDS. Also, words before "Ow ow! My arm!"
41D: Way beyond pleasantly plump: OBESE. No comment.
42D: Prez on a penny: ABE. President Abraham Lincoln.
44D: Kind of electricity: STATIC. As opposed to electricity that flows in a current.
45D: Big name in garden care: ORTHO. Manufactured by the Scott's Miracle Gro Company. From the Greek word meaning "straight" or "correct".
46D: Rabbit look alikes: HARES. Rabbit. HARE. Frog. Toad. Turtle. Tortoise. Alligator. Crocodile.
47D: Smooths, as hair: IRONS. Also for getting wrinkles out of clothes.
49D: Tests by lifting: HEFTS. We've had that clue before.
53D: Greek "i": IOTA.
54D: Vintage jaguars: XKES.
56D: Planet: ORB. Poetically.
57D: Toy magnate ___ Schwarz: FAO. It's been a continuous tough struggle for this upscale toy store. Toys "R" Us just bought it a few months ago.
58D: Like cool cats: HEP.
Okay, so a lot of clues were fairly to very straightforward but, as far as I am concerned, that's a good thing. As a teacher, especially a teacher of English as a foreign language, I can't help but feel sympathetic to people non-native speakers of English, for example, who might find these clues hard enough to endure. I can pretty much guarantee that none of my students here would find this as easy as I did. Besides, there were words and names like ENID, OKAPI, AILEY, ORTHO and FAO that definitely needed perp help as well as words and names like ERTE, BOSC, NEAP and CRAG that are easy to us because we've seen them before in crossword puzzles. All in all then, I would consider this a fair test of one's Tuesday crossword puzzle solving ability.
Answer grid.
Martin
16A: Window treatment support: CURTAIN ROD. Fishing rod is the long and flexible tool used to extend the fishing line.
22A: Proceed cautiously: WALK A FINE LINE. Line is the sturdy string with the hook, sinker, float, etc.
46A: Sports show staple: HIGHLIGHT REEL. Reel is used to retrieve the fishing line.
56A: No longer in trouble: OFF THE HOOK. Hook is the curved and sharp device to snag the fish.
Martin here. Surprised? Me too. I think C.C. is letting me blog today provided that I don't make (or link to) any off colour jokes or add fuel to any fires. In other words, it's just like any day posting to this blog: we all have to second guess ourselves before we post.
Anyway, I didn't need perp help to get HIGHLIGHT REEL because I already had CURTAIN ROD and WALK A FINE LINE: the expression "ROD and REEL" came to mind and I expected to find REEL after getting ROD and LINE. If you solve a puzzle from starting at the bottom and working up then you probably had a different experience: HOOK and REEL would have made WALK A FINE LINE a gimme because you would be expecting HOOK to be followed by LINE and perhaps sinker.
A lot of straightforward clues today. Personally I think this is a good thing, a very good thing in fact, because not only did it mean I got to finish this in about twenty minutes without googling but, as I've said before, cryptic clues often tend to be a cheat designed to make the puzzle harder than it really needs be. I'll talk about this more as we go over the clues and fills.
Across:
1A: Magic amulet: MOJO. I originally wrote MORO which is a word that refers to the people of Mindinao. There's an old terrorist group in the Philippines that called themselves the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF. They are now called the Abu Sayaf. Can't imagine why they'd want to change their name.
5A: With 13-Across "Lonely Boy" singer: PAUL. And ANKA (13A: See 5-Across). PAUL ANKA was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. There's a Paul Anka Drive in the south-eastern part of the city, obviously named after him.
9A: UPS deliveries requiring payment: C.O.D.S. Cash on Delivery. UPS is United Postal Service (Correction. It's United Parcel Service). I'm surprised that it wasn't clued as a kind of fish.
14A: Ship to remember: MAINE. The USS MAINE exploded and sank on February 15, 1898 in an event that precipitated the Spanish–American War and also popularized the phrase "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!". Again, the obvious clue "Fish producing state" was apparently deliberately avoided so as to not hint at the theme too early.
15A: Related: AKIN. Straightforward clue.
18A: Christmas trio: MAGI. The three wise men. As in the O Henry Christmas story "The Gift of the MAGI".
19A: "__ Beso (That Kiss!)": 5- & 13- Across hit: ESO. Spanish for "that". Sorry, no video.
20A: Prefix with China: INDO. Indochina. Straightforward clue.
21A: Lukewarm: TEPID. Straightforward clue.
26A: The flu, for one: ILLNESS. Straightforward clue. C.C. can correct me if I am wrong but my students tell me that the word for cold/flu in Chinese is 感冒 (gan3mao4) but there's also the word 流感 (liu3gan3) that means simply flu (as opposed to cold, I presume). This would seem to imply that Chinese people consider the flu to be a type of cold as opposed to a separate disease. Several years ago, the big scare here was SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which was caused by a mutated coronavirus. Corona viruses along with rhinoviruses pretty much account for the common cold. Nowadays, people are worried about H1N1 or swine flu which is a form of influenza. The good news is that if you've been exposed to a specific virus in the past then you are less likely to get sick again: you'd be considered "immune". The bad news is that colds and flus can kill you. Good luck this winter, everybody. :)
28A: Dynamic start?: AERO. Aerodynamic. Also a delicious chocolate bar.
29A: God: DEITY. And HOLY (40D: Sanctified). Very straightforward clues.
34A: Looooong time: EON. Fairly straightforward clue. "Long time" could have been ERA.
35A: Blocker of offensive TV material: V-CHIP. Aren't people more concerned about internet porn than what appears on TV? Back in the late seventies people used to complain about Charlie's Angels.
37A: Penn & Teller, e.g.: DUO. Why not Batman & Robin?
38A: Put your John Hancock on this line: SIGN HERE. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, hence his signature is the largest (most stylish too). Now his name has become synonym for signature.
41A: Desert rest stops: OASES. Plural of OASIS.
43A: Chaplin's fourth wife: OONA. Eugene O'Neill's daughter.
44A: Weepy people: SOBBERS.
50A: Orderly display: ARRAY. Straightforward clue.
51A: Has a meal: EATS. Wonder what Fred's original clue for DIG IN (11D: "Let's eat!") is.
52A: Repair: FIX
55A: Reddish horse: ROAN. I knew ROAN was a horse colour but I didn't know it was also a breed of horse.
59A: Oklahoma city: ENID.
60A: Numerical relationship: RATIO. Fairly straightforward. My first thought was SERIES but it was too many letters.
61A: One-named Deco artist: ERTE. We've had this clue before.
62A: Personal dept. IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS. In Canada, we have SINS, Social Insurance NumberS.
63A: Greenish-yellow pear: BOSC. If you don't remember this fill from previous puzzles then you might have been stumped, but I imagine most of us here got this one.
64A: Treos and iPhones, briefly: PDA. Easy guess. In Taiwan, the most popular feature on one of these things is the ability to translate English to Chinese. That and games.
Down:
1D: Riot squad spray: MACE. I was surprised to learn that mace and pepper spray are not the same thing: the confusion arises because the Mace Security International company that used to supply tear gas to the police now manufactures pepper spray for personal protection.
2D: Weighty obligation: ONUS
3D: Harry Potter's creator: J. K. ROWLING. Great symmetry with its partner EDSEL FORD (31D: His name wound up on a lemon). Nice full names.
4D: Bit of granola: OAT. And 48D: Smidgen of sand: GRAIN.
5D: Bamboo-eating critters: PANDAS.
6D: ___ superiority: obvious confidence: AIR OF. When you go overseas to teach English it is very easy to assume an AIR OF superiority because you speak English and they don't. You have to keep in mind that you can't speak their language. Of course, once you do manage to learn their language that AIR OF superiority returns. :)
7D: Juan's one: UNO. Spanish for "one".
9D: King Arthur's realm: CAMELOT. A lot of the King Arthur legend may have been myth. The 2004 movie portrayed him as a Roman.
10D: Giraffe relative: OKAPI, with striped legs.
12D: Like a catty remark: SNIDE
14D: Expensive furs: MINKS. Straightforward clue.
17D: Dance company founder Alvin: AILEY. Founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
21D: La. on old U.S. maps: TERR. Territory.
23D: Bug in a colony: ANT. "Bug in a hive" would be BEE.
24D: "__ Said": Neil Diamond hit: I AM...I.: See this clip.
25D: Minimum-range tide: NEAP.
26D: March 15th, e.g.: IDES. In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, Caesar was told to "beware the ides of March". This foreshadowed his assassination by the senate.
27D: First of 13 Popes: LEO I. "Last of 13 Popes" would be LEO XIII.
30D: "___ Believes in Me": Kenny Rogers hit: SHE.
32D: Plaintiff: SUER. Fairly straightforward. In criminal law the plaintiff is the level government whose law you broke but in civil law the plaintiff is filing a lawsuit.
33D: Partner of turn: TOSS. You TOSS and turn when you can't sleep. I found the clues and fills starting to get a bit trickier at this point, which is fine.
35D: ___, vidi, vici: Caesar's boast: VENI. Another Julius Caesar reference. "I came, I saw, I conquered".
36D: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG.
39D: Words after Look, Ma: NO HANDS. Also, words before "Ow ow! My arm!"
41D: Way beyond pleasantly plump: OBESE. No comment.
42D: Prez on a penny: ABE. President Abraham Lincoln.
44D: Kind of electricity: STATIC. As opposed to electricity that flows in a current.
45D: Big name in garden care: ORTHO. Manufactured by the Scott's Miracle Gro Company. From the Greek word meaning "straight" or "correct".
46D: Rabbit look alikes: HARES. Rabbit. HARE. Frog. Toad. Turtle. Tortoise. Alligator. Crocodile.
47D: Smooths, as hair: IRONS. Also for getting wrinkles out of clothes.
49D: Tests by lifting: HEFTS. We've had that clue before.
53D: Greek "i": IOTA.
54D: Vintage jaguars: XKES.
56D: Planet: ORB. Poetically.
57D: Toy magnate ___ Schwarz: FAO. It's been a continuous tough struggle for this upscale toy store. Toys "R" Us just bought it a few months ago.
58D: Like cool cats: HEP.
Okay, so a lot of clues were fairly to very straightforward but, as far as I am concerned, that's a good thing. As a teacher, especially a teacher of English as a foreign language, I can't help but feel sympathetic to people non-native speakers of English, for example, who might find these clues hard enough to endure. I can pretty much guarantee that none of my students here would find this as easy as I did. Besides, there were words and names like ENID, OKAPI, AILEY, ORTHO and FAO that definitely needed perp help as well as words and names like ERTE, BOSC, NEAP and CRAG that are easy to us because we've seen them before in crossword puzzles. All in all then, I would consider this a fair test of one's Tuesday crossword puzzle solving ability.
Answer grid.
Martin
42 comments:
C.C.,
Darn. I forgot to link to the Neil Diamond song. Thanks for catching that.
Martin
Good morning, CC, Martin and all. I enjoyed today's puzzle. The puzzle was pretty easy, but it had some fun clues. I especially liked a Ship to Remember (14A): MAINE. LOOOOOONG TIME (34A): EON also made me smile.
Even though Edsel is a common xword answer, I liked the cluing: His name wound up on a lemon. Poor Edsel, ya gotta feel sorry for him.
Even though I don't fish, I easily caught on to the fishing theme.
QOD: Wisdom is what's left after we've run out of personal opinions. ~ Cullen Hightower
Nice write up Martin, but UPS is the abbreviation for United Parcel Service, not United Postal Service. USPS is United States Postal Service. They are business rivals and not associated in any way.
Martin, adorable animal links. Thank you.
Good morning:
Martin, you did a very entertaining job, and did not even have to do it in the middle of the night.
Fred always delivers, and this was a real Tuesday puzzle, with a variety of topics and knowledge needed, but all doable.
Take care
Good Morning Martin and CC,
Very nice blog Martin. Lots of interesting links and comments.
I got the theme early on mostly due to my affliction with the sport. I'm with Hahtool on Maine and Eon cluing. Since I took yesterday off, this was a pleasant start to my week.
The kids evened their record to 2-2 this weekend. They're finally getting the taste for winning which makes their coach very happy.
Dad and I got camp ready for winter. The colors were peak up there and the weather cool but sunny.
Cold rain here today with temps predicted to be lower than normal all week.
Have a great day.
Nice job blogging Martin. This was a good Tuesday test. My favorite clue was "His name wound up on a lemon". I guess I never realized that Edsel was someone's name, so that was fun. The theme fills were all so doable that I didn't pay any attention as to how they were linked until I was all done.
Like the word MOJO. There is a musical theme also with PAUL ANKA, ESO BESO, I AM I Said and SHE Believes in Me. Does one listen to music as they fish? I think not as it might scare them off from what I remember of the sport.
Thanks for all the animal pictures. Never seen an OKAPI. Now maybe I will remember the name better.
Good morning all -
Nice puzzle today - great job constructing Fred and blogging Martin! Although many of the clues may have turned out to be straightforward, I still had mostly blanks on my first pass through the acrosses. Had better luck on the downs, and then was able to complete the fills on a second pass.
Bosc pears reminds me I need to go to the grocery today. We eat alot of pears at our house. Red bosc are beautiful and delicious; asian pears are another favorite. Unfortunately, my favorite pear guy at our Farmers' Market is probably out for the season...
Off to pack lunch. Enjoy the day.
Andrea
Good morning all,
Getting up at 4AM and to the airport by 5AM in the wind and rain
really sucks. I am off to bed.
Maybe later.
eddyB
9 minutes 9 seconds today
36D: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG
I tried ACME and APEX before working around it.
24D I AM I SAID by Neil Diamond
enjoy the youtube.......
Neil Diamond
RSD
35A: Blocker of offensive TV material: V-CHIP. Aren't people more concerned about internet porn than what appears on TV? Back in the late seventies people used to complain about Charlie's Angels.
People aren't concerned with internet porn because the can opt to to have the internet.There is some outrage but something on NBC, CBS ABC or FOX and they really raise a stink. I remember the first year that NYPD BLUE was on the air the local ABC affiliate refused to air because of the content. but FOX being a new station with time to fill said give us the feed we will air it after the first season when it won alot of emmys ABC said give it back and FOX did. In the 70's another show ABC had was SWAT starring Robert Urich ABC canceled it after 1 season because parents complained it was to violent. NBC had bought the rights from BBC for the show Coupling and hired American actors. NBC bowed to pressure from religious groups and cancelled it because the religious groups claimed it was too raunchy.
ALL GRAVY NO GRIEF
MILF also means Mom I'd Like to F***
but that evolved into cougar is term for an older women who likes younger men (cubs) CSI: MIAMI had a show about week before last.
Cheryl Tiegs was the cougar.
BISCUITS & GRAVY
Great blog Martin! I enjoyed all the links. But did you mean "Toys R Us"--you have "Roy's"? I've never heard of FAO, but I didn't need it since the perps were easy.
A very enjoyable Fred puzzle. Just right for Tuesday, no help, and only used perps to make sure. The theme answers came so easily that I didn't even stop to think about the theme itself.
GRAVY / GRIEF,
You're right: the V in VCHIP stands for violence, doesn't it? But didn't shows like NYPD Blue and SWAT come on after 10:00 when kids are already in bed so they can go to school the next day? I can only assume that some parents were so busy that they weren't even home in the evenings to make their kids go to bed and/or not watch these shows so they wanted the networks to do the parenting for them and, failing that, they will buy a VCHIP. Frankly, I wouldn't want kids watching violent shows either but that's what I use the remote control for.
Martin
Kazie & Anon 6:33am,
I've corrected both mistakes. Thanks.
All Gravy No Grief,
Those Chinese characters you saw last night are all spams: Taiwan flood relief, Asian brides, etc.
Moon et al,
Argyle is having computer problem right now. He'll be back soon.
G'day.
This straightforward grid started easy but got more tangled in the south. I didn't get VCHIP and ORTHO until late in the game but liked those. 33d TOSS should have been a gimme, but I really paused. I don't care for king/queen/pope clues except the recent or most notable, so LEO I, i hardly knew ye! XKES in 54D is over my head, and may be forgotten by lunch.
Thinking about the fish theme, I kept looking for "sinker" or "bait."
"Fish or cut bait" or "hook, line, and sinker" are expressions I hear without remembering the words' literal meaning.
Bait & switch is still happening in malls across the world. And on dating websites, I have been told! A lady I know tells a good story about meeting a guy who had "accidently" posted his brother's photo instead of his own on the profile She only met him once but THEN she did find and go out with the "cuter" one a couple times but no sparks flew. She threw her passion into golf and yoga and married the golf pro!
Good morning all,
Thank you, Martin for your blogging and links. I found this to be a pleasant Tuesday puzzle. I, too, liked the symmetry of JKROWLING and EDSELFORD. I don't recall either name being spelled out in full in a previous puzzle.
The discussions the last couple of days re: different pronunciations of words reminded me of an "I Love Lucy" episode which pointed out how difficult English can be with to learn/read/pronounce. It was about "-ough" words such as rough(uff), through(oo), bough(ow), and dough(oh). C.C. and other non-native speakers, my hat is off to you for your command of this crazy language!
Have a great Tuesday!
"-ough" words such as rough(uff), through(oo), bough(ow), and dough(oh). C.C. and other non-native speakers, my hat is off to you for your command of this crazy language!
I've always thought (/thawt/) so.
Cough (/cawff/) cough (/cawff/). Oh dear I hope I'm not coming down with a cold. ;)
Martin
Hi gang -
Martin - very nice job. I promise not to be rude to you. Nor SNIDE.
This was an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Fred. OKAPI, ARRAY, ONUS. Nice theme, too. All very well crafted. Though I still hate "(whatever) start/end, etc." clues for affixes.
Re: cluing - cryptic clues do make the puzzle harder. But I think that's OK, not artificial. I have a notion that most grids could be tailored to any difficulty level from Monday to Friday by modifying the clues - one more tool in the constructor's belt.
Not many interesting symmetries today, but the image of OBESE MINKS is rather amusing. (You'll have to use your imagination. a g-search came up empty.)
Well, I have much to do today and tonight. See y'all tomorrow, if not sooner.
Cheers!
JzB the retired but not idle trombonist
Good Morning!
Interesting puzzle..what I like about Fred are the fresh clues.
I did struggle a bit in the top: didnt know MAINE(didnt know about USS MAINE) or MOJO (know the word, didnt know it meant amulet).
So I started from bottom and got HOOK and REEL. Got LINE from perps and ROD was an easy fill. The CURTAIN took some time. Had WON for LED and stared at P-UW and couldnt think of a name. Changed from Master mode to regular and saw the red letters.
Martin, good blogging.
CC, I asked about your whereabouts yesterday as I didn't see a comment from you. I know that Argyle blogs Mon and Tues(sometimes) but you are always there in the comments section to offer your perspective.
Heavy rain here..wish I could stay home. But there's too much work to complete as I have to give a presentation tomorrow.
To my fellow Bay area folks, Please drive safe and stay dry and warm. I'm watching the news and there are already 50 accidents.
Have a great Tuesday.
MJ and Martin,
Now you've got me started on the "ough" spellings. I used to always give those examples to my French students when they complained about French pronunciation woes, to show how bad English is.
I also had a long standing argument with a German colleague, whose (British) English was otherwise faultless, over the word "cough". He insisted it sounded like "cuff", while I pronounce it "coff".
So I was amused at Martin writing it as if pronounced with the same vowel as thought (/thawt/)
Bill G: I subscribe to upuzzles.com for $20/year. A real bargain. After the death of Barry Tunick, Merl's puzzle became the "Calendar Puzzle" in the print version. Sylvia Burstyn returned with calendar puzzles and has been alternating with Merl in that spot in the paper. When Burstyn is off, Merl's puzzle is listed as the "LA Times Magazine Puzzle."
Fun puzzle today. Worked it without thinking of theme, which became evident after the first two clues.
How does one learn how to embed URLs?
Great job, Martin and Fred.
KQ,
I listen to music regularly while fishing. My father used to tell us we had to keep quiet because we'd scare the fish. I think that was more to shut the four of us up than anything. I troll alot so noise isn't an issue. I like listening to ball games while fishing also. Leave the radio behind if your fishing northern Maine. If your lucky enough to get a station to come in its likely to be French Canadian.
When we go ice fishing its definitely a musical event. We usually have Blues playing in the morning and crank the Reggae in the afternoon. One of our buddies takes his Sirius Radio out onto the ice. Once or twice rangers have told us to turn it down.
Have to get some new brakes on the wife's car and be back in time to pick the pups up from being FIXed.
Crazy week.
Most of the time, I print the xword from our local paper online, but they have not updated it today. I had to work the puzzle online.
It went fast; less than 10 mins. I live just down the street from Permian H.S. - the school "Friday Night Lights" is about. Their motto is "mojo," but I believe it started out as "more juice" and evolved to "mojo."
Nothing really hard today.
4:18 today. A perfect Tuesday puzzle, thanks Fred! Fun, straightforward clueing and fill; four non-short theme entries. What's not to like? And well-blogged by Martin!
Oh, and here's a Fine Line to walk. (Little Big Town version, whom I saw in concert about a month ago, opening for Keith Urban. If you haven't seen this group perform before, well, you're in for a treat.
hypatia1: How to create comment links. c.c. has that link (along with several other helpful links) on her blog homepage (right hand side).
desert rest stops .... is the correct spelling not o a s i s not oases?????
oases is not the correct spelling for desert rest stops....oasis is???
OASES is the plural of OASIS; it is a Latin thing.
OK, is this an eerie coincidence or not?
Paul Anka is prominently featured in today's puzzle (5A, 13A, 19A). Paul Anka just happens to be in the news today in relation to Michael Jackson's "new" single "This Is It", released yesterday. Turns out MJ didn't write it all by himself but it was co-written with Paul Anka in 1983 as a song called "I Never Heard". It was going to be a duet to appear on Anka's new album. It never happened but the name of Anka's 1983 album? "Walk a Fine Line" (today's 22D answer).
Anka was not given credit for co-writing on MJ's new single so this could get messy.
Hello All--An easy puzzle today, with a fun theme. I managed to get all the fills without any help--not always true for me.
Great writeup, Martin, and thanks for all the links. Okapi was a given for me as I used to link that animal with the giraffe when we did a wild animal unit at school. I'm wondering how many wild animals JD and her Husband are seeing on their Safari? They left last Sunday.
A huge limb from one of our liquid amber trees fell covering our whole front lawn. It was across the sidewalk to the house and I was able to at least get it off the walkway but got soaked doing it. Lots of rain and wind here today. I hope we don't have any more tree limbs down. At least it didn't hit the car or a person walking by!!!
Anonymous: The clue is rest STOPS, that means the answer must also be plural; hence OASES .
embien,
Thanks for responding about creating comment links for PCs. However, I am a Mac person.
Anyone out there know how to create comment links
on a Mac?
For hypatia1 on how to post URL links using a MAC?
I'm not a MAC expert but I found this URL link which might help?
Good evening Martin, CC, et al.,
'HOLY' HOTWICK! What a fun puzzle! Pure 'magi'c! I love it when MOJO is the very first word! That set my clock! Busted out laughing w/ 35D Caesar's boast: "veni, vidi, vici" b/c it reminded me of Dennis whose boast is the same just in another order. Where is he anyway? And then it went from 'tepid' to hot with "MILF" and PDAs. What a hoot! I loved that 'uno' and 'duo' were in the same puzzle with 'no hands' and 'camelot'. It all reminded me of VT's homecoming wkend last Sat when I came within a 'hare's' breath of being sober enough to really 'walk a fine line', but an 'array' of 'grain' liquors appeared like 'oases' out of nowhere, 'fix'ed me up, and I managed to stagger that fine line with ma kith and m'a-kin'. I 'led' them to a new dimension of Caesar's boast, 'veni', vidi, vici. It was great, but the best news is that the 'onus' of being nominated for mother of the year has been avoided again. I'm 'off the hook' one more time. To keep my perfect record, I may introduce them to leg 'irons' next year. Wha' d'ya think?
Great job, Martin. Impressive and very enjoyable.
Have a good night.
The discussion of English pronunciations reminds me of a poem I've given to my ESL students.
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.
Let's face it,
English is a CRAZY language.
Dot
Hi Martin, C.C. and all - easy one today as was yesterday.
Glad Lois had her MOJO workin' - don't want to WALK A FINE LINE with that baby.
Could turn into "LOOK, MA, NO HANDS' and that would be as shame and could lead to a SOBBING spell. Better to get OFF THE HOOK, not be SNIDE, DIG IN and put the ONUS on somebody else. Are we in CAMELOT?
Martin, great job with the write up!
Dot - absolutely wonderful comment at 7:48!! Very clever and I loved it!
This may not work, but trying to put a picture of Joe and me in a beautiful Redwood grove we stopped in on our way back home - we met a couple from Maine and they took the picture and were kind enough to e-mail it to us. Fantastic what can be done now compared to a few years ago - to say nothing about 40 years ago !!! I am in awe!
Dot--Terrific poem! I copied and printed it out. Thank you for sharing. You said it this evening, I said it this morning...English is a CRAZY language! :)
Night, all!
Sorry folks, I hope I didn't leave you too hungry. It's been a few busy days in Jeannie-land as my foodshow looms up ahead. Hopefully I can finally post a pic of the show and myself as someone from MN Food Magazine is going to come to our show. That's a big coup for us, and you can count on me for giving her a great booth location.
I did manage to complete the puzzle tonight with no G-help. No comments there except I found some clues very clever.
Lois, good to hear from you darlin' your posts are always fun to read. I am missing Melissabee too as I could use a really good message and her calming presence.
C.C. glad you liked the salmon recipe.
Dennis...you claimed you were gonna be gone a week and now it's become ten. I hope you are okay.
Martin...you had a really nice write up on the blog today being it your first time. Nice links.
Dot,
I have copied and saved it too. It's a gem, you never know when it might come in handy. Thanks!
Good, uh something...
One drunken brawl outside my window and three car alarms going off within about 90 minutes. I expect those things on a Friday or Saturday night but NOT midweek. I have bags under my eyes the size of PortugaI at the moment and sleep very little as it is, but I cannot wait to move to a slightly less noisy neighborhood. Rant over. :- p
Having M-I-L equiv here over the long weekend was great fun. We walked lots, talked & shared stories, ate well and didn't get arrested! Big "yea!" for us. I'm such a darn introvert that 8 hours with people no matter how much I like them, makes me want to hide under a blanket and post signs saying "Do Not Resuscitate" all over me & that blankey , but I held up somehow. We made quesadillas over the gas grill (no fires),&went out for good, cheap Thai food to cap off the holiday. I now smell vaguely like chili and garlic. And spicy peanut noodles. Cilantro, too.
No response from the Chic.Tribune to my two letters about the puzzle, but that's not unexpected. Staff there has been slashed.
Martin; good blogging today!
Jeannie: glad you're back. Dennis and Argyle, you are missed here. My best to everyone facing fierce weather.
So many more shout outs to deliver but I'm spent.
The penny, to misquote Mme Kazie, is dropping....
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