Theme: Them Bones - Two-word familiar phrases are playfully reinterpreted as related to the musical instrument trombones.
20A: Big Southwestern trombones?: TEXAS LONGHORNS. Cattle, and that's no bull. Or some football team. Or these guys.
37A: Refined trombones?: POLISHED BRASS. Decorative and utilitarian metal hardware. Or those who sound like Kai Winding - my idol as a kid.
54A: Continuously playing trombones?: SUSTAINED WINDS. The wind speed obtained by averaging the observed values over a one minute period. I'll bet you didn't know that. Opinions vary on proper trombone technique.
Hi, gang. Jazzbumpa here. Some things are so good, you just can't plan for them: like learning that honey is rich in B vitamins. Or that, on this, of all nights, the guest blogger would be your humble trombonist. Do I need to add how much I love this puzzle? Weird, no? Like, wow!
A fine pangram, all of the 26 letters are used at least once. Two Z's, one X/Q/J and several K's.
I worked this in Across Lite in 12:33, which is about my average for this time of the week. But I seldom have such a silly grin plastered on my embouchure (that's brass musician talk for chops.) while doing so. And once again, talk about it one day, it shows up the next. Buckeye just asked me about trombone playing. This is an omen Buck. Go for it!
Across:
1A Made a disapproving sound: TSKED
6A Witticism: JEST
10A Highlander: SCOT
14A Cop _______ : bargain in court: A PLEA
15A Healing plant: ALOE. SENNA is the healing medicinal shrub.
16A Oregon Treaty President: POLK. His middle name is KNOX, which appears in our puzzle from time to time.
17A Trembling: SHAKY
18A Having all one's marble: SANE
19A Word processing reversal: UNDO
23A Ending for ranch: ERO. I'm not in love with the either the clue or the fill, but having it snugger up against Texas helps. Tfrank - are you out there amigo?
24A Neither Rep nor Dem: IND (Independent). I'll stop now. No politics!
25A Thing: ENTITY
27A Madame in Madrid: SENORA. Or, more properly, señora, if you want to be persnickety. I never noticed the custom of alliteration in clues for foreign words until C.C. pointed it out.
30A Wide shoe size: EEE.
31A Geese flight pattern: VEE. It's time to start thinking about migration.
32A Actress Greer who received five consecutive Oscar nominations: GARSON. She won the Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for Mrs. Minver. A bit before my time. Bette Davis is another actress who received five consecutive Oscar nominations.
35A At the ready: ALERT. Bad JEST ALERT: Be A LERT - America needs more LERTS!
40A Made on a loom: WOVEN. Like Navajo rugs. If there is a flaw in this fill, I can't find it.
41A Imitation: ERSATZ. The word is imported from Germany. Here it usually means an inferior imitation.
42A Med or law lead in: PRE. The eponym for all prefixes.
43A Command ctrs.: HQS. Headquarters. Or hind quarters, depending on the quality of the commands. All things considered, I prefer DQS.
45A Musical Beat: RHYTHM. Or family planning for Catholic trombonists. Or a reporter's job covering Birdland in the 40's.
49A Well's "The Island of Dr. _______________": MOREAU. Never saw the movie. I read the book when I was about 12, and it scared the hell out of me. The good Dr. was a vivisectionist whose experiments transformed wild animals into sentient manimals. For a while. I still remember, "That is the law. Are we not men?" (Shudder.) And so close to bed time. (It is now 11:40 p.m.) Here is a better (and apparently not doctored) Moreau image.
51A Fill with wonder: AWE. Hold the shock.
53A Jr.'s son: III, Eye-yi-yi. Pretty lame.
58A Clenched weapon: FIST. A velvet fist in an iron glove. Or is it the other way around?
59A Mechanical memorization: ROTE. Or a quarterback from by-gone days for the Lions, Packers, and Chargers.
60A Remark to the audience: ASIDE. Or the song people wanted to hear. Perhaps that is B side the point.
61A To ________: perfectly: A TEE. Don't ask me. I gave up golf years ago, and experienced an immediate improvement in my quality of life. (I wouldn't TEES about something so serious.)
62A Sporty sunroof: T-TOP. For a car. Or on foot.
63A Baseball card brand: FLEER. Gone in 2007. Only Topps and Upper Deck are "Baseball card brands", Topps being the official MLB one. To double your pleasure, chewing gum.
64A Wall St's Big Board: NYSE. New York Stock Exchange.
65A Clownish: ZANY. Like a trombonist.
66A Shore birds: TERNS. Bad JEST ALERT. A very determined boy went to the shore to throw rocks at the birds. He was so thorough, he left no TERN unstoned.
Down:
1D Samples a bit of: TASTES.
2D Ball: SPHERE. A perfectly symmetric round object. Also, Thelonious Monk's middle name.
3D Loud auto honker of yore: KLAXON. The poor (pronounced pewer) man's trombone. Also, this nice march by Henry Fillmore. A favorite a Summer park concerts.
4D "______ mouse": EEK A. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Mickey to fit. But it's a reggae guy. Who knew?
5D Weekly septet: DAYS. Or nights, depending on how you shift it. If I don't cut back on the link, I'll never get to bed.
6D Argonaut's leader: JASON. From Greek Mythology. Their ship is called Argo. Also a song that contains the words "manimals" and "buying knives."
7D Large antelope: ELAND. This guy, a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa.
8D Tune: SONG. A melody, with words. They can be about the most unlikely subjects.
9D Dainty laugh: TEEHEE. Or a mini Minnie laugh.
10D Sudden gushing: SPURT. A drip under pressure.
11D Conspires with: CONNIVES. From the Latin for closing ones eyes. I'm getting sleepy.
12D Octogenarians, for example. OLDSTERS. My mom and M-I-L are octogenarians.
13D Boxing Ref's decision: TKO. Technical knock out. The referee stops the fight, judging that the bout is a mis-match or somebody is about to get hurt.
21D Whopper creators: LIARS. I wanted Burger King.
22D Lord's Prayer words following "Thy will be done.": ON EARTH, as it is in heaven. I'll stop now. No religion!
26D Thus far: YET. There was a story on the news about a woman who got shot last week and the bullet is in her YET. I skipped anatomy class the day we were supposed to learn where that is. Also forgot the bad JEST ALERT. Lo siento.
28D Eye unsubtly: OGLE. A crossword stalwart.
29D Drizzly day chapeau: RAIN HAT. An article of practical apparel.
30D Above in poems: O'ER. Contraction of over. Never in my poems. (It's Wednesday.)
33D Women: SHES. Sure. It's getting to late to argue.
36D Slow moving, as a river: LAZY From the song "Up a Lazy River."
37D Penetrable quality of skin: POROSITY. The fraction of a surface that is filled with holes. The unbearable lightness of not-being.
38D Makes a cliche of, say: OVERUSES. Pretty straight-forward.
39D Exposed: BARED. I'm done linking. Use your imagination.
40D Typist's stat.: WPM. Words per minute. Mine is in single digits (from typing with just one finger.)
44D Crystalline material: QUARTZ. Pretty much pure silica. Higher melting than glass.
46D More petite: TINIER. Like my little Em.
47D Like eggs in an Easter hunt: HIDDEN. Outa' sight, man!
48D Skinflints: MISERS. Penny pinching, greedy hoarders, like Ebenezer Scrooge.
50D Big name in Perfumery: ESTEE. Lauder, I presume.
51D Dramatist Chekhov: ANTON. Some Russian guy. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (Olga, Masha, and Irina) pop into LA Times occasionally.
52D Tearful: WEEPY. Rhymes with sleepy.
55D Letter after Theta. IOTA. About how much I care, at this point. Knew it wasn't Alpha.
56D Drift, as an aroma. WAFT. What you can experience when walking past a bakery.
57D Shipwreck Site: ISLE. The Isle of Capri sounds romantic. Somehow, though, Goat Island doesn't.
58D Air move: FAN. Also, I'm a fan of this puzzle.
Over and out, kids. This took me three hours.
Cheers!
Answer grid.
Jazzbumpa
20A: Big Southwestern trombones?: TEXAS LONGHORNS. Cattle, and that's no bull. Or some football team. Or these guys.
37A: Refined trombones?: POLISHED BRASS. Decorative and utilitarian metal hardware. Or those who sound like Kai Winding - my idol as a kid.
54A: Continuously playing trombones?: SUSTAINED WINDS. The wind speed obtained by averaging the observed values over a one minute period. I'll bet you didn't know that. Opinions vary on proper trombone technique.
Hi, gang. Jazzbumpa here. Some things are so good, you just can't plan for them: like learning that honey is rich in B vitamins. Or that, on this, of all nights, the guest blogger would be your humble trombonist. Do I need to add how much I love this puzzle? Weird, no? Like, wow!
A fine pangram, all of the 26 letters are used at least once. Two Z's, one X/Q/J and several K's.
I worked this in Across Lite in 12:33, which is about my average for this time of the week. But I seldom have such a silly grin plastered on my embouchure (that's brass musician talk for chops.) while doing so. And once again, talk about it one day, it shows up the next. Buckeye just asked me about trombone playing. This is an omen Buck. Go for it!
Across:
1A Made a disapproving sound: TSKED
6A Witticism: JEST
10A Highlander: SCOT
14A Cop _______ : bargain in court: A PLEA
15A Healing plant: ALOE. SENNA is the healing medicinal shrub.
16A Oregon Treaty President: POLK. His middle name is KNOX, which appears in our puzzle from time to time.
17A Trembling: SHAKY
18A Having all one's marble: SANE
19A Word processing reversal: UNDO
23A Ending for ranch: ERO. I'm not in love with the either the clue or the fill, but having it snugger up against Texas helps. Tfrank - are you out there amigo?
24A Neither Rep nor Dem: IND (Independent). I'll stop now. No politics!
25A Thing: ENTITY
27A Madame in Madrid: SENORA. Or, more properly, señora, if you want to be persnickety. I never noticed the custom of alliteration in clues for foreign words until C.C. pointed it out.
30A Wide shoe size: EEE.
31A Geese flight pattern: VEE. It's time to start thinking about migration.
32A Actress Greer who received five consecutive Oscar nominations: GARSON. She won the Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for Mrs. Minver. A bit before my time. Bette Davis is another actress who received five consecutive Oscar nominations.
35A At the ready: ALERT. Bad JEST ALERT: Be A LERT - America needs more LERTS!
40A Made on a loom: WOVEN. Like Navajo rugs. If there is a flaw in this fill, I can't find it.
41A Imitation: ERSATZ. The word is imported from Germany. Here it usually means an inferior imitation.
42A Med or law lead in: PRE. The eponym for all prefixes.
43A Command ctrs.: HQS. Headquarters. Or hind quarters, depending on the quality of the commands. All things considered, I prefer DQS.
45A Musical Beat: RHYTHM. Or family planning for Catholic trombonists. Or a reporter's job covering Birdland in the 40's.
49A Well's "The Island of Dr. _______________": MOREAU. Never saw the movie. I read the book when I was about 12, and it scared the hell out of me. The good Dr. was a vivisectionist whose experiments transformed wild animals into sentient manimals. For a while. I still remember, "That is the law. Are we not men?" (Shudder.) And so close to bed time. (It is now 11:40 p.m.) Here is a better (and apparently not doctored) Moreau image.
51A Fill with wonder: AWE. Hold the shock.
53A Jr.'s son: III, Eye-yi-yi. Pretty lame.
58A Clenched weapon: FIST. A velvet fist in an iron glove. Or is it the other way around?
59A Mechanical memorization: ROTE. Or a quarterback from by-gone days for the Lions, Packers, and Chargers.
60A Remark to the audience: ASIDE. Or the song people wanted to hear. Perhaps that is B side the point.
61A To ________: perfectly: A TEE. Don't ask me. I gave up golf years ago, and experienced an immediate improvement in my quality of life. (I wouldn't TEES about something so serious.)
62A Sporty sunroof: T-TOP. For a car. Or on foot.
63A Baseball card brand: FLEER. Gone in 2007. Only Topps and Upper Deck are "Baseball card brands", Topps being the official MLB one. To double your pleasure, chewing gum.
64A Wall St's Big Board: NYSE. New York Stock Exchange.
65A Clownish: ZANY. Like a trombonist.
66A Shore birds: TERNS. Bad JEST ALERT. A very determined boy went to the shore to throw rocks at the birds. He was so thorough, he left no TERN unstoned.
Down:
1D Samples a bit of: TASTES.
2D Ball: SPHERE. A perfectly symmetric round object. Also, Thelonious Monk's middle name.
3D Loud auto honker of yore: KLAXON. The poor (pronounced pewer) man's trombone. Also, this nice march by Henry Fillmore. A favorite a Summer park concerts.
4D "______ mouse": EEK A. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Mickey to fit. But it's a reggae guy. Who knew?
5D Weekly septet: DAYS. Or nights, depending on how you shift it. If I don't cut back on the link, I'll never get to bed.
6D Argonaut's leader: JASON. From Greek Mythology. Their ship is called Argo. Also a song that contains the words "manimals" and "buying knives."
7D Large antelope: ELAND. This guy, a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa.
8D Tune: SONG. A melody, with words. They can be about the most unlikely subjects.
9D Dainty laugh: TEEHEE. Or a mini Minnie laugh.
10D Sudden gushing: SPURT. A drip under pressure.
11D Conspires with: CONNIVES. From the Latin for closing ones eyes. I'm getting sleepy.
12D Octogenarians, for example. OLDSTERS. My mom and M-I-L are octogenarians.
13D Boxing Ref's decision: TKO. Technical knock out. The referee stops the fight, judging that the bout is a mis-match or somebody is about to get hurt.
21D Whopper creators: LIARS. I wanted Burger King.
22D Lord's Prayer words following "Thy will be done.": ON EARTH, as it is in heaven. I'll stop now. No religion!
26D Thus far: YET. There was a story on the news about a woman who got shot last week and the bullet is in her YET. I skipped anatomy class the day we were supposed to learn where that is. Also forgot the bad JEST ALERT. Lo siento.
28D Eye unsubtly: OGLE. A crossword stalwart.
29D Drizzly day chapeau: RAIN HAT. An article of practical apparel.
30D Above in poems: O'ER. Contraction of over. Never in my poems. (It's Wednesday.)
33D Women: SHES. Sure. It's getting to late to argue.
36D Slow moving, as a river: LAZY From the song "Up a Lazy River."
37D Penetrable quality of skin: POROSITY. The fraction of a surface that is filled with holes. The unbearable lightness of not-being.
38D Makes a cliche of, say: OVERUSES. Pretty straight-forward.
39D Exposed: BARED. I'm done linking. Use your imagination.
40D Typist's stat.: WPM. Words per minute. Mine is in single digits (from typing with just one finger.)
44D Crystalline material: QUARTZ. Pretty much pure silica. Higher melting than glass.
46D More petite: TINIER. Like my little Em.
47D Like eggs in an Easter hunt: HIDDEN. Outa' sight, man!
48D Skinflints: MISERS. Penny pinching, greedy hoarders, like Ebenezer Scrooge.
50D Big name in Perfumery: ESTEE. Lauder, I presume.
51D Dramatist Chekhov: ANTON. Some Russian guy. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (Olga, Masha, and Irina) pop into LA Times occasionally.
52D Tearful: WEEPY. Rhymes with sleepy.
55D Letter after Theta. IOTA. About how much I care, at this point. Knew it wasn't Alpha.
56D Drift, as an aroma. WAFT. What you can experience when walking past a bakery.
57D Shipwreck Site: ISLE. The Isle of Capri sounds romantic. Somehow, though, Goat Island doesn't.
58D Air move: FAN. Also, I'm a fan of this puzzle.
Over and out, kids. This took me three hours.
Cheers!
Answer grid.
Jazzbumpa
Good morning, Jazz, C.C. and gang - always nice to be home, and somewhat back to normal. Got back Monday night just in time to watch the Phillies win their series.
ReplyDeleteI did all the puzzles while I was away, albeit at all different times, and still think we need an occasional hammer.
A fun puzzle today, one that seems tailor-made for jazzbumpa; helluva coincidence. Also lots of new cluing; haven't seen words like 'klaxon' in quite some time. The flavor of the theme was pretty obvious after 'Texas Longhorns', and that made the last two pretty easy. Not much else to say without bitching about the oversimplification of our puzzles, and I guess if that works for the majority of people, then so be it; at least there's Merle on Sunday.
Hope it's a great day for everyone; here, the temperature just plummeted, we're expecting a nor'easter and I have to drag my ass back to the gym. Did I mention I'm thrilled to be back?
Good Morning, CC and Jazzbumpa! This puzzle was just made for you, Jazz. I thought of you while I was completing it. The long theme clues were clever. Not much else I can say about the puzzle, though, other than it was very easy for a Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteGreat job blogging, Jazz - just one minor correction: Fleer is still a viable card 'brand' - the name was purchased by Upper Deck and there's still several products being produced that bear the name.
ReplyDelete32A Actress Green.
ReplyDeleteActually, it's Greer. GARSON Greer. I was thinking of Pam Greer at first.
30D Above in poems: O'RE.
Actually, it's O'ER.
C.C. did tell me she was busy. Does that mean that we'll have a guest blogger tomorrow too? I wonder.
I wanted DELE for UNDO, ON TAP for ALERT, TOPPS for FLEER and WRENS for TERNS but I managed to finish without googling with perp help.
Martin
Good Morning Jazz and CC,
ReplyDeleteThought of Jazz from the get go and as I worked through the grid I couldn't help but wonder about what wonderful connections and planning skills (among many others), our blog host has. Thank you CC.
Jazz, as with your posts, I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Thanks for your efforts.
As for the grid, it was easy because I finished with no help, quite quickly. Only hangup was thinking GREER was a last name. I couldn't get Rosie out of my football head. Fills gave it up. Patriots need to start using their tight ENDS more to open up the wide outs in the offense.
Welcome back to the grind Dennis.
Frost was thick on the windshield this morning. Going to be a beaut of a day but cool.
Have a good one everyone!
Good morning Jazz, CC, et al.,
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Jazz. What a 'hoot' on the coincidence of you and today's theme. Love it! Another coincidence perhaps is that this wkend is the TX vs OU game and lo and behold here we have 'Texas Longhorns'....not a 'fan' and expect a lot of 'sustained winds' coming from the south over the wkend AKA blow hards - but they do pack a punch. Should be a good game. Hopefully it will be OU's 'tern'(s) to win.
Cute, cute, cute puzzle. I wanted to put 'Jeannie' in 21D somehow, but enjoyed the actual answer. Loved 'porosity' 37D...great word! 14A cop 'a plea' and 30D'pass catchers' "ends" made me LOL, thinking 'a plea' isn't what is usually copped in my world but is exactly where they are found.
Welcome back, Dennis. Hope you are well rested.
Enjoy your day.
35A At the ready: ALERT. Bad JEST ALERT: Be A LERT - America needs more LERTS!
ReplyDeleteI saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Eat beans America needs the gas!"
In honor of my favourite baseball team. Enjoy some Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteMajor error on my part. It was Crockett who was aking about the trombone, not Buckeye. Crockett mentioned his brother dotting the I., which is a tradition in the OSU marching band. A senior tuba player gets to dot the I in script Ohio.
See how easily confused I am! Lo siento.
Also, here is the link to the XTC song JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm off to the chirocracker.
Cheers!
JzB the error-prone trombonist.
Hmmm. Something not right with the Jeanne Moreau link.
ReplyDeletehere. is another try.
Cheers!
JzB the self-correcting trombonist
I just saw a news report on the rains and mudslides in California. I hope all of our California friends are safe from these conditions.
ReplyDeleteGee, I thought the puzzle was all about me, since 6D could easily be clued: “lemonade 714.” JB, not only was the puzzle made for you, but you obviously have been saving up for this opportunity; wonderful job. I especially enjoy you working Jeanne Moreau into your links.
ReplyDeleteAmong the oddities of our education in the US, is the lack of fanfare for what was accomplished over the 4 years of the presidency of James Knox Polk, who made this fledgling country a coast to coast powerhouse. He ran for office on the slogan 54º40' or Fight though he compromised, otherwise we would have British Columbia as a state.
Finally, the TOBIN ROTE reference was inventive, though I liked his cousin KYLE ROTE and his son Kyle Jr.
Jazz, What a great job blogging and how perfect that you were the guest blogger today. I am sure none of us will complete this puzzle without thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteCannot read the entire post as yet, but looking forward to it later in the day. Such fun links and jests. Liked the clue Whopper Creators, and thought of CC with the baseball cards. I am not familiar with FLEER. Always think of CSI shows with Cop a PLEA. They always fess up, and no one asks for an attorney.
Off to head on a college visit with my senior. We will have three whirlwind last days of visits before he starts applying. This one happens to be in the heart of St. Paul so is a little easier to do. They are on their annual MEA weekend, so three days off for the senior, two for the sophomore. Wish me luck!
Good morning, all!
ReplyDeleteJazz, you did a super job! I loved the link to the KLAXON. It brought back memories. I miss the days when I was a band director. "Music Man" and the clip of the Ohio marching band were just great links! This puzzle was made for you.
I don't normally worry about how long it's taking me to complete the puzzles. I let the timer run because I'm too lazy to turn it off. I noticed, though, that Monday took me 7 minutes, Tuesday it was 8, and today it took me 9 minutes to finish. Rich really has estimating puzzle difficulty down to a science.
This puzzle was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed Jazz's blogging even more. Thanks for a great start to the day.
Good morning all,
ReplyDeleteJazz, what a fantastic job. I'd been thinking of you all the way through solving, and then there you were! A match made in heaven (and ON EARTH).
Martin,
Mainiac is right--it's Greer Garson, not the reverse. I only knew her name because she was a favorite of my Dad's and he often spoke of his movie faves.
My two unknowns here, FLEER and POLK were easily resolved by perps.
ERSATZ was also inferior in WWII Germany, when supplies of everything unobtainable (coffee-> chickory, chocolate-> carob, etc.) were replaced with it. But I think it led to the improvement of various forms of plastic.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteYes, today was fun all the way through. And we all were thinking of Jazz, and then he appears! And you did a great job, Jazz.
Cheers
Good morning, everyone!
ReplyDeleteGreat guest blogs in the last couple of days. Martin from afar and Jazzbumpa on a puzzle designed for him. Fantastic!
@jazzbumpa Thanks for the correction and the double script Ohio. Never saw that before.
Have a great Wednesday!!
Lot's of multiple E's in the puzzle today in both answers and hints. Anyone else notice?
ReplyDeleteHi Jazz, C.C. and everyone -
ReplyDeleteGreat fun with this puzzle and was so surprised to see that our own trombonist was blogging today..great job Jazz!
Dennis, welcome back - you were missed.
I loved Fleer bubble gum!
Lois, you and I had the same thought on 14A.. 'PLEA' was not the word that hopped into my mind, but I feel we enjoyed our thoughts on it!!!
Jeannie, I thought of you on 21D, even though you technically have nothing to do with actually making 'Whoppers'.
MH,
ReplyDeleteWith E being the most commonly used letter in English, I am not surprised by the EE combination, though I've never paid attention to them until you pointed out. Nice to see you again.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteMan, finally the Sun rises from the east. As for FLEER, are you sure Upper Deck still continues the baseball brand after 2007?
Kazie,
Martin was right. There were 2 typos earlier with the main post.
Argyle, Martin & Jazzbumpa,
Brilliant blogging. Thank you so much for the time and effort.
Today's puzzle was slightly more difficult than yesterday's. However, I am having a pretty bad RA flare this morning so my judgment might be a little off.
ReplyDeleteThere are only five presidents with four letters in their names. Neither of the Bushes nor Ford would have been right, and Taft came along much later, so the only alternative was Polk. I got that immediately.
I didn't get the theme, but the trombone fills were easy. However, the 22d "on Earth" answer can vary with the translation used. KJV is "in Earth," which is what I had until the "Texaslonghorns" fill.
I would still prefer puzzles with greater difficulty, but if having them easier works for others, I'm good.
Thanks for the WBs.
ReplyDeleteLemonade, Kyle Rote was my role model when I was playing football, starting at about age 10. I was a receiver also, and tried to run and catch exactly like he did. I didn't realize his son had such a successful soccer career; thanks for that.
C.C., Upper Deck produced 2008-09 Basketball cards under the Fleer name and will almost certainly do the same this year.
Lois said, Welcome back, Dennis. Hope you are well rested.
What'd you have in mind?
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteThat's why I specified baseball. No more FLEER baseball brand. The clue is incorrect.
The clue is correct in that it doesn't say 'current baseball card brand'. 'Double Play' was a baseball card brand, no longer produced, but a correct answer as well to the clue.
ReplyDeleteTo a tee is another example of how idioms change spelling and meaning over time... The "tee" has only fairly recently been spelled out instead of continuing to use the letter "T". It is probably an attempt to backfit something meaningful in place for a common phrase where no one knows with complete certainty the precise origin.
ReplyDeleteNice job Jazz... Takes a lot longer than you might think it would, doesn't it?
Great blog job Jazz, only a couple of typo's, not too bad for late night work.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Dennis, and we've missed your daily quips also...
I was intrigued by the word 'ersatz' and found a link to ERSATZ coffee?
Yesterday was a wet, wild, and windy day. Trees and power lines down all over including a 15 KW main feeder line that caused a power crisis. They said it was the biggest October storm since 1962.
I got home feeling like a wet rat after emergency cleaning overflowing gutters and pumping out flood water and had to take a 2nd shower.
Dennis:
ReplyDeleteDid you grow up a NY Football Giants fan, or an Eagles fan? This will tell me which side you were on after the 1960 Chuck Bednarik hit that kept Frank Gifford out of football for a year. My father had brainwashed us into being Bear fans (except my brother Barry who adopted the Cleveland Browns and Jimmy Brown, not a bad choice) but the bulk of games we saw on TV were the NYG games. Who could not be impressed by a team with Kyle Rote and Frank Gifford in the backfield. Not bad for successive 1st round picks for the NYG.
My memories of the 1956 championship game where Charley Connerly led the Giants to a total demolition of the Bears, and their U. of Florida star running back Rick Casares, were awful until 1963 came around, and the Bears defense battered and bloodied Y.A. Tittle and Frank Gifford et al. By then Joe Morrison had replaced Kyle in the backfield, and it was fun to watch. This has become an extended digression from learning by ROTE, so I will stop before I recall any of the Thanksgiving day games where TOBIN played Quarterback for the LIONS or the PACKERS...
6:45 today> On Jazz's puzzle! Both the puzzle and the blog were enjoyable. I especially liked KLAXON (filled in with no crosses since I solve "downs first") and POROSITY. Two words you rarely see in xwords, and that's always fun.
ReplyDeleteOne of my grandfather's favorite memories was seeing Greer GARSON on the street in Hollywood back in the 40's. She was a huge star back around the time I was being born. He was part owner of an orchid-growing operation in West LA (catalog reference here).
My grandfather flew between my hometown of Eugene, OR and LA so often that his United Airlines "Million Mile Club" card was #32 (meaning he was the 32nd customer to fly a million miles on United).
Lemonade,
ReplyDeletePlease continue! I love football history.
Believe it or not I was a Cowboys fan as a child. Stabauck, Hill, Garrison, Thomas in the backfield with Hayes and Alworth out wide. Let's not forget about Ditka. He played both ways for a bit. Huge house arguments when the Steelers played the Cowboys as Mom was a Steelers fan. I was heartbroken when Cowboys lost the 1975 Superbowl. Mom gloated for weeks!!
I had a Cowboys raincoat I wore only once. I got the shit kicked out of me at school. This is Patriots country no matter how bad they are playing.
Have a great evening.
Credit where it's due.
ReplyDeleteThe reason there were only two typos in the post is that C.C. corrected the others. She also added a bit to the content, and in general spruced it up. I'd say she REFINED the TROMBONES rough input.
Cheers!
JzB the full disclosure trombonist
Dennis: Oh, the possibilities! My first thought was poker, but I've sworn off gambling after losing my shirt in Las Vegas. My second thought was poker for the same reason. Gotta love that game! I feel a trip to Atlantic City coming.
ReplyDeleteHi everybody. I was surprised to see the theme answer SUSTAINED WINDS relating to trombones. Brass makes sense, longhorns make sense but why winds? A trombone is a brass instrument while the reeds are the woodwinds. No one else has mentioned it so I must be off base. Maybe winds is just referring to the breath it takes to blow into the trombone.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun puzzle and a super writeup. Thanks.
Bill -
ReplyDeleteYou're right about woodwinds. But the brass instrument families are also wind.
instruments.
And, certainly, in all these cases, the breath support is the key.
The trombone is defined as a wind-powered, hand-driven pitch approximator.
Cheers!
JzB the well-defined trombonist
Lemonade, I grew up an Eagles fan, and always liked Pete Pihos (yes, Lois, pronounced 'pee-hose), but always liked the way Rote caught a football; he had "quiet hands", something I always tried to emulate.
ReplyDeleteI met Bednarik a few times at different functions; still hard as nails. He has one little finger that juts out at a right angle from the rest of his fingers and wears it like a badge of honor.
Lois, I love poker as well as its homophone.
What the hell has happened to the rest of our DFettes??
Hello All--For the second day in a row, I've lost my comment into Cyberspace. The Blog notice comes up saying they are sorry but were unable to complete my request!
ReplyDeleteI'm logged in under my Goggle account so I'll try again.
Thank you Jazzbumpa for the great blog today. The CW was made just for you today, wasn't it? I thought about you when the trombone clues came up. Such a coincidence.
I enjoyed the puzzle today, and finished it without any outside help. The puzzles are easier, because I've been able to complete them without Google's assistance. Maybe I'm getting better, but I don't think that is the case.
I spent the morning cutting up several huge branches which broke off our Liquid Amber tree in the parkway. The winds were very strong and we received over 4 inches of rain here in our pocket next to the hills. That is usually the amount we get in a month or two during the rainy season. We thankfully weren't in the area where there were mud slides.
Welcome back Dennis. We've missed your input these past few days.
Well geez Dennis, I am here - or don't I qualify as a DFette anymore??
ReplyDeleteI read Warren and Chickie's comments about the rain and winds you have had in the last few days...we had terrible winds yesterday and today was better but still windy. Joe actually got himself on TV news yesterday morning, he was on an early bike ride and a tree had fallen across a busy street...the TV cameras were there and the reporter stopped Joe an put a microphone in front of him and asked it he had seen any other trees down. We figured they would probably cut the very brief interview out, but there he was on the news at noon and at 5:30 yesterday. We got a few calls from people we know who saw him..his 8 seconds of 'fame'. :)
Jazz: Me too! I play a wind powered, hand driven pitch aproximator! Wooohooo! Just didn't know it was a 'trom'bone. Learn something new all the time here.
ReplyDeleteDennis: LOL! Me too! I'm better at 'stud', but I always try to hold Texas.
Carol: Congrats to Joe for being on the news -our latest celebrity. Had he seen any other damage?
I just now got a chance to complete the puzzle and found it very entertaining and thought of Jazz right away. What a surprise to see Jazz was the "blog master" today.
ReplyDeleteFor Whopper creator...I wanted Jeannie too (even Jean would have done:)). Because without me purchasing the whopper patty there would be no whopper in MN, parts of IA, WI, ND, and SD and No. MI.
Dennis, good to see you back; and speaking of missing DF'ettes...I have an excuse as my foodshow looms up ahead. Let's not let the DF guys posting escape us. When the heck did Lemonade become so tame, where is Buckeye, Crockett, and Windhover for that matter?
Carol, you are definitely part of my DF'ette club. Still missing Melissabee though as I could really use that massage...
Lois, blow that wind driven aproximator baby! LMAO! Trom-BONE indeed.
ReplyDeleteJeannie, thanks for the support!
Good Evening:
ReplyDeleteJazz: nice job! You kept it smart, funny and instructional. Perfect material for you to blog about.
Dennis: welcome back--the puzzle-blog-world felt off kilter without you.
I made an inky mess of the puzzle. Too many bad guesses and misreading of clues. Am plum tuckered after a very tiring day, which consisted of me getting lost throughout the Loop and various weird elevator trips.
Me: "How do I get to the twelfth floor?"
Some hapless bureaucrat: "You go to six, walk the bridge west, cross over to that building and take the elevator there."
Me: "OK, thanks"
----so, I proceed to Floor 12.
Me:"Yes, I'm here to... [show her my paperwork]
Horror-stricken functionary: "Sir, YOU need to start in 1308 and then back East to 602 BEFORE coming here."
---so, I followed the directions: up, across; down and back up.
All that before 9:30 a.m., mind you! I easily logged 5 miles on foot, went through 3 security screenings, 8 flashes of various ID cards, and rearranging and submitting of duplicate copies of official forms, etc. before getting home 6ish.
Would have been a day well spent if I felt something had been truly accomplished.
Did have a good pizza on the slog home, and felt like I'd ensured full employment for various City and State employees. Most of them seemed as exasperated by the "system" as i was, and still maintain a sense of humor. Lots of hallowe'en decorations in the offices and a bit of candy.
See y'all tomorrow. Gotta go soak my feet!
@jeannie I'm here at 10:19. Don't know where the heck buckeye is, though!
ReplyDeletedear c c
ReplyDeletei hope the lady that has the crossword blog gets this message. i have not yet figured out what your name is. i clicked on the photos of "em" and looked at all four photos. are you in any of the photos? you say you were born and raised in china, are your parents chinese? i like your blog and check it everyday. very interesting. if you are not in these photos, would you send me a photo?
a fan and a friend of yours,
Everett
Sorry Crockett, missed your post. If you can only imagine my phone ringing off the hook, "specialty" buyers not giving me their samples on time, and the warehouse staff frustrated that "MY" orders aren't complete...fill in the gaps.
ReplyDeleteI can't even come up with a recipe; okay one just sprung into my head. Mojito...I just so happen to have some mint, sugar, water, and Bacardi on hand. Recipe: mull your mint in just a tad of sugar, make a simple syrup of sugar and water, add your mulled mint/sugar mixture into a glass, add ice cubes and rum and enjoy. Problem is I can't quite get this recipe to equal one cocktail. Hmmm. I just managed to save my mint, thyme, and rosemary as who knew it was going to snow in MN this early? Or for that matter get so cold. I wasn't so fortunate with my whiskey barrel full of basil; and I don't particularly care for dried basil. I guess I will start anew with that pot in the house as I use basil year round.
Everett, if you click on 'blog photos' on the main blog page, C.C.'s picture is the very last one on the third page.
ReplyDeleteCarol, a thousand apologies - you are most certainly a hard-core DFette.
PJB, I guess with the blog being off-kilter and me being off-kilter, put us together and everything's kilter?
Jazzbumpa-Thanks for a wonderful, entertaining blog! You frequently make me laugh with your posts, and your parsing and links today did not disappoint. I did the puzzle today while the 5th graders I was with were on auto-pilot (twenty minutes of silent reading time). I was tickled when I saw the first trombone clue, thought of you, and had no idea that you would be the blogger of the day. What a treat to come here and make the discovery!
ReplyDeleteG'night, folks!
Had leftover frozen-butternut-squash with-Italian sausage-soup for dinner. Based on a recipe from the BAM- guy himself, Emeril, but tweaked the heck out of it. Tasty and soul-nourishing, and good for chilly temps. His version's got sweet sausage but I mixed in the hotter stuff to give it some ooph. He strains the soup but people seem to like it chunkier. Added a few potatoes for no particular reason. Will try to recreate it before posting the recipe.
ReplyDelete@Jeannie: good luck with your show. Still don't understand what you do workwise, but don't worry, am never quite sure what I do either. I was teaching a friend to make mojitos and had to tell her more than once that "You're supposed to muddle the mint, NOT beat the crap out of it!"
@Dennis: Yep, were all kilter here!
My experience in Vegas was that I not only lost my shirt, but my pants and one shoe. Still had fun there.
Friends who live near there say tourism is still way down. That's the city's lifeblood.
Folks who live in hurricane/fire/flood places, please be safe! Remember to get fresh batteries for your flashlights and radios. That's me telling you that I was a moronic idiot who didn't do that.
PJB, I am the sole buyer for my company for the Burger King franchise and am also the "admin" "acctg" person for the Purchasing department for our division. In my spare time, I coordinate our foodshows, which entails sending out the contracts, securing and entering all the allowances the vendors are willing to give, entering them in the system, laying out the booth formation, numbering all the booths as the show is booth number driven, ordering all the booth needs including electrical needs, making name badges for every vendor, order all the vendors samples they want delivered and all the fine touches for the show including flowers, balloons, and signage. I am fortunate to work with a good exhibitor and the venue coordinator has great attention to detail. It is a lot of work and to be really honest, not recognized. I enjoy the challenge none the less.
ReplyDelete@jeannie Wow! That's quite a list of responsibilities. I know you can handle it, but it sure can be a frustration when your efforts are not appropriately recognized. You rock, lady!!
ReplyDeleteCrockett, what you said. Going to find sleep somehow which has alluded me in the last hour or so. Not sure why....
ReplyDeleteJeannie: Sounds like an interesting but tough job and not for the faint of heart. I wish I could describe my job(s) so well. I do spend time with lots of depressed people prone to intentionally harming themselves. And that's just my co-wokers!
ReplyDeleteKidding aside, I make far less moohlah now than when I was making some years back, working 70+ hours a week and keeping a frenetic travel schedule. I don't miss it. Now, I get to mentor some wonderful people, do some second opnions, and crank out research about things I am interested in. Getting to design & deliver training is also fun. And, bonus, I'm good at it. Most the time..
Sounds like your days are very full. I think most everyone feels under-appreciated @ work, so it's a good thing to have friends who manage to keep us fed with occasional thanks & kudos. As seen in my photo, my Irish head is already ginormous to start with! Be well, amiga!