Theme: Sports Nicknames - Famous athletes in various sports known by their nicknames.
20A. MAGIC: EARVIN JOHNSON. Has not died of AIDS, which made him decide to retire for awhile, but then return, then retire, then return, then retire again. Claims to have slept with 10,000 women.
26A. TIGER: ELDRICK WOODS. Going after Magic's record.
46A. PRIME TIME: DEION SANDERS. Played both baseball and football. How many other sports has he courted?
53A. YOGI: LAWRENCE BERRA. Voiced 10,000 malaprops.
Bonus sport personalities:
41A. Palmer with his own "army": ARNIE.
58A. Nastase with a racket: ILIE.
60D. Kareem, formerly: LEW. Alcindor.
Al guest blogging today. Bet you all are jealous I got to do one of Dan's. It upped the ante on the usual Tuesday fare.
Across:
1. Somewhat warm: TEPID. "Luke"warm. Who the heck is that, you may ask? Luke is a Middle English form of the Old English hléow meaning warm or sunny, from as early as 1205.
6. Polio vaccine developer: SALK. Injected form. Sabin created the safer oral version. There is an interesting chart that offers circumstantial evidence that pesticides had a more likely role.
10. Wheel edges: RIMS.
14. Like top-quality beef: PRIME. The highest rating of a combined high ratio of marbling with the youngest maturity of beef.
15. Prefix with logical: IDEO. Having a doctrine or philosophy.
16. Jacques's state: ETAT. French for state. Coup d' etat is to overthrow the government (state).
17. Phi Beta __: KAPPA. The oldest Academic Society, founded Dec 5, 1776 at William and Mary.
18. Earth inheritors, with "the": MEEK. Beatitude in the book of Matthew.
19. Water barrier: DIKE. Also a French word meaning "men's clothing".
23. Saint Francis's home: ASSISI. Italy.
25. Little Red Book follower: MAOIST. One who follows, not a sequel.
30. Madre's brother: TIO. Spanish. Aunt is TIA.
31. Silky synthetic: RAYON. Actually it is only semi-synthetic. And 49A. Glossy cotton fabric: SATEEN. A structure in the weaving process, can be made from different materials, like cotton and rayon.
32. Volkswagen sedan: JETTA. Derives from the German language word for 'jet stream', reflecting the period in Volkswagen's history when it named its vehicles after prominent winds.
36. Stuff of headlines: NEWS. Pretty much Haiti these days. 200,000 dead and 1.5 mil homeless. Everything else sort of pales in comparison.
38. Cooking apples: ROMES.
40. Teen detective Nancy: DREW. The original 56 books were written by 8 different authors.
43. Stories: TALES. Had to wait to make sure it wasn't SAGAS or EPICS or even EDDAS.
45. Hagen of Broadway: UTA. Died at 84 in 2004.
52. Bath sponge: LOOFAH. How to harvest and make them.
57. Akron's state: OHIO. Where Goodyear was started.
59. Tells really badly, as a joke: KILLS. Not to be confused with SLAYS, which means the opposite.
62. Suvari of "American Pie": MENA. Also the "rose petal" girl in American Beauty. I guess she's American...
63. Society oddball: NERD. A badge of honor to some...
64. And the following, in bibliographies: Abbr.: ET SEQ. Latin phrase et sequens (et sequentes, et sequentia).
65. Pigged out (on), as junk food: OD'ED. Overdosed.
66. Takes one's turn: GOES.
67. Cinema chain: LOEWS. Originally a chain of nickelodeons in Cincinatti, OH.
Down:
1. Rd. often spanning an entire state: TPK. No turnpikes in WI, this abbr. gets me all the time.
2. Historical span: ERA.
3. Shuts up: PIPES DOWN. Nice opposition.
4. Damage: IMPAIR. As in hearing, for example.
5. Letter opener?: DEAR SIR. or John.
6. California's __ Valley: SIMI. North of LA, near Thousand Oaks.
7. Yemen's Gulf of __: ADEN. Part of the Indian Ocean, south of Yemen, north of Somalia.
8. Actor Cobb: LEE J. Death of a Salesman.
9. City north of Indianapolis: KOKOMO. Unless you listen to the Beach Boys, then it's a Jamaican Island now known as Sandals Cay.
10. Like Rudolph: RED NOSED. Or W.C. Fields.
11. "Who's calling?" response: IT IS I. Pretty formal. Also not very helpful.
12. Strong sharks: MAKOS. They can get pretty big.
13. Surgical tube: STENT.
21. Goldsmith's Wakefield clergyman: VICAR. Set in rural eighteenth-century England, The Vicar of Wakefield chronicles the life of Vicar Charles Primrose, his wife Deborah, and their children. Narrated by the protagonist, the novel recounts the reversal of the Vicar's modest fortunes and a series of blows to the family's unity. Daughter Olivia marries a scoundrel who subsequently deserts her. The family loses all their money, and son George must end his engagement. The family is forced to move to a smaller house, which catches fire. Primrose is injured saving his family. Although destitute, Primrose finds the inner strength to rise above circumstances and to comfort those around him. The novel ends with a series of improbable resolutions that restore the Vicar and his family to their previous happiness and good fortune.
22. Trip to Mecca: HADJ. Religious pilgrimage that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so.
23. Health insurance giant: AETNA. Latin name for Mount Etna. Not to be confused with Prudential, which uses the Rock of Gibraltar as its symbol.
24. More devious: SLIER.
27. Former Japanese capital: KYOTO.
28. "Witchy __": Eagles hit: WOMAN.
29. Law school beginners: ONE LS. 1L
33. Test type with only two possible answers: TRUE FALSE. Technically, three. Leaving it blank means "I don't know". Had a teacher that gave negative points for guessing wrong answers, as opposed to zero if you didn't answer.
34. Aquarium fish: TETRA.
35. Covered with water: AWASH.
37. Hardly a main drag: SIDE ROAD.
39. Black Panthers co-founder: SEALE. Bobby.
42. Very wide shoe: EEEE.
44. Coral reef explorer's device: SNORKEL. Or a Sergeant in Beetle Bailey.
47. Unit with six outs: INNING. A little tricky at first. There are two sides that play each inning.
48. Frito-Lay chip: DORITO. Ali Landry
49. NFL replay feature: SLO-MO.
50. Responded to a massage: AAHED.
51. Strong string: TWINE.
54. Egyptian played by Liz: CLEO. She fell on her Asp.
55. Green land: EIRE. Or ERIN. Always have to wait for perps.
56. Dream worlds?: BEDS.
61. Four-sided figs.: SQS. Kind of a dud abbreviation, but how else to fit in 64A. ET SEQ?
Answer grid.
Al
20A. MAGIC: EARVIN JOHNSON. Has not died of AIDS, which made him decide to retire for awhile, but then return, then retire, then return, then retire again. Claims to have slept with 10,000 women.
26A. TIGER: ELDRICK WOODS. Going after Magic's record.
46A. PRIME TIME: DEION SANDERS. Played both baseball and football. How many other sports has he courted?
53A. YOGI: LAWRENCE BERRA. Voiced 10,000 malaprops.
Bonus sport personalities:
41A. Palmer with his own "army": ARNIE.
58A. Nastase with a racket: ILIE.
60D. Kareem, formerly: LEW. Alcindor.
Al guest blogging today. Bet you all are jealous I got to do one of Dan's. It upped the ante on the usual Tuesday fare.
Across:
1. Somewhat warm: TEPID. "Luke"warm. Who the heck is that, you may ask? Luke is a Middle English form of the Old English hléow meaning warm or sunny, from as early as 1205.
6. Polio vaccine developer: SALK. Injected form. Sabin created the safer oral version. There is an interesting chart that offers circumstantial evidence that pesticides had a more likely role.
10. Wheel edges: RIMS.
14. Like top-quality beef: PRIME. The highest rating of a combined high ratio of marbling with the youngest maturity of beef.
15. Prefix with logical: IDEO. Having a doctrine or philosophy.
16. Jacques's state: ETAT. French for state. Coup d' etat is to overthrow the government (state).
17. Phi Beta __: KAPPA. The oldest Academic Society, founded Dec 5, 1776 at William and Mary.
18. Earth inheritors, with "the": MEEK. Beatitude in the book of Matthew.
19. Water barrier: DIKE. Also a French word meaning "men's clothing".
23. Saint Francis's home: ASSISI. Italy.
25. Little Red Book follower: MAOIST. One who follows, not a sequel.
30. Madre's brother: TIO. Spanish. Aunt is TIA.
31. Silky synthetic: RAYON. Actually it is only semi-synthetic. And 49A. Glossy cotton fabric: SATEEN. A structure in the weaving process, can be made from different materials, like cotton and rayon.
32. Volkswagen sedan: JETTA. Derives from the German language word for 'jet stream', reflecting the period in Volkswagen's history when it named its vehicles after prominent winds.
36. Stuff of headlines: NEWS. Pretty much Haiti these days. 200,000 dead and 1.5 mil homeless. Everything else sort of pales in comparison.
38. Cooking apples: ROMES.
40. Teen detective Nancy: DREW. The original 56 books were written by 8 different authors.
43. Stories: TALES. Had to wait to make sure it wasn't SAGAS or EPICS or even EDDAS.
45. Hagen of Broadway: UTA. Died at 84 in 2004.
52. Bath sponge: LOOFAH. How to harvest and make them.
57. Akron's state: OHIO. Where Goodyear was started.
59. Tells really badly, as a joke: KILLS. Not to be confused with SLAYS, which means the opposite.
62. Suvari of "American Pie": MENA. Also the "rose petal" girl in American Beauty. I guess she's American...
63. Society oddball: NERD. A badge of honor to some...
64. And the following, in bibliographies: Abbr.: ET SEQ. Latin phrase et sequens (et sequentes, et sequentia).
65. Pigged out (on), as junk food: OD'ED. Overdosed.
66. Takes one's turn: GOES.
67. Cinema chain: LOEWS. Originally a chain of nickelodeons in Cincinatti, OH.
Down:
1. Rd. often spanning an entire state: TPK. No turnpikes in WI, this abbr. gets me all the time.
2. Historical span: ERA.
3. Shuts up: PIPES DOWN. Nice opposition.
4. Damage: IMPAIR. As in hearing, for example.
5. Letter opener?: DEAR SIR. or John.
6. California's __ Valley: SIMI. North of LA, near Thousand Oaks.
7. Yemen's Gulf of __: ADEN. Part of the Indian Ocean, south of Yemen, north of Somalia.
8. Actor Cobb: LEE J. Death of a Salesman.
9. City north of Indianapolis: KOKOMO. Unless you listen to the Beach Boys, then it's a Jamaican Island now known as Sandals Cay.
10. Like Rudolph: RED NOSED. Or W.C. Fields.
11. "Who's calling?" response: IT IS I. Pretty formal. Also not very helpful.
12. Strong sharks: MAKOS. They can get pretty big.
13. Surgical tube: STENT.
21. Goldsmith's Wakefield clergyman: VICAR. Set in rural eighteenth-century England, The Vicar of Wakefield chronicles the life of Vicar Charles Primrose, his wife Deborah, and their children. Narrated by the protagonist, the novel recounts the reversal of the Vicar's modest fortunes and a series of blows to the family's unity. Daughter Olivia marries a scoundrel who subsequently deserts her. The family loses all their money, and son George must end his engagement. The family is forced to move to a smaller house, which catches fire. Primrose is injured saving his family. Although destitute, Primrose finds the inner strength to rise above circumstances and to comfort those around him. The novel ends with a series of improbable resolutions that restore the Vicar and his family to their previous happiness and good fortune.
22. Trip to Mecca: HADJ. Religious pilgrimage that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so.
23. Health insurance giant: AETNA. Latin name for Mount Etna. Not to be confused with Prudential, which uses the Rock of Gibraltar as its symbol.
24. More devious: SLIER.
27. Former Japanese capital: KYOTO.
28. "Witchy __": Eagles hit: WOMAN.
29. Law school beginners: ONE LS. 1L
33. Test type with only two possible answers: TRUE FALSE. Technically, three. Leaving it blank means "I don't know". Had a teacher that gave negative points for guessing wrong answers, as opposed to zero if you didn't answer.
34. Aquarium fish: TETRA.
35. Covered with water: AWASH.
37. Hardly a main drag: SIDE ROAD.
39. Black Panthers co-founder: SEALE. Bobby.
42. Very wide shoe: EEEE.
44. Coral reef explorer's device: SNORKEL. Or a Sergeant in Beetle Bailey.
47. Unit with six outs: INNING. A little tricky at first. There are two sides that play each inning.
48. Frito-Lay chip: DORITO. Ali Landry
49. NFL replay feature: SLO-MO.
50. Responded to a massage: AAHED.
51. Strong string: TWINE.
54. Egyptian played by Liz: CLEO. She fell on her Asp.
55. Green land: EIRE. Or ERIN. Always have to wait for perps.
56. Dream worlds?: BEDS.
61. Four-sided figs.: SQS. Kind of a dud abbreviation, but how else to fit in 64A. ET SEQ?
Answer grid.
Al
71 comments:
Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - so nice to see another of Dan's puzzles, but as I said before, I hope Rich doesn't blow through them too quickly; I think it'd be better to have them to savor, as with a fine wine, over a substantial period of time.
I got through this one surprisingly quickly, considering it was one of Dan's; my only unknown was 'Mena' Suvari, and the rest was done virtually without pause. It certainly helped knowing the four athletes' names.
Al, a superb write-up; you've definitely got the gift for it. Most informative. And how nice to wake up to Ali Landry!
Today is National Popcorn Day.
Today's Words of Wisdom: "No one on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time on my business.'" -- Arnold Zack
And a couple words on sex:
- "Why should we take sex advice from the Pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't." -- George Bernard Shaw
- "You know that look women get when they want sex? Me neither." -- Drew Carey
46 & a w/u.
Good Morning, CC, Al, and Friends. It was a good puzzle with a bit of a challenge for me. Once I got EARVIN JOHNSON (with some perp help), I realized I was looking for sports nicknames. That made it easier.
I must say, though, your superb write-up, Al, took me longer to read than it did to actually do the puzzle.
Ali Landry is a Louisiana girl.
QOD: You can live to be 100 if you give up all the things that make you want to live that long. ~ Woody Allen
Missed one, just not paying attention, in too big a hurry, or not quite awake yet (60D-64A). I knew 60D but just didn't think of LEW as a nickname. No excuse for missing 64A with my Latin/Greek language background. 15 minutes.
I agree with Dennis, let’s spread the Dan puzzles out for a while; this one was clever, really easy if you love sports, hard without the theme. By far the dastes DN puzzle ever for me.
The career of MENA SUVARI has been interesting, from American Beauty and American Pie to acting in a movie from Ernest Hemmingway’s Garden Of Eden ; not bad for a girl from Rhode Island. Interestingly, she has two birthdays on the net, one February 9th one the 13th.
Love the references to Phi Beta __: KAPPA as it allows me to brag about my son Aaron, once again. I have the picture of him with his “KEY” now my avatar for all to see.
Mr. Ed, I do not believe there is a drop off in comments, or people stopping by; we have many new faces, ENTROPY, FRENCHIE, ROBIN, IPO and many more that do not pop into my head. Some of the old timers are not here all the time, but most stop by, with a few we seem to have lost (how will Brady Jo ever grow up without our guidance?). Some puzzles inspire more words, some do not. Also, it has been a harsh winter in a difficult economic time. Belax, it is all good.
Good morning, C.C., Al and all,
This was an interesting puzzle. The only athlete whose first name I knew was Deion. After watching Tiger for years on TV, I am surprised that I never heard his first name used. I can see why he prefers Tiger.
This was pretty easy for a Naddor puzzle. Favorite clue was dream worlds. My only unknown, besides the names, was Mena. My time was a little longer than usual because I had to work around the unknowns.
I second Dennis's desire to see the remaining Naddor puzzles savored rather than gobbled up.
Have a great day. Good job, Al.
This was a really good Tuesday puzzle. Al, outstanding write-up. I loved all the facts related to the answers. The polio one was an eye opener. I really believe that our environment has totally screwed up our health. Great job.
The first theme answer I got was LAWRENCE BERRA, which helped me out on the rest of the puzzle. I struggled with DEION as I would never have guessed that as a way to spell his name. LEW was a gimme as I grew up in Milwaukee in the 70's. He was a hero to us. With the exception of Lawrence, they are all unique names and/or spellings of the first names aren't they?
I remember the Eagles and seeing them perform outdoors at the old Met stadium. I used to love that band.
For all of you that owned Gremlins and spoke up yesterday, here is a clip ofJon Stewart's intro to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors. Absolutely hilarious. It will brighten your day.
CA - thanks for the Milne and Frost poems the last few days. They hold a special place in my heart.
For you Californians, my hubby had to call me last night to say I needn't be jealous of his time in San Diego this week as the weather looks like it will be the worst in a long time. We are having nice mild 30's, so I am not longing too much for the warmth, but looks as though you need to stay in and dry.
btw, a very informative and diverse write up AL, though I did not see a single pun or anagram....
Letter opener?
I thought of this when I saw the clue.
Letter Opener
60D. Kareem I wanted Dr J. For some reason I have always confused Dr. J with Kareem. I don't know why.
While I was growing up I wasn't into reading books. Until I discovered Nancy Drew. My mom detested the fact that I read Nancy Drew.She thought only girls should read them. I didn't like the Hardy boys. My dad said shut up and leave him alone at least we got him to read a book.
In 1978 Pamela Sue Martin was TV's Nancy Drew and she appeared in July 1978 edition of Playboy.
Nancy Drew
Good Morning All. Typical Tuesday (lack of?) difficulty puzzle. Plunged right in with TEPID. Pretty straightforward but I was vexed not to get VICAR; Had pomes for ROMES. Good to interact with Dan again. Somehow have a feeling this was one of his earlier efforts. Or maybe he liked to mix up the difficulty. Of course, that's the editor's call. Agree with others about not using up Dan's pipeline too quickly. Love to savor the good stuff.
JETTA - knew that HADJ would cross without looking at the clue.
KOKOMO - nice fill. Lots of K's today.
ÉTAT - "L'État, c'est moi" The state, it is I. Sometimes attributed to Louis XIV, but historians consider this inaccurate.
Enjoy the day
Hi Everyone,
I loved your write-up, Al. So linguistically rich, right up my alley. I never knew why VW called their cars things like JETTA, or that it had anything to do with wind.
As for the CW, I did rather well for one of Dan's. Not knowing any of the names, I guessed all from perp assists, figured out what the theme was about, but didn't know any of them so it didn't help get their first names.
I managed the whole thing though with no outside help, a first for a Naddor. Favorite was BEDS.
@ Al, love your informative write-up.
Hey all, I agree, a fun one this morning. Knew all the last names and was pleasantly surprised to learn the first names! Had a hard time with the 6A section; put NAPA in at 6D and then wouldn't change it. Stubborn. Knew MEEK but put in POOR just to mess it up even more. Wouldn't it be nice if the POOR really did inherit the earth??
Have a sick kid this morning. Never fun. So thanks for the great write-up!
Since I start doing "blocks" so to speak, I started in the NW corner and filled, filled, filled...Then I go to the N middle block and was held up by Salk, Aden gulf, Lee J. I had to cheat by hitting the g-spot for Lee J then I just made WAG's for the rest of that block. Lots of favorite clues today which tells me I was solving a Naddor puzzle: hardly a main drag - sideroad, unit with six outs - inning, and dream worlds - bed all come to mind. To my knowledge we don't have a Loews cinema in MN. KQ, C.C.?
Lemonade, quit teasing me with pics of your handsome son, and you sure got the guy's blood boiling early this morning with Mena Suvari. Did I ever mention I was a cheerleader?
Lo-Li-Ta.
No time for the puzzle yet, but I wanted to share a quote I read on Sunday:
"I just love to play games. It is against my religion to ever throw out a paper without doing the crossword puzzle." - Betty White
It was in Sunday's USA Weekend magazine insert of the paper. She'll be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Screen Actor's Guild on Saturday.
Hi gang -
Al - terrific write up!
Speaking of OHIO, Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene, and author of 23 of the first 25 Nancy Drew books, was married to the Editor of the Toledo (my home town) Blade, and wrote a weekly column until her death in 2002 at age 96. Aint Wiikipedia wonderful? The LW was a big Nancy Drew fan as a kid.
It was Wilt Chamberlain who bragged of 10,000 paramours. Those enchanted by Magic's charms were only in the scores to hundreds. But who counts?
Which makes now as good a time as any for This
Dan's puzzle today reinforced the idea that the sparkle comes largely from the clues. This one was clever and a lot of fun, despite many TEPID fills.
Cheers!
JzB
Hello All--Seeing Dan Naddor's name on the puzzle today I just knew I was in for a toughie. However, I finished the entire puzzle without having to Google. The perps took care of unknowns and I surprised myself as I knew Eldrick, and Earvin. I'm with the rest of you in complimenting Al on his great writeup today.
The Doritos clue brought to mind my husband's summer job during college. He made Corn Chips. If you go to sleep on the job, the salter runs out--not a good thing, and if you forget to adjust the salter, too much salt. Also not a good thing!!
It is raining hard here this morning with Thunder and Lightning--a rare phenomenon for our area. Our newspaper this morning said two storms down and three to go. Tomorrow is supposed to be the worst. At least it isn't really cold as well.
Jazzbumba-
um, hilarious, all I can say.
Chickie-
my dad worked at General Mills when I was a kid. He used to make Bugles, remember those? We used to eat them off our fingers like olives. As a college student I went back there for a summer job and make corn flakes. If we didn't move these giant three story cylinders (by shoving them as hard as you could) it would rain cornflakes. You haven't lived until you've been rained on by corn flakes. If I was alone, I got rained on a lot (I was like 100lbs... and not much of a heavy lifter!!) Also swept up huge piles of boo berry and count chocula, don't even know if they sell those anymore! Would love to share a pic of me at 19 in a hairnet, hardhat, goggles and earplugs but alas, all copies have been destroyed!
wow was that a digression...
Jazz, actually, Al is correct: Chamberlain claimed 20,000, Johnson 10,000. Unbelievable in every sense of the word...
Good Morning All, A terrific Tuesday level puzzle, by Dan Nador AND a great write-up by Al.
I knew Magic's real name and luckily GAH was handy when I got to 26A.
"What's Tiger's real name?"
"ELDRICK Tont Woods"
"OK, if you say so."
He even knew the middle name. I was impressed!
I had to get the spelling of DEION from the perps and I think it is the first time I ever thought about Yogi's first name. LAWRENCE came easily with its perps though.
Dennis@10:43, Talk about bragging. Those guys really needed to have their "egos" stroked!
There is a little break in our rainy weather, so we are headed to Costco to stock up. Chickie's right we are due for a week of heavy rain, so we'd better get some food while we can.
AimeeAya - I still eat Bugles. They are one of my favorites. General Mills still makes BooBerry and Count Chocula. I think my teenage boys would eat them every day if I let them. Bad stuff to start off the day with though.
Jeannie, No Loews in Mpls. They merged with AMC a few years ago, and sometimes you see both names when you look online for movies (or when I travel) so I was familiar with the name.
Good morning Al, CC, and all,
What a great puzzle, and an even better write up. Who knew about loofahs??? So many interesting tidbits to savor.
KQ, loved the John Stewart clip. At one time my daughter was set on marrying him.
Jz, you must have a very efficient filing system on your computer.LOL!
No problems with c/w. Got the idea right away. Bob gave me Yogi's 1st name, Larry.I can do the French and Latin. He can do the sports. Which is more useful???
I am in heaven with all of this wind and rain.It has always given me an inner calmness.
Off to the dentist...
AmieeAya, My hubby also made Cheese puffs and used to come home with his Levi's all orange. Ever try to wash out that stuff? Yucky!
I had to laugh at the picture you drew being rained on by cornflakes.
JD, and CA keep dry and drive carefully.
I had the same comment as Entropy on "HADJ". But Merriam Webster's informs me "HADJ" is a variant of "HAJJ" - the latter being the more standard spelling. Didn't hold me up too much. I was, however, mistakenly sure that the actress from American Beauty was MERA Suvari, not MENA, which threw me off a bit in the lower left corner. Good puzzle all in all. Enjoyed the comments.
"TETRA" (the acquarium fish) is a new one to me. I'm a cat person.
Cincinnati, not Cincinatti
Hi Al, C.C. and blog buddies -
When I saw Dan's name on this, I thought I had better wax up my V-8 can, but it was a lot easier than his usual ones.
I knew the first name of Magic but didn't know how to spell it, or Tigers first name. I had never heard of Prime Time but guessed it must me a person so I had to look that up. Those 3 and Mena were my only blanks.
I got LOEWS and ETSEQ from perps, otherwise, no idea.
Al, great, informative write up today! I enjoyed reading about the loofahs especially.
Hey all you members of our California Coven, glad you are getting the rain you need, but be careful driving...know you all are not as experienced with wet pavement as I am. Here in western Oregon, you can always tell the drivers that moved here from sunnier climes...their windshield wipers are on FAST, while ours are on INTERMITTENT..funny to see.
A lot of the time, we don't even bother with umbrellas.
Thanks for the Jon Stewart link KQ-it did make me smile!
I also had Pomes instead of Romes Spitzboov. Oh well!
Did enjoy this Dan Naddor puzzle though.
I read Al's link and it says the following:
Chamberlain wrote a book a few years ago, bragging that he'd slept with 10,000 women. The book, which had little else to report, made the best-seller list. So much for public denunciation of promiscuity in the era of AIDS.
20,000 or 10,000-CRAZY!
Didn't have too much trouble with this one although I'm not familiar with sports figures' real names. Once I got some of the perps, they filled in nicely. I knew "Lew" but I thought it was spelled "Lou." As soon as I got "Loews" I knew it was "Lew." Had trouble with "one ls" again, in spite of the fact that we had that a couple of months ago. The theme was obvious after the first two clues.
Nice write-up, Al.
It should be a nice day here - mid-70s by afternoon, I think.
59. Tells really badly, as a joke: KILLS. Not to be confused with SLAYS, which means the opposite.
KILLS the audience: slays the audience. Same.
Great to see a Dan Naddor puzzle. According to the article you linked, it was Wilt Chamberlain who claimed to sexually conquer 10,000 women. But, who's counting?
Great to see a Dan Naddor puzzle. According to the article you linked, it was Wilt Chamberlain who claimed to sexually conquer 10,000 women. But, who's counting?
That was not Magic who said that he slept with 10,000 women. It was Wilt Chamberlain.
Good morning C.C., Al and all.
I really enjoyed this puzzle by Dan. Isn't it funny I should feel so comfortable as to call him by his first name? Never met the man, but the power of the media tends to lend itself to familiarity. I don't think he would mind, do you? Just like with all of you. Days of reading your thoughts and plans for the day, make it seem as if you are all friends. Not so much as the anons! Tho I guess they need love too....
Great write up Al. I did have to googly the first names of the athletic stars. Very handsome son Lemonade! KQ, thanks for Jon Stewart!
Aimee, again great blog. Who else has blogs on here? I know some of you do, but I have forgotten.
EWWW is all I can say about 10-20,000 Talk about quantity vs. quality. Which do you guys prefer?
Jeannie, I was a cheerleader too, I will drag out my picture. Did you have big pom poms? I did, now they have cute little ones!!! *wink*
Have a great day, and thank you California, we are getting your rain!!.
Ok, just to settle this, I'm looking at Wilt's book, "A View from Above" (we also sell old/new sports books) and it is indeed 20,000.
And Johnson, in his book, did claim 10,000.
But as K.K. said, at those levels, who's counting?
and all before Viagra? lmao!
"Please call your doctor for erections lasting longer than 10,000 women."
Entropy can you help me? Use entropy in a sentence. I don't get the meaning of the word. thx
Hello all.
Only unknown was Et Seq but the Ds filled it.
The storms are all lined-up in the Pacific waiting to come in. They
are predicting 20 plus inches of rain for the Santa Cruz mountains
before it is all over.
eddeyB
Tiger plays golf. Majic played basketball. Tiger is mostly chasing Jack Nicklaus' records.
From Vern:
Been resting my brain. Wilt Chamberlain only beat me by 9,999.
I guess I must try harder.
Lemonade: You must be very proud of your son's academic achievements, and rightly so. Too often education is undervalued, especially in my state.
Oh my gosh, I am cracking up at all this. I am new here but sensing a common theme... first bustiers, then legs, cheerleaders in a certain movie, number of women certain athletes have slept with... then the axe advertisement... I'd better go find my cheerleading picture too, if only for a nice healthy reality check!!
And thanks for the encouragement Robin; I'd been contemplating a blog but doubted I had anything of substance to say :)
Very witty, Vern!
Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the daughter of Candice, a Greek American nurse, and Ando Süvari, an Estonian American psychiatrist.[1][2] She has three older brothers, one of them in the United States Army. She began modeling as a preteen and soon after starred in a Rice-A-Roni commercial.
The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her three older brothers attended The Citadel. Meanwhile, Mena was entertaining dreams of becoming an archaeologist, astronaut or doctor, when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school, Ashley Hall, to offer classes. By the time she started acting, she had been modeling for the New York-based Wilhelmina agency for five years.
Good afternoon Al, CC, et al., Great job, Al. You have skills! Couldn't believe this was a Dan Naddor puzzle! Ran thru this one with perp assist and enjoyed learning how to spell the names.
Now let me get this straight. Dennis, the final answer is that
'Wilt' had 20,000 and 'Johnson' had 10,000. Only proves the point 'What's in a name?" They gave playing ball, scoring and dribbling a whole new dimension. No wonder they could shoot from afar, jump like crazy and were fast on their feet. They had to be to get away from that many women. And all before Viagra as Robin pointed out. My only question is "by what age did they accomplish these records?" Amazing. Makes me want to go and shoot a few rims myself! Power of suggestion, I guess.
Lemonade: Congratulations on your son's outstanding acheivement! Handsome man too. What a family! High tide at the gene pool.
Enjoy your day.
Good Afternoon Al, CC and All,
Worked right through this one this morning and finally getting a chance to come here. This was a bit unusual to finish a Naddor puzzle with no red letter help. There is usually one or two clues he tricks me on. I would say right on cue for a Tuesday difficulty level. Very fun.
Al, Excellent write up. Extremely interesting and the Ali Landry link reminded me of the boys and I giving that commercial a standing ovation when it premiered during the Superbowl a couple years ago.
Lemonade, You must be very proud. That's quite an accomplishment. Also thanks to your link to Mena Suvari, I now am very aware of who she is.
Skipped out on the weekend puzzles for basketball and ice fishing. Sunday was just a gorgeous day and yesterday was a Nor'easter. Its been snowing all day today and doesn't look like it will end until tomorrow afternoon.
Time to cook the boys dinner!
Vern: well put!
Funny how a mention of cheerleaders and how many women a man claims to have "had" played out. You men all overlooked the cheerleaders on the blog and had to argue about how many conquests someone had. You are slipping. I am thinking Lemonade "nailed it".
Anon, why do you have to point out obvious typos...it's old.
I'm wondering if Vern meant to say 19,000, or has he just been holding out on us?
Quality vs. Quantity. I would like to say, "Its all good", but unfortunately, it's not.
So, Vern, if Wilt beat you by 9999, and Dennis is correct (which he is), you're claiming 10001?
As for cheerleaders, first wife was, second was not. Based on this small, unscientific sample, I'll take not. Perhaps I should do more research?
I don't think anyone actually believes either guy's claim.
@Vern, 10,001?
Or maybe Vern's math is bad.
And maybe Big John was prone from all the effort when he measured.
chaos, disorgination, randomness? Doesn't sound like you Entropy??
Hi Al, C.C. & gang, it was a good puzzle today but bittersweet from Mr. N. We got stuck not knowing all of the names, e.g. Eldrick? No wonder he changed it to 'Tiger'. Earvin? Magic sound better.
I'm surprised that no one posted a link to the Beach Boy's hit kokomo ?
Blessings upon Zeus;it is raining cats and dogs and lightening bolts are bouncing off the Redwoods!
The theme today is...
well, here is a little Flydini humor more my speed
How interesting that 29D was ONE L. I was just discussing this terminology with someone on Saturday. Having this in the cw today was both refreshing and coincidental, lucky me.
There are no TPK's in Hawaii, though the SNORKELING is great.
JD said: "The theme today is...
well, here is a little Flydini humor more my speed."
That's one of my favorite routines of all time!
Hello all:
An interesting day of comments; I felt bad for all the bloggers who are not sports fans, but it was all doable.
We have so many fresh faces, please send your pictures to C.C. so they can be added to our blogger photos. Blind people like me need the bigger versions to see.
JD how funny is that!! I wish I could have had you for my teacher!!!!
Good Evening all,
What a pleasure, another Dan Naddor puzzle today. Got the theme early, but had no idea about "Prime Time". Thanks, Al, for the reference and terrific write-up.
Some scary weather here in SoCal today. Flooded streets, mud slides, vehicle accidents, possible tornado. Huge winds, inverted umbrellas, etc. Bill G.--You okay?
@Lemonade-You are rightful to boast Aaron's achievement. Congratulations to him!
@Vern-LOL!
So funny JD. Thanks for that humor. I sure miss Johnny!
JD - thanks for the great clip of Flydini...I never stayed up long enough to watch those shows, but have seen most of them on tape or DVD.
I have nothing of real interest to add this evening. I'm just writing to let everyone know that we did not get washed away in a flash flood today. Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god, must have been busy elsewhere because it barely sprinkled for the six hours or so we were away from home. Tomorrow is supposed to be a real "gully washer".
Warren, thanks for the Beach Boys "Kokomo". Loved it then, love it now.
JD, Flydini is RFLMAO! Absolute genius!
HADJ vs HAJJ.. For some reason, I thought the primary spelling was HADJ. It worked well for me with this puzzle, but I'll have to remember that it is just a variant spelling in the future.
Ah yes, night has fallen and it is time for reflection and innuendo; just noticed Robin's comment about her big 'pom poms;' does a man's heart good to speculate. Yes, do send in all your cheerleader and basketball short short pictures.
3 different women a night it would take 18 and one half years, without a break to get to 20,000. The question is who would want to? And the magic that contracted HIV from too many slam dunks, also does not appeal.
Thank you all for the kind words about my boy, he is a keeper
Nice to see so many young people doin puzzles and talking about them, C.C. my regards.
MJ asked if I was OK after the storm.
Yep, I'm fine. We live on a hill in Manhattan Beach so no problem with flooding. (Long Beach residents weren't so lucky.) There was a lot of rain and one loud clap of thunder. We got a new roof on our house about a year ago so that makes me feel more secure. More rain to come over the next couple of days. I'm worried about the people in the burn areas.
Assuming he did have 20,000 trysts, at 30 minutes each, it would have taken him over a year to complete. Can you guess how many years it took for him to recover?
Per the earlier request from anon, here is another sentence with Entropy (the concept, not our room mate) in it:
Die Entropie der Welt strebt einem Maximum zu.
- Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (Born Rudolf Gottlieb,[1] January 2, 1822 – August 24, 1888)
Cheers!
JzB the on his second and final marriage (no cheerleaders) for whoever counts these things, and it probably doesn't have anything to do with entropy anyway trombonist
I think Magic, and especially Wilt, had egos just a tad bit larger than average. Wilt would be much less successful in the NBA today when there are many more big guys his size that he couldn't push around and dunk over.
Good evening, Al, C.C. and fellow sports fans!
I did this puzzle in the wee, small hours of the a.m. and don't remember much other than that it was a delight and that I actually got the sports references without leaning on Google or on people wearing NFL/NBA jackets on the train . That's a tribute to Dan Naddor's ability to keep the unknown and knowable answers in tight proximity. NOT doing Naddor puzzle isn't an option, IMO.
Al: your write up was spectacular today, along with the links.
News Flash:
Tiger Woods is reportedly in"in- patient rehab" to deal with his "addiction." I wonder if Magic and Wilt had that option to keep their "numbers" in the lower ranges of the thousands? And would they, in a less "enlightened" time have taken advantage of such therapy? Call me highly skeptical in regard to Mr. Woods' treatment.
In comedy "kills" and "slays" seem to, perhaps recently, have become synonymous, and they're both good things. Words change. The worst thing to happen is to bore or silence an audience.
Mena SUVARI was loverly and perfectly cast in American Beauty, but Ms Annette Benning [50/50 odds I botched her name] was breathtaking in her role. That is one of my favorite movies ever. In my next incarnation/life I wish to write dialogs like those in the film.
I thought cheerleaders had POM PONS. Regardless, they keep the crowd enthused and I'm sure an "anonybomber" will correct me if I'm wrong!
Oh PJB, you may have opened a huge can of worms, the great "Pom-Pom/Pompon Debate" :o)
I was on the "pom-pom" side (but then I thought it was "hadj", so what do I know?) I got curious and checked Wikipedia. I know Wikipedia is hardly the Oracle at Delphi, but it is a place to start. This is what they said.
"The use of the similar-sounding rendition "pom-pom" is very common, especially among popular culture, including films, entertainment sources and general laypeople, but most cheerleaders, coaches, cheer equipment suppliers and manufacturers and others involved in the sport will use the term "pompon". Often, pompons are referred to simply as "poms".
When speaking about clothing or decorative purposes, rather than cheerleading uses, the spelling pom-pom is very common and considered correct in such context. Therein it contains almost the same exclusivity that pom-pon enjoys among cheerleading professionals."
Any of our former cheerleaders have any comments?
BTW, PJB, I agree that Annette Benning was spectacular in American Beauty. I had been pleased to hear it when Warren Beatty (probably another 10,000+ guy, but at least not a braggart) got sensible, figured out he wasn't going to find anybody else to compare with her, and settled down to what seems to be a happy marriage.
It is after 2 a.m. the day after this puzzle appeared. I'm surprised that no one mentioned the link to the Russian YouTube of Witchy Women. I could sight-read some of the Russian but didn't know any of the words.
Got a kick out of Jon Stewart's intro of Bruce Springsteen. All of you from the middle of the country and west coast may not know that people from New Jersey don't ask each other what town they are from but ask what exit on the NJ tpk.
After 4 years of college bibliographies and 2 years of grad school papers, I never heard of Et Seq. Used Ibid and Op Cit all the time but don't remember what they mean now so many years later.
Haven't visited here in quite awhile. I fell and hurt my wrist about 6 weeks ago and couldn't write or type for the first 2 weeks. I rarely watch t.v. without working on a craft project of some kind (beading is my main interest now but I always have a knitting or crochet project going too) so having an injured wrist was really hard for me. I finally went to the doctor last Wed. and found out that I didn't break any bones but it is still sore at times.
Didn't have too much trouble with this puzzle but didn't get BEDS or LEW. Filled in a lot from perps because I didn't know some of the sports references, like Tiger's first name or Yogi's.
MamaRuth1950,
Sorry about your wrist. I moved your comment back to today (Jan 21) because I am probably the only one who reads the comment on an 2-day old puzzle.
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