Theme: White House Insiders - The initials of eight presidents, their number of the presidency indicated in the brackets, are embedded inside each familiar phrase.
23A. *Obligation payable within a year (37): SHORT-TERM NOTE. Richard Milhous Nixon.
38A. *Ceremonial, as Anglican ritual (31): HIGH CHURCH. Herbert Clark Hoover.
54A. *Line dancer? (18): CHORUS GIRL. Ulysses S. Grant. His real first name is Hiram, which appears in crossword occasionally.
75A. *Double martini, e.g. (32): STIFF DRINK. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
92A. *AOL service (44): WEB HOSTING. Barack Hussein Obama.
110A. *Arizona attraction (34): PAINTED DESERT. Dwight David Eisenhower. Ike.
16D. *Hurting for money (33): CASH STRAPPED. Harry S. Truman.
60D. *Aviation pioneer (40): WILBUR WRIGHT. Ronald Wilson Reagan.
84D. Clothing embroidery, maybe, and a hint to finding the "insiders" in the answers to starred clues: MONOGRAM
All of the initials span two words. I don't think it's possible to find phrases containing JFK & LBJ due to their consonant combination.
After seeing the puzzle title and the bracketed numbers in the starred theme clues, I grokked the theme immediately. Unfortunately it did not help my solve much, as I only know the presidency numbers of Obama and Reagan. And I only know the middle initials of FDR, DDE & HST.
A few thorny spots here and there. Overall a very pleasant solve. Great to see Mike Peluso's byline. It's been a long time. The Valentine's Day last Sunday might have bumped Mike's President's Day puzzle to today.
Across:
1. Chatterbox: MAGPIE. Noisy.
7. Seven Sisters school: VASSAR. Jackie Kennedy attended Vassar.
13. PSAT takers: JRS
19. Some L-shaped wrenches: ALLENS. The hexagonal wrenches.
20. Substandard: CRUMMY
21. Moray, say: EEL
22. Palindromic Altar: ARA. Latin for "altar".
25. Visits: STOPS BY
27. PC key: TAB. Would prefer just "Computer key". PC suggests abbreviation. TAB is not.
28. Dutchman who painted "Gypsy Girl": HALS (Frans). Here is the "Gypsy Girl".
29. Blonde bombshell Diana: DORS. Very Marilyn-like.
30. Beauty, to Keats: TRUTH. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty".
31. Illness: MALADY
33. "__ match?": GOT A
34. Two-time U.S. Open champ: AGASSI (Andre). He has such a soft voice.
37. Can, after "is": ABLE TO
42. Turkey, maybe: TOM. Mr. Turkey.
43. Web addresses, briefly: URLS
44. In a few minutes: SOON. So is ANON.
46. Californie, e.g.: ETAT. State. Californie is French for California. We also have Spanish for states ESTADOS (6D. Tejas y Nuevo México, por ejemplo).
47. Span. title: SRTA (Señorita). And MADAME (120A. Frau, in France). Frau is German for Madam.
48. Authority to decide: SAY-SO
50. Kiss, to Luis: BESO. As in Paul Anka's song "Eso Beso" (That Kiss).
53. Tic or twinge: SPASM
57. Use FedEx: SHIP. Thought of MAIL first.
58. Audi rival: BMW
63. Filled French fare: CREPES. Nice alliteration.
66. Eave droppers: ICICLES. Great clue.
68. Mountain man, maybe: LONER. "Deliverance" is a scary movie.
69. Santiago native: CHILEAN. Santiago is the capital of Chile.
70. Synagogue text: TALMUD (TAHL-mood). Literally "instruction" in Hebrew.
71. Leisurely stroll: PASEO. New word to me.
72. Mob enforcer: GOON
74. Auction activities: BIDS
77. When repeated, 1963 hit with alleged obscene lyrics determined by the FBI to be "unintelligible at any speed": LOUIE. Faintly remember someone mentioned "Louie Louie" on the blog before. Sex & drug lyrics, I presume.
80. Come up short: FAIL
81. Self-reproach: SHAME
86. He orbited Earth 314 days before John: YURI (Gagarin)
87. Agreement: PACT
88. Polite rural reply: YES'M
90. Hymn starter: O GOD
91. State so. of Queensland: NSW (New South Wales)
96. Nearby: AROUND
98. Ancient invader of Greece: XERXES. The Persian king. Quite creepy in the movie "300".
100. Remedy: CURE
101. Punic Wars general: SCIPIO (SIP-ee-oh). The Roman general who defeated Hannibal. Stymied me.
102. "Able was __ ...": I ERE I. The famous palindrome "Able was I ere I saw Elba".
104. Woody's son: ARLO (Guthrie)
105. Theodore, to Wally: BEAV. "Leave it to Beaver".
106. L on a tag: Abbr.: LGE (Large). Not fond the clue. Letter repetition.
108. RSVP option: REGRETS
113. Ultimate degree: NTH
114. Old "King" Cole: NAT. Why "Old"?
115. Way of the Romans?: APPIAN. The Appian Way. Ancient Roman road.
116. Genesis peak: ARARAT. Where Noah's Ark landed.
117. Relaxed, in a way: SAT
118. Chicken general?: TSO. General Tso's Chicken.
119. Save: RESCUE
Down:
23A. *Obligation payable within a year (37): SHORT-TERM NOTE. Richard Milhous Nixon.
38A. *Ceremonial, as Anglican ritual (31): HIGH CHURCH. Herbert Clark Hoover.
54A. *Line dancer? (18): CHORUS GIRL. Ulysses S. Grant. His real first name is Hiram, which appears in crossword occasionally.
75A. *Double martini, e.g. (32): STIFF DRINK. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
92A. *AOL service (44): WEB HOSTING. Barack Hussein Obama.
110A. *Arizona attraction (34): PAINTED DESERT. Dwight David Eisenhower. Ike.
16D. *Hurting for money (33): CASH STRAPPED. Harry S. Truman.
60D. *Aviation pioneer (40): WILBUR WRIGHT. Ronald Wilson Reagan.
84D. Clothing embroidery, maybe, and a hint to finding the "insiders" in the answers to starred clues: MONOGRAM
All of the initials span two words. I don't think it's possible to find phrases containing JFK & LBJ due to their consonant combination.
After seeing the puzzle title and the bracketed numbers in the starred theme clues, I grokked the theme immediately. Unfortunately it did not help my solve much, as I only know the presidency numbers of Obama and Reagan. And I only know the middle initials of FDR, DDE & HST.
A few thorny spots here and there. Overall a very pleasant solve. Great to see Mike Peluso's byline. It's been a long time. The Valentine's Day last Sunday might have bumped Mike's President's Day puzzle to today.
Across:
1. Chatterbox: MAGPIE. Noisy.
7. Seven Sisters school: VASSAR. Jackie Kennedy attended Vassar.
13. PSAT takers: JRS
19. Some L-shaped wrenches: ALLENS. The hexagonal wrenches.
20. Substandard: CRUMMY
21. Moray, say: EEL
22. Palindromic Altar: ARA. Latin for "altar".
25. Visits: STOPS BY
27. PC key: TAB. Would prefer just "Computer key". PC suggests abbreviation. TAB is not.
28. Dutchman who painted "Gypsy Girl": HALS (Frans). Here is the "Gypsy Girl".
29. Blonde bombshell Diana: DORS. Very Marilyn-like.
30. Beauty, to Keats: TRUTH. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty".
31. Illness: MALADY
33. "__ match?": GOT A
34. Two-time U.S. Open champ: AGASSI (Andre). He has such a soft voice.
37. Can, after "is": ABLE TO
42. Turkey, maybe: TOM. Mr. Turkey.
43. Web addresses, briefly: URLS
44. In a few minutes: SOON. So is ANON.
46. Californie, e.g.: ETAT. State. Californie is French for California. We also have Spanish for states ESTADOS (6D. Tejas y Nuevo México, por ejemplo).
47. Span. title: SRTA (Señorita). And MADAME (120A. Frau, in France). Frau is German for Madam.
48. Authority to decide: SAY-SO
50. Kiss, to Luis: BESO. As in Paul Anka's song "Eso Beso" (That Kiss).
53. Tic or twinge: SPASM
57. Use FedEx: SHIP. Thought of MAIL first.
58. Audi rival: BMW
63. Filled French fare: CREPES. Nice alliteration.
66. Eave droppers: ICICLES. Great clue.
68. Mountain man, maybe: LONER. "Deliverance" is a scary movie.
69. Santiago native: CHILEAN. Santiago is the capital of Chile.
70. Synagogue text: TALMUD (TAHL-mood). Literally "instruction" in Hebrew.
71. Leisurely stroll: PASEO. New word to me.
72. Mob enforcer: GOON
74. Auction activities: BIDS
77. When repeated, 1963 hit with alleged obscene lyrics determined by the FBI to be "unintelligible at any speed": LOUIE. Faintly remember someone mentioned "Louie Louie" on the blog before. Sex & drug lyrics, I presume.
80. Come up short: FAIL
81. Self-reproach: SHAME
86. He orbited Earth 314 days before John: YURI (Gagarin)
87. Agreement: PACT
88. Polite rural reply: YES'M
90. Hymn starter: O GOD
91. State so. of Queensland: NSW (New South Wales)
96. Nearby: AROUND
98. Ancient invader of Greece: XERXES. The Persian king. Quite creepy in the movie "300".
100. Remedy: CURE
101. Punic Wars general: SCIPIO (SIP-ee-oh). The Roman general who defeated Hannibal. Stymied me.
102. "Able was __ ...": I ERE I. The famous palindrome "Able was I ere I saw Elba".
104. Woody's son: ARLO (Guthrie)
105. Theodore, to Wally: BEAV. "Leave it to Beaver".
106. L on a tag: Abbr.: LGE (Large). Not fond the clue. Letter repetition.
108. RSVP option: REGRETS
113. Ultimate degree: NTH
114. Old "King" Cole: NAT. Why "Old"?
115. Way of the Romans?: APPIAN. The Appian Way. Ancient Roman road.
116. Genesis peak: ARARAT. Where Noah's Ark landed.
117. Relaxed, in a way: SAT
118. Chicken general?: TSO. General Tso's Chicken.
119. Save: RESCUE
Down:
1. Caravel feature: MAST
2. Granada palace: ALHAMBRA (al-HAM-bruh). Literally "the red one" in Arabic. Dictionary says The Alhambra is the finest example of Moorish architecture in Spain. Unknown to me.
3. How multi-nationals trade: GLOBALLY
5. Because: IN THAT
7. TV add-ons: VCRS
8. A slot machine has one: ARM
9. Partial rainbow: SUNDOG. Also new to me. Why "dog"?
10. Glib: SMOOTH
11. Amphibious vehicle: AMTRAC. No idea. It stands for Am(phibious) + Trac(tor), carrying troops from sea to shore.
12. Bar array: RYES. Was picturing drinks.
13. Fun: JEST
14. Take back: RETRACT
15. Shed, with "off": SLOUGH. Clear Ayes/Kazie/Lemonade just mentioned the different pronunciations of this word when it denotes different meaning.
17. Wall St. hedger: ARB (Arbitrager)
18. St. Pete athlete: RAY. Tampa Bay Rays.
24. Nevada Northern Railway Museum city: ELY. I glanced at the cheat sheet.
26. School gp.: PTA
32. Not as much: LESS
33. Knife hyped on TV: GINSU. But "WAIT, there's more (52A).
35. DTs sufferers: SOTS. DT = Delirium Tremens.
36. Islamic leader: IMAM
37. Country N. of Slovenia: AUS (Austria)
38. Makers of beds?: HOERS. Flower beds. Tricky clue.
39. Judge, e.g.: HEARER. Oh well, you can just about ER-ize any verb.
40. Water and elec.: UTILS
41. Snitch: RAT
45. Sarrusophone cousins: OBOES
47. Pitch: SPIEL. Sales pitch.
49. Form a certain front, in meteorology: OCCLUDE (uh-KLOOD). First encounter with this word.
51. Bone formation: OSTOSIS
52. Remove, as a silly grin: WIPE OFF
53. Reduces: SHRINKS
55. Listens to: HEEDS
56. Thief, in slang: GANEF. Hebrew for "thief". Stumper for me.
2. Granada palace: ALHAMBRA (al-HAM-bruh). Literally "the red one" in Arabic. Dictionary says The Alhambra is the finest example of Moorish architecture in Spain. Unknown to me.
3. How multi-nationals trade: GLOBALLY
5. Because: IN THAT
7. TV add-ons: VCRS
8. A slot machine has one: ARM
9. Partial rainbow: SUNDOG. Also new to me. Why "dog"?
10. Glib: SMOOTH
11. Amphibious vehicle: AMTRAC. No idea. It stands for Am(phibious) + Trac(tor), carrying troops from sea to shore.
12. Bar array: RYES. Was picturing drinks.
13. Fun: JEST
14. Take back: RETRACT
15. Shed, with "off": SLOUGH. Clear Ayes/Kazie/Lemonade just mentioned the different pronunciations of this word when it denotes different meaning.
17. Wall St. hedger: ARB (Arbitrager)
18. St. Pete athlete: RAY. Tampa Bay Rays.
24. Nevada Northern Railway Museum city: ELY. I glanced at the cheat sheet.
26. School gp.: PTA
32. Not as much: LESS
33. Knife hyped on TV: GINSU. But "WAIT, there's more (52A).
35. DTs sufferers: SOTS. DT = Delirium Tremens.
36. Islamic leader: IMAM
37. Country N. of Slovenia: AUS (Austria)
38. Makers of beds?: HOERS. Flower beds. Tricky clue.
39. Judge, e.g.: HEARER. Oh well, you can just about ER-ize any verb.
40. Water and elec.: UTILS
41. Snitch: RAT
45. Sarrusophone cousins: OBOES
47. Pitch: SPIEL. Sales pitch.
49. Form a certain front, in meteorology: OCCLUDE (uh-KLOOD). First encounter with this word.
51. Bone formation: OSTOSIS
52. Remove, as a silly grin: WIPE OFF
53. Reduces: SHRINKS
55. Listens to: HEEDS
56. Thief, in slang: GANEF. Hebrew for "thief". Stumper for me.
57. "Danke __": SCHON. "Thank you very much" in German.
58. Drill insert: BIT
59. 1988 Motown acquirer: MCA
64. __-de-vie: brandy: EAU
67. Early 10th century year: CMIII. 903.
68. Not prompt for: LATE TO
69. Stored ropes, e.g.: COILS
71. Intimidate mentally, with "out": PSYCH
72. "Peer Gynt Suite" composer: GRIEG (Edvard). Nope. Don't know this Norwegian composer.
76. Pop singer Taylor __: DAYNE. I wanted SWIFT.
77. Wildcat with tufted ears: LYNX. Also the name of our Minnesota WNBA team.
78. River of Yorkshire: OUSE (ooz).
82. Lobe dangler: HOOP. Earrings.
83. 2000 Best New Artist Grammy winner: AGUILERA (Christina). Beautiful voice.
87. Euro preceders: PESETAS (puh-SEY-tuh). The Spanish money.
89. Paving material: MACADAM. Named after the Scottish engineer who invented this material.
92. Failed to be: WEREN'T
93. Abrasion: SCRAPE
94. Blooms from bulbs: TULIPS
95. Having a twist: IRONIC. Had to bend my brain into a pretzel to think of the answer.
97. Yankee who is the A.L. career leader in saves: RIVERA (Mariano). From Panama. I like players who spend their entire career with one team.
99. Signer, at times: XER
101. But, to Cassius: SED. Like in "Non vi sed virtue" (not by force but by virtue). Yet one more new word to me.
103. What a colon means, in analogies: IS TO
104. On __ with: A PAR
105. Nota __: BENE. Literally "note well" in Latin.
107. Kitchen trailer?: ETTE. Kitchenette.
108. Some OR personnel: RNS
109. SFO info: ETA. ETA seems to appear more than ETD.
111. Cross shape: TAU
112. Down: SAD. "Where do you go when you're blue?...". Beautiful song. I love The Corrs.
58. Drill insert: BIT
59. 1988 Motown acquirer: MCA
64. __-de-vie: brandy: EAU
67. Early 10th century year: CMIII. 903.
68. Not prompt for: LATE TO
69. Stored ropes, e.g.: COILS
71. Intimidate mentally, with "out": PSYCH
72. "Peer Gynt Suite" composer: GRIEG (Edvard). Nope. Don't know this Norwegian composer.
76. Pop singer Taylor __: DAYNE. I wanted SWIFT.
77. Wildcat with tufted ears: LYNX. Also the name of our Minnesota WNBA team.
78. River of Yorkshire: OUSE (ooz).
82. Lobe dangler: HOOP. Earrings.
83. 2000 Best New Artist Grammy winner: AGUILERA (Christina). Beautiful voice.
87. Euro preceders: PESETAS (puh-SEY-tuh). The Spanish money.
89. Paving material: MACADAM. Named after the Scottish engineer who invented this material.
92. Failed to be: WEREN'T
93. Abrasion: SCRAPE
94. Blooms from bulbs: TULIPS
95. Having a twist: IRONIC. Had to bend my brain into a pretzel to think of the answer.
97. Yankee who is the A.L. career leader in saves: RIVERA (Mariano). From Panama. I like players who spend their entire career with one team.
99. Signer, at times: XER
101. But, to Cassius: SED. Like in "Non vi sed virtue" (not by force but by virtue). Yet one more new word to me.
103. What a colon means, in analogies: IS TO
104. On __ with: A PAR
105. Nota __: BENE. Literally "note well" in Latin.
107. Kitchen trailer?: ETTE. Kitchenette.
108. Some OR personnel: RNS
109. SFO info: ETA. ETA seems to appear more than ETD.
111. Cross shape: TAU
112. Down: SAD. "Where do you go when you're blue?...". Beautiful song. I love The Corrs.
46 comments:
Thanks to CC and Hahtool, now have picture of old fogey. Should have used an ALHAMBRA pic instead. (Wonderful place to study mathematical symmetry in 2D. I made 2 math videos there.)
All that work I put in counting presidents instead of sheep was help, but after the fact.
Never heard of AMTRAC with a C!
Have a great day all!
Fermatprime,
So nice to finally "see" you. I should start counting presidents.
JD,
And the capital of the Han Dynasty is Xi'An of course.
Clear Ayes,
What a great story you weaved yesterday!
PBJ,
You are missed.
PS The ALHAMBRA consists of many, many castles and various other buildings. Many beautiful gardens also.
Annette & Irish Jim,
I liked your clues for STONERS yesterday.
Jerome,
I finally understood your "Don't leave me hangin'. You said 92% of the Chinese people are Han. What comprises the ethnicity of the remaining 8% of the people?" & HAN jest. You are simply too good for me.
Melissa,
This puzzle is tailor-made for you, no?
After a bunch of searching, I found a possible explanation (quoted below) for sun dogs, moon dogs, and weather dogs in Google books:Folk-etymology: a dictionary of verbal corruptions or words perverted in ...
By Abram Smythe Palmer
Sun-dog, the phenomena of false suns which sometimes attend or dog the true when seen through a mist (parJielions). In Norfolk a sun-dog is a light spot near the sun, and waterdogs are light watery clouds ; dog here is no doubt the same word as dag, dew or mist, as " a little dag of rain " (Philolog. Soe. Trans. 1855, p. 80). Cf. Icel. dogg, Dan. and Swed. dug, = Eng. "dew." In Cornwall the fragment of a rainbow formed on a raincloud just above the horizon is called a weather-dog (B. Hunt, Romances and Drolls of West of England, vol. ii p. 242).
At Whitby, when the moon is surrounded by a halo with watery clouds, the seamen say there will be a change of weather, for the "moon dogs" are about.—T. F. T. Dyer, Eng. Folk-lore, p. 38.
For me this is the hardest Sunday puzzle in many moons, both in deception and esoteric knowledge. I had to chuckle at Makers of beds?: HOERS, both because of the room for our Dfettes to play, but because it was the first misdirection clue I ever saw, years ago. I also heard PEER GYNT a bazillion times from my 8th grade music teacher, who adored ths piece. Speaking of music, the saga of Louie Louie is pretty entertaining stuff, which hit when I was a teenager.
For those who like old Roman history, the life of SCIPIO is interesting reading.
I have never heard of this meaning of PASEO , and was unfamiliar with SUNDOG , and I also never used the spelling GANEF as the sound is more GAHN, and I use Goniff, as the transliteration. The waters are always murky when trying to represent words from languages which use a different alphabet, though this word is fairly popular, and can be heard in many movies.
One of those Sundays, where the first pass is so discouraging, it is hard to go back and finish, but when I was little I was a student of the presidents, so theme intrigued me, and now much later, it is done. Lots of work today, after a night at the Italian Festival avoiding the throw up rides; and, the masses of tweenies who milled in circles all night. Anyone who thins south Florida is all old people just needs to go to a county fair or festival.
Dennis, you okay? Where are my ‘Lympic lyricists?
later
Good Morning, CC. This was a real toughie for me. I knew a lot more than I thought, but had trouble with some of the theme responses. Never got the theme, and probably it wouldn't have come to me even if I had looked at the long responses all day.
I thought there were too many words ending in "s" in today's puzzle.
Peer Gynt Suite was something I listened to a lot as a child.
Happy Belated Birthday, Argyle.
Glad to have been a help to you, fermatprime.
QOD: Credit is a system whereby a person who cannot pay gets another person who cannot pay to guarantee that he can pay. ~ Charles Dickens
Good Morning All, Thank goodness Cruciverb.com was back in business last night. If I hadn't spent the better part of an hour on this puzzle then, I'd still be plugging away right now. I don't know if this solve was a record number of passes for me, but I know I went back and forth, up and down, a lot.
I knew the theme had something to do with Presidents, but I didn't understand how until I finally figured out 85D MONOGRAM. A big flashing light bulb went on. It took me a while to find all the initials, but it was extremely satisfying when all the POTUS were identified.
There were some things that, even after I got them via the perps, I didn't know if they were right or wrong. SUN DOG, AMTRAC, OCCLUDES, OSTOSIS, GANEF, DAYNE and RIVERA were all fill I had to check post puzzle.
Really tough unless you're a student of Latin and Roman history is the 101 cross of SED and SCIPIO.
I didn't like 71A PASEO for "Leisurely stroll". (Take it easy, Jerome.) It may be in the online dictionaries, but I've never heard it used in English, as "Want to take a paseo?", and I live in near-bilingual California. Lots of other Spanish fill, ESTADOS, SRTA, BESO, PESETAS, so would it have hurt to clue it as "Leisurely stroll in Madrid"?
Also didn't like 106A LGE clued as "L on a tag: Abbr". Both LGE and L are abbreviations for Large. "Size on a tag: Abbr", or "Tag info" would have been better.
Favorite (only) trick clue - "Maker of beds?" for HOER.
Taken all together, this one was both fun and frustrating. Phew, is it too early for a STIFF DRINK?
Happy day lated birthday Argyle!
C.C. and fellow Sunday bloggers:
Whew! What a walk through ancient culture, language, and folk phrases! I thought this was not especially difficult, just long and interesting. That is except the top center which completely stumped me. Vassar was nowhere near my line of thinking. And the theme was not helpful to me.
It's lovely to reminisce about places I've visited, such as the Alhambra and Greece, etc.
My heart jumped to see the Painted Desert and quite a bit of Spanish although I believe "paseo" should be clued as Sp in some way as was "kiss to Luis". Unless one lives in the Southwest where paseo is commonly used as a walkway, it would be foreign.
As for Paul Anka's "Eso Beso", that translation has always bothered me; properly named, it would be "ese beso" since the word kiss is masculine; I would translate "eso beso" as I kiss that, or that which I kiss.
Lemonade and Al:
Thanks so much for your intricate explanations. I learn so much here.
Have a great Sunday, all. Adios.
Also, I love Peer Gynt, especially, "Morning" which I first heard on a chilly day in the Rocky Mtns. of Colorado.
Chickie:
Thank you for your kind thoughts. The prognosis is not good; he is on life support and his wife shall have to make an agonizing decision in the near future.
The baby's broken leg is mending.
good morning c.c. and all,
perfect sunday-level puzzle, nice mix of gettables and head scratchers.
favorite clue was eave droppers for icicles. ELY, SED, SCIPIO and GANEF were total unknowns. i see PASEO alot in place names, but had no idea of it's meaning.
c.c., you mean tailor-made for me because of the theme? i would never have thought about the publish date being traded for last week's valentine theme, but you're probably right. you are always thinking.
thanks for the louie link, lemonade.
happy birthday argyle!
Hello all.
The San Antonio river walk is known as el paseo del rio. It is a nice little stroll.
Gee, are Mike and Merl the same person? Same clue and answer for icicle.
Off to visit our son to watch
Canada and USA play some hockey.
Don't know whom to root for since half of the Canadians are SJ Sharks.
Found the other eddyB @chess.com
68 tg
eddyB
Happy Sunday, all.
Hated yesterday's puzzle. 'Nuff said.
Don't get LAT x/w on Sundays - in fact, I didn't even get a Sunday paper today.
They locked down the GBRV because of snow. They pulled all the blinds and Nurse Ratchet said she would "lock-up" anybody who looked out of the doors or windows. She said there was 18 feet of snow outside and we would have to eat bread and water for a month until the food delivery trucks could finally get through. I feel the inmates may become agitated. (OR - is the GBRV making a small fortune at our expense?)
Did get to watch some of the Olympics. I discovered this GREAT, genteel game. The men and women play separately and on different days, so there's none of the "groping" and "feeling" like in figure skating.
A contestant lays down on the ice and pushes a granite, brightly colored tombstone down the ice. Before he does that he cleans off the bottom of it to be sure it's dirt free, but that's NOT ENOUGH. His friends SWEEP the ice with brooms to be sure a previous contestant hasn't soiled it.
Then the next team does the same thing.
They try to get the tombstones in a part of the ice that has a large "bulls eye" on it. Then one of them pushes the tombstone real hard and hits all the others. The brightly colored tombstones go skidding in different directions and it looks like a giant fireworks display. Then they all hug and kiss, clean up the ice and go home.
To the best of my knowledge there are no rules and nobody keeps score. Every body leaves happily and the ice is pristine, unlike the mess left by hockey players, figure skaters and speed skaters.
The game is called "CURDLING".
(Previously observed)
p.s. Happy B-day, Argyle. Someone said after 64 you are entering the "prime" of your life. Personally, I'll go back beyond "choice", and re-live my life when it was plain ol' "select". They (whoever the hell "they" are) say, "Getting old ain't for sissies". They're right!! When the census arrives, and they ask my age, I'll just write in "Sissy"!!!
As for 65 being "middle age?" My saggin' butt! Who do you know that's 130 years old. Hope I brightened your day.
I must be off!
PS.
The other one has an Anon who is pressing every one to visit Corner
for a discussion of the puxxle.
Wonder if Rex will be angry when he gets back from the ACPT?
eddyB
I’ve enjoyed your site for some time.
Your site used to show the crossword puzzles that were printed the same ones printed in my local paper, the Saturday Globe and Mail (Toronto).
But now they don’t match. Is there a timing issue..ie date of publication, or is there somewhere I can get the answers.
This weekend’s puzzle is entitled: Hybrid Animals.
Thanks
Doug
Can fermatprime give us a mathematical equation that will disprove Buckeye's assertion that 65 is past middle aged? Go for those biblical lifespans... we're rooting for you, fermatprime!
It may well be that to Keats "Beauty is truth, truth beauty", but to fermatprime and other mathematically minded folk, Edna St Vincent Millay may have had a better handle on it. Who would have thought that geometry could be so emotionally stirring?
Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare
Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere
In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese
Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release
From dusty bondage into luminous air.
O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,
When first the shaft into his vision shone
Of light anatomized! Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they
Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.
- Edna St Vincent Millay
Check out CC's interview with Mike Peluso.
@Doug, Hybrid Animals is the Sunday Wayne R. Williams puzzle. It isn't online anywhere, so to blog it would require typing all the clues and answers in by hand. Are there just a couple answers you need to finish? Or were you looking for the full answer set?
Melissa,
You do remember each president and their exact presidency number, right?
EddyB,
What does your post ending number mean (today is 68)?
Lemonade & Al,
Thanks for the very informative links.
Lucina,
I am glad the baby is improving. One more question, how is "lock" different from "luck" in pronunciation (the vowel)?
c.c., i memorized the presidents in order, and some, not all, of the terms. it did help solving today.
Oh, Ok, NOW I understand my husbands interest in womens curling!! All they need is some spandex and cool sunglasses. Dick Button could commentate.....oh my, such artistic, control such elegance happening to that ICE.......Yikes!
ClearAyes, Jeannie, Carol, Annette, Hahtool. DODO. Chickie, Melissa, Lucina,Lois, CC,Kazie, et al and Gentlemen, I see a successful career ahead in designing the womens olympic curling team uniform!
Remember this day in history.....
4 CC. Can't spell or add. The 68 should be 99. Forgot about May.
eddyB
And May should have been March.
eddyB
Off to Burlingame since this is
#5. If you G Dianna Dors and go to Wiki, there is a very funny DF story about her and the Vicar.
CC. It is in the profile.
eddyB
Good afernoon, C.C. and all,
I thought today's theme was clever, indeed, and in fact it helped me with a couple of the theme fill. Came to the blog to find that I had a royal mess in the Northcentral. SUNFOG and AMTIAD had worked for me as I had no clue for 29A, DORS. Hopefully I'll remember for the next time.
C.C., LOL at you blog take on 33D, with 52A. Very clever!
Enjoy the day!
Hi all,
Lots of red letter help or I'd never have finished today. Needless to say I never had to learn presidents' names where I grew up, so I didn't get the theme at all.
I wonder about why presidents are so revered and remembered in historic sequence here. Our PMs never are. Only for their feats, if any.
I did remember my Latin ones.
ALHAMBRA was a gimme, since my DH and I met as we were leaving Granada. Always wished I'd met him a day earlier so we could have visited it together. We were heading for the east coast of Spain in 1971.
Lucina,
I guess I missed the story concerning your friend/relative(?). But I am sorry for them. Must be an awful choice to have to make.
Buckeye,
As always, you were good for at least one LOL. Thanks!
Clear Ayes- Not liking the way a word is clued is fine by me. I see clues all the time that are less than stellar, or perfectly clear. If you solve as many puzzles as I do a month, a hundred or more, you're bound to find a stinker now and then. But to me, that's no big deal. It's bound to happen, and Lord knows I've written many a stinker clue. As for PASEO, I think the clue is fine. I also see your point and would think your clue is fine too.
C.C.- When you sing alone is that a HAN SOLO? By the way, I sent you an email.
Is it morning already?
Dear Clear Ayes. Would that such questions were answerable within the framework of mathematics, an axiomatic system! (I hope that you were pulling my leg!!!) Poem is cool. I wonder if Ms. Millay ever contemplated Plato's notion of mathematical concepts existing in a realm of their own (?)
kazie, interesting question about presidents. i think it's just a method to familiarize oneself with all of the names, and have a general idea of when they served. it bothers me to hear an american of any age who has never heard of any presidents beyond washington, lincoln and kennedy.
being the egocentric country that we are, we of course are mostly ignorant of other countries' leaders and geography, and i include myself in that.
I read the puzzle title, then promptly forgot it! I couldn't figure out what those darn numbers in parentheses were trying to tell me! Not that it would've helped much since I never had to learn the presidents in sequence. Don't worry Melissa, I have heard of them all though!
I just very slowly worked my way thru the puzzle at a grueling pace with red letters on, and some guessing. I made it though, and really felt like I'd EARNED the win!
Lemonade: I took my mother to that festival years ago and there'd been very little Italian influence at the time. Even the music was local pop bands, instead of the Tarantellas and standard ethnic favorites we'd been looking forward to. It was an okay church carnival, but I felt labelling it as Italian was false advertising.
C.C.: Interesting question about the pronunciation of "luck" vs. "lock". My last name is pronounced with the vowel sound from "luck", but MANY people read it using the sound from "lock". I'd always assumed I wasn't annunciating clearly or spoke with an accent... I never considered there may be a logical reason for it! I look forward to Lucina's response too.
Argyle: That question sure goes well with your avatar!
Dennis: The weather was beautiful today! Frenchie must be enjoying a great start to her Florida vacation. Hopefully, we'll be able to maintain this until you get here too!
a quick hi before the hockey game..
enjoyable c/w, but NEVER got the theme; never memorized our presidents.
By the time I filled monogram, had all the clues filled in, except STIFF!!!! It was slow goin' as I knew just enough to keep circling.Scipio, Xerxes, Appian were gimmes, but I didn't know ganef, sundog,macadam or Alhambra...Took forever to fill schon and slough.I knew the words, but not the spelling. Hearing them and seeing them are different.
Jeez, I'm boring. I'm thinking that 90A could have had a better clue.Think about when we've heard or said that.really.
Loved "Louis, Louie" and all the extras from all of you today. Hi Fermatprime!Smiles Buckeye!
CC, I agree, Deliverance was a very scary movie.
We see so many Spanish words living in CA, but many times I have no idea of the translation.We used to have a lovely outdoor mall in our area called "El Paseo".
CC,
Do you know why we haven't heard from Dennis?
MR ED: Dennis may have gone to the crossword tournament this weekend in NY. A little while ago, he'd mentioned on the blog that he might go...
3, 5, 17, 257, 65537
I've never seen GANEF either, always GONIFF.
I liked today's puzzle better than yesterday's too even though I had to come here to grok the theme. I hadn't connected the numbers to the presidents.
I've enjoyed the curdling. Now off to watch the hockey.
~ Bill G.
Jerome, Sorry, poor sentence arrangement. I only meant that I wasn't disputing that PASEO is a valid English word.
On second thought....
EddyB, when the San Antonio River Walk starts to be called "The Paseo of the River", rather than "El Paseo Del Rio", then I'll start to believe PASEO has truly shifted from Spanish to English.
fermatprime, :o) I was afraid you were going to say that! Glad you liked the poem.
Melissa bee, Even with all its faults, television does us a great service when it presents shows like the 2008 miniseries "John Adams". I learned a lot about our second president and I bet a lot of other people did too.
CA, i've heard so many great things about that mini-series, i'm going to look for it at the library.
Bill G: Good of you to reference the known Fermat primes!
I always been fascinated by the story of Fermat's Last Theorem. I enjoyed the Public Television program about Andrew Wiles. It was frustrating to me how complex his proof was, nothing like Fermat could have had in mind. So was Fermat joking, had he made a mistake or is an elegant proof still waiting to be discovered, maybe by you!??
fermatprime, which prime are u?
outstanding game sooooo far!
I have never cared much for ice hockey but that was a very exciting third period.
Good night everyone.
C.C. There is a song or rhyme, "Old King Cole was a merry old soul -- a merry old soul was he....." That's all I remember.
And I think TAB is an abbreviation for something, but since I'm a Mac user, I'm not sure for what. Tabulation?
Cheers
sallie: "He called for his pipe in the middle of the night, and called for his fiddlers three".
There's more to that poisonous tale, but I won't go on. Mother Goose always scared me to death. e.g. "There was an old lady, who lived in a shoe, she had so many children, she didn't know what to do; she forced them to play in the street, and now she only has two".
BRUTAL.
Congrats to the US hockey team. Great game; great win.
SORRY!! They do keep score in "curdling", and the U.S. doesn't seem to be very good at it. I liked it better the way I explained it earlier.
To all those who understand my satire, good night. To those who don't, good night.
IMBO
Bill G. Most number theorists think that Fermat made an egregious mistake. If the proof were elementary, it would have been discovered in 300 years. There have been so many math geniuses (and I am not one of them).
JD. Why 65537 of course! Really cool number.
Sallie. From dictionary.com: (tab) Also called tabulator, a stop on a typewriter, actuated by a key, that moves the carriage, typing element, etc., a predetermined number of spaces, used for typing material in columns, for fixed indentations, etc. (What would we Mac people do without this key?)
C.C.:
I hope you see this; I have been enthralled watching the Olympics and just came to check before bedtime.
Lock and luck are often a problem for non English speakers. To say "lock" open your mouth widely, about 50 degrees or so, in fact it rhymes with "walk" so it's really an "a" sound, as in "aha". To say "luck: on the other hand, close your mouth almost completely but not quite, as in duck, buck, puck (there's a danger zone here with some words).
If you don't respond, I'll repeat this tomorrow. I hope it helps.
Good night!
Not to worry, Lucina. All posts go to C.C.'s mailbox.
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