Theme: Pseudo-Opposite - Words that start with a non-functioning reversing/negative prefix are punnily re-interpreted and clued as if the prefixes were real.
20A. Caucus member changing his mind about a candidate?: DENOMINATOR. The caucus member nominates, then de-nominates, hence he/she is a de-nominator.
30A. For the real thing?: ANTIPHONY. Antiphony (an-TIF-uh-nee) is "alternate or responsive singing by a choir in two divisions". New word to me. Anti phony. Pronunciation stress shift.
49A. Took back one's story?: UNRELATED. Related a story, then un-related ("Took back").
58A. Downsizing result?: DISPOSITION. Being disposed? I don't get this one.
Perhaps Al/Bob can tell us which prefixes are of Latin origin and which ones are of the Greek root.
So many other prefixes have the same "opposite" meaning: a (atypical), il (illegal), im (impersonal), in (inexpensive), ir (irrelevant), all placed in front of an adjective and its derivative noun.
Don "Hard G" plays piano (so does our editor Rich Norris), so quite a few music references in the grid:
19A. Bach's "__ the G String": AIR ON. The clip sounds familiar. Al might have linked it before.
45A. Key of Chopin's "Military Polonaise": A MAJOR. Got the MAJOR part easily.
52A. Carry __: A TUNE
2D. Swiftly, to Solti: ALLEGRO. Alliteration.
3D. Name associated with three Beethoven overtures: LEONORA. No idea. Wikipedia says Leonore is the original title of Beethoven's opera Fidelio, in which Leonara is disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio" and rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.
8D. Axton of country: HOYT. Got his name via crosses.
29D. Sharp or flat: OFF KEY
33D. Budapest-born conductor Antal: DORATI. A gimme for our on-the-road Jazzbumpa. I've never never heard of this guy.
39D. Early violin maker Andrea: AMATI. No AMATI/STRAD wobbling today.
60D. Last melody?: TAPS. Last melody call in military bases.
The relatively sparse theme entries allows for plenty of six-letter (total 12) and seven-letter (total 14) fill. Dennis would love those stacks of triple 7s in each Down quadrant.
Today is the first Friday in a long long time that we don't have a add/delete/substitute a letter string theme.
Across:
1. Cotton unit: BALE. Al just mentioned that BALE can also refer to 10 reams of paper.
5. "__ is life!": SUCH
9. Earns a fink moniker: BLABS. I don't associate blab with informing.
14. Seine sights: ILES. French for islands. Alliteration and assonance.
15. Circular cookie: OREO. Alliteration.
16. "__ Breath You Take": Police hit: EVERY. Nice song.
17. Unappetizing food: GLOP
18. Like some summer days: LAZY
23. Latin 101 verb: AMO. Latin for "I love".
24. Freudian subject: EGO
25. Asgard ruler: ODIN. Asgard is the home of those Norse gods.
26. Timberlake with six Grammys: JUSTIN. He and Jessica Biel are a cute couple.
28. Pointer: ARROW
32. Took it slow: LOAFED
34. Flow partner: EBB. Ebb and flow.
35. City NW of Provo: OREM. Wanted ENID the Oklahoma city.
36. Dan'l Webster, in a Twain story: FROG. The jumping frog.
40. Take to the cleaners: SOAK. Let's have a SOAK clue contest today. Mine: Get wet. Rhyming.
43. Remote abbr.: REW (Rewind)
53. "Gimme a minute!": NOT YET
54. Babysitter's bane: BRAT
56. Bug like a dog?: BEG. Good clue.
57. Cos. with ampersands, often: RRS. Railroad companies often have ampersands in them?
61. Choosing from a lineup, briefly: ID'ING
63. Smurf elder: PAPA. Not familiar with the Smurf. Wikipedia says this fellow is 542 years old.
64. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. Learned from doing Xword.
65. Scary words from the boss: SEE ME. Wanted FIRED.
66. Not fer: AGIN. For & Against.
67. Hammer part: PEEN
68. "To __ human ...": ERR IS. To forgive is divine.
69. Actress Sofer: RENA. Damn it, I can never remember her name. I like that shirt.
70. League of Nations muralist: SERT. Four letter muralist is always SERT the Spanish muralist. I was unaware of his League of Nations (Geneva) work though.
Down:
1. "So what?!": BIG DEAL
4. Hockey Hall of Fame nickname: ESPO (Phil). The clue means nothing to me. This ESPO guy tortures me all the time.
5. Reliable, as a citizen: SOLID.
6. Muse holding a globe: URANIA. Muse of astronomy. A globe in her left hand, a peg in the right.
7. Matisse reportedly called him "the father of us all": CEZANNE. Easy guess.
9. Endure: BEAR UP
10. VII x VIII: LVI. 7x8=56. I don't like the VI repetition. The simple "Roman 56" should be just fine.
11. Oxygenating tool: AERATOR. For the golf greens?
12. Fire retardant chemical: BROMINE. This word sounds like poison. I must be confusing it with some other chemical.
13. Case, for instance?: SYNONYM. Case is a synonym of "instance". In this case/instance. Excellent clue.
21. Yard machine: MOWER
22. Algonquin kin: OJIBWA. Just learned that Ojibwa = Chippewa.
27. Patronize: SHOP AT. And ARTSIER (42. Like a more pretentious museum patron). Patron echo.
31. "Superstation" letters: TBS
37. Hear clearly: GET
40. Common photo subject: SUNRISE. Beautiful!
41. Due in soon: ON ORDER
44. Online resource: WEB PAGE. Can't fit in Wikipedia.
46. Golden __: 50th anniversary: JUBILEE
47. Like a bogey, to a golfer: ONE OVER. I wrote down OVER PAR first.
48. Ruling: REGNANT. Same root with reign?
50. Cliff features: LEDGES. For the climbers to gain a toehold.
51. Visit unexpectedly: DROP IN
55. Yoga posture: ASANA. Maybe Lucina can show us some of her yoga pictures someday.
59. Trade punches: SPAR
62. Application form abbr.: NMI. No Middle Initial.
Answer grid.
Picture of the Day: Here is a happy photo of today's constructor Don Gagliardo and his beautiful wife Barbara in their backyard in the summer of 2009. Barbara loves shoes and inspired Don's great SHOE BOX puzzle.
C.C.
20A. Caucus member changing his mind about a candidate?: DENOMINATOR. The caucus member nominates, then de-nominates, hence he/she is a de-nominator.
30A. For the real thing?: ANTIPHONY. Antiphony (an-TIF-uh-nee) is "alternate or responsive singing by a choir in two divisions". New word to me. Anti phony. Pronunciation stress shift.
49A. Took back one's story?: UNRELATED. Related a story, then un-related ("Took back").
58A. Downsizing result?: DISPOSITION. Being disposed? I don't get this one.
Perhaps Al/Bob can tell us which prefixes are of Latin origin and which ones are of the Greek root.
So many other prefixes have the same "opposite" meaning: a (atypical), il (illegal), im (impersonal), in (inexpensive), ir (irrelevant), all placed in front of an adjective and its derivative noun.
Don "Hard G" plays piano (so does our editor Rich Norris), so quite a few music references in the grid:
19A. Bach's "__ the G String": AIR ON. The clip sounds familiar. Al might have linked it before.
45A. Key of Chopin's "Military Polonaise": A MAJOR. Got the MAJOR part easily.
52A. Carry __: A TUNE
2D. Swiftly, to Solti: ALLEGRO. Alliteration.
3D. Name associated with three Beethoven overtures: LEONORA. No idea. Wikipedia says Leonore is the original title of Beethoven's opera Fidelio, in which Leonara is disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio" and rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.
8D. Axton of country: HOYT. Got his name via crosses.
29D. Sharp or flat: OFF KEY
33D. Budapest-born conductor Antal: DORATI. A gimme for our on-the-road Jazzbumpa. I've never never heard of this guy.
39D. Early violin maker Andrea: AMATI. No AMATI/STRAD wobbling today.
60D. Last melody?: TAPS. Last melody call in military bases.
The relatively sparse theme entries allows for plenty of six-letter (total 12) and seven-letter (total 14) fill. Dennis would love those stacks of triple 7s in each Down quadrant.
Today is the first Friday in a long long time that we don't have a add/delete/substitute a letter string theme.
Across:
1. Cotton unit: BALE. Al just mentioned that BALE can also refer to 10 reams of paper.
5. "__ is life!": SUCH
9. Earns a fink moniker: BLABS. I don't associate blab with informing.
14. Seine sights: ILES. French for islands. Alliteration and assonance.
15. Circular cookie: OREO. Alliteration.
16. "__ Breath You Take": Police hit: EVERY. Nice song.
17. Unappetizing food: GLOP
18. Like some summer days: LAZY
23. Latin 101 verb: AMO. Latin for "I love".
24. Freudian subject: EGO
25. Asgard ruler: ODIN. Asgard is the home of those Norse gods.
26. Timberlake with six Grammys: JUSTIN. He and Jessica Biel are a cute couple.
28. Pointer: ARROW
32. Took it slow: LOAFED
34. Flow partner: EBB. Ebb and flow.
35. City NW of Provo: OREM. Wanted ENID the Oklahoma city.
36. Dan'l Webster, in a Twain story: FROG. The jumping frog.
40. Take to the cleaners: SOAK. Let's have a SOAK clue contest today. Mine: Get wet. Rhyming.
43. Remote abbr.: REW (Rewind)
53. "Gimme a minute!": NOT YET
54. Babysitter's bane: BRAT
56. Bug like a dog?: BEG. Good clue.
57. Cos. with ampersands, often: RRS. Railroad companies often have ampersands in them?
61. Choosing from a lineup, briefly: ID'ING
63. Smurf elder: PAPA. Not familiar with the Smurf. Wikipedia says this fellow is 542 years old.
64. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. Learned from doing Xword.
65. Scary words from the boss: SEE ME. Wanted FIRED.
66. Not fer: AGIN. For & Against.
67. Hammer part: PEEN
68. "To __ human ...": ERR IS. To forgive is divine.
69. Actress Sofer: RENA. Damn it, I can never remember her name. I like that shirt.
70. League of Nations muralist: SERT. Four letter muralist is always SERT the Spanish muralist. I was unaware of his League of Nations (Geneva) work though.
Down:
1. "So what?!": BIG DEAL
4. Hockey Hall of Fame nickname: ESPO (Phil). The clue means nothing to me. This ESPO guy tortures me all the time.
5. Reliable, as a citizen: SOLID.
6. Muse holding a globe: URANIA. Muse of astronomy. A globe in her left hand, a peg in the right.
7. Matisse reportedly called him "the father of us all": CEZANNE. Easy guess.
9. Endure: BEAR UP
10. VII x VIII: LVI. 7x8=56. I don't like the VI repetition. The simple "Roman 56" should be just fine.
11. Oxygenating tool: AERATOR. For the golf greens?
12. Fire retardant chemical: BROMINE. This word sounds like poison. I must be confusing it with some other chemical.
13. Case, for instance?: SYNONYM. Case is a synonym of "instance". In this case/instance. Excellent clue.
21. Yard machine: MOWER
22. Algonquin kin: OJIBWA. Just learned that Ojibwa = Chippewa.
27. Patronize: SHOP AT. And ARTSIER (42. Like a more pretentious museum patron). Patron echo.
31. "Superstation" letters: TBS
37. Hear clearly: GET
40. Common photo subject: SUNRISE. Beautiful!
41. Due in soon: ON ORDER
44. Online resource: WEB PAGE. Can't fit in Wikipedia.
46. Golden __: 50th anniversary: JUBILEE
47. Like a bogey, to a golfer: ONE OVER. I wrote down OVER PAR first.
48. Ruling: REGNANT. Same root with reign?
50. Cliff features: LEDGES. For the climbers to gain a toehold.
51. Visit unexpectedly: DROP IN
55. Yoga posture: ASANA. Maybe Lucina can show us some of her yoga pictures someday.
59. Trade punches: SPAR
62. Application form abbr.: NMI. No Middle Initial.
Answer grid.
Picture of the Day: Here is a happy photo of today's constructor Don Gagliardo and his beautiful wife Barbara in their backyard in the summer of 2009. Barbara loves shoes and inspired Don's great SHOE BOX puzzle.
C.C.
71 comments:
Good morning, C.C. and gang - as soon as I saw Don G.'s name, I knew this one would be fun, and it didn't disappoint. And as C.C. figured, I loved the triple stacks. Perhaps I just like the word.
Even once the theme became apparent with 20A, it still didn't make the remaining ones gimmes. And I had several unknowns, including Anton Dolati (I confidently put in Dvorak before remembering he's 'Antonin'), 'regnant', Ojibwa and Sert. We saw 'allegro' very recently. All in all, a most enjoyable puzzle.
C.C., many railroads have an ampersand in their name, such as the B & O. Google 'railroad names' and you'll see a bunch of them.
Windhover, walking ok today?
Don G., thanks for the picture; you guys make a handsome couple.
Today is National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day, National Walk to Work Day, and Reconciliation Day.
Today's Words of Wisdom: "Flattery is like cologne; to be smelt, not swallowed." -- Josh Billings
Here's a few vocabulary Fun Facts:
- Lethologica is the inability to remember a word.
- A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium.
- Snapping your fingers is called a fillip.
- Monday is the only day of the week that has a one-word anagram: dynamo.
Good Morning CC and All,
Tough, but doable for me this morning. I didn't get the theme and needed red letter help for Antiphony, Cezanne and Urania.
Nice picture Don.
Off to student lead conferences.
12 and a wake up.
Have a great day!
Good Morning CC and all. This one was over my head. I couldn't get the south west corner to save my life. The only theme answer that made sense to me was ANTIPHONY. Of course, it didn't help that I read 20A as "Cactus Member" instead of "Caucus Member ..." Still, I don't think I would understood DENOMINATOR.
I was still scratching my head over SYNONYM even after reading CC's explanation. The across answers filled in all those letters, and I knew it was a word, but couldn't see how it fit the clue.
I recently read a book about the OJIBWA tribe, so could quickly fill in 22D.
QOD: The only time I see the truth is when I cross my eyes. ~ Louise Erdrich
@Hahtool examples: "in this case" vs. "in this instance", case and instance are synonyms.
@ C.C. Prefix (and suffix) origins can be pretty convoluted... I usually just go to the online etymology dictionary...
De - Latin (down, away from)
Anti - Greek (against)
Un - Old English (O.E.) variant from PIE base: -ne (not). PIE=Proto-Indo European, a prehistoric unrecorded language that was the ancestor of all Indo-European languages)
Dis - Latin, PIE (apart from, removed)
*ugh*
Great puzzle with a clever theme, but I just had massive amounts of trouble with it. Mostly it was due to the vast number of missteps I had: sings for BLABS, slop for GLOP, rec for REW, a minor for AMAJOR, in a sec for NOTYET, pest for BRAT, leopold for LEONORA (don't ask), bear it for BEARUP, bromide for BROMINE, stop in for SHOPAT, over par for ONEOVER... I don't remember when I was this out of synch with a constructor's wavelength before.
Add to that the handful of complete unknowns (DORATI, ASANA, REGNANT, HOYT) and this ended up one of the longest times it has taken me to complete an LA Times puzzle since the switch over (including Sundays!)
On the bright side, I did eventually finish unassisted, and I managed to figure the tricky clue for SYNONYM all by myself. But, man -- what a workout!
re: Lethologica
Thanks! I've seen that word many times before, but some reason I can just never remember it...
Plant propagation procedure: SOAK
Soaking in water will often soften seed coats and leach water-soluble inhibitors from the seed to reduce germination time.
A ton of unknowns today. It didn't help that I only thought of something like a judge's decision for 48D Ruling.
Good morning, C.C. and all,
This was quite a slog for me too, this morning; needed lots of red letter help and some guessing. I did not much care for this theme, as most of the answers seemed made up, as "unrelated" and "denominator". I managed to finish it in 44. Too many music clues for a non-musician.
C.C., I guess when you downsize, you have a lot of stuff left that you have to dispose of.
I was fortunate to have lived in the Boston area in the Bobby Orr/Phil Esposito days and saw many Bruins games. Those two were magic on ice.
Re bug like a dog, I owned a golden retriever once, who was only happy when his head was on my knee, drooling over my trousers. I still miss him.
Have a good Good Friday
Jeannie, can you post your roasted potato recipe again? Your menu really sounds fabulous.
re: DISPOSITION
I took it to mean that when you get a job with a company you are given a "position" in the company. So when you are laid off, the reverse is true. Or something like that. I can't quite get the grammar to work out in my head...
This was an enjoyable puzzle for me today. Perhaps it's because my mind isn't occupied with that pesky work thing this morning. Did anyone else notice all the clues referencing music? Violin maker, carry a tune, sharp or flat, Budapest conductor, last melody and Bach and Beethoven both mentioned.
I guess my parents just had a "jubilee". How fun!
Windhover, still celebrating?
Lemonade, did you manage to land without hurting anything?
Anon:
Small baby red potatoes, halved, one large clove of garlic minced fine, Italian herbs: thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil. I grow mine and dry them but you can buy a nice Italian herb blend at any grocery store. Just coat the potatoes in olive oil, toss them with the garlic and herbs and spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little black pepper. Bake at about 400 degrees for about 35 minutes or until they start to brown around the edges.
Off to the grocery store and other errands. I'll check in later to see how the two aforementioned gentlemen fared.
Oh my clue for "soak" - marinate.
C.C.,
My clue for soak - inebriate.
Nice picture Don G. and a hell of a puzzle. A nice meaty long-haired puzzle with more arcane words than usual. Did not get LEONORA, SERT, ODIN or REGNANT Got SYNONYM but didn't understand the clue until reading C.C.'s commentary. Had better luck on the SW-NE axis. Also had hazy for LAZY for quite a while.
DORATI was one of my favorite conductors.
(Hope L714 made it. You don't think he was April fooling us, do you?)
SOAK clues:
Get into hot water
Fleece
Impregnate
Anonymous Alcoholic
Good morning CC and all,
What a stunning sunrise; it's overcast here.
Well, Lethologica is my middle name.I had a hard time with the SW corner. Completed all but that d--- S in RRS.Couldn't grok the clue, "cos. with ampersands often." After finally filling in all the theme words, they did not make any sense to me...so thank you for your expertise!
Favorite clue: last melody:taps
I had to look up Dorati and Ojibwa to keep movin'
Lemonade, enjoyed your newspaper blog yesterday.
Happy belated anniversary to you Windover and your Irish. Sweet story.
Not too difficult for a Thursday. Although I got everything right, I didn't understand all the fills at first. 13D (synonym) was pretty tricky. Also didn't know what NMI stood for(62D)until I checked the solutions. 26 minutes. Latin prefixes are: de (from, down from), dis (away from, away), anti (against). "un" is Anglo-Saxon. I think the only Greek prefix in today's puzzle is "syn-" (together).
I gave up today. 18 things that needed googling even after I guessed my way through the whole thing. I came here with only 17 completed answers, some of which were wrong. Too many needing dedicated knowledge and I had not even a hint of an idea what the theme could be since I got none of them out. I prefer real words in a puzzle, I guess.
This would not have worked in German because all their negative prefixes are the same: UN-.
The whole thing was way over my head. Having no musical knowledge at all, I didn't even know that MAJOR could count as a key. I had SHARP.
It was another ugh for me.
I should have read the posts before forwarding my own comments. I see Al already listed the prefixes, and he's right about "anti" being Greek (it was Latin also). The Romans borrowed a lot from the Greeks, linguistic and artistic, although they didn't have much respect for the Greeks themselves. I also meant to note that I didn't understand 30A (antiphony) until I read the solution. Renaissance antiphonal music is a favorite (Giovanni Gabrieli's work especially), but the clue was a trick and really had nothing to do with that.
To give more of an idea what my problems were, I had GET REAL for BIG DEAL, LAGGED for LOAFED, EAUX for ILES, LOYAL for SOLID, REC for REW, WAIT UP for NOT YET. The only parts that were OK wer the NE corner and the middle south. I thought of everything BUT BALE for 1A: reel, ball, swab. But none started with G so I gave up.
Dennis: We saw 'allegro' very recently.
Yup, yesterday. That's why I got it.
Saw all the music clues and knew lethologica wasn't going to be the problem, you can't remember what you never knew.
First Friday DNF this year (happens on occasion on Sat.) in fact after Allegro, Amati, Hoyt I was unable to carry A Tune (though I did get that).
Slop became Glop, Hazy became Lazy, A Minor was A Major, In a Sec, Not Yet, Snobier was Artsier.
Rorschach Inkblot Test complete.
Punted and came here for the explanations of all the write-overs and blanks.
For me the puzzle was not a Good Friday.
Re: NMI I have no middle initial. So when I was in the service, any official form requiring a name had a space for a middle initial. For completeness the middle initial space had to be filled in. So the yeoman always ended up typing (nmi) for 'no middle initial'. Think about it; five keystrokes to denote 'nothing'. My introduction to government bureaucracy.
Good Morning All, I don't feel like I'm cheating when I go googling to help myself out of a crossword black hole. I didn't have a clue about most of the classical music fill. Well, I did have a clue, one for each of them, but I just didn't have the answers.
Not a complete culture dummy, I knew (7D) CEZANNE.
On the other end of the culture scale, I knew (26A) JUSTIN Timberlake. I'm not a fan, but GAH is. Justin has a 6 handicap. GAH would love to get his 15 down to that point. Both Kenny G. and Vince Gill are scratch golfers, but GAH is too realistic to think he could go there.
I didn't understand (13D) SYNONYM until I got here. AHA!
Our neighbor, Calaveras County will hold its annual county fair and FROG Jumping JUBILEE in Angel's Camp during the third week of May. You can "rent-a-frog", or bring your own for the contest. Not much chance of beating Rosie The Ribiter's 1986 world record of 21' 5 3/4". (We are simple folk around here and enjoy simple pleasures :o)
I finally finished up with a lot of "G" and "wrong letter" help. Not a triumph, but fun anyway.
It would have been even better if I weren't afflicted with that...oh, you know that word...the one that means you can't remember words....letho...something.
@CC, why did PJB-Chicago's photo disappear from your photo album?
Good morning from stormy western Oregon..we are expecting a 'big blow' any minute. 80 mph winds along the coast, and here somewhere around 50mph. That will mean trees down as many of them are leafed out now. Sigh.
I had so much trouble with this puzzle, I had to quit. Way over my head. It's no fun when you have to look up every other word...only good thing about that is that I learn from it. Now, if I can just retain it.
Like Kazie, I have no musical knowledge at all. Wouldn't know a sharp from a flat. Count me in with the 'ughs'.
CA: had to laugh about your frog jumping contest. We race 'weenie dogs' here - LOL..seriously, the little dogs actually race around the greyhound track each year. Nothing like the simple life, huh?
Lemonade - are you ok? Speak to us.
I looked at DISPOSITION like this: to get hired is to obtain a position ("I am applying for the position of..."). When a company downsizes they lay people off, i.e. fire them, i.e. DIS-position them. Anyway ...
Kindest regards to you all.
Good day, C.C. and all.
Great blogging C.C. Thanks.
This was something of a slog, but I enjoy puns, language deceits and the like. I wanted "loyal" for reliable, but that clearly didn't work; then "bromide" instead of bromine. I
It took a while to get traction and at first thought it would ruin my "disposition" but had many "aha" and smiling moments once the fills revealed themselves. The only one I had to Ggle was Antal "Dorati". After that, imagination took over in the SW corner; my first fill for "take to the cleaners" was "bilk".
Don't recall seeing "regnant" before and I guess in Latin it would mean "they rule" since the "nt" denotes plural third person. Oh, dear, TMI.
C.C.
You have given me an idea. I'll plan for a photo shoot.
You all have a fantastic Friday!
Thanks to Don G. I like your inventiveness.
I gotta say I liked all the classical musical clues, because I generally do well in that category. I have many recordings of Antal Dorati conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven wrote three overtures to his opera Fidelio, which we now call Leonore overtures 1, 2, and 3. Beethoven rejected them all and wrote a fourth one, called, guess what, the Fidelio overture, which he kept as the official overture.
JUSTIN was easy for me, even though I know almost nothing about pop music, simply because I don't know of anybody else named Timberlake.
C.C., thanks for the great writeup today. I like how you explain things and also how you express your thoughts and reactions to some of them.
Regards 'n' stuff.
C.C., nice write-up.
A position is a high-quality job, not a menial one. Imagine the mother bragging to her friend, "Humphrey just got that new position he applied for at Dewey, Cheatham and Howe. I'm so proud!" When a company is downsizing, positions are lost. So I guess a disposition is a punny way of referring to a lost position.
Because the question has been asked several times now:
As I understand it, PJB has left us, gone to a different screen name and is now a regular at another crossword blog. All part of the ebb and flow...
tfrank. I remember the pre Orr/Espo days when I could get into the Gardens for $1.50 if I wore my uniform.
eddyB
Lemonade,
Man, as soon as you were back, Blogger software was down for half an hour.
Al & Bob,
Thanks for the those prefix origins. Now yesterday someone told me that "Pnin: P is aspirated". Does it mean that P is pronounced rather than silent?
Barry G & Frank & Jayce & Bill G,
Re: DISPOSITION: Barry expressed perfectly, it's the part of speech inconsisentcy in the clue and answer that's confusing. How about just "Downsize" for DISPOSITION?
Anonymous 10:45am,
I deleted PJB's photo at his own request.
Jeannie,
We'll have ham & pineapple, coconut crusted salmon, wild rice, roasted asparagus for Easter.
Boots,
Nice to hear from you. I hope you continue to post.
Lemonade: Boy, are we glad to see that you survived your outing (or should I call it your fall from the sky). You didn't say if you enjoyed the experience of a free-fall. Glad you survived and hope your knees have stopped shaking.
Although this is not my holiday, the State seems to think it is, so who am I to complain. It is beautiful here, so I am sitting under my oak tree, enjoying a glass of wine. (Kosher, of course.). Soon it will be too hot to be outside.
When I lived in New England, I had to rake leaves in the fall. In Southern Louisiana, the oak trees seem to lose all their leaves in the spring, so that will be my chore later this afternoon.
Lemonade: I worked with one my company's lawyers extensively because of my position leading the Engineering Dept. One April 1st about 30 years ago, he sent me a note saying he had joined Dewey, Cheatam & Howe.
I called him and asked if they were in town. His laghter atill rings in my ears.
I, too got everything today but the SW corner which required red letter help.
Lemonade - so glad to hear from you and that you survived. Boy, you have more 'daring-do' that I would ever have! I admire you for that, but would have never tried it. My cousin has a friend who, on her 60th birthday, went skydiving - she absolutely loved it.
Dennis, thinking of you as the wind is starting to pick up here. We were sunny for about 2 hours so I thought they "blew" the forecast...not so. You would appreciate this, it's really sounding wild now...wow, how things can change in a matter of 10 minutes.
Good afternoon everyone. Not to be too technical, but an aerator does not add oxygen to anything, only air which only 21% oxygen. A better clue may have been: A green hole poker. Also, powdered, or granular bromine(meen) is used as a water disinfectant for a spa or hot tub. Less harsh than chlorine.
Happy Easter to: you know who you are
eddyB
This is a post I tried to send just as the system went down.
Re the Bruins: I used to have a neighbor in Wayland, MA, who was a sales rep for Sports illustrated. He had great seats for all the Sox, Bruins, and Patriots games, courtesy of SI. All I had to do was keep him supplied with booze.
He was not a round ball fan, so he never invited me to see the Celtics.
C.C. your menu sounds fabulous and I would love it if you shared your coconut crusted salmon recipe with me. Where are you finding affordable salmon? The cheapest I can find is about $7.99/lb.
Lemonade, glad to hear you are all still in one piece. I hope you enjoyed your experience. Lo-li-ta is enjoying her day off.
Windhover, I am assuming the reason we aren't hearing from you is that you and your friends are re-enacting the nuptials as this is afterall the Friday night after April 1st. I kind of hope we do hear from you especially after all that champagne.
Carol, as my mom would say, "hold onto your hat". Dennis, hold onto....
Jeannie,
Yeah, salmon is a bit pricey, but I don't eat any other meat. Only fish & seafood. I marinade salmon in olive oil/honey/apple cider vinegar, then I crust them in toasted coconut flake which I make out of whole coconut, then I bake them in 425F for 20 minutes. Sorry I don't have an exact measurement like you do. I cook by feel.
Lemonade,
Glad to see you're still on deck. Cogratulations on your survival!
Jeannie,
I got a whole filet of salmon this week for $5.99/lb. I'm doing half of it Saturday night and having the traditional ham on Sunday.
I marinate mine (about 1 1/2 lb.) overnight in a mixture of:
3 tblsp.soy sauce,
3 tblsp. vegetable oil,
3 tblsp. chicken broth,
1/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/4 tsp.garlic powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper ( I substituted ginger today because I'm out of lemon pepper)
2 tsp. snipped dill.
You can sprinkle the dry ingredients on the salmon first and press them into it.
Then drain and bake at 450 for about 20-25 minutes with thin slices of onion and lemon on top. It can be done on the grill too.
Good afternoon all. I'm new to the blog and love all the posts.
I get the puzzle in the NY Post which does not list authors -- Don, you should insist on your byline.
I'm a sports, not music, afficianado so Espo (and Orr, Yaz et. al.) was easy whereas Dorati was not.
Loved the infrequently seen words - jubilee, regnant, ojibwa, peen. And learned a new one today: antiphony.
Discussion re lethologica reminded me, sadly, of a friend who recently had a stroke. He suffers from aphasia. Greek for inability to speak. He searches for words but can't find the right one, in speech or in writing. I guess lethologica, also Greek but meaning forgetting words, is the more benign case where we just had it "on the tip of our tongue."
New York today was sunny and 75 -- what I like to call "one of the three days a year we live for in NYC - not too hot, cold, or humid." Come visit - the other two are coming this weekend!
Enjoy the holiday weekend.
C.C. and Kazie: Thanks so much for the delicious sounding marinades. We love salmon and have it about once a week. I will look forward to trying both.
Koufaxmaravich (KM) Welcome, you sound as if you fit right in here :)
C.C.
62D - NMI = No Middle Initial
I've seen you make just 1 other mistake in 1 1/2 years.
You are still amazing.
Hello All--I had so many missteps today, ala Barry, that I gave up and went to the puzzle on-line. The answers I did have gave me red letters where they were wrong and I managed to then go from there.
I finally finished, but it was a slog. However, a puzzle like this is a true learning experience for me and new words are written down in my own notebook if they don't appear in my CW dictionary.
Thank you Don G. for a great learning experience and also for sharing the lovely picture of you and your wife.
WH, I hope that you had a wonderful day yesterday.
The menus and recipes all sound wonderful. I hope everyone has a great holiday and can go back to work rested and renewed.
C.C., I don't have exact measurements either as I cook the same way you do. I just figure if I am going to post a recipe, some folks go by the book so I give an approx measurement. That salmon recipe looks great. I never would have thought of rolling it in toasted coconut, but you did mention you are in a "coconut" phase. Just curious, I would think of Boomer as being a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. Do you make two different meals? I know that Carol is a picky eater and makes some of Joe's favorites just for him and improvises for herself.
Kazie, your marinade is very similar to the one I use. Now I am hungry for salmon but refuse to pay that high price. Times are tough you know.
Koufax, I hope you don't mind me shortening your name, but welcome to the blog. I am sure you will find some very interesting people with diverse tastes and experiences here.
BUCKEYE???
Lemonade714
Glad you had a great time ... and survived.
About 30+ years ago I dated a lady who was into sky diving. I had to do 5 static line jumps to get to the free-fall.
What I remember is that during the 50 seconds or so before pulling the ripcord (and yeah, it seemed a lot longer, like 30 minutes) the brain's clarity of thought was amazing.
The Scotch tasted better that night.
My son Tim, Barbara and I went over to beautiful Polliwog Pond to fiddle around with frisbee golf. Tim had played a couple of times with friends. I used to be very good at throwing and catching a frisbee. Nowadays, not so much. Advancing years and a bum shoulder have taken their toll. Also, the frisbees used in frisbee golf are heavier and have less lift. They don't sail through the air as much as they act like a circular missile. They could hurt if they hit somebody unawares. But while I wasn't very skillful, it was fun.
This is a slideshow with the beautiful cherry blossoms around the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. Also, some in Japan.
slideshow
Oooooh! Am I glad I popped in just now. Those marinade recipes look yummy and I love salmon. Thank you, C.C. and Kazie. I'll be trying them.
Lemonade, you've got some huevos. I'm so glad to see you back. I hope it was worth it.
Don, I forgot to mention the lovely picture of you and your wife.
I don't ever recall 'NMI' being on any app I filled out.
Dennis, aren't you being a bit edgy there?... re your post at 12:34.
The puzzle theme is a new wrinkle for me.
Anon 5:47
You've checked this blog for 1 1/2 years and are still an Anon?
Grab an identity.
Hi Ho gang -
Reporting in from Charleston W Va - WiFi at the Fairfield. Excellent puzzle today. North central region was last to fall. URANIA sounds like an infection.
Loved all the music content. We played Fidelio last concert, so I was ready for All three Leonores (Or Leonoras - whatever.)
ANTIPHONY is a music term, as well, referring to a call and response type of vocalization between cantor and choir, or among choir voices. Quite appropriate for the late Lenten season.
What outrageous puns today. Not just clever, but truly an askew view of the world. Yikes!
Briefly scanned the comments, so forgive me if I missed anything important.
BROMINE is just plane wrong. Sorry. Bromine is an element; the fire retardants are bromine-containing compounds, several classes of brominated organic compounds. And yes they are poison. Elemental bromine is extremely harsh. Contact with the skin causes severe burns that are painful and slow to heal. Nasty, nasty stuff.
Pool "bromine" is some other kind of Br-containing chemical. Too lazy to track it down.
Never heard of REGNANT, an SERT is a breath mint. No, it's a candy mint . . .
Well, it's late and our destination tomorrow is Savannah. I'll check in when I can, if I'm not buried in granddaughters.
IMBO.
Cheers!
JzB the on-the-road trombonist
Just curious...was I the only one who did not know what an ampersand was? And, is cos. a frequently used abbreviation for company?
Both salmon recipes sound yummy.
Welcome koufax!
Lemonade, what would the headlines be describing your jump? I'm in awe of anyone who can do that.
Jd,
Co. is for company, Cos. is the plural. I became aware of ampersands here a while back when we had a puzzle with some in the grid.
Jeannie,
Yes, Boomer is definitely a meat and potato guy. I cook different meals for us every day. I made an error in my salmon recipe earlier, it's un-toasted coconut flakes, though you still need to bake the whole coconut if you make them from the scratch. Do make sure you drill the holes and get the coconut water out first.
I must be easy to please when it comes to food. I'll try anything and enjoy most everything from any kind of fish, (I'm a big fan of sand dabs with lemon-caper sauce), scallops, Chinese food, flank steak, rib eye steak, prime rib roast beef, lamb, chicken, salads, soup, hot pastrami, pizza... Geez, I just made myself really hungry.
C.C.: I guess packaged coconut should not be substituted as it would be too sweet and moist...?
Oh, and I had the same major problems with the puzzle today as most people here. The first pass left many, many empty squares! A couple more passes and a couple googles filled in most everything except the SW corner. I had to finally just give up and come here for the SW answers and explanations of many of the ones I had filled in.
JD:
Ampersand: &
Iknow it looks weird, but that's how it typed out; it's shorthand for "and"
Had one mistake: Rene for 69A instead of Rena. I think I've heard of Sofer but maybe I'm thinking Shofar. Anyway, it was all with the help of perps....no G help.
My husband always signed NMI since he went by his middle and last name.
I'm a salmon lover, too, but I just like it plain. MMmmm. Sand dabs! Haven't had them for maybe 5 years and they are soooooo good.
Thanks for the memory, Bill G
I went off to lunch today with two friends and annouonced that I'd learned a new word that meant not being able to remember words. Do you t hink I could remember what it was?
Buckeye, come home!
Thanks Kazie and Lucina,I just wondered if I was the ONLY one who needed to look it up...which I did to be able to understand the answer.Sometimes I feel I'm standing alone in left field with some clues.
Good evening CC et al., 'Good Friday' puzzle and cute theme. Loved all the music clues and sailed thru most of the puzzle. The SW corner got me tho'. Just couldn't get 'soak' and 'Cos' blew me away. Once I got here, of course, it all made sense. CC, you are amazing, and that is a beeuuutiiiiful sunrise. Thank you.
Gonna give sailing a new dimension soon 'just-in' time too. Another 'sunrise' and I was 'goyn' to have to 'hoyt' some 'lazy' whiny 'brat's if I had to stay in dat or 'dis-position' much longer. A kid told me yesterday that she was p'regnant' 'agin'. I didn't know she even had any and now 2? She also said the 'papa's are 'unrelated'. That's a 'big deal' - 'a major' crisis - to me anyway. I could just see 'taps' being played for her future. I said, "O, Jib! Wa' ya gonna do?" She said: drop out of school and
'drop in'to life, I guess. I told her 'see me' after class. She laughed and said "April Fools!" She got 'one over' on me all right. I was ready to 'swap' her out for a 'frog'. T'ain't funny, McGee. That's 'a tune' she sang definately 'off key'. I need my R (&) R...Antigua here I come to 'soak' up the sun and rum
'every' day and then do it some 'mower'.
WH: hope the anniversary was all you had hoped it would be. Wish you many more.
Jazz: good to hear from you and to know you are safe. Good man to be surrounded by so many good women..of all ages.
JD: you make me feel better. I didn't know 'ampersand' until some years ago in a computer class. And Cos got me too. We're ready for the next ones though.
Mr. Ed: I didn't think Dennis was curt or edgy at all - just simply explaining PBJ's absence b/c it's been mentioned several times.
Lemonade: So glad you had a safe landing. Was breathing hard with the wind in your face? Was the landing hard? I think the falling would be fun but the landing would kill me. My hat's off to you for having the brass cajones to do it. That game is all yours.
Enjoy your night.
JD: I think most of us feel that way at times. I didn't get the "cos" part at first either because I'm used to seeing it with an apostrophe "co's" or in it's single form with a period "co.".
I always feel better reading everybody's experiences with the puzzle. Often, the things I struggle with are no-brainers to other solvers. Sometimes, it's the opposite - yea!
But the best times are when I see a number of people here relate the exact same experience I had! Same difficulties. Same memories evoked. Same AHA's. Same favorites.
There's several people on the blog that I'll repeatedly notice that similarity with, and I think that's pretty cool! By the way, you're one of them. :-)
I thought Dennis was being respectful of the subject's wishes, and considerate enough to let us all worriers know that it wasn't necessary.
Lois: I hope you have a great time on your vacation! I hope the skipper lives up to expectations, and then some! Enjoy!
Surprise!...to me that is. My sister and her boys showed up this afternoon instead of tomorrow. I could have sworn she told me the afternoon of the 3rd. But they are always welcome whenever they come calling. Daughter's family won't be here until Sunday.
I'll check in this weekend if I can, but it looks like a pretty busy one. I bet most of you are going to be scarce too. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
The landing was harder than I expected, or maybe not than I expected but than my knees appreciated. It did not seem so much scary because I was not alone, as overpowering. It really is only the first step that is hard.
Thank you all, and I probably would not have deon it if I had not begun to deal with my grief and live my life, which many of you have helped me reach.
Good night all
On the "dis" front, it like the word disenfranchise, where you take away someone's right to vote.
John28man, when I worked for a very large company, I was asked to write the speech for the Chairman of the Board for the annual meeting. Our attorneys were a very large, old and respected NYC law firm, Strook, Stroock and Lavan. When the Chairman introduced the people on the dais, and he pointed to Dick Savitt, the partner on hand, and said: " You all know Dick Savitt from our law firm Croock, Croock and Lavan." It took a long while to restore order. Thanks for jogging my memory with the old legal saw, DEWEY, CHEATEM and HOWE.
I was late at my nephew Michael's house fo rdinner, which turned out to be a party announce after 11 months og marriage, they are pregnant. Forgive me if I am silly but this will be the first grandchild from my brother's and I, and I am pretty happy even if it is too late and nobody is here to read
Lemonade714, congratulations on the upcoming grandchild! There's always someone around to read.
Tschuß!
30 across for the real thing = anti phony
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