Theme: No Free Rides - Three phrases that end with a method of access to public transportation.
20A. "Just what we need!": "THAT'S THE TICKET!".
38A. "Thanks, but none for me": "I'LL HAVE TO PASS".
57A. "Furthermore ...": "BY THE SAME TOKEN...".
Argyle here. Tough but fair Monday.
Across:
1A. Rarely read e-mail: SPAM.
5A. Edible pockets: PITAS.
10A. Bottled model: SHIP. A little naval sub-theme. 10A is stacked over 16A. Verne skipper: NEMO.(Jules Verne, Capt. Nemo, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea") Also, 4D. One of a yawl's pair: MAST. Image. Perhaps one of our sailors can tell us why it's called a yawl.
14A. Contemporary of Ella and Sarah: LENA. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Lena Horne, all great singers.
15A. Make up (for): ATONE.
17A. Hardwood trees: OAKS. Hand up for elms first.
18A. "Buzz off!": "SCRAM!".
19A. Extremely dry: ARID.
23A. "Love __ Madly": Doors hit: HER. Clip. From their final album, L.A. Woman.
24A. Caustic substance: LYE.
25A. Stately: REGAL.
27A. Chaotic situation: SNAFU. Acronym meaning Situation Normal: All F****d Up. Started in the military.
29A. Fraidy-cat: SISSY.
33A. Extra NHL periods: OTs. (National Hockey League, overtimes)
34A. Approximate fig.: EST.. (Estimate)
36A. "Uh-uh": "NAH".
37A. Follow the advice of: HEED.
42A. Irksome swarm member: GNAT.
43A. Place to apply gloss: LIP. And 44A. Elephant's floppy feature: EAR. More commonly referred to in the plural form.
45A. Mil. base enforcers: MPs.
46A. Shrubby landscape: HEATH. Ah, the setting for historical romance novels.
48A. Like Dylan Thomas, by birth: WELSH. Richard Burton was Welsh, also.
52A. Sweetie pie: CUTIE.
54A. NAFTA signatory: USA. North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. (1994)
56A. "Sands of __ Jima": 1949 film: IWO. Starred John Wayne.
62A. Stein fillers: ALES.
63A. Find the answer to, as an equation: SOLVE. Or as a crossword.
64A. High point: PEAK.
65A. "The King and I" setting: SIAM.
66A. Engaged in, as a trade: PLIED.
67A. Dog of old mysteries: ASTA.
68A. 220-by-198-foot plot, e.g.: ACRE.
69A. Classroom jottings: NOTES.
70A. In need of a map: LOST.
Down:
1D. Slow-moving leaf eaters: SLOTHS. Two or three toed.
2D. Pheasant female: PEAHEN.
3D. Turkish capital: ANKARA.
5D. Pale: PASTY.
6D. Rash reactions?: ITCHES.
7D. Verbally attacked, with "into": TORE.
8D. Medical school subj.: ANAT..
9D. Rig on the road: SEMI. Alliteration clue.
10D. Boa or cobra: SNAKE. Assonance clue.
11. Words before an attempt: "HERE GOES".
12D. Copies: IMITATES.
13D. Pea's place: POD. More alliteration, including the answer.
21D. Partly melted snow: SLUSH.
22D. Have a bawl: CRY. (Have a ball)
26D. Source of a hippie's high, perhaps: LSD.
28D. Sensed: FELT.
30D. All thumbs: INEPT.
31D. Took a load off: SAT.
32D. Pump or clog: SHOE.
35D. Tall story: TALE.
37D. Fabled runner-up: HARE.
38D. For all to see: IN PUBLIC.
39D. During 2009: LAST YEAR.
40D. Itinerary word: VIA.
41D. Play with, kitten-style: PAW AT.
42D. Yukon automaker: GMC. An SUV.
46D. Sly chuckle sound: HEH.
47D. Square-bodied military vehicle: HUMVEE. High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee)
49D. In this way: LIKE SO.
50D. Workout wear: SWEATS.
51D. Greet with a beep: HONK AT.
53D. "Who's there?" response: "IT'S ME".
55D. Watermelon discards: SEEDS.
58D. Channel for jocks: ESPN. (Entertainment Sports Programming Network)
59D. New pilot's milestone: SOLO.
60D. Touched down: ALIT. It's very important, after a pilot's first solo flight, that he alights safely. Failure to accomplish this would ruin the euphoria of soloing.
61D. Play-of-color gem: OPAL.
62D. Quick-wink link: AS A.
Answer grid.
Argyle
20A. "Just what we need!": "THAT'S THE TICKET!".
38A. "Thanks, but none for me": "I'LL HAVE TO PASS".
57A. "Furthermore ...": "BY THE SAME TOKEN...".
Argyle here. Tough but fair Monday.
Across:
1A. Rarely read e-mail: SPAM.
5A. Edible pockets: PITAS.
10A. Bottled model: SHIP. A little naval sub-theme. 10A is stacked over 16A. Verne skipper: NEMO.(Jules Verne, Capt. Nemo, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea") Also, 4D. One of a yawl's pair: MAST. Image. Perhaps one of our sailors can tell us why it's called a yawl.
14A. Contemporary of Ella and Sarah: LENA. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Lena Horne, all great singers.
15A. Make up (for): ATONE.
17A. Hardwood trees: OAKS. Hand up for elms first.
18A. "Buzz off!": "SCRAM!".
19A. Extremely dry: ARID.
23A. "Love __ Madly": Doors hit: HER. Clip. From their final album, L.A. Woman.
24A. Caustic substance: LYE.
25A. Stately: REGAL.
27A. Chaotic situation: SNAFU. Acronym meaning Situation Normal: All F****d Up. Started in the military.
29A. Fraidy-cat: SISSY.
33A. Extra NHL periods: OTs. (National Hockey League, overtimes)
34A. Approximate fig.: EST.. (Estimate)
36A. "Uh-uh": "NAH".
37A. Follow the advice of: HEED.
42A. Irksome swarm member: GNAT.
43A. Place to apply gloss: LIP. And 44A. Elephant's floppy feature: EAR. More commonly referred to in the plural form.
45A. Mil. base enforcers: MPs.
46A. Shrubby landscape: HEATH. Ah, the setting for historical romance novels.
48A. Like Dylan Thomas, by birth: WELSH. Richard Burton was Welsh, also.
52A. Sweetie pie: CUTIE.
54A. NAFTA signatory: USA. North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. (1994)
56A. "Sands of __ Jima": 1949 film: IWO. Starred John Wayne.
62A. Stein fillers: ALES.
63A. Find the answer to, as an equation: SOLVE. Or as a crossword.
64A. High point: PEAK.
65A. "The King and I" setting: SIAM.
66A. Engaged in, as a trade: PLIED.
67A. Dog of old mysteries: ASTA.
68A. 220-by-198-foot plot, e.g.: ACRE.
69A. Classroom jottings: NOTES.
70A. In need of a map: LOST.
Down:
1D. Slow-moving leaf eaters: SLOTHS. Two or three toed.
2D. Pheasant female: PEAHEN.
3D. Turkish capital: ANKARA.
5D. Pale: PASTY.
6D. Rash reactions?: ITCHES.
7D. Verbally attacked, with "into": TORE.
8D. Medical school subj.: ANAT..
9D. Rig on the road: SEMI. Alliteration clue.
10D. Boa or cobra: SNAKE. Assonance clue.
11. Words before an attempt: "HERE GOES".
12D. Copies: IMITATES.
13D. Pea's place: POD. More alliteration, including the answer.
21D. Partly melted snow: SLUSH.
22D. Have a bawl: CRY. (Have a ball)
26D. Source of a hippie's high, perhaps: LSD.
28D. Sensed: FELT.
30D. All thumbs: INEPT.
31D. Took a load off: SAT.
32D. Pump or clog: SHOE.
35D. Tall story: TALE.
37D. Fabled runner-up: HARE.
38D. For all to see: IN PUBLIC.
39D. During 2009: LAST YEAR.
40D. Itinerary word: VIA.
41D. Play with, kitten-style: PAW AT.
42D. Yukon automaker: GMC. An SUV.
46D. Sly chuckle sound: HEH.
47D. Square-bodied military vehicle: HUMVEE. High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee)
49D. In this way: LIKE SO.
50D. Workout wear: SWEATS.
51D. Greet with a beep: HONK AT.
53D. "Who's there?" response: "IT'S ME".
55D. Watermelon discards: SEEDS.
58D. Channel for jocks: ESPN. (Entertainment Sports Programming Network)
59D. New pilot's milestone: SOLO.
60D. Touched down: ALIT. It's very important, after a pilot's first solo flight, that he alights safely. Failure to accomplish this would ruin the euphoria of soloing.
61D. Play-of-color gem: OPAL.
62D. Quick-wink link: AS A.
Answer grid.
Argyle
75 comments:
Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - first speed run in a while, just over 4 minutes. Easy cluing, easy theme.
"That's the ticket" will forever remind me of Jon Lovitz' SNL skits. Nice to see 'snafu' again. And of course I liked the long stacks. Beyond that, I don't have anything else on which to comment; just a solid Monday puzzle and certainly a lot of clues/answers that we're intimately familiar with.
Argyle, nice job, and I particularly liked the comment about landing successfully after soloing - it does tend to help.
Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. An excellent excuse.
Blitch.
Good Morning, CC and all. Argyle, I agree with your assessment that this was a bit of a tough Monday puzzle. I easily got the first two theme clues, but BY THE SAME TOKEN took me a while.
HEATH did not come easily to my mind.
I really liked Bottled Model = SHIP.
Sometimes I feel INEPT in doing crossword puzzles, but that doesn't make me ALL THUMBS.
CC: My blog was working yesterday, and it seems to be working properly this morning.
Louisiana doesn't have beaches, but it is an important marsh/wetlands for a whole host of wildlife. Now the oil is landing on Gulf Coast beaches and dead birds are appearing on the Texas beaches. Tony Hayward needs to watch what he says.
I do hope that all of our friends in the mid-west survived the horrible storms that swept through that area yesterday and last night.
QOD: Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can't be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them. ~ Sydney Smith
CC: I just clicked my avatar, as well as yours, and everything came up as it should. In addition, my blog page has all the proper buttons. The Customize button is still there ~ nothing says Designs.
Hello Puzzlers -
Thought I'd give it a shot and see if I got error messages...
Solid Monday puzzle, not a cake walk but not a mind-bender either. HEATH is another of those confusing landscape words, mostly coming from Britain I suppose, along with dale, dell, moor, lea, copse, thicket, wold, and such. I've never latched on to their precise meanings.
Never heard of ASTA.
Good luck sorting out the blitch, C3, and Happy Monday everybody!
No blog error messages.
A bit about soloing: it's a very big deal for student pilots, and quite exciting. I was 19 when I soloed. One of the interesting sensations at the time is the sudden gain in your airplane's performance. Up until that time, you've had an instructor sitting right next to you; having his/her weight suddenly removed makes the machine quite a bit zippier!
Good morning C.C., Argyle, and all.
Enjoyed today's crossword. Nice to be back on my puzzle legs after having been knocked on my patootie with Saturday's creation. Favorite clue/fill: Have a bawl/CRY.
Had a lovely, full weekend with family, so didn't get to post. Lots of laughter, good food, and most importantly, time together. Very special.
BTW, Gail Grabowski also composed today's Newsday puzzle. A tad easier than this one, IMHO.
Enjoy the day!
Dudley, Asta
Good Morning All, I'm sorry to hear about the blitch that C.C. is experiencing. I'll have to wait and see if my post goes through OK.
This one seemed to be a little tougher than most Mondays, but none of the words or phrases were weird or uncommon. Could be the eight two word Down phrases, all except one of which are in the bottom half of the puzzle.
Only a few proper names in this one, Gunghy must be delighted.
Speaking of delighted, SNH has a Doors clip. I kind of like "Love HER Madly" myself, catchy rhythm, and it almost all makes sense. Now, if I just could channel Jim Morrison and find out what the line "Seven horses seem to be on the mark" means?
GAH and I have an appointment with our financial guy this morning. I'll have to make sure that the investments don't have any shares in BP. It is such a huge tragedy going on along the gulf and no end in sight. Tony Hayward is apologizing all over the place NOW, but his previous statements were so insensitive and self serving. Not a company I'd want anything to do with.
Crockett - Thanks. That looks like one smart dog actor, just a bit before my time.
WELSH poet Dylan Thomas' poetry is beautiful and introspective. He wrote about death a lot, but he also wrote about love and relationships. He died at the age of 39 from pneumonia and from complications of alcoholism. I love the following poem, which pretty much says it all about poetry and literature too.
Notes On The Art Of Poetry
I could never have dreamt that there were such goings-on
in the world between the covers of books,
such sandstorms and ice blasts of words,,,
such staggering peace, such enormous laughter,
such and so many blinding bright lights,, ,
splashing all over the pages
in a million bits and pieces
all of which were words, words, words,
and each of which were alive forever
in its own delight and glory and oddity and light.
-Dylan Thomas
Have a good day everyone and good luck to C.C. with the blogger problem.
I don`t get the puzzle except on-line. @ the LAT site, there is an option for seeing the puzzle grid solved...if the blog problems aren`t resolved before you "need" the answers.
Hi Argyle, C.C. & gang, an easy Monday again.
For Argyle & et al; Here's what I could find about Yawl: "A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft"
"Dutch jol, is possibly from Low German jolle."
If you plug 'jolle' into a free language translator (German to English) it equates to 'yawl'. I hope this makes sense?
For Dennis: Can I assume that 'Blitch' is short for a blogging glitch?
You are correct, sir.
Argyle, Nice write-up of an easy-breezy Monday offering.
45A could have been clued "Base enforcers" only to provide a little mis-direction to Umps instead on MPS. Mil. in the clue;answer doesn't seem right.
Otherwise a SOLVE where I could not write in the answers faster.
Yawl's are nice little sailboats with the mizzenMAST aft of the rubberpost.
But mostly it's the way we Southerner's ask others about something like "Yawl want 'nother beer?"
Somehow today's Blitch reminds me of the 'old' days of computers when they went down and up a lot. I can remember doing a training session at the old Gen Rad company in the Boston area in the early 70's. I think they had a mainframe nicknamed 'Kermit'. Some clever guy in the computer room got a Kermit doll and put it in the computer room window that you could see from outside. In those days the computer room was in a dedicated room with raised floors and off limits to most.
Anyway, when Kermit was upright everything was OK. If the Kermit doll was upside down or sideways or anything but upright the mainframe was down.
Pleasant Monday puzzle. I liked the phrases.
I always thought a peahen was a female peacock or peafowl, not a pheasant. Guess I was wrong about that.
My wife was awakened by an earthquake early this morning. I slept right through it. I'm still suffering from the Lakers loss last night.
Good morning Argyle, CC and all,
Bummer about your blog glitches, CC.I have no patience when it comes to my computer when/if it has problems.
Today's c/w was a breath of fresh air. The 1st 6 answers were immediate, so I then worked the "downs" to finish up.I put hummer instead of humvee which was an easy fix.This went too quickly for me.
The Doors were the best band ever. Brings back such great memories of Thursday nights in college. Anybody from our area remember the "Awful-Awful"?
As I understand it, the folk from Northern Wales speak Welsh, but the southerners don't. My s-i-l is from Cardiff which is in the southern portion.I love his accent and vocabulary. I must prepare a "pudding" every Sunday, which is any dessert to him.
Iwo Jima-Both of Clint Eastwood's movies were well done.
CA,isn't it amazing how a poem can put so much in so few words?Loved it.
Enjoy the day...
Four letter dogs: Toto, Asta, or Odie; who'd I leave out?
Re: base enforcers. Does a runner missing a base, in MLB, still have to be (I'm not sure of the word) brought to the attention of the umpire by the team in the field. It use to be, the player would call for the ball at whatever base the runner missed, tag the base and asked the ump to call him out.
Dennis -
Yes, Jon Lovitz, he was the pathological liar, right? As for the puzzle, I raise my hand - I had ems in there first, and the only clue I did not get was Heath. It filled in by default. Just over 5mins. If Gunghy is here, then yes, I am on the wrong coast - I need to get out of here!
Clear Ayes- Have you heard Dylan Thomas reciting his own work? If you haven't, it's a must. A voice that's as pure and inspiring as his words.
Argyle: FDR's dog FALA
Yup the team on the field has to bring it to the Ump's attention.
Happened last week to the Tampa Bay Rays. Re-plays showed he tagged the base. Happened the night of the Perfect Game SNAFU.
Hi gang -
Fido?
If I had a dog, I would name him Phydeaux.
C. C. - No blogging problems that I'm aware of. At top right on my blog I have "New Post", "Customize", "Sign Out." Front and center, I have a picture of a brown spotted toad that I found in my yard.
Nice puzzle today. Extra long theme entries, nice stacks in the corners, very little dross. At the high end of Monday difficulty, but still well placed.
A SOLO can be a milestone for a musician or dancer as well.
In MI we HONK at drivers who emulate SLOTHS.
Argyle - I couldn't think of a collective for TICKET, PASS and TOKEN, so I would have called the theme ALL ABOARD. Yours is better. Well done.
Heavy weather at times here over the week-end, but the nasty stuff missed us. The high school that got damaged is about 5 miles from where my mom lives. She got lots of rain, but not much wind.
We dropped Tom, Beth and the kiddles at Metro this morning. Their flight should be taking off about now, if things are on time. Perfect weather for flying or just about anything else
Not an easy good-by today. But nobody had a bawl IN PUBLIC. It is a bit somber here today
Cheers! (or some reasonable facsimile thereof)
JzB
Hi all -
Took off my scuba gear long enough to do the puzzle. We have had torrential rains here these first few days of June, and coupled with almost record breaking rains in May it is a wonder we are not all washed away, and we are used to rain in these late spring days!
Puzzle was fun and fairly easy as it should be for today. My only trouble came in the NW corner and only because I forgot the capital of Turkey, what a female pheasant was called (I thought a pea hen was a peacock, wow, that seems wrong somehow too). Oh well, after I looked up said Turkish capital, I was fine. No dents in the ol' V-8 can. That can wait til Thursday.
CA: liked the poem, too bad Thomas died so young.
Now this was fun. A bit easy, but it certainly made up for Saturday, which, as previously stated, I did not like.
After our miserable Winter of a snow storm+ per week, we're getting hammered with a heat wave—100° on Saturday. Plus record swarms of no-see-ums. My wife and I have over 30 swollen bites between us.
C del O
Hello All--A nice easy trip today with some of the answers falling into place without even reading the clues. I'm with JD, it was over too soon. Argyle, thank you for the fine blogging.
I thought that the Tall story/Tale clue and Fabled runner-up/Hare next to each other in the clues was fun. "The Tortoise and the Hare" really isn't a Tall Tale, but it is a Tale non-the-less.
My favorite clue today was Bottled model/ship.
CA, thank you for the lovely Dylan Thomas poem. He did have a wonderful way with words.
Our grandchildren were out of the tornado zone in Ohio, but they received a tremendous amount of rain. My granddaughter-in-law said that she was glad she wasn't called to the vet hospital for an emergency as she wasn't sure her car would float.
For those of you who have weather like ours today, fair and fine, enjoy.
Good day, Argyle, C.C. and puzzlers.
A straightforward solve today, as Monday should be, right?
Only two errors, BOAT instead of SHIP and HUMMER soon changed to HUMVEE. I'm sorry but I find them less than beautiful
Ankara is familiar as I visited 12 years ago and was surprised at how modern it looks. People dressed in western wear, especially many women in black suits and pumps looking career oriented as in NYC.
Burkas were seen outside of the capital.
Heath as you said is the stuff of novels, but not only romances; my little 4th graders used to read "The Secret Garden" which contained heaths and moors.
Otto is Sarge's dog in Beetle Bailey.
Snert (yes, five letters) is Hagar's dog.
I hope you are having a beautiful Monday. I'm staying indoors, 110 today.
So sorry about the blitches, C.C. and others. I hope they are soon resolved.
Dennis if that word (blitches) makes it into a dictionary, I hope you get the credit for its creation.
CA:
Thank you for the lovely poem by Dylan Thomas. It summarizes the love for books so well.
I got off to a bad start. I wanted SNAILS for 1D and NINA for 14A. Gave up on NW and finished the rest of the puzzle with no problem (except I wanted the more grammatically correct, "It is I" for 53D) then came back and corrected the NW.
Good afternoon everyone.
Liked being able to do all this puzzle with no look-ups. Very much liked the theme answers.
BUT I strongly object to snafu used in our puzzle. Argyle even had to clean it up. Youngsters may not know its meaning, but most of us do. Shame on you Dennis. And shame on the editors and contructor.
Further,I don't like ungrammatical usage in our puzzle. I strongly object to "it's me". Someone a week or more ago had it right with "it's I".
DH is currently looking at a new PC as his present one keeps dying. Ha! He should get a Mac. (We are a cross platform marriage.)
Cheers
Uh.....shame on me?? May I ask why?
The expletively free SNAFU: Situation Normal: All FOULED Up.
Dennis: shame on you for saying, "Nice to see 'snafu' again." That's part of my rant about snafu even being in the puzzle.
Mooring, Yawl.
Who would have thought that the peafowl are a member of the pheasant family?? I immediately googled to prove Gail wrong. Guess I should hire an editor.
11D - HERE WE GO and 42A - PEST were my only miscues, and I thought this was about as easy as you can make one. Either that or I'm a bigger genius than our 'guest' at C. C.'s DEButant party. I was so on Gail's wavelength that I had PEAHEN written in even as I was thinking, "That can't be right!"
CA, No Kidding!! Lena filled with perps and I came here to see who they were. I did know Dylan was welsh and a poet. I also liked finding SLOTHS, PEAHEN, SNAKE and GNAT. Mini-theme?
Warren, Thanks for the lesson. It's no surprise that yawl derives from the Dutch, they were great sailors. Similarly, the boom has nothing to do with what it can do to your head. It comes from the Dutch meaning branch. Do they still import Oranjaboom beer?
Splynter, I'm not sure you'd be better off out here. Our state government is quite DF and the economy is just sad.
My next dog will be named Kick, so I can introduce him as 'Kick, the dog.'
I'm leaving for nationals at 6:00 tomorrow, so I'll be off the grid for about a week. Be safe.
Sallie, 'snafu' means different things to different people, as xtulmkr correctly pointed out. Just as 'fubar' means 'fouled up beyond all recognition' to many. I believe it's more in the mind of the beholder.
And as hard as it may be to believe, 'snafu' is a term even older than I am. Otherwise, I'm sure I'd be blamed for its creation too.
Nothing is AS FUN as SNAFU.
If Gail had entered IT IS I instead of IT'S ME almost all solvers would say, "Ain't nobody speaks that way", and they'd be right.
Dennis
I object to SOLO which has obvious innuendo connotations of a salacious nature.
Jerome: BOHICA is pretty fun, too!
Tinbeni, your point is a good one. I fully expect to be chastised as well for 'pitas' by the New England crowd.
Wonderful Nina Simone clip Xtol linked.
Wow. a jazz tune wrapped around a Bach fugue (or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Awesome!
Cheers!
JzB who just mowed the lawn AGAIN
37A. I thought the hare won that race. 27A. SNAFU often defined "situation all fouled up."
Dennis- Wiki says BOHICA was military slang during the Nam years. Is that so?
Anon, at 1:30 P.M.
No, the tortoise won the race because the hare (who was ahead)decided to take a nap and the tortoise plodded along, past the hare and to the finish line.
C.C., I hope the blog glitches are cleared up soon. There is nothing more frustrating than a piece of software or hardware that doesn't work when you need it!
Good Luck at Nationals, Gunghy.
Jerome, I believe that's true, at least that's when we first started using it. In fact, I think it has Marine Corps origins.
Trying to get me in more trouble, aren't you?
Geez, what is wrong with SNAFU?? Situation normal, all fouled up. Of course if one wants to put a 'different'
I think BOHICA is funnny and so appropriate for many situations in our crazy world.
Tinbeni (1:10) do you sing in the shower??? LOL
oops, my computer made a 'snafu'- I meant that if one wanted to put a different meaning on that phrase, one could.
Good afternnon, Argyle, CC and puzzlers.
I thought this Monday puzzle was a little harder than normal but certainly within the realm of what I expect.
I only had a little trouble with the NW partly because I out in sleet instead of slush.
Just tryin' to take some heat off of me.
Lol, glad to share.
Don't you guys have anything to do?
If only I had a dollar for all the snafus I've encountered in my life!
And it's true, English ain't what it used to was.
I forgot I did have to venture out (as in wear a coat out) to go to the gym. The weather is not that bad yet.
Yawl have a nice Monday afternoon.
windhover- The irony of your note is quite clever. And no, I've nothing better to do. What's more exciting than a blog conversation broken into a line or two every fifteen minutes for a couple of hours. Besides that, instead of one long boring post I thought I'd write a bunch of short crummy ones.
Jerome:
Is there a Greyhound depot near you? I could use some help in this hayfield. The pay is almost as lousy as your posts, but we have a lot of fun, and we might drink a beer or six when we finish. Trouble is, we never get finished. But we'll drink the beer anyway. Come on over.
Easy puzzle. 11 minutes. No real challenges.
Marge: That's a great snake story!
It seems that the blog is still messed up. Some posts appear only here and some come through the e-mail. Maybe it does have something to do with Central Time.
The humidity today is unbearable. It feels like being in a very hot pool of water, almost like a sauna outside.
Only problem with today's puzzle, Humvees aren't square, they're rectangular. Otherwise, very enjoyable.
Good afternoon,
Easy, enjoyable, and appropriate Monday puzzle.
I think that despite its history, snafu has become mainstream, to the point that most (?) people have no idea it originated as an acronym. I certainly didn't until I arrived at this blog.
I love the Dylan Thomas poem, CA. Thanks.
Tinbeni, no need for misdirection of 45A (MPS) for me. I cannot remember what it stands for, no matter how many times I fill it in. My brain always reverts back to the year(s) spent translating MP (member of Parliament) and PM (Prime Minister) while reading English papers.
(Speaking of acronyms, what do DH and DAH stand for? I've tried to figure this out for quite a while, and all I can come up with is husband, or spouse, or ???)
I liked the heath fill. I love the moorlands of the British Isles. I also love the candy bar. According to Wikipedia, "Early ads promoted Heath as a virtual health bar – only the best milk chocolate and almonds, creamery butter, and 'pure sugar cane.' The motto at the bottom of one ad read 'Heath for better health!'" Mmm. Sure wish it were true...
Gunghy, where are the nationals you are heading to? Canyon Ferry Lake? Can't think of anywhere else they might be near Helena. If you actually make it to Helena (FYI, that's HEL-uh-hun, not Huh-LEE-nuh), don't miss No Sweat for breakfast and Bennie's (sp?) for lunch/dinner. I used to go to Helena quite a bit for work. Nice enough place if you avoid the ugly sprawl areas (which is true of most places, I guess). Lots of nice country around. If you have time to take a look, it'll probably be worth it. At any rate, enjoy, and good luck.
Otis
xtulmkr@12:32 & others pointed out the expletive free version of SNAFU. Innocent that I was, I didn't know there was any version other than "fouled up" when I was (much) younger. Imagine my surprise when my former husband, who had been in the Army (so he knew what he was talking about) told me what the big kids said.
Marge, LOL. It's bad enough when the kids leave and expect their parents to take care of their cat or dog. I don't know how I would have liked taking care of a reptile.
Otis, DH is (usually) Dear Husband, and if you meant GAH, that is my shortcut to Golf Addicted Husband. General Patton said about war, "God help me. I do love it so." Well, that's GAH and golf.
Good afternoon Argyle, CC, et al., What a fun speedy puzzle! Missed a lot of the clues b/c of the speed. Loved it esp. 'that's the ticket' with Jon Lovitz in mind, like a lot of you.
Had to laugh at 62D tho'. Made me think of our Santa 'Cutie'. If ya 'len-a' little this way, I'll whisper in your 'ear' 'so-lo'w that only you can hear what I want for Christmas but only after I 'sat' on your lap for a while. Yeah,'that's the ticket'! The 'mast'er plan is: If I plant those 'seeds' of my desires now in June, maybe by Dec they will not be 'lost' but have better than a 'gnat's as-ta becoming more than 'lip' service and not
'lost' in the seasonal frenzy like 'last year'. Maybe, Santa, Baby, you can clock in some 'OTs'
'via' my house, and enjoy those cookies you 'like so' much. My chimney is ready and in 'peak' condition. You won't even have to announce your arrival by saying
'It's me'. I think the 'paw at' the roof will be as good as a
'honk at' unless that's equivalent to a goose. One thing I will not be saying then is 'I'll have to pass'. It's all good.
Enjoy your night.
Goof morning C.C. and all. Whew! two typos and I haven't even started! I came to 'peacock' on the way to finding 'peahen' in my Webster and lo and behold, it says 'type of pheasant'! I never had any idea. I feel differently about people eating them, somehow!
Nice puzzle today, I almost hit a rhythm as I put the letters in! Nice steady going. I don't have a favorite clue; they were all pretty standard, but okay. I did put 'hummer' in, like several others, but caught it.
Clearayes, what a beautiful poem. What imagery! Anthony Hopkins is another Welsh artist. Maybe it's their voices that make them so effective. That men's choir singing 'All Thro' the Night' the other day was so wonderful.
Chickie, thanks for the support. I'm afraid that I'm the tortoise in this one and not all the hares will nap. Just my daughter is crewing for me and it's normally a 3 person job. Also, Fresno is the last bastion of a larger foresail called the Genoa. The rest of the nation has confined their racing to a smaller one, the jib. I've never raced a jib, in fact didn't own one until 3 years ago. So unless it's blowing like heck, those with experience with the jib will have a decided advantage.
Otis, Canyon Ferry it is. Kim's Marina to be exact. That's all I know besides what Google earth can show me. I'll take the names along, but probably won't eat there or sight-see at all. We'll take 2 days to get there, 1200+ miles. Thursday will be registration and a practice race. Friday and Saturday, we'll be at the lake from 9 to 9, minimum. Hopefully, we'll get the 5 races in on those 2 days. Sunday is a 'makeup' day, but my daughter/crew has to fly out to return to work. Part of the bribe to get her to go was to fly her out of Spokane. 5 hours out of the way, but my family is truly DF and my sister lives in Spokane and Kirsten feels that 10 years without seeing her is enough. If we leave at 6 AM Sunday, she'll get about 5 hours with her aunt. 2700 miles and about all I'll see of Montana is 2 square miles of lake and a lot of interstate.
I thought that when I retired I'd be able to see more on these trips. Next year will probably be on the home lake. Not much new to see there.
Wow, after reading this, I'm wondering why I'm even going. Must be fun.
So what's the rubberpost, Tenbeni?
Dodo, I hadn't planned on touching that one, too DF.
The mizzenmast is behind the ruDDer post, which holds the wheel and connects it to the rudder, which is the blade in the back that actually steers the boat.
The rudder post is the white triangle just in front of me in my icon. The rubber post is...
dodo
It is one right next to the rudderpost.
On a Yawl this shorter MAST is at the very back of the boat. The best thing about it is it doesn't have to type anything. LOL
Dennis
I'm just glad we did not get into a discussion re: FELT ...
SNH, nothing was removed.
o.k. four my post number for i will be serious.
the puzzle went down without a fight. i like mondays and tuesdays, but i prefer the wtf ones(wed,thur,fri). they tend to challenge me without frustrating me. i still learn something and yet don't feel stupid. i do not enjoy saturday's at all!!
ca: i tried to research that doors lyric to little success. the best explanation i found is either too deep for me or over my head! scroll down to the comments section and read the sixth comment (from angie/L.A.) and maybe a english major can figure out what she is talking about.
Chickie-A belated congrats to your grandson on his upcoming commission in the Peace Corps. Outstanding!
Warren-Thank you for sharing the amusing story of the "Kermit" computer.
BillG-According to USGS there was a 3.5 mag earthquake at 2:17AM this morning off the coast of Hermosa Beach, very near where you live, I believe. Another occurred in the same area just a bit ago, 3.7 mag.
Gunghy-"Kick", the dog. I'm still laughing!
Enjoy the evening!
Those Genoa jibs that Gunghy mentioned are really pretty in addition to be good at catching a breeze from the rear.
MJ, somehow I slept through the one last night but, as you said, there was a scary earthquake about 15 minutes ago, magnitude 3.7 and the epicenter was located about four miles from us. The only thing that kept it from being really scary is that it was short, maybe about five seconds or so.
Jerome, I agree with you. NO ONE says "It is I" any more. It has always sounded awkward, even tho it is grammatically correct.
Lucina, I share your FEELings about hummers.Never understood the $25,000 tax break the govt. gave to buyers of those gas guzzlers; I think it was for any luxury SUV over 6000 lbs. What were they thinking? OOPS! Hope that wasn't political.
C del O, your photos are stunning.
Marge, I grew up with a sister that collected reptiles.I had rats as classroom pets for years, but when I was asked if I'd like a boa constrictor I said sure. The kids loved "Cuddles" for years, but alas, he grew too long and heavy for them to handle. He spent summer vacations at home and once he did escape from his terrarium.It took us a few days to find him. Smart snake. He was cuddled up in the bookcase behind the books where it was dark and cool.That did make us nervous.
BOHICA! LOL! Just looked it up.Look out for the boom, Gunghy!
SNH, For a minute I thought Angie's explanation of the song lyric came to her while she was indulging in some 26D. But, even though it is a big stretch, there is the Sun Temple at Konrak which is designed as a chariot drawn by seven horses. Here's one of the horses. Isn't it amazing where the back and forth on this blog leads?
Long day tomorrow...at the polls from an hour before it opens until an hour after it closes. Lots of coffee on board! Have a good this evening and a good tomorrow too. Make sure I earn my $5 an hour and don't forget to vote!
Favorite Larry the Cable Guy joke: Two bubbas were talking and one said, "Jah hear my big ole fat sister is gettin her stomach stapled?" The other bubba said, "What to! The Country Buffet?"
For the last time, it is I, the sailor.
Bill, the pretty sail is the spinnaker. They are usually very bright, and are designed to catch the wind from behind. You can see the jib collapsed on the deck beneath the Spinnaker.
The Genoa is a large foresail. Technically, all triangular foresails are jibs, but San Juan 21 sailors only use 2 different jibs, so we call the larger the genoa and the smaller the jib. This shows the difference between the 2. The jib is more maneuverable, but the genoa is faster.
There are 2 classes that sail. Working sails is a group that use only Jib and mainsail. All sails is the group that supposedly uses, well, all of them. Unfortunately, most of the SJ fleets have voted to ban the genoa, citing cost. My last Genoa cost $650, the jib cost $500. So, they want me to drive 2400 miles, but will let me not spend $150 and go slower. The logic escapes me.
OK, TMI and bed-time. See you all in a week.
I never met a dog named Kick, but a long-ago neighbor had a Doberman named Dammit. Calling the dog was simple: "C'mere, Dammit!"
True story.
G'night, Dammit.
Damn, I knew that sail was a spinnaker but I just got mixed up. Damn this CRS!
I watched a couple of minutes of The Ellen Degeneres show on TV this afternoon. The closing act was Usher. I didn't expect to like the music and I didn't. The 'dancing' was athletic but involved a lot of crotch grabbing. I'm not offended but saddened. Is this what popular entertainment has sunk to these days?
My father was upset at first by Elvis. Later, he came to like him, especially when he sung gospel songs. Is that always the way it is? The older generation being upset by the popular entertainment of the younger generation?
Once more,
Thanks for the defs, CA.
Bill G., I think so. I found myself appalled at Miley Cyrus pole dancing at a teenage awards ceremony. (And that is coming from an 80s glam/hair band devotee back in those days.)
Gunghy, surely Canyon Ferry Lake and the races are bigger than 2 square miles. If not, at least Montana's interstates are fairly scenic. The drive to Spokane is lovely. Heck, after driving through Nevada, you'll think you've died and gone to heaven. (Apologies to Nevada people - while I do enjoy Hwy 50, I-80 is an seemingly endless nightmare.)
Scenery aside, there is always the absence of a sales tax to enjoy, albeit for only a couple of days.
Anyhow, enjoy the trip and good luck! Hope the weather smiles sailing-wise.
Otis
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