Theme: None
Total words: 72
Total blocks: 30
A typical "Pack and Stack", in Clear Ayes' words. Total ten 10-letter entries, including the triple stacks in the top left and bottom right corners. A couple of 9s too.
Barry anchors his puzzle with a cool cross-spanner WIND CHILL FACTOR (36A. Heat index counterpart).
Several music references in the grid, none particularly difficult. But the clues for some of the small words are tricky. ETUI (51. Bodkin holder) is a good example. I am used to the stock "Sewing case" clue. Did not even know the meaning of "Bodkin". Dictionary defines it as "sharply pointed instrument for making holes in fabric or leather".
Across:
1. Shell seeker: HERMIT CRAB. Wikipedia says despite their moniker, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups.
11. Dyne-centimeters: ERGS. Again, am used to the "Work units" clue. We've seen DYNE clued as "Unit of Force" before.
15. Graphic designer's asset: TRAINED EYE
16. Strike: X OUT. Was in the "Hit hard" direction.
17. Sinclair Lewis best-seller: MAIN STREET. Thought of "Arrowsmith", which has 10-letter also. Sinclair Lewis was a pride of Minnesota.
18. River through Lake Thun: AARE. Switzerland's longest river.
19. Trip starter: LSD. Wanted EGO.
20. Needle: PROD
21. Substance in the Nash poem "Reflection on Babies": TALCUM. No idea. The whole poem consists of "A bit of talcum is always walcum". What does "walcum" mean?
23. Stray: ROAM
24. Last, in much '60s baseball: TENTH. Was unaware that there was only one extra inning in the '60s. (Correction: Argyle said there were only 10 teams in the '60s. See here.)
25. Clarinet's home key, usually: B FLAT. Well, Jazzbumpa can confirm the clue. I simply filled in ?FLAT.
28. Cable: WIRE
29. C-ration successor: MRE (Meal Ready to Eat)
32. "thirtysomething" actor: OLIN (Lena). An onager guess. She's in "Chocolat". (Correction: It's actor Ken Olin. Thanks, Lemonade.)
33. Electric generator part: STATOR COIL. New word to me.
38. Note-clarifying symbol: TREBLE CLEF
39. Grant: CEDE
40. Oklahoma native: OTO
41. Seltzer is often used after it: ALKA. I've never had Alka-Seltzer. Ginger is my cure for everything.
42. Pin site: ALLEY. Bowling pin.
43. Rolls up: FURLS
45. Soprano Te Kanawa: KIRI. Can never commit her name to my brain. She was born in New Zealand.
47. Waver on the moon: US FLAG. Did you think of Armstrong also? Nice placement of FURLS above US FLAG.
49. Where heros are made: DELI. Hero sandwich. And RYE (56D. 49-Across choice).
50. Marlowe's "The __ of Malta": JEW. Not familiar with the book.
53. Stylish: CHIC
54. Improve: AMELIORATE. Know the word. Not the exact spelling.
57. Traditional accounts: LORE
58. Quebec export: MAPLE SYRUP. What else could it be exported from Canada? Hockey players I guess.
59. Impersonator: APER
60. Caution to one getting too hot?: EASY DOES IT. The question mark alerts me "hot" does not refer to body temperature.
Down:
1. Online file suffix: HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
2. Box score stats: ERAS. Era = Earned Run Average. It's not clued as "Notable times" to avoid the duplication with AN ERA (22. End of __ ).
3. Incursion: RAID
4. Short time?: MIN. Short for "minute".
5. Where the crowd is: IN SPOT. I don't get the clue.
6. Prefix with fluoride: TETRA. Prefix for "four".Tetrafluoride is a fluoride containing four fluorine atoms. New word to me also.
7. Jewel box contents: CD ROM
8. Portland, Oregon, college: REED. Well, maybe it's a gimme to our Oregon gang. The college is certainly not on my radar.
9. Marine assent: AYE. "Aye, Aye, Sir.".
10. Making more money, say: BETTER OFF
11. Lionize: EXALT
12. Black Flag product: ROACH MOTEL. Was ignorant of this insecticide.
13. Sikh leader: GURU. Does this refer to Guru Nanak who founded Sikh religion?
14. Stalk: STEM. Plant.
23. Grammy category: R AND B
24. Spine line: TITLE. Book spine line.
25. Greet with respect: BOW TO
26. Dally: FLIRT
27. It's not safe to be in it: LINE OF FIRE. Nice entry.
28. When doubled, an Evergreen State city: WALLA. Walla Walla, Washington.
30. __ la Plata: RIO DE. Literally "River of Silver". The muddy estuary of the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, and forms part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Faintly rings a bell.
31. The king of Spain?: EL REY. Literally "the king" in Spanish.
33. Thimblerig cousin: SHELL GAME. Thimblerig is not in my vocabulary.
34. Beats: TICKS
35. Fourth-century date: CCCLI. Roman 351.
37. Schumann's composer wife: CLARA. Indeed. She's an accomplished composer also.
42. Melodic: ARIOSO
44. Stress consequence, perhaps: ULCER
45. First "Idol" winner Clarkson: KELLY. Very successful after "Idol" career.
46. Admission of deceit: I LIED
47. Pac-10 school: UCLA
48. Talking point at a business dinner?: SHOP. Shoptalk?
49. Passbook amts.: DEPS. Deposits.
50. Shocks: JARS
52. Grieved: WEPT
55. Lea cry: MAA
Answer grid.
Happy 34th Wedding Aniversary to Paolo!
C.C.
Total words: 72
Total blocks: 30
A typical "Pack and Stack", in Clear Ayes' words. Total ten 10-letter entries, including the triple stacks in the top left and bottom right corners. A couple of 9s too.
Barry anchors his puzzle with a cool cross-spanner WIND CHILL FACTOR (36A. Heat index counterpart).
Several music references in the grid, none particularly difficult. But the clues for some of the small words are tricky. ETUI (51. Bodkin holder) is a good example. I am used to the stock "Sewing case" clue. Did not even know the meaning of "Bodkin". Dictionary defines it as "sharply pointed instrument for making holes in fabric or leather".
Across:
1. Shell seeker: HERMIT CRAB. Wikipedia says despite their moniker, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups.
11. Dyne-centimeters: ERGS. Again, am used to the "Work units" clue. We've seen DYNE clued as "Unit of Force" before.
15. Graphic designer's asset: TRAINED EYE
16. Strike: X OUT. Was in the "Hit hard" direction.
17. Sinclair Lewis best-seller: MAIN STREET. Thought of "Arrowsmith", which has 10-letter also. Sinclair Lewis was a pride of Minnesota.
18. River through Lake Thun: AARE. Switzerland's longest river.
19. Trip starter: LSD. Wanted EGO.
20. Needle: PROD
21. Substance in the Nash poem "Reflection on Babies": TALCUM. No idea. The whole poem consists of "A bit of talcum is always walcum". What does "walcum" mean?
23. Stray: ROAM
24. Last, in much '60s baseball: TENTH. Was unaware that there was only one extra inning in the '60s. (Correction: Argyle said there were only 10 teams in the '60s. See here.)
25. Clarinet's home key, usually: B FLAT. Well, Jazzbumpa can confirm the clue. I simply filled in ?FLAT.
28. Cable: WIRE
29. C-ration successor: MRE (Meal Ready to Eat)
32. "thirtysomething" actor: OLIN (Lena). An onager guess. She's in "Chocolat". (Correction: It's actor Ken Olin. Thanks, Lemonade.)
33. Electric generator part: STATOR COIL. New word to me.
38. Note-clarifying symbol: TREBLE CLEF
39. Grant: CEDE
40. Oklahoma native: OTO
41. Seltzer is often used after it: ALKA. I've never had Alka-Seltzer. Ginger is my cure for everything.
42. Pin site: ALLEY. Bowling pin.
43. Rolls up: FURLS
45. Soprano Te Kanawa: KIRI. Can never commit her name to my brain. She was born in New Zealand.
47. Waver on the moon: US FLAG. Did you think of Armstrong also? Nice placement of FURLS above US FLAG.
49. Where heros are made: DELI. Hero sandwich. And RYE (56D. 49-Across choice).
50. Marlowe's "The __ of Malta": JEW. Not familiar with the book.
53. Stylish: CHIC
54. Improve: AMELIORATE. Know the word. Not the exact spelling.
57. Traditional accounts: LORE
58. Quebec export: MAPLE SYRUP. What else could it be exported from Canada? Hockey players I guess.
59. Impersonator: APER
60. Caution to one getting too hot?: EASY DOES IT. The question mark alerts me "hot" does not refer to body temperature.
Down:
1. Online file suffix: HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
2. Box score stats: ERAS. Era = Earned Run Average. It's not clued as "Notable times" to avoid the duplication with AN ERA (22. End of __ ).
3. Incursion: RAID
4. Short time?: MIN. Short for "minute".
5. Where the crowd is: IN SPOT. I don't get the clue.
6. Prefix with fluoride: TETRA. Prefix for "four".Tetrafluoride is a fluoride containing four fluorine atoms. New word to me also.
7. Jewel box contents: CD ROM
8. Portland, Oregon, college: REED. Well, maybe it's a gimme to our Oregon gang. The college is certainly not on my radar.
9. Marine assent: AYE. "Aye, Aye, Sir.".
10. Making more money, say: BETTER OFF
11. Lionize: EXALT
12. Black Flag product: ROACH MOTEL. Was ignorant of this insecticide.
13. Sikh leader: GURU. Does this refer to Guru Nanak who founded Sikh religion?
14. Stalk: STEM. Plant.
23. Grammy category: R AND B
24. Spine line: TITLE. Book spine line.
25. Greet with respect: BOW TO
26. Dally: FLIRT
27. It's not safe to be in it: LINE OF FIRE. Nice entry.
28. When doubled, an Evergreen State city: WALLA. Walla Walla, Washington.
30. __ la Plata: RIO DE. Literally "River of Silver". The muddy estuary of the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, and forms part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Faintly rings a bell.
31. The king of Spain?: EL REY. Literally "the king" in Spanish.
33. Thimblerig cousin: SHELL GAME. Thimblerig is not in my vocabulary.
34. Beats: TICKS
35. Fourth-century date: CCCLI. Roman 351.
37. Schumann's composer wife: CLARA. Indeed. She's an accomplished composer also.
42. Melodic: ARIOSO
44. Stress consequence, perhaps: ULCER
45. First "Idol" winner Clarkson: KELLY. Very successful after "Idol" career.
46. Admission of deceit: I LIED
47. Pac-10 school: UCLA
48. Talking point at a business dinner?: SHOP. Shoptalk?
49. Passbook amts.: DEPS. Deposits.
50. Shocks: JARS
52. Grieved: WEPT
55. Lea cry: MAA
Answer grid.
Happy 34th Wedding Aniversary to Paolo!
C.C.
Good morning, CC,
ReplyDelete"Walcum" is just Nash' misspelling of "welcome" to make the rhyme.
Have you always been an early riser?
Windhover,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the welcome explanation. Yes, I've always been an earlier riser. No Farmer's Market today?
Chickie (and Annette),
Maybe you misread "stationery" as "stationary" when you put TREE instead of ECRU for yesterday's "Stationery shade" (34D)? Nice wrong answer.
Seen,
No, I've never been to D.C. Sorry to reply to you so late. I just caught up with the Comments. I have lots of cards of Ken Griffey Jr., by the way.
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteMy first pass through I had almost nothing in the top half and thought I never would, but like all the golfers say, be patient, do one at a time, and it all filed. I never heard of STATOR COIL, nor THIMBLRIG though it makes sense if thimble were used to hide the peas. Also, no idea about Schumann's composer wife: CLARA.
I do however remember “thirtysomething” and it actually is KEN OLIN who was one of the ensemble cast stars.
What is OUT, is passé and what is IN, is Where the crowd is: IN SPOT
Barry , I think you won this round
Everyone seems to have the same bug I did, up at 5:00 on a Saturday, more day to enjoy
I always remember StationERy, because it is the one which is PapER.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning All,
ReplyDeleteFirst pass fills: ERGS, OLIN, KIRI, APER, STEM, BOWTO, RIODE, KELLY, UCLA, DEPS
First long ones: MAPLESYRUP, EASYDOESIT
Favorites: DELI, LSD, CDROM
Disliked: USFLAG, TENTH
Don't get: MAA (wanted BAA)
Not a chance: REED
Oh Yeah, Now I get it: ALLEY, TITLE
New to me: thimblerig
Buon fine settimana!
Happy Weekend!
Good morning, C.C. and gang - we're on a roll again, with a Peterson puzzle followed by a Silky. I got through this one, but not without g-spot help and a few SWAGs.
ReplyDeleteAs with yesterday, I had to slide to the NE to get a foothold. Fortunately I remembered the Nash poem, which gave me 'Talcum'. That was the key for me in opening that corner; from that, I got 'Better off', which in turn gave me 'Hermit Crab', which then helped fill in the NW. It went like that the whole way through the puzzle, which seemed to take me forever to finish.
I liked 'Trip starter'/'LSD','Spine line'/'Title' and 'Waver on the moon'/'US flag'. Extremely clever. Didn't know Kiri Te Kanawa or Clara Schumann or a clarinet's usual home key. I also learned that 'dally' can mean 'flirt'; 'till now, I always thought it meant strictly to linger. And as with C.C., I liked the juxtaposition of 'furl' and 'flag'. All in all, a classic, fun Silky.
Today is National Hollerin' Contest Day, World Juggler's Day and World Sauntering Day. Can't make this stuff up.
Did you know:
- the ball that drops in Times Square every New Year's Eve is named the Star of Hope.
- in Switzerland, children receive holiday eggs from the Easter cuckoo.
- Peregrine falcons can dive at speeds up to 240 miles an hour.
Hope it's a great weekend for everyone; do something fun.
In Spot must be a popular place where the "in-crowd" goes
ReplyDeleteMorning, all!
ReplyDeleteBeen in Canada for the last few days traveling on business. But now I'm home!
Typical Barry Silk puzzle today. Challenging, yet doable (eventually). Like many, I really wanted EGO for 19A and that slowed me down at the outset. The hardest sport for me, though, was the crossing of STATORCOIL and TICKS. I think I've seen STATOR before, but not with COIL, and I went through every letter of the alphabet after getting _ICKS and still couldn't guess the missing T. In fact, I just now realized that "beats" refers to what a clock or heart does and is not referring to hitting somebody. Anyway, I did finally guess the T simply because, as I said, STATOR seemed vaguely familiar.
I found an image of an older style stator coil. A rotor spins inside it and together they make magic(electrcity) or is it they produce ergs? I get confused.
ReplyDeletePerhaps our engineer is in the blog shadows.
Good morning everyone,
ReplyDeleteA Saturday Silkie, today. What could be nicer? First fill was ERGS. Strangely, got the long center fill early. WIND CHILL was obvious, and FACTOR would seem to work. Some nice meaty fill like STATOR COIL and AMELIORATE. Needed a little red letter help to get the NW started. WAGS included AARE, B FLAT and MAPLE SYRUP. Thought DELI, TITLE, LSD, and ALKA were quite clever. Had 'lapel' first for ALLEY. FURLS and US FLAG are juxtaposed.
C.C.: re Quebec. One of their bigger exports is probably hydropower to the US Northeast.
KIRI - One of my favorite opera singers. Beautiful voice. Her father was Maori.
Happy Father's Day to all you other Dads out there.
55 Down. What kind of animal makes a MAA sound? I know MOO and BAA, but not MAA
ReplyDelete@Dennis. Re: yesterday. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteeddyB
What a challenge for Saturday.
ReplyDeleteWIND CHILL FACTOR was an early fill and got a grin.
When I hear from my sister in the winter she talks about it all the time like it is the actual temp. It makes me wonder if she goes outside and exposes bare skin to it. Here we have the Heat Index and I sit inside Villa Incognito enjoying the A/C.
Got the West fairly quickly then came to a screeeeching halt.
Never heard of REED College in Portland or KIRI the Soprano. Had the BAA lea sound, Emir for GURU.
Based on the number of times I see their license plates I thought the Quebec export was Canadians.
ROACH MOTEL a Florida gimmie.
After two mugs of coffee I chalked it up as a Saturday DNF.
Tinbeni, you are in rare form today. You had me laughing about the Quebec plates because I live next to I-87, their main corridor to get to Florida (and they don't waste any time, either.)
ReplyDeleteThen on the other site, your comment about Cubs, Last, in much '60s baseball, almost cost me a spray of coffee.
I'm havimg a spot of CRS; what is the comic strip with the hermit crab that is always changing his shell?
A little more difficult than yesterday's puzzle but not as hard as many previous Saturday puzzles. Finished with no problems in 34 minutes. Not sure I understand TICKS for BEATS at 34D, but I knew 33A (STATORCOIL), so that had to be right. Fun mental exercise.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, are you talking about Sherman's lagoon? Great strip.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who lives in FL and says they don`t have any roaches probably lies! :)
ReplyDeleteI keep boric acid out...they eat it, swell and die!(Gator Roach Hives are ugly but effective.)
Hard puzzle! Still working on it.
Thanks, Dennis. Our lame local paper has dropped all the good strips. Now we have things like old Peanuts, Blondie and Hagar the Horrible.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, have you tried comics.com?
ReplyDeleteArgyle
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I spent a lot of summers in Chicago and at Wrigley Field.
Left field bleachers is quite the educational place for a kid.
Ernie Banks (Let's play two!) wins the MVP on a last place team.
Then Andre Dawson does it too.
What's not to love about the Cubs?
Hi c.c. and all,
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle for me today, had to do some googling!
BillG: Thanks for the congrats, and a big congrats to you on your anniversary!
Dennis: I lived in Coral Springs for nine years so frequented Boca, Ft Lauderdale a lot and I grew up in Miami and graduated from high school there. The west coast of Florida is definitely a slower pace than the east. Both Sanibel and Captiva are real fun places to visit.
Hi there, fellow 'worders!
ReplyDeleteAh, Tinbeni, I still live in WINDCHILL FACTOR territory, and I don't recognize it as a HEAT thing!
Good Saturday; fills easier when I get ten-letter HERMIT CRAB to start - and I miss Sherman's Lagoon, too.
V-8 on TICKS; I was thinking strike and not music; plenty of other musical references:
BFLAT
ARIOSO
R AND B
TREBLE CLEF
KELLY Clarkson
Glad I did NOT have EGO in for LSD, might have fouled me up. Liked ROACH MOTEL, US FLAG (didn't catch the FURL next to it, tho), I have been known to "talk SHOP" when I get around others, especially with regard to carpentry - I could say I have a TRAINED EYE there, too.
As a baby, Talcum was always Walcum on my behind!
As a hockey fan, wanted to get NORDIQUES to go in 58A - we got the Colorado Avalanche from that export in '95.
As a Ranger fan, we got Lindros...oops...
I am going to go check on World Sauntering Day, and I did know that at 240mph, the Falcon is the fastest animal in the world-when humans are excluded, thank you Dennis!
Enjoy the weekend
Splynter
Splynter
ReplyDeleteWind Chill Factor is the feeling you have on your bare skin if you are standing outside IN THE WIND.
Right?
ERGO, the opposite of Heat Index.
My sis talks about it like she IS outside, bare skin, in the wind.
So when it is 20 degrees with a 15 mph wind, the WCF is 6 degrees (yeah, I googled the calculation).
Sis talks like it is actually 6 degrees. (The temp would still be 20 in this example).
Here, the other day it was 94 with a Heat Index of 110. In the Villa it was 78.
THAT'S what I'm talking about; tell your sister I feel sorry for her...
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, the heat index in FL is more sensible to me - I am up here in NY, and I can't stand the humidity - so cheers to you, for a 78degree Villa in a 94degree state with a HEAT INDEX that makes it feel like 110...by the way, does the A/C generate a "wind chill"...?
Morning all.
ReplyDeleteWe are seeing a lot of falcons now that the "hills" (4000 ft) are brown. Really stand out.
Had a car sized motor/generator combo in the basement of the engr bldg that would dim the bldg lights and stop the elevator when we would start it.
Watching a full day of practice and quals from Newton Iowa today.
Race day tomorrow.
Went to wcco.com to read about the tornados yesterday and the Philly paper for the Universal Crossword.
Usually read the Merc comics and then go to yahoo.com/comics for more.
Tomorrow is the 100th Anniver of Father's Day. Happys to all.
Enjoyed today's puzzle last night.
eddyB
Morning, Puzzlers - A good challenge today. Got off to a good start with HERMIT CRAB and WIND CHILL FACTOR going straight in.
ReplyDeleteThere's that use of "jewel box" again, meh. At least I was ready for it this time.
Walla Walla: At Christmas time, my musical but eccentric dad would sing an alternative lyric "Deck the Halls with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash., and Kalamazoo". Still don't know where that came from.
MRE: These were joked about so much in the 90's! "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians", for example. A co-worker brought some MRE's for us to try, and I thought they were quite good considering they didn't need refrigeration or anything.
B Flat: most orchestral wind instruments have a built-in transposition, for convenience. The clarinet player's "C" - which is written on his/her sheet music as a "C" - is actually a B Flat in the standard musical scale. The alto clarinet's "C" is an E Flat. I always understood, as a High School clarinetist, that the whole point of this confusing fact was to make the sheet music easier for the player to read. The majority of modern woodwinds fall into this B Flat or E Flat scheme.
There are exceptions: Flutes and piccolos are not transposed, their "C" is a "C". As I recall the same is true for trumpets and such, but that's out of my area.
Dudley
ReplyDeletePogo
Dudley, MREs really aren't that bad, and there's a lot of variety.
ReplyDeleteOf course this is coming from someone who lived for the better part of a year on C-rats, with appetizing entrees like 'Turkey Loaf' (exact shape/consistency of a can of dog food) and Ham & Lima Beans (affectionately known as "Ham and Mothers"). Oh, and we also had some sort of crackers that must've had a type of cast iron as an ingredient. Quite nutritious, no doubt.
A couple of Ogden Nash verses I remember and like:
ReplyDeleteKittens
The trouble with a kitten is that
Eventually it becomes a cat.
Catsup (Ketchup):
Shake and shake the bottle,
none'll come, and then a lot'll.
More later.
I was about to type Pogo but I see Anon beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteWherever the place,
Whatever the time,
Every lane moves
But the one where I'm.
Anon - Wow! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to me to Google that. Pogo came right up! That comic strip was not in my local paper as a kid, so I only saw it on Sundays when we sprang for a city paper. It was imaginative stuff.
Hello everybody. I loved this puzzle! Unlike the last couple of days, this one was mondo satisfying; I actually said "ahhhh" with a big smile on my face when I completed it. Dunno why, but I really related, and thought many of the clues/answers were clever as heck without being frustratingly obscure.
ReplyDeleteHaving gone to the University of Oregon in Eugene, I knew REED college right away. Others that came easily to me were ERGS, BFLAT (I used to play a b-flat tenor sax), OLIN, ALKA, KIRI, CHIC, CDROM, GURU, ELREY, WALLA, RIODE, CLARA, and KELLY.
I figured either STATOR or ROTOR were part of 33A, and got it filled with help from the tried'n'true perps. For some reason, WINDCHILLFACTOR just popped out at me, so I got a good start at the center that way. S'gonna be chilly here today, "only" about 65 tops.
Agreed that Kiri Te Kanawa has a fabulous voice. I could listen to (and look at) her for hours.
I didn't know maple syrup is a Quebec export. Interesting, and another fact learned.
AMELIORATE is freaking awesome!
We often have referred to the sound sheep and goats make as MAA as well as BAA. Almost interchangeable I think.
Sherman's Lagoon is among my favorite comic strips. All it took was the letters AB at the end and the C of CDROM for me to get hermit crab. Made me smile.
I can never remember that doggone AARE River! Aaaarrgghhh! And I had the same difficulty with TICKS that some of you had.
So many clever entries today! Love it love it love it. No "meh" formed on my lips today. Nuttin but big smiles and a drawn-out "aaaah."
Best wishes to you all, and may all us dads have a special day tomorrow.
Good morning all,
ReplyDeleteThat puzzle was a doozy, another clever clever one from Mr. Silk.How does he come up with clues like spine line and thimblerig cousin?
I nailed hermit crab(read Pagoo to 3rd graders). Silly me, thought I was going to sail through, but got down to wire and came to a halt at MRE and strator coil.Put celinedion instead of maple syrup (she is probably from Toronto anyway).
So many new words for me: ameliorate, arioso(my A page runneth over).
With shell game I also thought of Sanibel Island where we used to go shelling. Crossed over by ferry;they probably have a fancy causeway by now.
Have a lovely weekend and Happy Fathers' Day to all.No wind chill factor here.
Good Morning All, I love Barry Silk's efforts, but he doesn't make it easy. For the first couple of passes my puzzle picket fence looked like it had been run down by a bulldozer.
ReplyDeleteAfter finally entering DEPS, KELLY and I LIED, I still couldn't believe that (54A) AMELIORATE filled in so easily. As long as I finally had a foothold in the SE, I stuck around, filled it in and worked my way north and west.
The fill of (36A) WIND CHILL FACTOR and (17A) MAIN STREET helped the rest to creep along without too many problem.
I had STACTIC COIL for 33A until I just couldn't anymore. I had to finish up here to find out what a STATOR COIL is. Scientific stuff is not my strong point.
In my pre-retirement days, I ordered all kinds of tools, hardware and supplies for the postal facility I worked at. We had to keep enough water and MREs on hand for two people for five days. There was no thought that "the mail must go through" It was to make sure, in the case of an emergency, that the facility would be guarded and maintained. I have no idea if that policy is still in effect. It seemed kind of silly to me...what happens if an emergency goes on for six days?
Happy anniversary to Paolo and to all the other June brides and grooms.
I bet Jeannie is getting excited about her visit to see her parents next week. I know she had to postpone it earlier, so it will be even sweeter now.
Early Happy Father's Day to all the dads, stepdads and those who have filled in for fathers. You don't always get the appreciation you deserve.
Good one, Bill G. I like that one too. And it's true!
ReplyDeleteHello, C.C. and fellow puzzlers.
ReplyDeleteBesides C.C., where are the other women today?
This Silky was a blast although when "beachcombers" didn't fit across the top, I went looking elsewhere, smiled at "king of spain" EL REY and knew this would be a good time.
RIO DE la plata is also familiar, then I knew on 33A, it was some kind of coil. I confess I had to ask my engineer neigbor about it and he told me STATORCOIL.
But TICKS as beats? Would that be like a beating heart, ticking heart?
I love the word AMELIORATE and believe it or not, I can recall the high school English class when and where I learned it. We had an awesome English teacher. RIP
All I can say is that this puzzle just filled in, little by little, the entire east end and then slowly worked my way up encountering most of the same challenges as you all did.
I do love Barry Silk puzzles; you might say I lionize, EXULT, him as one of the Kings of xwd construction.
KIRI and CLARA are both known to me as they are often featured on the classical station.
As you might guess, the heat index here is quite high, not too much sauntering, I fear.
Again, congratulations, Paolo, to you and your wife.
Have a happy Saturday, all!
JD and CLEAR AYES:
ReplyDeleteLadies, I guess we all sailed in together. When I read the comments it was all gents.
Hello All--I did finish--almost-- with much Googling today. A Barry Silk puzzle is always a challenge, and this one was no exception. I didn't even have a picket fence on my first couple of passes. CA, I didn't need a bulldozer, not enough answers to knock down.
ReplyDeleteI did want Beach comber,but it wouldn't fit, and I had Bling for Jewel box contents for the Loongest time! How could I have forgotten our recent discussion about the boxes for CD's?
New to me was Stator Coil and Dyne-Centimeters clue. I have equated ergs to work units. I should have made the connection, though.
I truly enjoyed the clues for Pin site/Alley, and for Spine Line/Title. I wasn't thinking out side the box today!
Yes, C.C. Stationery was misread. As I said yesterday, double DUH. Thanks you Lemonade for the StationEry/PapEr help. I'll not make that mistake again. I'll read more carefully.
A beautiful day here today. I want to get outside and do something fun. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Jeannie - I looked at your link for the SS Badger. Now I'm tempted to use her to get to Oshkosh next month. I'm sure you know that the U.P. is a looong way around the lake!
ReplyDeletePassage isn't cheap, however, especially with a small motorhome.
This was a tough task for a Lebanese 5th grader like me.tho I did guess quite a few of the unknowns, I still couldn't get my logic mind to make the clue\answer connection on some ,,,54a is prime example.. Sometimes I can see the meaning of a word by breaking it down, but not this one.
ReplyDeleteWindchill factor was a gimme , so was Maple syrup
got hung up on 19a wanted ego
and It took me awhile and some cheating to figure out 10d . I had Be well off, Oh well, am still proud of myslef .
Vacation to Lebanon Monday,, last minute shopping and paking this weekend ,, maybe catch some US Open action ,, go Phil
Walcum to all,
ReplyDeleteTicks of the clock -> ticks of the metronome _-> musical beats. Didn't help me, I wanted licks, as in "We licked 'em good."
First thing I noticed was 35d the roman date. I slapped in CCC and was off and running. I felled the middle east and southeast so fast I figured I'd be done in 5 minutes. 90 minutes later, I finally hit google for help: GURU, AARE, and MAINSTREET came that way and opened the entire north.
Problems were that I couldn't accept ERAS and AN ERA, I read Evergreen as Everglade, I wanted a name for Last in baseball and some very obvious answers in the north just wouldn't come.
If you listen to a sheep, they often sound more like maaaaaaaa than baa. Annoying as hell. My parents made me raise them for 4-H. Taught me to really really hate the stupid things.
My son says the only popular thing in the MREs is the Jap-a-leen-o cheese. If you're lucky enough to get it, you can trade it for almost anything.
My soon to be ex called me a couple of days ago. She was hospitalized with Pancreatitis and gall stones. They had her in the hospital for 5 days: 4.5 to treat the pancreatitis and .5 to remove the gall bladder and verify she could hold down liquids. I got there (3 hr. trip) in time to wish her luck and stayed a day to make sure she was able to do more than just keep down liquids.
Now I've got to try to recover from being gone so much.
Darn good of you to do that, Gunghy. I hope she recovers 100%
ReplyDeleteProbably everybody already knew this but me but I just found out that men tend to have much more prominent Adam's apples than women. It apparently occurs at puberty when males get lower voices with larger voice boxes. None of this every occurred to me until recently and I Googled it to confirm it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday, C.C. and all.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Barry Silk's name on a Saturday puzzle always gives me pause, as he creates many of Newsday's Saturday Stumpers which definitely do (stump me). Yet bit by bit, it came together, beginning with a toehold in the SE, working to the NW. So many delightful clues. I think my fav is 42A: Pin site (ALLEY), but was also tickled by: Trip starter, Where heros are made, Traditional accounts, and Spine line.
Happy Anniversaries to so many posters! Chickie (56 yrs. tomorrow), Bill G. (45 yrs.), g8rmomx2 (40 yrs.), Paolo (34 yrs.). That's 175 years in all. Congratulations, and best wishes for continued joy together. (Please forgive me if I omitted anyone.)
C.C., I always appreciate your blogs, yet also enjoy the posts of those you have so carefully selected to assist you either regularly, or on an occasional basis. Had to LOL at your "onager guess" comment today for 32A. Too funny!
Happy Father's Day to all dads, granddads, step-dads, and those who may have filled in with a child when a "real" dad wasn't available for whatever reason.
Enjoy the evening!
This was actually easier than many for me - maybe because I live in the northwest and came from Canada?
ReplyDeleteI guess it's just a "wavelength" thing, but this one didn't seem so bad for a Saturday. I still think Thursday's Robert Harris puzzle was the toughest of the week.
ReplyDeleteI stalled out a bit in the mideast, not knowing RIO DE la Plata, and having never heard of STATOR COIL.
I would certainly defer to Windhover on this one, but I would agree with Gunghy that with sheep (don't know about goats), you certainly hear both MAA and BAA. My recollection (from growing up on a farm) is that the ewes made more of a BAA sound, but the lambs made more of a MAA sound. But then most of my interaction was while helping my Dad castrate the lambs in the spring, so the process could have been affecting the little guys pitch a bit.
And I can't believe I just wrote a paragraph about sheep sounds and castration.
Well, since JimmyB started it, I'll continue. I recently saw, on "Dirty Jobs," where lamb castration is often done, in part, with one's teeth. It sounds dreadful but it seemed to be more humane and less painful than using a clamp.
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteTwo funny strips today are BC and Over the Hedge. Both deal with music.
Tony takes heat by taking the day
off to be with family while Obamma
and Biden yuk it up on the golf course. Fair is fair, I guess.
Ever wonder what would happen if BP
just pulled out of the gulf?
eddyB
Windhover, your take on MAA or BAA AND on sheep castration technique?
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me, the first thing I thought of for 52D "Bodkin holder" was CODPIECE. I must have been thinking of something else.
ClearAyes,
ReplyDeleteAs I said here a few days ago, we do not castrate lambs at Windhover Farm. The guys live out entire brief but very happy lives completely intact. In the Bluegrass region of Kentucky where the Irish and I have chosen to pursue our destiny, lamb fries are a delicacy. While the items in question ARE going to end up in someone's mouth, the taste of wool, which covers them as original equipment, it not at all appetizing.
As for the stupidity of sheep, it is mostly mythical. Sheep have all the native intelligence they require to be sheep. They don't need a license to do anything, they don't buy insurance to protect them against the vagaries of life, and the first knowledge they have of death is at that moment, so they have no fear of it.
As for the sound they make, it varies from animal to animal, just as in humans.
I use a bodkin in sewing quite often.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the givens for me today. It all depends on one's background and experiences as to whether or not you get an answer right away.
As for Maa and Baa. I wanted Baa, but soon had to change it. I can't really remember how the sheep sounded when my girls were raising them for 4H. We spent most of our county fair time in the livestock barn, and it was a cacaphony of many sounds. I suppose the lambs were vocal when we came to feed them, but I just don't remember.
Jeannie, I've been thinking about you all day and wondering how your trip is going. I know that you will have a wonderous time with your family. It has been a long time since you've seen them and you'll have a lot of catching up to do.
BTW,
ReplyDeleteThe Irish and are currently ensconced in a quite trashy little bar in our town, which has only recently embraced the sale and consumption of god's own and favorite grain, barley, in liquid form, and imbibing our fair share.
We sold enough lamb, including some fries, at the farmers market this morning to finance this foray into the seamy side.
Chickie,
ReplyDeleteBodkin was also a gimme for me today, thanks to my grandmother, and her sewing lessons with me. On a treadle machine, no less.
Based on Windhover's comments, I guessed what lamb fries were. Then I Googled and confirmed it. I'm guessing I would like anything breaded and fried.
ReplyDeleteOn "Dirty Jobs," the farmer castrated the lambs with a sharp knife and his teeth. The host told him that all the humane societies agreed that using a clamp was the more humane way. The farmer then did it that way too. The first lamb was out in the field running around with its mother right away. The clamped lamb went over in the corner to lie down, apparently because it was in so much discomfort.
WH, I don't how I missed your previous comment about the boys and their boys. I'm happy to hear that they enjoy being lambs for as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteNo barley here, so I'll just have a sip or two of amaretto before bedtime. I'm also glad to hear you and Irish are enjoying your evening. If there is singing involved, join in and hoist one for me.
CA:
ReplyDeleteWe are singing along with John Prine, Jimmy
Buffett, Michael Martin Murphy, David Allan Coe and others. Everyone else is in their cups, so we're singing like we actually can. Enjoy your Amaretto.
Windhover, it sounds like you're in "good company" - I really like MMM, in particular. Congrats on the successful market day!
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much time for the puzzle this afternoon, but I started it anyway. I worked thru it all and had about 5 across words left to finish in the SE...when the puzzle shut down on me! ARGH!!! I don't know what happened.
No time to start over, so I just got back to it. It goes MUCH faster when you've already done 98% of it just a few hours ago. I wound up re-doing it in about 7 minutes! I wish I could do that on a first try...
Lemonade, thanks for the trick for Stationery.
I liked the US FLAG and FURLS stack too!
In honor of Father's Day and STATOR COIL, today's avatar shows my father at work for GE. When we were little, we were told he was an armature winder. I don't know which of us was brave enough to tell him that we didn't have a clue what that meant! When we'd go to school and have to tell what our parents did, we learned to say he "fixed/wired huge generators".
Dodo,
ReplyDeleteYou are not anonymous. Every time you post it shows blue to me.
Gunghy
MJ, I, too, learned to sew on a treadle machine. I was given an old treadle when I was first married and used it until the early 70's. I made all of the girl's clothes--dresses, coats, and pants, etc. until they were in high school.
ReplyDeleteMy 4-H group had to use the treadle for at least one of their projects to have the experience of using a non-electric machine. I still have the machine and can't quite part with it.