Theme: None
Total words: 66
Total blocks: 36
Average Word length: 5.73
The total block count is relatively high compared with its word count, but 12 are help squares in each corner, consuming 1/3 of them.
The puzzle is framed by a 11/13/15 on top and a 15/13/11 at the bottom. All of them are multi-word entries:
1A. Co-star of TV's "Chuck" : ADAM BALDWIN. Cross-referenced with MY BODYGUARD (56A. 1980 film debut for 1-Across). Have never heard of this dude. Looks cool. I liked how the cross-referenced pair bookends the grid.
12A. One might raise the roof : CRANE OPERATOR. Was thinking of something temper related.
14A. Situations that aren't clear-cut : BORDERLINE CASES. My favorite entry today. This might be the seed entry.
52A. 1983 ELO hit with the lyric "She loves that drivin' beat" : ROCK 'N' ROLL IS KING. Blind spot for me.
55A. They may be spotted at pet stores : CALICO KITTENS. Not a pet person. So, yeah, another blank stare.
Very difficult solving for me. Unable to sync with the constructor. I seldom do on Saturday, regardless of who constructs the puzzle. The clues are just too tricky & ambiguous.
Across:
16. State with a five-sided flag : OHIO. Unknown trivia to me. Boy, that's strange looking, isn't it?
17. Raccoon kin : COATI. With long & ringed tail.
18. Multipurpose lyrics : LA LA. Because they are often refrained, Santa?
19. Story : LEVEL. Was in the tale "Story" direction.
21. Cat lead-in : SNO. Snowcat.
22. Plush, in a way : PILED. As velvet.
23. Top quality : GRADE A
25. Oregon Trail river : PLATTE. A gimme for our Oregon gang.
26. It's often smoked in Sweden : EEL. I thought it's pickled there.
27. Kind of well : ARTESIAN. Named after the French region Artois. It's "a well that is dug into the ground to the water table and is under pressure and will spray out of the well head like a oil geyser". Who knows?!
31. Some rtes. : RDS
32. Luminescent critter : FIREFLY. Awesome fill. With two Fs.
33. Org. that infiltrated Germany in the '40s : OSS. I am used to the "CIA forerunner" clue.
36. Exude an air of disinterest : BLOW COLD. Also a new phrase to me. Crossing BRISKLY (36D. How a cool wind blows). Blow duplication.
37. Balderdash : PAP. Only familiar with the baby food definition.
38. For only a select few : SECRET
41. Very much : SORELY. For those who have been missing Clear Ayes,, she has a photo for us today.
43. Aquiline nose, e.g. : TRAIT
44. Area between N. and S. Korea : DMZ
47. Capital east of Dhaka : HANOI. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. My brain nerve for directions is damaged. So, no idea, Sir!
48. Goes on to say : ADDS
49. One of the fire signs : ARIES
51. "Let's go!" : C'MON
Down:
1. Airport board heading : ARRIVALS
2. Grooved, in carpentry : DADOED. Here is a dado joint. Did not know it can be a verb, Jerome!
3. Hydrocarbon suffix : ANE. Learned from doing Xword.
4. Hired gun, briefly : MERC (Mercenary)
5. Official ties of New Mexico : BOLOS. Neckties!
6. Like bees : APIAN
7. Tempo marking : LENTO. "Slowly".
8. Bavarian trio : DREI. Three in German. A gimme for Kazie/Spitzboov.
9. Mil. branch from 1943 to 1978 : WAC. Women Army Corps. Stumper.
10. Restaurant guide category : ITALIAN
11. Margarita option : NO SALT. Hmm, that would not be margarita.
12. Stuck : COHERED. Tricky clue.
13. Got a new tenant for : RELET
14. Tony-winning star of "Where's Charley?" (1948) : BOLGER (Ray). Only know him as the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz".
15. 1986 Best New Artist Grammy winner : SADE. Had the S in place, so SADE came to me immediately. Love her.
20. Certain handout : LEAFLET
22. Toy in resealable cans : PLAY-DOH. Nice clue/answer.
24. "__ is the language of the unheard": M.L. King Jr. : A RIOT. Have never heard of this quote before. What does it mean? Sounds violent to me.
25. Dispensary stock : PILLS
28. Credit checker Experian, formerly : TRW. No idea.
29. Continental trade org. : EEC (European Economic Community)
30. Virgin America hub: Abbr. : SFO. Peeked at the answer sheet.
33. Negotiating asset : OPEN MIND. Another great entry.
34. Watering holes : SALOONS. Watering hole = bar/saloon.
35. Bond activity? : SPYING. James Bond.
38. Macy's logo : STAR
39. Triage MD : ER DOC. Had ERD?? forever.
40. High-tech engineering acronym : CAD/CAM. Computer-Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing. Got me.
42. Eightball loser, often : RACKER. Don't know any pool terms.
44. Title name in an unfinished Dickens work : DROOD. Dickens's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".
45. Whitish : MILKY
46. Chameleon-like Woody Allen character : ZELIG. Woody Allen's mockumentary (1983). We had this clue before.
49. String music direction : ARCO. With the bow. I can never remember this term.
50. In __: as found : SITU
53. Tip of a pen : NIB. Neb too, right?
54. RR depot : STA
Answer grid.
Here is a sweet photo of our beloved Clear Ayes & her granddaughter Rachael. she said the picture "was taken on Easter Eve 2010 when my granddaughter and I were making a huge mess dying Easter eggs. They weren't exactly works of art, but we had a great time making them and every one was colored with splashes of laughter". She'll be back with us once her family issue is resolved.
C.C.
Total words: 66
Total blocks: 36
Average Word length: 5.73
The total block count is relatively high compared with its word count, but 12 are help squares in each corner, consuming 1/3 of them.
The puzzle is framed by a 11/13/15 on top and a 15/13/11 at the bottom. All of them are multi-word entries:
1A. Co-star of TV's "Chuck" : ADAM BALDWIN. Cross-referenced with MY BODYGUARD (56A. 1980 film debut for 1-Across). Have never heard of this dude. Looks cool. I liked how the cross-referenced pair bookends the grid.
12A. One might raise the roof : CRANE OPERATOR. Was thinking of something temper related.
14A. Situations that aren't clear-cut : BORDERLINE CASES. My favorite entry today. This might be the seed entry.
52A. 1983 ELO hit with the lyric "She loves that drivin' beat" : ROCK 'N' ROLL IS KING. Blind spot for me.
55A. They may be spotted at pet stores : CALICO KITTENS. Not a pet person. So, yeah, another blank stare.
Very difficult solving for me. Unable to sync with the constructor. I seldom do on Saturday, regardless of who constructs the puzzle. The clues are just too tricky & ambiguous.
Across:
16. State with a five-sided flag : OHIO. Unknown trivia to me. Boy, that's strange looking, isn't it?
17. Raccoon kin : COATI. With long & ringed tail.
18. Multipurpose lyrics : LA LA. Because they are often refrained, Santa?
19. Story : LEVEL. Was in the tale "Story" direction.
21. Cat lead-in : SNO. Snowcat.
22. Plush, in a way : PILED. As velvet.
23. Top quality : GRADE A
25. Oregon Trail river : PLATTE. A gimme for our Oregon gang.
26. It's often smoked in Sweden : EEL. I thought it's pickled there.
27. Kind of well : ARTESIAN. Named after the French region Artois. It's "a well that is dug into the ground to the water table and is under pressure and will spray out of the well head like a oil geyser". Who knows?!
31. Some rtes. : RDS
32. Luminescent critter : FIREFLY. Awesome fill. With two Fs.
33. Org. that infiltrated Germany in the '40s : OSS. I am used to the "CIA forerunner" clue.
36. Exude an air of disinterest : BLOW COLD. Also a new phrase to me. Crossing BRISKLY (36D. How a cool wind blows). Blow duplication.
37. Balderdash : PAP. Only familiar with the baby food definition.
38. For only a select few : SECRET
41. Very much : SORELY. For those who have been missing Clear Ayes,, she has a photo for us today.
43. Aquiline nose, e.g. : TRAIT
44. Area between N. and S. Korea : DMZ
47. Capital east of Dhaka : HANOI. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. My brain nerve for directions is damaged. So, no idea, Sir!
48. Goes on to say : ADDS
49. One of the fire signs : ARIES
51. "Let's go!" : C'MON
Down:
1. Airport board heading : ARRIVALS
2. Grooved, in carpentry : DADOED. Here is a dado joint. Did not know it can be a verb, Jerome!
3. Hydrocarbon suffix : ANE. Learned from doing Xword.
4. Hired gun, briefly : MERC (Mercenary)
5. Official ties of New Mexico : BOLOS. Neckties!
6. Like bees : APIAN
7. Tempo marking : LENTO. "Slowly".
8. Bavarian trio : DREI. Three in German. A gimme for Kazie/Spitzboov.
9. Mil. branch from 1943 to 1978 : WAC. Women Army Corps. Stumper.
10. Restaurant guide category : ITALIAN
11. Margarita option : NO SALT. Hmm, that would not be margarita.
12. Stuck : COHERED. Tricky clue.
13. Got a new tenant for : RELET
14. Tony-winning star of "Where's Charley?" (1948) : BOLGER (Ray). Only know him as the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz".
15. 1986 Best New Artist Grammy winner : SADE. Had the S in place, so SADE came to me immediately. Love her.
20. Certain handout : LEAFLET
22. Toy in resealable cans : PLAY-DOH. Nice clue/answer.
24. "__ is the language of the unheard": M.L. King Jr. : A RIOT. Have never heard of this quote before. What does it mean? Sounds violent to me.
25. Dispensary stock : PILLS
28. Credit checker Experian, formerly : TRW. No idea.
29. Continental trade org. : EEC (European Economic Community)
30. Virgin America hub: Abbr. : SFO. Peeked at the answer sheet.
33. Negotiating asset : OPEN MIND. Another great entry.
34. Watering holes : SALOONS. Watering hole = bar/saloon.
35. Bond activity? : SPYING. James Bond.
38. Macy's logo : STAR
39. Triage MD : ER DOC. Had ERD?? forever.
40. High-tech engineering acronym : CAD/CAM. Computer-Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing. Got me.
42. Eightball loser, often : RACKER. Don't know any pool terms.
44. Title name in an unfinished Dickens work : DROOD. Dickens's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".
45. Whitish : MILKY
46. Chameleon-like Woody Allen character : ZELIG. Woody Allen's mockumentary (1983). We had this clue before.
49. String music direction : ARCO. With the bow. I can never remember this term.
50. In __: as found : SITU
53. Tip of a pen : NIB. Neb too, right?
54. RR depot : STA
Answer grid.
Here is a sweet photo of our beloved Clear Ayes & her granddaughter Rachael. she said the picture "was taken on Easter Eve 2010 when my granddaughter and I were making a huge mess dying Easter eggs. They weren't exactly works of art, but we had a great time making them and every one was colored with splashes of laughter". She'll be back with us once her family issue is resolved.
C.C.
75 comments:
Morning, all!
Definitely a challenge today. I was sure that 55A was going to be DALMATIAN, and when that didn't fit I confidently put in DALMATIANDOG. That messed me up for awhile down there.
I know who ADAM BALDWIN is (loved him in both "The X-Files" and "Firefly") and remember seeing the movie MY BODYGUARD years ago, but until now I had no idea that ADAM BALDWIN was in MY BODYGUARD. So neither of those were gimmes to me. Hmmmm... I just noticed that FIREFLY is in the grid today, so I wonder if that's an intentional reference to Mr. BALDWIN?
Anyway, I managed to make slow, but steady, progress through most of the grid, but the very center section stopped me cold. I'm not familiar with any of the three-letter answers (TRW, EEC, SFO) and I've never heard the expression BLOW COLD before. BLOW hot and COLD, yes, but not just BLOW COLD. I finally did guess BLOW COLD out of desperation and was surprised to find out it was actually correct. Go figure.
Have a great one!
Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
trw was a credit checking company
SFO is the code for San Francisco airport
This was a very difficult Saturday; Story: LEVEL (probably easier for a European solver) and
Plush, in a way: PILED (which makes me think of carpets) are both very hard to see. I too did not (and do not) recall ADAM BALDWIN in My Bodyguard a high school movie which was also the debut work of JENNIFER BEALS , but Mr. Baldwin, who is not related to the 4 acting Baldwin brothers, has one of those faces not easily remembered.
SALT is part of Margarita ritual, but not part of the drink; I am not a salt person and my glasses are un-rimmed; I do the lime and salt only with shots of Tequila.
Well I am tired already from this workout, enjoy all
Lemonade714: I sincerely thank you for that youtube link for Jennifer Beals... it brought back a lot of memories. Wow, that girl was some dancer. The song and the dance set my heart racing.
Good morning, C.C. and gang - ok, this was a helluva challenge for me and a really well-done puzzle. A very late night didn't help.
Even though I knew 1A, which gave me 1D and 2D, which gave me 12A and eventually 14A, even with all that, I struggled big-time with the rest of it. Took a while to realize 'Plush, in a way'/'piled' was about carpeting.
I didn't feel comfortable with 'secret' for 'For only a select few'; didn't know 'arco', even though we've had it before. 'PlayDoh' came easily because I sell it. As with C.C., I liked the 'bookending' of Adam Baldwin and My Bodyguard. Overall, a tough but fun solve.
Today is Amelia Earhart Day and Cousins Day.
Did You Know:
- Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
- The world's youngest parents were eight and nine and lived in China in 1910.
- Cleopatra married two of her brothers.
Here is for C.C. is just one of many La La songs. I can't get past 30 seconds listening to it.
I consider a calico to be a patchwork, not spotted.
I got the top half of the puzzle without much trouble but the bottom...black flags everywhere.
One other comment. Ohio's state flag is not a flag, but a pennant instead. Its the only one like that of the 50 states. I know, nitpicky, but we Buckeyes have to stand firm sometimes!
In billiards, the RACKER is the person who racks the balls before the breaker breaks them. Often, the breaker runs the table; therefore the clue for 42 Down - Eightball loser, often - refers to a person and not to a particular act. Tricky clue.
Good Morning All,
Today's puzzle was like that "easiest exam I ever took" -- a theoretical statistics test in which I sat doing nothing but hoping that a light bulb would turn on, but never knowing where to get started.
Got FEW words today. More wrong, most blank.
'DalmationPups'? Nope. I guess Cruella succeeded today. 'novel' for "story", 'tavern' not 'saloon', 'DOW' (dept of war) rather than 'WAC'. Oh well.
Tried 'UMPA' for "Bavarian trio"!
'Firefly' provided a bit of solace -- happy childhood memories of visiting my step-grandma/great-aunt's home, with tons more 'lightning bugs' than we had at our city home.
Feel that "as found" misclues 'in situ': the clue describes how, whereas the answer describes where.
TRW started as the largest valve mfgr in the U.S., Thompson Products (founded 1901 as Cleveland Cap Screw Co.), merged later with Ramo-Wooldrige Corp. HQ'd in Cleveland, they became a huge aerospace/defense contractor, and were a leader in creating semiconductor-based industrial systems. At some point they got into credit data, and the core businesses got bought out by Northrop-Grumman for $8 billion in 2002.
I guess when one grows up regularly seeing the Ohio state flag/penant, its shape doesn't feel at all strange. Since yesterday's puzzle had a negative-toned 'TamYankees', I'll conclude with a positive 'Go Tribe!'.
TRW, Thompson, Ramo, Woolridge (?) was the ONLY classy, hitech, Fortune 100, much beloved company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2002 Northrop Grumman, bot it in a hostile bid and killed it. We still mourn it...Experian was a minor spinoff.
TRW made lots of money in missile systems, spacecraft design, (car) airbags and spy satellites (Redondo Beach, Ca.).
In 1989, a cocaine sniffing a-----e named Chris Boyce ( son of an FBI Dep Dir. !) , sold their spy sat secrets to the USSR to feed his drug habit. Made into a Hollywood movie, 'The --?-- and the snowman'.
Ohio is the only state without a rectangular ( or square ) flag shape, it is shaped like a pennant. Vexillology = the study of flags.
As for the Indians and the Browns ... the perennial cry ... 'Wait till next year'.
Good Morning C.C. and all.
A real toughie today. Agree with all the previous comments. Needed red leter help with COHERED. 1st fill was PLATTE. 1st long fill was BORDER LINE CASES. WAGS included EEL and RACKER. Thought CRANE OPERATOR was clever.
ARIES - had it yesterday. Did not know about the fire sign stuff.
'five sided flag' - the shape of the OHIO flag is actually called a 'Burgee'. The indent on the fly end is a swallowtail.
Nice picture of CA and Rachael.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
I started off badly by putting "Zachary Levi" in 1a. But a quick peek at 1d. told me that "Z" was probably wrong. It all went downhill from there. Even to the end, where I also didn't connect "Calico" with "Spotted", and “Dalmation” didn’t fit. Tried "Catahoula Dogs" but that went badly too.
Ah well, bruised and battered, I'll leave the crossword and go lick my wounds with an 11d.
The Falcon and the Snowman, From Wikipedia.
gGerry: If you are still here ... RE: Large prime numbers, Please consider to Wiki - Marsenne primes and GIMPS, for large primes. They ( & Elec. Front. Found. ) are offering $ 150K for some really large prime numbers. Respectfully yours, :-)
Hi c.c. and all:
Tough Saturday puzzle, as usual for me! I put Alec Baldwin instead of Adam; had Ariz instead of Ohio. Had to google both to see where I was wrong. Also googled Drood.
Chickie and Frenchie: Thanks for your kind thoughts for my daughter.
Have a wonderful day!
I thought this was going to be a really tough slog, and it was until the middle. OHIO (I grew up there) ARTESIAN, FIREFLY, PLATTE, EEL, OSS, and DMZ and PLAYDOH just jumped out at me. With the H, HANOI was a bit of a guess (more of a SWAG than a WAG). From there, it was just a matter of nibbling around until the puzzle finally fell.
The long entry needed for 55A had me thinking in terms of some exotic spotted fish, but the CALICOKITTENS finally revaeled with some crosses. It's an appropriate entry for the day, as we're off to the cat show in Ft Myers this afternoon. We will probably see quite a few Calico's although my wife's main area of interest will be the Orientals. She bred, raised and showed them for more than 30 years, and has a lot of Grand Champions in her past. We are catless now, though, as we like to be able to travel and not worry about the welfare of critters back home.
Argyle: Thank you for the complete name of the movie (and the linkup ). My memory is slipping...
Good morning everyone.
Got only 4 correct ones plus a few wag wrong ones before I said, "Uncle," and came here. Having lived in NM for 5 years, I was sure bolo was correct, but the rest was so daunting I wasn't positive. I wish someone who can do these things would post a bolo picture.
What a treat the photo of Clear Ayes and her granddaughter Rachael was. Thanks.
DH and I are so pleased that Bonnie was a no show here. Didn't have to put up the hurricane shutters in the rain after all. Nice to know another Naples resident is here, Grumpy 1.
Cheers
Today was a slow trot, but my Cloche stayed on:. CRANE OPERATOR was got letter by letter.
ARIES will confuse me every time, ARCO the same. Spelling PLAY DOH is a task. I recognize the scent from 50 feet away, but the DOH takes every perp to remember. I ought to think of the Simpsons' Bart or Homer saying D'OH!
@C.C: Preferences may vary region to region, but on a typical Swedish smörgåsbord the herring will be pickled and the eel smoked. There's perhaps some logic behind this, but I left Sweden before anyone explained it all to me. Both are delicious, but I prefer salmon! [Don't leak this secret to my relatives?]
Happy Weekend to all. For those in the heat waves or potential path of hurricanes, please be safe.
Good morning, everyone.
This was a tough puzzle. Don't know anything about ADAM BALDWIN or CHUCK or MY BODYGUARD. Had to g-spot to get that started. The OHIO answer was a gimme. It's the only "pennant-shaped" state flag.
Also had to look up ROCK N ROLL IS KING. Another spot on the radar that is fuzzy. Ditto for the MLK, Jr. quote.
Let's try this for your bolo ties.
Have a great Saturday and stay safe.
Or this: NM House Speaker, Ben Luján, Sr., wearing a bolo.
Thanks, C.C. Great picture of CA and DGD.
Argyle and HeartRx, I believe the "spotted" in the CALICOKITTEN clue means "seen" or "saw," i.e. I saw (spotted) a calico kitten at the pet shop.
On a scale of 1-10, this was a 15! In the first place, what I know about movie stars or movies in general would not even fill a thimble! Ditto rock stars and their songs. Consequently, I had many look ups and, in the end, red-letter help.
My first fill was BOLO. OSS, PLATTE, and SITU were givens and 10D had to be either Mexican or ITALIAN. From then on, it was mostly "huh?" and "d'oh" instead of "aha."
My mind misled me on the "five-sided flag" clue because I was thinking "pentagon." The perps indicated that it was OHIO, but I couldn't recall a state flag that shape. I am not that familiar with astrology, but I knew the "fire sign" had to do with that, so ARIES came easily once I had the "A."
See 'ya!
An aside : Nepal is the only country which has a flag in the shape of 2 triangles, one above the other. Maybe they are supposed to represent 2 peaks on the Himalayas.
Very Tough today - especially since I was certain that 1A was Adam Sandler (never heard of TV Chuck) plus the S gave me 5D (official ties of NMex) which I was sure was Sands (as in White Sands)!!! After I realized Sandler was wrong, I googled Chuck and started on a better path. Thanks for all the good info and comments.
Morning,all
I enjoyed todays puzzle more than I did yesterday's,,tho I needed some help to finish it,,6 down,14 down,33 across and 44 across,,I was very confident the answer to 41 across "VERY MUCH" was "surely".. am "sorely" dissapionted to find out I was wrong..
As far as 55 across I took the clue "spotted" to mean "seen" instead of a pattern.
As far as 33 down..would've liked to see it clued as "buying asset" instead.
"NEGOTIATING ASSET" to me is salesmanship,,and unless you have an " open mind " you ain't "buying"
Virgin America hub = sfo
Virgin Atlantic hub = lax
Can anyone help me with 44 across DMZ still can't figure it out.
C.C. I think 24 down refers to " if no one listens to you, you go on a riot"
Anon 7:13am. I don't mean to be rude ...but DUH !!
Have a great weekend everyone..am off to the lake boating and fishing.
I loved that FIREFLY, being the center clue, was a secret reference to ADAM BALDWIN, since that's the cult sci-fi show that most of his fans know him from.
Camille, the DMZ stands for demilitarized zone, a four-mile wide strip along the 38th parallel that separates North Korea from South Korea.
@Daffy Dill,
You are probably right...but I always think the worst case when I look at clues and almost never take them at "face value". So even though I got the "kittens" part from perps, I just couldn't come up with the "calico" part.
@Camille,
DMZ is "De-militarized Zone"
Have a great day, everyone!
Apropos to Camille and Bill G:
The letters DMZ - 'De Militarized zone' between No. and So. Korea - instead of the regular term 'border' - refers to the fact that No. Korea has always ( and persistently ) refused to sign a Peace Treaty ( Agreement ) officially ending the war ?
Thank you Bill G. and HeartRx
It is a great picture of Clear eyes and granddaughter Rachel. C A, Rachel looks just like you. Lovely, both of you.
Bill G. HeartRx and Anon..
Is DMZ like a buffer zone generally controlled by The UN..?
Whoo, I was unable to finish today's puzzle without coming here. My first glace at the grid scared the heck out of me, so full of long fills and white spaces. I love the long fills, though, so I dived right in. Then couldn't get going.
As always, I look at a clue and the spaces where the answer goes and if it doesn't come to me i move on to the next clue. Sometimes I go through all the acrosses first and then the downs, and sometimes I alternate. Today I followed the former method, and didn't fill anything until I hit "Raccoon kin" and pencilled in COATI, which, although I figured was too easy and therefore wrong, turned out to be correct.
I guessed the state with the five-sided flag was either Iowa or Ohio, since those are the only states I can think of that are four letters. However, the perps stumped me, so I didn't know until late in the game which state it was.
I put in COD for what is smoked in Sweden, which messed me up in that area for quite a while.
Believe it or not I got ARTESIAN right away, as well as PLAYDOH and BOLOS. I almost pencilled in LENTO right away, since it was the only tempo marking I could think of that has 5 letters, but of course I second guessed myself and assumed I was wrong because it was too easy. Others that I thought I had correctly, but doubted myself on, include HANOI, ARIES, DREI, and STAR. Oh, I did get ZELIG right away, as I had seen that Woody Allen movie ages ago.
Putting in ROT instead of PAP (I never in a million years would have guessed PAP) ruined that whole eastern area for me.
Total unknowns to me include ALANBALDWIN, ROCKNROLLISKING, and MYBODYGUARD. I didn't know SADE was considered a "New Artist"; hasn't she been singing for over 15 years? Shoot, I remember her from the mid 90's.
I'm with Barry G on BLOWCOLD, with Dennis on SECRET, and with CC on DADOED.
Anyway, I've run off at the mouth long enough. Best wishes to you all and thanks for the photo of Clear Ayes and Rachael.
Dennis, I love your "Did you know" postings. I assume Cleopatra was not married to both of her brothers at the same time! So what happened? Did the one brother die so she married the other one? LOL
Jayce: Gives new meaning to the phrase - He's not heavy, he's my brother...
Thank you Anon 11:44am for the extra info.
Jim
Hello Saturday solvers!
This was a great workout for me. At first I was like Jazzbumba, feeling daunted by all the white boxes, but I narrowed it to a section where I could actually fill something, the SW. PILLS, PLAYDOH, HANOI, and SALOONS fell easily.
But the rest had to be teased out agonizingly slow, one by one. Macy's STAR, where I frequently shop, and ERDOC prompted ROCKN, since NIB was there and then ROLL.
Finally I crawled along although the center seemed easy, FIREFLY and ARETESIAN but I agree on BLOW COLD; that seems stilted.
On 19A, I first started with FLOOR, then NOVEL, finally ARRIVALS feretted out LEVEL. And so it went and I had a few errors to correct, thank you, C.C.
My first fill at 1A was ALECBDWIN SO that caused trouble. And I did not recall DROOD, so had TROOD, etc.
The pic of CA and Rachel is lovely. I do miss her and hope all ends well with her. She has been in my thoughts so much lately.
Today I slept in until 10:00 and it felt really good. And solving this puzzle has further buoyed me for the rest of the day.
BTW, the BOLO is also the state tie of Arizona, didn't know it was NM's.
C.C.:
During the 1960s there were many riots in some of the larger cities of the country, notably Los Angeles where the Watts riots occurred. They were marked by enormous anger among the black youth and whole sections of the city were burned, looted and otherwise destroyed. This was a turning point in the history of civil rights of which Dr. King was the leader and died for the cause.
Have a great Saturday everyone!
Vidwan,
Your knowledge range is amazing.
gGerry,
Are you a he?
HeartRx and other tyros,
I've been enjoying your posts. Welcome on board and thanks for the participation.
Clare:
Thank you for that information. I never watched the X-files, so did not know. Was that his code name?
LALA was my mother's nickname, so I'm thinking of her instead of lyrics today.
Lemonade:
I wondered if Adam was one of the Baldwin brothers. Thanks for mentioning that.
Smoked or pickled eel pretty much sums up the finest of Scandinavian cuisine. It's the reason why, outside of Scandinavia, there exists no person in the world who says, "Hey hon, how about some Norse food tonight!"
C.C.- I'm with you on FIREFLY. I've also DADOED many a time. The word reminds me of a line in a Young Rascals song about carpenters "Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon"
Don't forget he Paula Abdul song, "Get Your Groove On". Although it's best forgotten...
CC: A prof. once told me ...' Them that really know ... don't write .. and them that write, ( with the possible exception of you and a few others ... ) ... don't really know.
I count myself in the latter.
Since we are on the 'know' business, reminds me of an Arabic proverb, you may have heard before ...
He who knows, and knows he knows ... is wise ... follow him,
He who knows, yet knows-not he knows ... is asleep ... awaken him.
He who knows-not and knows he knows-not ... is a child ... teach him,
But he who knows-not and knows-not he knows-not ... is a fool .. avoid him.
( Needless to say, would apply equally to females, as well).
Good afternoon CC, et al., Can't do the puzzle. For some reason my computer won't pull it up and the links are delayed but I can read all the comments. From the sound of things, I may be glad the computer is being difficult. Time is short again today but I love reading the blog just the same.
Argyle and Crockett: love the pix of bolo ties. Reminds me of my big handsome Texan dad who looked so spiffy w/ his bolo, boots and cowboy hat. What a colorful character he was!
CA: Darling happy pic of you and your granddaughter. Hope things are easing up for you. You remain in my thoughts and prayers.
In honor of today, I think I'll go 'flying' down some corridors on my roll about and call my wonderful cousin John who taught me how to play pool and to misspend my youth. Love that guy! And I'll toast to him w/my saltless margarita!
Enjoy your day.
C.C.,
Thanks, but I bet I've been enjoying your blog more than you have my posts. Keep up the great work !
Dennis,
Winston Churchill was greatly admired for his profound outlook on life and great speaking ability. But one of my favorite quotes of his applied well to today's crossword:
"Never, never, never give up. "
Like Jayce, I started today daunted by today's blizzard whiteout. (perhaps thinking of a blizzard helps when our temps rise to the upper 90s F).
Ooops. A minor correction re TRW's W. Anonymous (9:16) & I each got the name only half-right (& left out, each, a 'd'): the correct name is Wooldridge.
daffy dill, yes- the Ohio flag is a pentagon, only not a so-called regular pentagon (with all sides equal & all angles equal). For a while on this one I wondered 'what state is the U.S. Pentagon located in?' Some may be surprised to learn that 5 pointed stars can also be considered pentagons.
Is bubble-bath a toy?? It's so amorphous, and ephemeral. Similarly, PlayDoh is amorphous, though not so ephemeral. Canned toy? I was thinking of one of those springy snakes that gets compressed into a can, for an unsuspecting explorer to open. yYikes!
Anonymous 2:18-- Great Arab proverb!
HeartRx, and it's like the one that's been my personal mantra for many decades: Don't let up; don't ever let up.
Dan Naddor also had a very similar one.
ARGH!
Yikes, I just did a crossword in which the clue was "Drink made from rice" and the fill was SAKI. Aaarrrrghhh! (It was the USA today puzzle.)
Hi gang -
I am going down to some number of ignominious defeats today. We canceled our trip to T-town due to threatening weather, and it has since been calm and mild all day; now the sun is shining, and the doppler radar shows not even a unit of disturbance.
Cannot get a foot hold on the puzzle. Haven't read the comments yet, 'cuz I haven't given up -- yet.
In my quest to discover why 1 is not a prime, I have found out that since the time of Euclid, 1 has not even been a number!?!
I am giving up. Not so much conceding defeat as loosing by default as I slouch away from this numerology, muttering and shaking my head. You see, the prime reason "One" can't be a prime number is that it isn't even a number to begin with.
This is more than my little pea brain (and I only have the 1, you see, so my number of brains is . . . well, not 0, since 1 is not zero, but it has to be zero because 1 is not a number - can you see where this is taking me?) can handle.
This is probably why I became a lowly chemist, whose approach to numbers (and/or units) is strictly utilitarian.
I am going to make me a unit of honking big martini, with a legitimate prime, odd and Fibonacci number of jumbo olives. (Three, if you must know.)
Cheers!
JzB who is one perplexed unit (if that's not redundant)
Anonymous 2:18-- Great Arab proverb indeed! It is very similar to a Confucian teaching, roughly translated as "He who knows nothing and knows that he knows nothing, knows. He who knows nothing and knows not that he knows nothing, knows nothing." It's almost a tongue-twister in the original.
gGerry, you are correct about "pentagon," of course. I was thinking of the familiar pentagon shape. In fact, my mental picture was of >i/i< Pentagon in Washington.
I'm in my 80's an love crossword puzzles, but I don't know any of the "modern" tunes and am not much of a movie goer. So I had to do a lot of Googleing on this puzzle. I wanted FIREFLY to be some kind of BUG, but LIGHTENING wouldn't fit and I didn't think JUNEBUG was luminescent. Also wanted to make LAGOONS since SALOONS are not my current watering holes.
It was a huge challenge, but I always see it through - and then rush to see what you all have to say.
Have a good weekend.
My head isn't working today. I got 1D and gave up. I have a head cold and a sprained knee. Hard to concentrate.
Nice to read what you all had to say today. Going back to bed now.
Doreen
Hello All--A real slog today and I had fallen into some traps that wouldn't let me climb out to finish the area.
I had rot instead of Pap. I wouldn't have gotten pap--ever. I also had Adhered instead of cohered, so there were some areas that never did get filled in.
Thank goodness for C.C. and the blog, because I would have been wracking my brain all day trying to finish up.
Merc is a new definition for me for hired gun, though I do see the connection.
I thought New Mexico ties/Bolos and Story/Levels were clever clues today.
As I've said before, there is always a learning experience with every crossword. I will have a couple of new entries in my personal CW dictionary today.
CA--I loved the picture of you and your Granddaughter.
Have a great weekend, everyone. We're off to a BBQ fundraiser for my Women's Scholarship group. The weather is perfect for an outdoor event.
The pentagon is near Washington D.C. but it is in Arlington, Virginia.
BTW, depending on where you are standing, it is one of the few buildings where you are able to see three of its sides. If you fly over it, you can see it's constructed with pentagons inside of pentagons with a pentagonal grassy park in the center. That construction means that all offices have windows with sunlight coming in. Visitors get lost in there all the time and have to ask for directions.
Bill G: If the 'Pentagon' building had been a circle, you could have seen ALL the sides, from wherever you were standing. :-)
... and if it had been a Moebius Strip, you could have seen the inside, as well as the outside ...
Ever since the Pentagon was built, they have had to name an extra direction. North, East, South and West are not enough. The extra direction is called , ' That-a-way'.
The Pentagon was built so that the Capitol Hill politicians, wouldn't incessantly bother the top brass. This way, we can ensure that they WILL get lost.
But I have a question ...
1. Since most of the top brass in the military are men ...
2. And God knows, men will NEVER ask for directions ...
3. How does the place run ?
;-)
First fill (and only fill on first pass) was DMZ. Since 1A and 56A were cross-referenced and I have never watched "Chuck" I resorted to google search in order to get a toehold. Given ADAM BALDWIN, I knew "MY BODY GUARD". That allowed me to complete a few perps but I filled ADHERE for 12D which ground things to a halt again. Never was an ELO fan so 52A remained unfilled.
Finally gave up on the printed copy and went online with red letter help. That corrected ADhere with COhere and the rest started to fall in place.
My "Duh" moment was 40D. As a retired tool and die maker and CAD/CAM instructor it should have been a gimme.
O.K. Knuckleheads-Sit down, grab your #2 pencils and paper and take notes. We're going to put this Ohio flag thing to bed. (This WILL be on the final!)
(By the way Jayce - Utah has four letters.)
Many years ago, when my wife Clitorial and I designed the Ohio flag, I had many things in mind. Unfortunately, Clitorial had a headache, so we designed a flag for Ohio. Here are the facts.
The flag is NOT a PENNANT! A pennant is an elongated triangle. It is a BURGEE.
The blue in the flag represents the hills and valleys of our beautiful state. The thirteen stars on the left of the circles represents the thirteen original states and the four on the right side represent the three other states that entered the union BEFORE Ohio and Ohio itself, making Ohio the seventeenth star and a total of seventeen states.
The white "O" represents "Ohio".
The red and white stripes, added to the blue field on the left, is a tribute to "Old Glory" (the red, white, and blue colors) and also represent the roads and waterways of Ohio.
So - please respect my flag!! BTW - it's in the shape of a burgee because after Clitorial sewed it, a moth ate out the right center of the rectangle. Consequently, we adapted.
Another history lesson from Professor Buckeye!!
I must be off!!
Buckeye, you're SO cool!
Buckeye:
You rock!
Somebody discovered Wikipedia.
There is an interesting story abut the Flag of NEPAL .
It is really fun to be awash with so many new posters with much information and commentary, welcome one and all and keep up the good work. Being greedy, I also look forward to hearing from our infrequent and missing members
Hello, attendees and you, too, CA!
Loved your picture. What a nice gran you are! Your granddaughter looks so happy!
I have to confess to googling 1A today. It was that or suicide! But it really started things along and I finished with only one other lookup (the 'king' in rocknrollisking'). I tried 'nice' and then 'cool' first.The rest were either gimmies or worked out from perps or in quite a few cases, WAGS. I had seen the movie "My Bodyguard" but Adam Baldwin does have a pretty forgettable face. Lemonade, you
re right. I didn't remember Jennifer Beals in that movie, tho.Was that before or after "Flashdance"? I loved that movie and Jennifer, and have been looking for her forever since seeing her in it. If I recognized her in Bodyguard I've forgotten.
Buckeye, thank you for the historical bit. You certainly covered all the bases in your flag design. I must look at it again. It sounds a little cluttered. Good to hear from you . You are thought of a lot by many of us!
Tell Nurse Ratchett to let you out a little more often.
Burgee sounds like an inclusive noun. How about a Burgee of trombones? BTW, if 'number' doesn't apply to 1 then of course it is an inclusive noun to be added to the list. If it were to be used in "a number of trombones" and there were not two or more in the orchestra, then it would be tromboneless, right? Even if you were sitting there alone playing your heart out, Jazzbummpa.
Jennifer Beals' role in My Body Guard, which was three years before Flashdance, was uncredited. The latest movie I've seen her in is The Book of Eli.
Good night, all.
Thank you for the bolo pix, Crockett and Argyle. Argyle's looks more like the ones I'd seen in NM. They are beautiful.
Good to hear from you, Buckeye. Love your wife's name. You rascal you.
Cheers
Top of the puzzle was a bear but got a toehold on the bottom getting great help from the Platte River which is 2 miles south of me here in Fremont, Nebraska!
What is a MERC?
Today, it meant mercenary; other days it has meant Mercedes or Mercury.
Since MERC has a hard C, it would never occur to me to think it was an abbreviation for Mercedes or Mercenary. Still, if I were a constructor, I guess I would use it if it seemed necessary.
I looked at a weather map and the temperatures looked oppressive in most of the US. Here and where Mainiac is from seemed to be some of the few places not suffering from the heat and humidity.
dodo -
I believe I and my trusty flared, variable length metal tube would, under those circumstances, constitute a UNIT of trombone. fermatprime will have to confirm, since I am of either 1 or 0 minds on this matter.
A Burgee of trombones does have an appropriately blatty sound to it, but having acquired the SKELETON, I am unwilling to let it go.
The top and bottom three long entries are impressive, but I did not care much for this puzzle. When it's hard, as this one certainly is, it isn't fair to have so much inexactness, as this one certainly does.
LEVEL for Story makes sense, kinda, but is it in the American language? 38 SECRET - again, correct, in a way, but not quite aligned with usage. Though if I only made enough cupcakes for my closest friends, they might want to keep THAT a secret.
COHERED for "stuck" is subtly incorrect. Cohesion refers to something sticking to itself. A glue line can have either adhesive or cohesive failure - adhesive, if it separates from the substrate, cohesive if it separates from itself. Similarly, a coherent idea sticks together.
SORELY only means "very much" under a certain set of SORELY limited conditions.
Wonderful picture of our SORELY missed C.A. But one would never say that the adorable Rachel was SORELY cute!
"Spotted" in the 55A clue clearly means "decorated like a dalmation or a cheetah" which CALICO CATS most assuredly are not.
C'MON constructors - more attention to detail, please.
Buckeye - you make me proud to be a Buckeye. Though I stumbled over the flag clue, alas and woe is me.
Enough of this Balderdash.
IMBO. Cheers!
JzB who is going to T-Town tomorrow, regardless
Evening, all.
I'm going to try to post, Our computer, vis-a-vis the blog, is going crazy. It keeps scrolling through everything. So here goes.
I thought this was a wonderfully constructed puzzle. As has been pointed out, the unity was well defined at 1A, 32A, and 56A.
That said, it kicked me on my patootie. Went online for red letter help when I only had a few of the fills I felt confident about. But it was an enjoyable ride.
Jeannie-Thank you for sharing about Jen and your truck driver friend. You are definitely a very compassionate person. My best to you and them.
Night, all!
Merc has been the abbreviation for mercenary for at least 40 years.
Merc has been the abbreviation for Mercury for at least 70 years.
Sorry to post so terribly late. Busy day.
OSS, CIA forerunner was where I believe Julia Child worked before her grand foray into French cuisine.
I am working at "going blue". I have a preëxisting Google account which I reserve for business and still cannot figure out how to obtain another one. Will be back next week, blue or not!
KP
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