Theme: RECYCLED PLASTIC (60A: Useful waste, what's literally hidden in 17-, 25- and 46-Across). - The letters of the word PLASTIC are anagrammed and recycled into a portion of the other three theme answers. In Cryptic crossword, recycled/shuffled signal anagram gimmick.
17A. State of the Union, say: POLITICAL SPEECH. Is this truly informational, or was it ever? Or just another chance to listen to party claims and rhetoric from both sides? As a kid, these always irked me. There were only three channels back then and all of them preempted their regular shows for this. And then just when you thought it was over, the other side got equal air time to rebut. Of course now, with all the cable channel choices, you can just watch something else rather than doing something good, like reading a book instead.
25A. Military tradition: HOSPITAL CORNERS. Tightly tucked sheets for a neat appearance. These make me claustrophobic. I have to have my feet free to move. How about you? Do you prefer being tucked in tight?
46A. Looney Tunes genre: SLAPSTICK COMEDY. Also animation. I guess I always associated slapstick only with live actors, so this threw answer me for awhile.
Al here.
It's kind of a tricky theme, so that's why it is spelled out as one of the answers, you wouldn't get it otherwise. Well, maybe Jerome might... This is the kind of clue you would get for an English Crossword answer, an instruction to rearrange letters. Knowing the theme didn't help me at all, because all the letters I needed were the other ones that weren't part of the word plastic. The last to fall for me today was the middle east, and I had two black marks there. The rest was pretty tough too, more like a Friday, I thought. The jump from Wednesday to Thursday seems to me to be more steep than the one from Thursday to Friday.
Across:
1. NASDAQ debuts: IPOS. Stock market Initial Public Offerings, the first time a stock can be bought.
5. Silly: APISH. The word silly has roots in German: selig "blessed, happy, blissful". It moved from "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent", to "harmless," to "pitiable", to "weak", to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish". Here it just means acting like a monkey.
10. '60s-'70s pitcher nicknamed Blue Moon: ODOM. John. Supposedly given to him by a schoolmate because his face was so round.
14. Attic-dweller of '70s-'80s TV: MORK. Robin Williams role, a spin-off show from a Happy Days appearance.
15. Home of a mythical lion: NEMEA. A beast eventually killed by Heracles (Hercules). It could not be killed in a usual fashion because its golden fur was impervious to attack. It could only be killed by shooting it or stabbing it in the mouth.
16. Admonition to Nanette?: NO NO. A musical comedy, made into films in 1930 and again in 1940, No No Nanette contains the song Tea for Two, which we just recently had as a puzzle answer.
20. Miniature surveillance gadget: SPYCAM.
21. Rear ends of a sort: CABOOSES. From M.Du. kambuis "ship's galley," from Low Ger. kabhuse "wooden cabin on ship's deck;" probably a compound word whose elements correspond to English cabin and house.
22. What there oughta be: A LAW.
24. Skirmish: ROW. the "ow" here is pronounced like the "ou" in ouch. Of uncertain origin, but perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout", a shortened form of carousal.
33. Sch. with a Narragansett Bay campus: URI. University of Rhode Island.
34. Odin's group: AESIR. Norse gods.
35. Tuned to: SET AT. As with a radio station.
36. Word with mala or bona: FIDE. In bad or good faith.
38. Works in a Catalonian museum: DALIS. Salvadore.
40. Classico competitor: RAGU. Spaghetti sauces.
41. Element 100 eponym: FERMI. Enrico Fermi, who worked on the development of the nuclear reactor, had Fermium named after him. Fermium was discovered in the aftermath dust of the first hydrogen bomb test.
43. Betty Crocker salad topping: BAC-OS.
45. Crosswalk sign word: PED. No abbreviation clue due to common use? Or because that is the way it literally appears, perhaps.
49. Eastern tongue: LAO. Official language of Laos. Also called Laotian or Isan.
50. It might be a close call: SAFE. Baseball.
51. Japanese golfer in the World Golf Hall of Fame: ISAO AOKI. So many vowels...
56. Make a connection (with): LIAISE. Back formation from French liaison (union, binding together). Said to be a coinage of British military men in World War I.
62. Leafy veggie: KALE. Has powerful antioxidant properties, high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium, kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. Also contains sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. Supposed to taste better after the first frost.
63. Merge: UNITE.
64. Scot's vacation site: LOCH.
65. Insult: SLUR.
66. Try to persuade, with "with": PLEAD.
67. Sean's mom: YOKO. Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono.
Down:
1. Troublemakers: IMPS.
2. Info: POOP. Military slang. The rich fertile result of the brass passing down their wisdom through to the lower echelons.
3. French touchdown site: ORLY. Airport
4. Alpine wear: SKI CAP.
5. Like many short films: ANIMATED.
6. Workout target: PEC. Pectoral muscles. For the ladies.
7. Jobs creation?: IMAC. Steve Jobs, Apple computer.
8. "The Fugitive" actress Ward: SELA.
9. Easy-Bake Oven maker: HASBRO.
10. Used car selling point: ONE OWNER.
11. Performs: DOES.
12. Singly: ONCE.
13. Mineralogist Friedrich: MOHS. Namesake of the Mohs scale, to compare mineral hardness (scratching one with another).
18. Two-time Oscar nominee Shire: TALIA. Adriannn! from Rocky and Connie Corleone in the Godfather.
19. Standard partner: POORS. You rarely see the names for the S&P index spelled out like this.
23. Horseradish relative: WASABI. It's green and hot, a Japanese condiment. A lot of products here that claim to be Wasabi are actually just dyed horseradish. Real wasabi is difficult and expensive to grow and harvest.
25. Blows: HUFFS. And puffs. I wonder why the big bad wolf never enlisted the kool-aid man
26. Cantilevered window: ORIEL.
27. Libya's Gulf of __: SIDRA.
28. Not a deep purple: LILAC. This is Deep Purple.
29. Pains in the neck: CRICKS. I really wanted a different leading consonant here...
30. Bivouac: ETAPE. A military encampment where a day's stores are kept.
31. Wreaked havoc, as a battle: RAGED. In the manner of a Berserker.
32. Prepare, in a way: STUDY. For a test.
37. Strike target: EMPLOYER. Unions, not baseball.
39. Of questionable repute: SO-CALLED.
42. First name in sci-fi: ISAAC. Asimov. Prolific writer, more than 200 books in his lifetime, also wrote mysteries, fantasy, and non-fiction in the form of popular science. Also was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University.
44. Balkan capital: SOFIA. Bulgaria.
47. Install needed equipment: TOOL UP.
48. Like five per cent, to a server: MEASLY. An "insulting" tip amount.
51. Nettles: IRKS.
52. Sea World clapper: SEAL.
53. First Amendment advocacy gp.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.
54. __ Ration: KEN-L. Dog food brand.
55. Romeo's last words: I DIE. O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. — Thus with a kiss I die.
57. "Am __ late?": I TOO. Yes, Juliet. Yes you are too late. And now you're late, too.
58. Twisted: SICK.
59. Comeback: ECHO.
61. Harper Valley org.: PTA. Song written by Tom T Hall, performed first by Jeannie C Riley. Made into a movie, and then a TV series starring Barbara Eden, after she lost her magical genie (I dream of Jeannie) powers.
Answer grid.
Al
17A. State of the Union, say: POLITICAL SPEECH. Is this truly informational, or was it ever? Or just another chance to listen to party claims and rhetoric from both sides? As a kid, these always irked me. There were only three channels back then and all of them preempted their regular shows for this. And then just when you thought it was over, the other side got equal air time to rebut. Of course now, with all the cable channel choices, you can just watch something else rather than doing something good, like reading a book instead.
25A. Military tradition: HOSPITAL CORNERS. Tightly tucked sheets for a neat appearance. These make me claustrophobic. I have to have my feet free to move. How about you? Do you prefer being tucked in tight?
46A. Looney Tunes genre: SLAPSTICK COMEDY. Also animation. I guess I always associated slapstick only with live actors, so this threw answer me for awhile.
Al here.
It's kind of a tricky theme, so that's why it is spelled out as one of the answers, you wouldn't get it otherwise. Well, maybe Jerome might... This is the kind of clue you would get for an English Crossword answer, an instruction to rearrange letters. Knowing the theme didn't help me at all, because all the letters I needed were the other ones that weren't part of the word plastic. The last to fall for me today was the middle east, and I had two black marks there. The rest was pretty tough too, more like a Friday, I thought. The jump from Wednesday to Thursday seems to me to be more steep than the one from Thursday to Friday.
Across:
1. NASDAQ debuts: IPOS. Stock market Initial Public Offerings, the first time a stock can be bought.
5. Silly: APISH. The word silly has roots in German: selig "blessed, happy, blissful". It moved from "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent", to "harmless," to "pitiable", to "weak", to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish". Here it just means acting like a monkey.
10. '60s-'70s pitcher nicknamed Blue Moon: ODOM. John. Supposedly given to him by a schoolmate because his face was so round.
14. Attic-dweller of '70s-'80s TV: MORK. Robin Williams role, a spin-off show from a Happy Days appearance.
15. Home of a mythical lion: NEMEA. A beast eventually killed by Heracles (Hercules). It could not be killed in a usual fashion because its golden fur was impervious to attack. It could only be killed by shooting it or stabbing it in the mouth.
16. Admonition to Nanette?: NO NO. A musical comedy, made into films in 1930 and again in 1940, No No Nanette contains the song Tea for Two, which we just recently had as a puzzle answer.
20. Miniature surveillance gadget: SPYCAM.
21. Rear ends of a sort: CABOOSES. From M.Du. kambuis "ship's galley," from Low Ger. kabhuse "wooden cabin on ship's deck;" probably a compound word whose elements correspond to English cabin and house.
22. What there oughta be: A LAW.
24. Skirmish: ROW. the "ow" here is pronounced like the "ou" in ouch. Of uncertain origin, but perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout", a shortened form of carousal.
33. Sch. with a Narragansett Bay campus: URI. University of Rhode Island.
34. Odin's group: AESIR. Norse gods.
35. Tuned to: SET AT. As with a radio station.
36. Word with mala or bona: FIDE. In bad or good faith.
38. Works in a Catalonian museum: DALIS. Salvadore.
40. Classico competitor: RAGU. Spaghetti sauces.
41. Element 100 eponym: FERMI. Enrico Fermi, who worked on the development of the nuclear reactor, had Fermium named after him. Fermium was discovered in the aftermath dust of the first hydrogen bomb test.
43. Betty Crocker salad topping: BAC-OS.
45. Crosswalk sign word: PED. No abbreviation clue due to common use? Or because that is the way it literally appears, perhaps.
49. Eastern tongue: LAO. Official language of Laos. Also called Laotian or Isan.
50. It might be a close call: SAFE. Baseball.
51. Japanese golfer in the World Golf Hall of Fame: ISAO AOKI. So many vowels...
56. Make a connection (with): LIAISE. Back formation from French liaison (union, binding together). Said to be a coinage of British military men in World War I.
62. Leafy veggie: KALE. Has powerful antioxidant properties, high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium, kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. Also contains sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. Supposed to taste better after the first frost.
63. Merge: UNITE.
64. Scot's vacation site: LOCH.
65. Insult: SLUR.
66. Try to persuade, with "with": PLEAD.
67. Sean's mom: YOKO. Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono.
Down:
1. Troublemakers: IMPS.
2. Info: POOP. Military slang. The rich fertile result of the brass passing down their wisdom through to the lower echelons.
3. French touchdown site: ORLY. Airport
4. Alpine wear: SKI CAP.
5. Like many short films: ANIMATED.
6. Workout target: PEC. Pectoral muscles. For the ladies.
7. Jobs creation?: IMAC. Steve Jobs, Apple computer.
8. "The Fugitive" actress Ward: SELA.
9. Easy-Bake Oven maker: HASBRO.
10. Used car selling point: ONE OWNER.
11. Performs: DOES.
12. Singly: ONCE.
13. Mineralogist Friedrich: MOHS. Namesake of the Mohs scale, to compare mineral hardness (scratching one with another).
18. Two-time Oscar nominee Shire: TALIA. Adriannn! from Rocky and Connie Corleone in the Godfather.
19. Standard partner: POORS. You rarely see the names for the S&P index spelled out like this.
23. Horseradish relative: WASABI. It's green and hot, a Japanese condiment. A lot of products here that claim to be Wasabi are actually just dyed horseradish. Real wasabi is difficult and expensive to grow and harvest.
25. Blows: HUFFS. And puffs. I wonder why the big bad wolf never enlisted the kool-aid man
26. Cantilevered window: ORIEL.
27. Libya's Gulf of __: SIDRA.
28. Not a deep purple: LILAC. This is Deep Purple.
29. Pains in the neck: CRICKS. I really wanted a different leading consonant here...
30. Bivouac: ETAPE. A military encampment where a day's stores are kept.
31. Wreaked havoc, as a battle: RAGED. In the manner of a Berserker.
32. Prepare, in a way: STUDY. For a test.
37. Strike target: EMPLOYER. Unions, not baseball.
39. Of questionable repute: SO-CALLED.
42. First name in sci-fi: ISAAC. Asimov. Prolific writer, more than 200 books in his lifetime, also wrote mysteries, fantasy, and non-fiction in the form of popular science. Also was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University.
44. Balkan capital: SOFIA. Bulgaria.
47. Install needed equipment: TOOL UP.
48. Like five per cent, to a server: MEASLY. An "insulting" tip amount.
51. Nettles: IRKS.
52. Sea World clapper: SEAL.
53. First Amendment advocacy gp.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.
54. __ Ration: KEN-L. Dog food brand.
55. Romeo's last words: I DIE. O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. — Thus with a kiss I die.
57. "Am __ late?": I TOO. Yes, Juliet. Yes you are too late. And now you're late, too.
58. Twisted: SICK.
59. Comeback: ECHO.
61. Harper Valley org.: PTA. Song written by Tom T Hall, performed first by Jeannie C Riley. Made into a movie, and then a TV series starring Barbara Eden, after she lost her magical genie (I dream of Jeannie) powers.
Answer grid.
Al
104 comments:
Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - I really enjoyed this one; a lot of fresh clues, and a clever theme which had me stumped until 60A.
I'm finally starting to remember 'aesir' when it comes up now. I had no idea that 'Bacos' were a Betty Crocker product, so I needed perps there. 'Works in a Catalonian museum' had me thinking 'toils'. Mistakes included putting 'waged' for 31D, thinking 'waged war', and 'puffs' for 25D. 'Hospital corners' took me a bunch of perps to get, even though I still put them in when I make the bed. And Al, I'm with you; I always 'free' the sheet up at night. I sleep under a sheet at most. And I also thought 'slapstick' was more associated with live actors than animation. Great job, as always with the write-up; loved the comment for 29D.
Today is National Hammock Day and National Spooners Day. Interesting possibilities there.
Here's a 'What's in a Name?' version of Did You Know:
- a group of finches is called a charm.
- a group of frogs is called an army.
- a group of goats is called a trip.
- a group of rhinos is called a crash.
Good Morning, All. I absolutely LOVED the puzzle, but didn't so much like the theme. There were some great clues that made me smile as I was working this out.
I especially liked:
French touchdown site = ORLY
Jobs creation = iMAC
Standard Partner = POORS
We had LILAC yesterday, but it was clued differently to reflect New Hampshire's flower.
QOD: After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say, "I want to see the manager." ~ William S. Burroughs
Good morning Al, CC, et al., Is this Thurs? I'd've bet on Sat from the difficulty level of this puzzle. The theme is impressive as is the creativity behind it, but I am not a fan of this one. The SW corner gave me a toehold, even getting the theme answer, but overall it was WTF?
Al: Your comments to me were more fun than the puzzle. Thanks for the 6D pec pic. Good way to get warmed up in the morning along w/some Deep Purple and one of my fav songs. And I LOL w/your 29D 'cricks' comment. I'm going to get some Kale after your healthy endorsement of it. An Excellent, Outstanding job.
I've got the 'poop' on an
'animated' 'employer' today. Even tho' he's been 'sick' and is still in the hospital, I think I'll wheel him around those 'hospital corners' where it's 'safe'ly out of sight of the ward nazis and help him 'tool up' for an escape to a hammock in honor of "Today Is"- flying 'Unite'd, of course. If caught, I'll just 'plead' 'I too' am 'sick' and need a 'study' of my 'cricks'. I doubt the neck would be the exact location tho'. I'm thinkin' more around the 'cabooses' area. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm on it!
Enjoy your day. Spoon 'safe'ly.
Good morning Al, and head-scratching solvers everywhere,
Early post for me because I want to among the first to congratulate Pete for a superb puzzle! Why is it so great? Let me count some ways:
--It's a synthesis of a cryptic style and traditional American crossword style as Al astutely noted right at the outset. I love, love, love art that pushes the envelope in a creative and entertaining yet totally logical and intelligent way.
--It's a 7 letter anagram! We see anagrams regularly, but they are usually 3, 4, 5 letters. I don't ever recall seeing seven-letter anagrams buried within entries like this.
--RECYCLED PLASTIC is pure genius. It points to the anagram. What's usually recycled is other containers and this recycled plastic is used again in other containers. What fun!
Congratulations Pete, and happy spooning to all!
Morning, all!
Very challenging puzzle today! I'm not sure I'd quite call it Saturday-level difficulty, but it still took me for quite a ride.
I almost blew the NE corner where ODOM intersected MOHS, but then I finally recalled the MOHS scale of hardness and figured it was probably named after a mineralogist.
Other tough spots included ETAPE (a word I only vaguley recalled) and the full name of ISAO AOKI (I usually have trouble remembering his first name alone). LIAISE is a bear of a word to spell, and, while I knew that SOFIA was the capital of Bulgaria, I didn't realize that Bulgaria was considered "Balkan." I also wanted ANILE for APISH at 5A and didn't remember that MORK lived in the attic. The crossing of SIDRA and FERMI was another tough spot.
In the end, though, it all came together for me and I managed to finish unassisted. It just took significantly longer than usual...
Hello Puzzlers -
What Barry said. Amazing how often my State-mate writes of a similar solving experience.
I'm off to lovely Wisconsin in a half-hour. Save me a seat!
Good Morning Al et "Al",
Tough puzzle for me today. We had "pec" yesterday so that was an easy fill. But some others escaped me, like how to spell that Japanese golfer's name? I finally got it on the perps, but I wonder how many people really filled it in by memory?
My "Aha" moment was "Jobs creation", as I sit here staring at my IMAC (Duh!).
And I LOL at your comment on 29d, because this puzzle was a real ...er, "pain in the neck"
If those be anagrams, please parse them into words for me.
And Sean(67A), how many Seans are out there?
Terrific theme, Pete.
I'm at a loss on some of your comments. While the puzzle I get is clearly the LA Times one, there is never identification of the author or mention of the theme, except on Sunday.
Initially, I thought I was going to have to cheat, but I persisted and finally got all but the ODOM/MOHS intersect. I sit before an iMAC, so I got the "jobs" clue pronto.
It was fun, but even more fun is reading your comments. Now I can get on with my day's activities. First things first!!
Good morning all,
Well this one kicked my butt! Good puzzle. Did not get the theme, but I rarely do. The SW corner did not get filled in at all. I'm with Argyle on Sean's mom, and64A was not coming at all. Still liked it.
Al, great job!
Jerome from yesterday, TIA for clue how about small stroke?
I thought today's theme was absolutely brilliant! Thank you, Pete Muller.
Will read posts later; for now, it's off to work.
Have a great day!
I am not a Cryptic solver. I did not catch the theme until I read Al's wonderful blog.
Ditto what Argyle posted, those anagramed words are phony plastics.
Al that was the most informative write-up ever. Great job.
With AESIR in the puzzle, I liked how you got berserker in for the RAGED battle.
Gulf of SIDRA, NEMEA and ORIEL just wrote them in. I guess my Mug of Java was working right from the start.
Works in a St. Petersburg, Fla. museum, DALIS was a gimmie.
Though I searched out the theme reveal early it gave no traction for the other three. So this was a word-by-crossword slog.
Fave was the ECHO, Comeback.
KEN'L Ration a total wag. Other than alpo, I have no clue when it comes to pet foods.
Pete, Great Friday level FUN!
Oh, a group of Crickets is called an orchestra.
Just stopped in to say I couldn't even get a toehold on this one. I gave up early or else I'd still be trying. I simply don't have enough time today. So maybe I'll have another go much later on after reading the comments only so far, and cheating with what they revealed. Back to the grind of the newsletter.
I loved the clue for Shean's Mom. Yoko Ono is a frequent crossword fill, so I thought this was a nice fresh clue.
By the way, a group of crows is called a murder.
Hi Al, C.C. & gang,
The San Jose Mercury News dropped the LA times puzzle today (without any comment!) in favor of the dreaded 'daily commuter puzzle'.
So, I printed out today's online LAT and my wife and I got ~25% done before she left for work.
Here's a link to more "Huff and Puff" images...
That's how I remember the 'huff' for the 'blows' clue, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...
;-)
Posted this earlier, but noticed it's gone now.
Nice job, Al.
And just so you know it was wasted, re: Juliet:
And now you're late
late = dead?
Damn!
WASN'T wasted.
I thought the puzzle was brilliant, but the fills are jumbles, not anagrams, as none but PLASTIC are words. This does not diminish the effort, just changes it. I have my PLASTIC CAT LIPS to prove it.
I thought it was challenging, but not a Saturday.
AL, you keep raising the bar on Blog information, and none of us will be able to keep up. You must not sleep.
Lemonade, I suspect Al has some bionic stuff going on.
good morning c.c., al and all,
WOW, what a ride! first pass through revealed only a handful of answers - i must have acrossed and downed six or seven times before i got my tada on.
isao aoki, bacos, tool up, odom, fermi ... ouch!
al, i'm glad it was you and not me today .. stellar job deciphering this one. your 29d and 57d comments were welcome comic relief.
i have a particular aversion to plastic (my kids are more worried about me finding plastic in their rooms than drugs), and it was humorous to see it appear hidden all over in the puzzle - as ubiquitous as in the real world.
untucked.
re: measly. usually when we see 5% at the spa it's from the lol's (little old ladies).
dennis, i read about your high-speed collision the other day. whatta bird brain. boo hiss. sorry, that was a cheep shot.
off to find a spooning target ... as long as it's not a plastic spoon.
Tragedy! The San Jose Mercury News didn't print this puzzle. Instead, they printed the less-challenging TMS Commuter. I hope that this is a one-day thing, and not a permanent change.
Warren (& others) - I, too, get the San Jose Mercury News -- YIKES - dropped not only the LA TIMES PUZZLE but also the JUMBLE and Sudoku. I'll now try to print out the LA TIMES PUZZLE and also send an email to the Merc - PLEADING with them to re-instate the LA TIMES PUZZLE.
Today's Merc Puzzle wasn't much fun. xxxooo
Lemonade: you gave me a big laugh with the image of PLASTIC CAT LIPS! By the way, Lemonade, 3000 Hadassah women will be descending in your neck of the woods this weekend.
I really loved the fresh clues in this puzzle. I hope we see tons more by this constructor.
Hello Puzzlers!
Brilliant blogging, Al, thanks.
What a lovely challenge today; it took quite a lot of moving around, guessing, wagging and finally the top, sides and bottom filled in nicely.
Then cross by cross all the rest except the mid east, always a trouble spot, since I could not come up with ETAPE and RAGU. I insisted on RAZED for wreaked havoc. So those blanks filled in on the blog.
We have seen ISAOAOKI many times but usually only one of the names, first or last. Nice to see it all there.
I'm expecting company so I'll sign off and return later.
Have a very wonderful Thursday!
Good afternoon Al,C.C. and everyone.
Great blogging Al, very informative. I think I have a brain freeze today. I struggled with this puzzle from start to finish. But with fresh clues and new words, it's all worth it. Nice job Mr. Muller.
Dennis, since it's NATIONAL SPOONERS DAY, it's a good reason
TO NAIL AND SPRAY ONE SO we can get reprieve from this heat or a reason to untie the hammock since it's also Hammock Day.
So DENNIS, have you SINNED yet today?
Have a good day everyone.
August
Hello everybody.
Well, as Warren pointed out, the San Jose Mercury News blindsided us all and completely changed its puzzle page, without any warning to us readers. Suddenly the LAT puzzle is not there, having been replaced by something called the Daily Commuter Puzzle. So I have not done today's puzzle yet and will from now on be doing them on line. Sigh, this is not the first time our newspaper has made extreme changes without warning or explaining the reason.
So I have been trying not to read your comments today until I do the puzzle, except to skimsearch for any comments about the SJ Mercury News. Thank you, Warren, for mentioning it.
And a group of crows is called a murder, which is what I want to do after this one. It's been a long time since I had to give up on a x-word, but this one kicked my A**. Bacon and Meager totally closed out the south east. Of course it doesn't help that someone considers Sean Lennon to be important enough to be a one name celebrity. I only know Penn.
Couldn't remember element 100, But at least I learned what an eponym was.
Oh, since someone beat me with murder, a group of geese is a gaggle. Best to all.
Hello All--My heart gave a lurch today as I turned to the puzzle page and found the "Daily Commuter" instead of the LAT. For those of you in the Mercury-News, SJ, area this was a production error.
I called this morning to complain, and the person I talked to said that it will be corrected tomorrow.
I'll have to do the puzzle on-line, which isn't a bad thing, but I prefer to do the crossword while I'm eating breakfast, lunch or just having a sit-down during the day.
More later, hopefully.
Whoo, this puzzle was hard! Hard but worth it. As always, I cannot and could not get off the ground without finding at least one or two "knowns" to start with. In this case, I could pencil in NONO, MORK, ALAW, AESIR, KALE, and LOCH right off the bat. Even though these are short fills and therefore didn't help a whole lot, getting them filled in was certainly better than nothing.
I have a confession to make, though. If I had worked this puzzle on paper, as I usually do (in the San Jose Mercury News) I would not have been able to finish it. But since our paper inexplicably didn't publish it today, I worked the puzzle on line. Man oh man it is way too easy to cheat with that red-letter help! (I'm weak! Sob!) That's one disadvantage to doing crossword puzzles on line. I know I know, i could have selected Master Level or whatever it's called, and therefore been unable to cheat, but I didn't think of it at the moment.
Entries that would have totally prevented me from finished the puzzle, IE, complete unknowns to me, include NEMEA, SIDRA, ISAOAOKI, OREAL, and others. I think I maybe might have been able to fill in POLITICALSPEECH without cheating, but not the others, probably.
erieruth, thank you! I also am going to write to the Murcky News and ask that the puzzle page be restored. As you said, they also took away the Jumble and the Sudoku. With no warning! Jeeez!
Al, thank you ever so much for your informative and humorous writeup.
Best wishes to you all.
Hospital Corners for Military Tradition {25A} is a low blow! Also asinine - does not make sense even if you were in the service,
Chickie, thanks for calling and talking to someone at the newspaper. Good to know it was a one-time production error and that the puzzle page will be restored tomorrow. I was just going to call them, but now that you already have (thanks again!) I won't.
Man, amazing how something like this causes hearts to lurch and other physical manifestations of emotion to erupt. Not earth-shattering, but it does turn the world upside down just a bit.
Good Day All,
Slow! Tough! Full of erasures & a few flaws. Like a jigsaw puzzle where you force pieces to fit. Still have trouble with 31d's 'raged' --seems like a ragged use of the word to me.
Yesterday a few folk inserted N into 'part(N)er', while today I read the 'Eastern tongue' clue for #46a!! [sic], trying there 'MandarinChinese'. Oh boy, what comedy! Also stuck with 6d 'abs', 25d 'puffs', 56a 'hook up' too long.
When a kid, my 2 sisters went to stay a few summer days with a great aunt, who served them Kellogg's "Special K" cereal. When they returned home, one sis said "Special K?? That cereal was Ken-L Ration!!"
Does National Spooners' Day refer to Spoonerisms? Or am I loo tate?
Good morning, everyone!
Sheets tucked in? No way! I need to have the freedom to kick around for my big ol dogs.
"32. Prepare, in a way: STUDY. For a test." One can also study a topic, ie. law, or medicine.
I'm with BarryG on this one. I was really pleased to get ISAO AOKI right out of the box.
Scotty, the author is listed in the on-line versions. The theme is something that the bloggers parse. C.C. is a wizard at it, and the others aren't far behind.
Kazie, it's nice of you to be the newsletter editor. It's usually a very thankless job. So, from one who's been there, Thank You for taking on the responsibility and seeing it through.
Warren, that's quite an eclectic group of links!
Chickie, way to take the bull by the horns! I'm sure the San Jose people are heartened by the news!
Have a great Thursday!
Hi gang -
I am deeply dual on this one. On the plus side - lots of great fill: EMPLOYER, ONE OWNER, CABOOSES, WASABI and original cluing. I don't recall ever seeing AESIR in a puzzle before. Pretty high WOW factor for all of that.
On the minus side - this jumble theme is, IMHO, a poor concept, poorly executed. The Jumbled letters in two cases span two words, in one case are contained in the first word of the answer, then in the unifier, it's the final word. Bottom line - it is too loosey goosey to be really top quality. You really have no idea what to do with the letters in PLASTIC.
The unifier strongly implies an anagram, not a jumble. I was never going to get the genuinely awful HOSPITAL CORNERS anyway, but trying to anagram PLASTIC into the left side was hopeless.
This left me with holes in the left and right middle sections.
I'm all for stretching the envelope, and you never know till you try. But not all experiments are going to be successful. I give this an A++ for effort, but a B- for the result. The theme in a puzzle is simply too important to appear in this kind of a jumbled mess.
We do tuck in the bottom corners when making the bed, but I usually pull it back out on my side with my feet, so as to engage in mid-nocturnal pedaeration.
Al - great blogging, and extra credit for neatly parsing the theme entries.
ROW and LAO make an unusual symmetric rhyming pair. Back in my working days, some of my colleagues were named RAO, MAO, TAO.
When MHOS was introduced to OHM'S family, he met a lot of resistance.
When HUFFing, I keep the Puffs READY.
Watch out for a SPYCAM if you LIAISE.
And just to cross you up, here is DALI'S LILAC.
Cheers!
JzB the APISH trombonist
On a whim, I googled, "what is a group of trombones called?" and came up with nothing.
Since I don't want to call a group of trombones a "nothing," I'm soliciting recommendations.
Think outside the slide, and have a BLAST (which will b e the default, if nothing better appears.)
Cheers!
JzB the ONE OWNER of a vintage King 2B Silversonic
Why isn't Dennis guest blogging weekly?
Jazzbumpa
That group of trombones is a Slide.
This was one of the hardest weekday puzzles I've ever done with more words in it that I wasn't familiar with. I would never have finished it on paper.
Somebody commented on the rule for using 'a' (or 'an') in front of a long 'u' sound. It makes perfect sense since 'u' is pronounced yoo. I'm sure I always said and wrote it correctly though I didn't know the rule. In doing a little research, I found that 'a' is also used in front of 'one' as "He gave me a one-dollar bill." Also, "He gave me an FTD bouquet since the 'F' is pronouned eff. It would be either 'a' or 'an' in front of 'herb' depending on whether you live in the US or England. Also, 'an' is often used in front of 'historic' but that is considered inferior usage.
JzB, how about a tootle of trombones?
gpk1955 said: Hospital Corners for Military Tradition {25A} is a low blow! Also asinine - does not make sense even if you were in the service.
I was in the service, it's one of the first things we were taught in boot camp, and it was a tradition, or custom, from that point on for each of us. Had no problem with the cluing/answer.
gGerry, no, this particular holiday has to do with spooning, not spoonerisms.
Melissa Bee, loved 'bird brain'.
Bill G., I think a "tootle" would befit a group of flutes.
Jazzbumpa, I have a feeling you might consider a Parade of trombones not outside the slide enough, but I'm putting it out there anyway :)
Why isn't Dennis guest blogging weekly?
Because I'm lacking two critical items: time and intelligence.
I've got one next week, and that's plenty; my hat's off to the guys/gals that do it routinely.
Asimov wrote an 800+ page "Guide to Shakespeare" breaking 25 plays down by origin (Roman, Greek, Italian), and explicated many of the lines.
Doreen
Dennis:
Thanks for the list of animal names in the plural. I have a list of 30, but was missing those four.
Doreen
Doreen -- "explicated" -- impressive, very impressive.
Bill G.:
An is used in front of historic because the accent is on the second syllable. It's a very obscure rule. So usage dictates that something is a history lesson but an historic event.
Doreen
Hahtool
Give them my number, or at least the cute ones. When I had my first eye operation in Boston, the candy striper who took care of me was an Israeli transplant named Hadassh.
JzB, logically, i think it would be a Philadelphia of Trombones.
Hello All--I did get the puzzle done on-line--barely. I had a lot of red letter help. There were too many words that are just not in my everyday vocabulary. Etape, Memea, Aesir, Liaise for just a few.
I did like the Twisted/sick clue as well as Comeback/echo. They were both doable and I had help from the perps.
I do have a bone to pick with Ped. I consider it an abbreviation, so looked for Red to be the word--got a red letter there. I wracked my brain for something that would be a word on a crosswalk sign. Sigh!
Jayce, I don't consider it cheating when red letters come up in doing the CW on-line. I consider it a learning experience! Ha!
Crockett, since we had this chnage occur once before my heart lurched, but my mouth said something else.
I didn't know that Betty Crocker produced Bacos. We've never used them.
Have a great Thursday everyone.
JzB,
Well, trombones & giraffes both have long necks, so (among the choices for groups of giraffes -- cf. http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kennel/collectives.htm ) perhaps 'TROOP'.
Alternatively, since these brass are sometimes called 'bones, perhaps You'd better like 'SKELETON' or 'GRAVEYARD'?
If baseball is an interest, then You might use 'NICHOL' or 'BELTRAN', since there were lots of slides by Hugh Nichol stealing 138 bases in 1887, and by Carlos Beltran with best career success percentage of 88.3.
Prefer photography? How 'bout a 'CAROUSEL' per the old 'slide' projectors? [also has a musical overtone re carnival rides]
Tried extracting something from "The Music Man", but nothing sounded right.
Afternoon All,
Wasn't to fond of this one because it kicked my ass. Al's write up wonderfully shed light onto the cleverness but this proved a little to cryptic for my brain. Red letters were the only reason I finished it.
Have a great remainder of the day. It's five o'clock somewhere!
Good afternoon xword solvers,
I had some trouble with this one. It was a busy day for me. I took the little one to the Maritime Museum (thank you Chevron for free admission this summer). I was hoping that by the time I got back to the puzzle I would be able to finish it. I did have some AHA moments, but had to resort to my books and G to get some of the answers. the SE corner had me stumped so I came to the blog and got the theme answer, which helped me fill in that corner.
I too had trouble with NEMEA, AESIR, BACOS (couldn't figure out what Betty Crocker had to do with BACOn).
Easily got DALIS as I once had a watch with a reproduction of one of his paintings on it.
Al - thanks for the great write-up and links. I have never heard ROW pronounced before, only seen it in print, and did not know it was pronounced that way. I always read it like Row, Row, Row your Boat.
Thank you all for your humorous comments today. I can always rely on this blog for a good laugh.
By the way, what is WAG? I have seen it here a few times and have been wracking my brain to figure it out.
Melissa Bee,
I've got a target on my back! ;)
Why thank you, Al. I had no idea that row, as in a brawl, was pronounced rou.
You're also right about PED. That's exactly what the sign says. That's all the clue asked for.
vettedoe, Wild Ass Guess.
JzB: cacophony of trombones, pipeline of trombones, haunting of trombones, brasses of trombones, earful of trombones, osteos of trombones, swooshes of trombones, heraldry of trombones.
And that folks, is why I don't read
The Merc any more.
Isn't "red letter" help on-line tantamount to saying you solved the puzzle by looking at the completed solution?
Looking up the spelling of a word in a dictionary is OK.
Using google as a reference makes sense too.
But running the alphabet of "red letters" then saying "I solved the puzzle" is a bit of a stretch.
In my family, we have commonly used the word ROW in conversation, as in "Now don't make a row, kids" or "Wow, it sure sounds like the neighbors are having a row!"
I find it fascinating how some little piece of knowledge can be so familiar in one person's experience and not at all in another person's. And vice versa. Part of what makes life so interesting.
I also learned how to make a bed with so-called hospital corners, but I can't sleep in one; I have to loosen the covers up.
I found this slideshow on MSNBC of great high speed animal photography. I think you'll enjoy it. Just click on each picture to advance to the next one.
Hello All! Hard puzzle for me today. I thought Kenner invented the easy bake oven. I looked it up after I changed it to Hasbro and it was originally a Kenner toy. I'm dating myself - but Boy-o-Boy, did I ever want one of those ovens for Christmas one year long, long ago :-)
Didn't get it though. The man in the toy store told my mom that the cake mixes were so old in those things that we would be sick. :-( I really wanted it!
Today's puzzle was a real challenge. I am sure tomorrow's will be equally challenging.
Thanks, Doreen.
So "a hyperbolic statement is an hyperbole"? I had always thought that rather than syllable of accent the issue was whether the 'h' was pronounced hard (e.g. 'hot'?) or soft (e.g. 'hippopotamus' --though major accent on 3rd syllable, or extreme cases like 'hour', 'heir', 'herb'). Some languages write different letters for different h sounds, prime example being Arabic.
Dennis - Ah, thank you ever so much!
Jayce - isn't it funny how we expect everyone to know the things we know and do the things we do? I was in my 20's before I realized that not everyone had the paper delivered to their homes on a daily basis.
Bill G. - Awesome pictures. Thank you for sharing. I love the one of the osprey catching his dinner.
Al - I forgot to thank you for the PEC picture earlier. Nice!
Scotty- Only the Sunday puzzle has a title.
You could do constructors a big favor by calling the editor of your local paper and requesting they publish the name of the author who wrote the puzzle. They have that info and there is no logical or good reason for them not to credit the crossword writer.
Jerome, I forgot to mention I received an email last night at 11:34 PDT that closed with, "Thank you, thank you in advance!!!!"
Jazz, all those suggestions and I just can't think outside the slide. I concur with Tinbeni, a group of trombones is a slide.
@ Al
Other groups are:
Business of ferrets
Sute of bloodhounds
Exaltation of larks
Rafter of turkeys
Crossing for zebras
Down of hares
Do we all have to be ferrets / bloodhounds to find the turkeys in some puzzles? Sometimes my puzzles resemble black and white zebras when I’m done, with no hare. But puzzles are larks when I actually finish one
Translation:
Do we all have to be a business / sute to find the rafter in some puzzles? Sometimes my puzzles resemble crossings when I’m done, with no downs! But puzzles are an exhaltation when I actually finish one. ;-D
Thinking of the neighboring musicians, what about a poke of trombones?
For Crockett:
Re: links? Did you happen to notice the inflatable bras at the bottom left of page 3? There are also a few DF ones sprinkled in there...
;-)
Oberhasli - Re the Easy-Bake Oven: I had one and I never got sick from the cakes. I had so much fun with it. It is a shame you were denied the joy of having one.
Jerome and others - Re TIA, I think it is like the sign saying "Thank you for not smoking." They are hoping that by thanking you in advance, you will feel obligated to do what they are asking. IMHO
Chickie: Good for you for complaining about having the LAT crossword removed from your paper. I have told my paper that the crossword puzzle is one of the highlights of the paper. It's the first thing I go to in my paper each morning. Thank goodness I still have home delivery and the paper is generally somewhere in my front yard early in the morning. There is nothing like doing the newsprint crossword puzzle while enjoying my cup of coffee.
@vetttedoe
I guess those signs are nicer than "Curse you for smoking" !!
For Chickie,
I saw your comment also and please accept my thanks for calling the paper. But doesn't it sound a little suspicious that they'd make such a drastic change? Was it really an error or were they testing if anyone would call to complain?
BTW, you could have used my method to print a hard copy of the online puzzle if you have a PC or Mac tied to a printer.
Warren, I only got part way through the first page. Now that I'm home I'll have to investigate that page 3...
Gunghy- I've been saying this a lot lately- "Thank you, thank you for the advance"
Jerome, there's very little chance you'll ever say that to me.
Al- I did a bit of research and found something very surprising. I couldn't find a mainstream dictionary that listed PED as an abbreviation. Some called it a prefix. Amazingly, to me, some considered it a shortened form of pedestrian, but still, a word!
Another reason why crossword editors make the big bucks.
Anonymous at 3:22 P.M.
In doing the CW I don't feel it is any different to use red letter help than looking up a word on G or in my CW Dictionary. I often use both of those helps while doing the puzzle on-line.
Red letters are a help, not cheating as I stated before. I don't scroll through the whole alphabet to find an answer. I skip over the clue, go on to another until I can fill in a bit more.
How many times have you gone through the alphabet in your head to find a missing letter to a word?
Nuf said!
What about 7D? The clue was Jobs creation? Shouldn't Jobs have an apostrophe?
Not if it's a Jobs creation.
@BillG
Well put ! That's (with an apostrophe) why I didn't (with an apostrophe) get the connection to iMac at first... Thanks for getting inside my head and explaining what was going on in my head as I said "huuuuhhhh??" to the answer !!
Chickie
Your convoluted logic that "Red Letter" help is the same as running the alphabet through your brain is amazing.
When you do that, the correct letter doesn't all of a sudden turn magically "black."
As to cheating.
I never mentioned that word.
It is your puzzle.
Do it however you want.
Just don't pat yourself on the back too much and say with the "Red Letter" help that YOU solved the puzzle.
As you said to Jayce, Ha!
And me, Nuf said!
I am perfectly OK with having red-letter help turned on for hard puzzles. I'd rather be able to solve a puzzle with a little help rather than give up in frustration or just look at the solution. I don't need help with Monday and Tuesday puzzles but I wouldn't have finished today's puzzle without a little red-letter help. And, for me, not finishing means I was frustrated and didn't enjoy the solving experience. Your mileage may differ.
Do I have to wake up and go to work tomorrow? I feel like I should have gone to church before attempting this puzzle! It was by far the most difficult Thursday quest I've experienced in my many years of solving. WHEW!
However, I really enjoyed the fresh clues and the theme was enjoyable.
As always, thanks for the informative write-up Al!
@BillG:
I hate it when someone doesn't ( with an apostrophe) finish ;-D
anon 3:22, it's good of you to allow us to do the puzzle "however we want". The puzzles we do are done for fun, and how any one person gets to the end is strictly at their disgression. If you can do all the puzzles without help, more power to you, but it's not necessary to take shots at those who need help.
Why not grab a real identity and gain some credibility?
Anon @ 7:39 -
Deep breaths man - you are way to tense and testy. I recommend you take up the trombone. Works for me, anyway.
Lots of great trombone-cluster ideas, gang. Steve Davis and Conrad Herwig have a CD called OSTEOLOGY, so I have to give high marks to anon @3:20.
Argyle's POKE is good, too. I joke about people sitting in front of me having dents in the back of their heads.
But, all things considered, I've got to go with gGerry's SKELETON for a collection of 'bones.
Having SEAL in the grid gives me an excuse to brag on grandson Josh, who was 2 1/2 on Monday. Mom took him and the girls to the aquarium last week. At one of the exhibits, another little guy about his age pointed and said "SEALS!"
Josh corrected him: "SEA LIONS!"
They got in each others faces shouting:"SEAL!" -- "SEA LION!" -- etc . . .
Finally Josh went to his mom, pointed at the other kid and said, "SEAL, NO. SEA LION!"
It was a sea lion. Sea lions have external ears, and their rear flippers are farther around to the sides, while seals have only ear holes, and the rear flippers are fused behind the body. Easly to tell, if you know what to look for.
Cheers!
JzB who thinks he should be a rib
a declaration of trombones
HeartRx:
I am there. It is imperative (OK, it's just nice) that everyone finishes. It's one of my rules, and I have very few.
Good night all.
Please let's remember not to feed the trolls. Four of you fell for anon's comments. (I think I counted correctly, but maybe not.) Enough!
A bad couple of daze (yes police, that was intentional). I had no time to work the puzzle and by the sounds of it, it just would have further frazzled my mind.
For those of you who "know me", Jen has cancer that has spread to other internal organs and has about 3mos to live. She kind of blew me off as I couldn't find her, but her case worker did.
On another note, a good truck driving friend of mine slipped off his truck and totally threw his back out to the tune of not even getting on/off the toilet. I am pulled at each end lately.
Gunghy, how did your sailing go?
Lemonade, sorry that I didn't get to post yesterday on my 2 year anniversary. Especially that you had the honor to blog, my favorite counselor.
CA, I miss you and your wisdom. I hope you are well.
Jeannie, sorry you've got all that on your plate, but it sounds as if a friend like you is just what they need.
Sallie, Jesus, even I don't tell people "enough!", and I'm supposed to be the 'heavy' on here. Don't take it so seriously - it's all fun.
Jeannie, I'm so sorry to hear about Jen! I was just thinking about her yesterday and was going to ask you how she was doing. By the time I finally came here last night, I had forgotten to ask.
Knowing what a kindhearted person you are, this must be very difficult for you.
Back problems can make you feel twice your age, and it seems like you'll never recover! Usually, you do, and I hope your friend does so quickly!
Hi Jeannie, that previous post about Jen was from me.
I'm logged in, so what a blitch to be unintentionally labeled as Anonymous! It's been one of those days all around...
Take care,
Annette
If I understand trollery correctly, the troll's purpose is to disrupt, cause needless controversy and spread chaos.
To that end, feeding the troll involves allowing oneself to get sucked into some sort of controversy, either with the troll, or other blog denizens.
Offering a bit of friendly advice to an anon who makes a somewhat, but not egregiously, out-of-line statement (Hi, Luxor) is characeristically different from troll-feeding, IMHO. After all, he/she/it might have had a hot-button pushed in a way that is totally opaque to the rest of us.
We've had regulars and semi-regulars leave in a huff for reasons that seemed quite trivial to me - but I don't walk in their shoes.
It's tempting to equate "anon" with "troll," but not really either valid or fair. In fact, lots of trolls have blue screen names and recognizable personae.
It's late and I think I'm blathering. Best sign off, before I offend someone.
Cheers!
JzB who is here for the fun
What will be next?
Using the perps to finish the puzzle will be considered "cheating"?
Catching on to the theme and using that knowledge to figure out the next theme entry will be "cheating"?
Constructors and editors - run for the hills!
LOL - give me a break...
Annette, amen. Well said.
Jeannie, I posted about the sailing really late yesterday. I understand your daze, unfortunately with me it's family. Tuesday it was just too late to post. Yesterday it was after 6 in the evening PDT. Today I got in early only because my bike wouldn't start and my car was in the shop. My next will probably be Monday.
I am trying to get some pictures to C.C. before I go. (crazy that is.)
Just got back and did do the puzzle.
jeannie,
So sorry to hear what you are experiencing with your friends. It's pretty hard to lose someone, but the anticipation of it can be worse. Chin up, Lolita!
On another note, you asked about my garden the other night, and I kept forgetting to mention it. The rain we're having is producing cukes and zucchini like crazy, still too early for much else, though we've had a few onions and lots of kale too. I made one batch of basil pesto, but it isn't doing as well as the sage, which grows like a weed.
Jeannie, best wishes for you and your friends. I too hope that we start hearing from CA again soon.
It seems to me that we have three categories of anons. An intelligent one with worthwhile things to contribute, an intelligent one who is generally rude and unpleasant and then maybe some random ones who can be any which way. If I had to hazard a guess, I'm thinking they're all males.
Regarding perps, I never think they are worth mentioning. After all, it's called a crossword puzzle for a reason. Is it worthwhile and of interest to think any of us can go through a puzzle just looking at the clues and the word length? That would be a dull variation just called a word puzzle I guess.
I used to have a nice little garden plot in a local community garden area about two blocks from my house. I grew white corn with pole beans planted close by so they could run up the corn stalks, great tomatoes, several varieties of squash, a wonderful asparagus bed and lots of other stuff. Alas, that land had to turn into some more school buildings so I no longer have a convenient garden space and have to depend on the local farmer's market. I miss it.
Jeannie, my heart goes out to You.
For what it's worth I'll add my own back/sciatica story (since You mentioned toilets). At age 42, I spent hours hunched over the crib to comfort my colicky (?) 1st-born son, which (combined with genes, a bit of poor posture, winter ice, & a bit extra weight) threw my back out, being barely able to walk. A crack chiropractor did more harm IMO, & I ended up with 2 ruptured disks L4 & L5. But what really put me over the edge (so to speak) was one day sitting on the royal throne, and --due to some loose bolts-- the seat shifted abruptly, with excruciating result!
I'll never take another toilet seat for granted. Thank God, I've lost a bit of weight, and after years of glucosamine / chondroitin / MSM supplements I've been free of significant incidents for the last 8 years.
Jeannie:
I'm so sorry to hear of your friend's latest travail. You are terrific for caring about her and being there for her.
And your friend with the bad back, too. That is usually excruciating.
As for crossword puzzles, there are no rules; it's for fun and personal enjoyment. We each, I'm sure have our own methods and techniques. Enjoy!
Have a good night!
Jeannie, that is certainly bad news about Jen. I hope that she can marshal her energies and fight the good fight. I know you'll be there with her in spirit. Sometimes life is not fair, but the best we can do is keep on keeping on. Hang in there, Cockato.
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