Theme: EY DROPS - The letters EY are dropped from the end of the first word of easily recognizable phrases, to yield a new phrase with a comical twist.
20A. Faultfinding brother?: MONK ON ONE'S BACK. Monkey on one's back. This expression goes back to ancient Egypt, originally meaning a guiding spirit or source of inspiration. More recently, it's some sort of burden, affliction, or addiction. I wanted a sibling brother, but a MONK will do just fine.
29A. Debris in the hayloft? : BARN RUBBLE. Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's pal.
38A. Impervious to chutzpah? : GALL PROOF. This one's my favorite. Galley proof: the final proof copy of a page being typeset for printing, before it is set as a page of a book or booklet.
50A. What Michelle Kwan might do in a financial emergency? : HOCK SKATES. Hockey skates: essential hardware for the Buffalo Sabres. Somehow, I don't think Michelle will ever be in that position.
59A. Haystack-hiding Ottoman? : TURK IN THE STRAW. Turkey In The Straw. Musical Americana.
No unifier, but five brilliant theme entries, two of them almost grid-spanning, along with ten 7-letter answers. Wow!
Hi gang, Jazzbumpa here, aka JzB, more formally, Mr. Bumpa, or just plain Bumpa to my 11 favorite youngsters. But you can call me Ron.
This is a hard puzzle, and I never got on John McInturff's wave length. Even after I sussed the theme, I couldn't get TURK IN THE STRAW, due to errors in the perps. So, I was reduced to technical assistance for many requested answers.
Across :
1. Spread __ : EAGLE. An unincorporated community in Wisconsin. Or this pose. You can search Google images for many interesting variations.
6. Rises to great heights : SOARS. Like an EAGLE.
11. Short nightwear? : PJS. "Short" indicating an abbreviation. Here is one of the more demurre images.
14. Series : ARRAY. Each is a systematic arrangement of things.
15. Speedpass brand : EXXON. I don't use a gas station Speedpass, so the scrabbly answer had to slowly reveal itself.
16. Space in time : LAG. Clever, and it left me behind. Here is my favorite example.
17. "Big Girl in the Middle" co-author Gabrielle : REECE. American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, fashion model and actress.
18. Longtime DieHard rival : DELCO. Car batteries. Any reference to yesterday's reversals?
19. Fake it : ACT. and 54. Pretense : POSE. Which do you think is pretending?
23. Spat end : ULA. End to the word spatula. You all know how I love this kind of clue for an affix. It's my affixiation.
24. Carmelite, e.g. : NUN. Very easy for a simple Catholic boy from Toledo. Clearly, a fun-loving bunch.
25. Daughter of Laban : LEAH. Jacob loved Rachel, but on the wedding day, sneaky Laban substituted her older sister, LEAH. Jacob coped as best he could, and LEAH bore him six sons.
27. Lighten up : FADE. Nice misdirection here. I was expecting frivolity, and instead got bleach.
34. Shivering causes : FEARS. Aha - this is what made the Shakers shake! But what were they afraid of?
36. Each : A POP. I never care much for this equivalence. But the free dictionary includes it waaaaayyy down the page..
37. WWII intelligence gp. : OSS. Office of Strategic Services - precursor of the CIA. Abrv in cl & ans.
42. Jordan was part of it: Abbr. : NBA. Aha! Michael Jordan, former star in the National Basketball Association.
45. Dreamcast maker : SEGA. Now, John is just playing with us.
46. Dona __ pacem: grant us peace : NOBIS. (Lord) grant us peace, in Latin. Very easy for a simple boomer Catholic boy from Toledo. But, alas, this often-uttered prayer seldom yields the requested answers.
55. First daughter of the '60s : LUCI. Lucy (later LUCI) Baines Johnson, one of several LBJ's in the late 60's first family. Born after me with a LAG of about 28 weeks and raised Episcopalian, she converted to Catholicism at age 18. Since I had not yet given it up, we had something in common for awhile.
56. Boomer's kid : XER. For us, X = 4.
58. Basso Berberian : ARA. An opera singer born in Detroit in 1930. Way too early to be a boomer.
65. MGM motto word : ARS. The MGM motto is "Ars Gratia Artis," meaning "Art for Art's sake." They lifted it from France's 19th-century bohemians, who inexplicably spoke Latin.
66. D-Day beach : OMAHA. From WWII, and a puzzle echo from earlier in the week. "Pzzecho" anyone?
67. Wedding memento : VIDEO. Like anyone is EVER going to watch it again.
68. Blow without distinction? : JOE. This baffled me completely. Has John McInturff ever heard me play? But JOE Blow is just an ordinary guy.
69. Not fresh : BANAL. Not much that's BANAL in this fresh puzzle.
70. Green shampoo : PRELL. It's been around for a long time. Anybody remember White Rain?
71. Balaam's beast : ASS. Balaam and his ass didn't get along very well. This was one of the rare (at the time) talking asses.
72. Radiate : EXUDE. Only sort of. More of an oozing kind of radiation.
73. Finishing stroke : SERIF. A short line at the end of a main stroke of a character.
Down:
1. Canal protector : EARMUFF. I see. Ear canal. If anyone tries to put a bug in your ear, use protection. Or ear drops.
2. Colorful rings : AREOLAE. A Crossword Corner Classic.
3. Caribbean island nation : GRENADA. In the Caribbean - wow. I had not idea atoll.
4. Dearth : LACK. No lack of EY drops today.
5. "__ America Tour": 2006 CBS News event : EYE ON. EYE ON America. I've never eyed it. But in keeping with the theme, it should be aired for an EON.
6. Arizona's "Red Rocks Country" : SEDONA. I'll let one of our travelers fill us in.
7. Team members : OXEN. Not the smart team.
8. Wheelset component : AXLE.
9. Mythical birds : ROCS. Big and powerful.
10. Arty type, maybe : SNOB. We have art SNOBs, wine SNOBs, and just plain SNOBs.
11. Controversial testing component : PLACEBO. A fake pill POSing as medication, either to fool the patient into feeling better or to ACT as a control in an experimental trial. I guess the controversy comes from not giving the control group anything that will actually help them.
12. Nocturnal scavengers : JACKALS. Wild African canines. Not to be confused with these.
13. Friday was one: Abbr. : SGT. Police Sgt. Friday from the old Dragnet TV show, or the 1987 movie.
21. Heart : NUB. Besides heart, NUB can also mean a protuberance, small lump, or remnant. My favorite William Gass Story is "In the Nub of the Nub of the Country."
22. Tirana is its cap. : ALB. Tirana, ALBANIA. N.B. use of Abbrv. And -- 39. Coin in Tirana : LEK. The other Albanian Capital, Legal tender for all debts public and private, I assume, and a clecho (clue echo).
26. Stars of "Two and a Half Men," e.g. : HES. Just a couple of Joe Blows, I guess.
28. Work unit : ERG. This is the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter, roughly equivalent to one fly doing one push-up..
30. Knock on : RAP AT. Knock knock. Who's there? Friend of Pooh. Friend of Pooh who? Hey - don't poo-hoo me!
31. "Fresh Air" airer : NPR. National Public Radio.
32. Friend of Pooh : ROO. ROO, that's who! (And Tigger, too.)
33. Knowledgeable about : UP ON.
35. Reason for grounding, perhaps : SASS. But, maybe children who are well grounded are less likely to SASS. Or as Shreck said, "SASS, my ASS!"
40. Airport near Citi Field, briefly : LGA. Laguardia, airport near the home of the N.Y. Mets. I can't keep track of the commercial names for stadia. "Briefly" again indicates an Abbrv.
41. Dandy : FOP. Overdressed, not an ordinary guy. Also not like the ones in the previous link.
42. Sabres' org. : NHL. Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. 'Nother Abrv.
43. Former U.N. secretary-general __-Ghali : BOUTROS. Golly - I knew his name, but had to guess at how it was spelt.
44. Charges : ACCUSES. In a legal sense. Otherwise, I'd run up too many ACCUSES on my credit card.
47. One taken in : BOARDER. I was not taken in by this tricky clue. Were you?
48. Sharon, notably : ISRAELI. Ariel Sharon was in the Israeli army from 1948 on, served in various government positions in the 70's and 90's and served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. Not a BANAL life, by any means.
49. London classic, with "The" : SEAWOLF. A Jack London story, about which I know notihng.
51. Cassis apéritif : KIR. Creme de Cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur. For a KIR, take a measure of C de C, and top it off with white wine.
52. Yoga command : EXHALE. Don't forget to breath!
53. Date : SEE. This evidently does not apply to blind dates.
57. Requested answers : RSVPS. Répondez s'il vous plaît, French for "Please respond." We should add this to "Dona NOBIS Pacem!"
60. Eastern beef city : KOBE. Far East. KOBE is a city in Japan, noted for its beef.
61. It gives you the big picture : IMAX. A motion picture and projection format using a big, big screen, from the Canadian Company IMAX Corp..
62. Half a sitcom signoff : NANU. From the TV show Mork and Mindy, featuring Robin Williams and the ever-cute Pam Dawber. Shazbots! My love for "Half a" clues is right up there with affixes. The perfect one would be "Half a' affix."
63. Ohio State basketball coach Matta : THAD. Ohio State plays basketball? Who knew? Not me. I tried CHAD.
64. Flag : TIRE. This is one of the less common meanings of flag. It is now 1:20 a.m. EST, and I am flagging. Do you think TIRE football will ever catch on?
65. Grammy-winning Steely Dan album : AJA. Aha! It's pronounced "Asia!" Sophisticated pop from Becker and Fagan. I'd play it for you, but Ricky lost that number.
Answer grid.
Cheers!
JzB
20A. Faultfinding brother?: MONK ON ONE'S BACK. Monkey on one's back. This expression goes back to ancient Egypt, originally meaning a guiding spirit or source of inspiration. More recently, it's some sort of burden, affliction, or addiction. I wanted a sibling brother, but a MONK will do just fine.
29A. Debris in the hayloft? : BARN RUBBLE. Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's pal.
38A. Impervious to chutzpah? : GALL PROOF. This one's my favorite. Galley proof: the final proof copy of a page being typeset for printing, before it is set as a page of a book or booklet.
50A. What Michelle Kwan might do in a financial emergency? : HOCK SKATES. Hockey skates: essential hardware for the Buffalo Sabres. Somehow, I don't think Michelle will ever be in that position.
59A. Haystack-hiding Ottoman? : TURK IN THE STRAW. Turkey In The Straw. Musical Americana.
No unifier, but five brilliant theme entries, two of them almost grid-spanning, along with ten 7-letter answers. Wow!
Hi gang, Jazzbumpa here, aka JzB, more formally, Mr. Bumpa, or just plain Bumpa to my 11 favorite youngsters. But you can call me Ron.
This is a hard puzzle, and I never got on John McInturff's wave length. Even after I sussed the theme, I couldn't get TURK IN THE STRAW, due to errors in the perps. So, I was reduced to technical assistance for many requested answers.
Across :
1. Spread __ : EAGLE. An unincorporated community in Wisconsin. Or this pose. You can search Google images for many interesting variations.
6. Rises to great heights : SOARS. Like an EAGLE.
11. Short nightwear? : PJS. "Short" indicating an abbreviation. Here is one of the more demurre images.
14. Series : ARRAY. Each is a systematic arrangement of things.
15. Speedpass brand : EXXON. I don't use a gas station Speedpass, so the scrabbly answer had to slowly reveal itself.
16. Space in time : LAG. Clever, and it left me behind. Here is my favorite example.
17. "Big Girl in the Middle" co-author Gabrielle : REECE. American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, fashion model and actress.
18. Longtime DieHard rival : DELCO. Car batteries. Any reference to yesterday's reversals?
19. Fake it : ACT. and 54. Pretense : POSE. Which do you think is pretending?
23. Spat end : ULA. End to the word spatula. You all know how I love this kind of clue for an affix. It's my affixiation.
24. Carmelite, e.g. : NUN. Very easy for a simple Catholic boy from Toledo. Clearly, a fun-loving bunch.
25. Daughter of Laban : LEAH. Jacob loved Rachel, but on the wedding day, sneaky Laban substituted her older sister, LEAH. Jacob coped as best he could, and LEAH bore him six sons.
27. Lighten up : FADE. Nice misdirection here. I was expecting frivolity, and instead got bleach.
34. Shivering causes : FEARS. Aha - this is what made the Shakers shake! But what were they afraid of?
36. Each : A POP. I never care much for this equivalence. But the free dictionary includes it waaaaayyy down the page..
37. WWII intelligence gp. : OSS. Office of Strategic Services - precursor of the CIA. Abrv in cl & ans.
42. Jordan was part of it: Abbr. : NBA. Aha! Michael Jordan, former star in the National Basketball Association.
45. Dreamcast maker : SEGA. Now, John is just playing with us.
46. Dona __ pacem: grant us peace : NOBIS. (Lord) grant us peace, in Latin. Very easy for a simple boomer Catholic boy from Toledo. But, alas, this often-uttered prayer seldom yields the requested answers.
55. First daughter of the '60s : LUCI. Lucy (later LUCI) Baines Johnson, one of several LBJ's in the late 60's first family. Born after me with a LAG of about 28 weeks and raised Episcopalian, she converted to Catholicism at age 18. Since I had not yet given it up, we had something in common for awhile.
56. Boomer's kid : XER. For us, X = 4.
58. Basso Berberian : ARA. An opera singer born in Detroit in 1930. Way too early to be a boomer.
65. MGM motto word : ARS. The MGM motto is "Ars Gratia Artis," meaning "Art for Art's sake." They lifted it from France's 19th-century bohemians, who inexplicably spoke Latin.
66. D-Day beach : OMAHA. From WWII, and a puzzle echo from earlier in the week. "Pzzecho" anyone?
67. Wedding memento : VIDEO. Like anyone is EVER going to watch it again.
68. Blow without distinction? : JOE. This baffled me completely. Has John McInturff ever heard me play? But JOE Blow is just an ordinary guy.
69. Not fresh : BANAL. Not much that's BANAL in this fresh puzzle.
70. Green shampoo : PRELL. It's been around for a long time. Anybody remember White Rain?
71. Balaam's beast : ASS. Balaam and his ass didn't get along very well. This was one of the rare (at the time) talking asses.
72. Radiate : EXUDE. Only sort of. More of an oozing kind of radiation.
73. Finishing stroke : SERIF. A short line at the end of a main stroke of a character.
Down:
1. Canal protector : EARMUFF. I see. Ear canal. If anyone tries to put a bug in your ear, use protection. Or ear drops.
2. Colorful rings : AREOLAE. A Crossword Corner Classic.
3. Caribbean island nation : GRENADA. In the Caribbean - wow. I had not idea atoll.
4. Dearth : LACK. No lack of EY drops today.
5. "__ America Tour": 2006 CBS News event : EYE ON. EYE ON America. I've never eyed it. But in keeping with the theme, it should be aired for an EON.
6. Arizona's "Red Rocks Country" : SEDONA. I'll let one of our travelers fill us in.
7. Team members : OXEN. Not the smart team.
8. Wheelset component : AXLE.
9. Mythical birds : ROCS. Big and powerful.
10. Arty type, maybe : SNOB. We have art SNOBs, wine SNOBs, and just plain SNOBs.
11. Controversial testing component : PLACEBO. A fake pill POSing as medication, either to fool the patient into feeling better or to ACT as a control in an experimental trial. I guess the controversy comes from not giving the control group anything that will actually help them.
12. Nocturnal scavengers : JACKALS. Wild African canines. Not to be confused with these.
13. Friday was one: Abbr. : SGT. Police Sgt. Friday from the old Dragnet TV show, or the 1987 movie.
21. Heart : NUB. Besides heart, NUB can also mean a protuberance, small lump, or remnant. My favorite William Gass Story is "In the Nub of the Nub of the Country."
22. Tirana is its cap. : ALB. Tirana, ALBANIA. N.B. use of Abbrv. And -- 39. Coin in Tirana : LEK. The other Albanian Capital, Legal tender for all debts public and private, I assume, and a clecho (clue echo).
26. Stars of "Two and a Half Men," e.g. : HES. Just a couple of Joe Blows, I guess.
28. Work unit : ERG. This is the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter, roughly equivalent to one fly doing one push-up..
30. Knock on : RAP AT. Knock knock. Who's there? Friend of Pooh. Friend of Pooh who? Hey - don't poo-hoo me!
31. "Fresh Air" airer : NPR. National Public Radio.
32. Friend of Pooh : ROO. ROO, that's who! (And Tigger, too.)
33. Knowledgeable about : UP ON.
35. Reason for grounding, perhaps : SASS. But, maybe children who are well grounded are less likely to SASS. Or as Shreck said, "SASS, my ASS!"
40. Airport near Citi Field, briefly : LGA. Laguardia, airport near the home of the N.Y. Mets. I can't keep track of the commercial names for stadia. "Briefly" again indicates an Abbrv.
41. Dandy : FOP. Overdressed, not an ordinary guy. Also not like the ones in the previous link.
42. Sabres' org. : NHL. Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. 'Nother Abrv.
43. Former U.N. secretary-general __-Ghali : BOUTROS. Golly - I knew his name, but had to guess at how it was spelt.
44. Charges : ACCUSES. In a legal sense. Otherwise, I'd run up too many ACCUSES on my credit card.
47. One taken in : BOARDER. I was not taken in by this tricky clue. Were you?
48. Sharon, notably : ISRAELI. Ariel Sharon was in the Israeli army from 1948 on, served in various government positions in the 70's and 90's and served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. Not a BANAL life, by any means.
49. London classic, with "The" : SEAWOLF. A Jack London story, about which I know notihng.
51. Cassis apéritif : KIR. Creme de Cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur. For a KIR, take a measure of C de C, and top it off with white wine.
52. Yoga command : EXHALE. Don't forget to breath!
53. Date : SEE. This evidently does not apply to blind dates.
57. Requested answers : RSVPS. Répondez s'il vous plaît, French for "Please respond." We should add this to "Dona NOBIS Pacem!"
60. Eastern beef city : KOBE. Far East. KOBE is a city in Japan, noted for its beef.
61. It gives you the big picture : IMAX. A motion picture and projection format using a big, big screen, from the Canadian Company IMAX Corp..
62. Half a sitcom signoff : NANU. From the TV show Mork and Mindy, featuring Robin Williams and the ever-cute Pam Dawber. Shazbots! My love for "Half a" clues is right up there with affixes. The perfect one would be "Half a' affix."
63. Ohio State basketball coach Matta : THAD. Ohio State plays basketball? Who knew? Not me. I tried CHAD.
64. Flag : TIRE. This is one of the less common meanings of flag. It is now 1:20 a.m. EST, and I am flagging. Do you think TIRE football will ever catch on?
65. Grammy-winning Steely Dan album : AJA. Aha! It's pronounced "Asia!" Sophisticated pop from Becker and Fagan. I'd play it for you, but Ricky lost that number.
Answer grid.
Cheers!
JzB
55 comments:
Good morning, Jazz, C.C. and gang - this was a really tough puzzle for me today, with plenty of help needed from the perps and g-spotting. The theme was apparent quickly and I did manage to complete the puzzle, but the finished product is a mess. Fun challenge, though.
It would take several paragraphs to cover all my travails, but suffice to say they were numerous and scattered throughout. Liked the clechoing of 'Tirana'.
Hopefully Lois will check in today - lots of good material for her. Jazz, good job on the blog; fun links.
Today is Sewing Machine Day and Swap Ideas Day. Anybody have anything they wanna swap?
Did You Know?:
- Sex helps sweat out booze.
- Skepticisms is the longest typed word that alternates hands.
- In the nineteenth century, the British Navy attempted to dispel the superstition that Friday was an unlucky day to embark on a ship. The keel of a new ship was laid on a Friday; she was named HMS Friday, commanded by a Captain Friday, and finally went to sea on a Friday. Neither the ship nor her crew was ever heard of again.
Good morning everyone. Good blog, Jazz
Quite a doozy of a puzzle. Agree with the earlier comments about the difficulty. The theme was fun to uncover and then use beneficially. It helped get GALLPROOF. I was lucky to get LEK and several other WAGS: LEAH, EXUDE, ISRAELI, KIR and PRELL. I thought the JOE 'Blow' clue was clever. Never heard of the flag-TIRE connection. I guessed ARA because it seems to be a popular Armenian first name. I had Mobil at first for Speedpass brand because that's who started it but, of course, they merged with EXXON.
Dennis, we also heard that Sunday was bad; we usually sailed on a Monday.
Happy TGIF
Today's puzzle reminded me of an old Perry Como song titled "It's Impossible"
What a relief to see this was so difficult for others too! I started it online last night and had to set it aside. Will probably keep it near all day and continue chipping away...
Have a great Friday, all!
My morning (and very likely only) comment, apropos of nothing but very much on my mind after reading Jazz' blog effort:
The quality work of all our guest bloggers is amazing. It's true that CC set the bar very high with her own work for many months before she began to entrust her creation to others, but I am impressed daily by the effort that goes into blogging the puzzle, and equally with the result. Thanks to you all.
My busy day today will be punctuated (a semicolon might be appropriate) by a 1:00 visit to the school of two of my grandchildren on Grandparents Day. I hope not to embarass them too much this time. In my defense, how was I to know that my grandson's fifth grade teacher (last year) was going to be THAT hot? I've promised to do better this year.
Good discussion yesterday, on what seems to be an unsolvable problem.
I agree about the difficulty today. I'd never have made it here without Mr. G. The only name I knew was OMAHA. I wanted to put SEX for ULA, which would have added another X to the grid. I have a speedpass, and love how fast it makes buying gas, but around here there are no EXXONs, so I had MOBIL at first.
I don't think I've ever heard "monkey on one's back" as an expression, but once I had it, the theme was quickly obvious, and that helped me get through the rest. RSVPS was ASKED at first too, which made PRELL slow to fall, though that's the only green shampoo I know of.
Dennis,
Great shout out in the urban dictionary! Do you feel you've "made it"?
Windhover,
Hear! Hear! I really enjoyed JB's blog today and was glad I wasn't drinking anything when I clicked the atoll link. The blogs are all educational, but it's the humor that makes them fun as well.
Now you behave yourself today!
Ho gang -
As much as I love the pic at the "atoll" link, it's not the right one, atoll.
Here is Grenada, in the Caribbean.
Strictly speaking, I suspect this is not an atoll at all, but these colorful islands do form part of a ring.
Cheers!
JzB who feels rather dopey this morning
Good blogging, jz or ray. Very difficult puzzle--loved it, finally worked it through without help. Mr. McInturff may return anytime.
Hi All ~!
Alas, I did not get the SE corner "Atoll" because I did not get RSVPS - that 'requested answer' makes me cringe, too.
I did know PRELL, but was thinking 'victim of a sting' for "one taken in", never heard of SEAWOLF, and so I was bummed I had to switch to red-letter.
I was also unaware of the name of the musical piece which I now know as "Turkey in the Straw" - so that theme answer only got as far as 'TURK IN THE _', but thanks for the link, Bumpa.
BARN RUBBLE was cute, and I got EXXON right away - plenty here on LI.
(I think; I don't have Speedpass)
Enjoy the weekend !
Splynter
Good Morning JazzBumpa et al.
I don’t know which I liked better today – Mr. McInturff’s puzzle or Mr. Bumpa’s blog – they were both fantastic. Thanks for the “brief” link JzB ;-D
Lots of gg help today for “REECE” (evidently not a blockbuster hit or NYT Best Seller), LEAH (even gg didn’t help with that one, so I took a wag and got it by sheer luck), ARA, NBA (not “UP ON” basketball), THAD (ditto last parenthetical comment), AJA – huunhhh???
And lots of AHA moments, like “London classic”…Was thinking the city, but - Oh, the author !! (why does that one always get me??).
Got NUN immediately, and of course the Latin at 46A and 65A …but do you know how blank a puzzle looks when you have gone through all the acrosses and filled in only “NUN”, “NOBIS” and “ARS”?….pretty sad !
Dennis – I’ll swap these with you.
Have a great idea today everyone!
Well, that "space in time" link isn't quite what I hoped for either.
Try this one, and scroll down to Mortimer H. Stein. It's worth it.
Cheers!
JzB who on top of everything else has to deal with vermin
Happy Friday all...
Well, it was until I started this puzzle...wow, I couldn't get much of it and when I found out the answer to 20A, I gave up...it was one of those play on word things that I never understand. The rest was way over my ability.
What is a speedpass??? We must not have them in Oregon.
Jazz, my hat is off to you for your work on this bad boy, you'd better put on your PJ's and take a nap now...you deserve it :)
Carol, a speedpass is like a fast debit card for buying gasoline. You just wave it at the pump and it gets all your information. I don't have one, I still use my credit card. I'm guessing you may not have it in Oregon since you are not allowed to pump your own gas if I remember correctly.
@Kazie, What shout out to Dennis?
If this was a Friday puzzle, I don't think I want to do tomorrow's puzzle.
But other than ruining my time average for the week, it was really quite enjoyable.
Great job (again) Jazz. I would echo Windhover's comments as well.
good morning c.c., jazz, and all,
holy hotwick, whatta workout! GREAT job jazz. finished only with some red letter help. did not know NOBIS or FOP, which made that crossing impossible. never heard of a SPEEDPASS, and did not love HES, such a broad answer for such a specific clue. clueing was so tricky that knowing the theme was only slight assist for theme answers. but what's not to love about a puzzle that starts with spread eagle, and ends with a finishing stroke?
tragic explosion and fire last night in san bruno, looks like a war zone. firefighters are sorting through damage this morning on a search and rescue mission. gonna be a long weekend for a lot of people, so sad.
TGIFO.... Thank God Its Finally Over...what a Jack McInturff...!!!
Good Day C.C.,Jazz and all,
Hey, Ron![really?] Thanks for your treats today. Many grins and a few real hoots. I joined you with [3] tactical G-Spots:'Sabre org','Steely Dan album',and,just so I could get my thumb out of my mouth,'Dreamcast maker'. The perps were my savior.
"Blow w/o distinction' was the sickest, sneakiest,bet clue. Once I discovered how sick this person really was, I reasked [word?] myself:"Can 'heart' really be 'nub' instead of 'hub'?- Didn't we just do this?- I think we let someone off the hook for this and have opened a big can o' worms. My dictionary [assembled with duct tape] lists: "3. gists"- But 'heart'- Oh, I'm sunk!
It appears that my youngest inherited my 'last word' syndrome; she was grounded so much, she coined the phrase'on groundation, as an explanation to her friends.
Dennis- Sewing Machine Day means I have to find another place to store mine,besides in the middle of the room. Boo!
Jack,nice thriller!Thanks.
Jazzbumpa, I liked "The French Historian" better.
Anonymous @10:54am,
See here. Hope you all go there and vote "thumbs up" for the definition of clecho (clue echo). I thought it's a brilliant coinage.
Good morning JzB and all,
Whew! Well, I'm one step closer to today's world..learned what a speed pass was/is. We won't buy from Exxon so maybe that is why I was in the dark.
JzB, fantastic write up.Even though I filled in the 1st 2 theme answers, I had no clue, and didn't like "impervious to chutzpah" until your write up. Laughed at atoll;you kept us on our asses. Speaking of which, I tried jackass for jackals laughing about it, and then I got to 71A!LOL!
The top 1/2 of this went smoothly; loved earmuff and Sedona. Grenada is where my late sister built some posh villas on Grand Anse Beach.It is also the opening location for Stieg Larsson's The Girl who Played with Fire.
The bottom 1/2 was a slog..so many unknowns.ARS ? who knew? Jordan=NBA-clever!'nuff said..
Have a great day
Mornin', everybody. Great blog, JzB.
I think I wore google out on this one, but I did complete it in under an hour (barely.) The sports teams and coaches were complete unknowns. I didn't have any idea where Tirana is, even though I have some friends from Albania.
APOP is always a stopper for me. I never use that expression and I guess nobody I know does. Got EXXON easily, but only because I had OXEN first. Never heard of Speedpass. Had a brief problem when I entered Delta, instead of DELCO.
Overall, a rough day.
The man's full name is "Boutros BOUTROS-Ghali." Gomer Pyle was in the delivery room when he was born. He asked the mother what she was going to name him. She replied "Boutros." Gomer said "Boutros? Boutros, Golllleee." (Sorry!)
Kazie, I had no idea C.C. even submitted it to Urban Dictionary until she sent me a link yesterday. A rather ignominious honor at any rate, huh?
Mornin', everybody. Great blog, JzB.
I think I wore google out on this one, but I did complete it in under an hour (barely.) The sports teams and coaches were complete unknowns. I didn't have any idea where Tirana is, even though I have some friends from Albania.
APOP is always a stopper for me. I never use that expression and I guess nobody I know does. Got EXXON easily, but only because I had OXEN first. Never heard of Speedpass. Had a brief problem when I entered Delta, instead of DELCO.
Overall, a rough day.
The man's full name is "Boutros BOUTROS-Ghali." Gomer Pyle was in the delivery room when he was born. He asked the mother what she was going to name him. She replied "Boutros." Gomer said "Boutros? Boutros, Golllleee." (Sorry!)
On speedpasses,
I got mine through my credit card, but it's a tiny cylinder that I have on my car key ring, not another card. The beauty of it for me is, that it works at Mobil, which is the nearest gas station to my home as well as stopping me from using BP for now, and it means I just have to take my car keys with me when I get out to pump gas, instead of rooting through my purse for the credit card--much faster. It has all the info on it because you give that when you apply for it, so I don't have to tell it I want receipts either --they always come automatically.
Anon,
C.C. gave the link for Dennis' shoutout on Urban dictionary.
Dennis,
I think ignominious or not, you're on the map now!
Hi everyone,
Real nice cw this morning. It was alot of fun.
Now, I see that we have a milk
recall in the NE.
Have a nice day.
Mornin' all
Yes, a bit of a trudge. Solid original clues for the most part. I had earDRUM for 1D and SER(vant) for 13D (after DEFOE from the other day) for a long while. Oddly enough, it was BARN(EY) RUBBLE who got me going, along with TURK for Ottoman. Got through it in the end (lots of names of people I had never heard of - I'm relieved that not many of you knew REECE, THAD or ARI either), needed the crosses; but at least my Albanian trivia is solid).
And then GALL-PROOF made it all worthwhile - worthy of any crossword, any time.
I liked Ars and Ass in the lower left corner - very cute (to me)
[Note to Moderator. I consider the following paragraph to be history rather than politics]:
Grenada, lest we forget, was the site of the last overt operation of the Cold War by US troops in the Caribbean (1983). It had recently become fully independent from the U.K., so the Queen was not too happy about it. Neither was the U.N., but since Maggie loved Ronnie after he had helped her with the Falklands (as, ironically, did Pinochet) it was all allowed to blow over (and now forgotten by almost everyone, it seems).
And talking of the U.N., it was nice to be reminded of Boutros Boutros-Ghali (so good they named him twice?), the first non-aligned (African) Sec. Gen.
And then Sharon. Ah, those were the days. Plus ça change..?
And I learned some new American cultural history:
Turkey-in-the-straw (humming it now)
I think I knew Joe Blow (and I think I can guess why he is no longer as well known), a friend of Joe Schmo no doubt. Nanu Nanu, Luci (from Lucy), Prell (I put in HENNA at first)
Nanu Nanu!
NC
Dennis..kudos once more
WH, you continue to amuse us.
Can't wait to see Lois's interpretation of 68A!
JzB, I remember White Rain. I used a plus egg shampoo back then, maybe Helene Curtis.See Prell ad of the 50's
Lucina, so sorry about the loss of your cousin..way too young!
Vettedoe, gotta love that husband! Does he cook?
Enjoyed last night's discussion about education, and we can all see that it will not be an easy fix. Each district and state differ.In my district, the class sizes kept growing. Most years we had 35 students and today's children have more psychological, medical and language problems than ever before.It is almost impossible to reach out to each child in that hour.Parents put the blame on the teachers, but they really need to do some looking at themselves as to why their children have these problems.
The End.
Re: SPEEDPASS
Kazie described it pretty well. It works on both Mobil and Exxon pumps. Here is a picture of Speedpass.
Good Morning All, There's not a lot to say about Jack McInturff's puzzle, except that it got away from me! Both EAR MUFF and EAGLE at 1D and 1A were stoppers right off the bat.
I didn't know 17A REECE, never heard of 15A "Speedpass", thought 6D was SONORA...and so on all the way through.
I had to skip around hoping to find some traction and with few exceptions, I didn't find it.
I finally threw in the towel and came here to finish up.
Nothing bad to say about the puzzle. It was a very clever, but it just didn't click for me today.
Congrats to Dennis on the portmaneau, "Clechco". It definitely works.
Lucina, sorry to hear about your family tragedy.
I hope that all of our group in the San Bruno area are safe and sound.
"D'uh"....I don't usually worry too much about correcting typos, but "Clecho" needs to be right.
Dennis - congrats on your being listed in the Urban Dictionary!
Lucinda - sorry to hear of your young cousin, terrible tragedy for the family!
I was concerned for our bloggers in the San Bruno area. Have they figured out the cause as yet?
carol, a 30" gas main ruptured - apparently neighborhood residents had been smelling gas fumes for at least several days before it blew.
This was the most challenging puzzle in a long time. I finally called it quits after 68 minutes and still managed to miss one, putting LUCY instead of LUCI at 55A. (Didn't know the cross at 51D, so I couldn't nail down the last letter of the name at 55A.) Lots of tricky clues, like those for 61D (IMAX), 60D (KOBE), 68A (JOE), 72A (SERIF), etc. etc. The theme clues and fills were also challenging. I enjoyed the mental workout, though, and feel lucky to have escaped this one with only one error.
Hi All--I had a host of unknowns today. MGM motto word, Coach Matta, Gabrielle (Reece), Tirana coin and capital. So Google lookups were a must for me, but even with those I didn't quite finish the South area of the puzzle.
Oddly enough I had all five of the theme answers and still couldn't finish without help from the blog.
I fell into the trap of Jordan the country, not Jordan the player, and flag the banner not tire.
However, I did like the answer of oxen for team members and of course, Leah for Daughter of Laban. It's always nice to see my name in the crossword.
I haven't been able to do the crossword until very late in the evening as we've had house guests, and I've been cooking for my sister who just came home from the hospital. The guests are gone and my sister is recovering nicely. She is now a bionic woman with a new hip.
JzB--Great blogging. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who had some difficulty today. It is always fun, though, to have that aha moment when you do get a difficult answer!
Congrats to Dennis on his new coined word Clecho! Good show.
Lucina, I'm so sorry to hear about your cousin. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Carol, I don't think anyone on the Blog is in San Bruno. We spent a couple of hours watching that terrible fire ball devour over 35 homes and damage dozens of others. We now know that at least 4 people died, and many others were injured. Several people are on the missing list, also. This is an area in a school district that my husband works with and there were two schools close by, but both were spared. Unfortunately, people were home at the dinner hour and watching a football game on TV.
Lucinda, my sympathy on your loss; when something like this happens to one of our blog members, it truly is felt by all of us. I hope you find a modicum of comfort in the support found here.
Also, thanks for all the kind words re clecho - I expect to hear from the Letterman people anytime now...
congratulations Dennis, but what about my favorite: blitch?
did someone say Ohio State?
Greetings from Panera in OMAHA! I actually had to teach/sub today and the school filter blocked the blog! This working all day is tiring and I'm going all 5 days for him next week!
I went for EARPLUG and the MONK clue/answer is still a mystery. Athletes get the MONKEYOFFONESBACK when they break out of a slump or finally win something, etc.
BARNRUBBLE was very cool and got me the theme.
The colored rings depicted in the write-up came up as I ate in a public restaurant and I think people I was on a porn site. No such luck!
We ship KOBE beef out of Fremont, NE for export to Japan. I'll bet it's better than rice fed beef!
As a scientist I don't see PLACEBO as controversial. It is just a control on an experiment. M*A*S*H had a great show on that when they ran out of morphine. Speaking of M*A*S*H, there was a great Christmas scene where they sang Dona Nobis Pacem!
Well, I'm off to run the $200,000 video board at my former school.
seen, thanks - I actually think 'blitch' is better too, but I kinda like that it's unique to our blog.
Besides, if I ever had two entries there, then there's all the security concerns, the constant paparazzi around the house, etc.
Afternoon, friends,
Well, I was mad at myself for DNF-ing this a.m. but after I checked in here, I thought I'd pull myself together and try to meet the challenge from Jack. Of course, by that time I'd read Jazz's great blog (his best yet!) and was amazed at how much I remembered. I had done about the upper 1/3 so I finally did finish. Now I'm a bit ashamed because of all the helpi I took advantage of.
It really was a clever one and very fresh. Thanks, Jack McInturff. Since I cheated, I don't have anything much to say.
Congratulations, Dennis, for your creativity and the well=deserved mention. And Jazz, I loved your humor.
Lucina, how awful to lose such a young relative. That sort of tragedy is the more cruel when it strikes some one with his life ahead of him! I'm so sorry.
Windhover, Hear! Hear!
We seem to be missing quite a bunch today: Lemonaide714, Jeannie, Lois, Barry G.
Oh, Annette, I forgot to give you the pat on the back you deserve for being helpful to John! Good for you!
C.C. I voted!
voted...good luck Dennis.
head banging puzzle...got the theme but that still didn't help agony and towel tossing.
Jazz...fabulous write up for a frustrating puzzle. I knew all the weird stuff and couldn't get my head around the easy stuff.
FYI...Kobe beef...don't always trust that it came from Kobe as most of it is brought in from the tiny farms where it is raised in confined pens, hence the "massage" for the steer to keep him healthy because he can't move around much...so that it can be finished there and attain the coveted Kobe beef designation. Better choice is Wagyu beef from this country.
WH...hope you behaved yourself.
Shout out to the coven.
Read the most excellent blogging part most days but have to limit on line time during the day as I got some space in a local gallery and have to use daylight hours for painting and a bit of FaceBooking...by wine time and dark everything has pretty much been said. Cheers to you all.
Melissa bee and Chickie...thanks for the info on the explosion, after I asked here, I heard the news explain the cause. Wonder why no one checked out the reports of people smelling gas. Can anyone spell lawsuit?? What a terrible thing!
Hello all my blog friends. No time this week at all to even attempt any of the puzzles, so will just catch you all up to date for my absence. Monday, I ended up in the emergency room due to a "boot" over the side of Lo-li-ta which resulted in some cracked ribs, bad hair, and a bruised ego. Enough of that, I am fine.
9/7 Anon-if you followed this blog at all you would know of my favorite counselor's eye surgeries and his struggle with sight. Shame on you.
9/8 Melissabee, I look forward to your blogs, and was happy to see that you remembered both the guys and the gals with your links. I openly thank you for "my" link. Lemonade, may you have a "sweet" year ahead of you, from your sweet tart.
9/9 Kazie, belated Happy Anniversary! I remember last year of you sharing how you met traveling on a train and spending a couple of months together. Very romantic.
Vettoe, I am hoping your little one in the making is doing well and how sweet that your hubby bought you a laptop.
WH, I am surprised you didn't home school your children. My sister Steph is a teacher and I can't believe how much she spends out of pocket for school supplies not supplied by her school. OTOH, I can't believe the list of school supplies that the schools in MN expect the families to supply. Paper towels, Kleenex, glue? I would post the list but I believe I did that last year.
Lucina, I am very sorry to hear of your loss. It's never easy. I know.
9/10 Dennis, in my experience, sex sweats out all kinds of things, no?
Creature, you are very pretty. I love your hair. Good to see you.
Carol, good to see your tomatoes are finally coming in. Enjoy!
I have been buried at work getting the foodshow paperwork completed and just haven't had the time to comment.
C.C., thank you for starting this blog. I miss your blogging though as you always put a personal "twist" to the contributors here. I think it's endearing.
Clearayes, I have been thinking about you as well.
Jazz, in my profile, AJA is my favorite album of all time. here is my favorite song off that album. It reminds me of driving around Lake Michigan in my youth when things were easier.
Jeannie,
Good to see you back, even if with bruised ego and cracked ribs, which can't be fun. Do you have them taped or strapped? I hope it's not too painful. Give Lolita a rest this weekend.
Thanks for the good wishes and memories.
Kazie, I was given a wrap but was advised to not use it more than a half an hour at a time. My doctor also advised to taking a deep breath every hour as to keep from getting pnemonia? It hurts like hell when I do that but she said to keep enflating my lungs.
I don't kneed (pun intended) to tell you what the morning ritual brings. My diet is well rounded.
I'm glad to bring you fond memories. Ah, not those afformentioned so to speak....
jeannie,
Good to know you are sticking to your regimen. It'll be worth it!
Jeannie, Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad to hear that you are recovering.....cracked ribs REALLY HURT!
WM, It's always nice to hear from you. Shout out right back at ya.
I forgot to tell Jazzbumpa, "Good job today". I hope it is better late than never.
BTW Kazie, I took some of that frozen basil out and took it to room temp and made some marinara. You would never know it wasn't fresh. Thanks for that clever idea. Even fresh it does "wilt" in the sauce.
Wolfmom, your "Daisies" were a big hit as odd as it sounds I felt best when laying on the side that was hurt and stared straight at that fabulous picture.
Anon, I am not quite sure what to say...thanks?
Oh, my, so late on a Friday night but I shall soldier on, my blogger friends, because I know some of you will read this.
First, thank you for all the kind remembrances for my young cousin; I have mentally sent them out to his young widow and children as well as his parents; I am closer to them as we almost grew up together and they are suffering mightily.
Jzb:
Brilliant blogging and I'll check the links later or tomorrow.
Today my grandbaby was here, it will always be Thu & Fri, so that makes puzzling difficult.
But what a puzzle this was. In bits and pieces I got most of it, (nap time is my time) had to ggle some names, THAD, hand up for Chad at first, ARA, and AJA; we've seen this so often but I can't keep it in mind.
When I saw yoga command I thought it would be one of those sanscrit words, so hard to hold onto. EXHALE I can handle.
Loved GALLPROOF and TURKINTHESTRAW; simply inspired Mr. Jack McInturff!
Dennis:
Congratulations! Yes, I shall vote momentarily.
I hope you all had a delightful Friday and a peaceful night.
Oh, about Sedona; if you ever visit Arizona, that and the Grand Canyon are what you must see.
I can sure sympathize with the cracked ribs. I've had that twice. (Actually, once was separated rib cartilage from running into the shoulder of a tank-like player from Samoa while playing a pickup basketball game.) I hated it when somebody made me laugh. But a sneeze was the worst.
Can Kobe beef be significantly better than Costco prime rib eye steaks? If so, I've got to give it a try.
My son and daughter headed out to sea and were able to observe several pods of blue whales. Apparently the local feeding is good for the whales right now and they're found in much larger than usual numbers.
Even though the hapless Dodgers are pretty much out of it, there is a terrific feel-good story. A sixteen-year minor leaguer got a call-up and is starting in his first major league game. Alas, he hasn't gotten a hit so far.
Hello WM, A shout back at you. It has been a long time since we've heard from you, but I'm glad to hear that the painting for the gallery is coming along nicely.
Jeannie, Ouch! The broken ribs are not fun. Take care and mind the Doc.
Vettedoe, hang in there and you mind the Doc., also. I'm glad to hear that the little one is coming along well.
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