Theme: None
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 29
Average Word Length: 5.76
Amazing 20 multi-word entries in the grid, all solid. Several made their first time appearance in major newspaper puzzle. Gorgeous! I just mentioned to our blogging team a few days ago about how constructors pride themselves in debuting a new word/phrase.
I like the two Across 12s a lot. I suspect one of them is Nothnagal's seed entry. The two Down 10s and four 9s are all quite sparkling.
Scrabbly puzzle too. Two X, Y, Z, V each.
Across:
1. Clear skies : AZURES. I normally struggle with the first entry. Not today.
7. Adequately suited to : FINE FOR
14. Stop browsing : LOG OFF
15. Curling-up site : FIRESIDE. Cozy.
16. Shared with : TOLD TO. Sure was not thinking of a story.
17. Too much : IN EXCESS
18. Vision blurrers, at times : STYES
19. Nikon F, e.g., briefly : SLR
20. Death is part of it : TAROT. The fortunetelling deck. Got me.
21. Common California map word : SAN. Fresh clue.
22. Item for the Windsor knot-challenged? : BOLO. Maybe they simply love bolo ties.
23. Woods set : IRONS. Tiger Woods. Nailed it.
24. Monopoly phrase : JUST VISITING. Did you get this immediately?
27. Clinker in a Glas : EIS. German for "ice", which clinks in Glas (glass). Not sure even our German speaking Spitzboov and Kazie penned in the right answer on their first try. Way too tricky a clue.
28. Richard of "A Summer Place" : EGAN. Just watched "A Summer Place" this summer. Sweet movie. But I sure can't remember Egan's name. Handsome guy.
29. Winter vacation destination : SLOPES
33. Calmed : STILLED
35. Censor : EDIT OUT
36. Men-on-base gp.? : US NAVY. I don't get this clue. Why Navy? Shouldn't it apply to Army/Air force also? MLB too.
37. Cell projection insulated by a myelin sheath : AXON. The impulse carrier. The clue means nothing to me.
38. Nickname of 1950s Reds slugger Ted : KLU. Gimme for our Seen. He can tell you all about the Big Klu.
39. Watches : KEEPS AN EYE ON. Awsome!
42. Caucasus native : OSSET. New word to me.
45. Cruise itinerary listing : ISLE
46. Indoor rowing machine, briefly, in rowers' jargon : ERG. No idea. Short for ergometer. I was so amused yesterday when Jazzbumpa said an ERG is "roughly equivalent to one fly doing one push-up."
47. Take the cuffs off? : ALTER. Nice clue as well.
48. Boss's domain, perhaps : PIT. What boss? Gambling?
49. Enchanting, but not in a big way? : ELFIN. Because elves are small I suppose.
51. Fragrant Cloud and Crimson Glory : TEA ROSES. Tough clue.
53. Roaring : ABLAZE. How can fire roar?
54. Place to see a pilot light? : HELIPORT. Well, I have no doubt our pilot Dudley saw it. I saw kitchen.
55. Disarming events? : TRUCES. Don't feel the question mark is needed.
56. Blood reservoirs : SPLEENS. Man, I didn't know this trivia.
57. Island vacation rentals : MOPEDS
Down:
1. In-flight announcement nos. : ALTS (Altitudes).
2. Flashy 1940s outfits : ZOOT SUITS. Got it rather quickly.
3. Not easy on the eyes : UGLY AS SIN. Eye duplication with 39A. Not good.
4. Capybara or cavy : RODENT. Unfamiliar with either of the two referenced in the clue.
5. Some former tadpoles : EFTS. Young newts.
6. UAL western hub : SFO
7. Fish malady : FIN ROT. Mystery to me. The malady rot the fish's fin? We also have BIG EYE (22. Nocturnal fish). Nice clecho (clue echo) of fish.
8. Cause of a duel, maybe : IRE
9. On deck : NEXT IN LINE. Another great fill.
10. Food eaten with tongs and a fork : ESCARGOT. Have any of you eaten escargot?
11. Sporty '80s Pontiac : FIERO. Literally "proud" in Italian.
12. Can't stop eating : OD'S ON
13. Notes aren't written during them : RESTS. Musical notes I suppose.
15. Temp : FILL-IN. Timely fill for our Husker Gary.
19. "I feel for you" : SO SAD
24. "Pie __": Mass motet : JESU. No idea. Literally "Jesus".
25. Line outside a nightclub : VELVET ROPE. Such a refreshing answer. Repeat of line with the answer in 9D though.
26. Day follower, in "Taps" : IS DONE. I peeked at the answer sheet.
30. Feature of some bluffs : POKER FACE. Nice one also.
31. Praised : EULOGIZED
32. Take by surprise : STUN
34. One end of Ontario's Welland Canal : LAKE ERIE. Much better than ERIE alone.
35. Praise : EXALT
37. Rink statistic : ASSIST. Hockey.
40. Military band members : PIPERS
41. Call to the attic : YELL UP. Alas, no old baseball cards in our attic.
42. Swear words : OATHS
43. A buzzer may end it : SLEEP
44. Flea market booth : STALL. Not much luck in flea market this year. No good finds.
49. River past Logroño : EBRO. Was ignorant of the Spanish city Logroño. Obviously it's on the Ebro River.
50. Notable Volstead Act enforcer : NESS (Eliot). I forgot what Volstead Act is about.
52. Will party : SON. Party to a person's last will.
53. Source of emergency funds : ATM. It has become a common word that no "briefly" or "for short" is needed in the clue.
Answer grid.
Please visit Urban Dictionary and vote for clecho (clue echo). Thanks.
C.C.
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 29
Average Word Length: 5.76
Amazing 20 multi-word entries in the grid, all solid. Several made their first time appearance in major newspaper puzzle. Gorgeous! I just mentioned to our blogging team a few days ago about how constructors pride themselves in debuting a new word/phrase.
I like the two Across 12s a lot. I suspect one of them is Nothnagal's seed entry. The two Down 10s and four 9s are all quite sparkling.
Scrabbly puzzle too. Two X, Y, Z, V each.
Across:
1. Clear skies : AZURES. I normally struggle with the first entry. Not today.
7. Adequately suited to : FINE FOR
14. Stop browsing : LOG OFF
15. Curling-up site : FIRESIDE. Cozy.
16. Shared with : TOLD TO. Sure was not thinking of a story.
17. Too much : IN EXCESS
18. Vision blurrers, at times : STYES
19. Nikon F, e.g., briefly : SLR
20. Death is part of it : TAROT. The fortunetelling deck. Got me.
21. Common California map word : SAN. Fresh clue.
22. Item for the Windsor knot-challenged? : BOLO. Maybe they simply love bolo ties.
23. Woods set : IRONS. Tiger Woods. Nailed it.
24. Monopoly phrase : JUST VISITING. Did you get this immediately?
27. Clinker in a Glas : EIS. German for "ice", which clinks in Glas (glass). Not sure even our German speaking Spitzboov and Kazie penned in the right answer on their first try. Way too tricky a clue.
28. Richard of "A Summer Place" : EGAN. Just watched "A Summer Place" this summer. Sweet movie. But I sure can't remember Egan's name. Handsome guy.
29. Winter vacation destination : SLOPES
33. Calmed : STILLED
35. Censor : EDIT OUT
36. Men-on-base gp.? : US NAVY. I don't get this clue. Why Navy? Shouldn't it apply to Army/Air force also? MLB too.
37. Cell projection insulated by a myelin sheath : AXON. The impulse carrier. The clue means nothing to me.
38. Nickname of 1950s Reds slugger Ted : KLU. Gimme for our Seen. He can tell you all about the Big Klu.
39. Watches : KEEPS AN EYE ON. Awsome!
42. Caucasus native : OSSET. New word to me.
45. Cruise itinerary listing : ISLE
46. Indoor rowing machine, briefly, in rowers' jargon : ERG. No idea. Short for ergometer. I was so amused yesterday when Jazzbumpa said an ERG is "roughly equivalent to one fly doing one push-up."
47. Take the cuffs off? : ALTER. Nice clue as well.
48. Boss's domain, perhaps : PIT. What boss? Gambling?
49. Enchanting, but not in a big way? : ELFIN. Because elves are small I suppose.
51. Fragrant Cloud and Crimson Glory : TEA ROSES. Tough clue.
53. Roaring : ABLAZE. How can fire roar?
54. Place to see a pilot light? : HELIPORT. Well, I have no doubt our pilot Dudley saw it. I saw kitchen.
55. Disarming events? : TRUCES. Don't feel the question mark is needed.
56. Blood reservoirs : SPLEENS. Man, I didn't know this trivia.
57. Island vacation rentals : MOPEDS
Down:
1. In-flight announcement nos. : ALTS (Altitudes).
2. Flashy 1940s outfits : ZOOT SUITS. Got it rather quickly.
3. Not easy on the eyes : UGLY AS SIN. Eye duplication with 39A. Not good.
4. Capybara or cavy : RODENT. Unfamiliar with either of the two referenced in the clue.
5. Some former tadpoles : EFTS. Young newts.
6. UAL western hub : SFO
7. Fish malady : FIN ROT. Mystery to me. The malady rot the fish's fin? We also have BIG EYE (22. Nocturnal fish). Nice clecho (clue echo) of fish.
8. Cause of a duel, maybe : IRE
9. On deck : NEXT IN LINE. Another great fill.
10. Food eaten with tongs and a fork : ESCARGOT. Have any of you eaten escargot?
11. Sporty '80s Pontiac : FIERO. Literally "proud" in Italian.
12. Can't stop eating : OD'S ON
13. Notes aren't written during them : RESTS. Musical notes I suppose.
15. Temp : FILL-IN. Timely fill for our Husker Gary.
19. "I feel for you" : SO SAD
24. "Pie __": Mass motet : JESU. No idea. Literally "Jesus".
25. Line outside a nightclub : VELVET ROPE. Such a refreshing answer. Repeat of line with the answer in 9D though.
26. Day follower, in "Taps" : IS DONE. I peeked at the answer sheet.
30. Feature of some bluffs : POKER FACE. Nice one also.
31. Praised : EULOGIZED
32. Take by surprise : STUN
34. One end of Ontario's Welland Canal : LAKE ERIE. Much better than ERIE alone.
35. Praise : EXALT
37. Rink statistic : ASSIST. Hockey.
40. Military band members : PIPERS
41. Call to the attic : YELL UP. Alas, no old baseball cards in our attic.
42. Swear words : OATHS
43. A buzzer may end it : SLEEP
44. Flea market booth : STALL. Not much luck in flea market this year. No good finds.
49. River past Logroño : EBRO. Was ignorant of the Spanish city Logroño. Obviously it's on the Ebro River.
50. Notable Volstead Act enforcer : NESS (Eliot). I forgot what Volstead Act is about.
52. Will party : SON. Party to a person's last will.
53. Source of emergency funds : ATM. It has become a common word that no "briefly" or "for short" is needed in the clue.
Answer grid.
Please visit Urban Dictionary and vote for clecho (clue echo). Thanks.
C.C.
61 comments:
This was a needlessly difficult and cruel puzzle. I did manage to finally finish it unassisted after removing much of my original fill and starting over again, but this may have been the most difficult LA Times puzzle I've done.
If that's what you were aiming for, Mike, congratulations -- you succeeded!
Say Saturday!
Did not care for the NE 12D. Can't stop eating : OD'S ON. Believe me, I've eaten a lot of stuff untill I was stuffed but never OVER DOSED. Has OD been trivalized to the point that it indicates over eating?
Welland Canal is the way ships get around Niagara Falls. Map.
Good morning All ~!
Well, it looked like this one was going to be "UGLY AS SIN", but fortunately, I knew some tough ones off the "CUFF" - TAROT (I have a deck), IRONS, ALTER, LAKE ERIE, ASSIST (hockey fan) and some 'close calls' that might have been just enough to get the "RESTS" of the puzzle - I had TESTS to start (notes in class), AFLAME instead of ABLAZE, CHALET instead of SLOPES, tried EXALTED for 31d and that showed up at 35d, and with little things like guessing at AZURES and EBRO, EIS and such, I got through.
Too busy this weekend, no time to myself aside from the puzzles - MY TIME...
Splynter
Easier than last Saturday's. Still a challenge.
Good Morning C.C. et al, Yes I was a TEMP/FILLIN yesterday! My God, I am subbing for the next 6 days! When will it end?
What a great birthday present this was! Yes, my birthday is on 9/11. The planes went into the bldgs on my 55th birthday and that memory is as fresh today for me as it is for all of us.
I am on the way out the door to take my grandkids on our annual sojourn to the apple orchards in Nebraska City and am very excited about it.
The puzzle was a bear of course, but every once in a while it threw out a nice gimme (ZOOTSUIT, SLOPES, TEAROSES, VELVETROPE, JUSTVISTING etc.) to brighten the spirits and give hope. The clues were maddening but doable with patience. Favorites - BOLO, USNAVY, FILLIN (aforementioned), NESS, SPLEEN. All in all a tough go!
I always think of AZURE as an adjective which I never think of as plural.
Have a great Saturday. Being with my grandkids on a beautiful fall day is as great as a Saturday can be! And, oh yeah, the Huskers are playing!
Cood morning all.
Yes, C.C., EIS did not 'click' until JESU was entered. D'uh. Then I had to think about it. (Low German is 'is' (ees) and I had to get the vowel right. In fact, the German word for Iceland is 'Island'.
All in all a difficult but doable puzzle. Some bright fill like ZOOTSUITS and POKERFACE, and some poor clueing as C.C. mentioned. WAGS included SLR, SAN, OSSET, and EBRO. Thought ALTER, TRUCES, SLEEP and RESTS were cleverly clued. No searches needed. Had same question as C.C. on 36a USNAVY.
CAPYBARA is the largest rodent species. Native of S. America.
Be safe.
Good morning CC, et al., Must be the end of the week. Altho’ this had some outstanding misdirections, this one fell into the DNF group. Excellent blogging, CC, and I agree w/you: 24A Just visiting in monopoly and Men on base gp 36A US Navy? are just 2 of the ones that totally escaped me. And thank you for the links. I couldn’t place Richard Egan to save my life -so unlike me to forget a handsome man. Favs were 48A Pit, 54A Heliport and 55A Truces among others. Least fav was 41D..yell up? And 52D will party = Son? Man, that one is so obtuse! Absolutely loved 3D ‘ugly as sin’ which equates to ‘fugly’ for me which includes personality and never just looks.
Argyle: agree w/you on odson. WTF? I forgot to include that one in my least fav list. Yuck!
Past all that, belatedly, Happy Anniversary, Kazie. I wish you many more years of wedded bliss.
vettedoe: so glad that you’re still hanging in there. Just keep repeating this is only temporary. Hubby is so thoughtful to get the laptop. Happy mama makes a happy baby.
Happy Birthday Husker. I wish you many many more.
CC: I tried to vote for 'clecho' and nothing happened when I clicked 'like'...is that how one votes? I'll try again later.
Dennis: congratulations on the shoutout and credit for clecho. That is so cool!
In addition to the serious remembrances for 9-11 today, it is an action packed day w/walks, festivals, and water activities. I hope you all enjoy your day.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
I slogged through it, but boy, was this a toughie for me! Fortunately, I got some of the longer answers right away, so that helped the fill. I didn't have to gg anything, but sure had lots of eraser crumbs by the time I was done. ZOOTSUIT brought such funny images to my mind, and loved seeing it in this puzzle.
Happy Birthday Husker Gary ! Like the Kennedy assassination, we probably all remember where we were on 9/11. I was on chemotherapy at the time, and was stuck on the couch watching the whole thing unfold. I have to admit, it took my mind off my own problems but didn't help a bit with the churning stomach !
Argyle - thanks for the map of the Welland canal. I really never knew it was there. So that is my little trivia tidbit for today...
Have a memorable day, everyone!
Hello Puzzlers -
DNF, at least not yet. Only had a few minutes available.
I would like to wish Jeannie a quick mend. To C.C. and the rest of the mob, have a sparkling Saturday! It's lovely in this corner of the country today.
WOW! Finally got it, no help, but it took me 90 minutes of agonizing. When my daughter took her SATs, she was instructed to get up early on the day of the test and eat three slices of bacon and an egg and that would be good food for the brain--not very PC for vegans and kosher folk. This puzzle required a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs!
Wow. This one was harder than yesterdays. I had to struggle for every fill, but I kept to my usual policy of eliciting no help of any kind and managed to finish it with no errors...in 81 minutes. I'll usually quit after an hour, but I just couldn't put this one down. OK. I feel brain-drained now, and it's only 10 AM.
Happy birthday, Husker Gary!
This was a REALLY slow start for me. My first pass produced pretty pathetic results... Most everything had to be dragged out of the recesses, a little at a time. I did finish online in just over an hour, but I resorted to guessing letters in a couple areas to kickstart another spurt of solutions. As usual for a Saturday, most of the entries weren't obscure as they'd seemed, but the clues were dasterdly!
54A I was thinking of a pilot as a person, but was thinking planes, not copters.
Favorites:
26D Day follower, in "Taps" : IS DONE - It brought back scouting memories.
43. A buzzer may end it : SLEEP
Jeannie, I was sorry to read about your accident. If it had to happen, thank goodness it was at the end of the season, rather than the beginning.
My fire ROARS. If yours doesn't, try the old trick of covering the fireplace with a sheet of newspaper, so that air can only enter through a narrow slot beneath the grate. That'll get 'er roarin' fer sure.
The Volstead Act presaged the ROARING Twenties, of course. It defined intoxicating liquor as > 0.5 % alcohol. 90 years later, my (unlicensed) local Brit-food store has been forbidden from selling a Brit-drink called SHANDY BASS (a refreshing mixture of beer and Sprite sold to children as well as adults in the UK), and which is clearly labeled "0.5% alcohol". (similar levels are naturally present in fruit juice) .
I never used "OSSET" before, but it was clear enough as a back form of Ossetia, both of which (North and South) have been in the news for much of the post-Soviet era.
I had POLO for 22A. A good answer I thought, until I discovered that it's Brit-speak [U.S. = TURTLE (neck)]. Oz-speak=SKIVVY (Anyone ??)
@Spitzboov: I was told that the name "Iceland" has nothing to do with "Ice" - it simply means "Island" (Anyone??)
ELFIN is used in the name of several Californian forests with dwarfed plants. Hence the "small" reference is familiar to LA residents.
Where would we be without ERIE, ERG, and EFT* ?
As most of you know, "An EFT" grew up to become "A NEFT" (=> a NEWT), in a linguistic process called rebracketing**. I added some further examples below***. But it is the ONLY example I know of where both forms are in current usage (at least to us cruciverbalists) - in this case as the young vs. old critter (Anyone??).
**Also called juncture loss/junctural metanalysis/ false splitting/misdivision/refactorization.:
***More examples:
an ekename => a nickname [“eke” as in “little”)
une norenge (French) => une orenge => an orange
an otch => a notch
al one (M.E = all one) => “a lone”
a napron => an apron (c.f. napkin)
a noumpere (ME) => an umpire
a numble (M.E. = deer offal) => an umble => humble (pie)
a nadder => an adder (“nedder” still found in Northern English dialects (?))
a nauger (M.Englsh) => an auger
a nother => an other
a neias => an eyas (unfledged bird) – pretty obscure that one
a nappes-pliées (French)"neatly folden linen") => an apple pie => apple pie order [Same origin] Apple Pie bed => U.K. trick way of making bed with the sheet folded up on itself so that it is impossible to lie full length in the bed
TTFN, NC
Whew! Good morning,
I can't remember ever giving up so quickly on a puzzle.Knowing rodent didn't get me very far.I had red letters every time I attempted a fill. So sad.
SAN Bruno was the disaster site on Thursday, which is south of SAN Francisco, and north of SAN Jose.
Azure skies here today. Have a lovely weekend all.
This one was tough! I had trouble in both the SW and SE part of the grid. I liked SLEEP at 43 Down.
Good Morning All, One hour is my limit on any puzzle and I still had too many picket fences gaps after that.
I started out badly because I've never used AZURE as a noun. Perhaps it would be easier to list the fill I did get. (Don't panic, I won't do it.)
At any rate, two days in a row, I came to the blog to finish up and/or understand fill like FINROT, OD'S ON, US NAVY, EIS, AXON, OSSET and KLU.
C.C., yes, I have eaten ESCARGOT and like them very much. They are not so easy to find at restaurants in the U.S. I always try to sample something different when we have traveled to other countries and I got a kick out of eating escargot in Paris and Bordeaux. (Then there was haggis and blood sausage in Scotland...not so good!)
GAH and I are taking a little time today to reflect on 9-11 and the principles our country was founded upon.
12. Can't stop eating : OD'S ON
This is bullshitt.
This one beat me. After going round and round a dozen times I finally hit Google. Several ahas later it was done. Sorry for 19D and Above board for 9D messed up areas that should have been easier.
Mopeds and isle make me happy. Slopes and fireside don't make up for my fear of eis.
I ate escargot at the French Club banquet in high school. It was chewy and tasty. No desire to eat it since though.
I couldn't figure out a way to vote for "clecho" either. 38 up and 4 down must mean that some people did.
Happy Birthday Husker Gary.
Nice cuppa - Wiki says that the first discoverers saw ice in the fjords and so named it Iceland. As already stated, the German word 'Island' means Iceland; the German word Insel means island in English. Sure can be confusing.
Strange to me how people remember
dates. Most people remember 9/11/xxxx. I remember 11/xx/1963. DW is flying today from ONT.
Mary, just click on the 'thumbs ups' icon to cast your vote for clecho.
CC, I've enjoyed escargot. Of course, anything served with garlic butter would taste good I think. I don't think crab would be as popular without the garlic butter.
I found a slideshow of some great astronomical photographs on MSNBC. I thought you might enjoy them .
SEA EEL is clued as [Sushi selection] in Washington Post puzzle today.
I was taught that an erg is the force with which a slow fly hits ones forehead. I don't get SON
-- will party.
CEJ
thumbs up, anon...thank you
Hey y'all,
Okay, so I did both the Friday and Saturday puzzles both today. I had more trouble with the Friday puzzle. Maybe by the time I got to the Saturday puzzle I was just in the zone. I did have to google a few things and had a couple of WAGs, but was able to finish with the exception of the E that crossed in JESU and EIS that I forgot to go back and figure out.
I had clip for BOLO, clubs for IRONS, and hand up for ODSON not making sense. I have been stuffed to the gills before, but have never over dosed on food.
Can someone please explain 52D Will party = SON??? I just do not get it.
HuskerGary - Happy Birthday! It sounds like you have a wonderful day planned.
Lois & Mary - To vote for clecho, just click on the word UPS and your vote will be added.
I have never had ESCARGOT, so I had no idea. I have eaten a lot of food in my day (never od'd) and I kept trying to remember a time when I was eating and had tongs in my hands.
To all who have expressed good wishes for me and my little bun in the oven, thank you. And yes, I do have a wonderful husband. I am loving having the laptop.
As for the cooking, I usually do most of it (except for when he grills once a week or so). With my Mom and MIL being here during the week to help with our 3yo, and Friday nights being pizza night in our house, the only time he has to worry about it is the weekends. He will cook whatever I want, but I have to decide.
Of course I will never forget what I was doing the morning of 9/11. I would like to share what my friend posted on FB this morning. I don't know if these are her words, but they are certainly fitting.
"I have heard many say lets share a moment of silence. Forget that. I do not want to be silent. I want to shout from the rooftops. I will not be held hostage on American soil. Thank you to the police, firefighters, and soldiers for helping to keep us safe and protecting our freedom. Say it loud, say it proud. I love America."
Enjoy the weekend!
Will party: SON Inheritor?
Will party = SON - A will is defined as " a written instrument legally executed by which a person makes disposition of his or her estate to take effect after death'. If that person has a SON, he would be a 'party' to the will; or a 'will party'.
IMHO. The lawyers here could weigh in if there is more to say about this.
Argyle & Spitzboov - DOH! That kind of will. Thank you for the explanation.
Bill G. - Thanks for the link to the pictures. Those are absolutely awe-inspiring.
Greeeeeat puzzle! Still, it's like an 8oo pound gorilla loosed upon the world. Tough, but so much damn fun. I finally figured out why I did it at a snails pace. ESCARGOT.
Had a good laugh at UGLY AS SIN. I saw it different... as, "Get your UGLY ASS IN the car!"
In sum, the hardest, but best Saturday of the year. My hat's off to you, Mr. Nothnagel.
Hello everybody. Didn't do yesterday's puzzle until today. Was spending our 45th with my wife yesterday. We were asea, ashore, abed, awake, afoot, aware, and alive. Didn't go aloft, abaft, astern, alee, or alow, though. Altogether a nice day.
Then the puzzles. Holy wow. yesterday's was hard, but I did finish it with the help of some goo-goo-lal-la lookups. Today's was even harder, and I had to look almost everything up. However, I was determined not to let that little sore-loser devil on my shoulder talk me into quitting, and after almost 3 hours I finally got 'er done. Wasn't all that much fun though. Yesterday's was at least enjoyable once completed. All I could do today after completing it was shake my head and exclaim "sheesh."
Now I'm going to read all your comments and maybe post more then.
Best wishes to you all.
A party named in a last will and testament is often the son. Of course others are often specifically named too.
Happy saturday, all,
This was the first puzzle since I joined the blog that I googled to get finished before I read the blog. Could never have finished without lots of help with anything that was look-up-able. There were a few gimmes: zootsuit, Egan ( which I knew from previous xword puzzles), alter, tearoses. Never did get truces and mopeds, because of having yellat instead of yellup.
I also had polo for bolo and I looked up pigeye which was a shark. So I left it.
NC, a polo shirt is not turtlenecked. It's a golf shirt; a knit pullover with a collar.
I can't really say if this was harder than yesterday's because I DNFed on Friday.
Yes, it took a while to find where to vote on Urban Dictionary but I had a mental 'aha' when I found the thumbs up/down icons.
Husker, happy birthday! Today was also my late husband's birthday. He would have been 90 today. He died in 2004, a month before his
84th.
Enjoy the weekend, all!
Okay, I've read and enjoyed your comments. Thanks for your insights, information, and opinions.
As I said earlier, I had to use googoolala a lot in order to solve this puzzle, but there were a few that I got unassisted, such as TAROT, RESTS (bad clue though), SAN (of course!), AXON, ZOOTSUIT, and RODENT. Wanted CLIP, as in clip-on, for 22A, and only changed it to BOLO after learning more than I ever wanted to know about fish. Wanted FREEPARKING for 24A, but of course that is one letter too short and ddoesn't have a U (from ZOOTSUIT) in it, so it took me a while to get it.
I agree that ODSON was clued awfully badly.
Took a lot of reserarching the many and varied peoples of the Caucasus to get OSSET. And then I couldn't stop reading more and more about the peoples of that area. What a huge variety of ethnicities, languages, and distinctive cultures!
There were some awesome fills, such as EULOGIZED and the aforementioned VELVET ROPE and UGLY AS SIN. I've eaten ESCARGOT; to me they were like pencil erasers drenched in garlic butter: rubbery and tasteless. I imagine without the garlic butter nobody would care for them. To paraphrase what Bill G said, garlic butter can make almost anything taste good! I could never OD on it.
In sum, a technically competent puzzle, extremely competent, in fact. But, like some musical compositions can be competently technically good and yet unsatisfying emotionally, so was this puzzle IMO.
Best wishes to you all.
Hand up for escargot. I'll try any food as long as someone else has eaten it and didn't die. It was OK, no "ewwww" factor, but it was not good enough to have again, IMO. Well, maybe if I were starving, but I wouldn't OD on it!
Can a puzzle be unreasonably hard? This one almost was. Lots of googles, no giggles, resorted to red letters at one point. I did not like ODSON. Did not understand it until I came here. Bad clue, IMO. I thought of AZURES, but I didn't want it, so I fought it until I had the "zures" part of it.
Happy birthday to Gary. I don't mean it flippantly, but life really does go on in spite of truly distressing events.
C.C. "Why Navy?" What else could it be? US NAVY was the answer to the clue. You've got me confused. Fill comes first, clues second. Right? :)
Good Day C.C. and All,
C.C., thanks for your blog.As usual,you are full of insights. I,too, had a question over 'men-on-base,gp',as Navy only. How is this so?
I think the question mark on 55a,is because disarming usually means shocking or unexpected,rather than laying down military arms.
7d. 'finrot' is the name of the fish malady.
I voted! yeah, Dennis!
This puzzle was the hardest for me in many a moon.[granted with my own hang-ups].
The nw corner went lickety split - here and there fills-long day- with breaks for food, dishes,feeding and back...stuck myself with Gere instead of Egan.[did not see movie]
Finally, G spot cleaned it up-as well as Fiero and Bigeye- H's help on Klu.
Perps and Wags saved me.
I have all the same beefs as everyone else, but it does feel good to finish; and more so, because it was SO HARD!
I'm going to chase down the links, after I sip on some wine on the deck with H.
Hi all,
A very difficult puzzle!
A bolo tie is a western tie, consisting of a piece of cord or braided leather with metal tips secured with an ornamental clasp or slide. The are concidered dress ties in some parts of the southwest. Native Americans make a lot of them so they are made in America.
Last Thursday my husband and I saw some guinea hens along the side of the road and I wondered how the word guinea had so many uses. Guinea pig, guinea fowl, some countries have the word in their name (Guinea-Bissau etc.),an English coin. I looked on line and one thing I learned was that guinea pigs are from the Brazil cavy. A word I never heard of before in a crossword puzzle 2 days latter. How funny!
Have a great evening all!
Marge
But creature, the clue doesn't say "only".
Men-on-base gp.?- US NAVY
What's the problem... or confusion.
Hello All--A tough puzzle today. I only finished about 1/3 of the fills and had to give up. I had put in wrong answers which gave me more wrong answers, so it was a losing battle.
My problems were much the same as those that were mentioned by others.
I just wanted to wish Husker Gary a very Happy Birthday and many, many more. This is a very popular birthday day it seems. Very early this morning, there was a new cousin born in our family and it is the second birthday of a friend's little girl. Dodo, I see that it was your late husband's birthday as well.
Also a belated Happy Anniversary to you and your wife, Jayce. I'm glad you had a great day.
Several of our younger friends are donating blood on this 9/11 day for the victims of the San Bruno explosion. They said it was their way of helping and honoring those who died on 2001.
Have a great weekend everyone.
In case anyone is interested in reading about the thoughts and adventures of a new Peace Corp member, my grandson has his Blog up and running.
His Blog is located at garrisonharward.blogspot.com.
Jeannie, I just now read about your accident! I'm so sorry and I hope you're not suffering too much. I've aways heard that broken ribs really, really hurt. I hope your weren't alone when it happened. That would be pretty scary
! Heal fast!
I have to laugh, I just put soso in for my user name! For some reason? it wouldn't print!
BTW, I did not know about Lemonaide's eye problems. I guess it was discussed before I joined.
I'm so sorry. I work with some women who have macular degeneration and it's inspiring to see how they cope. I can see the same is true with Lemonaide, whatever his problem is.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! My day with the short people from Lincoln in beautiful Nebraska City was wonderful!
My 5 year old graddaughter, Elise, made me a cupcake for my BD allast night but told her Mother this morning, "Here's the thing Mom, I ate Papa's cupcake!" So she showed up at Kimmel Orchards with a huge gift sack and at the bottom was a dollar bill and 71 cents in change from her piggy bank.
The army has posts, the navy has bases.
Actually, EIS was my first fill of only five correct fills I got without coming here to cheat. I was gone all day at a meeting and probably too tired to attempt this on my return. Too many cultural references that are foreign to me, such as velvet rope--something I've never seen other than in movies, having never gone to any nightclub.
Jayce,
I'm glad your anniversary was so nice. congratulataions!
Husker Gary,
Happy Birthday to you!
Hello, C.C. and cyber friends. Late to the gate appears to be now a habit, but always for a good reason.
Today, I was to host the book club meeting, but everyone called in and cancelled. They had good reasons, but it is still a bit of work to prepare and I made chicken flautas which are delicious. If you are nearby, come over, there's plenty. I may OD on them.
Tough puzzle today. In the morning I finished the NW corner, loved ZOOTSUIT and UGLYASSIN; JESU was unexpected and I guessed EIS must be ice.
No problem with USNAVY. Why not? It could be any of them, hence the question mark.
Erred with AEROPORT until HELIPORT made more sense with OATHS. The rest of that SW corner just became a blur. Left it for the blog.
After it was obvious no one would arrive to the meeting, I continued and struggled with the center, but have seen AXON, BOLO, and EGAN before. I resisted EULOGIZED because I thought technically it doesn't mean praised, but shall look it up.
Some really good cluing, very tricky and misleading. Thank you, Mike; challenging is good.
Happy birthday, Gary!
It's my granddaughter's 14th as well.
I do hope you are enjoying this Saturday. Flautas, anyone?
Jerome- "men on base gp." implies only one gp.; "a men on base gp."would be more accurate.
Of course, I'm not 'savy' about how accurate the clues have to be, as far omissions are concerned.
Happy Birthday, Husker!! This was my brother's birthday,also. Definitely, its your day to be celebrated.
Jeannie- Thank you for your kind words and the exact same back to you - I've been thinking of you and was concerned. Is Lo-li-ta a sailboat or a horse? I've heard that that pain is horrible. Take care.
WH and Jeanne- yours were the most insightful of the education blogs from yesterday. I agree with you both.
Apparently, lenghth of school year is not a factor- according to Kazie, tests have been run that bear this out. Its more in the timing.
Thehondohurricane-Yeah! You really did ride in a rumble seat behind your parents! I thought you were a kid{of sorts], I am vintage. I mistakenly thought the blog that you have listed was yours. Perry Como....the best!
I still haven't gotten to all the links and its bedtime...almost.
Jeannie:
I'm so sorry about your accident. I do hope the ribs heal quickly as I'm sure it's very painful.
OMG, flautas?!? I'm there!
Happy birthday Gary!
I have fond memories of spending a week working in Lincoln, Nebraska, and surrounding communities, especially of having breakfast at a wonderful diner in Beatrice, pronounced (equally wonderfully) as Bee-AT-riss.
Jerome- I don't like what I said. It doesn't seem right either.
"gp on base gp?" ?
Oh well.. Thanks for coddling me- It was a grand puzzle and I hope I made it clear...and would like to see more from Mike; he's very talented and it was painfully fun.
Lucina, chicken flautas sound delicious. I wish I lived closer. What's the difference between flautas and taquitos?
C.C., Argyle and folk:
I know I say this often, great puzzle! I particularly enjoyed this one today...did it when I got home from the hospital at 12:30 am.
Good, simple write up...thanks for teaching me new things!
26a. brawl during a game of musical chairs?/SEAT RUMBLE
My mother, 86 years of age, tells us the stories of riding in the rumble seats in her older brother's cars. She said it was thrilling yet scary. I suspect
like riding on a roller coaster today. RUMBLE SEAT
20a. sailor's rear/AFT I am in the process of a yard make over. When one of the men was bent over while building the fire pit, I saw the butt crack and while it was his aft (he was exNavy,) it was not fat! It looked yummy, like taf(fy)!LIKE THIS?
55a Chihuahua child: NINO...feminine, NINA. niños/niñas celebrating
Fave of the day:
57. Island vacation rentals : MOPEDS
I have missed so many birthdays, anniversaries and owies, I hope you know I wish well to all!
Georgia is a bit better. She is initiating her own breaths though still on the ventilator. As of yesterday, I have begun to feel she will make it. Thanks for all the prayers and positive energy coming this way. Their impact is being felt!
I'm out.
Bill G, thank for the link to the photos. They were incredible!
Frenchie, I hope your friend continues in that positive direction!
I think the problem people are having with the USNAVY entry is that the clue and answer don't have a one-to-one correspondence. As it's clued, there could be multiple options for the answer, and you have to wait until the perps help you suss out the one the Constructor intended. There are a number of fill where that same thing happens - roman numerals, for one - directions, for another.
Anon., I thought the Army and Air Force (maybe others) call them bases too. Can any of you vets explain the difference between a post and a base? Is there a difference?
Someone else may be able to provide more information or explain more thoroughly, but to answer my own question (sorry!), here's what Wikipedia has to say about the usage of base and post:
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by and/or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations.
A military base may go by any of a number of names, such as the following:
airbase or airfield
shipyard or yard
garrison
station
post
dock
activity
magazine
arsenal
proving ground
armory
fort
camp
barracks
caserne
facility
field
reservation
installation (in the generic)
For a puzzle that started by forcing me to leave blank the entire NE and SW after the first pass-through, I was pleasantly surprised when it ended up taking me only 22 minutes and change to finish. Had to get a couple through perps (Ossets? Really?), but was not forced Google-ward as is so often the case.
I'll take some more by Mr. N.!
I was really frustrated by this one, so I didn't finish it. Instead, I had some ice cream!
It was a looong day today, 'cause I volunteered at a church festival, but finally I got home and finished the puzzle. Yessir, it was a toughie, but I muddled through.
I also just read the write-up and comments; to fess up to C.C., I admit I didn't get HELIPORT until perps made it obvious. I take it that "light" in that clue means the same as "alight", yes?
Well, Night, John-Boy.
Bill G.:
I wish you did, too. Jayce as well.
My sister developed this method for the: debone a rotisserie cooked chicken, mix with canned tomatoes (I prefer RO-TEL) and fill the tortillas, roll, then deep fry. Deliciouso!
I'm not sure that there is a big difference between flautas and taquitos since they are both made in the same way. I believe marketing has popularized the use of flautas over taquitos.
Have a wonderful night!
Annette and others, I have been going to the hospital each night from 8:30-12am and I read to her. We finished The Importance of being Ernest/Oscar Wilde, We are now almost finished Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham and then on to something easy flowing,, Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson.
@ Chapstick57, I shared the information you suggested and they did some tests and didn't feel she was bloated enough and they did write 'septic' on the chart and we are waiting for the test results. Again, thanks for your helpful recommendation.
Love you guys,
I'm out.
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