google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday October 1, 2010 Scott Atkinson

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Oct 1, 2010

Friday October 1, 2010 Scott Atkinson

Theme: HEAVE-HO. To get rid of something, a forcible dismissal, as throwing something overboard. Heave, by itself, means "throw." Here the thing thrown is the letter combination HO, from a common phrase, leaving a humorous new uncommon phrase. As much as I love puns, these might have SPANNED a bit too far.

18A. *Ancient Chinese cote occupant? : MING PIGEON. Homing Pigeon - a bird that always finds it's way back to the coop - or "cote." Here, one from the MING dynasty.

25A. *Observation after a Bush walk? : W'S ON FIRST. Who's on first - from the famous Abbot and Costello routine. Here, W is an affectionate term for our 43rd President, who was the managing general partner of the Texas Rangers from 1989 to 1994, best known for trading away Sammy Sosa. Afterwards, he said, "Big Texas (Nolan Ryan) is here. The reason I like to keep Nolan around is he is a reminder that when we got done with the Sammy Sosa trade, there was still some talent on the Rangers."

36A. *Nickname for a so-so Navy officer? : CAPTAIN OK. Captain Hook, whose associate Mr. Smee is an occasional visitor to puzzles. I thought this one was actually funny.

50A. *Habitually drunk panda? : BAMBOO SOT. Bamboo shoot. We all know about the panda who eats, shoots, an leaves. I didn't know he was drunk.

57A. *Kenyan healthcare worker? : RN OF AFRICA. Horn of Africa. A peninsula jutting from East Africa, into the Arabian Sea. Lots of hardship there. Not sure who the Registered Nurse would be, but they could probably use her.

And, of course, the unifier: 42 D. Dismissal, and a hint to how the answers to starred clues were derived : HEAVE HO. This may conjure a variety of images. Discuss in comments, if you dare.

Hi gang, JazzBumpa here, feeling quite beat-up by this tough puzzle.

Lots of technical assistance required to get through it in reasonable time. I found the theme to be deeply opaque, and never would have sussed it without the unifier. Technically, very impressive: besides the theme, just 1 Q away from a pangram, a tight cluster of 4 Z's, and a dozen 7-letter non-theme answers. Alas, a total of 39 three or four letter answers reduce the average length to 4.91.

Across:

1. Aloe target : RASH. Aloe vera is a succulent yielding a medicinal fluid good for all sorts of skin conditions, including burns. This fill is a bit of rash judgment.

5. Indian royal : RAJA. We often see his wife or daughter.

9. Treat meanly : SHAFT. In the skyscraper of life, a select few get the elevator; the rest get the SHAFT. It's mean to shaft someone on purpose.

14. 1990s Expos manager : ALOU. If it's a baseball clue and a four letter answer, fill in ALOU and move on.

15. Approach shot club : IRON. Golf clubs. I got mine out a few weeks ago for the first time in years. Didn't miss them a bit. Had a good time at a driving range with my grandsons Danny and Ryan, though.

16. "Platoon" co-star : DAFOE. Illustrious actor and Appleton, Wisc. native Willem DAFOE was born William. As the story goes he changed it to "Willem", the way his Scottish childhood babysitter pronounced his name, so people would not call him "Billy".

17. Bubbles : FIZZ. As in Champagne. I heard once that the import duty on the bubbles was more than on the alcohol. Can anybody verify?

20. Tasseled toppers : FEZZES. You all know what they look like. Here is how they get around. Not sure where the Shriners found them.

22. Happy hour order : ALE. Ever on the alert for new clues for this favorite x-word stalwart. But if you want some FIZZ in your FEZ, you're better off with ginger ALE.

23. Partook of : ATE. Why is it part-took, if you ate the whole thing?

24. Bit of dental work : INLAY. INLAY, ONLAY - you always need a perp. I have both.

28. "Hold on!" : SEE HERE. Hold on, I object to what I SEE HERE!

30. Japanese-American : NISEI. Yes, but not necessarily. "NISEI" is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the children born to Japanese people in the new country. The Nisei are considered the second generation; and the grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei. The Sansei are considered the third generation.

31. "If __ only listened!" : HE'D. This threw me. I and I'D are too short, I HAD is too long. But it won't get me again: I'm paying heed to HE'D!

32. Shade sources : ELMS. But not like they used to be. Once ELM-SPANNED streets were common. At least there are disease resistant varieties.

35. Florida's __ City : DADE. Maybe our Fla. contingent can fill us in.

39. Lead player : STAR. The star of the show. The lead player in the trombone section might or might not be a star.

41. "Even Napoleon had his Watergate" speaker : YOGI. The one and only Lawrence Peter "YOGI" Berra, who learned all about baseball and language from Casey "Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa" Stengel.

42. I followers? : HOP. IHOP - International House of Pancakes. Lewis Black's health club. Sorry , can't come up with a link.

45. Stoop : PORCH. I think of a PORCH as something more expansive that would not stoop to being a mere stoop.

47. Dry cleaner's supply : HANGERS

53. Sheikdom of song : ARABY. Classic old song.

54. Carpenter __ : ANT. Aunts are not to be confused with siblings.

55. Exxon Valdez cargo : OIL. Big disaster in Prince Willem Sound on March 24, 1989. The ecology of the region has not yet recovered.

56. "All in the Family" family name : STIVIC. Meathead and Gloria, not to be confused with JazzBumpa and the LW (Gloria.) Caused some problems. BUNKER also fits.

61. Genesis brother : SETH. ACH. Automatically filled in ABEL.

62. Many a dance club tune : REMIX. An alternate version of a song, made from a new master.

63. Fiendish : EVIL. But where on earth is the Axis of Fiendishness? Plus, 21 D. It may be evil : EYE. Like this one, I guess. Wrong kind of clecho, though. Is that EVIL, or just unfortunate?

64. The old you : THEE. The archaic second person singular objective case pronoun. Of course, I wanted THOU, the archaic second person singular nominative case pronoun. SEE HERE, I have a hard time being both archaic and objective.

65. '50s flop : EDSEL. But a classic, now, named for Henry Ford's son EDSEL, father of Hank the Deuce..

66. Guitar's fingerboard : NECK. So called because it is narrow compared to the guitar's voluptuous body. But anything that can be done, can be overdone.

67. Repairs, as a green : SODS. The putting green of a golf course. Probably not like this.

Down:

1. Picaresque : RAFFISH. Picaresque: involving clever rogues or adventurers especially as in a type of fiction. I guess that works. The things you learn . . .

2. Property recipient : ALIENEE: "One to whom or to which ownership of property is transferred." The things you learn . . .

3. Drunk, in slang : SOZZLED. "Drunk" probably has more synonyms than any other English word. Am I supposed to know them all?

4. Old-fashioned "Way to go!" : HUZZAH. Archaic, I'd say. Hast THOU ever spoken yon word? Has it been spoken at THEE?

5. Wheel parts : RIMS. Perfect for your hot wheels.

6. Paul's "Exodus" role : ARI. Cast of thousands, cost of millions, but it's always ARI.

7. With 56-Down, eponymous bacteriologist : JONAS, and 56. See 7-Down : SALK. Discovered and developed the first safe and effective polio vaccine. This is a well done cross-reference,

8. Saxon opening : ANGLO. ANGLO-Saxon is a collective name for the germanic peoples who migrated to the British Isles around the sixth century. The language they spoke was Englisc, pronounced "English."

9. Star Wars letters : SDI. Prez. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly called STAR WARS, but without the John Williams score.

10. Witchy woman : HAG. I guess so.

11. Lackin' gumption : AFEARED. I'm Eskeerd to say I had trouble with this one.

12. Under-the-table diversion : FOOTSIE. Nothing I can relate to.

13. Article of faith : TENET.

19. Keystone State founder : PENN. William PENN, not known to have been called either Willem or Billy, the founder and "absolute proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U. S. State of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed. Well, he got most of it right.

25. "The Optimist's Daughter" writer : WELTY. Eudora WELTY's highly regarded novel.

26. Generic pooch : FIDO. His best friend is ROVER. They don't care much for SPOT.

27. "Out of Africa" author Dinesen : ISAK. Karen somebody - we just had her a couple days ago.

29. Good name, briefly : REP. Reputation. Not a sales Rep.

33. He said "Learn from the masses, and then teach them" : MAO. Chairman MAO Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party in 1921. To my knowledge, there is no chicken dish named after him.

34. Common sense? : SIGHT. SEE HERE - along with taste, smell, touch, hearing, and the uncommon sense, ESP.

36. Atkins diet no-no : CARB. Carbohydrates, aka sugars and starches. We recently had the good Dr. as well.

37. Gas brand seen at ampm stores : ARCO. I recognize ARCO as the old Atlantic Richfield, acquired by EXXON-MOBIL some time ago. Don't get the clue, though. Anybody?

38. Peeples of "Fame" : NIA. Nope. Don't know her.

39. Reached across : SPANNED. Like a bridge. Or those old ELM trees (sigh.)

40. Powwow communication source : TOMTOMS. Drums used in ceremonial fashion by Native Americas, but versatile in other contexts, as well.

43. Traveled from point A to point A? : ORBITED. The fancy way of going around in circles.

44. Analysts' concerns : PSYCHES. I wanted PSYCHOS. But all of us have PSYCHES - the forces that influence thought, behavior and personality.

46. Clopper : HOOF. Horses go clop, clop, with their hooves.

48. Former RFK Stadium NLer : NAT. Here, the odious "NLer" is an abbrev. indicating that NAT is short for Nationals - a specific team, not the whole league.

49. Mill inputs : GRISTS. Grains to be ground.

50. Ballet rail : BARRE. It's just bar, spelt funnee. Dancers use it in training.

51. Fire indicator, perhaps : SIREN. The alert sound of an emergency vehicle.

52. Green shade : OLIVE. Didn't we just have OLIVES yesterday? I had some tonight.

58. Old cry of disgust : FIE. EGAD! Rather a lot of RETRO in this one, dost thou not think?

59. Rose of rock : AXL. AXL Rose of Aerosmith, here doing the best quasi,-pseudo-ersatz Led Zeppelin song EVAH!

60. Prez, to GIs : CIC. Commander in Chief. Not sure this abrv is valid, but it's too late to quibble.

Answer grid.

I quoted liberally and carelessly from Wikipedia, without attribution - until now. You can probably tell where. I didn't know any of the information transmitted herein. Well, maybe some. Hope this covers it.

Cheers!

JzB

77 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Jazz, C.C. and gang - this was a tough puzzle, and a fun challenge. I hit a wall immediately after confidently putting 'burn' for 1A. Even after I got that straightened out, I then put 'hurrah' for 4D. So it went for the remainder of the puzzle.

I loved the theme; very well done. As Jazz pointed out, there was definitely a retro feel to the puzzle. I'm late for the gym, so I'll skip the rest of my travails, but suffice to say, it was a trek, albeit an enjoyable one.

Jazz, good job on the blog; also, AM PM stores are 7-11-like stores owned by ARCO, and found in a handful of states. This was a fairly regional clue, I thought.

Today is World Vegetarian Day. Which is about how long I'd last...

- Stilts were invented by French shepherds who herded sheep in marshes near the Bay of Biscay.

- It cost $3 million to build the Titanic and $100 million to make the movie. A first-class ticket for the Titanic in 1912 cost more than a crew member would earn in 18 years.

- Ransom paid for a kidnap victim can be tax-deductible.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Brutal puzzle today. Like Dennis, all I could think of for 1A was BURN, and things went downhill from there (especially in the NE). FOAM for FIZZ didn't help any, and the less said above RAFFISH and SOZZLED, the better. Seriously, SOZZLED? I mean, I know it's a Friday and all, but still.

The rest of the puzzle was a bit easier, but still challenging. The theme was completely invisible to me throughout (I had trouble even getting HEAVEHO), and I really thought I had slipped a gear somewhere when 25A seemed to start with WS and 57A seemed to start with RN. I kept stopping to check and double check the perps, since I knew I must have made a mistake somewhere...

Anybody else put PERCH for PORCH? I was thinking of the wrong kind of stoop, I guess.

Ah well, this took me a lot longer than expected, but I did manage to finish unassisted in the end. So there's that. But, still... SOZZLED???

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Nice commentary JzB.

I'm AFEARED it was a real toughie today. Only got one theme word MINGPIGEON, until the unifier solve. Then it all made sense and the other theme words fell quickly. A little obscure but very clever. The NW fell last after I realized all those "Zs" really did belong there. Lots of fresh fill. WAGS included ALOU, FEZZES, MAO and RAFFISH. Thought GRISTS and EYE were cleverly clued. ARCO left NY many years ago; the brand is not seen here. A very challenging puzzle but, in the end, doable without lookups.

Have a nice day.

Lemonade714 said...

Hey JzB

Fun write up, I am afraid my mind went in a different direction with the theme. All I could think of was Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers ladies bball team, or someone trying to reduce Santa Claus' vocabulary.

AXL ROSE is the lead singer and only remaining original member of Guns N' Roses . They do not play much Jazz

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - A mixed experience with this one. Never got a hit in the NW - only tried FOAM for "bubbles", and that's it. DNF that section.

I got MING PIGEON early and sussed the theme, but still had to Goog a lot of names. Forgot ISAK even though we just had her. Had DAVID for DAFOE. POLK City looked right for a while.


I say Grrr for "I followers", since I figured it was a plural and ruled out IHOP.

Sozzled? Really?

Cheers!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, JazzBumpa and all. Wow! This was a real toughie! Although I quickly figured out the missing HOs, that didn't make the rest of the puzzle a cake walk.

I started off on the wrong foot by thinking that the Aloe target is for a Burn instead of a RASH. I use aloe after I have spent too much time in the sun.

I hope everyone got ISAK Dinesen today. EUDORA WELTY is a well-known and well-regarded Southern writer.

As for the Genesis brother, I had to wait for at least one of the perps before I could settle on SETH. There are just so many to choose from: Abel, Cain, Enos, Esau ... just to name a few.

Happy Friday, Everyone!

QOD: Life is like a sewer ... what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. ~ Tom Lehrer

Tinbeni said...

Jazz, Excellent write-up and links.

This was sort of a Love/Hate fest until I got the reveal HEAVE HO. Then the themes fell easily.

ALIENEE, is this a real legal term. I've heard of lienee; just not with the 'A' I'm AFEARED.

ARCO from the perps, we don't have am/pm stores here in Tampa Bay.
DADE City a Floridian gimmie. I'm waiting for OZONA (smaller than teenie) to show up someday.

Always like a YOGI-ism in the morning.
"When you get to the fork in the road, take it."
He wasn't being obtuce. He lives on a circle,
half-way around. So it doesn't matter which way you turn.

I'm not sure, but if you are drunk (Moi? ... NEVER!) can you pronounce SOZZLED?
Hey, BAMBOO SOT, what's your opinion?

HOZZAH, Scott. Nice FUN Friday.

Mainiac said...

Morning All,

The NW killed me because I wrote Burn instead of Rash. Sozzled is a new one. Couldn't get Snozzled or Snookered out of my head and they wouldn't fit. Alienee and Raffish were also new to me. Clever theme due to Jazz's explanation. W's on First gave me a chuckle.

Axl Rose has one of the most unique voices in Rock. He was also diagnosed with manic depression and he said that lithium didn't help. One famous incident was he walked off stage in Ireland because the crowd was throwing bottles. His list of requirements in his dressing room for a gig includes wine, beer, tequila, water, cheese and a bed. Huh? Get drunk, go to work, walk off stage, take a nap.

Great Blog Jazz!

Welp, I've got to have a couple shots, write some specs, yell at the crew and get my nap in.

TGIF

Cert Registered Nurse Anesthetist said...

Jazzy Boy - Not sure who the Registered Nurse would be, but they could probably use her.

'HER' ??? - I am a 6'2", 185 lbs, guy with a hairy chest - and I don't carry a purse.

Kind word to the wise - stereotypes slip in betwixt the cup and the lip.

Other than that, you had a melodious blog - loved your explanations. Wonderful job.

Anonymous said...

Morning, Jazz! You are my favorite LA Times Crossword Corner blogger.

Anonymous said...

For the 6` 2`` nurse-anesth.

http://nottotallyrad.blogspot.com/2009/11/waking-up-is-hard-to-do.html

Anonymous said...

It's this sort of puzzle that makes me want to stop doing Friday puzzles. Lots of bullshiit:
"Afeared"?
"Sozzled"?
"Huzzah"?
"Rash" for aloe?
"see here" for hold on?
Pul-eeze, Mr. Atkinson: Give the person trying to complete the puzzle a chance. Otherwise, he'll go somewhere else when he opens a puzzle and sees it's been created by you. Christ.

Jeannie said...

Rough going all over the place. I didn’t get the theme until I came here and struggled for many of the theme answers. I had to hit the g-spot for Sheikdom of song – Araby and the author of The optimists daughter – Welty. I had Bunker for Stivic which didn’t help either. Perps helped with Alou, Nisei, Dade and Mao. Favorites were “I followers” – HOP (even though I thought it should have been follower) and “common sense” – sight. I have never heard of being “sozzled” if you were drunk. Oh well, it is Friday afterall. Everyone enjoy your weekend. It’s supposed to be a beautiful fall weekend here.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, you sound like you are right up Lois’ alley.

CRNA, once more said...

Anon - Hey, thanks for the html - also on youtube, - Muchos Gracias.

Jeannie , I'm right outside the recovery room - now which alley am I supposed to be in - is Lois, the unit secretary, bending over the water cooler ?
:-) lol

thehondohurricane said...

Like many of you, the NW corner was a big bear, the rest just a plain bear. Had to visit Mr G today, but frankly he wasn't a lot of help either. Ended up relying on Swags and Wags. Welty is a new writer to me. Have to check her out.

All In The Family clue drove me nut because anything I wanted to use wasn't even close and I'd totally forgot about Mike's last name until a couple of perps exposed it for me.

Overall. it was a fun puzzle,even though at times it was driving me to get sozzled. (And my computer is telling me sozzled is a spelling error)

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Thanks for all the nice comments. I had fun doing this, except for proof reading the damn thing 7 times at 2 am and always finding something new to edit.

With all that, I still had 2 gaffes: first, lo siento to Cert - didn't mean to be sexist, or stereotypical in my thinking. All caught up in the retro, I guess.

And second, the singer for Aerosmith was Liv Tyler's daddy, Steven. As Lemonade pointed out, AXL and his brother Pete were in the famous group Gunns and Roses with Peter GUNN and his cousins the
GUNN brothers of Dallas, PA.

Apparently, AXL doesn't have a daughter. This song is about his wife, Erin Erin, daughter of 50's singer Don Everly. Their marriage lasted only a few weeks, and ended in abuse. AXL seems to have a troubled PSYCHE.

Cheers!
JzB

Husker Gary said...

Good Morning Jazz, et al, WSONFIRST has to be the fill of the year for me - I laughed out loud as that is the funniest bit ever. That and all the other theme answers were fun but took time and some mental gymnastics!

I stumbled around the north for a while, swallowed my pride and worked from the south up (I was afraid that by using that strategy I was going to end up like Lee at Gettysburg). Getting HEAVEHO helped enormously as I headed back up the pike armed with that info.

I missed only one cell working without a net and that was niKei which I believe is their stock exchange index and I did not know niSei.

I thought the generic pooch was MUTT and so my fill of the year had to wait. I pulled the clue cote and fill of RAFFISH out of some orifice but they were resistant.

I wanted TOMTOM because the clue looked singular to me and of course ORBIT was a gimme for an old space cadet like me. BTW, it takes the shuttle and space station 90 minutes, GPS satellites 12 hours and communication satellites (COMSATS in crosswordese) 24 hours to orbit Mother Earth. That of course is why comsats always stay over the same place on the Earth (geostationary) and can be found there 24/7/365.

Very nice time spent with my caffeine.

Nice write up as usual Jazz and I enjoyed our offline exchange as well!

Fore!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, My excuse for not getting the theme is that we are having our windows washed this morning and I had to get up early to remove the curtains and shades.

No matter how or why, the theme stumped me, except for BAMBOO S(HO)OT.

California is ARCO-land so AM-PM didn't make me AFEARED....HUZZAH!!

The SE was my sticking place. I didn't know (49D) GRISTS, had BUNKER for (56A) and totally forgot about SETH for (61A).

45A, Not the same thing at all to me. These are Stoops and this is a PORCH.

CRNA, The last hunky nurse/anesthetist I met had me singing ABBA songs, right before I drifted away........(heck, I didn't drift...I was there and then I wasn't....perfect!)

Good job as usual Jazz.

kazie said...

Although I filled in all the theme clues correctly, I had no idea how they related to the unifier.

I wanted GOON FIRST for 25A figuring it could be that or GO ON, either way.

Also had FOAM for FIZZ, wanted SLOSHED for SOZZLED

Most of the names were unknowns, including a brain fart for SALK, which should have been a gimme. I did get ISAK. So after seeking wisdom at the g'spot, I ended up coming here with the whole thing only half filled.

I didn't know the meaning of picaresque. Figured THEE instead of THOU simply from the needed verb ending for 43D. I had RASH and FEZZES at one point but still couldn't connect the dots in that corner.

Not a fun experience at all.

My d-i-l is Saxon, and the way they murder German, it's easy to see how English was derived from whatever they spoke when they invaded England. My hessian colleagues warned me that Saxon German (Sächsisch) is the worst, and they're right!

Nice Cuppa said...

No hurrahs for HUZZAHS

Nice job Jazz. Lack of enthusiasm noted.

Favorite clues: GRISTS (for the MILL). Splendid emotive phrase

BAMBOO SOT - nice link to SOZZLED, OLIVE, FIZZ, etc.

42A IHOP. I think plural cluing is OK as it an abbreviation, hence each letter is a follower. The counterargument is that it is an ACRONYM. I wonder if it could conjugate?

Isn't DADE the home of the hanging CHAD?

Major gripe: "eponymous bacteriologist". Well, JONAS SALK may have been a bacteriologist, but he gave his name to a VACCINE to prevent a VIRAL infection. I would have accepted "eponymous virologist, or even vaccinologist. With respect sir, the clue suggests that Mr. Atkinson does not know the difference.

Minor Gripe 1: To me, AFEARED means AFRAID. GUMPTION means initiative, resourcefulness. So I don't see them as antonyms.

Minor Gripe 2: We are accustomed to themes of this kind. Funky phrases are acceptable, but it's usual to have REAL WORDS created by the modifier, not abbreviations (well, I'll allow W for DUBYA , but not RN, cute as (s)he might be. OK?

Consistent with driving on the other side of the road (only when back in Blighty or Oz), the left side was the easiest for me.

Is "sozzled" chiefly Brit&C ? I wrote it straight in when I spotted the Z-square. I learned all bout liens, aliens and alienees when I bought my first house here. I think it is meant to be the ONLY word someone so inebriated can pronounce. The rash followed.

Is "See here!" chiefly Brit&C? It is in "I say, now see here, old boy!".

Jazz, I agree with your ELM link. My heart skips a beat when I think of the devastation of of those beetles - blame the Dutch, I say.

More GAVEUP issues. "Stoop" is a word of Dutch origin for a porch. Is it widely used?

Well, Oil be off.

NC

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Jazz C.C. et al.

Wow....what can I add that has not already been said?

Well, I started out with "SKIN" for "Aloe target" . I guess everyone else was thinking "burn". It went downhill from there. I had mostly blanks so ended up in the SE, where I finally sussed out "HEAVE HO". As I crawled back to the top, it was fun to figure out the themes. Loved MING PIGEON best, though.

Did you know that the song of the Volga Boatmen is also called “Heave-Ho”? What's a day without learning something new?

Have a great day everyone - we are floating away here in the NE.

Nice Cuppa said...

Sorry, that link to W was broken. This is a good one:

DUBYATAKE

NC

kazie said...

Jazz,
I forgot to say how much more I enjoyed your blog than the CW itself today, I could almost feel your pain as you struggled with it at that time of the morning.

I also forgot to say I've never heard HUZZAH in my life before.

NC,
I can almost hear your accent in your comments today. SEE HERE definitely sounds very British.

The Song of the Volga Boatmen is one I remember from an old 78rpm record my parents had. I like that version better, because it starts very softly and builds to a crescendo in the middle and then gradually fades again. This represented the approach of the boat and its departure again as it continued along the river. Unfortunately I can't find that version in any of the others on the site linked. some try to achieve the effect, but sound less impressive somehow.

Spitzboov said...

Some HEAVE-HO:

But if you call for a song of the sea,
we'll heave the capstan round
With a yo heave ho and around we go,
for the anchor's alift and the helms a-lee
hurrah for the homeward bound.

hahtool said...

Spitzboov: I had the same thought about Salk being a bacteriologist, since the vaccine was for a virus. He and Sabin were both tracking down Vaccine for the Polio VIRUS.

Dennis said...

Nice Cuppa, that clip had me crying, I was laughing so hard. Kid's frigging amazing.

Jerome said...

Nice one, Jazz. Nice puzzle too.

Lemonade- Forgive my lack of grace and compassion, but I'll forever hope Imus rots in hell.

Jerome said...

Nice one, Jazz. Nice puzzle too.

Lemonade- Forgive my lack of grace and compassion, but I'll forever hope Imus rots in hell.

Bill G. said...

Happy Friday! This puzzle was hard and fun for me. (I had red letters turned on and needed them a few times.) I caught onto the theme by the second theme answer. Didn't help much in solving though.

Thanks for the Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli link. That's great stuff. Nothing like it these days.

CA, my grandmother had a porch like that. With a swing too. Great memories of her house out in the Virginia countryside.

Tinbeni said...

Nice Cuppa

Dade City (Pop.6,188, 2000 census) is the County seat of Pasco County (Pop. 462,715, 2007 est) on the West Coast of Florida.
Pasco is just north of my Pinellas County, St.Pete/Clearwater (Dunedin/Ozona) and Tampa Bay area.

The chad thingy happened in the Palm Beach area on the East Coast of Florida.

Hence this was a gimmie for me.

I nominate DUBYATAKE for the funniest clip of the year.

Nice Cuppa said...

Dennis, Tinbeni

I hope we can classify that clip as historical/hysterical rather than political, so we don't offend house rules.

And Tinbeni, thanks for that correction. My Florida geopolitics is straight(er) now. So confusing, having 2 coasts, though.

NC

JD said...

Good morning JzB, C.C. et al,

This was quite a puzzle, and would have remained a puzzle without your help, JzB. Great job!I never got in tune with Mr. Akinson's wavelength. I had foam for fizz;skin for rash;USTA for iron, and a completely different idea for tasseled toppers!

Picaresque and eponymous were not in my vocabulary until now.

sozzled- used in 1886
pondered all these s/synonyms:
soused
sotted
swaked
shnockered
smashed
shitfaced

The only theme fill I completed was bamboo sot; didn't realize that I had filled in heave ho until I read it here.So much for theme.Even though I did not finish, I always enjoy trying, and marvel at those who can whip 'em out.
Is anyone else bothered when an article is used in the answer(like a lienee)?

favorite? stoop-haven't heard that word since I was a kid.

Nice Cuppa said...

JD

"ALIENEE" is a complete word - typical legal mumbo-jumbo. Where's our attorney?

NC

Dilbert said...

Hi all.

This cw was a bit difficult but, it is Friday. I had a lot of corrections to make.

Have two PCs going this AM. One is
for regular bookmarks like here and the other is for watching the cars go round and round on the EAST
coast of FL.

What a difference a day makes. The fog is back.

Take care.

Clear Ayes said...

Our puzzle today honored the Carpenter ANT at 54A. You wouldn't think there would be many poems about ants, but here's just one from the "Darwin’s Bestiary" poems by Philip Appleman. Lots of assonance here. For those of you who have, or haven't read or seen "Educating Rita", assonance was described as "getting the rhyme wrong".

THE ANT

The ant, Darwin reminded us,
defies all simple-mindedness:
Take nothing (says the ant) on faith,
and never trust a simple truth.
The PR men of bestiaries
eulogized for centuries
this busy little paragon,
nature’s proletarian—
but look here, Darwin said: some ants
make slaves of smaller ants,
and end exploiting in their peonages
the sweating brows of their tiny drudges.
Thus the ant speaks out of both
sides of its mealy little mouth:
its example is extolled
to the workers of the world,
but its habits also preach
the virtues of the idle rich.

- Philip Appleman

FYI. Philip Appleman, who is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of English at Indiana University, has published eight volumes of poetry.

Spitzboov said...

Hahtool re: Salk - bacteriologist

Believe Nice Cuppa made that comment.

JD said...

thx NC...that makes a 3rd new word for today. I don't think we need an attorney fro my faux pas.

JD said...

or that one(for) either

maria said...

Good afternoon, all

Oh my, this was mission impossible !

Jazz, cudos for you efforts as Kazie said, " I could feel your pain . . ."
I too. started out with "burn" bah.
In retrospect it was a good puzzle if not raffish and picaresque !

NC, now see here old boy,
you brought me back to the good old days, when it was fun working for BOAC.
Ta, taa, for now

Lucina said...

Good day, JazzB, C.C. and PUZZLERS!

Yowza! Scott Atkinson is waaaaaay too clever for me.

Even though I had HEAVEHO since I sidled down to the bottom after messing up the NW corner with BURN, ITCH, SCAB, I didn't see the theme.

At first with RNOFOAFRICA I thought it might be an Out of Africa theme since ISAK Dinesan was there and she wrote it, but that was dispelled quickly.

Most of the time I was on Scott's wave length, except for the theme answers which just seemed like a jumble to me. However, once done, I could appreciate the result. I loved the stack of four Z's once they emerged.

Like JD I had a much different vision of "tasseled toppers" somehow related to FOOTSIE.

On SOZZLED, the clue does say "old fashioned" so it must be VERY old.

JZB, thanks for your brilliant blogging! Since the baby is asleep I can't open anything with sound so that shall wait.

And on that note, she is going to day care next week so while I most certainly will miss her, I can resume my normal life which has taken a limited turn lately.

The bane of my puzzling is having to look up and so I did for WELTY and ALOU. I had a sense it would be that as Jazz said, four letters, sports clue, ALOU but had to make sure.

I have heard HUZZAH at the Renessaince Fair since it's all 16th century oriented.

And Arizona is also home to ARCO stations with AMPM stores, but I see that lately they have sold many to Valero which I believe is owned by Mexico.

Have a fantastic Friday everyone! it's such fun to read your diverse comments. Keep that up, please.

Lucina said...

NC, thanks from me too, for that clarification as I had thought it was a lienee as well.

Jazzbumpa said...

Here is more associated assonance than you will find almost anywhere, and another beast to boot.

CAT

The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
where woods loom in gloom --
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Cheers!
Jz (Ronald) B

Salk Admirer said...

Nice Cuppa, Hahtool et al -

Jonas Salk was a medical doctor (MD), who specialized in med school (NYU) in bacteriology ( and immunology - ), then ( eventually )- got a job working as a researcher in a virology lab at the Univ. of Pittsburgh. Thus he could have been described as any of those things.

However as NC says, ' eponymous bacteriologist' is not quite kosher, since the name ( of the product - ) is the 'Salk vaccine', ... not 'Salk antibiotic' - or anything else, - thus the clue should have been virologist or vaccinologist. ( BTW, the latter, is NOT a word ...).

I guess, going that route, that would be giving too much of the answer away, for a Friday puzzle.

On a separate matter, Mr. Nice Cuppa, reclassifying the Dubya clip as historical or whatever, does not make it acceptable for the 'house rules ?' - to those of us of an alternate political persuasion.

I would like to emphasize, that I personally do not find anything odious about political discussion in this blog, or the so-called humourous clip, - but you have to decide, for yourself - if such a clip had been made of the current President, - would you have found it just as funny - or more to the point, just as acceptable ?

Hahtoolah said...

Sorry, Nice Cuppa. I didn't mean to mis-credit you on Salk.

If Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame were still alive, she would be 100 today.

To dispossess oneself of property to to alienate ones self from that property. Hence, the donee would be the be the alienee.

Jeannie said...

CRNA, we have had the discussion of late regarding "hairy chests"
vs non hairy ones. I myself am a "manly chest gal" the wider the better with a smattering of hair. Lois claimed that she is a "hairy chest" fan so I thought of her immediately when I saw your initial post. I have no idea who the gal was bending over the water cooler, but I would guess you might be, to quote a Seinfeld episode and our huskergary an "assman."

maria said...

Nice Cuppa - I forgot to mention that link was histerical.
The kid does deserve an Oscar !

Bob said...

I feel pretty good about missing only one letter on this one. I put SIZZLED instead of SOZZLED at 3D. Didn't know 14A, and I don't think I've run across "sozzled" before. Took me a while to catch on to the theme. In fact, I didn't have a clue about it until I worked out 42D (HEAVEHO). Took a good while to solve (almost) the NW corner, the last part to be solved. 55 minutes

Bob said...

Here's a link to "The Shiek of Araby" as parodied by Spike Jones and the City Slickers, as only they could do it. As they said at the time, the road to musical hell was paved with Spike Jones manuscripts, "dinner music for those who were not very hungry."

Shiek of Araby

Wondering, myself! said...

This will probably get deleted, Salk Admirer (which will prove my point) but didn`t you get the memo? You are only allowed to make fun of rich, white (as opposed to rich, black), anglo saxon polticos! When former Pres. George W. Bush said he was a Christian (what ever that means), he was castigated in all the media. Did you see any of that after President Obama`s declaration of Christian faith this past week? Salk lover, me thinks you have a valid point.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Yowza wowza, what a puzzle today! (All credit due to Lucina for "yowza".) It was dense, chock full of clever stuff. I actually liked it.

JazzB, thanks for a fabulous writeup. I love your sense of humor and how you connect things together.

I also could quibble with how JONAS SALK was clued. I mean, how can a person's name be eponymous with itself? But once I got the J on RAJA and the A in ALE, JONAS just plopped right in, confirmed by the fact that 56D was four letters.

I was amazed at the four Zs in the NW. Like Lucina, I have heard the word HUZZAH, so that was no problem. As for 1A: Aloe target, to me it was a choice of either ITCH or RASH (also thought of SKIN but not BURN), both of which end in H, so I put the H in and went from there.

I think there are as many euphemisms for being drunk as there are for the male sex organ.

Remembering Karen Blixen from the other day, I got ISAK immediately.

At first I thought "I followers" would be JKL, and it took me a long time to be disabused of that notion.

Yes, 2nd-generation Japanese Americans call themselves NISEI and 3rd-generation Japanese Americans call themselves SANSEI, NI and SAN meaning TWO and THREE in Japanese. Actually, I believe first-generation immigrants call(ed) themselves ISSEI.

I sure hope there will never be a Chairman Mao's Chicken dish. What would the sauce be? LOL

Anyway, hoo-kay, that's all I can think of to say today, apart from the observation that yesterday's discussions were many and interesting.

Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

Hello JB, C.C., and the rest of the gang. I did yesterday's puzzle (with lots of help from G on all those names), but never got a chance to get on here. Today's puzzle was equally difficult. I got most of it, eventually, but the NW and SE corners gave me a headache! I wanted burn for RASH, Bunker for the All in the Family name, thou for THEE, and jkl for letters after I (HOP). Never heard of ARABY.

JazzB-Awesome write-up today. Loved all the links, especially the musical ones. Your list of generic pooches reminded me of the Steven Wright bit about his dog named Stay. I will try to find it and post a link.

SOZZLED? Have only had one or two drinks in the last 5 years or so (due to being pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or nursing). Maybe it's time for a good sozzling!

HuskerG-I am a big fan of Who's on First as well. That bit always cracks me up!

Today was a most unusual day for me. It was the first day in over two months that I was home alone with my 3 year old all day. We had been having one or the other of her grandmothers here during the week, and of course my husband has been home all day every weekend, while I was on bed rest/house arrest. It was really nice today to be alone with her. I feel like I need to reconnect with her. It was a gorgeous day (I think that fall has finally arrived in southern Louisiana), so we spent some time outdoors. The house is quiet now, as she is not up from her "nap" time. Nap is in quotes because she doesn't actually sleep, but reads in her room.

This past week has been very busy for me, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my return to the land of the living. I am hoping to get into more of a routine so that I can enjoy doing the CW and reading the blog every day. Such a nice little community we have here!

Jayce said...

Welcome back, vettedoe.

Nice Cuppa said...

Salk Admirer

You know nothing about my political leanings, have assumed they are different from yours, but it is of no matter.

The answer to your question of whether I'd like to see a similar video of Obama is: YES, I'd love to. Do you have one?

I believe that political satire is a vital part of the democratic process. It would be a dull (and dangerous) world if we could not use humor, irony and exaggeration to expose the stupidity and vanity of politicians of any persuasion.

My only caveats are that satire should be clearly recognized/labeled as such; have a reasonable basis in truth; and not be malicious.

The danger I see with politicians of all colors is that one day they might actually start believing their own rhetoric. Once they do that, they start taking themselves too seriously, and we are headed on the road to tyranny. Poking fun at them whenever possible is a great way to stop such nonsense, and could even be a hallmark of a strong democracy.

As I have remarked before, having a President who is both the Head of Government and the Head of State does complicate things, because criticizing the President can equate to criticizing the State, which can be (has been) construed as the crime of sedition. Fortunately, the 2-term rule has generally limited such behavior by the Executive before it gets out of hand. I think term-limits on the Presidency have been/are another great guardian of democracy in this country.

End of polemic.

Yikes, that sounded mighty pretentious. I'd better go and put the kettle on.

NC

Tinbeni said...

Salk Admirer

As a kid I remember LMAO listening to the Vaugn Meader "The First Family" album.

Per Wiki, it came out on Oct.22,1962; sold 7.5 million copies and President Kennedy thought it was so funny he gave out many copies that year as Christmas gifts. (Seems he had a sense of humor).

The Dubyatake satire over Global warming was priceless.

I hope someone finds a clip of our current President that is just as funny. I'll laugh just as hard and as long as I did at this one.

Salk admirer, again said...

Nice Cuppa - Your exposition about the US Govt is admirable - but that is moot to the point.

The point is - as a practical reality Dubya was caricatured far, far more than Obama has ever been - some cartoonists are even afraid to draw Barack.... maybe because of his historic election, maybe his race, maybe his Nobel Peace Prize ( ha !) ... or whatever.

Its been my hard-learnt experience that liberals felt free to lampoon Mr. Bush but are very aggressively protective of any attempt to ridicule Mr. Obama - maybe thats because he is black, maybe because he is a liberal, - or who knows ?This is especially true of the media and the educational institutions - most of whom are liberal, anyway.

Dubya was prone to a 'speaking dyslexia' and stuttering - and have you ever seem any such handicapped person, EVER, lampooned ?? - and yet, an overwhelming majority of his detractors thought nothing of making fun of his disability.

I could go on and on - but as Abe Lincoln ( a Republican !) said - 'A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still ...', and I stop.

Back to the crosswords and to our admirable Jazz-o-Bumpa-bone whose excellent blog we are supposed to be commenting on.

Tinbeni said...

On the lighter side of the news ...

I see on YAHOO that when the Cincinnati Reds clinched a playoff spot, during their celebration a "one-time free-for-all scene where alcohol is freely being sprayed into the eyes of others ... a few puffs from a few stogie's happened in the clubhouse."

So at least five whistle-blowers called in to report the Reds were violating Ohio's indoor-smoking ban.
(So far this article has received over 4,200 comments).

Dennis said...

While I think some very salient points have been made, it is C.C.'s request that politics be kept off this blog. Let's try to keep her wishes in mind when posting, ok?

Anonymous said...

To go from politics to something ridiculous...

OCTOBER 1--A Florida man arrested Wednesday on drug charges told cops that a bag of cocaine found hidden inside his buttocks did not belong to him. Though the suspect did cop to ownership of a bag of marijuana hidden alongside the coke.

The narcotics were discovered by Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies after Raymond Roberts’s Hyundai was pulled over on a Bradenton street for speeding Wednesday morning. Investigators, who reported smelling a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle, subsequently searched the 25-year-old Roberts and discovered his hidden stash.

During the search, when Deputy Sean Cappiello "felt a soft object in the crack of his buttocks," the suspect "began to tense up." Roberts volunteered to remove the item. “Let me get it, hold on” he said, and proceeded to place a "clear plastic baggie with a green leafy substance" on the car's hood. A subsequent test showed the substance to be marijuana, 4.5 grams worth, according to an amusing sheriff’s report. Or click here for an easy-to-read PDF of the document.

"I then asked him if that was it," wrote Cappiello, "and he stated 'yes.'"

But, as the deputy reported, "I then searched his shorts again and felt another object that was in the crack of his buttocks. I pulled the object out from the exterior of his shorts and a clear plastic baggie with a white rock substance fell to the ground." This plastic bag, a test would later determine, contained 27 pieces of crack cocaine.

Roberts quickly disavowed ownership of the cocaine. “The white stuff is not mine, but the weed is,” he claimed, adding that the crack in his crack was the property of a friend who had previously borrowed the car and left the drug on the passenger seat. Roberts explained that when he was pulled over for speeding, he concealed the second bag of narcotics.

Cleveland Indians lover said...

Tinbeni - The point which should be made is - WHAT were the Reds smoking ? If it was tobacco, then the Ohio indoor smoking ban should hardly be a problem.

The real problem is that the Cle Indians come to the field totally stoned out - having had their weed before they set foot in Progressive ( Jacob's ) Stadium. They have lost more games than is statistically possible.

What with our other BIG TIME losers, the Browns, this city is in such a depression, that sales of Cymbalta, Librium, Limbitrol, Paxil, Prozac, Valium, Well butrin and Zoloft are on a strict ration, one-pill-a-week basis. Bookies are offering 5 to 1 odds, that the Browns will NOT win even a single home game, this year.

The weed smoking, dope sniffing Reds are very welcome to come here to the North Coast, any time , any day of the week.

Nice Cuppa said...

Dennis

Point taken, although I was talking POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, not politics. But in the interest of equal air-time, here is

SUPERBAMA

Over and Out.

NC

All the news thats fit to print said...

As our dear Jeannie had posted a few hours ago, the Anon, who wrote on the Flori-Mari-Crack-Coke-in-the-crack has just described a situation, which Seinfeld would have called a 'classic case' of a bad "A--man".

True-ly, Life imitates Art, imitates Life.

Jazzbumpa said...

OK. I've NEVER called anybody out here.

All of you with the political stuff - take it somewhere else. There is no shortage of venues. C.C. has a short list of simple rules: no politics, no religion, 5 posts per day, be polite, IIRC.

It's not hard, but it does require some focus and the occasional reminder. If you post something that COULD be political, it IS political -- and redefining it as something else really does not help.

We have a really good thing going here. Let's all please try to keep it that way.

This has been a PSA.

Cheers!
JzB and I approve this message

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone,
This was a doozie of a puzzle for me. I did find that the NW corner fell easily as Rash was my first thought and fill. Alou and Fizz and Fezzes followed, so the plethora of Z's gave me sozzled and Huzzah. "Huzzah" was what my grandfather used to say when he had a better than average card game going! Sozzled looked like a made up word, even after I had it filled in.

But, even after filling in Captain (Ho)Ok and Bamboo s(HO)ot, I couldn't figure out the WS on first or why Ming pigeon fit the Heave Ho pattern. Thanks Jazz for your excellent explanations today. I couldn't finish all of the puzzle and needed help from the writeup.

Thanks Hahtool for the explanation of alienate and alienee. That clue now makes sense.

Vettedoe, it is good to hear that you are getting back into your routines.

CRNA, Keep blogging with us. We enjoy new voices. There were several men in my My daughter's nursing class. We do have to think both genders when we think nurse!

Jayce said...

Lots of GRIST for the mill, and no shortage of mills to grind it :)

Seldom Seen said...

I hope this is fun and not offensive. There are several f-bombs but it is harmless.

Watch this.

I think we have several of these in our group.

Bill G. said...

Seen, I enjoyed that clip. Very versatile. However did you find it?

Minnie Driver is good with accents. In "Grosse Point Black" you would have sworn she was a native-born American. In "Circle of Friends" she was Irish.

Marge said...

Hi all,
Though its a little I want to say a few words.

JazzB- Your blog was great and helped me understand some confusing clues. I never got the theme until I came here. It took me even longer to fit the HO into each phrase but the light finally came on

I did get rash but wanted smashed for drunk.
I looked up picaresque, found 3 seven letter words ending in ish so had to wait for the blog to finish. I
recently read where the Titanic would never have sunk if the captain had turn to the right instead of the left. He had some information available but ignored it.

RN in Kenya- I have a friend who spent a lot of years as a nurse in Africa,as well as teaching at one of the University of Wisconsins campuses. After she retired, she went to Kenya to help open a Nursing school and trained nurses, some of the new nurses learned to teach and the school is still there.

Good evening all!
Marge

dodo said...

Evening, JazzB, CC, and puzzlers all.

I think this community (as Vettedo called you) has truly improved my solving ability. I don't believe I've solved a Friday puzzle without some lookups before! I did
it today! Huzzah! Not that I didn't falter some along the way: wanted skin for rash, credo for tenet. JKL, Bunker, Abel, but being a not very confident soul, I
waited until some of the friendly perps assured me that I was on the wrong track(while verifying others, BTW) I hung in there and got it right! It took a while but it was worth it. I didn't suss the theme until I got here, but I did get all the theme phrases and the reveal w/out getting the theme! A good morning's workout, I feel!

I thought the word was "snozzled" but couldn't quarrel with the squares. Also I was surprised by the definition for picaresque. I had some idea it was closer to picturesque. Quaint, say. I'm not even too sure about what raffish means, but I'll look it up if I don't forget!

My life took an unexpected turn yesterday when I got my Discover bill and found a $400+. charge that I couldn't account for. So I spent a lot of time talking to HP Home.com, who found the charge and what it was for. I was told that the order was placed online and delivered to an address "far away" from where I live, but that place could only be disclosed to a law officer or security personnel. Discover people were good about deducting the charge from my bill and assured me that they would conduct an investigation and would contact me w/in 60 days. I guess this serves me right for being so trusting and buying things all over the internet. Time was when you could trust people!

I don't quite understand the logic behind not revealing the delivery point. That's just protecting the thief, isn't it?

So what with that little glitch and concern about a dear friend who is slowly dying after many, many ups and downs, I've not been too creative. He's 88.

I do faithfully check Crossword Corners daily, though. I remain almost awestruck at my good fortune for happening on this blog, which is so superior to other "forums" I've experienced, which, though few, were enough to turn me off until this one. One day I'll go into that at length but this is getting far too long!

My very best to you all! dodo

WikWak said...

A few random comments:

@Dennis (5:30 AM) and others... The AM PM mini mart clue was not only regional... it was SO regional it could have led to wrong answers, as here in the Chicago area they are mostly all Mobil stations (no Arco in the area at all).

@Anonymous (8:28 AM)... Just because those words are not in YOUR vocabulary, please don't assume that they aren't in anyone else's vocabulary either. Yes, occasionally I run across a new word (alienee in today's puzzle, for example). I relish the opportunity to learn a new word and keep on going; I don't chastise the puzzle creator for my poor vocabulary!

@Bob (2:27 PM)... Thanks for the Spike Jones. I had forgotten just how funny he was! My dad had an entire collection of his stuff on old 78 RPM records that I used to listen to back in "olden times."

Great puzzle today. Even figuring out the missing "HO" clue wasn't as much help as I hpoed it would be, but PERPs and WAGs helped and I finally finished.

WikWak said...

"hoped" -not- "hpoed"

Drat. Wish we could edit these things when we find typos.

Lucina said...

Dodo:
I'm so sorry to hear about your credit card woes and of your sick friend.

Please know that I am thinking about you and sending positive vibes your way.

I'm surprised no one has yet discussed PICARESQUE. At any rate, I haven't seen it here.

Picaresque is Spanish in origin from picaro, picaresco and is derived from the many folkloric stories involving rogues, robbers, and other colorful characters. Some of them are truly amusing. It is actually a literature genre involving said rogues.

I believe Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders are considered picaresque novels.

I hope you all have a good night!

dodo said...

JazzB, I forgot to thank you for the great write-up! Your humor is delightful!

If anyone thinks that Obama isn't getting lampooned, take a look at Doonesbury....and Trudeau is a Liberal!

Why is it so easily forgotten that the TARP bailout went into effect BEFORE Obama took office?

dodo said...

Oops! Sorry!

kazie said...

Dodo,
I'm sorry to hear of your friend's misery, and of your financial glitch. I hope that gets cleared up soon. Nothing like having a thing like that to worry you.
True about Tarp--and it's making a profit now that the debts have mostly been repaid.

Lucina,
Thanks for expanding on picaresque. Now I remember the connection I had heard of it in before too--makes a lot more sense now.

I was on my way back here to check things before bed just now and found a skype from an ex-student who has been battling leukemia for the last year and a half. These electronic communication devices are amazing. How could we ever have stayed in touch with people so easily before? Anyway, he's doing much better now and looking forward to returning to college in the spring. I'm so glad for him. But he's in Florida, and I'm up here in WI, so could never get to see him like I would have liked to.

kazie said...

Oops! almost forgot--
John Lampkin got the 'clever clue of the month' from Paul Stynsberg's Word of the Day for his 9/5/10 "Letters from your parents?" :DNA.
Congratulations John!

Lucina said...

Kazie, I'm so touched by your concern for your student! And how wonderful that you can communicate with him face to face. Yes, we do live in an impressive era of extra ordinary technology, don't we.

I'm pleased as well that you liked the picaresque explanation.

Congratulations to John Lampkin! We do know he is a sharp one.

Good night, all.

Chickie said...

Dodo, I'm so sorry to hear about your credit card problems and about your friend.

Friends, are what keep us all going from day to day. When a friend is ailing we ache for them.

Lucina, thank you for the picaresque explanation. We learn something new everyday here on the blog.

My grandson in Africa is using Skype to keep in touch with his family here in the States. When we lived out of the country many years ago we thought that sending a reel to reel tape back home was really something. Little did we ever think that there would be face to face, almost immediate communication from such a far away place as Africa.