Theme: Don't Push Me - But they can be pulled. Four in language phrases that end in a smaller version of one of man's greatest inventions, ROPE.
18A. Engages in fanciful storytelling: SPINS A YARN
28A. Bench squad: SECOND STRING. AKA, the B team
46A. Connecting idea: COMMON THREAD
61A. Start acting independently: CUT THE CORD. An allusion to the umbilical cord.
Argyle here with an easy Monday.
Today's constructor is a math teacher in western Massachusetts (Pic, courtesy of the Xword Info) and had a puzzle on Tuesday August 4, 2009.
Across:
1. Payroll tax with Soc. Sec. and Medicare components : FICA. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
5. Tibet's capital : LHASA
10. Joe in a cup : JAVA. AKA, Coffee.
14. Show that launched Kelly Clarkson's career, familiarly : IDOL. American Idol.
15. Vague emanations : AURAs
16. Actor Wilson : OWEN
17. "Give" or "take," e.g. : VERB. Great clue.
20. Mukluk wearer : ESKIMO
22. Mine access : ADIT. Monday word ONLY to long time solvers.
23. The Beatles' "__ Just Seen a Face" : I'VE. You might not have recognized the title but you will the song, I think.
24. Trap : SNARE
26. Subjects of wills : ESTATES
31. Only defenseman to lead the NHL in scoring : ORR. Bobby Orr spent most of his National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Boston Bruins before joining the Chicago Blackhawks for his final two seasons.
32. Ballpark entrance : GATE
33. Watson of Harry Potter films : EMMA. Oh my, how she's grown. Image. She isn't really a member of 51D. Modern witch's religion : WICCA
37. Middle Corleone brother : FREDO. AKA, Frederico "Fredo" Corleone, brother to Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Michael Corleone, their sister is Constanzia "Connie" Corleone (previously Constanzia Corleone-Rizzi).
39. Band booster : AMP. AMPlifies(or boosts) the sound from a band.
41. Carrier renamed in 1997 : USAIR
42. "... __ forgive those who trespass ..." : AS WE
43. "__ in Boots" : PUSS. I've provided a link to the Wikipedia article because it is an interesting read. Kids today just know him as a character in Shrek movies.
45. Seventh-century date : DCI. 601.
51. "Yee-haw!" : "WHOOPEE!"
54. Prepare to drive : TEE UP
55. K+ or Na+ : ION. K+ = potassium / Na+ = sodium.
56. McDonald's symbol : ARCH. C'mon, we know it should be ARCHES, right?
58. Father to many? : PRIEST
64. Intl. defense gp. : NATO. International defense group.
65. Ornery type : CRAB
66. Seasonal sleigh driver : SANTA. Ho, Ho, Ho! Santa likes alliteration.
67. Micro or macro subj. : ECON.
68. Egyptian vipers : ASPS
69. Disapproved vocally : TSKED. Or if an Egyptian king, TUTTED
70. Damp at dawn : DEWY
Down:
1. Nine-to-__ : FIVE
2. Mid-month time : IDES
3. Wine cellar tool : CORKSCREW
4. White whale, e.g. : ALBINO
5. Hall of Fame manager Tommy : LASORDA. Baseball. Image.
6. Drill sergeant's "one" : "HUP!". I think there was a discussion about HUT or HUP on Thursday September 23, 2010.
7. Diva's moment : ARIA
8. Potential splinter remover : SANDER. It would smooth the wood, eliminating splinters.
9. Saint Francis's home : ASSISI
10. "Ode to __" : JOY. Performed by Beaker, of the Muppets. Video
18A. Engages in fanciful storytelling: SPINS A YARN
28A. Bench squad: SECOND STRING. AKA, the B team
46A. Connecting idea: COMMON THREAD
61A. Start acting independently: CUT THE CORD. An allusion to the umbilical cord.
Argyle here with an easy Monday.
Today's constructor is a math teacher in western Massachusetts (Pic, courtesy of the Xword Info) and had a puzzle on Tuesday August 4, 2009.
Across:
1. Payroll tax with Soc. Sec. and Medicare components : FICA. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
5. Tibet's capital : LHASA
10. Joe in a cup : JAVA. AKA, Coffee.
14. Show that launched Kelly Clarkson's career, familiarly : IDOL. American Idol.
15. Vague emanations : AURAs
16. Actor Wilson : OWEN
17. "Give" or "take," e.g. : VERB. Great clue.
20. Mukluk wearer : ESKIMO
22. Mine access : ADIT. Monday word ONLY to long time solvers.
23. The Beatles' "__ Just Seen a Face" : I'VE. You might not have recognized the title but you will the song, I think.
24. Trap : SNARE
26. Subjects of wills : ESTATES
31. Only defenseman to lead the NHL in scoring : ORR. Bobby Orr spent most of his National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Boston Bruins before joining the Chicago Blackhawks for his final two seasons.
32. Ballpark entrance : GATE
33. Watson of Harry Potter films : EMMA. Oh my, how she's grown. Image. She isn't really a member of 51D. Modern witch's religion : WICCA
37. Middle Corleone brother : FREDO. AKA, Frederico "Fredo" Corleone, brother to Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Michael Corleone, their sister is Constanzia "Connie" Corleone (previously Constanzia Corleone-Rizzi).
39. Band booster : AMP. AMPlifies(or boosts) the sound from a band.
41. Carrier renamed in 1997 : USAIR
42. "... __ forgive those who trespass ..." : AS WE
43. "__ in Boots" : PUSS. I've provided a link to the Wikipedia article because it is an interesting read. Kids today just know him as a character in Shrek movies.
45. Seventh-century date : DCI. 601.
51. "Yee-haw!" : "WHOOPEE!"
54. Prepare to drive : TEE UP
55. K+ or Na+ : ION. K+ = potassium / Na+ = sodium.
56. McDonald's symbol : ARCH. C'mon, we know it should be ARCHES, right?
58. Father to many? : PRIEST
64. Intl. defense gp. : NATO. International defense group.
65. Ornery type : CRAB
66. Seasonal sleigh driver : SANTA. Ho, Ho, Ho! Santa likes alliteration.
67. Micro or macro subj. : ECON.
68. Egyptian vipers : ASPS
69. Disapproved vocally : TSKED. Or if an Egyptian king, TUTTED
70. Damp at dawn : DEWY
Down:
1. Nine-to-__ : FIVE
2. Mid-month time : IDES
3. Wine cellar tool : CORKSCREW
4. White whale, e.g. : ALBINO
5. Hall of Fame manager Tommy : LASORDA. Baseball. Image.
6. Drill sergeant's "one" : "HUP!". I think there was a discussion about HUT or HUP on Thursday September 23, 2010.
7. Diva's moment : ARIA
8. Potential splinter remover : SANDER. It would smooth the wood, eliminating splinters.
9. Saint Francis's home : ASSISI
10. "Ode to __" : JOY. Performed by Beaker, of the Muppets. Video
11. Watch for : AWAIT
12. Zeal : VERVE
13. Authors Rice and Tyler : ANNEs. Rice writes about Vampires, Tyler wrote The Accidental Tourist.
19. Bus. letter directive : ATTN.. I remember it use to be on the lower left corner of the envelope. Is there an email equivalent?
21. Salsa fruit : MANGO
25. Juanita's "this" : ESTA
27. "Middle" period : AGES. Or the Third Age of Middle-Earth. Oops, not on Monday.
28. Family room piece : SOFA
29. Goofs : ERRS
30. Conductor's beat : TEMPO
34. Came to terms (with) : MADE PEACE
35. Flaky mineral : MICA. Used in isinglass.
36. Like the Mojave : ARID
38. 1920s-'40s art style : DECO
40. Usual fourth down play : PUNT
41. Wedding party member : USHER
44. Blended-family parent : STEP-DAD
47. Colorful fish : OPAH
48. Most insignificant : MEREST
49. Tourist draws : MECCAS
50. Unrepairable : RUINED
52. Doctor's time in the office : HOURS
53. Like much pub ale : ON TAP
57. Traffic complaint : HONK
59. Pack away : STOW
60. Cereal spokestiger : TONY. He's GRRREAT!
62. "Very funny" TV station : TBS. TBS is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally Turner Broadcasting System.
63. U.S. 1, for one : RTE.
Argyle
57 comments:
Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - well, the theme came quickly today, but this was no speed run. There were enough fresh clues to keep me dependent on perps for making progress.
'FICA' was a gimme, and made me smile, remembering those late summer months when they'd stop taking it out of my paycheck and it was as if I got a unexpected raise. 'Hup' threw me for a minute because I was expecting 'hut' which was stupid, because that's the football count, not the military cadence count. And as Argyle pointed out, we just talked about it a couple weeks ago. It's nice being brain-dead.
Unknowns included the Beatles' song, and the fact that TBS is known as the 'Very Funny' TV station. Favorite was 'Father to many'.
Today, in addition to being Columbus Day, is Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day and It's My Party Day. If you have a party with your teddy bear at work today, please seek professional help.
Did You Know?:
- The best-selling car ever is the VW beetle; over 22 million sold since 1937.
- Albert Einstein, Walt Disney and Tom Cruise all have something in common: dyslexia.
- The index finger on the Statue of Liberty is eight feet long.
Happy Monday:
I guess we all are taking the day off (no I go in a bit) to celebrate Mr. Colombus.
As Dennis said, this was easy but required thought in places; I really enjoyed SANTA appearing on an Argyle Monday. I would say the theme really was tied together nicely, but that might be a bad pun, so instead, I will point you all to the Merle Reagle Sunday punishment. Very fun.
Have a great week all, and start thinking about who from our past posters we need to hear from on our pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving.
Ciao
Good Morning, Argyle. Another pretty easy Monday puzzle. Some of the fills were completed by the perps, so I had to go back and read the clues to see why they were there.
A mini religious theme going as well, what with St. Francis of ASSISI, PRIESTS, and a segment of the Lord's Prayer.
No, Lemonade, unfortunately, I don't get Columbus Day off. I had forgotten it was a holiday is some places until you mentioned it.
Happy Monday, everyone.
QOD: False friendship, like ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces. ~ Richard Burton (the explorer, not the actor.)
I didn't think this was all that easy for a Monday. I had to go south before I could get a proper foothold in the north. Perhaps because I had VIGOR for VERVE at first. Once I had YARN and STRING, I got the theme and that helped from there on. But for my liking, too many names and sport related clues to be easy.
There were a few that we've discussed recently though, like US AIR and HUP. I thought I was very smart for a non scientist getting ION without even perp help.
The weekend puzzles were a dead loss for me. I did get though Sunday's with much red letter help, and never would have made it without that, but Saturday only produced a few answers. I came here both days for the comments but had nothing worth saying either day.
Columbus Day is one of those "public" holidays that most people never get, unless they work for the government--like most American public holidays.
Argyle, Nice write-up and links.
Like Lemonade, I thought it was special to have a salute to you, SANTA.
Not your normal Monday speed run but a FUN puzzle with a good theme that tied me up during my mug of JAVA.
ADIT, Mine access, like yesterdays iter, I learned long ago.
Nice to see Bobby ORR, its been AGES. Now I'm wondering what happened to our new "best buddy" Tesla.
Call me a traditionalist, but I always celebrate Columbus Day on October 12th.
Good Morning C.C., Argyle and all,
This was not a Monday quickie for me. I had to put on my thinking cap,re 'mica'. I don't know Harry Potter, so 'Emma' was perped; same for 'Fredo','Joy','Wicca','TBS' and
'ages'.
Saw theme from first,yet, definitely fresh. Didn't think of the 'push-pull' of it.
Argyle,Thanks for your remarks today. You filled in my mental blanks.
Fermatprime- Just read last night's posts- really worried for you and pray you will soon be out of there.
Have a nice day everyone.
Good morning all. Thanks for the informative commentary, Argyle.
Mostly a one-pass speed run today except for the SW. Then backtracked and did a herringbone solve to ascend the SW summit after taking a WAG at WICCA.. Got the theme early and it helped with COMMON THREAD and CUT THE CORD. A fun lively puzzle.
Have a good day.
Hi all -
I am glad some of you had trouble with this. I thought this was difficult for Monday. I had many unknowns: K+ or N+, Micro or Macro subj., Ode to ?, Watson of Harry Potter films....it went on. I did get them all with perps though.
Like Kazie, I had to move south to find a toe hold.
Firmatprime: just read your comments from last night....geez! I would think there would be something of a legal nature you could do about the appalling conditions where you are. Why would the relatives of others who are there put up with that treatment of their loved ones. In Oregon, we have had a few of these 'care' facilities put out of business for the reasons you have stated. Hang in there, and get revenge!
I forgot earlier to mention Fermatprime. I certainly hope you get your "marching orders" and can get out of that hell hole today. Our medical system puts us squarely in a third world country. I hope too that when you are feeling better you find a way to make an official complaint about that place. It's disgusting.
Argyle,
Thanks for the blog today. I guess I sometimes take the effort for granted since I'm always rushing to get to my next obligation. But I enjoyed the Beatles link and re-acquainting myself with Puss in Boots. I'd forgotten that it was of French origin, since so many fairy tales are German, thanks to the Brothers Grimm. But Sleeping Beauty is another French one I think.
Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the write-up and links, Argyle! I really enJOYed the Muppets version from Beaker...perhaps he could have used a little help with his 30A TEMPO, but I still laughed all the way through it. Great way to start the week!
This puzzle was really easy for me, with no need to look anything up. I mostly solved left to right, with occasional help from a single perp letter. I loved the clues like "Give" or "Take" for VERB, and "Yee-Haw!" for WHOOPEE.
And Dennis, if the Statue of Liberty gave me the finger, I guess I'd really get her point, huh?
Fermatprime, I hope you are on your way home as I write this, and you will finally get on the road to recovery. My thoughts are with you!
Columbus Day is somewhat controversial, with some feeling that it was set up for Catholicism to gain stronger foothold in America, and others feeling that it should not be observed because of the decimation of the indigenous tribes in America by the Europeans.
Did you know that Columbus was addicted to heroin? And it was actually his brother's idea to cross the Atlantic? (Maybe he thought it would be a good way to get his junkie brother out of the house?)
Anyway, whether you celebrate or not, have a great Monday!
Happy Columbus Day to All. Our banks are closed, but I'm getting ready to head off to work! No rest for the Wicca...
Not quite as easy as a usual Monday puzzle. It took me 10 mins. and had to give the theme some thought before I figured it out.
I heart my VW Beetle! I am the proud, original owner of a '72 Convertible Bug. It was $3200.00 out the door back then. I drive it every day to work (well, ok, so I only live 7 blocks from my office), but it's still reliable (except the gas gauge is broken, so I have to pay attention)...but otherwise it's PERFECT! My kids refer to it as "The Death Trap". They prefer driving the BMW's...no sense of daring, I guess.
It's heating up in Garlic-Ville today. Love the summerish-fallish weather.
Good Day to all.
Hi Argyle, C.C. & gang. An easy puzzle (again) so it must be Monday. My wife said that Monday's are almost not worth doing. We teamed up for the weekend Sat & Sun puzzles so it's quite a drastic change once Monday comes again...
I remember Tibet's capital from the cute little dog Lhasa Apso with the same first name.
For Dot: I made a version of your Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff for dinner yesterday. My wife doesn't like the rubbery bits of mushroom in cream of mushroom soup so we substituted cream of chicken soup. The chicken came out very tender and moist and the sauce worked well over egg noodles. I'll have the leftovers for lunch today.
Good Morning All, it seems like the number of people who beat Columbus to the "New World" from both directions is growing everyday but we only celebrate the Italian Guy who flew the Spanish flag. The Scandinavians who made it to Minnesota centuries before Chris were really interesting. As I said last week, the winners write the history.
Today is caffiene addiction recovery day and I ain't signin' up!
I found the theme early and put thread down to help and looked for rope but it did not appear.
Is TSK really a word?
Don't get in the boat FREDO! I prefer Roman Numeral arithmetic to just naming an arbitrary date in a century. Also liked TEEUP for us golfers and K+ for ion denotation those of us who suffer from terminal science!
I pulled a real "boner" (no inferences please) in the SW corner. I had _RAB for 65A and I knew WICCAN of some sort was going to fill the down but I put an A in "on accident" (as middle school kids say) and I briefly wound up with ARAB for Onery Ones which I thought was pretty racist and so I immeditately went back through and got CRAB. Whew!
Good Morning All, Looking over the completed puzzle, it didn't seem Monday-ish and was a slow solve for me.
VERB (I know it should have been easy), ADIT, SANDER, ESTATES, US AIR and the cross of AMP and PUNT were just some of the clues I had to look at more than once. All of them were "Oh, sure!" once I had them.
(55A) "K+ or Na+" for ION was just unknown. Ditto for (67A) "Micro or macro subj" ECON.
I was fooled by (56A) "McDonald's symbol" too. I was thinking of their stock symbol MCD. It didn't fit, but ARCH isn't it either. Arygle is right, it should be ARCHES.
Thanks Argyle for the "I'VE Just Seen A Face" link....and all these years I thought the title was "Falling".
Best wishes to fermatprime with her medical and care issues. Not a good time for her.
Hello Puzzlers - Now that we've had TONY the Tiger in our puzzle, I've got an excuse for trotting out one of my favorite trivia bits: Tony was voiced by the late Thurl Ravenscroft, a bass singer turned voice actor.
Ravenscroft's voice was well known to many of us as that which gave us the song "You're a Mean One,
Mister Grinch". Boris Karloff narrated the Grinch, but the solo song was all Ravenscroft. He was accidentally left out of the credits and thus went largely unnoticed.
Another song he performed was "No Dogs Allowed" in "Snoopy Come Home". I took a quick look for the TV ad he did for Staples (or another office supply company) but couldn't find it. Too bad, it was cute.
Cheeers!
One of the old trivia questions I remember, and saw again this morning, was that there was no B blood type in America before Columbus. Anybody have any info on this? I know American Indians were primarily type O (or so I've come to understand), but in fact, I don't even know how old blood typing is.
Hi gang -
Well done, Santa!
I have a really horrible cold, and whatever is in my head leaves not much room for thinking. This puzzle took me almost 15 minutes - slow TEMPO for a Monday, even though I tied up the theme pretty quickly. NE corned was blank for a long time. Couldn't even get Ode to JOY - Oy!
Finally, it all came together. Nice puzzle, I think. I'm not putting a lot of stock in my judgment today.
The ANNES should collaborate on "The Accidental Vampire."
The kids were all in college when we blended our families, so I've only been STEP DAD to adults.
That's all I'VE got.
Cheers!
JzB
Jzb- Your post almost 'sounds' like
you have a cold. Take care and hope you get better fast.
Dudley- I like that you're giving Mr Ravenscroft credit on our blog.
Warren- I always thinks its neat that you two work the puzzle together. How cozy and as it should be.
HeartRx- Did they dig up Columbus and run tests? How is that stuff known, I wonder? Fascinating.
Dennis-Sounds like Columbus was responsible for type B blood,as well as heroin in this country.
Maybe they did dig him up! But where?
Hahtool-What did Richard Burton explore?
Kazie- hands up for feeling smart about 'ion'.
My granddog sitting apparently will give me some computer time.
Break time.
Fermatprime- This is way beyond abuse. It's stark, evil cruelty. I'm sure it's something you would never wish for, but god, I wish it were possible that I could pick up Dennis this morning, drive to where your at and beat the living hell out of every bastard that's responsible for this.
Bill G- From last night. Timothy Parker, the USA Today puzzle editor, has little respect among most constructors. I had heard from other constructors that he often did not respond to puzzle submissions. To see for myself, I sent him one. Never got a response. Even after a follow up inquiry. There is never, ever an excuse for that. This is only one of many reasons why most top-notch constructors won't deal with him.
Hi all ~!
SANTA Argyle, thanks for the link to ODE TO JOY - I know it from Die Hard, but I love Beaker (Beeker?), and man, was that funny - should have expected that ending...
Mostly easy, I am a "die hard" crossword-er, and ADIT was one of the first words ever that I learned from doing puzzles.
Could've been SANTA MARIA, for today, too...
Splynter
Hello, Santa and other cyber friends.
Nice shout out to you, Santa, on the puzzle and good blog. I didn't recognize the Beatle's song,
Well, I thought this was mach speed and since it's Monday, that's as it should be.
And because I read the comics drinking my JAVA I saw that in Beetle Bailey the word HUT was used so I confidently filled it but of course it didn't make sense. Then I realized SPINSAYARN not STINSAYARN was correct.
The theme emerged quickly with YARN and STRING; and with ease all fell in place.
ADIT is one of those first xwd fills learned long ago. LHASA is firmly etched in my memory also from xwds as are ORR and IDES.
fermatprime:
I, too, am hoping you are out of that hellhole and that something can be done about it. It's disgraceful to have anyone living in those conditions, much less people who are recuperating from illnesses.
Happy Monday, everyone!
My baby granddaughter, now ten months, is attemting to walk.
Kazie:
I do hope you have one eventually. They really are such a joy.
Hello everybody. Nice Monday puzzle today, with some nice fresh fill such as CORKSCREW, MICA, LHASA, WHOOPEE, and SANDER. I had a small stumble with ADIT, which I had forgotten, and the correct spelling of ASSISI. I didn't know OPAH; I don't even know if I ever knew it. Confucius would be very disappointed in me.
I guess an ARCH would represent half of a McDonald's. For light eaters?
Wow, HeartRx, I sure didn't know that about Columbus. Wow, Argyle, I sure didn't know that about the Statue of Liberty.
Catching up on yesterday's comments:
Yes Dot, we enjoyed the chicken very much. I confess I cut/broke the chicken up into chunks so it would cook more quickly, and I added paprika which brought out the "Stroganoff" a little more. Thank you again.
Tinbeni, I enjoyed your comment yesterday about that Banacek scene. Now I, too, will not forget ITER.
Lucina, do you know what sorts of celebrations will be happening in February? DW and I are wondering if it would be a good (or bad) time to come visit our family in Tempe. How did your cake turn out?
Clear Ayes, thanks for that link to Frasier yesterday.
Bill G, to answer your question from yesterday, we (not royal) prefer ice cream to gelato or frozen yogurt.
Fermatprime, so sorry you are having such travails. These guys appear to be criminally negligent; it's outrageous. I very much hope you can get the heck out of there and get home again. Tinbeni has a point; maybe we could all collectively do something. Like maybe hiring FREDO to plant a horse's head in each of their beds.
Best wishes to you all.
Hola Everyone, A fast easy run for me this morning. For some reason I was on the wavelength with our contructor today. I enjoyed the theme answers and after getting yarn and string I looked for other Common threads.
I had one error. I left out the "t" at the bottom for tsked and merest. I just overlooked it. Going too fast, I guess. Like several others today, Adit was one of the first "new" words I learned doing crosswords. I did an Aha when I finally realized that Getting ready to drive had to do with golf.
Good catch Lemonade on the Santa Argyle connection today.
My favorite today was "Give" or "Take" for verb.
Related to Hahtools QOD today, we had a beautiful ivy covered clock tower at San Jose State U. when I was going there many moons ago. They had to strip the ivy off and repair the damage that the plants had done to the tower. It looks naked now, but it is not going to crumble any time soon.
Jayce, I didn't know that about the Statue of Liberty either untill Dennis mentioned it.
I think the clue, white whale , e.g., should have been in quotes to, say, make the connection with Moby Dick. Otherwise the normal phrase, white whale, seems to refer to a specific species, beluga whale. ALBINO implies a pigmentation defect whereas beluga refers to a species with normal white pigmentation
JMHO
@ Creature,
Well, no - they didn't actually dig him up. Most of this obscure information comes from even more obscure historical documents and writings of some of the "learned men" who accompanied him on his travels. The information from these obscure documents is the subject of researchers who then write even more obscure "White Papers" like this one from the [Spoiler alert: do not click if you are easily thrown into a state of narcolepsy by reading boring tomes...On the other hand, it might benefit Fermatprime and Frenchie to read it through to the end: Guaranteed to cure insomnia:-D ]National Institute on Drug Abuse
I don't believe it was Columbus who actually brought "B" type blood to America, as most Europeans were also type "O", same as the native indians. The "B" group was more likely introduced from Oriental populations (or perhaps some Africans) who later made their way here (either willingly, or as slaves) after travel to this country was opened up.
Sorry to ramble, but I am passionate about this area of science !
Ooops. Yes Argyle, I meant to type Dennis. Thank you both.
Fermatprime, I just went back to read yesterday's late posts and am appaled at what you've had to endure at the convalescent hospital. I sincerely hope that you are on your way home as I write this. NO ONE should have to put up with poor care, especially someone who is not able to be up and about on their own. It is unconscionable.
On the lighter side, I'll have to get out our Tony the Tiger mug from the 60's. I got it for my youngest daughter with the box tops from Kelloggs Frosted Flakes cereal. I hadn't thought about this for a long time. All the grands loved using it.
Hi all.
Fast and easy Monday.
Also a traditionist re Oct 12th and May 30th etal.
Really surprized. Heard "Count
Cadance - Count" "Hup, two, three
--- " too many times to forget.
Most embarrassing moment yesterday
was when two 49er quarterbacks rushed onto the field and the coach just stood there.
Just finished Cussler's Lost Empire. Fun read about origin of Aztec Empire and Fibonacci spirals.
Take care.
Enjoyed the puzzle today and thought it was not too hard for a Monday. Here's a great link on Youtube for Thurl Ravenscroft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEjZyzA-DJw
You forgot to put the answer to 51 Down. WICCA - Modern witch's religion.
It was combined with 33Across.
Anon@2:49,
It was with 33 A, somewhat of a clecho.
Lucina,
Thanks for the grandbaby wishes. I'll have to be patient, I think.
JAYCE:
As yet only a planning committee has been appointed for the centennial celebration. They have not revealed any plans only to say that it will be "big".
February is an excellent time to visit here; usually the temps are in the 70s-80s. I would recommend buying tickets, etc. early since that is peak season for visitors.
The cake was delicious, thanks for asking. I used a recipe from my "no fat, low fat" cookbook since they are all calorie conscious, except the 14 year old who, of course, has a bottomeless stomach but never gains weight.
It was an applesauce spicecake, one layer, round sprinkled with powdered sugar. They enjoyed it along with the pot roast, new potatoes, carrots, salad, and broccoli.
ClearAyes:
From yesterday, yes, I thought AJAX and ARGO were echoes of Greek mythology.
Later.
Alert: Material subject to deletion! (even though Wicca was mentioned in the puzzle.)
I find it quite ironic that religious symbols are banned from the public classroom, by and large, and yet, you cannot go into a classroom this month without confronting some depiction of a witch (a symbol for those who practice the Wiccan religion.)
Eggs and baby animals are symbols of the goddess Ishtar...and they are all over public schools at "Easter" (which the word itself is a corrupted form of Ishtar")
It seems that the only religious symbols anyone objects to, in public or in the public classroom, are those representing Christianity.
An Observer,
Maybe the one-sided ban reflects our general ignorance of the true significance of the other symbols.
In some other countries of which I am aware, religion is taught in public schools, in some form or another. In Australian schools when I was there, pastors of all stripes used to be invited to give one weekly class of instruction to students of their religious persuasion. Attendance was not mandatory and the pastors had no idea of discipline though, so it was usually pretty useless. I don't know if they still do it.
In German schools the subject Religion is taught more as a survey of different religions so students get an idea of what others believe. So it becomes more of a course in philosophy than anything else. The only two Christian religions recognized there are Roman Catholic and Protestant (called Evangelisch).
Some other aspects of separation of church and state are interpreted differently in Europe than here too. One example being that in both France and Germany, probably other places as well, to be legally married, you have to be married by a representative of the state, usually a judge or the mayor. You can have a church ceremony as well, but it isn't obligatory.
Kazie, Thank you for a cosmopolitan explanation. I suspect you are right on.
Creature: Richard Burton, the British explorer, was quite an adventurer. He lived in the 1800s (1821 - 1890). He traveled extensively in Africa and Arabia. I recently acquired the book 1001 Arabian Nights, which he translated into English from Arabic. I think he is also credited with translating the Kama Sutra into English. When he died, his wife had his tomb designed to look like an arabic tent.
Not especially difficult, but it took me longer to finish than most Monday puzzles do (16 minutes). Usually, Monday clues are quite transparent, but that was not the case today.
Mica is a quite common mineral (found on the ground everywhere) in the part of North Carolina I grew up in. It comes in two major varieties--thin silvery plates called Muscovite and thin black plates called biotite. Our type was mostly Muscovite. The plates are loosely bonded to each other and can be easily separated by hand. They make excellent electrical insulators and have been used extensively in the manufacture of mica capacitors.
Hahtool: If you haven't seen it, I recommend the film, The Mountains of the Moon, about the exploits of Sir Richard Burton and Sir John Speke in Africa in the late 1800's. It shows graphically the hideous wound he received in Somalia, I think, from a spear through the cheeks, that took out most of his teeth. He was lucky to survive and bore the scars the rest of his life. He was an awesome linguist. Most versions of his Arabian Nights are abridgements, the original running to 10 volumes, of which I have read two. He was also the first westerner to experience the Haj in Mecca and live to tell about it. He disguised himself as an Afghan Pathan and knew enough Pashto to get by. He later wrote a book about the experience. Everything about his life was remarkable.
Lucina- mmmmm! what was the salad? Honestly, I love your description of your cooking,especially in the late afternoon. Applesauce spicecake sounds delicious.
HeartRx- Thanks for you explanation of how things that seem so remote can be transferred to today's realm of knowledge and seem so plausible.
I hesitate to open that link, because of my lousy internet connection; but, I will mark it for my free slot[2am-7pm], which may coincide with my 'from time to time' insomnia. It sounds fascinating. Columbus and the type B blood. Again, thanks.
Kazie-your last paragraph of post
4:26 is the same in the U.S.
HeartRx- I'm interested in this as your passion! -will you explain?-
is it the medical or the historical?
Fermatprime- I'm hopeful that we will hear from you tonight.
Speaking of VW beetles, I bought one here new in 1965 for $1600. We still have it. It's been restored and has a new and larger engine. It is painted with a pretty two-tone color scheme. The fenders are Jaguar British racing green and the rest of the car is the color of milk with a little coffee in it. We even had the license plate and holder with the dealer's name restored.
Bob, yes to "Mountains of the Moon" about Richard Burton and John Speke. During their joint expedition to east Africa searching for the source of the Nile, Burton became ill and Speke continued on, finding Lake Victoria and claiming the discovery as his own.
Interesting information about blood types. Like Dennis, I am AB+. My geographical heritage is 1/2 Swedish, 1/2 Russian. According to the Wikipedia chart about 6% of Swedes are AB+. My mother was type O and father was AB+. I have no idea about an ethnicity factor. My paternal grandparents and beyond were Russian Jews. There is no information about Russia, but I suspect with Attila and his Huns raping (no blame folks, everybody was doing it) their way across the Steppes in the 5th century, they surely left their genetic markers all over the place. That would account, at least partially, for the Eurasian influence.
I had no time to attack the puzzle until tonight after work. I found this one really easy. I did it on line and the time was 9:15 min. Pretty good for me. Favorite today was "give" or "take" eg...verb. Clever! I got momentarily screwed up when I had "hut" for "hup". Shame on me, as I believe we had a discussion on this just a few days ago. I wasn't familiar with the Beatles song "I've just seen a face" but what else could it have been? Ah Fredo, I always kind of felt sorry for him.
Nice write up, Santa baby!
Fermatprime, it's time to spring you from what you only describe as "hell". I am getting more angry by the day.
Well, time to see if Favre and Moss can hook up a time or two...
Good evening Santa baby, CC, et al., Great job, Santa cutie. I just loved your 3 fine ho's for 66A. I can add a few more nearer the time you come in my chimney - of course, that's assuming I'm still on the visitation list...maybe for being really good at being bad? We'll talk. Anywho, I really enjoyed the links...and I did remember the song but not the title. Good stuff. This puzzle was a perp controlled rampage that took about 15 minutes total.
'Al-bi-no' wine before it's time, heaven knows. So I got excited when 3D corkscrew showed up. Then I wondered who would en'joy' that w/me and, Santa showed up. So-fa, w/Santa, including the 'priest' and 'step dad' that makes 3 whose 'ass-is-i'nvited to 'tee up' with me and 'await' the game 'hours' ushered in as the dewy crab grass dries out. We'll toast to the moment, the US - air, and to all the betters I am 'owen' who made this game possible today. God knows, I hate to see any 'man-go' under appreciated 'orr' overlooked, step up and let's 'cut the cord', 'tee up', & dr'ive' on. May the best man win the 'puss'...
I mean purse. 'Fi-ca'n win, I'll just make whoopee w/Santa at a local 'honk'y tonk b/c 'stepdad' has made peace w/his world. The priest will go 'to-NY' for his 'mecca' sojourn - don't want
to be the one who 'ruined' that 'idol'. Santa and 'i-on' the other hand will drink the wine and discuss the 'econ'omy. One will get you 'five' that won't happen. It's all good.
Ferma: I haven't read yesterday but your situation sounds dire. You are definately in my thoughts. I'll do whatever I can to help.
My dear Creature: Are you saying couples in the US must be married by a representative of the "state?" If that really were the case, most couples would be unmarried and producing illegitimate children.
creature:
I'm sure dinner was good because there were no leftovers. Salad was spinach greens tossed with the following sliced vegs.: cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow and red peppers. Assorted dressings.
JAYCE:
I've checked the centennial website and so far only the names of the various entities are listed but not their events. I'm sure that by 2012 many colorful groups will participate.
Dear AOS,
Maybe you should less time observing and a little more fact-checking. When a pastor, minister, justice of the peace, etc., signs a marriage license, he or she does so as a "representative of the state", not (legally) as a representative of his or her respective ecclesiastical body.
Hi, All:
It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I've spent most of it up in the mountains with no computer access. 2 weeks ago, we had 6 inches of rain in 60 hours.
I've done almost every x-word, but haven't been online in that time. God, what a load of unnecessary emails I've got.
I can't add anything about today's puzzle. It was easy, but not the easiest I've seen on a Monday. That is one of my favorite Beatles' songs.
I believe I mentioned I've started seeing a lady that likes x-words. It's a blast working a puzzle together, but very humbling to have someone feed you answers faster than you can write.
Fermatprime- Good luck and I hope you get out of there soon.
Good night all.
Windhover, thank you for pointing out about our marriage certificates. I knew that my minister signed as a representative of the state, and was about to start looking for my marriage document. You saved me from some extra work.
Hope we hear from Fermatprime soon and that she's out of that Bedlam.
Good evening Santa and all ho ho ho's
Thought if I waited long enough we'd all hear from Femaprime.I can't even imagine the physical and mental pain she is in.Maybe we will have good news tomorrow.
Argyle, your muppet Ode to Joy was just that.and Lucina, the word JOY also describes the feeling I have when I'm with my 3 little ones.
I did the xwd in bits and pieces, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Adit was also one of the 1st words I learned, and I forget it EVERY time.My 1st guess for opah was beta. For whoopee, I had whoo hoo! and, for crab I had brat, but all fell into place with no outside help.Had to dig deep for wicca because I knew it was in there some place.
Lois, another winner..one of your best!!!!! Carol, send her the parrot!
I'm hoping not hearing from Fermatprime means she was moved to a better facility today that just doesn't have internet access...
I guess all that means is that here, and in Oz and elsewhere, ministers of the cloth are licensed to represent the state, whereas in Germany and France they aren't. If couples there want a church wedding, they have to have two--one in the church after having one at the mayor's or judge's office. My son had a wedding in a castle but only after the judge who performed the ceremony had also done so beforehand in her office.
Kazie:
I happen to know that Mexico also requires a state ceremony; the church one is optional.
I have a question about Christopher Columbus being a heroin addict. From what I have read, heroin was developed in the late 19th century as an antidote to morphine addiction. Was he perhaps an opium user?
Dear Friends,
I did indeed make it to the orthopod and then home in the evening. After last night, I did not think I would even survive. Suddenly my call light was "not working." (Itty bitty bed threatened to collapse, room became freezing, etc.) Really owe my friends and Verizon. I did survive, damnit!!!
My internist never called to release me so I flew the coop with incredible help from a dear friend, whom I have worn out with this whole STUPID (on my part) accident. (My orthopod is setting up some home therapy visitation for me. Evidently I was inculcated with a lot of crappola and have NOT been abandoned by the AMA.)
Orthopod not happy with looks of tri-broken leg and ankle. (I was not either. YUCK!) So happy to be home!!! A carpenter friend had removed one set of drawers from beneath my Cal. King captain's bed. Under the circumstances, life-saving.
Sorry to be so late and to have sort of given you a perhaps unreadable quick memory dump.
I cannot express how much I appreciate your concern. This blog is a wonderful thing!
Thanks to CC, Argyle, Creature and all of the rest of you who responded! You bring tears to my eyes!
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