Theme: You (U) Fit In - Each theme answer is a common two word expression, with the letter “U” inserted into the second word, to create a humorous new expression, with the question mark at the end of the clue telling you a play on words is coming.
16A. Opening with a thud?: BAD DEBUT. BAD DEBT. Something becoming all too familiar after the recent mortgage debacle.
19A. Staple in a Hollywood first-aid kit?: STAR GAUZE. STAR GAZE. We love staring at our stars, making so many tabloids and tabloid tv shows popular. Do we really care that Disney child stars Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato are coke heads?
26A. Compulsion to set up camp?: TENT DURESS. TENT DRESS. An interesting internal deception because the meaning of Tent is very different when you are talking about this DRESS STYLE .
34A. Hoss and Little Joe's off-color jokes?: PONDEROSA RAUNCH. PONDEROSA RANCH, the home of the Cartwright family on BONANZA which was the first television show to be shown in color. My favorite phrase of the theme. Do you all remember the name of Ben’s (the father, played by Lorne Greene) horse?
43A. Civil unrest in Brest?: FRENCH FURY. FRENCH FRY. A nice rhyming clue, to obscure the French city.
50A. Restrain a legendary soul seller?: HOLD FAUST. HOLD FAST; FAUST is the Devil in German legend, made famous by Goethe’s tragic play.
58A. Classy accommodations at the Spider Ritz?: WEB SUITE. WEB SITE. Don’t you just love the mind that created the image of an exclusive hotel for spiders?
47. "Have a nice day" response, and a literal hint to this puzzle's theme: YOU TOO. YOU (U) too, meaning an added U.
Et tu Brute! Hallelujah, Lemonade here, week two already. Happy Friday, C.C. and all. Wow, another Naddor for me, and one so typical and so witty. I really enjoyed this effort, with 75 letters and 8 theme related answers. Lots of fun fill, a few things I should have recalled but had to work to get, and generally a good time for all.
Across:
1. Bucolic: PASTORAL. We begin with a pleasant straight forward image.
9. Sushi choices: EELS. I like some sushi, but am not fond of eels, probably something psychological from my childhood.
13. Wood preservative: CREOSOTE. COAL TAR CREOSOTE is an EPA registered wood preservative, distilled from crude coke oven tar, and is mainly composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but also contains phenols and cresols. Like I knew that.
14. Plays the class clown: CUTS UP. Remember, Dan likes two word answers that create deceptive letter strings. 21A. Clueless: AT SEA. 65A. As terrific as they say: THAT GOOD. 7D. "Do you bite your thumb __, sir?": "Romeo and Juliet": AT US. I love that he includes some Shakespeare, as well as the very old insult of biting one’s thumb, which has resurfaced in our culture as seen in the URBAN DICTIONARY . 33D. Corner the market on: BUY UP. Speaking of which, do you remember when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market? They were the inspiration for these BROTHERS .
17. Showy: ORNATE.
18. Overseas fem. title: SRA. As Kazie pointed out, the abbreviation for Senora, like most of our dear ladies.
25. Source of Ulee's gold: BEES.Hi Melissa, and yes, the gold was in the honey, honey.
29. She played Emma in "The Avengers": UMA. We all know this is true in the movie, but this will always be the real MRS.PEEL .
32. Mideast language: IRANI. Oh, in Iran, I guess.
33. Support group?: BRAS. Nice deception, but then again, it may all be DECEPTION .
40. Lake near Niagara Falls: ERIE. Where my oldest is currently freezing his little behind in grad school, though his birthday is in nine days, he will be home in 11!
41. Atlanta campus: EMORY. This is a very well respected private college that emphasizes research; it ended up in Atlanta through the generosity of the people from Coca Cola. If you go to Atlanta, go and tour the Coke factory (except Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato, who know better).
42. Jets coach Ryan: REX. He plays against Cleveland this week end, whose defense is coached by his older (by 5 minutes) identical twin brother ROB RYAN .
48. Fizzled out: DIED. Like so many romances…
49. Gulf of Finland city: ESPOO. The second largest city in Finland, and it took me way to long to drag from my brain. We just had the clue in August, in a Barry Silk themeless.
55. Word with a head slap: DUH. DOH, whatever you like; here we use the V-8 can against the head.
57. Six-Day War country: ISRAEL. Remember it well.
62. Insurer of Tina Turner's legs: LLOYDS. LLOYD’s of LONDON has been in the insurance business since 1688, and has always insured the odd things of value like insuring, silent film comedian Ben Turpin's eyes against uncrossing, Jimmy Durante’s nose, Troy Polamalu's hair for $1 million, and these R rated pre-silicone marvels of TEMPEST STORM .
63. One transferring property rights, in law: ASSIGNOR. Must have obscure law clues so Lemonade can feel smart. We love our ORs and EEs.
64. Plenty: TONS.
Down:
1. Banned pollutants: PCBS. They belong to a group of man made “organic” chemicals called PolyChlorinated Biphenyls.
2. Biblical resting place: ARARAT. A nice deception, for it was Noah’s Ark, not a person that ended up resting atop Mount Ararat.
3. Composed: SEDATE.
4. "The Fox and the Hound" fox: TOD. The hound was Copper, but I really do not remember the MOVIE.
5. Suffix with fruct-: OSE.Also with SUCR-, LACT- and others, it means SUGAR.
6. Hold up: ROB. Yes, to rob is to hold up, to burgle is to break in.
8. Riga resident: LETT. We see this one very often, and I actually have some clients from Latvia, but they moved to Venezuela.
9. Old lab heaters: ETNAS. Dan used this in a Sunday puzzle in August 2009, I did not know the term then, and do not now. I am strictly a BUNSEN BURNER guy.
10. Isaac's eldest: ESAU. Poor guy, hairy and he lost his birthright.
11. Eponymous skater Alois __: LUTZ. For our dear CA back from vacation, and our prodigal Robin, just back, we have the TRIPLE LUTZ in pictures and words. Eponymous, is when you give your name to something, like Joe Robbie stadium.
12. WWI German vice-admiral: SPEE. One I knew nothing about, but apparently quite a bold man, of whom Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty at London, wrote: "He was a cut flower in a vase, fair to see yet bound to die.”
14. Centers: CORES. Oh, okay, I get like the center of the earth.
15. Prods: URGES.
20. Justice Fortas: ABE. Another law tidbit for me; Justice Fortas was a very successful student of the law, and lawyer, arguing and winning the famous right to counsel case, GIDEON vs. WAINWRIGHT, in which the Supreme Court for the first time granted all who are accused of a crime the right to be represented by counsel, creating the Public Defender system. Mr. Fortas, who came from an Orthodox Jewish family became very good friends with Lyndon Johnson, who when he became president, convinced sitting Justice Arthur Goldberg (the then Jewish member of the court) to resign to become ambassador to the UN, so Fortas could be appointed to the court. Sadly, Fortas ended up resigning under a cloud for taking fees while on the bench.
22. Derisive: SNIDE. My favorite was this CHARACTER .
23. Raison d'__: ETRE. Meaning literally “ reason to be” in French.
24. Month before Nisan: ADAR. And then a little Hebrew calendar to make me feel at home; that calendar has leap months, where there is a 13th month added to catch up with the earths rotation from a moon based calendar.
27. Card game warning: UNO. A favorite of children of all ages, though my grandmother preferred Skip-Bo.
28. Out of bed: RISEN. Which of course reminds me of this SONG .
29. Still-life subject: URN. Really, I only remember the poem.
30. Bud: MAC. Talk about misleading, and yet easy. In our culture, BUD means beer, not buddy, so hey BUD and hey MAC was very hard.
31. Tip for a smoker?: ASH. Literal but hidden again; I still liked Camel Droppings best.
34. In accordance with: PER.
35. It may be found in a deposit: ORE. No not a bank deposit, silly.
36. Outlaw: NIX. Hmm, my in-laws are named NIX, so they are in-laws and outlaws!
37. Onetime Jeep mfr.: AMC. American Motors Company and one of the big four when the US controlled worldwide auto manufacture. Sadly the Rambler and the NASH American did not keep the company afloat, when the Pacer, their final effort to convince the country to drive smaller fuel efficient cars failed, they gave up. Not long after they folded, we had the first gas crisis and their small car ideas took hold.
38. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Did not know him, but he designed lots of BUILDINGS.
39. Pound sounds: ARFS. Another cute rhyme.
43. Fluted, in a way: FIFED. Not the champagne glass, but the guy playing the flute; hmm, a verb?
44. Old Spanish coins: REALS. Spanish Reals are often found at historic sites in the US, as during colonial days in the U.S., the silver Ocho Reales coin, referred to as the Spanish milled dollar, piece of eight, or eight bits, was the principal coin in circulation. Hence, the saying, 2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar; all for the home team stand up and holler. Some still refer to a quarter as two bits.
45. Web address ender: EDU.
46. House Judiciary Committee chair during the Nixon impeachment hearings: RODINO. This piece of trivia was buried deep in the brain, and crossing it with ESPOO really slowed me down. In the ironies of the world, and karma, Nixon was determined to impeach Abe Fortas, who eventually stepped down.
48. Critical moments to gear up for: D DAYS. JUNE 6, 1944 .
50. Maximum degree: HILT. This sweet phrase comes from the violent turn of stabbing a dagger or a sword into the victim all the way to the hilt (the protective handle).
51. European capital: OSLO. To our Norwegian brethren, we shout out.
52. Hubbard of Scientology: L RON. Yes, I like my religion from an unsuccessful science fiction author.
53. Team acronym: SWAT. Special Weapons and Tactics.
54. John with Emmys and a journalism award: TESH. A singer, a talk show host, a piano player and a journalist.
56. Rancher's concern: HERD. Not this ONE .
59. Jamboree gp.: BSA. We had Boy Scouts of America in the very first puzzle I blogged, back in the day.
60. Be in session: SIT. Congress, or the courts, like the Supreme Court!
61. Trendy boot brand: UGG. Worn by our temperature challenged crew, including dear Lo-li-ta. Do they come in red Fishie? I guess they do not sell too well in Arizona.
Answer grid.
Well, a long day ahead, so I am out of here, hope you enjoyed the show; see you same bat channel, same bat time.
Lemonade
16A. Opening with a thud?: BAD DEBUT. BAD DEBT. Something becoming all too familiar after the recent mortgage debacle.
19A. Staple in a Hollywood first-aid kit?: STAR GAUZE. STAR GAZE. We love staring at our stars, making so many tabloids and tabloid tv shows popular. Do we really care that Disney child stars Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato are coke heads?
26A. Compulsion to set up camp?: TENT DURESS. TENT DRESS. An interesting internal deception because the meaning of Tent is very different when you are talking about this DRESS STYLE .
34A. Hoss and Little Joe's off-color jokes?: PONDEROSA RAUNCH. PONDEROSA RANCH, the home of the Cartwright family on BONANZA which was the first television show to be shown in color. My favorite phrase of the theme. Do you all remember the name of Ben’s (the father, played by Lorne Greene) horse?
43A. Civil unrest in Brest?: FRENCH FURY. FRENCH FRY. A nice rhyming clue, to obscure the French city.
50A. Restrain a legendary soul seller?: HOLD FAUST. HOLD FAST; FAUST is the Devil in German legend, made famous by Goethe’s tragic play.
58A. Classy accommodations at the Spider Ritz?: WEB SUITE. WEB SITE. Don’t you just love the mind that created the image of an exclusive hotel for spiders?
47. "Have a nice day" response, and a literal hint to this puzzle's theme: YOU TOO. YOU (U) too, meaning an added U.
Et tu Brute! Hallelujah, Lemonade here, week two already. Happy Friday, C.C. and all. Wow, another Naddor for me, and one so typical and so witty. I really enjoyed this effort, with 75 letters and 8 theme related answers. Lots of fun fill, a few things I should have recalled but had to work to get, and generally a good time for all.
Across:
1. Bucolic: PASTORAL. We begin with a pleasant straight forward image.
9. Sushi choices: EELS. I like some sushi, but am not fond of eels, probably something psychological from my childhood.
13. Wood preservative: CREOSOTE. COAL TAR CREOSOTE is an EPA registered wood preservative, distilled from crude coke oven tar, and is mainly composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but also contains phenols and cresols. Like I knew that.
14. Plays the class clown: CUTS UP. Remember, Dan likes two word answers that create deceptive letter strings. 21A. Clueless: AT SEA. 65A. As terrific as they say: THAT GOOD. 7D. "Do you bite your thumb __, sir?": "Romeo and Juliet": AT US. I love that he includes some Shakespeare, as well as the very old insult of biting one’s thumb, which has resurfaced in our culture as seen in the URBAN DICTIONARY . 33D. Corner the market on: BUY UP. Speaking of which, do you remember when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market? They were the inspiration for these BROTHERS .
17. Showy: ORNATE.
18. Overseas fem. title: SRA. As Kazie pointed out, the abbreviation for Senora, like most of our dear ladies.
25. Source of Ulee's gold: BEES.Hi Melissa, and yes, the gold was in the honey, honey.
29. She played Emma in "The Avengers": UMA. We all know this is true in the movie, but this will always be the real MRS.PEEL .
32. Mideast language: IRANI. Oh, in Iran, I guess.
33. Support group?: BRAS. Nice deception, but then again, it may all be DECEPTION .
40. Lake near Niagara Falls: ERIE. Where my oldest is currently freezing his little behind in grad school, though his birthday is in nine days, he will be home in 11!
41. Atlanta campus: EMORY. This is a very well respected private college that emphasizes research; it ended up in Atlanta through the generosity of the people from Coca Cola. If you go to Atlanta, go and tour the Coke factory (except Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato, who know better).
42. Jets coach Ryan: REX. He plays against Cleveland this week end, whose defense is coached by his older (by 5 minutes) identical twin brother ROB RYAN .
48. Fizzled out: DIED. Like so many romances…
49. Gulf of Finland city: ESPOO. The second largest city in Finland, and it took me way to long to drag from my brain. We just had the clue in August, in a Barry Silk themeless.
55. Word with a head slap: DUH. DOH, whatever you like; here we use the V-8 can against the head.
57. Six-Day War country: ISRAEL. Remember it well.
62. Insurer of Tina Turner's legs: LLOYDS. LLOYD’s of LONDON has been in the insurance business since 1688, and has always insured the odd things of value like insuring, silent film comedian Ben Turpin's eyes against uncrossing, Jimmy Durante’s nose, Troy Polamalu's hair for $1 million, and these R rated pre-silicone marvels of TEMPEST STORM .
63. One transferring property rights, in law: ASSIGNOR. Must have obscure law clues so Lemonade can feel smart. We love our ORs and EEs.
64. Plenty: TONS.
Down:
1. Banned pollutants: PCBS. They belong to a group of man made “organic” chemicals called PolyChlorinated Biphenyls.
2. Biblical resting place: ARARAT. A nice deception, for it was Noah’s Ark, not a person that ended up resting atop Mount Ararat.
3. Composed: SEDATE.
4. "The Fox and the Hound" fox: TOD. The hound was Copper, but I really do not remember the MOVIE.
5. Suffix with fruct-: OSE.Also with SUCR-, LACT- and others, it means SUGAR.
6. Hold up: ROB. Yes, to rob is to hold up, to burgle is to break in.
8. Riga resident: LETT. We see this one very often, and I actually have some clients from Latvia, but they moved to Venezuela.
9. Old lab heaters: ETNAS. Dan used this in a Sunday puzzle in August 2009, I did not know the term then, and do not now. I am strictly a BUNSEN BURNER guy.
10. Isaac's eldest: ESAU. Poor guy, hairy and he lost his birthright.
11. Eponymous skater Alois __: LUTZ. For our dear CA back from vacation, and our prodigal Robin, just back, we have the TRIPLE LUTZ in pictures and words. Eponymous, is when you give your name to something, like Joe Robbie stadium.
12. WWI German vice-admiral: SPEE. One I knew nothing about, but apparently quite a bold man, of whom Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty at London, wrote: "He was a cut flower in a vase, fair to see yet bound to die.”
14. Centers: CORES. Oh, okay, I get like the center of the earth.
15. Prods: URGES.
20. Justice Fortas: ABE. Another law tidbit for me; Justice Fortas was a very successful student of the law, and lawyer, arguing and winning the famous right to counsel case, GIDEON vs. WAINWRIGHT, in which the Supreme Court for the first time granted all who are accused of a crime the right to be represented by counsel, creating the Public Defender system. Mr. Fortas, who came from an Orthodox Jewish family became very good friends with Lyndon Johnson, who when he became president, convinced sitting Justice Arthur Goldberg (the then Jewish member of the court) to resign to become ambassador to the UN, so Fortas could be appointed to the court. Sadly, Fortas ended up resigning under a cloud for taking fees while on the bench.
22. Derisive: SNIDE. My favorite was this CHARACTER .
23. Raison d'__: ETRE. Meaning literally “ reason to be” in French.
24. Month before Nisan: ADAR. And then a little Hebrew calendar to make me feel at home; that calendar has leap months, where there is a 13th month added to catch up with the earths rotation from a moon based calendar.
27. Card game warning: UNO. A favorite of children of all ages, though my grandmother preferred Skip-Bo.
28. Out of bed: RISEN. Which of course reminds me of this SONG .
29. Still-life subject: URN. Really, I only remember the poem.
30. Bud: MAC. Talk about misleading, and yet easy. In our culture, BUD means beer, not buddy, so hey BUD and hey MAC was very hard.
31. Tip for a smoker?: ASH. Literal but hidden again; I still liked Camel Droppings best.
34. In accordance with: PER.
35. It may be found in a deposit: ORE. No not a bank deposit, silly.
36. Outlaw: NIX. Hmm, my in-laws are named NIX, so they are in-laws and outlaws!
37. Onetime Jeep mfr.: AMC. American Motors Company and one of the big four when the US controlled worldwide auto manufacture. Sadly the Rambler and the NASH American did not keep the company afloat, when the Pacer, their final effort to convince the country to drive smaller fuel efficient cars failed, they gave up. Not long after they folded, we had the first gas crisis and their small car ideas took hold.
38. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Did not know him, but he designed lots of BUILDINGS.
39. Pound sounds: ARFS. Another cute rhyme.
43. Fluted, in a way: FIFED. Not the champagne glass, but the guy playing the flute; hmm, a verb?
44. Old Spanish coins: REALS. Spanish Reals are often found at historic sites in the US, as during colonial days in the U.S., the silver Ocho Reales coin, referred to as the Spanish milled dollar, piece of eight, or eight bits, was the principal coin in circulation. Hence, the saying, 2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar; all for the home team stand up and holler. Some still refer to a quarter as two bits.
45. Web address ender: EDU.
46. House Judiciary Committee chair during the Nixon impeachment hearings: RODINO. This piece of trivia was buried deep in the brain, and crossing it with ESPOO really slowed me down. In the ironies of the world, and karma, Nixon was determined to impeach Abe Fortas, who eventually stepped down.
48. Critical moments to gear up for: D DAYS. JUNE 6, 1944 .
50. Maximum degree: HILT. This sweet phrase comes from the violent turn of stabbing a dagger or a sword into the victim all the way to the hilt (the protective handle).
51. European capital: OSLO. To our Norwegian brethren, we shout out.
52. Hubbard of Scientology: L RON. Yes, I like my religion from an unsuccessful science fiction author.
53. Team acronym: SWAT. Special Weapons and Tactics.
54. John with Emmys and a journalism award: TESH. A singer, a talk show host, a piano player and a journalist.
56. Rancher's concern: HERD. Not this ONE .
59. Jamboree gp.: BSA. We had Boy Scouts of America in the very first puzzle I blogged, back in the day.
60. Be in session: SIT. Congress, or the courts, like the Supreme Court!
61. Trendy boot brand: UGG. Worn by our temperature challenged crew, including dear Lo-li-ta. Do they come in red Fishie? I guess they do not sell too well in Arizona.
Answer grid.
Well, a long day ahead, so I am out of here, hope you enjoyed the show; see you same bat channel, same bat time.
Lemonade
62 comments:
Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - I didn't notice the constructor when I started solving this one, and it wasn't until I got to the first theme answer that I looked and saw that it was one of Dan's. Suddenly 'bad debut' made sense and the remaining theme answers became a lot easier. I really savor each of these remaining puzzles from our late friend, and this one was a gem; appropriately tough for a Friday, and with Dan's clever mind evident throughout. As with Lemonade, I loved 'Ponderosa raunch'.
My biggest surprise in this one was the fact that I pulled 'Rodino' out of my nether regions with just one perp letter filled in. Had no idea of the Shakespeare quote or 'Alois Lutz' (had an 'aha' when I got it, but they were really the only unknowns. Loved 'Support group/bras', of course. Great fun today; another Naddor gem.
Today is Chicken Soup for the Soul Day.
Did You Know?:
- Martin Van Buren was the first president actually born in the United States.
- Only 20 percent of the Sahara is covered with sand; the rest is rocky.
- Ramses condoms are named after Ramses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who fathered more than 160 children.
Morning, all!
Nice puzzle, overall. It took me multiple passes to get through, but once I got the theme reveal I was able to get a lot more of it. I finished unassisted, but only because I played "guess the letter" at the crossing of ESPOO and RODINO until I got the "tada!" at the end. Really nasty crossing, that...
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Another fun Dan Naddor puzzle. It took me a while to get started, as I had difficulty in the NW corner. STAR GAUZE was my first theme clue, but I only got it on the second pass.
I tried Acts up before realizing that the Class Clown CUTS UP.
Ulee sure gets a lot of mileage in crossword puzzles. We saw his name earlier this week, and today have the source of his gold, and a shoutout to Melissa.
Have a great weekend, all.
QOD: Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts. ~ Edward R. Murrow.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. and all cyber friends.
What a nice surprise, awakening to a Dan Naddor!
This was fun and clever though it took me a few passes to find traction. Finally the entire bottom was filled and PONDEROSARAUNCH alerted me to the theme.
Aa Dan is the King of Midsirection, I fumbled a few times but smiled when the true fill emerged. Tip for a smoker, ASH was a favorite.
WEBSUITE (web site) was also nice.
I first wanted OASTS for burners, but ETNAS soon became clear.
Altogether a doable, brilliant puzzle from our late friend.
Have a wonderful Friday!
Oh, dear, should be "misdirection" and Lemonade, I failed to thank you for your always informative blog.
Morning Lemonade, CC and All,
When I saw it was a Naddor on a Friday I knew the challenge was on. Took quite an effort which ended up needing red letter help to finish. The first theme I got was Ponderosa Raunch which is where I finally got some footing. Pecked an poked around for a bit. Took a break to have some home made chicken soup for the soul (my lunch) and made a bit more progress. Slapped my head at Support Bras. Got about two thirds of it done before going online.
Superb write up Lemonade. Thank you and to all our guest bloggers.
TGIF
Have a good one.
If Midsirection isn't a real word, it ought to be! Perhaps it's the name of a mythical ancient kingdom where people always tried to confuse each other...
Good Morning Lemondae, C.C. et al.
Loved the write-up Lemonade. Lots of really great info that I will try to keep somewhere in the grey matter. As always, you provided me with a link to another fav group - CCR with "Bad Moon Rising". That one will be bonging around in my head today (not a "bad" thing at all!).
My learning moment was the phrase "bite your thumb at us". I had never heard it, but I will definitely try to get it into my vocabulary. It just sounds so....British?
For once, I looked at the constructor's name before I started, and knew I was in for a pleasant Friday. I wan't disappointed. Loved this theme, and thought it would be an easy run when I filled in the entire NW in about 1 minute. Then I hit the NE...and ended up with more white than fills on my first pass. But I happened to stumble on the unifier at 47D, and worked my way back up to the top, filling in the theme answers as I went.
My favorite theme entry was "FRENCH FURY". Don't know why - it just hit a chord. Fav clues were "Support group" for BRAS and the devious "Fluted, in a way" for FIFED.
Dennis, if I were a guy, I would be really leery of using a condom named "Ramses" after reading your little comment ;-D
Today I leave for the Finger Lakes (wonder if they "bite their thumbs" or....). Have a great weekend everyone - TGIF!!
Good day everyone,
This was a bear, primarily because my first pass had many incorrect entries, such as piped instead of fifed, tons instead of lots, etc. Some theme clues were messed up too. Began with French Fray instead of fury and tent stress instead of duress. Even though it would not, I also wanted to use Diana (Rigg) instead of Uma. Diana was a stunning lady.
Favorite clue was support group. That was a snap!
At one point I was so frustrated I was going to enter "you" for the suffix with fruct-. At that time the NW corner was still totally blank.
I hated doing it, but I had to G Rodino. Could not remember the guys name.
I'm going to blame today's feeble mind on an on-coming cold. Tomorrow will be better.
From Hondo and Riley (new pup) have a nice weekend all.
Good Morning everyone. Thanks for the informative blog, Lemonade.
When I saw it was a Dan puzzle on a Friday, I knew it would be special, and it was, and I took my time to enjoy it. It was THAT GOOD.
Loved the theme words and, for once, got the theme with my first theme fill of STAR GAUZE. It helped with the others; especially FRENCH FURY. ESPOO, a very large suburb of Helsinki was a gimme because I had attended a conference there 20 years ago. ADAR, LUTZ, and LLOYDS were WAGS, as was SPEE for whom the Graf Spee, sunk by the Brits off Uruguay, was named. Liked the clueing for BAD DEBUT, ARARAT, and BRAS. The perps helped get me started with Peter RODINO which welled from deep in my brain recesses. I think he was from New Jersey. First wanted Farsi for IRANI, but the perps said otherwise. No lookups needed.
Have a good day.
thehondohurricane, what kind of pup?
Lemonade, forgot to say, the blog was a great read today.
HeartRx, I agree with your comment about Ramses; I always thought the Trojan name was better anyway, because of the surprise inside...
Dennis,
LOL
Lucina,
I love to cook, so I read your recipe for the famous "Lopez Family Tamales" from last night. Really??? 20 POUNDS of masa??? Since there are only two of us, I guess I'll have to forego this one, and get my tamales at the Playa Del Carmen restaurant up the street. Sigggghhhh...I bet yours are Waaaay better !
Hi all. Lemonade, good blogging, and thanks for the shout out.
I was so frustrated with trying to get to googlemaps this morning for ESPOO, that it really spoiled my enjoyment of this CW. For me it was a struggle, since it was one where Dan included a lot of names, and you know how I am with names. But the theme was fun, and those names I did know helped: FAUST, LUTZ and ROHE. The rest were WAGs and g'spots.
For CUts up I had ACTS up, and never noticed what it did to the perps. Similar results with HILL and LROT by using LOTS for TONS. Other look ups were UMA (Diana is the only true Emma, and what is all that other Tommy rot about superhero avengers when you look up Avengers movie?) and RODINO, since American politics wasn't on my radar when that was happening.
UGG boots have been around a lot longer in Oz, since they're made from sheepskin. I had a pair of winter slippers I bought there in 2004, which had finally developed a hole and the fleece inside had worn off inside by this year. So I left them there. My friend said she could recycle the innards for comfort padding for the orphan baby possums she rehabilitates. They've gotten a lot more expensive now so I'm opting for substitutes this year.
Those unbras would never work with a decent set of natural knockers, would they?
And I'm a Bunsen Burner person too, but remembered ETNA from here before.
Hi gang -
We have 10-yr-old granddaughter Rebekka with us today (no school - teacher's conferences), so this is a quick in and out.
Excellent blogging, Lemonade, and great links.
One correction - AMC did not fold. It was bought out by Chrysler ca 1988, in an earlier merger of unequals. That is why Chrysler has the Jeep marque. I wound up having some former AMC guys working for me.
'Bekka is in a play opening tonight - Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. We're going to play a little Wii, have lunch, and then some quiet time this afternoon.
We're going to see her on Sunday, and again next Friday.
IMBO.
Cheers!
JzB
Nice write up my favorite Counselor. This offering from Dan was tough for me today, but for once the theme answers helped me get some of the more obscure answers. I knew I was in trouble when I came across Bucolic-pastoral and creosote. Espoo, Tod, etnas, and Rohe were obtained by WAG’s and red letter help. I had Doh for Duh and that didn’t help. I never thought the tent dress was very flattering. I liked the crossing of sedate and at sea as that is how I feel when sailing. Favorite today was “tip for a smoker” – ash.
Lucina, those tamales sound wonderful. I looked up the process of creating masa and found it confusing. Can’t you just buy it?
Dennis, I have never heard of Ramses condums. 160 children? That guy must have been busy.
My dear counselor, I will never forget Hoss’ horse’s name….Chub. Somehow that always made me snicker.
Well, time to break out the Uggs as they are calling for our first measurable snow this weekend. I hope everyone enjoys theirs.
JzB, of course you are correct; Lee Iacocca wanted Jeep, though the true AMC brands were all gone by then as a result of the ALLIANCE with Renault. lee was convinced he could make Jeep and upscale export.
Hi everyone:
I'm sure you all know I'm going to say I had lots of trouble with this (love Dan Naddor) being a Friday and YOU ARE CORRECT!!!
That said, I did most of it, but am sorry to say even after getting 47D, I still could not figure out what the long clues were all about. I understood STAR GAUZE(GAZE), but the rest on the long answers went over my head. Sigh.
Kazie: I have the same trouble you do with names, especially the more recent ones.
Lemonade: great write up, at least I could understand what I missed in the puzzle. Thanks!
HeartRx, laughed at your comment on the Ramses condom...160 children???
The advertising/marketing people must have been hoping that the public would not know about Ramses' virile status.
Good Morning C.C.,Lemonade and all,
Lemonade, great blog! Glad you enjoyed your personal shout outs- it did seem uncanny, since you were doing the blog.
Got 'star gauze'and'you too'fairly early and then on my way. My big stumble was the Espoo-Rodino' cross; one blank- not so bad.
'Ararat' really stumped me for a while- fun clue. Got 'ash' and 'support group' right away.
This puzzle was 'mucho' fun{in honor of Lucina's tamale recipe}.
Dennis, you're in great form- love it!
THH, Does Riley feel at home yet?
Loved your remark re: 'support
group'.
Have a nice day everyone.
Hi All ~!
Add me to the ACts up over CUts up list,and a WAG on the "O" too, for the ESPOO/RODINO crossing.
Couldn't get on earlier, some error with the web-page (I am East Coast).
My favorite? STAR GAUZE - that's funny.
PONDEROSA RAUNCH was was where I got my foothold. I caught just a few moments of that show - too young for me; Lorne Greene was this guy to me - personally, I still think the original was the best. The new B.G. was too silly for me.
I have owned two AMCs in my time - a '74 Hornet, and an '80 Concord - that one saved my life in a serious collision back in 1992. Good ol' American steel, it was still running after the crash !
Yes, TGIF - busy weekend, still got good weather!
Enjoy !
Splynter
Jeannie, not since my grandmother's time has anyone in the family made the masa. We buy it freshly ground from a store that specializes in that.
Lucina, I've never seen it anywhere. I guess it's not a masa market item...
Yes, I know, I know.
Dennis:
It is nice to see that even if the weather was chilly in Florida, your brief vacation has reinvigorated your wit. You are on a roll which I do not want to masa with.
Lemonade, yeah, that last one was even painful to type.
I felt like a masa-chist.
Good Morning All, Love those remaining Dan Naddor puzzles. As soon as we see his name we can expect some unexpectables.
I liked seeing 11D LUTZ (thanks for the nod, Lemonade). That, and getting 13A CREOSOTE, almost made up for not remembering 38D ROHE. That totally messed up the crossing (yep, me too) 49A ESPOO and 46D RODINO. I was forced to do some last minute G-ing to finish up the puzzle.
Kazie, had a laugh at your unBRAS comment @ 9:32.
31D ASH, another clever DN fill. A New Zealand fact is that about 28% of young adults between 25 and 34 are smokers. We saw vending machines in malls and restaurants with flashy graphics and slogans like "Smoking Kills!" and "Smoking = Cancer!". It is a pretty health conscious country, so I would have thought less smokers.
Loved your links, Lemonade. SNIDEly was a favorite at our house too. Rocky and Bullwinkle was as terrific show. Kids loved it and adults "got it". Sometimes I'd laugh so hard I'd start to tear up and my masa-cara would run down my cheeks.
I guess ready-made masa is more easily obtainable in areas where there is a higher Hispanic population. Masa harina, which is finely ground corn flour and might be found in other areas (check the flour aisle) can also be used to make tamales, corn tortillas, empanadas and more yummy stuff.
About Chicken Soup for the Soul books, either you love'm or...not. I love real chicken soup for a cold, but the essential me is fine without shmaltz and noodles.
I forgot to compliment Jazzbumpa's poem yesterday...very nice. Those who can (Jazz), do. Those who can't (me), post others.
Terrific puzzle by Dan. Has it been a year?
Loved the write up Lemon! Lemon goes good on fish you know...uggg (my bad)
I never mastered the triple lutz, a double was doable from time to time. Very hard jump, brusy and painful.
Lol @ Kazie! Lets hear it for a " decent set of natural knockers" !!!! Dennis is there a day for that?
TGIF totally
Dennis,
Collie. His picture will be up as soon as I get my Tech (Wife) in gear.
Hi all.
Adm Graf Spee was an easy ans.
Read the book and saw the movie.
Langsdorff defied Berlin and scuttled his ship rather than face the three British cruisers.
Will miss Dan's xwds.
Take care.
So if I understand this correctly, the tamale makings are now masa produced?
Robin:
Every day, darlin', every day.
Good Afternoon, I am hip-deep in 13 yr olds and so can only say hi and say how I loved the puzzle and Lemonade's voluminous and wonderful write-up. The theme today was elegant, fun and even helpful!
Uma is not the Mrs. Peel I remember either and my oldest daughter was born during the 6 day war. I am going to have to look up what the heck Ulee's Gold is.
More time tomorrow since the weather is brutal here today and I will have a nice Saturday Morning to linger over coffee and a 4* monster!
I love the way this group grabs on something and it becomes masa-mania!
Morning all,
The first two themes I filled were HOLD FAUST and FRENCH FURY. I was thinking the theme was F YOU. (Actually, I was rather disappointed it wasn't.)
I agree with Barry: Crossing ROHE and ESPOO was not nice. With out the benefit of red letters, I left that one blank.
CA, It's late 'cause I've been in the mountains again, but welcome home.
Jeannie, enjoy the snow. We got 6" at 7000 ft this past week. I was putting a coat of varnish on new paneling in the cabin. The fumes were real fun. Used them as an excuse to go fishing as soon as it stopped snowing. That's a beautiful experience.
Regarding etnas, All of the online dictionaries refer to them as synonyms of bunsen burners, but I seem to have a vague memory that they are the little alcohol lamps the preceded the bunsen.
2 of my far-flung siblings (One from Melbourne [hi, Kazie] and one from Guelph, Ontario are here to visit my parents, so I'm gone.
On the breast (as opposed to Brest) front, my point with the link was there are many ways to be fooled in life and cleavage that entices may be the product of injection or other outside products, as shown. It is all about all natural.
Robin, we are all safe to be our most outrageous selves, protected by the cyber miles, but it is true that Lemons and fish were made for each other; they bring out the best in both. I am not sure why you referenced the boots after your comment.
We puzzle solvers are always trying to masa new skills.
Good afternoon Lemonade, CC, et al., What a fitting puzzle for a Fri and a Naddor at that! I had trouble all over the place but still, since I like it hard, it was enjoyable, plus I ran out of time this morning.
Lemonade: great write up. Thank you for all the links...CCR, Snidely, and those 'almost' bras. They would not work with my DD breasticles. Loved the thumb biting deal. That's new to me. I'd rather say suck my thumb and bite something else, but oh well, it's just anatomy. it all works. Your reference to romance in 48A made me LOL, really. So true...eat 'em up and spit 'em out. There's another notch on my handle as another schizzle has fizzled... but there're 2 more to replace it. Gotta keep movin'. Can't 'hold faust' too long for fear of getting lassoed. Why settle down and make one man miserable when I can continue to make so many men happy...at the Ponderosa Raunch! So cute!
Gotta run. From yesterday: Thank you to our veterans for everything and to my beloved late husband for his sacrifice.
Happy belated birthday CA to your GAH. Hope it was a fantasticle evening.
Hang in there Ferma - thinkin' about you.
Dennis: if Ramses had 160 children, he must've been shootin' silver bullets and the condoms in his name have got to be a foot long and made of high strength light weight bullet proof kevlar. What a man! What a condom! I'll drink to that conception! Cheers!
Aha! All it takes is a little MASAge to light up this group! I'll have fun sharing your comments with the family.
Yes, Clear Ayes, it's masa harina (silent h) that can be used as a substitute.
Any area that has even a negligible hispanic population now offers some of those products.
Re all of the CORNY puns and jokes:
NO MAS(a)! No MAS(a)!!
Clear Ayes - I remember that seeing the Southern Cross was on your 'bucket list' for your trip. Was the experience what you had expected? How did the viewing compare, say, with Orion or Cassiopeia? Just wondering.
Grumpy, jeez, first we masa-cre the English language, now we masa-cre Spanish as well.
More Massa.
Pretty easy puzzle for a Friday (32 minutes). I think BADDEBUT was the last bit I filled in. Didn't know LUTZ at 11D or REX at 42A or TOD at 4D, but had enough info to figure them out.
Thanks, Lemonade. You are a "Masa"ter blogger. Good afternoon to all.
I couldn't get the puzzle online this morning, but tried again after lunch.
I had the frame for NW right away with PASTORAL, PCBS, and LETT. ARARAT and ROB were givens. I also knew ESAU and LUTZ in NE, but I fell for the acTSUP error, too. I had all the other accrosses in that section before I corrected it.
I knew EMORY and ROHE. Never knew ULEE except in crosswords. Even though I am a history and politics enthusiast, I did not remember RODINO. Never knew ESPOO. That cross was the last to fall and I had to "run" the vowels before the big "tada" came. Everything else that I didn't know fell to perps.
We are expecting colder weather here starting tonight. Our high today was 57, so I guess the front has aleady come through.
I made tamales one time years ago. It was so much trouble, I decided to buy them after that. We have a couple of great places locally to buy them by the dozen.
Time to get back to the book I am reading, The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.
I guess we should all move to Masa-chusetts
C.A. -
You're very sweet. Thanks.
Cheers!
JzB
Let's all go down to the wharf, we can find some MASA-BAITERS there :)
'Course the other kind can be found anywhere :)
Spitzboov, yes, we did see the Southern Cross constellation when in NZ. We had been to dinner at a mountain restaurant in Queenstown and several of our group went out on the terrace to have a glass of that good NZ Sauvinon Blanc. Crux (SC) was easily pointed out by one of the restaurant staff.
I have to say I am not an expert (not even close) on the night skies, no matter which hemisphere I happen to be in. My desire to see the Southern Cross had more to do with my late father's wish to see it. He was a lifelong astronomy student as well as a natural history lover. One of his bucket list items was to take my mother on a National Geo type cruise to the Galapagos Island. He hoped to do some serious sky gazing along the way and add the SC to his own personal "I saw it with my own eyes" list. Unfortunately, he died before he could make any serious plans.
My personal desire had more to do with the literary and romantic notion of being "under southern skies" and to give a nod and wink to my father's memory. I got that moment and it was very touching for me.
Hands up for masa-baiters....whoops...
At least you have a hand free...
CA,
Did you also manage to see Milford Sound when it wasn't shrouded in mist? I managed it in 1966, but not when DH and I were there in 1974. I guess it's pretty rare that it's clear.
Under the circumstances, I think Lucina should be our masa-cot for the day. OTOH, since Dennis jumped on the band wagon early on, perhaps he should be our masa-culine masa-cot.
CA - Thanks for sharing the special context of your SC sighting.
Happy Friday, everyone,
This has been the most enjoyable blogging I've read since I joined y'all! Thanks, Lucina for coming up with the kick-off! I give Dennis's last entry (7:45 p.m.) a standing ovation. Best yet and not even a mention of Masa!
I liked this puzzle lots, though I didn't get that NW filled in till last! I just could NOT think of 'pastoral' until then. But it did come finally. I had to look up 'Espoo' on a map to get that first 'o'. That finally gave me 'Rodino', which I didn't know. I wasn't really paying much attention to politics at that time in my life, I guess. Figured out most of the other stuff without help except for perps. I liked the theme and got the theme answers fairly easily except for 'baddebut'. But that filled finally, too.
I have seen that 'bite the thumb' gesture in a movie about the 'mob', I think it was, so thought it was Italian. I'd never known anything about it until your very helpful blog, Lemonade. Thanks, and also for the whole writeup. It was great, as usual.
Favorite answer: Ponderosa Raunch.
Favorite clue: 'flute' in a way.
Oh, that movie may have been 'Prizzi's Honor'. What a good one that was!
Okay, so it was 7:10 (my time is now 5:40 p.m. Almost time for Rachel Maddow. Gotta go!
We should probably put masa in the cold, cold ground...or at the very least in Dennis` nether regions!
Um.....I think I'll vote for the ground, but thanks for the thought..
Anon:
Windhover rule # 1:
Too much is not enough.
It really has been a fun day, which I think is the highest tribute we can give to Dan Naddor who has, and continues to provide us with so much enjoyment. We also have revived our thoughtful approach to double entendre, with many little grey cells exercised today. My thoughts go out to his family who lost so much more.
One thought for the day, is the unpredictability of this blog. When I write my commentary, I think about possible reactions and I am uniformly wrong. I also wonder, as someone who did psychology research for a few years, what factors determine the interest and the players on a day to day basis. Any theories? WH, you always have a theory. Buckeye, I know you are out there somewhere...
Oh, and my final question, what was Peter Rodino doing in Dennis' nether regions?
My great grandfather on my mother's side fathered 33 children, and he was neither a pharaoh, nor rich. He also had but two wives, the first died in childbirth delivering the 17th, the secon could only manage 16. I think with a harem, 160 may be slacking off, especially considering the lack of interest in birth control.
And, not that it mattered but Ben's horse was BUCK .
Good evening Lemonade, C.C. and all,
a lively write up today, Lemonade,
lively blogging with lots of laughs, and how great it is that we are still getting xwds from the Mass-tah!
Even though I left the SE incomplete, I thoroughly enjoyed all the clever clues.I had to laugh at eponymous. Actually, I was laughing at myself thinking what happened to my education????
Tent duress was my favorite as it conjured up many vivid memories, none of which was setting up camp.
Spitzboov,I so enjoyed "the Last Flight"..thanks for posting.
CA, that was a lovely story you shared with us this evening.
Where's our mass-seuse?
What an enjoyable Dan Naddor puzzle today. Hand up for not remembering the vowel at the cross of ESPOO and RODINO.
Fun "masa" banter today! I always enjoy the intelligence and wit on this blog.
We're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, so I've been marketing and cooking much of the day. Gotta get together with the family when we can.
And in the mode of "Thanksgiving", thank you to C.C. for originating this site, and to all of you who are providing the daily blogs I appreciate all of you!
Enjoy the night!
Lemonade:
Of course I have a theory, but you have a practice. And we empiricists consider practice superior to theory.
But since you asked, what we have here is a community. The idea of community is often mythical, but I believe this one is real. That we are diverse goes without saying, but we coalesce around so much more than the puzzle we do each day. We have concern for each other, and we mostly tolerate each others foibles. We're a small town, and we really should have our own zip code.
WH at 10pm.
Well said.
Hola Everyone, Another late night in finishing the puzzle, but finish I did. I didn't realize it was a Dan Naddor until I was almost done and then was surprised that I had completed it on my own.
Hands up for the crossing of Espoo and Rodino. I had all but the O in both and my last fill was a guess. I put in O and was correct, for once.
I caught on to the theme with Bad Debut. I hopped and skipped through the puzzle with all of the known answers, then filled in You too for the puzzle hint. That really got me rolling.
Etnas, and Mies van der Rohe were both answers I've learned from doing crosswords.
I've enjoyed the banter this evening. The word play on Masa has been so much fun. I had a couple of ideas but before I could enter them, someone else had already done so. We really have to be quick on the keyboard to get a word in edgewise!!
CA, thank you for sharing your SC thoughts.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone.
Thank you all for the MASSive entertainment today! And thank you, C.C. for being so tolerant with us. Puzzling can lead to great fun.
See you all tomorrow.
We hope you all have enjoyed tonight's performance of Masapiece Theater. Good night.
Santa,I just read the last of yesterday's comments and your sign-off was wonderful! I'm still LOL, all by myself! You're the best!
Lucina, I suspect C.C. is delighted with yesterday's interaction. That surely is a sign of a very successful blog!
Windhover, I will always think of this group as a community! You are so right!
Buckeye, you don't know what you're missing!
Ferma and Frenchie, Keep well!
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