Theme: None
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 32
Bruce Venzke often has grid-spanners in his puzzles, themed & themeless. Today we have:
17A. Like versatile antennas : OMNIDIRECTIONAL. New word to me.
20A. More important matters : BIGGER FISH TO FRY. Nice answer.
50A. 1890s warning song for sailors : ASLEEP IN THE DEEP. No idea. Maybe Spitzboov is familiar with the song. Such a deep voice.
54A. Avon work, say : DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES. This could be the seed entry. Sparkling.
Triple columns of 7s are then stacked in each corner. Very choppy solving for me. Some of the clues are way out of my league.
Across:
1. Big event : GALA. Easy start.
5. Acid-tongued : ACERB
10. Soyuz letters : CCCP. Cyrillic for USSR.
14. Lakers forward Lamar : ODOM. The guy on the right. The only Laker I recognize is Kobe Bryant.
15. Kentucky college town with an annual Spoonbread Festival : BEREA. What is Spoonbread?
16. Ding Dong relative : HO HO. What, no shout out to our sweet Santa?
21. Picking up a prescription, say : ERRAND
22. Atelier items : EASELS
23. Go green, in a way : REUSE
24. PETA concern : FUR
27. Karaoke essential : LYRIC. Boomer loves Karaoke.
28. ID theft item : SSN
29. Compound cry of displeasure : BOO! HISS!. Well, I sure hear "Boo!" and the hissing sound. Never "Hiss!".
32. Protected whale : SEI. Not familiar with sei whale, Wikipedia says "sei" is the Norwegian word for pollock.
33. Jalopy : CRATE. Did not know crate can mean "old car".
34. Primatologist's subject : APE
37. Spa fixture : JACUZZI. Scrabbly.
39. Scale notes : FAs. Musical scale.
42. Bit of rodeo gear : REATA
44. Ron who played Tarzan : ELY
45. Memorable WWII gesture : V-SIGN
47. Boat ramp site : MARINA
49. Saw-toothed formation : SIERRA
55. Seine feeder : AUBE. No idea. It's pronounced like OH-b.
56. TV exec Arledge : ROONE. Learned his name from doing Xword. Longtime chairman of ABC News.
57. Longtime Balkan leader : TITO. A Heroic figure in our history book.
58. Got the lead out : SPED. "Get the lead out" is new idiom to me.
59. Expressed reproval of : TSKED
60. Orwell's alma mater : ETON. Guessed.
Down:
1. Nestlé peanut snack : GOOBERS. Why peanuts are called goobers is beyond me.
2. Finds appealing : ADMIRES
3. Words signifying commitment : LONG RUN. I don't get this clue.
4. Juanita's friends : AMIGAS
5. "__ Without Wings": Celtic Thunder song : A BIRD. First encounter with the song. Oh God, it sounds so good.
6. "What's My Line?" panelist : CERF (Bennett). I can never remember his name.
7. "... kissed thee __ killed thee": Othello : ERE I. Could only get the answer if it were Elba related.
8. LPs : RECS (Records)
9. Soak : BATHE
10. Particular : CHOOSY
11. Gives : CONFERS
12. Commercial tuna : CHARLIE. This refers to StarKist's Charlie the Tuna I presume?
13. Study of govt. : POLY-SCI. Political Science?
18. Bright star in Cygnus : DENEB
19. Tilted type: Abbr. : ITALS (Italics)
24. Compel : FORCE
25. Ryder rival : U-HAUL
26. Like five-diamond hotels : RITZY
30. Andean staple : OCA. Xword staple.
31. Slangy word before or after "who" : SEZ
34. Ill-fated attackers of 1588 and 1589 : ARMADAS. The Spanish Armada.
35. Meteorological metaphor : PEA SOUP. Dense fog.
36. Spot for a stud : EARLOBE. Stud earrings.
37. Critic Maslin : JANET. Film/Literary critic for the NY Times. Foreign to me.
38. Penn and others : IVIES. Was thinking of Sean Penn rather than the University of Pennsylvania.
39. Like s'more-makers' faces : FIRE-LIT
40. Accept : AGREE TO
41. Attaches with a click : SNAPS ON. What click?
43. Like most stadiums : TIERED
46. Calm : SEDATE
48. Left on the boat : APORT
49. Tear up : SHRED
51. Church exchange, perhaps : I DOs. See, this is the commitment I was thinking for the 3D clue.
52. Breakfast spot : NOOK
53. Muscle quality : TONE. I want her arms. Super-toned.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 32
Bruce Venzke often has grid-spanners in his puzzles, themed & themeless. Today we have:
17A. Like versatile antennas : OMNIDIRECTIONAL. New word to me.
20A. More important matters : BIGGER FISH TO FRY. Nice answer.
50A. 1890s warning song for sailors : ASLEEP IN THE DEEP. No idea. Maybe Spitzboov is familiar with the song. Such a deep voice.
54A. Avon work, say : DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES. This could be the seed entry. Sparkling.
Triple columns of 7s are then stacked in each corner. Very choppy solving for me. Some of the clues are way out of my league.
Across:
1. Big event : GALA. Easy start.
5. Acid-tongued : ACERB
10. Soyuz letters : CCCP. Cyrillic for USSR.
14. Lakers forward Lamar : ODOM. The guy on the right. The only Laker I recognize is Kobe Bryant.
15. Kentucky college town with an annual Spoonbread Festival : BEREA. What is Spoonbread?
16. Ding Dong relative : HO HO. What, no shout out to our sweet Santa?
21. Picking up a prescription, say : ERRAND
22. Atelier items : EASELS
23. Go green, in a way : REUSE
24. PETA concern : FUR
27. Karaoke essential : LYRIC. Boomer loves Karaoke.
28. ID theft item : SSN
29. Compound cry of displeasure : BOO! HISS!. Well, I sure hear "Boo!" and the hissing sound. Never "Hiss!".
32. Protected whale : SEI. Not familiar with sei whale, Wikipedia says "sei" is the Norwegian word for pollock.
33. Jalopy : CRATE. Did not know crate can mean "old car".
34. Primatologist's subject : APE
37. Spa fixture : JACUZZI. Scrabbly.
39. Scale notes : FAs. Musical scale.
42. Bit of rodeo gear : REATA
44. Ron who played Tarzan : ELY
45. Memorable WWII gesture : V-SIGN
47. Boat ramp site : MARINA
49. Saw-toothed formation : SIERRA
55. Seine feeder : AUBE. No idea. It's pronounced like OH-b.
56. TV exec Arledge : ROONE. Learned his name from doing Xword. Longtime chairman of ABC News.
57. Longtime Balkan leader : TITO. A Heroic figure in our history book.
58. Got the lead out : SPED. "Get the lead out" is new idiom to me.
59. Expressed reproval of : TSKED
60. Orwell's alma mater : ETON. Guessed.
Down:
1. Nestlé peanut snack : GOOBERS. Why peanuts are called goobers is beyond me.
2. Finds appealing : ADMIRES
3. Words signifying commitment : LONG RUN. I don't get this clue.
4. Juanita's friends : AMIGAS
5. "__ Without Wings": Celtic Thunder song : A BIRD. First encounter with the song. Oh God, it sounds so good.
6. "What's My Line?" panelist : CERF (Bennett). I can never remember his name.
7. "... kissed thee __ killed thee": Othello : ERE I. Could only get the answer if it were Elba related.
8. LPs : RECS (Records)
9. Soak : BATHE
10. Particular : CHOOSY
11. Gives : CONFERS
12. Commercial tuna : CHARLIE. This refers to StarKist's Charlie the Tuna I presume?
13. Study of govt. : POLY-SCI. Political Science?
18. Bright star in Cygnus : DENEB
19. Tilted type: Abbr. : ITALS (Italics)
24. Compel : FORCE
25. Ryder rival : U-HAUL
26. Like five-diamond hotels : RITZY
30. Andean staple : OCA. Xword staple.
31. Slangy word before or after "who" : SEZ
34. Ill-fated attackers of 1588 and 1589 : ARMADAS. The Spanish Armada.
35. Meteorological metaphor : PEA SOUP. Dense fog.
36. Spot for a stud : EARLOBE. Stud earrings.
37. Critic Maslin : JANET. Film/Literary critic for the NY Times. Foreign to me.
38. Penn and others : IVIES. Was thinking of Sean Penn rather than the University of Pennsylvania.
39. Like s'more-makers' faces : FIRE-LIT
40. Accept : AGREE TO
41. Attaches with a click : SNAPS ON. What click?
43. Like most stadiums : TIERED
46. Calm : SEDATE
48. Left on the boat : APORT
49. Tear up : SHRED
51. Church exchange, perhaps : I DOs. See, this is the commitment I was thinking for the 3D clue.
52. Breakfast spot : NOOK
53. Muscle quality : TONE. I want her arms. Super-toned.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Hi all.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the bear I was hoping for
but more than OK for a Saturday.
Aube was the only real unknown. It was filled in by the Ds before I got there.
Counted nine ans. that had some thing to do with water.
Nice that Charlie got a shout out.
Loved the grid spanning ans.
Take care.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteTypical Saturday puzzle, in terms of difficulty. There was plenty of good stuff, but also some not so good stuff...
The good stuff included some really nice long answers (OMNIDIRECTIONAL, BIGGER FISH TO FRY, DOOR TO DOOR SALES), and the fact that they were stacked on top of each other was amazing. I also loved the CHARLIE Tuna clue and thought that BOO HISS was fresh and clever. I was also proud of myself for remembering SEI from past puzzles.
The bad stuff included some complete unknowns (ASLEEP IN THE DEEP, AUBE) and some real boners (ITALS was really awful). The one that really held me up, though was POLYSCI. Yes, it stands for Political Science, but it's actually POLI-SCI. I suppose some people misspell it as POLY and perhaps it has even started to become accepted with that spelling, but it's just plain wrong, sorry.
Oh, and C.C., with regard to LONG RUN, think about the phrase, "In the LONG RUN, it's better to have..." I agree it's not a very precise clue, but I was at least able to get the gist.
ReplyDeleteC.C. Great write-up!!!
ReplyDeleteCHARLIE being in the grid was an appropriate "shout-out" to my best friend.
(Thanks Bruce, your check is in the mail, too).
TITO was a gimmie. Of course that changed serene to SEDATE.
Had souse for Soak, but that BIGGER FISH TO FRY took care of that, also.
Otherwise this was an easy and FUN Saturday offering.
Yup, I love GOOBERS (is that a Florida thingy?).
Not so much PEA SOUP. Would rather have Clam Chowder.
But the answer of the day, for me, was FIRE-LIT.
Could almost picture those kids making their S'more's.
Lookin' forward to tonight's SUNSET toast.
(It's a bit nippy (45 degrees) here right now ... but heading up to 72 later today).
Good Morning C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up, C.C. I love your take on things - you nailed it with most of the same comments I have today. POLY SCI - I think Barry is right, of course - it should be "POLI-SCI".
For 3D I had a hard time with "LONG RUN", because I usually think of relationships as "long term"? But that's just me. I filled the top half pretty quickly, but just wasn't on Mr. Venzke's wavelength in the bottom.
I had to gg DENEB (I can never remember those "Cygnus stars") and critic JANET Maslin.
After getting "FIRE-LIT" (yes that was a great one!) and the two long answers, I finally finished a bit at a time. This was really fun for a Saturday, and enjoyable run.
Have a great day everyone!
Good Morning C.C. and all,
ReplyDeleteBruce and I were on the same wavelength today. I struggled for just a minute and then confidently dropped in OMNIDIRECTIONAL and was off and running.
My favorite answers were CHARLIE and BOO HISS. SEI and AUBE were new to me. I remember "What's My Line" from way back and found this clip with Bennett CERF hosting.
First snow of the season in Chicago today. About 3" so far, but it's still coming down.
Hello Puzzlers - I discovered that KNOCKING ON DOORS has the right number of letters for 54a. Sort of bollixed that area for a bit.
ReplyDeleteI agree that putting an S on ITALS is sub-optimal, along with the Y in POLY SCI. Still, a good Saturday stretcher, and ya gotta love that grid design!
Nice to see your blog style C.C. and thanks again for all you do.
Cheers!
Morning CC and All,
ReplyDeleteI would say a typical Saturday, even though I don't typically participate on weekends. I liked the multi-worded grid spanners. That kicked things off for me starting with Door to Door Sales. Lots of perp help needed for Asleep in the Deep. Great song! Reminds me of my grandfather. I agree with HeartRx that it should be Poli-Sci.
Goobers Jelly is a favorite.
Boo Hiss reminded me of when my parents took the four of us to the local college to see a series of black and white Tarzan movies. The college kids really got us into it Booing and Hissing. Lots of fun!
Fun Puzzle and a super write up CC.
Travel Team B-ball game today. Not a bad deal seeing how we've had rainy weather for a week which is continuing for the weekend. I'm going to have to put the oil skins on and get some stuff done outside. Might get some snow on Monday!
Have a great day!
Good day folks,
ReplyDeleteLots of fun clues today, and once I got going (from bottom up) things came together rather easy. I too never heard of Aube or Sei. I relied on my other fills being correct.
Have to run... surprise party for old friend of my better half today..... hoping I can sneak away , find a TV, and watch college FB. I probably have a better chance of winning the Lotto.
C. C. 喂。怎样你是今天？ (Hello, how are you today?) et al, What a pleasant solve today! C.C.’s take on our culture and wonderful write-ups are also a pleasant start to any day! I had all sorts of problems posting yesterday and late Thursday. When I get bad prompts and keep trying, I usually get 5 duplicates so I decided not to do that but then nothing came up after one attempt. I wanted to add a J Cup reference from earlier in the week as it is the name of a drinking cup used at our school made by the Dart Company. C’est la vie!
ReplyDeleteI imagine our constructors scour the literature looking for 15 letter phrases and then immediately get them into puzzles. These spanners were very “gettable”. The top of the puzzle fell quickly but due to the nature of the structure of the puzzle, all those letters did not give much help as I headed south.
Musings –
-CCCP was familiar to my childhood on early spacecraft and Olympic athletes
-HOHO reminded me of the old joke, “Why is it hard to get a Miss America contestant in Boise? No one wants to wear the banned I DA HO.” Another corruption of our language!
-Didn’t know JACUZZI had 2 Z’s and Masseuse did not fit
-rIata = rEata?
-What’s My Line was a staple for me on Sunday Night TV when there were only 3 options anyway
-Choosy Mothers Choose Jif?
-Was trying to think of a type of Tuna instead of “Sorry Charlie.”
-Wanted Pasture for a stud location. Seems like that would be a great retirement option. Right Dennis?
-Penn reminded me of great actor/political loony Sean Penn hugging Hugo Chavez.
-STEADY? No. SERENE? No. SEDATE? Bingo
-VOWS? Not so much. IDOS.
Go Big Red against the Okies today!
Good Morning C.C. and all. No, I was not familiar with ASLEEP IN THE DEEP, but I thank you for posting the link. Nice tune.
ReplyDeleteNot too difficult for a Saturday. Filled in the South first. The long double stacks were readily recognizable phrases after a few perps were entered. GALA at 1a was my first fill and a WAG, a good omen for the rest of the solve. BEREA was also a guess, but has been used before. Got the SEI whale from the perps. No searches; a fun puzzle overall.
DENEB - For those who are interested, Deneb can be seen in the US at 9pm local time at about 36º elevation and 300ºT azimuth at this time of year.
Have a good day.
Good morning CC and all, it was a fun and somewhat easy puzzle for me. I was able to complete this puzzle in about one half hour without outside help, except for 37D “critic Maslin.” CC it may be regional, but we use “boo hiss” in this area. Sei was an unknown, but the perps solved that one for me. “What’s My Line” was a weekly staple at our house when I was growing up. My parents would not miss that show. 38A Penn sure led me in the wrong direction as I was thinking Sean and I needed Jacuzzi before the aha moment.
ReplyDeleteFavorite clue/answer was 39D Like s'more-makers' faces : FIRE-LIT. I have seen many a young person sit around the camp fire as my wife prepared s’mores for them to hold over the fire.
And at Barry, I also had poli and had to change it when I got the long across fill. Also, I agree with you about the correct use of “y” for “I.”
Hope you all have a great Saturday.
Oh yeah - I also had to look at REATA a couple times, but I guess it is a valid alternate spelling of the more "familiar" riata.
ReplyDeleteC.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle, loved the smore's clue. The grid spanners were inventive but gettable, and not a testy Saturday, with some unknowns but fair placement with perps.
As far as goobers and peanuts, it took a while, but it is a facinating Story of the Peanut and how it came to be important not only from the Africans brought here as slaves, but the work of George Washington Carver a truly great scientist, who made sure the world could understand the importance of all things, including the then lowly peanut.
I personally like toned arms, and think if any woman wants to be ripped they should look to the workout of appropriately named KELLY RIPA who looks great at 40. They would not call it a work out, if it did not require work.
Not too difficult for a Saturday puzzle (38 minutes). I solved the bottom half of the puzzle first, then the NW corner and finally the NE corner.
ReplyDeleteOne of my amateur radio antennas is a yagi (unidirectional). It pumps all of the transmitted energy in one direction and receives selectively from that same direction. Another is bidirectional, pumping equal amounts of energy in two opposite directions(East-West), and a third is an omnidirectional vertical antenna. Only the yagi exhibits gain (actually increases the radiated energy). Yagi devotees say that the omnidirectional vertical radiates equally badly in all directions, but I've had good success with all types over the years.
Oh, and for the LONG RUN clue, just think about telling someone you are not interested in leaving but you are in it for the LONG RUN. " I am not just looking for a quick profit, I am in this stock for the long run." "Baby, I am not here just to get in your pants, I am here for the long run." Or maybe best said by the EAGLES .
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Windhover discoursing on BEREA and SPOONBREAD
later
A themeless Saturday puzzle and I tried it for a change. And I DID IT! Am I getting better or was it easier than usual?
ReplyDeleteC.C., spoonbread is like soft cornbread made with white corn meal. I love it. Just put some butter on top and I'm in spoonbread heaven.
For Penn, I was thinking of Penn of Penn and Teller. But I got it having gone to an Ivy League school.
Re. Long Run, that's something that goes on for a long time like a play or a dispute or a relationship. So I guess you can say somebody is committed to it.
For some reason I was well tuned in to the 4 long answers and got them with only a few vertical fills. The rest of the puzzle fell pretty quickly once those were complete. I had a little struggle in the middle but once I got JACUZZI the rest was cake.
ReplyDeleteI'm back home in Mountain View with Nora the dog who took the travel pretty much in stride. Although she looked pretty distraught as they brought her kennel into United Airlines baggage claim, she quickly recovered with some water and TLC. This morning she is getting to know her new house and yard.
MH - Beautiful dog. What is her breed?
ReplyDeleteI don't have time to work the x-word this morning, I have to meet another A/C salesman to see if I can't get my parents units replaced before they freeze.
ReplyDeleteI had to tell you what happened when I took the cat out to my parents. My dad in his delusions had started to soak some nuts and bolts in gasoline. I don't know where he got the gas or why he was soaking hardware; he never was mechanical. Anyway he had them in a tuna can on the kitchen table. That cat is crazy about tuna and when I pulled her out of the travel cage, she saw that can. She clawed her way out of my arms and leapt to the table. My dad hadn't cleaned the can, so it must have still smelled good, because she started drinking the gasoline.
When that gasoline hit, she went crazy! She launched from the table to the counter, scattering dishes and nuts and gas; then to the top of the fridge and finally across the kitchen into the family room.
In the family room, she leapt over the TV, scaled the bookshelves,and circled the room at least 3 times. Then she ran between my mom's legs, stopped and fell over.
My mom and the caregiver were horrified. My god, the screaming was terrible.
Ok, more after the appointment.
Good day, C.C. and all fellow bloggers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, C.C. for your charming comments. I loved the music.
My take on this puzzle was the same as most of you: not too difficult for Saturday. BIGGERFISH TO FRY just popped out since AMIGAS was the first fill.
Then by hopping around it the rest aligned eventually. Hand up for not knowing SEI, BEREA, JANET Maslin and unsure about which Penn to go with. VSIGN became clear when SEDATE, but preceded by SERENE, then FIRELIT, etc.
I have seen ROONE Arledge on Charlie Rose several times and of course TITO was often in the news in the 50s and 60s.
Thank you, Bob, for the explanation of OMNIDIRECTIONAL as I had no idea it was a radio term.
I liked the crossing of JACUZZI and RITZY.
C.C., snaps create a clicking sound when the two pieces touch.
Have a delightful Saturday everyone! The decorating continues.
Good morning, all. Thanks for a great witeup CC.
ReplyDeleteThis one started really easy. I figured I had a choice between GALA and BASH to start, so went to the downs to check. GOOBERS popped up from somewhere in the recesses and AMIGAS was a given. That gave me enough to fill the top two spanners. OMNIDIRECTIONAL was the easiest. Like Bob, ham radio has been my hobby for many years (55) and antennae were the focus of my career for the last 25 years before I retired.
The bottom grid spanners weren't quite so obvious, but I found myself looking at a lot of "O's" from perps and filled the Avon clue.
My slow area was the SE. Knowing that 38a was a plural, i put in the S. That led me to STAPLES for 41d. Wanting to keep that, I changed SALES to SPIEL on the grid spanner. Pardon me while I go get the vacuum for the eraser crumbs... I finally straightened it all out and completed without lookups.
New to me SEI Whale and AUBE. Like others, I didn't like the "Y" in poli-sci, but sometimes (with apologies to Johnny Cochran) "If it's a fit, do not omit". Other than that, I really enjoyed the puzzle.
I guess my fave clue would be "attaches with a click"/SNAPS ON because it gave me so much trouble. I still want staples for that one... I wonder how many were looking for something related to document attachments and mouse clicks?
We went to see a performance by the Three Redneck Tenors (actually two tenors a baritone and a bass) last night at the Naples Phil. Great fun!
Gunghy ,,, let me guess,,, she ran out of gas ?
ReplyDeleteI've heard that siamese cats get better mileage
ReplyDeleteI hope your cat is okay, Gunghy. That terrible!
ReplyDeleteTarrajo, Please come back. We like you and care about you.
@Clarabel: speak for yourself.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of missing peeps, where's Dennis?
ReplyDeleteLemonade:
ReplyDeleteSorry to be a party pooper, but the Berea Spoonbread Festival is about the only time of year that anyone here eats spoonbread. The earlier poster described spoonbread very well, but it is a Berea phenomenon only.
Gunghy, I would imagine your years as a middle school teacher would prepare you to handle almost anything, but that was really "off the wall". I'm certainly glad there were no open flames or sparks. The results could have been disasterous. I wonder if the cat will still like tuna after that episode. It sounds like some "high octane" excitement... not just your "regular" day.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I wonder which one of our regulars went anonymous to post those puns? C'mon, fess up. They weren't that bad. Yes, the orientals (not just Siamese) are known for getting better gas mileage.
Hi.
ReplyDeleteBig sign at Trader Joe's on Coleman
Ave:
"Please don't feed the Solicitors."
Noticed that there none any more.
Take care.
Oh snap....29 across for me.
ReplyDelete@anon...piss off
Other than that have a nice Saturday and go big RED
Good Morning All, Ouch!! After the first pass, I had so few fill, I had to begin again in the SE and work my way up.
ReplyDeleteSEI, AUBE and JANET were unknowns and I had forgotten DENEB.
Duh...I got (22A) "atelier" confused with "espalier" and tried both SHRUBS and BUSHES. That sure didn't work!
I smiled at the BEREA/Windhover connection. I wouldn't have gotten that just a couple of months ago.
Gee golly! Has nobody linked the old Civil War song GOOBER Peas? Fair warning folks, it is an ear worm.
Lemonade@8:16, excellent commentary about vicious troll comments.
Robin, I share your
ReplyDelete1. Dislike of anonymous posters
2. Virgo sign
3. Science profession
4. Go Big Red sentiments
BTW, I thought snap on was a computer function with graphics but got it anyway!
Hello all,
ReplyDeleteI found today's x-word to be very easy for a Saturday
With a somewhat of a cheap shot at trying to make it
difficult with 13 down 19 down and 38 down,, but that's
just my take .
Anon,,, it's very insensitive to make comments like
" ran out of gas " and such,, I can only imagine the horror
on the parents's faces as this poor cat went ballistic and
rampaged the whole kitchen , am sure the effect it's gonna have on them will most likely last for years,, thinking that their poor cat just lapped up some gas and surely gonna die. So saying the cat " ran out of gas " was inappropriate
and judgmental ,
She coulda've easily blew a gasket ,,!!
Have a wonderful wkend everyone. Go Tiger
Gunghy, You should go green, in a way and reuse that fur for PETA's concern.
ReplyDeleteGood Day C.C.,and all,
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday,snow and all. Only
2" here, but had to sweep our dish off to get to the blog. Certainly don't envy the 6-8" reports from Jeannie and all.
C.C. really like your blog style;
thanks.
The puzzle was a fun task. It took me longer than usual,but so many interruptions deplete my concentrative powers, and nature has been working on those already.
Perps filled in my unknowns and spelling variants: sei,reata,itals and oca [I don't remember it]. I rarely have used polisci so the polysci spelling looked fine to me.
Oh- and aube[new to me]. My Kentucky roots loved seeing Berea again. I did not know that spoonbread was unique to Berea. Thanks,WH. Lucina, didn't you say you had a granddaughter looking at Berea?
My biggest slowdown was hertz for uhaul. All in all one of the more enjoyable saturdays w/o crashing.
Thanks,Bruce.
Lois, I like your new avatar.You're one goodlooking gal.
Mh, love your granddog Nora. What a neat guy you are.
CA, I forgot to thank you for the Rabbit poem and The Power of a Woman. I'm always enchanted, by your appropriate choices.
Jeannie, I want to say that your link to J cup stunned me ,as no other. Since I joined the blog in August, it's the all-time shocking link.
Sorry, about my catching up method, but have been snowed under, pardon the pun.
Hope Dennis is snowed under in a good way.
Have a nice day everyone.
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteI had a minister that went to Berea College. It was interesting that ALL the students there were on work study and ran many of the shops in town.
I was afraid to start with the long ones and nibbled around until I got all of the center done, except I tried to get Woe is I for the BooHiss.
I heard of omnidirectional antennas while looking for good HD reception if I can ever cut the cord to cable.
I think I heard "Many brave souls lie asleep in the deep so beware, be-e-e-e-ware on a cartoon. Mostly for how low the last note is. Maybe the gentleman in C.C.s link sang it.
I had to guess or get the cross clues for Aube, Janet and Odom. All in all, once I started on the long ones, I was able to get through pretty quickly for a Saturday puzzle.
Gunghy, I hope the cat is o.k. You remind me of a Mark Twain quip, "A cat that sits on a hot stove will never do that again, and he won't sit on a cold stove either!'
I almost forgot to thank Jeannie for last night's good wishes to me and others.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear about the petty AND untrue comments that show up occasionally, I am reminded of the many more generous and kindhearted people I know in person and have met here.
This poem was written by Clarence Urmy, who was a California poet born in San Francisco, July 10, 1858. The sentiments expressed are "old-fashioned", but old-fashioned is nice too.
The Things That Count
Not what we have, but what we use;
Not what we see, but what we choose-
These are the things that mar or bless
The sum of human happiness.
The things near by, not things afar;
Not what we seem, but what we are-
These are the things that make or break,
That give the heart its joy or ache.
Not what seems fair, but what is true;
Not what we dream, but good we do-
These are the things that shine like gems,
Like stars, in fortunes diadems.
Not as we take, but as we give;
Not as we pray, but as we live-
These are the things that make for peace,
Both now and after Time shall cease.
- Clarence Urmy
Hey, just back from my parents. I'll comment after I read what everyone has to say, but I had to let you know about the cat. She's fine, it appears that after all the running around, she just ran out of gas.
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. Nice blog today, C.C. Thank you. Good puzzle today, too. I was amazed at seeing those long entries side by side. I actually solved the puzzle completely today without having to look anything up. Not able to finish yesterday's, though; had to get a few of the answers by coming here.
ReplyDeleteGood to 'see' you all and read your comments. Best wishes to you all.
Gee, I'm sorry the one anon got ripped for guessing the correct answer. Although I do hope it's not the same anon-hole that's been ripping Tarrajo. I'd hate to have to have any respect for someone that low.
ReplyDeleteI can't add anything really new to the discussion. I couldn't give up on riata and was looking for a simile anyway, so I was trying to parse PI AS ???. I did have to google for the BEREA/CERF cross, but I knew SEI. Big hand up for polI. POLY means many.
As a typical coincidence, I received this video link as an email last night. It's about working at the top of an antenna. I had to quit watching it. I have acrophobia and was getting sick.
Interesting video. I've made that same climb, but on different towers many times. I used to climb "freestyle" like that, too, but changed my ways when OSHA started getting tough and my clients started demanding that we follow the rules. I always said that there were old tower hands, and bold tower hands, but very few old, bold tower hands. There are so many violations of the most basic safety rules in that video that I'm surprised anyone would put it up on their website.
ReplyDeleteGrumpy1
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Avatar.
I see you have the same, redundant, West Coast of Florida, Sunset.
My Avatar will "toast" your Avatar at 5:35 pm.
It's "Christmas Boat Parade" night here in Dunedin.
15A Spoonbread is several slices of bread soaked in ingredients of custard and baked. Old southern recipe.
ReplyDeleteCreature:
ReplyDeleteA few weeks (or months) ago we discussed BEREA as Windhover's alma mater. I then opined that I would like to visit when I go to North Carolina and he and others kindly offered directions.
It's gorgeous here today, reaching 76 and partly sunny.
Creature:
ReplyDeleteIt was Sept. 26 and I was planning to go to Cincinatti.
Good afternoon, everyone.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up, C.C. Enjoyed the links. I got all of 8 answers correctly!
Wish I could have seen Dennis' 8:16 comment about anon quotes.
Robin and Zcarguy: most of us find that ignoring the anons works better than a reply. We've called it, "Don't feed the trolls" because it just encourages them.
This is such a great blog. I am addicted. And you all feel like friends.
Cheers
BC Canuck: Good Lord. I just started doing crosswords. My brain was nearly fried by today's mental gymnastics. Sei whale? Huh? Aube? polysci? abird? tsked? Guess you have to learn to think sideways like the puzzle maker, eh? And here I thouoght I was a wordsmith. Going to crawl back in my corner now. BTW - This was fun; definitely good for the grey matter!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment on the avatar, Tinman. Probably a better choice than my mugshot.
ReplyDeleteOur Christmas Boat Parade on Naples Bay is one week from tonight.
Here's a sunset toast in return. Proost!
For 15A Responded to a question what is Spoonbread? In error is a recipe to bread pudding.
ReplyDeleteAnon, 3:47, That sounds like bread pudding (which I love too). Much different from spoonbread.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention in my 8:39am post that DENEB is the bright star at the top of the 'vertical' pole of the easy-to-spot Northern Cross, an asterism (part) of Cygnus.
ReplyDeleteHola Everyone, I just wanted to check in inbetween chores. I did get most of the puzzle done, but the very center stumped me for a while as I put in Pricy for the five diamond hotel. I had fur in for PETA but changed it because I could think of anything else for Ritzy hotel! Duh!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that your cat is ok, Gunghy. What a surprising thing to happen.
C.C. I really enjoyed the comments today. Thank you, once again, for a blog that keeps us all on our toes.
CA, I also enjoyed the poem today. Old-fashioned is goodl!
Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.
Another great thing about the constellation Cygnus, the Northern Cross (containing Deneb), is the double star, Alberio. It has UCLA colors. The brighter star is yellow and the dimmer star is blue. It looks great in a small telescope. It even looks good in the images if you Google it.
ReplyDeleteDarlene,
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard. Don't fret about your crossword abilities at this point. When you get to Monday's puzzle, you'll thing you're a genius!
I really worked at this one - Aube was new to me, but once I looked that one up, the rest fell in to place.
Nice work, Ducks!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.
Ooops - I proofread the above post and didn't catch my error - I meant "think" not "thing". No wonder I have so much trouble with c/w clues!
ReplyDeleteHi C.C. & gang,
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I team up to do the puzzle on the weekends and we finished today's in record time I think...
I had never heard of peanuts being called goobers either and then I found that there's a Goober (brand) of peanut butter and jelly in a single jar...
;-)
Sallie, the 8:16 comment was from Lemonade714. Dennis is MIA.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be such a "stopout" lately, but having the kids still here until Dec.13, I fear my participation in the blog will continue to be limited until after that.
ReplyDeleteI struggled a bit throughout the CW today, but the top half took the longest. I never did get the first two full span answers, nor ODOM, HOHO, or ERRand. Because of RIATA, I also missed getting pEasoUp and aUbe. Although I've heard peanuts called GOOBERS, I never would think of that term for them. And sometimes simple things like ADMIRES simply don't occur to me. That's why I keep doing CWs. I'm afraid the old gray matter will give up entirely if I don't. Hohos aren't on my horizon at all.
We got about 6 inches of snow here overnight and more this morning. It looks beautiful, but I'm glad I don't need to be on the road in it.
Have a great weekend all of you!
Spoon bread was a favorite recipe of the pioneers, especially in autumn season. It was
ReplyDeleteusually served warm as a side dish with chicken or roast beef. Once you’ve made this recipe,
you’ll know why they liked it so much – and why they called it spoon bread!
Ingredients:
5 TBLSP. butter
½ cup milk
½ cup yellow cornmeal
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Use 1 TBLSP. butter to lightly butter a 2 quart baking dish.
3. Heat milk in saucepan without letting it boil.
4. Slowly sprinkle cornmeal into the hot milk over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Continue to cook and stir, without boiling, until the mixture is smooth and thick, like
cooked cereal.
5. Add salt, then the rest of the butter, stirring until butter is dissolved.
6. Remove saucepan from heat and transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Use
spatula to scrape all the mixture from the saucepan.
7. Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Drip the whites into a small
mixing bowl, and mix the yolks directly to the batter in the large bowl.
8. Beat egg whites in the small bowl until they are stiff, but not dry.
9. Use the spatula to fold the whites into the cornmeal batter.
10. Pour the batter into the slightly buttered baking dish. Smooth the top with a spoon
or spatula.
11. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
12. Serve warm, using a large serving spoon.
That's very similar to one of the recipes we use except ours uses white corn meal. No big deal I'm sure. Really good stuff.
ReplyDeleteLemonade
ReplyDeleteI read some of the history of George Washington Carver you linked us too. I think I mentioned before about his attempt to enroll in Highland College of Highland Kansas. We lived 5 miles from there for 10 years when we lived in Kansas. The people were sad that, that was one of their claimes to fame.
The Indian Mission Museum near there was the first Indian Mission west of the Missouri river. It was started by the Presbyterians
Marge
Jeannie:
ReplyDeleteI just read the late comments from last night and was really touched by your wish list for Santa. I believe we can all chime in with you in the hope that all of our blog friends mend completely.
I want Fermatprime to dance a "jig".
ReplyDeleteHow about a quick foxtrot?
Santa
For those who do not read the comments, Dennis advised he would be on a semi-hiatus due to the vagaries of his business and his life; not MIA, just away a bit.
ReplyDeleteDarlene, welcome, we need all we can get of grey matter and blue matter.