Theme: How's the Weather? - Four 2-word common terms that end in a word that could describe precipitation (in increasing intensity), plus the unifier at the very end, where it belongs.
17A. Throat soothers: COUGH DROPS
23A. Edible pastry decorations: CAKE SPRINKLES
47A. High-quality bed linen: PERCALE SHEETS. Percale describes the weave of the fabric, not its content.
57A. Wet bar containers: ICE BUCKETS
65A. Phenomenon described by the ends of 17-, 23-, 47- and 57-Across: RAIN
All wet Argyle here.
Boy, did this one rain on my parade. A very Tuesday-like theme but some of the fill....
Across:
1. It has more than 5,000 feet : MILE
5. With 60-Across, noodle product derived from "The San Francisco Treat!" : PASTA; 60. See 5-Across : RONI. My first splash; automatically put RICE-A. Image.
10. Game with trump cards : SKAT
14. Tehran's land : IRAN
15. "A work of __ a confession": Camus : ART IS. Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work.
16. Whittle : PARE
19. Help in a holdup : ABET
20. Raggedy doll : ANN. Image with her brother, Andy.
21. Stackable cookie : OREO
22. Not chronic, as illness : ACUTE. Defined as a disease with an abrupt onset and usually a short course.
27. Hurting the most : ACHIEST
29. Going badly in the mil.? : AWOL
30. Answer : REPLY
31. Stingless male : DRONE BEE. Since DRONE means a bee, the answer is redundant.
35. Org. in Tom Clancy books : CIA
36. Gonzalez in 2000 news : ELIAN
38. Send packing : AXE
39. Ancient Roman language : OLD LATIN. As opposed to new Latin?
42. Exxon competitor : CITGO. Get their gas at the pump.
44. Eve's partner : ADAM
45. Like a costly victory : PYRRHIC. Splash! Two R's, what's up with that? I see he(image) was a king and could spell his name any way he wanted.
51. Dislike and more : ABHOR
52. __ scale: talc-to-diamond : MOHS. Hardness scale.
53. Yokohama yes : HAI. The word for yes in Japanese.
56. SpongeBob, e.g. : TOON
61. Very cold : GELID
62. Saragossa's river : EBRO. Spain Map. Saragossa is Zaragoza in Spanish; no idea why we haven't had that yet!
63. Swedish furniture giant : IKEA
64. Asia's __ Mountains : ALTAI. New to me. Map.
Down:
1. Isinglass : MICA. A mineral that separates readily into thin, tough, often transparent layers.
2. It's pumped in gyms : IRON
3. Liftoff spot : LAUNCHPAD. Over thought it, was looking for a stain remover. LOL
4. Class with vocab. lists : ENG. Or any language class, not just English.
5. West Coast team in the 1998 World Series : PADRES. New York Yankees vs. San Diego Padres. The Yankees swept the Series in four games. No need for a rubber game.
6. Collar, as a thug : ARREST
7. Small porch : STOOP. Not much more than a set of steps; a city thing.
8. Service reward : TIP
9. Beast of burden : ASS
10. Wall hole filler : SPACKLE. A paste-like substance that fills in small holes, cracks and seams that can be sanded smooth to prep a wall before painting.
11. Afghanistan's capital : KABUL
12. Mountain ridge : ARÊTE
13. French noodles? : TÊTEs. Heads.
18. Fake : HOKEY
22. Soon, to the bard : ANON
24. Plague : AIL
25. __ avis : RARA
26. Victorious shout : "I WON!". Finally, not, "I win!".
27. Sacramento's __ Arena : ARCO. Named for another gas company.
28. Provide with a roof : CEIL. To provide with a ceiling.
31. Clamor : DIN
32. King David's wife : BATHSHEBA. From a Hebrew phrase meaning “daughter of the oath”, she was the mother of Solomon.
33. Military vet : EX GI
34. Job rights agcy. : EEOC. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
36. End-of-list abbr. : ET AL.
37. Green wedge in a gimlet : LIME. Vodka or gin avatar.
40. New Hampshire city known for its annual motorcycle week : LACONIA. Big around here but common knowledge?
41. Purim's month : ADAR
42. Getting gradually louder, in mus. : CRESC.. Crescendo. I didn't see the abbreviation of music; rain in my eyes.
43. Subway under B'way : IRT. Interborough Rapid Transit.
45. Irrational fear : PHOBIA
46. Violinist Menuhin : YEHUDI. We had Itzhak Perlman yesterday.
47. Father: Pref. : PATRI. Patriarch
48. Digital novel : E-BOOK
49. River of Lyons : RHONE
50. Refine, as ore : SMELT
54. Longfellow's bell town : ATRI. Poem. CA?
55. "Help __ the way!" : IS ON
57. Supermarket chain with a red-and-white logo : IGA. Independent Grocers Alliance.
58. Animation frame : CEL
59. Plop lead-in : KER
Answer grid.
Argyle
17A. Throat soothers: COUGH DROPS
23A. Edible pastry decorations: CAKE SPRINKLES
47A. High-quality bed linen: PERCALE SHEETS. Percale describes the weave of the fabric, not its content.
57A. Wet bar containers: ICE BUCKETS
65A. Phenomenon described by the ends of 17-, 23-, 47- and 57-Across: RAIN
All wet Argyle here.
Boy, did this one rain on my parade. A very Tuesday-like theme but some of the fill....
Across:
1. It has more than 5,000 feet : MILE
5. With 60-Across, noodle product derived from "The San Francisco Treat!" : PASTA; 60. See 5-Across : RONI. My first splash; automatically put RICE-A. Image.
10. Game with trump cards : SKAT
14. Tehran's land : IRAN
15. "A work of __ a confession": Camus : ART IS. Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work.
16. Whittle : PARE
19. Help in a holdup : ABET
20. Raggedy doll : ANN. Image with her brother, Andy.
21. Stackable cookie : OREO
22. Not chronic, as illness : ACUTE. Defined as a disease with an abrupt onset and usually a short course.
27. Hurting the most : ACHIEST
29. Going badly in the mil.? : AWOL
30. Answer : REPLY
31. Stingless male : DRONE BEE. Since DRONE means a bee, the answer is redundant.
35. Org. in Tom Clancy books : CIA
36. Gonzalez in 2000 news : ELIAN
38. Send packing : AXE
39. Ancient Roman language : OLD LATIN. As opposed to new Latin?
42. Exxon competitor : CITGO. Get their gas at the pump.
44. Eve's partner : ADAM
45. Like a costly victory : PYRRHIC. Splash! Two R's, what's up with that? I see he(image) was a king and could spell his name any way he wanted.
51. Dislike and more : ABHOR
52. __ scale: talc-to-diamond : MOHS. Hardness scale.
53. Yokohama yes : HAI. The word for yes in Japanese.
56. SpongeBob, e.g. : TOON
61. Very cold : GELID
62. Saragossa's river : EBRO. Spain Map. Saragossa is Zaragoza in Spanish; no idea why we haven't had that yet!
63. Swedish furniture giant : IKEA
64. Asia's __ Mountains : ALTAI. New to me. Map.
Down:
1. Isinglass : MICA. A mineral that separates readily into thin, tough, often transparent layers.
2. It's pumped in gyms : IRON
3. Liftoff spot : LAUNCHPAD. Over thought it, was looking for a stain remover. LOL
4. Class with vocab. lists : ENG. Or any language class, not just English.
5. West Coast team in the 1998 World Series : PADRES. New York Yankees vs. San Diego Padres. The Yankees swept the Series in four games. No need for a rubber game.
6. Collar, as a thug : ARREST
7. Small porch : STOOP. Not much more than a set of steps; a city thing.
8. Service reward : TIP
9. Beast of burden : ASS
10. Wall hole filler : SPACKLE. A paste-like substance that fills in small holes, cracks and seams that can be sanded smooth to prep a wall before painting.
11. Afghanistan's capital : KABUL
12. Mountain ridge : ARÊTE
13. French noodles? : TÊTEs. Heads.
18. Fake : HOKEY
22. Soon, to the bard : ANON
24. Plague : AIL
25. __ avis : RARA
26. Victorious shout : "I WON!". Finally, not, "I win!".
27. Sacramento's __ Arena : ARCO. Named for another gas company.
28. Provide with a roof : CEIL. To provide with a ceiling.
31. Clamor : DIN
32. King David's wife : BATHSHEBA. From a Hebrew phrase meaning “daughter of the oath”, she was the mother of Solomon.
33. Military vet : EX GI
34. Job rights agcy. : EEOC. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
36. End-of-list abbr. : ET AL.
37. Green wedge in a gimlet : LIME. Vodka or gin avatar.
40. New Hampshire city known for its annual motorcycle week : LACONIA. Big around here but common knowledge?
41. Purim's month : ADAR
42. Getting gradually louder, in mus. : CRESC.. Crescendo. I didn't see the abbreviation of music; rain in my eyes.
43. Subway under B'way : IRT. Interborough Rapid Transit.
45. Irrational fear : PHOBIA
46. Violinist Menuhin : YEHUDI. We had Itzhak Perlman yesterday.
47. Father: Pref. : PATRI. Patriarch
48. Digital novel : E-BOOK
49. River of Lyons : RHONE
50. Refine, as ore : SMELT
54. Longfellow's bell town : ATRI. Poem. CA?
55. "Help __ the way!" : IS ON
57. Supermarket chain with a red-and-white logo : IGA. Independent Grocers Alliance.
58. Animation frame : CEL
59. Plop lead-in : KER
Answer grid.
Argyle
79 comments:
Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - I really liked the cluing today; fresh and clever, which is not easy in a Tuesday-level puzzle.
Second day in a row with a sub-five-minute solve. The theme answers were fairly easy, which helped, but I really didn't catch the theme until 'buckets'. 'Drops' and 'sprinkles' had me going in a different direction. 'Ceil' still bothers me; I know it's a word, but still. I liked the Tom Clancy reference -- his new book is already packed for the AutoTrain trip Saturday. I needed a couple letters to jog my memory on 'Bathsheba'. I'm getting really bad with history, which is surprising since I lived through most of it. Favorite clues were 'It has more than 5,000 feet', 'Going bad in the mil.?' and 'French noodles?'.
Argyle, nice job with the blog. You've been a real horse with blogging; it's not an easy job, and you've been consistently excellent for what, two years now?
Today is Forefather's Day, Humbug Day, National Flashlight Day and Look on the Bright Side Day, which explains the flashlight.
3 and a wake-up.
Morning, all!
Not much time to chat -- gotta go shovel out...
Not as easy for me today. I went off the rail early on with RICE-A instead of PASTA for 5A. Finally got that fixed, but it slowed me down. I thought today was actually pretty tough for a Tuesday, what with PERCALE, LACONIA, ALTAI, GELID, ATRI and, of course, my least favorite word, CEIL. CEIL? Seriously? Whatever...
Have fun, guys!
Good Morning, Argyle and Friends. I thought this was tough for a Tuesday. I figured out the RAIN theme with only DROPS and BUCKETS. That helped fill in SPRINKLES and SHEETS.
Hand up for Rice-a-RONI. Not familiar with PASTA-RONI.
Isinglass was a new word for me.
I liked the crossing of IRON and IRAN, with only the change of a vowel.
I had a Raggedy Andy and my sister had the Raggedy ANN.
I missed the eclipse last night. I couldn't stay up that late.
Tfrank, if you are out there, Happy Birthday!
In honor of 15-Across, here is the QOD: Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. ~ Albert Camus
Morning All,
Back on track this AM but can't say my grid experience was. Similar experience as Barry but add unknowns of Pyrrhic, Yehudi, Gelid and Altai caused me to go to red letter help. I agree that the theme was Tuesday level but some of the fills came a bit tougher. Fun just the same though.
Rain again today. Started as snow but changed over quickly. I'm thinking we're going to have a brown Christmas. OK by me, saves on the overtime budget.
Great write up Argyle, thanks.
Have a great day.
Good Morning C.C.,Argyle and all,
Thanks, Argyle, for your write-up.
I loved your 'splash' in keeping with the rain theme.
Fairly easy puzzle; some perps,a Wag or two and a'Bethsheba' instead of a Bathsheba. I agree on 'ceil'. Can we just take any noun and make a verb? I guess eventually all usage will take over; yet,I have a feeling this is crosswordese. That's ok, I guess.
Enjoyed the theme. I almost put 'bogus' for 'hokey'; actually liked it better. New to me : Altai, Hai,ceil.
Hope all are dry and warm; at least, I hope you have a flashlight.
Have a nice day.
Good morning Argyle and all, a nice Tuesday type puzzle until I got to the south center and south east. Those areas were impossible for me to solve. I had no idea about
Yehudi and gelid (a new word for me) and having them cross and intersect with Altai made a solution impossible.
I had drone bee which gave me EEOC for 34D and thus I confidently inserted Amoco for 42A and stubbornly refused to consider anything else until Bathsheba forced me to change. Same area, pyrrhic crossing yehudi, come on its Tuesday!
Ceil?????????????????
I got the theme answers quickly along with the unifier, but that still did not allow me to complete the lower section of the puzzle.
Nice write up Argyle, as usual.
It will be cold here again today. It has not been above freezing in over a week.
Hope you all have a great Tuesday.
Good day folks,
Needed red letter help with pyrrhic, yehudi, and altai.
I had a problem with a few of the clues too. Since when is rain a phenomenon? I'm sure those poor people in Calif are using more colorful adjectives to describe rain. I never heard of "old Latin", but I'll agree Latin is an ancient Roman language. Finally, hokey is new to me, I was completely faked out. I thought it was a misspelled reference to Va Tech students and alum! There were a couple others that had me scratching my dome, but I've carped enough.
Win or lose, I'll be glad when the UConn/Fla St game is over tonight. All the talk about the streak has become a nuisance.
Time to (Grrrrr) wrap Christmas gifts. Stay warm and safe.
Argyle you really are a blogging machine, well done. I never cease to be amazed at what is easy for others. I thought the theme was very well done, not only describing the rain, but having it become progressively more intense down the grid. I also thought the crossing of GELID, ALTAI, PYRRHIC and YEHUDI was steep for a Tuesday. And for anyone not raised in New England, LACONIA was not a gimme.
Since DRONE has acquired other meanings (in Music and in the classroom, as I have had too many professors who drone on) I guess DRONE BEE will pass along with OLD LATIN.
Dennis, I was at an office Christmas party at Blue Martini at Town Center (yes, they restocked their array of winsome waitresses) and thought of you as I drove by BREWZZI’s; the weather will be fine.
TFrank, where are you? HBDTY
Argyle, Excellent write-up.
Loved the picture of me with my sister ANN.
Rich picked the right day for the LAT puzzle having RAIN as the theme.
The IGA, GELID, YEHUDI crossings almost did me in.
First off, down here the Supermarket with a red-and-white logo is Winn-Dixie. IGA a total guess.
Secondly, in Dunedin, I doubt using a word for Very cold, GELID, would go-over big since we consider 51 to be the freezing point.
And the Violinist ... not familiar with his work.
Always like seeing the old Company, CIA in the grid.
Double "toast" tonight.
Sunset at 5:40 pm.
Winter Solstice at 6:38 pm.
I think I'll try a wedge of LIME with the Pinch.
(My doctor told me I need more fiber in-my-diet).
Cheers !!!!
Great blogging, Argyle. It's true, not many of us would sacrifice so much time to do it, so we do appreciate it even when we say nothing.
Pyrrhic, Yehudi, Gelid, Laconia and Altai were unknowns as were many other WAGs for me today. I actually Googled YEHUDI and ALTAI, but the top and sides went smoothly.
I agree OLD LATIN sounds weird. But there are two recognized stages of development in the Latin language: golden (the older one) and silver(the later one reflected in church usage and pronunciation). At least I remember our Latin teacher telling us that.
Thanks Argyle, nice job. I started Tuesday's puzzle on the bus on my way to work, as usual. I was going gangbusters until I hit the bottom, center section. I pretty muched guessed at ALTAI and GELID. I was not sure of MOHS, but the crosswords filled it. I missed on PERCALESHEETS and LACONIA. I had LAVONIA, because that is a town in two different states that I know of, Michigan and Pennsylvania. So, I thought there must be one in New Hampshire. As far as the sheets, I just went with the crossword, which I had wrong. Oh well. I thought CEIL was clever. I am going to check my dictionary and see if it is in there. All-in-all I enjoyed the puzzle. Nice job, Steve Salitan. Abejo
I just checked "Webster" and the word CEIL is a word in that dictionary. It is defined as "To furnish with a ceiling" Nice job Steve. Abejo
BTW:
Newbie, are you “AHB AY OH” or perhaps “ A B JOE” or some other variation? I have trouble when I read, I do not sound out names, so when I hear people speaking them, I do not recognize them, so I am trying….
I like CIEL and CEL
Good morning Argyle, CC and abbreviated list enders.
The top half went smoothly after the downs changed 'Rice a' to PASTA. I drew a blank on AXE and figured 'Amoco' was a gimmee. My brain just refused to see PYRRHIC as having two R's.
I guess what I'm saying is that my grid was sort of like the world today: Lots of trouble and a big mess in the Mideast.
Except for those three acrosses, my only other stumble was the cross of EB_O and AT_I. Both were total unknowns and with 4 or 5 possible letters that looked plausible, I wagged an 'A'. Nope, not correct, but didn't go a'Googleing to find out for sure.
I never heard of LACONIA or ALTAI but both filled easily through the perps. I guess I'm starting to absorb some of the crosswordese since GELID, IGA, CEIL and TETES popped up easily. Even YEHUDI was a known.
I took two years of Latin with a teacher that was as uninterested in teaching the language as I was in learning it. I still managed to absorb a little, though. At the time, I had a poem that described the experience:
Latin is a language,
At least it used to be.
It killed off all the Romans
And now it's killing me.
Hello Puzzlers - Glad I'm not the only one to have been bamboozled by YEHUDI, GELID, ALTAI, ATRI, PYRRHIC, et al. I don't expect to need red letters on a Tuesday, but today they were quite necessary.
LACONIA gets pretty crowded during Motorycle Week. MICA is interesting stuff - when I was a kid we could still buy large sheets of mica at old hardware stores. It was used as fireproof window material in the doors of woodstoves like ours.
Some musings:
BEERsheba - (remember beer - ) is a (major ) city in Southern Israel.
BATHsheba was David's wife; she had a 'bath' regularly.
'Yehudi' is the most common term used for 'Jew' ( or jewish,as in the US ) in most nations ( and corresponding languages - ) in M.E. and So. Asia. Mr. Menuhin was a fantastic child prodigy, on the violin, and was very famous in his time, a period when the world was often racked by the wars. He is very highly regarded in England and Europe.
CITGO , since 1990, has been fully owned by the Venzuela Govt. State Petrl. agency. It has provided some subsidies to poorer (US) americans, in heating oil, in the south, mostly as a political statement of Hugo Chavez ( Pres, Venz. ) against US hostility to his political ploys. See Wiki.
CITGO, was purchased ( by Venz. ) because it specialised in refining hi-olefin crude ( as from Venz.), and it has since run into some problems with the EPA standards. See Wiki.
Abejo, thanks for ceil. I should have not been so lazy, and looked it up. I did and my dict also has it. Good job to you! And if I haven't welcomed you,please accept my welcome now- a nice addition.
Yehudi Menuhin Dance of the Goblins(4:12)
Itzhak Perlman Dance of the Goblins(4:32)
Moh's scale of hardness is ONLY an ordinal scale - but not 'linearly' so...
'10' is 4 times as hard as '9'
'9' is (only) 2 times as hard as '8'
'7' is only 40% harder than '6'
( there are better scales for hardness, used in metallurgy and material sciences, nowadays. )-BTW, there are materials less than '1' and some materials more than '10'.
Do not confuse MOH with MHO.
Mho is a unit of electrical conductance ... it is the reciprocal ( think 'inverse' ) of the resistance unit 'Ohm'
1 / Ohm = Mho.
Mho is Ohm spelled backwards, and the unit is called a Siemens.(S), which as a word is both singular and plural ... and when referred to as a SI unit , should ALWAYS be spelled in the lowercase. (!).
It ( Siemens) is also the SI unit for electrical admittance, which is the reciprocal of electrical impedance.
( Maybe useful for a Saturday puzzle).
Good morning, Argyle, ET AL.
Yes, Santa, you are a rock when it comes to blogging. Thank you.
This seemed a little above Tuesday level but it contained enough crosswordese that it was almost a speed run.
Count me in for RICE A (RONI) before PASTA which is the one I love.
I take issue with BATHSHEBA being David's wife; Michael was his wife. It's true that she was Solomon's mother, but they were lovers not spouses. India Edgehill wrote a beautiful book, Queenmaker which relates the story and of course there is the original, the Bible.
ALTAI and ALAI are stalwart cross wordese mountains from way back.
I love PYRRHIC with its five consecutive consonants! It occurs in some literature and what great crossing with PHOBIA and YEHUDI.
I believe we may have RAIN or maybe just SPRINKLES in AZ today. At the moment it's overcast.
I wish you all a truly terrific Tuesday!
Good morning. A little tough for a Tuesday. Pyrrhic came right away but skat was unknown to me. The song "Surrey With the Fringe on Top" from "Oklahoma" has the lyric "Isinglass curtains you can roll right down". I have heard that many times but I did not know what it meant. Now I do.
Seven inches of snow yesterday & a little freezing rain. Boo.
Bye
Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the great write-up, Al. Hand up for "Rice-A" instead of PASTA. And thank you for the links to Bazzini's "Dance of the Goblins" - great stuff, both! But if I had to vote, it would be Menuhin by 1/2 beat.
I was not familiar with the Camus quote, but it was all solved with the perps. Funny, but for me OLD LATIN, PYRRHIC, BATHSHEBA and YEHUDI all surfaced from some dark recess in my brain. And being raised in New England, LACONIA was a gimme as well.
Easy solve, and nice clean theme. Really nice puzzle for a RAIN-y tuesday here in N.E.
Have a great day, everyone!
Ouch! Lots of words I didn't know. I guess I should think of this as a learning experience. New to me: DRONE BEE (OK, I knew Drone), OLD LATIN (huh, isn't ALL Latin old?), PYRRHIC, GELID, ALTAI, CEIL, CRESC (crescendo, I guess). Anyway, I had to do quite a bit of Googling to get through this one.
Good job Argyle! Hope everyone is getting done with their Christmas shopping!
Good Morning Argyle et al, This was a fairly challenging Tuesday and not knowing the Japanese word for Yes and Longfellow’s Bell city cost me 100% - put in E instead of A. Waddaya gonna go? Argyle’s lovely write-up included the info that Laconia, NH appears to be Sturgis, SD east which I had never heard of.
There are probably dozens of adolescents angry at me today if they got up to see the Lunar eclipse and were greeted by cloudy skies as I was at 2 am and 4 am.
There is ample evidence that Jesus Christ was born in the spring but the chruch moved the celebration of his birth to the darkest time of the year - near the Winter Solstice with its least day light (in the Northern Hemisphere Kazie). Happy Solstice today anyway!
Musings
-ANGELS encouraged ARONI which slowed me down. Then I thought DODGERS to fit DROPS. But noooooooooooo, it’s the PADRES.
-I’m sure many read Isinglass and immediately thought of the curtains in The Surrey With the Fringe on Top! That Oklahoma song also contains the phrase Ker Plop from today’s offering. Coincidence?
-Granddaughter’s only contribution to cookie making is being in charge of SPRINKLES and she is magnificent at it.
-IKEA has provided some to the most uncomfortable, but stylish, furniture to my daughters’ houses!
-I’ll be pumping some IRON this morning (age appropriate!) at the Y. I can bench 200 but that leaves me a little short of benching my weight.
-I always think of HOKEY as being saccharine or old fashioned and not necessarily fake
-If you can USH, I guess you can CEIL
-Putting in ADAR proves you can know something without knowing you know it. Huh?
-Spelling PYRRHIC took some time even I knew the phrase immediately
Oops! I have to correct myself; BATHSHEBA was ONE of David's wives.
Hi gang, from the comments I read, most of you had the same trouble I did with words like: PYRRHIC, CRESC, GELID, ALTAI, CITGO, IRT, EBRO, ATRI, and all these on a Tuesday. Wasn't last Tuesday a higher difficulty level too?? I really did fine until I got to the SE area. I nailed MICA and MILE right away, so thought I was going to have an easy time of it...WRONG.
I have never heard of CITGO gas...must be an east coast thing.
Why does PYRRHIC mean 'costly victory'...I admit I've never heard the word before. I didn't look it up (yet), figured one of you could tell me.
More later ;)
Carol, my history teacher used the Battle of Chancellorsville as an example of a Pyrrhic victory. Lee and his army won the victory but lost Stonewall Jackson which was a huge loss for the Southern cause. It is a victory at a huge cost!
I have had such victories with my lovely bride when I turned out to be right in an argument but perhaps lost something else in the process! Know what I mean?
Good Morning All, Like Lrc, I knew "With isinglass curtains you can roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather", from "Surrey With The Fringe On Top". But I didn't know MICA.
Like many others I didn't know LACONIA or ALTAI. I surprised myself with filling in GELID, YEHUDI and PYRRHIC without a problem.
Lemonade, I was curious about the pronunciation of Abejo too. I was giving it the Spanish Ab-e-ho, but maybe it is Abe-joe. Abejo, help us out here.
GAH and I are taking advantage of a break in the rain to get a little grocery shopping done. I'm in charge of the Christmas relish tray, so I need to get some celery, carrots, etc.
I'll be back later today.
Gee Anonymous, thanks for the electrifying write up, I cannot imagine not wanting to identify yourself after all that work. Monogamy is a fairly new concept, and as king, David had many wives recruited in many ways
Hi All~!!
Well, I thought this was a tough Tuesday again - the Yehudi/Altai corner got me, and I was pretty keyed up because i knew what a PYRRHIC victory was - I added the link, but the short of it is a battle in OLD LATIN times where the casualties were so high that saying "I WON" doesn't mean much...
Hand up for A-RONI instead of PASTA, and yes, CITGO is all over Long Island here.
I gotta say, I am OK with CEIL, as I have had many an experience with building, fixing and replacing CEIL-ings !!! (way to go, Abejo)
Bummed that on my way into work this AM (2 down, 3 to go) there was just a blank clouded sky and no eclipse to witness.
Splynter
Mornin' Argyle, C.C., ET AL.
I had many of the same stumbles as everyone else. I did know PYRRHIC, but had to wait for perps to get the correct spelling. (I love the word pyrrhic; it is right up there with piedmont as favorite words go.) I had a problem with CAKESPRINKLES because I had hooey instead of HOKEY. I thought that perhaps "caos" sprinkles were a brand name. I think of hokey as old-fashioned, but not necessarily fake. The s/se area gave me the same trouble as it did others. I finally "g'd" YEHUDI and the rest fell.
Still dry here. Burn bans in place in most counties. We expect a high today near 80.
Good morning everyone. Nice blogging job, Argyle. You are a stalwart.
Agree with most of the earlier comments. Not quite a speed run. Had to flip-flop with the verticals to keep it moving, Only hangup was the MOHS/CRESC crossing so that was a guess. It had old reliables like TÊTES. ARÊTE, EBRO, and ALTAI but also some fresh fills like PYRRHIC, LACONIA, YEHUDI, and BATHSHEBA and a fudge word like KER :-). Learned CEL here.
OLD LATIN - New Latin - Vulgar Latin - so may ways to be an ancient Roman.
Enjoy the day.
Husker Gary, thanks for the explanation of PYRRHIC. I do learn a lot here. (and yes, I do understand the 'cost' of being right sometimes)..still I will fight to the floor when I know I am. (it's also fun to make up while you are still down there...on the FLOOR I mean ;))
Carol, we have had CITGO here in West Texas. I don't know if we still do; we fill up at Sam's.
Re: "Isinglass" When I was young, we had one of those wood burning stoves with isinglass windows. It got a certain young lady in a lot of trouble because she liked to pick at it - when it wasn't in use, of course. When I asked my geology prof if MICA was the same as isinglass, he said he didn't know.
As for CEIL, the dict says it is "ceiling." A ceiling and a roof are not usually the same thing.
it's also fun to make up while you are still down there.
amen.
Ceil used to be seen in puzzles a lot. Rarely these days. It's just one of those words constructors get stuck with. When I look at that area of the grid I can see Steve had no where else to go. It's also one of those words that just doesn't look right so we tend to think it isn't. Just like the word, Seel.
Jerome,
Seel - could that be a hint you have a puzzle in the works?
Hello friends. Just to clear up the pronunciation of my email name, which is Abejo, I offer the following:
It is a Persian word, or Farsi if you choose, which originates in the country of Iran. I lived in Iran for three years and picked up a lot of the language. The first two letters "Ab" mean water. The last two letter "Jo" mean barley. Therefore, Abejo means the water of barley, which is beer. I happen to enjoy beer, so that is my email nickname. It is pronounced Ab-eh-Joe, with the accent on the Joe.
FYI, other names in Farsi that deal with liquids to drink are: Abegojefarengi meaning tomato juice, Abanar meaning pomegranite juice (which is very popular in Iran and very delicious), Abenarangi meaning orange juice, etc.
Hope this clears up the mystery. I am a native of Pennsylvania and have lived in Illinois for 27 years. Abejo
It was an appropriate theme for me today. It's been raining here constantly for several days. No flooding problems for us since we live on a hill.
I knew ISINGLASS from Oklahoma, the musical. I knew the word PYRRHIC. I knew about the two Rs though I wasn't sure about the H. CEIL was new to me though I found it easily in my desktop dictionary. Baltimore is famous for its STOOPS. Actually, as a young man, I was fascinated more by the Gayety Theater in Baltimore, a very educational place for me.
Being from bay area in California. Never heard of I.G.A. Rain theme is cool. We are getting our yearly rainfall so we wont have to worry about it in summer when it wont rain, not like everyone else. Never heard of ceil but heard of ceiling. Always love the jewish questions cause my buddy's orthodox and he gives me the answers (that's not cheating is it?)no. 41. AWOL is absent with out leave being an "ex gi" never heard it being used in this context we used other acronyms. Favorite #5 SF treat! Bye all
Argyle- I've got lots of puzzles in the works. However, none have the word SEEL. Not that there's anything wrong with it. I just don't want to give posters the chance to write, "Seel????????. There's no such friggin' word! When are you guys gonna quit makin' crap up!!!!!!" :)
Abejo or Ab-E-Joe :
(Ab) Farengi - which refers to Tomato juice - the latter term in Arabic and Urdu - means 'foreigner' - probably relating to/ or referring to its origin from the 'new' ( post Columbian ) world.
Anar is also the arabic word for Pomegranate.
Narangi and/or Moosumbi is the arabic or middle eastern word for a Tangerine - ( the latter, more for navel orange.)
@ BillG... were you only at the Gayety for the commedians?
It sounds like I had about the same trouble as everyone else today in the same spot. Once I hit the g-spot for Menuhin Yehudi (what a name!) I was able to get Alfai, and the spelling of Pyrrhic. So I have been “gelid” the last month. Who knew? I also got a learning moment and a giggle for “mohs” as a hardness scale. One could ask a really inappropriate question :) Is the annual weeklong motorcycle rally in Laconia anything like the one held in Sturgis. I have a friend that goes every year basically for the sightseeing as it seems the women are encouraged to walk around topless. I guess to keep from being arrested they have to cover the girls with some sort of body art. After seeing some of his photos, there are some very artistic tata’s on display.
Mainiac, it’s not Christmas yet…I could probably send you up/over a few dump trucks of snow for your front yard!
Abejo, good to find out the origin of your email name. What are your suds of choice? Also, I am curious as to what your profession is.
Daffydill, where are you where it’s 80 degrees and dry?
Grumpy, regarding the Gayety. Of course I enjoyed the comedians, especially when their acts were over. My favorite performer was Miss Chili Pepper. You can see her playbill about halfway down the page here. I really didn't expect to find anything about her when I Googled Gayety Theater Baltimore but there she was! Just now I even found a reference to an old picture of her auctioned off on eBay.
I was about nineteen and totally smitten with her charms. I even wrote to her in care of the Gayety Theater inviting her to Spring Weekend at Cornell. Alas, she never anwered.
It's not an exact match to 55d but it's close enough to link. A "feel good" song to help you get through the last few hectic days.
Hello everyone!
This was fairly interesting for me as there were several words I was not familiar with.
PERCALE, LACONIA, ALTAI, GELID, ATRI were the ones that stumped me.
And IGA means nothing in the south, we have Kroger's HEB's and local chains. Also not familiar with subways since we do not have them in Houston, sea level is a bit to low.
Hi all.
Citgo was a gimmie as they sponser
Milka Duno's car. They have/had large storage tanks near the Newark
airport.
Have fun reading Clancy's latest.
It is 950 pgs. The new org is called the "Campus".
Had to wear my Navy watch cap while viewing the eclipse. Too cold
to stand out there for long.
Solid gray again today. More rain
for NorCal.
Take care.
What a solstice!
Persian Beer
Gayety Theater
Little River Band
Topless Bikers in S.D.
Oklahoma
Doin' it down there
Biblical Bigamy
What an OLIO (where the hell else are you going to see this word except in CWD's?)! God, I love this place!
ps My wife is bugging me to CEIL a small store room in the basement. She may have to USH me down there! There's that "down there" again, Dennis!
Hola Everyone, I whizzed along thinking that this was going to be my quickest puzzle ever! Not! I came to a screeching halt in the SE section with IRT, IGA, Gelid, Altai, Pyrric, and Citgo all unknowns.
I don't believe we have IGA stores here on the west coast. I wanted Safeway as their logo is a big red S within a white background. I also goofed up on Cresc. as I didn't think of the abbreviation, even though mus. was abbreviated. Duh!
Hands up for Rice-a-Roni, but that was soon changed for Pasta-Roni. Rice-A-Roni also has small spaghetti pieces (noodles) in the Package along with the rice.
A very timely puzzle for us out here in the west. We have had almost a week of wet, rainy, overcast weather and will be in for a couple more days of rain.
Husker Gary, that's 'cause all the fun is 'down there', one could do a lot of 'ushing' and assess the 'ceil' at the same time. Nothing like multi-tasking!!!
To all you rain-soaked Californians: Welcome to western Oregon! Now you know what we live with from mid Oct til mid June. No wonder we are referred to as the 'web feet'. (we don't tan, we rust).
mmmm...Milka Duno
The epitome of fast cars and fast women
You got it Carol! Best ceiling joke ever -
What goes through a woman's mind while in the throes of passion?
Answer - White, I'll paint the ceiling white!
ps Can you tell I ain't subbin' today?
Some additional musings:
I have a neighbor called Ceil.
Skat is a popular game in Germany.
AWOL is AWL in Oz--without is after all only one word!
We have, or at least used to have CITGO and IGA here in WI.
IKEA is pronounced 'ikk-ay-a' in Europe. I hear people saying 'eye-kee-a' here. I have a friend who insists on pronouncing Italian as eye-talian too and it annoys me intensely.
Patri- is a Latin root, one of many in English and several other languages. That makes it very worthwhile having learned. I had 5 years in high school (7-11th grades). Our teacher was great. Her first year there was also her first year of teaching. But she scared the hell out of most of us, a true disciplinarian. Later when we were in the upper classes, she seemed to soften and became quite human, but was always a great teacher. As my homeroom teacher in my senior year, she gave me a wonderful reference, something that was done back then, when it was assumed that not every student would continue on to college, and some might need references to get a job.
Daffydill, where are you where it’s 80 degrees and dry?
Jeanne, I am in far West Texas, which is dry and hot a lot of the time, but not usually in December.
Hello everybody. I had pretty much the same difficulties that so many of you had, and which you have so well already described. The upside is to consider solving this puzzle a learning experience.
Saw the eclipse last night, but had difficulty looking straight up for more than a minute at a time. Got a few photographs, but they are pretty bad. Gotta have a super lens and a tripod, like the newspapers and TV guys have, to get decent photos of things like that.
High five to you, Jeannie, for your humorous remark about MOHS.
Thanks for the funny verse about Latin, Grumpy 1.
Not exactly GELID here today, but definitely it has been sprinkly, sheety, and buckety. Carol, having lived in Eugene OR, I know what you mean!
Abejo, thanks for the explanation. Fascinating!
Husker Gary, beige too :)
As Jeannie said, "Daffydill, where are you where it’s 80 degrees and dry?"
Best wishes to you all.
Hello Everyone ~~
I enjoyed this puzzle and Argyle's blogging. My one look-up was for YEHUDI, which lead to the Y needed for PYRRHIC which was unknown to me. Somehow I managed all the rest. I didn't recognize some words but they filled themselves in nicely!
We've managed to miss the snow and the rain here in CT...it's just been cold and windy. Ah yes, winter is here and we've been lucky.
Like thehondohurricane, I'm waiting for tonight's UCONN women's basketball game. Hoping for the 89th consecutive win and then no more talk of the streak. I'm a bit of a sports nut so I do enjoy the sports clues in the puzzles. My one area of confidence! :-)
Husker Gary, funny joke! Have you thought about giving up subbing? Apparently, you don't need the money, don't like it that much and have more fun when you are off. (No offense intended. Just my impressions.) Barbara and I decided not to sub for those same reasons. We keep in touch by tutoring a few hours a week. One-on-one is satisfying.
More rain coming. One article I read talked about lightning, thunder and hail. Maybe we better park Barbara's new car under a big tree down the street since our garage is full with her old VW and the MG.
AB,
I had a feeling it was neither hispanic or redneck; thanks for the information. With all the talk about craft beer here, I am surprised you did not mention the origin yourself.
HG, you are working overtime as class wit; thanks.
Husker Gary,
Like you, I have won many pyrrhic contests with my beloved usually at great cost, also known as money. Sometime being right can be damn expensive!
Jeannie,
From what I know about the Laconia races, the bike racing is the main focus, at least in the daytime. At night, I've never heard anything about exhibitionists, male or female. A close friend attends the races each year and if there were an excess of risque goings on, he would know of it & at least be part of the audience.
The races are always held on Fathers Day weekend.
seen.
Current favorite is Pippa Mann. She finished P4 in Indy Lights this
year. If I had 10 million lying around, I'd buy her an Indy Car so she could move up the ladder.
Bill. Just a suggestion. Put the VW
under the tree and the new car in the garage.
Bill G, thanks for the sympathetic note. I certainly see why you are saying that. I will use my 5th and last post today to tell you -
1. I love subbing because I only have to do it 8 times/month and don't have all the other attendant minutiae of teaching. It has many of the same characteristics as being a grandfather.
2. The "Woe is me" (Alas in CWD speak) tone is probably tied to my Great Plains roots where we always reserve the right to complain ad nauseum.
3. I take your post in the manner it was offered but reserve the right to keep on kvetching!
4. Subbing has some quirks in that you have to establish yourself with new kids 6 times/day when you go to a new school and so that can wear on you but that is part of the deal. An aide last week told me, "This last class is terrible. You'd better be ready! I got out my big voice and told them, "You don't talk when the old, fat guy is talking!" at 100 dB and she later said, "I have never seen them behave that well!" You ex-teachers know what I am saying.
5. I don't need the money but everyday has 24 hrs in it and I am cursed with having to be productive and I don't suck at teaching.
6. I not only sub, but as you may or may not know I am taking my 23rd annual trip to Orlando next month and that is the ultimate sub job because for the first time, I am taking kids I don't really know.
Thanks Bill and I hope you can take my blogs with the block of salt required! No offense taken at all!
Gary
Probably one of the more well-known CITGO signs is the one in Kenmore Square in Boston. It can be seen from Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. Several years ago, there was talk about taking down the sign, but it had become a landmark, and the public protested its removal.
I found it amusing that Laconia was clued as a "city." By New Hampshire standard, maybe, but it is really a small town. Not that there is anything wrong with that!
Oh man. Aroni/Rice; then
Ricea/Roni; finally Pasta/Roni...DUH! I enjoyed the theme and actually "got it" before I came to the blog. I had to really go some to come up with ExGI though. That was my favorite for the day.
Yehudi Menuhin has been a part of my music collection for a lot of years, so that was a gimme. Check out some of his recordings with Stephan Grapelli and Django Reinhardt - Tea For Two is a classic.
We are enjoying a respite from the rain today, butanother storm is expected tonight. Batten down the hatches, everyone!
Oops, I forgot to mention...@Tinbeni. Love the Lime for "fiber". My doctor told me at my last visit to increase my fluids and up my salt intake. I immediately came home and made a Margarita with extra salt around the rim! Hey, two birds with one stone, right?
Cheers!
CITGO exists in Arizona. Before Hugo Chavez had his er, tantrum at the U.N. there were many more of them but people boycotted Citgo since it is owned by Venezuela and Chevron bought some of them.
IGA also used to exist here but the chains gradually took over and Kroger (Frys) now dominates the grocery scene of Bashas, Safeway and Albertson's.
Rain is expected today and it is considerably cooler. That's a good change for us.
Good evening Argyle, CC et al.,
Dick was reading my mind...uh oh..and Jeannie and I had the same giggle over 'mohs' hardness scale. I'm surprised I didn't know that considering my penchant for hardness and diamonds. Learn something new all the time here. Loved seeing Hokey and thought of our beloved VT Hokies, as well as Hokey Pokey which goes along w/the Hanky Panky around here. Also disagree w/the meaning of Hokey as fake.
We also pronounce it I-kee-ya here too but in the bedroom I think it's full name is 'AHHHH! OHHHHHH! Hai! Hai! I-kee-ya!'.
Santa, baby. You are wonderful and do such a remarkable job at blogging. Had to LOL at your 45A Pyrrhic comment. Cute! Now, about Fri night. I will have crispy gingersnaps and chewy molasses cookies w/ a glass of milk waiting for you. My chimney is spotless and ready for you to come in. I've been really good, Santa, cutie...at least that's what I've been told...so, can you bring a little Christmas bling? I'll help you empty your sack and even massage your back, just hurry down my chimney Friday night. Can't wait, Santa Baby.
Enjoy your night.
Thank you all again for the sweet thoughts and condolences. Your individual concern is heart warming; your collective kindness is overwhelming. Thank you.
Jeannie, All set Deah! Having a white Christmas means nothing to me. If I believe what the forecasters are saying today, we're going to end up with 2-4 inches between now and Thursday??!! I think I'll have the boys just go out and drive their routes real fast when we see snow. Thanks for the thought just the same.
I've got Grinch playing as my ring tone. We've got the shopping done and my review of the check book has me looking beyond the Holiday.
Off to a meeting.
Cheers to Humbug Day!
Jerome, Glad you have puzzles in the works. Don't worry about our remarks-we alwaays tip toe away.
Abejo,your politeness and intelligence are welcome additions.
Jeannie, Like to think you are cozy and safe at home tonight.
Lois, OMG you've had me laugh out loud too much tonight- I can't breathe.
Some great blogging tonight.
In some parts of the south there are three well known grocery chains, Big Bear, Piggly Wiggly and Harris Teeters. There was a rumor going around a few years ago that Dolly Parton was buying all three chains and the new stores would be...
Big Wiggly Teeters
Lois, even better than usual! GarlicGal, we're also getting hit again with stormy weather late tonight and tomorrow morning.
Here's a fun little puzzle from NPR you guys might enjoy.
You are given two things from the same category. Name a third thing in the same category that comes between the two given things alphabetically. For example, given Orange and Violet (colors of the rainbow), the third thing would be Red.
Try these: Harrison and McCartney, Earth and Mars, Pawn and Rook, Malachi and Matthew, Psycho and Rebecca, Atlanta and Austin, Minnesota and Ohio State, Pitcher and Second Base.
Barbara and I came up with a few more. Atlantic Avenue and Boardwalk, Grumpy and Sleepy, Ferguson and Letterman, Prancer and Vixen, Integers and Rationals, Volt and Ampere. My friend, Barry Spence gave me a few more ideas: India and Ireland, Lucille and Tutti Frutti, C’est Moi and If Ever I Would Leave You, Mickey and Minnie. (I think that one was the hardest for me.)
Grumpy, I scared the neighbors laughing out loud at your Dolly Parton, grocery store joke! Really funny.
Argyle, I wanted to thank you for your great blogging today. I enjoyed the links.
Piggly Wiggly was bought out here in the west by Safeway many years ago. My father-in-law worked for Piggly Wiggly, then Safeway for over 40 years. I didn't know there were any stores left in the U.S.
BillG: Minnesota and Ohio State would be Northwestern and soon you could add Nebraska.(Big Ten schools)
Pitcher and second base would be right field. You could argue rover if it were softball.
Greetings, friends,
Great blogging, Santa. Also a fun puzzle. It actually went together too fast. I like a little more time to enjoy the fun. The perps and clues were so friendly that I never did read them all! 'Yehudi'was a gimmie; I, too had 'aroni' at first try but changed it when I needed 'ass' for 9D. I also looked up 'ceil' after the discussion and found almost the exact definition as the clue, except for the word 'roof': 'to provide with a ceiling'
Once upon a time when I was newly married we bought a Dodge Wayfarer, the first of many convertibles we were to have over the years. I don't know what year it was but I don't think it was new, since it was still hard to get new cars after WWII. Anyway, it had isinglass windows which did NOT roll down! They had to be lifted up in order to open them. It was a cute looking car and as I recall we didn't have it very long, a year or two, I guess. We were always kidded about its non-automatic everything! But we were young and had lots of fun with it.
I think I have been in Laconia. . . . Isn't that the place where there is a funny little railroad that's a big tourist attraction? I don't remember where it went but I did ride on it. Or could I be having a dream about "Greenacres?"
Are "Atlai" and "Alai" the same mountains? Never heard of CITGO, strange name. IGA was a midwest group, I think. We don't hear much about percale sheets any more. Now the buzz is threadcount! It used to be muslin or percale, unless there was a grade lower than muslin; now threadcount can go up to 1500 or so, which I find it hard to believe!
Lois: Just tooooo funny about your 'chimney' and Santa!!! Hey, I'm sure he will be so, so happy to be relieved of his full sack. That's a heavy load to tote. Don't let Miss-understand (she won the title for best dressed present under the tree) upset you if you hear a Ho, Ho, Ho....it's nothing personal.
Jeannie, I suppose you could take a 'mohs' number to establish a standard requisite.
Grumpy: hilarious! New jobs titles then would be Teeter baggers; teeter stockers (stalkers); teeter eaters...
somebody stop me! teeter meaters, OMG!
Carol: Miss Understand...funny! made me LOL. I'll help Santa have 3 very fine ho's. He'll be ho ho hoing all the thru the night.
Hi gang -
My hat's off to all of you who thought this puzzle was easy. For me - a 22 minute slog.
RICE-A - sure. When that fell, I thought RONI had to go to. Had ETRUSCAN for OLD LATIN. That was hard to recover from.
I knew PYRRHIC, but it took me six tries to spel it rite.
Does anybody remember when CITGO was CITY SERVICE?
I have no recollection of PADRES ever being in the world series.
Grumpy - you are too funny!
Cheers!
JzB
Lois, DF minds think alike. In this case "moh's" is never enough "moh's". Jayce, good catch! As you would put it it's all good.
Somehow it goes with Mainiac's "Deah" pronunciation, which I find endearing. I'll take them both.
Creature, the accomodations at the hotel last night were "top notch" but there is something to be said about sleeping in your own bed.
HuskerGary, I have to say that I don't like the days you have off from subbing as you burn up your posts too soon for me to "banter" with you once I get home from work. Save one for me.
My favorite counselor, you have been quiet of late. Is your eye okay?
Fermatprime, are you getting much needed rest? I hope that is the reason from your lack of posts today pretty lady. Forgive me if I missed one today. My snowblower has a flat so I spent much of the night shoveling out the drive. So much for chivalrey by the two male SNOWPLOWERS that live next door. I know they knew I didn't make it home last night.
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