Theme: "D" mand you do better than a D PLUS; the letter "D" is attached to the beginning of the first word of a grid spanning phrase to create a new and humorous new phrase. Each clue is signaled with a "?" to let the solvers know a play on words is involved. In the 4th theme answer, the first word and the third word are the same word, so both have the D added.
17A. Soundly defeat by cheating?: DRUB THE WRONG WAY. A drubbing is a beating, and likely comes from an Arabic word that transliterates as DARB. No one would ever accuse our Dfettes of rubbing the wrong way.
24A. Gloomy Cuban?: DOUR MAN IN HAVANA. What is particularly intriguing about this clue is the Graham Greene novel, and subsequent MOVIE starring among others Alec Guinness and the incomparable Ernie Kovacs, is a dark comedy poking fun at British Intelligence. Greene was a member of MI5, the place from whence James Bond was born. The movie was also filmed in Cuba, with the approval of then newly empowered Fidel Castro.
46A. Discerning pub competitor ?: DART CONNOISSEUR. More little javelins, this week, and a word with Latin, cognoscere "to know, to become well_acquainted with, and some French history.
59A. What loving couples exchange?: DEAR TO DEAR GRINS. Certainly a more romantic concept than xxxx eating grins.
And the unifier,
37. Grade that describes this puzzle’s theme: D PLUS. Well, it is almost a C-
An ambitious use of 4 grid spanning entries, tied together solely by the added "D." The sound of the theme is very entertaining, and there are some nice entries, but overall, I found myself lost in places. Maybe it is just me, as this has been a very hard week.
Well lets look at what has been wrought.
Across:
1. Part of the deal: HAND. We begin with some nice misdirection, as a hand of cards is part of what is dealt.
5. Little pieces, idiomatically: DRABS. Dribs and drabs is the full phrase, with the speculation it was created for the sound, like helter skelter or hurly burly. DRIBS likely comes from DRIPS.
10. Benevolent group: ELKS. BPOE, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; not to be confused with the Moose Lodge.
14. Great Plains tribe: OTOE. This Sioux tribe was part of the buffalo hunting nomadic Indians of Missouri and Oklahoma. And, 41A. Iroquois enemies: ERIES.
15. Amazing!: OH WOW.
16. House leader during Bill’s presidency: NEWT. Mr. Gingrich is back politicking to be president. He has written 23 books, and overcome being known as NEWT.
20. Henri’s health: SANTE. An alliterative introduction to our French lesson, A votre sante, is the common French toast, "to your health."
21.Critical: DO OR DIE. One of those odd combination of letters which must be parsed as more than one word, or you just sit and stare at the gird. This also brings to mind the Tennyson POEM.
22. Lummox: OAF.
24. Maker of the LX 150 scooter: VESPA. I know no other scooter maker, so this had to be easy.
32. Photo finish?: OPS. Another word play, and what every politician wants.
33. Birthplace of seven presidents: OHIO. Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley, Taft, Harding; second only to Virginia’s 8 presidents
34. Drive off: REPEL. So many meanings, from warding off, to going down the mountain side. (correction - when you go off a cliff or down a mountain, you 'rappel'. )
35. Ardor: ZEAL. Who is your favorite Zealot in history?
40. "James and the Giant Peach" writer: DAHL. Roald, one bizarre mind.
43. Start of Durante refrain: INKA. Fine childhood memories of listening to this SONG.
45. Olympics participant since 1992, to the IOC: CRO. Croatia after the break up of the Slavic countries.
50.Cheerios: TA TAS. Just for Nice Cuppa, we have a little British wordplay on departing; not to be confused with TATAS, or any cereal products.
51 Music store section: POP. Nuff said.
52. Martyred first Bishop of Paris: ST. DENIS. A complete unknown HISTORY .
55. Notable early student of Bela: NADIA. Nadia Comaneci and Bela Karolyi, the wonderful Romanian gymnastic student and teacher.
63. ___ à feu: ARME. Literally a firearm.
64. Carnival dance: SAMBA. Not the one with cotton candy, but from Brazil, with passion. You too can learn to DANCE .
65. Unite after a break, in a way: KNIT. When a bone breaks, it heals by knitting itself back together.
66. Caring: KIND. Very literal.
67. Magazine for horse owners: EQUUS. Latin for Horse.
68. Sherpa sighting: YETI. The famous mountain guides see a little abominable snow man?
Time to go down:
Down:
1. Mortar carriers: HODS. They actually are used to carry the bricks and the mortar.
2. Handle for a little shaver?: ATRA. Handle meaning name, cute clue.
3. Animal, vegetable or mineral: NOUN. We had this clue before.
4. Unsettled one?: DEBTOR. People are said to settle their debts when they resolve them.
5. Head-slapper’s cry: DOH. Most of us at one time or another and Homer.
6. Scoreboard initials: RHE. Runs, hits and errors at a baseball game. This was a clue in the first puzzle I blogged.
7. How adorable!: AWW. Exactly how a feel about new grand nephew and niece.
8. Big name in Dairy: BORDEN. I do not believe the company was named after Lizzie.
9. Sports logs since 1972: SWOOSH. The Nike logo, made famous by Mr. Jordan.
10. Like cameos: ENGRAVED. I had a hard time with this one, as I was thinking about brief appearance in a film, not the jewelry. I am not sure all cameos are engraved.
11. Lascivious: LEWD. In the law these two words go together.
12. Title river in a 1957 film that won 7 Oscars: KWAI. Love the MOVIE. Once again Alec Guinness performs.
13. Eyelid malady: STYE. Yes, those of us with eye problems wish all we had to deal with were styes, or hordeolum, small bumps that can appear on the outside or inside of the eyelid.
18. Latin lover’s declaration: TE AMO. Real Latin, not Hispanic, I love you.
19. Stock term: NO PAR. We have had this many times, it just means the stock has no intrinsic value.
23. Saudi royal name: FAHD. The son of the founder of the country who ruled until his death in 2005; also another Arabic word, meaning courageous, fierce.
24. Talking Heads song, "Sax and ____": VIOLINS. Another SONG .
25. Missed out maybe: DOZED. I never saw this clue, but I guess it personifies if you snooze, you lose.
26. Met tragedy, perhaps?: OPERA. The question mark tells you it is the Metropolitan Opera, many of which are tragedies like OTELLO.
27. It merged with Piedmont in 1989: US AIR. Deregulation leads to consolidation. Not to be confused with 58D. Piedmont wine region: ASTI. Where Italian sparkling wine is made.
28. Playful bite: NIP. Many puppies and a few babies I know.
29. Swiftly: APACE. The dreaded "A" word.
30. Jacket style popular with 60's rockers: NEHRU. The man, and his influence.
31. Words that lead to nothing: ALL OR. Very cute, all or nothing.
36. Educated: LETTERED. The original studies were of letters.
38. Game based on crazy eights: UNO. Once again, this game in my blog, and once again, we played SkipBo to please Ma Grand-Mère. And 39D. Card in 38-down: SKIP.
42. Meager: SCANT. For our Norwegian contingent, from Old Norse SKAMPT.
44. Words after play or for: A SONG. No money, just some singing.
47. Idle: OTIOSE. Our five dollar word of the day, taken directly from the Latin otiosis. American IDLE, where the OTIOSE become OBESE.
48. Where GOOG is traded: NASDAQ. GOOG is the stock symbol for GOOGLE, which is traded on the Over the Counter Market, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations" controlled neither by the New York nor American Stock Exchange. It is now the largest market of listed companies.
49. Canine mascot of the National Fire Protection Society: SPARKY. A post Smokey rip off, but you gotta love a dog in a yellow slicker IMAGE .
52. Badlands Natl. Park site: S DAK. The abbreviation of NATL tells you the answer will be an abbreviation also.
53. Dustin’s "Tootsies"co-star: TERI. These puzzles haunt me, as dear Teri Garr appears again on my blog day.
54. Denounce: DAMN. Another reminder of Rhett and Scarlett.
56. Wine partner: DINE. The old dating tradition of wining and dining, to replace with the post honeymoon whining and shopping.
57. Down but not out: IN IT. If you are not out, you are in.
60. Bird in the bush: EMU. A call out to our transplant from OZ, Kazie, where these flightless but low in cholesterol birds roam.
61. ___Dhabi: ABU. Part of the UAE and home for a new golf course and golf tournament, owned by Martin Kaymer.
62. ___Tafari: RAS. Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Haile Selassie I, the 225th Monarch of the Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia in November of 1930. He also was the prophet of the RASTAFARIAN movement which emerged in Jamaica. He claimed to be a direct descendant of King Solomon, and therefore of Moses.
Answer grid.
Well, that was fun, and next week, I should be back to whatever normal is for me; be careful out there especially on Valentine's Day; thanks Mr. Sajdak and all the corner.
Lemonade
Note from C.C.: A special "Thank you" to Al & Lemonade for blogging under very difficult circumstances in the past couple of days. Puzzles were not available in regular hour and Lemonade still needs more time to heal his troublesome eye. Jazzbumpa also blogged on Wednesday with a cold. And the YouTube links in this write-up work now only because the workhorse Argyle stayed up late and helped. Aren't we lucky to have them?! (Oops, forgot our beautiful Melissa!)
17A. Soundly defeat by cheating?: DRUB THE WRONG WAY. A drubbing is a beating, and likely comes from an Arabic word that transliterates as DARB. No one would ever accuse our Dfettes of rubbing the wrong way.
24A. Gloomy Cuban?: DOUR MAN IN HAVANA. What is particularly intriguing about this clue is the Graham Greene novel, and subsequent MOVIE starring among others Alec Guinness and the incomparable Ernie Kovacs, is a dark comedy poking fun at British Intelligence. Greene was a member of MI5, the place from whence James Bond was born. The movie was also filmed in Cuba, with the approval of then newly empowered Fidel Castro.
46A. Discerning pub competitor ?: DART CONNOISSEUR. More little javelins, this week, and a word with Latin, cognoscere "to know, to become well_acquainted with, and some French history.
59A. What loving couples exchange?: DEAR TO DEAR GRINS. Certainly a more romantic concept than xxxx eating grins.
And the unifier,
37. Grade that describes this puzzle’s theme: D PLUS. Well, it is almost a C-
An ambitious use of 4 grid spanning entries, tied together solely by the added "D." The sound of the theme is very entertaining, and there are some nice entries, but overall, I found myself lost in places. Maybe it is just me, as this has been a very hard week.
Well lets look at what has been wrought.
Across:
1. Part of the deal: HAND. We begin with some nice misdirection, as a hand of cards is part of what is dealt.
5. Little pieces, idiomatically: DRABS. Dribs and drabs is the full phrase, with the speculation it was created for the sound, like helter skelter or hurly burly. DRIBS likely comes from DRIPS.
10. Benevolent group: ELKS. BPOE, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; not to be confused with the Moose Lodge.
14. Great Plains tribe: OTOE. This Sioux tribe was part of the buffalo hunting nomadic Indians of Missouri and Oklahoma. And, 41A. Iroquois enemies: ERIES.
15. Amazing!: OH WOW.
16. House leader during Bill’s presidency: NEWT. Mr. Gingrich is back politicking to be president. He has written 23 books, and overcome being known as NEWT.
20. Henri’s health: SANTE. An alliterative introduction to our French lesson, A votre sante, is the common French toast, "to your health."
21.Critical: DO OR DIE. One of those odd combination of letters which must be parsed as more than one word, or you just sit and stare at the gird. This also brings to mind the Tennyson POEM.
22. Lummox: OAF.
24. Maker of the LX 150 scooter: VESPA. I know no other scooter maker, so this had to be easy.
32. Photo finish?: OPS. Another word play, and what every politician wants.
33. Birthplace of seven presidents: OHIO. Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley, Taft, Harding; second only to Virginia’s 8 presidents
34. Drive off: REPEL. So many meanings, from warding off, to going down the mountain side. (correction - when you go off a cliff or down a mountain, you 'rappel'. )
35. Ardor: ZEAL. Who is your favorite Zealot in history?
40. "James and the Giant Peach" writer: DAHL. Roald, one bizarre mind.
43. Start of Durante refrain: INKA. Fine childhood memories of listening to this SONG.
45. Olympics participant since 1992, to the IOC: CRO. Croatia after the break up of the Slavic countries.
50.Cheerios: TA TAS. Just for Nice Cuppa, we have a little British wordplay on departing; not to be confused with TATAS, or any cereal products.
51 Music store section: POP. Nuff said.
52. Martyred first Bishop of Paris: ST. DENIS. A complete unknown HISTORY .
55. Notable early student of Bela: NADIA. Nadia Comaneci and Bela Karolyi, the wonderful Romanian gymnastic student and teacher.
63. ___ à feu: ARME. Literally a firearm.
64. Carnival dance: SAMBA. Not the one with cotton candy, but from Brazil, with passion. You too can learn to DANCE .
65. Unite after a break, in a way: KNIT. When a bone breaks, it heals by knitting itself back together.
66. Caring: KIND. Very literal.
67. Magazine for horse owners: EQUUS. Latin for Horse.
68. Sherpa sighting: YETI. The famous mountain guides see a little abominable snow man?
Time to go down:
Down:
1. Mortar carriers: HODS. They actually are used to carry the bricks and the mortar.
2. Handle for a little shaver?: ATRA. Handle meaning name, cute clue.
3. Animal, vegetable or mineral: NOUN. We had this clue before.
4. Unsettled one?: DEBTOR. People are said to settle their debts when they resolve them.
5. Head-slapper’s cry: DOH. Most of us at one time or another and Homer.
6. Scoreboard initials: RHE. Runs, hits and errors at a baseball game. This was a clue in the first puzzle I blogged.
7. How adorable!: AWW. Exactly how a feel about new grand nephew and niece.
8. Big name in Dairy: BORDEN. I do not believe the company was named after Lizzie.
9. Sports logs since 1972: SWOOSH. The Nike logo, made famous by Mr. Jordan.
10. Like cameos: ENGRAVED. I had a hard time with this one, as I was thinking about brief appearance in a film, not the jewelry. I am not sure all cameos are engraved.
11. Lascivious: LEWD. In the law these two words go together.
12. Title river in a 1957 film that won 7 Oscars: KWAI. Love the MOVIE. Once again Alec Guinness performs.
13. Eyelid malady: STYE. Yes, those of us with eye problems wish all we had to deal with were styes, or hordeolum, small bumps that can appear on the outside or inside of the eyelid.
18. Latin lover’s declaration: TE AMO. Real Latin, not Hispanic, I love you.
19. Stock term: NO PAR. We have had this many times, it just means the stock has no intrinsic value.
23. Saudi royal name: FAHD. The son of the founder of the country who ruled until his death in 2005; also another Arabic word, meaning courageous, fierce.
24. Talking Heads song, "Sax and ____": VIOLINS. Another SONG .
25. Missed out maybe: DOZED. I never saw this clue, but I guess it personifies if you snooze, you lose.
26. Met tragedy, perhaps?: OPERA. The question mark tells you it is the Metropolitan Opera, many of which are tragedies like OTELLO.
27. It merged with Piedmont in 1989: US AIR. Deregulation leads to consolidation. Not to be confused with 58D. Piedmont wine region: ASTI. Where Italian sparkling wine is made.
28. Playful bite: NIP. Many puppies and a few babies I know.
29. Swiftly: APACE. The dreaded "A" word.
30. Jacket style popular with 60's rockers: NEHRU. The man, and his influence.
31. Words that lead to nothing: ALL OR. Very cute, all or nothing.
36. Educated: LETTERED. The original studies were of letters.
38. Game based on crazy eights: UNO. Once again, this game in my blog, and once again, we played SkipBo to please Ma Grand-Mère. And 39D. Card in 38-down: SKIP.
42. Meager: SCANT. For our Norwegian contingent, from Old Norse SKAMPT.
44. Words after play or for: A SONG. No money, just some singing.
47. Idle: OTIOSE. Our five dollar word of the day, taken directly from the Latin otiosis. American IDLE, where the OTIOSE become OBESE.
48. Where GOOG is traded: NASDAQ. GOOG is the stock symbol for GOOGLE, which is traded on the Over the Counter Market, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations" controlled neither by the New York nor American Stock Exchange. It is now the largest market of listed companies.
49. Canine mascot of the National Fire Protection Society: SPARKY. A post Smokey rip off, but you gotta love a dog in a yellow slicker IMAGE .
52. Badlands Natl. Park site: S DAK. The abbreviation of NATL tells you the answer will be an abbreviation also.
53. Dustin’s "Tootsies"co-star: TERI. These puzzles haunt me, as dear Teri Garr appears again on my blog day.
54. Denounce: DAMN. Another reminder of Rhett and Scarlett.
56. Wine partner: DINE. The old dating tradition of wining and dining, to replace with the post honeymoon whining and shopping.
57. Down but not out: IN IT. If you are not out, you are in.
60. Bird in the bush: EMU. A call out to our transplant from OZ, Kazie, where these flightless but low in cholesterol birds roam.
61. ___Dhabi: ABU. Part of the UAE and home for a new golf course and golf tournament, owned by Martin Kaymer.
62. ___Tafari: RAS. Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Haile Selassie I, the 225th Monarch of the Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia in November of 1930. He also was the prophet of the RASTAFARIAN movement which emerged in Jamaica. He claimed to be a direct descendant of King Solomon, and therefore of Moses.
Answer grid.
Well, that was fun, and next week, I should be back to whatever normal is for me; be careful out there especially on Valentine's Day; thanks Mr. Sajdak and all the corner.
Lemonade
Note from C.C.: A special "Thank you" to Al & Lemonade for blogging under very difficult circumstances in the past couple of days. Puzzles were not available in regular hour and Lemonade still needs more time to heal his troublesome eye. Jazzbumpa also blogged on Wednesday with a cold. And the YouTube links in this write-up work now only because the workhorse Argyle stayed up late and helped. Aren't we lucky to have them?! (Oops, forgot our beautiful Melissa!)
Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - short write-up 'cause I'm very, very tired and had a very, very late night.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't an easy puzzle for me at all. I got off to a good start in the NW with 'hods', then 'sante', but that was the extent of any speed run. Very clever cluing, from 'Part of the deal' to 'Handle for a little shaver' to 'Bird in the bush' (my favorite, for some reason). I did manage to get through without outside help, but needed plenty of perps to finish. Tough and fun puzzle. And it's always nice to look at 'tatas'.
Lemonade, excellent job - loved reading The Charge of the Light Brigade again. One correction - when you go off a cliff or down a mountain, you 'rappel'. It's a lot of fun, but only when you're done.
Today is Don't Cry over Spilled Milk Day, Make a Friend Day and White T-Shirt Day.
Did You Know?:
- Of the four fundamental forces -- gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force, and strong nuclear force -- gravity is by far the weakest.
- Saturn has such a low density that if placed in water it would float.
- The largest supply of alcohol in the universe is in deep space. Astronomers have spotted an alcohol cloud in the Milky Way that measures 288 billion miles across.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteA fine puzzle with a fun theme, but very challenging for me as well. The two things that really held me up were (a) my complete inability to spell CONNOISSEUR (I had CONNOSSEIUR) and (b) my conviction that 35A was HEAT instead of ZEAL.
The first problem finally got fixed when I dredged SPARKY the Fire Dog out of the deep recesses of my brain. The second problem hung around until I finally removed the H and the T from HEAT and started at the result for awhile until the light bulb went off.
Tough one. That the themed entries were somewhat inconsistent didn't help. The first, based on "rub the wrong way," suggested these would be familiar expressions. But then "our man in Havana" is a literary reference, and in the last one, "dear to dear grins" the placement of the extra "d" is different from the others.
ReplyDeleteI clued in to the theme early by getting "d plus," and that gave away the first themed answer, but I struggled with the rest, I guess because I was looking for similar idiomatic expressions.
Strange phenomenon at the end -- I'm a pen solver, but sometimes when I'm just stuck, I'll throw in some best-guess letters and circle them to signal that they're probably wrong (I guess it's sort of a way to feel like I finished when I didn't!). This time, it was the r in "drabs/rhe," the o in "hods/otoe," and the k in "inka/skip," and weirdly, they all turned out to be correct!
Otherwise, long slow slog, and yes, needed Google for about 5 or 6 answers, which always makes me feel somehow unclean.
Denny, no worries - dirty solvers are always welcome here.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dennis!
ReplyDeleteActually, I did get something wrong, and I hadn't even circled or doubted it. 65 across, UNITE AFTER A BREAK, IN A WAY, I confidently filled in "knot," which gave me "inot" or "in o.t." for 57D, DOWN BUT NOT OUT. That made perfect sense to me! If you're in O.T., the game's not over yet, but you could lose at any moment.
Only in hindsight do I realize if you're in O.T., then you're probably not "down" but tied. Still, "in it" never occurred to me.
Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up, Lemonade. Knowing that you are working at a disadvantage with your eyesight makes it even more amazing. I loved all the links, and had a real flashback when I saw the Jimmy Durante one. Plus, now I know how to SAMBA !!
I must have some doppelgängers on this site, because I had the same experience as Denny with the theme. And like Barry, I had a brain fart when it came to spelling CONNOISSEUR. Mr Webster would be proud of all the innovative words I came up with this morning.
Favorite clue was "Met Tragedy" for OPERA. OTIOSE was a (re-) learning moment. And 52A ST DENIS? Really, Dennis? "Saint"??
TGIF !! Have a great day everyone!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteFinding the puzzle is almost as much fun as solving. Went to this
site that promised FREE LA Times Crosswords about 8:15 last night.
Did not understand 21A at all.
Off to Pebble.
Nice write-up, Lemonade. This was a tough one for me. I hate when I can't get going in the NW corner, which is what happened this morning. Not to say that there weren't some good clues.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked: Met Tragedy = OPERA
Unite After a Break = KNIT.
QOD: To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable. ~ Barry Goldwater
Good morning, Lemonade, C. C., James S and fellow solvers.
ReplyDeleteI broke down and ordered an Intellibed with gel, not to be confused with inferior Intelligel bed. Can't wait for it to arrive.
Puzzle was very nice. Liked the theme! Fairly easy to catch those entries. They were my favorite fills. (No trouble with spelling.)
Learned about Ras Tafari. Always wondered about connection there.
Have a great weekend!
fermat
Good Morning C.C., Lemon and all,
ReplyDeleteLemon, thanks so much for your efforts; well done. Your write-up in no way reflects the difficulties you are going through; I can't imagine how you do it. I very much appreciate your work and the time it must take.
Al,Jazz and Argyle it looks as if we can't do without you,either, even if we wanted to AND you make things so much more fun! Thanks,
guys!
The puzzle took me quite a while to get through it and then, I had to rework the 'sound' spelling : DOH from duh and OWWOW from uwwow.
In addition, I had to lower 'my grade' from A plus to D PLUS.
Bird in the bush was my first fill
and my fav.crossed with EQUUS.
Fermatprime, glad you're getting a top notch mattress, although the other sounded pretty good.
Speaking of EQUUS, Lois, your new avatar is impressive. You look damn good on that horse!
Have a nice day all.
Lemonade, Good-Job under the conditions.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, thank-you for the assist.
Well, 5-D, DOH came up a lot as the grid perps did their job and got the unknowns filled in.
James I enjoyed DEAR TO DEAR GRINS from your clever cluing.
NO PAR & NASDAQ were my gimmies today.
And ST. DENIS covered my experience in solving.
A hardy SANTE to you all at Sunset !!!
(Now I have to get that Spaceship to visit THAT cloud).
Morning Lemonade, CC and All,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'll add my many thanks to the guest bloggers for their efforts under physical duress as well as technological. There seems to be a lot of both going around. Thanks to all!
This was the typical butt whooping on a Friday for me. I never do well with themes that add a letter, or drop one. St. Denis was a lucky WAG and Little Shaver completely fooled me. I wasn't even confident enough to write in Tatas. Went on line for some red letter help and quit because I was guessing so much. Still enjoyable.
D-Plus I got, but it hit a little close to home. My wife and I were horrified with the my Oldest's grades that came in the mail yesterday. No D's, one C (in a AP Algebra class), but the biggest let down were the three As he had going into finals, which he completely boned on. ARRRGGGH! We were both so mad we couldn't discuss it last night. No indication anything went wrong with the finals. Going to be a long weekend for that boy! Breath, count to ten.......
I do love children!
@ Lois from Tuesday, X4!?? Wow Deah! You are a saint to have survived that. And thank you very much for the compliment. With what you've shared of your life experiences here, it means a lot coming from you.
TGIF
I completely missed C.C.'s closing comment on the blog in my early-morning stupor, but she makes a very good point. Our regular crew of bloggers does an extraordinary job day in and day out, even when it'd be easy to say to C.C., nope, don't really feel like all the effort tonight. Each has put the time in on nights when they'd have much rather have been doing something else or had a physical ailment.
ReplyDeleteThis blog wouldn't be what it is without them, and having done a few blogs myself, I really, really appreciate the effort they put in. Thanks, guys.
Good morning Lemonade CC ond fellow TGIF'ers. WOW! What a ride this morning. Thinking outside the box doesn't begin to describe this one.
ReplyDeleteIdle? Well, of course it's AT EASE. The crossing with ST DENES looked OK to me. After getting the DEAR TO DEAR GRIN and the DART CONNOISSEUR, I wound up with OTEOSE and that stayed until I came here to find the errors of my ways.
In the Olympics since 1992? Is that when they started allowing PRO athletes? And how the *#$%# do you spell Cano... conne... CONNOISSEUR, anyway? Perps finally got it straightened out.
I'd change the grade to a B Plus, but it wouldn't fit the theme answers and the Saudi Royals might not like being called Fahbs so I'll leave the grading alone.
Son and DIL are arriving tonight for a one week visit, so time to quit EQUUS'ing around and shovel the hovel.
Hi There~!
ReplyDeleteLot of white, blank space after the first Across pass for me today, and I didn't get much more on my first "D" pass, either.
Had ENAMELED for ENGRAVED, but VESPA had to be right...
Once I tried DRUB, the theme revealed itself, but I too, got stumped by the title reference at the second answer.
A little off-beat with "DEAR to DEAR", but stayed to the theme, and "YET-I" liked it.
UNO & SKIP together was cool.
Mini business theme? -
USAIR, NASDAQ, BORDEN, SWOOSH
Didn't get R.H.E. til the blog - I'm a hockey guy.
Tough week for me, so,
Ta-ta(s) to all~!
Splynter
This was definitely a DNF for me. The only saving grace was seeing Dennis say it wasn't easy for him either. I gave up on the theme entirely after putting A-PLUS. Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all our uber-blog-meisters, whether on duty or not, for keeping 'the home fires burning'. You are much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1.: How does a Nehru jacket differ from a Chairman Mao jacket ? (other than the little red book - standard -).
No. 2. Do they grow Marijuana in Ethiopia - since it is associated with the Rastafarians ? I remember a U S Supreme court decision ( in 1984 ?)- on 'Freedom of religion', no less - dealing with this issue.
OWWOW, I meant OHWOW! Nothing like previewing my posts!
ReplyDeleteEddyB, 21A- read it as DO OR DIE.
Dennis, Like WH said last nite:
"What's the new ride?" We got over eating bugs, but really want to know about your new purchase.
There is a new Google 'moving' logo-doodle today - in honor of Edison's 164th birthday.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle 'd'efeated me. I 'D'NF. Give me a 'D' minus.
ReplyDeleteGood day, puzzlers!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lemonade, for another sparkling blog; and thank you to all, Argyle, Jazz, MB and Al for your labors. I definitely appreciate it.
For a minute I though this was Saturday when scanning the puzzle and it took several passes and random fill to finally realize the theme. DOURMANINHAVAN was my first long fill and the light went on.
TE AMO is also Spanish for I love you.
VESPA popped right out but OTIOSE took some work and is my learning for today as well as SANTE.
Nice shoutout to our Dennis with StDenis.
Favs:
bird in the bush?, EMU
met tradedy, perhaps? OPERA
NOUN got me and didn't correct it til the blog.
Fermat:
I hope your new mattress brings you relief.
Have a wonderful Friday, all!
creature, WH, thanks for asking - it's just a new, different color version of the little guy I've had for the past few years. I'll probably throw a picture up sometime. I'm a gadget freak, and the electronics in this one do everything but launch missiles at slow drivers in the speed lane (I'm working on that).
ReplyDeleteThose of you that had dental appointments in the last few days... was this your dentist?
ReplyDeleteDennis:
ReplyDeleteThat option would persuade me to buy a new vehicle. With all due respect to the Ohioans and former Ohioans on the blog, those damned Buckeyes get in the fast lane on I-75 in Toledo and they don't change lanes till they get to Ft. Lauderdale, even when they can see the color of your eyes in their rear view mirror.
At least on the bike I can go between them (and the Michigan driver beside them in his or her American-made car; I think imports must be outlawed in Michigan), but in the car or truck I have often fantasized about having a .50 mounted in the grille, a la James Bond.
(blood pressure just went from 125 to 180, must breathe deeply and calm down......)
Musings
ReplyDelete-Theme was fun and helpful
-Part of the deal? BOOT (to boot) or ANTE. Nope.
-I want a Vespa! Wife says no! Wonder where this will wind up?
-Not sure Ohio claims Harding!
-Bela Lugosi? Not so much!
-I carried a lot of mortar as a brick tender but never with a HOD
-MOON river? Nope!
-I feel like being OTIOSE after subbing for 4 straight days (The I here and in STDENIS cost me 100% - no chance) especially when ATEASE fit
-GARR not TERI first
-Melissa B would never Rub Anyone The Wrong Way!
-Marty, I agree, STDENNIS? Sacre Bleu!
-20 Lines and Out!
Hi everybody. Yes, thank you to C.C., Dennis, Lemonade, Argyle, MB, JzB, Al and others for all you do for this blog. I hope I didn't miss anybody! If I did, thank you too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle though it certainly was Friday hard. It exemplifies the difference (for me) between a hard Friday (with a theme) and a hard themeless Saturday. The puzzle was hard but the theme was fun and helped me fill in some words once I sussed it out.
A DNF on a puzzle isn't a satisfactory option for me. I'd rather go online and make use of red letters if I need them. I did need a little bit of their help today.
Isn't 66A, KIND, once of the nicest words in the English language?
Here's a really nice little video that I thought many of you would enjoy. I obviously thought of C.C. when I saw it. "This is the story of one of member. He used to ride with his wife. They had married for 40 years. She always asked him to take the tour with her, but she died 20 years ago. He knows it may not long before his end. So he take this chance to fufill the promise to his wife. To travel Taiwan around with her, one last time.
Grumpy 1 and Bill G., I loved both your videos - for very different reasons, obviously. One made me laugh till tears rolled down my face. The other made me nostalgic for lost loved ones, and tears rolled down my face. Thank you for posting!
ReplyDeleteWindhover, that was you??
ReplyDeleteHeartRx, I couldn't agree more -- the Conway/Korman sketch is one of their best ever, and they had a lot of great ones. What always destroys me is Harvey Korman trying to keep it together.
Bill G.'s video really hit someplace very deep. And it's a great testimony to the human spirit and what we're capable of.
Lol, and what's so hard to believe about St. Denis?? Hell, I have friends who think it's a miracle I'm still here.
what's going on here?
ReplyDeleteThank you L-ade for a good job today, Argyle, that includes you too. What a good group we have here at CC's corner. Why we even have a Saint.
ReplyDeleteI think the royal Saudi name is 'SAUD'. never heard of Fahd.
fermat, what kind of bed is that?
XTULMKR, hey where've you been? It was a toughie that took a long time and then some. Looking forward to our good weather that's predicted for next week. Great to 'see' you.
ReplyDeleteDennis, can't wait fot your photos and write-up.
Grumpy, My fav.- so funny!
BillG,such a dear link; thanks for sharing.
MB,I didn't mean to leave you out- blindly copying a list. I especially look forward to your beautifully crafted write-up. Thanks.
good morning c.c., lemonade and all,
ReplyDeletein keeping with what seems to be dental week, i did this one in the waiting room while my son's wisdom teeth were being extracted.
ouch on both counts. (at least my son got percocet.)
some very tricky clues, and a few unknowns. had no idea who 'bela' was, and only got 'in it' from perps.
great job as always lemonade, and hat's off to argyle, jazz and al as well for all your steadfast work and dedication. (haha, c.c., your added note was perfectly karmic!)
great interview, c.c., always such fun to read those.
obligatory joke: what time do you go to the dentist? (say it slowly) tooth-hurty.
boo hiss. sorry, couldn't help myself.
Hola Everyone, I had too many errors today to even list here. I did get the first two theme answers, (or so I thought) and had to leave many squares empty today.
ReplyDeleteI had Drum the wrong way, rather than Drub and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how Door-die could have anything to do with Critical.
Thank you Lemonade and you, too, Argyle for all the help in getting the empty squares filled today.
I circle the clues that I find difficult and go on to the next clue in the puzzle. Today I had 17circled and looked up about half of those, but the puzzle took way too much time and I gave up.
Enough whining, I did learn things along the way and that in istself is a good thing.
Fermatprime, your new bed sounds very interesting. I don't think I've heard of one with gel in the mattress?
Hello C.C. (and thank you for the informative interview!), Argyle and our star for the day, Lemonade 714!
ReplyDeleteJames, Thank you for the interview. Fascinating ! I want to tell you this is a great puzzle. I just had a very hard time with it. It's not you...it's me!!!
Today, I got my laurels wooped...it's a darn good thing I have Lem here to straighten me out so my weekend won't be ruined!
Well, Lucina, weather to shout about! Today 70 then, 75, 79, 77, 74. Oops, Wed. goes back down to 68 degrees. It's a start.
43. Start of Durante refrain: INKA I was thinking his accent and not taking in the word, 'refrain', indicating song...I felt he'd say, inya...ex. in ya face or in ta...ex. in ta intaresting. Like that. Like people where I come from tend to speak.
50.Cheerios: TA TAS. Here in AZ, ta ta's are not good byes...no sir eee. It's where some eyes may wander when talking to a voluptuous woman. I'll put it this way, it's not eye contact! If anyone needs further explanation, ask Lemonade, he knows these things and he's not shy like me.
down:
8. Big name in Dairy: BORDEN. "I do not believe the company was named after Lizzie." I sense she would have approved of the demise of St. Denis.
28. Playful bite: NIP. Many puppies and a few babies I know. Lemonade, did you mean babies or 'BABES'? nip or NIP? I suppose one may nip nips.
47. Idle: OTIOSE. New word for today! Excellent!
Argyle, you are amazing! Your determination and staying power...very satisfying for us who appreciate a man with those qualities!
@Dennis, 'Bird in the bush' is bird your handle or pet name?
I've been spending too much time with the contractor and men on my job site. construction jokes=clean ones Forgive me, I'm an easily led woman! And on that note...
I'm out!
Hi Again ~!
ReplyDeleteDennis and windhover, are you sure those drivers aren't taking the 95 all the way to Riverhead? I could swear I saw one of those 55mph types in front of me in the fast lane here ~!....and then they get that "look" when you pass them on the inside....
My brother gave me a Nerf gun at shoot foam darts at those drivers - hey, it helps with the aggravation....
Splynter
Lemonade - Thanks for the great write up and links. I don't think it's "just you": by my crude measurement (how long it takes me to solve) the last 6 puzzles were the toughest string of 6 in the year so far. Or maybe I'm just losing whatever little knack I had. Loved the challenge though. Keeps me from being OTIOSE.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if everyone respects my request and caps each comment post to about 20 lines. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFrenchie, no, just words to live by.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, unfortunately, they're everywhere.
Splynter:
ReplyDeleteIf they go "all-the-way-down"
on I-75 they end up in Naples/Marco, or then "head East" across the Glades to Miami.
Or (ugh) they end up here in Tampa Bay.
But just south of Ocala they can take the Fla. Turnpike (through Orlando) to Ft. Lauderdale.
Actually, I enjoy the Mid-West folks who come down and visit during the Winter.
Forgive me C.C., but it's huge and historic, and to me, beautiful-
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the people of Egypt!
Good Afternoon All, I was cruising along very nicely today. I even got SANTE. It is interesting that the similar "Sláinte" is the toast to heath in Ireland and Scotland.
ReplyDeleteST DENIS was fine too. GAH and I visited the Basilica of St Denis quite a few years ago. The Gothic structure is beautiful, but it really amazed me then (and still does) how 13th century craftmen managed to create the Rose Windows.
Unfortunately when I got to OTIOSE and NASDAQ I froze. That messed up EQUUS, a magazine I'd never heard of.
Bill G. I can't take a "walk-away" either. I guess visiting Google is kind of a DNF, but I hope I remember at least some of the words I look up.
There is an advantage in posting later in the day. You get to see all the additional links. Grumpy 1 and Bill G. I add my thanks for the videos.
Grumpy and Bill:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the links. I almost split my sides with Tim Conway and Harvey Corman and then teared with the Chinese one.
Yea! Yea! Frenchie, I'm with you enjoying the over 70s weather. I wish we could send some to our cyber friends. I'll think about you.
Thanks for fattening up the experience Grumpy and Bill G; hard to believe that was a commercial
ReplyDeleteDodo, I have finished "House Rules"
ReplyDeleteand thoroughly enjoyed it- down to the last word. Thanks for your recommendation; any more?
I have to admit I was somewhat sulky when C.C. turned over some of the blogging duties to Argyle and then to others. I thought the Crossword Corner was perfect as it was. I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe blogging just gets better and better. I want to add my thanks to C.C. and all the contributors who add so much. Argyle, Al, Jazzbumpa, Lemonade714, Melissa Bee and anyone else who has been brave enough to give it a try, you are knowledgeable, literate, witty and (lucky for C.C.) amazingly dependable.
Good night all.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you to all the guest writer uppers as well, of course, to C.C. who keeps up on all of this. And Dennis is obviously someone who helps it go. We who read daily (even if we can't get the puzzle itself) do truly appreciate the comments, links, and the camaraderie of the outstanding and addictive blog.
The only one I was sure of was opera. Had some other wags, but plenty of empty spaces.
What does DNF mean? What I think it means with know missing its K?
Sallie, so far as I know, DNF means Did Not Finish.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky to be able to go out for lunch easily. No snow to shovel and lots of good restaurants within five miles, many within one or two miles. Today we went to an Italian restaurant. I had really good white bean soup, a salad with orange, avocadoes and wonderful scallops. Barbara had veal with some perfectly-cooked vegetables. Then cappuccino and a chocolate mousse. Then a drive back home in a new car along the beautiful Pacific while listening to Leon Redbone. Felt good.
Sallie, DNF is Did Not Finish, which of course can be easily misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Dennis. He is C.C.'s right hand man (Oh lord....that can be easily misunderstood too.)
Bill G. I see you already let Sallie in on the secret code, but I'm too tired to go back and rewrite. BTW, you make your meals sound so tasty, you should mention the name of the restaurant, so that anybody in the neighborhood will know where they can get some good grub.
I'll quit now. Have a good evening everyone.
Hello Puzzlers - Late to the party again today.
ReplyDeleteI just tried to get the Saturday puzzle from Cruciverb, but the "Archived" option (where the early access was always gotten) usually seen on the right side isn't there. Only the Friday puzzle was available unless I missed something.
Does anyone know what's happening here? Did I miss a remark elsewhere in the blog? Have I just happened upon the thing that caused the guest bloggers to have to work under duress recently?
Speaking of that, let me add my thanks to you, guest bloggers, for your dedication. I really enjoy the Corner and you do so much to make that possible. Please keep up the wit & work!
Dennis, I failed to mention you in my earlier acknowledgement. You are the rock that gives the rest of us stability.
ReplyDeleteC.C., even though I didn't mention you, I hope you realize how very much I feel indebted to you for this blog, your hard work and the gigantic effort of maintaining it.
Such a wonderful blog experience today! Thank you everybody! Happy Valentine's Day weekend, all.
ReplyDeleteI'm out.
CA, this restaurant was Caffe Pinguini in Playa del Ray. You can find them on Google. There are a lot of really good restaurants close by and even more pretty good restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy for the people of Egypt. I hope it all works out well in the long run for them.
Dennis:
ReplyDeleteWhat Lucina said, without question.
What Kazie said! I didn't have the option of doing it online today, so red letters weren't an option. I tried googling strategic clues to kick start barren areas, but too many were needed. When one of them finally brought me to the blog as the first result, I just copied most of the answers over. I'd already spent too much time on it. I haven't done that in a while... I guess I wasn't on the right wavelength today.
ReplyDelete43. Start of Durante refrain: INKA - I totally forgot about that phrase. I was trying to fit in a form of HA CHA CHA instead.
I may not voice it often enough, but thank you to all the bloggers and administrators for the work and time you put into preparing an informative and entertaining blog for us day in and day out!
WH, I think I was riding behind your "neighbor" on the way to work this morning.
ReplyDeleteToday, I'm sure if a woman Spilled Milk on her White T-shirt, she'd Make PLENTY of male Friends on this blog - and any Crying from them would be tears of joy! ;-)
Dudley,
ReplyDeleteYes, same problem. Hope Cruciverb fixes its Archive glitch soon.