Theme: Welcome to LA LA land. The letters LA are inserted into a common phrase to elicit an entirely different and witty new expression. There also is a hint clue at the end. A shout out to our own La LA Linda among others.
16A. Move from Crystal to Caesar's?: CHANGE OF PALACE. CHANGE OF PACE morphs into two famous gambling palaces. I know she is likely referring to the CRYSTAL PALACE built in London, by I like the symmetry of the hotel casinos.
28A. Antelope of questionable virtue?: LOOSE ELAND. What a visual! An Eland on the side of the jungle road, trying to solicit the big game hunters. Anyway, we began with LOOSE END,
33A. "Another regulation, sorry to say"? : ALAS A RULE. AS A RULE.
43A. Greengrocer's grab bags?: SALAD SACKS. SAD SACKS, the poor bungler created by cartoonist george baker in the 1940’s.
And the theme hint, not quite a unifier, but...
53. 1997 Kevin Spacey film, and a hint to this puzzle's theme: LA CONFIDENTIAL. This was a very powerful FILM starring Kevin Spacey, NZ born Australia raised Russell Crowe in a very impressive role. England born, Australia raised Guy Pearce as a particularly despicable character, Kim Basinger looking quite fetching, Australian Simon Baker making his US debut, long before The Mentalist and many more. If you have not seen the movie, it is very well done.
Hello all, Lemonade here. Sorry I missed the Naples trip, but work beckoned. This is our second puzzle this month from Annemarie, who gave us the interesting President Reagan quote to begin the month, and who Grumpy 1 located in an Ohio magazine write up. It was a really challenging puzzle for me, with ALAS A RULE, the fill that tipped me as to the theme. Without knowing the theme, I would never have been able to finish, because there is so much misdirection and so many Friday level clues. Let’s get on with untangling the web she created.
ACROSS:
1. Rigged support: MAST. Jeannie, you want to explain about sails and riggings?
5. Curve of a cabriole leg: KNEE. Wow, bam, a really hard four letter fill immediately. My ex-f-i-l sold antiques, so I knew this term was for those fancy table legs which are concave on the top and convex on the bottom, often with an animal claw at the bottom (see Queen Anne furniture). I believe the word comes from the French Cabrioler, which means to leap, I think. Here I defer to our linguist, Kazie. I was saved by the juxtaposition of the anagram, 5D. Gung-ho: KEEN, which was also not that easy, as the term is rather out-dated.
9. Sheet of stamps: PANE. Wow, it makes sense, but I did not know this DEFINITION. What a miserable start for me.
13. "So that's how it's going to be": I SEE. For those of us married and divorced, this visual is all too real. I can still here the clam, “I see” before the storm.
14. Anago and unagi: EELS. A nice shout for our feerless leader who often had mention her unagi preference.
15. An amulet may ward it off, purportedly: EVIL. Finally, a clue I could answer.
19. Danish poker star Gus: HANSEN. The all-time leading money winner on the World Poker Tour, or at least he was the last time I watched.
20. Curling surface: ICE. The beginning of an onslaught of deceptive clues. Luckily, the Winter Olympics showed lots of this bizarre sport, so Iwas able to rid my brain of the image of old linoleum coming up.
21. Texter's "Heavens!": OMG. Oh My, another answer.
23. Oscar night figure: EMCEE. Again, did you thing about the statue? This is where I wonder how intricate the mind of this constructor is as this year the co-host of the Oscar presentations is Anne Hathaway, who is clued in 29D. 2004 Anne Hathaway title role: ELLA, a cute little MOVIE .
24. Small, vocal bird: WREN.
26. __ market: FLEA. We have many huge ones in Fort Lauderdale, including the SWAP SHOP which used to have a circus all the time.
27. Cliff, Carlos and Derrek of baseball: LEES. Even if you do not know much baseball, you may have heard of CLIFF LEE the Cy Young winning pitcher who spurned the evil empire to sign with the Phillies after helping Texas to its first world series last year. Carlos and Derrek are both children of ex-major leaguers, but none are related to each other.
30. Mag wheels?: EDS. Well, this had my head spinning even after I got the letters from the perps, then d’oh, MAGAZINE big shots! Editors. More deception.
31. Pound output: POEM. Slap, EZRA POUND, not money, not hitting, a poet. POUND was instrumental in so many careers from Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Hemingway, it is unfortunate he embraced fascism and Hitler and denounced all Jews.
32. Has a powerful desire (for): LUSTS. Here, I defer to LOIS and CAROL our other linguistic experts.
36. Gait between walk and canter: AMBLE. I always thought STROLL was in between, but I Guess AMBLE works.
39. Wine Train valley: NAPA. This is a worthwhile TRIP .
40. MoveOn.org, e.g.: Abbr.: PAC. Political Action Committee, our modern lobbyists.
46. Hole maker: MOTH.
47. Mongol sovereign: KHAN. Genghis anyone?
48. Trap, in a way: TREE. To force a person or an animal into a position from which he cannot escape, to corner.
49. "Cheers" waitress: CARLA. A very feisty character played by RHEA PERLMAN who is married to Danny DeVito who was in LA CONFIDENTIAL. I wonder if this clue is intended to foreshadow 11D. French president Sarkozy: NICOLAS the MAN who married CARLA BRUNI.
50. Sixth rock from the sun: Abbr.: SAT. My meh fill of the puzzle, SATURN being the 6th planet in our solar system.
51. Rye go-with: HAM. I used to see that ordered lots, but now there are too many bread types.
52. Repartee: BANTER. The stock in trade of this Corner, on our good days.
57. Lowdown: INFO.
58. "Exodus" novelist: URIS. Leon has become crosswordese.
59. Compass __ :ROSE. This had me stomped for a while, if only I had a PICTURE .
60. Riding: ATOP. Our obligatory “A” word.
61. Took off: LEFT. Nobody shedding any clothes here, just leaving.
62. Dot and Flik, in "A Bug's Life": ANTS. I missed this masterpiece of animated ANTics, but it was a pretty sage guess.
Okay, now breathe, we still must do the downs
Down:
1. "Glee" star Lea __: MICHELE. While I am not a Gleek, perhaps you all appreciate this ACTRESS .
2. Embarrassed: ASHAMED. I see these two as not really being synonymous, as I was embarrasses how long it took me to fill this grid, but I am not ashamed of my performance.
3. Medium settings: SEANCES. Okay, did we think stove top, appliances, anything but psychic mumbo-jumbo.
4. Time indicators of a sort: TENSES. An easy one for our English teachers.
6. Rebirth prefix: NEO. Perhaps another hint we are approaching the easter season.
7. "The Silmarillion" being: ELF. How many have read Tolkien’s pre-quel to the Hobbit and LOTR, in which we learn the history of middle earth? It was a difficult read for me, with so much detail and “history” to absorb, but it set the stage for the books I had read years before.
8. Uses binoculars, say: ESPIES. How many of you have played, “I spy with my little eye” with your children on long car rides? That and the license plate game kept me sane when they were young, as I had a 400+ mile trip with them every month.
9. Athlete dubbed "O Rei do Futebol": PELE. This is the Portuguese rendition of King of Football (soccer) for the incomparable Brazilian star of soccer, Edison "Edson" Arantes do Nascimento.
10. Gardner of "Mayerling": AVA. A very pretty GIRL who was married to both Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra. Hollywood is a strange place.
12. Gold or silver: ELEMENT. Nothing to do with their value, just there base nature.
17. "Hmm ...": GEE. Hmm, gee.
18. Embarrassing marks: ACNE. No, not DEES, but zits.
22. Roams: GADS. Not the first though I had, as again, gadding about is a rather archaic phrase, but it works. How many grew up watching GADDABOUT GADDIS, the FLYING FISHERMAN?
24. Troubles: WOES. Trouble, with a capital T.
25. Jennifer Crusie's genre: ROMANCE. I never heard of this AUTHOR but with ROM, what else could it be?
26. Obstacle for Santa?: FLUE. Hi, Argyle. I think a roaring fire might be more of a statement.
28. Mauna __: LOA. Has to be LOA or KEA, the Hawaiian peaks.
31. Responded in court: PLED. The little shout out to me, and my past trail work.
33. King of comedy: ALAN. One of the longest lasting of the Catskill Comics, who presented a more intellectual comedy than Henny Youngman, Shecky Greene and others. He probably influenced many young comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, by his style of talking to the audience rather than just one-liners. Of course, a one liner has its place, like Why do Jewish divorces cost so much? They're worth it.
34. Shed tool: RAKE. Many of the comedians were rakes.
35. Adds to: UPS. For example, UPS the ante, the was Gus Hansen does.
36. Sets a price: ASKS. Also known as the asking price.
37. Jackson dubbed "Queen of Gospel": MAHALIA. For all of you cruel wits, who realized MICHAEL is the correct number of letters, not funny! Well maybe funny, but you should not miss the incredible voice of this PERFORMER .
38. Sticking out: BLATANT.
40. Helping: PORTION. Again, not knowing that helping is being clued as a noun, made this a challenge.
41. In any case: AT LEAST.
42. River to Boston Harbor: CHARLES. A complete gimme for many of us; I have many fond memories of my youth and the Charles river, not far from where I had my first transplant.
44. Seven-time N.L. batting champ Musial: STAN. When I was a kid, it was Stan the Man versus Ted Williams.
45. Two or three bags of groceries, say: ARMFUL. With plastic bags, I try to carry 8-10 at a time.
46. Transforming syllable: MANTRA. OM. OM. OM. OM. OM. OM. Feel better?
49. Lockup: CAN. Lockup as a noun means jail, which is also known as the CAN (and the Calaboose).
51. Stud alternative: HOOP. Okay, gang, I know you were disappointed this misdirection was only talking about earrings.
52. As good as it gets: BEST. This puzzle is pretty close.
54. Corp. exec: CFO.
55. Fury: IRE. I like the horse better.
56. "What's the __?": DIF. The question mark tips you to the abbreviation of DIFFERENCE in an in the language expression.
Well, GEE, we have reached the end of another journey of learning and laughing. I enjoyed this because it was both very hard but filled with wit and I hope you all stayed for the ride. Remember, the links are only for those who want them. See you next time.
Lemonade
64 comments:
Morning, all!
Enjoyable and not too challenging today. The theme was nicely done, although I couldn't figure out exactly what was being inserted into the theme answers until I got to the unifier.
The NW corner was thorny, what with all the unknown proper names (MICHELE, LEES & HANSEN), but fortunately the perps were pretty straightforward and the names regular names that were easy to guess.
The SE corner started out thorny, especially after I put in URL instead of PAC at 40A, but fortunately the CHARLES River was a big old gimme for me, and that kept things from derailing.
I would question whether Saturn can really be considered the sixth "rock" from the sun, seeing as how it's a gas giant and not one of the inner rocky planets, but the rest of the puzzle was smooth so I'll let it slide... ^_^
OK,
If no one is going to show up I've waited long enough. Ferocious storms and rain of Biblical proportions overnight, plus several ewes who decided this would be a good time to introduce lambs to the world, so I've been up since .3:00AM, waiting for bloggers (and more lambs).
I'll get the puzzle, as per normal, late this afternoon, so avoiding Lemonade's (I'm certain) scintillating writeup.
Later.
Good Morning, Lemonade and Friends. I agree with Barry G, this was a fun, but relatively easy Friday puzzle. I got a kick out of the theme.
I think the Crystal Palace referred to the structure in built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.
New Orleans has a beautiful new post-Katrina theater named for MAHALIA Jackson.
My favorite clue was Hole Maker = MOTH. That on had me stumped for a while.
QOD: The respect of those you respect is worth more than the applause of the multitude. ~ Arnold Glasow.
No politics here, just an observation. In the past year we've had Che, Fidel, Tito, Mao, Lenin, hammer or(and?) sickle, Trotsky and now MoveOn.org.
Good morning, All!!
Very enjoyable puzzle this morning.
Great write-up and links, Lemonade! Nat King Cole and Mahalia Jackson, remember them both well from the Ed Sullivan shows.
Compass Rose was a 'gimme' for me. It's a common, albeit intricate, quilt pattern. Always surprising where we gather the info to fill these in.
I did a counter-clockwise fill today starting with the NE. The NW was the thorniest with names I didn't know but perps and wags came to the rescue.
Snow today; waiting for the days when the maple sap starts running.
Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
Scintillating write-up, Lemon! It’s funny that you mentioned Gaddabout Gaddis – I actually thought of him when I filled in GAD. My father used to watch him all the time. And since we had only one (gasp!) TV, guess what all us kids watched?
I think it helps to have a twisted mindset whilst solving puzzles like this ( Clear Ayes ;-D ). Sometimes the simplest clues have me scratching my head, but misleading ones are often very clear. For 3D I immediately filled in SEANCES and didn’t even give it a second thought. Same at 30A EDS for “Mag wheels?”. But then I got to 40D and for the life of me could not think of PORTION for “Helping”.
I'm too chatty this AM, so I have to split...
...my post in two.
This was a fun, clever puzzle. Misleading clues and a theme that was not immediately obvious. So I actually had a chance to enjoy the game for a while before that annoying TA-DA popped rudely into my face.
And thanks for the link to Lea MICHELE ! I am a Gleek, sorry to say. It a funny show, but with some great talent. There are probably many out there who think it’s awful, but I kind of enjoy the kitschy bits they do.
Well gang, we finally made it to Friday. Make it count!
Dennis:
Did you just hop in the new car, put on the cruise control and head south?
Good day folks.
Well this sure wasn't easy for me and the result is a DNF. I managed to figure out everything except the Northwest. Cabriole leg/ knee; Danish poker ace/ Hansen; Come on already! Had tempo rather than tenses for 4D and 5,15, & 23A as well as 2,,5,6,&7D were Duhs.
The parts I did complete were dependent on perps, some of which were Wags. One slowdown was 40D, Helping. I initially entered serving and took my time figuring out it was wrong.
Lemonade, appreciate your write up. It's nice to know I wasn't the only one who struggled today.
In spite of my complaining, I did enjoy this puzzle. It was nice to have fresh clues and, IMO, a tougher then usual Friday challenge.
Big rain due today and more coming Sunday & Monday. Enjoy your weekend and stay dry.
Good morning all. Great erudite write-up, Lemonade.
A little bit easy for a Friday, but the many misdirections kept it interesting. The theme fell about halfway through, and helped to get ALAS A RULE and LA CONFIDENTIAL. (Note the LA ...AL bookends). In spite of getting MAST to start off, the NW was the last to fall. Stymied until trying a WAG for a common Danish surname, HANSEN, and the rest filled in quickly and ..tada! No searches were needed.
Great lunch with the Naples Corner, yesterday, with Sallie, Grumpy, and spouses. Lively conversation and food, against a background of boats and water. I sat in awe as Grumpy described having to climb tall radio transmitter MASTS in the dead of night to perform maintenance during his working career. Sallie has many interesting experiences living across the US from Maine to New Mexico. She was pleased that she has finally learned how to pronounce 'Spitzboov' correctly:-)
Enjoy the day
TGIF! Great write up, Lemonade. Until I got to the unifier I was looking at a mishmash of letters and words that just didn't seem like they were going to add up to anything that would make sense. Once I figured out that 'LA' was going to be inserted things started falling into place.
Just when I thought Conger and Moray and electric were the only eels I needed to be concerned with, I get two more to remember.
Started with Carol instead of Carla, Plea instead of Pled (I didn't check the 'time indicator' closely), and sort of wanted our old friend the ogee curve at 5a, but it just didn't seem quite right.
POEM filled itself, but I had no idea how the clue related to the fill until I came here.
Knowing MAHALIA, LEEs and NICOLAS sure helped in those corners. Michelle and Hansen had to wait for perp help.
Hat's off to Annemarie on a really great puzzle.
Lemonade, Without your EXCELLENT write-up ... I would still be in the TREEs.
Not even anywhere close to Annemarie's wavelength.
Though I think my "Ink-Blot-Test" looks like an insect. OMG, yikes!!!
First-off, I'm not ASHAMED that I don't have a clue about anything Glee.
Couldn't recall Gus's last name, HANSEN.
Never had a FLUE or any other kind of Obstacle for Santa.
DNF as I punted puzzle across the room.
Oh well, **it Happens!
Santa's obstacle reminded me of my all time favorite cartoon dealing with This subject.
Lemon, what a herculean write-up of a very “Friday” puzzle. I am subbing in a high school today and am conducting a study hall right now. The kids are all busy with work or iPods and I did the puzzle online for the first time in months – much prefer paper and pencil. Kids are coming up asking to go somewhere and I just say yes. They have the drill down better than I do!
Musings
-Only got the theme here
-Did not know KNEE but do know it can be a weapon of self defense
-Geez, Beav, that’s KEEN
-Anne Hathaway reading the phone book would draw an audience
-Our daughter’s name is Michele Lee
-Funniest Jeopardy response of all time? Answer: Garden Tool That Is Also A Person of Questionable Morals. Question: What Is A Hoe? (Alex blushes) Nope should have been RAKE. Watson would have gotten it.
-Today Stan Musial would never have stayed in St. Louis
-Those Glee kids are teenagers? Really? Oh well, it’s great music!
-Here comes 2nd pd. They look excited to be here!
I needed the g'spot for EELS, MICHELE, ROMANCE, STAN, CARLA and CHARLES today. But despite that, there were a lot of 'aha' moments that made the misdirects satisfying to conquer. I started with AVID for KEEN. WOOF for POEM, and thought Jennifer Crusie would turn out to be a rock'n'roll star I didn't know, but couldn't fit it in. I did get the theme after the first couple of them, and it helped.
I stared at the word cabriole, and could only associate it with cabriolets--convertible cars. On looking it up, in French it means caper, leap, or capriole (also a mystery word). 'Faire une cabriole' means 'to come a cropper'. So your guess is as good as mine.
I forgot to thank Lemonade for his evocative blog today. Well done!
I also remember hearing of those curved furniture legs referred to as Louis XV style. In France, going through one of the many castles on the Loire, it was explained that he liked them because they detracted from people noticing that he was bandy-legged.
Hi There ~!
Well, I got through this one, but I had to red-letter to see where I went wrong - I couldn't grasp CHANGE "OF" PACE, and so I was stuck with OGEE for the curve of the leg (sounded good to me) and EELS E-E-L-uded me. I am not KEEN on E-SPIES, and I did not know about the prequel to LOTR.
Oh well....
I am meh about the sixth rock, too, and I also had URL for PAC to start, but knew CHARLES was correct.
I liked the theme, and LOOSE ELAND does conjure up an image of shady solicitation ~!
WAG on POEM, thought it might be YIPS or ARFS (the other pound) which helped the time move along, too.
Raining and howling like March wants to get here sooner ~!
Splynter
Good Morning C.C.,Lemonade and all,
Your info gathering was massive this morning. Thanks for the yoeman work.
This was definitely a Friday puzzle for me.I worked much of it at a snail's pace and was surprised that I only had one look-up:Anago and unagi; sorry, C.C.,
you've tried to teach me.
As I've said before , I work both ups and downs at the same time; so
its a little slower. The NW and No.Central were my bugaboos. I wanted Titles instead of TENSES for the longest, not all the names were known to me, but perps and wags did them. I'm not KEEN on EELS.
I got the theme on first fill; LOOSEELAND, which really helped.
Thanks, Annemarie. My fave was 'hole maker'.
I noticed that I didn't get a garbage can yesterday. Is this true for everyone?
Have a nice day everyone.
creature, my posts, yesterday and today have garbage cans... is someone sending me a message? LOL
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. and all,
The Friday xwd is ALWAYS difficult, but today it was not frustrating(thanks Annemarie).The SW corner(alas a rule-argh) was slow, and filling blatant was like pulling teeth..and yet, it is a very familiar word. What kind of sacks I kept asking?? and then I wondered WHY it was salad!!The fill, LA Confidential, did not help me at all.I gotta get more in tune with the theme.
Thanks Lemonade, for all the explanations.
Did anyone else think poop for poem? Love-loved moth. And, anago and unagi are such cute words for such an ugly creature. I know, CC, they are tasty.
Like Kazie, I thought cabriolet, the car, so was puzzled with knee.
I did have to "G" Hansen and Sarkozy.I checked out Jennifer Cruisie after seeing she wrote romance novels. Had never heard of her works..or her home town, Wapakoneta, Ohio, but I like the sound of it.
A Bug's Life was a great movie for both kids and adults-good message. The outtakes at the end were hysterical.
Jeannie, no snow expected until tonight or early tomorrow when the arctic air arrives.We're talking flakes here. It should be exciting if we really do get snow this low.
Good afternoon everyone.
At our great Naples Corner lunch yesterday, I learned that Spitzboov and Betty still get up at sunrise or so. Didn't hear when Grumpy and BH arise. But you can see that DH & I have just had breakfast and I the puzzle. The lunch get together was great fun, as you have read. If any of the rest of you are ever in Naples, contact Grumpy and/or me.
Grumpy, I am a great Calvin fan also. Calvin is the name of my computer. And your link was perfect for both Santa and flue.
I, as is usual late in the week, DNF. Got a few and thought the ones I didn't get were funny and clever.
Cheers
PS
Lemonade: great write up. Especially for all the ones I didn't know.
And we all bemoaned the fact that you weren't there yesterday.
Hey gang - a bit late to the dance; had a pretty bad night last night, brutal dreams, or as they're fashionably called, "flashbacks". Finally got some sleep this mornng -- thankfully, this is a very rare happening anymore.
I loved today's puzzle, party because I was in synch w/Annemarie and saw the misdirections right away (except for 'Embarrassing marks', which I thought was outstanding). Not sure how or why I knew Lea Michele's name except that it's been in the news a lot lately. I did need the perps for Gus Hansen, even though I watch TV poker whenever I can. Perps also got me 'romance' and 'elf'. Overall, a most enjoyable puzzle with a clever theme.
Hope it's a great day for everyone; after our unexpected snowstorm here, we're now getting heavy rain and high-speed winds. Pestilence and famine must not be far behind.
Good Morning All, I seemed to be practicing for the Olympic triple jump (hop skip and jump) to get through this one. I picked off some fill here and there, but I had to wait for the bridge of MAHALIA (loved hearing her sing), LA CONFIDENTIAL (Kim Basinger won a Supporting Actress Oscar) and CHARLES (Dirty Water by the Standells to start working my way upward and fill in a lot of blank spaces.
Still, I don't read 25D/ROMANCE novels, so "Jenifer Cruisie genre" was unknown. I've seen Glee a couple of times, but I didn't know 1D/MICHELE. 19A/HANSEN..pure perps.
I noticed some non-theme "LA"'s. NichoLAs, ElLA, ALAn BLAtant and CarLA were the ones I saw.
:o) Thanks HeartRX@7:24. So many of us have found a home with sympathetic "twisties".
It's very windy and raining here, but no snow. JD and Chickie, betcha a nickel you don't get any snow.
Lemonade...terrific write up and we seemed to be on the same wavelength, along with Barry G. Finally had to come here to find KNEE,PAC(had the P & C) and, of all things, MOTH. Maybe if I had sat with it a bit more this morning I would have finished.
MAHALIA was an early fill and I had read The Silmarillion, but over 20 years ago. I had actually read some Jennifer Cruisie ages ago and some of her books are wickedly funny for a usually sappy genre.
Thank you for the ROSE image...once I saw it I realized I had heard the term but maybe now, with the image attached, it will stick better. L.A. Confidential is definitely worth the watch.
WH...take care and I hope you get a slight break in the lambing. Our storm from Alaska is slowly rolling through and the really cold(for us) air isn't scheduled until much later as JD mentioned...
Hi all - Lemonade, great write up, helped me understand some of the answers. 59A is a good example. I still cannot see a 'ROSE' anywhere in that design. Looks like a large star to me.
A lot of unknowns but I did very well for a Friday level puzzle, surprised myself.
Grumpy: Loved the cartoon!
JD: LOL at your Pound output: POOP
51D had me putting in HUNK - well, I am sure Lois thought the same thing.
I had some heart-breaking news on Wednesday, a good friend called to tell me she has been diagnosed with cancer: pancreas and liver. They are doing an endiscope (sp) on Monday to see the exact extent to the pancreas. More blood work will come back today for the type of cancer in the liver. It does not look good either way. I feel so bad.
Good day, Puzzlers!
Lemonade, another stellar blog and I'm pleased to know you had trouble as well.
Maybe more coffee would have helped me but I doubt it as there were too many unknown names: Lea MICHELE, the LEES, and though anago and unagi sounded familiar the light didn't go on until ELF and KEEN. Had no idea about the Silmarillion! Much as I hate to consult Google, I'm glad it's there to use.
CHARLES river is obviously a payback for sourdough, East vs. West! (Just a friendly jest.)
I loved the misdirection though it gave me fits, MOTH, hole maker, HOOP, stud alternative and of course our unfavorite poet, pound output, POEM.
Niver caught the theme, so thanks, again, Lemonade.
Have joyful Friday, everyone! Rain here, too!
Hi Everyone ~~
Thanks for the shout-out Lemonade and Annemarie. Thanks, too, for your great write-up, Lemonade. There were a few things I wasn't clear on until coming here. For 28A I was trying to figure out how LOOSENED fit the LA theme. Ah ... LOOSE END ... I missed it! I was seeing ASARULE instead of ALASARULE. It seems I created my own problems with this one today! I had to look up HANSEN and EELS. Although this was somewhat of a challenge for me, I really enjoyed it. Since joining the 'corner' I've become much better at sensing 'misdirection' ... SEANCES and EDS are two that I got immediately. I really liked the clues for POUND and ACNE.
Dreary and rainy today but a nice break from the snow.
Carol ... so sorry to hear the news of your friend. Such a diagnosis is such a difficult thing to deal with.
Take care ~~
Just now got to read the blog - nice job, Lemonade; hopefully get to check out the links later.
Carol, that's such devastating news to all concerned - pancreatic cancer is one of the more insidious forms. My thoughts are with you.
Carol, I'm aching for you. As we grow older. our friendships take on so many roles; they often are what makes life bearable. I'll be thinking of you.
She's been lucky to have you.
Well it looks like I’m not the only one that slogged through this puzzle today. I did manage to figure out the theme (kinda) when I got “alas a rule”, even though I did have “change of palace” typed in. There were some very clever and misleading clues that made me appreciate this one. Pound output- poem, mag wheels – eds, and medium settings – séances to name a few. I had never heard of a compass rose. Reading the link it reminded me of the first sailboat I owned which was an 18’ Laguna Windrose. Oh, I did have to hit the g-spot for Mahalia and had never heard the term gads for roams.
Very informative and entertaining blogging MFcounselor. How did the tomato bisque turn out?
Windhover, it sounds like you had an exciting evening at Windhover farm. How many newbies were born last night?
Kazie, I am assuming the term “bandy legged” is the same as “bow legged”?
Lucina, I will look forward to seeing that recipe sometime next week.
Dennis, sorry to hear about your fitful night too.
Carol, bad news about your friend’s illness. I’ll be thinking about you.
Oh yes, about SALAD SACKs, are other parts of the country suffering a lettuce shortage? Freezes earlier in the season have tripled the price..if you can get it. Neither Costco nor two other grocery stores had romaine or iceberg on Tuesday. Looks like tomato prices will triple too. We will grown our own tomatoes later this year, but our soil and temps are not good for lettuce. Add possible $5 per gallon gasoline by this summer and 2011 may turn out to be a very rough year.
Carol, just read your post. I am so sorry to hear about your friend's diagnoses. Please give her my best regards and hopes for dealing with these types of cancers.
Clearayes, we have been issued “tomato kits” to provide our Burger King restaurants to display in case they choose not to offer tomatoes on their sandwiches. The price raised $15.00 a case for next week. I also just got a price notification on lettuce going up as well. Also, the quality is poor and we are told that we don’t have to honor credit requests for bad quality product. There was to be a Whopper promotion that offered a free fry with a purchase of a Whopper that was to start next week. It has now been postponed until sometime in May.
I don't know why, but this one was not easy for me. My final fill was the cross between AM_LE and _LATANT. For the life of me, I could figure out which vowel went in there. I really like puzzles like this. I do not, however, like all the V-8 can shaped bruises.
Today's did you know: Saturn has such a low density, that if there was enough water to hold it, it would float.
Anon@ 6:35, What do you mean "No politics here"? You conveniently left out BEBE Rebozo, REAGAN, GOP, ADOLPH, MORRIS and UDALL and NEWT Gingrich, to name a few balancers. If you have to be offended, pick someones liberal blog and go snipe there.
Geez, (s)he's an anti-racism liberal yesterday and a conservative bigot today. I sure wish anon would make up his/her mind.
I'm too wordy, too. So here's part two.
Carol, my condolences and best wishes to your friend. I'll hold good thoughts. They can work: 10 years ago, my sister was diagnosed with a sarcoma that is "100% fatal within 5 years." Yesterday she was complaining that the weather was making it very difficult to train for her upcoming 20K trail run.
As a central Valley boy, I was really stumped as to how someone that thought a Boston River was a reasonable clue would know about the Crystal Palace. After all, most of you all didn't recognize Buck as the great country singer he was, how would you know about his restaurant?
Enjoy your day.
GREAT puzzle and write up. Thanks.
Carol, good thoughts for your friend, her family and you. I'm really sorry.
The rain has just barely started. Cold weather to follow.
From late last night: Jordan's Little League practice game was last night. I really like the way they do it these days. They have a consistent little spring-loaded pitching machine. If the kids can't hit the ball after a reasonable number of swings, the coach lobs a few bloopers in from half the distance. If the kids still can't hit the ball, they bring out a batting tee. Jordan needed the tee but seemed very pleased with himself when he got to first, advanced to second and third and eventually scored. I nearly froze but fulfilled my grandfatherly duties. It was fun.
Jeannie, tomato bisque soup sounds good with this cold weather. A little cafe in Hermosa Beach sometimes has cream of carrot soup. Excellent. I've never had it anywhere else. You?
Compass rose, besides being a quilting design, is also the design on the card in a compass that shows the directions.
Gunghy:
Buck's the man, and I'm not particularly a country fan.
And then there's Merle. Haggard, that is, not to mention Travis & Watson, speaking of Merles. And in Travises and Watsons, there's Randy and Gene. Hell, maybe I am a country fan.
The cool thing about Buck and Merle: when both were less than happily married, they just kept it in the family, so to speak, and traded. No sense making 2 or 4 more people unhappy.
Checked on the K bike today, should be back on two wheels this time next week.
Carol:
What the others said. Sometimes the shots are long, but a friend of mine's Dad was given six months to live 8 1/2 years ago. He has a new doctor, the first one died.
Your story got me thinking: Who would I tell? You must be a good friend to have. I hope you can contribute to your friend's quality of life, however long it may be.
Bill G, yes I have tried cream of carrot soup and came up with my own variation:
Cream of Carrot Soup
1 med. chopped onion
1 lb. carrots, pared and sliced
½ stick butter
1 c. water
1 c. chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 sprig of thyme leaves
Dash ground cloves
1/4 c. orange juice
1/2 c. sour cream
1. Saute onion, carrots, butter in large pan for 5 minutes.
2. Add water, broth, salt, pepper, and thyme; bring to boil, lower heat, cover.
3. Simmer 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Strain vegetables into blender with 1 cup liquid. Puree until smooth. Save the liquid.
4. Return puree to the broth. Add cloves, orange juice. Heat to boil. Stir 1/2 cup hot soup into the sour cream in small bowl.
5. Return to pot and blend. DO NOT boil after adding cream.
6. Remove from heat. Serve hot or cold..
Well sorry about the terrible weather, and the difficult news Carol. Makes my silliness seem, well silly.
Grumpy 1, you want a job as my assistant? Great link with Calvin.
Gunghy, not aware of the Bakersfield Palace .
Hi,peeps,
This turned out to be a luck day for me xwordize! For some strange reason, I had quite a few gimmies in this one. On the other hand there were the same unknown names that others faced, so it sort of evened out. Didn't grok the theme so I greatly appreciate your terrific writeup, Lemonade. And thanks, Annemarie for the fun puzzle.
Carol, I'm so sorry about your ailing friend! Such a sad and scarey thing to have to face. I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.
Nasty cold here in the valley today. We too have had hints about snow but I'll believe it when I see it. It's cold and blustery, though, and we've had a lot of rain just this morning.
My plan for the remains of the day are to curl up with a good mystery and enjoy being inside!
Thank you all for your good wishes for my friend!!! She has a wonderful support group from where she works. She has never married, has no children so friends are important to help her now. All the people she works with have offered to give up part of their vacation time to help her keep up with everyday things around her house/yard/pets. Joe and I will be there for her however and whenever she needs us.
I am glad you all are here for me and for other blogger's who need a bit of a shoulder at times. Thanks again.
Carol: I feel your angst.
I guess one of the negatives of aging is we all have friends or family (or sometimes "ourselves") who get a lousy malady.
Tears ...
On the other-hand, after I DNF'd today's offering,
I had a wonderful two hour walk on my favorite beach.
I wish all you up there in the Northern clime's could have been there also.
A toast to all at Sunset
Carol:
Best wishes to you and your friend with some prayers, too. I definitely feel your pain as that monster has visited our home, as well.
I forgot to thank Annemarie Brethauer for a wonderful challenge today!
And yikes, just saw Billie Dee Williams on TV and guess what, he's like the rest of us, aging, sigh.
Jeannie:
Your carrot soup sounds like the perfect recipe for dinner tomorrow. A friend will be joining me for dinner and rain is expected. Yum. Thanks.
Carol,
I want to add my hopes and prayers for your friend as well. I lost a friend to pancreatic cancer when she was only 30 years old. I hope your friend has better luck. The others are right: as we age, we are exposed to these losses more and more frequently, but age also helps us deal with it and know what is the best way to soothe our friends in their discomfort. I wish you the best as you meet this situation too.
Our weather has been cold enough to keep the ice and snow we had last weekend until today. Now the snow on top of the ice has melted enough to turn our driveway into an ice rink. Walking the dog today needed more than the cleats on my shoes. they've worn down too much.
Jeannie,
Yes, bandy = bowlegged. Don't confuse it with randy!
i make a similar carrot soup but add fresg grated ginger with the onions and use yogurt instead of sour cream to keep it less caloric.
carol: a friend with a similar diagnosis is doing well.
Dennis, I do apologize for my inadvertent insensitivity.
Hello everybody. Loads of work have kept me away this week, so I did all the week's puzzles today. Plum wore me out. It's been a week of outstanding puzzles, and I add my thanks that others have expressed to Rich. I loved today's puzzle, and must have been in sync because many (not all!) of the answers came to me readily. Lots of fun. I love misdirection when it's not merely sadistic. Today's misdirections were clever and fun and far from sadistic. Thanks again to outstanding construction and editing.
Best wishes to you all.
FYI, my post does have the trash can at the bottom of it.
Carol, I am just catching up on the comments and read about your friend. It is so hard to hear that someone close to you has such a difficult time ahead of them. But a positive outlook will go miles to comfort those near to us, so keep thinking good thoughts and prayers. My big hugs to both of you.
It is snowing here (siggghhhh), and I am just waiting for my book club gal-pals to show up. I hope they have warm boots to slog up the front path. Which reminds me: OH MY GOD !! I have to run out and throw down some sand and ice....
... MELT, I meant ICE MELT. Gawd, don't I have enough ice to deal with?
OK, just when I think I'm no longer a newbie, something unfamiliar appears. What's a trash can? I'm surprised one doesn't appear whenever I post.
Carol, how so sad about your friend. Keep the faith. You will both be in my prayers.
After a day of rain, the snow is upon us. Will this damn winter never end? Tomorrow, Yankees Spring opener on YES and I will be watching. Tinbeni, if you are there, give a big wave at the end of the fifth inning.
Thanks for the carrot soup recipe. It sounds good. I had chicken tortilla soup for lunch at a Mexican restaurant today with a friend.
Here's a link to a video from the BBC with some really incredible images. I hope you enjoy it.
Good Evening, folks. That is how long it took me to solve this puzzle. I got all but the SE corner this morning. Then looked occasionally at it during the day. After work it came to me. Great Friday puzzle Annemarie. It was tough and it should be, Friday. I never figured out the theme. I was too intent on solving the words. I felt more than satisfied when I finished with no help. That is always my goal.
ELEMENT was a clever clue/answer.
Enjoyed your clever write-up Lemonade. Lots of good notes. Thanks for posting, C.C.
I have to head over to church for our brass quartet practice. We are playing Sunday for the ordination of our new assistant minister. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Lemonade, certainly no insensitivity on your part - I hadn't even mentioned it when you posted (and yes, I wish your guess was true). Thanks.
dodo- "My plan for the remains of the day are to curl up with a good mystery and enjoy being inside"
Any man will tell you that a woman is indeed a mystery. Your plan sounds great. Especially the last part.
Dennis, I can't imagine reliving the past in nightmares.Hope tonight is better.
Carol, you already know you can call me whenever you need to talk.Let's keep our fingers crossed on her latest tests.
Today's highlight..had a nasty thing frozen off the back of my calf.Zap! All done.Gotta keep those little things in check.
Lemonade, I did read "The Silmarillion". I couldn't tell you what it was about now.
56D. "What's the __?": DIF. The question mark tips you to the abbreviation of DIFFERENCE in an in the language expression. "What's the dif?" is still a question. In a different puzzle the clue could be "What's the __?" and the answer could be POINT, MATTER, BUZZ and so on. The "?" would still be there, and it wouldn't indicate an abbreviation. How can we know? "What's the __? (ANSWER)
Bill G. That was an extremely well done video for BBC's Human Planet series. I hope PBS or BBC here will broadcast the series. I did have one chuckle when the blurb "The Most Remarkable Species Of Them All" was spread across the screen. It reminded me of an old Emo Philips joke; "I used to think the human brain was the most remarkable organ of all...until I realized what was telling me that."
Hi.
One egg in each nest. Parents don't seem to be trying to hatch them.
Thank you - Columbus.
Weather forcast has changed. Staying too warm to snow.
take care
Good night everyone.
Just needed to stop to say to Carol that my thoughts go to you and wish you and your friend strength and peace through this scary time.
Thehondohurricane ,
There should be a little trashcan under each of your own posts, to allow you to trash them if you change your mind after posting. Some people have remarked lately that theirs have been missing, but mine have been there. It took me quite a while before I even noticed them after my first posts here, so don't feel strange if you haven't noticed them before.
Rockin' in the Free World with the Sling Blade Band @RT's in Richmond, Ky., the home of Jeannie's Mom.
Hello Puzzlers - VERY late to the party this time, busy days. Haven't had time to read all 61 comments yet.
Lemonade - Gadabout Gaddis was a bit before my time, but I have made lots of trips to his private little airport in Bingham, Maine. As I recall, Roscoe V. Gaddis bought the beautiful parcel on a bend in the Kennebec River for his retirement residence, which he built along with an airstrip. It was a logical feature for a fellow who did a lot of air travel. I don't know who owns it now, but the runway is well maintained.
Good Night all -
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