Theme: None
Total words: 72
Total blocks: 27
This puzzle is anchored by a pair of triple stacks of 10s on the upper right and lower left corners:
5A. 32 ounces at Long John Silver's, e.g. : MEDIUM SIZE. I've never been to the restaurant.
16A. Good time for criticism? : OPEN SEASON. Great clue.
18A. Brains : MASTERMIND
50A. Starts an operation : SETS UP SHOP
54A. One who gives things away : TATTLETALE. Informer.
56A. Half-awake : SLEEPY-EYED
All the above 10s are intersected by four 7s, including a stacked triple column. Lots of 7s in this puzzle.
Some excellent clues today. I really liked the below consecutive clechos:
12D. "Did we get the nod?" : IS IT A GO
13D. Nodding, with "out" : ZONKING
14D. Give the nod : ENDORSE
How was your solving? Tough fight for me. Again, the names gave me trouble.
Across:
1. Jags of the past : XKES. Jaguars sports cars.
17. "__ of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world": Emerson : A RAY. Of no hope to me, this kind of quote clue.
15. Actress Thompson : SADA. Here she is. I wanted EMMA.
19. Merrimack River city : NASHUA. In New Hampshire. Wiki said it's twice named "Best Place to Live in America" in annual surveys by Money magazine. Who knows?
21. __-Z: Camaro model : IROC. I rock. Nailed it.
22. Ref's ruling : TKO (Technical Knock-Out). Boxing ref.
23. "Singin' in the Rain" co-director : DONEN (Stanley). Liked the movie. Never paid attention to who directed it.
24. Caspian country : IRAN
25. Refuge : LAIR
26. "Works for me" : OKEY-DOKEY
28. They may be held up by fans : SIGNS
29. Wkly. message : SER (Sermon)
30. Lea ladies : EWES
31. Easy mark : STOOGE. Patsy.
32. "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" screenwriter : URIS (Leon). "Exodus" & "Trinity" are all I know about him.
33. Kinkajou cousin : COON. Dictionary says Kinkajou is related to raccoon and coati.
34. Color on the Irish flag : ORANGE. A gimme after Sallie's green & orange comment.
37. Group that offers free memberships to spouses : AARP. Unaware of this fact.
38. Mauna __ : LOA
41. Baccarat call : BANCO. I've never played Baccarat.
42. Trying to be quiet : TIPTOEING
44. Dominates : OWNS
45. Villain named Julius : DR NO. Title character from the first James Bond movie. I only know him as Dr. No.
46. Bubblegum pioneer : FLEER. Known for its baseball cards. Went bankrupt a few years ago.
47. Chemical ending : IDE. As in chloride.
48. San Francisco's __ Tower : COIT. Wiki said it's "a monument to the firefighters of San Francisco". Paid by a guy named Coit, "a wealthy socialite who loved to chase fires in the early days of the city's history". Oddball.
49. Eminent : OF NOTE
53. Jazz singer Anderson : IVIE. No idea. She sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra. Died in 1949.
55. Marlin's lost son : NEMO. In "Finding Nemo".
57. Opera conductor Daniel : OREN. Who?
Down:
1. Romantic writing? : X'S AND O'S. Oh, romantic letters.
2. Bar staple : KARAOKE
3. He won comedy and drama Emmys for the same role : ED ASNER. As Lou Grant, I presume.
4. Nickname for an athletic "kid" : SAY HEY. Willie Mays. Cold guy.
5. Home of A. Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" : MoMA
6. 1972 DDT banner : EPA
7. They may be fond : DESIRES. I only know fond memory.
8. Work basket : IN TRAY
9. Apply to : USE ON
10. Cougar, e.g., for short : MERC. Car again. Mercury Cougar.
11. Rick's pianist : SAM. "Casablanca". "Play it again, Sam".
20. Have : UNDERGO
24. Clanton and a "South Park" sibling : IKES. Wiki said Ike Clanton was a pivotal player in "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". Completely stranger to me.
25. Royal Arms of England symbol : LION
27. Scrape, to a tot : OWIE
28. Rest, as at an inn : STOP OFF
31. Database command : SORT
32. Family nicknames : UNCs
33. Pitching device? : CAPO. I only know it's a guitar gadget. No idea on its pitch-adjusting function.
34. Some winds : OBOISTS
35. Unfair treatment : RAW DEAL. Opened 6 boxes of Heritage baseball cards so far, no autograph. Unfair!
36. Warren's "Bugsy" co-star : ANNETTE (Bening)
37. Bears no resemblance to peanuts? : AIN'T HAY. Slang. That ain't hay.
38. Be postponed : LIE OVER
39. Previous : ONE TIME
40. Get together about : AGREE ON
42. Sad, on the Seine : TRISTE. Je suis triste. I'm sad.
43. Current event around Christmas? : EL NINO. D'oh, ocean current.
45. Stupid : DOPEY
48. Star of TV's "Trackdown" : CULP (Robert). Stumped me last time. Again today.
49. Personal column? : OP ED
51. Abbr. in Québec place names : STE
52. Triumphant cry : OLE
Happy 51st Wedding anniversary to Jeannie's parents! And a belated Happy Birthday to Warren!
C.C.
62 comments:
Hello all,
Really difficult puzzle for me. Had to put on red letters for awhile to get rolling. No faith in ability to do Saturday monsters.
How do you do it, C. C.? Thanks for blog.
Do not think I've heard "lie over."
BTW, it has been avered that Ilsa never said "play it again, Sam" all at once.
Gee. It's raining again. Unbelievable.
Cheers.
Hello Puzzlers - Having found myself awake, I chose to take swing at this puzzle. And man do I want to complain! Stumbled through the north, but got utterly bollixed in the south, particularly the dratted SE. Ultimately DNF, as judged by too many red-letter assists.
Way too many unknowns - BANCO, DONEN, FLEER, IVIE, OREN, CULP, COIT. UNCS is just stupid. AIN'T HAY is a stretch. LIE OVER may be technically correct but it's lame.
GRRR!
Sleep on, friends, you'll need all the help you can get.
Morning, all!
Real brutal puzzle today. I somehow managed to finish unassisted, but it was touch and go for awhile. Especially in the NE corner. I, too, wanted EMMA for 15A, which messed everything up. SADA? Who's that? I also guessed XKJ for the Jag, didn't know the Emerson quote (I had DAY") and had no idea who co-directed "Singing in the Rain." What finally saved me there was figuring out that 3D was ED ASNER, despite all the wrong letters.
Elsewhere in the grid, the crossing of COIT with CULP was inexcusably mean. Unless, perhaps, you live in San Francisco and are over 60. It didn't help that I had DENSE instead of DOPEY for 45D. Coon and CAP was another rough crossing. Fortunately, I knew what a kinkajou was (vaguely), although I didn't know it was related to a [ra]COON.
Was proud that I got DRNO off the clue, though...
Hello, I must be going.
A bipolar day; me or the puzzle, your choice. Top half was smooth sailing but the bottom was my Titanic iceberg.
I caved in and turned on the red letters. That wasn't enough though. Ended up Googling and guessing and still having trouble.
Hi There ~!
Took red-letter on this one, and I was smacking myself for missing the first clue - and I knew that the 'romantic' answer was X,O, but didn't play it out to Xs and Os - I really wanted "LARK" for a JAG of old....oh well.
Yeah, the names burned me, too, didn't know DONEN, OREN and URIS (but I did get DR.NO, and I knew Mr. CULP)
This is who "SAY HEY" reminds me of....
I liked the challenge today, and I was even OK with "AIN'T HAY" and "LIE OVER"; I actually had "OF LATE" rather than "OF NOTE", with "LIE ANEW", so OWEN sounded OK....
but ELLING for current? Well....
I nailed IROC and MERC - I had me a '69 Cougar, man, that's a beauty, and I would still get one to fix up, if Ford doesn't "re-release" it like the Mustang.
Splynter
I buy the paper to do puzzles for fun and relaxation but fail to see either in todays where clues are not remotely connected with answers. I mean have and undergo?....you gotta be kidding. Seem to be more and more of these so I'll probably cancel the paper and do the puzzle in the iPad edition of USA Today.
Dissapointed
I hate to admit it but there was a hint to Have: UNDERGO in the clue for 50A. Starts an operation. If you going to have an operation, you say you are going to undergo an operation.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
Thanks for the adorable picture of the kinkajou. I think this is the first time I have ever seen that word in a puzzle, so COON didn’t come to mind. And like you, I slapped my head when EL NINO appeared for “Current event around Christmas”.
I really enjoyed this puzzle, but it was slow going in the South. For “Marlins lost son”, I thought it was referring to the kidnapping of Christian Brando. Duh!
I also had trouble with OBOISTS. I don’t play music, but love the symphony, and have never heard the musicians themselves referred to as “winds”. That just seems like an insult. Help, anyone?
The unknown names were all teased of hiding eventually. HaHa, I was just looking at CAPO yesterday while constructing a puzzle. Funny how some things just pop out.
Book club tonight - "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" by Dai Sijie. Fascinating reading, and I can't wait to discuss it with "the girls". Have a great day, everyone!
I forgot - Happy Anniversary wishes to your parents, Jeannie! What a lovely couple, and a tribute to the love that they are marking their 51st.
Amazing effort on your blogging C.C.
Jeannie,
Happy Anniversary to your folks!
A DNF for me today. these are what I got right: MOMA, SAM, INTRAY, IRAN, IKES, EWES, SER, ORANGE, AARP, LOA, TRISTE, STE.
These were wrong: SONNETS, MENTALM---, OUT (TKO), THAT'S OKAY (OKEYDOKEY), SILLY (DOPEY), BLEERY EYED (SLEEPY EYED).
The rest was blank. I agree with anon @7:37am, it's no fun when half the clues demand specific knowledge in remote areas. They are no longer "+" words, but they make me cross.
C.C. and Saturday solvers, a very unsatisfying puzzle today even though I got some of the big fills but Dudley listed most of my “are you kidding me’s”. I did like the 3 NODS in the NE however. I got about a 90%.
Musings
-Thought current Christmas events were LIGHTS
-I tune my guitar down two steps and use a capo which allows changing keys quickly but still put FORK for tuning device
-I thought Carroll OCONNOR was EDASNER answer
-BENEFACTOR for TATTLETALE
-Held back on MASTERMIND because I thought Brains was plural
-No chance on NASHUA although NH is spectacular. Would have done better with PLATTE River.
-I despise esoteric proper names where there is no chance (e.g. DONEN) but “Waddaya gonna do?”
-I was all over FLEER, IROC and SAYHEY
-That little white ball better be ready for a pounding today!
all the names had me stumped. The clues I take real offense to; Scrape to a tot.. Come on, OWIE? Bobo maybe but never heard of owie. Then there's bar staple; Karaoke, I've been to many bars where there wasn't any Karaoke. How about the clues,"be postponed, previous & they may be fond?"
Not happy!
Jeannie, Congrats to your parents from me also! We are only 7 years behind and I know what it takes to remain faithful to those vows!
I'll bet they had great food for their party!
P.S. I also tried BALL for pitching device and had FAMOUS for eminent, but had OWIE correct. How did I miss seeing those when so many tiles were blank! I can't even work up enthusiasm for filling in the corrections today. I guess I just don't care, but am glad I wasn't alone in finding this to be so difficult.
I did think of the Merrimac Ferry here in Wisconsin for that clue too, but didn't know of any town nearby that fit. It crosses Lake Wisconsin as it narrows to become the Wisconsin River.
C.C., don't know how you do it. Nothing in this puzzle gave me any hope of getting a foothold to even begin.
Anyone having clear skies tonight, go out and ogle the giant moon.
@sherry: Maybe it's a regional thing. I've heard OWIE all my life, but never once heard "bobo" before. I have heard of boo-boo (like Yogi Bear's friend), of course.
Good morning, C.C. and unhappy Saturday solvers.
Yes, this was tough going, but I thought it was a really good puzzle. There were several unknown names, but I kept picking away and finally something would emerge that made sense, like A RAY of beauty. It probably helped that ED ASNER just popped up out of nowhere.
Lots of false starts, though, like XOXOXOX, ON SHORE winds, ROUGH UP for unfair treatment, but there were just enough that I was sure of to straighten out the mess.
My final sticking spot was SAY HEY. I had SADI and DON_N, which left me with SIYH_Y. I finally decided to try different vowels on miss Thompson and the light bulb finally went on.
Challenging? Yes. Unfair? I didn't think so. I've seen tougher (for me) puzzles.
Alternate cluing (funner as my kids would say)-
-OBOEISTS – Sad orchestra members. Reedy ensemble.
-XSANDOS – Chalkboard athletes
-KARAOKE – Off key bar offering/staple
-DRNO – 007 and Ursula foe
-UNDERGO – Space beneath Monopoly corner
-AINTHAY – Is that horse manure?
I’m just sayin’.
Fore!
Who? What? Huh?
Calling OBOISTS "Some winds" was a RAW DEAL in my book.
When you call a reed instrument by the broad category "wind," you're referring to the instrument or orchestra section, not the player. A fairer yet still challenging cluing would have been "Some wind players."
Also, AINT HAY for "Bears no resemblance to peanuts"? What?
All in all, too much difficulty for the sake of being difficult, without real cleverness behind too many of the answers. You know, where when you finally figure it out, you don't feel like you were a dummy for not seeing it sooner, but the constructor was a dummy for such imprecise cluing.
DNF, but with a lot of Googling, got all but a few words in the SW.
Really, unenjoyably difficult today.
Ain't hay, is an idiom for lots of money; peanuts is an idiom for little money, They are opposites
Good Morning All, If 32 oz is a MEDIUM SIZE, how big is a large or extra large? I like a soft drink once in a while (usually root beer), but that sounds ridiculous.
I never called my uncles 32D/UNCS, it was always Uncle Carl, Uncle Leif, etc. My aunts were always Aunties.
33D/CAPO was a real head scratcher. I still have no idea, other than C.C.'s explanation.
Somethings we never forget. I can still conjure up the taste of 45A/FLEER Dubble Bubble gum. That first minute or two of gooey pink chewing was heaven. The sweet..sweet sugar had to be chewed/slurped up before the gum was elastic enough for super big competition bubbles. "Look at me!...Look at me!"
"Have" was a (kind of) clue for 20D/UNDERGO, but it was a real stretch to get from one to the other. The crosses of NASHUA, DONEN and URIS made it particularly difficult. Made me a DNF.
Good Day C.C. and all,
C.C., you are the greatest. Thanks for all that effort and the clarifications.
It was a difficult puzzle. No doubt about it. Some of the clues were close to unfair; answers as well. Yet, Frederick managed to get ‘under the wire’. So.. Bullyish, kinda…remote, somewhat….fair, yes. Thanks for the puzzle.
I want to go out of my way to thank Sallie for34A, ORANGE. One of my first fills. From Sallie’s rant on St Pat’s day about the green and how she always wears orange on the 15th. ED ASNER was my second or third fill. I really gave google a work-out with name.
Have a nice day everyone.
I can't believe I haven't posted this famous sonnet before. But it isn't checked off my list. Maybe I was saving it for a special occasion. Happy anniversary, Thelma and Nick.
How do I love thee?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Warren, a late but heartfelt Happy B’Day. Love how you two work the puzzle together.
Jeannie, Congrats to your parents on their anniversary and on their daughter.
C.C. The neat thing about 48A,COIT is the fact that it was a female firefighter. She was wealthy and bequeathed a third of her wealth to the city. Also ,a cigar smoking,head shaving, wig wearing volunteer firefighting female.
Not an everyday thing in the early 1900s.
Not much to say today but that I'm glad that I wasn't the only who found this puzzle to be a full-grown, rabid grizzly bear. Whew.
@anonymous. If it were me, I wouldn't cancel the paper (Hmm. Since it IS the LA Times, I wouldn't have subscribed to begin with.) I'm just happy that it's still free online.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Burrito34
I didn't know the name but it certainly is recognizable from TV and movies.
Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.
Jeannie, what a great picture of your parents...love your mom's hat.I remember those days when we had to wear a hat AND gloves when visiting SF.
I am slowly working my way thru the xwd. Having read your comments, you know I am cheating, but it's a good memory game.
CA, who doesn't love that poem? thx!
Wow! This was a hard puzzle for me. I'm sure I would have given up except for red-letter help. I probably wouldn't do Saturday puzzles at all except that it makes coming here to the blog more enjoyable.
Coit Tower is a famous landmark in San Francisco, common enough knowledge for a Saturday crossword.
CA, great poem.
A capo is a small mechanical device that is fastened across the neck of a guitar to raise the pitch of all the strings. It allows a guitar player to play a song in a higher key while using the same old chords from the original song. Really accomplished guitarists don't need it and seldom use it.
Hi C.C. & gang,
After we finished today's puzzle my wife said she didn't like that guy, we struggled with alternate ideas for several clues but finally got the ta da.
Thanks again to everyone for my birthday wishes (yesterday). I get way more well wishes from this blog than from anyone else I know.
Here's a XKE song...
I'm a little ashamed that I gave a rather flippant answer yesterday to Husker Gary's question about caring for elderly parents.
My parents both worked for many years at Kaiser Steel Corporation in Fontana, CA. Kaiser was a union shop and both Dad and Mom retired at 65 with adequate pensions and generous medical insurance. Those benefits, along with Social Security (and many years of careful saving) made their retirement years not luxurious, but comfortable. They worked hard and contributed to both systems for many years of their adult lives. They deserved it, but so do many others who have not been treated so well.
This post was not meant to be "political". It is just our family experience. We have been fortunate.
Yes, Clear Ayes, you gave Windhover yet another opportunity to flaunt C.C.'s rules and spout political rhetoric.
Good day, C.C. and all fellow strugglers! After yesterday I put away my misdirection cap, but I should have left it on.
Yowza! This was tough! No way would I surrender my newspaper even if it wears thin from erasing.
C.C., you really amaze me with your solving ability. Today, some fill was easy like FLEER; as with CA I, too, recall that sweet, syrupy cool taste.
LAIR, STE, SER, ORANGE were good on the first pass. After that it was a small step slog all the way. UNK before UNC, ITSOKAY before OKEYDOKEY, EMMA then SADA who, I believe we've seen before.
ANNETTE was a WAG since she is married to Warren.
This was a real challenge from Frederick Healy.
Jeannie, congratulations to your parents! Will you be visiting them?
Interesting info on MS. COIT.
Have a delightful Saturday, everyone!
One can't always trust Google Images. The picture of Sada Thompson is actually Jane Meadows. Don't know why it's listed under Ms. Thompson's name.
Anonymous,
You can't leave well enough alone, can you? If I broke any rule it would be the one about religion, since taking responsibility for your fellow man and the less fortunate is a tenet of nearly every religion.
And BTW, that wasn't rhetoric. It was intended to be very literal. And if I may ask you a question, why don't you have the nerve to post under the name you use for puzzle comments?
Good afternoon CC, et al., This puzzle was a bear! Ran out of time and DNF. CC, you are utterly amazing in so many ways. I bow at your feet.
Argyle: LOL - cute bipolar quip. so glad you're back online. All's right w/my world now.
Warren: Belated happy Birthday to you. I wish you many many more. Hope your day was fantabulous!
jeannie: Congratulations to your parents on their 51st anniversary. You are such a good daughter. I hope you get to be with them.
CA: that poem is my all-time-fav. Thank you for posting that.
JD; yeah, we are going to really get mooned tonight! Can't wait!
It seems odd that anyone would criticize the end story of two first generation Americans, whose parents came here with a suitcase and probably less than $100 in their pockets. By dint of hard physical work (and don't forget the years of careful saving) their children managed to attain their lower middle class, blue collar version of the American Dream.
Buzz words such as "union", "Social Security" and "saving" apparently caused some nervous reaction. Back in the olden days, lower and middle-class people from all political parties and religions depended on those programs. Rest easy, my little story was not a political polemic.
Have a nice weekend all.
I forgot to lament my once-owned MERCURY COUGAR. I loved that car and expected it to have it for the rest of my life, but alas, it turned out to be a lemon (a bad one, not like our good Lemony blogger).
Hola Everyone, I felt very DOPEY this morning. This was a very hard puzzle for me and I didn't finish. There were too many unknown names for my liking.
C.C. thank you so much for your great writeup and the explanations to some of the unknowns--such as Capo, and Banco.
I went with the incorrect Chemical ending Ene. But it could have been ane, ide, ine, or ite. The perps didn't give me much help, so that whole SW section went unfinished.
My guess was Kelly for "Singin' in the Rain" co-director. Donen was not in my radar.
C.C., I'm always amazed at your grasp of the CW. I don't know how you manage to complete a puzzle like the one today.
Still raining, and into next week, so we're told. Have a great weekend everyone.
Jeannie, Happy Anniversary to your parents.
Warren, a Happy Belated Birthday to you.
Heart RX, About Oboist, I think Denny answered your question quite well. My thoughts exactly.
CA I think your family story is the story of many of the children who came from immigrant stock.
Many families left the dust bowl area and started with not much more than the clothes on their back and the dollar in their pocket. Hard work is never political.
A salute to your parents, Clear Ayes. The salt of the earth, I'm sure. In my mind nothing is too good for the working class.
Windhover, I've only ever posted under 'anon'. I prefer it that way.
OBOIST is listed in the dictionary and quite possibly it sounds strange to our ears because it is not as familiar as trombonist, saxophonist, cellist, violinist, etc.
This puzz was not worth my time; that's not to say I don't appreciate the constructors effort.
I just didn't have ANY fun with it.
I like to learn new things when I do puzzles, but my favs are the ones where you scratch and scratch your head and then you GET it.
Unfortunately I never got it.
Good afternoon C.C. and all. Belated Happy Birthday, Warren, and Happy Anniversary to Jeannie's parents.
I'm with Grumpy on the comments. Quite tough. Took the longest time and 4 revisits to tease out some of the fill. Also distracted by son, DIL, and granddaughter visit from MA. But finally got the TaDa.
Spring comes tomorrow at 7:21pm EDT. Hooray!
Greetings to all,
This was just one lookup after another today! I'm looking at it as a learning experience because i won't admit that it was cheating!
Still don't get 37A "ain't hay" and there was absolutely no way I could google 33A 'pitching devise'. Not even as an answer in the crossword. Had to come here to get it! Haven't read the comments yet so I'm hoping I'm not alone in this ordeal!
C.C. Your blog was superior! Don't know how you do it!
Denny, thanks for expanding on the OBOIST clue. So I guess I wasn't the only one who said "huh?" when it appeared through perps and WAGs.
Lucina, I had no problem with the word - it was the clue I wasn't fond of. Thanks, and have a great evening everyone!
Anon@ 1:41 PM: You are correct. I have changed the link. Sada and Jane, plus others, have the same birthday and as Jane Meadows was the eldest of them, they showed just her picture.
CA, Hear! Hear!
No reason to feel ashamed about a "flippant" remark when it was deserved!
Anon@12:47 - Who are you, the comment police?
One thing I forgot in the wee hours this morning: what is SAY HEY? Is that meant to be a nickname for Willie Mays, or is there some other connection I'm missing?
@Dudley: Willie Mays was indeed nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid." More than that, I cannot say...
Tooooo many unknowns for me!I really struggled this morning.
One of the few answers I knew was IVIE Anderson because she was born in Gilroy, of all places! She was orphaned at a young age and spent some time here. Not much else is known about her until she became famous years later.
Happy Saturday to all. Off to see The Drowsy Chaperone tonight!
BG - I see what you mean. Wikipedia can't elaborate on Say Hey either. Ah well, just another sports reference I don't know.
No time for the puzzle today as we finally had our first nice Saturday in quite a while so spent some time re-arranging the garage for spring.
C.C. I just wanted to thank you for posting the picture of my Folks. I just wished I could be there with them today (and everyday, truth be told).
CA, that poem just about sums them up as far as love and devotion go.
JD, I love her coat....she made that herself! I am in awe of anything she sews. I remember being embarassed when she made dresses for me for special occasions until I would see two girls with the same dress. Mine were made to fit and with perfection and love behind them. I will take a "Thelma coiture" anyday, but now her poor hands are knarled with arthritis and she doesn't sew that much anymore.
Warren, somehow I missed yesterday was your birthday. Shame on me. I always enjoy reading about the progress you and your wife make on the puzzle before she sets out on her day.
One of the toughest puzzles ever for me. Just could not get close to the proper wavelength, even with Googling. High frustration level as a result. All the more kudos to C.C. for staying with it.
A steady diet of puzzles like this would send me looking for a new favorite pastime.
Jeannie, it looks like your Ma and Pa are a nice looking couple. Genes say it all doesn't it.
I agree with most everyone's comments! This puzzl was a doozie. Way too many unknowns for me. In fact, until I read the blog, I thought that I might be all alone in crossword puzzleland, wondering aimlessly, scratching my head and saying "huh?'
Thank-you, CC, for the excellent writing.
What are red letters?
We are so thankful for the beautiful weather this weekend! The hubster and I enjoyed dinner out tonight with old friends. Planting on tap for tomorrow. I do a gardening thing once a year and call it a day. We have a great guy who does the rest!
Congrats to Jeannie's parents!
Mom, you can use red-letter help if you solve the puzzle online at the LATimes website. If you choose the Regular skill level rather than the Master level, the letters will show up in red if you have entered an incorrect letter. Also, you can get a letter or a word solved for you if you want.
Good night everyone.
I didn't even try today's puzzle; I was too busy after having 9 for dinner Friday night. You know, washing the dishes, putting away the silver, washing the napkins and tablecloth, taking the leaves out of the table, etc.
I agree that I don't know how you do it, C.C..
And thanks for the shout-outs on ORANGE.
And a very belated happy birthday. Warren.
I didn't read about Jeannie's party for her parents' 51st, but congratulations anyhow.
Sallie, et al, I wasn't able to see my parents today and probably won't until May. My sisters took them to dinner with their significant others and I did manage to talk to them all. It's not good enough, but it made them and me happy to touch base. I am truly blessed to have the family I have.
Sorry this is a day late. I also ran Google and Wikipedia trying to do this. I ended up just printing out the answers as I had to go visit my Mother and it was driving me nuts. And mentioning nuts...
I thought NOT NUTS would be a good answer to the not resembling peanuts clue.
For the emmys clue:I thought LAURIE as in Hugh Laurie of the doctor show house. Perps made it clear it was Ed Asner, which I only got because I had seen the full name used before, usually it is just the last name in answers. Also, I kept thinking it had to be one show. Ed Asner won for comedy with the Mary Tyler Moore show but drama for the spin-off drama LOU. But he was the same character.
I kept thinking "32 ounces is A LOT of FISH" for the Arthur Treacher clue. Even after I got Medium Size. Later my brother cleared me up that is was the drink> Still a huge drink for medium.
GinnySycamore
Commenting on Saturday's puzzle. I finally gave up after two days and looked up the answers on the blog, which I never do. The Clues were really not definable. Too vague.
Abejo
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