Theme? The clue is a part of the answer... The three theme answers all end with a word that indicates a fraction of a whole, and the clue word is contained as part of each of the first words.
20. Pan?: COMPANION PIECE. PAN is a PIECE of the word COMPANION. A companion piece is one work that compliments another, like the two movies: Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, each tells the "same" story from a different perspective.
33. With 44-Across, ten?: SENTENCE. 44. See 33-Across: FRAGMENT. TEN is a FRAGMENT of the word SENTENCE. I accidentally the whole thing.
54. Kin?: SMOKING SECTION. KIN is a SECTION of the word SMOKING. Is this subject still a hot button for an argument about rights? The statement I remember setting off a war was something like this: Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a pool.
Hi all, Al here. I finally saw the light... Only three theme answers. They all left me puzzled, and didn't help with solving. No unifier clue anywhere, either. The clue words are contained in position 4-6 of all the answer words. The parts given as the clues all end with an "N", preceded in order by a vowel, in order, A,E,I. I was pulling out the last of my hair trying to see what was right in front of me. At first, I noticed that of the three, only smoking -kin = smog made another word, sence might make sense if you're British, and comion isn't a word, so it didn't appear to be letter drops in common. So how are the clues related to the answers? Argyle finally gave me the clue I needed from an interview that Daniel had given Sept 3, 2009:
"To me the perfect puzzle is a simple, elegant, and subtle gimmick puzzle. I really like the crosswords that have a metapuzzle. For example, with some (themed) puzzles, I can fill in the entire grid, and I still don't "get it." So I have to really dig deep to find the theme... it's then that I get that satisfying "Aha!" moment. I wonder how many people miss the whole point of subtle puzzles like that."
I went back and re-read the whole interview, and he had talked about PARTS of speech as the theme from another of his puzzles, and suddenly the light came on...
"To me the perfect puzzle is a simple, elegant, and subtle gimmick puzzle. I really like the crosswords that have a metapuzzle. For example, with some (themed) puzzles, I can fill in the entire grid, and I still don't "get it." So I have to really dig deep to find the theme... it's then that I get that satisfying "Aha!" moment. I wonder how many people miss the whole point of subtle puzzles like that."
I went back and re-read the whole interview, and he had talked about PARTS of speech as the theme from another of his puzzles, and suddenly the light came on...
ACROSS:
1. Flying group: CREW. Captain and crew on an (air) ship.
5. Comic Johnson: ARTE. Soundbite from Laugh-in: "Very interesting."
9. Hyphenated dessert name: JELL-O.
14. Half dodeca-: HEXA. Prefixes for 12 and 6, respectively.
15. Liner danger: BERG. Ocean liner, ice berg.
16. Hater of David, in Dickens: URIAH. Heep.
17. Theater giant?: IMAX. As Ed Sullivan might say, a really big shoe. 70 mm film instead of the standard 35 mm and 300 foot screens.
18. In __: confused: A FOG.
19. High humor?: JINKS. Hijinks. From an old party game where guests threw dice to determine who would perform some silly task or down a large drink. Either outcome would cause amusement to everyone present. Kind of like truth or dare, but with drinking instead of truth.
23. Relative of -like: OID. Suffixes for similar. For example, android means human-like. (Greek "andro" means "human".)
24. Wine bar offerings: PORTS. From the Portugese city of Oporto (the port). Less-known 4-letter wines: Hocks (German Hochheim region), Tents (Spanish reds "tinta"), and Sacks (Spanish white, a precursor to Sherry).
25. Moshe Dayan's "oxygen of the soul": FREEDOM.
29. Guff: GAS. Empty noise, nonsense. Oh, you're just a bag of gas. Guff, like a puff of air, vaguely onomatopoetic.
30. Moo chew?: CUD. Come to Wisconsin and smell our dairy air.
35. Change genetically: MUTATE.
37. Former lover of Riker on "Star Trek: T.N.G.": TROI. in "The Next Generation" of Star Trek, Marina Sirtis played Deanna Troi, an empath who was the ship's counselor. William Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, was the first mate to Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean Luc Picard.
38. Pontiff's wear: ALB.
40. Foreshadowing: OMEN.
41. Service station vessel: OIL CAN. That takes me back. All I have seen for a long time now are plastic bottles.
47. Org. whose members are concerned with lies: PGA. Ask not where your ball lies. And don't tell any lies about it, either.
48. Birling roller: LOG. The lumberjack contest to see who can stay upright longest on a spinning log.
50. Radius, e.g.: ARM BONE. Along with the ulna and the humerus.
51. San __: San Francisco Bay city: MATEO.
53. Airline to Copenhagen: SAS. Scandinavian Airlines System.
60. Centipede maker: ATARI. One of the early 8-bit video arcade games with a tracking ball instead of a joystick.
61. Spice: ELAN.
62. Yes-__ question: OR NO.
63. Veal piccata ingredient: LEMON. Veal sliced, sautéed, and served in a sauce containing lemon, butter, and spices, usually parsley.
64. Part of Caesar's boast: VENI. vidi vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.
65. N.L. East squad: NATS. National League Baseball, the Washington Nationals.
66. Country sound: TWANG.
67. Golden Fleece vessel: ARGO. From "The Odyssey", Jason's ship.
68. Sin in the film "Se7en": ENVY. The "deadly" sin that the killer was guilty of.
DOWN:
1. Very smart: CHIC. Fashionably smart. Meaning "sharp, severe, stinging," related to "quick, active, clever" probably from the notion of "cutting" wit, words, etc. expanded to the meaning of "trim in attire".
2. San __: REMO. On the Italian Riviera.
3. Student's stressor: EXAM.
4. Emulate Cyrano: WAX POETIC. In Edmond Rostand's highly fictionalized play, Cyrano was the source of the love poems for his romance to Roxanne through the handsome but less articulate Christian.
5. It may be reckless: ABANDON.
6. Update mtge. terms: REFI.nance a mortgage.
7. Band: TROOP.
8. Quaff garnished with nutmeg: EGG NOG. Quaff perhaps from Low German quassen "to overindulge (in food and drink)," with -ss- misread as -ff-.
9. Technique of ancient samurai: JU JITSU. The gentle, or yielding art. The (mostly) weaponless technique of using an opponent's own momentum against them using balance and leverage, because that was more effective than trying to simply hit someone wearing armor.
10. Some native New Yorkers: ERIES.
11. Afro-sporting "Mod Squad" character: LINC. Three young people in trouble with the law are allowed to avoid jail in exchange for infiltrating the counter-culture and exposing bad guys.
12. Vacation location: LAKE.
13. Cries of understanding: OHS.
21. Hill worker: AIDE. Capitol Hill, not an ant hill.
22. Buggy relative: PRAM. A baby buggy.
25. Depth-of-field setting: F-STOP. Camera terms.
26. Outfit again: RE-RIG.
27. __ Gay: ENOLA. The B29 that dropped "little boy" on Hiroshima, named for the pilot's mother, Enola Gay (Tibbits). Pilot: Paul Tibbits.
28. George Strait label: MCA. Music Corporation of America.
30. Actor's day job?: CAMEO. Because waiter was too long.
31. SEC school that retired Peyton Manning's number: U TENN. South Eastern Conference, University of Tennessee.
32. Pasta al __: DENTE. "to the tooth", just a little chewy.
34. Santa's 21-Down: ELF.
36. O.K. Corral town: TOMBSTONE.
39. It's usually uplifting: BRA.
42. Diced and served in a mushroom cream sauce: ALA KING.
43. "Don't look at me!": NOT I.
45. Hall of fame: ARSENIO. Hall as a famous last name, not as a place of recognition.
46. Ally Financial Inc., formerly: GMAC. General Motors Acceptance Corporation.
49. City on the Rhone: GENEVA. Today's geography map.
51. Jerk: MORON. American English carnival slang, perhaps from jerkwater town, where a steam locomotive crew had to take on boiler water from a trough or a creek because there was no water tank. This led to an adj. use of jerk as "inferior, insignificant." Moron is directly from Greek for "foolish, dull". Still, connotatively, these don't really feel synonymous to me...
52. Stare master?: OGLER. A play on words for stair master exercise equipment.
54. Ratatouille, for one: STEW. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise. It originated in the area around present day Occitan Provença and Niça (French: Nice). Derived from ratouiller and tatouiller, two expressive forms of of the French verb touiller, meaning to stir up.
55. Doll's word: MAMA. You'd say mama too, if someone kept tipping you upside down until you made noise.
56. Did some selling out: SANG. Ratted on. Snitched.
57. Mashhad is its second-largest city: IRAN.
58. Airing: ON TV.
59. Intrusive: NOSY.
60. PC key: ALT. Used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Most computers today use the ASCII character set, which only needs 7 of the 8 bits in one byte to represent all the numbers and letters, both upper and lower (and punctuation, plus certain special signal sequences). The ALT key was originally used to set the "extra" 8th bit so an extended value could be entered, but because of the requirements of internationalization of character sets, it no longer works that way, but instead alters what other keys do depending on the program being used at the time. TMI, right?
Al
43 comments:
Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - tough puzzle for me today, and I bounced around the grid several times before I finally finished. I got the first theme answer through perps without understanding it, and didn't catch on until 'ten' popped out of 'sentence fragment'. Clever, clever theme.
Couldn't get any traction at all in the NW, and it took me the three relatively easy answers in the North center to get a foothold. Fortunately, there was some easy longer fill scattered around such as 'Tombstone' for 'O.K. corral town' that kept me going. I got through without outside help, but this was not an easy puzzle, for me anyway. And did I mention the great theme?
Al, one of your best blogs yet; again, I learn so much from them.
Today is (ready for this?) Ex Spouse Day , International Moment of Laughter Day, Look up at the Sky Day, National Pecan Day and Reach as High as You Can Day.
Did You Know?:
- The homes that line Wisteria Lane - which were lived in by the Cleavers, the Hardy Boys, and the men of Animal House before they were rebuilt and remodeled for Desperate Housewives - were first bought by Universal Studios from the city of Los Angeles, which was going to destroy them to make way for Dodger Stadium.
C.C., sorry, the 'did you know' really blew the length thing.
Dear fellow solvers,
Puzzle a bit too difficult for Thursday I thought. Could not detect the theme! Misremembered that Ratatouille was a STEW. Had soup instead. Cheated and looked it up. (Was quite a funny movie, if you do not mind a huge clan of rats making your food!)
Got VENI on first try. Amazing. Liked TROI, BERG.
Received email of tax returns. There are, it seems, several forms that I need to send. Unusual. Will remember to write tax year on checks, since it is not apparent to these clowns from the check date (if you read a previous blog).
Not many people blogged Wednesday's effort. Because of taxes? Weather? What?
Bad wind again. Had to use nasal spray or go mad. Really bad habit. Nasal passages dissolving.
Annette--don't throw away those Good Wife episodes. It really became exciting! Election over. Wife found out very shocking news. Peter a real jerk (a different kind of role for Noth).
END PART 1
Morning, all!
This puzzle was mostly well within my wheelhouse, but the theme answers threw me for a loop. This was definitely a case where figuring out the theme helped me solve the puzzle, though.
At the end, once everything was filled in and there was no "tada" sound, I looked at 20A and tried to figure out what the heck COMPANIUNTIEKE was supposed to be. Knowing the theme, I was able to quickly realize that TROUP needed to be TROOP, LINK needed to be LINC and TRAM needed to be PRAM. And voila!
Great puzzle.
PART TWO
Did you get a proper wheelchair, Eddy? If I am not very careful, the sides of mine rip chunks of flesh from legs.
Soduku fans--here is a fun website sudoku.
It is annoying that I get error message when trying to Preview. Have to go through several steps to get there. Had this problem before. Ditched cookies and reinstated them. Does not work anymore!
Cheers!
Here's a link the hillbilly way.
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/04/14/1707566/father-and-son-on-the-hunt-for.html
This was an interesting Thursday puzzle. I did surprisingly well in my first pass for a Thursday, although I only got two of the theme clues ~ COMPANION PIECE and SMOKING SECTION. I saw the PAN and KIN, but never saw the TEN in the SENTENCE.
WAX POETIC made me smile.
Back in the recesses of my brain, I remembered that Centipede was a game I used to play, so easily got ATARI.
Moo Chew = CUD was my favorite clue.
I wanted -ISH for Relative of -Like. Oops, that's -OID.
I always liked Moshe Dayan. He was a fascinating person. I met him in the late 70s.
In honor of 25-Across, here is today's QOD: I have only one eye. Do you want me to look at the road or the at the speedometer. ~ Moshe Dayan
Good morning:
Mr. Finan is one of our rare treats. A puzzle of his was one of the first I blogged, and I slogged. The theme actually jumped out at me, but the clues for many little words took longer, e.g. BUGGY:PRAM, HILL WORKER : AIDE. He was kind enough to have both LEMON and ARGO in his grid.
Al, I agree with Dennis, these puzzles bring out your best commentary.
Windhover's LINK for you lazy people.
enjoy
Good Morning C.C., Al and all,
Al, you’re quite a teacher. ‘TMI’- wish I could take it all in, but I’m not that savy. Nevertheless, I like trying to get it; so, don’t stop. Yeah , I feel that ‘jerk’ has an immoral connotation and MORON means mentally deficient. I had difficulty with 30D Actor’s day job and CAMEO. Don’t get connection.
I can’t say enough good things about the puzzle: Theme, clever, creative and fun; Fresh: fill and clues. COMPANION PIECE was my first theme answer and it told me what I needed to know about the theme.
I ‘m thinking that as much griping as there is about ‘tired’ 3-letter wds, BRA will never get too old.
Thanks, for perping TROI; the ever popular ‘star trek’ google wrds.
Fav clue: 47D Org whose members are concerned with lies: PGA.
Thanks, Daniel for your top notch puzzle.
Have a nice day everyone.
Thank you Lemonade,
And I should have mentioned that the two gentleman pictured are long time friends of the Irish and myself, and the younger of the two is our tax guy. He makes all the evils others have been talking about here go away.
He doesn't really manage our investments, though, since all of our "stock" has legs, and when they go down, it's usually to stay. On the other hand, paper stocks rarely reproduce themselves. Some years we get a 200% yield.
Back with a request, later, or possibly tomorrow.
I had difficulty with 30D Actor’s day job and CAMEO. Don’t get connection.
I had a problem with that as well, Creature. But then I figured it meant that a cameo role is something that can probably be done in a single day, hence "day" job.
Good Morning Al, OMG, it is cold and windy on the prairie this morning but this fabulous puzzle was a real ray of sunshine. The theme answers “had to be” but I didn’t get them until Al’s reveal in his always great write-up! I think a lot of us will say 12D today!
Musings
-Flying crew were not ACES. Remaining Doolittle Raiders are meeting in Omaha this week
-The Enola Gay was built in Omaha where SAC is now located
-This picture of an Ice Berg really shows that only 10% of the BERG is above water, just like the ice cube in your Ice(d) Tea.
-We have that air here too, Al!
-Loved cluing for PGA, AIDE, OGLER, SANG
-Peyton Manning’s last college game was in a 42 – 17 drubbing by the Huskers. Michigan and Nebraska then shared the national championship. He is a real gentleman.
Hello Puzzlers - Nice work Al, I enjoy your sense of humor!
Not much trouble with the puzzle today. Put LINC right in from memory even though I rarely watched Mod Squad. The theme helped me figure out SMOKING SECTION which was inhibited because ALFREDO fit in for A LA KING. It has more cheese mmmmm.
Who among us could forget the busty Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi? Her snug Starfleet uniform and overall shape led to her being called "an intergalactic cheerleader". Well gimme a T!
Hi There ~!
I had just enough to fill in SENTENCE FRAGMENT, and made the connection to TEN, and SMOKING SECTION was easy enough, but I did not know of COMPANION PIECE; PART did not fit. One of those themes that isn't difficult, but can easily seem that way.
I liked "Lies" for PGA, too
Man - I liked TROI in those Star Fleet outfits, but I did not realize she was in need of an IMAX BRA ~!!!
Looks a little tipsy, too ~!
Loved the movie Se7en.
Rangers played hard, but....
Canucks one up ~!
Splynter
Good Morning All, I had the puzzle all dressed up and nowhere special to go. Kind of like taking your cousin to the prom. Thanks to Al for showing up with a corsage and the limo to whisk me off to the party.
I have to stop there. My metaphor was starting to get a little complicated.
Anyway, I struggled a little bit, but got all the fill and even wrote in the theme phrases. But I only understood that the second word of each phrase was a "fraction" of the whole.
The deeper "clue is a part of the answer" was hidden from my eyes until I came here. I guess I'm not a detective at heart. Very clever work, Daniel Finan and a great explanation, Al.
GAH are heading to town..Merced this time. See you all later.
Good Morning,
Regarding flying crew; I am reading 'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand. Captivating story about a WWII bombardier.
Good morning Al and the gang. thanks for the theme explanation. I finished the puzzle without figuring out the theme, saw that the clue words were contained in the same place in each of the first words, played around with dropping them, then finally realized the last words were synonyms for part. AHA!
Windhover, thanks for the morel lesson of the day.
Agree that 'jerk' and 'MORON' are totally different, but I do hear moron being used often where jerk would probably be more appropriate. I guess it's another of those words that shift in meaaning over time.
Fave clue was Hall of fame/ARSENIO
Hi from rainy Portland (Or) :(
It's been so bad here the city closed almost all the parks to any type of ball games until late next week. It's tooooo wet, darn near sink to your knees trying to walk across any expanse of ground!
I started out fairly well with this puzzle, but it soon became obvious that I was not going to finish without a lot of help....but that is what I expect on a Thursday. I really did not understand the theme. I did get the answers, but stared at them and thought - HUH? (well, actually I thought something else)
Thought 'High humor/Jinks' was cute.
Al, thanks for all your great explanations! I'm smarter now :)
Hi!
He lives!!!!
Hello, Buckeye! We've been wondering where you were. You need to check in more often. I hope life and Nurse Ratchet are treating you okay!
Today's puzzle was a bit lame but was also cute. Spent time on some things that made me, again, think "outside of the box".
For you "nubies", I am, as my sister (in spirit), Cleareyes, once said; A curmudgeon. I propose things that, often, are not P.C.
That's why I seldomly post.
But to those who know me, things at the GBRC are as ridiculous as always. Chuck Roast got a heart transplant from a goat. He's doin O.K., but all he wants to do is eat tin cans. Nurse Ratchet is still here - 'nuff said.
I'm still lurking in the woods - so don't f*#@* up.
I'll be back!!!
I must be off!
Buckeye!!!! Wow, what a nice surprise!!
Glad Nurse Ratchet has your back, but she probably has had a few more pieces of you than that judging from past comments. Hope it's all it's cracked up to be :)
Hi all, and what a great treat to see Buckeye!!
Al, your write up was super, never TMI! I rarely get the theme, and only saw the words within, so perps helped, and then your explanation. Was surprised that all my WAGS worked so this was an easier Thursday.
PGA and twang were my favorite answers.
Dennis, I would miss your daily DYK's.To celebrate "look up to the sky day", manna fell from the heavens as we opened our stack of mail this am. Our refund check from CA was $2.53!!Don't want to spend it all in one place.
CC, I've still never seen a REAL morel.Loved and miss the old banter.
I've never had or made ratatouille-spelling it is hard enough, but the movie was cute.
Thanks Al and Daniel
Très chic.
I liked the theme, which became clear at "COMPANION", which expedited "piece" and "smoking".
PRAM might have been better clued "Brighton Buggy" or maybe "Rugby Buggy" or some-such.
I loved to see "sang" in that sense - reminded me of those cold war novels of the John Le Carré genre.
I agree that "jerk" is likely to have an obscene origin and is probably closest in sense and construction to the British "wanker". And both may also be used in a more general sense of "idiot" or "moron".
NC
I'm relatively new to the world of crosswords. Could you tell me if the LA Times puzzle comes with a title each day or are we supposed to figure out the clues on our own? I called my local paper today to ask why they didn't include the title with the puzzle and now I'm thinking I'm an idiot for asking. Thanks!
Mary Lou, only the Sunday puzzles give away the theme title. The other days you have to figure it out on your own (aside from Saturday, which is always themeless). We just make something up that (hopefully) sounds clever, or at least sounds like we know what we're talking about.
Hi.
Have a little time between errands.
Al. Agree with you about the theme.
Kept staring at the finished grid
until I saw it. Nice write-up.
ferm. Got a real nice one. It's like the one I had in the hospital when they wanted cut off my big toe.
Nice hearing from Buckeye. Miss him.
Rx should be ready. Off to the pharm.
Sharks' turn tonight. Pirates already 5-6. Oh well.
eddy
Mary lou, that is why we are so lucky to have this blog that C.C. has made for us.Like Al did today, all of our bloggers explain all the things that we don't get. I rarely grasp the theme. I'm just trying to remember words I know. Don't ever feel foolish about asking questions here.
Good day, Super Solvers! OH! OH! OH!
Thank you yet again, Al, for a wonderfully informative blog. You help me learn so much.
Yowza! This was fun in a slow, out of the box thinking way. I liked it.
It took a while to find a toehold so I slid to the bottom where I chuckled at the misdirection of ARSENIO, AIRING,OGLER, ELAN and really liked seeing TOMBSTONE from right here in my home state, AZ.
AIDE and ELF (hi, Argyle) also made me smile as did IMAX, theater giant.
I do remember Diana TROI, who could forget? LINC, too, Clarence Williams, III.
And then we had San REMO and San MATEO.
Very nicely served, Daniel Finan just like a good STEW.
Have a SMOKING Thursday, everyone!
Buckeye! It's great to see you! Visit more often.
Wow, the best April 14 present I have had in a while, a Buckeye siting. It is fun how we get our reassurances from our strays, who no longer comment regularly but do watch us in action (Embien?, Martin?, TarraJo?, Robin? etc.)
Mary Lou, the hardest part of blogging a puzzle is both deciphering the theme and creating a title. I solved puzzles for years never worrying abuot the theme, but after seeing the artistry of Dan Naddor, John Lampkin, Don Gagliardo, Donna Levin, Jerome Gunderson and so many more than I have time to mention, I now have a real appreciation for theme. As you become a regular, you can always make an alternate suggestion as to the puzzle you solved, if you do not like the name we pick.
Lest we forget JERK as MORON .
I never, never, never would have figured out this theme in a million years. Thanks Al, for your explanation. I’m still not sure I understand it though. I had to hit the g-spot for Moshe Dayan – Freedom and got some red letter and perp help with oid, and Troi. I think the only two characters I know from Star Trek are Dr. Spock and Captain Kirk. I’m just not a science fiction fan I guess as I have yet to see a Star Wars movie or a single episode of Star Trek. There were a lot of clever clues, but my favorites were “it may be reckless” – abandon, and “Hall of fame” – Arsenio. You can put me in the DNF category today!
Buckeye, great to see you again. I still leave the light burning in case you need a layover on your way to Montana:)
Hi, everyone,
Buckeye! How nice to see you! You know we all worry about you, so it's important you check in once in a while!
I got most of this puzzle eventually, but I did have to look up Dayan's quote and 'Troi'. I'm with you, Jeannie, regarding sci-fi. I suppose if we really went to see one we might feel differently. I'm just not anxious to do it.
I don't seem to get the themes much, either. I must not be that deep a thinker. I just like deciphering the clues and putting the words together.
Al, Thanks for your informational blogging! I would never have figured out the theme. I always learn a lot.
Annette, about a year ago you sent me some helpful tips about changing my avatar. I've tried it off and on since and am now looking at that printout. I'm determined to get it to work. Thanks again for your help!
Good Lord, Clear Ayes, why in the world would an accomplished artist from the foothills come to the big city? Didn't think we had anything to offer those of us who are "lucky" enough to live here, let alone someone from out of town!
I did enjoy this puzzle, even though I'm in the DNF category - but I got close. Ditto for ish instead of oid for relative of like. Also, had caper for veal piccata ingredient which took a while to correct. I watched the original Star Trek a few times, but never saw any of the later seasons, so Troi was unknown to me until I came here. Loved Star Wars, though.
Still, it was a fun romp, pretty typical for a Thursday. Thanks, Daniel for an interesting ride, and to Al - terrific writeup.
Cheers, all. Have a great weekend. We're off to the Asparagus Festival on Saturday - should be great fun!
JD, welcome home! Where are the pics? Hope you feel refreshed. Missed you bunches.
Dodo, Know your pain. Ah! tech stuff!
Buckeye,Glad to hear from you. Lots of 'call-outs'.
Mary Lou, welcome aboard!
Hi gang -
Excellent job, Al.
This puzzle has a lot to like, JERK-MORON not withstanding, but the theme is not part of it, IMHO. I got all the theme answers, noticed the clue words contained in positions 4-6, caught the theme answer endings as chunks of something, and still could make no sense of it.
Even after the explanation, it's Meh -.
But TOMBSTONE, JUJITSU, WAX POETIC!! -- all good stuff, and some fresh, innovative clues. "Organization concerned with lies" is brilliant. Overall - a flawed masterpiece
Too bad OGLER didn't cross TROI.
Buckeye - You're my all time favorite cur mujjin! Glad you're K.O.
Cheers!
JzB who appreciates ARM BONE FREEDOM
Wouldn't you know it? When we go over to Merced for the day, the family gray sheep (Haven't you told Ratchet to change laundries yet?) stops by.
Buckeye bro, needless to say the Aye branch of the family is always anxious to hear from the Eye twig. I am happy to hear that you are OK, at least considering the alternatives. Visit more often and we'll stroll down Marx Brothers Lane.
WH, since they are your friends, are the morel guys ethical enough to share with you?
Mtnest995, we love the "big M city". Where else can you stop at "Mel's Cafe" for lunch and have it turn out to be a mix of Korean, Japanese, Thai and Chinese semi-fast food? Glad to know you are so close. Let us know how the Asparagus Festival progresses. We have other weekend plans, or we'd so be there!
Thursday evening and it's chorus practice. I have my keyboard plugged in and I better go practice for the practice beforehand.
HOla Everyone, Count me in as one of those who did not finish the puzzle today.
I almost made it through, but the NE corner eluded me, and it turned out to be sooo easy, it was hard! Jell-o wasn't even in my radar.
I did get the theme answers and thank goodness Al had the answers to how it was put together, because I didn't get it al all.
I blame my DNF today on too many other things to think about today, and not enough time to get everything done. I just didn't concentrate enough.
Good to see you Buckeye. Come back to visit again real soon.
Also, glad to see you home from your trip JD. We'll be waiting for the pictures.
Have a great evening everyone.
What a great write-up today! Thanks for all the info.
I have nothing of interest to add to the comments.
I did love the uplifting clue, however! If only 'the girls" could still be lifted!
As usual, being the cook-type, I did love the foodie references.
Have a lovely evening all. Bless all your Hearts!
'Bye, y'all!
Not sure if this will post early enough for anyone to notice, but it's already Friday 9:15 am in Germany, so hard to nail a good time to check in.
I arrived on Wednesday morning, and the last puzzle I did was Jerome's, which was great. I'm being royally entertained here by the rels while my "kids" work during the day. Weekend coming up so I don't see much free time in view either. I had thought I'd do the CWs online and then post, but I guess I'll wait until they get easier on Monday and don't take as much time. I looked briefly at Friday's just now and thought I'd wait.
Hope you are all well and enjoying what must have been a real challenge in this Thursday one. Don't know how you did it, Al!
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