Theme: MAD GAMES. Each answer consists of two magazine names which are given a crazy clue that forms a play on words. It is revealed in 57A: Place to find both parts of 20-, 36- and 43-Across: MAGAZINE RACK.
20A. Lawyer after too much coffee?: WIRED ESQUIRE.
36A. A day at the spa?: GLAMOUR TIME.
43A. George, Abe et al.?: MONEY PEOPLE. Dead presidents. It's all about the Benjamins, who, of course, wasn't a president, but I'll still collect his pictures.
Happy Thursday everyone, Al here. A very scrabbly puzzle today, six X's and two Z's, and a pangram to boot.
ACROSS:.
1. Given by: FROM.
5. Milton or Shelley: ODIST. John Milton (Christ's Nativity), and Percy Bysshe Shelly "Hail to thee blithe spirit" (Ode to a Skylark).
10. 2004 Best Actor: FOXX. Jamie Foxx as "Ray" (Charles).
14. __ lamp: LAVA. Use only as directed and don't heat these on a stove. The Mythbusters showed that even if the exploding glass shards aren't fast enough to kill, anyone nearby would be severely burned.
15. Rocker's place: PORCH. Anyone fooled into entering ARENA?
16. Top: APEX. Or ACME, fill in the "A" and wait for at least one perp.
17. Had too much: OD'ED.
18. Comforting words: I CARE. CBS cares, too.
19. Midas competitor: CAR-X. "Don't worry, call the Car-X man".
23. Military response: NO SIR.
24. Came with: BROUGHT.
28. Bowie's scientist role in "The Prestige": TESLA. A magician's grief for his wife and obsession over his ex-partner's impossible trick turns into a deadly rivalry. I liked it, but the ending was a bit disturbing. Oh, and I wouldn't have even noticed that David Bowie played Tesla if I hadn't paid attention to the credits. It wasn't really a small part, either.
32. "I'm just __ boy, I need no sympathy": "Bohemian Rhapsody": A POOR. Ah, Freddie, we miss ye.
33. Bank worker that never takes time off: ATM. Fresh clues can sometimes make up for the occasional bit of trite fill.
39. Snub, say: SHUN.
41. First U.S. multimillionaire: ASTOR. John Jacob, fur, real estate and opium.
42. Draft status: ONE-A.
46. Prime meridian std.: GST. Greenwich Standard Time is not usually used, GMT, Zulu, or UTC, all names for the same thing are more common.
47. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. We've had him before.
48. Ruby's spouse: OSSIE. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
50. Welcome site: DOORMAT. Ours reads: There's no place like 127.0.0.1 (geek joke about the Internet Protocol Address that all computers keep for themselves internally)
53. Onetime "SCTV" head writer Harold: RAMIS. That other ghostbuster. You know...the tall one.
61. Gertz of "Still Standing": JAMI. Unknown to me, but apparently appeared in quite a few TV series.
64. Truth held to be self-evident: AXIOM.
65. Roquefort hue: BLEU. Sheep's milk cheese. To each their own, I suppose, but it's not for me.
66. Israeli arms: UZIS. No one was fooled by this arms/weapons misdirection, right?
67. Tubes on the table: PENNE. Pasta.
68. Gas or elec.: UTIL.ity. Abbr. clue/answer
69. Olympic VIPs: GODS. I was expecting a plureal abbreviation for the International Olympic Committee, IOCS.
70. Newark's county: ESSEX. New Jersey
71. Chilly and wet: DANK.
DOWN:.
1. Left the coop: FLOWN.
2. Ham's medium: RADIO. Amateur radio operators, in the sense of amateur actors, or "hams".
3. Printing extras: OVERS. It is a standard in the printing industry to allow for overs and unders. If the printer runs a quantity below a certain percentage (the standard is generally 10%) the manufacturer/printer is obligated to print more to meet the minimum, at their expense. But if the manufacturer prints hundreds of additional packages more than what you ordered they can only charge for a maximum of 10% over the original order.
4. Is living the dream: MADE IT. If only...
5. 60s TV munchkin: OPIE. Little Ronny Howard. The word was coined by L. Frank Baum in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He never explained how he came up with it.
6. MS Word output: DOCS.
7. OPEC founding member: IRAQ. Fill in IRA and wait for the perp.
8. Cancel, slangily: SCRUB. As in a military mission.
9. "... over __ flock by night": Luke: THEIR. Shortly afterwards, according to King James, those watching shepherds were terrified by an angel's appearance.
10. Deal with: FACE UP TO.
11. __-Locka, Florida: OPA. OK, now you're just making stuff up. Four square miles and a population of 15K. Sounds kind of dense, actually.
12. MTV Generation member: X-ER. The generation after the boomers.
13. Old designation for strong beer: XXX. Traditional brewers mark for barrels of "extra strong" beer - extended to other alcoholic beverages and other products having an "extra strong" dimension (varying from washing soap to pornography) and probably also to poison as a (possibly humorous at first) comment about the alcohol designation.
21. Bit of sediment: DREG. From Old Norse "dregg" for sediment.
22. Big engine sound: ROAR. The (Mustang) National Anthem.
25. __ concern: GOING. A viable business.
26. Geographical mnemonic: HOMES. Huron Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior, The Great Lakes.
27. Spring for, with "to": TREAT.
29. Reaction to an offensive line, perhaps: SLAP. "Can I buy you a drink, or do you just want the money?" On the other hand, in football, there used to be a lot of those little sneaky "fanny pats" caught on camera after the play was over. That was kind of taking the offensive...
30. Zap: LASE. A verb back formation from the acronym "LASER" (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), which became a noun for the device. So, if the device is called a laser, then it must be something that lases, right?
31. Recess riposte: AM TOO. A quick thrust after parrying a lunge. Oh, the sharpness of wit it must have taken...
33. Equally irate: AS MAD.
34. Complete, briefly: THORO. Noah Webster tinkering with English simplification again. Thorough. Ugh.
35. Saki's real name: MUNRO.
37. "My bad": OOPS.
38D. Addresses with dots: URLS. Internet addresses: Universal Resource Locators such as blogger.com
40. "Phew!" evoker: NEAR MISS. See 37D.
44. Sunniest place on Earth, per Guinness: YUMA. Arizona desert.
45. Cork's location: EIRE. A county in Ireland, not a bottle stopper.
49. iPod accessory: EARBUD. Didn't your mom ever tell you never to put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear?
51. Like losers' faces after a buzzer-beating shot: AGAPE.
52. April concern: TAXES.
54. Island nation near Sicily: MALTA.
55. Trap at the chalet: ICE IN. Verb form, to trap.
56. Move furtively: SKULK. Norwegian "skulke", to shirk, malinger, avoid notice.
58. Some reds, briefly: ZINS. Zinfandel wines.
59. Actress Skye: IONE.
60. Roswell's st.: N. MEX. State, New Mexico. Even the McDonald's there is saucer-shaped.
61. Makeshift band instrument: JUG.
62. Nitrogen-based dye: AZO.
Answer Grid.
Al
63. Day's beginning?: MID. If I ever get to retire, midday will be all my days' beginnings, at least for the first few months.
Answer Grid.
Al
56 comments:
Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - certainly no speed run for me, and I didn't see the theme until the second theme answer. After the first one, I was focused on something 'ire' related.
Put 'scrap' for 'scrub' initially, 'vins' instead of 'zins' and 'blue' instead of 'bleu', but otherwise a minimum of perp help. I liked the fresh cluing, such as 'Geographical mnemonic', 'Old designation for strong beer', etc. Favorite clue was 'Tubes on the table'; couldn't get 'napkin rings' to fit. Fun puzzle.
Al, most educational/enjoyable, as always. Great theme title.
Today is Great Poetry Reading Day (CA, you're on) and Kiss Your Mate Day.
Did You Know?:
- The cost to mint a penny is more than a penny.
Al, Very informative write-up.
Got the theme when I changed 'tase' to LASE, getting that GLAMOUR mag, thereby saying "Hello!" to our old buddy, TESLA.
Hmmm, thought XXX was used for Moonshine, not strong beer. Always nice to learn something new.
Finally got OD'ED without perp help.
AZO ... all perps.
Kiss your Mate Day must be "very interesting" down-under.
Oh well, Cheers to all at Sunset.
Morning, all!
After getting 20A, I thought we were going to have a fun rhyming theme. Which confused the heck out of me until I got the theme reveal at 57A. I was then able to go back and quickly fill in the theme answers.
Almost had a DNF in the NE corner, though. Could not remember FOXX, had ACME instead of APEX, did not know XXX or CARX (miserable crossing, that) and had trouble coming up with FACE UP TO and XER. I did finally get FACE UP TO, which let me guess FOXX, which gave me XER, which led me to change ACME to APEX. I still had no clue about the CARX/XXX intersection, though, so I tried every letter until the missing X got me the "tada!"
Good Morning, Friends. I had very few spaces filled in after my first pass, then, slowly the answers came to me. After filling in MAGAZINE RACK, I felt like this was a deja vu. I remember similar themes in the past.
I really wanted Stage instead of RADIO for Ham's Medium.
I also thought of GMT instead of GST.
Rocker's Place = PORCH didn't fool me.
I hope everyone who was in the path of yesterday's violent tornados in the south last night are okay.
QOD: Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~Terri Guillemets
Well, I just don't know. Must be brain fart Thursday or something because I really struggled with this one in every aspect. Had too much = oded? Claudio Arrau? Thoro for complete? Yeah, right. Had to do some googling for this one and the time to do it was nothing to brag about.
I still have one from the late 70's and it still works fine. Oh, those carefree days.
Anyone see where Shell posted about 3 billion more dollars in profit than they did last year? What a time to be bragging about that.
Try to have a great Thursday.
Forgot to mention that, being an Azo Pigment Chemist, I was quite amazed to see that as an answer. One of the few that popped into my head right away.
Morning Al, CC and All,
Quite a workout for me this morning. Scrap, Blue and Vins were Oops' for me also, among others. Wired Esquire reminded me of Lemonade and then I got Money People which lead to the solve. Took awhile though.
Little dungier than normal today. Worked out last night with some folks from Arizona who are up for the tournament this weekend. The Sensei that started that dojo worked out here 15 years ago. Pretty cool he brought some students back east for this event.
Drinking this Pabst product,XXX you could almost use a knife and fork. Rich for me. Googling this I found out you can pay $9 a can for this retro beer at Yankee Stadium. Figures!
Have a great day!
So... Am I the only one who has never heard of CAR-X before? I've certainly heard of Midas, the muffler place. Is it perhaps a regional thing? Or do I just not watch enough TV commercials?
Good morning Al and the gang. this certainly wasn't a speed run for me. It went well except for the middle west and southwest and it just ground to a halt. I finally got it all filled except for that pesky A_RAU/THO_O crossing. No letter in the English alphabet looked right but the 'R' looked less wrong than anything else so that's what I went with. What's that about the blind squirrel and acorns?
RADIO was a gimme since I've been a 'Ham' operator for 56 years.
I liked that qroup of four X's in the NE corner. Does a total of six X's make this an X rated puzzle?
I was not onboard with Phew/NEARMISS. It seems to me that Phew is more of a response to a bad odor, Whew is what I associate with a near miss. Of course a near miss might evoke a reaction that would produce a bad odor...
CarX calls itself a nationwide chain, but they seem to be concentrated in the midwest with a few in Texas. A search for my Zip code says there are none within 100 miles.
Oh, good -- I don't feel so stupid now. The fact that I am not, nor have ever been, a beer drinker hid the XXX from view as well. It could have been XXZ with a muffler shop called CARZ for all I knew...
Hi There ~!
Much the same misses as have already been mentioned, SCRAP, TASE, etc., but I, too, have never heard of CAR-X - but then again, I am up here close to BarryG....
On my way to celebrate my six year anniversary, and no word yet from either interview.
Splynter
Midas competition in NY, starting with 'C': COLE but it is a limited family operation, unfortunately.
Both NE and SW corners gave me fits. My first DNF Thursday in a long time.
Good Morning All, I almost DNF because of 34D THORO. As Al so succinctly put it, "Ugh." The cross with ARRAU almost did me in.
Oh yes, there was the NE too. So many XXX's and so few gray cells on the job. A couple of WAGS up there. I had APEX and OPA (we've had that one before), but I'm among those who have never heard of CAR-X. It's definitely a midwest thing.
I'm not complaining too much. I really liked the theme. It took awhile too. I had MAGAZINE RACK before I got GLAMOUR TIME and MONEY PEOPLE.
Some tough clues and fill, but pretty fair for a Thursday.
Now for a readable poem to honor the day before I take off to see my best friend, the dentist. (I keep telling myself that, hoping he'll feel a warm cozy way about me.)
Not from one of those ODISTs, and maybe not "Great" (in the sense of old and boring). This one is readable, funny and a nod to all poets in general.
The Poet, Trying to Surprise God
The poet, trying to surprise his God
composed new forms from secret harmonies,
tore from his fiery vision galaxies
of unrelated shapes, both even & odd.
But God just smiled, and gave His know-all nod
saying, "There's no surprising One who sees
the acorn, root, and branch of centuries;
I swallow all things up, like Aaron's rod.
So hold this thought beneath your poet-bonnet:
no matter how free-seeming flows your sample
God is by definition the unsurprised."
"Then I'll return," the poet sighed, "to sonnets
of which this is a rather pale example."
"Is that right?" said God. "I hadn't realized...."
- Peter Meinke
Good day, one and all! Thank you, Al, for some valuable information.
That includes CARX, totally new to me.
Funny, I can recall ARRAU, MUNRO and AZO, which we've seen before but ZINS never makes sense to me and forget about XXX. I finished it with CARS then changed it here.
JAMI was unknown and UZIS fell easily but JUG? I wonder of JZB has ever used one.
Working my way down I found the theme and was then able to complete the other fill as I had MONEY and WIRED already.
I also had HANDLED before FACEDUPTO became obvious.
A TAXing challenge with fresh cluing from Jonathan Porat whom I don't recall seeing before. Nice job.
Have a splendid Thursday, everyone!
Jumpin' Jimi...and good morning all,
I am thanking everyone,especially Al, for clearing up anything and everything .I ran out of steam under the magazine rack.It was a Wag/Perp/WAG today; had to G Arrau. CarX, and XXX were new to me.DNF jami/izo.sigh
Loved the atm clue.
BTW, who REALLY says,"I care" except those who leave that silly message for missed calls?
Trouble comprehending std.?! Once upon a time I sailed up the Thames to the Greenwich Observatory.
Thinking of you Carol.....ouch
Good afternoon.
Just could not get on Jonathan's wave length. My first DNF in quite a while. In addition to Argyles experience, I also couln not grok ARRAU, TESLA and most of the theme words. sigh-: Al, thanks for the GST comment. I agree about the usage. GMT was always used until recently; now one sees UT more. The military still uses Zulu time when the reference is to the prime meridian.
As Grant said to Sherman after the 1st day at Shiloh: "Lick'em tomorrow"
Hello Puzzlers - Hand up for being a Northeasterner who never heard of CARX. Being a beer fan, however, I've sampled maybe a few XXX ales. My favorite is Mackeson's XXX, a stout that is similar to a liquid dessert. Mmmmmm
Had to look up ARRAU, because of that disorder where you can't remember s#%t - what's that word again? :-)
What JD said…..I had trouble all over the place. I had to hit the g-spot for the many names I didn’t know; Tesla, Arrau, and Ramis. I didn’t know saki was called munro, so learned something new today. I thought there were some cute clues “tubes on the table” – penne; and the fresh clue for ATM. Car-x was a gimmee as I recently had some brake work done there. All in all a DNF.
Al, your write up was very educational as usual. It was the best part of my solving experience today.
Splynter, Happy sixth anniversary! I am toasting you with my Diet Coke.
Finished a book, 'Kingpin', by Kevin Poulsen, 2011, Crown Publishers, about the greatest hacker of all time (so far) - Max Butler aka Max Vision, aka Iceman. - now serv 13 yrs in fed pen Lompoc, since 2/2011. Great read for those intr in non fiction - helps if you are familiar with computerese.
Keith Mularski, FBI agent, Pittsburgh, who ran a sting thru a hackers blog forum - Dark Matter, - his 'handle' was Master Splyntr - a shout out to out blogmeister, yesterday. Google above names, if interested.
Wow, this was a challenging puzzle for me. Lots of Xs. (I never heard of CARX either.) I have a lava lamp too. One stumbling block was Geographical Mnemonic/HOMES. What good is a mnemonic if you can't remember it! :>) Then, I outsmarted myself with Milton or Shelley. I cleverly entered COMIC for Milton Berle or Shelley Berman. I guess I was just a smidgen too clever for a change.
Al, I love bleu cheese or roquefort though I didn't as a kid. My favorite now is gorgonzola.
I would be happy if they stopped minting pennies and just rounded everything off to the nearest nickle or dime. At the supermarket, I put the pennies and nickles in a little plastic charity box. Otherwise, I just tell the cashier not to bother giving them to me. Once, the manager of Ralphs market was doing the checkout and he just gave me a nickle instead of four pennies in change.
SPLYNTER, best wishes for those job interviews and congratulations on your six-year anniversary. Six months for me. Best wishes to all in the path of those horrible storms.
Hello everybody. Barry G, I'm with you. I never heard of Car X, though I certainly am familiar with Midas (Muffler). I also hated the cross with XXX. In fact, that whole NE corner was a DNF, even though I looked up Jamie FOXX.
Had GMT instead of GST (nobody but nobody I know of ever says GST), which gave me HOMEM, which made me scratch and shake my head. "Uhh, okayy ..."
I sorta remember a PENNE and "Tubes on the table" clue not too long ago, but didn't remember until a few perps helped me get it.
Altogether a Thursday-difficulty puzzle, but not particularly satisfying to solve.
I just kissed my mate, but would have anyway :)
Best wishes to you all.
In recent years the penny has cost approximately 1.8 cents and the nickel approximately 9 cents to produce.
What's wrong with this picture? Sure makes gas prices marked to a tenth of a cent seem silly.
I forgot to say how much I liked the clue for ATM, bank worker that never takes time off (though they do need repairs or refills at times) and addresses with dots, URLS. Nice and fresh as others have mentioned.
Hello Al, C.C., and all you crossword solver experts,
I have still been doing the crossword most days, but have not had the time to comment on the blog. I do check an answer here every now and then when I can't figure something out.
I miss the comraderie, but raising 2 children 20 years apart is very time consuming, to say the least. I enjoyed today's offering and appreciate Al's effort on the blog. Carx was a total WAG for me, never heard of it either.
In honor of Great Poetry Reading Day, I am sharing one of my favorite Billy Collins poems, Dharma. I read Sailing Alone Around the Room for a book group and was not very happy with the selection until I got a CD with him reading some of his work. He sounds a bit like Steven Wright to me, and once I read some more of the poetry in his "voice" I really liked it.
So tell me the truth CA, did you choose the Poet PETER MEINKE for today’s offering because of the name similarity to MIDAS’ actual national competition MEINEKE rather than regional unknown CARX?
Vette: nice to see a comment from you, it is just reassuring for us regulars to see our posting people are all ok when they disappear, as opposed to being taken away into the mist.
My brain is so slow, it took me until now to recall why this puzzle tingled; we had Donna Levin's magazine title puzzle recently./
Vettedoe: good to see you back. I echo Lemonade's statement about our regulars who suddenly disappear.
Lemon: I knew this puzzle had a deja vu feel to it, but I didn't remember precisely why. When did Donna give us the magazine theme?
It was further back than I remembered when we had this PUZZLE .
Two more comments and then my break is over:
Did anyone else notice
GLAMOR TIME
above ASTOR
above MONEY PEOPLE?
All this talk of coins, when the puzzle has a much cheaper PENNE in the solution.
I did appreciate the mini shout out for WIRED ESQUIRE, but I am old and calm
Wow, Argyle had a DNF. LOL, that surprised me. Haha, you are human after all :) Good point about gas prices being calculated down to the tenth of a cent. Sorta like stock prices.
Made me laugh, Lemonade. I thought of Meineke, too! Thanks for mentioning it, you calm old guy you.
Clear Ayes, that was a sonnet? Fooled me! Much like a Beethoven fugue ("That was a fugue?")
I love a thick, rich beer. Gonna try to find some of that XXX stuff.
Highest regards for you all.
Argyle: thank you for your DNF. I am in good company, and now w/several others here as well. Makes me feel better.
Grumpy: hilarious!
Al: great write up. Enjoyed your info and humor far more than the puzzle. thank you.
CA: Clever poem. well done.
tinbeni: LOL I'm sure it is very interesting kissing a mate 'down-under'...I just love how you think.
I might be kissin' my 'down under' good by this stormy day.tornadoes coming again here. All school activities are cancelled. Tragic in Ala and Rchmnd. I don't think they even know what storm cellars are out here.
Lois, I hope you stay safe there.
My ex-wife lives in Alabama with her mother and they spent the night in their basement. They were undamaged, but the sound was awful they say. My one tornado scare was at 3:00 AM, and the dog and cat who hated each other each jumped on the bed and huddled together. 2 minutes later, I heard the sound, it went down the street, broke a 60 foot water oak in half, but left me and the house unscathed. They are much worse than hurricanes.
Jayce, glad I can still elicit a giggle or a chuckle.
By pure coincidence, my lovely and loved wife and I were just talking about where we would like to live in the US, where would be an "ideal" place. Well, no place is ideal. Florida? Hurricanes and humidity. The midwest? Tornadoes and humidity. The northeast? Terrbie winters and hot'n'humid summers. The north? Severe winters. The southwest? Hotter'n'heck and possible shortage of water. Where we are now (Bay Area, California)? Expensive cost of living, dense population, terrible traffic, but you sure can't beat the weather. Conclusion? We're staying put.
Ratzelfratzel, skizzledizzle and #@&!**&! I'll be heading back to the dentist next week for a root canal and crown. He promised it wouldn't hurt. I told him I knew the physical part wouldn't be painful, but my checkbook is having severe cramps!
Congratulations to Splynter and fingers crossed for the job results.
vettdoe, a really Great poem! I love Billy Collins
Lemonade, the Meinke/Meineke name similarity didn't occur to me. (I did mention that my gray cells were taking a vacation today.) Californians have heard of Meineke Car Care. Nice catch.
Jayce, yup, t'was a Petrachan/Italian, sonnet, rather than the English/Shakespearean, rhyme scheme that we are more used to.
I echo the "take care" to Lois and my sympathy to all who have been in the path of the tornadoes.
Hope you're home and feeling fine, Carol.
Hi gang, late to the party today but was otherwise occupied this morning. All went well, they found a 6mm (1/4") polyp and snipped it out. It's all 'behind' me now, TG!
Toughie puzzle but I did finish with help. Some crazy clues and crazier answers...CARX, THORO but I now know what could be in future puzzles.
Really wanted to put POETS in for 5A but realized the clue said 'OR'..not 'AND' so I was stuck. Same for 31D - I did not know what RIPOSTE meant.
SW corner defeated me....somehow JUG does not pop into my mind when thinking of instruments....hmmmm.
Hi gang -
Samantha's school has a power failure today, so she spent the day with us - very pleasant.
The puzzle, though - not so much. Big slog, little fun. I got maybe 40% of it. Probably the worst DNF, ever. I had XXX for the beer, but gave it up since APEX was my only perp. Got the unifier, but it was no help.
Some clever cluing, but too much gratuitous obscurity. CARX?!?
TREAT = "spring for" does not work. You TREAT your guest, but "spring for" the tab. Not equivalent. Ditto, "left the coup," in a more subtle way. Left is past tense, as is FLEW. FLOWN is a participle. Not equivalent.
Loath MID as "Day's beginning."
I have an insane (seriously) rehearsal and performance schedule from now through mid-MAY, plus a bunch of family stuff, including my mom's 90th birthday. I'll check in as I can, but who knows when or how often.
Anyone interested in the Chicago itinerary drop me a line. Jazzbumpa@gmail.com
Cheers! (despite my grousing)
JzB not one of the MONEY PEOPLE
Hi C.C., Argyle, Al and folk,
So good hearing from you and learning from you, too, Al!
5a. Milton or Shelley: ODIST
Really good one!
17a. Had too much: ODED
43a. George, Abe. et al: MONEYPEOPLE.....play from presidents pictured on our money. Good one!
46a. Prime meridian std: GST New fact for me...I don't recall seeing it before.
2d. Hams medium: RADIO good one! I tried roast at first.
Enjoyable! The theme was a lot of fun to figure out and solve...Very good!
As for part une,
I'm out.
@Al, "11. __-Locka, Florida: OPA. OK, now you're just making stuff up. Four square miles and a population of 15K. Sounds kind of dense, actually." Maybe it is the alligator population! Oca or Oka are more FL sounding, to me, than OPA. HMMM.
@Lois, I know you'll stay safe, but it's unnerving having that scary stuff going on around you! While what you are experiencing is much more severe, when I was recently in FL, there were a few tornados. We couldn't drive around on those days. Cars actually blew off the freeways! It was beautiful watching the storm from my sister's 19th floor apartment windows. (In downtown Jacksonville, FL overlooking the St. John's River.)
@CA, It's a pain to get dental done. I am getting ready for jaw surgery and I'm pretty scared!
@BillG, my husband and I will be staying in a marina in Mission Beach and I would really like to meet with your wife and you for lunch once we're settled. I'll keep you updated. Congrats. on the 6 months anniv. That's a big one!
@splynter, congrats. on the 6 years and thanks for that explanation about 'ham' radio people. Maybe I'll get involved in that on the boat radio...is it the same kind? Peter won't want me to fool around with the controls, I bet.
As for part deux,
I'm out.
5 and I am out, but hurricanes you get a warning unlike tornadoes or earthquakes, so ....also, broward County 1 hurricane in the past 75 years
Vettedoe, enjoyed the poem and sent it to dog-lover friend.
Carol, so glad things worked out.And, it's good to know I'm not the only one who did not know what riposte meant.
CA, so sorry to hear of your $$$loss.
For you:
The Toothbrush Song
(to the tune of "Row,Row, Row Your Boat")
Brush, brush, brush your teeth
Brush them everyday.
We put toothpaste on our brush
To help stop tooth decay.
Floss, floss, floss your teeth.
Floss them every day!
Using the string to clean between
Keeps the plaque away!
Clean, clean, clean your teeth.
Clean them every day!
Your teeth will sparkle for years to come
In the most beautiful way!
Brush, brush, brush your teeth.
Brush them every day!
Happy, healthy teeth you'll have
If it's done this way.
Good Evening C.C., Al and all,
Al, you had a big job this morning. Thanks for the write-up.
My sleep is really off with these weather threats, but I’m not complaining. I was certain the problems I had with the puzzle were singularly mine. I kept blaming my approach.
The entire N and Mideast were doable for me; then THORO-ARRAU cross; then JAMI. This was a Google or a DNF, which do we call it? Sure, I’ve never heard of CARX or XXX, but that’s what WAGS are for- right?
This was a challenge and I must admit it was fun Thanks, Jonathon.
I’m very proud to be in Argyle’s club tonight.
Hey, Carol how did it go? Did you get the all clear?
CA, so nice to have your creative choices, hope the dentist chair was ok for you. Yeah, those things are expensive. Specialist, no less. Ouch.
My prayers to all those, so badly hit last night.
Greetings, all, Even though I DNF, I thought this was not as hard as many Thursday puzzles. I couldn't finish the NE corner and had to get the answers here. Hand up for ignorance of CarX. Also I had 'acme' instead of 'apex'. I did look up and found 'Oca Lacka, Fla' so that didn't help either.
Jzz, before you go, what about 'jug' being a 'band instrument'? Can you clear that up? I'm curious.
Congratulations to Splynter and Bill G. Great accomplishments!
Carol, I'm happy you're over your ordeal and everything is fine.
Clearayes, my sympathy for your dental problems. I've had a couple of root canals done and the worst part is the money, believe me. The procedure wasn't bad at all. Good luck! The same for your upcoming tests. Hope to see you in the flesh in June!
Frenchie, sounds like fun. We could easily drive down that way for lunch if you're not coming up this way. It's about two hours south of us.
The Lakers are try to finish off the New Orleans Hornets. We'll see...
JD, LOL, you are obviously a former teacher!
Unfortunately, chemo has a way of sneaking up on teeth. I was hoping I wouldn't have any problems because I've had regular checkups and cleanings during the past couple of years. But I guess not. Wouldn't you know, my tooth broke when I was in the middle of flossing. At least it is a back molar and doesn't show. Too bad that doesn't make it cheaper!
Dodo, here's a sample of jug band music. The musicians literally "play" the jug, washboard, broom handles, whatever makes a nice rhythm.
Lois, I hope you get back to us soon. Hopefully, none of you have been in the path of these terrible tornadoes.
Eddy...U OK? Speak...please.
There are funky country-style musical groups called jug bands. They sometimes include a washboard and a washtub bass. The jug is played by blowing air into or across it making a rhythmic bass line. Here's another fun example.
Carol: so glad your ordeal is over and you have a clean...uh...slate. I'm proud of you for doing that.
CA: so sorry about your tooth, and the hurts on the purse. Hope it goes smoothly. Thank you for that jug band. Like the washboard but love the 'mouth organ' - that's a basic personality flaw - but that guy was fabulous! What a talent! Had my jugs keepin' time too!
Lemonade: even w/a warning for a tornado, if you're in the path of that monster, there's little safety anywhere...except in a storm cellar or safe room, but you're right. They hit fast and are gone. Unbelievable power.
Frenchie: I love watching storms too, esp the Dennis type w/a lot of blowing. 19th floor sounds incredibly fun.
JD:cute cute cute..LOL.
Splynter & BillG: congratulations on your successes. I applaud you both.
Thank you for the well wishes. It's over for now -peaceful here. Will take another truck load to the devastated donees in Gloucester tomorrow and think, there but for the grace of God... ya just never know.
"Phew"! Was this one a doozey or what? Actually, I rather liked the workout.
I am late to the party tonight, because... drumroll, please... The Brazilian Tornado is back! She arrived at dinner time, so I've been busy blowing bubbles and singing "The Wheels on the Bus" until my throat hurt.
Her parents are at a wedding this weekend, so she will be with us until Sunday.
Al, great job on the write up. many thanks for all the explanations.
Off to bed now. I have a date with the Royals at 5 A.M. and hope thre are no more storm warnings for us tonight! Has everyone got their white gloves and hats ready for the big event? Tea and scones anyone? "Night All!
Lois, stay safe my friend...that weather must be horrific...come to Oregon, we don't have 'weather'. We DO have rain, but hey, rain doesn't ruin your life.
Jayce, you are welcome to come up here too, if you can stand the wet....that's about as bad as it gets.
Lois,Creature, JD, CA, Dodo and all, thanks so much for your kind thoughts - this is what make this blog so special!
Bill G, congrats on your 6 month anniversary. I am sure that was not an easy thing to do, and you did it with style:)
Thank you all for your well-wishes six months ago and your kind words today. It makes it a lot less unpleasant when you know other folks are pulling for you.
CA, I enjoyed your unusual sonnet.
Hi C.C., Argyle, Lemonade714 and folk,
A few preliminary impressions:
I know what I know, I know what I don't!
14a. Neruda: PABLO The painter I know...the poet I don't.
15a. Affect in slang: GRAB huh???
32a. American patriot Deane: SILAS Marner yes...Deane no.
Lemonade, Help!
I'm out.
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