Theme: PUNish us Marti! Wow, an old fashioned punfest from another of our resident creative corner. The first word of each four common phrases is morphed into a side-splitting sound-alike synonym of "story". What a joy to be here for this one:
20A. Mount Olympus and environs?: MYTH UNIVERSE. MISS UNIVERSE.
34A. Thinking like Aesop?: FABLE MINDED. FEEBLE MINDED. Are you talking about me?
40A. One majoring in traditional knowledge?: LORE STUDENT. LAW STUDENT.
54A. Quills for Chaucer?: TALE FEATHERS. TAIL FEATHERS.
Very straight forward and amusing theme, in the Dan Naddor tradition, wrapped in a puzzle with many of the same delights as a DN. Marti has captured the multi-word misdirection. Lemonade, now ready to lead the parade to the promised land of answers.
Across:
1. Small amount: DRIB. Well okay, a little drab but we have to start somewhere.
5. Otherwise: ELSE. Well, it could be somewhere else, but we are rolling now.
9. Rare score note: C FLAT. I will leave this to our resident music man JzB to explains C FLAT B Natural, or any other questions you all may have.
14. Spanish actress Chaplin (Charlie's granddaughter): OONA. really Marti, OONa O'Neill, Charlie's wife is not obscure enough for you you had to go for the GRAND DAUGHTER ? Well, she is cuter, and was in Quantum of Solace.
15. Songdom showgirl: LOLA. At the Copa, and Barry Manilow's house.
16. French garlic sauce: AIOLI. I see another trend here of ridiculous words with almost only vowels, and I do like my garlic sauces garlicky. Right GG?
17. Sauvignon __: GRIS. Ah, I see a mini theme here and more about our constructor, because we also have 6D. California's self-proclaimed "Zinfandel Capital of the World": LODI. GRIS means grey in both French and Spanish (French lesson of the day) and the not Blanc Sauvignon is rare, and is pinkish like many Zins.
18. Some govt. lawyers: A DAS. See what I mean about words that hard to parse, like Naddor, assistant district attorneys (yes another attorney clue).
19. They don't mix with just anybody: SNOBS. I am so glad.
23. Court statistic: ASSIST. She fooled you here, not court of law, but basketball court, go HEAT!
24. Get ready for a competition, bodybuilder-style: OIL UP. You ladies would not want see THAT.
27. Eighth-century Japanese capital: NARA. This was the capital from 710 to 784, and is now part of the Kansai region in southern Japan.
29. Met: RAN INTO. Another double word.
31. Levels: KOS. Knocks Out. Not to be confused with 3D. Some OKs: INITS. Some are initials and some are abbreviations,
36. Simple step: A TO B. or a similar trick, 30D. Eat to excess: OD ON. Overdose on and another weird letter string, or 44D. Exactly: TO A T.
38. Nuke: ZAP. Have you ever microwaved a Moon Pie? Seen that movie?
39. First name in architecture: EERO. Mr. Saarinen, and more vowels. 57D. City north of Pittsburgh: ERIE. I wonder if Mr. Saarinen ever lived there.
45. Howard of Hollywood: RON. Our little Opie all grew up and making movies, with a few Happy Days on the way.
46. It may be tapped: BEER KEG. When my son says he tapped that, I do not have to get nervous because he is pointing at a Keg.
47. Sainted pope called "the Great": LEO I. I had this guy last Friday, so you know where to go to get more information.
49. Escargot: SNAIL. For anyone out there who did not know this fact, and has eaten and enjoyed escargot, I am sorry to disillusion you.
50. Sinus-clearing condiment: WASABI. This Japanese favorite is a relative of horseradish, cabbage and mustard.
58. Up and about: ASTIR. Oh, Marti, ans A-word.
61. Early Macy's Day Parade balloon designer: SARG. A really fine Friday clue, this PUPPETEER was a mentor to Bil Baird, who was popular when I was growing up.
62. Highchair component: TRAY. Simple, but true.
63. One of the Allman Brothers: DUANE. He like so many other musicians died too young, and was the inspiration for the southern rock movement, GREGG, his younger brother married Cher for a week or so.
64. "Grand" or "demi" ballet move: PLIE. Did you all spot any of this knee bending move (PLIER is to bend in French, lesson 2) in this MOVIE ?
65. Auxiliary: AIDE. Very popular at hospitals.
66. Game with blocks: JENGA. I have never played this game of careful building and un building.
67. Card, e.g.: NLER (National Leaguer). Very tricky, a St. Louis Cardinal, like Albert Pujols.
68. Break: REST.
How thoughtful of Marti to give us a pause before we start
Down:
1. Matter of faith: DOGMA. My favorite interpretation of this CONCEPT .
2. Golfer Sabbatini and actor Calhoun: RORYS. What an odd couple, an ill-tempered South African golfer and a handsome western actor from the 50s, who began his life robbing jewelry stores, and spent time in San Quentin. We could have gone all golf with RORY McIlroy, since RORY is Gaelic for Red King.
4. Knock down during a raid: BASH IN. Elliot Ness was famous for that maneuver.
5. Hyundai sedan: ELANTRA.
7. Pole, for one: SLAV. Polish women are beautiful, but they are only part of this diverse ETHNO-CULTURAL group.
8. Facility: EASE. Not a place to stay, but a way to do it.
9. Kennedy designer: CASSINI. Oleg designed most of Jackie's wardrobe.
10. Small distinction: FINE LINE. I really like this tricky little fill.
11. Where to go in London?: LOO. Or WC, just not on a bobby's foot.
12. Eastern N.Y. airport: ALB. Albany.
13. "Angela's Ashes" sequel: 'TIS. Frank McCourt's autobiographical follow up.
21. Govt. jet set?: USAF. United States Air Force, nice clue and fill, the Govt. tells you it will be an abbreviation, the rest is nicely visual.
22. Go nowhere special: ROAM. Like the deer and the antelope and the jackalopes.
25. Fail, after "go": UNDER. Many businesses have suffered this fate in the last 6 years.
26. Wing: Prefix: PTERO. Our friend the flying dinosaur, the pterodactyl, for example. How many believe all dinosaurs were birds, even T-Rex? Who doesn't love a word with PT starting.
28. '70s congresswoman known as "Battling Bella": ABZUG. A wonderful woman who loved her HATS.
29. Ward off: REPEL. Yes, wear garlic and no vampires will be biting on you.
31. De__, Illinois: KALB. Named after a German national who died helping fight the Brits during the revolution, Also a county in Georgia.
32. Chiwere speakers: OTOES. Marti loves them vowels, and once again we have TOES in our puzzle, this time of the O nature. All perps for me, but I will try and remember for next time.
33. Philosopher Kierkegaard: SOREN. A very influential THINKER who discoursed on many subjects, and is considered the father of existentialism.
35. Boy: LAD. After our earlier debates, I have no comment.
37. Dressing down: BERATING. Yes, my father liked to give us a dressing down, but he would forget the "R."
41. Mountain destination: SKI AREA. Yes, just back from European skiing, she said.
42. Spill: TELL. 56D. Spill : FALL. Clecho alert!
43. Yanni fan, maybe: NEW AGER. DEAF GUY also fits.
48. 1987 Beatty/Hoffman flop: ISHTAR. Has anyone seen it? All of it?
51. Isolated nest: AERIE. Crosswordese.
52. Finishing nails: BRADS. Not your finger ones.
53. "The best __ to be": Browning : IS YET. Considering our average age, Robert Browning said it for us, "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made."
55. Jazz venue?: ESPN. Oh, our sports fan has deceived with the Utah Jazz NBA team. Go HEAT!.
58. Trans. or intrans.: ADJ. The absolute hardest fill for me as I know these terms only with verbs not adjectives, but as always I am WRONG .
59. Go after, in a way: SUE. Enough lawyer jokes, already.
60. Avoid burning, perhaps: TAN. On that note, your very TAN humble servant has once again finished his mission, having had a great ride through the mind of our dear HeartRx, who put a perfect book end on a week with JL CC and Hard G, next time you need to get your name in grid Ms. D-C. (Are you related to the comic books?)
Lemonade
Note from Marti (a ski bum, hence the great entry SKI AREA)
The "seed" entry for this puzzle was MYTH INFORMATION. But, I had to scrap that one in order to get better fill. I will never give up good fill for a theme entry, and am always willing to re-work a grid several times before I am satisfied that it will meet with The Corner's approval! I think MYTH UNIVERSE fills the bill in this case, though. I originally had LORE CLASSES ("lower classes") and TALE FORTUNES ("Tell fortunes"), neither of which is really "in the lingo". So, this is the final product that I came up with, along with Rich's brilliant (devious?) editing of the clues, which make it a Friday-friendly (?) offering. I hope it gave you all a challenge!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a Friday level puzzle today. I love a good pun, so this was a delight to work on despite the difficulty caused primarily by the cluing. It took me awhile to realize that the theme answers were just puns, though, and not specific letter swaps.
There were lots of tough spots, but the hardest by far was right down at the bottom of the grid. I got that the tricky clue for 55D was referring to the basketball team, so I confidently put in UTAH. Oops. I did not know that ERIE was the name of a city north of Pittsburgh. I did not know that puppet master extraordinaire SARG (whose name I have finally committed to memory) was also involved in making parade balloons. And, although I finally figured out that 67 was talking about a baseball team, I stuck in ALER (after finally removing UTAH at 55D). Oh -- and PLIE was a WAG that I kept taking out and putting back in.
Finally got it done unassisted, but it was touch and go there for awhile...
Lots of other rough spots, mostly due to the cluing as I said before, but I won't bore you with the details. I am curious, though, how much of the cluing was Marti and how much of it was Rich, since all of it bordered on cruel and unusual... ^_^
Great write-up Lemonade and the links were interesting. Thanks Marti for clever clueing.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very challenging Friday puzzle for me. And I did not get the theme until I read it in the blog. After reading the first theme answer, I went back and recognized the intended pun.
I was tricked with "jazz" venue even after I entered ESPN. Thanks for a fun? Friday.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle and write-up, HeartRx and Lemonade! Loved MYTH UNIVERSE most!
Must try to hit the hay.
Happy belated birthdays to Tarrajo and Annette.
Lots of medical appts. next week. Oh goody.
ATT Uverse people still driving me nuts. Too bad no Fios in my area.
Looked up the first four numbers of yesterday's puzzle on google. I do not enjoy number puzzles that are not entirely mathematical. There are two infinite solutions to the problem. Where do you folks find these gems?
Had the pleasure of watching Jackie Evanco sing on PBS. Only 10 years old. Operatic training shows. Beats the pants off Groban, Bocelli, Boyle, Brightman, etc. But I can't help wondering if there is any room for a childhood there!
Anyone else hear this beautiful young lass?
Still cold here.
Have a happy weekend!
Oops! It's spelled EVANCHO.
ReplyDeleteFYI all this is JAKIE EVANCHO .
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, Lemonade, Marti and friends. This was a Friday level puzzle, alright! Loved the puns. FABLE MINDED was my first theme clue, but I erroneously concluded that it was a pun on Able Minded, which, until I got TALE FEATHERS, confused me on the other theme clues.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked Where to Go in London = LOO. Levels = KOs made me groan.
My husband once took a huge bit of WASABI thinking it was mashed avocado. It did clear any sinus problems he might have had!
QOD: Love is a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
Lemon; Excellent write-up.
ReplyDeleteReally liked the themes. FABLE-MINDED showed me it was going to be a PUNny run.
Marti/HeartRx; A challenge ???
More like a WAG-fest.
DRIB, TIS, GRIS & LODI (do I know anything about Wine? Nope!) NARA (I'd say "Way obscure").
"Eat to excess" is O.D.ON ... Nah.
When I think of an 'over-dose' it isn't on food.
Did like the "Shout-out" to Jazz.
Yeah, it was a total slog AND a FUN FRIDAY.
Cheers !!!
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteQuick in and out today. Off to T-town for mom maintenance. Might try to catch the Mud Hens game.
Wow, Marti. Just Wow!
Got all the theme entries - eventually. Came close to finishing, but couldn't quite get there. Sadly, jazz threw me.
Even more sadlier, so did C-flat. Yes, it is enharmonically equivalent to B natural. It is rare, for sure, but not unheard of. Last time it came up I said it NEVER occurs in jazz, then I discovered at least two pieces I was playing that had it. DOH!
IMBO
JzB C how FLAT I am!
Good morning Lemonade and all, a real slog for me today. I had more WAGS than usual even after I realized that this was a punny puzzle theme. I did not know Jenga and had already put vbs for 58D being sure verbs were the answer, thus, a difficult time in that area.
ReplyDeleteThere were several clues that I especially liked i.e. Where to go in London/Loo, Levels/Kos and Jazz venue/ESPN. And, of course I liked all the pun clues and answers.
I think this was a Friday level puzzle and I made it harder with some wrong answers, but I did manage to complete the puzzle with no help.
Have a great Friday all.
Brrrr from chilly plains! Every theme fill brought a smile Marti and had a great time except for 4 cells in SW!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-What Tin said
-Never heard of DRIB and couldn’t get off DRAB since Sauvignon completion was above my pay grade. Oh well.
-Law and Order had beautiful ADA’s and frumpy old men DA’s
-Met –Opera House? NY ball player? Joined? Up to expectations? Nope, easier than those. Ain’t English grand?
-Still looking for Pope LEON
-I love horseradish and once took a huge bite at a restaurant and it was so strong it literally brought tears to my eyes. I took a smaller second bite!
-Plier/Plie – Great info Lemon!
-If you want a bag of Dekalb seed corn, you’ll have to pony up $300 or so
-Yup, I had VRB for trans/intrans too
-ASTIR was the key that could have given me 100%
-Thought blocks might be on BINGO card at first
Tough, tough puzzle, Marti. Thanks for the workout and thanks for the writeup, Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteTook a long time to get a toe-hold. First fill was Lad, second was Abzug. From there I roamed about sniping at the easier targets. First theme fill was LORESTUDENT, but I didn't get the pun until much later. Final spot was the SW corner, and my only error. I went with the V, not even thinking of J.
Liked the puns, especially FABLEMINDED. Lore still threw me, but then I remembered where you're from and the light went on. A friend once told me that the New England dialect does strange things with R's. It doesn't eliminate them, but just rearranges them. Mostly, they're used on their IDEARS.
Trans. or intrans.: ADJ. The absolute hardest fill for me as I know these terms only with verbs not adjectives, but as always I am WRONG.
ReplyDeleteI also had no idea that adjectives could be transitive and intransitive. I think, though, the clue was just being clever, since transitive and intransitive are also adjectives used to described verbs.
Morning Marti, CC and All,
ReplyDeleteWow! What a re-entry from the North Woods of Maine. Back to work on Tuesday and finally when I sat at my desk this morning it didn't feel like the boat was rocking. Great time although the fishing was slower than normal.
I did Wednesday's puzzle without much trouble. Thursday was a bit more of a workout and today was my typical Friday struggle. Once I got Myth Universe I got some traction in the NE and worked to the SW excluding the Lore Student area. De Kalb, Otoe, Soren and Abzug killed me. Love Beer Kegs and Wasabi! Great puzzle Marti. You really have a knack.
Thanks for the write up Lemonade.
Back to digging out of the hole.
Have a great day!
Good Day C.C., Lemon and all,
ReplyDeleteNice write-up, Lemon, thanks.
Marti, your puzzle was terrific. My experience was like Dick’s, except I almost put a ‘v’ in for ‘j’ at the 58d/66A cross. I got the theme from FABLE MINDED. MYTH UNIVERSE was my fav. 67A was almost evil, it was so good.; especially crossing 55D. Boy, you really wallowed in sports there, girl! {Is that sentence politically correct?} AvgJoe reminded me of the N.E. dialect which smoothes LORE STUDENT for me. Nice bow to Dennis with clecho- spill. Super fill.
Glad to find your signature, SKI AREA. Thanks.
More later.
Have a nice day everyone.
Good Morning All, congratulations to Marti. I loved the fill. Maybe that is because I got CASSINI, SOREN, ABZUG, EERO and DUANE the first time through.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the first three almost-sound-alike punny synonyms of "story". MYTH for Miss, FABLE for Feeble and LORE for Law, but TALE and Tail are homophones/heterographs. They sound exactly the same. If spoken aloud, you'd get the joke on the first three, but not on the last one. That's my only quibble.
The best clue/fill for me was 46A) It may be tapped/BEER KEG. It took a while for "telephone" to give way.
Lemonade, I really liked "DOGMA" too. But then, "ISHTAR" is a laugh-out-loud get-together for daughter, sister and me. (There's no accounting for taste!)
Time to get out of here for a day of grocery and other shopping.
See you all later.
Hi There ~!
ReplyDeleteArgh~! - ya got me, HeartRx - I was stuck on DROP and DRAM the whole time, so DRIP never occurred to me, and I was not a wine person; I just overindulged in the BEER KEG....
Shoulda figured out MYTH, it just wouldn't come to me - I knew we were looking for a "Miss" direction, but if I had thought about the other theme answers, maybe I would have gotten the 'story' link - good catch, Lemonade.
I got the misdirection on NLER, and ESPN, too, but I could not figure out how one gets an ASSIST in tennis - knew it wasn't a legal court, but basketball is SO not my sport - you can tell I can't see past the ice these days....
I hope Vancouver got a wake up call, or they'll be waiting another year....
Splynter
Hello Puzzlers - Had to work at this one! I managed enough plausible fills here and there to make it possible to see what the sneakier clues (lots of them) had in mind.
ReplyDeleteDid not know there were, um, intransigent adjectives in our language.
Could not manage the NW without Goog, since I never heard of OONA or the GRIS form of Sauvignon. Looked at a blank slate in that corner for too long.
Thanks for another challenge, Hearti - send more please!
My problems began at 17 across: Sauvignon___, only aware of Blanc which didn't work. Light bulb with A to B,(36 across). Didn't get 55 down,Jazz Venue,not a sports fan. Like Lemonade,I was sure 58 down was vbs(for verbs),didn't realize adjectives fit the bill also. Got all the theme clues Fabled minded was first.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all. Nice commentary, Lemon.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice offering from Marti/Rich. Somehow found myself on their wave-length for most of it, but needed red leter help in the left bottom corner with the JENGA/ADJ cross. Agree w/ Lemon on ADJ. With a little perp help De KALB came easily. (famous name in seed corn). I was in their wheelhouse with TO A T, BEER KEG, and OTOES. ALB, USAF, and EERO were also easy WAGs. Liked the LOO clue. SØREN came easily, too.
Re: Late yesterday's AARP discussion. I belong to it only because my employer offers membership as a benefit. I agree they don't seem to really look out for seniors, and seem to be more interested in selling their insurance products. On travel discounts they seem to be better than AAA only about 10% of the time. Many entities give senior discounts without asking if you belong to AARP.
Enjoy the day.
Good day, Puzzlers! Thanks, Lemon, for your witty and enlightening blog.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Marti, on another great and challenging puzzle!
As a teacher of grammar I'm embarrassed that I did not know adjectives are trans. and intrans. I have not seen that in any grammar book. What a learning moment!
Otherwise, this filled nicely for me and once I had FABLEMINDED I knew it would be puns all the way. Many of the unknowns were WAGS: NARA, OONA, LODI, GRIS.
My daughter used to play JENGA with her dad and often it continued for hours as they tried to outdo one another. JENGA is what finally made ADJ dawn on me.
I know SARG and AIOLI solely from crosswords.
Fave clue:
Jazz venue? ESPN
De KALB fooled me because I couldn't decide between C and K. Now I'm aware it's German!
Thanks, Marti for today's entertainment!
I hope your Friday is fantastic, everyone!
Re: AARP and AAA
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, both are used to discount hotels and car rentals.
Some will accept only one or the other.
It's been a long time since I had such fun with grammar stuff!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I toyed with vbs and even adv at 58D, I finally plugged in ADJ (even though I've never heard of JENGA) after sussing out the CW-ese triple-whammy:
"or" implies singular;
the abbreviations in the clue imply an abbreviated answer;
and, finally, OMG, this is one of those parts-of-speech misdirections.
Hence, either trans. or intrans. would be an adj. modifying the noun verb.
Good afternoon, gang - my morning got disrupted when the BOYS (my fellow former Marine workout buddies) came by early to grab me for an earlier-than-normal workout, then breakfast. Don't think we'll be welcomed back to that particular restaurant...
ReplyDeleteMy comments have already been covered - Marti, this was a superb job. I really enjoyed wading through it, and loved the theme. Keep up the great work.
Today is IceD Tea Day and National Nursing Assistants Day.
Did You Know?:
- The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.
Later, after visiting the WRONG link (for which, thanks, L'ade) I saw that although I am familiar with the 'transitive adjective' structure because of occasional difficulties in translation work, I had never seen it defined with this term.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, I also noted that the obverse, intransitive adjective, is apparently NOT listed in WRONG's reference book/list of terms.
Does the existence of 'transitive adjectives' imply the existence of 'intransitive adjectives', or does 'intransitive adjective' perhaps refer only to adjectives that do not require/permit a complementary [usually] prepositional phrase, or is there really some structure specifically referred to as an 'intransitive adjective'?
Discuss!
AGAIN! It`s grammAr!
ReplyDeleteYou're marvelous Marti!
ReplyDeleteMYTH UNIVERSE is terrific. Enjoyed ABZUG, NEWAGER, BEER KEG, WASABI, BASH IN, and FINE LINE (Traffic court queue?)
It's simply just so damn cool to see you and C.C. writing so well!
I think Barry G. got it right. Adjectives are not transitive or intransitve but transitive and intransitve are adjectives.
ReplyDeleteCapice?
Jenga commercial(0:30). Wait for the tag line.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, all. Thanks Marti (and Rich) for a very enjoyable, if somewhat frustrating, Friday offering. DRIB never entered my mind for 1a, and I hung unto tenet for 1d until the bitter end. That corner stayed blank for a long time. I got my toehold with OIL UP, RAN INTO, EERO and RON. From there I was able to spread into the other areas and the theme entries started falling. SARG was a wag from the RG, since I remembered him as a puppeteer and figured it was worth a shot. It still took a while to turn loose of musical jazz and shift into sports.
ReplyDeleteOnce I started thinking sports, ASSIST popped up and broke open the last corner of the puzzle. It took me an hour, but no lookups or red letter help needed.
Great job on the puzzle, Marti, and on the blog, Lemonade.
Good Afternoon, Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely write-up, Lemonade, and great links. I was wondering if OIL UP would prompt the kind of link I was thinking of as I filled that in.
And I have been enjoying the discussion about transitive vs intransitive adj. Barry G. did get it right - either transitive or intransitive is an ADJ that describes a verb.
Unfortunately, I can't take credit for the fiendishly devious clue, as it was totally Rich's. I think I had something boring like "noun modifier: abbr" or such. But he certainly has given me some ideas for the next one!
Oh, and I forgot to mention how I chuckled over the discussion about LORE being a homophone (?) for "law"...Being from New England, I tend to leave OUT the "r" more often that I add it to a word like that. But in many parts of the country (I guess) LORE and "law" sound enough alike to be acceptable in this theme.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks,
ReplyDeleteMarti, an excellent Friday puzzle with so much clever cluing. I wish I could say I finished it, but you kicked my butt pretty good.
I managed to slog through the north central, the mid west and the south east. The rest is a bunch of empty spaces. I never gave the possibility of puns a thought.
I'll blame today's miserable performance on lack of sleep due to last nights storms. The puppy is not "into" storms or power outages.
Have an enjoyable weekend. HG, send some of that cool weather to Ct. I've already had enough Hot & Humid for this year.
Just wanted to congratulate Marti on a really terrific puzzle which kept me puzzling...had to finish it up this morning. My hang up was actually the NW corner which only had OONA in it forever. Lots of misdirection and very clever fill.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Lemonade...a very fine blog which I needed to access to actually complete the puzzle...DRIB just wasn't there and after I "cheated" it into place the remaining clues filled in.
Thanks for the Friday challenge.
Good afternoon Lemonade, CC, and Marti. Cute puzzle. LOLed at a couple of 'em. 49A Beer keg was my fav and how appropriate for it to be followed by 11D Loo on my fav list. I plan on pursuing both shortly. Cute cute cute! Good job, Marti, and great write up, Lemon. Well done both of you.
ReplyDeleteMissed saying Happy Birthday to Tarajo yesterday...and that is belated even. At any rate, I hope you have many many more. It's so good to 'see' you.
Barry and Argyle: you guys are so perceptive. Argyle's 12 PM entry is perfectly understandable. Thank you.
Happy Friday! One more week and it's O-V-E-R! Fugly is history! Can't wait to see if the new devil is worse than the devil we know.
Enjoy your day!
Hello all.
ReplyDeleteA great Friday cw.
May I call a 10 year old a girl?
She is from the Pittsburgh area.
Home and school life featured in local papers.
Waiting for that all important
Game 5. Someone has to win on the other's home ice. Last 3rd period had 34 min in penalties.
Have weeds to chop down. Taking pain meds before I start this time.
Take care.
Husker 8:51 - I can't remember what comedian it was who summed up Law & Order as "an old white guy giving curmudgeonly advice to supermodels" or something like that. There's a ring of truth for sure!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm quite glad the Dick Wolf formula made use of beautiful ADA's. The various actresses in those roles seemed realistically intelligent to me. It's hard to pick a favorite, but let's go with Angie Harmon, a truly striking beauty.
of course barry and argyle (welcome back!!!!) were right, as confirmed by marti, but knowing jenga required adj, i did find write ups of both transitive and intransitive adjectives, so i went that way. over thinking once again, but it has led to some thoughtful discussuion and another layer to look for. has anyone had a suaignon gris, or a pinot gris for that matter?
ReplyDeleteThe hummingDRIB is the only other BIRD that flies backwards
ReplyDeleteDOGMA... AM GOD
CASSINI- Mama's favorite pasta
WASABI- Being neither straight or gay
AERIE- Where Jackie O kept her nest egg
OTOES- Kin of the Blackfeet
JENGA- A Tatar game where cheaters become a JENGA'S CON
Whole lotta haying going on here, but nearing the end. Since I missed yesterday, here's a belated BD wish for Annette, plus a wish for plans fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would like to slightly disagree with Grumpy1 and others about the benefits of AARP. If you're feeling deprived because you never get any mail, go ahead and sign up. The b------s will fill up your mailbox. Back when I joined (another century), the dues were only $8/yr, and I think they spent that every month mailing junk to me. I quit after two years and haven't looked back.
But if you like lots of mail...........
Hi guys! I usually just lurk and learn from all of you. But today I have to thank Lemonade for the link to that sweetheart Jackie. I usually don't watch those shows but she is wonderful. Going to Google her now and listen to more.
ReplyDeleteComin up with an anagram for DOGMA could make one GO MAD.
ReplyDeleteAnother word for a MA DOG is bitch.
Attending a Victoria's Secret fashion show could cause a GAM O.D.
Girls carry the latest People into salon and say "make my hair look like this MAG DO."
Little Johnny asked if he bould put stones in the creek. His dad said, "sure, GO DAM."
Some guy from The Bible had a certain way of doing things. You coul say it was a GAD M.O. (ok...that ones a groaner).
and Jerome already spoke of Rush Limbaugh.
damn autocorrect is broken...sorry
ReplyDeleteerrata:
coming up
salons
could put
could say
Hello everybody. Holy cow, I flat out could not finish the puzzle today, even after looking up some of the info on the net. Hard hard hard!
ReplyDeleteHad to look up the name of the Altman brother, the French garlic sauce, and what four-letter kind of sauvignon there is, which helped fill the NW and NE corners but didn't help with the SW corner. There is no way I could have filled that corner once I had mistakenly entered DUN instead of SUE.
Entered and erased OONA three times. Knew WASABI and SNAIL right off the bat, but wondered if I would have to erase them too. Yep, gotta love a word that starts with PT, but having gotten those two letters the rest was obvious.
Smiles: PTERO, MYTHUNIVERSE, NEWAGER, and LOO.
Frowns: ODON, NLER, and all the "X" to "Y" ones.
Quack! :)
Ugh! What a bunny slope this one was! I didn't finish due to my extreme fatigue. We drove back to NC from Memphis last night after two weeks with the grand-darlings. We loved it, but we are tired. the "oiled-up" video almost lifted me out of my stupor.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the informative as well as amusing blog, Lemon.
I have to post this.
ReplyDeleteWith a tip of the hat to the "other blog" and in honor of today's theme: Story Story Night
BillG, Where are you? Was hoping you would explain the sequence of Jeannie's that you got correct.
ReplyDeleteAre you OK?
Not like you to fade.
Creature, sorry. I was waiting to see if anybody was interested. As FermatPrime suggested, it's not mathematical. Just logical with numbers as symbols. Each line described the number of times each of the digits appears in the line before from left to right. It starts with one.
ReplyDelete1
11 One 1 (in prev. line)
21 Two 1s (in prev. line)
1211 One 2 and one 1
111221 One 1, one 2, two 1s
312211 Three 1s, two 2s, one 1
etc.
I hope that makes sense and that I didn't make a typo.
Here's one with just a little bit of math. The Snellgood-Smythes have two children. The Poindexters do too. We know that at least one of the Snellgood-Smythe’s children is a boy and the older of the Poindexter’s kids is a boy. Is the probability that each family has two boys the same?
Yikes, probabilities!
ReplyDeletePhew...a long day of shopping and errands, but I think I'm done for the week.
ReplyDeleteI was pretty lucky today. DOGMA and RORYS were pretty easy and "DRIBs and drabs" was common around our house. The only reason I got 14A OONA was that I saw -----Chaplin (Charlie's---) and didn't bother with the rest of the clue.
I'm right down the road from LODI, so I had heard the Zinfandel motto before.
I didn't have time to rethink any of my entries this morning. It was fun to check in this afternoon to see the problems that were had with 58D ADJ. I already had it filled in with the perps. Perps took care of NLER and most of SARG too.
Lemonade, Sauvignon GRIS? All I know about it is that it fit in 17A and BLANC wouldn't. I don't think I've ever had it. I have had Pinot Gris. I've got a couple of bottles of Bearboat 2007 right now. Nice. I understand that pinot grigio is italian for the same grape.
Hi, folks.
ReplyDeleteMarti and Lemonade, you've both don it again...even better. Great puzzle,Marti, even if it stumped me. Lemon, you really put your whole soul into these writeups!
I put letter in all the cells but one but plenty of them were wrong. Got the theme lines after "fableminded", my favorite. Had 'vbs.' for 59D but of course I didn't think that through. Oh, well. Tomorrow will be another tough one, I'm afraid. If you don't see me here, I'll be back Monday!
Bill G.: They are not the same. The Poindexters have the higher probability of having 2 boys.
ReplyDeleteBill G., I remember reading an "Ask Marilyn" (Marilyn vos Savant) column a while ago. I couldn't figure this out myself, but as I recall. there is a one in three chance that the Snellgood-Smythes have another son, but one in two chance that the Poindexter's younger child is a son. I wouldn't be able to explain why if my life depended on it. You'll have to take that one.
ReplyDeleteGood evening all,
ReplyDeleteBunny slope? I'd say mighty moguls! Great puzzle: challenging and entertaining.Done with style, Marti.
I'm not a very punny person, but I sure enjoyed these, not so much lore student.And, you got me on Chiwere speakers?!?
So glad you cleared up adj., Argyle, @12:00.That makes sense; they are describing verbs, which are nouns.
Lemon, I look forward to your write ups, always full of humor.
I bought Jenga for my daughter while in college. Had no idea it was a big drinking game.
Jackie Evancho has a new album being released on the 14th,Dream with me.Her voice was so astonishing on America's Got Talent that people thought she was lip-synching.
HOla Everyone, This certainly was a challenge today! A DNF for me. But still fun to do. I had almost all of it finished on my own, but I put in Trust for Matter of Faith so the whole NW corner went begging until the very last.
ReplyDeleteA really great CW, Marti, even if I didn't get it all done on my own. This is how we all learn!
I also didn't realize that Oona Chaplin was a granddaughter as well as a daughter. I put her name in twice and erased it twice thinking it just wasn't right.
Also Kick in was my choice for Knocking down a door during a raid.
Since we've never had a door bashed in to relate to that experience.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Well, after reading about the significance of ADJ to describe trans. or intrans. I feel the need to borrow the biggest can of V8, please.
ReplyDeleteThat was a devilishly deceiving clue!
Have a good night, everyone!
Good Evening, folks. Thank you, Marti, for taking up a good portion of my day. Tough puzzle, but interesting and enjoyable. Thank you, Lemonade, for the great write-up.
ReplyDeleteAs usual on a Friday, I had to bounce around quite a bit to get a toe hold. A few words came easily, ie: OONA, EERO, BEER KEG, LEO I, SNAIL, TRAY, AIDE, RORYS, SLAV, LOO, DeKALB, LAD, AERIE, BRADS, and ERIE (my home town). All the rest were thinkers.
Got all the theme answers much more easily than the SW corner. If I would have known JENGA, I could have solved it. As others, I did not know that an adjective could be transitive or intransitive.
Great workout. Thank you. See you tomorrow.
We went downtown tonight to the Berghoff and had a great German meal. I had the sauerbraten. My wife had wiener schnitzel.
Abejo
To Chickie: I though Oona was originally Charlie's wife. That is what I seem to remember from crosswords through the years.
ReplyDeleteAbejo
Good evening C.C., Argyle, and folk,
ReplyDeleteMarti, great job! You had me at the first clue...on my knees that is!
@Lemonade714, you nailed this one, boy-o! Punish about sums it up!
I agree on the amusing theme and I do see the Naddor multi-word misdirection!
20a. How clever it was to play on the lisp concept for MYTH/MISS!
I agree on the amusing theme and I do see the Naddor multi-word misdirection!
FOD:
54A. Quills for Chaucer?: TALE FEATHERS.
@Ave.Joe: "New England dialect does strange things with R's. It doesn't eliminate them,
but just rearranges them. Mostly, they're used on their IDEARS."
I grew up in a small New England town and different areas have
different accents. Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Maine, etc...each is unique.
Interestingly, I fall back into it when I am around relatives from back home.
There are a few bloggers from New England. Can you relate?
On that note,
I'm out.
joon park is spot-on - a puzzle with a 12/11/11/12 theme with no rare letters should not result in a grid this ugly.
ReplyDeleteThe only one I don't get is 3down, and you've omitted that one. What is INITS
ReplyDeleteand what does it have to do with OKs?
It was covered in the comments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we often combine like clues/answers and that was why you missed it in the write-up.
31. Levels: KOS. Knocks Out. Not to be confused with 3D. Some OKs: INITS. Some are initials and some are abbreviations.
When filling out contractual forms, you indicate you are OK with a section by putting your initials on it.
Thanks for the response. Of course, I
ReplyDeletefigured it out just as I hit the send button. I love the way you comment on each of the answers - sometimes, even after the puzzle is filled in, there's something I still don't get, so I come here.
On to the next ...
H.