Theme: QWERTY, or "Touch-typing 101". The first part of each theme entry is typed with the left hand and the second part is typed with the right hand...unless you are a "hunter-pecker"!
17A. *Informal survey : STRAW POLL (STRAW - left hand, POLL - right hand)
29A. *Young starlet's driver : STAGE MOM (STAGE - left hand, MOM - right hand)
45A. *Jeweled fashion accessory : DRESS PIN (DRESS - left hand, PIN - right hand)
4D. *Ominous salutation : DEAR JOHN (DEAR - left hand, JOHN - right hand)
11D. *Fresh dairy product : SWEET MILK (SWEET - left hand, MILK - right hand)
22D. *Garage lubricant : GEAR OIL (GEAR - left hand, OIL - right hand)
28D. *Retro '80s British indie rock genre : TWEE POP (TWEE - left hand, POP - right hand)
35D. *Be of one mind about : AGREE UPON (AGREE - left hand, UPON - right hand)
41D. *Astral wildflower : STAR LILY (STAR - left hand, LILY - right hand)
And the unifier:
(Thank goodness, Don and C.C. provided us with a hint !!!)
62A. Repeated words in a drill sergeant's marching order, and a hint to how the first and second word, in turn, of each starred answer would be touch-typed : LEFT RIGHT
A jam-packed theme crossword, with NINE "in the lingo" phrases...Mind boggling!!
Marti here, and I had no idea that this was another of our Dynamic Duo's puzzles, until I started to blog the answers and saw the byline....DUH! Just kick me upside the head!
Sooo, let's look at the rest of the fun:
Across:
1. Chatted via AOL : IM'ED. "Instant messaged"
5. "Legend of the Guardians" birds : OWLS. 2010 movie, subtitled "The Owls of Ga'Hoole".
9. Product prefix with -matic : INSTA
14. Strike zone? : LANE. Boomer knows this very well...
15. State with a five-sided flag : OHIO. Oh, you don't believe it??
16. Staircase post : NEWEL.
19. Lose no games : SWEEP.
20. São Miguel's islands : AZORES. Map.
21. Get dolled (up) : TOG. I know this as "Togs", or "Sunday Best". Was not familiar with "tog up".
23. Kings and queens : BEDS. HaHa, I was thinking "chess".
24. Legendary Henie : SONJA. Who could forget the famous skater/film star?? She was so pretty!
25. Discharge : EMIT
27. Great Lakes prov. : ONT. Ontario.
33. Six-sided state : UTAH...to go with a five-sided flag???
36. Tends the lawn : WATERS. Yes, we have done this often lately. I feel so bad for those in Texas who are in the middle of extreme drought!
38. Key for Debussy? : ILE. Not sure about this one.. I think they mean, like a Florida "key", or "island", in French (Debussy was French, right??)
39. + or -, e.g. : SIGN. Yep, those would be a sign...
40. It's not chilly in Chile : ENERO. Opposite of New England, January (ENERO) in Chile is the middle of summer...
41. Buttonhole, e.g. : SLIT.
42. Rocket tail? : EER. Rocketeer.
43. Russian leader, 1682-1725 : PETER I. Aka "Peter the great".
44. WBA stats : TKOS. World Boxing Association. "Technical knockouts".
47. Mauna __ : LOA. Earth's largest volcano.
49. Prefix with -morphic : ECTO.
50. Albee offering : DRAMA. Edward Albee, famous for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". (NOT ME!!)
54. "Out of the question!" : UH UH. No way!!
56. Bud : PAL. I had such a hard time with this one...I was all over the place, thinking of "rose", "new", "prime"....none fit!!
59. Haul in : COLLAR. This one, too...who else wanted "arrest"?
60. Slangy denials : NOPES. Nope, didn't come to mind easily...
64. Ad : PROMO. PROMOtion.
65. Brace : PAIR. As in, a "brace" of ducks. Could be a "group", also..
66. Pastures : LEAS.
67. New York's __ Island : CONEY. "Coney" is also a term meaning rabbit. I wonder if that is where the name comes from?
68. German auto : OPEL.
69. Every 12 mos. : YRLY. Mos. in the clue hints at abbr. for "yearly"
Down:
1. Lund of "Casablanca" and others : ILSAS. Are there others?
2. Seder staple : MATZO.
3. "The Smartest Guys in the Room" company : ENRON. We won't go into the great scandal here...
5. "My bad!" : OOPS. Love this clue / answer! I say it often...
6. Question from 5-Across? : WHO. Usually not fond of cross-referenced clues, but this one seems OK to me.
7. Jaunty tune : LILT. We just discussed this the other day...
8. New pilot's milestone : SOLO.
9. Connections : INS.
10. Online novice : NEWBIE. We have many newbies on our blog...and C.C. welcomes them all!
12. Ready to drive : TEED. I teed up my golf ball today, and drove it 250 yards!!
13. Salzburg vista : ALPS. One of my favorite vacation destinations...whether for skiing, or mountain climbing!
18. Withdraw by degrees : WEAN.
26. U.K. sports cars : MGS. Cool cars...
29. 17th-century Dutch painter : STEEN. Jan Steen. Contemporary of Rembrandt.
30. Okla., once : TERR. Abbr. in the clue lets us know that we are looking for an abbr. of "territory".
31. Medley : OLIO
32. Citi Field team : METS. NY Mets. Built as a replacement for Shea stadium, and opened in 2009.
33. Pre-owned : USED.
34. Theater section : TIER.
37. Naysayer : ANTI
43. LAX setting : PST. "Pacific Standard Time". LAX = Los Angeles International Airport.
46. Work on a plot : SCHEME
48. Renuzit target : ODOR. St. Louis, MO company that is working to fight offenses to our nostrils!
51. Rags-to-riches author : ALGER. Horatio...prolific author who wrote about impoverished boys and their rise to respectable middle-class security.
52. Taj __ : MAHAL. AHA, Vidwan! I got this one right this time. It is in Agra...
53. Pretentious : ARTSY...fartsy
54. Like sexist jokes, for short : UN PC. "Un-politically correct"
55. Scope starter : HORO...I am music deprived in this puzzle, so I will provide you with this...
57. Best friend's meal? : ALPO. My two tubby tabbies eat special diet food. No Alpo in this house...
58. Ballet move : LEAP. I sooo wanted to put "plie" here. Sigggghhh.
59. Key used in combinations : CTRL. "Control" key, often used with "Alt" and "Del" (But only on PCs..my Mac doesn't recognize that command...)
61. Tempeh base : SOY. I did not know this! Learning moment for today...
63. "For shame!" : FIE. And a pox on you for not finishing this puzzle!!
Hugs today, and that's all for now!
Marti
Note from C.C. & Don:
After rejecting a "Left-handed" theme from us, Rich asked if it's possible to make a grid consisting of words that can be typed with the left hand only. We realized soon into the process that much undesirable fill would enter into the grid. Somehow, it occurred to Don that LEFT RIGHT-typed phrases might be more interesting. We thought we would see how many could be interwoven into a grid design. Lots of words can be typed with only left-hand, but the right-handed word pool is quite limited. So, coming up with common two-word left & right phrases was quite challenging. We had lots of fun with this puzzle.
Note from C.C. & Don:
After rejecting a "Left-handed" theme from us, Rich asked if it's possible to make a grid consisting of words that can be typed with the left hand only. We realized soon into the process that much undesirable fill would enter into the grid. Somehow, it occurred to Don that LEFT RIGHT-typed phrases might be more interesting. We thought we would see how many could be interwoven into a grid design. Lots of words can be typed with only left-hand, but the right-handed word pool is quite limited. So, coming up with common two-word left & right phrases was quite challenging. We had lots of fun with this puzzle.
58 comments:
Morning, all!
Nice to see another puzzle from C.C. and Don! I have to admit, though, that this one didn't quite do it for me...
The theme meant nothing whatsoever to me, since I am not a touch typer. Once I got the reveal I figured it out, but it certainly didn't help in the solving experience.
The other problem was that a lot of the theme answers didn't really sound natural to me. Is GEAR OIL a special type of oil different from other oils? What is SWEET MILK (I've heard of SWEET CREAM before, but not SWEET MILK]? And I'm sure that DRESS PIN, TWEE POP and STAR LILY are real things, but I've never heard of any of them.
The rest of the puzzle was fine, with lots of lively clues.
Good Morning, Marti and friends. I have to agree with Barry on this one. This puzzle didn't quite do it for me, because of the many prefix / suffix clues. I did, however, appreciated the cleverness of the theme. It must have been difficult to compose. As Marti noted, thank goodness the LEFT RIGHT provided a hint. That certainly helped me with some of the theme answers.
There is currently an interesting DRESS PIN exhibit of Madeline Albright's pin collection in New Orleans.
I wasn't fooled by It Isn't Chilly in Chile = ENERO, but I have been to the tip of Chile in January and it is quite chilly there!
There were some really fun clues, such as KINGS and QUEENS = BEDS.
QOD: I hate flowers - I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe
Marti,
Thanks for the lively & detailed write-up. ILE is Rich's clue, I'm a bit confused myself. BEDS, ENERO are all Rich's work. I like them a lot.
That's a long drive. 250 yards. Hope you parred the hole at least.
Barry G,
Star lilies are beautiful flowers. You should surprise your wife with a bouquet.
I teed up the ball and drove it a mile...then I hit a bump and it fell off the tee.
Star Lily. After seeing it, I think we've had it before.
GEAR OIL is special. Image.
I enjoyed today's very clever theme. I can't imagine how hard it must've been to construct.
Argyle, you're right, we've seen star lily here before, within the past six months (when I started following this blog).
Most guys will know what gear oil is.
Am I the only one who put 'Audi' for 68A, "German auto"?
CC and Don,
Enjoyable in every way. The theme was so creative, it took me on a separate mental trip. Your comments added to the intrigue.
Your clues were tricky, without the ‘?’ at the end. I was hauled in by a German auto with a scope starter, trying to make a ballet move.
Thanks, Marti for your write-up. Fun. Did anyone else have a problem with “map” link?
My field mowing is calling. Been trying to do an hour a day, but the large tractor blows hot air, which has shortened my stint . None of my cool tricks seem to help, when I use it, but the fields will look nice when they come to view my body, after cooking , prior to cremation.
The creative process marches on: this was a very amazing puzzle with all that themeage. I am sure the KEY:ILE reference was just the French for Island, Cay whatever you want to call it. Then having Key used in combinations: CTRL, was fun.
I enjoyed Kings and queens: BEDS, LAX setting: PST, who thinks of clock settings in LA?
I love music, but I never knew about TWEE POP . Now to go and listen. Thanks Marti, a very nice job as always in your roll as caddie for C.C. and Don G.
250 yards, damn.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
Well, I finally dragged my sorry butt out of bed this morning. I'm glad to see you all started the party without me!
C.C., sorry, but the 250 yard drive was on a computer game of golf. Since I just can't get the hang of putting those things, I think I ended up with a snowman (8) for that hole!!
BTW, I have an entire bed of STAR LILIES
in my yard!
Don G. and CC - very, very nice puzzle. Although I could not finish - I enjoyed it thoroughly. I got the theme, but some of the answers were beyond my ken - and I have always been reluctant to do late week puzzles, so my attitude was not in the right orientation ( or should I say occidentation ...) . Very clever cluing.
Marti, such a wonderful blog and commentary. I learnt a lot about Tempeh, or Tempe ( not Ariz.) - based on their culture, the Indons. must grow a lot of Soya beans - and I thought it was an American monopoly !
Just like you think of me on Agra ( hah!) I automatically think of you in Ski and Alps. lol.
Have a nice weekend, everyone.
German auto never heard of OPEL I wanted AUDI.
OPEL
Fun Facts by Dave Letterman
Because of his name, Alexander the Great believed he'd grow up to be a magician.
In order to become licensed, a courtroom sketch artist must demonstrate the ability to make defendants look "shifty".
Marti: Pat yourself on the back (for me) for a nice write-up. Good job.
Don G. & C.C. What a FUN Thursday!
The reveal, LEFT-RIGHT, fell early and helped me with the 9 theme entries A-LOT.
TWEE-POP was the last to fall. I guess I'm not up on Retro '80's British Indie rock genre ... sooo it was my only theme wag.
My fave today was the UN-PC / UH-UH crossing.
Subtle, smooth and clever.
LILT our new summer favorite entry. lol
Sammy B.: Audi was my first thought also.
But that seemed toooooo easy.
So I waited for ALPO, Best friend's meal, to appear.
And knew it was OPEL.
BTW, many times when solving xwords I encounter something I didn't know or hadn't heard of before.
Like today's 17th-century Dutch painter, STEEN.
I call them "learning moments"
Cheers to all at Sunset!
Great puzzle, C.C. and Don! Thank you for restoring my confidence in my Thursday ability.
I wasn't fooled by any of the misdirections, but really didn't get the theme at all. I read somewhere once that the whole QWERTY keyboard was designed to be mainly left-handed so as to slow down the typists so they wouldn't get to be too fast. I'm left-handed so it helps me since I never have mastered typing without looking at the keys.
I also oscillated between PLIÉ and LEAP until perps assured me of which to use. That decision sealed the AUDI/OPEL choice too.
Opel is essentially a GM car. GM bought them out in the '20's and somehow managed to continue ownership even through WWII. The main factory is in Rüsselsheim, just outside (SW of)Frankfurt, where you can have a very good tour in English if you want.
Opel's history on Wiki
Here is a wonderful video of what you'd see on the tour. Unfortunately it's in German, but easy to get the idea from the visuals.
Good morning, Marti, C.C., Don and the gang. The dynamic duo SCHEMEd up again! I type by the bilical method: "seek and ye shall find". I did figure out the theme before I had the puzzle completed so I could easily verify the last few entries.
I had no idea about "Legend of the Gaurdians" so keyed off Legend and put in 'rocs'. Who knew that a roc would ask "Oho"? rOPS! My bad.
Nailed PETER I, AZORES, ILE, ENERO and OHIO, but 'arrest, was my first choice for 59a. It's been a long time since I've heard 'brace' for pair, but my dad and uncles used to talk about farming with a brace of mules.
Gear oil is usually a much thicker (higher viscosity) than engine oil. The stories I could tell about gear oil problems in UPS conveyor systems. I learned more about gear oil than I ever wanted to know at the time, but the knowledge gained served me well in subsequent careers.
Thanks for a fun Thursday, C.C. and Don, and a great blog Marti.
Nice one Marti
Liked the theme which helped with some of the later clues.
I only got held up in the Northwest. 1A - IMED? (Thanks for explaining that one, Marti) threw me, as did 1D - ILSAS, which I parsed quickly as an actor in Casablanca and OTHER MOVIES and passed on.
The KEY/ILE archipelago I'm sure we've had before/recently.
TOG as a verb as in "She's all togged up today, ain't she? Right mutton dressed as lamb, if you ask me!" might be heard in certain quarters of BRITland.
COLLAR as verb in a criminal context is probably ditto, since it was my first guess. e.g.
"After the bank-raid, they collared the bloke what dunnit down the boozer - he were only buying drinks for everyone, weren't he?".
Never heard of TWEE-POP either, though.
NC
Hi All ~~
Congrats C.C. and Don ... a really enjoyable puzzle! It was just challenging enough ... I was able to finish with no look-ups even though I had a couple of complete unknowns and I didn't get the theme until the unifier. An amazing number of theme answers! (I looked at the keyboard to try them all out ;-) )
~~ 'Brace' -- PAIR and TWEEPOP were new to me but perps took care of them.
~~ I loved that I could fill the NW corner so quickly.
~~ I thought 'Tsk" before FIE and 'Straw vote' before STRAWPOLL.
~~ Favorite was 'Best friend's meal' --ALPO!
Great write-up, Marti .. I always enjoy your work ~~
Enjoy the day!
Good morning everyone. Nice write-up, Marti. Thanks C.C. and Don for another great opus. Great theme and many cool head scratchers which slowly revealed themselves.
Did the puzzle while getting an oil change and lube for my car. No GEAR OIL was needed. Got the LEFT-RIGHT near the end and realized what was accomplished with the theme. Eyes-right, and dress-right are also orders given to a formation, so, for me, the LEFT was a little slow in coming. Favorite clue was for BEDS. AZORES was a WAG, but a narrow one with the Portuguese São in the clue. BZ to C.C. and Don.
Enjoy the day.
Clever idea for a theme. Very nicely put together. Lots of fun! good writeup too.
Yes, gear oil is much thicker than regular motor oil and sweet milk is different from buttermilk or clabber. Legitimate words in CWs that you don't know but can figure out from the crosses are OK in my book. I expect them in later days of the week. TOG and TWEEPOP fit into that category for me.
Hola Everyone, Another great offering C.C. and Don G. I can't imagine how much time it must have taken to find all those words that can be typed first Left, then Right. Good Job.
Marti, Great writeup, as usual.
I thought the LAX/PST, Brace/Pair, and Strike Zone/Lane clues were all very clever. They had me thinking out of the box.
However, Tween Pop, and LMed were both off my radar and I had to Google those to keep the puzzle going.
Barry, Sweet milk as opposed to Buttermilk which would not be sweet. My grandmother always referred to the milk just brought in from the barn as sweet milk.
Have a great day everyone.
Morning CC, Don G and all
I Liked this puzzle for some reason, tho the theme answer didn't help me any , I had no trouble with the long fills except " tweepop " I wanted " treepop " lt kinda made sense , sit on a tree branch and sing, never know with them Brits. That forced me to think " rakers " at 36A and " Skeen at 29D both looked ok to me, wasn't too sure about RAKERS tho.
I did nail ENERO, BEDS, PST,SIGN,OPEL with no hesitation at all.
My brother in law owned an Opel that I got to drive on several occasions ,great driver, somewhat of a mix between mid 90's Ford Taurus and a Peugeot 505 with the handling and performance of a German car.
Going to Vegas tonight , big auto auction Friday.
Y'all have a good day.
Hi Gang, a tough one today, my wife and I only got 1/4 done before she had to leave for work...
Hard abbreviations, YRLY,IMED.
For our missing Dennis:
Here's some military cadences done to 'left right left...'
Hi all,
I groaned and howled over this one, but I know it's Thursday so I expected a toughie. I was stumped right away with 1A and if Marti had not explained it, I never would have understood.
I have never heard of TOG (21A) and had no idea what 28D (TWEEPOP) was, sounds a little like a kid's cereal.
SWEET MILK must be an old farm term. We sure don't use it around here. Sour milk or cream, yes, buttermilk - ok. Don't you love learning things here ??? :)
Marti, great job on the write up!! I always enjoy reading your observations.
Thanks to my grandson's hard work for 2 days, we have a freshly painted basement floor, back steps and side door step. Yaaaa! He made money so he's happy too!
Hello.
There was always someone who started marching with their right
foot first.
Tweepop should have been tweeNpop.
Brace = pair of horses or oxen
pulling farm equipment.
Also use gear oil when using a metal lathe to keep metal cool.
Anyone interested in cars should
check Jay Leno's Garage this week.
(CBS.com) He features an Alfa Monza.
Must get an oil, lube and filter change today.
eddy
Warren, thanks for the thought, but that's Army cadence.
Here's the real deal. Funny, soon as I hear that, I wanna go for a run.
And no, I don't need any suggestions where to run to.
C.C., DonHardG, wonderful puzzle.
Good Morning All, Fun, but tough! Thanks to Don G. and C.C.for 62A) LEFT/RIGHT. I never would have figured it out otherwise.
In spite of the fact that I'd never heard of 5A)Legend of the Guardians birds/OWLS, I had OOPS, so it looked like a good WAG.
SWEET MILK and TWEE POP were lucky with the perps. I've never heard of either term. To TOG is a new one too.
I had to take a DNF in the SE. I wasn't sure what was the finish to 35D)AGREE----. It could have been WITH. 55D)PERI?? The cross UH UH could have been where NOPE came in and NOPES could have been NO WAY. I drew a blank on 64A and couldn't get ELLIS out of my mind for 67A. 61)Tempeh base? No idea.
Good point Hahtool. Chile can be quite chilly at the southern end close to Antarctica. The average January temperature in Punta Arenas is 58 F. Brrr.
Thanks for the update Dennis, now I better understand the difference...
;-)
Just curious. Barry G. mentioned he wasn't a touch typist. Are there other two finger "hunt & peck" folks out there? If you are a touch typist, what is your average speed?
I had to pass a typing test, on a computer, at 35 WPM for my last job. I just passed. Over the years I speeded up to about 45-50 WPM, although I still have to double check the keyboard for some number keys and symbols. My daughter is a medical transcriptionist and she whizzes by at about 100 WPM.
Kazie, can you give us any hints on your plot line? Mystery... adventure.... romance... historical,
or a combination of more than one genre? Good luck with any and all.
brace = pair? That's a new one on me. Pretty obscure.
Good morning everyone. I finished the puzzle this morning, but the theme was lost on me. Thanks to C.C. and Don for the added comments. Marti, good job! I ran into some of the same problems as the rest of you. Nothing to add to the mix.
Ahhhh, MG's - had to change my avatar just to show off my '53 TD, which I have owned since 1975.
I've been AWOL on the blog for awhile now. Busy time - just finished up with the Garlic Festival. 109,000+ revelers hit town over the 3 days! Whew. What a party!
Enjoy the rest of the week, all. Remember...Left is right. (Or maybe not?)
oops. Sorry, that should have been NBC.com
Good afternoon, Marti, C.C., Don and cyber PALS.
Congratulations once more Don and C.C. on another masterful dual accomplishment!
Just this week I asked my granddaughter about IM and she quickly said "Instant Messaging." In spite of that, I filled ELSA (sigh).
This was very doable but scrabbly for me as it took a while to find my stride. That happened in the NE with INSTA, NEWEL, etc.
I loved kings and queens, BEDS.
SONIA tripped me for a while until DEARJOHN appeared and corrected it.
OPEL or AUDI? When ALPO emerged so did OPEL. I carpooled for years with a friend who drove one. Nice car.
STARLILY was featured in the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet because the main character would buy one for his mother every chance he had; it was her favorite.
I'm a touch typist, learned it because the keys had been taped over by Sisters Claver and Bede, two formidable teachers.
Have no idea of my speed but it is quite fast. Clever theme, left right.
Once I found Tempeh in Webster's, the SW corner fell easily as I had struggled with ELLIS island and AGREEMENT.
Good fun today!
Have a special Thursday, everyone!
OOPS! I'm sorry, C.C., I was carried away and paid no attention to the length of my post. I'll be more careful next time.
Here is a brace of pheasants by the naturalist painter Stephen Elmer (sad-looking “couple”), and here is another by Aert Schouman (much better!).
I did a lot of “air typing” to confirm my answers on this clever puzzle! Fun to do once I got a toehold.
Musings
-What, no VEGEmatic?
-Sonja of Sun Valley Serenade
-79F and overcast today, so no watering! Texas looks like a climatological disaster.
-ENERO not FIERO. TIER not LOGE.
-That’s one way to get ILSA plural
-Fortunately, the scandal happened after ENRON left Omaha. It cost my uncle ALL his retirement.
-ROOKIE? Nope, NEWBIE!
-I TEED up too, but not 250 yards! Glad to hear drive was “electronic”, otherwise I thought you might have an IN with Barry Bonds!
-OKLA. was Indian Territory. Shameful!
-Neighborhood dogs are both on diets and are down to 85 and 130 lbs respectively.
-Longest common word typed with only left hand – STEWARDESSES. Right hand only? LOLLIPOP.
Yes, I'm a touch typer. Learned in high school. I got a summer job with the U.S. Government as a clerk typist. I think I got up to about 45-50 wpm. I was at my best when typing papers, etc. for school or something similar. When I started doing CWs on the computer, I slowed way down. My kids all learned to touch type. I wonder how they would manage on an old typewriter where you had to press down on the keys much harder?
Just got back from the supermarket. I got my wife some sunflowers. I didn't see any starlillies though. I had some cash left over from tutoring. It felt good to pay the grocery bill in cash. The gardener too.
Good afternoon everyone.
Very clever puzzle C.C. and Don. I DNF because I couldn't.
Funny bit, though. My DH was a drill sergeant, and he couldn't get past hup two three four, and we had a good laugh when I came here to find out that one. And the part about how the answers would be touch typed didn't make sense with hup, hup, etc.
Cheers
Loved this puzzle! Uncovered the theme early and that truely helped in solving the rest of the puzzle.
First thought of Ellis for NY's Island. Coney (as a result of filling in CI Creek) is no longer an island.
Greetings, all and Thanks for an interesting puzzle, C.C. and Dan;
Creature, I'm togging up in my black shrouds for your viewing! Try not to go before I can get there!
Marti, a super writeup!
After putting in 'cle' for key ('m pretty sure that's the French word. Kazie?) I finally decided it was really 'ile' as in Ile de France. (Can't remember the word for 'Devil's).
Since I do the crosswords by pencil and paper except for Sundays, even the 'left/right' unifier didn't help.. Lots of good stuff in it though.
When our older daughter got her driver's license we got an Opel to relieve me from one of motherhood's chores. The younger daughter was into figure skating and we did daily drives to the local rink, about 11 miles away. One summer the "patch" (her practice area) was at 7:30 a.m. and I would drive her to the hour 'patch', sit watching in the cold, and then on to school, where she was my TA for the summer.
When the siblings drove it together, it didn't do much for their compatability! But after one year one went to college and the other could drive herself.
The Opel saved my life!
Sallie, I was thinking 'hup, hup,' too, and had the same reaction to left/right.
Ksquare, here's another 1925er.86 in October!
NiceCuppa, do you think 'tweepop' might have come from e.g.'isn't it a bit twee?' I see that in some Brit books.
Our Trader Joes has gorgeous bouquets of Starlilies, and some others that are heavily scented (or maybe they're Starlilies, too). They're not expensive, either.
! They also have large bunches of alstromeria for just $3.99, and they last as long as two weeks some times.
Back to yesterday, I believe Nauru is the island that is losing its shoreline because of the rising sea level. Soon it will disappear completely if global warming isn't reversed.
The SWcorner took a long time for me to work out. Just couldn't think of the two negatives required. Like you, CA, I couldn't get an ending for agreeing. Finally 'nopes' got me 'upon' and the rest just bloomed!
Elsa/emed? Marti straightened that out!
Clef = key.
It is the derivation of clef etc. in music.
My first post ! :)
For C.C. a very good puzzle again. I'm a touch typist too, (the only award I ever got in High School was for typing 50 wpm) but I never connected right left with typing. Very clever.
Phew, I've spent a good part of the day cleaning out the walk-in pantry. I had a lot of "best used by" dated stuff coming up soon, so off it went to the local food bank. As long as I had everything out of there, I gave all the shelves a good scrub before I put anything back. I hate to admit it, but it has been quite a while since I've done more than a quick wipe.
Thanks to Marti for the lovely SONJA photo. That was just about how she looked when I first saw her and fell in love. (Hi, to fellow skating aficionado, Robin. I hope you're doing well.)
Dodo, LOL, I had forgotten all about morning "patches". We were only a couple of blocks from a bus stop, so I had to ride the city bus.
Love the avatar, Garlic Gal. Nice to see you back.
And welcome to all the newbies.
Anon at 5:34, great, but now go blue and join our group. Don't worry , you just can make up a name, nobody cares about who you are, we just want to be able to address you other than as one of too many anons.
Hey Red Shoes we miss you, all good?
Good evening all!
Thanks you CC and Don for the interesting puzzle! I did not have to cheat, unlike last few Thursdays, perhaps. Fine exposition, Marti! (We Mac people do have CTRL, just not ALT. I think your remark is a bit unclear.)
BRACE was easy for this old person. TWEEPOP filled in by perps. Is SWEETMILK the raw kind? Tough to buy in Calif. Only full fat. Very yummy.
Was surprised that the nuclear cardiac thing was a sequence of "hurry up and waits." Except for a few moments gasping for air, not terribly bad. Back n excruciating pain today, though. Results OK, I just discovered. Nice cardiologist.
It was with great effort that I was able to get on to this site. This happens way too often. Anybody have this trouble?
Cheers!
Garlic Gal:
It's good to see you again! I missed you as I think of you every time I use one of the post it notes you gave us as well as the pencil.
I'm glad the Garlic Festival was successful though I'm sure more work for you.
Nice wheels.
I'll "see" you all Saturday as the funeral for my aunt is tomorrow and I found she was 94.
Ta ta.
Ilsa (shame on me),lane and misspelling sonya drove me to the blog for the finish.
Enjoyed the puzzle.
My best yet for a Thursday.
Thanks to everyone for adding an extra special interest to the daily puzzle, the blog and comments.
I touch type. I used to type transcripts for a court reporter before they had a computer program that could do it. I typed on an IBM Selectric sometimes with as many a five carbons. My younger daughter was a baby and I would put her in a playpen by me. My reporter would come every morning with a shoe box full of dictated tapes and I would plug myself into a dictaphone and type all day.
Since I got paid by the page, I got very fast! Also I learned lots of interesting things.
Can't figure out how to add my picture.
GarlicGal, I sure envy you…I LOVES me some garlic!! And some day, I will actually make it to one of your festivals!! And the “wheels” are soooo sexy! I bet everyone in town turns their heads when you drive by…
Fermatprime @ 7:51, Yes, I do have “alt” – it is on the same key as the “option” one. But the combination “ctrl-alt-del” is not a recognized command by Apple computers. For PC users, it is a “fast crash”, or “shutdown” command. Sorry to hear you are in so much pain again, and hope you are feeling better tomorrow!!!
Garlic Gal, love that avatar! My sister had an MG/TD - year is a guess but I think it was in the late 50's. I once had an MGA, year 1960, but it was a very 'needy' auto. Always having a carburetor problem. It could not be driven more than 35 miles before it shut down due to overheating. We had to wait for about a half hour to be able to restart it. The guys on this blog will know what I'm talking about...I didn't understand all of it, but it was not a fun car to own.
Our family name is inscribed on the Ellis Island emigrant wall. So many families came through NY from the European countries.
I had to erase Ellis Island, though and put in Coney Island.
Garlic Gal, I love your new Avatar. Such a classy car.
In HS I got my "pin" for typing at 75 WPM, but now I just plug along. Takes constant practice to keep up that kind of speed. CA,I've never really mastered the numbers and letters, either.
We start our students in third grade with touch typing skills so that they will be better on the computer keyboard. We have "dummy" practice keyboards for them. It's amazing how good they are by 6th grade.
Jordan and I watched the sun sink into the ocean just now. He didn't want to go because it interrupted his watching a cartoon. But I insisted. He agreed it was pretty cool.
Susan, click on your blue name. That should bring up your profile. Click on Edit Profile. Go to near the bottom. Select adding a photo from your computer. Browse until you find the image you want. Select it. Wait until it shows up. Go to bottom to Save Profile. While you're there, maybe add some more info to your profile so we can find out a little more about you. I hope this works OK for you.
Good Evening, folks. Great puzzle Don G. and C.C. Enjoyed it by working through it. The theme totally escaped me. As it turns out, I am not a regular typist. I am a two-finger hunt and peck person. And, very happy with that.
Thank you HeartRx for the nice write-up. You are dedicated.
The puzzle was very doable. My only problem area was in the sW. I entered ELLIS instead of CONEY. Once fixed, all fell into place.
Used perps for a few, ie: TWEEPOP, AZORES, NEWBIE.
All the theme answers were solved quite easily, even though I never got the theme itself. I suppose if I had really thought about it I could have come up with the answer. Had fun just solving the puzzle word by word.
Heading for Pennsylvania in the morning. I will probably do the crossword in the car.
Nice hearing from you Garlic Gal. I remember my days in Gilroy. Nice area.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Hats off to the dynamic duo for another great one, and thanks to you, Marti, for multiple explanations of all of my "huhs?" I actually had a nice long list, but you all have covered many and it's late.
Argyle, you made me laugh..gear oil IS special...only a guy.....
I'll be up at Lake Tahoe this week enjoying Hot August Nights with Carol,Joe, Dick, and Irene ; a little bit of family coming too.
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