Theme: Modified - The end word, with an added letter or two and a long E sound in different spelling, is placed in front of itself as a modifier AND the modifier has a different etymology. There are three in the rows and two in the columns.
17A. Meat used in place of a puck? : HOCKEY HOCK. HOCKEY, the game, from the "hook" like nature of the sticks. HOCK, Old English hohsinu (literally, heel). Not much meat there. Image.
39A. Surcharge for a cab ride? : TAXI TAX. TAXI, 1907, shortening of taximeter cab (introduced in London in March 1907), from taximeter "automatic meter to record the distance and fare". TAX, from L. taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle".
61A. Davy Jones at an abbey? : MONKEE MONK. Davy Jones was with the musical group, The Monkees. MONK ; Greek monachós hermit.
11D. Intimidator on the bovine playground? : BULLY BULL. BULLY originally had a positive sense of the word, "sweetheart", uncertain origin (cf. Ger. buhle "lover"). BULL came from O.E. bula "a bull, a steer".
11D. Intimidator on the bovine playground? : BULLY BULL. BULLY originally had a positive sense of the word, "sweetheart", uncertain origin (cf. Ger. buhle "lover"). BULL came from O.E. bula "a bull, a steer".
35D. Short-term Arizona State employee? : TEMPE TEMP. The original campus was in TEMPE, The sports teams are the Arizona State Sun Devils. TEMP is short for temporary, a worker hired for a short period of time.
Argyle here. At first glance, I thought 'meh' but as I had to parse it, I discovered it was much more complex than I thought. Finding a modifier that is based on a different word but still uses the same letters? Well.... Still a good share of names but a bit more common. Some good stuff you might care to comment on.
Across:
1. Big Harley, in slang : HAWG
5. "Marching Along" autobiographer : SOUSA. The March King.
10. "Mamma Mia!" group : ABBA
14. Soap Box Derby state : OHIO
15. Hearth debris : ASHES
16. Off-peak period : LULL
19. Untidy type : SLOB
20. John Williams quintet? : OSCARS. A prolific composer. Link to his nominations and wins.
21. Fridge sound : HUM. "Hummm" as I stand with the door open deciding what I want to eat.
22. '70s Olympics name : OLGA. Korbut.
23. Fab Four member : STARR. Ringo.
24. Prepare beans, Mexican-style : REFRY
26. Scary fly : TSE-TSE
30. Place for care instructions : LABEL
33. Mouse catchers : CATS
36. Expected : DUE
37. Professor's goal : TENURE
38. Corrida cry : ¡OLÉ!
41. English __ : LITerature
42. Drum heard in Westerns : TOM-TOM
44. Actress Basinger : KIM. Image.
45. Bar brews : ALES
46. Mar. parade celeb : ST. PAT
47. Presario PC brand : COMPAQ. Can you believe I messed this one up and I'm sitting in front of a COMPAQ!
49. Significant period : EPOCH
51. Comfortably rewarding : CUSHY
55. Dinner and a movie, say : DATE
57. D-backs, on scoreboards : ARI. More Arizona.
59. Gillette razor named for its blade count : TRAC II
60. One with a password : USER
63. Gimlet garnish : LIME. "gin, a spot of lime, and soda"
64. Game show host : EMCEE
65. Throw in a chip : ANTE
66. SoCal force : LA PD
67. Country singer Rimes : LEANN
68. Tabloid loch : NESS. Monster or misunderstood?
Down:
1. Hostess snack cakes : HO HOs. Ho, Ho, Ho! One for the ladies. Image.
2. "__ of golden daffodils": Wordsworth : A HOST. "Daffodils" (1804). I wander'd lonely as a cloud. That floats on high o'er vales and hills,. When all at once I saw a crowd,. A host, of golden daffodils; ...
3. Neopagan religion : WICCA
4. Some Soap Box Derby entrants : GO-KARTS
5. Articulates : SAYS
6. __Kosh B'Gosh : OSH. The children's apparel company founded in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1895.
7. "Rats!" : "UH OH!"
8. Out of harm's way : SECURE
9. Invitation on a rep's button : ASK ME
10. Losing candidate : ALSO RAN
12. Online journal : BLOG
13. Jessica of "Sin City" : ALBA. Another for the boys. Image.
18. Slips up : ERRS
25. Show off one's muscles : FLEX. And another for the girls. Image. Are you keeping score?
27. Dutch cheese : EDAM
28. Prom duds : TUX
29. Bulova competitor : SEIKO
31. 14-Across's Great Lake : ERIE
32. Tennis net grazers : LETS
33. Summer cabin beds : COTS
34. Boatloads : A LOT
37. Pack (down) : TAMP
39. Four-legged Oz visitor : TOTO
40. Comical Conway : TIM
43. Like a pencil point : TAPERED
45. Sea-dwelling superhero : AQUAMAN. Sending out a message.
47. Car trim : CHROME
48. Farmland division : ACRE
50. Skating maneuver : CAMEL. Camel spin.(0:18)
52. Teatime snack : SCONE. No dunking today.
53. Help for the clueless : HINTS
54. "Omigosh!" : "YIKES!"
55. Boring : DULL
56. Where most people live : ASIA
58. Bygone Peruvian : INCA
59. Not-so-little kid : TEEN
62. Barbie's guy : KEN
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
A belated "Happy Birthday" to dear Chickie.
Note from C.C.:
A belated "Happy Birthday" to dear Chickie.
74 comments:
Morning, all!
Another speed run. Today's pebbles were HAWG (I've never seen it spelled that way and always assumed it was simply HOG) and CAMEL (my knowledge of ice skating terminology is limited to AXEL). Everything else was smooth, smooth, smoooooth.
Good Morning, folks. Could not sleep so I got up and did the crossword. Thank you, Alex, for a great Tuesday puzzle. It was easy and interesting. Thank you, Argyle, as usual.
I had to start this one in the center. The NW did not come to me easily.
Enjoyed SOUSA. He is my favorite march composer. I have played most of his marches through the years. Did not know he had an autobiography. I believe I will check that out.
SCONE again so soon? That is interesting. I enjoyed the first appearance the other day because it was tied to my favorite tea, Earl Grey, of which I drink about six cups a day. Earl Grey was the Prime Minister of England under King William IV. I learned that in a crossword puzzle.
The theme helped today with a quick finish.
To the Constructor, Alex Boisvert: A good friend of mine has the same last name as yours. He is a doctor. Any relation?
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I had fun with this one. Like Barry, my only problem was with HAWG. I knew Hog, but ... and I hate when 1-Across is a stumper.
I loved the nearly double theme word clues. I caught on early to the theme, which gave a "leg up" on the remaining theme answers.
My favorite clue was Mouse Catchers = CATS.
I always found TIM Conway very amusing.
QOD: There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle. ~ Albert Einstein
Hello all:
Another fine puzzle with a crisp write up; nice theme and a bunch of stuff like the entire fly and the old religion, now featured on TRUE BLOOD . TEMPE TEMP and MONKEE MONK were really cute fill. Thought adding TOM TOM and HO HOwas also clever.
HAWG is the accepted spelling for Harley riders.
Do you all watch? I see Boardwalk Empire is back as well. My son has insisted I read Game of Thrones and then watch.
Too too Tuesday all
Good day folks,
A fun puzzle today with the NW the only difficult area. Sousa & ABBA, two of my favs, side by side. Thank you Alex. The theme answers, while not being difficult, certainly gave me a moment for pause. Fav was Tempe temp.
Hawg is a familiar term to me, although I'm not sure how it ended up in my memory bank.
Rain has departed, now we can start drying out.
TV's Craig Ferguson as Aquaman. A skit where he answers viewer letters and gives advice. This episode of "Dear Aquaman" featured Tim Gunn.
Craig Ferguson
For 46 A I wanted Irish
66 A I thought of CHPS (Calif. Highway Patrol)
Fun Facts by Dave Letterman
Wink Martindale has a brother named Blink.
During his later fireside chats, FDR used to read fun facts to the nation over the radio, Eleanor used to walk into the room in an attempt to make him laugh.
BOIS = WOOD VERT = GREEN
Alex GREENWOOD, French 101
Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the fine write-up and links, Argyle! I think the girls made out on this one. The HO HO ho link alone was worth three of Jessica ALBA or KIM Basinger. But then you threw in Davy Jones and FLEX links too – yippee!
I loved, loved, loved this puzzle. 1A threw me for a minute, as it did many others. So I had to peek at the downs before I sussed HAWG. That was my real V8 moment, because I did know that’s what Harley owners call their bikes.
Lots of great fill – In addition to the repeating sound in the theme entries we had TOM TOM and TSE TSE. Then AQUAMAN crossing COMPAQ, with the ending “Q”. Great stuff!
So sorry I missed your birthday, Chickie!! I hope you did something special?
Hahtool – any clip of Tim Conway is funny, but that one was hilarious! Thanks for posting it. I also loved the QOD, so:
Have a miraculous Tuesday, all!
Good morning all. Nice informative lead-in, Argyle
Happy belated Birthday to Chickie.
Almost nailed it but got WICCA and OSCARS wrong and unfortunately, they crossed. The theme fill was fun, especially TAXI TAX and TEMPE TEMP. Also liked the "Q" crossing of COMPAQ and AQUAMAN. Most of the other unknowns like TRAC II and MONKEE were easily gotten from the perps. BULLY BULLY.
Have a great day.
Good morning Argyle, CC, et al., What a fun puzzle! Perps took care of any stumper plus I caught the theme for once and that helped too. A great Tuesday puzzle. Excellent write up too, Argyle. Had to LOL w/your 3 fine HO's illustration. Loved it! Santa baby, can I have one of those under my Christmas tree this year? I've been really really good.
Happy Belated Birthday, Chickie.
Another quiet day at The Blog. Argyle, thank you for your comments and your linkups. Enjoyed them all. I hope your Compaq is serving its purpose well, I am thinking of getting one myself.
I couldn't parse TRAC II, and for some reason, I thought the skating manuv. was Camel toes rather than Camel spin. No matter.
Another QOD from Albert Einstein:
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe.
Have a happy week, all.
Having grown up with a Beatlemaniac in the house (my sister went to the Beatles concert in Cleveland and stormed the stage!), I made the Fab Four clue waaaaaaay harder than it had to be. I got stumped (like others) by the odd spelling of HAWG, so I sneaked in 18D ERRS, got the "R" at the end of Fab Four Member, and immediately thought of the elusive Fifth Beatle, PETER Best. How I made that huge leap can only be explained by one thing: out of coffee. Sigh.
And it's only the TUESDAY puzzle. Guess who's going to the grocery store today?
Hi gang -
Fun puzzle - I love the inherent verbal playfulness of these word pairings. In fact, I keep a stack of examples on my window ledge. It's my silly sill.
A call out to my home State is a bonus, of course - but it always gives me an Erie feeling.
Alba
I've played lots and lots of Sousa. He was actually a pretty sophisticated composer. Here is an unusual performance of a great example.
Cheers!
JzB
Good morning, all. Thanks for the eye candy links, Argyle. When I saw Kim and Jessica in the puzzle, I knew you would find appropriate links for them.
I had to laugh at your "hummm" in front of the open refrigerator. It was "Ahhh" when my first wife would stand in front of the open refrigerator in the midst of a hot flash.
No problem areas. Just about right for a Tuesday.
Good Morning Al, Thanks to Alex Boisvert for the puzzle and to Argyle for the comments and links.
Nice to see a CAMEL spin, much easier than one of those triple Axels.
I thought the theme phrases were pretty clever and nice that the idea was easy to catch onto. My daughter was "in love" with Davy Jones during the MONKEE years. OH NO!! I just realized that I remember all of the Monkee's theme song....past the clip and all the way to the end.
GAH and I are off to town for appointments, lunch and "The Help". I'll add my opinion when we get back.
Argyle, thanks for Wordsworth's "Daffodil" poem. It is lovely. I'll post another favorite.
Emmeline, another good name.
TO A BUTTERFLY
STAY near me--do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My father's family.
Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey:--with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her, feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.
- William Wordsworth
Hi gang, I thought that my wife and I had finished the puzzle today until I came here and found we had misspelled 'Hawg' as 'Hogg'. Oops.
Here's details on the Compaq HP merger back in 2002.
One of my friends used to work for Compaq and now works for HP. Since we only buy Dell PC's I was unaware that HP had kept the Presario brand active for its marketability until now...
Hi gang, What a puzzle, easier for me in many ways than yesterday but I stubbed my toe big time in the SE corner. I saw 61A Davy Jones and thought of 'LOCKER'. The Monkees never entered my mind until the perps insisted on it :)
47D CAR TRIM/CHROME was fun - you don't see that much anymore. I used to shine my Dad's '54 Chev bumpers with SOS pads, also used them on the white walls.
1A Have to join the crowd that wanted HOG. Perps again came to my rescue.
A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a little late) to you Chickie....hope you had a wonderful day.
Last but certainly not least, re: 1D - Argyle, that is one hell of a 'snack cake'...LOL! Whew!!! I'll be Lois would love to see him hanging around her fireplace on Christmas morning ;)
Hello.
The clan goes to a Hawg's restaurant in Campbell all the
time for seafood. Chowder is out-
standing.
Ham hocks with green beans and potato dumplings. Yum!
Thanks JD. Had to laugh when I saw
this this morning:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
Sorry HG. An insider.
take care all. eddy
Morning all, Argyle
I've never heard of Camel spin , so here I am sitting on the patio drinking my coffee and imagining a camel spinning on one leg until I got dizzy.
Hmmm is what I said when I saw the links for Kim & Jessica.
HoHo, UhOh,TseTse,Toto, TomTom ... Fun fun stuff
For those of you that enjoy classical guitar music, look on YouTube for the " other " John Williams's take on Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez 2nd movement, it's a beautiful song, I would've linked it but I don't know how.
Have a great Tuesday.
Z. For you:
John Williams .
Beautiful
Good morning all,
So just who is Al Soran??? Thanks Argyle for clearing that one up..also ran-lol.
Fun puzzle, and I got the theme early on- a big accomplishment!
Don't get me started on tenure!I know there are 2 sides to it, but it does more harm than good,IMHO.
Loved both the Wordsworth poems. Lovely how they phrased the English language back then.
Grumpy, the visual of your wife standing there made me laugh. I've been there!
Saw lots of chrome at Hot August Nights.
Hey Lois, good to see you!
HBDTY Chickie,and many more.
The lovely Emmanuelle Boisvert (any resemblance to Catherine Deneuve is purely coincidental) was the principle violinist of the Detroit Symphony through last season's labor dispute. In the aftermath, we lost some key musicians, and she was one of them.
Our loss is Dallas's gain.
Alas,
JzB
Hello, Argyle and all.
First, Argyle, I'm not sure why you said the university was originally in TEMPE, because it is still there. The town grew up around ASU.
And thank you for the great blogging and links, hubba, hubba! Good music, too.
Loved the theme!
HAWG threw me, too, because the first puzzle I did today had the same clue but HOG so I sashayed on to the NE and then it almost filled itself.
With a TAPERED penicl is exactly how I like to start solving puzzles.
i tripped on TRACII because I started with QUATTRO then saw it wouldn't work.
Though John Williams quintet, OSCARS, was very clever.
And, of course, TEMPETEMP was my fav today.
Belated birthday wishes, Chickie! I'm so sorry we missed it. Was it the same day as your husband's?
Have a super Tuesday, everyone!
I meant Tempe was the original campus; now there are several others in addition to Tempe.
I enjoyed the puzzle and the writeup. If I'm not careful, I can begin to take the high quality of the stuff around here for granted. Thanks everybody.
JzB, thanks for the Thunderer link. I love Sousa marches. I love Tim Conway too.
Zcarguy, I am playing the 'other' John Williams on a CD in my car right now. Lyrical Spanish guitar music is the best. Thank you, Andres Segovia.
Good afternoon everyone.
A belated most happy birthday, Chickie. Hope for many more.
(We miss Dennis; he kept us up to speed.)
JD: I am repeating myself, but I truly believe that tenure is necessary. I've taught in several places where politics meant whether or not one kept one's job. In one, it was due to the superintendent's dislike of the gown part of town and gown. Or one's ethnicity. When I asked why I was fired the 2nd time, he said if I were a member of a minority it wouldn't happen. (I took it to ACLU, put that on the grapevine and was hired back quickly.) Plus, any tenured teacher or professor can be fired if the administrator spends time in the classroom to document the reason for firing. Most never show up in a classroom. End of rant.
I beg to differ with 1a.
Harleys are called HOGS. Never hawgs.
Harley-Davidson's stock ticker has been changed to HOG.
The official club for HD owners is named H.O.G.(Harley Owner's Group).
Lemon's link it to an unrelated motorcycle shop that would probably be sued if it was spelled correctly.
Sorry, this is one that LAT, Rich and Alex got wrong.
Hi Everyone ~~
This was a fun puzzle. Argyle, I really liked your take on the theme ... great title and photo of the modified racers!
I smiled at having CATS and MONKEEMONK in the same puzzle. One of my cats is named Monk, (today's avatar) and I sometimes call her 'Monkey Monk.' >^..^<
I usually start in the NW corner and as others have mentioned, HAWG slowed me down. Everything else fell into place pretty quickly. I actually knew all the names today. JD ~~funny about Al Soran!
Zcarguy, Lemonade and Bill G. ~~ I love listening to John Williams and others on classical guitar. My father played and it brings back so many wonderful memories.
Chickie ~~ I hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Back from 18 holes and I took some long pants along for a cloudy, windy day! Beautiful!
Musings-
-HAWG not HOGG, STARR not RINGO, WICCA not WICAN.
-I thought GOKARTS had motors as opposed to coasters.
-I love Monkee’s music and got ‘em on my iPod along with Pavarotti!
-Bullies are the bane of schools. They seem to be a big reason people don’t come back for reunions
-I love HAWGS but wife says no!
-Another bane (and boon) of some schools is tenure. I have seen bad and mediocre teaching perpetuated by administrators who don’t do the work to get rid of bad ones but then, I probably lasted because, as my administrator told me, “I hate the way you teach Gary, but dammit, kids learn science in here!”
-Bad LAPD policing and expensive lawyering freed OJ.
-One of my weight lifting buddies up at the Y is a lovely Peruvian Incan named Ralph!
-Abejo, I hope you get some sleep soon!
-Nice picture Eddy! Sorry?
Bill G
Hope you don't get a ticket for blogging and driving...!
Here's another guitar piece you might like , tho it is not a classical, I still like it. Barcelona Nights by Ottmar Liebert
hope you like it too.
Lemon., can't load up your clip
Hi
They also got 4D wrong unless they use go-karts to pull the derby cars back up the hill in Akron.
EddyB, you and HuskerGary are correct. Soapbox derby cars and go-karts are two entirely different vehicles.
JD, good to see you too, as always. I agree that tenure is harmful - even evil but a necessary one b/c of unfair or unethical adminstration. Sallie, you hit the nail on the head w/your example.
Carol: LMAO! You are so right! You know me too well. I can just see one of those 'Ho Ho Ho's hanging around my fireplace next Cmas morn. Since my fireplace is oversized, we better make sure he's well hung for all of our sakes and enjoyment. Of course, that is only if Santa Baby's
'Good' List includes us. Time will tell...and so will a lot of testamonials I have, Santa darlin', if you want them.
Argyle, you are correct. There are several ASU satellite campuses around the state.
I agree about go-karts but Wikipedia doesn't.
Harley HAWG? HOG?
One of my sons has the smallest of the Harley-Davidson machines. He calls it a PIGLET.
I love the pix of Jessica Alba. Try changing the "5" (near the end of the URL) to other digits
Argyle,
I think it was Erma Bombeck who once observed that we, in standing in front of the fridge looking for a little something to snack on - and finding nothing - constantly go back to look again and again.
Why, she wondered. Is it because we actually think something will magically appear that wasn't there three "HUMS" earlier?
No, she realized. We are just lowering our standards, bit by bit, until perhaps that pickle jar buried way in the back, or that week-old leftover, really does look appetizing.
Hum...
My daughter works at the local Harley dealership. This has been a huge week because a thing called the Hoka Hey is going on. Hundreds of riders are participating in a race from Arizona to Nova Scotia going through all the lower 48 states. Each dealership along the route has to be open 24 hours a day so riders can check in and log their stop and also in case they need anything. Saturday my daughter and some of the other employees dressed in Harley pajamas and had a party in the parking lot with a campfire and food for the riders that came through.
Check it out--it's Hoka Hey Challenge 2011--I don't know how to do it for you. There's a map where you can see where the riders are. We've kind of been watching #165 because it's a woman.
Hi all,
This puzzle was much more enjoyable and do-able than yesterdays.
I had the same problem with Hog,but it didn't work so finally came upon Hawg. Loved Sousa, Ohio, tomtom, also enjoyed the double LLs, lull, bull, dull.
Hahtool, that Tim Conway segment was really funny. Carol Burnetts shows were so great.
I didn't know camel either. I've seen it but didn't know its name. The axel is a more familiar name.
My husband had cataract surgery this AM. It's so amazing- we got to the hospital at 7:45 AM and were going out the door by 10:00AM. It's sure different than it was years ago where they had to lays flat for a week.
Have a good evening all.
Marge
Hey gang - I haven't read the blog for today yet, so this may be redundant, but I wanted to give you all a heads-up:
There's a new series starting tomorrow night on BBC America called The Hour, centered around a new hour-long news show in 1956 England. Evidently it was a very popular show back then in real life. As with the too-soon-canceled Rubicon, a crossword puzzle plays a key part in the show. Might be worth a look-in; BBC America's produced some great series including one of my all-time favorites, MI-5 (called Spooks over there).
Sallie,Gary and Lois, I do agree with the need for stronger/fairer administrators. They certainly need to be more aware of what is going on.Bad teachers just get moved from school to school because the principals won't take the time to document for a year.Still, I don't think that a new teacher should get tenure after teaching less than 2 years.Is that just in CA?
Bill, tell me you were not driving!
Hi all!
Had the mother of all sleepless nights.
Enjoyed puzzle. Thanks Alex, Argyle.
Loved the theme. Got started on the wrong foot on HAWG. Eventually it was all ironed out! Almost a speed run. Very clever puzzle with TOTO, TOMTOM and others.
If I did not wish you a happy birthday on Sat., Chickie, I do so belatedly now!
Cannot imagine what my life would have been without tenure. Beaurocracy at CSUN evil going into my later years. I put an enormous effort into teaching and research but was robbed of bonus salary increases, as it was.
Cheers!
Whoops, that is bureaucracy! Forgot to change it. No working brain to speak of.
Ah, I see I didn't communicate well at all. I didn't mean 'right now.' I meant something like that I'm listening to John Williams on a CD in my car these days whenever I go for a drive, not right while I was typing. I do all my typing sitting at my desk at home.
Tenure is needed because of all the stuff that has already been said. Still, I would be in favor of modifying the laws to make it a little easier to fairly document the failings of a bad teacher. That's the problem though; what's fair to one person might seem unfair to another. I think I could sit in a teacher's classroom several times and get a pretty good idea of whether they were excellent, just OK or incompetent. I don't know how to turn my opinion into a fair law though.
It takes 3 years to get tenure here in Nebraska and the woman who took my place is universally disliked by parents, kids and colleagues. She is rude and sarcastic, particularly to special needs kids (sped para will NOT go back in her room this year), but my former administrator did not get the paper work together soon enough and she is back for one more year with the absolute proviso that she must improve in certain delineated areas.
Bonuses are foreign to public school teachers FP as excellence is NOT rewarded and mediocrity is NOT penalized. We all receive the same money according to a schedule with Education across the columns and experience down the rows.
As I said earlier my first administrator was 40 years older than I and very old school. My kids did not sit in straight rows and often engaged in hands on activities that made the room noisier than he liked although there was no hint of discipline problems or non-engaged kids. After 3 years, he had no recourse! He even scored me a few points higher than a 30 year veteran but told me, “I had to take some points away from you because you haven’t been here that long!” Oh well, I never got a nickel for being better or lost a nickel for being worse!
Hello aeverybody,
I didn't like this puzzle. I thought the theme was pretty limp and was not at all impressed with the theme answers. Sorry, Alex. Argyle, your explanatory coomments were as usual, very helpful; thanks. I made it through but not without mistakes. Maybe I wasn't in the mood or something.
No more to say. Cheers,though.
Hi all! And Happy Birthday to Chickie!
I missed a few days, as normal over the weekend, when both my Friday and Saturday were DNFs. Yesterday we were on our way to Milwaukee to see our first ever Brewers Game. Fun, but I'm not a baseball fan yet.
We had a great time reuniting with a former student/friend of both my sons, his wife and tiny little girl, just a year old and beginning to walk. Such a cutie, makes me even more jealous of her grandparents.
However it meant that although I'd finished the CW before leaving, I wasn't where I could blog. And today we were coming home again and farewelling our son who is leaving again for AR tomorrow after a night with friends in Madison.
I did OK on both Monday and Tuesday's CW, but actually found yesterday a tad harder than today.
Susan:
Very cool. Thanks.
All the best people get around on two wheels.
Lemomade:
I love Boardwalk Empire. I knew it got picked up for a 2nd season but didn't know when. I remember having to wait almost 10 months for a new Soprano season, so I was surprised to hear that, not only they were filming already, but that the new season started soon. Looking forward......... I wonder if Scorsese is directing the first episode again like in season 1. I'll go look on IMDB to see.
dave
What the Hoka Hey?
Oh, this Hoka Hey!
Now hang on a second there Windhover. There are those who used to ride but no longer can due to circumstances beyond their control. Does that mean that they're no longer "best"?
(and for anyone keeping track, yes. that statement did use all 3 homophones for "there" in the proper context. Neat Huh?)
A mixed day for me. We took our daughter and grandson out for a nice birthday lunch at one of the good restaurants in the area. Very pleasant.
Then we come home to a puddle on the kitchen floor. The ice maker either jammed or is seriously broken. I couldn't shut off the water to the ice maker because the little copper shut-off valve hasn't been used in 20 years and seems to be broken. So a plumber is coming by in a minute to fix that (so the ice maker doesn't continue to leak. We decided that our old refrigerator has outlived its useful service so we are in the process of getting a new one sometime in the next few days. Oh well, it's just hassle and money. Soon we'll have a new, quieter, more energy efficient refrigerator. The hassle will soon be forgotten.
Kazie, your Brewers beat up on my Dodgers. That's pretty easy to do these days. Be nicer tonight please!
Sorry Joe,
That was the Kentucky Ale (Google) talking. What I meant to say was - You meet some of the nicest people in bars and on two wheels.
And Joe, you didn't use all three. You left out 'they're'.
Btw, thank you Argyle for the picture of the dirt modified race cars. I enjoyed it.
Take another look WindH.
Damn!
Wrong again!
Mea culpa!
But I'm still blaming it on the Ale.
It was a very cool (Fahrenheit) ride home on the K100.
(and from where I sat, cool in the other sense, too).
'night all.
No comment on "The Help". There was a line around the theater for the earliest matinee, so we opted out for now. Maybe next week.
The bigger downside was we had to wander around Modesto for a couple of hours, so we wouldn't be home too soon and interrupt our realtor with our little fishies. My mistake was that I didn't look at the start time at other theaters, but they were probably "two front rows only" too.
The upside was our realtor called and said the house viewers raved about the house, loved the view and had only good things to say. They have "to go home and think about it". We'll see what happens.
fermatprime, I don't understand your avatar, but it does look lovely (and complicated) :o).
Sleep well Windhover and everyone else too.
Just a quick "pop-in" to wish Chickie a belated birthday. Time doesn't permit right now for me to take a lunch (that's when I usually attempt the puzzle), and when I get home it's "harvest" time. I have been canning tomatoes and freezing batches of basil pesto. Kazie, how is your herb garden going? I have cut back my chives twice so far. Any ideas how to perserve them other than drying them out?
I did read your write up Santa, and I want one of those "snack cakes" under my tree as well. Your other link will also do. I am not that picky.
I hope that everyone is doing fine, and I will re-engage when I am able to.
Lo-li-ta.
Just home from a cruise-in.
Verified with 100% of the experts that HAWG is an absolute joke!
I, personally, would like a retraction.
We split up several things at lunch today. Bonnie wanted Caprese. I'd never had it before. It was basil, tomato and buffalo cheese with a little pepper and seasoning. Really good.
Hawg suggests that I can't spell.
Hawg is borderline racist.
Hawg is ridiculous.
my dawg has a hawg
exactly
avg joe owns windhover why?
Jeannie,
What I always do with the chives is cut them into tiny pieces and freeze them in a plastic container. We have two plants and I can't keep up with mine either. They need cutting back regularly, so they don't all go to seed. And when they do, I pull all those seed stalks out and discard them because they are too tough.
We also have sage, mint and parsley that come back on their own each year. I have basil started from seed, and it's providing enough leaves at the moment for regular dishes of capresi (tomato slices topped with fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and balsamic vinaigrette). I've also made one batch of pesto. We had oregano and thyme last year but they didn't do too well and I didn't plant any this year.
Bill,
I'm sorry the Dodgers got "beat up" as you said, but I still have no idea how the scoring works. I can see when something exciting happens which team gets the points, but how they are tallied remains a mystery.
this is for the lovely Fermatprime, please check out the google doodle, you will see why i thought of you
Bill,
Funny, your mention of caprese--I hesitated over whether to end it with 'e' or 'i' in my post to Jeannie. I was first introduced to it in Germany, where everyone loves it, even though it has an Italian name. I think the vinaigrette is what makes it tasty. Mixed with a hand-held immersible blender it gets thick enough to cling to each piece better.
Hola Everyone, First, Thank you for all the birthday wishes. My birthday was Sat. and I did have a wonderful day. Dinner out and a nice gab fest with my sister.
The puzzle was easy today, though I started off spelling Hawg/Hogg. It had four letters and I knew that Hog was correct! The G was changed to W when Wicca was put in.
I caught on to the theme with Hockey Hock, so the long fills came easily. Fun.
I thought the clue for Label was clever, A place for care instructions.
Dennis, Thanks for the tip on "The Hour". I'll look up the times. We loved Rubicon, and were disappointed that there weren't more episodes.
LAPD in the puzzle today reminded me of "The Closer" that comes on TNT Monday nights. Chief Brenda Johnson is with the LAPD. We have enjoyed coming up to speed with reruns on the weekends.
Good night everyone.
Rubicon left me hanging. It almost makes me hesitant.
4D: I believe the clue is wrong. The soap box derby racers are strictly powered by gravity. No engines or motors are in the cars. Great puzzle.
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