Theme: BE MINE
aw. this would be a good valentine's day puzzle. each theme answer ends with a synonym for either kiss (x) or hug (o).
18A. Method of looking for keys? : HUNT AND PECK
28A. Finishing by the deadline, sometimes : TIGHT SQUEEZE
48A. Bad-mouthing someone : TALKING SMACK
64A. Call waiting diversion : MUSIC ON HOLD
the unifier:
63. Love letter closing, and in sequence, a hint to the ends of 18-, 28-, 48- and 64-Across : XOXO
and a few bonus entries:
24A. Love god : EROS
67A. Big name in kitchen gadgets : OXO
54D. X-rated : ADULT
55D. Hale : LUSTY
melissa here.
gonna make it a quick one, got a late start.
Across
1. "Les __" : MIZ. short for les miserables.
4. As a friend, in French : EN AMI
9. Actor Romero : CESAR
14. N.L. West team, on scoreboards : ARI. arizona diamondbacks.
15. Noble gas : XENON
16. Latin stars : ASTRA
17. MLK birthday month : JAN. holiday for most in the u.s.
20. Relay race closer : ANCHOR. several sports include relay races, including track and swimming. the anchor is usually the fastest competitor on the team.
22. Peace Prize winner Wiesel : ELIE
23. Wide shoe size : EEE
26. Working parts : INNARDS. evokes an image, but i'll leave it to your imagination. you're welcome.
32. Computer pioneer Lovelace : ADA. who knew?
33. Young newt : EFT
34. Many Semites : ARABS
38. Reveal : TELL
40. Knight's ride : STEED
43. Harald V's capital : OSLO. king of norway. made a touching speech after the recent attacks in norway. "I cling to the belief that freedom is stronger than fear. I cling to the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I cling to the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country."
44. Capital on the Willamette : SALEM. willamette river, oregon. according to the usgs, 100% of u.s. rivers and streams are contaminated with carcinogens.
46. Future fish : ROE
47. World games org. : IOC. international olympic committee.
53. Food packaging unit : CALORIE. technically, it is a unit of heat required to raise one gram of water, one degree celsius. amazing the things that stick in your head from school.
56. German river : SAAR. looks so still and peaceful.
57. Soccer star Freddy : ADU. born in ghana, at 14 years of age, became one of the youngest athletes to sign a professional contract in the u.s., just signed with philadelphia union.
58. In __: moody : A PET. not sure i've ever actually heard this phrase used.
60. Like Chris and Pat, genderwise : UNISEX. it's pat.
68. Violet lead-in : ULTRA. ultra-violet.
69. Steve of country : EARLE
70. Nth degree : MAX
71. Eyelid annoyances : STYES
72. In small pieces, as potatoes : RICED
73. Punk rock offshoot : EMO
Down
1. Whom Goya painted both nude and clothed : MAJA. should be a gimme by now.
2. OPEC co-founder : IRAN. organization of the petroleum exporting countries.
3. Penultimate element, alphabetically : ZINC. the last would be zirconium (zr).
4. Encourage : EXHORT
5. Couch disorders : NEUROSES. psychiatrist's couch.
6. Raggedy gal : ANN. raggedy ann. i can't stand the word 'gal.'
7. Speck of dust : MOTE. "... every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam." carl sagan's pale blue dot.
8. How perjurers may be caught : IN A LIE. how else would they be caught?
9. Concerto highlight : CADENZA
10. Sixth sense, briefly : ESP. extra-sensory perception.
11. Brisket source : STEER. beef.
12. Curved : ARCED
13. Works in the garden : RAKES.
19. Lofted iron : NINE. golf.
21. Villainous laugh syllable : HEH
25. Acre's 43,560: Abbr. : SQ. FT.
27. Prefix with space : AERO
28. Fashion statements in the 'hood : TATS. Tattoos. not so much just in the 'hood anymore.
29. "Eureka!" elicitor : IDEA
30. Sass : GALL. okay then.
31. Early development sites? : UTERI. didn't we just have this?
35. 2-Down's location : ASIA
36. Political group : BLOC
37. __ puppet : SOCK
39. Actor Jared : LETO. guess i should know him, but i don't.
41. Ages and ages : EONS
42. He succeeded Coty as French president : DE GAULLE
45. Latin percussion pair : MARACAS
49. Plastic surgeon's job, for short : LIPO. no thank you.
50. Sharper, as eyes : KEENER
51. Smoothed in a shop : SANDED
52. Hosp. picture : MRI
53. "The Stranger" author : CAMUS. novel by albert camus, published in 1942.
59. Pad __: Asian noodle dish : THAI. popular cuisine in california.
61. A portion (of) : SOME
62. Checkup : EXAM
65. Wrath : IRE
66. Hobbit enemy : ORC
melissa
Hello Puzzlers - Another technical DNF for me. Too many blanks on the upper west coast - everything north of Salem, Oregon to be exact.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a nice write-up, MB!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeletePretty straightforward today, except that I got hung up (again) on the large number of obscure proper nouns. ADA, SAAR, ADU, EARLE, OXO, LETO, ENOUGH!!!
Also, since when is GALL synonymous with sass? I'm just asking...
Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. I loved this little Valentine from Gareth! The clues and "extras" were fun.
ReplyDeleteAny puzzle with INNARDS has got to be a fun puzzle. I just love that word, and as Melissa noted, its imagery.
I had a Raggedy Andy; my sister had a Raggedy ANN. I carried mine around until it really became very raggedy.
I liked seeing STEED and STEER in the same puzzle.
I think we saw UTERI recently.
When I work in my garden, I Weed; I don't RAKE in my garden. My yard, yesl Garden, no.
My favorite clue was Food Packing Unit = CALORIE.
QOD: Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else. ~ Will Rogers
Hey mb, good to see you. For me this was the easiest Gareth Bain I have solved, and while I did not know some of the proper names (Ada Lovelace, who knew? very interesting woman) it all filled quickly. There are no more speed runs for me, but agree the theme was clever and the bonus clues fun.
ReplyDeleteHslfway, enjoy the rest
Hahtool I had a Raggedy Andy but I gave him to this girl in my class who asked if I would let her have him. My parents told me that her family couldn't afford to buy nice things for her. She passed away two years after that from Cystic Fibrosis. Her mother gave me a compliment saying it was nice that I gave her that toy. She told me how happy it made her daughter.
ReplyDeleteFun Facts by Dave Letterman
A Rod earns close to $ 40,000 per at- bat, which he receives in cash while in the on deck circle.
Contrary to the popular slogan, 68 % of what happens in Vegas leads to divorce and bankruptcy.
Melissa: Your write-up was way more FUN (for me) than this offering.
ReplyDeleteThis Gareth Bain was not an enjoyable solve (even though I got it all correctly).
My 'perps' need a day off.
Barry G., I agree with your list of obscure proper names and comment about sass = GALL cluing.
Then add "In A-PET" (gets a moody WTF? and a 'meh') and I would NOT say this was "pretty straightforward."
UTERI, the "new" summer ASP that we haven't seen since ... yesterday, earned another 'meh'.
Hmmmm, thanks to crosswords, I now know some Simpson-speak.
ARI was my one fave. I'm partial to my real initials (and how they're clued).
Plus they lead me to my Exodus ...
CALORIE is the only word I know of which (in English) has a different meaning when capitalized than when not. I'm sure there are more, but my brain hasn't fully waked up yet.
ReplyDeleteI thought this puzzle was cute. I enjoy needing perps. It adds to the challenge.
ReplyDeleteI have often heard "in a pet."
At32A, I wagged IDA. Then when I tried 28D I had an I instead of an A in TATS which couldn't be.
SASS is verbal GALL, impudent boldness or audacity
As a huge fan of Lewis and Clark, thinking of the Willamette River always brings up their exciting adventures which I read about in their original journals and in well researched historical novels.
I also am very interested in the Oregon Trail and someday would love to follow what is left of it.
Red State: that is such a sweet thing that you did for that little girl.
ReplyDeleteMike: I wasn't aware that Calorie and calorie had different meanings! I know of two other words, however, that change both their meanings and their pronunciation when capitalized:
ReplyDeletePolish/polish
Nice/nice.
DNF today. I didn't get/know ARI, JAN (thought FEB), ANCHor, TIGHT, ADA, TELL, TATS, IDEA, GALL, LETO, SALEM. I didn't know where the Willamette was, had OPEN and FROS for TELL and TATS, so that messed up all that area, and I thought the instrument was Caracas, not MARACAS. Thought first of bongos, but not enough letters.
ReplyDeleteThe unifier took a while to sink in too. I was thinking of final letters at first, rather than last words in the phrases. Too early in the day I guess.
Good morning Everyone. Thanks for the comments, MB.
ReplyDeleteGareth had a lot of de gall putting GALL and DEGAULLE in the same grid. (just kidding). Good
Wednesday push. Had trouble in the SW with all the names; finally had to ggl LETO, the only lookup. ZINC seemed right at 3d. OSLO and SAAR were gimmes. I learned OXO here a few months ago. Never heard IN A PET before; a new one.
Have a nice day.
Good Morning! Although not a fast finish for me, the puzzle proved to be a little easier than most of Mr. Bain's .
ReplyDeleteFavorite clue; Talking Smack. My kids used to do a lot of it on the playing fields. Soccer games were full of "smack"!
I love OXO gadgets. They are made well and are great kitchen tools.
Tats are disgusting, in my humble opinion. Art? I don't agree, but everyone has the right to do whatever they'd like to do to their own body and call it art if they so desire.
Please keep all the Irene victims in your thoughts and prayers. The lady really did a job on NC as well as the east coast.
Tata
I completed the puzzle - I guess ( for me - ) that's all that matters. Naturally, I found it VERY ENJOYABLE. Thank you Mr. Gareth Bain - this makes my day. Certainly, one of your easier puzzles.
ReplyDeleteThank you Melissa Bee for a very informative blog.
-maybe its my age, but I thought of Linda Lovelace first. I read about Ada, on the Wiki, very nice article- Thank you MB, for the link.... A 'priviledged' early education can work wonders - tho' she may have been a 'natural' math prodigy, as well.
I had to make some guesses, but I was lucky, that they were right.
Alt QOD:- Clothes make the man. Naked people wield little or no influence on society. ~ Mark Twain.
Hahtool, not to complain, but I think you had the same QOD yesterday.
Have a nice week, you all.
Good Morning Melissa, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteNice write-up for this cute theme, Melissa. I could have SMACKed myself upside the head when I finally figured it out. I was looking for X’s and O’s at the end of the theme entries, not complete words ! D’oh…
I really liked this one, both for the zippy theme entries as well as the interesting fill. My favorite, though, was TALKING SMACK ! Other fun stuff like INNARDS made me smile too. Did not know ADA Lovelace, so that was a learning moment. Great job, Gareth!
Have a happy hump day, everyone.
A little joke, I found funny ...
ReplyDelete"Wow ", said my teenage daughter. She was reading the nutrition label on a bag of cheese curls.
" These must be loaded with cholestrol. The label lists it as Omg !! "
My teenage son took a closer look, " That's zero milligrams, not ' Oh My God.' "
Oxo Good Grips Potato Ricer.
ReplyDeleteHi gang, after some minutes with this 'bad boy' puzzle, I thought it must be Friday or Saturday!!! I couldn't even get the top half done!
ReplyDeleteDid not finish it, waaaaayyy tooo hard for me.
I'm with Kazie on this one - except of course, the Willamette...which is the river that runs right through Portland. It also runs by Salem, which is our capital, so it was a gimmie.
Barry G: I agree that GALL for SASS is a stretch (IMO)
Anony-M: funny!!!!
Melissa: great write up, way more fun than this puzzle. :)
Good Morning All, Phew, I thought the crossing of CALORIES, ADU and CAMUS were going to cause a DNF for me. But I had VIOLET and STYES, so I stuck with it until CAMUS finally wormed its way out of my brain. It got done, but it was a close call.
ReplyDelete32A)ADA was ENA for awhile. I had TEES for 28D. ADA Lovelace was a new one on me. She sounds more like an etiquette expert than a computer pioneer.
In my younger and very poor days, I made Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and sold them from home at Christmas time. Too time consuming, but I sold a lot of them.
I guess the SQUEEZED cooked potato that comes out of a RICer" could be called "small pieces". What comes out of my ricer is a pile of dry-ish potato un-pieces. I mix it with milk and butter and get mashed potatoes.
fun puzzle and a great theme today! i thought "calorie" was a clever answer - not where my mind was headed at first.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I don't care for the word GAL either, but what do you call your close friends when you are way past the girlfriend age stage? Both "lady" and "woman" friend sound way too formal. Anybody have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteTATS...GAH doesn't have any and I only have a couple. I had my eyebrows and eyeliner done about five years ago, but they have faded quite a bit. It was very uncomfortable and I'm not about to do it again.
Morning all, MB
ReplyDeleteAs usual the proper names gave me fits today , but somehow I was able to finish the puzzle unassisted, until I came here and realized I had IDA at 32A , I'm sure you can guess what that gave me at 28D...what can I say,,I'm a " fashion statements " kinda guy...!!
Y'all have a good day.
Greetings Puzzle People. Melissa, good to see you and thank you for a lovely blog. I liked your take on it.
ReplyDeleteI agree, this was one of Gareth Bain's easiest for me. Though by that I don't mean a walk in the park.
It put my INNARDS in a TIGHTSQUEEZE but for the most part was quite doable.
ADA is an interesting person and daughter of Lord Byron no less. I didn't know her name, but TAT revealed it.
Another stumble was LIPO where I had LIFT first and in APET is completely new to me.
THAI-pad is delicious; there is a restaurant very close to me that serves it and this just made me hungry for it.
Two corrections, XENON, I had spelled XENIN and forgot to erase the D on KEENED as I originally had DICED potatoes.
I also liked the crossing of ROE and UTERI since that is their abode.
Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!
CA and Melissa:
ReplyDeleteI also really dislike using the word "gal" but as you say, we are not "girls."
However, I still call my female friends girlfriends.
Thanks MB
ReplyDeleteCalories on food packaging are actually kilocalories (1000 scientific calories). It always sounds better to divide by 1000 when you are eating something. I recall that the Italians liked to divide by 1000 whenever they needed to devalue their currency. They are stuck (for) now of course.
SASS=GALL=impudence=No problemo.
In my Lexicon, GAL is the feminine of GUY. I know of no better, and need to use them a lot.
I liked the natural sequence: TIGHT SQUEEZE, INNARDS, LIPO.....
Also SqFt and EEE - reminds me of WALTZING MATILDA and herring boxes. Kazie can fill in the rest. And I also put in Caracas, before remembering it was the capital of Venezuela.
I would have preferred Mrs. Peel to figure in the clue to 40A.
I actually put in D'Estaing for 42D, before realizing I had missed a decade or too.
Line limit reached, TBC...
NC
.....contd.
ReplyDeleteCould someone explain "HUNT AND PECK" with regard keys, please (just a mental block, I'm sure).
Talking of sex, CAMUS was the straight guy. Now his compatriot, GIDE, would have fit the bill perfectly.
Barry G, we have had OXO a lot recently. It's a food product in the UK&C - makes fine stews and drinks.
Finally, I happen to share my birthday (not year) with MLK.
NC
Hello.
ReplyDeleteI liked the puzzle. Pretty easy solve last night.
We had uteri yesterday. Remember
ARI's comment.
Knew ADA. Read her bio before when
she appeared.
Finished book #9 of the Rozzoli series. Great surprise ending.
eddy
N.C., "hunt and peck" is often used for people who are not proficient typists. "Keys" refers to those little thing-ys on the computer keyboard that you hit to make words. (like these)
ReplyDeleteHi All ~~
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the constructor's name I thought I'd be in for a rough time. Surprisingly, I finished with no look-ups but a few lucky guesses helped ... the 'R' in ORC crossing EARLE was one. Lots of erasures in the GALL-ADA-TATS section before finally straightening it out. I didn't catch the theme until the unifier ... cute!
Somehow I remembered IN A PET ... I'm sure it's from some novel I've read ... though I've never heard anyone use it and doubt that I ever will!
Favorite: 'couch disorders' - NEUROSES.
Thanks for a great write-up, Melissa. Loved 'Pat' on SNL!
Maybe tonight's Red Sox-Yankees game will have a better ending than last night's ...
Enjoy the day ~~
Good morning Melissa and all,
ReplyDeleteHad a fun run with this one today, but had to G Camus to help with the SW corner. I could not make heads or tails out of the theme when finished, so thanks for the write up and info on Ms Lovelace, Melissa.Right, who knew?
"in a pet" must be localized ... never heard of it.Not big on gall= sass either.
Lots of names. Luckily,Steve Earle and Jared Leto had easy perps. Seemed to be lots of xwd words. Kudos for neuroses and innards!
Kazie, I so enjoyed you map last night.
I tried so hard to post a picture I'd taken of a kudu while we were on safari. I do not have that knack yet. At one point I had my whole Shutterfly world in there.
off to yoga
Kazie
ReplyDeleteDreadful sorry. Got my songs mixed up. Herring boxes is from "Clementine" - the Californian mining song.
Time to retreat to my private billabong.
NC
Funny jokes Anony Mous. At Clear Ayes I still call women "girls" today IDK why do that. But I say ladies when I say U of L Lady Cards basketball.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that clarification, HeartRx
ReplyDeleteI was starting to imagine Marsha and Gregory eloping to southern Florida.
NC
Nice Cuppa : re: Hunt and peck. The alternate way to type if one doesn't learn formal typing, touch typing, memorizing the keys and using specific fingers on specific keyboard keys. See typing lesson. and additional lessons, as well. Hunt and peckers typically use just one or both index fingers on all the keys, like the old newspaper reporters in the movies.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
..and thanks again, Spitzboov.
ReplyDeleteNC
I didn't get the theme for a fair few moments; I got hung up on how PECK and SMACK sort of ended with an X sound and couldn't for the life of me figure out how SQUEEZE and HOLD could be made to sound like an O.
ReplyDeleteMy only other major misstep was entering DOVER for [Capital on the Willamette]. Confusing Willamette and Wilmington, that's a mistake anyone could make, right? (And for the record, Dover is on the St. Jones River.
Good Day CC, MB and all,
ReplyDeleteThanks MB , a pleasant (as always) trip through the puzzle, with neat highlights.
Gareth, you know how to make it interesting. Thanks
MSO and Chickie, from yesterday, Thanks for the tomato names.
Zcarguy, Me too. IDA!
It takes GALL to ‘sass’. It takes ‘sass’ to gall . ?? Ok
Lucina@ 11:28, Me too.
Loved the info on ADA Lovelace. Only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron. Poor thing only lived to be 36. What got done in discoveries had to be done fast! I wonder if our discoveries happen at lower ages. I guess I could find that info somewhere. Probably; before we start blocking up our minds with preconceived notions and prejudices.
CC, I love that pic on your citizenship day and the flag. Who sent you that ? I forgot. Neat avatar.
Peace.
My guess is "In A PET" is a shortcut for "in a PETulant mood". Sounds very Brit-speak to me. Are you familiar with it NC?
ReplyDeleteKazie@8:26, I wish it had been CARACAS rather than MARACAS. That reminds me of the most charming coming-of-age movies I've seen, 1981's "Gregory's Girl". One of the final scenes depicts two of Gregory's friends who are trying to hitchhike from near-Glasgow to Caracas. (They've been told the ratio of women to men in Venezuela is greatly in their favor.) When they realize their sign is misspelled "Caracus", they know their time has been wasted, as if that were their only hitchhiking obstacle. 6:00 to 7:43.
C.C, I love the "real you" avatar! What a wonderful day that was for you.
I quibble with the clue for 53. Pounds, ounces, kilos, pints and quarts are packaging units, but Calories are a unit of energy. I doubt that food is packaged by Calorie. And yes, capital "C" calories are 1000 little "c" calories.
ReplyDeleteAda Lovelace had a computer language named after her, ADA. At one point the Federal Government decided that all programs it used should be written in ADA. What a mess that was.
Still no Mainiac, no Dennis? Isn't that unusual? Is anyone else unaccounted for?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite reason not to have a tat comes from this true story: A former girlfriend had a palm tree on a little island tattooed several inches to the right of her navel. You should have seen what it looked like several years later at nine months, then the deflated balloon it resembled after Sam was born.
ReplyDeleteHola Everyone, I had one error. I left out the P in Lipo, as In a
ReplyDelete_et didn't compute today. Lucina, I'm glad to know someone else hadn't heard of In a Pet.
I got some of the other unknowns with perps, like Leto, Ada, and Nine iron. Never having played golf the iron with a loft did not come to mind without help.
We had Uteri just yesterday, I think.
Thanks for the writeup, MB. Loved the pictures.
Red State, Sometimes you never know until later what a Good Deed has done. The girl's mother was also touched by your kindness.
Hot steamy in the hinterlands today. Played last few holes with three gentlemen who were behind three very slow ladies. I’m glad I didn’t say anything because it turns out the women were their wives and all three couples had been married for over 54 years! Wow! They asked about my NASA hat and so now I am presenting to an Omaha Kiwanis club next month.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Barricade scenery got applause too when Le Miz played Omaha! Bring Him Home stopped the show!
-We have been in Florida during MLK birthday for last 10 years. This year it rained 3” on that day.
-It ain’t fun to get the baton as an anchor who is over a lap behind. What’s the point?
-APET made no sense but waddaya gonna do?
-Pat on SNL was hilarious!
-After 44 years of marriage we must have some sort of ESP as we come to the same ideas simultaneously
-My nine iron is good for 120 yards
-I had kids burn peanuts (SMOKEY) under 100 ml of water until there was only carbon left. The temp went up about 20 degrees which meant the nut had about 2,000 calories of heat energy in it. The girls freaked until I told them that this equaled only 2 Calories we measure in food.
The Cincinnati Reds' manager is Dusty Baker. Take away the capitals and he is just a dusty baker.
ReplyDeleteA perfectly fine Wednesday puzzle for me. No red letters but I had to Google Jared Leto.
ReplyDeleteCalories certainly are an energy unit but they appear on all food packages; therefore, a packaging unit.
As others have said, the cluing for LUSTY, RICED and GALL all seemed a bit off to me.
We went to a retired teachers brunch this morning. Many of the retired teachers get together for brunch on the first day of school. It's good to see old friends. I really enjoyed teaching but I wouldn't care to go back to the daily grind again.
~ Bill
I know I've seen "in A PET" before in Crossword land, but it is rather obscure. The only Google reference I saw confirms that it is short for petulant and was more commonly used in the Victorian era. There was also a mention of it being in a NYT crossword in Nov, 2010.
ReplyDeleteGareth Bain quite frequently goes pretty far down the list of word meanings to clue his entries, but then clues others with the obvious. I think that's what makes his puzzles challenging: do you go for the obvious or dig for the obscure? I found enough "hooks" to solve this one without help, but I had to jump around a lot and finally settle on something that looked reasonable in a few cases.
The theme came easily and did help in a few places.
Thanks Bill_G. Now I get it. A unit on the packaging. I was thinking of a unit for sale. Duh!
ReplyDeleteMy Mom had a cone shaped ricer with a wooden pestle which she used to press cooked apples into SMALL PIECES, RICE size,to make applesauce. She sometimes covered the ricer with a cloth bag to collect unwanted sediment when she pressed grapes into grape juice. It could be used for riced potatoes, very similar to mashed.
ReplyDeleteLink Similar to My Mom's ricer
The day wouldn't be complete without an OXO ricer.
ReplyDeleteLink OXO ricer
Sorry to repeat the OXO ricer.
ReplyDeleteClear Ayes, I am sure your take on "In a pet" is right. I read so much that I can't remember what I have heard in daily discourse and what I have read.
Sadly daily discourse has a sparse vocabulary. The word "discourse" itself is not part of it. There are levels of vocabulary:
1. Popular discourse
2. Educated or self taught discourse
3. Respected newspapers and magazines
4. Good novels and non fiction books written by respected authors.
5. Erudite textbooks and other writings.
So much of the vocabulary we all know would seem ostentatious in normal discourse. How sad! Bloggers like you help to expand the common vocabulary. Words that are obscure to us today become part of our vocabulary data base tomorrow.
Hooray for the elevation of vocabulary in this blog!
Barry G @ 8:20, I didn't know about Nice/nice. Add to the list: August/august, Job/job, Lima/lima, Natal/natal and Reading/reading. Fun!
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gareth, for a tough puzzle today. Nice to see your wit, Melissa, B. Still holding that "Midas Touch" for you.
ReplyDeleteThe NW corner was not too bad. The only wag I had was MAJA. But I got it. Fun seeing UTERI again. My Latin is much better than my French.
The rest came pretty easily, except for the Mid-West. I stewed for a couple hours on that. I had BAGERIE instead of Calorie. A real stretch, but related BAGERIE to a place that bagged (packaged) food. I did not know LETO. And did not know CAMUS. Also missed RICED in the South. Had DICED.
Other than that, perfect!
As I said last night, I enjoyed the STILTON cheese. It is a blue cheese and very good. Someone suggested GORGONZOLA cheese, so I guess I will have to try that. You folks are turning me into a connoisseur.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Hi, fellow puzzlers,
ReplyDeleteAn easy Wednesday offering. I was afraid I was going to be stuck on Jared Leto but calorie took care of that thank goodness. Never heard of him. Good looking, tho. What movies has he done? Everything else went well with a little thinking.
After last week I was beginning to think these were getting beyond me, but the three so far this week have been reassuring. Hope it continues for the rest of the week.
nice work, Melissa B. Did I mention I enjoyed your pix? I loved that picture of the Saar, a place I always think of as wasted and forlorn: coal country! I sure was wrong about that. Is the Ruhr as beautiful?
ReplyDeleteGrumpy1:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Gareth Bain's technique of using the lowest tier of meaning for a word. And that leads to Yellowrocks comment on expanding our vocabulary for who of us except constructors like Marti, Jerome, et al, would dig that deeply into the diverse meaning of a word.
As a lover of words I appreciate learning the deeper meaning in that way. It also enriches the reading experience.
Abejo, it was I (perhaps among others) who suggested Gorgonzola. Let me know what you think when you try it. One of the brands I can get here comes in creamier and crumblier versions. I like the crumblier version better.
ReplyDeleteWhile on my bike ride to get a macchiato today, I came upon something chalked on the Strand by a child. It said, "PLAY NICE." Words to live by.
Further to TinoTechie 's comment at 1:28 pm. - on the ADA computer language.
ReplyDelete"The coordination system Linda was named after Linda Lovelace as a play on words because of the programming language Ada, which was named after the computer pioneer Ada Lovelace."
- Wiki, @ Linda Lovelace, Legacy section-paragraphs.
I won't forget her in the future. To make up for not knowing who ADA Lovelace was, here's a lovely and sad poem written by her father. Both he and she were only 36 years old when they died.
ReplyDeleteSo We'll Go No More a Roving
So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
- Lord Byron (George Gordon)
Clear Ayes, I deeply respect you and your appreciation for poetry - but in all fairness, would it be reasonable to mention that Lord Byron, led a totally dissolute and immoral life with numerous affaires', with married women, and men, together with much violence etc.
ReplyDeleteHe never really cared for his daughter, and left his wife after the birth of his daughter, and the daughter, Ada Lovelace, never saw him at all.
All this was gleaned from Wikipedia, this afternoon @ Lord Byron.
I can see the X representing the "ck" sound but I don't see any connection between the O and either "squeeze" or "hold". Will some one set me straight on this, please. I'm ALL IN A PET! about it.
ReplyDeleteI knew "in a pet" probably from reading but may have heard it from my grandparents long, long ago.
I rally wanted 'mariaches' for 'maracas' but no soap.
I read "The Stranger" years ago but I really didn't "get it". I did like "The Plague". i guess I mean "I got it". I can't say it was enjoyable, being full of pretty grim passages.
sass=gall/no prob.
A-Mouse, you're right but if we scrapped all the works of many other writers (Oscar Wilde, for one), artists, musicians, composers, think of the loss!
ReplyDeleteDodo. we used to sign our love letters XOXO meaning kisses and hugs. I even do so to my grandson. Peck, squeeze, smack, and hold are in order kisses and hugs.
ReplyDeleteDuh! Thanks, YR. It's been a long, long time!
ReplyDeleteAnony-mouse, all true and point well taken. I think we've discussed the dissolute Lord Byron before and today's Wikipedia article about his daughter reminded us that he wasn't a particularly kind or unselfish man.
ReplyDeleteBut, I only had 20 lines and in the case of my 6:51 post, the poetry was the thing. This particular poem expresses his fatigue and awareness that he has worn out his body at the age of 29. Whether or not he was sorry is anybody's guess.
As Dodo pointed out, we often give our great artists something of a moral pass. The more talented they are, the nuttier and sometimes depraved they may be. I'm thinking Ezra Pound for one.
Oscar Wilde was probably one of the nicer guys. He just wasn't very sensible in his choice of friends.
Chickie
ReplyDeleteSometimes we don't realize the ways we on which impact anothers life. From what I can remember of her she liked me I think. She did like to play tag alot when she wasn't playing with Raggedy Andy.