Theme: Without Aspirations - The aspired initial H is dropped from each common phrase, resulting in spelling changes in each case. Sound remains the same.
23A. Wink? : GIVE THE EYE SIGN. Give the high sign.
27A. Garden with soothing plants? : ALOED GROUND. Hallowed ground. Aloed is a word?
43A. Components of a last call? : ALE AND FAREWELL. Hail and Farewell. Not familiar with this base phrase.
62A. What you'll see in a cornfield? : EAR THERE AND EVERYWHERE. Here, there and everywhere.
80A. Sniggler's skill? : THE EELING TOUCH. The healing touch.
97A. Meditation training method? : OM SCHOOLING. Home schooling.
106A. How Popeye treats Olive? : ACCORDING TO OYL. According to Hoyle.
Great concept. Very consistent theme entry conversion. More fun than simply drop a H ("Hole in one" to "Ole in one"), as the gimmick becomes apparent quickly in the latter.
I mentioned this before. There is always an unpredictability element in Ed's theme. He always surprises & delights.
Across:
1. Suncatchers : PRISMS. Consonants heavy.
7. Lobster __ diavolo : FRA. Fra Diavolo = "Brother Devil" in Italian. I've never used the sauce before.
10. Zoo employee : VET
13. Sugar bowl location : TEA SET. Not football bowl game.
19. Assertive retort : CAN TOO
20. Run amok : RAMPAGE
22. "Honey, __": Shania Twain hit : I'M HOME. Here is a clip. Guessable answer.
25. Cube automaker : NISSAN
26. In toto : AS A WHOLE
29. Rx's : MEDs. 39D. Scrip writers : MDs
30. Slasher film setting: Abbr. : ELM ST. "A Nightmare on Elm Street".
33. Sturgeon yield : ROE
34. It.'s there : EUR. "It."= Italy.
35. Dutch city near Arnhem : EDE. 3-letter Dutch city is always EDE. No idea on what it's famous for.
36. Put a second layer on : RE-COAT
38. Ugandan despot : AMIN
40. "The Wrestler" actress : TOMEI (Marisa)
42. Place to dream : BED. What's your recurring dream? Mine often are about exams.
46. Almost boiling, as milk : SCALDED
49. Got up : AROSE
50. Rocker Rose : AXL
51. Showy bloomers : DAHLIAS. Named after Swedish botanist Anders Dahl. Lovely color.
52. Charitable offering : ALMS
53. Tantrum : FIT. OK, throw a fit/tantrum.
54. Decorates with Charmin, briefly : TPs
57. Inventor Howe : ELIAS. Sewing machine.
58. Papal court : CURIA. New word to me.
60. Good, in Grenoble : BON. "Bon appétit!".
61. Stimulate : WHET
67. California's __ Valley : NAPA
68. Child's plaything : TOY
69. More than annoyed : IRATE
70. Greek fabulist : AESOP
71. Pulitzer poet Lowell : AMY. Clear Ayes linked quite a few of her poems in the past.
72. Raucous bird call : CAW
73. Kilted kinfolk : CLAN. Scottish English is gibberish to me.
74. Conceals : SCREENS. Unaware of this "screen" meaning.
76. Eagles, on scoreboards : PHI
77. Milky white gems : OPALS
79. Sonnet parts : STANZAS
85. "Defence of Fort McHenry" poet : KEY. The poem later became the lyrics of our national anthem.
86. Pricey timepiece : ROLEX
87. Tweed nemesis : NAST (Thomas)
88. Teed off : ROILED
90. Corp. big shots : VPs
93. 401(k) relative : IRA
94. Slo-mo replay subjects : TDs
95. Like 20 Questions questions : YES NO
96. Shekels : GELT. Money.
102. Confused state : DISARRAY
105. Mollycoddle : DOTE ON. I like the word "mollycoddle".
109. Maroon : ENISLE. This is real word.
110. Soon to be at : NEARING
111. Local academic community resenter, perhaps : TOWNIE
112. Part of a circle : SECTOR
113. Musical syllable : TRA
114. Blast : GAS
115. Paintball sounds : SPLATS
Down:
1. SimCity, for one : PC GAME. Never played it. How about you, Desper-otto & Grumpy?
2. Cultivated : RAISED
3. Overrun : INVADE
4. Cioppino and gumbo : STEWS. Cioppino is fish stew. Never had it. I never had/watched many things mentioned in crossword.
5. Light lover : MOTH
6. Arty NYC locale : SOHO
7. Grub : FREELOAD
8. Florida baseballer : RAY. Tampa Bay Rays.
9. Soul, to Zola : AME. Learned from doing Xword.
10. Colorado resort : VAIL. Ski resort for Marti.
11. French Toaster Sticks maker : EGGO
12. Largest of the Canaries : TENERIFE. Looks like a beautiful place to bring a date, Splynter.
13. Hint : TINGE
14. Muslim dignitary : EMIR
15. "Is that a fact" : AH SO
16. "Tough noogies!" : SO SUE ME
17. Chicago mayor Rahm __ : EMANUEL. This guy is tough.
18. Coiled plant support : TENDRIL. See here.
21. Exam for jrs. : PSAT
24. Light source: Abbr. : ELEC
28. Lady of La Mancha : DONA
31. __ de mer : MAL
32. Enter surreptitiously : STEAL IN
36. Mealtime pleasure : RELISH. Ah, Steve, food again! I baked medjoor dates filled with coconut flakes & almonds the other day. Delicious.
37. Historic Icelandic work : EDDA
38. Years in Cuba : ANOs
40. Phone message : TEXT
41. Nocturnal predator : OWL. Argyle is our owl, always keeping an alert eye on the blog.
42. Golf ball material : BALATA. Some kind of rubber.
44. Bony-plated forager : ARMADILLO. Great answer.
45. Forecast word : RAINY
46. Low bow : SALAAM. As a kid, I really hated visiting older relatives during Spring Festival. Had to kneel down, touched my head in the ground and kowtowed to them.
47. Happy as a lark? : CHIRPY. Happy clue.
48. Mortgage provision : ESCROW
51. Cortese of "Jersey Shore" : DEENA. The girl on right. I can't really tell her from the annoying Snooki.
52. Coach Parseghian : ARA
53. What trees may keep you from seeing? : FOREST
54. Hemingway title setting : THE SEA
55. Argentine icons : PERONS
56. Way up or down : STEPS
59. Slangy road reversal : UEY
60. It's placed : BET. True.
61. Asthmatic : WHEEZY
63. Online commerce : E-TAIL. So many temptations.
64. Solver's smudge : ERASURE. Pen & Wite-Out for me.
65. Little League game arrival : VAN
66. Gave a heads-up : WARNED
72. Square cereal : CHEX
73. Suffragist Carrie : CATT. League of Women Voters founder.
75. Slice at a party : CAKE. So, if you have to prepare a Christmas meal consisting of dishes starting with letter U only, what food would you consider?
76. Start to pour? : PEE. First letter in pour.
77. Diagonally : ON A SLANT
78. R relatives : PGS. Oh, Rated R, Rated PG.
79. Big blasts : SHINDIGS
80. Old TV tubes : TRIODES
81. Glandular secretion : HORMONE. It's called estrogen for girls, right?
82. Adaptable : ELASTIC
83. China starter : INDO. Indo-China. Or CEE.
84. Funny Bill, familiarly : COS. Bill Cosby.
89. Butcher's cut : LOIN
90. Gentlemen's home? : VERONA. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona".
91. Ilsa's request to Sam : PLAY IT. "Play it, Sam". My favorite line is "We'll always have Paris". Sometimes I wonder what my life would be had I moved to Brussels in 2001 rather than the US.
92. Dos : STYLES
94. Xerography material : TONER. How's the new printer, eddyB?
95. "Son of Frankenstein" role : YGOR
96. Rumble in the jungle? : GROWL. I could hear it.
98. "__ la vie!" : C'EST
99. Entire: Pref. : HOLO. Wow, I did not know this before.
100. One who may eat her words? : ICER. Sweet clue.
101. March Madness org. : NCAA
103. Pepper & Preston: Abbr. : SGTs
104. Resting upon : ATOP
107. Tractor-trailer : RIG
108. Biological marker : DNA
Answer grid.
A note to regular posters: We'd love to celebrate your birthday on the blog. Please email me (crosswordc@gmail.com) if your name is not included in Dennis' original list. Thanks. And best wishes, Ron Worden!
C.C.
23A. Wink? : GIVE THE EYE SIGN. Give the high sign.
27A. Garden with soothing plants? : ALOED GROUND. Hallowed ground. Aloed is a word?
43A. Components of a last call? : ALE AND FAREWELL. Hail and Farewell. Not familiar with this base phrase.
62A. What you'll see in a cornfield? : EAR THERE AND EVERYWHERE. Here, there and everywhere.
80A. Sniggler's skill? : THE EELING TOUCH. The healing touch.
97A. Meditation training method? : OM SCHOOLING. Home schooling.
106A. How Popeye treats Olive? : ACCORDING TO OYL. According to Hoyle.
Great concept. Very consistent theme entry conversion. More fun than simply drop a H ("Hole in one" to "Ole in one"), as the gimmick becomes apparent quickly in the latter.
I mentioned this before. There is always an unpredictability element in Ed's theme. He always surprises & delights.
Across:
1. Suncatchers : PRISMS. Consonants heavy.
7. Lobster __ diavolo : FRA. Fra Diavolo = "Brother Devil" in Italian. I've never used the sauce before.
10. Zoo employee : VET
13. Sugar bowl location : TEA SET. Not football bowl game.
19. Assertive retort : CAN TOO
20. Run amok : RAMPAGE
22. "Honey, __": Shania Twain hit : I'M HOME. Here is a clip. Guessable answer.
25. Cube automaker : NISSAN
26. In toto : AS A WHOLE
29. Rx's : MEDs. 39D. Scrip writers : MDs
30. Slasher film setting: Abbr. : ELM ST. "A Nightmare on Elm Street".
33. Sturgeon yield : ROE
34. It.'s there : EUR. "It."= Italy.
35. Dutch city near Arnhem : EDE. 3-letter Dutch city is always EDE. No idea on what it's famous for.
36. Put a second layer on : RE-COAT
38. Ugandan despot : AMIN
40. "The Wrestler" actress : TOMEI (Marisa)
42. Place to dream : BED. What's your recurring dream? Mine often are about exams.
46. Almost boiling, as milk : SCALDED
49. Got up : AROSE
50. Rocker Rose : AXL
51. Showy bloomers : DAHLIAS. Named after Swedish botanist Anders Dahl. Lovely color.
52. Charitable offering : ALMS
53. Tantrum : FIT. OK, throw a fit/tantrum.
54. Decorates with Charmin, briefly : TPs
57. Inventor Howe : ELIAS. Sewing machine.
58. Papal court : CURIA. New word to me.
60. Good, in Grenoble : BON. "Bon appétit!".
61. Stimulate : WHET
67. California's __ Valley : NAPA
68. Child's plaything : TOY
69. More than annoyed : IRATE
70. Greek fabulist : AESOP
71. Pulitzer poet Lowell : AMY. Clear Ayes linked quite a few of her poems in the past.
72. Raucous bird call : CAW
73. Kilted kinfolk : CLAN. Scottish English is gibberish to me.
74. Conceals : SCREENS. Unaware of this "screen" meaning.
76. Eagles, on scoreboards : PHI
77. Milky white gems : OPALS
79. Sonnet parts : STANZAS
85. "Defence of Fort McHenry" poet : KEY. The poem later became the lyrics of our national anthem.
86. Pricey timepiece : ROLEX
87. Tweed nemesis : NAST (Thomas)
88. Teed off : ROILED
90. Corp. big shots : VPs
93. 401(k) relative : IRA
94. Slo-mo replay subjects : TDs
95. Like 20 Questions questions : YES NO
96. Shekels : GELT. Money.
102. Confused state : DISARRAY
105. Mollycoddle : DOTE ON. I like the word "mollycoddle".
109. Maroon : ENISLE. This is real word.
110. Soon to be at : NEARING
111. Local academic community resenter, perhaps : TOWNIE
112. Part of a circle : SECTOR
113. Musical syllable : TRA
114. Blast : GAS
115. Paintball sounds : SPLATS
Down:
1. SimCity, for one : PC GAME. Never played it. How about you, Desper-otto & Grumpy?
2. Cultivated : RAISED
3. Overrun : INVADE
4. Cioppino and gumbo : STEWS. Cioppino is fish stew. Never had it. I never had/watched many things mentioned in crossword.
5. Light lover : MOTH
6. Arty NYC locale : SOHO
7. Grub : FREELOAD
8. Florida baseballer : RAY. Tampa Bay Rays.
9. Soul, to Zola : AME. Learned from doing Xword.
10. Colorado resort : VAIL. Ski resort for Marti.
11. French Toaster Sticks maker : EGGO
12. Largest of the Canaries : TENERIFE. Looks like a beautiful place to bring a date, Splynter.
13. Hint : TINGE
14. Muslim dignitary : EMIR
15. "Is that a fact" : AH SO
16. "Tough noogies!" : SO SUE ME
17. Chicago mayor Rahm __ : EMANUEL. This guy is tough.
18. Coiled plant support : TENDRIL. See here.
21. Exam for jrs. : PSAT
24. Light source: Abbr. : ELEC
28. Lady of La Mancha : DONA
31. __ de mer : MAL
32. Enter surreptitiously : STEAL IN
36. Mealtime pleasure : RELISH. Ah, Steve, food again! I baked medjoor dates filled with coconut flakes & almonds the other day. Delicious.
37. Historic Icelandic work : EDDA
38. Years in Cuba : ANOs
40. Phone message : TEXT
41. Nocturnal predator : OWL. Argyle is our owl, always keeping an alert eye on the blog.
42. Golf ball material : BALATA. Some kind of rubber.
44. Bony-plated forager : ARMADILLO. Great answer.
45. Forecast word : RAINY
46. Low bow : SALAAM. As a kid, I really hated visiting older relatives during Spring Festival. Had to kneel down, touched my head in the ground and kowtowed to them.
47. Happy as a lark? : CHIRPY. Happy clue.
48. Mortgage provision : ESCROW
51. Cortese of "Jersey Shore" : DEENA. The girl on right. I can't really tell her from the annoying Snooki.
52. Coach Parseghian : ARA
53. What trees may keep you from seeing? : FOREST
54. Hemingway title setting : THE SEA
55. Argentine icons : PERONS
56. Way up or down : STEPS
59. Slangy road reversal : UEY
60. It's placed : BET. True.
61. Asthmatic : WHEEZY
63. Online commerce : E-TAIL. So many temptations.
64. Solver's smudge : ERASURE. Pen & Wite-Out for me.
65. Little League game arrival : VAN
66. Gave a heads-up : WARNED
72. Square cereal : CHEX
73. Suffragist Carrie : CATT. League of Women Voters founder.
75. Slice at a party : CAKE. So, if you have to prepare a Christmas meal consisting of dishes starting with letter U only, what food would you consider?
76. Start to pour? : PEE. First letter in pour.
77. Diagonally : ON A SLANT
78. R relatives : PGS. Oh, Rated R, Rated PG.
79. Big blasts : SHINDIGS
80. Old TV tubes : TRIODES
81. Glandular secretion : HORMONE. It's called estrogen for girls, right?
82. Adaptable : ELASTIC
83. China starter : INDO. Indo-China. Or CEE.
84. Funny Bill, familiarly : COS. Bill Cosby.
89. Butcher's cut : LOIN
90. Gentlemen's home? : VERONA. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona".
91. Ilsa's request to Sam : PLAY IT. "Play it, Sam". My favorite line is "We'll always have Paris". Sometimes I wonder what my life would be had I moved to Brussels in 2001 rather than the US.
92. Dos : STYLES
94. Xerography material : TONER. How's the new printer, eddyB?
95. "Son of Frankenstein" role : YGOR
96. Rumble in the jungle? : GROWL. I could hear it.
98. "__ la vie!" : C'EST
99. Entire: Pref. : HOLO. Wow, I did not know this before.
100. One who may eat her words? : ICER. Sweet clue.
101. March Madness org. : NCAA
103. Pepper & Preston: Abbr. : SGTs
104. Resting upon : ATOP
107. Tractor-trailer : RIG
108. Biological marker : DNA
Answer grid.
A note to regular posters: We'd love to celebrate your birthday on the blog. Please email me (crosswordc@gmail.com) if your name is not included in Dennis' original list. Thanks. And best wishes, Ron Worden!
C.C.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the amusing puzzle, Ed. Great exposition, as usual, C. C.
Thankfully, no red letters or googling necessary. Of course, not a quickie for me. Not much at the top at first. Mostly worked upwards. Liked the clever theme entries!
Agree with you on theme, C. C.
Funniest answer: TEA SET.
Do not get PHI. Is that for zero?
Caught up on sleep today, amongst phone calls. (Have ringer off before 1 pm. After that, I was flooded. Finally left me alone after 11:15 pm. Worked the Puzzle Society sudoku first. Three tries! Was getting depressed. These are timed. Thus I find myself racing before brain is in gear.
Anyone here work the LAT sudokus? They frequently stump me, although I am well-versed in swordfish.
Have a pleasant Sunday!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteMostly enjoyable romp for a Sunday. I love punny themes and most of the theme answers really tickled my funny bone. I wasn't entirely thrilled with ACCORDING TO OYL, however, mostly due to the cluing which seemed a bit off.
BALATA was a complete unknown and really held me back in that section, since DAHLIAS didn't spring immediately to mind as a showy flower and I had SIMI instead of NAPA.
I confidently put in MOTH at 87A and only reluctantly removed it when it didn't fit with the perps. Imagine my surprise when I ended up putting it back in at 5D!
PHI is short for the PHIladelphia Eagles, whom the Patriots are playing against this afternoon, so that was easy for me. Interestingly, I originally put in PIS as a "R relatives" at 78D, thinking about the Greek letter and not the rating.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one to have bollixed the west with SIMI instead of NAPA.
Quite a few unknowns, especially HOLO. Hard to get a toehold, so this grid got filled like a swimming pool - bottom to top, and slowly. A fun project, though.
Just read yesterday's posts. Best wishes to you, Ron. Glad to have you aboard.
ReplyDeleteDear "Random"--Riding in a really old Jaguar sedan with 289 miles on it, no shocks and a differential that sounds like a bulldozer is NOT fun, even if one could could get out of it without huge difficulty (I am almost 6' tall, weighty, have excruciating arthritis and fibromyalgia, as the non-neos know)!
A belated anniversary greeting to you and Jill, eddy! Did you do something special?
Hi There ~!
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme was drop the front "H" and back "E", as in HOYLE and HOME, and this only screwed up the solve for me....and not terribly thrilled with some of the fill, including "HIGH SIGN" - more familiar with HIGH FIVE....
Ultimately, I had two unsuccessful WAGS, the "T" from CATT/NAST (tried "H"), and a "Y" not "A" in FRA/AME - sounded good....oh well
TOYOTA and not NISSAN messed up the NE, but I agree, a WAG at "I'M HOME" helped - that whole corner was rough.
A "U" dish? How 'bout Upside-down cake?
My dreams are very vivid, and story-like; several times I have dreamed of witnessing plane crashes....
And C.C., if you'll foot the bill to TENERIFE, we can go ~!
Splynter
Oh ~!
ReplyDeleteBe well, Ron, and Congrats to eddyB; the two of us can understand Conceals as SCREENS - too many times when I am in goal the body of my defenseman conceals the shot from an opposing player~!
Splynter
Good Morning, C.C., and friends. I caught on to the theme after getting EAR THERE AND EVERYWHERE. That helped with the other theme clues.
ReplyDeleteI recently read a book about Thomas NAST. He also gave us image of Santa Clause that is well known to Americans, as well as Uncle Sam. He was a political cartoonist, so even Santa originally had a political twist.
Ron: All the best to you. You seem to have the right attitude of acceptance which will help you and those around you in your recovery.
QOD: The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going. ~ George Carlin
Fun puzzle today, but not a quick solve. And CC, no I've never played SimCity -- I only knew it was a PC Game via the perps.
ReplyDeleteHad some missteps (IMAM for EMIR, DESERT for ENISLE, IGOR for YGOR) before everything straightened itself out. I see that ELASTIC is back for a second appearance this week.
I did get HOLO right off. That's what a hologram is, and holistic medicine is supposed to treat the whole person. BALATA, though, was a learning moment. When I think teed off, I think RILED rather than ROILED. No? Or is that a Texas thang?
Splynter:
ReplyDeleteEmail me when you can, re: plane crash dreams.
Thought of something else for après-dinner, Ugli's.
ReplyDeleteFermatprime, ever tried a Samurai Sudoku? It's like solving five puzzles simultaneously. Try it.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine had vehicle license plate RMADLO. Get it? Hint: 44D (No, not the bra size.)
CC, how 'bout some unagi on a bed of Uncle Ben's Rice with unleavened bread topped with unsalted butter on the side? Then Argyle's upsidedown cake or an ugli for dessert.
ReplyDeleteGood day folks,
ReplyDeleteUnusual for me to do a Sunday puzzle and picked a beaut. The clues varied for me from pretty easy to what the Hell is Ed doing. Eventually got most of it done, mainly because of a lot of perp help. 50A was my DNF had A-L for 50A, RE-T for 40D and ROMEI for 40A. Otherwise, everything else was OK.
Even though I wasn't crazy about a lot of the cluing, I guess it's what to expect on a Sunday.
Time to finish the leaves, FINALLY, in what has become a Thanksgiving "tradition" courtesy of our many Oak trees. See you tomorrow.
Good morning C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteI also thought this theme was clever and well-executed. C.C., but wrinkled my nose at ALOED, same as you.
I really admire our Sunday constructors who cram so many theme entries into their puzzles, while keeping the rest of the fill entertaining as well. For some reason, I really liked AS A WHOLE for "In toto" (not a flea on our crosswordese Kansan pet).
Of course ski resorts are always a gimme, and VAIL was a no-brainer. Only two days before I leave for Germany and Austria. I dreamed that I was skiing with my sister last night, even though she died six years ago.
For dessert, I often have 'umble pie!!
Hello.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the wishes and words
about our 46th. Thing is, I'd do it
again.
take care. eddy
Good morning CC, et al., Loved this puzzle! LOL'd several times. Cute, cute, cute, but not w/out some stumpers. BALATA, that whole west area really, GELT, and YGOR (with a Y) but perps, wags, and patience paid off. 62A ear,there... reminded me of one of my favorite Beatles songs.
ReplyDeleteOTOH,had to cringe at the 46A SCALDED 49A AROSE 50A AXL line and a hidden meaning. Any reference to him gives me a FIT, makes me IRATE. Hardly AESOP with kind words and messages. SO SUE ME in the same puzzle w/him is very appropriate.
As to food beginning w/a 'U'? Argyle's Ugli is the only semi-appealing thing for me. Anything un-as in without- is pretty much UNappealing and UNeaten. Maybe it's because it's UNtried. I'll never know.
Time to tickle the KEYs with seasonal songs, b/c Santa Baby's arrival is NEARING and I do want to be able to entertain him in many ways. Snickerdoodles and Molasses cookies are on the menu, right, Santa Darlin? Did I make the Good list this year? I can give you testimonials, if that helps.
Enjoy your day.
Oops! I credited Argyle with Splynter's upside-down cake. Sorry, Splynter. That was very un-correct of me, but not done un-purpose.
ReplyDelete(From yesterday's comments)
ReplyDeleteVirginia C has left a new comment on your post "Saturday, Nov 26th, 2011 Barry C. Silk":
It's probably too late for this but in the discussion of Kindles - I have an iPad (1) with a Kindle app, as well as iBooks, so it's easy to compare prices (Amazon usually wins) and it is much larger than the Kindle. With the proper case you can prop it up so the weight is not a problem. I think it weighs one pound. I have over 60 books read and archived, am reading Evanovich Eighteen now and have a couple of other new ones waiting.
P. S. this puzzle kicked my rear!
Posted by Virginia C to L.A.Times Crossword Corner at November 27, 2011 10:16 AM (copied and moved by Argyle)
Good Morning All, The themes were rough for me. It wasn't until 62A that it finally dawned on me. Maybe that is because Here,THERE AND EVERYWHERE is a favorite Beatles song.
ReplyDeleteI definitely needed the perps to fill in all those longer answers.
I'd never heard of 7A)Lobster FRA Diavolo. Looks good though, here's Emeril's version.
22A)I guess I must be old. I always think of "Honey, I'm home!" as Ricky's announcement to Lucy after a long day at the Club Babalu.
AMY Lowell and sonnet STANZAS? I'll have to come up with something.
A little late on congratulations, eddyB, but it is still well-wished.
We're heading off to see Blue Man Group this afternoon. I've seen them on TV, but really have no idea what to expect.
Here's an AMY Lowell sonnet. It reminds me that our busy time hobbies are not the same as leisure time.
ReplyDeleteLeisure
Leisure, thou goddess of a bygone age,
When hours were long and days sufficed to hold
Wide-eyed delights and pleasures uncontrolled
By shortening moments, when no gaunt presage
Of undone duties, modern heritage,
Haunted our happy minds; must thou withhold
Thy presence from this over-busy world,
And bearing silence with thee disengage
Our twined fortunes? Deeps of unhewn woods
Alone can cherish thee, alone possess
Thy quiet, teeming vigor. This our crime:
Not to have worshipped, marred by alien moods
That sole condition of all loveliness,
The dreaming lapse of slow, unmeasured time.
Good morning, CC and Sunday solvers. Great puzzle. I enjoy Ed Seese's offerings.
ReplyDeleteThe theme showed up as the perps filled most of EYE SIGN and ALOED GROUND. I knew then to drop the 'H' sound and fit the new word into a somewhat common phrase. Ed pushed the envelope with ALOED... "How did you treat your sunburn"? "I ALOED it".
That 'A' at the cross of FRA/AME was a wag. Other than that, I could at least recognize the words as perps filled them, except for BALATA. I just had to rely on the perps for that one.
Had NAPA, changed to Simi, put NAPA back in.
I liked seeing EMANUEL and TENDRILS side by side. Both evoke an image of something creeping into places they don't belong.
Not a fan of this one, a couple of the theme answers seemed a bit of a stretch, and a lot of partials, abbreviations and some desperation (I'm looking at you, PEE and UEY) in the fill.
ReplyDeleteReminded me of a Reagle which I've quit doing because of the same issues.
Personal Natick at CATT/NAST, but WAG worked.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle although did not finish! Bogged down in NW & SW and too many unknowns a few other places. Got the theme for once and most of the theme lines.
C.C.- thanks for all you do! Maybe you've said before, but please tell us what brought you to the USA?
EddyB.- Lucky lady, whose husband of 46 years says, "I'd do it again!" May you have many more years of happiness.
VirginiaC. - When I hinted to my kids for a Kindle, it cost $137 while an IPad cost around $650. They like me, but I wasn't sure how much.
Recurring dreams? I had ongoing hands-on remodeling projects on my big old 1878 stone farmhouse for 20 of the 31 years I lived there. My dream starts out with me so elated to finally be done and having no more hard dirty jobs. THEN I open a door I hadn't seen before and there is another whole crappy area to do. Bummer big time!
- PK
Hi all:
ReplyDeleteA fun Sunday run which was interrupted by a power outage in my neighborhood; I was on the laptop and did not know the power went away until the internet was lost.
Hail and farewell is a very old phrase; the phrase first appeared in poem 101 by Gaius Valerius Catullus [c. 84-c. 54 B.C.], about a visit to his brother's tomb. The poem's ending line is "atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale" is often translated as "But now for all time, my brother, hail and farewell."
Tennyson also used the phrase in one of his poems. The Latin has always been a favorite of mine.
Well, almost back to reality, my youngest and his dog have just left, so I must work.
Ave.
Recurring dream: Running off a bridge in a car...but I can still breathe under water!
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. I really enjoyed this puzzle a lot, and solved the whole thing without any lookups. Loved the "Without Aspirations" theme. For some reason I was able to guess, or intuit, my way to the complete solve.
ReplyDeleteLike so many of you, I did not know BALATA. I was inwardly chuckling with evil glee when I had BA_A_A and kept thinking of banana. Nope, they don't make golf balls out of bananas. (Or do they? Mwaa haa haa!)
Didn't know TENERIFE either. Got it from the perps. Sure does look like a nice place, all right.
Recurring dreams? Oh yes indeed. Usually I don't remember my dreams at all; often don't know whether I even dreampt at all. But these recurring ones, for some reason I remember them. I think my subconscious mind is trying to tell me something.
Best Sunday wishes to you all.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteStill not blue, but happy as a lark!
My only "put in, take out" was 64a solvers smudge, thanks to tinman I had inkblot, oh well, c'est la vie!
And if your gumbo looks like a stew, add more water, cause really it is not quite the same. IMO of course.
Thanks for the video Santa, I will pay you back one day.
cool picture Lemonade
Off to find Reagle's
Have a good day
I enjoyed all the puns and misdirections today. There was only one semi-obscure word for me, BALATA. I got it from the perps, but it seemed plausible.
ReplyDeleteI love FRA DIAVOLO with any type of pasta and/or seafood. There are plenty of Italian restaurants here that serve this spicy sauce. You can also order FRA DIAVOLO in ordinary diners.
SCALDing is a common cooking term for heating milk almost to the boiling point. It is used in making puddings and cream sauces.
When I am ready to leave I give my partner the HIGH SIGN, a prearranged signal. It could be a wink, or not.
When you make a DF aside to a pal, you SCREEN your lips with your hand.
Good morning C.C. and all,
ReplyDeleteJust read yesterday's comments as I never got a toe hold in Sat.'s Silkie.I always enjoy the commentary.
eddyB, hope you had a lovely day with Jill..congrats!
Ron Warden, you have my total admiration;your positive attitude should be a lesson to anyone around you.
Grumpy, loved your dissertation on cap-a-pie!!
Busy morning, but will begin xwd soon...maybe.Enjoy your day all.
Good afternoon to all, I always enjoy an Ed Sessa puzzle. His misdirections and themes are always clever. Great write-up and thanks for the well wishes C.C. Sometimes I don't always get to the Sun. puzzle,but finding myself in the recliner a little more so was bored before the game came on. Bucs just tied it up right before the half. Hope they win today. Also go to the lightning who won 2 in a row. Hope everyone has a great Sunday, RJW.
ReplyDeleteTenerife. Site of an Israeli rescue
ReplyDeleteof its citizens. Movie made. It also has a huge telescope array to
view night sky. It's robotic so one
can slave it to their own system.
Watching the battle of Ohio. Cle vs
Cin. Steelers tonight.
Yesterday was lovely. Thanks.
eddy
Jayce, I posit (just learned that word this week) that you must remember your recurring dream. Otherwise, how would you know that it was recurring? :) The dream that wakes me up in a cold sweat is the one where I re-enlist in the Navy.
ReplyDeleteRJW, I sure do admire your spunk and hope that your decade-long suffering is finally resolved.
Boy, these Sunday puzzles take a while, don't they? Fun though. I figured out to drop the H sound for the theme words but I couldn't figure out the other changes in spelling. That was confusing for me.
ReplyDeleteC.C., I enjoyed your Shania Twain link. I like looking at her and she's got a good voice but being a fogy, I don't care for her choices in songs. If she'd issue a 'classic' album with songs by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, etc., I'd probably love it.
Regarding recurring dreams, mine are about college and exams too. Usually, I've forgotten to attend a class and/or I've forgotten where the final is.
Fermatprime, when I first started doing Sudodu puzzles, I did the ones in the London Times. They made the point that, in a properly constructed puzzle, all the answers could be obtained by logic, not guess and check. My experience with the LA Times puzzles was that the harder ones took guessing. I quit doing them and stuck with the London Times. Now I've gotten tired of them entirely. I tried KenKen for a while. They were clever too.
My wife thanks you for your posting the answers. She has been looking for a site like this for quite some time and now she doesn't have to wait for next Sunday's paper to check her puzzle.
ReplyDeleteDave B. New Jersey
I haven't blogged for a while and have some catching up to do:
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Eddy and Jill and your satisfying marriage.
RJW I admire your positive attitude and hope that things from here on out will go well for you.
Fermatprime, I'm glad you had such a happy Thanksgiving.
I finally received "The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" from the library this weekend. Thank you all for recommending it.
After all these years, I am still dismayed at what the USA did to the Japanese who were very loyal Americans and even had sons in the war effort. The story of young and life long love was indeed very sweet, intertwined with bitterness.
This story is a parable for today when entire groups of people are indiscriminately despised and feared.
desper-otto, good point.
ReplyDeleteeddyB, congratulations.
Bill G, you're so sensible. And I got tired of doing sudokus too, primarily because of the ones that cannot be solved except by pure guesswork. And as somedoy here once said, they could run the same puzzle next week and I'd never realize I had done it before.
HeartRx, I enjoy your sense of humor and how you make connections between things.
Interesting weather locally. It's warmed up due to high pressure and the sea breeze is canceled out due to the off-shore flow. It's 79 at the moment with very low humidity.
ReplyDeleteJayce, I almost wrote the same thing you just did about Sudokus all seeming the same. I think that's the main reason I got tired of them. Maybe I was the one who said that before? That's not true about crosswords, is it?
Yellowrocks, I'm glad you enjoyed that book, "The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet." Really good I thought.
Multiplication enigma: If the number ABCDE x 4 = EDCBA, what different digits do these five letters represent? (Zero is excluded in this puzzle.)
Word puzzle: What's the longest common word you can find?
@eddyB - are you joking about Tenerife and an "Israeli rescue mission"? It's a vacation island in the Canaries popular with the Brits; unless Mossad wanted to rescue Israeli nationals from potential sunburn and bad English food, I'm not sure what the problem might have been.
ReplyDeleteI knew TENERIFE because I remembered the air disaster when 2 passenger planes collided on the runway back in the late 1970's.
ReplyDeleteClear Ayes: the Blue Man group will be in my area in March. We have tickets for the show. I have only heard about the group, but never seen them. Let me know how they are.
Yellowrocks : i recently read Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, too. I, too, would highly recommend it. I learned a lot about a dark part of American history from that book.
Entebbe was the rescue site.
ReplyDeleteTenerife was the site of one of the world's worst airline disasters when two 747s collided on the runway in 1977.
Hola Everyone, Just read the blog for last Wed. We left early for Ojai (CA-remember that town?) and didn't get back until late Sat. I just wanted to say hello to Moon and Jimbo and tell them how nice it was to see them respond to the "Everyone check in Day".
ReplyDeleteI took the puzzles with me from the Wed. paper, but have all the others saved and ready to do this week. I've got a hugely busy week with 20 people coming for a brunch next Sunday. I won't have time for my favortie leisure activity, Crosswords, until late each evening.
We had a marvelous Thanksgiving with our kids. We won't see them at Christmas as they are going to Senegal to see their Peace Corp son and be with him.
Black Friday in a small town was surely the most laid back day I've ever been able to experience. People leisurly stolling down Main St. going in and out of small shops and galleries and the one Department store.
ReplyDeleteSome places had sales, but the ice cream shop was the most populated. Then people took their cones across the street to the park to enjoy the benches and the warm sun. Nothing like small town US the day after Thanksgiving!
Have a great day everyone.
Hello, C.C. and all.
ReplyDeleteVery distracted today as my granddaughter and her cousin spent the night. We went to church, cooked breakfast then went to help my sister pack. The furniture is gone but she has 40 years of accumulated stuff.
Lovely puzzle from Ed Sessa and I finished most of it. Loved the theme. Stumped at RAY and TEASET because I thought it must be the bowl game.
I'll read comments later. Hope your Sunday has been delightful!
We just made a salad for lunch worthy of some of our local eateries. Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, ripe avocado, ripe and green olives, feta cheese, hard boiled egg, shrimp and topped off with Green Goddess dressing.
ReplyDeleteJordan was playing with our daughter's new iPhone. He asked Siri to tell him a joke. She thought for a bit and said, "Two iPhones walked into a bar... Oops, I can't remember the punchline!"
yellowrocks,
ReplyDeleteaccording to my niece's calendar, tomorrow is National Square Dance Day, any dances planned?
Dave B., New Jersey: What is your wife's paper?
ReplyDeleteCrosswordgirl,thanks for asking. On November 29, National Square Dance Day, we at Lakeland Squares are sponsoring a barn dance, an open house for neophytes. We sponsor these popular barn dances 4 times a year, no experience and no partner necessaary. A caller teaches the steps and we experienced dancers are "angels' or helpers to the newer dancers. Some of them return for each barn dance and are quite good.
ReplyDeleteFor those wishing for more,there are 66 Mainstream calls which we teach in 20-24 weekly classes. After one year of experinece we teach 24 or more calls at a higher level.
The mental excercise to perform all these calls on a split second's notice is very stimulating. The friendship and socialization at square dancing is unbeatable. The square dancers are my best friends. We can dance all over the world, with the steps called in English, and feel entirely accepted and welcome. I have had a ball dancing in Japan and Canada.
Link square dancing
Steve. Glad you didn't believe me.
ReplyDeleteI said too much. Our little TF wasn't diverted south from Gibraltar to help. Oops. Not only Brits took holiday there.
John. Entebbe was later. Wasn't in on that one.
eddy
Back from The Blue Man Group matinee and early dinner.
ReplyDeleteHahtool, I can't recommend the show enough. They are so clever and inventive, we enjoyed every minute of it. The only caution I would add is, if you have sensitive hearing, bring along a pair of earplugs for those loud percussion riffs. It didn't bother me, but it was sometimes a little loud for my friend's husband.
Yes Chickie, I have only fond memories of Ojai. It is a lovely little city. I'm glad to hear you had a wonderful visit.
CG:
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing me with my sweet Grandpuppy chasing pigeons at lunch at the outdoor Cuban restaurant.
Mr. Worden, along with the rest, I send my wishes for a speedy and complete adjustment.
Ed Sessa,always a pleasure/
@eddyB - your secret is safe with us *s* - Mum's the Word
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, folks. It is Monday morning. I never finished this puzzle until late last night, then went to bed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed, for a swell and challenging puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for the write-up.
Hope you are feeling better, Ron Worden.
Got most of this rather quickly. The themes were not real easy, but eventually got them. 97A (OM SCHOOLING) was my first and that sent me in the wrong direction for the rest for a while.
For 78D I had PQS for most of the puzzle. Referring to the telephone dial letters (PQRS). That messed me up for 80A. Finally I fixed that to PGS.
The SE and the NW corners were my last hold-outs. VERONA and TOWNIE were not obvious to me. Had I AM TOO instead of CAN TOO and THE WHOLE instead of AS A WHOLE. Finally fixed those late last night.
Did not know BON for 66A. I guess my Russian is lacking.
See you all later today after I do Monday's puzzle.
Abejo