Theme: Wrap it around your mind. Each of the 4 theme answers have the same first and last letter, but the end one is removed, and you have to "borrow" the first letter to finish the word or phrase. The answers are just that, no puns or wordplay. Something new from another new contributor; I think I have seen his name on some online puzzles, but I did not find a previous newspaper publication. Let's look over the theme and the reveal which include two across grid spanners and one up and down.
17A. *Major financial concern: ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
22A. *Numbers field?: ANESTHESIA. Expliquez, s'il vous plait. (From C.C.: Numb-ers = Things that numb.)
50A. *Fantasized : DAYDREAMED.
59A. *Misrepresent, in a way: TAKE OUT OF CONTEXT.
And the reveal, 7D. Hint for understanding this puzzle's starred answers: BACK TO SQUARE ONE.
The rest of the puzzle is very much a Friday with fewer words and many new clues, some have me baffled and some were fun, Let's welcome the creator after we review each clue.
ACROSS:
1. You might do it after making a wish: BLOW. Man, how difficult to not start out my analysis with painting a nice obscene mental picture. It was a job.
5. Equally undesirable: AS BAD.. Ah, like Dan Naddor, this constructor likes two word answers, see how many you find.
10. Sitting around: IDLE. Not Eric.
14. Stopped sitting around ROSE. A shout out to our own, ARABON. Kewl.
15. "10 Things __ About You": 1999 comedy: I HATE. A 'modernization' of Taming of the Shrew. TRAILER. (1:28)
16. Symbol of courage: LION.
20. Already old, with "so": LAST WEEK. Do you like the phone commercial?
21. Words before "Do I have to?": AW GEE. See how he gets odd letters together like Dan did.
25. Quits: STOPS. No, not yet, come on....
28. Caring but strict approach: TOUGH LOVE. See another one.
32. Get ready for a concert: TUNE UP. Gee in my day it was , "light up." 4 already!
34. Orch. section : STR. I get strings all the time.
35. Noted 16-Across portrayer: LAHR. The incomparable BERT. (1:19)
36. Put away: ATE. Did you see her put away that chocolate cake?
37. Some awards: PLAQUES. Not on your teeth, but your mantelpiece.
40. "Dracula" director Browning: TOD. He. loved the monsters. LINK.
41. Kid's reward, maybe: STAR. I bet CA got all gold stars in her reading classes.
43. __ Dhabi: ABU. Another place in the desert.
44. Electronic music genre: TECHNO. You like? LINK.(2:37).
46. Certain settler's tract: HOMESTEAD. How the west was settled.
49. "It's nobody __ business": ELSE'S. Mind your own beeswax.
52. Dispossess: EVICT. Not easy for landlords in Florida.
55. Japan and China are in it: EAST ASIA. Geography even I know.
62. "You said it!": AMEN.
63. "Exodus" actor: MINEO. Was killed.
64. "The __ Affair": Jasper Fforde novel: EYRE. Weird alternate universe detective Thursday Next investigates Jane. LINK.
65. Squabble: SPAT. Never happened to Jack Sprat.
66. Fired, as a cartridge: SPENT. Used up.
67. Epitome of thinness: REED.
DOWN:
1. Songwriter Jacques: BREL. Like Hercule Poirot, most think he was French, but this Belgian entertainer influenced popular music around the world. LINK.
2. Crazy, in a Ricky Martin song: LOCA. La Vida Loca, you can pick your own version.
3. Baja bears: OSOS. Spanish.
4. Lost it: WENT APE. Not tape.
5. Name meaning "beloved": AIMEE. I have a niece, Amy.
6. Slowest to mix, perhaps: SHIEST. Mix socially, not in a glass.
8. Flight coordinators: Abbr.: ATC. Air Traffic Control
9. "Gloria in Excelsis __": DEO. Hmmm, a hymn.
10. Hostility: ILL WILL. Or a sick Shakespeare.
11. Rect. bisector: DIAG. onal.
12. Run easily: LOPE. Don't sprint, just lope you dope.
13. Massachusetts motto opener: ENSE. For all of my my neighbors, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." (Latin) By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.
18. Confesses: OWNS UP. I admit this was easy.
19. Whip part: LASH. Whiplash, the insurance companies enemy.
23. Native Rwandan: HUTU. Learning moment, though reminds me of who do the voo doo like you do from earlier. LINK. All perps.
24. Everglades wader: EGRET. No regrets if you do not kn.ow egrets.
25. Put away: STASH. Where do you keep your stash?
26. All, in Asti: TUTTO. Italian.
27. Graveyard shift hr : ONE AM.
29. Promising words: OATHS. Pledges, not curses.
30. "Pop Up Video" airer: VH ONE. MTV's little sister.
31. Subject of the biography "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers": ERDOS. Mathematician, think older version of SHELDON COOPER, equally eccentric. LINK.
33. Prefix with -pus: PLATY. Really, we all love the odd duck billed Platypus, but that is not a prefix.
38. Retired: ABED. Where do you stand on the "A" word controversy?
39. Apparently do: SEEM TO.
42. Insignificant amount: RED CENT. With the reddish color of a true copper penny, this was the smallest amount of money.
45. Grime fighter: CLEANER. A little pun with crime fighter, unless it is Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction, where it is both.
47. '60s-'70s Japanese leader: SATO. With NIXON (2:17).
48. Make really uncomfortable, in a way: DEAFEN. I guess from a deafening racket, but...
51. Fancy neckwear: ASCOT. Not the racetrack.
52. LAX postings: ETAS. Estimated Time of Arrival S.
53. Siren: VAMP. One of my favorites. LINK (2:45).
54. Big name in furniture: IKEA. Who recalls my unraveling of this Swedish acronym?
56. Lid trouble: STYE. Eyelids, not as bad as chalazia, but irritating.
57. "Able was __ ...": I ERE. I SAW ELBA. Palindrome anyone?
58. Fired: AXED. Be the first in your neighborhood to get AXEOLOGY, the two disc set of the best of the band AXE from 1979-2001.
60. Thinking-on-one's-feet indicators: UMS. Err, ahhm you know...
61. It may be left on a table: TIP. No longer thought to be from To Insure Promptness. My tip of the hat to Ki Lee for an interesting ride, and to all of you for your comments, both old times and newbies. You keep the corner young. Well another year has started, thanks for inviting me into your homes, see you next time.
Lemonade
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteMan, it took forever to get the theme reveal at 7D, and until I did that I just could not figure out what was going on with the theme answers. Were letters missing? Were they swapped with other letters? Why doesn't anything work???
Despite being from Massachusetts, I had no idea what the first word of our motto is. Even after getting EN_E, I couldn't figure out the missing letter (which wasn't helped by the theme answer that crossed it).
I also had no idea about ATC and didn't realize it what it stood for until I came here. Again, that crossed the wacky theme answer at 17D, which didn't help any. In fact, since the clue for 8D was plural, I assumed the answer would end in S, and that just made things worse.
Never heard of "The EYRE Affair." I've seen Jasper Fforde in puzzles before, however.
Not what Barry G. said for a change.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning.
37A : If you left your teeth on the mantle ....
Dear friends,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the wonderful Kindle. I cannot wait to figure out how to use it with the book card I received! I feel very humble! I have already sent special thanks to eddy b, truly a very kind and thoughtful person!
This gift came at a most propitious time--I have been suffering from severe depression and having incredibly bad nightmares. I sometimes think that I shall be bedridden forever.
On to the puzzle! Thank you Mr. Lee and Lemonade for a substantial challenge and write-up. I had to cheat in a few spots, but a freebie was ERDöS. (I am fortunate enough to have "Erdös Number" two--meaning that I wrote a paper with someone who wrote a paper with Erdös. This extremely prolific mathematician traveled around the world, staying with other mathematicians, eschewing material things and doing research in number theory.)
Thank you so much again!
Lemon: Nice write-up. It explained my Rorschach Ink Blot very well.
ReplyDelete(I think it looks like a Bat, Avatar thinks it's a cat, though he didn't use that word).
Not a fan of this theme.
Way to many obscure clues and two word answers.
I guess you could say I HATE this puzzle.
Mini South Florida theme: EGRET, REED & HOMESTEAD.
On a positive note ... only 10 hours 'til Sunset.
May invoke the "It's 5-o'clock somewhere."
Cheers !!!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteI had to chip away at it in places, but I liked this clever puzzle! The first theme fill was ECONOMIC COLLAPS, and it looked so solid I figured there was some sneakiness involved and let it stand, sure that an explanation would be forthcoming.
ATC was a gimme, pilots say it all the time. The many unknowns were well enough perped that I could do a no-peeky.
Morning Lemon, yes I remember your IKEA de-coding, it came as a surprise. Enjoyed the write-up.
Cheers All -
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Strangely, all of the theme clues look logical to me except the DAY DREAME. I stared at that for the longest time, before I caught on to the BACK TO SQUARE ONE theme. It was only then that I realized a letter was missing from the other clues as well. Created a bit of an imaginary mobius band.
ReplyDeleteI liked how Sitting Around = IDLE was immediately followed by Not Sitting Around = ROSE.
The trendy restaurant Hello, Sushi always has TECHNO music blaring in the background.
I was really reluctant to write BLOW in 1-A as something one might do after making a wish. It was the first thing that popped into my head, but just seemed so DF!
QOD: No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of anyone else. ~ Charles Dickens
Morning, all.
ReplyDeleteFermatprime's gimme was my downfall. I raced to a 12-minute DNF by wagging an M at the TOD/ERDOS cross. Didn't know either name and guessed badly.
I realized right away that the theme answers were one letter short, but didn't realize that the missing letter echoed the first letter.
Lemon, I too remember your exposition on IKEA. I was even more shocked a few days later to learn that it's a Dutch corporation.
Good day folks,
ReplyDeleteWell, this was a toughie. Yeah Lemonade, you echoed my thoughts for 1A quite well. We'll leave it there.
I plodded along on this puzzle one word at a time, often jumping from one geographical area to another. At some point I had enough fills to figure out the theme and that got me rolling along. But, it came down to four clues, 40A,44A,30D & 31D. Had no idea, nor any WAGs that seemed to make sense. Had Techie for 44A
I thought a few of the clues were really ambiguous such as EAST ASIA for Japan and China. Geographically, it's correct, but I can't recall having ever heard of them being referred as such.
Even though it was a DNF, I ended up liking this puzzle a lot more then I thought I would in the beginning. A fair Friday test.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteOhhh, I just knew I could expect something from you at 1A. Thanks for the link to “The EYRE Affair”. Never heard of the book or the author. Although I like his name – I’ll file it in my database of F-words. I remember your explanation of the IKEA acronym – but damned if I can recall any of the actual words represented!
I had BACK TO for the longest time, and was itching to put in “the future”…but it’s a good thing I patiently waited for the perps to give me SQUARE ONE, because that opened up the theme (the starred entries weren’t making very much sense until then). I do think it was a little unfair to clue ANESTHESI with a punny clue, when all the others were clued in a straightforward manner.
Jazzbumpa from last night, I hope you M-I-L is OK?
Oh, and LA CW ADDICT, I didn’t notice that you asked last night about the “Hamlet” soliloquy. My quote was actually from “Macbeth”, act V.
TGIF!!
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteI bounced around a lot on this one, and it was a crawl from the onset. Finally had enough to assume the first theme answer, but being one letter short I thought must be a rebus puzzle. Didn't work on the down, so now what? Like Marti, I wanted 'the future'. Finally the unifier fell together and that helped with the other themes. My natick was that D in Erdos and Tod. Did a mental alphabet run and narrowed it to D and M, settled for D and called it a day. Won that gamble, I guess.
Fun puzzle and definitely Friday level.
My expereince was much the same as Ave. Joe's. But, because I was rushing off the the orthodedist, I hurried to the blog before rechecking a small hangup, and so messed up one, not so difficult, letter. DNF arrgh!!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the theme. I wrote TOD with one D, but it felt strange. TOD is death in German. Wagner: Siegfrieds Tod, Siegfried's Death.
The orthopedist says I have Baker's Cysts behind both knees and probably small tears. An MRI will confirm it. I had chalked the pain up to arthritis, but am told my arthritis is not that bad. I'm glad I pursued this. I am too young to sit still.
Did Monica Lowinski's wish come true? Don't ask the friends of Bill.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Lemonade et al. It took me a little longer than usual and finally came down to a wag, but got it done. TOm or TOD was a toss up, but ERDOS seemed like a name I had heard and ERmOS rang no bells at all.
ReplyDeleteI also thought we might have a rebus or something would be made of the missing letters so I wrote the missing letter at the end of the rows. I spotted the first/last repeat right away and wanted BACK TO the beginning, which, of course, would not fit. The V8 moment hit when SQU emerged.
I hope we see more from this constructor. Lots to like in this one.
What a fabulous Friday feast! Collaps(e) teased me a long time and then gave great satisfaction when the rare vertical, grid spanning unifier appeared. Thanks Ki Lee!
ReplyDeleteMusing
-THROWINGACOININTHETREVIFOUNTAIN wouldn’t fit in 1Across
-Anyone else go for daydream(T)?
-Good advice – When you’ve got no clue on the TO_/ER_OS crossing, take a guess and move on. It’s good to know what you don’t know. I went for an M.
-That silent B in numbers always takes a while
-Being 28 seconds ahead of the info curve ain’t worth updating my phone, Lemon
-Not enough TOUGHLOVE around
-Univ. of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) are the antelopes and are known as the LOPErs.
-The amount of copper plated on a penny today takes up 2.5% of its weight (.06 g)
-Sonny parlayed Cher’s “vampness” as far as he could. Their marriage, his death, the gender of their child, etc. make for great Enquirer fodder
-I’m sure IKEA makes comfy furniture but my daughter hasn’t put it in her house yet
I'm officially a DNF, but felt clever for figuring the theme anyway. My hangups were in the east--mainly the north east corner. I tossed up between LOPE and TROT, settling on the latter, which meant I couldn't get anywhere. So IDLE, LION and ColLAPS were never completed. I never would have come up with AW GEE--I tried MUST I? and AM I TO?, but realizing they would be substitutes rather than precedents left them blank. LAHR was blank because LION was stuck on thoughts of MARINE, ALAMO or BADGE (of courage), but they didn't fit. No clue about VH ONE, TOD or ERDOS either. The rest was a crawl rather than a race.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole not a bad showing for me on a Friday after 2 weeks CW drought.
The outpouring of support for my daughter and her procedure on Tuesday has been of great comfort. I hope it is “nothing” as some of you told me it probably is!
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated the nice comments on my retiring from teaching article. I made an effort everyday to have something for the auditory, visual and tactile learner. When I walk down hallways now as a sub and see someone lecturing and kids taking notes for 45 minutes, I want to go in and make an educator’s arrest! Where are the $90,000/yr administrators?
I liked the theme very much other parts of the puzzle ehh not so much. One of my general complaints is when you spell a number like U TWO, no its U2 and here we have VH1 spelled out. Overall nice Friday puzzle took about 15-20 minutes so not too hard. I have to remember TOD.
ReplyDeleteHere's a new avatar photo from December 23 at the Chemnitz Christmas market showing me, our older, then younger son and DH. D-I-L took the pic.
ReplyDeleteHusker,
I echo your feelings on the "lecturing" teachers. I could never understand that. It's very nice to be recognized for real efforts as an educator. Often that only comes when one is out of the game. Many former students will let you know how much they appreciated you along the way.
Hello, my friends and thanks again, Lemonade, for illuminating the darkness of this puzzle!
ReplyDeleteIt started very nicely all across the top until COLLAPS_ which I tried with one L, didn't work then just LOPEd along skipping here and there.
Finally I realized all the numbered clues had the last letter missing . . . still didn't register to see the beginning.
I, too, flirted with TOD and TOM but ERDOS sounded familiar.
However, HUTU escaped me en TOTTO so that was DNF.
Not a big fan of a- starting words but know they are sometimes necessary to fill cells.
And I recall the IKEA discussion but not the actual meaning.
fermatprime:
Please know that prayers are going your way and hope that the depression lifts.
Have a blast, everyone!
Nice avatar, Kazie. It looks cold there.
ReplyDeleteOne of my fastest times, and no Googling on a Friday. Don't know why.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice picture of Sicilian cucheen (cugino) Sal MINEO. Thanx.
Did not know EYRE, TOD or SATO.
The HUTU-Tutsi thing is very sad.
ERDOS bio very interesting.
ANESTHESI(A) a moaner.
At first was looking for the letter B as square 1.
Good morning all. Good commentary, Lemon.
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience as in Barry's first paragraph. Finally, after getting 7d, at ⅔ of the way through, I saw the wrap theme. Very clever and creative. Had 'statues' before PLAQUES. The 'wrap' drove me nuts with CLEANER, too, before getting it. Solved but did not 'get' ANESTHESI(A) before coming here. Same with I ERE. Great clues. Invoked red letter help for the Y in EYRE. No other lookups needed.
Have a great day.
I just wanted to chime in to say that yes platy- is a prefix. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/platy- Only as a medical term does it say it is officially a prefix but the definition is there.
ReplyDeleteKazie, that was just my experience. This week I ran into parent of a long ago math student. She was still full of compliments. She remembered that I used to make extra challenges for the advanced students, which they would beg for. The challenges were tailor made to the students interests and capabilities. All the advanced students and their parents wanted my class.
ReplyDeleteSome of the average students strove hard to be included in the challenges.
The weaker students in class and in my tutoring also were comlpimentary. I sat one on one with them and made visuals and manipulatives, sometimes meeting them after school as well.
It is such a thrill to be rmemebered like that.
Ugh. Messed myself up bad on this one.
ReplyDeleteTutti instead of TUTTO ("all" is so rarely singular), Went Off instead of WENT APE which lead to inking in ONES PLACE for "numbers field", Aw Man instead of AW GEE (since I'm not from the past and all), and Trance instead of TECHNO (since I'm still not from the past).
Oh well, I was reminded of the "Tough Love Seat" (bit starts at 3:15) at least.
Hi Y'all,
ReplyDeleteGood to have Lemonade back! Fun puzzle! Got more than usual on Friday.
Hands up for trouble in the NE. Got LION and LOPE, but had put DEi so could come up with nothing after ECONOMIC. Thought tUTU was the tribe. Knew better but put sAHl instead of LAHR. Things went a bit better when I caught Bert's name. WAGd TOD & ERDOS.
Fermatprime, (in the inimitable words of Kojak) "Who loves you, baby!" Even those of us (ME) who are too technically stupid to figure out how to contribute, wish the best for you. Glad your spirits are raised!
- PK -
ARBAON:Thanks, Lemonade714 for being pretty "kewl" yourself!
ReplyDeleteI was also a tough, demanding educator, I did not allow "I can`t." I demanded, "I`ll try." Having a stationary bike in the room for ADHT students garnered me many a well-written thank you letter. We would work hard for twenty minutes than do some "fun" stuff (which was also learning...some of them caught on but kept the secret). BTW: I turned many a student on to crosswords with a site which takes your words(spelling, vocabulary etc) and makes a grid from them. I always felt I had failed if I didn`t enjoy most of my academic day. If I enjoyed it, the students seemed to. My greatest reward is seeing former students being productive and happy citizens.
I am a "chauffeur" now for my SO who is gradually loosing sight...and it`s just a rewarding.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ki Lee, for a tough, but fun Friday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the write-up and comments.
ReplyDeleteLooked at the NW, then headed South. Got all that first, then headed North.
My first theme answer was DAY DREAME. however, I thought it might be DAY DREAMT. I held off on the "T" because of 45D. 59A became apparent. It looked like the last letter was missing, and then it all cleared up. Therefore 50A and 59A were good.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE became obvious.
The NW filled with perps and wags. Did not know 1, 2, or 3 Down. Perps fixed them.
My error was 40A. I had TED instead of TOD. 30D was wrong as well.
Good morning workout. That is for sure.
Tonight Red Cross of Constantine dinner.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Yellowrocks, can they use a needle to draw fluid out of your Baker's cysts? I had fluid removed from my knee that way 30 yrs. ago. Can't remember what they called it. Sure felt better right away.
ReplyDelete- PK -
If you haven't seen Hotel Rwanda, I highly recommend it. It is the story of the Hutu-Tutsi struggle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the book Left to Tell is a horrifying story of a young woman who survived the Rwandan genocide by hiding in a bathroom with several other women for 3 months. I have had the opportunity to meet Immaculée Ilibagiza, the author of the book, several times. She is a truly an amazing woman.
Our paper never prints the theme so it is always a challenge to try and figure it out. Fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNice avatar, Abejo. I assume that is your family and you are on the far right?
ReplyDeleteForgot I also had DREAMT at first.
ReplyDeleteHahtool:
I saw an interview with that author and she described the horror of those days. Some of those women are truly inspirational as is the manager of Hotel Rwanda.
I saw the movie but could not recall the name of the people. Glad Lemonade was there to supply it.
Hi all
ReplyDeleteYes, it's me on a Friday, can you believe it??? I thought I'd give it a try (I usually do on Fridays, but can never even get half way). I got the theme right away for some unknown reason. Must have been on Ki Lee's wave length :)
Had to laugh at myself on 30D I could not figure out what V HONE was. I already had my V-8 can out because I used it for 29D....I had the OA and just stared at the other blank squares. I didn't have TOD or TECHNO yet.
Lid trouble was a terrific mis-direction!!! I thought of pots for a long time and wondered what sort of trouble they have.
That nasty "tutto" issue comes up a lot for me. While " all" is usually plural, it can also mean "entire" or "all of" which can be seen as singular. Then you have the issue of gender so it might be "tutto" or "tutta" with the plural possibilities being "tutti" or "tutte".
ReplyDeleteThat leads to the problem with Mozart's opera, "Cosi Fan Tutte" which has a plural subject but a singular verb. Many articles have been written about that puzzle.
I had pretty much the same experience as many of you--including getting all the theme words and the theme but still not quite understanding it until Lemonade's write-up. Found this pretty hard so it was satisfying to get most of it--except the Tod/Erdos cross (is that a Natick, by any chance?). And had a V-8 moment for not getting Bert Lahr--instead trying to think of the name of every animal lion I ever saw in a movie. But fun puzzle, thanks Ki Lee!
ReplyDeleteBon courage, Fermatprime. Our fond wishes and hopes continue to be with you.
22A, numbers field and 56D, lid trouble have Rich's stamp all over them! Fun misdirections.
ReplyDeleteI just went for a short walk; my sister's home is located on a low grade hill which is so different from the flat AZ desert. Also what an interesting experience to walk on crunchy dry leaves!
SRI: I did not mean to suggest PLATY was not a legitimate combining form to indicate FLAT, but in my limited grammatical mind, to be a prefix, it has to be combined with a word to create a new or derivitative word. PUS is not a word in this context, to me.
ReplyDeleteSandy, the theme is never in any newspaper except on Sundays. Also what we bloggers assign as the theme is our own take on the puzzle, and the constructor may or may not agree.
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteI got all of 20 correct answers. Had no idea about the theme ones, even though I did come up with DAYDREAM_.
From yesterday, my friend who was raised in India agrees with Kazie that curry is not a single spice even though one can buy curry powder. Ailsa uses different spices for her curries. She also told us that hers would be called a 5 boy curry because there are 5 different things to sprinkle on it (coconut,peanuts, raisins, eg.) Each in a small bowl, and in her memory carried by "boys".
Bon appetit.
Also just realized that the puzzle has the word ONE in it twice, very naughty. The lawyers will be all over that one.
ReplyDelete*David*, actually there are three "ones" in the puzzle: 7D BACK TO SQUARE ONE
ReplyDelete27D ONE AM
30D VH ONE
UP is also in the grid twice... and crossing eachother. Actually I think it's kinda cool.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago I was filling a grid and had to use the word TUTSI.
Thinking that this was a big time obscurity, I redesigned that area. Alas, FARSI was the only switch possible. Lucky me.
I'm wrong about most everything... but. I wonder if Ki thought of the phrase ECONOMIC COLLAPSE and quickly realized it wouldn't fit into a 15x grid. And then thought, "Hey, I could do something really different with this", and then went on to create this novel and very creative theme.
This puzzle took me some effort but I enjoyed it. I got the theme anwers that were missing a letter but I didn't see any connection. When I got to the theme reveal, I thought going back to square one meant to the upper-left hand corner. (Did anyone else have that confusion?) Since that didn't work, I had no idea about the theme until I came here. So the theme was too tricky for me but I still enjoyed the puzzling.
ReplyDeleteI also thought HUTU and TUTTO in the same grid were fun, as were ERE and EYRE, homphonics. I hope we do not foster any homophonicphobes in our group.
ReplyDeleteJerome, always a pleasure to see you; I too thought perhaps he he had a 16 letter accident.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteOkay, I give up. What's DF? These d***** acronyms!!!
Liked this one. Thanks, Rich Norris, for your picks this week. Hard to please everybody. Theme was pretty clever. Like others, TOD was a Wild-Assed Guess! Wouldn't have figured out the connection between numbers and ANESTHESIA without your help CC and Lemon. Thanks for that.
Spelled (spelt?) with an "i" instead of a "y", wouldn't you have to pronounce SHIEST as sheest, rhymes with yeast?
Bit of an aggressive motto Massachusetts has. Reminds me of the old 'Fighting for peace is like f***ing for chastity'.
Overall tho, a pretty satisfying week in puzzledom. So I'm not quite walking on air but close to it. Sorta like this:
Walking on air
I came across your site last year and really love it. Each day I look forward to completing my puzzle so i can check your site for the answers and your comments. Looking forward to the New Year and your site. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteSo that's what it is like dinning
at a two star Michelin restaurant.
Didn't want to see what it cost.
Besides, it would have been tacky
to ask.
Know what it is like to have former students and parents come up and talk with Jill. At the end,
she was teaching children of the former students.
Was fun to do.
Take care. eddy
BTW
ReplyDeleteVery nice QOD today Hahtool. And so apropos of Fermatprime's post.
Len, DF is our abbreviation for Dysfunctional, where we use our naughty minds when reading clues and answers uncovering hidden (?)meanings, often sexual in nature.
ReplyDeleteSee 1A today.
Welcome Jo, feel free to add your two cents (more than red cent) to the mix anytime.
I just finished 27 holes of golf and it looks like that’ll be the last for a while as we will be supporting our daughter and her family in Lincoln early next week and winter is supposed to return later in the week with a vengeance.
ReplyDeleteI ran into a former student on the 7th tee box that recognized me and he rewarded me in the manner some of you other bloggers have mentioned today. He remembered his egg drop project, the pulley in the ceiling, some other fun things we did and had nice things to say about time in my classroom. That’s why we do this for a living.
He then let me play through!
Thanks, Lemon. 1A s'plains it pretty well.
ReplyDelete"A sense of perspective will soften the agony of any blow."
Considering what you just explained, can you believe that the quote is William F. Buckley Jr.'s??!!! COUGH! GASP! HA HA HA!!!
Ferm, My heart goes out to you! Depression has been a staple in our families and it is a tough foe. My money is on you to beat it.
ReplyDeleteI too was a math major but ERDOS was not in my realm of knowledge. You must have listened better than I or, more likely, just smarter than the average bear! Good luck to you as you fight this condition.
@Sandy - none of the papers that carry the LA Times puzzle prints the theme; it's part of the challenge to try to figure it out!
ReplyDeleteVery slick puzzle today, great fun Friday!
No food though, I'm despondent.
To Hahtool:
ReplyDeleteI finally figured out how to post an Avatar. That photo is myself on the right as you are looking at it, and my four siblings. It is in descending order by age. I am the oldest.
I am not in many pictures since I am usually taking them. I found that shot. It is a few years old and was taken near Boston, MA, where my youngest sister and her family live. We still look about the same.
Abejo
Husker. What a teacher! Thanks to you I now know that "detasselers" aren't only found in stripper bars!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sheltered life I've led! :)
Abejo, good photo. Gary, I enjoyed hearing and reading about your teaching experiences. I taught both math and science, both in a fairly traditional manner. But every time I could come up with a science demonstration or fun lab, or a math puzzle or interesting side track, it added a lot to the learning experience, both for the students and for me. The students really seemed to enjoy the patterns in Fibonocci numbers and Pascal's triangle for example.
ReplyDeleteGary, Your comment about note taking struck a raw nerve for me. In elementary school, c.7th grade, I had a science teacher who would lecture and require note taking for the entirety of every class. There were a few tests, but the bulk of the grade was based on her review of the notes taken. Not only did this bore me to tears, but it also reduced my handwriting to an illegible scrawl for life.
ReplyDeleteAh, the joys of a parochial educations!
Gary, was your detasseling done to grow hybrid seed corn? That's the only reason I've ever known around here.
ReplyDelete- PK -
Haven't posted for months, but I came so close to finishing today's cw by myself I had to chime in.
ReplyDeleteAt my family reunion in Salt Lake City, two glasses of wine, a long nightgown, and a dimly lit staircase without a handrail got the best of me. I fell down the whole flight and ended up on crutches for weeks.
A month later my husband had a heart attack. He's fine now, but it's been a hard fall and winter so far.
All the discussion about teaching got me remembering my career. One year we read Antigone in my drama classes. For the unit exam they had to memorize a speech from it. They got so into it that we ended up doing a whole production complete with music, pillars of stacked Baskin Robbins ice cream cartons, hand made togas, etc. After an evening performance for the parents we even had a Greek food potluck in the home ec room. They did a wonderful job.
In Creon's almost last speech he asks something like does no one have a blow for me? He acted so embarrassed and there was always so much snickering going on during rehearsals that he finally came to me and very red faced explained why we had to change it.
@Susan, so sorry to hear about your fall and your husband's heart attack. My goodness, that does sound like a difficult time.
ReplyDeleteBut teaching "Antigone!--wow! Wonderful!
i am still trying to to get david to fit in 5 down ^%^**#
ReplyDeleteSusan:
ReplyDeleteSorry yo hear of your life challenges buy you survived so it is all good.
Abejo, nice family; what is the age difference oldest to youngest?
mental health is such a difficult process, especially with the side effects from wonder drugs. not sure we don't all face some episodes, but must soldier on; this from a noe-freudian psyc major.
BTW is Ki Lee male or female? Korean? just curious
Got it all except tripped on TECHNO and VHONE--had an M for the N. It's VH1, so those spelled out letters like VHONE always seem to be a bit of a stretch to me. Just sour grapes, I guess, since I'd never heard of Pop-up Video or Techno as a music genre.
ReplyDeleteFor us math geeks, ERDOS was probably the easiest clue in the puzzle. Those clue are more my speed.
welcome ea...........
ReplyDeleteyou have to be a math person to remember that name
Good evening to all,
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 10:34: I so agree with you about teaching. I LOVED every day of my 40 years. If I wasn't enthusiastic about what I was teaching, how could I expect the class to enjoy it? and Husker, I totally agree with you about the boring lecture notetaking sessions. My motto was your motto, and kids were always involved. There isn't a child from my SS class who could not tell you something about the geography of Mesopotamia. End of unit activity was to frost a rectangular cake with a map of Meso.'s rivers, mts., city states,etc. using any color frosting, candy etc. that the kids and I provided.They did this in groups of 4's and yes, they got to eat it.Big problem with testing. These kids didn't get tested on this 6th grade curriculum by the state until 8th grade.If I wanted them to remember Hammurabi, I had to make it fun and memorable...and it was.
Sorry C.C. for that long paragraph. I do get going when it comes to teaching. We need more Huskers in the classrooms.Somewhere along the line, I never got that love of math, but luckily I got the basic skills. I don't see that basic memorization going on today.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of teachers: the dimensions of my home town are such that I lived near quite a few of my teachers. Just down the street was a science teacher who taught chemistry, among other subjects. One afternoon after school, when I was having trouble with some concept, I found myself by chance in the fellow's driveway. Using the materials right at hand - his little girls' colored chalk - he re-taught the entire lesson right there on the blacktop, just for me. I was ever so grateful.
ReplyDeleteCan somebody please explain "able was ____" I get everything else??????
ReplyDeleteIt is from a famous palindrome:
ReplyDelete"Able was I ere I saw Elba"
SV Puzzle
ReplyDeleteHi, your post was stuck in the Awaiting Moderation. Unstuck now and it looks like the link works fine.
ReplyDelete