Theme: "Wanna play a round?" (Classic duffer's pick-up line...) The word PLAY is positioned AROUND the ends of the theme entries:
17A. Nuts : PLAIN CRAZY. Am I nuts, or just plain crazy?
25A. Switching device : POWER RELAY. I drew this, just to show you an example:
37A. Keeps at it : PLUGS AWAY. Originally a seaman's term from 1627 meaning to use a "stopper". Classic example is Hans Brinker, who "plugged" the hole in the dike...
50A. "We want you here" : PLEASE STAY. Even Anons are welcome in this corner (as long as you PLAY nice!)
50A. "We want you here" : PLEASE STAY. Even Anons are welcome in this corner (as long as you PLAY nice!)
And the unifier:
60. Dally, and a literal hint to 17-, 25-, 37- and 50- across : PLAY AROUND
Marti here, with another fun Thursday offering from our dynamic duo!!
1.Fair color? : AZURE. The blue of a fair, or cloudless sky.
Marti here, with another fun Thursday offering from our dynamic duo!!
Across:
1.Fair color? : AZURE. The blue of a fair, or cloudless sky.
6.Skippy rival : JIF. Do you like chunky or creamy peanut butter? Then we have 6D. 6-Across container: JAR. And 31A. Cover: LID. Perhaps on a JAR of JIF or Skippy?
9.Gillette razor : ATRA
13.Moses' mount : SINAI
14.Like the Gobi Desert : ARID
9.Gillette razor : ATRA
13.Moses' mount : SINAI
14.Like the Gobi Desert : ARID
16."House" actor Robert ___ Leonard : SEAN. This guy, who plays Dr James Wilson, Dr. House's confidante. (From C.C.: Shout-out to Seen.)
19.Agcy. whose seal features a shock of corn : USDA. United States Department of Agriculture.
20.First area to fill in on a form : LINE A. Is anyone getting their tax forms together yet?
21.Harry Potter series ender? : ZED. British "Z"
23.Up to, briefly : TIL
24.Street Cry, to Street Sense : SIRE. "Street Cry" and "Street Sense" are both racehorses. Devious clue, that I needed every perp to solve...
29."Here Come the ___":1945 college comedy : COEDS. This one, OTOH, was sussed simply from the word "college".
32."Leda and the Swan" poet : YEATS. Did anyone else fill in "Keats"?
33.Swing voter: Abbr. : IND. -ependent.
34.Store sign : OPEN
36."Yeah, right!" : I'LL BET
39.Jackie Chan genre : ACTION. Loved him in "Shanghai Noon" with Owen Wilson.
42.Four-legged king : LION
43.Fruit often dried : FIG
46.Novel opening : PART I. "Don Quixote" is an example of a novel that was published in two parts.
47.Row of seats : PEW
48.___ queen : DRAMA
53.Targets : AIMS
54.Texas Rangers manager Washington : RON
55.Pat-down org. : TSA. I bet Dennis would make a good TSA agent...
56.Golfer's feat : EAGLE. Have you ever had one, Husker G or Boomer?
58.Table scraps : ORTS
64.Stringed instrument : VIOL
65.Bygone Dodge : OMNI
66.One may bring eternal bad luck : CURSE
67.Selection word : EENY. meeny, miny, moe...
68.William, to Charles : SON. Princes of the British Empire.
69.Cold metal? : STEEL
Down:
1.Egyptian cobra : ASP
2. Umpteen, with "a" : ZILLION. I used to say a "gazillion".
3.Not made public : UNAIRED
4.Came down : RAINED.
5.Mozart's "___ kleine Nachtmusik" : EINE. Yay, a chance to link one of my favorite compositions, with an interesting bar graph visual. 6:01
7.Tax-sheltered savings, briefly : IRA. Individual Retirement Account. For those filling in Line A...
8.Effervesced : FIZZED. Like soda in scotch...Oh, the horror! (per Tinbeni)
9.SW school whose mascot carries a pitchfork : ASU. Arizona State University. The Sun Devils.
10.Research site : TEST LAB
11.Give off : RADIATE
12.Word with stock or market : ANALYST
15.Yarn colorer : DYER
18.Graduation flier : CAP. Like these at 2:50, from "Legally Blonde". 3:49
22.Terra firma : DRY LAND
24.Phys., e.g. : SCI. -ence
26.Jackie's designer : OLEG. Cassini. Of course, C.C. knows all the designers.
27.Actress with six Oscar nominations by age 33 : WINSLET. Kate. Her first oscar was in 2009 for "The Reader".
28.Hard to grasp : EELY
30.Cadenza performer : SOLOIST. According to Merriam-Webster, a cadenza is a "Technically brilliant sometimes improvised solo passage toward the close of a concerto".
35.One may not be intended : PUN
36.WWII battle site, for short : IWO. Jima.
37.Fillable bread : PITA
38.Old Sony brand : AIWA
39.Give the okay : APPROVE
40.Unit often burned off : CALORIE. I burn off my calories on the treadmill, yoga mat, and now with my X-box 360 Kinect.
41.Capital nearest to Philadelphia : TRENTON. WAG for me.
43.What "you always pass...on your way to success": Mickey Rooney : FAILURE
44.Vast : IMMENSE
45.Electric alternative : GAS. I burn oil, and wince every time I hear the oil truck pull up to the driveway.
47.Book of sacred poems : PSALMS
49.Seasoned stew : RAGOUT
51.Hockey Hall of Fame nickname : ESPO. Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins Hall of Famer.
52.Thumbs-up vote : YEA
57.Curved pieces : ARCS
59.Devilish : SLY. Or, a description of the Arizona State University team...
61.Roberto's 2012, e.g. : ANO. "Roberto" indicates a Mexican name. So, 2012 would be a "year" in Spanish.
62.One of two complementary Asian forces : YIN. and its counterpart: Yang.
63.___ Monte Foods : DEL. I don't serve any canned vegetables in my house.
Answer grid.
And that wraps up this Thursday puzzle. I can't wait to hear what you all thought of it!
Hugs,
Marti
Constructor's note from C.C.:
"This is one of the very earlier puzzles Don and I collaborated. We tried to find a nice mix of P*LAY, PL*AY and PLA*Y 2-word phrases. PLASTIC SURGERY & PROFANITY DELAY were the two other candidates we considered but discarded. I want to thank Dudley for giving us a detailed explanation of POWER RELAY". (Note from Marti: Dudley did not help me with my drawing.)
Answer grid.
And that wraps up this Thursday puzzle. I can't wait to hear what you all thought of it!
Hugs,
Marti
Constructor's note from C.C.:
Morning, all!
ReplyDeletePerfect level of difficulty for a Thursday. I had idea what "Street Cry, to Street Sense" was referring to, so I needed all the perps. I also shot myself in the foot for awhile by putting DAIRY instead of DRAMA at 48A. And it took me way too long to figure out AZURE due to the tricky cluing.
Everything else came slowly, but surely. I didn't know who RON Washington was and had no idea what capitol was nearest to Philadelphia, but the intersection of those two was so obvious that it really didn't slow me down at all.
Good Morning, Marti and friends. Fun Thursday puzzle. I got the theme, but the PLAY(ing) AROUND answer didn't help me fill in the rest of the theme answers.
ReplyDeleteAZURE was tricky, and it was only after I have filled in the answer, through the perps, that I realized what the clue meant.
My favorite clue was One May Not Be Intended = PUN.
I also liked Hard to Grasp = EELY.
I initially tried AGRI for the Agcy. Whose Seal Features a Shock of Corn. Well, at least I had the right agency!
The Arizona schools have been making lots of crossword appearances recently.
QOD: The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you have been. Madeleine L'Engle
Good day folks,
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable puzzle ... thank you CC & Don.
I moved along at a steady pace today with only a couple of minor hiccups that were easily resolved by perps. For 48A started with Delta, Winslow for 27D & Yes for 52D. Did have Yeats though.
Had no idea what the theme was until I entered the unifier. Very clever.
Effervesced/FIZZED favorite clue. Jif was a given because I'm a peanut butter hog, but Skippy is my brand of choice. Probably something to do with the fact I've gone thru life answering only to Skip.
Overall, a fun solve with no major hang ups. Rare for me on a Thursday.
great puzzle Don and CC. Good difficulty for a thursday. Did not recall Ron washington but who recall the losing manager of 2 worlds series in a row. Knew Capital nearest to philly was either Trenton or Dover as they are both with in an hour of Philly. Though I think with traffic i can get to dover quicker than trenton.
ReplyDeleteMarti,
ReplyDeleteChunky peanut butter for me. You? Not fond of any canned veggie/fruit either. But canned pineapple in its own juice is pretty good. Fresh pineapple burns my lips. Boomer had one career eagle. Thanks for the bubbling wrap.
C.C., creamy, definitely! And I could go with canned pineapple, but that's not a vegetable, so it's OK in my house!
ReplyDeleteMarti: Great write-up & links.
ReplyDeleteFUN Thursday, Don G. & C.C.
Liked the EAGLE over PLAY-A-ROUND.
Thought of Husker and golf.
A couple write-overs (in my Black Ink):
4-D, Came down, Landed before RAINED.
52-D Thumbs-up vote was YES before YEA.
30-D Cadenza performer was a solo-ACT before SOLOIST.
Easy fixes.
Just a nit, but shouldn't the clue for 64-A, VIOL, Stringed instrument, have been an ABBR.?
As for that Peanut Butter.
I prefer Peter-Pan, just like my PINCH, there aren't enough "O's" in my SMOOOOOOOOOTH !
A "toast" to One-and-All at Sunset.
Cheers !!!
@Tinbeni:
ReplyDelete"The viol (also known as the viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods."
[from Wikipedia]
Hand up for chunky.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great puzzle! It was challenging, but I actually finished a Thursday without too much help. (Had to Google SIRE.)
Nice theeme. I liked: "First area to fill in on a form": LINE A, "Selection Word": EENY, and, of course: FIZZED.
And, in typical Mari fashion, I had to ask: "What's a PARTI-Novel?" (46A).
Have a great day!
I am a chunky peanut butter fan, too. I generally buy the store brand unless I can get fresh ground peanut butter - you know, the kind where the oils separate and you have to stir it before you can eat it. That is the best on toast.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, all.
ReplyDeleteI should have guessed that this was a DG/CC effort. I almost scored a DNF in the NW corner. I couldn't get 1A. Started with BLOND (but ASP bit that), AMBER (but EINE said not). AZURE was the last to fall. Like Hahtool, I only understood it once I got it.
Hand up for DAIRY before DRAMA, and I WAGed FOAMED before FIZZED. As usual, I didn't get the theme, but figured each them entry must start with a "PL". That helped.
PB's gotta be creamy; JIF or Peter Pan.
So far as LINEA is concerned, I've completed my recertification, so in two weeks I'll be preparing taxes for others. It's a free service that AARP provides nation-wide.
DNF for me, with a swath of blanks from the NE thru to the SW. However, it is probably a good Thursday level for most people.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of POWER RELAY and was trying POKER there. Had ETO for IWO and tried both BASS and HARP before VIOL. Names were of course either WAGs or blank.
Marti,
Nice blog, but the British Empire is now the British Commonwealth, although I think they still award OBE's--Order of the British Empire, or one level of knighthood.
I don't like PB at all--texture--I hate anything that sticks to every part of my mouth. DH likes chunky.
My Favorite PB
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Barry G.
ReplyDeleteWhen my perps filled in VIOL ... I was thinking Violin.
Funny how, living in the 21st Century, I'm unaware of what they called it back in the 15th Century.
Marti:
Your FIZZED, soda and scotch comment was a hoot.
THE HORROR ... OOH, THE HORROR ... LOL !!!
Good morning, folks. Thanks, C.C. and Don, for a good Thursday puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the write-up.
ReplyDeleteMy peanut butter is crunchy on black toast. Love it! My wife gets upset when I leave the toaster set to dark. Hers burns too. Then she is burned.
The puzzle fell together. I could not get started at 1A, so I went 6A, then 6D, then 7d, then 8D. Got all those and thought I was on a roll. That changed quickly.
The theme answers came easily, but I never got the connection. The write-up explained it.
Tinbeni and I must think alike. I had LANDED before RAINED, YES before YEA, and SOLO ACT before SOLOIST. Fixed those with writing over them as I progressed.
Had MILLION before ZILLION became obvious.
PSALMS was a good one.
It is 13 degrees here with a dusting of fresh snow.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Bill G
ReplyDeleteThanks for the low in a lea info yesterday, yes it helps a lot.
Argyle
Your link did not help,,,
(but it did make me smile after a hard days puzzling:)
One of my favorite's:
ReplyDeleteLink Shel Silverstein
Off to take my son to the doc. See you later.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteA smooth fill today, no hiccups, apart from having absolutely no idea what Street Cry / Sense meant.
You're welcome C.C., I've been watching for this puzzle, must be a year and a half now. 25A probably got filled just a little faster in my case...
Morning, Marti, I see your wit is in good shape! I also see that you label your circuits according to British practice.
Argyle - do I detect a bygone Dodge in your avatar?
I'm with Hahtool, peanut butter has to be the fresh ground type containing nothing whatsoever except roast peanuts. Why add trans fats, salt, or sugar?
Good morning! Another enjoyable puzzle from puzzledom's dynamic duo. Thanks C.C. and Don.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of falling into the dairy/DRAMA trap and having no idea why SIRE ended up in the grid, I managed to straighten it out and finish in less time than Thursdays usually take. PARTI emerged via perps and I stared at it for a bit before I could parse it into PART I.
"Wanna PLAY AROUND?"... yeah, I've used that phrase but it sure wasn't on the golf course.
Abejo, I'm still chuckling over your black toast and 'burned wife' comment.
Extra Crunchy JIF is the choice here. Some may consider it odd, but the only bread we use in our house is Cobblestone Mill Rye... whether it's for a PB&J, lunchmeat or grilled cheese.
I'm glad so many of you enjoyed my links yesterday.
Good morning all. Thanks for your usual cheery write-up, Marti.
ReplyDeleteAnother offering from our dynamic duo and as usual, fun to work on. Interesting theme, but as is my wont, didn't 'get' it until coming here. But the perps sufficed. It had the Thursday elements; mis-direction and tertiary definitions. Sparse fill at first but the dam broke with ZILLION. WAGs included IWO and USDA. Favorite fill was FIZZED. I wonder it 24a and 68a would be considered a clechco?
It’s 3°F here and not a good day for putting your tongue on the pump handle! Sky is AZURE but... Don, C.C. and Marti provide a very pleasing antidote. I feel like the converse of Arizona on heat, it’s cold but it’s a dry cold. We have had precious little snow this winter.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Super Chunk Skippy on an English muffin here
-Elections should be held on April 16th
-Ind’s always decide elections as partisans are unshakable
-I had a 9’ putt for an eagle and was just short and just to the left. Tin admonished me for being short and he’s right
-Eine Kliene is one of my favs too
-HBO’s series The Pacific about the island hopping battles from Australia up to Japan which included Iwo Jima is so realistic it is hard to watch
-Dang you Grumpy! I’m still trying to trap that cat!
Good day, Marti, C.C. and Don G, our indomitable duo. Thank you for a challenging puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMarti, I enjoyed your sparkling blog.
And a shout out to my alma mater, ASU!
This one had easy and difficult PARTs, e.g. JIF, ATRA, ARID, etc. flew off my pencil but I blanked completely at YEATS and did not give up KEATS. That gave me an awkward DRKLAND.
All else fell into place though SIRE mystified me. Even the sports clues failed to daunt me as they emerged quickly.
Did not know Robert SEAN Leonard is in House and recall him only from The Dead Poets Society.
Loved the cluing for PUN and EELY.
Liked PSALMS and PEW crossing.
Abejo:
Enjoyed your story!
Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!
My JIF is always smooth.
ReplyDeleteHaving heard, "You wanna play (mess) around?" hundreds of times in my "career", my stock answer is: "How could I not with all this romance?!"
ReplyDeleteTake that you puddy tat, I gothca that time! This reminded me of a game I bought in 1969 called Twixt which was part of a bookshelf game series made by 3M. The key to that game is also to anticipate and build barriers where your opponent seems to be going not where he is.
ReplyDeleteVery good football defenses do that as well. They entice the QB into thinking he is calling the right play but, oops, he’s trapped and stymied.
YellowRocks, enjoyed your PBS link (peanut-butter sandwich).
ReplyDeleteToday's learning moment: Row of Seats = PEW. I thought a pew was just any seat designed to be darned uncomfortable.
Good Thurs. puzzle and write-up! Can't decide if I'm getting better or what but this is becoming more fun as time goes by. But then tomorrow is Friday. I wanted the Jackie Chan answer to be Comedy but that wasn't to be.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Super Chunky P-nut butter on heavy Wheat toast! I use Del Monte ketchup (rarely) cuz I avoid anything Heinz.
Tinbeni - I used to drink Pinch, then discovered Glenmorangie - tried it?
Good morning. Very nice puzzle C.C. and Don. Great writeup Marti.
ReplyDeleteThursday level all the way through, but no major stoppages. The perps came to the rescue at every wall. My Queen started as a Delta. Took a while to figure out SIRE, but the light went on.
Skippy in our house. Smooth to Chunky. Enjoyed the Silverstein poem, YR.
Saw an eagle from 165 yards once....coming out of the trees. Amazing! Myself, rarely had a par and I think only a couple of birdies.
Don't forget, he who farts in church sits in his own pew.
Thanks for the shout out C.C.!
ReplyDeleteFunny stuff Marti. I bet you are a hit at a PARTI. I'LL BET you worked hard on that schematic.
I prefer creamy JIF even though I had an uncle called Skip.
I once stayed at the Hyatt on DEL Monte Golf Course. (Or was that an OMNI?) Didn't PLAY A ROUND though.
Never got an EAGLE but did get a robin once. True story.
Thank you Don and CC for a very nice puzzle, and Marti for a delightful commentary. Enjoyed your music link, very much. DNF, but still enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI emailed the 'Catch/Corral the Cat' game to all my friends & relatives. Since I haven't mastered how to hyper link, I sent detailed instructions on how to access the LAT CW corner, on Jan. 18th, and then the Jan 18th, comments, and then to Grumpy 1's link ....
This morning I had, 28 emails and 6 Skypes informing me that they had managed to "Corral the Cat"... from ( among other places ... ) Geneva, Helsinki, Dubai, Singapore, Kyoto and Honolulu. So this Crossword Corner, Grumpy 1's comment and the "The Elusive Cat" game have encircled the world, .... yet again. You have now hit it 'big time', and should be charging royalties... Bring on the PIPA-SOPA already !!!
More than one person asked me if, the L A Times is the "west coast version" of the NYT ???
Yes, the LAT is the NYT, just three hours later.
ReplyDeleteMusings 3
ReplyDelete-The mention of Kate Winslet’s name brought several things to mind
-Her posing on the couch scene in Titanic. Her scene on the prow of the ship (“I’m the king of the world!”) is fine but…
-A trailer we saw before seeing our movie this weekend advertised that Titanic is going to be re-released in 3D in April. We’ll be going.
-The sinking of the Italian cruise ship has stiffened my wife’s resolve to never go on cruise
-The cowardice of that Italian captain is unconscionable
Had to think on this one. Keats was my first try also. Has anyone ever heard or used the word "ort" outside a CW?
ReplyDeleteFor me, it is Skippy Super Chunk. Always has been and always will be.
Good morning everyone. Fun puzzle and great write-up, Marti. I thought the level of difficulty was on the easy side for a Thursday but, then again, some days I think the puzzle is difficult when others feel it is a breeze. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteAny Giants fans here? Hope Eli's "bug" gets zapped before Sunday. Have a great day, all.
What a perfect puzzle from C.C. and Don and dissected by ever efferevescent and never flat, Ms. Martin. Since your style epitomizes the concept of playing around, it was a tailor made Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who has owned and raced horses as well as donating regularly at the track, so the SIRE clue and answer was my favorite, but the originality was throughout the fill.
Really enjoyed this puzzle and the write-up. Thanks C.C., Don and Marti. Finished with no lookups, but read the clue for 60a as "daily" and was left thinking WTF when "play around" filled in. I did see play in the other theme clues and just figured I'd let the Corner straighten me out!
ReplyDeleteAs for PB- creamy on whole wheat for me! A fav is a PB, lettuce and mayo sandwich with lots of Lays original chips on the side served with a large glass of moo juice. Yum.
Loved this, took me a while to finish and a couple of do-overs; I like it when the theme reveal helps me fix something - in this case I had PLEASE COME; when I got the reveal it was "oh ho, that's not right!"
ReplyDeleteSuper write-up Marti.
Some Food! too, so a happy day. Laura Scudder's Extra Chunky PB for me.
I actually hit a helicopter on a golf course once. Fortunately it was parked between the 1st and 18th fairways, not actually airborne. Still, makes a good story!
I could go on forever about Empire, Commonwealth, Kingdoms and Principalities regarding the UK, but I'd be way over my 20 lines and boring everyone to death. So I won't.
Happy Thursday, y'all!
Whenever I run cross the word "azure" (I didn't get it right off today) I am reminded of a fantastic poem by Mallarme, "L'Azur". The final line is
ReplyDelete"Je suis hante. L'Azur. L'Azur. L'Azur. L'Azur."
I am haunted, the sky, the sky, the sky, the sky.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteBig JAR of JIF extra-crunchy for me. Fresh ground is best of course, but you have to out of your way to find it, then there's all that tedious stirring . . .
Fun puzzle. Theme was EELY without the unifier. Spelt SINAI in some weird way at first. "Fair color" is pretty subtle.
All those Oscar nominations: WINSLET PLUGS AWAY.
SINAI - PLAIN - ARID - DRY LAND - mini-theme, or am I CRAZY?
ZILLION - IMMENSE.
Cheers!
JzB aka RON
Irish Miss
ReplyDeleteEli returned to practice today. No worries, he will be ready to go on Sunday. After watching the Niner's/Saints last week, I've come to realize this will be a tougher game than I had thought.
Lunchtime in CT..... after all the discussion, guess I'll opt for PB & J on whole wheat. Blackberry or strawberry Jam........ decisions, decisions.
Good Thursday morning to all.
ReplyDeleteC.C. and Don - fun puzzle. My V-8 moment was 24A, Street Cry to Street Sense. Great clue! Not too many miss fills...ELSE for EENE, LANDED for RAINED. Kate Winslet is a terrific actress, one of my favorites.
Peanut Butter? Whatever is on sale.
Okay all you NorCal folks, it's time for the Silicon Valley Puzzle Fest in Morgan Hill. I'll try to link the site (thank you Argyle). (I don't have a lot of confidence...try www.svpuzzle.org) It should be a fun afternoon!
SV Puzzle Fest
Have a super day!
Husker:
ReplyDelete3°F and you're NOT out on the course
to PLAY-A-ROUND?
geez, what a slacker ...
OMG,it worked!!! Yea Me!
ReplyDeleteTin, I'm about 75-80 miles So of Gary, so we're in the banana belt. Our low was 5 and it's a whopping 8 right now....Predicted high 15. Makes you want to break out the Hawaiian shirts.
ReplyDeleteTin and AJ, I got my clubs re-gripped and am taking them up to our Y and hit some whiffle balls into the screen. Hey, I've already played 6 rounds since Jan 1 and so I'll have to celebrate that.
ReplyDeleteJoe, my daughter feels well enough to go back to school and is out at Pioneers Park in west Lincoln just a few miles north of you with her kiddos today at their Heritage School. It is indoors and she doesn't have to talk all that much with here convalescing tongue.
Dennis- Re: Kazies post. Don't even think about it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dynamic Duo and Marti. Tough puzzle, but fair. And would never have understood things like the race horse relations if it hadn't been for Marti's write-up. So, a good start to a sunny Thursday!
ReplyDeleteAs for Peanut Butter, I can't stand it--even though I love munching actual peanuts. Go figure. However, I use peanut butter to bribe our dachshunds to go into their pen, when we leave the house, or at night. Those little tails just wag like crazy when they smell their PB.
Hope someone posts "Leda and the Swan." A great Yeats.
Hello.
ReplyDeleteWould rather count my eagle as a hole-in-one on that par3.
Skippy Creamy on Keebler crackers.
Getting ready to rain today. Sky is not azure blue.
A lot of answeres were WAGs today.
Took marketing classes at ASU when
we lived in Tempe.
Played The Del Monte Course in the goog old days.
No Heinz products in this house either. Went through their factory once.
Take care. eddy
Does anyone use ORT? Yes, at the snack table after our fencing lessons, my friend and I pick them up with our EPEES and serve them to each other.
ReplyDeleteI too read "daily" instead of "dally." Just got new glasses, too--I need to get them changed faster and faster these days.
SW corner is tough when you have KUNGFU and LUTE instead of ACTION and VIOL.
BTW, Hans Brinker novel included the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike as a story within the novel, but it wasn't Hans.
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
ReplyDeleteAbove the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
My non-EAGLE story: I had a chance to PLAY at Bay Hills, Arnold Palmer's course in FLA. (WE had lunch together. True, he was seated on the other side of the restaurant, but still . . .)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was teeing off last on 2, 'cuz I had at least triple bogey on 1. As the other guys were hitting, I noticed a squirrel making it's way across the fairway, right to left, about 80 yards out, approaching a large tree. When My turn came, I hit a worm-burner, about 6 inches off the ground. It hit near the tree and took an odd bounce. I thought it had caromed off an exposed root.
My cart mate just about went berzerk, jumping and shouting, "He hit the {F**$$@%} squirrel."
We arrived at the scene of the carnage just as he was givng his last twitch. Got him square in the head. It looked like a badly bruised strawberry.
Ick!
JzB did not make this up
The "SW school whose mascot carries a pitchfork" (9D) clue threw me. I grew up in farming country and have seen many a pitchfork and used a few myself. I still have one in the tool shed. They are used to pick up hay, mostly, and then to PITCH the load, usually onto a wagon rolling alongside, into a larger haystack, or into the barn's hay loft.
ReplyDeleteThat gizmo the ASU mascot is carrying looks more like a frog gig or fishing spear, or maybe a medieval weapon. The barbs on the middle tine look like they are designed to hold onto whatever it is stuck into, not make it easy to do any pitching.
Virginia C:
ReplyDeletere: Glenmorangie, YEA, many times.
Also very SMOOOOOOTH.
Pinch is just the "Every-Day" stuff.
Or, in my best Will Roger ISM:
"I never met a Scotch I didn't like."
Avg.Joe:
I guess you're
"Havin'a Heat Wave,
A Tropical Heat Wave" ...
F is so misleading.
15°F is 17°F below freezing!!!
There would probably be some ICE forming.
It is well documented that I abhor ICE ...
(And people wonder why I live my life as I do.
All I know is that my final destination will be ... warm).
One of these days I'll figure out how to log in so my ID doesn't appear like gibberish. Maybe this time? (Freond)
ReplyDeleteAnother learning moment, thanks Misty. I'd never heard SIRE referred to as race horse relations before. :)
ReplyDeleteJerome:
ReplyDeleteFish in a barrel. You gotta have a special license for that.
Creamy Jif here, on Town House crackers. It's manufactured (or concocted) about 35 miles from here in Lexington, in a plant that once housed a regional brand, Big Top, which was real enough that it separated in the jar. Proctor & Gamble bought it out, then Smuckers bought it later.
PB is like Chicken fingers, something you know isn't really "food" but you eat it anyway.
Can we talk about beer?
JzB: My EAGLE/robin story is similar.
ReplyDeleteMine was on the first tee and the early bird was just tryin' to get a worm near a tree just off the tee box. My shot went immediately left and about an inch off the ground. The ball picked up the bird off the ground and introduced him to the tree. Of course there was a group behind us waiting. Everyone had a big laugh at my expense.(and the bird's!)
Always nice to start the round with a birdie though.
Jerome, it's not Kazie's post you should be worried about...
ReplyDeleteactually got some perps today, made many of the rewrites mentioned above, but got stuck in the NW. Then i realized i misread Moses' Mount as Moses' Count. When i replaced 20A parta with linea everything fell into place except that annoying "sire", i was sure i had a technical DNF until i came to the Blog and was so surprised i got it right that i forgot to figure out the theme.
ReplyDeleteDennis: Are you referring to Misty's or Windhover's post? Or both?
ReplyDeleteI did mean to say that when I read the clue for 2D it didn't take a zillionth of a second for "a s**tload" to pop front end center into my brain.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE peanut butter and pickles on white bread!
ReplyDeleteFound this super easy as I had only one writeover, RAINED/landED. Thought AZURE was a stretch and didn't know for sure what SIRE was referring to, but made a correct guess. Fortunately SEAN came from the crosses as this "pop culture challenged" solver had no clue there. My fact of the day is AIWA as an old Sony brand. Didn't know that.
ReplyDelete@Husker Gary, your idea of April 16th for elections is brilliant, but please, now I have to get coffee splurtches off of my monitor.
Skippy crunchy, homemade freezer raspberry jam, half of a sliced banana on whole wheat toast!
Kinsey Millhone: so P is for Peanut Butter?
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 10:58: yes, my mother, a Canadian, used the term ORT frequently. (Although spell check doesn't like it.)
DNF, but fun puzzle anyway. Thanks to our duo, and thanks to HeartRX for a fine write up.
Time for lunch, maybe a pbj and milk.
Cheers
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteFigured out the cat game but won't be trying the dance moves any time soon. Lois, sorry about your idol, but Edison was a real SOB. (See Edison/Tesla, speaking of POWER RELAYs.)
All the CW's this week have taken about the same amount of time to complete, except yesterday's, where the theme actually helped me solve it. Yeats a gimme; he was big on mythology. Otherwise, what others have said.
Legally Blonde must have done well at the Rotten Tomato Awards. So bad it was almost funny. Which got me thinking about how truly lucky we in the West are to have such a fabulously creative and absolutely trustworthy Main Stream Media. So, a little paean to the MSM and the moguls who make it all possible.
MSM
We're in for 7" of snow tomorrow over here in Chicago. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteAnybody every try Nutella?
After doing the puzzle, I thought for sure I'd come here and find the posts littered with Crossword Corn-y puns. Instead, all I get are some old men talking about worms and balls.
ReplyDeleteU-pun my soul, gentlemen! Get thee to a punnery! Punish us all with your swinging...wit.
Leda and the Swan . . .
ReplyDeletereduced to a Haiku.
Gods and mortals, eked
From a woman's loins; Great God:
He flipped her the bird.
Cheers!
JzB no Yeats
Miss T,
ReplyDeleteIs your complaint related to the fact that we are old or that we are witless? I plead guilty to both, but if it's Jerry Lee-esque Balls of Fire you seek, I would remind you of the aphorism related to early birds and second mice.
I'm not the plumber's son, but ...........
Jerome:
ReplyDeleteOne of my cousins is doing research on our family background and I read about "Carroll Gunderson" of Grants, NM, who provided electricity for the town in 1929.
Any relation? It is not a common name so I thought of you.
This Irish boy with a browned backside says to MISS TAKEN...
ReplyDeleteKISS ME TAN
ORT is a very big Jewish non-profit org. dedicated to the education in the technical and industrial arts and crafts, for quality high-tech careers and also for giving occupational therapy and industrial training to the disabled.
ReplyDeleteIts original name comes from the Society of Trades and Agricultural labor, in Russian. Started, with the approval and at the pleasure of the Tsar, in 1885.
Au contraire, WH! I am well aware of the wit capable in this room. I was just hoping, based on 35D, for more than where one likes to have peanut butter applied - pun intended.
ReplyDeleteSeen, please. That's a start, but no reason to get snippy, Skippy. Rise to the challenge! Three, uh, words just isn't enough for me...
A toast to all at sunset.
ReplyDeleteOdds N ends:
ReplyDeleteGary, Glad your daughter is feeling so well so soon! BTW, since you brought up Pioneers, I wasn't there, but know a guy who killed a goose teeing off at Pioneers Golf course. He never has lived that down.
Peanut butter is really good with jelly and bacon on toast.
Reese Witherspoon may have been awful in Legally Blonde, but she was actually pretty good in Water For Elephants.
Miss Taken, "Get thee to a punnery!". I'm stealing that one!!
Mari, I feel compelled to inform you that this is an ETO board (Equal toasting opportunity).
ReplyDeleteAn alternate Toast at sunset.
Avg Joe: Looks like we got our PB&J, now all we need is some bread!
ReplyDeleteIn light of crossword solving plugs, for our New England crew, one way to get ready for the ACPT is to take this Challenge . In little Killingsworth, Connecticut, not far from Clinton on the sound, where I learned to swim. the 24 hour drive from here seems daunting.
ReplyDeleteI do love semi-obscure literary comments like the Kinsey one, it was fun, why not I-dentify yourself.
Mari: Great link. I liked the recipe names. There was also a pb&j jello shot recipe in the comments section of the store.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I rose to the challenge...oh nevermind.
This song's for you WH.
BTW, my kids love Nutella; I am not a hazlenut fan. They also love Beer.
ReplyDeleteI like both creamy and crunchy, and I too will not address KZ's open door.
All the posters looking for more salacious commentary,
why wait
you too
can create.
I'd love rising to your challenge, but I'm a cereal monogamist.
ReplyDeleteSeen: a favorite of mine
ReplyDeleteThere once was a plumber from Leigh
Who was plumbing his maid by the sea
Said she, "Please stop plumbing,
I think someone's coming!"
Said he, "Yes I know love, it's me."
Hondohurricane: Thanks for the good news about Eli. Let's hope our Big Blue shine on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteKinsey Milhone: Have you read "V is for Vengeance"?
Tinbeni: A toast at 5:00 from another Scotch drinker!
Gee, and I wasn't even trying to be DF this morning. Give me Vegemite any day on a Ritz or buttered bread in place of PB. I swear, Mum was right when she used to say men only care about their stomach and what hangs from it.
ReplyDeleteOn a nicer note, I really should have complimented C.C. and Don on their offering today. even though I didn't do too well on it, it was fun and I'm amazed at how frequently you are both starring in our puzzle world.
Lucina- Nope... no family there.
ReplyDeleteyou PLAIN CRAZY bloggers have given me lots of giggles today - the Nut Liquor sounds yummy and problem inducing (i imagine it tastes so good i wouldn't notice how much i've consumed TIL i tried to stand up...).
ReplyDeletei had no clue what a PARTI novel was - really thought i was missing out on something new and exciting in the book world.
finished in 19 minutes and i was really proud of myself til i realized its only thursday.
creamy skippy, knott's boysenberry jam, and butter smooshed on a warm flour tortilla for me, thanx! don't forget the milk!
Eeny...Meeny...
cheers!!
I really liked this theme compared with a recent puzzle where one word of 4 letters was distribute one letter per theme answer at a newspaper that thinks they have the "best puzzles" (winkey). This was 100 times more interesting to solve and figure out.
ReplyDeleteAZURE - awesome clue (I don't use awesome lightly)
ZILLION - cool
TRENTON - gimme for PA guy
sweet sweet puzzle
No PBJ? OK.
ReplyDeleteVegemite Sandwich
Lemony,
ReplyDeleteHow about some salacious sax and violins?
Fun puzzle, Don and CC. Cheery, clever write up, Marti. Thanks for Eine Kliene Nachtmusik.
ReplyDeleteI like chumky peanut butter on saltines with a sprinkle of salt. (Tsk. Tsk.) I didn't care for PB as a kid because it stuck to the roof of my mouth. (See Shel Silverstein.) It doesn't seem as sticky now, so I like it. Would you believe that my sibs and parents liked PB in a cold cut, cheese, onion, tomato, and lettuce sandwich? Yucch!! Mari, Reeses PB Cups, yay!! Also PB cookies.
I liked DRY LAND. When you disembark from a boat you arrive on terra firma or DRY LAND.
Middletown Bomber, Phila. is a huge piece of real estate. How far away other cities are depends upon where you start in Phila. I have been to Dover, DE and Trenton from Phila. From where I start Trenton is far closer.
I liked AZURE though it was tricky, The AZ perps helped me to nail it.
Hola Everyone, This was a DNF for me today. I had a total brain freeze on the NW corner. Azure didn't come at all, and I tried to fit in Names for first area to fill in on a form. But my major hangup there were the two horses names. I've never heard of them and horses never even entered my poor cold brain.
ReplyDeleteI had everything else in, but really flubbed that area today.
I loved EEny for selection word. This or That would have fit, except for the perps.
Great puzzle C.C. and Don G. and a super writeup Marti.
Marti, how was your skiing? We've yet to get enough real snow here for skiing in the Sierra. Our first real rain of winter is supposed to come in this afternoon. It is getting darker and darker so I guess the weather forecast was correct.
Have a great evening everyone.
Thumbs up for Chunky Peanut Butter. Mari's Peanut butter cup is a really close second.
ReplyDeleteSince I make many different kinds of jam all summer, our favorite sandwich is a PBJ. But we have to be careful not to overdo. I could eat one everyday.
Seen:
ReplyDeleteYep, that's what I'm talkin' about.
Avg.Joe
ReplyDeleteLike the new Avatar.
HELL freezing over ... too funny!
Just my luck, I'd go there and it would be covered in ICE.
Mari:
Glad you said "of snow" ... lol
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteThis was not an easy puzzle but was fun. I actually got the NW corner right away, even azure, but the rest took awhile.
Temperature is really low,hovering around zero. WE were spoiled by the nice weather we had up until last week.
I had Psalms for 47D but it did'nt fit with a couple wrong answers so had to come back to it later.
Thanks Don,CC and Marti for a nice puzzle.
Marge
PS Google did'nt let me use my password at first. It tried to tell me I changed it 7 months ago.
but I didn't. It finally let me in.
Gee, Chickie and Mari
ReplyDeleteI've heard of an "A" cup and a "B" cup, a "C" cup and even a "D" cup. But a "Chunky Peanut Butter" cup!!!
I could eat one of those every day too!!!
Maybe this is only my hangup. When commenters refer to other comments I scroll up and down the blog trying to find the commenters' names and the instance being refered to. Sometime I have logged off right after the instance and come back hours later. I don't remember who said what when. I really enjoy following the thread, but sometimes give up when the reference is difficult to find. After many praises about a link that I didn't have time to pursue, I have to locate each of the linker's comments to find which one has this gem.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a time given with each comment reference. I know this is a PIA, but it would help me. Am I the only one?
Maybe my lame brain needs too much help.
Avg Joe,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Men at Work number. The visuals took me home to Sydney for a while.
BTW,
For those who are still confused: Eine and Kleine rhyme--both have the "eye" sound and so are both spelled "ei" (my rule: e i rhymes with eye, i e rhymes with eee). German spelling is always consistent with pronunciations except with a few foreign words. Hence no "ie" here.
Hey gang - because several of us don't get a chance to visit the blog on the weekend, and because I'm not sure I'll be able to post tomorrow, I wanted to point out a milestone that will occur on Saturday: THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLOG! Quite a testimony to C.C.'s creation. When I go back and look at what our little group was then, compared to the number of people now, it's clear that C.C. has created one hell of a 'happy place' for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm very proud to be a part of this, and have the utmost admiration for our fearless leader. Those of you who blog know a bit about the amount of work she puts in each and every day. C.C., congratulations on a tremendous accomplishment!
Getting back to Yeats, if he was around today he'd be saying, "The WORST lack all conviction." But he LEDA sheltered life.
ReplyDeleteIn keeping with the theme, would it be "place happy"?
ReplyDeleteplay Miss T for me, the Amy Dikson piece was brilliant! Thanks for linking…
ReplyDeleteChickie @4:10, I would say skiing was COLD…but Lemony might nitpick. So, I’ll just say that it was colder than a witch’s t*t out there. Reminds me, Hahtool (from Sunday) – No I have never seen the Belalp Witch races, but they sure look like a lot of fun!
YR @4:43, I do the same thing while trying to follow the threads. But usually I just go back to the last place I left off and continue reading. I’m just now getting caught up with last weekend’s blog, since I took a three day hiatus (no computers, no cell phones. Just pure driven snow and a warm fire at night…Heaven!)
Yellowrocks @4:43 pm
ReplyDeleteEven tho I'm one of the offenders, I happen to agree with you on this one. Especially now that the blog has upwards of 100 posts per day. Soon we'll need a Google keyword search feature if the blog keeps growing at this rate.
Dennis @ 4:56 pm
"Fearless" leader is the right word. Every time you put something out there, even if 99% of the people like it, you always run the risk that somebody, somewhere, will hate it and react accordingly. So you do have to be fearless to do this and I'm glad you all are.
One of the best things about this blog is how supportive everybody is of everybody else, and the criticism, when it comes, is civilized and gentle. So congrats indeed to CC, you and the others who make it possible.
@CC, More interviews please.
ReplyDeleteCircle-the-cat youtube video solutions ....
ReplyDeleteThis is my last post on this subject.
For those desperate to learn a solution, to the "elusive cat" puzzles.
Go To:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MM-jnxDPA&feature=related
or just Google,
catch-the-cat game youtube
There are atleast 6 videos, some in Spanish, with bad words, gratis.
A picture is worth a thousand words....
A video is worth a zillion words .....
Hello, fellow cruciverbalists!
ReplyDeleteSwell puzzles this week. Especially liked the Betty White references the other day. CC and Don: you are amazing! You too, Marti!
Still fighting trying to get LADWP to hook up solar to box. They invented a new form for me to upload! What will they think of next?
For many years have not liked peanut butter--not even in anything. Love cashew butter (unsalted).
Had a great swim today, but was really aching all over. Not many ants showed up in the pool house. The new non-toxic (to anything but ants) arrived yesterday. Do you suppose that they knew?
Cheers!
Did anyone else use PLUMBCRAZY for 17A? Maybe if I had Googled 5D I would have realized my mistake. But I'm ignorant of the German language and had no idea. For this reason I was stumped on 3D and 4D. Didn't realize my mistake until I read the blog.
ReplyDeleteSteve S, funny you should say that. I did think of "plumb" at first, instead of PLAIN. Then I wondered if it was really "plum" crazy? But no, it really is "plumb", according to the web... But ASP at 1D and EINE at 5D dispelled that notion. I do know German (haltingly), but EINE Kleine Nachtmusik is a classic that you should really put into your xword vocabulary (if not for the enjoyment of the song!!)
ReplyDeleteDang you, anoy-mouse!! I had resolved not to play that game anymore, and you got me sucked right back in with your video link that made it look so easy...grrrr
ReplyDeleteyellowrocks@4:43
ReplyDeletei agree, 1st there was a golf thread, and then somebody mentioned peanut butter. i thought this was about crosswords! whats this blog coming to! You people are driving me NUTTY...
Irish Nutty that is, Frangelica, baileys, irish whiskey and coffee topped with whipped cream, and sprinkled with cinnamin, and after 2 or 3 i would swap out the coffee for expresso... .. .
Oh, Sorry,,, what i meant to say was:
Marti,
That wiring diagram with 220 volts on one side, and 12 volts on the other, looks like a relay between central air conditioner and a thermostat.
Hi all. Just showing up now and there are 108 comments. I've scanned through them and don't have much to add.
ReplyDeleteI also had DELTA queen before DRAMA and YOU BET and KEATS first. This was another theme that required a bit of staring and thinking for a few moments.
Thanks C.C. and Don. Thanks Marti, for your always enlightening write-up.
I'LL BET DRY LAND looked pretty darn good to those cruisers in Italy.
I've been trying to get CChusband to go on cruise for years. Almost had him convinced. Not gonna happen now.
Avg Joe@10:20 am
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard that PEW joke, I was sitting in church on Christmas Eve with my HS boyfriend. In the middle of the prayer he whispered it my ear. His father was a Presbyterian minister. I almost choked to death trying to stifle my laughter.
Oh, one more thing. I had PLUMB CRAZY first too.
ReplyDeleteC.C., congratulations! Long time lurker, very nice blog. I hope it continues for a long time.
ReplyDeletePeter Pan creamy, preferrably the Honey Roast version. I was pleasantly surprised last week when I compared labels and found it to have slightly better stats than the standard version! I thought I was indulging slightly with the special version.
ReplyDeleteCrazy Cat,
ReplyDeleteMinisters' children can be very rebellious, at least in my experience.
C.C.,
Congratulations on the fourth anniversary and thank you! I've been here since July 2008, and it seems more like only a couple of years. Time goes too fast these days. It's addictive, and a daily routine I have withdrawal symptoms from when I can't be here.
The lineage of racehorses is obscure.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the harry potter one...how is Zed the ender their that doesn't make any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteAn email with the response would be great...thanks!