Theme: ELVIS is in the house! What a fun theme for those of us who love anagrams, as each of the four central theme answers begin or end with an anagram of ELVIS. Perhaps on this Friday the 13th, the mystery of the true end of Elvis inspired the most competent and prolific Mr. Bain , who does lots of blogging and comments himself in addition to entertaining us with his work. Is it not fascinating how this all fit together, albeit in a 16 x 15 grid to allow the wonderful central theme answer and the unifier which brings back memories of the horror which was expressed when I was a child and Elvis first shook those hips. The first two have the anagram first, the last two at the end. Well be careful, here we go....
19A. *Casual-wear brand since 1873 (10) : LEVI'S JEANS.
25A. *Enters a witness protection program, say (11) : LIVES IN FEAR. Nice clue.
42A. *Compromised choice (16) : LESSER OF TWO EVILS. Like I said a sixteen letter answer which led to the grid.
58A. *Wedding shop array (11) : BRIDAL VEILS. Is it true women wear them to hide the inevitable zit in the middle of the forehead on the wedding day?
64A. Song that first topped the charts on 4/13/1957...or how its singer's name appears in the answers to starred clue (10) : ALL SHOOK UP. (1:51). Not many recordings of his early work.
Let us see where we go today.
Across:
1. In tears, say (5) : MOVED. Like Masters champ, BUBBA. Tricky start.
6. NPR's Totenberg (4) : NINA. The journalist most associated with the Supreme Court. During her long career she broke the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill story. Also a tough beginning.
10. Pasta grain (5) : WHEAT. The base ingredient of of flour, even in Matzo.
15. Greenish shade (5) : OLIVE. Military uniforms, for example.
16. Hemoglobin material (4) : IRON. The same one found in the ground.
17. Like healthy soil (5) : WORMY. True but really an obscure fact.
18. Pie nut (5) : PECAN. Really nice clue, not the one who loves it, the one in it.
21. Work on film (4) : EDIT. So many choices beyond just movies,
23. Betwixt (4) : AMID. Mother used to say betwixt and between.
24. Familia member (3) : TIO. Spanish for Uncle.
29. Maine ___ cat (4) : COON. For all our kitty lovers (yes I know) LINK the first breed to win the cat show. A black one cross our paths? Oh oh.
30. Unbeatable service (3) : ACE. Pete Sampras' specialty.
31. Morlock prey (4) : ELOI. H.G. Wells will live forever in puzzles. As will 53D. Hollywood's Mimieux (6) : YVETTE.
32. Sister of Rachael (4) : LEAH. Both married to Jacob.
34. More than serious (4) : DIRE. Often associated with STRAITS. (9:47) It is long but but the anthem for this puzzle, fer sure!
36. Presaging times (4) : EVES. I guess this means passing from day to night.
38. Skin-care brand with a "For Men" line (5) : NIVEA.
46. Take off the TiVo (5) : ERASE. My cousin came to visit and while I was working she watched a movie I had recorded, when I came home I was rather shocked to learn she had erased the movie. What do you think?
47. Encrust, in a way (4) : SEAR. You can pan sear tuna in a crushed cashew crust. Yum.
48. Goddess of discord (4) : ERIS. This ONE, it is easier in Latin where she is Discordia and her opposite in Concordia.
49. Obi-Wan player (4) : ALEC. Not Baldwin, but Guiness, a great ACTOR.
52. On the road (4) : AWAY. Not this week.
54. "Imagine that!" (3) : GEE. Gosh.
55. Wyoming city near Yellowstone (4) : CODY. It is named for Buffalo Bill.
61. Distortion, perhaps (3) : LIE. That distortion Bubba had on the second hole of the playoff was wicked.
62. Little songbird (4) : WREN. Like THIS.
63. City on the Aare (4) : BERN. It should Bern you up if you forget this Swiss city.
68. Blink of an eye (5) : TRICE. Word has been around for centuries.
71. Bench clearer (5) : MELEE. From the French, and cousin to medley.
72. Pickup schtick (4) : LINE. I had a friend who used to ask girls if they liked cheese, but that was a long time ago.
73. "L'chaim!" is one (5) : TOAST. לחיים. Remember, Hebrew is read from right to left; it means to life, and so much more.
74. Seafood serving (5) : PRAWN. The shrimp was just a prawn in his game.
75. Author Blyton (4) : ENID. This WRITER was said to be more liked than JK Rowling, Jane Austen and, dare I say Shakespeare!
76. Els of the PGA (5) : ERNIE. The big easy. Along with Gary Player, this South African is a national hero who has a golf school which produced close friends Charl Scwartzel and Louie Oosthuizen. A bit of pride from our constructor.
Down:
1. Unruly do (3) : MOP. Hairdo that is.
2. Cry after Real Madrid scores (3) : OLE. Really, I thought it was Goal, Goal, Goal. We also have another 'football' reference from our South African constructor, 6D. Zero, in Real Madrid scores (3) : NIL.
3. With the order switched (9) : VICE VERSA. I'll take the vice, you can have the versa.
4. Give the slip (5) : EVADE. It seemed like so many "V"s in this puzzle.
5. 1990 Robert Frost Medal recipient Levertov (6) : DENISE. This British born but American POET is worth reading. CA, you out there? Poetry was one of my passions in college.
7. Fuming state (3) : IRE.
8. Super stars? (5) : NOVAE. Cute clue, misleading as the stars are exploding. Interestingly, we also have 27D. De ___: from square one (4) : NOVO. A standard for judges when reviewing lower court opinions, literally from of new. Are the words related?
9. Twisted balloon shape, often (6) : ANIMAL. So many long skinny dogs...
10. Christian bracelet letters (4) : WWJD. At last What Would Jesus Do.
11. Weed whacker (3) : HOE. The old fashioned way, no strings attached.
12. Muse for Yeats (5) : ERATO. I do not know the life story of this major POET but Erato was a muse by profession, it is what she did. I wonder if Yeats fascination with mysticism was the inspiration for his inclusion in this Friday the 13th offering.
13. OB/GYN test (5) : AMNIOcentesis. When the men see the needle, they are very glad they are men.
14. Boxer with a cameo in "The Hangover" (5) : TYSON. Watch the CLIP.
20. Produce offspring (4) : SIRE. Not to be confused with DIRE.
22. Floor installer (5) : TILER. very literal.
25. Tureen utensil (5) : LADLE. You pretty much need to know what a tureen is.
26. Less chummy (5) : ICIER. Another ICE QUEEN?(4:24)
28. Feudal estates (5) : FIEFS.
29. Onion kin (5) : CHIVE. I thought I heard singing in refrigerator, but it was just Chive Talkin'
33. Suffix with oct- (3) : ANE. Good gas clue.
35. History test section, often (5) : ESSAY. Tee?
37. Start to fast? (5) : STEADfast.
39. Zachary Taylor, by birth (9) : VIRGINIAN. So many presidents were.
40. The senior Saarinen (5) : ELIEL Not as frequent as son Eero.
41. Beasts of burden (5) : ASSES. Man, we are really hauling here.
43. Sargasso Sea denizen (3) : EEL. I will always love alliteration.
44. Trumpet effect (4) : WAWA. Wow wow Wah Wah. (5:23) JzB?
45. Toothbrush choice (5) : ORAL-B. Brush.
50. The Aragón is a tributary of it (4) : EBRO. We have had this Iberian RIVER many times.
51. Southern language (6) : CREOLE. A shout out to Hahtoolah, our bayou babe.
55. Holding device (5) : CLAMP.
56. Refueling ship (5) : OILER. One of a few "er" words in this effort.
57. Street of many mysteries (5) : DELLA. Barbara Hale. Very nice clue.
59. Finalize, as a cartoon (5) : INK IN.
60. Program problem (5) : ERROR.
62. Timely question (4) : WHEN. Nice misdirection.
65. Patch, say (3) : SEW.
66. Prefix with corn (3) : UNIcorn.
67. "Xing" one (3) : PEDestrian.
69. Popular CBS procedural (3) : CSI. Crime Scene Investigation.
70. Parisian season (3) : ETE. For once, not a Nice clue.
Well, it is time for me to take my lemons and go until next week. Thank you GB for a very tough across puzzle made doable with a gentle down fill.
90 comments:
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. A sleepless night got me up and working on the puzzle very early this morning. This was the easiest Friday puzzle in a long time, but I loved the ALL SHOOK UP theme.
My favorite clue was Street of Many Mysteries = DELLE. Perry Mason was before my time, but I have seen a few shows in rerun.
Zachary Taylor may have been from Virginia, but Louisiana tries hard to claim him.
The Hangover was a very funny movie. In honor of Mike Tyson's cameo appearance, here it today's QOD: I don't try to intimidate anybody before a fight. That's nonsense, I intimidate people by hitting them. ~ Mike Tyson.
Don't remind me of The Master's! I stayed up til past one, only to find myself in "Heartbreak Hotel" as Louis lost it in the play-off! Still anybody who can play that second shot of Bubba's deserves to win! Agape! P.S. it's called soccer here too, mostly (occasionally football, occasionally diski.)
Morning, all!
I found this to be about 90% really easy and 10% really hard. The clue for the theme reveal was messed up totally in Across Lite and I couldn't read it, but I didn't really need it to get the theme answers.
I struggled with STEAD/SEAR for awhile. Based on the clue for 47A, I initially had SCAB. When ORALB made that impossible, I moved on to SCAR. SEAR didn't come to me until the very end when I realized that STCAB probably wasn't correct.
The whole SW corner also gave me fits. Just couldn't see PRAWN as a "serving" for the longest time and had trouble coming up with MELEE or CLAMP. And, as I said, the clue for 64A was no help.
I was able to finally get the job done unassisted, but this was definitely my longest solve time for any puzzle this week.
Greetings!
Fun puzzle, Gareth! Fine write-up, Lemon!
Wow! A whole 5-day week w/o cheating!
#64 across was messed up at upuzzle.com. Had to download the cruciverb version to get it. Nice theme.
Spent 6 hours filling out papers for loan, scanning them and e-mailing them. Still have to get my signature notarized somewhere. Then pay $1650. Whew! Got the state tax check e-filed. A real drag to fill out form to register. Three secret questions that kept getting filled in incorrectly. My secret picture is a steam train though!
Definitely time for bed. It is supposed to start raining with thunder and lightning and maybe an oh-so-rare cyclone or tornado. Great.
Cheers!
Hey GB:
Thanks for checking in; it looks like the South African golfing army is have a great time in Malaysia this week. So it is soccer, there; live and learn. Did the anagram or the central theme answer come first?
Great Friday fare!
67 Down threw me. I got the letters OK (PED), but could not figure out the match with the clue. Pretty arcane:
XING
Crossing
Pedestrian
PED
good friday and friday 13th i'm afraid to leave the house i may be crucified by a black cat, thanks with out you smart blogs i would put a whole in the puzzle before wormy
Thank you Marti, Misty, Lemonade714, Irish Miss and Spitzboov for your warm welcome.
The world of puzzledom has been my home for many years, ever since I couldn't figure out what those green mailboxes were for when I was about 8.
I also found the lyrics to "You Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog", at about the same age, very puzzling indeed.
I've done the NYT crossword for many years, but just stumbled upon the LA Times puzzle while wandering through cyberspace late one night.
Now I feel like Cristobal Colon.
I tend to respond more to the wonderful waggish commentary by your crew than to the puzzle itself. Marti's mention of spanking last week unleashed a tsunami of memories. I love to free-associate.
So I hope I can make a positive contribution to your site and look forward to participating in this marvelous agora of the mind. Or is it angora?
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gareth Bain, for a swell Friday puzzle. Thank you Lemonade, for the swell review.
The whole puzzle was quite easy for a Friday. Except the NE corner. Instead of LEVIS JEANS, I had LEVI STRAUS. I thought there were two S's at the end of Strauss, but I ignored that. At the very end AMNIO fixed all that.
Never heard of a Maine Coon Cat. Perps got it.
Enjoyed 29D CHIVE. I grow them in my garden. Love chives on a baked potato with sour cream and butter. Lots of black pepper. Wow!
Theme came easily. All answers appeared except 19A, as noted above.
Goofed up the South Center. For 59D had INK IT. I was thinking of the final version of a cartoon and Inking It. For 67D had PEN. I was thinking of a Pen making an X on a paper. Did not know the author, Blyton, so ETIN made no difference to me.
Other than that a smooth puzzle for me. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Greetings Parachute Jump. You will enjoy this blog each day.
Abejo
Morning, all.
Loved this Friday offering. It was nice to see DELLA back in the puzzle. She and ERLE used to make at least weekly appearances.
WORMY took awhile to appear. Probably because I had no idea whatsoever about WWJD. (Sounds like radio station call letters, or perhaps Wild World of Juvenile Delinquents.) I had to come here for the reveal on that one.
A stray cat blessed us with her litter a couple of years back -- a solid black shorthair, a solid gray shorthair, a psuedo-siamese with tabby markings where the points should be, and a Maine Coon that we named BOS because of a big orange spot on her head. That reminds me, it's time to take the scissors to BOS and get rid of those winter foozles. Long-haired cats are so messy. Fluffy, but messy.
Good morning Lemondae, C.C. et al.
Fun write-up Lemon, full of wit an humor as always! I really chuckled at your PRAWN and CHIVE comments.
Gareth, nice to hear from you! I thought of you as I was watching the Masters, and assumed you would be rooting for Oosthuizen. It was his miracle shot on 2 that got him into the running, so I guess they both got lucky. But Louis will always have a place in the Masters history books with that one!!
I loved today's theme, with E-L-V-I-S "ALL SHOOK UP". Fun stuff! The theme reveal was messed up in my across lite puzzle, too, but it was readable enough to suss the meaning. The fill was great - loved seeing WORMY COON WREN ANIMAL ASSES and EEL - a regular Noah's Ark of a puzzle!
DoDo, from last night - I saw "Freedom Writers" with Hilary Swank, and it really points out the flaws in the system that you all were talking about yesterday, and what one person can do to change the lives and attitudes of students, in spite of the restrictions in the system. Great movie!
TGIF !
Happy Friday the 13th to all!
Beautiful black cats cross my path multiple times every day and I couldn't be happier.
I miss reading about Della Street, Paul Drake, Hamilton Burger, and of course - Perry Mason. I've read all the Mason books I could get my paws on. I've read over 100 of them. I know there are more out there, but they're hard to find.
I loved the clue for 67D: Xing one: PED. Cracks me up - Ped Xing is such a funny phrase. But then again I think FIEFS is a funny word.
Presaging times? If it was "Presagging Times" the answer would be "MY TEENAGE YEARS".
Chicago is in for a gloomy weekend of rain, rain and more rain. But a rainy weekend is better than a sunny day at work ;)
May you all have a safe and happy Friday the 13th!
Good morning Lemonade and all.
Big OOPS! for me today. My oct ending was AvE, which gave me vIVEA. It sort of looked OK and I didn't think anything more about it. Everything else went smoothly. Good puzzle Gareth.
Rich must have felt that this was really special. If I recall, he said that it would have to be something special to incur the extra expense of deviating from the standard grid. I'm glad he did.
Parachute jump, Angora is pretty fuzzy, like my mind at times, so it works either way.
I started off doing today's puzzle in Across Lite, figuring I'd have to print it out and finish it on paper when things started getting rough; But I was able to finish on Across Lite.
This went pretty well, for a Friday puzzle. Luckily I could get enough of the perps to those I didn't have any idea to be able to take good guesses (Rachel Leah,skin-care brand, Denise Leverton, Yvette Mimieux, and "The Hongover" boxer").
The biggest problem was in the NE where I was wanting to somehow put in Levi Strauss. After getting, hoe,Erato and finally Tyson; I saw Levi's jeans. I was sure there was something terribly wrong there with WWJD. Stunned when Mr Happy Pencil showed up. If I had been doing it on paper I would of been looking for a long time trying to figure out where I went wrong. Afterwards, I Googled it to find out it means "What Would Jesus Do?"
I took a while with WORMY, but got it. I thought the 66D clue read "prefix with com" at first, then saw "corn". I wish the paper would use a different font, as this is a common problem. I wanted AVE for ANE, didn't know CODY, and was still too sleepy to figure out MÉLÉE, OILER or PRAWN. I agree prawn is not what I think of as a seafood serving. Unless it's a king prawn, you'd never eat just one!
On the whole, I thought this was a fun and easy Friday, despite my DNF in the SW corner. I actually got all the theme answers before the unifier too, although I needed that to SEW them all up.
This was the Rachel Leah I was meaning to get (in my previous post).
NW George,
I also was stymied by WWJD, but everything around it fit, so I didn't puzzle over it for long.
My main hangup in the SW was trying to fit PILOT in for OILER. I tried to think what else they could be called and all I came up with was TENDER, which of course didn't fit. I remember son #2 using that term a lot when he was working from a fish camp while catching salmon off Kodiak Island in AK.
This was a tale of two puzzles for me. I was largely on Gareth's wavelength, but some of the clues had too many options for it to fall easily. E.G. I figured 10D had to be WWJD (Who wants Jack Daniels?) but wanted Duram instead of wheat and Loamy in lieu of wormy. Finally I gave in to WWJD and the rest of the corner slowly dawned on me. Mop, Creole and prawn also seemed to obvious to be right. So I guess I spent too much time overthinking it. All in all, a fun solve and the anagrams were a pleasant theme.
Great link to a live Calling Elvis performance, Lemon. Thanks!
Great theme ,Gareth , and interesting fiil. Lemonade, I always love your wit and links.
Doing down and across together I started in the center North and went down the East side, getting LEVISJEANS and LESSER OF TWO EVILS quickly. AHA, anagrams! I have an Evangelical friend, so WWJD was easy and led to JEANS and WORMY.
I filled in the other anagrams and that made this the fastest Friday puzzle in a long time. Along with the anagram, LIVES IN FEAR, MOP and PECAN opened up the NW.
I had PED but wondered why until I realized that XING ONE meant XING person.
I knew MAINE COON CAT because my all time favorite cat had a lovely silky brown coat like mink. Kahlua came from the animal shelter so I researched brown cats. He resembled the Havana Brown in appearance and loving personality, though he probably wasn't one. Alas, he died of old age. No other cat can replace him.
I loved this puzzle!
I must have been thinking like Gareth today. I noticed halfway through that I knew most of the down clues but not the across ones. So when I went to finish the across, the letters were there to fill in. I stuggled with tric_. Nothing made sense, but when I put in ete, I left thrice and it turned out to be correct.
I got all the theme clues but not the theme until Lemonade pointed it out. Thanks.
I knew Cody and I watched all the Perry Mason TV shows, but Della took awhile to figure out.
Lemonade, you mentioned the poker player, Huck Seed, late yesterday. He grew up in Montana. He was an outstanding 6'7" HS basketball player. When I retired, Huckleberry's brother, Leif Seed, replaced me in our math department for a couple years. They were a very unusual, interesting family. Teacher's loved to hear Leif talk about them.
Well, Friday the 13th has started out a great day! Hope you all have a good day too,
Montana
Easiest Friday for me! Knew all the girls: NINA DENISE ENID YVETTE.
@Kazie - I, too, thought it was "com" as in dot com, until the answer appeared.
"Obsessions" Denise Levertov 1959
(A villanelle)
Maybe it is true we have to return
to the black air if ashcan city
because it was there the most life was burned,
as ghosts or criminals return?
But no, the city has no monopoly
of intense life. The dust burned,
golden or violet in the wide land
to which we ran away, images
of passion sprang out of the land
as whirlwinds or red flowers, your hands
opened in anquish or clenched in violence
under the sun, and I clasped my hands
in that place to which we will not return
where so much happened that no one else noticed,
where the city's ashes that we brought with us
flew into the intense sky still burning.
Another quote, "That's no LADLE, that's my knife!"
I have a beautiful long-haired black cat. She used to be an indoor/outdoor cat, but I would never let her outside on any Friday the 13th or Halloween. Now, at age 16, she just stays inside.
I am not really a cook, so my first thought for the answer to 47-A: Encrust, in a Was was not a cooking term. I was thinking more along the lines of the diamond encrusted pendant that my husband gave me.
NW George,
The blog of the puzzle is intended to not only help if you cannot finish, but to expand and explain the fill. We work hard to anticipate what information will be needed or entertaining to the rest of the corner.
I am not sure why you gave us a double dose of Rachel Leah but thanks.
I used to play a game with a lady friend where we send each other letter strings and we had to suggest the words represented. WHLOFWTG.
Good morning all:
Thanks, Gareth, for a fun puzzle and kudos to Lemonade for a fine expo.
I finished but after coming here, I find I'm guilty of some errors. I had Eros for Goddess of Discord which made the senior Saarinen Eloel. I can never remember the correct spelling of his name, unlike Eero which is seared on my brain. Also had eras for presaging times which made fiafs for feudal estates which I knew was wrong but let it stand. So, a DNF, the first in a long time.
Have a safe Friday the 13 th.
Good morning, friends. I always love your commentary, Lemonade, and you are in fine form today.
First, thank you all for your kindness and condolences. There is now a void that cannot be replaced and many of you sadly have that as well.
Welcome, Parachute Jump!
Great puzzle today, thanks to Gareth Bain. I was on his wave length immediately and it seemed easier than most Fridays even without knowing NINA and ENID.
I first had EDIE and INKED and it took the blog to realize Xing PED. That was tricky!
Fav clue was Street of many mysteries, DELLA.
Have a safe Friday the 13th, everyone!
Lemon: Your "zit on the forehead" comment was witty...and I`m almost certain you already know this, being the erudite counselor that you are, but just in case, the wedding veil is a hold-over from the middle east when grooms were not allowed a glimpse of the bride before the ceremony was complete (and sometimes, not until the next morning ala the Jacob/Leah/Rachel triangle.)
Marge (from last night), if you ever try to cook Cajun style, you'll find that almost every recipe starts out: "Well, first you make a roux...."
Thought it was neat that despite all the v's needed for the E-L-V-I-S theme, Gareth managed to sneak in a few more: MOVED/VICE, EVES/NOVO, NIVEA/VIRGINIAN, and EVADE/OLIVE.
Anybody heard from WindHover lately?
Shut up crosswords!
If there was championship of Real Madrid clues I think, maybe, first one in this puzzle would finish last. Real Madrid are special champions. Real Madrid socios chant "Campeones Campeones oh-eh oh-eh" after fantastic goals by Puppet Ronnie and other fantastic scorers.
Also, OLE Gunnar Solksjaer was fantastic foe of Real Madrid playing for Mr. Alex in Manchester. Could cause not-so-fantastic confusion.
Be champions!
Avg.Joe @8:43
WWJD ... well I thought it stood for 'What Would Jesus Drink?' and I'd offer Pinch (NEAT).
Gareth, Thank you for a FUN Friday the 13th. Great theme & construction.
Always like seeing my favorite ELOI, YVETTE.
Parachute Jump, Montana, NW George: I'm glad that you all have joined in on our FUN.
Lemon: If I say: "L'chaim to all at Sunset" do I sip from 'right to left'?
WHLOFWTG - When he left, others followed wiling to give?
Hi All ~~
A very enjoyable Gareth Bain puzzle today. Thank you, Lemonade, for a most entertaining write-up ... lots of information and great links. I had no idea of the theme until the unifier ... I didn't even notice ELVIS in all those answers!
So many great clues ... they've all been mentioned, but I think my favorites are those for STEAD - 'Start to fast' and DELLA - 'Street of many mysteries.'
~~ I got off to a bad start at 1A, filling in 'Mopey' instead of MOVED.
~~ Wasn't sure of most of the names but perps made them easy to get.
~~ Oh - another favorite - 'Xing one' - PED!
~~ I hope there is no MELEE at the Fenway Park opener for the Red Sox today! (I also hope they can manage to win. :-\ )
Enjoy this Friday!
desper-otto
Yes, Windhover has written. If you e-mail him I'm quite sure he will respond.
Tinbeni:
LOL! We know Jesus drank wine!
PJ,
let your mind wander and your fingers on the keyboard.
For those preoccupied, the C.C. alluded to by one of newbies is the Spanish version of Christopher Columbus.
Anon. 11:02 thanks form playing but why not go blue and be you?
Good morning all.
Nice to hear from Gareth. Didn't realize he was from RSA. (I was rooting for Louis too,)
Didn't realize this was a 16 X 15. Easy for a Friday but lots of fun and clever cluing. Favorite was for DELLA. Had clasp before CLAMP. COON was a gimme; friends of ours owned one. Wonderful ANIMAL. EBRO was a WAG. Few unknowns were gotten from the perps.
OILERS - Navy oilers are now operated by the MSC (Military Sealift Command) with civilian crews.
PJ - thanks for telling us a little about yourself
Good afternoon everyone.
Thanks for a Friday puzzle that I almost finished, Gareth. Couldn't get some of the bottom third, but it was great to get that much done on a Friday. I especially like the theme answers, even though I couldn't suss the theme itself.
And, as always, a superb write up, Lemonade.
And I second the welcomes to our new commenters, NW George and Parachute Jump.
Cheers
Hello.
Fairly easy solve for a Friday (13th).
More rain today.
Thx you, Cameron. Double OTs are hard on finger nails. Three to go!
eddy
@Lemonade714 (9:50)
WHLOFWTG: Wisdom Hardly Lasts Once Facts Wind Through the Grapevine?
Good afternoon and happy Fri. the 13th to all. Thanks Gareth for a fun puzzle and Lemon for your wit. I like anagrams and Elvis so it was nice and smooth for me. Tinman I believe Jesus drank Manieshevitz(not sure of spelling but gave it a try}I like a nice Rose myself. Have a great day to all. RJW.
Tin and Lucy, re: WWJD.
I'm currently reading the book THe Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan, a Biblical scholar and cofounder of the research group The Jesus Seminar.
One of Crossan's main premises is that the narrowing of the NT canon to its familiar form and the exclusion of many other writings on the subject served to obscure many things about the life and times of Jesus.
Through a close reading of Crossan and several other books on the subject, I have been able to discern that while He did indeed drink wine at public functions (the wedding feast at Cana comes to mind), when kicking back with the disciples at the end of a long, dusty day the Saviour preferred a good quality, strongly hopped pale ale, which thanks to the Roman conquest of the British Isles was fairly easy to procure in lower Galilee at the time.
I love history.
And, Desper-otto, thanks for asking.
Why Hahtool Loves Old Fogies With Teeth Gone
Lemonade @ 9:50
We had lots of fun with this game. Yes?
Jerome: HDYK??!!
Windhover: I would love to have a conversation with you about your reading. That book sounds fascinating and something that would spark my interest.
(How Did You Know?)
Good morning Lemonade, C.C., et al,
Felt a lttle rusty this morning, and made many silly errors: loamy for wormy, Levi Straus...Gareth was generous with the downs clues which made it easier to finish.
start to fast?..wa wa would have been a better answer for me as I did that on Mon/Tues.
My brain does not see anagrams, but I smile at the cleverness ...superb theme.
WWJD? really..you wondered where I was? Bless you.
Welcome Parachute Jump and NW George.
Thx eddyB, Cameron will don his winning shirt tomorrow.
Kazie, excellent article..loved yesterday's discussion.There are just so many things that need to be fixed. It is an eye opener now from the outside looking in.
Lucina, my thoughts are with you.
Thank you Lucina for your hello to a tyromaniac who inadvertently stumbled upon the CC website and feels right at home here. I am sorry to hear about your brother.
First of all thanks Lemon for your entertaining recap!
Usually I have a pretty tough go of it with Gareth's puzzles. This one seemed easier than usual, except for the SW which was a big smudge due to having STRAP before CLAMP. I also had POP corn before UNI. Finally got everything worked out and liked the ALL SHOOK UP ELVIS theme.
LEVIS is really LEVI Strauss & Co. The DH used to manage about 75 of their outlet stores in the west before he went into the jeans manufacturing biz.
Yellowrocks - One of my cats is half Maine COON and half Burmese. He's dark brown and is a total lap cat. His name is Cuba after Café Cubana. He has an extra toe on each foot which makes him look like he's wearing mittens.
Fun puzzle. Hard and clever. Wormy seemed odd to me; odd but perfectly correct.
Welcome newcomers. I hope you will see fit to 'go blue' and fill out a profile so we will know a little about you.
Thanks for the links to Rachael Leah. She looks like a good crossword puzzler to me. I feel bad for her though because it appears as if she is not earning enough money to keep her in warm clothes.
I came across 'Midnight in Paris' on cable, Woody Allen's newest movie. I'm haven't quite finished it yet but it's very enjoyable so far. I hope it ends well.
I only got turned on to Doc Martin recently. I came across the pilot on TV. He was more likable then than in the recent episodes. I also found all the old episodes on Hulu. I'm not sure how much time I want to spend sitting in front of my computer but I've started episode 1.
I'm enjoying the rain.
When Happy, Love of Figs Was Too Great.
windhover:
I'm glad you popped in and that book sounds fascinating. I shall have to read it.
JD:
Thank you and LOL!
Jerome @ 12:59 pm: No insult to Hahtool will think, but your quote is hallarious!
hey:
Thank you all for playing; Irish Miss got my initial thought word for word, but the fun part of the game is the silly takes you all have put forth, thanks Jerome, what makes you think my teeth are gone? NWG and Mari, keep on the initial game, nice.
Loved the Beer reference WH, good to see you.
The spelling is manischewitz if anybody cares.
I'm loving the comments about WWJD.
Bil G - when it comes to my gardens, the WORMier the soil the better, as long as the worms are earthworms.
PED XING
Levi Strauss is a brand name. "Levi's pants" is a product.
Other fascinateing books are the Gospels of Mary Magdalene, Judas and Timothy. Completely different view points. No wonder they were excluded.
eddy
Thank you Lemonade and Gareth. This puzzle has single-handedly rekindled my love for the letter V. Cruciverbalists use the word “tight” to describe a puzzle that is, relatively, the best that it could be; I thought this puzzle was exceptionally well-executed, theme-, grid-, and clue-wise. The ALLSHOOKUP unifier allowing for four anagrams of ELVIS (the only possible four) that are presented in lively theme entries is admirably inventive and well-executed. Loved the clues “Timely question”, “Super stars”, and “Bench clearer”. Loved WWJD, WORMY, and VICEVERSA. TRICE was my learning moment. Nice to see AARE having a respite from grids and appear in a clue; EDEMA, ORE, and ESS are all jealous.
Grumpy, I’ve never seen Rich allow a non-15x15. That’s a new one on me. How often does that happen? I assume it’s only, as you said, when the theme really necessitates it, like in this puzzle--but I bet it’s still a hard sell.
Sfingi, this is my favorite Denise Levertov poem.
Lemonade: What makes you think that Jerome was referring to you as one of the old fogies I love?
Interesting trivia about Levi Strauss
his ego
Great puzzle and blog! I managed to struggle through it all except for the "V" in the NOVO/EVES cross and I didn't think the "S" for STEAD was right although I couldn't think of another word.
The southwest corner looked unsolvable for awhile. I had HOOKUP and kept searching the starred ones for a name. ELVIS it had to be and I used to dance to the song so TADA!
Gareth: I felt so sorry for Charl standing there at the cabin with that green jacket hoping to put it on his friend. But I've been a Bubba fan too long not to be happy for him. Love a man who can cry!
I asked a lovely young house guest what her bracelet said on it. WWJD. She gave half an hour of rather radical testimony. I won't forget WWJD soon.
Windhover, are you still lambing? I think of you with all those spring babies gamboling around. I have been so homesick for the farm this past year. Didn't miss it for seven years. Now can't stop.
But the impossible family situation and huge debt to replace machinery that made us leave looms up so we don't go racing back.
Here's WJWD.
WBS, WEES, Busy Friday...
Puzzle started like a monday, but i had to put it down & come back later to figure out the SW corner, no red letters (Yay!) but FIW..
Loamy just sounded right, plus we had it before. Thought 48A was Eros, Oh well, everything else worked out fine in the writeovers.
Hands up for Strauss, & if somebody served me just 1 prawn, i would bite them...
Tinbeni, LOL, whatever he drank, i am sure there was no "ice" in it!
i was going to link 1 pic for Yvette Mimieux, but i just can't decide.
NWOTT (?)
Nice parody!
Greetomgs People,
This was a pretty easy Friday for once. I did have to Google for 'novo' which I have never heard., or read, so I have to call it a DNF.I was sure it had something to do with Elvis, although I only got the anagrams after I came here. Nice puzzle and good write-up.
Lemonade @ 2:41, so did Irish Miss email you with her take? I don't see it here on the corner...
My take?
With
Hearti
Laughs
Our
Friends
Will
Thank
Gareth
WWJD?
To borrow from last Saturdays puzzle, HERE'S what Jesus might drink.
Of course the pronunciation of the name might change a little:-)
Hatoolah:
Obviously I was joking, merely referring to myself as an old fogy; if my comment offended I am sorry, but it is hard to believe what people take seriously.
Hearti
Irish Miss said...
Lemonade @ 9:50
We had lots of fun with this game. Yes?
Lemonade: Surely you should know me well enough by now to know I wasn't offended. I thought both your comment and Jerome's take were hilarious!
I'm at number 5 and am off to shul. Have a good weekend, everyone.
Hola Everyone, I did not quite finish as I had to Google for Novo (like Dodo) and Denise Levertov. I had jumped around and got the unifier fairly soon and that helped me get the anagrams for Elvis.
I thought this was a very clever puzzle and a tad easier than most Fridays. I had a problem with the very first clue and answered with Upset first then Moped so the NW corner was the last to fall.
Unbeatable Service/Ace was my favorite clue of the day. Anyone who gives unbeatable service is an ace in my book.
I had a sleepless night because of a severe thunder storm (or two or three) which marched through our valley from 11:00 PM until after 2:30 AM. We rarely have thunder and lightening so this was an unusual event for us. The news said that there were over 750 lightening strikes in our valley and one took out the power for the Stanford Linear Accelerator.
Have a great rest of the day everyone.
I've not blogged for a couple of days, though I've read the blog to keep up with everyone. So, welcome P.J. I hope you stay and add to the banter and fun that we all have in this great family that C.C. has put together.
I had put in Loamy soil for wormy soil so it was a surprise when those worms appeared. We have worm bins that we feed with kitchen scraps. The fertilizer from our worm bins goes into our garden to feed our veggies.
Abejo, Chives are one of our perennial herbs. I use them in all sorts of cooking. Your use in baked potatoes with sour cream being one of our favorites. They also make a wonderful topping for creamed soups.
Chickie - My daughter had the same night in SLO. Still no power as of noon today.
Lots of boomers down here this afternoon, but it's calmed down for the moment.
Chickie and Crazy Cat,
We had a little thunder (and I suppose lightening, too) here in the Central Valley, too. Lots of wind, so our storms seem to whip through pretty fast. If there was more during the night, I didn't here it, as I slept like a log as usual.
Of course, I'm not a native, so maybe this is not always the way it works. We're grateful for the rain, anyway; it's been a long drought and has rained all around us but not here. I think there's another storm brewing.
You probably didn't have any news of the little whirlwind that picked up a workshop on a farn mear Lathrop on Thursday.
Weatherwise it's an exciting year, no?
Bill G.
I found Doc Martin last summer, and though I thought his sour face would turn me off, I really liked the episodes. I Guess they must have had subtitles, or I would not have stuck with it. I'm glad to know I can get some more on Hulu.
BTW, I, too felt sorry for poor Rachel Leah. I also wondered if she could be double-jointed.
Windhover,So good to hear you voice~!
And to all the newbies that I've missed greeting in my truancy, Welcome!
what green mailboxes @PJ@7:33
PK,
Funny you should ask. The last older ewe lambed several weeks ago, and there are now 45 lambs out on pasture with 28 ewes. But I bred 6 ewe lambs late in the Fall, and the first of them had her lamb about 30 minutes ago. She is very confused. She licks it for a while then stands back and bleats at it a while, like "WTH is this thing?"
Last time I looked out (we live in the same building the ewes lamb in) it was trying to nurse.
I know what you mean about the expense. When I quit dairying in 1991, I was $600K in debt. A friend of mine asked, "How do you sleep at night?" I said, "Better than I would if somebody owed it to me and they couldn't pay".
These days I farm on a much smaller scale, with my biggest tractor a 45HP 4wd Kubota. I gross about 20% of what I did then, and actually net more. No debt.
But I would miss it too if I had to quit.
Thanks for asking.
Windhover, I really got a chuckle about your first-time mama. Would kind of startle ewe the first time if ewe hadn't paid attention to what the other girls were doing.
Reminds me of a true story my neighbor told of her little girl running in and upset because "the cat is coming apart, Mama!" Mom went out and found the calico cat having kittens.
I hear you about having someone owe you. That's the straw that broke my son's resolve to farm. Worked hard a year and one person refused to pay him a very large amount. I thought he showed good sense in not shooting the greedy old guy. My DIL was so angry she took a job in another part of the state. Son wanted the woman worse than the farm.
Windhover, 45 lambs out of 28 ewes is a better than average return, isn't it? You must take good care of them. Did the mild winter help that? We never had sheep but I did stories with several sheep men.
WH: As a share-crop landlord, for 2011 I netted more than my poor hardworking husband did the last year he lived. Makes me sad he didn't live to see the good grain prices of today.
Green mailboxes are the receptacles for newspapers in areas where the are not thrown on the porch
DoDo - Not native either so I love this weather, just not when I have lots to do. Went out to pick up some stuff at Target and got caught in a huge downpour. It sounded like the roof was going to cave in. Also my dogs refuse to go out - little SoCal sissies that they are. We're headed up north for the weekend. It looks like it's going to clear and be getting warmer.
I posted this excerpt from "Walden" a few weeks ago. At that time, I don't believe it was grasped in the manner that the author intended. With the conversation tonight, I'll try again. Thoreau wasn't claiming that no one should ever be a farmer, he was simply saying that everyone should follow their heart rather than take the course prescribed by their station in life. IOW, don't do what you're told, do what you believe in. With that:
"I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to live a man's life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing pasture and wood-lot. The portionless, who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances, find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh."
Henry David Thoreau
Tuned in only to find out that nothing is on but reruns.
How about a little Chet Atkins playing Classical (Mozart)
Ho Hum
Good thing life ain't TV. You'd be screwed.
Joe:
I got it it, then and now. And as chauvinistic about farming & farmers as I am, I agree.
Here's my story, Cliff version. I entered the U. at the age of 16 with a Nat'l Merit scholarship & majored in Physics. I really wanted to farm, & flunked out after 3 semesters. I then did 12 years of factory work, saving $ to buy a farm, which I did at 28. I left the job 3 years later & never looked back. I only worked on the assembly line 3 months; I was a tool maker & an apprentice for the balance. Liked the work, hated the job. A friend of mine once commented that milking cows was like being in jail. I said, "You've never worked in a factory, have you?"
I once told my 3 children that the only thing I would disown them for was taking a job in a factory. None have. But none farm, either. Thoreau was right, about a lot of stuff. His buddy Emerson got all the ink, though. Self-reliance, my a--. The American fable.
PK: yes, 45:28 is better than average, and while we do the best we can here, the mild winter & good nutrition get most of the credit. I'll take it every year.
Having trouble signing in. Good run enjoyed Elvis as a teen. See u down the road. Grams
Spitx, that was great! I have that piece played by three or four different talented classical guitarists but I had never heard it by Chet Atkins. His version is a little more funky but just as enjoyable. There were other guitarists just as well known but nobody better in my opinion.
I've enjoyed reading farming philosophies by Thoreau and Windhover.
You are right ho hum. It's deja vu all over again.
Even Thoreau had to eat and probably wore wool. One difference between a factory and raising animals, is the sense of mutual trust and enjoyment, especially when you have a hands-on relationship such as in milking. My mother-in-law cried when they hauled her old milk cow off to sell--felt she had betrayed her old friend sending her to die.
Did you see the special on the news where some farmer is helping soldiers who have post-traumatic stress disorder by letting them work on the farm? We had boys with family problems work for us and go away matured and mentally stronger.
AvgJoe, I was part of that conversation. I got it then although WH's reply then implied that I didn't, but that may have been a misreading on one of our parts. I really didn't see any replies that didn't get it.
WH, our experience is a lot the same. One year at Case on a National Merit Scholarship, went into the trades, never spent time on an assembly line, but worked in factories more than I ever wanted to. When the opportunity arose to get into the field I wanted, I hocked everything and jumped in with both feet and never looked back. I "grew" towers up to 1500 ft. tall.
Farming is a job that I've done a little of, but it just isn't for me. I'm certainly glad I have a dedicated farmer to care for my 120 acres and provide a little extra income, though.
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