Theme: Saturday Silk
Words: 72
Blocks: 29
Words: 72
Blocks: 29
I had a feeling this was going to be a Silkie, and I was right - and a tough one, at least the first two across and down passes for me - and then my WAG at 57A sliced it open for me. Two hard to place 14-letter spanners;
33A. Ancient inhabitant of Western Europe : NEANDERTHAL MAN - tried to make NETHERLANDIAN fit, not that this has ANYthing to do with the clue....
39A. 1997 Spacey/Crowe movie : L.A. CONFIDENTIAL - a movie I am sad to say I have not seen - IMDb
and two just-as-difficult-to-place 11-letter climbers;
10D. Hot air : IDLE CHATTER
24D. Variance issuer, often : ZONING BOARD - we call it the 'building department' here, and a variance is a deviation from the building code - usually something like how close to the property line a structure can be - and in my experience, the code and the people who enforce them has gotten WAY out of control....
Ultimately, I solved it with only two "cheats". but on the whole, too many proper names, dates, and foreign words made this one less than enjoyable for me....oh well....
Onward ~!
ACROSS:
1. Calm : AT PEACE
8. High chairs? : SKI-LIFT - I was hip to this one, but not right away - HeartRx got it, right?
15. Experts : MAESTRI - plural of maestro
16. Harvard's __ Library : WIDENER - this guy, who perished on Titanic
17. Attacked on the fly : STRAFED
18. 1996 Olympics city : ATLANTA - my first "cheat" - I tried CALGARY, with the "L" in the right place, but Calgary was the host in '88, and their NHL Flames were the Stanley Cup winners in '88-89
19. 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner : TUTU - Desmond
20. Per diem hire : TEMP - my first and only confident fill
22. Longish blog post : ESSAY - I was hoping it was not going to be "E-page" - that's a long post for our little corner, no?
23. Blue Note's parent co. : EMI - music publishing
24. Diddly : ZERO; and 38A. Diddly : NOT A BIT
25. BYU, e.g. : SCHool - Brigham Young University
26. What gets Obama started? : LONG O - I was hip to this mis-direction - the ō to start Obama
28. Reaction at the gas pump : OUCH~!!! - I can still find regular for $3.95
30. Juillet is in it : ETE - The month of July, in summer, as seen on a "Fraunch" (French) calendar
37. Cite : MENTION
41. Around-the-world journalist : BLY - not familiar with her - the Wiki - interesting
42. __ country : GOD's - isn't this Florida? Oh wait, that's "God's Waiting Room"
43. Pelé's given name : EDSON - Edson Arantes do Nascimento - Soccer player
45. Like many dicts. : ABRidged
46. Naturalist on California's state quarter : MUIR
49. Sold-out letters : SRO - Standing Room Only
50. Thrifty rival : ALAMO - Car rental - I am hoping to use Budget - see the bottom of the blog
53. Red states?: Abbr. : SSRs - Getting to be a regular bore here, now
54. Sylvia of jazz : SYMS - again, not familiar with this person
55. Tommy's forte : PINBALL - Tommy, from The Who, the Pinball Wizard - not a fan, at all.
57. Follower of the Bushido code : SAMURAI - sounded Japanese, and it fit, so....
59. Western port named for a fur tycoon : ASTORIA - John Jacob Astor, and a little geography, too - at the top of Oregon
60. Trendy : À LA MODE - straight French, "according to the fashion" - definition
61. Time to relax : LAZY DAY - When it rains, I like to call it a "lazy day"
62. Crowd annoyance : ELBOWER - one who elbows
DOWN:
1. Pilsner choice : AMSTEL - Beer
2. Youngest Oscar winner : TATUM O'NEAL - HEY~! I knew this one ~! I liked her in "Rescue Me", right fermatprime?
3. Relevance : PERTINENCY - I had "E" at the end, with BLE 41A - had to peek to see the "Y"
4. Old Testament twin : ESAU
5. Org. that added "Explosives" to its name in 2003 : ATF -Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms - if they reworked it, they could be "F.E.T.A" (see 13D.)
6. Center of the Minoan civilization : CRETE
7. Large sea duck : EIDER - I knew this from the book "Journey to the Center of the Earth"
8. Meet deal : SWAP
9. Young beaver : KIT
11. __ law : LEASH
12. Some seaside retreats : INNS
13. Spanakopita need : FETA - NO clue what this is - but with F_T_, I had the WAG
14. Inbox, sometimes : TRAY - the 'analog' version
21. Early Alcázar castle resident : MOOR - slightly foreign, but I know castles..
25. "Bei Mir Bist Du __": 1930s song : SCHON - foreign words...
27. Enemy of un ratón : GATO - MORE foreign words; I am guessing rat and cat....
29. "The Best of the Alternative Press" magazine, familiarly : UTNE and MORE foreign words.....
30. International Washington neighborhood : EMBASSY ROW - this area of D.C.
31. Custom : TAILOR-MADE
32. Tolkien creature : ENT - The trees that walk ( Clerks II, but I won't link it )
34. Help with : DO FOR - what can I DO YOU FOR~???
35. Chisholm Trail city : ENID
36. Installed, as brick : LAID - or, er, 34A
37. Org. with an "At Bat" app : MLB - is this true, C.C.? I have the NHL app, of course - and our first team to move on, the Nashville Predators - sorry JazzB (From C.C.: Have to ask Seen/Husker Gary. True?)
40. Mil. honors : DSMs - Distinguished Service Medals
44. Comparatively curious : NOSIER
45. South __, N.J. : AMBOY - I knew this, but then again, I was born in Paterson, NJ - don't hold it against me....
47. Latin bears : URSAE - Ursa Major and Minor, the big and little bears of the night sky
48. "That __": signoff : IS ALL - 's ALL, Folks~! did not fit
50. "C'mon, be __!" : A PAL
51. Crossword-solving Simpson : LISA - from the cartoon "The Simpsons" -she's the brainy one with saxophone chops
52. 1998 animated film : ANTZ
53. Leave rolling in the aisles : SLAY
54. Ring contest : SUMO
56. __ Fáil: Irish coronation stone : LIA - this monolith - easy, lois
58. Fairy queen of folklore : MAB
Answer grid.
I am curious about those Mid-west regulars who stop in here at the blog - I am praying to be moving to Las Vegas in June, and I will be driving across the country at a "leisurely pace" - anyone need a deck built? Or maybe just a quick visit from a Saturday blogger??
Splynter
P.S. - Am I the first to blog with the "new" format? It sucks for us authors, let me tell you....
(From C.C.: Argyle does not like the new format either. No change on my side yet. Maybe it varies by regions?)
59 comments:
Morning, all!
Man! I nearly threw in the towel very early on when I managed to make it through 2/3 of the acrosses without a single answer. I finally got BLY at 41A, but that didn't do much to raise my confidence level much...
So many things I didn't know or couldn't get from the way they were clued. The former included WIDENER, EDSON, SYMS [gee -- wouldn't it be nice to have a puzzle with no names in it whatsoever?], AMBOY and SCHON [which either needs the umlaut over the O or else should be spelled SCHOEN].
The latter included, well, most of the rest of the puzzle.
Lots of terrific long fill today, once I finally got the answers. I'll admit to wondering who the heck TATU MONEAL was for a few seconds... Loved IDLE CHATTER, NEANDERTHAL MAN, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, TAILOR-MADE and ZONING BOARD. Wasn't quite as enamored with PERTINENCY (spell check hates it as well, I see).
Nice to see my alma mater in the clues today, although it's unfortunate that it had to be saddled with SCH.
Anyway, a fine and very challenging puzzle. I did eventually manage to muddle my way through unassisted, so I'm glad I didn't give up after all!
Hello Puzzlers -
I began this hefty Silkie at bedtime, and only managed about 70% fill. The West was solid, but that's all. Picked it up in daylight and didn't fare much better until I looked up that SCHON in the song title.
Completely forgot the Olympics were ever held in Atlanta, and anyway I had PUP for baby beaver. That kept me from seeing SKI LIFT for far too long!
Thanks Splynter. Happy Saturdat all!
Looks like Barry Silk is the Saturday puzzle in the NY Times today as well... nice daily double!
Morning, Saturday Soldiers!
This one came in under the time limit, but barely. The four corners fell fairly quickly, but the center almost did me in. I had spelled SHOEN, and I didn't know álcazar was a type of Spanish castle -- no capital 'A'. Otherwise, I could have WAGged MOOR. When IDLE CHATTER finally appeared, I got the V-8 headslap. OUCH! That fixed SCHON, and suddenly the puzzle was finished.
I didn't know, but should have guessed, that this was a Saturday Silkie. As usual, there were just enough knowns to take care of the unknowns.
Good puzzle; loved the long fill. Thanks, Barry. Splynter, thanks for the learning moments. I always learn something when you're at the helm. Why Las Vegas? Is it the lure of the leggy show girls?
Splynter, thanks for your interesting explanation of this challenging Silkie.
My first entries were TEMP and MUIR, the Father of the National Park Service.
It didn't go too slowly until I reached the NE. Finally, after I tried the IDLE beginning for CHATTER, I got ATLANTA and SKI LIFT. I went through the ABC's to find SWAP which gave me WIDENER.
I thought I was finished until I realized, just in time, that I still needed 37D and 41A. When I tried PERSISTENCY with a Y instead of E, I saw Nellie BLY, one of my feminist heroines. I enjoyed reading her adventurous biography.
Spanakopita along with a Greek salad is one of my favorites meals in the Greek diners around here.
I guessed the spelling of SCHON, but I always see it as SCHOEN or with an umlaut.
What a bear! Lots of look ups -- still a no go. O well. A learning experience. Grams
SanJacinto Day celebrated here!
Typically difficult Silkie, quite smart.
Bet you can't BYO to BYU.
LACONFIDENTIAL - how can you make a movie wherein the 2 main guys look alike?
Couldn't remember the name, WIDENER. Harvard's library site wouldn't yield it up, so I had to go to Wikipedia. That doesn't seem right.
My great-grandfather met John Muir when he made a trip to the Catskills (summer '98?). Josiah Merritt had a general store in Marlboro, NY to which hikers went for supplies.
The title of this Gene McDaniels song tells my strategy of working Barry’s lovely Saturday offering! How he can do this and not commit “natickery” is fabulous.
Musings
-JODY FOSTER was my first thought before TATUM ONEAL. Paper Moon is a fav!
-In our town, it sometimes depends on who is being ZONED as much as what
-Do you remember the scene in Patton where George C. Scott defiantly fires his pistol while he is being STRAFED?
-Just like Munich, the Atlanta Olympics will be most remembered for a non-athletic event
-I was hoping it was not ERANT!
-Gas here is $3.67. Still OUCH for a lot of peeps
-I saw Juliet at first, dang!
-My favorite SAMURAI? John Belushi in the deli
-ASTOR was also on the Titanic (richest man aboard) and went down with the ship
-Me too, Splynter, it hadda be FETA!
-MOOR/MOOP anyone?
-EMBASSY ROW? No parking tickets here.
-My back and I don’t talk because I LAID bricks for 8 summers
-Yes, C.C., I have that app where I have watched my Royals lose 8 in a row
-Splynter, I have a deck and a regular carpenter but would buy you a great prime rib in Hooper, NE (weekends only, hey its population is barely 1,000). I play golf there too, but no sign ;-)
Pretty much what Barry G said...
After my first pass through the A's, with only TEMP, ETE, MUIR, and SRO filled, my wife looked over my shoulder and made some nasty comment about not doing very well; ultimately I showed her!
Most lame: 25A BYU/SCH; Favorite: No award today.
Enjoyable, overall.
Splynter, along with Harry Elkins Widener, didn't John J Astor die on the Titanic?
Mark ô¿ô
Splynter, thanks for the interesting write-up. I spent more time exploring your links that actually doing the puzzle today! I got SKI LIFT, but not until I figured out 8D SWAP and 9D KIT. The SK----- was all I needed to fill it in! Oh, and thanks for the info on WIDENER. He was a handsome man, wasn’t he?
For “Juillet is in it”, I confidently entered ANO instead of ETE. That gave me ORC for 32D and “diddly” for 30 and 31 down. UTNE Reader was a gimmie because it is on my bookmarks bar.
WEES about favorite fill, so I’ll just say, have a happy Saturday!
Spanakopita is made with flaky phyllo dough layered with cooked spinach, scallions, garlic, egg, and feta cheese. In a restaurant you want to get it fresh while the phyllo is still flaky and has not become soggy.
The filling is somewhat like a crustless quiche which I make with spinach, egg, milk, and cheddar cheese. Sometimes I bake this quiche in very small cupcake pans and serve it as a popular appetizer. The mini quiches disappear almost as soon as they are put on the table.
Our family loves anything with cheese -my parents, sibs, sons, all of us.
Good morning everyone. Good job, Splynter.
I usually enjoy Barry's puzzles and I enjoyed this one, but I ended up with red letter help for the 't' in ENT. That yielded NOT A BIT and TAILOR MADE and the completion of the cw. Did not know what a ratón was but guessed 'rat'. GATO Negro is one of my favorite cheap Chilean red wines. It was 'nice' to see SCHÖN in the puzzle. Liked the clue for red states, SSRS. Thought the long acrosses and downs were on the easier side which helped with the perps.
Enjoy the day.
Good morning all:
On the first pass through, I thought, "Oh boy, this is a toughie" which it was but with some early long fill-ins, such as Tatum O'Neal, idle chatter, zoning board, Widener, etc., the rest went smoothly, if not quickly. No help needed but had one write over with ursas instead of ursae.
Great puzzle, Mr. Silk, and super expo, Splynter. Good luck on your Vegas plans.
The thing I always admire about the Silkie's is that they are SO hard, yet gettable. Today, I wasn't quit so lucky however. Picked and poked my way through and never got out of first gear. First fill was Muir, then Temp, then SRO. First long fill was Zoning Board, without any crosses filled in. )By that time, I knew I was going to have to rely on WAGs.) Got the entire west half, but the east was less than half full. Finally resorted to Google, for Schon, Samurai and Syms, which gave me enough to crawl past the finish line. So...technical DNF, but all the blanks were full before giving up and coming here.
Brutal, but still enjoyable. The primary benefit of familiarity with constructors is knowing whether it's worth keeping at it, or giving up in disgust. With Barry Silk, giving up is not an option.
Hi again~!
Well, D-otto, those leggy LV girls are on the "+plus+" side of the equation, but no, I have a friend who wants to rent her condo out there to me....
Husker Gary, you're on~! - depends on whether I make it to NE by the weekend, tho.
As for Mr. Astor, I linked the first one, who died 64 years before the Titanic did - I think it was "IV" who was on the ship.
Splynter
Husker, if I had laid bricks for eight summers I'm sure my back would be talkin' plenty. Back in my 30's I had the bad luck to be on a stairway on the south end of a northbound piano when the uphill folks let go. I hung on, but I've paid dearly for it in the ensuing years.
And I'd look into why there's no HG sign in Hooper. If they can erect one in Marg Helgenberger's home town, they oughta be able to erect one in Hooper. Doncha think?
HeartRx, hand up for ANO/ORC before ETE/ENT appeared.
Oh boy! I know i bitch & moan about red letters, but for all you Newbies out there, you have got to try it. I would not have had a chance without them. Sometimes one letter can make all the difference! (Ok, maybe not in a Saturday Silkie, but now i have something to aspire to.) This puzzle is definitely not for beginners, but slogging thru those red letters was a lot of fun!
I started with only 1 or 2 gimme's, & 32D could have been ent, elf, orc. & 50A Hertz didn't help at all. Then i turned on red letters & the slogging began...
I had to finish this one because i wanted to see if there was a new word for "longish Blog Post", & use it on (well probably myself) but essay is just to tame...
Fav=attack on the fly
Most hated: (shirley temple should have won)
& splynters link to 56D was a learning moment, but i am sure there are plenty thinking this, but i prefer to remain dysfunctional...
P.S. 2 me, high chairs = bar stools
Whenever I see a "Silkie", I give a big groan. Then I slog away, knowing I will need Splynter to finish. Thanks, as usual.
When I didn't get the first word, I went to downs and got TATUM ONEAL and ESAU then TUTU from the "U's". Incorrectly put 4 "E's" in 3 down. This screwed up my chance for BLY. Thought of her, but couldn't remember the name.
Then I plugged ATLANTA one row too high and struggled there for awhile. Knew KIT so reread and reworked. Got NEANDERTHALMAN, SAMURAI, ASTORIA at once. Picked and pecked at the rest.
Spent yesterday at a family funeral for a 90-plus saintly lady whose pain made death a blessing. Always good to be with extended family. I have a crick in my neck today from standing and talking to the very tall men in the family.
I did yesterday's puzzle last night and read the blog. But I had spent all my CHATTER before I came home so didn't post.
For those who are loath to try the NYT Sunday Crossword, the one dated 4/22 might be your chance to win. "Letting Go OF" was a real pussycat for me. The theme answers were all easy and helped me zip along and finish the rest. There were only 3 answers I had never heard of, all names, but they were gettable with the perps. Good luck.
I’m not referring to the puzzle that actually appeared in the Times last week, GRID IRON. For me that one was a bear and I had to Google about 4 clues. I spent a long time on it. It had a many layered but satisfying construct.
Wow! My heart always sinks when I see a Saturday Silkie. But this morning I (almost) got the whole thing! (Put LEASE for LEASH, although I really approve of leash laws after our doxies were terrified by huge bounding unleashed dogs in the park a few times). TATUM ONEAL was my salvation--I got that one right away, and that got me started. It took a while, but hurray!
I finally figured out that maybe I did so well yesterday and today because both nights I got a rare 7 hours of sleep! Wish I could do that every night but I don't seem to have much control over how long I sleep.
Loved the write-up, Splynter, and thanks for the doable Saturday, Barry!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Good afternoon everyone.
I woke up to rain – an unusual event here in SW Florida!. I'm sure people who farm or garden are happy.
Didn't come anywhere near finishing. Did get a few, but I eschewed TEMP because I considered it an abbreviation. I guess it's part of the language now.
In a conversation with the Spanish speaker who "does" my house every other week, and who likes to get a bonus English lesson, I opined that gonna is going to become part of accepted speech soon. It's rare to to hear someone say, "I'm going to ..." The other slippage is "try and". One hears and reads, "I'm gonna try and clean the garage." It's also rare to read and hear "try to". End of rant for now.
Cheers
Hello, warriors! Silkie and Splynter, now that's an explosive combination! Thanks, Splynter.
I am AT PEACE because I nearly finished this but couldn't come up with BLY and had PERTINENCE. Guess I'll have to read more about her.
Luckily ESAU and TATUM ONEAL gave me a grip in that section though I had MASTERS for a long time until EIDER appeared. And I put MORO before MOOR since the spelling seemed to call for Spanish.
SW was the easiest as I've rented ALAMO cars many times and once BOARD emerged, ZONING followed.
Laughed at high chairs? SKI LIFT and thought of Marti.
Like Splynter, I thought Bushido sounded Japanese so SAMURAI made sense. I had IN VOGUE though before A LA MODE.
Saturday Silkies so often appear daunting yet are doable as many have MENTIONed.
LONG O was clever!
NEANDERTHAL MAN recalled Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel which is quite riveting.
Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!
I meant I'll have to read more about Nellie BLY not pertinence! And I did have to search for LA CONFIDENTIAL which I saw at the time and found it extremely dark.
Hi C.C. & gang,
A tough Silkie today. My wife and I teamed up on it but I had to cheat for the unknown movie LAC... never saw it.
Gas prices in CA are always the highest in the lower 48 -- might be more $ in Hawaii though.
We're lucky to find gas under $4.15 in the bay area so we save up Safeway points and get a gas discount per gallon that way.
EddyB? Did you get my note about next weekends pottery and jam sale?
I got 'er done with a little help from red letters. It was too hard to be fun for me. I didn't get the long 'O' in Obama at first but chuckled when I did.
My Internet connection is now blazing fast since getting the new modem. Depending on which speed test I use, it's between 11 and 24 Mbps. Speed really wasn't the problem before. Often, there would be an annoying delay before it would connect with a web page in the first place.
A lot of gimmies. Muir, Neanderthal,Sylvia and Schon etc.
LA Confidental not a bad movie. Worth a rental.
Wouldn't Call Sylvia a jazz singer
ala Ella or Lady Day. Smile is probably her signature song.
"Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" first big hit by Andrew Sisters. Have it on BG 1938 concert Big crush on Patty.
"H"in Neanderthal not pronounced like "H" in my last name.
Watched the Pens stay alive. Sharks turn tonight at 4:30 local.
Coyotes' Torres given 25 game suspension for hit on Hossa.
eddy
Mlb does offer an app called AtBat 12. I don't have it. A friend does and he told ne they charge extra for boxscores. Wtf? That is the most essential information about a baseball game. Mlb.com's Gameday is free and I use it almost daily.
Btw, my non-baseball clues I posted yesterday @ 1232p got no takers. For those who wondered what I was taking about:
Godzilla? GREEN MONSTER
Vexatious Varsovian? PESKY POLE
Bermudian Badspot? THE TRIANGLE
Colonial City? WILLIAMSBURG
Refrigerator Box? KENMORE SQUARE
Sole Scarlet Stool? LONE RED SEAT
Wisconsin Mascot Impression? BUCKY DENT(lol, sorry, Red Sox fans.)
It was meant to be a word game for Fenway Fans.
$4.69 a gallon here in homer alaska!!! Like others I love a saturday silkie,but came up short. Red-lettered a few,then a few more and finally finished. Thanks for this blog. Read every day and have learned so much. thanks cw
Splynter: Excellent write-up & links. Barry Silk, thanks for a FUN (yet brutal) Saturday slog.
First to fall was LA CONFIDENTIAL. Then NEANDERTHAL MAN, ZONING BOARD & EMBASSY ROW,
It was "the little stuff" that held me up. Geez, I put the puzzle down 3 times before I finally finished.
WIDENER, EDSON, SYMS, SCHON, MAB, MUIR all 'wags' supported by the perps. (Gotta love da perps).
Nellie BLY I remember, but had to write-over that PERTINENCY 'Y' to get her correctly.
Husker: Glad to hear about "your sign" yest. and YUP, I remember the "shoot me in the nose" from Patton. LOL
Under a deluge (I'm workin' on my ark), but I'm sure the Sun will still be setting later.
Cheers !!!
Husker: Forgot to mention those 8th century invaders of Spain, the Moops.
We're expecting the first 100 deg. temps today, Sun. and Mon.! No measurable rain in six months.
Gas near me is $3.86 but Fry's Food Store points offer .10 discount per gallon. It helps.
At 12:30, 91 degrees in back yard.
Much too hot to do any work. May have to turn on the AC. 100?
Thought Save Mart bought all Frys' stores. Save Mart and Lucky's have the same gas program. Too soon for bi-monthy fill up.
Good luck in LV. There is a reason why people leave the city in the summer.
Keeping the Brown Trucks busy. Ayrton Senna DVD came today instead of Monday.
eddy
Lucina @ 12:53, I have Auel's latest, "The Land of Painted Caves" on my iPad reading queue, but haven't started it yet. She does write some interesting stuff!
Seen @ 1:41, I tried to make sense of your clues yesterday and I did think of "Green Monster" for Godzilla. But the rest of them were way over my non-basebal head! Thanks for posting the answers!!
Splynter - good luck on your move to Vegas. Our rental property in San Luis Obispo needs a new deck if you're ever out that way (its just a little one). Thanks for your write up today.
Puzzle was an intimidating slog for me. TATUM ONEAL fell into place immediately and then NEANDERTHAL MAN. Then LA CONFIDENTIAL (reminded me of the now defunct other blog). Never liked that movie much. I'm not a fan of the noir genre. I guess its it's actually considered neo-noir.
I took a WAG and wrote in KENNEDY at 15A Harvard's __Library. I also put in LDS for 25A BYU, e.g.
Sifingi - Loved your BYOB, BYU comment.
Long story short, the NE was a total mess and I finally had to Google the Library to clean things up. First time I've had to do that in months!
I've heard ASTORIA is a pretty town and great place to retire.
Heading up into the 90s again today. Last time I bought gas, it was $4.34.
Warren, No I didn't. BHC location?
Will be interested in a tea pot and Olallieberry jam. Have three
empty jars for you.
eddy
eddy@2:46
Kroger bought the Fry's stores in Arizona.
Whew! Just finished a major house cleaning today as one of my groups is meeting here tomorrow. Time to bake a cake.
Splynter, I'd offer you a fine dining experience at Kramer, NE on any day of the week except Monday. It's a tiny unincorporated Burg of about 50 in the middle of an expanse of farm ground. A genuine rural experience. However, the bar there is a regional gathering spot that's better than most holes in the wall. Maybe Gary could even make the trip that far south. Or...if that weren't convenient, maybe we could compromise and do dinner in Lincoln.
Reading the comments, it's quite amusing how some people's gimmes are others WTFs. I think Kevin Spacey is fantastic, but couldn't wade through LA Confidential, so that one was at least half perps. And while I've only been to CA once, John Muir was the only thing I could think of for that clue. I guess going to Yosemite helped. For Ent, it didn't even occur to me that Orc and Elf were candidates. And like CED, I thought that Essay was pretty tame for a long blog posting...thought screed might be more likely.
Dang, the local weather is overcast and dreary, but cool; a lot cooler than CrazyCat is experiencing about 45 minutes east of here and FermatPrime, about 45 minutes north of here. Then there's Lucina, eddyB and others who seem to be experiencing summer in April.
I wish Nebraska weren't so far away. A possible get together sounds like great fun.
LA Confidential was a really good movie. Dark though. I don't know that I'd want to see it again.
Greetings!
A real slog for me. (Turned on red letters eventually.) These Silkies terrify me. Thanks for explanation, Splynter. I will take time later to look at your many links.
Obvious to me were MOOR, ENT, TEMP, MUIR and a few others. The Alcazar is part of the Alhambra complex, where I made two videos twenty years ago. (Keyboard shortcut for accent no longer works. What gives?)
First long one, and favorite answer was NEANDERTHALMAN.
Really hot here. So in April we have had winter and summer?
CC, Splynter, etc., Please tell me how you create colors in blogs!
Bye for now…
Splynter: Did not particularly like TATUM on Rescue Me. Homely woman, homely personality.
Correction to previous post: The Alcazaba is the name of the ruins on the ninth century fortress at the Alhambra.
Hello, fellow human beings. DNF today, meaning, specifically, I finished it but had to look stuff up, such as the name of the Harvard library (I knew the name of the Yale library), the given name of Pele, and the city where the 1996 Olympics were held.
Love all your comments.
Best wishes to you all.
I thought for sure the youngest Academy Award winner was Anna Paquin. Nope.
Speaking of Astoria, my wife and I had a bit of an adventure there, and on the way there. We had checked on line and found a motel called The Thunderbird that we planned on staying in. It turns out that motel was a totally sleazy place under the wharf, so we searched the town for another place that had a room. I don't remember the name of it, but it was a really nice B&B place that we were glad had a vacancy.
Then there was the drive across the bridge into Washington state. Holy wow, it was a million feet high, crossing the Columbia River, and it was so foggy we could barely see 20 feet ahead of the car. We crossed at maybe 25 miles per hour, and were so glad to finally descend to ground level again once we reached the other side. Looking back on it, we laugh at how much fun it was.
Hi all,
A very hard puzzle. The first one I knew for sure was 1996 Olympic site. My daughter had moved to Atlanta and a huge sign at the airport "1996 summer Olympics-Atlanta."
John Muir was born and raised in Wisconsin,and so was Aldo Leopold. We hear about them often.
Both were great men.
Good evening all!
Marge
Hi All ~~
A Saturday Silk ~ As others have already mentioned and as I've also said in the past, usually persistence pays off. It did for me today. It took about an hour an a half and I had MANY erasures but it was so satisfying to finish!
Midway through I had most of the left side filled and the right side empty. The SE was the toughest for me. I just couldn't get anything. Finally, EMBASSY ROW opened things up. I really liked 'Crowd annoyance' / ELBOWER and I learned that ALAMODE can mean trendy ... I had no idea! Thanks, for an enjoyable puzzle, Barry Silk and a really good write-up, Splynter. Best of luck in your upcoming adventures!
I spent much of the day involved in baseball games ... I saw the last inning of a perfect game thrown by a White Sox pitcher (for those not into baseball - it's a rare occurrence.) And then there was a game with the other Sox team. I was smiling through six innings - Red Sox were up 9-0 over the Yankees. When the disaster ended, it was Yankees over the Red Sox 15-9. It's gonna be a LONG season ... sigh.
LA CW Addict ~~ Thank you so much for your post last night. I haven't yet deleted my Fenway recording but I think I'm over the emotion of it all. I read in the newspaper this morning about the many tears that were shed ... I wasn't the only one. ;-) I really appreciate your words of encouragement. You are a very caring person.
Seen ~~
I really enjoyed your non-baseball clues. The only one I wasn't sure about was WILLIAMSBURG. And ... as I typed that I just got it - TED! Duh! KENMORE SQUARE was also really good. As for BUCKY (F.) DENT ... UGH. I'll forgive you for that one! LOL
Sharks up a goal after 2. Jill not watching.
Did 2 lbs of bacon outside. Made a bacon cheeseburger for dinner. Also had a hugh pile of my world famous cole slaw and iced tea.
Temp topped out at 96. 10 mph breeze kept it cool.
BHC next Sat after Sao Paulo guals.
Too bad LA Confidential came out the same year as the Titanic.
Just re-read The Land Of Painted Caves. Like having a book in my hands.
eddy
Sharks up a goal after 2. Jill not watching.
Did 2 lbs of bacon outside. Made a bacon cheeseburger for dinner. Also had a hugh pile of my world famous cole slaw and iced tea.
Temp topped out at 96. 10 mph breeze kept it cool.
BHC next Sat after Sao Paulo guals.
Too bad LA Confidential came out the same year as the Titanic.
Just re-read The Land Of Painted Caves. Like having a book in my hands.
eddy
LaLaLinda:
Funny how we have a different perspective of the same game.
I really enjoyed the N.Y.Yankee's being down 0-9 and their comeback win 15-9 over the Red Sox.
Always liked Bucky F. Dent ... though we think the 'F' stands for FABULOUS.
Cheers !!!
I forgot to mentions Seen's last clue: "One Red Seat". Doing a quick google, I see there was a seat in Fenway painted red for Ted Williams (if I didn't read that too quickly). That was the one clue I'd figured out when it was posted, but I thought it was about Harmon Killebrew. I saw his red painted seat in Minneapolis in c. 1969 in a game against the Tigers. Didn't know there were more than one of those.
Tinbeni ~ Glad you enjoyed the game. "Fabulous" ... yeah that's what I was thinking. ;-)
A couple of days ago I made a silly comment about not being able to imagine being married to Dana Delaney (not that she would ever have looked at me twice). Similarly, I would imagine that many women would find Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS) attractive but I can't imagine that he would be easy to be married to. I Googled him and apparently Pam Dawber (Mindy of Mork and Mindy) has managed it though. They've been married since 1987.
Hi Again ~!
Crazy Cat, if I get to Vegas, I will be happy to get out to your rental property.
As for the meet in Lincoln, let's see what we can put together, Avg Joe, and HG - I am hip to the idea ~!
I see the SJS are now out; sorry eddyB - but the lack of effort by the Rangers in their crummy game just sealed their tee time....
Rrrrr
Lets go FLYERS~!!!
Splynter
Bill 9:20--I'm so thankful to hear that about Pam Dawber. I was devastated when her co-star was murdered just as her new series was getting off the ground some years ago, and have never heard anything about her since. Hearing that she might have had the support of a good marriage all that time makes me relieved and happy.
Good evening, folks. Thank you Mr. Silk, for the puzzle. Thank you. Splynter, for the good write-up.
Well, this puzzle did not make my day. I got through it with some help, but was not impressed with all the obscure clues/answers.
I think that, generally speaking, a clue should define an answer. If you have to rely on perps, and many of them, to arrive at the answer, then what is the point.
Hopefully, the Sunday crossword will be a little more doable than today's.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Abejo:
I feel your pain. However, it's all about the challenge, IMHO.
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