Theme: What is the plural of deer?
You want more than one theme entry? This puzzle has many, (count them: SIX, with four in the vertical position!) which use a plural phrase without an "s". In fact, there is no other plural in the puzzle. Just ask any constructor, how difficult this is to achieve! (I just re-wrote this paragraph to get rid of four of them. Can you guess what my original note was?)
And here is the full list:
20A. Phenoms : WUNDER KINDER. Literally, German for "Phenoms" or child prodigies. Shall we start off with eine kleine Mozart? 9:00 (Just let it play in the background, while you read the rest...)
55A. Trochee and iamb : METRICAL FEET. Trochee is a stressed syllable, followed by an unstressed one. One of my favorites is from Macbeth:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
An Iamb is the opposite: it consists of an unaccented syllable, followed by an accented one. Iambic tetrameter has four of these per line, as in Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
3D. Some living legends : GRAND OLD MEN. Not to be confused with "Grumpy Old Men". 1:16
5D. Exemplars of poverty : CHURCH MICE. Attributed to Lewis Carrol, but there are no quotes in his writing that mention them!
26D. Some molars : WISDOM TEETH. Is the plural of Kissing Booth - "beeth"?
32D. Museums for astronomy buffs : PLANETARIA. Ahhh...pure Latin 101. Neuter nouns ending in -um are pluralized by ending them in -a.
And the reveal:
You want more than one theme entry? This puzzle has many, (count them: SIX, with four in the vertical position!) which use a plural phrase without an "s". In fact, there is no other plural in the puzzle. Just ask any constructor, how difficult this is to achieve! (I just re-wrote this paragraph to get rid of four of them. Can you guess what my original note was?)
And here is the full list:
20A. Phenoms : WUNDER KINDER. Literally, German for "Phenoms" or child prodigies. Shall we start off with eine kleine Mozart? 9:00 (Just let it play in the background, while you read the rest...)
55A. Trochee and iamb : METRICAL FEET. Trochee is a stressed syllable, followed by an unstressed one. One of my favorites is from Macbeth:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
An Iamb is the opposite: it consists of an unaccented syllable, followed by an accented one. Iambic tetrameter has four of these per line, as in Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
3D. Some living legends : GRAND OLD MEN. Not to be confused with "Grumpy Old Men". 1:16
5D. Exemplars of poverty : CHURCH MICE. Attributed to Lewis Carrol, but there are no quotes in his writing that mention them!
26D. Some molars : WISDOM TEETH. Is the plural of Kissing Booth - "beeth"?
32D. Museums for astronomy buffs : PLANETARIA. Ahhh...pure Latin 101. Neuter nouns ending in -um are pluralized by ending them in -a.
And the reveal:
59D. Last letter in most plurals (but not in this puzzle's six longest answers, which are the only plurals in this grid) : ESS
Marti here, to unravel this WUNDER-ful puzzle for you. I blogged his last LAT puzzle in January, which I thought was a masterpiece. He always goes for unusual themes, and this one is no exception.
Across:
1. Historical novel, usually : SAGA. "Forsythe Saga" comes to mind.
5. CCCII x III : CMVI. Do the math!
9. Digital camera option : ZOOM. Or, half a Mazda commercial. 0:29
13. Show signs of age, as wallpaper : CURL. I live in an 1890 Victorian. CURLing wallpaper is the least of my problems!
14. Gray with age : HOARY. OK, I am feeling my age now...
16. Ohio tribe : ERIE
17. Ventura County city : OJAI. Oh, hi!
18. Prepare to transplant, as to the garden : UNPOT. I am re-potting all my plants right now...so this one was a write-over!
19. Swig : BELT. Tinbeni, I bet you never BELT down your avatar!
23. Trip letters : LSD. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. Tim Leary's drug of choice.
24. Breezed through : ACED.
25. Cut : SAWED.
29. "Death, that hath suck'd the honey ___ breath": Shak. : OF THY. "...hath no power yet upon thy beauty..." Death scene in "Romeo and Juliet"
31. Fitting : APT
33. 10-Down suffix : ITE. and 10-D. Raw mineral : ORE. Ores: Bauxite, graphite, pyrite and onyx...(oops - that last one was just too scrabbly to leave out!)
34. Peace in the Middle East : SALAAM
36. Ginormous : COLOSSAL. Fun clue!
38. Env. info : ADDR.ess on an envelope
39. Sardegna o Sicilia : ISOLA. Italian for "Island". Geography lessons! #1 Sardinia. #2 Sicily.
41. Mine entrance : ADIT. Hello, crossword friend!
42. A little too clever : GIMMICKY
44. Physicist Tesla : NIKOLA. Another old friend is back!
46. 64-Across spec : EEE. A size for Daisy Duck? and 64A. Nine West product: SHOE. Popular women's brand.
47. Shell game need : PEA.
Across:
1. Historical novel, usually : SAGA. "Forsythe Saga" comes to mind.
5. CCCII x III : CMVI. Do the math!
9. Digital camera option : ZOOM. Or, half a Mazda commercial. 0:29
13. Show signs of age, as wallpaper : CURL. I live in an 1890 Victorian. CURLing wallpaper is the least of my problems!
14. Gray with age : HOARY. OK, I am feeling my age now...
16. Ohio tribe : ERIE
17. Ventura County city : OJAI. Oh, hi!
18. Prepare to transplant, as to the garden : UNPOT. I am re-potting all my plants right now...so this one was a write-over!
19. Swig : BELT. Tinbeni, I bet you never BELT down your avatar!
23. Trip letters : LSD. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. Tim Leary's drug of choice.
24. Breezed through : ACED.
25. Cut : SAWED.
29. "Death, that hath suck'd the honey ___ breath": Shak. : OF THY. "...hath no power yet upon thy beauty..." Death scene in "Romeo and Juliet"
31. Fitting : APT
33. 10-Down suffix : ITE. and 10-D. Raw mineral : ORE. Ores: Bauxite, graphite, pyrite and onyx...(oops - that last one was just too scrabbly to leave out!)
34. Peace in the Middle East : SALAAM
36. Ginormous : COLOSSAL. Fun clue!
38. Env. info : ADDR.ess on an envelope
39. Sardegna o Sicilia : ISOLA. Italian for "Island". Geography lessons! #1 Sardinia. #2 Sicily.
41. Mine entrance : ADIT. Hello, crossword friend!
42. A little too clever : GIMMICKY
44. Physicist Tesla : NIKOLA. Another old friend is back!
46. 64-Across spec : EEE. A size for Daisy Duck? and 64A. Nine West product: SHOE. Popular women's brand.
47. Shell game need : PEA.
48. Durable cloth: DENIM
49. Africa's northernmost capital : TUNIS. Another geography lesson.
51. Suffragette who co-founded Swarthmore : MOTT. Lucretia Coffin Mott. What a name! She was a Quaker minister and a major figure in the reform movements of the 19th century.
52. "Conan" airer : TBS. Turner Broadcasting System.
59. Tombstone lawman : EARP. Shootout at the OK corral.
62. Fishing boot : WADER. Usually seen in the plural, but this puzzle won't allow that! My dad used these all the time. He was a great fly fisherman, and taught me when I was 6. I still love it!
63. Private jet maker : LEAR. Dudley, have you ever flown one?
65. Muscat native : OMANI. The capital of Oman is Muscat. Geography lesson # 4 today.
66. Periodic table fig. : AT. NO. Atomic Number "o"?. (Why is the abbr. of number "NO"? There is NO "O" in number!)
67. It may be rigged : SAIL
68. "After the Thin Man" dog : ASTA
69. Oft-misused pronoun : WHOM. For who the bell tolls?
Down:
1. Tough guy's expression : SCOWL. "Make my day..."
2. How roast beef may be served : AU JUS.
4. "Put ___ on it!" : A LID
6. Capuchin, e.g. : MONKEY. Or just monk...
7. Lacking sharpness : VAPID.
8. Waffle maker : IRON. I peeked at this perp for the across clue, and mistakenly filled in "I-Hop". Bad girl!
9. Last critter in an ABC book : ZEBRA
11. Fry cook's supply : OIL. EVOO, anyone?
12. Bumped into : MET. No baseball ref?
15. Abbr. in a CFO's report : YTD. Chief Financial Officer. Year to date.
21. "Do I dare to ___ peach?": Prufrock musing : EAT A.
| "Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? | |
| I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. | |
| I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each..." |
22. This, in Tijuana : ESTO
27. Cybercommerce : E-TAIL. And some web dating sites...
28. Sedimentary formation : DELTA
30. "Charlotte's Web" setting : FARM
31. Chat room inits. : AOL. Is there anyone online in America who does not know this "initialism"?
34. "Full House" actor : SAGET. Later reduced to host of AFV. Combined.
35. "Farewell, chérie" : ADIEU
36. Coquettish : COY
37. Munro's pen name : SAKI. The pen name may be a reference to the cupbearer in the Rubáiyát by Omar Khayyam.
40. Reggae relative : SKA. Yay! Another music link. Very interesting history of the genre. 6:18
43. ___ dixit: unproven claim : IPSE. Latin for "He himself said it".
45. IOC part: Abbr. : INT'L. International Olympic Committee. (Triple double letters in "committee". Cool word)
48. Museum guide : DOCENT
50. Drive forward : IMPEL
51. Cursed alchemist : MIDAS. Yeah, I should be so cursed...
53. Lotto variant : BEANO
54. Pol Thurmond : STROM. South Carolina senator from 1954-2003.
56. Couple : TWO
57. Avatar of Vishnu : RAMA. In this case, avatar means "manifestation", not that little picture on your blog entry.
58. Weak spot : FLAW
60. Word of discovery : AHA
61. Palais resident : ROI. French "palace" in the clue, and French answer for "king". I bet you got that one, Abejo. Right?
Answer grid.
That's all until next week!
Hugs,
Marti
88 comments:
Morning, all!
I have to admit that I wasn't quite as enamored with this one as Marti seemed to be. I'll take her word on how hard it is to construct a puzzle with no plural "S" anywhere, but the theme itself just didn't excite me much.
Actually, though, it was the clues that annoyed me a bit, and those probably were provided by Rich and not the constructor. WUNDERKINDER is indeed the correct German plural for WUNDERKIND, but the clue is in English and the correct English plural is WUNDERKINDS. Seriously, I just looked it up to make sure.
And since when are PLANETARIA considered "museums"? [OK, probably always, but it seems like a real stretch to me...]
All in all, I thought the puzzle was just a bit too GIMMICKY (for which I originally had NIT PICKY). But perhaps my comments are just too VAPID (for which I originally had VAGUE).
There was certainly plenty of good stuff, don't get me wrong. And I was extremely relieved when 33A turned out to be ITE instead of IDA...
Greetings!
Fun puzzle, Victor; swell write-up, Marti!
Favorite answer: WUNDERKINDER.
I have been mostly out of it lately. Can't seem to recover from taxes and termites. Loan for termites taking forever to get. Most depressing to fill out wads of papers over and over. Termite guys left a huge mess in the form of rotted furniture from sheds that they dismantled.
On the plus side, my roses are blooming their little hearts out. All kinds of colors (except white). Hot Cocoa is splendid, as are several purple mixes. Betty Boop energetic, as is Fourth of July.
I imagine many of you have rose gardens. Let me know what you like!
Cheers!
Good Morning, Marti and friends. I wasn't real keen on the theme, or lack thereof, today. I did need the reveal to unify the long answers. Lots of other fun clues, though.
My first thought for the Historical Novel was Epic, but SAGA works. i recently read Fall of Giants, which is a wonderful saga / epic about World War I.
I also "waffled" between IRON and IHOP.
I have lots of Nine West Products!
My sister lived in TUNIS when she was in the Peace Corps. Her next door neighbor was Arafat. They never met for afternoon tea, however.
One of my WISDOM TEETH is bothering me right now. i'll have to have it pulled, but I am putting that off as long as possible.
I thought of Jeannie when I filled in the Rigged SAIL.
Oh, an acid trip, not AAA and a road trip!
QOD: There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate. ~ Charles Dickens.
Marti, you really did a remarkable job with this write up thank you. Victor welcome back, really enjoyed your long fill and while the theme was elusive, it was creative.
love the QOD H. and chocolate as well.
Peace out, have a pleasant trip all.
I enjoyed this puzzle, though it turned into a bit of a speed run. Hand up for EPIC/SAGA and VAGUE/VAPID. I was so busy at it that I overlooked ADIT. SAGET, MOTT and ISOLA were unknown, but perped out OK. And I never heard of BEANO as a game; it sounds downright aromatic!
Marti enjoyed your beeth and etail comments. (Beeth are actually thoeth thweet red thingthe.) That history of SKA was fascinating.
The sod man is due back in a few minutes to finish up (and collect his check, I'm sure). It actually looks like a lawn again.
desper-otto, (^0^)
Barry G. and Hahtoolah, I can see where some may not warm up to this type of theme. I don't think I would have "gotten" it, without the reveal. But when I realized what it was about, I had to admire the execution. With six theme entries, the fill was remarkably clean.
And I loved seeing GIMMICKY.
I enjoyed this puzzle and especially Marti's always clever write up. The theme did help in the solving.
Oxford dictionary has two plurals for wunderkind: wunderkinds and wunderkinder. I prefer the latter, though it is more rarely used.
At first I was reading TROCHEE AND LAMB, wondering what they had in common. Just like yesterday's MOM, MORN.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led very interesting, bold lives, championing anti-slavery and women's rights which was considered heresy in those days. These ladies are another of my historical novel passions.
Barry, strictly speaking I suppose planetaria are not actually museums, but they often are combined with museums featuring astronomy. The Museum of Natural History in NYC has a fine planetarium along with interesting exhibits on astronomy.
I struggled for a while with this, but kind of enjoyed it after I started getting more of it out. I had to go south to get a real start, but that was also where I ended up with errors, mainly due to misreading the trochee and iamb clue as LAMB and couldn't make sense of it. I'd guessed LAMA/RAMA, and totally flubbed the SE corner, never having heard of BEANO, and having MEAT for FEET.
So on to Friday, let's see how I get smacked around tomorrow!
Barry, I see how planetaria are separate from museums in some cases. My cousin works at a high school that has its own planetarium, but in Chicago we don't differentiate.
I enjoyed today's CWP, even though I had some write overs. I had to look up trochee and iamb, so I learned something.
Favorite clues: "It may be riged: SAIL", and "Cursed alchemist: MIDAS" (seems like everything I touch turns to something else...)
I feel so intelligent saying DOCENT and PLANETARIA.
Enjoy your day. SALAAM and ADIEU.
Great puzzle and write-up. Thanks, Marti.
Wanted MONast for 5d. Ended up with MONKEe. Forgot about the simien type. Had ESTA for 22d which screwed up COLaSSAL. Looked okay.
Bad eyes read trochee and Lamb. Thought at first it was a mideastern entree. Didn't know trochee. When METRICAL FEET appeared via perps, I went back and yes, that was an "i". Thanks for the explanation, Marti.
Other learning moment: ISOLA. Knew they were islands but didn't know the Italian.
Didn't know NineWest. Mostly wear Nikes.
My Air Force son's first assignment was piloting a Lear C21. I went on a trip during that time and met a former Lear employee who told me he had written the manual for that plane. Strange coincidence. Sweet little aircraft, I'm told.
Good morning, folks. thank you, Victor, for a swell Thursday puzzle. Thank you, as well, Marti, for the great write-up. And, yes, I did get ROI for 61D, right after I got EARP, SHOE, and SAIL. I think I really knew it.
I started with the Roman Numeral for 5A, CMVI. I always like those and they are easy for me.
Next came ERIE for 16A. I believe that tribe actually spanned Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. We called them the ERIEZ indians. I am sure that Lake Erie was named for them and Erie, PA, as well. (My home town) Not to leave out the Erie Canal.
Got ZEBRA, then oRE, then OIL, then MET.
In the NW I entered PEEL for the 13A. With OJAI and AU JUS, I fixed that to CURL.
The theme answers slowed me down. My first one was METRICAL FEET, then CHURCH MICE.
Enjoyed SALAAM. We said that in Iran and we say that in the Shrine. Common word to me.
Slowly I wandered through the puzzle and eventually got it. My last section to finish was the North Central. HOARY, UNPOT, IRON, YTD.
I agree with others that to put this puzzle together with all the plurals and no "S" endings was quite a feat. Congratulations, Victor.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
I woke up this morning at 5:30 very hot and itching. Found I had a bad case of hives. Took antihistamines and am okay now. Haven't eaten or done anything different except have a very busy day yesterday. Allergies are hard to understand sometimes.
Thank you Victor and Marti for a great start to Thursday!
I knew all of the down theme answers plus metrical feet. After a few more down clues in the NW, I got wunderkinder. These made the rest of the puzzle easy to finish. (Didn’t get the theme, though, until reading this blog.)
Needed the perps for ojai, isola, and ska but finished the puzzle surprisingly quickly.
I went to doctor and dentist appointments yesterday 90 miles away. I printed Wednesday’s puzzle before I left. I did the first 6 clues in the waiting room, thebefore being called back. I sat in the exam room with only a sheet on, and was able to finish the rest of the puzzle plus my Suduko and Cryptoquote puzzles before finally seeing the doctor. Only word that slowed me down was nary, and perps filled that in. Thought I would still be working on the puzzles in the dentist waiting room, but had to settle for a magazine.
Either the puzzles are getting easier or I am getting better at solving them.
Looking forward to Friday this week,
Montana
Good morning everyone:
Kudos to Victor for a good Wednesday challenge and to Marti for a terrific expo.
I, too, read trochee and lamb until taking a closer look. Had no idea of the theme until the unifier popped up.
Hatoolah @ 6:42-I loved Fall of Giants. Winter of the World:Book Two of the Century Triology is being released on September 18th. It's in my wish list at Amazon. Did you read The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End? Both were excellent.
Happy Thursday all.
Marti: WOW what a WUNDERKINDER write-up & links. Ya mon! I'm enjoying the SKA ear-worms.
Victor Barocas: Thank You for my "new" favorite crossword puzzle of 2012. Great Stuff !!!
That said, this was hardly a speed-run, and there were quite a few write-overs.
Vague before VAPID
EPS (Earnings Per Share) before YTD
Dig-up (off the 'P' in my EPS) before UN-POT
And I had "Charlotte's Web" setting in a Barn before FARM emerged.
Esp. liked the LSD and UN-POT (is that what happens ... after about 8 hours???) answers.
A 'sip' (not a BELT) of Avatar at Sunset when I 'toast' y'all.
Cheers !!!
Hard work and learning and wit, Oh My! Thanks for the ride, Victor! 3 bad cells gave me a “close, but no cigar” rating. I should check the perps before moving on.
Musings
-Some cultures honor GRAND OLD MEN more than others
-I had a root canal on a WISDOM TOOTH two weeks ago and the jaw pain is finally gone
-Neighbor is an African violet expert and I have had to UN and REPOT his gifts to me
-I had UNEASY for Mideast peace at first and CAIRO before TUNIS
-I don’t get CONAN and his unfunny quotient is higher than the funny one for me
-We saw Wyatt EARP’s boyhood home in Pella, Iowa during a visit to their tulip festival. Somehow I don’t think he was as sartorially resplendent as Hugh O’Brian who played him during the glut of TV westerns of my youth.
-A good friend always orders AW JUSS with her beef. What’s the point in correcting her?
-I thought of LOL, TTL, ad nauseum before AOL came to mind
-SAGET and other stars of family TV comedies have stand up acts that are filthy
-Maybe so Marti, but how do you exactly eat that golden potato chip with that lovely curse?
-Ferm, we like knockout roses for their hardiness and profuse blooms
-I’m a math/physics guy who is subbing for a music teacher today. In the words of cwd staple ARTE Johnson, “Verrrrrrry interesting!”
Guten morgan. I plowed my way steadily through this one, but it was never easy. Enough in all quadrants to always make progress, but if I'd been clocked, I would've been under the limit in a school zone. Lot's of fun though. 5 years ago I probably wouldn't have appreciated the complexity of the theme, but it's pretty cool today. Thanks!
Good morning Marti and all.
Agree with Marti about KINDER but was mindful of the clue at 59d. Several vowel shift plurals; ie. TEETH, MICE. These demonstrate the Germanic roots of English. Oddly, Dutch forms most plurals by adding 'en', and doubling a last consonant if necessary to preserve the sound (ie, man - men, man - mannen). Some real clever clueing like for LSD. I had to go south, too, to build the solve northward. Only hangup was the GIMMICKY/COY cross. A tip of the hat to Victor on a great job.
April 19, 2012 9:20 AM
Montana - or maybe it's just that the doctor is too pokey slow - just sayin.
About the puzzle - WEES. Hand up for vague before vapid, IHop before iron, barn before farm and the lamb/iamb confusion. Got the WU start to wunder kinder from the perps and thought - WTF.
No speed run for sure, but I finally got 'er done and realized how very clever it was/is. LSD and church mice were my favorite fills.
Great work, Victor and Marti. Enjoy your gateway to the weekend, everyone.
All I can say is I don't know how anyone can get those answers! Lol
Irish Miss: thanks for the heads-up on when the next book in the series comes out. I read both Pillars of Salt and World without End. I loved them both. Now I have another Ken Follet book to look forward to!
PK @ 8:42. Probably not a good idea to give some of these bloggers such as opening! :)
Hi gang, my wife is working from home most days now, we teamed up and did today's.
This is a head's up to EddyB, LD & anyone else in our local area:
Here's a link to our next pottery sale next weekend April 28 & 29. There will also be homemade jams and jellies made by my wife (I help as much as I can).
Hello! Thanks, again, Marti, for your excellent, upbeat review.
It was a carousal ride today, round and round filling here and there until I struck paydirt with WISDOM TEETH and finished the east.
Initially I had ISLAS at 39A though it's Spanish not Italian but thought it would correct itself and did so with COY.
Loved the long fill! But blundered the SE with BEAT not FEET! Ugh!
I, too, own many 64A but not in EEE.
Barry, LOL at your "ida" comment!
SALAAM, everyone! Have a happy Thursday!
I love Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and believe it is one of the best books of all time. I've read it three times and am looking forward to parts two and three of the trilogy.
Hi gang -
I thought this one was going to leave me battered and bloody, but I got away with scrapes and a contusion.
I do like the theme, though it's a bit obscure and GIMMICKY.
S E corner was a mess. COY should have been a gimme, but was slow to develop.
I wonder if Lucretia was related to Charles Stewart Mott, of applesauce fame and eponym for the U of M childrens hospital that saved grandson Nate's life?
For some unknown reason, I really enjoy CHURCHMICE.
MIDAS isn't the plural of MIDA?!?
No - that would be a FLAW.
Gary - music is all about math and physics. Check out the comma of Pythagoras.
Cool regards,
JzB
Good morning to all, thanks Marti for your writings and victor for a good Thurs. puzzle. WTS(what Tinbeni said) although I tought beano was something for gas relief. Tinman after 8 hours its time to repot or is that rebowl? Have a great day to all RJW.
Nice write-up, Marti. Fun puzzle, Victor. Loved GIMMICKY. NW corner was tough and enjoyable. Had NICOLA instead of NIKOLA, thinking SACI was an unknown; aargh. Learning moment: the other plural of wunderkind. Never heard the phrase GRANDOLDMEN.
Saw others discussing “The Big Bang Theory” the other day and today I’m gonna start watching Season 1. Haven’t seen the show that often, but I remember that it did make me laugh and it seemed to be well-written.
I loved this puzzle and thought I had it nailed, only to discover that I put LOTT instead of MOTT. There goes my feminist cred. But the theme was so cool--many thanks, Victor. And Marti, how lovely that you gave us all that poetry and poetry info!
I have never heard of BEANO. Explanation, anyone? My other big problem was that darned Capuchin. I was sure that Capuchins were an order of monks, and couldn't believe the answer was going in the direction of MONKEY when I finally got it. (Duh!)
Fermat, I'm so happy that your roses are balancing your termites to keep you grounded amid difficulties.
Anyway, a fun way to start a Thursday. Am off to the Senior Center to give a lecture on Leopold Bloom, my favorite literary character, this afternoon.
Have a great Thursday, everybody!
After filling in Isola, I looked up
Sardegna o Scilla. It translated as Sardinia TO Sicily. The site
was full of ferry services. I took one of my uncles' boats to visit both.
Chickie, when you get to book 3, I'll lend you my copy if you want.
But, make sure you get the 800 pg version instead of the 600 pg version.
eddy
Hi All ~~
This was challenging in many spots for me but I did finish ... with two errors I discovered after checking in here. In the SE I had 'Flat' crossing 'Them' ... dumb. Like others have mentioned, I had no idea of the theme until the unifier. I went back to find the six theme answers - really clever construction!
Thanks for a wonderful write-up, Marti. You explained a number of things that confused me. Also, you gave one of my cats a shout-out ~ Monk. (MONKEY) This morning I had quite a battle getting her into a cat carrier for a trip to the vet where I had to leave her. She needs an ultrasound on her belly. She's 15 and has recently lost two pounds and the vet is concerned. Needless to say, I'm anxiously awaiting the call. My kitties are my kids. =^.^=
Enjoy the day ~~
This puzzle took me forever, but finally finished. The SE almost did me in. I've never heard of BEANO, the lottery variant - only BEANO the stuff for gas.
Thanks Marti for your terrific write up and explanation of METRICAL FEET. Hand up for also reading iamb as lamb. Liked Oh hi! I have a friend who calls it Ojay.
I grew up in Swarthmore and somehow was able to pull MOTT out of the spider webs in my brain.
I had EGGO for 6D instead of IRON
Impressive theme!
Irish Miss 9:45, Hatoolah 10:18 and Lucina 10:59 - I loved all those Ken Follett books. Can't wait for the next one.
LaLaLinda
Hope your kitty is all right. I have two seniors (13 and 16). Both have had emergency visits to the vet in the past month. They both seem to be doing fine. I have found putting the cat in a pillowcase before the carrier makes the ordeal less stressful.
Hands up for lamb instead of iamb. I wish the powers in charge would change the font.
Gary, I agree with you about Conan. He thinks he's a lot funnier than I do.
LaLaLinda, good luck wishes for you and your kitty. Pet concerns are very sad. Ellen Degeneres said goodbye to a favorite cat yesterday.
Here's a link to a really good slide show of prize-winning marine photography. (I won't tell you where I found it.) :>)
Musings 2
-Thanks for the Pythagorean story, Jazz. I play guitar and sing and appreciate the math of music but learned a lot from your link.
-My first two classes were Kindergartners (wunderkind?) and after 42 years of teaching middle school math and physics, I left shaking my head as to how anyone could teach that age. I have an hour to rest up to gird my loins for 4th graders and recorders.
-Misty, is your Leopold Bloom any relation to Leo Bloom in The Producers?
-Bill, NBC must have thought so too as they paid big bucks to push him out and bring Leno back. Opinions can differ but the marketplace is an absolute arbiter. Put butts in the seats or…
-Crazy Cat, we put our Emily in the leg of some sweat pants to keep her from freaking out.
-We no longer have a kitty because their deaths (17 years and 15 years old) were too traumatic for my wife.
-Teacher’s lounges remind me of Sheldon in Big Bang Theory. Everyone has their “spot” at the lunch tables and are distressed if someone else (read sub) sits there.
For any of you who have not had the pleasure of reading KEN FOLLETT I give you the link to his work. He is an extremely good story teller who seems comfortable in so many genres, beginning with spy/suspense novels, transitioning to historical novels, and also doing modern hi tech stuff. He continues to produce interesting stories with complicated and conflicted characters. His heros are often flawed but who is not. Pillars of Earth was made into a series which I watched on television. A more realistic version of Game of Thrones.
Hahtoolah, I love your Pillars of Salt.
@Jazzbumpa at 11:12
Charles Stuart Mott was not the Mott of applesauce. Rather, he was one of the founders of General Motors. He sold his company to GM for GM stock, and ended up owning a pretty large share of GM. As a kid, I remember stories about him driving around Flint in his Chevy Nova.
Greg
@Jazzbumpa at 11:12
Charles Stuart Mott was not the Mott of applesauce. Rather, he was one of the founders of General Motors. He sold his company to GM for GM stock, and ended up owning a pretty large share of GM. As a kid, I remember stories about him driving around Flint in his Chevy Nova.
Greg
Hmm, Leopold Bloom from Ulysses or Leo Bloom from the Producers, quite a challenge.
Beano actually goes both ways.
Eddy B @ 12:11, regarding "Sardegna o Sicilia":
I lived in Italy, and have heard "o" used as "or". Google translate also seems to
think so.
My Leopold Bloom is much nicer than Leo Bloom--not to mention more honorable. Mel Brooks is such a smarty-pants, he no doubt cribbed the name from James Joyce.
-You got it Lemon! I thought the contrast of those two characters with similar names from such dissimilar works was a fun thing to post! Plus, I loved the stage show even with Larry David pretending to be Max Bialystock in Curb Your Enthusiasm! He wasn't Zero Mostel or Nathan Lane or... but still.
-Here come the 4th graders! God help me!
Husker Gary: About "homesteaded seating", it`s the same in churches. I`ve seen splits in congregations over such silliness! BTW: as a sub, you "dassn`t" do anything creative. It would make the "regulars" look bad. The regulars seem to have the crab-bucket syndrome...as in, when one tries to climb out, the rest pull him/her back down. It`s a culture of mediocrity, sad to say...but Kazie could say it so much more eloquently!
TinoTech -
It's not that simple.
Charles Stewart Mott came from a long line of farmers—or “sodbusters” as he liked to call them. Throughout his childhood, his father, James Coon Mott, operated a family cider and vinegar business that eventually expanded to include a carbonating company that built beverage-carbonating machinery and imported carbonic gas from Germany.
At the turn of the century, C.S., then a young man, ran both that company and the Weston-Mott Company, which manufactured wheels, hubs and, later, axles. Eventually the Mott beverage company was sold to the Duffy Company, which retained the Mott name on its products, including applesauce and juice.
He was also mayor of Flint. Twice!
Cheers!
JzB
Marti: another triple, double-lettered word: bookkeeping
Seeing Avg Joe's "Guten Morgen" reminds me of a classic German joke which most here will probably not appreciate--German humor:
Customer (C) walks into a grocery store:
C: Morgen!
Storekeeper (S): Morgen!
C: Haben Sie Eier?
S: morgen.
C: morgen?
S: morgen.
C: Morgen!
S: Morgen!
Customer leaves.
You need to know that Morgen (capitalized) is a noun meaning morning, but without the capital "M", it's an adverb meaning tomorrow.
Lucretia Mott and Swarthmore College
The house I grew up in was about 3 blocks north east of the Friends Meeting House (shown in the picture), but it wasn't built until 1902.
Kazie -
Thank you for reminding me of this.
Cool regards!
JzB
Liked phenoms, salaam, sargegna o sicillia, trochee and iamb, aujus, capuchin, ipse, rama, roi. Is this an english crossword puzzle? wtf. oh and adieu!!
More Guten Morgen. I've always liked Nana Mouskouri.
I'll certainly never make that mistake again!
And no. I don't have any eggs.
:-)
Buon pomeriggio all,
Baaa for lamb/iamb. Thanks for the trochee-iamb tetrameter explanation. T'was very clear.
fav. fill: churchmice.
Beano:it works ;-)
Had "dig up" for unpot, as that is what I am constantly doing. I move "volunteers" to better locations. Fermat, my favorites are Mr. Lincoln, Double Delights, Peace, ***Mon Cheri. First blooms are the best!
fav. saga...definitely Pillars of the Earth; World Without End was good, but not as captivating. Fall of Giants is the 1st in the new trilogy, but still not as dynamic. Hatoolah, are you reading Winter of the World? I didn't know it was out.
Thanks for the reminder Warren.
LaLa Linda, hope all goes well. My 18year old cat kept getting skinnier, and was not happy getting hydrated;we kept having to think up new tricks for him to get any meds.sigh
fermatprime, I am will JD on loving my Double Delight roses - wonderful blooms, great smell and hardy, to boot!
LaLaLinda, I have two cats, and one of them lost a pound last time she went to the vet in January. Now I am worried. She did weigh 13 lbs, so probably could stand to lose a little.
HeartRx, I'd call up that vet and demand that he/she return that misplaced pound!
Spitz,
I like Nana too. Nice reminder of her multilingual abilities.
Avg.Joe,
What, no eggs? I couldn't exist without them. Last week when our son was here, he visited a friend who has a hobby farm with a menagerie of animals and poultry. The friend, also a former student of mine and one of our 1991 semester exchange students to our sister school in Germany, sent him back with a dozen duck eggs. I'd never eaten duck eggs before, but they were great--huge and tasty!
Kazie @2:48. funny German joke. Jazz @2:57 great song ROTFL.
I would give up teaching middle school to take a kindergarten assignment any day. The little ones are fascinating. They grow and learn so fast that you can almost see it happening before your eyes day by day. And you can’t beat their enthusiasm.
Husker Gary, we never had accustomed seats where I taught, but I did run into trouble in church. I was sitting alone in a pew section meant for 4 or 5 people. An elderly (i.e. anyone older than me) gentleman can along and said peevishly, "That's my seat." I moved over and said, "It's big enough. Could we share?" "No!" I found another pew and never sat there again.
i am so sorry to hear all the cat worries. It is painful to deal with because our pets are really part of the family.
last literary question of the day from me; has anyone read City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by
Gary Krist?
After Devil in White City I am interested in Chicago
Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are two of my reread favorites also. Think I've read everything of Follets except the last one out.
The only thing I find "funny" about Conan is that anyone thinks he is.
Anonymous at 10:40: LOL! Anymore hives are the only things that makes me that way.
CrazyCat: wish I'd known the pillowcase trick before the last time I tried to put a cat in a carrier. He didn't go to the doctor, but I needed one for infected scratches. How do you get the cat in the pillowcase, by the way? Front first or tail first.
Yes, Kazie, we have eggs. But I'm not sharing. When they're available, we get flats from the UNL Ag College, so we usually have a couple dozen or more on hand. And we used to have neighbors that had 2 tame ducks as pets. They wouldn't eat their eggs, (I guess they thought it ghoulish) so they'd give them to us once in a while. I thought they were very good. I've seen turkey and goose eggs, but have never had a chance to try either one.
4/19 -- 51A - co-founder of Swarthmore was never a Quaker Minister - The Society of Friends do not have clergy.
Always happy to correct a Swarthmore reference.
Haverford "53"
I tip the cat carrier on end, and then just lower the cat into it. Works like a charm!
But last time at the vet, one of them refused to leave the carrier. We turned it the opposite way, until she came out with an inglorious THUMP on her rump. Very embarrassing (for the cat), because the vet and I were laughing our a**es off!!
Busy day, i did the puzzle online, which is so unsatisfying, too easy to cheat. (darn red letters) now it went by so fast, i can't remember what i wanted to complain about. (nuts!)
Well, if i can't complain, i'll just get mushy.
I'm surprised that no one took up my question: "Why is "number" abbreviated as "no.", when there is no "o" in the word?
Ans: it is from the latin ablative form "numero" (nominative: "numerus")
Welcome, Clarabel!
I think trying to get one of my cats into a pillow case would be more traumatic for both my cats and me than trying to put either one in the carrier a la the HeartRx method.
JD: Irish Miss alerted us that the Winter of the World is due out in September. I do not have an advanced copy, it's just reading to look forward to.
Lemonade: LOL!
CrossEyedDave, that mushy stuff is also how I feel about our friends on here.
This has to be one of the most difficult LAT puzzles I have done in a long time. Had Metrical FEAT instead of FEET, so BEANO was wrong. Thought of Keno; never heard of Beano as a form of Lotto. As far as that goes, I still do not understand Feet vs. Feat as it relates to poetry.
Had Mimmicry instead of Gimmicky so SAGET was messed up. Do not know "beans" about Reggae. Also unfamiliar with Vishnu so OMANI was wrong = 6 incorrect letters. Still, I enjoyed the puzzle - the more difficult ones are the most challenging and the most meaningful. Victor's name is now on my radar!
LaLaLinda - the next time you take your kitty to the Vet, back her into the carrier. My Vet taught me that. They do not have the ability to resist as much this way. Another suggestion/solution is to buy one of those carriers with the snapping lid/grate on top. You simply put the cat in and snap up the top. Good luck with your cat! No matter what, it won't live forever, but I know how bad it feels to lose one. I have been a multiple cat owner for years now, and no two have ever died in the same manner. Weight loss is usually a bad sign in an older cat, unless something has changed in yours or the cat's routine. Depending on the diagnosis, ask about vitamins. This prolonged one of my cat's lives for about 8-10 months.
I am figuring these last 6 will see me out - hopefully before I die so I won't leave any of them homeless. I am just 55, so my plan should succeed. If I get near death, I will definitely make provisions for them. I have seen too many older cats at the SPCA depressed because their beloved owner died, and they wanted to give up themselves.
Animals are truly at the mercy of whoever adopts them.
Oh man!!
Yesterday Dick Clark, today Levon Helm!!@#*%!!
Levon at his best: Ophelia
I know a very good drummer very well. He's a young guy. A kid (34~). He played in a national touring band for several years, but gave it up to return to life as the rest of us know it. You know...wife, kids, a dependable paycheck. I once told him that when I watched him playing he reminded me of Levon Helm. He took that as such a sincere compliment that I thought he was going to cry.
RIP Levon. The Band just lost a member to the band.
Clarabell 4:39 - touché! LOL.
PK 4:12 - All you have to do is kind of spread the pillowcase out and sit the cat on top. Then you quietly gather the pillowcase up around the cat and over its head. Carry it as you would normally (butt down in your arms). Then, gently slide cat and pillowcase into the carrier head first.
If my cats see me get out the carrier, they immediately dive under the bed. My vet recommended this method. I thought he was *crazy*, but it works. You just need to be very calm, or they'll catch on.
If anyone remembers a few weeks ago my faux pas of transposing the letters of YOMAMA, you'll laugh when you see two categories of Jeopardy! today!! I'd like to think that inspired them! LOL!!!
Hi all,
This was a clever puzzle,too clever for me. I found the north part fairly easy(though I had to erase alot) but the south got me.
Also had vague first but ended with vapid.
Ave Joe- loved the band. I put it on my favorites-I would like to send it to my son who is a musician. I'll have to get my DH to help me.
Mari-haven't been to the Chicago Planetarium for many years, maybe 40 or so. We did visit the one in Atlanta a couple years ago. It was beautiful,too. Wnen we go south we stay far away from Chicago traffic.
Had not seen adit in a puzzle for awhile. Glad to see it again.
Thanks Marti for the great write up. Thanks also to Mr. Barocas for the interesting puzzle.
Marge
Hola Everyone, What a great puzzle, and a shout out to the English language which has more plurals than we can shake a stick at!
Great writeup, too, Marti. I had a very hard time filling in the whole NW area as I started out with mistakes for Curl, wanted peel, then fade for old wallpaper. I also put in ETA for LSD and wouldn't give up the traveling initials we see so often in our puzzles. Vapid was dredged up from somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain. The answer started out as Vague instead of Vapid. Needless to say, I erased a lot in the left hand corner.
However, it is always satisfying when you get one correct answer to replace something that was wrong and several other words just fall into place. As I used to tell my first graders when something was accomplised that was hard,"Give yourself a pat on the back." This is the opposite of those V-8 can knocks on the forehead that are oh so common in a hard puzzle.
Some of those fine old staples such as Adit, Aced, EEE, and Asta were nice to see, as they really helped fill in those empty squares that were left after my first run through.
Bill G:
Thanks for those beautiful aquatic photos! Takes my breath away. I wonder how many other animal kingdoms there may be out there that we don't even know about yet!
Cross-eyed Dave: I always enjoy and look forward to everything you post.
Marti: Thanks for the explanation about trochee vs iamb. I had studied iambic pentameter in school, but had never heard of trochee, much less iambic tetrameter. Thank you for detailing that!
One more thing - new word for me today is docent.
Thanks Eddy B. for the offer to lend me the third book in the "Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" series. I may just take you up on that.
LaLa Linda, Good luck with your kitty.
Talk about Territorial when it comes to sitting in the same seat at lunch or in Sheldon's case the same space on the couch in their living room.
When we were in Germany we found our family name carved on the railing and pew where the family had sat for ages. Even though it was a bit odd to see carving on the church seats and railings, it was fun to see our family name and know that they were a part of the congregation and it wasn't just hearsay that they were part of that particular church. We were told that there was a donation involved, also.
Chickie - I have "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" if you want it. I bought those books before I got my Kindle.
About Homestead Seating - There was a man at our church who sat alone every week, year after year, on the right side of the first pew. He always left immidiately after the service and never joined in fellowship hour, even though he was personally invited every week.
One Sunday he didn't he didn't show and we never saw him again. We asked the pastor what happened to him. She told us that someone else had sat in his seat and he said could never come back. Weird and sad.
immediately...
Unique theme, Liked it. No Googling, though it took a while.
Most of those irregular plurals are Germanic, excepting PLANETARIA. And three of those (Fuss, Maus, Mann) are the result of the vowel sound change caused by the umlaut in the plural. It's German that has the collection of plurals.
For PEA, I was looking for something that meant "mark."
Today, TESLA appeared on another puzzle, too.
Our Internet connection has been iffy for a long time. The download speed is always good but sometimes it just takes a while to connect to things. I'll unplug the router, plug it back in, and things often improve but just for a while. Then there will be another long pause before I get connected to a new webpage. The Time Warner guy just came by, fixed a weak connection and replaced the cable modem. Everything is jiffy quick now. Fingers crossed...
BillG: The underwater scenes were lovely. I was disappointed because I couldn't change to the next picture when I accessed it from the blog. I went back and forth half a dozen times and couldn't do it. Tonight when I came back, all those back and forths had put it on my IMAC most-frequented screen. From there I could advance and see all the pictures. VOILA! I'm a happy camper now! Thanks!
Talk about homestead seating, made me think of a church organist who refused to allow any newer music. She insisted on only the old hymns and music and wouldn't give up the key to the organ so anyone else could play it. Caused such a rift in the church, the pastor left with half the congregation. She was still very proud to have stuck to the "sacred music".
An exhausting day with the kitties. The ultrasound on Monk showed nothing suspicious. I was relieved to hear that, but the vet feels that it leaves us with no answer as to why she is losing weight. She gave me a list of "next things I could do" so they're running more blood tests - GI related. After that, I'm just not sure.
My youngest cat already had a scheduled appointment for today - her yearly exam so I took her in when I went to pick up the first one. Another battle - me - cat - carrier. I eventually won but it wasn't pretty. I've read all your suggestions - pillow cases, sweatpants (?) and I will definitely experiment. Anything would be better than the hassles/trauma of today!
Thanks so much for your kind thoughts and suggestions ~ it really means a lot. >^.^<
PK and CW addict, I'm glad you got to see all of those great marine photos. PK, I can't imagine why you couldn't advance the photos from the link on this blog since all it does is connect you to the original web page at MSNBC. Maybe things were temporarily screwed up on their end or maybe too many people were trying to access the photos. Anyway, alls well that ends well.
A four-by-four grid has the letters L, D, A and E on the diagonal from upper-left to lower-right.
Complete the grid with two As, Es, Is, Ms, Ps and Ts (AAEEIIMMPPTT) so that the grid reads the same across and down.
Chickie @ 7:21, I agree with you about words like Adit, Aced, EEE, and Asta... add Tesla, roman numeral math problems and letters that are spelled out . They really do come in handy when I am at a roadblock. But, not too many in one puzzle, please!
Crazy Cat,
Thanks for the offer of the book. Eddy B. also offered his book and he lives here in San Jose. I see him at Warren's pottery sale when we go. It is so lovely to have people make offers of loans such as this.
Bill G. Spectacular pictures. Thanks.
LA CW Addict,
I think metric feet originated with Latin poetry, reminding me of my year of reading Ovid and Virgil. They relate to the beats and pauses as you read each line, and where the stress falls in each. The differences in those are what differentiates the several names like Trochee and Iamb. I remember something I had to study was written in Iambic Pentameter, though what that means, I can't tell you any more after 50 years!
Did anyone watch Jeopardy today? I believe a category involved 4-letter crossword answers and I recognized everyone! Fun! And fun puzzle, but felt more Friday level to me.
Penta from the Greek meaning five. Iambic a short and long meter, so five beats (meters) per line
Yes! I watched Jeopardy! What an easy category!
4 squares make a DNF. A brilliant! Puzzle.
Huzzah!
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