Theme: "My sentiments, exactly!". Each of the grid-spanning theme entries reflect many of my crossword-solving frustrations!
17A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE
34A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : COULD BE ANYTHING
43A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME
61A. Relieved crossword solver's cry : FINALLY ONE I KNOW
Our last SJx2 was earlier this month, on a Sunday. This one is a fun Thursday puzzler, with appropriate crossword solver's sentiments. I hope you will enlighten us with which phrase was the seed for this one, Steven? And only a "Q" away from a pangram!
Marti here, to explore all the ins and outs.
Across:
1. Party boss? : HOST. Not the infamous Tweed, but one who gives a gala.
5. Bunks, e.g. : BEDS
9. Lavish meal : FEAST
14. Wine-growing region : ASTI. Geography lesson. Region famous for its "Spumanti" sparkling wine.
15. Neural conductor : AXON
16. '80s-'90s legal drama : L.A. LAW
20. Kindle competitor : NOOK. Sorry, I use an iPad.
21. Chew toy material : RAWHIDE. Sweet!!
17A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE
34A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : COULD BE ANYTHING
43A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME
61A. Relieved crossword solver's cry : FINALLY ONE I KNOW
Our last SJx2 was earlier this month, on a Sunday. This one is a fun Thursday puzzler, with appropriate crossword solver's sentiments. I hope you will enlighten us with which phrase was the seed for this one, Steven? And only a "Q" away from a pangram!
Marti here, to explore all the ins and outs.
Across:
1. Party boss? : HOST. Not the infamous Tweed, but one who gives a gala.
5. Bunks, e.g. : BEDS
9. Lavish meal : FEAST
14. Wine-growing region : ASTI. Geography lesson. Region famous for its "Spumanti" sparkling wine.
15. Neural conductor : AXON
16. '80s-'90s legal drama : L.A. LAW
20. Kindle competitor : NOOK. Sorry, I use an iPad.
21. Chew toy material : RAWHIDE. Sweet!!
22. Scholarship, e.g. : AID
24. Spits out, as a DVD : EJECTS. Or, as watermelon seeds?
27. Small beef : NIT. Oooh, I bet we'll get one or two on the blog today...
28. Move through muck : SLOG. Some people complain that the day's puzzle was a SLOG. Not today, though!
30. Brand at Williams-Sonoma : OXO
31. Little songbird : TIT. OK, just for you guys...
40. Kindergarten rejoinder : IS TOO. Kindergarteners need some anger management courses...
41. Kan. hours : CST. Central Standard Time in Kansas.
42. Hacienda honorific : SENOR.
46. Formula One racer Fabi : TEO. This guy. (Recognize him?) (It's on his car...)
47. Enzyme suffic : ASE
48. Spirited horse : ARAB
49. Shriner hat : FEZ. Abejo owns several!
52. Two-time Bond portrayer : DALTON. Timothy.
55. PH.D. seeker's exam : GRE. Graduate Record Examination
56. Keys at a bar, perhaps : IVORIES. Piano keys, that is.
59. Onetime larva : PUPA
66. Nice states : ETATS. Not nirvanas, but the word in Nice, France for "states".
67. Co-star of Tom in "Angels & Demons" : EWAN. Tom Hanks and EWAN McGregor (So sexy!!). Sequel to "The Da Vinci Code".
68. Telathon request : GIVE
69. It may be roja or verde : SALSA. Roja = red, verde = green, in Spanish.
70. Shirts with slogans : TEES. "I'm with stupid ---->"
71. Walkout walk-in : SCAB. Fun clue/answer.
Down:
1. Yes, in Yokohama : HAI. I immediately thought of Richard Chamberlain in "Shogun", but couldn't find the link!
2. ___ Kosh B'Gosh : OSH. It bothers me that the clue has the answer, twice. (Not that I wouldn't stoop to using it myself...but, it still bothers me!)
3. Superior talents : STANDOUTS
4. Save for later, in a way : TIVO. Have never used it. My Apple TV can record anything.
5. Holdup : BANK JOB. Great movie! Have you seen it?
6. Bus. line : EXT.ension on a bus.iness phone line.
7. Track relentlessly : DOG
8. Show derision : SNORT. I almost snorted wine out my nose when this one filled in! (Remember, I am writing this at 10:00 PM, not 5:30 AM !!)
9. One may be fatal : FLAW. Who wanted "blow"?
10. Per capita : EACH
11. Bold poker bet : ALL IN. This has paid off big time for me online. Anyone else play? (I have won about $2,500,000 in fake dollars. I never use real money...unfortunately!!)
12. Jidda native : SAUDI. Another geography lesson. Often spelled "Jeddah".
13. Short online posting : TWEET. Whatever happened to the "Canary sound" clues? F.Y.I., "Twitter message" was first used by Fred Jackson III in the LAT on Thursday, July 30, 2009 !!
18. Job ad abbr. : EOE.Equal Opportunity Employer. Or EEO, "Equal Employment Opportunity", or EEOC, "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission". Remember them all - they are bound to crop up again.
19. "Delicious!" : TASTY
22. It has defs. for 128 characters : ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Here is the full chart, for you would-be programmers out there.
23. "Didn't bring my A-game" : I LOST
25. Business biggies : EXECS
26. By the sea : COASTAL
29. Respond smugly to 23-Down's speaker : GLOAT. Not sporting, old chap!
32. ___-bitsy : ITSY. Again, answer contained in the clue...
33. Greek letter : THETA. Ok, give us a little help here! "Eta follower", "Iota predecessor"???
35. It may be retractable : DOME. Who else wanted "roof"? Duh!
36. Desert trial : N-TEST. 'K, nuff said.
37. Like non-hydrocarbon compounds : INORGANIC
38. Baseballer married to soccer's Mia : NOMAR. Garciaparra and Mia Hamm. For now...
39. Diving bird : GREBE. Pretty bird.
44. Mountain warble : YODEL. Finally, a music link. (You have to watch this one - she's incredible!) 2:26
45. Takes another look at, as a cold case : REOPENS
49. Small winds : FIFES. Classic, with drums. 8:06. Well worth watching!
50. Musical with the song "A New Argentina" : EVITA. What other musical is there, in Argentina? ("Finally, one I know!") 4:21
51. Divided into districts : ZONAL. I really wanted "zoned" for this one. That's what I get for trying to do "downs" before "acrosses"!
53. Till now : AS YET
54. Rapa ___: Easter Island : NUI. Recognize these?
57. "Peanuts" cry : RATS.
58. She met Rick in Paris : ILSA
60. UPS deliveries : PKGS. Abbr. for "packages". OK, b-cuz UPS is the abbr. of "United Parcel Service". Splynter's forté.
62. Carry a balance : OWE
63. Brush-off on the brae : NAE. "Brae" is the lowland Scots language word for the slope or the brow of a hill.
64. Reproductive cells : OVA. Plural of OVUM.
65. Homespun home : WEB. Another fun clue, not to be confused with internet milieu.
Answer grid.
That's all until next week, folks!
Hugs,
Marti
66 comments:
Just watched "Casablanca" again last night. Sam called her "Elsa", but a zillion puzzles can't be wrong.
Morning, all!
Cute theme. The only one of the theme answers that gave me pause was 34A where I initially wanted IT COULD BE ANYTHING and then, when that didn't fit, I grudgingly went with IT CAN BE ANYTHING instead, even though the phrase didn't seem as natural. Eventually I dropped the IT entirely and felt much better about it.
Elsewhere, I'm with Marti with regard to wanting ZONED instead of ZONAL. I'm sure ZONAL is a perfectly legitimate word, but I don't like it...
Minor struggles with some of the unknowns, such as TEO, EWEN (know the actor, but never saw the movie) and really had trouble parsing the clue for 71A ("Walkout walk-in") for the longest time.
Everything else, though, was like butter!
Good day folks,
Marti, thank you for your usual informative write up. Barry, I hope for 67A you had EWAN instead of EWEN.
In keeping with my week of puzzling struggles, today was a SLOG for me from the start. It took a lot of back and forth, jumping from one section to another to finish. Perps again were instrumental in achieving success.
If I wasn't positive about 66a ETATS, 51D would still be ZONED. Began with COTS for 5A, but BEDS emerged eventually. AMTOO was my initial entry for 40A. ISTOO was another late arrival.
Hand up for liking 71A Walkout walk-in/SCAB. Tricky clue.
Until the "morrow".
Good Morning, Marti and friends. This theme could be my morning routine! Fun!
My favorite clues in this puzzle were the first and last ones across: Party Boss = HOST and Homespun Home = WEB.
Small Winds - Oh, as in musical instruments and not a small breeze. Nice misdirection there.
LA LAW was the big TV drama back when I was attending law school in the other LA.
I misread 59-Across as Onetime Lava, so was trying to think of the various names of volcanic eruptions instead of insect stages.
Hand up for wanting Zoned instead of ZONAL.
Hat's off to Abejo, or should I say FEZ's off?
QOD: When I was young, I used to think that money was the most important thing in life. Now that I am old, I know it is. ~ Oscar Wilde
Morning, all!
Marti, great links today! I finally realized that ASTI was not a square in the middle of the Adriatic. I didn't think of BLOW instead of FLAW for even a second, but I did want a retractable CLAW instead of a DOME. Hand up for ZONED before ZONAL. And I can't believe you gave us 22 pair of tits today!
I was sure my IPAD was correct and that holdup was going to be some sort of B-AND-... Uh oh, maybe this was going to be one of those puzzles with two letters in a single square. I hate those! Finally NOOK showed up to save the day.
I was looking for a "desert trail" until NTEST showed up...and then I looked at that BEANY THING for the longest time.
Thanks, SJSJ, for a fine Thursday romp.
Good morning, folks. Thank you,Steven J. St. John, for a great puzzle. Really liked it. Thank you, as well, Marti, for the great write-up. Enjoyed the musical links. That yodeler was outstanding. The Tattoo with Fifes and Drums was also outstanding. I enjoy anything marching.
Started in the NW with HAI and HOST and ASTI. Got AXON in the top center. For some reason I remember that.
Then I read 17A and thought this was going to be an interesting puzzle. We are in it! After a few down perps I was able to get I HAVENT GOT A CLUE.
Then I spotted the other theme answers and was really raring to go. Bounced around the puzzle and eventually got all four.
FEZ came easily for 49A. Thank you Marti and Hahtoolah for remembering. Just got a new one since I became a Hospital Usher.
RAWHIDE for 21A was easy. I think we supported that industry for a while buying them for our dog. Jenni (our german short haired) enjoys them and they are good for the dogs.
Never heard of OXO for 30A. Perps to the rescue.
Did not know GRE for 55A. Wagged it.
69A SALSA stumped me for a while. I had ZONED for 51D. Then the light bulb came on.
Great Thursday puzzle.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
I liked the appropriate theme today, but SLOGGED all through it. I got totally lost in the mid west, never got NOOK, because I had STAR for the beginning of 3D. I've never heard of ASCII, wanted AM TOO or ARE SO for IS TOO, was trying PLOD/SLOG, thought TEO might be YEO, so finally said WTH and came here.
Also had problems in the north with AXON and BEDS, since I had NET, thinking bottom line in financial reports instead of phone lines.
Never having gone through college here, other than continuing ed courses for teaching license renewals, I can never remember GRE. It isn't logical for an exam to show one's graduate record, is it? Your record would be all of what you achieve as a graduate, I think. I guessed GSE thinking it was Graduate Standard Exam.
Hi Everybody. Finally a puzzle that speaks to me! Although you're more likely to hear me saying the long clues when attempting to solve a Saturday or Sunday puzzle.
I wanted DNA or RNA for 64D (Reproductive cells), so that screwed me up a little. Otherwise it was smooth sailing.
Marti, I think I've seen all of Jason Statham's movies. There's a new one coming out this weekend. They're usually not real big on plot, but the action scenes are worth the trade off.
Hand up for liking Walkout Walk-in and Homespun Home. No NITS here.
Good morning everyone:
Thanks SJSJ for a fun Thursday-level challenge and to Marti for a great expo, as usual.
A couple of iffy areas but perps saved the day.
BTW, do any of you iPad owners use the Scrabble app? I'd like to share some thoughts on it. How about Draw Anything?
Have a terrific Thursday.
This has been a record breaking week for us. We did the last three puzzles with no look-ups. I haven't looked at today's puzzle or the blog comments but I wanted to quickly say a belated Happy Birthday to Kazie. You know, you're just a youngster in my eyes. May you have many, many more. And, belated congratulations to Abejo. It was good to see a comment from Andrea.
I was afraid that you'd miss my comments if I wrote last night after we finished the puzzle at 10:30. My whole morning had been spent on the telephone over my health insurance. To be continued. Dot
What a great Thursday offering from (SJ)². Four clever themed grid spanners seems hard to me. Right Marti, C.C., Jerome, et al?
Musings
-The party boss here in the Hinterlands was Tom Pendergast but he did give us HST! Having him and the mob bosses from Goodfellas in Kansas City says something about that city!
-NOOKs greet you when you enter any Barnes and Noble
-Nice TIT link, Marti!
-My Rawhide
-The image that ARAB engenders in me does not have four legs. ARABIAN? Yes.
-Sometimes when there is something really cool on our Educational TV channel, my neighbor comes on every 15 minutes asking people to GIVE.
-Gotta love walkout walk-in, small winds/fifes, NAE on the brae
-Kindergarten conversations are very interesting but not so much when the ones engaging in it are adults!
-Our Shriners are usually very heavy men in very small cars in summer parades. They do wonderful work.
-John Wayne played a relentless tracker in The Searchers and when asked if he was going to give up, he uttered a line that became a Buddy Holly song. Name that song!
-Tiger seems to have lost his A-GAME in his driveway a few Thanksgivings ago
-Corollary to QOD, Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy a nice level of misery
-Off to Granddaughter Elise’s 7th Birthday!!
My former employer has chosen to discontinue health coverage for retirees. Instead, they established a fund for each retiree which we can draw on for reimbursement for medicines, insurance premiums, etc. We pay the premium, submit the receipts to a fund administrator and get reimbursed. But how can this be more economically wise than the co. having an ins. co. when there are so many hands involved? The ins. is Blue Croos, Blue Shield, under the Anthem umbrella and they have to notify Extend Health Care of receipt of payment. Then it goes to Pay Flex to reimburse me. Every group has administrator and clerical workers who have to get paid. It makes no sense to me! Dot
Good morning everyone. Good write-up, Marti.
(SJ)² has been reading this blog to get the theme. Funny. Probably a few others like WT $@%&, that are better left alone. No lookups were needed. INORGANIC was a gimme. Favorite clue was for IVORIES. Nice to see ILSA in the same puzzle. BTW, IMDB gives Ingrid Bergman's character's name as Ilsa Lund; nice touch, a Swede playing a Swede. I also like the clue for ÉTATS, although we've had similar ones before. Somehow osmosed the ASCII background over the years. All in all, a fun puzzle. BZ
Off for some bridge.
Have a great day.
So many tits...so little time. And some great tits, too. and long-tailed tits. Who knew?
Use the NEXT SPECIES at the bottom of the page to see all the tits. Here is the link again.
I nominate Argyle as the TITular head of the blog ;-)!
I did not blog yesterday and would be remiss if I did not wish my favorite former OZ resident HBD, so I hope you had a lovely day, Kazie!
All of the other math heads on this blog will tell you that the () are necessary on squaring Steven's intials.
iPads look very cool to me but seem to be a very awkward size. I can do most anything I need to do on my iPhone.
Off to mulch and edge.
Hello Puzzlers -
Loved this SJSJ effort! When I got to RATS, I was reminded of an old interview in which Charles Schulz said he didn't need any other interjections, he could cover most any situation with "good grief" and "rats".
Morning Marti, loved the links! That young girl was not only good, she was calm and collected. Amazing kid.
I was in a fife and drum corps as a kid...we didn't quite match the level of precision of The Old Guard.
Took a while to see NTEST, never heard of TEO Fabi, and frankly didn't know there was a DALTON as James Bond. These were perped into place.
Hand up for putting in IPAD - I'm biased in that direction, I guess.
Very clever puzzle, SJSJ. I loved WEB and SCAB and all the theme answers. Marti, great blog. On my computer the yodeler link stops in the middle of the interview, so unfortunately I don't get to hear the yodeling. I did see this clip before and thought it was awesome. The fife and drum clip played okay and was enjoyable.
I took the Miller's Analogies instead of the GRE for graduate school admission. It requires a broad knowledge of Western culture, testing subjects such as science, music, literature, philosophy, mathematics, art, and history. My crossword solving experience was a big help in acing it, because the test taker needs to look at each item from many different angles to decipher the type of relationship asked for.
The mob bosses meeting in Kansas City was a scene from "Casino". DeNiro and Pesci? Yes. Liotta? No.
Very interesting and fascinating puzzle ( - DNF). Marti, your blog is simply wonderful - made my day.
A small nit.
A GRE is reqd. for admission to a graduate course - generally a Master's - M.S., M.A., MBA etc.
A Ph.D. candidate has to pass his 'Qualifying exams' and, of course, eventually, the dissertation.
IMHO, to replace one for the other, is too much of a stretch. (For that matter, a Ph. D. also has to pass his SAT's etc.)
Hi All ~~
What a great puzzle, Steven J. St. John! So much fun in so many places. Very few problems, but the ones I had have pretty much been covered, esp. - Zoned/ZONAL. New to me were GREBE, NUI and TEO but they filled in easily.
~~ 'Sneer' before SNORT and 'Roof' before DOME.
~~ Many favorites and they, too, were the popular ones today - IVORIES, SCAB, WEB, FIFES and NAE - such clever clues!
~~ Loved seeing NOMAR Garciaparra at the Fenway celebration last week - he was very popular while with the Red Sox.
~~ As always, I really enjoyed your write-up, Marti ~ great comments and links!
Enjoy the day ~~
Unique and relevant theme. Some cute answers: WEB, FIFES, SCAB.
GLOAT and SNORT were very expressive.
However, I had one (wrong) answer that I wish was the true one: For Kindle competitor - bOOK.
Had to Google a bit, mostly sports. When I do this, I read and try to understand the Wiki, but I also look at "images" to see what the people and sport look like. For TEO(dorico)Fabi I saw cars that looked like kids' toys. I'll remember that for Formula 1.
Another amazing sportster handle: NOMAR Garciaparra.
The only NIT I have is that ASCII (which I had to work with for years in the beginnings of programming) has codes, not definitions. But, of course, Mr. St. John needed a word to abbrev.
I'm a Formula One fan and I had to get TEO from crosses. Dude never won a race in F1 and only made the podium twice. He was far more successful as a driver in Indy racing (multiple wins, 2nd in the championship, pole at Indy once) and sports-cars (world champion in 1992).
ZONAL - My original clue was "Kind of qualifier" - I was thinking of the zonal qualifying competitions of the World Cup or the Olympics.
The summary wondered about the seed for the puzzle. I'm not sure. I sometimes make a game of trying to generate fun 15-letter phrases to perhaps use in a themeless puzzle. Then I sometimes get on a roll, coming up with phrases of the same ilk. In this case I realized I had three that could all be clued the same way, so I started wondering if I could make a theme.
Rich Norris once rejected a puzzle of mine that was created the same way. I had found 4 15-letter phrases that sounded like they came from an argument (ARE YOU LISTENING & WE'RE NOT DONE HERE were two). The rejection was based on the fact that the theme didn't go anywhere - there was no twist or surprise.
So this time I decided to find a 4th phrase that gave a happy ending or sense of finality to the puzzle. Apparently Rich liked it!
Thanks to Steven and Marti for a fun experience here this morning. The theme answers came pretty fast, which helped with some of the less familiar perps.
Enjoyed the bird references. I haven't seen any GREBEs yet this spring; I think it is so cool that some of them carry their young on their backs. Cute link for TIT, Marti! Dennis must have been disappointed....
ZONAL was my least favorite answer, and WEB was my favorite. I would have liked to see SONY as a competitor for NOOK. Sony makes a great ereader, but doesn't advertise much.
Day before yesterday we hit 80+ and I fried the air conditioner (hint: make sure the darn thing is uncovered for the season before switching on). This morning it's 32 degrees and the furnace is running. Ah, life on the prairie!
SJ²: Thank-you for a wonderful, FUN, Thursday offering. Really enjoyed the theme progression.
Husker @8:44; "That'll be the Day" I remember a line by John Wayne. lol
Hand up for: roof B4 DOME, zoned B4 ZONAL and thinking dna B4 OVA (you weren't alone on that one Mari).
Can't wait for my Sunset SNORT. Cheers !!!
Hello.
Nice puzzle.
Fabi is crosswordese by now. Gimmie.
Now watching Ayrton Senna DVD.
Daisy and I play tug-of-war with her rawhide bone.
Still raining! Good thing I have a canoe.
Two more teams get to play golf
tomorrow. Seemed like BOS was playing for a tie and lost in OT.
eddy
I'm becoming an SJSJ fan! This was a real toughie for me. I had to stop twice, do a little Sudoku, come back, use the alphabet, lots of work. But in the end I got the whole thing! Yay! Same favorites as everybody else's, SCAB, WEB, etc. Great write up, Marti, as always.
Hope your birthday yesterday was wonderful Kazie.
We're off for a docent-led tour at our local art museum. Always fun and enlightening.
Have a great day, everybody!
Hi gang -
Tough go today, but I finally solved the MYSTERY. Amusing theme, and not too many NITS.
Still, I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE about Williams-Sonoma/OXO. Oh, well.
INORGANIC rocks! (So to speak.)
(SJ)² Thanks for the visit and the insights.
Slept 10 hours last night and still feel ALL IN. This cold is kicking my A$$.
Cool regards!
JzB
Good day, puzzle friends. Wonderful commentary, Marti!
Have to make this quick because I had trouble, lots of trouble, logging into the comments and finally after the secon reboot I'm in but not have to go to the Dr.
Loved Steven SJ's puzzzle! Not a slog, but not a sashay either. More later.
Yowza! It's raining in the desert!! You all have a terrific Thursday!
Marti -
I would have bypassed the yodeling link without your insistence. That little girl looks to be about 12 - right in there with a couple of our granddaughters. She has a unique talent, and really great stage presence. What a cute kid!
Thanx!
JzB
Williams-Sonoma, purveyor of choice gourmet products and kitchenware(from an Amazon ad).
We have had OXO before; high end kitchen utensils.
What's up with UPS flying pkg across country and then turning pkg
over to USPS for home delivery?
Still see the brown trucks in neighberhood.
Rising Moon and Merc over Brisbane
on APOD this AM.
Eagle chicks starting to get black
feathers in Iowa.
SJ falcons to get leg bands next Tuesday.
Momma is not going to be happy.
Looking forward to meeting at pottery sale on Saturday.
Re: OXO
I don't consider Oxo to be "high end" -- most of their gadgets are quite reasonably priced. I own several, and think they're durable, well-designed, and comfortable to use. I'm a fan. Christopher Kimball, "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS, also seems to like Oxo.
I guess it's all relative. I bought a potato masher for a buck at Yankee Dollar store. OXO masher is $12.00.
I had the same problems that most of the rest of you did. I don't like ARAB for a horse either. I've never heard it in real life, just Arabian.
I enjoyed that beautiful tit. And I really liked that yodeling link. She has a natural stage presence.
I'm back from an online shopping trip.
I stand corrected; OXO are only mid-range in price.
Truly a Thursday! But SJSJ sweetened it with insight & humor. A good eraser exercise.
Good job, Marti! Especially enjoyed the fife, drum, (& bugle) corps. Anyone who has tried precision marching and playing can appreciate how fantastic this group is.
DOT: I feel your pain--as one who fought insurance problems for years and decided uninsured was less injurious to my health and finances. Fingers crossed!
Kansas BCBS tried to go with Anthem about 10-12 yrs. ago. Scared policy holders voted to go with them. (Not me!) Kathleen Sebelius, as state insurance commissioner, vetoed joining Anthem. As a result, she was rewarded by being elected Governor. Now, of course, she has that presidential cabinet position. Very savvy lady!
Thanks for stopping by SJSJ ! Your collection of 15-letter entries all worked really well together, and with the final "sigh of relief", it make a fun theme. Husker is right - it had to be a bear to fill, with all those long entries hogging the limelight!!
I'm glad you all liked the yodeling link. I was really blown away by that little girl. Yellowrocks, if you open the link in a new window and let it load first, you can then click on "play" and it should run fine. It's worth the trouble.
Very nice puzzle today. I have made it thru Thursday without having to peek. That is a very good week for me.
OXO's claim is they make very comfortable kitchen items. They take the time to design the handles to fit the hand. My wife has smaller hands and especially likes the OXO brand. Also, they seem to be well made and last a long time. Not like some of the cheap junk sold in other stores.
Greg
Enjoyed the puzzle very much today. No lookups, but many write overs. I experience each of the 4 answers to the theme clues almost daily, but did not actually get clarity until today.
This blog is the ideal place to come for enlightenment, humor, and occasional comments from the creator!
Glenn
I finally got the link to the cute yodeler to play, awesome! This time the interview was skipped. Did someone clear up the problem? If so, thanks.
Marti, I adore that sweet little puppy with the rawhide.
We often see the ARAB horse in crosswords. In real life ARAB seems to be used interchangeably with Arabian. It seems both are correct. This link prefers ARAB.
Link text
Your dog is cool.
P.S.Thanks for showing us a little tit.
Hello everybody. What y'all said. Nothing to add. Loved the puzzle. Technical DNF, though, because I had GDE and NOMAD.
Great fill: INORGANIC.
Desper-otto, LOL on that BEANY THING.
Timothy Dalton played James Bond as a total mush ball.
What more can the corner ask; in the last seven days a hearti marti, silkie saturday, a JL sunday spectacular, C.C. and Don G., SJSJ, and all those beautiful tit pictures.
Too bad life is chaos, but enjoy....
YR @ 2:28, another way to tell which is the "preferred" use of a word, is to google both terms. In this case, "Arab horse" gets 21,000,000 hits, while "Arabian horse" gets 12,600,000 hits. Not exactly scientific, but it does show a trend.
D'otto, I forgot to mention that I had a Hearti laugh over your BEANY THING comment, too!
Think all F1 fans should see the Senna DVD if they haven't. It is that good. There have been no more deaths since his on 5/1/94 in F1.
Also surprised to learn Prost is a trustee of Senna's foundation. There was no love lost there.
Will try to post some photos of Daisy.
eddy
Heatr Rx and YR - re: Arab horse. I don't have a dog in the race for preference. When I Goggle "Arab Horse" including the quotes to force the search for the actual phrase 'Arab horse' I get 2,440,000 hits. Similarly for 'Arabian horse' I get 5,510,000 hits. So on this basis, Google seems to prefer Arabian horse 2:1.
Marti,I know Arab is not the most common use, but so what? Are crossword puzzles restricted to the most common usage,spelling, etc, no variants allowed? Are less common usages, although in the dictionary and encyclopedias always wrong? Are less used defintions of words wrong? I guess I am much more of a free spirit. I understand that publications insist on the preferred use and style for the sake of consistency, but that does not necesarily mean their choices are the only legitimate ones.
OK, it looks as if I was wrong in dissing ARAB horse. It's just that I've never heard it outside of crossword puzzles.
Sophia Grace and her hype girl, Rosie, are going to appear again on Ellen this afternoon. I really enjoy them. I wonder if they can yodel?
Fun, fun puzzle. I've been known to say some of those things, but with some added #$%** for emphasis!
eddyB did you see where the Raptor Resource Project in Iowa suspended the social stream for several days due to inappropriate posts? The tree & eagles were threatened, among other things. Can you imagine? Thanks, CC, for keeping things civil here and enforcing the rules. Falcon fans, check out Fargo's peregrine at dk.audubon.org. Four eggs.
Spitzboov @ 4:33, thanks for the additional info - I didn't use the quotes, so I guess it's "Arabian horse" after all, that is preferred.
YR @ 4:34, variants are OK, but unless they are commonly used, the editor must put "Var." in the clue (e.g.: "egis" Vs. "aegis"). I just had another puzzle accepted, but Rich asked me to redo one section that had the word "hotty" (meaning a sexy lady). He said the overwhelmingly preferred spelling is "hottie". So I diligently removed the offending word and sent him the revised version. Case in point!
Well I think you are a hotty, so there. I before E except after tea.
Dictionary .
Late to the party today. I agree that starting with last Friday we've had a most enjoyable string of challenges. Makes me wonder what's in store for us tomorrow and Saturday.
The middle of this one seemed to gel more quickly for me and then I was able to branch to the right and left. Hand up for zoned before zonal and DNA before ova. When I glommed onto the theme I kept looking for some reference to a perp, a wag or a V8 can.
Very enjoyable workout SJSJ, and Marti, you get more clever every week. Thanks for the fun.
Enjoy the rest of the Gateway to the Weekend, everyone. See you all tomorrow.
creepie
Well, how about that Grebe and the beautiful photo Marti sent with it? Have never seen that bird in a CW. What an enjoyable Thursday puzzle. I missed just 1 letter in the enzyme suffix as I had never heard of an N-TEST. I thought N-TENT was much more appropriate for a desert question.
Loved the misdirection in the WEB, FIFE and IVORIES clues.
Looked up Easter Island, and now know where that's located. Wouldn't mind going there someday. Looks like a cool place.
Marti: Thanks for the Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps clip. What a magnificent outfit they are! Also watched the Yodeler and was very impressed. Did not think too much of A New Argentina, but that's probably because Madonna was in it.
Would someone please explain to what Martin Scorsese @ 9:18 was referring? I went all back through the blog and Marti's Boss Tweed link, etc., and could not find what caused him to mention Casino, let alone Liotta.
Thanks
Sorry bea @5:20, you were in the filter for awhile.
Hi There~!
Thanks HeartRx, for the write-up, some great links, and thanks, Argyle, for the expansion on TITS~!
As for the puzzle, I liked the theme, and thanks to SJSJ for stopping in with an explanation.
With regard to UPS and USPS, UPS has some sort of arrangement with them - not quite sure why; and at Christmas, when we need their help the most, they cut back on how much we can drop to them.
Go figure.
UPSer, Splynter
LA CW ADDICT @6:10pm
Check out Husker Gary@8:44am. He made (in his first "Musings") a comment about Goodfellas.
I think MS@9:18am was responding to that. Maybe yes? Maybe no!
Cheers!
Thought today ok. Not a lot of non english words or abbreviations. Thought NIT would be wrong but i left it in, luckally. Read some clues wrong but eventually got em.
Thank you Tinbeni:
The comment makes more sense now, and I am toasting to you right now, even though it is long past sunset!
Sorry i'm so late, things get busy for me at the end of the week. But how could i not do a puzzle made especially for me! Plus i have no nits for a puzzle with tits!
I did have to Google towards the end, Nomar & Teo were a mystery to me.
I thought i finally finished a puzzle correctly this week, but then i came to the Blog. Alas i zoned out too. But what really bugs me is that i did not see salsa! I have been trying to perfect a homemade salsa for 20 years! A spicy salsa gets me high! (it's an endorphin thing)
If anyone likes "Chile's" Salsa, it can be made at home & tastes just like at the restaurant. However i prefer fresh ingredients and cilantro, plus garlic & lemon. (skip the cumin, save it for chili.)
LOL on that Beany thing.
Greetings!
Did not do well on this one. Too tired at 4 AM, I guess. Will read blog comments later. Came across something cute in the science newsletter that I thought a few of you animal lovers might enjoy: a cute little animal that "sings" called a hyrax.
Hats off to Marti for very thorough and amusing axplanation!
Interesting animals, those hyraxes !!
Fermatprime, I had never heard of hyraxes. Thanks for the link. Cute little guys.
Did not recognize OXO as a Williams-Sonoma brand, but at least the clue was better than the more CW-ese-y "Losing line", which has so many possible answers, e.g., XXO, XOO, OXO, XOX, et al.
?oD: Considering the tendancies of many commenters on this blog, does anyone know how close the 31A link came to going viral?
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