Theme: size matters
first, the unifier:
54a. 19th-century American doctrine suggested by the phrase formed by the first words of the answers to starred clues : MANIFEST DESTINY
the first words of all the theme answers spell out the phrase go west young man, a quote by American author Horace Greeley concerning America's expansion westward, related to the then-popular concept of Manifest Destiny.
17a. *Stand to reason : GO WITHOUT SAYING
22a. *Show with Sharks : WEST SIDE STORY
36a. *Immature : YOUNG AND FOOLISH
47a. *"The Impossible Dream" musical : MAN OF LAMANCHA
from wikipedia: "The phrase "Manifest Destiny" is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860. [...]During this time, the United States expanded to the Pacific Ocean—"from sea to shining sea"— largely defining the borders of the contiguous United States as they are today."
across:
1. "Survivor" host Probst : JEFF. does anyone still watch this show?
5. Dan Patrick's former employer : ESPN
9. Treble and tenor : CLEFS. musical symbols that indicate pitch in written music.
14. Leap on skates : AXEL. figure skating jump with a forward take-off, named after the Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed the jump in 1882.
15. By way of, in verse : THRO
16. "Groundhog Day" director Harold : RAMIS
20. Product design dept. : R AND D. research and development. my former employer, bnr = bell northern research, the r&d side of the now bankrupt nortel.
21. Lace place : EYELET. example of eyelet lace.
26. Sunset feature : HUE
27. Frigid : ICY
28. Maritime military org. : USN. united states navy.
29. Liver, for one : ORGAN. an organ is made up of two or more tissue types.
31. Part of MoMA : ART. museum of modern art.
32. Move like a bee : FLIT
40. On a clipper, say : ASEA
41. "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" video game console : NES. nintendo entertainment system.
5. Dan Patrick's former employer : ESPN
9. Treble and tenor : CLEFS. musical symbols that indicate pitch in written music.
14. Leap on skates : AXEL. figure skating jump with a forward take-off, named after the Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed the jump in 1882.
15. By way of, in verse : THRO
16. "Groundhog Day" director Harold : RAMIS
20. Product design dept. : R AND D. research and development. my former employer, bnr = bell northern research, the r&d side of the now bankrupt nortel.
21. Lace place : EYELET. example of eyelet lace.
26. Sunset feature : HUE
27. Frigid : ICY
28. Maritime military org. : USN. united states navy.
29. Liver, for one : ORGAN. an organ is made up of two or more tissue types.
31. Part of MoMA : ART. museum of modern art.
32. Move like a bee : FLIT
40. On a clipper, say : ASEA
41. "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" video game console : NES. nintendo entertainment system.
42. Salk vaccine target : POLIO.
43. Aleppo's land: Abbr. : SYR. aleppo is the largest city in syria.
44. It may precede a treaty : WAR
46. Swiss river : AAR. we get this a lot, should be a gimme by now.
51. Speedily : AT A RUN
53. __ male : ALPHA. the leader of the pack.
59. Turn __ ear : A DEAF
60. Place with slips and sloops : PIER. cute. a slip is a a ramp by which boats can be moved to and from the water, and a sloop is a certain kind of sailboat.
61. Juggle conflicting demands : COPE. another musical link, citizen cope's healing hands.
62. Word before bad news : SADLY
63. Canadian singer Murray : ANNE
64. Offended : HURT
down:
1. Binge : JAG. as in a crying jag, or binge.
2. Prefix with -thermic : EXO
3. Chosen number? : FEW. the chosen few.
8. "Kidding!" : NOT
9. Preschooler's writing tool : CRAYON
10. Coating : LAYE
11. Poet Dickinson : EMILY. we want our clear ayes back!
12. "Okay" : FINE
13. Army NCO : SSGT. non-commissioned officer, staff seargant (correct me if i'm wrong).
18. Subduing with a shock : TASING. don't tase me, bro!
19. Begins : SETS TO
22. "__ gonna call? Ghostbusters!" : WHO YA. hard to believe that movie came out in 1984. written by dan aykroyd and 16a harold ramis.
23. Bicolor coins : EUROS
24. Smooth transition : SEGUE
25. Go from blog to blog, say : SURF
30. Santa __ winds : ANA
31. Many craigslist postings : ADS. not all?
32. Mel's Diner waitress : FLO. polly holliday. she also played a secretary in all the president's men.
33. Purple shade : LILAC
34. Former hoops star Thomas : ISIAH. player and coach, a.k.a. zeke.
35. Birch of "Ghost World" : THORA. will always remember her for her role in now and then (third from left).
37. "__ else?" : ANYONE
38. Soft ball : NERF
39. __ Book Club : OPRAH'S. no comment.
43. Big Bird's mammoth friend, familiarly : SNUFFY. short for snuffleupagus, seen only by big bird until the 17th season.
44. Thoreau memoir : WALDEN. a great read.
45. Unit of current : AMPERE. from wikipedia: named after André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics.
47. Like lions and horses : MANED
48. Helvetica alternative : ARIAL. typeface. everything you ever wanted to know about helvetica vs. arial.
49. Like about half of American states' mottos : LATIN
50. "You bet!" : 'NATCH. slang for naturally.
51. Basic 49-Down word : AMAS. you love.
52. "I did it!" : TADA
55. Massage locale : SPA
56. Debtor's letters : IOU
57. "Morning Edition" airer : NPR
58. Thus far : YET
Answer grid.
melissa
69 comments:
Good morning mb, always good to see you.
Lots of themeage, and a shout out to poor Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune who not only lost the 1872 election, but died before the voted were cast.
Time is flying. Thanks Julian for another solid work out
Morning, all!
Solved this one in almost the exact same time as yesterday's puzzle. Pretty smooth sailing overall, except that I had no idea where ALEPPO was (it sounded European to me), didn't know/remember who Dan Patrick was (and certainly didn't remember where he worked) and cringed a bit at HUE.
Agree that the clue for PIER was very nice.
Good Morning, Melissa Bee. Thank goodness for my iPad. A very powerful thunderstorm hit the city a couple of hours ago (and is still passing through), which caused a power outage. I am sitting at my kitchen table without my usual cup of joe, doing the puzzle on my iPad. Plus it gives off a bit of light!
Fun puzzle. I remembered MANIFEST DESTINY from my high school days.
Lots of fun clues in this puzzle. I was almost fooled by Lace Place = EYELET.
We had LILAC in the puzzle recently.
I listen to Morning Edition every day, so easily got NPR.
QOD: The only sin is mediocrity. - Martha Graham
Greetings!
All in all, a fun, easy puzzle. Thanks Julian and mb!
NATCH was cute. Had no idea what EUROs looked like.
As soon as I can get the color printer working, I can print out the final copy of tax data to have delivered to tax guy! Holy cow!!!
Happy hump day!
Good day folks,
A toughie today with one incorrect entry. Melissa, thank you for the enjoyable write up.
Started with DANDD for 20A but FLIRT corrected it. My former employer called it D (Design) and D.
I have never seen one episode of Survivor so 1A, JEFF PROBST, was a never heard of.
Liked the shout out to Emily Dickinson. Her poetry drove me nuts trying to interpret it, but at some point I started really liking her verse and became interested in her as a person. She was a strange lady, but seemed satisfied being a reclusive figure.
The SW corner gave me fits and resulted in my error. For 51A I had ATARIN. I saw ATARUN, but can't say I've ever heard or used that phrase. It was all compounded but not knowing Big Birds friend. I figured ATARIN might be an expression used by friends South of the Mason Dixon line.
Hand up for thinking HUE was a stretch. I got it via perps, which were solid, but I still had my doubts.
Did this one AT A RUN almost. Fun puzzle! Thanks, MB for good comments, etc.
Those (link) girl singers were unbelievably amateurish by today's standards, weren't they?
I took the 21A to mean the holes for shoe laces, but the eyelet lace was lovely.
Knew Helvetica but never heard of Arial. I ended up with 62A nAstY. Wasn't sure of the Latin either and had manes. Need to sleep, methinks. Ran out of smart.
I do watch "Survivor". Don't especially like it. Think I keep waiting for them to have a group who treat each other nicely. But alas, they behave like some groups one finds oneself in.
Had a lovely walk the other day. We have lovely public gardens by a small lake with gorgeous tulip beds right now as well as daffodils and blooming trees. Perfect sunny balmy weather. Quite a few walkers who were smiling and congenial. In such lovely surroundings who wouldn't be?
Good morning all. It's great to see you, Melissa!
Insomnia again today. Wonderful puzzle from Julian Lim.
On first seeing 1A and 5A I felt discouraged but slid down and sashayed THRO the NE and beyond, got the theme and with GO, JAG followed.
I also recall MANIFEST DESTINY from high school history classes.
I have never watched Survivor and have no idea who Dan Patrick is but it was easy to suss JEFF and ESPN once I had a few letters. Never heard of THORA Birch, either.
Yes, the cluing for PIER was clever and have no nit with HUE because the sunset consists of many HUES and colors.
I believe it's the first time I've heard of the origin of AXEL which we use so much in crosswords.
I hope you all have a FINE Wednesday!
A pretty smooth run, despite most names being unknowns and lots of WAGS. I completely missed ALPHA,because I had AL?HA and I thought: "Ha! He's tricking us with "male" really being a Hawaiian word!", so I put an "O" in there and totally screwed up AMPERE in the process. Other than that, I did OK.
Nice job, Julian and Melissa!
Julian’s clever puzzle brought some sunshine to a dreary day on the prairie. April showers are imminent.
Musings
-Just back from grandchild concert and football game. Why do band/orchestra directors steadfastly refuse to play familiar classical music?
-The premise of Survivor was very interesting at first but got too slick and over produced
-The last time I subbed I showed and discussed a video about The Trail of Tears. Manifest Destiny had an ugly face even when the indigenous people, like the Cherokee of the south, tried to adjust
-This husband sometimes does not pick up on what GOES WITHOUT SAYING
-Me YOUNG AND FOOLISH? I ain’t young!
-Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters were fun movies
-My 65 year old friend got a liver/kidney/pancreas triple ORGAN transplant two years ago from a 31 year old woman
-Would the press today respect FDR’s request to not show him in a wheelchair with POLIO?
-Tin and I have relatives on the muddy AAR
-The headlines seem to be full of people who can’t COPE
-The EXOTHERMIC reaction when you activate an MRE can make it too hot to handle!
-The LILACS are early and spectacular this year!
Good morning, MB and Wednesday peeps. Thanks for another great blog.
This was a pretty fast solve for a Julian lim. I've had difficulty getting on the right wavelength for a few of his puzzles.
Yes, Horace Greeley said "Go west, young man", but then he stayed back east and made his fortune. Manifest destiny? Or just clearing out the competition?
I paused briefly at ART. It seemed too obvious and I wanted mus or mod to go with the MoMA abbreviation. Another example of not being able to trust those unwritten rules of construction :)
I still remember being bused from our school to the county courthouse and lining up for our Salk vaccine polio shots. Sabin Oral was still years away.
Seen - From late yesterday: (SJ)²
Good Morning Everyone. Thanks for the commentary, Melissa B
Julian composed a fun puzzle today. Liked the theme. One of those rare occasions where the theme actually helped me with the starts of GO.. WEST.... First long across filled was MAN OF LA MANCHA; then MANIFEST DESTINY. THORA was a WAG. Favorite clue was for 21a, LACE PLACE. NCO SSGT is an E-6, equivalent to a Navy 1st class petty officer, or an Air Force Tech Sgt. Got JEFF from the perps. Good to see AMPERE again.
Grumpy, great videos yesterday. Thanks.
Have a great day.
Got to do the puzzle in the morning today for a change. Thought it was very smooth and I had a similar experience as Spitzboov: cracking the theme helped me with the puzzle early on. Those are the best themes (at least from a solving perspective). 22A and 36A gave me "GO" in 17A and all of 47A (thanks Mr. Roberts, 10th grade American History teacher).
Thora Birch's most famous role was probably American Beauty (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547/).
Fun puzzle. I agree with Barry that this was as fast as a Tuesday puzzle.
PK, my first thought was an eyelet for shoelaces, too, but I love eyelet lace. Nice link, Melissa.
Lucina, I have no nit with HUE either. I never tire of the lovely HUEs of dawn and sunset. They are especially colorful over the Grand Canyon, but great here at home, too.
HG I have a read much about the tragedy of the Trail of Tears. The Cherokees did all the U.S.Govt. asked and still were treated inhumanely. I tutored a middle schooler who wrote a paper on this. I am interested in researching our native Americans. Custer's last Stand from the point of view of the native Americans is enlightening.
Our regional square dance organization has been given "2 fers" for WEST SIDE STORY at the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts. NJPAC will treat us to a BBQ dinner and we will give a square dance demonstration involving the audience.
I used to do many things AT A RUN. Until the middle of May it will be at a slow walk. Seeing the problems of others who go for treatment, I feel lucky I can walk at all.
POLIO was a very big deal when I was a kid. Everyone was very worried about it each summer. Thank God for Salk’s genius.
Good Morning! Thanks Julian and Melissa. I completed a Wednesday puzzle! After doing all the across clues, I only had 5 down words to finish, so today's puzzle was easier for me than yesterday's. And to think a few years ago I didn't even attempt Wednesday puzzles.
Like someone else said, I thought of shoelaces going through eyelets. I did have to WAG for the S in NES and ADS. Didn't know the game system and only have read a little about Craig's List in the newspaper, but ads seemed to make the most sense.
Have an enjoyable day, everyone. Forecasters are warning us about snow tomorrow following temperatures in the 70s today. That is what Montana is like.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Julian Lim, for a very good Wednesday puzzle. Thank you, as well, Melissa B., for a great write-up.
I enjoyed this puzzle very much. Could not get started in the North at all. Headed South and, after a few short answers here and there, I got MANIFEST DESTINY very easily. Before any of the other theme answers. This helped me with GO WEST YOUNG MAN, which helped with the entire puzzle.
Not sure of Helvetica and ARIAL. Have no idea what the connection is. Got it with perps. When I am done I will check Melissa B's link. Then I will know.
AMPERE was easy. I made them flow for decades, pushed by 50 volts DC.
SEGUE is kind of a new word for me. I like learning new words.
Chain-Sawed down a tree yesterday. Also worked in the garden. That was work. Slept for ten hours last night.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Yellowrocks, Custer's Last Stand was in SE Montana and the battle is re-enacted every summer on the Crow Indian Reservation.
Montana
Now I get it. The font styles for printing. Some days I am extra slow.
Abejo
I'm mad at all of you that thought this was easy:-).
I didn't find it easy, but it was entirely solvable and a lot of fun. Since I always try to solve from the top down, I didn't get the unifier until all other theme answers were filled in, but it did help me get that answer.
As is still true today, there are disagreements on climate matters. In the era of Manifest Destiny, it was widely believed that Rain follows the plow. That didn't really work out all that well.
This was just right for a Wednesday. Only problem was in the east -- I can never remember how to spell ISIAH, I feel like there oughta be another 'a' in there somewhere.
Melissa, I couldn't follow your link for Now and Then -- I got a "Referral Denied" message. I remember Thora Birch as a child actress. She played Jack Ryan's (Harrison Ford's) daughter in Patriot Games twenty years ago.
Saw my first hummingbird battle of the year. The little buggers are back from Mexico, or wherever it is that they go for the winter.
Good morning all:
At the risk of incurring @ 9:11 Avg. Joe's wrath, I thought the puzzle was easy and very clever. I did have a miscue which was revealed when I read MB's fine expo: I had "thru" instead of "thro" for 15A. Other than that, a good Wednesday warm-up for tomorrow. Thanks, Mr. Lim.
Happy Wednesday everyone.
I got a late start today, so WEES. I was scrambling to rebook flights for some co-workers who were scheduled to connect planes in Dallas. Hope everybody and anybody in that area is OK after the tornados that hit.
I'd heard the word NATCH before, but never knew what it meant. Glad for the learning moment.
Liked 38D: Soft Ball: NERF. And of course enjoyed seeing RANDD, just because it looks strange!
Have a happy one, and be safe.
Fairly easy for a Wednesday, though I do not like "natch" and had not heard of Thora or Aleppo.
Survivor was a great concept, and somehow manages to, well, survive. The producers adjust the show nearly each season with new twists/gimmicks. And, for those that do watch Survivor, have you noticed that you NEVER see a camera-person?
A quick puzzle for today, For Melissa, I worked for Northern Telecom AKA BNR AKA Nortel Networks for 25 years -- I got laid off shortly after 911 and had to start my own handyman business. At least I'm getting a pension now from the bankrupt NT -- they sold it to the Government before they went under.
In the old days our nickname for NT was No Thought.
:-)
--Warren.
Henny was once given the same advice.
I first had SWISS for 48D as in Confederation Helvetica otherwise pretty smooth, lots of helper 3 & 4 letter words made it fast to confirm odder words.
CH like the license badges or on the EUR Plate for vehicles - today's lame trivia. :-)
More (semi-)useless stuff:
EURO € is a nice fat coin just like a Pound ₤ - one would think that the USA could take a note and make a DOLLAR $ coin that is easy to distinguish by tactile method.
Henny was once given the same advice.
PK, yellowrocks and montana, i'm sure you're exactly right and the clue refers to SHOE LACES. i thought it was worded funny to be eyelet lace, but the shoelace thing escaped me at the time.
warren, i worked at the middlefield location beginning in '84, and made the move to the santa clara location in '95(?). quit a year or two after that.
Good one, Jerome. It took me a minute, but I got it.
Loved this puzzle almost as much for the clever clues and unifier as for the fact that I was able to finish! Actually thought it was a tad easier than yesterday.
Thanks for the fine effort, Julian and mb.
Well, I almost thought I had another Trifecta (puzzle, sudoku, kenken) this morning, but got tripped up on THRO and NOT, it seems. I had 'thru' and 'nut,' thinking that's what you might say to somebody who was kidding. And 'thru' just seemed like a perfect short term for 'through.' Still, a great puzzle, Julian, and wonderful write-up, Melissa B. I especially appreciated the photo of the Euro coin, which I haven't seen before. SADLY, I have not been to Europe since the euro was introduced, because we can't travel anymore since my husband's stroke.
Love being reminded of great musicals and first thought this might be a musical theme. 'Lace place' threw me because I kept trying to remembers cities in France or Belgium or wherever they tat lace.
I miss the lilacs in spring--we're too far south in California to get them. But can't complain about our lovely sunshine even in winter.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
OK, I admit I'm dense. Jerome, please explain about Henny. Is that Henny Penny, Henny Youngman, or something completely different?
Melissa, thanx for that link comparing helvetica and arial. I find it hard to believe that somebody actually took the time to compare the minute differences. Gotta be an odd type individual.
Good morning melissa, C.C. et al.
Fun write-up today, melissa. Loved the EYELET lace - so pretty! As others have said, I thought of the eyelets and laces on shoes!
51D could have been AMAS or AMAt, and I had filled in SNUFFL at 43D, so that corner took way too long to sort out.
Yesterday we had an AXEL following a Salchow, which we now know is impossible because of Ron Worden's explanation. Thanks, Ron!
Desper-otto, I think you answered your own question -
"Go west (Henny) Youngman!"
Oh!
Hola Everyone, Not quite the speed run of the past two days, but still very doable. Those proper names I didn't know, Thora, Isiah, and Ramis, all filled in with the perps.
Thanks MB for the writeup. My big misstep was putting in collar for Lace Place. The eyelet lace on the antique dress was absolutely beautiful. Probably much of which was hand done.
'Natch was one of my High School Slang words. Every generation had something that their parents disliked!
Have a great day everyone.
Not to nitpic, but a slip is a place where the vessel is moored or docked & is next to the pier.. a ramp is just that, a sloped area into the water for launching & removing boats.. Mike
I thought this was a fine example of xword construction. Five long theme answers, all of them in-the-language, without any mangling or distortions for cheap yuks.
Also liked 60A "Place for slips and sloops" for PIER. After reading Melissa's definition of "slip" as a place to move boats in and out of the water, I googled it up to see where she might have gotten this info.
Sure enough, Wikipedia comes up early with this definition. But all the following definitions are closer to what I've always considered a slip to be, a place to dock your boat, often in a marina with multiple slips.
I've had my sloop docked in the same slip in a small marina with 14 other slips for several years. It's bow end toward the main pier with narrow "mini-piers" built on either side. They are called slip walks.
Looks like Mike @1:15 was posting while I was googling.
Jerome, what is your prop for your stand-up routine? Cigar, violin, bottle of beer?
What makes puzzling so interesting is the way each one of us reacts to puzzles, which on one day he/she may be the only one who thinks a puzzle is easy, and on another the only one who found it hard. Solving skills are modified by specialized knowledge. For example, I spend at least three hours a day writing in a word processing program, and must select the font I wish to use for the document. Arial is a very clean look as is Verdana; Times New Roman is the dominant font, PICA and Elite were the old typewriter choices, and Bodoni MT is fun. I know, I often am a font of useless knowledge.
Avg.Joe @9:11 I'm with you. I didn't solve AT-A-RUN. More of a slog today.
Slowed down by 'Big-Birds' buddy, SNUFFY. How am I suppose to know this stuff? I don't have any kids or grandkids. So I guess SNUFFY is my learning moment of the day.
Like Redanman I wanted Swiss for Helvetica, but the 'perps'got me the font ARIAL.
Theme was pretty straight-forward. Julian: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday.
Hand-up for watching Survivor. Duplicity at its best. Hey guys, the game is about winning the $Mil. NOT making friends, honesty or integrity.
SYR being next to WAR ... seems appropriate.
And "trust-me" for "Sunset feature" I DID want Scotch before HUE. lol
Cheers!
Re MB's Helvetica link, I have finally learned that our paper prints the puzzle clues in Helvetica font. All along I thought it was Arial.
ISIAH is how Thomas spells his name. Most Isaiah's are spelled Isaiah.
Comic sans is the best font...IMHO
Staff Sergeant is SSG in the Army not SSGT. SSGT is used in the Air Force. But I see USN is done right. But they always screw up the Army. Poor as craftmenship, very shoddy. Liked show with sharks. Loved the film Ground Hog Day, Murrays finest. Seemed like a smooth transition into todays puzzle from yesterdays. Have a fine morning edition!
Alas, DNF...
I puzzled & puzzled, but got stuck in the North Center. Theme was not a problem, but a couple of wrong answers locked up my brain.
17A came out "GOE-T--T--SANING
How? I thought 3D chosen # might be "FEE" (knew it was wrong, just couldnt fix it.) and 10D layer was "LINER"... Add 6D Poor, as craftmanship="untidy".
All of this mess could have been fixed if i had just known
that Dan Patrick's employer was ESPN, and that kidding was "not".
I agree, re: slip versus ramp, but Google Images has a completely different perspective.
Good afternoon Melissa,C.C.,et al,
Wednesdays are always enjoyable. They all seem to have sticky spots for me. Laughed when I saw what randd really was! Looked up Ramis, and perps filled nes, laye,isiah. Wagged segue..seen it; never used it.Went thru the alphabet for the P in cope, and then felt foolish.
Isn't arial the type that is most often used in e-mail, or maybe it's times roman? I prefer comic sans.
Melissa and Warren, my daughter worked @ the S.C. N.N. during that time frame also.
Anon @ 2:50. Re: Sgts. You are basically right about the Army. SGT. (E-6). Marines is Ssgt. Air Force is a Tech Sgt. However their E-5 is a Ssgt. Any questions, see this DOD link.
Loved the puzzle. Had elite before arial appeared from perps. Fair before fine. Loved the write up. Lots of rain today in Houston area.
Yellowrocks: Polio was a panic word when I was fairly small. The only swimming pool in the county was in a nearby town. Three children in one family in that town died of polio one summer. A cousin of theirs was crippled.
Our mother had always taken us swimming there, but for two summers we couldn't go swimming. No one else got polio, so eventually we got swimming lessons in the third summer. I hated shots, but the no swim thing made such an impression, I lined up for my Salk vaccine gladly.
AVGJoe: thanks for the "Rain follows the plow" link. Had never heard that one. Some of the ideas I heard when I did water issues were about as screwed up.
Anon at 10:44: You're right about no camera person seen on Survivor. Another thing I notice is they don't let them go without food as long as at first. Some of those earlier guys were emaciated. Nor do they seem to have as many bug bites. I suspect bug spray! Too much film is spent on personality defects/conflicts and less on survival tactics.
PK, My learning moment of the day was that Manifest Destiny and the theory of the rain following the plow weren't inextricably linked. In any reference I'd heard to date, the two were part and parcel of the same package.
As for Survivor, it's one of those programs that I refuse to waste electricity on. I'd rather endure silence....Yea, even an infomercial. I watched the first two seasons, and would occasionally tune in for a couple of seasons after that. That puppy jumped the shark right out of the gate, IMO. Too bad the networks don't offer a modern day "Gong" that the viewers could use as a voting mechanism. Most of the others, such as Amazing Race, aren't much better. But Survivor is the Lowest of the Low, and Jeff Probst is nothing less than a whore!
Re 3down:
My local fish wrap printed the clue as:
3 Chosen n
umber?
I thought wtf? Maybe RAW? Some kind of variable umber?
ok mb, size matters? I knew it! She lied to me...
Spitzboov, thanks for the DOD chart on military rank. I have a son who is a TSgt in the Air Force, stationed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (I get to visit 4 grandchildren there)
I never realized he moved from E-5 to E-6 until I looked at your link. Now he is looking at the next move up.
Montana
I enjoyed PK's comments on Rex Parker's blog for the "Of Course" Sunday puzzle. Was that you, our own PK?
Could someone explain how the theme, "size matters" relates to this puzzle? I have given this lots of thought, but still come up empty.
Did not see how "natch" (naturally) follows from the clue "you bet" but it fit and it worked, so I put it down.
Hate reality TV except for the cooking shows on Food Network TV and BBC.
Abejo, I am sure you must have heard of segue, it is just spelled weirdly - pronounced SAY-GOO-WAY, but say it fast.
All in all, this was a challenging puzzle today! My thanks to Julian and Melissa.
LA CW Addict: Manifest Destiny is the phrase that was used to indicate the expansion and settlement of the United State following the Louisiana Purchase, hence the size of the country was enlarged from a small country to a much larger one.
Montana - Congratulations on your son's promotion. May he have continued success in his Air Force career.
Thank you Hahtoolah - I was reading it as "size MATTERS" rather than "size matters", so help me out here. In the former illustration, the word matters is used as a verb? whereas in the the latter, the word matters is an addendum to the word size, which makes it a noun. Is this correct?
Ditto on the eyelet clue; I thought shoelaces right away. Must be a Southern thing.
It's nice to "see" yall again!
Thanks, Melissa for a great blog.
Back to work now!
Peace to all in this Lent/Easter/ Passover season.
Hands up for liking Comic Sans. It's clean and informal.
CED, it took me a while to peruse thoroughly your SLIP link. Longer than I would have expected. Now I've reached the conclusion that you've got a fixation and need to make a clean breast of the problem so you can nip it in the bud, before it becomes an obsession.
Avg.Joe @9:11 I'm with you. I didn't solve AT-A-RUN. More of a slog today. Slowed down by 'Big-Birds' buddy, SNUFFY. How am I suppose to know this stuff? I don't have any kids or grandkids. So I guess SNUFFY is my learning moment of the day. Like Redanman I wanted Swiss for Helvetica, but the 'perps'got me the font ARIAL. Theme was pretty straight-forward. Julian: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday. Hand-up for watching Survivor. Duplicity at its best. Hey guys, the game is about winning the $Mil. NOT making friends, honesty or integrity. SYR being next to WAR ... seems appropriate. And "trust-me" for "Sunset feature" I DID want Scotch before HUE. lol Cheers!
By Tinbeni on Wednesday, April 4 2012, Julian Lim at 2:01 PM
I think that "expansion" may have been a better choice, compared to "size matters". Or perhaps, "wagon train"!
Hello all. I enjoyed this puzzle. Great fill. Got MANIFEST DESTINY right off the bat; like others here I remembered that from high school. Didn’t understand the necessity of asterisked clues.
Mel’s Diner lives on in crosswords; has anyone even seen “Alice” in syndication in the past 20+ years? I feel for Vera: never developing her own catchphrase, her name rarely, if ever, appearing in puzzles, always in the shadow of the other two waitresses . . . I’m inclined to belabor this point but, as often is the case, sometimes you just gotta go with the Flo.
Melissa, enjoyed the Citizen Cope song. Avg Joe, the “Rain follows the plow” article is fascinating. Misty, your THRU/NUT answer was cute; it’s statistically probable/possible that somewhere in the English-speaking world, be it teenspeak or shoptalk, some small sect of society does, in fact, reveal their practical jokes and recant their jocular criticisms with the quick pronouncement,”Nut!”
Mark
Placematfan, why do I doubt the VERAcity of your concern for the the diner characters. Something sMELls fishy... but I'm sure you mean no mALICE. Whatever FLOats your boat...
Mark:
I always felt bad for Vera, she was the only nice one there. She did wind up married and pregnant, so I guess it was all good
BillG & CED: nice you can keep abreast of slips.
Yellowrocks: I don't know nothin' 'bout no Rex Parker blog or "Of Course" Sunday puzzle. Must be another case of "stolen" identity.
Loved the clue "Show with Sharks." Was thinking of the History Channel show about the deadliest catch. By the way, Horace Greeley was quoting someone else in giving that advice.
Too funny - I was in a meeting yesterday where we were looking at a report being created for a new application being developed. I was stuck sitting between people who were actually debating the legibility of various fonts - Arial, Times New Roman, Calibria, etc. Some of the best geeks in the office. :)
Hey, placematfan 9:15--how nice to hear that "nut" might actually work, at least theoretically, to respond to a joker. Many thanks!
Re: Survivor
When the movie, Hunger Games came out, I saw an interview with Suzanne Collins in which she said that watching Survivor and the Olympics gave her the idea for that story.
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