Theme: It's FFriday not TThursday! Each of the four theme answers are Expressions in which "TT" is replaced by "FF." The classic letter transposition but two for the price of one. The reveal at the end is there just in case. This is our second puzzle from Mr. Takaro, and it is filled with lots of new clue/fill and an amusing bunch of phrases. We have last seen him in February, 2011 and he is my fifth puzzler to have his first LAT 2012 fall on Friday. Let's see:
20A. Legume polisher? : PEANUT BUFFER (BUTTER). First you have to recall peanuts are not nuts. My mind went to a bad place with Mr. Peanut and his fluffer, made my heart flutter.
28A. Singer Al after a jog? : PUFFING (PUTTING) GREEN. More golf and the singer famous for Let's Stay Together.
48A. Reptiles won at fundraisers? : RAFFLE (RATTLE) SNAKES. My Favorite visual, " Imagine Jack's surprise when he got home and opened his prize..."
56A. Cubicle reorganization? : SPACE SHUFFLE (SHUTTLE). And the hint:
70A. Punching tool ... or, read differently, a hint to 20-, 28-, 48- and 56-Across : F IS T. Parsing the word is key to the key. My problem with this as the hint is there are many "T"s in the puzzle and only the double ones become F.
Across:
1. Losing casino roll : CRAP. Well drat, I guess I picked the wrong week to give up cursing!
5. Motorola's Droid __ phone : RAZR. The latest version of Motorola's signature phone.
20A. Legume polisher? : PEANUT BUFFER (BUTTER). First you have to recall peanuts are not nuts. My mind went to a bad place with Mr. Peanut and his fluffer, made my heart flutter.
28A. Singer Al after a jog? : PUFFING (PUTTING) GREEN. More golf and the singer famous for Let's Stay Together.
48A. Reptiles won at fundraisers? : RAFFLE (RATTLE) SNAKES. My Favorite visual, " Imagine Jack's surprise when he got home and opened his prize..."
56A. Cubicle reorganization? : SPACE SHUFFLE (SHUTTLE). And the hint:
70A. Punching tool ... or, read differently, a hint to 20-, 28-, 48- and 56-Across : F IS T. Parsing the word is key to the key. My problem with this as the hint is there are many "T"s in the puzzle and only the double ones become F.
Across:
1. Losing casino roll : CRAP. Well drat, I guess I picked the wrong week to give up cursing!
5. Motorola's Droid __ phone : RAZR. The latest version of Motorola's signature phone.
9. Smart way to think? : TWICE. Or not if you believe this SONG.(3:00)
14. Probate determination : HEIR. Our law clue out of the way.
15. Case for tiny scissors : ETUI. We have had this word a few time already for this decorative case or box.
16. Time to strike : H-HOUR. Not familiar with this term, but it makes sense, D-Day, H-Hour.
17."Guess the joke's __" : ON ME. Every Friday, like clockwork.
18. Rory McIlroy's game : GOLF. Golf's number 1, for now. He had an okay day Thursday.
19. Lightens : EASES. Like loads.
23. Play matchmaker for : SET UP. Are any of our couples the product of a set up? Not me, ever.
24. "Mad Men" revenue : AD FEES. The award winning AMC SHOW.(0:59).
33. Prefix with gram : ANAgram. A true CW puzzle delight. Mr. TAKARO is A RAT, OK?
36. City known for its cheese : PARMA. HOW TO.(5:11)
37. Country rocker Steve : EARLE. No clue, he sings is all I know and appeared on 30 Rock.
38. Matter of opinion : POLL. An appropriate clue in this election year.
40. Powerfully built : BEEFY. Ladies?
42. Level : TIER. There, there dear; I know we did not get good seats but don't cry.
43. First sign, astrologically : ARIES. Really? Jeannie who has a birthday Sunday is an Aries I think. HBDTY.
45. She played Addie in "Paper Moon" : TATUM. Ryan's little girl and McEnroe's ex.
47. Advance teaching deg. : EDD. Better than Kookie Byrnes?
51. Where to take it from? : THE TOP. No, we are not going back to 1A, we march on!
52. Civil rights org. : NAACP. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; isn't CP very un-PC?
61. Expand, as a compressed file : UNZIP. Carol, Lois, Jeannie; where are you when the puzzle calls your banes?
64. Mélange : OLIO. A very useful word and easier to spell than miscellany. Reminds me of OLEO, MARGARINE and BUTTER, a melange à trois.
65. Logic lesson verb : ERAT. I get it already, QED!
66. Soft leather : SUEDE.
67. Plasma bits : IONS. I cannot get the link to stay, but it is physics and both interesting and a little gross.
68. Variable quantity : SOME. Not too many, not too few.
69. Didn't go on : ENDED. Yes, the acrosses did not go on...
71. Sugar and spice amts. : TSPS. and everything nice, right ladies?
DOWN:
1. Preps for the chef, say : CHOPS. I love when someone chops the veggies when I cook.
2. Soprano Fleming : RENEE. Not your typical Opera STAR.
3. Go for : AIM AT. A nice naddorish two word answer, tricky to suss.
4. Celeb wedding feature, often : PRE-NUPtial. Is it love or is it money? More reason to not do domestic cases.
5. U.S. Army unit : REGimenT.
6. Minimal step : A TO B. Followed immediately by:
7. Phonetic alphabet ender : ZULU. Along with, 63D: Down-under 10-point game tile : ZED.
8. 9-Down solo : RIFF. 100 greatest? LINK.
9. U2 guitarist : THE EDGE. At WORK (1:23) riffing.
10. Dock pest : WHARF RAT. Do you like The Grateful Dead or this sculpture?
11. Island in the Aegean : IOS. This is one of the Cyclades, which is the island chain where my oldest worked a dig one summer.
12. Prompt : CUE. Showbiz, here we are.
13. EMS destinations : ERS. Emergecny Room (s).
21. "__ and away!" : UP UP. Many a broadcaster uses this when calling a home run (baseball for you sports haters).
22. Smoke, slangily : FAG. was the popular term when I first smoked in the 60's. We got the term from the British, right Steve? Nice Cuppa? Not to be confused with 29D. "Neato!" : FAB.
25. Weird : EERIE. Followed by another EE favorite...
26. Fished with pots : EELED.
27. Bergen dummy : SNERD. MORTIMER. (1:50) Candice Bergen's dad and one her "brother's."
30. Wrings one's hands, say : FRETS. Do not fret dear, I will buy you a guitar.
31. "Let me try that again ..." : I MEAN. What I am trying to say...
32. Three-nation pact of the '90s : NAFTA. North American Free Trade Agreement, US, Canada and Mexico.
33. Estranged : APART. my wife and I are...
34. "Don't Know Why" singer Jones : NORAH. Special talent, daughter of Ravi Shankar, Mr. Sitar, but much prettier to look at and LISTEN TO. (3:59).
35. Biography subtitle : A LIFE.
39. Sailor's port : LEFT SIDE. Yay!
41. Laugh syllable : YUK. This is an actual dictionary word, yuk yuk.
44. Fed, in a way : SLOPPED. Soo eee, pig pig pig.
46. Bistro window posting : MENU. More and more have no prices in the window.
49. Clean Air Act org. : EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
50. Alarmed to the max : SAFEST. I was thinking of being alarmed...
53. Puffy dos : AFROS. and Puffy don'ts LINK
54. Workshop tool : CLAMP.
55. "__ Dragon": 1977 Disney film : PETE'S. LINK. (4:42) 35 years already, wow.
57. Hair affair : COIF. Time for rhyme.
58. Sci-fi race : ELOI. No Yvette today.
59. Wrongs : SINS, Getting all religious, with a very nicely clued 62D. One in an order : NUN.
60. Run the show : HOST. Today you are all my guests at C.C.'s Corner.
61. Make the most of : USE. Hopefully I made the most of this Friday frolic, and you are all filled with fun. It all went too quickly, another case of premature elucidation, I am afraid. Until next time your man Friday...
Answer grid.
λεμονάδα επτακόσιες δεκατέσσερις. Hint λ is a lambda.
Lemonade
Notes from C.C.:
1) Huge congratulations to Mangesh Ghogre & Todd Gross for their Wall Street Journal debut today. Mangesh is an investment banker. He said having a puzzle published by WSJ is "incredible moment for me". You can go to Cruciverb and click/solve the puzzle on the right sidebar.
3) Mangesh is also featured in this week's edition of Open. Read here.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteNice theme, which I got early on and which helped to get the rest of the theme answers for a change. I wasn't particularly happy with the theme reveal, but only due to the clue. FIST is a "tool" for punching? No, an AWL is a tool for punching (leather). Unless there's some sort of mechanical FIST out there. Or "tool" is being used metaphorically. Gah, never mind...
I was really surprised to see FAG in the grid. Yes, I am aware of the British slang, but here in the States it is definitely non-PC.
HHOUR caught me by surprise as well. I stuck in WHARF RAT right away, but then removed it when it gave me HH to start 16D (I knew that THE EDGE had to be correct). As with Lemonade, I've only heard of D-DAY before, but I guess it's legitimate.
The only other sticking point was when I confidently entered SOLID instead of BEEFY at 40. Took awhile to get that sorted out.
Worse than being pc is those who look for every oppotunity to point out every little infraction.
DeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Thomas Takaro, for a very good, but tough, Friday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the very good review. Not sure what you said at the end. Not sure what language that is.
ReplyDeleteFor the past few days, I pull up the puzzle on my cell phone after I have finished it on the IPad. I look at the completed puzzle on the phone as I comment on the IPad. Today there is no completed puzzle on the blog. So, I am a little stymied. But, that's OK.
Tough getting started. Bounced around all over the grid and got a word here and there.
With a few perps got SPACE SHUFFLE. That gave me the theme and was the key to solving the puzzle with a bunch of automatic FFs throughout the grid.
Quite a few unknown answers and had to rely on perps and wags; PARMA, EARLE, EDD, IONS, RENEE, RIFF, THE EDGE, NORAH, and PETE'S.
ERAT was good. Always enjoy any part of that Q.E.D. Proof.
NAFTA just gets my dancer up. Did not like it when it was initiated and still don't.
OLIO is an old favorite for crosswords.
Jeannie. So, you have a birthday coming up? That's great. HBT on Sunday.
Last night we had a frost in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Grass was totally white. Yesterday we had hail as I was cutting that grass.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Interesting Friday puzzle. The punny theme clues came easily to me, but the unifier had me scratching my head. I don't think of FISTs as being "tools." Also, I wondered how to read that differently, because if anything, after figuring out the pun, I would think T becomes F.
ReplyDeleteOne in an Order = NUN was my favorite clue of the puzzle.
ETUI and ELOI are crossword staples, but I always have a mental block on both words and the both were in today's puzzle.
I was never Set-Up on a date.
QOD: Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together. Georg C. Lichtenberg
Hi, everybody.
ReplyDeleteThought this one was easier than usual for a Friday -- twelve and done. Got the theme early on (surprise!), but never did see the unifier, since it was already filled by the downs.
I somehow don't get how SAFEST is Alarmed to the Max -- you can be totally alarmed and still be in great danger.
We got 1.4 inches of much-needed rain overnight. My sod is lovin' it!
Despite protests at the city council meeting, our pool will remain closed. A local volunteer club is trying to take responsibility for the pool to run it as a "private", residents-only operation. This whole mess will probably get ironed out sometime around Labor Day.
I also questioned SAFEST until I realized that "alarmed" referred to having plenty of alarm systems in place and not the state of being worried...
ReplyDeleteThanks. We needed to know that.
ReplyDeleteGood day folks,
ReplyDeleteNo other way to say it ..... a solid DNF for today thanks to the NE corner. 9A, 19A, 24A, 10D &11D were what did me in. For 10D I had entered SHORERAT and refused to believe it might be wrong. THE EDGE & IOS are/were unknowns. And one wag, the R in 8D just a lucky guess.
Otherwise, I didn't experience any hold ups ... just a couple of slowdowns that soon appeared in my grey matter.
Good to see a fellow "Mick" make the puzzle. Is this Rory's debut as a crossword clue? I'm waiting for the time when Rory & Tiger go into the final day tied for first and Rory smokes him.
No problem with FIST. I'll wager professional boxers consider their fists tools.
Happy Moms day to all who are Mom's & a good weekend to all.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the reveal, Lemon. There is also a "T" in the PEANUT BUFFER theme entry that doesn't become an "F". So the theme itself didn't ring my bell today.
I did enjoy the "Sailor's port" for LEFT SIDE, but other than that there wasn't much else. Oh well, tomorrow is another day...
Happy Friday Everybody!
ReplyDeleteW-OTTO-S regarding this being easier than usual for a Friday. Sometimes I get a DNF on Friday, or at least it takes me a lot longer to finish.
I bet Howard was wishing for a SPACE SHUFFLE last night on the Big Bang!
Never been set up, and never did the setting up. I met DH while volunteering at a JCs Haunted House! When he took off his creepy makeup I wanted to change my mind....just joking!
Have a great FFFFFFFFriday and a Super Weekend!
And to all of you moms and step-moms, have a most enjoyable and relaxing Sunday. You've earned it.
ReplyDeleteI'm only mom to three cats, so no fancy brunch for me. :)
Happy Friday all. Fun, punny puzzle. Not easier than normal Friday fare for me, but doable. First theme answer was Raffle Snake...from there it was easier.
ReplyDeleteLiked seeing Steve Earle in the grid, but always bristle a little when he's referred to as "country". He's one of those Texas singer/songwriters that defies pigeonholing, and is more adept at a variety of styles than anyone I can think of. But, alas, I guess he'll always be relegated to that bin.
My favorite Earle tune of many great ones is Ellis Unit One. A very dark tune featured in "Dead Man Walking".
A much lighter offering that was featured in "The Horse Whisperer" is nearly as good: Me and the Eagle.
Oops..screwed up the links. 2nd try:
ReplyDeleteMe and the Eagle.
Ellis Unit One.
Good morning everyone. Good helpful commentary, Lemon.
ReplyDeleteWell kiss my coon dog. Had to eventually look up THE EDGE, but got everything else ok. The relatively easy-to-get theme fill made the rest of the solve easier. Favorite clue was for NUN. This cw seemed to have a series of mini puzzles thinly connected by the theme phrases; thus success in one area couldn't easily be projected to an adjoining area. But it still was fun to work on. Good job, Thomas.
Have a great day.
Just enough cleverness and misdirection to make this a fun Friday, Thomas! It took the reveal for the theme and even that took some effort.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I started this one with my PEANUT BUTTER this morning
-There will be many PUTTING GREENS this summer – (not brown now Tin!)
-I have never heard CRAP as singular
-Rory is a great golfer and young man. He threw the Masters away last year by hitting the ball all over the course on the last 9 of 72 holes. He took it like a pro and met the press head on. He then went on to win the US Open on Father’s Day and gave his dad a big hug that even teared me up a little.
-My daughter’s match.com SETUPS have all failed. They all want to marry her but…
-My fav EDD is Dr. Bill Cosby.
-UP, UP and AWAY means 5th dimension and Superman to me
-Sailor’s port! Alarmed to the max. Cool clues
-I do the JUMBLE everyday as I suspect many of you do. Have you noticed that the third of the four anagrams is usually the toughest?
-Subbing today and someone just let the kids in. Hmmm… subbing at a middle school on a Friday when school is out next Thursday. How hard can it be? Joann says, “You can always say no!”
Thanks Ave. Joe: I appreciate the links; when I do not know a performer I prefer if one our group links the appropriate songs, and this group is so diverse there always seems to be someone who knows.
ReplyDeleteYes, HG, UP UP and AWAY has many conotations, and I was waiting for links thee as well
Lemon, I forgot to mention that DH and I were "set up" by our mutual friend Lisa. Now every time we see her, we both say "It's all your fault!!"
ReplyDeleteGreat Bill Cosby, EDD, video about being a kid and a parent.
ReplyDeleteHi gang -
ReplyDeleteI was baffled for a while, but battled through - almost. At least I got the theme. But DNF in NE corner.
Thinking TWICE, TWICE over didn't help.
THE EDGE? Really? Somehow, I don't feel bad abut not knowing that. Crossing H-HOUR makes this a Natick.
Had RIVER RAT for a while.
Having never watched Mad Men, Didn't suss AD FEES.
Busy weekend. Concert tonight. IMBO.
Cool regards,
JzB
Thanks Lemonade for a wonderful blog - got most of the puzzle, really cute. Enjoyed your Norah Jones link and the 'how to' on Parmesan cheese.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I was thinking of Israel, Egypt and the US in the 32 D. three nation pact - the 'Sinai' agreement.
I notice Parmesan cheese, indeed all European cheeses use rennet for curdling the milk. Rennet is the extract of the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber of slaughtered young unweaned calves. It is also specie specific - calf ~ cow milk, kid goat ~ goat milk etc. However, US cheeses are made with rennet from genetically modified (GM) rennet from soybean extract or microbacterial rennet - which is suitable for vegetarians and is kosher. ( Just my 2 bits).
Lemon: Wonderful write-up & links.
ReplyDeleteThomas, I enjoyed your FFFFFFFFun Friday offering.
If you don't have a PRE-NUP you may "one-day" say CRAP!
AFROS crossing NAACP. Cute.
Lemon: Should they change the name to "National Association for the Advancement of African Americans" or NAAAA? naaaa ...
YUK (yuk, yuk) got a laugh. Always like a 'shout-out' to Curly of the 3-Stooges.
Hahtoolah: I agree, the reveal s/h/b "T-is-F". Not a problem, I just let my dyslexia do the read.
Будем здоровы to all at Sunset.
Interesting puzzle. On Fridays, I take to Googling things after a first pass, otherwise unknowns tie me down too long. Googled only for EARLE and THEEDGE. Sorry, both too young for me. That allowed me to zip through.
ReplyDeleteThought of "four" spelled out before RAZR. Guessed GOLF and ZULU. Need to memorize those.
@Jazzbumper - cute.
IOS - home of Homer's Mom, Klmeni - Happy Mother's Day? And where Homer died and is buried.
Good morning to all and happy Friday. Thanks Lemon and T.T. for the clever puzzle. I do agree that alarmed to the max and safest really don't go together. Have you ever seen a cop come running when one of those car alarms go off in a store parking lot? I have seen Mcilroy clued for his first name before. My DW and I were setup by our two oldest daughters who became freinds when they were 9 and 7 years old.Have a great weekend and happy mothers day all you mothers.RJW
ReplyDeleteGood morning all:
ReplyDeleteGood job, Thomas, and nice write-up, Lemon.
Had some difficulty for a time, but finished w/o help and no write-overs so that's a good Friday achievement.
Have a great Friday.
Lots of problems with this puzzle the most glaring is F is T has to apply to every theme answer and the PEANUT is a fail. FAG as fill in the US is simply a no go, don't care about what goes on in the UK. I thought it was CRAPS not CRAP, which fits in an Onion puzzle. The rest of the fill was really meh (LEFT SIDE?) and left me cold, a disappointing Friday.
ReplyDelete*David*, OTT,ML,HWTP?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to follow those instructions to make parmesan, remember that 33º Celsius = 91.4º Fahrenheit.
SFingi, I too, googled Earle and The Edge. I misread one of my write-overs, so the perps didn't help me there. A disappointing DNF. For The Edge I always think of Derek Jeter and the Ford Edge.
ReplyDeleteHG, loved the Bill Cosby parent talk.
Like others. I have never seen CRAP used without the S in dicing, except as an expression of frustration.
When I was young I often heard FAG used for a cigarette. Teenagers in the U.S.thought it was cool to say. Was the word brought home from Britain by the servicemen after WW II?
Thanks, Lemon, for the interesting cheese clip.
I'm OK with FIST as a punching tool and even F IS T. I didn't pay attention to the non theme single T's, but I see that they are not according to Hoyle.
I thought this was a delightful Friday puzzle and was sure I nailed it until I got on the blog. Then realized I messed up all over the place because I didn't know the Motorola Droid thing or the U2 guitarist, etc. That's what comes of being a Luddite! But I 'got' the theme quickly even though I didn't understand FIST until Lemonade's explanation. Also 'got' SAFEST but didn't understand it until everybody's explanations.
ReplyDeleteStill, I thought this was a really fun puzzle (also liked NUN), so many thanks, Mr. Takaro, and Lemonade, for all the helpful info.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
Another Luddite with an internet connection!
ReplyDeleteThought it was easy for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteTheme just jumped out. There are
too many gimmies to list.
Almost every war movie has that obligatory scene where the watch is counting down the seconds to H-Hour.
Greek is pretty much limited to word for Brotherhood. (our fraternity).
Love the Highlands of PA.
A game 7 tomorrow and the Art & Wine thing. Hope my knees hold up.
Take care. edd
Pretty easy for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Scared but when SAFEST emerged, I understood the clue.
A house, locked, but no alarm, SAFE
With a simple alarm, SAFER
Alarmed to the max, SAFEST. Still might be vulnerable, but it's a matter of degree. i thought it was a great Friday misleading clue.
Didn't know THE EDGE but have seen H-Hour before. BurlY before BEEFY, but NAFTA was obvious and corrected that misCUE.
My late first wife and I were "set up" by our 11th grade American History teacher when he assigned us to seats at the same table. We saw him several times after we were married and always reminded him that it was all his fault.
I just looked at the parma cheese link thanks Lemon very interesting,and I always thought it was put in a dirty sock to get that smell! RJW
ReplyDeleteThanks for the writeup, Lemonade. “Mr. Peanut and his fluffer”? … Omg. Too funny. . . . Kind of creepy, too. Had no idea peanuts weren’t nuts.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed Thomas’s puzzle a lot. Found it very challenging. Hand up for CIG instead of FAG; took ten minutes to make myself believe there could possibly exist another word for cigarette that has three letters and ends in G, having already accepted that characters on “Mad Men” charge ID FEES. And, man, did I fall for “Sailor’s port”, wondering what harbor/city could fit ???T?IDE. . . . aargh. Learning moment: HHOUR. Natick: SNERD and EDD.
I agree with Spitzboov about “sectioned” puzzles like this one, where entire areas of the puzzle are only accessible by a theme entry. Cases in point: the N Central and S Central, and the SW/W Central and NE/E Central. But I’ve definitely seen worse cases of sectioned puzzles; this one still has an open feel to it.
Thanks, Barry G. for the SAFEST insight. I needed that.
That’s so weird that Bill Cosby came up on the blog; I woke up this morning thinking of Mother’s Day and ended up recalling an old comedy bit Bill had about mothers’ and fathers’ differences as parents. It was something about how a boy can just walk out to his back yard, pick up a stick, go back inside and tie a string around the stick, and then offer it to his mother as a present, to which she’ll respond with an affectionate “Aw, honey, you made this for me!” Whereas were the child to proffer the same item to his father, the response would be more like, “Okay. Um, what exactly is this, son?”
Since when does "riff" mean "guitar solo"? I'm a guitarist, and riff and solo are two very different things to me. Can someone shed light on this?
ReplyDeleteCandace Bergen's father was Edgar - NOT Mortimer Bergen...
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bergen
Hello everybody. What Jazzbumpa said. Happy Friday.
ReplyDeleteHi everybody. This puzzle took me a while but I enjoyed it very much. It's full of good words and clever clues. I haven't read any of the comments yet but I thought I would jump in quickly before lunch.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Norah Jones, much more so than her father. I just don't care for the sitar or Indian music even if the Beatles liked it. If Norah put out a CD of something like Patsy Cline songs, I'd pick it up today.
I've had a Proctor-Silex drip coffee maker for about 20 years. It has gotten so it's very slow, like me. Probably I could have run some vinegar through it but I thought, after 20 years, it might be time to splurge on a new one. I got a simple one with no bells and whistles. I hope it works as well as the old one.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteMust have had the right rest/caffeine balance today. Zoomed through at about Wednesday rate.
Thanks for the cheese video Lemon, that was darned interesting.
Sing to me Norah!
Mark:
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has and does represent bands, and has watched songs being created and polished, I would say there are riffs in every solo, though they are not interchangeable terms.
Thanks for acknowledging my bizarre mind and Mr. Peanut's secret.
Lemony, you are so smart. You seem to know everything.
ReplyDeleteGreat weather for the weekend in MT.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lemonade for the explanations. I used red letters right away, but enjoyed the puzzle. WEE said about the clues.
Visiting my daughter for a few days, so using iPad.
Have a good Mother's Day weekend all,
Montana
At the end of a grueling day, I'm ready for a bit more Steve Earle. Humor me.
ReplyDeleteFrom the same album as the first two links ("Sidetracks") here's something I've never heard from anyone else....ever! A white guy pulling off reggae convincingly:Johnny Too Bad.
And to demonstrate his versatility a bit more, here's one from "Transcendental Blues" that takes a worldly turn: Galway Girl.
And just for good measure, something that approximates a love song: Halo Round the Moon.
Just checking on the daily news, I see that Caroll Shelby died today. Tying that in with the comments today, couldn't help but recall Bill Cosby's classic routine: 200 MPH.
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day to all. As I was pondering the write up last evening, I noticed our constructors initials are TT, which made me think it might have been the germ of an idea to go from TT to FF, just thinking about his own name. Well Mr. Takaro, I hope you stop by and have a sense of humor about my anagram.
ReplyDeleteLemon:
ReplyDeleteGreat catch about the 'TT'.
Makes me wonder about why there were so many other 'double letter' words:
RIFF
AD-FEES
EERIE
EELED
POLL
BEEFY
SLOPPED
and your favorite acronyms: EDD & NAACP
Živjeli (Zhee-ve-lee) ... that's Cheers, in Croatian.
What's with the pile-UP of UPs?
ReplyDeleteGot PRENUP crossing SETUP then right next to it, UPUP
Geez, I miss Jeannie.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a lot about Steve Earle but here's a song he did that fits into the rockabilly category that I enjoy. Honey Don't.
I did not have any problem visa-vis the double "f"s because I got FIST right off the bat without parsing it. Had I done that, I probably would have had more problems. I got all four of the theme answers and thought they were clever.
ReplyDeleteI did have problems in NE corner. Chose WHOUR because I was thinking of "witching hour". So we have D-DAY and H-Hour. Is there a W-Week, M-Month, Y-Year?
Anytime guitarists or contemporary music is brought in, I'm a goner. Missed The Edge (actually never heard of it) and am not familiar with Motorola's Droid phone either.
Hope all of you Mothers out there have a great Mother's Day! I sent my Mom a Gardenia plant and she should get it tomorrow.
BillG, that was fantastic!! Hadn't heard it before and loved it. The only thing wrong with that was that Joe Walsh played second fiddle to too great an extent. He sang a little at the end and his guitar became more pronounced, but it was largely Steve's show. Still....loved it!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Anonymous 11:52--I'm only a semi-Luddite these days! Thank goodness, since I do love this blog!
ReplyDeleteAJ, glad you liked it. Every time you or someone else posts a link on YouTube, I start looking at all the related links on the right side and often get lost exploring stuff. I try hard not to take YouTube, Google and the whole Internet for granted.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article from MSNBC about a returning vet being surprised by his son with cerebral palsy. Make sure you've got some Kleenex handy. If you let the video run, there are several more similar videos following.
Hey Joe,
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of great Steve Earle tunes. One of my favorites that is kind of obscure is "The Week of Living Dangerously".
I just came across this beautiful slideshow highlighting the night sky. Click on "Launch slideshow" at the bottom of the first page.
ReplyDeleteBill G,
ReplyDeleteRegarding Norah Jones, research "The Little Willies." She sings lead.
Larry:
ReplyDeleteGood to see you. With CA, WM, Lois, Carol, Jeannie and so many of the old guard absent, it is nice to see old faces as well as new ones. Anyone heard fro Al? So many people over the years, well enjoy the week end.
Gunghy, wow!, thank you very much. I looked up The Little Willies on YouTube and found Lovesick Blues right away. Great song and a very enjoyable performance. (I think she was singing harmony.) Now I've got to check out some of the other songs. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteBeware what you put in a Venezualan crossword puzzle!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18042494