Theme: "I have a new leash on life!!" Dog puns, what could be better? Animals and puns in one puzzle? You are my new heroine, Donna Levin!!
17A. Blue-tongued dog in the canine version of the "Twilight" series? : CHOW BELLA. "Ciao, bella" ("Hello, beautiful") is a typical Italian greeting. I lived in Milano for a while, and don't remember hearing this expression said to me...
25A. Powerful dog that loves a Passover staple? : MATZO ROTTIE. "Maserati". More Italian - this time, a cool sports car.
37A. Rumbas for retrievers? : LAB DANCES. "Lap dances"...(Uh, C.C., am I allowed to link this??)
51A. Engages in toy dog smuggling? : SNEAKS A PEKE. "Sneaks a peek". Take a peek at this one. Cute!
61A. Scholarly little Spitz? : POM READER. "Palm reader". Now, here's a good pom reader!
Marti here again...Sorry you have to endure 'me' two days in a row - Lemon is not available, and asked me to blog today. So, I guess this is your "punishment" for not having any puzzles to critique from me this month. Anyhoo....let's see what Donna has in store for us today:
Across:
1. Stretch in the womb : TERM. I wanted "mark". Ugh, use lots of cocoa butter!!
5. Stare open-mouthed : GAWP. I love that word..."To gape or gawk". For you Jerome: GWAP.
9. Sauce made with pine nuts : PESTO. Jeannie, where are you? Here is her
GARLIC SCAPE PESTO
Makes about 1 cup
10 garlic scapes, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (to taste and texture)
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Sea salt
Put the scapes, 1/3 cup of the cheese, pine nuts and half the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Whir to chop and blend all the ingredients and then add the remainder of the oil and, if you want, more cheese. If you like the texture, stop; if you'd like it a little thinner, add some more oil. Season with salt. I usually serve it on crusty bread, but it’s also killer tossed with pasta and shrimp.
(My comment: Yummmmm!)
14. Samoa's capital : APIA. (You may have to zoom in to see "Apia" on this link.)
15. Flier since 1948 : EL AL. Israeli airline.
16. Different : OTHER. Not me!
19. Madame Gorbachev : RAISA. Classy lady.
20. Numerical prefix : TETRA. Oh, please, Donna! Give me a hint, at least!! Penta-, hepta-, ennea-, (Get the whole list, here.)
21. Trans Am option : T-TOP. Like this. And 68A. 21-Across, e.g. : ROOF. And 23 D. T-Mobile competitor : ATT. I switched from T-Mobile and a Blackberry to ATT and an i-Phone.
24. Promise preceding a pronouncement : I DO. (Did I really say that????)
29. Tireless campaign : CRUSADE. Lancelot from yesterday, where are you?
31. Partial : BIASED. I think I am a little biased about this puzzle.
32. Convenient encl. : SASE. Self Addressed Stamped Envelope.
33. Body sci. : ANAT.omy
36. Secondary railroad line : SPUR
40. Crockpot concoction : STEW. Julia Child's "Stew" from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"is a little more complicated than making one in a crockpot, but well worth it. Here is the recipe - try it!
42. "Go on!" : SHOO. SCAT! SCRAM! SCOOT!
43. Victor's wife, in "Casablanca" : ILSA. Ohhh, melt me now. My favorite movie...along with Fermatprime, Husker Gary, AvgJoe, Lucina, BillG, Yellowrocks...Misty, have you watched it yet????
47. "Magnificent" mystic : CARNAC. Johnny Carson. "Sis Boom BAAAA". Priceless!!
49. Sources of local college tension : TOWNIES
54. Smidgen : BIT
55. ___ certain age : OF A. Me? Noooo...
56. Place for Sundance? : ETTA. HaHa, fun clue. Etta Place was the schoolmarm who was The Sundance Kid's flame. (But Paul Newman "Butch Cassidy" got to take her for a "ride"). 5:00. Katharine Ross, who could forget??.
57. Nepal rumbler : RHINO. I saw a white rhino and her baby at the Basel Zoo. The baby kept gamboling around, and I could just hear the mother saying "Will you PLEEEZE stop?!?!?"
59. Off : NOT ON. OK, so maybe I was NOT ON yesterday?
64. Mardi Gras parade group : KREWE. I just learned this fact from my friends last year. They live in Metairie, and invited us to their KREWE parade. I bet this was a gimme for Hahtoolah!!
65. Medicinal house plant : ALOE
66. Japanese sandal : ZORI. This footwear.
67. Tacked on : ADDED
69. Firenze pronoun : ESSA. Italian for Itt? OK, I'm just being smart-alecky. "Essa" means "It" in Italian. Thank goodness, I lived there and know what they wanted with this clue!
Halfway there....
Down:
1. Maneuvers : TACTICS
2. FDA-banned herbal supplement : EPHEDRA. Huh, it has been used by the Chinese for the treatment of allergies and hay fever for 5000 years. But the US banned it as of 2004? Who would you believe? C.C., I need your advice!! (C.C.: I can't tell, Marti, I've never used Ephedra.)
3. Not just funny : RIOTOUS. Slap my knees!
4. Bryn-___ College : MAWR. I always wondered where the word "Mawr" came from. It means "Big Hill" in Wales. Who knew?
5. "Fancy that!" : GEE. Gee, who knew?
6. To a man : ALL
7. Chopin work : WALTZ. Woo-Hoooh, finally, a chance to link music!! 3:53
8. "Phaedo" philosopher : PLATO.
9. Mammal whose name derives from the Latin words for "pig" and "fish" : PORPOISE. I love learning derivations of words, and this clue gives me two!
10. Greek vowel : ETA. Greek "Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, ETA !! (Or, "Estimated Time of Arrival", at LAX..)
11. Acupressure technique : SHIATSU. Ooooooh...I love my shiatsu massages! (aahhh!)
12. More cranky: TESTIER. Or, like some worse audiences? (Unshameful plug, sorry!)
13. Spoke : ORATED
18. Ole Miss rival : BAMA. Fun clue -- DH went to 'Ole Miss, so this was a gimme!
22. Sphere : ORB
26. Very little : A DAB. "A little dab'l do ya!" (Is she talking about his hair, or something else...)
27. Watches over : TENDS
28. Sinks an easy putt : TAPS IN. OK, so Husker Gary, was this a "tap in" for you??
30. 1993 Best Mexican-American Album Grammy winner : SELENA. "I'd like to thank..."
34. "Open wide" response : AAH
35. Govt. issue : T-NOTE. Treasury note. A good, solid investment. But not as promising as a scratch ticket (We're rich!!) (..were rich). (Thanks, Desper-otto!!)
38. Came to : AWAKENED
39. Falsify, as books : COOK. Oh no!, see 40A!!
40. Redd's Fred : SANFORD. Really? I have to link this sit-com?
41. Took care of : TREATED
44. Freudian principles : LIBIDOS. Oooooh, I could go all DF here...
45. Dragnet users : SEINERS. Hmph, I was all ready to say "WTF"??? but, then I gg'd this and realized how stupid I am...
46. New York's Waldorf-___ : ASTORIA
47. Dolphins Hall of Famer Larry : CSONKA. Made me think of this guy...but no, they are talking about this guy...
48. St. Paul hrs. : CST. Central Standard Time.
50. Used to be : WERE. (See 35-D)
52. Stock phrase : AT PAR
53. Author of epistolas : PAOLO. Um, I think I would know these as the "Epistles of St. Paul"?
58. Visibility hamperer : HAZE. Myopia, macular degeneration, cataracts..hey, at our age, you have a lot of issues!
60. Be a bit shy : OWE. Fun clue for "being in debt".
62. Jersey sound : MOO. Of course, we are talking about these Jerseys, not these, from "Jersey Shore".
63. Flag carrier : REF. OK, ref, don't judge me for my blog today!!
Answer grid.
Not the same time, but I'll see you next week!
Hugs,
Marti
76 comments:
Morning, all!
Well, this one pretty much destroyed me, even though in the end it was a simple typo that proved to be my undoing.
In general, while I love puns and thought the theme was a good one, I also thought some of the clues were really a bit tortured.
The SW corner was the hardest for me. Did not know ZORI. Did not know ESSA (actually, I didn't know where Firenze was, so that didn't help). Didn't realize that Pomeranians were a sub-breed of SPITZ, so had trouble with that theme answer. Had no idea that RHINOs lived in Nepal and kept thinking the answer was going to be the name of a volcano. Also went with PAULO instead of PAOLO at 53D. Surprisingly, I did manage to eventually get all the above with the help of the perps and some WAGs, but I was not at all confident of my answers (especially ZORI and ESSA).
Elsewhere in the south, I had no idea about ETTA, having never seen the movie. I had UTAH at first and did eventually get ETTA via the perps, but was convinced it must be wrong. Same thing for KREWE -- didn't know it, got it via the perps and figured it must be wrong. The fact that I wasn't sure how to spell CSONKA didn't help matters, even though I guessed correctly in the end.
After all that struggle, what killed me was misspelling SNEAK as SNEEK and SELENA as SELENE. Oops. Couldn't find that mistake amid all the other answers I was sure I had wrong, and finally had to turn on the red letter help. D'OH!
Hello Puzzlers -
Got kicked around by this one. Managed to get through and finish, but with lingering doubts about such words as ETTA and ZORI - wouldn't have gotten them without perps.
In fact, now that I've gone and re-read his post, WBS!
Good Morning, Marti and friends. Great job, Marti, but then so was yesterday's commentary.
Ouch! We haven't seen Donna Levin in a long time, but man, did she kill me with today's offering!
My favorite theme pun was the SNEAK A PEKE.
Who knew there were RHINOS in Nepal?
I love PESTO. Thank's for providing us with Jeannie's recipe. I might even be inspired to try making it sometime.
Yes, KREWE was a gimme for me. There are all kinds of Krewes all over Southern LA.
Is Bryn MAWR one of those schools with tension from the TOWNIES?
QOD: Never have a companion that casts you in the shade. ~ Baltsar Gracian
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Donna Levin, for a fine, but tough, Friday puzzle. Thank you, as well, Marti, for the excellent review.
I am now in Reading, PA. Could not sleep because my hand was sleeping and keeping me awake. I think I have carpal tunnel. Seriously. So, I got up and did the crossword.
The hotel has WiFi and 4G works here, so I was able to download the puzzle quickly.
Got GEE and ALL in the North, so I thought I was pretty clever and entered GAWK for 5A. That was changed later to the correct answer, GAWP.
Got RAISA easily for 19A.
I bounced around all over the puzzle and entered a word here and there.
The theme was not easy for me. I have a dog but am not a dog expert. My wife is. She knows them all. But, she is not here. My first answer was MATZO ROTTIE. The rest I eventually got.
Thought SEINERS was clever for 45D. We have had SEINE for years as an answer.
CSONKA was easy. I remember him and his buddy Jim Kicke (I think).
Perps saved me on many answers, like EPHEDRA and SHIATSU.
TOWNIES was not obvious to me. Took a while.
Thank goodness for all the Downs in the SE corner. That is the only way I got ZORI and ESSA.
The weather here in Reading is beautiful today. We had a good drive yesterday across Route 322. Scenery was outstanding. Paralleled the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg. Stopped in Hershey for a few minutes for postcards and some souvenirs.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Morning All,
I love dogs but struggled through this one. Gave up once and finally chucked the pencil for red letter help. The SW was my downfall also. A more difficult Friday for me.
We made pesto and froze it in baggies last fall. There's one bag left. Getting fresh shrimp right off the boats last winter put a wicked dent in it.
Computer issues got me yesterday.
Have a great weekend!!
Marti,
Thank you for pinch hitting for me, I had to work very late (2:00AM) and would never have made the write up. As it turns out, this Donna Levin was perfect for you and your words are awesome as was the puzzle. A real challenge in places with puns a blazing and new words also.
Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick (two 'i') and Mercury Morris were the most productive backfield in NFL history, part of the only undefeated season, to date, And coincidentally with the ETTA Place reference in the puzzle, Csonka and Kiick promoted themselves as Butch and Sundance.
Well, I loved all the doggie puns and your LAB DANCE link is precious.
Ciao chow
Good day folks,
Got my butt kicked pretty good today. The NE corner was my biggest failing, Just couldn't get it going. The section was 80% blank.
Did manage to suss out the rest of the puzzle, but it was a struggle. Many clever clues/fills.
In spite of my failure today, I've always liked Donna Levin puzzles and will look forward to more in the future.
Wife appreciated all the kind thoughts expressed yesterday. Last night was fun. Nice people in Westport.
Will be happy to put up some of her work, but there is one major issue. I've never been able to successfully post a link. If someone has an "idiot proof"" set of instructions, will be happy to try again.
I played golf in a 35 mph wind yesterday and did a Donna Levin puzzle today! Both were challenging, frustrating and fun! Wow, what a wordy workout with 1 wrong letter. Marti’s always lovely thoughts were icing on the cake.
Musings
-Struggles – GAWP, ZORI, PHAEDO, PAOLA
-WALTZing with Strauss earlier this week and Chopin today
-EL AL ain’t afraid of profiling in that part of the world
-The CRUSADES of 800 years ago still provide a rallying cry for some today
-My letters back to the gov’t include a Self Addressed Envelope. I provide the Stamp.
-Best movie about college students and Townie?
-A GNC salesman gave me a sample of a diet pill with EPHEDRA and caffeine and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!
-Does BAMA field a college football team ;-)?
-I TAPPED that one in Marti, but yesterday the golf balls would start moving again the green from the wind. The rules say you have to putt it in from where it finally stops.
-A wife of a former principal I know COOKed the books of a local muzzleloader group for whom she was the treasurer (who knew they had $30,000). He’s had to go back to work to pay her fines and legal fees to keep her out of jail.
-Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick were known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and are also remembered for this picture and Larry’s middle finger.
thehondohurricane @ 7:27, maybe you could just email the pics to C.C. and she can post them for you? (easy-peasy!)
Well at least today's blog shows that it was posted by HeartRx. Yesterday's was posted by Lemony. When will we see Jalmar posting?
Marti, wonderful write up and fun links. I loved the lap dance and the Carnac clip, especially the "striking air traffic controllers."
DO's “we're rich, were rich” deserves this second outing. HA HA.
I learned TOWNIES when I was at Susquehanna U. Some of the TOWNIES looked down on us college kids and I am sure some of the collegians looked down on them. No conflict, just scorn.
This was an enjoyable puzzle with clever puns and was on the easy side for a Friday. Thanks, Donna Levin. Realizing the theme answers were all puns on doggie nicknames helped tremendously.
Got beat up badly by this one, but still thought it was fun. Must have been in a hurry, as I had several wrong letters in No Dakota starting with GAPE and never bother to cross check them. Still, the theme entries were fun and got them all. Especially enjoyed the Rottie reference.
Work load has been onerous lately. Gotta go.
Good morning, everybody. I'm a little late today -- we have to make the three-mile march earlier in the day because of the heat.
Am I the only one who thought this was easier than a normal Friday? I must have been on Donna's wavelength today.
I got the theme at CHOWBELLA, but I didn't think of "Ciao, Bella", I thought of Cow Bells. MATZO ROTTIE and SNEAKS A PEKE were very cute, as was the cluing for ETTA.
Thanks for the shoutout, Marti. I really enjoyed your CARNAC clip. LAB DANCES weren't bad either. Fun Friday fare.
Husker, for a TOWNIE movie, how about Good Will Hunting?
Not an easy one today. Never heard of gawp before. Took me awhile to realize that 53D was Portuguese, not Spanish. Dog puns were fun.
I'm not sure why it is so important, but yes, Lemonade714 did indeed do yesterday's write-up on my behalf. Thanks for the great job, Lemony!
I did edit the content that he emailed to me, though. The whole point is to be entertained, not nit-pick.
Good morning all:
Great job, Donna, and great expo, Marti.
The southeast did me in; had to use red letter help so another DNF. Hope tomorrow's isn't a repeat of last week's torturous Silkie!
Happy Friday everyone.
chin @ 9:44 AM Good catch.
Clue : epistolas - Answer : Paolo
epÃstolas : Spanish : Pablo
epÃstolas : Portuguese : Paulo
epistole : Italian : Paolo
Not usually into these cutesy puzzles but MATZOROTTY is brilliant. Appropriate toughness on the cluing and fill for a Friday, last fill was OWE with little shy tripping me up. Lots of erasing on the top but just enough gimmes to let me move straight down the puzzle.
Husker Gary
Regarding the Crusades: Unfortunately many people take the situation out of context. What happened in 1099 was what then world was about back then. Kings, Popes, and powerful armies.
Abejo
Epistola and Paolo are also Italian.
Did anyone else notice that all the dogs' names were nick names?
Epistola in Italian is singular and epistole is plural.
Abejo, I see what you are saying and have answered you off the blog, my friend. Looking forward to a dialogue there.
Gotta go find my hat the wind took!
Gary
I love dogs, and crosswords, but I do not care for this puzzle's theme entries. There was a nice variance in the fill, e.g., Csonka & Selena, but "MatzoRottie"? Really? Barry G. was being kind when he said "a bit tortured."
Well, dog puns aside, I thought this one was pretty easy.
Firenze is Florence.
HRx, have you ever seen the Palios
in Siena?
Chowbella was Coachella-a three day music fest in Indio,CA.
For Labs check out today's "Overboard" in the comics.
See you. Takecare.
eddyB, never seen Il Palio, but I hear it's a wild ride.
(-o^)
Good afternoon, all. Great job on the blog, Marti. Thanks for a fun Friday fest, Donna.
As usual in a punny puzzle, there were enough fairly easy downs to reveal the pun.
GAWk before GAWP, easily corrected with PLATO, and Utah before ETTA, which needed all of the perps. I still had no idea why it was ETTA until I came here. KREWE was a gimme, and I knew that Hahtoolah would be all over that one. I finally remembered that CSONKA doesn't have a Z in it.
ZORI was a total unknown so I let the perps take care of it.
Clever theme, lots of good fill and a lot of clues that needed me to look past the obvious to figure out where Donna was going. Just right for a Friday.
DNF for me today, but still loved this puzzle because I love dogs! So thanks, Donna, and you too, Marti. My goodness, you even gave us a PESTO recipe!
Never heard of GAWP and so didn't get PLATO even though I was sure it had to be him. Aaarrrgghh. I got the Nepal RHINO even though I was sure it had to be wrong. Isn't Nepal incredibly mountainous? How the heck would a chunky RHINO negotiate those vertical rocks?
But loved CARNAC because last night we watched a terrific Johnny Carson documentary that we had taped. Made me think of you, Husker, for some reason.
Abejo 6;50, thanks for taking us on that Pennsylvania journey with you. I miss my home state, and haven't been able to go back since my husband's stroke. So it's fun to follow you vicariously.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
Hello everybody. I usually like Donna Levin's work and today was no exception. Laughed uproariously at MATZO ROTTIE, then wanted all the other theme entries to be puns on car brands. What car name ends with ELLA? Nope, that wasn't it, but the puns were awfully fun.
Somehow remembered KREWE from a previous puzzle.
Entered GAPE at first, thinking it might be POLKA for 7D, but I knew PLATO was correct, so finally got that area ("No Dakota", good one, Avg Joe!) straightened out.
Gave myself a big ole slap on the forehead when I read Marti's explanation of ETTA Place, which I otherwise didn't get.
Thank you all for contributing to a good hour and a half of entertainment here at the Jayce household.
Hey guys.
I decided to crack this myself instead of waiting for Dad to help, so I just cheated and cheated some more, although I did get NE myself.
Thx so much for the Johnny Depp photo Marti, I seem to be the only person alive that prefers him to Gene Wilder.
Now what I'd like to know is when would Rich accept SELENA clued as "Actress Gomez" or even "Gomez of Waverly Place".
I'm presuming even a fireball crossword wouldn't clue that as "Justin's girl"
Greetings, puzzlers. Thanks, Marti. As always, you sparkled in your review.
I love Donna Levin's puzzles and was so sure I was on her wave length but now I wish I had red letters! I finished with a few glaring errors, GAWK instead of GAWP and I failed to scan for the theme so missed the mark on CHOW BELLA and POM READER.
Otherwise, it was quick and easy. My Japanese friend wears ZORIs in her home and has them for guests, too.
Yes! Yes! Casablanca with ILSA and Rick! Sets my LIBIDO roiling.
Thought of Hahtoolah at KREWE and surprised myself knowing CSONKA!
Very clever clue for TERM!
Argyle, thanks for the language lesson. I had PABLO and never let go of it.
ESSA! ESSA! (That one, that one) As we say in Spanish as a variation of OLE.
Have a terrific Friday, everyone!
Breaking Away for a great townie movie.
Misty,
Here is why you might think of me when Johnny Carson is mentioned. I get goose bumps when the band marches into the Kennedy Center playing that marvelous, corny, chauvinistic music that has brightened many Saturday afternoons for me. He was one of a kind and never forgot his roots as witnessed by the millions he has returned to the state and his hometown – Norfolk, NE.
Hi gang -
I'm not on anybody's wave length today. Thought this would be a huge DNF, but it was only a rather small DNF.
Started off thinking I would really like this puzzle, but - alas - 'twas not to be. Clever puns in the theme, fer sure. SNEAKS A PEKE was my first theme entry, and evoked a smile. But CHOW BELLA?!? After that filled in, I just stared at it. WTH?!?
ETTA is brilliantly clued, but waaaayyy too obscure. ZORI? ESSA? GAWP?
My fail was AT PAR, and all its perps from ETTA on down.
Oh, well.
Thanks for all the nice comments about my mom's pic yesterday. She's a gem.
Got a few veggies planted today. Off to the theater this evening to see granddaughter Alexa in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Filled-up weekend to follow.
Ciao!
JzB
Wow, I so want to rant about this puzzle. But I won’t.
Suffice it to say, it’s very frustrating, as a constructor, to see a puzzle wherein what is perhaps the most persistently stipulated issue by editors, thematic consistency, be nonexistent, or seemingly so. Personally, I have scrapped countless theme ideas, good theme ideas, because I couldn’t achieve a consistency among my theme entries. This puzzle’s consistency lay in, as someone stated, CHOW, ROTTIE, LAB, PEKE, and POM being nicknames for dog breeds. Okay, fine. Cool. Got it. What I’m saying is, I would have scrapped this idea early on because 1) PEKE and CHOW are homophones, LAB and POM are near-rhymes, while MOTTIE is a homophonic partial; 2) MATZOROTTIE is the one theme entry involving a double pun; and 3) MATZOROTTIE and CHOWBELLA are of a class of theme entry that, cute as they may be, I’ve often seen referred to as “contrived” or “lacking surface sense”. So is the presence of the quintuplet of nicknames--that one unifying factor-- really enough to satisfy the consistency standards that I’ve been presuming exist?; I would love to abandon said presumptions, but correspondence, research, emulation, experience, and analysis prevent me from doing so. But I want to be teachable: maybe Friday is sort of a More Leeway Day, or a Consistency Suspension Day; maybe when you’re as prolific a constructor as Donna Levin, the rules are different than those that apply to an Average Joe constructor such as myself. I’m not bitter, just curious. And admittedly, as so often is the case, I’m sure there’s something I’m missing here, or am wrong about. Which is why I’m not going to embarrass myself with a rant.
But, seriously, SEINERS crossing ILSA, ZORI, and ESSA? That’s rough, even for a Friday. Gimme more cheater squares; I’ll suffer the lessened aesthetic for better fill.
Other than that, I enjoyed the puzzle. Really. Guess that’s what ultimately matters.
Hondo, I can certainly help you with posting a link with relatively foolproof instructions. But first, is it just any link or do you want to post your own photos? If the latter, then the first step is to post them on some webpage like Flickr. Let me know.
What a sick clue and answer 1A
Bill G,
Just looking to post on this blog. If i can do that it will be considered a major technical accomplishment.
Now I know why I protected my computer ops Mgr so well when I was still gainfully employed!
Marti, I've thought of your suggestion in the past, but I'm hesitant to impose on CC.
Hondo, right, but do you want to just link to some interesting webpage you've found or do you want to link to one of your own photos? You need to have a web address called a URL, even for your own photos. So if that's what you want to do, open an account on something like Flickr, post your photo there. Once you've done that and have a URL for your photo, then I can tell you what to do next.
HH @ 2:33, but that's why C.C. created the link on the main page called "blog photos". We all like to see and share snaps there!
Mark @ 2:07, I often scrap ideas as well, only to see the same theme idea pop up by another constructor. Not to defend Donna (she certainly needs no defending by me), but I thought the theme was cute, and laughed aloud at MATZO ROTTIE. I didn't stop to analyze it as strictly as you did, because my enjoyment of it was just getting the puns - whether they made "sense" or not.
I'm sure others might agree with me, or disagree. No matter. We all experience puzzles on our own levels, and Rich saw enough entertainment value in this one to publish it.
I had to replace my avatar photo with our now passed hound due to the Rottie reference. I don't ever recall our Rottie expressing a kraving for kosher, but his name was Kage, so maybe he would have loved it.
Hola Everyone, I didn't think I could possibly finish this puzzle on my own and technically, I didn't. But I only had to look up Csonka. I didn't think that C and S should be placed together, so put off entering the C in Carnac even though I had pulled that name up from the depths of my memory.
Once I finally gave in and looked up the above mentioned name, the Krewe for Mardi Gras group was spelled correctly. I had put in a C.
I usually can finish one of Donna Levin's puzzles, but this one took longer than usual. Once I've started a puzzle I really have a hard time giving up on it altogether. I put it aside and then come back to it and find that some previous unknowns suddendly become clear.
I thought the Jersey Sound/Moo clue was cute today. I also really enjoyed the puns. Dogs are a favorite of mine.
We have to get ready to have our house painted. That means moving everything away from the house on the deck, and the side yard where we have a shed and garbage cans, etc. It will be a whole weekend job. But it will be nice to have the house looking spiffy again.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
MR ED, why is 1A so bad? Ever hear the expression, "carrying to term"?
MR ED:
I am really curious about why you regard 1A as sick. I thought it one of the cleverest in the puzzle. Believe me, the nine months TERM is a long stretch!
I'd be very interested in your answer.
Hi all,
Got a late start on the puzzle but it didn't matter because it was a hard one and I didn't get very far.
I was looking for a volcano also for Nepal rumbler. We do learn a lot from crossword puzzles.
Marti-thanks again, I loved the bicycle ride with Etta and the Sundance Kid. My favorite scene in that movie was when the guys jumped off the cliff into the river.
Have a good evening.
Marge
Placematfan @ 2:07, I think, like heartrx, that this puzzle was so clever and so much fun that I didn't want to analyze it too closely. I just enjoyed it immensely. I know that over all the editors make puzzles better, but sometimes they seem quite nit picky and tend to be spoil sports.
Placematfan @ 2:07: Thank you for not ranting.
@Marge 4:08P...I attended an Elderhostel in Durango several years ago. One of the speakers was a guy who scouted scenes in the area for movie makers. He said the jump off the cliff was filmed in two different locations--one for top of the cliff and one for the bottom.
Doggone fun puzzle! I am always so proud when I get the whole long pun lines. Only DUH! moment was thinking the girl's name was ELLA and leaving the "B" square blank. Should have known BAMA too.
Enjoyed the commentary, Marti, although my ailing stomach and restricted diet couldn't appreciate the recipes.
I also had trouble with ROOF--wanted another kind of _TOP. Put Utah instead of ETTA then erased it and had ET__. Was pretty good for a Friday for me.
Abejo, I once did the Reading-Susquehanna-Hershey drive. My brother lived in Harrisburg and taught at the college in Hershey. I went to Reading to do genealogical research. Lovely days there. Loved Pennsylvania and wondered why my forebears were stupid enough to leave it.
Sorry, CHASE.
Loved the puzzle today and thanks for the write up, Marti. Never was too tuned in to dogs until we got our current Golden. We had always had a barn before where our strictly outdoor dogs lived. Now my dog not only sleeps inside, she never goes outside without us and sometimes sleeps at the foot of the bed.
My grandparents lived in a little town in Idaho called Montepelier. My grandpa had a one chair barber shop on main street across the street from the bank. He actually witnessed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rob the bank. The Montpelier musuem has his barber chair and also the story of the robbery and it states that the sherrif really did chasse them out of town on a bike.
Since Marti brought up the scape pesto recipe, I'll mention that the garlic scrapes have yet to emerge.....at least here on the plains. But it is a good recipe and I'm looking forward to them again this year.
THIS was easier than yesterday. Loved it. Got the theme early. Saw the passover question, saw the authors last name, thougt of friday, then matzo came to mind. Pretty fun too. But it did take some time getting the dogs breeds punned. Sieners was favorite. Moo to u all!!
Aargh! At the coffee shop, I spilled half my macchiato on my right shoe and sock. I ran the shoe and the rest of the white clothes through the washing machine. The stuff is in the dryer now. I hope it comes out OK.
Bill G., were you wearing blue suede shoes? Then I would say, they are probably toast.
Sneakers? I wash those all the time - just remember to remove the insoles so the inside is well-cleaned in the washer, then let them air dry.
No blue suede shoes these days. I used to wear white bucks back in high school but these were just sneakers. I wish I'd had your helpful advice about an hour ago. Anyway, they're just about dry now so I'll soon know if they came out OK.
Sorry for being so late, but some annoying anon yesterday made me feel so guilty about using red letters that i kept on trying to finish until i was pulling my hair out!
WBS!
i "DNF" you (*&^&*(^% Anon! Now i gotta get hair replacement therapy!
Anyway, i am glad i finally went red letter, otherwise i would have missed Marti's wonderful links! Carnac! Sis Boom Baa! Yundi Li, Waltz #5, awesome! & that Brylcream commercial from the 50's brings back memories. I remember seeing it in diapers, (i think i put diaper rash cream on my head to impress Mom!)
Nits,,, ( None really) except i think 24A should be "promise after" pronouncement, & how can you possibly make a pesto without some "greens", Basil, Parsley, Something!
Could someone please explain 6 down
To a man - ALL
I don't get it or I may just be having
another senior moment today.
Thanks
CrossEyedDave:
Please, do not listen to the anons!! Solving a puzzle is purely for your own enjoyment and how you solve it is entirely your business! The more you solve, the better you will be; please listen to that advice from someone who has been doing crosswords for more than 60 years. It pains me to think you might give up on even one puzzle because of someone's snarkiness.
Do it your way!
No fun?
Buckeye, darn good to see you.
Manac @ 7:25, I thought that would be an easy answer, and started typing a reply off the top of my head:
...the expression "To a man" means with no exception for anyone, hence: "everyone" or "all".
But...it is not really that easy to explain!! Why "to" a man, and not "for each man" or "from every man"? (Not to mention the un-PCness of it all!)
An example in a sentence would be, "They voted for the proposal, to a man". Maybe someone else can put in their two cents' worth.
Buckeye, you old SOB, where you been??
(SOB = "Sweet Old Buddy"...)
Marti
Thank you for the explanation.
I understand it now but it was
an expression I've never heard
before and can not recall seeing it
in a cw puzzle. Thanks again and I also
love doing your puzzles.
CED @7:16, scapes are greenery. You're about a year late to this conversation. Check out this Link. They're tasty and garlicky, but not too too.
BTW, just to clarify. We now have an IPad (I call it Hal. I think it's evil...but it hasn't yet called me Dave). So the posts from me on that source are for real. But I don't want to sign in cuz it conflicts with my Bride's GMail account.
CED, I know an organic scape farmer in Waterbury, VT who ships the things to your door...but not for another couple weeks or so. (They will be early this year, because of the warm weather we have had).
Greetings!
Really got a kick out of today's puzzle and write-up. Thanks for great uplift, Marti and Donna! Theme was a hoot!
Haven't read blog yet. Had a good swim and a short nap, though.
As I mentioned late yesterday, I went to a holistic dentist with an incredible amount of modern equipment. Digital xrays and cameras survey everything in one's mouth; results of examination (photos in color) immediately available for all to see.My dentist of 30 or so years probably was assuming that I would die before finding out what a mess he had made. Am facing an incredible amount of work. Some is a result of having root canals which are infected below. This is common for root canals, as I now understand. Alternative is to put in replacement tooth. Mercury is peeking out everywhere underneath crowns too. I won't go on, and probably no one is going to read this anyhow.
Happy weekend!
Buckeye, it is so good to hear from you, even if it is only two words. Please send more tomorrow (I'm off to bed now).
Cheers
Fermatprime, good to hear you hare up and about again, and getting some sleep, however brief.
Sorry to hear about your new woes. My dentist fixed a root canal gone bad for free, because it was only a year before that he had done it. Of course, I go to the dentist twice a year, so he can't say it was my fault!
ciao bella to all,
Enjoyed Donna's puzzle and punny theme, but I liked Marti's write up even better. So many new things: krewe, ephedra, seiners...
Many of us miss Jeannie and her recipes, so thanks for posting an oldie, but a goodie.
Liking all the Italian clues. We're trying to be able to parlo un poco before going in ottobre.
Fermatprime, I am sorry that you have to have so much dental work. I had no idea about root canals. Yikes! That's not good news.
JD, where in Italy will you be traveling? I think my favorite spot of all the beautiful places there, has to be Cinque Terre, five remote villages connected mainly by rail, boat and walking trails. I hiked through all five - what an experience! Alas, in 2011, there were some severe mudslides which wiped out some of the prettier sights.
Oh, wait! NO!! My favorite place has to be "Isola Bella" on Lago Maggiore in northern Italy.
...or is it "The Last Supper" at Santa Maria della Grazie monestary, where I sometimes would take my lunch, sitting on a bench and just gazing at the mural??
Ah, heck. Wherever you go, it will be beautiful, and will have great food and wonderful wine! Enjoy!
Lucina, tx, it is now 12:37 est.
i missed the end of the Blog because i was sitting by an open fire in a chimenea with neighbors in my backyard. Don't worry, i still have my hair!
Avg @8:30 & HeartRx@9:05
Thank you, I googled "scapes" when i 1st saw it, but it did not explain. I had no idea what "scapes" were without your links.
HeartRx @ 10:13
Cinque Terre = awesome
someday i would love to see it, but have you ever ridden a motorcycle up route 9W in lower NY state? Just above Bear Mtn is a place called Storm King over the Hudson River that makes me afraid of heights!
Sadly there r no pics that do it justice! That little slit in the Mtn is Rte 9W!
wow a Buckeye sighting! WM you out there? CA? Jeannie? Robin? Tarra JO? Embien?
CED:
Don't worry, it's only 10:15 in AZ and I usually read the later posts if I can.
Buckeye, wow! Don't be scarce.
CED:
That little slit is Storm King Highway.
Post a Comment