Theme: The joke's on Ewe!
17A. "My bad!" : I SCREWED UP! As I did in a couple of places today before sanity prevailed.
24A. Compact disk carrier : JEWEL BOX. I thought it was a Jewel CASE, now I know better.
37A. Stairway post : NEWEL. I want to buy a house with an upper floor just so I can point out my newel posts to visitors.
51A. Like shish kebab : SKEWERED. Oh Lordy - Awesome!
3D. Steered clear of : ESCHEWED. Wonderful word.
11D. Dodger great Reese : PEEWEE
26D. Common time between paychecks : ONE WEEK. I wish mine came as regularly!
39D. Fashionable retailer named for an address : NINE WEST. I actually knew this from spending some considerable time in women's shoe departments over the years shopping with girlfriends. You've got to have something to talk about while they're trying on three hundred pairs. The original store was at 9, W. 57th Street in Manhattan.
46D. Gushed : SPEWED
62D. See 59-Across : EWE
and the unifier:
59A. Fight insomnia, in a way ... and if you do it in this puzzle, you'll find ten 62-Downs : COUNT SHEEP
Hi everyone, Steve here with the latest outing from the Dynamic Duo! I'm sure there's a fancy-schmancy word to describe this style of puzzle, but what we've got here are no less than 10 theme answers, one of which is the theme word on its own, all tied together by the 11th unifying clue/entry.
My absolute favorite is 51A - Skewered! It seems so wrong, but so ... right! And Food!
The fill was full of fun too - when you've got so many W's floating around it had to be a struggle to fit everything in around the theme. I think Don and C.C. did a great job. I had a couple of "hmmmmms", but nothing that made me groan, at least not out loud. Let's see what else we've got here:
Across
1. Quite some time : AGES
5. Pals, in slang : PEEPS
10. __ arms : UP IN
14. Prurient interest : LUST
15. __ vincit amor : OMNIA. Love Conquers All.
16. Suvari of "American Beauty" : MENA. I had to dig this one out of the dim recesses. This whole quadrant was a struggle for me.
19. "MacArthur Park" songwriter Jimmy : WEBB. Part of my personal Natick today. I didn't know this gentleman, and I couldn't see that the "M" in U.M.W. didn't stand for Mineworkers, so I was thinking "Union of Mineworkers ... something .....". Darn. DNF for me for that one letter.
20. "Take this" : HERE
21. Work undercover : SPY
23. Whisper sweet nothings to, say : WOO
27. Harsh : ACERB. I love this word, and resolve to use it in a sentence today. ESCHEWED comes a close second for my WOTD.
29. Sound over a cornfield : CAW
30. Chieftain's group : CLAN. I had the music meme running around in my head - I knew the Chieftains were a group anyway, so this one stumped me for a while. Then - D'oh!
31. Composer of "The Wizard of Oz" songs : ARLEN. Who knew? Plenty of you smart folks I'm sure, but this was news to me.
32. Turn away, as one's eyes : AVERT
34. Maintain an address : RESIDE. I wanted "Orates for way too long when we all want to do is make the toast so we can start the party" at first but it didn't quite fit.
36. Diddly, in Cádiz : NADA
38. Med school subj. : ANAT. Is it Grey's Anatomy or Gray's Anatomy? One is the show, the other the textbook. Need to Google to check.
42. What Annabel Lee's kingdom was by : THE SEA. Edger Allen Poe's poem. I know the phrase from the title of a travel book by Paul Theroux describing a journey by train around the coast of the UK.
44. Chief's group : TRIBE. Nice echo of 30A here.
45. It may be liquid or frozen : ASSET. Cleverly done.
47. "What __ is new?" : ELSE
49. Born, in some bios : NÉE. French. I think you're not meant to put diacritical marks on capital letters in French, but I put the e-acute here for emphasis.
50. "Whammo!" : KAPOW!
53. Standout pilot : ACE
54. Bit of rest : NAP
56. From scratch : ANEW
57. Politico Gingrich : NEWT
64. TV musical set in Lima, Ohio : GLEE. I got this completely through crosses and didn't even see the clue until I got here to write it up.
65. Kitchen occupant of song : DINAH. Completely unknown to me, and again filled in through crosses. Jazzbumpa - any insight into this one?
66. "Even __ speak ..." : AS WE
67. "M*A*S*H" actor : ALDA. Alan of "Hawkeye" Pierce fame. Donald Sutherland played the character in the original movie.
68. Feat of genetic engineering : CLONE. Dolly the Scottish Sheep was the first of the clones clan. That sounds like a Star Wars sequel, and fits the theme today!
69. Early all-metal bomber : B-TEN. Another learning moment for me. I knew there was a B-17 and a number of subsequent numerations, I suppose it's obvious that there was probably even a B-1.
Down:
1. Baba the woodcutter : ALI
2. Gloomy guy : GUS
4. Scatter : STREW
5. Secretary of State before Rice : POWELL. I'm sure Colin was observing Memorial Day yesterday.
6. Linguistic suffix with morph- : EME. I just looked this up to give you all a jolly smart explanation of what a morpheme is. I can't. C.C. is my go-to person for language explanations, so I'll ask her to chime in here. (C.C.: To me, morphemes are what make up words. Two morphemes in "Cheated", cheat & ed. But I'll defer to our language expert Kazie. Welcome back, by the way!)
7. Wrap up : END
8. 1903-'14 pope : PIUS X
9. NFLer Warren who competed on "Dancing With the Stars" : SAPP. He was paired with my favorite, Kym Johnson and they were runners-up in Season 7.
10. Coal industry labor org. : U.M.W. (United Mine Workers). Second half of my personal Natick today.
12. Congenital : INBORN
13. "Nattering" big shot, in an Agnew speech : NABOB. How anyone could ever attempt to use the phrase "Nattering Nabobs of Negativity" followed up by "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history" shows enormous faith in your speechwriter and your ability to deliver back-to-back alliterations.
18. Standing tall : ERECT
22. Home front? : YARD
24. Morning mugful : JAVA. I'm hopeless without it.
25. Uncovers : BARES
28. Easy to follow : CLEAR
29. Give the heave-ho : CAN
31. Have the sniffles : AIL
33. Dustin's "Midnight Cowboy" role : RATSO. Usually have to wait for the cross to decide between "S" or "Z" here, especially as Hoffman's character has the last name of "Rizzo".
35. Black Panthers co-founder Bobby : SEALE
37. Bottom line : NET
40. In for the night : ABED
41. Golfer's doohickey : TEE
43. Chopped down : HEWN
44. Adolescents : TEENS
45. Smallish battery : AA CELL. Hmmmmm - one of my least-favorites today.
48. Wrap snugly : SWATHE. However, this was one of my most-favorites, so all is forgiven. I didn't think until today that SWATHE has more than one meaning (cutting a swathe). For such an unusual word, well, it's unusual!
50. Milne bounder : KANGA. Roo's Mom in The Hundred Acre Wood. I much prefer the original book illustrations to the Disney-fied versions.
51. Ruin : SPOIL
52. P.T. center, e.g. : REHAB
55. Adaptable, electrically : AC/DC. Not just electrically, but that a subject for another day and another blogger.
58. Pekoe or oolong : TEA. Tea has the most wonderful names. A boon to crossword constructors everywhere.
60. Dos halved : UNO
61. Bread served with vindaloo : NAN. Yay! More food! Lamb Vindaloo too!
63. Fenced-in area : PEN
Answer grid.
That's all from me. I'm off to look up some recipes for lamb, this whole puzzle made me hungry.
Steve
1) Note from C.C. & Don:
Don got this idea while reading a comic book. He said the story line was about counting sheep to fall asleep. We thought of putting ZZZ in one corner, but discarded the idea eventually. Did you count how many EWEs we put in the grid?
2) Happy LXXIII-rd Birthday to EddyB! What's on the menu today?
76 comments:
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Don and C.C., for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for the swell review.
Could not get 1A initially, so I settled for 1D, ALI.
15A OMNIA helped with PIUS. Just needed the I, V, or X. The X ame with JEWEL BOX.
Took me a while to get NABOB for 13D. Had NIXON first, but ACERB fixed that.
Steve: Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, strumming on the old banjo. Singin' Fee Fi Fiddely I O, etc.
The them did not appear until 59A, COUNT SHEEP and then 62D EWE. Then I looked around and saw them. Pretty nifty.
Fun puzzle. Now to cut the grass in Pennsylvania.
Using my cell phone and IPad in sync to write to this blog is working great. One to see the completed puzzle and one to type.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Morning, all!
Delightful puzzle today with a terrific theme. A couple of minor "barely knowns" at ARLEN and MENA, but that was about it. I did try to count the total number of EWEs in the puzzle when I finished, but I kept falling asleep in the process...
17A reminded me how language evolves over time. When I was in high school (30 years ago) I used this expression in front of a teacher who was at least in her 60s. She reprimanded me for being "vulgar" and told me that such language had no place in her classroom. At the time I was completely bewildered as to what I had said wrong. It never even occurred to me that SCREW (at least in the "I SCREWED UP" sense) started out life as a euphemism for the "F" word.
64across,kitchen occupant of song... The tune is very old and the words go like this. Someone is in the kitchen with Dinah someone is in the kitchen with Diii-nah someone is in the kitchen with Dinah strumming on the ole banjo. Thank goodness you did not have to hear me sing it. Cheers from Ontario Canada
Good day folks,
Another DNF thanks to not knowing 15A, OMNIA & 6D, EME. I wagged an X. Otherwise, an enjoyable puzzle from our dynamic pair. I did rely heavily on perps again though, especially in the North. The Central and South went smoothly with no long interruptions.
Liked KAPOW. Can't remember which comic strip used it when the HERO belted the VILLAN. Supermsn, Batman, Dick Tracy, ?????
I always liked Liquid Assets. Kept the Directors and Company owners happy.
Steve, A B1 Bomber was developed and put into service by the Nixon administration. If memory serves me well, Carter canceled it and Reagan resurrected it. Think they built something like 20+/-. The plane has since been retired and replaced by the B2 (Stealth) Bomber. All this goes back to my days in the Aerospace industry, so my facts may be a bit SKEWED.
Good morning Steve, C.C. Don G. et al.
I loved your explanation of the theme, Steve - great job, as always! I really could have used this puzzle last night because I didn't sleep at all. Counting EWES might have helped!
64A, DINAH is a very interesting clue. It's a reference to the folk song "I've Been Working on the Railroad". But this chorus is actually from an older song called "Old Joe, or Somebody in the House with Dinah". A "DINAH" was a generic term for a black female slave.
I also had a total WAG at the crossing of UMW with MENA and WEBB. Fortunately, I guessed right, but it doesn't seem fair that I actually finished this one with those two unknowns. And hand up for wanting JEWEL case before BOX.
I loved the clecho of "Chieftan's group" for CLAN, and "Chief's group" for TRIBE. And the fill was just awesome, considering the number of theme entries packed into the puzzle. I SCREWED UP is just great...and how about LUST, KAPOW and NABOB (that nattering guy...)
Thanks C.C. and Don G., you made my day!
Good morning all. Fun writeup Steve.
I hope someone is cleaning up after all of those EWEs gamboling through the grid or it's going to be just EW! after awhile. by the way, are those BoPEEP'S sheep? Nary a ram in site, so no little lambs either.
Gloomy GUS is a phrase I haven't heard in years but it came easily once I got rid of Aeon and put in AGES.
Yes, we used to sing "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" in school, late 40's and early 50's era. There were a lot of those old songs that we sang that I'm pretty sure are not sung today.
Congratulations to the Dynamic Duo for another great puzzle.
Great puzzle and fun blog. Congrats all round!
C.C.,
What you defined is a syllable. I admit I had to refresh my memory by deferring to Webster: a morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit. So it has to be a syllable that can stand alone or as a meaningful prefix or suffix. Their example was "boy", a free form, and "-ish", a bound form with the meaning of "a bit" or "slightly". So I don't know if the verb endings that indicate tense would qualify too.
My CW effort was a DNF because I screwed up the NE corner by not knowing any of the names there: ARLEN, PEEWEE, MENA, or WEBB. I also had the same hang-up as Steve with UMW.
Forgot to mention that I did find 9 ewes, and realized the tenth must be in that NE corner, but wasn't sure what would go with it.
I'd never heard of gloomy Gus, but it came with perps. Also, I have never thought of CD's residing in jewel boxes--only cases. My jewelry is still to be retrieved from our bank box after the trip, so I can put it back in my jewelry box.
Lastly, I've recently seen PEEPS with increasing frequency, but never realized it meant pals--I'd assumed "people".
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah.
Thank you C.C. and Don G. for a very nice puzzle - tested the outer limits of my CW IQ quotient - I barely made it. Thank you Steve, for a great blog - and like you I am sometimes an incurable foodie (and a pretty fair cook ) - though lately, I am under a lot of medical restrictions. Lamb Vindaloo, for instance, is definitely out.
Thanks to Marti about the 'Dinah' explanation - ah, those now forgotten days of overt racism - who knew ? Somehow, I thought the song referred to the 'Dinah Shore' show.
If B-Ten was the early all-metal bomber, does this mean that the earlier planes were made of cloth and wood ? And what is the latest all-metal bomber ... an all-robo-controlled Suicide Special ?
As Barry G pointed out, if 'I screwed up' is now acceptable in classrooms today, is 'Anal' also now 'acceptable' ? I happen to find that word very disturbing, obscene and lewd, and I once slapped my daughter for using it ...(she's a surgeon now). Oh Well, live and learn. Are we 'dumbing down' our obscene words ??
Have a good week, you all.
Steve, I too messed up the NW corner, but eventually finished. My downfall was calling her Mira instead of MENA Suvari. I guess I was thinking of Mira Sorvino.
I liked several of the theme clues: SKEWERED, SPEWED, ESCHEWED, etc. Loved KAPOW.
Wish my JAVA would give me a much needed KAPOW. Hope the boss doesn't catch me as I COUNT SHEEP.
Fun puzzle. Needed a lot of perp help to complete it, but overall there were no major blockages and it seemed appropriate for a Wednesday.
I liked seeing Jimmy Webb. He's another one of those writers who has put out a truckload of songs, yet not many have heard of him. I don't recall if he wrote all of Richard Harris's material, but he did write (nearly?) everything Glen Campbell ever recorded. Prolific, but unsung.
Good morning all:
Kudos to Don and CC for a super clever puzzle and to Steve for a breezy expo.
No real trouble spots, perps to the rescue as always. I, too, love the word eschewed.
Happy Birthday, EddyB.
Have a great Wednesday everyone.
PEEPS yes, it came from people but not just any people. Normally prefaced by "my", it indicates mates, pals, posse, etc.
I first thought it was a mistake at 42-Across because I was thinking of Honah Lee was the land by "THE SEA" but I was all wet.
Hi Puzzlers. Nice to be back after a long holiday weekend. It was good to see the extended family. It was a nice trip through the verdant PA and NJ countryside,750 miles and 15 hours on the road.
Great puzzle, Don and CC. Steve I enjoyed your review. I noticed all the EWs right away, but needed the theme reveal to see the EWEs
I started in the NW quadrant. It struck me as quite DF. !7A, 14A, 18D, 25D.
Happy birthday, Eddy B. Have a great day.
65A Dinah. Comes from song "I've Been Working on the Railroad"
I've been working on the railroad
All the live-long day.
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away.
Don't you hear the whistle blowing,
Rise up so early in the morn;
Don't you hear the captain shouting,
"Dinah, blow your horn!"
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow your horn?
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow your horn?
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen I know
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Strummin' on the old banjo!
B1 is the Lancer or "Bone"
B2 is the Stealth Bomber
B3 is the Next generation bomber not yet built
and on and on...to the venerable
B-52 BUFF or Big Ugly Fat errrr Fu...errrr Fella!...over 60 years old and still the mainstay of the American Bomber Force
Good morning all. Good write-up, Steve.
Happy Birthday, Eddy
How'd you like to be a fly on the wall when our DD conjure up one of these offerings? Well done. Easy but interesting fill. Favorite fill, DINAH; also GUS. Also liked the clue for ASSET. NAN was a WAG.
EWE - There must be hundreds of words or phrases that could have been used. A fEW Especially come to mind - Mae West, Flame welding, Stew entree, and Lie well; Here is a list of single words containing EWE.
Windhover, of course, could tell us a lot more about EWES.
Have a great day.
Whew! Soaking wet from my 3-mile march in the hot, humid east Texas morning air.
Enjoyed the puzzle, but didn't know it was a dynamic duo effort until arriving here. Nice job, you two.
Steve, maybe it's the difference between American and British English, but we cut a swath (n), and swathe (vt) when we wrap something up.
I liked seeing ESCHEW in the puzzle, reminds me of the T-Shirt slogan "Eschew Obfuscation." I always found that hilarious.
Anony-Mouse, anal retentive (often shortened to just anal) is now acceptable to describe someone who's overly attentive to detail...in other words, a nitpicker. There's another T-Shirt slogan, "You're anal retentive if you wonder if there should be a hyphen" ... Also if you feel it necessary to comment about swathe/swath.
HBD, Eddy B.
Hi gang -
There's no stopping our prolific pair. Very satisfying puzzle today, and an unusual theme approach. I especially like the two EWEs crossing in the exact center, and NEWT crossing SPEWED.
Unless I SCREWED UP, all the EWE words are symmetrically placed, except for 62D, where it BARES itself. Masterful!
ARLEN was a gimme. Somewhere over the Rainbow is one of my most favoritest songs.
Here's that Railroad Song.
My fav bumper sticker from a few years back said ESCHEW obfuscation.
Cool regards!
JzB
There was no B-1 in the 1926-1962 sequence of military aircraft since the Keystone XB-1 competed with, and lost to, the Curtis XB-2 for the 1928 bomber contract. The Curtis entered service, for a short time, as the B-2 Condor whilst only the one prototype of the XB-1 was ever built.
The armed services re-set aircraft designations in 1962 which is why we have the currently serving Rockwell B-1 Lancer.
Hey guys.
I wish this type of theme appeared more often in LA, as it's fun to look for them with a highlighter, almost like a word search.
I ignorantly put PAULX on 8D, which led to LOW on 21A and WALK/WALL on 22 down. Even dad didn't know OMNIA or SEALE.
I always wondered why DINAH can't be DINO (Die-Know) so it rhymes.
I set the over/under on how many people would have known MENA if it was clued as "Suvari of American Pie" at 10, and that's being generous.
To prove to her friends that she's not your typical blonde, she dyed her hair black and went to a sheep herder and asked him " if I can guess correctly how many sheep you have on your ranch , would you let me take one "
Sure , I'll let you pick anyone you want
She guessed right and went home
The next day , the rancher called her and said " if I can guess correctly the real color of your hair , can I have my dog back ?
In the archives column for today...the date is listed "May 32."
Have I missed something cosmic??!!
Hello.
CC. Trouble is that I've been having trouble keeping anything down lately. A blog member and I just had coffee yesterday. I so wanted pancakes.
May 30th will always be Memorial Day and Flag will be lowered to half staff in Remembrance at noon.
Thanks to all for their BD wishes and greetings.
Oh. British Wellington bombers during WW II had cloth skins.
take care. eddy
It's not the date; it's the number of posts so far for the month. I see some interviews mixed in, for example.
Happy Wednesday! I enjoyed the puzzle and the theme a bunch. I got stuck (Natick?) where MENA crossed UNW. Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly.
Happy birthday eddyB. I don't follow hockey but how do you see the LA Kings doing in the Stanley Cup?
Here's a little puzzle. I know the given answer but I'm not sure I can get to it myself: Take 15 coins. Arrange them in an equilateral triangle with one coin at the top, two coins touching below, then three, four and five (in the bottom row). Remove the three coins at the corners so you’re left with 12 coins. Using the centers of the 12 coins as points, how many equilateral triangles can you find by joining the points with lines.
Hello, PEEPS. Great blogging, Argyle.
Happy birthday, Eddy! I'm sorry you're AILing.
Well, now we know what the dynamic duo does: they don't sleep, but count EWES!
I had a fun time with this puzzle and wondered throughout what the theme could possibly be until I met the unifier. Cute!
WEES about DINAH. In elementary school we sang that and so many others which I'm sure will be lost especially Stephen Foster songs. I don't believe his songs are in any way racist; he simply wrote about what surrounded him and composed some lovely songs.
desper-otto@9:16: I'm glad you clarified SWATH and SWATHE as I was itching to do that.
Kazie! Welcome back! I'm so envious of your trip to Spain. What a grand occasion to visit.
Now I must go refill my JAVA.
Have a really superb Wednesday, everyone!
Ewe guys are amazing. So many theme words, and not just EWES but double EWES
HBDTY and many more EB.
When we was young, we never knew who would show would show up in the kitchen with DINAH .
Good writeup Steve. Terrific puzzle, Don & C.C.! I'm a bit sheepish about the one wrong square I left. I wanted morphINE at 6D. When PEEPS became apparent, I left the "N" through ignorance.
You couldn't pull the wool over my eyes for long on the other first mistakes I made. I changed POWers/POWELL, INBred/INBORN, cohEN/greEN/arLEN, SWAdle/SWATHE.
Barry: my older son and his PEEPS got kicked out of a basketball game and were reprimanded at school the next day for chanting very loudly, "SCREW the refs" after some bad calls. These were farm kids who grew up with screwdrivers in their hands. Son was shocked when I told him the "vulgar" meaning.
I voted for Warren SAPP on DWTS because he looked like a chocolate version of my late husband.
Happy birthday, Eddy! May your digestion improve enough for cake!
Hi all,
The top half of this puzzle had me well, 'puzzled'. I had no idea what 5A was. I had never heard this term. I think of PEEPS as those goofy marshmallow chicks sold at Easter time.
I also did not know 9D as I have never watched that program.
17A - Well, I did get that one. Finally. I really never cared for the expression 'my bad'....don't know why exactly. I thing "I screwed up" or "I made a mistake" is more my style. Does that make me a 'tight ass/anal'???
Bottom half of this puzzle was much easier for me, but on the whole, I enjoyed it all.
Happy B-Day EddyB, hope you get all your wishes.
Good morning Steve, C.C., et al,
another wonderful offering from our D.D. It did take me awhile to get a foothold. Perps nearly finished UMW,and Arlen, but had to WAG the B in acerb. It sounded familiar..sort of.
Wanted swaddle for swathe.. both great words.Had no clue what prurient interest was. LOL!Perps again.
Fav. clue:"may be liquid or frozen"
Loved Kapow!
Marti, interesting info on Dinah.
a very happy birthday to you eddy.Here's a dance you can do sitting down.
There is a nice google doodle today in honor of Peter Carl Fabrege' - of the bejewelled Easter Eggs - worth looking at.
BTW, reputedly, at one time, the late Malcolm Forbes had more of the Febrege' eggs that the Russian Govt. ( Capitalism triumphs over .... ) lol. Now they have all been sold to a Russian billionaire.
Thank you, Deper-otto for your explanation on a--- retentive. I understand, but humbly, do not agree. Maybe they could just as well call it 'Obsessive-compulsive', or something else, without reference to that body part. ( Maybe I'm just an old fogey.)
Wonderful Wednesday puzzle from the Dynamic Duo--and great write-up, Steve! Many thanks to all three of you.
Breezed through this except for the Natick with MENA and UMW. Having CLONE remind us of Dolly, the EWE, was the most brilliant moment of the puzzle, I thought.
I now have DINAH as an earworm for the day. Could someone give us the words to "Annabel Lee"? (One of our bloggers used to faithfully reproduce all the poems, which was wonderful). Was it Edgar Allen Poe who gave us that one?
Last question: does one SWATHE babies? Or 'swaddle' them?
Have a great Wednesday, everybody, and a wonderful birthday, Eddy B.
Argyle: Thanks. What old car is your avatar?
Wees, DNF the NE
Yes i had to count the sheep when i could not fill up that NE hole. (i had inbred & Nixon???)
Hippo Birdy EddyB
B-10
Mena in American Beauty
B-10 fact sheet I wanted to post.
Steve, please accept my apology! I knew you had blogged but for some reason had Argyle on my mind.
Hello everybody. Well, the ole NE corner darn near got me too. I keep getting MENA Suvari and Ashwarya Rai mixed up, and didn't know WEBB or ARLEN. Even though NABOB was a gimme, I kept wanting inherent or something like that for 12D. I knew PEEWEE Reese, but by then I was so discouraged I didn't even try after seeing that the clue was a sports reference.
Loved NEWT in the puzzle.
Great clues for CAW, ASSET, and GUS.
Overall I congratulate C.C. and Don G. for a well-constructed puzzle that was fun to solve. I also congratulate Rich (does he even read this blog?) for maintaining such an exceptionally high level of quality.
I just checked and yes, it was William Safire who coined it. 'Twas Spiro who spake it.
Wasn't it Freud who came up with the theory of phases of mental development from which we get the term "anal retentive"? (Oral, anal, genital, etc.)
Best wishes to you all.
XeyedDave@11:48
LOL! I love that hippo birdie card!
Has anybody been watching The Hatfields and The McCoys on The History Channel?
I briefly ESCHEWED the puzzle and its clever theme (thought it was going to be EW! at first) to play, well, you know, this morning. Why did the ram go over the cliff? He didn’t see the EWE turn.
Musings
-I agree with Steve’s last intro paragraph!
-Old punch line, “Five hundred sheep and you picked the ugliest one.”
-An astronaut’s worst nightmare was to “screw the pooch” and GUS Grissom went to his grave swearing he didn’t on Mercury 7.
-Peewee helped Jackie Robinson during his rough rookie season
-Sweet Nothings from the little girl with the big voice
-The feud between the Hatfield and McCoy CLANs is running on The History Channel and looks brutal!
-I’ll bet most of us sang in a GLEE club at one time or another
-ALDA was better in M*A*S*H before it got too clever and PC.
-Lincoln’s PIUS X high school dominates Class B athletics in Nebraska!
-SAPP was on Miami’s sideline suckin’ gas when Husker beat them in the Orange Bowl
-I may have to REHAB my “golf elbow”
-HBD Eddy! My MIL will soon be XC! She has a glass of wine to help avoid enumerating ovines.
Anony-Mouse, shall we outlaw Uranus as well?
Please, let's not get too ridiculous. Anal-retentive is a legitimate term.
LOVED the card too.
@Bill G. Coach Sutter and GM Lombardi came real close in bringing the Cup to SJ. Now, they have a chance to bring it to LA. The idea is to win one of the first two in NJ so that the Kings don't go down two games.
All of the games should be very physical. Game 1 starts at 5 PDT tonight.
eddy
Really looking forward to Gagliardo & DuGuay-Carpenter byline.
Steve, I loved your writeup. Thanks.
Happy birthday, Eddy B.
Here is what the avatar would have looked like in its younger days.
Saab 99
Hey Eddy, have a really great one!(Be sure to have the fire department standing by when you light those candles)
Lest I forget, HBTY, Eddy B!
On the topic of anal retentiveness, I always used to think Germans were too much that way, as exemplified literally in their style of toilets. They used to have a flat bottom instead of a bowl, and everything would remain in view until flushed towards the water at the front. Now the toilets all look much like what we have, but their owners' nitpicking personality is still the same. (Said of course with much affection since I am sometimes guilty of the same tendency to criticize.)
After years of being asked about toilets in Oz and the direction they flush, I was amused to note that in Spain they are like the Oz ones: the water swooshes from both sides towards the front in a big wave that curls over and back into the bowl--so no clockwise or anti-clockwise movement at all.
Spitzboov @ 9:14, I would love to have seen WEE-WEED in the puzzle, LOL !!
JazzB @ 9:25, wonderful link to the "Workin on the Railroad" song - what a fantastic group, and no wonder they are the All-Region Honor Choir!
So many great links today, it is taking me forever to read everyone's comments - JD, loved the "sitting down" dance! CED, wonderful "Hippo Birdie 2 EWE" card - totally fits in with today's theme.
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY EddieB! I hope you are feeling better soon, so you can enjoy some belated b-day cake.
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Hello, All!
Thanks for the lively comments. As HeartRx says, there are a lot of great links today. I loved Steve's intro, "The Joke's on Ewe". In fact, every time I read the blogs, someone has come up with a great title. There is a puzzle there somewhere.
Thanks to Rich for saving us. We didn't realize that our original puzzle had WEE in it (I wish we had thought of Marti's WEE WEED, although I am sure that would have gotten the axe. It duped PEE WEE. Anyway, it made for a better fill, with that great clue for NABOB.
C.C. and I will be back in mid-June. See you then!
Good afternoon puzzle peeps
Always fun to do a CC & D puzzle.
HBD Eddy, many more
5A?? peeps, never heard of that as a slang for
friends, where’d that come from?
Got the northeast corner with the downs, good
thing b/c I had no idea who wrote MacArthur Park
24A Still have a whole box of jewel cases, the
thick ones, not the newer thin ones.
The Dinah earworm was shut out by Brenda Lee,thanks HG
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen I know.
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah,
Strumming on the old banjo.
Old, old song.
Steve:
man they let you get away with all your unfinished comments, AC/DC indeed. It is nice to see so many of the crew back from what I guess has been a spring break, no in addition to waldo, where is hahtoolah?
time for me to go wee wee all the way home
HOla Eaveryone, I haven't finished the puzzle as yet. With our grandson here I'm kept busy just trying to keep him fed!
I wanted to wish Eddy B. a very happy birthday and many, many more. I had coffee with him yesterday so I could return the book I had borrowed. He was very kind to loan me the third book in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series. I read way more than I should have instead of doing things I needed to do.
Misty, I think I swaddled my children when they were babies.
Have a great Day, everyone.
Loved the hand jive link. However, arthritic joints refused to participate. Always something!
Awesome puzzle. Impressive. Had OPEN for UPIN so I messed up the NE. Gripes: EME and UMW in an otherwise-impeccable grid, and the excessive nameage in the NE corner. Great clue variety.
My favorite cover of “Over the Rainbow“ by Jewel, in which she sings the rarely-heard first verse.
“Annabel Lee“ is perhaps the perfect poem. It’s also a great poem with which to familiarize oneself with scansion, the study of meter. For me, understanding that the following stanza is anapestic (save for the two iambs that begin each couplet) and being able to feel the rhythm--similar to how knowledge of triple time enables one to dance a waltz--made lines that were already succulent become almost unbearably beautiful:
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
I must have an “Eschew obfuscation” t-shirt.
I’ve always used “Love conquers all” to mean that the love between two people can overcome anything; taken in context of the original quote, however, it actually refers to the ubiquitous power love holds over everyone, and that no one is immune to it. I might have learned that on this blog--y’all post cool stuff.
Today's theme song: It Had to be Ewe
IIRC, the term "Eschew Obfuscation" is attributable to NPR. I first saw a coffee mug with that phrase on their web site way back at the dawn of the internet age.
Someone left the cake out in the rain. I hope it wasn't EddieB's.
Annabel Lee is definitely a poem, and a beautiful, well-crafted one. Imo, what passes for poetry today are really prose essays, sometimes in florid, "poetic" language. Call me old fashioned, but by golly as I look at it a poem must have, by definition, meter (rhythm, a beat) and rhyme. (I know I know, we've discussed this before.)
What a fun puzzle! Super write-up too!
I had problems with the NE too but they stemmed from wanting to see "open" instead of "up in", fouled everything up even tho I knew Mena.
Used "Peeps" regularly in the '60's and late '70's to mean friends/pals. Thought we were cool.
Mari, loved the link to "Dinah", I remember parts of it from childhood but had no idea where it originated! thanks!
Annabel Lee is truly beautiful. Poe was a mind blowimg (and blown?) guy! I really like about everything he ever wrote!
Except for some of the names, a smooth puzzle.
Writing to wish Eddy B. a Happy Birthday & to welcome Kazie home. You have been missed.
Dot
Placematfan 3:43, thank you so much for giving us the "Annabel Lee" poem, along with your wonderful formal analysis. I'd forgotten that the poem is an elegy, and this jogged something in my memory of Poe. So I checked Wiki, and there it was. Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and she died 12 years later of tuberculosis. Poe himself apparently died two years after that at the age of 40. What I don't know is whether "Annabel Lee" was written before or after Virginia's death. In any case, a sad life for a brilliant writer.
Thanks for the welcome home notes, Dot and others. It feels good to be missed and appreciated.
I should also mention, in view of the EWE theme and sheep in today's CW, that one of the group on our trip was a retired sheep farmer in Oz. You should have seen DH's reaction when told that his farm was 10,000 acres. DH grew up on a typical Wisconsin dairy farm of about 200 acres, so the idea of such a huge acreage was real culture shock.
Misty, knowing about Poe's very young wife makes that poem all the more sadder.
Jayce, I agree about having some kind of meter in poetry to make it flow. Most of my favorites are in a little collection One Hundred and One Famous Poems. Although I have to admit I was enamored by Rod McKuen's poetry while in college.Anyone else remember Stanyon Street.?
The song is "I've been working on the railroad."
Hi All ~~
Just wanted to say congrats to Don & C.C. for another clever and enjoyable puzzle. It's always fun to finish and then analyze that extra layer you add. Loved the EWES!
A wonderful writeup, Steve ~ great title and interesting comments. I also enjoyed the links provided by our witty posters!
Happy Birthday, eddyB ~~ I hope you enjoyed your day and are feeling better!
Happy Birthday, eddyB -- hope it was a great one for you. Many more.
Rod McKuen?
Stanyan Street
Listen to the Warm
And one I used to think was written by Rod (and that does have his imprint if not his authorship) but was instead written by Gordon Lightfoot: In the Early Morning Rain
Greetings!
Wonderful puzzle, CC and D! Nice, amusing write-up, Steve!
No problems with puzzle today. Loved the theme.
Happy birthday EddyB. Please feel better!
Watched Sherlock last night on PBS. Does anyone have a theory as to how he survived?
Late to the party! Didn't even have time to try the puzzle. So DNS.
Happy birthday EddyB, and many more. You'll never catch up with me.
Carol, I agree completely about not liking "my bad". It just seems like a non statement.
Fun comments. Makes up for not doing the puzzle.
Cheers
Avg Joe, just as good as I remember~thanks!
IMHO Gordon's version is so much better.
Dennis you are a class act.
hey Chickie!
did the cigarette smell of the book affect your enjoyment?
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