Theme: It's a bird; it's a plane, it's Uperman! Drat, now where did I put that "S"? Each of the theme answers are phrases with one word ending in SS and the next beginning S. The theme has the S removed from the second word to create a new and typically Marti witty phrase. As Marti explains below, many constructors, like the great Dan Naddor use the run on letters to confuse the solver. Here, you have a letter missing, or do you? This woman really has an intriguing mind. I found this to be a really fun, fun solve with many little twists, humor and of course, no "J."
Let's play!
17A. A pint to drown your sorrows? : DISTRESS (S)ALE. A bad situation becomes an excuse for a beer. Thanks Hearti for the beer reference.
27A. Great diner food? : FIRST CLASS (S)EATS. And when you fly first class you get food which is actually edible.
44A. Film clips of a Triple Crown race? : PREAKNESS (S)TAKES. A week after the race, and the disappointment of no chance for a triple crown. Lights, camera, action.
59A. What a hamster wheel requires? : ENDLESS (S)PACE. The vast universe becomes a runner in a rut.
Across:
1. It's often about a yard: FENCE. Wonderful visual and pun trickery to start, yard as a measure and a garden.
6. Nanny's challenges : BRATS. Taking care of little kids, egads, it is the wurst!
11. Milk meas. : GAL. Poor dear lost her pal.
14. Pepe Le Pew's pursuit : AMOUR. Toujours l'amour; tonight l'amour for sure!
15. Sit in on : AUDIT. Like going to classes without registering.
16. Schnozz extension : OLA. We had Inka Dinka Doo this week. Also, 3D. Difference in a close race : NOSE. Hmm, what is she thinking?
Let's play!
17A. A pint to drown your sorrows? : DISTRESS (S)ALE. A bad situation becomes an excuse for a beer. Thanks Hearti for the beer reference.
27A. Great diner food? : FIRST CLASS (S)EATS. And when you fly first class you get food which is actually edible.
44A. Film clips of a Triple Crown race? : PREAKNESS (S)TAKES. A week after the race, and the disappointment of no chance for a triple crown. Lights, camera, action.
59A. What a hamster wheel requires? : ENDLESS (S)PACE. The vast universe becomes a runner in a rut.
Across:
1. It's often about a yard: FENCE. Wonderful visual and pun trickery to start, yard as a measure and a garden.
6. Nanny's challenges : BRATS. Taking care of little kids, egads, it is the wurst!
11. Milk meas. : GAL. Poor dear lost her pal.
14. Pepe Le Pew's pursuit : AMOUR. Toujours l'amour; tonight l'amour for sure!
15. Sit in on : AUDIT. Like going to classes without registering.
16. Schnozz extension : OLA. We had Inka Dinka Doo this week. Also, 3D. Difference in a close race : NOSE. Hmm, what is she thinking?
19. Co. with Mercury in it's logo: FTD. Florists' Transworld Delivery.
20.Editorial notation : STET. C.C. edits our work without notation or fanfare.
21. Mays, in his last game: MET. Willie, the Say Hey Kid. The CATCH.(0:28).
22. Place strategically : DEPLOY. From the French, also the root of our word, ploy.
24. Clairvoyance: ESP. I sensed this was going to be the answer!
26. Frolicsome : MERRY. Rhymes with...
33. One might make a ewe turn : RAM. Oh, you punny sex person! Ewe turn indeed!
34. Toothbrush bristle material : NYLON. I think mine are no longer nylon.
35. Disregard : SKIP.
36. Annual award org. : AMPAS. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. OSCAR.(1:08).
38. Some six-packs: ABS. Abdominal muscles.
39. "P.S. I Love You." originally : B-SIDE.
40. First name in game shows : MERV. The late great Grififn who brought both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to us.
41. Piece maker : REESE. I am a cup man, though I like apiece now and then.
43. Joe and Rose's youngest : TED. Kennedy.
48. Pig feature : SNOUT. Damn, I thought she was going for some obscure movie clue.
49. Sidewalk stand offering : ADE. Lemon____wasn't good enough for you?
50. Speakers' stands: ROSTRA. This comes from a Latin word which means SNOUT; way to go Marti!
52. Army unit : ANT. Little guys are so OPTIMISTIC.(2:39).
54. "That was close! : WHEW.
58. Cognac mate : AMI. A nice change for sneaking French into the puzzle, means friend or mate, Jeannie wherever you are.
62. Most admired, chat-rooms : FAVorite.
63. Nail a test : ACE IT.
64. Black ball: EIGHT. Both the magic one and at pool.
65. Crowd in Calabria : TRE. A double header pun, first you need to know the city is in Italy and then three's a crowd...
66. Eft parents: NEWTS. We had these babies before; I guess little Gingriches would not have worked.
67. Colombian currency : PESOS. Well I guess I earned my peso, but still have the rest to go.
Down:
1. They come and go : FADS. Hopefully house guests as well. Pet rock anyone, you can have it cheap?
2. Discharge : EMIT. Our second did word clue.
4. Coast Guard craft: CUTTER. Also a very effective pitch in baseball.
5. Goof : ERR.
6. Diamond corner : BASE.ball.
7. Tin Woodman's affliction : RUST. 'Beni? HERE? (2:14)
8. Org. concerned with canine health : ADA. Woe, not the aminals (sic) but your incisor teeth!
9. Math squiggles: TILDES. These PUPPIES (I got them in after all)
10. Drives, or driven ones: STEERS. Cars and Cows, how can you beat it!
11. "Get lost!" : GO FLY A KITE. Apparently from an old Bing Crosby song written by Jimmy Burke.
12. Chorus line? ALTO. Really Marti, more Sax?
13. Lord's partner: LADY. So what is the answer to my query, m'lady?
18. Drain EMPTY. What the Tinman does to his Pinch at sunset.
23. Garlic___: PRESS. Or the fourth estate in Italy?
25. I.R.S. form figures : SSNS. Social Security NumberS.
26. Parsonages : MANSES. From the same root word as mansions, Latin mansa, not related to maison.
27. Hall of ___: FAMER. Like our staff of constructors here at the Corner. They are all quite....
28. Awe-inspiring : IMPRESSIVE.
29. Bordeaux wine : CLARET. Veddy popular in the UK, n' est-ce pas?
30. Places to spot studs : LOBES. Ears, dears, not the guy from 38A.
31. Ocean's motions : TIDES. Not to be confused with TILDES.
32. Went over the limit : SPED.
33. Skatepark feature : RAMP. Who here has skateboarded?
37. Before, in Brest : AVANT. Après is after, as we travel back to France.
39. Drop on a sweater : BEAD. SWEAT by Inner Circle.
42. Sports figures : STATS. Statistics
45. Like Kia Motors : KOREAN.
46. Subtle distinction: NUANCE. It is the nuances which make for great writing and puzzle creating.
47. Collectible doll : KEWPIE. Creepie dolls.
50. Finn's vessel : RAFT. Huckleberry, I wanted George.
51. " A Jug of Wine...." poet : OMAR. First verse.
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness-
O, Wilderness were Paradise enow!....
52. Landed: ALIT. Oh no, and A word!!!!!
53. Brooklyn hoopsters : NETS. They left New Jersey.
55. Cauldron stirrers : HAGS. MACBETH.
56. NATO alphabet"E" : ECHO. I heard that before, be fore, bee for
57. Attends to one's whistle : WETS. I am ready to wet mine, this is fun, but takes time.
60. Mountain ___ : DEW. The drink of champions, but too much caffeine for now.
61. Fall mo. : SEPtember.
Answer grid.
What a great way to start the weekend, Don and C.C. then Hearti. We had our Marti double once again, with her blog yesterday and her puzzle today. Well I am off to play (?) golf. Have a great day.
Lemonade, and now to Comtesse Marti....
1) Constructor's Note:
When I submitted this puzzle to Rich, here is what I said:"It drives me nuts when constructors use three-letter-sequence themes. I invariably drop off one of the letters - and in the grid, it still looks right (except for that blank square at the end of the line...) So I decided to get even with this theme that "looks right", but is missing something..."
2) Note from C.C.:
Congratulations to JD and Bob (Aka "J.D. holder", not ATT), who celebrated
their 43rd anniversary yesterday.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteNot a heck of a lot to say about this one, other than the fact that I totally loved it. I was right on Marti's wavelength throughout, enjoyed the theme, and got every single one of the tricky clues.
I still hate seeing ADE as if it were an actual thing and not just a suffix, but what ya gonna do? ^_^
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I was really on Marti's wavelenght today. There were a few fills that were completed even before I read the clue. That doesn't happen often on a Friday. Loved the theme. My favorite theme clue was thinking about the Hamster running in ENDLESS (S)PACE.
ReplyDeleteI did want Waves instead of TIDES for the Ocean's Motion, however.
Omar Khayyam was a Persian poet who lived from approximately 1048 - 1131. His poetry is still timely today.
A belated Happy Anniversary, JD and Bob. 43 years is impressive.
One of my cats is very sick with kidney disease. I am afraid she won't be with us much longer.
QOD: Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position. ~ Christopher Marlowe
Good morning, all.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Marti. I didn't get the missing S until I got my FIRST CLASS EATS. That helped with the remaining two theme entries.
At first I wanted to WHET my whistle, but PACH just wasn't going to allow it.
This one was just right for a Friday. Finished right on time to take my 3-mile march.
Thank you Marti, for such a wonderful puzzle - it was exactly 6'1" tall ( went right over my head - )... but now that I know all the answers, it makes a lot of sense, and still was a lot of fun...for which I have to thank the witty, humorous, gentle Ben - Lemonade.
ReplyDelete2 ALT QODs today - one a little bit funnier than the other.
Dennis Miller - You know your marriage is in trouble when your wife starts wearing the wedding ring on her middle finger.
( Actually, since none of the women in our family wear a wedding ring, I used to assume that that WAS the finger it went on ... its kinda difficult to see a ring past the handle of the whip - but my wife assures me that the ring is supposed to go on the next-to-the-smallest finger.)
MARIA BAMFORD - I'm going to get breast implants because I'm a radical militant feminist .... and a hypocrite, it turns out.
A loaf of bread (toast), a jug of wine (Folgers) and Marti beside me (us)! What a great puzzle Marti! Your mind is not to be outdone by your physical feats! This and nearly an inch of rain yesterday is as good as it gets around here!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Distress fought with Mistress for a while (faMs?). Garlic clove, bread? Nope, stop PRESSing Gary. I APRESed before I AVANTed too, dern Frogs! WAVEd before I TIDEd.
-That diner/filling station might have a sign saying EAT HERE/GET GAS
-Clever FENCE not METER,
-Willie stayed too long at the fair. I hope Peyton hasn’t.
-You can still be MERRY but GAY has connotations now
-John Wayne finally got an Oscar for Rooster Cogburn (over a very strong field) and had the most wonderful acceptance speech.
-A true story about how REESE’s pieces became the ET candy and not M&M’s. Ah, 20:20 hindsight.
-Granddaughter learned the joys of capitalism by making $5 with her lemonADE stand last week.
-It took me ~2 seconds to get TILDE
-A Marti puzzle without a wine reference? Yeah, right.
-I have SPED through a mile long 45 mph zone through a former town on the way to the course for two years now.
-A RAFT on the Mississippi? What could go wrong there?
-Alt QOD, Money can't buy happiness but it'll get ya a better grade of misery!
Musings 2
ReplyDelete-Happy Anniversary to you dear JD AND your holder! I have really appreciated our off blog correspondences!
-BTW, my birthday is in SEP. but it is on the 11th. My 55th celebration was one of the saddest days in American history.
-Off to try and mow a very wet lawn. Hey God, I’m not complaining. We love rain here but could you make it a little more convenient?
57Down is incorrectly spelled.. One doesn't WET appetites or whistles -- they are WHET...
ReplyDeleteFYI for future puzzles or information, one's interest will be PIQUED, not peeked or peaked...
Thank you : )
Good morning, folks. Thank you. Marti, for a great puzzle. Thank you. Lemonade, for a great write-up.
ReplyDeleteNot too much time today. Had trouble finding this blog. had to do it the old fashion way.
Liked DISTRESS ALE. Wish I had one. Have not had a beer in a week. At the church camp in North Dakota. Beer is verboten.
A few french words today. I managed to get them with perps. as always.
B SIDE stumped me for a while. We had that recently. I should remember.
Anyhow, cannot talk too much. Off to work. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Thanks for a fun outing Marti. No walk in the park, but it all came together in the end. AMPA would not reveal itself, but AVANT had to be right, so I let it stay.
ReplyDeleteHG, we were fortunate with 2.6" of rain so far, and it's still sprinkling. A VERY nice rain. You can just hear all the crops and other greenery sighing in relief.
anon@7:45, while 'whet' is the only acceptable one of the two for 'appetite', both are correct for 'whistle', and in fact, 'wet your whistle' is far more prevalent.
ReplyDeleteRight, Dennis. I may want to sharpen my appetite but not my lips. Whistling with dry lips can hurt, so you wet them.
ReplyDeleteAnon, try eating a cracker and whistle.
My nit today is with Lemonade: Newts are the parents and efts are the little ones.
So manny clever puns. This was an especallly enjoyable puzzle. I recognized the blogger as Lemonade after just a few lines. I like your style, Lemony. Very informative and funny.
ReplyDeleteFrom YOUR DICTIONARY:
Wet one's whistles means
"Have a drink, as in I'm just going to wet my whistle before I go out on the tennis court. This expression uses whistle in the sense of “mouth” and may allude to the fact that it is very hard to whistle with dry lips.
[Late 1300s]"
Good morning everyone. Good wrrite-up, Lemon. Congrats to JD and Bob.
ReplyDeleteWow, another puzzle from the Corner corner. Nice work, Marti. Great theme concept. Made the whole puzzle. Overall I found it a little easier than yesterday's. No lookups needed. A little misdirection, particularly on ANT. On 50d, Finn's vessel, initially I guess I was reading too much into it. Was thinking of a Finnish vesseL, icebreaker maybe, and also wondered if there was a Marti connection because early on, I thought Marti said she was part Finnish. But then remembered the Tom Sawyer character, and the perps confirmed RAFT.
Thought OMAR was Moslem, and so wondered why he would write about 'wine' in a positive way. Any insight, anyone?
Have a great day.
Good morning and a Happy Friday to all! What a week - TGIF. I've got two beautiful days planned of absolutely nothing. My kind of weekend!
ReplyDeleteYesterday was a DFN, but today was better. Some great clues here:
- 41A Piece Maker? REESE (I thought it would be a gun manufacturer.)
- 64A Black Ball: EIGHT
- 65A Calbria Crowd? TRE
- 30D Places to Spot Studs: LOBES (I'm thinking farms? ranch?, etc.)
- And many more
All that fun and I didn't even catch the theme until I came here.
I read somewhere that old bar mugs had a whistle on them and when the partron wanted a refill he would blow the whistle to alert the bartender. Could be an old wives tale.
Hahtoolah: I went through kitty kidney failure. Toni lived 4 years after her diagnosis, but in the end she went quick. My peaceful thoughts will be with you and your beautiful friend.
Happy (amazing) Anniversary and a Happy Fathers Day to our dads!
PS: TILDES reminded me of this gal.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, outstanding puzzle, Marti - some of the best cluing I've seen.
ReplyDeleteJD, a very Happy Anniversary to both of you - a serious accomplishment!
Great puzzle, Marti! Lot's of fun misdirection, but, knowing who constructed it and also being Friday, I managed to avoid most of the traps and wait for a few perps.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, JD. May there be many more in your future.
Our omnipotent anon @7:45 needs to do a bit more research before flatly declaring a clue or entry to be wrong. Yes, Flatman, in "The Belly God" (1674) said "First whet thy whistle with some good Metheglin", but, as Yellowrocks pointed out, Chaucer, in "The Reeves Tale" (1386) preferred a whistle well wet. Both are generally considered acceptable, but it's usually 'whet one's appetite' and 'wet one's whistle'.
Re: Husker Gary's John Wayne vieo - you can advance to 1:25 and skip the hoopla.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of sports is so bad, I had STArS instead of STATS and couldn't figure out - is it jETS or mETS? What the heck are NETS?
Enjoyed the conversation around the whistle.
World Wide Words addresses the wet/whet whistle here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Grumpy on the WET/WHET question. To whistle one needs wet lips, but whetting an appetite means to get more ready to eat.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to getting stuck on this one. At first I thought it would all be impossible, but most of it opened up fairly easily, until I got to the bottom half. I had PREAKNESS, but thought the end was RACES, misspelling CEWPIE, didn't know the word REESE at all, and wanted STARS/STATS.
My excuse is that I was in a hurry to get a walk in before the heat arrived full force, so I may have rushed it a bit. Coming back after that didn't help.
Favorite clue was for STEERS. Thanks Mari, cleverly done!
Good morning puzzlers all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your nice comments!! I think this was one of my favorite ones to put together so far. For some reason, everything just seemed to fall into place. Finding four entries of symmetrical lengths that all had a triple "S" combo was not an easy task.
I had considered other entries - SWISS TEAK (Shipbuilder's wood from Zurich?) and DRESS HOES (go where you want with that one!!), but both of those involved a sound change from the original phrase. So their symmetrical entry, GRASS HACK (Bumbling lawn boy?) hit the cutting room floor, much as I liked that one. So it is what it is!
Belated Happy Anniversary to JD and Bob!!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.__.:*~*:._
Very enjoyable, it's been a while since i aced a Friday puzzle, but it was not easy. I had to do a lot of thinking. I got lucky when i WAGged an "A" at my personal Natick, the crossing of 36A &37D
ReplyDeleteI did have one note to check 52A, what kind of army unit is an ANR?
(wait a sec...)
I had 42D sports figures = stars?
AAAaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!
(rats!)
it's no wives tale!
Marti: Thanks for a FUN Friday.
ReplyDeleteAs long as my whistle gets Pinch, I don't care if it's WETS or whet.
Cheers !!!
Comment on Anon 7:45. It's OK to be wrong, but to be wrong with a sanctimonious attitude is quite off putting.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, LemonADE and cyber friends.
ReplyDeleteLove your blogging as always, L, and thank you for further enlightenment.
JD, congratulations to you and your main squeeze on 43 years! I wish you many more.
At first I thought this would be ENDLESS (S)PACE, but after hopping around a bit I fell into Marti's wave length.
Marti, Marti, you clever woman! Very IMPRESSIVE! My FAVs:
it's about a yard, FENCE
places to spot studs, LOBES
ocean motion, TIDES (had WAVES, first)
drop on a sweater, BEAD (started with PURL)
Great misdirection, thanks.
CED:
Interesting pics of actual mugs with whistles.
Enjoy your Friday, everyone!
Kind of OK all around, not a big fan of the theme or the fill. Most of it was solid nevertheless and it did take me a little longer then I expected. The themes came quicker then the fill which was odd for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteGood morning:
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to have Marti, CC and Don in the same week!
Great puzzle, Marti, and nice expo, Lemon. Had waves before tides but everything else fell into place. Loved the clues for ant, tre, steers, ram, etc. Very clever indeed.
Lucina, I miss your "sashaying."
Belated Happy Anniversary to JD and Bob.
Happy Friday all!
About a yard is 2.5 Imperial pints of beer or ale. Pic.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary JD! Coincidentally, it's 47 years today for Barbara and me. We should have a joint celebration. We will head out for a nice lunch somewhere. Then Father's Day and probably, another lunch.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marti for the puzzle. I had fun and got 'er done.
"Ade" continues to annoy.
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. I liked this puzzle a lot also, for a number of reasons, at a number of levels. After getting PREAKNESS, ENDLESS, and _ISTRESS I thought 27A would have an ESS in it, too, which messed me up for a while.
ReplyDeleteMy Natick on this one, which caused a technical DNF, was the cross of ANT and NETS. I thought it would be JETS or METS, and I thought 42D would be STARS, which left AMR or AJR as the Army unit, which made no sense to me at all.
At least I didn't get fooled by TRE :)
Really really liked the punny, sneaky, and misdirecting clues. Like Mari, I was looking for a weapons manufacturer at 41A, not a candy maker, but smiled when REESE finally emerged.
Interesting that rostrum also refers to a snout (beak, nose, prow); thank you for that tidbit, Lemonade.
A very IMPRESSIVE puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for making it.
Congratulations to you, JD and Bob.
And congratulations to you and Barbara, Bill G.
ReplyDeleteWarm hopes for minimum suffering for your cat, Hahtoolah.
Hi Everyone ~~
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful puzzle, Marti! I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I had to hop all around but I had fun doing it. I caught on to the theme with ENDLESSPACE and was able to go back and get what I missed in the other three theme answers. I was hung up on wanting 'Races' in the PREAKNESS answer. So clever ... I loved it all!
Lemonade ~~ your write-up was exceptionally good today - loved your comments, your wit and the info you provided. Well done!
~~ JD ~ Best wishes on your 43rd anniversary and to Bill G. on your 47th!
~~ Lucina ~ So glad that your eye surgery went well and that you're pleased with the results.
~~ Hatoolah ~ I am so sorry to hear of your sick kitty. There is really nothing to say that makes it any easier. Just try to enjoy the remaining time you have together. I'm trying to follow that same advice, although hopefully, I still have a year to "enjoy." My thoughts will be with you.
Bill G and Barbara, congratulations, as well!
ReplyDeleteHahtoolah:
I'm so sorry about your cat. Hopefully her suffering will be minimal.
Irish Miss:
As recommended by the doctor, my movements have been quiet since the eye surgery, even in puzzling! LOL I'm looking forward to sashaying and exercising soon.
Hatoolah, sorry to hear about your cat.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary to Bill G and Barbara; 47 years is quite a milestone.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed today's puzzle, and not just because it's the handiwork of my smart neighbor Marti. Well, that helps of course, but there's also the clever clues. My FAV for the day has to be "ewe turn". (I first put in DOG for that one)
Early in the solve I saw the clue "get lost!" and the letters GO F---------- and briefly, so briefly, wondered whether it would pass the breakfast test....
Send more, Marti!
Dudley, I like the way you think! LOL
ReplyDeleteJD- On Marti's comment about the clue she mentioned it was a pun on Cole Porter. I know the clue said cold porter.
ReplyDeleteHaven't done todays puzzle yet. Good day to all.
Marge
Congrats to both Bill & Barbara, and JD & Bob.
ReplyDeleteApologies to Marti--typo before, looked like I was giving Mari credit that was meant for you.
A great weekend to all!
Marge, that wasn't me.
ReplyDeleteNEWTS
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle marti!
[GROAN!]
ReplyDeleteSeen...you have no idea how long I stared at that page, before I finally "got" it. To echo Argyle: [GROAN!]
ReplyDeleteBill G.,Happy Anniversary to you and Barbara, and many, many more!
_.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.__.:*~*:._.:*~*:._
Dudley, thanks for the fresh clue for DOG...I have filed that one away for a future puzzle!!
omigosh.. what was not to like in this puzzle? Love the way your mind works, Marti. So many a-ha's and laughs..like lobes and reese.Have to admit many perps did much of my thinking.
ReplyDeleteHahtoolah, so sorry about your kitty. It seems many of our old cats have gotten kidney problems.To have lived so long, they all have had a good life.
Bill and Barbara, congrats on your 47!!We're going out for a fish dinner tonight. You? Brought home Thai food last night as I had little ones until 6.
Thanks to all for wishes on our ann.I have enjoyed exchanging e-mails with many of you.It is amazing how many really really nice people C.C. has continally attracted to her blog.xie xie
Hopefully, I will have time today to go back and reread Lemon's thoughts & links for today.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversaries to JD and to Bill.
Marti - thought you were going to beat me up today, but my only mistake was PHEW for WHEW. Couldn't locate my wrong letter in KEWPIE.
Lots of fun, and very clever. Ale, wine, and food just make it all even better.
Still bone dry here. Whistle or not, we could use some rain.
Cool regards!
JzB
JzB, I had PHEW too.
ReplyDeleteI think we're going to one of the nicest up-scale restaurants around here, Il Fornio. They lean toward Italian. I'll let you know more in a couple of hours.
It's always dry around here in the summer. But there has been an on-shore flow that has kept the weather overcast and cool. It's typical for this time of year and called June Gloom. I like it 'cause it keeps the weather cool.
Rain?? Oh, right, it's that wet stuff that falls from the sky, just not here. Today is the official start of monsoon season but nature shows no indication of it. Hot and dry, that's the forecast.
ReplyDeleteSEAN@ 12:15,
ReplyDeleteI don't get it! Newts and your link, what am I missing?
anon@2:19
ReplyDeleteNEW TS. new t-shirts
Thanks Lucina! And Thanks Marti, really loved your puzzle
ReplyDeleteThis was awesome. Loved 64a, 52a and 42d. Hey where did u get the photo of me for 38a?
ReplyDeleteArgyle, sorry to off put, but my comment was we had those babies (EFTS) before and I commented little Gingriches would boit be a good answer.
ReplyDeleteSeen you really need to create a puzzle.
Back from golf and now it is hailing, scared some people here who have never seen the penomenon.
Had some good shots and some bad shots and no one got hurt.
Good afternoon to all and happy Friday. Fun puzzle Marti and thanks Lemon for your insights. Several years ago I played Omar in a local production of Kismet. He was the only character in the story based on a real person of the time period. I also beleive he was a tent maker. Have a great day to all and happy anniversary to JD, and BillG. RJW
ReplyDeleteAh! Gotcha. Comment was about the clue, not the answer, per se.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the kind good wishes.
ReplyDeleteWe just got back from our favorite local restaurant, Il Fornaio. We had butternut squash soup (too bland), a delicious spinach salad and a mixed seafood grill with scallops, shrimp, calamari and other stuff. Since we had let it drop that it was our anniversary, they brought us a complimentary chocolate pastry with whipped cream and raspberry sauce. That is our favorite place for lunch among all the other really good local restaurants. The food is always good and the wait staff is really well-trained and competent.
Now I'm digesting and waiting for the Dodgers game. This retired life is tough but I'm bearing up well under the strain.
JD- Oh, I'm sorry.I looked at it wrong,I often do.
ReplyDeleteIt was anon 8:51
Marge
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle was a puzzler for me. DNF, but did get 26 correct answers. Wow! But it was clever, as always for HeartRX.
Too much time spent on the blog fooling around with an Anon. (But interesting fooling arounds.)
Cheers
P.S I forget to wish JD & Bill G happy anniversaries. Consider yourselves so wished. That's an impressive number of years for each of you.
ReplyDeleteAnd am sorry to read about Hatoolah's cat. Hope it doesn't go to difficultly for him/her.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteMy first chance to blog at a reasonable time all week, but only because my dentist appointment was cancelled (after I was all dressed and ready to go--no mean feat).
Terrific mind challenge, Marti. Swell expo, Lemonade!
Loved the puns and amusing answers, like ANT, LOBES.
A challenging effort, but, knowing it was a Marti effort, I persisted without any cheats!
Hahtoolah-- my cat with dire kidney problem has lived another year after treatment with special foods, etc. He is very loving and active. (This is the one that has given up grooming.) I hope that your cat recovers!
JD and Bill-- Congrats and wishes for many more happy years!
Husker: So what is CLARET?
Omar Khayyam was also a mathematician who wrote about some special cubics. Man of many talents!
Enjoyed the new Suits!
Happy weekend!
Fermatprime, he was being facetious!! Husker, I know that you were referring to CLARET, when you amusingly noted that I would never do a puzzle without a wine reference...
ReplyDelete(or with a "J" (LOL, Lemon...)
Oh, Bill G:
ReplyDeleteYou are impressively courageous!!
In case some of you fathers don't login on Sunday, I'm wishing you a fabulous Father Day!
Lucina, why? Because I had calamari? It wasn't a major part of the mixed grill. I don't especially like it but Barbara does. I was going to get rockfish or Patrale sole but Barbara wanted the mixed grill and splitting everything up seemed like a good way to go.
ReplyDeleteHere's a little more serious math puzzle for those of you so inclined. Imagine multipling the first 1,000 prime numbers together. Which of the following numbers could not be divided evenly into this product? Or, asking the question a different way, which of the following numbers is not a factor of the product of the first 1,000 prime numbers?
a) 111 b) 222 c) 333 d) 555 e) 777
Fermatprime @ 4;29-I am so happy to see someone else who enjoys Suits. I think it is a fantastic show.
ReplyDeleteJD andBill G.:
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversaries to both of you and yours. Sometimes I miss those because I usually do not read late in the day. I am an early bird. Apologize for being a little late.
Abejo
Hola Everyone, My error was putting in Stars for sports figures. That made Ant (A great misdirection, by the way) Anr. I thought maybe it was a US Army unit that I had never heard of.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did have to use Mr. Google to help with several clues, so I can't claim that I really finished this great puzzle on my own.
This late in the day, everything has been said about Marti's CW. It was fun, with lots of misdirection and I loved it. I did manage to figure out the theme on my own, though. To me that is a great feat.
Happy Anniversay to JD and Bob and to Bill G. and Barbara. It sounds like you both had wonderful meals to celebrate.
Tell me about Suits. Why is it so fantastic and enjoyable?
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for the kind anniversary wishes. Abejo, no worries. Living on the west coast, I tend to post later than most people here. I usually don't write anything until I've finished the puzzle and then I often post some stuff so late that I'm guessing some of it goes unread.
Bill G-Suits is a show about high-profile, wheeler-dealer lawyers, one of whom who never went to law school, yet is an outstanding litigator. The cast and the story lines are interesting and surprising. It's on Thursday night on USA at 10:00 pm. Give it a try.
ReplyDeleteReally late solving and commenting today. Sad day! Nephew's funeral visitation...He was diagnosed with stomach cancer 68 day before he died. Tried to do puzzle to distract myself, but ended up using red letters to solve it. Didn't see theme.
ReplyDeleteMy kitty looks like Pepe LePew"s amour (black with white down the middle). Her name was Penelope in the cartoon. I received her on Valentine's Day, so finally named her Valentine.
Hahtoolah, sorry to hear your kitty is suffering. How old is he/she?
Bill G., nothing goes unread. Much of what we say what is posted does not generate comment, but it is all read by many.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary to JD and Bill G and Happy father's day to all, thanks once again for inviting me into your world.
Marti, really late to the party. I have to say this was your best effort yet! Loved, loved this puzzle. You've exceeded all expectations. How can you possibly top this one? We'll just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lemonade ( should that be melonade?) for decoding it all. You make an awesome pairing. Love to all.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Bill G., it's worth repeating yet again: the late-night posts don't go unread. There's no need to keep reposting the next day.
ReplyDeleteBill G: None of them, of course.
ReplyDeleteAgain, a slow solve and a late finish. But I did finish -- every last block. I'm keeping to my vow, not to let laziness interfere with completing each puzzle.
ReplyDelete