Theme - BATTER UP! Three non-baseball-related phrases each end in a word that doubles as a pitch.
17A. White castle offering. HAMBURGER SLIDER. The White Castle SLIDER is a 2 1/2 inch patty served on an equally small bun. Feel free to speculate on etymology in comments. A SLIDER pitch has speed between the curve and fastball speeds. It has lateral movement, but less so than a genuine curve ball. If it doesn't break enough, it is said to be "hanging," Hitters considers these to be gifts.
24A. Gadget for sharing a TV signal: CABLE SPLITTER. Needed if you have more than one TV or signal receiving device. A SPLITTER pitch is thrown using a split-fingered grip and a fast ball delivery. It is a slower pitch, though, similar to a change up. It generally drops and breaks at the plate.
40A. Angler's weight: FISHING SINKER. This is a small weight used along with a lure to increase the rate of sink or casting distance. A SINKER pitch is a genuine fast ball that has both downward and horizontal movement.
And the unifier: 53A. Types of then can be found at the ends of 17-, 24-, and 40-Across. BASEBALL PITCHES. Nice theme - right in tune.
Hi gang, JazzBumpa at the plate. Let's strike out (no - not that way) circle the diamond, and see if this puzzle is a gem.
Across:
1. Jaunty tune: LILT. Like this.
5. Desert bloomers: CACTI. Here is a great picture by my virtual friend MMM.
10. They may be on KP: PFC'S. Kitchen Police duty for Privates First Class.
14. Land east of the Urals: ASIA. Not a specific "land," but the entire land mass.
15. Detective Pinkerton: ALLEN. (Correction: ALLAN)
16. Vex: RILE.
20. Wide cigar: ROBUSTO. That makes scents.
21. Drive on a course: TEE OFF. Husker?
22. Look like a wolf: LEER. Not resemble a canis lupus, but observe in the manor of a lady-killer.
23. Yields to gravity: SAGS. I will spare you a link.
29. The U.K.'s Labour, for one: PARTY. Politics, not a joyous gathering.
31. "Leaves of Grass" poet Whitman: WALT. This is a poetry collection that Whitman worked on for much of his adult life.
| WHEN lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d, | |
| And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, | |
| I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring. |
32. ____ de la Cité: ÎLE. The island in the Seine where the medieval city of Paris was founded. French and a gratuitous obscurity. Bah!
33. "That makes sense.": I SEE. Get it?
34. Becomes frayed, say: WEARS. Showing signs of use? Frayed so.
36. Feds fighting counterfeiting: T-MEN. Agents of the Treasury Dept.
37. Broke a fast. ATE. When I fast, it slows me down.
38. Talk with one's hands: SIGN. Use sign language, not emphasize your spoken words with gestures. When a clue is literal, that makes it tricky.
39. It doesn't hold water: SIEVE. A kitchen strainer that holds the lumps and lets the gravy go down the drain. Two literal clues in a row! Figuratively, an idea or argument that "doesn't hold water" will not stand up to rational criticism. More politics. Let's not go there.
44. Mid-month time: IDES. The most famous occurrence is in March.
45. Not e'en once. NE'ER. Ever and never with the v's elided. Does any real person talk this way?
46. Blue shades: AZURES. AZURE is the color of a bright blue sky. What do you make of the plural?
49. Affirm under oath: SWEAR TO. Hence the phrase, "You lie and I'll swear to it."
56. Opposite of ecto-" ENDO-. Prefixes meaning external and internal, respectively.
57. Monterrey jack: PESOS. Mexican money. Note the lack of capitalization on "jack."
58. "Born in a great steak house" salad dressing. KEN'S. I'm quite fond of the sun-dried tomato.
59. Professor's boss: DEAN. Everybody has a boss, e'en in academia.
60. Confederacy: SOUTH. The Confederate States of America, brought back into the Union by the Civil War. More politics.
61. Starch from a palm: SAGO. Someday I might remember this word.
Down:
1. Cowardly Lion portrayer: LAHR. Bert, from The Wizard of Oz.
2. Golfer Aoki: ISAO. Someday I might remember his name.
3. Life partner: LIMB. From the phrase "Life and LIMB," indicating what you put at risk when engaging in reckless activity.
4. Arrange in columns: TABULATE. Only maybe. The Free Dictionary defines TABULATE as "to set out, arrange, or write in tabular form."
5. OPEC is one: CARTEL. An organization of producers whose goals are to set prices and control quantities. A characteristic of the not-so-free market.
6. Climate Reality Project Chairman: AL GORE. Where science meets politics.
7. Cavs on scoreboards: CLE. The Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.
8. Roofer's supply: TAR. That hot gooey stuff.
9. Sets up, as software: INSTALLS. Hardware, too, come to think of it.
10. One hearing a confession: PRIEST. Bless me, Father, for I have sinned . . .
11. Everypooch: FIDO. The John Doe of the canine world. But shouldn't that be e'erypooch?
12. Curvy music figure: CLEF. Why do I always want to spell this CLEFF? Curvy, indeed! E'en the despised C Clefs.
13. Lord's laborer. SERF. Medieval peasant, bound to the soil. This was not a LABOUR party!
14. Words on a yogurt container. USE BY. I've ne'er understood this. What's it going to do - go good?
19. On the up and up. LEGIT. Two slang terms for honest and respectable.
23. Train between ropes. SPAR. Train in the (square) ring for a boxing match. I don't like it, though. "Between" suggests an intermediate relationship to two points or objects. The ring is bounded by four sets of ropes. Amidst, perhaps, or among? Can this clue be saved?
24. First Nation's members: CREES. First Nations is a Canadian term referring to Native Americans. The CREE people are one such nation. Is the term used here in the States?
25. Cygnet's parents. SWANS. Cygnets are their babies. In other news, Cygnet is a village of about 300 people on I-75 in Wood County, OH, between Bowling Green and Findlay.
26. Kitchen counter: TIMER. Counting the minutes until the cookies are ready. Mom - are they done yet?
27. Alt.: ELEVation. Note abbrvs. Sad to say, this one threw me. I was fixated on "Alt." as "alternative" and couldn't come up with any alternatives.
28. Former Quebec Premier Lévesque: RENE. This one, I knew. More politics, more Canada, more French.
29. "La Vie en Rose" chanteuse: PIAF. This I did not know, but the perps helped. Édith Giovanna Gassion, (1915 - 1961) was a French cultural icon. In the mid 30's, she took the nickname PIAF - a colloquialism for sparrow. What do you think?
30. Sparkling libation of Italy: ASTI. Named for its region of origin, this might as well be the official drink of the cross-word world.
34. Tart, juicy apples: WINESAPS. Great for baking, and one of my favorites for eating. Michigan's fruit crops - apples, pears, and peaches - were at least 90% destroyed this year by the warm April followed by overnight frosts in May. At least the vineyards in the northwestern part of the L. P. were spared.
35. Fabergé collectables: EGGS. Conspicuous consumption. Read all about it. That is quite enough French, merci.
36. Hanging organizers. TIE RACKS, not what is done after an unsuccessful coup.
39. Trapshooting. SKEET. Check it out.
41. Add to the payroll. HIRE ON. Rare occurrence, these days.
42. Place to be. IN SPOT. Hang out there, and maybe you'll SPOT the it girl. On second thought, never mind. Nobody goes there anymore - it's too crowded.
43. Rather recent. NEWISH. The word seems a bit lame-ish.
46. Propped up by pillows, perhaps. ABED. A dreaded a-word, and where I ought to be. Soon . . .
47. Writer Grey. ZANE. Did he ever see things in black and white? He did write Riders of the Purple Sage.
48. Fed. inspection org. : USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).
50. Mother of Zeus: RHEA. Zeus had a mother?!? I must have mythed it.
51. 100 C-notes.: TEN G. A G is a thousand dollars - probably from "grand." Do the math.
52. Bologna bone: OSSA. (Correction: The answer is OSSO.) I'm going to be careful here. OSSA is Italian for bone; Bologna is a city in Italy; it all fits.
54. Sign of Summer. LEO. The Zodiac sign containing the latter part of July and most of August. The LW, grandson Nate, and his dad are all LEOS.
55. Shaq's alma mater: LSU. Cager O'Neal attended Louisiana State University. He probably didn't play baseball.
Answer grid.
Answer grid.
Well, we had a balk and a wild pitch or two, but I'll call this a quality major league effort. Hope you had a good time and stayed until the final out.
Cheers!
JzB
70 comments:
Morning, all!
C.C. must have been in heaven doing this puzzle, what with the baseball theme. Fortunately for me, it wasn't an obscure baseball theme, so I found it enjoyable as well.
Bunch of stuff I didn't know today, including ROBUSTO, RENE and ILE, but the perps took care of things rather nicely.
I struggled a bit at the end down south thinking that Zeus's mother was GAEA instead of RHEA and not grokking what "jack" referred to in the clue for PESOS at 57A. Not only did I fail to notice the lack of capitalization and thought we were looking for the Spanish equivalent of the name "Jack", I've also never heard "jack" used as a slang term for money before. Live and learn...
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gary Whitehead, for a great Wednesday puzzle. Thank you, as well, Jazzbumpa, for an equally great review.
Got started in the NW and worked South with few problems until I hit the SE.
ALLAN for 15A is with an A. OSSO for 52D is with an O.
17A, HAMBURGER SLIDER, was easy. I just ate a bunch of SLIDERS on Monday night.
Was not aware of ROBUSTO for a cigar. Had the ROBUST and wagged the O. AL GORE confirmed it.
TIE RACKS for 36D came slowly. I TIER first and could not get that out of my mind. Finally fell. My common TIE RACK is a door knob. Works great for about 10 ties.
29D PIAF totally with perps.
Theme was great and helped with the puzzle. I am sure C.C. was tickled.
Off to my duties. Steak Fry tonight at the Commandery.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Ah, a lot of French. But alas, Faberge is actually Russian.
Still wrapping my head around "Lilt" and Rene Lavesque turned a few heads and a few eye brows were raised in how I knew that. I'm waiting for Parties Quebecois to be a clue.
Au Revoir!
Rather easy one for me today nice for a humpday. Caught on to the theme once splitter was revealed. had some problems in the south part of the puzzle mostly because I am still some what asleep.
Not familiar with the term "jack" I guess it means "money"
Barry: future reference Gaea was Zeus's Grandmother per the Percy Jackson books my son reads.
Enjoy your humpday all it is going to be a sweltering day here on the east coast.
Good Morning Jazzbumpa and friends. Was I ever on Mr. Whitehead's wavelength this morning. I just zipped through this fun puzzle.
White Castle made me think of this Susan Sarandon/James Spader movie called White Palace.
My favorite salad dressing is Annie's Shiitake Sesame.
Kitchen Counter = TIMER was my favorite clue.
I saw some Faberge eggs on my recent trip to St. Petersburg.
QOD: All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner. ~ Red Skelton
Good Morning y'awl. Cood commenting, JazzB.
Interesting baseball theme today. Some clever clueing such as for PESO and TIMER. I thought NEWISH stank. I had Hera before RHEA. Do you think the South American ratite was named after the mother of Zeus? Always liked the word 'SIEVE'.
Forecast 95º here today. Summer arrives @ 2309 GMT today.
Have a great day.
Well to all you in the sweltering NE, relax the wave will pass. Very fun puzzle, and JzB was being JzB. Excellent.
Spitzboov, funny you do not look newish....
If Pinkerton's first name is spelled Allan, then we can have tar for the roofers instead of ter.
Thanks for all your solves, though. I do enjoy them every day.
Jazz,
I think ALLAN needs that spelling to keep the A in TAR. Similarly, To get the O on SAGO, OSSA needs to be OSSO, doesn't it?
I had trouble in the south, not with that word but with everything that surrounded it. I've never heard jack used for money, and ended up with PECOS thinking it may be something to do with card playing in Monterrey. Of course all those colleges abbreviations are a foreign language to me too, so LCU looked good enough. But that was my only final error.
Edith Piaf is not one of my favorites either, but she's a classic of that era in France. I think as much as anything, she attracted the sympathy of the nation with her very sad back story, at a time when everything was pretty dreary there both pre-, during and post-war.
The puzzles seem to be getting easier as each day goes by this week. I suspect that will all come to a screaching halt with Thursday and Friday's offerings.
I love a good JzB write up. And today didn't dissapoint.
23A and 34A were easy. I'm reminded every time I look in the mirror.
DH uses fishing sinkers, but I prefer to use a bobber so I can see when I've got a nibble.
My learning moment was Cygnets Parents. And I too have never heard of "Jack" in reference to money.
Hot and steamy in Chicago (just like our SLIDERS). Bring on the heat! I love it!
15A is ALLAN and 52D is OSSO
Good morning Jazzbumpa, C.C. et al.
Whoo boy, I sure am glad it's you and not me blogging this one, Jazzbumpa! I had no idea that there were so many different names for pitches. Let alone, trying to explain them!
I tried softBALL PITCHES at 53A. But ZANE and USDA changed that to fAStBALL PITCHES. Finally figured out HIRE ON and ABED, to come up with (TA DA!) BASEBALL PITCHES!
I loved the clue for PESOS, "Monterrey jack". But some of the fill left me flat, like the plural AZURES, ENDO-, CLE, ELEV, PIAF (who?), NEW-ISH...Add those to a baseball theme, and what do you get? For me: blah. Fortunately, Jazz's write up saved the day, and put several smiles on my face!!
Enjoyed the puzzle today.
Ile de cite is not that obscure--known for the location of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
White Castle burgers are small, but of course one is supposed to eat a whole bag of them at one time and let them slide on down the esophagus. Never quite understood
the draw, but some people go to great lengths to get them: IMDb
www.imdb.com/title/tt0366551/
Irish Miss from last night: "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a happy Christmas!" is a Sheldon Classic! :)
Good morning, all! Three miles and one liter of perspiration later...
Another quick solve today with nothing too arcane or esoteric. PVTS quickly became PFCS and OSHA transformed into USDA. I managed to dredge RHEA up from some abyss in my brain.
It's been awhile since we've seen ZANE Grey in a cw; he used to appear almost as often as ERLE Stanley Gardner who we also haven't seen lately.
Poe and Pinkerton spelled it ALLAN, but not Fred, Steve or Ethan. HeartRx, I'm shocked that you aren't familiar with Edith Piaf.
Later...
I agree with Mari that this was a fairly easy puzzle and that we will pay for that later, not with JACK, but with a bear of a puzzle.
Again, I probably easily knew JACK as money only from novels and assumed to it be more common than it is. It is amazing how many obscure words are commonly used in novels.
We had PIAF before with Kazie contributing great info on her.
Also we have had ILE de la Cite before. It is a quite famous place.
Hahtool , in re: QOD, LOL, how true!
As kids we fished with a bobber and a SINKER. The sinker was attached closer to the lure (worm) than the bobber.
JzB, thanks for your informative and interesting write up. Your personality shines through.
If 52 Down is Ossa, then how can 61 Across be Sago?
Jazz, perhaps a better clue for 23D would be "trained inside ropes" or "trained within ropes"?
ANON @ 8:53. Please reread JzB's remarks and look at his answer grid. First he wrote OSSA and then corrected himself to OSSO
Good morning:
Today was a breeze for me, unlike the previous two days. I grew up with 4 brothers and a father who were baseball and football fanatics so I am familiar with the lingo of both sports.
Thanks, Gary, for a clever theme and cluing, (I liked clues for pesos and timer) and thanks JzB for an outstanding write-up.
Mari, yes, that was Sheldon personified. When you have a moment, please read my Monday post to you re the finale of The Killing.
Not looking forward to high temp of 94 today plus high humidity. Same forecast for Thursday, then storms on Friday and back into the 80's.
Happy first day of summer to all.
Good morning, all. Thanks for the write up, JzB.
This was almost a walk in the (ball)park. My only strikeover was to replace the e in ALLen with the A. I should have known better, since my son's middle name is ALLAN. It wasn't intended that way, but someone at the hospital spelled it that way on the official birth records. We decided he was in good company with Mr. Poe so we let it stand.
When I first moved to the Cleveland, OH area there was a fast food chain called Royal Castle. Their burgers were about a two inch patty with grilled onions, pickle, catsup and mustard on a Parkerhouse roll. In other words, about the same as a White Castle slider. If I recall, they were 15 cents or 8 for a dollar. I sure hated to see them go.
I've seen jack as a synonym for money quite often and RENE Levesque is becoming a CW staple. PIAF didn't come to mind immediately, but perps filled it easily.
There are usually a few bottles of KEN'S salad dressings among the assortment in our fridge. Chunky Blue Cheese is among my favorites.
I'm not sure I would say that Gary hit this one out of the park, but it's a solid three-bagger in my book.
Confidently putting "gmen" for 36a "taro" for 61a held up the SE corner long enough that I finally checked JzB`s answer grid. Other than that, a few wild guesses :"azures" "neer" "leer" made the rest fairly EZ. Favorite clue: "Look like a wolf" because of its misdirection. Pity Misters Whitehead and Norris couldn`t have worked in a j,q and x for a pangram-type puzzle. Might make a challenging puzzle to make: pangramatic theme fills! Marti? CC?
pangrams
Hi gang -
I know I can count on y'all or all y'all or y'awls to correct my post-midnight typos.
I'm a splay fingered typist at the best of times, and 2:00 AM is not the best of times.
In other errata, Cygnet has a population of around 600, not 300. Let's not underestimate them.
Faberge might be Russian, but it looks French and sounds FRench - so GUILTY!
Cheers!
I forgot to thank Jazz for his jazzy blogging today--I was in too much hurry to make sure we knew ALLAN and OSSO.
JD,
I also wanted to thank you for the update on CA last night. I've been wondering about her and hoping the cancer wasn't rearing its ugly head again. Sad to hear that it is.
Desper-otto, I didn't remember PIAF the last time we had her, either! Do you think it'll take a few hundred more times seeing her name, before I will finally associate her with "La Vie en Rose"? As soon as I do, they will change the clue to something like "She was born Édith Gassion"...
Re: 'ALLAN' and 'OSSO' ... and all the blog comments on it .... JzB, an old adage comes to mind ... nothing has more lives than a misteak, that one refuses to correct.....
But, it is all good ... your blogging was wonderful and excellent ... and so was the puzzle, nits and all , Thank you Mr. Whitehead.
I heard of Edith Piaf, from an eponymous movie, I saw, 'La Vie en Rose'.... does this mean 'the wine and the Rose' or 'Roses and Wine' ... or ... Rose colored wine ?
Sago is used to make Tapioca, which makes my favorite Indian breakfast treat. Its a 100% starch, with absolutely no protein, but properly buttered and flavored, it fills your stomach, and adds to your obesity ...
ALT QOD: There's one way to find out if a man is honest. Ask him. If he says, "Yes", he's a crook. - Mark Twain.
Those who had never heard of jack being money apparently never heard the old saying, "all work and no play makes jack."
Good puzzle today, as it kept me puzzled for quite a while. I finally finished one this week, but not without help. I made the mistake of trying to stump my daughter with "talking with hands, 4 letters, & she immediately came up with sign, which is good, except i did not know it! Then she fills in Piaf, & says, "how can anyone not know Piaf?"
(Remind me not to ask her for CW help anymore.)
Money be nimble . . .
Cracker Money
Money and Jill . . .
Money and the Beanstalk
Car (or tire) money
Himoneying and carmoneying
And, of course . . . JACK!
Cheers!
JzB
Good morning. I always enjoy baseball themes on xword puzzles and thanks Jzb for a good job calling today's game. I got a couple clues by watching TV recently: 25D, PIAF's song was mentioned in the movie, "X-Men: First Class" and 61A, SAGO (starch from a palm) I happened to see on last night's episode of "Chopped" on the Food Network. Made a couple of mistakes, 41D; I first had "hired in" and 20A, "robusta".
Good morning to all and happy hump day. Thanks to Gary W. for the puzzle and JazzB for your musings. What Marti said,I have seen newish before didn't like it any better today. We have several Ken's dressings, my youngest likes the honey-mustard the best. She puts it on everything from chicken to corndogs. I have friends from the northeast that call whitecastles murderburgers,don't know why? Have a great day to all. RJW.
Hello, my blogger friends. Jazz, your sparkling review made me chuckle.
Did I ever sashay through this one! In spite of the BASEBALL theme I hit a home run and ran all the way to home base. In fact, it felt more like Monday.
If you haven't seen the movie, La Vie En Rose, it's worth it although quite sad and will forever embed Edith PIAF's name in the memory.
Kitchen counter, TIMER was my fav clue and FISHING SINKER came easily as my late DH was an avid fisherman.
The DEAN of our department retired this summer and I shall sorely miss her. Besides being gracious and smart she has that rare quality in a department head: common sense.
KENS raspberry walnut vinaigrette is my favorite dressing. Yum!
chin@10:10
I've always heard, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" or are you being facetious?
Enjoy this first day of summer everyone! We already had temps over 100 degrees and today shall be 110.
"The U.K.'s Labour, for one" is a poor clue.
It suggests that the answer is an abbreviation, which "party" obviously is not.
Skeet is not the same as trapshooting. A contestant moves to different stations in skeet and the clay is released very differently at each. In trapshooting the contestant stays in one spot and the clay comes out more consistently
Chin's shortening of the old saw is right in line with another favorite:
Early to bed, early to rise
makes your girl go out with other guys.
My goodness--I thought this was a real toughie, especially the SW corner which gave me endless trouble. I now feel pretty silly reading how everybody thought it was a breeze. I guess I'll use baseball as an excuse although it was items like KENS, SAGO, NEWISH, and the like that actually gave me a lot of trouble. I also got ROBUSTO mainly by inference, since I'd never heard of ISAO either. But there were nice bonuses, like JazzB offering a little of the Whitman poem--many thanks for that.
Have a good Wednesday, everybody.
My favorite shortening of an adage is: "Women! You can't live with them."
:-)
brilliant irony from A-M, she says:
"nothing has more lives than a misteak, that one refuses to correct."
Burrito you have not been around often, Kerry in Az, hi
Greetings!
(Blogging at outrageous hour for me! Doorbell awakened me--alas, nothing I could do about it. Note was on the gate for Fedex to leave the package. Wonder if they saw it. Heralded the arrival of some blue willow salad plates from Amazon.)
Cool puzzle, Gary; exceptionally funny expo, Jazz.
Speaking of blue willow, it has long been my favorite pattern. Anyone else use it? Have a mismatched but rather large collection.
Am currently reading Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Carbon Footprint by Michael Bond. Very funny mystery. Anyone else read his books?
Happy hump day!
Enjoyed the BASEBALL PITCHES theme.
Also liked the location of SOUTH in the grid.
PIAF and RENE, I know we've had them before but I needed the 'perps' (again) to get'em.
No problem with the SPAR clue ...
Hmmmm, could that USE-BY clue also apply to milk and a gazillion other products ???
All-in-all, a FUN Wednesday. Thank you Gary.
A Summer 'cheers' to all at Sunset.
Fun puzzle, great write-up!
I agree that newish was not good and I had a heck of a time with Cable splitter. Had 19D as legal rather than legit and could not figure out what a cable splatter was. Then the V8 moment struck.
Aren't White Castle sliders square in shape? Seems every restaurant around now serves sliders. I've never understood the name.
Forecast here in BHC today is 113. We actually had a 116 degree day three weeks go! Time to head to San Diego!
Fermataprime, we were once in Tahiti for a month and ate lots of Pamplemousse. Huge citrus fruit with lime green meat and a flavor like a sweet grapefruit, wonderful stuff. I thought that was a pretty cool name for a great fruit, them I learned tht it's just french for grapefruit. Sure wish I could find them in AZ or CA!!
SO, now you know whatelse I like. You have a nice view.
HOla Everyone, This puzzle had C.C.'s name written all over it. Not because she constructed it, but because she probably had a ball solving this baseball themed CW.
My struggles with the SE corner were the same as other's today. Hurray for perps to help fill in those unknowns, such as Rhea and Pesos. I never heard jack used for money. It is somehow comforting to know that other solvers had the same problems that I did.
I thought the clue for Sieve was great, but my favorite was Kitchen counter?/Timer.
I had tier---s in for the longest time as part of the clue for Hanging Organizers. I still have a hard time breaking up vertical words to make sense. Tier seemed logical for the beginning of a vertical organizer. V-8 can bumps on the forehead again.
I'm making reservations for our anniversary at a restaurant recommended by Garlic Gal and JD at our coffee get together yesterday.
Fermatprime, My mother's every day dishes were Blue Willow. We used them at home for years. My daughter now has what is left of Mom's set.
Also, thanks for the mystery suggestion of "Monsieur Pamplemousse----" by Bond. I'm always looking for a new mystery series. This sounds like fun.
Keep cool all of you who are in the heat wave section of our country.
Hatoolah, I didn't read last night's entries until just now. I see that JD answered your question so I won't repeat. But thanks for asking. I know that CA thinks about our group here at the Corner a great deal, but is busy with other things at the moment.
Besides fighting her own illness, her husband has been diagnosed with Altzheimers disease, and they have both had bad falls. I'm so glad they were able to move nearer to their daughter and have family close by to help them.
I'm sure that e-mails from any of the Corner family would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Everyone ~~
I'd join C.C. in loving this baseball-themed puzzle. After -SLIDER and then -SPLITTER I knew where we were headed. I didn't guess -SINKER right away, but after getting that and then the unifier, I tried to come up with a clue for another pitch - the 'Knuckler.' I thought of a couple of things that were stress-related but I guess that would need to be 'White-knuckler,' so, so much for my constructing talents. :-)
I really enjoyed your write-up, JazzB. Your humor always has me chuckling. BTW ~~ Maybe Valverde should go on the DL with his "sore wrist." Benoit and Coke seem to be able to do his job very well!
Kazie ~~ I want to add my congratulations on your happy family news!
We're currently in a "sauna" ~ temps close to 100 and humidity way up there. I don't complain, though, because I'll just stay in my air-conditioned house.
I've been reading about the horrible flooding in Duluth. Is anyone close to the area?
Enjoy your day ~~
Good morning Lemon, C.C. et al,
Had a very slow start on this one, but was able to fill in enough to get a toe-hold.Things that I didn't know, like those cigars, fell neatly in place.Trouble with tieracks/kens and leg it/sag. Loved kitchen counter=timer.Had tiles at first.
I "don't know jack" would apply to me.
Lemonade, great write up~ always makes me smile.
Just the name Piaf brings back great memories of my late older sister who idolized the woman.I'm not sure if our neighbors appreciated her music.
Must try Ken's. Our favorite is Girard's Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing.
Anony-Mouse,
La vie en rose actually has nothing to do with wine. It literally means "life in rose", which should be interpreted as "seeing things through rose colored glasses". It was apt for how she experienced life. If you watch this rendition with the translation, which isn't the greatest, you will however get the general idea.
I "struck out" with too much of this puzzle. Wanted to whiz on it, but didn't. But I always enjoy Jzb's humor.
No White Castles in our state that I've ever seen. I did have HAMBURGER SLIDER, but didn't believe it.
My yogurt has a "SELL BY" date.
I got nothing but BASE in the unifier row and nada below it.
Chin: good one about jack! Hands up for being off on Jack.
I'm so dense this morning, when I saw 24D had _rees, I put in "T" so had tABLE SPLITTER. Never mind I do have cable TV and have met a CREE.
Hey, I did know PIAF!
JD, this one was blogged by Jazzbumpa.
Don't know how I got this, since I don't know any of the sports terms, nor the HAMURGER speicalty. Nor KEN. Paw up for thinking TIER first.
Had INSide before INSPOT, which is where I want to be today in the East, since there's a heat advisory.
PIAF - triste.
Lucina @ 10:45, I just ordered "La Vie en Rose" from Netflix. Hopefully, your suggestion will improve my recall the next time we see her in a puzzle!
PK when my cat didn't like something he wanted to whiz on it, too, and he did. LOL.
Loved the puzzle. Loved the write-up.
DNF for me. Had TENK (???) instead of TENG, which left me with SAK?. So I went with SAKE for [Starch from a palm], drawing on the relationship of plants and liquor. And I figured [Bologna bone] would either be OSSA or OSSO, so OSSE seamed reasonable enough. Aargh.
Learning moments: WINESAPS and HAMBURGERSLIDER.
Liked the “starts with S, ends with ER” facet of the theme.
Am I the only one who didn’t mind NEWISH. I love the suffix -ish, probably most commonly employed in “latish”. I think the whole In The Language criterion we have for fill quality isn’t about whether I actually use the word, or someone I know uses the word--it’s more about if can I envision a viable scenario where I would use the word. E.g.: “Hey, how old is your computer?” “It’s newish--got it last year some time.”
Same goes for plurals of colors. While my gut reaction to AZURES is “meh,” I can easily imagine going to a paint store talking about all the different greens and blues and yellows that are available. Or, “Wow, I like how these lemon yellows complement these azures.”
Ninety percent of Michigan’s crops! Goodness. How often does something like that happen? Seems so dire.
Loved the Clef link.
NEWISH is a favorite term for realtors around here. They can't truthfully say the dishwasher is new, so it is NEWISH.
I choose milk by the one with the latest USEBY date. It lasts longer. Previously I had milk go bad when it was consumed a day or so prior to the USEBY date. I feel selfish doing this, but...
Today I found myself issuing a correction of a correction to an email bulletin. Knowing no one is infallible helps.
RW, I think sliders are sometimes referred to as "murder burgers" due to the nutritional (or lack of) nutritional value--depending on how many one eats at a time, of course.
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/white-castle/sliders
I got the puzzle done by 6:30 am but had to 21 Across (thanks for the shoutout Jazz!) by 7 and so here I am. The fun theme was very obvious to this old baseball fan. Probably hard to work in KNUCKLER, SPITTER, FORK, CHANGEUP, but could have thrown us a CURVE (Deadman’s?). Great IT girls and Yogi quote Jazz!
Musings
-A friend of mine pitched us to two state tournaments because he could throw all those pitches. He couldn’t play pro though because he had no fastball. The scout told him, “Son we can teach you all those pitches but we can’t teach you how to throw harder.”
-Finding places for cigarettes and ROBUSTO’s in public are getting harder and harder. Great! In your house, have at it!
-Age make thing WEAR and SAG!
-I really only know one sign. I got it when I cut someone off this winter.
-South of the Mason Dixon, the SOUTH lives on
-After getting a new hard drive, I had to do a lot of reINSTALLS
-Dennis Miller joke about entering the confessional, “You first Father!”
-Anyone remember the rapper who was “too legit to quit?” Answer if you’re interested
-Who was the TV colonel who loved to read ZANE Grey?
Loved the baseball theme. Good descriptions for the S---R pitches Jzb.
I'm not sure about the TMEN clue. Does the secret service still investigate counterfeiting? I believe that agency was moved to the Department of Homeland Security from the Dept. of Treasury. Are they still considered T-men or should they be called HS-men. Are they all G-men?
Re 23a: I recently read a book about anti-gravity. I found it difficult to put it down.
Sherman T. Potter
@Placematfan - I use NEWISH.
@Seen - good one.
@Husker - we oldsters never speak of "remembering" rappers. We can have only learned of them recently in our scheme of time.
Forgot to mention - only 4 3-letter "words" - impressive.
Husker, I believe that'd be Sherman Tecumseh Potter.
Musings 2
-Yes, of course, on the redoubtable Sherman T. Potter (Klinger did a great forgery!).
-Sfingi, I agree on most rappers but Hammer had all the money in the world when he hit it big with Can’t Touch This and Too Legit. Then, like a lot of nouveau riche young men in music or sports, he squandered all he made through excessive spending, supporting family and hangers-on and went $13 million in debt. He became a minister and devotes a lot of time prison and youth ministry. Quite a story!
-Old gravity joke – There is no gravity, the Earth sucks!
-Piaf and other singers with excessive vibrato don’t get ‘er done for me. How continental, I suppose!
-78°F and rain on the way here on the great plains on this Summer Solstice!
Hello everybody. Interesting variety of puzzles so far this week. I think I liked this one the best of the three.
Jazzbumpa, thank you for your witty and interesting writeup.
Good to 'see' you all.
Seen, good one! Thanks.
Hand up for getting TIER and not being able to think of anything other than something layered.
Kitchen counter was my fave clue too.
We had OSSO buco for dinner last night. 'Twas delicioso.
Never had anything called a slider, though oysters on the half shell slide down pretty smoothly.
I've always used both a sinker and a bobber when fishing in the lake or creek.
That guy Sheldon dissed from demoting Pluto was the reknowned Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Dang, it's hot in Phoenix today! In Needles, Calif, too!
My favorite salad dressing is plain ole olive oil.
Best wishes to you all.
Happy Wednesday and solstice!
The baseball pitch theme got me thinking about those pitches. The Dodgers have a camera angle right behind the delivery point of a right-handed pitcher; perfect for seeing the movement of the pitches. Their closer throws a fastball with almost no movement. It looks like a laser beam. The normal movement of a pitch would be an downward arc caused by gravity. But the backspin of his fastball pretty much counteracts the effect of gravity and the pitch looks perfectly straight. Another reliever's pitches have lots of movement; both left, right and down. A split-finger fastball has almost the same speed but much less backspin so the pitch drops (due to gravity) and is very hard to hit. In the old days, pitchers used to accomplish the same thing with a spitball. Spit, under the index and middle finger, would make the ball slippery and would therefore have much less backspin. Again, the ball would drop more quickly than the 'dry' fastball and would be hard to hit. Play, very sloppy and unsanitary.
HeartRx@1:36
Have tissues ready! It's a powerful story of a sad life.
anon @ 1:01... thanks
Sorry Bumpa
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