Theme: Various Women - Four women with the same initials, as indicated by the unifier.
20A. Venerable woman of literature : VIRGINIA WOOLF
23A. With 24-Across, voguish woman of bridal fashion : VERA and 24A. See 23-Across : WANG
44A. Jettas and Beetles, or an apt title for this puzzle : VW's
49A. With 51-Across, vivacious woman of game show fame : VANNA and 51A. See 49-Across : WHITE
59A. Voluptuous woman of stage and screen : VANESSA WILLIAMS
Argyle here. The puzzle has MIRROR (left to right) crossword symmetry. Normally we have DIAGONAL symmetry. It is impossible with the four ladies having different length names. I don't see a relevant pattern to the black squares other than a vee in the center. Oh wait, all four are described with a VEE adjective. Duh!
Across:
1. Nile slitherers : ASPS
5. Melodies featuring sitars : RAGAs
10. "Git!" : "SCAT!". "Shoo!", "Beat it!" Ok, stay at your own risk!
14. Enjoy some gum : CHEW
15. Disappear slowly but surely : ERODE
16. Soft throw : TOSS
17. Ocean motion : TIDE and 38A. Minimum-range 17-Across : NEAP
18. Winger of "Black Widow" : DEBRA. IMDb.
19. Bumped knee, to a tot : OWIE
25. Supermodel Bündchen : GISELE
28. Flirty giggle : TEE-HEE
32. Coffee vessel : URN
33. Hatches evil plans : SCHEMES
37. Networking connections : INS. Sometimes related to 33-Across?
40. Eiffel creation : TOWER
41. A/C units : BTU's. (British thermal unit)
42. Finalize, as a tattoo : INK UP. A common term in printing but I failed to find how it is used to mean finalizing a tattoo. It is used similarly to tat up, to get a tat. I googled for over a half-hour.
45. More than eccentric : OUTRE
46. Tribal tent : TEEPEE. A Lakota name for a conical tent.
48. Gets unruly in a crowd, say : PUSHES
52. Bar order : ALE
54. "SNL" alum Cheri : OTERI
56. Once existed : WAS
64. Call to mind : EVOKE
65. Problem in old wood : ROT
66. Do-or-die poker bet : ALL IN
67. College dinner staple : RAMEN
68. '50s presidential nickname : IKE. Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th President.
69. Joins with a torch : WELDS
Down:
1. Perform on stage : ACT
2. Hood's blade : SHIV. I think it came from skive, meaning to use a very sharp thin knife to thin leather. "Skiving" is a word I learned from "Harry Potter".
3. Feet pampering, briefly : PEDI
4. Sudden turn : SWERVE
5. Forward, as to an updated website : REDIRECT. I'm always leery of redirects.
6. Gladiator's realm : ARENA
7. Asian desert : GOBI
8. Play to __: tie : A DRAW
9. Ocean makeup : SEAWATER
10. Larry, Curly or Moe : STOOGE
11. Monastic hood : COWL
12. "Ain't gonna happen!" : "AS IF!"
13. "The Waste Land" poet's initials : TSE. (Thomas Stearns Eliot)
21. Hair tamers : GELs
22. Bills not found in ATMs : ONEs
25. Put the pedal to the metal : GUN IT
26. "Fame" star Cara : IRENE
27. Cobra's weapon : SNAKE VENOM. Cobras never signed the Geneva Convention concerning chemical weapons.
29. Reach one's endurance limit, in a marathon : HIT THE WALL
30. Accustom (to) : ENURE
31. Slalom curves : ESSES
34. Carpool lane letters : HOV. (high-occupancy vehicle)
35. "Yuck!" : "EWW!"
36. Enero o febrero, por ejemplo : MES. January or February, for example : MONTH
39. Stage in a bug's life : PUPA
41. Head-and-shoulders sculpture : BUST
43. Ink-filled tool : PEN
45. Yvette's yes : OUI
47. Grandson of Adam : ENOS
48. Rizzuto of the Yankees : PHIL
50. Video game pioneer : ATARI
51. Drop a line : WRITE
52. Affirm as true : AVER
53. Molten rock : LAVA
55. "Star Wars" furball : EWOK. Crazy party animals.
57. Within : AMID
58. IDs with two hyphens : SSN's
60. __ out: barely manage : EKE
61. Six-yr.-term holder : SEN.
62. Barrister's field : LAW
63. Suffix with project : ILE (projectile)
Argyle
62 comments:
Morning, all!
Pretty straightforward for a Monday. I had some write-overs with SHOO for SCAT, INK IN for INK UP and BETTY for VANNA (before I got the theme, obviously), but those all got resolved quickly via the perps.
I also struggled a bit at the end with VANESSA WILLIAMS. I know her as a former Miss America who had her crown taken away who later got into singing, but I didn't realize she was also an actor (especially not a theater actor). Fortunately, though, I had the theme by that point and through down the initial V without hesitation. A few more letters via the perps and she appeared in all her glory.
Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the Valorous Write-up, Argyle. I missed that the clues were also V-W descriptions of VW women, so thanks for pointing that out! There were so many subtleties in this puzzle, I am sure that I missed some others as well. But I did notice the unusual grid design, and when I saw the unifier, that huge V in the middle of the grid hit me like a ton of bricks!
Not only did Jeff include the theme's leading ladies, he also threw in DEBRA Winger, GISELE Bündchen (Poor Tom Brady hasn't been the same since he married her!), Cheri OTERI and IRENE Cara to round out the female lineup. What? 69A wasn't clued as "Actress Tuesday and others"???
Then there were hair GELS, a BUST and flirty TEE-HEEs (along with TEE-PEEs-I would love to see that one clued some day as "Bathroom tissue, discreetly"). Fun Monday to start the week!
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. As I was working this puzzle, I noticed the interesting design of the grid. The V shape reminded me of a heart.
I got VERA WANG because a good friend had a VW wedding dress. When I came to the unifier, I realized that, not only did all the women answers have VW as their initials, but the adjectives used to describe them also were VW.
Very clever puzzle.
Do people actually WRITE letters any more?
Apropos of nothing, I found this photographer, Stephen Wilkes, who makes these amazing Day-to-Night photographs.
In honor of a former Supreme Court Justice, here is today's QOD: In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute. ~ Thurgood Marshall
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Chen, for a very good puzzle. Thank you, as well, Argyle, for the very good review.
Per argyle's comments, I never noticed the symmetry was different than normal. Interesting. I will have to pay more attention to that.
This puzzle was a little tougher than a Monday for me. Maybe a Tuesday level.
With all that being said, I did get the NW corner right off the bat.
I too had BETTY WHITE before I got the theme. Then VANNA became obvious.
Got OTERI with perps. Never watched that SNL show much.
Interesting that the clues also had VW as a theme. Thank you, Argyle. You are observant.
No idea who the 25A supermodel was. GISELE got perped.
Yesterday we had a very high wind and storm come through. I was in Glenview and missed it, but my tree in the back yard didn't. Took one big trunk down. Took me several hours to chain saw it up and haul the branches to the street. I kept the large pieces to add to my Cord of Wood in the back yard.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
I think was a magnificent creation, not only the VW cluing and fill, but the V in visual is awesome. All of this accomplished in a Monday grid. Way to go JC. Puzzles like this show why others in the field, like John Arnold, praise your work.
Weird week, Wednesday no work. Enjoy
What a fun puzzle! In addition to the "V" in the middle, I see a big smiley face....a great way to the start of a holiday!!!
Good Puzzle not to easy not to hard. Perfect for a monday. Caught the theme after vera wang and the vws clue. There are two active actresses named Vanessa Williams 1. the disgraced Miss America who now goes by Vanessa L Williams, and the other was in Melrose place http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004539
and the pattern on the grid looks like a smiling face.
I thought this was really hard for a Monday, and I almost DNF, until I noticed that I had SHIM for SHIV, and gave up trying to fit something that meant G-note in for 22D. I never remember that Ms WOOLF has two 'o's, and I had really thought GOLF would work there because I expected we were looking for different VW car models within the people's names. Having GISELA was also slowing me down with REDIRECT, so that theme answer was the last to fall.
After I got it, the whole shebang hit me in a hurry. Very clever!
Hi All ~~
Well, that's what I get for thinking this was just a really easy Monday puzzle. I missed all the good stuff! I zipped through, but still had fun. I caught the theme when I somehow filled in the unifier, VWS, very early on. My only hesitations were wanting 'Betty' instead of VANNA and 'Ink in' instead of INKUP.
But until Argyle's illuminating write-up, I completely missed the unique symmetry (it seems I always miss those things) and the descriptive 'vw' in the clues. Thanks for making all the cleverness apparent to me, Argyle!
After the comments about the smiley face, I took off my glasses and saw that, too. So in other words, a very enjoyable Monday puzzle, Jeff Chen! :-)
Good Morning all. Good commentary, Argyle.
Piece of cake today. Other than having only a mirror symmetry, as Argyle pointed out, it did not seem to affect the solve. The theme, VW's, ended up in a cul-de-sac, but the approach was easy. Thought the black squares might be a stylistic VW, but I see only hints of V's. I do sort of see a caricature of a grim guy with a set jaw trying to solve the puzzle. Overall - lots of V's. No lookups needed. Favorite fill was SWERVE. Good job, Jeff
Have a good day.
I found this to be a fabulous Monday puzzle on many levels with just enough grist to get my mills turning! Thanks Jeff!
Musings
-One place you can see Git around here
-I only have visual interest in super models but GISELE dropped the f bomb after hubby Tom Brady lost in this year’s super bowl
-Debra Winger dated Bob Kerry when he was governor of Nebraska
-Teehee/Tehee and Tepee/Teepee/Tipi, hmm… Whatever fills your peace pipe!
-Many jobs in education are filled because of INS
-Our many discussions of pronouns that should follow linking verbs like WAS came to mind when I heard this ear worm a few days ago! Love that channel 5 on Sirius!
-My false pride keeps me from getting a PEDI. Any men out there taken the leap?
-I’ve heard of mannequins in HOV to use that lane
-I’m a big advocate of term limits for SEN’s and rep’s. You’re not supposed to come to D.C. in poverty and retire as a multi-millionaire.
Good morning! Thanks, Argyle, for the great explanation of all aspects of Jeff’s Monday puzzle.
I looked at Saturday’s puzzle and couldn’t get going at all, so gave it up and thought I should ease back into puzzling on a Monday. I was anxious to start crosswording again so I did this one late last night.
I went back and forth and across and down, but filled in all the squares correctly. There were a lot of clues I didn’t get first pass through, but all were revealed with perps.
I have returned to Montana after retracing the Oregon Trail with my brother-in-law. We started early morning in KC and only barely got into Nebraska the first night. It took us 3 days to drive across Nebraska! There are a lot of historical places to see following the trek of those pioneers. Thanks Husker for the links, ahead of time. As I said, we spent 3 days seeing just what was in Nebraska. We drove on back roads, gravel and dirt, to see some of the sites. We needed to travel a little faster so we quit stopping at every gravesite and pony express station as we drove on and spent more time on the Interstate across Wyoming and Idaho. In Baker City, OR there is a big Interpretive Center that summarized our whole trip. It was great. The Archway in Nebraska was the other really neat place to stop. I was surprised at how much I did not know about settling our country.
Happy belated birthday to CC. I read Friday and Saturday’s blogs to catch up on news.
Have a good week, everyone,
Montana
You’re welcome, Montana! It’s unfortunate that a lot of those great places you visited here in Nebraska tell the tales of people just passing through. The sturdy stock that stopped and settled this area, called the “great American Desert” by Stephen H. Long, have made this a great place to live and raise a family along with bumper crops of corn, etc. BTW, Long could never have known that our state sits atop the largest aquifer on the planet. It is being drawn on right now as the center pivots are turning at a furious pace in this hot weather.
Very Wonderful puzzle, Chen!
Never heard of HOV. In Upstate NY there's no need for such a thing unless there's a sold out concert at the Casino. There are miles of empty highway (but plenty of cops waiting for you to speed).
@Hahtoolah - thanx for this Wilkes fellow!
Hi all!
I have a small tattoo on my right shoulder, and the artist drew it in with some sort of powder before inking it up. Maybe it's just me that thinks INK UP is a tattoo related thing. =] Ah, my college days... I'd like to get another, but then you can't donate blood for a year.
Rich and I went back and forth on this one about five times. I'm sure glad we did - looking at the first version I sent him makes me cringe!
On another note, I just got an offer of representation from an agent! I've been writing (kids' books, a la Harry Potter) for about two years, and thought it would never happen. I've been pinching myself over the weekend to make sure I haven't slipped into some bizarro universe.
Happy Monday!
Jeff
Jeff,
Nice to see you drop in! And congrats on the agent--I imagine that will be a great help with publishing, etc. just one more of your many skills.
I was actually thinking of MOP UP before INK UP, since when I've seen people getting tattoos in films, they always dab at it after the needling.
Good morning:
Thanks, Jeff Chin, for dropping by and for a super clever puzzle. Argyle, thanks for pointing out the use of VW in the clues; I completely missed that. I, like others, had ink in at first; all else was smooth.
I'm having lunch today with a dear, old friend who is in the area with his significant other visiting family and friends. We met at our mutual work place when I was 19, as Parochial (capital P intended) as one could be. He is Jewish and when Passover came I, ever so seriously, said "Have a Nice Cee-der," to which he replied, without skipping a beat, mind you, "And you have a "Happy Eye-ster!"
Hatoolah: Very timely and meaningful quote.
Mari: How was your movie convention?
Have a wonderful Monday.
p.s. Montana, Please write me at
gschlapfer@gmail.com
off the blog. I'd love to hear more about your trip!
Gary
Greetings to all. Thanks, Argyle; you unraveled the mystery of the grid design. I suppose that staring a bit longer might have revealed the V to me!!
Wow! Jeff Chen and his women sent me sashaying all the way across at non stop speed. BETTY WHITE never entered the picture as SNAKE VENOM had slithered in already and that made VANNA obvious.
Lots of fun today especially with TEEPEE and TEEHEE.
HeartRx:
I like your observations about WELDS as well as the tie ins with GEL and BUST.
HG@8:53
I see men at the nail salon every time I go there, usually for a PEDI but at times for a mani, too. The PEDI there is a special treat as all the techs are trained in foot massage. That is followed by a hot rock treatment. Believe me, one feels like a new person after all that.
I hope you all did something special with your Leap Second this weekend!! TEEHEE!
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Aside from Bob Kerry, Debra Winger was the female lead in SHADOWLANDS the movie based on a play written by C.S.Lewis' step-son, which as I have said many times is one of my all time favorite movies, both the story, the acting (Anthony Hopkins also) and the countryside. Awesome.
I once had a pedicure, felt like a new person, and my wife got really angry. I don't thinnk they are intended for men.
I loved, loved, loved this puzzle--thank you so much, Jeff! And congrats on getting an agent--not easy, as my husband and I discovered after finishing our mystery novel a few years ago.
Loved (notice the V) the VW theme, clues, and even the grid--something I would not have noticed without Argyle's help. Wonderful! And thank you, Heart Rx, for pointing out all the other cool women in the puzzle. A great day for the ladies!
After Friday and Saturday's puzzle disasters (for me, anyhow) I feel as though I've been saved today. A great way to start the new week!
I was on my way to get a PEDI 2 weeks ago when I got a flat tire. Instead of making my feet feed good, I got to make my car's "feet" fee good.
Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al,
Jeff, what an interesting grid; love the ears on that smiley face. This was a perfect Monday..had to think a little here 'n there, like outre crossing enure.Congrats on getting an agent.
Marti,nice clue for weld.
Argyle, always a pleasure.
I'm still a novice, but only had to Google one clue today -- Supermodel Bundchen. I felt very smart! I got the theme right away. Maybe because I drive a Beetle! Thanks, Argyle, for your informative write-up. I come here every day whether I've been able to finish the puzzle or not!
Morning, all.
Feels great to be back to puzzledom after a week of no newspapers and no WIFI. Fun puzzle today. Thanks, Jeff.
Sorry to have missed the puzzles by Marti and CC/DG while I was on the road. (Happy belated birthday, CC.)
Headed south out of Alexandria Friday at suppertime, hoping to get to Richmond. Oops! Both I-95 and Rte 1 were closed with cops diverting traffic. Anybody know what that was about?
So we headed west toward the Shenandoah valley and ran into a whopper wind/rain storm. It was midnight before we found a motel that still had electrical power. Did any of you easterners have weather problems Friday night?
Back on the road in the morning we saw lots of downed wires, broken trees and caravans of power company bucket trucks headed east. It must have been one doozy of a storm.
It's good to be back in the piney woods of SE Texas where nothing much ever happens. But now Google is having fits about some sort of account conflict and won't allow me to post. I guess it's an appropriate culmination to what's already been a week-long ordeal.
desper-otto
Hola Everyone, What a great puzzle. I enjoyed the VW theme, but the V in the grid totally escaped me until Argyle pointed it out.
Congratulations, Jeff, on your book adventure. Keep us posted on the titles, and the progress. Thanks for stopping by.
Ink up was not a phrase I was familiar with. Perhaps it is a tattoo thing.
Lucina, My leap second gave me some extra reading time! TEEHEE!
I'm fighting a summer cold, so maybe that is what took some of the grey matter away from this puzzle today. I thought it was a bit harder that most Monday puzzles, but very doable and really fun.
Have a great day everyone.
Is it common to go back and forth many times between editor and constructors?
Jeff, I forgot to congratulate you on your finding an agent. That's great news and I look forward to your book. Books are my favorite gifts for children.
Just back from a funeral for a former colleague. The minister eulogized her for 40 minutes and someone had accidentally leaned against the thermostat at the back of the church and had turned on the furnace inside that packed sanctuary when it was 90+ outside. Whew!! I was glad I had not worn a suit coat. Bobbie would have laughed at me if she had seen me in it! Some of my former friends had really aged ;-).
I think I’ll get me one of them thar pedi’s. It would be nice to have my toenails trimmed with some degree of uniformity and not draw blood! I’d better get right with Joann so I don’t wind up like Lemon! She’s said she doesn’t mind but sometimes those of us with a Y chromosome have to read between the lines!
Congrats on your procuring an agent Jeff. Do you have a site we can visit to see some of your work. If your books are half as clever as your puzzles, a few will find their way to Eastern Nebraska.
Very enjoyable Monday puzzle. Fun theme, fun grid, fun clues, WEES.
I found "The Music Man" on TCM and am watching it again. It's got a good story and the kind of music I really enjoy.
Fires, scorching hot weather, storms; I hope all of you guys are safe and comfortable.
Here's a cute little puzzle for you.
BANANAS
Every answer is a word, name or common phrase with alternating A’s. For example, if the clue is “Old Woody Allen movie,” the answer is “Bananas.” The first answers have seven letters; the later ones have nine or 11. (How about waiting until after 4 pm CDT to post your answers so as not to spoil somebody else's fun.)
Group of wagons in the desert; certain knight; Islamic month of fasting; South American capital city; language of Barcelona; sleepwear; older road surface; distant; New York marathon winner; Telly; July first north of the border; light headwear; body of water adjoining Cuba; certain sailboat; ocean connection.
Unemployed @ 12:00, in some cases, Rich has accepted a puzzle of mine immediately, with no change requests. Other times, he might ask me to re-do a section of the grid that he feels might be too difficult for the day of the week that he wants to publish it. And sometimes, he wants me to come up with different theme entries because they either: 1) aren't "in the language", b) are inconsistent or iii) he just thinks they stink.
After talking to other constructors, I have the feeling that it is pretty "normal" to go back and forth a couple times.
Hi gang -
After today, I'll be without internet for some unknown period, while changing ISP's. Weird situation.
Haven't read comments yet.
Fun puzzle. The black V almost gives the grid a smiley face - though it might be more of a sneer.
Enjoyed all the VW gals.
Isn't INK UP plus ink filled tool some kind of a flaw? Having them cross rally makes it stick out.
Too bad ASPS couldn't cross SNAKE VENOM.
Now back to see what YAWL had to say.
Cool regards!
JzB
I got one of them pedis because I had had a mallet toe operation and my big toenail was never the same after.
Anyway, beware - they also massage your foot and leg interminably. I should have REDIRECTed them to my back. Can never get enough of those.
Teehee, Jeff Chen was grinning at us with his "smiley face", while we did this Very Wonderful puzzle. Good write-up, Argyle.
I wanted to Gas IT before GUN IT then wanted "wave" before NEAP. Need to go look up OUTRE to understand that word I got with perps.
All in all, a fun restful puzzle!.
Jeff, congrats on getting an agent! Tell him you have a captive audience of some size already with all of us online who love your work. Might help sell the work.
Afternoon All,
Thought this was a great Monday morning exercise! Loved the VW unifier and the write up as well. Knew their would be some Veautiful pics and you didn't disappoint Argyle. Very fun and I have to agree with Hatoolah on 51D. I wrote in and erased Email first go round and I'm about as low tech as they come.
Have a great day!
Hahtoolah: You asked if anyone actually writes letters any more. I do. Most of them are letters of condolence, sadly. I still get a few letters and cards with notes too. However, the local Hallmark factory has had to lay off a lot of workers, so card sending is also on the wane. The high price of cards doesn't help that.
Hahtoolah:
I, too, would like to answer your question as I write letters to many of my friends who do not use a computer. Sometimes it's just a short note other times almost an epistle. Much depends on what is happening in our lives.
My mother-in-law used to write epistles, filling up every square inch of letter paper, going so far as to write around the corners and up the edges. She would often say something like, "I know you won't want to hear this but..." and she would tell us/me anyway. Everybody who knew her casually thought she was a nice old lady. But to her husband and children, she could be somewhere between annoying and mean.
Hahtoolah, I do write letters to a dear aunt of mine. She is very old and hard of hearing, so it is impossible to talk on the phone with her. My cousins tell me it means so much whenever she receives a letter like that...
Bill G. @ 2:09, here's my list of guesses:
Caravan, Galahad, Ramadan, Caracas, Catalan, pajamas, macadam, faraway
Salazar, Savalas, Canada Day, balaclava, (Gulf of) Batabano, catamaran, Panama Canal.
Fun quiz – it would make a great crossword theme!
Bill G:
I really try to show consideration for my friends and family writing only essential details and trying not to bore them.
My Christmas Newsletter is always one page only.
When my grandmother was alive, I would "drop her a line" in the form of a note or postcard every week. I used to write often to my parents, too, but in the past few years, we have relied on either the telephone or e-mail.
Bill G - I always have liked the Dutch word for mother-in-law; schoonmoeder. Literally it means beautiful (or nice) mother.
Heart Rx. - glad to see your answers. I had trouble waiting for 1600CDT. Did not know Batabano.
The spelling of "Woolf" threw me for a sec...having watched Vanna White several times, she`s more reserved than vivacious, IMHO. My "new" meaning for "ultra eccentric:" "outra." I found that it can also mean "bizarre." We don`t have many mirror-image grid puzzles. That was a feat in itself!
I`ve always said that you really get to know someone when you exchange letters with them for a while. Guess that`s why I feel I know many of you, when we`ve actually never met. I wonder what future Presidents will put in their libraries, discs with e-mails on them? About gum: My SO won`t let me chew it. Why? 60 seconds after I begin to chew it, I start popping it...I don`t realize it and can`t stop it until I get rid of it.
Great job, Argyle, as usual.
pretty simple but could not find abbr. in the vw's clue, so I put vws anyway. esses, btus outre never heard of. especially on a monday. I guess il aver that the neap of the tide wont hit my house on the beach.
HeartRx: I didn't have Batabano -- I had Havana Bay. I totally missed faraway -- not that I couldn't get it, I didn't see it at all. Agreed with the rest of your entries, though.
Oops -- I also had bandana rather than bacalava. My bad.
Marti wrote: balaclava, (Gulf of) Batabano
Good answers. I had different answers for both of these. I like balaclava a lot. Your gulf has that pesky O at the end which makes it different from all the other answers. The answer I had heard was Havana Bay but I am having a hard time confirming it on a map.
BTW, I forgot to write it earlier but the two people my MIL was meanest to were her husband (who wanted a divorce) and me. Mostly, I just tried to ignore it.
Oops (squared), I meant to say balaclava. But that can't be right, either. The "cl" throws off the alternating "a" pattern. Somebody help, please.
@Bill G: I was going to say that's a fun idea for a crossword theme! But after a quick search I found that Randolph Ross did it already. Oh well.
Bill G, I didn't even think of "bandana"!! We wear balaclavas all the time when skiing, so it immediately popped into my mind. But, it could hardly be called "light" headwear, as it is meant to withstand up to -30 F !!!
Maybe this will help with “Havana Bay”?
desper-otto, it was just the "a"s that alternated - I don't think it matters if there were one or two consonants between. Just as long as there are only "a"s as vowels.
Weighing in on the writing issue – the idea of getting a $5.00 card, looking at it for 30 seconds, putting it on the mantel for a week without ever looking at it and then pitching it makes no sense to me, on either the giving or getting end. There are so many clever e-cards you can get and personalizing them via the keyboard where you can EDIT is vastly superior. Most even have a melody or silly cartoon that accompany them and enhance what you are trying to say. I have spent considerable time finding just the right one. A friend of mine says he finds the card section in the store, picks out a card for his wife, gives it to her to read and puts it back. My horrible handwriting pushes me even further over to the electronic option.
Have any of you noticed a degradation of your ability to even write any more now that we QWERTY all the time? I know my grandmother was a good hand with a buggy whip at one time and could churn her own butter but…
Those of you who enjoy the exercise of handwriting notes – ENJOY!
BIG OOOPS!!! I waited patiently until 4:25 before posting my list... Ummm, I am not on CST, am I?? Sorry for jumping the gun, Bill G.!!
No worries. No harm done. It's just meant as a fun diversion. I'm glad you liked it. How about Baba Wawa?
Hello everybody. Wow, I loved this puzzle! Monday easy, but so wonderfully subtle how the "V" and "W" were vividly woven into the fabric of the grid and clues, as well as the answers. Well done, Jeff!
Argyle, thank you for comments and for your dry sense of humor.
As for Ewoks, I am convinced that the Ewok march music by John Williams was inspired by, if not downright plagiarized from, Prokofiev's march from The Love of Three Oranges.
More later, maybe.
Bill,
I had most of these, after checking google maps! But for faraway I just had afar (CW fave), and for balaclava I had panama hat. It was very interesting in Barcelona to see signs in Catalan and compare it with the Spanish. It seemed to bear more resemblance to French than Spanish does.
Kazie: I heard about this Australian Penfolds wind and thought of you, since it is from your home country. Are you familiar with it? Interesting concept, but a bit out of my price range.
What a great puzzle! Clever cluing, loved the theme, but now I'll have to go through the recycling bin and dig out the newspaper so I can see the "V". How did I miss that?
Kudos to you, Jeff, for the puzzle and the book deal (hopefully!).
Anybody watching "The Newsroom", Aaron Sorkin's new HBO series? Just curious.
I wanna buy a Panama hat for myself, after having seen a man in the doctor's waiting room wearing a very elegant one. I most likely wouldn't look as good wearing one as he did.
Hahtoolah, you rock.
Lucina, remind me to tell you about my first kiss some time. Cool that you remember yours. You too, PK.
Greetings!
Fun puzzle and write-up, Jeff and Argyle. Liked the theme!
Yes, I watched the first Newsroom. Something to ponder.
Also watched Endeavor on PBS. I broke up when they showed part of John Thaw's image in the mirror of the car. (Really adored Morse and Thaw.) Anyone else?
The battle with my teeth continues. (Being essentially bedridden can cause terrible problems that need to be addressed.) My temporary crown came off last night. Not able to glue it back in with bad right hand. Harv had to schlepp me to (rather far away) dentist.
The Music Man was the subject of the Merl offering Sunday. Notice that Bill G mentioned it. This puzzle was difficult to work online as the bright pink color used for a woven quote was confusing to my eyes. But, a great puzzle!
Watched Dirty Deeds, the Aussie film. Have you seen it, Kazie? Supposed to be a comedy, but too much killing. Bryan Brown sterling as usual. I shall always remember him from A Town Called Alice.
Cheers!
Ferma,
I haven't Seen that film, but like you, I do like Bryan Brown.
Hahtoolah,
Penfolds is an old, old long established and very well respected wine producer in Oz, but I was not aware of that ridiculously expensive vintage. They have vineyards in all the wine growing areas of Oz.
Fermatprime:
Yes, I love Inspector Morse and watched Endeavor last night. Also recorded the next one which followed immediately and watched it tonight.
I really miss him but Zen is a good substitute. Have you seen those? I truly hope they show us more of Rufus Sewell.
Jayce:
If you wish to e-mail me to relate your experience, please do, otherwise I anticipate reading about it here.
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