Theme: CLIO Awards. 2012 Golden Award winner is Fedex. Wow! I get to blog another one from our Dynamic Duo. Each of the theme entries begins with a word that is a symbol for the iconic entities that they represent. And to make things even more interesting, they have crossed the theme entries with the companies they represent. See Answer Grid here.
20 Across. *Sounds familiar : RINGS A BELL
Crosses with 2 Down. Volkswagon brand : AUDI. These "rings" are very familiar to drivers in Germany. I tried to follow my German partner who was driving one on the autobahn (I was in a little C-Class Mercedes), and I had the pedal to the floor all the way to his house!
20 Across. *Sounds familiar : RINGS A BELL
Crosses with 2 Down. Volkswagon brand : AUDI. These "rings" are very familiar to drivers in Germany. I tried to follow my German partner who was driving one on the autobahn (I was in a little C-Class Mercedes), and I had the pedal to the floor all the way to his house!
59 Across. *Easy place to go downhill : BUNNY SLOPE.
Crosses with 47 Down. Marylin Monroe was its first cover girl : PLAYBOY
10 Down. *Daydreamer : STAR GAZER
Crosses with 19 Across. Thanksgiving Day Parade sponsor : MACY'S. With the famous "star" logo
34 Down. *Easily : HANDS DOWN
Crosses with 52 Across. Auto insurance giant : ALLSTATE
You're in good "hands"...
And finally, 73 Across. What the start of each starred answer is part of, for a company that intersects that answer : LOGO
Brilliant theme, and cleverly executed from our Dynamic Duo.
It's Thursday (where do the weeks fly??), and Marti here to check out what else our Dynamic Duo has served up for us.
Across:
1. Makes the cut, in a way : SAWS. Boom! Right away, we get a devious clue.
5. Soviet news acronym : TASS. Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, or, in Russian: "Telegrafnoye Agentstvo Sovetskovo Soyuza"
9. Boating stopover : ISLET
14. Century threshold : TURN...of the century.
15. Like many churches: Abbr. : ORTH...odox.
16. Class : STYLE
17. Impression : IDEA
18. Empty-vehicle weight : TARE
23. What's left : REST
24. Show done at 30 Rock : SNL. Saturday Night Live.
25. Beneficiaries of some drives : PLEDGEES. I got my "free" CD for just a $100 pledge on PBS...
27. You-here connector : ARE
30. Tree in some Constable paintings : ELM. John Constable (British romantic artist), painted the elms surrounding his home. His most famous, perhaps, is this one of "Dedham Vale" (1802).
32. FDR's mother : SARA. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our 32nd president. Why should we know his mother? She was sixth cousin to his father? And why is his name abbr. as a clue for a full-first-name answer?
33. 180-degree lenses : FISHEYES
36. Valentines Day quantities : DOZENS. Yes, I receive dozens of roses on Valentine's Day...(or else!!!)
40. Utah's gemstone : TOPAZ
41. Jar topper : LID
43. 1992 upstart candidate : PEROT
44. Observes Yom Kippur : ATONES. Yom Kippur is the "Day of Atonement", and the holiest day of the year in the Jewish religion.
46. On one's tax return : REPORTED
48. Durante's "that is" : DAT'S
50. Blue___ : certain strike : FLU. A strike staged as a "sick-out" by groups that normally are not allowed to strike, such as police officers. Hence, "Blue", for the color of their uniforms.
51. 2002 British Open champ : ELS. This clue was obviously written before he won the 2012 British Open last weekend. A great champion, and advocate of autism, which has affected his own family. Known as "The Big Easy", there is probably no one on the PGA Tour who doesn't respect and love him.
56. DOJ enforcer : ATF. Department of Justice: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
58. Favorable : GOOD
64. A noble gas : ARGON
66. Grouse : CRAB. Not me!
67. "I got it!" reactions : AHAS
68. Experiencing reverence : IN AWE
69. First name in fashion : COCO. Do you all have a "little black dress"? (I'm referring to the ladies, Husker Gary!)
70. Country retreats : INNS
71. ___ goat : NANNY
72. One partner? : ONLY. "My One and Only". Have you seen the movie with Renée Zellweger?
Down:
1. Move a bit : STIR
3. Singer of complex songs : WREN. I wish I could sing this well!
4. Impediments : SNAGS
5. "Of course, dude!" : TOTALLY
6. ___ Leagues : ARAB
7. Throat ailment : STREP
8. Natural necklace components : SHELLS
9. Systemic suffix : ISM
11. Baccaluréat awarder : LYCEE. French for secondary education of 15-18 year-olds. We would call it "high school" in the U.S. The accent in baccaluréat indicates the French term.
12. "Family Ties" mom : ELYSE
13. Measures ability in : TESTS
21. Scorn : SNEEZE AT
22. Coveted role : LEAD
26. They don't graduate : DROP OUTS. Surprisingly straightforward clue!
27. Old Spice alternative : AFTA
28. Knee-slapper : RIOT
29. Nickname on the Boston Garden ice : ESPO. Phil Esposito, beloved Boston Bruin. Thanks, C.C. and Don for a home team shout-out!
31. Blanc with voices : MEL. Fun interview including many of our crossword favs with David Letterman. 9:56
35. Isaac Newton, e.g. : SIR
37. One-named Deco artist : ERTE. I definitely associate him with Art Deco.
38. Seasonal song : NOEL
39. Stylebook entries: Abbr. : STDS. Standards
42. HDTV part, briefly : DEF. Hi Def TV.
45. Rough guess : STAB. Like many of my guesses at the entries in this puzzle?
49. Siding plaster : STUCCO
52. "Encore!" : AGAIN. I want an encore from our favorite Dynamic Duo!!
53. Liza's half-sister Luft : LORNA. Liza Minelli, that is.
54. Boston airport : LOGAN. Another Boston shout out!
55. Scandal-plagued energy giant : ENRON. Need I say more?
57. Thrash : FLAIL
60. Salt letters : NACL. NaCl, or Sodium (Na) Chloride (Cl).
61. "Heaven help me!" : OH NO
62. Sudden ache : PANG
63. Canadian gas : ESSO. It's Exxon in the US...
65. Napoleonic marshal : NEY. Dubbed "The Bravest of the Brave" by Napolean, himself.
Answer grid.
And now, I am the tiredest of the tired, so I will bid "adieu" until next Thursday!
Hugs,
Marti
Note from C.C. & Don:
Don came up with this theme while editing a clue I wrote for LOGOs in another puzzle. We wanted the companies to be well-known and the logos iconic. We tried various grids and were quite excited to make one that works.
Don came up with this theme while editing a clue I wrote for LOGOs in another puzzle. We wanted the companies to be well-known and the logos iconic. We tried various grids and were quite excited to make one that works.
69 comments:
Morning, all!
Great puzzle with a great theme. For a change, figuring out the theme was actually crucial to my ability to solve the puzzle.
I managed to get through moist of the grid with no problems, but ground to a complete halt in the NW corner. "Century threshold" meant nothing to me, I didn't know what four-letter car company was owned by Volkswagen, I thought a "complex singer" was referring to a person, and I had no IDEA what type of "impression" we were looking for.
Finally, though, I got the theme and went back to look at the starred answers. That told me that one of the answers intersection 20A must be a company with rings in its logo, and that was enough to RING a bell (pardon the pun) with AUDI. Everything else fell into place very quickly after getting that foothold. I still think the clues were particularly nasty in that section, but I can't complain because I was able to get the job done...
Good Morning, Marti and friends. This has really been a week for clever and unique-themed puzzles. I started off slow, but things moved more quickly on the lower half. I caught on to the theme with ALL STATE and HANDS DOWN. That helped with the AUDI/RINGS and MACY'S / STAR Connection.
I had BUNNY SLOPE, then began to look at the intersection answers. I came to ENRON before PLAYBOY, so was momentarily puzzled. ENRON's logo was a big E (for ego!!), not a BUNNY!
I misread Siding Plaster as SLiding Plaster.
We hadn't seen our friend ERTE in quite a while.
I knew the Napoleonic Marshal = NEY from his appearance in prior puzzles.
In honor of GBS's birthday, here is today's QOD: A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Another stellar week of creativity from the LA Times. I too found the NW a challenge and worked my way around the puzzle ending there.
Marti thanks for the words and pics, it seems the puzzle world is determined to get you back on the BUNNY SLOPE.
Can anyone explain why when the name ESSO was changed to EXXON in the US, back when I was young, it was not changed in Canada, eh?
Now I will have to wait and see what Friday brings.
Good morning, everybody!
WBS. The NW corner was a really tough, and the last to fall. I looked at AUDI crossing RINGS for a long time. The rest came together quickly.
Is it OK to include non-theme companies (TASS, ENRON) in a company-themed puzzle? I guess it must be.
Fun solve, at any rate. Thanks Don, CC and Marti.
Barry, I had exactly the same solving experience as you did. That NW corner was blank for the longest time until I glommed onto the theme. Then the light came on and it all fell into place!
Hahtoolah, not "exactly", but I read siding plaster as "sliding paster". Since I had just seem a video of a runaway inflatable slide at a kid's soccer game on TV, I was thinking "Gee, they really do need to paste those things down, but how do they do it?"
Lemony, I had exactly the same thought when I saw BUNNY SLOPE ("What's with me and bunny slopes lately -- are they trying to tell me I'm getting too old for those double black diamonds??")
Another fabulous theme. Fun puzzle, Dynamic Duo. Fun expo Marti.
My first entry was RINGSABELL. I thought of AUDI as the only car I know of ending in I, but I discarded it thinking it was not a VW brand. I had not yet discovered the theme or read 73A.
I caught on with HANDSDOWN and ALLSTATE. I liked GOOD under ALLSTATE, GOOD HANDS.
I knew SARA because I am a great fan of Eleanor Roosevelt, so I read about her MIL.
The NW was last to fall. When I finally accepted AUDI the rest was easy.
HAHTOOLAH, I have been wondering what your name means.
Thank you Don. G. and CC for a very clever and challenging puzzle. And thank you Marti, for your usual witty and scintillating commentary.... Mel Blanc is a truly creative genius !!
As for the puzzle, I put in 'Golf' for the VW brand, and my ensuing golf game ( if I did indeed play golf - ) was all downhill from there on.... So, I saw the logo on the wall and turned ( to) the Corner. But it was fun following the answers, and I even got a few independently.
Lemonade, the Esso and Exxon variation, ( in various countries ) was due to legal regulatory controls, and you of all people, should be well aware of them... BTW, though 'Gulf Oil' is an anachronism in the US, its logo, in all other countries was purchased, long ago, by a rich Indian in the UK. The intrinsic value of a logo is truly in the eyes of the beholder ( investor).
ALT QOD:- Today, watching TV just provides violence and foul language and that's just over who gets the remote. ~ Donna Gephart.
I also got hung up in the NW, but was able to finish. Some really tough clues here - a borderline Friday puzzle for me.
I didn't know AUDI and Volkswagen were connected. I wanted DIVA for the singer of complex songs. I tried pearls instead of SHELLS for 8D. And I didn't get the inter-connecting theme until I read it here.
Hope everybody has a great day and a wonderful Friday-eve!
For Yellowrocks:
Hah too lah - Hebrew for female Cat.
Hah too loht, would be the plural.
She is also a noted bibliophile, check out her numerous blogs.
Good morning Marti and everyone.
Interesting theme. I got it with HANDSDOWN crossing ALLSTATE, after finally figuring out what was meant at 73a, LOGO. Knew 51A, ELS, after listening to the Brit. Open Golf commentary last weekend. It was prescient that he won again just a few days ago. Liked the LYCÉE clue and fill. Guessed at ELM. 3 ltrs - elm or oak, usually elm. Favorite fill was the SAWS/WREN cross; with another one of your passerines. Initially the puzzle seemed a little daunting, but it came together nicely. Thanks Don and C.C. for a fun challenge.
Good morning all:
All I can say is Wow! This puzzle is amazing; what a clever theme and what fiendish cluing. Hats off to Don and CC. And hugs to Marti for her terrific expo.
I finished without help but had some write-overs. Never knew of the Audi/Volkswagon connection.
Bill G. And Mari: I'm looking forward to tonight's episode of "Suits". I thought last week's show stretched the " salty" language boundaries a bit, but I really like the show.
Happy Friday.
NTP'er here. 34 min, 25 sec, no lookups and no red letter help.
Thank you Don and CC. Didn't think I was going to be able to complete this one. If not for the theme, I might have failed.
AUDI was a quick prove with IDEA for me. Brand versus model. I got hung up in the NE corner with ELYSE and LYCEE but MACYS / STAR got me going. Last fill was the crossing C at COCO an NALC. Simply had a brain cramp on COCO. When previewing the clues, made a mental note of 66A First name in fashion = Yves, Oleg and moved on.
Worked in Houston for a number of years. Exxon, ENRON were customers, as were Gulf, Shell, Texaco, Pennzoil...
Marti, excellent write up ! Loved the links. I remember David Letterman that young.
Have fun today everyone !
Thanks to Don and C.C. for a great puzzle, and to Marti for some fun ilnks.
MEL Blance was a treasure, wasn't he!
My favorite clue was 3D, for WREN, which came easily when I SAW the answer for 1A.
Once in a great while we would miss a college class due to the bottle FLU. Probably caught it while watching SNL. Coneheads, Chevy, Jane, Dan, John, Gilda...miss you guys.
Speaking of 25A, I have a $60 coffee mug.
Don G. & C.C. Thank you very much for a FUN Thursday.
Really enjoyed the "well known" LOGO theme.
Gee, I thought the NW was the easiest part of the puzzle.
Got SAWS off the 'S' in STIR (we've seen the 'Move-a-bit' clue for STIR before), which made AUDI, WREN & SNAGS gimmies.
Hahtoolah: Too funny about ENRON standing for EGOS. lol
Cheers to all at Sunset.
A fun puzzle with clever cluing? Wait, there’s more. Figure out the LOGO connections too. Wow! This gets my Thursday off to a TOTALLY great start, C.C. and Don, especially when coupled with Marti’s lovely expo.
Musings
-If I went skiing, I know Marti would be looking down at me on the BUNNY SLOPES as she is on the lift overhead heading for the black diamond runs.
-I’d rather watch a parade in Pasadena than New York during the holiday season
-TASS? Talk about a house organ.
-Remember the Seinfeld where they argued about whether 2000 or 2001 was the TURN of the 21st century?
-Whether PEROT cost Bush the elder the ’92 election is hotly debated.
-Should my friend have REPORTED his $5 pickle ticket win on his 1040?
-Ernie won the British Open this year while he was in the clubhouse and players on the course were melting down.
-My little black number is in the wash, Marti! All right, it’s a NASA t-shirt but still…
-The battle for the ARAB world is now torn between joining the 21st or 7th century. Everything I read tells me what the young people want to do.
-I always thought we could decrease DROP OUTS if the curricula were tailored to their populations
-The main difference I see in HDTV is that you can see more facial flaws. I first saw HDTV at EPCOT in the 90’s on $50,000 sets in a dark room.
-I remember paying to either go out to LOGAN or to drive into Boston and free the other way. Still that way?
-I’ve posted a couple of times how ENRON took my uncle’s money and soul.
-The 1938 movie of GBS’s Pygmalion was on TCM the other night. Much of the dialogue made it to the 1964 version where some were sung!
Husker G., you can still escape from the city for free, but you have to pay an "entrance fee" to get in. That's how I look at it, anyway...
marti, huh? entrance fee? anyway, In honor of it being Thursday and you and the DD being reunited, my LOGO for today is a potato I bought which came as a natural heart shape.
Ernie Els, like Doug Flutie has a child with autism and has done much to increase awareness and raise money.
Lemon - c'mon. The logo looks more like an Irish washerwoman bending over a laundry basket.
Except for that pesky NW corner I didn't have much trouble today.
Once I got LOGO everything pretty much fell into place.
Out of town last weekend and still trying to get back on track with everything.
Weather is going to be a balmly 94 today. Compared to other areas we're in great shape.
This was an amazing puzzle, though I DNF the NW. Like Mari, I did not know AUDI was VW.
As we often say, in my house, "Quasimodo - that's a name that RINGS A BELL."
GROUSE = CRAB, like ape = parrot. Only in Crosswordland.
When I saw Newton and had -IR, I asked myself, "Do they really want vIRgin? - No, SIR. Isaac, the original nerd.
Here in Utica, where we now have 10% of the population Bosnian, STUCCO is used on every house they buy and fix up, and with diamond shapes or rhombi for detail. It's a wonderful thing, since these houses would have been torn down. They even have a mosque next to city hall. It used to be an empty church.
Another group of painters which favored ELMs was the Hudson River School. The ELM cuts a wonderful figure, as it is reminiscent of an Egyptian fan.
Wow, how clever of our DD this morning! I'm afraid too clever for me. I failed to really follow what "that answer" referred to, and although I filled in all the theme answers, never really understood the wonder of it all. I couldn't get beyond CATH for ORTH, so 5D never fully came together either. I also took longest over the NW corner.
Le Bac, as the French refer to it, is a rather daunting experience for most, with about a 40% failure rate. You need it to get into université, however, so many who are determined, come back for a maximum of 2 extra possible tries at it. At least that's how it was in the '70s when I was in Montpellier. The exams actually making up parts of it differ according to the students' study areas/specialties.
Lemon @ 9:55
I was thinking that your avatar was a corn nut, that crunchy little tooth-breaking snack!
Not too difficult today except for 48A. I kept reading it as Dante so I spent valuable brain energy looking for Italian or Latin words or abbreviations. Maybe I need to get my glasses checked.
Lemony, your avatar is upside down. Btw, some communities are banning those from hanging off the rear bumper.
Lemon @ 9:55, Husker was asking if you still have to pay a toll either into or out of Boston. It used to be that you had to pay both ways. But traffic would get so backed up in the Callahan tunnel, that they decided to change it so that you only pay to go into the city (double what it used to be, BTW), but going out of the city is free.
Funny potato - it does kinda look like a washerwoman, or maybe a lady picking weeds in the garden?
Hi all,
I didn't get the theme until the LOGO clue, and even then I needed a lot of susses.
I only got BUNNY and PLAYBOY from the logo hint. I was trying to match the BELL with A.T.&T. and didn't see RINGS. Does that give awaqy my age? What gets me is that A.T.& T. was broken up into "mini-bells" and is now reuniting again.
I believe the abundance of terms for what was the Standard Oil Company was due to another court ordered anti-monopoly suit. My Ohio version went to SOHIO. Later, of course, British Petroleum bougnt them out so they are now BP. I really hated the Sohio Blue and Red color scheme being turned over to the Green of BP. I boycotted them for a while, until they were the first in my area to take credit cards at the pump.
Does anyone recall waiting forever behind three people ahead with credit cards inside the gas station? Or not pumping your own gas? I guess it was a trade off. Now I have to remember to check my oil myself.
Hope all are having a good Thursday.
One of the best puzzles I've ever done... and I've done a whole lot of em...
Back to my cave now.
WJS, congrats CC&Don.
Thanks Marti for the write up.
Lemonade714 - I remember at least in Texas going from Humble Oil, to Enco, to Exxon, all keeping (I think) the same mascot (logo) to put a tiger in your tank.
I can just imagine what our DFs & DFettes could do with some these clues and answers.
L8R
Well, as usual I got the puzzle without "getting" the theme at all until Marti's great write-up--with wonderful pictures! I had ALLSTATE insurance for years but never noticed the HANDS DOWN. Guess I'm not very observant. But I love C.C. and Don's puzzles, always, so this was still great fun.
Most houses in our part of Southern California are covered in STUCCO, so that was a gimme for me. And Hahtoolah, cat-girl, thanks for reminding us of George Bernard Shaw, a favorite wit of mine.
Have a great Thursday, everybody.
I also had trouble with the NW but got it when I looked up the words that spelled ?t??e.
Good day, Marti and all cyber friends. Witty blogging as usual, Marti.
And another brilliant opus from the Dynamic Duo! I am IN AWE! It took a while to get a foothold but started with TASS then MACY'S and little by little filled in here and there until LOGO revealed the theme. Then I completed some partially filled answers. So very clever!
Ditto for thinking about AT&T at RINGS A BELL.
Thought 11D would be ECOLE but of course MACY'S precluded that. Thank you for explaining LYCEE, Kazie.
Thank you, Don and C.C. for treating us to your STYLE.
Lemonade, I think you could sell that heart shaped potato on E-Bay for mucho dinero.
Have a really great Thursday, all!
1:22pm, & i only just finished the puzzle. & i started early this am using red letter! i tried to read the write up, but i need a nap because this puzzle wore me out!
I just wanted to give my input before i read others opinions because it would have skewed my slant.
50A Blue Flue???
72A 1partner = only?
44A observes Yom Kippur, i put jewish, but atones was excellent!
21D sneezes at = scorn (oh somebody pls come up with a better clue!)
46A on ones tax return? i realize thursday should be hard,,, but reported? ouch! it's like you guys work for the IRS!
The entire NW gave me fits! My daughter asked me to pick her up from the YMCA, & i forgot to pause the red letter page. (i never saw the clock roll over before!)
Anyway, i am going to take a nap before i can read all the reviews, but "Pledgees" Really!!!
(if i dont wake up from this nap, somebody put a "DNR" on me pls....)
Hello everybody. Fun puzzle and writeup today. Rich and team have been producing some top-notch work these past couple of weeks.
Hand up for solving the NW corner last. And hand up for seeing ENRON before seeing PLAYBOY and wondering what a BUNNY had to do with it. Also hand up for thinking of YVES and OLEG before COCO.
When Hahtool changed her name to Hahtoolah many moons ago, I made a lame joke about congratulating her on her sex change.
Best wishes to you all.
Hahtoolot is the plural form only if there are more than one female cats. If there are more then one male cat, or if there is a mixture of male and female, then the plural is hahtoolim.
You guys are so smart.NEVER got the theme and DNF. Great commentary, Marti.
This was a fun but hard Thursday for me. I always start in the upper-left corner but it turns out that was the most difficult part for me. So it was a slow start but by the time I got to other parts I started rolling along. Great theme. Thanks for the excellent writup Marti.
I just got back from taking my son to pick up his Jeep at the dealer. It needed some major engine parts replaced. That doesn't bode well for its reliability I'm afraid.
Baseball mix-up
(I immediately thought of C.C. for this puzzle.)
Every answer is the name of a Major League Baseball team. You are given anagrams of their names, each with one letter added. For example, given “dress,” the answer would be “Reds.”
Steam, years, Scuba, adverbs, gristle, costars, sparked, snake eye, stockier, rose oils, blithe cats, herd dogs.
Misty,
I have the same problem with noticing logos. For ESSO I was trying to remember if it was associated with the flying red horse, which hasn't been around for ages, but it's still used for the speed pass spots at Mobil and Exxon stations. But that wasn't even a starred clue. That's how out of it I am today--I was looking for something in that corner to cross the word LOGO.
I'm the non sports fan who just enjoyed a great soccer match between Gabon and Switzerland. I was rooting for the underdog Gabonese, since I have little tolerance for the Swiss temperament. But finishing in a draw hopefully means both teams advance. Does anyone know? Soccer's about the only team sport I enjoy--it's a lot faster than most.
@kazie
The Flying Red Horse is the logo of Mobil Oil. Exxon and Mobil merged a few years ago. BTW their is still a Flying Red Horse adorning the cityscape of Dallas.
Razz
@Kazie Do you dislike just the Swiss soccer team or is it the entire country of Switzerland that has a poor temperament?
Good afternoon, C.C., Marti and gang - C.C., Don, brilliant effort and a most enjoyable solve. Very clever.
Mets, Rays, Cubs, Braves, Tigers, Astros, Padres, Yankees, Rockies, Orioles, Athletics, Dodgers.
Back in Florida to cool off a bit. NE's really getting hammered with heat this year.
Pretty funny, Dennis, but true for all those of you who think it is too hot in So.Fla in the summer.
Really interesting and creepy visual marti for my poor potato
Lemonade, but better than the plumber I was reminded of.
Having been in the ad biz the LOGO theme really tickled me.
Hats off to Don and C.C. not only for the clever idea but the slick execution. Loved how the brand name crosses the LOGO.
If you think about it these answers are really universal, so well known, but not in the least boring in a puzzle.
@Marti, you mentioned a Clio ... yes! These two deserve one!
You, too, for a great write up!
I just woke up from my nap (Aw Nuts!) to find Anon @3:53 (WTF!) Somebody pls help!
Barry G. Sorry your Blog had a wet grid!
Anon @ 8:54, Brain Cramp! ( ooh i know it well!)
Tinbeni,,, NW Easiest! (i want some of what your drinking!)
SpitsBoov,,, LMAO!
Dave, you caught a spam @3:53 before the blog wisked it off to the spam locker. Not seen very often.
Dennis:
You had to go to the plumber; and I was trying to be nice to marti....oh well time to cook the damn thing
I missed half of my notes, i wanted to say i'm outta here like a cat in a rain storm! (or,) never look in a mirror darling,,, it makes no difference whats behind you!
Tanks for the Mel Blanc interview!
(no it is not a spelling error)
OMG! Letterman had hair!
(i can't remember what Su Si Sew meant, but i am sure it was funny if a made a note of it...)
Sorry. Hey, at least I didn't make a crack about it...
You guys crack me up!!
anon @ 3:26,
I've just had a bad taste in my mouth ever since I got ripped off for a whole tank of gas for our DKW in Basel in 1970. The guy put diesel in a tank meant for gas and oil, and after we were stranded on the autobahn when it collapsed in a cloud of blue smoke, and the cantonal police had to tow us off and back to the garage to see what they'd do about it, they refused to do anything and even had the hide to charge for cleaning out the tank and refilling it. At least the cops were nice enough to call the guy a Stier. We were delayed for an extra day on our itinerary as a result.
I've always thought they were pretty smug about their non-commitment to anything except money, and their willingness to screw anyone over to make a fast franc. I know one shouldn't generalize, but my experience and their reputation among other Europeans is hard to disregard.
Oh Well! I can't croak until i finish a Don & CC (We.Thurs.Fri.)
& Especially a Silkie Saturday!
Until then, you are stuck with my links!
50 cents? i dont remember that
Well if the other Europeans feel that way then I guess its okay for you to be that way also.
I have the same attitude towards those Portuguese people!
Aw crap! i wanted to link a Marilyn Pic from that website, but a got a msg that i viewed my free 10 pics & that to see more i had to sign up for something!
Which reminds me, that Decrapifier site has a lot of misleading links to pay sites,,, you have to be careful!
Tonight I have been reading blogs about the lack of friendliness and helpfulness American tourists find in Switzerland. Much of the negative feedback seemed related to urban area. On our trip there we stayed in Davos and mostly hiked in rural areas. We found everyone, shop keepers, inn keepers, strangers on the train, etc. to be friendly and helpful. I have only pleasant memories.
PS Everywhere in the world I have traveled, the rural people are friendlier and more helpful than the urban people, in general.
Yellowrocks,
You're right--rural areas are similar that way no matter where you go. Some of what we encounter in big cities is attitudes that are a kind of local survival system--survival of the fittest. Whereas in the countryside, people have always traditionally had to help each other when disaster strikes. Often when traveling, those differences are perceived as national rather than geographic. Americans often say Parisians are rude and intolerant. Of course trying to use the language can make a world of difference, but most non Parisian French people think Parisians are rude too.
Yep, my experiences with regard to urban and rural people have been much the same yours, kazie and Yellowrocks.
Of course the rural population is friendlier than the urbanites. They're Avg Joes.
My favorite experience in Switzerland was foregoing the day's tour to stay behind in a German speaking town. The townspeople knew less English than I knew German. It was sink or swim for me. They happily and graciously put up with my weak German. (40 years out of college and rusty) Knowing how to say, "I have no money," produced a laugh and saved me from many sales pitches. Even though I was not a potential customer they entertained me.
Similarly, my best day in Japan involved going to a noodle shop where only Japanese was spoken. Staff and customers were very helpful and appreciative of my fumbling efforts.
Both in Japan and Switzerland, these were not urban areas.
There's a cable channel that shows some old shows. I've really enjoyed a few episodes of WKRP. On a whim, I recorded one old Jack Benny show. Geez, I can't believe I ever thought that was funny. None of it even made me smile. It wasn't clever or funny at all, just tired and silly. I was hoping to find it nostalgic but it was more painful than anything else.
Not sure if this has already been linked here.
Bear Web Cam
This camera was recently installed in Alaska's Katmai National Park at Brook Falls. It shows bears competing for salmon in real time.
You might have to refresh a couple of times to get to view it. Probably has too much web traffic. I finally saw a bear catch a salmon just 5 mins. ago. Apparently there is a platform full of people just behind the camera watching also.
Guess I must've gotten some wrong...
Dennis, do you ever get anything wrong? (I don't think so!!)
Tomorrow should be an awesome time to be in London! “Let the games begin!!
Marti, trust me, the list gets longer every day, and it's not pretty.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Don G., and C.C., for a great puzzle. It was fun. Thank you, Marti for the review.
Had no time to do this in the morning. Just finished at 10:30 PM.
It was not a cake walk. But, doable.
Got most of it by jumping around. Thought PLEDGEES was a good one.
Had SCAPE for goat at first. That did not work so I plugged in NANNY.
Liked ATF for 56A.
TARE for 18A is a word we get now and then.
Gotta run. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Dennis your answers were all correct, but I guess Bill forgot to congratulate you.
Like many stereotypes, I have had wonderful experiences in big cities like NYC, LA, Chicago with people helping me find my way, and terribly rude people is small towns. I had a pick up truck pass me on the left going 60 when I had my left turn signal on going into my MIL's driveway on a 25 MPH road. I tried to borrow a nickle in a small town as that is all I lacked for bus fare...People are not all nice, or all bad where ever you travel
Apparently I forgot that congratulations were in order. Yes, all the answers were excellent. I'm hoping those of you that tried it enjoyed the little baseball puzzle. I did also hear from Gary who also had all of the answers correct.
No problem - I wasn't looking for congrats, just proving something I mentioned earlier.
Have a good night....what's left of it.
ATF threw me as I thought, for whatever reasons, they were Department of Treasury enforcers. I need to brush up on my government.
The EPSO threw me too. I was hanging on to ORR for dear life. Since he is the only Bruin I can think of. Well, learning day for me!
Post a Comment