Words: 70
Blocks: 30
Hey~!
Three weeks ago, we had the same constructor coupling, and the
numerical similarities are uncanny; words, blocks, avg. word length,
even the missing letters both number four - this time, we gained the X,
but lost the F. Triple 10-letter entries all around; here's one from
each section -
1A. Florida city with an I Dream of Jeannie Lane : COCOA BEACH - Hey, Dennis, does your "office" have a branch in this town, too?
12D. "Doctor Who" subject : TIME TRAVEL - Never watched it (more of a Hitchhiker's Guide fan); he got around time in his phone box
59A. Titular guys in a 1993 Spin Doctors hit : TWO PRINCES - I liked the song, but I could see which direction music was going, too - and it was away from HeAvY MeTaL - and that's "Titled" for the DF crowd....
26D. Devious General Mills spokescritter : TRIX RABBIT - This guy; broke open the SW when I figured it out. "Silly Splynter, 26 is for kids~!!!" (down, that is)
Onward~!
ACROSS:
11. Ado : STIR
15. An orator's may rise and fall : ADAM'S APPLE - Pondered such things as cadence, volume, enthusiasm, etc.; what if it's a woman speaking? Is she an oratress?? Let's not get too DF here....
16. Skid row denizen : WINO
17. Where a barrister's questions are answered : WITNESS BOX
18. Matadors of the '70s : AMCs - DAH~! Got me - I was thinking "TORI"?, but now I get it - this car; I had the Hornet wagon when I got my license
19. Alien-hunting org. : SETI - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
20. Shade-loving plant : HOSTA - we have some green thumbs here on the blog
21. Pope before Hilarius : LEO I - A WAG, but there's a few choices, still; V, X, PIUS....
22. Game pieces : MEN
23. "The Sorrows of Young Werther" author : GOETHE
25. "Birdman of Alcatraz" Robert __ : STROUD - Another WAG
29. Diamond family name : ALOU - Getting to be as frequent as ALOE
31. One curl, say : REP - arm muscle builders, not hair locks
32. Some racing teams : CREWS - Rowers and oar locks
33. "No difference" : I DON'T CARE
35. Fix firmly : RIVET
- Funny this should be sitting on top of "WWII propaganda name" because
i was trying to squeeze in Rosie (q.v. 14D) the Riveter....
36. Thanksgiving serving : LEG - you know I'll have a "pair" - hi there, Stacey~!
37. Have doubts : WAVER - ah, not Worry
38. WWII propaganda nickname : AXIS SALLY - never heard of her
40. Castle on Broadway : IRENE - Heard of her
41. Eminent leader? : PRE - Almost put TOO much thought into this one; SHORT E?, oh, PRE-eminent
42. De bene __: provisionally : ESSE - Straight Latin
43. "Mask" actor : STOLTZ - I know him as this guy, [drug use & language] or the perverted father from "The Butterfly Effect", not this movie
44. Bow parts with anchor cable openings : HAWSES - I knew what this thing was, but can't remember its name, either - this thing, right Spitzboov??
46. Physical responses : AHs
47. Six-Day War statesman : EBAN
48. Say "cap'n," e.g. : ELIDE - by not saying "cap TEN"
51. "The boy you trained, gone he is" speaker : YODA
55. Chartres cleric : ABBE - Frawnche
56. First ballplayer to hit 50 home runs before the end of August : ROGER MARIS - as always, I defer to our lovely leader for baseball clues; we are getting to October now.... (From C.C.: You've got to watch "61", it's so, so good. There's an annual Roger Maris celebrity golf tournament in Fargo every June. I'll go to watch if Jeter shows up. )
58. Eye-popping profit : PILE
60. Poll closure? : STER - Pollster, again, too much thought; tried "ELLS" - hey, not a bad clue if I were constructing....
61. Part of a typical Western ending : SETTING SUN - also seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
DOWN:
1. Field calls : CAWS - so I guessed MOOS, BAAS, etc....
2. Veterinary patient of Dr. Liz Wilson : ODIE - Did not know comic strip Garfield's buddy had a vet with a name - I think Jon tired to date her, no?
3. League of Women Voters organizer : CATT - WAG; this lady
4. Magazine that excerpted Stephen King's "Firestarter" : OMNI - WAG again - lots of proper names this week
5. Enzyme ending : ASE - learned from doing crosswords
6. Denounced : BASHED
7. Scanner brand : EPSON
8. Manhunt initiators, briefly : APBs - ah, a thing, not a person; All Points Bulletin
9. Small, tight group : CLOT
10. Its internal angles total 720 degrees : HEXAGON
- had to do some math; triangles are 180°, squares 360 ( 4x90° ) -
confidently put in OCTAGON, which worked with ALOU; but then the math
was wrong; 8 x 45 = 360 again, so I went back and changed it
11. Marshland tract : SWALE
13. Hard to follow : INCOHERENT - just good long fill
14. She played Spike Lee's girlfriend in "Do the Right Thing" : ROSIE PEREZ
22. Thing not to miss : MUST SEE - not just NBC, either
24. Gets the jump on : OUTWITS
25. Dumps : SCRAPHEAPS
27. Like home runs nowadays : REVIEWABLE - hey, C.C., I did not
know this; once upon a time, there was a sport played with a frozen
rubber disc; some of the goals scored there were reviewable....
28. Is short : OWES
29. "Rolling in the Deep" singer : ADELE
30. Lacking pep : LOGY - another word learned doing crosswords
33. Reformers' targets : ILLS
34. "__ nome": "Rigoletto" aria : CARO
39. Maintains : ASSERTS
43. Shepherd of "The View" : SHERRI
45. Twisted look : SNEER
46. Crackerjack : ADEPT
49. Eponymous hardware store founder Lucius : LOWE
- Don't shop there unless forced to; I used to work at Home Depot, and
so did one of my Ex-GFs; she would say she "bleeds" orange
50. "__ Stripes": Cash song : I GOT - I will leave it to you to link the song....
51. Masculine principle : YANG
52. Middle-earth soldiers : ORCS
53. Almighty, to a 55-Across : DIEU
54. The Y, e.g.: Abbr. : ASSN - The YMCA, Young Men's Christian Association - no Village People earworms, please....
Hey~! We are getting close to finishing the church ramp - I figure two more weeks ~!
Splynter
65 comments:
I'm not into Garfield enough to be 100% sure, but here's how I believe it goes:
For a long time, Jon tried to date Liz, and while she accepted as often as declined, the date either went or didn't go, but stayed there.
At some point in recent years, Liz and Jon actually started seriously dating, perhaps due to peer pressure from fans who liked Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the films.
Between ROSIEPEREZ, TIMETRAVEL, and TRIXRABBIT, this would've been a much more pleasurable solve if I'd done it "the hard way", but most of it was done in the red. :(
Hello Puzzlers -
Began this one at bedtime, but the grey cells had other plans. Only got about 30% filled before putting it away. After a decent rest, I picked it up and voilà ! A solid no-peeky.
Plenty of unknowns, of course. Other than Yoda, every single name was a mystery. The south proved stubborn until the light came on with Elide, which led to Lowe, who the rode off into the Setting Sun.
All in all a good example of a Saturday. Thanks, Splynter, for your continued Saturday service!
Morning, all!
This one slapped me around something awful. I had MIAMI BEACH at 1A and things went downhill from there. The sheer number of obscure names, titles, etc. just really wore me down. HOSTA, TWO PRINCES, SHERRI, CARO, ESSE, I GOT, and even AXIS SALLY were completely out of my wheelhouse. EBAN, LOWE, ABBE, GOETHE, AMCS, HAWSE, etc., were barely in my wheelhouse, but didn't reveal themselves easily.
I did finally manage to get the entire grid filled in, but didn't get the *tada* at the end. I thought about double checking all my answers, but then decided I DON"T CARE. Turns out I misspelled STOLTS/ROSIE PERES.
Good morning, weekend warriors!
This one turned into pitched twenty-minute battle. But I finally won. My major missteps were putting TOKYOROSE where AXISSALLY should have been, and HOBO where WINO belonged.
Does anybody know why there's such a street in COCOA BEACH? Does Barbara Eden live there?
I remember Burt Lancaster playing Robert STROUD, lo those many years ago.
I GOT Stripes was a gimme. I always liked to segue out of a Preparation H commercial and right into another of Johnny's hits -- Ring of Fire.
I suspect it's time for Spitz to post a fractured legend involving Rabbis and Trids.
There was really a nice variety of long fill today -- refreshing. I enjoyed your expo, Splynter.
Another 4 AM puzzle. When I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, I seem the sharpest, but then I don't know much in the evening. Nice challenging Sat and interesting blog. Thanks Splynter and Doug.
I got my start in the NW quadrant with STER, EBAN, HAWSES, RABBIT. I knew the rabbit was from TRIX, but was slow to use that as his name. The X gave me AXIS SALLY.
My ex loved WWII films on TV and now my son and grandson love anything about WWII. So I knew AXIS SALLY.
YODA, ORCS, ASSN, SETTING SUN, ELIDE set up the SE, the easiest part for me.
I knew HEXAGON and CAWS in the NE which led to WITNESS BOX, CLOT, and HOSTA and then COCOA BEACH.
ADAMS APPLE was cool, a complete surprise.
TIME TRAVEL, STOLZ and AMC were my last entries. I didn’t know that Tornado was a car. Those who know Dr. Who should find that corner easy. I needed many perps to get TIME TRAVEL
I WAGed 3 names and TWO PRINCES, knew GOETHE.
For 33A my first thought for “no difference” was Es macht nichts aus, as we said at home. I have heard a nonGerman (Auslander) or two saying MOX NIX, a corruption of the term. You can even find MOX NIX in Google.
An enjoyable challenge today.
Remember, you asked for it. A young Johnny Cash doing a live version of I Got Stripes.(2:35)
When I turned on the red letters, the puzzle looked like it had measles. I got out of the swamp and into the swale(11D) and that helped a lot.
Wow ! I think we were set up ! After a week of fairly easy puzzles, this was daunting. So much to say, but I'm anxious to see if anyone else found this as tough as I did. I had reasonable hunches for a number of clues, but had such a hard time pulling the trigger without the requisite proof on the first pass. My first fill was WITNESS BOX at 18 Min, 27 Sec on the second pass. Started to go with some of those hunches, but even then... After completing the second pass, had only 5 across words and 10 down words. Brutal !
This puzzle was really tough but so much fun, and I'm glad I stuck with it. Total time was 1 hour, 52 minutes. Did in a clockwise rotation through the quadrants. Suspected TIME TRAVEL for 12 D, but couldn't reconcile it until I replaced "subject" with "theme" rather than "area of knowledge.' Then the perps gave me enough to see INCOHERENT, which made me snicker, because that's how I was feeling by then. Like a blithering idiot. Sheez! Good night IRENE !
ROGER MARIS one of the 5 across words, but soon got SETTING SUN in the Southeast. Knew ELIDE, but TWO PRINCES came via perps, and I zoned on YODA and YANG until Y was the only character that made sense.
In the SW, had only STROUD at the top and STER at the bottom. At 38A wanted ROSE, but couldn't get her to agree with anything, and finally remembered Sally, who along with EBAN and ABBE, gave me TRIX RABBIT. Then that area fell.
I'll be back with more comments and a few of my favorites after I read the write up and comments.
Splynter: Great write-up!
I'm looking forward to pictures of the finished church ramp.
The NW & SE fell so quickly I almost thought it would be a breeze. NOT !!!
Dr. WHO & TIME TRAVEL a gimmie.
STROUD I knew was the "Birdman of Alcatraz" since the movie is shown often on TCM.
Got lucky with my WAGS: LEO I, EBAN, ADELE & LOWE.
Hmmmm, a SETTING SUN ... now what could I do at that time???
Probably just enjoy a "toast" to y'all.
Cheers!!!
YR: Tornado? Did you mean Matador? Actually, there was an Oldsmobile Toronado (almost Tornado), an early front-wheel-drive "luxury" car. Olds built 'em for more than 20 years.
Excellent write up Splynter. Thank you, and thank you to today's constructors as well.
Still don't get 9D and will have to look up 30D.
Liked 8D Manhunt initiators = APBS, 28D is short = OWES and 39D Maintains = ASSERTS. On 39D I was off doing maintenance... Found 15A very funny and liked 18A clue/answer.
Oktoberfest starts today !!!
Barbara Eden was in the TV sitcom "I Dream of Jeanie" which was set in Cocoa Beach and at The Kennedy Space Center in the 1960's.
I started off with IN CHAMBERS for where a barrister's questions are answered and EITHER WAY for "No difference". It is fun when there are multiple options on the long answers. Good puzzle, though the names made certain sections hard. Even most of them (GOETHE, STOLTZ, ROSIE PEREZ) I guessed at with a few crossers.
D-O, you said, "This one turned into pitched twenty-minute battle."
Did I misunderstand ? You did this puzzle in 20 minutes ? Whew ! That's impressive.
And we both thought of Tokyo Rose before Axis Sally. After I ditched Rose for Sally, that area fell fairly quickly.
Finally got the thermal fuse for my clothes dryer, so off to the basement.
"By the end of the twentieth century, the "Maytag repairman" character had become an iconic metaphor for a professional whose services are rarely needed..."
I bought a Whirlpool 18 years ago and it needs service already. I think I'll go ASSERT it. That's just wrong.
Good morning all. Splynter, good job; I don't know how you do it.
Awesome # of 10 ltr downs and acrosses. And all filled with words/phrases that, once sussed, are not uncommon. Needed red letter help in the NW with the SETI/CATT crossing. I will always remember EBAN on the nightly news in 1967 during the 6-day war speaking very eloquently in the UN. Never heard of STOLTZ the actor; only stolz the adjective meaning 'proud' in German. Guessed at ESSE and GOETHE.
Not sure I fully understand Splynter's note on HAWSES. The picture depicts a Danforth anchor housed in the hawsepipe (behind the anchor flukes)
desper-otto:
I don't know this for a fact, but I would guess the COCOA BEACH street name is because many astronauts lived in and around Cocoa. It is just 10 miles south of Cape Canaveral (my family and I have watched many launches from there). The male character in I Dream of Jeannie was an astronaut, and many of the streets and buildings (schools, etc.) are named with a space program theme. Perhaps I Dream Of Jeannie was set in Cocoa Beach?
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
Great write-up of a really neat puzzle, Splynter. When I saw LEG at 36A, I immediately thought of you and wondered which image you would link to that one!
NW and SE were the easiest. I didn't know ROSIE PEREZ, but didn't need it with all the solid perps. Didn't remember a "Hilarius" pope, but what else could LE** be but LEO I ??
And even though I don't follow baseball, how could I not know about the Bonds-Sosa steroid scandal with demands to return the home run record to Maris?
My only lookup was to confirm the spelling in the PEREZ/STOLTZ crossing. Like Barry, I wasn't sure if it was "s", but I was leaning more toward the Z. TA DA!
I know it's Saturday because all I got were WITNESS BOX, HEXAGON, HOSTA, GOETHE, LEG, PRE, ESSE, YODA, SETTING SUN, MIN, DIEU, YANG.
I am simply too ignorant of sports, comics, science, old TV and names in general to do Saturdays. This one in particular was full of clues requiring very specialized knowledge I was lacking. One example of specialized knowledge I did have was Goethe, which I doubt too many would know without knowledge of German literature.
Thanks, SSJ and Anon@8:36. I never watched the show, but I did remember Barbara Eden. (Who could forget her?)
I thought GOETHE was tough. I always want to stick an "R" in there somewhere.
TTP, yes today it was 20 and done. I'm seldom that fast on a Saturday. Today just clicked.
Good morning:
If I was prone to headaches, I would be gobbling down Tylenol after grappling with this brain-buster from Doug and Brad. It took me forever to finish and I needed help to do that. Hats off, guys, and good expo, Splynter.
I went astray early on by thinking the clue was The Mask actor, so I put Carrey. And I also had Miami Beach first. The old gray matter was just not working too well this a.m.
Happy first day of Fall.
I hate Saturday puzzles and never thought I'd say it, but this one was even tougher than a Silkie. Aaaarrrggghhh. The only thing I got right off the bat was GOETHE and only a bit of the SW filled in before I had to start cheating. Some of the problems were shared, it sounds like--like TOKYO ROSE instead of AXIS SALLY. I would never have gotten ADAM'S APPLE in a kazillion years--too clever by half. Thank heavens for Sudoku or I'd go into the weekend feeling like a total idiot. But that's the risk of the game!
Have a great weekend, everybody, and I'll try to, too!
D OTTO, Very impressive time. It took me more than twice as long, but no red letter help.
Yes, I meant MATADOR instead of TORNADO. You can tell how little attention I pay to car names.
I posted the wrong quadrants SE, NW, etc. I never mistake these on a map, but always do so in referring to puzzles.
After returning to the Y two weeks ago I have been increasing the number of reps, the amount of weight, and my endurance. I also had been increasing the number of laps I could walk without stopping before my knees would cry Uncle! Today, I was back to only one lap. The number of laps goes up and down. I never felt old before. When I read about an elderly 60+ or 70+ person, I always thought, that’s not elderly. But, hobbling is not the picture of youth.
Thanks for the comments, folks.
Yep, "I Dream of Jeannie" was set in COCOA BEACH. That was my favorite show when I was a youngster, and I still have a major crush on Barbara Eden.
Brad & I are both Yankee fans, so we were thrilled to get the great ROGER MARIS into the grid.
Today's Brad's birthday, so let's all wish him a happy one!
Happy Birthday Brad.
From one Yankee fan to another it will be a pleasure to "toast" you first at the SETTING SUN.
Cheers!
From another Yankee fan, Happy Birthday, Brad, and Doug P., thanks for dropping by.
Twenty minutes, huh?
Impressive...
though not in the way you'd hoped.
Thanks Doug and Brad and Happy Birthday Brad !
D-O, isn't it great when everything just clicks and you can just whiz right through one ? I've had days like that, but they are usually on Monday and Tuesday. I've been doing 4 a day to get better, but today's was really slow for me.
Could be the day I'm having though. Even my part replacement on the dryer isn't going as planned. My biorhythms must be off. :)
Hello, weekend warriors! Thanks, Splynter for your dedicated yeoman duty.
Happy birthday, Brad Wilder! What a nice gift to have your puzzle with Doug published on this day.
Wow! This slapped me in the face and everywhere else. I did manage ADAM'S APPLE and the bottom SE where ROGER MARIS seeped out of some deep recess. Of course SETTING SUN and YODA were easy.
GOETHE emerged as soon as I saw HEXAGON but had to look up other names, STROUD, ROSIE PEREZ, STOLTZ as I just didn't know. Mask was a wonderful movie but I have seen it only once, long, long ago.
So thank you for the challenge, DP and BW. You OUTWITted me.
Have a fantastic Saturday and first day of autumn, everyone! 106 degrees here.
Just like @Misty, but also -
DNF,and after Googling 13 1/2 times (my personal worst) came here. Still got one wrong! CLic became CLOT.
Why didn't I learn from last week and chuck the puzzle before I started?
I did listen to Two Princes and rather liked it.
@desperOtto - The "oe" generally equates with an O mit Umlaut, which tends toward an R sound. We were taught, set your mouth to say A, O or U (depending on the situation) and say E.
FYI The formula for figuring which regular polygon is being addressed is
[(n-2)x 180]/n
"You gotta be kidding" was my response on the first read through this puzzle when I entered NOTHING! What I entered on the second pass had at least one letter to be changed except for WINO. Almost decided to get a bottle and join in so deep was my despair.
Happy birthday, Brad! (She said grudgingly.)
Thanks, Splynter! (She said gratefully.)
Hands up for Miami and Tokyo Rose. I put in Sunset Ride and Silly RABIT.
I read "Garfield" every day but didn't know Dr. Liz had a last name so missed that one.
I'm very proud that I did finally get the NE full 2/3's of the puzzle down to STaLTs.
On the way to the blog I glimpsed an ad for things one can do to avoid Alzheimer's. Probably too late, but think I'd better say aDIEU and go read that ad.
I didn't like the cluing for a lot of the answers in this one. In particular, CLOT, PILE, BASHED, OUTWITS, and LOGY. Actually, I just plain didn't like LOGY.
Like others, had TOKYO ROSE at first. Knew the Germans had a similar propagandist, but couldn't remember her name.
Wasn't it I Dream of Jeanie (or was it Bewitched) where the censors came down hard on an outfit that showed a belly button? How times have changed!
Happy Autumnal Equinox everyone.
Love that cool yin yang symbol! Never seen that one!
I'm new to this. What's a WAG?
Hello everybody. Man oh man this was a hard puzzle, but I liked it a lot. Took 20 minutes times 5 to get it done, but I savored every MIN of it.
Wanted TOKYO ROSE so much I couldn't let it go, which probably ate up 2/5 of the total time. Once I was forced to acknowledge the AXIS part, I couldn't remember "her" name so I pencilled in ANNIE, which simply prolonged the difficulty and made me feel as if I were being held HOSTAge. I began to WAVER, but was having so much fun I thought to myself, "I DON'T CARE" and persevered. Spelling STOLTZ as STOLZE didn't help either. In me the trouble was, not in the puzzle. At least YANG was a gimme. I loves me a sweet YIN.
Happy birthday, Brad Wilber, and thank you both for a fabulous puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for ASSERTing the blog every Saturday, which I imagine is tough to do. Much appreciated.
Southeast was easy, got me on a roll. It was a 30-35 minute solve from there. However Can't count the time because some how I came up with CARA and Staltz instead of Caro and Stoltz. Oh weel there's always next week
by the way much tougher and better puzzle than the NYT today
Symbolizer, WAG = Wild-Ass Guess.
xwordnut, you reminded me that I also put in CARA (even though I knew it should be CARO) because I had CARREY in for 43A at first.
Yellowrocks, I hope your knees continue to strengthen.
My dad would say he was feeling LOGY (long o) when he was feeling sluggish or fatigued.
CLOT used in this way is common.
A CLOT of autograph seekers formed around the pop star.
There is a CLOT of daffodils growing by that tree.
We should take another route because there is a CLOT of cars blocking the intersection up ahead.
Happy birthday, Brad.It was nice to have it published on your birthday. Great puzzle,Brad and Doug.
To Symbolizer, & any other Newbies out there. This Blog has many facets, so many that sometimes it is hard to find things. On the right side, 1/2 way down, under "Olio" (crosswordese for miscellaneous mixture:hodgepodge) is a link titled "comment section abbrs."
CC: Pls note, item #6, WEES preceeded me, i had nothing to do with it. But my favorite (& most used ABBr is "FIW" meaning i finished it wrong! ( did the whole dang puzzle & screwed up one letter) very frustrating, & was also coined by Jayce.
Re: Yesterday, if any of you are stuck homebound on this 1st night of Fall, ABC Family on Cable is showing 2 viewings of Ratatouille. & for the more highbrow,,, channel 13 (wnet-public service) is showing "To Sir With Love" & @ 6:00 Turner Classic Movies is showing "the Time Machine!" (yvette mimieux, yum!)
This was WTTPS for me all the way. For me, it was too hard to be called fun. I am always impressed with how many of you can solve it with no red-letter help. I am impressed with Doug and Brad to be able to create such a V-8 challenge and with Splynter for the excellent writeup.
Nothing much on the agenda for today; perhaps a trip to the supermarket and car wash. Maybe a little letdown after yesterday's close encounter with the space shuttle.
CED, thanks for the heads up. Ratatouille is a lot of fun as are all Pixar movies.
Thanks to Splynter for the writeup. Usually Saturdays are stumpers here & there, but today's went well (except for hawses, no idea there.) Roger Maris was a gimme, of course. The annual 61for61 fund-raiser for Fargo's Roger Maris Cancer Center starts next week. He's buried in north Fargo. People leave baseballs, Yankee caps, etc., at his diamond-shaped tombstone.
Doug, thanks for dropping by. Happy Birthday, Brad!
BillG, I'm still trying to figure out how to turn on red-letter help in my newspaper. I do have an Android tablet, and could work the puzzle on that, but I still prefer to do it the old way -- cup of coffee in one hand, pen in the other.
The Roger Maris headstone.
Off subject, and I'm sure no one is waiting in anticipation, but the dryer is now fixed.
I'm sure a pro could have done it much less time, but the $100.00 fee for showing up and $30 diagnostic fee didn't seem worth it after watching this video and finding a couple of other very helpful sites.
Can't quite come up with one of those "Priceless" shorts, but excluding my time, the grand total was $3.43.
Dave, thanks for the kind words yesterday.
Lemon, I think you caught the essence of this blog exactly. If someone does not subscribe to that philosophy, they can follow the punch line of the old vaudeville routine.
“Doctor, doctor it hurts when I do this!”
“Then…”
Just back from Lincoln and will blog in a bit.
Well today was a learning experience! All the things i wanted to complain about seem to be perfectly legit with the dictionary.
48A Elide, ok, learning experience.
9D Clot, (Tx Yellowrocks, without your input i would have complained bitterly about the clueing, & made a nitwit out of myself.)
30D Logy??? (well, if the dictionary says so...)
I am embarrassed to say, but 17A, i had WITNESSBO-, & could not get it! 10D was no help, because i am obsessed with the water molecule's hydrogen bond angle of 109.5 degrees. (how did they figure out a water molecule looks like Mickey Mouse ears when no one has ever seen it?) ( & better yet,,, why?)
I guess the only thing i can complain about is that "X" is toward the end of the alphabet, & took a lot of WAG's to get to...
STOLTZ, Memphis Belle, Sgt Danny Daly ( rear, 3rd from right)
Stoltz, Mad about You, would you believe this is the best pic i could find? It may be from behind, but i can tell it's him.
Stoltz, Caprica
I had the NW/NE/SW done and was driving my grandson to soccer practice in Lincoln. “Hey, Papa, 29 Down is ADELE.” Well that changed YAM to LEG and I got ‘er done. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to construct these symmetric monsters. Well done, Doug and Brad!
Musings
-NASA, KSC and bad TV experience made Cocoa Beach a snap
-HOSTAs abound here on north side of house
-STROUD was fabulous with his birds but not so much with his fellow homo sapiens
-Two worst phrases from kids for me, “I DON’T CARE” and “I don’t know”.
-It’s so hard for me to honor the pharmaceutically enhanced men who supplanted ROGER
-CAWS visits again with more direct cluing. Variety is the spice of life.
-Not Elizabeth Stanton CADY
-I remember ROSIE playing JEOPARDY in White Men Can’t Jump
-NFL games are taking much longer because sub refs are looking at anything that is REVIEWABLE
-When horse racing was big in Omaha (15,000 people/day), Who Doctor Who was a very successful thoroughbred
-Huskers ahead 45 – 0 over Idaho State at half. Yeah, I know, Idaho State, but the ISU Bengals get their biggest payday of the year.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Doug and Brad, for one tough puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for the review.
Took me a while. I had to look a few up. Too tough for me.
ROGER MARIS was easy.
TIME TRAVEL was hard.
ROSIE PEREZ was difficult.
I am sitting here in Bloomington, IL. Getting ready to bongo a banquet. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Happy Birthday, Brad! Rich also published one of my puzzles on my birthday this year. Coincidence? I don't think so!!
Gary: Foods that start with Q, Alex...
Another recent bad word from kids, especially students in a classroom, 'Whatever!' I hated that.
A baseball manager got really pissed off at an overpaid rookie who had a bad attitude and had made another base-running blunder. The manager yelled at him, "Do you know what's wrong with you? You're ignorant and apathetic. Do you know what that means?"
The rookie answers back, "I don't know and I don't care."
desper-otto@2:57:
LOL about your trying to find red letter help in your newspaper! That exactly describes my dilemma as well.
My unasked-for advice for Desper-otto and Lucina would be to do all the puzzles by hand except for Saturday (and maybe Friday) where the red-letter help might be the difference between finishing and not finishing. I would much rather use red letters when absolutely needed than just give up on a puzzle.
As often happens, I was watching a YouTube link and it led me to another link and then another and... I finally ended up here, at Robin Williams describing Scotsmen and their invention of golf. It's probably the funniest routine I've ever heard. I've still got tears in my eyes. Please don't go here if you'll be offended by the 'F' word 'cause he shouts it a lot. I've probably linked it once before but I can't help myself. A Scotsman invents golf.
Happy Birthday, Brad! Hopefully, you can remember this interesting and unique collaboration with Doug as a milestone birthday!
I took at least as long as Jayce to finish the puzzle and used red letter help to boot.
I enjoyed Spylnter's write-up. I spent quite a bit of time researching AXISSALLY and Carrie Chapman CATT. Interesting history!
Enjoyed clue "hard to follow" and its fill INCOHERENT. Gave me flash backs to my Microbiology professor.
Enjoying this lazy weekend at home. Hope everyone is having a good day.
I am sorta non plussed by those who don't accept LOGY because they have never seen it before. I view terms I have never met as new acquaintances, instead of as imposters. I assure you that LOGY is not merely an obscure dictionary term. We used it in our family ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
Link logy
YR, on a Saturday morning, after celebrating "TGIF", I always feel LOGY!!
Zero!
If LOGY came from Dutch "log" meaning heavy or cumbersome, it would make sense that I know it because we have a lot of words that came from Dutch in this area. KILL for creek and VLY for swamp.
Sorry. That was a different countdown.
Zero!
Yellowrocks, so cute, you knee high to a grasshopper.
We always called the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia the Surekill Expressway. Lots of crashes on that road.
I like the Dutch. My current BFF is Dutch. Well he's American, but he immigrated from the Netherlands. For some reason, probably because of my last name, he always assumed I spoke German. Now he knows I don't.
I'm a tad LOGY at the moment. Have been enjoying a nice bottle of Pinto Noir. Cheers to you all!
Just finished a book by Richard Dawkins. Man oh man that guy has an ego as big as Siberia, but when he sets his ego aside he does make a good argument.
Fond wishes to you all.
I have always used LOGY to describe myself when tired or fatigued in a certain way as YR has said. One of the modern Dutch words for 'cumbrous' is 'log'. I guess this is an example of the richness of the English language. Instead of saying 'tired' or 'fatigued' a word like 'logy can denote a more exact nuance of meaning.
Evening all, When I saw the names Doug & Brad on this puzzle I almost didn't do it. But what yoda once said, "Let go of your fears" I got her done in about 45 minutes.
Bill G. that clip was funny! I heard that almost all of Robin's standup comedy was adlibed because of his mentor / idol Johnathan Winters. What. no comment about Barbara Eden? I guess blondes aren't for you, huh? :-)
Bill G:
Thank you for that advice. But, what, not finish a puzzle!!! Who does that? Believe me, I persevere on even the most difficult and challenging puzzle until the bitter end.
And it gives me supreme satisfaction to see my handiwork completed on paper. I just don't see myself ever doing one on the computer.
If I have given the impression that a puzzle was unfinished, I beg your pardon. That does not happen.
Bill G., Robin Williams + Golf,,, "f"n hilarious!
I tried to find an image for "logy", but honestly, it's just not out there!
I dream of Jeannie's belly button, that's another one that's just not out there. i did find controversy though!
Belly
Button
It took a lot of research, but it turns out that Barbara Eden "does" have a belly button!
Seriously! Don't shop at Lowe's. I DON'T bleed orange and resent your using your crossword blog to promote Home Depot and denigrate Lowe's. Won't visit your blog again!
That is one man's opinion and he's entitled to it as you are your's. You should note it isn't his blog but that probably doesn't matter to you.
Too bad you won't be back because I'm curious how you came to find that one comment in a month-old puzzle.
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