Theme: Daffynitions from marti's dictionary:
Each of the four grid-spanning theme answers are definitions of very silly clues, which are puns, soundalikes and all together rib-tickling clue/fill pairs. Between her puzzles and her write-ups, you all should be familiar with the divine miss m's style which favors a heavy dose of humor. There are some bonuses, and the fill is not always easy, nor always hard, but it is Friday, so let us attack this feast of punnery and chowdah.
17A. Buccaneer?(BUCK AN EAR): TOP PRICE FOR CORN (15). This is the oldest joke among marti's theme, usually punchlined as "a helluva price for corn", but that is not pc for cwd. My guess, this was her seed entry, not that corn comes from seeds.
25A. Pasteurize? (PAST YOUR EYES): TOO FAR TO OBSERVE (15). One you might have to think about quite a bit, it took me the longest of the theme to grok.
42A, Propaganda?(PROPER GANDER): RESPECTFUL GOOSE (15). For all of the New England members of the Corner with ties to BAHSTON this was easy, for the rest I am sure it was very hard.
54A. Melancholy? (MELON COLLIE): PINKISH SHEEP DOG (15). Another thought provoking one, first you have to know that the color melon is pinkish.
and then you have to realize Collies were bred to herd sheep, so it is SHEEP DOG, not sheepdog. Of course melons make me think of this classic
and of course for Dennis and the rest, it is the season for WATERMELONS.
Across:
1. Emulate a sous chef : PREP. Well, gee. I can start with a nit, as the SOUS (from the French meaning UNDER, you can always remember from French 101, La plume de ma tante est sur la table, La maƮtresse de mon oncle est sous la table) is 2nd in command and does more bossing than prepping.
5. Alcohol awareness-raising org. : MADD. Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
9. Lands by the sea : CAPES. Like Cape Cod, Cape Horn etc.
14. Facetious "I see" : AH SO. Perhaps a bit un-PC in this modern world.
15. Farm fraction : ACRE.
16. Troop formation : ARRAY. Oldtime word of the MILITARY.
20. IRS info : SSN.
21. Jackie's designer : OLEG. Cassini, who created and perfected the Jackie look.
22. Wikipedia policy : NO ADS.
23. Part of a flight : STEP. Of stairs.
24. Vendetta : FEUD. Another nit, to me Vendetta go only one way, feuds are equal opportunity destruction.
32. SASE inserts, sometimes : RSVPS.
33. "Sweet!" : NICE. My kids use both.
34. Feel poorly : AIL. A wish of good health for our legion and their families.
35. Like many college texts : USED. ironically many of the used texts never were used.
36. MapQuest owner : AOL. Rival to google maps.
37. "So Big" author Ferber : EDNA. A strong and inspiring WOMAN along with being entertaining.
38. A, in Austria : EIN.
39. Fishing hook : GAFF. Not a fish hook at the end of your line but
41. Hilarious : A RIOT.
46. Donald, to Dewey : UNCA. We called my uncle, UNC.
47. Masters statistics : PARS. Ahh, but we roar for the eagles.
48. Coffee go-with : DONUT. Especially if you like Dunkin'
50. Right on el mapa : ESTE. East in Spanish, el mapa sounds like Three Stooges' Spanish.
51. IV-covered areas : ERS. A bonus pun IV (IVY) covered Emergency Rooms.
57. Consumed : EATEN.
58. Wall St. debuts : IPOS. Initial Public Offerings.
59. Reject, in a way : JILT. In a way, wow.
60. It's "when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie" : AMORE. DEAN (2:12) . For marti
61. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. Another strong WOMAN.
62. Catches on : SEES. Halfway done, everyone see where she went?
Down:
1. Tom Brady's team, to fans : PATS. Another New England reference from Massachusetts' own.
2. Frat letters : RHOS. Not to be confused with ROW, ROW your boat.
3. Place to watch the 1-Down : ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.
4. Break noisily : POP. goes the weasel.
5. "Marilyn: A Biography" author : MAILER. Norman is back.
6. Say yes : ACCEPT.
7. Barrel-bottom bit : DREG. Never thought of this as a singular word, I wonder if it is related to DRECK?.
8. Hi-__ : DEF.inition. (semi theme hint).
9. Party hearty : CAROUSE.
10. Skee-Ball spot : ARCADE. Ah, those were the days.
11. Cow poke : PROD. Cute, just reminds me of the Mentalist episode where Patrick was held by the DAUGHTER (2:36) of a man he sent to jail.
12. Big-grin borders : EARS. Conflict with the theme entry?
13. Thesaurus entry: Abbr. : SYN. onym.
18. Rosters : ROTAS. Latin meaning wheel.
19. Year in Augustus' reign : ONE BC. This reminded me of the One BC I loved, and a hint to her mind..
23. "Monk" org. : SFPD. San Fransisco Police Department. The show starring Tony SHALHOUB (1:42).
24. Frustrate : FOIL. What did the leftover meatloaf say to the baked potato? Curses, foiled again!
25. More faithful : TRUER.
26. "Do the Right Thing" actor Davis : OSSIE. Da MAYOR(0:24).
27. Hot spots : OVENS. Not WIFI, but literal.
28. Switch type : ON/OFF. This clue really clicked with me, especially followed by...
29. A ham might be on one : RADIO.
30. Chiantis, e.g. : VINOS. Italian for wine.
31. Cheer : ELATE. Not related to etrade.
36. Colgate-Palmolive shaving lotion : AFTA. Which is AFTER (unless in BAHSTON) shave lotion.
37. Cupid's counterpart : EROS.
39. Suitable for a serious collector : GENUINE. hey Dennis, did all the collectibles survive the move?
40. S&L units : ACCTS. Accounts.
41. Bury the hatchet : AGREE. Which you do at the end of a feud.
43. Sex Pistols fan, e.g. : PUNKER. meh.
44. Outcome : UPSHOT.
45. Up-to-date : LATEST. These days you get to have the latest for about two months and something newer and better is out.
48. Geom. figure : DIAMeter.
49. Aware of : ON TO.
50. Beantown hockey nickname : ESPOsito. Back in Massachusetts with Phil, his brother Tony was the Chicago Blackhawks goalie.
51. Actress Falco : EDIE. She went from the Soprano to NURSE JACKIE (2:40).
52. It's assumed : ROLE. Wanted name, but...
53. Pvt. instructors : SGTS. A little military misdirection.
54. Space cadet's brain size? : PEA. Generous.
55. Pronoun that's a homonym of a song : HIM. Hmm, hymn.
56. Under-cover duds? : PJS. It is just about time for me to slip into mine (or someone's), and off to sleep, so I hope you have had a good journey, for those of us perhaps in the path of the hurricane, be safe. I hear it is headed to New England this week, so all of you be careful. It is time for marti and I to say bye for now, but first here is her constructor comment:
This puzzle was inspired by a comment that Grumpy1 made several months ago. You can find his comment at 10:41 on March 31:
"...I always liked Wiley's Dictionary in the BC comic strip. Hmmmmm, a crossword theme of clues according to Wiley? That could be fun."
Notes from C.C.: Part III (Venice) of JD's trip.
Bob (JD's wonderful husband) & Dick (an old blog regular) |
She said:
"We stayed in Venice for 3 days, and I had no idea that there were 119 islands. We went to the village of Burano on one of them where lace is made. Their houses were brightly painted, so in the past, men coming home from the seas could find their home. If there were 2 families living in a house, it would be 2 colors. Some were 4 colors- unique!
Here is Bob and Dick in our gondola ride. It was not as smooth as I thought it would be, especially when a water ambulance went by and made waves. St. Mark's Square is VERY crowded,and the Doge's Palace is huge... filled with beautiful paintings, statues, architecture, and lots of stairs. As you can see their buildings are constantly being restored.
Click here for more pictures. The first picture there is Bob & JD.
59 comments:
Greetings!
Great puzzles, yesterday and today! Thanks so much, Elizabeth and Marti! (Took awhile to suss today's theme, but yesterdays was lots easier.) Thanks for swell write-ups, Marti and Lemonade!
It is cold and lonely here. Harvey came back and promptly caved in at his home from exhaustion, with a cold to boot. Hardly any food around here.
Learned of an herb to stave off Alzheimers. One has to give up antidepressants and other things. This blog helps to relieve depression, though! Thank you all (and, of course, CC, w/o whom there would be no blog).
Enjoyed seeing your excellent pictures, JD. Thank you so much!
My very best wishes for your daughter's recovery, Blue Iris.
I thought that Elementary was much better than previously last night. But not sure that I can stand the way Jonny Lee Miller is dressed/groomed indefinitely. A far cry from Bernard Cumberbatch.
Cheers!
Morning, all!
This one was right up my alley. Not only do I love puns, but the first theme answer matches a shirt I designed years ago for my online store, so I got it right off the bat.
I also really appreciated all Massachusetts references (ESPO, PATS and CAPES).
Lots of fun, tricky clues as well to keep the whole thing interesting.
Bravo, Marti!
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Wow, Marti! You really gave me a run this morning. After making several passes, I finally saw the light with the Buccaneer/BUCK AN EAR gimmick. I loved it!
I initially tried Gets instead of SEES for Catches On.
My favorite clue was Hot Spots = OVENS.
Today many college texts are electronic. Most of my college texts were used, and as Lemonade noted, most were in prime condition!
We were living in France when "Do the Right Thing" came out. It didn't translate well. I do remember OSSIE Davis in that film, though.
I hope everyone in the NorthEast is safe from the Frankenstorm that is headed that way. A snow storm is beginning to be an annual event for Halloween.
QOD: I close my eyes when I sing so I can feel the song better. ~ Mahalia Jackson
14:18. Patting myself on the back for a relatively quick (for me) Friday solution. Whenever I see the price of corn I remember my mother (who will be 94 next Monday) telling me that, when she was a kid in Western Massachusetts, corn was "a penny an ear". So they practically lived on corn while it lasted.
The IV-Covered Areas = ER has a special meaning for me this week. My husband had an IV in the ER room earlier this week. I was out of the country when he was suddenly overcome with an excruciating pain, so drove himself to the ER. It turns out, he had a kidney stone. He didn't tell me about his adventure until after I returned home.
Wow, I whipped right through this one in Saturday solving time. I thought it was the toughest Friday in recent memory. Thanks for humbling me, Marti.
I started off badly with CHOP instead of PREP and things went south from there. Hand up for GETS/SEES. And why does ESPO make me think of Montreal?
Buccaneer came easily; pasteurize, not so much; melancholy, barely at all. I finally finished it, but it was a battle all the way. That doesn't bode well for tomorrow.
Hahtoolah,
Our thoughts for a quick recovery for your hubbie, seems like there are many stones out there.
Fermatprime
Hang in there.
After yesterday's fine puzzle, I had an inkling that we would be hearing from Marti again, sooner than later. Her closure, "Until next week, see you !" gave me that feeling. A purrfect Friday feat. Thrown askew in a few places, such as entering Wines rather than VINOS, edge rather than AFTA, stop instead of STEP, and into rather than ONTO, but stuck with it and found my errors in due time. Filled TOP PRICE FOR CORN mostly with perps and was a bit slow on the uptake. Then Doh ! I was on alert for the other grid spanners.
I didn't have time to blog yesterday, but wanted to comment that the answer for 54D "You've got to be kidding" = OH MAN, made me think of Jayce, as he has written that at different times in his posts.
27D, Hotspots = Ovens, I thought of the place where one might make this .
I enjoyed your write up Lemonade. Learned about Edna Ferber. Fan of the Mentalist, but hadn't seen that episode. DW and I have probably every seen every episode of Monk at least once. I like Traylor Howard as Monk's assistant.
Getting late and have to focus on work. TGIF. Will check in later.
Thank you Marti, for such a clever and challenging puzzle, and Lemonade, for your oh-so-witty blog. Made me smile, often.
I was very busy the last 2 days, but I did finish the Wed. puzzle, unaided - the last answers finally dawned on me, in the midst of a lecture (!). The speaker actually saw me writing copiously and complimented me on taking so many 'notes' .... Reminds me of a story, someone told me.
A medical student, going through a Psychiatry rotation, was overwhelmed by the problems and fears the patients brought to him. He approached the Attending, his boss, and asked him how he coped with the problems of the patients, and the world. Said the experienced, old timer. 'Who listens ? ...'
Have a nice weekend, you all.
Hahtoolah, best wishes to your hubby, for a speedy recovery from the kidney stones. Having gone thru that myself, a long time ago - I can say - they generally don't recur. Initially, I used to avoid tomatoes, eggplant, kosher dill pickles, oxalates and formates - but 20 years later, I'll eat everything. I do take Allopurinol - oxidase inhibitor, once in a while to prevent excess uric acid and purine formation.
My urologist, at the time, told me that kidney stones are more painful than a vaginal pregnancy delivery ... but he was a man so what does he know ??
Blue Iris, best wishes for your daughters health.
A fun round of punnishment today. I caught on to the gist early, but still had trouble with all the theme answers. Wanted high price for corn, but that fidn't dit. Had Goose from perps, but all else pointed to resentful, so had to wait there. Had serve from perps, but the answer didn't come until I could add the OB at the beginning. And I had pin_ish sheep dog, but had to do a mental alphabet run to finally stumble onto the K as my final fill.
Pasteurize reminded me of an old joke involving a milk bath.
Great puzzle today. Nice Friday level with some quirky clues.
I liked:
51A- IV Coveered Areas? ERs
56D - Under Cover duds? PJs
Melancholy - Melon collie, what a hoot.
I'm taking my 5 year old niece to a haunted forest walk tonight. It's going down to only 35 degrees, so if we're not shivering from fright we'll be shivering from the cold. I think I'd better bring some hot coffee!
Have a great day. For the workers out there, I hope it's quick but not hectic.
Good morning everyone. Nice visuals, Argyle.
The theme came slowly, but TOP PRICE FOR CORN helped alot. Slow to suss PINKISH for melon, though. Had NCOS before SGTS. 42a could have been clued as a 'gentle 11d' :-). Kudos to Marti who gave us a lot to think about, so it was fun when the solve finally came home.
Have a great day.
Good morning folks,
This has been one enjoyable week for entertaining puzzles (IMOH) finished off by a gem from Marti.
There were so many fun clues, but among my favorites were 47A, 11D & 55D. I didn't know what a Sex Pistols or a fan of a SP is. Unfortunately, SCUM BAG wouldn't fit, so I had to rely on the perps.
NOADS made no sense to me for 22A until I came here and saw it was two words.
We are prepping for FRANKENSTORMN's arrival early next week, so I'll likely be MIA for a while. I don't know about the other East coast residents in our corner, but I'm getting sick and tired of these annual events.
The SEX PISTOLS , home to Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.
Clever puns, but "propaganda" does not equal "proper gander." That's way too much of a stretch. Also, punk or punk rocker, but "punker" is a stinker.
I got fooled by gets/sees and I put my ham on stage before radio.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Marti, for a great, but challenging, puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the excellent review.
Wow, what a puzzle. Enjoyed it, but it was not easy. I have more write-overs than Carter has Liver Pills. My newspaper looks like an inkblot. But, I got it!
I did not get 1A immediately, of course. Actually it was my last fill. PREP
Got a few on top, MADD, ACRE, PATS, then headed South.
Took me forever to catch the theme. Finally I entered THE PRICE FOR CORN. Of course that goofed me up in the NW for a while. Towards the end I changed THE to TOP and then I finished the puzzle.
Had WINES for 30D. Eventually changed that to VINOS.
Tried to enter CURRENT for 45D. After a few letters I realized it would not fit. Finally, after a long while, entered LATEST.
Then I wrote PJS for 55D instead of 56D. Had to smear that one out with HIM.
Entered PAPA for 46A. Forgot that Donald was the uncle. Had to fix that to UNCA. More ink.
Of course I had ROLLS for 18D instead of ROTAS. More messy ink.
To make a long story short, I finally got it all. I felt like I had just climbed a mountain. Of course, it is Friday. It should not be a cake walk.
It is cold here in Chicago. Yesterday in the 70's and today in the 30's.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Arrgghh! Even with the theme (CORN, DOG and GOOSE came easily – loved ‘em), TOO FAR TO OBSERVE (wanted LOB in there), ROLLS for Roster, ACCEDE for ACCEPT. A LEG for flight part and no clue on Monk got me. What a hoot Marti! Only four empty cells is some consolation. Learned/fun write-up Lemon!
Musings
-We’ve seen corn at a buck an ear in early June. We, uh, passed.
-I had PREP later and more menial PEEL first
-CAPE Fear was terrifying to me in both versions
-Very un-PC Ah So use
-My ARRAYs were mathematical and gastronomical not Military but it had to be
-ACRES reminds me of an old joke that involves what a farmer had two of after an unfortunate accident
-Which is worse, a “no-show after an RSVP” or a “did-show with no RSVP”?
-I got USED for textbooks because rip off wouldn’t fit
-PARS are necessary but ain’t winnin’ the Masters
-DONUTs have too much sugar; I want toast with my java
-I’ve heard TV personalities say that they are not happy with their Hi-DEF images on the box
-CARRY ON gave way to CAROUSE and STAGE to RADIO
-We hope our gov’t can FOIL all the crazy plotters out there today
-A Marti puzzle sans VINO? Yeah, right.
-Pawn Stars have a stable of experts testing how GENUINE items are
-Great pix of Venice, JD! They bring back pleasant memories (except for a certain pigeon).
Hello Puzzlers -
As I was noodling my way through these puns, I was reminded of the old "what's a henway?" joke. Thanks for the fun romp, Marti!
I hear there's a storm coming. Huh. Inconvenient, that.
Hondo, you never did say last year whether I could borrow your generator...'spose I could ask again? :-)
Nice info on Venice.
@Hahtoolah - had kidney stones last year. Needed IV twice to deliver pain medicine. The explanation I was given for the prevalence of stones the last couple years was the heat. People (me) didn't drink enough to make up for extra sweating. So they said. This year I drank lots of water.
FYI
1. The plural of VINO is not VINOS. If anything, it's VINI.
2. Not all of the NE has the "R" problem. In Upstate NY, we speak like Chicago.
DNF. I had decided it was a themeless.
I got the bottom half of this but got stuck at the top by having DEER RACE FOR CORN in place of the first theme answer. The deer are always eating the field corn around here so thought it would work for buck-an-ear. Fun CW but took a while to get enough perps to catch the pun theme concept though.
My little PEA brain did not get this one. I don't think I lived long enough in Massachusetts (3 1/2 mos. 50 yrs. ago). I think I'll put my PJS back on and go back to bed. Wish I had some VINO.
Fermatprime: I'm with you, "hardly any food around here". I'm out of meds and almost out of tissues. I'm trying to decide if I can make it around the grocery store without a collapse and have enough strength to carry everything into the house.
Anonymous: your urologist was wrong. I had a kidney stone two months after my youngest child was born. A doctor asked me which was worse. I told him, "the childbirth, but you get something nicer to take home."
Hi Everyone ~~
I always love a Marti/Lemon Friday. Loved the New England flavor, Marti - a wicked good puzzle! ;-) I was FOILed right away at 1A - hate when that happens - PREP was one of my last fills. I couldn't fit 'Gillette Stadium' at 3D - was not thinking of TV.
Like others, I had many false starts, but I enjoyed the challenge. I started with TOP PRICE before THE PRICE, and was looking at TOO FAR TOO... so that kept me from seeing OBSERVE. Really clever theme answers!
MONK is the name of one of my kitties - a "she"- and I named her long before the TV show. Tony Shaloub was wonderful in that series and I loved him as Antonio with his Italian accent in the old sitcom "Wings."
JD ~ I am not a traveler but your photos help bring such a beautiful place a bit closer. Thanks for posting.
Blue Iris and Hahtoolah ~ thoughts are with you and your ailing loved ones. Hope they're soon feeling well.
Enjoy the weekend and stay safe, fellow East Coasters!
Good morning and happy Friday to all. Great puzzle Marti and write up Lemon. Fun puns that took me a little while,but finally figured it out.
Speaking of Buccaneers what a game last night as they pummeled the Vikings.
DW, daughters,and granddaughter going to Orlando resort for a weekend Halloween event. Looks like my Sat. Will be football,beer, and pizza and wings. HooHah.
Have a great day to all.RJW.
Dudley,
What generator? The only time I think about purchasing one is when the storm is about to arrive. Smart huh? Especially for someone who resides in a remote and wooded area.
Good morning:
Wow, Marti, you sure gave me a work-out with this doozie. I am happy to say I finished w/o help but it was't easy. In fact, at one point, I was ready to throw in the towel. But, slowly but surely, the blanks got filled in. Very clever theme and cluing. Great expo, Lemonade.
It is supposed to be 70 degrees today. The calm before the storm, I guess. I just hope that the areas hit hard by Irene last year are spared this time; some of them are still recovering and rebuilding.
Happy Friday to all.
Forgot: Blue Iris - best wishes for your daughter's speedy recovery and Hatoolah, hope your hubby is feeling better.
I am still disappointed in TBBT; the great, farcical (sp?) humor that made the show so funny is missing, IMO.
I've never been very good figuring out puns. So this was a workout. Finished, but....
Hello! AH, SO! Thanks, Lemonade, for opening my eyes today. I was too sleepy to appreciate the puns.
I did, however, get TOP PRICE FOR CORN but then my mind closed. I finished all but the UL in RESPECTFUL so a DNF.
You beat me, Marti! But it was fun nevertheless and took a lot of thought.
I'm sending positive thoughts to those who are ailing, Hahtoolah, to your DH and Blue Iris for your daughter.
Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
Good morning folks.
Excellent puzzle, Marti. I had many little miscues like a lot of the others. And never did "get" past-your-eyes. But the puzzle definitely brought a smile to my face.
JD - wonderful photos. When you get all your laundry done and pix sorted, let's plan a coffee date with Chickie! Time for a meeting of the California Coven...It is almost Halloween, after all!
No storms in our future, but watch out Detroit. The Giants are headed in your direction!
A Good Friday to All.
Hi gang -
Most excellent, Marti! Gotta love a puzzle with VINOS, EROS, and AMORE!
Sussed the pun theme pretty quickly, but the exact wordings were not obvious.
I remember the joke Joe alluded to. Here is the sanitized version. A lady decided to take a milk bath, and went to a dairy farm to order the milk. "Would you like it pasteurized?" the farmer asked? After a moment's thought the lady replied, "No. Just past my bosom would be fine."
I have no concept of MELON as a pinkish color. No - wait . . .
Last entry was SEES. Took me forever to SEE it. Plus, I always stumble over ROLL/ROLE. And GAFFE/GAFF
Contra Anon, I think PUNKER is GENUINE, and "propaganda" is not Pasteurize.
Cool regards!
JzB
What an incredible Friday delight! I almost gave up when I saw those grid-spanners, but then noticed it was a Marti puzzle and I would never skip one of those. Slowly words fell into place but didn't make sense. What does PROPAGANDA have to do with a GOOSE or MELANCHOLY with a DOG? I was totally baffled. But when the light bulb came on and I saw it, I hooted out loud! Wonderful! Wonderful! I just loved it, Marti--thank you! And Lemonade, that was a hilarious MELON cartoon and a funny heart-shaped pizza!
Will be thinking of Blue Iris and Hahtoolah and your families. You too PK, with your rough day ahead. Your humor is totally inspiring!
We're finding "Elementary" to be our favorite new show of the season. "Nashville"'s plot is moving too slowly and the show is visually uninteresting, but the music is mellow and lovely.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
got most of the pun theme answers, but couldn't say propaganda with the east coast accent to figure out what that was supposed to be.
Also got hung up with Geom. figure, because of the abbrev. I wanted to put in Rhom for Rhomboid, pgam for parallelogram, etc. Took me awhile to realize figure was a number that you would figure out in geometry class. It is Friday, so go figure :), knowing less about geometry would have been helpful.
Marti: Congratulations on another fun puzzle.
JzB: Those bats are due to erupt but the weather needs to cooperate. Good luck to your Tigers, but it just might be "their year".
I thought you might like to read this column about some old Detroit stories. I've linked his columns before(once for a story where his lost his best friend, his dog.). He is a great guy and a Hall Of Famer. He has had strokes in both eyes and is legally blind. He walks to the nearby Kroger to buy Yuengling and invites anyone to join him in his man-cave(his garage, his wife will not let him inside) to drink, smoke cigars and tell stories.
Irish Miss @ 11:13 AM: Once again I find myself agreeing with you. What has changed on TBBT? I think the dynamic has changed now that the 3 gals are a bigger part of the show. And I hate to say it, but I miss Howard being a bit of a "ladies man" (in his own mind anyway).
I wonder if others also feel TBBT hasn't been as funny this year. I wonder if it will affect the show's ratings....
Oh well, we always have our Person of Interest.
Does anybody watch "My Cat From Hell" on Animal Planet? I just read Jackson Galaxy's biography and the end literally brought me to tears.
Wonderful witty write-up, as always lemony! Loved the Melon/Prick cartoon. And the pizza was so sweet...
Well, I knew this one would be a challenge, but that's why Rich scheduled it for Friday, I guess?
Some other entries that didn't make the cut:
Comandeer? (SPOUSE'S RESPONSE)
Coffee? (THE ONE COUGHED ON)
Intense? (WHERE CAMPERS LIVE)
Warbling? (MILITARY MEDALS)
Avoidable? (MATADOR'S GOAL)
Hahtoolah, so sorry to hear about your DH - I hope he feels better soon! YR and Blue Iris, good vibes being sent to you as well.
TGIF! Now to get ready for Frankenstorm...(Wine? - Check!) (I'm ready!)
Thanks Marti, once again your puzzle is on my busiest day of the week!
(*&^&^%$#^^)*&)
(Time constrained puzzles are not my forte.)
Oh well, hands up for wine/vino
I wanted to list my cheats, so i went back to the puzzle diagram, & discovered,, ???
FermatPrime, tell me more about that herb for Alzheimers!!!
Well,,, i do remember i had ONE nit. 28D "switch type" Sure it could be on/off, or a dozen other things. Next time, please reference the gender!
Hello everybody. What a terrific puzzle! So full of humor and intelligence. Thanks for constructing it, Marti.
I especially liked UNCA.
Hahtoolah and Blue Iris, please add my best wishes to those that the others have sent you.
Hola Everyone, A DNF for me today. Puns are not my forte and I bombed on all of these. What I had in for answers was correct but the puns simply would not emerge.
I thought the clue for PJ's was the best of the day.
Thanks, Marti, for giving me a run for my money. I like to try Friday puzzles for the learning experience. Sometimes, though, I feel rather dull when it is all over.
Hatoolah, Good wishes for your husband's fast recovery. Seems kidney stones have dominated in the ailments this week.
Garlic Gal, Good idea! I'll bring my witches hat.
Have a great day everyone.
I'm with desper-otto. This was the toughest weekday puzzle for me in recent memory. I started slowly at the top and got even slower as I went down.
I agree with Misty that Nashville is a little slow. I like Connie Britton and the music though. What's Elementary about?
I hope everybody stays out of the way of Sandy.
CED @ 2:00, I take exception to your switch labels...I think the "male" and "female" should be reversed:
In our house, all I want to do is walk up to a lamp and turn the knobby thing-y to turn it on...
DH has all the lights programmed into our security system and computers, so if an alarm goes off, the lights come on. Otherwise, they are on a schedule of on-off throughout the day, with the time "fuzzed" within a half hour, so it is not always exactly the same time for each lamp. Sooo..if I want to turn on a light without stubbing my toe, I have to be sure to take my computer to bed with me!! (^0^)
Heart Rx - @ 3:24. I don't think that is the switch CED is talking about.
I'd agree Spitz. Put another way, and to borrow from some comedian (Robin Williams, IIRC): "A woman needs a good reason to have sex. A man just needs a place."
Hi to all, Marti, really cool puzzle. Got the corn thing right away, the others were harder to sound out.
Took FOREVER to get CAROUSE, ACCEPT, not familiar with ROTAS or MOTT.
Wanted TOO FAst TO SEE, but no fit.
There's A RIOT again!!!
I like that phrase.
Kept seeing IPOS when Facebook went public, but had to depend on perps.
Fermatprime,
Who's Harvey? I'm worried about the not much food comment. Can you get a neighbor to go to the store for you?
To all of you who participate in this blog and your family members: may you all get your health back and be safe from the storm.
AvJoe: Is your new avatar positioned at your home? LOL! After a certain age, some men need more than a place.
PK, No. It's just something somebody sent to me over the years. I'm not a big fan of yard ornaments. About the only thing I'd put up is a Redneck Rudolph, but we don't have any sizeable trees in the front yard, so I can't even do that.
Thanks for the write up Lemon and Marti for the puzzle. I had a lot of trouble with this one..almost like a Saturday Silkie as some of you say. I got a toe hold and gradually put together the south portion but it was a for sure DNF for me. I hope everyone gets healed up and we hear good news from Blue Iris about her daughter. Goodnite all!
Marti, Thanks for the dedication. when I saw that it was a Marti puzzle and a Friday, I knew it was going to be fun. I GROANED my way through with only a few places that needed corrections.
Loved that Bahston Blue Nose Goose!
I had forgotten about the comment I made about Wiley's dictionary 'way back when' but now I recall that Marti expressed an interest. Sure took you long enough! Or did it just take Rich a long time to stop groaning and edit it?
I don't get to the crossword until pretty late in the day lately, so I haven't been posting. I couldn't pass this up, though.
GRUMPY 1 !! I am so happy to hear from you!! I have missed you on the blog, because I just love your signature style.
Well, it took me a while to come up with suitable "Wiley definitions", and then a while for Rich and me to go back and forth to put just the right touches on it. But, I think we finally got it right, and I hope it was a suitable tribute to you!!
Thank you HeartRx for pulling Grumpy 1 out of hiding.
Grumpy 1: Stick around.
Marti, I'll clink my coffee mug avatar against yout wine glass avatar and raise a toast to an excellent puzzle.
This article was posted today on Yahoo.
Re: 45d, is this coincidence or do Rich and Marti know everything?
Getting back to Hondo - oh, I must have mis-remembered. I thought you had a generator during last year's storm.
I just watched the first five episodes of TBBT Season 5 via Netflix. I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't have the same zip. I can say that I've been getting more grossed out by the weird stuff they throw in about Howard and his mother...ewwww!
Well, a full day of humping boxes. Started at 9, stopped about two hours ago. And I probably should've rephrased that first sentence.
Marti, great puzzle, and like Barry, once I caught the first theme answer, I was able to make steady progress the rest of the way. Very enjoyable.
Lemonade, thanks for the watermelon link, and yes, so far, everything's been intact as far as the collectible stuff.
Regarding TBBT, after seeing all the positive comments here, I tried a handful of episodes, and I just don't find it that funny. Probably me, although I'm easily amused. I also think it's got the most annoying laugh track that I've ever heard.
JD, great pictures; keep 'em coming.
Sandy was pretty good here, with some stiff winds and a great surf; the ocean was really raging, and the view from the beach was most impressive. Gotta love Mother Nature. Looks like I got out of Dodge just in time, as it's due to slam the NE next week.
Hope it's a good weekend for everyone.
The winds and rain did in the transformer near the office so it was an off say. The sun came out and no power it was off. Fun Friday, be careful easy coasters
Is it up tp me to mention the FART right there in the middle of the puzzle...or is it like a fart in church?
Argyle, damn! How could I (and everybody else apparently) have missed that. Your FART radar is much more finely tuned than mine I guess.
On a slightly different topic, I've said several times before how much I enjoy Ellen's show. It's so much more imaginative than all the other talk shows. Here's a segment she did called, "What's wrong with these photos? photos!" All of them are good but the last one of a sleeping puppy caught my eye right away. It's a classic! Funny Photos!
Grumpy,
I'm so happy to see you back.
Blue Irish,
Hope your daughter is doing better.
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