Theme: Gee! RR! (Or what a Texan says when he unexpectedly comes across a railroad). The five two-word theme answers have first word starting with the first two letters of the reveal, the second word commencing with the third (and final) letter of the reveal.
17A. *One to four inches per day, for bamboo : GROWTH RATE. That's fast - how much do Giant Pandas eat to keep it under control?
28A. *Noted scythe bearer : GRIM REAPER. "I'm bored. I think I'll put on a Grim Reaper costume, stand across the street from the nursing home and wave at the old folks" Anon
35A. *1973 Thomas Pynchon novel : GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. Great example of good crosses helping out here. I maybe might have heard of this novel, but it certainly wasn't a title I knew I knew. I got there letter by letter.
43A. *Wrestling style that forbids holds below the waist : GRECO-ROMAN. A learning moment.
59A. *Pearl Jam genre : GRUNGE ROCK. I thought "SEATTLE GRUNGE" at first and then realized that I was being too specific (and it didn't fit either!)
61A. Canine warning that the answers to starred clues have in common, initially : GRR
Happy Wednesday everyone! Steve here with a nice smooth offering from Steve Blais. Some good fun stuff in the theme entries and I had fun with the fill. Let's look at the rest of the puzzle.
Across
1. Hip-hop fan : B-BOY. I knew this, I just couldn't drag the answer out into the light of day. There were quite a few in this Pacific North-West section that were slow coming and the last area to fill.
5. Les __-Unis : ETATS. The French like to say things like "United States" backwards. They are sometimes accused of doing other things backwards, such as advancing on the enemy.
10. Olympian's goal : GOLD.
14. Smidgen : IOTA
15. Chevy Blazer, now : TAHOE
16. Orchestral wind : OBOE
19. Endorse, in a way : SIGN. I think anyone who wants to endorse a candidate in an electoral race should sign their name on them with a Sharpie.
20. Rice-__ : A-RONI. I'm going to try this stuff one day - it crops up in crosswords so often it must be delicious, right?
21. Toga party costume : BED SHEET. It took me a while to get past wanting "TOGA" here. What else could you wear to a toga party? (TLS (Too Literal Steve) again.
23. Take part in a 1920s fad : POLE-SIT. Odd fad. Some people were dancing the jitterbug, ignoring prohibition and generally whooping it up and other folks were sitting on a pole.
26. Like a prof. emeritus : RET'D. A learning moment - I didn't know the professor needed to be retired.
27. Big pitcher : EWER. Initial response: Randy Johnson. I guess Randy is Pitcher Emeritus?
33. Lowly laborer : PEON
34. Goody two shoes : PRUDE
41. Concerning the ears : AURAL. I always enjoyed the fact that aural and oral were homophones. I thought it was great that "aural" had a sound-alike.
42. Japanese noodle : UDON
46. First responders, briefly : EMT'S. I was treated by an Emergency Medical Technician when I tripped going down the stairs of a bar after a Christmas party and knocked myself out on the way down. It's embarrassing to wake up in a pub strapped to an EKG machine with someone asking you who the President is.
50. Cyclotron input : ATOM. Atoms in, Particles out. A bit like a coffee grinder on a smaller scale.
51. Meeting : SESSION. You can have a meeting which is in session, but can you have a session which is in meeting?
53. Eleanor Rigby, for one : SPINSTER. Ear worm alert here!
57. Snorer's problem, perhaps : APNEA. A serious problem for both the sufferer (of Apnea) and the sufferer (of the sufferer of Apnea)
58. Hops drier : OAST, Oast houses were quite common in the area of England where I lived for a while - many are now converted to residences, but I've often wondered where you get the curved furniture to fit inside them.
62. Attend to, as a job opening : FILL
63. Come out with : UTTER. You have to be careful if you come out with "utter rubbish" as you might be accused of repeating yourself.
64. Wrath, in a hymn title : IRAE. Wrath of God, Days of Wrath, plenty of wrathful hymns to get you all fired up. Seems odd.
65. "South Park" co-creator Parker : TREY. Where would my avatar be without Trey and Matt Stone?
66. Nonlethal weapon : TASER. It might be non-lethal, but it's certainly not non-painful judging by the many YouTube examples.
67. Recipe amts. : TSP'S. Teaspoons. There are 16 teaspoons in 1/3 of a cup. I'm sure you'll be glad you learned that today.
Down
1. Oaf : BIG APE
2. Take for a time : BORROW
3. "Becket" star : O'TOOLE. Very dapper, was Peter.
4. No page-turner : YAWNER. Hopefully not this blog!
5. Ordinal suffix : ETH. "TH" which we spell "ETH"
6. Roofer's goo : TAR
7. Obsessed fictional captain : AHAB. The skipper of the whaling ship Pequod in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. Ahab was obsessed with the eponymous whale, his First Mate Starbuck was obsessed with cappuccino.
8. For the full nine months : TO TERM. Many expectant mothers would prefer they do not have to go the full term.
9. Garden apparatus : SEEDER
10. Dad-blasted : GOSH DARN. Loved this. My dad had two blasters - the first when my mom was in earshot (dagnabbit) and the other for when she wasn't (@#$*&$##@#$#@!!!!!!!)
11. Drama award : OBIE. I didn't know what one looked like, but now I do:
12. Theater section : LOGE
13. It might be pounded out : DENT. TUNE was my first thought here
18. "True dat," quaintly : 'TIS. A contraction of "It Is"
22. Do more than listen : STEP IN. I wasn't a big fan of this one - I can see it, but ....
24. "__ Around": Beach Boys hit : I GET
25. "Iliad" setting : TROY. Home of Helen, her face "launched a thousand ships". We use a bottle of champagne nowadays. Did Helen wear a helmet with a facemask?
29. "Recapping ..." : IN SUM
30. Pint seller : PUB. A couple of these might be the reason for my visit from the EMT in 46A
31. Old Japanese capital : EDO
32. Remote button : REW. This might actually be "old remote button" - don't they all just have "<<" on them now?
33. Test showings : PILOTS. Took me a couple of beats to see that this relates to TV shows, not airplanes.
35. Silence : GAG. A bad gag is received in silence too, and many a stand-up can attest.
36. Robot play : R.U. R. This is one of those words that I just cannot remember. When it comes up I'm always oh - it's ..... um .... GOSH DARN
37. "Now We __ Six": Milne : ARE. A great excuse to post one of E. H. Shepard's wonderful illustrations before Disney made a mess of the whole thing:
38. Thoughtless way to stare : VACANTLY. Took me a while to get off the RUDELY or OGLE track. Nice!
39. Nutritional figs. : RDA'S. One's recommended daily allowances. What's the RDA for PINTS?
40. First-class : A-ONE
44. Lousy liquor : ROT GUT. RDA - zero.
45. Mobster's code of silence : OMERTA. I can't tell you how I know this - I'm sworn to secrecy.
46. Lively wit : ESPRIT
47. They may have fake IDs : MINORS.
48. Work boot feature : TOECAP. I wish I was wearing these when I dropped a blender on my foot.
49. Treacherous types : SNAKES. Some creatures get a bad rap - just because Adam couldn't keep his hands of the apples in the Garden of Eden shouldn't reflect on the entire serpent population.
52. Freelancer's encl. : SAE. What happened to the stamp on the Self Addressed Stamped Envelope? Actually, in the UK this is a Stamped, Addressed Envelope. It's assumed that you put your own address on it rather than someone else's.
53. Like fuzzy slippers : SOFT
54. Poker holding : PAIR. Not a particularly good holding, but sometimes it pays off.
55. Cruise destination : ISLE. Now, believe it or not, the Church of Scientology (you see how I got started here) actually has a cruise ship named Freewinds.
56. Wearying routines : RUTS
60. Once known as : NEE
And that's it from me!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
Meet Avg Joe, who has one of the funniest avatars on the blog. Like
Windhover/Spitzboov/PK/Argyle, Joe knows a lot about farming and lives in his own
farm (I think). Joe took this picture 2 days ago. Look, he also likes "The Princess Bride".
70 comments:
Morning, all!
Blew through this one pretty quickly. I actually managed to get all the theme answers right from the clues, which helped immensely. Didn't know BBOY at all, but that was the only minor bump in the road.
Speaking of APNEA, the good news is that mine seems to be under control now that I am using the CPAP machine. The bad news is that I'm not really getting more sleep as a result. It has been two weeks, but I still find the mask to be uncomfortable and I have a bunch of other minor problems (ulnar entrapment in my elbow that causes numbness if I lie in the wrong position, general aches and pains, etc.) that wake me up throughout the night. Ah well, at least my wife says my snoring doesn't wake her up anymore, so there's that...
Hi everyone. A nice puzzle for a wednesday morning. A good theme which I picked up on right away for a change. I hit a little snag when I quickly jotted down Weeder instead of Feeder for 9 down. ( Etatw???), but other than that it was smooth sailing. Off now to make a dollar or two. Have a good day everyone.
BTW Barry G hang in there with the CPAP. I have a few friends using it and it does take a little longer than you might have thought to get used to but you will. Good luck.
Interesting puzzle for a wednesday theme presented no problem.
Steve I think you meant to type 61-d for the unifier clue.
Barry- those cpap machines really do work and you will get the sleep once you get used to the mask is your wife getting used to thenoise from the machine the arm falling asleep while your sleeping can be resolved with an extra pillow ( so you body does not lie directly on your arm.) I like a nice tempurpedic foam pillow the one you want was (a few years ago) about $100.00 from "relax the back"
Sorry that should have been Weeder instead of Seeder.
One more time, Kevin?
Thanks Steve, great puzzle. Thanks Steve, excellent write up. You are so funny.
My first four fills were GROWTH RATE, GRIM REAPER, GRECO ROMAN and GRUNGE ROCK. I looked for the starred clues and the unifer before entering anything. Didn't know the 1973 Thomas Pynchon novel, or it would have been a clean sweep, similar to what the Tigers are in the process of doing to the Yankees.
Lots of perp help today and still wasn't sure of some of the answers like TIS BBOY RUR.
At 3D, read Becker star instead of Becket star, and wanted DANSON, but that didn't fit well with the other answers.
NYT Bestseller list. "How Children Succeed" Paul Tough - looks like it may be a good read. Author was interviewed on the morning news...
Barry, stick with it. My brother just got his and said he's having nights where it bugs him, but that overall he's getting more sleep and has more energy than he's had in years.
What does "R.U.R." mean?
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Steve Blais, for a very good Wednesday puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for an excellent write-up, as usual.
I sure could not get started in the NW, so I headed East. Those came pretty easily. BEDSHEET took a while.
GRIM REAPER was my first theme answer. Eventually I got 61D, GRR, and that helped with the others.
IRAE helped in the SE. I knew that one.
I can never remember the noodle, UDON. I know we have had it before.
My last fill was the NW. I wanted MOTE for 14A. That really goofed me up for a while. Finally got YAWNER. BIG APE was my last word.
Speaking of YAWNERs, we just read a book that was not a YAWNER at all. One of the best books our club has ever read. It is entitled "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. Quite a mystery, with quite an evil person. A real page turner as the book progressed.
Anyhow, off to my day. Cooking a dinner for about 18 people tonight. Pork chops and escalloped potatoes.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Good Wednesday puzzle, except for "Do more than listen : STEP IN," which is weak.
Thank you Steve Blais (Bla-iss, Blaze, Bliss ? ) for a very challenging puzzle. I had too many errors to bother all of you - but I did get 3 out of 4 of the theme compound words (?)... never heard (of - ) Pearl Jam, tho' I knew they were some rock group.
Thank you Steve, for your quaint Brit humor, - reading you is like reading 'Masterpiece Theater' - in a blog. I liked your French joke.
Q. How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris ?
A. They don't know ... its never been done.
Since you are a gourmet, don't even think of trying Rice-a-Roni. To a true rice lover, it's the difference between Lamb chops ... and Haggis.
Where is Hahtoolah ? I hope she is only on vacation - I miss her QODs. What with the precarious health problems with many folks in this blog, one can never be sure. I just made a series of revision of wills yesterday - now it's more a series of 'wont's'.
ALT QOD:- I should like to take you seriously, but to do so would be an affront to your intelligence. ~
George Bernard Shaw.
Have a good week, you all.
Pearl Jam(shades of Louie Louie?)
More pearl jam
Steve: Excellent write-up. My thoughts exactly re: GRAVITY'S RAINBOW.
Steve Blais: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday offering.
Hand up for the 'weeder' before SEEDER, as my 9-D, Garden apparatus.
Some of the cluing earned a GRR!
Not a fan of ROT-GUT. (but then again, who is?)
Since TASERs came into widespread use, it is claimed to have resulted in more than 180 deaths as of 2006. (Per wiki).
Probably a few more in the last 6 years. Does that make it a "Nonlethal weapon"?
Anon @8:08 R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots, a 1920 science fiction play in the Czech language by Karel Čapek.
A 'toast' to all at Sunset.
Cheers !!!
Post Numero dos -
R.U.R. = Rossum's Universal Robots
English phrase used as a subtitle in the Czech play original, author Karel Capek. - per Wiki.
Avg. Joe - Nice photograph - If I may say, platonically, you look very nice !! - the color of your shirt matches the color of your eyes.
If you'll forgive me, you should change your avatar - to something more intellectual. Most readers judge a person by the clothes he wears ... and they may get prejudiced by your avatar. How about a picture of Einstein, or Mark Twain ... or even Mickey Mouse ?? Just a suggestion - please take it genially.
Again, best wishes to all.
Good Morning, everyone. I like Wednesday puzzles I can solve. This was one of them. Thanks, Steve, and Steve for the blog info. I didn’t get the whole theme, but you explained it.
I stumbled over P__, pint seller—thought Inn? Bar? Pub didn’t enter my brain. Perps fixed it, and I completed the puzzle.
Didn’t know Gravity’s Rainbow, but perps again came to the rescue. Fun puzzle. Great start to the morning.
Windhover, sorry I tried to make you older than you are. I guess I was remembering pictures from the previous day and associating birthday rather than reunion. I used to know teachers in Circle, but they moved away. My sons played HS football games there, so we made a (150 mile) trip or two to watch them.
Pearl Jam bass guitar player is from a tiny town near mine. They occasionally have concerts in MT. Even if we don't listen to their music, we all know who they are.
Isn’t it always nice to get back home after a trip away? I got to see the leaves turning color in New England, ate lots of seafood, and spent three weeks with young grandson, but it is still great to be back in MT, although sustained 50 mph winds expected today with 85 mph gusts a few miles south of me in the mountains. Fire danger is high.
Have a good day,
Montana
Easy breezy, solid puzzle.
O'Toole is still dapper.
@Tinbeni. Re:tasers. Around here, a young woman high on "bath salts" died as a result of a taser. Under certain conditions, esp. weak heart, they can be fatal.
On Tasers,
since they have been used with increasing frequency, it is now a state law, in many states, that EACH law enforcement officer who is to be issued a Taser as a regular issue ...
... and who is undergoing Taser training ....
.... must be ( - willing and - ) PERSONALLY 'hit' at least ONCE with the Taser 'discharge', ... during the training ... so he (she) can appreciate the painful effect and trauma, it causes .... and be very aware of its power and capacity....
This is so in PA and Ohio, for sure.
The deaths caused by Tasers, as above, by Tinbeni, seem about right.
Good morning Steve and all.
Meh-day for me; although I did like the theme concept. Guessed at GRAVITY'S RAINBOW and GRUNGE ROCK based on the perps. DNL (did not like) SAE. Got the top half quickly but the bottom was more subdued because of the above fill and unfamiliarity with TREY and the SPINSTER clue. Probably me today; not the puzzle.
Have a good day.
When 1 Across is something you’ve never heard of, you know it’s going to be an interesting puzzle. The novel theme fills made this a hoot. Well done by both Steve’s today.
Musings
-Seeing a 100 lb housewife driving a huge TAHOE to pick up her kids was always funny to me
-Other grandfather gave Hudson a $50 check for his birthday and daughter had to show him how to Endorse his first check. He did so in his careful 10 year old script.
-Pole Sitting Competition. Klinger did this once on M*A*S*H.
-“Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name”. Such song lyrics came after the boys graduated from Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Fabulous.
-So that’s an OAST house.
-Many jobs get FILLed without merit being a real consideration
-“Don’t TASE me Bro!”
-Broderick Crawford played the ultimate BIG APE in this wonderful movie
-I agree on STEP IN cluing. Maybe “Understudy might do this”.
-I had to call the EMT’S when my neighbor fell down her stairs at 7 a.m. and broke her leg, Steve, and she was stone cold sober.
-Remember the sticker, “Be Kind, Rewind”
-Who made more ROT GUT than Hawkeye and BJ?
-Great picture of fellow Cornhusker who lives 15 minutes from my daughter. I need to meet that guy.
Howdy folks,
Finished the puzzle quickly, but until I read Steve's blog, I wasn't sure if all the fills were correct. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW ( was thinking Finnegan's), TREY, VACANTLY were my questionable fills, but I saw no alternative either.
Nice job Steve & Steve.
Like Barry, assorted arthritic discomforts make a full nights sleep rare. I began treatments with a Chiropractor recently and the results have been GREAT, but I still wake up during the night.
Everyone enjoy your Hump day.
Go Yanks, at least get back to NY.
As we say here in the sticks, "That ain't no average Joe!"
Nice pics.
A-M - If people judged me by what I wear most days on the farm, they'd think I'm a rag picker. Among the various collars,white, blue, starched, clerical, etc., mark me "no-collar". T-shirt and jeans, 98% of the time.
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the enlightened write-up, Steve! Hand up for not getting STEP IN as "Do more than listen." I guess it makes sense, but not the first thing I would have thought of. For the 1920's fad, don't you mean others were dancing the Charleston? The jitterbug came much later, I think. And POLE SITting should never be confused with pole dancing...
I never read GRAVITY's RAINBOW, but perps provided a nice safety net on that one. Now that I have looked it up, I think I really must put it onto my reading list.
Avg. Joe, great pic! You remind me of Sean Connery
! (May I have your autograph, please?) But I do love your avatar!
C.C. I'm so glad to hear Boomer is doing better now!
This puzzle was more difficult for me than most of you. Started out slow and never gained speed. Fell into the wEEDER trap, never heard of B-Boy or Gravity's Rainbow and tried to overthink way too many other clues. But I did prevail with a bunch of erasures.
Well, I guess I've been outed. Thanks for the kind words C.C. and everyone else. C.C., we live on 20 acres, but we don't farm it. We do rent out 12 acres, but around here you have to have at least a section to be able to afford the equipment. They only things I grow are veggies. And Anony-Mouse, I kind of like my avatar. For one thing, it's a time saver, since it's how most people describe me. Besides, I've always felt if you can't laugh at yourself, you'll be in a significant minority.
For once I not only got the theme, but really needed it. For "Silence" I had GAP (I was thinking 18 minutes), but the theme insisted that it be GAG. I had been wondering what PRE-COROMAN wrestling was, but hadn't questioned it.
Steve, I enjoyed your comments about the French and Starbuck. I had never seen an OBIE before -- looks like an obelisk. No?
My obgyn once told me that when a baby was "to term" the knee cap would be present...since it`s the last thing to develop. The southern equivalent of "dad-blasted" is "cottn` pickin`". Concerning "omerta"...wise decision, Joe. Otherwise you could find the other end of your avatar in your bed!
One definition for a rut (and I know there are "others") is a grave with no ends.
I was so saddened to learn of Eddyb`s and ClearAyes` passings. I felt she must be struggling...not having posted for so long.
AveJoe: Question: Do you have your decades mixed? Jitterbug was 40s...prohibition the 20`s...but then from your pic, you`re too young to remember!
Windhover: Did you once wear any of those other collars or have you always been a farmer?
Finished the the puzzle in record time for Wednesday. For some reason I always want to put serf for lowly laborer. It is usually not the answer. I always read about the poor serfs in Russia.. Not fun
This morning I became interested in the origins and timeline of the jitterbug.
“The jitterbug (initially called the "hop") first became popular in the 1920's, although its popularity was limited primarily to Harlem. The name Lindy was appended to the "Hop" in 1927 at the Savoy Ballroom, supposedly in commemoration of Lindbergh's famous flight across the Atlantic. In the 1930's when white dancers discovered the Lindy, the name Jitterbug often was used to describe the dance. The music that this dance accompanied was jazz, which by the 1930's was also called Swing, and which traced its origins to Ragtime, Dixieland and Blues.”
Link Read more
Good morning:
I found this to be a Wednesday-worthy challenge. Clever theme and good cluing, Steve, and a witty write-up to boot, thanks to the other Steve. How about those Irish, Steve? Too bad we can't say the same for the Yankees!
Nice picture, Avg. Joe. Much nicer than your avatar.
What is BBoy? Is it a group or just a name for someone who likes hip hop music? I don't know the difference between hip hop or grunge or much else of what passes for music today.
Sixties and sunny today and tomorrow; what more could we ask for in the middle of October?
Have a great Wednesday.
Avg Joe - Great picture. I know what you mean about being outed; anonymity has its place, and it beats ignominy. I was reluctant to cough up my first pic to C.C. but she treats us well. BTW - How big is a Section - 1 sq. mi. or 640 acres?
On a different note I thought some of you softies might enjoy reading this article about a father and daughter serving in the Navy together on a deployment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
Good day! Thank you to both Steves, one for the puzzle and one for the witty commentary. I actually thought the constructor might be you, Steve.
Easily sashayed through this one although had to wait for BBOY until BIG APE emerged.
All the rest was done in a flash until the SW corner. Haven't seen OAST in a while but it's a crossword staple and had a few tries before TREY popped in. He was interviewed on Charlie Rose but couldn't recall his name right off.
Av Joe:
Nice photo! I agree you look anything but average.
Eye check today so, later! Lemonade, I hope your eyes can improve.
Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!
Good morning and happy hump day. Nice puzzle was right along my wave length today.Thanks SteveB. and Steve for your witticism.
Wish I was wearing a toecap when I smashed my big toe thats what started all my leg problems and amputation.
Speaking of teasing, I worked as a tester in a capacitor factory, have had a few run ins with D.C. Electrons.
Have a great day to all. RJW.
That is supposed to be tasing gosh darn spell checker!
RJW
Yes, Spitz. Section = Sq Mi.
Arbaon, I can't take any credit for the hilarious write up. That's Steve's doing. I'm just featured in the Rogues Gallery.
Lucina, Not sure what to think about a comment that speaks of my appearance then in the next sentence says you need your eyes checked!!? :-)
I tried to pound out a deal but learned the error of my first thoughts. Never heard of bboy and have no idea what it means. Got it by perps only.
I think the RDA for pints is determined by how many you can consume before the EMTs are called to the pub.
Well, I got it all today and thought I even "got" the theme. I did, but only noticed the first GR but not the second R starting the second word. So another A- for me. But what fun--many thanks Steve, and Steve!
So glad Michelle's kitty returned, and that Casey's surgery went well. Will keep fingers crossed for good results. (You can tell I'm an animal lover, can't you?)
Cool pic, AvgJoe.
Off to the bank to have them help us figure out how to pay bills online now that the bank has changed browsers. I wish we had never discontinued paper bills. That way we could just pay the darn things instead of not knowing how to get at them. Aaarrggggg.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody.
ARBAON,
Almost all of them, though I have been farming since I was 28 (1973).
Here are the Windhover collar Cliff Notes:
I grew up in the '50's, so my Mother starched those white dress shirt collars for church.
I was a tool and die maker in my 20's, so I wore the blue.
In my 30's I came close to wearing the clerical, but a couple of years of related study took away the impulse, permanently, not as unusual an occurrence as you might think.
In my 50's I worked in a setting (acadaemia) where everyone else wore white, but I did not.
As a matter of fact, if I had such a job, I'd quit it.
BTW, my good friend Lois/ClearAyes linked the poem that is the origin of my user and farm name. Newcomers can find it by Googling the word + Hopkins.
5A = Etats? I had NTAGF, & i'm sticking with it! (tho i did have weeder b/4 feeder.)
Abejo @8:09, i too could not remember my noodles. So, as of today, i am going to keep repeating:
"I ate udon in Edo" until it sticks like Felix Ungers spaghetti to the wall!
Barry G. Ulnar entrapment!?!?
I too have numbness in my hands at night. My Doctor told me it was my neck??? ( apparently it's his specialty ) But his treatments have not changed anything. My next Appt. is 10/26, i can't wait to go in there & tell him "WBS!"
I do have one nit, i firmly believe that today we have a history making "5 way Natick."
I mean, comeon!?
29D reacapping=insum???
35As "S" when not many people have read the book?
42A Freakin Japanese noodles???
43A The only wrestling i ever heard named was Sumo!
&45D mobsters code of silence = omerta? How the *(&^&^$&^*&%#@ am i supposed to know "omerta" if its part of a code of silence??? Jeez!
Hi Y'all, Great puzzle & commentary, Dos Steves!
B Boy seems to be some type of hip hop dancing. I've seen auditioning dancers on "So You Think You Can Dance" who are labeled as BBoys.
Hello All!
Your humble constructor. Just thought I would weigh in. I'm glad you all enjoyed the puzzle :)
It came about after I bought Gravity's Rainbow. After noticing it had exactly 15 letters I thought it would look great as a spanner. So I worked a theme around it and, well, there you go. Crossing the G's in GRUNGE ROCK and GRR was a happy accident. (I also decided to use a pseudo-vowel progression to tighten up the theme a bit.)
Incidentally, I have yet to read Gravity's Rainbow. At 700+ pages it's going to be a daunting task, not to mention the fact that it goes off into a whole bunch of wild and crazy tangents. Kind of like Naked Lunch, which i have read, and i only recommend if you have a *lot* of patience!
Thank you for all your comments, and you will be seeing me again soon!
Steve
Lucina @ 11:02 - I am a big fan of Charlie Rose; I think he is such an accomplished interviewer.
Avg Joe @ 11:25 - LOL at your comment re Lucina's compliment, followed by her reference to having her eyes checked. Funny!
WH @ 11:44 - I have often wondered about the meaning of your user name; thanks for explaining the origin. I read the poem but I'm not very good at interpreting poetry.
Good afternoon everyone.
Barry: My DH uses a CPAP + oxygen every night, and had become accustomed to it. I think the biggest danger of APNEA is you could stop breathing long enough to die. So good luck, and keep at it.
Ave Joe: You look great in the photo. But don't change your avatar; I love it. It shows your great sense of humor.
DNF the puzzle, which comes as no surprise. There were many clues which I had never heard of. Got the top fairly quickly, but bogged down in the last part, except the SE.
Thanks Steve and Steve.
Off to do my mile walk - in 15 minutes if I'm good.
Cheers
Hi gang -
Stellar write up, Steve.
This oaf is less than delighted with the puzzle, though. A bit too much obscurity for a Wednesday, methinks. In other words, what Dave said. BTW Dave, for your finger tingles, forget the MD - all they have is drugs and knives. You need a chiropractor. Massage therapy did a lot for me as well.
I got OMERTA, but could not tell you where and how I found it.
GRR Martin has retaught me that I can read thick books, so maybe I'll give GRAVITY'S RAINBOW a try while waiting to see if Jo - oops, almost STEPped IN with a spoiler there.
Busy week. IMBO.
Cool regards,
JzB
A Rose
By Any
Other Name
The Windhover
caught this morning morning’s minion, kingdom of daylight’s dauphin,
dapple-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! Then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend; the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird--the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valor and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! And the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it; sheer plod makes plow down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion
@Desper-otto - I think Pre-Coroman wrestling is similar to Cro-Magnon.
OMERTA,the Sicilian vow of silence, is pronounced with the accent on the last syllable. Unlike liberta or visibilita or other such concept nouns with accent on the last syllable, it does not have an English equivalent. When asked, the mafios will say, "Non sacchiu niente," I don't know nothing.
Thanks for sharing Windhover. I wondered about your name. Thanks for posting the poem, Arbaon Here are the Spark Notes to explain it.
Link text
The other day Windhover wrote, "The only medication I take regularly is Prevacid for acid reflux, and like all medications it has side effects. Let's just say stomach acid has beneficial purposes, and suppressing it defeats those." I thought he was explaining the source of his blogger name -- the "wind" part of it at any rate.
Full disclosure, I did confuse my jitterbug/charleston, but I'm taking Yellowrock's explanation and claiming I knew that all along :)
Yellowrocks has your back, Steve...not to worry. (and done with such tact and sweetness!)
Two questions:
How do you pronounce Windhover?
The only audio example I found was a guy with a British accent. Is the hover part like "Stop hovering over me!"?
What is a Natick? Not much on Google for that either.
AvgJoe@11:25
LOL! I assure you that since I had the cataracts removed and a Lasik implant, my eyesight is now in high definition! And I like what I see in your photo.
Today's appointment was simply a routine check apres the above procedures.
I know OMERTA only because Mario Puzo who wrote The Godfather also wrote a book by that name. I didn't read it, but recall it.
IrishMiss@12:14
I know exactly what you mean! Charlie Rose has such interesting people on his program. I'm a big fan.
D-O,
:-). very good one, and close. Let's just say that of the three states of matter, gas is the 2nd most preferable.
Y-R,
I'm not a big fan of the Spark Notes annotation of the poem. Not that it's wrong, it just doesn't go deep enough, IMO. But I've liked the poem a great deal ever since I first read it in 1994.
In school, we were forced to "learn" poetry by memorizing and reciting it. Is there any better way to teach a student to hate something? Like most, I thought I would never read another poem. But my friend and mentor, Wendell Berry, in addition to writing essays and fiction, is a poet. When I read his poems, which are largely didactic in the style of the Roman poet Virgil, it whetted my appetite for more.
As Irish Miss said, I'm not that good at interpreting, but The Windhover appealed to my sense of the beauty and mystery of nature (which is where I live when it isn't dark). One of the best lines is "O my Chevalier" which every analysis I've seen gets wrong because they translate it as "Prince".
My mind dances with
Darkness
The rhythm of a thousand
Unformed thoughts
Freed from
Day's practical insistance
To sing with the full moon
The joy of soul's immortality
Which is
The wind's acquaintance.
Dave,
I concur with JazzB's suggestion that you consider a Chiropractor. I mentioned earlier today that I began treatments a few weeks ago and it's made a big difference. I'm starting to believe that i've wasted a good part of my life with physicians who did not come close to easing my discomfort. And I tried Massage Therapy too ..... it was worthless.
Steve, I didn't intend to step on your excellent blog. I was just intrigued that posters were identifying different decades for it. Although I knew the jitterbug was much older than my expereince, I knew that as teens we danced it in the 50's. I have seen references to it in the 60's and 70's, as well. It certainly has had a long life span.
WH, I loved the beauty of the language, but I must confess that this one, more than most, had me wondering what it meant, so I was happy to consult Spark Notes. After reading Spark Notes and knowing you a little, I now read more into it myself, beyond the notes.
My one cent copy ($4.00 shipping cost) of Japaners Inn came from Amazon today. I am enjoying it.
Windhover, I won't pretend that I can fully grasp or appreciate Hopkins, but the gist is clear.
Of the many birds I see out here in our piece of paradise, one of the most interesting is the Harrier. Hopkins had to be watching a Harrier the day that particular muse smacked him upside the head.
And since I know you keep a list of favorite tunes, here's one you might consider adding that does a good job of capturing the same sentiment. Me And the Eagle
YR: In "The Windhover", understanding the meaning of all the words is probably not as important as feeling the elation of the poet. If you have ever stood on a windswept hill and let your spirit join the flight maneuvers of a large hawk or eagle, you will understand the poem fully. If you haven't, you aren't ever going to get it out of a book. Words are never an adequate substitute.
PK@3:26 I really appreciated YR Spark Notes because it has been a while since i stood on that windswept hill, & it helped me get some of that feeling back. I think the true meaning of the poem is in our attempt to capture the unattainable, in words, or music. I think it is our struggle, & most of all our attempts that are important, for if we give up, we will surely fall to earth...
(& my DW says i am not romantic:(
PK, I have felt that elation, standing on a windswept hill and letting my spirit soar with the flight of the hawks. I got that part, but I need more. I find a great deal of elation and many other stirring emotions in nature. Often these feelings are expressed just as beautifully and movingly in lucid poetry. Just my preference.
BTW I didn't want to waste a post on this correction: I am reading JapanESE Inn.
I don't know how they got these shots but they're fantastic. Clip.
RE: Post at 3:40 p.m.
Who are you and what have you done with CrossEyed Dave????
Cross-Eyed Dave - I'm sorry, yesterday, I couldn't quite find the right link to commemorate your linking abilities. Here's one on Deer Crossings that could add to our store of knowledge. Maybe any Minnesotans or N. Dakotans could draw a bead on this and help explain the problem.
YR, I had no idea that the Jitterbug went back that far! I looked at the photo that Steve linked, and thought it was more WWII era. So thanks for expanding on the origins!
Hola Everyone, A few unknowns today: Pole sit, Gravity's Rainbow and BBoy. I had Rainbow, but Gravity wouldn't come with the perps, so I had to Google today. Technically, a DNF for me today.Grunge Rock was another unknown, but that came with the perps.
I had to leave the puzzle early this morning and come back to it this afternoon after going to the gym. A 1:00 PM class cuts right into the day and I don't get much done before or after going to the Y. Today, after class, I did continue on down the road to the hospital and get my flu shot. I hope everyone is doing the same in the next couple of weeks.
I saw O'Toole in Becket way back in the 60's. Such a good movie.
Thanks, Steve for your excellent writeup today. The theme escaped me until you brought it to light.
Good luck with your dinner tonight, Abejo. I think you're very brave to cook for 18.
Ave. Joe, thanks for sharing your photo.
Have a great evening, everyone.
Just nitpicking here...(I thought the puzzle was cute) but I am a HUGE Pearl Jam fan and they haven't been a grunge rock band since the early 90s. They are an amazing band going on 21 years now. They play all kinds of music including hard rock and punk. But I was thrilled to see them clued in an L.A. Times puzzle. I believe they made the NY Times last year! What fun!
spitzboov@5:25
LOL! That clip is hilarious and sad! I believe the caller really believes that the signs inform the deer!
Lucina @ 6:27 - I think so too. I thought the talk show host was extremely polite to her. I don't think the assistant could believe what she was hearing from the caller.
Pas de Chat @ 5:23
LOL! Don't worry, it's me, i just find some subjects sobering.
Spitzboov, great clip! You can tell that woman that the Government is aware of the problem, & are testing solutions as we speak...
Because I'll never have the excuse to link these ever again:
Madison Square Garden
Daughter
Good nite to all on the blog.
Great puzzle.
Appreciate the concern about my cat.
Steve(s) thanks to both for your hard work which made for a nice puzzle and write up.
Avg Joe, good pic.
CED, I bet your wife does know!
If anyone does read Gravitys Rainbow please let me know if it was good.
Good night all.
Yellow rocks: thanks for the spark notes to explain "Windhover".
I remember I needed all the notes available to understand T.S.Eliot.
Liked the comments today. Such a wonderful group.
Post a Comment