All five theme answers are two word phrases with the first word a synonym of the common clue word MIMIC, though not necessarily a synonym of each other. There are slight variations in the meaning of mimic. The resultant two word phrase has nothing to do with the meaning of mimic. As added bonus to the symmetrical 10, 11, 11, 11, 10 pattern of the theme, the 2nd and 4th clues are identical words, with varied meanings.
17A. Mimic mackerel? : PARROT FISH (10). This multicolored denizen of the deep is as colorful as its feathered namesake. When you Parrot what someone else says, you repeat without really knowing what it means.
24A. Mimic masquerades? : MIRROR BALLS (11). This fill sounds very dangerous, and potentially very painful. The Masquerade ball is a staple of society, though they seldom dance to the disco balls.
33A. Mimic magazine managers? : COPY EDITORS (11). The one who edits copy,
48A. Mimic masquerades? : APE COSTUMES.(11). A different version of masquerade, where it is what you are wearing. not where you are wearing.
57A. Mimic miseries? : MOCK TRIALS.(10). Trials and tribulations certainly are miseries (another Stephen King book/movie I like) but a mock trial is a make believe one. Like a mock turtleneck sweater.
It is always hard to keep five theme answers responsive to a single word, but Mr. Krauss has done so skillfully. The remaining fill was sparkly in places, but had too many appearances of the plural "S" for my complete happiness, though very few initalisms this week. I have marked each fill that has a gratuitous S on the end.
Across:
1. John and Paul : POPES. Not the Beatles, but the papacy (which has nothing to do with papaya) which also has Popes dubbed John-Paul.
6. Capital on its own gulf : RIGA. The capital of Latvia. A clecho with 16A. Country on its own gulf : OMAN, a country and gulf we see often in puzzles.
10. Bar or bel intro : DECI. I am sure we are familiar with DECIBEL, the measure of sound; but I did not recall DECIBAR, "a centimeter-gram-second unit of pressure, equal to 1 /10 bar or 100,000 dynes per square centimeter." per the dictionary. DECI means one tenth, from the Latin, used for example where an army was 'decimated. meaning one in ten were killed.
14. Imminent, old-style : ANEAR. Not only an "A" word but an archaic one, though if you think AFAR, ANEAR will pop to mind, but not AN EAR.
15. Shots served neatly? : ACES. Tennis serves.
19. Tolled : RANG. "For whom the bell rings, it rings for you" just does not have the same pizzazz.
20. Seed cover : ARIL. Not an "A" word but a common bit of crosswordese.
21. Tony winner Roger : REES. The British actor who I first saw as the boss/boy friend of Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) on Cheers. He won his Tony back in the 80s for the play based on Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, and I think he is back on broadway now, but I have not been to the city this year.
22. Many an Everly Brothers hit : B-SIDE. Is this true? Who was picking the A-Sides that the B-sides became hits?
23. "___-hoo!" : YOO.
26. Early Pilgrim family : ALDENS. Speak for yourself, John.
28. Ready : ALL SET.
29. County bordering Mayo : SLIGO. Not nnaise, but in Ireland on the coast.
30. Fairy tale threat : WOLF. Like, the Boy Who Cried Wolf, not the briar patch. Took a second to understand the clue.
38. The gamut : A TO Z.
39. Obtain despite resistance : WREST. I wrestled with this one for a bit also.
42. Key of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 24 : F-SHARP. All perps, though I am sure JzB knew.
47. European tourists' rentals : VESPAS. You have to be careful to not be run over by one.
52. "___ we having fun yet?" : ARE. We are you?
53. Like much mouthwash : MINTY. Like this home made AD? (1:04)
54. Pearl Buck heroine : O-LAN. The wife in The Good Earth. C.C., what did the native Chinese people think of this book? (From C.C.: Personally I think it's the best book ever written about China by a foreigner. The portrait of Chinese country life (pre-1949) & psychology is so vivid and true.)
55. "Dang!" : DRAT. This is my favorite non-swear word.
56. ___ uncertain terms : IN NO. No relation to INNIE. Do you recognize this star who is back innie trouble.
59. Bread brushed with ghee : NAAN. But do not brush your bread with 8D. Painter's undercoat : GESSO.
60. Stationary surgical patient : TREE. I love this clue.
61. Rival of Helena : ESTEE. Rubinstein and Lauder, and I did not make that up.
62. In addition : ELSE.
63. "The War of the Worlds" foe : MARS. I had trouble thinking of anything but Martians.
64. Slurpee cousins : ICEES. Not to be confused with kissing cousins who might be slurpy. One of my favorite CLIPS. (2:08). But not, 7D. Less receptive : ICIER.
Down:
1. Tropical fruits : PAPAYAS. I warned you there would be fruit. But served in a bowl, not...
2. Hot : ON A ROLL.
3. Regular : PERIODIC. Table?
4. Rank below marquis : EARL.
5. Capacity-exceeding letters : SRO.Standing Room Only.
6. Gold-medalist decathlete Johnson : RAFER. My first memories of the OLYMPICS.(2:23).
9. ___ Wednesday : ASH.
10. Back fin : DORSAL. Anyone want to go swimming with me in the OCEAN? (1:48). Not like 25D. Finn floater : RAFT. Huckleberry, not the Irish terrorists, nor people from Finland.
11. Sends, in a way : EMAILS.
12. Taper, e.g. : CANDLE. I could not hold a taper to Kurt's work.
13. Gulp down : INGEST.
18. Speaker of Cooperstown : TRIS. Really old time baseball, and a very valuable trading card.
22. Crude meas. : BBL. Nice play on CRUDE meaning unpolished and the petroleum.
24. Letter run : M N O P. When in doubt...spell it out.
27. I problem? : EGO. A fun clue.
30. Wrong, with "all" : WET. Like the last ten seconds of this R-rated VIDEO? (1:20). Wrong, very wrong; right boys?
31. Meter opening : ODOmeter. How far you have gone in your car.
32. Dick Cheney's eldest : LIZ. Eldest daughter ELIZABETH. My dil dislikes being called Liz.
34. Blabs : YAPS.
35. Has a mortgage, say : OWES.
36. Tourist's options: Abbr. : RRS. Rail Roads.
37. Break up : SEPARATE. The referee stepped in and separated the fighters.
40. End of the slogan that starts "Everybody doesn't like something" : SARA LEE. Think COMMERCIALS (1:01) are better now?
41. African dangers : TSETSES. We get an entire fly.
42. Big food problem : FAMINE. Yes , no food is a big problem.
43. ___ column : SPINAL. So many columns.
44. Salon dyes : HENNAS. What you are DYEING to know.
45. It starts with thunder and lightning in "Macbeth" : ACT ONE.
46. Mr. Rogers : ROY. Happy TRAILS, (2:03), still singing at 83; not tobe confused with Mister Rogers.
47. Blow off steam : VENT.
49. Irish lullaby start : TOORA. More learning LISTEN.(2:36).
50. Eating may relieve its symptoms : ULCER. Do you BELIEVE?
51. Compels : MAKES. I am not sure what compels me to be so silly.
55. Frisbee, for one : DISC.
57. "Lou Grant" production co. : MTM. Mary Tyler Moore's company.
58. Portugal's Manuel II, e.g. : REI. Portuguese for King.
Well I am back from visiting and I am still recovering, need to get some rest as I got worn out rocking Charlotte to sleep, and now miss that very much. See you all next time.
Lemonade
Note from C.C.:
Here are two photos of Lemonade's adorable granddaughter Charlotte & her beautiful parents.
78 comments:
Good morning everyone,
GRRRRRR! Thought I had nailed this puzzle, but Lemonade's write up did me in because of two letters. For 32D & 38A I had LIN & ATON. Done enough Xwords ,,,, should have known it was the Z. Cheney's offspring was a ??????? and LIN looked OK.
2nd error was carelessness on my part. I entered ROI & OSTEE for 58D & 61A . These were known to me, but the ROI was posted first and I figured it was a given.
In spite of my numb skull goofs, I enjoyed this offering, especially the themes.
Never knew eating could help relieve the discomfort of an ULCER. That's one malady I'm glad I never experienced.
Last weekend I sold two '59 YOO HOO Yankees. They were the only ones I owned or seen. Pretty scarce issue. I hate MINTY tasting mouthwash. Listerine I can (barely) tolerate.
Most likely I won't be posting again until Monday. so have a GREAT WEEKEND.
Morning, all!
Made steady progress through most of this one in rather quick time for a Friday. The theme was cute, and once I got the first theme answer and understood what was going on I was able to knock down the rest in short order.
I thought the RIGA/RAFER clue was borderline unfair, especially as clued, but in retrospect I've at least heard of RIGA (even thought I didn't know it had it's own gulf) and not much other than an "R" would really work there.
ELSEwhere, I tried ALSO and PLUS before finally excepting ELSE at 62A.
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Interesting Friday puzzle. I am not sure how I feel about today's theme. I liked it, but am not sure all the clues and corresponding answers quite fit. COPY EDITOR was my first theme answer, which helped me realize what we were looking for Mimic-wise.
Hand up for thinking of Also instead of ELSE.
I knew that Beethoven's Sonata was in SHARP, but needed the perps to get the F.
ARIL is a word I learned from doing the crosswords.
I was thinking more generically and wanted Ogre for the Fairy Tale Threat. The WOLF was a treat to Little Red Riding Hood.
Since I live only 8 miles round trip from my office, I have very few miles on my ODOmeter reading.
I read The Good Earth back in high school. I should probably re-read it. I remember I liked it.
Today marks the official last day of the 2012 hurricane season.
Great photos of your family, Lemonade.
QOD: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. ~ Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 ~ October 19, 1745)
Hello Puzzlers -
Just squeaked by with a no-peeky today. Tris and Rees were total WAGs, and I couldn't recall Gesso, a word unknown to me outside of crosswords. Really wanted Also at 62a, it fits the clue much better.
Really bristled at 10a's clue, because in my experience the unit Bel is always capitalized when written without a prefix. That is the norm in honorary Système Internationale units (such as Watt, Volt, Ampere...) However, if Wiki is correct, the Bel is not an officially recognized SI unit. I guess that leaves it up to the user's preference whether to capitalize. It honors Alexander Graham Bell, of course.
Stumbled in the SW corner (was thinking MAJOR or MINOR instead of SHARP) but got through in typical Friday time. [15:26]
Good morning!
This was a quick solve. My only problem was the musical key. I was fixated on _MAJOR or _MINOR, so it took some time for F SHARP to appear. But I still finished with plenty of time on the clock.
So far as B SIDE is concerned, the record company music promoters always told the radio stations which side they wanted to "push." Did you know that Roy Orbison's Mean Woman Blues was supposed to be a B SIDE? Of course the supposed A SIDE, Blue Bayou was pretty DANG good, and did pretty well.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
Fun puzzle today, made very easy once I got the theme. I had the same stumbling blocks as others, getting hung up on major or minor instead of SHARP at 42A. But a quick peek at the perps filled in ACT ONE and HENNAS, so it had to be ELSE at 62A and F SHARP.
I also got hung up on REI by filling in Rey, but that's the Spanish king. Grrr. So slurpy cousins would be "yucky"?
Charlotte is such a little doll, Lemony - no wonder you are quickly becoming the doting granddaddy. And your son and DIL are just lovely - what a lucky man you are!
Have a great day everyone - TGIF!
Good day, fellow solvers! Glad to see you at your Friday post, Lemonade.
Initially this daunted me and it took several passes to find a toe hold. ARIL was my first fill and I welcomed it like an old friend. Then I just skipped around until the NE corner filled. We see OMAN quite often. NAMES was my first guess for John and Paul before POPES became apparent.
What Hondo said about A TO Z. I also had A TON and thought Miss Cheney was LIN like her mother.
From there I just went down to the SE and finished that. APE COSTUMES gave me the theme so then MOCK TRIALS appeared.
The Good Earth is a wonderful book.
I really liked the cluing for ACES and TREE.
My ODOmeter reading is at 92,000 miles.
Have a great Friday, everyone! Back to bed for me.
Lemonade, your granddaughter is adorable! Thank you for sharing pics of her and her parents. What a good looking family you have.
This was a quick solve with an immediately discernible theme. There was one personal nattick. I wagged the E in crossing RAFER and REES. Then I made a bonehead mistake. I had ROI, the French king, and did not go back to change it. Of course OSTEE does not make sense.
Although I don't go to work I have 163,000 + miles on my 8 year old car.
Beautiful granddaughter, Lemon. I remember fondly those precious days with Kenny. Enjoy it whenever you can. They grow up quickly. I racked up some of those miles going to see Kenny.
I loved The Good Earth. I felt so sorry for salt of the earth Olan.
It must be Friday, because my brain hurts.
Wow, a lot of unknowns for me: O-LAN, RAFER, TRIS, REES, ANEAR, SLIGO.
I liked 1A: John and Paul: POPES. I had ES and was tempted to write down NAMES.
Looking over my grid, what is ATOZ and ONNO. (just kidding)
VESPAS reminded me of Howard on TBBT, but apparently now he has a car. Did anybody watch last night? I was hoping Sheldon would scream in terror when he checked out Amy's "new do" in the back of the car.
Have a great day (hope mine gets easier!)
Great photos Lemonade!
Very enjoyable and challenging puzzle.
One nit: Would puzzle creators please go a little easier on references to actors and actresses in plays? These sorts of clues/answers make it unduly difficult for heterosexual men to complete puzzles.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kurt Krauss, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a great write-up.
Well, this one went a lot easier than most Friday puzzles. Except for the fact I tried to download it to my IPad and no cigar. So, I walked out to the street and got the paper.
After getting EARL for 4D, I confidently wrote in NAMES for 1A. After a while that was changed to POPES.
I also wrote in ALSO for 62A. Fixed that later to ELSE.
Those were my only two write overs.
Caught the theme with APE COSTUMES. That helped with the others.
OLAN was easy for 54A. I read the book many years ago. Still remember it. Outstanding story and picture of life in China at that time.
I have eaten enough NAAN in my life to choke a horse. 6 rials for 3 foot sheet.
Remember RAFER Johnson very well. He and Roosevelt Greer captured Bobby Kennedy's slayer. That guy, Sirhan, did not have a chance.
Anyhow, off to Winnetka to get a signed copy of Michael Connelly's latest book.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Good morning everyone. Thanks Lemonade for the amplifying explanations. BTW, nice family pix.
Welcome aboard, Queenie.
Seemed daunting at first but then, the NE filled in ok. Began to see the theme with COPY EDITORS. Cool theme. Thanks, Lemon, for explaining the Finn RAFT connection. BH helped with GESSO. Got RAFER early on, though. Welled right up into my brain. 'Blow off steam' || VENT; literally and figuratively. RIGA and OMAN were gimmes; made good anchors.
I enjoyed the puzzle more than I thought I would at first. I think we've had Kurt before.
Enjoy the day/
Well just like the rest of the puzzles this week I zipped through this one in no time at all. I honestly can't remember a week when that has happened. My only double take today was seeing Mimic Masquerades a second time and thinking that there must have been a foul-up with the newspaper. I'm sure I'm in for a few write-overs and stumpers next week. We shall see. Take care everyone and have a good weekend. We are looking at a nice warm up coming our way this weekend and the first of many Christmas get-togethers is on Saturday. It'll be a couch day on Sunday for sure.
What a slog. Took me a whole mug-of-java. (Jamaica Blue Mountain, YUM!)
Was expecting the usual "Add-a-letter/Change-a-letter, create a Wacky Pun" theme.
PARROT FISH was my fave.
RIGA & RAFER were my first fills. I like obvious gimmies.
Got _SHARP off the 'P' in YAPS. Waited for the "perps" to get me the 'F' (from FAMINE).
Hand-up for thinkin' Ogre before WOLF appeared.
My Pinch is always "served neatly" ... but then it's sipped, slowly.
A "toast" to all at Sunset.
Cheers !!!
Lemony,
Great pix of a cute baby!
I struggled with this and only after coming and cheating on some of the themes, could I finish.
I count 18 names and references to names of people and places in the clues, so that's probably why I had trouble. How the hell would anyone have heard of Mayo (other than in the fridge) and Sligo?
I thought 18D sounded like a reference to some historic speech. Probably an intended misdirect for the non-sport minded.
I liked yesterday much better.
Only one bad cell on this fun, Friday frolic - GES_O crossing REE_. Either you know ‘em or you don’t and I was in the latter camp. My cold has diminished to a very sore throat. Any remedies for this out there?
Musings
- John wasn’t a POPE but in 1966 he did say The Beatles were more popular than Jesus when even their B-SIDES were hits
-The “bubble boy’s” father drove a YOO-HOO truck
-WOLF, you’re in for OGRE and I too loved the tree surgeon cluing
-I think Miss Lohan has fired her publicists and just uses various police departments
-EARL not DUKE but here’s the Duke of EARL (2:12 after 15 sec. commercial)
-If clothing were sold by area, Kate would save a lot of money
-Will SARA LEE pick up now that Hostess has gone bye-bye?
-VENTing seems to be the thing to do right after you are offended, but…
-Irascible Ed Asner – “I’m always thought of in Hollywood as the resident communist”
-Lovely pix, Lemon. I enjoy seeing photos of people competing for 2nd cutest grandchildren ;-).
Thanks Lemonade for a terrific writeup.
Hands up for Yucky instead of Minty and Boo instead of Yoo. Lol
Great puzzle, challenging but doable. And Friday.
Anyone else getting their cyber-monday purchases delivered already by this A TO Z company?
Good morning Crew!
This was a crawl, not a sprint for me. Most of the pitfalls have been gone over. Fell into the also/ELSE trap, started out with Boo instead of Yoo and had Yaks instead of yaps. Lots of multiple choice answers and misdirections, but it all worked out in the end.
Busy day. Still wrestling with getting my new computer fully operational.
Hi All ~~
A fun puzzle today ~ seemed easy for a Friday but was a very enjoyable solve. The top half went especially quickly and then things slowed a bit after COPY EDITORS. Clever theme ~ MIRROR BALLS made me think of 'Dancing with the Stars' - this was awarded the other night.
~ I, too, wanted 'Major' or 'Minor' before HENNAS led me to 'SHARP.'
~ I was thinking 'Primer' before GESSO.
~ SLIGO was a complete unknown - all perps.
~ For some reason 30D - All WET stumped me for a while - not sure what I was thinking.
~ On 13D - Gulped down - I wanted something more "slurp-ish" so INGEST took a while.
~ Loved the clue for TREE.
~ A wonderful write-up, Lemonade - as I was working on this, I was noticing the extra 'esses' you mentioned. Great photos of your family - beautiful people!
~ Seen - ATOZ has made many appearances on my doorstep lately! :-)
Husker:
Well ... I haven't had a sore throat in (probably) 40 years ...
Sooooo ... maybe Avatar?
"2nd cutest grandchildren" comment, too funny !!!
Mari:
Last night's TBBT actually had me laughing-out-loud on 4 occasions.
Sheldon's "so many Band-Aids" comment, priceless !
I guess I should have typed, "FROM this A to Z company". I don't want to slight Splynter's employer. My driver dropped off a package last night around 8:30p! I wonder if those people in brown love the overtime money or can't wait for January?
Hi there~!
Depends on the driver, Seen....this week I have been loading four trucks with 400+ pieces each for delivery - normal routes are usually 200. Already seeing the Cyber Monday stuff coming thru.
As for the puzzle, hand up for OGRE before WOLF, maj/minOR before SHARP.
Got theme OK, but I missed the brilliant answer to the stationary patient....oh well.
My 2000 Dodge Stratus just rolled over 225,250 on it's ODOmeter; one timing belt, one fuel pump, and about 6 tie-rods and sets of tires in that time.
YOO PEA ESS Splynter
Oh -
BTW, I LOVE the OT ~!!!
Splynter
I don't think lemon mentioned that the second word of the theme clues is an alliterative (with Mimic) hint to the second word in the theme answers. I believe this is the nuance that makes this puzzle awesome.
Mackeral - FISH
Masquerade - BALL
Magazine Manager - EDITOR
Masquerade - COSTUME
Misery - TRIAL
OMG! This puzzle beat me up...
One thing i did notice, i filled in the last word of all the theme answers backwards! Then tried to figure out the 1st words.
Only nit = 55A Dang should = Rats!
Which sums up my review of this puzzle... Well done Mr. Krauss!
Oh, & the Wiki discography of the Everly Bros, does not support the B side theory...
Oh, & Lemon, 30D, all wet, Oooooh!
( i bet the Blog view count goes way up!)
Good morning:
A just-right Friday offering. Had ogre before wolf and yaks before yaps; other than those two, all went well. Being of Irish descent, Sligo was a gimme.
I DVR'ed TBBT and, based on comments, look forward to watching it.
My 2002 Toyota Carolla (which I got in October of 2001) has 23,000 miles on it. Guess it's obvious that I am not a "Road Runner!"
Thanks, Kurt Krauss, for a clever Friday challenge and thanks, Lemony, for a fine expo and for sharing the pictures of your beautiful family.
Happy Friday and so long to November!
Perfect Friday puzzle, Kurt--not too easy but doable with a little patience and very rewarding in the outcome. I agree with Pinto that the extra nuances were especially delightful in this puzzle.
However, for all that, I got a nasty surprise when I checked the blog. Like Anon 9:38, I had BOO instead of YOO, which gave me PAPABAS for the fruit. Never questioned it--just wondered what that fruit was going to look like. Doh!
Lemonade, I loved the picture of the PARROT FISH (and, of course, of the handsome family). I got MIRROR BALL easily because the prize on "Dancing with the Stars" is a MIRROR BALL trophy.
So, a great start to a rainy Friday here in California. Have a good one, everybody!
Thank you Kurt Krauss for a very challenging and very clever puzzle. Was way past my C.I.Q. - Crossword Information Quotient.
Thank you Lemonade for your fabulous 'value added' commentary - that's why I came here in the first place.
As Husker would say, some musings:
1. I had 'ALIENS' for Early Pilgrim family .... I mean, just because the (Red) Indians did not issue 'visas' for entry, did not give the Pilgrims, the automatic God given right to disembark on this foreign land ....
2. A small nit, not on the clue, but your explanation .... I always thought 'Decimate' was to reduce to 10%. .... viz: as Answers.com says, as applied to, the Jews and the Holocaust .... 'decimate' would hardly qualify as a 10 percent reduction .... despite the origins in Rome .... most people would consider decimate to be a 90% reduction .... to reduce to 10% of the original.
3. I put Cheney's offspring to be 'LES', as in LGBT .... maybe it was the other daughter.
4. Almost all ulcers are caused by bacteria ( absolutely brilliant discovery - ) Helicobacter Pylori - and should be treated with antibiotics etc.
5. Finally, the Toola Roola Looral link - I was surprised - by the advertisement - an Indian founder of 5 Hr. Energy drinks - touting it himself. While I've heard of this billionaire before, it is nice to see an Indian cashing in on the ultimate American dream - Making Billions, while peddling junk (!).
Have a nice weekend, you all and best wishes.
Good morning and happy Friday to all. Thanks to KK for a clever puzzle, and Lemon for some great links. Hand up for also instead of else, but that was my only write over.
I thought of Tin at first with 15 across,but that didn't work with the perps.
To HuskerG , Great thought on grand kids I'm sure we could get lots of arguments about that as mine are right up there in my book.
Abejo:
Is that the same Winnetka as in "Big Noise from Winnetka"?
How about a link, Argyle or Joe?
My '88 S10 has 300, 500 miles, the '98 Honda Accord (the official car of Jesus)* has 205,000, and the '87 BMW K100LT has 140,000. But the '90 F150 has only 94,612 (I'm in it right now).
*(It says in the Bible, "They were all of one accord".
Anon @ 8:22, crosswords test a broad range of subject material, from geography to sports to personalities and history. There are bound to be some people who don’t know everything in all those areas, but does that mean that constructors should only stick to common nouns and verbs? Bo-ring! Whenever I come across a reference to baseball, I get out my perp crutches and just limp through that area, hoping I can fill it in!!
Windy, is this the version you were hoping for?
Some history.
Yay SLIGO and TOORA! As many Irish references as we can fit in between now and National Championship Game Day is just fine with me!
Took a little noodling to finish this one, but got there in the end.
Mighty fine write-up Lemonade!
Hi Gang -
Actually, I did not know that Beethoven's Sonata 24 was in F#. usually those type of fill are of the form X-{MAJOR/MINOR} so I confidently filled in the M and the R, which was a bit of a set back.
That key would be monstrous on trombone. I hope to never see it.
Loved this theme. Very masterful. It led to a couple of clunkers in the fill, but a very worth-while trade off.
Good puzzle? I GESSO!
Good to see A TO Z [not B] and the entire fly.
Wonderful write up Lemon.
Don't know where SLIGO came from, but knew it right away.
Is Kate Upton for real, or did she take her trunk to the surgeon? Maybe there can be too much of a good thing.
Ironic symmetry: FAMINE - INGEST.
We're playing a benefit for the homeless tonight at a church down river.
Cool regards!
JzB
Hi Y'all, Great puzzle, KK! Great blog/links, Lemonade!
First pass, I thought this would be another blank Friday, but WOO HOO! I did it. Hands up for N/Z as only error. Had to hit bottom and work my way up to do it. RAFER was my first fill, but didn't trust myself enough to write it in.
We had RIGA recently and I happened to notice the bay name then. Miracle: I remembered!
SLIGO was a gimmee. My maternal grandfather's father came from County Mayo. My American cousins used to visit Irish cousins and stay next door in SLIGO. No motel in Co. Mayo.
Pearl Buck was my favorite author. Her writing seriously colored my attitude toward the foibles of men and the man/woman relationship. I was very slow to understand the feminist movement. But P.B.'s writings helped me stay married to my farmer husband for 33 years.
Wonderful pics of your fam, Lemony.
Speaking of pics - that one of LL is one I specifically didn't link.
She's just too sad a case.
Cheers!
JzB
Thank you SEEN for the AMAZON A to Z link and Pinto for pointing out the alliteration which I missed. It did add another dimension to the theme which should be applauded.
As marti says, one of the things about the puzzles is there is so much diverse information used in solving that we all can learn things, whether it is proper names, science, geography or physics. I think we need to embrace what we do not know and enjoy the experience of learning here rather than in a boring classroom.
I did enjoy TBBT last evening, the comments at Amy's expense were rather awful but funny.
I think this is our 4th KK puzzle, all of which were Wednesday efforts, with the most recent in August.
Thanks for the nice words about my baby and my kids and my efforts to entertain.
JzB, I could not resist the INNIE and back innie jail tie for LL. She is certainly a sad story and a reminder of why we all need to be careful what we wish for for ourselves and our children.
What Hatoolah said about the Big Bad Wolf being the threat.
Don't get BBL.
B SIDE was the last to fall.
Googled BBL and found it is text lingo for BE BACK LATER.
Lemonade, I don't understand your explanation.
What a beautiful baby!
Anony -
Actually you and Lemon are both right.
DECIMATE originally meant to reduce by one tenth, but modern usage has transformed it into meaning a drastic reduction of non-speciic magnitude - not necessarily to leave on tenth.
The mutability of language.
Cheers!
JzB
Good afternoon! Well a bunch of unknowns in the north-central of Kurt’s fine puzzle resulted in a big fat DNF for me. But I thought the theme was fun, especially MOCK TRIAL. Stationary Surgical Patient = TREE made me laugh when I finally figured it out. Haven’t seen our old friend the TSETSE fly in a while.
Thanks for the nifty write-up, Lemon. Bet you’re counting the days until you see that little darling again. My daughter, SIL and 3-month-old granddaughter arrive in just a couple weeks – can’t wait!
Seen, the Amazon deliveries are coming fast and furious at our house. It’s tricky knowing which ones are OK to open, since the kids ship their on-line gift orders here ahead of traveling home for the holidays.
Happy Friday everyone!
Husker ........ If you are uncomfortable with Tins recommendation , I suggest Makers Mark.
Forgot to welcome Queenie. Nice to have you join the party! Don’t worry, you’ll catch on to the lingo pretty quickly. On the main blog page scroll about halfway down to the section on the right titled “Olio” – there’s a link to a Comments Section Abbreviations page that I found really helpful when I first started visiting (I refuse to admit to lurking LOL).
Windhover – “They were all of one accord” LMAO!! Both DH and I have owned Hondas for forever and love ‘em.
pas de chat
BBL is the abrev for barrel -- a liquid quantity 42 US gallons (34.9723 imp gal; 158.9873 L). It is the standard measure for crude oil volume.
Cheers!
JzB
Windhover:
LOL! Jesus in an ACCORD!
Thanks Jazz B, Thanks, I didn't know that.
F sharp is no picnic on the piano either.
6 sharps in the key signature and all those dreaded double sharps.
I'd rather see G flat any day, it seems to be easier to read, even though it has 6 flats.
Hello everybody. I enjoyed the challenge today and I learned some new things, such as County SLIGO, of which I had never heard before.
I had to use my thesaurus to get PARROT, but after that I needed no other "outside" help.
As for the musical key, I knew it had to be MAJOR, MINOR, or SHARP, so I waited for a perp or two to reveal it. The same with _OO, which could have been YOO, BOO, or WOO.
Didn't like the clue for ELSE. Made me wonder if the original fill was ALSO and later changed to ELSE but someone forgot to change the clue.
I can never remember Mr. Speaker's first name.
Best wishes to you all.
So, when an Accord gets smushed in a collision, does it become an Accordion?
I think we watched TBBT last night, but I must have fallen asleep because I don't remember it at all.
Thanks JzB for explaining BBL, which I sadly took for granted and did not reveal. It is however part of the wonder of the corner that we have so many helping.
I very much am looking forward to holding little Charlotte and learning how much she has developed.
Thank you JazzB for the Concorde' explanation. (lol). I am happy with anything, that says 'decimate' is bigger than smaller .... because that's the way I've always used it.
Lemonade, great joy and happiness with your lovely grand-d .... your avatar shows the reaction of your grand-d when she found out what your avatar name was !
My g-son visited us this past holiday, he's 2, and loves 'gangnam' style .... and listens, and dances, to it constantly with the iPhone. When I showed him the Youtube video on my laptop, he started asking me for the 'Mitt Romney party (parody)' gangnam style and the 'Jew, Jew, Jew ' style. I looked at the latter video, and I was very disturbed that he could have picked up all this anti-Semitic nonsense .... ( from his parents ? - which I considered highly unlikely - ). Finally, after questioning both of them, I realized, that he had learnt how to 'engage and pick', the side videos that appear on the Youtube - after the original choice had run its course - and not knowing any better, had suddenly grown to like 'other realated' videos - without understanding the meaning, or the implications of his choices.
If the technology today, can empower a 2 yr old, to select inappropriate songs and images from Youtube, imagine the tremendous power it can confer to our teens. Its a scary world for the future.
Happy Friday to all and a wet Friday for me and my neighbors. Not nearly enough rain for me yet.
How can the War of the World foe be Mars, an inanimate planet? Wouldn't the foe be the beings who came to Earth; the Martians or aliens or ...? But then I thought if you asked who was our foe in WWII, a perfectly normal response would be Germany, not Germans. So, OK.
This puzzle seemed hard (as is appropriate for Friday) and the theme wasn't as much fun as usual. It wasn't one of my favorites.
We just got back from taking our son out for his birthday lunch at our favorite local Cuban restaurant. We always get the same thing, roast pork with black beans and fried plantains.
Hahtoolah, just took a closer look at your new avatar -- adorable!
Imitation is not always
the sincerest form
of flattery.
A toast to all at sunset...
Java Mama: there are a lot of cat people here!
Challenging, with lots to learn.
Glad to know, CC that Buck's The Good Earth was accurate. I loved it growing up, but felt sad for the main character. My favorite book as an adult about China is Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. It gave me the big picture of the sweeping changes that occurred there. Is it an accurate portrayal?
Did you hear that the Powerball winners from Missouri have an adopted Chinese child? They say their winnings should enable them to adopt another.
Thanks to all for your kind comments.
Kurt Krauss
Jayce @ 1349 said: does it become an Accordion?. One of the rules of the blog is no diminishment of someone else's musical instrument. Here's a clip you might enjoy: Duo Truus & Gerard. (La Paloma starts at 1:44). (The tempo picks up after 4:00)
I've mentioned this to Tin in this space a couple of times, but if anyone is looking for a good Scotch that is a bit off the beaten path, do yourself a flavor and try Old Pulteney.
Their 12 year offering is very good, and not overly expensive. Their older versions have gotten high acclaim, but do get very pricey. I'm sipping a dash of 12 year right now, (but admittedly with 2 ice cubes :-) Sorry Tin, couldn't hep myself.
In matters of taste there are no disputes, so there's bound to be those that disagree strongly. But for my palate I've never tried anything that comes close....It's far, far better than Glenlivit of Glenfiddich, IMO. YMMV.
Avg.Joe
Off your recommendation (a while back) I tried 'Old Pulteny' and found it to be very good.
If I listed ALL the Scotches that I have loved over the years ... I'd probably be typing until Mid-Night.
Different Ages, Blended or Single Malt, Light or Dark (like women) they ALL have their own special qualities.
I can't really Rate one brand over another.
As I (very originally, lol) said:
"I never met a Scotch (or lady, for that manner) I didn't like!"
Cheers !!!
But what's with all that water???
C'mon, gimme a break! I like it cold and didn't add any H2O besides the ice.
Pinto:
Thanks for that. I didn't realize the tune was originally composed as a duet for base and drums, as I have only seen it performed by big bands. Very cool.
PK:
Not sure when you're talking about, but when Irish and I (me?) we're in Cong, County Mayo, in 1999, we stayed in/at the Quiet Man B & B, named after the eponymous John Wayne movie filmed there in 1950 and released (I think) in 1952. There was also the Quiet Man Pub, a coffee shop and a gift shop.
I asked a farmer, Ray McHugh, who we met in the Pub if they weren't a little tired of it after 50 years. He said, "I don't know about the rest, but I've had a belly full of it. We all had a bellyful of Guinness.
Dave,
Could this be Tin's Pinch ?
(Just the first minute)
Thank you Kurt Krauss. A very enjoyable puzzle. And thank you Lemonade. I always enjoy your write-ups. Nice pics. Your DIL is beaming and your son looks so proud. As well they should be.
I failed at 3 locations. Crossing S at REES and GESSO, crossing G at SLIGO and EGO - a great clue, and crossing O at TOORA and OLAN.
1D PAPAYAS. DW loves a different tropical fruit that starts with a P. Pomegranates. 2 on the counter right now.
I'll cop out with the WEES statement. It's been a looooong day again. Winding down the work week with a cold one.
As for the ODOmeter reading, my 1993 F150 XLT Supercab with the 8 ft bed ((that never has to be made) has a grand total of 66,958 miles on it. just checked the odometer. No rust. Obviously dated, but still looks new. Never intended that it should happen that way. I've worked from home, which is both a blessing and a curse, since I bought it new that year.
Windhover, my cousins were in Ireland several times in the late 1950's thru mid-1970's, if I remember correctly. They were my mother's first cousins and are all dead now. About all I remember is a picture of the motel in Sligo where they stayed because there were no accommodations near the relatives in Co. Mayo. I think their farm was fairly close to Sligo.
Their names were Moran, I think, although I was more interested in the ancestors at the time than the modern Irish cousins. I know someone ran a pub on High Street in Dublin which I thought was a good place for a pub.
This pic looks almost exactly like my truck, including colors except that mine is cleaner, has the 8 ft bed and has chrome running boards. Have the same Lund bug shield but not the deals over the windows. Mine also has the custom bedliner. This one is also missing the two horizontal pinstripings between the mocha and brown that run front to back. Now just a third vehicle, but she stays pampered, as she always has, in the heated garage. I call her Betsy for some reason. Don't know why.
I think the cold one(s) may have started to take effect. I should stop now.
Abejo and Mari, if you see this vehicle, flag me down !
Greetings!
Very workable, interesting puzzle, Kurt, although I did not think so at first! ARIL was my first fill also. Nice, amusing expo, Lemonade. Swell photos!
No cheats. Liked the theme. As usual, interesting dialog here.
Will be very lonely here until Monday. Even helper will be absent. Am already blue.
Have a good weekend!
PK:
The only one of my great- grandparents who was not of German ancestry was an Irishman named Moran. Unfortunately, after knocking up my great-grandmother in 1899, he absconded for parts unknown and was never heard from again. She then married a German named Ishmael, who I believed to be my ancestor until I was 40. The problem with genealogy is that you often learn something you didn't want to know. Ces la vie!!
Kurt Krauss - Rum drinks? Naples, Fl? You'd fit right in here!
Thanks for stopping by.
Great story WH.
Kurt thanks for stopping by.
Fermatprime we are always here for you.
Interesting angle on that photo of your family, lemony. Were you on a ladder or a chair?
Lemony, I really enjoyed reading your puzzle commentary this evening. You have a very pretty grandchild. I hope you are able to hold her again soon. There is nothing like rocking a baby.
What Jayce said about the puzzle applied to my interpretation. It kept me busy a bit longer than usual but I started on it a bit earlier than normal. My mate goes to be quite early as he gets up at five a.m. each morning. After time changes in the fall he hits the bed soon after it gets dark. Ferm, stay with the blog this weekend for company.
Husker Gary, I hope your throat and cold get better soon. Mine started with an earache then went to sore throat.
Let's all have a fine weekend.
Anonymous @4:50pm,
Mostly accurate, esp her own journey.
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