Theme: Couch Potato. The circles within the theme entries spell out various cable TV options. So get your bowls of popcorn ready, but don't fight over the remote!
17A. "All Summer Long" singers : BEACH BOYS. I was a real fan in my early teens. Here is their version. 2:07 In the circles, we find HBO, or Home Box Office, which is owned by Time-Warner.
22A. Ibsen classic : A DOLL'S HOUSE. I just recently re-read this play. SHOwtime is owned by CBS. My favorite SHO would be "Weeds."
38A. Early Shakespearean tragedy : TITUS ANDRONICUS. For some reason, I always want to spell this one as "Titus Andromeda." USA is owned by NBC. Favorites here inclue "Monk."
48A. New England order : CLAM CHOWDER. Something you can never get in Manhattan is a good chowdah! AMC Networks was formerly known as "American Movie Classics," but they are moving away from that image, and are introducing new programming.
And the unifier:
61A. Wire fasteners, and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters : CABLE TIES. Also known as "zip ties", they are handy when you need to tie a bunch of electronic cords and cables together under your home entertainment system!
Marti here, for your Thursday entertainment. I can't compete with HBO, SHO, USA or AMC, but I'll give it my best shot!
Across:
1. That-funny link : WASN'T. I'm a glass half full kind of person, so I initially wanted "WAS SO."
6. Assistance : AID.
9. Tread heavily : TROMP. "Tramp" would work, too, no?
14. Name in cosmetics : ESTEE. Lauder. Nailed it!
15. Droid, e.g. : PDA. Personal Digital Assistant. We just got our new iPhone 5s today, and they come with "Siri." She brings PDA to a whole new level, but she kind of creeps me out...
16. Sine or secant : RATIO. David Poole is a mathematician, so this was a no-brainer for him. Me? Not so much...
19. Name of two presidents : ADAMS. John Adams was the second president, and his son John Quincy Adams was the sixth president.
20. Foot the bill for : BANKROLL.
21. Egyptian underworld boss? : OSIRIS. "Lord of the Dead"
24. Steep-sided valley : RAVINE.
28. Available without an Rx : OTC. Over The Counter. Or, "Heart"? (Sorry...insider joke)
29. Electron home : ATOM. A Neutron walks into a bar...
30. Paraphernalia : GEAR.
33. Tough watchdog : AKITA. Yeah, right...my cats would have him for lunch!
41. Process start : STEP A.
42. Not e'en once : NE'ER. Poetic "even" and "never"
43. "Sure!" : LET'S. Have you ever regretted saying that? I'd like to hear the story...
44. Wire service abbr. : UPI. United Press International. Once a giant in the newswires, photo and film industry. Now, not so much.
46. Fairlady automaker : DATSUN. I never knew about this brand.
54. Imposed : LEVIED.
55. Bothersome type : HEADACHE.
60. Visibly stunned : AGASP. (David used an "A" word, David used an "A" word...)
62. Indian yogurt dip : RAITA. David is a gourmet cook, so I bet he has made this condiment. I love the cucumber-mint variety.
63. Rhyming boxer : ALI. "It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila..."
64. Tag line? : NOTIT. Hand-in-hand with 25-Down. Working away : ATIT. Fire away, all ye DF bloggers!
65. ___ & Bacon: textbook publisher : ALLYN. I wonder if they were the company that published David's math text?
66. Favorite : PET.
67. "Fun, Fun, Fun" ride for the 17-Across : T-BIRD. Another blast from the past with my fav teenage group.
Down:
1. Friday on the air : WEBB. Sergeant Joe, that is, from the old "Dragnet" TV show.
2. On a steamer, say : ASEA. (David used an "A" word, David used an "A" word...)
3. Getz of jazz : STAN. With John Coltrane: priceless! 9:00 (And worth every second!)
4. Get romantic, in a way : NECK.
5. Imam Khomeini International Airport locale : TEHRAN.
6. Speed skater ___ Anton Ohno : APOLO. I keep wanting to spell his name "Apollo"
7. Pastoral poem : IDYLL.
8. Marx's "___ Kapital" : DAS.
9. Oscar's place : TRASH CAN. I wanted something to do with "The Academy," but it wouldn't fit. D'oh~! Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street!
10. Fireside chat medium : RADIO. FDR's radio broadcasts to the US from 1933-1944, leading up to and then in the midst of the troubles in Europe.
11. Hokkaido seaport : OTARU. Map. On Japan's second-largest island.
12. Actress Rogers et al. : MIMIS. I did not recognize her. Anyone know who she played in film that I might know?
13. Western party : POSSE. Cute clue!
18. Barrio food store : BODEGA. Could also be a wine store...but, come to think of it, that would be one of the major FOOD groups, right?
21. München-to-Wien heading : OST. Munich - to - Vienna direction is OST in German, or "east" in English. Travelled that road many times!
23. "The Maltese Falcon" actor : LORRE. Peter, with Humphrey Bogart in one of my favorite roles!
24. Stinkers : RATS.
26. Swing ___ : VOTE. Yours might just be the one, coming up on Tuesday. So get out and vote!
27. "Hand me a bat!" : I'M UP.
31. Film composer Morricone : ENNIO. You might recognize this one...2:59
32. Country Time suffix : ADE. Make summer last all year with Country Time LemonADE ! (And one of our favorite bloggers on Friday...)
34. Tartan wraparound : KILT. What do they wear underneath those?
35. Works on a cake : ICES. Is the "writer of creamy messages," in other words.
36. "Fantasia" hippo's wear : TUTU. Adorable.
37. Professional org. : ASSN. Association.
39. Kitchen utensil : SAUCE PAN. Hands up for "sauce pot"? I put saucep--, and then skidded to a halt while I waited for perps.
40. Tough row to hoe : ORDEAL.
45. High deg. : PHD. Abbreviation of the Latin "Philosophiæ Doctor" or, "Doctor of Philosophy"
47. Hot-blooded : ARDENT.
48. One of California's Santas : CLARA. Not Claus or Argyle...
49. Sanctioned : LEGAL. I tried "legit" at first.
50. Prove useful : AVAIL. "When a scholar meets a soldier, he may have reason on his side, but to no avail." (Unknown author)
51. Teary-eyed : MISTY.
52. Pequod sinker : WHALE. Yes, indeed, the great white whale did "do in" the Pequod. 2:45
53. Payment option : DEBIT...or credit? And 57-Down. Credit card name with a red arc over it : CITI.
56. Short range : ATOB. What's a tob, you ask? Point A - to - B.
58. One who gets what's coming : HEIR. A clue that made me laugh out loud when I finally "got" it.
59. Business sign abbr. : ESTD. "Established."
61. Uniform item, perhaps : CAP. Wanted "hat", but had to wait for perps.
That's it for this week. See you same time, same place, next Thursday!
Hugs,
Marti
1) Part VII of JD's Italy trip: Rome
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| Ruins of the ancient city of Ostia, which was the gateway and port city to Rome. Yes, those were toilets. |
Click here for more pictures. I intended to put picture #2 here, but had trouble getting it here.
2) Happy Birthday to Carol! I like this picture a lot.
 |
| JD, Dick & Carol Seated in front of lily pond at Sunset Botanical Gardens |
99 comments:
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthday Carol. Always enjoy your posts.
I did this on line so did not have the circles, nor suss the theme. Got most of it without problems. The SE was a little sticky. Only saw A TO B after the perps were in. Not familiar with the CITI logo. But I really liked the clue for HEIR once it popped into my head.
Here is some Morricone at 4:00 into the piece.
Enjoy the day.
Morning, all!
Got through this one without too much of a struggle, although I absolutely could not figure out what the theme was supposed to be when I finished. The clue to the theme reveal had me looking at the first letter of each word in each theme answer, which was obviously not what I should have been looking at...
Guessed OSAKA at 11A, which held me up a bit until the perps came to the rescue. Not familiar with OTARU.
SW corner caused me a bit of grief due to the close proximity of RAITA and ALLYN, both unknown to me. Again, perps to the rescue.
Learning moment of the day was that AKITAs are apparently known for being tough watchdogs. I'm familiar with the breed, but had no idea about their reputation.
Wait, we were supposed to have circles? Yeah, that would have made figuring out the theme a bit easier...
Oh -- and Happy Birthday, Carol!
Good Morning, Marti and friends. Interesting puzzle with some fun clues and an even better commentary. Lots of misdirections for me in this puzzle.
I started out with That IS NOT Funny instead of WASN'T funny.
I initially tried Tramp instead of TROMP.
I also wanted Okay instead of LET'S for Sure!
I had TRASH ___ and thought of Oscar Madison from the Odd Couple before it dawned on me the clue referenced Oscar the Grouch.
Mimi Rogers was Tom Cruise's first wife.
My favorite clue was Electron Home = ATOM.
I get all MISTY eyed thinking about the shout-out to our comrade!
Happy Birthday, Carol!
QOD: Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. ~ Mark Twain
Hello Puzzlers -
I can't help but be impressed with a constructor who crams Titus Andronicus into a puzzle just to get USA in there. Quite a project!
Made quite a few bad guesses along the way, the worst of which was Adlai for Adams. That bollixed the NE for quite a while. Not knowing Otaru didn't help.
The SW got tricky too, the only thing I was sure of was Clam Chowder. I'm equally sure that clam chowder has no tomato, but we've plowed that ground before!
Could not parse Not It for the longest time!
Good Thursday puzzle.
Akitas are loving and loyal to their owners. Toward everyone else, they are hostile.
Spitzboov, I added a picture of the CITI logo. I don't own a citi card, but that logo was familiar to me.
Dudley, I agree - TITUS ANDRONICUS was an awesome entry! Maybe David will stop by and let us know if that was his seed entry for this theme?
Good morning, C.C., Heart with an RX and fellow puzzlers. Marti, I could actually hear you taunting with your "A" word chant.
Hand up for WAS SO/WASNT and LEGIT/LEGAL. My four-letter credit card was a VISA before CITI showed up (and I've got two CITI credit cards in my wallet). D'oh! I also wanted OSAKA before OTARU.
Thought this was was really easy until I got down to the Mason/Dixon line and came to a screeching halt. I couldn't get a toehold until I changed SAUTE PAN to SAUCE PAN and CLAM CHOWDER magically appeared to open everything up. (And I agree that CLAM CHOWDER should be made sans tomato.)
Happy Birthday, Carol. You left-coasters really get together often, don't you?
Good morning folks,
A nice easy run until I reached the South, where I nearly gave up. After a while, i managed to suss it out. Not the easiest of Thursday puzzles. but an enjoyable challenge.
Mimi Rogers starred with Tom Berenger in Someone To Watch Over Me. I saw some of her other films too, but I can't remember the titles.
Marti, I started with TRAMP for 9A, but I changed it because I knew ATARU should be OTARU. TROMP did look strange though.
Other then my under grad days at Miami, I've spent my life in New England, yet CLAM CHOWDER took forever to appear.
Never caught the theme until Marti explained it.
Until I saw A TO B, i kept wondering what ATOB was. Long time for that light to come on.
CITI credit card new to me. Wonder how DH missed that one.
No circles in my puzzle either and that is my preference.
Happy birthday Carol.
Hope our MIA's on the coastal shorelines are safe and getting their life back in order.
WEES here. Agree it was a toughie. Didn't know quite a few of the answers, but the perps were solid everywhere, so actually got the whole thing right. With circles, the theme became obvious early on, and was very helpful. Did not know Titus Andronicus at all, and even parsed it as Titus and Ronicus. But the S for 39D was solid and wagging the N in AND as I read it got me there.
Liked the clue for Oscar, but also thought about The Odd Couple (I played Oscar in a community theater production during my misspent youth). I have a Citi card, and knew that one right away. When it comes to Clam Chowder, I like both types....but would agree that New England is better than Manhattan.
Nice puzzle but since I did it online via chicago tribune (ok LA times site had the circles)I did not see the circles or identifiers so the clue and themes were a mystery to me. Survived the hurricane with only a little damage to my mail box house. Survived Halloween son got over 100 pieces of candy even one house where the owner dumped her remaining candy into the his bag. Our house we only got 5 visitors. Happy all saints day for all those who celebrate it. If you are eligible to vote and haven't done so already do not for get to vote on Tuesday if you are so inclined.
Morning,
Thanks for the shout out Marti it was the icing on the cake of a fun but challenging Thursday. I had the same unknowns already mentioned, and tried IS NOT first. AMC is the none of the hugely popular Mad Men. I hope all who are awash in Sandy's wake are well, antRd yes I did.
Hi everyone, great puzzle today. Like Barry, I went with OSAKA which caused some writeovers in the NE.
I wanted BOT for 15A (as in roBOT).
I didn't know ENNIO Morricone and couldn't remember RAITA (although I think we've seen it recently).
My favorites were:
- 64A: Tag line? NOT IT
- 56D: Short range: A TO B (or as I like to read it ATOB).
- 58D: One who gets what's coming: HEIR
I was off work yesterday to celebrate Halloween. Good thing too, we had 195 little monsters come to our door. That beat our old record of 190, which is impressive since Halloween wasn't on a weekend this year. I saw some really great costumes. Among my favorites was a dad taking his kids trick or treating - he was dressed in a very elaborate knight costume. But my absolute favorite was a family who came by with their golden retreiver. On the doggie's back was a little horse jockey doll. It was hillarious!
Happy birthday Carol. Enjoy your All Saints Day.
Happy birthday and many more Carol, rabbit, rabbit all
Good morning, folks. Thank you David Poole, for a very good puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the swell review.
Enjoyed this puzzle. A little bit of a stumper in spots, but it is Thursday.
Got started in the NW mainly with Down answers. They were easier for me than the Across at that point. TEHRAN at 5D was easy, since I lived there. Of course the airport had a different name. I believe it was Mehrabad.
I was able to use my IPad today for the puzzle. Of course no circled letters. However, when I got to 61A I was stumped. The SE was my tough corner. So I went out and got the paper and looked at the circles, and the word CABLE came to me. Then TIES to finish that answer.
I should have known CABLE TIES easily, because I used those for years in the telephone industry. We called them Ty Wraps. That may have been a brand name. Before we used Ty Wraps, or Cable Ties, we used lacing cord and sewed the cables very neatly. it was an art, to say the least. We had stitches that we used for certain applications. The common stitch was the Kansas City Stitch, when sewing cables to a cable rack. We also used the Chicago Stitch when sewing cables that dropped off the rack and were sewed together as they dropped to a bay or frame to be terminated. We made a tool called a Moffett Hook to help us in sewing. Anyhow, I will shut up. I have a lot of memories.
With all that, fun puzzle.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Lemon, is that your Haloween costume?
Forgot to wish Carol a very happy birthday...I hope it is extra special for you!!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
Stupid question: On the front page it says the Thursday bloggers are Al/Marti. I've been lurking here for over a year and don't remember ever seeing Al. Is he real?
And Marti, fess up. What'd you do with that stray cat?
I did a Thursday puzzle…I did a Thursday puzzle!
(Foggy) morning to all of you. Happy birthday, Carol.
Great write up, Marti. Didn’t get ATOB until you explained it.
Once in a while one can find that most of the clues in a puzzle refer to something she knows.
There were many clues, as a stand-alone clue, I did not know. But every one of them had perps that gave the answer. After I struggled so much yesterday, today’s puzzle was fun.
I used my iPad this morning. My puzzle had the circles. I got the theme at HBO and SHO. They helped with USA. No problem getting AMC in the clam chowder.
Have a good day. The weekend is close,
Montana
Thank you David Poole and thank you Marti.
A pretty tough puzzle. Took a while. Actually had to have a cup of coffee, turn the boob tube down, and concentrate. Even with that, I failed at the crossing R in OSIRIS and OTARU. There were a few total unknowns, and others that were cleverly clued and made you wait for perps. Did not know ENNIE or RAITA. But I can live with one wrong letter in a tough puzzle.
Avg Joe, Ditto. Who is Ronicus ?
Happy Birthday Carol!
Went from over 150 kids last year to maybe 35 or 40 this year. Love the little ones that are so earnest. One little three footer was so cute with her matter of fact response "that's my sister" when I said, "Oh no, here comes an alligator right behind you."
1A, I wanted That ISNOT funny. And east of there...Trod, tread, traipse, tramp... Are there more ?
Tom Cruise dumps his wives when they are 33. No more, no less. First Mimi, then Nicole, now Katie. Are there any Scientologists lurking ? Does this have to do with his Scientology beliefs ?
I'm seeing a few eastsiders in the affected area coming on-line on our instant messaging system at work. On and off. Could have been via wireless and not via cable and telephony infrastructure.
One of the guys that has come back online is out on Long Island close to Huntington. So maybe we'll hear from Splynter in a day or two. And hopefully from Yellowrocks as well !
CABLE TIES are not in my paltry vocab and so that made the SE take a little effort as an answer and theme. A TO B and HEIR were a hoot and unlocked the corner. I was all over seacant and sine so…
Musings
-RONICUS, OTARU, ENNIO (soon forgotten) and RAITA learning moments
-Our lovely Marti was all ATWITTER that David used two “A” words.
-I first thought HBO was going to be in each circle but soon saw cable channels
-TCM has movies uncut and commercial free (which I thought cable was going to be) unlike AMC, et al.
-PDA seems to occupy the same anachronistic place as 8-tracks now
-We BANKROLLed the adoption of our niece from China and, while she is lovely, the repayment put a real strain on us. Don’t loan family money!
-STEP A? I don’t need no stinkin’ instructions ;-)!
-About 55 Halloweens ago, some friends suggested throwing rocks at houses. I said “LET’S” and I was the one who broke a window and got caught.
-I want a name for this car company tomorrow!! DAT SUN?
-ALI was never the same after the “thrilla in Manila” and apologized to the Frazier family for his disrespect
-NECK? Man I miss the old drive-in!
-A B-list actor like Jack WEBB found a home on TV. Just a fact, Maam.
-I don’t know MIMI’s work but Marti’s link shows she seems to have impressive, uh, assets.
-HBD Carol! Do you get a lot of Halloween themed gifts?
Addendum
-I forgot how close Halloween was but should have known after seeing all the Christmas decorations in the stores last week. We had 125 kids in an hour last night, over half of which were beautiful, polite Hispanic kids in our very white neighborhood. They were all accompanied by parents who were so proud of their little ones. I hope they live next door to us in the near future.
Good morning:
I had more trouble than usual today, especially in the SE corner. Had to use some help which I hate doing but one or two letters opened up the bottleneck. Had tramp before tromp and head case before headache.
Kudos, David Poole, and thanks, Marti, for your sparkling write- up; loved the Akita picture. Happy Birthday, Carol. I hope we hear from YR, CEDave, and Splynter soon.
HG - Your money-lending experience reinforces the sad, but true, adage. "No good deed goes unpunished.". Over the years I have loaned money to three different people and was never repaid. As the nuns used to say, "A guilty conscience needs no accuser."
Happy Thursday and let's hope November is a mild and calm month.
Irish Miss: Did you survive Sandy OK?
HBTY, Carol!
Desper-otto,
yes, Al is real, but he changed jobs and no longer had time to blog. I met him when he was living in Green bay and I had to be there one weekend two years ago for a conference.
This was nowhere near my wheelhouse, and I had naticks all over the place. the only thing that did come easy was the theme, after getting HBO easily and noticing that they were all three letter groupings. I ended without getting RAI--, AGA-- and SAUCEPAN because I had API for UPI, and STEP I for STEP A. Also struggled with A DOLLS HOUSE which is unknown to me.
Desper-otto @ 9:19, and here I thought I was just filling in "temporarily" for Al...
The stray cat is sleeping on my desk as I am typing this. We decided to keep her and name her "L.C." (for "little cat"). She is Miss personality plus, and her favorite thing is to climb onto the pipes in the cellar and walk around like Philippe Petit.
Husker G., I assure you, my playful taunts about the "A-words" were all in fun. I have been known to (ahem) use them on occasion myself, and got a similar taunting if I recall...
And thanks for your "Let's" story - what a hoot!! DH had a similar experience putting cherry bombs into mailboxes. But he didn't stop to think that when you mess with the government, the FBI comes a-callin'!!
Mari @ 10:20
My area was extremely lucky. We had some heavy rains and gusty winds but for brief periods and with little or no ill effects. I don't think we even had any power outages, at least in my immediate area. Thanks for asking.
Thank you David Poole, for a very nice puzzle .... nailed it, all but 2...I got a 'Thursday' ..Yea ! ....
Marti your wit, your humor and your gentle nudges, charmed the socks off of me. I am a little bit late to the blog, ... because a feral cat has adopted me... more later.
I got 'Titus Andronicus', right away ... some trivia, I remembered... Trig functions helped a lot, and so did 'Raita'.
I'm so old, I remember 'Datsun', my cousin had one, and when it changed to 'Nissan'. At the time, Ad execs and Publ. Rels. companies estimated the trademark, 'Datsun' was worth at least a 300 million dollars ... but the Japanese co. had made up its mind - and the new name was 'Nissan' ... and that was it.
When I came to Oscar, I knew it was the Grouch, because of my grandson ... Oscar and Elmo are his favorites.
Electrons can 'reside' in ions, free radicals, various mesons and even by themselves ( for a short time, anyway - ). After all, what we call electric currents are really the movements of electrons - in the 'opposite' direction.
But, ... its only a Thursday puzzle.
Continue to hope and pray for those of us missing - hope they are Okay - and to those who had a loss or damage, keep hope.
Marti: Wonderful write-up & links. Enjoyed the tunes.
Happy Birthday Carol.
Felt more-like a Friday.
WEES. My "perps" had a workout.
Not a fan of offerings with "circles" in them.
Especially when the "circles" are in a NON-SYMMETRICAL pattern.
Salute to all at Sunset.
Found this puzzle interesting. I got it but had to use google for spellings.
I always have those aha moments when I read the blog. This time it was Webb. Great clue.
Happy November
Kathryn
This was a bit of a victory for me since I Googled only once for a Thursday, for CITI.
There were a couple I didn't actually know - OTARU, RAITA, CABLEwhat?
Liked OSIRIS cuz I was trying to think of an Egyptian mobster.
Am I right in assuming BEACHBOYS, CLAMCHOWDER and the 2 plays have nothing to do with each other?
I agree with @Anonymouse that electrons don't actually "reside" anywhere.
@Tinbeni: I agree. I've noticed that all your puzzles had symmetrical circles.
Mimi Rogers has 94 film credits according to IMDb. Most , if not all, are forgettable. Her casting was probably not based on her acting ability but on her other more prominent assets.
HI Y'all, Fun puzzle! Fun fun fun write-up, Marti! Love the BEACHBOYS but that T-BIRD is going to be zooming around in my head for days. LOL!
I was cruising along on this until I got to the SW corner and was stumped by 50d & 51d. I wanted "Moved" for MISTY and "Aided" for AVAIL. Started with Santa Anita, but soon CLAMmed up. At one point I had AGApe then AGAwp. Didn't know RAITA or ALLYN.
I started to put the Oscar on the "mantle__", then got the right Oscar.
Had to Kindle search for Titus' name. New on me.
Happy Birthday, Carol!
Gary: Another truism I learned as executor of two estates in 3 yrs. is "If you have a lot of relatives, you don't have to bother to make any other enemies." Maybe you could foreclose on your niece.
Happy All Saints Day to all! Marti, I'm A GASP at your blogging!
A GASP?
Happy birthday, Carol!
What a fun sashay this was today. The long fill was impressive. Thank you, David Poole.
TROMP started out as STOMP, then TRAMP and there it remained as OTARU is unknown to me and ATARU looked fine.
I believe Mr. Shakespeare would be proud to see his TITUS ANDRONICUS span across the center of a crossword puzzle.
Yes, I remember Al. He was fun and very knowledgeable.
No trick or treaters last night.
My CITI card is paired with American Airlines and has afforded me many, at least 10, trips on frequent flier miles. This last one to Minnesota was in first class as I am at Gold level. I liked that!
ALLYN and Bacon provided us with many textbooks.
Mari, your favorite clue / fill is usually mine, too.
Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!
Marti,
I had my tongue so far in my cheek, it hurt. It was just a good-natured but probably lame comment to one of my favorite people! The addition of the word "lovely" probably didn't mitigate my comment sufficiently. I'll add a :-), ;-), 8-) or such next time.
I have no standing to taunt or tease anyone (except anons) especially you constructors and head bloggers.
Gary
In all my chattiness, I forgot about the 'Cat'... Marti, maybe you could help me. We've never had pets, but I keep some dog treats handy, for the dogs in the adjacent houses - you know, to keep on their 'good' side. Cats ? never see them.
Well, 4 days ago, I surprised a black cat, under our front porch ( sloop ? ) ... 'It' is about 3 to 4 years old ( I think ), about 8 pounds, and about 2.5 feet long, not counting the tail. Its very hairy-furry, black to brindle colored, and white wide open eyes ... and looks ferocious ! It would have scared the bejeesus out of me even on Halloween night. Its returned to our sloop every night since - probably because we face the leeward side ( thank you, crosswordese ). Yesterday, I searched our fridge, and boiled 2 fillets of mahi-mahi, and about 6 big shrimp and left it in a SS container at the entrance to the sloop. An hour later, the food was gone; the cat must have very hungry.
I kept up all night, wondering if the cat expected more food. This morning, I mixed a can of Campbell's Chicken noodle soup, appropriately diluted ( for the salt, since cats need their electrolytes - even feral ones ), 6 shrimp, and 2 boiled fillets of Tilapia. The food seems partly eaten. Now I'm worried that the cat is becoming dependent on me. Should I get the sloop entrance covered with chicken wire, or go and get myself a 25 lb. bag of 'Meow Mix' ? ( Its 42o outside.)
I'm also worried the cat may not take kindly to my avatar - Cats generally prey on 'mouses', even Anonymous ones...
Sfingi @ 11:13, you are correct in your assumption about the theme entries being unrelated...
Husker G., not to worry!! I won't send the blog police out to break your kneecaps (...this time.) (^0^)
a quick good morning to all before heading out for coffee.
Had to give a big birthday shout out♪♩♬♫•*¨*•.❤.•*¨*•♫♪•.¸¸.•´♫♪♩♬*¨*`•.♥.•´*♫♪♩♬ to my dear friend, Carol, who is probably on her daily rainy bike ride.
Loved the xwd, but it got very difficult at the bottom.On Thurs. I have to look up a bunch to get through. It used to be Weds ... slowly improving.
So many cities in CA starting with Santa (saint), due to Fr. Junipera Serra. I taught in Santa Clara for 40 years.Great university down the street.
Anony-mouse, feral cats are best left to be feral. (Stray cats with collars are another thing entirely, and should be taken in and either adopted or brought to a shelter.)
Check with your local veterinarian or animal shelter, to see if they have a "Trap-Neuter-Return" program. They may be able to provide you with a "Hav-A-Hart" trap to capture the animal. Then you bring it to the vet to get neutered (many towns subsidize this as well), and after it has recovered, you should return it to the same place where it was caught.
Feeding feral cats is OK, but just be aware that this may also attract other unwanted varmits like skunks, raccoons or opossums. So try to place the food where only the feral cat will find it.
Remember, feral cats will go wherever they can find shelter, food and water. So if you try to relocate it, other feral cats will just move into the "prime" space that was vacated! (Better to have the enemy you know, than a dozen you don't!)
This site provides good advice on how to treat feral cats. Good luck!
Good afternoon everyone.
Happy Birthday, Carol. Hope it is a wonderful one.
As usual on Thursday, DNF. Of course CLAM CHOWDER was easy, having lived in Maine for 6 years. The rest of the long ones, not so.
Nice puzzle, Mr. Poole, and superb write up HeartRX.
Cheers
Like Barry G. said
"Wait, we were supposed to have circles? Yeah, that would have made figuring out the theme a bit easier..."
I didn't get it til I read the write-up. Sorry, but not one of this constructors best offerings.
I've had akitas my whole adult life. The greatest dog in the world. Love them
Go to my page and you'll see my favorite one
marti, I cannot imagine what kind of meanspirited blogger would chide YOU for using A words, and certainly not taunting you!
The play TITUS ANDRONICUS is believed to be Shakespeare's first tragedy.
Al is on hiatus, and blogged Thursday's for more than a year; you can read his work in the archives. I am sure C.C. would entertain guest spots from any of you who have the zeal, patience and time to blog. Maybe create a blog of your own, do a write up and send it to her.
Awesom pic JJM; it is not a costume marti, it is what I wore to work for the Halloween celebration. I did not have to go to the courthouse
Good afternoon all, Just want to pop in for a second to say:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROL!!! I WISH YOU MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MORE!
I'll be back in a little while.
HaHa, Lemony, I knew you would pick up on that reference to "a" words. And save that costume...St Patrick's day is just around the corner, LOL!!
Nice shout-out to me. ALLYN is my middle name. Thank God my parents didn't choose BACON.
Perhaps Dennis could give some more insight into MIMI ROGERS?
Glad people enjoyed the puzzle. And thanks Marti for an enjoyable write-up.
Too bad the circles didn't show up in the app - that probably confused a lot of solvers!
FYI, the seed entry was not TITUS ANDRONICUS (that was originally URSUS AMERICANUS) but BEACH BOYS.
Cheers all!
Thanks for stopping by, David. Glad to know that my teen idols were the seed entry. For the first time, I solved this puzzle on a .pdf file which did contain the circles.
BTW, TITUS ANDRONICUS is an awesome entry!!
Hi all,
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes. My son just stopped by with a funny card and a gift cert to my favorite garden nursery. We have always given each other 'rude' birthday cards. Guess we share that sort of a sense of humor. Back later after I do the puzzle....and yes, JD, we were out on the bikes getting SOAKED. Thankfully we have wonderful rain gear, including shoe covers. We stay dry and warm.
Hi gang -
HBD, Carol!
Great bog, Marti. If you really want to get creeped out, ask Siri what to do with a dead body.
I enjoyed the fill in today's rather challenging puzzle, but found the theme a bit tepid.
CABLE TIES does bring it all together, though.
Lots of trouble in the NE corner, the SE corner, the SW corner, and the middle. Somehow got through it all, eventually.
I'm more vertically challenged then I thought, I stared at
H
E
I
R
and could make nothing of it. Pity, since it's brilliant. Even now I look at it and think "???"
In a long past prior life time I was RONICUS.
I had an awful "bothersome type" all day Tuesday.
We had fewer than 20 trick-or-treaters last night - and one of them was a mom with her own bag, 'cause her kids won't share. Anybody want a couple dozen Twizzlers?
Cheers!
JzB
Wonderful puzzle and I got the whole thing--although I must say that having the circles helped a lot. Since we watch lots of cable TV the theme was a gimme for me. So, many thanks, David Poole, and Marti for the ever-delightful write-up.
My first puzzle appearance--very exciting! Thanks, Hahtoolah, for the shout-out to my shout-out!
Have a great Thursday, everybody!
Hello everybody. A challenging puzzle today; thank you David Poole. Marti, thank you for your writeup; I always enjoy reading everything you have to say.
TRAMP or TROMP? ATARU or OTARU? I flipped a coin (never could do paper-rock-scissors on myself) and entered A. Nope. Wrong.
The SW corner did me in, even though I did have CALM CHOWDER correctly filled. Had to look up ALLYN and RAITA, and *still* couldn't get AGASP.
I agree that TITUS ANDRONICUS is awesome! I feel good that I knew it right away, and that good feeling counterbalanced my dismay at failing to solve the SW corner.
Wanted IS TOO for 1A at first.
Had the same difficulty seeing HEIR, perhaps, as Jaszzbumpa indicated, because it was vertical. HE what?
HeartRx, the first thing I thought of while filling ENNIO was, you guessed it.
LW and I once owned a 1971 Datsun PL510. Nowadays we would consider it a tin can, but back then we loved it. We called it "Dot-Dot" until we passed it on to our HEIR who promptly had it lowered and renamed it "Squat-Dot."
Best wishes to you all.
Good afternoon to all and happy Friday eve. Thanks to David for the puzzle,and Marti for your writings.
Happy birthday to Carol best wishes to you
We had lots of little candy grabbers last night went through about 10 big bags of goodies. The funniest was a little boy about 3 with a cup who asked me for soda and seemed truly disappointed when I said we don't drink that here and seemed upset with the snickers bar.
Have a great day to all RJW.
Thank you Marti, for your quick and succinct advice. You're like my tax lawyer - I know my options and the final decision is still mine. I really don't know what to do - I'm planning to get some cat food anyway - you know, good karma, and all that. I'm planning to get some high fat, high calorie foods - so to see the cat through the next few days of winter. I wonder if cats like bacon, I don't eat it, but it is a high fat and ultra high cholesterol and high salt diet, and it might be just the thing for feral cats. At this rate, it may be cheaper to get a non-seasoned rotisserie whole chicken and leave it out for the creature. Maybe it'll eventually move away and target somebody else.
Happy birthday Carol! Happy unbirthday to everybody else!
No circles for me and therefore, I never got the theme until coming here. I got through the top part OK but the bottom part almost did me in.
Jayce, CALM chowder. I love it! My chowder is always calm. Me? Not always.
I was reading where NYC was requiring all people traveling across bridges into the city to be in car pools, three to a car. Sounds reasonable until you think about a few poor saps stuck in traffic finally coming to a police checkpoint. The driver didn't know about the car pool requirement because he had no power at his house when he left home. Aargh!
Musings 2
-Thanks for the reprieve Marti ;-)! My kneecaps ain’t all that swell anyway!
-PK, my niece is a lovely, young girl who is loved by everyone in her junior class of 400 kids and we are so glad we were able to underwrite her adoption. We made payments that my brother and SIL skipped and got calls from the bank to intercede when they were late. The bank did not downgrade are very high credit rating as they said, “We know what is going on here!”. We declined to loan them any more money a few months later. Fool me once, shame on me… You know the rest.
-Families? A colleague of mine just died and I always thought she came from a loving family. The only asset she cared about was a ’57 TBIRD convertible and she willed that to her best friend because her family was horrible to her. I only found that out at her funeral. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Hey, that’d make a good country song!
-David, beacHBOy was the seed and titUSAndandroicus came later? Wow!
I just posted an adorable photo here.
Not in the mood to finish today.
SW corner had me stumped and just gave up.
Anony-Mouse, I don't think that cat will be leaving anytime soon if you're feeding it mahi-mahi, tilapia and Big Shrimp! :D
Do any of you email YR or CED?
Anyone hear from either of them?
Happy Birthday Carol
ForCarol
Bill G, good eye! Calmest doggone chowder I ever had :)
Husker Gary, sorry you had to go through that.
Carol, happy birthday wishes to you.
HeartRx, adorable indeed.
Pas, that Dave the Dog video was fun! I wonder what happened in the past to cause him to react like that?
Gary, thanks for the story about your niece. She's lucky she had you to back up your brother and SIL. Were they having financial setbacks? How have things worked out for them since then?
Thanks, Fermatprime, cc and pas de chat for your concern. Our electricity came back at 2 PM EDT. I feel so very fortunate compared to all those who lost homes, cars, and even lives. Being without power for almost 3 days (68hours) was not a big deal for a tent camper. The house quickly went down to 54 degrees, but I wrapped up in blankets and read and read. I used the gas grill and the propane camp stove. Electronic withdrawal was no so easy.
There is a gas shortage which is inhibiting deliveries of food and other goods. I just came back from the A&P where I bought a lot of cans and boxes. Nothing fresh is available. I will be set for 2 weeks or more. It is up in the air whether or not the stores can restock. I should have jumped on the gas line down at the corner the second my power came back on. 45 minute later there was a line a mile long just to get a limit of 5 gallons of gas. You'd use almost that much waiting in line. Now that I have phone. Internet, TV, cooking and heat I am content to stay home and conserve gas.I feel so very fortunate.
CED, how goes it?
While enjoy Pas's video about Dave the Dog, I came across this one. It made me laugh out loud. Sleepwalking dog.
Yellowrocks, it's good to see you back here. I'm glad you had nothing worse to cope with than you did. I hope things get back to normal before too long.
HeartRx@2:51 -- great photo! They can sure look innocent when they want to. Our vet always maintained that orange tabbies have the best personalities. We've had several and I'd have to agree. The best was a huge, floppy, 20-lb male named Fenster. When MIL came to visit from Munich she wanted to know why we named him "Window."
YR, so good to hear you were able to make it through this mess. I think we were all concerned about you! Just curious, what was your reading material of choice?
I hope that CED is equally fortunate...
desper-otto, oh yes. She sure looks innocent in the photo. But just now, she jumped up onto a table, then up onto the fireplace mantle, where she very methodically knocked each...and...every...gourd...from my carefully designed fall display, onto the floor.
YR, glad to hear that you came through the ordeal OK. Most of the CNN disaster photos were of locations in NJ. How close were you to "ground zero?"
Gasoline is always in short supply after a hurricane. Everybody wants some, and most of the stations have no electricity, so they can't run the pumps. The few stations which have electricity quickly run their tanks dry and have trouble getting restocked.
YELLOW ROCKS !!!!
You're OK! Thank goodness.
So many of us were worried about you.
Sorry you had no power for so long, but being a tent camper, I guess you could tough it out.
It seems so unreal here on the left coast, but the news showed so many horrible images of the storm that it became real to all of us.
Glad you are with us again. Missed you!
CED, miss your wit and links.
Hope you are all right.
Bill G LOL me too.
HeartRX @ 2:51 pm: Great Photo!
BillG @ 2:23 pm: Woo Hoo! Happy Unbirthday to all of us!
Ron Wordon @ @:14 pm: Woo Hoo! It's Friday-eve :)
Among our 195 candy grabbers were 2 boys that came by twice, and tried for a third (I guess we gave out good candy). On their third pass DH told them to get out of here!
YR, glad to see you back. My college girl friend who ended up living in NJ is now 5 days without power.
I feel bad for CED, even going one day without the internet and all of hos links must be tough; hope to hear soon.
marti, the little one is cute but when you get a cat you do get to pick up and put back together.
Yeah, Dave, hurry up and get back here. Linking is not that easy.
For Marti
pas de chat, ROTFLMAO!!!
Pas de chat - @ 4:14 - Thanks for a good out-loud laugh.
Marti- LC is beautiful. Naughty, but beautiful.
YR - Glad to hear from you. It sounds like you are making the best of unthinkable circumstances. Good luck.
Bill G - Loved the Sleep Walking Dog clip. The poor thing!
Wish CEDave would sign on soon.
Hope tonight's TBBT Is better than what we've been
getting so far.
Pas de chat, amazingly quick and appropriate link, you cat people are something special. marti did you get my email?
-Marti, who is doing the adapting? Cute kitty! She seems to be Asleep.
-YR, glad you’re back and in decent shape. Yellow rocks to you!
-Bill, my brother was an alcoholic and it finally killed him. I had to go out to a motel room to identify his body. Since he had been out of my life for so long, I decided to show faith in him (when I thought he had dried out) and bring Katherine to America. Even when they owed us thousands, my SIL was still getting $60 manicures/nails and we knew we were going to be left holding the very expensive bag. We got off with about $2,000 out of pocket and no harm to our credit. BTW, I saw the flaw in, “Fool me once, shame on YOU…
Went to youtube and typed in "Cats knocking things off shelf" and voila.
The special people are the ones who video their pets or like the one for Marti create an animated "so true" depiction of their pet.
But CEDave's da MAN for links.
(Cue Car 54 where are you? music)
YR, so glad to hear you didn't suffer any worse than you did! Such a mess! We were all worried.
Anonymouse: Of the many cats we had, I never ever found one who would eat fat. Dogs will. If you feed it, it never leaves, but you shouldn't have rodents. If they come to eat the catfood, the cat will take care of them. I've seen possums, racoons, and other cats at my outside bowl.
Gary, I'm glad your niece was worth the cost. That helps. You can claim her as part yours is what I meant about foreclosing.
My only trick-or-treaters were my daughter and granddaughter who were "reverse t.o.t-ing". They brought me a nice lunch on the 30th and visited. Then brought me soup last night. Six weeks I've been in "solitary confinement" with this croup. Now that I'm able to be out some, she brings me soup?
I still appreciated it. Granddaughter has been ill
with a lighter case of the same croup.
Kathy (YR), so happy to hear you're OK. Hope things return to normal soon.
Jazz, that's the sickest use of SIRI I've ever heard of. I love it!!
Marti, no don't about it. You have a new cat.
PK, yes. I was a trustee for a close friend that died. The bennies weren't too bad, but the Ex was.....challenging. That was a long 11 years.
Our Frankenstorm had two parts, the monster unpredented tidal surge at the shore, which decimated our southern beach areas along with NYC, and the inland amazing windstorm. The flooding inland was not nearly as horrific as usual, but the wind roared wild and unabated for 8 hours or so Monday night. It took down trees and power lines, closing many major routes which are still not open, knocking out power to 90% of JCP&L customers, more dusastorus than ever before.
My sister ion WV had a snow storm.
It flooded the Port of Newark and closed refineries, limiting our access to gasoline. The gasoline shortage and the closing of major highways still inhibits timely distribution of goods and services.
I suffered only minor refrigerated food losses and the loss of a grill cover. At least the grill didn't crash though the patio doors.
I promised my son s'mores last night, so now I must build a fire and deliver.
While my fire is mellowing here is a run of my reading adventires.
The Chaporine by Laura Moriarty, a NYT bestseller.
Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s,’30s, and beyond—from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers, and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women—Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes, was changing at this time and what a vast difference it all made for Louise Brooks, Cora Carlisle, and others like them. Great!
O. Henry's short stories. You get used to his archaic syntax. He uses X-words' TWEE, sickenly sweet, MOTT, a copse or small woods and other delicious words.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. a coming of age novel, a thriller, and for dog lovers, a window into the thoughts and loyalties of dogs. I loved it.
Gary, thanks for the explanation. I'm sure you feel that your niece was a worthwhile expenditure (though that wasn't your intention). How's your relationship with your SIL these days? What country is Katherine from?
YR, good wishes for your getting a tankful of gasoline and some fresh food before too long. At least you had some good books to keep you company.
YR, glad you're ok.
Still waiting to hear from an army buddy in Hopatcong.
Cross Eyed Dave is in Florham Park.
Both areas still listed as out, and 7 to 14 days according to JCPL
First Energy estimated restoration times
JCPL Outage Map
Heard from by buddy in Huntington NY. He doesn't have power, but his mother's area nearby does.
Splynter is 20 to 30 miles further east on Long Island.
Splynter and CED, hope all is going to be well...SOON! We miss you.
Yellow Rocks,
so glad you and your son are okay. Things can be replaced..hoping the rest get back power soon. After Ike here in Texas it was over three weeks for some people to wait for power. Hope to get to the puzzle before bed. I have spent a good part of the day at the nursing home with my partner's mother. She has Alz dementia and was trying to leave the facility today.
Marti - Thanks for posting the CITI logo. It's not one of the 2 credit cards we carry.
YR - Good to see you back on line.
HeartRx: such a cute kitty!! Love cats!!
The puzzle was just tooooo much for my poor old brain. I thought I was doing well and feeling very smug when I easily did the NW corner...but reality hit the fan as I went across the grid. sigh
I have had a wonderful day and thank you again for all the good wishes. It's also our 42nd anniversary so as Lois would say " it's all good". :) :)
Carol, it worked! You are live, and on stage...
pas de chat @3:15-funny! @ 4:14-even funnier!
Bill-also hysterical
Have to agree with Desper-otto about yellow tabbies, although Maine Coons come pretty close
YR, welcome back
YR @7:22 - I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle when it was first published. I loved, loved, loved it! I enjoy books that are dog-centric, e.g.: The Dogs of Babel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night, The Art of Racing in The Rain and, most recently, One Good Dog. Some of these have some difficult passages but they are worth reading.
Haven't read The Chaperone yet but it is in my Amazon wish list. I have read other Laura Lippman novels and enjoyed them.
So glad you had some good reading material to help you pass the time, sans electronics. Happy reading!
Hola Everyone, Very late in finishing the puzzle today, so my mistakes and incorrect entries were all mentioned by others. I did shop at a tienda rather than a bodega.
The city of Santa Clara came easily as that is the town in which I grew up. It was a SMALL town then, and has grown to a rather large one now. I started my teaching career there and JD worked in the same district for many years. But we weren't there at the same time.
JD, Garlic Gal and I had a great coffee together today. JD did, indeed, share her Italy trip pictures. They were spectacular. She has a wonderful "camera" eye.
Happy, Happy birthday, Carol.
YR, so glad that you weathered the storm without too much damage being done. We have had TV coverage of the damage to areas along the coast. It is terrible.
Have a great evening, everyone.
Well, now that Person of Interest is over...
Or was that too presumptuous ?
OOPS, forgot that Elementary starts now ! Talk to you all tomorrow.
Quick, how many people can you think of who are more of a pompous ass than Donald Trump?
Michele, yes, I watch Doc Martin. To use your word, I like it. I don't love it, I guess because the lead character can be pretty unlovable sometimes. I enjoy most of the other characters, especially Louisa.
Irish Miss - for your last title, did you mean A Good Dog? By the author named - humorously enough - Katz?
I read that one a few years ago and was amazed. The supernatural angle was fascinating.
Bill,
I just accidently deleted my previous post. thanks for responding re Doc Martin. Tomorrow I have to go vote since early voting ends then. I am hoping the lines won't be long!
Lemonade, I love the new avatar.
Anon@10:14,
Bill only asked for how many. The list was too long to type.
Yellowrocks:
It's so good to hear from you! I'm glad you survived relatively unscathed.
Now, if we could hear from the rest as well as some friends I have who live on Long Island. I'm really concerned for them.
Dudley @10:10 - No, this is a 2012 book, One Good Dog. It's narrated alternately by the human protagonist and the canine of the title. Of course, a little suspension of disbelief is in order, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mimi Rogers main claim to fame was being Tom Cruise's first wife.
Did anyone else first put in "head case" for 55 across instead of "headache"? I felt like the first in the SW corner and it gave me the second.
I have much better hair than Trump.
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