(Note from C.C.: Due to a blog lock-down, we had to move to Ginger Roots blog to review the puzzle. Please click here to see our discussions on this crossword.)
THEME: Neurotic double reverse.
THEME: Neurotic double reverse.
Lemonade on a rare Thursday appearance so you did not end up with the constructor telling you how great her own puzzle is.
Wow! I think what happened is marti saw a combination of words, like SPIDER MAN (maybe from the release of the movie) and thought 'I wonder if people who afraid of spiders (arachnophobes) would be afraid of Spiderman?' Then she created this puzzle, where the poor neurotic was given a second problem, like the MAN in Spiderman would give you a HERMIT as someone who would neurotically avoid people. I think the fill came before the clues, which is where I see the reverse. To sum up each two word phrase, which represent a single stand alone concept, are broken in two and clued by a psychology term and an informal term for a behavior. Overall, not a terribly tough Thursday, but the intricate theme left lots of threes and fours, as well as couple of very hard clue/fill combos. let us see where miss m takes us.
18A. Double trouble...for a hydrophobic teetotaler? : WATER BOTTLE.(11) Hydro meaning water, and the bottle representing the receptacle for the alcohol.
29A. ...for an arachnophobic hermit? : SPIDER MAN.(9) Spiders are arachnids, from the Greek.
36A.. ...for a acrophobic wallflower? : SUMMIT MEETING.(13). I am acrophobic, because when I am up high I want to jump, parachute or not. Wallflowers do not like meeting people.
42A. ...for a xenphobic couch potato? : ALIEN RACE.(9) This is one lazy hater, who does not like foreigners, and will not go exercise.
53A. ...for an agoraphobic soldier? : PUBLIC ENEMY.(11). I have a friend who after staying home to raise her four children, actually got to the point she could not leave the house.
A different theme for sure, now to the rest.
Across:
1. Vintner's vessel : TUN. These large casks are also used in brewing beer. The liquid measure is equivalent to 252 gallons. Nice alliteration.
4. Avis rival : HERTZ. For all you sentimental people this AD.
9. Amazon.com nos. : ISBNS. International Standard Book Number, is becoming a common fill. The first initialism of the day.
14. Bearer of bear cubs, in Madrid : OSA. Spanish for a female bear, nicely crafted clue.
15. Cheri who impersonated Judge Judy on "Saturday Night Live" : OTERI. I found no links, you CD?
16. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT. Not Erle Stanley but the soil one.
17. Sales pro : REP. Well since pro is abbreviated, but are all reps pros?
20. Pueblo brick : ADOBE.
22. Stone unit : CARAT.
23. Dance that tells a story : HULA. They do tell a story LINK.(7:45).
24. Skyline haze : SMOG.
26. Id controller : EGO.Freud returns.
32. Chest-maker's wood : CEDAR.Not referring to an over-active plastic surgeon, but the old fashioned
35. Arduous : TAXING. Whew, that clue was taxing.
39. Make a meal of : DINE ON. An despite the fact the word comes from the Latin name for olives, I do not think you put any oleum on your toast.
40. Apportion : ALLOT.
41. Clubs: Abbr. : ASSNS. Associations.
46. Shtick : BIT. Do you appreciate this ONE.(8:03)
47. Long to be with : MISS. I often miss my miss.
48. This time only : ONCE. Like my blogging on a Thursday.
49. Smithy's tool : ANVIL. All I ever learned about anvils comes from TV westerns and roadrunner cartoons.
52. Harp (on) : DWELL. We do not need to beat this clue to death.
58. AAA freebie : MAP. Does anybody use paper maps anymore?
59. Rockers Van ___ : HALEN. The old DAYS. (4:02).
60. Not just odd : EERIE.
61. Online qualifier : IMO. In My Opinion.
62. Steel plow pioneer : DEERE. WH, as our farm expert, what do you think of John Deere products?
63. Creeps up on : NEARS. We are almost at the halfway point.
64. Fitting : APT. Time for a quick break.
Down:
1. Some ark contents : TORAHS.
2. Depleted : USED UP.
3. "Port near Vesuvio : NAPOLI. If you are interest in history, read this LINK, this is part of my eldest's area of study and the statistic that the 79 CE eruption was " hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing" is amazing.
4. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" lyricist : HOWE.
5. SFO posting : ETA.
6. On Soc. Sec. : RET.
7. 3-Down trio : TRE.
8. December stone : ZIRCON. If you think that month was gypped because they got a fae gemstone, there is a big difference between cubic zirconia and this STONE.
9. Yaroslavna's spouse, in a Borodin opera : IGOR.
10. Span. title : SRTA.
11. Driven home : BATTED IN. the BI in RBI.
12. Grp. for Jets, but not Sharks : NFL. National Football League. Tebowmania gone?
13. ___-Foy, Quebec : STE. Wow, is this obscure or what? First we have to use the French abbreviation for Sainte, while recalling a city which no longer exists. C'est tres difficile.
19. Purse : BAG.
21. It's not a good sign : BAD OMEN. Are we referring to the movie?
24. Tom Lehrer song : SMUT. Already linked in Argyle's write up.
25. Mice and men : MAMMALS
27. Sharks or Jets : GANG. West Side Story. (2:48)
28. Non-profit's URL ending : ORG.
30. "___ World": "Sesame Street" feature : ELMO'S.
31. Hold back : REIN. from horseback riding, or the other way around?
32. Williams title starter : CAT ON.
33. Seating offering more space : EXIT ROW.
35. Graph heading? : TELE. Not the column, the word.
36. Assent to a capitán : SI SI. More Spanish.
37. Shaky : UNSTABLE
38. Yale bowl cheerers : ELIs
39. Dollop : DAB
42. Quinn of "Annie" : AILEEN
43. Weak state : ANEMIA.
44. Workshop device : C CLAMP.
45. Sniggler's tool : EEL POT.
47. Stereo jack label : MICrophone.
50. Buc or Met : NLER.
51. Kudzo, for one : VINE.
52. Sources of some highlights : DYES.
53. Advanced deg. : PHD.
54. OPEC member : UAE.
55. Family tree word : NEE. From the French stem naître to be born, used for the birth name of females.
56. Chunk of history : ERA.
57. Fallen space station : MIR. Interesting PROJECT.
Lemonade
Notes from C.C.:
1) Sorry for the inconvenience earlier. You can click here to see our earlier discussions on the puzzle.
2) Happy 22nd wedding anniversary to Jazzbumpa (Ron) and his beautiful wife Gloria! Click here
for more pictures. Gloria's mom had another setback on Tuesday, but Ron
still wrote us a brilliant post with his usual wit and humor for
Wednesday's blog, despite all the stress. Thanks, Ron!
3) Say Hello to Kazie's beautiful granddaughter Lea Isabel. Click here for more. She was born at 2:37am this morning, German time.
62 comments:
OK, so this will be comment # 1 (after the 55 or so in Ginger Roots). LOL !!!
Still not a fan of WATER BOTTLE.
I prefer the Pinch bottle.
Cheers !!!
Bear in mind, I did not get to finish my write up, so please do not read if you are offended by typographical or other errors.
Great to be back and thank you all for participating and hanging in.
L714
Glad to see we are back in business again, your write-up is as witty as always, Lemonade.
Sooooooooooo glad to have you back. You really mean a lot to me!
I've copied this from where I had it on the 16th's blog):
It's so nice to be "HOME" ~ although I did enjoy the temporary residence. :-) Thanks, C.C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lemon ~ enjoyed your write-up, polished or not. You always put so much work into your comments. Much appreciated.
It's great to be back to normal! But Ginger Roots felt cozy and intimate. Thank you so much C.C. I'm sure it took great effort to retrieve the Blog from wherever it went.
Lemonade, your commentary was as spicy as always. Thanks.
This was predicted by the MAYANS!
Well, that was fun. I'm glad things are back to normal, and faster than we expected.
Last night was a good practice exercise for everyone, as we'll know what to do should it happen again. We went from "Oh sh*t, one of us accidently deleted it", to suspecting a hacker (who's been trying for a while) to finally turning to Google, and then trying to get through the almost impenetrable wall that Gooogle throws up.
Several heroes last night: Argyle, Lemon and Husker all came up big, and especially C.C., who's suffering mightily from the flu. Well done, gang.
Wow, this day has started off bad and recently gotten worse. Like the rest of us, missing the blog last night just showed how much I've come to depend on our online relationships. I am surprised that somebody was able to do this to our blog and that Blogger took more than a few minutes to fix it. But, then there's a lot of stuff that I don't understand very well.
Does anybody (CC?) know who did this to cause all these problems? Thank you CC and Argyle for coming up with a backup plan. Thank you also to Lemon and Gary. I appreciate all the effort to keep us connected.
Then the day started off around here with some family hassle. That always brings me down. Then I headed off to my DMV appointment to get my driver's license renewed; written test and eye test. I got there 10 minutes early, stood in a short line only to find out I had screwed up and my appointment is tomorrow. Geez... I won't be buying any lottery tickets today. Maybe I better just stay in bed with the covers pulled up.
One of my favorite puzzles this year! The clue phrases are hilarious by themselves: hydrophobic teetotaler, arachnophobic hermit, etc. Masterful work by Marti!
Also, congratulations, Jazz and Gloria - that's no small feat. Especially for Gloria...
Kazie, she's a beauty - congratulations!
Spitzboov, just gut-wrenching news; I can't imagine what you must be going through. I'm glad you shared with us, because I truly believe there's comfort among friends. Keep up the hope.
Bill, it appears that Google pulled the Corner (and a few others)for some type of spam violation. It's a very cumbersome process to try to get them to address/fix something like this.
How fun, not only is the blog back, but some of my fans who have been silent for months reappeared. Happy Birthday Michelle Obama, Muhammed Ali and the 91 year old Betty White and my nephew Robbie and little Lea.
Afternoon all,
Real early to the dance today, its good to be out of the cold. A thank you to CC, HG, and Argyle for all the info yesterday. This blog makes solving the puzzle all the more enjoyable.
Marti, Well done! My only real hangup was I put opium for oleum. I can never remember if its Rien or Rein. Elmo to the rescue! No look ups and no cheats, just a second cup of coffee.
Spitz, Wanted to post yesterday, So sorry to hear about your news. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
16A, Gardeners transplant, i had plant. (well the a & the t fit) Then Igor appeared, & then SRTA, so i changed plant to "grass". (AAaarrgghh!)
Doesn't matter, still a DNF because for 1A, Vintners vessel, i had tub. (maybe i was thinking bathtub gin because i only drink the cheap stuff...:)
Loved the Double Trouble theme!
Congrats Kazie! But watch out, they say becoming a Grandparent changes they way your children think of you!
Happy Anniversary JZb! I don't know why, but i saw this clip, & thought of you!
KZ, congratulations on becoming a Grandma to the cute little Lea. What a wonderful time of life for people like us grandparents!
-Thanks to CC, Dennis, Argyle, Lemon, and HG for patiently bringing the blog back and providing a temporary home for it. CC, I hope you feel better soon.
-The Corner has become an important part of my morning. I even read it on vacation. I would be so blue and feel so deprived without it and my new virtual friends.
-Lemonade thanks for a delightful expo Today we were lucky to have two equally excellent expos.
Hi there~!
I know all too well about the "fear of the bottle"....
Spitzboov, sorry to hear the sad news.
Glad to see our corner is back so quickly~!
Splynter
What a GREAT puzzle, Marti. No problems except WEES about SMUT/OLEUM.
Great clues and humorous answers.
5 stars!!!
We had TUN before, but I'll forget it again just like that guy in
La Bamba, LOL!
Thank you to all of the bloggers and C.C. for this great group.
Guess we all had a sinking feeling today, huh?
Off to take more stuff out of my Mom's house.
Spitzboov, I'm so sorry to hear the sad news as well as the others here.
Hey, We're back. I can come in off this ledge. :)
Happy almost Y2K Thursday everyone!
Glad to see that the blog’s crash and burn was only temporary. Interesting to find out that it was a Google problem, since I decided just yesterday to switch my e-mail account to gmail, due to it’s reputation for stability….
For some strange reason, the most famous quote from The Terminator immediately sprung to mind upon the return of The Corner (sorry, having trouble creating a link to the clip….)
Lemonade714, really interesting observation on Ginger Roots about anons….
Vegas Doc,
You mean this? I'll be back!
CC, i am sorry the Blog got hacked! I think it could be all my fault...
I may have been putting up
too
many
cat pics
lately...
It's good to be back to normal! Thanks, Lemony, for your fine expo and I second Vegas Doc's comment on your anon observation.
Best wishes, CC, for a speedy recovery; hope you feel better soon.
Musings 2
-I too am so glad that we are back up and running. My list of email addresses - that I will guard with my life - has grown significantly as have the names on the map. I’ll issue the latest version soon. Once again, please contact me if you want to be added to our contact list and map.
-Living in this electronic world is very cool but then we realize how dependent we become when it all crashes down.
-Once again we are reminded how joy can be shared and grief be somewhat mitigated by sharing on this fabulous site.
-I had the odd idea that SMUTOLEUM might be an intimate salve for a regrettable activity.
-Get well C.C.!
What a relief to have our blog again! I was just devastated last night when it was suddenly gone. Makes me appreciate how important this community of friends is to me. C.C. you are wonderful! Your e-mail today calmed me down, and while reading everybody's comments on the alternate blog, I saw your announcement that we were back already. You must have worked so hard to make this happen. A million thanks!
Lennay Kekua, this is not the venue to pursue your private war with Lemony. Spare us, please!
CED, YOU SOB!
You got me again! I should know better than to let my guard down with your posts. That last one was exactly what I was thinking when I opened it.
Thanks for the belly laugh!
Lemony, so glad all is well in blogger world! Your write-up summarized my thought process perfectly. Indeed, I did think of the theme last July when the new SPIDER-MAN movie was released. And it just spun out of control from there!
Just one comment - the Van Halen clip was from their 1984 album, almost 30 YEARS AGO??? Boy, do I feel old...
Oh my Martin you are not yourself, heartless it shall be? and yes we are not children any more.
Musings 2
-I too am so glad that we are back up and running. My list of email addresses - that I will guard with my life - has grown significantly as have the names on the map. I’ll issue the latest version soon. Once again, please contact me if you want to be added to our contact list and map.
-Living in this electronic world is very cool but then we realize how dependent we become when it all crashes down.
-Once again we are reminded how joy can be shared and grief be somewhat mitigated by sharing on this fabulous site.
-I had the odd idea that SMUTOLEUM might be an intimate salve for a regrettable activity.
-Get well C.C.!
Hola Everyone, Sooo glad that the blog is back up and running! We all miss the daily banter and talk about the CW.
This will be my first post about the puzzle inteself, but not until I wish C.C. a speedy recovery. So sorry to hear you have the flu.
Even after having Cat On In place I couldn't figure out what Caton had to do with Williams. Serena was foremost in my mind, too.
I had a rocky start to the NW corner as I put in Vat for Tun and nothing else would fit. When I finally sussed out the clue to Ark contents, everything else finally fell into place. A great clue for Torahs, by the way.
Great puzzle today, Marti and an enjoyable writeup Lemon. The cedar chest you put up for us looks exactly like the one my mother had.
Bill G. DMV appointments are great when they work out. We went for our license renewal right on time, and the DMV computers were down and the office was CLOSED! We had to reschedule over the internet and had to wait for another week or more before we could go back.
Nice to be back!
Oh dear, how did I miss that C.C. was ill with the flu? I'm so sorry to hear it, especially with all this additional stress. Please take good care of yourself and get better very soon!
Manac @3:44, yes that's the one!
Chickie @4:43, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof....
Thank you Marti. Thank you Argyle. Thank you Lemonade. And thank you CC.
What an ARDUOUS day ! Have pretty much been up since 1:30AM. That's when I woke to the sound of a plane getting closer and closer. Fortunately, it was just the fan on my laptop starting to fail. Amazing how loud they can get...
Finally dozed back off only to be reawakened at 4AM to the sound of someone joyriding through the neighborhood and squealing their tires.
Acquiesced and went out to my office at 5 AM and fired up my desktop and started to tackle the puzzle, but couldn't quite get it. Posted out on Argyle's adjunct and thought I was the only one on the conference call again. Should this ever reoccur, I'll look to Ginger Roots.
You all make this such an enjoyable community. To better days ahead.
Yellowrocks @4:03, Lennay Kekua is the name of the fictitious online girlfriend of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. He apparently had a cyber relationship with this "woman," who later turned out to be the product of some hacker's imagination. The hacker then told Te'o that Kekua had died - really sick joke to play on someone....
CATONic.
I had 2 crashes in 2012. The 1st was the Estonian virus. Then I got Carbonite, Norton and a Best Buy product. The 2nd was not as bad - still lost some old emails.
I asked my son if hackers did these things to show how clever they were. He said, no, they're sort of anarchist, antisocial (in his honest opinion).
Glad you all are back.
Back to NORMAL. This blog, like many of you, has become a part of my daily routine.
CC, hang in there. It (The flu) will not be much longer before you are up and at 'em again.
C.C. I hope you recover quickly from the flu. It has been a devastating year for the flu. I also want you to know how much I appreciate all the hard work you do to keep this blog going. I think we all suffered withdrawal this morning when it didn't appear! Glad we are all back again.
Glad all is back to normal, and many thanks to C.C. for persevering with the process to get it back--whatever it involved!
Thank you all too, for all the wonderful warm comments on the photos and congrats on my new status. I've been sour graping for years about not having grandkids, and so now it really feels marvelous to finally have reached grandparenthood. Lea will be a joy to all her grandparents, I'm sure. (4 great-grandparents as well as 4 grandparents!)
Thanks everyone!
R.I.P. Dear Abby.
JzB, congratulations !
Kazie, congratulations !
CC, Get well soon !
Hatoolah, I agree. Withdrawal. Took some solace in that we had a writeup from two of the esteemed contributors in one day.
Double your pleasure, double your fun.
BTW, TRIS (we haven't seen him in a puzzle lately) Speaker is the all time doubles leader in baseball. Just thought I would mention it since we had some doubles today. Poor Tris. I think he has become trite.
RIP Abigail Van Buren. Dear Abby
Glad things are back to normal. And thanks to all that had a part in the Herculean effort to make it so.
...but I'm still having a hard time with "Spam Violation"......"Honest, Your Honor. I had nothing but good intentions toward that lunch tin! I didn't mean to violate it. You can ask the canned ham."
Alex J:
Man, you and Janine seem to really get around. A very interesting blog. Thanks for sharing and welcome to our warm corner of the Internet.
First off, let me say how pleased I am to see the blog back up. Did anyone else feel as if their right arm had been paralyzed? I am so sorry C.C.!
Secondly, Spitzboov I am so sorry to hear of your daughter's illness. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. That being said it is so hard to loose a young, beloved family member. Please let us all know how we can help. Cyber hugs to you and family.
Marti, and Lemony thanks for your puzzle and write up today.
Gary, thank you for keeping an email list and writing to us about what was happening and we could do to help.
C.C., I hope you get over the flu soon.
It is so good to have this little spot in the world to share!
Despite all the insanity and all the nastiness, we have had 100+ comments today, a tribute to C.C. and her efforts.
Thank you all for coming back.
CED @ 3:11, I sent that “Double trouble” link to DH, and we have been laughing all evening. We just got adopted by a little kitten, and that is EXACTLY what the older cat is doing…
Thank you C.C., Dennis and everybody who got the pipes thawed out! Glad to be back in the Corner.
Hello everybody. Super thanks to everybody, for many reasons, including working to restore this blog and emailing us to let us know what happened.
Congratulations, kazie and Jazzbumpa. I am happy for you.
Best wishes to Spitzboov and you all.
C.C. Thank you so for this blog.. please do get well soon.
Many thanks to you all who worked so very hard to get The Corner back on line. And of course, many thanks for today's puzzle and both write ups... :)
I couldn't imagine what had happened yesterday in the time it took me to answer my phone and get back here. I may not comment often, but I am among those that truly enjoy The Corner and the many people that make it the delightful place it is.
Kazie
Your new granddaughter is beautiful.. I do hope you will be able to hold her soon... :)
Jazzbumpa
Wishing you a wonderful and Happy Anniversary...
Spitzboov
I didn't get a chance to comment yesterday.. I am so sorry to hear of your very sad news. My heart goes out to you. I know how few words of comfort there are at this time.. I lost my daughter three years ago. She was 47. Late diagnosis of cirrhosis. Please know that I will keep you and yours in my heart and in my thoughts and prayers.
Thelma
C.C., please make sure you check in everyday so we know you're ok.
Argyle, you are slick ! A wizened seasoned veteran. Keep up the good work.
C.C.
I am sorry to hear you are ailing with the flu and having to worry about the blog on top of that. Please let us know when you are better. I pray it will be soon.
C.C. Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. Please get well soon (we need you here!)
Remember the 2 steps to recovery:
1.)Chicken Soup
&2.) You will know you are getting better when...
Greetings!
First of all, heartfelt condolences to Spitzboov. I hope that they are not sparing the painkillers.
Second, thought I was going to fade off of this Earth if blog was gone for good. Being a shut-in, I just didn't fathom how to cope. Tried to get on about 1/2 zillion times. Gave up sleeping. Finally was awakened by Harv who had promised to babysit me in the pool for an hour. Won't bother with details of disaster that followed.
Have now read everything that I missed! Thanks so much for your efforts, CC and Husker, Argyle and Lemonade.
PK: I have an indoor heated pool (on my property). All friends that could do a regular sitting gig have left the area or died. Will look for someone to hire if I get up the nerve.
Great puzzle, Marti! Enjoyed the phobias! I am acrophobic in the extreme.
Congratulations to Jazz and Gloria and to Kazie!
Cheers!
CC: Get well soon. Am I correct in assuming that you DID have a flu-shot?
I know change is good but I really did not want to go on without your crossword corner! So glad you are back!!
Not to open old wounds, but yesterday reminded of when Angela closed the door on LA Confidential. I lurked there for a long time and couldn't believe her last post. It took this site for me to finally comment. Then y'all made me turn blue. Thanks to everyone here. This is a special group. Cheers to all!
Hello, all! Very, very late to the party today, but just wanted to say how glad I am that the blog has been restored. Thanks C.C., Argyle, Gary and all the others who made things right again. You guys are fantastic! Hope you recover from you flu-bug soon, C.C.
Spitzboov, my heart goes out to you and your family. You will be in my prayers.
Kazie, congratulations on your beautiful granddaughter. They are such a joy.
Oh, right, there was a puzzle (lol) – and a really enjoyable one at that. Had fun trying to figure out where Marti was heading with her double-edged clues. Also liked the Jets and Sharks clechos at 12D and 27D. Only ran into a little trouble when my AAA freebie was a TOW before the perps handed me a road MAP. Thanks for the swell expo, Lemony, especially under the circumstances. Will have to take the time to properly enjoy everyone’s links after a little shut-eye.
Have a good night, everyone.
I so appreciate your comment and was following back to find your entry. What I found were many interesting and intriguing posts but none that resembled the meme. Congrats on the baby!!
Anything I can do to help, Judy?
Once more thanks for all the additional congratulatory comments. they are all appreciated, as our granddaughter has been awaited for quite a while.
C.C.,
I didn't know you were ill. take good care of yourself--we need you! Thanks again for everything!
This nightmare is not over. The Puzzle Society site (for which I pay) has kicked me off several times using the word "forbidden." Eventually, with lots of patience I was able to work 4 or 5 puzzles. (I found the L A Times on another site.)
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