Theme: Football Frailties
17A. New Orleans team confused? : SAINTS BEDEVILED
26A. New York team punished? : JETS GROUNDED
46A. Indianapolis team stymied? : COLTS LASSOED
59A. San Diego team upset? : CHARGERS SHOCKED
Yay! It's Superbowl Week! (oops, I should say "Big Game Week" as we at the blog don't pay royalties to the NFL for the use of the word "Superbowl" and we're already in enough trouble with the Blogger Police Department. We don't want Roger Goodell piling on here).
Today we have four theme teams that sadly didn't make it to New Orleans for "The Big Game" for reasons most aptly described by Kurt and Jan-Michele. To add insult to injury, the Bedeviled Saints had to clear out of their own locker room for a couple of weeks to allow temporary lodging for the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers in the Big Easy.
NFL fans can make their own jokes regarding the aforementioned Commissioner, the Saints and "punished", "grounded", and "upset", let alone "confused".
Steve here! This was a corker of a theme for me, I loved it. I got the teams right away, then spent a LOT of time noodling around the rest of each theme answer and needed crosses, more crosses and then some perps to git 'er done.
A couple of nits to be picked, but let's see how the rest played out.
Across:
1. Net help pages, briefly : FAQS. When I was small, my most frequently-asked question was "Are we there yet?". I'm not sure I ever got a reliable answer.
5. County counterpart, in Canterbury : SHIRE. Major nit. I know the alliteration is part of the charm of this clue, but it doesn't really make sense. Canterbury is in Kent, which is a county. "County" and "Shire" are not really synonyms. It would help if if Kent was short for Kentshire, but it's not.
10. Boring : BLAH
14. Longtime Stern rival : IMUS. Howard Stern and Don Imus faced off in a ratings battle in Philadelphia early in Stern's career.
15. Little bits : IOTAS.
16. Baltic capital : RIGA
20. __ Who : THE
21. Little bits : ATOMS. Nice clecho. Yodel-eh-ee-o!
22. Silly : INANE
23. Musical quality : TONE
25. Chooses : ELECTS
31. Fail to mention : OMIT
32. Picky eaters of rhyme : SPRATS. Jack and his wife. Even as a lad I wondered how Jack's wife managed to keep her girlish figure when all she would eat was fat. I guess she had the Jane Fonda Workout Tapes (we're going back a few years here, I don't think pilates was invented yet!).
33. Different : ODD
36. "Network" director : LUMET. Sidney. If you've never seen "Twelve Angry Men" from way back in 1957, you have a treat in store.
38. Old West mil. force : CAV. The Cavalry, a Military Force.
39. Andrea Bocelli, e.g. : TENOR
41. Half a fly : TSE
42. More than a sobber : WAILER
45. Small or large : SIZE
48. Loads to clean : WASHES. I didn't skip a beat with this one, then I've been wondering why; it's not exactly obvious?
51. Person in a sentence, say : NOUN
52. Convention pin-on : ID TAG. I think I've probably got my own weight in these things. One peculiar property of ID tags hanging from a lanyard is that they ALWAYS turn to face the wrong way however you try to arrange things.
53. Heroic poems : EPICS
56. "Homeland" airer, briefly : SHO. Hmmm. Nymmmm. Hmmmmmmm. Could do better if you resort to this fill, methinks.
62. Hardly friendly : COLD
63. Go on and on : PRATE. Is there a rule for using PRATE vs PRATTLE? I'm guessing the root is common.
64. Take on : HIRE
65. Golf rarities : ACES. I've had one. I took a friend out to play for her first time on a "real" golf course and I aced the par-3 third. She didn't understand why I was so excited, she thought that as I'd been playing for 30 years I should be doing that every day. A fair point, in hindsight.
66. Fur fortune-maker : ASTOR
67. Football positions : ENDS. Schoolboy hilarity ensues about "tight" and "defensive" varieties. We were all young and foolish once.
Down:
1. Punch source : FIST
2. Indian nursemaid : AMAH. I think this qualifies as crosswordese. I know it, but ...
3. Being alone with one's thoughts : QUIET TIME
4. IRS ID : S.S.N. I wonder who had 000 00 0001? That's an awesome Social Security Number. There was probably some money in the pot when he or she retired too.
5. TV drama about Alex, Teddy, Georgie and Frankie Reed : SISTERS. Crosses all the way.
6. Vagabond : HOBO
7. News piece : ITEM
8. X-ray units : RADS. I need to stop overthinking four-letter fill, ROENTGEN is simply not going to work, I don't even know if it's got anything whatsoever to do with the clue, but I couldn't move beyond it.
9. Linguistic suffix : ESE.
10. Pickled : BRINED. Oh! Not too much vodka then?
11. Purple __: New Hampshire state flower : LILAC. Very pretty - looks a little like the foxgloves/digitalis from last week to my untrained eye:
(Note to self. - Filling in ILLAC doesn't make the NE quadrant any easier to complete)
12. Word with travel or talent : AGENT. I wanted SCOUT for the longest while, I almost convinced myself that there are professional TRAVEL SCOUTS out there.
13. Underworld : HADES
18. Zippy flavor : TANG
19. Most nasty : VILEST
24. Bone: Pref. : OSTE. Again with the hmmmmmm fill. Not a fan.
25. NH summer hours : E.D.T. The Eastern Time bit is always a given for me, but why can I never remember when it's "Standard" and when it's "Daylight"?
26. Quite a blow : JOLT
27. Tall runners : EMUS. EMUS and IMUS must be related.
28. Footnote ref. : OP. CIT. "Opere Citato" or "in the work cited" to refer to a previously-credited work to avoid needless repetition of the full title.
29. Mount Narodnaya's range : URALS.
30. __ orange : NAVEL. I had NAVAL first, I guess I was going with my own LIMEY nautical citrus theme.
33. Thin paper : ONION SKIN.
34. Nap : DOZE
35. Slave Scott : DRED.
37. Like many omelets : TWO EGG
40. "Mi casa __ casa" : ES SU. Not to be taken toooo literally.
43. Gore and Hirt : ALs
44. Stock market VIP? : RANCHER. Loved this clue/answer.
46. Casual wine choices : CHARDS. There are many nice ones from my home state of California. I had a glass of Sterling tonight - an odd choice considering I'm in South Beach, Miami for the day. I should be drinking rum and channeling Hemingway.
47. Not bad, not good : SO-SO. Related to the above?
48. Modern witch's religion : WICCA
49. For this purpose : AD HOC. A learning moment. If challenged to define "ad hoc" I'd have been offering up variations of "ad lib" or "off the cuff".
50. Old, as a joke : STALE
53. Goofs : ERRS. "To goof is human, to err is Bill Buckner". I just made that up! Almost 30 years too late to make a fortune selling t-shirts in New York, alas.
54. Exam sophs may take : P-SAT
55. Colon, in analogies : IS TO
57. Sheep together : HERD. Another one I got right away then looked back and said "huh"? "Shepherd" makes this work, otherwise you'd look for "FLOCK" as the answer or "Cow Together" as the clue, right?
58. Keats works : ODES
60. Org. concerned with greenhouse gas : E.P.A. The Environmental Protection Agency has a lot to worry about right now.
61. Ally of Fidel : CHE. Castro's amigo Guevara. The dictionary definition of "iconic" should simply cite this image:
That's all, Folks!
"The Superbowl", "Saints", "Jets", "Colts", "Chargers" and related names and indicia are the sole property of the National Football League and may not be used or reproduced without the express written consent of the NFL. "Lilac" image may be subject to copyright. "Jane Fonda Workout", "Emu" and "Imus" copyright their respective owners. "Che" copyright the William Soler Pediatric Cardiology Hospital in Havana, Cuba. I think that's got us covered today :)
90 comments:
Morning, all!
Fun theme today and a mostly smooth solving experience. One minor glitch was early on before I grokked the theme and went with METS instead of JETS at 26A. The resulting MOLT at 26D made no sense whatsoever, however, so that wasn't too hard to fix. The only other place I hesitated was at PSAT due to the clue. I knew the answer had to be PSAT, but I've seen this clued with regard to juniors and had no idea that sophomores could also take it. Once again, though, the perps gave me no choice but to accept it.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. This was a pretty straight-forward Wednesday puzzle. I wonder if one or both of the constructors are from New HampSHIRE, since there were two NH clues.
My only bump was to briefly thing that Boring was Dull instead of BLAH.
I was also think a bit loftier than Howard Stern and was trying to think of a violinist rival to Isaac Stern. Alas, we were brought down to the lowest common denominator of IMUS.
DRED Scott v. Sandford was probably the worst decision ever of the US Supreme Court.
QOD: The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. ~ Che Guevara.
I really enjoy grid spanning theme entries and combine that with the timely topic made this a fun solve. I really liked ending the accross clues with ends.
How long will you be in SoFla Steve?
Happy humping.
Loved the IMUS EMUS pics btw
Good morning, gang - first off, great write-up, Steve.
The puzzle itself went fairly smoothly, with some of the same hiccups Steve mentioned. I thought the Network director was LUMIS, and it took me almost all the perps to see TWO EGG for 37D. As with Barry, I didn't realize sophomores took the PSAT. Fun, topical theme.
Steve, I too have had an ace, but only because I just missed the windmill vanes.
Whatever it is that's going around down here is really starting to tee me off -- it's gone from my throat to my chest to my head and now back to my throat. It's pretty potent; hopefully it won't move south, but if it does, they may need to evacuate south Florida...
Have a great day; hope everyone's enjoying the unusually warm weather.
Good morning folks,
Good Hump day so far .... No blog warnings, fun puzzle from Kurt & Jan-Michelle, & great write up from Steve.
Had the team theme from the get go and just had to solve the 2nd part of the clue. Like Hahtoolah, I was trying to think of a rival for Isaac Stern.
For 25D went back and forth on EDT or DST. I myself am more apt to go for Daylight Savings Time.
Hand up for 44D, Rancher. Loved it.
I would never use the term CHARD when ordering my pre meal JOLT(s).
Thanks to having 26A filled, did not have my usual argument deciding if it was ARAL or URAL.
"Fun" day for Riley coming up with the groomer. I'll be totally ignored by him for a day or so.
Have a great day.
Hahtoolah:
I'd argue that Southern Pacific RR v. Santa Clara Co. is #1.
Hello Puzzlers -
Hand up for Mets. It never dawned on me this was an all-football puzzle until Steve pointed it out. Otherwise, a speedy solve.
Remembered Amah this time, along with Prate.
Good Morning to all!
Thought the team-theme answers were clever. Never heard of Lumet. Like Hatoolah, tried to think of a contemporary of Isaac Stern to fit 14A, though the word "rival" in the clue told me I probably should be going down another path.
C.C.--This morning I get the malware warning for the November archives. I use a Mac, with Safari. Did not get the warning last evening (when archives were still grouped weekly).
Enjoy the day!
Good morning, I think...
Dreadful DNF today. Like Barry, I went with METS. Unlike Barry, I couldn't see any other option. I was sure the METS were a NY team, so it had to be right. Right?
We have a lady in our town who is hooked on CHARD. On our morning walks we're frequently picking up the little, orange-labeled Sutter Home empties where she's pitched them out the Mustang's window.
Cute disclaimer, Steve. Remember back in the late 50's, after the payola scandal, when every radio station ran a once-an-hour disclaimer admitting that consideration had been paid? The problem wasn't that they'd taken money to play certain songs; they hadn't publicly admitted it. Well, now they were admitting it, whether they actually were paid or not. Ain't this a wonderful country?
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.
Hilarious write-up, Steve! Loved the pic of the EMUS over IMUS. They do kinda look alike, don't they!?! And your teeny-tiny disclaimer at the bottom was too funny. These days, it's always wise to PYA.
I guess my stupidity is an advantage at times, because I didn't even think to question the county/SHIRE, RADS for xray units or PSATS for sophs.
I really enjoyed the theme, but would love to have seen the RAVENS GROUNDED last week, instead of the Pats...
Happy Hump Day, everyone!
Windhover: to the extent that Dred Scott is no longer the law of the land and Santa Clara County opened up a can of worms with respect to the personhood of corporations, I would agree with you.
Great puzzle today, I loved the theme answers. I really loved IMUS/EMUS...too funny.
I didn't know LUMET either.
Do you think Beyonce will actually be singing live on Sunday? Maybe she will after all the scandal with her lip syncing at Obamafest.
I never watched the sports before I met DH. I never even peeked at the crazy commercials that debuted during the SuperBowl.
Be careful where you get your tickets to the big game.
@Barry - should I expect to see "grok" in crossowrds? Wha?
Anyway, had a hard time, since it was heavily sports. Had to Google for COLT, CHARGER, LUMET and URALS (Narodnaya).
HAd wHiteS before CHARDS (finally figured out what that's supposed to mean. I have second thoughts about joking over booze today, since yesterday, a friend of mine, an alcoholic, was found dead. This has been how 4 associates of mine have died - alone at home. @Desperotto - check on her every day.
Had cheEse before TWO EGG, agE nt before NAVEL.
I loved the many facets of this theme. Very clever. Relatively easy. I didn’t know SISTERS, so all perps.
All the pictures I've seen of the SPRATS clearly show that the wife could eat no lean and Jack could eat not fat. She is very W I D E and he is beanpole slim.
Link The SPRATS
I loved the striking similarity in the picture of EMUS and IMUS. I agree with Hahtoolah about IMUS being the LCD.
From Wiki: "In Britain, "shire" is the original term for what is usually known as a county; the word county having been introduced at the Norman Conquest of England. The two are synonymous. Although in modern British usage counties are referred to as "shires" mainly in poetic contexts, terms such as Shire Hall remain common. Shire also remains a common part of many county names."
It seems county and shire are technically synoynyms, but not in current usage.
Here in the over achieving suburbs some middle schoolers take the PSAT
From WIKI: "In 2008, 1.59 million high school sophomores and 1.52 million high school juniors took the PSAT.]Some freshmen and eighth and seventh graders also take the test."
Good morning everyone.
Another fun puzzle today. Slowed down in the TWO EGG/ID TAG corner, but it all came out OK; no searches needed. Steve is right about ID tag usage.
Re: PRATE. The Dutch have the verb: PRATEN - to talk. Seems like they're related. Kudos to Kurt and Jan-M.
We had a power outage last night beginning just before Final Jeopardy and lasting until after Vegas so I missed the NCIS² episodes - will have to catch them on reruns. Are they worth looking for?
They are predicting 55º here today.
Spitz @ 8:40 am. The original NCIS was good, but there was an odd side tale about Abby being sad and moody. I love Abby, but it was a little strange.
NCIS II, meh. I'm not a huge fan, but DH is so I watch it. Better ask someone with an unbiased opinion on that one.
Spitzboov:
Last night the Final Jeopardy, in the category “Meteorological Terms” was:
"In the 1940s an anemometer aided Antarctic experiments that 1st determined this measurement heard in weather reports."
I'll give you the answer in a few minutes.
I agree with Mari re: NCIS, worth seeing, but a bit strange
Great puzzle. I am a football fan so the long clues were somewhat easy. The problem I had was I put agent for orange and Andes for mountain range because it fit. That did not work out well. I soon saw that it had to be grounded so I fixed them quickly.
Saw the jeopardy.. Amazed at the crazy answers given.
I follow the NFL very closely but I always have a goal to not watch one IOTA of any Super Bowl coverage prior to kickoff and Kurt and Jan-Michel’s just right Wednesday puzzle is as close as I will get. _OT_ gave me MOTE before IOTA, W____S gave me WHITES before WASHES and R__S gave me REMS before RADS. Oh well, erasers are cheap.
Musings
-AMAH came off the “only in crosswords” bench today just like YEGGS yesterday
-Howard Stern is definitely NOT Isaac Stern, Gary.
-My very skinny brother and zaftig wife were the SPRATS
-I agree, Henry Fonda’s cool headedness in LUMET’S 12 Angry Men (trailer) was amazing. What a cast! The entire movie is available for free on YouTube.
-Yes, those ID Tags are always inward facing just like your PB&J always falls J topping side down
-No ACES here but I did have one peeking over the edge of the cup.
-Tight ENDS (no, the real ones) are a big part of NFL offenses these days.
-My multimillionaire friend who was the head of the countries’ largest truck auctioneers had the ultimate HOBO song, King of the Road played as the casket left the church. I want Spirit in the Sky. You?
-Easier erasing ONION SKIN was a big deal to bad typists like yours truly in the 60’s
-On a Frasier last night John Glenn chided the good doctor for making a STALE joke about TANG
-Here are some Miller’s IS TO questions. Pick a category and give it a go.
-Been there, had that Dennis!
-Tin, my guess would be W____ C____ but not the loo variety.
Good day, all puzzlers. Thank you, Steve, for yet another amusingly detailed analysis. I had no idea about all those football taboos.
Wonderful speed run today. Thank you, Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette. It was a downward sashay most of the way and that helped fill the long theme answers. I do know the names of the teams through osmosis, I suppose,
Nice western sub theme with COLTS LASSOED, mi casa ES SU casa,and RANCHER, brilliant cluing.
Sydney LUMET was a brilliant director. Besides the aforementioned Twelve Angry Men my fav is The Verdict with Paul Newman.
I have a bad habit of not checking the puzzle after finishing and so didn't notice I had RARS at 8D so DNF.
I wonder if anyone still uses ONION SKIN paper?
Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!
My sister who is visiting from Charlotte, NC, is currently staying with me so I shall likely be absent most of the day.
Sunday afternoon we plan on going to see a movie as we are not football fans.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kurt and Jan-Michele, for a swell puzzle. Easier than I expected. Thank you, Steve, for the excellent review. I also enjoyed the two photos. I hope the emu was not offended.
Could not get started in the North so I headed South and started with CHE. Worked North from there.
The theme appeared with CHARGERS SHOCKED. The other three fell easily. Figured it was football so I picked JETS and not METS.
Had NAVAL instead of NAVEL for a short while.
Enjoyed the banter about County and Shire. Very interesting.
CHARDS was easy. I really did not think too much about it. I rarely drink wine and would not know the common term for ordering anyway.
LUMET was an unknown. Perped and Wagged it.
Now that I am home and on my desktop, I assume my captcha will work much easier than yesterday.
Here we go. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
@Lemonade - back to LA today so literally a flying visit.
I enjoyed the view of the ocean though! @Abejo - I cleared the juxtaposition with the emu, you definitely don't want to mess with those guys :)
My flight's boarding - see you all next time.
Klilly: I agree about the crazy answers given.
First guy answered: "What is 50 Below" (really????)
The lady answered: "What is Wind Current" (As if ????)
The Returning Champ got it correct: "What is Wind Chill" (I thought it was a gimmie!)
Now, about the puzzle.
When I filled in SAINTS, I knew ALL the teams would be NFL football teams.
Ergo, the JETS, COLTS and CHARGERS were gimmies. (Too obvious!)
Husker: I'll probably tune in around ... 6:28 and just enjoy the game.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would watch 6 or 7 hours of pregame shows.
Lucina: I liked how your "Western sub themes" all crossed each other.
Thought the clue/answer CHARDS was weak ... but then again, I like something a bit stronger.
Well, It's almost Five O'clock in Zagreb.
Cheers !!!
Thank you Kurt and Jan-Michele for a very nice puzzle. Really enjoyed it. ( BTW, 2 guys, or one of each gender ? ).
Thank you Steve, for your unique Brit wit with a nit. Really enjoyed reading your commentary.
1. AMAH .... generally further East and S.E. Asia - in India, generally, AYAH - but I knew what they were looking for.
2. I was surprised that Andrea is a HE. Soprano or Alto, would not fit.
3. On Jack Sprat's spouse, Wiki says, and I quote, op. cit. -
However, most ingested cholesterol is esterified, and esterified cholesterol is poorly absorbed. The body also compensates for any absorbtion of cholesterol by reducing cholesterol synthesis. For this reason, cholesterol intake in the food has little, if any, effect on the total body cholesterol content or concentrations of cholesterol in the blood. ( Q. E. D. )
Tell that to my cardiologist.
I feed my 3 feral cats a high fat, high cholesterol diet, for obvious reasons. They ate 3 bricks of bird food suet yesterday. They now each have thick, luxurious black fur with an opalescent sheen, like sable. I wonder if a modern day ASTOR would be interested .....
Have a good day, you guys, and best wishes.
Gary, I'm hoping my funeral song isn't AC/DC's Highway to Hell; I think I'd choose Out With a Bang by David Lee Murphy.
Good puzzle expo, Steve. Thanks.
I did this puzzle in the middle of the night and am now trying to remember what I was thinking while solving. It seemed easy for a midweek puzzle. Only had to WAG for the E is LUMET and OSTE. SO--I solved a Wednesday puzzle!
Yesterday's storm was shortlived here. After a couple hours and 3" of drifting snow in the wind, it all quit. An hour later, the sun came out. Still below zero, however.
Have a good day, all,
Montana
Morning All - Thank you Kurt and Jan-Michele for a fun puzzle, and to Steve for his write-up.
The football team fill-ins weren't a problem for me as I used to love watching football. San Diego's Dan Fouts was one of my favs!
THE Who seemed too easy.
Had LUMIT AND OSTI - my only mis steps - with no lookups.
Loved the pics of IMUS and EMU - and def a resemblance.
Funny that Sela Ward was in yesterdays puzzle and I commented how I liked her in Sisters - and today - voila - SISTERS was in the puzzle.
As a previous secretary - ONIONSKIN was an easy answer for me. As for using it today - I think the only paper used comes out of a printer.
My duh! of the day was Stock Market VIP - RANCHER. Good one!
Thanks to all for the nice welcome - I'm enjoying being a part of this group.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
I'm proud to say I knew none of the team names and guessed only toe correctly, failing on CHARTERS and CELTS. I also tried TART before TONE and TROUNCED before GROUNDED. Guessed wrongly LUMIN/OSTI and never saw TWO EGG. I mean, all omelets have eggs, so I wasn't looking for that to be only in "many" omelets, thought VEG might figure somewhere, but my CHARTER across the bottom fouled that up too.
I had the same whoa as Steve with the HERD/FLOCK dilemma, and I also think it's pretty rare for a soph to take the PSAT, it's usually juniors.
We're in a white out here today, but my, is it beautiful!
Hi Everyone ~~
A quick run today ~ very enjoyable. I loved the football theme and filled in the theme answers easily. The San Diego Chargers are sometimes referred to as the "Bolts" (they have lightning bolts on their helmets) and when they play Indianapolis, the game is sometimes referred to as the 'Bolts and the Colts.'
~ I wrote in 'Dull' too quickly at 10A but perps immediately changed that.
~ I thought I had the Aral/Ural thing worked out, but after today I realize that I had it the opposite of what it should be! Maybe I'll remember next time ... maybe.
~ Favorites: Punch source / FIST and More than a sobber / WAILER.
~ A wonderful write-up, Steve - I, too, loved the IMUS-EMUS resemblance and your disclaimer. :-)
Hope you're feeling better soon, Dennis.
Dennis 11:14 AM yesterday - Yes we still have the Bird. Bought it in 1991, sat in our garage for 12+ years until our youngest son decided to start working on it when he was a Jr. in High School (2003). Took 4 yrs to finish it. Not perfect - but a great driver and we've won a few trophies at cruis-ins and car shows. Love to get the 'thumbs up' from fellow car enthusiasts. Have not read Brad Taylor but will look for him - always looking for new authors to read as 'borrowing' from the library for my kindle does not give me a great selection for my favorites - or there is a slew of ppl waiting for them.
PK - sorry for your loss.
Dennis - Hope you feel better soon. I got a doozy of a cold the day after Christmas and it took me over 3 weeks to get rid of it.
Sfingi -sorry for your loss. My husband had 3 friends pass away last week. I guess bad things do come in 3's.
...and life goes on...
HG & Tin.
I'll surf back and forth between the game & something else. Can't tolerate how much TV has slowed the game down with it's God awful commercials and other stuff.
Neither team will get into a rhythm with all the starts & stops.
Good morning:
Thanks, Kurt and Jan-Michele, for a clever and timely puzzle. Smooth sailing, no glitches. Liked the clue for rancher, and loved the Emus/Imus pics. I, too, thought Isaac before Howard. Terrific expo, Steve.
Mari @ 8:00 - It's hard to believe in this day and age of scammers and con artists that anyone would trust a complete stranger to the tune of $6000.00. I am glad there was a happy ending and I hope a lesson was learned.
Temps today in the 50's but it is very windy. Colder weather returning on Saturday. No complaints, though; I think our total snowfall all winter is only 18". Of course, February and March can be brutal, so we're not home free, yet!
Have a great Wednesday.
Husker G, I don't remember hearing the song, "Spirit in the Sky" before. I just looked up information about it. My brother was in Nam in '69 and it sold over 2 million copies, but I don't recall it. Sure would be a perfect funeral song.
I want "Safely Home" by Steven Green at my funeral.
Montana
Hi all,
Well, this was a good one. and Steve, you are too funny! I'm glad you did those CYA disclaimers at the end.
I thought I had the theme (sports teams) after SAINTSBEDEVILED, but MOLTS did not make sense; I imagine shedding your skin would be more of a relief than a blow. To make matters worse, I confidently filled in PADRESDEFROCKED for the San Diego clue. It fit nicely, but really messed up the bottom of my grid, darn it. I am more familiar with baseball teams than football teams.
FYI Che is a murderer and a terrorist.......
Hi gang -
Another very busy day, so a quick in and out.
Good, timely theme and I especially like SAINTS BEDEVILED. Awesome 7- and 9-letter fill. But I am deeply conflicted. TSE?!? Really? In the LAT? BLAH, INANE, banal, and smacks of Robert Wayne Williams, as does AMAH, BTW. Also, I am in total agreement with all the nits in Steve's excellent write up.
Plus CHARD - Ugly and hard to swallow.
On balance, I rate it SO SO.
IMBO
Cool Regards!
JzB
Well, the East was a speed run for me this morning, but since I'm not a sports person the West took a bit longer and I did finally have to cheat a little. But I still had a lot of fun with this puzzle--many thanks, Kurt and J-M! And I always enjoy your write-up Steve. Thanks for the reminder about that terrific JANE FONDA exercise video. I still use a lot of her program even without watching her tape.
Some interesting gender mis-leads in this puzzle. I of course assumed ANDREA was female, so TENOR seemed a weird answer, even though that's what it had to be. And I figured Alex and crew were guys so that SISTERS also seemed weird. I'm a little embarrassed about these conventional assumptions I still seem to have.
Anony Mouse, you are surely a kitty-saint!
Dennis, feel better soon!
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
Good morning from the frozen tundra of SE NE. Pretty easy offering for a Wednesday, but fun and timely. LOL'd literally at the Imus Emus pics and had similar distaste for Chards.
I was equally amazed at the silly answers on Jeopardy yesterday Tin. My only dilemma was wondering whether they would require "index" as part of the answer.
It's 22F as I type. We've had 5" of snow overnight and the wind is now 30-35mph NNW. Not fit for man nor beast outdoors. And tomorrow the predicted high is 13 with the overnight down to -1. But....it's supposed to be in the high 40's this weekend, so there's that.
Anon @ 10:35:
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".
Ronald Reagan, circa mid-80's.
Also a CYA.
The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a program cosponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). It qualifies 11th graders to enter the competition for scholarships from NMSC.
I find it interesting that, according to Wiki, more sophomores than juniors took the PSAT in 2008. More and more the PSAT is being used to help younger students identify their strengths and weaknesses early enough to become better prepared for college. It is also a way to prep for the SATs. I personally have know students starting in 7th or 8th grade who took the PSAT every year through 11th grade to become more successful on the SATs. I know an eighth grader who had an almost perfect score on the PSAT..
-Here is an eclectic list/discussion of Rock and Roll Funeral Songs
-Here is the fabulous Spirit in the Sky. At my cousin’s funeral, his tearful widow starting clapping along with the wonderful rhythm of this song as the family recessed and it had a great affect on everyone.
-Amazing Grace on bagpipes is fine too but I want no dirge music at all, celebrate my life!
-My Czech 90-year-old MIL is already picking out the polkas she wants played
-I hope Avg. Joe and our other musical devotees offer an opinion.
-Off to the YMCA, Hmmm... Queen - Another One Bites the Dust?
Whew! I had 99.9% of the puzzle done before i finally gave up!
Knowing as much about football as i do rugby, this was a tough go. DW is a huge football fan, unfortunately we cannot watch games together because i will constantly rave about a great play, & then she would be mad as a wet hen for the rest of the day because it was not her team...
ray before rad
For any 4 letter answer to "test," i put blank-SAT, & hope it isn't "oral." (sort of the opposite of what i do selecting a thermometer...)
est,,edt,,,dst??? i just put in "T" & wait for the light to come on...
I misread the clue "more than a sobber" as "more than sober." Having never been in that condition it took me a long time to figure out the center of the puzzle.
Another inkblot was i put "laze" for "nap" which gave me fits trying to figure out different = odd. (sort of ironic, don't you think?)
Spirit In The Sky,,, great song! i don't know how true it is, but there is a story that another guitarist asked how the writer got that great distortion sound, & complained that none of the electronic gadgets he tried had the same sound. He asked if he could be shown how it was accomplished, to which the original artist picked up a screwdriver, jammed it thru the speaker of his amp, & said,,, there you go!
Hola Everyone, I enjoyed the Football team theme today. I had the teams in fairly quickly, but the second half of the themes took a lot of perps to finish up. Hands up for dull before blah and Chards was a totally new word for me.
I used onion skin a lot all through college. We usually had to have more than one copy of a paper so onion skin was our choice for making carbon copies with the typewriter. You could get at least three legible copies using the thin paper and two carbons. Boy! Computers have really changed all that haven't they?
Steve, I chuckled over your Emus and Imus pictures. They do look a bit alike. I thought the clue for Emus was great, however, I was really looking for the name of a group of tall runners.
My Mother Goose book had a really obese Mrs. Sprat and a super thin Mr. I must have had a different illustrator for my copy. LOL.
Have a great day everyone.
For Cross Eyed Dave, Manac and all others who love cats, or not so much.
Cats in our Lives
Mari, Our local San Jose paper ran the article about the Bay Area couple who lost their money to a scammer. Your aricle was much more inclusive than ours with a picture of the Fed-Ex envelope, etc. Our paper today said that the couple and their two friends left yesterday to drive to New Orleans. A happy ending of sorts--but they are still out their money. Sad what some crooks will do to scam a few bucks.
Hi Y'all, fun puzzle! Fun commentary, Steve! Interesting about modern use of SHIRE! Who knew?
Finding it hard to make errors with the red letters online. But the dreaded weekend puzzles will surely fix that. The only thing I'm not liking about online solving is that I usually look back over it and savor it a bit. But when the Tada sounds my puzzle disappears.
Took perps for RANCHER & TWO EGGS. Duh!
Didn't know OP CIT, CHARDS, or LUMET.
IMUS is like an EMU in that he is always pecking away at things.
75 degrees day before yesterday. My cat stayed out all night enjoying 65 degree record high. Today snow on ground with 28 degrees. But my driveway concrete melted the snow as it came down. Cat is inside for the day and not protesting.
HG: Checkout song for me: "Amazing Grace". For my pilot husband it was WWII song "Coming In On
a Wing & a Prayer".
Thank you for your kind words on my long ago loss. My purpose in telling that was a testimony to the benefits of the stress test.
My condolences for recent losses of friends. Many of us are that age where the crowds thin out.
On the funeral music topic, the most moving event I've attended was for my wife's cousin who died just short of 60. Ex-Marine, latter day hippy that lived his entire life on his own terms. For the recessional, they played "Magic Carpet Ride". Not a dry eye in the house.
At the wake for a young friend that died at 35, his brother played Fish and Whistle. That brought a lot of smiles.
On site you linked Gary, there was only one mentioned that I'd want...and may just request..."Keep Me In Your Heart for a While by Warren Zevon from The Wind. Another choice might be from the same album, Warren covering Dylan's Heavens Door. (Best cover ever of this tune, IMO)
Another choice that might appeal to some is This by Townes Van Zandt....but it wouldn't be for everyone.
Some of the many findings of the report include:
Feral cats are invasive and pose a threat to native fauna and public health.
Three separate studies showed that most feral cats (62 to 80 per cent) carry the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis - a condition of special concern to pregnant women.
Cats are responsible for the extinction of at least 33 species of birds.
Feral cats kill an estimated 480 million birds in the US each year.
Feeding feral cats encourages them to congregate which encourages the chances of diseases being transmitted.
The supplemental feeding of feral cats should be prohibited.
Cats will kill wildlife no matter how well they are fed.
*Trap, Neuter & Release doesn't work
Here are my departure songs. First Dust in the Wind, followed by Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
Another cute cat story I saw yesterday on The Beeb.
One more song for the wake: Old Friends/Bookends
Did a little research on the 1st SSN#.
It was either John David Sweeney, Jr., or Grace D. Owen of Concord, New Hampshire, I am not sure which,,, i fell asleep after the 1st paragraph...
Also, due to new technology, i was able to track the IP Address of Anonymous who is posting anti-feral cat propaganda, & managed to find a picture of her on Facebook.
Note, my beloved PK was a feral, & has been a constant companion for many years. Would you pls shut up & adopt a cat? It might change your outlook on life!
You have to have a football themed puzzle the week of the Super Bowl. A total speed run... but fun! OK since no one has made their picks yet, I'll be the first: I like the Ravens + 3 1/2 (Current Line). Who do you like?
Further, to the above discussion, feral cats cause additional diseases, which target humans, like seven different types of Plasmo-toxic-neutropenias and several syndromes, especially Hemolyses vexinolloma myopathy, which devastate and cause havoc, and even sudden death, through the immune system. This family of syndromes is extremely virulent for those vulnerable humans who are immuno and antibody compromised. The CDC estimates one feral cat, during its short life span of 6 years, can cause at least 269 deaths each, in cities with high population densities, of peoples living in close physical proximity and with suspect hygienic habits. Since humans are the overwhelming reason for the ecological disaster facing our planet, feral cats can therefore be considered a humane way of putting a check to the uncontrolled unchecked population growth, especially amongst the least fittest of the homo sapiens species. Who, according to Darwin, did not deserve to live anyway. Therefore they can be used to put a brake to the main and biggest cause of pollution, that of rampant human explosion, ( present company of the blog members, of course, excepted ) which has not been addressed till now. So, let us 'Storm the Bastille' or, storm the cat shelters and release all the captive domesticated cats hoping that they will eventually contract, develop, engender and sustain feral virus carrier profiles, like viremic controllers, and spread them to their progeny, and spread the plagues, and thus solve mankinds most immediate and pressing problem. In the US medicare problem solved.
I would want a song that celebrated my favorite activities:
(Warning: A wee bit sentimental)
Tin's send-off
Cheers !
Happy Humpday everyone!
Easy theme answers today for a sports fan. To respond to earlier posts, there is no reason to watch any of the pre-game hype, even if one of your teams is fortunate enough to be playing. If you’re a fan of the team, you should already know all you need to know. That’s why some refer to it as the Stupor Bowl….
That being said, GO NINERS !!!!
Like others, I tend to think of chard as a veggie, not a wine…. Not that I’m whining or anything….
I usually think of the movie Network as I channel surf through all the dreck that passes for television programming these days….
Onion skin paper was a must-have when writing papers in college. Much cleaner than white-out….
Isn’t it technically Wind Chill Factor…?
Don’t think I’m going to have a funeral, since I’m doing the ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust thing. But if I had to pick a song, it’d either be Sojourn by Patrice Rushen or The Circle by Roy Buchanan.
Tinbeni, that has to be my all-time favorite song title / pick-up line!
Happy Wednesday! I got the first word of the theme answers fairly quickly but didn't see the endings right away. My only nit was never ever hearing Chardonnays called CHARDS, just Swiss chard. BTW, I had beet tops a couple of nights ago. That's still my favorite leafy green vegetable. I even like the red thingys OK.
I agree with VegasDoc; that's a very subtle pick-up line from Tin. I don't see how the women could resist it...
Listening to all of the cold weather reports from some of you guys, I can't complain about our spell of colder than usual weather; temperatures running from 40s at night to low 60s in the daytime. It was too cold and windy for a bike ride a couple of days ago but I'm heading out soon today.
Here's a moderately difficult challenge for those of you who enjoy a little geometry.
Pyramid ABCDE
A pyramid has a square base ABCD and vertex E. The area of square ABCD is 196 and the areas of triangles ABE and CDE are 105 and 91 respectively. What is the volume of the pyramid?
tinbeni@9:56
Yes, the sub theme fill is nicely "corralled" together.
My sis is off with another of her high school chums which gives me a little time to catch up on the latest Blog scoop.
Should have had hubby helping today with the football team names! Love SAINTS BEDEVILED. Reminded me of deviled eggs to go with the 2 egg omelet! Or pickled eggs to go with the brine.
New clue for Urals - who knew Mt Narodsaya??
Nice misdirection on stock market VIP.
I wanted flock for Sheep together too.
Wanted badge instead of IDtag
Haven't used the short version CHARDS so was glad the perps filled it in. Know chard as a green leafy vegetable.
People around here who try to appear knowledgeable about wine toss off expressions like Chard, Cab, Pinot, and Zin as if it's cool to call everything by a nickname. I guess it's supposed to imply intimate familiarity. Now I think I'll go pour myself a glass of Ries ...
C.C.
I am always late getting here and have not read all the blog yet, but I have read the one from MJ regarding getting the malware warning. I too am using safari and was not getting a warning when opening November weekly. After reading MJ's post I went back and tried to open November. That is when the warning showed up.
I am so sorry for all your trouble with this very delightful blog. I hope the above helps a bit.
Thelma
I'll pour myself a Mil's Worst Jayce. Skol! :-)
This is for all the cat lovers. SAM
Avg Joe, I convinced my wife to let me stock up on a couple of bottles of Chimay for this Sunday. She's stocking up on Bass Ale. Skol!
I'll second what Jazzbumpa said about the puzzle today.
Sorry, gang. I guess I did something wrong. Will try again later, after I have a Dew!
CC:
I just went to November and got the warning, also.
Hi all,
This wasn't as hard as a usual Wed.
My DH got some of the answers but I managed to get the rest.
I knew Wicca as there is a Wiccan group in the east part of the county we lived in back in the 8o's. It is just north of a small town. At that time there was some controversy about it. Since it was in our county the hearing was in Dodgeville. There were reporters, etc around. Watching the hearing on TV I felt sorry for the Leader who was being interviewed. Nothing came of it,thank goodness. After all, we do have freedom of religion in this country.
On the long answers, unlike most of you, I got the second part before I got the team names. Don't know why.
Also,about SSN-Do any of you get the comic strip 'Zita' by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman in your paper? The main guy, a teenage has a sister and she doesn't like her Social Security number because it isn't CUTE. So she's calling to see if she can get a cute one. Ha!
We have several inches of snow so we will be white outside for a while. No school any place around.
Hope you all have a nice evening.
Marge
I just went to November and got the warning also. Oooh Kaaay. So I tried October a still active warning but surprisingly in italics. Huh ? Feeling quite frustrated and desperate I jumped the moon to June my birth month and the warning was still there now in bold letters. But it also said getting closer. Wow. So I picked up speed and went all the way up to May and the warning was in neon and flashing but it said very close. Then I put caution to the winds and cashed the till on April aha suddenly the warning appeared and said thats it youre there but are you in yet. Funny thats what my wife always asks me.
C.C. I use Google Chrome. Got the malware warning for November 2012.
Clicked other 2012 months (Sept.Oct. & Dec.) and there was NOT a warning.
Maybe November 2012 should just be deleted. (just sayin'.)
Vegas Doc @3:05 and Bill G.@3:14
OK, NOW I get it.
I listen to the "Send-Off" links by Husker, Avg.Joe & Argyle.
Search out the tunes mentioned by Dennis @10:04.
... and then when I link my "Send-Off" tune (a BEAUTIFUL Ballad, I might add) and get "No Respect" ...
BTW Bill G., I asked the Blue Heron walking by Villa Incognito your question.
He said the pyramid volume was 784.
But then warned me that since you didn't say "of what" ...
if it isn't Pinch Scotch (or should that be "Pin"?) why should I care.
The Sunset was Perfect ... Cheers !!!
Hi Marge. Yes, I like that comic strip and saw the one you referred to. Funny!
When the question is "What's the volume?" The only answer I can come up with is "These go to 11."
Jayce @4:31 When it comes to vino. I just like the way it tastes. Knowledge it often overrated.
My recent travels:
I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone. I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work. I live close so it's a short drive. I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go and I try not to visit there too often. I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm. Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older. One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get! And, sometimes I think I am in Vincible but life shows me I am not. People keep telling me I'm in Denial but I'm positive I've never been there before! I have been in Deepshit many times; the older I get, the easier it is to get there. I actually kind of enjoy it there. So far, I haven't been in Continent, but my travel agent says I'll be going soon.
Always like it when an Anon copies something from one of my Web Searches and tries to pass it off as their clever crap.
Let's try again, for the cat lovers. SAM
Welcome, Google. I've heard a lot about you. How about going blue and hanging out with us? You could learn a lot here.
Jayce:
IMO Chimay Blue is one of the best beers in the world. Enjoy!
FYI - Last night I checked various weeks in Dec, Nov, Oct and all was okay - no warning. Just now checked a few weeks in Dec. and no warning. Clicked on November and got a Google Chrome warning. I have Macbook Air, using Chrome (obviously) no anti virus program.
On a happy note - if there are any classic car lovers out there and you are on FB - check out I Love Classic Cars. My '67 Firebird is being featured on their page. Very Cool!
Until tomorrow....
To you Chimay lovers; have you tried any of the Ommegang ales? I fancy the Rare Vos or the Hennepin.
They're brewed near Cooperstown.
Jayce, Chimay is a a fine choice ! Perfect for the big game. Or any other event or non-event. I agree with Windhover. The blue is the Grande Reserve. Worth every penny for sure.
Haven't been too active on the blog lately. Trying to solve a different puzzle that's like some of those West Virginia roads. The kind that wind like a snake on fire.
Hope everyone has a great evening !
Posted too soon. Spitzboov, yes ! We can get the Ommegang Ales here in Chicago. Abbey Ale is a favorite of mine.
hengaryI went out for lunch, a bike ride and coffee. I have lunch at a local Irish pub, Patrick Malloy's, and ordered a Margherita pizza. It seemed like an unlikely place for pizza but it was the best Margherita pizza I've ever had. The server was a bit much though. I've gotten used to them saying "No problem" instead of "You're welcome." But this girl said, "You got it" about 15 times. I'd like a Margherita pizza please; "You got it". Can I have a glass of ice water please? "You got it", etc. Is that typical serverese these days or is just a local thing?
Annie,
That is a very nice Firebird. Your son is lucky to have it available to him. And a convertible!!
Spitzboov, TTP, and others,
Yes, I have tried the Ommegang Ales. I like the Abbey Ale Dubbel (sp. ?), the Hennepin not so much, though it is the favorite of a friend of mine. She is planning a drive along the Erie Canal corridor this summer, and a brewery tour is on the agenda.
My (2nd) brew of the evening is the Moerlein Northern Liberties IPA. A very tasty and nicely hopped ale, and very reasonably priced. The first was a Two Hearted Ale from Bell's Brewery in Michigan, also an IPA.
The nightcap of course, will be Cherry Cordial ice cream.
As for puzzles, the Irish just got back from a 3 day work trip to the western burbs of Chicago, so I'm 5 days behind and will begin to catch up tomorrow evening.
Greetings!
Took a bit longer than usual Wed. puzzle, as I know very little about football (and almost anything I know I learned here)! Thanks anyway for interesting offering, K and J-M. Swell write-up, Steve!
(I had no problem with the clue from Sisters, especially after yesterday's blog.)
Favorite answer: RANCHER.
Cheers!
There are some nice old videos here of The Andrews Sisters.
Late to the party today. Puzzle itself was very easy, no nits, no writeovers. Why so late? Had to sign the papers this AM to unload (short sale) that albatross known as My Old House. Yeah, the house that we bought 13 yrs ago as our retirement investment, and watched as its value suddenly plummeted like a BASE jumper who mistakenly packed an anvil instead of a parachute. Now that thats out of the way, it is time to start saving again. I'm not whining, just glad to be out from under it.
On a different note, I dont care what song they play at my funeral, but it could go something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntx6VRcoVjs ngtige
Well, Rampy, that was a new one for me. Normally, I'd put in a direct link fot it but I think I'll make 'em work for it.
Sorry, Argyle, I dont know how to add a hyperlink. Maybe you...or someone could explain it???
It's in the Olio section, on the right side of the blog.
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