Theme: Now where did I hide that SOCIAL anagram I made for my circle?
Each of the four theme answers has an anagram for SOCIAL hidden in its words. Including the reveal, we have three grid spanning fill and two 9s for 63 letters in the theme. This is our third offering from JW, and my first time dissecting his work. This to me is a more traditional Friday with a lower word and block count, and some thought provoking fill, some new things and nice balance. On to the show.
17A. Sherlock Holmes forte : LOGICAL SOLUTION.(15) Deductive reasoning tells us something is hidden in the circles, right Watson.
22A. 1891 self-named electrical invention : TESLA COIL.(9) Here we notice the same letters are in the circles So, it is anagram time. Right Jerome? I am sure you all want to know How to BUILD ONE.
37A. "They're running neck and neck!" : THIS IS A CLOSE ONE.(15)
46A. Product introduced as Brad's Drink in 1893 : PEPSI COLA. (9)
The reveal:
57A. Advocates for change, and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters : SOCIAL REFORMERS.(15) like poor Tom and his Irish peers. The clue tells us we are literally re-forming the letters in SOCIAL.
Across:
1. Dragster, e.g. : FAST CAR. We start with something for Dennis, Barry G. and our other muscle car enthusiasts. CLIP.(10:17).
8. Crammed, perhaps : STUDIED. In college, it was the only type of studying I did, which often left me...
15. Without a clue : UNAWARE.
16. Having merit, as a theory : TENABLE. I seldom hear this word, but its antonym, untenable is very popular. Nice long fill.
19. Steve of the Lakers : NASH. They acquired him and Dwight Howard to challenge OKC but things have not gone well. STATS.
20. Involuntary movement : TIC. Too soon to link Chief Inspector Dreyfus again.
21. Find the right words, say : EDIT. Nice clue for an old stand by.
26. Lethargic : POKY.
29. Crew member : OAR. back in the prep school days the boys in crew were quite popular, and they were known by which oar they were, but this was tricky for me, even if only three letters.
30. Computer media : DISKS. Does anyone still have their old floppies? I am not referring to those suffering from low T.
34. Very long time : EON.
35. "Nonsense!" : BUNK. Short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. The usual story (by 1841) of its origin is this: At the close of the protracted Missouri statehood debates, supposedly on Feb. 25, 1820, N.C. Representative Felix Walker (1753-1828) began what promised to be a "long, dull, irrelevant speech," and he resisted calls to cut it short by saying he was bound to say something that could appear in the newspapers in the home district and prove he was on the job. "I shall not be speaking to the House," he confessed, "but to Buncombe." Bunkum has been American English slang for "nonsense" since 1841 (from 1838 as generic for "a U.S. Representative's home district"). (Stolen from someplace).
36. Golf course freebie : PENCIL. Do not see how it is free when you need to pay the fees to get the scorecard and pencil.
40. Show to be false : REFUTE. I wonder who futed it in the first place.
41. Checkpoint demand : HALT. Conjures up Berlin Wall imagery for me.
42. Dedicatory verse : ODE. Am I the only one who has OD'ED on this fill?
43. Handy : ADEPT.
44. Old-time whaler's harvest : OIL. Whale oil had many uses for years.
45. Bit of a disagreement : SPAT. You think it comes from people 'spitting' at each other?
50. TV doctor : PHIL. Not a fan; Oprah is not always right.
53. Market tracking aid: Abbr. : UPC.Universal Product Code.
54. ___ mater : ALMA. Latin for 'nourishing mother', though used now to signify a school attended.
62. High point of many a small town : STEEPLE. Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and here are the people? LINK.(0:35).
63. Like bumpers : CHROMED.
64. Bette Midler classic : THE ROSE. Sit back and LISTEN.(3:39).
65. Flirt's quality : COYNESS. How many of you dear ladies know the secret to being "artfully shy?" Certainly Lady Mary has not been coy.
Down:
1. Arm extension? : FUL. Armful, simple, I fingered it out easily.
2. Shortly : ANON. Shakespeare's characters were always saying they would be along, anon.
3. "The Lord of the Rings," for one : SAGA. More Tolkien press.
4. Full of surprises, as a plot : TWISTY. My meh of the day; I just cannot see anyone talking about a book or movie using this word.
5. Put away for later : CACHE. Do you keep your cash in a cache?
6. Constellation near Scorpius : ARA. Isn't it interesting we know all about Justin Timberlake, Selena Gomez, J Lo and the like but nothing about astronomy? I did not know THIS either.
7. Sikhism, e.g.: Abbr. : RELigion.
8. Dispassionate : STOIC. Dr. Brennan?
9. The Bell System was one, briefly : TELCO. They even have a WIKI page.
10. First Burmese prime minister : U NU. Luckily, the last time we had this man in puzzle was a Gareth Bain in November, which I blogged, so it filled easily this time.
11. Newsreel word : DATELINE. CED, I could not find a link that actually used the word, though I remember hearing it as a small child.
12. Footnote abbr. : IBID. In law citations we use ID the abbreviation of idem in stead of ibidem.
13. Simple race of fiction : ELOI. Yvette, we will never forget you.
14. Bad impression? : DENT. Cute clue.
18. Voter's dilemma, often : STARK CHOICE. Not familiar with this TERM. thinking only of rocks and hard places, or something decide by Ironman..
23. W.C. Fields persona : SOUSE.
24. Turner in films : LANA.
25. In other words, in other words : ID EST. I.E.
26. Ancient Jordanian archaeological city : PETRA. The name means rock in Greek, but it a ROSE CITY.
27. Expressed wonderment : OOHED. And afterwards, she aahed!
28. It's sharp and flat : KNIFE. Not musical notes, really cutting edge humor here.
31. Exclusive : SCOOP. With newspapers dying, we will the internet be where we see scoops.
32. In a way, slangily : KINDA.
33. Bad fall : SLEET. I had this from the perps, never would have gotten from the clue.
35. Henri : s'il vous plaît :: Heinrich : ___ : BITTE. "Please" in German. Does this multi-lingual clue please you?
36. Ristorante order : POLLO. Chicken in Italian, also in Spanish, so we have French, German, Italian and Spanish.
38. One delivering the goods : SUPPLIER. The drug world has given this word such bad connotations.
39. Secular : LAIC.
45. River leaper : SALMON. Sounds fishy to me.
47. Roots (for) : PULLS.
48. Splurge : SPREE. There is debate whether this word comes from an Irish word or a French one.
49. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" role : LARRY. Is it still a role when you play yourself? LEARN.(2:46).
50. Attention-getter : PSST.
51. Frigid planet in "The Empire Strikes Back" : HOTH. Recall this SCENE? (4:08)
52. Frozen treat : ICEE. I have already linked Sheldon twice for this clue, so today I will just say it rhymes with...
55. Cry from one eagerly raising a hand : ME ME. I have to pee pee.
56. Father of Phobos and Deimos : ARES. The Greek version of MARS.
58. Mil. mailroom : APO. Army Post Office. I wonder if they will give up Saturdays as well.
59. Radio frequency regulating org. : FCC. Federal Communications Commission
60. "So that's what's going on!" : O HO! Caught you!
61. Tom Hayden's '60s org. : SDS. Students for a Democratic Society. Their motto in 1968 was "Vote with Your Feet." He later became a Senator and married Jane Fonda.
I was always Fonda Jane, but now it is time for me to go, so enjoy your week end; stay safe if your facing a monster storm. I have squeezed all I can out this one. L714.
Notes from C.C.:
Jerry Bachmann is working on a word search tool at http://nullwords.com
in an attempt to "make a better mousetrap" by designing a site that
works well on mobile devices and that allows searches that are
compatible with some new games like Letterpress (which he plays a lot
of).
He would like to get
your feedback on the search features he's implemented so far and what
might be useful for crossword puzzle lovers.
98 comments:
Morning, all!
We are all hunkered down here awaiting what is being billed as an "historic" blizzard. Just a few flakes so far (present company excluded), but we could get upwards of two feet of snowfall and much higher drifts before all is done. As long as the power doesn't go out, we should be fine...
Tough puzzle today, but doable in the end. The NW corner was where I struggled the most, mostly because I had know idea who Steve NASH was (with N__H in place I was actually considering NOAH for some reason) and didn't want to let go of EPIC instead of SAGA. I also really wanted LOGICAL DEDUCTION at 17A, but when it didn't fit I began to doubt the LOGICAL part.
After getting everything else, I went back and threw down NASH as a (now) obvious guess, and that was all I needed to finish. Honestly, Steve NOAH? I don't know what I was thinking...
[sadditio]
Hi y'all, No circles on the web copy I was filling, so didn't even think about a theme--seemed obscure and unrelated. My brain is probably too POKY this A.M. with no sleep yet. Hard puzzle but enjoyable.
Lemon: Enjoyable commentary & links. You asked if we still have our old floppies. I do but I'm planning to invest in some new bras which should help.
Steve NASH is still my favorite basketball player, but the Lakers are a lost cause this year. They have great players who are all trying hard, but haven't jelled as a team and when they get on the verge of doing well, a key man gets injured.ou
STEEPLE link: Did this a million times to entertain my little brothers. Never heard the last half though.
Sikhism: Couldn't figure out what REL had to do with that. I thought it was more like martial arts.
STARK CHOICE: "lesser of two evils" didn't fit.
36D: We had a Mexican exchange student in our home one summer with the first name POLLOcarpo. Don't know what that translates to in Spanish, but he sang beautifully and was adorable.
So you are the Ferme impersonator!
Hunkered down here, too, in the soon-to-be-wintry mid-Hudson valley. Radio reports all schools are (already) closed. Why, when I was a kid . . .
Anyway, a typical Friday puzzle in that it initially looked like a DNF but, after some plugging away, it was fun to solve. I initially had STUFFED instead of STUDIED and LOGICALANALYSIS before SOLUTION so that slowed down the NE corner. [17:09]
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Loved the commentary more than the puzzle.. Definitely a Friday.
There were some fun clue, though.
I really liked High Point in Many Small Towns = STEEPLE.
It's Sharp and Flat had me thinking of something musical KNIFE was brilliant.
POKY makes me think of the Little Puppy.
Stay safe and warm, everyone, especially those in the Northeast.
QOD: I make up my opinions from facts and reasoning, and not to suit any body but myself. If people don’t like my opinions, it makes little difference as I don’t solicit their opinions or votes. ~ William Tecumseh Sherman, Union General and first president of LSU (Feb. 8, 1820 ~ Feb. 14, 1891)
The snow has started and I'm a-hunkering.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Weschler, for a swell Friday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the swell review.
Did this on my IPad on the waybto the airport. Finished it at Chicago Midway while waiting to leave.
I could notbsee the circles on my IPad, so I just had to tough it out.
This puzzle was about right for a Friday. A little tough, but doable.
Got TESLA COIL easily once I had a few letters to help.
The other themes were not bad. PEPSI COLA was kind of a wag, but worked. Maybe some day I will tell you all why I liked that one.
STARK CHOICE was slow in coming.
Had SOON for 2D for a while. Finally got FAST CAR and plugged in ANON for SOON.
Liked PENCIL for 36A. Very clever and very true.
They will be boarding my flight soon. On my way to Reston, VA.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Ahem/PSST -- it's Friday!
If there was a way to screw this one up, I managed to find it. I sorta/KINDA jumped around, then I'd wait/HALT until I finally reached the Aha/OHO moment. I count at least 10 incorrect synonyms that I entered and then had to scribble over. But it's Friday. That's what's supposed to happen.
Lemon and PK: Great floppy comments! I no longer have any floppy disks, but I do have a few Zip disks (but no ZIP drive). Not a lot of zip, either.
Hahtoolah, I loved that POKY puppy book when I was a wee lad, but today he was LOGY first.
DATELINE reminded me of Walter Winchell with his rapid-fire delivery.
And who can see PETRA without being reminded of Indiana Jones storming into town on horseback.
There's going to be a complete lack of snow around here today. Good thoughts for those of you in the storm's path. Stay warm.
I enjoyed this puzzle for the challenge, but I'm not sure the payoff in the theme made it worthwhile. But still, there were plenty of clever clues, so it was worthwhile.
Last cell was that P at poky and Petra. Had to do an alphabet run to get it, and still didn't like it. (Wanted DO's Logy at first).
For those of you in harms way, be aware that the storms haven't combined yet. NOAA Site When they do, it will really get interesting. Hope you can all stay safe.
I started this with a print out from the Chicago Trib. No circles. At the end of my normal Friday time I had a few remaining clues to answer, THIS IS A CLOSE ONE and STARK CHOICE among others. When I picked up the newspaper and saw the circles I finished up in just 2 more minutes.
I was 100% sure of BITTE but put it in 36D where I needed P for PENCIL. Finally I caught the error..
I liked sharp and flat =KNIFE and bad fall =SLEET, appropriate for today.
TWISTY was easy and okay by me, but twisted would be more common. I use and read TENABLE quite a lot.
PK, I have often used the finger STEEPLE with tots.
DO, DATELINE reminded me of Walter Winchell, too.
Link Dateline
Happy Friday Everybody!
Good puzzle - definately a Friday level for me. I had a few write overs and it took me longer than average to complete.
I liked:
- 21A: Find the right words, say: EDIT
- 14D: Bad impression? DENT (Stay off the roads in the NE today)
- 28D: It's sharp and flat: KNIFE (I figured that had to be a musical clue)
PK @ 6:10 am: Too funny about the Floppies.
We had our snowy/slush in Chicago and have sent it out to the NE. I hope you all stay safe and warm. It would be a good weekend to stock up on a stack of good books.
PS: Did I see Sheldon in blue jeans at the beginning of last's night's TBBT?
Hello Puzzlers -
Fast solve for a Friday. The only hiccup was Racecar at 1a until that got 'spicious. Love the grid spanners!
Flakes are flyin', I'm hunkered.
Cheers all
Thanks to Jeffrey Wechsler for a fun puzzle and to Lemonade for an always interesting and educational expo! Learning moment - ARA constellation and Starkchoice. Poky and Petra stumped me for a while, otherwise a pretty quick solve. A little cool and rainy this morning. Speaking of Pepsi Cola, last night I went to hear a former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, speak. He was a most charming and humble man. He was president of Coca Cola in Mexico before becoming President of Mexico. He was asked for the secret formula of Coke, said he really didn't know, but thought it was because Mexican Coke contains coca from Brazil (before it is processed to become cocaine.) then he was asked how Mexico can contain and solve it's drug problem, and his short answer was"Stop the consumption of drugs in the USA!) Of course there was more but this was a very interesting perspective. Happy Friday to all!
Hope those in the NE stay safe.
KINDA dislike puzzles with "circles" especially when the "anagrams" don't spell out other things.
My obvious fave today; 23-A, W.C.Fields persona, SOUSE. (Mine too!)
Broken clock indicates it's time to say ...
Cheers !!!
Good morning everyone,
After the initial glance at Jeff's "beauty", I was sure a DNF coming. Surprisingly, solving one clue here, another there, it began to look like success might be achievable.... and it was.
I did not have the benefit of circles, but didn't need them in the end. I picked up on the theme when I solved SOCIAL REFORMERS. I started with Logy at 26A, but reluctantly went with POKY. Knew it was OK once KNIFE appeared. Had been thinking G Note.
Favorite clue was 21A. Find the right words. say/EDIT.
All in all, this turned out not as tough as it originally seemed to be. An enjoyable solve.
I sure hope I'm "talking" to you folks tomorrow because that will mean we have power. Snow has started and with any luck, it will be gone at this time tomorrow. BE safe, where ever you are.
Forgot to mention one clue I did not like or understand. ...18D STARK CHOICE. Just don't get it.
Re: STARK CHOICE
Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like much of a dilemma. Choosing between two equally good things (e.g. ice cream and candy) might be a dilemma but a stark choice (e.g. good and evil), not so much.
Good morning:
Found this to be a fearsome FRIDAY offering. Petra/poky was my Natick. Also, had race car before fast car and repute before refute. Nice job, Jeff, and nice expo, Lemony.
My chirping continues but my brother is supposed to drop by later to change the batteries, if he remembers! He was supposed to pick me up for a party once and got all the way to the restaurant before he remembered. I don't mind being snowbound but I'm all-chirped out!
The snow has started but I think the real heavy stuff is coming later in the day. Stay safe and warm, everyone.
Happy Friday.
I had a terrible time with this today! Second time in as many days that we have seen Tesla--my son just took delivery of his!
DILEMMA: Free Online Dictionary:
1. A situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive.
2. Usage Problem A problem that seems to defy a satisfactory solution.
3. Logic An argument that presents two alternatives, each of which has the same consequence.
If you Google STARK CHOICE you will find many references to its use like the one Lemony cited today.
STARK can mean harsh or grim, hard to accept, so a STARK CHOICE is an extremely difficult choice. It seems too many elections offer us a choice between two undesirables. We are caught between a rock and a hard place, or as we used to say between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Our snow started early this AM but the roads are well salted and the temp. is 34 degrees. We just returned from the gym. No problem.
Heavy snow is forecast for 4PM and blizzard at 9PM.
Happy Friday, everyone! A tetrahedron yesterday, circles today – maybe a parallelogram next week to continue the geometry theme? Nice challenging Friday-level puzzle, Jeff. Got the anagram theme, but had to wait for the reveal to figure out what word was being scrambled. Favorite theme fill was THIS IS A CLOSE ONE. Thanks for a swell write-up, Lemonade, especially the Bette Midler link – she is one talented lady. And your “floppies” remark made me chuckle.
Bad Impression = DENT was a fun clue. Like Dudley, I had RACE CAR before FAST CAR, which muddied up the NW for a while. Considered PASTA at 36D, but the perps preferred to order POLLO. Just couldn’t find a way to work in DEDUCTION at 17A. Love the old B&W Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
Hope all in the storm’s path stay safe and warm. Have a great weekend!
H All ~~
This was a really challenging Friday for me. I had a few write-overs that really held things up. Logy before POKY and Visa, then Pass before HALT had me stumped in those areas for quite a while. It was finally getting REFUTE that opened up one area and then BUNK gave me the other. I looked at STARK CHOICE for some time but decided since it fit, it must be right. Oh - and before POLLO, I had Pasta, then Pesto. Sheesh! ( ala Jayce) :-)
When all was finished, I then set about trying to figure out the theme. I made it SO much harder than it actually was! I had all the circled letters written out in a line and tried to make some kind of "Classic Cola" vs regular cola SOCIAL REFORM out of it. (Remember that advertising debate?) Wow. I'll blame the blizzard. Yeah, that's it.
Thanks for explaining the theme, Lemonade, and for all the other good info and links in your write-up.
Gonna go and KINDA rest my brain.
Like Hondo, I hope the snow and winds don't bring down the wires - hope to be here tomorrow!
Thanks Jeffrey for a great Friday puzzle. Thought provoking but doable (with a little help from Google). Thanks Lemonade for a super write up - always enjoy your explanations and comments. Great racing video.
1A - Had RACECAR first - CAR worked but had to take out RACE - FAST came thru eventually
16A - Don’t know how I picked up TENABLE, but with a few letters - there it was.
26A - Had LAZY, SLOW, FOGY - took me a while to find POKY
29A - Had MAN at first, well gee the A worked lol.
36A - The golf course freebie took me a while til i got some perps.
37A - I had .....A CLOSE ONE Took me a bit to come up with the beginning of it.
The Mid West seemed to be my stumbling block today.
63A - Got CHROMED right away.
50A - Wanted AHEM at first, but nothing worked with that so took it out. PSST was my 2nd choice
1D - Didn’t get it til I had 1A
18D - Didn’t get STARKCHOICE until all perps were filled.
Didn’t know ARES - perps helped with that one.
A few look-ups - Constellation near Scorpius, Burmese Prime Minister, Tom Hayden’s org., but with Googles help, I did finish. Got the theme, but after everything was filled in. Didn’t even look for it before that.
Happy Friday everyone and to all of you in storm's path - stay safe.
Bill G. - Saw your comment about Pandora. My son has tried to get me into that, but I prefer Grooveshark. Not a radio station, but you can choose artists or albums to listen to, then save playlists to listen to at a later time. I do listen to the radio via iTunes.
Pretty easy for a Friday IMO.
Loved the sharp and flat KNIFE.
No clue about Brad's Drink. Abejo, what's the story?
Relieved to see the weekend at hand for those of you in the wintry climes.
Here in California we have a hot pursuit to contend with and hope to bring it to a close without further bloodshed.
Cheers...
Morning all,
A DNF for me. I won't list all the words I didn't know.
The best part of the morning has been reading your expo, Lemonade, explaining all the clues to us. Can't see ARA from MT. We're too far north. Loved your link to "The Rose." Thanks.
My Hawaii grandkids live one block from a shopette that sells ICEEs for .99 (no tax on military bases). They like getting a dollar in a random greeting card with a note to go buy an Icee.
Abejo, I use my iPad and I DO get the circles. I get the puzzle using Across Lite app.
Sidenote: I wanted to see the puzzle as I read all the posts, so looked it up on my iPod Touch. Corner there still defaults to Mobile View and has the option to switch to Web View at the bottom of all the posts of the day.
CT son only has to work for the morning and then can head home. One of the reasons he never wanted to stay in MT was to get away from the snowstorms!
Everyone in storm paths, stay safe,
Montana
Hi gang -
This was looking like a DNF, but finally made it through, bottom up, this time. FAST CAR / FUL was last to fall.
There are a few pickable nits.
Ordinarily I'm cold to anagram themes, but this one was actually helpful, and the theme fill is great.
We got about 5" of snow over night. It's moved on to east now, where it will wreak much more havoc.
Stay safe, everyone.
Cool regards!
JzB
Fast Car
Good song, terrible video. But it has the lyrics so you can follow the story and ignore the photo they call a video.
Greetings and salutations, my friends. Thank you, Lemonade, for treating us to your usual erudition and wit.
Ay, caramba! At first I thought this would be unTENABLE and impossible to finish. But I flitted around here and there, finally slid to the bottom and luckily knew THE ROSE, PHIL and PSST which led me to fill the entire south.
Seeing SOCIAL REFORMER gave me the theme and it definitely helped although the mid-west gave me fits as I fell into the misdirection trap with A NOTE at 28D and at 40A BETRAY. When I saw the error of my ways, erased the whole thing and PETRA provided the key to finish.
Very satisfying to complete this as I even recalled BITTE.
Bad fall, SLEET was brilliant.
Thank you, Jeffrey W. for making me think hard and probe into my brain.
Stay warm and safe all you in the storm's path, sil vous plait.
Have a tremendous Friday, everyone!
Good morning everyone.
I guess I have never cared for anagram in circle puzzles, so I solved this as if the circles didn't exist. Ultimately got it done without any lookups. Had racecar before FASTCAR. Hard to get footholds, but finally got PETRA, STOIC, and SALMON and the fill bloomed out from those nuclei. NW was last to fall. Had Leo before ARA. Guessed at NASH and PEPSI COLA.
APO - Navy post offices are called FPO's. F for Fleet.
Right now we're in the calm before the storm. Stay warm.
.
Definite Friday fill and a fun theme with nonsense words in the circles that helped anyway! I did the puzzle while the Algebra III kids were taking a quiz over radicals - math not the SDS.
Musings
-Every bad sci-fi movie had a TESLA COIL throwing sparks everywhere.
-We bought Joann a nifty iPad2 last night and the clerk was UNAWARE of his industrial strength bad breath and arrogant (Sheldon like) manner. Joann had to walk away for a while.
-NASH and the Lakers are the victims of advanced age and bad chemistry
-There is no place to put my floppies! To update to Mt. Lion, Apple had to send me the actual disk.
-Yeah right. Pay your $50 green fee and you get a “free” pencil ;-)
-When whale OIL couldn’t meet demand, John D. Rockefeller, et al found this black liquid in the ground
-Sometimes it’s better not to REFUTE something even though you are right!
-You spot many a small town around here by seeing a STEEPLE (or grain elevator) from afar
-American Restoration works wonders with reCHROM(E)ing
-DATELINE, Fremont, NE. I haven’t heard this word for a gazillion years.
-Sharp and flat? Cool!
-The very best movie about trying to get a SCOOP was this one
-More kids here thirsting for Law Of Sines. Read ‘ya later!
PK@6:10AM
LOL over your floppies remark! Too true.
Re: POLLOcarpo. I wonder if it was meant to be POLICARPIO for Polycarp and the spelling was unfamiliar. Hispanics are known to give their children classical or biblical names such as Horacio, Plutarco (I know someone by that name) or Baltasar to name a few.
I actually like puzzles with circles in them, although one scan of this one made me blanch. But in the end, WLS (what Lucina said), by working slowly and steadily it gradually all came into place. I happily got the resolve early, so that helped a lot with the circles. So many thanks, Jeff, for a fun experience.
Lemonade, fascinating BUNKUM story.
JilldinCA, liked hearing your account of the President of Mexico speech.
PK--floppies made me crack up.
Irish Miss, wishing you a chirpless Friday.
Have a great and safe day, everybody!
Montana, Haltoola & Dudley
I'm doing some tests. How does your iPad look now? Still Web?
No circles in the online solving but I got the theme eventually!
Some Canadian references today - Steve NASH, Alexander Graham BELL!
Liked ARMFUL, SLEET, KNIFE clues.
Getting tired of ODE and we have had TESLA often lately.
I wanted STUFFED for CRAMMED and I don't think of OAR as a person.
STARK CHOICE was also a stretch.
Snow coming down here all last night and this morning. Hunkered down!
Major Friday workout on this one. First pass resulted in a lot of blanks. I wanted raceCAR for 1A. I was UNAWARE that my word TESTABLE didnt actually fit where TENABLE should go. Knew Steve NASH, because he played here in Phoenix. I knew Brads Drink would be either PEPSICOLA or COCACOLA- oh, wait. Dr Pepper is older than both, I think. And what about Royal Crown Cola? After putting just the COLA in, I saw that we had the anagram for SOCIAL, and decided on PEPSI.
Excellent, funny write-up by L714. No snow in PHX today, but a possibility of rain. I hope nobody has any major problems due to the storm!
GRR..stupid captcha
C.C.: I have the normal web version on my iPad.
Hahtoolah,
Thanks for the quick feedback. Now I'm eager to see what Montana has to say about her iPod Touch. I don't own any of those gadgets to test myself.
Husker: Your "trying to get a SCOOP" movie was off my radar. You jogged my memory of a movie with Irwin Fletcher trying to get a scoop for his Los Angeles newspaper: Moon River
Montana,
I meant "Still Mobile View" as default?
33D, Bad fall, is a bad clue.
Pinto, not only was His Girl Friday a fabulous movie but Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau did this remake of it under a different name in 1974 where Lemmon took the Rosalind Russell role of “Hildy” and Matthau was a decidedly less suave Walter Burns. Both movies are personal favorites and worth seeking out. The latter version seems to be available on YouTube in parts. Here is Part 1. See whatcha think!
Funny! Husker's link was broken, so Pinto posted a different link. Also broken. But then Husker's started working. Link on, you guys.
Or is than Lincoln?
Links are not broken. Youtube was down for about 5mins. Relax.
Husker: I will watch your movie later. Never met a Lemmon/Matthau movie I didn't enjoy.
CC, sorry I am slow to answer.
We had a power outage this morning, and even though only for 15 minutes, it was quite awhile before Internet was available again.
Both iPad and iPod Touch now default with the Web Version (that's the best one, I think).
No choice to go back to Mobile Version on the iPod Touch.
Hope this helps,
Montana
There are not too many times during the year that we get one of these, but a total speed run for a Friday. One of the easiest Fridays in quite a long time.
Hello fellow puzzlers!
I finally caught up on the mountain of paperwork waiting on my desk when I returned home yesterday. Ugh, TGIF!!
PK, you cracked me pup with your "floppy" comment! Lemony, loved yours, too - although I have no experience in that area...
I really enjoyed this anagram puzzle, even though I had very few fills on the first pass. Eventually got it done, and enjoyed all the same clues that have already been mentioned.
So instead of commenting with a bunch of BUNK, I'll link some origami instructions for making a TWISTY rose, instead.
Pretty time-consuming Friday. Took a while to get rid of raceCAR. Wish that we had warning about circles on line so that we could switch to cruciverb! Interesting offering, Jeffrey; great write-up, Lemon!
PK: Big chortle! (Thx again for Sunday, too. Do you understand the remark at 6:18 today?)
Have a good weekend! Best of luck to those who must struggle through the SLEET. (Had to think through entire alphabet!)
Too cute for me.
Thanks for the explanation, Lemon.
Stay safe everyone!
Bill G, You'd asked about music services. The only one I really use is Pandora, and you're already familiar with that. But....seeing how impressed you were with Eva Cassidy when I brought her up, you have to check out Sandy Denny. I've got her as one of my Pandora "stations" and listen to it often. Here's a sample: Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Montana,
Thanks. I disabled the blog Mobile Template earlier.
Just for amusement purposes, I asked the 12 teachers who were discussing TV viewing habits at lunch if anyone watched Downton Abbey? Zip, zero, nada, nil, none. OMG, they don’t even know that (noun) is (participle) (noun)!
It's getting late in my sub day and this is when I remember why 42 years were enough.
It's a rainy Friday here. For a few minutes, it was coming down so hard I thought it might be hailing.
No circles on the Chicago Tribune website so it just seemed like a Saturday puzzle. The theme wasn't apparent and when I finally read the explanation, it still didn't do much for me.
I agreed with Avg Joe's comment about the theme. And thanks for the link to Sandy Denny. I had never heard of her, much like I had never heard of Eva Cassidy before somebody here turned me on to her.
Gary, have you ever tried to teach the Law of Sines Ambiguous Case? I understand it but I find it hard to explain clearly.
Somebody sent me this link to a video of the departing commander of the ISS with a guided tour in high definition. I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to show it to Jordan. Tour of the ISS.
CC since you disabled mobile template now on Android phone what comes up is web version which is very hard to see.
Thanks, Misty @ 11:37, I am finally chirp-less, but it wasn't easy. My brother came around noon, put in 4 new batteries, and, lo and behold, the chirps continued. The frustrating part was we couldn't pinpoint where the chirps were coming from. He finally had to leave, chirps or no chirps. (I am beginning to dislike that word as much as the sound.)
Ironically, I went down to the basement, which I rarely do, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A smoke alarm, chirping away! I have lived here 9 years and never knew there was a smoke alarm in my basement. (There could be a family of alligators down there, for all I know!)
My nephew stopped on his way home from work and put in a new battery. The one he removed had an exp. date of 2010. I have no idea who put it in there in the first place. Maybe I have ghosts AND alligators. Finally, peace and quiet, thank goodness.
Anonymous @3:20pm,
Sorry. Enabled now.
Fermatprime: Glad to "see" you. No I did not understand the Anon at 6:18 a.m. If "it" meant that PK was the Ferme impersonator, "it" couldn't be more wrong.
I got a rather insulting email the other midnight from my most mild mannered brother with only a URL address on it. KINDA like the shoe seller we've had on the blog only for weight-loss products. I let him know I didn't appreciate it.
He says a spam he opened by mistake pirated his entire email list and sent them all this weight-loss blurb. His wife & kids, who got them, are all preying-mantis thin so they sure don't need it. (I do.) He apologized for it upsetting me. Okay!
From TV reports, sounds like a whole lot of this KINDA stuff going on. I checked with my girls to see if my email list had been sucked out by bro's spam. Not so far. Goody goody!
Hola Everyone, A real DNF for me. But oddly enough some of the more obscure clues like bad fall for sleet I had in immediately. Also, Logical Solution for Holmes forte, gave me the letters for the theme answers. I also had the unifier for the word Social.
Anagrams are something which elude me, so I'm usually way off. The problem today was in the short answers such as stash for cache and lazy for poky. Oh well, I always learn a lot when I try a challenging puzzle.
My husband is home with a cold today. I hoped he wouldn't get mine, but he did. Our weekend will be at home I'm thinking.
Our grandson had a web-cam pointing down the street toward Boston--He's in Cambridge and there is a LOT of snow coming down and fast! He was to have flown out of Boston this morning, but I'm guessing he didn't make it!
Have a great weekend everyone.
Lucina, thanks for the input on Policarpo. That probably was the spelling, but it's been 30 years. I can't remember whether I ever saw it written. His letters just had Pollo signatures. He was such a cute little modern Mayan from Yucatan.
Here it is sunny and warm enough I've had the doors and windows open. I can certainly keep my fingers crossed for all our eastern blog friends. May the ghost of TESSLA keep you electrified and warm! We've invoked his name enough lately, he should be good for something.
As for the puzzle, at one point I tried "a NASCAR".
Who knew U NU? Not I. Tried to cram in U Tant.
I too loved the basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce movies, many of which I won. I did get used to Jeremy Brett, but he died too soon, and while Johnny Lee Miller is a bit irritating Lucy Liu brings at least two new dimensions to the part of Watson/
As I said we had U NU in November and my poky the little puppy link disappeared.
If you look at my first post today and click on the link, you'll see that the two lows in the Northeast are about to merge. Your weather is about to get decidedly worse. Hope you all get through it safely.
BillG, if you look at my most recent post you will see who turned you onto Eva Cassidy. CRS acting up again?
PK, I've had the same email problem with one of my brothers....twice. They were clueless about it until I notified them, but they did get it fixed. Stuff happens, but it's always a good policy to let someone you know that something odd has happened cuz they might not be aware of the problem.
BillG: Great video of the ISS. Amazing stuff. Was surprised she had the dead tree editions for her reading material. Seems awfully bulky to take up limited space on the ride to/from earth. I would elect to put my books on an e-reader and use the remaining space to transport some beer or wine.
Yellowrocks, We listenend to Walter Winchell every night on the radio. My father didn't allow anyone to talk while he was listening to the Winchell news. My how that dates me!
AWOL, We here in Northern CA are watching your manhunt very closely. I'm hoping they will catch this fellow soon, but he has army taught and police taught survival and gun skills that might keep him hidden for a while. Not a good situation.
JillD, Your speech by the Former President of Mexico sounded very interesting. Where was it held?
Eva Cassidy has been linked on this blog several times before, going all the way back to 2008. I think it was Argyle, MelissaB and ClearAyes who first introduced us to her.
Sandy Denny, another voice stilled far to early.
bread and milk
seriously though, be safe!
as dennis once said: isn't the power of mother nature awe inspiring?
Pandora shares data with advertisers. It's so bad that it's been written up for its privacy violations. That's the reason I stopped using it. No matter what anyone tells your... nothing on the internet is free, it all comes at a cost. I don't have a Pandora account and don't plan on having one anytime soon.
Read below to further your understanding:
http://www.informationweek.com/security/mobile/pandora-transmits-mass-quantities-of-per/229401147
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/04/pandora-transmits-gps-gender-birthdate-other-data-to-ad-servers/
FYI: Last night about 11 PM I used my iPhone to read this blog and to my surprise it was in web view, not in the mobile view I had grown used to.
Avg Joe, right you are. That's what comes from skim reading. I got the gist of what you said but missed the part when you said "When I brought her up..."
I came across an hour-long special on Victor Borge and recorded it. I've probably seen all of those bits more than twice but they still make me smile.
I see on MSNBC where Tim Lincecum has showed up in spring training with a normal-looking haircut. Thank goodness!
I felt pretty much like Hahtoolah did about the puzzle today. I do very much like the black and white pattern of the grid today. But as soon as I opened the newspaper page and saw the circles, I thought, "Oh crap, circles."
Sheesh :)
Sharp and flat didn't fool me, but I kept wanting razor or blade before finally realizing it was KNIFE.
REL elicited a big meh from me.
Tesla is my hero.
Best wishes to you all.
Bill, I really enjoy Victor Borge. Especially the punctuation bit. Link
Another memory from my ute is Orson Bean doing a bit on eating popcorn....but I can't find a UTube link in short order. Might be a job for CED.
I'm in the midst of making sympathy soup. It's nice enough here that it's not a required menu, but with the storm approaching New England, I feel it's gotta be done. Does anyone in the Wisconsin or Minnesota contingent have any good ideas for chicken, wild rice (wood parched), basmati rice and mushrooms?
Finding Nemo
Do you see him?
Ave. Joe and Bill, I'm a Victor Borge fan, too. The punctuation bit is hilarious.
Whenever I get an email with only a blue URL I know it is bogus and immediately delete it. Last week I got a few supposedly from people who have not eamiled me in years. I also got some from my son. All fake. Anyone who actaully wants to correspond with me would add a message and sign his name, especially my son.
ISS your link is a beautiful satellite pic of the storm coming up.
I do wish you would include alittle more comment about what you are trying to show, we are all a little bit skittish here.
Y-R, good point. Gotta watch those emails. Have a sympathetic ear and a skeptical mind. Well, maybe that's a bit extreme.
I got one from a buddy. Said he was stranded in Spain with his wife and son. They stole his cell phone and laptop. The hotel and embassy couldn't help. But if I could send $2K, they could make it back. And then a link.
His was signed by his full first name (Alphonse), which comes across in the email, but he always signs Al. I called him and let him know.
Rhetorically I ask, "Where are Mike Seidel and Jim Cantore ?"
Great puzzle today, and a superb write up !
Started the puzzle early, and completed during lunch. I think the break helped. What looked hopeless early (the middle third) was completed in 15 minutes at lunch.
You all are so entertaining ! Great early quip today PK. Lightened my entire afternoon.
C. C. - Just getting back to the blog after a day of snow prep.
I see from your 3:25 post that the mobile option was re-enabled. Either way, upon re-entering the blog I got directly to the web version, no options, on the iPad.
The wind and snowfall are getting more serious around here. The Governor ordered all traffic off the roads, statewide, at 4:00. We did all the reasonable prep stuff, but now it's time for wine and a movie.
Just saw on the CBS evening news where the email account of the daughter of Bush the elder was hacked. "An outrageous breach of privacy". The secret service is investigating.
Oh yea, and as Marti said earlier, "TGIF!!!"
I think the theme SOCIAL REFORMERS, only indicated that the word SOCIAL was jumbled up.
The letters in the circles were NOT anagrams.
ANAGRAM Definition
Noun
A word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as CINEMA, formed from ICEMAN.
As such, the first set of letters in the circles at 17-A, ICALSO are NOT an anagram.
Same with 22-A, SLACOI
37-A, ISACLO
46-A, SICOLA
None of these are anagrams, just sayin'.
SREECH !!! (Not really an anagram of CHEERS !!!)
Danke for BITTE.
I'm not impressed with anagrams which mean nothing.
U NU not really a Prime Minister.
Finished, with my usual Fri. Googling.
Also love TESLA and have a computer file devoted to him.
Snow expected to be mild in Mohawk Valley, though wind of the incoming front was pretty strong.
For internet thieves the thing to do is have a bunch of family questions, about pets, ancestors, grammar, sayings, movie or anything else that is in-group. Prove you are not a thief.
Check out Pepsi Italian Style on Youtube.
Sfingi, if you meant this:
Pepsi Italian Style
You're right, great commercial.
(Thanks for reminding me.)
Cheers !
Good point, Tinman. The theme was more "scrambled letters" than a true anagram.
more like reformed
Evening Everyone,
Funny, I had no problems with this one even without the circles. Like someone here said, either you know it or you don't!
Heard we were going to a dusting of snow around here so I spent a few hours making sure the generator was in working order and the snow thrower was ready to go. Then my DW came in to tell me that dinner was ready and that she had already loaded the wood bins for both stoves for the night. Gee.... I think I'll keep her! :-)
Oops! was that too personal??
Love is never too personal, Manac 7:41, and that sort of wonderful support is what love is all about. My husband did all the shopping, cooked most of the meals, brought me coffee in bed every morning before his stroke in 2008. That's why I'm utterly totally devoted to him. The story about you and your wife getting ready for the snow is wonderful!
What famous song was covered (among many others) by Joni James in 1963? Rolling Stone ranked the song #213 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. (Can you guess it without Googling?)
Wild Thing?
In re what Y-R and TTP said: If YOU were stranded somewhere with a stolen phone & laptop, wouldn't you find a TELEPHONE and make a call? Would you send an EMAIL??? With a link???? Good idea to just delete all that stuff. Also, I get emails with just a link. When I look at who else it was mailed to. I usuually see my addy, followed by a bunch of addys that do not belong to anyone I know. Instant DELETE.
While on my soapbox, you should watch for scams when selling anything online. Anyone who replies stating they will buy your "item", sight unseen, for full price, without asking for any details, is probably trying to scam you.
Hope all of you weather the storm safely!!
Tinman, I agree this was not actually an anagram. The letters were just scrambled. But it was fun.
We had 4 inches of snow by 6 PM. Everything was plowed and shoveled out. There has been only 1 inch since then with little wind. No blizzard here so far. I sympathize with those in NY state and New England.
Approaching midnight in MA, the wind is howling with gusts well into gale force. Definitely blizzard conditions. At least the snow is dry powder. Accumulation rate is slower than I expected - it's still less than a foot. Let's see how it looks in the morning.
G'Night All
Something I read today:
After being married for 50 years, I took a careful look at my wife one day and said, "Fifty years ago we had a cheap house, a junk car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10-inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep with a hot 23-year-old girl every night.
Now, I have a $500,000 home, a $45,000 car, a nice big bed and a large screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 69-year-old woman. It seems to me that you're not holding up your side of things."
My wife is a very reasonable woman. She told me to go out and find a hot 23-year-old girl and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap house, driving a junk car, sleeping on a sofa bed and watching a 10-inch black and white TV.
Trivia answer?
My RS#213 was 96 Tears, so what do I know?
YR,
We got about 14" now and things are just starting to pick up. Will try to upload some pics of the aftermath tomorrow.
Misty, You do have a way with words.
She surprised the heck out of me because that is my usual job and was next on my to do list.
Rampy,
Done my share of dealing's on CL and
can usually tell a scam right off the bat. It is always best.. Face to face and CASH only. The scammers can make a fake cashier's check look so good a bank won't know it until days later.
Bill G (10:46)
Math is a little shaky, but the story is a keeper.
Didn't care for today's puzzle at all. Who in the world says OHO (60) instead of AHA? Seriously.
Oops, sorry! I was off by 10 in the year. It was 1953, the song was "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams and covered by Joni James and many others. Wiki said it was 213 but the Rolling Stone list I found said 217. Anon (11:09), right you are. Wiki and the RS list don't agree. Great song in any case. Hank Williams is one of my musical idols.
Yes you all were correct it was jumbled or scrambles not anagrams. Sorry.
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