Words: 70
Blocks: 26
Perseverance paid off on this Saturday strangler from SLY Mr. Silk (42D.).
I can't recall a grid with this much white in all my blogging. The
word that broke it open for me was RIVERBOAT, and I did fill in the
whole puzzle, but did not get a *Ta-Da~!* because of two letters in crossing names....what can you do; and Oh, the deceptiveness~!!!
One full climber:
8. Key visibility aid? : DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT - Francis Scott KEY, that is, and his anthem written from a boat in Baltimore harbor, during the attack on Ft. McHenry in the War of 1812; "O, Say Can You See/By The ...."
And some other fill of note:
17. London landmark : CLOCK TOWER
- ran down the list of attractions along the Thames; Big Ben,
Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge,
Westminster Abbey, etc....ARGH~! just the plain ol' description of
Elizabeth Tower, as it is now called, with the bell inside named "Ben".
32. "Surfin' U.S.A." locale : WAIMEA BAY - with it's letter that got me, and a musical link for all to enjoy - the location mentioned at 1:36, and spelled wrong
61. Lying often involves them : MATTRESSES - HAR-HAR~!!! Very cute; do I want to link this one, this one, or this one?
ONWARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Insufficient funds notification : POSTAGE DUE - such complication to start
11. Small step : A TO B
15. Deal with, in a way, as trash : INCINERATE
16. Appropriate : TAKE
18. VIII squared : LXIV - Roman numerals; 8² = 64
19. London's __ Gardens : KEW - oh, OK, forgot this one
20. Gps. with similar goals : ASSNs
21. "Liberty Tree" writer : PAINE
22. Like a fantasy land? : LA-LA - land
24. Wanna-__ : BEs
25. Nextel Cup org. : NASCAR
26. How some estates are divided : EVENLY
28. Chemical compound : -ENOL
30. Hole maker : AWL
31. Grassy plant : SEDGE
34. Spot for a casino : RIVERBOAT
- with only half the fill from perps, this came to me; maybe because we
have something similar here on Long Island - there's a gambling boat
that sails out 12miles from Freeport.
36. Elite military group : NAVY SEALS
39. Springs : LEAPS
43. Vehicle used by srs. : IRA - Financial vehicle, that is; GOLF CART didn't fit
44. Hard to watch : UGLY
45. Weather Channel storm reporter Mike : SEIDEL - the "other" letter that got me
46. Iberian title : SENORA
48. Victor at Chancellorsville : LEE - a WAG
50. Thatcher, notably : TORY - more London, so to speak, England's P.M. Margaret and her political party
51. Brown : SAUTE - not this Brown
52. Swipe : FILCH - not STEAL
54. "Delta of Venus" author : NIN
55. One of an educational trio : AMAT - More Roman, uh, Latin - Amo, Amas, Amat
56. Era that spawned the information superhighway : DIGITAL AGE - because INTERNET didn't fit
58. "Six Feet Under" brother : NATE - all perps, don't watch the show
59. Basis for some social networks : SCHOOL TIES - I don't do Facebook
60. Boot accessory : SPUR
DOWN:
1. Jams : PICKLES - Ugh - I had BACKS UP, which worked with "KEW", then it was BACK UPS, and then I had to let it go
2. Not working : ON LEAVE
3. Showed displeasure : SCOWLED
4. Poker table tell, maybe : TIC
5. Singer with the album "Classic Songs, My Way" : ANKA
6. Manages : GETS BY
7. Like some shorelines : EROSE
9. Chief Ouray's tribesmen : UTES
10. Market closing? : EER - MartketEER
11. Road __ : ATLAS - and, 37D. 11-Down feature : AREA MAP
12. Hotel waiter : TAXICAB - More deception; you will usually see one waitING at the hotel
13. Site of WWII's last major battle : OKINAWA
14. Massachusetts city for which a California one is named : BEVERLY
21. Draft choice : PALE ALE - PILSNER fit, too
23. Ticked : ANGRY
25. Only Japanese MLB player to pitch a no-hitter (he had two) : NOMO - C.C. got this one, I am sure; I had "K", then "L"
27. Retiree's goal, often : LEISURE - this true, Dennis~?
29. Writing points : NIBS
32. Good fortune : WEAL - new word for me
33. Took the loss : ATE IT
35. Chevy named for a star : VEGA
36. Quests, e.g. : NISSANS - ARGH~! The minivan called the Quest
38. 2004 "Survivor" island : VANUATU - I knew my "U" in SPUR was valid, so when I saw this clue, I felt better about it being at the end of the word
40. Shelley's elegy to Keats : ADONAIS - the Wiki, for those interested
41. Orbital extreme : PERIGEE - it's the extreme of being as close as possible
42. Artful quality : SLYNESS - me thinks of the "Artful Dodger" of Oliver Twist
45. Pie chart division : SECTOR - eh, I wanted WEDGES, tho it doesn't agree with the clue's singularity
47. Web-footed swimmer : OTTER
49. "Ash Wednesday" poet : ELIOT
52. PR tax with a Medicare component : FICA - the Pay Roll deduction of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act - more WIki
53. Sound : HALE
56. Mil. award : DSM - from doing crosswords, I can remember the MBE, but not the Distinguished Service Medal
57. OCS grads, usually : LTs - all perps; Officer Candidate School, and the rank of Lieutenant(s)
Personally, I don't mind if Phil ( and I don't mean Mickelson ) sees his shadow; I prefer the winter~!!!
Splynter
64 comments:
Morning, all!
Well, I almost got through this one unscathed, but close is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades as my daddy used to say...
First fatal mistake was at the crossing of NATE and VANUATU. Never watched "Six Feet Under" and only vaguely heard of the island from the "Survivor" commercials. As a result, I went with VANUANU. Yes, that gave me NANE, which made no sense whatsoever...
Second fatal mistake was the crossing of WAIMEABAY with WEAL. Surprisingly, I actually got NOMO after having the name beat into my brain from past puzzles. Just couldn't come up with WEAL, however. I actually went with DEAL, thinking that a good DEAL is something you'd be fortunate to get. And DAIEABAY didn't look any worse than any other letter I could stick in there.
The rest of the puzzle was fun with lots of pleasant misdirections, but I really hated CLOCK TOWER at 17A. What's next, "New York landmark" used to clue SKYSCRAPER?
Hello Puzzlers -
WBS. All the way.
Hello, Saturday soldiers! We who have DNF'ed salute you. Splynter, we must have been on the same wavelength -- I missed the same two letters as you. I wound up with WAILEA BAY and SEIPEL (used to work with a guy with that last name). Rats!
I did scrape WEAL off the inside of my skull. I remembered something about the "public weal" meaning good. But I made several other evolutionary errors that eventually fixed themselves: FROWNED/GROWLED/SCOWLED, NOVA/VEGA, ENS/LTS (I think graduates of Navy OCS come out as ENS. I was color-blind, so I didn't get to go.)
Those of you still in the workforce will notice your paychecks getting smaller next month when employee FICA returns to 6.2%.
Have a great Saturday!
Well, what started out looking pretty UGLY (pretty ugly?) ended up being fun. I had NOVA before VEGA (even though I actually owned two of those much-maligned little cars), pre-filled VILLE which delayed getting BEVERLY, and thought WAIKIKI before WAIMEA. [17:10]
Happy Groundhog Day.
I fell for numerous real and perceived misdirections. Appropriate was fair before TAKE. QUESTS and MATTRESSES clues both had me in left field. Brown was taupe before SAUTE.
Mike SEIDEL was easy. You can count on Seidel and Jim Cantore reporting from severe weather areas.
I had LXIV and NASCAR across and wondered what Hotel Waiter could be with --X-C--. I did the same thing Abejo described the other day. Just looked at the sequence and there it was.
It's winter. Was I the only one that thought of Road SALTS at 11D ?
35D Chevy Nova rather than VEGA, but corrected when RIVERBOAT chanced in.
Ultimately failed at 21D PA--ALE and Survivor Island VANUA-U crossing with "Six Feet Under" brother NA-E.
Time to read Splynter's write up.
What a challenge! But lots of fun. I liked DAWNS EARLY LIGHT. Like others, I missed the M in WAIMEA BAY and NOMO and the D in ADONAIS. I also missed the T in VANUATU, new to me. I have heard of ADONAIS, but forgot. I hope I remember it next time.
Generic CLOCK TOWER for London landmark is okay by me. I could accept the generic skyscraper
as NYC landmark.
Have a great Saturday everyone.
Yellowrocks from Kathy
Seigel/Agonais got me, figuring some play on agonies.
Technical DNF for me today since I HTG for the M in Nomo then the W in Weal/Waimea. I tried using my phonographic memory for that Bay, but it failed me today. Weal was one option I'd considered for 32D, but Deal sounded as plausible, so I didn't fill it in until after the Beach Boy search.
But....it was nevertheless a masterpiece! Had all the qualities we've come to expect from Mr. Silk in that it was daunting yet accessible. And even though Barry is a shoo-in for the CW Hall of Fame already, the clue "Key visibility aid" was nothing short of genius. You can retire in comfort after that, Sir. Bravo!!
I was totally wiped out. After Googling a dozen times, still had most of the West wrong because I made 3 fatal entries: "van" for IRA, "baCKupS" for PICKLES, and "novA" for VEGA. And I owned a '73 Vega, the most fun standard shift I ever had.
Also had VilLe before BEVERLY. Was going through my MA towns and chuckling. Let's see, Braintree, CA; Martha's Vineyard, CA; Leominster, CA (that's pronounced "Limster.")
I no longer spend a lot of time on a weekend Silkie, not because I don't respect them, but because I know it'll do me no good.
Thank you Barry Silk and thank you Splynter. Great write up.
Additional comments that your write up reminded me of...
Small Step ATO- sat there with -EVERLY and B was entered as best bet for the vert. And then A to B finally made sense. RIVERBOAT was easily filled with R-V-RBO-- due to all of the news coverage here when they were poposed locally and unconfirmed concerns of projected ownership ties to organized crime were suspected.
Didn't know "Six Feet Under" was a show. Never heard of it.
First thought Jellies instead of PICLES for Jams, but that too was quickly disproved because CLOCKTOWER cam with just the C and K. That also disproved suffix ing and made EER correct for Market closing.
Draft choice. Yes, I missed that. DOH ! Was thinking military draft, baseball draft, cold air draft...
Any one remember LEISURE Suit Larry ?
Yep. Wedges and Slices were preliminary before SECTOR, but the plurality bothered me.
And ditto what Avg Joe said inre clue "Key visibility aid."
We got a couple of inches. First meaningful snowfall, if you can call that meaningful. Time to clean the driveway.
See all y'all later.
Good morning everyone.
A tougher Silkie than usual today. I echo Splynter's aaargggh on 'quest' - NISSAN. Also had trouble in the NW until I planted SEDGE at 31a. First had 'apogees' until I saw it should be singular. Somehow felt that apogee was more extreme than PERIGEE, but they are both extreme relative to the rest of the orbit. (Guess I tried to overthink it.) BTW the Earth was last at perigee relative to the sun on Jan 2, 2013 at 0500 UT. VEGA, one of the brightest stars, is in the Summer Triangle. A favorite clue was 12d, hotel waiter - TAXICAB.
Enjoy your weekend.
Good morning, Weekend Warriors! Always love me a Barry Silk puzzle – even with the bumps in the road, it’s a fun, fun ride. Plenty of entertaining misdirection, most notably MATTRESSES and DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT. Thanks for the swell expo, Splynter.
The only thing I was sure of at first was VIII squared equals LXIV. That and a couple other perps gave me TAXICAB for the Hotel Waiter (more great misdirection). Hand up for getting stumped at the NOMO / WAIMEA BAY crossing. Resorted to Googling the Surfin’ USA lyrics (it was either that, or a game of “red letter roulette”). Nice shout out to our LA-LA-Linda at 22A. DH’s first car was a red 1971 VEGA.
TTP, I do remember Leisure Suit Larry. What a hoot! Funny to think it seemed so high-tech at the time.
Looks like ol’ Punxsutawney Phil is calling for an early Spring – can’t happen a minute too soon for my money.
Have a great weekend, all!
Thanks for the expo, Splynter. Sometimes it is the best part of the crossword experience on a Saturday morning.
I started reading the clues and saw all the white blocks and wondered if I should just skip today's puzzle. However, going across, I got 10 answers. I did know Waimea Bay and Siedel. Then tried vertical. Ugh!
I left the puzzle for awhile, then returned. I remembered someone saying to just pick at it, clue by clue, so I did. Laid it down again, then returned. I persevered and little by little each word appeared.
Technically, a DNF, because I had the red letter option on and would stop my thought the minute a square was red, but I did finish the puzzle and was very pleased with myself that I accomplished this puzzle with very little help.
Read this morning that Montana and Idaho should average one night in ten of Northern Lights in 2013. Nice! They are beautiful.
Good weather here,
Montana
We who have been beaten salute you! The only clues I was able to fill without guesses and perps - VIII squared and Paine. The rest - "paine-full.!) Eventually finished-I guess my grandmother was right when she said "things done by half are never done right." Must admit to counting on a few red letters in the end. I always shudder when I see the name Silk in the Saturday puzzle. Happy Saturday to all.
Tampa Bay Tinbeni didn't see his shadow ...
So I guess I have six more weeks of Saturday DNF's.
What an UGLY Ink Blot.
Argyle (@7:53 yest) Harold Schlumberg is a Retirement genius.
(Turning Avatar into urine is my full-time vocation).
Cheers !!!
Hello, weekend sufferers. Thank you, Splynter, for finishing the puzzle for me!
I got about 90% and just had to stop. Some fill jumped right out: PALE ALE, RIVER BOAT, INCINERATE, SEDGE but had NOVA before VEGA, OTOS then UTES and so it went.
Love seeing LALA, my mom and shout out to Linda.
Finally I managed to fill some empty cells and that was it! Also had to look up the names. SEIDEL, NIN, NOMO. No it's not wedged into my brain yet.
Once ATLAS appeared so did AREA MAP. Such deceptive clueing, Mr Silk! That was a workout!
My sister went last night to our other sister's home and she'll be back tomorrow. We plan to see Quartet. Has anyone seen that yet? It sounds good. No sports for us!
Now I'll read to see how you all fared on this diabolical maze.
Have a great Saturday, everyone!
Good Morning all - This is a DNF so far - I haven't looked at any write-up or comments. I'll go back to it off and an and see if anything hits me. My favorite so far is Hotel Waiter. I was think of busboy, but it didn't fit, then I had LXIV and thought of TAXI then my aha moment came - TAXICAB. Challenging cw Barry, but I'll struggle on. :)
Dennis - Reading One Rough Man. Glad it’s the first one. I prefer to read first in a series first .
JilldinCA - You’ll need a vacation when they all leave. Enjoy those grandkids - there’re the best. We have 5 - 3 boys (9, 5, 5 - cousins, not brothers. We call them cousin-twins) and 2 girls (2 yrs and 14 months).
Tinbeni - Thanks for the rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. I have never heard of that before, will have to remember it for next month.
Husker Gary - I like your comment about the Senators yesterday.
Remember watching the Beatles for the first time on The ES Show. Was yelling and screaming like all the other girls - my father did not approve. lol
Mari and Irish Miss - I also like Chicago Fire. My husband is a retired Fire Fighter - he looks forward to Wednesdays, although some of the scenes make me nervous - knowing he used to be in situations like that - thankfully, he’s still in one piece - retired 19 years now.
Argyle -LOVE your quote from Harold! Checked out your info, never heard of Argyle, NY so googled it - you live near my son in Gansevoort, NY. Pretty part of the state.
I used to travel down to the Gansevoort Hotel...back in the day.
Hi Y'all, In my quest to solve a Silkie Masterpiece, I finally got the TADA! But it was a very UGLY solve. Man, can I work that red letter feature at warp speed. Hooray for the DIGITAL AGE.
As a Survivor addict I got VANUATU, but wasn't sure how the "UA" was arranged in the middle. Also knew LTS, OTTER, FICA.
I was surfin' in Jaimaca for a while. "come on let me take ya'." I thought "dame" for Thatcher. I wanna BEt. Educational trio was not "read, rite, or math".
Retiree's goal wasn't "travel" which was my goal, but LEISURE which I sure got in surplus.
Just nothing else in this puzzle was anything I would have thought of first. However, when I came up with DAWN the ol' flashbulb went off in my dim brain and I filled in the rest muy rapido. Happy!
Got lots of chuckles over some of the banter last night, guys. Actually, any chest that would let me rest my head on it would be nice some evenings, hairy or not. Then other evenings I wouldn't give two cents for either kind.
Wees, other than "riverboat," this was way out of my wheelhouse! (who on the Blog used to say that???)
Hilite for me: Reading Barry Gs comments, if he had trouble, i didn't have a chance...
Hmm, this one is going to be difficult to find anything silly to spoof on. I think i will just learn how to play Surfn USA instead!
NOTE: In the above video, the Author left out the (on the 1st chord, Aflat.) the continuous alternating Eb/F note using the pinky. If you include this alternating melody using Bar Chords, you will quickly have a left forearm the size of Popeyes'. I suggest you do it with power chords instead.
( You do remember your 3 string power chords, don't you?)
Hi All ~~
Well, I had been hoping for a Saturday Silkie and I got my wish. At times, I thought I had no chance of finishing, especially the SW corner. But little by little things were falling into place - as usual with Barry's puzzles - which is why I like them so much.
I did finish but was doubtful about a couple of letters ~ I had guessed and perped my way through! I guessed wrong with 'H' at the crossing of 45A and 42D. I didn't know SEIDEL and had 'Shyness' instead of SLYNESS. Ah - so close.
Thanks for all your explanations, Splynter. I had a number of things filled in correctly but didn't really "get" them. I was thinking NISSANS for 'Quests' were some kind of 'Missions' - which didn't fit when I tried it. WEAL, WAIMEA BAY and VANUATU also gave me fits. All in all, I found this to be really challenging, but I enjoyed the struggle.
~ Favorites: 11A 'Small step' - A TO B and the wonderful 8D -'Key visibility aid'- loved it!
~ Lots of fun with misdirection - TAXI CAB, POSTAGE DUE and MATTRESSES.
~ One of my sisters drove a VEGA in the 70s so that was the first one I thought of.
~ Like Lucina, I smiled at 22A - LALA. :-)
Enjoy the day!
If Jim Cantore is in your town, you can be sure you're in for a bad something! Could be rain, snow, tornado, whatever.
I got FICA at 52D, but the clue "PR tax . . . " was a foul. No one uses "PR" as an abbreviation for "payroll" – not even the Wikipedia article Splynter cited.
Wait! Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and I suppose they deduct FICA there. . . .
Whew! After a week of mostly sailing through puzzles, I got mine today. I did finish, correctly, but I have to admit to lots of googling. Hand up for not knowing NOMO, and I thought it wasw WAIlEA BAY. Kept wondering what an ATOB was...oh, A TO B. D'oh! Breakthrough came with DAWNS EARLY LIGHT- I was thinking somekind of keyfob flashlight. Brain got a good workout today. Thanks for the great write up, Splynter!
Close counts in dancing too!
The Free Dictionary does show PR for payroll but they like P/R better. So do I.
You have a point there, "GT"...or are you just happy to see me?
Before I even opened the paper, I prayed, "Please, not a dreaded Silkie." But, sure enough, there it was. A long difficult slog, but I was actually surprised by how much I got--including a lot of those misdirections. My downfall was not knowing cars and TV shows like "Six Feet Under" and "Survivor." I knew that the QUESTS answer had to start with N_S but couldn't come up with a logical alternative to MISSION or SEARCH or some other word to fit the clue. Aaaarrrggghhh. Even getting IRA didn't help.
I didn't get WAIMEA because for the longest time I was sure that surfin' place had to be in California. Too much state pride there, I suppose.
Anyway, thanks Splynter, and thanks Px Phil for the great forecast!
Have a terrific weekend, everybody, and enjoy your avatar, Tinbeni!
Hello everyone.
Back on line finally. That wind and rain storm wreaked some havoc around here.
Savored this Silkie puzzle but DNF for the same reasons as most, the crossings of weal and Nomo.
For 11d Road_ with the l and s in place I put in kills without thinking.(I know, Dan, you sick pup!) Then when I got to 37d Area map I tried to justify it by thinking it was some sort of Geo Catching. (Yes, yes, Dan, you really sick pup!) But it was all quickly fixed with a second cup of coffee.
Later
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
From Sesame Street ...
Upside Downton Abbey
I know what I'm up against Saturday mornings so I turned on red letters from the start. After that I did OK.
I've always loved "Surfin' USA." Simple-minded lyrics and a three-chord melody probably stolen from Chuck Berry. The Beach Boys grew up near here and included my area, Manhattan Beach, and another neighboring city, Redondo Beach LA in the lyrics of their anthem to surfing.
We're going out for another birthday lunch today, this time with our two local children and grandson. More good food.
BillG;
Lucky you! Still celebrating.
WAIMEA BAY is not only gorgeous but famous for its surfing competitions on its extraordinarily high waves.
I am still in awe of Barry Silk's puzzle; so much deception, word play and double meaning. What a genius!
One letter wrong 1st letter of "NIN" I had as "D"
Hello everybody. This one clobbered the crap out of me. Even after looking up many of the "factual" answers (such as who wrote "Ash Wednesday," who sang "Classic Songs, My Way,", who wrote "Liberty Tree," what name of Shelley's elegy is, and who the hell Mike Seidel is), I *still* came within hair's breadth of being unable to finish.
I completely agree with Barry G about CLOCKTOWER.
Anyway ... the sucker was freakin' *hard*.
Best wishes to you all.
Loved this "daunting yet accessible" Silkie (thanks Ave Joe for the apt description)
NW corner had me scratching my head until I remembered Kew Gardens.
Go 9ers !
I think the use of "vehicle" to refer to an "IRA" is a real stretch. I suppose vehicle is just enough of a portmanteau word to serve, but, as I say, with a w-i-d-e stretch.
Anyway, that's the three-letter answer that tied me up until the very end. The second most difficult was the NW corner.
Otherwise, a not very hard puzzle for a Saturday.
Good afternoon:
Late to the dance due to a trip to the indoor Farmer's Market, the store that sells Tin's avatar, and the grocery store. The grocery store was packed with the usual suspects stocking up for game day partying.
Before I opened Cruciverb, I thought, we are due for a Silkie and, by gosh, there he was. My Waterloo was Waimea/Nomo. I got everything else but had write-overs galore: sedum before sedge, Nova before Vega, shyness before slyness, and Dame before Tory.
For the longest time, I was reading 1A as just Insufficient Funds and was thinking in banking terms. I then kept wondering what an atob is until I read Splynter's fine expo. Oh, A to B! Thanks, Mr. Silk, for challenging me to make sense of your usual mayhem and misdirection; I had a lot of fun trying!
AnnieB @ 10:52 - A belated welcome to the Corner. I, also, get nervous during some of Chicago Fire's scenes as my brother was a firefighter. He was the tillerman on the hook and ladder.
Have to go and make Clams Casino; my sister Eileen is coming for dinner. Also having clams in a spicy marinara sauce, with a loaf of crusty bread from the Farmer's Market. (We both love clams!)
Have a nice evening.
"Key visibility aid" is genius!
Ah, brown as a verb, not adjective. Oh, financial vehicle, not transportation. Haha, today's hotel waiter is not a concierge. Heehee, today's Quest is not a mission.
Wow, so much misdirection! The product of a fertile, imaginative, and perhaps a tad fiendish mind :)
And, YES! Go 'Niners!
Just back from a funeral for Joann’s aunt and it was a nice celebration of her life! I had all but four cells before we went but Quest as a car, the Survivor Island, BASTE/SAUTE and an IRA as a vehicle got me. Hey, I’ll take it on one on Mr. Silk’s tours de force! I am in awe of what he does!
Musings
-Clever cluing on POSTAGE, MATTRESSES, TAXICAB, et al
-Of course, in one of history’s ironies, Francis Scott Key’s words are sung to a British drinking song.
-The RIVER BOAT casinos on the Iowa side of the Missouri at one time had to cruise for at least one day per year but that pretense is gone and now there are just land casinos. Having riverboats was just sop to some idiot politician who did not want to soil Hawkeye soil with devil gambling.
-Every boy with a basketball in his driveway is a WANNA-BE
-My very favorite quote of Lady Thatcher is political and so I’ll substitute this one: “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”
-SCHOOL (sorority) TIES have paid benefits for my daughters
-My wife is the world’s worst liar; she would have a lousy Poker face and multiple “tells”
-I was in the wrong WWII theater with Belgium and not OKINAWA at first
-In my contracting days, if I did a bad job, did poorly and lost money, I just ATE IT
-A lot of people got an FICA shock last month when the rates went back up
-Annie, the Hagel and Clinton hearings showed senators ORATING to the max!
-Fun Upside Downton Abbey link, Tin!
-Off to Lincoln for babysitting, basketball, super bowl, shopping, etc.
Thanks for the downton link.. I forget how clever Sesame Street can be.
This was the hardest Sat puzzle in a long time. I finished, but it took longer than usual. Like Barry, I thought 17A was weak. 36D was also a reach.
Go Ravens!
Keith Fowler, as Jayce noted, an IRA is a financial vehicle. It might not be in everyone's daily conversation, but it's a completely valid reference.
Forgot to mention earlier that I also fell into the Nova/Vega trap despite having a 73 Vegamatic.
And PK, I noticed that Steve Tasker will be calling the game from the sideline tomorrow. A Kansas favorite son, and I actually know his brother.
Go 9ers!
Two beer stories:
(1) DW and I just enjoyed a bottle of Samuel Smith "Winter Welcome" ale with lunch today. It's a nice ale, drinkable and pleasant.
(2) Lesson learned: when DW says, "[blah blah blah], right?" always answer, "Right!" Learned this lesson, or rather re-learned it yesterday when buying the beer. I thought we had an agreement to get 2 bottles of Chimay Blue, so when she held up one bottle and said, "This is what you wanted, right?" I replied, "Yes, two bottles of that." Nope, wrong answer. She was going to buy one and only one bottle all along. I should have simply said, "Right!" and moved on.
Sorry, boring stories, but they had to be told :)
Cheers!
This reminded me of CED's video from yesterday @ 11:00am.
Most of this seemed like misdirection to me.
I quit when I have to google everything.
Surprised I got TAXICAB,but only because I got the Roman numeral math.
(sigh) another Sat. defeat.
I'm working in BEVERLY hills tonight, though.
I'm a daily visitor who gets to your blot on my kindle fire when I'm doing the crossword. When I tried to sign on this evening I got a message saying that the site had disappeared. Google seems to be messing up your site. You should check this out.
Daily visitor, got a name? An email address? A shred of truth?
I Finally found this!'
Re: CED link from yesterday
Try this
Senses Test
Yikes, I found out I'm practically senseless. Oh well, might actually enjoy this.
I got 19 out of 20, which makes "No Sense" at all ...
Probably Avatar's mischief.
Anon @4:37 If the site had disappeared ... how were you able to post a comment?
Hola Everyone, I thought that Lucina's salutation was exactly like I felt. I was a fellow Saturday sufferer. Silkies are usually very hard for me and this was no exception. I only had about a third of the puzzle finished and finally gave up to see what others had to say.
I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who suffered today, but as others said, it wasn't all bad. What I had in was correct, but not enough to even guess at some of the answers.
I'm very impressed with Splynter's expo today. He was a Super Saturday Solver.
I hope everyone has a great Super Bowl Sunday. Enjoy the game, regardless of who wins. Of course, if you root for the 'Niners I won't complain.
Bill G., Have a lovely Birthday lunch. I've always thought that you have a birthday week, not just one day so celebrating again is just fine.
Jayce, loved your description on the solve today. You said what I felt.
I was able to solve the puzzle except for the bottom right starting with "seidel" without help from wiki... "weal" was a stumper as well as "hale". My mind wanted to use - sane... But once I succombed to -hale, it all started to fall into place. I agree 1 acr was a little deceiving thinking it was -payment due, lol, but getting "tic" I got it. Perigee, dsm, a to b, and sector (so embarassed) were my big hurdles..nice one this week.
You were a bit harsh on GT, argyle. He was responding to Barry G.
I see the spams are coming through despite the capture net.
HUH? Yes, he was responding to Barry; I agreed with him and made an old joke. What's the problem?
Chickie, the lunch was good. Jordan would rather have been playing with his 3DS than making conversation. I had soup and a French Dip roast beef sandwich. I'm guessing my "birthday week" is drawing to a close.
One of the baristas from the coffee shop is from Nicaragua, a girl of about 24. Yesterday, she had a job interview and was wearing eye makeup. Today, back to normal. She is a pretty girl anyway but yesterday she looked really special.
Now I can't get the Beach boys out of my head, "all over La Jollla, down Waimea Bay, everybody's gone surfin'". Could be worse, star spangled banners harder to sing!!!
Thanks for the laughs!! Splynter is amazing.
Finally trying to post after visiting this site for over a year. I am new to the crossword world, my husband is the "pro." We started by checking our answers with the blog, but I got hooked on the posts! I am disappointed when Barry is not the first to post, I rate our difficulties by his comments. I so enjoy the family stories and how everyone supports each other through their adventures, both good and bad. Just wanted to say thank you, feel like I know all of you. I appreciate having this site to turn to for help, especially with a Saturday Silkie! We did well today!
Welcome, Maggie and ree. Stop in anytime; we never close. (Well, almost never.)
My husband retired yesterday!!! He and my son went to K-State/KU game today.
I gave up half way thru this Sat. Silkie. My husband tried to help me when he arrived home. I know they are always a challenge, but I think Barry was particularly crafty today.
Thanks Splynter for making my answers, guesses, and non-fills make sense.
Talking about "sense" -Pas de Chat sense test was fun and enlightening. I was frustrated because my old lap top won't drag boxes anymore.
Tinbeni, I forgot how "Sesame Street" skits were aimed at the adults, sometimes more than kids.
Welcome Maggie(no.1 daughter's name)and ree.
When my husband looks at the blog comments and sees our Irish Miss, he says that should be you.
Irish Miss, anyone who has a brother who was a firefighter and a sister named Eileen deserves the title. One short month till we bring out the green and the orange.
I felt this was a tough one but it seemed like all the breaks went my way and I ripped through this one in Thursday like time. My only question spot was SEIDEL crossing PERIGEE and ADONAIS. I feel like I'm turing the corner and getting the hard ones to fall consistently and quicker.
Finally finished on Sunday. One tough puzzle. Had to get some help on a few.
See you Monday.
Abejo
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