google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Jeff Stillman

Advertisements

Feb 6, 2013

Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Jeff Stillman

Theme INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER.  From a world of opportunities, Jeff Stillman has plucked four common, in-the-language two-word phrases, in which the first word is transformed from a pre-position modifier to a near-homophonic country name, which is also used as a pre-position modifier, yielding a new humorous phrase.   Not sure where Jeff is from. It's it's north of the border, this could be an example of Canada Dry humor.

17A. European auto club device? : HUNGARY [HUNGRY] JACK.  From pancake mix to a tire-changing tool from my ancestral homeland.  Useful if you're hungry and tired.

27A. Balkan primate? : GREECE [GREASE] MONKEY.  Not a car mechanic, but an inhabitant of the Athens Zoo.  Remember, monkeys, but not apes, have tales.

43A. Mideast orchestral group? : QATAR [GUITAR] STRINGS.  Russia broke its strings to tiny Qatar after an incident in 2011, but [presumably] the band played on.

 57A. South Pacific 18-wheelers? : TONGA [TONKA] TRUCKS.  Not sure why, but this one is my favorite.  The kingdom of Tonga is a sovereign state comprising an archipelago of 176 scattered island, of which 52 are inhabited.  If you have a spare 14 minutes you can take this tour.  Toy trucks are optional.



Hi gang, it's Jazzbumpa, your tour guide for today.  Can't say I'm a big fan of globalization, but let's grab a GPS and see where Jeff takes us.

Across:

1. Middle Ages century opener : MCCC.  First stop, a long time ago - the beginning of the 14th century.  From what I've read, a thoroughly dismal time - even before the plague.  Let's move on.

5. Request before a snap : SMILE.  That's more like it.  Say "cheese."

10. "Survivor" airer : CBS.  Never watched it, but it's on some remote island out there - right?

13. Something to assume : ALIAS.   An assumed name, like Jazzbuma.

15. Foofaraws : TODOS.  Do you think a play called "Much Foofaraw about nothing" would still be popular more than CD centuries later? 

16. You can dig it : ORE.   Also called "pay dirt."  Your ORE or mine? 

19. Floor application : WAX.  A protective coating that makes your floor shine.

My beautiful floor
I do adore
How it shines
Much more brightly
Than before

Or do you abhor 
when I WAX poetic?

20. Pronouncement of Pontius Pilate : ECCE HOMO.  "Behold the man."  Thus spake he when presenting the scourged and thorn-crowned Jesus to a hostile crowd. [John 19:5]

21. Device commonly used in "The Twilight Zone" : IRONY.   According to the Free Dictionary, dramatic irony is "The dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand an incongruity between a situation and the accompanying speeches, while the characters in the play remain unaware of the incongruity."

23. "Citizen Kane" studio : RKORadio-Keith-Orpheum.  Any connection to Radical Keith Olbermann remains unproven.

24. One-time ring king : ALI.  Nee Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.  Laila's dad.


25. Raise objections : DEMUR.  I'd be reluctant to disagree.

31. Vegetation : FLORA.  Generally referring to a region's native plant life.

34. Butts : RAMS.  Strikes against something with a blunt object.  Lest anyone DEMUR, I'll refrain from drawing any connection to 51 D.

35. Julio's "that" : ESA.  That's in Spanish

36. Yokel : RUBE

37. Mythological do-gooder : FAIRY.  Hmmm. Only sometimes. Fairy godmothers, for sure.  But isn't there always a catch?

39. Word-of-mouth : ORAL.  Tell me about it.

40. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr. : ENS.  Ensign - currently a commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is below lieutenant junior grade.  Presumably something similar in the star fleet.

41. Greenhouse square : PANE.  Ultimately from the Latin pannus, the same source as "panel." A greenhouse is a framed structure with mostly glass walls.  A piece of flat glass is called a PANE.  Regularly sized squares are relatively easy to work with.  It all fits.

42. Matter to debate : ISSUE

47. Who's who : ELITE.  The A-list.  After recently watching Les Miz and as much of Vanity Fair as I could stomach, I'm rather down on the ELITE.

48. One of the Bobbsey twins : NAN.  The LW informs me there were two sets of twins.  Can you name them?  I sure can't.

49. __ double take : DO A.  Look and look again.  This happens when you look at one twin and then the other.  Or at the first one twice.  And why not?



52. "Come here __?" : OFTEN.  Classic pick-up line, not likely to work with the twins.

54. Losers : ALSO RANS.  Perhaps guys who use lousy pick-up lines

56. Expected result : PAR.  Like avoiding bogeys on the golf course, or going home from the bar alone.

60. Counterterrorist weapon : UZI.  Since being introduced in 1950, this family of sub-machine-guns has been widely used by military, police and special forces.  This clue suggests that the bad guys don't have any.  Hmmmm.

61. "__ Heartbeat": Amy Grant hit : EVERY.  Very 80's looking vid, but it's from 1991.

62. One handling a roast : EMCEE.  I've done this a few times at retirement parties.

63. Jiff : SEC.  Jiffy, second - quickness indicators.  I'm trying to come up with a Jif and violence joke, but peanut butter doesn't seem like much of a weapon.

64. Indian tunes : RAGAS.  Brought to the U.S by Norah Jones' dad.  Here is a 4:47 example.  Not an ear worm, as far as I can tell.

65. Makes, as a visit : PAYS.  But we did get to PAY a virtual visit to India.

Down:

1. "Real Time" host : MAHER.  Notorious iconclast, not well known for his tasteful routines.

2. Coop sound : CLUCK.  Chicken coop.

3. Dos y tres : CINCO.  Two plus three = 5.  Más español.

4. Batting practice safety feature : CAGE.  I wanted to link the batting cage scene from Bull Durham, but no dice.  Moneyball?  Nope.  We have to settle for this.

5. Buffalo : STYMIE.  Buffalo, as a verb means bamboozle, dupe, deceive, trick.  STYMIE means stand in the way of, present an obstacle. Wrong turn here - these are in no way equivalent.

6. Magic charm : MOJO.  Or a spell, hex, or more broadly, magic power.

7. Craters of the Moon st. : IDA.  Craters of the Moon National Monument is located in the State of Idaho.

8. __ cit.: footnote abbr. : LOC.  "In the place cited."  Refers to a repeat reference to the the same page in a previously cited work.

9. Native Alaskans, historically : ESKIMOS.  The native Alaskan and other Arctic cultures across Siberia and North America have been in place for over 4,000 years.

10. Water cooler gatherers : CO-WORKERS.  In my office it was a coffee maker.  Perps gave me COW, and that caused all sorts of mayhem.

11. Muffin mix stir-in : BRAN.  A source of healthful fiber.

12. Hot : SEXYHere's a collection for the ladies.   With a zoom feature.

14. 1943 war film set in a desert : SAHARA.  Starring Humphry Bogart as a tank commander in Lybia.  We really are convering a lot of ground.

18. Play thing? : ROLE.  Clever - an actor's part in a play.  My grandsons had small roles in Les Miz, and they both died on the barricade.  That was hard to watch.

22. Bolt : RUN.  But I sat through it, and didn't bolt.

25. Letter opener? : DEAR Sir, Madam, Santa, John, etc.

26. Acting award : EMMY. For TV acting.

27. Coll. senior's test : G R E  Graduate Record Exam.

28. Old-time news source : CRIER.  I just had this one on Jan 16th, so I'll repeat what I said then.  An official whose duty is to make public announcements. A bit passé these days, but several municipalities in North America, Australia and New Zealand still have Town CRIERS. Should I be disturbed that the first answer I thought of was DRUNK? It fits.

29. Biblical twin : ESAU.  Older than his brother Jacob, he sold him his birthright for a bowl of stew.  The transaction is not known to have involved chewing gum.

30. School with the motto "Lux et veritas" : YALE.  Light and truth.  Yale is home of the Eli's and the Skull and Bones.  If this is a secret society, then why do I know about it?

31. It's measured in Hz : FREQ.  Herz and frequency. 

32. Roman moon goddess : LUNAAnd my favorite HP character.

33. Relating to childbirth : OBSTETRIC.  The long form of OB.

37. Like some clocks : FAST.  Are you satisfied with this clue?

38. First few chips, usually : ANTE.  I do like this one, for an X-word stalwart.

39. Org. in old spy stories : OSS.  Office of Strategic Services.  Precursor to the CIA.  I wanted KGB.

41. HP product : PRINTER.

42. Overlook : IGNORE.

44. Tankard filler : ALE.

45. Puts down, as parquetry : INLAYSSome examples.

46. Harper's Weekly cartoonist : NAST.  Thomas, 1840-1902.  He gave us the modern image of Santa Claus and the Republican party elephant.

49. Bangladesh capital, old-style : DACCA.  Another exotic stop on our trip.

50. Pitched perfectly : ON KEY.  Every trombonist's ideal.

51. Toting team : ASSES.  Do you assess a team of asses by their toting ability?  Why, yes.

52. Musical number : OPUS.  A composer's works are cataloged with OPUS numbers.  Except for Bach.  He gets BWV  (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis) designations.

53. Throw for a loop : FAZE.  This is as good a time as any to admit I had a lot of trouble with this puzzle

54. Uttar Pradesh tourist city : AGRA.  Home to the Taj Mahal, as I learned form crosswords.  We are definitely covering a lot of ground.

55. __ roast : RUMP.   A cut of meat from the hindquarters of the animal - cattle, not asses.

58. Eggs, in old Rome : OVA.  Ova and out?  Not quite.  One more stop.

59. Not pos. : NEG. Positive and negative.  Are you charged up by these abreviations?

Well, here we are back home again.  Hope you enjoyed this trip around the world and will fly with us again some time soon.  B'bye.

Jazzbumpa


Note from C.C.:

Jazzbumpa wrote a post on Angry Bear, where he tore down some Paul Krugman ranters. Look who linked Jazzbumpa's article? Paul Krugman himself. How cool is that!

101 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all, Sleepless night. Puzzle was too exciting to put me to sleep too. Not easy by any means. Thanks, Jzbmpa, for entertaining me and educating me also. Maybe I can snooze now.

47a I have enough Irish in me to ABHOR ELITism.

Bobbsey twins: Nan, Bert, Flossie & Freddie. Names which would usually not be given to children of today.
I read and reread those books in my childhood.

QOD: (from my hometown paper) "No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch." - Leo Dworken

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Montana & other iPad users,
Awol does not see the option of "web or mobile" on her iPad. Can you give her some instructions? Thanks.

PK,
What a surprise to see you so early!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun theme today, but I struggled with some of the theme answers. I know I must live under a rock, but "Hungry Jack" meant absolutely nothing to me, so it took a lot of perps to finally get HUNGARY JACK.

I got QATAR STRINGS easily enough from the clue and a few perps (the initial Q didn't leave many choices when it came to "Mideast" countries"), but once again I struggled with the underlying phrase. "Guitar Strings" is, of course, ridiculously common, but I parsed it as "Quarter Strings" instead. Is the accent on the first or second syllable in QATAR? Obviously, I guess the first, but it's probably the second...

[Stupid, stupid capcha...]

Awol said...

Seeing the two window format this morning.

Also note the caption title reads February 26, 2013.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Awol,
Error corrected. Thanks.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, and happy hump day to the still-working.

I had real trouble getting started on this one. Then things began to click (not CLUCK) and it all came together.

Jzb, didn't you mean IV rather than CD Centuries -- that would be a very long time. I was trying to imagine what your favorite Hewlett Packard character would be -- oh, Harry Potter is the HP this time.

In addition to being clever, this one was a pangram. It was nice seeing the GREECE MONKEY and it's cockney relative the ONKEY.

Hahtoolah said...

ood Morning, JazzB and friends. This wasn't one of my favorite puzzles, but I enjoyed the travel log.

I was thinking that the Snap in the Request before a Snap referred to a finger snap, so wanted Hurry. Oh, a Snap shot!

I am reading A Covert Affair, which is about Julia Child and her time in the OSS.

Some Clocks may be FAST, but a broken clock is correct twice a day.

C.C.: Sometimes I get an option on my iPad for a web or mobile version, but not today. It was only the web version.

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning everyone,

Unless I screwed up, Jeff not only created a fun puzzle, but used all 26 letters (panagram??)

It was darn close to a DNF. I drew a complete blank in the N Center grid. 5A, 15A, 6,7,&8D's had me totally at a loss. I was thinking football for Request Before A Snap, but when I spotted my wife's D2 across the room, the light SMILEd upon me. The others then fell into place.

Had Daze initially for 53D, but Odten looked better when I changed it to OFTEN.

I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. The themes easily appeared and a lot of the cluing made me think a little. Nice effort Jeff,

Jazz, loved the write up. The twins (not CC's Twins) were an added bonus.

Happy hump day. Now to find a Capcha I can read.

Al Cyone said...

A fun puzzle, just right for a Wednesday. The N/NW quadrant was the last to fill. I kept thinking "snap" referred to football so the right answer came late but was a nice surprise. Finally all filled but had to fix FREQ and then change SITAR to QATAR to get the TaDa! [10:49]

CAPTCHA tip: Don't just try the first one you see; change it until it's pretty obvious.

CAPTCHA = kspelle

Barry G. said...

a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Not if it's a digital clock! ^_^

Husker Gary said...

Even in the CHILE WEATHER, Jeff’s puzzle was very satisfying! I did manage to make the top middle harder than necessary but Jeff’s puzzle was a GOOD OMAN for my day where I’m finishing my taxes.

Musings
-Remember when you could get a car JACK out and use it easily? Not anymore.
-Puddy on Seinfeld did not like being called a grease monkey
-TONKA trucks were named after Lake Minnetonka and first made in an old school house in Minnesota
-I had football players getting the COUNT before my posers were told to SMILE
-The most famous ORE extraction in history started when Swiss expatriate Johann Sutter found some bright, yellow nuggets in a stream where he was building a saw mill. He couldn’t keep it a secret!
-Twilight Zone Irony I remember – A man who gets a wish to live forever gets thrown in jail for, uh, life
-PAR? I’d say desired rather than expected result at my level of expertise
-I’ve EMCEED a lot. Give me a mike and get out of the way.
-MIL called a hen that made a lot of noise but laid no eggs a CLUCK. BTW, she always kept clocks in her house 10 minutes FAST. Why? IDK!
-I watched SAHARA on TCM and talk about making you thirsty.
-I have BOLTed out of the house to play golf after BOLTing down a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats
-Easy sports question – What is the most famous example of parquetry in sports?
-Jazz, being ON KEY with a piano or guitar seems easier than with the more indeterminate trombone or trumpet
-What great baseball movie had the title character noted for his hitting pitch a ball so hard in batting practice that it stuck in the batting CAGE netting? Hint: It’s not played by Nicholas CAGE ;-)

Sfingi said...

Had to Google for MAHER and LOC.

Did not like ESKIMO. Wanted Inuit or Aleut. Or use some modifier, such as "Non-PC."

@PK - Also, you can always tell a house had/has a cat if the area in front of an upholstered arm is all ripped up.

The Middle Ages had some outstanding art work. Check out the Cloisters on the West side in Manhattan rather than limiting your tour to Midtown.

Mari said...

Good morening everybody,

I'm with Hondo - this was almost a DNF, and I went with DAZE over FAZE.

This was a toughy, but I finally got it. My first theme answer was TONGA TRUCKS and then I knew we were dealing with some geography.

I liked:
- 16A: You can dig it: ORE
- 13D: Play Thing? ROLE

Craters of the Moon st. was very tricky! Especially since I didn't see the "st."

Great job Jeff and JzB. Very enjoyable.

Mari said...

PK @ 5:09 am: Great quote. I've lived with many cats over the years, and haven't forgotten any of them.

TTP said...

Thank you Jeff Stillman and thank you JzB.

I almost failed in the North Central. I have never heard of the word Foofaraws before. Buffalo had me STYMIEd. Took way too long to get "Request before a snap", but that was the key.

Some play by play and color commentators use MOJO and momentum interchangeably. I'm not sure why.

My clocks were slow before they were FAST. My butts were HAMS before RAMS. My RUMP Roast was lamb at first. I was FOOLed before I was FAZEd.

Toting teams equaled ASSES, but mules would probably be a better choice on the olde tyme farm.

Got GREECE MONKEY, TONGA TRUCKS, QATAR STRINGS and finally HUNGARY JACK in that order.

Work beckons. Maybe it's a wrong number. See all yall later.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Stillman, for a swell Wednesday puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for the great write-up. Enjoyed it.

I could not get started at all up North, so I started South. Bounced around and slowly put it together.

Theme was clever. HUNGARY JACK was my first answer. The rest came easily.

There were a lot of tough clue/answers today, IMO. MOJO, IRONY, FAZE, CO-WORKERS

My last fill was the SW corner. I had STUN for 53D. Finally I erased that and started over. OFTEN appeared, then I finished OBSTETRIC. I though of OBSTETRAL at first. Once I had FAZE, I got UZI. All is well.

15 degrees here. Should warm up some. My back still hurts from shoveling snow the other day.

I have an IPad. I do not recall seeing those options, Web or Mobile. I use mine for the crossword when traveling and for reading Nook books, as well as the internet. I will look around.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo



desper-otto said...

Mari@8:10 -- Upon reading, my previous post sounded too snarky, so I delete it.

How can you be sure you remember all of your previous cats? What about the one(s) you've forgotten?

Java Mama said...

Good morning, everyone!. Thanks for a good mental workout today, Jeff. Really enjoyed the theme. My favorites were GREECE MONKEY and QATAR STRINGS. Great write-up, Jazz – thanks for being our tour guide.

Got off to a rough start in the NE – ended up backing my way in after filling in everything else. I agree with Jazz’s quibble about Buffalo = STYMIE. Thought the clue for SMILE was fun – the Super Bowl had me thinking of football snaps at first. Gave up watching 10A Survivor after a few seasons – all the antics started to get more annoying than entertaining. On Star Trek, you could usually count on some ENSign being the guy who didn’t make it to the end of the episode.

Have a Happy Hump Day folks!

HeartRx said...

Good morning Jazzbumpa, C.C. et al.

Fun, fun puzzle and a terrifically enjoyable write-up, Jazz. Thank you for the SEXY collection with the zoom bonus feature!

Like others, I had trouble in the NW, as I couldn't decide exactly which year would be the start of the middle ages, did not remember Bill MAHER (ugh), wanted some kind of coo-'ng instead of CLUCK, and a mask instead of a CAGE for batting practice...

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

Husker G. @7:46 asked “What is the most famous example of parquetry in sports?” Why, that would be the Boston Garden parquetry. Alas, now a thing of the past after they tore it down in 1998 to make way for the more modern and decidedly uglier TD Garden.

Anonymous said...

Butts, ASSES, RUMP?

Mari said...

Desper-Otto @ 8:38 am: Let me rephrse my cat comment. I fondly remember all of the cats I've lived with in my adult life. They're have only been 7 so far (3 still living). The kitties that I have lost have a photo on my mantle to remind me.

Yes, some day I will be a crazy old cat lady! :)

Tinbeni said...

Jazz: Nice write-up. Enjoyed your links, esp. Angry Bear response to Paul Krugman.
Good stuff!

Jeff: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday offering (that I solved at Friday speed).

HUNGARY JACK made stop and have breakfast. Yup! I made pancakes.

My broken clock is forever stuck at "Five O'clock" ...
Cheers !!!

Tinbeni said...

Mari ... just for you.

Monopoly’s newest token is ... The CAT !!!

(The Iron got the boot).

PS I voted for the Dog.

Yellowrocks said...

This was a chewy puzzle for a Wed, especially the north central, but I got 'er done. It was like a long hike in the woods. You get tired and long for the end. Then at the end you look back over it with satisfaction and think it was wonderful.
Jazz, you outdid yourself this AM. Your exceptional travelogue was a work of genius. You are multi-faceted, erudite and witty at the same time.
-I read all the Bobbsey Twins books several times, too.
-Back in the day, textbooks used the word ESKIMOS before it became non-PC. The clue covered this by using "historical." I agree that ESKIMOS was off my radar until I got - - - IMOS.
-I agree that STYMIE does not =buffalo.
-Thanks for the SEXY pics. I'll take the first one, so much sexier than the over muscled dude a few days ago.
I liked ON KEY. I’m sure JAZZ is always on key.

Montana said...

CC, the option to choose web or mobile disappeared this week. I much prefer the web version. It is identical to what I see on a computer. I am happy not to have to change it every morning.

Montana

Anony Mouse said...

Thank you JazzB for your explanations of what I found to be a very difficult puzzle. And its only Wednesday. I am definitely not screwed on right for the higher level puzzles.

I liked your other blog, but I have found discussions of the nation's economics to be a futile exercise for ordinary intellectuals. Major economic decisions tend to be always taken on a political basis which means the lowest common denominator ! Intelligent thinking doesn't stand a chance ....

Plus taking on a person like Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, is a daunting task. That doesn't mean, of course, that he is always right .....

Qatar is pronounced 'Cutter'. One of my cousins, (not an Arab) is on the Sheik's Oil Board committee. I think he's very lucky, very smart and an immense ability to have tact, and especially keep his mouth firmly shut.

Tonga is one of 3 countries which have issued coins made of Palladium. Just a collectors item, a sample of which I own.

Have a nice day all.

P.S. Mari, while I know you love your cats, I don't think I could ever have one. My feral cats are insistent on being fed, but have no desire to reciprocate in any way. I am just doing it for humane reasons. Dogs, on the other hand ....

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Nice intro, JazzB.

I started out getting only CLUCK and CINCO in the NW. Didn't know if I would like today's puzzle. But then I got a good foothold in the NE and went clockwise from there. Loved the theme, especially TONGA TRUCKS. Had Ore. before IDA. There were many clever misdirections and it turned out to be a fun solve. Favorite clue was for SMILE. BZ to Jeff for a great job.

36a; RUBE. Merriam Webster attributes the origin as derived from Reuben beginning about 1891. I would point out that the German word for 'turnip' is Rübe, Lgerman: Rööv. We've heard the phrase " - - didn't just fall off the turnip truck" so I wonder if there is an alternate connection.

My sincere condolences to the owner of Stewie the cat who died from cancer, Monday, in Reno, Nevada. Stewie was a Maine Coon cat and held the world's length record at 48½ inches, stem to stern. The previous record holder at 48 inches was Leo, a Maine Coon from Chicago.

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Mari, you're fortunate to have owned only 7 cats in your adult life. We've got 7 cats at this very minute. We don't try to get them. They just show up and refuse to leave. One of them is prancing around in front of the computer monitor as I write this. He doesn't like it when I pay attention to something other than him.

Hahtoolah said...

Desperate-Otto: do you live in a cat house?

TTP said...

JzB,

Just had a few minutes to read your Angry Bear post. Liked the way you picked apart the Krugman detractors.

Same old dance. Those that can, do. Those that can't, criticize.

Can I plagiarize this ? "So let's forget the trivially unimportant technical details and ask simple-minded, allegedly probing questions that in this case are totally unrelated..."


Hatoolah, too funny.

Desper-otto, ditto with my GSD, except when he's sleeping. When I tell him, "I have to work", he gets really aggressive...

JD said...

Good morning Bumpa, C.C. and all,

Had trouble getting started again (sigh), and could only fill in a few dozen without perp help. Such great clues today..."you can dig it", "toting team"..never did finish rubE, as it crossed grE.

Also didn't get losers= also rans, and still don't see demur as raising objections. I KNOW they are all correct. My mental dictionary is seriously abridged.

The highs and lows made for a fun solve. and Bumpa, your write up is always amusing. I was completely in awe of your article, and completely lost.

Montana said...

Good morning everybody,
I tried to do this puzzle in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. It was too difficult for me.
This morning I tackled it again, and alas, I still wasn't solving much.
SO, Jazz, I really enjoyed your explanations. That was the best part today!

My AF son has served many deployments in Qatar, so we pronounce it 'correctly' in our family.

Have a good day,

Montana

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Glad I could offer a little amusement in the cold late winter.

Bright and sunny here today. Lots more snow in the forecast for tomorrow.

The I-RON-Y of being too clever. CD for IV is the sort of high magnitude humbling blunder than can only occur after midnight.

I hope.

Anon @ 8:54 -
I can get behind it.

I'm a big Krugman fan, and an even bigger fan of the truth. My Krugman post was a refutation of those who attack him using willful lapses in logic and reason, and had zero economic or political content, except by implication.

Anony Mouse has it exactly right. Economics and politics are attached at the hip, and are that rare set of twins where BOTH are evil.

That's why we don't discuss them here.

Mmmmmm - pancakes!

Tin man - I do appreciate your clock.

Spitzbov - You might be onto something.

Cool regards!
JzB

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

I found this to be a bit more difficult than a usual Wednesday. Some of the cluing was questionable, at best, IMO; e.g., Buffalo for stymie. That said, it was a clever theme and a definite mental challenge. Kudos to Jeff and to JazzB for the fine expo.

Anyone watch Vegas last night? Jack has gotten himself into deep trouble!

I am being annoyed by a chirping sound, the source of which is a mystery. I have 3 smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide detector but they seem to be okay. Could an alarm system panel or a thermostat be responsible if the battery needed to be changed? What's odd is that this started yesterday but then stopped for several hours, then started again.

Have a great Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

Nice puzzle, but wouldn't 1 across MCCC be the "end of a century" since we started with year 1 not zero. I know I'm in the minority since most people incorrectly celebrated the new Millenium in 2000 instead of 2001.

Yellowrocks said...

Some of my fondest memories are of my grandson Kenny's preschool days. He had a fleet of very small Tonka cars and trucks and many dozens more Matchbox vehicles. We would line them up all across the dining room, down the hall and into the family room. Sometimes he would draw roads on long sheets of paper and lay them end to end. Then Kenny would dream up scenarios which he and I would act out crawling along with the cars all afternoon. That was 10 years ago. Today my back and knees would protest. But what a fun time!
We also spent endless hours on the floor with Kenny’s extensive collection of “Thomas the Tank Engine” tracks, engines, railroad cars, and props. Every holiday and birthday we would buy more pieces. Here too, we would act out all kind of stories, especially crashes and falling off of bridges.
Enjoy your little ones while you can. Today Kenny is a high school freshman and always involved in some activity. He is available in only small snatches of time. I love him dearly and we are still close, but I miss all the time we used to spend together.

Lucina said...

Hello, cyber friends. Funny travelogue, Jazz. I chuckled out loud several times. You must be a riot as an EMCEE.

Started slowly on Jeff's OPUS but picked up speed once the NW corner filled and HUNGARY JACK appeared. The SW and SE corners emerged next fairly quickly but the NE took a long time as I thought "Survivor" was on ABC, not being a fan.

I strongly dislike all reality shows!

Finally, I Ggled it and SEXY and CO- finished it.

I had DAZE before FAZE when OFTEN appeared.

My PRINTERs have all been HPs so that was easy.

A fun time, thanks to Jeff Stillman for the workout.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!

Lucina said...

Yes, the Middle Ages seem dreary and oppressive but oh, wow, could they build cathedrals! Touring those grand architectural wonders was a supreme joy for me.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know "foofaraws" but loved the fun clues. I agree it was a geographical bonanza.

Thanks for the grey matter exercise!

JJM said...

Good puzzle today. I was stuck in the upper middle, but finally got SMILE and everything filled in after that. Still had Football on my mind when the clue was "request before a snap". YOu have to think outside the box. Which reminds that I have a riddle for all that I'll post later. My 7th grader came home with it yesterday.

Misty said...

Fun puzzle this morning, Jeff--many thanks! Once I got GREECE MONKEY, I had the theme, and then the others fell into place. Very clever. And a delightful expo, JazzB. You're a poet, and I didn't even know! Keep WAXing eloquently.

One small nit. Do FAIRIES really appear in myth, or only in folklore? Is there a difference between myth and folklore? Maybe I'm just being pedantic, but I don't think of "Cinderella" as a myth, for some reason.

I hope Elis aren't offended by that line of SEXY YALE ASSES on the East side.

Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

TTP said...

Irish Miss,

Replace the 9V batteries in each of your smoke detectors and the carbon monoxide detector. One of them is getting low. When you replace one, replace all of them.

They don't chirp constantly. Wouldn't want the battery to be fully discharged while a person was away. So they are designed to chirp every "x" amount of hours. One of mine started chirping, and only during the predawn hours. Replaced the batteries in all of them.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

TTP,
Can you check your Gmail account?

61Rampy said...

A tough Wed puzzle! I couldnt get going in the NW, or the NE for that matter, so I jumped to the bottom and worked my way up. Got everything except the NW. Had to Google the Real Time host-ugh,Bill Maher- and that gave me enough traction to get most of it. Could not remember LOC CIT, and I thought the snap would be a football hike. Finally filled in all the blanks.
I still have some old metal TONKA trucks from the 60's. Loved them as a kid! (much cooler than Buddy L trucks)
Wife has a refrigerator magnet that says: "No Outfit Is Complete Without Cat Hair"
Fun write-up, Jazz!

JJM said...

Two mathematicians, Isaac & Albert, are walking down the street when Albert says to Isaac,
" I haven't seen you in a long time, what are the ages of your three children now?"
Isaac, who loves be-devil Albert says"
"Albert the product of my children'e ages is 36"
Albert, one to never back down from a math challenge says,
" OK, but I need another clue",
To which Isaac says,
" Remember that old Math Bldg. we used to work at on campus? Well, the sum of my children's ages is equal to the address of that old orange bldg."
Albert replies,
" i Still need one more clue!"
Isaac answers him this way
" My oldest daughter has become a wonderful pianist.

What are the ages of Isaac's children? What's your logic?

Now you could probably Google this and get the answer…. but what fun would that be?
I'll post the answer at 8PM CST.
Good Luck, but you puzzlers are smart people and I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner than that.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers

Today was one of those days where the theme helped the solve.

Now for a Hungry Jack story: during our visit to Australia, we noticed a number of franchised burger places named Hungry Jack. It was explained to me that this was the Oz version of Burger King, that name having been used already by some other company. When the American BK people wanted to expand into Oz, they had to dream up the alternate name within that country.

Next: the top-of-the-line burger at these places is called the Aussie Burger. It has some of the usual stuff on it, but adds the very Australian fried egg and sliced beet. Let me tell you, that's one nummy burger!

Aeboutiv to you too.

Maverick said...

I went with the early Middle Ages date of DCCC. I was sure the Middle Ages "opened" before 1300! That left me with DAHAR on the down. I wasn't comfortable with that, but I don't watch Joy Behar's show or Bill Maher's. Need to work on my Latin too.

fermatprime said...

Hello all,

Very chewy puzzle, Jeff. But theme answers great fun. Great expo, Jazz!

We've had the ages puzzle before! (9, 2, 2)

Thanks for all of the support yesterday! It is really appreciated.

Have a great day!

GarlicGal said...

I also thought this was harder than usual Wednesday fare. Took me almost 20 min.

I love the word STYMIE. Probably because my Mom used to use it. You certainly don't hear it much any more. SMILE was the last to fall for me. I had OPS and when I finally erased that LOC/TODOS fell into place. It seems so apparent now!

My quote of the date ripped off from "your e-card" -

"Put some whiskey in my coffee because it's Ireland somewhere".

Happy Wednesday Puzzlers!

kazie said...

Dudley,
thanks for the reminder about an Oz burger "with the works". It's actually available at most greasy joe type places there, at less than you would spend at a chain establishment.

My late arrival here today is partly due to a visiting son and a batch of bread, but also because I thought at first I had no chance with this CW. That proved to be true at least for the top midsection, where I had no idea at all about what was snapping, craters of the moon, or what foofaraws were. Spellcheck here doesn't recognize the latter either. And despite my previous paragraph, I am also unfamiliar with Hungry Jack in Oz--not being there too much in the last few decades, so I couldn't come up with JACK.

All the other themes came easily, and certainly helped me WAG the rest of my unknowns, or else the rest of my effort would have had many holes too.

Dudley said...

PK - loved the QOD! Ours is definitely a cat household. We've had some really, really good cats over the years. The current one, a rescue cat, is having trouble meeting the standard set by her forerunners.

I had no idea Monopoly tokens were being re-worked. Now that I know, I'm shocked that my favorite - the rustic flatiron - has been ousted! The nerve!

Mind you, it's not a bad idea to have added a cat...

fermatprime said...

A new prime number (largest known now) has been discovered! It is the Mersenne prime 2^57,885,161 - 1. This is the 48th such prime.

Alt. QOD:
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
--Maya Angelou,
American author and poet

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Although I was able to solve the whole puzzle without having to look anything up, I came away feeling a tad less than fully satisfied. Can't put my finger on why, but I did draw two frowny faces next to entries that bothered me. First of all, starting off with a Roman numeral, the value of which could not be deduced, almost made we walk away. Secondly, at 35A, because the clue said "Julio" instead of "Julia" I filled in ESO. When YALE forced it to be ESA instead, it made me frown. I was also not enamored with the clues for STYMIE, FAIRY, and UZI. So this one was almost DOA.

Yellowrocks, your description of playing with Matchbox cars is very similar to our experiences, and the fun we had, playing with our son when he was "little." That kid could spend hours making intricate drawings of cars and spaceships! And no, he's not obsessive :)

Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

Ages 9, 2, and 2 is one answer, but I can't think of why it would be mode logical than ages 6, 3, and 2, for example. If the two youngest are age 2, then it really hasn't been all that long a time (not more than 2 years) since Albert saw Isaac and three children. (The same is true if the two youngest are 2 and 3).

Anyway, I'll wait until 8PM CST for the explanation.

Anonymous said...

Or you could see the solution Bill G. posted @5:36 on January 16, 2013.

desper-otto said...

Hahtoolah@9:57 -- I guess you could put it that way. They seem to run the place. Auggie, the really irritating one, has learned to open and slam the kitchen cupboard doors when he wants to go out at 3 in the morning.

Windhover (from last night) -- I've never heard it called Owen, always Owen-Withee. But, no, I lived in a little town called Marion about 100 miles east of there, between Green Bay and Wausau. For the record, I think every small town in Wisconsin had at least 10 taverns. There were six within two blocks of my house -- seven, if you count the bowling alley. Slightly larger towns would usually have their own brewery, too. Back in the day, the Student Union Rathskeller on the UW Madison campus was the only student center in the nation serving beer.

Anonymous said...

why must they oust any token...why not just add a cat? curiosity has the better of me

Anony Mouse said...

JJM, I definitely would not like to be the messenger to bring you the bad news about your math puzzle, but ....

Bill G. had the identical puzzle with the SAME multiplication product not too long ago ....( Jan. 15, 2013 ?)

.... and Five O'Clock Tinbeni and I, among many others, solved it, so ....

I can understand the problem - there are just, only so many finite puzzles in this world - unlike the infinite number of Primes, the latest of one that Fermatprime has reported on.

I had been informed by a mathematician, an acquaintance, that since Very Large Prime numbers are used in high security encryption, the FBI has 'advised' college researchers not to announce their results to the public... Maybe the U.S. Govt. should just pay them a million dollars for their discovery and keep the matter, under wraps, secret.

Aah, the perils of a democratic society ....

Anonymous said...

So we are now advertising dresses ? ... whats next ... soft porn ?

Jayce said...

Thank you, Anonymous@1:21PM. I did go back to look at Bill G's post on that date and realized I must have somehow not worked the puzzle or read the blog that day, because none of it was familiar.

Dan Crawford said...

Hi Jazz...coming here shows me why I can't get you to publish more at Angry Bear! Ah well... :)

Anonymous said...

The century ends on MCCC, and a new one starts on MCCCI or MCCI.

Mari said...

tanjila23 @ 1:23 PM: ACK! We've been hacked!

I don't know why they got rid of the Monopoly token, but it's odd that they didn't keep it as Anon @ 1:25 said.

I remember when M&M's only came in orange, yellow, green and 2 shades of brown.

miss beckley said...

I'm sure glad you guys are back!

Anonymous said...

C'mon guys. This wasn't a wednesday puzzle. Thursday or Friday maybe. For all the people who "awesome wednesday, just right!!" But if you have nothing to do all day great, it probably was a fine puzzle. 10 foreign questions,( to me a cop out for a Wednesday,)? Leave it for a friday when anything goes.

Rube said...

Had to show up here as RUBE appeared in today's puzzle. Thanks @Spitzboov for the rübe= turnip, in German, lesson.

Like most others, had football on my mind, (sob), so got slowed down in the Dakotas. Only write-over was RAMS/endS... should have known better given the "Butts" clue.

Anyway, perfectly doable and enjoyable puzzle. Just figured out the problem... diabolical.

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees, I could not get smile. ( I blame my lifelong fear of dentistry...) Plus, i had no Mojo, thought cratered state was N or S dakota, & 8D was no help at all!

Irish Miss @ 10:25, Yes that chirp will drive you nuts! my new ones speak in a voice that says "low battery."

I hope to be non-political by not stating an opinion, but what do you think of this video that is currently going viral? girl flips bird at Judge

Cats, Cats, & more Cats! I know i expressed an opinion the other day, but this video reminded me of a problem I had forgotten. (thank goodness for Fabreze!) Check out how this Aussie handled the problem! If you like it, be sure to check out his 1st video, "how to stop cats from peeing on your car."

(note: only males spray, & neutering stops this behavior in 90% of of cases.)

Bill G. said...

Happy Wednesday. Clever theme today. I managed to figure it out early and it definitely helped. Foofaraw is a neat word. Another one with the same meaning is Kerfuffle.

CED, I thought the judge maybe overreacted at the first "Adios" but when the girl flipped him the bird, it's clear she had been raised by overly-permissive parents who never taught her respect for her elders. Good going judge!

I haven't seen Bill Maher in a puzzle before. I find him to be intelligent, perceptive and funny but people who disagree with his politics probably don't like him at all. On the other hand, I didn't agree with William Buckley's politics but I certainly thought he was a very smart fellow.

Yes, that math puzzle sounds very familiar. A good one though. Also, I used to know that prime number and used it for a PIN but I had temporarily forgotten it. Thanks for the memory jogger. :>)

"Making changes is up to you" puzzle
Change any one letter in each word of a made-up two-word phrase to get two new words that will start a familiar proverb or saying. If you start with “letter rate,” the answer is Better late … (than never).
Moose lies; get sweeping; Easter sand; gold thongs; tao heaps. In this last one, you have to change two letters in each word. Green birds. (Disguise your answers or e-mail me so as not to spoil it for anyone else.)

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Hahtoola & Irish Miss & Dudley
Have you ever managed to make a link in the Comments section with your iPad?

PK said...

TONKA TRUCKS reminds me that I have the huge yellow metal dump truck with which my older son excavated half my garden when he was young. It's in a box in the garage and I keep forgetting to take it down to him. Also several other metal toys, but that was his favorite. I better do it soon or his boys will be too old to enjoy it--if he'll let them have it.

I could remember going by Craters of the Moon signs on a trip, but couldn't remember which state. I guessed Utah first.

I worked with a lady who had multiple cats who shed cat hair from her outfits on my desk. It was not a problem unless she stopped to talk while I was lunching there.

I have three digital clocks in different rooms which I can never get coordinated to the same minute after time changes.

I can't believe I actually posted first, sorry Barry. I didn't mean to steal your QOD spot, Hahtoolah. The quote was just toooo apt for this bunch...

Now I've got to go to the garage and clean the dreaded cat litter pan. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean. I miss mine so much.

Avg Joe said...

I've had an active day, but I can't pass up the opportunity to post yet another alt QOD ( lifted from yesterday's crypto quote):

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." Unknown

Dudley said...

C.C. -

I haven't tried until now. Here goes:

Trying a link on an iPad

Dudley said...

That seemed to work. It's a bit of an effort, as usual, since I can never remember the exact syntax. I just cut & paste.

Anonymous said...

Cross eyed dave I saw your video for the Aussie guy who fixes the Cat problem. That guy is a super genius and Hes wasting his time in youtube. I own a machine shop business and I could personally garantee him a 160k with six week vacation and full 401k and all medical.no kidding. That Aussie guy is one in a thousand and in the US hes one in ten thousand. and hes wasting his time doing all these stoopid videos. I could get him into an uppper class neghborhood with no cats period. And he can use all his time to make some serious moneyy. what a waste of talents. OMG .

Hahtoolah said...

C.C.: I had never tried to link from my iPad, but I am glad to see that Dudley was successful, so apparently it can be done. i'll have to give it a try sometime.

Yellowrocks said...

Anon at 4:13, to which post are you referring? If you are referring to a post not immediately preceding yours, I find the thread hard to follow. Please cite the time of the post you are referencing

Argyle said...

"The sooty tern, a seabird, and the Alvin shrimp, a blind crustacean, cope with conditions in the Tonga archipelago."

PBS tonight @ 10:00

Irish Miss said...

CC - I have never tried to do a link on the iPad; I use my laptop. (Not that I make that many links, anyway)

TTP @ 11:32 - Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I have only two 9V batteries so I'll have to get more tomorrow and then find someone tall enough to change them for me.

If the weatherman is right, we are in for some serious snowfall come Friday/Saturday. Coincidentally, tomorrow is the 35 th anniversary of a massive snowstorm in New England. I remember it well because we moved into a new home a day or so later and the movers had to shovel the driveway and make a path to the front door. This was in Connecticut and all the major highways were closed to all but emergency vehicles.

TTP said...

Irish Miss, you're welcome. I know it was annoying for me, especially because it chirped only in the very early predawn hours, but replacing the batteries was the solution.

Yellowrocks, I also tried to associate that 4:13 comment with a previous post. No joy. Meant to also tell you to search Moravian Pie. Cook's Country (a fav) has a recipe that I will try.

Spitzboov, thanks for the turnip truck / rube correlation. Makes immediate sense to me.

Argyle, I'll be tuning in.

IMO quip of the day goes to Hatoolah. D-O, all in good fun.

We had a cat, "Tinkerbell", that loved to take the jacks ball to the top of the stairs and then push it down, rumbling down the stairs after it. Only at night when every one was asleep. Every night. My dad cursed that cat and looked long and hard for that ball. Dad finally found the ball one day. We loved Tinker. What a character she was...

JJM said...

Isaac says that the product of his children's ages equal 36 which could equal several different possibilities. (1x1x36=36, 1x6x6, 1x12x3, etc)...He then said that the sum of his children's ages equal the address of the Math Bldg.. We don't know that number so how do we figure it out? Albert came back and needed one more clue. So that means the number of the Math Bldg. must of had two possibilities that had a sum equal to the same number. This number was 13 but the only possibilities that equaled the same were (1x6x6 and 2x2x9). But we still do not know which answer it is. So Isaac says my eldest daughter has become a great pianist. Since he did not say he had 2 eldest daughters the answer is 2,2 and 9.

Bill G. said...

It's pleasant today; temperature about 60 and sunny. So I rode down to Hermosa Beach and had lunch sitting outside on Pier Avenue Plaza at a Brazilian BBQ place. Tri-tip, chicken, black beans, etc. Really good.

Hondo, excellent job on the "Making Changes" puzzle.

chefwen said...

Spitzboov - We have a Poly Dactyl, tuxedo, Maine Coon who measures 36 inches, I can't imagine him with another 12 inches. Wow!

Irish Miss - We had the same chirping problem. Knew it wasn't one of the smoke detectors, as those batteries were removed long ago. Nothing lasts in this climate. Turned out to be a toilet that needed a new fill valve. Almost went crazy (not too far to go) to figure that out.

fermatprime - Missed the Foofaraw that you went through the other day, but anyone that can make you feel that bad is obviously a troll and must be ignored.

Loved the puzzle, a little slow getting out of the gate, but at the halfway mark, slipped into high gear and finished handily.

Rube - Almost sent you an email this A.M. to be sure to do this one, but I figured you were on it. And you were!

jilldinCA said...

I liked the puzzle. I liked the write up. Why are some "anons" so nasty?

Bill G. said...

Since some of you seem to enjoy the Animal Tracks slide shows from MSNBC, here is the one from this week. Animal Tracks.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Dudley,
Same method as this instruction on our blog?

Awol,
If the answer is "Yes" from Dudley, then that's how.

Jill,
This blog is just like real life. Most of the people are nice. But...

AnnieB8491 said...

Hello all - Thanks Jeff for a great brain-drain. I really enjoyed it! My first pass thru I only had 5 - count em 5 - fill-ins. Then worked from the bottom up on the ‘downs’ and filled in some more, which led me to fill in more, which led - well you get the idea. In the end I only had 2 empty spaces. I had NO idea what foofaraws were. [ I’ll try and remember for next time. (yea riiight) ] I had T O _ _ S. Craters of the Moon st. and _ _ _ cit: were also a blank. Couldn’t decide if st. was state or street. Didn’t really make a difference, I could’t get it. lol

Loved the theme answers. Raising 3 boys and having 3 grandsons - I am VERY familiar with TONkA TRUCKS :) When I ‘got’ the theme, the rest were pretty easy - except for HUNGARY JACK. Had to ponder that one a bit until I got the K from ESKIMO Then I had it.

AnnieB8491 said...

Just as Sfingi - I also wanted Aleutes, but when the bottom of the word needed different letters, I changed it and did a duh!

Had to google the Pontius Pilate clue. I had ECCEHO _ _ and had no idea how to finish it.

I got hung up on Buffalo but when HUNGARY filled in, that helped.

Couldn’t remember if the Bobbsey twin was NAN or JAN so filled in _ A N and let the perp decide.

I also had to think about snap - a towel snap, a football snap, a finger snap. It was one of my last fill ins, but I finally got it - yea! But it still didn’t help with 7 and 8 down.

I had STUN for 53 down same as Abejo, but eventually got the corner when OFTEN became apparent.

NOTE: 62A -’ One handling a roast’ crosses 55D ‘ _ _ _ _ roast’ . Neat.

Thanks JazzB for the trip! Clever explanation.

Til tomorrow...

Sfingi said...

@Mari - did you ever see the Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure? She comes in a blister pack with 6 cats. About $10.

In "The World w/o US," cats would reign. Small dogs would die off.
And it's been said that cat videos are 2nd only to porno in hours of internet viewing.

@BillG - I find Maher very intelligent, but 1) sometimes misogynist and 2) a little too anti-Christian. Protesteth too much? In Religulous, I felt the Jesus reenactor got the better of him by just being calm.

Bill G. said...

For some reason, the local fire departments recommend you change the batteries in your smoke detectors twice each year when Daylight Savings Time cycles in and out. For alkaline batteries, that's serious overkill. The batteries will last several years, usually more than five, before needing replacement.

Awol said...

Thank you to everyone who has been helping me to figure out the missing link conundrum.

Here is my attempt, bolstered by Dudley's leadership and C.C.'s instructive cheat sheet.

Coyote from the iPad

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Awol,
Yay!!

Awol said...

TaDa !!!! Thanks again to everyone.

Should have linked to a lynx.
Well, why not ?

Link to Lynx

April Fools Day is a great time to change all the detector batteries. Easy to remember and not too many holiday obligations to prevent it getting done.

Dudley said...

C.C., had I gotten back earlier, the answer would have been yes. I just cut & paste the HTML phrase because I'm too lazy to learn it or even type it.

I wonder whether CrossEyedDave is using some trick such as a keyboard macro to speed up his link-building. I'm too lazy for that too.

AWOL - congratulations! It's fun when something works right. I also noticed that Blogger went directly to the Web Version today on the iPad. I have no idea why it did, but I find it more convenient.

CrossEyedDave said...

i use no short cuts except copy & paste

but i also have to test each link before posting. I also found it important to test each link as you type them, because if you do 5 or 10 & you get an error msg, you will go nuts trying to find which one has the typo...

pennybank said...

Thank you Jeff . Enjoyed the puzzle and loved the theme answers. Foofaraw is a great word! And, I remember hearing Kerfuffle some time in my past. German, maybe? The world cruise was very educational, thank you Jazzbumpa!

We used to have a Jack Russell. One night, quite late, she started barking than quieted down. A bit later she barked again and quieted down. My DH and I figured she was hearing something so we held our breaths and listened. Sure enough, we heard a VERY WEAK ‘chirp’. So we ran around the house taking out all the batteries from the alarms figuring we would replace them in the morning….and went back to bed….only to hear TJ bark again. This time she looked at us like she was saying “Do Something!!” So we listened again and sure enough, there was that $%# chirp! Where is it? What is it? It took a VERY long time to find it. But, we did. It was in my DH’s pocket of his winter coat in the closet. And, it was his cell phone. Well, by then he had to go to work, so I made sure he took the darn thing with him to charge in the car. So anyway, CED, that little voice would have to say “cell phone, in winter coat, in closet needs recharging”! We might have gotten some sleep that night.

The sun was shining all day today. It took a while to remember what that big ball was in the sky! It even managed to melt some of the snow.

JD said...

Yellowrocks, where you were 10 years ago with your grandson, is where I am today on my knees with the Tonkas, Thomas engines, cars of any shape and size, and garbage trucks.I had 2 daughters and this is a very different world with 3 (soon to be 4) grandsons.It has been very special.

Misty, folklore includes legends, fairytales, talltales, myths and more.

Garlic Gal, LOVED your quote. LOL

Fermatprime, everyone should heed Maya Angelou's words; they are like gold.

Lucina, I am hooked on "The Amazing Race" as they travel all over the world- that is my only taste of reality TV.

JD said...

Great story, Pennybank!!!

Dayle ~ A Collection of Days said...

Before my dad fell off the roof the day before Thanksgiving, screwing up everybody's holidays, I might add, I'd maybe done four crossword puzzles in my lifetime. But helping care for him has slowed my world way down, as he has no internet and no TV. My mom has been a crossword queen for years, and her passion rubbed off on me.

I shocked myself by finding this puzzle, and yesterday's quite easy.

Bill G. said...

While you are using your computer, do you listen to music? I do whenever I think about it unless what I'm doing requires serious concentration and I'm getting frustrated. I just type in Pandora.com and pick a favorite genre. I found five stations I really enjoy. In order, they are Western Swing Radio, Classical Guitar Radio, Classic Country Radio, Traditional Country Radio and Bluegrass Radio. There's a short ad every three songs or so.

61Rampy said...

CED- LOVED the Aussie video!!! I also watched the bloopers. Absolutely hilarious. I had seen his original video a while back. Glad he is not MY neighbor.