Well at least these ants did not spoil any picnics. Each of the four theme answers take in the language two word phrases, with the second word ending ANCE, and replaces that ending with ANTS, creating a homonym and a very different and visually creative new phrase. I do not recall any prior puzzles by Mr. Margolis, nor did I see him in the NY Times database, so if this is his maiden effort, congratulations; starting on Friday is a challenge. We have a few California references so perhaps he is a rare west coast constructor. Overall, a conventional grid layout and an entertaining exercise.
20A. Valets who get no tips? : POOR ATTENDANTS (13) Perhaps if they came to work more often and did not have poor attendance, they would get more money. Of course Bates would never take a tip anyway.
25A. "Block that kick!" and "Dee-fense!"? : SPORTING CHANTS. (14) If you filled this in, you had a sporting chance to suss the theme.
43A. Masked marathon runners? : SECRET ENTRANTS. (14) Why marathon, for the alliteration? We made a secret panel in our bedroom by taking apart the tongue and groove knotty pine, and then putting it back very carefully, but not skillfully. Well we were three boys and we needed Splynter there to help but it was too many years before he was born.
48A. Temporarily contribute helpers? : LEND ASSISTANTS.(13). The most similar phrase, as the basic meaning is the same.
And now the rest.
Across:
1. Powerful swimmer : MAKO. Wow, another tough start thrown in the Shark Tank.
5. Pipe part : STEM. Who knew there were so many PARTS. Bowl also fits.
9. Distinguished : GREAT. The whole top row is a Friday.
14. "Not a chance!" : AS IF. As if I would get discouraged.
15. Trusted underling : AIDE. Why trusted?
16. Variety : REVUE.
17. Soft mineral : TALC. The softest.
18. Dart : FLIT.
19. Modify : AMEND. We file lots of amended pleadings.
.23. Alliance led by Nasser: Abbr. : UAR. A confusing and short lived alliance. LINK.
24. Overseas assent : OUI. You say non, non but your lips say oui, oui.
33. It may be perfect : TENSE. Or even pluperfect!
34. Pursue : TRAIL. Johnny always trailed behind his big brother.
35. MapQuest request: Abbr. : RTE. Route.
37. City near Presque Isle State Park : ERIE. Here is a YELP.
38. Performed a jeté : LEAPT. A homemade HOW TO (1:54). Have you all seen the poor child who burned her hair with the curling iron?
39. Kind of a drag? : MAIN. Sound familiar?
40. Delt neighbor : PECtoral. The muscle abbreviation.(Deltoid).
41. Hershey's competitor : BOSCO. Chocolate syrup for your milk, very big when I was young.
42. Creature : BEING.
46. Loser to DDE : AES. Adlai E. Stevenson, the divorced egghead of my youth.
47. Poetic period : E'EN. Evening.
56. Sensory stimuli : ODORS. If they are good they are fragrant, if they are not it is my children.
57. "...a Loaf of Bread..." poet : OMAR. Khayyiam. We miss you CA!
"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!"
58. Got a load of : EYED. Well, it is okay, because if someone says get a load of the bazonkers on that young lady, the person will have eyed, so...
60. Principle : TENET.
61. ___ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. Als the home of his remains.
62. Fix, in a way : SPAY. Talk about your oxymorons, yes we fixed our dog so he can no longer reproduce. Aren't you glad dogs cannot return the favor?
63. Head lock : TRESS. By making it two words, we have the punny clue.
64. Wallet fillers : ONES. I wish you all Benjamins not Georges.
65. Like some losers : SORE. Not me, I am carrying on to the second half.
Down:
1. Welcoming sight? : MAT. Cute visual.
2. "Stat!" cousin : ASAP. As soon as possible.
3. Bust unit : KILO. Not Dennis' kind, but drug busts.
4. "Naturally" : OF COURSE.
5. The Beach Boys' "Surfin' ___" : SAFARI. They are still out there putting on SHOWS.(2:09).
6. Be a little cockeyed, maybe : TILT.
7. Computer menu option : EDIT.
8. Dole : METE.
9. Bit-by-bit : GRADUAL. You might say STEP BY STEP (7:06)
10. Tarry : REMAIN. Really stay longer than you planned.
11. Knotted up, sportswise : EVEN. Tied also fits, and did not help overcome a slow start up top.
12. Em, for one : AUNT. Really tricky for anyone who has solved puzzled for 50 years plus as EMS and ENS, the measures, were big crossword fodder.
13. Kennedy et al. : TEDS. Meh, there are so many Kennedys, and there are so many sheds.
21. Charge with a time component : RATE. I charge $0.00 per for my work here.
22. Like seven Ryan games : NO HIT. Nolan Ryan, baseball trivia, about the most prolific pitcher to hold the opposition without any hits in a game.
25. Increase, with "up" : STEP. In Probate, if you inherit something of value, you get the stepped up basis, which helps if you ever sell.
26. Netanyahu's predecessor : PERES; now Israel's PRESIDENT.
27. Cold and ready : ON ICE. Keep the champagne....even Tinman would agree to that ice?
28. Explosive trial : N-TEST. Not the Scopes trial but Nuclear Test.
29. Supper preceder : GRACE. All you wanted to know, and more. LINK.
30. Chef's fowl : CAPON. I put this in without hesitation, but I am still not sure why. We also have, 41D. Fowl options : BREASTS.
31. Commuting option : TRAIN. When I was a kid, it was great thrill to take the train into NYC with all the commuters.
32. Hitch : STINT.
36. Some Caltech grads: Abbr. : ENGS. Engineers like Wolowitz.
38. Fertile soil : LOESS. We have not seen this fill since 2008, LINK.
39. Parsimony : MEANNESS.
42. Spanish tar : BREA. As in the famous ones, La Brea, our third California clue.
44. Inner circles : CADRES.
45. Game designed by Alexey Pajitnov : TETRIS. I bet Sheldon knows this, I did not and will not keep it in my mind.
48. Senate Republican leader before Frist : LOTT. You all remember TRENT.
49. River to the Fulda : EDER. For KAZIE, SB, miss m and all the others.... VERBINDUNG.
50. Inventory extreme : NONE. Yes having none is certainly one end of the inventory spectrum.
51. "Meh" : SO SO. This is too easy...this clue was...oh never mind..
52. "Let's do it" : I'M IN.
53. Word heard before and after old : SAME.
54. Proof goof : TYPO. We love whimsical rhyming clues for easy fill.
55. Scorch : SEAR. Do shop at Scorches?
59. Salon job : DYE. She does color to die for!
Another Month is here, 2 gone already for 2013 and a new constructor to join all of the new people commenting here. Like the daffodils, a sure sign of spring even if we are going to suffer through our wintry 48 degree night this week end. Keep up the good work Dan and newbies and I will be back next week, GWATCDR.
Lemonade out.
Note from C.C.:
ACPT
(American Crossword Puzzle
Tournament) will be held in NY next weekend. Rich Norris will be there,
so will our Marti and John Lampkin. For those who attend, I hope you won't miss the Cru Dinner
organized by Mike Alpern. The dinner officially kicks off the
tournament and is a great opportunity to meet with constructors (esp our Marti!) and
fellow solvers.
| Rich, Mike & Kim, 2008 ACPT |
81 comments:
Morning, all!
Looks like they changed things over at the Chicago Tribune and LA Times online crossword puzzles. Couldn't even get the puzzle to load until I finally tried turning off my ad-blocking software. And then I had to watch an ad. And then I got the annoying small-screen interface...
Anyway, the puzzle (once I finally got to it) was a delight. I got the theme right way and I enjoyed all the theme answers. A number of the clues tripped me up a bit ("Distinguished" for GREAT, "Powerful swimmer" for MAKO, etc.) and I had plenty of odd missteps (DASH for AUNT, TENNIS for TETRIS, RAMP for STEP), but it was all good.
I want my old puzzle format back...
[lotvearch]
[stromun]
Rabbit Rabbit
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I wasn't so enamored by this puzzle, but it was in interesting concept.
I wanted Bowl instead of STEM for pipe part. It brought memories of my grandfather who was a pipe smoker.
The only other time I heard of BOSCO was on a Seinfeld episode. George used BOSCO as his PIN number.
For some reason, I knew immediately that EM referred to Aunty Em from The Wizard of OZ.
Very cold here today and this weekend.
QOD: QOD: Education is all a matter of building bridges. ~ Ralph Ellison (Mar. 1, 1914 ~ April 16, 1994)
[dntbmis]
Rabbit, Rabbit!
This was a puzzle of extremes. I either wrote in the correct answer immediately, like CADRES, LOESS and AUNT. Or I struggled with it like CHAR/SEAR, SET/DYE, ODER/EDER. But a puzzle with BREASTS in it can't be all bad.
I think of Parsimony as being frugal or miserly, but not necessarily MEAN.
Have a nice Friday, all.
Good morning, gang - this was one of the quicker Friday solves for me, but it was still a lot of fun. I thought it was going to be worse, since right off the bat I couldn't think of a four-letter 'fast swimmer', but MAT took care of that. Also needed quite a few perps to see the initial theme answer, but then the rest of them fell quickly. And I wouldn't let go of TIED for 'Knotted up, sportswise' and BEAST for 'Creature' until the perps forced the change.
Favorite clue was 'Kind of a drag'. Also, always good to see the Beach Boys; just saw them again a couple weeks ago at a Hard Rock Casino (little disconcerting to see their 30-something sons in the group, but the sound's the same). By the way, their drummer now is John Cowsill of the back-in-the-day Cowsills, and he's very, very good.
From last night: Sallie, it's the boring aspect of the drive that has me looking for alternatives, not any concern about driving a truck. I just think that if I had to plod along for that long, I'd start to have seizures or something. Although......hey, maybe I could pick up Lois on the way by; think that'd make the trip more exciting?
Hope it's a fun day for everyone, and thanks again for all the emails.
Whoa ! Talk about not being ready for the ACPT ! Today's puzzle was tough for me. Some of you have talked about "being on a constructor's wavelength." This was way off of my dial. I couldn't find any frequency to tune in to this enigma.
GRADUAL fill was the perfect description of my progress today. Every section of this puzzle was tough. Turned on red letter help and had more red than black. For instance, I had SPED up rather than STEP up. And TIED rather than EVEN, LILT rather than TILT. NAPA rather than SIMI. LAT rather than PEC. CHAR rather than SEAR. THING rather than BEING. PRESS before TRESS. All because I was just trying to get a toehold in each section. Nailed ERIE but couldn't remember Shimon PERES. Thank goodness for red letter help.
And what happened to the Macromedia Uclick flash format of the puzzle ? Is it a cutback caused by sequestration ?
61Rampy from last night. Yes, The Sting.
An excerpt from Andrew Mason, founder of Groupon, in his farewell memo to employees after being fired:
"For those who are concerned about me, please don't be — I love Groupon, and I'm terribly proud of what we've created. I'm OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through."
What ?
I agree with barry want the old format back I think i will login to my tribune account and send a complaint message to have them return to the previous format it did work with USA today. when they attempted to change formats. This LAtimes format does not agree with my browser and loses contact with the puzzle causing me to click on the letter square need in order to continue typing in an answer.
Just read the write-up (nicely done, Lemonade) and realized I failed to mention the inclusion of both 'bust' and 'breasts'. Is this the first sign of senility? My apologies to busts and breasts everywhere for this egregious oversight.
Odd, the format in my newspaper hasn't changed....
Good morning everyone,
Ditto for wanting the old format. I like to print the puzzle out so I can work on it at my desk. I couldn't get the entire puzzle to print out using the LAT format.
Fortunately, our local paper offers the puzzle Mon - Sat. I cut it out and created one of Tins infamous inkblots. That's another way of saying it was an incorrect ink blot.The issues were in the South.
Alexey Pajitnov and TETRIS were a WHO? Instead of SIMI, I ended up with SIMO & 47A was Yon rather than EEN.
I wanted Football instead of SPORTING, but perps saved me. Other mis-steps that I had AMEND were Char/SEAR, Sense/TENSE, Door Att.../POOR, & On Course/OF COURSE. Hence, big time ink blots.
I am in the same boat as Hahtoolah today. I wasn't particularly fond of this puzzle, but the loss of the Tribs format put me in a foul mood from the get-go.
Back to business this weekend, so I'll talk to you on Monday. Have a good one.
When I posted a second ago, I had to enter my password & then was asked for my mobile phone number. I exercised the option of "Remind Me Later". I'm hesitant to give out any personal info to unknowns, legit or not. Anyone else run into this or offer a recommendation?
Hi Everyone ~~
Wow - a tough Friday puzzle for me! My newspaper's a mess - so many erasures. I had filled in everything, but what I learned after checking in here was that I FIW. Once again, the SW corner did me in. I had filled in 'Loan ASSISTANTS instead of LEND and instead of NONE for 50D, it gave me 'A one' as in "nary a one." I had 'Eder' for the river and since I didn't know CADRES, I accepted 'Canres' without another thought. I made everything fit! Sheesh! ;-)
~ Write-overs included: 'Thing' before BEING for 42D - creature and on 22D - ON 'Tap' before ICE.
~ I thought 53D was tricky - I wasn't thinking of the 'before and after' in that way ~ thought it would be two separate phrases.
~ Although I drank lots of BOSCO as a kid, like Hahtoolah, I thought of George Costanza and his PIN.
~ I know I've seen PARSIMONY before but could not remember its meaning - perps helped fill it.
~ At 29D 'Supper preceder' I was looking for a word to come before a kind of supper, but after getting a couple of letters I knew it was GRACE. Coincidentally, in a couple of hours I'll be taking my cat Grace to the vet for a blood sugar check. Hopefully she won't need to start the insulin injections again.
What a great write-up, Lemonade! You showed me where I went wrong and explained some things I wasn't sure of ~ great pics and links! (thanks for 40A)
Will check back later ~~
DNF! I might have completed this one if I had a little more time and a lot more white out. Wow is my grid ever a mess!
I had beast for BEING, M and M for BOSCO, cheers for CHANTS, etc.
There was some good stuff here though. I liked:
1D Welcoming sight? MAT
62A Fix in a way: SPAY
63A Head Lock: TRESS
Performed a jete reminded me of Pas de Chat
Have a wonderful Friday. My goal is to see if I can use PARSIMONY in a sentence today.
Thank you Dan Margolis. Great write up Lemonade. Thank you. Started reading different links and almost forgot I have to work today.
Bit-by-bit. You might say step by step, or Minute By Minute
I have to get to work; I must not TARRY so This Is It
See all y'all later.
Just a quick thought: Has AUNTS ever been clued as "Em and Bee"?
Quick answer: Yes.
Rabbit, rabbit.
Good morning all! Fun puzzle today, which is getting me into gear for next weekend's ACPT. I got the American RedCrossword book that C.C. mentioned, and have been doing crossword puzzles until my brain is drained....
Great write-up, Lemony! Oh, and thanks for the PEC pic...is that a pickled pepper in his pocket???
Argyle @ 8:32, Yes, several times. Also "Eller and Em."
Thank you Lemonade for your cogent and humorous explanations. I had a tough time with the puzzle, but I'm glad its now over.
Rabbit, Rabbit and have a nice day and a nice month, you all.
P.S. I don't think 'parsimony' implies 'meanness' - I always thought of the former as a grudging, compliment. Parsimonious is thrifty, is it not ?
Also, 'cadres' - I thought indicated a level or rank in a bureaucracy, or, as a graduating class of bureaucrats. I guess I was wrong.
Good morning everyone.
Needed red letter help in the NW But got everything else. Got a good foothold on the bottom and worked my way up. Interesting theme. The 'ants' helped leap frog the solve to the top. But it was a fun puzzle to work on and I liked Dan's offering.
LOESS - Great link, Lemonade, it explains it very well. Ethanol is a modern product of the Midwest loess regions. A unit train with ~ 100 tank cars of ethanol passed thru here yesterday on CSX trackage with BNSF power on the head end. I'm guessing headed for New Jersey.
I agree with Barry G. about the revised Chi Tribune puzzle site. The keyboard commands are different. Is there a guide on the site to assist?
Sheesh, today was a workout- and I dont have improved PECS to show for it. WEES for various parts of the puzzle. First pass had mostly blanks, with a few very light write-ins. Progress was GRADUAL. Finally got SPORTING CHANTS, which gave me the theme. Hand up for thING instead of BEING. Not happy with the clue for REVUE. I think the word "SHOW" should have been added. Still, I managed to finish, and EVEN did it correctly!
Great write-up, Lemon!
Rabbit, Rabbit! a doable, but not particularly exciting puzzle. I remember Bosco but preferred Nestle's Quick.
Favorite clue - head lock. Happy Friday to all. What in the world happened to February. I guess time flies when you're having a good time.
ncerenot,otoritis(a new disease?) raiarty,rytbst will i ever get this right? Evidently not....orteri,latftan
Pinch Pinch
OF COURSE, at 29-d, Supper preceder, I wanted "Cocktails" before GRACE appeared. Just sayin'...
At 62-a, Fix,in a way, SPAY ... I felt a cringe.
D-O, you are right. Any puzzle with BREASTS in it can't be all bad.
Lemon, I guess it's OK if the champagne is ON-ICE.
But the Avatar must be NEAT!
Cheers !!!
I love listening to Tony Kornheiser podcasts and was doing just that when ASAP; ASIF, SAFARI, etc fell quickly but had to turn it off when I saw this puzzle was going to take some effort. I have never done a puzzle where so many alternate answers fit (ODER/EDER, NONE/AONE/, EVEN/TIED, ATE/FARE, CHEERS/CHANTS, NOTED/GREAT, DEMS/TEDS, PAIN/MAIN, AROMA/ODORS…). Erasers are cheap and I don’t use ink and I had 4 bad cells.
Musings
-I agree about Bates but if he marries O’Brien and fathers a child on this series – Look Out!
-What your favorite component of TRAIL mix?
-MapQuest RTE’s (no need for folding maps) are fabulous even though they can have some small errors
-OMAR was Eulalie Mackenchnie Shinn’s dirty Persian Poet
-The ODORS of dehydrated alfalfa and burning leaves evoke memories of my ute. You?
-The Reagan museum and the view one gets from there in SIMI Valley are wonderful
-We gave our grandchildren 50 ONES for Christmas and they flipped
-Some funny welcome MATS
-What’s left of the Beach Boys will be in Omaha/Council Bluffs this summer
-Mary Jo Kopeckne kept TED from becoming president
-Some sports reporters call NO HIT games “NO NO’s” and I think that is just too precious
-A TEST, N TEST, N TEST?
-Our Y has gotten Two of these STEPpers. Great view of the coeds from way up there ;-)
-Spanish TARS weren’t sailors
-Thanks for all the emails so far about my impending trip!!
-Hand up for George and BOSCO. To whom did he finally reveal this code?
Terrific debut, Dan! One of the more doable, but not easy, Friday puzzles I've encountered which made March get off to a great start for me. And Lemonade, thanks for the shout-out to Bates, and the always lovely Omar verse.
Speaking of Bates, is anyone watching the four-part mini-series "Parade's End" on HBO? The reviewers call it "Downton Abbey for grown-ups" and so it is. Based on a novel by Ford Madox Ford, and written by Tom Stoppard. Worth watching.
Now back to the puzzle. Never heard of MAKO--thank goodness for perps. And wanted to insist on APPETIZERS for SUPPER PRECEDER, but that just wasn't going to fit, was it? But it all worked out in the end.
Hope Grace has a good day at the vet, LaLaLinda.
And have a great Friday, everybody!
A failure! But I am rather new at this, not like Mom, who always did puzzles in ink. "There's only so many clues" she would tell me.
But I did get about half the fills correct.
A Friday puzzle, so I was not surprised.
And as usual, a great write-up!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Dan Margolis, for a swell Friday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the very good review.
I think I have seen a puzzle from Mr. Margolis before. That name rings a bell.
After I am done with this I am going to check the Chicago Tribune Site for the puzzle and see what is up. I have not used that option in a long time. I usually use the newspaper, like today.
Speaking of using the newspaper, I do have a bunch of inkblots from my write-overs.
Well, it is obvious what my first answer was, ERIE, for 37A. The clue literally LEAPT off the page at me. I spent a good share of my youth at Presque Isle, swimming in Lake Erie. The chemicals did not hurt me too badly. They all came from Cleveland.
Well, needless to say, I bounced around quite a bit today. Got a foothold in the SE with SIMI, ONES, OMAR, I'M IN, EYED, SPAY, SORE, etc. I used to work near SIMI Valley in California. Very familiar with the area.
Had LUNCH for 29D. Fixed that to GRACE. Had THING for 42A. Fixed that to BEING. HAD PRES for 13D. Fixed that to TEDS. Lots of wasted ink.
The theme came easily. Once I had it they all appeared.
AUNT Em came easily. We have had her in puzzles before.
This puzzle was not easy, by any means, but with perseverance I prevailed. Does not always happen, however.
I have an electrical outlet that went cold. That will be my next task.
See you tomorrow. I will be in Joliet all day. Hope to get the puzzle done early.
Abejo
(infngit)
To All: Well, I went to the Chicago YTribune Site and was able to bring up and print the puzzle. I did have to sit through a short Budweiser ad first. The puzzle section did work a little differently, but it worked and printed. No problem. I am using a Mac.
By the way, I forgot in my first post, I counted 4 cheater squares in this puzzle. Could someone let me know if I counted properly? I am trying to get better at this.
Abejo
(ocounts)
Abejo - I don't think they are counted if it is to accommodate the theme.
guess I'm done with the la times crossword, was fun while it lasted...
Cari amici, to quote the outgoing Pope. And thank you, Lemonade, for your refreshingly witty blog and for explaining the theme. I finished but of course didn't suss it.
Like desper-otto, the format in my newspaper hasn't changed. And it is supremely satisfying to finish on my own without "red letters."
It was a GRADUAL fill, skipping here and there though like HAHTOOLAH, I knew immediately it was AUNT Em and TEDS,too, and thank goodness for OMAR and SIMI. That gave me the foothold to fill the bottom but still it was ring around the roses.
Finally in between four telephone calls from various family members I LEAPT onto Dan's wave length and it was done.
I believe MEANNESS is an old version of frugality or parsimony.
This was about as obscure cluing as I've seen in a long time but a GREAT challenge. Thank you, Don Margolis! Now I shall go to the nail salon.
Have superb Friday, everyone! Wish I could share our glorious weather with you.
My daughter used to love to play TETRIS and that is the only reason I know it.
Hi gang -
A real slog today. Never sussed the theme, thank you Mr. Citric for the explanation and overall fine write-up.
Misspelling ATTENDENT didn't help. Was stuck on LOAN ASSISTANT for the longest time, and couldn't figure out the pun. ODER works as a perp. A-ONE is a head scratcher. CANRES is just wrong!
Oh, well.
Lots too like in this strong puzzle. But using vague cluing to oonch up the difficulty is lame. So Meh! on Strong swimmer. Kennedy, et. al. Chef's fowl. Fowl options. I cry "FOUL!" on all of them. Overseas assent is particularly egregious.
I'll take AUNT for Em, especially since Rebekka's run in The Wizard of Oz starts tonight. But, really, Em is one of my other granddaughters.
Seven no NO HITters for Ryan! Wow - I did not know that.
Gloria and I were just talking about BOSCO yesterday, having EYED a restaurant of that name. IIRC, that stuff was ghastly.
Wonderful program for our concert tonight: Still's Afro-American Symphony, Schubert's Unfinished, Gould's American Salute,
St.Paul Suite by Holst and music from West Side Story.
Cool regards!
JzB
The Chicago Tribune changed the Flash component for displaying the puzzle. It's hard to get used to. I'm not sure I like it.
"If it ain't broke...."
White Rabbits White Rabbits White Rabbits (UK version)
Wanted "INCH" for Bust unit, sniggered at BREASTS and needed Lemonade's explanation for KILO.
In case anyone doesn't know, www.cruciverb.com has the puzzle in Across Lite format if you want to get the free download here and avoid ad-annoyance. There's an iPad app now too.
MEAN also means miserly. A bit obscure, but absolutely correct.
For those having formatting problems, get across lite for PC or Mac.
http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/games/acrosslite/download/litsoft.html
Then get the puzzle from the archive link at the right hand frame of Cruciverb.
http://www.cruciverb.com/
Cheers!
JzB
BUNNIES!
Gary -
But it was Balzac who won her over.
Cheers!
JzB
Spitzboov:
Thanks for the feedback. Some of this is still a little confusing to me. I will keep working on it.
Abejo
(aesont)
29 minutes.
Hello everybody. Well, I didn't like this puzzle much, except for the execution of the theme. Frownies include such clues as "knotted up, sportswise", which I thought was extremely lame. Also, as Lemonade asked of the clue for 15A, why "trusted"?
Barry G, I want the old format back on the Chicago Tribune site. It seems every time a company changes its website to "improve" it they change it to suit themselves better, not their viewers. Yahoo does it often and annoyingly.
No, I'm not in a bad mood today :)
Best wishes to you all.
The Presque Isle clue threw me a little. I was thinking of Presque Isle, Maine near where my Dad grew up.
-BOSCO? N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestlé’s makes the very best CHAWWWWWWK LUT!
-Ah yes, Jazz, I can still hear Hermione Gingold saying Balzac in her wonderful voice! I don’t believe I ever heard anyone in Iowa with her British accent. A-ONE group of bunnies!
-A night in a four star hotel with Champagne ON ICE and chocolate (not BOSCO) covered strawberries. I did good that night!
-I thought of Abejo with Erie but can’t imagine swimming in a river near Cleveland where the Cuyahoga River caught on fire.
-There is an R-rated SPORTS CHANT one can hear after a bad referee call. It can also serve as fertilizer.
-Nah, Marti, he’s just glad to see you ;-)
-What? Pictures of DELTS and PECS and a pass on BUSTS and BREASTS? Lemon?
-OFF THE (bathroom) WALL – I am subbing today and noticed that the custodians have the toilet paper correctly hung in the secondary section but backwards in the elementary rest rooms.
WEES about the puzzle. Some good stuff to be found and some of it was hard for me. Agreed about why trusted for AIDE? It stuck in the back of my mind as soon as I completed the answer.
Count me in with those who are annoyed at the format change at the Chicago Tribune. I can manage it and AcrossLite OK but I just like their old format better. Why the change do you suppose? I can't see any improvement, just different and annoying. To add to what Jayce just said, I don't even see why the Chicago Trib would want to change it "To suit themselves."?
I don't get / can't see the photo of Rich, Mike and Kim at the 2011 ACPT tournament, on the previous page -
Is it just me, and my computer,
or has the photo been withdrawn ?
27d - Could make ya think of Ice Balls (play video 2:25)
A sporting chant to the tune of the Colonel Bogey March from the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai:
Horseshit! It makes the grass grow green.
Horseshit! Comes from a big machine.
I don't know the rest.
-Happy March! I am rejoicing in the warmth of spring, 44°. Sweatshirt weather.
-BUST unit = PAIN. Wednesday I busted my bust, really one inch below it, to be exact. I tripped over an ottoman and hit my side against a piece of furniture, fracturing a rib. I had a ticket for a bus trip with friends to the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse for lunch and a Branson type concert today. I didn’t think I could handle it and stayed home.
-I breezed through this puzzle, kind of "Wednesdayish", because I was on Dan's wavelength. I liked his theme and misdirections.
-I printed my puzzle from the new Chicago Trib site with no problem. The 14 second wait for the ad is not so bad. I selected Masters before I printed. There is a printer icon right under the puzzle.
-Lemonade, thank you for your words of wit and wisdom. I always look forward to Fridays with you.
Hi Everyone:
Very late to the dance due to busy morning and many errands. I finished but needed help in a couple of areas. and I didn't understand the theme until Lemony's cogent analysis and terrific write-up. Kudos to Dan Margolis for a fitting Friday challenge.
It's gloomy March day here with a few flurries earlier, eve though the temp is near 40. In like a lamb, out like a ? We'll see.
Have a great day.
-Parsimony is usually pejorative. Calling me thrifty would be a compliment, but calling me parsimonious would be a slam.
-MEAN as an adjective has many commonly used connotations, besides unkind or vicious, i.e. humble, shabby. petty, lowly, contemptible, stingy, to name a few. I read, hear and speak them all quite frequently.
-CADRE can be a group of officers, a cell of indoctrinated leaders of a revolutionary party, or just a core group / inner circle.
-Isn’t it fun to see new meanings and uses for words!
Seventy-nine degrees here today, actually hotter than I like it though I'm guessing Lucina would find it balmy.
Our house cleaner of many years just brought us two homemade tamales. I'm looking forward to lunch.
[xpoopyqdamnitz]]
Anonymous @2:01pm,
Go back one more day. The picture is at the end of Wednesday's post.
Abejo,
Spizboov is correct. Those four are not cheaters.
White rabbit, white rabbit, jefferson airplane to all. 5 hour deposition. uggggh.
you all are very kind.
Thank those who put forth the MEAN=Cheap; I should have mentioned, but sometimes I spend as much time deciding what to leave out.
I must join the inkblot club. Tinbeni are you accepting new members? I finished the south section okay. I grew up around Lake ERIE but didn't know the state park in 37A. I was also a fan 37A.
Thanks C.C.! Blue Iris please let us know if your daughter found someone for her dog.
Dennis, good to see you back. Last year when we closed up the Colorado home we researched means for moving furniture. The cheapest route was definitely renting a truck. We used Budget rental.
It is a fabulous day here. Wishing everyone a great afternoon!
It was a fairly quick trip to the vet with GRACE earlier today. Her blood work was a bit more involved than I thought. Instead of just a blood-glucose test, it was a fructosamine test which gives more detailed info on her diabetes status. I'll have to wait until tomorrow or Monday to know the results.
Yellowrocks ~ Ouch! I hope you're feeling better soon.
Dennis, I highly recommend that you download the Pandora App for your smartphone, if you have one. That way, you can boogie all the way back to FL without risking being "JEJUNED" to death.
Yellowrocks:
Cracked a rib! Yikes that sounds painful. Was there someone to take you to the doc?
Michael Barrett:
Welcome! I believe I have not done so yet.
Bigal1950:
Also, welcome! Are you Bi-Gal or Big Al? Just curious.
Dennis:
When I saw BUSTS and BREASTS I immediately thought of you but forgot when writing my post. How is business, BYW?
Just got into Orlando for a bit of 'looking around'.
downtonabbey, yeah, it might be the only way to go, although I'm gonna try the ideas I was given yesterday.
Marti, I'm doing it as we speak. The download, that is.
Lucina, that's funny -- when I saw them, I immediately thought of you. Business is ok, considering it's a hands-on type of job.
Stuff I forgot ~
~ Husker Gary ~ I've heard the chant you mentioned (after bad ref calls) a number of times during NCAA basketball games - kinda funny!
~ The only Presque Isle I knew of is the one in Maine, as mentioned by Bigal. Interesting to learn there are other locations.
~ Thanks, Misty!
YR, sorry to hear you got "busted" up. Hope you're feeling better.
Cute bunnies, JzB.
Lemony:
Where on EARTH did you get that jete clip?????
Barefoot, on the living room carpet and WTF was that, anyway?
Grand Jete
YR, I fractured two ribs while climbing a tree to trim some branches...the first thing they asked when I went to my doctor? "Did your husband beat you?" TRUE!
But I really feel your pain, because it seemed to take for-e-vah to heal. Just take things easy, and take lots of Advil. You'll be climbing trees again before you know it!
All: Presque Isle on Lake Erie is where Oliver Hazard Perry built his fleet that defeated the British fleet on Lake Erie during the war of 1812. The Battle was at Put-in-Bay, OH.
Abejo
(owevturn)
Jazz:
I also forgot to mention your beautiful granddaughter. Good luck to her on her performance!
Dennis:
Why thank you, sir. I think.
Here is an archive of color photographs of Depression times in the US between 1939 and 1943. They provide quite a visual history lesson. History in photographs.
After reading YR's post, went back to the Trib and tried again. Yea, it's back to normal. Perhaps it was a goof by a Trib staffer. I get ready to retire for the day knowing it wouldn't have mattered.....I would still have made the same errors.
Happy to say that we did well with this puzzle , go newbies; bloggers & constructors ! Yellow rocks , I kept reading & waiting for your input on the alternative meanings , thank you! We are far away from tournament ready & still do puzzles in pen from the newspaper! Loved the use of jejune in the comment to Dennis!
Old format was smooth and pretty easy to navigate. New format is clumsy, slow, and awful! I tried a few words and just gave up - not because it was hard, mind you, but because it was clumsy, slow etc etc. I'll just do it in the the newspaper.
Hello all!
Rabbit, rabbit! Now I really have to worry about taxes!
Tough puzzle for me. worked late last night and had a DNF due to one stinking red letter!
Very interesting write-up, Lemonade. Have to go back and check out some more links.
Marti: Have a great time and good luck!
Welcome to the newbies, Michael and Bigal!
Am awaiting DTV repairman. Will be tough to part with all of the shows on one box that needs to be replaced. 18 episodes of Dr. Oz--well, some not so important.
Wonder what the Omar stanza sounds like in Farsi (or whatever applies). Does it rhyme?
Husker: don't get the Bates/O'Brien remark!
Have a great weekend!
Hello all. A balmy 78 degrees here in Garliclandia. Nice enough to throw on a pair of shorts and sit in the couryard!
I finished the puzzle - ERIE/PEC last to fill. And even then I thought "Oh, Pec, must be a city in Holland, like Delft". Time for an eye exam, maybe?
Cadre, never remember the definition, just fill it in when I need a 5 letter word. Sometimes it even works...like today.
I don't know how or why some of you folks do the puzzles in pen? It seems so silly to me. I use a great mechanical pencil with a retractable eraser.
Time to get on with the evening.
This is the "legit" Jeannie, not the impostor that posted on February 9th. Our skeptic farmer was correct. I have never lived in St. Paul, and have never been to St. Louis. At first I didn't know if I was flattered or annoyed. I guess a little of both, but it serves me right for not posting in a while.
Hey, "impostor" jeannie, do you have a recipe for pigs ears or chicken feet? Just wondered.
GarlicGal @ 6:40pm - I use black ball-point on newsprint because the contrast is a lot better than a pencil for these old eyes. If I print out the puzzle, I'll use a #2 pencil. I find on Mon-Wed puzzles there are minimal to no strikethroughs. Otherwise, WITE™ Out works, too.
My favorite esquire, good to read your fine synopsis of the puzzle. I especially liked your choice for "pectoral". It's good to know you work cheap. I didn't notice a French lesson though.
Dennis, it sounds like you are making the move to Florida. Enjoy your sightseeing. I am sure that you will be "a"breast of your surroundings.
Husker Gary, my favorite component of trail mix are the dried apricots and pumpkin seeds. If anyone wants a good granola recipe let me know.
Gary, I don't think George ever did tell his password to anyone. The show ended with a guy stuck inside the bank foyer's ATM during a fire, and Peiderman was urging him to give it out but George just shrugged.
Jazz, LOVE your new avatar. Speaking of which, I can't get the same photo of me to attach to my profile. It says that it's too small. It used to work.
Long time lurker on the site.
I echo the thoughts of hating the new format of the crossword puzzle, and after scouring the web, I found the old format on the Merriam Webster website.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/game/uclick/latimesdaily.htm
DNF
Haven't had such a mess in, maybe, a year. Didn't get the theme. Didn't get the far out connections, Too much sports. Why would there be a Presque Isle Park in PA?
BTW, BOSCO means woods in Italian.
Jeannie
George did tell Peterman's mother his code on her deathbed. Remember?
Gary
Anon 7:54, fantastic! I don't enjoy change, especially when it's not for the better. I appreciate your finding that Merriam Webster website. I wonder why the LAT and the Chicago Trib changed their format?
Jeannie, is that really you? I hope so. Do you still have the same e-mail address? I e-mailed you about a month ago and never heard back.
A late post to say Thank You to all. LA Times arrives on my driveway early a.m. I'm up, start the puzzle after quick look at headlines.
Haven't tried the online version yet,I'm still too slow!
Here's where I get Mon-Wed.
No ads, fast, print out in a jiffy.
http://webcrosswords.com/la-times-crossword/
It seems as if George Clooney is a pretty classy guy. George's restaurant behavior.
JK it sounds like the real you, welcome back and welcome back Vidwan/ also all newbies we continue to grow.
Am I the only who cracked up (no ribs) reading Lucina' s bi curious remark. YR we need to send you some bubble wrap as this is not your first injury. Be careful and heal.
Jeannie: If you need the picture blown up, send it to me!
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