Words: 70 (missing J,Q)
Blocks: 32
Lots of white on the first across pass today, and with a fair number of
names and "?" clues, I was not feeling this one until my down pass,
which gave me a smattering of letters to help with the long fill. Only
two letters gave me trouble in the end. Brad & Doug are becoming
regular Saturday contributors; today their field was dominated by
11-letter triples, and a pair of 10-letter downs:
1. Fashionable heelless footwear : BALLET FLATS - do you consider ballet flats fashionable? I thought they were talking about these, which I think are ugly
15. Liqueur used to color a Bloody Smurf cocktail : BLUE CURACAO - never had one; here's the recipe
17. Pejorative nickname for one supporting a cause via unproductive feel-good measures : SLACKTIVIST - cute
58. Sitcom about the Buchmans : MAD ABOUT YOU - I loved this show until the baby came along
62. Stand firm in the face of defeat : BRAZEN IT OUT
64. "Prepare to be amazed!" : ABRACADABRA - musical link
12. Drive nuts : EXASPERATE - straight up; I thought it might be PUT IN A RAGE, since I had the RA-E to start
27. Road trip listening : AUDIO BOOKS - I keep meaning to try this out on my tablet, but I haven't even used the device for my Home Inspection business yet
and Onward~!
ACROSS:
12. "The Sixth Sense" sense : ESP - Meh, I don't like "Sense", "sense" and "-sensory" in this one
16. It's at the top of many a round face : XII - Twelve, on a clock 'face'; it's 5 o'clock somewhere~!
16. It's at the top of many a round face : XII - Twelve, on a clock 'face'; it's 5 o'clock somewhere~!
18. Place for a gondola : ALP - ARGH~!!! I could not find a three-letter word for the boat, or the railroad car....THIS gondola
19. Pub.'s client : AUTHor - and their publisher - anyone miss the "."?
20. Showed some hustle : MADE HASTE
22. Peerage member : EARL
24. Legal defendant: Abbr. : RESP.ondent - Right, Lemon?
25. Chain that makes a lot of dough : SBARRO - I was looking for the "S" at the end, thinking it's "let's eat at Sbarro's" - BZZT~!
28. Only British prime minister of Jewish birth : DISRAELI
32. "I'm with you!" : "COUNT ME IN~!"
34. Infamous 2001 shredders : ENRON - Popular this week
35. So-so connection? : AND - So-and-so
36. Conjure up : EVOKE - like 64A?
38. Teddy's Mount Rushmore neighbor : ABE - some humor
39. Voltaire's world-view : DEISM - more here
42. Glass, vis-Ã -vis electricity : INSULATOR - electricity cannot flow through glass; around here some of the insulators on the telephone poles are still glass, not ceramic
45. Like carry-ons : STOWABLE
47. Most unusual : RAREST
48. Adriatic port : BARI - map
49. Pasta suffix, commercially : RONI - Rice-a-Roni, Pasta-Roni
50. It was spawned by the Manhattan Project : ATOMIC AGE - I put in "ATOM BOMB"; only later did I see that I was short one letter
54. Precious ones : GEMS
57. Statesman in a Warhol series : MAO
61. Word of repulsion : ICK - I tried UGH first
63. Buns, e.g. : DOs - Hair-dos, although Princess Leia is the only person I know with two buns in one do
DOWN:
1. Small magazine articles? : BBs - HAR-HAR, that kind of magazine....but in my experience, I wouldn't really call it a magazine, more like a reservoir
2. __ parmigiana : ALLA - Had VEAL to start, then OLLA
3. Island blast : LUAU
4. Speaking point? : LECTERN
5. Aaron of "Love Happens" : ECKHART - Also in "The Dark Knight", and "Thank You For Smoking"
6. Syllable of disapproval : TUT
7. Czech composer Rudolf : FRIML - This guy
8. Hot rock : LAVA
9. Biting : ACID
10. Police weapons : TASERS
11. "What'd I tell you?" : "SO THERE~!"
13. Dredger's target : SILT - not GOLD; I got caught up in those shows on History Channel
14. Hanger in a rack : PIPE
21. Likeness words : AS AN
23. Punic Wars victor : ROME - wasn't TROY - I was thinking of the Iliad, not this conflict
25. A heap : SCADS
26. "High Fidelity" actress Lisa : BONET
28. Saturn satellite : DIONE
29. Signs : INKS
30. University of New Mexico team : LOBOS - seemed like a sensible W.A.G. to me
31. Slower than 43-Down : INERT
33. Like many a movie genius : EVIL - My personal favorite
40. Crawled, say : SWAM - nailed it
41. Xylophone relative : MARIMBA
43. Listless : LANGUID
44. Short operatic piece : ARIETTA
46. Post-bender dose : BICARB - Hair of the Dog? Me, I used to just tough it out with the pounding headache and body pains
49. Pear-shaped fiddle : REBEC
50. Surrounded by : AMID
51. Fiesta fare : TACO
52. Hebrew winter month : ADAR
53. City captured in the Six-Day War : GAZA
55. Brief "Don't ask so many questions!" : MYOB - Mind Your Own Business
56. Turn in the fridge : SOUR
59. __ whim : ON A
60. Hagen of the stage : UTA
--- On a personal note, my HR guy came around yesterday to offer me a driving position at UPS - my road test is Monday, 10am. - Splynter
Hello, all!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday, Agnes and Bradley!
Went to contribute this on Friday blog and Saturday was already there! So I filled in the last 4 letters real quick. (Had worked it all w/o cheats. Was going to leave last letters to ponder on tomorrow, but couldn't wait to finish. So 2 red letters! 30 minutes!
Merciful puzzle, Brad and Doug! Will read write-up later, Splynter! Did not really know ALLA but seemed to fit other ways. Did not get puzzled by DEISM again.
It is getting hot here! My tomato plants should arrive from Burpee soon. Ersatz gardener will hopefully drop in to enpot them! (New word?)
Have a great day everyone!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThis one was waaaay out of my wheelhouse, especially the NW corner. Surprisingly, however, I managed to get through by making a bunch of WAGS. Never heard of BALLET FLATS, but it seemed like it could be a real thing. I've vaguely heard of CURACAO, so maybe there's something called BLUE CURACAO? Could SLACKTIVIST possibly be a word? Sure, why not... Unfortunately, that all left me with FRIML, which couldn't possibly be right, could it? Well, waddayaknow...
Elsewhere, I struggled with BARI, PIPE (never heard of a PIPE rack before), DOS (took me a long time to get the tricky clue) and BONET. Actually knew REBEC, however, so that helped a bit. SO THERE!
[flighey]
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new position at UPS, Splynter! That is one tough job, so good luck on your road test.
I had SCADS of white space on the first pass. But I got lucky with some long fill like DISRELI, AUDIO BOOKS and MAD ABOUT YOU, which were spread out enough to give me a foothold in each area.
IN the NW, I had BBS, ALLA and LUAU, which helped fill in BALLET FLATS. I do like them, because they are so comfortable.
Loved seeing the clue for ALP - I have had many a ride in those gondolas! And like Barry, I had never seen the word SLAKTIVIST, and FRIML was only vaguely familiar. But I got it done without any lookups, so it was all good.
Spring is finally springing - time to go out and work in the yard. Have a great day, everyone!
Splynter: Excellent write-up (as Always!) AND links.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the Road Test Monday.
BALLET FLATS ... isn't that Lester's sister???
SOT HERE ... isn't that a Pub client???
DNF ... finished my coffee (time limit) before filling in all the white spaces.
A "toast" to ALL at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Good morning, Saturday solvers!
ReplyDeleteWow, the NW was brutal. I knew the shoes were some kind of FLATS, and had enough letters to wag BLUE CURACAO. That made me think that 17A had to be some type of ACTIVIST, the "AC" ultimately wrong. And with VEAL and NUKE instead of ALLA and LUAU it was a real mess. LECTERN finally set things straight.
I've learned from this blog that BARI is not that square thingey in the middle of the Adriatic. I fell into the same Gondola trap as Splynter. BTW, what is your "personal favorite?" That space is empty on my screen.
On the positive side, I got FRIML right away. I remember him from grade school music appreciation class with his Donkey Serename. Barry should remember him as the composer of Indian Love Call used in Mars Attacks!
That Serename (Surinam?) was supposed to be Serenade. D'oh!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Saturday Solvers! Well, Brad and Doug served up a DNF for me today, but I enjoyed the ride. Splynter, great expo as always. Good luck on your driving test Monday.
ReplyDeleteMessed up the whole NW corner by refusing to let go of SEE HERE at 11D, which made SLACKTIVIST impossible to suss. Knew the Smurf cocktail had to be BLUE-something, but the rest was a mystery. Had better luck in the SE where MAD ABOUT YOU, BRAZEN IT OUT, and ABRACADABRA appeared like magic. Hand up for filling ATOM BOMB before ATOMIC AGE. Learning moments were REBEC and BARI.
Happy belated birthday wishes to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you celebrated doing all your favorite things.
At last, some Spring-like weather today, with temps in the 60’s and plenty of sunshine. Will have to make some time for a nice long walk.
Enjoy the weekend, all!
The Smurf cocktail saved me, notice the ingredients, BBS was too tricky for me as was ALP. When the three letter ones are hard, Saturday can be lots of work.
ReplyDeleteFRIML.
It is interesting how often words used by constructors do show up like ENRON and ICK.
Thanks BW and DP. Splynter, you do it best, and respondents are easier to remember than appellees.
Nice weekend all, 61 and sunny here
Now I remember FRIML, is that what is on the shift lever in an automatic transmission car?
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteBelated HBDY greetings to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you had a great special day.
I'm starting to get used to the Brad and Doug puzzles, too. I had a lot of white to start but gradually found anchors: ESP, DISRAELI, ATOMIC AGE, ABRACADABRA, and ROME. Filled outward from the center; LOBOS was a WAG. Then tackled the long fill at bottom; then top. Have not heard 'BRAZEN IT OUT' but similar phrases abound: ie. 'tough it out', etc. On 19a, finally noticed the '.' and plunked in AUTH.
49d, we have had REBEC before. Also vaguely remembered FRIML
Favorite clue was for 16a, XII.
Have a great day.
OK, I’ll settle for not knowing liqueurs and Czech composers, my two bad cells and move on with my life.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Gut it out, tough it out, yes. BRAZEN IT OUT? Hey I got it and completing a triple 11 stack can’t be easy
-SLACKTIVIST is new/fun to me but “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Sometimes you have to get real and expect more of yourself and others. Wishing don’t make it so.
-Joann and I lack ESP but living together for 46 years clues us into what the other is thinking very often
-We rode this GONDOLA (1:19) two weeks ago
-BTW, Gutzon Borglum started the carving above, had it wiped out after he got fired and then started another project with ABE and the boys just west of Rapid City, SD that I think is still there today ;-)
-Is a DUKE also a 4-letter peerage member like the EARL of Grantham?
-A SBARRO calzone may not be haute cuisine, but, I love ‘em.
-New info to me on DISRAELI. Ain’t it amazin’ what we learn here?
-What did NYC use for confetti for parades in the Canyon of Heroes before shredders?
-Two truckers got into a “you cut me off” beef two nights ago here and instead of calling the other guy a SO AND SO, an Oklahoman driver pulled out a pistol and fired. No one got hurt but I hope he likes NE jail food.
-I swear some STOWABLE luggage is made to exactly fill a bin to the exclusion of any other items
-The Manhattan Project workers, more than Morse, could really have asked, “What hath God wrought?”
-Those guys in ROME had a long winning streak until…
-I don’t think Lisa BONET and Bill Cosby exchange Christmas cards
-Steve Alford had agreed to a 10-year deal to keep coaching the LOBOS and then last week got an offer to coach at UCLA and ran out on New Mexico. Some coaches preach loyalty more than they practice it.
-Good Luck Splynter. Maybe you and Doug Heffernan can carpool to work.
Hi All ~~
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable challenge today ~ thanks Brad & Doug. Being able to get most of the long answers helped me to figure out the shorter ones I wasn't sure of. Thanks for a great write-up, Splynter. Your explanations helped me to "get" a few things that filled in but weren't really clear to me. BTW - where did you find those ugly things for BALLET FLATS??
~ Write-overs included Veal/ALLA, Tsk/TUT and Oddest/RAREST.
~ 9D ACID was slow to fill - I was thinking 'Acidic' was a better fit with 'Biting.'
~ Tricky for me: 14D - Hanger in a rack/PIPE and 63A Buns/ DOS. Splynter, I chuckled at your comment on Princess Leia.
~ Unknowns: FRIML and BARI.
~ Like Spitz, I've never heard BRAZEN IT OUT and I needed perps to finally see it.
~ Favorites: 16A - It's at the top of many a face - XII and 56D - 'Turn in the fridge' - SOUR. I was thinking of moving things around in there. Duh.
A full sports day for us today - Red Sox at 1:00, Tigers at 4:00 and then basketball playoffs at 6:00 and 8:30.
Many unknowns for me. I was able to finish with google help.
ReplyDeleteSome day I hope to finish a Saturday with no help. I am going to keep trying.
Off to ride my bike.. Nice day to enjoy before the heat. I am glad the north east is finally getting some nice weather.
Ack! I accidentally saw the last answer on the grid trying to click on the comments without looking. Rats! Now I have to claim a DNF before I have even started the puzzle!
ReplyDeleteCC! This is your fault! I just read yesterdays late(r) comments & discovered I have been remiss in Happy Birthday Wishing!
H(B)BD Irish Miss!
H(B)BD Abejo!
No Fair CC! A Saturday challenge wasted! How can I claim victory over a Saturday Stumper when I already know the last answer!!!
(Oh, who am I kidding,,, I have never finished a Saturday without help in the 1-1/2 years I have been visiting the Blog...)
Off to do the puzzle, with the red letters on...(sigh)
Splynter. Most grateful for your excellent explanations. Only got about seven answers myself. Then went to the web and learned a lot about Saturn's new moons - Dione! - and Disraeli - the liberal conservative.
ReplyDeleteThen found your fantastic site. Love your side comments. Shows a full-of-life personality!
Deacon John
Addendum and “for no particular reason” – Forest Gump
ReplyDelete-I just got this wonderful video from a good friend. Turn up the volume and enjoy. Age is just a number and like “hope”, “rock and roll springs eternal!” Enjoy!
Except for the top three lines and AUTH, I got all of this -- surprisingly, since I knew very little of the fill. Just poked away on it until something struck a chord enough to allow WAGS to work.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any idea what to put in the long three at the top, and for perps I had VEAL, TSK, LAVA, TASERS, and SEE HERE, only two of which would have helped and not hindered.
Husker,
You're right--great video!
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteWhile this was no walk in the park, I finished w/o help in less than normal-Saturday time. Went astray with Panera before Sbarro, locos before lobos, and veal before alla, but perps and wags saved the day.
So, Brad and Doug, a job well done and thanks, Splynter, for your usual spot-on expo. And good luck on your driving test Monday.
Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes. My sister, Peggy, had a party for me last night. She made pizza, which was yummy, and ordered trays of appetizers from
a favorite Italian restaurant: clams casino, crab stuffed mushrooms, shrimp scampi, eggplant rollitini, roasted red peppers and broccoli. Dessert was homemade chocolate cake. Everything was delicious.
I received numerous gift cards, which I haven't checked
yet, a stylus for my iPad, and a 1.75 liter of Tin's favorite beverage, except mine is Dewar's! All in all, a very enjoyable evening. I hope Abejo's was as pleasant.
Happy Saturday to all.
PS to CED - Thanks for the "purr-fect card!
ReplyDeleteHusker, thanx for the Runaround Sue video.
ReplyDeleteAnd belated happy birthdays to Irish Miss and Abejo. I was already gone for the day when C.C. posted them yesterday.
Oops, I guess I owe an apology to CC. It turns out the last answer on the grid, "Abracadabra," was one I could have gotten with my eyes closed after reading the clue. The rest of the puzzle? (not so much...)
ReplyDeleteBut there is still one question in my (HBD FIle) mind, "Who is Bradley???"
Gondola had me looking for a 3 letter balloon. Stone Mountain? Wow, it really is a Stone mountain! Tx HG!
Well, it's official, I now dread B and Ds as much as I dread Saturday Silkies. But judging from how well everybody else does with their puzzles, the fault must lie with me and not with the clueing. I did get a bit of a toehold in the mid-East and Southeast with DISRAELI and ABRACADABRA, which I got right off the bat. But except for odd bits here and there, the rest was achieved by massive cheating--not my favorite way to do a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHad POLE rather than PIPE and so had XIO for that round face top. Would never have understood that one without Splynter's picture.
Did learn something new: have never heard or seen a REBEC before.
Well, it's lovely to see that spring has sprung for our friends in the colder climes--so that's wonderful!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Sound of the rebec. Check out the bow.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Weekend Warriors! A salute to you, Splynter, and good luck on your road test!
ReplyDeleteWEES. You have all said it best and I experienced mostly the same with the bottom almost filling itself once MAD ABOUT YOU appeared. I loved that show.
However, I had DOMINO then CAESAR before SBARRO unchained me.
ECKHART and FRIML are unknown so had to research them and then forgot to complete the NE!! As Lemonade aptly said, when the three letter ones are hard . . .
Altogether a very good challenge from Brad and Doug.
Desper-O:
Are you thinking of Ferde Grofe who wrote the Grand Canyon Suite and contains the Donkey Serenade?
Have a stupendous Saturday, everyone!
Oops. I stand corrected. Rudolf FRIML wrote "Donkey Serenade" as a stand alone piece. Ferde Grofe's was part of a suite. I'm sorry, D-O. You are right.
ReplyDeleteStarted this puzzle thinking, "Gee, what an easy Saturday". Well, we all know what pride comes before...
ReplyDeleteBTW did anyone ever explain why Chichester Chap yesterday was BUCKO? Still don't get that.
Hello everybody. Sheesh, this was a hard puzzle in some areas (Imma talkin' 'bout you, northwest!) and much easier in others. Some long answers I filled relatively easily, such as INSULATOR and MAD ABOUT YOU, which gave me significant footholds. Then there were other answers that I didn't understand even after getting them filled in, such as BBS and AUTH. 20 minutes later the pennies dropped and I had my Aha moment.
ReplyDeleteWanting EIGHT TRACKS for 27D impeded my progress for a long time.
Every time I see "bari" I think of a member of a barbershop quartet, or a mid-sized tuba-like horn.
I think ABRACADABRA is the name of one of the pagan evil demons, like Asmodeus, whose name should never be spoken.
Which reminds me of a Romanian friend of mine who refuses to ever look at photographs of people's shadows. She considers them signs of evil, or cursed, or something like that.
Best wishes to you all.
As others have said, the first pass resulted in lots of white squares. I managed to gain traction in the very SE and work my way back from there. WAGged most answers, Googled FRIML, DIONE and CURACAO. Never watched MAD ABOUT YOU. Had raDIOBOOKS at first, but COUNT ME IN fixed that. Guessed BB'S immediately, but that sure didnt help anything, so I waited.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the BAJA MARIMBA BAND from the 60's??
The name Rudolph Friml has been rolling around in my head all day and now I finally remembered where that name was buried in my mental netherworld. When Harold Hill was with Marian the Librarian at the footbridge in The Music Man, Marcellus interrupts to tell the “professor” that there is trouble afoot in River City. Harold excuses himself by telling Marian, “I’m expecting a telegram from Rudy Friml and this may be it.” He was naming a very famous musician of that time.
ReplyDeleteOne site even says Rudolph Friml was one of the music coordinators on “The Music Man” but I couldn’t find a second source or his name here.
Friml’s most famous song seems to be Indian Love Call, you know, “I am calling you-oo-oo-oo-oo -oo!” for Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Rose Marie with Donkey Serenade a close second.
How ‘bout dat?
Well, thank you Lucina for making that correction. I would hate to get my Friml and Grofe's mixed up, at say a cocktail party, while trying to impress someone with my vast musical knowledge!!! Tee hee. :)
ReplyDeleteI had a DNF. Couldn't get the M in Friml nor M and D in acid and made. Close, soooo close.
Boy I've missed birthdays galore this week. Irish Miss, sounds like the party was truly a gala. HBTY Abejo!
Have a great Saturday. GO BLUE!!!
Easy, strangely easy for Saturday. ABE was the first short word to fall, and then DISRAELI, probably the most obvious of today's clue-to-answer matches.
ReplyDeleteNone of the long ones were of much interest, except maybe ABRACADABRA, which fell pretty easily and opened up the SE corner for me. The toughest section was the NE because ALP was not obvious. But PIPE led me to that and to the finish.
Jayce @1:19
ReplyDeleteOf course, when I read your comment I said "Asmodeus" out loud.
Sooooo, I guess I'm screwed.
(but that could be "A good thing!")
Cheers!!!
Forgot to mention that BARI was an easy 3rd answer for me--because it was the first place we landed in Italy many, many years ago, coming by ferry from Dubrovnik. It stays in my memory because I didn't have a handle on the Lira currency. I tipped the Bari port taxi driver too much. I didn't know it was all that much until he abandoned his car to open the hotel door for us while all the time blessing me, my wife, and our yet-to-be-born children. He swore to remember my generosity in his prayers.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! I usually do better with Brad & Doug than a Sat.Silkie and this is no exception, though I still need red letter redirection. Enjoyed it, guys, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAlways interesting comments & links, Splynter! Those shoes look dangerous! How could you dance in those? Ballet flats were popular in my "ute".
Good grief! An ICK leftover from yesterday?
Thought I'd never heard of FRIML. My mother had a piece of sheet music from "Rosemarie" of "Indian Love Call" which we loved. Man, you can really howl on that one! OOOO-ooo-ooo! I guess the song is more important to me than the composer's name.
HG: Never too old to dance to that song, even when it's hard to lift the feet. Great clip.
From yesterday, Tape will go great on my old Motorola cell phone. I'm not sure I'm savy enough for an iPhone. My son sent me a picture of his son playing baseball taken on his iPhone. It stopped action so well, the ball was suspended in the air.
Husker, I loved hearing about Friml in relation to "The Music Man," one of my favorite musicals of all time. Redeems this morning's puzzle for me--many thanks!
ReplyDeleteTinbeni, you're screwed! By a succubus maybe? LOL
ReplyDeleteHusker G. @ 10:49, absolutely wonderful video! Oh, and at 1:24, thank you thank you thank you for that info on Rudy Friml...he was in my deep recesses, but I couldn't for the life of me remember why. "The Music Man" is one of my all time favorite movies - right up there with "It's a wonderful Life."
ReplyDeleteTin @ 1:46, did you pronounce it ASmoDAYus or asMOdee-us???
GarlicGal:
ReplyDeleteLOL! Actually I read Rudy's fascinating biography but of course was focused only on the Donkey serenade. He had an amazingly long list of compositions including some ditties such as the introductory cues for the David Frost show and Indian Love Call has been mentioned. He was prolific.
Happy Saturday! Well, I finished with red-letter help. There were some enjoyable and tricky clues but it was way too hard for me with too many unknown words to call it fun.
ReplyDeleteThe classic Jack Benny link had an adjoining link to a Chet Atkins video so I've gotten sidetracked listening to him, one of the best guitarists ever. He reminds me of Fred Astaire in that he makes doing something hard look so effortless.
Say, how do you pronounce 'interesting'? I give it three syllables. You?
Bill G, I also give it 3 syllables, except when I melodramatize it by twirling my mustache and intoning, "Verrry eeeenterestink!"
ReplyDeleteTinbeni, maybe you're not screwed after all.
Hola Everyone, Saturday puzzles are not my forte, but I enjoyed this one. I had most of the answers, but Googled to get Mad About You, and Bari. I used to watch "Mad About You", but I didn't remember Buchmans as their name.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Splynter on your writeup today and your new position. Good Luck with your road test.
I've never heard of SBarro. It must be an East Coast thing. Even Googling Pizza chains, etc. It never came up.
We've listened to Audio Books for many years. However, many of ours are on tapes and our newer cars only have CD players. Tapes are truly our for all time, I think.
Have a great weekend everyone. We're having a gray, lazy Saturday here at our house. So much company has worn us both out. I have housework to do, but as my mother used to say, "It will be waiting for you when you are ready."
Chickie:
ReplyDeleteSBARRO is common in AZ and I've seen it in NY, too. Anyone else?
SBARRO is in every mall around here - locations. As a matter of fact, one fact that struck me during our trip was the homogenization of America. Instead of retailers with local flavor, the entire country is suffused with Wal Mart’s, McDonalds, Ruby Tuesday’s, Waffle House’s, Ace Hardware, Penny’s, Gaps, ad nauseum.
ReplyDeleteThe best meal we had was at Sticky Fingers in Charleston, SC.
Well, off to tune up the 12-string. I’m singing at 5 pm church.
GarlicGal: I actually sorta met Ferde Grofe at a cocktail party in Colorado as a very young woman. Well, I was stationed at the door with another girl to direct guests to the buffet or bar as they entered. We were sorta jr. guests being affiliated with the host on a personal level.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I never thought to look for the origins of Abracadabra.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I posted it, anyone can Google Abracadabra,
but can you do this?
Have any of you seen "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"? I came across it on cable, recorded it and have just started watching it. It's got several people in it I recognize; one from The Full Monty, two from Downton Abbey, etc. I am hopeful...
ReplyDeleteBillG:
ReplyDeleteIt's a very funny and really good movie with a tremendous cast as you can see. Bill Nighy,especially, was a real surprise. He can really deliver some funny lines.
A pure brute today. First fill was lava,second was Uta. That left a sea of white space. Dug in and gutted it out til most was full....thankfully my misspent youth with Rock and Roll gave me the Jewish PM due to Cream to break that area open. Finally had to resort to the G spot in the NW to get blue curaçao, then confirmed alla in lieu of my worst sticking point, veal. Bonet seemed likely, but SB was difficult to accept. Got over it. All told lots of unknowns, but it was a respectable challenge. Technical DNF, but the grid was full before coming here.
ReplyDeleteI'm flying solo today, so I worked a couple-three hours, transplanted my tomatoes and eggplants from ice trays to larger pots and have been watching old movies. Got roped in by Rio Bravo and am now watching The Shawshank Redemption. On the former, who knew that Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson could act? And I'd no idea that Angie Dickenson ever looked like that. On the latter, what a great movie! It's been too many years.
PK. I love it! A real Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation story.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed today's puzzle , little things limited our rate of progress ! Gondola clue was one of them & slacktivist??? Autocorrect didn't let me put it in print ! Most of the long fills went well except for that one. So enjoyed musings today ! See you Monday , as our paper doesn't carry tomorrow's puzzle ! Thanks to all , the comments are great.! To be honest , I do like it when Barry has a few struggles ... It gives me hope !
ReplyDeleteI went to the hardware store today to get yard supplies and some 12" pavers to put around my new gas meter since nothing will grow there. Before I went in, a nice older man saw me looking over what they had and asked if he could help. I said I would need help when I came out.
ReplyDeleteWell, when I came out, he had escaped to parts unknown. I backed as close as I could and started carrying the heavy things one at a time. A young lady came and started helping me. She didn't even work there. She was waiting in the car for her husband and just wanted to be useful. Made my day, because I don't think I could have done it all myself. I probably would have gone back in and got help. But they were really busy.
Now I hope I can rally my yard men to take them out of my trunk and place them.
Happy Birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo!
ReplyDeleteBALLET FLATS-I pay no attention to trends now. Since I wear a size 4 children's shoe and have a weird gait now, I have 3 high-end Nikes that I alternate.
SBARRO- They are in the mall here. Does anyone go to the malls anymore??
Liked top of round face-XII (Thought of Charlie Brown at first)
Listless=LANGUID. A new vocabulary word for me.
INSULATOR-I got it! I pulled it out of my brain recesses and was very proud of myself.
AUDIO BOOKS- Listened to Ken Burns Civil war while touring battle sites 2 years ago. Made the travel time shorter and meaningful.
Well, Wichita State lost and now my husband and son want me to watch a movie with them.
I thought this was a fairly easy puzzle for a Sat. Answers just emerged steadily. I still confess a DNF because of the D at 28 A & D. No clue at all.
ReplyDeleteBill G. INTERESTING came to mind :)
Joe, Got lassoed into watching Rio Bravo also, I realized part way through that El Dorado was just a regurgitation of that one. Still, can't dis the Duke!
Correction,
ReplyDelete"Still, I can't dis the Duke!"
Hmm,
ReplyDeleteTop of a round face?
Bad Hairdo?
You started it Dave!
ReplyDeleteHair?