Theme: Deal me in.
Each of the five theme answers are phrases with the last word of the phrase being a type of card game, clued in a modified clecho fashion. This is our 26th puzzle from James, and the first in 2013. I had the pleasure of blogging two earlier Friday efforts, one of which was a similarly themed puzzle relating to farms.
He does use the 15 x 16 grid to get his grid spanner in. He does it so seamlessly, you might not have noticed.
All our puzzles are available in the archives, as is the wonderful INTERVIEW done by C.C. I saw the theme when I got LONELY HEARTS, and without it I would have been dead in the water as there were many clues which strained my fading memory. I am not sure all of his cluing was according to Hoyle, but we must persevere. See if you agree with my favorites as we go through the solving.
18A. Card game horn music? : WINDS OF WAR.(10) A wonderful book by Herman Wouk; I was surprised that the simplest of card games WAR is now played for money by many at casinos.
25A. Card game where one person plays all the hands? : LONELY HEARTS.(12) Like many other trick taking games, HEARTS is best played with 4 people, who should be listening to this SONG.(2:02). Before we had dating sites we had Lonely Hearts ads.
40A. Card game played in dugouts? : DIAMOND SOLITAIRE.(16) Tiffany's in New York is credited with introducing the ring with just one lone stone. Baseball is played on a diamond, where the teams wait in dugouts.
55A. Card game by the Thames? : LONDON BRIDGE.(12) The most widely played and competitive of the bidding games. Bridge columns still run on the crossword page in the few newspapers left. My favorite memory (other than my father throwing cards in frustration when Aunt Dora trumped his Ace) LINK.(2:04). The 1831 bridge was moved to Lake Havasu City Arizona. A shout out to all our Arizona posters. (Where did you go Frenchie and Robin?)
66A. Card game requiring waterproof cards? : BATH TUB GIN.(10) Gin describes a number of games in the Gin/Rummy family. Knock Gin is a big money game in the northeast. Prohibition gave us the vile homemade SPIRITS,
Across:
1. This and that : BOTH. Simple, but I did not see it.
5. Cries : SOBS. Okay, now we are off. and the almost clecho 1D. Cried : BAWLED..
9. Open the door for : ADMIT. But not the big bad wolf.
14. Met moment : ARIA. The Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan at Lincoln Center.
15. Water-based paint : LATEX.
17. Mary ___: ship in a Hammond Innes novel : DEARE. It was titled The Wreck of the Mary Deare. He wrote 30 or so thrillers LINK.
20. Cub of comics : OLSEN (Jimmy). Reading all the old Superman comic books paid off.
21. Big backup : LOG JAM. From the problems caused by the logs sent downstream.
22. Fight in Dogpatch : RASSLE, Deserves at least one picture of the style inspired by Daisy Mae
24. 90-degree fitting : ELL.
30. 25% of Off Deep Woods : DEET. N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, abbreviated DEET,
32. "Am not!" retort : ARE SO.
33. Sushi shop offering : AHI. Fancy.
34. Crop up : ARISE.
37. ___ noodles: Chinese dish : WONTON. Not to be confused with wanton as in women.
45. Dream up : INVENT. Like the process of these puzzles.
46. City south of Metz : NANCY. Site of WWII BATTLE. also, 70A. WWII beachhead near Rome : ANZIO.
47. Carrying-on : ADO.
48. Consumed : EATEN. Food, jealousy?
51. Mail folder : SENT.
60. "Don't think so" : NAH.
61. "Ed Wood" Oscar winner : LANDAU. Martin Landau has been in many films and TV shows but his turn as Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 from Outer Space won him the award. LINK
62. Unlike couch potatoes : ACTIVE.
64. Pong developer : ATARI. The first.
69. Contact, in a way : RADIO. Before cell phones, we radioed for help.
71. Portly pirate : SMEE. Is Hook's man the only fat pirate?
72. Last name of Phineas in Disney's "Phineas and Ferb" : FLYNN. This with TAL almost did me in but only an L made sense. Never heard of the show/movie?
73. Tablet named for an organ : TUMS. For the tummy (an organ?)
74. Gone : PAST. Well the Acrosses are done.
Down:
2. Brightly plumed songbird : ORIOLE. They beat the Yankees yesterday.
3. Bit of excitement : TINGLE. Movie scared the crap out of me when I was little.
4. One of Islam's five pillars : HADJ.
5. Ref's aid : SLOMO. Slow motion replay.
6. Lout : OAF.
7. Texter's "Meant to tell you" : BTW. By The Way.
8. Celebrex developer : SEARLE. They were bought by Pfizer which dispense their products by prescribing....
9. ___ of reality : A DOSE.
10. Huey, Dewey and Louie's mom, in early comics : DELLA. Nope, nothing registered.
11. 1993 Fiat acquisition : MASERATI. vroom.
12. Hostility : IRE.
13. Decimal base : TEN. Our number system is a base ten but I will let Fermat and Bill G. do their mathematical thing.
16. Looks into? : X-RAYS. Love this clue as well, really sneaking and yet literally true.
19. "Do the Right Thing" pizzeria owner : SAL. This MOVIE.(4:22).
23. Do Jeeves's job : SHOW IN. Hey Vidwan, did you know P.G. Wodehouse was coming up, you had two references to him in the last week (one makes me blush)? I had a very hard time with this as Jeeves's job was to save Bertie from himself, played so well by Dr. House.
26. Old 38-Down overseer : NASD. National Association of Security Dealers.
27. "___ Tu": 1974 hit : ERES. You are so beautiful, to me. LISTEN.(3:04)
28. Wielder of a hammer called Mjölnir : THOR. I love the comic, hated the movie.
29. Trig function : SINE.
31. Hardly exciting : TAME. Lame, what's your game?
35. Popeil of infomercials : RON. One spring while in LA on business, my brother and I spend an afternoon with a Realtor touting houses for sale, and one was Ron Popeil's house, and sure enough every closet was stuffed with things he sold. Sadly no cell phone cameras in those days.
36. Mean : INTEND. Sometimes people intend to be mean.
38. Like some stocks : OTC. Over The Counter.
39. Thumbs-down votes : NAYS.
40. Retro phone feature : DIAL. Why was it called dial tone and is it now called digital tone?
41. China lead-in : INDO.
42. Iconic sales rep : AVON LADY. Who's calling?
43. "Dedicated to the ___ Love": '50s-'60s hit : ONE I. Made more famous by the Mama's and the Papas and the Shirelles.
44. Touch down : LAND.
49. Addis ___ : ABABA. This capital was in the first puzzle I blogged at the Corner.
50. Out of one's class? : TRUANT. Great clue, the word comes from the French for vagabond.
52. Conundrum : ENIGMA. This had me puzzled.
53. Armadas : NAVIES. 1588?
54. Large search area : THE NET. This had me fooled for a while thinking outside.
56. "Splish Splash" singer : DARIN. More 50's music. I love Kevin Spacey in the movie Beyond the Sea, worth watching, but he was not the ORIGINAL.(2:18).
57. Stew veggie : ONION. Did you stew on this clue for long?
58. Perros may chase them : GATOS. Spanish dogs apparently chase Spanish cats, and the beginning of our canine corner.
59. Old French coin : ECU. Pure crosswordese.
63. Recipe amt. : TBSP. Tablespoon of sugar? Too much, eh Mary?
64. "Can I go out?" : ARF. I LOVE this clue.
65. 1960-'61 chess champ : TAL. I have no memory of this CHAMP. Bobby Fischer is my first chess master. I never knew we had a Latvian on top of the chess world. This with FLYNN, almost did me in, but the L gave the ta da.
67. Shih ___ : TZU. Woof, woof. More puppies. A breed originating from China with a name sure to make the little ones giggle. My ex has two.
68. One of LBJ's beagles : HIM. The other was HER and there was quite the scandal when he picked on up by the ears.
Well this puzzle has gone to the dogs, so I guess it is time for me to get my pooper scooper and get out of here, leaving you all to your memories.
Until next time, L out.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteAlmost gave up on this one, to be honest. I got DIAMOND SOLITAIRE early on, but for some reason I thought that was actually the name of a real card game and didn't realize for the longest time that we were dealing with card game puns.
Elsewhere, I was stymied by DELLA, NANCY, WONTON (soup, yes, but not noodles), HADJ, XRAY, SEARLE... Just brutal all over the place for me.
I did manage to eventually make it through unassisted, however, until I hit the crossing of HIM and TUMS. "Tablet named after an organ"? TUMS??? I sort of see it now thanks to Lemonade's write up, but I was thinking about some sort of PDA and not a pill...
[dgtstat]
Good morning! Rumor has it that this will be a holiday weekend. Hard to keep track of when every day's a holiday. DW's visiting mom in Europe, so I'll be tending the critters by myself.
ReplyDeleteI found several ways to go wrong today: SEE IN/ADMIT, EEL/AHI, BUTTLE/SHOW IN. None lasted very long.
I saw the LONDON BRIDGE in AZ. I was disappointed. I guess I thought the Tower Bridge was the London Bridge. This was just a low, not very remarkable bridge.
Martin LANDAU always dredges up memories of Mission Impossible, along with Peter Graves and Barbara Bain.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to try BUTTLE.
ReplyDeletePsst! Wanna buy a bridge? Looks just like the London Bridge. LINK You have to move it yourself. No delivery.
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteWhew! After my initial pass the grid had so much white showing, it reminded mr of our yard after the Feb blizzard ended. The breakthrough came when I solved BATHTUB GIN. Up to then, I was really stymied by the theme clues.
50D Out of ones class/TRUANT reminded me of me! But that was long ago.
The NW corner was the last section to complete and it nearly did me in. I was sure DEET was wrong, but Deyt looked worse and I felt TINGLE was right, not Tingly.
Sooo, happy to have a successful Friday. They are rare .
I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe Memorial Day weekend.
ReplyDeleteOff to the races when OLIO fit so smoothly into 1A. Then I thought, this is Friday. I'd better prove it before moving on. Quickly filled in ORIOLE ARIA ELL and DEET, but that was all.
Alternated hare and tortoise pace progress through the rest of the puzzle and had some AHA, DOH, and DUH moments.
LONDON BRIDGE was my first AHA, followed by BATHTUB GIN.
Give me a few DOHs for trying to read too much into the clues and trying to make the answers too tough, like Touch down = LAND and consumed = EATEN.
Finally, the DUHs for mistakes in the SE like left for gone instead of PAST, and as well, I had a SPAM folder instead of a SENT folder. That was a tortoise area until I corrected those two.
The unknowns like TAL and DEARE were filled by perps. SEARLE's L is what allowed me to see LONELY HEARTS along with the other perps. Would never have known ERES Tu were it not for perps.
NW was last to fill. Finally got 1D BALLED (double DOH !) and then the AHA when I changed that to W and saw WINDS of WAR.
Favorites were figurative "Can I go out ?" = ARF and literal Out of one's class = TRUANT.
All in all, good stuff. Time to read the write up and comments.
Fun theme. I have played all these games, with endless rounds of War. In Hearts the one who captures the most tricks wins with one exception. If you lose every trick you are the winner. If the other players catch on they try to force you to take one trick. My kids were so intent on "Get mommy!" that I often sneakily lost them all and won.
ReplyDeleteClecho: admit and show in.
D..O. Landau always makes me think of Mission Impossible.
I never heard of Della.
Bath tub gin gave me my start.
Wontons are noodle dough cooked in the soup.
Lemonade, your blogs are alawys alawys interesting and clever.
Good morning and happy Friday everybody! This was a great puzzle. I had a DNF because I ran out of time, but I liked what I saw and enjoyed Lemon's write up.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites were 16D: Looks into? XRAYS and 50D Out of one's class? TRUANT.
I never would have gotten BOTH for This and That!
Have a great weekend!
There is also a nice symmetry to the card games' letter length: 3/6/9/6/3
ReplyDeleteSanta et al,
ReplyDeleteSometime ago Spitzboov linked a video clip of birds snapping fish out of lakes. Can you help me find the clip? Thanks.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your write-up Lemony, but I have to go back to listen to the videos later. Lots of oldies there! I cracked up about your WONTON women comment.
I laughed out loud when I got down to BATHTUB GIN...I had a visual of two couples in a tub with their rubber duckies, playing with waterproof cards. Too funny!
TGIF - have a great holiday weekend everyone. We will have mostly rain, but that means I don't have to do any yard work - yippee!
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a great puzzle: clever theme, good cluing, lots of fresh fill, and a fun solve. Loved the clues for arf, truant, and X-rays. All in all, a very satisfying Friday.
We are in for a soggy and cold weekend; temp for Saturday only 50. Brrr.
Going to a birthday party tonight for my favorite niece. Menu: Appetizers: Fontinella cheese/crackers, Soppressata ( sp?), Clams Casino, followed by Baked stuffed shells, Eggplant parm, Broiled chicken wings, Tossed salad, Italian bread. As she didn't want a cake, dessert wll be apple pie, and blueberry pie (her favorite) and Vanilla ice cream.
Happy Friday.
Great stuff Lemonade. Thanks. You too James Sadjak!
ReplyDeleteCC Dec 10, 8:55 AM
I got so carried away with all that food, I forgot to compliment James S for his fine effort and to thank Lemony for the witty and informative expo!
ReplyDeleteTTP,
ReplyDeleteYou're a genius! Thanks a bunch.
Grandma Montana,
Congratulations!
Thank you Lemonade, for your humorous and witty blog. It was fun filling the letters in, as you read them out. And when I got the full house, I yelled."Bingo'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning Jeeves and me, alas, I was trying for 'Show-wit', since 'Valet' would not fit. Still reading, P.G. Wodehouse - I find it very relaxing before going to sleep. At 135+ books, I have a long way to go ..... I visited (past his - ) final residence in Southampton NY, before he died in 1975.
For Celebrex developer, I 'got' Searle, though I thought of 'Pfizer' first. My wife says, Celebrex is now being prescribed again, after the plethora of product liability lawsuits. Apparently, it is still very much in fashion, especially for orthopedic cases.
I also asked her, just now, if the tummy was an organ, and she says,'Sure it is'. But maybe we should ask another health professional, for a second opinion, just to be doubly sure.
Have a nice day, you all.
In case anyone missed last time, here is Spitzboov's "Gone Fishing" link.
ReplyDeleteTook me an age to get a foothold here, but finally with lots of WAGs for all the unknowns, I was done except for the NW, because I never got WINDS. I had WAILED/BAWLED too, so only after cheating here did I get it finished. And then I discovered I was wrong with DARLA/DERLA too, having never heard of either that or DEARE.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend all of you.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI was very confused because the UPuzzle site interactive version cut off the last 2 right columns. The Little Abner fight was RASS.
I came here to see it is a normal puzzle after all. After the one that had the answers going around corners I initially thought there was a gimmick.
Today was a workout! Thought the same as so many others. OLIO? No, BOTH. I will admit I thought of BUTTLE, but I already had perps, so I knew that wasnt right. Had quite a few WAGS, but they all were correct.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Arizona shout-out, Lemon! I have lived here over 30 years, and never seen the London Bridge.
Montana (from yesterday), congratulations.
ReplyDeleteYR (from yesterday), glad that stylus is working for you.
Sallie (from yesterday), sorry to hear about your setback. Keep your chin up!
Day two and the hummy feeders are still "hangin' in there." I'll keep trying.
For those of you who were slowed down by the reference to Winds of War HERMAN WOUK has long been a favorite of crossword puzzle creators because of the popularioty and clarity of his works, ranging from the hugely successful Caine Mutiny (who can forget Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg) the insightful Marjorie Morningstar and the powerful Winds of War amd War and Remembrance .
ReplyDeleteThe 98 year old author took 13 years to research and write his two volume epic of World War II, and published a book last year.
I got sooooo close to getting this one, but in the end, no cigar. (I don't smoke, so who cares). I got that dumb DEE_, but didn't know whether to put TAME or LAME and unfortunately went with LAME. I still don't get it--what is "Off! Deep Woods"? Then I stupidly had SEND instead of SENT and kept wondering what DHENET was. But I loved every one of the themes, and that impressive grid spanner in the middle, and, of course, ARF! So many thanks, James--and you too, Lemony, for a great write-up.
ReplyDeleteOne frustration is that I thought I really knew my comics, but DELLA stumped me (I was thinking DAISY Duck, for some reason). Of course I thought bear CUB or some other critter and so never thought of cub reporter. Got OLSEN only thanks to perps. But I know my Al Capp, so I got RASSLE.
Finally, I loved being reminded of "Dedicated to the One I Love." Brought back happy memories of lots of high school slow dances.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
Technically a DNF because I too was thinking of a computer tablet not TUMS. Did not have the "M". Also, I had to look up the five pillars of Islam in order to get the fill. I so wanted to out in FYI for BTW, but it never would fit.
ReplyDeleteLastly, or should I say, BTW, Martin LANDAU (Rollin Hand) was married to Barbra Bain (Cinnamon Carter) during MI TV run.
Misty Off! is a line of insect repellent products, one of which is Off! Deep Woods. The active ingredient is DEET.
ReplyDeleteVidwan827, the tummy is an organ. Absolutely. Also, kissing a boo-boo has definite medicinal value....
ReplyDeleteI loved those old Mission Impossible shows with Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. CLIP . The couple also worked together in Space 1999 I think it was called. He also did some Woody Allen movies.
ReplyDeleteThis was a DNF, but I felt good about how much of it I solved.
ReplyDeleteFirst pass through across, I perhaps got a dozen answers, then only about 10 going down, but then with an extra letter in some across answers, I picked up a few more. Kept at it until I almost got the whole puzzle.
I did WAY better than any usual Friday.
Thanks for the fun puzzle and Lemon for the explanations.
Spitzboov, I was so busy yesterday keeping up with the news about my new grandson, I forgot to comment to you about what a handsome one you have. He is a cutie! His dad will have to chase the girls away when he gets older.
Have a good weekend, all,
Montana
Thanks for the explanation, desper-otto. I cherish my learning moments on the blog, and this is one of them.
ReplyDeleteDid I actually spell Bobby Darin's name DAReN?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lemonade, for a great write-up and lots of links.
Never heard of the TINGLER.
Bela Lugosi scared me as a kid.
Hand up for olio and buttle.
We've had HADJ before, but thought it was a pilgrimage.
Nit: Horns are NOT winds.
Kept running through all the brass instruments and came up with nothing.
woodWINDS are NOT horns. So there.
(Bronx cheer)) from Edith Ann.
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteToughie today. I gradually worked my way around the N ,E, and got most of the south. But there were too many unknowns in the SW so ended up getting red ltr help with D in NASD, and Y in FLYNN. The theme was helpful to solve most of it. Nice shout-out to BRIDGE.
ARF could just as easily have been clued as "There's someone at the door". At least HADJ was easy this time.
Montana - Thanks for your nice comment.
SInce no one mentioned Phineas & Ferb, I'll come out of lurk mode (BTW, thanks all - I read & learn daily). P&F is the funniest cartoon to come out in a long time and the only thing I can watch/stand with my kids on Disney channel. The plot is almost the same with every episode, but it is the intertextuallity that will make you laugh out loud. Fun program.
ReplyDelete-T
I did a double take on TUMMY for organ, but tummy can be informal for stomach, an organ, just as ticker is informal for heart. "You need to put some hot food in your tummy."
ReplyDeleteI learned in school that winds refers to all aerophones, BOTH woodwinds and brasswinds. Internet lists of winds bear this out.
Sallie,I was sorry to hear of your setback.I wish you a rapid return to health. Chin up.
The was an odd-looking grid at first but it lead to an enjoyable puzzle with some clever clues. "Can I Go Out?" for ARF was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI played Hearts as a kid but when I got my first job at Hughes Aircraft Company, I came across a few people who played it pretty seriously. In most casual games, most people try to avoid losing and so dump hearts or especially the Queen of Spades on whoever they can so they don't have to take it themselves. People who play this way seem to think there is one loser (whoever goes over 100). Whereas the engineers at Hughes felt there was only one winner (whoever was low man when someone went over 100). When I first started playing at lunch with some teacher friends at school, I remember one day when someone threw the Queen on me to put me out even though the culprit wasn't low at the time. So somebody else won but in his mind , he didn't lose. It almost resulted in a fist fight. Finally, I convinced them of the 'other' was to think about the game. We started keeping day-by-day track of the winner (low man when somebody went over 100). Peace was finally restored.
Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteUgh
ReplyDeleteUgh
Ugh.......
Guess I'll skip Fridays puzzles now as well as Saturdays.
Whatever
HI Y'all! I WAGd my way through this like I had a telepathic line to James & Rich. 2 a.m seems to be my best time to puzzle. Great one!
ReplyDeleteOne hangup at Armadas: wanted "fleets" then ships then wait for perps to get NAVIES.
Played lots of HEARTS when young. We called capturing all the HEARTS, "Shoot the Moon". Also played a lot of GIN rummy. Can't remember how to play well enough to teach my grandkids. Didn't have time to play many games with my kids.
Thanks, Lemon for a great expo. You mentioned "Marjorie Morningstar" which was one of my favorite re-reads as a young woman.
YR: I laughed when you said "BATHTUB GIN gave me my start." I knew what you meant, but had a momentary image of you as a prohibition bootlegger making your fortune with the stuff.
Sallie: Sorry for your setback. I think port site infections are pretty common. I had two friends who had that happen. The good news is doctors have experience treating it. My friends did okay. Good luck!
Sallie, sorry to hear your are having more problems, but it seems you have a great attitude - and that counts for everything Good luck, and keep on truckin'!!
ReplyDeletepas de chat, PK beat me to it, but I agree with her that both horns and reeds are WIND instruments.
So, Montana, is that the darling little Timothy Arthur in your avatar today?? He is really a cutie!! Lemony, you'd better keep Charlotte protected -seems there are quite a few new little ones who may be vying for her attention is a few years, LOL!!
I couldn't decide between NAYS or the Scottish NAES on the perp so I left the cross at NANCE, because who would name a city NANCY? The WWII battle didn't ring a bell. I don't think I was familiar with the song ERES Tu either, and I only got it by way of the crosses. The song that came to my mind was Je t'aime; one of the most "uncomfortable" songs to listen to. http://youtu.be/9krvMqLnc5U
ReplyDeleteLanding at ANZIO.
ReplyDeleteEarly appt to get pickup fixed and then 36 holes and we are off for a grad party. Probably not much to add for this just right Friday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAnon (2:17), please feel free to skip this post since it won't live up to your high expectations.
ReplyDeleteI remember the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan." It gave me a pretty real impression of the terrifying horrors that the soldiers landing at the French beaches must have experienced.
That same group of engineers at Hughes introduced me to a different version of chess called Kriegspiel. (You can Google Kriegspiel chess.) Two people played with a barrier in between so the players couldn't see the opponent's board. There was a third person involved (the caller?) who looked at both boards and could model both black and white pieces correctly. He would tell the players if one of them made an illegal move or took an opponent's piece or was in check, etc. So the players had to surmise the board layout from the information they got. It was challenging and fun. I've never seen it played anywhere else.
I had hoped to call my friend and go for a bike ride but I got stuck running errands that took much longer that I had expected. My DVR/TV remote had become very iffy so I went to the local Time Warner storefront for another one. Turns out they had moved about four miles south in an area with a lot of traffic. Oh well... I got the new one, figured out how to program it to control my TV and I'm back in business again. It seems to work much more reliably.
Hello everybody. Just got back from a very pleasant visit and lunch with a couple of people with whom we have been doing business for almost 10 years, who were in town for personal reasons. I had never met them in person and I'm glad I finally did; they are charming folks and we easily passed four hours in chit chat. Now to read Lemonade's writeup and all your comments.
ReplyDeleteHello, Lemonade, C.C. and all
ReplyDeleteI'm still under the weather but did manage to finish this ENIGMAtic puzzle in between naps. Most of the time I was in James's wave length and had to chuckle at the "card" games. But it took a long, long time for WINDS OF WAR because I thought a horn was not a wind.
Once LOGJAM was filled, I got TINGLY and didn't realize the error; the same at INTEND where I had the wrong tense, INTENT. Ah, but it was fun.
Congratulations, Montana, on your new grandbaby. They are a joy, aren't they.
Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!
Confession time - Herman Wouk? The only book of his I've read is "Don't Stop The Carnival". And that was because Jimmy Buffett wrote a musical based on the Wouk novel. I did enjoy the book, though.
ReplyDeleteAlso enjoyed today's puzzle. I use the large Wonton squares when I make lasagne. It's just like using fresh pasta!
Martin Landau gave a stellar performance as Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood"...gotta love that Johnny Depp...
Even after I filled in OLSEN, I still didn't "get" the connection to the clue. Duh. Thanks Lemony.
Have a wonderful weekend! Over and out.
What time does MODERATION turn on? Do I still have time to get in any snarky Friday comments?
ReplyDeleteJayce, be very careful with your comments because you need to try to live up to the high standards expected by Anon (2:17).
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for some more late night moderation. All things in moderation 'tis said.
More geography questions:
a) What are the northern-most, southern-most, eastern-most and western-most points in the 48 contiguous United States?
b) Is it possible to find four points on the earth that are all the same distance apart?
Jayce's comments are always interesting.
ReplyDeleteBill, All I can say about your
ReplyDeleteAnon is that he gives good Headache.
Harrison Ford was on David Letterman. I was expecting an enjoyable conversation but, in my opinion, Harrison Ford in person is about as entertaining as a doorknob. He tried to tell a joke. The joke wasn't bad but listening to him try to tell it was a painful experience. Here's the joke: Two cannibals meet one day. The first cannibal says, “You know, I just can’t seem to get a tender Missionary. I’ve baked them, I’ve roasted them, I’ve stewed them, I’ve barbecued them, I’ve tried every sort of marinade. I just cannot seem to get them tender.” The second cannibal asks, “What kind of Missionary do you use?” The other replied, “You know, the ones that hang out at that place at the bend of the river. They have those brown cloaks with a rope around the waist and they’re sort of bald on top with a funny ring of hair on their heads.”
ReplyDelete“Ah, ha!” the second cannibal replies. “No wonder … those are friars!”
The new remote has solved all the DVR frustrations. No more cussing at the machine when it doesn't respond properly. Now if I could only find something good to watch...
If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, maybe you're in love with a boomerang?
Ok Bill, You started it!
ReplyDeleteTwo blondes go for a walk in the forest. Now we wouldnt think of perpetuating the stereotype, and we resent the fact that blonde women are thought less intelligent than anyone else. And so did these two. So they're walking, discussing life, nature, both being amatuer wildlife enthusiasts. They come across some tracks.
One says "I know these tracks. They're moose tracks"
The other says "You're close, but they're actually elk tracks"
The first says "I lived in the forest with my grandfather. He taught me a lot about wildlife. They're moose tracks"
And so they argue back and forth for quite a bit. And then a train runs over them.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, James Sajdak, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a swell review.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me I have seen another puzzle by James this year. Anyhow.
Got started late due to a busy morning and afternoon. Just finished. It was not easy getting through this but once I got some traction I made good headway.
Read both "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" last year. Great books. Historical novels.
The them came easily once I had a start.
BATHTUB GIN was my first theme answer.
Liked RASSLE. Lil Abner was my favorite comic strip. Liked Senator Fogbound.
Wanted SOBBED for 1D, but held off until I had some perps. BAWLED eventually worked.
Never realized the puzzle was 16x15 until the review. Interesting.
Nice clip of the eagles and the fish.
Nice historical clip of Anzio.
Cooked out a couple steaks tonight. Great dinner. Steaks, potatoes, and artichokes.
I am hitting the hay. Hope to get a lot of yard work done this weekend. Off to PA Wednesday night, after the Cubs/Sox game on Wednesday afternoon. Going to the game with some friends.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(velyvol)
Grilled meat makes me know I will never be Vegan. Yum.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great links and comments time to rest up for a Saturday puzzle.
I have gone back to solving in the newspaper what fun
Manac, good one! Oops! Now all the blondes on the blog are going to be on your case.
ReplyDeleteWhen Sofia Vergara was on Ellen a while back, Ellen found a photo when Sofia had blonde hair and was a Guess jean model. Ellen asked her, "Ok, since you've been both, you're a perfect person to ask. Who has more fun, blondes or brunettes?"
Sofia thought for a bit, grinned and answered, "In my experience, it's the one with the bigger boobs!"
I heard via e-mail from Manac. No other takers on the two geography questions?