google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, May 30, 2013 Peg Slay

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May 30, 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013 Peg Slay

Theme: "Al Fresco"

Four common phrases get a fresh new meaning with the addition of "al" to the entries.

20A. Wriggler's waterway : CANAL OF WORMS. I don't want to open a can of worms, here!

33A. Mail carrier's romantic activities? : POSTAL DATING. I wonder if they will be post dating their check for the meal?

42A. Fortress for summer shoes? : SANDAL CASTLE. A sand castle on the beach wouldn't be a very good fortress, especially if you have a lot of Jimmy Choo shoes!

58A. Collage of potpourri bits? : PETAL PROJECT. One of my pet projects would be to do something with all the petals falling from my dogwood right now.

This is Peg Slay's debut puzzle, and it is an honor to welcome another constructor to our little corner! If it weren't for the pun-ny theme, this puzzle would do very nicely in a Monday slot. The clues were ratcheted up a notch to make it Thursday-worthy, so let's see the handiwork.

Across:

1. It's a lock : YALE. So it is. I wondered "hair?"..."bolt?"..."hasp?"

5. Jostle : ELBOW. Like kids trying to be first in line at the ice-cream truck.

10. NiƱa or Pinta : SHIP.

14. Pressed into service : USED. I can't help but think someone will use this clue for "ironed" some day.

15. Fox's "War Stories With Oliver ____" : NORTH. Never heard of it, but easy enough to suss.

16. Mystique : AURA. This guy seems to have a certain mystique...

17. Sporting, with "in" : CLAD.

18. Raccoon relative : COATI.  Awww.

19. Suggestive look : LEER.

23. Flik in "A Bug's Life," e.g. : ANT. Fun movie with Dave Foley playing the role of Flik.

24. Like some narratives : ORAL.

25. Connect (with) : LIAISE. Literally, to communicate and maintain contact (with).

29. Patsy : STOOGE. And a clecho at 68-Across. Patsy : DUPE. So many possibilities: boob, mark, fool, goat, gull, butt, chump, doormat, sucker...

31. Poetic preposition : O'ER...(the ramparts.)

32. Source of tricks? : BAG.

37. On the calmer side : ALEE.

40. Also : AND.

41. Bad day for Caesar : IDES.

47. "Verses" poet DiFranco : ANI. Heck of a singer, too. 4:16

48. Objecting word : BUT.

49. You can get down from them : EIDERS. Fun clue!

53. Concert harp parts : PEDALS.

55. Artistic structure : FORM. So many possibilities for the clue.

57. "Take Good Care of My Baby" singer Bobby : VEEOldie from 1961. 2:44

61. Emporium : MART.

64. Poetry muse : ERATO.

65. Component : UNIT.

66. "King of New York" director Ferrara : ABEL. Never saw the movie.  Strong violence is not my cup of tea.

67. Gardener, at times : RAKER. Ohhh, my back!  I finally got my flowers planted this week.

69. Oldest British service branch : NAVY.

70. Vehicles on runners : SLEDS.

71. Pentathlon weapon : EPEE. Shooting, swimming, equestrian and cross-country running round out the other four events in the modern pentathlon.

Down:

1. Desert plants with sword-shaped leaves : YUCCAS. I have three of these in my garden. So what did I put for an answer? "Agaves." D'uh!

2. Italicized : ASLANT"A" word!

3. Rough house? : LEAN-TO.  Anyone else want "tussle?" Nice misdirection.

4. 13th-century Scandinavian epic : EDDA.

5. Numbers that aren't programmed : ENCORES. Here's where Thursday clueing shines.  Totally flummoxed me until I got some perps in place.

6. Fibrous sponge : LOOFA. I put this in, then took it out because I thought it was spelled "loofah." But I see that LOOFA is an alternate sp.

7. Melee : BRAWL. Ah, here's where the roughhousing comes in!

8. Sgt. Snorkel's bulldog : OTTO. Desper- shout out?

9. Spun : WHIRLED...or twirled. Just sayin'...

10. Spicy condiment : SALSA.

11. Color wheel unit : HUE.

12. Argumentative state : IRE.

13. What amateurs rarely shoot : PAR. Husker G., how'd you do today?

21. Eye on CBS, e.g. : LOGO. For more than 60 years now.
 

22. Actress Sorvino : MIRA. Oscar for her role in "Mighty Aphrodite."

26. Footnote abbr. : IBID. Short for "ibidem," meaning "in the same place."

27. Level-headed : SANE.

28. Quiche essentials : EGGS.

30. Page with some right angles? : OP-ED. Another nice misdirection.

31. Auto pioneer : OLDS.

34. Delicacy : TACT.

35. Literary olio : ANA.

36. Going into overtime : TIED. I would love to see a clue about this...4:58 (But the first 30 seconds make my point.)

37. "I need it yesterday!" : ASAP.

38. Country road : LANE.

39. "National Velvet" writer Bagnold : ENID.

43. Fit : ABLE.

44. Polishing outcomes : LUSTERS.

45. Babysitting nightmares : TERRORS. They're often holy.

46. Stylish ride : LIMO.

50. Make equal : EVEN UP.

51. Cook's Illustrated offering : RECIPE. Here's a great one for Beef Satay that I plan to try this weekend.

52. Lounge sofa : SETTEE.

54. In a germane manner : APTLY. Not to be confused with a German manor...

55. Bit of dandruff : FLAKE.

56. Stopped waffling : OPTED. "Are you in, or out?"

59. Kazakhstan border sea : ARAL.

60. Hardy's "___ the Obscure" : JUDE. It has also been called "Jude the Obscene," and was publicly burned by the Bishop of Wakefield because of it's scandalous themes of adultery, unmarried sex, murder and suicide. After receiving scathing reviews from his critics, Hardy never wrote another novel. (I'll have to read that one!!!)

61. Sixth-day creation : MAN.

62. Law school accrediting org. : ABAAmerican Bar Association.

63. Race in the driveway : REV. I'll leave you with this. Till next week!

Hugs,
Marti

Notes from C.C.:

1) Below is constructor's note from Peg Slay. She also said "I love your blog, and review it daily after completing the crossword, or in some cases, to get the correct answers. The bloggers are great and do a fantastic job."
  
I really like play-on-word themes, so the first theme entry of my puzzle came pretty easy – Canal of Worms.  The others were more work.  I really thank both Rich and Patti for their support and patience through all the revisions sent through.  I truly appreciate the input they gave to me, a rookie, in getting this puzzle to print.   
 
2) Happy Birthday to Splynter's mom! Hope he & his brothers make it extra special for you this year.



74 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle, although a bit on the easy side for a Thursday. I didn't figure out what was going on with the theme until SANDAL CASTLE, but I didn't need to actually know the theme to get the theme answers due to extremely clear cluing and lots of easy perps.

No unknowns for me today - -even JUDE wasn't all that obscure... ^_^

I thought "It's a lock" for YALE was very clever.

[emaieo]

Lemonade714 said...

Welcome to our world Peg, thank you for a nice exercise and Marti how fun it must must be to blog a new constructor. It really was not that long ago when that was you.

Lots of nice fill like LIAISE YUCCAS ENCORES and some thought provoking cluing like for YALE.



HeartRx said...

Lemonade, I know exactly how Peg must feel today. It really is exciting to see your first creation in print.

I wonder if Jerome felt the same way yesterday? (^0^)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This puzzle was definitely AL Dente. I immediately entered YALE at 1A and was off and running. It was interesting to see LIASE back for an ENCORE.

Learning moment: Harps have pedals.

Bobby VEE bounced (Rubber Ball) onto the scene shortly after Buddy Holly's demise, probably because he sounded a lot like Buddy.

Thanks for the shoutout, Marti. Do you subscribe to Cooks Illustrated, or do you just scarf up their free stuff like I do?

thehondohurricane said...

Hi everyone,

I found Peg's offering to be challenging and a lot of fun. There was plenty of cluing that I found to be refreshing in spite of one of the "dreaded" A words.

YALE lock was a fav, as were 32A, 49A, 5D, .30D, & 56D.

LIAISE was a newbie for me and I relied on the perps all being correct, which they were.

The SW corner was almost my downfall, but when I changed 54D from Opted to APTLY and woke up to NAVY, I finished it off.

I sure never thought of this as a Monday puzzle even without the themes. Perhaps, like someone mentioned a day or so ago, time must be passing me by in the world of puzzled.

thehondohurricane said...


My last comment was referring to what SFINGI wrote a couple of days ago. Hope we both have a strong comeback.

River Doc said...

Happy Thursday everyone!

Imagine my shock and awe at hearing the Ta-Da fairly quickly on a Thursday!

The theme revealed itself at SANDal CASTLES. Here in Doha, the word AL is quite common. Wait, I take that back – it’s positively ubiquitous....

River Doc said...

Oops, forgot to add this Link….

Mari said...

Great puzzle today! I really like Thursday offerings - not too easy, not too hard.

Great clues:
1A - It's a lock: YALE
3D - Rough house? LEAN TO
30D - Page with some right angles? OP ED

(I can still hear my mom yelling, "Quit Rough housing!")

I'm still kicking myself for not understanding 49A: You can get down from them. EIDERS. Duh! I never saw tht one coming. Thanks Marti for explaining it to me.

I wanted CHAISE for Lounge Sofa at 52D, and I've never seen a COATI before (but they sure are cute!)

Thanks Peg and Marti. Wishing everybody here has a great day!

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

Congrats, Peg, an a job well done. Clever theme with some tricky cluing made for a just right Thursday offering. Nice expo, Marti, as always.

I'd like to share some family news. This afternoon, one of my nieces will be pinned and will receive her nursing degree. While this is an admirable achievement for anyone, she deserves a special shout-out, IMO.

She is 45 years old, a wife, a mother of three, and works full time. She finished first in her class, with a 4.0 GPA and received awards totaling $2000.00, one of which was for Excellence in Nursing. Her next step is passing the Boards, getting her RN, and then pursuing a BS in nursing. She has already earned a BS, MS, and PhD in another discipline. Congratulations, Marie MacKay Murphy!

Have a terrific Thursday.

Mari said...

TTP and Abejo: Just the other day I figured out that I had been to Barone's, and liked it very much! DH and I used to live near one on the Downers Grove / Westmont border and we used to get delivery from there quite a bit. Great pizza, calzones, and excellent spagetti! How could I forget?

I was thinking of Rosati's for some reason when you originally mentioned Barone's.

They probably don't deliver to where I live now, but I'll have to make a point to stop by and pick some up. (I really miss that spaghetti!)

61Rampy said...

While I managed to complete the puzzle, I thought it was a bit of a workout. Lots of unknowns, but perps provided the path to fill in the blanks. Got the theme with CANAL OF WORMS. Hand up for wanting AGAVES, but I did not fall for Rough House. Overall, I would say Wednesday difficulty, certainly not a Monday.

TTP said...

Thank you Peg Slay ! And thank you as well Emporiumi !

It's a lock = curl ? No. Desert plant = agaves ? No. Italicized = tilted ? No. leaned ? No. ASLANT ? Yes.

We get the lovely LIAISE again. The last time we had it I learned that if it's not in a certain someone's set of dictionaries, it does not exist and is a foul. Just bustin' your chops Bumpo.

EIDERS did have a great clue. I had the answer and had to stare at it for a bit to have it sink in... Marti, I had the same thoughts as you at 3D.

Guessed that an added AL would be the gimmick when I got POSTAL DATING early on. Looked for AL positions in the other theme answers.

With TA_T filled in, threw in an R so had tart for Delicacy instead of TACT. You little tart. SAND CASTLE changed that.

Desper-Otto, inre Cooks Illustrated, ditto. I started to order one time and entered my email address and didn't complete the form. I now get three offers a week from them.

Irish Miss, congrats to your niece !

Mari, that's it ! Great pizza, calzones and spaghetti. We used to order from Rosati's, but when the local one changed ownership, the quality dropped.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Woke up at 0300 with a cramp in my right foot that I couldn't fully shake. So went to the Mensa site and did today's puzzle. Quickly got WORMS, the CBS LOGO, EDDA, and began to see CAN(AL) OF WORMS, 'can of worms' so looked for the 'al' in the other theme fill. They all fell quickly with PETAL PROJECT needing a little tweaking. ALEE and ASLANT today. Liked LIAISE - vowel rich. Canadians use the word more frequently than we do. Did not know NAVY was Britain's oldest service. Makes sense. Al in al, a good job, Peg. Thank you.
(Oh btw, my cramp went totally away)

Happy Birthday to Splynter's Mom. Hoch soll Sie leben!

88Āŗ forecast here today.

Have a great day.

Mari said...

Irish Miss:

Congratulations, Marie MacKay Murphy! That's wonderful news. I believe one can never stop learning and adding to their skill set. There is no new trick us "old dogs" can't learn.

Please tell Marie we're proud of her!

Sfingi said...

The COATI is a cutie!

This is a puzzle featuring some interesting "bad boys."

Did not know Oliver North had a show. I'll check that out. I remember his involvement in the Iran Contra Affair, but figured it was blessed somewhere upstairs.

Also checked out Mr. Ferrara. I liked his movie, Bad Lietenant, but his name never sunk in. Now I know more, including his many films, his marriage and adoption of daughters. Google can be grand.

Theme - does PEDAL, ARAL, SALSA or YALE have any part in this?

Linus YALE, inventor of the lock, lived a few miles from Utica in Newport, NY, near West Canada Creek in a stone octagon house. The most recent owners finally built a garage, but the house is National Register and can't be mucked up. There are many stone houses in the town and all are lived in.

@Desperotto - interesting about Bobby VEE.

HeartRx said...

Splynter, best wishes to your mother on her birthday! What is she, about 39 now?

desper-otto, I considered subscribing to Cooks Illustrated, but with all the free stuff on the net, why would anyone want to pay for it?

The reason I said this might be Monday level is because nearly every word is a common one, with no obscure names or places. It is the clueing that ratchets it up to a Thursday difficulty, IMHO.

Abejo said...

Ggod morning, folks. Thank you, Peg Slay, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the great review.

Enjoyed this. Worked it on the train rolling into Erie this morning.

SANDAL CASTLE was my first theme answer. Got the rest easily. Very clever theme.

I remembered EDDA from older crosswords. Sometimes I amaze myself.

Got YUCCAS after YALE. YALE was easy once I had a letter.

EIDERS was clever.

Our old friend ERATO.

We see the ARAL Sea a lot. I did some research on that once, via the Internet, and found that the Russkis caused the whole problem and the sea is slowly drying up. Too bad.

Congratulations, Peg, on your debut puzzle. I admire and envy you. Must have been a lot of work.

Mari: I guess I will have to check out Barone's. My wife loves Italian food. So do I, buy not as much as her.

I delivered my wife's diaper cake to my sister's house. The shower is Saturday. New grandchild of my sister on the way.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(wservak)

HeartRx said...

Irish Miss, I forgot to tell you how uplifting your niece's story was. What an inspiration to her children!

Splynter said...

Hi there ~!

HeartRx, I am not even 39 anymore~!!!

Mom is the big seven-oh today; we plan to go for dinner on Sunday, and my big gift is finishing the apartment for rent by July 1st - which means this weekend I have to get it done so we have a month to review potential lessees.

I was supposed to provide C.C. with a new pic of mom, but I forgot - sorry, C.C. :(

Splynter

kazie said...

Splynter,
Please wish your Mom a great birthday--maybe you are making sure it's great?

Irish Miss,
Your niece must be very ambitious, certainly successful. Congrats to Marie!

I figured out the theme early with the lower ones, but wasn't getting anywhere with the NW and north central because I couldn't fill --NAL-F---MS, and was having trouble with AGAVE/CACTUS. I never got YUCCAS until after I came here to cheat on CANAL OF WORMS. After that I got the whole top end with no other help.

I thought EIDERS was brilliant. Congrats on a great debut, Peg!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

HBD to Splynter's mom.

Welcome to Peg Slay. Great entry for her Maiden Voyage.

Lots of clever cluing. The theme threw me at first. Could make nothing of CANAL OF WORMS. Very helpful when I finally sussed it, though.

We're back from visiting some fam in FLA. 2000 mile round trip, and our new Dart served us very well.

I'll have some pics up soon.

Cool regards!
JzB

Husker Gary said...

Just back from two wonderful days with grandkids while dodging raindrops. Peg’s fun puzzle required just the right effort and Marti’s write-up started my Thursday well.

Musings
-Castles and Pat Boone’s Love Letters don’t last long in the sand
-The ELBOWing has escalated to dangerous levels on Black Friday
-We spent 5 hours at Omaha’s world class zoo yesterday and saw a COATI but didn’t get to the cats, elephants or giraffes. It’s huge.
-If a coordinator can coordinate, I guess a LIAISON can LIAISE
-A good substitute teacher has a deep BAG of tricks to survive
-anI/enId perpped each other. Gee, I hope they were careful ;-)
-Bobby VEE (Veline) and a hastily assembled Fargo, ND schoolboy group filled in for Buddy Holly after the plane crash on The Day The Music Died
-Our flowers may need life jackets here bug the drought has been temporarily mitigated but is not yet O’ER
-Marti, I played golf with grandkids Tuesday and did okay but on the holes where the cup was full of water, Elise refused to reach in and get her ball! “Papa, you do it!”
-I’ve seen some very programmed ENCORES that followed tepid applause
-Learning about footnoting, bibliographies and other writing esoterica have done me zero good over the years
-I am learning to use more TACT and eschewing this philosophy. No, really!

desper-otto said...

Congrats, Peg Slay, on your debut effort.

Irish Miss, please pass on congrats to Marie MacKay Murphy. Quite an accomplishment!

Abejo, I guess I figured out "diaper cake" from the context. Doesn't sound tasty, though.

Shouldn't COATI be more of an early week puzzle word? After all, it is a COATI Mundi.

Anonymous said...

OMG, Fast and furious, Benghazi, IRS scandal, AP email confiscations, etc. and you’re writing about someone upstairs knowing about Iran/Contra, Sfingi. Even though this blog has a lot of left angles, keep your politics to yourself on this APOLITICAL blog!!

CrossEyedDave said...

Well this fine puzzle had me puzzled for quite a while! Definitely worth doing in ink. 49A "you can get down from them" did not fool me a bit, but geese & ducks would not fit, & that corner was bare for a long time. Possibly because I originally had 65A component = part, & was reluctant to change it as it fit well with settee. 51D recipe finally convinced me I was a 68A.

Very happy that I got "edda/clad" & enid/ani, but must claim a DNF because I had to look up 62D "ABA" to complete the SW corner.

BUT!

Once again the Blog has shown me the error of my ways. (Rats!)

I spelled 25A "lia"s"se" making 26D s"b"id. (silent but infinitely deadly???)

& I had (very lightly) inked in 5D numbers that aren't programmed as "errores." (I thought errors, then realized it did not fit, & forgot to go back to it. Double Drat!) I do remember thinking Major Rorth & the cute Roati did not look right... O'well...

Congrats to your new Nurse Irish Miss...

HBD Splynters Mom!

Misty said...

Hurray! I actually finished a Thursday puzzle, although I sure didn't think it was a speed run. But what fun, and what a great debut, Peg! Many thanks! And thanks for the pic of the COATI, Marti. Looks like a real sweetie.

Husker, thanks for the reminder of Pat Boone's "Love Letters in the Sands." Haven't thought of that one in years.

Congratulations to your niece, Irish Miss, and Happy birthday to your Mom, Splynter. If she's only turning 70, then you're just a kid!

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Lemonade714 said...

Happy Birthday Splynter mom, I hope you did not get any when he was born.

Marie MacKay Morphy, mmm mmm good, though I am not sure you are really Irish, Miss.

Husker Gary said...

-Man, mowing is tough in this wet, tall grass!
-Irish, my niece went back to get her masters when she was 42, while she was a full time teacher and a full time mom and she is my hero. On the other hand, my 20 year old OAF of a nephew on my side of the family is taking only two courses at a community college, sleeps ‘til noon, won’t mow the yard, is consumed with video games and refuses to get a job or a driver’s license. Your niece seems to be cut from the same cloth as my niece and despite talk of “kids nowadays”, I know there are great people out there like those two girls.
-Yeah, Irish, I’m with Lemon, I’m going to have to see some ID on this ethnic claim of yours ;-).
-HBD, Splynter’s Mom!
-Fore!

Irish Miss said...

Lemon @ 11:31 and HG @ 11:33

I assure you both that, as my dear mother used to say, "I'm as Irish as Paddy's pig!" One of my brothers traced both sides of the family (McGrath and O'Connor) back through 5 or 6 generations in Ireland.

Sfingi @ 9:03 - Your comment "Google can be grand" brought a smile to my face as grand was my mother's favorite descriptive word, whether she was talking about a wedding or an ice cream cone. Everything was grand! It's also very Irish, you two Doubting Thomases referenced above! (-;

Happy Birthday to Splynter's Mom.

And many thanks for the recognition of Marie's accomplishments; she has worked very hard and our family is very proud. When she was very young, my mother nick-named her Maggie Murphy and, lo and behold, she ended up marrying a Murphy. (Nick-naming everyone is also very Irish.)

Lucina said...

Hello, Marti, et AL.

Happy birthday to Splynter's Mom! And congratulations to your niece, IrishMiss! What a great accomplishment.

And congratulations, Peg Slay, on your debut puzzle! It was a good sashay with just enough tricks from your BAG for a Thursday.

The EIDERS clue was brilliant!

The theme was amusing, too.

I liked a fresh clue for our old friend, ARAL Sea.

Hmmm, I wonder if that LEANTO is ASLANT?

Everyone, here's wishing you a thoroughly wonderful Thursday!

Pookie said...

Happy Birthday to your mom, Splynter!
Congrats to your niece Marie, Irish Miss!
And Congrats to you, Peg Slay on your first published puzzle.
Thanks, Marti!
Got the EIDERS answer from and old groaner:
How do you get down from an elephant?

You can't. You get down from a duck!

Spitzboov said...

Wonder what his PAR IS. He looks like an amateur.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I was glad to have Peg's debut project to keep me occupied in the wee hours. Welcome, Peg - send more please!

Spotted the theme early, which did simplify the solve. I never noticed Otto was a bulldog. I didn't connect Ani DiFranco with poetry, but there it was.

Pedals on a concert harp: I first got an up-close look at a serious harp during high school. Man, that's a complicated machine! Each pedal has one or two positions which alter the tuning of a bank of strings, which means the player can match the key of the music to the key to which the harp is tuned. The mechanism is intricate, and all the driveshafts have to fit within the harp's vertical post. Impressive.

Cheers All

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Peggy, congrats on a splendid puzzle! I ended up doing the top parts four times, because for some reason the puzzle would flick off. I'd have to watch another Chi-town ad. Aargh! By the fourth time I could enter in the answers at top speed.

Great expo, Marti! "Leader of the Pack" video looked like a trio I sang in--same clothing. Knew the song by Bobby VEE, but not the name. I wanted Darin.

Never can remember the second "i" in Liaise.

I had seen a trailer on the Ollie North show but was not interested. At least I got a CW answer out of it.

Congrats to Marie Murphy! How grand to be blessed with enough energy to do all that.

HG, as for your nephew maybe he's lacking energy because of a CANAL OF WORMS. Maybe some appropriate pills would REV his motivation.

Happy Birthday to Splynter's mom. Sure and you raised us a grand blog man.

Slow steady rain today. Dark as evening. I finally got the last of my flowers for my porch pots yesterday. I'll wait until it is less humid to go out and plant.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. Happy Thursday. Nice little puzzle which took me a longer time than usual. I started off slowly and wrongly with HASP instead of YALE and STUCCO instead of LEANTO. (I thought stucco was a clever match to the clue but alas, I out-clevered myself. Good job Peg and Marti!

Marti, our family home in Virginia was about 1.5 acres and the yard was covered with dogwood trees. Everything would be white for about a week or two in the Spring. It was just beautiful! Sadly, dogwood trees can't be found in southern California. No forsythia or Lilly of the Valley either.

Irish Miss, congratulations to your niece! I have an even greater appreciation for caregivers these days. BTW, Barbara is doing a little better each day. She has a followup appointment with the surgeon tomorrow.

HBD Splynter's mom!

Spitz, I really enjoyed your fox video.

TTP said...

Spitzboov, Thanks for sharing.

I have seen some crazy stuff with animals on the course. I have never have seen a fox testing the speed of the green and direction of the grain. That's a rule infraction.

pas de chat,
Another one. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Pookie said...

TTP, My guess would be Mt. Everest.

A friend sent this as part of a losing your memory quiz.

Mary's father has 5 daughters: 1.NANA, 2. NENE, 3.NINI,4.NONO, and ???
What is the name of the fifth daughter?


Did you answer NUNU?
No! Of course it isn't.
Her name is Mary. Read the question again.

TTP said...

Pas,

Aren't those fun ? I'll have to fess up that I often scan rather that read, so I failed that question. It was in a slightly different form.

Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?

There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?

How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?

What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?

In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?

What was the President's Name in 1975?

If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?

Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"?

If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field?

JD said...

Congrats Peg Slay on your debut; t'was a fun one, although I did have much pondering.Those clever clues led me astray and yet most were words I knew.Who knew the harps had pedals? I had metal project for in a germane manner for a bit. Also sand-- castles stood alone until something clicked.

Marti, I don't believe I told you how much I enjoyed your CW yesterday. Your write ups are always a treat.

Kudos to your niece, Irish Miss.

Spitzboov, loved the fox video.

Happy 70th Mama Splynter!It's right around the corner for me.

I think Devil or Angel was the song that got Bobby Vee on the map.

Pookie said...

TTP: Those were FUN!
I failed this one, though.

This must be done in your head only
Do not use pencil and paper or a calculator

Take 1000 and add 40 to it.
Now add another 1000
Now add 30.
Add another 1000.
Now add 20 ...
Now add another 1000.
Now add 10. What is the total?

kazie said...

TTP,
Here are my suggestions:
Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?--Johnny

There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?---meat

How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?---only a few crumbs that break off the sides

What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?---incorrectly

Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible? --He's in the Southern Hemisphere

In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not? --You need a camera

What was the President's Name in 1975?--Mr. President, Gerald Ford

If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?--2nd place--you didn't pass the leader

Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"?---The yolk is yellow

If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field? ---One

Pookie said...

Did you get 5000?

The correct answer is actually


4100.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, having put in Barc for Nina or Pinta and Too for Also, I had to erase a few before I finally had al the answers in correctly. Then in reviewing Marti's excellent writeup, I found another mistake which I hadn't corrected. I had put in Farm instead of Form, so Apted wasn't correct. I need to go back over some of my ??? answers when I get other fills in. Always a learning experience as I keep telling myself!!

My favorite clues today were for Eider and Leanto. Both were great misdirections.

Congratulations Peg Slay on your debut Crossword.

Have a great rest of the day everyone.

CrossEyedDave said...

Sandal Castle?

I actually found pictures of canal worms, (it wasn't pretty...) perhaps we should go with this instead.

Postal Romance?

My petal project.


And, an 8 second video showing a Pedal Harp mechanism. (if you are interested in this fascinating mechanism, more can be found in the Youtube sidelinks.)

desper-otto said...

Kazie, I agree with you on all of them, except the President's name.

Pas, I got 4100.

Keep 'em coming!

Chickie said...

Oh! And congratulations to your neice, Irish Miss. And a very happy birthday to Splynter's Mom.

Lemonade714 said...

The President's name in 1975 was Barack Hussein Obama, just as it is today

CrossEyedDave said...

I just finished watching this video about how a Pedal Harp works. (7:58)

Interesting way of changing key signatures!

Sfingi said...

@Irish Miss - giving away my age, again.

My maternal g'ma also used the expression, "Irish as Paddy's pig," as well as, "Paddy got drunk on fish and potatoes." I scratched my head over both of those expressions.

I'm not a robot because I "ubliamo technology." Wha?

Lemonade714 said...

Irish Miss, I was teasing about the Irish. Have you read any of the books by Fr. Andrew Greeley, including the Blackie Ryan mysteries? Greeley died late yesterday in his home in Chicago. I will miss his words. I believed his insight into the Irish psyche and would love the opinion of an Irish Miss.

HeartRx said...

pas de chat, I got 5000, even when I used a calculator!! (No wonder I can't do Bill G's math problems!)

kazie said...

D-O and Lemon,
OK I wasn't sure where to go with that one. I find it confusing the way people are still addressed by their former titles here, long after they no longer serve in that position. I mean people other than presidents.

TTP said...

pas de chat,

Work got in the way of my fun.

Yes, I got 5000 the first time, and thought, "What was tricky about that ?" so did it again and got the correct answer.

Kazie, I did the same thing with 'President's name in 1975.' I know that was Gerald R Ford. Why would they put a legit question in this series of trick questions ? But stuck with Ford anyway. That's why I checked my math in pas' poser.

Bet you didn't pause a nanosecond on the Southern Hemisphere response.

All this talk of harps...

Here is the web link to my friend Laura Ann Chicago Harp Music 3 of her compositions are previewed on the 'Listen to Songs' tab.

Irish Miss said...

Lemon @ 4:38 - I read Andrew Greeley's first couple of books about 30 years ago I don't remember much about them so, apparently, I wasn't overly impressed. I didn't read any of the Blackie Ryan books.

I remember enjoying his interviews because he was so knowledgable and articulate. He was also a thorn in the side to more than one Cardinal for his outspokenness and criticisms of the Catholic Church. May he rest in peace.

Irish Miss said...

BTW, Lemon, I knew you were kidding about the Irish. I just had to get Paddy's Pig in there. (-:

PK said...

Lemonade, I read Andrew Greeley's books many years ago and liked them. RIP

Pookie said...

CED: I always LOVE the links you put up!
D-O You probably get BillG's puzzles.
Had to go to the dentist for a dental implant. As you all say, They beat me up and took my lunch money.($2,200) (Splitting headache)
And when you said, "keep 'em comin'", I thought, "Oh Noooo,
Mr. Bill (G) here come a bunch I can't solve!" Just kiddin' Bill.
Marti: Now you know why I never get BillG's math problems either!
TTP, glad to see I'm not alone for 5,000.
Here's a quiz that contains 2 recent clues (misspelled and #15.

SPELLING TEST

TTP said...

pas de chat's Spelling Test

I din't fair so whale. :>)

kazie said...

TTP,
No, I actually didn't pause on any of them except the president.

Bill G. said...

Pas and TTP, see? I tried your questions and got them OK. So I know you can answer some of mine. :>)

The physical therapist just left. Barbara walked up and down stairs for the first time. Things get a little better each day. There's one tiny annoyance though that I can live with. About three times she called Barbara girlfriend as in "Come on girlfriend. You remember which foot is supposed to come first." It sounds like trying too hard to be cool. Oh well...

Thanks for all of the fun questions. I got them right; not because I'm so smart but since I like puzzles, I had seen most of them before. Pas with a math question! Who could have guessed?

HeartRx said...

I am watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and would love to do a crossword with all of these entries (I dare anyone to describe all of them, and use in a sentence!!):
melocoton
lebensraum
doryline
glossophagine
singerie
odontoloxia
pathognomonic
greffier
bourree...
Whaaaa?????

TTP said...

Oh Kazie, my apologies. Didn't mean to infer that you paused on the others. A nanosecond is one billionth of a second. That's pretty quick, even for the human mind.

CC, blog moderators, et al, I normally would never go over 5 posts, but felt that I should make certain and clear that I intended no harm or disrespect.

I'll shaddup for the evening.

HeartRx said...

BAAAAD TTP!!LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL YE WHO DARE TO TAUNT THE BLOG RULES!!! TTP IS HEREBY DOOMED TO FOREVER GROVEL AT THE FEET OF THE BLOG GODS , (and to find the best links and information for all of our edification forever after...)

pk said...

Oh phooey, I missed five words on that spelling test. I knew I was having a stupid day aka as befogged.

BillG: maybe your therapist can't remember Barbara's name or she's trying to make her laugh or she just wants to appear to be a friend rather than a torturer. I remember my mom just hated therapy of any kind after her knee replacement. She thought they were the meanest people at rehab.

HUTCH said...

I put in postal service. It seemed to fit. ashutch.

Bill G. said...

Damn! I didn't do so hot on the spelling test. Good one!

Speaking of spelling, have you seen the movie "Akeela and the Bee." It's about a girl, her mentor and a spelling bee. Excellent. I recommend it.

You'd think I was on Ellen's payroll. I watch bits of Letterman and Leno from time to time before going to bed. Last night Leno had a fun little bit where people went into a free photo booth that was wired with cameras and microphones and the woman behind the scenes could talk to the unsuspecting dupes. Otherwise, both the Leno and Letterman shows seems pale and tired. Ellen, on the other hand, is clever and funny, sometimes heartwarming.

Boy TTP, like Marti said, you are in deep doodoo now! :>)

A certain special teacher can change your life forever, like the one who knocked up my cousin...

Lemonade714 said...

Yes Andrew Greeley was outspoken but very entertaining. I suggest his books to all

Jerome said...

Peg- Great job! Keep writing like this and we'll see your work all the time.

Looking forward to the next one!

61Rampy said...

Wow, I sucked at the spelling test- 70%. Got dinged on those darn ENCE vs ANCE words.

Lucina said...

Spelling test: 97%
two wrong and I'm mortified!

Lucina said...

melocoton means apricot in Spanish so what is it doing in an English spelling test? That calls for research.

Bill:
I'm glad Barbara is doing well.

Lucina said...

Oops. Peach not apricot.

Addie Harris said...

Sfingi is wrong. Linus Yale had the Newport octagon house built but he never lived in it. And private owners can paint National Register homes hot pink or tear them down if they want to. He's got them mixed up with National Landmarks.