Theme: Where have you BEAN hiding?
Examples of this confusing PLANT, are hidden within six sets of consecutive answers using 14 of the 15 squares available in rows, starting in row 1 and ending with row 15, with the a central reveal telling you what are hidden are types of beans, and they are "jumping" across the black square. It is not common to have a reveal on Friday, but without it, this might have been too hard. A variation on the overlapping fill revealing a hidden word, as here the overlap is between to different answers. A total of 95 squares in the theme, yet in a format that looks like a Saturday themeless, with triple stacks of 9's in the corners. I think the challenge to put this together was amazing, and while I am really confused by 22A and 44D, I think this what appears to be the debut puzzle by, I am guessing, a Dentist from New England who coincidentally went to Tufts, and went to the ACPT this year, captured your attention and was a bumpy but satisfying ride.
1A. *Seat often against a wall : DIVAN. with 6A. *Antsy : ILL AT EASE. and VANILLA (bean) us revealed. There are many multiple word answers like ILL AT EASE which made the solving harder.
15A. *Microscopic menace : E. COLI. with 16A. *The economy, in many debates : MAIN ISSUE.= :LIMA (bean).
29A. *100 centavos : ONE PESO. with 31A. *River spanned by the Three Gorges Dam : YANGTZE= SOY. (Or SOYA). Both clues required some knowledge.
43A. *Forage plant also called lucerne : ALFALFA. with 47A. *Garlic avoider, traditionally: VAMPIRE.= FAVA. I did not know Alfafa (not from little rascals) had another name.
63A. *Cultural artifacts : AMERICANA. with 64A. *Struggling : VYING.= NAVY. Again like Saturday, no gimmes.
65A. *Game piece that can stand on either end : CANDLE PIN, with 66A. *Sycophant : TOADY= PINTO. Another hint to the New England tie, as this form of bowling is popular in few places, though it was a TV regular when I was a child. ARTICLE.
and the reveal
36A. Seed containing moth larva, and what is aptly hidden in each puzzle row whose clues contain asterisks : JUMPING BEAN. Is it un-pc to say Mexican Jumping Bean?
Across:
17. Music genre : METAL. One of my favorites. LISTEN.(3:26).
18. It's not always met : POTENTIAL. Ah, wasted.
19. Cow-horned goddess : ISIS. I like the Brazilian version LINK.
20. Emma of "Dynasty" : SAMMS. One of my favorites.
21. Co-star of Ingrid in "Autumn Sonata" : LIV. ULLMANA. A 1978 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann and Lena Nyman. It tells the story of a celebrated classical pianist who is confronted by her neglected daughter. It was Ingrid Bergman's last performance in a major theatrical feature film, and the film won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1979 Golden Globe Awards. (per wiki).
22. Bean cover? : HAT. Man, this clue confuse the hell out of me; eventually I thought it was accepted as not conflicting with the theme because it did not relate to vegetable life but an expression for the human head.
25. Long in films : NIA. Very actress intensive. Another LINK.
26. U-boat, e.g. : SUBmarine.
33. Rod Stewart's first wife : ALANA. Another female; Alan where was your mind. Also married to George Hamilton.
35. Subvert : RUIN. She did not ruin his career.
40. Ship's spine : KEEL. Let's keep ours even.
42. Ziggurat features : TIERS. Pyramid like structures built in ancient Mesopotamia and coming to the FUTURE.(1:25)
51. Overtime cause : TIE.
52. Portugese pronoun : ELA. Similar to Spanish and French.
53. Common ___ : ERA.
54. Considerable amount : TON.
55. Work with, as clay : KNEAD. If you need to relax it is good to knead.
57. Cole Porter's alma mater : YALE. An obscure New England fact 41D. 57-Across grad : ELI.
58. UMass athlete : MINUTEMAN. Another one.
62. With 38-Down, Arctic denizen : POLAR. and 38D. See 62-Across : BEAR.
Down:
1. Venus ___ : DE MILO. Poor girl lost her arms. The back STORY. Venus is the Roman Aphrodite.
2. Strands in winter, perhaps : ICES IN. My meh of the day in an otherwise awesome creation.
3. Offered for a special intention, as a Mass : VOTIVE. You buy the candles.
4. Pained cry : ALAS. Another near ALAN word (like Alana).
5. Zippo : NIL. Zilch, nada, bubkis.
6. Rambunctious sort : IMP.
7. Vientiane's land : LAOS. A remnant of the French influence in Indochina, LINK.
8. Long account : LITANY. She had a litany of complaints.
9. Lack of vigor : ANEMIA. Well the cause of a lack of vigor.
10. Heartless guy? : TINMAN. A shout out to our prodigal son, who is loaded with heart.
11. Neighborhood figures?: Abbr. : ESTS. It cost me something in the neighborhood of $200.00.
12. Faulkner's "___ Lay Dying" : AS I. many think this was his best novel.
13. Latin possessive : SUA. In the law, when a judge does something on his own accord, it is called SUA SPONTE.
14. New Zealand longfin, e.g. : EEL.
22. Bridge position : HELM. Sulu on Star Trek.
23. "Stat!" relative : ASAP.
24. Singer Basil or Braxton : TONI. More women.
26. Sci-fi setting : STUN. "Set phasers to stun, Sulu, Spock."
27. Israeli arm : UZI.
28. Son of, to an Israeli : BEN. An odd sort of clecho.
30. Golfer Creamer : PAULA. Is this a sub-theme for the men or what!?!?
32. Apprehend : GRASP. I grasped where he was headed.
34. Picnic pest : ANT.
36. Barcelona boss : JEFE. Also, in the Mexican and Colombian cartels, the chief.
37. Buckle : GIVE. When Shaq sat down the chair....
39. Aretha's singing sister : ERMA. Rough to be Aretha's SISTER. They say she did this song first.
40. Kit ___ : KAT. Candy bar of choice in one of the offices where I work.
44. Soup bean : LENTIL. Really?????
45. Take for a ride : FLEECE.
46. TripTik, notably : AAA MAP.
48. Roma's home : ITALIA.
49. WWI French aviator Garros : ROLAND. They named the tennis stadium where they play the French Open after this man.
50. Einstein's "E" : ENERGY= mc2
55. Southeastern Turkey native : KURD. They know whey?
56. "___ California": Red Hot Chili Peppers hit : DANI.
57. It has its ups and downs : YO YO. Fun clues.
58. Bub : MAC.
59. The Beatles' "___ Loser" : I'M A. Someone else can link.
60. Three-time All-Star reliever Robb : NEN. He was one of the many All-Stars the Marlins gave away. His father Dick Nen was a major league first baseman.
61. Bread served with chicken tikka masala : NAN. Love the placement, nen nan.
62. Cpl.'s inferior : PVT. Well I wonder what Alan's private thoughts were when he built this entertaining Friday foray. Mine are: it is time for me to head to the hills, until the next time. I leave you with these two classic BEANS.(0:56) and BEAN.(2:29).
Lemonade peace out. Thanks all.
70 comments:
Morning, all!
I thought this was pretty easy for a Friday (certainly much easier than yesterday's puzzle). I got the theme reveal early on, but didn't understand that the "beans" were all spanning multiple answers until after I finished and tried to figure out what it was all about. Very impressive, I must say!
NEN would have been the source of an obscurity complain (especially since it really doesn't look like a real name), except that I actually remember seeing it in the puzzle before. Obviously I got more sleep last night.
And yes, I had a massive crush on Ms. SAMMS back in the day. Something about here accent, I think... ^_^
[lysisre]
Sorry, make that "complaint". Guess I didn't get quite as much sleep as I thought...
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
Great write-up and explanation of a difficult but clever theme, Lemony. You sure had a lot of women to work with today!
I was sure that 22-Across was either HAT, CAP, TAM or WIG. With 22-Down “Bridge position,” I was sure that WIG and WEST would cross each other. Consequently, the crucial area revealing JUMPING BEAN remained hidden until almost the very end.
I felt I had a bit of a leg up on this one, with the CANDLEPIN, U MASS, YALE, and MINUTEMAN entries.
Like Lemony, I really balked at 22A and 44D. I think 22A could have been clued without BEAN. But I looked at the grid, and it was kind of locked in that section because of FA, NA and PIN in the final positions of 43, 63 and 65-Across. There were only a few words that could be used other than LENTIL (liaise, lineal, Lon Nol to name a few.) but the fill suffers with any of them. So in the end, I think it was a good choice.
TGIF!!
Happy Friday everybody!
Re: yesterday's late debate, it was TIT for me today (Threw In Towel)....
Got all the beans, but intermediate fill was too much. LEGUME instead of LENTIL didn't help....
Robb Nen, who was born in the Bay Area, last played for the Giants - he currently works in their front office....
Blazing Saddles was our senior class movie, thanks for the clip Lemon....
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. A tricky puzzle, but just about right for a Friday. I got the theme only after I finished the puzzle and really studied the grid. Some of those beans were not in my bean!
It has its ups and downs = YO-YO was my favorite clue.
BEN-Gurion translates into Son of the Lion.
I initially thought that the Bridge Position referred to the card game and not an actual ship.
QOD: Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do. ~ Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834 ~ Sept. 27, 1917)
[umpicsi]
Hello Puzzlers -
Put me down for a TDNF today. I had so much snow in the NE that I chose to Google something - Vientiane - to get that section going. The resulting Laos and figuring out the theme got the job done.
Thanks for all the DNF opinions, gang! I guess there's enough agreement to keep the TDNF in our conversational toolkit.
Hello,
In one or two words, this was "a bitch.". I got the entire South solved, the rest of it was a bunch of lucky guesses, incorrect wags and lots of white.
Vampires avoid garlic...... who knew? Certainly not Hondo.
For lack of vigor I had Anemic. ANEMIA didm;t seem to fit the clue. But it didn't matter in the end, this was a total train wreck.
Have a nice weekend, Talk to everyone Monday.
This puzzle was really fast to solve for a Friday. The NW and SE quadrants took five minutes total and the rest ten minutes. I thought bean cover was clever, but I see your nit.I found the beans in the theme answers just before the last one. I thought maybe it was DANA, but PINTO gave me DANI. NEN and CANDLEPIN created a near Nattick. After finishing I pondered for 15 minutes to find an alternative, as long as the entire puzzle took. Finally I held my breath and declared the puzzle done.
LACK (of vigor)is a noun. ANEMIA is a noun.
Mexican JUMPING BEANS are native to Mexico, so no harm, no foul. The Mexicans call them Frijoles saltarines.
Good Morning Everybody, TGIF!!!
My brain has done enough work for the day, I'm going home! :)
That was a toughie, no? Those of you who breezed through it must be smarter than Sheldon! I did finally finish the puzzle - with a little help from my friends at Google.
I enjoyed these clues:
- 22A: Bean cover? HAT
- 10D: Heartless guy? TIN MAN (not our Tinbeni!)
- 57D: It has its ups and downs: YOYO
loser link for 59D.
Have a great day and a super weekend!
Thanks for the review. I always enjoy Gareth's take on the puzzle. his constructor's insight is always welcomed.
Hi everyone. Thanks for the kind words on my debut. I guess it's going over better than I expected. The dentist from New England is actually my father. I'm a librarian in Cambridge who happens to have none other than Brendan Emmett Quigley as one of his patrons. It was knowing Brendan that got me involved in constructing in the first place. Finally, have to agree with the clue for "lentil". I clued it "___soup" trying to stay as far away from the bean thing as possible. But other than than Rich did an awesome job shaping up a great many of the clues.
Good late morning!
Harold again. DW's back in Alexandria, so I've been busy feeding cats, doing laundry, repairing the hummingbird feeder that I forgot to bring in last night, etc.
As you've probably guessed, I'm trying to avoid talking about the puzzle. It was a Friday DNF. Twice! I knew NEN had to be wrong, so NED it was. DANI could easily have been DANA. (Had I gotten the theme, the "I" would have been obvious.) So that made the game piece a CADDLE PAN (that's how "cattle pen" is pr'nounced round these here parts). Hey, it coulda been a game piece!
Dudley, as far as I'm concerned there is no TDNF. I do the puzzle on paper, and away from the computer. I either get it, or I don't. Today, I didn't.
Thank you , Lemonade for your funny and witty explanations. I found the puzzle rather difficult.
I was wondering why you had all those .... .??? ..... For the answer for the lentil soup. Does that mean that you think lentil is ....
.. (a). Not a 'bean' ?
Or (b). That lentil does not make a good soup vegetable ??
Hahtoolah, without appearing to be insulting or sacrilegious , - if (David) Ben Gurion was a 'son of a lion', .... His mother must have been very brave indeed. (Lol)
BTW, lions apparently, aren't all that brave or hard working, (compared to lionesses, for instance - ), they were the cause of the cancellation of a Smithsonian exhibit ..... on lions.
Also, btw, my trip is stilll being planned.
Have a nice day, you all.
Hi Y'all! Interesting puzzle, Alan. Great expo, Lemon.
After the Tada, I puzzled over the theme and never did "get it" until I came here. The names all had to be perped except Paula Creamer. Faces weren't even familiar.
Is the excessive amount we pay for gasoline paying for the fabulous architecture at the Ziggurat and in Dubai. If so, I vote for less fabulous buildings and lower prices.
58a Although I lived in Massachusetts for a few months in 1961, I didn't think I knew the athlete until MIN showed up. Then I knew what it had to be. The only time I ever saw a CANDLEPIN game was that year in MASS. Haven't heard of it since.
I'm not a puzzle snob. I'll fill in the squares anyway I can and not apologize to anyone for using red letters. This isn't a semester test, for gosh sakes. It's a silly daily puzzle which is often weighted with East Coast or West Coast knowledge that I don't have and don't really care about. Hay, I knew ALFALFA right away. I'm always up for learning a few new things any way I can.
The weather had me ICEd IN on my birthday in March. My elder daughter called me two days later and wanted to take me out to eat. She was wrong on the date. I had eaten an hour before she called. It was slick. I took a "rain check".
I tried to take her out and give her a gift on her birthday in early June, but she declined. Haven't seen her since mid-May when she brought me a basket of flowers for Mother's Day, partly because she has been in other states. Today she is taking me out to lunch for my "birthday" and I will give her a birthday card with cash in it. Some years our relationship is very strange. I'll take what I can get.
Good morning everyone.
Got about half at first, mainly in the corners. But then 'got' the theme with the PESO-YANGTZE connection. That allowed a better handle on the other long acrosses. Had 'wig' for a while @ 22a, (wanted 'west' for bridge position) Finally 'got' JUMPING BEAN which gave me HELM @ 22d. Very clever!. Changed wig to HAT and voilà , it was done. No lookups but quite a few WAGs; TONI, ALANA, ALFALFA; also CANDLE PIN.
Don't see the issue with LENTIL. We call them lentil beans.
BZ to Alan; A very clever construction.
93º here today.
Vidwan: I hadn't heard about the Smithsonian program cancellation.
Do keep me updated about your trip. Let me know if I can help.
The lentil part is fine. It's the use of bean in the clue that is troubling.
Vidwan827 and Spitz: The issue with 22A is that it's clued as a bean, and with 44D is that it is a bean. The puzzle theme is beans, but those two aren't theme answers.
Here's a question for C.C.: DW often has Chinese students in here sociology classes, but they don't recognize the name YANGTZE for the river. What do Chinese call that river?
Thanks for sparkling write up, Lemonade. As hard as I tried, I just didn't see the "jumping beans". Also, candlepin was a new one for me, as was dana California and Robb Nen. Sheesh...DNF!
Ahhhhhhhh, Garlic! Yes, it's that time of year around our city...the 35th Annual Garlic Festival is next weekend so we are gearing up for our 100,000 visitors over the 3 days. It's a hell of a party!
TGIF (Thank Garlic It's Friday?)
May the smell be with you....
Good Morning:
Kudos to Alan for a clever, if slightly diabolical, theme and masterful construction. Lemony, you did a terrific job of explaining everything I missed.
The best part was the shout-out to our Tinman, who does have a heart. A definite DNF. Other than that, what Thumper said.
Today is the opening day at Saratoga, and this is the track's 150 th anniversary. Temp is supposed to be 95; the poor horses.
Today marks 6 consecutive days of 90+ temps. Enough already!
Have a great Friday and stay cool.
Happy Friday, all! Congratulations on a super debut, Alan. I got a real kick out of the theme “jumping” across two answers. Thanks for an entertaining write-up, Lemony. Enjoyed Erma’s more understated version of “Piece of My Heart”.
I actually liked Bean Cover? = HAT, although it was hard to give up East or West for the Bridge Position at 22D. Had the most trouble in the SW, since I was sure the game piece at 65A as a _________MAN until MINUTEMAN at 58A made that unlikely. Always loved the gentle irony of the Wizard of Oz, where the Scarecrow is the smartest, the Cowardly Lion is the bravest, and the TINMAN is far from a Heartless Guy.
Now that Daughter and SIL are out of the house and into their new apartment, I have a small window of opportunity to get some cleaning done in preparation for the next wave of out-of-town visitors: Sister-in-law from Iowa next week; Daughter from Atlanta the following week; and Sister-in-law + family from South Carolina the week after that. It’s fun being “home base”.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
This puzzle was too difficult for me, BUT it is Friday, so it is what I expect. I measure progress by how many more end-of-week clues I solve now, than a year ago. So, "What Thumper Said."
I totally enjoy the write-ups. I think one has to try to do the puzzle before reading the blog for it to be useful in learning new things, so I always attempt a solve.
PK, I think we would be very good next-door neighbors. We would have lots to visit about. My relationships with my relatives sure changes from year to year.
I am back in MT. I flew in last night just before midnight. Still have a 4-hour drive to my home. Might become a snowbird and move south to Denver for the fall/winter.
Have a good Friday,
Montana
ADK, thank you for stopping by and providing insight into your debut puzzle and your inspiration. Give your father my regards; my uncle studied at Tufts.
While I do not think there are many set in stone rules for puzzles, I was led to believe you did not use a word in a clue that was part of a fill, especially for the theme fill. One reason I do not dwell on any fill is knowing how much the editors can change the cluing.
I think the puzzle seemed harder than it was because of the triple stacks which are discouraging at first, and if you do not struggle through the Saturday puzzles, you would not be used to this challenge. With 42 black squares, it really was not the difficulty of a Saturday as the 3 letter fill could get the long ones started.
D-Otto,
In China, we call Yangtze River as "Chang Jiang" (literally, "long river"). Most Chinese won't recognize "Chow mein" either. We spell it as "Chao mian".
Words like "Yangtze", "Peking" & "Chow mein" are all from Wade-Giles system (old romanization of Chinese), which was heavily influenced by Cantonese.
I'm lucky to have spent a few years in Guangzhou where Cantonese is spoken. Otherwise, those Chinese words in Xwords would be very difficult for me (Just ask Barry G's wife).
Most of the beans implied by 36a are food beans in the legume family. Vanilla is in the orchid family. ALFALFA is a legume but not a bean. JUMPING BEAN is also not a legume. Since LENTIL, a legume, doesn't 'span' two words like the theme beans I think we can give it a little slack here, and not overthink the cluing. It is a Friday.
The HAT clue is followed by a '?', suggesting a pun or off-beat meaning.
I did not mean to suggest the bean clues were bad only they conflicted with a rule I thought existed.
I thought the HAT/BEAN was cute and I agree, which is why I began my commentary talking about the confusing concept of "bean" and ended the same way.
Pas de Chat,
I'm glad you caught Amanda's clip.
PK @12:08pm yesterday,
Did you mean you were the first to discover that letter?
Hello, Lemonade, and weekend warriors.
Yowza! This could have been difficult but was ultimately doaable with many WAGS. The theme did not help me but I had JUMPING BEAN early on though didn't realize the BEANs jumped over the lines. Very clever, Alan. I'mm in too much of a hurry.
This was great fun and a nice challenge today. Many unknowns, especially NEN but CANDLE PIN seemed safe.
I no longer need AAA MAPs as long as I have GPS though my sister asked for one on our recent trip.
Must go sit with my sister-in-law who is recovering from surgery and I'll be gone all day.
I hope you all enjoy your Friday!
Astute readers will notice that Lemonade often highlights in red color the clues which dupe the fill in an grid, hence his 22A and 44D today.
Constructors/editors try to avoid this dupe in puzzles, but sometimes it's hard to spot.
This was a Friday puzzle? Give me a break! A Saturday--great--very difficult, very clever, but surely not a Friday! However, since so many thought it was easy, I'm clearly losing it this week. I didn't finish yesterday either, now that I think about it.
Having gotten that off my chest, I have to admit the theme was really, really clever, Alan. I actually got JUMPING BEAN early, but not that the BEAN words in the starred clues had to jump across the black square. Had no problem whatsoever with LENTIL since I used to make LENTIL SOUP all the time, back when I still cooked instead of serving frozen dinners every night. And I agree with Lemonade that constructing this puzzle must be considered a brilliant feat. Just wish it had been a Saturday.
We're off to have my husband's orthotic device checked to see why it is making his foot red.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
Finished, but with helps, so no personal satisfaction.
Lemonade says, "The challenge to put this together was amazing," and I agree wholeheartedly. I sussed the buried bean theme early on, but that did me little good; there were just too many areas outside my knowledge and instincts.
Like several others, I admire DerKazarian's ingenuity. Maybe I'll have better luck on his next one.
Not a DNF, or even a TDNF today. I will have to create a new abbreviation, how about C&B, (crash & burn) because I had to cheat my way in my obsession to find the answers to these clues. So much so that I totally forgot to look for the beans, which is probably a good thing because I would have been looking for anagrams anyway....
1st pass things that fit across (but not down)
1A seat often against a wall - Bench?
22A Bean cover - Pod?
42a Ziggurat figures - Stars? (I thought they rated restaurants.)
54A considerable amount - Sum?
55A work with, as clay - molds?
& down but not across, 44D Soup Bean - Legume?
Never saw candle pins before.
My Dentist has this poster on his door to keep your mind busy while he drills.
Posted previously, but in case you missed it: Venus De Milo
Lemon: Wonderful, very informative write-up & links.
Alan: For a "debut" this was a FUN Friday offering. Tough but fair. Thank you. Great job!
Doha Doc @6:55 ... I'm never going to associate TIT as "Threw In Towel" ... just sayin'.
Learning moments today were SUA, CANDLE-PIN and JEFE (though easily "perpable", if that's a real word).
Now if 2-D, Strands in winter, perhaps, (Ices-in), had been properly clued:
"Pinch over cubes" ... then ICE-SIN would have been properly parsed (and not a 'meh' clue).
A "toast" to ALL at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Hello everybody. Brilliant puzzle today. The SW corner defeated me, though; I had NED instead of NEN and MAN instead of MAC, so I filled in NADDLEPIN even though it didn't look right. It didn't help me that I have never heard of a CANDLEPIN, so even if I had solved correctly I still would have been scratching my bean.
I said "Sheesh" (in a happy way) when I finally figured out HELM and STUN. Setting indeed!
My son, his wife, and his son will be spending the next 2 weeks in Orlando, FL. Since they live in Tempe, AZ, and are therefore used to heat, I fear the humidity will wilt them.
Best wishes to you all.
This was a very clever puzzle,Alan!
And it wasn't mean-spirited like some are.
I was just stumped in the NE. I couldn't see the theme at all. Thanks, Lemonade!Like CED was looking for anagrams.
Spitz from last night : Thanks for that "His Nibs" bio! That was interesting and cute.
Bill G also:
Pas, I got ZAG OK though I agree with you that it doesn't seem quite right. I was thinking that a half an S curve ought to be a CEE.
My sentiments EXACTLY! I got it too, but didn't like it. I thought it should be "C" too.
Only nit, was mixing ONE(English)and PESO
(Spanish) but I guess it's OK, since 100 was not spelled out.
Lived in MA. Candlepins for Cash was on TV.
Funny video CED.
Hi gang -
I messed up AAA MAP and CANDLEPIN, having no idea what the latter refers to.
I took "jumping" to be just another indicator of anagramming, so could make no sense of this theme. In fact, my bean cover is off to anyone who sussed it, though mine ought to have been knocked off as this one flew past.
Didn't know NEN, either. I mean c'mon - national league?
AMERICANA is a specific answer to a question asking for a generality.
Too many too obscure names.
Now we need to know Portuguese?!?
I'm impressed with the technical mastery of the construction, but didn't like the puzzle very much.
Does that make me a BIPOLAR BEAR?
Cool regards!
and stay cool if you can
JzB
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Alan DerKazarian, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the fine write-up.
Alan: Are you Armenian?
Well, I started with DUNCE for 1A, seat against the wall. After a long time changed that to DIVAN.
Had VIRUS before E COLI.
I got STUN with perps, but did not get it until I read the write-up. OK.
Years ago I used the TripRiks before GPSs were around. I wanted to get my money's worth from my AAA membership.
Still in Normal, IL. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(lsolosen)
Jazz B: in case you missed it, on Wed. I wrote
C.C. thanks for the heads-up on JazzB's granddaughter dancing in the Nutcracker. I went to JazzB's blog and found the video.
JazzB, very nice!
Amanda is a very good dancer.
She and her partner dance well together. Nice lifts.
Tell her:
Very good piqué turns, bourré, and pirouettes!!!
I really enjoyed her performance.
Frustration over elA/aAamap crossing costing me one cell was far outweighed by this fabulously constructed puzzle.
Musings
-A vast collection of AMERICANA that was much more popular before I-80
-Parents always bemoan that their child is not fulfilling his POTENTIAL at P/T conferences. The mirrors in their house are obviously broken
-The Catholic Church has Ordinary Time, not Common ERA, but you can light a VOTIVE candle any time
-One Hit Wonder TONI ear worm
-Trekkie Noel Shempsky when assessing Roz, “Set your phasers to stunning”
-A good curve ball can make a batter’s knees BUCKLE
-Fake roofers try to FLEECE unaware home owners after a hail storm
-QOD corollary – golfers who are fine naturally can get worse when they try to get better
-Montana, you know you live in the north when Denver is a winter escape
G'Afternoon all!
DNF, TDNF; not this was a TIT (thanks Doha) / C&B (CED). Even with 8 googles, my BEAN didn't know enough to solve Alan's pzl. I got the SW easily, but with booth @ 1a, that corner was a loss. If I know what a DIVAN was (I'll ask wife later), then DEMILO (wanted) and NIL (wanted) would have fallen.
MOULD for 56a doomed that corner (apparently, that's the Queen's spelling).
BEAN in the clues actually directed my brain to JUMPINGBEAN, but like others, I was looking for anagrams.
UNO PESO / UN PESSO (how many ESS curves?) @29a didn't help me either.
22a / 22d provided the little AHA that made the attempt worthwile.
Thanks Alan for the puzzle, Lem for the writeup, and every one else comissorating (sp?) with me on another Friday ALE (A Learning Experience).
GG: Had college pals living in Gilroy. The smell of Garlic in the morn was wonderfull (not sarcasm; I'm Itallian).
IM: only 6 days - don't move to Texas; It's been 8 weeks (with a break earlier for storms, now humid and 95F).
Have a wonderful weekend all.
-T
I think this is about Alan's grandmother.. Interesting, she was buried in the same cemetery as our daughter - 6 days later.
Abejo, yes I am Armenian. Can't say I've ever seen another Aremnian name on a masthead before. Maybe a first?
I really am taken aback by how people people have never heard of candlepin bowling. Here in MA it is almost the only way you can bowl. If you go bowling you'll usually find all candlepin - sometimes you might find 5 or 6 big ball lanes tucked away in a corner.
As a kid I was always confused when I saw professional bowling tournaments on TV. "That isn't bowling" I would think...
I'm guessing that nobody cares very much by this time of day but I agree with most of you (DD, HH, Dudley, Mari, DO, Vidwan, Montana, Misty, CED, et al.) who found the puzzle hard. This is what a Saturday puzzle would look like if it had a theme. I'm not complaining, just sayin'.
I'd heard of candlepins but never saw them. Where I grew up, bowling meant duckpins; smaller pins, smaller balls and you got to throw three balls. I actually liked duckpins better than regular bowling because it's what I grew up with. Also, the smaller balls are easier for a smaller person to use.
Gary, you are so right about a curve ball. Before I became a teacher, I worked at Hughes Aircraft Company. They decided to try to come up with a baseball team for a minor industrial league. So, I went out to the first practice. They had a semi-pro guy acting as manager and who was throwing batting practice. When it was my turn, I was doing OK for a bit, getting a few ground balls and weak fly balls. Then he threw a curve. I was diving out of the batter's box, red with embarrassment. I realized I was in over my head and had better stick to slow-pitch softball.
Husker, here's my idea of a "One Hit Wonder TONI ear worm.
Keith:
Yesterday CED (I think) called a Technical DNF a puzzle that you finish even though you needed outside help (e.g. Google).
-T
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the "T" for in TDNF?
That was weird - my response to Keith is now listed a minute before his question... -T
Ah, thank you... er, Anonymous! I'll add TDNF to my Xword lexicon.
Spitz, great job on the research and Alan not only were we impressed by your puzzle, the story of your grandmother is wonderful. Welcome to our world.
LIke duckpins, candlepins use the small ball and you get three. Strikes and spares are still the same
Bill G. and others, why is it people assume if they post late that people do not read or consider your comments.
If there are no follow up comments it generally means there was nothing anyone wanted to say in response. If you write only because you expect a response, you miss the point of a blog. It is a forum to express yourself.
If you consider those of us who do the daily write ups discuss many topics, link various words, pictures, most of which are ignored, you cannot write here only to get a response, it must be enough to have as place to express yourself, learn and teach. IMO. I speak only for myself and not for C.C or any other blogger.
Ah, 20 lines is not enough...
I was so busy ranting that I did not have room to thank Alan DerKazarian for his wonderful puzzle. The "jumping bean" theme was a masterstroke, & I am sorry I was not smart enough to to figure it out.
Here are some funny jumping beans to celebrate this puzzle:
1st, don't eat them!
Did you know there was a Blog about Mexican Food?
OK, this is just plain weird.
Hmm,, I never opened one up before.
&, of course, you cannot beat The BBC when it comes to reporting the facts...
Lemonade, you're speaking for several of us who are tired of the constant "my posts must not have been read, so I'll post them yet again".
CED you are a treasure. If I do not comment on your line up of links, it is because I do get busy.
OK, I'm limiting myself in posts for later tonight, but...
1. Keith: I'm hurt. Last week you called me Anonymous T. I thought about using that as an avatar, but I really don't want The Google tracking me more than they are.
2. CED: BBC video was great! All, if you have 5 min and reasonable ISP speeds, watch it...
Cheers,
Anonymous T (AKA -T)
is it me, or does the CAPTCHA get harder the more you post?
Well, back from a great Mexican lunch with daughter & granddaughter. Lots of laughter as we told some family stories to my almost 14-yr-old granddaughter. She's going to be learning to drive. The funniest (now) stories were about her mother who had her first (but not last) wreck within an hour of getting her license to drive.
Montana: would love to neighbor with you.
C.C. The letter I wrote about yesterday had been in my husband's grandpa's desk three feet from where my husband slept for 15 years. Two generations of people lived in that house and never opened the desk or saw the letter. After grandpa died in the 1940's, his son, son's wife and five kids moved into the house. The mother had a heart condition then and couldn't do much. The teenaged boys just moved grandpa's stuff to the attic or a handy corner and they started living there. I was the first person after grandpa to see the letter in 1984 when mother-in-law died. We did a thorough cleaning out of her house. Blew my mind! Lots of antiquities.
Lemon, I'm not sure what I did to warrant your last response. Maybe it's because I said that "I'm guessing that nobody cares very much by this time of day but I agree with most of you ... who found the puzzle hard. This is what a Saturday puzzle would look like if it had a theme. I'm not complaining, just sayin'."
I was making small talk introducing my first post by saying that I really didn't have much new to say about the puzzle but agreed with most everybody else who found the puzzle hard. I wasn't being critical of people not considering my comments late in the day. You have convinced me that bloggers do read the late-night posts. If I came across negatively, I should have chosen my words more carefully. You too maybe. I don't write only to get responses though I admit I do enjoy it when it happens. I am trying to keep Thumper's good advice in mind.
Again, if I came across negatively or critically to anybody, I apologize.
Pls Note:
We are only allowed 5 posts of 20 lines each, for good reason. I would love to be able to comment on every post, but it would quickly make the Blog quite tedious.
I try to save & jealously guard each remaining post for the best of the day comment, or if Manac busts my chops (Where is Manac, I miss you.)
But pls let it be known, I read the Blog to learn, & I would not think of starting the day without reading yesterdays late night comments for fear of missing something!
Anonymous T @ 2:27 - I spent several summers in Southwest Florida so I know about continuous heat and humidity. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now! (-:
Sfingi, you have a comment about your post on "Thursday, May 30, 2013 Peg Slay" LINK
Oh, and T, are you now AT&T?
C.C., thanks for the info on the Yangtze - Chang Jiang. I forwarded it on to DW.
C-E-D, loved that BBC video.
Anonymous T -- It's not the number of posts, it's continuing to drink while posting that makes the captcha more difficult. Your fingers will stagger as you spell. Trust me, I know.
Well, I've returned from my sitting duty and a nice visit with my sister-in-law who had a small part of her lung removed. She is much improved.
I wanted to rave about this brilliant puzzle today and hope that Alan drops in again. This kind of challenge is what I love about crossword puzzles. It was doable and offered some learning moments such as CANDLE PINS, NEN and the fact that Aretha has a singing sister!
CEDave:
Your links are always such fun and the BBC one is particularly so.
Lemonade:
You were your usual zesty self today and I appreciated all the explanations which though I got yet didn't quite "get." See paragraph #2.
GarlicGal:
Some year I would dearly love to attend the garlic festival. Perhaps we can schedule our annual trip to coincide with it.
Lucina, great idea! It's always the last FULL weekend in July. I would love for your "twisted sisters" to meet my "twisted sister"... :)
Lemon @3:24
Spot on analysis.
I'm always impressed by the "length & depth" the daily bloggers go into regarding these puzzles.
The amount of information "linked" is astounding.
If I only wanted the "grid answers" ... I would just go to the filled in thing at the bottom ...
And I would have missed an opportunity to learn many, many things.
Like CED @3:45, I "go-back" and read the latter comments from the day before (though I rarely, if ever comment on them).
d-o @4:30, Here at Villa Incognito, "It's Always Five O'clock Somewhere"!:
(Where "continuing to drink while posting" IS THE RULE ...)
Typing the captcha (almost never) takes more than 10 or 12 attempts, LOL!
Cheers!!!
I forgot to mention that VOTIVE does not refer to candles only. A VOTIVE Mass is one celebrated for some specified intention.
GG:
I would love that!
Really late to the party. I used red letter help.
Chicago has been hotter than most of Texas, and my sis has been enjoying the (relative) cool weather.
Great write up Lemonade. I always look forward to Friday.
Anon "-T". Doesn't matter if you are blue or not. You are being tracked. It's just a matter of degree. You know that. The diff is that anyone can spoof your comments while anon. PK and others know that. You can "go blue" with bogus data.
Lucina, you captured my thoughts. "I wanted to rave about this brilliant puzzle today and hope that Alan drops in again..."
CED, you are a trip.
Bill G: I look forward to your comments as well as many others, for your distinctive additions to the blog. We can always count on unique perspectives from those with expert knowledge in their area, humor, pathos, celebrations, links, DF (you know who you are!), and much more.
I go first to see if I got it right, and then go back and check the day before to see if I missed anything.
This is great entertainment, and a source of new knowledge for me. I learn something every day!
Thanks, C.C. and all of you who make my day.
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