Theme: FREE THROW LANE, the ultimate Clecho..
In basketball the rectangular area under and away from the basket is known as the KEY, which is our clue for all four theme answers. Last week I was not sure how to present the theme, today it presents itself. If you want to know more about BASKETBALL and the court, click the link. You can read about our constructor HERE. This our third from Robyn who had two Monday LATs and two others published by the NYT. This is a classic "same clue for all themes fill" puzzle with 4 long fill, two 13s and two 14s. As befitting a Friday there was difficulty and some wit, but overall I enjoyed her Mondays more. I actually like FREE THROW LANE better than the PADLOCK OPENER which seems arbitrary (why pad not regular lock?) but I have never made a puzzle so it might be a foolish suggestion, but for me if you do this big clecho (by now all you newbies understand the term our Dennis coined and had been approved by the official URBAN DICTIONARY), you need to have some tricky and fun theme fill. Well let us take a slow post Holiday walk into Robyn's mind.
20A. Key : PADLOCK OPENER. (13). A simple literal fill.
27A. Key : ANTHEM LYRICIST. (14). Francis Scott Key, a Maryland lawyer who wrote the Star Spangled Banner after watching the British bombard Fort McHenry. LINK.
42A. Key : MAP EXPLANATION. (14).Where they tell you one inch equals ten miles.
50A. Key : FLORIDA ISLAND. (13). Also spelled Cay. Have you ever driven to Key West? Hemingway's influence is still strong.
Across:
1. Break the rules : CHEAT. We begin with a rule breaker.
6. "___ difference" : SAME. An odd phrase which probably comes from same thing, no difference..
10. Apothecary's measure : DRAM. When I was young pharmacists still made most of the things they sold, based on a Doctor's instruction and drams are the common measure. Since then big Pharma took over making medicines.
14. Refuse : SAY NO. To drugs.
15. Buck : CLAM. Idioms for money.
16. Quite : OH SO. All perps but if you think, oh so good, then it fits.
17. Update, perhaps : AMEND. Pleadings are amended all of the time. Not to be confused with EMEND.
18. Ingredient from the garden : HERB. We need to get Herb out of the garden and to get a job.
19. "Copacabana" guy who "went a bit too far" : RICO.
His name was Rico, he wore a diamond
He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancin' there
And when she finished, he called her over
But Rico went a bit too far, Tony sailed across the bar
23. Eye-catching wrap : BOA. I hope you have never been hit in the eye with one of these as they are swung around; it stings.
25. ___-tzu : LAO. The founder of Taoism? It reminds me of Tuesday's video and COW TSE TONGUE.
26. Exorcism targets : DEMONS. Anyone read Dan Brown's new book?
31. Keep happening : RECUR.
32. Some tributes : ODES. Can someone write an ODE to this oft used clue?
33. Gus ___, subject of the 1951 biopic "I'll See You in My Dreams" : KAHN. No memory of the man, a famous Lyricist (mini-theme?) or the movie. His music is part of the Liberace MOVIE.
34. Touch type? : MIDAS. Golden, and very tricky.
36. Treaters of boxers : VETS. Yes the woof woof kind, a shout out to the prolific Gareth Bain. Wonderful animal sleeping video Dennis. More of the puzzle going to the dogs, 23D. Lab output? : BARK.
40. ___ novel : DIME. Read WIKI.
41. Three-time NFL MVP : FAVRE. Brett. He also was in a movie, remember?
47. Joseph Kennedy's middle daughter : EUNICE. She married R. Sargent Shriver. As well as being the mother of Maria, Arnold's ex-wife; this Kennedy started the Special Olympics.
48. Mark Thackeray, to his students, in a 1967 film : SIR. Really too obscure for me, but once revealed by perps I knew the ROLE.(0:20).
49. Fleur-de-___ : LYS. I always think of this lily as LIS.
54. Hip bones : ILIA. This is becoming a popular fill.
55. Calamine target : BITE. Insect ones usually, also used for poison ivy.
56. Went a-courting : WOOED. Old fashioned clue and old fashioned fill.
59. Period of sacrifice : LENT.
60. War god : ARES. Three weeks in a row?
61. ___ football : ARENA. It is their season for this indoor game. This odd indoor spring/summer football did give us this QB.
62. Feminine suffix : ETTE. Like Smurfette.
63. 6-Down rooms : GYMS. and, 6D. Hogwarts, e.g. : SCHOOL. All schools have gymnasiums, right?
64. Golf scorecard word : YARDS. In the US, the length of each hole is shown in yards.
Down:
1. Lee side: Abbr. : CSA. Confederate States of America. If you have three letter fill this tricky, it is all good, as we usually are bombarded with leeward and alee, and to slip in a Robert E. was well done.
2. Seuss title food : HAM. Green Eggs anyone?
3. 44-Down accessory : EYE PATCH. and 44D. 3-Down wearer : PIRATE. Arrgh.
4. Wintour of fashion : ANNA. This designer, editor and all around in VOGUE woman.
5. One prone to falling : TODDLER. This is a sweet and somewhat poignant clue as Charlotte now stands.
7. Smart ___ : ALEC.
8. A, ideally : MARK.
9. Personifies : EMBODIES.
10. "The Sound of Music" song : DO RE MI. Classic Julie Andrews SONG.(4:51).
11. Large-horned mammals : RHINOS. Twice this week, it must be mating season.
12. Trip up : ASCENT. Nicely done, a trip UP, not a tripup.
13. Othello et al. : MOORS. Do any of us recall who they were? A learning LESSON?
21. Flee : LAM. Another repeat.
22. Push-up targets : PECS. Pectoral; like young Arnold?
24. Most fit for duty : ONE A. Draft status.
28. Fifth-century invader : HUN. Attila anyone?
29. Feature of bluegrass singing : YODEL.
30. Nutritional stat : RDA.
34. Hodgepodge : MIXED BAG. There are a POTPOURRI of answers here.
35. Calvin of comics, for one : IMP. Really, Calvin is a sweetheart, it is Hobbes who keeps getting him in trouble.
36. Large vessel : VAT. Not for the sea, but for holding stuff.
37. Superhero's nemesis : EVIL DOER. Really?
38. Metal-measure word : TROY. If you had an ounce of sense you got this easily; the reason for the variant spelling of LIS. We could have had Deanna, well actually we could not.
39. D.C. bigwigs : SENS. Senators.
40. Prefix with liter : DECI. My least favorite liter. 1/10 th of a liter, or about 3.3 ounces. Only a good measure if you are visiting Casa Incognito.
41. Like some unfocused looks : FARAWAY.
42. Popular '80s-'90s do : MULLET. Billy Ray Cyrus anyone?
43. Consecrate, in a way : ANOINT. Before or after washing the feet?
45. Take stock of : ASSESS.
46. Zip : NIL. No comment, zilch, zero, nada, rien.
47. System used for most returns : E-FILE. Income tax returns not bad purchases. E-filing has come to the courts and man is it a mess.
51. Well-ventilated : AIRY. Yes the family room is quite well ventilated.
52. Two stars, maybe : ITEM.
53. Asta's "mom" : NORA. Myrna Loy.
57. English fin : END. French FIN (sounds more like fan) from which we get finsih, which I almost have, but we have to come full circle as we started with a cheat and now we have someone to deal with that.
58. Court VIPs : DAs. District Attorneys.
Well if anyone is out there after the rare Thursday holiday, I hope you enjoyed the show and see you next time. Lemonade leaving you with a memory from my youth when we used to drive 26 miles to go to this DELI. Thanks Robyn.
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to another lovely Linda in our blog! Like our LaLaLinda, this Linda is also very caring and thoughtful. She still shows up on the blog occasionally.
This picture is from Linda's 50th wedding anniversary in 2011. She said then:
"Being a non-traditionalist, I chose lavender, pink and white as my color theme. Those were our wedding colors. The cake topper is the original one. Note the photo at lower left of us cutting the first cake"
57 comments:
Greetings!
What a slog! But no cheats! Swell puzzle, Robyn! Great expo, Lemonade!
Cheers!
Back hurts so much from long car ride and excruciating time in dentist's chair, I cannot fall asleep. Haven't blogged this early in eons.
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, Linda)!
Delightful puzzle today. A few total unknowns, like ANNA and KAHN, but the perps were uniformly solid so it didn't matter. The theme was interesting and the the answers were relatively easy to get with a little perp help. And tons of really nice tricky clues (I think "trip up" for ASCENT might be my favorite).
Wasn't crazy about the self-referential clues at 3D and 44D, but once again the perps came to the rescue.
Supposed to hit 100 today, with a heat index above that due to the humidity. Let's hope my new portable AC unit is up to the task...
Hope your back feels better, Fermatprime!
[doptcre]
Good morning!
I made a MISHMASH out of this MIXED BAG and feared that the South was never gonna rise again. Otherwise this one came together in faster-than-usual Friday time.
Is that music note SO or SOL? (The note that precedes LA) I haven't read the Dan Brown book. I'm waiting for Amazon to reduce the price of the Kindle version.
Howdy all,
If I had anything on my agenda today this would have been a DNF, but lacking any "to do's", I eventually slogged through successfully.
I found the north to be the toughest section. A lot of the 4 letter words wouldn't jump out. A successful wag or two finally got the ball rolling..
Unlike Barry, I liked the 3D/44D connection. A slowdown or two because of spelling goofs: Anne/ANNA, Lis/LYS, & ...Lyricest/...LYRICIST.
It's been eons since I've been to Key West, but I keep thinking 50A should be plural, not singular. As I recall, there are several keys.
Lab output/BARK today's favorite.
I'm ready to move to Mt Washington. The 3 H's are ruining my sunny disposition!
Have a good weekend.
[epasspor
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
Short on time today because I just want to get everything done while it is relatively cool. I'll go back to your links when I am sitting in front of the AC this PM, Lemony!
WBS, except I did know ANNA Wintour. Hand up for loving "Trip up" for ASCENT.
TGIF - stay cool, everyone!
Happy birthday Linda and many more.
There are many Florida Keys, my son, dil and Charlotte are in Key Largo, but the singular clue was just looking for one.
I think it is SOL.
Feel better FP.
Started this one about 1:30 AM when I woke to the sound of another of my neighbor's 4 inch mortar blasts. He was bragging about them a few days ago, and I guess it's not bragging if it holds to be true. Way, way too loud.
Got most of it done in the wee hours. MAP EXPLANATION was the first theme fill. Solved the middle and bottom and went back to bed. This morning, SAME, HERB, EMBODIES, DO RE MI and ASCENT all came quickly and I was done.
Favs:
Lab output = BARK, and for some reason,
Feature of Bluegrass singing = YODEL. Had TWANG at first, but RDA and MIDAS told me no.
Thanks Lemonade. Great stuff. Yes, I see that you have been relieved of the weekly dawn goddess, but have been rewarded with the weekly war god.
Your 10A and 14A... Yes, SAY NO to drugs, especially if they were made by This place
Congratulations to you and your husband Linda !
Argyle, I liked the town shots yesterday.
I also worked this puzzle last night. I still use red letter help for end of the week puzzles and consider them DNF if I see a red square. But, I still enjoy solving, even with assistance.
I did quite well on this Friday offering. Only saw red a few times.
I read Dan Brown's latest and was surprised that I didn't care much for it. It was a chore to continue reading it each day. I donated it to local library. I really enjoyed his first books (and movies).
Lemon, I sent you an e-mail this morning.
Happy in Denver,
Montana
Musings
-troI/troY crossing lIs/lYs my only question. I chose the latter
-ANTHEM LYRICIST was my fav. The tune was a British drinking song
-Refuse Refuse – reject garbage.
-This EUNICE can hit close to home
-The kids started to respect Mr. Thackery after he stunned the bully with one punch in a boxing match
-Hey, TROY/LYS was right. I get a MARK of A.
-No room in a school has deterred people from attending reunions as much as GYMS
-USA’s Meade’s defeat of Lee’s CSA 150 years ago this week turned the tide of the civil war
-Some people are oblivious to that FARAWAY look in their audience as they drone on
-My sympathies on all the hot weather. We wore jackets for cool night of firework watching. Our inferno is coming.
-HBD, Linda. Great colors and beautiful people.
-What quantity of calamine lotion did the song think necessary for Poison Ivy?
-What song awoke Bill Murray in each RECURing Groundhog Day?
"You're gonna need an ocean
of calamine lotion."
Good morning everyone. Nice explanation of the key stuff, Lemonade. Thank you.
Happy Birthday, Linda.
Started out daunting but gradually got the solve to build. DRAM/MOOR and EUNICE/E-FILE were nuclei for the start. Had a brain fart with hAVRE-FAVRE. (HAVRE is a small ship I served on for training in 1964 on L. Michigan. Named after Havre, Mont.) Notwithstanding the difficulty, there were many fun clues to suss. Loved those for MIDAS, ANTHEM LYRICIST, CSA and BARK. The theme was terrific. I had puzzle dictionary help with LAM and EMBODIES but it was worth it to get the other clever clues to cough up their fill.
Thank you Robyn.
btw - Weintraub means 'grape' in German.
Key West - Lemon, We drove the length of the Florida Keys a few years ago. Stayed a few days at Key West; lodged at the Naval Air Station there. Highlight for me was seeing Harry Truman's Winter White House and the room where he played poker with his cronies. We also toured the Hemmingway House.
Have a great day.
Hi Everyone ~~
I always start at 1A and 1D and was stumped by both. I skipped around a bit and in doing that, caught on to the theme. I always enjoy the "same clue for all themes fill" type of puzzle. No problems there except for first filling in ANTHEM 'Composer' before - LYRICIST.
~ I had one wrong cell ~ I went with 'Lis' insted of LYS so had 'troi' instead of TROY.
~ I knew EFILE was correct at 47D, but was surprised to learn that MOST returns are filed this way - or maybe I misinterpreted the clue.
~ I liked the misdirection of 1D - CSA ( when I finally got it) and 46D - Zip / NIL - I was thinking of moving quickly.
~ Favorites: 12D - Trip up / ASCENT, 23D - Lab output / BARK and 34A -Touch type / MIDAS
~ Thanks for a fun puzzle, Robyn and thanks, Lemonade for an informative and entertaining write-up.
~As Hondo said, we continue to bake here in CT ~ I guess I'll stay put with AC, 24/7 - no relief in sight for at least another week - ugh.
~ I hope you're feeling better soon, Fermatprime
~ Happy Birthday, Linda - have a great day!
Today was Clearayes` birthday. Rest in peace dear fount of poetry!
Happy Fifth everybody! (ODE to Tinbeni)
Well, it took a long, long time, but finally figured it out with no CHEATs…. Although after seeing OPENER I really wanted something to do with a Church KEY (Abejo?)….
Nice to see a Francis Scott KEY reference, albeit a day late…. and a CLAM short…?
Got stuck just about everywhere today – DOSE for DRAM, VIM for NIL, KILO for DECI, TOUCH for ARENA, ACHE for BITE, EAGLE for YARDS, and LIS for LYS (this was the Ta-Da moment)….
Favorite clues: Touch type and Lee side….
Back to ODES – seriously John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn? What was in your DRAM? Why not Ode on a REFUSE Bin…? Or better yet, a Cabernet VAT…?
ODES to Yesterday: CED, really enjoyed the “Tumble Dry” version of the Enterprise bridge, and Pas De Chat, I’m having waaaaay too much fun with the anagram finder! Favorite anagrams for a cousin of mine, both OH SO true – PREDICT HANGOVER and A RETCHING PROVED….
Good Morning:
This was certainly a brain-boggler but with perps, finished w/o help, slowly but surely. Had mishmash before mixed bag, SSE before CSA, emend before amend; favorite clue was Lab output=bark, and I always want two n's in anoint.
Thanks, Robyn, for a true Friday challenge and thanks, Lemony, for a great expo. (I thought your son and family lived in Buffalo?)
Same 3 H weather here, Hondo. It's getting tiresome, to say the least.
Ferm, hope you feel better soon and are able to get some sleep.
Happy Friday. Stay cool everyone.
Spitzboov,
Havre, MT is the closest town of size for me to shop and doctor in. It is 90 miles west, one way.
We learn of that ship in history class.
Montana
Morning all ,
Had the same trouble with Lis / Lys
I wanted Eyepiece at first for 3 down until the Lab Barked at me .
Fin could've been English , French or FINNISH for that matter and still took all three perps to get it. I thought it was a part of a MULLET.
My Favorites , Two Stars and Trip Up.
Didn't understand Midas , can someone explain ?
Happy 4th
Fore !
@ SL Zalameh 10:26 am -- think of King Midas, as in the Midas Touch
Thank you, Anon @ 9:58.
RIP ClearAyes, aka Lois.
A tough puzzle for me today. Seemed like a Thursday level. My puzzle looks like an inkblot test!
WBS, I don’t like self-referential clues, like 3D and 44D, but got enough perps to see the answers emerge.
Like others, I had a problem with LIS/LYS. I always put in LIS first, and then have to change to LYS to make the perp work. I should know by now…
I was stuck on wrong answers at 55A (had itch) and 63A (had dorm), which kept me from getting 34D. When I finally gave up on my first choices, MIXED BAG appeared at 34D.
Got 57D, but couldn’t figure out why the answer for a long time. Finally it hit me like the proverbial bolt out of the blue. D’uh!
Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Robyn! Had several groaners in it for me: you know, when you finally get the answer it is so good that sound rumbles forth from deep within. These were "Lee side" and "Trip up" and "lab output". Needed Lemon's witty help to understand what CSA stood for, groan.
I, too, had trouble with the top tier. I had to have red-letter help at the end.
Didn't remember RICO, ANNA (I've always been too unfashionable out in the boondocks) or KAHN. But I knew FAVRE & EUNICE.
I was looking for a verb not a noun for MIDAS--touch type = something done on a keyboard.
I thought "fin" was like a "mickey fin" or some type of British money. I wanted gRAM not DRAM.
ARES was alive and shooting in my neighborhood last night. Enough gunpowder was expended here last night to liberate a small country. Purely awful to someone who hates fireworks. The money that went up in flames could have fed that same small
country for a year, I betcha. Some really big loud stuff. I can smell smoke this morning. Wonder what they burned down?
Perfect Friday puzzle, challenging but doable, hard but fair, and I got it.Yay! So, many thanks, Robyn. Plus I ended up loving the theme. I'm usually daunted by these single word multiple clues, but it was fun to work out the answers. And Lemonade, thanks for the RICO lyrics. I got the word but had no idea to what it referred.
I also "got" MIDAS but didn't "get" it--thinking it had to do with computers or type-writers or something. So, did everything King Midas touch turn to gold, or what?
Lovely anniversary photo, Linda.
And best wishes for a long, peaceful nap, Fermatprime. Did you take any Aleve? Always helps me when I have back pain.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
My oldest his wife and my grandbaby are in the process of relocating back to Florida. His schooling in Buffalo is over, so I am pretty excited.
Thanks, glad for the memories of CA a truly special one.
Lemonade, your blog was delightful. The puzzle was, somewhat frightful.
Beast wishes to all.
Vidwan, do you feel insightful?
Like your ideas better than Robyn's? Maybe you should constuct a puzzle Lemony.
Good morning Lemonade, CC, et al., Excellent write up and links, Lemonade. Same foibles and fav’s as others. Enjoyed the puzzle altho’ slowly at times.
Happy Birthday, Linda. Wish you many, many more. I’m impressed that you can find the original wedding cake topper after ONE year, let alone after 50. Great picture and I also love the color theme.
Anon 9:58: thank you for the tribute to our late dear CA on her birthday. She is missed and thought of often. She had a gift!
I kept looking for the ‘test answers’ clue for Key…esp w/CHEAT as the lead-off word, closely followed by SAME and SCHOOL. We all know the DEMONS reLENTlessly promise an ASCENT to more than ONE ‘A’ in order to get their ‘MARKS’ to take the BITE and not SAY NO to the tempting short cut to success. This all bODES ill for the CHEATs, those not-so-smart ALECs. They, who are WOOED, have BARKed up the wrong tree and can OH SO easily END up with NIL, on the LAM FARAWAY, or even with a noose-like BOA around their necks attached to that SAME wrong tree. Those IMPs need to AMEND their ways, LA-Off the HERBs, remember to say SIR, emulate MIDAS and value a DIME, use some common SENS, realize that the RDA of ITEMS that finally ASSESS them a lot of CLAMS includes 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. They just have to take off the EYE PATCHES, open their eyes, pull up their pants and SAY NO to the EVIL DOERs at SCHOOL.
Enjoy your day
Another red letter day...
HBD Linda
Note: I just typed in "Lavender Pink White Birthday Cake," & found this one about 25 lines down right above this picture, why it is in Google under lavender pink white birthday cake I have no idea???
Keys#1
Keys#2
Keys#3
Keys#4
Daughter#1 sang the National Anthem at our towns fireworks display last night. I taped it on an obsolete, & now discontinued "Flip" video camera. I would post it on the Blog for you if I can figure out how to download the file.
Hello, Lemonade and all.
Happy birthday,Linda!
R.I.P ClearAyes. I miss you and your poetry.
I loved this puzzle though at first pass it was still blank so I traveled south and started with EUNICE. That buoyed the SW corner and filled it fairly quickly. Following that,it was all a slow march but eventually it was all FINished.
I was held up a bit at 27A because ANTHEM COMPOSER fit and so caused me some agony until I erased it and exchanged it for LYRICIST. Aha!
Hand up for LIS/LYS but I left the former so no A MARK for me.
Trip up, ASCENT and
Touch type, MIDAS
were my favorites, also.
I hope you are all having a relaxing post 4th Friday!
LOIS like CA, you have a gift for creating a rant from fill; and I have thought of a few other phrases which could be clued by KEY, like test answers, but I do know to construct a puzzle you need symmetry and a plan which Robyn achieved.
Good afternoon, everyone! Thanks for the mental work-out today, Robyn. Count me with those who like same clue / different answer themes. Shows how rich and varied our language is. Enjoyed your intro, Lemonade. Great news that your son, DIL and darlin’ Charlotte will be moving closer!
Had a lot of the same missteps other have mentioned with LIS/LYS and ANNE/ANNA. Knew something was amiss when MISHMASH resulted in EUNICH for Joe Kennedy’s middle daughter. Thought the EYEPATCH / PIRATE pairing was cute.
Happy Birthday to Linda; and thanks for sharing the sweet photo of your 50th Anniversary celebration.
Still raining here, but I can’t complain when thinking of those of you out there facing triple-digit temps – stay cool!
PK said, "Sound rumbles forth from deep within." I think I've been there...under somewhat different circumstances. Sure sounds familiar.
29D "Feature of Bluegrass singing: YODEL"?
Cowboys yodel. Swiss mountaineers yodel. Jimmie Rodgers and Roy Rogers yodeled. Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt did not yodel. Mac Wiseman does not yodel; Del McCoury doesn't yodel; Doyle Lawson doesn't yodel, and neither does Sonny or Bobby Osborne. This one's just wrong.
Lemon: Thank you for a very informative write-up & links.
My first entry was SIR @48-A (Since I saw the movie, To Sir With Love, last week on TCM).
Fave was 23-D, Lab output?, BARK.
Also like seeing ANTHEM LYRICIST.
But the rest of my DNF was a MIXED BAG.
It's 5 O'clock Somewhere ... Soooooo, Cheers!
Bill Monroe yodeling
Hell, "yodel" is in the titel of the song!
The title (not titel) of the song is "Blue Yodel No. 7," and it's a pre-Bluegras cover of a Jimmie Rodgers song. Bill Monroe may have called his band the "Bluegrass Boys" as early as 1938, but he did not "invent" Bluegrass music until 1946, when Earl Scruggs joined the band.
You said "Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt did not yodel"
I merely presented evidence that, in fact, Bill Monroe DID yodel.
Go to YouTube or Google and search "bluegrass yodeling". You'll find several examples.
I know people, never wrestle with a pig in the mud...
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Robyn Weintraub (grape), for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the great write-up.
Well, I started this late last night after downloading it from cruciverb. Finished it this morning, but could not log onto the crossword blog. I am well off the beaten path. My wife's cousin's wifi was out lunch so I could not use that. She was able to get it fixed this afternoon and I used her wifi to log on to crosswordcorner.blogspot.com. What a day!
I got started last night slowly. Got tired and went to bed. Got up and finished it this morning. About 2 1/2 hours total. It was difficult, but doable.
First theme answer was PADLOCK OPENER. Now I had the theme.
Had SAYRE for 41A. Thing of Gale. Actually I think it ends with and S. Finally fixed that to FAVRE. Great player in my opinion.
Liked MIDAS. Was looking for some kind of typing word. A couple perps and I got it.
EUNICE was easy after a couple letters. That entire family was in the news for years. Some of them were the greatest. And some were not. I will go no further.
Thought Lee side/CSA was outstanding. Stumped me for quite a while and contributed to my 2 1/2 hour marathon.
Happy Birthday, Linda. liked the photo.
Sunny and warm in Johnsonburg. Fixed my wife's cousin's lawn tractor today and weeded my vegetable gardens. Not done yet.
See you tomorrow. Abejo
(tesyhh)
Fermatprime: Let me know when Harvey is being installed as Commander of Los Angeles Commandery.
Abejo
(galdera)
D-O: The ASCENDing rumbles are a bit nicer than descending rumbles. LOL!
Excellent puzzle. Appropriately Friday hard and it took me a while. Lots of clever clues. WEES
Some of you are suffering with the hot weather we had five days ago. It's cooler now, about 72 as I type. I hope it cools for you too soon.
D-O, right you are about SOL vs. SO. You can find it both ways because the wrong way occurs so often that it's justified by some. I wonder where the correct "sol" comes from?
I mostly agree with Bumpo about yodeling and had the same thought when doing the puzzle. Jimmie Rogers, the singing brakeman, sort of invented the 'country' yodeling but he wasn't bluegrass. BTW, there is a GREAT tribute album to him by Merle Haggard. I highly recommend it.
Got it! - no helps, just did the work and won the prize.
The only answer I didn't like was GYMS. I mean I have never considered a gymnasium to be just another school room. Its large shape, high ceiling, and dedicated purpose keep us from thinking that way. Even when we give directions to the gym, we'll refer to the gym "floor," not the gym "room." And because the particular school was clued as a "Hogwarts" type, shouldn't we have something more British or witch-crafty?
The only other answer I wanted to be different was at 55A where, instead of BITE, I wanted ZITS. But that would have stuck me with a MIXED ZAG at 34D, and that fish wouldn't fly.
Keith Fowler:
I like your amusing take on the puzzle.
Lemonade:
I failed to thank you for further contributing to my knowledge store. I seem to always learn something from you.
Tonight I shall spend the night at my daughter's home to sit with my granddaughters. Daughter and SIL are on a much needed "date."
Hi gang -
A slog indeed, but eventually doable. Getting the theme was helped along by, and then provided helpful perps.
MISHMASH before MIXED BAG, EGG before HAM, misread falling as failing. If there is a wrong choice available, I will find it.
Rally hate the 3D-44D nearly unclued cross reference. Boo-hiss.
I made the mistake of reading a couple of Dan Brown's books, and will never do so again. His whole schtick is to have the action so fast-paced that you are rushed along to the end before you realize none of it made the slightest bit of sense.
Played Key's ANTHEM and a lot more musical Americana in the park concert last night, before the biggest audience I've ever performed in front of. There had to be at least 500 people in Kellogg Park. What a great night it was!
Gus Kahn.
Cool regards!
JzB
Congrats on the big crowd JzB, was It outdoors? If so, does being outside change how you play? Did the crowd encourage you?
Hello everybody. Been busy as heck these last several days (typical in the life of a consultant), but not too busy to work the puzzles (which are an indispensable part of my morning routine.) Lots of fun. Best wishes to you all.
Thanks for the good wishes! (I had already taken a Vicodin, to no noticeable effect. Eventually, I scrounged around and found a Xanax. Got to sleep at 10 AM. Feel better now. (Caregiver, absent yesterday, rubbed some smelly gunk on my back and brought me breakfast.)
Abejo: Jan.4, I am told. Cannot seem to get a ride. All of his people are too tied up somehow. Do taxi drivers do wheelchairs?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!
Got BARK and VETS right away. Loved them.
Cheers!
I'm suppose to be going through old clothes boxes ( a chore I'm not looking forward to ) so I'm procrastinating.
Calamine seems outdated to me, since Hydro-cortisone is over-the-counter now.
Prone to falling- Wanted klutzes if not for perps. TODDLER is more adorable anyway.
Push-up targets-PECS (Couldn't help but wonder if this was Dennis's first thought??)
Touch type? Ran into some of those guys while working as a young nurse in alcoholic detox.
Lab output? Briefly thought of output from the other end of the dog.
HERBs- I grow basil, rosemary and mint. Enjoy the smell near the patio and using while grilling in the summer.
HBDY Linda! Very pretty wedding and anniversary colors.
Lemonade, Thanks for your enlightening writeup. I'm so glad your family will be close in proximity again!
Montana @ 1026 - Here is a link to the USS Havre (PCE-877)
Whew 90 miles! I can see why they call that big sky country. The closest I ever got to your neck of the woods was Medora, NDAK, near the MT line.
Evening All!
My best Friday ever - only one CHEAT (as opposed to yesterday's 6 and still a DNF) on Anna. If you knew me you know I can't even spell fashin...
Hands up for Gram, but while writing I recalled DRAM. I inked RAM (not Dodge!) to help with perps which sussed out D not g.
Liked PADLOCKKEY ok. I wanted Door, then carLOCK. Key to the City (bolt-cutter) would have been fun (I have one and lock picks for giggles - guess which is more effective).
Keith F. Thanks for the "why" they are Tars yesterday. Too, Dennis, the link to the Enterprise was LOL funny.
Cheers,
-T
Spitz, My husband was just showing my son and myself pictures of The USS Seattle this morning. He commented "There's the hangar door I walked though after first arriving." He was flown out to the ship due to the Yom Kippur War. It's hard to imagine him now as that 18 yr old kid.
I meant walked "through"...OOPS
Thanks everyone for a fine Friday.
To all the blog members who had BD wishes for me, thank you. I checked in to see if our BD list from a couple years ago was still active. Wow! I feel like I got star billing! We celebrated 52 years of marriage in May and today was my 39 birthday, again!. We had an early movie/dinner date. We saw The Lone Ranger and, contrary to what some movie critics have said, it was a rip-roaring (often bloody, my only complaint), bad-guy-gets-his-just-desserts, clever and funny nearly two hours. But then, I`d watch Johnny Depp read the phone book! We are of the age that we heard/saw the original shows and when that theme music finally played, I wanted stand up and cheer! Thank you CC, for adding to a quietly lovely day.
Blue Iris - It's hard to believe how time flies and how it seems everyone else has gotten older except ourselves. Thanks for sharing.
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