Theme: Alternative to Mad Magazine(LINK) - See 36-Across.
18A. Best kind of wrinkles to have, arguably : SMILE LINES. Crack a smile.
36A. What the starts of 18- and 57-Across and 3- and 28-Down can be : CRACKED
57A. Port in a storm : SAFE HARBOR. Crack a safe.
3D. Kid : JOKE AROUND. Crack a joke.
28D. Social agency employee : CASE WORKER. Crack a case.
Argyle here. I hope I can make you crack a smile by cracking a joke about a detective who cracked the case of the yegg.
Although skillfully constructed, I'm afraid Gareth's offering seem a bit flat despite some sparkly fill.
Across:
1. West African amulet : JUJU
5. Repelled a mugger, in a way : MACED. 53D. Shock, as a perp : TASE
10. Study at the last minute : CRAM
14. Loads (of) : A TON
15. Garlic mayonnaise : AIOLI. I wonder if Garlic Gal has a recipe.
16. Principle governing play, as in golf : RULE
17. Feint on the ice : DEKE. Or a juke if on the field.
20. Afore : ERE
21. Either "Fargo" director : COEN. Joel and Ethan.
22. Prepares, as salad : TOSSES
23. Infield shape : DIAMOND
25. Kilt wearer : SCOT
26. Flag maker Betsy : ROSS
27. Skipped the subway and bus : TOOK A CAB
31. Sparkly stone : GEODE
33. Prepare for vacation : PACK
34. Olympic pool division : LANE
35. Tempe sch. : ASU. (Arizona State University)
39. Caribbean music : SKA
40. Telephoned : RANG
42. Three-part cookie : OREO
43. First-string squad : A-TEAM
45. Capital on the Danube : BUDAPEST
47. Cornfield bird : CROW
48. Passion : LOVE
49. Home of the NHL's Blackhawks, familiarly : CHI-TOWN. (Chicago)
52. Hitting bottom, spirits-wise : AT A LOW
55. Elvis __ Presley : ARON
56. Letter after pi : RHO
59. Lose traction : SKID
60. Japanese golfer Aoki : ISAO
61. Melt glaze from, as a windshield : DE-ICE
62. Soccer immortal : PELÉ
63. Bit of a florist's greenery : FERN
64. Blunted swords : EPEEs
65. Mars : Rome : : __ : Greece : ARES. Gods of War. (sounds like a video game title)
Down:
1. Blasé : JADED
2. Where embryos develop : UTERI
4. Half of deux : UNE
5. Bricks-and-mortar workers : MASONS
6. Used a scope : AIMED
7. Piggy bank addition : COIN
8. Letter-shaped annex : ELL
9. Drink for the calorie-conscious : DIET COKE
10. Pricey brand of bubbly : CRISTAL
11. Seeks an office : RUNS
12. Away from the breeze : ALEE
13. Untidy heap : MESS
19. "Over there!" : "LOOK!"
21. Trig function : COSEC
24. Chic : MOD
25. Deserving of a standing O : [SOCKO!]
27. "Be quiet," in music : TACET
29. "My Way" lyricist Paul : ANKA. 38D. "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby : DARIN. 49D. "Time in a Bottle" singer Jim : CROCE
30. Laser emission : BEAM
31. Clothing : GARB
32. Son of Isaac and Rebekah : ESAU
33. Break down grammatically : PARSE
37. 1973 landmark court decision : ROE V. WADE
41. Spanish Main ship : GALLEON
44. Playground squealer : TOT
46. "The House at __ Corner" : POOH
47. Weekly allowance earners : CHORES. Not who but what.
50. Vague time period : WHILE
51. Bumps on a log : NODES
52. "I don't think so!" : "AS IF!"
54. Not near here : AFAR
55. "__ Baby": "Hair" song : ABIE
58. Exercise unit : REP
59. Massage locale : SPA
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
The beautiful Lea and her parents visited Grandma Kazie and Grandpa Barry a few weeks ago. Here are a few photos. Click here for more. I love seeing her smile!
Note from C.C.:
The beautiful Lea and her parents visited Grandma Kazie and Grandpa Barry a few weeks ago. Here are a few photos. Click here for more. I love seeing her smile!
On a blanket in the back yard
With Grandpa and Dad in our kitchen
With Grandpa and Grandma
Happy Tuesday everybody!
ReplyDeleteNot too easy, not too hard, juuuust right for an early week puzzle. Although I did flounder around in Seattle towards the finale, no thanks to typing A LOT instead of A TON and PRE for ERE….
Rest in peace Dennis Farina, a superb actor who epitomized CHI-TOWN….
Between being MACED and TASEd, not to mention UNE well AIMED SOCKO to the gut, the “perps” just don’t stand a chance….
My first exposure to the COEN brothers was Raising Arizona, with that unmistakable yodeling soundtrack…
The last concert I attended was headlined by the English SKA band Madness – here’s a link to the song that always opens their set….
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteCruciverb seems to be AWOL again today, so I'll have to go find a newspaper later on.
Cheers All
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, Gareth! Swell review, Argyle!
Am about to go to sleep. Day was a bummer. Meant to write about yesterday's offering. A bit chewy, I thought. Figured out theme.
Cheers!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteI definitely struggled with this one in places. Did not know JUJU, so that slowed me down right out of the gate. Misspelled AIOLI as usual, so that didn't help. And my brain just couldn't parse the clue for 16A. When I finally figured out it was RULE, I still couldn't understand why the "as in golf" was necessary.
Once I got past the top section, though, the rest of the puzzle went pretty smoothly. Well, except for CHITOWN.
Speaking of SKA, I heard a local band called Bim Skala Bim perform live about 15 years ago and fell in love with their music. I have a bunch of their CDs and still listen to them regularly.
[modare]
Morning to all,
ReplyDelete@Dudley: try us.mensa.org their site seems to always be open!
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I thought this was a bit of a Tuesday challenge. Not getting JUJU on my first pass doesn't bode well for my solving abilities. The NW corner was the last to fall.
ReplyDelete3-Part Cookie was a nice new clue for the stale OREO.
AIOLI is becoming a crossword staple.
I wanted a healthier alternative to Skipping the Subway or Cab, but instead I TOOK A CAB.
Tried Cent before the COIN in the Piggy Bank.
I went through Diet Soda and Diet Cola before finally settling on DIET COKE.
Kazie: I can see you are all having fun with that beautiful granddaughter.
Stay cool, everyone.
QOD: From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made to be seen from 30 feet away. ~ Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 ~ Mar. 26, 1959)
[sinstas]
[mreggo]
Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteKazie, I loved the pictures, but I really CRACKED a SMILE over the one with her in the red hat. Too cute!!
Argyle, I had forgotten about CRACKED magazine, so thanks for linking that. And your intro CRACKED me up, too!
I always enjoy Gareth's puzzles, and this one was a no exception. It was simple, but required some thought before slapping in some answers. JUJU was a great opener, but I admit I did have to check the perps before eliminating "mojo." Same with CRISTAL and GEODE. But overall, a fun solve and neat theme.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteWaiting for your rant. Home ill today. Puzzle was fun
Wow there are some beautiful grandbabies here in Corner
Autocorrect did not like grandbabies, instead it offered transvestites. Huh?
Am i hallucinating?
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteMOJO/JUJU, Soda, Cola, COKE. Guilty! I thought DEKE was spelled DEEK, but knew that UNK had to be wrong.
Has anyone ever heard someone say AS IF? I haven't. Where'd that get started anyway?
CHITOWN was a nice shoutout to Abejo, Mari and TTP. I didn't know till yesterday that Dennis Farina had been an actual Chicago cop. The newscasts I saw didn't even mention his starring role in Crime Story, about a Chicago cop who relocated to Las Vegas.
Kazie, cute, cute pictures.
Southern Belle, have you posted here before? I commented just the other day that we didn't have any Alabama posters. Now we've got two. Welcome.
Good morning all ! Caught up on yesterdays blog. I thought everyone would have found yesterday's puzzle easy. Well, let's see what happens today.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first. Thank you Gareth and thank you Argyle.
I had a series of spurts and falters, and thankfully, more of the prior and just a few of the latter. Skipped the northwest when nothing was readily apparent, and then nearly scuttled my ship by entering CENT instead of COIN, and then trying to correctly spell AIOLI with an E.
CRISTAL would have been missed without the perps. And it didn't help that my olympic swimmers each raced in a laMe instead of a LANE due to a typo, but Paul ANKA fixed that. Ditto SOCKO. All perps. Unknown to me. Is that what Opera fans say ?
No hesitation on the Danube capital city of BUDAPEST. It used to be separate cities of BUDA and PEST, but that was ERE your time.
CHITOWN was easy for this local, especially with comma familiarly.
NW was the last to fall, and I barely came in under 30 minutes. Finally broke through from thinking ZULU and TUTU once I concentrated on Blase to give me jaded. Then JUJU and that area fell in the final spurt.
Kazie, Lea is such a cutie pie ! Everyone around her is going to develop SMILE LINES.
See you all later !
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeletePuzzle seemed more like a late in the week difficulty. High point was sussing the unifier CRACKED. It may be the mood I was in, but the offering seemed somewhat amorphous today. Thanks Gareth for forcing us to stay sharp.
Nice pix, Kazie, thanks for sharing.
In Breda, The Netherlands, a flash mob in a shopping mall recreated Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" to stimulate public interest in their Museum. In the final frames, where the cast poses behind a "frame" the sign on the left proclaims "Our heroes are back"
Enjoyable run through after yesterday's crunchiness.
ReplyDeleteEasy to remember the REAL definition of juju after playing the dictionary game for the first time in college. (where everyone makes up definitions and you try to guess the correct one). Someone's submission: the the chosen chosen people people.
98°F and horrible yesterday. 62°F and raining today. No complaints about the weather or our fine puzzle from our South African vet.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-CRACKED was a pale imitation of MAD in my ute.
-JUJUbes are fine, but I don’t like candy I have to pick out of my teeth. Elaine Benes loved them.
-My golf ball came to rest against a goose feather yesterday and when I moved the feather, the ball moved 1/16th of an inch. By RULE, I should have taken a stroke penalty. Waddaya think I did?
-A DEKE in baseball that I have never seen work – the pitcher fakes a throw to third and wheels and tries to get the guy at first
-Omaha has hosted the last two Olympic Swim Trial LANES and will get the 2016 ones as well
-You RANG?
-A little rain keep me off the course today? AS IF! (Very familiar phrase in middle school Otto)
-Yeah, I’ll have two Big Macs, large fries, a milk shake and a DIET COKE. Really?
-Beautiful pix, Kazie!
-What famous movie has the line – “I don't want anything to happen to him WHILE my mother's alive”
Good Morning Everybody! This puzzle was both easy and tough for me - that's a good mix.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know DEKE or SOCKO. I also didn't know that Dennis Farina was from Chicago. I liked him in Law and Order.
Great photos! I really like the first one with her laying in the bright green grass. And, of course, the photo with the red hat. Too cute!
All my "kids" have fur and tails, so I'll have to enjoy the grandbabies through the Corner.
Have a great day!
Irish Miss: I DVR'd Sunday's episode of The Killing and watched it last night. Wow!
ReplyDeleteDid you watch it yet?
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gareth Bain, for a swell Tuesday puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the swell write-up.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the sweet baby, Kazie. What a bundle of joy!
Yes, no cruciverb today, either. So, I walked out to the curb and picked up my paper. I actually like doing it in the paper better, in ink, of course.
Needless to say, the entire NW corner stayed empty for a while.
AIOLI came with a couple perp letters. We have had that a lot lately. I wish I liked mayonnaise, but I do not.
5D was easy, MASONS.
CRISTAL was not easy. Never heard of it.
Wrote in HOT instead of MOD for 24D. My only inkblot for the day.
ESAU was easy. Four letters defined him, as opposed to Jacob.
Theme appeared. No problem. Had all four before CRACKED.
Got some rain last night. Good.
My wife and daughter should be home tonight. Driving back from Erie.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(itibair)
Thanks to all for the comments on the photos. Mari, a lot of that bright green is the old blanket we used on the lawn--a bit deceiving at first glance. She really does smile a lot, but often it's because whoever's holding the camera is grinning like a great fool trying to elicit her smile, and she's always ready to oblige.
ReplyDeleteI snuffed out at the reveal in today's puzzle. Not knowing either TACET or SOCKO, and being unable to think of anything other than COLA where I needed COKE, meant that I just didn't have enough perps to come up with CRACKED. Too bad, because I should have been able to get that.
Argyle,
That link certainly taught me a lot about SKA that I didn't know before! Thanks!
Reviewers of opera, musicals, and plays use both SOCKO and boffo for impressive performances. Although I've seen both, I believe boffo is a tad more common.
ReplyDeleteYes, HG, I immediately thought of teens and preteens for AS IF.
My giving of allowances was not tied to CHORES or grades. Chores were the kids' contribution to the family. The best grades they were capable of were a given. Their allowances were part fo their upkeep, just like food and clothing. They didn't have to earn them. As teens they worked for others for extra spending money.
My first entry was UTERI so JUJU was a gimmee.
SCOT and PACK gave me DIET COKE.
Easy Tuesday romp. Argyle nice write up.
Kazie, lovely pictures of you and your family. Your granddaughter is a doll.
Thank you Gareth Bain for an nice and crunchy puzzle. I could not parse the theme though. Thank you dear Argyle for your illuminating commentary.
ReplyDeleteKatie, much joy and happiness with your cute and wonderful grandchild.
I had plan, before pack ( that comes later - ) for a vacation. I had Bukarest ? Huh ? Before Budapest. ..... I wonder what sort of pest that was .....I had a tough time between ISAO and IZAO ... Since TAZE and TASE seemed both just as likely.
My lovely daughter in NYC is forever taking 'cabs' , for many of her intercity journeys - to my consternation. She says its cheaper than taking her car ( presently, sleeping in our garage - ) to NYC.
Argyle, that Juju object, does not look like something you could wear on your wrist, or around your neck Or around your biceps , ....... Maybe it's been enlarged .? .... It looks more like a wall hanging. Since I presume the name was coined by Europeans, perhaps the Brits, maybe VooDoo is also similar to JuJu ??
Irish Miss, .....from last night ....... My god, you've remembered something that I had already forgotten. Anony-mouse. It was an alter ego when I thought Vidwan sounded too ego-centric and pretentious. ( also I forgot the password to this name - ). Now I've forgotten the password to AM. ! So, like te prodigal son ( ?) ..... Here I am, again. Thanks to Desper -Otto for remembering, and setting the record, straight.
Anyway, I've got used to this name. It is ...... just a ..... name. As one of my Latino friends, once explained - not every Jesus ..... Is a Jesus.
I thought of Splynter, when I came across the word,
'Deke'. Good luck with your ice hockey games.
Have a nice day, you all.
Fun puzzle this morning, thanks Gareth! And hilarious summary, Argyle.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of DEKE, and don't remember CRISTAL bubbly even though the folks in our Gourmet Club serve some pretty pricey stuff from time to time.
Happy memories of BUDAPEST, the last European conference my husband and I attended before his 2008 stroke.
Love Lea's happy smile!
Have a great Tuesday, everybody!
Hi Y'all! Tricky Gareth, to start with an African thingy. I had zUzU, vUdU then JUJU. CHIcago before CHITOWN. Fun puzzle anyway.
ReplyDeleteI always want an "H" in COEN. I tried to "walk home" then TOOK A CAB.
Unknown: COSEC & SOCKO. Thanks, YR, for the explanation on the latter.
Ah yes, the infamous ROE V WADE. Got that at once. Sort of clechos UTERI.
So that's SKA. "Hey Soul Sisters", My daughters & Co. went to a TRAIN concert the other night. First time to a concert for the 13-yr-old granddaughter & friends. Is Train considered ska?
More darling babies! Enjoy them; they don't last long. I'm all out of babies just as my two brothers are starting to get them. Same thing happened when I had kids. Don't see theirs often enough to enjoy them. I've got a bit of a wait (I hope) for great grands.
Captcha: dscrap. (I thought so too.)
Great pictures, Kazie. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI missed Cruciverb this morning. I get my state paper online at 5:33 am each morning, with our puzzle in it, but I can't get it to print out without being very, very tiny. I have no problem with other puzzles. So, I usually solve on my iPad.
How do you pronounce Chitown?
I once had a beautiful GEODE the size of a cantelope given to me by a geologist who was changing careers and doing his student teaching with me. I lost it when my school burned down. Sad memory.
Have a good day, all,
Montana
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gareth, for a Tuesday toughie. Clever theme and construction, but I agree with Argyle's sterling review that it was not the usual sparkling gem we have come to expect from GB.
Mari @ 7:59 - I watched The Killing on Sunday night and was on the edge of my seat! Very intense and a couple of unexpected twists. Have you been watching The Bridge and Under The Dome?
Kazie, your Lea is too precious for words. What a beautiful, happy little girl!
Vidwan, I hope I didn't cause an identity crisis because of my mix-up. Ditto to Anonymous T!
As Dudley mentioned, Cruciverb is still down so another day of using pen and paper. I don't mind that much, but I miss the TADA.
Have a great Tuesday.
Greetings, Puzzlers. Argyle, you deepened my SMILE LINES with your commentary.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun puzzle today from Gareth Bain who even knows ASU is in Tempe. Wow! What a guy!
I sashayed for 15 minutes to finish this and though CRACKED didn't immediately fall in, looking at JOKE, CASE, SAFE, and SMILE CRACKED it for me. Love that.
AIOLI and ISAO are now firmly embedded in my brain and in fact, I've encountered AIOLI in recipes and menus.
A beautiful line of jewelry called Drusy is made from the GEODE. I have two pieces, a ring and a bracelet received for my birthday.
Kazie, your granddaughter is truly adorable. Thank you for sharing.
Have a delightful Tuesday, everyone!
A Geode is generally a dull rounded ball rock, with a hollow center - which when cracked open, generally with a hammer or a mechanical 'splitter' will reveal ( hopefully - ) some crystals on the inner surface. Generally amethyst's.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether the geode itself, can be called a precious stone. Maybe that's stretching the definition a bit - something you cannot do with an actual geode. (Lol).
Re: Juju amulet - Source
ReplyDeleteCHITOWN is pronounced "Shy-Town." Real Chicagoans almost never refer to the city by that name.
ReplyDeleteLemma to Chicago Jim's Theorem: Don't call it Frisco....
ReplyDeleteGood morning Argyle, C.C., et al,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed Gareth's creation.. a few words had to be changed(spelling) to make sense...funny, we see many of them numerous times...aioli..maybe watching the ska history will cement that little word in my brain. I did look up juju, because the -u-u perps weren't helping.
Cracked/coseC was my last fill; had to actually think about the theme to fill it because cosec is not in my wheelhouse.
I'm still not understanding Abie Baby. I am familiar with the music from HAIR, but ...???I will look that up. If I don't return, it will be because I am ashamed.LOL!
Kazie, no wonder Lea is such a beauty...look at her parents, AND she looks very much like you in that darling badger hat picture!!
Well, I THOUGHT I was familiar with all of the music from HAIR; wasn't one of the memorable ones.
ReplyDeleteI didn't figure the theme out until too late for it to be of use.
ReplyDeleteWhat DID help me was the abundance of the letter "K." Only after noticing other Ks did I choose DIET COKE over DIET COLA and recall that "DEKE" is a hockey word.
My apologies for linking an Ad...
ReplyDeleteG'Day All!
ReplyDeleteFirst - baby pics were adorable, but I hope my grands don't come for years (though my daughter is smitten with the English boy in her chior - she too is a sucker for accents)...
I was not on Gareth's wave length today. NE sat empty until the end. Argyle's writeup gently pointed out my vowel errors.
Hands up for mojo/JUJU @1a and tons/ATON @14a. I'd already CRACKED the theme, but still a DNF in that corner. But, the AHA was enough to enjoy the morning.
An oil-comapny client has GEODEs in every floor's elevator lobby. Each floor has a color theme... pretty cool.
10d wanted Dom Parion (sp?) and I kept mentally removing vowels trying to make it fit, but Argyle's Cristal pic drove it home - it is the real thing (COKE!).
5d cried for MorONS. I was at a Brick & Mortar Sat. $10+M in goods and one - UNE! - cashier.
Chicago Jim - I've always heard it CHI (like the tea) town. But then I grew up down-state...
YR - Thanks for the SOCKO/boffo expo. I had no idea - I was thinking Laugh In all the WHILE.
Speaking of SOCKO/Standing O, when did kids' performances require a standing O? I went to my kid's concert Sunday and it was meh (except, of course, for my kid), yet everyone stood & clapped at the end. Maybe because it was finally over?
Ok, grumpy off...
Cheers!
-T
I found the puzzle a little less crunchy than yesterday (I love that term "crunchy").
ReplyDeleteBoy, there are certainly a gaggle of beautiful grand babies on this blog!
Doha Doc, adding Madness to my Ipod today! Thanks for tip.
We have been known to open an occasional bottle of Cristal around here, but I prefer Veuve Chicquot (The Widow) or Roederer's.
I will miss Dennis Farina. "Get Shorty"...Ray Barboni = classic!
Good Day!
CED@12:34 -- Did you notice that the diploma on the chiropractor's wall was issued by the State of Clear?
ReplyDeleteArgyle: Excellent write-up. I esp. enjoyed "The History of SKA" link.
ReplyDeleteGareth: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday. The 'themes' really CRACKED me up.
OK, this happens to me at times ... but at 9-D, Drink for the calorie conscious, off the 'T' in TOSSES and the 'C' in SCOT ... I naturally put in 'SCOTCHES' ... until I got MACED and that gave me the DIET-COKE.
Also, at 52-A, Hitting bottom, spirits-wise, AT-A-LOW ... I really wanted 'Trip to the Liquor Store' ... but it wouldn't fit.
Mari, TTP & Abejo, enjoyed your 'shout-out' to y'all at CHI-TOWN.
Cheers!!!
There's Keith! Thanks for the pseudonym!
ReplyDeleteAvatar is still in-progress and I have a paying client this week so don't hold your breath...
Desper-otto - come and hang out in a mall in LA, and you'll hear nothing but "AS IF" when you're within earshot of teenage girls :)
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle today! WBS with JUJU, but AIOLI is food(!) so I'm good with that. Cracking write-up, Argyle!
Cute pics!
Husker: that DEKE move in baseball is now considered a balk.
ReplyDeleteHusker ... forgot to answer.
ReplyDelete“I don't want anything to happen to him WHILE my mother's alive” ...
That was Michael talking about Fredo in The Godfather, Part II
Well Villa Incognito is "Hitting bottom, spirits-wise" ... so I'm off to get a Pinch of something. lol
That was a pleasant puzzle, a little easier than yesterday I thought. I had trouble with ABIE and CHORES.
ReplyDeleteI dunno why I would care but I just watcher Kate and William leaving the hospital with their new baby boy and I found myself tearing up. (I am much more likely to do that these days than when I was younger.)
Bill, here is the new great granny. I wonder if she is as cuddly as us blog grannies.
ReplyDeleteHAIR
JD:
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that the Queen must be somewhat cuddly; after all she had four children of her own so that would seem to call for some maternal feelings as well as passion for her husband. That's MHO anyway.
The morphing video is really something!
Hola Everyone, I was a bit flummoxed by the puzzle today. A little harder for me than most Tuesdays. Of course, if I had put in Diet COKE rather than soda, then cola that area might have been a little faster.
ReplyDeleteWeekly allowance earners could have been teenagers--wouldn't fit, or children--also wouldn't fit. Chores came to mind only after almost all of the perps were in.
But, once finished with the puzzle, I did get the theme. Not always the case for me.
A bit of a challenge for me today.
Kazie, I love the pictures of Lea. She is just beautiful and she looks like she did nothing but smile and laugh while she was with her grandma, grandpa, and uncle. A happy baby, for sure.
I've been busy researching, pricing, polishing and tagging antique and vintage silver pieces for our thrift shop. We receive some very nice pieces from estates, but they are always black with tarnish. These were all sterling pieces and needed to be researched so we could charge a reasonable but a fair price. I enjoy doing this, but it keeps me busy when the shop sends home a whole box of things.
Have a great day, everyone.
We had a small Geode come into the shop for pricing just last Friday. It was a beautiful purple color inside. Amethyst maybe? It is amazing what is donated.
ReplyDeleteOur paper person is throwing the paper onto our lawn instead of the driveway. As a result about once a week the sprinklers soak the paper beyond readability. So--no puzzle, no comics, no news until things dry out. Then I have a crinkly mess!!
I've tried calling the paper, but there is never a real person to talk to, much less relay a message that I would like to have a dry paper all the time, not just some of the time. I hate automated messaging.
Chickie, our paper was tossed in the driveway and the few days it would rain, it would be bagged in plastic. But as you said, it would often get wet anyway. In our case, in addition to sprinklers, we had a big pine tree in the front yard and the dew would form on the overhanging branches, would drip off thereby soaking the driveway and the paper. Many was the day that I put the soggy paper into the microwave or the oven (on very low) to dry it out. I finally requested that it be bagged every day. That solved the problem except when the bags leaked. These days I save paper by paying a little to have access to the LAT on line.
ReplyDeleteWe have a nice piece of a geode on our bookshelf filled with purple amethysts.
JD, I enjoyed the Queenie video.
You guys who complain about Cruciverb are missing an easy fix by not using the Mensa site.
So Gary, what did you do when you ball moved a smidge?
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteKazie-what a beautiful baby. Grand children are so much fun.
This puzzle was rather hard for me, I DNF. It was interesting though.
18A I had smiley ones first but it made sure the words around it didn't fit. Then I had diet soda instead of coke. That didn't help either.
I also never heard of aioli.That's something my DH would probably like.
For 19D all I could think of was a song of the same name from WW11 era- because there are quotation marks around it.
I guess its time I finish this so I can read the rest of the blogs.
10 more days until Logan comes!
Marge
PS
ReplyDeleteI mean 5 more days until Logan comes. Ha!
Marge
Bill G @ 4:05 - the Mensa LA Times CW can't be accessed on an iPad and that's what Dudley, Abejo and I use. Thanks for the thought, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, everyone, for the additional comments on Lea. She certainly is a happy little girl!
ReplyDeleteAnon T,
Be careful what you wish for--I was almost 67 before being graced with the pleasure of a grandchild. Some of my former students got to it before I did, I'm sure, not that I would have wished for it too early either. But my son is 36 already, so I was getting impatient by the time Lea was expected.
JD,
Flattery flattery!
I really enjoyed the morphing queen. I remember her as a young woman when she went to Oz, I think it was in 1954 or thereabouts. Wouldn't it be something is we all had enough photos of ourselves to do that with?
Kazie:
ReplyDeleteI do hope for grands one day (another little mind to corrupt), but my eldest is only 14. I'll be happy to wait 10 more years :-)
Chickie - I've stopped complaining about the paper after I found out carier was docked $1 for each complaint - even if an entire section was missing (not their fault). If that policy existed in my route days, I'd have never made money - nor improved my service.
-T
-Bill, thanks so much for calling me out ;-). As it turns out, I was not keeping score at that time but in our informal playing, I probably would have let it slide. In our circle, we even allow each other to “fluff up” our lie a little to help make a better shot. A friend of ours was in a match last weekend and intentionally or unintentionally made a miniscule improvement where his ball was, his opponent called him on it and he was immediately disqualified.
ReplyDelete-We are not given access to our paper deliverer who is definitely NOT a child. We have to call Omaha and talk to a third party but the only real complaint we had was a missing paper that I discovered had wound up in the rain gutter when she meant to land it on the porch in the dark of winter. She does a fine job.
-Also, Kazie, sorry about boming the Great Coral Reef
-Yeah, Tin, Fredo should have stayed outta the boat!
Anon T.,
ReplyDeleteI hear you!
Husker,
Thanks for the info--I hadn't heard about it. The reef has been stressed in recent years anyway, I guess they don't need any further damage.
Lucina, the Queen seemed very excited and anxious for this baby to arrive.She was very sweet with a group of children.It must be hard to step out of that royalty persona.
ReplyDeleteGary, no calling out intended. :>) I think you play golf for fun. As long as you are not in a tournament, improve your lie whenever you want to. Sort of like how I do crossword puzzles. I want to finish so if it takes Google or turning on red letters, that is how I improve my CW lie.
ReplyDeleteSorry Irish Miss, not being able to access the Mensa site with iPads never occurred to me.
It also doesn't have the next day's puzzle at 10:00p.m. the previous day like Cruciverb does.
ReplyDeleteThis little boy just LOVES Dikembe Mutombo and his Geico commercial.
ReplyDeleteI am incredibly lucky in that my paper is always bagged and tossed onto my porch by the carriers who pull up my short driveway at 3 a.m. There are at least two of them in the car and they are always noisily chatting which cheers me up if I am awake. If they don't throw it where it should be, one guy gets out and puts it right. This began after I tried to cancel the paper one snowy winter when I couldn't wade out and get the paper from drifts. I send them a generous gift at Xmas.
ReplyDeletePK - Yes, a little greasing goes a long way...
ReplyDeleteFor a fun read check out "Heads in Beds." Its a look at the inside of hotel operations by one funny young author. Rated-R for language.
-T
PK:
ReplyDeleteI have much the same experience as you do; the paper is bagged and tossed over the fence into my patio. There was a time when they didn't toss it over and every morning it disappeared. I finally requested that they please throw it over and also give them a generous Christmas tip.
JD:
That is what I meant. The Queen did seem to be excitedly waiting for this baby. I believe that in private she might be a warm person. It's true, though, our blog grams are very cuddly.
Any issues I had with my newspaper delivery were quickly resolved when I threatened cancellation. I have an excellent carrier-no complaints whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteOK. I tried cruciverb for Wednesday's puzzle, no cigar. I wonder what's cooking? Or not cooking?
ReplyDeleteAbejo
(ievedre)
Montana: Shy Town
ReplyDeleteAbejo
(cillos)
Abejo - dumb question here... I see (oddword) at the end of some posts (like yours). Is that the CAPTCHA or something else (a secret code for the collaborators?). Just curious.
ReplyDelete-T
Anon. T - it's the captcha.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was going to answer that it is the captcha also but I see GG already took care of that. It was kind of interesting in a new and odd sort of way when CC first instituted using it in order to discourage spam. I'll leave it to others to explain why they think it is still worth including at the end of their posts.
ReplyDeleteHave any of you watched "South Riding" on PBS? I've just started and I'm halfway through the first episode. It seems pretty good so far.
{poopydo}
poopydo? Seriously, Bill G.??? Too funny..... And on that note, nighty night.
ReplyDelete