Theme: O, U r such a punny guy.
What an elegant offering from one of our steady senior scribes, Jack Mac; as seen below the letter "O" is renimoved from the last word of a phrase and replaced with a "U" creating a new and whimsical phrase. All of this in a package of 2 13s, 2 15s, a 9 and a 5 letter hint. 69 letters and yet the rest of the fill includes some originality and sparkle, such as OFF MIKE, VALID ID, GET SORE and the almost related UNHUNG.
Back in the Friday saddle, thanks Boomer for the assist; let's get to it.
20A. Gap that's easy to bridge? : MINIATURE GULF. (13). Gulf= Golf. HG, are you a miniature golf whiz with all the big boy golf you play?
28A. Prize for neatest coloring? : KINDERGARTEN CUP. (15). Cup=Cop. ARNOLD.(2:16)
36A. Kiss while hiking? : TRAIL BUSS.(9). Buss=Boss. How many of us oldster thought of Ward Bond in Wagon Train, or Erik Fleming in Rawhide?
49A. Alien adopted by Herman and Lily? : THE GREEN MUNSTER.(15). Munster=Monster. I have had the pleasure of sitting at Fenway and watching balls hit over the famous left field fence. I love the visual of ET moving in with Fred Gwynne.
57A. "If you don't go to bed, Santa won't come," e.g.? : CHRISTMAS RUSE.(13). Ruse=Rose. This PLANT is in a family not related to Roses, and a threat to animals as our friend Gareth Bain could explain better; and the hint
64A. Words to a kidder, and a hint to how this puzzle's five longest answers were created : OH YOU.(5).
Across:
1. Track : OVAL. Did anyone watch the NASCAR race at Indy last weekend?
5. Put up : BUILD. A parking lot? What song?
10. Agile : SPRY. To irritate me, my children suggest I am quite spry. but not a 27D. Wire wearer : SPY.
14. Song in the musical "Kismet" : FATE. Do not know the play or tune, but how easy was this?
15. 1973 Stones ballad : ANGIE. 40 years ago, a hair band!
16. Small music group : TRIO. Music intensive today, who is your favorite, Kingston?
17. Custard concoction : FLAN.
18. Sticking point : THORN.
19. Big refs. : OEDS. OED: Oxford English Dictionary.
23. Chemical ending : IDE. Need a bromide yet?
24. Animal enclosure : PEN. Noun and verb.
25. They're found in mines and minis : SEAMS. Another interesting visual. CED I gave up after ten minutes looking for a girl in a mini in a gold mine.
33. Icelandic literary collection : EDDA. and the unrelated, 35A. Ice cream entrepreneur Joseph : EDY
34. Look down on the clouds, perhaps : SOAR.
41. Diving bird : AUK.
44. ___ vodka: ristorante phrase : ALLA. Tinman, do we mix any Vodka in our marinara?
45. Ally of Roderigo : IAGO. Interesting use of the word ALLY, as Iago was his own player.
54. Big name in beauty : ESTEE. Do your criticize her of Lauder?
55. That, in Madrid : ESO.
56. Inc. abroad : LTD.
62. Lion portrayer : LAHR. Some Oz, other than Amos.
65. "___ off?" : ON OR. Written by a parent with a child who keeps turning lights on and off.
66. It's not a big case : ETUI. Nice pun, and gist for every lawyer.
67. ___ lazuli : LAPIS. Semi-precious stone.
68. Sandy shade : ECRU.
69. Family fare letters : TV-PG.
70. Plato's market : AGORA. The Ancient Greek marketplace.
71. Soccer broadcaster Messing : SHEP. The goalkeeper for the NY Cosmos Soccer team, now talking about 'football. LINK.(4:32).
Down:
1. Not meant to be public : OFF MIKE. Fresh fill.
2. Airport security req. : VALID ID. don't you love IDID?
3. Over : AT AN END. Lots of multiple word entries today.
4. Filmmaker Riefenstahl : LENI. Hitler's filmmaker.
5. Cupcakes-to-be : BATTER. Cute clue.
6. Like curtains to be installed : UNHUNG. Be careful Lois.
7. Role for Marty Feldman : IGOR. That is pronounced EEEEgore.
8. Currency until 2002 : LIRE. In Italy.
9. Leader after Mao : DENG. I leave any practical commentary to C.C. about this MAN. (From C.C.: Deng opened China to the outside world through his "Open Door Policy". He is famous for saying "It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black, as long
as it catches mice." Wiki explains it quite accurately: "In other words, he did not worry too much about
whether a policy was capitalist or socialist as long as it improved the
economy.")
10. Pinched : STOLEN. I hope the pinch was not.
11. Where some thank-yous are written : PREFACE. All perps, but now it makes sense.
12. Divested (of) : RID..
13. Howdies : YOS. Images of both Arnold and Sly in one puzzle, and juxtaposed two.
21. Clod : APE. Hmmmm.
22. False friends : USERS.
26. Sludge : MUD. Well that should be clear.
29. Latin case: Abbr. : DATive.
30. Guardian of Narnia : ASLAN.
31. Co-star of Carroll, Jean and Sally : ROB. Reiner, All in the Family.
32. Cross-shaped letter : TAU.
37. Not as prevalent : RARER.
38. Draft pick : ALE. Not by a sports team but customer at Hops & Pie.
39. Mer land : ILE. Mer=Sea in French.
40. One of the fam : SIS. She is a sib too.
41. Bolted down : ATE. Part of why Americans become obese, eating too fast. Fast Food, an oxymoron?
42. Hesitating sounds : UHS. Um, er....
43. Whopper topper : KETCHUP. Speaking of fast foods, and the antonym to 6D.
46. Unavailable, in a way : AT LUNCH. At Burger King it seems.
47. Become irritated : GET SORE. Aw, Wally don't get sore.
48. Cook's "Food's ready!" : ORDER UP. Ding!
50. Baseball's "Iron Horse" : GEHRIG. Wally Pipp's favorite backup.
51. Obama's "Dreams From My Father," e.g. : MEMOIR.
52. Olympics chant : USA USA.
53. Terrible twos cries : NOS.
58. City in Kansas : IOLA. Well this one is obscure but has great letters. LINK.
59. Go after, as flies : SHAG. baseball again, not Austin Powers.
60. Slip in the pool? : TYPO. Typing pool, very nice.
61. Some reddish deer : ROES. Learning moment. WATCH. and listen, (2:12)
62. Rent : LET.
63. Beach transp. : ATV. All Terrain Vehicle.
Well I made it, Thanks Jack for the laughs and thank all of you who read these words whether you comment or not. Happy August all, my youngest is coming to visit. Lemonade all squeezed out.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle from Jack today, and you added your always fun wit to the comments, Lemony! I finally “got” the theme at THE GREEN MUNSTER (my favorite entry), and was able to go back and fill in the others rather quickly.
The NW corner was a little stubborn, but I actually loved the fill there: OFF MIKE, VALID ID and AT AN END are all nice. Never heard of LENI, but he appeared with “only four perps,” as Abejo would say!
Dennis, from last night regarding your question about why they paid you more money for your AB+ blood. It is true that type AB can receive any other type of cells, but they can only receive type AB whole blood, which includes both the cells and plasma. (Remember those Kung Fu antibodies in the plasma that will wipe out any cell that is foreign to them?) In cases of severe blood loss due to surgery or trauma, doctors want to replace both components.
TGIF!!!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteStruggled with this one until I finally got (literally and figuratively) the theme reveal at 64A, which let me go back and fill in the long theme answers pretty quickly. I wasn't very familiar with the underlying phrases "Christmas rose" or "trail boss", but once I knew what was going on they made sense.
Lots and lots of tricky clues today, but each one was perfectly valid and gave me a little *aha* moment when I got it, so no nits to pick. Just an enjoyable, albeit difficult, puzzle today.
[NEconon]
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was a real challenge for me. I'd fill out a block, or most of one, but couldn't figure out what was going on with the themes.
It didn't help that I had TEE in lieu of TAU, and LETS EAT instead of ORDER UP. I must have skipped over Roderigo's ally on the first pass. IAGO was going to be correct. I liked having AT LUNCH in the same area.
Favorite clue ? Whopper Topper
Toughest clue ? Slip in the pool ?
Natick ? intersecting L at IOLA / LAPIS. N was wrong.
What's a Narnia and why was it being guarded ? Oh yea, another movie with a talking lion. Was this one as brave as Bert ?
Northwest was the last to fall, and it was not without a little red led help. Never heard of LENI and _ATE wasn't known until FLAN and AT AN END fell.
Oh well. Great puzzle Mr McInturff and thank you as well Mr Lemonade. Time to go make the coffee for sleepyhead.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for all of the kind words concerning my dog Charlotte ("Charlie")'s bone cancer. It is a terrible shock. The limp is spreading to one of her rear legs and I will not have her much longer. I did order some incredibly expensive holistic medicine (please don't laugh).
Did not think I could finish today's offering w/o cheating, but somehow I prevailed. Took rather a long time. Many backspaces. I got the theme with MINIATURE GULF. Had never heard of a CHRISTMAS RoSE. Had to run through the alphabet in my mind on that one.
Thanks Jack, Lemonade!
Blue Iris: feel better soon!
Marti: thanks for blood info. On a related matter, I received a transfusion in 1985 that blessed me with hepatitis C, followed by fibromyalia (these diagnosed much later, of course, as they were not then known).
Keith: how did you get the picture of the cute little pooch up?
Have a pleasant weekend!
Howdy,
ReplyDeleteWithout going into detail, this was a total wipe out. The theme clues were the basic issue, but there were others too.
Been a bad week for solving and I'll probably add to my embarrassment tomorrow. If not, see you Monday.
TGIF & have a terrific weekend.
LENI Riefenstahl was a female photographer with ties to Hitler.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Jack McInturff, for a very good, but difficult, puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade and Boomer, for the swell review.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, this was tough getting started. I bounced around and entered a word here and there.
One of my first words was ETUI, believe it or not. We have had that word for as long as I can remember. Then LAHR was easy. GEHRIG became obvious. So, I was started.
CHRISTMAS RUSE was my first theme. Even though I had CHRISTMAS RULE at first. GET SORE. Corrected that. The rest appeared now that the key was known.
Had PHOTO ID for the longest time for 2D. Had SPOT for 1A. Once MINIATURE GULF fell, I entered VALID ID and OVAL.
ROB from All in the Family. That show was the best.
Lots of good ones today, AT LUNCH and ORDER UP were clever.
Of course I had SWAT for 59D. Thinking of house flies. AGORA fixed that to SHAG.
This only took me two hours to finish. Not bad for me.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(snequom)
Thank you Lemonade for your unfailing wit and humor.
ReplyDeleteTo those who are unaware, KISMET means FATE, in Arabic and Urdu et. al.
Loved your clip of Kindergarden Cop - must see that movie.
On 25 Across - 'They 're found in mines and minis'. , - I had, VEINS. A 'vein- y'. girl might be advised not to wear a Mini, ... Because it may appear,' very close'... But still.
Have a nice day, you all.
Lemon: I enjoyed your write-up & links more than my 'perp-fest' solving experience.
ReplyDeleteLENI, IOLA, SHEP and ALLA Vodka were ALL 100% perps.
Nice to see our "old crosswordese" friends EDDA and ETUI.
Being a NY Yankee fan, 50-D, Baseball's "Iron Horse", GEHRIG was a gimmie (and my fave, today).
And I hope my Pinch is never Pinched (STOLEN).
A "toast" to all at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
I started at the bottom and got OH YOU and THE GREEN MUNSTER very early on. Knowing the theme helped a lot for a quick solve. IOLA was the only unknown, all perps.
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas rose comes from an ancient legend and also a 15th century German Christmas carol Link legend
Link German carol
Link in English
English version is in our hymnal
Fantastic puzzle and brilliant write up.
Good morning everybody, and welcome to Friday!
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle busted my chops. I got most of the fill, but couldn't PERP a few straglers, which technically left me with a DNF.
I wanted ERECT instead of BUILD, and OFF SITE instead of OFF MIKE. I didn't know IOLA, LENI, SHEP or TVPG.
Speaking of TVPG, I never really pay attention to TV ratings. Do you? Maybe this is more for parents with children.
DH and I went to an entertainment convention last weekend. The guy who played Eddie Munster was there signing autographs and posing for photos.
Fermat: No laughing here. I would try just about anything to help my pets. I hope Charlie's not in too much pain.
Have a good day everyone.
HI Y'all! This Jack Mac was just plain hard. NW needed a red-letter run to find square #1 was an "O" so I could get going in NW. Then it was kinda fun. First fill: FLAN. I got the theme with GULF.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know LENI, ANGIE or DENG. Enjoyed listening to ANGIE. Thanks, Lemon.
19A Big refs: OEDS was all perps. I was thinking football.
30D ASLAN was helped by seeing the play with my granddaughter in it earlier this year.
VALID ID: What would Freud say about this?
ATE: A TV special some time ago said that Sumo wrestlers ate a big meal and then took a nap to make the optimum fat. Stimulated me to do the
opposite in an effort to slim down. No luck yet.
Last to fill was the "V" in the TVPG/ATV cross.
Sure and that was a very bloody blog yesterday! I realized I can't remember what is my blood type. Oh well, if I ever need blood I'll probably be too unconscious to tell them anyway.
For some humor, for today, as an aside: in res, apropos to nothing ;
ReplyDeleteTurning tricks is not so profitable anymore. Por example cutting prices in an stagnant economy can be, shall we say, not very uplifting ....
Lemonade, without casting aspersions on a noble calling, here's a charming response. Read the first comment on the subject ...
Spoiler Alert; this is DF, open at your own risk, and don't even think of it, if you are easily offended !
I am very happy with just one questionable cell (allY/aslYn crossing) as Jack’s wonderful puzzle took some real effort. The theme answers were still a mystery when I got OH YOU and I thought the theme answers were O___ U___ for a while until MINIATURE GULF.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Miniature golf courses are getting harder to find, Lemon but when we go the focus is on grandkid’s efforts and not mine. Putt Putt courses used to have their own TV show
-Lemon, is this the answer to your musical question?
-The only NASCAR event I have watched had this driver
-Kismet means FATE and so…
-Fav TRIO was P, P and M
-Dang, it was an A! I’ll take a 99.47%
-Not quite OFF MIKE Joe.
-LENI shows even the most vile men (Boston bomber) can attract someone
-Somebody PINCHED Liza’s straw hat
-A Rod was a USER and may be out of baseball forever. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
-My MIL is the only person I know who pronounces catsup as cat’ sup.
-Unavailable NASA guys are AT LAUNCH
Here is a groaner for you.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeletePleased to see we have one of Jack's puzzles. I thought it was fair but with many big misdirections. Got the bottom half without too much flap. Liked the AUK/KETCHUP cross. Had 'trams' before SEAMS. (Don't ask how that ties in with minis.) Also had Lili before LENI. Finally, realizing that pinched meant STOLEN, let me bring the solve home.
A good Friday workout but Jack makes it fun.
Good morning, a little bit late. Harold again.
ReplyDeleteI liked Jack's offering. I had ERECT rather than BUILD, so it took a while to get UNHUNG. I thought cooks hollered, "SOUP'S ON!" -- nope, ORDER UP. I wonder why Jack picked Kansas. There's also an IOLA in Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.
From yesterday's bloody blog: The Navy dogtags included Name, ID Number, blood type and religion (optional). It was many years later that I found out that my blood type entry was wrong -- A+ when it should have been A-. Back in those days the military ID was not the same number as your SSN. I think they should have kept it that way.
Happy Friday everybody!
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about the NW corner lately? Had to work my way back up from the bottom (Bottoms up!), and eventually got everything except for having to turn on two red (Scarlet?) letter A"s in EDDA and ALLA....
Had LETTUCE for KETCHUP and TAIL for OVAL for way too long....
What makes a Muskrat guard his Musk...? Courage....
Lemon, that song (They paved paradise and put up a parking lot) would be Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell...I'd provide a link but I've yet to master how to do that on the iPad....
HG, yes to Joni Mitchell, and did you notice the choice of Yellow Taxi and the pic of Danica being seamless?
ReplyDeleteLeagle Eagle, wondering if your sex worker data was all to get in the old joke about lawyers, or you just read the Economist very carefully?
FP, sorry about your pooch sad things happen to young animals and young people. Also, if you play the embedded video, it discuses Leni's life. She was referenced in Tarentino's Inglorious Basterd
HH, I thought you would appreciate the Green Monster reference.
DD, sorry, you posted while I types, but yes it was Joni,
ReplyDeletefunny how gehrig showed up after mentioning wally pipp last friday.
ReplyDeletei miss boomer.
OH YOU from Seinfeld @ 1:08
ReplyDeleteI missed a few at the bottom: SWAT/SHAG, AW YOU/OH YOU, ATORA/AGORA.
ReplyDeleteSorry no time to read this morning, but hope you all have a great weekend.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAlthough I finished w/o help, this was not one of my favorite puzzles. Hats off to Mr. Mc for his construction skills and originality, but I found some of the cluing/fill sort of forced. Nice expo, Lemon.
Ferm, do whatever you can to ease Charlie's discomfort.
Blue Iris, hope you feel better soon.
Happy Friday
I'm always thankful to see a Jack Mac puzzle at the end of the week--always challenging but doable with lots of clever clues. And a fun expo, as always, Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI kept looking at those long answers and saying, this doesn't look right. That turned out to be the fun of the O and U switch of the theme. Also enjoyed the trip down memory lane with the Munsters and "All in the Family."
Have a great Friday, everybody!
Loved the cluing in this one..fun.
ReplyDeleteFermat, my heart goes out to you. So sorry to hear about your pup.I know it feels so unfair;our 1st 2 dogs passed away at 10 with cancer. We also asked ourselves WHY. Of course there is no answer, but we did stop using any sprays in our yard after that.
Will read later...
D-O @ 0919 said in part: Back in those days the military ID was not the same number as your SSN. I think they should have kept it that way.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. Funny how I can remember the number 40 yrs later even though it's not used. (I believe the Navy converted to the present system in 1972)
Kazie @ 1039, I had the same initial missteps in the center south. More white gunk than usual today.
Thanks, Jack (Truck stuck in the mud:-))
ReplyDeleteClever but alas, undoable for STUPID ME.
Too much white to even go into detail.Thanks, Lemonade!
A Friday in the rain here in NE Montana. It's harvest time, but it is too wet.
ReplyDeleteI have had a good week with the puzzles. This one was a DNF, but I knew enough clues for it to be enjoyable. Thanks for Lemon's explanations.
I have been to "Hops and Pies" to eat but didn't have ALE there, although most customers had a glass in front of them.
Have a good weekend,
Montana
Just out of curiosity, what is the price of sweet corn in your neck of the woods? I just came back from a farm stand where I paid 70 cents an ear. Also noticed that the gas that was $3.70 a gallon a few days ago is now $3.80. Oh well, laughter is still free!
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, I get corn "just picked" from a neighbor's farm, at $0.50 an ear. It's the butter and sugar variety - so sweet and juicy!
ReplyDeleteAnd I can get gas from X-tra Mart at $3.51/gal.
But I don't worry about that too much, because my one-year-old car still doesn't even have enough mileage to change the oil! (<3,000 mi.)
This was a fine puzzle and one that really fooled me. Thank you, Jack McInturff!
ReplyDeleteThe bottom came first-- and pretty easily (although I challenge the characterization of IAGO [45A] as an "ally" of Roderigo). I caught the theme early on through the combo of OH YOU (64A) and TRAIL BUSS (64A)-- a useful tool for guiding me through the rest.
But, wow! the top half was surprisingly impenetrable. It didn't help that my first attempt at 1D was OFF LINE. That saddled me with the wrong starts for both 20A and 28A. Looking back on it now, I think what held me up the most was not being able to get past CHOU as Mao's successor.
After a good nap, it all broke through. I awoke and stumbled on DENG (9D) and right away followed by solving OFF MIKE (1D). Nothing like a good snooze sometimes to clear the brain static!
I wonder if the WWII folk at Bletchley Park were encouraged in their nap time? We know now that the great allied code-breakers were recruited from chess champs and crossword fans. I imagine them drifting back from sawing Zs in la-la land to demystify the Enigma Machine .
Lemonade, re: 25A
ReplyDelete"Here you go!"
And thanks, Lemonade, for posting the video of Leni Riefenstahl. She was one of the amazing women of her time-- a dedicated artist who, like Albert Speer, fell under the Hitler spell. Her film of the '36 Olympics, Olympia , was an eye-opening documentary, although tainted with propaganda.
ReplyDeleteThe Third Reich was a hotbed of Faustian bargains--with some bright, talented people trading their very real gifts for a seductively militant vision. Artists can sometimes see ahead of the rest of us, but Leni and her ilk couldn't or wouldn't see the evil at the end of the line.
You give my wife & I something to work at together. We appreciate you allowing us to compete with you. Hv a good day!
ReplyDeletefermatprime: CrossEyedDave's help with that is most appreciated. I solved it in two ways. As you see, I changed my own profile pic to be sure Nacho gets his exposure. Then I used CrossEyed's guidance to post this one of Louie . The pic of our Yorkie sniffing flowers in our garden is actually posted as a cover photo on our neighborhood's web site.
ReplyDeleteI just keep the HTML code CrossEyed posted and change the data. Ta-DAH!
No laughing at all about your treatment of Charlie, fermat. Good luck with that. You know your blog friends wish you both well. Please keep us updated.
Percy welcome, like Warren and his wife, we have couples who work puzzles together; I know it was the family aspect of solving with my parents that hooked me on puzzles in the first place. So share your experiences, opinions whenever you like.
ReplyDeleteCED, I knew I could count on you! She was perfect even with the gold mini.
Gas prices just trundled back to the 3.50 per gallon area, here but I have not yet priced corn. Since it is never as good as Connecticut of New Jersey corn, I do not buy it often.
There are 2 types of sweet corn - the regular shuck- the- ears kind that's sometimes fed to horses, and then there's the kind that's already been though the horse. The latter is. much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteThe former ones cost $ 2 per dozen, in Wilmington, Delaware. The gas you get from the corn is free. The regular unleaded auto gas is now $ 4. 12 per U.S. gallon. For hybrids, the electric cost $ 0.6976 per Kilowatt-hour.
In Tampa, corn is always a Buccaneer.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks,
ReplyDeleteYour German carol link gave me a glorious break. Many thanks. What a contradictory people. Riefenstahl and Praetorius this morning.
Ferm: When the time comes, this is For Charlie.
ReplyDeleteRay Jim @ 3:31 pm: Too funny!
ReplyDeleteKeith Fowler @ 3:25 pm: Such a cute picture of Louie. Both Louie and the flower are beautiful!
CED: Is there anything you can't find? :)
Pretty much what Abejo said. And no, I don't have a bwain toomah!
ReplyDeleteMari @ 3:46
ReplyDeleteI lost my marbles a long time ago...
I was looking for funny transitions from O to U, without success. However, I did find this interesting (& funny if you read it in John Cleeses' accent) Reinstatement of the Letter "U". (see paragraph 3, section one.)
Also, (if anyone cares) I tried the pizza dough made with beer after it was refrigerated for 24 hours. It is difficult to tell if beer was the major improvement, or time in the fridge, because it occurred to me that Papa Johns pizzas were thicker & chewier, but also smaller? So I cut the dough in half, made two pizza crusts, & then put one on top of the other. Before adding toppings, I waited an hour for the dough to rise a little more.
The result? A thick & chewy pizza with a perfect crust, but still not quite Papa John,,, something is missing....
-Dave, nice mini miner! I wonder if she’s an ore ;-)?
ReplyDelete-Golf partner sells me wonderful sweet corn for $3/doz. (14 ears) $.25/ear and my neighbor gives me all I want for free.
-Gas is $3.59/gal and bottled water is higher.
-Gotta love Louie, Keith and Mulva, PK.
I tried to link onto @8:23 LegalEaglette's prostitution link and froze up my computer while the little wheel went around and around. Finally, had to turn off the machine.
ReplyDeletePK @11:08 is not your regular PK (me). I've never learned to link, you know. The anons are playing games again today, methinks.
Afternoon All,
ReplyDeleteFermat, I am truly sorry to hear the news about your dog. They are great companions. My best to you both.
@CED Re: yest, I thought you had a little more faith in me than to think that I would post anon to get you. I always post in Blue and besides, If I do get you I want FULL credit for it ;~)
So don't drop the soap... That's not me stalking you.
And on that note
@ Mari, Yes there is. CED still can't find a way to get back at me :)
(Remember the rules Dave!)
CED, I can't believe I never saw that letter from "John Cleese to America" - hilarious!!
ReplyDeleteHG, tut, tut - she's not an ore...it's obvious she's pure gold!
Better ingredients, better pizza.
ReplyDeleteWe had an office PJ lunch today, so I am ready
For what it's worth, CED, it's me - your admirer.
ReplyDeleteWhat, you have a problem with your groupies ?
God, we sure are nosy on this blog. Grumble, grumble.
Anyway, just accept the compliments and move on.( It could have been worse). No really, when you can, and if you can, thanks for your world wide web education.
To all those suffering from ailing pets, my sympathies and empathy. To those suffering themselves, and for their near and dear ones, again, my sympathies.
Not much luck with the puzzle today... it pretty well beat me up.... so I gave up... but I did enjoy the work out and the write up... thanx to jack and to lemonade...
ReplyDeleteYes lemonade I did watch last weeks nascar racce.... most of it... :) they are always on the tv even if I don't sit still for every minute... good race... in my opinion anyway... :)
thelma
Eve All:
ReplyDeleteBusy day and then the puzzle, after 6 googles, still kicked my butt...
15a got me started (love the Stones), and I thought I would slowly suss things out. BUSS for Kiss is a new one on me. I did get CHRISTMAS RUSE and thought all theme answers where going to be pranks or jokes.
My undoing was in NW and Northern CA. Never hear of AUK, ATE was too tricky for me, and many more. Its a shame to, because even with a TDNF I could have shouted "BOOMER SOONER!" for the OU theme. Oh, well.
Thanks Jack for proving I'm an ID10T and Lem for the writeup (I would be pulling my hair out by now).
CED - I'm a fan too - always fun links! Of course, I'm a fan of everyone on the blog with the exception of the occasional Friday Anon Snarker.
American English - now with 68% less "U"s!
I have a charity golf thing in the AM (I'm not a golfer), so it may be another late post.
Have a wonderful weekend all!
Cheers,
-T
Oh, and for 7d's EEEGOR .
ReplyDeleteAnd who recalls this D-CON commercial? Link.
Cheers,
-T
Breaking news!! In the wasteland that is summer television, we're watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, just to avoid the dreck. For the very first time in my life, I've seen a reference to aioli outside of crossword puzzles and it sounds very tasty. Mayo with attitude indeed!!
ReplyDeleteOn another front, we just ate our first BLTs and the first batch of okra of the season. The crossword gods and our stomachs are pleased. But in less than happy news, a storm last night blew our sweet corn flat to the ground. To answer the earlier inquiry, the going rate here is $4 a dozen. Gas is $3.57 pr gallon for regular gas, E-10 is about 8 cents cheaper.
Good evening, friends. How lovely to see you back, lemonade. I hope you have recovered from your ailment. Love your checkout, "all squeezed out."
ReplyDeleteI'm so very late to the party today but thought I would post anyway because this is such a wonderful puzzle. It took me all day, not just the challenge, which it was, but so much to do.
The roofers were here at 6:30 A.M. and one thing just led to another so that I hardly had much time to sit and mull over the grid.
It was fun to BUILD this from the center out as I could not imagine what the them might be, but slowly and patiently each cell finally filled. As usual, Jack has some curious misdirection most of which made me chuckle.
Examples, the clues for ETUI, ECRU, UNHUNG, SEAMS, etc., etc.
Thank you Jack and Lemonade. This was fun. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
I hope your Friday has been sensational! My roof is now waterproof.
Keith, I'm glad you enjoyed the German carol. I did, too. And, even more, I loved the fabulous blending of voices in the English version.
ReplyDeleteI had a home grown tomato sandwich for lunch today, microwave corn on the cob last night, and corn fritters today. Locally grown produce is soooo much tastier, even cucumbers.
Based on the corn and gas prices, I may have to move to
ReplyDeleteNebraska!
Lucina, glad you are now living in a "dry state." LOL
I'm not sure it would be worth it, Irish Miss. Fresh corn season only last about 6 weeks and gas prices have been extremely volatile this year. Besides, you'd have to swear to buy a new wardrobe upon crossing the border.......entirely red.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle today even though it was a DNF, but then Friday always is for me. I came here for the theme answers and then I was able to get several of the other answers. I did use the online red letter version once but take pleasure in doing them in ink like my father. I always enjoying reading all the comments too.
ReplyDeleteStill a little fuzz from pain meds, so please excuse any errors that may be forthcoming in this post.
ReplyDeleteIOLA,Kansas- Lemony, what do you mean obscure?? D-Otto, Why not Kansas? LOL
Think I may remember DENG now. CC, did his philosophy and Nixon's opening trade with China occur at the same time?
Fermat, my illness was also caused by a 1986 blood transfusion contaminated with 3 vector borne diseases and misdiagnosed for over 20 years. Nice thing to have in common, huh?
Gas-$3.40
Sweet corn-$3.00 for 13 ears from farmer.
Tomatoes are still green on the vine.
LENI Riefenstahl sent me on along bunny trail to Wiki and then The Wonderful Horrible Life documentary on You-Tube. She lived to 101 yrs old and was filming undersea life during her 70's. Really hard to tell if she had any guilt over filming for Hitler or not.
Is it really Aug. 2nd ? My son is moving back to the college dorm this wkend.
Avg Joe @ 8:23 - No way could I trade my Irish Green for Cornhusker Red, so I guess I'll stay put. Besides, I am such a corn addict, I'd pay whatever the price was. As far as the price of gas, I have a 12 year old Corolla with 23,000 miles on it; need I say more? (-:
ReplyDeleteWelcome ………Kalendi stop by anytime. Thank you all for all the entertaining and enlightening links and the kind words. Lucina, thank you I am feeling better but am back getting poked and prodded. Enjoy the weekend all
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteReally late to the party today! Jack Mac made me work a bit, but no trouble overall.
Yellowrocks, loved the Rose links! I was unaware of the German heritage of that lovely piece.
PK 4:57 - I've seen that little wheel enough times on my PC. I call it the "rolling doughnut".
Construction update - the porch, so necessary to enjoyment of our best-in-town view, has been built mostly. Windows are due Monday. I hope they're all correct...
Later seems to be too late to really converse.Sigh. Did want a to give a big thank , Lemon for pointing out the theme. Glad you have recovered.
ReplyDeletehmmm, why doe that tune"put up a parking lot...doot...doot.."keep running thru my head?
trio: Did anyone mention Peter, Paul and Mary? My 1st concert ever while in college.
JD:
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you weren't Puffing the Magic Dragon...
-T
JD - I just re-re-read my post. It may have come off as poking-at you re: dope. I was just riffing / kidding off of PP&M's ( and one of my favorite) songs. Not knowing you at all, please JD & fellow bloggers, don't take it the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, I really stinks when your ace is traded to the other team during the series. Bud Noris is now an Oriole and pitched a darn good game agains the 'Stros Thursday. Re-BUILDing years stink...
-T
Thanks again for your kind words about Charlie. We have been all organic here for the last 20 years, at least. So no pesticides, etc. (Still scratching my head.) However, I have no idea what happened before I adopted Charlie when she was one year old. A real dog-loving friend of mine plucked her up just as her number was up at the pound. (She had been chipped, which is rather unusual.)
ReplyDeleteBlue Iris: the treatment (home chemotherapy) for the hepatitis C was no picnic. What treatment did you receive?
I lost a good friend to Hep C, not the disease but weakness from the treatment. You both take care.
ReplyDelete