Words: 68 (missing J,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 31
Doug and Brad combine again for a tough, but do-able, challenge this
week. For me, it was a hit....and then a miss; a hit....and then a
miss. A near perfect symmetry to the grid; two more black squares and
it would look the same even if you rotated the puzzle through 90°. Two
13-letter climbers in sequence;
14D. Currency printed on only one side : MONOPOLY MONEY - I landed on BANDO - need $200
15D. Rued years : MISSPENT YOUTH - I spent my youth well; it was after missing out on film school that I could say I 'rued' the next 15 years
And a pair of hard-to-work-into-a-grid 14-letter spanners;
30A. "That's the pot calling the kettle black!" : YOU'RE ONE TO TALK
35A. London arena that Pelé dubbed "the cathedral of football" : WEMBLEY STADIUM
- Nailed it - but not too difficult for me, since my parent's were born
in England, and my father was a HUGE (football) soccer fan - he wanted
his ashes scattered at midfield there; we may still....
~!ACROSS:
1. Hits the dirt? : SCRUBS - not a good start to this one; my whole NW corner was either blank or filled in with the wrong answers
7. Window in many loft conversions : DORMER - better; carpentry is my thing; I like this one
13. Prepared to fire : TOOK AIM - DAH~! I filled in "AIMED AT" - right, but wrong
15. Tool for hackers : MACHETE - who else was on a computer hacker train of thought?
16. Name on "The Name of the Rose" : UMBERTO - not a clue
17. Spoke like an uninspired lecturer : INTONED
18. Smartphone component, for short : CPU - DAH~! I put in APP - and only one "P" was good.
19. Soothes, in a way : SINGS TO
21. Mars, for one : ORB - DAH~! I went with the "GOD" version
22. Throw : CAST - DAH~! I put in TOSS ( and thought it was too easy, too )
24. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE - WAGed it
25. Home of the Czech Republic's Supreme Court : BRNO - I got down to one cell, and it was the second here, fifth in the down clue - both foreign places, and the "R" was a total WAG - and when I got "Ta-Da~!", I still didn't like Brno - but I do like their advertising campaign....
26. Second to none : ON TOP - DAH~! I had ELITE
28. Spot in a casino : PIP - the dimples on dice
29. Crème de __ : CACAO - MENTHE did not fit, even with the "E" being silent
33. Hose holder : REEL
34. Indoor football name : NERF - not the league, just the toy
41. Fauvist painter Dufy : RAOUL
42. 5, spelled out? : MAY - The FIFTH month
43. Rayed bloom : ASTER - Crossword staple, Saturday cluing
45. Tendon attachment? : ITIS - tendonITIS
46. Pamplona runners : TOROS - Da Bullz
49. Mdse. : GDs - Goods
50. Like many consonants : LINGUAL - I tried "GLOTTAL"
52. Cat's batter : PAW - Did anyone else think of cake mix at first?
53. Ancient Syrian : HITTITE - Learned from watching Ghostbusters
55. First golfer to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens in the same year : TREVINO
57. Overly sentimental : TREACLY
58. Side effect of a bike helmet : HAT HAIR - this is NOT what YOU were thinking....
59. Pet : STROKE - hwwwwsh - I had CARESS; so close....
60. Disrespected outwardly : SASSED
DOWN:
1. Masonry finish : STUCCO - here's where I could tell my first ACROSS pass was a 'fail'; I knew what masonry finish the guys were looking for; I did one for a customer on her porch, my shed is getting the treatment, and my future home will definitely be stucco
2. Firm : COMPANY - noun? adjective? verb? had to wait
3. Humidor item : ROBUSTO - I likes me a cigar; I prefer a Tatiana flavoured cigarillo over a robusto; refers to the ring size of the smoke
4. Island entertainment : UKE
5. Places to see a lot of spirits : BARS - yep, tis where I spent those 15 years....
6. March alternative : SIT-IN - I was on a toccata, fugue, corale wavelength
7. Poet translated by Longfellow : DANTE
8. Pi preceder? : OCTO - octopi, the plural of octopus....gritting my teeth
9. Pi follower : RHO - Greek letters
10. Mediterranean island, to locals : MENORCA - I guess everyone else refers to it as M-I-norca, as opposed to the other island in the area, Mallorca (MAJORca)
11. Like amaranth flowers, in myth : ETERNAL - from the Greek, for unwilting; I have taken inspiration from Yellowrocks, and found this poem
12. Magazine in which "The Thin Man" first appeared : REDBOOK - I have heard of it; more here from Wiki
20. Put on a happy face : GRIN
23. Sightseers can be seen on one : TOUR BUS
25. Spade-shaped reef swimmer : BATFISH
27. Alberto VO5 rival : PRELL - hair care products
29. Una __: using the soft pedal : CORDA
31. Brogan classification : EEE - shoe size
32. High __ : TEA
35. Pair commemorated on North Carolina's state quarter : WRIGHTS - the bicycle brothers who designed and built the first flying machine
36. Humble oneself : EAT DIRT
37. More likely to win the bakeoff, maybe : MOISTER
38. '33 Chicago World's Fair puppeteer : SARG - Fascinating; I found this clip - watch the king (sultan?) hitting the hookah (@6:55), and then it gets a bit DF about 8:15. If you want to see a modern take, there's some more marionettes in the movie "Still Breathing"
39. Beauty spots? : UTOPIAS
40. One-named singer/songwriter of the 1970 Woodstock-inspired hit "Lay Down" : MELANIE - link away~!
44. Paraphrase : RE-WORD
46. Safe-deposit box document : TITLE
47. Author Paretsky and others : SARAS
50. Defeat : LICK - Well, the guys could have gone the other way with the cluing
51. "Why, then, __ soldier drink!": Iago : "LET A"
54. Confucian path : TAO
56. Old Beta rival : VHS - Video Home System; definitely the winner in the consumer market, but the news shows I worked with swore by Beta.
Splynter
7. Window in many loft conversions : DORMER - better; carpentry is my thing; I like this one
13. Prepared to fire : TOOK AIM - DAH~! I filled in "AIMED AT" - right, but wrong
15. Tool for hackers : MACHETE - who else was on a computer hacker train of thought?
16. Name on "The Name of the Rose" : UMBERTO - not a clue
17. Spoke like an uninspired lecturer : INTONED
18. Smartphone component, for short : CPU - DAH~! I put in APP - and only one "P" was good.
19. Soothes, in a way : SINGS TO
21. Mars, for one : ORB - DAH~! I went with the "GOD" version
22. Throw : CAST - DAH~! I put in TOSS ( and thought it was too easy, too )
24. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE - WAGed it
25. Home of the Czech Republic's Supreme Court : BRNO - I got down to one cell, and it was the second here, fifth in the down clue - both foreign places, and the "R" was a total WAG - and when I got "Ta-Da~!", I still didn't like Brno - but I do like their advertising campaign....
26. Second to none : ON TOP - DAH~! I had ELITE
28. Spot in a casino : PIP - the dimples on dice
29. Crème de __ : CACAO - MENTHE did not fit, even with the "E" being silent
33. Hose holder : REEL
34. Indoor football name : NERF - not the league, just the toy
41. Fauvist painter Dufy : RAOUL
42. 5, spelled out? : MAY - The FIFTH month
43. Rayed bloom : ASTER - Crossword staple, Saturday cluing
45. Tendon attachment? : ITIS - tendonITIS
46. Pamplona runners : TOROS - Da Bullz
48. Green opening : HOLE
- Second time the guys threw me this week; instead of getting crafty
with a prefix like "ECO-" or "AGRI-", we are looking for the a plain old cup in the grass of a golf course....
49. Mdse. : GDs - Goods
50. Like many consonants : LINGUAL - I tried "GLOTTAL"
52. Cat's batter : PAW - Did anyone else think of cake mix at first?
53. Ancient Syrian : HITTITE - Learned from watching Ghostbusters
55. First golfer to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens in the same year : TREVINO
57. Overly sentimental : TREACLY
58. Side effect of a bike helmet : HAT HAIR - this is NOT what YOU were thinking....
59. Pet : STROKE - hwwwwsh - I had CARESS; so close....
60. Disrespected outwardly : SASSED
DOWN:
1. Masonry finish : STUCCO - here's where I could tell my first ACROSS pass was a 'fail'; I knew what masonry finish the guys were looking for; I did one for a customer on her porch, my shed is getting the treatment, and my future home will definitely be stucco
2. Firm : COMPANY - noun? adjective? verb? had to wait
3. Humidor item : ROBUSTO - I likes me a cigar; I prefer a Tatiana flavoured cigarillo over a robusto; refers to the ring size of the smoke
4. Island entertainment : UKE
5. Places to see a lot of spirits : BARS - yep, tis where I spent those 15 years....
6. March alternative : SIT-IN - I was on a toccata, fugue, corale wavelength
7. Poet translated by Longfellow : DANTE
8. Pi preceder? : OCTO - octopi, the plural of octopus....gritting my teeth
9. Pi follower : RHO - Greek letters
10. Mediterranean island, to locals : MENORCA - I guess everyone else refers to it as M-I-norca, as opposed to the other island in the area, Mallorca (MAJORca)
11. Like amaranth flowers, in myth : ETERNAL - from the Greek, for unwilting; I have taken inspiration from Yellowrocks, and found this poem
12. Magazine in which "The Thin Man" first appeared : REDBOOK - I have heard of it; more here from Wiki
20. Put on a happy face : GRIN
23. Sightseers can be seen on one : TOUR BUS
25. Spade-shaped reef swimmer : BATFISH
27. Alberto VO5 rival : PRELL - hair care products
29. Una __: using the soft pedal : CORDA
31. Brogan classification : EEE - shoe size
32. High __ : TEA
35. Pair commemorated on North Carolina's state quarter : WRIGHTS - the bicycle brothers who designed and built the first flying machine
36. Humble oneself : EAT DIRT
37. More likely to win the bakeoff, maybe : MOISTER
38. '33 Chicago World's Fair puppeteer : SARG - Fascinating; I found this clip - watch the king (sultan?) hitting the hookah (@6:55), and then it gets a bit DF about 8:15. If you want to see a modern take, there's some more marionettes in the movie "Still Breathing"
39. Beauty spots? : UTOPIAS
40. One-named singer/songwriter of the 1970 Woodstock-inspired hit "Lay Down" : MELANIE - link away~!
44. Paraphrase : RE-WORD
46. Safe-deposit box document : TITLE
47. Author Paretsky and others : SARAS
50. Defeat : LICK - Well, the guys could have gone the other way with the cluing
51. "Why, then, __ soldier drink!": Iago : "LET A"
54. Confucian path : TAO
56. Old Beta rival : VHS - Video Home System; definitely the winner in the consumer market, but the news shows I worked with swore by Beta.
Splynter
62 comments:
Hi Y'all! Really hard one for me. Nothing I'd think of first with few exceptions, but thanks, Doug & Brad. I still GRIN although it took so many red-letter runs I should be ASHAMED.
STUCCO was first fill then GRIN & TOURBUS. ROBUSTO & UMBERTO needed every perp.
March alternative, April & June didn't fit. Should have known this one with the March on Washington anniversary and all. SIT IN didn't parse even when I had it filled. They were a big thing at one time.
Valiant as always, Splynter to the explanation rescue.
I wanted some kind of manta ray. Never heard of BAT FISH.
Knew SARAS & TAO & VHS. Woo hoo! Now I think I better eat some breakfast.
Happy Saturday everybody!
Feeling much better about today’s offering than yesterdays. Imho, it’s okay to construct a hard puzzle, especially for the weekend, but it has to at least be workable, doable, grind-able, slog-able (made up those last two words….), which is how I would describe today’s experience….
Amazed to see how close I was to Splynter’s wavelength – GOD for ORB, TOSS for CAST, MENTH for CACAO, MAJORCA for MENORCA, EVER(green) for HOLE - all solvable with enough persistence….
Had to get help from Mr. G for RAOUL, SARG (one missing letter each), and BRNO, which just looked wrong, so I kept deleting the “R”….
Ended up turning on the red, and had only 6 unfilled or wrong squares, so a moral victory in my book….
Don’t mind at all getting HAT HAIR because of wearing a bike helmet. Sorta rebelled against wearing a helmet at first, but eventually gave in when I saw so many fellow riders wearing them. Helmet laws vary from state to state, but then again, so do speed limits….
Finally, I always thought “Brand New Key” by MELANIE was a kind of sappy little ditty, until it was used as Roller Girl’s theme in the movie Boogie Nights…. Here’s the Link WARNING, MPAA Rating of “R” for language, nudity, sexual situations, and tobacco use….
Forgot the one I'm most proud of getting: TREVINO! I heard them talking about that on golf coverage not long ago. Surprised me so I remembered it.
Morning, all!
I came very close to throwing in the towel on this one after getting about 1/3 of the grid filled and being convinced that half of my answers were likely wrong. After going through the grid multiple times, however, I finally started deleting many of my answers (TOSS for CAST, ELITE for ON TOP, AIMED AT for TOOK AIM, MAYORCA for MENORCA, MENTH for CACAO, TRUST for TITLE) and started over again. This time, for some reason, things went a lot smoother.
Had to guess at MELANIE, RAOUL, CORDA, LETA and MENORCA, which were all unknowns. Barely remembered ROBUSTO, SARG and BRNO after a lot of thought. A lot more answers were obscured by their clues. In the end, though, I managed to get it done, so yay! ^_^
[rklcop]
Whew! I was fearing a third DNF this week. But no. I inkblotted my way to success today, and fairly quickly, too.
This puzzle was not without it's challenges. I, too, first thought AIMED AT, but I wasn't sure enough to enter it. I did enter GOD for ORB, GPS for CPU and DISSED for SASSED.
REDBOOK was the grocery store checkout magazine in my ute. I started with the B for that Czech city, so I confidently entered BUDA -- isn't BUDAPEST the joining of the two cities BUDA and PEST across the river from each other? But I did recognize BRNO when it showed up. Splynter, from your link, I take it you're into cathedral cities. :)
I always thought the HITTITE empire was in modern day Turkey, not Syria. Oh well, they're close to each other.
Time for that bike ride. Bring on the HAT HAIR.
Great puzzle. I needed help with one cell as opposed to no help at all yesterday. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't think of MACHETE type hacking and I had never seen an E as the 2nd letter of MENORCA, so I needed that E. I'm more satisfied with missing a word where I never had a chance than one with a stupid V-8 can error.
OCTO PI was devilishly clever.
Wagged the B in BRNO. Never heard of BATFISH, but catfish are not spade shaped.
WEMBLEY was all peprs. At 37D I was looking for a descriptive for the baker, not the baked GDS, but only M fit in, so MOIST, and that completed WEMBLEY.
YOU'RE ONE TO TALK reminds me of beer bellied, balding,less than handsome men dissing women who are far nicer looking than they are.
My poem will be a Longfellow. I prefer him to DANTE.
Mornin' to all,
Thought this was the hardest puzzle we've had on a Saturday in a long time.
I confess,I had to turn on the red letter....BRNO...really!!
Local weatherman says we can wear the air today.....think I'll stay inside!
Hope everyone has a good (and safe) weekend.
Serious workout!!
First fill was uke, which gave me took aim, so it looked good early. Wrong! Lots of missteps along the way and a serious eraser-fest, but it came down to the B in Brno. Knew it couldn't be catfish, but couldn't decide between bat or rat, so went to the g-spot.
Other troubles were with dormer and Menorca. Tried multiple variants of Majorca, but finally let the perps dictate. For dormer, I wanted clerestory so badly that I could NOT see dormer to save my soul. It all worked out, but it wasn't purty.
Like Barry, I had very few answers filled on the first pass...but UMBERTO was one of them. Loved the book!
I did manage to get a toehold in the SE with ASTER, PAW, TRAVINO and SASSED. But I had HAT Head, which didn't quite look right. Finally changed it to HAIR, and that whole corner fell into place.
We sell to the University of Vet and Pharma Sciences in BRNO, so that didn't take too much thought, since "Prague" wouldn't fit. But my ORB was a Mars "bar" at first. I must be hungry...
In the end I finished without any lookups, so I'm a happy camper. Have a great day, everyone!
The Song of Hiawatha, one of my favorite Longfellow works, is an epic poem in four parts which my mother read to us over several evenings. I inherited my wonderful mother’s love of books, words, and crosswords. The poem contains many Indian myths. Here is one of the most well-known passages.
"By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
There the wrinkled old Nokomis, Nursed the little Hiawatha,
Rocked him in his linden cradle, Stilled his fretful wail by saying,
"Hush! The Naked Bear will hear thee!" Lulled him into slumber, singing,"
Ewa-yea! my little owlet! Who is this, that lights the wigwam?
With his great eyes lights the wigwam? Ewa-yea! my little owlet!"
From The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Here is the full text with an interesting introductory note.
Link text
Without considering the skillful flying, I marvel at the design of this puzzle. My hat (head) is off to all who take the empty 15 square by 15 square grid and make into art.
YR, thanks for the Longfellow poem and link. I never knew the story behind this poem, so that was very interesting!
What a great feeling to look up BRNO after all the cells were full and to find it existed and to realize I got ‘er done! I’m forming a posse to look for missing Czech vowels even though Hugo Srb was a big politician in this state who predicted that no other state would go to our unicameral legislature because they wouldn’t want to eliminate their jobs
Musings
-The long fills were the toeholds por moi
-_P_ also gave me APP at first
-VB players can get Rotator Cuff TENDONITIS from repetitive motions
-It’s in the HOLE! (1:17)
-Great Lee TREVINO quotes
-There are plusses and minuses to a TOUR BUS. The main plus is I don’t have to find the place, park the vehicle and get the tickets
-M _ _ _ _ _ _ singer from Woodstock, hmm… Pretty sure it ain’t MANILOW ;-)
-Ya want TREACLY music? Go to the Hallmark Channel.
-I grew up in those BARS, Splynter but never went back after high school
-I and two other guys chose BETA for home use
-Amen, Lemon!
-Vince Guarldi did CAST his Fate to the Wind (3:10) but what famous cartoon theme is he famous for?
Oops! Budapest is in Hungary, isn't it? Oh well, at least I got the right continent for BRNO.
YR, interesting info on the Song of Hiawatha. My father was born in a little village with an Indian name that would have fit right into the poem: Weyauwega (wye-oh-wee'-gah). It means "here we rest". It was a fording place between two rivers that the Indians used for navigation.
DO, If nothing else, your misplacement of Budapest stirred up a memory of one of Jethro Tull's lesser known tunes from an album that 50 maybe 60 people bought.
Good tune. Reminiscent of Dire Straits. But alas, it got no air play.
This puzzle was just too tough for me. After too many red letters early on, I gave up.
I read through all the clues and fit what little I know in the grid, in order to enjoy Splynter's expo. That is the best part of the Saturday puzzle.
Have a good weekend,
Montana
Brno is also where Mendal completed is pea experiments see link below
Mendal
Good morning everyone.
6 cheater squares today.
Tough nut to crack today. Cascaded down to 25a for first entry, BRNO. Knew of only 2 four letter Czech locales, the other being Plzn, the home of beer. Brno is the capital of Moravia, and I doubted they would put their Supreme Court in Plzn.
Finally got the NE and then worked counter-clockwise.
Scratched my head over HITTITE; their homeland was in central Asia Minor. But maybe Uriah the Hittite who moonlighted in ancient Syria was meant.
BH and I have enjoyed High TEA several times in the past at the Hotel Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. Fun mingling with the glitterati.
I thought that OCTOpi was devilishly clever.
Had red letter help with VHS; with mental block of 'vcr'.
Enjoy the day.
Hello Puzzlers -
Got a bit confused at the Brno Batfish, but all in all this was a fun Saturday workout.
Husker - not sure whether it's a trick question. Vince Guaraldi, jazz pianist and composer, was given very little time to piece together a jazzy soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas in the summer of 1965. He certainly pulled it off! The probable favorite is titled Linus and Lucy.
Avg Joe, that does sound like Dire Straits, even the voice sounds like Mark Knopfler. At least you can feel satisfied knowing that 27,000 people have viewed the link you posted.
Klilly, I couldn't make your link work. But I did find the article Here.
Spitz,, you raised an interesting question about who the Biblical Hittites, especially Uriah, were. You piqued my curiosity, so I went looking.
Link Hittites in Syria
The section called The Case for Separation mentions Syria.
Splynter, what are the Chinese characters in your excellent write up? I was weak at Kanji.
YR, thanks for that link. I didn't know there were Biblical Hittites ( must have been mentioned in the book of NAHUM), only the Hittite Empire which the linked article also places further north in modern day Turkey. So I was only halfway-geographically challenged today. BTW, I suspect those Chinese characters say "Onward."
-No trick intended, Dudley. This is the Guaraldi piece I had in mind - Peanuts Theme
-I looked up how to pronounce BRNO and came up with BUR’ NAW (as the BIR in bird and NAW as in the NO in snog). I’ll ask my Czech MIL this afternoon. Sound right?
-With the high Czech population around here, this knowledge might come in handy.
-Very interesting to know Mendel grew his peas there. God I love this blog. Our anon naysayers don’t seem to be open to learning.
-BTW, my farmer neighbor says that due to genetic crosses like those pioneered by Mendel, (detasseling on a large scale), the dryland corn of this dry year will get at least 120 bushels/acres instead of the zero it got back in 1934 and 1954 or even the 50 it got a decade ago.
Sorry about the link..thanks for fixing it desper Otto. I did it on my iPad and need more practice..
My goodness, this was a toughie! On my first try I got only UMBERTO. Then slowly, slowly the West filled in, with lots of goof-ups along the way. I got HUMIDOR mixed up with HUMIDIFIER, so that one had to be filled in by the across answers. VO5 made me think of tomato juice (V8) so it took forever to get PRELL. It helped that I'd heard of BRNO and HITTITES and even TREVINO--pretty good for a non-sportie. In the end I got the whole thing except I put HOT HAIR for HAT HAIR, thinking helmets probably made you sweat.
Anyway, thanks for the terrific challenge Doug and Brad, and the helpful expo, Splynter. And for the Longfellow poem, YR.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Doug and Brad, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for the fine review.
Well, finished this monster after only 3 1/2 hours of hard work.
Took me forever to get even the first word in. I think it was UKE.
Bounced around getting a foothold here and there.
Had BULLS to start with at 46A. That's the only reason I did not put in MONOPOLY MONEY for 14D. After a while I realized they were looking for spanish. Now I had a good start.
Took forever to get MAY for 42A. Had the M. Was trying to think of some Roman numeral. After a long while got MISSPENT YOUTH. That gave me the Y. Then I felt stupid. MAY.
Tried BAD HAIR for 58A. YOUTH fixed that to HAT HAIR. The last time I rode a bike was almost three decades ago. I had my dog on a leash while riding, the dog pulled me off the back of the bike. I landed on my head with no bike helmet and proceeded to receive 14 stitches after I was taken to the hospital. Live and learn.
TREACLY was unknown. Seven perps and it was mine.
HITTITE was easy. Bathsheba's first husband was Uriah the Hittite. King David took care of him and married Bathsheba.
Off to a Cubs Game today with my daughter. Rooftop seats.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(eipaims)
Hi Everyone:
Well, this was quite the challenge but I did finish w/o help, although it took 45 minutes.
I went astray early on with maudlin before treacly and pit before pip. Once thoses were corrected, things eventually fell into place.
Thanks, Doug and Brad, for keeping us on our toes and thanks, Splynter, for the always informative expo.
Iffy weather for the holiday weekend, calling for scattered showers all three days, humid, and mid 80's temps.
Happy Saturday and farewell to August.
Husker 10:53 - yup, that's the tune! Its title really is Linus and Lucy. Whoever made that YouTube track did a nice job of matching the original. Only the acoustic bass is missing.
Anon-T - just heard the WWDTM broadcast, and the most noticeable difference is in the Emmanuel Ax section. A lot more time was spent with him during taping, and as a result we heard lots more jokes. He really was quite funny and humble. A big production difference is heard on air: depth of reverb. Tanglewood is not a closed-in concert hall; it cannot produce reverb like that in the broadcast. It must have been synthesized during recording/editing.
A DNF because I forgot to finish ROBUSTO, but left it somewhere between TOBACCO and ROBUSTO. Of course that affected a couple of perps as well. Mo excuse, just plain forgot.
Otherwise it was a tough but yielding Saturday pzl. The two gimmes were UMBERTO (usually it's the surname ECO that's wanted) and WEMBLEY STADIUM. I don't follow soccer/football, but who hasn't heard of Wembley?
Sorry to note the passing of Seamus Heaney, the brilliant Irish poet. I love the quotation from him that Clinton reportedly kept on the Oval Office wall,
"But then, once in a lifetime /
the longed for tidal wave /
of justice can rise up /
and hope and history rhyme."
That was a better-than-average Saturday puzzle for me. Of course, I needed some red-letter help but I'm OK with that. I'd rather finish a Saturday puzzle with help than just quit. Otherwise, WEES.
Gary, Barbara and I knew that VG was well-known for writing the theme for Charlie Brown cartoons.
It was always fun talking about Mendel in eight-grade science. Invariably, a few kids would want to know how come their parents had brown eyes and they had blue eyes. I could answer that one OK. The one that gave me pause were when a kid had brown eyes and he claimed both his parents had blue eyes. I tried to avoid that conversation.
The usually beautiful weather here has turned ugly. The high is 82F with about 75% humidity. That's very uncomfortable. It's even hotter upstairs here where I lurk most of the day. There appears to be no end in sight. The best place is my car.
Speaking of the heat, it has started to get to me recently. Usually it's Janice, my wife, who feels it; it is rarely too hot for me. But the temp was in the 90s yesterday in SoCal, with enough humidity to hammer one when stepping outside-- and even the dogs wanted to stay indoors. Normally our high ceilings keep the house reasonably cool, but we turned on the AC yesterday and let it run through the night. Not very civic-minded, I know, but Janice had no sleep the night before, and we wanted to be sure she could get a few restful hours.
Back to Seamus Heaney: I just ordered his translation of BEOWULF. I've been working recently on a reading of BEOWULF, comparing the Anglo-Saxon to a modern version. Heaney’s English is both accurate and brilliant. It rolls off the tongue, four throbbing beats to a line, but with plenty of grammatical variation to let the speaker choose the phrasing. This is a poet who knew the oral tradition.
Instead of ordering my usual Kindle version, I decided to spring for the hardbound copy. It will be a keeper.
Because I know a pair of blue eyed parents who have a brown eyed child, I checked it out. Genetics has advanced in recent years.
From Eye Dioctor Guide:
"In years past a brown eyed child seemed like an unlikely outcome from two blue eyed parents, but as we learn more about genetics we learn that eye color isn't as simple as blue + blue = blue"
Link eye color
A Sanford site agrees:
Link Sanford
I can't get the Stanford site to link. I Googled how blue eyed parents can have brown eyed children.
I choose the genetics.the tech.org. It was very interesting.
Well folks. There's just no putting it off any further.
Heading out in a few minutes for the Cornhusker's season opener. Current temp of 92 and a predicted high of 96, so it will be brutal in the stadium, but what are you gonna do?
There IS no place like Nebraska!
Good afternoon all,
Could not seem to catch up with the end of the week puzzles, but enjoyed the repartee. Geez, I'm beginning to feel like a lurker.
Loved seeing you, Creature!
Spitz, so enjoyed the Clydesdales, and King Lear.
YR, never realized that Song of Hiawatha was so lengthy and full of history.Brings back loving memories of my grandfather reciting poetry at our dinner table nightly.
treacly...ha,ha, a new word!
Montana, I ALWAYS do red letters on Sat...very colorful and disappointing today.Doug and Brad are just too good.
Enjoy the weekend.
-FWIW - Crossword U, The Fightin’ Elon University Phoenix (formerly the Christians until 2000), got beat by Georgia Tech 70 – 0 today. They’ll take their big check for being football fodder and return to Elon, NC and get on with their real season.
-Time to shower and get ready for the Wyoming Cowboys to do the same thing in Lincoln tonight on TV.
-Beautiful verse, Keith!
-p.s. Keith, what role would you want to play that fate has denied you the opportunity to portray past and/or present?
G'Saturday All:
Another TDNF (Total DNF). Smatterings about, but nothing to really lock on to that helped. I do not _rue_ what my parents thougt were MISSPENTYOUTH as it's now a carrer! Hence MACHETE for this hacker never occurred to me.
Had SlideS for SCRUBS, GOD @21a. HATHAIR was easy as I always wear my helmet. 2 yrs ago I wreaked in the MS150 and it saved my skull.
24a was my fav as it reminded me of Erik the Viking.
Ave Joe. Loved Tull - what other Rock band has a flute? :-). BTW, I do have the album. We need to find the other 58 guys who got it (you know it has to be guys...).
Dudly - Thanks for the WWDTM comparison. I follow Peter Segal on Twitter and love Sandwith Mondays.
HG is right - You learn so much from the "blues" (or Smurfs?) on this blog. That's why, even after a "I got stuff to do - I give up," I visit.
Cheers!
-T
Anon-T, I'm impressed. We need to form a club. To cite Jeffrey Gaines, "I think it's really sick..and so much is wasted. There's so much food for thought....that never is tasted."
afraid I can't add much about the puzzle, as it was way beyond me. However Husker Gary has done it to me again with his 9:23am posting of Cast Your Fate To The Wind.
As vexing as the puzzle was, trying to play piano is even more so, but I think with greater reward. I learned the beginning to Linus & Lucy many years ago by ear (& still have trouble with some of the left hand timing) but get totally lost once he gets into that jazz solo.
HG, you made me look up this link which has some interesting facts (like Vince played a part of the song with his fist etc..) Tips From The Pros, Cast Your fate To The Wind.
I'm only half way thru it, but I am sure I will be trying to play it on the piano for the rest of the night!
P.S. Manac, Re: 2 days ago + yest. In all honesty, I did not realize what was on the dogs computer screen until Bill G. pointed it out. (it was a tiny thumbnail when I posted it, & I had no idea it was going to be blown up on the Blog.) I was just going for a pic of a dog on a computer & had no idea how to change it after I posted other than delete the whole thing...
Test from yesterday, who knows what a fourble board is?
Ave Joe:
Great quote and how I feel every day. Remember #5 in Short Circuit? More Input, More Input... .
I saw this '68 clip of Tull on PBS a few years back (must have been pleadge-drive week). In the footage I remember, Jagger and Ono were in the audience. Cheers, -T
&%$%^#^%&^&%$#%
3:48 post was deleted because daughter #3 used my PC & changed the Google sign on to her account.
(figures the one time I didn't copy it b/4 posting...!)
(hmm, I wonder what Manac would have thought if daughter #3 apologized for the thumbnail 2 days ago...)
CED, I hope you didn't think I was offended by your doggie porn cartoon. I didn't notice it at first but the cartoon didn't make much sense until I checked it all out more carefully. Pretty funny I thought.
I'm going to head out for a little grocery shopping. I don't mind it much and it will be a lot cooler in my car and in the store. Then...the Dodgers game. At the beginning of the season, they couldn't drive in runs any better than I could. Now, most of their players are healthy again and they are looking pretty solid. If their rookie Puig can keep his immature head screwed on properly, they should be a force to be reckoned with.
DD, who is that really sexy roller girl in your video? Heather Graham maybe? Very nice though maybe not the kind of nice to bring home to meet grandma.
Greetings, friends! It's great to read your analysis, Splynter, as I have been frustrated all day.
I'm almost too late to the party as it has been a busy day and I could devote very little time to the puzzle.
When I did however, in between errands and chores, the clues seemed like a foreign language. Finally MACHETE and INTONED anchored me on the NW corner and finished that quadrant in one sitting. Since MENORCA is Spanish that was a quick solve.
Next time I had a few minutes, the center, MONOPOLY MONEY and MISSPENT YOUTH helped me to branch out from there.
And so it gradually took form but then I gave up because MELANIE and WEMBLEY STADIUM were unknown and by that time fatigue set in and I lost interest.
Kudos to all you who finished it without assistance! I salute you!
I enjoyed the misdirection of UTOPIAS and GRIN. Thanks, Doug and Brad.
Blue Iris: I sent you an e-mail.
I hope your Saturday has been sensational, everyone!
RE: parents with brown eyes whose offspring have blue eyes
Isn't that the result of recessive genes? I don't see why that wouldn't be discussed in class. Of course if the mailman or milkman were involved, that's another story.
Now I know why BRNO sounded familiar. Mendel was a big theme in botany class those many years ago.
Lucina, right you are. It was the other way round that gave me pause. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.
The car and the grocery store were cool and nice. Now I'm back home with no A/C.
Average Joe and Anon T...
I do believe that Tull album is packed away in my garage... thanx for posting it Average Joe...
thelma
Finally a little quite time here.
I had no chance with today's puzzle.
Has Treacly been used before?
CED, I probably would have had an "Accident" if I got to see the 3:48 post ( Argyle, is it Still in your cache?)
And of course it was Bill who noticed the screen pic. We all know what a
HORN DOG he is ;~).
On another note.. They must keep the Freshmen busy at college. Nicole is asleep again. She used to be just waking up at this time in the summer:)
Husker Gary,
Good question. I find myself pretty content with the Shakespearean roles I've been fortunate to play. I did two Hamlets, a Lear, Brutus, Mark Anthony, and more.
One that I almost played, but it fell through, is Macbeth. Funny. I directed two MACBETHS and played Macduff once in Pittsburgh, but never acted the main Thane. Richard II is another I wish I'd played. I did him in a large cutting of the Deposition scene in grad school, but missed out on doing the full role.
"Now mark me, how I will undo myself;
I give this heavy weight from off my head
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown...
Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit!
God save King Harry, unking'd Richard says,
And send him many years of sunshine days!
What more remains?"
Bill G 4:32 -
Yes, that was Heather Graham in Boogie Nights, a seriously stupid movie involving the California porn industry. Heather was 20-something at the time, and pretty easy on the eyes.
Keith, I love Shakespeare, but only on stage. When I read it I don't understand a thing. DH always got it just from reading. Of course, she was the English Major... It's cool you get to do that for a living (and teach it IIRC).
Quick story, during DW's orals she was asked to quote Shakespeare. She drew a total blank. She called afterwords and told me. I said "To Be or Not to be..... a PhD?" She was not amused. They gave her the PhD anyway. Cheers, -T
I just returned from my granddaughter's family birthday party. She's 14. We went to eat at HuHot's Mongolian Grill. New experience for me. The head chef looks like a Mongolian or probably a Potawatamie Indian. Is this a franchise place elsewhere or just a local thing? Anybody have one?
Strangely, when I walked in my daughter's house, the first thing I saw was the "Linus & Lucy" sheetmusic by our blog link today. Granddaughter has been working on it--very difficult piece. She played a little of it for us, but hadn't advanced very far in conquering it. Very tricky syncopation. Funny coincidence! Good luck, CED.
Gdaughter is the fourth generation to play this particular piano on which my mother made pretty good money teaching from the mid-1940's to 1977 when my dad rebelled against hearing another struggling pianist and made her retire.
My father's family all had black/brown eyes. My mother had blue eyes with one parent having blue & one brown. All 4 of my siblings and I have brown eyes. My husband's family had all blue/hazel eyes. We had 3 brown-eyed kids & one hazel-eyed.
The hazel eyed son married a hazel-blonde woman. Both their children have hazel eyes. Two of my brown eyed children married green-eyed people. From these we have four with brown eyes and one blue-eyed blonde (from a red-haired mother descended from blue-eyed redheads & blondes.)
I've always enjoyed tracing family traits. At least I did until now one of my siblings has shown up with Parkinson's that my mother also had. That I can trace back with one in every generation for four generations and possibly two earlier generations, if the pictures can be trusted for diagnosis. Bummer.
Anonymous T, (@3:54)
Short Circuit (#5) is a favorite,
I could post links to it all night...
Dudley, interesting. Heather has the same last name as I do. Maybe we're related. She is obviously better looking and has a nicer tush but maybe I'm better at math and CWs. But then again, maybe not...
I don't know the first thing about Short Circuit. I've never seen it and never even heard of it. Still, I always thought Ally Sheedy was really cute!
Bill G: I taught middle school science years ago and after the lesson said 2 blue eyed parents couldn't have a brown eyed kid, a student in my class showed his parents and they admitted to him he was adopted.
The parents were very upset with me. They hadn't intended to ever tell the kid he was adopted. Lucky for me, my administrators and school board backed me.
I must admit I was always a little leary about the lesson the next couple years.
Montana
Montana, you wonder how that family unit eventually turned out.
I also was a little concerned about teaching evolution in my science classes. However, I told them this was science where theories were hypothesized and tested. Good ones were accepted and bad ones were discarded. I told them that religious faith wasn't like that and that their faith was up to them, their parents, pastors, etc. but that in this class, we would learn science. I was very strong about that and never had to get into creationism, etc. I am lucky that among me, the students and their parents and the administration, I never had a problem.
Bill G. More teachers like you and HG need to continue to exist in this world. I'm in TX and our state board needs a good kick in the a**. It's not just science, it goes into history, literature etc.
Short Circuit is an '80's era movie that explores (lightly) what intellegence is. A high-end military robot is struck by lightning and becomes self-aware. Antics ensue as the Gov't wants it back and #5 runs for its life. Not high-brow at all, but still fun. I studdied AI in college because of this and other movies but eventually realized, it's all just a heuristic.
CED - "I am standing here beside myself" and "I am sporting a tremedous voodie" et.al.. Ben J. actually grew up in the US and does not have an accent in real life. Cheers, -T
Really, really late. Just wondered if anyone has seen the beautiful statue of Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha over the water? (located in Minneapolis )
AnonymousT:
I've heard about the Texas school board and their desire to have all school textbooks based on Biblical beliefs. What is so distressing about it is that Texas commands such a vast share of the text book market, that those books are often circulated into other states and students are exposed to their narrow interpretations.
Blue Iris...
Yes, I saw it when I was very young... like 8.. :) Minnehaha Park , right?
Unfortunately I don't remember it well... :(
thelma
Lucina - So right; CA & TX drives the content of most textbooks. What's worse is each is Gerrymandered to the point that "we" can change little (or am I wrong and CA did adopt the computer generated map?). Every now and again they (TX schoolboard) does something so egregious that they must back-peddle. But the goof-balls are still in office... /Sigh
As far as biblical teachings go - I've got no problem w/ that in a philosophy or comparitive religion class (that's the one I took in HS w/ Sister Mary H. and realized we all just want inner peace - I became agnostic), but it's not science. Belive in ghosts if you want, but you can't test a hypothisis - ergo, not science. Doesn't mean it's not real, just not testable.
CED - I just watched all of Short Circuit. Still dumb, but enough emotion & humour to make it fun. I'll sit with the kids and watch it again. But, me thinks it's bedtime now. Cheers, -T
Great quote, Keith. I would love to hear you play that passage.
Speaking of Shakespeare,currently I am reading the Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips. Excellent book.
Synopsis from Amazon:
"Arthur’s father reveals a treasure he’s kept secret for half a century: The Tragedy of Arthur, a previously unknown play by William Shakespeare. Arthur and his twin sister inherit their father’s mission: to see the manuscript published and acknowledged as the Bard’s last great gift to humanity . . . unless it’s their father’s last great con."
A review by James Shapiro who teaches Shakespeare at Columbia University:
…..it’s a brilliant piece of literary criticism masquerading as a novel,
…..you’ll find The Tragedy of Arthur a compulsively fascinating read.
Rave reviews:
A New York Times Notable Book • A New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorite of the Year • A Wall Street Journal Best Novel of the Year • A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year • A Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of the Year • A Library Journal Top Ten Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • One of Salon’s five best novels of the year.
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