Theme: Dearborn's Finest - the first words of the theme entries are all model names of Ford cars
20A. Accommodating work hours: FLEX SCHEDULES
32A. Market research panel: FOCUS GROUP
41A. Frito-Lay is its title sponsor: FIESTA BOWL
52A. Culinary combination: FUSION CUISINE
and the unifier:
65A. Company that manufactures the starts of 20-, 32-, 41- and 52-Across: FORD
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| "Any color you like as long as it's black" |
Top o' the morning to you all. Steve here with an entertaining and alliterative "F" theme from David. Very nicely done, and some crisp fill also. Let's check out the rest.
Across:
1 Chiang Mai native: THAI
5 Dance moves: STEPS. My dance moves are hilarious. A girlfriend and I took dancing classes once and we weren't allowed to graduate from Ballroom 101. Mostly my fault.
10 Cheerful: GLAD
14 Mint, e.g.: HERB. If you plant it in your garden don't put it directly in the ground unless you don't want anything else in five year's time - it spreads like crazy. Plant it in a pot in the dirt.
15 Ira Gershwin contribution: LYRIC
16 Indiana neighbor: OHIO
17 Palindromic fashion mag: ELLE. My favorite palindrome is a tribute to the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps: "A man, a plan, a canal. Panama."
18 More aloof: ICIER
19 “Walking in Memphis” singer Cohn: MARC. With 10D this was close to a personal natick for me - I wasn't familiar with either name. I knew the song though - a nice live version here.
23 Large amount: TON
24 “O Sole __”: MIO
25 Harper’s __: BAZAAR
28 Chewie’s shipmate: HAN. A youthful-looking Harrison Ford as Han Solo with his furry sidekick in the original Star Wars movie.
29 Béchamel base: ROUX. Food! The butter-and-flour mixture before the milk is added to complete the sauce.
31 Monopoly deed abbr.: AVE
36 Laundry cycle: SPIN
37 Fairway boundary: ROUGH. I'm very familiar with these parts of every golf course I've played.
38 Part of i.e.: EST. Id Est. Literally, "that is".
39 Biblical prophet: HOSEA. Perps all the way. I need to brush up on my biblical prophets one day.
40 “Yikes!”: OH NO!
43 Mark of Zorro: ZEE. It would be ZED if Zorro was English.
44 Action on eBay: BIDS.
45 USN rank: ENS. I believe that an Ensign is the lowest-ranking commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy
46 Acquirer of more than 1,000 patents: EDISON
48 It includes mayo: AÑO. My favorite clue/answer combo today. The month of May in the Spanish-language year. Purists might want to see mayo capitalized, but I'm fine with the misdirection (From C.C.: Spanish months are not capitalized, yes?)
49 SUV part: Abbr.: VEH.
56 Roger Rabbit or Bugs Bunny: TOON
58 Heart of Paris?: COEUR. Because L'arc de Triomphe doesn't fit.
59 Old Norse poetry collection: EDDA
60 Bring in: EARN
61 Rockne of Notre Dame fame: KNUTE. He of locker-room speech fame.
62 Look slyly: LEER
63 Multitude: ARMY
64 “Bullitt” director Peter: YATES
Down:
1 Taking the wrong way?: THEFT
2 Nametag greeting: HELLO, my name is Steve
3 “Over the Rainbow” composer: ARLEN. If you've never heard this version by Hawaiian legend Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole you're in for a treat.
4 Wild mountain goat: IBEX
5 Deli worker’s chore: SLICING
6 Danish astronomer Brahe: TYCHO. World Champion Mustache-grower too.
7 Toledo’s lake: ERIE
8 Mottled: PIED. The Mottled Piper of Hamelin doesn't have the same ring to it, somehow.
9 Prepare for surgery: SCRUB UP
10 Lefty in Cooperstown: GOMEZ. I'm sure C.C. has heard of Vernon "Lefty" Gomez, legendary pitcher for the Yankees and the Washington Senators, but an unknown for me and a near-Natick with 19A. (From C.C.: I'm sure Tinbeni had it correct. I wanted GROVE!)
11 Small Asian pooch bred as a watchdog: LHASA APSO
12 Balloon filler: AIR
13 Medical nickname: DOC. 56A's "What's up?"
21 Big success: SMASH
22 Lenient: LAX
26 Miller’s “__ From the Bridge”: A VIEW
27 Kidney-related: RENAL
28 “Les Misérables” author: HUGO
29 Derby prize: ROSES. The Kentucky Derby is promoted under the tag line "The Run for the Roses". The winning horse is draped in a blanket made of roses. The winning owner gets $2,000,000, out of which the trainer and the jockey get a cut.
30 Ways of escape: OUTS
32 Succumbed to stage fright: FROZE
33 Wondered aloud?: OOHED. In the "in awe of the fireworks" sense rather than the "what the heck were those explosions"?
34 Babylonian writing system: CUNEIFORM
35 Senate majority leader since 2007: REID. Nevada Democrat Harry Reid.
36 Weeps convulsively: SOBS
39 Capital west of Haiphong: HANOI. A trip to Vietnam is on my must-do bucket list.
41 Hard to please: FINICKY. Fun word.
42 Grants permanent status to, as a professor: TENURES
44 A.L. East team: BOS.
47 Golf-friendly forecast: SUNNY. It was sunny here in LA when I played on Sunday, but I'm not sure it was particularly golf-friendly - it was 103F.
48 Like the accent in “entrée”: ACUTE
49 Wedding memento: VIDEO. Not "Ball and Chain"?
50 Rear-__: ENDER
51 Found out: HEARD
53 Chaplin’s last wife: OONA
54 Neither masc. nor fem.: NEUT. English is a gender-neutral language as far as nouns are concerned.
55 Narcissist’s love: SELF
56 Darjeeling, e.g.: TEA. A beautiful region of India
57 Scull propeller: OAR. Strictly speaking, a scull is propelled by scullers using sculls, but I'll give this one a pass.
That's it from me - see you all next time.
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
1) Tickets are still available for "An Evening with the Puzzle Master". Will Shortz, editor of NY Times
crossword, is visiting Minnesota tomorrow (Sept 12, 2013). He'll
answer all questions about puzzles. Click here for
details. Are you coming, Qli? Other North Dakota or our Wisconsin readers? It's really a great opportunity to meet with Mr. Shortz, all Twin Cities constructors and other crossword lovers
2) Marti mentioned yesterday that Montana is visiting her son in CT, and they're planning to meet
for lunch in Hartford next Monday September 16. Dudley our dashing pilot & Feng shui expert (OK, maybe not expert yet) will be there too. Any other members of the Corner New England
contingent can make it? Please contact Marti (HeartRx@me.com) for more details. I thought of LaLaLinda (The Saturday Stud misses your comments!) & Hondo, but health may prevent them from making the trip.
3) Happy 67th Birthday to dear Husker Gary! Love his captions. Gary helped us through an chaotic time last year when our blog went blank. His daily musings are always fun to read, full of trivia & some pithy life observations.
From Gary:
"Here's a picture of Joann and me at the Crazy Horse Memorial that was mentioned in our puzzle last week and also in celebration of my completion of 67 orbits of the Sun today. I hope this September 11th is a good one for all, free of the tragedy of past ones."
"Here's a picture of Joann and me at the Crazy Horse Memorial that was mentioned in our puzzle last week and also in celebration of my completion of 67 orbits of the Sun today. I hope this September 11th is a good one for all, free of the tragedy of past ones."
86 comments:
Morning, all!
Found this one to be a bit on the challenging side. Lot's of unknown names today (ARLEN, GOMEZ, MARC, YATES), some unexpected French (ROUX), a bizarre abbreviation (VEH) and then there was SCRUB UP. I wanted SCRUBBED, but that didn't fit so I went with SCRUB IN instead. That didn't help me get ROUX in the least...
Nice to see CUNEIFORM in the grid today!
[olloctu]
Happy Wednesday everybody!
Well, what can I say – any puzzle that incorporates the nickname DOC is alright in my book…! Thanks for the shout out David !
Although I must admit to doing the Texas Two-STEP around unknowns like ROUX, IBEX, EDDA, COEUR, HOSEA, and OOHED before getting the Ta-Da….
OOHED…?
Surprised I remembered TYCHO Brahe, let alone how to spell his name…!
BLT for ANO was the only write-over…. SOX for BOS and GROVE for GOMEZ were “almost” write-overs….
Had to double and triple take the way the spelling of BAZAAR looked to me…. Bizarre…?
My cousin’s first car was a canary-yellow FIESTA handed down from his folks. We named it the “party” mobile….
WARNING: Possible Political Opinion ahead! Don’t care at all for Harry Reid, the Senator from Nevada. Never have, never will. Not so much against his politics, it’s just that the man is a blithering idiot (imho)…. Then again, it’s not like there’s a TON of Mensa material in Washington.... I know, I know, not my most Thumper-like moment….
Finally, Happy Birthday to Husker Gary, the Corner’s resident Muse…!
Okay, time to SCRUB UP and return to work….
Hello Puzzlers -
No trouble with a fast fill today, but I'll be darned if I noticed the common denominator in the theme answers. Once I got to the unifier it all became clear, and brought a smile. Nicely done, David Poole!
Morning Steve - so glad you got the Año connection, I sure didn't. That was all perps. It does make more sense if Spanish months are not capitalized, as C.C. suggests; still, I wouldn't have known that detail (never took Spanish). I wonder whose clue that was...
Morning C.C. - I may need your help designing impressively themed business cards for my new Feng Shui enterprise! :-)
As C.C. and Hearti have posted, there is a plan to meet up with Montana on Monday, as she temporarily trades wide open spaces for the hustle and bustle that surrounds New York. Anybody up for a drive to the manageable city of Hartford? How about you, Irish Miss? Maybe you can talk Spitz into driving.
Cheers All
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.
And happy birthday to my favorite muse! I hope your next trip around the sun is full of fun, Husker G!
¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫
Great write-up today, Steve. You are right - that version of "Over the Rainbow" was stellar. I just wish they hadn't interrupted his voice with people yelling towards the end.
I had no clue about GOMEZ, but I did manage to come up with BOS for the AL East team. Favorite clue today was for ANO: "It includes mayo." C.C., you are correct. Months are not capitalized in Spanish.
So, I never heard of the FLEX or FUSION, but FOCUS and FIESTA are vaguely familiar. OTOH, the theme entries were all rather easy to suss. So thanks for a happy hump day, Mr. Poole!
HBDTY and many more BY.
As already mentioned some insecurities for a Wednesday but we try to learn and move on.GOMEZ and GROVE both fit, TYCHO ARLEN and MARC did not jump out, I did remember the MAYO ANO clue/fill which we have had before.
Would love to roam Hartford, memories of G Fox and Sage Allen dancing in my head. Where will you all meet?
Good morning, gang - CUNEIFORM today, CONNOISSEUR yesterday.....certainly good for our spelling skills. Maybe CINEREOUS tomorrow?
I never saw the theme until the unifier even though I'm a car nut, then smacked myself for not realizing it. The baseball clues, of course, were a gimme. As with the Doc, I had BLT instead of ANO, but unlike the Doc, I had no idea who TYCHO Brahe was. Everything else fell into place, and it seemed like an appropriate Wednesday-level puzzle.
Steve, I got talked into taking dance lessons early in the disco era. Put it this way: John Travolta had nothing to worry about, but I didn't care -- it was just 'happy' music and great to dance to.
A very Happy Birthday to our resident muse, Husker Gary - hope it's a fun day for you.
Have an outstanding hump day.
Oops, thanks Steve for the wonderful words and all the extra work including covering for me.
I hate spell check, the birthday wish was to HG
Good morning, folks. Thank you, David Poole, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for the great review.
Got HELLO for the NW corner and that was it for a while. Moved East.
Aha, my home lake again, ERIE. About time.
NE corner was easier. GLAD, OHIO, DOC, AIR, and GOMEZ.
FIESTA BOWL was my first theme answer. Got FORD after a while and that helped with the others.
COEUR was easy for 58A. Finally, a french word I knew. From Richard Coeur d Leon. Of course, I did not get ROUX except by perps.
We just had OONA the other day. Fresh in my mind.
Steve: Like your palindrome. I will have to remember that.
Husker Gary: Happy Birthday. You had some day 12 years ago.
Supposed to be only 89 today.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(illenav)
Lemon, plans are not in stone yet, but we are leaning toward Salute - it's a restaurant right near the train station where I will pick up Montana.
Lemon - Since you mention Sage Allen, I'm inclined to mention that I now take care of the antique Seth Thomas street clock outside of the old Sage Allen Store. One of the dials still has the SA name painted on it.
Sorry, I missed the most important thing today...
Happy Birthday, Husker Gary!
Happy Birthday, Gary! from one of the "nice" vs. snarky anons.
I agree about the cheering at the end musically, @HeartRX, but I think they were cheering because it was the singer's ashes that were going into the ocean. He died at a young age.
I enjoyed this puzzle, a little slow on the theme since flex is not one of the Ford types that first comes to mind. Got slowed down at first because I had put
"flexible hours" in. But since I don't know of any deli workers that do "slibing", I was able to switch over to flex schedules and forge on.
Wow! Speed run with no write-overs! Thanks, David, for the fun start to my day. Thanks Steve for the fun write-up. Now I just have to figure out the captcha.
A very Happy Birthday to you, Husker Gary!
I filled in the top third, got stuck in the middle so went to the bottom to work up. Got 65A--FORD immediately which let me get the rest of the theme answers. I drive a Ford Escape Hybrid so I've become familiar with the various names of their models.
Today should be the last day of the hot humid horrible weather. I'm ready for fall temps.
Have a great day.
Pat
Good morning everyone.
Some crisp fill as Steve said. The unifier was a nice cap on the theme. Favorite fill was 1d, THEFT.
Yes, Steve, ENS is the lowest Navy commissioned rank; sometimes used with the modifier 'NEWLY MINTED' or 'FRESH CAUGHT'.
Happy Birthday, Gary. Wish you good health and many more orbits.
Dudley, I'm otherwise booked on Monday, so I'm sorry I can't make Hartford. Hope you all have a great visit.
Have a great day.
A lot like yesterday where the theme didn't really make sense until the unifier showed up. An enjoyable puzzle with no major hang ups.
Happy Birthday, Gary. Try to get some fun in despite the sub routine.
Hmmm. Captcha is gworkeo. Maybe that was in your honor Gary.....Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho.......
Happy Birthday, Husker! May your whole year be a great one.
I misspelled lhasaapsA so had to erase the A for the O in fiestabOwl, but otherwise solved this puzzle fairly quickly. I thought "Ford cars' after FLEX and FOCUS and I ended up being correct.
It is interesting which words are so hard for some and easy for others. I immediately knew TYCHO but I am a retired science teacher. Now, French or Latin words?? Forget it. Perps better help completely.
I did this puzzle very late last night and didn't realize how many clues/answers I didn't even read until Steve's write-up this morning. I worked across and down at the same time, and hurried through. Thank you, Steve, for commenting on answers I didn't even 'see.' I think I need to reread the puzzle after I am done.
I haven't finished packing yet, but am leaving tomorrow for a flight to NYC and drive to CT. My son debated about lending me his car, but said, "Mom, you are used to seeing 10 cars in a hundred miles of highway--you'd better take the train to Hartford." I agree. Looking forward to meeting some of you in person next week.
Have a good day, everybody,
Montana
Morning folks,
Well, not so good today. Too many unknowns, up and down, so I ended up with many wags which were wrong. CUNPEIFORM a newbie. Had ooos instead of OOHS, and Pan rather than HAN. HUGO wrote Les Miserables....no way....Hondo says Pugs!
The above was my biggest trouble spot. Only other goof was 50D, ENDER, I went with ended. Had me thinking who in heck was Fodd?
7D TYCHO solved thanks to perps.
Gomez was a gimme. My dad knew Lefty quite well and I had the good fortune to meet him once. Had some funny stories. It was a baseball fans afternoon in heaven.
Steve, your right about Lesseps as far as you went, but Ferdie never finished the canal. The US of A did.
See ya!
OOPS! Husker Gary, Happy Birthday. Do something fun........ after school.
Whew! Chores are finished, cats and coons have been fed, hummingbird feaders reinstalled, birdbath refilled for the deer, and fresh sunflower seeds in the squirrel feeder. I even managed to finish the three-mile march, but ran into Harold so it took longer than usual.
Before I forget, happy birthday, Husker! Too bad it falls on such a sad anniversary. Not your choice, I know.
Argyle, good to see that you're up and about.
This puzzle was another speed run. Only one letter to blot out -- I wondered what company FODD could be. (Hello, Hondo!) Oh, it's a rear ENDER and FORD! There was some nice non-theme fill, too.
Another trip to Viet Nam? No, thanks. And I call the stuff made with ROUX a milk gravy; I'm not enough of a chef to call it Béchamel sauce. In 2001, A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke chose TYCHO crater (named for Brahe) as the site where the monolith was buried on the moon.
A very happy birthday to you, HG. I really enjoy your posts.
ANO was all perps for me. I thought of BLT, but knew it was not about mayonnaise. I never thought of the month of MAYO. Instead, I was wandering in Ireland for a time in County MAYO.
Having the G and Z early on made GOMEZ easy. I wagged the M in MARC, the only 4 letter name I know that ends in ARC.
Jayce, here is another second tier synonym. Lenient and LAX are not quite the same. I don't mind being called lenient. I wouldn't like to be called LAX.
The Pied Piper wore motley, clothing with bright patches of red and yellow. In German he is called the Rattenfanger of Hameln, the rat catcher. Robert Browning wrote a long narrative poem about him, not my favorite poem.
Propel has several meanings and nuances. I am always intrigued that our language is not so cut and dried and has many variations. Saying the scull is propelled by the oar and the scull is propelled by the sculler are equally correct. One definition of scull is a boat propelled by an oar or oars. There are many types of sculls other than racing sculls. One type uses only a single stern mounted oar.
Happy birthday, Gary! Hope you and Joann celebrate
in special ways!
WEES
Thank you for the warm birthday wishes CC and all my other puzzling friends. It typifies the welcoming nature of this blog that complements the learning (e.g. Spanish months are not capitalized) and camaraderie.
Musings
-The theme would have been more obvious for me with GALAXY, FAIRLANE, THUNDERBIRD, FALCON…
-Some schools are ICIER than others to subs. Not here in my hometown. The secretary and superintendent greeted me with a chorus of Happy Birthday. The woman for whom I am subbing got me a card and cupcakes to hand out to her students.
-Crushing Florida and Steve Spurrier 62 – 24 in the 1996 FIESTA BOWL is a fond Husker memory
-EDISON acquired those patents but his minions came up with most of them
-I wonder if Montana has crossed the border to COUER d’Alene, ID
-KNUTE is a reminder of when the best college football was played north of the Mason Dixon line
-When I started golfing, I did a TON of that “deli job”
-TYCHO lost his nose in a duel and wore a prosthetic one. Maybe he was LEERING through his telescope where he shouldn’t have been.
-I wonder if Keith ever suffered stage fright. Remembering regular English is hard enough!
-Many young men of my generation had NOT going to Vietnam on their bucket list
-What initially timid ENSIGN is moviedom’s most famous?
Addendum
On September 11, 2001 I turned 55 and was in my last year at the school from where I retired first. That morning a rookie from across the hall burst into my class and said, “Mr. Schlapfer, you have to turn on the TV!” I did and saw the north tower ablaze with an airplane sticking out of it. I mused that some idiot pilot got distracted and ran into the building. Of course when I saw the second plane hit the south tower a few minutes later, it was obvious we were under attack. It was just like November 22, 1963 as everything came to a stop and we all watched TV the rest of the day at school and at home. I also remember every gas station has at least 10 cars at every pump as I drove home.
Thank you David and thank you Steve.
After a restless night, it wasn't such an easy solve for me. When HERB and THEFT (and having -ERB and T-EFT), you know you didn't get enough sleep.
I agree Montana, some are auto or semi auto fills. HOF'er Lefty ? Yes, it's either GROVE or GOMEZ. Indiana neighbor proved GOMEZ. Other fills need a lot of help. CUNIEFORM ?
It's not important, but what does !important mean in CSS? (from yesterday) It's not a comment. It's a rule.
Also from last night... YW 61RUMPY. I scored less than 50 % trying to ID the 1950 cars...
Finally, Happy Birthday Gary !
Here is a poem fOR the anniversary of 9-11.
THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS by Walt Whitman
THE sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People,
(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
Full well return, respond within their breasts, their brains, the sad reverberations,)
The passionate toll and clang—city to city, joining, sounding, passing,
Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.
The 'Tampa Bay Times' had this Saturday's (9/14) puzzle.
FYI it's a Silky (and a bear!) ...
Happy Birthday Husker. (Your 'Birthday Eve' party was a hoot!)
My first 'toast' at Sunset is again to you.
Cheers!!!
Hi there~!
Happy B-day HuskerG~!
I knew TYCHO, we had him as a character in the made-for-TV movie that I worked on in 1997; in fact, I was a stand-in for the actor who portrayed him, and we had him fitted with a prosthetic nose~!
I was looking into a FORD FOCUS, but now my attention is on the new DODGE DART - in 'blue streak' for the color.
90 degrees, ugh.
Splynter
Thank you David Poole for a very nice and enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Steve, for your wonderful blog.
Happy Birthday, Husker Gary - what a significant albeit tragic date, for a birthday. Hope you have many, many more. Your posts are always interesting , and full of information. I hope the other people at your school appreciate your subbing contributions.
I read that Tycho Brahe had a silver or copper nose - because he lost the tip of his original one in a duel....... however, it doesn't show up in the painting. Maybe, that's why he kept such a big mustache.
I didn't know Spanish months are not capitalized - not that I thought of it when solving the puzzle. Are they not considered to be proper nouns ?
Have a good day, you all.
Good Morning:
Nice Wednesday offering, David. I have heard of all of the Ford models except Flex. But perps and wags did the trick. Always a pleasure to hear from Steve.
Happy Birthday, Gary; hope you have a wonderful day.
Argyle, hope you are feeling better; I'm sure you are very happy to be home-hospitals are not a nice place to be.
Wish it were possible to meet the New England contingent but it's not, for me. Have a great lunch and get-together.
90's today but cooling off by Friday. I agree with pje about looking forward to Fall weather.
Have a great day!
Hi Gang -
Nice puzzle, good theme that I never would have sussed without the unifier - and I lived in Dearborn for 13 years. Wow - Toledo, OHIO and Lake ERIE all in the same puzzle. This is no time to be FINICKY. If I had any nits, I'd ignore them.
Excellent verticals.
Got GOMEZ from perps, MARC from GOMEZ.
One thing I learned is that I don't know how to spell CUNEIFORM. But I was pretty sure Zorro's mark wasn't ZEN.
HBD Gary! - you talented rascal. You're still older than I.
[a little]
Steamy hot yesterday and today, but a cold wave coming. My bermudas and parka are ready to go.
Cool Regards!
JzB
oops, forgot to answer Husker.
Ensign Pulver
From the 1955 film "Mister Roberts" played by Jack Lemmon.
And the 1964 film "Ensign Pulver" played by Robert Walker, Jr.
Good morning everyone.
And a most happy 67th birthday,Husker. Your comments are indeed cherished by many of us.
A nice write up, Steve.
As for me, DNF. I find I am misreading sometimes, and just don't remember other times. Like CUNEIFORM. And as our car is a Ford Fusion, which we love, I surely should have figured out some of the theme!
Cheers
-Yes, Tinman, ENSIGN Pulver (Jack Lemmon) was that timid sailor who was so inspired when he learned of Mister Roberts’ death he did this in the final scene as he confronted the captain (James Cagney). I wondered if Spitz knew some interesting ensigns or was one himself.
-CUNEIFORM joined CONNISEUR in my spell-check hall of fame today. Dern vowels!
-100°F yesterday and highs in the 60’s and 70’s coming.
-BTW, this is the FORD Model that is the hit of all the classic car shows today. Remember?
Let's all remember to
"...never forget"
For the older baseball fans, I was too young to ever see Lefty Gomez pitch, but I did hear the announcers quoting his STORIES during broadcasts.
Since he was a Yankee, I did not ever laugh.
Dudley, that clock was my milestone when I was little. I can see it in my mind even now, and it has been years....
Delightful speed run, David Poole--really had a good time with this. And then came one of the biggest goofs of my puzzle 'career'. Couldn't imagine what the reveal was going to be, and when I got to the last item, it turned out to be FODD? What the . . . ? Made no sense at all. It wasn't until I got to the Corner that I realized I'd put REAR-ENDED rather than REAR-ENDER. Doh!
But this in no way spoiled the fun. Had BLT for MAYO, like many of you, until I got nudged to change it. Chewie? Never heard of him, but got HAN anyhow.
Fun write-up, Steve, many thanks.
Have a wonderful birthday, Husker Gary, in spite of the terribly sad memory.
Appropriate Whitman poem, Yellowrocks, many thanks.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody.
Count me as one of the purists. I groaned when the perps gave me ANO from 'mayo'. My favorite was OOHED in wonder. Overall pretty smooth run today except for some unfamiliar perp names which left me with MIA/TYCHA rather than MIO/TYCHO.
Wow! What a day! A terrible anniversary, a harder-than-usual Wednesday puzzle (I thought), Apple is down about $25, a reminder of a classic movie and another orbit completed by Gary. The happiest of birthday wishes for you! Keep on musing!
Argyle, keep feeling better!
I got TYCHO OK but had trouble with COEUR, LHASAAPSO and I was sure BLT should go with mayo. But I finished with no red letters.
I finished Monday's with one mistake, BIG SUR for BIG SKY. Today, I finished with two spelling errors CUNNEIFORM and COEUR. Well, I'm an engineer, we don't spell wery well.
I though PK and Blue Iris might appreciate the acting skills of this young man from Manhattan.
Travel Wisconsin Ad
Greetings, friends!
Happy, happy birthday, Husker! I'm sure you'll have extracurricular activities after school today. Enjoy!
My granddaughter is 17 today. She now understands the significance of her 9/11 birthday.
Thank you, Steve, for posting Izzy's version of Over the Rainbow. I love it.
And David Poole, what a nice, tightly woven puzzle you gave us. Just right for a Wednesday and I sashayed through it easily.
However, I started with LOPEZ before GOMEZ became apparent and never saw ANO so smooth was the solve. Since you have all now verified that Spanish months don't require capitals, I'll add that only proper names of people and places are capitalized as well as the start of sentences. So no capitals on holidays or weekdays.
FIESTA BOWL is certainly familiar as it happens right here just a few miles from my home.
Loved the cluing for THEFT.
Lucky people who will be meeting each other in Hartford!
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! Hey,the first two letters of my captcha are HG.
Hello everybody, and hearty happy birthday greetings to you, Gary.
I also ended up wondering who the heck FODD is.
Yellowrocks, we may be lenient, but we're not lax.
A DNF for me today. I had left the crossing of HE_B and A_LEN blank, planning to come back to it later, then forgot, so it was left blank. I wanted ALLEN but figured HELB was wrong, and was going to go back and do the abc's on it. (Forehead bonk!)
Today I learned that TENURE is also a verb.
How cool a name is Knute Rockne? We had a neighbor named Knute Koester, originally from Austria; he pronounced the K in his first name. Come to think of it, he pronounced the K in his last name, too.
Many happy orbits to you all.
Husker, my sister-in-law has a home on Coeur d' Alene Lake, so I have driven there many times.
Siren in my town is ringing away. Are we commemorating 9/11 at noon, local time?
Montana
TTP:
I love that Wisconsin travel ad!
WEES about learning the spelling of CUNEIFORM and CONNOISSEUR. Great lessons!
Happy birthday to YOU, Husker Gary!
Do something just for fun.
Love that orbit around the sun idea!
Missed mayo and I took 5 years of Spanish, just couldn't see it.
Crazy girl friend sent me this
SCIENCE QUIZ
Lucina @ 12:41, we will be sure to take pics for you to see!
Happy Birthday HG!
@Marti - Anon at 8:04 was right about the shouting - they were scattering IZ's ashes. There's a great version here which has a bonus middle verse of "a wonderful world" - it's a treat.
YR and Jayce: If you were once lax, but have since mended your ways, does that make you (wait for it)... ex-lax?
pas de chat@1:47: I aced your science quiz, but I was shocked to learn that of the 1000 respondents only 20% (14% of those over 65, 31% of the college graduates)knew that the atmosphere is primarily made up of nitrogen. Husker Gary's gonna be upset! Probably Bill G, also.
pas de chat @ 1:47, I got all correct except the Q. "Which gas makes up most of the earth's atmosphere?" I had a brain fart on that one!
Anon @ 8:04, oh, I did not realize he had died. Then it was a fitting tribute to him. Such a beautiful voice. I can't believe I had never heard of him.
Steve @ 1:54 ..."I see friends shaking hands, sayin 'how do you do?" They're really sayin 'I love you...' Great rendition! (I couldn't get Louis Armstrong out of my head, though!)
d-otto @ 2:05...I guess I'd better hide my head in shame before HG and Bill G get on my case!!
Pas, thanks for the science quiz. I did very well so naturally I thought it was fun. :>)
D-O, yes it's always frustrating to see how much people don't know. Not this bunch of smarty pants though. I seem to know an above-average bunch of stuff that I didn't necessarily learn in school. I guess I learned it by reading, watching TV or just observing as the time passes by. Then, of course, it's in my memory but can I access it when I need to?
BTW, I also enjoyed TTP's trip back in time links from yesterday. The music was fun and I did well on the classic car quiz.
D.O. very funny. But, it’s more like re-lax. In re: Lax. We are going to relax and be more lenient about “not quite” synonyms, even though we know better. Were we ever LAX, Jayce? Never!
Nevah!
Hi All ~~
Enjoyable puzzle and write-up ~ thanks, David & Steve. I, like others, recognized all the Ford models except FLEX ~ fun theme.
A very Happy Birthday, to you, Husker Gary! I always enjoy your musings. Hope you have some fun planned for after school!
I'm sorry that I won't be able to join the New England bunch in Hartford on Monday. It's frustrating when health issues get in the way, but I look forward to hearing about your gathering!
Argyle ~ thinking of you ~ hope you're doing better ~
HeartRX@1:53
I'm looking forward to those pictures.
Pas:
I, too, did well on the science quiz but had the same brain seizure as Marti. Oh, my!
-Marti, I got all of ‘em right but know there are plenty of quizzes where you would hand me my hat and so there will be no admonitions from here. One of my favorite sayings is, “I’m smart enough to know how little I know”. I assume you answered oxygen incorrectly and it was ironic that that element was what was required to make the chemical reaction for the chemical change of rust in the quiz. Also, the PLACE(bo) effect (Monday puzzle?) was in one of the questions too.
-I just got home and Joann had a gift bag with yellow Pinnacle golf balls, Mounds Candy Bars, Potato Sticks and a golf towel. Ain’t she great?
I answered all of the science quiz answers correctly, and I don't even have a PHD.
And no. It wasn't me that posted as Joe Schmo yesterday.
Enjoyed today's puzzle and write-up. I have to admit I don't know Lefty, but I did recall that GOMEZ Addams was the patriarch of the TV family. We had his wife TISH as an answer recently.
Happy birthday, HG! many happy returns. and thanks for keeping us all in the loop during the blog trouble, and for making the map. Sorry your big day is on a day of sad remembrance.
I do not know why this did not LINK earlier.
The Jordy Nelson ad brings an new meaning to "CHEESY."
Argyle get completely well soon; you too Ann Arbor. Yes, marti please lots of pics, I took a train in Hartford to Pittsfield back in 1979.
Lucina, wasn't that Travel Wisconsin ad pretty neat ? It makes me smile every time I see it on TV. Then I thought that it was just a regional ad and others may have not seen it and been able to enjoy it too. The ladies from Kansas must not be reading today.
Pas, I aced the test as well, but might have missed the nitrogen one. To wit, I was certain, but couldn't quite fit, helium into 12D Balloon filler today.
WEES, challenging puzzle, but luckily I remembered Oona! (48D & 58A were total WAGs)
I never saw this Ford commercial, if you build it, "he" will come...
Oh, what the heck, here's the whole car chase scene.
Happy Birthday Husker Gary! I thought you might enjoy this innovative substitute teacher.
I posted and didn't see your post Lemonade. Yes, that too.
I forgot to ask if anyone recognized the producer's name ? I'm sure most of you know his work.
Marti & Lucinda: I didn't mean to demean anybody about the quiz results. I was just very surprised that young or old, college graduate or high school dropout, at the end of the day, 80% of the people who took the quiz missed that question.
TTP, loved that Travel Wisconsin ad. Reminded me of my ute in America's Dairyland. Back in the day you could venture into a beer bar at age 18 and a bar which sold liquor at 21. But if you were 80 years old and didn't have an official Wisconsin ID card, you'd be turned away at the door of a beer bar. UofW was, so far as I know, the only campus in the nation with beer on tap in the Student Union. Gotta love that.
Henry is getting along in years and finds that he is unable to
perform sexually. He finally goes to his doctor, who tries a few things but nothing seems to work.
So in desperation, Henry decides to try an American Indian medicine man.
The medicine man says, "I can cure this."
That said, he throws a white powder in a flame, and there is a flash with billowing blue smoke. Then he says, "This is powerful medicine. You can only use it once a year.
All you have to do is say '123' and it shall rise for as long as you wish".
Henry then asks, "What happens when it's over, and I don't want to continue?"
The medicine man replies: "All you or your partner have to say is 1234, and it will go down."
But remember -- "IT WILL NOT WORK AGAIN FOR ANOTHER YEAR!"
Henry rushes home, eager to try out his new powers and prowess.
That night he is ready to surprise his wife.
He showers, shaves, and puts on his most exotic shaving lotion.
He gets into bed, and lying next to her says,"123."
He suddenly becomes more aroused than anytime in his life ... just as the medicine man had promised.
His wife, who had been facing away, turns over and asks, "Henry, what did you say 123 for?"
And that, my friends, is why you should never end a sentence with a preposition!
Greetings!
Fun puzzles yesterday and today. Swell reviews! Thanks to all!
Happy Birthday Gary! (You youngster!)
CC: Worked your Monday NYT offering. Like a Wednesday here. Your knowledge is amazing!
Happy hump day!
Glad you all enjoyed the quiz. I missed two, the nitrogen and electron.
You all did better than I, but I'm no science buff.
Bill G: Very funny joke, can't wait to retell it.
CED:, How'd he DO that? ( teacher video)
Forgot to say I enjoyed the puzzle.
First, Happy Birthday Husker Gary, My Friend! Don't ever lose your sense of humor.
I thought this was going to be a DNF on a Wednesday no less. Never good with names. Couple lucky WAG's and tada! I still take it as a personal loss since I had to guess.
On a happier note ( I thought at first ) I got a call from Nicole from school tonight. I figured it was to tell me how well things are going. It was to remind me that her cell phone bill is due in two days.
Wait... What??? I still have to pay that also?
For what its worth, she is loving it!
Desper-Otto,
I love Wisconsin. Especially away from Milwaukee, but they have great fests there all summer, so it's fun too.
The best part of Wisconsin is rural and all of the great small towns and all of the friendly people.
I may have mentioned before about going to Prairie du Sac / Sauk Village and competing in the State Cow Chip Throwing Championship.
I didn't win, show or place, but I had fun. The Sauk County Pork Producers have my favorite booth in the food court. They make these. Always the best and biggest I've ever had.
It's a great state among so many great states. All one has to do is look for all of the hidden treasures.
Happy Birthday, Gary! Its my dear brother's b'day also.
He's been gone since before 2001, so he never knew the awfulness of this day. I have added you to our celebration of this day and thank you for great feelings.
Husker Gary @ 1112 - I began my Naval service as an Ensign in 1959. 18 months later promoted to Lt(jg). Back then base pay was $222/mo. The other Ensigns I served with were all interesting. Sourcing was from USNA, ROTC, OCS, and a few mustangs, as well.
There's a great program on right now on the Discovery Channel: The President's Gatekeepers. Two hours tonight (repeated at 11pm Eastern) and two hours tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern. It's a behind the scenes look at the Presidency with every living Chief of Staff. Very, very interesting; lots of stuff already I didn't know.
Watching it Dennis. Thanks.
To know what has occurred over that last 4 weeks. You hang up, no you hang up, no you hang up...
Perhaps my last post was unclear. So to be more specific, I was speaking of the latest four weeks.
HELLOooo Gang -
First, a big HD to HG!
This is the last time I try to steal time while the hour-glass spins to do the puzzle. It was Miserable (Les Miserables?)
Fortunately, the theme helped. With just FOCUS, I was able to get FORD and then re-attack the long clues. I had to resort to the google for all the names (I did get GOMEZ on my own), Thanks Steve for telling me what ano was. Did no one else write RYE?
1d was fav c/a. Liked 55d too. Spelling errors abound for write-overs. I suppose if I wasn't multitasking, I would have had more fun with Mr. Poole's puzzle.
Harpers Bazaar - David Foster Wallace wrote for them before his books. I loved his work, sad to see him take himSELF.
Steve - IZ VIDEO still won't load - but I think its the same version on the UKE that they play every Sat @3:30a on C2C AM. Beautiful. Thanks for the fun writeup.
Bill G. - DW, the English prof, will love the joke!
LEM - GOMEZ quotes were fun but noone can out Yogi Yogi.
JzB - Hands up for ZEn! More spelling lessons today.
CED - I must be hitting "mid-life" I want to trade in my Civic for that FORD!
pje - You're the other person with a FORD Escape Hybrid. How long have you had it? We've had our 2.5 yr. and no issues yet. But, I fear the batteries will be out of production by the time we need them.
13/13 on the science quiz. I get to keep my geek card :-)
Cheers,
-T
Husker G.,
I never really had stage fright. I have seen it in others, and I can tell that the occasional nerves I experience are nothing like they undergo.
Like many actors I have a few simple rituals that I use to prep for a show. They are actually useful, consisting of tongue twisters and short projection exercises, and depending on the size of the role, making sure I have a lemon wedge in a pocket and sometimes a Snickers bar off stage.
Just doing these checks calms whatever butterflies I might have. My feeling is usually a heightened alertness. I don't think anything can really go well without a degree of tension, and I've learned to recognize the "good nerves."
Keith:
I'm going to share that with my daughter. She is in her 1st theater class in HS (she's never had theater, just ballet) and has her first dry-read (is that the right term?) tomorrow. Needless to say, she's worried.
Cheers, -T
Sorry to be so late...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you ♪♩♬♫•*¨*•.❤.•*¨*•♫♪•.¸¸.•´♫♪♩♬*¨*`•.♥.•´*♫♪♩♬ HBTY...and many more
Spent day with 2 H.S. friends that I have not seen for 25 years...still working on CW.
I thought you might enjoy this:
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston
Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. As with
all his other compositions, Leroy Anderson wrote The
Typewriter for orchestra, completing the work on
October 9, 1950.
This particular orchestration was performed in a June 12, 2011,
concert by members of the National Orchestra and Chorus of
Spain in Madrid. The (typewriter) soloist is Alfredo Anaya.
Watch his expressions and actions throughout the
video. The typewriter.
Bill G.
Fun. Reminded me of the office montage in ''50s era movies.
You guys all seem well traveled. Any advice for renewing a passport STAT? I may have a new gig overseas in a week or two and have to hop a flight at a moments notice thereafter. Doha DOC?
-T
AnonT:
To renew your passport quickly, go IN PERSON immediately to the courthouse or wherever passports are issued and ask for an expedited renewal. It will cost extra $$ though I'm not sure what the time frame is.
Lucina:
Here it's the H-Town fed building. When I got my orig PP in '00, it took 3 hours of standing on line. I was hoping to avoid that.
I found some on-line "store fronts" that say they can turn around a renewal in a day for $300. I can't say that I trust sending my info to them though. I was hoping someone has used one of those services and had a good experience (and names names!). I tried to call Uncle Sam, but he closed at 10p EDT. I will try to get an appointment around my current client. Cheers & Nite. -T
Anon T, it also helps if you have a regional office in your area. Going to the post office, etc, only adds to the time needed to process. From Vegas, the closest regional office is Phoenix, but you can get a passport in a day if you show up in person (with an appointment). There's a regional office in El Paso - don't know about Houston. And yes, it does cost extra....
Doha:
One day turn around in person? I will make an appointment. I hope they aren't too specific about the "need" as the gig is still a "maybe." And Houston has a regional office, so that's not a problem. Thanks.
BTW, I forgot to thank C.C. for 12d in yesterday's NYT as it showed up today @ 53d today!
That's 5, -T out
T - not exactly positive, but you may have to provide "proof" (like a plane ticket) that you're leaving the country on a date less than the usual 2-3 weeks away....
Husker Gary - wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday off blog but my hard drive crashed and burned and I have not been able to recover my address book yet. So, enyhoo a very happy birthday to you. Send me an email so I can start rebuilding.
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