Theme: KKKKKKKKKK. marti and Jerome strike us out swinging.
Avoiding any politically incorrect references, I had lots of fun with my Friday friend, collaborating with our very own Jerome Gunderson and producing their punishing puzzle; this is clearly their MAJOR METIER. A refreshing and rather less difficult Friday, filled with humor (dark and otherwise) and NOT a definition puzzle. I also have to thank Jerome for all the "J" words, because I am pretty sure they did not come from miss m. While add a letter is not a new theme, the pictures painted from merely adding a "K" to the end of the three letter word ending in "UN", the last word in an in the language phrase is well done. The symmetry of each lastword being _UNK elevates this from a mere add a letter. It entertains me that unk also means unknown....
20A. Buff ancient ruler? : ATTILA THE HUNK. (13). By far my favorite theme answer, Revealed the theme early on; great visual.
28A. Own a few James Brown albums? : HAVE SOME FUNK. (12). Not my favorite tune from JB, but it FITS. (4:52).
49A. Leaps over an oily mud puddle? : JUMPS THE GUNK. (12). Reminds me of the classic Fonzie jumping the shark, and sharknado. and see 27D.
59A. Beef baloney? : HAMBURGER BUNK. (13). Not a bed made from meat, but a bunch of hooey.
to work....
Across:
1. Auto club offering : TOW. Not being a great typist, I often type TOW when I mean TWO. These days the car insurance policy and the credit card have eliminated my need for AAA.
4. Gregory Peck role : AHAB. Not my first thought; he starred in the 1956 version, WATCH (3:11). Two interesting things about that version, first Orson Welles as Rev. Mapple and second, Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay. After seeing the theme, with Attila, I wanted this to be ATTICUS, but it did not fit. And do not forget to Call me...45D. Crewman for 4-Across : ISHMAEL.
8. Foster on a screen : JODIE. I remember her from The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
13. Stretches of history : ERAS.
15. He actually played the lyre : NERO. Yes, but it would ruin the "he fiddled while Rome burned" pun. Lyre jokes are saved for lawyers.
16. Amherst sch. : UMASS. An old rival from my UConn days. The institution where Bill Cosby earned his PhD.
17. Two-time NBA MVP Steve : NASH. The Canadian passing wizard now with the Lakers. CLIP. (2:50).
18. Component of ocean H2O : NACL. Aye, the salt please.
19. Lawn game using lobbed missiles : JARTS. They are no longer pointed javelins.
23. Attorney general before Thornburgh : MEESE. Did you all miss Ed?
24. Yank's foe : REB.
25. Dudes : HES.
33. Fez, e.g. : HAT. I could not fit in WILMER. Do you think Raj is the 21st century version?
36. Bankruptcy factor : DEBT.
37. Polynesian island nation : SAMOA. If you ever visit Fort Lauderdale, whether you look me up or not, go to the MAI KAI restaurant and watch their Polynesian show. People always go back for the show, the drinks and because...they want SAMOA.
38. "Break __!" : A LEG. An old Theater SUPERSTITION of unknown origin, or maybe too many origins.
40. Fare named for its shape : T-BONE. Steak.
43. Fabric quantity : BOLT. My grandfather was a retired tailor, so we grew up with many bolts of cloth around the house.
44. Mother of three French kings : JOAN I. My big UNKNOWN, though perped easily.
46. Shiny fabric : LAMÉ. Not a lame answer,
48. Arctic coast explorer : RAE. We have had this explorer with the nice vowels before. LINK. I think in a Sunday puzzle in March or May of this year. On Mondays and Tuesdays we get Charlotte.
53. DSL user's need : ISP. Internet Service Provider.
54. Mao's successor : HUA. GUOFENG. Mao supposedly wrote: "With you in charge, I'm at ease" (Ni ban shi, wo fang xin 你办事我放心).
55. Sticky-footed lizard : GECKO.
64. Botanist's category : FLORA. This actress was unique, while her little sister was one of a bunch. Who are they?
66. Dweeb : NERD.
67. Size measure : AREA.
68. Competitor's dream : TITLE. To win the title of ....the Open Championship?
69. A bit off the ground, "up" : TEED. Golf, as opposed to ____off.
70. Sound like an ass : BRAY. Oh this is so tempting...
71. Bobbin : SPOOL. Like I said, my grandfather was a tailor.
72. Ketel One competitor : SKYY. Never tried this brand.
73. NFL stats : YDS. Yards.
Down:
1. Common break hr. : TEN AM.
2. Speak : ORATE. See 70 across.
3. Refuse : WASTE. Tricky, do not refuse to consider refuse.
4. "Pitch Perfect" co-star Kendrick : ANNA.
5. Summer phenomenon : HEAT. in Miami, we consider the HEAT a year round phenomenon; right LeBron?
6. Curved support : ARCH.
7. Short jacket : BOLERO.
8. Concession stand candy : JUJUBES. My nickname as a small child; my mother would give me a handful and I would hold on tight, and fall asleep. I loved how they made the extra effort to make the candy fruit shaped. LINK.
9. Easternmost Arabian Peninsula country : OMAN.
10. "Dr. Strangelove" feature : DARK HUMOR. Really awesome satire for the TIME. And the ironic inclusion of 26D. __ Gay : ENOLA.
11. Adherent's suffix : IST.
12. Start to stop? : ESS. Nice word play. First letter in "stop".
14. With 52-Down, grilled fare : SHISH. 52D. See 14-Down : KEBAB. Some reason reminds me of the boys from New Zealand. Notice the entries are symmetrical.
21. Take control : LEAD.
22. Bottom line? : HEM. Not last week's A LINE.
27. Ray in the ocean : SKATE. Hmm, they are cousins to each other and sharks. Next to....
29. Boxer's attendant : VET. Not Ali, but your woof woof. Another Gareth B. reference.
30. Fall back : EBB.
31. It's a wrap : STOLE. Oh my, the combined wit of these two professionals...I am sure they each contributed half to this puzzle. I guess I can say that this is marti a 50% wit, then.
32. "Terrif!" : FAB. Back in the 60s.
33. Pilgrim to Mecca : HAJJI.
34. Diamond clan : ALOUS. Felipe, Matty, Jesus and Moises. Baseball.
35. Trophy case memento : TEAM PHOTO.
39. Econ. measure : GNP. Gross National Product.
41. Bug : NAG.
42. Earthbound bird : EMU.
47. Tech sch. grad : ENGR. Engineer.
50. Slow boat : TUB. They are named from the shape, and boat came before the bath.
51. Hangs around the house? : HAUNTS. Loved this clue. And this VERSION. (7:48).
56. Pungent Thai dish : CURRY. Yum.
57. Play with, as clay : KNEAD. Most kids need to knead.
58. Gives the go-ahead : OKAYS.
60. First name in folk : ARLO. You newbies have not heard my Arlo at Woodstock rant, but....
61. Cause wrinkles, in a way : REEK. The clue should have been " Tortured servant in service to House Bolton"
62. Joel of "Wicked" : GREY. Son of Catskills legend Mickey Katz and father of Jennifer, who is married to Clark Gregg, now in the new Shield TV series.
63. Water whirled : EDDY.
64. Some mil. bases : FTS. Forts.
65. Edge : LIP. A familiar usage for golfers, who are forever leaving putts on the lip.
Well, I am on the edge of getting out of here for the long holiday weekend after a really entertaining joint effort from two of our wittiest, wisest word warriors. Lemonade wishing you all a great Columbus weekend and clear sailing. Thanks Jerome and Marti.
76 comments:
Theme: +1028
She married ATTILA THE HUNK,
A romance that took bundles of spunk.
She's a wee little dear,
But he cowered in fear --
From his mother-in-law that he shrunk
Wake up the joint, HAVE SOME FUNK!
We'll play some James Brown and get drunk!
We'll cut up the floor
And try to ignore ...
That we're still stuck out here in Podunk.
Sir Walter with ease JUMPS THE GUNK,
And then for Queen Beth shows his spunk.
He laid down his cloak
So her feet wouldn't soak;
But after, whoa, how that cape stunk!
Franz had enough HAMBURGER BUNK.
"They don't fry ground beef in a chunk!
A McDonald's absurd
In the town of Hamburg,
Why, their main source of meat is chipmunk!"
Not too difficult today, though a few false starts: SALT for NACL, IT UP for A LEG, SWISS STEAK for SHISH KEBAB, couldn't remember how the ALOUS spelled their name where it crossed JOAN I, who I'd never heard of (were Joani and Jodie sisters?).
Morning, all!
Today's puzzle was easy in spots, challenging in others, but ultimately doable. I flailed around wildly for awhile until I grokked the theme, after which large chunks fell into place very quickly.
Lots of missteps throughout (MAP for TOW, OGEE for ARCH, SILK for LAME, SAREE for STOLE, TUG for TUB, etc.), but everything worked out in the end.
Still don't understand what REEK has to do with wrinkles... unless, perhaps, we are talking about people wrinkling their noses when something REEKs? Yep, that's probably it. Very tricky clue, that...
[redueep]
No wonder that wasn't your favorite James Brown song because it is a Wild Cherry song. Someone listed it wrong on YouTube. Live version LINK(3:04)
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Marti and Jerome, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, forna fine review.
Well, this puzzle was certainly Friday fare. Pretty tough.
Started 1A with MAP. That fell apart quickly. Eventually TOW became obvious. I still belong to AAA. Many years, in Eastern PA.
AHAB was not too hard after a couple perps. Then we had ISHMAEL for 45D. Both from Moby Dick.
ENOLA. A crossword favorite. ALONE spelled backwards. And GAY was the pilot's mother's name.
HAJJI is spelled a couple ways. I guessed wrong first pass.
HAT for 33A for Fez was easy. I think I have said before, I own three fezzes, red, black, and blue.
Great limerick, OwenKL.
Just leaving Toledo.
See you tomorrow from DeKalb, IL.
Abejo
(stylexi)
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Fun Friday puzzle. Getting ATTILA THE HUNK, certainly helped me with the rest of the theme answers, because I knew to add a K to the last square, then realized that the K was added to the UN.
A nice shout-out to Abejo with the FEZ!
I, too, started off with MAP, and was momentarily mislead with the Refuse pronunciation. I also wanted Tug instead of TUB for the slow boat.
I learned about SKYY from doing the crossword puzzles.
Perfect Pitch was filmed in Louisiana.
QOD: Do what you feel in your heart to be right ~ for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt (Oct. 11, 1884 ~ Nov. 7, 1962)
[maymeba]
Good morning all.
Not impossible, but tough. The unknowns (RAE, JOAN I, GREY, HUA) weren't that troublesome. Perps got those.
But, had "it up" before A LEG, GdP before GNP, rIm before LIP, tDS before YDS, TUg before TUB, HAdJI before HAJJI, and worst of all, I typed in geico instead of GEKKO.
Well maybe geico wasn't the worst of all. "Summer sausage" fit for Beef baloney clue. Then I got ATTILA THE HUNK and took it out.
39:30 despite the temporary errors.
Another long day ahead. Thank you Marti, Jerome and Lemonade.
Later !
TGIF everyone,
My congrats to those who thought this was an easy Friday, but don't count me amongst you. I grasped the theme early on, but plenty of clues had me scratching the dome. And a couple of real stretches IMO.
To begin, some of my mis-steps, not all of which were corrected. 1A, Map/TOW 24A Sox/REB 5D Mist/HEAT 27D Manta/SKATE 65D Rim/LIP.
And the causes towards a DNF. 33D Hajji & 34D Aluis. Never heard of JOAN & DIAN looked French! I am totally embarrassed about not picking up the ALOUS, being a long time baseball fan of the Giants.
Some of the fills were ???? to me considering the clues. The one that sticks in my craw is Summer phenomenon/HEAT. Heat to me is a pain in the butt, weather wise. Without pulling out my dictionary, phenomenon suggests to me something out of the ordinary and summer heat sure ain't that.
Have a pleasant weekend.
Argyle I know the song was Wild Cherry but it was a James Brown cover of the song according to You Tube.
Marti here, just popping in before I go to my house closing.
Thank you, Lemony for a superb write-up!! But my, oh, my, I really feel like a HALF wit today...I opened the puzzle without looking at the constructors, and started solving it. When I got to ATTILA THE HUNK, it dawned on me that this one was very familiar...
Funny thing is, I made the same mistakes as others -"map" instead of TOW and "tug" instead of TUB. Ah well, it is Friday.
FWIW, the only spelling you will see in the LA Times is HAJJ and HAJJI (in order to be PC.)
Thanks to my good buddy Jerome, who worked overtime to make this puzzle worthy. He came up with the theme, and then we both set to work. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Good morning everybody. It has been a great crossword week for me. This was a DNF, but I never had to go through the whole alphabet to get an answer. Seemed like when I got a vowel from a perp, I could get an answer which then would lead to another.
Heading back home this morning (210 miles again). 200-300 miles is a normal distance to travel to get anywhere in eastern MT. Very few people; quite desolate. No cell service either. We are used to it.
I am working at a flu clinic this afternoon so must get going.
Have a good weekend,
Montana
Unknowns were SKATE, BOLT, HAJJI, ALOUS, JOAN I, LAME, RAE, ARLE, SPOEL and SKYY. Too bad they intersected. I wanted either STING or MANTA for SKATE and RIM for LIP. EDDY distinguished NERD from DORK and FUNK distinguished FAB from RAD. I originally wanted SALT for NaCl. Technically H20 would be pure water. I thought bug was a noun so I had NIT for NAG. I thought maybe "Mao's successor" meant "What follows Mao" so I wrote TSE. Oh and my first thought for TITLE was AWARD but I was so confident about RIM that I was eventually able to come up with TITLE.
What a fun trip with Marti and Jerome. Theme was FUNKY and helpful, especially HAMBURGER BUNK.
Musings
-I had a very DF last letter for 20 across at first
-Am Fam makes AAA unnecessary for me
-JODIE will always be Addie Pray to me
-Dang SALT was wrong, no it was right. Huh?
-REB theme song
-Talk about yer BOLTS of LAME’
-My friend TEES the ball too high and consequently hits the ball too high. I’ll only tell him if he asks
-Have you ever waited while your computer was SPOOLING?
-Big time golf tournament named after WASTE
-I’m never taking kids to Disney in the Florida summer HEAT again.
-It’s getting harder and harder to find VETS for funeral honor guards in my hometown
-I’m subbing today in Arlington, NE and everyone calls it ARLO
Oooh ARLO! I've heard of him. *Slaps forehead.*
Greetings from WA state(the sane WA!)Found this outing fairly simple for a Friday. Kebab/Kabob always stumbles me. Was able to write in K's all over after solving the theme--went smoothly from there.
I have been a Corner lurker for a couple of years, more frequently since my retirement.but I had to comment today because the comments seemed to hit home. I knew that Mickey Katz was Joel's father but that's also my mother's name. And I am Beth, not Elizabeth (from the limmerick). Puzzle required some thought but very doable.
Good morning everyone. Wow, a Lemonade write-up on a Marti-Jerome puzzle.
The solve started out seeming hard as is Friday's wont, but it gradually came together. Got fill like HUA and GREY from the perps. Theme permitted entry of ……UNK at end of each long across which helped. Many clever clues including those for HAUNTS, HEM, and REEK. Ha Ha. Only white-out was the first J in HAJJI, one of those words with several spellings due to transliteration/transcription from another writing system. (I prefer Hadji)
BZ to Marti and Jerome.
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary"
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)
Have a great day.
Musings Capitolo Due
-What are the worst words you can have as a sub? Just make it a STUDY HALL. That’s what I have all day from a coach at the state softball tournament that ain’t really all that into curriculum and “teaches so he can coach”.
-Owen, I kept my day job but appreciate the kind words about my aluminum sofa. Another fine crop from you today sir!
-REEK? We ran over a dead skunk last Friday and just stopped wrinkling our noses last night
-End of the movie where AHAB/PECK is lashed to his great white whale
-Most common place to see a FEZ around here. How much lubrication does it take to get those guys in those teeny, tiny cars?
Good Morning:
Tricky in spots but doable. Had tug before tub, but no other write-overs.
Nice work, Marti and Jerome, and fun expo, Lemony.
Another beautiful Fall day; too bad it has to get colder, not to mention the dreaded "white" stuff. Speaking of dreaded, Misty, I think we're due for a Silkie tomorrow! Batten down the hatches! (-:
Happy Friday.
Never heard of JARTS. But that's not the word that held me up. Most of this puzzle fell into place with just a bit of perp walking. It was the mid-bottom sector that nearly made me give up.
But even while I wasn't sure that SKYY was a real thing, I persevered. My one assist was to search for Mao's *other* successors to get the "A" in HUA, which was necessary to crack the start to HAUNTS. (I do enjoy how interdependent several words can be.) That led me to change GRAY to GREY to get TEED, a word that hardly looks like a word until I sounded it out in my head a few times.
Thus, one solver's mundane history. Happy Friday to all!
As I tried to say before, C.C. constructed today's Chronicle of Higher Education Puzzle; more fun from our prolific producers.
HG, that "G" might have gotten you in trouble, and I hope Tatum was not checking in today, because it was she who was Addie with her daddy, Ryan O'Neal.
Welcome, Jeffrey T., Kebob/Kebab and Hajji/Hadji are among those which always need the perps.
Welcome, Doctorbak; how are you familiar with Mickey Katz? What type of doctoring do you?
marti, yes, I thought 50% = half, which was why I commented.
JG, I hope you get a chance to stop by and I hope you and marti do some other collabs.
CC puzzle
http://chronicle.com/section/Crosswords/43/
Marti & Jerome: Thank you for a FUN and FUNKy Friday.
Finished in "Half-a-mug-of-coffee" time. Maybe quickest Friday ever.
(So I'm probably going to get "Ink-Blotted-DNF" tomorrow).
Fave today (of course) was SKYY. I've heard (lol!) of it and Ketel One. Surprised? I didn't think so.
My CURRY is more Indian than Thai. A family fave and very yummy!
A "toast" to all at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Greetings!
Toughie, but eventually got the TA-DA. Loved the theme!
Thanks Marti, Jerome and Lemonade!
Don't like REEK. Puzzled over it for some time. Had TUg first. Also tDS for YDS. Never heard of JOAN 1. All perps.
No sleep so far.
Cheers!
Thank you anon 11:28, I should have done that
C>C> PUZZLE . Trying to work, brain dying, slowly.
Greetings, friends! Ay, caramba! A tri-fecta today, Marti, Jerome and Lemonade. That's what I call fun. Thank you, all.
This started slowly for me until the mid west when HAT, HAJJI, A LEG, etc. appeared then I slid down to the SW corner. That wasn't too hard.
And so engrained are commercials in my head that it was a while before realizing it was GECKO not GEICO! KEBAB sent me up to SHISH. NASH is quite familiar as he was a Phoenix Sun for many years and every fan's favorite.
SKYY had me doubting but I left it. My real downfall was HOUNDS and I never checked it. Drat! Drat! I also originally had JUJUBES but JARTS looked wrong and so changed it to DARTS. Drat again!
Among the many brilliant clues, these stand out:
boxer's attendant, VET
it's a wrap, STOLE
But this was marvelously enjoyable. Again, thank you, M,J, and L. You are a formidable team.
Have a stupendous Friday, everyone! It's the Nail Salon for me.
A satisfying solve for a Friday. Final fill was JOAN I. The Queen DOADI (?) that the preferred perps of HADJI and GDP were giving me just didn't sit well, so I had to go with the alternatives of HAJJI and GNP. The center bottom block was a little messy because I couldn't decide between DORK/NERD and GRAY/GREY. But mostly because I read the 72A clue as K-TEL comptetitor and RONCO wouldn't fit! LOL.
A Friday toughie, for sure. But, hey, any Marti puzzle, with or without Jerome, is great as far as I'm concerned. And all that UNK stuff actually made it a lot of fun. Once I got ATTILA THE HUNK, I was able to get all the other themes pretty quickly. It was the little stuff that gave me trouble--HADJI instead of HAJJI, SPYY instead of SKYY, that kind of stuff. But it was still a lot of fun, and enjoyed your expo, as always, Lemonade.
No, no, say it ain't so, Irish Miss! Not a dreaded Silkie tomorrow. No, no, no.
Have a great Friday, everybody!
The name JARTS is another portmanteau - Javelins and Darts
G'Afternoon All!
Almost a Friday non-DNF! Hajji just wanted the D, but I couldn't convince myself that Diani was a name... More DNF at REEK, TEED, GREY and SKKY (I know of the vodka, but not what Ketel is). Oh well, keep plugging away.
Marti, Jerome, & LEM - thanks for a fun Friday diversion.
H2O made me want NACL off the bat - only ARCH helped reinforce that. NERO came afterwards, and then that area fell. It was kinda like that all over the grid. Once I got the theme, every area (but the aforementioned) fell.
JARTS was the first to fall in that corner. I got that for my birthday in the 70's. It was like horseshoes, but with way more danger involved. I guess dad didn't like us :-)
Cheers,
-T
Lemonade, thank you for the welcome. I am a Ph.D. Doctor. Educational administration. I bwas a principal of a middle school of 900. Crazy, but I loved it. When your mother's name is Mickey Kaz, she tells you about the other Mickey Katz.
-Dang Lemon, when you’re right you’re right. Jodie played that role in this Paper Moon. I need to be more thorough (thorougher?) but give me partial credit. Yeah, I know, close only counts in horseshoes.
-Local UNK story. UNK stands for University of Nebraska at Kearney and their reputation as a party school generated the impromptu slogan “you can’t spell DRUNK without UNK”
HG:
Close counts in horseshoes, hand-grenades, and small nuclear weapons. Gotta learn to love the bomb.
BTW, for 10d - I so wanted The Big Board.
Try to make the kids today understand "Strangelove" and you get a strange-look... HG - there's one for Study Hall :-)
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! The theme was very amusing and I was done in just over 23 minutes. Thanks, Marti, Jerome & Lemon.
When I tried to clic onto the link for James Brown the picture window turned black and the little wheel started turning (buffering? spooling?) My machine froze up for 10 minutes and wouldn't let me do anything. I finally turned it off and left for over an hour. Came back, turned it on and it seems okay although I got some funny messages at first. This is the third time this has happened with a YouTube link. Whatsup!
I really wanted 40A Fare named for its shape, to be "pasta."
So who are the actresses in 64A Lemon?
Marti, can't figure out your own puzzle (LOL) (& I thought I was bad..)
Now that I have read the Blog I am going to go fill in the blanks (just to get even with it...)
-The link seems to be broken. I meant this TV Paper Moon with Jodie Foster.
-Now back to CC's puzzle while I supervise kids doing busy work.
-BTW, "close" doesn't count for much in golf either.
I saw a SKYY bottle during my stay in CT.
Husker, our Iraq and Afghanistan young vets have stepped up to the plate and do the honors at local funerals. Employers are very good about giving them time off.
Montana
Sorry Manac, I saw this today & couldn't resist.
More cat sillyness
some dog equal time
& a good singer!
CED re:Husky dog video
The dog on the right evokes images of Gene Simmons. The one on the left, Paul Stanley.
Nobody but me wanted Attila the Hung? Cross Eyed Dave, wolves LOVE babies!! There's a place in CO, Mission Wolf, that is a sanctuary for mistreated wolf dogs and some wolves that can't live in the wild. Whenever there's a baby on the tour, wolves, who are very shy and pretty much stay hidden all the time, come right to the fence to see whoever is in the stroller. This is their own fence for their own enclosure which is often close ;to an acre in size. Between Gardiner and Westliffe off of Highway 69.
It's a holiday weekend? No-one told us!
Great puzzle, Marti and Jerome and a cracking write-up Lemonade.
I've never heard of JUJUBES or JARTS, so JUDUBES/DARTS left me one letter short of a picnic. No complaints, one man's Natick is another man's ... whatever the opposite of a Natick is!
Going out of town for the weekend for the Santa Ynez Valley's annual wine and food festival; maybe it does feel like a holiday weekend after all!
Ms. B., HG also wanted an endowed Attila, but he resisted spelling it out.
Weymouth is the opposite of Natick.
Drat, I meant to ask marti about the clue for REEK because WBS makes sense.
A very punny puzzle. Hey, wait a minute. Pun. Punk?
Visual PUNK?
Homophonic PUNK? An young insecure straight mail. Or, wait, did I read that wrong?
LEM:
I don't know what natnick _really_ means, but I've gleened it from the context. Weymouth was way over my head, so I hit the Google. Tin, I think we can relate to this guy's life mission of doing a good thing with what comes naturally. :-).
Cheers, -T
Started early, then a break, came back and got almost everything!
Main DNF was SKYY, thought Ketel One was a potato chip. Don't use so had no idea. Cheated on GREY, EDDY fit and made sense, but what kind of word ends in two Y's?
Been working a lot, so no time to post!
Lemony, yes WBS is correct - something that REEKs makes your nose wrinkle...kinda like some of my puzzles, eh? I think our original clue was "Stink to high heaven" or something like that.
Anon @ 3:09, "horrible punk" was one of our original entries, but Rich thought it was too generic. So we substituted JUMP THE GUNK, I think.
I thought of "elephant gunk" clued as "Pachyderm poo?" but we didn't think that one would fly...
Hello everybody. I got totally stuck in the east side, where I had pencilled in GDP and didn't know whether to put in HAJJI or HADJI. I didn't get ALOUS because I kept thinking of diamonds in the sense of DeBeers. With two blank letters therefore, there was no way I could figure out JOANI. Isn't she the girl who loved CHACHI? I'm going to look up Joan I because I'm curious which three (count 'em, three!) kings she gave birth to.
Hand up for think Attila the Hung at first.
Best wishes to you all.
Anonymous T
re: Life mission, He has a good one!
"Everybody's gotta believe in something ...
I believe I'll have another drink ..."
Cheers!!!
PS I'm kinda surprised that so many have never heard of SKYY Vodka and Ketel One vodka.
Go figure ...
Beckley - ATTILA THE HUNG... LOL!!!
My first grid was a thoroughly ugly mess. It was the most atrocious one in crossword constructing history.
Once again, thanks Marty for the great work and the bail-out!
"MARTY"........SHEESH!
Apropos of nothing, here's a funny video of a meerkat with low self-esteem. 2:07
Gerome, glad you could join the party...(LOL!!)
A 13-12-12-13 themed puzzle is not too hard to design a grid for, usually. But with all the UNK endings in this one, it did prove to be especially challenging. I one point...
D'uh...the last sentence was supposed to read "I think I remember both of us pulling out our hair at one point..."
IF wolves love babies, you can bet it`s because they are small, slow and made of meat!
Fun, fun puzzle! Loved it. Filled in reek, didn't get the clue tho, until Barry G explained - great clue! Thanks, Barry. Totally messed up the Hajji section, eventually got it, tho. Misspelled kebab "kabob", duh. That fouled me up, too. Had tug for tub, my Grampa was a tugboat Capt, 1st thing that came to mind. Loved Ahab & Ishmael in the same grid, clever. OwenKL, your limericks are so enjoyable - thanks. And, could someone pls explain what a perp is? Thank you. Have a wonderful Columbus Weekend, all!
-To quote Marti, SHEESH! It appeared I was trying to be too demure with my ATTILA THE HUNG posting at 9:17 am as others have eschewed subtlety and put that thought right out there. Maybe it was because I was knee deep in bored adolescents and was censoring my writing. It looks like Lemon was the only one who checked out what I said about a “DF last letter for 20 across”. CC’s prohibitions list politics, religion, and personal attacks so: Damn the torpedoes, full smut ahead ;-)
full smut ahead...
Attilla the hunk?
Funk is dead...
I dunno, but I think there is a story here...
now, this is just ridiculous
Hello Puzzlers -
Way late to the party, such is my state of busy-ness these days. Couldn't let the day pass without saying a word of thanks to the co-constructors, thanks!
Anon 4:18 - I suppose you're quite right. It reminds me of a saying among a select group of meat eaters: "If God hadn't intended for man to eat cows, He wouldn't have made them out of steak!" Makes me chuckle.
Here's abbreviation key, as linked from the right-hand column of the main page. But I still want to know about "Natick".
Husker Gary, I caught your Attila remark, too.
OwenKL, "Natick" is an obscure town in Massachusetts. To solvers who have never heard of it, it refers to any square on the puzzle grid that a solver cannot fill in correctly except by a lucky guess, because the solver does not know the answer to either the ACROSS clue or to the DOWN clue. BUT..I happened to have lived for a while in NATICK...so, I don't know what the problem is???
OwenKL
The NATICK Principle. And here it is:
If you include a proper noun in your grid that you cannot reasonably expect more than 1/4 of the solving public to have heard of, you must cross that noun with reasonably common words and phrases or very common names.
It was coined by Rex Parker in his July 6, 2008 write-up of the New York Times puzzle.
(Natick being 8 miles from the finish line of the Boston Marathon).
Here is a Link to the write-up.
Wow! Another quickie two days in a row. I thought this one was easier than yesterday. Just waited for the perps for the trickier spellings and Tada! I was done. Figured there would be a liqueur clue in a Marti puzzle.
Probably pay for it tomorrow.
Ced.... When I'm done chuckling:-)
Marti, Jerome and Lemon; thanks for an enjoyable Friday.
I REALLY liked the last episode of Foyle's War. I even watched it twice.
Hi all,
It's been some time since I posted here. Even some the easier one I did I get around to.
I didn't get many answers today either but at 1A,when saw the clue I couldn't believe it.
This AM I started my usual Friday shopping. When I came out of Walmart I could not get my car started. I called my DH for advice and then called the Chevy Shop. Their sugestions didn't work So I had to DH several time,then AAA and they said they would send a TOW truck, it would get to me in about 45 minutes. Another call to DH to keep him updated. Well, the TOW truck got there in about 35min. So he loaded my car up, helped me get into his cab. That was a chalenge, it was very high. And off we went.
The people at the Chevy shop were very nice. After more phone calls to DH, they got the work done and I was one my way home. I never did get to the grocery store but that will still be there tomorrow.
Thats why I laughed at the word TOW.
Have a good evening.
Marge
Sorry, for the late response. Jerome great to see you. I am sure your marti was autocorected to Marty.
The sisters are FLORA and EVE PLUMB. EVE played on the Brady Bunch.
Maniac, good for you back to back quickie. Maybe Saturday will let you relax.
Tinbeni, thank you for that linkup to Natick. @6.31 pm.
I read all of Rex Parker and all the comments. Since I don't do the NYT puzzles or Brendan Quigley, I just wanted to know how the other blogs look, and what they discuss. Now I know. I sure am very glad I don't do the NYt or read Rex Parker - most of the discussion was over my head, and somehow I instinctively disliked most of the commentators. Probably something to do with my tastes. But Tknbeni, I still sincerely want to thank you for the experience.
Marge:
I love your explanation! Sometimes those kinds of experiences are what embed words in the memory and though TOW is small and easy, it can happen with more difficult and rare words.
Happy Friday everybody!
Been on the road, literally, all day today, but better late than never. Really enjoyed both puzzle and write-up today, as well as post-puzzle posts...!
WEES about HADJI, GDP, MANTA....
Got to see the ENOLA Gay when I was in Reston VA this March at the Smithsonian Air Museum, Part 2. Highly recommend it, as it also houses the space shuttle Discovery and a SR-71 Blackbird....
Finished off the last of my SKYY vodka from the Vegas house today....
Was listening to some white boy funk on the trip today, the Average White Band's first album - good stuff...!
Finally, looking forward to a possible Silkie tomorrow, as it would give me a chance to finally pop my Silkie Wild Cherry...!
It is interesting how much more talk there was last week when some hated the puzzle. The comment about Rex's concept of his role, and his blog reminded me of the difference here where we share the joy of discovery, inspired by watching C.C. grow from beginning solver to published in three forums.
Thanks for aalways making my Friday special
Xword solve guy - I kinda have to agree re: Rex's blog spot, many folks are un-forgiving or plain A-Habs. I couldn't believe it took >10 posts for someone to stand up for C.C.'s puzzle a few weeks back.
HG - my dear MIL of 70++ years also came up with ATTILATHEHUNg and didn't want to let the image go. Talk about making a son-in-law blush!
V-Doc: hope you are settling in fine. I heard once re: SKYY on NPR's From Scratch with the guy that started the company -- the 3x distillation ensured there are no impurities in SKYY and hence no hang over... True? Respond after the Silkie :-)
Marti - meerkat was LOL!
And for the military folks... A real JODIE.
Cheers, -T
Do you like potatoes? Do you like kittens? Then this is perfect for you!
A kitten vs a worthy potato
Bill G, how can you be perusing the net for kitten vs potato vids when the NLCS Game 1 is in the 11th inning...?
Bill G: I love how when the potato(e)* is "dead" the kitten just goes on its way.
*Quail was was ridiculed for that spelling I thought potatoe was a secondary spelling, but neither my current MW nor does my '91 ed dictionary list it as such. Wordies?
C, -T
Anon T: I had to chuckle about your MIL making you blush. I've been guilty of making my SILs & daughters blush. We who are over 70 remember the glory days and absence makes the memories fonder. I've probably forgot more than my straight-laced kids ever knew about some of life's greatest joys.
AnonT:
Quayle was wrong. Possibly you are thinking of the plural form, potato, potatoes.
Lucina:
I recall after Quayle's chalk-board incident folks defending the "e" as an upper-class or secondary spelling. What do I know? - I went to State :-)
PK - MIL is a wonderful, devilishly funny lady. She blogs vicariously through me (I read it to her nightly...)
Bill G: Carlos Beltran got the best of your closer. Houston loved Carlos until he went to the Mets after our '05 season. When the Mets visited in '06, Carlo$ was on everyone's posters. What I don't get is changing pitchers mid-inning late in the game... it never seems to work out well...
Cheers, -T
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