Words: 70 (misssing J,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 30
How's this for an early Halloween scare??? My first look at the triple
triple-15-letter spanners and I immediately ran for the DOWNS. And
that didn't help much. Too many abbrs., names and vagueness to be of
any good - at first. The key to solving this construction, for me, was
to go with my 'crossword instinct', meaning that the long answers would
most likely end with E, S, T, R, etc. - and then, with my smattering of
DOWN fill, I literally worked my way from the bottom up. I'll admit to
one bad cell (*), and I cheated and went to my analog dictionary for the spelling of 1A.
The Spanners:
1. Wedding reception fare : HOT HORS D'OEUVRES - I missed the "U", and jumbled my "R" and "V"
16. Hunter's accessory : AMMUNITION POUCH - I delivered a box of ammo to a guy yesterday who was questioning why I required a signature; it had nothing to do with his 2nd Amendment rights, but UPS does require an adult to sign for explosives. Period.
17. Fourth-generation relative : GREAT- GRANDNIECE
16. Hunter's accessory : AMMUNITION POUCH - I delivered a box of ammo to a guy yesterday who was questioning why I required a signature; it had nothing to do with his 2nd Amendment rights, but UPS does require an adult to sign for explosives. Period.
17. Fourth-generation relative : GREAT- GRANDNIECE
32. Certain cohabitant : DOMESTIC PARTNER
- when I was in the Sober House, everyone would talk about their "S.O."
- I thought it was a variation on a P.O. - parole officer. Turned out
to be their "significant other" - sounds pretty cold to me
37. Anglican leader : EPISCOPAL PRIEST
38. Beethoven work completed the same year as the "Moonlight" : PASTORALE SONATA - let's hear a little
37. Anglican leader : EPISCOPAL PRIEST
38. Beethoven work completed the same year as the "Moonlight" : PASTORALE SONATA - let's hear a little
53. Have a considerably negative effect on : MILITATE AGAINST - about the only one that is not a 'common phrase'
58. Recipe datum : PREPARATION TIME
59. Fitness specialist : STRENGTH TRAINER
58. Recipe datum : PREPARATION TIME
59. Fitness specialist : STRENGTH TRAINER
O~N~W~A~R~D~!
ACROSS:
18. Wrong : SIN
19. 1980s pop duo with an exclamation point in their name : WHAM!
20. Stowe novel : DRED - more here
21. Chanel competitor : COTY - They used to make "IRON" cologne, and I loved it: I miss it, too - it really defined "me" - it's a Ferro-pheromone alloy....
22. Chihuahua chatter : ARFs - eh, not YIPs
25. Rent-__ : A-CAR
28. Jolly Roger crewman : SMEE
29. Desperate letters : S.O.S.
19. 1980s pop duo with an exclamation point in their name : WHAM!
20. Stowe novel : DRED - more here
21. Chanel competitor : COTY - They used to make "IRON" cologne, and I loved it: I miss it, too - it really defined "me" - it's a Ferro-pheromone alloy....
25. Rent-__ : A-CAR
28. Jolly Roger crewman : SMEE
29. Desperate letters : S.O.S.
39. Cobb and others : TYs
40. Get up : RISE
41. Scrapes (out) : EKES
42. Moments : SECs
43. One may be zapped : TV AD - I zap every one of them, because I watch everything from my DVR - and there's no one else in the UPS truck to spoil a show for me~!
46. Deuce follower : AD IN - advantage in - when the server is one point up after deuce on his/her opponent, and could take the next one and win - the Wiki if you really want to get confused
49. Cup part : BRIM
50. One of Can.'s Maritime provinces : P.E.I. - Prince Edward Island - one of those crossword instinct answers that does NOT end in E, S, T, R.
DOWN:
1. Crones : HAGS - I put in PALS, but that's cronies.
2. "Dallas" actor Katz : OMRI - IMDb
3. Bootleggers' foes : T-MEN - I put in FEDS to start
4. '70s Chinese leader : HUA - I defer to our very own C.C. for more on this (From C.C.: HUA brought Cultural Revolution to an end, for which I'm very grateful. He's Chairman Mao's handpicked successor.)
5. Huddle directive : ON TWO....
6. In order : RIGHT - and an anti-clecho 27D. Not in order : AMISS
7. Cattle drive concern : STRAY - I tried DINGO, but the word I meant to fill in was DOGIE
8. Spherical meas. : DIAMeter
9. Suffix with bass : OON - BassOON
10. Close : END - the verb
11. "Buffy" airer after The WB : UPN
12. Cancels : VOIDS
13. Penitent : RUER - The noun, in this case; I always think of the scene from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" when I hear penitent
14. Old Roman cry : ECCE~! Behold~!
15. Discard : SHED - Not TOSS, going with my instinct
21. Peak : CREST - hey, nice peaks
22. Liberal : AMPLE - quite ample
23. Takes in : REAPS
24. Alloy prefix : FERRO - "Iron", like in these fine examples
25. Pro : ADEPT
26. Pharmacy figure : CO-PAY and a semi-clecho with;
28. Bygone pharmacy fixture : SCALE
29. Preview opener? : SNEAK - sneak preview
30. Montevideo-to-Buenos Aires dirección : OESTE - map
31. Sp. lasses : SRTAs
33. Tie, perhaps : SCORE - you bet your ASCOT I got this one~!
34. Like doughnuts : TORIC - OK, so I went with HOLEY - I had a very white grid....
35. "Not for me" : "I PASS"
36. Pointed, in a way : TINED
42. Marsh bird : SNIPE - STORK, EGRET~?
43. It may be inherited : TRAIT
44. Bounce : VIGOR - yes, she's got some 'vigor' to her....
45. Appliance maker once owned by Raytheon : AMANA
46. Intensifies, with "up" : AMPS
47. Skinny : DIRT - and the title of Mötley Crüe's biography
48*. Robert of "The Sopranos" : ILER - the "L" got me
49. Three-time LPGA Player of the Year Daniel : BETH
50. Nabokov novel : PNIN - pronounced P'neen
51. Edward's adoptive mother in the "Twilight" series : ESME - a WAG, since I have not, and do not care to see any of these movies - but it worked well with my E, S, T, R instinct
52. Anatomical passage : ITER - Latin for journey - I can see that
54. A spray might be used for one : TAN
55. Uru. neighbor : ARGentina, constructor Ned must like the area - see 30D.
56. Parlor work, briefly : TATtoo - and a chance for a music link
57. "Lord, is __?": Matthew : "IT I?"
Splynter
Wow, this is a pretty impressive puzzle that definitely has the "White Stuff". I write again, with C.C.'s encouragement, to thank the many regular visitors to this blog for their enthusiastic response to Marti's "bonus" puzzle a couple of days ago, and to tell you about two more puzzles that we have just posted. "Fall Classic 2013" (http://tinyurl.com/fallclassic2013puz) has a timely sports theme, whereas "The Old Song and Dance" (http://tinyurl.com/songanddancepuz) has a timeless music theme. My friends and I hope that you can find something that is up your alley! Thanks, and have a great weekend. GB
ReplyDeleteHail the constructor, Ecce Ned White,
ReplyDeleteTo see this puzzle is quite a sight!
Nine fifteens, can it really be?
It's not very often that this we see!
Three on top, three on bottom,
Three 'cross the middle, he has got 'em!
We must celebrate as he deserves,
Serve champagne and HOT HORS D'OEUVRES!
Corner Ned White upon the couch,
Find grids in his AMMUNITION POUCH!
Invite everyone to observe this piece,
Your mom, your neighbor, your GREAT-GRAND-NIECE!
Your DOMESTIC PARTNER, your EPISCOPAL PRIEST,
Invite Beethoven to view this beast!
We need music to fete as we oughta,
Let Ludwig play his PASTORALE SONATA!
Play it loud, once we've commenced
No grump will MILITATE AGAINST!
But to make this fully a soirée sublime,
We'll need some PREPARATION TIME!
Ned's STRENGTH TRAINER says three months at best
If he's to survive this crossword fest!
[I completed the top two sections all on my own (except the dictionary for 1A spelling), but so many proper names I had to give in and get google help for the bottom third.]
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteChallenging but extremely fun (and ultimately perfectly doable) puzzle today. Thank heavens I learned how to spell HORS D'OEUVRES years ago (it always helps me to remember that it literally means "out of the work").
Lots of tricky clues, but they were all fun to figure out. I especially loved the AHA moment I had after getting TVAD (I had T_AD and ran through every letter of the alphabet until the light bulb went off).
COTY and BETH were complete unknowns, which took all the crosses to get. Amazingly, though, I managed to dredge up PNIN and OMRI out of the dark recesses of my brain, which helped immensely.
I was so sure that "deuce follower" was TREY, but had another pleasant AHA moment when I finally took it out and figured out AD IN instead.
[aringisl]
Sometimes when you have a puzzle with gridspanners it all comes together, and this was it for me. This was in my top 5 speedy Saturdays. Like some golfers and Splynter, I had to overcome the YIPS, liked TVAD next to AD IN, MILITATE is a fun word and I had HUA in a recent Friday blog. Thanks Ned and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteThis looked difficult, but while it was a challenge, it was solv ed faster than most Saturdays.GREAT GRAND NIECE was a gimmeie. The 4th generation is great grand and only niece fits. HAGS, TMEN, HOT, and AMMUNITION came quickly.
ReplyDeleteSMEE, PARTNER, PRIEST, SONATA also came quickly, as did PEI and ADIN. So there was a lot to work with, especially in the ACROSSes.
Really fun today.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteGot the main floor and the attic filled in, but the cellar was mostly white for a long time. Pnin looked wrong, of course, but everything around it was so solid, I had to leave it. Same with TV Ad, which I failed utterly to parse. Thanks, Splynter!
Quite impressive grid today.
In the past I have used Emeraude, L'Aimant, and Exclamation from Coty and one of my sons had used Stetson.
ReplyDeleteIn my youth, new scouts were sent to hunt SNIPEs in the woods, a wild goose chase. I knew that snipes were shore birds so I wasn't expecting to find any. New construction workers are sometimes sent to find a left handed monkey wrench Same thing.
For those not on the constructor's wave length, there were only two cells connecting top to middle and two connecting middle to bottom, denying that kind of help.
Also potatoes roasted in a campfire are called SNIPEs sometimes.
I have been to weddings where the hot and cold hors d'oeuvres were so delicious and numerous that the dinners remained practically untouched. I would be happy with all hors d'oeuvres.
Good morning to all,
ReplyDeleteAll those long white squares looked scary; however it only took 39 min. to finish! Excellent time for me....I'm sure our experts finished under ten minutes.
I did have to go up, down and around plus a couple of alphabet runs....but, I'm happy!
Temperature hit 33 degrees this morning. I'm not ready for winter!
Fun write-up, S.! You seemed to have AMPLE peaks on the brain.
ReplyDeleteWith a nonad of spanners, it did seem daunting. But if you get a couple of them, it actually makes this type of design very easy to solve.
Dudley,, leave it to you to refer to building a house as a metaphor for the puzzle…I was looking forward to reading about your progress until I finally realized what you were talking about!!
I'm off to the lumber store...
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the dance. I had to show up at the city park at 6:30 this morning to help set up for the community yard sale and pancake breakfast. I have to go back at 11:00 to help take down the breakfast stuff.
I was all over the grid on this one, but I was determined it was not going to be three strikes in a row. There was YIPS/YAPS/ARFS, AD IN/TREY, FEDS/TMEN, DOGIE/STEER/STRAY, MITIGATE/MILITATE. But I finally triumphed, and without zapping my toad. Whew!
A funny thing happened on my way to give up on this bad boy. I solved it (all right 2 bad cells but still…)! It’d been a darn sight faster if I hadn’t reversed the V and R in OEUVRES. Hmmm… Brett Favre? BTW, there ought to be a warning label on hor d’oeuvres with liver in them. Yuk!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-The three grid spanning stacks of three looked scary
-Nice job Splynter! I hope the guy with the AMMO gave you a running start ;-)
-Grandchild, granduncle, grandNIECE. Bingo!
-Rent A-CAR as opposed to this company
-ADIN not TREY, ECCE not ETTU, ARG not PAR, PNIN? yadda, yadda
-Flip right, double-X jet, 36 counter, naked waggle, X-7, X-quarter, ON TWO, break
-A view from the Twin Peaks (Crests) Restaurant
-There’s a bunch of REAPing (picking, combining) going on around here
-Do druggists even use a mortar and pestle anymore?
-I like how college FB settles TIES better than the pros
-Hudson inherited many of my TRAITS. Poor kid.
-Yeah, that spray TAN fooled me. Not!
-What wonderful movie contained this TY COBB reference?
First glance had me going for another cup of coffee--as this was going to be a long morning. But like everyone else I started Downward and it fell into place. TORIC? OESTE? HUA? All new to me. Thanks for the education!
ReplyDeleteWow, I bailed after the second pass when the downs refused to help me out. I was afraid it was going to be too painful on the old noggin...
ReplyDeleteLearning moment: 43A P.E.I. = Prince Edward Island? Is this what it means when the restaurant menu lists P.E.I. Mussels?
Re: 43A zapped/TV Ad, I discovered something yesterday (beware rant ahead,,,) when YouTube finally pushed me over the line by making me watch the same *&%^$ 30 second commercial over again just to view a 15 second clip that did not interest me anyway! Being an obsessive linker, I think it's only fair that I at least try to view everyone links, but YouTube is making it so difficult. So in anger, I hit the refresh button at the beginning of a 30 second ad, & it popped back up with an ad with the 4 second escape option!
Now every time I hit an ad, I hit "refresh" until there is no commercial, or a less objectionable option. I may not be saving any time, but at least I am doing something instead of being held prisoner...
***end of rant***
Re: Yest: OwenKL,,, Yes, I would have liked to discuss "steampunk" also, sorry I missed it. It was interesting that it was not in the dictionary. Being a visual animal, I often prefer Google Images over the dictionary. This is what cameup. I especially liked the R2D2 & C3PO, but the pics to the left were not bad either...
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis offering makes a Silkie look like child's play. After the first pass, with few fills, I was sure it would be a DNF. However, after much angst and perseverance, I did finish w/o help. Hooray!
Write-overs include: pals/hags, Mao/Hua, Dior/Coty, trey/adin, and mitigate/militate. But everything worked out fine with patience and perps.
Thank you, Ned White, for a Saturday sizzler, and thank you, Splynter, for 'splaining it all so well.
Happy Saturday!
I don't get to post too often, but I'd like to add my thanks to all the constructors and bloggers who make this one of my favorite places to lurk.
ReplyDeleteFinished the top 2/3 today but the bottom defeated me. Had to resort to Google because I just couldn't squeeze Lolita into 4 spaces.
Splynter, you do realize that the clip you posted is Scarlatti's Pastorale, not Beethoven's?
Thanks, Owen, for your odic (maybe heroic) response to this puzzle, and a little bit to me for my patience and fortitude in reworking this piece several times until it was ready. HOT HORS D'OEUVRES was always the anchoring entry, because it's a beast of a phrase that never looks quite right even when spelled correctly. The middle stack originally had PSYCHIATRIC HELP and THE REFRIGERATOR and something else, but the down crossers were too klugey, so I'll save them for another time in some other order.
ReplyDeleteThe Pastorale is a beauty, but my second favorite Beethoven is the Choral Fantasy, which just preceded the 9th Symphony. Check it out!
Thanks all -
Ned
Hi Y'all! I started this puzzle last night at 12:30 when it became available and did something i've never done on an electronic puzzle. I shut 'er down and walked away after filling the first tier. I was having to red-letter alphabet almost every square. I thought if I ate something, I might be smarter. So I ate and returned. Not much better. I did fill all squares correctly with red-letter redirection and much frustration, but NOT FUN for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Splynter, for working this beast.
I didn't know SNIPEs were real birds. I had heard of the nasty little abandonment game of SNIPE hunting by teenagers. Never bit when they tried it on me. No, I wasn't getting out of the car in the dark five miles from town.
For over a year, I had a simple map of South America on the front of my refrigerator trying to learn the country placement. Guess some of it soaked into my head. I got the two geography answers today.
MILITATE? MILITATE? I guess this means send armed soldiers with an AMMUNITION POUCH to force something? Or did he make this one up?
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed sussing the grid spanners but just did not like MILITATE. Liked all the 5 letter downs. Bra. is also a Uru. neighbor, so had to wait for STRENGTH to loom before going for ARG. Wondered about 'trey' @46a, before SNIPE augered for AD IN. BTW, did you know engine room sailors are slangily referred to as SNIPES?
Have a good day.
Okay, I googled MILITATE and it is a real word. Not one I'll have occasion to use anytime soon probably. Still sounds like sending out the guns to coerce someone.
ReplyDeleteStill morning here, so good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWEE said. I didn't even want to tackle this puzzle, but Splynter's write-up is more interesting if one has at least tried to do the puzzle. So, I started. Wow, I enjoyed finishing it, although with some red letter help, so a DNF, but a fun one.
Weathermen say this is our last nice day, so I want to get out and enjoy it. Appears to be a massive winter storm headed first my way and then on to some of the rest of you.
Montana
Re: Owen yesterday: The reason you were directed from Steampunk to Cyberpunk is that Cyberpunk was a recognized sub-genre of science fiction (as you stated, usually involving computer-enhancing the brain) when a new sub-genre emerged involving retro-futurism. Author K W Jeter came up with the tongue-in-cheek suggestion (based on the already familiar -punk suffix) of this kind of story as steam-punk. I think it caught on because it's such a neat word (at least, compared with "gonzo-historical")
ReplyDeleteI have frequently read “militate against” -another clue much more common in the written word than the spoken word.
ReplyDeleteFrom Time Magazine June 2013-“It was an attempt to say that there are features of mass education which militate against individuality and creativity.” I suspect some educators are threatened by individuality and creativity.YR
ECG or EKG (from last night)
You say tom-ATE-to. I say tom-AHH-to. You say ECG. I say EKG. But which is correct? We asked some people who ought to know.
"They are synonymous. In the U.S. we like to do things differently. Instead of kilometers we like miles per hour. Instead of kilograms we use pounds. So we say EKG in the U.S. but in the rest of the world, it's ECG," said Gordon Huckestein, CEO of Cardiac Direct, Ventura, Calif.
Almost had a heart attack when I saw all those grid spanners this morning, and verged on just giving up before even starting. But was surprised and pleased that, like Dudley, I got the attic and the main floor, and got stuck only in the cellar. Lots of fun clueing along the way, and even though it was a DNF for me, I actually loved this Saturday puzzle. So many thanks, Ned White.
ReplyDeleteOwen, you outdid yourself this morning--wonderful poem!
Didn't get PNIN, although I should have. Taught Nabokov's "Lolita" over the course of many years, and must say it got darker and less funny as time went went on.
Yellowrocks, I had totally forgotten about the prank of SNIPE hunting until you reminded us.
Am hosting a party for retired university colleagues tonight--should be fun--but I need to get going.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Hello everybody. WEES. I had to go to the reference books far too often to solve this puzzle today, but it was a fun solve. I learned that a cup has a BRIM, but I guess it must be a different kind of brim than the brim of a hat. I learned it is VOIDS, not VETOS. I put in and took out SMEE three times; two times for Rent ACOP. PEI seemed too easy, so I waited until the last minute to finally acknowledge it was right answer. Same thing with FERRO.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you all.
I'm with Lemonade and Yellowrocks. Yes - this one LOOKED pretty fierce, but it turned out to yield a surprisingly quick solution.
ReplyDeleteI must remember that these wall-to-wall gapers may be tricky to start, but once you crack three or more letters, the overall shape of the word(s) comes roaring through. Their Gestalt works in the solver's favor.
All I had to check was the proper spelling (*after* grokking the answer!) of HORS D'OEUVRES. I can never remember the proper order of those Frenchified vowels. And I had to wonder a while about the added "E" to close PASTORAL...
G'Afternoon All:
ReplyDeleteChalk up another DNF. I got parts of the North & South (with 5 Googles), but the Central was blank excpet for SMEE. Fun puzzle though (at least vicariously via the write-up). Thanks Splynter & Ned!
Cheers, -T
Hard work today and some Google learning moments to finish up.
ReplyDeletePEI was a given (Anne of Green Gables territory and beautiful to visit).
Yes Husker Gary, druggists do use mortars and pestles but not very often any more. Usually to add menthol & camphor or hydrocortisone powder to a cream or ointment. We don't do much of the compounding that was done in earlier days. Not too much use of scales either (and not balance ones any more). But lots of COPAY.
Yes YR, we use ECG in Canada. Our British heritage showing.
Yes CED, PEI mussels are very tasty. And their lobster too. If you visit the province in summer, you must go to some of the lobster suppers served in the local halls or churches. Delicious!!
ReplyDeleteBill G:
ReplyDeleteSo I tried last night's puzzle with a variation of 5 instead of 3 hoping to see a pattern of 5's. I should have thought this out a bit better... Once it got to 5, infinate loop. I had to kill the computer before it gave up the smoke.*
Cheers, -T
* everyone knows computers run on smoke (or for Owen, steam). When the smoke is released, computers don't work any longer. :-)
Hello, super solvers! Splynter, you are at your PEAK today and Owen is just a pro!
ReplyDeleteI'm very, very late today because my granddaughters stayed the night. Their parents, Alice in Wonderland and the Ninja went to a costume party. We stayed up late watching a movie and the girls arose at 7. Oh, me, oh my.
Consequently, today's opus held me by the ears for way too long. Finally had to look for OMRI and ILER as have never watched the Sopranos and couldn't give up TREY.
WEES on most of this; I love misdirection but need a lot more sleep to suss it. COTY, PEI, OESTE (norte first)ECCE were givens but all else was hard won.
Great grid, Ned White. Thank you.
I like George Barany's puzzles, too, so I'll try those.
I sincerely hope you are having a GREAT Saturday, everyone!
One of my more significant puzzle solving achievements this year. It all came down to the Nabokov novel and that "n" (talk about a WAG). But it worked. Whew!
ReplyDeleteSplynter, I forgot to mention that I used to collect antique pharmaceutical items. The scale and bottles you linked at 28-Down look almost exactly like a set that I had. I was also an amateur photographer with a dark room at one time, and took a picture of those items, developed in sepia and blurred on the edges of the picture. It was one of my favorite photographs!
ReplyDeleteNed, thanks for stopping by. It is always nice to hear what other entries landed on the cutting room floor!
I found this a brute. Finished it, but not without a lot of google help, starting with the proper spelling of horses ovaries. I had HotHor, which was enough to know the answer, but couldn't get enough crosses to get the spelling right. So a fail on that count right off the bat.
ReplyDeleteLots of other mis-steps: Romantic Partner, Personal Trainer, Emme, Trey and Otto's toad. A near triumph I suppose, but too much work to be enjoyable.
Good afternoon all !
ReplyDeleteTrue, it looked daunting with the the three sets of triple stack grid spanners.
Nailed 59A right off the bat. Yep, PERSONAL TRAINER fit right in and had plenty of proof until I got to 49D, which I knew without reservation could only be BETH. Ergo, I filled the basement first, then most of the ground floor. Didn't have any issue spelling horse do overs ;>) in the second floor.
Alas, had to turn on red letter help to get that far, so I'll claim yet another DNF.
Nonetheless, thank you Ned White for a fine challenge, and thank you Splynter for the great write up.
Anonymous T from last night, "There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary & those that don't... " I love it !
I got it done though on Saturdays, I turn on red letters at the start. I don't use them for filling in letters but letting me know when I've made a mistake. Otherwise, I'd never finish a Saturday puzzle. WEES.
ReplyDeleteWe took Jordan out for lunch. We had everybody's favorite, lobster bisque soup. Then I tried and split something adventurous; shrimp with grits, chorizo and kale. We liked it but once was probably enough.
Off for a macchiato and then a bit of the World Series. I'm leaning toward hoping St. Louis wins but otherwise, I'm mostly uninterested.
"I don't use them for filling in letters but letting me know when I've made a mistake."
ReplyDeleteBill, one of my favorite quotes is: "Man is not so much a rational being, but rather a rationalizing being."
On a darker note, the Cornhuskers lost to Minnesota today. Let the calls for Bo's head begin. I'm purty sure the sun will come up tomorrow, but that's yet to be determined. :-)
I failed to give credit to my granddaughter who is a fan of the "Twilight" series. She knew ESME.
ReplyDeleteLucina - I feel your pain... My eldest looked at the puzzle & saw the check at ESME... "Dad," she said, "why didn't you ask me instead of Google." Oh, well... C-T
ReplyDeleteThough I don't much care who wins the World Series, I enjoy the elegant Cardinal uniforms and the beautiful Gateway Arch designed by crossword favorite Eero Saarinen. That particular curve is called an inverted catenary, the curve made by a cable or chain hanging under it own weight supported only at the ends. There's a funny little elevator that takes you up to the top. It ratchets every 10 seconds or so to keep it vertical as it goes up the curved path. They constructed the arch from both sides building toward the top using lasers to make sure the sides matched and were the correct distance apart. When both sides were almost finished, they used big jacks to pry apart both sides a few inches and a giant crane dropped in the last section. Elegant!
ReplyDeleteWow - what a crazy ending to a game! I'll take it. I've never seen anything like the 6th & top 7th tonight - both teams HBP gave them two overall. And then obstruction called in the bot. 9th to get the winning run across the plate. Like I said, wow!
ReplyDeleteIf the pattern from errors in games 1 & 2 (giving each team the win) BoSox will win tomorrow on another weird call.
Bill G. - I've been to the top of the Arch a few times. As I get older, the less I like being that high up w/o airfoils under me. The inclineator (also used at the Luxor) is ingenious. One question - they had lasers back then?*
Cheers, -T
* Ok looked it up Laser in '57, Arch in '63. Donno if the lasers had gotten out of the lab by then, but plausable. I'll take your word.
Historic Finish.
ReplyDeleteHe tripped on his hip. Not the raised legs. No interference.
Wow.
Crazy game indeed. The obstruction call was unusual but it appeared to be correct. If the runner had been called out at home, the Cardinals would have been all over the umpire for not calling the obstruction that slowed the running from getting up and getting home.
ReplyDeleteAnonT, we saw a video under the base of the arch showing details of its construction. I thought I remembered the mention of lasers but I'm not totally sure about that. I remember they had to spray water on one side of the arch to cool it because of the bright sunlight causing uneven expansion when they were installing the last section at the top.
I just saw an episode of TBBT where Barry was complaining because Siri's voice recognition was lousy when she couldn't understand his asking her to "wecommend a westaurant." She replied 'Sorry Bawwi, I don't understand 'wecommend a westaurant.'" Brilliant!
I really enjoyed this puzzle and want to thank all involved, Stan"s stumper & WSJ are worth looking into also.
ReplyDeleteP.K., sorry I posted the other night, I misunderstood the context (in retrospect, it is funny)
Also, thanks for your concern that Windhover was too hard on me. pfft (with that "pencil")? You see his M.O. is to peruse the blog in hopes of a chance to bully someone, you know, like a fifth grader does, though he says it to anons, he once went on a rampage against HuskerGary,all this just because he suffers from "Little man syndrome", His "get off my lawn"routine is boring.
@11:33 Even if unintentional, any defensive player in the baseline w/o the ball is obstruction.
ReplyDeleteBill G- I saw the video under the arch too. The westward expansion museum down there was also cool. Kudos to the National Parks all around. BTW - did you see @3:31 where I put 5 in for 3 and killed my box?
Ave Joe - if you are still out there... I love that quote. I know I can be guilty at times too (ask my why I still haven't exercised :-)).
Last bit - I heard "Why did the chicken cross the road..." on WWDTM this morning and looked up the origin of the joke. Turns out it could be a pun I never thought about. Get to the other side == other side of the road OR the other side of life as chickens would oft be hit in the road when the joke was coined in 1840's. See Wiki .
Cheers, -T
Anon@11:46p
ReplyDeleteYou should see the waves windy has left in his wake!
He's chased a few. The funny thing is, he thinks he is right!