Theme: - "Oh, No!" - O is removed from a common phrase with an OU bigram.
23A. "$%*#& computer!"? : CRASH CURSE. Crash course.
25A. Spillane's inspiration? : MICKEY MUSE. Micky mouse. Mickey Spillane.
54A. Like PETA members? : DOWN ON ALL FURS. Down on all fours.
83A. Sugar daddy? : FUNDING FATHER. Founding father.
112A. Keyboard technique suggested by the instruction "attacca"? : PIANO LUNGE. Piano lounge. John is a pianist.
116A. Well-mannered sisters? : PROPER NUNS. Proper nouns.
37D. "Thanks, Pierre, nice mug!"? : MERCI, BEAU CUP. Merci beaucoup. A rare word split, but John's OU to O candidates are very limited. You'll know when you try this approach.
42D. Short anchor? : CURT REPORTER. Court reporter.
Of the 8 entries, 2 have O's removed from the first word. Quite consistent.
Naturally it's a pangram grid (every letter is used at least once) & cheater free & full of fun clues, John's hallmarks.
This
puzzle also has lots of sparkly long fill. Just look at the left
quadrant alone: OKAY BY ME, SQUEEZE IN, BARE SKIN, STEAMY & SABBATH.
All done without any cheater. Incredible craftsmanship.
Across:
1. Fix things : ATONE
6. Egret kin seen in hieroglyphs : IBIS. He is a picture John took. He said it's "American White Ibis, hunting for aquatic prey".
10. "Paw" on "The Beverly Hillbillies" : JED
13. Courage : METTLE
19. Give room for growth, as seedlings : RE-POT
20. Slacker's word : CAN'T. And 22. Slacker's lack : ENERGY
21. Program file extension : EXE
27. Networking, maybe : ON-LINE. The first time I went on line is 1999. How about you?
28. Predictions affected by storms, briefly : ETAs
30. Dance step : TOE TAP
31. Fancy wheels : ROLLS
33. Apt name for a truck driver? : MAC. Oh, Mack truck.
35. Wagner's "__ Rheingold" : DAS
36. ER part: Abbr. : EMER
40. Armor-breaking weapon : MACE
43. "Sure" : OKAY BY ME. Lovely entry.
46. Sherlock's adversary Adler : IRENE. River Doc just mentioned her yesterday.
47. Add to a busy schedule : SQUEEZE IN. Another great entry.
50. Prior to A.D. : BCE
51. Some OPEC ministers : QATARIS
53. It's about 10% larger than Australia : EUR
57. Fresno campus inits. : CSU (California State University)
58. Birch flower clusters : CATKINS
60. Pigged out : ATE A TON. I can eat a ton of rice noodle rolls.
61. __ of fare : BILL
62. Mechanical learning : ROTE
63. Way up : HIGH
65. "No way!" : NOT ON A BET
67. Takedown expert? : STENO. Great clue.
69. Sculls : OARS
70. Father : SIRE
71. Mr. Rogers and others : FREDS
72. Flash mob? : PAPARAZZI. Look at the crossings. So clean.
74. Tear : REND. Verb "tear".
75. Goya's "The Duchess of __" : ALBA
76. Bygone theaters : RKOS
77. Antlered Eurasians : ROE DEER
79. The 2006 novel "Hannibal Rising," for one : PREQUEL. Never saw it. Must be the prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs".
82. "__ durn tootin'!" : YER
86. 1880s pres. monogram : CAA. Chester Alan Arthur.
87. Interweave : ENTWINE
89. Actress Hagen : UTA
90. More than dull : DRY AS DUST
92. Mug at a bar : STEIN. I like this clue also.
93. Detect intuitively : SMELL OUT
95. Fencing tool : EPEE
96. On the fence : TORN
97. __ room : REC
99. Old touring car : REO
100. Sniggler : EELER
103. Kitschy garden figures : GNOMES
106. Scary contest : DUEL
108. Where to find baked blackbirds : IN A PIE. I once had IN A RUG in a grid. Rich said it's a partial.
118. Drawing power : ALLURE
119. When Le Havre gets hot : ETE
120. Rain-deflecting aid : EAVE
121. Grimm baddies : OGRES
122. Cleaver : MEAT AX
123. Leb. neighbor : ISR
124. One in a flight : STEP
125. 2013 Daytime Emmy winner Gibbons : LEEZA
Down:
1. Violist's direction : ARCO. "With the bow". Learned it from doing xwords.
2. "One good __ deserves another": birder's quip : TERN. Fun clue.
3. Aussie gem : OPAL
4. "Fat chance!" : NO SIREE
5. Centric opening : ETHNO
6. "ER" setting : ICU
7. Nudist's covering? : BARE SKIN. Nice clue/answer. Have you ever been to a nude beach?
8. Technical sch. : INST
9. Hot and heavy : STEAMY
10. Atticus Finch's son : JEM
11. Way out : EXIT
12. Figure out : DECODE
13. Boy-girl link : MEETS. Boy meets Girl.
14. Grammy-winning Celtic musician : ENYA
15. Andrew Wyeth medium : TEMPERA. This word is so close to Tempura.
16. "__ Calling": 2000s Eliza Dushku TV series : TRU. Never heard of it.
17. Optimus F3 cellphones : LGs
18. Batting organ : EYE. Here is another photo from John. He said: "The compound eye of a Crane Fly, which is approximately 1 mm in diameter".
24. Frame of Bugs, e.g. : CEL. 55. Bugs : NAGS.
26. Mauna __ : KEA
29. Holy day : SABBATH
32. Chain with popcorn : LOEWS
34. Bike : CYCLE
38. Like Crusoe : ENISLED. Only in xwords.
39. Outcomes : RESULTS
40. 1/60,000 of a min. : MSEC
41. Cyan shade : AQUA
44. "Wheel" purchase : AN "O"
45. Biological pigment : MELANIN
46. Commonly mistyped word : IT'S. I mistyped THE more often.
48. Piece polisher : EDITOR
49. Region : ZONE
51. Repeat exactly : QUOTE
52. New Yorker cartoonist Peter : ARNO
56. Former Calif. base : FT. ORD
59. Hawaiian storms : KONAS. I only know Kona the coffee.
61. Backyard Jul. 4 event : BAR-B-Q
63. Obscured : HAZED
64. Metal named for a blue line in its spectrum : IRIDIUM. Does this word have the same root as Blue Iris? (Added later: The Across Lite clue is: Metal named for the Greek goddess of the rainbow.)
66. Jags or Vikes : NFLers. Star Tribune has lots of coverage on the new head coach for the Vikings.
67. Most nimble : SPRYEST
68. Fallen for : TAKEN TO
69. Protective layer : OZONE
70. One whose efforts were feudal : SERF. What a great clue! Futile.
73. Have __ of good luck : A RUN
74. Entertained : REGALED
75. Field : AREA
78. Key with an arrow : ENTER. Does your SHIFT have an arrow also?
79. Neo- or bryo- ender : PHYTE
80. Comfort : EASE
81. Overdue : LATE
83. Dart part : FIN. Don't play darts. No idea on FIN.
84. Flap : ADO
85. Soul mate : TRUE LOVE. Hope Splynter finds his soon.
88. Hand-tightened fastener : WING NUT. We had this entry a few years ago, and the constructor is ???. Guess!
91. Make bananas? : DERANGE. So many nice clues today.
93. Curtain-raising time : SCENE I
94. Watchmakers' aids : LOUPES
97. Pricey watch : ROLEX
98. Avian Aussie : EMU
101. Concern in the rough : LIE. Golf.
102. Join, in London : ENROL. We use Enroll.
104. __ Barnacle, wife of James Joyce : NORA. Gimme for Misty, our expert on James Joyce.
105. Snorkel et al.: Abbr. : SGTS
107. Q.E.D. part : ERAT
109. Utter : PURE
110. R&B singer Foxx : INEZ. Not a familiar name to me.
111. She, in Salerno : ESSA
112. Spray in the pantry : PAM
113. Seine sight : ILE
114. Bit of culinary jargon : A LA
115. Bard's adverb : E'ER
117. Spirit : PEP
C.C.
44 comments:
I'm pretty satisfied with myself. Had a natik at CAT-INS×-ONAS which I guessed was either L or K, and a missed misspelling at QuTARIS×uRNO, that I had to have red letter show me.
Whoa! For 64d the Across Lite version had "Metal named for the Greek goddess of the rainbow", while CC's analysis has "Metal named for a blue line in its spectrum"!
Skipping poetry today.
Iridium, named the iridium for the Greek goddess Iris, personification of the rainbow, because of the striking and diverse colors of its salts.
Indium, named for the indigo blue line in its spectrum that was the first indication of its existence.
Either way a nice shout out for Blue Iris....how great to wake up to a JL Sunday effort. I loved the funny results of taking out Os. CRASH CURSE, MICKEY MUSE and DOWN ON ALL FURS are each worth the price of admission.
As usual C.C. has said it all except let's get ready for some football
Morning, all!
As usual, I loves me a good punny theme. I grokked the theme early in the game and had a delightful time figuring out the theme answers along the way. Well, except perhaps for MERCI BEAUCUP. French puns are not my forte...
A few struggles here and there, including the completely unknown KONAS, ARNO and NORA. Wanted OKEYDOKEY instead of OKAYBY ME, which messed things up a bit in that section. And bryo-PHYTE meant exactly nothing to me (although I obviously knew neo-PHYTE).
Did a brief double take on the "ER" setting clue, since the show "ER" is set in... the ER! But yeah, ICU works as well... ^_^
In closing, GO PATS!!!
Indium, Iridium, which is the proper idiom?
Mistaking "n" for "ri" perturbs my equilibrium!
One is rainbow, one is blue,
What should a cruciverbalist do?
Retreat to my condominium and take a dose of lithium!
Good morning!
This puzzle was OKAY BY ME. I got the theme at CRASH CURSE and was off and running. John left no tern unstoned today.
C.C., darts have feathers (or fins), similar to the fletching on an arrow, to help them fly true.
On my keyboard the enter key has the words "enter" and "return" (both in lower case). The shift key just says "shift." No arrows on either key.
I can't remember when I first went online. I started dialing into bulletin boards in the early 80's, and at some point switched to the internet. I said from the start that this internet thing was never going to amount to anything.
I've never been to a nude beach, but I have seen nude sunbathers in the English Garden in Munich. Those crazy Germans…
Good morning C.C. et al.
I was delighted to see John's name today, as I knew I was in for a really fun puzzle. And I wasn't disappointed!! I got the theme with the first entry, and had fun trying to figure out the rest as I went along.
But you are making me hungry with those mouth-watering pics of rice noodle rolls and tempura, C.C.!
I have been to nude beaches. Since my father was Finnish, we had a sauna in the back yard. Being around nude people seems very natural to me.
My keyboard is like desper-otto's. No arrows. So I needed some perp help to get ENTER. Most of the rest was just smooth sailing.
Looking forward to football this afternoon, so I had better get my chores done this morning!
I'm under attack; I have arrows everywhere. Shifts have up arrows. Backspace and enter each have one. Tab has two and they're in a crossfire!
Whew! Early on I think I could have walked away from a DNF without any hard feelings. But I kept hopping all over, filling in something here and there, and soon I was approaching something looking like a completed puzzle. Getting MERCIBEAUCUP was a big boost (and a lot of fun) and I filled PROPERNUNS with only the initial "P" (thanks to pulling LOUPE out of thin air).
But what almost stopped me in my tracks was my early (and fairly confident) fill of PASTELS for "Andrew Wyeth medium". Shows what I know about Art. Or Andrew. Fixing that cured the NE.
I temporarily forget that Snorkel was a SGT so kept trying to think of some underwater connection (and the capitalization wasn't obvious since it was the first word in the clue).
So, in the end a very satisfying puzzle with lots of clever clues and fills. But it didn't start out that way.
[32:28]
P.S. Since we're mentioning nude beaches, many years ago I spent an hour or so at More Mesa near Santa Barbara. I brought a magazine so I'd have something to . . .
Greetings!
A most amusing puzzle, John! Great expo, CC!
Took awhile but finally got the TADA!
DERANGE was favorite fill, after theme fills. Some answers were perped, like KONAS.
Blue Iris: nice to hear from you. Hope your kidney function improves. I am happy that you have a wonderful spouse.
I have had wonderful irises as of late. White with blue/purple fringe is very beautiful. I guess that they think it is spring!
Cheers!
MERCI BEAU CUP? Are you kidding me? What a fun and clever puzzle with a theme (loved Sugar Daddy too) that elicited outright laughter! Thanks John! Can’t improve on CC’s summary.
Musings
-CRASH? We have three in-house backups and Carbonite online
-MICKEY MUSE: I wonder why Donald doesn’t have any underwear.
-PROPER NUNS got sent to my parochial-school-teacher daughter a few minutes ago
-An ATONER sometimes does not get an ATONEE that will let it go
-TURN had to be TERN for REPOT but…
-BTW, Didja hear about the man who fed dope to some seabirds? He left no TERN unstoned.
-Joann doesn’t mind our Seattle ETA this summer; it’s the early Omaha ETD…
-Non-slackers always seem to be able to SQUEEZE IN one more thing
-ROTE learning is rewarded here and on Jeopardy
-ROE DEER abound at Highclere (actual Downton Abbey)
-DRY AS DUST? Oh yeah, church at 11 today
-The last time I was “On the Fence”, I did REND my pants
-Hilarious (now) DECODER commercial from my ute!
-I wonder if ENYA sits next to YOKO, OONA and ARTE on the cwd bench of B-list celebs
-I misspelled “its” twice today already
-Nude beach? No, however it conjures up pleasant and scary images. Online? 1985 AD.
Hi there~!
Wonderful puzzle from Mr. Lampkin - full of his favorite subjects; "DOWN ON ALL FURS" - hysterical
Alas, Splynter has to begin his search anew for his SOUL MATE - Ms. Hostess has a BF....at least it's not 'married'....
My keyboard is the same arrangement as Argyle's
Here's me with Sister Barbara at my anniversary two years ago, one of the "PROPER NUNS" I am friends with - no Catholic school for me~!
Online since 1997, Ohio; my buddy Steve, from Chi-KEH-go, bought a used computer with his whole paycheck one Friday, got home and "Dialed Up" - I have not been the same since~!
Splynter
Hi Everyone ~~
I'm always entertained by John Lampkin's puzzles and this one kept me busy for a long while! I was unsure in so many places but it often turned out that my first thought was right.
I enjoyed your write-up, C.C. and agree with your comments about the cluing ~ so clever!
~ A number of write-overs - i.e. Agilest before SPRYEST and Lowes before LOEWS - got my businesses mixed-up.
~ Favorites: (to name a couple - there were many!) 67A - Take-down expert /STENO and 116A - well-mannered sisters / PROPER NUNS.
~ My laptop computer has no arrows on its keys, but my desk-top does.
~ I've been on the Internet since 1997. My sister told me I could shop! I started out just on QVC. Now, it's where I do just about all my shopping.
~ Getting ready for a day of football with a little basketball thrown in.
~ Blue Iris - wishing the best for you.
Enjoyed the Lamkin puzzle as expected. Glad I brought the laptop to the Big Easy. When at home in the OC Merle Reagle in the LA Times gets precedence with pencil (and eraser). Then the online Tribune with the link here.
Went online around 1993 with a PacBell dial-up that drove me nuts. About three years later, when Cox gave us high-speed cable access I was in ethernet heaven.
My desktop and laptop keyboards are the same as Argyle's - a whole lotta arrows!
I do not remember when I went online, but I am certain it was sometime long after 1993. I am surprised how many people here can give the year when they went online. I just can't tie it to a year or an event, I guess. But now it is a part of everyday life.
Hello Puzzlers -
The word that comes to mind about this puzzle is "Craftsmanship". JL, you've done it again! Favorite theme fill is Merci Beau Cup for its originality.
Morning, C.C., never been to a nude beach exactly. Went to an ordinary beach in Greece once where anything goes; there was, well, quite a variety. That's where it occurred to me that not all beachgoers are going to be tall & tan & young & lovely.
I'm not sure when I first went online but it was at "work" on an IBM PC XT and I still have the old GEnie and CompuServe user manuals so I'll guess the mid-80s. My first computer was a Commodore 64.
Good Morning:
Sad to say, this was a FIW due to spell instead of smell. I though iridiup looked strange but left it. Oh well, Mr. Lampkin gave us a fun, challenging Sunday offering, with lots of clever clues and fill, so no complaints. Nice write-up, CC.
I believe we got our first computer in 1997 and how enthralled we were! Learning how to navigate the cyber world was another story entirely. How far we've come since then, as I type this on my iPad.
Have a relaxing day watching the play-off games.
Good morning everyone.
Enjoyed John's puzzle and C.C.'s write-up today. Very balanced, and enjoyed the puns. Sussing the theme helped get some of the longer fill in the North. Assuming Qatar would send more than one minister to an OPEC meeting I thought the QATARIS/QUOTE crossing was very elegant. No searches were needed.
I've been ON-LINE since the mid 90's - before 1997.
Thank you, John Lampkin for a clever puzzle. Thank you C.C. for another fine review.
This puzzle was fun, entertaining, and an excellent Sunday mental challenge! It took me about an hour, a little longer than my usual Sunday puzzle, but worth it. I finally had to Google two clues I didn’t know and the perps just weren’t helping me yet -- 35A Wagner's "__ Rheingold”: DAS, and 16D "__ Calling": 2000s Eliza Dushku TV series: TRU.
I’m never sure if it is Mauna LOA or Mauna KEA, so I always need a perp or two to direct me.
I knew 44D “Wheel” purchase would be AN_, but needed the perp to finish that one.
The misuse of “its” and “it’s” jumps off the page and bothers me, but then I have to remind myself to focus on what is important in life. It’s not!
Okay, I'm stumped. FIW?
(And should it be added to the list of abbreviations?)
AC @ 11:13 - FIW=Finished It Wrong.
Been thinking back about the on-line situation. I started using a dial-up service as a means to get aviation weather information in 1989, but that may not count as on-line since it didn't require the new Internet to function. I started using email at work in the mid 90's, and just loved it. Life hasn't been the same since!
TESTING
Prior post had some odd glitch.
Hello, friends. It's good to see you, C.C. and learn whatever I missed.
I loved this puzzle with its many witty clues, take down expert, STENO; flash mob, PAPARAZZI; batting organ, EYE; piece polisher, EDITOR; make bananas, DERANGE; and, of course, the theme answers. Brilliant, John Lampkin.
Naturally, I immediately thought of Misty with NORA (which perped itself).
Almost satisfying until I realized that I hadn't finished the top with one empty cell at BARE SKIN since I had ISIS instead of IBIS. Still, it was great fun. And because the PF Chang marathon race is going past our church and morning Masses are cancelled, there was no hurry and this took much longer than the usual 45 mins. for Sunday.
What a nice shout out to Blue IRIS on her birthday weekend; maybe now I'll remember!
Have a splendiferous Sunday, everyone!
Thanks C.C. for the kind words, solid analysis and for including my photographs. I keep wishing I could make a crossword where all the clues are photos, but it's too daunting a task.
Thank you all for the upbeat comments! Your pleasure is one of the rewards of creating these.
MICKEY MUSE was the seed.
I like MERCI BEAU CUP also, Dudley @ 10:34, because it's so unexpected. I briefly considered cluing it in terms of athletic supporters but...
I can't recall exactly when I went on line, only that it was in the late 80s at work. In about 1990 our school started putting the rosters on computer and I began using e-mail. As has been said, life has not been the same since then.
Irish Miss@11:35: Thanks for the prompt reply. And I hope you'll forgive (or at least understand) my curmudgeonly, left brain, nitpicking but if it's finished wrong it's not really finished, is it. Otherwise one could fill all the squares with random letters and claim to have "finished" the puzzle.
Perhaps "Filled It Wrong" is more accurate?
A very enjoyable puzzle, John. And with ample bonus punnishment. It was harder than a typical Sunday for me, but doable.
Almost game time. Go Donkeys!!!
Hi Y'all! Very clever and fun as is expected of John Lampkin! Bravo! Encore!. Great one, C.C.!
This was not a speed run. A challenge in places. I tried Kuwaiti & Saudiis before Qataris showed up. TEMPERA escaped my mind too long.
DOWN ON ALL FUR: Long before PETA SHOWED up, someone asked me if I didn't want a mink coat. I told him I really didn't like the idea of dead animals hanging on my back.
Going ON LINE wasn't an option available on the farm. I had used it for Associated Press fill stories the last time I worked at a newspaper in late 90's. Then when I did accounting at the car dealership, I used it to transmit my detailed balance sheet each month to GM. I didn't buy a new computer and go ONLINE for personal use until Feb. 2011.
I really enjoyed the puzzle. John Lampkin has become a favorite of mine. The theme was fun; not that different from the NOPE theme of a couple of days ago. For whatever reason, that theme seemed to annoy some people but this one didn't. Mickey Muse made me smile.
Sunday Morning continued to be one of the TV high points of the week with features on Roseanne Cash, Doodling, Driverless cars, Sherlock Holmes and Marilyn Hagerty, restaurant critic in North Forks who received notoriety for her viral review of The Olive Garden there. (I thought she was great.) I haven't seen the Moment of Nature yet.
Speaking of The Olive Garden...
A SPAGHETTI LOVE STORY
For several years, a man was having an affair with an Italian woman. One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant.
Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he said he would pay her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the child. Furthermore, if she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18.
She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born. To keep it discreet, he told her to simply mail him a post card, and write 'Spaghetti' on the back. He would then arrange for the child support payments to begin.
One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife. 'Honey, she said, 'you received a very strange post card today.'
'Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later,' he said. The wife obeyed and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted.
On the card was written:
Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.
Three with meatballs, two without.
Send extra sauce.
Happy Sunday everybody!
Well, this was one of those get stuck, walk away, nosh a bit, come back, go AHA! kind of puzzles for me. Knew it was going to be fun at seeing the TERN clue right off the bat....
WEES about the abundance of great cluing today. FUNDING FATHERS was the Rosetta stone....
Favorite answer = QATARIS, of course....
TRU Calling was a gimme - enjoy everything Eliza Dushka is in, including True Lies....
Been online since the early 90s. The XT was also my first PC, and it was connected to an Epson dot matrix printer. Hands up for joining Bulletin Boards before the Net took precedence. Back in the day, the CRASH CURSE was delivered because of the "blue screen of death...."
Been to a couple of nude beaches. Favorite one was on the Cote d'Azur. All those crazy Frawnchmen and women gettin' their MELANIN on....
Go Niners...!
Finally, a really bad pun. Does a bald nudist call his toupee a bare skin rug....?
You people are so say anything negative.
Allow me:
"It's about 10% larger than Australia : EUR"
The clue needs to indicate that the answer is an abbreviation.
To: Anonymous @ 3:19 pm
Please learn how to write a complete sentence. IMHO, YER a WINGNUT !!
Anon@3:19 you seem to have elided the words "reluctant to" from your opening sentence. You're right, EUR is larger than Aus. or .AU, not Australia. But please use a handle when making comments. You might be less likely to be insulted that way.
-Just back from playing 18 on a day with a record high of 64!
-I just thought of this theme entry: Requesting property lines from a British surveyor? WHATS IT ALL ABUT ALFIE?
Thanks again everyone for birthday shout-outs.
Lucina, thinking of it as my birthday weekend makes it seem more important.
Whenever I see it's a John Lampkin puzzle, I look forward to puns and a fun solve. Unfortunately, today puzzle beat me. WAGS did not even help. Still loved great cluing and fills, but not smart enough to suss the theme.
We purchased our first computer, a Gateway, when our twin reached Junior High School (1994).
They put a computer on my desk at work in 1998. My students would tell me how painful it was to watch me trying to navigate online.
I became too embarrassed to send for tech help again so the students in the clinic would get me out of a jam. I ask my proctor to find some info online and somehow she got into a porn site and started yelling my name. We exited quickly, but she was sure we were in "big trouble." I'm glad search engines have improved greatly.
Wow! This was one of my all time favorites today, terrific theme, great clues, funny puns. I always enjoy a John Lampkin puzzle.
John, it was good to hear from you. I was hoping for an explanation of the different clues for IRIDIUM in two different papers. I think the one in the other paper was better. Which was yours?
I was one who didn't much care for Friday's NOPE puzzle. It wasn't the theme, it was the clues that turned me off.
I started with a word processing typewriter with a disc, which I used for my MA thesis in 1989. We had to present our mentor with retyped altered copies every week. Then I bought an out of date Mac in 1991, mostly for word processing. I also used it for email and Internet (dial up)in the early 90's. I had to invent many work-arounds since it was so creaky.
Buying a multitasking Dell in 2000 was eye opening and fun and led to much more frequent internet usage.
I learned much about Goggling by checking crossword answers. I am still challenged by graphics.
I finally finished "A Reliable Wife." That's several hours of my life I will never get back. Irish Miss, you said you doubted that I would like it. Very perceptive. I was about 75 percent finished and I put it aside for a while. I came back to it today while having a macchiato at the local coffee shop and finished it. More time wasted (for me). I couldn't find anybody in the book that I cared about. Kind of like I felt years ago after watching "Pulp Fiction."
I started my computer life with an Apple 2+. I learned to program in Basic a little bit. I still have it. I wonder if it's worth anything? Then I got a Macintosh. My brother gave me a 28K modem and I became hooked using First Class bulletin boards and the Internet. I would be surfing the Net when somebody in the house would pick up a phone and I would get disconnected. Ah, the good old days...
YR, I agree with you regarding John Lampkin. His puzzles never disappoint. It was funny to hear your take on the early days of computing. I had a similar experience.
So, I guess the super bowl is upon us. Let the hype begin.
I didn't care for the production of Sherlock tonight. Hodge-podge.
OTOH:
Downton Abbey was wonderful!
Lucina, I will be looking forward to it, especially after the downer last week.
I've always liked Sherlock Holmes, both the books and the early movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. (I never could see how a smart dude like Rathbone's Holmes could ever put up such a bumbler.) I like Elementary OK but I tried the new Sherlock a couple of times and I found the actors unappealing.
Have you tried the new Robin Hood on PBS? I like it OK.
Owen, repeat your post but try not to put any spoilers in it. By the way, I agree with you.
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