Words: 64 (missing J,Q,Z)
Blocks: 25
YES~!!!
This one looked daunting, to say the least, but I did manage to solve
it - though I have to admit to two red-letter checks. :>( I did some
research, and it looks like Mitch is new to the LAT scene - he has had 6
NYT puzzles, the last one dating back to 2004. His grid today has a
truly symmetrical pinwheel design which boasts the lowest block count I
can recall, and I think the fewest words, too. This led to monster 8 X 6
chunks in the corners, plus 4 crossing 11-letter words on the inside;
24a. Opportunity seeker's words : GIVE ME A SHOT - that's all I'm asking....
42a. Began chastising : STARTED IN ON
9d. Visibly awestruck : OPEN-MOUTHED - if certain events played out smoothly last night, I invited someone to stop here at the blog and take a peek at what I do; I am 'visibly awestruck' when I see her....
ONWAAARD~!!!
ACROSS:
1. Name : ACCUSE - Dah~!! Went with HANDLE first - I did know the "E" was correct
7. On-again, off-again : SPORADIC
15. Allure maker : CHANEL - ah, I was thinking cars; so, Toyota does not make the Allure....my friend Adam owns a restaurant out here on L.I. called "A lure", which is a pretty clever name for its location on the Sound and the Bay
16. First of August? : CAPITAL A - It's the first letter of a name, too....I knew that the last letter of the answer would be an "A" from the question mark, but I wondered if there was another word to describe double vowels because "diphthong" wouldn't fit
17. Soup choice : TOMATO - Dah~! I had the "O", but stared at this one way too long
18. Metal seeker : ORE MINER - DETECTOR fit, too
19. 1936 Olympics standout : OWENS - had to wait on a few perps to recall this name
..
20. Band with an umlaut on the "n" in its name : SPINAL TAP - Oh, I am all over this clue - so many umlauts to choose from.... (Note from C.C.: I screwed up Splynter's N mark earlier. Click here see how it's stylized. If you know how to put the umlaut above capital letter N, please let me know.)
22. It's all in your head : DREAM - technically speaking, so is your BRAIN
23. "Jabberwocky" creature : TOVE - complete W.A.G. - the Wiki on the poem
27. Lifesaver, at times : NET
28. Not quite as many : ONE LESS - How ironic that I had "CALAMITY" at 1d, and so I tried TWO LESS at first, and thought "there's no way that got in the puzzle"
29. "You betcha!" : "SURE~!"
31. Sneer at : DERIDE
32. Conducted a trial : TESTED
36. Like some U.S. mail : CERTified - the only thing certified at UPS is the insanity
39. Taft became its president after his term as U.S. president : ABA
44. __ salad : COBB
46. Scandinavian bard of yore : SKALD - the straight up word for "poet" in the language
47. __ Harker, heroine in Stoker's "Dracula" : MINA - I just saw this for the first time about a month ago - not that great, seemed to drag on a bit, but - Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors; Commissioner Gordon, Sirius Black, and "Zorg"; what movie is this last character from?
48. Heading for : EN ROUTE TO
50. Big Ben sounds : BONGS
51. It's unpleasant to end on one : SOUR NOTE - This clip contains one of the best sour notes I can recall - and it set the tone for the movie
52. Word often seen after rinse : REPEAT- and preceded by "Lather" on your shampoo bottle
53. Not 100 per cent : IMPAIRED
54. She beat Midori for the 1992 Olympic gold medal : KRISTI - Yamaguchi
55. Without holding back : TO THE MAX
56. "Wait a minute" : "ONE SEC"
DOWN:
1. Unforeseeable event : ACT OF GOD - the one NOT covered by your insurance
2. Order at a mess : CHOW LINE
3. Dropped by : CAME OVER
4. Devilish : UNANGELIC - I had the "U", "A" and "L", so this was a complete W.A.G. - it's only when I came to do the write-up that I said "Hey, that was right?!?"
5. Gig arrangements : SETS - Musical gigs, and what the band plays in between drinking binges
6. "Don't Bring Me Down" gp. : ELO
7. Checks (out) : SCOPES
8. Outcasts : PARIAHS
10. Device for un poeta : RIMA - I'm guessing this is Spanish (or Italian?) for poetry and rhyme
11. Leaning : ATILT
12. Robespierre foe : DANTON - Notables from the Frawnche Revolution
13. Start of a bequest : I LEAVE - "to my son, I LEAVE the Porsche 918..."
14. Shag, e.g. : CARPET - Yeah, baby, Yeah~!
20. Mmes., in Mexico : SRAs
25. Ancient Iranians : MEDEs
26. __ water : TREAD
30. Treat once known as an I-Scream Bar : ESKIMO PIE - Nailed it
33. Lilliputian quality : TININESS
34. String out : ELONGATE - a bit 'meh' for me; I wouldn't say addicts get "elongated"....
35. Like the New York Yankees, historically : DYNASTIC - Screw the Yankees - and I'm from NY
37. Break, in Bath : TAKE TEA - Bath, the city in England
38. WWII battle site : St.LO - more Frawnche
39. Nails the exam : ACES IT
40. Turkish Taffy maker : BONOMO - the "B" was my last fill, and it was a W.A.G.
41. Short : ABRUPT
43. Like "Midnight Cowboy," originally : RATED X - I remembered this, and went with "X-RATED" first, but the letter combinations weren't working
45. __ Peak, highest mountain in Idaho : BORAH
49. Combined, in Chartres : UNIE - more Frawnche
50. Swiss capital : BERN
52. "The Body Snatcher" studio : RKO - Here's the Wiki on this one; not to be confused with "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", which terrorized me as a child....I didn't sleep comfortably for a year - that's when they come and GET you~!
7. On-again, off-again : SPORADIC
15. Allure maker : CHANEL - ah, I was thinking cars; so, Toyota does not make the Allure....my friend Adam owns a restaurant out here on L.I. called "A lure", which is a pretty clever name for its location on the Sound and the Bay
16. First of August? : CAPITAL A - It's the first letter of a name, too....I knew that the last letter of the answer would be an "A" from the question mark, but I wondered if there was another word to describe double vowels because "diphthong" wouldn't fit
17. Soup choice : TOMATO - Dah~! I had the "O", but stared at this one way too long
18. Metal seeker : ORE MINER - DETECTOR fit, too
19. 1936 Olympics standout : OWENS - had to wait on a few perps to recall this name
..
20. Band with an umlaut on the "n" in its name : SPINAL TAP - Oh, I am all over this clue - so many umlauts to choose from.... (Note from C.C.: I screwed up Splynter's N mark earlier. Click here see how it's stylized. If you know how to put the umlaut above capital letter N, please let me know.)
21. Aggressively promote : FLOG
22. It's all in your head : DREAM - technically speaking, so is your BRAIN
23. "Jabberwocky" creature : TOVE - complete W.A.G. - the Wiki on the poem
27. Lifesaver, at times : NET
28. Not quite as many : ONE LESS - How ironic that I had "CALAMITY" at 1d, and so I tried TWO LESS at first, and thought "there's no way that got in the puzzle"
29. "You betcha!" : "SURE~!"
31. Sneer at : DERIDE
32. Conducted a trial : TESTED
36. Like some U.S. mail : CERTified - the only thing certified at UPS is the insanity
38. With a quiver : SHAKILY - because 'crossbow' didn't fit (Har-har~!)
39. Taft became its president after his term as U.S. president : ABA
44. __ salad : COBB
46. Scandinavian bard of yore : SKALD - the straight up word for "poet" in the language
47. __ Harker, heroine in Stoker's "Dracula" : MINA - I just saw this for the first time about a month ago - not that great, seemed to drag on a bit, but - Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors; Commissioner Gordon, Sirius Black, and "Zorg"; what movie is this last character from?
48. Heading for : EN ROUTE TO
50. Big Ben sounds : BONGS
51. It's unpleasant to end on one : SOUR NOTE - This clip contains one of the best sour notes I can recall - and it set the tone for the movie
52. Word often seen after rinse : REPEAT- and preceded by "Lather" on your shampoo bottle
53. Not 100 per cent : IMPAIRED
54. She beat Midori for the 1992 Olympic gold medal : KRISTI - Yamaguchi
55. Without holding back : TO THE MAX
56. "Wait a minute" : "ONE SEC"
DOWN:
1. Unforeseeable event : ACT OF GOD - the one NOT covered by your insurance
3. Dropped by : CAME OVER
4. Devilish : UNANGELIC - I had the "U", "A" and "L", so this was a complete W.A.G. - it's only when I came to do the write-up that I said "Hey, that was right?!?"
5. Gig arrangements : SETS - Musical gigs, and what the band plays in between drinking binges
6. "Don't Bring Me Down" gp. : ELO
7. Checks (out) : SCOPES
8. Outcasts : PARIAHS
10. Device for un poeta : RIMA - I'm guessing this is Spanish (or Italian?) for poetry and rhyme
11. Leaning : ATILT
12. Robespierre foe : DANTON - Notables from the Frawnche Revolution
13. Start of a bequest : I LEAVE - "to my son, I LEAVE the Porsche 918..."
20. Mmes., in Mexico : SRAs
25. Ancient Iranians : MEDEs
26. __ water : TREAD
30. Treat once known as an I-Scream Bar : ESKIMO PIE - Nailed it
33. Lilliputian quality : TININESS
34. String out : ELONGATE - a bit 'meh' for me; I wouldn't say addicts get "elongated"....
35. Like the New York Yankees, historically : DYNASTIC - Screw the Yankees - and I'm from NY
37. Break, in Bath : TAKE TEA - Bath, the city in England
38. WWII battle site : St.LO - more Frawnche
39. Nails the exam : ACES IT
40. Turkish Taffy maker : BONOMO - the "B" was my last fill, and it was a W.A.G.
41. Short : ABRUPT
43. Like "Midnight Cowboy," originally : RATED X - I remembered this, and went with "X-RATED" first, but the letter combinations weren't working
45. __ Peak, highest mountain in Idaho : BORAH
49. Combined, in Chartres : UNIE - more Frawnche
50. Swiss capital : BERN
52. "The Body Snatcher" studio : RKO - Here's the Wiki on this one; not to be confused with "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", which terrorized me as a child....I didn't sleep comfortably for a year - that's when they come and GET you~!
Splynter
Amsterdam (with a CAPITAL A)
ReplyDeleteIs a place where smoking of pot is okay.
KRISTI TESTED some shit,
The good stuff ACES IT,
But she got bad and went SHAKILY away!
The SKALD in Amsterdam was FLOGing his songs,
Said, "GIVE ME A SHOT from one of those BONGS."
The smoke IMPAIRED his beat,
A SOUR NOTE he'd REPEAT,
But no one cared to DERIDE them as wrongs!
Little Willie was at best UNANGELIC.
His proper behavior was SPORADIC.
If his pranks were ONE LESS,
It would last just ONE SEC.;
Now his kids are the same, it's DYNASTIC!
(Yeah, as poetry, these are PARIAHS. Not near as good as the tonsilitis/tonsillitis one I posted at 10:06 last night.)
What a treat to read Splynter's account of Mitch Komro's low word-count puzzle, followed by Owen's poem.
ReplyDeleteBack where C.C. and I live, today is an annual quasi-holiday that may be memorialized by a Crossword Puzzle That's the Reel Deal. Speaking of which, we currently have to deal, for the second time this year, with something For Solvers Like You. Hope you like these puzzles!
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteGood work, Mitch and Splynter.
After a while, turned on red letters. However, things went pretty easily, with no more reds. Didn't know SKALD, BONOMO and BORAH, but, otherwise pretty easy.
I achieved a 20,421 at THREES!
Almost a world record. Now I can't seem to play worth a darn. Time to take up something else. There is an imitation out called 2048 (2^11). Fun, too.
Mother's Day is tomorrow, as my younger son and family are coming over. (Won't hear from other two. However, SIL is sending something.)
Have a good weekend, all!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteAll right, we've had the poem from Own and the plug from George, so I guess it's time for the prattle from me to round out the morning P's...
Man, this one left me feeling a bit beat up. Lots of stuff to love, but also some ugliness as well (UNANGELIC and OREMINER spring to mind). And plenty of complete and utter unknowns today such as BORAH, BONOMO, DANTON and TOVE (the crossing of those last two nearly did me in and I managed to finish unassisted simply because I guessed correctly at the crossing "O").
Elsewhere, I really wanted HYPE before FLOG made itself apparent and it took me a loooooong time to finally suss out CHOW LINE (I got the CHOW part quickly, but was fixed on a spoken "order" such as "CHOW DOWN!")
Sorry, make that "Owen" and not "Own"...
ReplyDeleteGood morning all.
ReplyDeletePretty much what Splynter said in his opening. Visibly formidable, but not impossible. One horizontal pass, and one vertical pass, and then off to proving and filling in the blocks.
Liked SPORADIC, PARIAHS, ABRUPT, ELONGATE, IMPAIRED, and DYNASTIC (Hi LaLALinda !)
Among the easy answers were ELO, SPINAL TAP, KRISTI, OWENS, and DESERT STORM. Stormin' Norman.
Luckiest association was metal seeker to ---niner (49er?) to ---MINER to ORE MINER. Worst entry was entering RECUSE at 1A after having the --C-SE. D'OH !
Didn't know FLOG, MINA, TOVE, MEDES, BONOMO and SKALD. And of course, frawnch UNIE. It was UNIt until the article became apparent.
UNANGELIC wasn't as well received here. Owen's Law ? I could not do better.
Was not fooled by CAPITAL A, nor Swiss capital BERN.
Among the wags that worked were TOMATO and RKO, the intersecting O in DANTON and TOVE...
Chores await. Have a great day all.
Good morning, Saturday soldiers!
ReplyDeleteLike Splynter, I wagged the B in ABA and came here expecting a Bzzzzzt DNF because of it. Nope. Also put in BRAIN before DREAM forced it out. Splynter, that movie with Zorg is The Fifth Element. Anybody else wanna negotiate?
I actually remembered BORAH. I looked at all the state's highest points when YR posted 'em the other day. I kept reading the clue for 14d as "Shaq," so CARPET began life as CENTER -- don't know if he actually played that position.
But in the end, I still got the DNF. I started 33d as TINY____. Later Loch NESS flowed in, but I never fixed that Y. MYNA looked OK. Bzzzzzzt!
Me too, DO. Done in by two Ys (Myna and Tyve) and simply forgot to go back and make a guess at the B in Bonomo. Sigh....3 strikes and I'm out.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Saturday soldiers!
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up as always, Splynter.
But I have to take exception to the clue at 20-A. The curly mark over the N in SPINAL TAP is called a tilde. An umlaut is two dots over vowels.
WBS about T_VE crossing DANT_N. The NW was last to fall, and it all opened up when I realized that 36-A had to be an abbr. and entered CERT. The rest fell in no time at all.
Have a great day everyone.
AAUGH!
ReplyDeleteACK!!
Thumper
Pretty much WBS. Of course my first reaction was "No way!". But I hopped around and eventually filled all but most of the NE quadrant. I couldn't imagine an umlaut over an "n" (that's a tilde in the write-up). Turns out it's a sub-species known as a metal umlaut. And CAPITAL A eluded me for a long time. In the end, a very satisfying fill.
ReplyDelete[20:56]
Good Saturday Morning,
ReplyDeleteSplynter, your comment about admitting to a couple red-letter checks made me feel better about doing the same.
16A. Was a "d'oh!" moment for me (First of August). Tried "u" making my attempt at 12D "Dunton". I had wagged "capitula" since it sounded latin-y to me but the red letter gave me a facepalm moment.
17A, I tried "du jour" and it fit but it was "tomato" soup" instead.
44A, I tried the chef salad but cobb salad sounded better.
39A ABA seemed a logical (American Bar Association)for a former president, since most politicians are lawyers by training.
I was happy to see a mention of one of my favorite groups today, ELO. I'll leave you with a link to their song.
Don't Bring Me Down
Have a great weekend, all.
22 across is a Bob Dylan reference. It's from "Talking World War III Blues":
ReplyDeleteOne time ago a crazy dream came to me
I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three
Went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say
He said, "It was a bad dream"
I wouldn't worry 'bout it none, though
They were my own dreams
Were only in your head
Good morning everyone. Well-done write-up, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteTough one to start out. I was initially agape and OPEN-MOUTHED. But then slowly got a few anchors: BERN, ST LÔ, and DESERT STORM. Quickly, and unbelievably, my brain reached way, way down and got SKALD. Slowly the bottom bloomed out and, with lots of good guesses, most of the solve was accomplished. I was ready for the CAPITAL A. Got ACT OF GOD and UNANGELIC in the NW and it was done. Lots of rich fill: PARIAHS, DYNASTIC, SPORADIC, and the long acrosses as Splynter pointed out. Good job, Mitch.
This morning, at our 2 bird feeders near the house, we woke up to a male and female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak; one at each feeder. It seemed like the female was deferring to the male's preferences. Usually they only tarry for a few days and then continue northward, Beautiful birds - same family as Cardinals.
Have a great weekend.
Splynter’s summative paragraph works for me. Jesse OWENS was my only NW fill and then REPEAT in the SE where I found a foothold and worked back up. An ideal Saturday solve for me that rewarded my patience and persistence. Thanks Mitch!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-It is de rigueur here to have a grilled cheese sandwich (sammy) with our TOMATO soup
-Jesse and Jackie broke through barriers that seemed impenetrable at the time
-After Tuesday, we will stop getting robo calls FLOGGING candidates
-No NET in this horrific accident last week
-I’ll take Marilyn McCoo’s ONE LESS Bell To Answer over Justin Bieber’s ONE LESS Lonley Girl
-I wonder if people in Fargo and Brainerd have “You Betcha” in autotype ;-)
-BONGS are a growth industry in the Rockies
-My daughter’s Samsung phone will not work if it senses it is going over 25mph so her driving is not IMPAIRED by its use
-With three women in the family, do you know how many times I heard “IN A SEC” while waiting in the car?
-Our military bloggers would probably never order SOS in a chow line
-My spell check didn’t recognize UNANGELIC any more than I did but I am not one to complain about allowances in constructing such a masterful puzzle
-Have been doing these too long when I immediately put in ATILT?
-My first Shag was her HAIRDO and Bern was more straight forward than our usual EURO
-The DYNASTIC Yankees had the biggest and smartest checkbook in the game. It is still the former but not the latter.
This was a real toughie, and put MONA instead of MINA. Otherwise, rest were perps. Somehow, got stumped by the CAPITALA, though shouldn't have.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great puzzle, Mitch, and great write-up, Splynter.
Fun puzzle today. I solved it in quadrants from SE to SW to NW to NE, the most difficult for me. CAPITAL A had me going for a long while. DANTON was all perps, I checked to see if it was correct. UNANGELIC, though rare, is in unabridged dictionaries. IMO it is kinder than EVIL. I like it.
ReplyDeleteString out as ELONGATE is okay by me. String out this wire between the two posts. Elongate this wire…
From Wiki:
A metal umlaut is a diaeresis that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of hard rock or heavy metal bands—I was very surprised to see an umlaut on an N, but it occurs in heavy metal only.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a major DNF due to impenetrable (for me) NW quadrant. I guess I just ran out of patience and perseverance.
A very challenging offering, Mitch, and a very informative, expo, Splynter, thanks.
I was "visibly awestruck" last night at my sister's house when her son surprised the whole family by flying up from Florida for Mother's Day. Nice "present" for Mom.
Have a super Saturday.
Addendum
ReplyDelete-I just finished yesterday’s “Canada Eh” puzzle and loved it. Elkhorn Public Schools kept sending in 13-year-olds who interrupted my efforts and then I made a NASA presentation after school (thanks for the shoutout, Tin) and we had company from Lincoln, yada, yada…
-Incorrect TORONTONSILITIS (which fit) instead of EMONTONSILITIS bespoke of my ignorance of Canadian geography
Hi Everyone ~~
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle but enjoyable. It often seemed that answers were just out of my reach, but after some time and a number of perps I was able to bring them in. And maybe for that reason, this one didn't frustrate me which can happen often with Saturday puzzles. Thanks, Mitch Komro!
A wonderful write-up, Splynter and as always, I found myself echoing your thoughts and comments. I'm with you on your first thought for 'Shag', baby, and LOL on your comment about UPS.
Write-overs: Brain/DREAM, Hype/FLOG
It seems I'm always filling in 'In a sec' when ONE SEC is needed.
Last to fill was the crossing of DANTON and TOVE - a good guess.
Favorite: 2D - Order at a mess / CHOW LINE.
I bought lots of BONOMO Turkish Taffy as a kid. (penny candy back then!)
TTP - I guess the Sox aren't DYNASTIC but I was never so happy to lose a game 8-0 as I was last night ~ one out away from getting no-hit. Yay - Papi! I did feel bad for Yu Darvish, though...kinda.
Thanks to my 9th grade English teacher making us memorize Jabberwocky (and Beowulf too), TOVE was one of the easier ones for me.
ReplyDeleteThe NW had me stumped for quite awhile.
Didn't know DANTON, had Dantov because I figured vets were lifesavers.
I came close to a solve.
I've been so busy this week that I haven't finished the puzzles and made it to the blog until late in the evening and by then it was WEES.
ReplyDeleteBut I must comment on the Canadian content this week - from Shania Twain and Alex Trebek to the wonderful Canada Eh! puzzle yesterday. Very enjoyable.
Another busy day today as we now have wonderful spring weather and must get outside to enjoy it! I may not get a chance to do this puzzle until later. And tomorrow is full of plans with the family!
Happy Mother's Day Weekend!
Anonymous @10:26. I had to memorize Jabberwocky, too.
ReplyDeleteTwas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
`Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jujub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum gree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wook,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
`And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Calloh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
LaLaLinda,
ReplyDeleteI am so, so sorry ! I thought you were a Yankees fan. I will try to make sure I never make that mistake again.
On an unrelated note, my never ending closet project continues. It's been impossible trying to finish it up during the week due to my schedule and workload.
So today, taped the floors off and painted all the baseboard, plinth blocks, corner blocks, casing and rosettes.
Now, just touch up painting on the walls, and then hanging the doors.
Now, back to the chores.
See you all later !
YR from yesterday; your "half fast" and "bass akward" comments are similar to a favorite expression used by my sister, Eileen. She's/he's/it's "a pain in the SSA!
ReplyDeleteSplynter, I love the Teddy Bear; I have quite a collection of them. (None of any monetary value, but all of sentimental meaning.)
Happy Mother's Day Eve!
ReplyDeleteAll Saturday puzzles are too hard for me. This one seemed about the usual level of hardness on the Mohs scale.
Splynter, that's quite a very excellent sour note!
Did you know (Is it true?) that the USPS is collecting food for needy families today? It wasn't well-advertised around here. I happened to hear of it on a radio newscast.
Jabberwocky is such a fun poem to read aloud to your kids and grandkids. The words don't make any sense but they sound impressive and they SEEM like they make sense.
I wonder what Alex Trebek is like in real life? He seems intelligent but with a forced sense of humor I think. The dude who came in second last night (Colby Burnett?) seems like a nice guy but has an unfortunate natural facial expression that looks a little like a smirk.
Quiver reminds me of my father who was really into field archery as a hobby. Me? a little bit too. We would go traipsing through the woods to find 28 targets ranging from 10 yards to 70 yards at which we would launch four arrows. Fun!
ReplyDeleteYes, Bill, the USPS is collecting food today. My sister in WV is part of an organization that receives,sorts and metes out the donated food to the needy. Yesterday Sis was bemoaning the fact that adverting this year was very skimpy. Her group is concerned they may not receive as many donations as usual.
We did not receive any notice here.
I came so unbelievably close to getting the WHOLE thing--a Saturday puzzle! Only TINYNESS/MYNA kept me from ACING IT. But it still felt wonderful to do so well--many thanks, Mitch! Sweet teddy bear, Splynter!
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks, many thanks for posting the Jabberwocky poem. I first put WABE instead of TOVE. Now I remember why.
I thought of you all morning yesterday, Canadian Eh, wondering how you enjoyed the Canadian puzzle. So glad to hear today that you had a chance to do it!
After the great start on the puzzle this morning, this has to be an omen for a great weekend. My husband's stroke came on the morning of Mother's Day in 2008--so I always approach the day with great foreboding. But I'm going to pray this will be a calm and happy good one.
Fond wishes to all of you for a beautiful Sunday!
Hi again~!
ReplyDeleteD-oh~!! You know how long it took to try and line up those dots overt the "N"??? That was the whole point of Spinal Tap - tongue in cheek humor, including the inappropriate use of an UMLAUT over the "N"....
Splynter
Hello, Weekend Warriors! And hats off to our supreme soldier, Splynter!
ReplyDeleteThis took me precisely one hour and WEES. It looked deceptively formidable and daunting but was surprisingly straightforward.
I started at the bottom since on Saturdays I scan and Sporadically fill here and there until I have a foothold. The SE quadrant fell first though like others TINyNESS did me in. Drat!
Then hand up for BRAIN which delayed DESERT STORM for a long while; heavy V-8 slap when the light turned on.
ABA was my WAG, too, since Pres. Taft was a lawyer and judge.
In Turkey we did NOT tour the BONOMO factory (if that's where it is) but it perped itself.
Great fun today, thank you, Mitch Komro. COME OVER again soon.
Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers, step-mothers and grandmothers.
Have yourselves a special Saturday!
My favorite kind of Saturday pzl - tough but doable. This was 100% for yrs truly, with lotsa re-writes but only one minor check (BORAH). It proves my theory (to myself) that long answers are easy once you get a start. Why? Because the breakthrough, when it comes, floods your grid with usable letters.
ReplyDeleteBut you guys knew that.
TOVE takes me back to when I used to do a one-man show as Lewis Carroll. I loved reciting Jabberwocky with Dodgson's stammer.
Later I directed a group of UCI students in a rap version of the crazy poem.
'Twas brillig (unh!)
anna slithy TOVEs
Did gyre and gimble in da wabe (uh HUH) ...
BTW, I think we should allow Misty a 100% too. Her TINYNESS/MYNA slip combines two actual words that answer the clues -- exc. only that MYNA isn't the precise spelling of the Dracula character, although plenty of MYNAs were abroad in Victorian times, not even counting the ones that flew...
Splynter@12:10: I think I would have skipped the umlaut altogether (but kudos for making the effort). After all, the "n" in Spinal Tap is lowercase. In any case (no pun intended), here are both: N̈ n̈ (though I'm not crazy about the uppercase version).
ReplyDeleteFeel free to copy and paste for future reference.
(I wonder if Jim Casey is beginning to think he wasted his scholarship on me.)
I had assumed everyone had seen this scene from "This Is Spinal Tap" and was aware of the offbeat humor, including the umlaut.
ReplyDelete12:46 Not my cuppa tea.
ReplyDeleteBah! Went around the pinwheel all nice and smoothly until I got Naticked by Taft and Taffy!
ReplyDeleteI decided Taft was a doctor and went with AMA and .... boo! Would have been a record-time Saturday too :(
Great write-up, Splynter. My brother is a UPS driver in the UK and he's moving to a brand new distribution depot this week - he says he can't wait to say goodbye to the chaos of the current place which is more than 40 years old.
C.C. - I don't think you can do a "metal" umlaut as a single character from the keyboard - it just doesn't exist in the standard Unicode character set.
Jabberwocky is one of my favorite poems, I love the fantastical language invention.
But you can do an n with a tilde: Hold down the "Alt" key while typing 241 on the number pad (not on the numbers above the keyboard) for lower case (Alt-241), Alt-209 for upper case: ñ, Ñ.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can do vowels with umlauts:
Alt-0228, Alt-0196 for a: ä, Ä,
Alt-0235, Alt-203 for e: ë, Ë,
Alt-0238, Alt-0207 for i: î, Ï,
Alt-0246, Alt-0213 for o: ö, Õ,
Alt-0252, Alt-220 for u: ü, Ü,
and Alt-0255 for y: ÿ (sorry, I did not find one for a capital Y).
Tough but doable puzzle. The O in TOVE was a WAG. Wanted HYPE before FLOG. Had XRATED before changing it to RATEDX. Words solved by perps were RIMA, MEDES, BORAH, and SKALD.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, thank you for the Hypnotized link. I haven't heard that in a long time.
The USPS food collection was well advertised in this area. In fact, the mail carrier left a shopping bag in our mail boxes for any food donations.
ReplyDeleteHere, the U.S. Postmaster sent a postcard to remind us of the food collection today and I'm usually the only one who puts a bag beside the cluster mailboxes.
ReplyDeleteI loved reciting Jabberwocky to the fourth graders and then had them recite parts of it in chorus.
While doing Yoga today I heard the term ELONGATE several times as I stretched TO THE MAX, i.e., ELONGATE your neck, ELONGATE your spine, etc.
DNF
ReplyDeleteThumper's Review (:11)
Of course I've been using the 11-second "Themper's Review" for years here.
I guess buckeye bob is going to usurp me with the "long-version" (@ 23 seconds).
A "toast" to all at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Hi Y'all! This was a FLOG for me and I mean the kind with the cat-o-nine-tails. On the first pass through I only had three entries in the top half: ELO, ATILT, & DESERT STORM. The bottom half went somewhat better and I worked back up. UNANGELIC dawned on me when I had only IC.
ReplyDeleteI learned "Jabberwocky" from a kiddie recording and could sing along. I always thought they were "slithy TOads". Surprised when that turned red.
DESERT STORM: We had two close friends go to fight in that, one a National Guard Sgt. and one, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. It was a nightmare for me at the time. I started out with bronchitis and coughed so hard I put something out in my back. Went to the hospital where it took 3 strong men to get me from the car to a gurney. Next day had a bad reaction to the painkiller. The third day I woke up with a rattle in my chest from pneumonia. The Sgt.'s wife came to tell me not to worry, her husband was okay after a bad battle that had television coverage. I was so sick, I'd forgotten there was a war.
I got a card in my house mailbox about the food drive.
Thanks, Splinter! Thanks for an engrossing mind stretcher, Mitch.
@ Tinbeni 2:55 PM --
ReplyDeleteI have no plans to usurp you. And I meant no harm. It just summarized how I felt about this puzzle after solving it. Sorry.
Taft is unique as being the only man ever to serve as both President and Supreme Court Justice. I didn't know about the ABA, but it seemed logical.
ReplyDeleteI also memorized Jabberwocky. I heard a live concert by the 3 D's my first year in college 1968, and was impressed by the way they made the first verse sound spooky, and the last verse light-hearted, even though the words are the same. My hearing is bad enough I can't make out any of the words on the link above, but the music doesn't sound anything like what I remember.
Bumppo: here's your Ys.
152=ÿ & 0255=ÿ,
0159=Ÿ,
0253=ý,
0221=Ý
157=¥ & 0165=¥ (yen)
0308=combining dieresis. I can't do these things on my netbook -- no separate numeric keys. I keep a file I can cut and paste from for most unicode characters, but this one isn't in it. And note that these are PC codes, Apple has the characters but with different numbers. And some fonts have them, some don't.
Many thanks, Ol' Man Keith--very sweet of you.
ReplyDelete@Owen and @Bumpo - I'm sure you know the PC program CHARMAP - it gives you all the characters available in each font installed on your PC.
ReplyDeleteArial is a good place to start as the Unicode character set is complete as far as I can tell.
There's an equivalent for Mac, but I can't remember offhand exactly where it is and I don't have a Mac handy to look.
Thanks everyone who explained the "umlaut" over the N in SPINAL TAP. Not in to heavy metal, I guess. Learning moment - priceless!
ReplyDeleteSame here. Thanks to all who explained the umlauts which I could never understand why they were placed there. Definitely not into heavy metal.
ReplyDeleteTTP @ 11:07 ~ LOL - I thought you were joking! Nope, not a fan of the DYNASTIC ones. There are a few Sox-Yanks rivalries here on the Corner, but most of it is in fun - not mean-spirited.
ReplyDeleteIt would take some doing to repeat the success of last year, but I just enjoy watching them play...and trying to get back to .500! :-\
Hello everybody. I liked the heck out of this puzzle. I classify it right up there in the top 10 masterpieces. Of course, I was daunted by the sea of white, but figured if I could get a fingernail hold with a couple of answers I was sure of, that i could solve it letter by letter. Sure enough, I was confident enough of SRAS, BONGS, BERN, and STLO to pencil them in and get a start. I should not have penciled in PLEASE instead of I LEAVE, REVLON instead of CHANEL, BRAIN instead of DREAM, and HYPE instead of FLOG, though. I only had to look up BONOMO and MEDES.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle immensely.
Best wishes to you all.
I think the "umlaut" over the N in SPINAL TAP was meant as a joke (when they "named the band" in/for the movie).
ReplyDeletebuckeye bob: IT IS "in the public domain" ... use it as often as you like. lol
Not a big fan of today's puzzle. I had trouble in NE and had to look up DANTON. Once I got that the rest of the letters in that quadrant fell into place. UNAGELIC, CHOWLINE, and CAPITALA had weak clues that took a while to be sussed out.
ReplyDeleteI loved Bonomo Taffy as a kid back in the 60's. I liked the Chocolate and Vanilla flavors. Pink was good too. Maybe Barry didn't have it in the East, maybe just a Mid-West candy.
Re. the USPS food drive, we didn't receive any notice or advertising either. I just happened to hear about it on a radio newscast. Irish Miss, PK and Lucina, I wish they had done that here too.
ReplyDeleteOops! Barbara just discover an ad from USPS. They put it on the back of a packet of other ads and we had ignored the whole thing. I guess they were trying to be thrifty.
Bonomo's Turkish Taffy: "Originally distributed through Woolworth's stores in large sheets from which pieces were broken off with a ball-peen hammer at the counter and sold by weight..." Intrigued? Wiki.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe this story: official site.
I had never heard of Bonomo taffy. I used to read about taffy pulls in books and think it would be fun as a kid. I don't remember ever eating taffy until I took my daughter to the Jersey Shore in 1985 and bought some salt water taffy on the boardwalk.
ReplyDeleteThis brought back memories of a Bonomo TV commercial from the late ‘50s or early ‘60s.
ReplyDeleteO-O-O it’s Bonomo!
Bonomo Commercial
Nope, OwenKL, none of those renders an umlaut over a captial Y, thanks anyway. Maybe they just don't need a capitalized umlauted capital Y in Yceland.
ReplyDeleteBumppo --
ReplyDeleteALT + 0159 should work for you like OwenKL said.
Ÿ
Also, I searched my laptop programs and found CHARMAP like Steve said. Lots of choices of fonts and characters. Pretty cool!
Sorry I am 2 days late. I just got back from picking up Daughter #2 from Washington DC. (Ever load a Dorm room into a Minivan?) SO much for College year 2, next year,,, exchange student, Scotland! (I am not picking her up from that one...)
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to comment on yesterdays puzzle, I spent an hour in the hotel lobby using their free Wifi on my new Iphone to read the Blog, Only to find out the next day that Daughter#2 had "accidentally" Signed on to our room Wifi for $20- (*^%$*&^$%)
Anyway, long story short about yesterdays puzzle, 1D "like some Chickens?" 7 letters... (All I could think was "Lipless?")
Re: today's puzzle, I got a few words right off the bat, but one in particular stood out because of my packaging industry background. It was a legendary story of a famous salesman, who doubled a products sale overnite, simply by adding one word to the directions.
Give up?
It was lather, rinse, "REPEAT."
(prior to that, no one washed their hair more than once...)
Oh, & Splynter, I got your "Zorg" question wrong too...