Theme: We all have our ups and downs; even the center of our solar system. I hope you got to see the circles in the puzzle, since they are crucial to discovering the placement and meaning of this clever and original theme. The word SUN is contained in four symmetrically-placed, multiple-word vertical theme answers, alternating in retrograde and prograde arrangement, giving us two each of SUN RISE and SUN SET. I guess that makes this some sort of a concealed rebus, but I'll set aside my usual disdain in deference to this beautiful construction by someone we all know, love and revolve around.
Here are the theme entries, presented from left to right in the grid, rather than numerical order, to preserve the rise and fall.
3D. Pageant for under-20s : MISS TEEN USA. This year's pageant will be at 8:00 p.m. on August 2nd at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in Nassau, Bahamas, many hours after SUNrise.
32D. Admits defeat : SAYS UNCLE. Otherwise the victim's arm could get twisted until SUNset. This expression might go all the way back to ancient Rome.
9D. Like our secret : BETWEEN US. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone. At least not before SUNrise.
25D. Cheating victim's cry : THAT'S UNFAIR. A fair person would never let the SUN set on such an outrage.
And the centrally placed unifier, 14D. "Fiddler on the Roof" song suggested twice by this puzzle's circles : SUNRISE, SUNSET, which then naturally becomes today's theme song.
A nice, elegant touch is that at each rotation of the SUN, the word is broken at the first letter encountered in reading, N for the rises and S for the sets. Looks like North and South, rather than East and West.
This is not a startlingly unusual grid, but, upon closer inspection, it does seem a bit out of the ordinary. The symmetrically placed horizontal 6 and 8 stacks near the top and bottom don't leave room for a more typical theme placement. The 13-letter vertical unifier is not an axis of symmetry. The only symmetry in the grid is 180 degree rotational, around the center square. Let's see what else is in orbit.
Across:
1. Downfall : DEMISE. From Late Middle English via Old French, and ultimately Latin.
7. Msg. to squad cars : APB. All Points Bulletin. Note Abrv. in Cl. & Ans.
10. Luxury resort amenity : SPA.
13. "Savages" director Stone : OLIVER. Not my kind of movie, but here is the trailer.
14. Unsportsmanlike sort : SOREHEAD. Bad loser.
16. Egyptian president during the Suez Crisis : NASSER. Gamal Abdal, Jan 15, 1918 - Sep 28, 1970. He died of a heart attack shortly after the conclusion of the Arab League Summit Conference.
17. One-piece garments : UNITARDS. Leotards with legs.
18. Golf Hall of Famer Ernie : ELS. He is one of six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
19. "Death in Venice" author : MANN. Thomas.
21. Bugs on a highway : VWs. Beetles. In August you might see monarch butterflies.
22. Wobble : TEETER. Weebles TEETER, but they don't fall down.
24. Gossip : YENTA. Yiddish.
27. See 26-Down : SEA. Plus: 26D. With 27-Across, one end of the Dardanelles : AEGEAN. The Dardanelles is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the AEGEAN SEA to the Sea of Marmara.
28. Bird: Pref. : AVI-. So why isn't AVI-brained a common expression?
29. Tie up : TETHER.
31. Still-life pitchers : EWERS.
33. __ Martin: Bond's car : ASTON.
35. Dating service datum : AGE.
36. Summer of songs : DONNA. Summer is hot.
37. Narc's org. : DEA. Drug Enforcement Agency.
38. Peso spender's pronoun : USTED. You, nominative case, formal.
40. __-turn : NO U. Ixnay on the ooeyay.
41. Brewery supply : YEAST. Hops, barley, malt.
43. "What a shame!" : SO SAD.
44. Size up : ASSESS. Want to ASSESS these asses?
46. Beehive State college player : UTE.
48. Attila follower : HUN. Attila ruled the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. This great warrior died of a nose bleed on his wedding night. The recent report that his grave had been found turned out to be a hoax.
49. Overact : HAM UP. And 45D. Overact : EMOTE. Crossing clechos share the M.
50. Big name in antivirus software : NORTON.
52. "Dear Yoko" subject : ONO. Song from the Double Fantasy album.
53. Rise precipitously : SOAR.
54. Coat lining : FUR. Silver is for clouds
57. Treatment for burnout : REST CURE.
61. "Confidence in Motion" car : SUBARU.
63. Has a knack for : EXCELS AT
64. Online order confirmations : E-MAILS.
65. Designer of Hong Kong's Bank of China Tower : PEI. Ieoh Ming Pei (born April 26, 1917) is a Chinese born American architect who likes sweeping lines and cantilevered structures.
66. Brain scan letters : EEG. ElectroEncepheloGraph
67. Far from abundant : SPARSE. I had SCARCE.
Down:
1. "Ta-da!" : DONE. Did you get the Ta-da?
2. Airline to Tel Aviv : EL AL.
4. Drips in the ICU : IVs. Intensive Care Unit and Intra-Venous. Note Abrvs.
5. Terse meeting request : SEE ME. Usually not good news.
6. Editorial slips : ERRATA. Mistakes in copy.
7. Chicago Loop's __ Center : AON. Skyscraper completed in 1974, originally the Standard Oil Building
8. In on : PRIVY TO.
10. Inspiring lesson, perhaps: Abbr. : SER. Sermon.
11. Spot for notes : PAD. Is your iPad a note pad?
12. Website clutter : ADs.
15. "It __ hit me yet" : HASN'T. And maybe it won't
20. Place name meaning "snow-covered" : NEVADA. Spanish.
23. Draw wages : EARN. I'm very disappointed that I couldn't find a picture of a cartoonist literally drawing wages.
27. Logo on some sports bras : SWOOSH.
30. Funny Foxx : REDD. Of Sanford and Son fame.
31. Writer Ferber : EDNA. August 18, 1885, July 16, 1968. She wrote Giant, So Big, Showboat and Cimarron.
34. Skin picture : TATTOO.
39. NYC gallery district : SOHO. South of Houston Street.
42. Champion, as a cause : ESPOUSE.
47. Deletes : ERASES.
51. "You're fired!" speaker : TRUMP. The Donald.
55. Bing results, briefly : URLs. Internet search engine.
56. Stratagem : RUSE.
57. GOP member : REPublican. No politics.
58. Program file suffix : EXEcutable.
59. "Nova" subj. : SCIence.
60. Tattered tee, maybe : RAG. Re-use for old clothes.
62. Pipe up in the pasture : BAA. "Is it ewe?" Tom asked, sheepishly.
An excellent puzzle by our own fearless leader. Hope you all enjoyed this cirque du soleil.
Jazzbumpa
Jazzbumpa
64 comments:
~ ~ ~ Sol's Lament. ~ ~ ~
SUN RISE, SUN SET. SUN RISE, SUN SET.
SUN RISE, SUN SET. SUN RISE, SUN SET.
A day job, my dears,
Will bore you to tears.
SUN RISE, SUN SET. SUN RISE, SUN SET.
There once was a sun god named Apollo
Who had such a clear route to follow.
Yet he still lost his way,
Went stray with the Day,
And ended up in Japan with Tomollow!
There once was a fiddler who fiddled on the roof.
I do not know why, it may be a goof.
But I think that he made
The roof a cheap stage
Because it was over-head proof!
The street fiddler fiddles because he believes
He gives pleasure in exchange for the coins he receives.
All day he may busk;
But on the roof? Just at dusk,
Because fiddling on the roof is only done in the eaves!
Morning, all!
No circles for me, alas. No idea what the theme was all about as a result, but fortunately it wasn't necessary to know the theme to get the theme answers.
Mostly straightforward puzzle for me with only a few bumps in the road. I know OLIVER Stone, but never heard of "Savages," so I waited for the perps to confirm. Also needed a lot of perp help to get SOREHEAD and UNITARD.
After speed runs on Monday and Tuesday, this one was refreshingly "meaty" (and maybe a little closer to Thursday-level than Wednesday?). Some fun clues including "Skin picture" and, of course, "Ta-da!" for DONE.
Speaking of which, it's a DNF for me if I turn on the red letters (and, of course, no Googling). But I give myself credit even if I have to search for a "typo" before I hear the music (though I'll always mention that fact). To each his own.
[8:26]
Thank you for the puzzle, C.C. Thank you for the funny and informative review, Jazzbumpa.
I also finished in longer than usual Wednesday time, but less than Thursday. No circles on the Mensa site, but I didn’t need them. After a pass through the Acrosses, I had enough perps to get SUNRISE, SUNSET. But I appreciate the theme much more after reading Jazz’s review. Clever!
I had SO BAD before SO SAD, SCARCE before SPARSE, and AOL before AON, but the perps corrected them.
Good morning all.
I have an escalation at work that I need to attend to, but I wanted to stop in real quick and congratulate CC on a wonderful puzzle.
I didn't get the circles at the MENSA site, but after reading all of yesterday's comments, I brought the Chicago Tribune website up in a different window so I could see where the circles were.
CC, you are so clever ! I loved it. My only real stumble was that with -ASSER already filled in, I entered the Y for YASSER instead of NASSER. Got my middle east time frames and politicos mixed up.
I am looking forward to reading JzB's writeup.
OK, gotta run. I hope everyone has a great day.
Like Barry I had no idea what the circles were about. I knew they were NUS and SUN because MISS TEEN USA and BETWEEN US were early fills. Having never seen Fiddler on the Roof and not familiar with UNITARD or AON, those were my last fills. SORE LOSER wouldn't fit. REST CURE is an expression I have never heard.
Nice fairly easy Wednesday puzzle to start my day. I'm off to clean up a concession stand for a children's tennis tournament. It hasn't been used since last fall so I sure it need wiping down and disinfecting. Three days of flipping hamburgers for 140 children plus parents and assorted siblings. Hopefully our club can break even.
Good morning!
No nits, no probs. My newspaper had the circles, so I was pretty sure this was going to be a navy theme -- USN. D'oh! After getting the reveal answer I finally did notice the sun up/sun down arrangement.
Little bit more rain overnight. Lovin' it!
Good morning everybody!
It's been so long since I've seen Fiddler on the Roof that I couldn't remember any of the songs. "Sunrise, Sunset" - of course!
I liked the clue for 21A: Bugs on a highway: VWS.
Have a wonderful wednesday!
Hi everyone,
Fantastic write-up, Jazzbumpa! I always learn so much from reading your blog - today it was all about Attila the Hun. Fascinating history, thanks.
This was one of my all-time favorite puzzles. When I finally filled in the unifier and looked at the circles, I had a real "AHA" moment, with a big smile. Any puzzle that can do that is a memorable one for me!
I loved seeing the two theme entries that were in the same vein: SAYS UNCLE and THAT'S UNFAIR!, echoed by the SOREHEAD loser. Great job, C.C. !
Hi Everyone ~~
What a great puzzle, C.C.! My newspaper had the circles and after filling MISS TEEN USA, I saw the SUN and thought that it would figure into the theme. But it was beyond what I expected ~ so clever!
I sailed through easily with just a couple of pauses: I think I mix up Stratagem with Strategy, so I was thinking 'Plan' before perps led me to RUSE.
I also thought, 'That's not fair' before the one extra letter led to -UNFAIR.
Favorite: 'Like our secret' / BETWEEN US.
Thanks for a very informative and entertaining write-up, JazzB. I did LOL at your comment for 62D - 'Pipe up in the pasture.'
Enjoy the day!
Hi gang -
This was great fun.
Is anyone having trouble seeing the pictures? I can see Dwyane Johnson in Chrome on my laptop, but not Firefox, nor in Chrome on the Mac. What's up with that?
Owen - brilliant, as always.
Cool regards!
JzB
Ditto Jazz! A brilliant theme and a fun time at the old Crossword Corral by our esteemed leader.
Musings
-I’m subbing in a school where I’m allowed to go to BlogSpot!
-Ludwig Wittgenstein’s famous quote on the theme
-My best friend’s REP. son, Ben Sasse won the Nebraska US Senate nomination yesterday and is certain to become a US Senator this fall. So if you’re ever in a Turkish jail and need someone who knows a senator…
-Look, TMZ, it’s just BETWEEN US but Jay Z got smacked in an elevator by his wife’s sister.
-Savages is too kind a word for those barbarians in Nigeria
-My 74 year old golf partner told me of his Match.com dating service experiences yesterday
-Nice Disco link, Jazz. That music makes me feel good. Any trombone line?
-Mail exchange – “No mon, no fun, your son”, “Too bad, SO SAD, your dad”
-A “SER” at our church is a rival for Sominex
-I remember when REDD Foxxe’s albums were risqué
-Soon-to-be step-grandson won a chess tournament in town Saturday but had to call an official over to say “THAT’S UNFAIR” when his SOREHEAD opponent started moving two pieces at a time.
-Yeah, who’d ever figure this Omaha serial killer’s TATTOOs were a sign of instability?
At Jazzbumpa 8:57 AM --
I am using IE and I can see all the pictures on your review EXCEPT Dwayne Johnson. Weird!
Husker, I wondered if you'd have some comment about that SER answer. Mom stopped making dad go to church after other folks complained about his snoring
JxB, I can see all of your embedded pictures except for Dwayne Johnson. Safari on an IMac
Think I just may have to drag out that old DVD of Fiddler On The Roof for this afternoon's entertainment.
Good morning everyone.
I guess C.C. likes "Fiddler on the Roof". Nice fresh puzzle today - words like NEVADA and TETHER. Just a little chewiness. Had errors before ERRATA. WAGged PEI, NEVADA, DONNA and SUBARU. Nice variation to have the theme expressed in long downs.
This morning our first hummingbird returned.
Have a great day.
The hummingbirds have made it, so spring is really springing.
JzB, you do the funnest write ups with your perspective always being great.
WMS about the rest. The sun up and the sun down thought was brilliant, though we had early morning rain here today after a beautiful sunset and moon rise yesterday.
I love how C.C. did crossing clechoes, hi Dennis wherever you are.
Great puzzle and write up today. No nits and only a couple of missteps, easily corrected: SO BAD/SAD,LEOTARD/UNITARD early on, so no lasting problems created.
Death in Venice was one of Thomas Mann's easier reads in German for me.A little mystery and intrigue makes it lighter going, even in a foreign language.
Hello, fellow puzzlers! Jazzbumpa, you always make me laugh. I especially enjoyed the Tom swifty.
Brilliant, C.C.! Just brilliant! And also fun. I love the song, SUNRISE,SUNSET and as soon as MISS TEEN USA was filled I could see the significance of those letters.
I recall the Suez crisis and Gamel Abdel NASSER. He was a handsome guy.
Apparently Attila the HUN was also handsome or maybe charming and though he died on his wedding night, he had already sired a multitude of children. Some recent genealogy studies claim one of every five persons in the world can trace their ancestry to him.
Horace MANN's book was required in one of my classes and though it's sad, the writing is excellent.
Thank you so much, C.C. for today's fun especially with such clever clues as:
Summer of songs, DONNA
Pipe up in the pasture, BAA
I had no ERRATA but did have to ERASE some misspellings for SUBARU/suburu and ASTON/astin.
Have a fantastic Wednesday, everyone!
Very clever puzzle, C.C. Congratulations! Had problems in the NE - all WAGS.
Thanks for the informative write-up JzB. Lots of perspective and links!
Good Morning:
What a terrific puzzle!! Such a clever theme and so well-crafted with fresh fill and a little crunch for a Wednesday. What more could we ask for? CC, you are our Wonder Woman and JazzB, you are Super Man! Thank you both for a mid-week treat.
I liked seeing privy to and between us next to each other and fav clue was bugs on a highway=VWS. While Fiddler On The Roof has many beautiful songs,
Sunrise, Sunset is the most poignant, IMO. I saw the show on Broadway with Zero Mostel. If I recall correctly, he "emoted" and "hammed it up."
HG @ 9:02 - Congrats to your friend's son. BTW, can you share any of your golf partner's Match.com dating experiences?
Have a great day.
Chrome, and no Dwayne Johnson pic unless I click on the source below
For me, the theme was a gimme. But the rest of the puzzle I found quite challenging, but doable. I had the same write overs as Buckeye Bob, Scarce/sparce, So Bad/sad, but my AOL was AOE due to an earlier Leotard. I also wrote "ewer" on the wrong line, making Donna hard to read, & misread 60D as tattered tree which made think, hmm Sycamores peel their bark, sub species London Plane? Shagbark Hickory?? (I had to Excel At a Rest Cure for the V8 can to come sailing in...)
Ups
& Downs
Ups
& Downs
Here is a little something that Friday Fanboy (not!) needs a little more of...
What a brilliant, clever puzzle, C.C.! I just loved it! The circles and theme were just wonderful, and it's nice to have an evocation of "Fiddler on the Roof"! And lots of other fun connections, as JazzB has pointed out! A lovely way to start a Wednesday.
Am having sleep problems and only got 2 hrs of sleep last night. So your puzzle redeemed my morning, C.C.
Never heard of a UNITARD. Thanks for the photo, JazzB.
Las Vegas "snow-covered"? Really? Not when I've been there.
Liked the shout-out to my SUBARU. It's now over 10 years old and never had a problem in all that time. Of course, its miles are pretty low since we don't get out much these days.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody--and thanks again for a terrific puzzle, C.C.
Hi Y'all! Enjoyed this masterpiece by C.C. Lots of unusual entries. Thanks, JzB!
''Fiddler on the Roof" is one of my all-time favorites. I've seen the movie multiple times and a stage version twice. "Sunrise, Sunset": a friend and I put together a slide show of her great photography for a women's group presentation to that music.
I tried Junior Miss before MISS TEEN USA because my daughter was in the state JM competition top ten in talent of about 50 girls as a senior in HS.
Pipe up in the pasture slowed me down. The guy who rents my little pasture wanted me to put a pipe into the pasture from a rural water district line, so he wouldn't have to truck in water. He has cows in there, so my answer here would have been "Moo".
SO SAD: My sister-in-law's lovely mother died this week. She was closer in age to me than was her daughter and both of us being farmer's widows gave us much in common. My consolation is that she didn't linger in a nursing home which she adamantly did not want to do, having been chief caregiver of two sets of parents who did.
Mame visiting Upson Downs
Good morning all,
Wednesday is my favorite CW day and to see a C.C. puzzle awaiting that just made it even better! You are ALWAYS so clever..loved the grid.
Sunrise Sunset was a quick gimme which helped, but for some reason I am now humming, If I were a rich man.....
A few weeks ago while in Maui we went up on the roof of our hotel where an astronomer had 3 strong telescopes set up for our viewing. I had no idea that there were many stars hotter than our sun (Vega and Sirius) and a monster star(R136a1) 10 million times hotter.
Sure wish I knew where in CA they sold Ernie Els wine. His winery in Stellenbosch is lovely.
"Says uncle" made me laugh... so many good memories go along with that phrase.
Nice write up, Bumpa. Thanks.
CrossEyedDave at 11:16 AM --
That was an EXCELLENT video! We can only hope that Friday Fanboy gets the message!
Thank you CC for a very nice, relatively easy puzzle. Enjoyed it very much.
Thank you JazzBumpa for a fun blog and the 'Sunrise, Sunset' song .... brought back fond memories. Also for the 'Savages' trailer - firmly convinced me to forego the rest of the movie.
Nice poems, OwenKL - you are very talented and very prolific.
Lucina - I may be wrong, but from what I read, the DNA studies from Europe and around the world, indicated the widespread dispersion of the Mongol gene haplotype - not the Hun's. Although, I must confess they probably were from a similar area, probably contiguous viz. southern Mongolia. The gene haplotype is generally from an entire race - an army of warriors, if you will, bent on mass rape - and is not ascribed to one man ( or woman). Before the existence of sperm banks, it would have been physically impossible for one man to have created an entire sub-race of widely dispersed peoples .... although I'm sure, Attila tried his best ....
As an afterthought, I could to be amazed and saddened by the fact that (past) history is dominated by the success of not kind, talented and intelligent peoples, but by savages whose only attribute was that they were successful in warfare. Maybe they were Darwin's 'fittest'.
Best wishes, all.
Hi everybody. I finished this LATE last night and enjoyed it very much. Clever. It's hard for me to imagine all of this cleverness with words came from our friend who wasn't a native English speaker. Great job CC and JzB!
I just listened to Donna Summer's Hot Stuff. To take a page from Gary's book, in what movie was that song prominently featured? (The movie was a favorite of mine. One of its scenes makes me smile every time I can sense it coming on.)
A further hint: The movie had some accents that were hard to suss out at first and had lots of laughably-bad dancing scenes.
Really hot here again today.
CED, how'd you find that really nice video?
Bill G : the full Monty.
A great puzzle! Thanks, C.C. Enjoyed the expo, JzB.
I got MISS TEEN USA first and thought we were going to use Greek letters. (NUS). Then I got "SUN RISE, SUN SET" and the theme was clear. A couple write-overs, but pretty smooth.
15D It HASN'T hit me yet: Mom passed away 3 months ago. Either I made my peace with her impending death during the last few months or IT HASN'T HIT ME YET. I think it's the former.
JzB: I've been hearing radio ads for Michigan and one of them mentions "open-air concerts in the park". Is this a shout-out to your band? If so, when/where do you perform? I'd like to work in a concert during at least one of my trips up.
OwenKL: you continue to impress me with your talent.
Enjoy your Wednesday. It's the only one this week.
Pat
Jazz: Outstanding write-up & links. Geez, that must have taken quite-a-while.
C.C. Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle.
Husker: That Omaha guy looks "normal" to me. LOL
Since I donate blood "every 2 months" ... I've never understood why TATTOO's are so popular.
No booze in the grid ... so no favorites today.
A "toast" to ALL at SUNSET.
Cheers!!!
CED, thanks for your concern. But I try to be a Good Samaritan whenever the opportunity arises. Why not too long ago this happened to me. Maybe you saw it on the news?
Don't know what it is about me and bank robbers...
This one reminded me of the long summer work days on a tobacco farm in North Carolina during the days of my youth.
Sun up to sun down.
Old Sage in Virginia Beach
Enjoyed Bugs on a highway VWs.
Widwan:
Thank you and how nice to see you back! You've been missed.
The article I read was quite some time ago and in fact, the author may have written it tongue in cheek about Attila although it was a serious science article in the Sunday AZ Rep.
Misty:
NEVADA literally means covered with snow in Spanish and I think the state may have been named for the Sierra Nevada mountains which are covered with it most of the year.
Happy Wednesday everybody!
Glad to report there was a TA-DA today, after the usual amount of mid-week write-overs....
JzB, saw all pix except DONNA, and had to use the link to get to The Rock.... On an iPad, connecting via Safari, and using the ChiTrib site, which had no circles....
Enjoyed the longer phrased answers. Have never seen Fiddler, but know some of the songs....
It actually snowed on the Las Vegas valley floor two times in the 13 years I lived there. As you might imagine, it was not fun driving among the snow-deprived novices....
Doc out....
Thank you CC for this great puzzle, as I really enjoyed the SUN up and SUN/NUS down fill-ins. That made this easier than usual for Wednesday.
I do have one concern about EEG. Scans of the brain are CTs and MRIs. The EEG is a brain-wave TEST not usually referred to as a scan.
Essentially ALL of the Sierra Nevada Mtns are in Calif, altho can be seen from the State of Nevada.
Robert, ah, too easy for you. I really enjoyed that movie.
I just finished watching a show on PBS about The Ghost Army; an army group of artists responsible for deceiving the Germans in WWII with inflatable tanks, wood models of guns, airplanes, etc. and sound trucks that would play recording of army noises at night convincing the enemy that imaginary troops were mobilizing. I didn't know anything about this very clever WWII deception strategy.
A 3-letter word for 48d. Atilla follower?
How about: THE
pje -
Many communities in SE Michigan have summer park concerts. I'd imagine its true in other parts of the state as well.
I play in the Plymouth Community Band in the Summer only - Wednesday rehearsals conflict with the Symphony.
Concerts are on Thursdays evenings at 7:30 in Kellogg Park, which is an old time town square.
This year the season starts on June 12, with concerts on 7 of 8 weeks, with a week off when the Plymouth art fair takes over the park (July 11-14.)
There are also other musical events on Wednesdays and Fridays.
I'll have some conflicts this year, and won't play every week.
Cheers!
JZB
Good afternoon, folks. Thanks you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.
Worked this in the paper today, on the way to Chicago. So, I had the circles. Just got home and logged in here.
Was pretty easy for the most part. A few unknowns, but perps fixed that.
I tried PARTY TO for 8D. After a while I knew that was bad, so with a couple crosses I tried PRIVY TO. Woked.
Tried ENDORSE for 42D. Could not get anything to mesh with that so ESPOUSE became the word.
Thought VWS was clever for 21A. Could not figure it out until I got PRIVY TO. Duh.
I remember REDD Foxx very well. he was funny.
Anyhow, I am heading to a dinner tonight. Mexican food, which I love. I hope they offer chile rellenos. My favorite.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(swept nysftat)
(92543359 48)
Excellent!
Thank you, C.C., for a fine humpday Xwd, a very pleasant experience. I had a lot of re-writes, because the clues stirred so many responses in me, but I never had to pause.
I had an advantage early on because with only one "n" and one "r," I recognized the song. I saw the original Broadway production (had a friend in the cast), and that music is ever with me.
Alan, THE after Atilla. I like it! I'm pissed off that I didn't think of it.
I just ventured back to BYOP, Build Your Own Pizza. You pick out your crust, choice of sauce, cheese, meats, etc. I had marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives and some more cheese on top. They cook it in their special oven for about 90 seconds. In order to feel OK about the whole thing, I ate only five small slices out of the eight total and had a glass of ice water.
Ninety four degrees with humidity of five percent! Brutal for a person like me who likes a sea breeze.
What a great puzzle and blog. Thank you C.C. and Jazzbo.
I had one write over. I, too, had PARTY TO before PRIVY TO and didn't have VW until I had PRIVY.
We're having the kind of weather I love. Today and yesterday it was 88. High 80s and low 90s weather is perfect, IMHO.
My capcha to day is numbers. That's a first for me. It's definitely easier than letters.
Musings
-Yeah, Otto, the SER’s at our church are snoozers. Attendance is plummeting but Fr. Dave sees on reason to change his delivery. The Pocket Fisherman has a better presentation mode.
-Tinman, that tattooed freak committed four heinous murders, served as his own counsel and then appealed his guilty verdict because of inadequate representation.
-Irish, my friend met a woman at Applebee’s. It turns out that she was not from Omaha as her profile stated but rather from West Point, NE, which is a town of only a few thousand people 90 miles from the Big O. That lie soured his opinion. He also got a contact from a woman 12 years his senior and passed on that.
-5th graders day after day might have might have made me change professions.
Tried to find Jazzbumpas comment, but it seems to be gone? Two from Owen then kudos to JB.
I thought this would be harder than it was. Had THATSNOTFAIR beforeTHATSUNFAIR. ERRATA threw me. A few more missteps but the perps got me through.
101 today. Here in little Irvine. That's wrong. We rarely go above the mid-90s, and even those temps are rare.
I went outside to toss the ball to our big dog around 3 pm. She gave up before I did. The sun felt ... just rude. You know what it's like when someone presses too close, whether it's over a shared arm rest or getting bumped on the subway. That's what the sun was doing, pushing me right in the face & leaning too damn close to my body.
HG @6:28 - Thanks for relating your partner's experience. I guess misrepresenting oneself on these sites is common. At least the 86 year old was honest about her age. I think I'll play it safe and stick with my Friday night " dates" with Tom Selleck! :-)
Ol' Man Keith, I couldn't agree more. It's too hot, even nearer the Pacific as I am. Look how red your face is turning!
Hi All!
I'm a SOREHEAD now, my iPAD just ate my post while I looked for this REDD Foxx clip.
Let's see if I can do it twice...
Thanks C.C.! Thanks JzB! Its ewe - LOL!
The tech in the puzzle (EXE, NORTON, EMAILS, and iPAD :-) ) made my grid less SPARSE (hand up for scarce).
I was so close to leITARDS before the SUN shone through. It would be SOSAD to be TRUMPed by my ERRATA spelling.
VWS was fav. c/a too!
Anon Alan @3:45 - me too with "the." SOHO (pronounced House-ton up there) fixed that.
CED - that video made me SOAR.
Bill G. - I assume you are far enough from the fires.
Cheers, -T
AnonT, yes we are far enough from the present fires which are located closer to San Diego. I'm sure there will be more though before this heat wave breaks. They usually occur in wooded and brushy area closer to the foothills. We are closer to the ocean; far enough away to not worry about tsunamis, far enough from the fires so the biggest worry is usually about bad air quality. But the occasional earthquake...? The two biggest ones several years back were pretty scary.
Loved this puzzle. Thanks C.C. and JazzB. After the warning yesterday, I waited until newspaper came so I had the circles. But the paper doesn't give a TADA!
After seeing Fiddler on the Roof at the Stratford Festival last summer, I immediately wanted SUNRISE SUNSET and when the first SUN filled in the circles, I got the theme. It was just a matter of which direction the letters were going to run.
Favourite clue was PIPE UP IN THE PASTURE=BAA. Also noted the cross of 49A and 45D OVERACT.
I thought C.C. included 41A for you Tinbeni!
Greetings!
Very clever puzzle, CC! (But no circles for me.) Great expo, Jazz!
I couldn't see Dwayne in Safari, either.
No one commented on the finales of Castle and The Blacklist. Did anyone watch? Or, do I keep blogging too late?
Cheers!
Late to the party.
JzB - outstanding job. C.C. - hat is off (not that I ever wear one). Great idea.
This late is just - WBS and WEES.
OK, so I just posted and added zero-zip-nada to the conversation.
How about last night's Clippers' game? The fix is in .. I called it with 2 minutes to go.
There, I added something totally unrelated to the conversation. I'd better leave and pour myself a drink.
Avast Thursday!
Ferm @ 8:55 - I don't watch Castle but I did see the finale of The Blacklist. There have been so many twists and turns in the story line, sometimes I don't know what's going on. I do love James Spader.
fermat:
I love Castle and watched the finale. I was shocked! But immediately after the show, the announcer said, "Beckett and Castle return in September" or something to that effect. That dispelled the suspense rather quickly.
Here's a story you don't see very often; a cat chasing off a dog that was attacking a family member. Tough cat
Bill G: Glad to hear the fires are far away. Hopefully the fires don't affect our California Contingent.
Cat chases off dog was interesting, but that dog needs a better owner. Poor kid.
Fermat - sorry, I stopped watching Castle a year or so ago and never saw The Blacklist.
Steve - no worries mate on posting & to add naught. Welcome to the club! :-)
Cheers, -T
I watched Castle. Hated the ending, but don't buy it.
Steve, Go Thunder! What a battle! I thought Clippers were going to win that one. Too close to call the series winner. Next time I'll put on my official Thunder T-shirt that my Oklahoma City grandsons gave me to help out.
Lucina, many thanks for the explanation of the name of Nevada. Very interesting.
Fermatprime, I thought the finale of "Castle" was great. I'm sure Castle will be fine, and I really hope the wedding happens because I'd be very disappointed if it doesn't after all the build-up leading up to it. I'm just sorry we have to wait for the start of the next season before we find out.
I haven't gotten into Castle. I tried it once, it seemed interesting, I liked the female lead but I didn't like it enough to add to my already too crowded list of stuff to record and watch.
Mark me down as NOT being a fan of cliffhangers either. I say, tell the story, bring it to a satisfying way point and start up afresh next season. I could be wrong but I think cliffhangers annoy everybody and don't increase the number of fans who continue watch a show from season to season. Rats! but then nobody listens to me anyhow...
BillG:
I'm not a fan of cliffhangers, either. What's more, by the start of next season, I usually forget the ending unless it's something extraordinary.
If I like the show I'll continue to watch regardless of the ending and Castle is one. Ending on a cliffhanger doesn't affect my loyalty.
With so many of you (people whose opinions I value) recommending it, I guess I better give Castle another try. Thanks for the input.
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