Let's begin with the reveal:
36-A. What the answers to starred clues are comprised of : US POSTAL CODES.
The 2-letter postal codes of states are formed into common words and phrases. There are duplicates, but without looking at a map, do you know which ones are missing? (I immediately saw one glaring omission…)
14-A. *Approach : CO/ME NE/AR. Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Arkansas16-A. *Overly ornate : FL/OR/ID. Florida, Oregon, Idaho
24-A. *Messing with one's head : MI/ND GA/ME. Michigan, North Dakota, Georgia, Maine
49-A. *Tom Wolfe coinage for the 1970s : ME DE/CA/DE. Maine, Delaware, California, Delaware
62-A. *Drink of the gods : NE/CT/AR. Nebraska, Connecticut, Arkansas
63-A. *Simple forecasting aid : WI/ND VA/NE. Wisconsin, North Dakota, Virginia, Nebraska
5-D. *Sell weaponry : DE/AL AR/MS. Delaware, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi
39-D. *Appalachian resource : CO/AL MI/NE. Colorado, Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska.
I don't think I would have guessed this theme in a million years without the reveal! But at least I was able to fill the entire thing in without any lookups. From a constructor's viewpoint, this was an especially difficult type of theme to create. Competing 6- and 8-letter entries necessitated asterisks to differentiate the theme entries.
I can understand why TX was omitted...but here's a challenge: Find your state that was omitted, and come up with a valid word or phrase that includes it, along with at least two other postal codes. (***See spoiler at bottom of this post)
I can understand why TX was omitted...but here's a challenge: Find your state that was omitted, and come up with a valid word or phrase that includes it, along with at least two other postal codes. (***See spoiler at bottom of this post)
Across:
1. Just the right amount of tight : SNUG. (See 61-down)
5. Hip-hop's Run-__ : DMC. From the 80's. Never heard of them, but evidently they were very influential to the genre.
8. Significant : OF NOTE.
17. Beef at the dinner table : RIB ROAST. and 34-Across. Butcher's offering : T-BONE. Are you getting hungry yet?
18. Provoke : FOMENT.
19. Sports drink suffix : ADE.
20. Healing aid, briefly : TLC. Tender loving care.
21. Some August babies : LEOs.
22. Cyrus the Great's domain : PERSIA. Here is an interesting timeline map that goes from 8000 B.C. to modern Iran. 1:10
28. Right in an atlas : EAST.
29. Author Dahl : ROALD. We have had him many times before.
31. Cease, with "off" : LAY.
32. High-tech debut of 1981 : IBM PC.
40. Dressing vessel : CRUET.
41. "Oh, yeah!" : BOO-YA.
42. Minor concern, maybe : AGE. HaHa, "minor" in this case being one who is under-aged.
43. In a way, informally : SORTA.
45. Cries of pain : YOWS.
52. "60 Minutes" first name : LESLEY. Stahl. I like her style.
54. Choice usually made secretly : VOTE.
55. Minute measures: Abbr. : CMs. Centimeters.
56. Rehab concern, familiarly : DTs.
57. Like old videos : GRAINY.
60. Zealous to the extreme : WHITE HOT.
64. Eucharist plates : PATENS.
65. Suffix for Brooklyn or Manhattan : -ITE.
66. "Lemme __!" : AT 'EM.
Down
1. Tough spot : SCRAPE.
2. "I'm stumped" : NO IDEA.
3. Earthy colors : UMBERS. Had to look at perps to decide between ochres and UMBERS.
4. Angela Merkel's country: Abbr. : GER.many. This was a gimme.
6. Like the days of the week, in Span. : MASC.uline. WAG. I know very little Spanish, but with four letters, I guessed it would not be "fem." But now that I think of it, I could have gone with "neut."
7. Old PC component : CRT. Cathode Ray Tube.
8. Transgress : OFFEND.
9. __ insurance : FLOOD.
10. Asian menu assurance : NO MSG.
11. Gold or silver source : ORE.
12. Pie holder : TIN. My pies are baked in a pie plate. I associate a pie TIN with frozen ones.
13. D.C. summer setting : EDT.
15. "The Little Red Hen" denial : NOT I.
21. Short, for short : LI'L.
23. Michael of R.E.M. : STIPE. Should I link? Not a fan, so I'll let someone else who likes them pick their own.
24. Gruesome : MACABRE.
25. Hand lotion ingredient : ALOE.
26. __ best friend : MAN'S.
27. Major TV logo : EYE.
30. Go (for) : OPT.
33. AI game competitor : BOT. Artificial Intelligence. BOTs are considered NPCs (non-player characters.)
34. Play (with) : TOY.
35. Annual celebrations, casually : B-DAYS. Does C.C. know yours? Send her a note - she remembers everything!
36. Impulse : URGE.
37. Took to court : SUED.
38. Housing plan unit : LOT.
40. Rotating piece : CAM.
43. Half-goat creatures of myth : SATYRS.
44. Lines of praise : ODE.
I would write a nice ODE to our Owen,
Perhaps pen a Pindaric type poem.
But alas I cannot.
A limerick’s all I got.
And, besides, I have to get goin’!46. Dated : OLD HAT.
47. Sloppy kiss : WET ONE. Garfield just really doesn't appreciate them.
48. Nervous __ : SYSTEM.
50. Cybernotice for a party : E-VITE.
51. Late-night host O'Brien : CONAN.
53. Business sign abbr. : EST'D. Established.
55. IOU : CHIT.
57. Econ. yardstick : GNP.
58. "In Dreams" actor Stephen : REA. Did not remember this guy.
59. Fake being : ACT.
60. Doughboy's conflict, briefly : WWI.
61. Actress Mendes : EVA.
"I wanted to be a nun when I was very little. Well, that was until my sister told me that they don't get paid. Then I went off that idea quickly."
(Aren't you fellows glad that nuns don't get paid?)
***My missing state was MA. So, my word was DE/MA/ND.
That about wraps it up for me this week!
Marti
75 comments:
One should always be honest and straight;
Your intentions you clearly should STATE.
But do it diplomatically,
"It's restful when you're with me,"
Not "to get you in bed, I can't wait!"
The post office doesn't like the word "POSTAL"
For when an employee gets armed and goes loco.
If a wacko's not nice,
Their P.C. advice:
He's "somewhat less than optimally social!"
A spy depends on a CODE or a cypher
In order to remain an anonymous cipher.
Mailmen use a CODE
For where everything goes.
To decrypt either sometime calls for hard cider!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your Cryptic clue for a word from today's puzzle. The number in parens is the letter-count of the answer. This SORTA portmanteau should be a little easier than yesterdays.
Taxi plowing into mother horse was ghastly! (7)
Hello Puzzlers -
What Marti said. I'd never have picked up on the theme without the reveal. Now that it's known I hafta say it's clever! I bet it was tricky to implement.
Repeating a question from yesterday: Cruciverb hasn't budged from June 29. I haven't spotted any other remarks about it; have other Cornerites had the same trouble?
Morning, all!
Very impressive themage today, which of course I didn't notice until after I finished solving. When I saw the theme revral I thought that maybe it was just thye first letters of each theme, but when I realized it was every letter of every theme I was very impressed indeed.
Pretty smooth solve overall, although I struggled a bit in the NW to start with. DRAW NEAR instead of COME NEAR, GDR instead of GER, POT ROAST instead of RIB ROAST, TAUT instead of SNUG (not all at the same time, obviously).
I'm thinking we might need to move our family barbecue from tomorrow until Saturday (or Sunday). Looking pretty nasty for Independence Day around here...
Well, this one was completed on "auto-pilot" with the NE corner being the last to go. And I have to admit that I never got the theme, even with the reveal. Very clever. My state (NY) is missing but I'm drawing a blank trying to come up with a three-state answer (so I'll rely on my clever crossword corner colleagues to do that).
By the way, I think the clue for the reveal makes the not uncommon comprised/composed error.
[9:59]
Good Morning, Marti and friends. I had fun with the puzzle, but certainly needed the unifier before I could figure out how the starred answers were related.
I had a lot of wrong turns, but nothing that made me totally stumble on this puzzle.
I started with Taut instead of SNUG, until Angela Merkel corrected my error.
I also wanted Morley Safer instead of LESLEY Stahl for the 60 minutes name. Unfortunately, the last three letters of the name are the same.
My sister bakes her pies in a pie Pan, not a Pie TIN. (I don't bake pies, but I eat them.)
I also wanted Open instead of ESTD for the business sign.
Stay safe and away from Arthur.
QOD: It’s a scientific fact that your body will not absorb cholesterol if you take it from another person’s plate. ~ Dave Barry (July 3, 1947)
Worked the puzzle today without help, though the Florida corner nearly defeated me. The way the clue for the reveal was worded was all I needed, with 6 of the 8 already in. In fact, that helped me get the reveal and last two theme entries. I wonder if this could be done with airports, stock tickers, internet country codes, periodic table...
Checked NM and surrounding states: AZ, UT, CO, TX. Plenty of words containing NM & AZ, but I only found one word that could be composed of states: DENMARKS. None for AZ. TX has already been covered, and CO was in a couple words in the puzzle. UT is in thousands of words, but I gave up without finding one composed only of states after checking only a couple hundred.
Wow, Marti, nice ODE to me! Loved it!
On that EVA Mendes story, I wonder if that was really paid or laid? I see she's still wearing a black habit.
Pretty flower garden for the grid today!
Dudley: Cruciverb will only try (unsuccessfully) to show me the current puzzle, so I can't even get 6/29. Been using Mensa the past few days.
I forgot to mention: My state is missing, how LAME!
Good morning everyone,
I noticed a couple links did not show up (Odie, Eva), so I went back and re-linked them. Let me know if you cannot see them.
Owen, glad you liked the "ode."
Dudley, I have not been able to get the LAT from Cruciverb, either. I get a "file does not exist" error.
Good morning!
I almost failed on today's puzzle. The problem was dead center -- the reveal. STIPE, LOT, BOOYA and BDAYS were the last to fall. Oh, POSTAL CODES. D'oh! I also fell into the OCHERS/OCHRES..um..UMBERS trap.
Marti, it appears Eva was busting out with laughter (or something), too. At first she was invisible, but now she's there. Interesting map sequence of that region of Asia. IRAN, therefore, ITired.
Off to Austin today for DW's birthday. On the itinerary are the Blanton Museum of Art at UT and the Texas State Cemetery. I'm taking my Kindle.
Good morning everyone.
What Marti said about the theme. The theme fill actually helped me get the unifier, US POSTAL CODES. MASC was a WAG. (Weekdays in German are masculine, too.) Never heard of BOO YA. Is it Brit talk?
Favorite fill was WET ONE. BH helped me get LESLEY; she never misses an episode of 60 Minutes.
Otherwise, no searches were needed.
Belated Congratulations to Canadian Eh on the celebration of Canada Day on 1 July.
Have a great day.
Dudley and HeartRx, I too have not been able to access Cruciverb.com for my daily puzzles for the last four days. My local paper does not carry the LA Times puzzle so I rely on Cruciverb to deliver. Does anyone know where I can find the puzzle online or when the website might be functioning again? Thanks!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Greg Johnson, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for. Fine review.
I have two states, both missing, here's my word PA/IL.
Dudley: I, also, have not been able to get to cruciverb for several days. I have been using the Chicago Trib site, which is a little clunky, but it works.
Went through this puzzle, finished it, and still could not figure out the theme. After coming here, it was simple. I just did not study it hard enough.
Got through most of the puzzle without trouble. The SE corner messed me up for a long time. I had BEST SHOT instead of WHITE HOT. I messed around for a long time and then entered COAL MINE. That started my correction process. WWI gave me WHITE HOT. It all fell together.
Enjoyed the PERSIA evolution link. I have been to Persepolis, home of the Persian Empire at one time. They call it Takht e Jamshid.
Did not know STIPE. Perped and wagged it.
DMC was an unknown. Ran through the alphabet and when I hit M the screen lit up. That as my final entry.
Lots to do in PA. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(14)
Good morning everybody.
I started the puzzle on my morning train ride and was nodding off. When I got into the office and had some caffeine I realized I had half of the fill wrong! I was able to finish the puzzle at work.
I didn't understand the theme. I got US POSTAL CODE, but didn't catch the letter abbreviations.
GRAINY old videos make me think. When we watched those VHS tapes back in the 1980s did they look grainy? Or did they become grainy with age? We have HD TVs now, so I can't tell if technology improved or if the VHS tapes deteriorated.
Have a great day!
Good morning all,
In a few words, today was a bear! Even after the theme reveal, I didn't get the clues. I guess an abbreviation of a state name is a POSTAL CODE? Who would of thunk it. And I have never thought of weekdays as masculine or feminine, just neuters (like our mature family pets).
A couple of mis-steps that were caught; Leslie/LESLEY & Ochers/UMBERS
But in the end, a DNF. 5A I had DoC & 6D oasc. That being my only screw up surprised me....thought there would be a couple more. Well, it only takes one to fail.
First bout with MR Hazy, Hot & Humid today. Wish it were the last, but I doubt it.
Have a safe holiday and enjoy.
Hi Y'all! I got the theme after the reveal but only by studying it for some time. Knowing it did not help with the rest of them. The puzzle was a real Thursday challenge, but I'm beginning to enjoy those. Thanks, Greg!
Hand up for wanting "taut" before SNUG and getting stuck on morLEY before LESLEY.
I had no idea what BOOYA meant so didn't think of putting it in. All perps. Spitz: I thought BOOYA was modern military interjection.
Squares 5-6-7 all had to have red-letter alphabet runs. Didn't know CRT either.
I didn't realize Span. days of the week had gender. Couldn't figure out what MASC meant when it appeared.
Didn't know STIPE or REA. Despite REA's long list of appearances, I don't think I've seen a one.
Housing plan unit: I was thinking interior rooms rather than exterior LOT.
My closest brother was admitted to a hospital yesterday after an MRI showed the "dizzy spells" he's been having for several months are little strokes. No residual damage except a droopy eye, but a lot of residual concern at this point. He's been so supportive of me, I am very worried.
He's been having these spells while driving a big pickup/camper trailer rig. Scary! Both for him and anyone meeting him on the road.
Got through this one at a crawl but without incident. While the theme may have been very challenging, the repetition made it seem a bit contrived. So, not one of my favorite puzzles.
I don't have any R.E.M., and am not one of their biggest fans, but Michael Stipe has done some guest work with other groups. He has a very powerful and haunting voice. The first tune that comes to mind is Kid Fears by The Indigo Girls.
Hondo, have you named that cat yet?
Greetings, friends! Nice blog, Marti.
Thanks to Greg Johnson for an interesting and somewhat challenging puzzle today.
LEOS got me started then PERSIA and one small success after another until it was done. Amazingly MASC was my last fill. In Spanish the neuter is rarely, if ever, used. All nouns are either feminine or MASC.
Even after the reveal I didn't see the theme but didn't take time to study it either. I see AZ is missing but it's too early to for me to think of a phrase for it and I haven't had coffee.
LESLEY helped me with COAL MINE and SYSTEM although I first spelled it LESLIE. WET ONE cleaned it up.
I'll go work on the cryptic clue now. Or maybe go back to bed.
Have a superb Thursday, everyone!
Ooh. I got the cryptic clue! Owen, do you want us to e-mail you the answer?
Lots of bi-monthly news magazines
MA/NY UT/NE
I also needed the reveal to get going. Interesting take.
I know 4 people who were born on July 3 none on the 4th.
Thanks everyone for your Cruciverb comments. I was suspicious that there might be some problem here, rather than at the site, but you've all cleared that up.
Mari 8:00 - I wondered that too. I don't remember thinking that VHS was grainy back in the day. Videotape probably does lose its luster over time, but I haven't played a tape in ages.
Avg. Joe, thanks for the KidFears link. I found his "Man on the Moon" this morning, which has a similarly haunting sound. 4:36
Lucina, I also got the answer to the cryptic clue!! Either Owen is being easy on us today, or we are finally getting the hang of them.
It seems that this is Rap history week. Pay attention LemonAde.
Marti, maybe you've never heard of Run-DMC, but being from Boston, I bet you have heard of Aerosmith. Well their careers are intrinsically linked.
This version of "Walk This Way" charted higher on the Hot 100 than the original version, peaking at number 4. It was also one of the first big hip hop singles in the UK, reaching a peak of number 8 there.
The landmark collaboration catapulted Run–D.M.C. into mainstream stardom and would influence hip hop music for years to come. The song paved the way for other pop acts to introduce elements of hip hop into their music. It pioneered the trend of rhymed/sung collaborations that is so present on American Radio from the late 1990s and 2000s to the present. The collaboration also introduced a fusion of rock and hip hop, later known as rap rock, to a wide audience for the first time.
Walk This Way
The song also marked a major comeback for Aerosmith, as it had been largely out of mainstream pop culture for several years while recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, and its 1985 comeback album Done with Mirrors flopped.*
*More at Wiki
Good Morning:
Enjoyed solving this even though there were some bumps along the way. Didn't care for booya, never heard Tom Wolfe's "medecade" expression, waited on perps for Lesley or Morley.
Dudley, my Cruciverb is stuck the same as yours. Frustrating, to say the least.
Hondo, we have already had several days of Mr. 3 H and I'm sure we'll have many more! How is the nameless kitty?
Owen, I got your Cryptic the second day in a row; I'm on a roll.
PK, I hope your brother is okay.
Thanks, Greg, for a challenging Thursday offering and thanks to Marti for a great review.
Stay cool and dry!
Lemonade - good one! PA/IL and LA/ME are also good, but too short. The theme entries in this puzzle have at least 6 letters.
Clue: what many Cornerites exclaimed when whilst watching the rap video.
Answer: Oh, Dear! OH DE AR
Musings
-Great time? Greg’s fun puzzle. Waste of time? Trying to parse the theme. Very cool!
-After NE was used again, I questioned some fills but all was good
-Someone seems intent on FOMENTing trouble here and has not mastered the concept of skipping posts of people that upset him/her.
-LEO - Sheldon’s hilarious take on astrology (:24)
-Omaha’s ConAgra will LAY off 450 people this year because of declining microwave popcorn sales
-IBM PC with no abbr. denotation speaks to modern lexicon
-BOOYA! (:06)
-Not a CM but a MM (:31) from our cultural GRAINY ad archives
-Has any altar server actually caught a wafer on a PATEN?
-I hear what Joann says, but usually have NO IDEA what she means
-Old TV’s were a jumble of CRT’s and other tubes that actually could be repaired
-Tornado victims in rebuilding Pilger, NE recently found out that FEMA FLOOD plain regulations forbid basements (which saved so many of them) in new housing.
-MACABRE – I’ve heard muh cob’ and muh cob’ ray
-HST – If you want a (best) friend in Washington, get a dog
-AI (capital I) looked like Al (small L) to me
-CONAN had a shot but is now back on basic cable
Who was the painter and who was the paintee in this dialogue?
“Don't change the color of your face! I'm out of UMBER.”
“And I'm out of patience! This place is driving me mad!”
Interesting about that TBBT clip is that it is from the pilot and the long running gag of Sheldon's "that's my spot" had not been introduced yet. Notice where Sheldon and Penny are seated.
STP and CEW III.
Goodbye, AFK
Total WAGS and perp help for me today, but no errors in the end, despite natticks everywhere.
I wanted COG for CAM for a while and that slowed me up, as did IRON MINE until I decided COAL worked better.
As to the theme, it was totally lost on me, since I equate postal codes with zips. Growing up in Oz, we have post codes, not zips, so it has never occurred to me to think of the letter codes for states as anything but state abbreviations. Finishing the PO of the unifier was the last thing I filled in, and it was a total WAG, since nothing else worked.
I've never heard of BOO YA either.
Marti - great blog! Cute, funny, and chirpy, as your persona is.
Eva Mendes is still a no show, but who's complaining ....
To the constructor - really quite a feat.
Marti, thanks for the quickie history on Persia. Very nice. Regimes may rise and fall, but time and tides move on.
Owen, I got the cryptic, from your clues - and, on going back, I noticed there is only one 7 letter word in the whole puzzle. Thus obvious. But it is still very charming.
I get my daily LAT fix from, where else - 'play the daily LAT crossword'. Have I been missing something ?
The IBM PC revolutionized the computer from a mainframe deity to a home appliance. Does anyone remember this notice, stuck on many CRT's, in the good ole days ..... ? Original photocopy in black Gothic lettering ....
ACHTUNG ! Alles Touristen und Nonteknischen Looken Peepers !
Das komputer maschine ist nicht fur der gefingerpoken und mitten grabben !
Oderwize ist easy to schnappen der springen werke, blowen fusen und poppen corken mit spitzen sparken.
Ist nicht fur gewerken bei Dummkopfen.
Der rubbernecken sightseeren keepen das cottonpicken hander in das pockets muss. Zo relaxen und watschen der blinkenlichten.
If you remember this, it qualifies you as an original, old-school, authentic, computer 'programmer.'
PK,
Sorry to hear about your brother. At least now he'll have some treatment to help avoid future strokes.
Nice puzzle today, and thanks for explaining the entire theme, Marti. I too, thought the postal codes were the beginning of the phrases.
BOOYA
Great Puzzle,
I got all the answers with the clues and perps. But even after I got the unifier, I only thought the first 2 letters were the Postal Code. [I also prefer State Code]
Thanks, Anonymous, for using OH in OH DEAR! My state was left out and I forgot I could use 2 words.
Vidwan827, thanks for a trip down memory lane. I copied and pasted the warning into a Word doc and made it Gothic and it looks so authentic!
Is Boo Ya! what Marines do or is it Hoo Ya?
Happy 4th to everyone.
I enjoyed the puzzle but the cleverness of the theme went right by me. Also, I kept misreading "Healing aid, briefly" as Hearing aid. That didn't help for some reason...
I noticed the same thing that Al did; that is, 36A, "What the answers to starred clues are comprised of." It's a very common mistake, one I learned fairly recently. It's the second time it has appeared in a LAT puzzle in the last few weeks.
Marti, I can see Odie OK but not Eva.
The first time I ever heard BOOYA was on an episode of a former favorite series of mine, Veronica Mars.
A real Thursday toughie and, sadly, a DNF for me today. Since I don't know Spanish or Hip-hop I put DOC instead of DMC on a guess. Off by a letter. My other mistake was just stupid on my part. After OCHERS (yes, misspelled) didn't work I put AMBERS thinking, that's not really very earthy, is it, but without wondering how SNAG could be TIGHT. DOH!
But I did get US POSTAL CODES and figured out how the theme worked. And I spelled ROALD correctly for a change.
Marti, I loved your Owen limerick!
PK, so sorry to hear about your brother. I hope he gets very clear and precise instructions on how to avoid a big stroke. My husband didn't get them from the neurologist, and I'm still angry about that because we could have done many things to avoid the big one if we had had clearer and better instructions.
Have a good Thursday, everybody!
Marti: Nice write-up & links.
Husker: With CED on vacation, you have really come thru with your interesting links. Thank You!
OwenKL: Since the only 7-letter word in the grid is MACABRE, I'm going "Out-on-a-limb" that that is the answer for your Cryptic clue today.
As for "Why?" ... I don't really care. [Yeah, there is a CAB in the middle of a MARE.]
I thought your explanation for URL yesterday was a bit contrived.
Avg.Joe: I'm with ya, the repetition made it seem a bit contrived.
Geez, with 50 States the theme shouldn't have to repeat so many/or any.
(But what do I know ... I'll probably never construct a puzzle).
Fave today was WET-ONE ... I like a good WET-ONE.
Cheers!!!
Dudley and other iPad users--I cannot get the puzzle on my iPad either. I read the note on Cruciverb, but I use Across Lite with Cruciverb and it still doesn't work.
I find the Trib site clunky enough to not enjoy end-of-the-week, difficult puzzles, so will just read your comments until the problem is fixed.
Have a good 4th of July, everybody,
Montana
Cat update
First, not my cat, it's Lucy's. Riley, the collie, is mine.
Been told the cat has been named Olympia and will be called Oly.(Ollie). The older cat is behaving, but very inquisitive. So far all this is going on in Lucy's studio downstairs. Can't wait for Riley and Oly's initial meeting.
The font I did the German warning in was Old English Text M something, in the Font list.
Just so you know it wasn't Gothic, actually.
Extremely clever theme. I never got it til the reveal. That mustve been hard to construct.
HAPPY 4th of JULY tomorrow!!
Husker @10:10
That would be Col.Potter to Charles Emerson Winchester, the Third, on M*A*S*H when he was painting his portrait.
PK:
I meant to tell you earlier how sorry I am to hear about your brother. Please let us know of his progress. I'm sending prayers your way.
Mari:
I believe VHS tapes do get GRAINY with AGE. Most of my Disney ones are on VHS and now that my younger granddaughter watches them I notice it more. I'm slowly replacing them with DVDs, especially my favorites.
There is a huge difference between VHS and DVD.
Bill G., I just put up a different pic of EVA. Let me know if you can see it? Also, if you click on the link at "her" you might be able to see the original. I can see both pics, and the link works for me, so I'm not sure what's going on with your computer.
I was curious about the criticism of "comprised of." Rich does not make many mistakes in grammar, so I looked it up in Webster's. It says that "be comprised of" means "consists of" or "composed of." Under usage notes, it goes on to say that in the late 18th century, the meaning changed to "to form" or "to constitute." But since the late 19th century, the meaning has reverted to its original "composed of." Even though this definition/usage is often criticized, it says it is used with increasing frequency, even in formal writing. Ngram viewer seems to confirm this trend. Anyone else have thoughts on the subject?
Clever puzzle. I noticed the state abbreviations at both ends of the theme answers, but missed the one or two states in the middle. Solved without help. Fast enough for a Thursday, but somewhat of a speed bump in the center.
This is a stretch, but for my state it could be a tip container at a B&B's reception desk or bar. INNJAR. I would order B&B which my ex called the nectar of the gods, and drop my dollar in the jar.
PK, I wish your brother the best of advice and the best of health. Misty, so sorry your husband's advice was less than optimal.
Montana 11:37 - that's what I find when going direct to the LAT site. The interface, which carries the Arkadium logo, is clunky on a desktop and close to impossible on a tablet. Sunday puzzles are maddeningly tricky.
I hope Cruciverb gets a Band-Aid soon.
Still no Eva (the top one) BUT I right click the little square and opened in another window, I got the whole slideshow of Eva from the FanPop site. Yowser!
Oh darn, I've got the picture now.
Need more Eva?
Link
Thanks Spitzboov for the Canada Day wishes. Our fireworks didn't get washed out after all.
Jeannie Bouchard is in the women's final at Wimbledon on Saturday. Hopefully Milos Raonic can win the men's semi-final tomorrow. Historic for Canada!
Happy July 4th holiday tomorrow to all my American friends.
OK, Try this one.
Link
Argyle, thanks so much for all of your hard work and ...er...dedication to finding photos of EVA Mendes. ;-)
Ok, now I get it.
MEDECADE IS the me decade!
Actually it was a very exasperating for me because I didn't know STIPE and BOT; did not get but knew, IBM-PC, OPT, LOT, B-DAYS and COAL MINE. So I didn't get the US POSTAL CODES until I peeked at OPT AND B-DAYS.
This must have taken days or weeks to find the right words and phrases and construct. But I was surprised that the editors allowed the duplications.
Imaginative and skilful.
I couldn't help myself...with Rick Rubin's comments about rap and hip-hop's influence on popular music and Avg Joe's comment about Stipe contributing to other's music (we call this crossthreading), I thought of this track right away, Trout. This may not be to everyone's taste, but I didn't appreciate rap or hip-hop until I had teenage sons.
I once heard that REM was so popular in the 80's it seemed like you could hear them coming from every college dormitory window in the US.
6D, MA/SC (abbr. of masculine), sorta works with the theme. It's only four letters, but it would've added two more states.
Karl@ 2:32
A musical link to add to our Thursday tuneagement containing STIPE and a nod to RUN-DMC's trailblazing ways of incorporating rock music with hip-hop?
Well done!!
Oh, and that familiar guitar riff you hear? That's Steppenwolf's "The Pusher"(i think)
Marti, re. "comprised of" Here's a summary of what I found on Grammar Girl.
It seems simple enough: “to comprise” means “to contain” as in “The house comprises seven rooms.” In other words, this house has or contains seven rooms. When you use “comprise,” you’re talking about all the parts that make up something.
The important thing to remember when you’re using the word “comprise” is that the item that is the whole shebang comes first in the sentence; second come the items that are its parts. For example, you might say, “A full pack comprises 52 cards.” The pack is the whole shebang, so it comes first in the sentence. It would be wrong to say, “Fifty-two cards comprise a full pack.” Likewise, America comprises 50 states, not fifty states comprise America. In this sentence, America is the whole shebang, so it comes first in the sentence. The whole comprises the parts.
Now let’s talk about the phrases “is comprised of” and “is composed of.” One of these is allowed, and one is not. The one you can say is “is composed of,” so you could say, “Our nation is composed of many ethnic groups.” On the other hand, most grammar sources I checked agree that “is comprised of” is an incorrect phrase. Just as you can’t say, “The house includes of seven rooms,” you can’t say, “The house is comprised of seven rooms”. You have to say, “The house comprises seven rooms.”
(A little more to finish up in the following post.)
The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style, however, has noticed an interesting trend. In 1965, 54% of the usage panel disapproved of the phrase “is comprised of,” whereas in 2005, 65% approved, which I take to mean that only 35% disapproved. As with a number of constructions we’ve discussed here on the Grammar Girl podcast, they say “the traditional distinction may be destined to fall by the wayside.” This guide does suggest that you observe the traditional rule though.
(From me - Bill G.)
So my general rule is, if I were writing a short essay to apply for a job as a teaching assistant for an English professor, what would I use? I would not ever use "Comprised of." I would rather try to use it correctly rather than take the POV, "Well, since it has been used incorrectly so often, it is becoming more acceptable."
Sorry for going on about this. Down off my soap box now...
I really liked this puzzle. Got the whole thing with no write-overs.
The first time I ever heard booya, it was said by Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman."
Yup, Karl. Nice little package you boxed up there. Not sure that I could ever come to like Hip Hop, but that's a nice blend, and Michael Stipe works well in that setting.
And yes, RR. Unmistakably The Pusher.
And while we're on the topic, John Kaye and anti-dope tunes, don't forget Snow Blind Friend (written by Hoyt Axton)
Karl, yes - you led me down some nice musical paths as I was re-exploring some "oldies" (!!!) from the nineties.
Bill G., but the original (traditional) meaning of "comprised" was "consists of." Just because the meaning changed in the 19th century doesn't mean that that is the "traditional" usage, does it? I'm not a grammar Nazi - I just say what sounds natural to my ear. So I probably would have clued 36-A as "What the answers to the starred clues are made of..." (Thus avoiding any interesting discussions on this blog!!)
Coin op paper machine was empty today, and the Mensa site just has a blank space where the puzzle should be. ( something about iPad not supporting flash? )
Anon at 10am, good one!
HG, the tbbt clip said not allowed for viewing on mobile, must watch on a PC? I never saw that before.
Desperate-Otto, I did find a DW cake But I am having trouble figuring out the HTML on this iPad.
Thanks to the ladies who wished my brother well. Misty, I can relate to getting poor health instructions. Bless you! My brother is scheduled to have brain surgery later this evening to remove a clot and repair whatever is bleeding and causing him to have the little strokes. Always scary to those who love him. I hope he will come out of this better than ever. He's a really nice guy. "One day at a time."
PK, most sincere best wishes for your brother's recovery. Prayers and thoughts to you and your family.
I believe using "writing a short essay to apply for a job as a teaching assistant for an English professor" as a standard for all written and spoken communication is similar to wearing the same outfit to a formal dinner dance as to a patio cook-out. Our language has to match the circumstance, formal vs informal, written vs spoken, etc.
I believe that solving crosswords puzzles is an informal game. For me the pleasure of it is having a mixture of all different types of expression. A crossword using only formal standard words from a style manual would be boring. You would miss a lot of colorful expression.
Formal vs informal language
http://www.pcc.edu/resources/tutoring/rock-creek/writing-center/documents/formal-informal-language.pdf
Written vs spoken language
http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-written-and-spoken-language/
Prescriptive standards. Please scroll down to the Problems section.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription
Watching the Boston Pops on the Esplanade, performing "The Star Spangled Banner" for the 4th (3rd) of July extravaganza...It jes' don' git no better'n dat!! (Ahem...) It just doesn't get any better than that!
(Sorry, southern DH got into my head for a minute there...)
Thanks to all who recommended Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier. I really enjoyed it. A-. I have read Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Last Runaway by the same author. Superb, A+. I will have to go back and pick up some of your other recommendations.
Eve All!
Marti thanks for the writeup, I was thinking the last two letters were the POSTAL CODES and NECT, AR? Um, OK - I've been to Petite Joan (pronounced Pet-it Jean, IIRC).
I haven't done a Thurs unscathed in a while - thanks Greg!
The SE ws the hardest nut to crack. Nervous ___ nelly? as a ?? Finally sussed it out.
OF NOTE - STIPES. R.E.M. was bro's fav and grew on me. Some is pop-y, but that's OK.
I'd link BOOYA - but Jon Stewart would break the politics ban. The perp LOT, was pOT for a long time (read as housing plant unit. oops.
PK - Sorry to hear about your bro.
I won't get into these language wars. If you want to talk about Perl v. Python - game on trolls. :-)
Vidwan - I don't recall that, but then the 1st computer we could get our hands on in 7th grade was the Apple ][e.
CED - sometimes I get the "you can't watch this" too on my iPad. I've not tried the Mensa site with it, but no, Jobs was very anti-Flash.
OK, Marti - this is the best I can do w/ my current home state:
LAT-XGAMEs. I presume it is pull-ups off the side of a cliff.
Cheers, -T
CED, I have had both those issues with my iPad. I just rarely click on YouTube links now since I usually get that message. (Except on Monday and Tuesday's blog. All the links work those days.)
Any site that uses Flash, will not show up on an iPad. I've tried a couple apps that are supposed to open those sites, but none have worked for the LA Times puzzle.
Montana
From the cutting room floor:
LAME WIT-XGAME, presumably all of them. But, it uses ME 2x...
WAKY WIT-XGAME - puns, puns and more puns! but spells wacky wrong.
WAKY CAT-XGAME - obviously Cat Juggling.
Cheers.
Taxi | plowing into | mother horse | was | ghastly!
[CAB] [inside] [MARE] was [MACABRE]
Lucina: The only reward for the cryptic clues are the same as for the crossword puzzle -- the satisfaction of having defeated a challenge -- knowing that you are capable of figuring things out. And bragging rights if you want to mention it here in the blog. Late enough in the day, it's probably even okay to reveal the answer or type of wordplay.
Tinbeni: Contrived is sort of the purpose of Cryptic clues! Half is a standard American-style definition, and the other half is wordplay that (usually) treats the answer as an abstract collection of letters without a semantic meaning.
Vidwan: I remember well that ersatz German notice! First saw it on a room-size mainframe in the late '60s.
Montana: Various sites have the puzzle in 3 different formats! I think Across Lite is only from the Cruciverb site (anyone know anywhere else?), Arcadium is at the LAT and Chicago Tribune sites (after an annoying pause for an ad that won't even display on my browser), and the Uclick format is used at Mensa, Yahoo, and Merriam-Webster. Each of the three has slightly different options and controls.
I had SKIN>SNUG.
Just reading yesterday (in RD) that HOOAH is a military verbal shorthand for "Heard. Understood. Acknowledged." I suspect BOOYA is related.
Marti: the dictionary I consulted acknowledged a subtle difference, it agreed that in standard usage they're interchangeable. And in today's case, either is good, because the answers are comprised of parts that are composed of postal codes.
OwenKL:
Thank you. I actually saw the MA-cab-Re before counting the letters. Yes, it was satisfying.
To all who are in the path of Hurricane Arthur, please stay safe. Here in AZ we are experiencing a heavy storm which is to be expected as it is the monsoon season here. Some areas even reported rain. No Jeopardy, though, drat!
I wish everyone a joyful holiday tomorrow and hope the weather permits you to celebrate Independence Day.
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