I thought we were in for a homophone puzzle after I filled in the first two theme answers:
20-Across. Really opens up : BARES ONE'S SOUL.
24-Across. Warrants another mention : BEARS REPEATING.
But the third one didn't fit the mold:
45-Across. Greed and jealousy are among them : BASER INSTINCTS.
Hmmm...but it did contain the same letters.
AHA!
51-Across. Threat of power, and a hint to the starts of 20-, 24- and 45-Across : SABER RATTLING.
The "rattling" indicates that the letters are shaken around, and a classic anagram theme is born.
This is Steve's third LAT puzzle this month, and the second one I have blogged. They are always fun and fresh, with some clever clues and nice juicy fill. Come with me and see what I mean...
Across
1. Stephen King title city : SALEM. "Salem's Lot." I never read his books or watch the movies. Waaaay too scary for me.
6. USS Enterprise android : DATA. I had to pause for a minute to come up with this guy's name.
10. Drinks slowly : SIPS. The way to drink scotch, right Tin?
14. Beethoven honoree : ELISE. "Für ELISE."
15. What may make the future tense? : OMEN. Fun clue!
16. Start of a solution : IDEA.
17. Steer catcher : RIATA.
18. Haboob, for one : WINDSTORM. One of them blew over Phoenix last Friday.
22. Circuit protector : FUSE.
23. Nashville awards gp. : CMA. Country Music Association.
31. Astrologer Dixon : JEANE. I always want to put two N's in her name.
32. MD for women : GYN.ecologist.
33. Falco of "Nurse Jackie" : EDIE.
34. River ends? : ARs.
35. Idealist : DREAMER.
39. Dark time in poetry : E'EN. And a semi-clecho at 55-down. Dark time in ads : NITE.
40. "What kind of a name is 'Wilbur' for a man?" speaker : MR. ED. He was a horse, of course...
42. Donation, say : AID.
43. Seating option : AISLE. I always prefer the window - no food carts banging into my ankles, or people crawling over me to get to the bathroom.
49. Trig. ratio : COS.ine.
50. "Bus Stop" playwright : INGE.
57. Autograph signing locale : STAGE DOOR.
59. Call, in a way : RADIO.
60. Ship that sailed to Colchis : ARGO. Jason and his Argonauts.
61. Humerus neighbor : ULNA. Then there is this type of humorous neighbor.
62. Draw together : UNITE.
63. Withdraw by degrees : WEAN.
64. Ingredients in some stews : PEAS.
65. Egyptian pyramid's eight : EDGES. Not "kings."
Down
1. Balkan native : SERB.
2. Latin "others" : ALIA. Usually abbr. as al. And 28-Down. Clarifier usually abbreviated : ID EST. i.e., like this. (Latin for "that is...")
3. One may be habitual : LIAR.
4. Miami Sound Machine singer : ESTEFAN. I hope you appreciate the fact that I linked this singer instead of Beethoven's "Für Elise."
5. Carefully considered : MEASURED.
6. It'll bum you out : DOWNER. I read it as BURN instead of BUM. I think crossword clues should be PRINTED ALL IN CAPS FROM NOW ON.
7. Henri's lady friend : AMIE. French "friend."
8. Arithmetic column : TENS.
9. Director's "Done with this segment!" : AND...SCENE. I wanted AND..."cut" but it was too short. I had never heard AND...SCENE, so I looked it up. Seems it was often used by someone auditioning, to let the director know they were finished with their piece. Now it is used in a facetious way. After ranting and raving about something, a person might say AND...SCENE, to indicate that whatever they just said was all an act.
10. Put in place : SITUATE.
11. False __ : IDOL.
12. A : PER. As in $5 PER dozen, or $5 A dozen. How much is corn on the cob in your state?
13. Yosemite __ : SAM.
19. "Brave New World" drug : SOMA.
21. WWII intelligence org. : OSS. Office of Strategic Services. Julia Child was in the OSS.
24. Three-time A.L. MVP : BERRA.
25. Lightens : EASES.
26. "Zounds!" : EGADS.
27. "Quartet in Autumn" English novelist Barbara : PYM. I only know the character in Poe's novel. There once was a PYM from Nantucket...
29. Bohr of the Manhattan Project : NIELS.
30. Code carrier : GENE.
31. It's perpendicular to a threshold : JAMB.
36. Lifted : RAISED UP.
37. A, in Germany : EIN.
38. Sounded right : RANG TRUE. Yep, sounds right to me!
41. Figure with 10 sides : DECAGON.
44. Republic formerly under Danish rule : ICELAND.
46. Court cover-up : ROBE. Cute - not the hiding of evidence, but the judge's covering. Why do they wear robes, anyway? I should think they could do the same thing in a tuxedo and look far more dashing...
47. Pageant symbols : TIARAS.
48. What a QB tries to avoid : INT.erception.
51. Multipart story : SAGA.
52. Auditioner's goal : ROLE.
53. Gossip columnist Barrett : RONA.
54. "Copacetic, man" : I DIG.
56. Exits : GOES.
57. Caught at the theater : SAW.
58. Amount past due? : TRE. HaHa! Irish Miss, did you get this one? Italian due = two and tre = three.
Marti, out!
78 comments:
There is a fellow from Scotland's BRAES
Who BARES it all to catch some rays.
He says SABRE grass
Tends to tickle his ass,
But he's hoping to start a new craze!
~~~~~~~~~
From yesterday --
CandleFlight, I see you're new to Blogger! Welcome!
YR: Pleonasm! My new word! I've always felt tautology was more a logic term than a good linguistic one for the antonym to oxymoron!
Not too hard a puzzle today, although LASSO>RIATA kept the NW blank for a while. Didn't need red letters, but perps help an awful lot today!
Marti: Egads, you're right! It is buM! Once I finally got it from perps (after reading the clue uncounted times) I figured it was buRNed out as in tired!
Morning, all!
Bit of a slog today, but not too bad. Didn't know PYM and went with ESTEVAN instead of ESTEFAN at first, but everything else was just a matter of going slow and steady. I had no idea what/where "Colchis" was, but I know Jason and the ARGOnauts and was able to get it with the help of a perp or two.
One nit to pick right at the beginning. The city mentioned in the Steven King book (which I've read and also seen the movie version of) is "'SALEM's Lot" (which is short for Jerusalem's Lot). SALEM is only part of the town's name. Calling it SALEM is like calling Boca Raton "Boca".
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Steve Blais, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for a fine review.
I could not sleep so I got up about two hours ago and hit the puzzle. Slow going, but I got it.
NW was tough to start since I confidently put in LETT for 1D. ELISE worked so I thought I had it right. About an hour and a half later I put in SERB. Our long lost Illinois governor is a Serb. Nothing against Serbs, just a comment.
AND SCENE was also unknown to me. I wanted IT'S A WRAP. None of the perps would play ball. Perps helped me get the answer of course.
Had none of the theme answers before getting SABER RATTLING. After intense study, I figured out he was jumbling, or rattling, the word SABER. That helped with the other three.
Good seeing MR ED again. It has been a while.
PER was tough. Got it with perps. Then reading the write-up explained it to me. Good clue/word.
I might go back to bed. Been drinking Earl Grey for two hours.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(217)
Isn't RIATA spanish? Maybe a spanish word for steer would have helped.
Owen,
Several regulars have repeatedly complained to you before. May I suggest you to limit your cryptic to once a week?
WARNING, CRYPTIC DISCUSSION ONLY.
Sorry I didn't get back to the blog yesterday until late at night, so never gave you the solution to yesterday's Cryptic.
Blue-green | Elf | has a replacing heart, | and | may foretell the future (3,4)
[TEAL] [ELF] ["A" replacing center letter] [=] [TEA LEAF]
Here's a new Cryptic for today, with the unusual tactic of using a technique twice to partially cancel itself out.
Reversals put many papers back in the red, having unrealistic aspirations (7)
WARNING, CRYPTIC DISCUSSION ONLY.
And the solution to Nice Cuppa's cryptoclue:
"So, anyone for | meadow | rackets?", | or | "Heard the one about | metal | security | briefs?", | perhaps (7)
[filler] [LEA] [DINS] [=] [homograph] [LEAD] [INSurance] [abbreviation] [filler]
British cryptics differ from American in being more permissive of "filler," extra words that don't really contribute to the clue. American ones will only use them (sparingly) in the transition, the part of the clue between the wordplay and definition. At least Cuppa keeps the filler to the outside, which is better than some constructors. However, I doubt this one would fly even in Britain because I don't think they allow "double cryptic" clues. It has two wordplays (albeit quite good ones), but no straight definition! I suppose the whole thing could be considered LEAD-INS to a conversation, but that would make it 3 parts instead of 2, which is also taboo. Also, LEAD-INS should be numerated as (4-3).
You can get the cobs (used) for free but if you want the kernels still on it, it will cost you.
Good morning!
When I had BERR_ I figured that last letter must be a Y. That gave me BY SERINS TINCTS. Stared at that for quite a while before the V-8 knocked me to my senses. Otherwise, I thought this was a fun Thursday outing. Just right.
Oh, and sweet corn is currently running about 25-cents an ear down here. The corn isn't that great, either.
Local corn, for our family reunion, was 7 doz. for $40.00, about 50¢ an ear. And it was very good this year.
Old joke:
Pirate Bob's Corn.
Good morning everybody,
Good puzzle today. I saw the baseball reference at 24D and checked to see if this was CC's creation.
I didn't know PYM or NIELS, and didn't really like the RATTLING theme.
I liked the clue for 58D: Amount past due? TRE. And 34A: River ends? ARS (that one took me a bit to figure out).
Have a great day.
Good puzzle, challenging, but not so challenging that I will be late for work. Thanks Steve, and fun write-up as usual Marti!
Had Bonds filled in with no perps, but then switched to Berra when Mr.Ed became obvious. I can never remember who is in the NL and the AL!
Barry G @ 5:52 am:
Good point regarding Salem's Lot. I'm no Stephen King expert, but I was racking my brain trying to think of a book titled SALEM.
What a great week of puzzles and write ups. Steve and Gareth are both part of the LAT Rota of regular constructors (along with C.C. and Marti). It is nice to see all the new people commenting here. 7 hour mediation yesterday, really worn out.
Thank you Steve Blais and thank you Marti.
Getting the theme answers really helped break open many parts of this puzzle. I was otherwise stalled in different areas.
Anyone fail to get DUST STORM for HABOOB ? Oh wait. Never mind.
There seem to be a lot of haboobs in and around Phoenix lately. I've seen at least two covered in the national news in the last month or so.
I'd rather endure a haboob than a Sharknado attack ! *
Something had to be wrong in the upper midwest. It was having "verb" for "what may make the future tense."
Also momentarily had BOOK STORE for "autograph signing location." I recall Abejo mentioning a year or so ago that he was driving up to the north suburbs to a book store to get a writer's autograph.
Liked "Amount past due." Funny.
Never recovered from having verb and dust. And hand up for burn rather than bum.
* I think that movie may earn a few Golden Raspberries.
Seeing Brent Spiner (a local Houston boy) in his "Data" outfit made me recall that he could do a spot-on impression of Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard. Non-trekkers probably won't be impressed.
I liked rattling my saber. I worked from the bottom up so the reveal helped with the theme answers. Like TTP, I was hung up in the north central. I wanted END SCENE and SAND STORM and didn't know DATA. The I in AMIE led to WIND.
I see that there is an apostrophe at the beginning of 'SALEM'S LOT. As the clue asked for title city, I suppose I can accept this answer. Jerusalem did not appear in the title.
Owen, Tautology is a term for grammarians and writers, as well as being a logic term.
Dictionary.com says
1. needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”
2. an instance of such repetition.
3. In logic.
a. a compound propositional form all of whose instances are true, as “A or not A.”
b. an instance of such a form, as “This candidate will win or will not win.”
Today's limerick:
There once was a fellow named SAM,
Who married a large girl named Pam.
'Cross the threshold that night,
Things got rather tight;
You might say, they got caught in a "JAMB"!!
Hi Y'all! I enjoyed Steve's puzzle & Marti's expo. This puzzle went fast for me despite not knowing a bunch of stuff: DATA, SOMA, PYM, DECAGON, TRE...
Trying to figure out the theme RATTLED me. I filled in the theme phrases with only a few perps which helped with the fill, but Marti had to explain the unifier for me. I was clueless.
I read "auctioneer's" instead of "auditioner's goal" and wanted "sale" instead of ROLE.
Hand up for "book store". It fit.
Call wasn't "phone" but RADIO. Meh! We used CB's at the farm which were a great help with many miles between fields. But that was twenty years ago.
I got stumped on the bottom line with SAW, E'EN & WEAN and had to red letter run. Had fun with the puzzle though. Several clues I didn't even read.
I've never been a fan of anagrams, so the actual theme was pretty "Meh" for me today. But there was a lot to like, including the theme answers and the reveal phrase as well as the longest downs. Certainly no speed run, but rather a long stroll to complete it.
Local cost of sweet corn? A wide range from $3 to $5 a dozen. We don't buy very much as we grow our own. But this year the racoons have finally found our patch. We stayed ahead of them and got more of the first planting than they did, but that may not be true of the second and third plantings. Nasty little varmints!
Hi gang -
Utterly befuddled by the north central, so a DNF. Didn't know DATA, read "bum" as "burn," and think "AND SCENE" is rather unfair. Yes, haboob is a type of WIND STORM, but with SAND and DUST both fitting, and DOWNER hidden by the optical confusion, it was never coming together.
Also, the clunker ARS sticks in my craw.
So what was an otherwise excellent puzzle tumbled a notch or two.
I was looking for a homophone theme, had ESTEVAN, and ITS A WRAP - which not only fits perfectly, but is also a far better answer. So, many stumbles along the way.
I mostly liked the puzzle, so I'll give it a B+.
Why is INGE never clued as poor hitting 3rd baseman?
Concert tonight - 7:30, Kellogg Park, Plymouth MI. Stop by if you're close - it's always a fun time, and afterwards, I'll buy you an ice cream cone.
Much to do, so IMBO.
Cool regards!
JzB
Good Morning:
A tad crunchy but finished w/o help after changing end scene to and scene. Data was a complete unknown as I have never seen an episode of Star Trek. Also, I read bum as burn for the longest time.
Clever theme, Mr. Blais, and some nice fill. Thanks, Marti, for your cheery expo. I was not fooled for one second by Amount past due=tre!
Our corn is $7.00 a dozen, or .60 an ear. It is just starting to get really sweet. I have it every night-just love it!
I watched Saving Mr. Banks last night. If the movie's portrayal of P. L. Travers was even half way accurate, I'm surprised Mary Poppins reached the silver screen. I am a big fan of Emma Thompson, but in this role, I wanted to throttle her!
Have a great last day of July.
Good morning everyone.
Difficult but very clever puzzle from Steve today. Sparse fill until the SE. But then got the unifier and finally realized we were looking at anagrams of SABER.
Slowly bubbled back up to the North and got central N last.
Guessed Haboob might be some kind of storm but had to wait for perps for right hint of WINDSTORM.
@8d, ones and TENS conundrum.
Wanted ' that's a wrap' for AND SCENE, but was too many letters.
EIN and EEN were a clecho for me. Ein is German for one; een is one in Dutch and L. German. (And they started on the same horizontal line.)
Sin and COS were a coin flip, too, but the perps were gentle here.
Good job, good workout, Steve. Kudos.
Another DNF. Got the South, most of the Central and very little of the North. Plenty of thoughts about today's puzzle, but most have been addressed,
CC @6:AM Thanks.
Busy weekend, so I'll say so long until Monday.
Hey gang - just got this in an email and thought you all might get a kick out of it:
Guide to women
Funny stuff.
Thanks for the challenge, Steve. Marti, many thanks for the expo. I had a few questions and you answered them.
I don't read Stephen King so I didn't know the book title. I've never seen Star Wars or Star Trek so I don't anything about them. Fortunately the font used in the newspaper was clear enough so that I read BUM instead of burn.
I really wanted the person signing autographs to be in a book store. One of my brothers had a book published in the past month and he's signing lots of autographs at book stores.
Heat, humidity and high mold count are making a comeback. Time to close up the house and turn on the a/c.
Pat
Hello, puzzlers.
Unlike many of you I found this one easy sailing with a big hesitation at AND SCENE which I thought should be END SCENE. But knew DATA was right. He was a loveable android.
Didn't know SALEM but it quickly emerged. Wanted SANDSTORM for haboob but WINDSTORM prevailed. Believe me, I don't want to be on the road when one moves in; visibility is zero.
Nice job, Steve Blais and Marti, too. Thank you both.
Loved the clue for ROBE.
Enjoy your Thursday, everyone!
TTP: Good memory. Yes, I got my favorite Author's autograph. Michael Connelly. It was quite a trial getting that point. But, I got the autograph.
Abejo
(140)
Mari: I think the book is entitled "Salem's Lot" Sounds like the clue/answer were correct. I have never read a Stephen King book. I tried once but quit.
Abejo
Hi everybody. I thought this puzzle was harder than usual for a Thursday. Challenging and fun. No complaints. If Salem is the town and "Salem's Lot" is the book, then Salem was mentioned in the title. Seems OK to me. If the town is called Salem's Lot, then that just seems weird but the town of Salem is still mentioned in the title. (The more I type, the more confused this feels.)
Corn is about three ears for $1.00 here typically. My father used to tell me that he was taught to put the water on to boil when he went out to pick the corn. As years have gone by, hybrid varieties have been created that hold their sweetness much longer. Buying corn at the supermarket used to be a sad proposition if you were used to fresh corn. Now, it's almost as good as Farmer's Market corn. I cook it in the microwave using the method I learned on this blog. I never had trouble with racoons. Aphids, on the other hand, were a constant nuisance.
Well, I was really proud of myself, thinking I'd nailed this one--but 'twas not to be. Like Lucina, I had END SCENE and unfortunately, I don't know my androids and so DATE looked okay to me. Darn. But otherwise I found the puzzle challenging and fun (well, except for the PER for A which was a bit of a stretch). Still, thanks, Steve, and you too, Marti, for the helpful expo.
I had a bit of trouble with the theme too because I first had BASIC INSTINCTS for greed and jealousy. I guess I'm more of a cynic than I realized. But in trying to suss how the SABER got RATTLED I finally figured it out.
Abejo, I too started with IT'S A WRAP. I also had REASONED before MEASURED which slowed me down a bit. But, hey, it's Thursday, and Thursday puzzles are supposed to be challenging!
Have a great day, everybody!
Sorry Dennis, but I found your guide extremely sexist and distasteful on myriad levels. If there is an appropriate venue for it it is certainly not on this blog.
I pity any women in your life.
Bill G:
The name of the town was actually Jerusalem's Lot, which was abbreviated as 'Salem's Lot.
Hi everyone!
I thought $0.50 an ear was a bit pricey at our local farm stand, but the corn is so good that I didn't mind paying that much. But I see it is even higher in some parts of the country, so I'm just going to zip it!
I'm glad others read it as BURN, too. I was beginning to think I needed new reading glasses...but now that I think of it, maybe we all do?
Corn here is advertised at 5 for $1.00 although I bought one ear at $.50 before seeing that. It's for a squash/corn soup that I'm planning to make.
So when I submitted my limerick, I had only done about 10% of the puzzle. As you could tell by the clue words I used (SAM and JAMB), I was searching for low-hanging fruit ALL OVER today's offering. And ended up "in a jam", literally.
As others said, I had many of the same "errors" - ITSAWRAP/ANDSCENE was my worst as it added several more minutes to the "solve" than I had expected. BASER instincts - not familiar with that term, but by then had "figured out" the anagrams; did not know the character DATA (must have been Star Trek Next Generation); perps got WINDSTORM. JAMBS/JEANE was one of my first "solves", as was MRED.
I was traveling the early part of the week so I didn't have a chance to comment on Mon-Weds puzzles. While "on the road" I got the USA Today and did a few of their puzzles. I like the LAT ones better.
Umm, yeah, pretty weird...
I actually did not watch the video that Dennis linked until Anonymous pointed out its inappropriate nature, which is a sentiment I ditto.
Basically, it seems counter-intuitive to take dating advice from someone who looks like they got fired from H&R Block, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE A GUN STRAPPED TO THEIR BELT!
Sorry, no offense to anyone who works at H&R Block... unless you think you can quantify people with pre-algebra graphs (and you are in the seventh grade and giggle every time the teacher says to turn to page 69 or says Haboob).
Not too hard, this one, but tricky enough to keep it interesting. TRE, ARS, and OMEN were cleverly clued.
I picked up a new word in "Haboob." Others have noticed the rise in haboobs (haboobies?) around Phoenix of late. I saw THIS on TV, but did not know its proper name 'til now.
Today's pzl was 100% for me, no lookups. The easiest fills were ESTEFAN, AND SCENE, NIELS, and STAGE DOOR. "AND SCENE" is used by my drama students to start as well as end a scene they present in class, often w/o the "AND"--just a blunt "SCENE!" This makes it easy for classroom audiences who don't have the benefit of a curtain or lights to signal the formal beginning and end of a piece.
An hour-long date with that guy would likely make any sane woman crazy. That's why he thinks there are so many crazies.
I initially entered BASic INSTINCTS for the greed and jealousy clue, and didn't think twice about.
When it was later corrected to BASER INSTINCTS due to the perps, I had to chuckle to myself, and wonder what was wrong with me.
I guess it's about time to stop eating, and get off this couch and go do someone. Else.
Dennis: No problem with the clip here at Villa Incognito ...
The "Battle-of-the-Sexes" was going on long before that clip was filmed.
Just wished it had been funnier ...
Enjoyed my "solve-slog" as this very slowly came together.
(oops, I said "came together" ... must be a sexual connotation hidden in there somewhere! lol)
WEES re: buRn-v-bum, what a DOWNER!
Looking forward to my SIPS of Pinch at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
I wasn't going to comment as today's puzzle was pretty much your basic Thursday puzzle (which is a good thing!) but any discussion of sweet corn prices always reminds me of my mother (who grew up poor in Western Mass in the '20s) telling us that her family ate a lot of corn. The price? A penny an ear.
By the way, all signs are pointing to Mom being alive and well when she celebrates her 96th birthday in October.
I know Dennis' link is naughty. It is grossly offensive, irresponsible and, as someone said, even distasteful. But I have to admit I haven't had so many laughs before noon so far this summer.
A lovely spoof with deadpan delivery, including the male version of the "no go" and "fun zones" at the end.
(Still laughing!)
I once knew a guy who believed in the beauty-to-crazy ratio, until he took this bus ride:
BUS RIDE
WARNING, CRYPTIC DISCUSSION ONLY
Bold and all caps? And on two successive posts?
The most generous interpretation is that someone is off his meds.
Stop warning us. Just stop it.
Beethoven's composition is written "fur elise" and not as "fir elise".
Since there seems to be a rolling survey on Dennis's Video link, I thought I ought to participate. Right off the bat - I am a 32 yr old partly hot and a not-at-all crazy gal, and have a serious Significant Other.
While I thought the video was rather silly, I am not offended. Both the guys would be 'out' in my black book. They are definitely not hot, and I dont give a d--- how rich they are. Plus they weren't even funny, and looked like nerds. I didn't even smile, but I was definitely not offended. Must be a guy thing.
Does it belong on this blog. With what else is going on, I would say yes. If one person found this funny, it would be enough, and Dennis counts as one.
Anon@152: Who are you talking to? The only "fir elise" I can find is yours...and now mine.
Comedy has always been dependent on the absurd, the insulting, the stereotype. The questions to me are is the joke funny and is it hurtful? I like my jokes funny and not mean. I am more concerned about actual violence in the world in all contexts rather than sexist humor.
I also have trouble relating to all the comments about never having watched any Star Wars, Star Trek or Simpsons when these are such large parts of our media culture, as can be seen by the number of puzzle references. I understand trying something and not liking it, like Abejo and Ste. King, but without trying how do you know?
Enough is too much.
This blog used to be fun when it was about the crossword puzzle. Cryptic schmyctic... who cares? If you must, follow our leader CC's rules and do one a week.... (that's too many IMO)
Lemon @ 2:17 - I can only speak for myself, but I have never watched Star Trek simply because I don't like Sci-Fi. I don't care for westerns, either, nor vampires or slasher movies.
BTW, when I read your first post this morning, I thought to myself, "How on earth could anyone meditate for 7 hours?" Makes me wonder about my new glasses! :-)
There are a lot of regulars that don't come around anymore.
The hijacking of C.C.s blog by an
egomaniacal, emotionally needy and delusional first poster is pathetic.
I believe C.C. asked you to limit your cryptic to once a week.
I'm asking you to eliminate it and your limericks altogether because this is a CROSSWORD blog. Get it?
This isn't YOUR readership, but you act as though it were.
You consistently go over the limits for posting and I'm sick of looking at your coin you made with your own picture on it.
In fact, that speaks volumes in itself.
Looks like it's one of those days. Time for a theme song: Tuneagement
Or: Maybe this
Owen and Chairman Moe, I liked both of your limericks today. I do have to agree with the others who would like to see the cryptic clues disappear from this blog.
As for the puzzle, I thought it was a good Thursday offering. Like many of you, I read 6D as burn rather than bum and thought that DOWNER was an odd answer.
Abejo, Michael Connelly is my favorite author, too.
Re. crosswords: I've done the USA Today CWs. They seem to be the same or very similar to the ones on the NBC website, edited by Timothy Parker. They are not witty or clever, at about our Mon/Tue level and seem serviceable.
Recently I subscribed to the NYT puzzles. Going along with the opinions of some of the others here; they are similar in quality to the LAT puzzles and maybe a little harder. Some of the clues seem to be misleading on purpose in a way that sometimes seems a little unfair. But I like them OK though I prefer the LAT puzzles, maybe because I'm more used to them. I have found it interesting that I haven't seen any of the LAT constructors yet. I know there is some overlap but less than I would have expected. Is there a reason for this? Who pays more? Are there reasons that a constructor might prefer the LAT to the NYT or vice versa? Just curious.
Greetings!
Thanks Steve and Marti! Puzzle was an easier Thursday. Scratched head at AND SCENE but DATA was a gimme.
Cheers!
Re: Crypticism
The solution is very simple, and has been stated before.
Start your own blog.
I think the umlaut is usual in "Für Elise."
At least Dennis' video post stopped the 'price of corn' discussion....thankfully
Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, its been a long pain in the ass day & I tried to relax by doing the puzzle, 1st in ink, then quickly relegated to red letter.
I burned by 6D
12D A:per Really?
34A ARS? (Let me tell you where you can stick that clue/answer combo...
& to top it off, I tried to find something funny about Saber rattling,,, & could find nothing funny at all... :(
OwenKLs timing seems to be a bit off, or he was typing while CC was posting. Either way I don't see what the big deal is, if you don't like it, don't read it....
(honestly, I can't figure these cryptics out, but I don't get a bug up my ass about it!)
Lighten up people!
Lastly, what was so wrong with Dennis' link? I think you are reading the chart incorrectly! besides, they showed both sides, so why get your panties/boxers in a bunch?
rlythtv CED Dennis' link was not funny, for me. But you are not obliged to watch the whole video. I thought it was kinda silly, but to be fair, it was not produced by Dennis - he just linked it. I have no problem with that. Different strokes for different folks.
I would have had no problem if they really showed 'both sides', preferably without their clothes on. Now, that would have been real interesting.
As for OwenKL and his cryptic clues and limericks, I think one of each per day is enough. I don't read them but maybe two other people on this blog do. To be fair, that also applies to Nice Cuppa.
I have a feeling that all the Anon's who have been commenting on OwenKL are one and the same person.
The 'blue' Real women seem to like his limericks.
Rule of thumb - One Blue vote is equal to ten Anon votes.
Hey, did someone say they wanted to hear more about 'the price of corn'?
Well, if it helps lighten the mood a bit, here is a funny Onion article about corn prices:
FUNNY CORN ARTICLE
Trigger Warning! There is some naughty language in the article (a little excessively naughty at that), so read at your own caution. And if anyone finds the article the least bit offense, I will take it down immediately.
Have a great evening everyone!
Lemon: I took my kids to the drive-in movie to see "Star Wars" when it first became available in the boonies. We couldn't get "Star Trek" on any of our two or three antenna channels. My AF son was really big on space and went to space camp. I knew lots of space stuff then. Now that I am old, I'm not into space stuff. Lots of stuff I'm no longer into. Now I'm just a bit spacey.
Lemonade:
In answer to your question, when Star Trek started I liked it and watched it until it got really weird. I am not a fan of sci-fi. The only Star Wars movie I ever watched is Return of the Jedi because both my daughter and late DH wanted to go. I actually enjoyed it but not to the extent of fan adulation. Far from it.
As for the Simpsons, I don't care much for animation except some really extraordinary Disney & Warner Bros. cartoons. So the Simpsons have never been an attraction for me.
Re: Dennis's video link:
It's funny. Just not my kind of humor.
Riata, borrowed from the Spanish word reata, has been adopted by us and is now an English (American) word. Although my spell check doesn't accept it, it is in all the dictionaries and is frequently found in novels.
Big Mouth, I am a "blue Real woman" who loves the limericks. I gave the cryptics a long fair trial , but do not care for them, even when I understand them.
Alan's MRI of the brain showed lesions in the brain suggestive of MS. We are having further tests and will see a neurologist, but after reading about MS extensively online I am about 90% certain that is contributing to Alan's problems. The trouble in diagnosing it is that his birth defects, ordinary maladies and medicine side effects have many similar symptoms. In a way I am happy that we could have a diagnosis of something not too severe which we can work to ameliorate, but not cure. Having no diagnosis and no way forward was worse.
Lemonade, to answer your question
1. I watched Star Trek/Hike/Wars etc. but don't feel obliged to remember every character who made an appearance. I have a life, outside of the fantasy.
2. The Simpsons are somewhat more intelligent but still pretty raunchy and over the top. I do not own a Simpsons Crossword Ozford dictionary. I'd rather have a DNF than do that. Bart may be a role model for a certain type of kid, but I'm not a kid.
3. Dennis video link. I dont remember this being in the crossword puzzle. I did complete the puzzle, it must have been one of the down answers thhat automatically filled themselves in. Sorry.
Enjoy your blog and keep it going. I am perfectly happy just reading some of the intelligent responses. Bye bye.
Rhoda B.
I remember those good ol' days, when we would start off each morning discussing the puzzle, yet somehow ending each day in the DF Zone.
Thanks, Dennis, for that little bit o'Crazy.
Bill G. The NYT pays lots more but has a long backlog. Some constructors submit to only the NYT or LAT others are published all over.
I hope my point was not misunderstood , I am happy some people do not like Star Trek The Simpson's or Owen's contributions. All I was saying was try it before you say you do not like it. Do you remember how frustrated you were when your children would not try broccoli?
Dennis it is a always a pleasure to see you and your posts/links. The website is fir adults and as others said, no one has to look
Dennis' post shows how out of touch he is with the current state of the blog. The joke was insulting to crazy money grubbing women everywhere. Maybe Lois, Carol, Jeannie and other former dfers would have found it humorous, but the current bloggers would rather not discuss such insulting locker room humor.
I always used to watch Jeopardy off and on but during the last year, I have it recording every night. It's one of the gold standard of quiz shows. The high school kids are amazing this week. I don't know what to make of Alex Trebeck. He's bright and seems like a little bit of a social misfit too, not unlike some of the contestants. He seems to get himself in awkward situations when he tries to be clever or funny, probably like me in a similar situation.
Lemon, thanks for a feedback to my questions.
I don't believe that "bad things" happen in threes but I've noticed more than usual the last couple of days. I had to ride my bike a couple of miles with a flat front tire a couple of days ago. It was hard to pedal and hard to steer. Then yesterday, I tried to squeeze between a pedestrian and a parked bicycle and didn't quite remain with the rubber side down. Nothing worse than embarrassment and a couple of bruises. Then earlier today, the left-turn lane next to me didn't move after the first car went through the green arrow. The rest of the queue of about 15 cars couldn't move because the second car just stayed still. I thought maybe it had stalled or something but when my lane started to move and I looked over to his car, I could see the driver with his head down checking his cell phone. The cars behind him were more polite and patient than I might have been. Then a car crossing in front of me went through a stop sign. Then a person backing out of their driveway too quickly almost hit the woman in front of me. She swerved and braked just in time. I stopped and offered to be a witness but she had barely avoided the fender bender.
The post in question didn't bother me and I doubt that most other were offended. I'm guessing that if it's not your taste, it can be skipped over and ignored easily; that is, unless one is a snarky anon
What about 28 Down??
It was included with the answer to 2-Down. We often combine like clue/answers into one spot.
Got 28 Down. Never mind.
Thank you for answering, tho.
No problem.
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