Words: 74 (missing J )
Blocks: 35
Mr. Bickham has been on a roll - one Saturday puzzle each of the last
four months now, but this one beat me up pretty good - had to use
red-letters, and went over my personal time limit, too. However, unlike
most Saturday strains that rattle my brains, this one was actually a pretty satisfying solve~! A relatively simple mid-week-looking grid,
with just two 9- and 10-letter climbers, it took several passes before
the SW finally gave way, and the NW was last to fall. Some fill;
17. Darby Conley comic strip : GET FUZZY - I like this comic strip
30. It's never right : ACUTE ANGLE - nor Obtuse, either
70. What an apostrophe may stand for : NINETEEN- as in "Summer of '69"
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ON-ward~!!! (69a.)
ACROSS:
1. Setting in the musical "Two By Two" : NOAH'S ARK - Dah~! I had to dodge a whole 6-pack of V-8 cans when this finally dawned on me
9. Brightness measure : IQ TEST - LUMENS fit, and the "E" worked as well
15. Comer : ATTENDEE - I thought this was c-o-r-n-e-r, not c-o-m-e-r
16. Colorful attire : MUUMUU
9. Brightness measure : IQ TEST - LUMENS fit, and the "E" worked as well
15. Comer : ATTENDEE - I thought this was c-o-r-n-e-r, not c-o-m-e-r
16. Colorful attire : MUUMUU
18. It's just one thing after another : SERIES - yep
19. Marlins' div. : NLE - Baseball; I know they are in Florida, and that helped; National League East
20. Rock fan's subj. : GEOLogy - because "METAL" was too long....oh, that kind of rock
21. "Naughty!" : "TSK TSK~!"
22. Start of an addition : ALSO - so vague....
24. Controvert : NEGATE
26. Dark-eyed subculturists : GOTHS
28. Spot : ESPY
29. Opening at a long lecture? : YAWN - nice
33. Salon, e.g. : E-MAG
35. Move easily : SAIL
37. Cool __ : CAT - my brother's email address, though it's Kool Kat Kev, a moniker my uncle Ray gave him
38. "Candle in the Wind" dedicatee : LADY DI - MONROE fit, too - the song's original subject
40. Stat opposite : NO RUSH
42. Rear-end indicator : AFT - Indicator? Here's what I have to say
43. Common crossword clue ending : ABBReviation
46. Attack : GO AT
47. 2001 Microsoft debut : XBOX
49. Tired-sounding veggie : BEET - Har-har~!
51. They often include materials : SPECS - Construction plans; here's the progress on my latest project
46. Attack : GO AT
47. 2001 Microsoft debut : XBOX
49. Tired-sounding veggie : BEET - Har-har~!
51. They often include materials : SPECS - Construction plans; here's the progress on my latest project
54. "A Touch of Class" actress Jackson : GLENDA - a WAG with GL--D- in place
56. Druids' sacred hill : TARA - A Saturday alternative to a "Gone With the Wind" reference; more here
57. Bald statement? : NO HAIR - OK, here's one for the ladies
56. Druids' sacred hill : TARA - A Saturday alternative to a "Gone With the Wind" reference; more here
57. Bald statement? : NO HAIR - OK, here's one for the ladies
60. Face with hands, maybe : DIAL
63. Composer Rorem : NED
64. Former associates : ALUMNI
65. Liability factor, in contracts : ACT OF GOD - I hope an Act of God strikes me, soon
67. Runs : BLEEDS - like colors in the wash
68. Cindy Lou's hometown, in kiddie lit : WHOVILLE - Nailed it, but that was about it on the first pass - "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"
69. Exhales during a physical? : SAYS "AH"
DOWN:
1. "Enough criticism!" : "NAG, NAG~!"
2. Verdi's penultimate opera : OTELLO
3. Substantiated : ATTESTED TO
4. Publishing nickname : HEFner - a WAG that stayed. Hugh of Playboy fame
5. Unloose? : SNUG - Cute
6. Cutting tool : ADZE - Toyed with this for a long time, and then the "Z" from GET FUZZY came into play
7. Do a city planner's job : RE-ZONE
8. __ entry : KEYLESS
9. "But you need me!" : "I'M STAYING~!"
10. Pursuit : QUEST
11. Bomb : TURKEY - Not the bowling kind of turkey
12. Broadcast : EMIT
13. Tries to get money from, maybe : SUES
14. Certain canine : TUSK
63. Composer Rorem : NED
64. Former associates : ALUMNI
65. Liability factor, in contracts : ACT OF GOD - I hope an Act of God strikes me, soon
67. Runs : BLEEDS - like colors in the wash
68. Cindy Lou's hometown, in kiddie lit : WHOVILLE - Nailed it, but that was about it on the first pass - "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"
69. Exhales during a physical? : SAYS "AH"
DOWN:
1. "Enough criticism!" : "NAG, NAG~!"
2. Verdi's penultimate opera : OTELLO
3. Substantiated : ATTESTED TO
4. Publishing nickname : HEFner - a WAG that stayed. Hugh of Playboy fame
5. Unloose? : SNUG - Cute
6. Cutting tool : ADZE - Toyed with this for a long time, and then the "Z" from GET FUZZY came into play
7. Do a city planner's job : RE-ZONE
8. __ entry : KEYLESS
9. "But you need me!" : "I'M STAYING~!"
10. Pursuit : QUEST
11. Bomb : TURKEY - Not the bowling kind of turkey
12. Broadcast : EMIT
13. Tries to get money from, maybe : SUES
14. Certain canine : TUSK
23. "Goodness!" : "OH MY"~!
25. No. with a decimal : GPA
27. Actress Thompson : SADA
25. No. with a decimal : GPA
27. Actress Thompson : SADA
31. Used to be : WAS
32. Vowelless adjective : nth
34. Mumbo jumbo : GIBBERISH - love this scene
36. "Gigi" playwright : LOOS - Perps got me the "L"
38. Loose : LAX
39. Test center at Edwards, Calif., e.g. : AFB - Air Force Base - made me give up on MONROE
41. Hardly daydreaming : RAPT
44. Former Fed chairman Bernanke : BEN
45. 2012 war film remake : RED DAWN - IMDb on the original
48. Competition that includes motocross : X GAMES
50. Stress-reducing discipline : TAI CHI
52. Spicy cuisine : CREOLE
53. Bring down : SADDEN
55. Sarah Connor portrayer Hamilton : LINDA - Terminator 2: Judgement Day - nailed it - IMDb
57. Collars : NABS
58. Ceramic cooker : OLLA
59. Long in old politics : HUEY - all perps
61. Scores : A TON
62. Word with bird or nest : LOVE
66. Working out well? : FIT - I'm fit(ter) - lost 30lbs working two jobs this summer
38. Loose : LAX
39. Test center at Edwards, Calif., e.g. : AFB - Air Force Base - made me give up on MONROE
41. Hardly daydreaming : RAPT
44. Former Fed chairman Bernanke : BEN
45. 2012 war film remake : RED DAWN - IMDb on the original
48. Competition that includes motocross : X GAMES
50. Stress-reducing discipline : TAI CHI
52. Spicy cuisine : CREOLE
53. Bring down : SADDEN
55. Sarah Connor portrayer Hamilton : LINDA - Terminator 2: Judgement Day - nailed it - IMDb
57. Collars : NABS
58. Ceramic cooker : OLLA
59. Long in old politics : HUEY - all perps
61. Scores : A TON
62. Word with bird or nest : LOVE
66. Working out well? : FIT - I'm fit(ter) - lost 30lbs working two jobs this summer
Splynter
GET FUZZY was advice to a bear
ReplyDeleteWho from alopecia had NO HAIR,
So he skinned that cat
For a FUZZY hat
It made him look quite debonair!
The Cutty Sark was the fastest clipper
So old Noah applied to be her skipper.
Then two by two
He loaded a zoo,
All those teeth helped make Noah/Sark a zipper!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteMan, file this one under "Cruel and Unusual Punishment." After my first pass through the grid the only things I was sure of were NOAH'S ARK at 1A (my brother was in a production of "Two By Two" in High School") and CANDLES at 9A (what else could it be). Sadly, only one of those was right and, as a result, the NE corner was the last to fall.
I don't recall any total unknowns (I love "Get FUZZY", but it took me awhile to associate the strip the the creator's name). The cluing, however, was just hard. "Controvert" for NEGATE? "Scores" of A TON? "Druid's sacred hill" for TARA? Ye gods! And I really, really, wanted some form of MARILYN or MONROE or NORMA JEAN for 38A...
Speaking of 38A, I should have realized that Rich probably wouldn't have allowed CANDLE in both a clue and an answer in the same puzzle (although he has allowed it in the past). But still, I just didn't want to get rid of CANDLES at 9A. Until the bitter end when I finally took it out, reset my brain a bit, and came up with IQ TEST. After that, the entire corner fell quickly and I managed to finish unassisted.
I usually stay away from Saturdays but today had my new laptop and figured hey, why not with the red letters? So they steered me away from a few bad answers but mostly I got it . . . was upset Diana and Monroe didn't fit but when the L and D showed up realized we were using the familiar reference to the princess (a relative according to my family tree maker aunt).
ReplyDeleteFun to join in here on Saturday.
Ooftah!!!
ReplyDeleteThis one required some heavy lifting. Misreading "Controvert" as "Convert" didn't help. TAUT worked with GET FUZZY. Oops, SNUG. Things slowly came together except in the northeast. LUMENS above TIEDYE caused no end of problems. Lots of Wite-Out and a total restart in that area finally showed me the way. Whew! And I still made it under the time limit.
I figured WHOVILLE must refer to Horton Hears A Who. Apparently not. Splynter, although some folks spell JUDGMENT with two E's, that movie didn't. No, I'm not awarding extra credit for that additional letter. And what is that thing you're building? I can't figure it out from that photo.
Hmmmm. Photo Sphere has given way to Camiocam. What up, Google?
Good morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the GET FUZZY cartoon, Splynter. I filled in the answer but couldn't remember which strip it was.
This one was a bear. The answers were all perfectly fine, but man, that clueing was totally vague! The only things I had (was sure of) on the first pass were GOTHS X-GAMES and WHOVILLE. I finally got a toehold in the SW and spread out from there. X-BOX finally made me give up on MONROE, and finally LADY DI appeared to fill in that spot.
We're finished with scrpaing and sanding, and after about two months we are finally ready to actually paint the house next door. Have a great Saturday - you can guess what I'll be doing!
Barry G. Said it all. Puzzles are supposed to be fun not torture. And this one hurt.
ReplyDeleteRear-end indicator ="aft".. Seriously. At least your picture reference made up for it.
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWEES. This thing was a toothy bear! First pass gave few toeholds, and some of my guesses were way off. Bit by bit I made sense of things mostly, and got it done without cheating.
Morning Splynter, thanks for 'splaining that apostrophe thing. I filled Nineteen but couldn't figger out why it was right. D'Oh! Also, your choice for aft illustration was perfect!
From yesterday: Bombay Sapphire martini, bone dry, straight up, and clean. Mmmmm
Anon -T from last night: I recommend just slightly toasting the bread before spreading the honey on a PBH. It just works better.
Just an old fashioned ass kicking. No two ways about it. I did manage about 80 % without cheating, but had fang for 14d which led to bad dog for 21a and I just could not recover from that double body blow. Still it was more fun than most abject failures :-)
ReplyDeleteI knew things wouldn't go well when my first fill was GOTHS. I somehow managed to fill the lower half but had nothing in the north so I turned on the red letters at the 16-minute mark.
ReplyDeleteI'm not crazy about many of the clues but I'll bite my tongue.
[DNF]
NOAHSARK was a gimme and from there the NW fell quickly and I worked counter clockwise finishing with TUSK and MUUMUU. BTW, I have no time limits. Retirees don’t need pressure! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Loved cluing for – NINETEEN, SERIES, YAWN, NO RUSH, SNUG, NTH
-The Omaha paper dropped GET FUZZY this year because it was rerunning strips. I started skipping it because it had way too much verbiage
-Bill’s problem yesterday required two right ANGLES but could be done with one also
-I saw Corner first not Comer too, Splynter
-INCONTROVERTIBLE seems more common than its root word
-I prefer this Husker ESPY winner. Sadly, Jack’s brain cancer has returned.
-High IQ kids who didn’t like rote learning did SAIL through my open-note tests
-If you go to school dressed like a GOTH, don’t complain about getting hassled
-Shiver me timbers, the AFT of that craft is stunning!
-Kids ain’t all that whippy reading analog clock DIALS anymore
-Ever used this KEYLESS entry? (1:09)
-Dick Enberg’s famous OH MY exclamation at :16
-What sitcom famously BOMBED a city with TURKEYS?
Husker: "With God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe that will jog some memories.
I loved the puzzle, and DH and I completed in under an hour. Not bad for a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteLoved clues for IQTEST and GEOL, BEET.
Thanks, Mark! And Splynter, another great write-up.
HG: I think the turkey bombing was in the sitcom "WKRP"
ReplyDeleteDudley: The quote was from the station manager Arthur Carlson.
I agree about the cluing which was very NYT with too many possibilities for clues such as "what an apostrophe may stand for" which I am not sure is brilliant or just too tricky; "no. With a decimal" which was all peeps...etc. all that said I enjoyed it and apparently am getting Mark's way of thinking because it got done.
ReplyDeleteSplynter' s write up was on the money as always, and I am 100% behind that behind. The face looked pretty as well.
Yes but who played Arthur Carlson and what else was he known for?
ReplyDeleteGordon Jump was also the Maytag repairman.
ReplyDeleteWhat rock song contained the word "incontrovertible" in the lyrics?
(Chester) Arthur Carlson was the inventor of the xerographic process and biggest shareholder of the Xerox Corporation.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteApparently, I was right on Mark's wave length because I finished in record time for a Saturday, with only a few bumps to slow me down. I knew Get Fuzzy right off the bat and so many others fell into place just as easily.
Thanks, Mark, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, Splynter, for 'splainin' it all.
Have a great day.
Anon@10:00 -- Jesse White was the "Original" Maytag man. Gordon was a johnny-come-lately. I always thought the best part of WKRP was Loni Anderson.
ReplyDeleteHusker, we used to use the coat hanger to sneak behind the window and pull up the little lock plunger. Then they stopped putting a knob on the top of the plunger. Rats!
DO, Lemon's was what else was Gordon Jump known for? Not, who was the Maytag repairman.
ReplyDeleteMusings 2
ReplyDelete-Anon @ 10a.m., file under “different strokes for different blokes” – If this was the rock song with INCONTROVERTIBLE in the title you referenced, I found it to be annoying, repetitive and lacking in difficulty or musicality. Ah, that’s why things come in different colors. ;-)
-Sure, it was good old Les Nessman who chucked those turkeys. Loni Anderson was the Sofia Vergara of her day.
-My dislike of GET FUZZY stems from the fact that I want a quick payoff on a comic strip like most of them give you and that one was waaaaay too wordy. See quote in first musing.
-Can you name the show with this Gordon Jump role?
-I remember thinking that Elton John got a twofer with that lovely song for those two women who left us at such a young age.
-Except for picnics, my PB&J is always on toast!
-Gotta go help finish getting ready for 20 peeps coming here for MIL’s 92nd birthday at noon. She’s driving herself over after mowing her lawn this morning.
Real Life
ReplyDeleteNo Husker, that is not what I was looking for.
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday everybody!
ReplyDeleteWell, today’s offering is proof that a DNF can still be enjoyable! Lots of fun clues and answers, even if some were most definitely Saturday-worthy….
Have to agree w/ Splynter, I prefer my GIBBERISH to be both authentic and frontier….
A world with NO RUSH would be a sad world indeed….
Hands up for MONROE….
Personal V8 can moment was the explanation of NINETEEN – D’oh! Speaking of Lady Di, some folks thought the song “Hey Nineteen” was about 32-year old Prince Charles dating the then 19-year old Diana Spencer in 1980….
Doc out
OwenKL - great lim's today
ReplyDelete"Puzzling thoughts . . ."
My first comparison thought about today's puzzle "difficulty" was, of all things, diving . . . as in springboard diving. We went from (Mon-Fri) a jump, to a cannonball, to a jack knife, to a somersault, to a backflip, and then today we get an "inward, two and half backflip with three and a half twists in the pike position"!!
I got WHOVILLE as my first solve (saw the 1966 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas many, many times as my kids were growing up); looked for "low-hanging fruit" (of which, for me, there was little today), and then had another cup of coffee!
Actually, the lower half of the puzzle finished first with a few WAGS and perps; didn't "get" NINETEEN until reading Splynter's write-up; finally Google'd 1A to assist with the NW corner; originally had MAPOUT for 7D. The east and NE section of the puzzle was last to complete. I, too had LUMENS for 9A and tried CETERA (as in Et Cetera) for 18A. 32D could've been many. I had WRY to start - or any other 3 letter word that ends in Y - as I don't consider Y to be a vowel.
Correction from yesterday: Boodles is my Gin of choice right now for martinis, not Booths.
Out of lines; limerick in next post
Ok - today's limerick - with some of yesterday's puzzle solves included . . .
ReplyDeleteAfter solving the 16A clue,
My first feeling was just to say "BOOO"!
But the use of MUUMUU
And young Cindy Lou WHO,
Are more rhyme words for ARTOO and VOODOO!!
Another Saturday toughie with a lot of challenges that made me feel really stupid. But husband helped me get GET FUZZY. Got YAWN right away since, goodness knows, I've heard a lot of long lectures in my day. A girl in the neighborhood was a GOTH for a while, and I do remember all the black clothes and make-up. Got OTELLO but struggled with LOOS. But my favorite thing was seeing two of my favorite actresses, GLENDA Jackson and SADA Thompson in the same puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend, everybody!
I don't think it's been pointed out yet, but thought it clever to have both NOAHSARK and ACTOFGOD in the same puzzle. Don't know if Bickham intended for that to happen, but pretty cool if he did.
ReplyDeleteWe had a "one day version" this past week of what must've happened during the big flood back in Genesis. Our area got 6-1/2 inches of rain last Monday. But then again, we live in the Tropics so you get used to this.
Man, this was a toughie for me. My first pass through for the "low-hanging fruit" didn't yield much, and it was a slog from then on. NE corner especially difficult. Had to turn on red letters for final third of puzzle and still had difficulty. Great expo, Splynter, and thank you Mr. Bickham for a very challenging puzzle (I think).
ReplyDeleteSplynter: Thank you for a wonderful write-up & links explaining my DNF/Ink Blot ...
ReplyDeleteMy "Colorful attire" (like D-Otto) was TIE-DYE.
And my "Actress Thompson" was EMMA.
So the constructor "got my GOAT" ... which he parsed as GO-AT.
Cheers!!!
I fell for several misdirections the first time through (and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th times through). The only "gimme" for me was NOAH'S ARK, as I happen to have seen the show. Eventually I had to look up "Brightness measure" to get a toe hold in the NE corner, and then of course I felt very, very dim indeed on that particular scale...
ReplyDeleteI'm with Barry G in questioning the cluing of A TON. I know some pzl-makers will use a clue as loose as "A lot" for A TON, but when it comes to using a numerical designation, I think "A couple of thousand" might be fairer than just "Scores." I rarely think as high as A TON when dealing with lots of 20 at a time...
Hi Y'all! Thought this was a little easier than some Saturdays but not much. I enjoy Mark B's puzzles. The NE bloc was the last to fill. Hand up for "Lumens". SERIES not "sequel", TSK TSK, not "risque".
ReplyDeleteHad trouble with "comer" (although I read it right) = ATTENDEE/NAG NAG cross. Two repeated one-syllable words? Is that Kosher? Comer, I was trying to think of another name for a "Come-along" tool.
Hand up for NINETEEN making no sense at all until Splynter 'splained it. Thanks, man!
Favorite clue was for YAWN.
OMK
ReplyDeleteAre you sure that answer isn't parsed "A-TO-N" ??? lol
Wanted CHASE for QUEST,
ReplyDeleteSNAG for SNUG,
DUNS for SUES,
ASTA for TUSK,
MONROE for LADY DI,
REAL for RAPT,
ACES for A TON,
EMMA for SADA,
OAST for OLLA, and
KARATE for TAI CHI,
before I went straight.
Very much a Curate's Egg, this one (i.e., good in parts, stinky in others). Some great clues, but TOOO many actors/movies/kiddie lit, crossing of Xes at X-BOX and X-FACTOR, and vague clues, as noted above.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say NAG,NAG to my wife, I am simply pointing out to her that she has embarked on a litany of complaints. I do not imagine for a moment that my statement will stop the process.
An acute angle is never a right angle, but never right?…meh.
This crowd normally jumps on abbreviations and similar that lack a pointer to the nature of the answer. But we have IQTEST (I would have thought IQ SCORE to be a better answer) and ABBR (!). Interestingly, IQ is not generally written I.Q., possibly to distinguish it from i.q. (idem quod), which, by a curious irony, means "the same as".
38A. First, the official name of the song in question is "Candle in the Wind 1997" or "Goodbye England's Rose" (the latter was the first line of the song. Second, "Lady Di" was a very informal term used chiefly by English schoolgirls, the tabloid press, and foreigners. So it should be clued as "informal".
In fact, Diana held the title "LADY" for only 5 years, prior to her marriage. After that she was Her Royal Highness, Diana, The Princess of Wales; and, after her divorce, the HRH was dropped, and she became simply Diana, Princess of Wales (Note "The" was also dropped).
Enough already.
Nice aft. to you all.
NC
The evidence before the court is incontrovertible, there's no need for the jury to retire...Pink Floyd 'The Wall'
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle; solved ok w perps and wags. Didn't understand nineteen even after I got it like PK Thanks Splynter for the aft pic!
ReplyDeleteBig Dave
ReplyDeleteSo close that I'll give it to ya. You just left out that the song is titled "The Trial" from the album "The Wall".
Song in a sentence:
Pink puts himself on trial - conducted by the exaggerated and personified bricks - and ultimately orders his wall be torn down when he judges himself both responsible for the making of the wall as well as capable of reconnecting with the outside world.
More information than you ever needed to know.
And, yes HG, this probably still qualifies as 'different strokes' but at least its artistic. Hope your party was one of "The happiest days of our lives"!
Your Honor, the testimony of Anon and Big Dave are true. As supporting evidence, I would submit: The Trial
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon all!
ReplyDeleteIt was an Act of God that I managed to WAG my way to the end of this rodeo. I think I had a couple too many Manhattans last night; all of yesterday's posts about drinking might have egged me on a bit.
Splynter, thanks for the informative and comforting write up. I also had to work my way counterclockwise through this puzzle. Likewise, I initially saw "corner" instead of "comer" (thanks Manhattans), and I started out thinking MONROE as well.
And lastly, like many, I appreciated the NINETEEN expo; for some silly reason (probably the Manhattans again) I drew * = 19, gazed fuzzily at the asterisk mark (which clearly should have been an apostrophe in hindsight) then shrugged my shoulders, hoping somebody in the Corner would spell it out for me.
Thanks everyone and hello nap time!
I was batting a thousand this week going into today. I messed this one up so bad it should be counted as two DNF's.
ReplyDelete1D needed one more NAG to make it credible.
Husker my friend, Les Nessman wasn't the turkey chucker (say that three times fast), it was Herb Tarlek and Arthur Carlson that did the dirty deed, Recap
Les just reported it.
-Dang, Dave, you’re right. It was Les’s reporting the fiasco that stands out and I could have sworn he said the “I thought turkeys could fly” line. Shows like WKRP that have such a strong ensemble cast and smart writing are very rare. TV’s in the business of putting butts in seats in front of commercials and if it is done with quality programming, that’s just a serendipitous circumstance.
ReplyDelete-MIL’s birthday party was a huge success. She wound up playing lawn darts and holding her own with kids 80 years her junior.
-Everyone’s gone and we’re recuperating.
And then there was the dancing ducks incident.
ReplyDeleteDancing ducks? A la "Revenge of the Lawn" by Brautigan?
ReplyDelete?Que?
42A- rear end indicator
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more along the lines of Emoticons,
Their cousins... Assicons
(_!_) a regular ass
(__!__) a fat ass
(!) a tight ass
(_ x_) kiss my ass
(_zzz_) a tired ass
(_E=mc2_) a smart ass
(_$_) Money coming out of his ass
(_?_) Dumb Ass
Hello Saturday Solvers...
ReplyDeleteOHMY - I worked on this on and off all day and then finally had to turn to Spynter for the write-up. Only the left side of the puzzle contains sufficient ink. I did like 43 & 49a.
59d - HEWY P. Long I'm thinking. One in many in the series of corrupt LA governors (remember Edwards?Big Easy)
RE: WKRP conversation - one of the best shows on TV. It illustrated the stark difference of the suits vs. the dungarees so well. Guess which camp I'm in :-)
R-Doc - I bend to bow to greet another RUSH fan.
Gotta go - both kids have friends over for end of summer parties... Where's a martini when you need one?
Cheers, -T
Herb and Mr. Carlson came up with the Dancing Duck idea. I believe it came up at their trial for the turkey fiasco.
ReplyDeleteDuck or ducks(I don't remember) danced because they were on a hot plate. Herb would turn it up when they wanted them to "dance".
Manac, I've missed you. I LOVE your assicons.
ReplyDeleteHand up for being a big fan of WKRP.
Going for a bike ride was iffy today. There was a big event of some sort in Hermosa Beach and I got inadvertently caught up in the people and the noise. Then while I was navigating around that, a tire exploded with a bang. Rats! I got a pedestrian to help me and we had to carry the bike for two blocks to a bike shop. (It wouldn't roll.) They were nice enough to fix it right away.
More duck:
ReplyDeleteSome "WKRP" episodes, especially the early ones, are based on stories or "legends" that had become famous within the radio industry. The Turkey Drop, the announcement of a $5000 prize when it's supposed to be $50, and Mr. Carlson's phone call to the little girl during a tornado are all based on stories of this kind. Where or when these things happened is impossible to know for sure, since the stories circulate in many different versions. One "WKRP" bit is, however, based on something that happened at a specific station: Herb's "dancing ducks promotion," with ducks dancing on hot plates, was actually done by Gerry Blum at WQXI (and got the station in a lot of real-life trouble).
I looked (not too hard) for the Dancing Duck episode, and found this Dawn commercial instead. Herb being Herb. Recall Dawn cleaned the non-dancing ducks after Exxon-Valdez... C, -T
ReplyDeleteGotta love some of Les's News Reports
ReplyDeleteOn a different subject:
ALZHEIMER'S EYE TEST
Count every "F" in the following text:
"FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS..... "
How many F's ?
Count Again!
Hurray for naps!
ReplyDeleteNice Cuppa @ 2:01, Thank you for introducing me to the term "Curate's Egg." You probably just saved me thousands of pointless hours writing seemingly useful feedback on my students' essays, which they inevitably never read. From now on, I am going to quickly cap off their essays with a simple, "Well, Paul, you have quite an interesting Curate's Egg on your hands here" and leave it at that.
I am also bemoaning the lack of clue format indicators. In fact, ABBR (43a) might as well have been clued as, "A once common clue ending, now arch."
I totally agree that LADYDI could have been handled better, sparing us all some time and headache. Heck, if a constructor feels "informal" is too generic, then get clever. E.g., "Aptly titled dedicatee of 'Candle in the Wind'" is off the top of my head and perhaps a little uncouth (regarding the Di/Die pun), but it has been seventeen years. Oh well.
An exquisitely rare Saturday offering that I completed in its entirety without a single cheat!
ReplyDeletePolished off the southern half first and worked my way up. MUUMUU and TSKTSK finished the deal.
I rewarded myself with something cold from the refrigerator.
I looked at this puzzle early this AM, I was half way thru the acrosses getting only geol when my spidey senses started tingling...
ReplyDeleteI quickly aborted this whole dang thingie & decided to just read the Blog. & a good thing too, as I see this stumped way better than me. This is one of those puzzles that I read the answers to early in the morning, just to see if I can figure it out late tonight...
Welcome back Manac! Perfect timing! I had no idea what to link for this nightmare, but knew it had to be about "rear end indicator" as a clue! I had nothing, but your emoticons are a stroke of genius!
Bravo!
It made me look further,,, but I still can't compete...
One
& two...
Manac - I only saw four Fs, but I'm sorely dyslexic.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Les moment other than walls, walls! is Mr. Macho. C, -T
Soap
ReplyDeleteSoap
ReplyDeleteHello, friends:
ReplyDeleteAlmost missed the party today and haven't read comments. Very busy day because the family is meeting here at my home tomorrow. So cooking and cleaning consumed my time.
However, I started the puzzle early this morning and after crushing an entire case of V-8 cans, falling for misdirections and vague cluing, I managed all but the NE corner where LUMENS brightened me, but to no avail.
IQTEST finally emerged after much erasing and with it, I'M STAYING which lead to MUUMUU and TUSK. Oh! Two V-8 cans for that one as I went through all the obvious canines, ODIE, ASTA, OTTO, etc.
Very clever and puzzling grid from Mark Bickham, thank you, and Splynter for providing further illumination.
I hope you all had a really tremendous Saturday! We are still grieving but happy that Linda is now in peace and not suffering.
I immediately thought of LADY DI and wrote it. Monroe didn't even hit my radar.
ReplyDeleteManac, thank you so much for those
ReplyDeleteassicons. I will use them. Such a refreshing change from emoticons for a curmudgeon like myself. Keep 'em coming. Indecently, some people seemed to have a problem with the apostrophe clue; being born in '43 it was fairly obvious to me and only needed a couple of perps. (Dad was home on Christmas leave). Thanks, Cya!
"Indecently?" Coupled with my fathers holiday leave and my subsequent birth.? Talk about your Freudian slips. I meant "indecently"
ReplyDeleteHeh heh, double trouble! You must be a dirty bird!
ReplyDeleteThis is starting to irritate me. I meant " incidentally".
ReplyDeleteFreudian fall down, go BOOM.
ReplyDeleteWhere I come from, there is nothing indecent about 'ing a nineteen-year-old, even though it may be a slightly looked-down-upon incident. And by the way, ' = giving a driver's license to.
ReplyDeleteAha - PJ party kids are finally asleep. WKRP links lead me to the best theme-song base-line ever - Barny Miller. I watched 4 episodes. I need sleepier kids... C, -T
ReplyDelete@bill g, learn to change or fix that tire. It isn't hard, and you will get another flat.
ReplyDelete