3-Down. Classic music hall song that lent its melody to the "Howdy Doody" theme : TA-RA-RA BOOM-DE-AY. Sung by the character Winnie-Woopsie Tapatit. I never knew the words until I looked it up.
5-Down. Lake Erie city : TOLEDO, OHIO. Home of Katie Holmes, Jamie Farr and Danny Thomas, among others.
13-Down. Unalaska, e.g. : ALEUTIAN ISLAND. Map.
30-Down. "No one knows" : WHO CAN TELL?
And the reveal:
7-Down. Apt challenger of this puzzle's circled locations : MOUNTAIN CLIMBER. Four mountains appear, if you read the circles from bottom to top: A-R-A-R-A-T, H-O-O-D, S-I-N-A-I and E-T-N-A. I know from personal experience, that getting to the top is only half the battle!
Marti (L) and friend Erica in the Italian Alps, ca. 2008
I solved the NW corner before stumbling onto the reveal at 7-Down, so I could immediately fill in that grid spanner, with T-A-R-A-R-A in place! That's probably why this felt more like a Tuesday puzzle to me.
Across
1. Hint : GET AT.
6. Insincere flattery : SMARM. The origin of the word is unknown, but may stem from the early 1900s. Possibly from "smear" or "smooth," as in smearing hair with pomade to make it slick.
11. Town in a Hersey title : ADANO.
12. Book before Joel : HOSEA.
13. Roadie's burden : AMP. Three letters? Roadie? Fill in AMP and move on...
16. Like some ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos : VIRAL. Here are some hilarious "fails." (Caution: some f-bombs.)
17. Home of the bush ballad : AUSTRALIA. Bush? 9 letters? Enter AUSTRALIA and move on!
19. Greek letter : ETA. ETA, rho, tau, phi, chi or psi? (Check perps!)
20. Take in : EARN.
22. Hardest to get close to : ICIEST. Like Splynter's college "ice princess."
23. Rocky pinnacle : TOR. Another challenge to a MOUNTAIN CLIMBER?
24. Brit who might lose a stone? : DIETER. Should be a gimme for Steve and Nice Cuppa! The British stone is used for measuring weight, and is equal to 14 lbs.
26. __ tape : DUCT. It was first developed by Johnson and Johnson in WWII to help waterproof ammo cans. The soldiers dubbed it "duck" tape for that reason. After the war, JandJ developed a silver version to seal heating ducts, among other things. That is when the name morphed into DUCT.
27. Cicero, for one : ORATOR.
29. From the top : ANEW.
31. Half a drink : -TAI. Mai-TAI.
32. CV component : BIO.graphy - Curriculum Vitae.
33. Three sheets to the wind : LIT.
34. Selassie of Ethiopia : HAILE.
36. Stew base : BROTH.
38. Snake eye? : ONE. I assume this refers to a die. In craps, a pair of ones is referred to as "snake eyes."
39. Doctoral candidate's hurdle : ORALS.
40. Seventh-century pope : LEO II.
41. Blu-ray player ancestor : VCR. Ancestor? Boy, do I feel old!!
42. Swindle : CON.
43. Sturdy tree : ELM.
44. Astra or Insignia : OPEL. No clue - four perps helped me nail it, though!
46. Salad vegetable : RADISH.
49. DWI-fighting gp. : SADD. Driving While Intoxicated is fought by Students Against Destructive Decisions (formerly: Students Against Driving Drunk.)
51. Genesis : ORIGIN.
53. "__ Cried": 1962 hit for Jay and the Americans : SHE. You remember this?
54. Prepares (oneself), as for combat : STEELS.
56. Pooch sans papers : MUTT.
57. Diminutive, diminutively : LI'L. As in "L'IL Abner."
58. Fated : MEANT TO BE.
60. Send, in a way : EMAIL.
62. Ice cream maker Joseph : EDY. Three letters? Ice cream? Fill in EDY and move on...
63. Bars with character, to some : DIVES.
64. Slower than adagio : LENTO. And another musical term at 46-Down. Slowing, in scores : RIT.ardando.
65. Act surprised : START.
66. Puts on cargo : LADES.
Down
1. Donated for the benefit of : GAVE TO.
2. One checking stories : EDITOR.
4. Santa __ Mountains : ANA.
6. Trading unit : SHARE. Oops - not "stock."
8. Long-eared beast : ASS.
9. Hit the hay : RETIRE.
10. Painter Chagall : MARC. His "The Fiddler" is the painting that inspired the title for "Fiddler on the Roof."
14. Name incorrectly : MISCALL.
15. McDonald's supply : PATTIES.
18. Succor : AID.
21. Service station offering : AIR.
25. Wide key : ENTER.
28. Small South American monkey : TITI. "Titi" is also the French nickname for "Tweety Bird."
33. Enthusiast : LOVER.
35. Yankee suspended for the 2014 season : A-ROD. Suspended for use of performace-enhancing drugs. Tsk tsk.
36. Start of a confession :"BLESS ME...father, for I have sinned." And 61-Down. __ culpa : MEA. ("My fault!")
37. Like family : RELATED.
45. Reminder of a kind : POST-IT.
47. Certain Muslim : SHI'ITE. I never know whether is should be spelled with an apostrophe or not. I've seen it both ways.
48. Greetings : HELLOS.
50. Room with a remote, often : DEN.
52. Letterman interviewee, say : GUEST. Pick your favorite!
55. Old Fords : LTDs. EL-TEE-DEE. (Not "limited.")"Luxury Trim Decor?" "Limited Trim Designation?" "Lincoln Type Design?" It's a mystery...
59. Reproductive cells : OVA. Plural of "ovum." Don't put them all in one basket!
I'm done - your turn!
Marti
I groaned when I saw JW, but it went surprisingly well!
ReplyDeleteInteresting about DUCT tape, I always assumed it was the other way around: it was invented for ducts but people were too lazy to be the "T" on the end.
Here is the blank grid with the circles. GRID
ReplyDeleteMorning, all!
ReplyDeleteCircles? What circles?
Of course, I'm not sure that having the circles would have actually helped me much today...
I found this to be a pretty Thursday-ish puzzle, personally. I was able to finish unassisted, but it was a challenge. I had a few missteps that slowed me down, including MADD for SADD, OAK for ELM and ST LEO instead of LEO II. Note that those were all in the SW corner, which made that area the last to fall. It wasn't until I finally realized what song the Howdy Doody theme was based on that everything fell into place.
I love seeing TARARABOOMDEAY in a puzzle, a wonderful repairing of ME and Marti with spice, tricks and a fun visual aspect to the grid.
ReplyDeleteNever thought of SMARM as a noun, ASS and TITI in the same grid. Dennis? Lois?
Thanks
Greetings!
ReplyDelete4:24 AM here. Couldn't get to sleep.
Thanks, Jeffrey and Marti! Great work!
Took a while due to some screwups (like mADD for SADD). But finally got the TA-DA with no cheats.
Still don't get the theme.
Cheers!
Good morning, fellow mountain climbers!
ReplyDeleteI liked this one; it was just the right level of al dente-ness. My only mayor screwup was ENDIVE before it morphed into the chewier RADISH.
Marti, I remember Jay and the Americans very well. She Cried was their first hit. Jay Traynor, the lead singer, died early this year. And that apostrophe between the I's (eyes?) at 47D makes it look like two T's. Probably would change the pronunciation, too.
As I've mentioned before, DUCT tape has many uses, but sealing ducts isn't one of them. The adhesive will dry out, become brittle, and ducts will leak air.
Four/Four -- it's march time...
I didn't suss the upward places until after I got it done, but then realized how clever it all was.
ReplyDeleteI was slowed at first having MAI instead of TAI, then in the mid west with MADD for SADD, but eventually all fell into place. Oh and I took a while to figure out the spelling of BOOMDEAY
Australians used to weigh in stones too, so that was gimme for me. Now everything there is metric.
I guessed that INSIGNIA and ASTRA are models of the OPEL, GM's German brand.
I'm with Barry-G. I had the circles when I printed it out, but they were meaningless until I read the write-up. I had BLAME ME and MADD instead of BLESS ME and SADD but that was my only writeover. Puzzle was very easy.
ReplyDelete21D- AIR- When was the last time anybody got FREE air for their tires at a gas station?
32A CV component- total unknown; BIO came from crosses. I thought it was automotive since I had to have the right-front CV shaft assembly and two motor mounts replaced last week on my wife's Murano. $1092.80 ouch.
16A- speaking of VIRAL- the US government need to ban all flights and travelers who have been to those EBOLA infested countries. It's not time for political correctness or any other excuse.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteMr. Wechsler provided a fun outing today - not easy at first but it came together nicely. Initial big breakthrough came at 13d. Seeing the 'd' at the end, plopped in ALEUTIAN ISLAND and drove on.
Liked the DIETER clue. When perps wanted MOUNTAIN CLIMBER, I saw the schtick with Sinai and Etna. TOLEDO, OHIO fell easily. Ararat made sense and the Howdy Doody song became clear.
Only write-over was oak for ELM. No searches were needed.
TITI - Although not at all related, I was reminded of the verb 'titivate' (spruce up or neaten) as in: 'titivate the quarterdeck' when an important personage was expected to visit.
Have a good day.
My "puzzling thoughts":
ReplyDelete**I breezed through the east and west sides, leaving just the cross of BIO and TITI as those were complete WAGS; thanx Marti for your explanation
**only write-over was the T in DUCT as for some reason my mind was spelling it DUCK tape! :-)
**some great clues and equally great theme, but not as difficult as most of the Thursday offerings. I did have to wait for a few perps to to get SMARM and DIETER, which was my last fill and most favorite clue/solve
**Today's "themed" limerick:
There was once a young man they called Weimar,
Who's a "limerick-ist" MOUNTAIN CLIMBER.
And I think you know what
Is the breed of his MUTT:
It's a full-pedigreed Weimar-Rhymer!
Hi Y'all! My first entry was TARARABOOMDEAY, not expecting it to be right. Don't know how I knew that because I never watched Howdy Doody. I was so elated when it didn't turn red! The rest of the puzzle was hard but doable. No circles which would have only enhanced the experience. Great one, Jeffrey!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great expo, Marti. I enjoyed "She Cried" although I didn't remember the song, which is strange because I did a lot of crying in 1962. Slight delay while I listened through some other Jay & the Americans' songs.
MEANT TO BE gave me fits because I failed to put two "T's" in at first.
OPEL was a successful WAG with O_E_ when OmEn didn't work.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI found this relatively easy for a Thursday, maybe because I caught onto the theme pretty quickly. Only write-over was MADD/SADD. (The clue for 22A could have been: what Tin's Sunset Toast will NEVER be!)
Kudos, Jeffrey, for a clever, well-executed theme and thanks, Marti, for your entertaining expo.
Any thoughts or opinions on the new tv shows? My favorite, so far, is Madam Secretary.
Have a great day.
Some challenges today requiring red letter help eventually. When I reached 7D, I thought "oh great, I'm supposed to have circles!" and MENSA has no circles! But I persevered and got the TADA.
ReplyDeleteWBS about MADD, OAK and LEO.
Also had MISPELL before MISCALL.
I thought HINT=GET AT was Meh!
STONE was no problem as I remembered the British term although we do not use it here.
Love the sound of SMARM!
Yes, Big Easy, we have to pay for air in tires also. I look at it as paying for the maintenance for the machine to pump it as there should be no charge for the air itself!
Off to a gala dinner tonight with astronaut Chris Hadfield speaking!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Wechsler, for a fine and clever puzzle. Thank you Marti, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle looked daunting at first, but by bouncing around and getting a word here and there, it all fell together quite easily.
Once I had a few letters, TARARA BOOM DE AY was easy. I remembered the tune and that helped. Also ALEUTIAN ISLAND fell without much work after a couple perps.
TOLEDO OHIO was a snap. I tried squeezing ERIE PENNSYLVANIA in there, but no cigar.
Yes, I took the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. So, VIRAL hit home. My daughter treated me to the ice water through our basketball hoop and me underneath. Yes, it was cold. We recorded it and my daughter put it on Facebook. Got lots of laughs. Hopefully ALS benefitted.
Tried MISPELL for 14D, and later fixed that to MISCALL. One of my two inkblots.
Theme was very clever. Did mine in the Trib, so i had the circles. took me a while to figure out the upside down mountains. Got it.
Liked POST IT. Those are my favorite things to use.
Lots to do. Heading to Pennsylvania tonight for Kegs and Eggs at Edinboro on Saturday. My nephew puts it on and I help him and my sister. Fun weekend.
See you tomorrow from PA.
Abejo
(397)
Clever and enjoyable puzzle - I think I found it more of a challenge than Marti, but that makes for more fun in my book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the expo, Marti - I didn't know the Chagall/Fiddler factoid nor the Titi/Tweety connection. By the way, I used to work for Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and one of the very first things you learned (probably at Day 1 orientation) is that the character's name is "Tweety" - there's no "Bird". I think you got locked up in the Water Tower if you used is. The same goes for spelling out the "Brothers" part of "Bros.". I think it was a hanging offense to get that one wrong.
I lost four stone a couple of years ago - I wish I could say that I never found one or two of them :)
ARARAT stood out like a brick in a punch bowl and off I went!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Mount HOOD from Portland’s International Rose Garden
-Marti, did you use that outfit to scale and paint your beautiful house?
-A young married teacher couple can EARN six figures easily today
-This tale with BROTH sounds like child abuse to me
-She Cried is lovely but Jay Black replaced Jay Traynor when he quit by singing Cara Mia acapella in Sandy Yaguda’s basement! Wow!
-What profession has the SMARMIEST CON men?
-I plant RADISHES in April and October
-With the skills I have, I think I was MEANT TO BE a teacher
-Very popular source of DIVES
-A SHARE of Berkshire Hathaway will set you back $206,000 today
-A real McDonalds PATTY and one in an ad. Hmmm…
-There’s no MEA culpa in middle school. The theme song is, “TA RA RA BOOM DE AY, It’s not my fault today!”
-Klinger : TOLEDO, OHIO = Radar : ?
ReplyDeleteEver have one of those puzzles that you work and work and work and finally come to the belief that it had to be, JUST HAD TO BE published with errors?
I did get the theme after plenty of ink and perspiration. Favorite clue was 'Wide key.' That had my mind spinning through pianos, Florida coastline, music scores... ENTER and LIT ended up being cheats, as were BLESSME, SADD and STEELS.
I did learn how to spell ALEUTIAN today, which was a nice touch.
Good morning, gang - I really enjoyed this puzzle, since I love long fills. Had a problem in the SW, where the BL...... start for 36D led me to BLAME ME, which wreaked havoc over there. Other than that, smooth sailing. It's funny, as 3D started unfolding, I had TARARA......, and BOOMDEAY popped into my head and put me right back in the "Peanut Gallery". It's amazing what's stored from so long ago. I wonder if any of the real people from that show are still alive...
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle from Jeffrey, and as always, a very entertaining write-up by Marti. By the way, I have a ton of admiration for our bloggers; I was burnt out just being first in the morning for 4+ years, and these guys have a huge task every week, staying up late to create an informative and entertaining dissection of the day's puzzle. I think I tried it one or two times, but even with C.C.'s help, I still sucked at it and it took forever. My compliments to our illustrious team.
Irish Miss, I found How To Get Away With Murder to be intriguing with several plot twists. Plus I've always liked Viola Davis' acting and she's outstanding in this one. Worth a look. I recorded the Scorpion and Forever pilots but haven't seen them yet; they looked promising in the previews.
Lemon, yes, two very enjoyable answers, and I too immediately thought of Lois.
Have an outstanding Friday Eve; off on a (hopefully rain-free) bike ride.
Good morning! I haven't read the writeup (Marti ?) or any of the comments yet. I just wanted to say that I think this is one of my favorite puzzles in a while. The clues were tricky, imaginative and fun. Ones that gave me trouble were Lake Erie city, insincere flattery, VIRAL, Snake Eye (really good I thought) and SADD (I had a hard time getting off MADD even when I couldn't make that area work. Anyway, good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe theme was clever and tricky too. Even after I finished the puzzle, had MOUNTAIN CLIMBER and went to Cruciverb to look up the circles, I couldn't quite suss out everything. Then, without warning, a V-8 can smashed into my head and everything finally made sense.
Let's see what Marti and everybody else thought.
ReplyDeleteI found this puzzle a total delight! Many thanks, Jeffrey! And you too, Marti, for the always neat write-up. Thanks to having the circles, I even got the theme relatively early, which I found very clever. Never associated TARARA BOOMDEAY with "Howdy Doody" but once the perps filled in TARARA the rest was easy. Not much literary stuff except for the ever popular ADANO, but no matter, still a fun romp.
Irish Miss, we too are enjoying "Madame Secretary," and may try "How to Get Away with Murder" (which we've taped) on your recommendation, Dennis.
Have a great Thursday, everybody!
Saratoga Springs-based Stewart's Shops has free air (both pressurized and un-).
ReplyDeleteBig Easy @ 0842 - We are able to get free air at a local Citgo.
ReplyDeleteI managed to fill it all in, with a couple if missteps that others mentioned. But I am afraid the ascending mountain theme went right over my head. (pun intended..)
ReplyDeleteA few pics of interest:
Thats gotta hurt!
Don't climbers worry about landslides?
What it takes to get some of these pics...
How I feel on Monday morning...
Oh well, ya gotta stick with it!
The end is almost in sight...
This is one time I wouldn't bring beer, I mean, what if you had to take a leak?
&, of course....
Hello, puzzler friends!
ReplyDeleteTOP notch commentary, Marti, thank you.
With TOLEDO OHIO in place I sashayed right along although the remainder of the NW was last to fall.
I see a mini theme here; besides the mountains, SINAI and ARARAT, there are other religious allusions, BLESS ME, HOSEA, MEA CLUPA and LEO II.
Many British novels mention stone as a measure of weight, so DIETER fell easily.
Aaack! as Cathy would say, I thought the words were TA-RA-RA-BOOM-TE-AY and misread 49A as WWI so thought it was a military group.
This has not been a good solving week for me and either I need my eyes checked or go in for a brain scan.
Two of my friends who are my age, are showing signs of dementia and that is frightening as well as sad to see bright people diminish in that way.
Have yourselves a terrific Thursday, everyone!
Dennis @ 10:55 - I forgot to mention HTGAWM; I enjoyed it very much and I, too, am a big Viola Davis fan. She is terrific in this role. I have seen two episodes of Scorpion and even though it is way, way over the top, it has enough grit and charm to keep my interest, at least so far. It's a good ensemble cast.
ReplyDeleteTonight is the beginning of a 10 part series called Gracepoint which is a murder mystery starring Anna Gunn. It is based on a BBC offering called Broadmoor. (I think that was the title.). It's on Fox at 9:00 pm. and
has received very favorable reviews.
CanadianEh! @ 10:18, you are so lucky to hear Chris Hadfield in person. He is marvelously, entertaining and has sparked a renewed interest in science since his programs from the space shuttle have been broadcast. I just wonder what he will demonstrate without zero gravity!
ReplyDeleteCED @ 12:16, great links!
Very clever. Took me longer than usual for a Thurs pzl. My last hangup or slowdown was at the center bottom, in the dregs, as 'twere. I had DOVES, thinking of the chocolate ice cream bars and so couldn't see anything but POSTOT in the perp.
ReplyDeleteFinally--finally!-- I saw the light.
I'm not a big fan of puzzles with circles.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when the circles are not symmetrical in construction.
As such, I won't SMARM this offering.
My faves, of course, were LIT and DIVES ... go figure. lol
Cheers!
This had some bite and was quite enjoyable. Saw the gimmick to the theme pretty early, and it actually helped fill in the top I in Sinai, but the others filled with perps. Had the same trouble as Keith with Doves, but figured out that error.
ReplyDeleteI must have lived a sheltered life. When I read the clue for the alternate to Howdy-Doody, the tune popped into my head immediately. But I only heard the original as "Ta Ra Ra Boomp See Yea!" So that took a while, but the perps came through for me.
Fun, but very challenging puzzle for me today. Finished unassisted, but it was a struggle for awhile.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. My husband and I love "Jeopardy" and play along with it every night, keeping track of our scores (not great, usually). We especially like that Canada and Canadians are often featured. But there are times when the clue writers do sound like a bunch of jerks IMHO.
ReplyDeleteCCW had nothing yesterday, but we have one today, and once again it is a foreign word, though used so much in English there's not much foreign in it any more.
ReplyDeleteLAT 47d Certain Muslim SHIITE
ST 32a Ayatollah Khomeini, e.g. SHIITE
Plus both grids today had key letters, circled letters in LAT, and "rebus" squares in ST, which are no-nos in LAT.
I thought there was a second,
LAT 60a Send, in a way E_A_ _
ST 2d Send E_A_ _
but they turned out to be ELATE & EMAIL.
Hola Everyone, Thank you Marti for the theme edification. I finally found the magic words, by reading the mountain names bottom to top.
ReplyDeleteFor me this was a hard puzzle. I had the whole West and East side filled in but much of the middle was a riddle. I had Sot for Lit, Stock for Share and two for Snake eye. I should have looked at the singular instead of the plural.
I did learn something, though. Diet-er is not someone's name. I tried to make Dieter out of it and it didn't make any sense. Another part of that middle section that eluded.
Another busy day for me. So off and running.
Have a great day, everyone.
Lucina, I had my eyes checked and it didn't do any good! The Dr. said my prescription is the same even though the road signs aren't as clear from a distance, and it is hard to adjust from TV to hand work, etc. She said at my age the muscles are slower to adjust--sooo no new glasses, just a new adjustment to the slow muscles. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteCanadian EH, Enjoy your Gala tonight. What a treat.
Hi again. I watched the first episode of How to Get Away With Murder and was underwhelmed. Since several of you guys liked it, I may have been too hasty and I'll give it another try. I am looking forward to Gracepoint. Another friend just recommended it also.
ReplyDeleteI've got to agree with Alex's mustache. I'm fairly sensitive to women's issues and Jeopardy didn't make me blink. It didn't say that was ALL women want. Who doesn't want jeans that fit, a good vacuum, etc. Suppose they had the category, "What Men Want" including a Corvette, big screen TV, box seats to the Dodgers games, etc. Dunno. It's only a fun little game show, not political commentary. Oh well, maybe I'm not PC enough...
Speaking of TV shows, I have become emotionally invested in the characters in Person of Interest (not at first so much but more in the last year or so). Also NCIS, Foyle's War, Downton Abbey and The Good Wife. Suits? Not so much. NCIS New Orleans? Not so much yet. We'll see. Shows where I care about the characters are the ones that show up on my DVR as Series Recordings. (That was my problem with my first try at How to Get Away With Murder. I didn't care about the Viola Davis character or the students.)
Happy Thursday everybody!
ReplyDeleteNo circles for Da Doc, but no matter, Ta-Da (boom-de-ay)!
I’ve finally learned to just enter _ ADD and let the perps decide if it’s an M or an S….
Favorite answer = SMARM….
Big fan of POST-IT notes (instead of relying on my increasingly bad memory)….
I can see the Santa ANAs from my backyard….
HG, didn’t you mean IOWA…?
Hands up for Scorpion….
Finally, Anon-T from yesterday – I have four ideas for your Vegas trip. One, Oscar’s Steakhouse overlooking the Fremont Street Experience in the Downtown area – get a window-side table (Oscar’s very non-PC motto is Beef, Booze, and Broads). Two, the new High Roller; at 550’ it’s the world’s tallest observation wheel (near Caesar’s Palace). Three, the relocated Shelby Museum at I-15 and Sunset (just SW of McCarran airport), if you enjoy a free tour (10:30 weekdays) and classic muscle cars. And Four, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (go W on Charleston out of town – you can’t miss it)
As a lover she was not meant to be; with her duct taped post-it note and being a dieter; I didn’t know if she was going to lade Edy’s ice cream or the broth into my bowl. She wanted everything anew; the VCR, the Opel, the LTDs and the Marc Chagal. But I knew the origin of her air; like a lil radish on top of an elm tree I too could smarm an editor to bless me with a few biblical quotes from Hosea or that even a Shi’ite or an adherent of Haile himself may get at the start of such an ass as he who was related to the iciest native of an Aleutian island. Being a mountain climber I followed her from my den in Toledo, Ohio to several mountains of the world: Ararat, Hood, Etna and the Sinai; then onto Australia where she would earn her favorite Mai-Tai just on her one lit amplified rendition of a lento yet rit version of a torrid yet retired “Ta Ra Ra Boom Deay.” I read a viral e-mail about her mutt “Adano” who ate several patties of ground Titi monkey which gave to a miscall of an orator who steels himself just before the dog dives into a Santa Ana wind. It did sadden me to learn in her bio, that her share of ova would enter just the beginning phase of a guest egg but who could tell?
ReplyDeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteYou shoulda started with "It was a dark and stormy night."
Yeah. I know. Everybody's a critic. :-)
New show yea votes: Madame Secretary, Scorpion. Maybe votes: NCIS Nawlins, Blackish
I saw the Jeopardy with those supposedly sexist clues and wasn't offended. However, I just bought one of those little Bissell bagless vacuums and they are seriously over-engineered. I had quite a time just putting the thing together and trying to figure out how to get into the dirt cup so it can be dumped. It offends me to have a vacuum I'm not smart enough to operate.
ReplyDeleteI worked yesterday's and today's puzzles to fantastic DNFs. I haven't slept well for the past two nights so I'll blame it on a lack of sleep.
ReplyDeleteWEES. I saw the mountains going up but couldn't get the unifier. There's always next week.
AnonT--in Las Vegas I'd recommend the Mob Museum. DH and I stayed downtown and walked to it. We spent a good 2 hours and could have spent more time there. It's in the old post office.
We're hosting Couples Euchre Saturday night so my agenda is focusing on cleaning and baking.
Have a great weekend.
Pat
Irish Miss, thanks for the heads-up on Scorpion, and especially on Gracepoint. I didn't know about it, and I've been an Anna Gunn fan ever since seeing her remarkable range in Breaking Bad. Looking forward to seeing the pilot tonight.
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteAnother clever theme execution, methinks. I had no idea about the history behind Ta Ra Ra Boomdeay - Thanks, Marti!
Irish Miss - I just stumbled upon a news article about Troy. Apparently your mayor officially proclaimed the city was "Ginger City, USA" yesterday, in honor of the above-average redhead population. I admire redheads...
Dudley,
ReplyDeleteI din't know that redheads are also (normally - ) considered 'below average'. I thought that was reserved for blondes. ;-D)
(meant in jest)
Personally, I'd admire anybody who is accomodating.
Dennis- As far as I know, William Shatner is the only actor still alive from the Howdy-Dowdy show. He was Ranger Bob.
ReplyDeleteMan, I didn't like Scorpion at all. I felt it was just plain stupid. Maybe it's supposed to be and I just don't get the joke.
ReplyDeleteI was confused by How To Get Away With Murder. We love Viola Davis, but her character's behavior in this show often made no sense. For example, what was with her coming on to one of her male students? Did that group of students really commit a murder? LW and I both felt many of the scenes that seemed anomalous to us were included just to showcase Miss Davis's emoting skills.
We like NCIS New Orleans, so far. If it goes off the rails, ie stops becoming a show about an NCIS unit, we'll dump it. It did come awfully close already, what with the Scott Bakula character almost making it seem as if their mission was to save the city. The show is about NCIS, and is only set in New Orleans.
Dudley @ 3:23 - I was unaware of the Mayor's Proclamation of Ginger City; thanks for telling me.
ReplyDeleteJayce:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of Scorpion. Not impressive at all but haven't seen some of the others.
So far I'm impressed with NCISNO but it's wait and see for me, too.
Chickie:
I'm sorry to hear about your eye problems. I use readers 2.5 but it may be time to increase the power.
Company's coming for dinner so I have to get on it.
We arrived home late last night. We went to see the home our single son just bought in Salina KS. He found a nice little two bedroom with attached garage ( his big must-have ). It also has a full-finished basement, which made his mother happy. (Salina is tornado alley.)
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I did the puzzle around 2AM before going to bed so I wasn't concerned about theme or circles. Barry G. comment 5:52AM pretty much echos my solving experience.
DUCT tape made me laugh. When I was a middle-school nurse,we had a gifted student. He was just always a little board with school so started coming to school intermittently with a different DUCT tape fashion creations.
BTW, have you seen the DUCT tape prom dress creations? I don't know how their boyfriends talked them into it.
Irish Miss, do you also have red hair? I read the Mayor's proclamation. " Night of the Walking Red" LOL
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I both have red hair. How many red heads do we have on the corner?
Klinger : TOLEDO,Ohio = Radar : Ottumwa, IA
ReplyDeleteBlue Iris 7:47 - I personally consider red hair to be a fabulous gift of nature, and hope you and your sister have had a lot of fun with it! :-)
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, thanks for Gracepoint - the first episode was excellent.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I gave up on Scorpion fifteen minutes in; didn't like the premise or the acting.
Blue Iris, no I wasn't a redhead, dark brown, now mostly gray.
ReplyDeleteDennis, I DVRed Gracepoint-looking forward to watching it. BTW, the BBC title was Broadchurch. Scorpion is one of those either love it or hate shows. In my case, the jury is still out.
Hi Puzzle Pals!
ReplyDeleteOuch... this one hurt. Let me count some of the ways. I had GETAT soon enough, LEOII, and EDY. Mmmm... cowboy thing, music hall --- The Grand Ol' oprY! Brilliant! Er, not so much...
6a - SnARk led to 7d nO-UNTAIN? nOUN-TA/e?.
43a was ELM, oak?, ash?, nope ELM. BROTH not stock!
And so Jeffery's puzzle went. I finally got all but 10d having left in the snarky k. Marti you made it look easy, but I swear (BLESS ME father...) it took me the better part of 4 hours on and off.
Fav - POST IT. Every night before bed I write tomorrow's to-do on one (these are the big lined pads, hence the long days :-))
Big Easy - I have a compressor so I paid for air once.
C-Eh? Hatfield? Sweet. His Major Tom was spot on. Marti usurped my link hours ago.
HG - SMARMIEST CON? Consultant. Full-disclosure, I was one for 15 years.
CED - How do you do it? Your links == LOL.
R-Doc. Thanks! Oscar's sounds great. Is it so bad I can't take DW who minored in women's studies?
PK - vacuums are over-engineered by women to get guys to vacuum. I got a shop-vac w/ the hard-wood attachment.... Oooh, oooh, a dust bunny! BRB.
pje - Mob Museum? I might be recognized!
Cheers, -T
mADD / SADD... I'm a member of DADD* (Dads Against Daughters Dating). Youngest has her 1st dance tomorrow. That L'IL...
ReplyDeleteC, -T
*Shoot the 1st, word will get around (T-Shirt I saw in NOLA)
CCW has only a crosswordese entry today.
ReplyDeleteLAT 69a. Caustic cleaners : LYES
ST 24d. It's KOH, chemically : LYE
Thought I had another one, but when I went to write it up I saw it was a dyslexic glitch.
LAT 42a. Youngest goal scorer in MLS history ADU.
ST 9d. Counterpart of "abu" : IBN.
Don't know how I missed reporting yesterday that the Wednesday LAT and Thursday ST both had a theme of P O BOXES! Both rather ingeniously worked out, too.
The cat guy is just amazing!!
ReplyDelete