The good news, my minor in college was English and I took many poetry classes. The bad news, I do not recall titles of anything, books, poems, songs...This took longer than any Friday in months, and I was so excited to have a C.C. to blog after last week's marti masterpiece. Of course what could be more fitting than the creator of Crossword Corner creating a puzzle about a Corner. Each of the four in this puzzle has two very famous poets intersecting by the first or last letter of their last names, with a central reveal, surrounded by four cheater squares to make it a grid-spanner of sorts. The works selected appear to be picked because they are not the most famous work of the author, thereby making this Friday a real work out.
There may be some confusion of so much long fill that exceeds or equals the length of theme answers. EVICTED, MEDICAL, NEGLECT , IMPURITY, PAGANINI, RED ADAIR, SIPOWICZ, SMASH HIT, THE ALAMO, LENGTHENS and NESPRESSO. These mix old and new knowledge continues to amaze me, considering where C.C. grew up. Sit back and enjoy as the puzzle is stuffed with information.
1A. He wrote "The Eve of St. Agnes" : KEATS. Not his most famous POEM. Poor man died at 25 of Tuberculosis..
1D. He wrote "Summer of Love" : KILMER. Another POEM I do not know from Joyce who wrote TREES. Kilmer was an American killed in Europe by a sniper's bullet in World War I at age 31.
9A. He wrote "Halloween" : BURNS. Here we go again, another POEM I no nothing about. This Scotsman lasted until he was 37, having fathered 14 children along the way.
13D. He wrote "The Cloud" : SHELLEY. Percy Bysshe Shelley was a contemporary of Keats, he wrote this POEM and also died young, at 29 in a sudden storm. His death is the subject of speculation. His second wife was Mary Godwin, who wrote Frankenstein.
40D. He wrote "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" : SERVICE. Robert Service, the Canadian Poet is a bit of an outlier, as this POEM is one of his most famous. He lived to be 82.
67A. He wrote "Ash Wednesday" : ELIOT. I do not know this POEM either, though I admire some of his work. He lived until 76.
49D. He wrote the "Odes" : HORACE. Like Service, this is a famous collection of POEMS by Horace who was very popular in Rome with the early Caesars. He lived until 72.
69A. He wrote the "Convivio" : DANTE. This is an unfinished work which includes POEMS in the books. The estimate he lived about 55 years.
and the reveal (hint)
38A. Westminster Abbey attraction, and one of four in this puzzle : POET'S CORNER.
Across:
6. Avid fan : NUT. The online etymology dictionary tells us, "be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (plural noun) "any source of pleasure" (1610s), from nut (q.v.)."
14. "That's it for me!" : I QUIT. A simple but elegant fill with a QU in the middle.
15. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH. Really? Kosh B'Gosh, we live in Osh? Occupational Safety and Health not good enough for C.C.? I do not know the country or the CITY.
16. "My FBI" author Louis : FREEH. I cannot remember the spelling of his name. LINK.
17. Drew : LURED. I could not picture this answer. I wonder if Drew Carey would be popular as Lured Carey.
18. Cohort of Curly : MOE. A CSO to our own Chairman, also 20A. Red Guard leader : MAO.
19. Perch, at times : LEDGE.
21. 1970s radical gp. : SLA. So much hard work, I started with SDS.
23. Literary assortment : ANA. We had this a month ago (11/14/14) and I even can point to a previous C.C. PUZZLE which used this fill.
25. The whole shebang : ALL.
26. Peut-__: maybe, in French : ETRE. Perhaps it means maybe.
28. Lace place : EYELET.
30. "Small Wonder" state: Abbr. : DELaware. This was one of those educated guesses that make solving go faster.
31. Five-pound Staples package, typically : REAM of paper. You can do your office workout now.
32. Stellar spectacles : NOVAS. Naturally I started with NOVAE.
33. Show anxiety, in a way : PACE.
34. Music publisher sold to Universal in 2007 : BMG. This says it was sold to SONY in 2008? LINK. Bertelsmann is sill very active.
36. Foreign matter : IMPURITY. Nicely phrased.
40. Blockbuster : SMASH HIT. Don't you love fill that has ___HH__.
42. Backup key : ESC. I think of UNDO.
43. Some hosp. scans : EEGS. ElectroEncephalagrams.
44. Pentathlon equipment : EPEES. One of the five events of the competition.
46. Sundance Film Festival state : UTAH. Robert Redford's home.
50. Nutritional stat. : RDA. Recommended daily allowance.
51. Battery terminals : ANODES. Cathodes anyone?
52. Maker of the Power Max HD snow blower : TORO. Two weeks in a row, one from marti one from C.C., hmmm.
53. Chablis, e.g. : VIN. Please no whining about foreign words, especially after the Coc au vin discussion.
54. Sydney's state: Abbr. : NSW. New South Wales.
55. Rocky hellos : YOS. Cute deception.
57. Old Egypt-Syr. alliance : UAR. United Arab Republic.
58. Finishing touch of a sort : ICING. On the cake...
60. Swear words : I DO. And I will very soon. Hmm, yesterday also....
62. West African capital : ACCRA. Ghana, along with Nigeria, a hotbed of internet scams.
64. Support aids : CANES.
65. Tough mutt : CUR. Wki says it is thought to be short for the Middle English curdogge, which derives from the word curren, meaning to growl.
66. Designer Mizrahi : ISAAC.
68. Intro to zoology? : ZEE. I am sure those who live by the ZED hate this clue.
Down:
2. Regard as the same : EQUATE.
3. Night light sight : AURORA. If you have never seen the Borealis...
4. No-win situation : TIE. Kissing your sister.
5. Mfg. guidelines : STDS. Standards.
6. Deli request : NO MAYO. Most delis I saw growing up never even had mayonnaise on hand.
7. Private entertainers, briefly? : USO. United Service Organizations Inc. LINK.
8. Texas Revolution battle site : THE ALAMO.
9. A neighbor : B-FLAT. Do musical clues move you?
10. Script add-on : URE. Scripture.
11. Legendary firefighter : RED ADAIR. Oil well fires. Interesting MAN.
12. Pay no attention to : NEGLECT.
22. Stretches out : LENGTHENS.
24. Coffee-making portmanteau : NESPRESSO. This mash up word comes from Nestlé and Espresso.
27. Raise in relief : EMBOSS. I was relieved when I filled this in.
29. Bounced : EVICTED. Literally?
33. Like jigsaw puzzles : PRECUT. Of course this is true, but not what I thought of.
35. "So what" : MEH. A shout out to all of us.
37. Young __ : UNS.
38. 19th-century Italian violin virtuoso : PAGANINI. A taste of his work.
39. Franz' "NYPD Blue" role : SIPOWICZ. The character is so famous, it has its on WIKI PAGE. I recall the Beverly Hills Buntz days, as well.
41. Kind of research : MEDICAL.
45. Pooh pal : EEYORE. My favorite from Milne.
47. Froot Loops mascot : TOUCAN. Do all remember that his name is SAM.
48. Ancient docking site : ARARAT.
51. Apprehension : ANGST. Such a great consonant progression.
56. Declared : SAID. People need to do more saying and less declaring.
59. Recent: Pref. : NEO.
61. __ process : DUE.
63. Gray side: Abbr. : CSA. Confederate States of America.
Well I feel really lucky to get to blog Marti and C.C. in consecutive weeks. I look forward to all the poetry from the Corner in response.
Lemonade out.
61 comments:
Good morning, gang - boy, I had a real struggle with this one. Like Lemon, I only knew a few of the poet answers needed the perps to get the spelling of SIPOWICZ, and never heard of NESPRESSO. FOREIGN MATTER/IMPURITY took a while too, and I couldn't equate "SO WHAT" to MEH, so that took a while, especially since I didn't know BMG. Fortunately, I knew enough of the longer answers, so at least I was able to get a foothold, but this one took quite a while to muddle through.
Favorite clue was A NEIGHBOR -- I looked at BFLAT for a loooong time before I saw it. Overall, clever cluing, clever theme.
Got word this week that the collaborative effort C.C. and I did (mostly her) will appear in the New York Times this Monday. Got really lucky to have our first submission accepted; I'm looking forward to actually seeing it in print (it's been a couple years since we sent it in).
Lemonade, great write-up as always.
Have a great, fun weekend.
What a perfect way to begin a day of a C.C. puzzle with Dennis leading the way.
Thanks
Morning, all!
OK, this one was a massive pain. Clever and well-constructed, but a massive pain nonetheless.
I was about halfway through and all I could think was, "Man, that's a crap-load of authors!" I was hoping it had something to do with a theme and wasn't just a cruel joke being played on us. When I finally got to the theme reveal, I was stumped for awhile since I've never heard of POETS CORNER. I finally got it via the perps, however, and then everything became clear. Sort of.
Even with the theme reveal, I still didn't know SERVICE, and, while I knew the names of the rest of the featured POETS, I didn't recognize most of them from the clues given. And what the heck was FREEH doing there? Yeah, I know he is "just" an author and not a POET, but it still confused me at first when I thought he was part of the theme...
Hardest part was definitely the SW. Didn't know SERVICE, as mentioned, and kept trying MRIS or CATS or PETS instead of EEGS. I finally remembered PAGANINI, and that got the job done.
C.C.- Why are you making me work so much today? The Poets-all eight of them- were WAGs solved by perps. English Lit was the mandatory 6 hours in college that you hoped you never saw again, and usually don't except in crosswords and on Jeopardy.
After the first couple of passes it was still mainly blanks with my only certain fills being RED ADAIR, THE ALAMO, MAO, Louis FREEH, UTAH, PAGANINI, MOE TOUCAN, and ARARAT.
NESPRESSO, SERVICE, OSH, and SIPOWICZ are complete unknowns and the rest of the fills were grind it outs. EEG, ECG, or EKG? NOVAE or NOVAS. RIFLE or EPEES? SDS OR Patty Hearst? I originally put CUT OUT for PRE CUT for 33D.
Favorite clue? "A neighbor". That was ICING on the cake and I almost said I QUIT after 10 minutes.
Had to dig deep into my high school speech team days to unearth all the poets. Also had never heard of nespresso.
Good morning!
I struggled with this one, but heck, it's Friday. You're supposed to struggle! I recognized all of the poet names, but only recognized the works of SHELLEY and ELIOT. Interesting that half of them died very young. I guess if you're going to get your name in a crossword, it's better if it appears in the bottom half.
Having lived in Texas since '79, RED ADAIR was a gimme. FREEH was not. Wanted FREER. D'oh, that's the art gallery on the mall. NOVAE/NOVAS -- wait on the perps to decide.
Nicely done, C.C. Lemon, you were punny, as usual.
Good morning, friends and stalwarts! First big nit, my newspaper had Ian Livengood as the constructor which surprised me as he was yesterday's.
So to come here and discover this was a C.C. masterpiece was ICING on the cake! Yes, it was TOUGH, but doable except for MEH where I had HUH not knowing BMG. Drat!
Being a Lit major, I knew the POETS, even their obscure works and at first thought the theme might be a Who's Who of them. I'm sorry if some of you don't like literature, I don't like sports or math either.
RED ADAIR was a staple in the past so I read about him at the time. Fascinating person.
Thank you, C.C. and Lemonade for your usual erudition. This was a SMASH HIT (yes, I love those HHs)
My captcha is 8H
Have a fantastic, fun Friday, everyone!
Wow. Just wow. Halfway through I was thinking to myself that there sure are a lot of author clues in here.
Shortly after, I glanced to see who the constructor was. C.C.! That took things to a whole new level. I knew that she was up to something, and when I got RIGHTCORNER, I knew I was on to it (even though I was wrong lol!)
A big DNF for me today, but an absolute delight in trying. Thanks C.C. and Lemon.
My paper also had Ian Livengood as the constructor, so that was a pleasant surprise. But what a tough puzzle!!!
Many complete unknowns, but no Naticks, so it eventually came together (with a truckload of erasures). The only cited work I recognized was Dan McGrew, so all the other poets were wags with a few perps in place. At least they were all well known poets. That helped a great deal.
Lots to like. But it was brutal.
Dennis: Congrats on the pending NYT puzzle with C.C. Any linkage on Monday would be awesome.
Hello Puzzlers -
What Dennis said, with one important exception: I never caught on to A neighbor. Without that, and not knowing Freeh or Nespresso, I ended up with a DNF. I see we've had Ana before, but I plum don't recall it. Too bad, it would've helped. Ah well, Fridays are meant to be tougher.
What Barry G said. This was a He wrote, what state pain in the a** puzzle.
Good morning all !
Thank you CC. Thank you (in advance) Lemonade. Haven't read the write up yet and haven't read any posts yet.
My laptop locked up. I had to start all over after rebooting. Then ran out of time.
Got my butt whipped ! Saw all of the "He wrote..." clues and knew I was in serious trouble.
Finally changed the game to amateur. Just a couple of errors. "Bounced' was not JIGGLED. "Sydney's" state was not NEB. Then counted my correct answers. 30 of them.
Might give it another shot after work.
TGIF...I think!
Got roughly half the puzzle done and the other half was a sea of white or dark smudges from many, many erasures. In other words, I got my butt kicked today.
The authors were generally unknowns and I never picked up on the Poet theme.so I was done in from the outset. Didn't help that I spelled FREEH FREaH and had Pant in 33A instead of PACE. Doubt if I had either of them correct would have changed the result.
Have a fun weekend.
42A - A bad clue since ESC is not truly a backup key. It's sorta a get-outta-here key. BACKSPACE is a truer backup key.
I got the wrong constructor in my paper too, so when I couldn't see any of the theme answers, and didn't even catch on that I needed poets--those titles meant nothing to me, and I thought they were novels. So I QUIT early with only about a quarter of it attempted. I would have been more motivated had I known C.C. had constructed it, but the whole thing really was outside of my wheelhouse, except NSW, ETRE and VIN which comprised a third of all I had filled in correctly before coming here. Yes, only nine completely correct!
"Puzzling" thoughts:
Thanks CC for a super Friday puzzle and also to Lemon for his erudite "elicitation"! Always look forward to Friday!
Another Moe SO? And as well, MAO? The Chairman doth blusheth!!
Hands up for SDS at 21a; EJECTED at 29d; BMI at 34a. Which of course led to some strange looking words in the North Central grid of the CW
So this week's limerick "contest" is to construct lim's with a reindeer theme. You saw yesterday's; here is today's:
(Might help if you know the Christian holiday I refer to in line 4!)
Two clever reindeer that man Santa's sleigh,
Decided this year to have their own way:
You see, Donner and Blitzen
Transposed Christmas for Whitsun,
That's why your presents won't get here til May!
The Chairman is out ...
"Puzzling" thoughts #2:
Favorite clue that was a total misdirection: A Neighbor = BFLAT. Superb. Of course for me, the perp' connector that I had to look up was the solve for FREEH (never heard of them), and for whatever reason, B_LAT did not translate
Perps and WAGS pretty much solved a lot of this puzzle; I really didn't look anything up until I got to the NE corner, but as EES, this was both a challenge and a delight to solve. Another FIW for me (two days in a row) as I had EJECTED - not EVICTED - and EMPIRITY, not IMPURITY. I figured it looked right, with the root word "EMPIRE" to solve a clue saying "FOREIGN"!! ;^)
Ack!
what does it mean when you can't finish a puzzle even when you cheat on all the names!
Magilla, I took it to mean 'back up to the last thing you did'. Just my take.
Lemon, Ergo, thanks. Ergo, as any newbie constructing a puzzle with C.C. will tell you, she does the heavy lifting. Still, it's a rewarding and learning experience, and I'm honored to be a part of it.
On another front, Lois is back?? This could be interesting...
Hi gang -
Pretty much what Kazie said.
I had PAGANINI, RED ADAIR, MOE, MAO, CUR, and a few more words, then just gave up.
The FREEP listed the constructor as Ian Livengood.
Oh, well. There's always Monday.
Meanwhile, Here's Diane, with a comment on the weather.
Cool regards!
JzB
I’ll take three bad cells today and move on. What a workout. Now I know how non-sports people feel! Of course C.C. has literary, AND sports expertise. Just when I thought I couldn’t admire her more…
Musings
-The Omaha paper listed Ian too
-FREEH/FREED, youngUNS/youngENS, ISSAC/ISSAK, STDS/YTDS, NOMAYO/HAMSUBS, PRECUT/DIECUT, ad nauseum
-The American POETS CORNER at St. John The Divine in NYC
-Rabid Fans are LURED back at the start of every season by this sentiment
-Talk about ‘yer EYELETS
-Over half the Fortune 500 Companies are incorporated, but most not located, in DEL
-I’ll bet Splynter loves lugging REAMS of paper on a delivery
-I first thought of this Pentathalon
-Don’t tell Marti I first put in RED for Chablis
-The AURORA from northern Canada is spectacular
-A teacher’s EEYORE task
FORGET IT! I know Friday is the beginning of three days of "horror" for me, but really! I knew Dante, Shelley, Keats and Eliot only by filling in other answers first, and guessing. Spelled lengthens wrong so didn't see "poet" until the end. A really big DNF. Very humbling experience.
Hi all...
I tried so hard to work C.C.'s puzzle but I had my butt handed to me on a plate. I think I will print it again and work it w/ Dr. DW (in Lit) later - she'll think I listened all those years :-)
Like CED - I had to look up all but KEATS. After I sussed POETS CORNER, I tried to think of every poet DW ever mentioned. OK, I've heard of BURNS, ELIOT and DANTE (to hell with him), the rest were unknown (shh, don't tell DW).
Thanks for the answers LEM and to CC for showing me how much more my education needs to be LENGTHENed.
LEM - take-a-way from the writeup. Lesson one: don't be a POET; they die young. (oops, now I DO'd it).
C.C. for your next puzzle, may I suggest physicists? :-)
Cheers, -T
Lemon, I enjoyed your write-up and links more than my solving experience.
Didn't know any of the POETS (OK, ELIOT was a wag) and they were left (mostly) blank.
And if there was an alternate answer ... I put it in ...
21-a, SDS before SLA for the 1970's radical group.
43-a, MRIs before EEGS for the Hospital scan.
50-a, CAL (for calorie) before RDA, for the Nutritional stat.
63-d, REB before CSA for the Gray side.
Dennis I look forward to next Monday's NYT.
A toast to ALL at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Missed three letters today and loved reading your comments! What is a WAG and a perp? Hope to be able to join the conversation soon!
Good Morning:
I'm happy to say I finished w/o help but it was no easy task, nor was it a quick one. I struggled in several spots and had a few miscues until perps straightened them out.
The theme and execution impressed me no end but, then again, I am continually blown away by CC's talents.
Nice CSO to Chairman Moe (and Mao!) and to Marti with Vin and somewhat vaguely to Tin who may have "icing" on his cake but no _ _ _ in his Pinch!
Super congrats to CC for a Friday masterpiece and thanks to Lemony for the informative and witty expo.
Have a great day.
Here's another beautifully done Christmas song for those who are so inclined.
It's in the same key as Sinatra's original - A, I believe [Bb neighbor.]
Enjoy.
Cheers!
JzB
great granny -
Welcome.
Here is a glossary of Corner terms.
Cheers!
JzB
Good morning Lemon, C.C. et al,
Well, this was a 1st for me. I discovered the poets in the 4 corners quickly , and was familiar with them, but not those poems. Service I learned from past poems on this blog. My paper also said this was Ian's puzzle, so I was delighted when I saw Lemon's very informative write up. Thanks.
When I can't wait to discover the answers I know it is a good puzzle. This was outstanding. Laughed at meh, and thought of Barry.
I took many wrong turns giving me some strange words to undo.I had impunity for impurity until it made pnecut. LOL... sounds dirty. cones for canes.Very exciting fill, C.C. When I finally filled lengthens, the whole thing fell together.
Favorite bounced=evicted
Had Neb before NSW, as I thought they were territories, not states. I will be visiting Sydney in January.My best friend's daughter works at Cabelas headquarters in Sydney, Neb... not much else there.Their original store is HUGE.
More rain today, but much lighter than yesterday's all day drenching.
Please tell me I'm not the only mourner,
of the incident at Poets Corner...
I was so excited when I started this puzzle because I got all the poets and the POET'S CORNER--(hey, it's my field). But sadly there were still items that didn't work for me, notably that beastly NEIGHBOR--never noticed the A of course, and am still not sure what this means--that A is next to B or that apartment A is next to apartment B or what? Felt really grumpy about this until I learned that it wasn't an Ian puzzle after all, but a C.C. and of course I can never be grumpy about a C.C. puzzle. (Sorry, Ian, I'll never be grumpy about any of your puzzles in future, either). And exciting that there's a Dennis/C.C. to look forward to on Monday.
Big rains this morning but not as damaging (yet) as we feared. So have a good one, everybody!
Misty, they're musical notes. A is a neighbor of B Flat.
Misty - Apartments / FLATS never occurred to me - Yet another REAM of word play. Nice catch.
To whomever NIT'd on 42a - I kind of agree, but Backup can be "undo what I just did", so ESC, while a misdirection (I had DEL -> CTZ (Ctrl-Z) before ESC) stands. It is Friday.
Cheers, -T
Good afternoon everyone.
Welcome aboard Great Granny.
Kudos to C.C. for a great, entertaining construction. Hands up for mis-assigned authorship in our market.
Didn't know all the poets, but perps were helpful. Got totally flumoxed by B FLAT. Got ZEE though. sigh. SIPOWICZ was a spelling head scratcher. But RED ADAIR was a gimme.
SHEBANG. - My Dad always used that word when speaking in English. Must have learnt it in Iowa.
Here it is in line 8 of a Newfoundland whaling song -
"The Old Polina"
There’s a noble fleet of whalers a-sailing from Dundee,
Manned by British sailors to take them o’er the sea.
On a western ocean passage we started on the trip.
We flew along just like a song in our gallant whaling ship.
‘Twas the second Sunday morning, just after leaving port,
We met a heavy Sou’west gale that washed away our boat.
It washed away our quarterdeck, our stanchions just as well,
And so we sent the whole shebang a-floating in the gale.
CHORUS :
For the wind was on her quarter and the engine’s working free.
There’s not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the Old Polina, you need not try, my sons,
For we challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St. John’s.
Hear the song: Link
First time for me... using the online solving method. Tough getting accustomed to. Excellent puzzle and gracefully constructed, I thought. Enabled me to finally complete it with no help but lots of WAGs and PERPs. Not that I knew most of the answers, I did not.
Loved the "A neighbor clue"... definitely needed some cross letters there but once in, the BFLAT fell in. (Looking at it now, one could wonder if it didn't have something to do with the LA Times...
And NESPRESSO? Good clueing for that.
The NW was my last corner to fill, and why does that happen so often?
Enjoyed all your comments. I don't always have time to read them beforehand, but I should, to avoid repetition, I suppose. Still getting the hang of this... trying. Thanks again to all.
Great granny, welcome to the party.
Dennis, like many my first exposure to crossword puzzles was watching my parents do the Sunday NYT togehter. To be published there is an achievement. I look forward to solving
Rainman - Your semi-penultimate sentence made me thing of Red Green's Man's Prayer :-)
CED - Love POETS CORNER cartoon. I'll share w/ DW tonight. Thanks.
Spitz - the whole shebang. I grew up in IL with it too. I should look up the etymology.
Cheers, -T
Just making sure that everyone knows the totally whacked out nut job at 12:59 is not me.
Ah, I was hoping for a cleverer meaning behind B-FLAT. I mean, why is it more of "A neighbor" than G-SHARP? If we're to read "A" as the home note... Oh, I get it, we just had to pick one of A's neighbors. Sorry to be picky. And this answer sounds more like an apartment number. Shut my mouth.
Suuure, Jerome. We all got a taste of your 'love of fellow man' yesterday.
hello everyone!
i was feeling pretty accomplished yesterday when i finally finished the thanksgiving special puzzle in the local paper. (see avatar!) took about six hours but i finished! when i started today's puzzle and had about 10 fills after the first run through, i knew i was in trouble. tough and humbling, but genius as usual from CC. no sports references? that's ok - not too pleased with the trades my Dodgers have made in the last few days...
have a lovely weekend all!
tawnya
Jerome - we know non-blue is not you...
On Shebang, as feared, it has nothing to do with a (ba)sh scripting (#!), nor a loose woman, but to do with civil war encampments. Anyone else know better?
On yesterday's puzzle. I went in for 40-winks (before a call) and what is on the NESPRESSO table? The book THINGS FALL APART. I've never seen it before. Thats NUTs!
Call is over, time for a real nap before the ballet.
Cheers, -T
Happy Friday! I woke up to rain and a power outage. It turns out that the wind and rain had blown over our absentee neighbor's dead tree onto a power line. The city workers just came by and chain-sawed it down.
This puzzle was both hard and clever. I firmly believe that if I were a paper and pencil/pen solver as are many of you, I would have given up in frustration. But with a little Googling and red-letter help, I manage to finish and enjoy the process. That's the raison d'être for my doing CW puzzles in the first place. (Did I use that correctly?)
I have a personal bias against the word "meh." It reminds me of a few annoying students who, when I was in the middle of trying to explain the reason for a math process rather than just giving them a rule for getting the answer, would say "Whatever..."
Tawnya, I know what you mean about those Dodgers trades. I am hoping they will work out well but I have my doubts.
I just received my annual gift from aka Thelma, the full-page Thanksgiving day puzzle from her paper. I've commandeered the dining room table and hope to have it done by morning. Thelma, thank you again for taking the time (and expense) to send it; much appreciated!
Lemonade, I'm looking forward to solving it myself; it's been so long, I can't remember much about it.
Jerome, c'mon, how can there be TWO totally whacked out nut jobs named Jerome on the same blog?? Seriously, hope you're well, my friend.
Anon -T @ 1347 - re: Civil War encampments first usage of shebang. I read that too. There is an allusion to shed or barn.
German descent soldiers served in the Civil War. There is a standard German word Schuppen meaning shed or barn. English etymologies don't discuss it but I wonder if SHEBANG could be a corruption of Schuppen. (I tend to favor the Irish thread of 'sibin', illicit whiskey, morphing to 'shebeen'.)
51d ANGST - German word meaning fear or apprehension. "Ich habe Angst" means "I'm afraid".
Alt QOD: A book is never a masterpiece: it becomes one. Genius is the talent of a dead man. ~ Carl Sandburg (Jan. 6, 1878 ~ Jul. 22, 1967)
Many thanks, Desper-otto and Anon T. That's why I need this blog, for explanations and kind understanding!
Tough day today, lots of wags but fortunately got plenty of perp help. Strangely enough, I got most of it until 33 Across, (Show anxiety in a way): I first put down PALE but when I turned on the red letter help it tipped me to PACE instead, and that unlocked the NE corner.
I liked seeing RED ADAIR, reminding me of the John Wayne move, "Hellfighters", and the writer of the FBI memoir clue jogged my memory of Louis FREEH. And being a former tenor sax and clarinet player, I thought 9 Down (A neighbor) BFLAT was pretty clever.
Unfamiliar words: ANA and NESPRESSO and most of the poets' names as that is not a strong area of knowledge for me.
I recently came across two older movies on cable that we enjoyed the first time and I'm re-enjoying the second time. One is "The American President" with Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. It's a comedy/drama about a recently widowed president who meets an attractive lobbyist and begins to fall in love.
The other is "Dave," with Kevin Kline as a sweet temp agency owner who looks just like the president. When the president suffers a serious stroke, the president's aides get Dave to stand in for him. Dave turns out to be more likeable and capable than they had expected.
I really enjoy seeing both of them again. For some reason I often enjoy watching good older movies a second time rather than new 'iffier' movies.
Crash and Burn today!
Off to lick my wounds.
On a similar vein to BillGs effort to inject some good news in a world of gloom, those of you west of CDT should make an effort to see the "On the Road" segment at the very end of the CBS Evening News tonight. The story is wonderful, but Scott Peley's reaction at the end is entirely worth the price of admission. It's almost a Walter Cronkite moment. Catch it if you can.
I'd also endorse both movies mentioned. My favorite role in "Dave" is that played by Charles Grodin.
Finally got back the write up and the comments. Read it all.
The whole shebang. Kit and caboodle. Great puzzle CC !
Also, I should have known. Sydney is in NSW. Sidney is in NEB.
Avg Joe, is it about Secret Santa in Missouri? If so, I found it on my CBSNews.com homepage. Is this it? Secret Santa
I posted something late last night about our city's neighborhood Christmas float and one of my ex-students who was one of the volunteers and who remembered Barbara and me from about 25 years ago. If you didn't see it, you might enjoy reading it. My new avatar photo was taken on the float last night.
BillG:
Thank you for posting that clip! I missed the news tonight and TV all day, really, because I hosted a dinner party and was supremely busy all day.
Also, I want to apologize for my first post. It sounds peevish and whiny and I can only say it must have been the early hour. I don't do mornings well.
I again want to thank C.C. for her outstanding puzzle today. You are truly a renaissance woman, C.C. with a wide knowledge of not only sports, trivia, and languages buy also literature. I'm sure we have yet to see your untapped resources as you continue to grow in constructing clever puzzles.
Puppies are cute.
Dammit. This is what I meant to post.
Rock on.
Lucina, I'm glad you liked it. Avg Joe steered me to it. BTW, I didn't think you sounded peevish at all.
Cute puppy videos! I think English Bulldogs are especially cute since they have a pushed-in face, they drool, they're ungainly and because of all that, they are especially deserving of affection.
There was a time in younger days when I could recite the entirety of the poem about Dangerous Dan McGrew; westerns ruled the box office and tv screens and the POEM captured it all.
Nice memory and the only Poem mentioned that I knew, though I have read some of Horace and other works by all the rest.
BillG, I was already in bed last night, but yes, that's the piece. I'll mention it on the Saturday thread after I've done the puzzle.
Good Saturday morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
Well, I got it all done but the NE corner. Got a little help and finished this morning. had no more time to dig this one out.
Puzzle was very good, but tough. All those names.
Finally got the theme, but never heard of POETS CORNER, never having been to Westminster Abbey.
9D A neighbor was my favorite, B FLAT.
SIPOWICZ was withs perps and wags.
Liked EEYORE. Remember him from the cartoons my daughter watched.
6D, NO MAYO, is me.
THE ALAMO was one of my "for sure" answers.
Anyhow, I have to run. Lots to do today. Hope I get to try today's puzzle.
Abejo
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