For the younger generation, a sawbuck is a ten dollar bill. This derived from the Roman Numeral X meaning ten, which looks like one end of a sawhorse. C-note meaning a hundred is also from the Latin. Anyway, marti has taken the word TEN and broken between two adjacent fill which are all clued by the first clue, cross-referentially- a variation on the break a word theme like we saw yesterday from Jeffrey Wechsler. Yesterday was an outie, and today is an innie. There is a double symmetry of the break 1/3 having t/en and 2/4 te/n. with 1/4 10 letters and 2/3 9 letters. The reveal is a central gridspanning 15. The fill is heavy on 5 letter words, some of which are tough like ERISA, ICAHN and TABOR and there are some nice 7-8 letter fill such as AMNESIA, CD RATES, EERIEST, HASTIER, NICE DOG, ROB ROYS, BREAD BIN, STAY HERE, many of which required work. Pinch hitting for marti, so let's get to work.
14A. With 15-Across, accounting unit : DEBIT. 15A. See 14-Across : ENTRY. Our system of mathematics, and accounting are based on the base 10. (10 in the theme).
29A. With 31-Across, anathema : BETE. 31A. See 29-Across : NOIRE. We have had bete noire before clued before as bete___?(8/12/14) and _____noire?(9/30/14). (9 in the theme). Aren't you all glad we had this word Tuesday?
44A. With 47-Across, some receivers : TIGHT. 47A. See 44-Across : ENDS. Rob Gronkowski is the New England Patriots star receiver. LINK. (0:29)(9 in the theme).
65A. With 66-Across, National Book Award-winning novel by Don DeLillo : WHITE. 66A. See 65-Across : NOISE. I did not know the book, but I knew the theme. (10 in the theme).
and the reveal
37A. Question about change, which hints at the hidden feature of four two-part puzzle answers : CAN YOU BREAK A TEN? (15).
Across:
1. Some portrait frames : OVALS. I had some trouble with this beginning even though I have a big oval frame in my living room holding a picture of my mother with her brothers when she was little.
6. Noble __ : GASES. Back on track.
11. Singsong syllable : TRA. Well, Lah di dah!
16. Like some aces : RED. So many different kinds of aces- cards, tennis, air warfare, tests....
17. Manage : SEE TO. I always think of,,,
18. Walking __ : ON AIR. What TV show theme music?
19. Sound after a satisfying swig : AAH. How cool that this is next to...
20. Scotch cocktails : ROB ROYS. The Scotch version of a Manhattan, it was named by a bartender at the Waldorf after a Broadway play about the Scottish hero, RECIPE.
22. Zenith : ACME.
23. "I won't hurt you" : NICE DOG. This was all perps,
26. Not as deliberate : HASTIER. This was hard, though once filled makes sense.
28. Toothbrush-endorsing org. : ADA. American Dental Association.
32. Worlds : REALMS. A word I got used to from watching my sons playing video games.
35. __ legend : URBAN. We have urban legends, dictionaries, even cowboys; where is the love for suburbia?
42. Blue Grotto locale : CAPRI.
43. "Ramona and Beezus" co-star Gomez : SELENA. Another STAR (1:41) created by Disney?
49. Set-__ : TOS.
50. Malady in the 2000 film "Memento" : AMNESIA. I could not remember what this movie was about.
52. Like the best occult films : EERIEST.
55. It's about a foot : SHOE. Sock fits this misdirection as well.
56. Yield figures : CD RATES.
58. Figure under a line : SUM. Simple visual.
59. Fife-and-drum drum : TABOR. From the same Latin root where we get Tambourine.
60. Two cents : INPUT. Cute clue/fill.
64. Bardic before : ERE. The Bard?
67. "M*A*S*H" titles : LTS. Lieutenants. Actually they had lots of majors and captains there.
68. Private : INNER.
69. Mount : STEED. A horse is a horse, of course...
Down:
1. Pigs out (on) : OD'S.
2. Center of gravity? : VEE. Tricky.
3. Presidential nickname : ABE.
4. Petrol unit : LITRE. You see, they do not say gasoline, so...
5. Gave up a seat : STOOD. So simple, but the political aspect slowed me. In the UK, they stand for Parliament, I think, even more confusing.
6. One of six British kings : GEORGE. I am still waiting for King Ringo.
7. Year in Tuscany : ANNO. Year in Italian, the same word as Latin.
8. "Wait for me" : STAY HERE.
9. Pension law signed by Ford, briefly : ERISA. Employee Retirement Income Security Act
10. Jordan neighbor: Abbr. : SYRia.
11. Gillette razor : TRAC II. Along with ATRA, regular crossword stuff.
12. Hole enlarger : REAMER. hard to remain pc with this clue/fill.
13. Cleave : ADHERE.
21. Comes to the surface : BOBS UP.
22. Harsh-sounding, to some : ATONAL. And MUSIC (2:16) to others.
23. Traffic stopper? : NARC. Drug traffic. A classic miss m deception.
24. Notion : IDEA.
25. "Elf" actor : CAAN. ACTOR James, not to be confused with 51D. Corporate raider Carl : ICAHN. This was easy for me, but this MAN may not be as well known unless you have worked in the investment world. Both names are variations of the Hebrew family name Cohen.
27. Shoshone Falls river : SNAKE.
30. Shroud city : TURIN.
33. Chinese evergreen : LYCHEE. Nuts to these obscure clues.
34. Zoo security features : MOATS.
36. Droopy-eared hound : BASSET. Do you all remember this early TV star? LINK. (1:18)
38. Wonderful container? : BREAD BIN. Sounds British; the clue should be Wonder-ful (Wonder bread)?
39. Bordeaux bean? : TETE. A French reminder, but still no answer as to why the head /brain is called 'bean.'
40. "The Dukes of Hazzard" officer : ENOS. A break from the biblical reference, played by Sonny Shroyer, a former FSU football player like Burt Reynolds. His character became so popular they had a spin-off called Enos.
41. Tammany Hall caricaturist : NAST. Perhaps the most famous political cartoonist in America.
44. Mortarboard frill : TASSEL.
45. "That upset me!" : I'M HURT.
46. Speakers of Tolkien's Noldorin language : GNOMES. I very much enjoyed both the Hobbit and the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but was completely unaware that the Noldorin Elves were originally called Gnomes, but what eles starts GN? READ?
48. Costing more : DEARER. "Oh, dear, that's too dear, dear."
53. Jockey's handful : REINS. Cute, evocative clue.
54. "This __ a drill!" : IS NOT. A scary set of words.
57. Mechanical repetition : ROTE.
59. Prefix with light or night : TWI. Rhymes with...
61. "Easy as __!" : PIE. No, but a doable Thursday, don't you think?
62. Wear and tear : USE.
63. Former Ohio governor Strickland : TED. I am not sure what is special about this one term GOVERNOR, but it is time to go anyway.
Here is some insight into the puzzling mind of our own marti:
We were at a local restaurant when DH asked the waitress, “Can you break a ten?” I seem to count words like some people count sheep, and immediately realized that could be a 15-letter unifier. So I toyed with the idea, and had the devilish idea to break the word “ten” across two entries. But that meant the paired entries would have to be cross-referenced. (Sorry BarryG, but it wouldn’t work any other way!!)
As always it is great to blog a marti puzzle, she includes so many whimsical bits, and once I remembered to not write Friday in the title, it all went well. Thanks for reading and enjoying a marti jeudi (play day) and now you can look forward to her Friday write up. Lemonade out.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteWell, I love Marti, but I wasn't so keen on this puzzle. Mostly because of all the cross references, of course, but not entirely so.
I didn't get the theme reveal until the very end, and I kept thinking the theme involved some missing word. That was suggested by entries like DEBIT ENTRY, which meant nothing to me and I assumed there was another word that was needed to make sense of it.
Down south, I caught the trickiness of the "Wonderful" clue, but went with BREAD BOX instead of BREAD BIN. Add to that the fact that TWI night did not even occur to me as a real phrase, and I got well and truly stuck. I finally got rid of BOX and went with BIN, but I still couldn't figure out a word that went with light and night. I finally held my nose and entered TWI anyway, knowing it was wrong, and got the *TADA. Yay.
Seriously, though, I really hate puzzles with lots of cross references...
Tough one today, I only finished by red letters and WAGs. West was bad. NICE DOG? I'd say either good dog or nice doggy, but not NICE DOG. Misdirection on NARC and not knowing CAAN slowed that down, but I finally got them.
ReplyDeleteThe South was another matter. BREAD BOX I was so sure of, but red letters said it was wrong, so I just as certainly changed it to BREAD BAG. Never heard of TABOR nor TWInight, and that d*mn bread kept me from any chance at getting WHITE or INNER. ICAHN & CD RATES were WAGs.
Anathema yesterday was prepping us for BETE NOIRE today I guess, if only I knew what that was. Anathema I knew because I was anathema first time I was excommunicated from a church.
A serious poem today.
Math and Tolerance
---- --- ---------
Five and five together make TEN,
They did the first time, did it again!
TEN is also seven and three,
Or four and six, do you agree?
The moral: different paths can reach the same end!
You're a good person, you follow the TENets
Your faith has laid out, you have no regrets.
I'm different branch of the tree
My TENets are strange to you, I see.
But both paths lead to a heavenly address!
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I have to agree with Barry on this one. I am not keen on cross-references. The puzzle was doable, although I stumbled a bit with TABOR and the BREAD BIN. The Bin just didn't seem right.
ReplyDeleteIt also took me a while to get the OVALS because I was sure that Ike was the Presidential Nickname.
I loved the movie Momento.
It's about a foot = SHOE was my favorite clue of the puzzle.
QOD: People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. ~ Anton Chekhov (Jan. 29, 1860 ~ July 14, 1904)
No puzzle yesterday because newspaper didn't print it. Today they printed it but extra tiny. Needed the magnifying glass. I liked the puzzle but clue for GNOMES was rather obscure.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteI started right off with DEBIT CREDI -- and ran out of room. The reversed letters in LITRE didn't fool me -- in TASSEL they did (what a hassle!). My BASSET started out as a BEAGLE -- I'm just not into furniture.
Happy to see that others had trouble with BREAD BIN -- I'd heard of BOX and TIN, but not BIN -- but it had to be.
I've only heard TWI-NIGHT in relation to a baseball double-header that begins in the afternoon and runs into the night. OMG, did I just explain a sports thingee?
Marti gave me the most trouble with "Wait for me." I could only see a slowpoke trying to catch up with a faster group. STAY HERE didn't fit.
Wiat for me: STAY HERE made perfect sense for me, as everytime I am shopping with my wife, and I have to go get something, she begins to wander. Since she is 5' tall, it is very hard to spot her in a store...I agree the GNOMES clue was very obscure but the GN from the prps made it easy. In a world of Hobbits, Elves and Dwarves Gnomes make sense
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this puzzle that was challenging but doable --so I will not have to finish later and still get to work on time! Thanks Marti!
ReplyDeleteand thanks for the write-up Lemonade, I especially liked the Star Trek video in light of all the snow in the Northeast.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all.
Thank you Lemonade and thank you Marti. Aced it. Thought I was going to flame out with all the names and uncertainties, but after a short break, it all came together.
Getting the theme really helped. It confirmed WHITE NOISE.
"Like some aces." I haven't played cards in years, but that's no excuse for first thinking "One-eyed."
"Walking on air" reminds me of that song, "Walking on sunshine."
"Figure under a line" Denominator ? Oh, SUM.
Mount was a noun, not a verb. GET ON was easily replaced by STEED. Wasn't he a character ?
Favorite was the clue, "Like the best occult films"
I've never heard of Wonderful bread. I've heard and had Wonder bread, and IMO, the clue would have been just fine as "Wonder container." No problem with the BIN part of it. As an aside, I still chuckle every time I see a loaf of Bimbo Bread.
I thought we just learned last week that the fife-and-drum drum was called a side drum.
Shouldn't 13D clue be CLING instead of CLEVE if the answer is ADHERE ? I must be missing something. Or is it another of those words that has opposing meanings. Hmm. I must look that up and erase this line before Lime Rickey criticizes.
My grandmother was fond of using "Dear" for costly.
Desper-otto, maybe it's regional. From my ute in eastern Ohio and western PA, I seem to recall more of bread box and bread bin than bread tin. Although, I do quite clearly remember cracker tin. Congratulations on contextually explaining a sports related word !
I've learned to skip the first paragraph(or run on sentence) of Friday's write-ups. Knowing today's puzzle was created by Marti, I suspected I should skip the confusing babbling breakdown here also.
ReplyDeleteYes TTP, CLEAVE is one of those words.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lemonade ! Perfect explanation.
ReplyDeleteI don't wanna go to work today. De-motivated.
I’ve always found “to cleave” an interesting verb. When used with an object, to cleave something is to split it, as one would would using a cleaver. When used without an object, to cleave is to cling, to adhere, as in “to cleave to one’s principles in the face of adversity”. Although not exactly so, the two definitions seem to have opposite meanings to me …
ReplyDeleteLemon: Nice "Pinch-hitting" write-up and informative links.
ReplyDeleteMarti: I've always considered you (and your puzzles) a TEN!
This was a FUN theme today.
Well the major task I've been avoiding has arrived.
Yup, Villa Incognito is moving to a new location. (I hate moving!)
With my diligence ... I will probably take 2 weeks to accomplish this task.
No need to work too hard packing and moving each day. lol
(Probably will not be doing the daily crossword puzzles until night time).
Hope you ALL have a great day!
Sunsets will still be toasted with you guys in mind daily!
Cheers!
Walking on air--was it Happy Days?
ReplyDeleteMarti,
I had a hard time with this, but all the way through, as I guessed answers most of the way, I kept thinking how clever you are, always so many new and fresh references nobody else would come up with. Thanks for this workout!
I had never heard of ERISA, ICAHN or TWInight.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marti and Lemon! Great work.
Scratched head over TWI-night. Beagle before BASSET.
But ended up perfect in the end. Whew!
Can't sleep again.
Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThank you Marti and Lemon.
I really thought I was in big trouble after about 45 minutes. Then I took a chance on the grid spanner and filled it confidently having just a few perps. And THAT really opened up the world.
BREADBIN for "Wonderful container"? Well, uhmm, okay. Otherwise a very clever puzzle Marti. Thank you.
Not a fun puzzle. Way too many cross references and fill in the blanks for me. Better than the last few puzzles with the obscure cluing.
ReplyDeleteTTP, my mom called the pans she put the bread dough into "bread tins." She did have a flour BIN -- it looked like a lower cupboard, but it tilted out at the top. I don't bake, so I certainly don't need a BIN to hold what little flour I use.
ReplyDeleteIt was unusual to see ANATHEMA make a second appearance this week. I guess in a late week puzzle it doesn't require a hint that it's a French expression. Of course, by now maybe it's an English expression.
ReplyDeleteMarti:
Great puzzle.
Don
Nice one, Marti!
ReplyDeleteWe had Wonderloaf in our bread bin back in the UK. And yes, Lemon, we do stand for Parliament rather than run for office. We take things more sedately over there.
When UK friends ask me how much gas costs here in the US, it's almost impossible to tell them - not only do you have to convert gallons to litres, but dollars to pounds, and throw in the fact that a UK gallon is 1/5 more than a US gallon and you just give up and say "it's a lot cheaper".
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the theme, cluing and fill with only two nits, as others have mentioned: bread bin and twi night, both unfamiliar terms to me.
Great job, Marti, and fine expo, Lemony.
More snow coming tonight and bitter temps for the weekend. Can Spring be far behind?
Have a great day.
Musings-
ReplyDelete-Wow, what fun, Marti, but still a real workout. I also the loved the insight into the genesis of this puzzle.
-Scary DEBT ENTRY data
-TIGHT END Rob Gronkowski could be a BETE NOIR for Seattle
-Grandkids need WHITE NOISE from a box fan to sleep
-If CAPRI isn’t on your bucket list, it should be
-The professor cured the skipper of AMNESIA through hypnosis
-LT. Dish from TV M*A*S*H
-Seeing Petrol for €1.69/litre in Italy looked good until I converted that to $9/gal
-Children’s books in England refer to GEORGE III as the “mad king who lost America”
-Would you take this SYR tour today?
- Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall CLEAVE unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. is the only place I’ve seen that usage
-Is the Shroud of TURIN a Christian URBAN LEGEND?
-Political cartoons have always been contentious but now they are dangerous
-Do you remember doing this?
-This IS NOT a drill!
Strictly personal addendum
ReplyDelete-I didn’t blog yesterday because I was having that most personal of medical tests done. The prep is far worse than the event but not eating for 36 hrs can really affect you.
-Waddaya mean you didn’t notice? ;-)
Steve
ReplyDeleteSince there are just under 4 liters in a US gallon, and the exchange rate is usually a bit more that $1.5 to the pound, I just divide by 6, which gives the answer: "it's a lot cheaper" in the U.S, or perhaps a lot dearer in the U.K.
Oil is so cheap/inexpensive now, that the pump/forecourt price of petrol/gas in the UK/England comprises ~80% taxes (Excise and VAT/Sales Tax), so it can't get much lower.
I hear some people are selling petrol for 99p/litre (~$6/U.S. gallon, of which ~$4 is tax), but that is a supermarket loss-maker to bring in the customers/punters.
NC
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteHad to work at this one. The grid spanning unifier wasn't filled until late, so I couldn't make heads or tails of the theme until then. I've seen Bête Noir in print over the years but not enough to feel confident in its use. Hand up for being unfamiliar with twi-night. Having never bothered to watched a single episode of Dukes of Hazzard, I never heard of Enos. Once all the holes got filled in, on came the light! I could at last see the characteristic cleverness of Marti at work.
Greetings, friends! How nice to see you today, Lemonade; I surmised you and Marti would trade places.
ReplyDeleteCount me as one who does not like cross referencing puzzles and yet I was on Marti's wave length though it took the across/down technique to solve this.
Since Martha Stewart's nemesis was Carl ICAHN I've paid attention to his name as he is often in the financial news.
WHITE NOISE was unknown to me and TWInight didn't seem right, but what else could it be? And no problem with BREADBIN; TABOR assured it.
My only write over was SHOE, clever clue; I started with rule.
Have a delightful Thursday, everyone! Mani/pedi day for me.
Check Broom Hilda in the Chicago Tribune comics today. It is a crossword comic.
ReplyDeleteAbejo
ReplyDeleteKazie:
It has been a while, Happy Days theme SONG?
I realize the the title of the theme song is actually, Believe it or Not though the lyric 'Walking On Air' part is all that I remember
Very nice job, Marti and Lemonade. It's always a pleasure to see a Marti puzzle. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAbejo - loved the Broomhilda comic! Thanks for the heads up.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteVery clever puzzle today, Marti. Thank you. Noted the TEN broken both ways twice. Also a dearth of crosswordese words. Once I got DEARER spelt with an 'a', CD RATES was parsed and I was done. No searches of strikethroughs were needed.
67a - LTS - Father Mulcahey and many of the nurses were LTS, probably First LTS. I believe that if doctors have their MD degree and have done residency, they are usually commissioned as O3, or Capt. in the Army.
33d - LYCHEE - I was introduced to LYCHEE nut dessert in Toronto, by Ontario Hydro staff. Very delicious.
For 48d, Lemon said: Costing more : DEARER. "Oh, dear, that's too dear, dear."
That reminded me of a Dutch sentence I composed years ago to help remember the several vowels/diphthongs connected with d--r.
Daar gaat het duur dier door het deur.
(There goes the expensive animal through the door.)
Have a great day.
Here is the BROOM HILDA
ReplyDeleteGood morning all,
ReplyDeleteQuite a challenge today, but worth the effort.I'm not a fan of cross references either.
I started out strong in the NW. After reading the clue for 37A, I knew there was a ten involved, but it took awhile to fill that question.Finally had to Google tabor, and then found out that tin was a wrong guess. Twi night? If you say so, I believe it.
I too did the down/across method which worked better. If I had thought of George right away, I would not have written in walking stick! At some point many of us will be using one of those.
Thanks Marti and Lemon.. lots of learning today. Now if it will just stick.
Tibeni:
ReplyDeleteHave fun moving, may it be easier than you expect. Moving is on the list of the htree most updetting events in life.
Meanwhile, you provided a much better title for the puzzle, "Find a perfect TEN".
SB, thanks fo rthe language lesson, it actually reads well.
Twi-night I believe is a term used exclsuively for baseball double headers, which makes it fun that miss m, who decries any baseball references, used it in this puzzle. As the late great Ernie Banks always said, "Let's play twe." RIP
ReplyDeleteHusker @10:05
ReplyDeleteOuch!
Hope you are feeling better.
Abejo & Lemon @10:57
Thanks for the Broom Hilda link.
Funny comic today!
Lemon @11:16
Well I tend to NOT get upset at anything life presents.
It is a "Positive Move." (pun intended)
oops, I took a half-hour off to enjoy lunch ... back to packing. (ugh!)
ReplyDeleteThrilled to see we'd have a Marti puzzle today, then my heart sank as I got practically nothing on the first run through except TETE and NAST. But slowly, slowly it all filled in and at the very end I held my breath, hoping that ICAHN was correct. Yay! I did it! I got a Thursday toughie--many thanks, Marti! And you too, Lemonade, for 'splaining the theme. I didn't get that the TENs connected the two words until ThEN.
Anyway, fun morning although I suppose I did have the same nit about TWI-NIGHT (never heard of it) as others, and never heard of ERISA. But that's what a Thursday is supposed to do--challenge us a bit.
Have a great day, everybody!
Believe It Or Not (I'm walkin' on air)" was the theme song for "The Greatest American Hero", not "Happy Days".
ReplyDeleteLemony, if it's any insight, the TWI entry was from Rich. I originally had BABEL crossing BWI. He suggested TABER and TWI. I certainly wouldn't have come up with that on my own. ;-)
ReplyDeleteoops - TABOR
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Marti, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteAs I opened the paper to start the puzzle I saw the Broom Hilda comic and put it on the blog immediately. Thank you Lemonade for copying it and scanning it in somehow. I am not sure I know how to do that.
To the puzzle. I really zipped through it today. I guess i was on the right wave-length.
My only inkblot was misspelling LITRE as LITER.
Wanted MDS for 67A, but held off until LTS became evident.
Liked the theme. Got them all easily once I had a couple letters to get me started.
LYCHEE was unknown but perps fixed that.
Remembered Carl ICAHN.
Finally a different Gillette razor, TRAC II. was getting tired of ATRA.
Meeting tonight and then off to Reston, VA, tomorrow morning for Masonic Week 2015.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it, this isn't a cross referenced puzzle. It's one in which two word fills are split across a blank.
We've seen this plenty of times, when and part is clues as "with" the other part. I wonder why the clues weren't constructed that way?
What I hate are the cross references that give you 1 or 0 clues for two fills.
Tolkein's Gnomes were new to me, and I'm a big fan.
Made myself a ROB ROY a few days ago on a whim. Wasn't impressed. I'll stay with the Old Overholt [Doc Holiday's favorite whiskey] Manhattans and the Pinch neat.
There is no reason for ATONAL music to be harsh sounding. Abstract, artificial or sterile - sure. But dissonance sounds harsh and there is no necessary connection between the two.
Here is some obviously tonal music with sounds about as harsh as you'll ever hear right around the 2 minute mark, and again right before the end around 2:50.
Now - why am I thinking about CLEAVage?
Cool regards!
JzB
Lemon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction--my memory of music is always shaky at best.
SB,
Daar gaat het duur dier door het deur. Translates into German as
Da geht das teure Tier durch die Tür. No wonder the Dutch manage so well in German and English--Dutch is almost a cross between the two.
Kazie @ 1312 - Thanks for picking up on that. Several d ➙ t cognates also demonstrate elements of the (Germanic) 2nd sound shift (if I phrased it right).
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon.
ReplyDeleteFun Thursday run in pen and paper at the airport. Thanks Marti for an anathema free puzzle. And thanks to Lemonade for the write up.
Arrived in Dallas to spend a long weekend with my daughter's family. No LA Times in The Dallas Morning News. I only brought my iPad and haven't figured out to work the puzzle on it. Besides I won't be having my customary quiet mornings. . . . The boys, 7 and 9 are ready to rock and roll early. Looking forward to Grandparents' Day at school tomorrow.
The sun is shining here. What a treat!
Hi everybody. I saw Marti's name and it seemed like a good opportunity to jump back in to my usual stumbling-around approach to crosswords. It was fun though like many others, I got frustrated with the split answers until I saw the reason for them. Thanks Marti and Lemon.
ReplyDeleteThings are closer to getting back to normal. Dan's wife's relationship toward us wasn't very good and still isn't but we'll have to cut her some slack for a while. I keep thinking how much I wish I could have one more conversation with Dan but it's not to be.
Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments. They mean a lot.
The clue should have been "Wonder full container", not that that would have helped me much. I had BREA _ _ _ _ and just seemed obsessed that it was a milk container, BREAST??.
ReplyDeleteFrom the movie --
Howard The Duck: What is this place?
Beverly: Uh... Cleveland?
Howard T. Duck: Cleve-Land? U-huh. That's a perfect weird name for this planet.
-- Wish I could find the comic book's dialog, HTD made some comments about barbarians cleaving people in half.
Abejo: Thanks for the BroomHilda heads-up, I wouldn't have seen it for a couple weeks otherwise.
Bill G., good to have you back.
ReplyDeleteTerrific idea Marti! Thanks for sharing how you came up with it. Barry G is not the only one who abhors cross-referenced clues, speed-solvers also despise them because it slows them down. With a cool idea like this, isn't it fun to annoy them? Heh heh.
ReplyDeleteSo Lemonade, enjoy your day off tomorrow. I hope C.C. is giving you paid leave.
JL I get double time for pinch hitting so I am in clover.
ReplyDeleteBill G. welcome back and good luck with dealing with the widow and life in general.
ReplyDeleteWees,
ReplyDeleteYou got me Marti...
I think my biggest problem was I insisted on doing it in ink to get the most out of it.
I could not break into the theme, I only had Tight Ends, & was not sure of that...
After looking up Capri, & Caan, I was still no better off. But what really irked me was not getting the Tolkien clue. I read The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 7 times, & The Silmarillion at least once (Ugh!) & I don't remember any reference to Gnomes!
I thought a nap might help, but it didn't...
I went to the Mensa site & copied everything I had & turned on the Red Letters. I had L-chee for Chinese evergreen, & tried every &&^$&^%$#$ vowel until sometimes Y popped up. Cheated & looked up the Snake River. Found Enos & tete in the red mess, which finally enabled me to figure out the reveal...
Confident I knew what was going on, I turned of the PC & went back to ink the split tens, & it still took another 1/2 hour to figure it all out! (i'm exhausted.)
I should have just come to the Blog for Tech Support...
Hola Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI'm one who doesn't like the split entries, but I had enough of the downs to do some guessing. However, snare didn't work for tabor and twinight wasn't on my wavelength. I'm like JD--"If you say so I'll go with it?".
thanks Marti. Your puzzles are always fun, even though this one was a challenge. Google was my best friend today.
Good to see you back with us Bill G.
Have a great evening, everyone.
Nice puzzle, Marti. No complaints. Learned a lot and finished cleanly despite my ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed... there's a strong resemblance between John Lampkin's avatar photo and actor Kevin Spacey. Coincidence?
TGIF, tomorrow.
Nice to see you, Bill G.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you back, Bill G. I'm glad I stopped in late to see you here.
ReplyDelete@Nice Cuppa - you've got me thinking. I might see if I can come up with a "UK" version of an American-style crossword for the Corner denizens. Y'all might not know that the "American" puzzle style (fully interlocking, usually symmetrical and non-cryptic) is pretty much unknown in the UK, and assumes a huge base of knowledge of sports, pop culture, slang, local geography, pronunciation, spelling, notable people and other arcane wonderful-ness.
At least I grew up speaking English, C.C. (and others here) never cease to amaze me with their grasp of E as an S or (T or F) L.
I'm thinking a Monday-level puzzle that Nice Cuppa could solve in his sleep and leave everyone else saying "Whhhhhaaaat?!"
It might give you an idea what we have to go through :)
Great idea, Steve, I read many books and tv shows set in GB SO I accept the challenge
ReplyDeleteGood Evening Bill G, I'm glad to see you checking in. You are in our thoughts.
ReplyDeleteGeez, you guys are so nice, thoughtful, considerate, kind,...
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteMarti kicked my butt today. I didn't spend too much time on it as I had much to do, but I spent at least 3x longer than yesterday. Now that Lem's shown the gimmick, I got it. Thanks to you both!
Bill G. Good to see you back.
HG - I noticed your absence by the lack of extra tabs open in my browser yesterday :-)
JCJ - GNOMES was one of the few I got in the SW!
All the talk of cheep GAS(ES) - I'm glad ya'll are enjoying it; we're all hoping we still have jobs in 6mo :-)
M. Defarge - Welcome to TX.
Steve - I tried some of the UK style x-words whilst in Scotland. I got one (must have been easy) but I've got another one or two around here I still can't finish. If I find it, I'll ask for your, Cuppa's, and Owen's help.
Thanks again Marti.
Cheers, -T
Finished late. But got theme fast. Some puzzle clues didn't make sense. You caught LTs. 1 down was one. Set Vos was week. Bete noire wtf. But like tight ends. Bring on fridays.
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