Theme: "You Must Be Joking" - A is changed into U in each theme entry.
27A. Flea? : DOGGIE BUG. Doggie bag.
29A. Sign of a barbecuer's inattention? : SMOKING BUN. Vivid clue. Smoking ban. Not in casinos, unfortunately. Sad life in casinos.
48A. Most miles logged in a pickup, say? : TRUCK RECORD. Track record.
64A. Blizzard in Birmingham? : SNOW FLUKE. Snowflake. Never been to Birmingham. Too warm to snow there.
81A. Vessel that inspires ideas? : THINKING CUP. Thinking cap.
99A. Shack made of aluminum wrap? : TIN FOIL HUT. Tin foil hat.
102A. Cowardly lion, once? : YELLOW CUB. Yellow cab. I love the clue.
36D. Prospector's close attachment to his helper? : MULE BONDING. Male bonding.
40D. Reservation for an upper berth? : BUNK DEPOSIT. Bank deposit.
Once
again, Gail started her theme answers in Row 4 rather than the
traditional Row 3. This allowed her to put the two 11's in the Down
slots.
Such a simple and elegant theme. I learned from making my own Sundays that it's hard to achieve Gail's elegance and smoothness. You need to always put solvers in mind when filling the grid.
Across:
1. Item worn diagonally : SASH. I was picturing the one-shoulder T-shirt.
5. Guess : STAB
9. Suffix with techno- : PHOBE
14. Hate the thought of : DREAD
19. Expressive dance : HULA
20. Taylor of "Six Feet Under" : LILI
21. Kind of artery : RENAL
22. Out of practice : RUSTY. My Xi'an dialect is very rusty now. This makes me smile. Xi'an is the capital city of Shaanxi Province.
23. David Cameron's alma mater : ETON
24. "... the __-coloured ink": Shak. : EBON
25. Corkers? : IRISH. Oh, one from Cork.
26. Taper off : ABATE
31. Oz. sextet : TSPs
32. Signs up : JOINS
33. Blowup: Abbr. : ENL (Enlarge)
34. Mutual respect : COMITY. What we have here in our Corner.
37. Action film staples : STUNTS
39. Ever so slightly : A WEE BIT
43. Fundraiser's call list : ALUMS. Boomer's high school is quite aggressive in their fundraising.
44. Geometry subject : PLANE
45. Manner of moving : GAIT
46. 108-card game : UNO
47. Wide margin : MILE
51. "Breaking Bad" Emmy winner Gunn : ANNA. She played Skyler.
52. Calendrical brink : EVE. Is "Calendrical" a word you use?
53. Common product in Super Bowl ads : BEER. And 89. Colorado-based brewery : COORS
54. Fluffy accessory : BOA
55. Brought out : EVOKED
57. Blood work charges : LAB FEES
59. Ones that tip a lot : CANOES. Lovely clue.
62. Hang on the line : AIR-DRY
63. PBS URL ender : ORG
67. Sault __ Marie : STE
68. Enjoy a home-cooked meal : DINE IN. I wonder how often Splynter dines in. I don't think he or Argyle cooks.
71. Garage capacity : ONE CAR
72. Faddish gift that has ranged from kittens to crocodiles : CHIA PET. Never had one. This stuff does not appeal to me.
76. "Day __": 1969 Peter, Paul and Mary hit : IS DONE
77. Motor oil letters : SAE. For Society of Automotive Engineers. I wanted STP.
78. Dull thing to be in : A RUT. And 60D. Every seven days : A WEEK. To me, these two are partials, though clued otherwise.
79. Flowery tribute : ODE
80. Blood line : VEIN
86. Warts and all : AS IS
87. Follower of directions? : ERN. Western.
88. Industry mogul : CZAR. Drug Czar.
90. Singer/songwriter Travis : TRITT
91. Uses Elmer's on once more : RE-GLUES
93. "__ Fideles" : ADESTE
95. Laudable : WORTHY
96. Play the wrong golf ball, say : ERR. Two-stroke penalty in your league also, Gary?
97. Quarters : ABODE
98. First name in architecture : EERO
107. Break down slowly : ERODE
108. Weeper of myth : NIOBE
109. Like Arizona's typical climate : ARID
110. Raid discovery : KILO. As in drug.
111. Tough tissue : SINEW
112. "The Chew" co-host Hall : CARLA. We had her before.
113. Confirmation, e.g. : RITE
114. Peak near Messina : ETNA
115. Nautical poles : SPARS
116. Long-eared equines : ASSES
117. Safe document : DEED
118. Fiscal __ : YEAR
Down:
1. Storage spot : SHED
2. Modern prefix with fill : AUTO. The software constructors use has a Autofill function.
3. Trudge : SLOG
4. Punter's statistic : HANG TIME
5. Yawning, perhaps : SLEEPY
6. 1970 Poitier title role : TIBBS. Mr. Tibbs.
7. Baseball family name : ALOU
8. Microsoft search engine : BING. Yellowrocks' preferred search engine.
9. Cell user : PRISONER. Prison cell.
10. Recluse : HERMIT
11. Subway selection : ONIONS. They have quite a few restaurants in China.
12. Enjoys the sun : BASKS
13. Inclusive school acronym : EL-HI. Just won't go away.
14. Where to find stories on Friday? : DRAGNET. Joe Friday.
15. Debris : RUBBLE
16. Son of Isaac : ESAU
17. Mail-routing abbr. : ATTN
18. Salon supply : DYE
28. Followers' suffix : ISTs
30. Fresh bean sprout? : NEW IDEA. Another nice clue.
32. Basement buildup : JUNK. Ours is full of worthless baseball cards.
34. Caravan mount : CAMEL
35. Three-time A.L. batting champ Tony : OLIVA.
Here he is with Boomer. TTP mentioned how nice Ernie Banks was the
other day. Tony Oliva is the same. Rod Carew is rather distant.
37. Speak indistinctly : SLUR
38. Washington's Sea-__ Airport : TAC
39. Rhine tributary : AAR
41. Word with circle or city : INNER
42. Apple polisher : TOADY
44. Defensive hoops tactic : PRESS
45. "__ your father" : GO ASK
48. Driving need? : TEE
49. Virus in 2014 news : EBOLA. We have an Ebola Czar!
50. __ d'Alene : COEUR
51. Angiogram image : AORTA
53. Initiate : BEGIN
56. Call on : VISIT
58. Carefully controlled refrigerant : FREON
59. First name in late-night : CONAN. Not into this guy.
61. Bears' org. : NFC
65. Respectful reply : NO SIR
66. Linen shades : ECRUS
68. Salvage crew member : DIVER. I meet lots of interesting people in our flea markets. One of the coin dealers is a diver/treasure hunter.
69. Rhone tributary : ISERE
70. Los Angeles-based ISP : NETZERO. I did not know they're based in LA.
73. Military drill syllable : HUP
74. Author Wharton : EDITH
75. In a mood : TESTY
78. Farm fraction : ACRE
82. Is down with : HAS. And 85. Came down with : GOT
83. Pitchers may hold them : ICED TEAS. Of course I was thinking of baseball! Iced Lemon Tea (with honey) is the default summer drink in Hong Kong.
84. Bloodhound asset : NOSE
86. Scrolling convenience : ARROW KEY
88. Dating concerns for teens : CURFEWS. Our college dorm lady closed the door at 11:00pm sharp. Crazy days.
90. Turf maintenance brand : TORO
92. Library, e.g. : LENDER. IRS does not send libraries the tax form instruction booklets this year. Made Boomer mad. Do you all e-file?
93. Detests : ABHORS
94. Bar order : DOUBLE
95. Like many metal joints : WELDED
97. Rap sheet entry : ALIAS
98. Type smaller than pica : ELITE
99. Fool, with "up" : TRIP
100. Macbeth's burial site : IONA
101. Worshipper of the sun god Inti : INCA. I normally spell "worshiper" with one P. You?
102. School attachment? : YARD. I think I put in MARM first.
103. Lackawanna's lake : ERIE
104. Make mention of : CITE
105. Prismatic bone : ULNA
106. Animal that doesn't sound very interesting : BOAR. Ha ha.
107. Season opener? : ESS. So is PRE.
C.C.
40 comments:
This ain't about Stu in Peru.
This limerick is instead about YOU.
It's about a cross word,
Which could maybe go down ward,
And how do you do what you do!
You puzzle what to do with the puzzle.
It's exercise for your brain muscle.
You must suss all solutions,
Reck misdirecting allusions,
Subdue it, or at least give it a tussle!
You strain till your forehead feels damp.
Your brain says it's getting a cramp.
But you persevere,
Let me give you a cheer!
When you finish, you are really a champ!
Compared to yesterday's offering, this was very pleasant indeed. Not a speed run but satisfying once things were sorted out. (I find it hard to compare this to a regular Sunday puzzle, but it seems average/good.) Took me about an hour, even without my THINKINGCUP, or cap, since it's the middle of the night, essentially. Just the right amount of misdirection, more or less. The last area filled in was around NETZERO and CZAR. Naturally, I had TSAR at first. A STAB that missed. In fact, I had a lot of missed stabs, most quickly corrected.
RUT was clued different from one I did myself recently... I came up with "Oregon Trail trail." And why I even mention that, dunno, sorry. Lame.
Never heard of Travis Tritt, or Tritt Travis, nor CARLA Hall. So thanks, Gail Grabowski, this was not a big learning day, and after yesterday, I wasn't in the mood. Thanks, CC, very nice work. Happy February. Go, whichever team you root for, I'm not a big fan of the Stupor Bowl. I do like Pete Carroll, though. He's got star quality.
Morning, all!
It took a little while to figure out the theme, since I mistakenly thought that SMOKING BUN was punning off SMOKING GUN instead of SMOKING BAN. But once I got that sorted out the rest of the theme answers (as well as the rest of the puzzle) went down very smoothly.
A few unknown/unremembered names sprinkled throughout, such as LILI, ANNA and CARLA, but nothing the perps couldn't take care of. All in all, a very quick and pleasant solve.
Another foot (or so) of snow predicted over the next couple of days, together with temps in the -5 to -10 range (and that's without the wind chill). And this Winter started off so well...
Rabbit! Rabbit!
If there was a way to go wrong on this one, I seemed to find it. I was looking at SALAMI in the Deli until I decided they were BREADS and then they morphed into ONIONS. My CHASES became STUNTS. Down at the bottom PRIOR and ARABS turned to ALIAS and ASSES. I plunked down SAE immediately, expecting to have to change it to STP. Nope.
C.C. why would Boomer's high school need donations? Isn't it tax-funded? And I put two Ps in worshipped -- otherwise the I would be long.
[Commercial ahead] Tax season is underway -- that'll keep me busy two mornings a week through April 15th. If you need/want assistance filing your taxes, you can go here to find an AARP Tax-Aide site near you. Our site has no age or income restrictions, and you don't have to be an AARP member. Best of all, it's free. Trained volunteers will prepare and e-file your taxes and provide you with a paper copy for your files. [End of commercial].
The Week in Review:
M 5:26 T 6:15 W 5:54 T 7:31 F 23:35 S 14:02 S 26:07
After two previous weeks with a couple of FIWs and a DNF I was hoping to get back on track. Marti's Thursday puzzle was fun. I "literally" wasn't thrilled with Friday's puzzle but I eventually figured out the backwards theme (I think it was GUARANTEE that lead to YONEM). The real anomaly of the week was Saturday's puzzle. It started out looking as daunting as every other Saturday puzzle but I must have somehow switched on auto-pilot. So with a perp perp here and a WAG WAG there, I heard the "TaDa!" and looked the timer. I can't explain it. I guess the little guy in my head knows more than he's telling me.
Today's puzzle required what has come to be a regular feature at the end of the week: a typo-hunt. Six minutes later I changed HULU (which is how I watch TV) to HULA and I was done.
The mid-Hudson valley dodged last week's nor'easter but it looks like we're not going to avoid the foot of snow that's headed our way. At least it's no longer January.
See y'all next weekend.
This puzzle started easily in the NW and the theme came early with DOGGIE BUG, even though LILI and EBON were solved by crosses. 9A,21Aa, & 25A were tricky, with 'corkers' being a great clue. If you look up technoPHOBE in the dictionary, my wife's picture is is next to it.
MULE BONDAGE fit nicely but I knew it would be something else, but maybe not since this puzzle also had 'mounting' a CAMEL. But I filled in BONDING and moved on.
'Just the facts maam', as Sgt Friday said every week. We had ASSES, a MULE, only missing a mare. And I just finished a case of COORS BEER that my son gave me for Christmas.
The only other waffle on this puzzle was CURLERS for CURFEWS and SINEW took care of that one.
Several of you have said it takes a while to get back in the puzzle groove after a hiatus. Hand up for that. I was rusty these past few days. Today's puzzle gave me my confidence back and I finished in good time.
I had BLIZZARD FLUKE but didn't understand it until just before I went to the blog. The "blizzard that wasn't" was a fluke here in the northeast last week.
Words ending in a single consonant after an unstressed vowel usually double the last letter before adding ED or ING. P is often an exception: developed, gossiped, galloped. But not all P's are exceptions. Some follow the rule above: handicapped, kidnapped.
The dictionary gives both spellings, worshipped and worshiped. My spell check prefers the single P. I guess rules are meant to be broken.
My PT is coming soon. I'd better stop. I am now doing the stairs and navigating the house without even a cane. My biggest problem is endurance. I tire very easily and cannot do more than 10 x2 reps of most things. After exercising I lie down for a few hours.
YR: Ask Barry G. about the "blizzard that wasn't" in the northeast.
A reasonably challenging solve today. Never really grasped the consistency of the theme because I also was fooled by Smoking gun/bun. But that wasn't a major hindrance since it was obvious they'd all be punny. It was a nice break from yesterday's toughie.
Speaking of snow flukes, we were predicted to get maybe 2" tops. Well, we've had 6-7", then 30-40mph winds since 5:00 AM. Lost power for a couple of hours and have at least some 2' drifts. No idea how deep they are out near the road since I haven't plowed the lane yet. It could be a long day.
Good morning!
C.C., I couldn't even begin to even try speaking Chinese, let alone speak it with a dialect. The video you linked all sounded the same to me!
As far as the puzzle goes, WBS. Especially the SMOKING GUN part! I finally figured it out about halfway down the puzzle, and was able to go back and fill in the blank spots.
One little letter gave me some fits, though. For the "Military drill syllable," I entered HUt. So what the h*** is a THINKING CUt? Premeditated paper dolls? That was another one I had to go back and change after "getting" the theme.
Now I have to get going and prepare for our Super Bowl feast with friends: Boston baked beans, Boston clam chowder and lobstahs. And for dessert? Boston cream pie, of course!
Greetings, friends!
This is amazing! Only four names appeared in the puzzle today. Congratulations, Gail! I consider that an astounding feat.
I liked the theme, too. Very clever. SMOKINGBUN and the whole NE was my first solve. The NW was last.
At the moment Arizona is not very ARID. Thick fog came in the heels of all the rain we've had but it should dry up by this afternoon for the (love it, Rainman)Stupor Bowl.
My sisters and I are going to a movie. We won't have trouble finding seats.
Have a super Sunday, everyone!
Good Morning:
As I've mentioned before, I am not overly fond of Sunday puzzles, mostly because some are too gimmicky and somewhat tedious due to the size. However, I did enjoy Gail's clever offering today.
I caught the theme early on and that helped with the solve. But I went astray several times: lulls/Irish, hut/hup, STP/SAE, cars/beer, souses/canoes, and lei/ode. Perps corrected all of these quickly so I got the TADA w/o help, after all.
Thanks, Gail, for a happy Sunday experience and thanks, CC, for guiding us with your clear and concise expo.
As others have mentioned, more snow is on the way with frigid temps, to boot. Of course, this would be more tolerable if I was part of Miss Marti's fancy feast! I don't think I'd be welcome, though, as I'm rooting for the Seahawks!
Have a great day.
That should be lulus not lulls. (Auto-correct is a double-edged sword.)
Can't pull up the xword on the LA Games page...Anyone else?
Yeah, we pushed our putative blizzard farther north and east where it clobbered people like Barry. Here on Tuesday, schools, businesses, transportation, etc. all shut down full scale and needlessly. Alan didn't have work. Instead the group home went for an afternoon outing.They had a ball. Of course he will have a lighter pay check.
.
I suspect most of you went faster than I did but nobody had more fun. It’s no SNOW FLUKE here, we have a raging blizzard, so what’s a guy gonna do? Longest SLOG was in the geometric center, HONOR your father, ECOLI, misspelling COUER didn’t help
Musings
-SMOKING BANS are great, but casinos want you inside
-There’s been no TIN FOIL since WWII, but the name stuck
-Is a TECHNOPHOBE simply afraid of trying to learn?
-LILI(Y) – see my avatar
-Oh, OZ. means ounces.
-Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman called the NFL hypocrites for taking millions from BEER companies in ads but not allowing a player to be in a BEER ad
-If I were not married to a lovely woman, these would be my DINE-IN choices
-Our town has many of these narrow, ONE CAR, post WWII garages
-My golf colleagues are congenial until you break a rule
-A 40 yd punt with good HANG TIME beats a 55 yd line drive returnable punt
-ATRAIN was ONIONS
-Poor signage made it tough to find our bus at SEA-TAC. Lower numbered stops are to the right not the left when you leave baggage claim
-This coach got suspended when he beat another team 161 – 2. He kept the PRESS on when he was up by 80.
-Nose works for Lily too. Open a can while she is two rooms away and…
Two "P"s in worshipper for me. It's probably a British English thing.
Very slick puzzle from Gail, I very much enjoyed it.
My Saturday and Sunday puzzle-solving is part of my regular weekend triple-play: I get up early to watch English Premier League soccer (the early game kicks off at 5:30am Pacific), I spend a few hours cooking, and during simmer, bake or roasting times I do the crosswords. By the time the matches are finished, hopefully a) the puzzles are done, b) I've not set fire to the kitchen c) Chelsea won and d) it's time for a glass of wine down at my local Italian restaurant.
Salute!
In case anyone is interested, The Puppy Bowl is on the Animal Planet channel at 3:00. Our area has a "player" named Maddux.
Our forecast is for a foot of snow tonight into tomorrow. Ack!
Nice challenging puzzle, thanks to Gail who doesn't disappoint and CCs write-up!
I tend to write worshipper-- but I think I had phonics drilled into me- so worshiper looks like the "i" sound should be long and therefore sounds wrong in my head. But I have seen it both ways.
I really enjoyed some of the entrys from yesterdays constructer Ned White's blog. The entries about Henry and Margaret were especially fun.
The phonics lessons drilled into us as kids were not always accurate. Neither were some of the math concepts we "learned." I relearned a good bit after leaving school even though we had a great performing school district before we moved when I was in the 10th grade. I can't say as much for the high school I attended.
Good afternoon everyone.
Good puzzle; not too hard today. Usually enjoy Gail's puzzles. No look-ups were needed.
30d - NEW IDEA - Cleverly clued like C.C. said. Could have been clued as a brand of farm machinery specializing in manure wagons and hay rakes/tedders.
Worshipped - my spell checker allows 1 or 2 p's. Normally the consonant would be doubled to preserve the sound, but English is inconsistent on that; unlike Dutch which is very consistent.
We do say tripper, shipper, and dipper, so I guess I favor the 2 p's.
Greetings!
Amusing puzzle, Gail! Great expo, CC! Cute theme.
I, too, thought SMOKING GUN at first. Had Stp at first also.
Otherwise, smooth sailing.
Dinner guests last night fed Millie several BBQ rib bones, against my wishes. She is still barfing them up. They came over to clean up the mess. Even made me breakfast (care-giver off today due to persistent headache).
Just finished Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer Fleming. Couldn't put it down until the very last chapter. Like her characters.
Cheers!
d-o: Your comment about ARABS > ASSES made me smile enough I had to go back and read how the clue was worded before I realized you were talking about horses!
Marti: Premeditated paper dolls gave me a hearty chuckle! HUT & GUN-BAN both got me, too.
Worshipper usually, but I ran into the orthographic dichotomy when writing a poem a couple years ago, so I'm mellow. If you want a quibble, when do you use GRAY and when do you use GREY? E.g. gray wolf vs. earl grey tea.
Just lurking today said...
Gray is a color, grey is a colour...
I love that quote I found somewhere once... C, -T
D-Otto...I have used AARP for my taxes for years now. Great service! I even keep up my membership in AARP just for that, and then discovered this year that it is free to anybody! Has it always been that way?
Swamp Cat- If you have any tax issues other than one W-2, DO NOT USE AARP for your taxes. I repeat, DO NOT USE AARP. Unless they are retired enrolled agents or CPAs ( and they are not) I wouldn't trust any of their work. My mother-in-law decided to get cheap a few years ago and it almost cost her over $20,000 because of the AARP person's amateur ignorance of tax laws. It cost her over $1,000 to get it fixed. All due to the fact that she didn't like having to pay her regular tax guy $150.
You get what you pay for.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, CC, for a fine review.
Well, my first puzzle in a few days. Have been in Reston, VA, and very busy. Now on the train heading back to Chicago. Glad I took the train, there are no planes flying.
Hey, my lake made it again, ERIE, for 103D.
Liked this puzzle and the theme. Was pretty easy.
I am a 2 P person on most words like worshipper.
I use Turbo Tax. Works well, even though their prices are up.
The Colorado based brewery, Coors, is no longer independent. I believe tied to Miller. Besides that, their beer is not very good.
Finally, CZAR instead of TSAR.
I am leaving Cumberland, MD, now, and expect to lose my signal. See you tomorrow from Chicago.
Abejo
( )
Big Easy, I get what you're saying, and might even agree if you were talking about the two bigs in tax prep in the country. I use a CPA for my tax prep work, and consider the affordable fee an absolute bargain.
However, if you don't get that your are mounting an assault on one of this blogs most respected members, I'd advise a reassessment. Maybe even an apology. Good grief!
Lighten up Joe. You have been guilty of more rants against respected contributors to this blog than I care to count. And NEVER once apologized.
Big Easy, Ave Joe, and D-O...gee! I didn't mean to start a war!
Big Easy, since I retired I have no business-related tax events, and my personal stuff is pretty straight forward. (TMI??). I do most of the prep myself. AARP has done a good job for me, and I have found them to be very knowledgable.
I agree that when my business tax info was complicated I was glad to pay a CPA.
Hi all
Wonderful puzzle and write-up. Thank you ladies !
"Apple polisher" amuses me. I had never heard that phrase until I started doing crosswords a few years ago.
My luckiest wag was the intersecting A at IONA and SPARS.
I'll bet I read "Where to find stores on Friday?" at least 10 times. Ergo (thus), the northeast was unnecessarily slow to fill.
Also had no idea on what would prove to be NIOBE. Had all but the N and was still clueless. Then rethought the INCA clue, which I didn't pause to think about on the first pass.
Abejo, we've had probably 12 to 14 and it's still snowing. Supposed to continue until about midnight.
Travis Tritt spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E
What a great first half. Back to the game.
ERIE - We have had clues involving ERIE on a regular basis. No wonder, it is 75% vowels.
In the 1800's, a German poet, Theodor Fontane, wrote a poem about a ship, the "Schwalbe"(swallow) in the Detroit-Buffalo trade which catches fire in a storm. The helmsman, John Maynard, stays at his post until the ship is beached. Here is the English translation in 2 parts:
John Maynard.
John Maynard!
"Who is John Maynard?"
"John Maynard was our helmsman true.
To solid land he carried us through.
He saved our lives, our noble king.
He died for us; his praise we sing.
John Maynard."
* * *
From Detroit to Buffalo
As mist sprays her bow like flakes of snow
Over Lake Erie the "Swallow" takes flight
And every heart is joyful and light.
In the dusk, the passengers all
Can already make out the dim landfall,
And approaching John Maynard, their hearts free of care,
They ask of their helmsman, "Are we almost there?"
He looks around and toward the shore:
"Still 30 minutes.... a half hour more."
All hearts are happy, all hearts are light --
Then out of the hold comes a cry of fright.
"Fire!" it is, that terrified shout.
From the cabin and hatch black smoke pours out.
Smoke, then fire and flames aglow,
And still 20 minutes to Buffalo.
And the passengers, in a colorful crowd
Stand pressed together on the bow.
Up on the bow there is still air and light
But the smoke at the helm forms a thick, dark night.
"Where are we? Where?" the men must know,
And still 15 minutes to Buffalo. --
The wind grows strong but the smoke cloud stays.
To the helm the captain turns his gaze.
The helmsman is hidden by the raging fires
But through the bullhorn the captain enquires:
"Still there, John Maynard?"
"Yes, sir. I am."
"Onto the beach! Into the surf!"
"Yes, sir. That's my plan."
And the people cry: "Hold on! Hallo!"
And still 10 minutes to Buffalo.--
"Still there, John Maynard?" And the answer is clear,
Though with dying voice: "Yes, sir. I'm still here."
And in the surf, rocks, obstacles afloat,
Into their midst he plunges the boat.
To be saved, it's the only way to go.
Salvation: the shores of Buffalo!
* * *
The fire is out. The ship's run aground.
All are saved. Only one can't be found.
* * *
The bells ring out, their notes all fly
From churches and chapels to heaven on high.
The city is still but for funeral bells.
For one service only the sad sound swells:
In the procession ten thousand go by,
Or maybe more -- and not one dry eye.
With layers of flowers the grave they soften.
Under more flowers they bury the coffin.
With golden script in marble stone
The city has its tribute shown:
"Here lies John Maynard! In smoke and fire
He held fast to the wheel; he did not tire.
He saved our lives, our noble king.
He died for us; his praise we sing.
John Maynard!"
Oh,my, Spitz!! I had never heard ( read ) the whole thing, not a dry eye here, I'm sure. This is more poignant the the Edmond Fitzgerald.
And speaking of poetry, Owen, you have been outdoing yourself lately!! I haven't posted every day, but I have read...and admired...your daily offerings.
Why on earth is an ad allowed on this blog?
Interesting. In the few seconds it took to write my rant, the ad disappeared!
Sallie - it went away so fast I couldn't apply for the $1bn loan for my start-up :-) C, -T
Way to go, Pats! w00t!!!
AnonT, I missed a chance to get a big loan I see. Can you spare a few Gs?
In hindsight, what a terrible decision by the brains of the Seahawks. Even I would have thought about running it in as the first option. "The saddest words..."
I still have that ad in my trash bin. I can send it to you if you want it.
Post a Comment