Theme: Getting Pranked, or as the plowman said to the ox team "The yoke's on you".
A thoroughly date-appropriate theme from Daniel this morning. A whole slew of "gotchas" come together in this puzzle.
17A. "Gotcha!" : I'M KIDDING
24A. "Gotcha!" : MADE YOU LOOK. Made me look for a theme, that's for sure. See my "note" on 51A.
35A. "Gotcha!" : THE JOKE'S ON YOU
51A. Significance of this puzzle's circled letters (gotcha again!) : THERE IS NONE. I had "TO PAR" for 53D at first which made this entry read "THERE IS TONE". You'd all have gotten a good chuckle out of me trying to sing "IDDI DE-YO KES-O" and crack the "tonal" theme.
60A. Today's "Gotcha!" : APRIL FOOL
Nicely done! Steve here being fooled for a while until I corrected my "TO PAR" misstep and stopped singing nonsense. In France it is the custom today to try to stick fish-shaped cutouts on an unknowing person's back. The victim is then teased as being "un poisson d'Avril" - "an April fish". Whatever floats your bateau, I guess, they're an odd lot, those French.
Let's see what else we've got going on here.
Across
1. "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" rhyme scheme : AABA By the aptly-named Robert Frost.
5. Govt. org. with a "Safety Compass" blog : N.T.S.B. The National Transportation Safety Board. The "Safety" in the clue gave it away for me.
9. Under-the-tree pile : GIFTS. I wanted to cram "LEAVES" in here first.
14. Silly smile, maybe : GRIN
15. Snack with a white center : OREO. Crops up a lot in crosswords, but it's such a handy collection of vowels.
16. Garnish : ADORN
19. Brawl : MELEE
20. Menlo Park initials : T.A.E. Thomas Alva Edison. Filed 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications.
21. Those, in Oaxaca : ESAS
22. __ mater : ALMA
23. Gear on a tour bus : AMP. I have Marshall and Vox practice amplifiers. Here they are with my guitars.
28. They blow off steam : TEAPOTS. Peculiar clue, I have to say. A kettle would blow off steam, no?
30. Bugged by a bug : ILL
31. Like a twisted remark : WRY
32. Within: Pref. : ENTO
33. Hive-dwelling : APIAN. Do Roman bees travel on the Apian Way?
41. College declaration : MAJOR
42. Feminizing finish : ENNE. Hand up for "ETTE" first.
44. Icarus, to Daedalus : SON
47. Snooze : NAP
48. Add to a scrapbook, say : PASTE IN
54. Map rtes. : STS. Streets, I s'pose. Not an abbreviation I'm familiar with, I have to confess.
55. Drop-off point : EDGE
56. Charlie's fourth wife : OONA. And his granddaughter to keep the name current.
57. 201, on a monument : CCI. That's a heck of an old monument.
58. Carillon sounds : PEALS
62. Cookout spot : PATIO
63. Willing : GAME
64. "A __ for Emily": Faulkner short story : ROSE
65. Not in a slump? : ERECT
66. "Iliad" deity : ARES. We've seen him a few times recently.
67. Stops equivocating : OPTS
Down
1. Stir up : AGITATE
2. Military equipment : ARMAMENT
3. Designated park trail : BIKE PATH
4. DiFranco of folk rock : ANI. I went to link one of her songs but I dozed off trying to pick one out. Not my cup of tea, I guess.
5. Greets wordlessly : NODS AT
6. Three-note chords : TRIADS
7. Have a feeling : SENSE
8. Peat source : BOG
9. Leg, to a film noir detective : GAM. Cue "LA Confidential", appropriately.
10. Model of perfection : IDEAL. AKA Kim Basinger in "LA Confidential", above.
11. Trail : FOLLOW
12. Seismometer detection : TREMOR. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods. More than 20 in the last week alone in LA County according to the local seismic survey.
13. Duplicitous : SNEAKY
18. Self-produced recording, perhaps : DEMO
25. Slangy golf term for nervousness while putting, with "the" : YIPS. Former world #1 and two-times Masters champion Bernhard Langer suffered terribly from this affliction in mid-career. He's now one of the best putters on the senior tour.
26. Everything-in-the-pot stew : OLIO
27. __ Bator : ULAN. Mongolian home of this airport. I have a friend who quit the British secret service (MI5) because she was going to be posted here. She wanted Milan, Paris or New York. Outer Mongolia? Not so much.
29. Mary Oliver output : POEM
33. __ Lingus : AER. They fly to Ulan Bator from Dublin. Who'd a thunk it?
34. Babushka's denial : NYET
36. Actress Kaczmarek with seven Emmy nominations : JANE. Crosses all the way. Apparently "best known for playing Lois on 'Malcolm in the Middle'".
37. Ventura County resort city : OJAI. "City" is a little grand for this place, population around 7,000. Chain stores are banned here by city ordinance.
38. Keystone force : KOPS. Most of their location shoots were a couple of miles down the street from me in Silverlake.
39. Kid-sized ice cream order : ONE SCOOP
40. Price per can, e.g. : UNIT COST
43. Stores in a farm tower : ENSILES. Total WAG for me here with the first "S". I wasn't entirely convinced by "STS" so I hesitated. According to the interwebs:
44. Vast grassland : STEPPE
45. "Goodness gracious" : OH DEAR
46. Cancel out : NEGATE
48. "I have the worst luck!" : POOR ME
49. John Denver's "__ Song" : ANNIE'S. I'll spare you the link.
50. Corporate emblem : SEAL. Another odd clue, IMHO
52. Dig find : RELIC
53. Wall Street phrase : NO PAR. As I mentioned at the top, I had TO PAR first. I've heard of AT PAR too, but never NO PAR until today (well except for my golf game, I've had NO PAR many times over!). I discover that NO PAR means that a share of a stock has no redemption value.
59. Pink-elephant spotter, stereotypically : SOT. Did Dumbo get drunk? I can't remember the context of this in the movie.
60. Ottoman bigwig : AGA
61. To and __ : FRO
That's my lot. A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month and no returns! Here's the grid.
Steve
A thoroughly date-appropriate theme from Daniel this morning. A whole slew of "gotchas" come together in this puzzle.
17A. "Gotcha!" : I'M KIDDING
24A. "Gotcha!" : MADE YOU LOOK. Made me look for a theme, that's for sure. See my "note" on 51A.
35A. "Gotcha!" : THE JOKE'S ON YOU
51A. Significance of this puzzle's circled letters (gotcha again!) : THERE IS NONE. I had "TO PAR" for 53D at first which made this entry read "THERE IS TONE". You'd all have gotten a good chuckle out of me trying to sing "IDDI DE-YO KES-O" and crack the "tonal" theme.
60A. Today's "Gotcha!" : APRIL FOOL
Nicely done! Steve here being fooled for a while until I corrected my "TO PAR" misstep and stopped singing nonsense. In France it is the custom today to try to stick fish-shaped cutouts on an unknowing person's back. The victim is then teased as being "un poisson d'Avril" - "an April fish". Whatever floats your bateau, I guess, they're an odd lot, those French.
Let's see what else we've got going on here.
Across
1. "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" rhyme scheme : AABA By the aptly-named Robert Frost.
5. Govt. org. with a "Safety Compass" blog : N.T.S.B. The National Transportation Safety Board. The "Safety" in the clue gave it away for me.
9. Under-the-tree pile : GIFTS. I wanted to cram "LEAVES" in here first.
14. Silly smile, maybe : GRIN
15. Snack with a white center : OREO. Crops up a lot in crosswords, but it's such a handy collection of vowels.
16. Garnish : ADORN
19. Brawl : MELEE
20. Menlo Park initials : T.A.E. Thomas Alva Edison. Filed 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications.
21. Those, in Oaxaca : ESAS
22. __ mater : ALMA
23. Gear on a tour bus : AMP. I have Marshall and Vox practice amplifiers. Here they are with my guitars.
28. They blow off steam : TEAPOTS. Peculiar clue, I have to say. A kettle would blow off steam, no?
30. Bugged by a bug : ILL
31. Like a twisted remark : WRY
32. Within: Pref. : ENTO
33. Hive-dwelling : APIAN. Do Roman bees travel on the Apian Way?
41. College declaration : MAJOR
42. Feminizing finish : ENNE. Hand up for "ETTE" first.
44. Icarus, to Daedalus : SON
47. Snooze : NAP
48. Add to a scrapbook, say : PASTE IN
54. Map rtes. : STS. Streets, I s'pose. Not an abbreviation I'm familiar with, I have to confess.
55. Drop-off point : EDGE
56. Charlie's fourth wife : OONA. And his granddaughter to keep the name current.
57. 201, on a monument : CCI. That's a heck of an old monument.
58. Carillon sounds : PEALS
62. Cookout spot : PATIO
63. Willing : GAME
64. "A __ for Emily": Faulkner short story : ROSE
65. Not in a slump? : ERECT
66. "Iliad" deity : ARES. We've seen him a few times recently.
67. Stops equivocating : OPTS
Down
1. Stir up : AGITATE
2. Military equipment : ARMAMENT
3. Designated park trail : BIKE PATH
4. DiFranco of folk rock : ANI. I went to link one of her songs but I dozed off trying to pick one out. Not my cup of tea, I guess.
5. Greets wordlessly : NODS AT
6. Three-note chords : TRIADS
7. Have a feeling : SENSE
8. Peat source : BOG
9. Leg, to a film noir detective : GAM. Cue "LA Confidential", appropriately.
10. Model of perfection : IDEAL. AKA Kim Basinger in "LA Confidential", above.
11. Trail : FOLLOW
12. Seismometer detection : TREMOR. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods. More than 20 in the last week alone in LA County according to the local seismic survey.
13. Duplicitous : SNEAKY
18. Self-produced recording, perhaps : DEMO
25. Slangy golf term for nervousness while putting, with "the" : YIPS. Former world #1 and two-times Masters champion Bernhard Langer suffered terribly from this affliction in mid-career. He's now one of the best putters on the senior tour.
26. Everything-in-the-pot stew : OLIO
27. __ Bator : ULAN. Mongolian home of this airport. I have a friend who quit the British secret service (MI5) because she was going to be posted here. She wanted Milan, Paris or New York. Outer Mongolia? Not so much.
29. Mary Oliver output : POEM
33. __ Lingus : AER. They fly to Ulan Bator from Dublin. Who'd a thunk it?
34. Babushka's denial : NYET
36. Actress Kaczmarek with seven Emmy nominations : JANE. Crosses all the way. Apparently "best known for playing Lois on 'Malcolm in the Middle'".
37. Ventura County resort city : OJAI. "City" is a little grand for this place, population around 7,000. Chain stores are banned here by city ordinance.
38. Keystone force : KOPS. Most of their location shoots were a couple of miles down the street from me in Silverlake.
39. Kid-sized ice cream order : ONE SCOOP
40. Price per can, e.g. : UNIT COST
43. Stores in a farm tower : ENSILES. Total WAG for me here with the first "S". I wasn't entirely convinced by "STS" so I hesitated. According to the interwebs:
en·sile
inˈsīl,enˈsīl/
verb
3rd person present: ensiles
put (grass or another crop) into a silo in order to preserve it as silage44. Vast grassland : STEPPE
45. "Goodness gracious" : OH DEAR
46. Cancel out : NEGATE
48. "I have the worst luck!" : POOR ME
49. John Denver's "__ Song" : ANNIE'S. I'll spare you the link.
50. Corporate emblem : SEAL. Another odd clue, IMHO
52. Dig find : RELIC
53. Wall Street phrase : NO PAR. As I mentioned at the top, I had TO PAR first. I've heard of AT PAR too, but never NO PAR until today (well except for my golf game, I've had NO PAR many times over!). I discover that NO PAR means that a share of a stock has no redemption value.
59. Pink-elephant spotter, stereotypically : SOT. Did Dumbo get drunk? I can't remember the context of this in the movie.
60. Ottoman bigwig : AGA
61. To and __ : FRO
That's my lot. A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month and no returns! Here's the grid.
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Please click here for a great puzzle Marcia Brott & George Barany created to celebrate the birthday of a real Minnesota Nice. If you download puz, please read Notepad after you're done. Click on View, then Notepad.
Rabbit Rabbit
ReplyDeleteMorning, all!
ReplyDeleteReally fun puzzle today. I've always been a sucker for puns, so this one was right up my alley, athough I was surprised at how risque some of the theme answers ended up being.
As usual, I struggled with some of the proper nouns. Didn't know MARCHELLI and needed all the perps for that one. ISADORA was also unknown (as clued).
I like most of the tricky clues today as well. I needed all the perps to get TAPER and had an authentic LOL moment when I finally figured it out.
Barry, you've been at the eggnog again, haven't you?
ReplyDelete:-)
Rabbit rabbit, Easter rabbit
ReplyDeleteBarry, that's not our puzzle.
ReplyDeleteYes white rabbit, white rabbit and happy April Fool's day. I have finally reached the time in life where pranks are not entertaining, but I really enjoyed this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteBG' s April fool write should give some pause, but not in a slump:ERECT was just tricky enough as baseball is back, do not recall Mary Oliver and ENSILE makes sense in retrospect but took a while.
What do we think of Richard Branson pranking Branson, Missouri,
I think To Par needs an up, but every stock certificate has either a par value or NO PAR printed on its face.
Welcome to the cruelest month, thanks Steve and Daniel.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. I just loved this April Fool's Day puzzle. I was hoping to have a special puzzle for today.
ReplyDeleteVery funny, Barry! I love your Fool's Day comments!
Hand up for wanting -Ette before -ENNE.
I also wanted Able before GAME for Willing.
Rabbit, Rabbit!
QOD: Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~ Milan Kundera (Apr. 1, 1929)
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteStarted right off with ABBA, OSHA and MULCH. What a mess I made! Also hand up for ETTE and AT PAR. But it all came out in the wash -- instead of a red face, I've got pink underwear. I never noticed that the circled letters didn't mean anything, so the joke wasn't on me.
In my ute the silos were filled with chopped corn stalks. The silage got pretty "ripe" before spring arrived. Probably caused some tipsy cows, and may have been the source of the expression "cow tipping."
Good morning. I was expecting an April Fool's puzzle today and was not surprised by this one (or Christmas, 4th of July, Thanksgiving puzzles either). I started slowly knowing 1A must start with 'A' and put OSHA instead of NTSB complicated by NODS TO instead of NODS AT.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the fills were easy with the only write-over being ENNE for ETTE. 44A was either DAD or SON; 32A INDO or ENTO. JANE Kacmarek and ROSE were perps.
Bernhard Langer cured his YIPS by switching to the long putter, which has now been banned by the USGA.
That was great, Barry!
ReplyDeleteI missed the last joke (51A) because I did the puzzle at the Yahoo site, which doesn't "do" ADORNments like circled letters.
Growing up in MA, we read a lot of Frost, and I can still recite most of "Stopping By Woods..." and "The Road Not Taken". The power of memorization at an early age. Not so much Faulkner though, so ROSE came from perps.
Happy AFD, all! May you keep the fish off your back.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteWho fooled the rabbit?
Quite a good take on the concept.
SW corner slowed me down a lot, until I sussed THERE IS NONE.
Here's today's theme song - difficult arrangement we'll be performing in three weeks.
Don't be put off by the first 30 seconds. it gets really good.
Cool regards!
JzB
A very enjoyable puzzle and expo. Having the dead tree version, I tried hard to get the circles to make sense, but gave up after two. Fun little harmless prank. Well done.
ReplyDeleteFor 14a silly smile I really wanted to cram in Illegal, but it just wouldn't fit. As for your Dumbo inquiry, Steve, this also applies.
Just love that Dudley got got! HeeHeeHee.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteTHERE IS NONE? Really? Good grief! Mother Goose! Whatever were they thinking? No fr'k'n way!
Good GOTCHA there. One time it paid not to wallow over the circles. Got the whole shootin' match unaided. Just a couple strikethroughs; had logo before SEAL, and like Steve mentioned, had at par before NO PAR.
Nice slide into April, Daniel. Thank you.
My only rewrite today was ESOS/ESAS. Otherwise quite a few WAGS and perps needed, but despite ignorance everywhere, I got it all and sussed the theme midstream.
ReplyDeleteMay you who are around people today not fall prey to the jokes. In Oz the practice was only ever to be carried out in the morning. Anyone attempting to fool you after noon had the joke on them. I like that better than being vulnerable all day.
WBS!
ReplyDeleteActually, I also thought some of the answers were risque. & then,,, wait, what?
Dang it Barry...
I really enjoyed this puzzle, (except for ensiles) spellchecker & I are in agreement on that one.
I did make one mistake, I had 3D HikePath. I inked Hike & waited, and had no idea what to do with 1A, so I left it...
There is just one thing I want to know, did everyone else experience the impossible circle jumble only to find "there is none" to be the last to fall?
How did Daniel Nierenberg get me to fill that line in last?
I am going to be picking at those perps all day....
When the HipHop artist was asked how much Benadryl he had given his noticeably drowsy child, he replied, "KIDDIE DOSE, YO."
ReplyDeleteHappy cruelest month, Steve and Daniel, and thank you for a great day! Yesterday's puzzle was easy but the theme left me cold.
ReplyDeleteToday's theme was a hoot! I laughed out loud at 51A! But I stumbled over some of the fil. Never heard of Ulan, and is Ojai really a word/place? Even perps couldn't help me.
Just proves "hard" doesn't mean I don't love the puzzle.
Har, har.... fun April Fool's puzzle that was very enjoyable. Figured APRILFOOL would go in somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daniel, for not tricking me on the circles. Got the THEREISNONE before looking too hard at the circles.
Steve, nice write-up.
Pinch Pinch
ReplyDeleteSteve: Excellent write-up and links. Good Job !!!
Like seeing APRIL FOOL in the grid ... was that a CSO to a certain someone???
As a SOT I can attest that not all of us see Pink Elephants ... here in Tampa Bay, sometimes they are Tan. lol
Geez, it is gorgeous here today ... time to walk on the beach.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteFun, easy start to a new month. Hand up for ette before enne. The meaningless circles were definitely a Gotcha!
Thanks Daniel and Steve for a fitting but harmless April Fool's Day prank.
Lots of bright sunshine but still unseasonably cold. However, 50's for tomorrow and Friday but then the
cold temps comes back. Talk about a roller coaster ride!
Have a great day.
Hello, friends!
ReplyDeleteWould someone tell me why April is the cruelest month?
What a fun APRIL FOOL puzzle! I had trouble finding a foothold, but once I did, it took off. Some write overs were OSHA/NTSB, ETTE/ENNE, LOGO/SEAL, ESOS/ESAS and ANA/ANI.
Thank you, Daniel and Steve.
LOL, Barry.
Have a peaceful, happy day, everyone!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Daniel Nierenberg, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteOK, Barry, you made me look twice. Good job!
Puzzle was great. Liked the theme once I figured out that the circles meant nothing. Excellent for today.
Other than that, it was pretty easy sailing.
I also tried ETTE before ENNE.
In Johnsonburg, PA, there is an ice cream stand where ONE SCOOP is so big you can hardly keep it on the cone. They also sell 2 and 3 scoopers. And cheap, too! My favorite place to go.
I have been through OJAI in California when I worked there. My favorite restaurant in California was Pea Soup Anderson's. Ate there all the time. Not in Ojai, however.
I have to run. Cooking a large dinner tonight for our Commandery.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
ReplyDeleteA delightful Wednesday speed run that turned out to be a hilarious April 1 hoot! Thank you for starting our day with so much fun, Daniel, and you too, Steve for following up with a great expo and pics. I laughed out loud when I got to THERE IS NONE after shaking my head at IDDI and saying, that can't be right. Wonderful!
So many of our favorite TV shows have gone off the air ("Parenthood" "Newsroom," etc.) that we're obliged to watch specials. Loved a wonderful one on John Denver and so got "ANNIE'S Song" in a flash.
Have a wonderful un-pranked day, everybody!
Lucina -
ReplyDeleteApril is the cruelest month.
Appropriate musical interlude.
Cheers!
JzB
I guess I should mention I had all the missteps and write-overs that others mentioned.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Jz
This plisky fell flat here in Irvine.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I must admit to a DNF, most unusual for a Wednesday pzl. I had SAVANA, a misspelling (but I wasn't sure), instead of STEPPE for the longest time, and that put a crimp in my style.
But my greater hang-up was entering AT PAR instead of NO PAR. This prevented my reaching THERE IS NONE. And so I persisted in seeking a "significance" to the circled letters--only to find, when reading Steve's explanation, that I was on a wild goose chase.
Ah, well, if we don't lose sometimes, what good is a victory?
April Fish, everybody!
Jazzbumpa @ 11:34:
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite poems!
"...breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain."
Surely there must be some avid gardeners among us.
ReplyDeleteBut even those who are generally not interested in gardening will find this fascinating. I promise!
Cheers!
JzB
ReplyDeleteThank you Daniel and Steve.
Well... hmmm, I'm rather indifferent to the meaningless circled letters. I think there's much more potential to be had with an April Fools themed puzzle. But perhaps all of the good ideas have already been expended.
Easy Wednesday play. Enjoyed the misdirection of "Piles under the tree." Nice.
Years ago an issue of Organic Gardening magazine included a free sample of seeds for an exotic Asian plant that would grow to 12 feet high. It resembled a small palm tree. Pretty cool, I thought, so I planted them. When they reached about a foot high they quit growing. But I did have a lovely little patch of weeds. Later I realized that the seeds came from the magazine's April first issue.
ReplyDeleteI got on the scale this morning and gained 3 lbs back. April Fools- not so much.
ReplyDeleteSpent sometime today reading the 100 best April Fools jokes online. My favorite is when the LA airport put a large banner on the run way saying "Welcome to Chicago!"
The M&M garden reminds me of the spaghetti growing trees. Does anyone remember that video?
Barry, it was fun to start the corner with a very astute prank!
Happy Prank Day people.
ReplyDeleteNobody "gotchaed" me. Figured out was was going on after second long fill. WEES about ETTE/ENNE and OSHA/NTSB.
1A was an unknown which left the NW corner empty for a while. I don't like to start off with a problem. It gets me discouraged. It filled in with the down entries. ENSILES? I knew it had to have something to do with a silo, but ENSILOS didn't look right. WAGGED 64A as ROSE, so that solved that. Almost put in ABLE instead of GAME for 63A.
John Denver was a very talented performer. Never was given the allocades he deserved. His music was joyful and calming. You understood every word and there was no bad language. Don't get me started on the so-called music of today. 'Nuff said on this topic.
Spring cleaning and holiday preparations are the norm this time of year. Whether you eat matzoh or chocolate bunnies, it is good to remember that these celebrations, while having its fun traditions, are important for faith and family.
That's my two cents for today.
A monument with CCI might be older than you think. In 201 CE (or AD if you insist) the Romans were dating their years since the founding of the city. A Roman monument with CCI would have been built in what we'd date 552 BCE.
ReplyDelete"puzzling thoughts":
ReplyDeleteBig Easy @ 7:02 - the long putter you refer to has not been banned. Please see USGA Rule 14-1b. Its use is OK providing you do not anchor it to your body. As someone who had the YIPS from an early age, I found the long putter essential. Now, with the rule change, the only way I can continue using the long putter is to make sure that it does not press against my sternum. I've adjusted my use of the long putter the past year and will be in compliance. Of course, I doubt very seriously that I will ever compete in a USGA sanctioned golf event at this stage of my life . . .
Pretty good speed run for a Wednesday - cute theme, and yes, I tried to make some sense out of the circled letters!
Someone please remind me again what the use of the term "rabbit, rabbit" is?
Here's my nonsensical AFD Limerick (as if any of the others MADE sense!):
There was once an old maid who begat,
A Nursery Rhyme character, Jack Sprat.
Didn't Jack marry Jill
After falling downhill?
He knew she wasn't skinny, just "phat"!
This blog pranked me this AM. It would not publish my post, so after a while I hit publish again and had to wait some more for it to "take". When I returned later I had two identical posts so I trashed one. The blog took both of them down. I won't repeat what I wrote. I hope some early birds read it. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love a wide range of poetry genera, Eliot's "cruelest month" is not among them.
I believe the cruelest month is March. It promises spring and gives a tiny taste, then takes it all back, again and again. This year the promise was mostly mental. There were few pleasant teases. March 2015 was especially cruel here. According to my heating bill the average daily temperature in March is 31, but this March it was 18.Oy vey! And March ended with a measurable snow event.
I think any Month I am "above the ground" is a good month.
ReplyDeleteAnd walking on the Honeymoon Island beach ... with all the pretty girls on Spring Break ...
It doesn't get any better than that ...
The puzzle flew by and I could see early on that the circles were not going make any sense but the theme reveal was a hoot!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI too, could use a prompt on the "Rabbit Rabbit" reference.
The puzzle was tough,
ReplyDeletethe rabbit, rabbit - enuf
the third line..... doesn't rhyme.
Really enjoyed your blog, Steve.
Barry G.'s post really fooled me !
JazzB's 12:16 post on M&M's planting was funny, but I found the next youtube video even funnier !!
Here's Claire's Allotment - Naked Gardening.
(The reCaptcha has a dancing Artoo Detoo - cute.)
Ergo, the 'Rabbit, Rabbit' is supposedly a good luck thing to say ( ... or write - ) on the first of the month to keep the _____'s away. Bad luck, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThe 'evil eye' protection or talisman has even got its own word - apotropaic - turning away the bad luck or evil influence.
Can't hurt to try it out.
Ack!
ReplyDeleteOccasional Lurker beat me to it!
(I was too busy watching the next link with the gardening tips from the girl in the bikini...)
Anywho, I do not want to prank anyone, even though I searched for the old CD-rom coffee holder prank. Apparently taking over someones computer is frowned on these days...
I did however pause at this clip, (several times) If you need a laugh...
I also found a link with 14 of the 2015 best video pranks. Quite honestly I thought they were way too long, & edited down to 3 which I thought you might enjoy.
Introducing Dial Up Mode...
T-Mobile pets unleashed...
& Google Panda. which at 5 minutes is ridiculously long, but I just love the mobility feature....
Grumble, grumble...
ReplyDeleteI was watching a bit of TV when I stumbled across a program honoring child accomplishments. The first one was a young boy (about 11 or 12) who was a DJ. The hosts introduced him and said for him to give the audience a taste of what he can do. He spun a record back and forth a couple of times making scratchy sounds and everybody clapped. My brain couldn't help contrast his accomplishments and talent to a kids who might be a pianists, tap dancers, classical guitar players and many others that took some dedication, effort and study. Grump, grump...
Than I was riding my bike past the Manhattan Beach pier where they've installed some flashing red lights to warn cyclists to walk their bikes when there is congestion like 4th of July or a hot weekend in the summer. But they were blinking red today though the area was mostly deserted. I stayed on my bike but got yelled at by a policeman. He claimed that I was embarrassing him in front of his boss. So I asked the boss why the light was blinking today. I also asked why have me get off and walk my bike? Why not post warning signs so that tourists would realize it is a bike path, not a sidewalk and should look both ways rather than stand in the middle taking selfies? He mumbled something about a woman who had been killed a year ago by a bicyclist and the Coastal Commission and... So it seemed to boil down to some easy rule to make me walk my bike rather than try to have the careless pedestrians be more responsible. Grumble, grumble...
Bill G @ 1850
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Helsinki some years back, the area was rife with bike paths. The rule was that bikers had the right-of-way and walkers should stay out of them or be very careful when crossing them.
Glad you stood your ground.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteSwell puzzle, Daniel! Great expo, Steve! Thank you!
Loved the theme. Never get the circles, so no problem there. Hand up for osha and ette.
Laughed out loud about the seeds! Wept (again) for Denver.
Cheers!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteDoh! I put SILo in and never looked back (ENSILo, sure, why not). DNF.
51a was so hard for me to get thoght the theme would help. I kept trying to use the circled letters to make something that would give me a hint. I played Daniel's GAME and was had. Nicely played Mr. Niernberg.
I was had too by Barry G. Even after finishing the writup, I went back to see if there was a dirty-joke I missed. I'm GRINning now.
CED - great links. Here's one I saw on npr.org today.
Now back to watch those side-bar gardening GIFTS...
Cheers, -T
Coneyro, thanks for the reminder of the season. I have enjoyed the April Fools Day foolishness, but come the weekend, my blended family will be eating both matzoh and chocolate bunnies. A special time for all of us!!
ReplyDeleteIDDIDEYOKESO
ReplyDeleteIf Yohnson & Yohnson made pot to smoke,
Would Norwegian cops see the yoke?
Two oxen were sold, because their master was broke,
But they still share a laugh, when they share a yoke.
Jerome: here they are, YOKE ODES I DID!
(See, I told you yesterday my brain was oxy-starved!)
Bill,
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of a joke....
A pedestrian stepped off the curb and into the road without looking one day and promptly gets knocked flat by a passing cyclist.
"You were really lucky there," said the cyclist.
"What on earth are you talking about! That really hurt!" said the pedestrian, still on the pavement, rubbing his head.
"Well, usually I drive a bus!" the cyclist replied.
OK, Two jokes....
ReplyDeleteBill's friend was walking down the sidewalk one day when Bill, rode up on an incredible shiny new bicycle.
Bill's friend was stunned by his sweet ride and asked, "WOW! Where did you get such a nice bike?"
Bill replied, "Well, yesterday I was walking home, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"
Bill's friend nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
Here are two more I heard on NPR today...
ReplyDelete(each are 3.5min) Grumpy Self-driving cars and Counter Culture I came in at the very last of the latter thought ???. SNEAKY. Cheers, -T
Spitz, Manac, et al, I enjoyed reading your responses. It's a good thing for me you got there first and deflected the responses from the inevitable snarky anons. AnonT, I enjoyed the NPR links.
ReplyDeleteBlue Iris:
ReplyDeleteHere's your Spaghetti Harvest.
Also, I'm not fond of flying and usually have a cocktail or 4 to nap. Had I seen that sign in LA, it would be cause for pause. After a call to a client, I'd look for UNO's and then the ticket counter!
Bill G - glad you enjoyed NPR's little JOKES.
Cheers, -T
Spitzboov,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was serving, I took an AMEX tour from Karlsruhe up to København. On the way on the bus, I met and ended up spending the extended weekend with a young pretty school teacher from Philly. I will never forget her, and our time together. Imagine that, I'm in Europe and I meet a girl from Philly.
We did it all together. From Tivoli to the Palace to the Little Mermaid, and more. So many things that I will never forget about that. Or her. Especially her. We had a great time.
On the last day, as we were going somewhere, I stepped out on to the street and got run into and run over by a bicyclist. I was bruised but okay, and will never forget how concerned she was and how she cared for me.
I learned that bicyclists had the right of way.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteDo you remember these commercials ?
Gold Blend Adverts
Hi y'all! Great puzzle and expo! I did the puzzle at midnight but didn't take time to come to the blog. Today I spent several hours typing on a special project until I was almost blind. With eyesight somewhat restored, I had to see what everyone was up to tonight.
ReplyDeleteI found this puzzle easier and more fun than yesterday's. I had a silo in my yard when we lived on the farm. However, the men put chopped corn and grain sorghum into a trench silo to feed the cattle. In all my many years, I never encountered the word "ENSILE". Ensilage was a word we used.
TTP: I'm surprised that you didn't get arrested if you & the Philly did IT all together in those public places you named. Woo woo! Wish I'd been there.
Reminded me of the time when I lived in Massachusetts for those few months. Lovely spring day, my honey bought me a big bunch of daffodils wrapped in green paper. I carried them on my arm all over the many sights of Boston: the commons, Old North Church, Copley Square. People would look at us and smile. But we saved the good stuff till we got home.
I used to sing "Annie's Song" with a guitar group in my younger years. We did a lot of John Denver songs. We brought down the house with our rousing rendition of "Grandma's Feather Bed" once in concert.
Manac:
ReplyDeleteThose jokes are hilarious! Thank you.
I'm sorry to be so judgmental. I apologize and have corrected the anecdote...
ReplyDeleteWhen the HipHop artist was asked how much Benadryl he had given her noticeably drowsy child, she replied, "KIDDIE DOSE, YO."
Holy shit!....That sounds terrible.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say...
"When the HipHop artist was asked how much Benadryl she had given her noticeably drowsy child, she replied, "KIDDIE DOSE, YO."