Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 34
Mr. Sessa's name in the constructor's space usually means "fail" in my
space, but today was a break from the norm. It was a long December at UPS - I was in a new position, and we had a
poorly managed peak season, but I got thru it, with just three more days to go
before it becomes a ghost town thru April. But I digress. The grid
did not seem intimidating, though I did think there were a tad too many
proper names - all of which filled in with a few perps, so not that many
WAGs. Two spanners and a 13-letter central fill, all of them not in my
wheelhouse, at least as clued;
17. Condition resulting from oversharing : FACEBOOK FATIGUE
- I am not on Facebook; however, I did karaoke at the restaurant's
annual party on Wednesday; got a lot of gaping stares - guess they
didn't think the mechanic could sing~! I know someone's phone camera
was recording; might go viral on YouTube....not
32. Noodles and beans dish : PASTA e FAGIOLI - isn't this the classic 'slander' for Italians and the language~?
52. Little Johnny Jones, in a George M. Cohan song : YANKEE DOODLE BOY
ONWARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Hero married to Jimena Díaz : EL CID - learning moment
6. Lip : SASS - seemed too easy for Saturday
10. Quarter moons, e.g. : ARCS
6. Lip : SASS - seemed too easy for Saturday
10. Quarter moons, e.g. : ARCS
14. Sierra __ : LEONE
15. Coaster section : LOOP - guess on my part, but then again, what else in 4 letters~?
16. Gun barrel measure : BORE
20. Florida horse country city : OCALA
21. SEAL insignia : TRIDENT
15. Coaster section : LOOP - guess on my part, but then again, what else in 4 letters~?
16. Gun barrel measure : BORE
20. Florida horse country city : OCALA
21. SEAL insignia : TRIDENT
22. Discipline : CHASTEN
24. Grouse or carp : KVETCH - pondered a single word for "fowl and fish"
25. Dull finishes : MATTES
26. Commercial prize : CLIO
28. Word for a lady : SHE
29. Space : AREA
30. Graceful : GAINLY - 'Tis the season~! - and in this season of sharing, I found one for the ladies - oh, and I found this, too
37. Cat, at times : YOWLER - I tried PURRER
38. Road warning : HONK - I was thinking "SIGN"
40. Dinner hrs. : PMs -
43. A&W rival : DAD'S - did not immediately come to mind
24. Grouse or carp : KVETCH - pondered a single word for "fowl and fish"
25. Dull finishes : MATTES
26. Commercial prize : CLIO
28. Word for a lady : SHE
29. Space : AREA
30. Graceful : GAINLY - 'Tis the season~! - and in this season of sharing, I found one for the ladies - oh, and I found this, too
38. Road warning : HONK - I was thinking "SIGN"
40. Dinner hrs. : PMs -
43. A&W rival : DAD'S - did not immediately come to mind
44. 44-Down model : FIESTA - pleased with myself for getting this and it's cross-reference from just the "S"; 44d. 44-Across maker : FORD
46. May 1 Hawaiian celebration : LEI DAY
48. Across the board : TOTALLY - I did consider this, but hesitated
49. First name in '60s beach party films : ANNETTE - Funicello, and I got it, but the whole beach party thing was before before my time
51. Met approval : BRAVO - clever - the Met, as in the opera
56. Miracle Mets star Tommie : AGEE - I tried "JOHN", but he was TommY, and a Yankee - not a fan of that team, being from L.I.
57. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN - I knew the city was in the Middle East....
46. May 1 Hawaiian celebration : LEI DAY
48. Across the board : TOTALLY - I did consider this, but hesitated
49. First name in '60s beach party films : ANNETTE - Funicello, and I got it, but the whole beach party thing was before before my time
51. Met approval : BRAVO - clever - the Met, as in the opera
56. Miracle Mets star Tommie : AGEE - I tried "JOHN", but he was TommY, and a Yankee - not a fan of that team, being from L.I.
57. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN - I knew the city was in the Middle East....
58. "Fingers crossed" : I HOPE - and an IHOP clue at 36d.
59. Koppel and Knight : TEDs
60. Org. whose logo includes a cocktail and a car key : MADD
61. Spanish seashore : COSTA - my good friend Gerry just popped down there Dec 7th for a 3 month stay; last year he was going to "write his memoirs"; I wonder if he plans to work on them again
DOWN:
1. St. Nicholas, in the poem : ELF - "a right jolly old..." - there are verses I did not know about
2. Verdant stretch : LEA
3. Reggae singer whose name sounds like a beverage : COCOA TEA - according to my search, it IS a beverage
4. Blissful : IN ECSTASY - I can think of a few things that would get me there
5. It has its pros and cons : DEBATE - with the two "E"s in place, I went with SeNATe
6. "Wake of the Ferry" painter : SLOAN - all perps
7. Thumbs-up : A-OK
8. "Wait a moment," to Romeo : SOFT - I had the "S" and "O"; the rest was perps - took a moment to understand where the clue was coming from
9. Like some live wires : SPARKING - sorry, can't resist - one of my favorite songs to play on the drums, especially with the cymbal chokes at the end - and Nikki Sixx on fire....
10. Put up with : ABIDE
11. Webster's cousin? : ROGET'S - and his Thesaurus
12. Nestlé chocolate bar : CRUNCH
13. Bristle : SEETHE
18. Fútbol cheers : OLÉs
19. Copenhagen's __ Gardens : TIVOLI
22. Awards co-hosted by Brad Paisley: Abbr. : CMA - country music awards - not my thing - see above
23. Instrument featured in the opening of "Waltz of the Flowers" : HARP - and strangely, when it comes to music, I always love to hear The Nutcracker Suite on my Christmas station
26. Some Wi-Fi providers : CAFÉS
27. Storyteller : LIAR
30. Neuter, as a horse : GELD
31. "Song of the Volga Boatmen" refrain : YO HEAVE HO - didn't know it, but it fit with some perps
33. Until now : TO DATE
34. One getting more boos than cheers : AWAY TEAM
35. "La Bamba" band : LOS LOBOS - about the only reference I knew
36. IHOP section?: Abbr. : INT'L - House Of Pancakes
39. Michael's wife in "The Godfather" films : KAY
40. Not be serious about : PLAY AT
41. Household : MENAGE - can't think of this as "stand alone", especially with the clue that follows:
42. Transgressed : SINNED
45. Stressed, in a way : ITALIC
47. Hockey maneuvers : DEKES - have not played hockey in weeks
48. Govt. debt instrument : T-BOND
50. Icelandic literary work : EDDA - knew from doing crosswords
53. Ref. section staple : OED - Oxford English Dictionary
54. Go (for) : OPT
55. Vote for : YEA
59. Koppel and Knight : TEDs
60. Org. whose logo includes a cocktail and a car key : MADD
61. Spanish seashore : COSTA - my good friend Gerry just popped down there Dec 7th for a 3 month stay; last year he was going to "write his memoirs"; I wonder if he plans to work on them again
DOWN:
1. St. Nicholas, in the poem : ELF - "a right jolly old..." - there are verses I did not know about
2. Verdant stretch : LEA
3. Reggae singer whose name sounds like a beverage : COCOA TEA - according to my search, it IS a beverage
4. Blissful : IN ECSTASY - I can think of a few things that would get me there
5. It has its pros and cons : DEBATE - with the two "E"s in place, I went with SeNATe
6. "Wake of the Ferry" painter : SLOAN - all perps
7. Thumbs-up : A-OK
8. "Wait a moment," to Romeo : SOFT - I had the "S" and "O"; the rest was perps - took a moment to understand where the clue was coming from
9. Like some live wires : SPARKING - sorry, can't resist - one of my favorite songs to play on the drums, especially with the cymbal chokes at the end - and Nikki Sixx on fire....
Mötley Crüe - Live Wire
10. Put up with : ABIDE
11. Webster's cousin? : ROGET'S - and his Thesaurus
12. Nestlé chocolate bar : CRUNCH
13. Bristle : SEETHE
18. Fútbol cheers : OLÉs
19. Copenhagen's __ Gardens : TIVOLI
22. Awards co-hosted by Brad Paisley: Abbr. : CMA - country music awards - not my thing - see above
23. Instrument featured in the opening of "Waltz of the Flowers" : HARP - and strangely, when it comes to music, I always love to hear The Nutcracker Suite on my Christmas station
27. Storyteller : LIAR
30. Neuter, as a horse : GELD
31. "Song of the Volga Boatmen" refrain : YO HEAVE HO - didn't know it, but it fit with some perps
33. Until now : TO DATE
34. One getting more boos than cheers : AWAY TEAM
35. "La Bamba" band : LOS LOBOS - about the only reference I knew
36. IHOP section?: Abbr. : INT'L - House Of Pancakes
39. Michael's wife in "The Godfather" films : KAY
40. Not be serious about : PLAY AT
41. Household : MENAGE - can't think of this as "stand alone", especially with the clue that follows:
42. Transgressed : SINNED
45. Stressed, in a way : ITALIC
47. Hockey maneuvers : DEKES - have not played hockey in weeks
48. Govt. debt instrument : T-BOND
50. Icelandic literary work : EDDA - knew from doing crosswords
53. Ref. section staple : OED - Oxford English Dictionary
54. Go (for) : OPT
55. Vote for : YEA
Splynter
46 comments:
FIR today! I didn't think FACEBOOK FATIGUE was a thing, but apparently it is. Nor PASTA E FAGIOLI, but according to Dean Martin, I was wrong on that :
When the stars make you drool
Just like a pasta fazool
That's amore!
Drivers who may HONK a bunch
KVETCH that others drive as drunk!
They HARP about
Each careless lout --
But they're at fault when cars go CRUNCH!
There are three things I can't ABIDE,
A LIAR who denies he's lied;
To be taken in
By one who SINNED --
And unresolved ARCS on shows that have died!
He was a youth with lots of SASS,
Bane of his teachers in every class.
His Mom would hasten
The BOY to CHASTEN --
But his DAD'S solution was tan his !
I wrestled through @Ed Sessa's puzzle in the wee hours, and got some added perspective about it from @Splynter's entertaining writeup.
For today's ear worm, listen to Song of the Volga Boatmen, performed by the Red Army Chorus. I was amused by 35-Down, because (spoiler alert), I had just put LA_BAMBA into this puzzle for one of my friends, which was especially relevant yesterday [read more in the "midrash"].
Today, the day after Xmas, please help celebrate someone whose name will be immediately recognized to any serious crossword solver. Strong ConVICtions was constructed exactly a year ago, but the great thing about birthdays is that they come back around on an annual basis. I've also posted about this puzzle on social media, but am afraid it might get overlooked by those suffering from FACEBOOK_FATIGUE.
Greetings!
Great Sat. Puzzle!
Thanks, Ed and Splynter!
Several. WAGs. ,
Am so tired I cannot write noted
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!!!
Cheers!
Morning, all!
Tried to sleep in a bit today. Didn't work so well, but at least I didn't get up earlier than usual...
Kept waiting for the theme to reveal itself today until I finally realized it was a Saturday. Vacation really messes up my sense of days.
Got through this one in decent enough time. Big challenge was trying to figure out how to spell PASTAEFAGIOLI. Even though the perps were solid, it just looked wrong to me since PASTAE is not a proper plural in Italian as far as I know. It wasn't until I came here that I realized that it's actually three words instead of two. D'OH!
COCOATEA was another challenge that I would have rejected as ridiculous had it not matched the clue.
Not used to MENAGE used in the "household" sense, but it works.
Everything else was smooth sailing as far as I can remember...
Well Spynter, with the tornadoes approaching both Memphis and Louisville, it's ver understandable that things were running behind at FDX and UPS. I had to grind this puzzle out little by little. Finishing with quasi-unknowns the the SE because of uncertain spellings. LOS LOBOS, YO HEAVE HO and I knew 32A would start with PASTA and end in 'I', but E FAGIOLI was all perps ( except the I). The only unknown completely filled by perps was SLOAN, while the other unknowns COCOA TEA, EL CID, LEI DAY, MADD worked their way into the grid.
We had a nice WARM Christmas day and after all the guests left the AIR CONDITIONER wouldn't kick on. I know December 25th. Checked all the breakers but no cool air. I felt silly calling my repairman Christmas night at 9 pm.
From George S. to George B- Facebook Fatigue will never be a problem for me.
Good morning!
Woo boy! Ed Sessa SASSed me this morning, he KVETCHed. Defeat was staring me in the face. Then I finally changed DIAM to BORE and it all came together. Phew. Hand up for PURRER, Splynter. Then HOWLER. Finally, YOWLER. I HOPE was back for a second appearance this week, but without the lips/ears reference that confused Steve. I'm only familiar with GAINLY in the "un" sense. Guess it's like clement weather.
So that's what Dean Martin was saying? Really? I didn't recognize the answer, even after I got it. My Italian is only slightly better than my Swahili.
T-NOTE, T-BILL, T-BOND -- got there eventually.
Splynter, let us know when your karaoke debut hits YouTube. BTW, what did you sing?
A bit of trivia- Funicello toured in a circus as a trapeze artist after leaving the Mickey Mouse Club. When she quit her partner had to work without Annette.
Good Morning:
I didn't have any real problems with the solve, but needed perps in several areas, such as yo heave ho and pasta e fagioli. Thought soft as clued a tad unfair, but it is Saturday, right?
Nice job, Ed Sessa, and nice review, Splynter.
We have lots of sunshine but I think our Spring-like temps are gone and Old Man Winter is going to make his appearance shortly.
Nice to hear from you, Blue Iris.
Have a great day.
Not bad for a Saturday puzzle. I think it was a gift from Ed. It wasn't a walk in the park, but it was "PERP"able.
Great write-up Splynter. I guess you've had your UPS and downs in the past weeks. Hopefully things will settle down.
Jerome: Was that our PUNishment for the day?
Happy Boxing Day everyone.
A relatively easy Saturday but I wonder if the unique long fills occur first to the constructors or are a consequence of shorter words
Musings
-My FACEBOOK FATIGUE results from demands that I share a post lest I be called irreligious or unpatriotic. Can you say “unfriend”?
-My CHRISTMAS music FATIGUE will be assuaged from today on!
-Inside Coaster LOOPS are exciting but ones with outside LOOPs really get your attention!
-Cosmetic MATTE vs Glossy
-Dinner is barely in the PM around here but supper is very much PM
-Everybody must get LEIed on May 1 in the islands
-OMG,this chewing gum is like TOTALLY Awesome! Gag!
-Our baseball peeps will know the two ’69 METS from this roster who made the Hall of Fame
-Pols can seamlessly take either the PRO or CON side depending on the audience
-GELDed horses are more quiescent because they, uh, have less on their minds
-Husker fans are famous for applauding AWAY TEAMS as they leave the field, win or lose
-Ridiculous former restaurant sections
-Exceptional Lims today, Owen!
Good Morning, all.
I fooled around here for a bit and then left to put some dishes away. I wasn't having a lot of luck. As is often the case with me, the second try was better. I liked CHASTEN. EL CID came reluctantly. I need to brush up on Spanish lit and legend. I liked FORD crossing FIESTA as it made for easy perping. I could hear LOS LOBOS, but find the name until my second run. Thanks, Ed, for a challenging and eventually doable puzzle.
I am still missing something about coaster and LOOP. . . . Thanks, Splynter, for the tour and an always interesting narrative. UPS did well by me this year, even though they claimed they couldn't promise the delivery date (12/16). That's exactly when the package arrived in Dallas. Maybe I escaped the chance for an "UPSale" at the register.
TTFN!
First crack at a Saturday puzzle in some time and fortunately it was not too difficult. Perps were a big help, especially for getting an idea about the long crosses. My first thought for 52A was YANKEE DODDLE dandy. BOY, was I concerned when it wouldn't fit.
Count me in as a howler before YOWLER. Never realized FORD made a model called FIESTA. It's been a long time since I saw EL CID, and don't recall him having a wife. Wanted Horn for 38A, but KAY turned it to HONK.
HG, if I'm awake for the Husker game tonight, I'll be rooting for them.
Hondo, if Tommy Armstrong is awake, the Huskers should get a win! Did you look at that '69 Mets roster and pay scale?
Thanks, Ed, for a challenging puzzle. Did get the TA-DA with last answer of FACEBOOK FATIGUE.... never knew.
Thanks, Splynter. Loved your stockings hung on the fireplace!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Some think it ECSTASY to shoot down a chute,
Or a SPARKING roller-COASTER 'round a LOOP de LOOP!
I'd rather ABIDE
A more tranquil ride
Where my life doesn't hang from a parachute!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ed Sessa, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for a fine review.
I will say this, today's puzzle was easier than Friday's, which I never finished. I got through today's but had some errors.
YANKEE DOODLE BOY was the easiest of the three long ones.
My main trouble spot was in the SW portion of the NE. Misspelled CLIO, TIVOLI, GAINLY, and PASTA E FAGIOLI. After I corrected everything that whole area is one big inkblot. I also tried HOWLER instead of YOWLER.
LEI DAY was a new one. Probably thought up by a mainlander.
Took me a while to remember that Roller Coasters often have a LOOP in them. There is a great Roller Coaster in Erie, PA, called the Ravine Flyer. The track actually goes over the ravine and highway that goes to Presque Isle State Park. No LOOP though.
Remembered EDDA. Learned that from crosswords many years ago.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
AH, Owen!!
Poetry to set me straight on coaster and loop! Ha! No wonder for me. Don't like 'em never have! Only ever went on Space Mountain because the kids couldn't go alone. I have always considered that ride a near death experience.
Thanks, Owen.
Both yesterday and todays puzzles were way too hard for me.
Belated Happy Birthday wishes to FermatPrime.
And Yellow Rocks...
(I dunno YR,the label said it was the winning cake from the National Square Dance Convention, but it looks like a mouthful to me...)
I actually did much better on this Saturday puzzle than I thought I would--so, thanks Ed, for a belated Christmas present of sorts. Nice write-up, Splynter, and LOL, Jerome.
And thanks, Abejo, for explaining that that Coaster was a Roller Coaster!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Hi Y'all! Ed's puzzle took me six minutes less to do than yesterday's. I was in a much less hurried mood though. Fun. Thanks.
On the first pass thru, I had only ELF/LEONE in the top half. Slowly made a few gains like CMA - MATTE - HARP - DLIO - SHE. Kept pecking away at it. Got YANKEE DOODLE BOY with DLEB showing.
At long last, now to know what Dean Martin was warbling about. I didn't think it was food. But then if the moon was hitting his eye like a big pizza pie, it would stand to reason. The HS trio I was in sang that song in the stage show at the jr.-sr. prom.
Coaster wasn't to put drinks on? After COCOA TEA my mind was on drinks. Not a very exotic name for a rapper.
My cat was a "hunter" which is a silent occupation, but he turned YOWLER when one certain tom showed up. I had to break up the fights with a baseball bat inserted (gently) between biting jaws.
I didn't know EL CID even had a wife. Learning moment.
Thanks, Splynter. I agree, this was easier than I expected, although no pushover. SASS and LEONE seemed too simple right off the bat. (Though I admit to OLD before replacing it with ELF.) Later ANNETTE was a gimme, as was the full length YANKEE DOODLE BOY. I needed help only to confirm some wilder stabs.
I accept this as Mr. Sessa's Boxing Day gift to us.
~ Kf
PS. GAINLY eluded me for a time. I don't think I've ever used it. Is it a back formation from "Ungainly"?
Seeing that Ed Sessa was the constructor today, I sallied forth into the puzzle with trepidation. A nice challenge but ultimately doable without "cheating." Like Barry Silk's puzzles, there are always a few gimmies on which to gain a toehold and then it's a pleasurable climb from there. Gotta love those breadcrumbs.
Splynter, thanks for taking the time and effort to prepare your writeup today, and thanks to you, Lemonade, for yesterday.
Gonna play with some of my new toys now. Best wishes to you all.
3 DOWN: Rapper Ice-T is married to Coco Austin. I guess that might make her "Cocoa Tea", wouldn't it? Anyway, that was too much information for me to handle, I guess. So that is how I solved 3 DOWN - with TMI and all.
Barry G: Think MENAGE A TROIS.
I don't have FB FATIGUE since I never touch the stuff, but I do have mediocre FootBall FATIGUE with all these substandard bowl games featuring teams without a winning record. In this age of "anything for money" and "every kid gets a trophy and a juicebox"(not to mention rice krispy treats and orange slices), the product NCAA and ESPN is giving us is insulting. There was even a yawner in YANKEE stadium featuring a team with 5 wins and 6 losses. I think there are over 40 bowl games but I deem only about 15 that are actually watchable. Lemme tell you, when i was a boy, we had 10 bowls, all on the same day.....wait, hey kid, get off my lawn!
Thanks for the cake, Dave. LOL.
It reminds me of square dancing on the Cape May-Leads Ferry (Fairy?) during gale force winds. Rather than keeping the beat, we went one, two, stagger, stagger. Laugh, laugh. What fun! In those days the full square dance skirt I wore was billowing like Marilyn Monroe's on the steam grate.
We dance on the sand, in a pool, on a bridge, what ever.I haven't tried dancing on a precarious cake.
Good afternoon, friends!
Since my schedule is now back to normal this was a busy day, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. so I had to solve Ed's puzzle in three sittings. The entire west coast flowed easily but if I ever knew El Cid had a wife it is buried deeply in my memory. ELF gave me a push in that direction. GAINLY and FAGIOLI took a very long time to suss but I supposed it was the opposite of ungainly and since PASTA had already emerged the rest perped itself.
The NE was toughest to finish but once I realized that live wires meant just that, SPARKING revealed itself, although SHOCKING was first.
Cute, Jerome. LOL
Thanks to Ed Sessa for a good challenge and Splynter, too. Now you'll have time to relax and possibly play some hockey in your down time.
I hope your Saturday has been fabulous, everyone!
Dang spell check. That was Cape May -Lewes Ferry.
So close. Beaten by one cell. It unfolded much like a Silkie....never easy, but never hopeless. And it all filled. Yes!
But in the end, it was a fail due to in ecstacy. Bah! Humbug! Never once tried to suss pasta out of that mess that it crossed at 32A. Just took that answer for granted.
Thank you so much for your weekly diligence, Splynter! CBS news tonight had a piece on how hard Fed Ex has been hit this year. Can you believe that there were people that actually did not get on time delivery???! Oh, the humanity! You'd think someone had keyed their new car.
If you go to bed with a full stomach and a soft, warm bed to retire to, life's pretty good. A late package is the least of your worries in this season of good will.
Hi again~!
I did TWO songs, actually - the DJ wanted some "guys" to get up and sing (I think he was getting tired of the girls singing en masse), just as I walked in the door, so I did the song I usually like to start with - "Keep Your Hands To Yourself". That got everyone interested in singing, and so the DJ came over to me later and said you gotta do another - so I did "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", since the crowd was well into the drinking by then. There was a time when I would actually DO the drinks after the song....
Splynter
Yellwrocks,
Funny you should say that,
Here is one of Daughter #1s
Xmas presents to Mom...
WEES.
A doable Saturday puzzle, thanks Ed. And thanks Splynter for the great write-up. Here is a link to your other song, ONE_BOURBON,ONE_SCOTCH,ONE_BEER by George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
Besides WEES, I had confusion on COSTA. I knew PLAYA was beach. But I got COSTA from perps and by gum, COSTA is for seashore. Then I thought COSTA RICA, duh.
Happy weekend and rest for all from Holiday craziness. Especially Fed Ex and UPS and USPS workers.
VS
AvgJoe, many a man & woman have searched for ECSTASY and have failed marriages to show for it. A failed crossword is a lot less damaging in comparison. LOL!
Splynter, I forgot to thank you for your effort on our behalf today. I've thought of you every time the brown truck stopped on my street. He didn't come to my door, however. I only shop at the bank drive-thru for one stop shopping that no one returns.
CED: I looked at that cake and hoped the dancers didn't stomp their feet and topple that cake before YR got to see it. How on earth do they get it to stand at all? Must have a rod welded to a base in the center.
Hi all! I hope everyone had a fun time yesterday (even if Christmas isn't your holiday, most of the US gets time to relax).
Well, I got 1/2 of Ed's puzzle when my 0.5mm Pilot G-2 ran out of ink. The store didn't have 0.5m just 0.38mm replacements. These things don't know anything about solving crosswords!
I suppose it wasn't fair to the pen... starting it on a Sat. //that's my story and I'm stickin' with it :-)
OK, I 'fess, I'm just TOTALLY too dense to get a Sat. I HOPE to improve. (Can you tell that's the only corner I fully filled?). Fav today: LOS LOBOS 'cuz I got it off the bat (and Ritchie Valens didn't fit).
Thanks Splynter for the writeup and for being one of the gears in the engine making eChristmas work for the rest of us. A toast to you! BTW, both songs are great karaoke selections.
PK - 3d was a Reggae (not rap) singer. I think COCOA TEA is the right state of mind for that genre :-)
HG - from a few days ago. I rely on the the machine for secondary / tertiary edits, but for 1st draft of creation I like a big blank bit of paper to scribble & connect thoughts without worrying about spelling, tense, etc.. This post was on a purple sticky 1st.
I've got (most) of next week off so booked myself w/ chores. Today I assembled IKEA shelves for Eldest and tossed straw in my garden. I also bought hardware to make a system to hoist my 24" ladder into the rafters - that's the 1st order of business tomorrow.
Last thing - apparently I live under a rock... Last night my brother told me about this Chicago comedian's NOLA (my favorite city) routine. It's from '14 and I missed it until now. (I found a clean version for y'all; enjoy.)
Cheers, -T
There's an error ... a quarter moon is not a crescent/arc, it's a semicircle. First quarter is the "right" half and third quarter is the "left" heart.
Spencer
I believe a semi-circle would be a half moon.
Aye and there's the rub Lunina - A 1/2 moon happens the 1st & 3rd Quarters between a New Moon /Full Moon / New Moon cycle. I get gespenst's point but I think both c/a's would be acceptable. Judges? Cheers, -T
Good evening everyone.
Agree with Jayce's description of Sessa's style. Started the puzzle this afternoon and after several revisits, finally got it all without assistance. In the NE I was sure about BORE and TRIDENT but it took quite awhile for the Muse to give me ROGET'S, and KVETCH. Also had howler before YOWLER. Favorite clue was for FACEBOOK FATIGUE.
Vote for gespenst. Clue is incorrect.
CMA stands for County Music Association. If the /A/ stood for "awards" the clue (22D) would have been inappropriate because it contained "Award" also.
I agree the quarter phases of the moon's cycles are semicircles and not crescents (arcs) but I suppose the clue might also have been cleverly deceptive.
FRANKIE (Avalon) could have worked for 49A.
Thanks for the link, George Barany. I never heard yo heave ho. Seems to me that translating oy yuchim to yo heave ho is too arbitrary for a serious crossword. Like you can translate a grunt and expect anyone to guess. Yes I know this is acommon translation, but still yo heave ho?
Longbeachlee - sure you haven't heard YO HEAVE HO? (I'm not sure if that what Robin really says, but the clip came to mind w/ the fill). Cheers, -T
I agree with AnonT that several terms are acceptable, especially in a Saturday puzzle. The common terms aren't very scientific. The lunar cycle is 28 days. A quarter of that is seven days. The moon is waxing from a new moon through a crescent phase toward a half moon. The end of that quarter cycle is a half moon also called first quarter. Waxing for seven more days, the moon becomes full. Then for the next seven days it is waning toward a third quarter half moon. Then seven more days and the moon becomes a new moon again and disappears.
Please excuse me if I'm explaining something that is already obvious to you. The moon is always half lit by the sun. When we see a half moon (first quarter), we are seeing half of the lit side and half of the dark side. A full moon (the end of the second quarter) presents the totally lit side half toward the earth and so on... The clue in the puzzle was for quarter moons which I assume means a crescent, thus the answer ARC. But all of the phases involve arcs. A better clue might have been "Crescent moons." As I said, the commonly-used terms are all imprecise but I figured out what was meant. Yea!
The "Song of the Volga Boatmen" I learned in elementary school (NOT "ELHI") in the '50s went: "Yo ho HEAVE ho,
Yo ho HEAVE ho.
Pull to-ge-e-ther,
Yo ho HEAVE ho."
Yo heave ho makes no sense.
At the Wicked Witch's castle CLIP(3:00).
Thanks Argyle,
I knew I had heard YO HEE HO in a kid's movie, but I couldn't recall which one. And thanks Bill G., for the moon explanation.
VS
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