Theme: Unlike the Liberty Bell
17A. Well-cast "Into the Woods" actress? : MERYL STREEP
23A. Well-cast "An Education" actress? : EMMA THOMPSON
47A. Well-cast "Duplicity" actress? : JULIA ROBERTS
57A. Well-cast "Birds of America" actress? : HILARY SWANK
35A. Director's explanation as to why this puzzle's actresses were well-cast? : IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
Four movies, four actresses that appeared in the movie and four four-letter nouns embedded that relate in some way to the title.
Neat enough puzzle, although there can be a problem with proper name themes in that once you've tumbled the gimmick you can generally fill in a whole lot of squares without a great deal of thought. I've not seen any of the movies, but the actresses came pretty quickly.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Home of the Great Sphinx : EGYPT. The nose and beard are missing. According to one version of the story, the nose was shot off by a cannonball fired by Napoleon's soldiers.
6. French thinkers? : TÊTES. From whence come idées. I'm going to Paris next weekend, so a good time to brush up on my French.
11. Priestly garb : ALB
14. Charter : LEASE
15. Discharge : EGEST. New to me, but patently a perfectly good word. Makes throwing up sound classy.
16. __ chi : TAI
19. It's used for some trips : LSD. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - no, wait, Lysergic acid diethylamide.
20. Bank customer acct. datum : S.S.N. I mentally parsed DEP, BAL and CHK before making SSNse of the clue.
21. Tackle box items : LURES
22. It may have a nice bouquet : VASE. Could have been WINE. Wasn't.
26. Like the Detroit Lions in 2008 : WINLESS. A season of futility leading to the worst record in NFL history. They did, naturally, get the first draft pick in 2009 and selected QB Matthew Stafford. It didn't immediately do much good - they went 2-14 that year.
29. Financial pg. topics : I.P.O'S
30. Clod breakers : HOES
31. __ arguments : ORAL. Stop snickering at the back.
32. Spat : ROW
40. Familiar saint? : PAT. I don't mind this so much, but seeing "St. Patty" drives me crazy. He's not a burger. My Dad was Uncle Paddy to the nephews and nieces.
41. Gets ready to fire : AIMS
42. "Zounds!" : EGAD. We've had the "offensive" debate before, but I didn't read this article on "minced oaths" until just now. Interesting stuff.
43. Cable service extras : DVRS. Digital Video Recorders rather than your basic decoder box.
44. "Spoon River Anthology" poet : MASTERS. Thank you crosses - I'd not heard of this before. Looks like it might be a fun read.
51. Fissionable particle : ATOM. Strictly speaking, an atom isn't a particle, it's comprised of particles - protons, neutrons and electrons.
52. "Sorry, __ go!" : GOTTA
53. Whale watcher's dream : POD. Or a pea-sheller's nightmare, one of the two.
56. Software issue : BUG. I read somewhere that there's likely to be a bug in every 11 lines of code. During my coding days, I reckon I probably wrote somewhere north of 100,000 lines, so I was personally responsible for around 9,100 bugs. Sorry.
60. Bud : BRO
61. "Is that __?": challenging words : A DARE. Usually ends badly.
62. Quad Cities resident, maybe : IOWAN. If you're from Davenport or Bettendorf. Not if you're from Rock Island, Moline or East Moline. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation why there are five cities.
63. Rule of crime writing : ANN. Crosses filled this in for me, I didn't see the fill until now. Just as well, I'd never heard of her.
64. Actresses Diane and Cheryl : LADDS. I think I might have tried to construct this area differently to avoid another "actress" entry given the theme.
65. Address to a boy : SONNY
Down:
1. O'Neill's "Desire Under the __" : ELMS
2. Heist units : GEES. As in 1,000's. Fun clue.
3. Unlikely story : YARN. A priest, a rabbi and an imam walk into a bar. The bartender says "This is a joke, right?".
4. Subj. involving cognitive development : PSY. cology.
5. "Spill it!" : TELL ME
6. Aquarium fish : TETRAS. Fish do totally inconsistent things with plurals. Including "fish" itself.
7. Wetlands wader : EGRET
8. Top choice : TEE SHIRT
9. Legal conclusion? : -ESE
10. Brake fluid brand : STP. The name comes from "Scientifically Treated Petroleum. Now we know.
11. Low-tech GPS? : ATLAS. Nice clue. Modern GPS actually tells you where you are, rather than you pointing hopefully at a page in the atlas and saying "I think we're here".
12. Stock holder? : LASSO
13. Former senator known as "Amtrak Joe" : BIDEN. Amtrak's Wilmington station is named for Joe in honor of the more than 7,000 trips he took into DC from there.
18. Totals : SUMS
22. LBJ and Nixon, e.g. : VP'S
23. Einstein's second wife : ELSA. Thank you, crosses.
24. Hawaiian food fish : OPAH. Because humuhumunukunukuapua`a doesn't fit.
25. Lawn problem : MOLE
26. Blender button : WHIP. Really? Mine has "On" and "Off", I only use it to blend smoothies. I have more suitable whipping tools. Like a whisk.
27. Bit : IOTA
28. Brooding spot : NEST
31. Iron-__ : ONS.
32. Extreme road response : RAGE
33. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR. Here was I wondering "Why don't I know who wrote "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam? I'm sure I must!" And then the penny dropped.
34. Brings together : WEDS
36. California's __ Beds National Monument : LAVA. Beautiful spot in Northern California.
37. Way to get to N.Y.'s Citi Field : L.I.R.R.. Long Island Railroad. 17 miles and 25 minutes from Penn Station gets you to the ballpark.
38. Response to happy news : I'M SO GLAD
39. Brings home : NETS
43. Lacking luster : DIM
44. Scotland yards? : METRES. 39.3701 inches, so a wee tad more than a yard, laddie. Euro-spelling. Fun clue.
45. Pretentious : ARTY. Moi?
46. Balanced state : STASIS
47. "Star Wars" villain : JABBA. Big bloke, if I remember correctly.
48. Reversal : U-TURN
49. Start a telecommuting session : LOGON. That's me, most mornings. Not this morning - doing the Burbank - SFO commute with United. They were nice enough to upgrade me to First too. I ♥ UAL.
50. Advisory body : BOARD
53. Puppet : PAWN
54. Put-act link : ON AN
55. Designer label initials : DKNY. Donna Karan, New York.
57. Evil computer of film : HAL "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that".
58. NW state : IDA -ho.
59. Court : WOO
Here's the grid with the circles for those of you missing then, and that's going to do it for me.
Steve
Front Row (Left to Right: Grady & his dad Derek; Truman (Grady's big brother) & mom Corie; Dylan and mom Shelby; Cameron (Dylan's big brother) and dad Joe.
Back Row: Proud grandparents JD & Bob.
17A. Well-cast "Into the Woods" actress? : MERYL STREEP
23A. Well-cast "An Education" actress? : EMMA THOMPSON
47A. Well-cast "Duplicity" actress? : JULIA ROBERTS
57A. Well-cast "Birds of America" actress? : HILARY SWANK
35A. Director's explanation as to why this puzzle's actresses were well-cast? : IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
Four movies, four actresses that appeared in the movie and four four-letter nouns embedded that relate in some way to the title.
Neat enough puzzle, although there can be a problem with proper name themes in that once you've tumbled the gimmick you can generally fill in a whole lot of squares without a great deal of thought. I've not seen any of the movies, but the actresses came pretty quickly.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Home of the Great Sphinx : EGYPT. The nose and beard are missing. According to one version of the story, the nose was shot off by a cannonball fired by Napoleon's soldiers.
6. French thinkers? : TÊTES. From whence come idées. I'm going to Paris next weekend, so a good time to brush up on my French.
11. Priestly garb : ALB
14. Charter : LEASE
15. Discharge : EGEST. New to me, but patently a perfectly good word. Makes throwing up sound classy.
16. __ chi : TAI
19. It's used for some trips : LSD. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - no, wait, Lysergic acid diethylamide.
20. Bank customer acct. datum : S.S.N. I mentally parsed DEP, BAL and CHK before making SSNse of the clue.
21. Tackle box items : LURES
22. It may have a nice bouquet : VASE. Could have been WINE. Wasn't.
26. Like the Detroit Lions in 2008 : WINLESS. A season of futility leading to the worst record in NFL history. They did, naturally, get the first draft pick in 2009 and selected QB Matthew Stafford. It didn't immediately do much good - they went 2-14 that year.
29. Financial pg. topics : I.P.O'S
30. Clod breakers : HOES
31. __ arguments : ORAL. Stop snickering at the back.
32. Spat : ROW
40. Familiar saint? : PAT. I don't mind this so much, but seeing "St. Patty" drives me crazy. He's not a burger. My Dad was Uncle Paddy to the nephews and nieces.
41. Gets ready to fire : AIMS
42. "Zounds!" : EGAD. We've had the "offensive" debate before, but I didn't read this article on "minced oaths" until just now. Interesting stuff.
43. Cable service extras : DVRS. Digital Video Recorders rather than your basic decoder box.
44. "Spoon River Anthology" poet : MASTERS. Thank you crosses - I'd not heard of this before. Looks like it might be a fun read.
51. Fissionable particle : ATOM. Strictly speaking, an atom isn't a particle, it's comprised of particles - protons, neutrons and electrons.
52. "Sorry, __ go!" : GOTTA
53. Whale watcher's dream : POD. Or a pea-sheller's nightmare, one of the two.
56. Software issue : BUG. I read somewhere that there's likely to be a bug in every 11 lines of code. During my coding days, I reckon I probably wrote somewhere north of 100,000 lines, so I was personally responsible for around 9,100 bugs. Sorry.
60. Bud : BRO
61. "Is that __?": challenging words : A DARE. Usually ends badly.
62. Quad Cities resident, maybe : IOWAN. If you're from Davenport or Bettendorf. Not if you're from Rock Island, Moline or East Moline. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation why there are five cities.
63. Rule of crime writing : ANN. Crosses filled this in for me, I didn't see the fill until now. Just as well, I'd never heard of her.
64. Actresses Diane and Cheryl : LADDS. I think I might have tried to construct this area differently to avoid another "actress" entry given the theme.
65. Address to a boy : SONNY
Down:
1. O'Neill's "Desire Under the __" : ELMS
2. Heist units : GEES. As in 1,000's. Fun clue.
3. Unlikely story : YARN. A priest, a rabbi and an imam walk into a bar. The bartender says "This is a joke, right?".
4. Subj. involving cognitive development : PSY. cology.
5. "Spill it!" : TELL ME
6. Aquarium fish : TETRAS. Fish do totally inconsistent things with plurals. Including "fish" itself.
7. Wetlands wader : EGRET
8. Top choice : TEE SHIRT
9. Legal conclusion? : -ESE
10. Brake fluid brand : STP. The name comes from "Scientifically Treated Petroleum. Now we know.
11. Low-tech GPS? : ATLAS. Nice clue. Modern GPS actually tells you where you are, rather than you pointing hopefully at a page in the atlas and saying "I think we're here".
12. Stock holder? : LASSO
13. Former senator known as "Amtrak Joe" : BIDEN. Amtrak's Wilmington station is named for Joe in honor of the more than 7,000 trips he took into DC from there.
18. Totals : SUMS
22. LBJ and Nixon, e.g. : VP'S
23. Einstein's second wife : ELSA. Thank you, crosses.
24. Hawaiian food fish : OPAH. Because humuhumunukunukuapua`a doesn't fit.
25. Lawn problem : MOLE
26. Blender button : WHIP. Really? Mine has "On" and "Off", I only use it to blend smoothies. I have more suitable whipping tools. Like a whisk.
27. Bit : IOTA
28. Brooding spot : NEST
31. Iron-__ : ONS.
32. Extreme road response : RAGE
33. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR. Here was I wondering "Why don't I know who wrote "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam? I'm sure I must!" And then the penny dropped.
34. Brings together : WEDS
36. California's __ Beds National Monument : LAVA. Beautiful spot in Northern California.
37. Way to get to N.Y.'s Citi Field : L.I.R.R.. Long Island Railroad. 17 miles and 25 minutes from Penn Station gets you to the ballpark.
38. Response to happy news : I'M SO GLAD
39. Brings home : NETS
43. Lacking luster : DIM
44. Scotland yards? : METRES. 39.3701 inches, so a wee tad more than a yard, laddie. Euro-spelling. Fun clue.
45. Pretentious : ARTY. Moi?
46. Balanced state : STASIS
47. "Star Wars" villain : JABBA. Big bloke, if I remember correctly.
48. Reversal : U-TURN
49. Start a telecommuting session : LOGON. That's me, most mornings. Not this morning - doing the Burbank - SFO commute with United. They were nice enough to upgrade me to First too. I ♥ UAL.
50. Advisory body : BOARD
53. Puppet : PAWN
54. Put-act link : ON AN
55. Designer label initials : DKNY. Donna Karan, New York.
57. Evil computer of film : HAL "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that".
58. NW state : IDA -ho.
59. Court : WOO
Here's the grid with the circles for those of you missing then, and that's going to do it for me.
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear JD, who's been with the blog since she retired from her teaching job in 2008. JD and her husband Bob live very close to her two daughters and their family. This picture was taken in 2014 when Dylan turned one.
Front Row (Left to Right: Grady & his dad Derek; Truman (Grady's big brother) & mom Corie; Dylan and mom Shelby; Cameron (Dylan's big brother) and dad Joe.
Back Row: Proud grandparents JD & Bob.
65 comments:
Greetings!
Great work, Danny and Steve!
No problems! ELSA was perped. (What was name of other wife? Anyone know offhand?)
Lots of fog tonight.
Cheers!
Have a great birthday, JD!
What light thru yonder Windows comes?
It is the east, and Juliette the Sun!
The balcony we'll replace
In joint cyberspace
And let our bits mingle, ones and aughts doing SUMS!
Juliette asked, what's a name got to do
With this dreamy Romeo I intend to LASSO?
Each night he'll LOG ON
And we chat until dawn --
This is the way all the cool kids pitch WOO!
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, JD)!
This one was a toughie. I didn't get the theme until well after I completed the grid (but at least I got it before coming here). Were these actresses actually all in the films? I'm pretty sure MERYL STREEP was in "Into the Woods", but I have no idea about the rest. And I really thought HILARY SWANK was spelled HILLARY, so I thought there was some missing letter theme going on there for awhile. Went with JULIE ANDREWS before JULIA ROBERTS. Didn't help that LAVA beds was unknown to me.
Got 'er done in the end, so no harm, no foul.
Hello Puzzlers -
Grokked the theme early with help from the circles, so this was pretty much a speed run today. The theme is imaginative!
Morning, Steve, I'm with you in thinking that "St. Patty" is just going too far. Paddy is a better fit.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun and easy Thursday puzzle. I easily got the names of all the actresses, although I never heard of Birds of America.
I first read Edgar Lee MASTERS (1868 ~ 1950) when I was in high school. I just loved the poems in the Spoon River Anthology.
I had heard of ANN Rule (1931 ~ 2015), but never read any of her books.
Top Choice = TEE SHIRT was my favorite clue and answer.
I had never heard of the LAVA Beds National Monument. I'll have to put it on my bucket list.
Albert Einstein's second wife ELSA (1876 ~ 1936) was his cousin. They remained married until her death. His first wife was Mileva (1875 ~ 1948) was the mother of his two sons. They separated in 1914 and divorced in 1919. After Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921, he gave Mileva the prize winnings
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, JD.
QOD: Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. ~ Albert Schweitzer (Jan. 14, 1875 ~ Sept. 4, 1965)
Good morning. Thank you Danny Reichert.
Solid and steady progress with a few errors along the way, and a successful solve in the end, but was surprised when I looked at the clock. Sure didn't seem like I spent as much time on it as I did.
First actress answer was JULIA ROBERTS. That made me rethink GEmS as the answer for heist units and led to MERYL STREEP. I had most of her but it was looking like the first name might be jumbled.
In the center, I had iron Ore and IraS, but finally the light bulb turned on with OPAH. That gave me the H and led quickly to the N in ITS ALL IN THE NAME. That also broke the west, because I previously had CHOP for blender button. Guess I was thinking about a food processor.
I liked seeing STASIS. Just like the word.
I always logged in using my logon id. In puzzleland, I always pause for LOG ON.
Thank you Steve. Hand up for never having heard of "Spoon River Anthology" or the poet MASTERS. Ditto ANN Rule. However, this time I sensed the clue might be looking for the first name of someone with the surname Rule.
Because Quint Cities never caught on. (Per Wiki).
Have you tried the GPS on your Lenovo laptop ? I like it. It pinpointed that my laptop was near the south wall of the far east side of my house. Then I played with the maps it brought up. You can get to that GPS function through either the control panel or network and sharing center.
Happy Birthday JD !
Sorry, GOTTA go. Windows needs to reboot to install updates. TTYL !
Happy Birthday JD ... have a great time today with the Grand-Kids.
Steve: Nice write-up. Good Job !!!
Danny: Thank You for a FUN Thursday puzzle with wonderful "circles" theme entries.
Can't say I remember ever seeing any of the movies referenced.
Hahtoolah, Top choice / TEE SHIRT was my favorite clue/answer today, too.
(Kinda, a "No-Brainer" since I only wear a TEE-SHIRT (w/Shorts) about 350 days a year).
Always wonder whether HAL was actually an "Evil computer of film" ... just thought he was misunderstood. LOL
Cheers!
Very creative theme - the actresses are all so well known that even though I didn't know some of the movies it was easy to fill in.
Thanks Steve for the writeup and happy birthday JD!
I got the theme from the first set of circles. That made the other circles easy. They all are famous actresses. Even though I don't know who played in what film, the clues gave me the circles and the circles gave me the actresses.
Most minced oaths don't bother me. I believe very few people know or think of the oaths they replace. These days so many people don't mince any words. i find that offensive.
I knew of Spoon River Anthology, but I have never read it.
EGEST seems common to me.
LAVA Beds National Monument was new to me, but I WAGged it from the LA--.
I waited for logON or logIN. UTURN gave me BRO and ANN (unknown)and then TA DA.
Happy birthday, JD. Enjoy your wonderful family.
Fun puzzle. Steve, great write up. I must be dense. Why Liberty Bell?
Yellowrocks: it too me a minute to see the Liberty Bell connection. There is a crack in the bell, hence it was not "well cast."
Good Morning:
The cleverness and creativity of constructors continues to amaze me. Even though I caught the theme at Meryl Streep, the others weren't gimmes as I was unfamiliar with the movies, but I had no problem finishing easily enough.
My first exposure to Ann Rule was her book, The Stranger Beside Me, which recounted her experience working along side Ted Bundy at a suicide prevention call center. Just the thought of him and his evilness makes my blood run cold.
Thanks, Danny, for a delightful challenge and thanks, Steve, for a spot-on summary. Have fun in Paree and have some escargot for me!
Happy Birthday, JD, hope it's a terrific day! 🎂🎈🎉
Have a great day.
The bell cracked because it was not "well-cast"
JD, HBDTY and many more; we need an update of that picture because we know they grow so fast
Really creative theme, showing what can come from observation and imagination I wonder if it was noticing that a TREE lived in Meryl Streep's name that caused this puzzle to be?
Actors Alan and producer Alan Jr?
Hello, friends!
A very happy birthday, JD! I'm sure it will be fun!
Thank you, Danny Reichert for a fast fill. The actresses emerged quickly even though I haven't seen the movies. OPAH was a surprise fill. I thought surely it would be MAHI and then we have TETRAS, too.
Stock holder, LASSO and top choice, TEE SHIRT were my favorites today. Scotland yards, METRES, was good, too.
Though I've never read her books, have seen ANN Rule's in the book store.
Thanks again, Danny. And many thanks to you as well, Steve.
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Steve- MASTERS came strictly from the perps for me also. As for the theme, it took some weird thinking or some computer program to look up movie actresses in which part of their names would have something to do with the movie they acted in. I had some difficulty starting but WAGging STP and STREEP appeared I filled the rest fairly easily. I have heard of all the actresses by none of the films.
I am commenting using my HP aptly named HAL-2 (my HAL is in a juckyard). I have traveled from Grand Central station to the US Tennis Center next to Shea Stadium but I thought it was on a subway. Didn't know it was the LIRR. I had a couple unknowns- ANN Rule and LAVA Beds Nat Pk.
Back in the early 60's, there was a beer in Texas that was advertised as LSD- Lone Star Draft. They changed there ads.
TTp- Hand up from me for ANN and MASTERS.
A few puzzles back I recall saying "Egad, there's a lot of rage over egest." Things seem to have reached a state of stasis now. If you liked this puzzle, celebrate by saying I'm so glad.
I thought Danny’s theme was amazing! Complementary clever cluing made for a satisfying solve.
Musings
-TAI Chi in our town led by RN’s trained by Tai Chi Masters of Beijing University
-John Lennon insisted the title Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds came from the title his 4 year old son gave to this drawing
-Do you put the BOO KAY in the VAHSE or the BOW KAY in the VAYSE?
-_ _ _ _ ESS made me think of _ _ _ MESS for the Lions
-I’ve had jobs where HOES broke clods and stirred mortar
-High Tech AIMing
-My cable DVR is full of Smithsonian Channel documentaries
-Ya GOTTA shell a lotta PODS to get a plateful of peas
-Their famous store is 15 minutes from the Quad Cities
-The World’s Biggest Liar competition is held annually in NW Britain’s Bridge Inn in the Lake District hamlet of Santon Bridge
-LEGALESE - In witness whereof the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned. Non LEGALESE - Signed on (DATE) ………….
-Cutting off a weight lifter traffic might make for ROID ROAD RAGE
-As we saw last week, a PAWN can become a Queen
-HBD, Judy! I’ve enjoyed all my correspondence with you!
The themers are unlike the Liberty Bell since said actresses were 'well cast'.
Good morning!
I was AWOL yesterday trying to teach this Windows-10 box to speak Texan. Didn't care for Windows much. This morning the Geek Squad called with a repair estimate for the Apple -- left a sour taste in my mouth. I screamed, "Egad! Gees!" Told 'em to just send back the Apple core. I'm liking Windows-10 much better today.
I liked this puzzle, and even got the theme early. Didn't realize those actresses were actually in the movies, though. Never saw any of 'em.
RIP, Alan Rickman.
Happy birthday, JD. Great lookin' crew ya got there.
Hi gang -
Unintentional DNF.
Had to google "way to CiTi Field." First thing that came up on my phone was route there from my house. Then LIRR. I think we've had that before, but why would anyone west of the Hudson know about it.
Thought I was finished when I sussed the unifier, then came here and discovered I'd left a few spaces unfilled. Alas and a lack of letters.
Clever, original and subtle theme. Can't even imagine how Danny came up with it. Circles make me expect anagrams.
I remember those 2008 Lions. Once the NFL shop caught on, the stopped selling Lions jerseys with "Owen 16" on them.
With Jabba in the grid, I'll annoy some anons by linking to my review of The Force Awakens. Feel free to leave a comment there.
Cool regards.
JzB
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthday, JD.
Not up on DKNY so bubkes there. Got everything else without aid and I'M SO GLAD. Favorite clue was for TETES.
HOES - We broke up clods after ploughing with disks and tooth harrow (drags)
Einstein - Hans Albert Einstein, his son, was a well known hydraulic engineer specializing in sediment transport. I believe he taught at UCal at Berkeley.
Yard - To accept a yard as a substitute for metre is a stretch. 10% difference is not generally useful.
"Actresses Diane and Cheryl : LADDS. I think I might have tried to construct this area differently to avoid another "actress" entry given the theme." --
But these were bonuses to ADD to the theme!
JazzB@10:00
Once in a while some of us west of the Hudson leave our caves and visit the big cities, like NY, and actually ride on the LIRR.
I think you want to spell PSYcology as PSYchology? That's all.
Well, this started out as practically a blank for me, on the first scan-through, but slowly, slowly, one corner after another fell into place and in the end I got the whole thing. Except that I couldn't understand the theme (Julia Roberts isn't a LIAR, surely!). The problem was that since I didn't know any of the movies, I didn't relate the circle answers back to the films. Thank goodness for the blog to help me finally understand what was going on here. So, thanks Danny, and you too, Steve, for an interesting morning!
Happy birthday, JD--have a wonderful celebration!
Well it IS a Red Letter Day at Villa Incognito.
Just went to the Library and picked up a book I've been waiting to read.
... wait for it ...
Yup!
Drinking In America, Our Secret History by Susan Cheever.
Cheers!
Very nice theme that would have been impossible to get without circles. Thanks, Danny, for a nice Thursday outing!
Steve, sorry no "Food"! for you today, but a great job, anyway.
I too started with limited success, but slowly patched the entire puzzle together. What fun! Luckily, or cleverly constructed, the puzzle allowed for crosses to bring unknown answers to light. After completion I can either look up the answers and learn something new, (only to be forgotten most times by the end of the day), or jump onto this blog and see what threads the puzzle has inspired.
Fun crossword today, as yesterday. Just hard enough. I'm sure they will make us pay tomorrow with lots of DNF's.
Never saw any of the movies, although I got the theme with MERYLSTREEP. Can I say I got'er done when I had to cheat a couple times? Not sure about that. Somehow the CW brought to mind a short joke so corny it is funny: Two potatoes are standing on the street corner. One is a prostitute. How do you know which one is the prostitute? Give up? It's the one with the little sticker on it that says IDAHO. (Ha-Ha, right?) Anyway, fun puzzle, thanks, Danny, and terrific write-up, thanks, Steve.
Spitzboov - HA Einstein was indeed a Cal ME Professor. I had him for Hydraulic Engineering circa 1950 in the decrepit Hearst Mining Building. It was built in 1907 and is still there. He was a very modest low key guy, maybe typical for people brought up in the shadow of giants.
I didnt have the the circles on the MENSA site, but didn't need them to get the theme.
No TADA for me so I turned on the red letters and I put RAW for ROW. I sure don't get that clue for row. SPAT ????
I can't even pretend today... Too much I didn't get. Can I blame TheraFlu two days in a row? Dang, I really thought I had this at 1a. I've seen the Sphinx in Giza up close. It is cool to see something you've only seen on TV before.
15a xing 8 & 9d? For 8d I wanted Top Choice to be THE SHI*, not enough squares. I had ErSA for Einstein's wife (Hahtoolah got it right - I heard the story on NPR about Einstein's Nobel gambit w/ 1st wife).
My blender cHoP'd and 35a would never button-up to WHIP this puzzle into shape. I got all the names (I don't know why), but never the unifier. DNF.
Thanks Danny for an orthogonal mind for today's puzzle. Thanks Steve for setting me straight.
Maybe later I'll play, for now I GOTTA nap. I'M SO GLAD (Cream) we get sick days.
Cheers, -T
Doh! I see NWRunner already linked Cream. My bad.
I started to edit one letter in my post, and lost the entire thing. I'll try again. Boo luquette--Try rhyming Row with now and not No. That should give you the answer to Spat.
A real DNF for me today. I had the first three or four answers across the top with no problem whatsoever, but then things began to unwind and didn't get better from then on. Thanks, Steve, your answers and clarifications always give me help on these Thursday and Friday puzzle that I struggle with.
Happy Birthday JD, and many, many, more.
Have a great day, everyone.
Did the puzzle early today, & breezed thru it when Meryl Streep jumped out at me.
But I am still not sure why, like Tin said, I have not seen any of these movies.
P.S. Tin, I am still trying to figure out the end of 2001. But Hal was never evil,
he was driven mad by conflicting programming. One of the most enduring messages
I ever learned from a movie...
Fav,22A nice bouquet = Vase, not wine, nice misdirection.
Learning moment: humuhumunukunukuapua`a
YellowRocks, Where did minced oaths come from?(Did I miss something?)
Also, I too queeried the liberty Bell Theme?
Thank you Hatoolah ( & Lemon)
(That crack was too deep for me...)
Also, I got LIRR, but I am still confused...
When it was Shea Stadium, we used to just take the IRT#7?
UncleFred@11:53, Thank you for giving me this (sort of) segue...
DW (& daughter#2)hate mashed potatoes.(Why did I marry her?)
But to me, they mean everything...
Happy Birthday JD, I have been looking for a cake for you but somehow this didn't cut it...
I almost went with this, because it said "aged to perfection."
But, in the end, if it contains Kitties, you know it came from the heart...
It's all in the name...
it's all in the name...
It's all in the name...
Boo -
Definition of row - - noun \ˈrau̇\ (vowel pronounced like the ow in vowel.)
: a noisy disturbance or quarrel
Lbl: I took a sedimentation course in the 60's and Hans Einstein was frequently cited as a source for some concept. Came to realize he was in that field what Newton, Euler,etal, were to MATH.
CED - Chuckled at all of your links but the mashed potatoes was the funniest, IMO. (The "eccentric" sister I mentioned yesterday doesn't eat mashed potatoes because they "gag" her. Of course, she doesn't eat any other type of potatoes, either.)🍟 Maybe.
Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle even if I didn't get the theme, Danny. No circles so no way to get it. However, when our stalwart Steve enlightened us, I still went, "Whaaat?" Finally realized it related to the movie name. How does someone come up with a them like that?
Whole lot of names going on here. I got out of the newspaper business when I started having trouble remembering names. Since that hasn't improved, my mind goes tilt when so many are thrown at me. However, I perped through it. "M" was the last to fill. I had trouble with that section with MASTERS/METRES/ARTY/STASIS. With everything in place, I wondered why it was so hard for me.
Never can remember how JABBA is spelled.
All the info about the Einsteins is very interesting. I didn't even know he ever married. Great thinkers are always quiet, aren't they? All their energy is introverted instead of being EGESTed as noise.
Happy birthday, JD!
CE Dave @ 1:54, Steve suggested it.
42. "Zounds!" : EGAD. We've had the "offensive" debate before, but I didn't read this article on "minced oaths" until just now. Interesting stuff.
I loved your cakes. Aged to perfection was my favorite.
Hello everybody. No circles so I didn't get the theme until coming here. I was expecting some sort of humorous misspelling of the actresses' names. I agree it is an imaginative theme; well done.
Jazzb, I very much enjoyed your review of the Star Wars movie.
Best happy birthday wishes to you, JD.
Lurker says
Fun puzzle today... Seemed easy for a Thursday but I'll take it. Funny chatter going on... Some very clever people. It was good not to have to hear about catherizations or square dancing.
Yellowrocks, OMG!I totally missed it!
(Twice!)
I cannot tell you how many times somebody references another post
that makes me go back & finally become enlightened.
I read your 3:10 post with blinders on,
then went back to Steves' write up & Controlled F "Minced"
only to discover the 24A post!
All I can say is "gosh, darn, dang, fudge and heck."
Good afternoon all,
Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments.Nothing better than getting up and solving a fun puzzle. Top choice exactly, and also my favorite, although I had freshest at first. Long words going down are still a challenge.Stock holder? was a fav too. I did not see the theme, but thought it was clever. I continue to marvel each day.
Tin, I will be enjoying 2 of my grandsons within the hour. I signed them up for an after school golf program, and so every Thursday for the last 2 1/2 years I go watch them play and then they come home with me. I get such a kick out of it. In retirement, many days seem to be the same, but actually, each day is spacial.Hope yours is too
Not sure why this was so easy for me...just on your wavelength, Danny-mi-boy! Thanks!
Loved the Liberty Bell theme, Steve, and the links. Well cast, indeed!
Happy birthday, JD
Somebody out there will understand this cry for help...
O.C.D. is like living your entire life in an echo....
only to forget and have it replaced with another rat race...
Owen, you were Spot-On with your poetic observations today!! Thanks!
Cross eyed Dave, thanks so much for my cake. I had a fabulous dessert for lunch today, but being a luddite I don't know how to get that picture on the blog without sending it to CC...maybe later. Thanks again.
CED, at 5:07 ....I hear you.
I have a relative with OCD, and there is treatment that can help the anxiety.
Also, try this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mental-illness-photos_568ea8b8e4b0c8beacf60c48?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living
You are not alone, though it seems like that at times!
This is a test.birthday dessert
another test..I've been trying to learn this for a long time
dessert
sigh
JD,
FYI, When I right click my mouse on your link,& choose inspect,
this comes up:
a href="IMG_2156.JPG" rel="nofollow">birthday dessert
note that I had to delete the preceeding and following HTML commands
or otherwise "birthday dessert" only would have appeared in blue...
Everything you typed is perfect,
with one exception,
the image that you chose is on your computer, but not on the internet.
in order for the HTML commands to work, every computer must be able to find
your IMG 2156.jpg or otherwise a "not found" error msg will appear...
Your picture source must be continuously connected to the internet
for other computers to find it.
Believe me, you do not want your computer continuously connected
to the internet,or nasty things can happen...
So the answer is to use a picture source that is continuously connected.
One way is to use a picture that is on Facebook,
or a picture saving service like Shutterfly.
or you can use a picture that is already on Google...
For instance, CrossEyedDave
But wait,
(yes, I know it sounds like yesterdays puzzle...)
Let's say you post your IMG2156jpg on facebook
problem solved right?
Nope...
Facebook is a protected source,every computer cannot see the pictures there
without entering a logon password.
"but" the picture is still continuously on the internet for everyone to see
"if" you delete any reference to Facebook!
Here is a picture from Facebook.
(& believe me, it does not always work.)
(you have to test each & every link...)
(right click on your link in preview mode & choose "open in new window.")
CED - LOL on tile shop sign! I don't even try to bother to help - Why the hell is she asking me? She knows what she wants... Duh, my Amex :-)
Also - The "You Suck at Cooking" videos kept me company on the couch. The onion & brusstle-sprouts episodes were my 2 favs. The one with Kale was funny too. "Scrub hard, to remove the new-age-residue" had me LOL. I was upset tho when the peppers got roasted after their BRO moment. :-)
JD - In my TheraFlu haze I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday. If you are on the left-coast, I'm not too late :-). HBD!
Cheers, -T
C'mon ced, u can reach X.
Here is a pic from Facebook
that I right clicked on until I had just the picture:
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12418014_10153982100386336_7440515216144699299_n.jpg?oh=40568baca0bc574dfbfdea26ab61d659&oe=570C8B02
note that it starts with https:// with no reference to facebook
when I surround this with HTML Commands (which I cannot do here without going blue)
I get this...
So,
post your image on the internet, (Facebook,or something else.)
Keep clicking on it until you have just the pic...
Right click yr mouse & choose "copy image address"
(not copy image)
(must be copy image address...)
paste in between your HTML commands... (as you have done perfectly...)
& viola! You have become like CrossEyedDave!
(CC, sorry 4 going over 5 posts, but it is a Birthday present to JD)
(& everyone else on the internet, Oh God! What have I done!)
CED - you can use & lt; and & gt; (without the spaces after &) to get < and > when needing to show the full "what you type". -T
&itWait, what?
Oh Jeez, I need another beer...
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that".
HAL @2:05 - too funny. Thanks for my evening giggle. Here's one for you I stumbled upon.
C, -T
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