Theme: Scrambles, neatly explained by the reveal entry:
35A. 1980 sci-fi thriller, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : ALTERED STATES
17A. Downpour : DRIVING RAIN. Virginia. "Driving Rain" word association? Crossfire Hurricane!
25A. Weasel relative : PINE MARTEN. Maine. They look cute until one invades your soccer game and you try to pick it up. Those teeth are sharp.
49A. 1988 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner : GEENA DAVIS. Nevada. She won for "The Accidental Tourist", and scored a follow-up mention for "Most Nervous Acceptance Speech".
56A. Christmas, for many : PAID HOLIDAY. Idaho. Home of Hell's Canyon, at 7,900 feet the deepest river gorge in the US. We all knew that, right?
Bonjour! Blogging en Paris ce matin. Straightforward enough theme from Robert; the names of four states are scrambled in each theme entry. I was looking to see if there was any connection between the four, but came up blank. Finding 8-letter VIRGINIA in an 11-letter word was neatly done - I wonder if that was the inspiration for the theme? Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Takes shape : LOOMS. Generally associated with big, scary stuff; I don't think a mouse has ever "loomed" into view.
6. Military installations : BASES
11. Armonk, N.Y.-based tech company : I.B.M. Here's the first PC - two floppy drives, no hard drive and it didn't come with MS-DOS, you had to buy the operating system separately. We got one at the bank I was working at in London and we all stood around looking at it wondering what to do with it.
14. Quarterback with the 2011 autobiography "Through My Eyes" : TEBOW. I think it's fair to describe Tim as an ex-quarterback now. He flamed out pretty quickly.
15. Tell's target : APPLE. Archer William. The name of the apple is lost to history.
16. PBS funder : N.E.A.
19. 40-yr.-old NBC show : S.N.L.
20. Mature insect : IMAGO
21. Singer Vannelli : GINO. I couldn't name you one song of his.
22. Fairy tale word : ONCE
29. Horned Frogs' sch. : T.C.U. Seems that there's a lot of TLA's today (geekspeak for Three-Letter Abbreviations). Texas Christian University.
30. Spot : SEE
31. Forward, in a way : RE-ROUTE. Hmmmm - really? "Could you forward that email to me?" "Could you re-route that email to me?" One isn't really like the other.
32. Ankle bones : TARSI
34. Put up : ERECT
40. Sister of Clio : ERATO. She's popped up 75 times in the LAT puzzle since 2002. Her sister Polyhymnia gets - surprisingly - one mention. I was sure she was going to register zero mentions.
41. Drive respondent : DONOR
43. It's usually taken in twos : ASPIRIN. Not "They're usually taken ..."? The grammar seems a little clunky.
46. Rival : FOE
48. Reason for adolescent angst : ZIT
51. Only : SOLE
52. Mythical arrow shooter : EROS. He just keeps cropping up. You can't keep a good archer down.
53. Key : ISLET
55. 2014 FIFA World Cup champion: Abbr. : GERmany. Many consider their 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil in the semi-final a few days earlier one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. I was watching in a bar in Mexico and by the time Germany went 5-0 up after a little more than half an hour the place was stunned into silence.
62. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN I
63. "__ Grows in Brooklyn" : A TREE. I should get around to reading this one day. It appears in a lot of "must read" book lists.
64. Carrot family herb : ANISE. Pretty. The seeds are most commonly used in cooking (whereupon anise becomes a spice), the leaves less so.
65. __ jacket : PEA
66. About 17 of them equal a United States dollar : PESOS. This struck me as odd when I was solving - I thought one of the rules of cluing is that the clue must not be dependent on when you do the puzzle. Unless the exchange rate is between the peso and the dollar is fixed, "17" is going to change over time.
67. Toyota's luxury division : LEXUS
Down:
1. Former Ford model : LTD. GTO went in; GTO came out when I remembered it's a Pontiac.
2. Poetic preposition : O'ER. O'er to you, Walt Whitman:
3. Japanese sash : OBI
4. Tinseltown vehicle : MOVIE. Because unless you have a stretch LI-I-MO, it's not long enough.
5. Show off a butterfly, perhaps : SWIM
6. Snack sack : BAGGIE
7. Grilling garment : APRON. If you ever catch me wearing one of these, please take me aside and have a quiet word with me.
8. Place to kick back : SPA
9. Whitney, by birth and by education : ELI
10. D.C. VIP : SEN.
11. As found : IN SITU
12. "Pride and Prejudice" family name : BENNET. I knew the name, I'm not sure I remembered the spelling until I ran out of room - I wanted two "T"s.
13. NBA great Karl : MALONE. For a while, he had an odd habit of referring to himself in the third person during interviews. Hall-of-Famer, Olympic Gold medalist and a host of other awards, but he never played on a championship-winning team.
18. Scruff : NAPE
21. Underground chamber : GROTTO
22. Polo Grounds slugger : OTT. Giants' outfielder Mel back in the New York days.
23. Univ. sports organizer : N.C.A.A.
24. Circular lock : CURL
26. Drops the ball : ERRS. Is all the talk when Mel drops a catch just Ott err?
27. Track competition : MEET
28. Penny __ : ARCADE
30. "The Treasure of the __ Madre": Bogart classic : SIERRA
33. Beer orders : STEINS. Usually at Oktoberfest:
34. Tokyo, long ago : EDO
36. Vice squad tactic : RAID
37. Peak south of Stromboli : ETNA
38. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO. Also the name of the dog in the novel "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Guaranteed to make you bawl your eyes out.
39. Get dirty : SOIL
42. Map abbr. : RTE.
43. Generation-to-generation span : AGE GAP
44. Calm : SERENE
45. Illinois county or its seat : PEORIA
46. Drops a line : FISHES
47. European capital : OSLO. We know lots of factoids about Olso, right? Home to the Ibsen, Munch and Norsk Volke Museums, the Nobel Prizes are awarded there, you can see the Kon Tiki and the Vigeland Sculpture Park and possibly have a beer with King Harald V. Skål!
50. Tape, maybe : VIDEO
51. "Goosebumps" series author : STINE. Thank you, crosses.
54. Ben Gurion carrier : EL AL
56. Drivel : PAP
57. Emptied the feedbag : ATE
58. Govt. collection agency : I.R.S.
59. Twice cinq : DIX. Nailed it! My hotel room is dix trente-quatre this week.
60. Pac-12 sch. : A.S.U. Please step forward, Arizona State University.
61. "Of course" : YES
That just about wraps it up for me. Here's the grid, circles a-plenty.
À bientôt!
Steve
35A. 1980 sci-fi thriller, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : ALTERED STATES
17A. Downpour : DRIVING RAIN. Virginia. "Driving Rain" word association? Crossfire Hurricane!
25A. Weasel relative : PINE MARTEN. Maine. They look cute until one invades your soccer game and you try to pick it up. Those teeth are sharp.
49A. 1988 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner : GEENA DAVIS. Nevada. She won for "The Accidental Tourist", and scored a follow-up mention for "Most Nervous Acceptance Speech".
56A. Christmas, for many : PAID HOLIDAY. Idaho. Home of Hell's Canyon, at 7,900 feet the deepest river gorge in the US. We all knew that, right?
Bonjour! Blogging en Paris ce matin. Straightforward enough theme from Robert; the names of four states are scrambled in each theme entry. I was looking to see if there was any connection between the four, but came up blank. Finding 8-letter VIRGINIA in an 11-letter word was neatly done - I wonder if that was the inspiration for the theme? Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Takes shape : LOOMS. Generally associated with big, scary stuff; I don't think a mouse has ever "loomed" into view.
6. Military installations : BASES
11. Armonk, N.Y.-based tech company : I.B.M. Here's the first PC - two floppy drives, no hard drive and it didn't come with MS-DOS, you had to buy the operating system separately. We got one at the bank I was working at in London and we all stood around looking at it wondering what to do with it.
14. Quarterback with the 2011 autobiography "Through My Eyes" : TEBOW. I think it's fair to describe Tim as an ex-quarterback now. He flamed out pretty quickly.
15. Tell's target : APPLE. Archer William. The name of the apple is lost to history.
16. PBS funder : N.E.A.
19. 40-yr.-old NBC show : S.N.L.
20. Mature insect : IMAGO
21. Singer Vannelli : GINO. I couldn't name you one song of his.
22. Fairy tale word : ONCE
29. Horned Frogs' sch. : T.C.U. Seems that there's a lot of TLA's today (geekspeak for Three-Letter Abbreviations). Texas Christian University.
30. Spot : SEE
31. Forward, in a way : RE-ROUTE. Hmmmm - really? "Could you forward that email to me?" "Could you re-route that email to me?" One isn't really like the other.
32. Ankle bones : TARSI
34. Put up : ERECT
40. Sister of Clio : ERATO. She's popped up 75 times in the LAT puzzle since 2002. Her sister Polyhymnia gets - surprisingly - one mention. I was sure she was going to register zero mentions.
41. Drive respondent : DONOR
43. It's usually taken in twos : ASPIRIN. Not "They're usually taken ..."? The grammar seems a little clunky.
46. Rival : FOE
48. Reason for adolescent angst : ZIT
51. Only : SOLE
52. Mythical arrow shooter : EROS. He just keeps cropping up. You can't keep a good archer down.
53. Key : ISLET
55. 2014 FIFA World Cup champion: Abbr. : GERmany. Many consider their 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil in the semi-final a few days earlier one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. I was watching in a bar in Mexico and by the time Germany went 5-0 up after a little more than half an hour the place was stunned into silence.
62. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN I
63. "__ Grows in Brooklyn" : A TREE. I should get around to reading this one day. It appears in a lot of "must read" book lists.
64. Carrot family herb : ANISE. Pretty. The seeds are most commonly used in cooking (whereupon anise becomes a spice), the leaves less so.
65. __ jacket : PEA
66. About 17 of them equal a United States dollar : PESOS. This struck me as odd when I was solving - I thought one of the rules of cluing is that the clue must not be dependent on when you do the puzzle. Unless the exchange rate is between the peso and the dollar is fixed, "17" is going to change over time.
67. Toyota's luxury division : LEXUS
Down:
1. Former Ford model : LTD. GTO went in; GTO came out when I remembered it's a Pontiac.
2. Poetic preposition : O'ER. O'er to you, Walt Whitman:
Gliding o'er all, through all,
Through Nature, Time, and Space,
As a ship on the waters advancing,
The voyage of the soul—not life alone,
Death, many deaths I'll sing.
3. Japanese sash : OBI
4. Tinseltown vehicle : MOVIE. Because unless you have a stretch LI-I-MO, it's not long enough.
5. Show off a butterfly, perhaps : SWIM
6. Snack sack : BAGGIE
7. Grilling garment : APRON. If you ever catch me wearing one of these, please take me aside and have a quiet word with me.
8. Place to kick back : SPA
9. Whitney, by birth and by education : ELI
10. D.C. VIP : SEN.
11. As found : IN SITU
12. "Pride and Prejudice" family name : BENNET. I knew the name, I'm not sure I remembered the spelling until I ran out of room - I wanted two "T"s.
13. NBA great Karl : MALONE. For a while, he had an odd habit of referring to himself in the third person during interviews. Hall-of-Famer, Olympic Gold medalist and a host of other awards, but he never played on a championship-winning team.
18. Scruff : NAPE
21. Underground chamber : GROTTO
22. Polo Grounds slugger : OTT. Giants' outfielder Mel back in the New York days.
23. Univ. sports organizer : N.C.A.A.
24. Circular lock : CURL
26. Drops the ball : ERRS. Is all the talk when Mel drops a catch just Ott err?
27. Track competition : MEET
28. Penny __ : ARCADE
30. "The Treasure of the __ Madre": Bogart classic : SIERRA
33. Beer orders : STEINS. Usually at Oktoberfest:
34. Tokyo, long ago : EDO
36. Vice squad tactic : RAID
37. Peak south of Stromboli : ETNA
38. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO. Also the name of the dog in the novel "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Guaranteed to make you bawl your eyes out.
39. Get dirty : SOIL
42. Map abbr. : RTE.
43. Generation-to-generation span : AGE GAP
44. Calm : SERENE
45. Illinois county or its seat : PEORIA
46. Drops a line : FISHES
47. European capital : OSLO. We know lots of factoids about Olso, right? Home to the Ibsen, Munch and Norsk Volke Museums, the Nobel Prizes are awarded there, you can see the Kon Tiki and the Vigeland Sculpture Park and possibly have a beer with King Harald V. Skål!
50. Tape, maybe : VIDEO
51. "Goosebumps" series author : STINE. Thank you, crosses.
54. Ben Gurion carrier : EL AL
56. Drivel : PAP
57. Emptied the feedbag : ATE
58. Govt. collection agency : I.R.S.
59. Twice cinq : DIX. Nailed it! My hotel room is dix trente-quatre this week.
60. Pac-12 sch. : A.S.U. Please step forward, Arizona State University.
61. "Of course" : YES
That just about wraps it up for me. Here's the grid, circles a-plenty.
À bientôt!
Steve
59 comments:
Morning, all!
No circles for me today. I figured the theme probably involved anagrammed state names, but I wasn't able to confirm that until I came here. Ah well...
Nothing particularly tricky about the rest of the puzzle. I tried PINE MARTIN at first, but BENNET looked more likely than BENNIT and so I made the switch. Now that my company has been bought by IBM, I suppose I should learn a little about IBM's history. I had no idea it was based in NY, for example.
I am always amazed that people find these hidden jumbled and like Steve I was hoping for some connection between the state's.
I think the ASPIRIN clue is okay because it does not refer to the tablets but only the compound which is singular.
IMAGO ERATO GROTTO VIDEO GINO OSLO EDO (which appears so soon after it was wanted in error)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_VannelliI have a vague recollection of Canadian GINO but his name is too much like Milli Vanilli
Thanks RELM and Steve
Beautiful grid today Steve!
There once was a miss from VIRGINIA
Who'd see if you had it in ya
To sip from her navel,
And if you were able,
All night she'd hold it agin ya!
There once was a cool cat in MAINE
Whose playing put Basie to shame!
The sound of his horn
Was like musical porn,
But in MAINE he chose to remain!
A swami went out to NEVADA
To further his search for nirvana.
He sampled a brothel
And thought it was awful --
Their buffet only served enchilada!
A farmer there was in IDAHO
Who couldn't get his spuds to grow
So he fertilized
With U-235,
And that's how he got his spuds to glow!
Good Morning, Steve and friends. I found this to be relatively easy for a Thursday. Lots of fun and misleading clues. I especially liked the Tinseltown Vehicle = MOVIE, Show Off a Butterfly = SWIM and Circular Lock = CURL.
I really wanted FORMS in lieu of LOOMS, Especially since three of the letters were the same and in the same spot. The OBI set me straight.
Two Louisiana athletes today: Karl "The Mailman" MALONE (b. 1963), was born in Northern Louisiana and Mel OTT (1909 ~ 1958),was from Southern Louisiana. Mel makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles, but we don't see Karl very often.
PEA coat rolls of the tongue more easily than PEA Jacket.
There may be a new bio-pic about ENZO Ferrari (1898 ~ 1988) if a replacement for Christian Bale, who recently backed out, can be found.
QOD: I love my past, I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I no longer have it. ~ Colette (née Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, Jan. 28, 1873 ~ Aug. 3, 1954)
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, REL! Very exotic expo from Paris, Steve!
No circles. Forgot to look for a theme. Wouldn't have sussed it anyway.
Never heard of GINO. Always want an "A" to end ERATO since it's a female. But then its Greek.
Drove an LTD or three for years.
Was surprised to see a fox trot across my yard the other day when I was watching Jeopardy at dusk. I've heard what I thought sounded like a fox yapping several times in the past year, but decided it must be one of the many neighborhood dogs.
Good morning!
Wondered what SEIM had to do with a butterfly, and promised myself I'd come back to that. Forgot. DNF! TEBOE looked fine to me. I didn't have a prayer spelling his name.
Nicely done, multi-lingual Steve. May be wrong, but I remember that only the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo. The rest are awarded in Stockholm.
There's still a PEA coat (jacket) hanging in my closet...original U.S. Navy issue, last worn about 40 years ago. It just doesn't get cold enough to wear it in Texas. It's the only piece of the uniform that I still own. I wonder why it's called a PEA coat, it's certainly not green.
Geena Davis won oscar for best supporting actress in 1989; Olympia Dukakus won in 1988!
I try to ignore the circles in puzzles and finish the thing and if the reveal is at the end of the puzzle, only then will I look back at the circles. But in this case ATLERED STATES was in the center so I looked for the next two.
This was a very easy puzzle for a Thursday, with ANISE, TEBOW and BENNET the only unknowns with the last making me change PINE MARTIN to MARTEN. Cars beginning and ending today- 1D LTD and 67A LEXUS. GEENA & GINO- would their 'daughter be GEENETTE?
TEBOW- IMHO anybody who writes an autobiography has a serious ego problem. If you are that noteworthy someone else will write it; if not, nobody will care.
PAID HOLIDAY-does the federal government have too many for their employees using your tax dollars? NYD, MLK, PRESIDENT'S, MEMORIAL, 4TH, LABOR, COLUMBUS, VETERANS, THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS. That's TEN not including the days that nobody works- Christmas Eve & New Years Eve.
Steve- I remember IBM trying to flog their own operating system called PC-DOS to compete with the MS-DOS. And on the 'Grilling APRON' I did notice that the six-pack was on top for easier reach.
"It's usually taken in twos"
Of course most people take ASPIRIN IN PAIRS
No idea of the theme, but I knew the name BENNET from "Justified", so had no problem.
Yep. Martin is spelled with an E. but Bennett straightened that out. Otherwise, pretty smooth sailing for a Thursday. Since we live in the hinterlands, we no longer get the dead tree paper until noon (by mail), so I've had to print the puzzle from this site the last 3 weeks. It has circles, so no problems there. The only connection I could find with the states was that two are eastern and two are western. And they are grouped by location, so there's some symmetry going on with that.
Anon @ 7:11, the year of the movie is what counts, not the year the award was actually given.
Thanks Steve! Enjoy your trip.
Steady solve today. I had the circles, but it didn't help a lot except with GEENA DAVIS since I knew I needed the V in there for Nevada. Minor slow down when I had STOUTS for STEINS and SAP for PAP, but corrected by perps.
I didn't have an issue with REROUTE for forward - as I was thinking of snail mail - we had a young man staying with us last summer while he was doing an internship and have had to reroute a few pieces of mail to his college address once he left.
WEES about BENNET
Thanks RELM and Steve!
Robert E. Lee Morris: Thank You for a FUN Thursday puzzle. Good Job!
The V-8 can smack when SWIM appeared for "Show off a butterfly, perhaps" was my fave today.
Though STEINS for "Beer order" was a close second.
Needed ESP (Every Single Perp) to get BENNET and STINE (don't think I ever read the "Goosebumps" series ... and "Pride and Prejudice" was read about 45 years ago).
Nice DRIVING RAIN yesterday and today. I always like January rainy days.
A "toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
No circles on MENSA site, so I had no clue about the theme. However, even without the circles today's puzzle was a pretty easy solve.
There seemed to be a fair number of words ending in "O" today which meant that OSLO was sure to appear.
I agree with BE about autobiographies. They are usually revisionist versions of someone's history (usually politicians) and very self serving in addition to being real truth stretchers. AUTO BIOGRAPHIES should be left to writing about cars.
However, WRT government holidays, many companies also offer many of the same ones and sometimes an additional one or two like the day after Thanksgiving and the day before or after Christmas and New Years based on which day of the week that they fall. Even though I was officially entitled to these holidays, I worked on many of them because the nature of the job required 24/7 coverage. One holiday that is celebrated in much of PA is the first day of Deer hunting season. Trash isn't collected, and many schools and businesses are closed. Only in America, or should I say Only in PA!
Nice puzzle and great Expo Steve. Enjoy Paris.
I hope everyone is dug out from the snowstorm and has a great day.
Greetings!
Nice work, Robert and Steve!
Took a while!
The following were perped: PINEMARTEN, MALONE and GINO.
Dentist appointment was more horrible than expected. Goal was to remove mercury from 3 teeth. However, the second one had a cavity. Two hours thirty minutes later only two teeth done. Have 10 more to go now. Back is killing me!
Cheers!
Yes VIRGINIA, there is a PINE MARTEN! I’ll take a “Got ‘er done!” sticker please as BENNET seemed only logical. Bien fait, Steve!
Musings
-I hope some DRIVING RAINS will help with this situation
-A thunderstorm here generally LOOMS in the west. In Florida, who knows?
-Does “Once UPON A Time” always mean happily ever after?
-You - “Dang I missed my turn!” Siri – “RE-ROUTING you idiot!”
-ASPIRIN - Hippocrates knew willow bark (salicylic acid) could ease pain and reduce fevers even with side effects
-I remember when ANI was a cwd clue for this
-The Panthers are favored by 4 ½ pts O’ER the Broncos
-Waxed paper protected my sandwiches way before BAGGIES
-Can this holding method be called by the NAPE OR the Scruff of the neck?
-Two famous 1955 LOCK CURLS
-A test of a MOVIE’s broad appeal, “Will it play in PEORIA?”
-Autobiographies and other books always turn on dollars not merit. See musing immediately above
-Otto, I’ve been in Dallas twice in March when it was plenty cold for a PEA Coat!
-Welcome back, Owen!
Thanks RELM. Thanks Steve.
Karl Malone was always a favorite. He wasn't that good from the charirty stripe when he first entered the league. Then in his third year he started mumbling something at the line and his free throw percentage went up dramatically and kept getting better. No one knows what he said to himself and he's still not telling. I'd heard he went to a sports psychologist who told him he was putting too much pressure on himself, and the suggestion was that he focus on something else during the shot. I tried to read his lips. The best I could come up with is that he is saying, "I'd rather be driving my pickup truck."
Barry, here you go IBM Archives
Too many names for this one to be easy for me. But surprisingly, I got it all unassisted, of course getting my openings from the bottom up, despite the unlikelihood that Jazz pointed out yesterday of my theory being the reason.
I knew MARTEN because a couple of years ago, my son in Germany was telling us about his Audi being attacked by one. The German for marten is Marder, which I had to look up, and so remembered it. It was apparently getting up from under the engine and chewing on hoses or something. People there combat this by installing wire netting under the engine area to prevent access to it.
Good Morning:
Enjoyed the puzzle but the reveal showed up too early. Some nice cluing and some learning moments: Never heard of a pine marten but am familiar with weasels, both the four-legged ones, as well as some two-legged ones. Also, had no idea that anise and carrots were related but that explains why I don't like either. LTD was a given because we had one a long time ago and also represents my late husband's initials. (Will check with Mr. G on why Mel Ott died at 49.)
Thanks for a Thursday treat, RELM, and thanks, Steve, for The Paris Review. 😉 I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and Marley an Me, both tear-jerkers. I got 7/8 of the way through the movie, Marley and Me, and had to turn it off as I could not bear to watch the ending.
Have a great day.
• Nice theme, unknown but guessable unifier which helped me with all the theme clues. Ha ha ha to those out there who insist on getting an early version, sans circles, so they can do the puzzle the night before and become early posters. The LA Times on-line version is free, and you guys East of me, which is most of you, get a 1-3 hour head start in any case.
Pea Jacket is apparently a transliteration of the Dutch pijjakker where pij is a coat of coarse cloth. I always wondered too about its origin.
Too much sporting stuff for my liking, but that is my fault for being foreign-born - I wouldn't even know how to pronounce TEBOW. Other Mehs were "AGE-GAP" - clue much too vague.
in situ to me means "in its natural place". "As found" could mean anywhere in the universe. "As naturally found" would be OK.
• I am familiar with BROWN BAGS for lunch (always reminds me of "BROWN-NOSE" though, so a bit off-putting). Never heard of a BAGGIE.
• Hormones => ANGST; Hormones => ZITS. But it does not follow that ZITS are the reason for Angst.
- Steve
• Wouldn't your room be "mille trente-quatre"? Never too sure in FrogLand, or Paris for that matter, which to use.
• Dated clues are common - but even SSTS generally get a "bygone" tag. And I agree that the dollar-peso exchange rate is bound to change, and therefore very time-limited.
• Dose of aspirin was OK.
But fine write-up as ever.
Bon vacances mon ami
Mille trente-quatre à Paris en France. à for cities, en for feminine countries, au for masculine countries. Sounds like a nice view from that height in any case. Est-ce que ce sont des vacances, ou bien des voyages d'affaires? En tout cas, bon voyage!
Easy for a Thursday...not sure why. I just knew lots of the trivia, I guess.
I didn't get the theme but didn't need it. I'm still not sure of it even after Steve's good explanation. Thanks to you both.
Welcome back Owen! You were missed!
Good Morning!
Thanks General Morris for a fine Thursday. Some familiar CW fill along with challenges. I also liked Butterfly as in SWIM. I didn't have the circles, but did fine. Like Barry, I figured the states were in there somewhere!
Steve, Merci! Tres Bien!
NC, I also always wondered about Pea COAT (jacket) so thank you
Hello Puzzlers -
Quick solve for a Thursday. The NE corner was last to fall because, as usual, I didn't know the sports guy and had to guess. Never heard of a Pine Marten, so that was all perps. If I ever encounter one nibbling on my Audi, I'll try to avoid the sharp nasty teeth.
Howdy, Steve, you do seem to have an interesting lifestyle. It pleases me that said lifestyle does not have room for a grilling apron. Well chosen. :-)
Hi gang -
Circles usually alert me to a puzzle that will not be a favorite. Today's was no exception. Well executed, though, with a great reveal - so I have no nits.
Tim Tebow is 28. So that Auto-bio came out when he was 23. That takes the ego thing to a whole new level.
Ever notice that GROTTO and CAVERN have the same number of letters?
Had the most trouble with 46D. Drops a line = FISHES makes sense, but I had difficulty reeling it in.
Never knew ANISE was an umbellifer - along with dill, carraway, parsley, cilantro, fennel and celery. Celery?!?
Added CURLS to my exercise program yesterday. Did nothing for my hair.
Cool regards!
JzB
Hello, friends!
Thank you, Mr. R.E.L. Morris! I liked this puzzle and solved it quickly for a Thursday. Actually, we have seen this theme before and so I looked for the ALTERED STATES and found all except VIRGINIA which for some reason gave me a hard time. Finally, DRIVING RAIN provided the V and finished that corner. GROWS wasn't working so I erased it and started over. Loved the cluing for SWIM! V8 moment there.
BENNET is a gimme for anyone who loves Jane Austen. I do. And I first had MILI Vanilli of lip sync fame but that was soon dispelled and GINO appeared.
ASU, yea!
As I understand it, many states have even more PAID HOLIDAYS for local reasons. Surely, hard work and dedication warrants some extra time off.
Gracias, Steve, por su escrito tan admirable.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Can I assume there are Santana fans among us?
Quite by accident I found a YouTube video of a live Santana performance that took place at Tanglewood in the summer of 1970. As many of you know, Tanglewood is located in the Berkshires of W. Mass. and is the summertime performance place of the Boston Symphony. It started out thoroughly highbrow, but over the years became more willing to embrace popular music and bigger crowds. It's safe to say Santana was blazingly popular in 1970 - the turnout must have been a flood!
Here's a look at a young Carlos and crowd playing Incident at Neshabur.
Well, I had a couple of goof-ups in this puzzle, but still loved the theme, which was a lot of fun. Always nice to see a poem in the expo, Steve, many thanks.
Nice to have Owen back.
Have a great day everybody!
"puzzling thoughts":
Pretty easy for a Thursday; no mishaps but I had perps help with PINE MARTEN as well as a few others
Getting a bit tired of the rain here in S FL. We had upwards of 4" yesterday and forecasting another 1-1/2" today. The gloomy skies remind me of what winter is like up north, but at least it's just rain and not several inches or feet of snow; so I guess it could be worse.
We had an EF1 tornado touch down not too far from here yesterday. I know most people think of FL for the hurricanes, but we do get our fair share of tornadoes, though most are in the EF0 or EF1 range. Still, I wouldn't want to be in one's path . . .
A balmy 39 here, going up to 50 by weekend. Sunny. Blue skies. Perfect weather for January.
Definitely agree with ego and autobiography. I believe our current President has written 2 already. Before he was even 35.
Easy?
I am surprised I WAGed my way thru this, especially the 3 name Natick of Gina,Bennet & Malone.
I also had Teboe wrong, but luckily I had left the M in imago blank & went back to it.
5D Show off a butterfly perhaps? (What? that little dang pin has a scientific name?)
Imago, hmm, how can I make myself remember this word...
4D tinseltown vehicle? That's easy: Oater! (Bzzt!)
Hmm, 22A 1st time Fairy Tale word wasn't Ogre!
24D Circular lock. Hmm, I don't remember any lock manufacturer named Curl? (it wasn't until well into the reader comments that I got hit with that V8 can!)
51A Only, started out as "mere." (wait a sec, who is M. Tine...)
Double Hmm, yes, Well I guess if I figured this one out, it must have been easy...
Thank you Steve for the learning experience, I got a double bonus out of your write up!
Not only did I get to see a hike of Hells Canyon Idaho, I learned how to make a home made glidecam!
Heck!, I was just going to tape my Flipcam to my hat!
& finally, thanks for the Pea Coat word origins.
However, whenever I hear the word, I remember wearing one growing up,
walking around in 11 degree weather with the wind ripping down those NYC concrete canyons.
I can still hear what my Dad used to call those coats, Bum Freezers...
A fairly straightforward solve, especially for a Thursday.
Did I really read a comment that stated they had never heard of a Baggie? Really? What are all those sandwich bags called where you live? It's a brand name…
Do any of you believe either Tim Tebow or Barack Obama actually wrote those AUTObiographies?
It is what our world has become
Lemon, do you remember ClearAyes getting mad at me for that very subject?
BAGGIE was troubling, but only because I never looked on it as a formal name for whatever my food was wrapped in. It's the sort of word we think we've coined ourselves, invented for the occasion. You know: "What's that thingie you've got your snackie in?" "Oh, this little baggie? I dunno."
Well-constructed puzzle, themewise. No circles so I didn't see the scrambled state names. Yes, I also noticed many words ending in O and quite a few 3-letter initials/abbreviations. Excellent write-up, Steve.
I think most of the Crossword Corner denizens are better solvers than I am. But I was pleased with my success late last night. The Mensa site has no circles so I usually go to Cruciverb to note the locations of the circles. But when I came to the reveal of ALTERED STATES, I figured out what the theme was and decided to see if I could suss out the hidden states without the circles. I did it! No red letters either. I almost dislocated my shoulder from patting myself on the back. I do often drink a small can of V-8 juice for breakfast. Could that be it?
I wonder if a Pine Marten is related to PBS's Doc Martin? Probably not... :>)
At Villa Incognito a BAGGIE isn't used as a "Snack sack" ...
Whenever I head down to Hedonism II, Negril Jamaica I usually take a couple of boxes of sandwich baggies ...
I then "trade-them" with the local "supplier" for some indigenous product.
He always thanks me and says: "If you need any more ... No Problem!"
Smoke'em if you got'em ...
Cheers!
Tin, I hope you take the correct brand. I hate those little pleats in the corners!
Nice Cuppa: I do the puzzle on Mensa because that's when I'm awake and up lately not so I can be first to post. I don't compete with anyone but myself on anything. For some reason I had trouble with the LAT site which wouldn't stay put on my IMAC and kept disappearing. This is why people write autobiographies: because biographers who write from a different perspective so often don't understand the motives for certain actions. Hahaha, yourself!
People of a certain age.....at least in this country....are completely familiar with the term Baggie. Oddly enough, though, most apply what is a registered brand name to what is in fact a different brand: GladBag.
Or so I'm told.
A tad easy for a Thursday puzzle.
OKL is back!
RELM - you beat me up today. 3 lookups and still a DNF. I'm feeling well, so I can only blame my ignorance. Thanks for the puzzle. Thanks Steve for posting from across the pond! I'm kinda keen on that APRON - a 6 pack at the ready?!?
Lookups, 12d, then 21a (had I done that 1st, I may have WAG'd 12d, and 51d. (I wanted Just for "only."
Fail - GRaTTO would never let me RERouTE my thinking. I SEE now.
WOs: Mili (sp?) Vannelli and I misspelled ASPIRIN - twice. ESPs are all over the place, so I won't bother you w/ 'em.
Fav - 5d. 41a was pretty cute too (I still had DRIVING RAIN in my head so it took a bit).
I don't see the issue w/ BAGGIE (nailed it!) - You get a doggie BAGGIE for what you can't eat at the restaurant (or smoke in Columbia) for a snack later. OTOH, like CED said, CURL for a round or puck lock (which I've only been able to pick 2x in <2min) took Steve's expo to drop the V8 can.
Time to feed the kids; I'll play later. I'll leave you w/ a food fight after Bluto pops a ZIT. (or just enjoy the music)
Cheers, -T
Hmm, after all the comments, I realized I didn't recognize ALTERED STATES as a revelation of anything -- maybe since it was up in the middle. I remembered looking at the bottom theme entry and wondering what it had to do with all the others. Duh!
I'm not so sure all autobiographies are an ego trip as much as the writer thinking he has something to say that people might find interesting or important or for which they will pay money. Tebow probably wanted to capitalize on his celebrity status. Obama wanted people to know he was something more than his black skin.
PK, you are kind. I guess I always thought these auto bios were for the money. Whoever wrote Tebows's book at 23 had to be thinking about profit.
But I am cynical......
Now for something completely different...
We're watching Idol (don't judge). They mention often that it's being held at the Dolby Theater. Can anyone here hear that name and not automatically think: "She blinded me with science!"?
My bride does not share this auto-response. But we've remained married for over 36 years, so I guess it works despite the clear differences in perspective. :-)
Ave Joe, hahahahahahahahahaaaa
Owen!! Where ya been?? I've missed your limericks!
Lemonade- I agree with you on the autos. Neither one of those wrote anything, nor was the latter a 'constitutional scholar'. An adjunct professor is a part-time instructor.
Dudley, Clear Ayes was a trip. Thanks for the memories
Ave Joe - LOL. And no, I can not hear Dolby and not think of S-S-Science!
Here's a puck lock being picked (with a blow-torch!). This guy's way better than I (or his pick set is better). B/f y'all get the wrong idea about me - lock-picking is a hobby. To know security, break security.
Ave Joe - I think Idol would be a better choice than I made. I tried to watch the debates but it feels like the circus is missing a clown.
Cheers, -T
Thoroughly enjoyed googling my way through this one... a lot of learning going on, pinemarten being one. Thought the theme was very clever, but even though I knew what it was, it did not help me. Thanks for the work out.
For the last week or so, Jeopardy has had a winner who seemed like a most unlikely champion. He looked and acted so timid that he kept surprising me when he knew most of the answers and was often able to ring in first. He had a good run.
Anon-T @9.24
That was an amazing melting of the ABUS 24RK lock.
Kinda think you should put the time ... this one was 6:25 ... when you make a link.
That way I would know before-hand how long of time I should commit to watch a link.
BTW ... THAT 6:24 was time well spent.
Anon @4:43
He is just happy to get any kind of BAGGIE I bring him.
He normally charges (the idiots from Boston, or New York, or Toronto, etc.) about
$100 for their "quantity" they want for the week ... it "costs" him about $1 ...
So I get off "cheap" ... at about five bucks for the 2 boxes of sandwich bags.
LOL !!!
Doh! I meant to type and his pick set is better than mine. The guy doing the videos know his stuff.
Tin - noted. I'll try to remember to do that for anything over :30. Cheers, -T
Avg Joe, my first association to Dolby is for Dolby noise reduction. I was somewhat of an audiophile back in the day. I "built" my stereo system component by component in the mid to late 70s. Had a Kenwood integrated amp, Technics tuner, JBL speakers, Technics direct drive turntable, Soundcraftsmen equalizer, dbx range expander, and it was either a Teac or AKAI dual cassette tape deck with built in dolby noise reduction.
If you wanted to make high quality cassette recordings, dolby was the best option. You could play cassettes that had been recorded with dolby on any cassette payer and they sounded great. You could buy cassette decks that used dbx noise suppression, but the cassettes only sounded normal if you played them back on a dbx equipped cassette player.
Post a Comment