18 A. Worker in a red, white and blue truck : MAIL CARRIER. For the U.S. Postal Service. You can use it to order by mail.
37 A. eBay event : ON-LINE AUCTION. And you can also order ON-LINE from Amazon and many traditional retailers.
61 A. Document that might be subpoenaed : PHONE RECORD. I'll let our legal experts explain why PHONE RECORDS might be gathered as evidence. But you can also make your purchases by phone. Have your credit card handy.
And the reveal: 40 D. Catalog come-on ... three ways to do it begin 18-, 37- and 61-Across : ORDER NOW. Our sales executives are standing by. Act fast and at no extra charge . . . Well, you get the idea.
Today's constructor is, as Robert Plant once said, "a lady we all know." And it looks like she's getting ready to buy something. Even if the stores are all closed, she's discovered several ways to get what she came for.
Hi gang - JazzBumpa here, repping for The Corner Crew. Are you in a buying mood? It makes me wonder. Ooh, it really makes me wonder. Let's check out the merchandise.
Down
1. Texting protocol initials : SMS. Short Message Service, for phones and other mobile devices. It has an estimates 3.5 billion users.
4. Fired (up) : AMPED. Excited and enthused.
9. Immortal Jazz trumpeter, to fans : SATCH. Short for Satchmo, AKA, Louis, one of the most influential jazz and popular musicians of the 20th century.
14. Power __ : TIE. A solid or striped necktie in bold, conservative colors, used as part of a "dress for success wardrobe," if you believe in that sort of thing.
15. "That Girl" star Thomas : MARLO. A 1966 - 1971 TV program about an aspiring young actress trying to make it in New York City.
16. Chef Hall who co-hosts "The Chew" : CARLA.
17. "Bambi" character : ENA. Bambi's mother in law. Oh, deer.
20. Fastest of Columbus' ships : PINTA. A caravelle. The Niña, also a caravelle, and Santa Maria, a carrack, were dawdlers.
22. Progressive rival : GEICO. Insurance companies.
23. Kilmer of "The Doors" : VAL. He played Jim Morrison in the movie.
24. Cyclist's violation : DOPING. Defined as the "use of physiological substances or abnormal method to obtain an artificial increase of performance," a notorious problem in top level cycling competitions since at least 1886.
26. Unlikely smartphone user : LUDDITE. One opposed to industrialization or new technology. They have to actually go to the store to shop. And probably pay cash.
28. Picnic __ : AREA. Words seen on a park sign.
29. Opening : ONSET. Beginning.
32. "Piece of cake!" : EASY. No problem.
33. Room for family game night : DEN. Can also be called the family room, if you're game.
34. Chambermaid's supply : SOAP. Towels and linens have not inspired operas.
35. Hook shape : ESS. Like the letter.
42. Funds for the future, briefly : IRA. Individual Retirement Account.
43. Finish filming : WRAP.
44. Done with, with "of" : RID. And good RIDdance, too.
46. Butler's home, for a while : TARA. Rhett in Gone With The Wind.
49. Technician with a fork : TUNER. Worker in old keyboard technology. Possibly a LUDDITE.
51. Inactive : IDLE.
52. Lex Luthor and Superman, e.g. : ENEMIES. Villain and hero, respectively.
54. Mic users : EMCEES. Masters of Ceremonies, initially phoneticized.
56. CXVI years ago : MCM. More commonly, 116 years ago was 1900.
57. Indian royals : RANIS. Of the female persuasion. RAJAS also fits, but got perped out.
60. Belgrade natives : SERBS. Belgrade, on the banks of he Danube, is the capital and largest city of Serbia.
64. Mets' div. : NLE. National League East. Baseball, of course.
65. Best Actress winner for "Two Women" : LOREN. Sophia, in a tragic story set in WW II.
66. "Hooray!" : WAHOO. Yippee!
67. "Days of __ Lives" : OUR. One of those commercial operas obliquely alluded to above. Strangely, does not feature chamber maids.
68. Strike out : ERASE. Remove text. Not baseball, sadly.
69. Stuck-up types : SNOBS. At a deeper level, those who believe social status is an indicator of a person's worth.
70. Like freshly applied polish : WET. Or paint.
Down
1. Jay Pritchett, to Manny, on "Modern Family" : STEP DAD. Never watched it.
Down
1. Jay Pritchett, to Manny, on "Modern Family" : STEP DAD. Never watched it.
2. Bite-size cookie : MINI-OREO. Here, the cruciverbalist's favorite cookie makes a small appearance.
3. Co-screenwriter and star of "The Gunman" : SEAN PENN. Murder, murder, and more murder.
4. University of Jordan city : AMMAN.
5. Billy's cry : MAA. Especially on the Isle of Capri. Did this get your goat?
6. Uptight type : PRIG. One whose SNOBBERY is based on a sense of self-righteous moral superiority.
7. Allure rackmate : ELLE. Fashion magazines.
8. Not likely to bite : DOCILE. As a pet or other animal
9. New England whitefish : SCROD. A young cod, haddock, etc.
10. Longest river entirely in Switzerland : AAR. A tributary of the Rhine, it's name goes back to pre-Roman times. During it's 195 mile run, it descends 5235 feet. Its watershed includes about half of the country.
11. Small stuff : TRIVIA. That which is not to be sweated.
12. Lacrosse shoes : CLEATS. Sports shoes with projections on the sole to grip and prevent slipping.
13. Road hog? : HARLEY. Iconic American-made motorcycle, aka a hog.
19. Clinic service for serious injuries : ACUTE CARE. Emergency medical attention.
21. Niña's aunt : TIA. Spanish, and an oblique reminder of the voyage of Columbus.
25. Run wild : GO ON A TEAR. Usually in a good way, as an athlete having a hot streak.
27. Ricky portrayer : DESI. Ricardo and Arnaz, respectively, from another well known TV show.
30. "Think again, laddie!" : NAE. Denied in Scotland.
31. Bring forth : SPAWN.
34. Dubbed dude : SIR. Good knight.
36. Additive sold at AutoZone : STP. Viscosity modifier that should never put in your engine.
38. Hemsworth who plays Gale in "The Hunger Games" : LIAM. Didn't see it.
39. Suffix with text : -URE. TEXTURE is derived from the Latin textura, weaving, ultimately from the verb texere, to weave. TEXT comes to us via Old French texte, meaning issue or literary style. It ultimately also traces back to texere. The suffix -URE indicates an action or condition, as in ersasure, closure or failure. I can't decide if this is really legit.
41. Color similar to cerulean : NILE BLUE. These are rather non-specific designations for blue hues with greenish tendencies. Cerulean is closer to a pure blue, while NILE BLUE leans more into the green region. Or so it appears to my eye.
45. Piece of cake, e.g. : DESSERT. The other, more literal, meaning of today's clecho. Yum!
46. Head piece? : TEMPLE. The region on each side of the head behind the eye. The word comes from a different Latin root than its homophone meaning "a place of worship," which is derived from templum. The head piece is derived from the vulgar Latin tempula, which also refers to time. Hence our adjective "temporal," referring both to time and the side of the head. So a well timed smack upside the head would be both temporal and temporal.
47. Relay race closer : ANCHOR. The last runner in a relay race is in the ANCHOR position.
48. Shark hanger-on : REMORA. This fish has a suction cup-like structure formed from its front dorsal fins. It can then hitch a ride on the skin of large marine animals, and gather ectoparasites and loose food particles. Yum!
50. Mag that merged with World Report in 1948 : US NEWS.
51. Picked cubes : ICE. Sorry, Tin Man, but we're cooling things off here.
53. Greek goddess of peace : IRENE. Derived from εἰρήνη - the Greek for "peace". Also the name of several Saints and my last surviving aunt.
55. Early PC platform : MS-DOS. MicroSoft Disc Operating System.
58. "__ hardly wait!" : I CAN. My feeling about baseball season. Mud Hens start in 87 days.
59. London district : SOHO. An area of the city of Westminster, part of London's West Side. It has long been seen as a seedy area as a low class entertainment district., infamous for drunkenness and prostitution. In recent decades there has been a good deal of gentrification and it is now a fashionable upscale district. The name first appeared in the 17th century, and evidently was derived from a hunting cry. To the best of my knowledge, there is no London district called Talley-Ho.
62. Wii forerunner : NES. Nintendo game systems.
63. Steal from : ROB. Burgle.
So we started off buying things and ended up shop lifting. But when you buy via today's theme entries, that temptation is preempted. Till we meet again, keep your hands in your pockets and the economy chugging along.
Cool regards!
JzB
63. Steal from : ROB. Burgle.
So we started off buying things and ended up shop lifting. But when you buy via today's theme entries, that temptation is preempted. Till we meet again, keep your hands in your pockets and the economy chugging along.
Cool regards!
JzB
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteI struggled getting started on this one, mostly because "texting protocol" meant absolutely nothing to me and I couldn't come up with SMS to save my life. Once I abandoned the NW corner, however, things picked up and I got through the rest of the grid in fast enough time. By the time I returned to the NW, I had enough perps to correctly guess at SMS.
Other than SMS, the only minor issue was putting in YAHOO before WAHOO, but US NEWS took care of that.
Yesterday, our gracious host @C.C. had a puzzle grace the New York Times, and today she's here at the Los Angeles Times. I found this puzzle to be quite a workout (not EASY) in all aspects (theme, fill, cluing), but ultimately satisfying. Thanks too to @JzB for explaining several things, like SMS right off the bat, that I didn't know directly, but had to suss out from the crossings.
ReplyDeleteAmong others, I learned from this puzzle that Chris Hemsworth has a brother LIAM. and some neat TRIVIA about the PINTA. The puzzle was obviously edited a while ago, because SEAN_PENN was on the front pages just a few days ago for a Rolling Stones interview with a Mexican drug lord on the lam. The clue for TUNER strikes me as a shout-out to the day job of C.C.'s long-time often collaborator, @Don Gagliardo.
May I share two puzzle with friends: the seasonally appropriate Baby, It's Cold Outside with Marcia Brott and the quirky Sunday-sized Nothing Up My Sleeve with John Child. Hope you like them ... and stay warm!
Yesterday we had the timely Crimson Tide, today it is SEAN PENN of recent El Chapo interview notoriety. Great fill C.C.
ReplyDeleteNo memory of REMORA and NILE BLUE is logical but not on the tip of my pencil. The perps were fine. LUDDITE is a fun word and the piece of cake, one with question marks and one with an e.g. were well done.
This was an easy Wednesday unlike yesterday's NYT which was a tricky Tuesday.C.C. ..s off to a great start and JzB is as smooth as his music. Thanks
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, CC and Jazz!
SMS was perped. Otherwise no problems.
Cheers!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteHand up for trouble in that NW section, mostly because I had no idea about Sean Penn, and true to form I was thinking Power Nap. Got there eventually. The SW was last to fall, however, because of the MCM and Remora intersection. Too lazy to do the Roman arithmetic, and just didn't know the fish.
Morning JzB, always glad to see a Holy Grail reference! The Knights Who Say Ni are a good sample.
We've been mighty well fed here in Alabama, but I can't declare it to be lean cuisine.
Oops, in my haste I forgot to thank our leader for an enjoyable puzzle - thanks C.C.!
ReplyDeleteThe infomercial demands, at a quarter to two,
ReplyDeleteORDER NOW: Red Sea red or NILE BLUE!
ORDER ONLINE, ORDER by PHONE,
It's EASY, we'll MAIL it right to your home!
When you take off the WRAP, you'll shout out WAHOO!
It's the ONSET of doom, says the PRIGish LUDDITE,
The cell-PHONE's a plague that will cost your life!
Your soul it will drain,
And ERASE your brain,
Leave your heart as warm as a bucket of ICE!
From his cloud TEMPLE, the technophile
Declares the Internet humanity's child
Its brain we control,
It is growing a soul,
While kittens and porn keep it lulled and DOCILE!
George Barany - PLS STOP. YOU'RE ANNOYING.
ReplyDeleteNice and easy today. Enjoyed it more because my legs have stopped aching from last weekend's Goofy Challenge.
ReplyDeleteI had to start at the bottom of this, but slowly creeping up on the north it eventually took shape. At first I thought there would be nothing I could fill in automatically, but once a few letters appeared, it got progressively easier to finish.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, the brilliance of C.C. never ceases to amaze.
I never even got to the blog yesterday because of a day away from home. But it was also a slow challenge until I had been at it a while.
Congratulations C.C. and thanks JzB. After filling 3D with the ultra-idiot SEAN PENN I almost laughed out loud. Let's hope he gets extradited to Mexico and joins El Chapo in a cell. But on a lighter note this puzzle I found it tougher than the usual Wednesday finally finishing in the SW. LOREN was unknown and I had START for 'strike out' before ERASE and TEMPLE being a 'piece of my head' not registering.
ReplyDeleteAfter I filled in the blanks, I wonder how many DOCILE LUDDITEs we have here, the ones that want to use SMS on their PHONE but refuse to 'really' learn how to incorporate all the features. Or participate in an ON-LINE AUCTION. Nope, they'll just wait for their MAIL CARRIER in the 'red, white, and blue truck' to deliver their catalog so that they can waste a stamp to ORDER NOW. And who am I describing? My wife who insisted on getting a Samsung Galaxy S4 three years ago and asks me how to do anything every single time she wants to use it for anything.
Unknowns today- 'Modern Family', 'Jay Pritchett' STEP DAD, 'Gunman'- SEAN PENN', 'Allure'-ELLE, LIAM Hemsworth.
Anon@ 7:30 - GET A LIFE
Jazz: Wonderful write-up. Especially enjoyed the Satchmo Mack The Knife tune.
ReplyDeleteC.C. Thank You for a FUN Wednesday puzzle ...
though, due to a certain 3-letter word ... was another "Self-Imposed" D-N-F.
Fave today was 13-d, Road hog? HARLEY ... though GOON-A-TEAR (is that parsed correctly?) was a close second. lol
Hand-Up for SMS being all perps ... earning a WTF ...
And I will admit @26-a, Unlikely smartphone user ... at first I confidently entered "TINBENI" (it fit) ...
but the perps soon corrected that to LUDDITE ... which seemed appropriate since I always "Solve-On-Newsprint, in Black Ink" and have been called a LUDDITE many times.
Cheers!
"Hooray!" is YAHOO, not WAHOO. WAHOO is a fish.
ReplyDeleteIce CUBES are not PICKED.
ONSET for "opening" is about as lame as it gets.
And, JazzB, I'll vote no on URE as a suffix of "text."
Some of us thought Tuesday's puzzle was especially easy. Today this seemed a little chewy. Nice work, CC. Cute theme. I hate shopping, so more and more I turn to online ordering after reading many reviews. Amazon's free returns for members take away the risk of getting something undesirable. And I get free 2 day shipping.
ReplyDeleteJzB, I always enjoy your erudite explanations.
I didn't know SMS, perps to the rescue. I was thinking of violations occurring while riding the bike, so DOPING took a while and 5 out of 6 perps.
Hand up for YAHOO before WAHOO.
Big Easy, some of us don't share your antipathy to Sean Penn with his many acting awards. As to whether or not you agree with his opinions, that is too political for this blog.
Enjoyed the puzzle, nice Wednesday pace of quick fill vs careful fill needing perps and other clues. WBS about YAHOO first. I thought "The Gunman" was probably an old western, but SEAN PENN is famous enough to easily be sussed out by perps.
ReplyDeleteInformative and fun write-up JB and puzzle CC!
WAHOO! Is informal. I have heard it many times, in fact more frequently in this sense than yahoo. The Urban Dictionary describes it as “An exclamation of joy, oftentimes replacing such words as yippee, yay …”
ReplyDeleteI suppose PICKED AT CUBES might have been clearer, but I am OK with “picked cubes.” Right away my mind pictured an ice pick. An ice pick is a tool used to break up, pick at, or chip at ice.
We can replace the phrase "the OPENING of hostilities" with the "ONSET of hostilities."
My son and DIL gave me a subscription to a wine club for Christmas. A bottle of red and a bottle of white are delivered by FEDEX every month. I received the first batch yesterday. Although I favor red wines such as Merlot or Cab, I loved this white wine selection, the best white wine I ever tasted, Bodegas Godeval Godello 2014.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a DNF for me due to remora/MCM cross. My aversion to Roman numerals is equal to Tin's aversion to _ _ _; I run the other way when they appear. And had no knowledge of remora so I surrendered! I thought there was more crunch than usual for a Wednesday, but other than the aforementioned snag, I completed everything else.
Nicely done, CC, as always, and kudos to JazzB for en excellent and amusing analysis.
I have a sister who is a Luddite, IMO; not only does she not have an answering machine but she refuses to leave a message on everyone else's. She barely survived being forced to having her SS check deposited directly. (She still does all of her other banking in person and pays her bills by check and snail mail.)
PK, so sorry to hear about your foot. Glad you're not in pain and hope you heal quickly.
I'm glad I can stay put today as it's very cold and the wind is whipping like crazy. Brrr!
Have a great day.
Hello, friends!
ReplyDeleteC.C., you have again delivered a great puzzle, thank you.
WBS. I knew MARLO but not CARLA, SEAN PENN but not LIAM Hemsworth; Sophia LOREN, ENA, SATCH and VAL were all familiar. The NW was almost completely perped since I don't watch Modern Family. I agree with YR about SEAN PENN.
My one ERASure was PRIM to PRIG which gave me GEICO. And I suppose I could consider myself a LUDDITE in that I prefer print to electronics and a flip phone rather than a smart phone which I use mostly when traveling and to call long distance.
Thank you again, C.C. and Jazzbumpa for your entertaining writing.
Have a special day, everyone!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteDo-si-doed my way from top to bottom in the right 2/3's of the puzzle. MARLO and CARLA were easy and so, helped make a good start. Chuckled at LUDDITE; and at IM's tale of the 2nd of the Two Sisters.
Got NILE BLUE, although wasn't up on the hues. JzB, I think the color variation is due to the sediment.
Tackled the western side last. LOREN was an educated WAG, while REMORA was dredged from the depths of either my right or left TEMPLE. DOPING and SMS came from the perps.
AAR - JzB is right . Its catchment encompasses 43% of Switzerland. Today's learning.
Good workout, C.C. Thanks.
NW last for me, did not know SMS. Also get my Roman Numerals mixed up. So both those fills were perps. Only other problem was PICNIC _ clue. Basket wouldn't fit. Then I got the A but ANTS couldn't be it due to TIA. Finally, it came with perps, too, in a head slap. Fun puzzle, C.C., thanks!! Terrific write-up, JzB, thank you, too. And as always, I enjoyed Owen's limericks.
ReplyDeletePK. you must have posted just after my last peek at the blog last night. So sorry to hear you broke your foot. You are lucky to have the help of SIL. I hope you will be healed enough to walk as soon as predicted.
ReplyDeleteAlan was in the hospital for observation from Friday night until Sunday morning with chest pain, difficulty breathing and belly pain. Many ills were ruled out. It was determined that severe urinary retention is causing internal pressure on the lungs and belly. A catheter is relieving the pressure and making him feel well. It will take a while to see whether medicine will make the catheter unnecessary. Otherwise, self catheterization (or rather by me) will be the ultimate outcome. Horrors! For now the mobile catheter needs to be tended every hour or two, so he can't go to work. Last night when I went out and this afternoon when I have a long dental appointment, he will have to use the night bag and carry it around with him.
Apparently there were two medicines in the cervical injection for herniated disc 2 weeks ago. The first one wore off after five days, but thankfully the second one kicked in a week later on this past Sunday. So he is having no neck pain or headaches right now.
How did C.C. arrange to have her puzzle published on Liam Hemsworth's 26th birthday?! A very enjoyable puzzle with a lot of toeholds for the unknown answers. Great puzzle- challenging but doable. Thanks, C.C. and JzB!
ReplyDeleteNice surprise to see C.C. as the constructor, and looked forward to what tricks she had up her sleeve today. There were many! Did finish with help from perps and WAGs, though. Thanks, C.C.
ReplyDeleteVery nice write-up, JzB! You are always entertaining and witty!
A challenging but fun offering C.C. Thank you. And thanks Ron for the walkthrough.
ReplyDeleteLike most, SMS and Liam were all perps and it took more than half the crosses to get Sean Penn. Had to break down and do the math on the Roman numerals to break that area open. Also needed the reveal for the theme. But it all worked out in a little better than typical Friday time.
Watersheds are a topic of interest to me. We have a prominent ridge visible to our WSW that is about 5-7 miles distant. That ridge divides the Blue river basin from the Platte. So, all rain that falls to the W will travel SE and all that falls to the E will travel NNE before both will eventually end up in the Missouri... more than 100 miles apart. Some day I plan to go stand on that ridge and do a pirouette irrigation just for S&G's.
Spitz @ 10:34 - I have four sisters, three of whom are sane and normal. As far as the fourth (Luddite), I could have you in stitches (not just chuckles) describing her idiosyncrasies and phobias. To put it bluntly, she makes Sheldon and Felix Unger look like pikers! 😇
ReplyDeleteThe NW was a snowfield so I worked around it and came back to it with a solve. A nice Wednesday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSpitz - Mistake on my part. She makes Sheldon and Felix look perfectly rational and normal. 😈
ReplyDeleteC.C. has the amazing affinity to just making these puzzles just challenging enough any day she does them. I’m subbing to day and so internet access is sporadic at best and none of Jazz’s pix appeared
ReplyDeleteMusings
-The job growth of MAIL CARRIERS is very negative
-We’re going to get a Sun Setter Awning and if we “ORDERED NOW” (by 12/31/15) we’d get a big discount. WE haven’t but I’ll bet I get it anyway.
-If GEICO, Progressive, State Farm, Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, et al are all saving you money. Who’s cheating you?
-No LUDDITE I, it was tough being without my iPhone for an hour yesterday!
-Technically, even a tone deaf person could tune a piano with these tools
-Days Of Our Lives was playing in the background when Richard Dreyfuss was building the model of Devil’s Tower on his pool table
-SEAN PENN’s distaste for America and clandestine visit with El Chapo may get him into some trouble, but I doubt it This is a country where you can bite the hand that feeds you.
-Boston rhyme – While sitting in the yard, We ate large plates of SCROD
-Usain Bolt always runs the ANCHOR leg
-Satch’s lovely version of What A Wonderful World is part of what movie?
-Lunch, gotta run, I’ve got 23 minutes!
My goodness, C.C., this was a real Wednesday toughie for me. But I don't care, I'll always love your puzzles, no matter what, and always enjoy JazzB's expos. So this was a fun morning all the same, and I did finally get the puzzle--WAHOO!
ReplyDeletePK, so sorry to hear about the problem. And Yellowrocks, poor Alan sounds as though he's going through a very difficult period--so sorry to hear it.
Irish Miss, loved the story about your Felix Unger sister!
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
HG: "Good Morning, Vietnam". I loved that movie, especially Robin's take on eating fish ball soup.
ReplyDeleteHG I think "Sleepless in Seattle."
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Tough puzzle but thanks, C.C. Thanks, JzB.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good wishes. So sorry for Alan and you as caretaker, YR.
I'm confused about the Sean Penn comments. From what little I heard, I thought Sean Penn's interview of El Chaco was what led authorities to capture him. Strange to find Penn in a puzzle, especially after the day of notoriety.
I finally made my first purchase of something on line that wasn't a book. It surprised my by arriving on a Sunday left on my porch. Had to email my son-in-law to bring the big box inside. No LUDDITE by choice. The best way of communicating with my kids seems to be email. If they are busy, they don't answer their smart phones. I haven't learned how to text. I tried, but have only managed to send one. No one has taken the time to straighten me out. The one I did type out took much too long anyway.
Aar was a gimme, a sign I have been doing crosswords too long...
ReplyDeleteHmm, which reminds me. When I started doing CWs, CC's Monday puzzles used to kick my butt.
Then it was her Tuesday puzzles.
Now I have graduated to having CC only kick my butt on Wednesdays & later...
Ouch!
At 1st I thought I could save myself with looking up a place name, (Amman) which
helped immensely. But the SW corner did me in
CC, 46D Head piece? Do you know how much head scratching it took to get rid of "toupee!"
It was not until I gave up & looked up the "L" in Loren that I was able to finish that corner...
Only to come to the Blog, read Jzb's (& watch) wonderful write up, to find
I Yahoo'd instead of Wahoo'd! (US Neys?) Dang it!
Well,I am going to lick my wounds by looking at images of Caravelles
& Cassocks & try to figure out why which one was faster...
PK, Sorry to hear about the foot.
I always try to look at the bright side, Let's see, Uh,
You can get out of military duty?
(Hmm, ok, I'll keep looking...)
HG, My last piano tuner had one of those! It's incredible!
It will even tell you how much to overstress a string in order to
hammer it into tune. (update on the late Blog...)
AVG JOE!@11:30!
I AM NOT SURE OF THE ABBREVIATIONS, but it sounds like you are going to...
No!!!!
CC, what a wonderful puzzle. Very challenging. No DESSERT (piece of cake) this puzzle. I knew from the ONSET that it would not be EASY.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the southwest. Had TARA and ERASE, and incorrect PaperRECORD, so I was pretty certain about TOUPEE for "head piece." And ruled out ENEMIES when I shouldn't have. That was all before subtracting 116 from this year in Roman Numerals for the easy MCM.
Even after putting on my thinking hat and ditching the toupee, and entering MCM, I still didn't see TEMPLE, which stupefies me because I just spent two weeks in Temple. DOH !
Should have put it down for awhile. Perhaps then I would have seen ANCHOR. REMORA would have to have been all perps.
JzB, Thanks for being the piper to lead us to reason, 'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
Never thought about it before, but I would agree with your bent that URE is not a suffix to text.
PK, sorry to hear you had that mishap. I'd been wondering where you were. Godspeed on your recovery.
Husker, did you intend a link for "this is a country" ?
Anon-T, from the other day about getting a rental car transponder for the toll roads... True dat, but I didn't know I was going to be driving on the Pickle (SH 130).
CED, I see now I wasn't the only one that thought it might be toupee !
Has this happened to you?
ReplyDeleteHas this happened to you (Redux...)
Wait, there's more!
(HG, Don't you dare buy the last one...)
(Avg Joe,,, maybe you should...)
Musings 2
ReplyDelete-Yes it was Good Morning Vietnam where Ray sang that song over the scenes of violence there. Oh Yeah!
-My sister is a LUDDITE and would make Oscar Madison look like Sheldon. The back seat of her car is 10 deep in pop cans.
-I can’t remember that last thing I pulled out of our mail box that couldn’t just as easily have been texted or emailed or forgotten altogether.
-My lovely bride is somewhat LUDDITIC in that she refuses to pay bills online and insists on writing checks and stuffing an stamped envelope. Is this a hill worth dying on? Nope!
-Dave, your last link did not make it through the filter. Clean up your act!! ☺
-Also, Dave, my electronic guitar tuner has been a godsend for years. Close enough by ear wasn’t cuttin’ in.
-BTW, as I’ve said before, if you can’t find it at Amazon, you don’t need it!
Husker, you must have not seen it in my earlier post...
ReplyDeleteYou said, "...visit with El Chapo may get him into some trouble, but I doubt it This is a country where you can bite the hand that feeds you."
Curious as to which country you were thinking of, or intended to link ? North Korea ?
Oh, never mind. I see now that your sentence ended with 'I doubt it' And 'This is' was the start of the new sentence. I read it as 'I doubt that if This is a' and you intended to post a link to an image of some oppressive country where the word This was...
ReplyDeleteNot having a good week. On Monday filled up the Bunn coffee maker with water and mindlessly put the carafe on the counter. Coffee went all over the counter. On Tuesday I decided to snow blow my helpful neighbor's driveway. There was a screen door closer buried in the snow, and it wrapped around the auger drive shaft and broke the shear pins. Took over two hours yesterday in the bitter cold to get it back in working order. Then today, bumped a six pack of ginger ale off the shelf in the basement closet. One can punctured open and sprayed all over the place.
TTP, I did not read your earlier post because when I sub I have to bob and weave. I rather doubt you could bite Kim Jun Un's hand even metaphorically without consequences.
ReplyDeleteOh my! Looks like something is about to go down!
ReplyDeleteWaaahooo! Such deeeevious cluing! Loved it. Another terrific writeup, Jazzb; thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi gang -
ReplyDeleteI found this puzzle to be a little on the crunchy side for a Wednesday.
Fun to blog though, and C.C.'s puzzles are always a treat.
Back into the swing of rehearsals this week.
TTP @1:19 -- well played!
Gotta run - there's bustle in my hedgerow
Cool regards!
JzB
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteWAHOO! A C.C. Wednesday with a JzB chaser (Jazz - I loved the Stairway to Heaven ref. and the silly English Ka-Ni-gitts).
This puzzle took me way longer than it should have. I really didn't even want to play today but it was a C.C. so I knew it would be fun. I blame my Eldest for my head-throat cold and the TheraFlu for my fuzziness. The SW was the last to fall as I had Nemesis for ENEMIES. Once I ANCHOR'd that corner, I was done.
Other major error - FedEx driver b/f MAIL CARIER. The rest was just slow coming (again, I blame TheraFlu). And, coming from C.C., 68a c/a was evil - I kept thinking baseball for Strike-out!
Knew SMS. Didn't know SEAN PENN as clued, but after the recent news it was an easy guess. I think he's an operative; how else does a B-grade actor get that kinda access? Sure, I've read the "official" story......//tinfoil-hat off.
Never seen The Hunger Games, but I'm guessing she is a different LIAM.
Fav - c/a for SIR. LOL. Anyone else thinking Eminem?
YR - Sorry to hear of Alan's troubles. The catheter can't be fun.
IM - As a good Catholic boy, Roman Numerals come easy (XII Stations of the Cross). Van Halen's 1984 album solidified it (you can't see it but the bottom of the album-cover reads MCMLXXXIV - yes, that's from memory). Sometimes, though, I do have to switch to Arabic numerals to finish the arithmetic.
Cheers, -T
HELLO from Mexico, where it was 3 degrees yesterday and woke
ReplyDeleteup to 6 inches of new snow this morning!
OK, It's Mexico, Maine. First time I ever heard of it.
SMS did come easily enough. You tend to see it often enough when
you pay your daughter's cell phone bill and peek at the usage.
OK, often is an understatement.
Off to find dinner. It has warmed up to 15 today.
YR- your adulation of SEAN PENN is obvious and I don't care how many awards Mr. Ex- Madonna has. Nothing I wrote was political.
ReplyDeleteAiding and abetting an obvious criminal is usually a crime, no matter which country you are in. Plus if Mr. Penn had turned him in, maybe the FIVE people who DIED during El Chapo's capture would still be ALIVE.
You want something political? I just found out yesterday that Hillary's good friend GENNIFER FLOWERS lived two blocks from my house for six years. Nobody in the neighborhood knew. She sold her house in late 2014.
IM said: I have four sisters. I guessed you probably did being Irish and all. I was only trying to weave in the Two Sisters clue from the puzzle to see if I could maximize my comment. I'm guessing you got the context of my comment, too. Bottom line: I'm glad 3 of them are sane and normal. Luddites can be OK, too.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor pays his bills with desk-set checks - 3 per page with carbon copy. Feels more secure that way.
Watch out for the food Manac! Oh, that Mexico... Did no else else think of SOAP, the SOAP, at 34a?. Just a random episode.
ReplyDeleteBig E - toeing the line there. Like I said //tin-foil hat on// PENN may be a patriot. How long did it take for us to find out about J. Childs w/ the OSS/? //tin-foil off//.
C, -T
REMORA was new to me. The others were familiar, except of course for ABPED, which was my mistaken answer for 4A, AMPED.
ReplyDeleteI really couldn't wait to read Jazzbumpa's explanation of why ABPED should be an appropriate response for "Fired (up)." Why? Because I had hitherto believed that sheep, goats, and all ovine critters like "Billy" said "Baa," not MAA. My bad.
On being a LUDDITE:
ReplyDeleteI'm a quasi-one;
I want paper bills,
Not just for fun,
When computers crash
From MSDOS ash
I know where I am.
I play w/ computers for a living
And don't fully trust 'em
HaXors manipulate,
banks capitulate,
Send me a statement by CARRIER.
(I'm going to blame Makers Mark + TheraFlu for that one).
Cheers, -T
I'm a staunch LUDDITE when it comes to bill paying and anything financial. I haven't tried to figure out how to do it on line. I don't want anything like that, including my tax return on line. My daughter had a financial institution telling her that she owed mortgage money and was seriously behind when the debt had been long paid off. She'd go in and talk to the people and think she had it fixed. It was a computer glitch that refused to be fixed. Last I heard this had been going on for two years. Don't know how that will show up on a credit report if she ever wants to buy a new house.
ReplyDeleteGood evening all,
ReplyDeleteLoved CC's creation...always challenging. Worked on it late last night and early this morning which gave my brain a chance to mull over the clues that didn't click the 1st time thru. That Girl was one of my favorite programs, and I get a kick out of Modern Family too.
Funny that Lucina put in prim before prig. I put in pric at first and was thinking to myself that CC would never use that word. Unfortunately I have used that expression while never using prig.
I am also doing some soul searching after reading all the luddite comments. Hmm, I still pay bills (not all) by snail mail, but use a credit card for most things. I thoroughly check those bills before paying. Is that outdated? I now have a phone and can text, but still am finding my way around using apps(mostly not using them). I still use my gold card at Starbucks, not my phone, and have no idea how to preorder.omg, I must be one of those horrible people who find it hard to change.
Thanks Bumpa, as always, for a great write up...always thankful to hear about the theme.
I always had the opinion that Sean Penn is way, way overrated.
ReplyDeleteSpitz @ 5:32 - I really didn't catch your Two Sisters reference, maybe because the clue was Two Women! 😈
ReplyDeleteI don't pay my bills online but I pay 98 % of them either through automatic deduction from my checking account or charged to a credit card. I do pay a couple by check and snail mail by necessity.
Great Puzzle
ReplyDeleteIM - Oops, should have checked my notes better. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI let the bank pay some non-electronics payees like the garbage hauler and the lawn mower service by having them mail a check by snail mail. No charge to me and they pay the postage. I have not had a problem with on-line payments in 16 years.