Theme: "Cherish the Thought" - Valentine's Day puzzle.
33A. With 35- and 60-Across, request for today : BE. And 35A. See 33-Across : MY
60A. Today's honoree, nicknames for whom begin the answers to starred clues : VALENTINE
25D. Informal message for one's 60-Across: I LUV U. The only entry point to the heart formed by the black squares in the middle.
24A. *120-year-old candy : TOOTSIE ROLL
95A. *Ingénue's benefactor : SUGAR DADDY
98A. *Venezuelan wonder : ANGEL FALLS. Wiki says "they are named after Jimmie Angel, a US aviator, who was the first person to fly over the falls. Angel's ashes were scattered over the falls on 2 July 1960."
115A. *Weasel relative : HONEY BADGER. Looks mean and scary. Nothing "honey" about it.
16D. *Innocent : BABE IN THE WOODS
3D. *Offer that can't be refused : SWEETHEART DEAL
C.C. here. Thanks to dear Gary for covering me the past two Sundays.
I
figured we might get a Valentine's Day puzzle after Rich ran the
"Presidential Firsts" last Sunday. Presidents' Day tribute puzzle is
normally run today or tomorrow.
What a sweet puzzle.
So deftly designed. We have two two-letter entries and an unchecked
letter U in I LOVE U. But all theme answers are placed symmetrically in
this left to right mirror grid.
Across:
1. Kitchen qty. : TBSP. Steve might have this. Cute bamboo salt box.
5. Band of schemers : CABAL. Like China's Gang of Four, led by Chairman Mao's wife.
10. Orgs. on 84-Across signs : AGCYS. All crosses. 84. Sign of success : SOLD. Real estate agencies.
15. Touch : ABUT
19. Swerves at sea : YAWS
20. Pine Tree State campus town : ORONO
21. One who gives you chills : CREEP
22. Taberna snack : TAPA.I
wonder if someday we'll see Banchan, the Korean appetizers. Most are
veggies and seaweeds. Looks like roasted eel on the top left, Jayce.
23. Hunter's target : PREY
26. Way to the top : T-BAR
27. Put together : ERECTED
29. Chicago rumblers : ELS
30. Like a good waiter : PATIENT. And attentive.
32. Dumas duelist : ATHOS. "The Three Musketeers".
37. Withdrawn : TIMID
38. Hurt : ACHED
39. Puts on the air : TELEVISES
43. Isn't resolved : PENDS
45. Brought to court : SUED
46. Dishonesty : FRAUDULENCE. Sparkly one-word entry.
48. Cut it out : STOP
49. St. with both Lewis and Clark counties : IDA. We also have Clark County here in MN. But no Lewis. We have a city called ORONO (20A) also.
50. Rolls up, as a flag : FURLS
51. Covered with spots, in a way : ACNED
52. I-road? : HWY. No abbr. mark? Or is I- enough?
53. Jamie of "M*A*S*H" : FARR
55. Consumer protection org. : FTC
56. __ quandary : IN A
57. Coop group : HENS. Also 5. Farm houses : COTES. Not BARNS.
58. Butter container : TUB
66. Methodology word : HOW
67. Vet : OLD PRO
70. Runway activity : TAXIING
71. Jai alai ball : PELOTA. Nailed it. That basket is called CESTA.
74. Intensifies : DEEPENS
76. Get up : WAKEN
77. Indistinct : SHADOWY
78. Some trial evidence : DNA
79. Where she blows : THAR
81. Sea of France : MER. Also the brand of pricey facial cream. Brad Pitt knows.
82. It was orig. the State School of Mines and Metallurgy : UTEP. Unknown trivia to me.
83. Place for pips : DIE
86. Over : ANEW
88. Birth announcement words : A SON. 102A. "__ today is better than a hen tomorrow": Franklin : AN EGG. 113D. Take __: swing hard : A RIP. Three partials. Rich allows four in a Sunday grid.
89. IRS IDs : SSNS
90. Agree to pay later : RUN A TAB
93. Code : ENCRYPT
103. Gave one's word : SWORE
105. Clinton's FBI chief : FREEH. Learned from doing crosswords.
106. Start of a project : PHASE ONE
110. 1995 World Series winner: Abbr. : ATL. Not CLE. Two more baseball entries: 6D. Shortstop who made his MLB debut at age 18 : A-ROD And 59D. Two-time A.L. Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen : BRET. Easy crosses for non-baseball fans.
111. When many fans come out : HEAT WAVE. Not sports fans.
114. Dutch astronomer who lent his name to a cloud : OORT. You can't put this in Monday/Tuesday grid. Rich will ask you to remove it.
118. "Permit Me Voyage" poet James : AGEE. Avoided Tommie.
119. Learning method : ROTE
120. Frequently framed words : MOTTO
121. Lab dish eponym : PETRI
122. Sorry sort : RUER
123. Hershey's toffee bar : SKOR
124. Improv bit : SPOOF
125. Online admin : SYSOP
126. Mtg. with a therapist : SESS (Session)
Down:
1. Kind : TYPE
2. Double-dealer : BARRACUDA. Only know the fish meaning. Lovely entry.
4. Motivated, with "up" : PSYCHED
7. Cause of a start : BOO. That "start".
8. Tiny worker : ANT
9. Drop a game : LOSE
10. Hard-to-beat foursome : ACES. Cards.
11. "Get out of my yard!" : GRR
12. Corp. top banana : CEO
13. TripAdvisor alternative : YELP. Both sites review restaurants, hotels, etc.
14. Snowball impact sound : SPLAT
15. On occasion : AT TIMES
17. Fluctuating : UP AND DOWN. As I'm writing this post, Boomer's nerve pain flares up. The pain is like someone stabs at your foot with a needle every few seconds. This normally lasts 3 days. He just can't get much sleep. Breaks my heart to see him suffer.
18. Sharp-tasting : TART
28. "Dracula" (1931) director Browning : TOD
31. Racetrack edge : TIP. Learning moment for me.
33. University of Cincinnati athlete : BEARCAT
34. Month after Av : ELUL. Regular in our Wayne R. Williams days.
35. PC time meas. : MSEC
36. Craving : YENNING. Yen can be a verb??
38. "I sincerely doubt it!" : AS IF
39. "Storage Hunters" network : TRUTV. Unfamiliar with the show.
40. Masthead VIPs : EDs
41. Pier gp. : ILA
42. It may require a set change : SCENE. Nice clue.
44. 1974 CIA parody : S*P*Y*S. Wiki says this: The asterisks in the title are designed to remind users of M*A*S*H,
which also starred Gould and Sutherland, and whose title is generally
rendered with the same asterisks. Beyond this, there is no connection
between the films.
46. Musical climax letters : FFF. Opposite of PPP, right?
47. Author LeShan : EDA
54. College basketball coach with a trophy named for him : RUPP. Gimme for PK. I drew a blank.
57. Frustrating thing to be on : HOLD
61. __ firm : LAW
62. It's taken sitting down : EXAM. I smiled once I got it.
63. Swoosh company : NIKE
64. Level : TIER
65. Room renter : INN And 72. Hotel choice : TWIN. Beds.
66. Jalopy : HEAP
67. They may be long : ODDS. And 104. 67-Down poster, briefly : OTB
68. Carson's successor : LENO. Who's your current favorite comedian? I subscribed then unsubscribed to Nick DiPaolo's podcast in one day. So many F words.
69. In stock : ON HAND
71. Derived from benzene : PHENYL. Learning moment to me as well.
73. Agreements aboard : AYES
75. Capital near the Red Sea : SANA'A
77. Put away : STORE
80. Getting a pension: Abbr. : RET'D
82. Hurricane Katrina rescue gp. : USCG. Also 100. Overflow protection : LEVEES
85. Fast racer : DRAGSTER
87. Dough amounts : WADS
88. Poet Sexton : ANNE
89. 1977 film retitled in 1981 : STAR WARS. No idea. What was it called in 1977 then?
91. Push : URGE
92. Via : BY WAY OF
93. Winter warmers : EARLAPS
94. Sputtering sound : PFFT
95. Flavors : SAPORS. Did not know it's plurable, D-Otto!
96. Detach, as a trailer : UNHOOK
97. Tailor for : GEAR TO
99. Confederacy : LEAGUE
101. Changes course, as a ship : SHEERS. Did not know it can be a verb, Spitzboov!
107. Resistance units : OHMs
108. Slangy refusal : NOOP
109. Opposite of ecto- : ENTO. Prefix for "Inner". Also ENDO.
111. APB stats : HGTS (Heights)
112. Architect Saarinen : EERO
116. WWII command : ETO. European Theater of Operations.
117. Elder Partridge daughter player : DEY (Susan)
Happy
Birthday to dear Marti, who brought so much joy and love to us when she
was active on the blog. I thought of you the whole time while solving
this puzzle, Marti. We all miss you.
 |
| Allen and Marti |
C.C.
63 comments:
Morning, all (and a Happy, Happy Birthday to our Dear Marti)!
-11F outside right now and I'm seriously worried that I won't be able to start my car in an hour (have to drive cross state to get to my nephew's birthday). Wish me luck!
Didn't get the *TADA* at the end of the puzzle today, but after suffering through stuff like YENNINGS and NOOP I really didn't care to spend any more time looking for my error(s). I finally turned on the red-letter help to discover that STEER/FREET wasn't right. I knew FREET looked wrong, but what else could STEER be? I guess it would have helped had I known/remembered FREEH, but SHEERED was not on my mental list of possibilities for that word. So, fail.
Seriously, I don't recall it ever being this cold here.
Good morning!
Cute puzzle, but also had some ugly answers -- ACNED and YENNING, I'm talkin' 'bout you. GEAR TO also seemed awkward. Still it all came together in better-than-normal Sunday time, so that's good.
Thought the mining school could have been UW-Platteville, but that's hard to fit into four letters. Had FEMA before USCG showed up. I guess FEMA was **supposed** to help with the rescue, and the USCG actually did. FEMA did supply trailers that reeked of formaldehyde, though, so that was something.
Barry, I feel your pain. Got up before dawn one cold morning in WI with temps in the -25 range. Finally coaxed the old Ford Maverick to sputter to life. Tried to shift it into reverse, and the gear-shift lever broke off in my hand. Oops! Needless to say, I was late to work that morning.
Happy birthday, HeartRx, wherever you are. We miss your quirky sense of humor.
Lovely Valentine puzzle. Happy birthday to Marti. We all miss you. Maybe you will stop in today. And happy Valentine's Day to all.
I hesitated quite a while over the second N in YENNING and the N in ACNED, but kept it as the only alternative. I just now looked them up and they are both real words. Oh, the things one can learn here! What fun!
The last to fall was the H in FREEH because I was quite sure of STEERS. An ABC run gave it it me. Now I remember FREEH.
I hope the pain soon lets up, Boomer.
CC, that roasted eel made me hungry. Love it!
Even more typos than usual today. For Christmas I received a wonderful set of very sharp professional knives. Not being a pro, I cut the tip of my index finger. Not painful, but it makes it hard to type and do many other things.
Five below this AM with a severe wind chill. Fortunately I keep my car in the garage and the thermometer in it read 30 degrees. When I was looking for this condo I had a choice between a basement or a garage. I miss the basement as storage is limited, but today I am so grateful for the garage.
Stay warm in this cold wave and good luck with your cars.
Artistically pleasing puzzle appropriate for the day. Thank you Jake Braun and CC.
I completed the entire puzzle except for the inner heart area. Waited until my wife finally woke up just so I could show it to her. She loved it. Then finished.
There may have been a clunker or two, but I think it was a trade-off well worth having...
CC, I would think I for interstate would be enough to suggest an abbreviated answer is in order. Also, in this case, just in case there is any misunderstanding, TIP as in edge would mean (suggest) inside betting information not generally known to others. Goes hand in hand with 67 and 104 down. No idea on the Star Wars question. Never saw any of them.
BTW, here's a TIP for Boomer. Try 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off with an ice pack or bottle on the lower back. Just to the left or right of the spine, depending on which foot has the pins and needles pain. I use those "Freeze Pak" or "Blue Ice" freezer bottles from Meijers, Target, or Walmart.
I reconciled GEAR TO as in "customized for" or "targeted at" with the "tailor for" clue.
I nailed UTEP. Made history by courting the first all black team. Their sports teams are known as the "Miners." Also nailed Freeh. Mostly memorable to me because of the odd spelling of his last name. Doesn't seem to have been Americanized. Then, whether right or wrong, reconciled SHEERS as in wind sheers.
BARRACUDA was a hit song for sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of pop rock group Heart.
Happy bitrthday Marti.
EARLAPS slowed me down considerably, but muddled through this one eventually.
Didn't anyone else notice the heart shape formed in the upper middle of the puzzle? I think it was the rationale for the rare two-letter answers of BE and MY.
Happy day to all.
The movie originally titled just "Star Wars" was renamed "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" for future releases, after the sequels began coming out.
A timely theme, lovely and loving fill, a single cell, a heart shaped grid – What’s not to like?
Musings
-Hugo Chavez tried to change ANGEL FALLS to the indigenous term Kerepakupai Vená “Waterfall of the deepest place”
-We football fans know the HONEY BADGER is also Cardinal Tyrann Matheiu
-We hesitated and missed a SWEETHEART DEAL last month
-We have three lots that ABUT ours with a VERY bright outdoor light
-Alan Shepherd did YAW in this craft
-EARLAPPED Elmer’s PREY of course was Bugs
-Does this JAMIE FARR info seem right?
-COOPS were COTES but HEN Coops came later
-What word would have I’s in succession? Oh…
-WAKEN – you could be the WAKER or the WAKEE
-This excellent movie told of Texas Western’s (now UTEP) mostly black team playing against Adolph Rupp’s all-white KY team for the NCAA championship in 1966
-My lovely VALENTINE would love to RUN A TAB in this theme-fitting store
-This is for ON HOLD fans (:31)
-T-BAR, VALENTINES, HEART? I miss Marti too!
Hi everybody! I hope the cold weather lets up for you soon. It's warm here. I'm hoping for a little rain later this week. It continues to be dry in spite of El Niño.
That was an unusual grid and an interesting puzzle. I solved it all right and enjoyed the process. But the reveal didn't make much sense to me or help much. Still doesn't even though I see the connection between the first words and Valentine's Day. "Nicknames for whom begin the answer to starred clues." Huh? I'm not sure how I'd say it more clearly but that seems convoluted and obtuse. Maybe it's just me...
Happy Birthday Marti! I miss you.
Good wishes for Boomer. I'm guessing his doctor would prescribe Vicodin which should help dull the pain.
Good Morning:
Appropriate theme for today with some fun cluing and fill, yennings, acned, and noop notwithstanding. But as TTP said, these are small nits, compared to the overall construction and creativity.
Thanks, Mr. Braun, for warming our hearts on this frigid Valentine's Day, and thanks to CC, our very own Sweetheart for the wrap-up. Hope Boomer gets some relief soon!
Happy Birthday to Marti; hope it's a special day.
Have a great day and stay warm!
<3 <3 Happy Valentine's Day to you all <3 <3
Love the layout but it took me minute to see it - once I saw the two-word fills I figured I'd better look around and see what's going on! I am sometimes oblivious to obvious things.
CC - the Korean spread looks delicious. My DH and I tried Korean a few years ago and fell in love with it. I like all the little dishes that I don't know the names of especially the mushrooms and the egg stuff. Yum!
Fun puzzle and educating write up today. I had the same hangups as everyone else with the apparent making up of new words (YENNING?) but I always assume Rich, et al., knows more than I. Thanks for the education!
Hope you all enjoy your day <3
tawnya
Happy VAlentine's Day to one and all!
And a very happy birthday to Marti!
Not much time here. I'll just say how much I enjoyed this solve though had a few bad cells, UTEP, ATL and FFF also spelled FREEH as FREET and a big problem accepting YENNING. Ugh.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! Later
Today's honoree, whose nicknames begin the answers to starred clues :
Better?
Happy Birthday Marti. I hope your having a great day, and that you check in.
Enjoyable puzzle. I saw the grid pattern as soon as l looked at the page, but didn't realize it would leave 2 two letter fils and one orphan until I was working that area. Lots of trouble, but got most of it. However, I misspelled encrypt with an I instead of a Y and also fell into the Freet trap. I'll take it, it was fun.
C.C. You might suggest Boomer look into anti-seizure medications with his doctor. I was prescribed Neurontin when I had severe nerve compression in the lumbar area. My worst symptom was a sensation that a patch of skin was being ripped off my legs, but the cause was the same. It didn't eliminate the problem, but it made it a lot more tolerable. I hope he can get some relief!
Good morning everyone.
Had -24º overnight.
Did the puzzle on line; our paper carries a week-old NYT puzzle for its Sunday offering.
Eventually got it all. Nice valentine theme and exception made for 2 letter fill.
SHEER - As a verb can be used in the sense of 'veer'. To suddenly change course. "The destroyer sheered away from the formation to pursue a goblin (subsurface contact)"
73d AYES - If you call accepting an order w/o questioning, an agreement.
71d PHENYL - Had to sweep away many cobwebs to recall benzene based reactions from Organic Chemistry days.
100d LEVEE - Levees tend to be built as a flood control 'solution' where the predicted ODDS are for an event of ~a 20 to 50 year return period. Benefit/cost ratios are less favorable, or negative, for shorter or longer exceedances. So when a levee is breeched, say by a 100 yr flood, and inundates a 'protected' area, the government still gets blamed.
111a HEAT WAVE - Favorite clue.
Fun puzzle. Thank you Jake and CC. A very happy birthday wish, Marti. WEES about the "ugh" words. DIE had to be right foe "A place for pips" because "behind Gladys Knight" wouldn't fit. Thank goodness I remembered Louis FREEH because I would never have come up with SHEERED on my own. To me, that's what you do to sheep, if you can't spell well. One minor point. Not all exams are taken sitting down. Some are taken with you bent over the exam table with your elbows on the table and your knees touching each other. Just sayin'.
Cya!
Argyle, yes, that is better. Thanks. I can now see the reason for my befuddlement with the reveal. I was thinking VALENTINE referred to St. Valentine, the person after whom the holiday was named. Silly me...
CC asked about current favorite comedians. Well, I would have picked Robin Williams and Joan Rivers as two of them but I guess they're not current anymore. Then, Billy Crystal. I would include Bill Maher as funny, intelligent and very insightful but he's obviously political, so no more from me about him. I'm sure I will think of a few more after I post this.
Hello Puzzlers -
TDNF today due to one letter: I had Steers, which made more sense to me than Sheers. Otherwise a reasonably fast solve. I wondered about the two two-letter answers, but realized they were necessary for the heart shape. Plus they added to the fun.
My uncle got acquainted somehow with Jimmy Angel, back in the fifties. It seems my uncle was the first to fly over the falls in a jet (an F-84), or something like that, and that was sufficient to get recognition from Angel. I recall my uncle showing me an autographed copy of Angel's memoir, "The Tallest Angel", with an inscription saying "Look familiar?".
Howdy C. C., and welcome back!
Probably will not have time to do the puzzle today,
but had to stop by & wish Marti a Happy Birthday!
I had forgotten her Birthday was on Valentines day,
It would be interesting to hear tales of when this date combo was a plus, &/or a minus...
I hope she stops by....
Non-words in today's puzzle:
AGCYS (were they trying for an abbreviation of AGENCIES?)
TBSP (it's just TBS).
FRAUDULENCE (FRAUD is enough).
YENNING (YEN is enough).
FFF (FF is enough).
SAPORS (as you said, there is no plural).
And:
ERECTED is "put up," not "put together";
"Fast racer" is one too many words in the clue for DRAGSTER;
It takes more energy than merely WAKENing to "get up," and
What do HeiGhTS have to do with all points bulletins?
And, by the way, Orono is is MainE, not MiNnesota.
Wow, so much ignorance in one place! And I don't mean here.
Orono, MN
You're right, C.C. - I have a bamboo salt box similar to that one - one of my favorite things in the kitchen. From Bed, Bath and Beyond.
I caused myself some trouble by deciding that the Cincy athletes are MEERCATS. Brain fart. Fixed it eventually.
Happy Birthday, Marti, wherever you are.
@Anon 12:15 - thanks for entertaining me with your staggering display of ignorance. You quite made my day.
Happy Birthday Marti!
Who could not think of you while solving this puzzle?
For the gear heads
Dragster fuel consumption ( This is for one cylinder )
And I thought my truck got bad gas mileage.
Happy Valentines Day, everyone!! And thanks for all the b-day wishes. This one is a big milestone - now I can get discount tickets at the movies. If I ever went to the movies, that is. ;-)
I just noticed that today's NYT has a very similar-looking grid.
I am amazed at how many of us seem to have nerve pain in the legs or feet. This week my year old nerve pain in just one leg has become bilateral. I am leaning toward acupuncture. I have two friends who found this very helpful. I'll let you know.
Steve, glad you spoke up in re Anon @2:15. I have been sitting here with my mouth agape wondering just what to answer.
Really, checking out what others in our culture know, especially online, is something we can learn from. That seems the best way to build our own knowledge base. I was so pleased to be told that YEN and its participle YENNING are verbs. And that ACNED is an adjective. I look up almost everything odd I read in books, not to decry it or pooh pooh it, but to learn from it. It comes in handy for crosswords. Dismissing it out of hand leads to forgetting it.
Enjoyed this Valentine's Day treat with a creative grid!
Happy birthday, Marti!
Thanks CC and Jake!
TTP,
I totally misunderstood the TIP [Racetrack edge] clue. Thanks for the explanation. Thanks also for the Freez Pak suggestion. He now has a frozen one on his lower left back. His left foot has nerve pain. A few weeks ago it's his right foot.
Bill G & Avg Joe & Yellowrocks,
Boomer's VA doctor is aware of his problem, but Boomer has not asked for pills, worried about side effects. Some of his diabetic pills already have annoying side effects. Funny flip phone "No" story yesterday, Joe.
Marti,
Welcome back!
Santa @11:21am,
Nice! So you.
Hello, again! It's great to see you chime in, Marti.
And thank you, Jake Braun, for this visually attractive grid. I don't know how you constructors do it: stay with the them and shape it, too.
And darling, C.C., thank you, too. I hope your trip was for pleasure. I'm so sorry to hear about Boomer's pain and hope it is soon alleviated.
Oh, my, I also am aghast at the ignorance displayed at 12:15 by Anonymous. Just the first one, TBSP, is the accepted abbreviation in recipes. TBS would be a television station. But that's only one.
TTP,
Now Boomer is on the 15 minutes off. I suppose we should repeat this for as long as he can stand?
Dudley & Lucina,
Thank you!
Happy Birthday, Marti. Drei mal hoch!
C.C. - Sorry to hear about Boomer's back. Hope it's not serious.
Mine spasmed yesterday. Happens every few weeks. Usually just favor it some; expect it to go away in a couple days. We'll see.
Wow, neato puzzle. Saw the heart right away, and was nonplussed to see those two 2-letter entries. It sure was fun working on this puzzle; it took plenty of time but most of it was pleasant time spent. I balked at YENNING but it had to be. My difficulty in that area was exacerbated (gee, that sounds dirty) by putting in ILU for the longshoreman's organization which made UCNED which made no sense. At that point, having programmed my brain to expect something utterly unknown there, even after changing it to ILA and ACNED I still couldn't parse it. What the heck is an Ack Ned?
Yep, that upper left dish definitely does look like roasted eel. There is a wonderful Korean restaurant in Chandler, AZ, not far from where our son and his family live, that serves dishes exactly like that. They specialize in bulgogi, which is a very meaty beef dish; the name of the restaurant is Gogi and I recommend it highly. (Psst, Lucina, it's on Dobson Road.)
Happy birthday greetings to you, Marti. A big milestone for you, huh. Best wishes to you all.
CC,
I usually do at least 3 times of 15 minutes on. I don't use a cloth between the ice and my skin anymore. Sometimes have to do it for a couple of hours and also take an NSAID such as ibuprofen. Icing on and off like that almost always relieves the pain for me for at least a few hours when it is bad. I also don't want to be taking opioids such as hydrocodone (Vicodin) to manage chronic pain and these acute flareups. Mine is always in my right foot, and numbing the sciatic nerve in the lower back provides relief. Send my best to Boomer, and hope he finds relief.
Hydrocodone is something I had never taken before my recent root canal and never want to again! It knocked me out for almost an entire day which completely confused my circadian rhythm of sleep and took several days to restore it.
Sunday Lurker Say...
Marti, Happy Birthday! Great to see you again!
Boy, I wish H. Chron carried the Sunday LAT puzzle. Sunday's are busy enough w/out having to print a pzl so I can play in the 10 /15 min blocks I have of wait-time while carting Eldest around town for her music (this was drafted in a parking lot).
C.C. - Pop had nerve pain so bad it would lay him out for 3 or 4 days at a time. A chiroquackter fixed him and hasn't had issues in 5 years. Pop says "the guy breaks me down like a shotgun every 2 weeks, but I can move."
Re: Favorite comedian(s) - Tevor Noah & Seinfeld (21m) together!
Steve - Thanks so much for the sous-vide recommendation. I have another roast going and will see if asparagus can be cooked in it while I finish the meat w/ a blow-torch.
Crowd-sourcing my next laundry washer... Any thing to steer towards / away from? I have an HE front-loader and it was nothing but trouble (broken latch (door slamming) and door issues 'cuz kids think it's a body rest when unloading) so I'm leaning towards a top-loader. Sears has one for $350.
Pro: It broke w/ all the President's Day sales going on...
Bummer: It broke mid-cycle (nasty humming sound) w/ my laundry in it. I may have to go commando next week...
Stay warm folks!
Cheers, -T
Here in Kentucky, we have both LEWIS and CLARK counties, but of course, that didn't fit. :)
Lunch on Valentine's Day. We opted for our local Cuban restaurant. No wait. Roast shredded pork with grilled onions, two Arnold Palmers, fried plantains, rice, black beans, Cuban espresso, two flans for dessert. Total including tax, $58. Such a deal!
For no particular reason except that it is so beautiful. Amazing Grace by Celtic Thunder
Nice to hear from you Marti. Again, happy birthday.
I've always been surprised,that we don't have either a Lewis or a Clark county in Nebraska since they spent so much time here. But we don't, since most are named after presidents, native tribes and local luminaries from the settlement era. The lake on the SoDak border is named for them, but that's not quite the same. We do, however, have 3 counties named after animals. Two of them are Buffalo and Antelope. Anybody know the third? :-)
AnonT, the last time our washer went Tango Utah we bought a new Maytag top load. In retrospect, I'd rather have gone with a Craig's List used model older "true" Maytag. For $100-150. The new one works fine, but it's a Whirlpool through and through.
The first thing I noticed was the VALENTINE shape in the center. It was an easily guessable theme for today. But I ultimately blew it by not rereading the clue for PHENYL and 'knew' that PHENOL, aka carbolic acid was 'correct'-wrong on my part. Never changed it and ENCROPT made no sense. And to add to that misery I knew Louis FREEH was the head of the FBI but I had STEERS and didn't know the word SHEER, as in changing course. I also had to take a long look at EAR LAPS as that was a new word for me. EAR FLAPS is the term I have heard.
The clue for 102A included the answer for 65A- HENs
SUGAR DADDY- Is a Sugar Mama aka 'Cougar'?
NOOP- never heard it until it was mentioned as a Barney Fife word a few weeks back.
BARRACUDA- crosses were solid but never heard it as anything but the fish. I caught a 5ft. long years ago; I just cut the line as I was not about to let those teeth near my hand.
HONEY BADGER- Tyranne Mathieu- played for LSU but Miles kicked him off the team.
Unknowns were AGCYS ??, TOD, EL UL, ANNE Sexton, AGEE. Venezuelan Wonder- tried Cesar Chavez but had to settle on ANGEL FALLS.
Welcome back Chairman C.C. to the band of schemers.
D-O--FEMA is nothing but a group of overpaid bureaucrats who give contracts to politically connected cronies.
YR and Dudley- I didn't change STEERS even though I knew FREEH; he was down here leading an investigation on all the FRAUDULENCE of the people who claimed they suffered from the BP oil spill five years ago.
Avg Joe- Neurontin is for epileptics but my dermatologist gave it to me when I had shingles.
And appliances I have- all made by Whirlpool- Jenn-Air range, Kitchenaid oven, microwave, and dishwasher, Amana refrigerator,and Maytag washer and dryer. Can't seem to avoid them.
Anon-T
I got a sweetheart of a deal on a Maytag HE front loader
at Lowes some 8+ years ago. $1300 unit, the manager let me
have it for $600 because it had a dent on the side from a lumber cart.
At checkout, the cashier gave me a coupon for a $100 manufacturer rebate.
Damn, if they didn't honor it.
Any how, still working strong to this day, knock on wood.
He also let me have the matching HE dryer for $300. Half price
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the love story, Jake! Welcome back, C.C.!
Noticed the heart shape right away but was disappointed when not all the words in it were sweet. Being stabbed in the heart by FRAUDULENT was pretty jarring. And your VALENTINE was ACNED? Poor girl.
We have a SCENE where you WAKEN in an INN by the MER after TAXIING there and things are great if no one TELEVISES it on TRUTV. If you SWORE to BE MY VALENTINE saying SUGAR, ANGEL, HONEY I LUV U-- but BE PATIENT if she's TIMID and UNHOOK her SHEERStockings. IF something was ERECTED and went UP AND DOWN and met with AN EGG, you might get A SON or even TWINs. But don't leave that BABE IN THE WOODS or you might get SUED if she was just looking for a SUGAR DADDY and leave you YENNING for more.
Big Easy, I understand the intended purpose of Neurontin. I thought I'd made that clear. And I also get that my scrip was off label. I'd fallen and broken 4 vertebrae, and L4 was so badly crushed that the detritus had effectively formed a clamp on the nerve endings at the juncture of L4 and 5. During the recuperation period, my Orthopod prescribed it to give relief from the neuropathy, and it largely worked with no side effects that I was aware of. The ultimate solution was a tedious laminectomy performed while a fusion was done. It was a 5 1/2 hour surgery. 1 1/2 of that was the fusion. The other 4 were devoted to the laminectomy. I still have some daily symptoms, but nothing that is intolerable and I no longer need any pharmaceutical assistance to get through the day.
I mentioned it since C.C. had asked for suggestions. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. But I have some pertinent experience, IMHO. It was nothing more than a thought on what might be a solution to what is obviously a serious problem, and I also recommended consultation with Boomer's doctor. Over.
Late to the blog because this one was a toughie for me. But what a cute grid, and a very cute Valentine's Day puzzle! Many thanks, Jake. Even though I had trouble and didn't get everything, it was still fun to work on this today.
So sorry to hear about Boomer's back pain--hope he gets some relief soon.
Marti, happy birthday, and I'm so glad you checked in. We miss you.
And great expo, C.C. as always. Hope you had a sweet Valentine's day in spite of the sad problems. We're all sending loving vibes your way.
Happy Birthday, Marti! on your momentous occasion. May you have many more healthy years. Miss you!
C.C.: RUPP wasn't anything I'd heard of, despite all the basketball I watched.
One thing that has helped my nerve pain in the feet is to take a hot bath to open the pores in my feet then rubbing them with Bengay. Hanging the feet down to get more blood flow sometimes helps if the pain is occurring in the middle of the night as it often does. If the feet are also hot, placing them on the cold hardwood floor helps.
Hey there! Love this blog, but only get Sunday version here in Seattle.
For nerve pain if you live in a progressive state, try some edible marijuana. Much better than Vicodin: (hate that) and no I'll effects. Take less than recommended the first time and topically add Aspercream to painful areas. Other than craving Doritos and donuts, this has helped me a lot with no side effects.
Happy Birthday Marti !!!
The First (and second) Beautiful Sunset Toast was to YOU !!!
Cheers!
On the animal county names in Nebraska, I've already swapped emails with Gary,who was my target audience. Sort of an inside joke, but I'll answer it for anyone that might care. The third animal named county is.......drum roll........Garfield. :-)
As you were.
The Internet is an amazing place. Here's another really enjoyable video.
Video!
Thank you Jake for the great puzzle and CC for the write up!
Happy Birthday also to Marti.
I have been busier of late so I have done most of the puzzles but haven't had time to visit the blog.
The same nits that everyone else had brought me here today. I was forced into red letters about half way through due to unknown names and the odd words like YENNING. I also had no idea why FFF was right until CC explained it.
My only suggestion to Boomer is that I found that frozen peas in the bag worked well on my hip pain before I had it replaced. I of course kept the bag marked as for pain only! It contours better than the ice packs, although the gel ones work great too.
In Cleveland we lucked out with just low teens in actual degrees F, although some 35 miles to the south it did go sub zero. We expect to warm up early in the week.
Stay warm,
VS
Bill G. @8:36,
That video just blew me away! It is so Zen.
I used to love shows about how factories worked as a kid. I still do.
This is a video to watch to just calm down and relax.
Thanks,
VS
@Seattle Anonymous 7:02
If you didn't know, you can get the LA Times crossword online from a number of places, but the best by far is www.cruciverb.com - just click the "LA Times" link on the top-right each day and you'll download that day's puzzle. The LA Times puzzle is free (you'll need to register with Cruciverb, but don't worry, you never hear a peep of email from them).
You'll also need to have Across Lite installed to open the downloads and solve on your computer, but it's a free download and super easy to use. Here's the link:
http://www.litsoft.com/across/alite/download/
Click on my name and email me if you need any help!
Funny that the date on the top of this page has read January 14th all day today and no one has mentioned it.
Well, folks, I wrote a whole comment for the blog and it got blown a way as I was trying to send it. I am in SW Pennsylvania where my cell service is marginal.
Maybe tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Bill G. that video was awesome!
however I must protest at the robotic cake making,
that's just wrong!
Hmm, it seems this Blog is the place to go for geriatric advice!
Anyone know why every once in a while, out of the blue,
my knee will start screaming at me in pain for no reason?
(I am afraid one day this will happen on the stairs & that will be the end of me...)
2 minutes later, it's like nothing ever happened?
What the heck is going on?
Steve - 3 pats of butter, 1/4 lemon, pinch of salt and a heavy weight to keep the asparagus down, The sous-vide kept the asparagus crispy yet cooked it through & through. My experiment worked - It's Alive!
Anon @7:02p - Mensa also has a printable pzl (Google La times crossword Mensa). I use their site while on the road. No sign-up needed (It requires Flash so iThings no workie.)
Abejo - glad you made it safely. I just heard from my brother - he got from SPI to Naperville though the snow storm. Glad you're in a warm spot.
Anon @9:50 - I had to scroll all the way up, but yep - I didn't notice until you called it out. Good eye mate.
Thanks all for washer recommendations. I'll see what I find tomorrow.
VS - the last time I used frozen peas on my body was post vasectomy. I find it odd to eat peas now - but still I love 'em.
Cheers, -T
More Trevor Noah if you're still awake & need a giggle. G'nite. C, -T
Missed the Big Picture: Filled in the heart right away w/o even noticing it was a heart! Got hung up near the bottom because of SAPORS; ENDO for ENTO; and EARLAPS and had to go to red letters. I should’ve gotten Don Knotts’s NOOP; that would’ve helped.
The Oort (pronounced like the table scrap, but nobody I’ve heard says it like that) cloud is a collection of asteroid-like bodies WAY, WAY OUT there, almost half-way to the nearest star. Oort postulated it as the source for most comets, and he seems to have been right. Much closer is the Kuiper belt, right outside the Solar System and now including Pluto and Eris. I happened to be at the same table as Mike Brown of Caltech in 2005 {before he murdered Pluto, and soon after Katrina} for his presentation about Eris, and I had to bite my tongue to avoid calling out, “Brownie, yer doin’ a heckuva job!” Mention of Katrina and false FEMA clue in this puzzle forced me to tell that story.
Husker Gary: I resisted putting in UTEP Univ. of Texas, El Paso) because I “knew” its previous name was Texas Western, when they beat racist Rupp’s team in the NCAA Finals. This was the year Lew Alcindor couldn’t play because he was a freshman, so it was the only one of two losses in John Wooden’s UCLA record winning streak (10 titles). That frosh team opened the season by beating the varsity (defending champs, minus graduations) by 15 points.
More: I agree with Steve, Yellowrocks, and others about the Anon 12:15 post. I’ve learned many new words, a few actually useful, since I started doing crosswords. He’s probably happy to remain anonymous. So now I’ll just pile on one more of his errors: Not only have I seen “fff” (yes, CC , opp. of “ppp”) on printed scores, but even “ffff.” (Rachmaninoff?)
PK: Your contribution had me ROTFL. Actually, that’s hyperbole; it was LOL. Too bad the puzzle didn’t include BRA; that would be something more likely to UNHOOK.
I’ve never heard of EARLAPS. I kept trying and failing to make EARFLAPS fit. In my long-ago skiing days, I wore a cap only when it was snowing, and it had no flaps, so I wore my knit cap over it ( think Tom Brady denying DeflateGate). And even that long ago, the T-Bars had vanished from Mammoth Mountain, where snowfalls like the recent East Coast blizzards were once routine. Bill G. and I are hoping for El Niños up there in Northern California, not for the skiers, but to replenish our snowpack, which will ease our drought when it starts melting.
Thanks for the Cuban restaurant recommendation, Bill G.; my niece and her family live in Manhattan Beach and we’ll have to try it some time. Any idea what kind of tomato-slicing knife that was in your cool video?
TTP: That’s SHEAR you’re thinking of. Think sliding layers.
CrossEyedDave: This geriatric geezer tore his right knee cartilage playing tennis 50-odd years ago. It was OK most of the time, but occasionally the loose flap would get caught in the joint, resulting in the kind of pain you’re describing. Surgery removed the entire medial meniscus (they can do much better now) and that solved the problem until I arrived at bone-on-bone many years later; then total knee replacement was required. (That was almost 20 years ago, and the knee is still good.)
I too have occasional shooting pains in the back of my right heel while lying down. Oddly enough, they go away as soon as I stand up. Vaseline seems to help; I’ll have to try Aspercream.
Mid-80s today; sorry about you poor folks back there.
TTP and others,
I think we have a miracle: a bottle of Lanacane First Aid spray from Walgreen's. Boomer put a heavy pairs of socks once he had a quick spray at his left foot. The nerve trouble gets less frequent late yesterday afternoon. Then mild last night. Gone now. He's soundly sleeping.
RetFizz,
Did you use to post here under the name Flying Gears or Flying something?
CC, that's good to hear. Hope he finds continued relief. I had never heard of it before, but will also try it. Thanks for sharing.
C.C., glad to hear you found a solution. I will put Lancane's First Aid Spray on my to get list.
In the Sherlock Holmes book, The Sign of the Four: Ch. 4, The "valetudinarian" aka hypochondriac, Thaddeus Sholto puts on a "rabbit-skin cap with hanging lappets which covered his ears". The Kindle dictionary says a lappet is a "fold or hanging piece of flesh in some animals" also "a loose or overlapping part of a garment".
For lap they have "ARCHAIC a hanging flap on a garment or saddle.
VS
Boomer has gout. Classic symptons. Indomethecin will cure it quickly. Between texas mining etc and UTEP was Texas Western who played that famous ncaa final vs all white Kentucky. I should have gone back over my puzzle because I missed Freeh/sheer.
To CC:
NOOP, only RetFizz. Mostly an occasional lurker, but when I post I can't stop typing.
In my 1:58 AM reference to the great Lew Alcindor, for the benefit of the few who don't know it, he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he converted (gasp!) to Islam some time after turning pro. He's the NBA's all-time top scorer.
I knew only UTEP and Texas Western; I think their teams are still called the Miners.
Icy Hot spray (menthol) worked great on my heel pain, but I couldn't stand the odor of the carrier, Vicks does have some menthol in it.
Had to wear shorts today. We all have our trade-offs; we could use some of your Back East precipitation.
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