Words: 68 (missing F,J,Q,Y)
Blocks: 38
I
am always fascinated when I see spanners grouped in threes (and fours)
with crossings (perpendiculars) that are not such a stretch that the
puzzle seems forced; and then I get that feeling that it's going to be a
tough grid to solve. Today, however, I seemed to breeze through with
very little trouble - but I had some incredible WAGs that were solid
from the get go. Our regulars here at the blog will be quick to point
out that big groups of 15-letters usually leads to shorter Downs. Not
so much today, though we did have a high block count - and a
good-looking grid, at that. The spanners;
1. Where to see pop-ups : ELECTRIC TOASTER
16. Holding capacity : SATURATION POINT
17. Doesn't do anything : SITS ON ONE'S HANDS
16. Holding capacity : SATURATION POINT
17. Doesn't do anything : SITS ON ONE'S HANDS
57. Security employees : STORE DETECTIVES
60. Doesn't care for : TAKES A DISLIKE TO - slightly 'meh'
61. Prepare for a ball : DRESS TO THE NINES - the origin~?
60. Doesn't care for : TAKES A DISLIKE TO - slightly 'meh'
61. Prepare for a ball : DRESS TO THE NINES - the origin~?
O N W A R D ~ !
ACROSS:
18. Caning material : RATTAN - oops, not WICKER
19. Shows frugality : STINTS
20. N.S. setting : AST - Nova Scotia, and Atlantic Standard Time; I happen to know they are 1 hour ahead of my time zone, EST
21. Word on some dipsticks : ADD - just looked at the one in my van yesterday - and it was at the "ADD" mark
22. Thickening agent : AGAR
25. '70s congresswoman known for wearing wide-brimmed hats : ABZUG - 3 perps and 2 WAGs
29. 15th-century golfer, probably : SCOT - ah, a 'generic' answer
33. Likely to skid : BALD - tires
34. Train puller : BRIDE - bang~! Nailed it
35. Iolani Palace locale : OAHU - seen before in crosswords
36. Search result : URL - dah~! Not HIT
37. Org. with a WaterSense program : EPA - sensible WAG
38. Mad man of film : MAX - I have yet to see the 2015 remake of the 1979 film
39. Letter-shaped beam : Z-BAR - went with I-bar first; a genuine 75% correct
41. Early 17th-century pope : PAUL V - I tried 'PIUS -' with early crossings
43. "If wishes __ horses ... " : WERE
44. Sector : ZONE - not AREA
45. Liberal : AMPLE
46. They're frequently tapped : ALES - not KEGS
47. Incidentally, briefly : BTW - texting shorthand for "By The Way"
49. __ Karate: old aftershave : HAI
51. Cricket official : SCORER - I tried UMPIRE; then I had to look to see if this was an actual 'official'
54. Certain summons : TICKET
DOWN:
1. First of September? : ESS - September
2. Cave, say : LAIR
3. Kett of old comics : ETTA
4. Crème brûlée preparation : CUSTARD
5. Hambletonian events : TROTS
6. Deferred payment : RAN A TAB
7. Get __ the record : IT ON -
8. Rose team, on scoreboards : CINcinnati; Pete Rose of the Reds - C.C. must be thrilled we are at Spring Training - just means we are close to the Stanley Cup playoffs for me....
9. Word in a readiness metaphor : TOES - "be on one's toes"....eh
10. Performing : ON STAGE - sometimes on your toes here, too
11. Orchard pest : APHID
12. Dirty rat : SO-AND-SO
13. Glare reducer : TINT
14. Circle's lack : ENDS - I was close with EDGE
15. NFL linemen : RTs
22. Talking excitedly : ABUZZ
23. "The Kiss" was her last silent film : GARBO
24. Historian Nevins : ALLAN - I guessed the two "L"s
26. Another name for bluegill : BREAM
27. Close, as a parka : ZIP-UP - how about 'close, as heels' for Saturday cluing~?
30. Alpaca relative : CAMEL - I like camels
I found so many other funny ones (add 9d.), but....
32. Spiffy attire : TUXES - sort of a mini-theme going on
40. Engine rebuilding jobs : REBORES
41. Checked out, feline-style : PAWED AT
42. Jam component : VEHICLE - nice misdirection, if you tried some sort of fruit
43. Surfing mecca : WAIKIKI - great fill
48. Bun element : TRESS
51. Beverly Hills sighting : STAR
52. Old beehive oven product : COKE - new to me; the Wiki
53. Change in appearance : RE-DO
54. Sellecca's "Intelligence for Your Life TV" co-host : TESH - didn't see this filled in until I came to write the blog
55. Still : EVEN
56. Toque spot : TÊTE - I knew a toque was chef headware, and that it was Frawnche
57. Benchmark: Abbr. : STD - standard
58. "__-Willow": "The Mikado" song : TIT
obdurate definition
Splynter
57 comments:
Wow! A nine minute Saturday puzzle! It seemed daunting at first, but I started in the middle stripe with Bella ABZUG. I remember her big hats. She was a leading feminist. She said, "This woman's place is in the House—the House of Representatives."
WAIKIKI and VEHICLE opened up the bottom stripe.
TOES and AST were filled by the time I got there. Fun puzzle. Great expo. Thanks, Bruce and Splynter.
I have a sun room with RATTAN furniture.So pleasant. The TOASTER clue made me hungry. I can wait one hour.
Off to the pool now before breakfast. After breakfast I will go to the gym with Alan. (BTW he has had a very good week.) I am determined to be as independent, mobile and pain free as possible. To that end, every drop of sweat and every goody not eaten is worth it. My motto is YES I CAN.
Morning, all!
Tough one today, but ultimately doable. Well, almost. I ended up crashing and burning at the cross of WAIKIKI and HAI simply because I always thought the island was spelled WAKIKI and never heard of HAI KARATE. In retrospect, HAI makes sense since it's a Japanese word, but I just couldn't come up with it. I finally Googled to figure out the missing letter in WAIKIKI.
"Hambletonian" meant nothing to me, so I floundered with TROTS until I got every letter via the perps. RAN A TAB started off as LAYAWAY. CIN started off as CLE and TOES was GOES. But that all got worked out in relatively short order.
Down south was trickier, where I couldn't come up with COKE based on the clue and had never heard of REBORES before. Strangely enough it was actually the long across answers (especially TAKES A DISLIKE TO and DRESS TO THE NINES) that helped me get all the short vertical crosses instead of the other way around. And there was the aforementioned WAIKIKI/HAI cross, which was my Waterloo...
Good morning!
Right on, YR! First time I've ever finished a Saturday LAT in under 10. Didn't even need the Wite-Out this morning. I was able to just write over HeelS/HANDS and Kegs/ALES. Tried CLE for CIN. (Hi, Barry!) Thanx, Bruce and Splynter.
TROTS are definitely an event, but not necessarily Hambletonian.
Learning moment: WAIKIKI is a surfing mecca. I always thought folks surfed on the back side of Oahu and stayed away from the sun-toasted oldsters in Honolulu.
Pretty straightforward for a Saturday. Wasn't so sure about ZBAR but nothing else worked.
Thank you Bruce for this easily solved Saturday puzzle. After yesterday's disaster this was a breeze that I filled NW to SE. My WAGs of SITS ON ONES HANDS and SATURATION POINT really helped. My only change in the puzzle was H-BAR to Z-BAR. Two unknowns in the bottom- TIT and TESH- had solid perps so I didn't question my fills. Same goes for STINTS; I only knew that word for a work shift, although the term applies to me. Waste not-Want not.
PAUL and PIUS I,II,III,IV,V,VI VII,IX,X,XI- I don't know when or if they existed but they show up and fill X-words nicely.
HAI KARATE- I remember that Pfizer product from 40+ years back. Their OTC products were Ben Gay, Desitin, and Pacquin's Cold cream. How did Viagra come from that?
I just hope it quits raining to give all the flooded people some relief.
Barry- when an engine is rebuilt, the cylinders are 'bored out', making them slightly larger.
WOW, I'm very impressed with myself this morning!! I took one look at the CW and thought, "OMG!! It's a MONSTER!!" But I found I was right on the exact same wavelength as Bruce, and my WAGs just flew into place, including the spanners!! Only slow-down was dead-center, I struggled remembering ABZUG and it took a while for BRIDE to appear. ENGINE, LOCOMOTIVE, nope. Had to use perps in the middle to eventually have the light build come on. Great, fun, witty CW Bruce, thanx!! Terrific write-up, too, Splynter, thanx!!
Yep. Surprisingly easy given its appearance. The only erasure was a circles lack. I filled Side, but that gave me sits on ones hands with only the H, D and S, and Saturation Point corrected the side to Ends. Abzug was a gimme, and that opened the central block. Remembered Hai Karate (viscerally...it really reeked), which was of great use in spelling Waikiki. I don't think this was quite a Saturday record, but it was close. And it was a great relief after yesterday's wreck. Thank you Bruce and Splynter.
Wow, first Saturday attempt in quite some time and I grab one of the easier puzzles (IMO) of the week. When I saw the side to side fills for the top and bottom I almost said the heck with it. But decided to give it a shot starting in the central section, then migrated back to the top and finished in the South.
Never knew a CAMEL and Alpaca were related. 43D REBORES was a ????? to me. In my dads business (late '40' & the '50's) engine rebuilds were rebuilds.
Spelled Bella Azbug before ABZUG wiggled in.
Really wanted something like "baseball infield or at the ballpark for 1A.
Beehive oven product/COKE????????? Can someone help me understand? Something to do with mining or charcoal production?
Casey's friend will be visiting in a couple of hours. By this afternoon, there will be two very tired puppy's. And their masters can look forward to a quiet night without any canine hi jinks.
If it applies you, don't forget to lose an hours sleep tonight......... set your time pieces ahead one hour.
Good Morning:
I echo Unclefred's first sentence. But once I got started, there was no stopping me. My time was not as quick as YR and DO, but it was the fastest I have ever solved a Saturday. Abzug was a gimme as she was always in the news with emphasis on her trademark hats. Compared to yesterday, this was a lot of fun and a truly enjoyable solve.
Thanks, Bruce, for adding some sunshine to my day and thanks, Splynter, for showing us the way.
YR, glad to hear that Alan is doing better and if you can bottle some of your enthusiasm and determination, please send it to me. You are inspiring! 🤗
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
No significant trouble today. Had races before TROTS and naan before COKE. STORE DETECTIVES forced it. Also had oil before ADD. Well done, Bruce.
CIRCLE - No ends. Remember Run for the Round House Nellie , he can't corner you there.
ABZUG - Clue was spot on about the hats.
COKE is used in making steel.
In the law, a "ticket" (or citation) and a SUMMONS are distinct. A summons is an order to appear in court; and if you don't, you are in contempt of court and subject to arrest for that as an additional offense. A ticket or citation is a mere invitation to appear in court. If you decline the invitation, a summons or arrest warrant probably will be issued for your appearance; but you still will face only the original charge, not an additional charge of contempt.
WSS (What Splynter Said) This was probably the first Saturday solve in a long time, and after the beating from yesterday it was a welcome puzzle. Thanks Bruce and Splynter.
There were enough easy fills in the center to go along with the Down clues to help fill in the 6 grid spanners. It didn't take many perps to do it either because the spanners were easily recognizable. There were a couple of stumbling points like ZBAR, vs T or I and H bars. Also I never heard of STINTS as frugality, I wanted SCRIMP instead.
In my "ute" I worked on cars and rebuilt a number of engines that had to have their cylinders REBOREd to fix worn and scored cylinders. Then either over-sized pistons would be installed or sleeves inserted with normal sized pistons and the engine would be back to new. With the engines of today there is no way for a backyard mechanic to work on them easily. My cars all go back to the dealer now when there is a problem.
I remember HAI KARATE from the past, but never tried it. I used English Leather aftershave then. I hadn't used it in decades when my daughter gave me a bottle of it for Christmas. I tried it again and thought I was going to suffocate from the smell. I wonder how I put up with it back then and how anyone near me put up with it. I guess things change.
Of the 266 Popes there were only about 15 of them that were 5 letters. Of those, most would end with an I, V or X if they were numbered. So it didn't take much help from perps to figure out the answer. BTW: Paul V served from 1605 to 1621.
Oh well, enough of my droning on. I hope everyone has a great day.
So happy everyone enjoyed this puzzle!
I didn't get it all.....................
That's why I remain 'annonymous'
Lucina (from Last Night, re:CED being a "Retired Biker")
Hope I don't scare you with this info ... but I am NOW-A-BIKER ...
Yup, after resisting for a long time ... and I will admit it was probably a
"Mid-Life-Crisis-In-Men" kinda thingy ...
But recently I got a bike ...
It is just like the one I had when I was 12 yo ...
No Gears, No Hand-Brakes to grip ... it has "coaster-brakes" ...
And the best part ... huge "Beach-Biker-Tires" ... lol
In fact I think I'll go for a Ride now ... at the beach.
Cheers!
Hola y Buenos dias!
WEES. What an amazing satisfaction to complete a Saturday puzzle in such a short time though not as short as 10 mins, but under 30! My start was at Stewart UDALL since he was from the AZ UDALL family and then the unforgettable Bella ABZUG. From there it spread across to the west then east. I disagree that Waikiki is a surfing MECCA. It's definitely a tourist mecca. The North Shore is considered more active for high surfs and is where the competitions take place. Waikiki, at least when I've seen it, is relatively calm and more suitable for swimming and sailing. Correct me if I'm wrong those who know.
As you have all noted, the long fill were easily recognizable once a few letters appeared though I left STORE unfinished because CAKE was my thought for the oven and I meant to return to it. Didn't.
Thank you, Bruce and Splynter! Fun times today.
Have a splendid Saturday, everyone!
I thought Lucina was talking about motorcycle bikers. Regular bicycles are good for us.
Tinbeni:
All I can say is "BE CAREFUL," please.
Even though I deplore the constant repetition in commercials they do stick in the memory such as HAI Karate. It was once ubiquitous.
Hello Puzzlers -
This was a nice upgrade from yesterday's crash-and-burn fest. Zoomed right through with some good guesses within those long stacks, except that the pope Pius kept me from finalizing the middle. Once Paul took over, that was that.
Bream has shown up rarely - I learned of the word in a Monty Python skit, "We Love the Yangtze". The premise is that Britain's top football goalies are so drawn to the Yangtze River that they even write poetry about it...not good poetry, but they write nonetheless. One of them mentions the carp and bream that live there.
And you thought Python was mindless drivel! :-)
Dudley, that's a good point! I must watch more of Monty Python.
Anonymous:
I did mean motorcycles and you have a point about bicycles but they are often in accidents, too.
I agree with Splynter’s summative paragraph about the groupings of spanners. For Bruce, et al to do this without resorting to very tough crosses is amazing to me.
Musings
-Pop ups – no baseball, storybooks or Internet ads, but the appliance I just used on my English muffins
-Most kids have made these in school due to the SATURATION POINT of sugar/water as it cools
-Sea World STORE DETECTIVES dressed like tourists caught two of my girls shoplifting
-I changed the oil in my lawn mower yesterday. Get IT ON the record.
-Z-BAR in the carpet world
-If wishes WERE horses, you could all SIT ON ONES HANDS and not be ON YOUR TOES
-HAI KARATE and English Leather – Ah, college…
-How do cocktail waitresses keep track when someone RUNS A TAB
Hi everybody. I got it done with some red-letter help. Saturdays are always a chore for me. But I do them in hopes of improving and to be better able to join in any discussions.
I had an old motorcycle; a BSA 500cc single, 1953 I think. It was fun to drive except that it leaked oil and the clutch plates stuck a bit and would never release completely which made shifting from neutral into first gear difficult. But I enjoyed riding it once I got past its old cranky nature. I turned it on its side after waiting for the light at an oily intersection. Neither of us was hurt.
Later I got a Honda scooter and I enjoyed that too. Both are long gone now.
I consider myself fortunate and skillful that I had no serious mishaps. You may remember that is how my son got killed, while running an errand on his motorcycle.
A surprisingly easy Saturday puzzle. When I first saw the grid my heart sank. OMG, this is going to be brutal. No such thing. It ended up being probably my fastest Saturday solve ever. I certainly didn't get it in YR or DO time, but it was pretty quick for a pedestrian solver such as I am. A very enjoyable puzzle, skillfully crafted. Thank you, Bruce, and thank you, Splynter, for a bright and breezy expo.
Bill G. I loved the exhaust sound from those old BSA 500cc one lungers. The group I rode with followed the career of one of the last 500cc flat trackers. You could always tell where he was in the race because of that distinctive exhaust sound.
I rode a '67 Triumph Bonneville. That was a great bike except when it rained. Every time it rained it dropped one cylinder. My 650 became a 325. It drove the dealer to distraction because nothing he tried fixed the problem, and in order to not void my warrantee, he had to use Lucas parts from England. Time consuming and expensive. They changed the zener diode twice, all of the ignition wiring, and then in desperation, the entire wiring harness. As the mechanic was finishing replacing the harness I asked him if he thought that would do the trick. "Who knows", he said. "But I know now why the Brits drink warm beer. Their refrigerators are wired by Lucas!"
Good Morning,
Fun Saturday. The long entries across set me ABUZZ before I began, but I just moved along and waited for the downs to help me make sense of anything. A different approach than my tactics in my youth--usually ending in a DNF. Why ever was I in such a hurry?!?
Thanks, Bruce. Another nice Saturday from our tour guide, Splynter. Merci! [That's Frawnche. /;)]
Have a good weekend all.
I was quite proud of myself for finishing without any cheats until I saw that everyone else also found today's puzzle easy. Oh well, much easier than Friday.
I agree with the others that thought this easy for a Saturday.
I think this was more like a Thursday puzzle, and that last Thursday's puzzle was more like a Saturday.
PLEASE wear a BIKE HELMET when riding. Hard to set a good example for others when adults ignore safety. Kids especially eat up " do as I say not as I do" adult hypocrisy.
Thanks, Bruce, for a challenging, but very doable, puzzle. Finished pretty fast for a Saturday.
Thanks, Splynter, for the great write-up.
HAH!! (<-- used in the sense of Thursday's 6A)
I too breezed through with very little trouble. I took a confirming peek at HAI, but that was all. As noted by BarryG, Lucina and others, the long fills, which may look intimidating at first, yield quicker results sometimes-- and I found it to be true today. But I started this one, as usual, by going after the shorter ones.
My first gimme was OAHU. But as soon as I got ENDS (which I first wanted to be EDGE) and TINT, I switched my attention to the longer answers. The top three filled in pretty quickly, and then the bottom three. The middle East was the last to go.
I noticed this past week that I am getting much better at filling in likely parts of words, letters and letter combos that are suggested by the number or tense of the clue. Old timers know what I mean: "S" to end plurals, "ED" for past tense verbs, "ING" for gerunds, "LY" for certain adverbs, etc. These are standard cruciverbalist shortcuts, ones that wouldn't have occurred to me many months ago.
HI Y'all! Real treat of a puzzle, Bruce! Good one, Splynter! Thanks! WEES!
Never heard of Hambletonian, so looked it up. Back east TROTTING race at the Meadowlands. Well good, but where is that? New York? New Jersey? Some places think they are too famous to need explanation?
Bella ABZUG was an inspiration to all women. I read that she wore hats because all the men in the House overlooked her or treated her like someone's lowly secretary. She put on the hats so that they would see her as "Somebody". It worked. Very nimble brain under those hats.
Knew REBORES since I was the phone answerer the year my husband was a dealer for rebuilt motors. The BOREd cylinders were lined with Molybdenum sleeves which had to be driven and "broken in" a certain way or they caused trouble. Boy, did they!
Having had an orchard, I didn't know APHIDS were an orchard pest? Pest on roses, yes.
Most fun I had at an exotic animal farm was when the penned male CAMEL raced the tram we were riding with his big lips flapping. Hilarious! We all cheered him. The driver said that CAMEL raced the tram every time he came around and never won but almost broke his gangly legs trying. Seemed to like the cheering.
Tin: don't pedal drunk, dear. Save it for sunset.
When I saw those six grid-spanners, I said "No way" and headed off to find an easy puzzle from the local paper. But then I stopped and decided to give it a try, and Voila! I got almost all of it! Only CAKE instead of COKE did me in, thinking of kitchen ovens, but I got everything else! Yay! Many thanks, Bruce, and you too, Splynter, for the fun expo.
I knew the 25 A person and could picture her, hat and all, but couldn't remember her name. Thank goodness the Z and the G came right away and so I got ABZUG.
Two very clever clues: VEHICLE for Jam component (I was of course thinking jelly), and BRIDE for Train puller (I was thinking railroad). However that "First of September" didn't fool me for a second, I knew that was going to be ESS.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Wow. A quick solve for a Saturday puzzle. Thanks Bruce and Splynter.
Hopefully we won't need our TOQUEs and parkas much longer. Beautiful today. It is the maple trees that are "frequently tapped" around here. Busy March break week for all the maple syrup festivals.
We are EST here but change to Daylight Saving Time tonight. Why do we still do this? It is such a pain changing all the clocks, automatic timers, and readjusting our body clocks by an hour.
Thanks for the Wiki link to explain COKE. I had no idea!
Enjoy the weekend. YR, your determination is admirable!
Hi all!
Well, after reading everyone else, I guess I should have stuck w/ the puzzle. I got a few and kept looking at my workbench thinking "I need to get off my HANDS and clean up out here." So I just quit and cleaned. My garage office (just the computer area/workbench) now is sans dust, cigar ash, dead bugs, old papers, coffee mugs, and beer cans.
ESS got me started and CUSTARD confirmed SITS ON ONES (which broke 'give' for 2d's 'Cave, say') leading to APHIDS. AGAR, SCOT->CAMEL->MAX->TUXES. ZIPUP->EPA, BRIDE, PAUL i (bzzt). AREA. GaboR was 20% good @23d.
That's my Sat pzl in a nutshell. Thanks Bruce; I should have stuck with it. Thanks Splynter for the informative writeup (and everyone else for educating me on who 25a is/was).
Splynter - Like CAMELs? Ever ride one? You'd be way up there. In Giza I was offered a CAMEL ride for a few EGY-pounds. I'm, like, "cool, that's cheep." My guide warned me that is the cost for the ride - getting the owner to get the CAMEL to kneel so you could get down would cost 20x that much. I passed.
Barry G. Sure you haven't heard of HAI Karate? Eddie Murphy mentioned it (@:29) [3:59 - MA-L].
Which brings me to Dudley - w/o Python there's so much I wouldn't know (e.g. a cig is a fag on the other side of the pond). I'm glad I'm not the only one... :-)
YR - Glad to hear Alan had a good week.
Tin - Is your fat tire bike a Fat Tire-beer bike? My same-mom bro has one of those. Cool as s***. Fat-tire's are fun to cruise on - good on you.
My other brother (from anotha' motha' - the one still in the Army) just called from Africa. He will be back in the states on his B-day (in ~20 days). I can't wait!
Cheers, -T
Hi again~!
Anon-T, I hope to someday see the pyramids of Egypt ( and South/Meso America ), and while there, a camel ride sounds thrilling - I have rarely been on a horse locally, and even then at only a walk - still, it's one of those 'things' I'd like to say I have done.
What, no anonymous gripes about legwear today~?
Splynter
Splyter - I'm going to guess offended-legware-anon has a shoe/pump fettish. That's why the pic was cool by him/her.
BTW, I forgot to mention - Yes, I do remember Wacky Pacs. I had the entire '81 series plastered on my 6th-grade notebook.
Wanna go to Egypt on the cheap? Get a job in the oil industry and you go 1st-class! Of course, now that oil is $35, one gets to worry about being employed in next week... ;-)
Cheres, -T
What happened that so many of us found this puzzle so easy? How does Rich determine the level of difficulty? Some of us found both Friday and Saturday easier than Thursday.
PK, honey, I luv ya. So I am concerned about your dropping PT. Is there a possibility of a Plan B? Could your kin get you a handicapped parking permit so you don't have to walk so far to your appointment? Could you go to another appointment or two to get printed directions and maybe an exercise band to work out at home. In addition to PT I worked out at home for months.
I find that daily bathing and dressing, even in extremely casual day clothing, nixed the invalid mind set and energized me to seek to be "normal." Also getting out of the house, even just to the yard, helped rev me up. And driving to a local luncheonette for a sandwich or just a coffee ushered me back into normal living.
I am sure that the golfers, bike riders, and neighborhood marchers among us have found that exercise increases our quality of life and enhances our over-all health, lowering cholesterol and glucose levels and increasing heart function. After age 60 or so idleness causes us to lose muscle mass much more quickly than before. Sorry for pullling the mother act on you, but I care. "May you live long AND PROSPER."
I was disappointed in the Egyptian extension of my Israel trip. We had a wonderful professional guide in Israel. What a come down on the extension! Although we saw the pyramids in Egypt, our guide was a callow flippant youth who specialized in off color jokes and offered no local color or information, or assistance with our every day needs.
Anonymous T, funny camel story. I can just picture it. I rode a camel in Egypt and although I enjoyed the unique experience I found it was not that comfortable. I didn't have to pay to get off, but many men expected money for taking my picture. A fellow traveler had a camel mouth her breast thinking it was a melon! Funny picture and a wonderful chance for ribbing her the remainder of the trip.
I haven't done the puzzle today, just to darn busy. I haven't even read the paper yet.
So I was just going to be a lurker but all this talk of an easy Saturday makes me want
to do it even more. Maybe I will wait a couple of days & I will forget what I read &
do the puzzle then...
But all this talk of biking, I must add my 2 cents...
My 1st bike was a 400cc Kawasaki triple 2 stroke.
It was like 3 lawnmower engines on two wheels.
It had 2 exhaust pipes on one side, & one on the other (why it didn't tip over I don't know.)
3 carburetors to tune, & every 3 months I had to strip the engine down & scrape off
the carbon buildup with the edge of a hacksaw blade. The thing leaked oil like a sieve.
I got it for a song, along with a rented garage space behind my best friends house,
because the engine had seized & was rebored to something like 410cc.
Unfortunately the oversize cylinders/mismatched carbs/leaking oil made for a little loss of power at slow speeds. The guy at the shop was telling me to crack the throttle & take off
like a the 3 dirt bikes it was, but I showed him I couldn't. Crack the throttle from a
standstill, & you would stand still while the engine just went WAAAAAAAA!
(very embarrassing.)
Anywho, to make a long story longer, the clutch was awful. It took all my strength to
pull it in with my left hand, so much so that my left forearm started to look like Popeyes.
One day, I was returning home. I had dropped the motorcycle off at the rented garage &
& jumped on my bicycle for the 4 block ride home. I came to a stop sign & automatically
pulled the clutch with all my might...
Except it wasn't my clutch, I was on a bicycle! It was my front brake!
I went ass over teakettle through that intersection! (I will never forget it...)
(& then there was the time I took off on the motorcycle, but had forgotten to
unchain the dang thing from the parking sign...Sigh...)
CED, if I'm crazy enough to ever get another motorcycle/scooter, remind me not to lend it to you (after reading about your mishaps). They're funny in the reading; not so funny as you were experiencing them I'm guessing.
Notice I said 'lend it to you' rather than 'loan' in the previous paragraph. One might explain that loan can be used as a verb these days. Yes I know. What used to be a noun/verb error has crept into modern common usage but it still doesn't sound right to my ears (once I learned the difference). There is a new outfit locally in the business of lending money. Their chosen corporate name is LoanMe. It grates on my ears/brain whenever their ad comes on the radio.
Do you get cable channel HGTV? My son Tim and his serious girlfriend bought a house in nearby San Pedro. It needed serious remodeling. This TV outfit paid $30K toward their kitchen remodel in exchange for featuring their house in one of their 'reality' TV shows. Part of the 'reveal' is going to be shot this afternoon. Barbara and daughter Bonnie are going to be part of the background family scenery. I'll let you know when the show is scheduled to air. Barbara spend days making them a quilt for their bed. I hope it makes it into the final cut. So little of the 'reality' show is really real. Most of their other furniture in the house will be 'staged.' Oh well...
Bill G:
That's very interesting. I don't watch reality shows but would view some of that one, for a while anyway.
Bill, good to know. We watch that show and wondered about how much they were paid. Interesting that they stage the furniture as well. You're right...not too real. It's almost impossible for young couples to afford to buy homes in Santa Clara Valley these days.
Just looking at the CW grid this morning scared me. I had more fun reading the answers.Thanks Splynter.
Grandsons are playing baseball in the rain. We LOVE it, and kids don't mind.We are not floating away.
Bill G
Sounds like you are looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Would you rather they weren't on the show ?
I usually don't bother with Saturday puzzles because they're beyond my ability, but today I decided to try. I'm glad I did! I needed quite a bit of help, but I did finish! Thanks, Bruce V!. Merci beaucoup, Splynter, for the write-up!
My first answer was ABZUG. It was hit or miss with sporadic answers until I got enough filled in to give me help with unknowns. Several trips to the grid were needed today.
YR, great to hear that Alan had a good week. Hope it continues!
Bill G-I remember when your son was killed. I hope the grief has lessened with time. I watch HGTV for mindless entertainment. I'd appreciate knowing when your son's episode airs.
Spring is here! Daffodils, crocuses and forsythia are blooming. Let the sneezin' season begin!
Pat
Bill G and Yellowrocks are always looking for attention and sympathy. Pitiful.
YR, thank you for your concern. I dropped out of rehab partly because I was having fever and intestinal problems. Also I had only been walking two days when I went in and I really wasn't ready to be out. Legs were very "rubbery". I am now walking at home on even floors daily for several 5 minute periods to build up my legs. I have since gone to a primary care doctor and did a grocery shopping on my own and got along better. My legs are stronger. I have the instructions and a band which I plan to start using this week. I had one bone which was not entirely healed when I was in rehab and there were burning sensations across the entire breakage area the next day. I thought the rehab exercises were putting too much stress there for the time being and needed a little more time. I used to try to keep going after injury. Then I had a fractured vertebrae and later fractured sternum many years ago and was forced to spend a lot of "still" time. I was surprised to have some earlier injuries heal during those periods that I'd been fighting for years. I've pretty well decided that rest is best for me with moderate exercise. I liked my therapist and may try to go back in a while. She got my toes unjammed and the entire foot more flexible in just one session.
BillG: I watch a lot of HGTV. Which show are your kids going to be on? I like some of the shows better than others. Be sure to let us know.
Anon at 7:40: What on earth are you talking about? Bill & YR and some of the rest of us just state what goes on in our lives. Pitiful is having no compassion for the human state as you apparently don't.
PK
PK
Well stated.
Anonymous:
These people are our friends, though we may not know each other physically, we care about each other and their cares are our cares and we rejoice in our successes.
Bill G. @ 4:49
I was going to say you should see me fly a plane!
There was this time when I forgot to unchain the plane from the sign post...
(I was about to insert a link, when I saw pje's post @ 7:33)
Bill, I am really sorry, & bummed that this topic might bring you pain.
(I won't bring it up again...)
(but yr missing some great stories!)
CED, you're killing me.
I am thinking of this: American Graffiti
And this: The Jerk
But there is another that is driving me nuts since I can't remember it! I seem to remember a guy on a motorcycle with something attached to his person......dammit!
Greetings!
Thanks, Bruce and Splynter!
I, too, was able to work this one! Not, however in a short time.
Much rain yesterday. Will have to get roof fixed. (Sob!)
Cheers!
PK & IM - your responses to @7:40p is much nicer than what I had drafted b/f Youngest called from the city. Good thing she called or Argyle / C.C. would have ban'd me for sure... Something about stuffing it up their jumper... :-)
Fermat - Arggg - I feel you. The last rains show'd my roof's issues too.
Speaking of Youngest - I guess we taught her too well to be wary of strangers. She was at a ballet-buddies B-day party in the city and was supposed to catch a ride w/ another friend's mom's friend back to the suburbs. (Catch all that?). Neither kid recognized the lady and refused to go home w/ her. Dad to the rescue.
Funny bit: I was working on the Alfa - I was dirty and greasy. The kids' parents probably thought I was the creeper!
And for no particular reason - something a Cornerite shared a year or so ago. Maybe it will bring beauty to anon @7:40p. (Ode to Joy FlashMob).
Cheers, -T
CED, please be completely sure that your post about motorcycles did not bring me pain. You intended it to be humorous and that's how I responded.
So let me elaborate on my motorcycle story. I was the owner of a BSA 500cc single that was fun to ride but had seen its better days. I found a local old-timer who owned a motorcycle shop. He fixed everything mechanical and I found a fellow who did a beautiful and tasteful two-tone pearlescent paint job with pin stripes. It was beautiful! I put Barbara on the back and headed up around the curvy roads in the local mountains. We had a great ride. We headed home. I was waiting in the left-turn lane at a traffic light about a mile from home. When I started off, the road had some oil on it dripped from many cars over several months who had been stopped idling while waiting to turn left. As I gently began to start off to turn left, the rear wheel slowly skidded out from under me and the bike went down as if in slow motion. I remember thinking "Oh no. I just had all this work done. Oh no...! But just as I opened my mouth, my brain engaged and I said instead, "Dear, are you OK?"
Both of us were fine and the bike survived with hardly a scratch.
AnonT, I enjoyed your Ode to Joy. I've seen it before and I enjoyed it all over again. Here's a case where responding to an extra-snarky anon felt better than ignoring the troll. You do that very well and I'm sure Argyle/CC think so too.
Speaking about being wary of strangers, years ago when my mother was about halfway through her battle with dementia, we brought her back to the local retirement home. As was her habit, she saw a young girl and started to say Hi. The girl let out a blood-curdling scream. I had no idea what was going on or what to do. The girl's mother came strolling up and said something like, "Oh don't worry. We've taught her to scream if a stranger tries to talk to her." Geez...
Anonymous @ 7:40 - Your meanness is only exceeded by your stupidity.
CED - DW made me promise not to pull over to help folks after there was one (1!!!) report of someone getting shot by the person they stopped to help... I miss those good ol' days too.
I realize I meant PK & Lucina (and not IM who chimed in later) @10:01. Mea culpa.
Well, my garage is clean(ish). It's good enough that, if Pop dropped in, I wouldn't feel too sheepish. He'd still ask, "What the hell is all this shit?" when spying my shelving unit.
Bill G. LOL motorcycle story. I wish my brain would kick in before I say things like that. "Sh**, I just paid for that!" "What? Oh, yes, you OK?" That's happened more than once... /sigh
I saw this out of Russia in the paper. Dolphin Spies! (Revised).
Anyone else think Sea World is a military front for USA's dolphin-training program? Just me? OK, no more Art Bell reruns tonight. :-)
Cheers, -T
U people r fing weerd.
Beehive refers to the shape of the oven, though it is upside down. They are made of brick and built side by side in a row. The coal is charged from the top from a car that rolls on rails. Smoke and ash billow from the hole directly into the air. What is left is Coke or charcoal which is removed from the bottom of the oven.
nice
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