Title: Do you want to PAL around?
JW returns with 'add a word' (3 letters at that) to existing phrases to create a whimsical mental picture of something very different. Despite my seeing and discussing much of Jeffrey's work lately, the cluing is fresh and only PROEM was unknown to me. The longer fill, CLASS UP, THE MAGI, I'M A JERK, IN EXILE, RAIN SHOWER and MOTOR SPORT really show his preference for multi-word answers. The choice to have just three themers plus a reveal was governed by the grid-spanners giving 58 theme spaces. Lots of music references and - well, let us go see.
17A. Financially distressed royal residence? : PALACE IN THE HOLE (15). The PAL is added to the beginning of "ace in the hole." Cute. I do not think the Queen is hurting financially.
34A. Pious antelope? : IMPALA BELIEVER (14). I was really amused by the picture of this cute African food source for lions, praying and singing....
40A. Clairvoyant magazine staff? : PALMISTS OF TIME (14). A common expression also has the PAL added to the beginning; I like the John Mayall version.
And the reveal:
61A. Carole King song title ... or a hint to 17-, 34- and 40-Across : YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND (15).
I wonder if this puzzle was inspired by the Broadway play about Ms. King. She has written so many wonderful songs.
1. Sprinkled stuff : TALC. So much CONTROVERSY now.
5. Ottoman honorific : AGHA.
9. Carried : TOTED. Reminds me of listening to this album as a child. He was a true...
15. Golf inconvenience : RAIN SHOWER. Ask, HG--this is a perfect clue, as a shower does not stop a serious golfer.
19. Things kept for oneself : STASH. Not to be confused with last week's 'STACHE.
20. Elite group : A TEAM. Generic, or the TV Show?
21. New Delhi-to-Mumbai dir. : SSW. Heading toward last week's newbie constructor.
22. "Downton Abbey" assent : YES SIR.
24. Wit : WAG. An old term for a jokester, mid 16th century (denoting a young man or mischievous boy, also used as a term of endearment to an infant): probably from obsolete waghalter ‘person likely to be hanged.’ Per dictionary.
26. "The Golden Arm" of the Baltimore Colts : UNITAS. High topped always, Johnny U.
37. Geisha circler : OBI. More sashes for me.
38. Sister of Melpomene : ERATO.
39. Ho's accompaniment : UKE.
46. Submitted : SENT IN.
47. Dance genre : TAP.
49. Annual delivery vehicle? : SLEIGH. Santa and the odd clecho 9D. Annually celebrated group : THE MAGI.
53. Setting in Eng. : GMT. Greenwich Mean Time.
56. First name in Western crime : JESSE. James
60. Like George H. W. Bush : EX-CIA. Conspiracy THEORY anyone?
64. Rallying, e.g. : MOTOR SPORT. I used to want to do THIS.
65. Singing daughter of Judy and Vincente : LIZA. Judy Garland and Vincente Minelli.
66. Bombed : STUNK.
67. Expression of appreciation : HAND. Let's give all our constructors a big hand for the entertainment.
68. "L'__, c'est moi": Louis XIV : ÉTAT. The State in French.
Down:
1. Lit : TIPSY.
2. "... __ which will live in infamy": FDR : A DATE.
3. Falana and Glaudini : LOLAS. Lola 1 one was a Sammy Davis protege with health issues; Lola 2 is a very busy TV actress. Feel free to IMDB.
4. Infuse with elegance : CLASS UP. My meh fill of the day. Though 'class up the joint' appears often, the reference on its own just hangs there for me.
5. Exist : ARE.
6. Greek primordial deity : GAIA. Quite an incestuous and bloody STORY reminiscent of later Heinlein works.
7. Subtlety : HINT.
8. Startup money? : ANTE. To start the game.
10. "How wonderful!" : OOH. AHH.
11. Dancers, often : TWOS. It does take two to Tango.
12. Sushi kitchen supply : EELS.
16. "I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation" speaker : SHAW. No Shakespeare but the eminently quotable George Bernard Shaw, LINK. I could not pick my favorite. No P Shaw quotes.
18. Where gunpowder was invented : CHINA. Some HISTORY.
23. Irks : RILES.
25. Univ. student's ordeal : GRE. Graduate Record Examination
27. Wonderland trial evidence : TARTS. Carroll's not subtle indictment of our legal system.
28. Demean : ABASE.
29. __ Hall : SETON. A Catholic college in NJ named after the first American SAINT.
31. Cell with potential : OVUM. Eggsactly.
32. Chinese toy : PEKE. More China and no abbr.
33. Poet's "previously" : ERE.
34. Construction support : I BAR.
35. Close follower of Venus? : MILO. You all know the Venus de Milo and her lack of arms.
36. Some apartments : LOFTS.
37. On the facing pg. : OPPosite..
41. Citi Field player : MET.
42. "D'oh!" : I'M A JERK. I think of it more as "I am an idiot."
43. Interior construction specialist : TILER.
44. Napoleonic? : IN EXILE. A Friday thought.
48. Cribbage pieces : PEGS. That is how you count points and it is where I learned to how add by watching my father play the game.
50. Clinch the game, in slang : ICE IT.
51. Japan's answer to Rodeo Drive : GINZA. Alex, we will stay with Asia for $800.00. LINK.
52. Attacked : HAD AT.
53. Places to see presses : GYMS. Bench presses, military presses...
54. Academic : MOOT.
55. "Fantasia" hippo's garb : TUTU.
57. Certain collegian : SOPHomore. And of course the freshmen who fail or sopholess; derivation from Greek sophos "wise" + moros "foolish, dull"?
58. Athenian walkway : STOA. A covered walkway.
59. Get through work : EARN.
62. Otto __ Bismarck : VON. A very INFLUENTIAL figure.
63. Mercury is on its co. logo : FTD. As a Virgo this is a perfect image for me to exit. JW returned, made us work, made us smile. I must say 'bye for now-see you next week. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Lemonade out on winged feet.
The Toy Story song would have worked better as the reveal:
ReplyDeleteYou've Got a Friend in Me
DOH, had LISA instead of LIZA.
ReplyDeleteMorning, all!
ReplyDeleteGot through this one unassisted, but there was little (if anything) easy about the journey. The theme reveal really helped this time around since it let me go back and make headway on the theme answers that were mostly still seas of white spaces at that point.
Cluing was tricky all over, but I guess that's what you get for a Friday, eh?
FIR! Slow start, and the NE almost stumped me. Also took a while to get MILO, ironic since I used Vincent de Milo in a poem earlier this week! I had to look up my poem on 3/20/15 to remind me:
ReplyDeleteThalia=Muse of comedy
Melpomene=Muse of tragedy
Erato=Muse of lyric poetry
I'll trust on the talents of Thalia
To write of the Muses at Bacchanalia
The portents of MELPOMENE
Loomed dark as ebony,
But ERATO loomed larger in Lyric regalia!
Melpomene said, "Good times aren't to be
This evening shall end in Tragedy!"
Erato said, "Grand,
There's a fun night at HAND!
Don't be so solemn with such gravity!"
The club had a band, but the music was hokey,
To CLASS UP the joint, they added karaoke!
Erato sang fine
With rhythm and rhyme,
TIPSY Melpomene
Was so far off key
For murdering the song, she was thrown in the pokey!
{B+}
This CW stopped me dead in my tracks. Started with 1a SALT. That screwed up the NW for the duration. In short, I was just totalled by this CW. Congrats, JW, you whipped me thoroughly. Nice write-up, Lemonade!! Sorry, Owen, this CW left to in a mood where I couldn't even appreciate your witty (as always) limericks. They always make me smile....always, that is, except today.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteThought of entering YES SIR, but then YES MUM popped into my head (and onto my grid). Seemed more British. D'oh! (Lemon, I agree, it means, "I'm an idiot.") Got it all worked out, and even got the theme, in normal Friday time. Thanks, JW.
Walked around the GINZA back in '69 -- it wasn't ultra-expensive back then. In those days you could take a taxi almost anywhere in Tokyo for the equivalent of $0.30. Better have the hotel concierge write out the destination for you, though.
Lola Glaudini sticks in my mind as Elle Greenaway from back in her Criminal Minds days.
Fun puzzle, always interesting expo, Lemony. I saw the PALs and FRIEND right off, but this was no walk in the park. My sticking point was PROMO instead of PROEM, but Citi Field team had to be MET. That was my last area to fill. I thought of the Toy Story song, also.
ReplyDeleteTo ANON from last night, You said you don't post because you no longer enjoy the tenor of the blog. You could help to alter it by your own contributions. "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."
Anonymous T, from last night, you were lucky. My grandson was desperately unhappy and not doing well at all in school until he got the proper educators due to his diagnosis. They wanted to place this "dumb" student in the lowest track with no chance of going to college. Look at him now, due to his diagnosis and treatment!
A little struggle in the NE this morning because the RAIN DELAYS that I experienced two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic were not SHOWERs; over 7" fell on the course over the weekend,shortening the tournament to 54 holes with a Monday finish. But the SHOWER prevailed in the puzzle-eventually. I figured PALACE would be somewhere in 17A and caught the theme immediately. MISTS OF TIME is a saying that I've never heard before.
ReplyDeleteI'M A BELIEVER and YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND were both hits, not for their composers (Neil
Diamond and Carole King but for the Monkees and James Taylor. The the composer, not the singer, is the one who gets the royalties from songs played on the radio. Monkees & Taylor get the fame but Diamond and King get the money.
Initially had SALT instead of TALC for 1A but wanted DRESS UP for CLASS UP, which is another saying I've never heard, and filled the NW fr the bottom up. As far as I'M A JERK, I agree with Lemonade that 'D'oh' is more in the line of wanting to place a dunce cap on your own head, not being a jerk.
D-N-F ... couldn't "Clinch the game" ..."_ _ _ it" ...
ReplyDeleteWins at Villa Incognito are always NEAT !!!
Cheers!
While the TOY STORY song would be an ideal reveal, it would have to be a Sunday puzzle as it has 19 letters in the title.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is not necessarily the composer but the owner of the publishing rights that reaps the benefits of airplay etc. These rights are freely assignable and often a negotiated part of an album contract. Michael Jackson and his estate have made much money after acquiring the Beatles publishing catalog by purchasing the ATV Company, which held the rights to the Beatles songs. LINK .
Hot Dang, PROEM is a word. I whipped this great Jeff Wex offering on a beautiful day where I would rather be golfing than subbing (school restricts images for linking) but right now and I’m surrounded by SOPHS
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Downton was a PALACE IN THE HOLE and Lord Crawley was toying with investing with an American chap named Charles Ponzi
-The Monkees grew tired of doing “bubble gum” music and being multi-millionaires to follow their own ERATO
-AGHA – Silent H’s are not my friend
-You bet, Lemon, there’d better be lightning or we “play on”
-It seems YES M’LORD would be more common
-GROPE – reminds me of some of my dates and analytical geometry
-You’d better believe I SENT IN these boxtops
-Racquel Welch gets upset when told she doesn’t move her arms enough while TAP dancing (:40)
-My _ _ _ M cell with potential was first STEM and _ _ _ TS apartments were first FLATS and my golf beginning was a PROAM
-Dad never had Cribbage pegs and we always used matches or toothpicks
D'oh. I'm a fool because I could barely make my way through this. So many errors on first pass I was unable to pick up the pieces. DNF today. Thanks, Jeffrey, nonetheless, for the challenge, which made some sense to me after Lemonade tackled it for me!!!
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is a new day!
While this puzzle was certainly no walk in the park, I did manage to complete it fairly quickly for a Friday. I think that may have been for two main reasons. I sussed the theme early on and the clueing/answers for the shorter fill was fairly straightforward yielding some helpful perps. No nits today. Fun run Jeffrey, thank you. Lemonade, your comments on this puzzle echoed my own thoughts to a tee. Thanks for the affirmation.
ReplyDeleteSomeone a couple of days ago was asking about how my rehab was going. I didn't respond right away because 've been pretty bummed out lately. We have hit a serious snag on the recoup/rehab front. Once I started putting weight on the prosthesis by walking and exercising, the portion of the prosthesis that anchors into the hollow of the femur was driven in further, leaving my right leg about 1/2" shorter that the left (or before, at that matter) and the ball is now prone to slipping out of the socket fairly often. The sawbones said that in this surgery there is always the dilemma of how far to drive in the prosthesis. Not far enough and the prosthesis will drop further down as it has to bear weight, but too far in risks splitting the femur.
The repair options are varied. I could undergo further surgery to repair the damage
by replacing the existing round ball with a long ball (think football vs. volleyball). That could happen immediately or any time in the future such as after my hip fully heals from this surgery. Or, I can wait for the hip to heal completely and opt out of restorative surgery if I think I can live with the joint as-is. The latter is not much of an option if the ball keeps slipping out of the socket with such regularity. Right now it looks like I'll be going in for restorative surgery in 4-6 weeks. On the bright side, no more PT!
Owen, well done. You are your own harshest critic.
Cya!
p.s. I’m now binge playing The Monkees and those SOPHS are giving me quizzical looks!
ReplyDeleteHi, gang -
ReplyDeleteWell, I got most of this, but still a DNF.
That wooshing sound you heard was the theme going over my head.
Jeffrey owns Fridays and this time he pwned me.
Busy day. Gotta run. Playing tonight.
Here's the opening of FEEL THE SPIRIT, a suite of American spirituals arranged by John Rutter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfKFurjvBlE
We're doing all 7 parts of this, Copland's FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN and Hanson's 2nd Symphony.
Cool Regards,
JzB
D'OH! (I'm an idiot not a jerk!) This one was hard. Thanks for the workout Jeffrey and thanks for explaining the theme, Lemonade. I didn't see it until I came here.
ReplyDeleteI was misdirected with 1D LIT (alcohol not fire), wanted Monty Hall before SETON, and have never heard PROEM. CLASS UP was a meh for me also. I wanted Mothers or Fathers to be the annually celebrated group. But I did remember GRE finally!
Interesting for me to see G.B. SHAW and TARTS from Alice in Wonderland since I saw the production in Niagara-on-the-Lake just last week.
Sorry for the setback Bluehen.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI saw the theme as soon as I filled in Palace In The Hole but there were still a lot of tricky spots to slow me down. Had elder before ex-CIA and coed before soph. Proem is new to me, also. I did finish w/o help, though it was a slow process.
Thanks, JW, for your usual Friday challenge and thanks, Lemonade, for the illuminating write-up.
Bluehen @ 9:36 - I was the one who inquired about your rehab and I am so sorry to hear of your complications. I guess there are no guarantees for 100 per cent success in every case. Best wishes for the next time around.
Tawnya from yesterday: That clip of Sally's order reminds me of one of my sisters who is the finickiest eater on this planet. She has never eaten Italian, French, Chinese, Mexican, or any other "exotic" food in her life. She doesn't eat fish, shellfish or anything else from the sea. She likes tomatoes but wouldn't touch bruschetta; she eats eggs but not egg salad; no mashed potatoes because they "gag" her; scratch off lamb, veal, and liver, too. To each his (or her) own, I guess!
Since some were hit songs, thought I'd check out the others.
ReplyDeleteAce in the Hole by Saint Motel 3:44
Ace in the Hole by George Strait 2:47
John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers- Mists Of Time - Stories 7:53
I was sure that quote was Oscar Wilde, but that didn't fit, and the next closest was Groucho Marx, which did. SHAW?
Pretty tough. Starting with the salt/talc toss up. But I did get that resolved, and that helped get palace, which gave away the theme. I don't see any erasures, but there were a lot of blanks where the first thought didn't get entered until much later. Did manage to dredge up Gaia from a few weeks ago, and even had a faint recollection of Proem....not sure from where. The one that gave me the hardest time was Ho's accompaniment. No matter how likely, John just wasn't going to fit.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteJeff got me today. Could not suss the NE. So, not so enjoyable but still; good training. Never heard of PROEM. Never got the theme gimmick. Had the DEL - BOM direction wrong, in my head, so plunked down WNW instead of SSW. Should have had PEKE, too. But, there was a lot of good stuff, especially in the south, I suppose it was worth it.
Good PROEM, Lemon.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteOddly, there weren't as many write-overs today as yesterday; I solved YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND as soon as PEGS and FTD were in place. Then, I kind of slogged around - making a few mistakes here and there - until I got the TADA in the NE corner. Hand up for not knowing MISTS OF TIME, but I enjoyed listening to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - thanks Owen
I wanted DRUNK for 66a for the longest time. I guess once TIPSY fell at 1d, I kinda knew that JW had another word in mind for 66a
Jeez, Lemony, what's up with you and Wechsler??! Seems like every Friday for the past month for you guys? Was he thinking of you, PAL, when he themed this puzzle?? ;-p
I wonder if they sell Ginzu knives on GINZA street? 10d could've been clued as "Word that Arnold used when getting Mr Kotter's attention?
Does my embedded link to the Mayall rendition not show, or is Owen's the only version up?
ReplyDeleteLem - on - ade @11:31
DeleteI tried playing your embedded link to Mayall from my iPhone and was unsuccessful - ditto the link to the Monkees.
BTW Fermatprime: it is official, Castle was cancelled.
ReplyDeleteOOH OOH!
ReplyDeleteWhee! I triumphed with a Jeffrey grid! Starting with LOLA then TIPSY helped to finish the NW corner and PALACE but IN THE HOLE took quite a long time. I worked around it. Also, misspelled GAEA and finally realized it was GAIA. Luckily, AGHA is a common fill. Going downward, GROKE seemed like a good guess but then PEKE converted it to GROPE.
ReplyDeleteMy first western crime name was Louis (L'Amour) but JESSE soon made his appearance and YOU'VEGOTAFRIEND slipped right in. Like others, PROEM was the last fill and am not sure if I've seen it before. As for Judy and Vicente's daughter, remember LIZA with a Z? I believe it was a TV special. I'm surprised so many haven't heard of "lost in the MISTSOFTIME." It's an often used expression about obscure myths and legends.
In some ways this was easy but in other areas, NE especially, was difficult. TWOS and TOTED just took me a long time to suss. And I laughed at Ho's accompaniment when I recalled Don Ho! Good one.
Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler. This was a great mental workout. And special thanks, Lemonade, for lifting the MISTS from this puzzle.
Owen:
Yes, you are too hard on yourself. I loved your tribute to the muses.
Blue Hen:
I'm so sorry to hear of your travails and hope they can be corrected with less pain for you.
Have a great Friday, everyone!
Blue Hen, I am so sorry to hear of your setback. Best wishes for a timely and trouble free do-over. A friend had a similar snafu with her hip. Maybe these things are not so rare as they seem.
ReplyDeleteOff to PT for myself. I look forward to it as steps toward wholeness.
Hi Y'all! Clap, clap, clap (that's giving a HAND) for Jeffrey & Lemonade! Whew, you did a lot of work Lemon. Took longer to hear all the great music in your expo than to do the puzzle. Sweetened the effort too.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't as hard for me as last week's. I got the PAL theme when the second one showed up. Hand up for "salt" before TALC. Last to fill was the GMT/MOOT cross & SHAW/WAG. Couldn't remember GMT stood for Greenwich Mean Time (sounds treacherous to me). I wanted International Date Line. Duh!
My favorite SHAW quote in Lemony's link was: "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you." As a former journalist, I certainly found out people hate the truth except sweetened with humor.
This was our "introduction" to the word PROEM.
Wanted IM A dope before JERK. "Clueless" rather than "tactless" in my vocabulary.
Bluehen: So sorry you've had such a problem. So maddening for you, I'm sure. Are you able to put the ball back in place yourself or do you have to go into the doctor? I had a friend whose hip would lock out of place when he sat for a while and couldn't get up. He had to have medical help each time. I'm beaming you a big hug for your courage. Keep us posted.
Well, it was a Friday toughie, all right, and at first looked pretty impossible. But in the end I had to cheat only once. I got all the PALs and the FRIEND at the end of the reveal, but in the end had to look up the Carole King song title to finish the SW corner. But I got everything else, hurray, so, many thanks, Jeffrey. And you too, Lemonade, for your always great expo.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of PROEM.
So sorry to hear about your ongoing problems, Bluehen. Hope you'll find the best solution and have an easier time in the future.
Oh no, not "Castle" canceled! My favorite thing to look forward to on a Monday evening. Hope they replay all the previous years, at least.
Have a great weekend coming up, everybody!
Got to yesterday's blog too late to post last night. C.C.'s puzzle was another AWESOME and intricate work. Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I loved the stonework link. Always enjoy your international flavor. But I was surprised you didn't know LEONA Lewis since she is British, born in London. But then I don't know ten percent of all the American singers.
A good workout today. It was a struggle, but I finished without any intentional assists. (I mean, can I help it if my eye caches another answer when all I'm doing is confirming that a previous fill is right? Anyway, that's how I caught onto the theme use of PAL.)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite mis-lead was 39A, "Ho's accompaniment." My impulse of course was to enter HUM, which I thought was clever enough in itself. I laughed out loud when it turned out to be UKE.
Bluehen, I empathize. I haven't been faced with exactly your troubles and options, but mine have certainly paralleled yours. Good luck for your next round of surgery. I say, "Hooray," that you won't need PT for now! That a big PLUS in my book.
Not that I'm counting, but 5 of the last 7 Friday's have been JW puzzles. And when was the last Silkie on Saturday? Seems as it's been awhile . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm not a JERK, I'm an IDIOT (D'Oh!) says:
ReplyDeleteHe's not a bum, he's a JERK.
JW you beat the snot outta me (sorry, that's not CLASS'd UP). Thanks Lem for letting me crib from YOUr grid and fixin' all my WAGs.
Play later. Cheers, -T
I appreciated Lemonade's link to the Bush conspiracy against JFK. I started to read it and was fascinated, not so much by the plot itself, but that all these connections between LBJ and Bush and hit-men have been traced over the years w/o my being aware of any of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the (many) problems of conspiracy theories. They are so convoluted, so intricate, that they can't be properly summed up in a catchy accusation (e.g., Bush shot Kennedy!) but require close reading and real study. Not that many citizens are prepared to devote the mental energy to work their way through them. This means they only hover on the fringe of national awareness, fueling the general suspicion that we aren't told half of what's really going on, but never clicking into wide acceptance. As a result, we are a paranoid public that can't put its collective thumb on how our system works. Maybe we like it that way.
Chairman Moe @ 2:35 - I, too, have been wondering about Silkie and just checked the archives to discover his last puzzle was March 5. Normally, his puzzles appear on the first Saturday of every month, but nothing in April or May. I miss him.
ReplyDeleteOM Keith, I loved your hum as Ho's companion! Isn't it funny the way our minds work? (Or, sometimes, don't! 🤓)
BTW, yesterday I was awarded another $1,500,000.00 by the United Nations and I also won £500,000 pounds in the London Lottery. I'm a mighty lucky lady, wouldn't you say? 💰 💵 💴 💶 💷
I have found 3 meanings of JERK, first mentioned, stupid person (D'OH, I'm a stupid jerk) or a person who is not well-liked or who treats other people badly.
ReplyDeleteI was very pleased with the skill of my therapy director today. Good news! My bicep which tore and detached on Saturday can very likely be treated with physical therapy instead of surgery. The therapist is working on increasing the ease of motion from my healed rotator cuff, as well. The weak rotator cuff has over-stressed the bicep. Finally after 13 months, maybe my IT band can be stretched enough to be comfortable. It was so tight it caused a stress fracture in the patella over my knee replacement. The fracture is healing well. Time for the care giver to take care, too. I am thankful that I heal well and have a very high pain threshold, although that can inveigle me into neglecting to attend to problems and also into overdoing it physically.
It's a cultural crime that we've pretty much wiped out any memory or influence of the great Paul Robeson because of his political views.
ReplyDeleteCrossword crime-
Oldie that's the anthem of the Tea Party?
"I'M IN WITH THE PALIN CROWD"
Jeff Wex beat me up and stole my lunch money! But I enjoyed it. Such a fun workout, even though I failed dismally.
ReplyDeleteLemon, it made sense once you walked me through. Thanks
Thanks, Owen for the meeting with the muses. I'm always amazed.
Nicely difficult. Seems like a typical Jeffrey Wechsler Friday puzzle, which I like. Had many of the same experiences as some of you did, such as entering SALT and then having to take it out. I agree the YES SIR would never be said at Downton Abbey; Mr. Carson would scold you for not saying "Yes milady" or "Yes milord." I, too, did not know PROEM at all, and agree that "D'oh" denotes "I'm an idiot," not "I'm a jerk." Cluing is a tricky job. For some reason SETON Hall was my first thought, perhaps because one of my most memorable professors from long ago came from there.
ReplyDeleteBluehen, I hope the problems with your hip get solved to your satisfaction and long term mobility.
Best wishes to you all.
That article about the assassination of JFK was fascinating. I have also read some fascinating articles that cited very strong evidence that Vince Foster was murdered, and very probably Ron Brown also.
ReplyDeleteJayce, I read a book this spring that makes a convincing case that LBJ was behind the assassination with inside help from the FBI (Hoover), CIA (Bush) and organized crime figures. Roger Stone, a Washington insider, wrote it for the 50th anniversary, and it was published in 2013. It argues that the Warren Commission was primarily a smokescreen to keep other investigators away from the case where they might find out what really happened. We'll probably never know the whole truth, but this book ties a nice bow around it. Interesting read, even if you don't accept its premise.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've wondered how the Warren Commission seemed to overlook or fail to find evidence, and issued their (totally bogus, IMO) report saying that there was only one shooter. Poor Lee Oswald was made the fall guy and then wonder of wonders, coincidence of coincidences, was murdered by Jack Ruby. I totally accept its premise because the evidence, IMO, supports it.
ReplyDeleteOMK - I wanted high-Ho (and off to work we go) @39a. I had dust @1a (ashes are sprinkled and ashes to ashes... I over thought it /:-o)
ReplyDeleteI love conspiracy theories; tenuous links between A and E that leads to Q and Z with twisted logic. The late-night AM programs, X-Files, and movies like MIB are full of them. I giggle.
I am, however, suspicious of postal workers. Newman! is an ET.
I was in the Army and later worked for the DOD - the rumour-mill is set at ludicrous-speed. Everyone hears everything and nothing at the same time.
The thought that anyone could keep anything secret for any amount of time is silly to me. See SkUNK Works, Manhattan Project, Area 51/Groom Lake, etc. Sure the public doesn't "know," but those nearby do and yap about it. A fun book shows the patches of Black-OPPs-units and gives some (of what what little he knows) history of them.
And then some JERK spins it up to Aliens, Chem-trails and mind-control conspiracy. Guilty by TARTS.
The Gov't testing TNG aircraft must love these false flags; "Yeah it's a UFO, er, not our F-117." "There are no ETs at Wright-Pat" (as Tuskegee experiments go on).
To keep a secret: Tell one person and then kill them.
As for the CIA/NSA pulling one off... See: Get Smart :-). I mean, even their "cover" to get OBL as polio vaccinators in Afghanistan came out within a year.
There's wheat & there's chaff. The Truth is Out There :-)
See my ETSY page for tin-foil hats.
Cheers, -T
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff, Lemon.
Really scratched head at PROEM. Otherwise OK. Just sloooow.
(I wasn't going to watch Castle anyway without Stana Katic.)
Ate the first zucchini out of my garden (thanks to the ersatz gardener).
Bluehen: feel better!
Cheers!
Anon T, yes indeed! The truth is out there!
ReplyDeletePaul Robeson was an amazing talent. We should not forget
ReplyDeleteOK, maybe just me - but this tickled my funny-bone:
ReplyDeleteWhile winding down and looking at the paper, I read this on Sochi doping. My fav part is paragraph 13: "... It was working like a Swiss watch" said Rodchenkov who was in charge of the doping scheme. Even the Russians think the Swiss make the best clocks!
Just me, eh? Cheers, -T
Really nice observation; I had no idea the communist bloc values Swiss craftmanship
ReplyDeleteHated the clues - I would NEVER do CWPs if this was my introduction - the answer to any plural thing (anything with an S) - like dancers - is TWOS - really
ReplyDelete