Theme: NO NEED TO SHOUT or, as the reveal succinctly explains:
36A. Emphatic type ... or what the beginnings of the longest entries are? : ALL CAPS
16A. Tension-easing activity : ICEBREAKER. Ice cap.
22A. It supposedly keeps the monster inside the closet : NIGHT LIGHT. Nightcap. Cheers!
45A. Jam site : BOTTLENECK. Bottle cap. I was thinking "bottleneck" in the slide guitar/jam session sense of the word before I saw sense. Ah! Traffic! Here's Brian Jones playing slide guitar on the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations", the last thing he recorded before his death.
57A. Baby blanket, perhaps : SHOWER GIFT. Shower cap. I confess I flat-out don't like this. Wedding shower gift, bridal shower gift or baby shower gift - all fine, but "shower gift" seems contrived to me. I'd have probably tried something else like SHOWER HEAD here.
Neat theme, but with the aforementioned stutter-step at the end. Let's see what else we've got going on.
Across:
1. Fraternal order member : ELK
4. Deposit : PAY IN
9. Candy shape : CANE
13. Pressure for payment : DUN
14. He became New York Philharmonic music director 30 years before Leonard : ARTURO. Toscanini.
15. Part of ABC: Abbr. : AMER. The American Broadcasting Company.
18. Butcher's cut : LOIN. Food! Butcher's cuts also refer to lesser-known cuts of meat such as flank steak, hanger steak, sirloin cap and bavette that are packed with flavor and less expensive than the better-known varieties.
19. Coffee cart item : CREAMER
20. Turf controllers : GANGS. I'm going to come off as pedantic here, but there's no plural of "gang" in this sense. More than one of this type of turf controllers are called "gang mowers". "Gang" refers to multiple reel mowers that are "ganged" together.
21. Durbeyfield daughter : TESS. I re-read the book recently - I enjoyed it much more than when we had to study it at school.
26. Tiebreakers, briefly : O.T.S Overtimes. Three NCAA Div 1 games have gone to seven overtimes - Arkansas played in two of them and lost them both.
28. Turkish money : LIRAS. Really? I think this one's little but of a stretch - I can't think of a case where I'd use it in preference to "lira". One lira, twenty lira. Twenty liras? Not so much.
29. Host : EMCEE
31. Holistic healers' observations : AURAS
32. Day __ : SPA
35. Winery wood : OAK. Plenty of it here. This is Caymus in Napa; I visited there last year.
38. Colorful carp : KOI
39. Turndowns : NOS
40. What Lot's wife looked back at : SODOM. Not a wise move unless you were planning on being turned into a pillar of salt.
41. Pastoral poem : IDYLL.
43. Stat for a reliever : SAVES. Blown Saves too, but pitchers don't like to talk about those.
44. Nancy Drew's beau : NED. Nickerson. Crosses for me, I never read the books.
50. Everymutt : FIDO
53. WWII attacker : U-BOAT. They were around in WWI too, most notoriously U-20 which fired the torpedo that sank the Lusitania. Erik Larsen's book "Dead Wake" is a fascinating account of the controversial tragedy.
54. New Hampshire prep school town : ANDOVER. Legend has it that the US Postal Service once successfully decoded and delivered a letter with the address:
HILL
JOHN
NH
56. Fanny : REAR. I still chuckle when I see this. A fanny in England is a quite different part of a lady's anatomy.
60. Subtle "Over here!" : PSST!
61. Trojan hero : AENEAS
62. Japanese drama : NOH
63. Hardens : SETS
64. 2012 title judge played by Karl Urban : DREDD. Never saw it. Topical though, Urban is reported as saying in the last couple of days that a TV series "could happen". My breath is bated.
65. Prefix with caching : GEO- Something of a nerdy pastime whereby you take your GPS handheld and go find something placed at a specific coordinate. When you find it, you write your name on it and put it back. Apparently.
Down:
1. Decree : EDICT
2. Riches : LUCRE. Generally "filthy" for some reason.
3. Kilt companions : KNEE SOCKS
4. Groom with a bill : PREEN
5. Jaguar creator : ATARI. Crosses filled this in for me - the Atari Jaguar was a video gaming console. Now, if I pronounce the British car "jag-you-a" and the NFL team "Jagwires", how do I pronounce a Japanese console?
6. Big laugh : YUK
7. Wrath : IRE
8. Postal motto word : NOR. It's an unofficial motto and is inscribed on the James Farley post office in New York City:
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"
9. French town closest to England : CALAIS. If you stand on the top of the cliffs at South Foreland in England and use your cellphone, it's very likely that you'll incur roaming charges because the strongest signal comes from France Telecom across the Dover Straits. Here's the view from Calais.
10. Honor __ thieves : AMONG
11. Pastoral sound : NEIGH
12. Surrealist Max : ERNST.
14. Branch : ARM
17. Keep moist, in a way : BASTE
20. Enclose, as a porch : GLASS IN
23. Sugary stuff : GLUCOSE
24. Distiller Walker : HIRAM. Cheers! Canadian Club is still made at the original distillery, although the brand is now owned by Beam Suntory of Japan.
25. Snare : TRAP
27. Topping for fancy chocolate : SEA SALT. I use Maldon salt from the UK. I used to bring it back with me after a visit, but my local market stocks it now. Williams-Sonoma also stocks it, for more than twice the price of anywhere else, naturally.
29. Long stretch : EON
30. "Little Red Book" author : MAO. Formally titled "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung".
31. Mayflower Compact signer : ALDEN
32. High jumps : SKYDIVING. Something seems off to me here. SKYDIVES better matches the clue, "High jumping" better suits the answer.
33. Campaign pro : POL.
34. Catch a bug : AIL
37. Sweetheart : LOVE
42. Clear, as a windshield : DEFOG
43. They may be false : STARTS. "Take your marks, set .....".
45. Pats on the back, maybe : BURPS
46. Really big : OBESE
47. Brown : TOAST. Blacken if the timer is set too long.
48. Cried in the cornfield : CAWED. Crows' cornfield cries.
49. Work on in a bakery : KNEAD
51. Crusoe creator : DEFOE. Likely inspired by the story of sailor Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned with his dog for four years on a Chilean island.
52. Garden products brand : ORTHO
55. OBs and ENTs : DRS. What's up, Docs?
57. Down : SAD
58. What's-__-name : HER
59. United : ONE
Just in time for the grid, and that's it from me!
Steve
36A. Emphatic type ... or what the beginnings of the longest entries are? : ALL CAPS
16A. Tension-easing activity : ICEBREAKER. Ice cap.
22A. It supposedly keeps the monster inside the closet : NIGHT LIGHT. Nightcap. Cheers!
45A. Jam site : BOTTLENECK. Bottle cap. I was thinking "bottleneck" in the slide guitar/jam session sense of the word before I saw sense. Ah! Traffic! Here's Brian Jones playing slide guitar on the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations", the last thing he recorded before his death.
57A. Baby blanket, perhaps : SHOWER GIFT. Shower cap. I confess I flat-out don't like this. Wedding shower gift, bridal shower gift or baby shower gift - all fine, but "shower gift" seems contrived to me. I'd have probably tried something else like SHOWER HEAD here.
Neat theme, but with the aforementioned stutter-step at the end. Let's see what else we've got going on.
Across:
1. Fraternal order member : ELK
4. Deposit : PAY IN
9. Candy shape : CANE
13. Pressure for payment : DUN
14. He became New York Philharmonic music director 30 years before Leonard : ARTURO. Toscanini.
15. Part of ABC: Abbr. : AMER. The American Broadcasting Company.
18. Butcher's cut : LOIN. Food! Butcher's cuts also refer to lesser-known cuts of meat such as flank steak, hanger steak, sirloin cap and bavette that are packed with flavor and less expensive than the better-known varieties.
19. Coffee cart item : CREAMER
20. Turf controllers : GANGS. I'm going to come off as pedantic here, but there's no plural of "gang" in this sense. More than one of this type of turf controllers are called "gang mowers". "Gang" refers to multiple reel mowers that are "ganged" together.
21. Durbeyfield daughter : TESS. I re-read the book recently - I enjoyed it much more than when we had to study it at school.
26. Tiebreakers, briefly : O.T.S Overtimes. Three NCAA Div 1 games have gone to seven overtimes - Arkansas played in two of them and lost them both.
28. Turkish money : LIRAS. Really? I think this one's little but of a stretch - I can't think of a case where I'd use it in preference to "lira". One lira, twenty lira. Twenty liras? Not so much.
29. Host : EMCEE
31. Holistic healers' observations : AURAS
32. Day __ : SPA
35. Winery wood : OAK. Plenty of it here. This is Caymus in Napa; I visited there last year.
38. Colorful carp : KOI
39. Turndowns : NOS
40. What Lot's wife looked back at : SODOM. Not a wise move unless you were planning on being turned into a pillar of salt.
41. Pastoral poem : IDYLL.
Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands;
Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands;
For man is man and master of his fate.
from Idylls of the King: Song from the marriage of Geraint
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
43. Stat for a reliever : SAVES. Blown Saves too, but pitchers don't like to talk about those.
44. Nancy Drew's beau : NED. Nickerson. Crosses for me, I never read the books.
50. Everymutt : FIDO
53. WWII attacker : U-BOAT. They were around in WWI too, most notoriously U-20 which fired the torpedo that sank the Lusitania. Erik Larsen's book "Dead Wake" is a fascinating account of the controversial tragedy.
54. New Hampshire prep school town : ANDOVER. Legend has it that the US Postal Service once successfully decoded and delivered a letter with the address:
HILL
JOHN
NH
56. Fanny : REAR. I still chuckle when I see this. A fanny in England is a quite different part of a lady's anatomy.
60. Subtle "Over here!" : PSST!
61. Trojan hero : AENEAS
62. Japanese drama : NOH
63. Hardens : SETS
64. 2012 title judge played by Karl Urban : DREDD. Never saw it. Topical though, Urban is reported as saying in the last couple of days that a TV series "could happen". My breath is bated.
65. Prefix with caching : GEO- Something of a nerdy pastime whereby you take your GPS handheld and go find something placed at a specific coordinate. When you find it, you write your name on it and put it back. Apparently.
Down:
1. Decree : EDICT
2. Riches : LUCRE. Generally "filthy" for some reason.
3. Kilt companions : KNEE SOCKS
4. Groom with a bill : PREEN
5. Jaguar creator : ATARI. Crosses filled this in for me - the Atari Jaguar was a video gaming console. Now, if I pronounce the British car "jag-you-a" and the NFL team "Jagwires", how do I pronounce a Japanese console?
6. Big laugh : YUK
7. Wrath : IRE
8. Postal motto word : NOR. It's an unofficial motto and is inscribed on the James Farley post office in New York City:
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"
9. French town closest to England : CALAIS. If you stand on the top of the cliffs at South Foreland in England and use your cellphone, it's very likely that you'll incur roaming charges because the strongest signal comes from France Telecom across the Dover Straits. Here's the view from Calais.
10. Honor __ thieves : AMONG
11. Pastoral sound : NEIGH
12. Surrealist Max : ERNST.
14. Branch : ARM
17. Keep moist, in a way : BASTE
20. Enclose, as a porch : GLASS IN
23. Sugary stuff : GLUCOSE
24. Distiller Walker : HIRAM. Cheers! Canadian Club is still made at the original distillery, although the brand is now owned by Beam Suntory of Japan.
25. Snare : TRAP
27. Topping for fancy chocolate : SEA SALT. I use Maldon salt from the UK. I used to bring it back with me after a visit, but my local market stocks it now. Williams-Sonoma also stocks it, for more than twice the price of anywhere else, naturally.
29. Long stretch : EON
30. "Little Red Book" author : MAO. Formally titled "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung".
31. Mayflower Compact signer : ALDEN
32. High jumps : SKYDIVING. Something seems off to me here. SKYDIVES better matches the clue, "High jumping" better suits the answer.
33. Campaign pro : POL.
34. Catch a bug : AIL
37. Sweetheart : LOVE
42. Clear, as a windshield : DEFOG
43. They may be false : STARTS. "Take your marks, set .....".
45. Pats on the back, maybe : BURPS
46. Really big : OBESE
47. Brown : TOAST. Blacken if the timer is set too long.
48. Cried in the cornfield : CAWED. Crows' cornfield cries.
49. Work on in a bakery : KNEAD
51. Crusoe creator : DEFOE. Likely inspired by the story of sailor Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned with his dog for four years on a Chilean island.
52. Garden products brand : ORTHO
55. OBs and ENTs : DRS. What's up, Docs?
57. Down : SAD
58. What's-__-name : HER
59. United : ONE
Just in time for the grid, and that's it from me!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
The fifth Minnesota Crossword Tournament will be held at the Landmark Center in St. Paul on June 12th, 2016 Sunday. Please click here for more details. Here is the direct registration link. Entry fee is only $20 per person.
Don G and I teamed up again this year. Other contributors (all LAT/NYT constructors) include George Barany, Victor Barocas, Tom Pepper, Andrea Carla Michaels and a few others. I'll let you know once the updated list is released.
Our own Jeffrey Wechsler is flying from New Jersey to volunteer for the event.
Our own Jeffrey Wechsler is flying from New Jersey to volunteer for the event.
59 comments:
On the Internet shouting is done in ALL CAPS
To stress a point, or look foolish perhaps;
while lowercase slumming
was lazy for cummings,
since caps are like zombies, they need double taps!
I'll warn you that SKY DIVING over ANDOVER
Is something you shouldn't do over and over.
Your style it would cramp, sir,
Because in New Hampshire
The taxman says "what you have over, hand over!"
There once was a man from CALAIS
Who fancied himself a gourmet.
At home, he could most
Only fix himself TOAST,
And even that took him all day!
{A, A, B+}
I want to give special thanks to SwampCat, Yellowrocks, Irish Miss, PK, Lucina, Misty, Husker Gary, CanadianEh!, -T, and especially Bill G. for your comments yesterday. I feel so embarrassingly needy fishing for comments like that, since no one else does. And I wish I could return comments to every poster here, even the anonymous trolls. I need those affirmations to keep going.
When I could still hear and stand, I was in several Toastmasters and Storytellers clubs, and so every week I had a chance to give a speech or tell a story, which always got applause and often a ribbon. I got addicted to the praise! But now that I'm nearly housebound I sometimes go for weeks with no human interaction except for my LW.
I appreciate what many of you said, and Misty expressed best: "one of the blessings of being a retired teacher is that you don't have to grade anymore." But if just 2 or 3 of you could, it would help me. No comments even necessary. Just an occasional {A,C,F} at the bottom like we used to do with the captchas. While the A's and B's are good for my self esteem, it's the D's and F's that I learn from.
I'll bet several people today will comment before reading other comments that KNEE SOCKS::KNEE CAPS and SKY DIVING::SKY CAPS (airport porters) were overlooked.
Steve did a wonderful job covering some trivia that was new to me, but IMHO "turf controllers" had nothing to do with lawn mowers.
As a former geocacher, I'll report that while there is a trend towards micro-caches with just a log book, the original concept was boxes big enough to hold a bunch of souvenirs - toys or commemorative coins - with a take one-leave one policy.
Morning, all!
Not too bad today, but I struggled with PAY IN/ATARI as well as GLASS IN. Never heard of ATARI Jaguar before, and PAY IN seems a bit contrived. As for GLASS IN, not only does it seem contrived, but it crossed LIRAS, which could have been LIRES, and AURAS, which could have been AURAE.
Eventually got it done, though...
Hello Puzzlers -
Easy enough solve today, but I did need perp help around Aeneas. Things got a little confusing at Andover, NH, because I thought the constructor was talking about Phillips Academy, which has a campus each in Exeter NH and Andover MA. Google says that there is a prep school called Proctor in Andover NH, but I never heard of it.
Morning, Steve, I see you were thinking in terms of gang mowers as turf controllers. I suspect the clue refers to city gangs of street thugs who control their own "turf" or territory, looking for other gang members they can beat senseless. Not much of a lifestyle if you ask me.
I'd say I have to disagree with Steve on each of his nits today. SHOWER GIFT is an oft heard term as is LIRAS. Some thing was definitely off about 32 down as it was overlooked as part of a set. And, yes, GANGS do control their turf with intimidation and violence.
Something very lemonlike about today's write up.
Good morning!
SKY DIVING was another of those "tense issues." It just seemed off. I didn't see anything wrong with SHOWER GIFT, though. Hand up with OKL, Dudley and Anon on GANGS. Still, I shot myself in the foot with ANDOVaR/DaFOE. Guess I was thinking Willem instead of Daniel. DNF.
I find it interesting that Master of Ceremonies, which is abbreviated MC becomes a word of its own as EMCEE. I find many stupid things interesting.
64a "Dredd"ged up a suppressed memory. In the recent discussion of "worst movie ever" I would have to nominate Judge Dredd, Stallone's 1995 effort....um....wasted effort.
I never read the book, but is Tess Durbeyfield the same as Tess of the D'urbervilles?
Steve, I'd pronounce it "jag-wahr" -- just like the car and the cat.
"Food! Butcher's cuts also refer to lesser-known cuts of meat such as flank steak, hanger steak, sirloin cap and bavette that are packed with flavor and less expensive than the better-known varieties."
Steve,
you are a morally reprehensible and depraved murderer of innocent creatures.
The good news is there's no Hell.
The bad news is you've got a conscience, whether or not you know it and even if you're a sociopath.
Sleep terribly, lowlife.
Very creative puzzle with 3 horizontal theme entries and two down with the two down crossing two of the horizontal . I solved this from the bottom up for some reason today - so once I got SHOWERGIFT and the theme it helped the rest be smooth sailing. I'm with DO - often say "I need to go shopping for a shower gift" without specifying which type of shower I'm going to. Probably being female, I go to a lot more showers than Steve :).
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Thanks Steve and Jennifer!
Good Morning!
I enjoyed this, but I am on the same parallel structure page as Steve with a couple of the entries. Thanks, Jennifer.
20A: GANGS on first pass without a quibble, but yes, a sigh. As a city girl, GANGS controlling various turfs was my first thought. My favorite Chicago gang name is the Insane Unknowns. I especially like when it's tagged on a building and misspelled. Shoulda spent more time in school. . . .
Thanks, Steve. I especially enjoyed the beautiful photo from CALAIS.
OwenKL@5:24 Affirmed, indeed!!!!
The sun's out here! Whoa! How did that happen?! Hope all of you have a sunny day also. Enjoy!
d-otto, I've never read "Tess" either, but it makes sense. I remember Mark Twain writing about nouveau riche families classing up their names with pseudo-French spelling, as Brigitte Aureilleigh had been born Bridget O'Reilly. OTOH foreigners who emigrated to England or America would often anglicize their names.
I should delete Anon@6:52 but I get laughing too hard every time I read it.
IMHO, post by Anonymous at 6:52 AM ought to be deleted. Uncalled for.
Good Morning everyone.
Easy Thursday, fun theme. No searches were needed.
Favorite fill was PREEN, and favorite clue was for ALL CAPS.
I agree with Steve on the mismatch cluing for 32d, SKYDIVING.
SODOM - I used to take this ROAD in SE Ontario as a shortcut to/from the Buffalo Peace Bridge to meet with Ontario Hydro staff. Nearby were two huge salt piles covered by large green cones to keep the weather off. One time my Ontario friend remarked that they were the Jolly Green Giant's girlfriend's brassiere.
From one of the many lowlife members here: (See @6:52.) LOL I'm glad you kept it in, Argyle.
Solved as fast as I could write except for the SW corner. Pperps quickly cleared up the AENEAS spelling..
Unfortunately, my take, too, was city gangs of thugs and their turf war. Now they are invading suburbia, as well.
I read TESS several times. It is interesting that as one's life experiences change, we reread novels with new eyes.
Durbeyfield or D'urbervilles? Wikki says," Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated peasants; however, John is given the impression by Parson Tringham that he may have noble blood, since "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", the surname of a noble Norman family, then extinct." Billocohoes was on the right track.
Some ill conceived ICE BREAKERS are so silly they are tension inducing instead of tension easing. Tin, never fear, this is only metaphorical ICE.
An email scammer is advising our Square Dance Club that we have an order to appear in court. He (she) got our name wrong or we all might be in jail.
For two months or so I have chanced a glass or two of Merlot a day, and even so, my new blood test shows A1C at 5.4 and my fasting GLUCOSE at 99. Also, it makes my good cholesterol very high. I am happy I don't have to give up everything.
I agree, LIRAS is not usually used for the plural of Turkish lira.
No other nits, even SKY DIVING is okay with me in a certain sense. Shooting hoops could be basketball. SKY DIVING could be high jumps. Probably, I'm too easy or permissive.
D-N-F ... that's what I get when I can't relieve tension with an "_ _ _ BREAKER".
Faves today, of course, was HIRAM and TOAST ... go figure ... LOL
In the ESP Dept. was ARTURO ... guess I don't keep-up with NY Philharmonic music directors.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
I found this a tad easier than the usual Thursday offering but still needed some perps and the reveal to catch the theme. Thought of CED at geo caching and Tin at _ _ _ breaker.
DO, your posts make me smile, with your dry, droll sense of humor. OTOH, the nasty, snarky Anons make me wince!
Thanks, Jennifer and Steve, for a pleasant journey.
Have a great day.
Ah the joy of blogging. Steve you omnivore!
Anyway, I read High jumps as referring to the first part of a sky dive so it did not rankle.
BG isn't TURFED it one of yours?
Good morning all, Happy Cinco de Mayo ! Thanks Steve, thanks Jennifer.
Did the puzzle after a couple hours of sleep. This cough/cold/ILI is awful.
Couldn't remember having any real issues when I did it, except that I maxed out on my knowledge of New Hampshire place names (Manchester, Concord, Nashua) long before I ever got to ANDOVER, so thank you perps. CALAIS came easier.
And it must have been the exhaustion, but with -----OCKS in place, I mindlessly entered SHAMR for "kilt companions" as I was closing in on the finish in the NW. That slowed things down for a few minutes.
Fun puzzle and write up, so why all the rancor this morning ?
Madame DeFarge, there's a cult classic from 1979 entitled The Warriors that shows various street gangs. About as real to life as the gangs in West Side story, right ?
Good romcom on TV this morning, but the laughing is making my already sore ribs hurt.
Lots of fun! I have an early tee time.
58F: I went with "in a" name rather than "her" and that was costly. Had to use a
x-word dictionary for one or two answers and they opened the door to others. Not bad for a Thursday. Friday and Saturday are the killers for me.
During the era of "Laugh-In" on TV, there was a red-head on the show named "Fanny Farkle" which was a name that my husband called me because I have red hair. Only when we had two guests from England stay with us was I aware that in England "fanny" refers to a woman's vagina! They heard my husband call me that and gasped!
@Arygle - leave 6:52 alone, it's not every day I get called a sociopathic depraved murderer.
Thanks @Owen and @Dudleyfor the turf/gang correction, I was totally on the wrong track with that one.
Today was a doable (for me at least) Thursday. I usually only get about half of the Thursday puzzles without Red Letter help.
I agree with others on SKYDIVING and LIRAS, but I didn't have a problem with AURAS vs AURAE. Other than that today's puzzle was an enjoyable romp.
WRT ANON @ 10:17 am: My English aunt always used to say that Americans and British were separated by a Common Language.
I hope you all have a great one today.
Apparently Turkish LIRAS is OK to use.
Fun puzzle today. Agree that Sky and Knee are part of the theme. Also agree that gangs are of the human variety. Also agree that the clues for Liras and Skydiving are just a bit off.
Had no idea that this was a vegan blog! Who knew?
Fun puzzle today without as much crunch as most Thursdays have. Not that I didn't have some problems, like "ina" for HER. That one held me up for far too long (no, I'm not stubborn. Why do you ask?)
I'm afraid I don't share most of Steve's nits, although SKYDIVING did make me cringe.
I made a few jumps myself while in college, but after a tour of 'Nam including the Tet offensive, it seemed kind of silly to put your life at risk for kicks (Cue Paul Revere and the Raiders).
To the Anon @ 6:52 - If God didn't mean for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?
Thank you, Jennifer Nutt, for a fast and easy Thursday puzzle! Not too many misdirections but only my misinterpretations slowed me for a while. I had DEAR/LOVE, NIGHTNIGHT/NIGHTLIGHT, HIS/HER but with perp help it all came together.
Maybe anonymous@6:52 will turn into a PILLAR OF SALT for his intolerance. I can only hope.
Steve, since my very large family is also quite fertile, I have bought many SHOWER GIFTs in my lifetime. It's a common expression.
Thank you, Steve and again, Jennifer. What an entertaining time in so many unexpected ways.
Have a great day, everyone!
Where is 36A coming from? One could say that the beginnings of ALL entries (not just the longest) are ALL CAPS. Or that ALL entries in ALL crossword puzzles are ALL CAPS. What's so special about the long entries in this puzzle?
The plural of "NO" is "NOES," not "NOS."
GLUCOSE is not "sugary STUFF"; it is SUGAR.
Nice puzzle today. Thanks, Jennifer for your great theme! Hard to get six entries into a 15x15. Great job!
Steve, no worries. Everyone else but Anon@6:52 loves you!
Hi Y'all! Thanks for an easier Thursday than usual, Jennifer! Thanks for another enlightening expo, Steve!
Couldn't remember the last vowel in ALDEN. Didn't know AENEAS but the perps did.
Did you ever know anyone who called their dog FIDO or is this ALL fiction?
Anon @ 6:52: You must have got up on the wrong side of bed, you are so cranky. What's your beef with Steve? These cuts of meat are from cattle who are given life ONLY to be food. They have a short life being cared for only because someone needs the protein in their diet. Sounds like you do too, but are just not informed enough to recognize the truth.
Steve, I thought of city gangs, too, but know that parks and golf course caretakers use GANGmowers, so thought your take on the clue was intelligent. Sat in on more than one city council meeting where purchase of GANGS mowers was an agenda item. Expensive purchase.
Spitz: JGG's gal's bra! LOL!
TTP: hope your cold clears up soon. Colds & allergies are rampant here. Hard to tell which it is.
Meat! LW and I often kid around when she answers my question "What's for dinner?" with "Meat!"
I enjoyed working this puzzle, which seemed a tad easy for a Thursday. It does seem to have a lot of S's (plural words) in it.
Best wishes to you all.
I have never known a dog named Fido although I am familiar with the fact that Fido was FDR's dog's name (was it FDR?) My most favorite name for a dog I have known is Hoyt, a wonderful Weimaraner owned by a friend of ours. Hoyt died 2 years ago and our friend got another Weimaraner whom he named Kane. I like the name Hoyt a lot more. Man oh man that dog loves (and needs) to run!
In my business we use magnetometers a lot. We call them Fido in honor of their designer who likes to name his home-made test equipment Gray Dog, Yellow Dog, etc. Yes, they actually are that color. We are currently in the process of designing the 4th generation version, which we call Fido4.
I shall mention also that a 4th generation design of mine, a solar panel battery Charge Controller, is called CC4.
That's all 4 now.
Jayce
FDR's dog, a Scottish Terrier, was named FALA not FIDO.
I'm pretty sure I might be enjoying some FLANK STEAK on this Cinco de Mayo. Fajitas anybody.
Actually we'll be having grilled oysters tonight with some friends flying in from San Diego.
As for the puzzle, very easy for a Thursday with NED and DREDD as my only unknowns. TESS, I try to forget as it was one of the books that we had in freshman English. All I remember about it was the royal knocked her up.
Oh, anonymous, I am not a vegan. I love animals, especially on my plate.
Tinbeni, yes, you are right. Thanks! Apparently it was Abraham Lincoln who had a dog named Fido, before he (Lincoln) became president, per Woofipedia.
PK and TTP, I've got an almost sure-fire way of telling a cold from allergies. When you blow your nose, if the stuff that comes out is clear, it's an allergy. If it's an ugly yellowish-green, it's a cold.
I love flank steak. Since it's not so tender, we slice it between diagonally and horizontally getting the slices as thin as possible.
I'm surprised that I was able to finish this one without any helps. It turned out to be a lot trickier than it was.
Oh, wait! That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Obviously, it was just as tricky as it was. It managed to fool me into thinking it was unbeatable; yet, in the end (where else?), it was.
Well, it's not bad news for Tinbeni...
I guess he doesn't want to get trapped...
What do you want to be when you grow up?
OK, this is awkward!
Hmmm,
@Anon 11:44AM
The starts of the four theme entries are all kinds of caps, the reveal isn't telling you they're written in uppercase. Ice cap, nightcap, bottle cap, shower cap.
Make sense?
Both Merriam-Webster and the OED allow both "nos" and "noes", personal preference.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
We are having carnitas for dinner and I am being tortured by the smell of the slowly roasting pork in the crock pot. If I was on my own I'd probably be vegetarian as I get really grossed out by raw meat, but DH won't do it and I certainly don't complain when he's the one doing the cooking! (FWIW, bacon would always be my downfall...)
I'm sure I've met thousands of dogs over the years, but never once have I met a FIDO. I'll keep it in mind for the next time I rescue one!
@owen - I read your limericks daily and always find them entertaining! If this blog was on facebook, I would add some "likes" and clapping hand emoji's to my favorites. I won't grade them because I try not to be judgemental (keyword: try) and appreciate the time and effort you put into them. You have talent and are much appreciated by all. Keep it up!
Have a great day all!
t.
Food for thought...sign posted next to our local Senior Center -- "This dumpster for seniors only."
tawnya
My favorite beach is "The Dog Beach" at Honeymoon Island.
And I have to "meet" every-single-dog as I walk down the beach.
In all the years, and I always ask "the owner" what their dogs name is ...
NOT ONCE has anyone ever said: FIDO ...
Cheers!
Many years ago, Barbara and I saw a National Geographic lecture/slide show about Edinburgh at a local junior college. They had a segment about the penguins being taken for a walk at the Edinburgh zoo at 1 PM each day. Years later, we went to Edinburgh and made sure we included the zoo in our plans.
We got to the zoo and were disappointed. It was a crappy little zoo, much less nice that ones we were used to in the US. However, we headed over to the penguin cage at 1 PM and found all the penguins, about 50 or so, waiting patiently at the door to their enclosure. Right at one o'clock, their keeper came to the door and unlocked it. He began walking slowly around a looping pathway, maybe about 200 yards long. The penguins all lined up politely and followed him slowly along the path, looking left and right and taking in the sights. After about a 10-minute walk, they were back at the door to their enclosure. The keeper unlocked it and they all followed him back inside. It was a lovely experience in an otherwise forgettable zoo.
"Optimism is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you!"
OwenKL,
I always read your poems, but rarely comment because
of what I am doing at the time.
Like today, I was on my Iphone waiting to be tested for
Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, & something else in preparation for
taking a biologic.
I rarely comment from my phone,
& find it even harder when some one is coming at me with a needle...
Well, I was just getting ready to post this morning, when my computer messed up somehow. Thank goodness my wonderful university tech eventually got it fixed, but it took a chunk of the day.
I found this a Thursday toughie, but I kept at it and at it, and miraculously, I got the whole thing in the end. Thank you, Jennifer--after a tough crossword puzzle week I really needed this bit of success. And thank you, too Steve--although, like others, I had no problem with SHOWER GIFT at all.
Hope you all had a good day.
Bill G @3:34,
Thanks for the description of the Edinburgh penguin walk. I can just "see" it. There is something sweetly reassuring about creatures of habit, whether dogs or cats or penguins. Their reliance on human schedules is a kind of trust. They include our events, no matter how sensible (or inane), along with instinctual urges and Nature's seasons. Life to them is companionship - and a grand program.
GeoCaching nerdy?
hmm,
I haven't GeoCached in a while,been too busy flying Spitfires
out of Hawkinge. Teamed up with a club called The Wrecking Crew
& try to defend England every night.
I have a 21" TV in front of me displaying the flight simulation,
A 15x15 monitor to the left that displays a virtual cockpit, maps of England,
and a communication board that displays who i am talking to.
(note, many members are based in England,but we also have members in Australia
and west coast USA, & we all talk together without any lag at all about
who is on our six...)
In addition to microphones & headsets,
I also have something called TrackIR which clips on my baseball hat
& reads to a receiver that allows me to look in any direction while flying.
unfortunately,this 7:23 video
pretty much sums up my how well I am doing...
Note: the airfield is Hawkinge, circa 1940.
Alas the airfield is no longer there, nor (postal word) is the golf course.
nearest one now is just West, called Etching Hill near Folkstone.
The graphics are so good that I often just fly to sightsee,
Dudley, any interest?
We need pilots!
(it helps if you know how to fly a plane.)
IL-2 Cliff of Dover
$20- from Steam
Made by the Russians,
sold by the French,
totally revamped by a group of hackers called Team Fusion
into an awesome simulator.
You will also need to download (free) & install
5 different MOD files to be able to join other people in the air.
GeoCaching nerdy?
(not even close...)
P.S. Things can get pretty intense. (4:50)
Late to the party after working again. Completed this one in good time and enjoyed it. Thanks Jennifer and Steve (and to be greeted with Canadian Club!)
I had no problem with SHOWER GIFT and thought the GANGS were the city type. Like Steve, I missed the vertical KNEE and SKY as part of the theme.
Anon@11:44 - The Emphatic type referring to ALL CAPS can be seen as SHOUTING and is considered rude internet manners. This is what Steve was referring to with his Theme: NO NEED TO SHOUT!
Spitz, I know Sodom Rd. and have never heard that description of the green cones. LOL. The Ont. Ministry of Transportation uses those cones all over the province to cover the sand/salt piles.
YR, congrats on your great A1C and other lab work.
Does anyone besides me hate Coffee CREAMERS?
tawnya, I echo your statement "If this blog was on facebook, I would add some "likes" and clapping hand emoji's to my favorites." I commented several weeks ago that it would be nice to be able to comment directly under specific posts.
Good evening all.
PK, thank you for the get well soon, and thank you Bill G for the tip on how to spot the difference between an allergic reaction and a cold. Will be on the lookout going forward, although I've never been diagnosed with having any allergies. Knock on wood.
Can't keep my eyes open. Talk to you all tomorrow.
Steve @ 245p
If I'm missing something, I apologize in advance. But aren't you missing the down entries? You did not mention them in your blog and continue to ignore them. So sad.
Hi All!
Thanks Jennifer - that was fun! Thanks Steve! @5:59 - cut Steve some slack. He probably wrote this on the red-eye, over the Atlantic, or with a lime in his drink - I don't see you don' a write-up. On getting the wrong GANGS: Steve's a Brit & didn' grow up in the AMERi-hood, Yo
I had a heck of a time in the NW and SW. I wanted ELK, but couldn't get anything to perp. Guessing laSS @21a didn't help.
SW hang-ups: 54a and 42d. NOR did it help that I too had "in a" name, then What's-His-name, and couldn't decide between MDS and DRS at 55d. 61a & 64a were unknowns and took ESP. SAD.
PSST - Other WOs: rOAST b/f TOAST, PutIN b/f PAY IN.
More ESPs: ALDEN, CALAIS (had CALone WAG'd. Bzzt and bzzzzt; I looked it up, someone stuck a silent-G in Cologne, FR.)
Most Excellent WAG: "T" in 5d xing 14a. I figured that was the Italian designers name for the Jag :-). Atari's 2600 was my last game console.
OKL - {C+/B- [I needed it 'splain'd - took away a bit for me*], A, B+}
C, Eh! - Hand up on not liking CREAMERs. In fact I don't like anything in my coffee. When I was 14, I'd stop at the C-Store and the owner would let me have coffee for free. One day he said "If you can drink it black, you will have a drink anywhere in the word."
CED - Kneat IL-2 video (KNEAD gets a K; neat wants a K). PS TTP - no that's not Pop's cat.
Nope, never a FIDO either.
Argyle - Glad you kept @6:52. It gives me a chance to use my Rudy's BBQ Tee slogan: "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food-chain just to eat salad." Hence fav: SEASALT encrusted Pork LOIN.
Cheers, -T
*Dad says, "Son, if you have to explain your joke, it ain't funny." [see: FLN's MegaTokyo :-)]
YR, thanks for asking about me a few days ago. I'm glad I caught your comment as I get behind in most activities, crossword and blog included. I was three day behind in reading the daily paper this week. A while back I was behind on my newspapers and caused my husband to miss his cousin's funeral. (He has 57 cousins)
We had our 40th anniversary in April. My DH give me a dozen yellow roses and the 3 kids sent us a cheese and chocolate package. We hoped to make a small trip but I'm still struggling to stay awake for the most part.
Owen, your poetry is always fun to read and I'm amazed at your creativeness so early in the morning. I sure understand the isolation you feel now. I always felt I was helping someone when I was nursing and it was very gratifying. I'm going to drop my license in January. No one wants a nurse who shakes, can't walk, and can't remember things.....LOL
CED, I love all the kitty pictures and Dilbert was really funny today.
HG, it's wonderful that you are back to being active after your health scare awhile ago.
FIDO seems to be a generic name for a dog much as Jane and John Doe for persons. A headline in today's newspaper reads: "Driver's lap no place for Fido." The article explains the danger of holding a dog on one's lap while driving.
TTP - How long have you been in IL? A buddy of mine (from NOLA) never had allergies until he came in contact w/ corn-mold in CHI. I know the corn down-state is only ankle-high but there was a lot of rain over the weekend. Just a thought.
Good to see you back Blue Iris.
Am I the only one who wanted twenty-three-nineteen (Monsters, Inc) @22a's clue?
Cheers, -T
Keith, I'm glad you liked the penguin story. My father LOVED to tell stories. He would sometimes say, "Did I tell you about...?" If I said yes, he would tell me the story all over again anyway, maybe in a little shorter version. I've got some of his story-telling DNA I think.
CED, that WW II flying simulation is really cool!
It's raining here, unusual for May. I hope it keeps up for another hour so it will lull me to sleep.
Oops, I've come to actually like coffee creamers, almost as well as half-and-half. Not the flavored ones like French Vanilla. Just the plain ones.
I was really hoping for a week without a cc burnikel. Oh well, week ruined.
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