Theme: None
Words: 72 (missing Q)
Blocks: 28
I
had to cave in to red-letters to solve the NE corner, and even then I
was not able to come up with any logical answers, so I resorted to
alphabet runs, and once the ta-DA~! came, I was really disappointed
with the results. I don't care if they are acceptable answers, even for
a Saturday. A couple were just too much of a s-t-r-e-t-c-h, and
therefore "fun-sponge" gets called on this puzzle. Too bad,
really; other than in the NE, I did well (OK, there were some
groaners in other places, too) and I am usually not very successful with Mark's constructions. Oh, and did I mention the
circumreferential clues~? Triple 10s and paired 10s in the
corners, with two 9s and four 8s;
17a. Where the Walking Piano scene in "Big" was filmed : FAO SCHWARZ - Nailed it; great scene, fun movie, can always watch it when it's on regular TV - from 1988, same as 12d.
64a. Wait follower : "...THERE'S MORE~!"
27d. Classic film words of self-revelation : I'M A REAL BOY
NO WRD Answer
ACROSS:
1. "Star Wars" High Council member : JEDI MASTER
11. Co. leaders : MGTS - ??? What~? Say again~? Managements~? Really~? NOT.
15. Writing desk : ESCRITOIRE - Le Frawnche
16. Realize : REAP - Argh~! Too much of a s-t-r-e-t-c-h
18. Toy since ancient times : PEKE - ugh. The Dog, not YO-YO or KITE
11. Co. leaders : MGTS - ??? What~? Say again~? Managements~? Really~? NOT.
15. Writing desk : ESCRITOIRE - Le Frawnche
16. Realize : REAP - Argh~! Too much of a s-t-r-e-t-c-h
18. Toy since ancient times : PEKE - ugh. The Dog, not YO-YO or KITE
19. Laughs : FUN
20. Text giggle : HEE - ugh, not LOL
21. ZzzQuil competitor : SOMINEX
23. Military actions : RAIDS - police actions, too
25. Spanish uncle? : NO MAS - cry uncle~! No more~! Leave out the fun-sponge answers~!
26. Toys since 1964 : G.I. JOEs - I have part of the 80's collection of "action figures" that were about 4" tall; including the Hovercraft and a few other vehicles
31. Single dose? : DAT - ugh. Not HIT
33. It's often made at parties : SMALL TALK - I'd like to talk with this girl at a party
37. Unlikely to bite : TAME
38. Join for a session : SIT IN - musical jam session
40. Base path? : EVIL
41. Proper 53-Down : AREN'T - circumreferential with; 53. Improper 41-Across : AIN'T - if you Ain't got a clue, you Aren't solving this without perps
43. Many a single : LINE DRIVE - baseball, not lonely guys/girls
45. Ds, in the key of C : REs - the key of C is C - D - E - f - G - A - b, so "D" corresponds to the Re of Do - Re - Mi....I play guitar, so I got it, but I can see this one being a fun-sponge, too
46. Sum is a form of it : ESSE - similar to "SERA" being part of ÊTRE from a few weeks ago, "I am" in Latin from the verb "To be"
48. Like many salons : UNISEX
49. Chance to hit : AT BAT - ah. baseball, not blackjack
51. Country : RURAL - dah~! Totally in "REALM", not "bumpkin/backwoods" mode
53. Chemical bases : ALKALIS - for some reason I kept telling myself this is the answer, but swore it wouldn't fit, even with --K-LI- filled....I can't explain it
55. Word with wire or water : HOT - you get caught doing a hot wire, you'd be in hot water
56. Gambling initials : OTB - Off-Track Betting
59. Once-venerated bird : IBIS - popular with the Egyptians
63. Agreement with a refusal : NOR I
65. Kid : TYKE - oops, not JOke
66. No longer fashionable : "SO LAST YEAR"
DOWN:
1. Buckley who covered Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" : JEFF - WAG
2. Son of Rebecca : ESAU
3. Anti-rodent brand : d-CON
4. Return letters : IRS - tax return, that is
5. Most popular boy's name in 44 of the last 100 years : MICHAEL - mine was 11th in NJ for the year I was born - the site
6. Foxhole absentees, so it's said : ATHEISTS - as a "Friend of Bill W.", I am familiar with "foxhole prayers"
7. Scattered : SOWED - STREWN and SOWN were not working
8. __ Maria : TIA
9. Goes thataway instead of thisaway : ERRS
10. Do a city planner's job : RE-ZONE
11. Absent-minded A.A. Milne title character : Mr. PIM - Don't know this character, so I was totally "ASEA"
13. Goes down as planned : TAKES A DIVE
14. Informal glasses : SPEX - meh.
22. Extinct birds : MOAs
23. Seven-time All-Star third baseman Scott __ : ROLEN - more baseball
24. More thirst-inducing : SALTIER
26. The sun, for one : G-STAR
28. TV hero who famously kissed 52-Down : JAMES T. KIRK - paired to; 52. See 28-Down : UHURA - if you didn't know it, this was fun-sponge, too. I am a big fan of the "Next Generation" version; the original was too boring for me, but I did like the movies - I liked Shatner; can't get into the "latest" re-re-version.
32. Bygone messager : TELEX
34. Feels off : AILS
36. "__ at End House": Christie mystery : PERIL - perps
39. Complex parts : NEUROSES
42. Color on San Jose Shark uniforms : TEAL - San Jose lives~! At least one more game, tho I'd like to see them go two more and take it all
47. Circus equipment : STILTS - drywall mudding, too
54. NYC gallery district : SOHO - SOuth of HOuston Street; the Wiki
56. Plains tribe : OTOE
57. Trillion: Pref. : TERA
58. Fictional rabbit's title : BR'ER
61. Address bk. info : TELephone
62. Pulitzer poet Lowell : AMY
Splynter
42 comments:
{B+, B+, A-, A.}
Earning merit badges may seem like a chore
But that's not all there is to scouting -- THERE'S MORE!
If camping's too TAME
There's a FUN dodgeball game,
And if all that's not enough -- look THERE! S'MORES!
You may name it a writing desk, or expand the repertoire
Of your vocab and say plainly, it's an ESCRITOIRE!
Some call it a secretary
The term roll-top's literary,
But tell Poe it's a raven, best prepare for a war!
Tony tells me if a joke you need to explain
Then whatever it is, a "joke" AIN'T its name!
Assumption is likewise a PERIL for a poem,
References fall flat if readers don't know 'em
(And riddles from Dodgson are, anyways, inane)!
Invited to a fashion show, I polished up my SPEX,
But instead of bikinis, they were all UNISEX!
My wife was enthralled
While I was appalled!
If I want to be this bored, I'd take SOMINEX!
Many passes and write-overs, and when no ta-da, a few guesses, but no other helps than that. I knew Milne had written other children's books than the Pooh series, but didn't know any names from them. So 11a went from CEOS > SGTS > AGTS > MGTS. Even then I call foul on it. MGRS would be okay, but MGT is a collective noun, so shouldn't have an S unless you're talking about leaders of companies, not just leaders of a co.!
I agree w/Splynter on most of his nits, and add SPADE is a whole suit, not just a part -- SEVEN would be part.
My sci-fi interest was helpful, tho it did lead me astray to try BAIL ORGANA or LEIA ORGANA before JEDI MASTER. Also considered PALPATINNE and AMIDAHLIA, tho wasn't sure how either of those was spelt. Big and GI Joe were marginally sci-fi movies (I think also Accidental Tourist, tho I never saw that one), so I knew FAO SCHWARZ, tho I had no idea how to spell it! But easiest of all was JAMES T. KIRK and UHURA!
NO MAS is often seen on PSAs in New Mexico -- it's the catchphrase for the state anti-littering campaign!
Thanks @Splynter for your illuminating account of @Mark Bickham's themeless puzzle. For those concerned about NO_MAS, please come back in two weeks.
My main purpose in writing today, though, from my California vacation, is to remind those of you in a position to participate of the Fifth Minnesota Crossword Tournament which will be held tomorrow (Sunday, June 12).
Regardless of where you are, sharpen your wits with Contest Prize That's a Real Diehl by the great @Mark Diehl. It's a themeless puzzle, but you'll have to rely on the fair crossings to figure out the name of 1-Across, a competitor in the Minnesota tournament.
Morning, all!
Man, what a grind today! Aside from the fact that I don't know of a single Milne character not associated with Winnie the Pooh and had never heard of this ROLEN guy before, the cluing was just brutal. "Base path" for EVIL? "Toy since ancient times" for PEKE (and not even an indication in the clue that the answer is an abbreviation)? "Single dose" for DAT? [I actually got the trick on that one, but went with DIS initially.]
I got through most of the puzzle without too much trouble (once I realized that CAPTAIN KIRK wouldn't fit and finally went with JAMES T KIRK instead), but the NE corner nearly did me in. I had CEOS at 11A, which I eventually took out when nothing else worked and tried MGRS instead. That still wasn't right, but it was at least enough to get me going with GEENA DAVIS.
AH well, I never did have to yell NO MAS, so that's nice. Maybe, though, I should start having my morning caffeine before attempting these Saturday Stumpers instead of after...
Hi Y'all! I got off to a satisfying start WAGing JEDIM then had to wait for perps, but I filled in the whole NW 2/3 before moving on. Like Splynter, the NE was the last to fill despite having SOMiNEX & NO MAS early. Didn't know MR PIM & that @#$% toy bit me then hid under the bed or something. The two long downs needed lots of perps. I read "Accidental Tourist" years ago, but don't remember the story and didn't see the movie. Tried at least half a dozen abrev. before doing a red-letter run for MGTS. Whine, whine!
Thanks, Splynter for commiserating.
Thanks Matt, I liked the rest of the puzzle despite not knowing ROLEN, UHURA, JEFF. Wanted Ave Maria before TIA. STILTS were waaaay down the list of expected circus equipment. ESP. NOR I fits the clue, I guess. ESP again.
One small hiccup when I thought those islanders ate "locust" not LOTUS.
AveJoe: thanks for the "Barrel House Rag" link last night. I didn't get back to the blog until late, but enjoyed hearing it again.
YR: That was a Rag, not a polka. Doesn't have the right beat for a polka, the favorite dance of my husband & I years ago.
Good morning!
Tough, tough, tough! I had nothing in the great northwest, so I started down the left coast, and things improved immensely. I remembered the famous scene with JAMES T(iberius) KIRK and UHURA, so things started falling into place. DAT and NO MAS immediately came to mind -- ok, I like stupid misdirection. MGTS, not so much.
Finally returned to Washington/Montana. With the Z from REZONE, I was just certain that piano scene had been filmed somewhere in AZ. Nope! After WAGging DCON and IRS, things started to click again and then it was finished. Only needed Wite-Out changing CEOS to MGTS (ugh!). Triumphed in the end, but took longer than usual. Thanks, Mark.
Hello Puzzlers -
Had to chip away at this one, and there were some guesses along the way. Mr. Pim and his absent mindedness seemed familiar, but I had no idea he was a Milne creation. Didn't know the ball player, of course. Smiled right out loud when I got the dose/dat connection!
Morning, Splynter, thanks for the Big clip. Once I took a job with a local guy, an electrical engineer who left Milton Bradley company to start his own business - consulting on toy design. That work led to my visiting both FAO Schwarz stores, New York and Boston, right before Christmas. They were madhouses! In New York, the walking piano was still there some years after the movie came out, but it was so beat up it hardly worked.
This was a breeze except for the NE. I was stuck on the Milne character. I couldn't get my head off Pooh's friends. I even had MRPI. Also, I never thought of "giving up, crying uncle" for NO MAS, so one wrong square the last M. I have heard of MR.PIM, but didn't realize Milne created him.
PK, is my face red! I read POLKA? Who said polka? If course, it isn't a polka! Is she nuts? Then I looked back at yesterday's blog and found my faux pas. I am losing it.
Of to the gym. Alan is going with me for the 4th time this week, a record.
PS. Part of a suit is a single SPADE. The suit has 13 spades.
Hello, everyone. This one had some tough spots for me. I still don't see MGTS. Mgrs makes more sense to me, but hey, it's Saturday. I liked being misled on the "baseball" entries. IBIS and LOTUS EATERS were easy for me and opened the South. Suit threw me until I moved from the wardrobe and the court room to the card table. Thanks, Mark.
Thanks, Splynter, for another fine Saturday tour. I was worried you might pass out at ESCRITOIRE and be unable to finish. Nice recovery!!
OwenKL: I do so appreciate your work even though I don't comment everyday. Thanks!
Enjoy the day.
Splynter: Nice write-up! Great explanation of my Rorschach Ink Blot.
(That NE corner reminded me why I seldom solve on Saturday).
I've referred to Co. leaders as MGRS (Managers) but MGTS is meh!
Nothing positive to say ... so ...
Cheers!
Thank you, quite clever
Splynter's first paragraph reflects my take on this puzzle exactly. Thumper, Thumper.
Good Morning:
Bluehen's comment @ 9:22 says it all. Thumper, Thumper, and one more for good measure, Thumper! 🙈🙉🙊
Of course, I didn't finish this one. It's Saturday. But strangely enough I enjoyed the part I could fill. Some clever misdirection: LINE DRIVE for single, NO MAS for uncle. Thanks, Mark.
Then I got to Splynter's expo and learned there were some I didn't like as much. I guess I'm lucky I couldn't fill those. Thanks, Splynter, for the tour.
Owen....I LOL.
All’s well that ends well on this real Saturday tester. NO MAS
Musings
-FAO SCHAWARZ – always good to get a long fill freebie
-But wait,…
-Roberto Duran claims he never said this
-The broken-bat bloop hit counts the same as a LINE DRIVE
-Salons are not the only UNISEX facilities now
-“I didn’t vote for that idiot!” “NOR I!” “Then who did?”
-Maybe not so LAST DECADE
-Costco is trying to REZONE many acres of land 2 miles from here to build a $300,000,000 chicken processing plant
-MR PIM not MR PIG for Pooh. Yeah, I know it’s PIGLET
-Terry regretted TAKING A DIVE
-Don’t hang out with Poirot! People are always dying around him
-I’ll take DAT and some of DOSE
-Off to Lincoln to watch grandson play in 100˚F heat!
To be "discombobulated" is to be AT SEA. ASEA means "on the briny."
Aren't NEUROSES complete "complexes," not just "parts"?
The correct spelling of SPEX is SPECS.
Another ridiculous Saturday puzzle.
50 Down: Count should have been capitalized in the clue. I'm a big Basie fan and didn't see that coming.
I first went with "meter", then with "beats" but couldn't make either one work.
Owen, I always enjoy your work, especially today. Splynter, interesting write up.
Mark Bickham, take heart. I thought this puzzle was great,definitely not a Thumper IMO. Even the cell I missed was fair and cute, "Spanish uncle?" for NO MAS. I liked base path/EVIL, ancient toy/PEKE, TAKES A DIVE, sum is a form of it/ESSE. LOL But, then, I was mostly on your wave length beginning with ESCIRTOIRE and FAO SCHWARZ. I found this easier than Friday's puzzle and much faster than the usual Silkie.
HG, I was was trying to think of Pooh's pig, too. Not MR PIG, but what? PIGLET. Couldn't get pig out of my head, so no M for PIM.
Jeff Buckley was a great singer with one great album, Grace. He died when he tried to swim in a river in Memphis with his clothes on. Just swam out and disappeared. Maybe he was a one-hit wonder or maybe he would have been an all-time great. We'll never know. Hard puzzle this week, I had 3 or 4 wrong when I checked here. Thanks, as always for the write-up!
My best solve on a Bickham! I loved this puzzle and since Mark usually beats me to a pulp, I set my thinking cap on MB's wave length knowing that curious misdirections are his specialty. Having watched Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia speak about the piano scene in BIG I knew FAOSCHWARZ but was unsure of the spelling. The perps helped with that. ESCRITOIRE was my first fill though I wondered if it would stand and it did.
Then I hopped and skipped to the SE where that filled fast. Having UHURA in place I realized KIRK in some form would complete 28D. That took a while since I believed GIJOES had started much earlier than 1964. Surprise, surprise.
I agree on the dissonance of MGTS and had MGRS for a long time until TAKESADIVE made sense. The best revelation was IMAREALBOY and that clinched the SW corner and ended the agony over ARENT/AINT which finally dawned on me. Lightbulb! Dose/DAT. Tee hee.
Thank you, Mark Bickham for a great Saturday challenge and thank you, Splynter though I am sorry you didn't like this excellent construction.
Have a happy day, everyone! Owen, your last verse really made me laugh.
Good morning everyone.
What can I say? Basically, agree with Splynter. Quite a bit was neatly clued, a few, not so much. ESCRITOIRE came easily. Had SGTS for MGTS. MGTS, really? Co. seemed an apt size for a military unit. C'est la guerre. Learnt that the sun is a G-star. In hindsight I did like the DAT dose clue.
SUM - Came by inference; never having taken Latin. Esse has a highly fractured conjugation, just as être, sein, and to be do.
All-in-all, a good Saturday workout.
I enjoyed this puzzle but I just don't get "base path = evil" TIA
Fun puzzle! ... and as for the riddle discussion:
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
This famous "riddle" by Lewis Carroll, was posed by the Mad Hatter to Alice. In truth the riddle was probably never intended to have an answer. But readers puzzled over solution, and even Carroll eventually proposed a twisted and complex answer, that appeared to be more of a joke, than an answer. For Carroll was an astute logician, and in my view, considering the context, it was likely intended to be a true "riddle" in that it had NO answer (if you follow me!).
Nevertheless, it's perplexed people ever since. But, America's most ingenious puzzle-master Sam Loyd, came up with a brilliant, ingenious, witty, and technically flawless answer: "Because Poe wrote on both!"
There have been other acceptable answers proposed, but none ever matched the sheer elegant simplicity of Loyd's solution.
Interestingly, as I said, Carroll unlikely had any solution in mind, and deliberately so. However, Sam Loyd was one of the few people who was Carroll's equal in logic, puzzles and ingenuity. He had in fact: "out-Carrolled" Carroll.
BTW, if anyone here is unfamiliar with the fantastic and often utterly magical puzzles that Sam Loyd created, I suggest you run to google... and prepare to be amazed!
I'll leave you with this;
NO MAS today?
So hip-hip hooray!
But, this week... or next,
Prepare to be vexed!
And not just by me,
As you'll no doubt see! ;)
-MAS
(AKA: Martin Ashwood-Smith)
Husker, where are they going to find a $300,000,000 chicken?
I basically agree with Splynter, and most others when it comes to some of the cluing. Red letter help, WAGs and alphabet runs were all needed to get'er done so today was officially a DNF. Some parts were OK, others not so much.
MGTS, PEKE, SPADE, NOMAS, and SPEX were some of the nits that bothered me. If the goal was to make the puzzle tough, then today was a success.
Not much else to say, except I hope everyone has a great day.
Hello all - just dropping in to add my vote to the minority report on this puzzle, which I thought was mostly terrific, in spite of a few rough edges. Yes, MGTS was unfortunate. But, JEDIMASTER! LOTUSEATER! THERESMORE! SOLASTYEAR! Clues and fill were both very entertaining, and I'm looking forward to more like this from Mr. Bickham.
I liked it, finished it and had fun solving it. To each their own.
@rc 11:04 - the path of evil. You choose a path of good or evil - hence a "base" path is an evil one, the opposite of a virtuous one.
Very hard indeed. I got off on the wrong foot by immediately penciling in JEDI KNIGHT and CEOS, which took a while to correct. Agree about MGTS. I also felt weird about SPADE and ASEA. Didn't get the DAT Dose connection until reading here, but in hindsight I think it is pretty darn clever. Didn't know ROLEN so I put in NOLEN even though I really really wanted RAIDS; RAIDS prevailed and NOLEN became ROLEN. Very hard but clever cluing, and BASE-ically a good puzzle except for that MGTS thing. I wonder if something funny could be made of RAKES A DIVE.
Best wishes to you all.
I agree with Splynter and others about MGTS? Did like the PEKE and NOMAS, however. DNF due to MGTS, but otherwise typical Saturday challenge. Thanks, Mark!
Splynter, thanks for all you do on the Saturday's blog. You have the most difficult of puzzles, and always are so upbeat, even when being beaten up!
I “puzzled” over MGT for management, but I see it is an acceptable abbreviation.
www.allacronyms.com/management/abbreviated
I don’t understand the nit on SPADE being part of a suit. Spades in plural form names a suit, or just a few of a suit. A single SPADE is part of a suit. I thought this was a clever misdirection. There is a SPADE in my hand means just one, but that one is part of the whole suit.
I seem to be more tolerant than many with most nits. A schoolmarm is not tolerant of deviation. Why this epithet? I loved and encouraged the out of the box thinking of my students. I was a maverick, myself, and probably a PIA to my teachers, so I understood the freethinkers. “But look at it this way…” is still my unorthodox cry on this blog coming from this aging PIA.
Good afternoon, Solvers. No "Thumper" here! I thought some of the cluing was devious, but really enjoyed it. And I did tee-hee through a lot of it. Took me an hour which is a "speed run" for a Saturday in my world. Thanks Mark and Splynter.
Here's to World Gin Day - June 11th. I'll have mine tall with a splash of tonic!
Over and out.
i thought it was "specs", never heard of or saw "spex". Anywhere. And "MGTS", really? I spent my career in MGMT and had never seen it as MGTS until today.
So I had issues in the NE as well.
Oh, very hard today, very hard.
I must credit the Mrs for helping me resolve the final mystery. After slogging through with great difficulty, I closed in on the end. But at 28D I had a name I couldn't fathom. I knew this was supposed to be a character "who famously kissed 52-Down"--UHURA--so that had me zeroed in on Star Trek. But as I was only an occasional watcher of the old series I wasn't sure of my answer. I asked my wife if she could recall anybody on the old show "known as JAMES TKITK"? The unusual spelling made me think it had to be some alien creature. When she straightened me out, I could only slap my forehead, like another well-known TV character, and blurt, "Doh!"
Yes, all in all, this was tough. I respected it, so didn't give up, but had to resort to two or three cheats (depending on whether you count post-facto check-ups while in progress), and even so I missed the fun of the clever cluing that distinguishes the best of the toughies. The closest we came to this was with ESSE as "Sum is a form of it" and PEKE for "Toy since ancient times." TAKES A DIVE would have worked better for me w/o the compromises at MGTS (for MGRS) and SPADE (definitely more than "Part of a suit").
I was happiest when observing my tired brain still able to grok the longer answers with only very few fills in place, such as with LOTUS EATER and I'M A REAL BOY.
Thank you, THANK YOU, GarlicGal for pointing out that today is International Gin Day! Ah, the scent of juniper! Must dust off my old Tanqueray bottle! Love that shade of green!!
A true Saturday-level epic-fail! ERRS all over the place and the only way to get "red-letters" is using a different ink-pen :-)
WEES - that NE was EVIL (BTW great c/a). How could you use A.A. Milne and not ref. POOH! What character started with a C (w/ CEOS in place)? Christopher Robin didn't fit either. Finally I TOOK A DIVE and cede'd the fight. Thanks Mark for the, um, FUN.
Thanks Splynter for your writeup. Good luck getting big words out if you get your chance at that SMALL TALK. Thanks for parsing NOR I - makes the c/a funnier than my thought [which was: must be a legal thing...D'Oh! now I get DAT :-)].
@17a I had to look up how to spell FAO 'cuz Schwartz @:27 wouldn't fit. I actually got to go to the NYC store b/f they closed. Eldest still has her giant stuffed UNIcorn.
Fav: Putting KIRK in for Bone's Partner only to have J. Tiberius K. show up after ALKALIS filled. Made a mess but LOL! Couple that w/ 1a and we have '70s Sci-Fi/fantasy locked up.
Runner up: G.I. JOES. Quick story: 6th or 7th grade. My buddy (also a -T) had his older brother's 12" GI Joes from the early '70s, Kiss Dolls, and his older sister's Barbies (this was a 12 kid Italian family and he was the youngest). G.I. JOE would kick Gene Simmons' ass for kissing Barbie. Yes, I/we played with dolls...
{A,A,A,A+++}
@11:28 Anon - LOL! Must be a big chicken :-)
Groceries are got, puzzle is played, and the girls & I are going to watch Real Genius and over a sushi supper. Nap time before the movie.
Cheers, -T
very slow , got all but the NE - WEES about never putting in MGTS instead of MGRS. I had heard of Mr Pim - but would not have pegged it as a Milne character - more of a Dickens sounding one.
Thanks for the blog Splynter - didn't realize Splynter was such a common name - probably just in the East :).....
MGT is most frequently used for management courses in colleges, MGT 501, for example. It is also part of the name of some management companies. The leaders of a company are the management. Not a tidy answer, but passable.
I'll also file with the minority report on this one. It was tough, tough, tough. But largely a good challenge that had a lot of bright points. MGTS was absolutely butt ugly, but No Mas was good enough to forgive it. Dat was iffy, but only because Hit would have been so much better. Lots of ESPs, but I slogged through it. The biggest problem was figuring out how to make may the Schwartz be with you, but the clue was solid (yes, Anon-T, I was so there on that one). And besides, it was a sorta CSO to Windy.
Might not have loved it, but liked it. All told I'd rate it an A-. You can dance to it and it has a good beat. It's Saturday, and trickery is to be expected. Lacking Ta-das and red letters with a print version, success is to be savored. YMMV if you use those crutches to deceive yourself.
Avg Joe:
Yes, you are so right! The harder the race, the more delectable the triumph and my aging brain cells need this kind of challenge. Reaching the finish unassisted is always my goal and today was a winner.
Hot rural sex !
Greetings!
Thanks, Mark and Splynter!
Managed to get through it after lots of time!
Have been missing for a while. Managed to get to a granddaughter's high school graduation in Rancho Palos Verdes. Extremely difficult. Still having difficulty coping with back pain. Will spare you the horrid details!
Cheers!
I'm in agreement with the gripes. I'd add ERRS to the list. There's nothing in the clue to indicate a mistake. There can be two correct ways. I kind of liked Base path and Spanish uncle. Those needed some perps, but I did get on the right wavelength as to the intended meanings of a bad way to go, and giving up. Pure luck, probably.
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