Theme:
17A. Imbibing no more : ON THE WAGON. Not me - see below.
23A. Tropical quencher : COCONUT WATER. "Coconut" came quickly. "Water" took forever. My quenchers in the tropics tend to have something a tad stronger than water in them.
38A. "The Deer Hunter" ordeal : RUSSIAN ROULETTE. Great movie. I remember clearly when I first saw it in the theater in London. Here's the theme "Cavatina" played on a spanish guitar by the immensely talented John Williams.
50A. Restaurant mascot with an electric guitar : CHUCK E. CHEESE. Thank heavens I never have to go to these places anymore. The child decibel level is quite staggering. No wonder Mr. Cheese needs amplification.
And the unifier:
61A. Based on the ends of 17-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across, unwanted thing that this puzzle lacks : FIFTH WHEEL. Four kinds of wheels, and we don't get a fifth variety. Neat reveal.
Happy Thursday everyone.
Late Edit: It's C.C.'s birthday, so a BIG shout-out to her!
Slick puzzle from Julian - smooth themers, a couple of 9's and 10's in the downs intersecting two theme entries each and some nice fill.
It's been a funny old week from an English perspective - this time a week ago when I last blogged, the UK was committed to Europe, David Cameron was the Prime Minister, the opposition party had a shadow cabinet, England were still in the Euro soccer championships and the English team had a coach.
None of the above is now true. What's that got to do with the crossword? Nothing, but it's a sobering thought. Let's move right along.
Across:
1. Work with dough : KNEAD
6. Like long shots : SLIM. Like Iceland beating England last week. Slim to none. I called it, I really should have called the bookie before the game.
10. Commando weapons : UZIS
14. "Bates Motel" airer : A AND E
15. Third follower : HOME. I'm finally starting to recognize these. Baseball diamond, third base to home.
16. Stereotypical spoiler : NANA. Tricky one this, I was a long way down the "spoiler alert" plot-line path and getting nowhere when the crosses helped me out. Grandmothers stereotypically spoil the little brats, often by taking them to Chuck. E. Cheese and smile dotingly when they scream the place down.
19. Expression of pre-weekend gratitude : TGIF. Friday can't come soon enough, sometimes.
20. Okay : SO SO
21. Disturbance : ADO
22. Identify the source of : TRACE
27. Text digitization meth. : O.C.R. Optical Character Recognition, the way a computer scans and converts text.
30. Cut some blades : MOW. Mower blades, grass blades, very nice.
31. Singer Liz : PHAIR. I had "UNTO" for 25D at first which gave me the rather odd name NHAIR. At least it looked totally wrong so made me think about fixing it.
32. Pop quiz reaction, perhaps : GROAN. I had ___AN and decided "OH, MAN" was totally correct. And it mostly wasn't.
34. Geneva-based commerce gp. : W.T.O. World Trade Organization. As with most of these quangos and institutions, headquartered in lovely places.
35. Poet who wrote about shrimp, "At times, translucence / Is rather a nuisance" : NASH
42. Parts of an old item? : EXES. Great clue. I don't have any exes who live in Texas, at least I don't think I do.
43. Lively : GAY
44. For two, in Paris : A DEUX
45. Stocky dog : BOXER
47. "Delicious!" : MMM. YUM went in, and stuck it out tenaciously until almost the very end.
49. __ sequencing : DNA.
54. Actress O'Donnell : ROSIE.
55. Noun half? : ENS. Four letters in "noun", 50% of 'em are "n"s
56. "Red" hindrance : TAPE
60. Hazmat-monitoring org. : OSHA
64. Square __ : FEET. FOOT first, soon changed.
65. 37-Down plus two : OCTO- Those who are irritated by prefixes and cross-referential clues get a twofer annoyance here. Perfectly fine with me.
66. Buenos __ : AIRES. On my bucket list. I've not made it to Argentina yet.
67. Subdue, in a way : TASE. Quite a few missteps today - I had TAME first. I wasn't sure what a BUSHEM, horticulture is not my forté, obviously.
68. Dudes : GUYS
69. Check (out) : SCOPE
Down:
1. "Get Smart" crime org. : KAOS. Weird logo.
2. Prefix with bot : NANO-. The scaremongers will tell you that these little buggers will soon take over the world. They're more likely to be embedded in your socks to tell your washing machine to go easy on the over-agitation or cleaning your blood.
3. Sinus docs : ENTS Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.
4. Formed for a particular purpose : AD HOC. Usually committees.
5. "E.T." actress Wallace : DEE. Thank you, crosses.
6. It grows toward evening : SHADOW.
7. Prepare to surf : LOGON. Because "open browser and go to www.google.com" didn't fit.
8. Texting qualifier : IMO. IMHO, I've only ever seen the "humble" version. In my option.
9. Dudes : MEN
10. Lacking experience : UNTRAINED
11. Appraised like many big-city eateries : ZAGAT RATED. Pretty much any restaurant can put a "Zagat Rated" sticker in their window. They don't have to tell you that Zagat rated it one of the worst places in town.
12. How seafood is shipped : IN ICE. Wanted ON ICE. Wasn't allowed to have it.
13. Less dicey : SAFER
18. Texas I-35 city : WACO
22. Grounded flier since 2001 : TWA. SST went in, and eventually game out. I don't really think of TWA as grounded, more acquired as a bankrupt concern by American Airlines.
24. Present preceder? : OMNI-
25. Till : UP TO
26. You, once : THOU
27. Brute : OGRE
28. Main point : CRUX
29. Plants with stickers : ROSE BUSHES. Is a thorn a sticker? I suppose it is, never thought of it that way before.
33. Colleague : ASSOCIATE
34. Droll : WRY
36. Leave flabbergasted : STUN
37. 65-Across minus two : HEXA-
39. "The Morning Watch" novelist : AGEE
40. One may stop traffic : NARC. Very nice. Some clever cluing today.
41. Makes oneself scarce : LAMS. Aother I've never thought about - I'd never considered "lam" as a verb, more an "on the lam" noun. Perfectly good usage though.
46. Jaguar classic : XKE. Ah, the classic and now very expensive E-Type. Here's a convertible version in iconic British Racing Green. My old XJS was the same color.
47. Certs alternative : MENTOS. Thank you, crosses. I don't eat a lot of candy. I eat plenty of everything else!
48. Fit well : MESH
50. "Tomb Raider" heroine Lara : CROFT
51. Book after Daniel : HOSEA
52. Hard to hoist : HEFTY
53. Code of conduct : ETHIC
57. Flight-related prefix : AERO- I thought there might be a tad too many prefixes today, but I just went back and counted four total. Not so bad.
58. Fledgling's sound : PEEP
59. Ultimatum word : ELSE. Or else! Empty ultimatum thread sometimes. Can be disarmed with the "Or else what?" question response.
61. Magic show effect : FOG
62. Post-op place : I.C.U. Intensive Care Unit.
63. "It __ a Very Good Year" : WAS. Originally recorded by Bob Shane with The Kingston Trio. Too late in the blog for a music link though.
I think that should do it for me. Here's the grid!
Steve
17A. Imbibing no more : ON THE WAGON. Not me - see below.
23A. Tropical quencher : COCONUT WATER. "Coconut" came quickly. "Water" took forever. My quenchers in the tropics tend to have something a tad stronger than water in them.
38A. "The Deer Hunter" ordeal : RUSSIAN ROULETTE. Great movie. I remember clearly when I first saw it in the theater in London. Here's the theme "Cavatina" played on a spanish guitar by the immensely talented John Williams.
50A. Restaurant mascot with an electric guitar : CHUCK E. CHEESE. Thank heavens I never have to go to these places anymore. The child decibel level is quite staggering. No wonder Mr. Cheese needs amplification.
And the unifier:
61A. Based on the ends of 17-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across, unwanted thing that this puzzle lacks : FIFTH WHEEL. Four kinds of wheels, and we don't get a fifth variety. Neat reveal.
 | |
| "Come with us, they said - it's going to be fun!" |
Late Edit: It's C.C.'s birthday, so a BIG shout-out to her!
Slick puzzle from Julian - smooth themers, a couple of 9's and 10's in the downs intersecting two theme entries each and some nice fill.
It's been a funny old week from an English perspective - this time a week ago when I last blogged, the UK was committed to Europe, David Cameron was the Prime Minister, the opposition party had a shadow cabinet, England were still in the Euro soccer championships and the English team had a coach.
None of the above is now true. What's that got to do with the crossword? Nothing, but it's a sobering thought. Let's move right along.
Across:
1. Work with dough : KNEAD
6. Like long shots : SLIM. Like Iceland beating England last week. Slim to none. I called it, I really should have called the bookie before the game.
10. Commando weapons : UZIS
14. "Bates Motel" airer : A AND E
15. Third follower : HOME. I'm finally starting to recognize these. Baseball diamond, third base to home.
16. Stereotypical spoiler : NANA. Tricky one this, I was a long way down the "spoiler alert" plot-line path and getting nowhere when the crosses helped me out. Grandmothers stereotypically spoil the little brats, often by taking them to Chuck. E. Cheese and smile dotingly when they scream the place down.
19. Expression of pre-weekend gratitude : TGIF. Friday can't come soon enough, sometimes.
20. Okay : SO SO
21. Disturbance : ADO
22. Identify the source of : TRACE
27. Text digitization meth. : O.C.R. Optical Character Recognition, the way a computer scans and converts text.
30. Cut some blades : MOW. Mower blades, grass blades, very nice.
31. Singer Liz : PHAIR. I had "UNTO" for 25D at first which gave me the rather odd name NHAIR. At least it looked totally wrong so made me think about fixing it.
32. Pop quiz reaction, perhaps : GROAN. I had ___AN and decided "OH, MAN" was totally correct. And it mostly wasn't.
34. Geneva-based commerce gp. : W.T.O. World Trade Organization. As with most of these quangos and institutions, headquartered in lovely places.
35. Poet who wrote about shrimp, "At times, translucence / Is rather a nuisance" : NASH
"A shrimp who sought his lady shrimp
Could catch no glimpse
Not even a glimp.
At times, translucence
Is rather a nuisance".
Could catch no glimpse
Not even a glimp.
At times, translucence
Is rather a nuisance".
Ogden Nash.
42. Parts of an old item? : EXES. Great clue. I don't have any exes who live in Texas, at least I don't think I do.
43. Lively : GAY
44. For two, in Paris : A DEUX
45. Stocky dog : BOXER
47. "Delicious!" : MMM. YUM went in, and stuck it out tenaciously until almost the very end.
49. __ sequencing : DNA.
54. Actress O'Donnell : ROSIE.
55. Noun half? : ENS. Four letters in "noun", 50% of 'em are "n"s
56. "Red" hindrance : TAPE
60. Hazmat-monitoring org. : OSHA
64. Square __ : FEET. FOOT first, soon changed.
65. 37-Down plus two : OCTO- Those who are irritated by prefixes and cross-referential clues get a twofer annoyance here. Perfectly fine with me.
66. Buenos __ : AIRES. On my bucket list. I've not made it to Argentina yet.
67. Subdue, in a way : TASE. Quite a few missteps today - I had TAME first. I wasn't sure what a BUSHEM, horticulture is not my forté, obviously.
68. Dudes : GUYS
69. Check (out) : SCOPE
Down:
1. "Get Smart" crime org. : KAOS. Weird logo.
2. Prefix with bot : NANO-. The scaremongers will tell you that these little buggers will soon take over the world. They're more likely to be embedded in your socks to tell your washing machine to go easy on the over-agitation or cleaning your blood.
3. Sinus docs : ENTS Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.
4. Formed for a particular purpose : AD HOC. Usually committees.
5. "E.T." actress Wallace : DEE. Thank you, crosses.
6. It grows toward evening : SHADOW.
"Reclining in my armchair,
My eyes wandered to the horizon far
And saw darkness invading the Earth
Lost, so lost in the marauding loneliness
I watched the shadows of evening
Thickening around me and spreading a pall"
My eyes wandered to the horizon far
And saw darkness invading the Earth
Lost, so lost in the marauding loneliness
I watched the shadows of evening
Thickening around me and spreading a pall"
Lengthening Shadows by Valsa George.
7. Prepare to surf : LOGON. Because "open browser and go to www.google.com" didn't fit.
8. Texting qualifier : IMO. IMHO, I've only ever seen the "humble" version. In my option.
9. Dudes : MEN
10. Lacking experience : UNTRAINED
11. Appraised like many big-city eateries : ZAGAT RATED. Pretty much any restaurant can put a "Zagat Rated" sticker in their window. They don't have to tell you that Zagat rated it one of the worst places in town.
12. How seafood is shipped : IN ICE. Wanted ON ICE. Wasn't allowed to have it.
13. Less dicey : SAFER
18. Texas I-35 city : WACO
22. Grounded flier since 2001 : TWA. SST went in, and eventually game out. I don't really think of TWA as grounded, more acquired as a bankrupt concern by American Airlines.
24. Present preceder? : OMNI-
25. Till : UP TO
26. You, once : THOU
27. Brute : OGRE
28. Main point : CRUX
29. Plants with stickers : ROSE BUSHES. Is a thorn a sticker? I suppose it is, never thought of it that way before.
33. Colleague : ASSOCIATE
34. Droll : WRY
36. Leave flabbergasted : STUN
37. 65-Across minus two : HEXA-
39. "The Morning Watch" novelist : AGEE
40. One may stop traffic : NARC. Very nice. Some clever cluing today.
41. Makes oneself scarce : LAMS. Aother I've never thought about - I'd never considered "lam" as a verb, more an "on the lam" noun. Perfectly good usage though.
46. Jaguar classic : XKE. Ah, the classic and now very expensive E-Type. Here's a convertible version in iconic British Racing Green. My old XJS was the same color.
47. Certs alternative : MENTOS. Thank you, crosses. I don't eat a lot of candy. I eat plenty of everything else!
48. Fit well : MESH
50. "Tomb Raider" heroine Lara : CROFT
51. Book after Daniel : HOSEA
52. Hard to hoist : HEFTY
53. Code of conduct : ETHIC
57. Flight-related prefix : AERO- I thought there might be a tad too many prefixes today, but I just went back and counted four total. Not so bad.
58. Fledgling's sound : PEEP
59. Ultimatum word : ELSE. Or else! Empty ultimatum thread sometimes. Can be disarmed with the "Or else what?" question response.
61. Magic show effect : FOG
62. Post-op place : I.C.U. Intensive Care Unit.
63. "It __ a Very Good Year" : WAS. Originally recorded by Bob Shane with The Kingston Trio. Too late in the blog for a music link though.
I think that should do it for me. Here's the grid!
Steve
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Julian and Steve!
Enjoyable puzzle! MMM was perped and wagged, as was MENTOS.
Still very hot here!
Cheers!
{C+, A-, B-, A(R).}
ReplyDeleteT G I F, I M H O!
I O W H, I M A Minion!*
An inveterate punster was Ogden NASH,
He invented puns with his unique panache!
His humor was wry,
He ate hummus on rye,
He didn't knead the dough, but he still took the cash!
What do you call a very short grandma?
She dresses at Yuletide to play Mrs. Santa!
At Apple's Genius Bar
She sometimes goes too far,
When she promises too much, they say "No no, NANO-NANA!"
RUSSIAN ROULETTE is a game that's adaptable,
The anthropologist version involves fellatio!
From six tribes of primitives
Six women are exhibited,
Pick one for oral sex: hope she's not the one cannibal!
*[Thank Goodness It's Friday, In My Humble Opinion!
I Only Work Here, I aM A Minion!]
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for all the birthday wishes yesterday, and today it's time to wish a Very Happy Birthday to our dear leader, C.C.!
Today's puzzle was definitely a challenge, and I stumbled quite a bit on the way to a successful finish. I didn't realize LAM could be a verb, for example, so that slowed me down until the perps forced the issue. And red TIDE seemed to make sense before I realized it was red TAPE. The "stereotypical spoiler" was not RAIN, but NANA, and MESH was what I needed instead of NEST to "fit well".
Ah well, it all worked out in the end...
DRY instead of WRY gave me a DNF.
ReplyDeleteThank you Julian and Steve. Happy Birthday CC !!!!!!
ReplyDeleteON THE WAGON AND COCONUT WATER came easily enough. CHUCK E CHEESE not so much. Was thinking there might be a regional hamburger joint named CHUCK BERRYS.
Remember being unprepared the first time I watched The Deerhunter. Gritty. Many of the filming locations were in my neck of the woods. Yinz oughta see it.
Keeping the FIFTH WHEEL on my military semi greased well enough to suit the motor pool sergeant was no easy task. That and keeping the battery box clean.
OH MAN to AW MAN to GROAN. DEAL or MEAL, no FOOT, no FEET. YUM before MMM.
BIL in ICU after the surgeons put in a stent yesterday afternoon. Last three months have been really rough for him. Hopefully the worm has turned.
Another early morning tee time. See all y'all later n'at !
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteIs it Friday already??? This seemed particularly punishing for a Thursday. Hand up for OH MAN, TAME, YUM -- I was right there with ya, Steve. But in the end, I crashed and burned. I already had HEXA, so figured 65a had to be OCTA. MENTAS looked as good as MENTOS would have. Bzzzzzt! DNF.
Did not realize it was Chuck E Cheese, sorta like Wile E. Coyote. Tried CHUCKy CHEESE first.
Steve, is that a typo, or do you say "England were..." 'cross the pond?
Back in mid-May I ordered a rare CD from an outfit in London. After six weeks I figured it oughta be here. I feared it had been swallowed by the voracious Brexit. Vendor said, " Whilst we can only assure you that the item was dispatched in good time, it would appear that the courier has unfortunately lost the delivery." You'd never guess they were British, would you.
D'oh! I'd put a reminder in my calendar that today was C.C.'s birthday. Then failed to open my email to get the reminder. Happy birthday, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteGood morning to all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clever puzzle, Julian, and great expo, Steve. Both excellently executed, IM(H)O.
Happy Birthday, Dear C.C.! Thank you for keeping this blog going for over eight years now. I admire how you have so graciously mentored so many in crossword construction.
Enjoy the day!
D-N-F ...
ReplyDelete"ON_ _ _" makes more sense than "In_ _ _" (neither could be entered).
Then Julian throws in 17-a, Imbibing no more, ON-THE-WAGON ...
Then I wanted my 23-a, Tropical quencher, to be COCONUT RUM ... and had 2 extra spaces ...
I guess it's just not my day ...
"Its 5 O'clock Somewhere!" ... sooooooo ...
Cheers!
Is COCONUT WATER the same thing as coconut milk?
ReplyDelete42A Thank you for showing George Strait how to spell.
Good puzzle. Had every pitfall you mentioned Steve. But did manage to get it all completed. Last roadblock was Chucky instead of Chuck E. Thanks Julian and Steve.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was a day early yesterday. Happy Birthday C.C.!!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Steve's "slick" approbation. I really liked this puzzle and the WHEEL deal. Cool beans. Julian's choices of terms to display the WHEEL types was quite colorful. Only one white-out needed - had SST before TWA. Agree w/Steve about the grounded part. Got RUSSIAN ROULETTE from perps.
OCR - Remember the Navy using this in the 60's and 70's for personnel records. Seemed particularly bothersome for the YN's.
Great intro Steve; thank you.
Happy birthday, dear CC. Thank you for all you do for the Corner and for puzzledom at large.
ReplyDeleteInteresting puzzle. A little crunchy for a Thursday. OCA, PHAIR and DEE were all perps. Great write up, Steve.
Tinman,you can keep the ice out of your Scotch, but not your shipped lobsters.
Coconut water -“Coconuts for drinking are served fresh, chilled or packaged in many places. They are often sold by street vendors who cut them open with machetes or similar implements in front of customers.” We were treated to this popular drink by street vendors in Costa Rica. You drink it right from the coconut.
“Traditionally, coconut milk is acquired through the grating of the white inner flesh of a brown coconut, and mixing the resulting substance with a small amount of water to suspend the fat present in the grated meat."
Thanks, Wiki.
Not just "crime" - Maxwell Smart always described KAOS as "the international organization of evil." (at least in the old TV series)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday CC. Hope the Twins put together a nice winning streak for you.
ReplyDeleteoops ... forgot to add ...
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY C.C. !!!
That "First-Toast-At-Sunset" is to YOU!!!
Cheers!
"A shrimp who sought his lady shrimp
ReplyDeleteCould catch no glimpse
Not even a glimp.
At times, translucence
Is rather a nuisance".
Twaddle.
生日快乐 (Shēngrì kuàilè) to C.C. Dreimal hoch!
ReplyDeleteJulian’s clever exercise tested and entertained me. The clever reveal was very helpful.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-My dad got ON THE WAGON when I was 25. He did not participate in my childhood
-CHUCK E CHEESE = Big bucks for plastic junk and happy grandchildren
-The only KNEADING seen around here
-The Royals got a run HOME in the 12th to win last night. I quit watching in the 11th
-Gay and 11 other words whose meaning has changed
-Both my daughters think they could live in this tiny house with ~150 SQ FEET
-Could you blog louder, Steve. My ENT thinks my hearing is about shot!
-My DW says our kitty is a little shadow who “goes in and out with me”
-Playing the SAFER golf shot never occurs to me until…
-Horrible recent events in WACO
-With all our nests and feeders, PEEP is the springtime lingua franca (how ‘bout dat phrase?) here
-Happy Birthday, C.C.! Thanks for all presents you have given us!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle from JL. Clever cluing, fresh theme, and a fun solve. What's not to like? Hand up for yum/mmm and dry/wry. The reveal was an Aha moment for sure! Naturally, thought of Tin at in _ _ _. Unknowns were OCR and Phair but perps saved the day.
Thanks, Julian, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for a neat (Hey, Tin) summary.
Happy Birthday to our dear CC! Hope it is special. 🎂 🎈 🎁
Today is also my neighbor's birthday which she is celebrating on Cape Cod. She emailed me a photo of a lobster roll that made me drool! She is liable to come home wearing fins and claws. (Is the green-eyed (envy) monster showing?)
Thoroughly enjoyed "Brooklyn." Still searching for a comedy, no easy task these days.
HG - Is that "knead-y" cat really Lily?
Have a great day.
Crunchy and delicious! So many fun puns and misdirections. SHADOW was my favorite clue, but there were others, too. Thanks, Julian for the entertainment.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you were great today!
Happy birthday,C.C. And thanks for bringing us all together!
Many Happy returns of the day to our fearless leader, and many more. I do not usually finish Mr. Lim's puzzles unscathed but I did manage this one. Now I am stuck with this EAR WORM (2:11).
ReplyDeleteAnother NANO NANA puzzle....I have been stuck by many thorns over the years.
When I was finishing law school, a classmate had a 1968 XKE for sale for the princely sum of $2,500.00. I did not have $2,500.00 and no place to borrow for a used car....I had not thought about that in years
Great Puzzle.................sure it took me awhile.................but I got it!
ReplyDeleteAs my grandmother used to say, "That's the main ting."
Happy Birthday C.C.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteJulian put together a really neat puzzle today and Steve outdid his usually great expos. I even learned a few things today doing the puzzle.
I did have a few stumbles along the way to finishing the puzzle. I had FEMA before OSHA for Hazmat monitoring, although there are many government agencies that are involved in Hazmat monitoring and regulation. The largest is the Department of Transportation which has the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration that covers all aspects of Hazardous Material transport (but PHMSA didn't fit in 4 spaces.)
I needed perps in a number of places to fill in some answers like NANA, PHAIR, HEXA and OCTA. After I got the reveal through perps I was able to suss out RUSSIANROULETTE to finish the puzzle. Really a neat theme today.
Steve: It looks like the EU is acting like a jilted lover who is ready to throw all of her former paramour's belongings out of the proverbial window. It may not have anything to do with CWs, but it will affect us all in some way.
Hope you have a great birthday C.C. and that today is a great day for everyone.
I made the same mistake as Steve, writing TAME for TASE and SST for TWA but since I work the puzzle from the newspaper I left ROSE BUSHEM and for got to change it. I initially filled NTSB for OSHA as they are always investigating 'hazmat' related accirent. As for the FIFTH WHEEL I didn't notice until I filled 61A. DNF
ReplyDeleteNANO & NANA- should have included NANU NANU. MENTOS I only know of MENTOS from watching MythBusters when MENTOS are added to Diet Coke and the drink spews like a volcano.
Liz PHAIR and DEE Wallace filled by perps.
For those who think CHUCK-E-CHEESE is loud, it's library-like compared to a 'Dave & Busters' place we went to last year with the grandkids.
Hi Y'all! Good morning with sunshine, great puzzle by Julian, great expo by Steve!
ReplyDeleteLike TTP the FIFTH WHEEL meant the big rounded connecter for our semi my husband used to slather with grease. I got to thinking of that and didn't make the theme connection. I thought there wasn't one.
Hand up for not knowing OCR, PHAIR, DEE and wanting yuM. Other stumble was Wag, Wit, WRY.
Happy birthday, dear C.C.! May the blog be the gift that keeps on giving both to you and us for many years.
Neighbors were setting off fireworks last night in the street in front of my house. The six-yr-old boy would see sparks flying from the "fountains" he had just set off and jump up and down yelling with delight, waving his arms. He is usually a very calm, quiet child. This next-door NANA person was glad to see his pleasure while being scared his reckless joy was going to end in injury. His face was always two feet above & directly over the pyro tube when he lit it. Amazingly, he survived.
A very happy birthday to you, C.C.!!!! My you be blessed with many more years. Words are not enough to express my gratitude for this Blog.
ReplyDeleteMy brain and my eraser both worked out today. Thank you, Julian Lim, for a great challenge. And my solve mirrored Steve's with many of the same write overs. PHAIR seeped out of some recess in my mind as did ZAGAT then RATED just emerged as did eventually WATER.
Hand up for YUM before MMM, TAME then TASE and the V-8 can flew at me when ROSEBUSHES grew out followed quickly by OCR. I had no idea about that one. To my amazemenet, ADEUX slipped right out! Vive la French.
This was a quite satisfying solve to put it in Brit speak.
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteLate to the game again. I went out to work on my potted geraniums (gerania?), which have not been doing very well, and I was waylaid by other outside chores. Perfect day for it.
Quite a pleasant Thursday puzzle, Julian. For some reason I was on track with all the four-letter entries: roots and acronyms alike. Thanks.
Thank you Steve for the walkabout. Nicely done as usual.
Have a sunny day every one. It looks like we certainly will here in Chicagoland.
Oops! Have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, C.C.!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and thank you, Steve, for your splendid commentary.
ReplyDelete@Anon 7:38
ReplyDeleteCoconut water is the liquid that you pour out when you manage to hammer two holes in the top of the coconut. The milk is made by putting the flesh through a blender and straining the "milk" from the pulp. It's quite a high fat content and it's rich, so I tend to use the "lite" version in the classic Thai red/green/yellow curries to keep them lighter, but I use the high-octane version in Thai fish soup, which is meant to be a thicker, heartening stew/soup.
Happy Birthday, C.C! Sorry I didn't give you a shout-out in the blog :(
For once, didn't get beaten up by a Julian Lim puzzle. FIW, however, due to PHAIR and ZAGATRATED. Knew Zagat, but couldn't come up with Rated!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve, for a great write-up. Sorry about the Brexit!
Happy birthday, C.C. Thanks for all you do here at the blog and for mentoring all of us.
The bare fact is, I'm UNTRAINED in polemics so I RANT NUDE
ReplyDeleteThe result of drinking too much pale ale was ONE WAN GOTH ON THE WAGON
"Skoal!", Awesome Blossom
Wishing C.C. a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
ReplyDeleteSending Much Deserved Congratulations her way. We owe a great deal to our brilliant colleague and leader - for her brilliant creations and for the care she shows to all of us.
Today's pzl from Mr. Lim kept me guessing for a while. In the first couple of passes I could only fill ON THE WAGON and RUSSIAN ROULETTE. Oh, and XKE! As a one-time owner of three Jaguars (not all at once), I am embarrassed to report that I first jotted XJE before getting my letters straight...
Happy Birthday, C.C.! You'll never know how much pleasure, interest, and comfort you give so many of us with your wonderful blog, and now your terrific puzzles! Thank you for everything!
ReplyDeleteAnd Yay! I got a Thursday Julian Lim puzzle--the whole thing without a single goof-up! Yay! Thank you, Julian, and you too, Steve, for a great expo. I especially appreciated the poems. I thought of you when I was in London and learning about the proposed Brexit. So sorry it turned out this way.
TTP, hope your brother-in-law has a good recovery.
Have a great day, everybody!
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThe Deer Hunter is also a favorite of mine. I recall how moved I was--and surprised--by the singing of God Bless America at the final breakfast. First time I heard that song as a prayer for forgiveness.
But help me if you can: Why did you link the Cavatina to the movie? Was it part of the sound track? I just don't recall, and IMDB.com doesn't say. The mood is exactly right, but I just can't pin it down. Was it played during the hunt scenes in the mountains?
Thanks, everyone, I'm eating fresh lychees and reading your comments. This is so sweet! Thanks for making me feel special.
ReplyDeleteWell I got ON-THE-WAGON at 1:00 pm (today) ...
ReplyDeleteLuckily ... I fell OFF-the-Wagon at 3:00pm ...
Cheers!
PS
C.C. I didn't wait for Sunset ... you've already been Toasted!
(Quite a few times ...)
Cheers!
• Julian Lim - It was not clear whether "stickers" referred to the "prickles" (not really a synonym) on a rose stem or the fact they are typically sold in pots with sticker prices on them. The latter is not very definitive.
ReplyDelete• I wonder why the "E-type JAGUAR" or simply "E-type" which is still revered in the IK was marketed as the "XKE" – which hardly rolls of the tongue. Is it because "E-type" is associated with "E-grade" in the U.S.? **
• The Brits I know use the cruder, but still technically blasphemous, "TFIF".
• As alluded to by others, the original meaning of "Fifth Wheel" seems to have been largely lost (in the U.S.), and now refers to the (very useful) coupling between a truck and trailer.
– but it reminds me of a horse's "FIFTH LEG", which is most definitely useful.
– and then of course the "FIFTH COLUMN(IST)", which is definitely not useful for the home side.
- and then the Fifth Amendment - in Pythonese = "Say no more, nudge, nudge", except:
•HB CC
** Send answers on a postcard to "Santa Claus, Iceland".
Wow. Again i thought this was an easy thursday. Finished in record time. But i got russian roulette off the bat. Went to chuckecheese last night and had pizza box with me today at work. Wow. Then perps came and it was all over.
ReplyDeleteDidn't like the clue for "Untrained." Someone could be well trained and still lack experience.
ReplyDeleteSteve, your post reminded me that my dad used a hammer and awl to make two holes in the coconut to drain the water. Then he cracked it open for my mom to take out the meat and grind it for homemade coconut Easter eggs. Yummy.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta admit having the street vendor in Costa Rica lop the top off the coconut with a machete so we could drink the coconut water directly from the coconut was more fun and more picturesque. Great selfies.
I call the rose thorns stickers, not prickles. Thorns stick you, so they are stickers, whether that's the official appellation or not. I doubt that the stickers were price stickers, pretty far fetched.
TTP, best wishes to your BIL for a speedy uneventful recovery.
Gmony, congtrats on your easy solve. I got it without help, but it was not as easy as a usual Thursday for me.
A Julian Lim puzzle strikes terror into the heart of this solver, but this solver conquered his trepidation and solved it without help and with great satisfaction. IM(H)O, Mr. Lim is right up there on the list of top-notch constructors.
ReplyDeleteI trust those fresh lychees were delicious and that you've been having a delicious day in every way, C.C.
Steve, I totally love your write-ups.
Best wishes to you all.
Wees, & ditto on the Dry/Wry DNF...
ReplyDeleteAlso, never got the P in upto,
but that's because I don't think crossing upto with singer Liz was Phair...
But, I am impressed with myself for getting so far on a Julian Lim puzzle,
(Yay me!)
Oh, another inkblot was I had 65A OC-- so immediately put "Seis" for 37D.
The crossing of French Adeux kinda let the air out of my tires...
In this 5:35 clip, a Psychologist analyzes why there is so much violence at Chuck E Cheese.
Aside from the spare, every car has a fifth wheel...
Anywho, Don't get depressed if you can't finish this 5th wheel puzzle...
Happy Birthday CC!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Back from 18 holes “over hill and over dale” on a somewhat warm day.
-No, Irish, that is not Lilly. She is a Siamese that is in my avatar near my space rocket models.
@D-otto - the "England were ... " relates to the soccer team, a collective noun. Not being a grammar expert I treat that as a plural. English usage?
ReplyDelete@O'l Man Keith - from memory, Cavatina is played over the closing credits. I can't find a clip on YouTube to support that, but I'm pretty sure that's when it is heard.
Happy Birthday, C.C.! Thank you for the hours of enjoyment I get from the puzzles, write-ups and comments by fellow bloggers.
ReplyDeleteI came close to finishing a Julian Lim puzzle! One day I will succeed! Steve, excellent write-up.
WEES, no new issues.
Today I celebrate the 5th anniversary of my knee replacement! As much as I hated the PT, I have no regrets of having the surgery.
Happy Thursday!
Pat
Just stopping in to wish C.C. a very Happy Birthday; hope it's been a good one.
ReplyDeleteLemon @ 10:02 (and also Steve) ....$2500 seems to have been the going rate for Brittish baubles in days of yore. I bought an MGB for $2500 ...in. British racing green ... many moons ago. I still have fond memories of racing around town impressing the natives. Well, at least, I was impressed. It was my favorite car of all time.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteHBD C.C.! WEES said about your mentorship and kicking-off the blog. At first I was disappointed that LA Time Crossword Confidential stopped but then I found your Corner.
I saw J. Lim and thought noooo. But then I flew through the North and though, "this is easy!" Then I hit PHAIR, French in the East xing 'See other clue.'
And then there was the SW four (4!) names. I finally cracked and had to Google 50d to help get ROSIE and FEET which perp'd in 51d for the finish. DNF. But it was fun Julian, thanks!
Steve, another bang-up job. I liked your caption for FIFTH WHEEL photo. Being a terminal nerd, I knew the feeling well. :-)
WOs: Hand-up for both SST b/f TWA and CHUCKy.
Fav: MENTOS (& Diet Coke). Eldest's 5th (or 6th) grade science project was to find out if other candy/soda combinations did as well. Nope.
Runner up: Getting Get Smart's (9:10) KAOS two days after Mel Brooks B-day.
{C, A, A, A}
NC - I loved the translation of the FIFTH amendment.
CED - LOL'd at the tired of life tire-swing.
Cheers, -T
Brexit = Sovereignty
ReplyDeleteBREXIT = INSANITY
DeleteJust for the record, Coconut Water and Coconut milk are obtained from two very different type of coconuts.
ReplyDelete1. Coconut Water is the water (juice) collected from a 'raw' coconut, that is, that which is unripe. An unripe coconut has very little meat .... or no meat at all. The best coconut water comes from coconuts that have little or no meat. Generaaly so. The sweetness and the amount of coconut water is inversely proportional to the amount of meat or growth inside the coconut.
2. A ripe coconut has relatively little water though the water may still be very sweet.
3. In most cases, if a coconut tree is harvested, when the coconuts are still tender ( unripe - ) then the tree has to be written off for producing ripe coconuts again. It just 'gives up' and will not produce coconuts again, or, in any case, the harvest, in the following years, is drastically reduced.
4. As ecologically unsound and cruel as it may seem, most coconut plantations are so extensive, and the demand for fresh coconut water is so high, that coconut trees are considered worthy ( non-vulnerable - ) enough to be sacrified. And new trees are being planted and cultivated all the time....
5. Cococnut milk, coconut cream and coconut creme powder are made from the grindings of the meat of a ripe (mature - ) coconut, and is the mainstay of the coconut business.
6. Then there is also the Sarap (syrup) of the balls of gelatinous mutant coconut. Macapuno balls.. This is a dessert delicacy in indonesia and the Phillipines.
7. Also a variety of giant coconuts, Coco de Mer, found only on one island, the Seychelles. This very rare palnt is at the point of extinction, and is cultivated only in botanical museums. Also called the 'love nut' because its shape resembles some part of the female anatomy.(!@#!)
Some may find the above interesting, others may take it as TMI, in which case, please move on. My apologies for the length of the article.
The ripe coconuts mom used for candy did have coconut water in them. Dad punched the two little spots we called eyes and set the coconut on a jar to drain.
ReplyDeleteI think the coconuts we drank from had more liquid than the ones my parents used.
Thanks Ptolemy Monde. The only thing I knew about COCONUTS is they're hard as heck to open and they're non-migratory. (NiceCuppa's translators).
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
OMG - Coconuts do migrate!. I saw something about this on PBS a few years back - I couldn't find that link, so here's a paper how the nut island-hops between atolls. C, -T
ReplyDeleteI feel ashamed for clicking on those links. Almost unclean.
ReplyDeleteU R here. HBD CC. This is a most enjoyable blog. I had to put XW down and commented Wed about it being a slog. Then I popped up this morning and knocked it off forgetting the E in 50A and not getting NANA until the blog (nor those pesky ENS in noun).
ReplyDeleteI never did like the taste of coconut nor peas for that matter.
I couldn't wait to see what Owen would come up with and he out did himself
Okay since it'll never be read...
A Russian on the Riviera played roulette
Using rubles instead of Euros to bet
After his FIFTH WHEEL turn
And he'd no more CHEESE to burn
He asked NANA. The answer: NYET!