Our brilliant house mother has spun a wonderful web of words with a theme that was very skillfully constructed and fiendishly clued. She has the letters "PTA" intersecting/meeting vertically and horizontally in three separate part of the puzzle, e.g.
P
PTA
A
Having the circles greatly facilitated seeing C.C.'s elegant scheme and so I present them here with the grid at the top of the write-up instead of at the bottom.
Theme Reveal: 63. After-school event ... and, literally, what takes place at this puzzle's circles : PTA-MEETING
Husker Gary here with my list of NOES - Was this puzzle a snap? NO Did I see the theme early? NO But, did I have a great time? YES, YES, YES! Wow!
Theme Entries:
18. Highway beautification program : ADOPT A ROAD (going across)
CROSSING
9. Understanding : UPTAKE (going down) - Which describes me today
32. Toaster Strudel kin : POP-TARTS (going across) Not exactly the breakfast of champions
CROSSING
50. Motivating halftime speech : PEP TALK (going across). Motivating "up close and personal"
CROSSING
The meeting will now come to order as we explore the rest of our Wednesday curriculum:
Across
1. Oodles : GOBS
5. Language group that includes Swahili : BANTU - Here ya go, the BANTU languages are in orange
10. Enormous : VAST
14. "Forget it" : UH UH
15. Single-master : SLOOP - I first thought baseball loving C.C. might be going for Pete Rose who has hit 3,215 singles and not the boat celebrated in The SLOOP JOHN B
16. Funny Dame : EDNA
17. NYC-to-Suffolk County line : LIRR - 1882 map of the Long Island RailRoad
20. Put forward : POSIT
22. Middle East carrier : AIR ARABIA
23. Counterfeiter catcher : T-MAN - The most famous one's credentials
25. Mischievous god : LOKI - The wily trickster of Norse mythology
26. 2015 Payne Stewart Award honoree Ernie : ELS
27. "Enough already!" : STOP NOW
30. Common pay period : WEEK - My first teaching contract amounted to $111/WEEK
34. Unhand, in a toaster brand slogan : LEGGO - LEGGO my EGGO!
38. Nevada's __ 51 : AREA - From space. Uh, I think we took the picture.
39. Like most chopsticks users : ASIAN - I'd starve if I had to use them
42. Estrada of "CHiPs" : ERIK
43. Lip-__: mouths the words : SYNCS
45. "The Tempest" hero : PROSPERO and 19. Servant of 45-Across : ARIEL Needed lotsa help!
47. Musical work : OPUS
51. Obstinate beast : ASS
54. MSN and AOL : ISPS - Our Internet Service Provider is Time Warner
56. "Beat it!" : SCAT
57. Crunchy snacks sometimes dipped in baba ghanouj : PITA CHIPS - How 'bout those chips and baba ganoush?
60. "Idol" judge replaced by DeGeneres : ABDUL -Working drunk doesn't help
65. H.H. Munro's pen name : SAKI
66. Checkout hassle : LINE
67. Indian royals : RANIS
68. Small bills : ONES - A "Tijuana Wad" is a big bill on the outside and mostly ONES on the inside
69. Brings to a close : ENDS
70. First instruction : STEP A
71. Robin's house : NEST - The babies at our house are finally flying and are safe from our kitty
Down
1. Large swallow : GULP - Can anyone really drink one of these?
2. University about an hour from Columbus : OHIO
3. Break forcefully, as an inflated bag : BURST OPEN - Australian dog going for the Guinness Record
5. Merit badge gp. : BSA
6. "The Blacklist" actor Alan : ALDA - He has many roles and vowels that can be used for cluing
7. Salad restriction : NO OIL
8. Stadium high spot : TOP ROW - A $17 view from the TOP ROW of Kaufman Stadium
10. Wang with a Hippie Princess fragrance line : VERA - Wang, of course
11. Acrobat maker : ADOBE
12. Escargot : SNAIL
13. Triumphant shouts : TA-DAS - What we aim for here!
21. Lake __: Blue Nile source : TANA - The Blue Nile Hotel on its south shore is $33/night
24. Screenwriter Ephron : NORA
27. Golf resort amenities : SPAS - Will that fix your putting?
28. Conservative Brit : TORY
29. Lb. and kg. : WTS
33. Small swallow : SIP - Far different from The Big Gulp
35. One of dogdom's "gentle giants" : GREAT DANE
36. Cover __ : GIRL
37. "I get it, I get it!" : OK OK
40. Dadaist Jean : ARP - In case you were thinking of buying his Demeter's Doll, it's $138,176.78.
41. Poll responses : NOES
44. Part of little girls' makeup? : SPICE - Along with Sugar and Everything Nice
46. Animal rights org. : SPCA
48. Theater group? : USHERS - Pity the poor USHER that has to take people up to those seats in the TOP ROW shown in 8 Down
49. Show disdain for, figuratively : SPIT AT
51. Big name in smartwatches : APPLE
52. Peaceful protest : SIT IN - Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C. Sadly, not that long ago
53. Put up with : STAND - These men above definitely took a STAND by taking a seat
55. Moral fiber : SPINE
58. College town north of Des Moines : AMES
59. Short cut : SNIP - Can you say vasectomy?
61. Lanai strings : UKES
62. BuzzFeed article, often : LIST - Here are some of them
64. Fed. property manager : GSA
The meeting has been adjourned and so let's move to the cafeteria for punch, cookies and comments:
51 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks, CC and Husker!
Great work!
TANA was perped. All in all, pretty easy!
Have a great day!
Morning, all!
Not too bad today, but there were certainly a few slow and awkward spots. Had trouble getting started after trying TONS, LOTS and finally A TON at 1A, all to no avail. I'm sure SHRIMP TACO is a thing (thanks for the picture, Gary), but I've never heard of it and it didn't occur to me even with SHRIMPTAC_ in place.
ARP reminded me that I'm now officially old and on that inevitable downward slide toward decrepitude and death. Yes, I officially got my membership invitation from AARP yesterday in the mail as I approach my 50th birthday. Whee!
What a clever puzzle and reveal. I continue to be amazed by C.C. and her seemingly endless array of grids.
HG how incredible that you see a picture you might have been part of in your space days. But I assure you learning to use chopsticks is easier than you think if you have to use them.
My thoughts on PROSPERO and ARIEL have Bern forever altered by The Librarians
With both SUGAR and SPICE being 5 letters, I am not sure why I put Spice in without hesitation.
Also I had no memory of TANA. I do like the river flowing north.
Wonderful Wednesday C.C. and H.G.
Thanks
Dang! Defeated on a Wednesday! Couldn't get past my 1a LOTS and 1d LARK and never could resolve the NW. :-(
Ya got me, C.C.!
Good morning!
"Large swallow" didn't fool me. I didn't even consider the bird, and immediately inked in GULP. "Small swallow" completely fooled me -- was thinking about birds, and couldn't see SIP even with SI_ in place. This puzzle was definitely not "for the birds." Nice one, C.C.
If 2d had been clued "University about 90 min from Columbus" it could've been A AND M. College Station TX is about 90 minutes north of Columbus TX. That'd make a great late-week clue/answer.
I've only seen Adopt-a-Highway -- never a ROAD.
Red light on my generator's panel indicated it had missed its weekly "exercise" run. Further investigation pointed to a dead battery. "But it's too new to be dead!" Oops, according to the purchase receipt, it was installed almost six years ago. Guess I should be happy with the battery life. How time flies!
SHRIMP is already "seafood in a shell." How 'bout "SHELLfood in a shell" for SHRIMP TACO?
Good morning. Thank you CC and Husker Gary. What a great way to start this beautiful day.
A very workable Wednesday with the right amount of challenge and SPICE. Ran into often seen shorter friends (SPAS, RANIS, SPCA, ALDA) and met some new long ones (AIR ARABIA, GREAT DANE, SHRIMP TACO, KEPT TABS ON) enroute to the TADA(S). I didn't count them, but did notice that there didn't seem to be that many three letter words.
As is my wont, I looked for a corner to corner diagonal and found one, so I started in the southeast. Got to SCAT and wondered if there's another word with such diverse definitions. I'm sure there are. At any rate, some of the longer fill entered while climbing the steps to the NW made for substantially less white space.
Nailed LIRR. Ditto MAC conference, Bobcats-mascotted, Athens-located OHIO U. Towards the end of the solve, needed AMES. The Big 12 Iowa State Cyclones call AMES home. Saw the clue with "circles" in the finishing flurry, so opened the Tribune version. CC, you are brilliant. BTW HG, that "motivator" looks like a "Yeller and Teller."
LOKI. The name of one of my neighbor's two dogs. The other is dubbed Thor. Think she named them based on Norse mythology ? No, her inspiration was Marvel comics.
USHERS - Great clue that caught me off guard. Same as Single-master. Little girls clue/answer made me smile. So cute.
Eighteen holes await. As Boo Luquette used to sign off, plus tard !
Got me with the swallows bird lover that I am
Wow lots of creativity this week in themage! CC you are an amazing constructor!
Thanks Gary for the explanation!
LAte for work!
Good Morning!
Thanks, C.C. for some great fun with a clever construction. No circles here, so no chance at the reveal. I did love seeing it on Gary's tour! My favorite was Seafood in a Shell. Couldn't see it for the life of me, even as SHRIMP TACO stared me in the face. Even worse, I just checked out the menu from a local Tex-Mex spot where we are meeting friends tonight. Brain Freeze!
Another wonderful tours with lessons, Gary. Thanks. On that big Gulp, the better question is should anyone drink one of those? ;-) In the knitting world, AREA 51 is a place near one's stash of yarn where the UFO's are lurking. That's UnFinished Objects!! Not kidding! Madame Defarge would never mislead anyone about knitting!
Enjoy this day.
Husker: Good Job! Outstanding write-up & links.
C.C. Thank You for a FUN Wednesday puzzle with a nice PTA crossing theme.
Fave today was the CSO re: "The Proper way to enjoy Scotch." SIP
Though 44-d, Part of little girls makeup? SPICE was a close second.
Did need ESP to get TANA ... should probably review a Map-of-Africa for future reference.
And the Sun has come out on a beautiful high 80's day.
A "toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Hi Y'all! Great theme, C.C.! Great expo, Gary!
I had almost finished the puzzle on Mensa when I read the reveal that mentioned circles and promptly lost the puzzle. I didn't hesitate. Went straight to the LAT site and reconstructed the puzzle. Had a good chuckle over the PTA meetings.
Only the demented would pay $138 thousand for ARP's Demeter Doll (Poupee a good description) which looks like a bowling pin that's been in the sun too long.
I googled baba ganoush to see what was in it and got sidetracked reading that pioneer woman's instructions. I'd try a GOB of it if it was passed to me at a party but don't think I'm going to any soon. Doesn't really sound like it would like my finicky tummy.
C.C. is amazing, not only for her construction prowess, but her grasp of the fine points in the language and knowledge of modern culture. The last of these is an area in which I find myself to be sadly lacking. This puzzle had me thoroughly stumped in several areas, the following CAPS being blanks when I finished: uHUH, pOSIT, lIRR, aPPle usHErs, sPInE, sNIP, GsA. All easy once you see the completed grid, but my mind is elsewhere.
Don't ask me why I missed seeing APPLE, or PTA MEETING, I think I'm still brain-dead after another trip away, and having spent the last week trying to tie up all the loose ends that showed up on our return. We were gone May 2-28, and spent a few days visiting friends in Yorkshire before touring England, Scotland and Wales for 9 days followed by a two week visit to the kids in Germany. I have been exhausted ever since. We both decided we don't want to be gone for so long ever again.
I've been doing the puzzle again since Monday of last week, but mostly have been managing better than today. Other things I've been busy with however, always mean there is less time to concentrate and ponder than I would sometimes like.
Briliant theme, fun puzzle and write up. Not fond of the reveal clue. PTA meetings are usually in the evening.
After the second pass, the NW was blank and everything else was filled. But 3 or 4 more and I got my TADAS! The theme totally escaped me tho until I gave in and let myself read the reveal.
HG: I like having the grid at the top. When I have to scroll back to it to figure out what someone is talking about, I know where to find it!
Thanks for introducing me to acronymsandslang.com, I'm always looking for good reference sites. Tho the example I tried was somewhat disappointing.
Never heard of SHRIMP TACO before. Here in New Mexico, even "fish tacos" are looked upon with suspicion.
Loved the illos in today's expo! Esp. the language one!
NYC-to-Suffolk County Line -- first thought was "what county line would have a name"? Then realized it was "Suffolk County", so the "line" must be the direction from NYC to SC. So I put in __ST and waited to see if it was EAST or WEST.
LOKI was once my nom-de-crucis and online handle, but living in the SW, Coyote has become the more prominent trickster in my mind.
Big swallow had GUL_, so I filled in GULL, though I wondered about the relationship.
SKY BOX > TOP ROW.
I bet General Services Administration in this puzzle started out as Girl Scouts of America.
Late start today, may add some poems later.
"Poll responses : NOES"
I don't care how many times lazy puzzle constructors use this word, it's still BS.
What a fun puzzle to wrestle with! And what a lovely grid to admire. I finished in good time and and had a good time. Thanks, C.C.
SLOOP was my favorite, though I didn't catch on immediately, even after our discussion of masts a few days ago. How quickly I forget!
HG, your expo was wonderful.
Happy Wednesday!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
Could not get started at the top, so I headed South. Got started easily in the SW. Then worked my way North.
Theme was clever. PTA MEETING fell easily since I was in that area.
TANA was unknown. Perped. Never heard of PROSPERO. ARIEL I wagged after a few letters.
Perps really helped me today with the longer words/phrases. That is OK.
Out to the garden. Golfing tomorrow. Might rain then. Off to Pennsylvania tomorrow night.
See you soon, I hope.
Abejo
Good morning everyone.
For once I used the circle schtick to pre-fill PTA's which helped in lieu of perps. Neat puzzle. Only white-outs were PETA before SPCA, and 'let go' before LEGGO.
LIRR - Today the line terminates near the eastern tips of Suffolk county.
TANA - Perps helped get it but it looked right when I got it. The Blue Nile is so-called because it is low in sediment compared to the main-stem White Nile where it joins it near Khartoum.
I used the Mensa site, so there were no circles, but I had the puzzle mostly filled in by the time I got to the reveal so I waited for HG's explanation. Nice tight puzzle without too many unknowns today. Good one C.C.
I didn't know Lake TaNA but I didn't think it would be tUna or tIna so I put in the A.
At first I thought that the airline was AIRJORDAN because the number of letters fit, but perps changed it. There seem to be a lot of Middle East carriers that I never heard of.
I think we've had discussions before about EGGOs. Not as good as the real thing, but will do in a pinch if you have good maple syrup, not ersatz syrup made from corn.
POPTARTS are definitely not on my breakfast list. PITACHIPS on the other hand are good for snacking if you have a good dip, otherwise they are pretty bland. I think it would be difficult eating a pita chip with chop sticks.
I entered LIRR immediately since I spent the first few years of my career on Long Island (pronounced Lawn Guyland by locals) traveling into NYC. The South Shore Line stop in Babylon was about 100 yards from my home.
Rain, rain, rain today. Hope your weather is better. Have Fun!
{A, A, A, B.}
There once was a BANTU who lived by LAKE TANA
Who joined the S.P.C.A. with his Nana.
She gave him a PEP TALK
When he raided a pet shop,
And that's why LAKE TANA now swarms with piranha!
ABDUL of ARABIA felt himself on the brink
Of becoming a rap star like those he'd LIP SYNC.
Till the day that his Dad
Heard him use words so bad
That he washed out his mouth with soap in the sink!
At the P.T.A. MEETING, an idea from Jane
Was a play to support the fundraising campaign!
"For Shakespeare we'll find
A cast all canine,
So Hamlet at last will be a GREAT DANE!"
I've got the addictions, I cannot STOP NOW!
They've got hold of my brain, and will LEGGO no how!
I know it's a mistake,
I've got slow UPTAKE,
But crosswords and limericks both furrow my brow!
Time well spent! Thank you, C.C., impressive as ever. I had GOBS of fun with this grid which was full of SPICE. And I've never had a SHRIMP TACO but was introduced to fish tacos and found them to be delicious. As the saying goes, don't knock them 'til you try them.
PTA evokes fond memories from when my daughter was in school and I played an active role at her school.
How amazing to have not only ARIEL but PROSPERO as well in one puzzle. The Tempest survives and Shakespeare lives on. However, BANTU did not quickly emerge but the perps were kind enough to fill it.
I finally found a way to distinguish between SAKI, the essayist, and Sake, the alcoholic drink. The first one is about wrItIng and so ends in I and the second which ends in E is a fErmEntEd drink. For unknown reasons the two had given me grief every time they appeared.
Well done, Gary, thank you!
Have a joyous day, everyone!
Good Morning:
Another creative gem from CC. I continue to be greatly impressed by CC's creativity and craftsmanship, in theme, cluing, and execution. This had a bit of a crunch but no major hang-ups. I liked the large swallow and small swallow entries. I always want Sati for Saki; maybe I'll remember the K next time.
Well done, CC, as usual, and kudos to Mr. Husker for the wise and witty write-up and the very colorful visuals!
Have a great day.
Owen - A++++ on the third limerick!
"Harper Valley PTA."
Well it happened that the PTA was gonna meet that very afternoon.
OwenKL:
Top marks for your poem today! I'm continually impressed at how you can aptly use words from the puzzle for your clever poems and limericks.
Total genius today! Missed the PTA's going down, though, so thank you HG for pointing that out. Loved the clue "Seafood in a shell" as I never thought of a shrimp taco. Thank you perps! Thanks, C.C., for another great outing!
HG - great job on your links and expo! Super job!
Nice, fun easy-ish Wednesday puzzle. Mr. Husker, where did you find that awful picture of gorgeous Paula Abdul?
Owen, I think they were ALL A+
I found this crossword easier than yesterday when I was brain-dead after a long day at work. Thanks C.C. and Husker G for today's fun.
Fortunately I was using AcrossLite today and had the circles but really didn't need them.
Hand up for Gull before GULP, Lots before GOBS. SAKI was one of those answers that I added to my crossword list long ago and haven't seen for a while.
I smiled at POPTARTS and Eggo references today after our past discussions.
Only Swahili I remember from our trip to Kenya is Jambo (hello). Son and family lived on the White Nile for a year.
Great work today Owen!
Enjoy the day.
Excellent! Very clever, had me going right up to the last empty space...
I kept thinking, "T?" "Afternoon T? That's it??"
(There has got to be more to it than that...)
(Had to eschew the crumpets to suss this one...)
Here's hoping CC lets us in on how many clues were tweaked by Rich.
Right from the get go I could not fill in "Gobs" thinking "why would CC ever use such a word?"
Uhuh = forget it (seems like American slang to me, another hesitant fill.)
17A LIRR, excellent cluing (but how would someone from Minnesota know that?)
Stared at "shrimptac-"for a very long time. (could it be shrimptail? Am I out of sync?)
Sugar b/4 spice
actor b/4 usher
& many others hesitations before I disdainly inked in "spit at."
Bravo!
Tonight we attend Daughter #3's senior solo.
Since they are 4 years apart, this will be our last High School event (other than graduation)
in 12 years! I do not know what DW is going to do! She always ran the CandyGram stand at plays,
& had a knack at winning the 50/50!
I however had a drug problem with the PTA...
I wish it was this easy...
The PTA remembers the real heros!
& finally, (I have got to try this)
Homemade Pita bread is better than store bought!
Yes, the moms stayed home in those days. I was at PIE this morning and I was thinking that CC should write that down and think of a clue for it. Irish Miss you're right. I now have A+,A,A+,A. And, I now know how Mme D got her name. I liked the scene early on where the hero is yanked from the drunk den and his villainous lawyer boss plies him with cold towels and coffee to do his brief. Lesson?: Drink all you want if you can still perform. Bad Dickens.
Someone came up with an article on how to modify letters like C to O etc. 600 combinations right? But my O and Y in NAYS could only become messes. Likewise PETA. I thought 70 across might be computerese but had to perp.
Oops, 650. 26*25
Good writeup except for the "Tijuana wad" part. Are there no American shysters?
Oh, don't miss out on "Welshing on a bet," "Indian-giver" and assorted finer points of the language when America was great. Let's be great again! Looking forward to Donald Trump joining the Corner.
Musings
-I played 18 today and was home by 9 a.m.
-When I blog, I revert to my teacher mode and try to supply info I know or can make relevant to the fill.
-As I’ve said before, I was/am a visual teacher/learner. If you get an email from me, this is what you will see at the bottom. I’m really channeling Confucius. ☺
-OHIO University hired fired-UNL head FB coach Frank Solich 11 years ago and he has lured some good Husker talent out east.
-Yeah, TTP, that was a brutal conference. My grandson’s coach talks to them for 20 min. after each game. He hasn’t learned that he has about 60 seconds after which he’s just talking to himself.
-Madam Defarge – Re: BIG GULP. I saw the stats on obesity last night on the news.
-oc4beach - All I could find was Royal Jordanian airlines. These are the only AIR JORDANS I know
-Argyle, we had a stuffy Mr. Baker for a principal when H.V. P.T.A. was popular and the lyric, “Mr. Baker can you tell us why your secretary had to leave this town” brought big laughs in the lounge!
-Robert Emerson – there are pictures and videos of Paula under the influence all over the web
Brilliant Wednesday puzzle, C.C.--I loved every minute working on it, even though I too had LOTS for 1 across and worried for a while that I'd never get that top right corner. But I did and got the whole thing, even the theme and all the PTA MEETINGS in the three places. Yay! Great way to start a Wednesday!
Husker Gary, I laughed out loud when I saw your picture for the SHRIMP TACOS. Rowland's nephew and his wife took me out to dinner last night, and the waitress asked if I was going to have my favorite. I had no idea was she was talking about, and she said, "I remember that you always order the Shrimp Tacos." Well, I didn't remember, but I ordered them and they looked exactly like your picture and were delicious. I highly recommend them.
Owen, you get straight A's on your limericks this morning.
Have a great day, everybody!
Good puzzle. I aced it. Took a little thinking and some good guesses.
Tomorrow the fun begins😖
Thank you, C.C. and HuskerG!
What a beautiful pzl! And a learning experience, even at my age...
For starters, I didn't know there was more than one Nile.
And I'm happy at last to learn that a single mast belongs on a SLOOP (after several pzls telling me it's a Schooner that requires two or more).
I appreciated C.C.'s finesse in bringing so many PTAs together, but even so I didn't see that each of them ran in both directions until Husker's exegesis.
I got to play PROSPERO in my late 60s, when I could still remember lines and hobble about a stage. He's one of the toughest and most rewarding of the great roles, and I am grateful to have had the experience. One of the VAST beauties of Our Shakespeare is that you can find a role for almost any age. He was only 52 when he died, but he wasn't one to be hemmed in by age, race, nationality-- or even gender, which is strange considering that his females were originally played by men.
Kudos all around!
~ Kf
I mentioned (above) that Shakespeare wasn't restricted by his mundane traits, his worldly "profile"--i.e., race, gender, etc. This is one of the keys, I believe, to artistic genius, the ability to empathize, to see the world from others' eyes, to have compassion for all.
I want to share one of the brilliant observations of Ta-Nehisi Coates, the black writer, in his letters to his son, Between the World and Me.
In response to a sneering challenge, "Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus?" he remembers Ralph Wiley's perfect answer:
"Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus."
The great artists create for us all, not their meager slice of the world's teeming demos.
That was a really fun puzzle; because of the clever clues and especially because I could solve it! Thanks CC and Gary!
I am a big fan of good fish tacos; think of fish and chips in a folded tortilla with no chips but with shredded lettuce or cole slaw, sauce and other fixings. Shrimp tacos are near the top of that list.
I am headed off for a bike ride and to get some really good tomatoes at the local Farmer's Market.
Keith, a ketch and a yawl each have two masts with differing locations for the second mast.
Speaking of PTAs, when our grandson got old enough for kindergarten, Bonnie went to her neighborhood school for an evening meeting to get him enrolled. While the teachers were making a presentation, a PTA parent from the Educational Foundation was making the rounds. One lady sat down next to Bonnie, introduced herself, explained how much support the Ed Foundation gave to the school, and said that Bonnie's contribution was expected to be $2000. Would she like to make her donation all at once or in installments? Bonnie, a single mother and an elementary teacher in another local district, turned pale. She came by our house, used our phone to call her principal and registered Jordan in Bonnie's school, easy peasy. It was a good decision and has worked out well all around.
Hi All!
No TADA today - FIW :-(. I Dropped two T's in POPTARTt (Hey, LEGGO, Eggos got two Gs, why not?) and a tIt may be a swallow,... maybe? DW won't be proud I didn't know PROSPERO.
Thank you C.C. for a fun Wed pzl. And, HG, very nice out-of-the-box write-up; way to handle the PTA MEETING. I do love the Confucius quote (I'm nearly one w/ the Rubik - TOP ROW still provides strife), but my fav his his curse - "May you live in interesting times." Yeah, November looms.
FWIW, I stumbled all over the place and the NW was almost a DNF until I stopped thinking of birds & lotS/tonS @1a.
HG, In HS our Big GULP's where 1/2 that size and my metabolism could deal w/ the VAST calorie count. Today, I can't STAND 'em - if I had one, I'd just SIT IN (that juxtaposition was cute too C.C.)
Fav: KEEP TABS ON - It's a hobby and my job; I get paid every two WEEKs :-)
GREAT DANE and PITA CHIPS, as clued, were also fun - baba ghanuouj is just a fun word. GSA (and my GIRLs have badges [anyone notice c. for SPICE?] and BSA mirrored over axis provides another smile.
{C, A, A+++, B+}. TANA used 2x; Change penultimate line in #4 to "I'm slow on the UP TAKE". My $0.02, er, ONE'S humble opinion :-). Thanks for all you do.
CED - I need that PTA form! If I had the SPINE, I'd just submit that w/ LINE 4 filled.
It wouldn't be a -T post w/o my fav dumb-ASS PEP TALK.
Cheers, -T
Ever noticed how people like to give their 2 cents worth but will only offer a penny for your thoughts?
I guess we all value our own opinion twice as much as everyone else's!
Hi Gang -
Original theme idea, CC. Nicely done.
Good write up Gary - love the pics.
Filled in UNUH for 14A and never came back to check the downs. As an OHIOan and Toledo U grad, I am chagrined. Speaking of the MAC, My oldest grandson goes to Western MI. and his brother will join him there in the fall.
OHIO U is in Athens, just a few miles north of Meigs County, the least populous of OHIO's 88, and where my mom came from.
Victor Borge quipped that Lyndon Johnson picked him up by his ears and said he was a GREAT DANE.
https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/13016671_f520.jpg
[Wrote this hours ago and forgot to push the button]
Cool regards!
JzB
JazzB, I had an ancestor who fought in and survived the Civil War whose pension papers say he was born in Meigs Co., Ohio. I suppose his parents, etc. were from there, but I haven't found them yet.
Another really well constructed opus from C.C. whose brain never stops. Hand up for LOTS and LARK at first. With PITA CHIPS right above PTA MEETING my brain kept subvocalizing PITA MEETING and it took me too long to make it stop, Oh dang, there it goes again.
LW used to call pop stars such as Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus POP TARTS.
Gary, excellent write-up. Thank you.
Best wishes to you all.
Meigs County, OH is also well known for it's prolific pot production. It is positively potent.
I'm surprised how my PTA poem was so much more popular than the other 3, but glad you all liked it!
-T: So I used LAKE TANA twice - CC used my initials twice! And I also noticed that GIRL was in both c&a!
The poem was originally worded just as you suggested, but I thought it threw the meter off, so settled for the weaker phrasing. Good eye!
Wonderful puzzle today. I think the only time I see MSN and AOL mentioned as ISPs these days is in crosswords. Maybe the clue should be "old time ISPs."
What? Northwest runner, I have AOL. What do you mean?
OKL - OK, OK, I was a bit (GOBS?) grumpy. I liked them all; it was a relative ranking. It's all in good humor.
I've been under the weather for two days and just comin' out of the fog. STEP A: see if I can keep something down - I had ASAIN (ala American) food delivered.
HG - Re: The 1st AREA 51 photo I saw - I recall it was on the back of an Estes model's box. The photo, as the story goes, was purchased by Estes from the Russians. This was in the mid-'80s. Think Groom Lake is being used for the Aurora /aka Delta project now?. The Truth is Out There :-).
On that topic, has anyone read Skunk Works?. Pretty cool story behind the U2, SR71, and F-117; all tested at AREA 51.
"When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?" - Carlin
Cheers, -T
Hi JzB,
I have cousins who grew up in Racine, Ohio, just up River from Pomeroy. They all (6) went to school at OU in Athens. Small world
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