Title: Gunther Toody, where are YOU.
This Samuel A. Donaldson, has been with us since 2009 . It is time for his annual LAT Friday, with his last one being a sound alike as well. He is on a roll with 3 NYT and a WSJ all recently. With a background in tax law, you know he has a great sense of humor and this offering, where we replace the o͞o sound with the ē sound does require imagination. The theme jumped out at me with the Tina Fey and knowing the T from ARTTEST was correct. I love getting into the mind of our constructors and picture how a phrase like TEA FOR TWO (Tē for To͞o ) becomes a perfect reveal for this puzzle. As I have said often, for sound puzzles, the reveal is the 13D, and I loved this one.
There are also is much sparkle to the fill such as ART TEST, THIS ONE, VENTNOR, ENSLAVE, ECHELON, DUST RAG, SET DATE, KNEE PAD, LAERTES, I KNEW IT, COUNTS ON and IMPLANTS. Let go to work.
17A. What Fey does in a mushy moment? : TINA MELTS (9). I eat lots of tuna melts.
24A. Ornamental ducks? : GARDEN TEALS (11). Garden tools are more needed than the gnomes.
36A. Model high schoolers? : FINE TEENS (9). Fine tunes has many meanings.
51A. Park statue that might have the real things perched on it? : STEEL PIGEON (11). Stool pigeons are very important to the police.
And the reveal:
60A. "No, No, Nanette" song, and a homophonic hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 51-Across : TEA FOR TWO (9).
Across:
1. Quads with wheels : ATVS. Four wheelers.
5. Perry of pop : KATY. So did I.
14. Orator's prowess: Abbr. : RHEToric.
15. Der Spiegel article : EINE. And 65A. Der Spiegel rejection : NEIN.
16. Modicum : OUNCE. This was difficult for me as an ounce seems like more.
19. Forward : UNSHY. "I saw them come out and I saw that they were naked, unshy, beautiful, and full of grace, and I watched the naked women walk out of the sea.”― John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
20. Sandal feature : T-STRAP. Jimmy Choo.
21. Work the room : MINGLE.
23. Long time : EON.
28. Blanket in a belt : SNOW. Another hard one to decipher for me. Snow belt?
30. Beefcake subjects : HUNKS. Familiar?
31. One given at a wedding : VOW. One or two.
32. Polo of "The Fosters" : TERI. Don't know the Fosters, only the Fokkers.
33. Provençal possessive : SES. No grammar error this time.
34. 1974 #1 country hit for Dolly Parton : JOLENE.
39. __ Pie : ESKIMO.
42. Slowing, on scores: Abbr. : RIT. Ritardando (or rit.) is an indication to gradually decrease the tempo of the music (opposite of accelerando). Wiki.
43. Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego : ALI G. No politics here.
47. Home office, maybe : DEN. Do people have dens anymore?
48. Quite cold : POLAR. Vortex anyone?
50. Number on a clapperboard : TAKE. The name of this device used in filming movies etc.
56. Airport snags : DELAYS.
57. Dreaded : FEARED.
59. Hit lightly : TAP ON. The start of the two word fill.
63. Sudden jerk : START.
64. Way off the highway : EXIT.
66. Second chances : REDOS. Do over did not fit.
67. "__ arigato": Japanese "thank you very much" : DOMO. Did you all think of this song?
68. Where el sol rises : ESTE. The sun rises in the east in Mexico also.
Down:
1. "Draw me" challenge : ART TEST. Two words.
2. Selective words : THIS ONE.I really overthought this one. A second two word fill in the downs.
3. Avenue next to Monopoly's Water Works : VENTNOR. Anyone still playing Monopoly?
4. Headliner : STAR.
5. __ straight face : KEEP A. Two words.
6. Come down with a bug : AIL.
7. Big blowup cause : TNT. Cute cluing, not an argument.
8. Sycophants : YES MEN. Again. Sychophant, literally "one who shows the fig,"
9. Has faith in : COUNTS ON. Again.
10. Sudden movement : LUNGE.
11. Subjugate : ENSLAVE.
12. Command level : ECHELON. "the upper echelons of the business world"
13. Exam marking aid : KEY. I remember working as a TA using these to grade multiple choice test papers.
18. GQ or SI : MAGazine.
22. HP product : INKJET.
25. South Korea's first president : RHEE. Or was it RYU? This MAN.
26. Cleaning aid : DUST RAG. Again.
27. Baltic Sea country: Abbr. : SWEden.
29. Airport connection : WIFI. Really tricky but simple once you see it.
33. Joe Cool, sans shades : SNOOPY. Hmm, this should be SNEEPY?
35. Exam for a would-be atty. : LSAT. Really an exam for a would be law student.
37. Surgical installations : IMPLANTS. I am not in favor of these but I could not resist a LINK.
38. The Emerald Isle : EIRE.
39. Text tweakers, briefly : EDS. Editors can be tweakers, but in the puzzle world they do much more. If you think a clue is bad, it may not be the original thought of the constructor.
40. Appointment : SET DATE. Again.
41. Patella protector : KNEE PAD. We wore them back in my wrestling days. 2 wds.
44. Ophelia's avenger : LAERTES. How cool, some Shakespeare. Also his father...
“I dare damnation: to this point I stand, / That both the worlds I give to negligence, / Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged / Most thoroughly for my father.”
45. "Aha!" : I KNEW IT. I knee it?
46. Finish : GET DONE. Again. Another thought came to mind. GET 'ER DONE.
49. Being handled by a broker : LISTED. Real estate broker; our closing business is doing very well as Florida real estate has recovered.
52. What Spanish Olympians go for : EL ORO. The gold.
53. Heading for : OFF TO. Off tee? Again.
54. Con beginning : NEO.
58. Former Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. No politics but a CONTROVERSIAL person.
59. Original D&D co. : TSR. Dungeons and Dragons
61. Outer: Pref. : EXO. The opposite of Endo.
62. Intent : AIM.
Well I know Sam aimed to please with this effort and I thought the theme was really tight with two "OO" and two "U" all transferring to well clued EE sounds. Some humor in the cluing/ fill. There was not much crosswordese, just real words and phrases. I had fun, and I hope you all did. Stop by and say hello Mr. D., as an active member of other blogs we would love to have your comments.
Lemonade out.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Sam and Lemon!
Nice theme! Got 'er done sans cheating, but sure took a while!
CLEEK was a complete unknown! This and TSR were all perps. Scratched head at SNOW and TAKE.
Cheers!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteBarely got through this one alive. RHET left a bad taste in my mouth to start off with, and it didn't get all that much better from that point on. I did figure out and enjoy the theme, however, so that was nice. Learning moment of the day was finding out that TEA FOR TWO (a song I've known all my life) originally came from "No, No, Nanette". Go figure.
Hand up for not getting the relationship of the clue to the answer with SNOW.
The NE corner is where I almost met my Waterloo. Had LUNGE at the outset, but took it out when nothing else worked. Had to guess at JOLENE, but didn't know CLEEK. Was sure that "Forward" was PUSHY and really, really resisted eventually changing it to UNSHY. UNSHY may be a word, but *ugh*. Also wanted RELIES ON instead of COUNTS ON. I finally figured out that "modicum" was OUNCE (kinda, sorta) and that was enough to get the job done, with CLEEK coming entirely from the perps.
FIR! Better than yesterday, but still took many passes. The theme also escaped me while working the puzzle. TUNA>TINA was obvious enough, but even with the reveal, the rest I didn't see until after I wrote them out and just stared at them for a while.
ReplyDeleteAfter the comment above, I had to look this one up:
sycophant (n.)
1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" + phainein "to show" (see phantasm). "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The modern accepted explanation is that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in English 1570s.
The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED]
fig (n.1)
early 13c., from Old French figue "fig" (12c.), from Old Provençal figa, from Vulgar Latin *fica, corresponding to Latin ficus "fig tree, fig," which, with Greek sykon is prob. fr. a common Mediterranean source, possibly a Semitic one.
The insulting sense of the word in Shakespeare, etc. (A fig for ...) is 1570s (in 17c. sometimes in Italian form fico), in part from fig as "small, valueless thing," but also from Greek and Italian use of their versions of the word as slang for "vulva," apparently because of how a ripe fig looks when split open. Giving the fig (Old French faire la figue, Spanish dar la higa) was an indecent gesture of ancient provenance, made by putting the thumb between two fingers or into the mouth, with the intended effect of the modern gesture of "flipping the bird"
Late start today, so haven't begun poems yet.
Struggled in the SW. Had 41d as kneecap and 66a as repos. That made 59a as taxon. DOH. Finally had the aha moment.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteGot through this one in good time. KNEEcAp quickly gave way to KNEEPAD, and it was done. Thanks, Sam and Lemon.
I guess we must have a den; it's certainly not formal enough to be termed a living room. (Oxymoron?)
"Joe Cool" evoked images of the Camel Cigarette spokes-cartoon rather than SNOOPY.
I've mentioned before that PIGEON was our high school mascot. If we couldn't beat 'em, we could decorate 'em.
Anybody here who doesn't have WIFI at home? Not sure how we ever got by without it.
Hello, everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam, for a clever puzzle. I did pretty well before I saw the set up. Nicely done. My favorite was SNOW belt blanket. That came to me so fast I was sure it was wrong.
Thanks, Lemonade for the explication and the links!
Have a fine day!
I'd forgotten CLEEK. Surprised it isn't mentioned while watching the British Open this morning, but not many players even carry 2-irons any more.
ReplyDeleteLemon, the theme is TEA for TWO not ee for oo, so no, SNOOPY shouldn't be SNEEPY
Yes, but . . . what's quad about an ATV besides the wheels?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever actually seen a statue of a PIGEON?
To "hit lightly" is to TAP; you don't need the ON.
Likewise, THIS is sufficient; you don't need the ONE.
GARDEN TEALS and FINE TEENS are simply lame.
Charlie Boswell, mayor from 1959 to 1962, [in]famously explained his city's nonpurchase of street-sweepers, "Indianapolis is not in the SNOW belt." He got his comeuppance from the sky (comedownance?) in 1961.
I got the "oo" to "e" at the TINA MELTS but it really didn't help me much as I had to grind this one out. And even with your explanation of 'number on a clapperboard' I still don't understand how TAKE, solved by perps, is a 'number'. And thanks Lemonade for the ALI G because even though I filled it, ALIG didn't make sense as a name.
ReplyDeleteThe NW was crunchy with the tricky SNOW clue, unknown TERI Polo, and T-STRAP is a new term for me. I had ART MEET before TEST finally came around. I have a Ping 1-iron & 2-iron and use them when I need to keep the ball low but nave never heard of a CLEEK and am not UNSHY about using them. I originally had PUSHY for UNSHY but had to change it.
fermatprime & Barry G.- we are ignorant about the same things today.
billocohoes- Michelson shot a 69 this morning at Troon and is in the clubhouse at 10 under par.
59D- D&D co. = TSR-- all perps and I doubt very many people know it.
Monopoly- play it all the time with grandkids who are unbelievably competitive. VENTNOR- I KNEW IT, because MARVIN GARDENS was too big to fit.
SNOW as the Blanket in a belt, was a gimmie. (This from a guy who never has to shovel the stuff).
ReplyDeleteRHET as an Orator's prowess: Abbr. was meh.
The attempt at humor, SNOOPY as sneepy was lame.
Cheers!
It's not replacing the oo sound wit the ee sound.
ReplyDeleteIt is replacing tee for too, just as the reveal states. The key being T at the beginning. Sometimes on Friday we try to get too clever explaining the theme when it's usually just a simple concept.
My sentiments exactly, Lemon and thanks for the new golf vocab!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I had to let ornamental GARMENTS go
-There are a lot of FINE TEENS around
-C’mon, ya gotta love STEEL PIGEONS
-I first had some HUMBLE pie before seeing ESKIMO
-The Guinness Book of World Records stated this scene from The Shining took a record 127 takes
-Have you ever had to go many miles because you missed an EXIT?
-I guess I was never curious enough to find out what the first two words in Mr. Roboto were. Now I know!
-Before he was a STAR: Name this movie that had the future Han Solo as Bob Falfa
-My MIL COUNTED ON me to fix her mower again yesterday. She tried to use a non-vented gas cap and the machine quit after 2 minutes. $5.95 at Ace and she was good to go.
-I corrected tens of thousands of tests with a KEY like this
-When I sub in a Shakespeare unit, I look out at faces that silently scream Lysander’s words from Midsummer’s Night Dream: The jaws of darkness do devour it up. So quick bright things come to confusion
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a FWH (finished with help) due to NE corner. Had trace/ounce for far too long before calling in the Cavalry. Didn't care for rhet, unshy, or take, as clued. Never heard of cleek and could have sworn the Monopoly avenue was Vermont. Not! Had knee cap before knee pad and dust mop before dust rag. Most embarrassing is that I didn't "get" the theme until reading Lemony's expo. All in all, a tough solve.
Thanks, Mr. D, for a Friday challenge and thanks, Lemony, for explaining it all so well.
"The Fosters" is one of my favorite shows. I found it by accident when it first started and watch it faithfully. I believe JLo is one of the producers.
Have a great day.
@Husker Gary: As a high school freshman, I had a science teacher who used such a key. It took me two tests to see the pattern he used. Aced every test he gave after that.
ReplyDeleteDidn't ace this puzzle though. Had spasm for START, ramp for EXIT, never watched "The Fosters", and do not know Sacha Baron Cohen.
I tried to use a glebe for a two iron but he flew away so I grabbed my cleek.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe theme was a little too obtuse for me to get today. I was able to fill in all of the words with red letter help, but I don't consider it a successful completion today.
I agree with many others who had issues with certain clues, but I won't add anything to the discourse on them.
I knew what the names of some of the old golf clubs were, but wasn't sure which ones were which. Once the EE showed up I knew it was a CLEEK. My father and all of his many brothers were great at golf. Me, not so much. About 25 years ago after playing a round with one uncle, he told me to get out and practice more, or change my name because I was an embarrassment to the family name. So, I gave up golf.
I used to hit in the low 80's and if it got any hotter than that I would stop playing. Well, it's going to be in the high 80's or low 90's today, so today is another day that I won't be hitting the links.
I hope everybody has a great day today.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteoc4beach, that's funny!
Loved the tight theme today, and the Tea for Two unifier was perfect. I knew we were in for a funky Scots golf word with Cleek, but it needed perp help.
Morning, Lemon, nicely done.
Carry over from yesterday - sorry for posting it a day late but I couldn't resist ...
ReplyDeleteAfter I sat down to order dinner in a fancy restaurant in Mexico City, I asked the waiter to help translate the menu. As he began, another server appeared with the entree for the table next to me. When the cover was removed from the platter, I saw what looked like two magnificent filets. I immediately told my waiter to order that for me. He shook his head and said, I am sorry, señor but we only get one serving of that meal per week. I asked him to explain. He said that these are Las Cajones El Toro, (the bull's balls) and we are among only 5 restaurants in Mexico to get them after the weekly bullfight. He mentioned there is a long waiting list for these.
As I left the restaurant, I asked to be put on the list for the next time I was to travel to Mexico. As luck would have it I was awarded this meal when I returned six weeks later! So, after identifying myself to the maitre d, I was seated at a table, and eagerly awaited my dinner.
When the waiter arrived and presented the platter, he told me to enjoy, and then walked away. I had to remove the cover myself from the plate, and to my dismay, when I saw two walnut-sized pieces of meat, I was in shock. I called the waiter to the table. He asked me if anything was wrong. "Is anything wrong?!", I exclaimed, "Just look!" "When I was here the last time the Cajones were at least 10 times larger. What gives?" To which the waiter replied, "oh, señor, I am so sorry, but here in Mexico, sometimes zee bull wins!"
WBS. Overall this was not terribly difficult and it may not have crosswordese but it does have obscurity. Of course CLEEK seemed wrong but the perps solidly confirmed it and D&D? RHET made me shudder and hand up for KNEECAP before KNEEPAD. We've seen ALI G a few times so that didn't seem strange. TAKE is still a mystery.
ReplyDeleteSyngman RHEE must have been much in the news at one time because it popped out immediately. Thank you, Shakespeare, for LAERTES and UNSHY.
And many thanks, Samuel A. Donaldson and Lemonade for today's zesty challenge.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Chairman Moe:
ReplyDeleteThat's funny though I think the waiter would have said, Los Cojones del Toro.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteI think I'd have a better chance of breaking par at the British Open than solving today's puzzle, despite getting CLEEK. The NE was my big hangup as COUNTS ON, ENSLAVE and ECHELON were not in my vocabulary today. I did have LUNGE, but ended up googling nearly every other clue/answer
I misspelled VENTNOR with a second E, which made SNOW SNEW. Didn't matter though, as SNOW is unknown to me here in FL 😜. Didn't know LAERTES and had KNEE CAP before KNEE PAD. By then I was figuratively down on my knees begging for a few correct answers so I could finish.
Liked Lemon's recap but was not as impressed with the puzzle. It was perhaps above my "pay grade" ...
Tinman, I agree the humor attempt was lame but sometimes we are tired when we write and things seem funnier than they are. My intention was to point out the presence of both an EE word and an OO word in the fill. I agree the theme was (Tē for To͞o ) as each theme fill had a "T" before the sound change, but it is the sound change that creates the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHG, thanks for the Key link.
Argyle, I think you mean Grebe not Glebe but the comment was very funny.
Big Easy, they put the number of the "take" on the clapperboard hence the comment about the 127 takes for a scene in the Shining
I just don't get 51A, what is it about "real things" that leads to steel?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the help
Thanks, Sam, for a fun puzzle. Figured out the theme early, but for the life of me couldn't figure out GARDEN TEALS.... until really late. That and CLEEK was a DNF in the NE. But enjoyed the challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lemonade, for the nice write-up. Love your humor!
RC - REAL THINGS refers to (real) pigeons, which like to sit and do other things on statues, and contrasts with STOOL PIGEON, which is a decoy. I have never seen a steel statue of a pigeon though.
ReplyDeleteMy problem as a Brit, of course, was to place the 'Merican sound of "oo" in TUNE and TUNA (rather then the Brit "yoo" diphthong. Easy enough in speech, but harder when the subconscious has to figure it in a cryptic setting.
Still, that's my problem. What a FUEL am I....
Thank you for giving me a term I need practically every weekend, Irish Miss. FWH it is, since I always finish by looking things up, which is what I also had to do with a few items this morning. The unknowns are always my problem, like CLEEK and JOLENE and TERI Polo and ALI G (I thought Alig was a weird name). But I got a lot more than I thought I would and enjoyed the puzzle, even though I would never have figured out the theme without Lemonade's explanation and the light went on. So, a fun and interesting morning romp, Sam. And thanks for the picture of the T SANDALS, Lemonade--I wondered what those were.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend coming up, everybody!
Great puzzle and recap. That devilish SNOW sure snowed me. All perps. Fantastic clue. DNF. I looked up VENTNOR. V-8 can, please.
ReplyDeleteAlan sagged early this AM and almost fainted. I have a good guess at the cause but have to wait until Tuesday for a test. Unbelievable delay. Two other overlapping conditions seem to have been resolved this week. Another sympton is still a mystery.I have read 5 escapist books this week.I am not concentrating.
A wonderful advantage of retirement is staying home in the AC on this HHH afternoon.
This was like two puzzles in one. The first two thirds were fast and simple (OK, in my wheelhouse) and took less than 12 minutes even with my huntin' pecker typing. The remaining third was excruciatingly difficult and took up the rest of an hour. Too many unknowns and false starts to list here. WEES. While most of the answers were legitimate and sometimes even sparkly, there were also some stinkers, IMHO. Yes, I'm talking about you RHET. Curious puzzle, and if this is symptomatic of Mr. Donaldson's efforts, I look forward to learning his style and getting better at solving his tests.
ReplyDeletePersonal to Abejo: I have told this stupid computer to include my email address with this post. I would like to chat with you privately. I am surprised that anyone on the corner knows people from my little home town, but what is really surprising is that I may know one of them as well. Let's chat.
DNF today,
ReplyDeleteI would like to call a foul at crossing Rhee/ses,
(but C'mon Dave, you should have got it. How many vowels are there?)
I guess I am still trying to catch up after yesterdays 5 hour power failure...
(trees cracked like toothpicks everywhere...)
Anywho,
I got the theme ok, & I had 9D right in my head, but could not ink it in
because 10D Sudden Movement = Surge
(as in power surge after a massive storm caused blackout..)
(plus I could not get exam marking aid = pen out of my head...)
C,mon, "surge"should have worked! (except it had no perps...Sigh...)
Forward, unshy? (Ouch!)
Tuna Melt made me go looking for the "how to" video...
Garden tools made me look for something to ease my bad back...
Fine tuning is best left to the younger crowd...
& for Anon @8:24, Yea, I didn't believe it was possible either...
Finally, Lemon, I thought your snoopy/sneepy reference was quite witty,
But you can't mess with a national icon...
Abejo: Stupid computer let me down again. The email address is bluehen2789@gmail.com. Talk to you later.
ReplyDeleteThis was a tough Friday slog. Hard to believe that it was finished, I had to check to make sure, it was that hard. So many scratch-outs that it looks like my pen threw up, especially in the NW where I finally finished. Geez.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait til tomorrow.
"SO, MIKE, why don't ESKIMO girls kiss you?"
ReplyDelete"I SMOKE"
Lucina- Are an oaf's cojones lug nuts?
Pharaoh's oxen- King Tut's Team
How I became anonymous is beyond me...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sam and Lemon. Because of insomnia, I finally get to post in time for someone to read it. Got the theme right away but got hung up by HE-MEN for HUNKS, RHET (ugh) and a few others. Actually remembered VENTNOR with a few perps, also the very unpopular RHEE, but had to go to red letters to finish (FWH - thanks, IM).
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to repost my post from last Saturday (which I just now posted, so no one will read it) regarding wind instruments:
I had always assumed that brass and woodwinds were a subset of wind instruments. I knew, for instance, that Stravinsky wrote a Symphony for Wind Instruments, so I looked it up. Turns out the title is slightly different, but here's the relevant part of the program note for the LAPhil's scheduled performance next year:
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Composed: 1920, rev. 1947
Length: 12 minutes
Orchestration: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons (3rd = contrabassoon),
4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, and tuba
Wind ensembles also occasionally include a double bass (don't ask). Here's a link to a Swedish wind group image:
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/981/MI0000981679.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
Forgot to add that I found the inclusion of TINAMELTS (tuna melts) in the puzzle ironic because that is what we are having for dinner tonight. Food Network recipe on challah bread toasted on one side, Caesar pasta salad and fresh corn on the cob. I'm ready.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Man, I thought a CLEEK was a group of mean girls in high school! I did get the tee for too theme only after I GET DONE and study it awhile. That NW corner was the last to fill. I COUNTS ON red-letter help. Hand up for "pen" before KEY (I never graded papers). SWE was about the 5th guess. Too much obscurity bunched up there.
ReplyDeleteFirst pass through the top was mostly SNOW, but I found the bottom 2/3 easier.
Thanks anyway, Sam & Lemonade.
Ho ho, Moe! Good ones, CED!
C E Dave, I love your daily dose of humor. It always brightens my day.
ReplyDeleteYR - A day w/o CED is a day w/o beer. All! A toast to CED - you in Tin? Ok, time to MINGLE...
ReplyDeleteCrash & burn again. Thanks Sam, but throw me a frikin' bone here. I got the non-ESTE side, but EL ORO-ring was out of reach in the NW.
Wedge no, shanK (right out), CLEEK (?) WTF. I needed the KEY provided by Lem to finish. DOMO arigato to both of you. [Yes, I went to STYX instantly]. I can't even see though the ink what I was "thinking" in the NE.
29d was taxI for much to long so I had Xen-x((?) Who is 25d?)) TEENS [kind of sounds like Zen or gen-X TEENS who are Zen. [<-link]] We're not all bad. I never un-knotted that mess.
WiFi? What security-unconscious HUNK hooks to open networks? I'll TAKE my laptop to IAH tomorrow @07:45 (what does the '0' stand for?) to start my vacation with Pop in SPI but will not connect to an open net. Duh.
Fav - ALI G. Cohen is funny but makes one squeamish with his characters. Those w/ grandkids may know him from Madagascar's King Julian. As I recall, his brother/cousin helped him SCORE [yesterday, I know] the movie.
Oc4 - LOL. C. Moe +1
Cheers, -T
Pretty much what Barry G said.
ReplyDeleteChairman Moe, good story. By the way, with regard to your nick being based on MOE vedre, A former friend of ours called herself MOOLOW on line because her favorite wine was Merlot. I always got a kick out of her online name being two cow sounds.
Best wishes to you all.
What time is it?
ReplyDelete(Coming up for air!)
It took me this long to complete Mr. Donaldson's opus. It was my fault that I didn't pay more attention to the hint at 60A. I didn't "hear" the link between the gag answers, so I was pretty much working blindly (deafly?) to solve. I got them all in the end but missed my private Ta-DAH! because I didn't feel the fun of it.
I liked Lemonade's AliG/Trump video. Happy it avoided politics, and also happy to see the Donald squirm. He sure wanted to get the *#@! outta there. The Man don't wanna play 'less he's in charge!
CrossEyed- I had an out loud laugh at the flower sniffer. And how many times do we avoid getting on our knees because you know what it's going to feel like getting up again. Come to think of it, I have no idea what it's like to get up again.
ReplyDeleteJust checked in again because I cannot end a day without knowing what brilliance I have missed since this morning.
ReplyDeleteOn RHET: I have a Masters in writing. It's really defined on my diploma as Rhetoric and Composition. It's generally called Rhet Comp, so as you might guess I had no trouble with that entry. To the Greeks, it was oratory. It later evolved into writing. The Greeks saw writing as a weakness--a crutch to the intellectual ability to make an argument.
My thesis was on grammar and writing. I KNOW you are dying to read it!!!
Bonne Nuit,
Madame Defarge
Glad I was able to provide a few smiles with my bull story!
ReplyDeleteOwen, thanks yesterday for answering my question about photo sharing; I'll try it soon
Jayce, Moolow is a cute moniker for a wine aficianado! And it's such an underappreciated grape varietal - probably due to that line in the movie Sideways
Jayce: The Merlot clip from Sideways. Note, an expletive will be heard. Ironic that at the end of the movie the character played by Paul Giamati was drinking a Bordeaux (Cheval Blanc) that's a blend of Merlot and Cab Franc
ReplyDeleteEasy for Friday...but I golf.
ReplyDeleteMadame Defarge: I'm dying to read your thesis. I've always been amateurishly (?) interested in grammar (despite my usage below).
ReplyDeleteThe deal is, I'll read your thesis if you read mine. Email me a link at herbroyd@aol.com.
Chairman Moe, I definitely LOLed, and almost ROTFLed, at your bull story.
Cheers to all.
Madame DeFarge:
ReplyDeleteThank you for confirming the validity of RHET. I trust the constructors to research their fill but it's comforting knowing there is an actual use of a strange or unknown term.
M. Defarge - DW's dissertation was on post-colonial literature, "Whose desires are they?: The politics of subversion in works by Forster, Sarraute, and Rhys." I "helped" by listening/reading it 3,284 times over 6 years. I'd love to read your final draft :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, where can one get it?
I'm still calling foul at UN-SHY. I get the meaning and it falls w/in the symbolic construct but it's so clunky. If that's what's needed to get ENSLAVED, OK, but ouch.
Cheers, -T
Anon T and RhetFizz,
ReplyDeleteWhoa! How funny! Grammar nerds! My only copy is buried somewhere in a box here--maybe in the attic. Two Approaches to Grammar Instruction: A Yearlong Classroom Experiment is in the library at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. The author: Janice Ermilio Jenkins. Maybe it is accessible via Interlibrary loan. I no longer have the electronic copy which was probably on a 3" floppy disk! 2000 A.D. Ancient History!
PS: Surely Splynter knows this: Mme Defarge is Mrs. M Defarge is Mr.
Cheers! JE.J.
I was at this all day. NE is all inkovers(sic). I wanted TRACE and TRUSTSIN.
ReplyDeleteBut it was DOMO that got me a WIF and there was my video gamer son right there, not to speak of D&D(TSR)
As I've said, one just has to keep on slogging
And I guess I'll have to try to fill in for Owen on the limericks. Hey! I can hear that groan coming from the SNOWBELT.
Oh. American Graffiti.
American Graffiti had a great cast. Well done Wilbur.
ReplyDeleteThe red-headed girl, Linus and Lucy
ReplyDeletePeppermint Patty and SNOOPY
Had a SET DATE for their D&D gig.
Patty wouldn't START without Chuck
Lucy said "I KNEW IT, that knuck"
He ain't worth a fat, flying ....
Fig"