Title: Unlock the shift key!
Mr. O'Brien breaks away from his pattern of one LAT in March each year with his first venture into the world of Fridays. The theme is very cute, all the theme clues are the numbers that would show if the shift key were not held down. In other words, &$& is 747, which is a Jumbo Jet. If you are doing the puzzle on paper, this is a real bear, but with the keyboard, I found it pretty fast for a Friday, but i do get paid for sussing Friday themes. The word distribution is more early week with no long fill except the theme and many 6 letter fill: AMORAL, NOMADS, NOVENA, OMELET, VERONA, LAYMAN, ANODES and IN A FOG are my favorites. The 8/12/15/12/8 pattern does not feel familiar but did yield 55 theme squares. I am not suggesting the puzzle was easy, there are lots of very hard clues and slight obscurities, but we got her done.
17A. &$&: JUMBO JET (8). 747 is the real clue.Did you FLY?
24A. @! : GAMBLING GAME (12). 21 (also known as blackjack). Do you PLAY?
40A. !&&^ : BROADWAY MUSICAL (15). 1776 is the clue. Do you REMEMBER?
52A. ** : KEYS ON A PIANO (12). 88 Do you wonder WHY?
66A. What was mistakenly held for four puzzle clues : SHIFT KEY (8).
Across:
1. Bozeman sch. : MSU. Montana State University. I think this is a highly regarded COLLEGE.
4. __ on the knuckles : A RAP. Generally administered with a ruler, sometimes even the sharp edge.
8. Hardly homebodies : NOMADS.
14. Black __ : OPS.
15. Protection in a purse : MACE.
16. Folded fare : OMELET. Another gift from the French chefs. LINK.
19. Romeo's home : VERONA. Cool, a Friday Shakespeare clue/fill, or two.... 49A. Cordelia, to Regan : SISTER.
20. Great way to walk : ON AIR. Did anyone else go here....Extra credit for naming both parents of the star.
21. Olympics event : RACE. Timely but vague.
23. Baseball statistic : HIT.
28. Ancient time-telling device : CANDLE. Really fun INFO.
31. Hastings Ismay was selected as its first leader in 1952 : NATO. The name sounds like bad pig Latin, and I never heard of HIM. he was interesting and NATO was an easy guess based on the year.
32. It can come between Clinton and Rodham : NEE. Hillary Rodham Clinton, née Hillary Diane Rodham.
33. Quaint retail word : OLDE.
36. Last words? : OBITS. Well done, even if a bit depressing.
44. Zaire, nowadays : CONGO. HISTORY. Not the Belgian Congo.
45. Sommelier's concern : YEAR. Wine was just too easy. Clecho-61D. Sommelier's prefix : OENO.
46. Outback native : EMU.
47. Mild cheese : EDAM. Yes, but not soft, it is is a semi-hard cheese that originated in the Netherlands. Edam ages and travels well, and does not spoil; it only hardens. These qualities (among others) made it the world's most popular cheese between the 14th and 18th centuries, both at sea and in remote colonies. (wiki).
57. Porter, for one : ALE. remember there are two basic types of Beer- ALE or LAGER. LINK.
58. Washington is prominent on them : ONES. Money, honey.
59. Property crime : ARSON. Burn baby, burn.
63. Like astronauts during liftoff : SEATED. HG, why?
68. Intact : ENTIRE.
69. Pamplona runner : TORO. The Bull, silly. he does not speak English in Pamplona.
70. Having four sharps : IN E. I defer to our musicians to explain.
71. Hoi polloi : MASSES. A Greek term, that became pejorative.
72. Like bachelor parties : STAG.
73. Bit of wit : MOT. French for word, part of the phrase "Bon mot."
Down:
1. Magic : MOJO. Defines as a magic charm, talisman, or spell. "someone must have their mojo working over at the record company" magic power.
2. Like web sites : SPUN. Cool deception, nit computer web but spider web.
3. Robert E. Lee's alma mater : USMA. United States Military Academy, Commonly referred to as West Point.
4. Unprincipled : AMORAL. Nice explanation of the "A" as a negative prefix. LINK.
5. British rule in India : RAJ.
6. Biting : ACERB. Never seen in this form except in puzzles.
7. "She loves me" bit : PETAL.
9. Kipling's "Follow Me __" : OME.
10. Nice view : MER. When a clue begins with Nice, it usually is hiding some French, like the owrd meaning sea.
11. It's heard coming and going : ALOHA.
12. Casual Friday material : DENIM.
13. Announce : STATE.
18. Texas city nickname : BIG D. Dallas.
22. Word on many a marquee : CINEMA.
25. Persian greeting : MEOW. Kitty cat not Iranian.
26. Classic muscle cars : GTOS.
27. Asian expanse : GOBI. The desert.
28. "Mad Money" network : CNBC. Jim Cramer.
29. Bubbly-textured Nestlé chocolate bar : AERO. Popular in England Steve? NC?
30. Light element : NEON.
34. Hardly an expert : LAYMAN.
35. Hall of Fame golf course architect Pete : DYE. Have you played ANY?
37. "Law &Order: SVU" actor : ICE T.
39. Nasty campaign tactic : SLUR. Timely but verboten.
41. Quite a while : AGES.
42. Carroll's stammering self-caricature in "Alice in Wonderland" : DODO. A CSO to one of our own "Dodo: I say, you'll never get dry that way.
Alice: Get dry?
Dodo: Have to run with the others. First rule of a caucus race, you know.who has left us. "
More politics to avoid.
43. Celestial bear : URSA. Major, minor? Just Latin for bear.
48. Battery terminals : ANODES.
50. Befuddled : IN A FOG. been there often.
51. Put in folders, say : SORT.
52. Longtime "American Top 40" host : KASEM. Casey...did they ever bury him?
53. Justice Kagan : ELENA. One of the three.
54. "When You Are Old" poet : YEATS.
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
55. Raid victims : PESTS.
56. Clapton's "__ the Sheriff" : I SHOT. But he did not shoot the deputy. The Bob Marley song...
62. Russian refusal : NYET. No.
64. Frank McCourt memoir : TIS.
65. Poetic preposition : ERE.
67. George's brother : IRA. The Gershwins, but you knew that.
I really enjoyed the creativity of the theme and all the Greek and Latin as well as some great cluing- Like web sites : SPUN is my favorite. Welcome to Friday John; Lemonade out.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to John and Lemon!
Great puzzle! Loved the theme!
The following were perped: MSU, NATO, 'OME, CNBC, AERO, YEATS. Tara legitimately achieved!
Cheers!
Whoops, that's TADA!
ReplyDeleteTook a few passes, but FIRight! Had the reveal filled by perps before I had any complete entries. Forced myself not to look at the keyboard but figure them out from memory.
ReplyDelete{B+, B+, B, A.}
China translates strangely a Jules Verne travelogue.
For instance his globe girder, often lost IN A FOG.
Like a NOMAD he'd roam
*) days from 'is 'OME,
But in Beijing he's known as Phineas Smogg!
[FYI: *) is the Chinese character for Eighty.]
Deep in the jungles that cover the CONGO,
Witch-doctors still peddle their Voodoo and MOJO!
But progress is coming,
Hear its loud thrumming!
The jungle's being mowed by a man on a TORO™!
Policing the world is the mission of NATO,
Requisitions are dispatched on JETS that are JUMBO.
As a perk, sent ON AIR,
Perhaps an OENOphile's fare,
Or for a real VIP, they'll fly a PIANO!
Across the cold desert known as the GOBI
The AMORAL Genghis Khan led his horde of Mongoli!
When GAMBLING got too TAME
They'd line up an ICE GAME,
And Genghis himself was a HIT as the goalie!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteWell, I was definitely IN A FOG for most of this one until I finally got down to the reveal and figured out what was going on. By that time, I had filled in all the theme answers solely via the perps, so all I got was an *AHA* moment instead of any help with the solve.
Sadly, because I relied on the perps for everything, I ended up guessing RAMBLING GAME instead of GAMBLING GAME. When I did get the reveal, I was left scratching my head as to why "21" would be described thusly. And why the heck is BIRD a Texas nickname? Cue the light bulb in 3, 2, 1...
Really hated the clue for SEATED. Way too overly specific.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteFigured out the theme somewhere along the way, and that helped. My first thought for 88 was OLDSMOBILE, but it was too short. And my PESTS began life as PERPS. But everything ended well. Thanx, John.
Lemon, "highly regarded" because it's at 4820 feet?
Doesn't "Hastings Ismay" sound like an excursion into pig Latin?
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. What a fun puzzle. I loved this theme. The BROADWAY MUSICAL was my Rosetta Stone. My only concern was seeing the word KEY in both the unifier and one of the theme answers.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have done enough puzzles to immediately catch on that the Last Words would be the OBITS.
My first thought for the Sommelier's concern was Wine before the YEAR.
EDAM has become a crossword staple.
I read Angela's Ashes, but not 'TIS.
QOD: The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it. ~ Diana Vreeland (July 29, 1906 ~ Aug. 22, 1989)
Had to fight not to look at a keyboard, but made some good guesses and finished easily.
ReplyDeleteI had all the profanity (^&*!) by perps and WAGS before I got to the 66A theme reveal.
ReplyDeleteHuge DNF. Doing it on paper. Clueless. No fun today....:-((
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Had no idea what the machine cussing was about on the theme answers, but they had me cussin' them right back. I filled them with perps and WAGs. After I filled the whole puzzle, I sat and finally figured out the theme. Duh! Fun puzzle anyway, John. Thanks, Lemon.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes watch a daytime TV show called "Catch 21". It's a GAMBLING GAME/quiz show.
One of my former next door neighbors went to college at Bozeman, so that was a gimmee. He teaches in Norman, Oklahoma now.
Venice before VERONA. It fit but I knew better.
Never heard of AERO candy.
Clever theme, but like BarryG, it only gave me an AHA moment cuz I already had it filled by perps and wags. Wanted panties for raid victims, but it wouldn't fit. Had no clue that a candle had been used as a clock or that there was a candy bar named aero, but what else could it be. Favorite c/a was for Aloha.
ReplyDeleteYesterday there was a different app for the puzzle on the LA Times site. And it didn't have the circles. I read the paper on line before doing the puzzle, so I spotted that omission and filled them in by hand before starting. Today it was back to Arkadium. Wonder what's up with that.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWas IN A FOG for a while until getting SHIFT KEY. Then, after looking at a keyboard, I went back through the theme fill like a hot knife through butter. Very clever theme display.
No German, no ERIE, no AT SEA. Sigh. But we did have MER.
Had bull before TORO. MASSES - great unwashed.
747 - WSJ says Boeing is minimizing production, 6 per year, and that its manufacturing may be coming to the end of the line.
Like Lemonade, liked SPUN. Also liked the cluing for OMELET.
Clever theme! No, I didn't finish, (it's Friday, after all). but I loved what I did get. Favorites were OMELET and PETAL. Thanks, John, and kudos to Lemonade for all the great links.
ReplyDeleteWait...you get paid for this schlock?!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, John O'Brien, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteThis got my attention right way with the theme. Could not figure it out. Then I looked at the SE and SHIFT KEY hit me in the head. That sped things up a bit.
I vaguely remember seeing examples of CANDLEs as clocks. They would burn so far each hour.
Liked NATO. Took me a while to get. I was thinking of a country for a while.
OMELET was a good one. I actually got it early on.
Also liked SPUN. Clever. As was EMU.
Well, just pulling into Chicago on Amtrak. Had a good week in PA. Now it's back to the grind.
Tomorrow morning we are part of a memorial dedicated to a Revolutionary War Veteran who is buried near us. His name was Abner Powers. Buried in Lily Lake Cemetery. He was also a Freemason.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
I loved today's puzzle. Delightful theme, crunchy but doable, I found it a real pleasure. Thank you, Mr. Obrien. And Lemony, you outdid yourself today. Great expo with great links. Thank you.
ReplyDelete"The Greatest American Hero" starred William Katt who is the son of Barbara Hale and Bill Williams. I assume you weren't referring to Robert Culp, Mr. Katt's costar who is probably better known.
Cya!
DNF, got the theme, but the difficult clueing did me in.
ReplyDelete2d like web sites= spun
Ancient time telling device, let's see, hourglass? sundial? shadow stick?
Dang it, can somebody shed some light on this clue? (D'oh!)
Barry G. You didn't like the clue for seated?
Would you have preferred the clue to be "making a lap?"
(actually, astronauts on takeoff are less seated than lying down to spread gravitational forces.)
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever and fresh (to me, anyway) theme gimmick! I caught on early but my iPad's keyboards offered no help so wags and perps saved the day. Tin must be getting a little chilled out with the ongoing appearance of _ _ _ in its various forms. As always, thought of Mr. Meow at his eponymous entry. Ditto on liking clues for spun and omelet. Also never heard of Aero candy bar.
Thanks, Mr. O'B, for a fun and challenging solve and thanks, Lemony, for a smooth summary.
'Tis centered on Frank Mc Court's life and experiences after he emigrated to America. It was interesting and well-written but not as gripping as Angela's Ashes and, fortunately, not as dark and depressing. He was a gifted writer.
Have a great day.
Wow! This was fun though on paper it left me INAFOG for a while but I do love the challenge. I entered into Mr. O'Brien's wave length and perps got me the theme answers. Like Hahtoolah, OBITS as last words slipped right in and NOVENA surprised me.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your loss, Sptiz, but for me TORO and the above mentioned NOVENA satisfied. Then the addition of some Shakespeare and I'm in puzzle heaven.
Unknowns were AERO, DYE and CANDLE as a time teller.
Thank you, John O'Brien and Lemonade who adds zest to Friday's fun.
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteHad no idea what the game was until hitting the reveal. However, the theme phrases were ordinary enough, so smooth sailing. Tried Suited before Seated for our astronaut buddies. Smiled right out loud at the clever concept!
Morning, Lemon, enjoyed the links.
• So, the Answer to Life the UnIverse and Everything is: $@ - Ah, now I understand the question.
ReplyDelete• Lemon: AERO bars have been around in England for about 80 years - made by Rowntree's of York, and now by Nestlé as well. I love the all-chocolate one, but not the mint-flavored ones.
• I had never heard of "black ops" but guessed (correctly) that is was another term for "covert operations". I don't think there were any mention of those in !&&^.
Looking forward to the next one - maybe using the alt/option key – although this may be different on Macs and PCs.
Great Puzzle today, John! I didn't see anything I recognized in the theme clues, but nonetheless perfect thanks to Lemony's expert walk through. My favorite: Like websites--SPUN. I was in the right place, but wanted silk. Wonderful Friday. Thanks so much to both of you.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon -T at 4:54 yesterday: thanks so much for Carlin on "Stuff" and Yankovic on grammar and usage. You've validated the great purge here, and made me wish I still had a classroom of seniors WITH WHOM to share Weird Al's lesson. So funny!
Have a wonderful day. Wishing you rain only if you need it!
On my Mac they are:
ReplyDelete` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - (Regular)
~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ +. (Shift)
` ¡ ™ £ ¢ ∞ § ¶ • ª º – ≠ (Alt/Option).
` ⁄ € ‹ › fi fl ‡ ° · ‚ — ± (Shift + Alt/Option
With an early morning infusion treatment, I had to do the puzzle there but forgot my laptop and don’t know how to blog on my iPhone, so…
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I loved this puzzle and found it so strange to put in so many theme fills not knowing what was up. I too resisted the temptation to look at a keyboard. JUMBOJET/&$& gave me what I needed.
-Yes, Dave, all astronauts are launched in a reclining positionas you see here and not seated. That is a more stable orientation and spreads out the g-forces.
-A RAP seems appropriate after our recent nun-educator discussion
-If you can discern the vintage YEAR of a wine by taste, you either have a great skill or a problem. ☺
-It is amusing how our 21st century minds jump to those webs
-BIG D (2:05)
-BTW, I left the office with $690 - $^() - worth of pills that my nurse obtains from the salesman every three months. I never ask, I just take ‘em and go! How can they do that?
Great theme! And there it is... right in front of every constructor's face every day. I wonder how many are saying, "Dang, why didn't I think of that"
ReplyDeleteDang, this is so not great-
KASEM MAKES sense, if you ASK ME
Solvers who don't like names in a puzzle aren't going to enjoy AMORAL Lagasse, Yoko OENO, ARSON Welles, and CONGOleeza Rice
"Hey, pop, why do NOMADS get angry?"
"Because NOMADS are SO DAMN MAD, SON"
Nuns and rulers, oh yeah. My first piano teacher had an architects scale instead of a ruler. A heavy wooden 3 sided ruler with 3 sharp edges, for those that have never heard them called that. She used it liberally when the notes were sour. What a compassionate manner to impart a musical education on a 7 year old!
ReplyDeleteNifty gimmick! I didn't get it until the reveal. After I had filled JUMBO JET and GAMBLING GAME I looked for alliteration; nope, far more subtle than that. Very imaginative. I thought this puzzle was lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteHoly mackeral, Avg Joe, she sounds like a terrible teacher! I think teachers that are that bad should be weeded out and fired with as much ruthlessness as they inflict on their students.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John, for a brilliant theme.... worked on paper, so no keyboard was used. Guessed on TIS and MASSES, and FIR.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lemonade, for a great review! Thanks for the links and inside info!
I thought my getting paid comment would wake up some fans....
ReplyDeleteThe more I read your comments, the more I realize how much I like this puzzle.
Not only the nuns used the rulers and the sharp edges...I can write with both hands because they did not like left-handed people, but my early teachers believed in corporal, and sometimes sergeant punishment.
I got the theme right away because I Center North right away and saw OJET. It Helped that many passwords want symbols in them and the easy ones are SHIFT/NUMBERS.
ReplyDeleteSummoned by CrossEyed Dave, the font of trivia springs forth again! :) Candle clocks didn't tell the actual time, but they did keep track of elapsed time. Monks used them to divide up their day among prayer, work, meals, etc. They also could be used to alert drowsing students by putting a nail in that would drop (and make a noise) before a teacher was due back.
ReplyDeleteNone of my trivia knowledge helped me to finish this puzzle without errors, though!
I agree with Nice Cuppa about Mint Aeros, but then I'm not keen on the non-mint ones either.
Thanks to Mr. O'Brien for a clever puzzle and to Lemonade for the fun walkthrough.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteDid better than last Friday, but still a FIW. I had an 'A' in the xing of 61d and 73a.
1st pass - I was thinking &$& == Mo' Money. I almost SHOT myself in the foot taking the symbols literally.
However, the unifier came way before the solve 'cuz the South fell before the North. My Rosetta was cASEy KASEM - 3 letters had to be right and I built from there to get KEYS ON A PIANO. Still having LAYMAN Perl programming MOJO, I know my SHIFT KEYS.
Thanks John for a well SPUN theme. LEM thanks for the writeup - we liked the same sparkle and I enjoyed the Clapton clip.
WO: ELaNA which made SaATED NASA personnel look funny.
ESPs: 1a, 8d, 35d, 61d/73a (sans one PEST-ky Perp).
Fav: c/a for 25d. LOL Persian greeting is a cat's call!
Hated c/a: BIG-D. We SLUR Dallas; come to Houston, Space City, USA - Where the real MOJO is (and we have astronauts ta'boot!).*
{A, B, B-, A-}
PK - What does your friend teach at OU? [obligatory: BOOMER! (1:55)]
DW & Eldest took the long route home from IL. They visited University of Illinois and OU. Eldest fell in love with Illini's campus & OU's new library. I figure one winter in IL and she'll make up her mind to go to DW's & mine grad-school alma mater (plus OU is !),))) cheaper1).
CED - LOL CANDLE comment.
AveJoe - yep, Nuns came to mind w/ A RAP on the knuckles. Most SISTERs were nice, but some... NYET so much [Blues Brothers].
Nice Cuppa - $@; what was the question? I'm sure some EDAM-loving mice will figure it out...
Cheers, -T
*Back me up on that D-O & TxMs. :-)
On my first run-through I only got SISTER and TIS, not much to work with. And the theme clues totally eluded me since I do the puzzle from the newspaper. Still, slowly, slowly it almost all filled in, even when I didn't know things like AERO. Only that little north-west corner didn't shake down so I had to cheat just a little tiny bit. But still, a pretty good Friday for me--many thanks, John. And you, too, Lemonade, for finally explaining the theme.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Friday, everybody!
To (hopefully) add to the font of Trivia - did you know that Casey KASEM was the voice of Shaggy?. I love this ON AIR clip; it's so meta. Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteProud of myself for solving this one w/o getting the theme until filling 66A, SHIFT KEY.
ReplyDeleteAs Lemonade pointed out, however I do my pzls by hand, so did not have the advantage of a keyboard in front of me to read the numbers corresponding to the marks. That's why my one boo-boo was at 52A, KEYS ON A PIANO. I settled for something called a KELSONA PIANO, assuming that this is some fancy kind of electronic contraption or rare concert grand. Unfortunately, that forced me to accept somebody called LEATS as one of Ireland's greatest bards.
"William Butler Leats," an all-purpose understudy at the Abbey Theater, Dublin; generally seen at the periphery of crowd scenes in historical pageants such as Saint Patrick Drives the Serpents Out and James Joyce Drives a Morris Minor.
OMK - did you just make that up? Funny stuff!
ReplyDeleteAnon-T: Not sure what my former neighbor teaches. He was in the English dept. at the college here and had formerly been a newspaper reporter. He went to OU because the college here was offering only part-time contracts after legislative cuts to education. Don't ask me what his name is. I may think of it next week. (Took me three days to remember the name of a kid who worked for me 13 years ago and I wrote his name on a check every week. I needed his name to email his dad.)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the OU marching band clip. My grandson will probably be in that band in a couple years. Oklahoma education has benefitted from the oil money. If my grandson is able to keep his grades up, since he has qualified for a special math & science academy, he has been assured of a free ride at OU if he majors in math/science. He wants to be an engineer. His robotics team recently took 3rd in the nation at a skills competition in Kentucky, so his dad is feeling like he won the lottery in the college education matter.
My granddaughter is looking at colleges in Illinois, too. One year at Northwestern costs more than her mother's entire four years of college. Her mom almost threw up. She said she doesn't want to quash her daughter's dreams. Dreams be hanged, if you don't have the money, honey...
Well I put this puzzle down &-times ... but I picked it back-up &-times ...
ReplyDeletean ALL-TIME Friday-slog-solve ...
Since I solve in Black-Ink, on Newsprint, I can say it is a huge Ink-Blot.
Fave clue today was the theme clue &$& (747 for JUMBO JET).
As for that @! GAMBLING GAME ... if they ever change it to @@ I would "Own-the-Casino."
Cheers!
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteInk blots? Let me count . . . [Shift]%
VENICE before VERONA; AMENS before OBITS; BULL before TORO; FILE before SORT; JEB before IRA.
I, too got the reveal "SHIFT KEY", before getting any other answer for the theme. Once SHIFT KEY came into view, JUMBO JET, KEYS ON A PIANO, and BROADWAY MUSICAL quickly fell. GAMBLING GAME was a bit of a stretch, IMO. CASINO GAME would be the way I'd describe "21", or BLACKJACK. The other clue that caused a brief head scratch was 2d - "Like web sites" = SPUN. I get it, but . . . anyway, aside from those, I enjoyed the puzzle and did not have to Google any answers. I technically DNF as I did not insert a character into the intersection of MASSES and TIS. I used an alphabet run to come up with an answer, and although the "S" was the only logical one, I did not think that TIS would be correct for 64d. Hoi Polloi was foreign, to me . . .
Thanks to JRO (the constructor) and Lemon (the reviewer). BTW, Lemon, is your son still selling 57a? I had three really good ones this past week (2 Porters and 1 Mango IPA, that is). The first Porter was from Deschutes and the IPA and other Porter were from a local brew pub in S Central PA.
Have a good weekend, all . . .
OMK, you always do have a flair for the dramatic. :-) Gotta wonder, was there ever a Morris Major?
ReplyDeleteJayce, I don't there was ever a Nun that was fired..... But at least she tried to make me play rather than throwing me out of the room after playing the timpani. Ugh!
OK, trivia time. Since 88 keys is part of the theme, it's worth mentioning that the song by Blues Image, Ride Captain Ride was inspired by the 73 keys on a Rhodes keyboard. It's a longer story that that provided by Wiki (sorry, can't link on this iThingie), but the short version is that they'd paid for studio time and had no idea what to record. Then in desperation, they wrote a song on the fly starting with 73, cuz that was the first thing that popped into view, and it went from there. But you all knew that.
Lots of appropriate crunch in a this Friday puzzle. Deceptive - but fair - clueing and a really nice grid allowed a successful finish.
ReplyDeleteOn to Saturday.
Anon-T @ 1:37 - Thanks for the hilarious clip! Had a really old nun slap me in the face when I was 5 years old because I was reciting a prayer too fast, ahead of the class by only a coupla words. Sister Gabriel was her name, with a high-pitched voice. Years later, in retrospect, I thought living a chaste life all those years does not make for a calm and patient teacher.
ReplyDeleteI just finished an *.@ mi ride. My Bro called and goad'd me into it (damn if DW wasn't on the line and part of the MASSES). I'm sweating like the Fat Bastard [potty humour - I did think of Austin Powers @ MOJO] I'm trying to stave off.
ReplyDeletePK - English? Last name Davis ring a bell? (I'll wait 'til Monday). Prof Davis was DW's PhD advisor and spent >1h w/ Eldest on the visit.
Aside - DW didn't write a "To my peeps page". However, on this visit, she found her dissertation in the Stacks and inserted a dedication in pen. It's to me; something about being her Bread & Wine... [I'm blushing in NEON]
C. Moe - Lem pointed out Dog's (nor TORO) can spell. [My second favorite Far Side; 3! Is Bummer of a Birthmark Hal]. Pop still has "Cat Fud" on the container containing, um, such. My fam has a warp'd sense of humor.
AveJoe - Great song. At gun-point I'd not be able to name Blues Image as the band but I know ever word of Ride Cap'n Ride. Thanks for the OLDE.
Cheers, -T
I definitely had some write overs especially CLARK before KASEM. I really liked that show he did.
ReplyDeleteTIS author McCourt had a brother, Malachi who in turn had a NY upper East side bar of the same name. The feature was Malachi himself with his flowing mane and broad smile hobnobbing with all comers.
I had a parrot who stole my I,U and 8 key so I knew *=8. Then I googled QWERTY. I Guess I cheated. I was at DMV hoping I could rustle up a conversation and drop "btw do you know the Wayams brothers?"
Yes. That's another puzzle
Great Fri puzzle Mr O and that write-up was worth every penny Lemony. And ditto for Owen's voodoo and MOJO.
Speaking of poetry, I dug up my LotR and reread some stuff. Great stuff. I like "The Mounds of Mundburg".
Owen, the best ever! All A's
ReplyDeleteIt was a DNF today and I did it on paper and had absolutely no idea what the puzzle was about. I filled JUMBO JET, GAMBLING GAME, & BROADWAY MUSICAL (that I have never heard of) all by perps by the SW got me because I didn't know KASEM started with a 'K' or 'C' and I incorrectly guessed KEATS instead of YEATS. Makes me fill like a DODO. Not knowing who Frank McCourt was didn't help, although I did fill TIS. NOVENA was a total unknown.
ReplyDeleteACERB- I tried ACRID first, but I have never seen either of them except in a crossword puzzle.
I got about 3/4 through this puzzle this morning and then got stuck and put it down. I had 3 theme answers and the theme but was doing it in the newspaper and could not complete the NW. Came back to it at supper and completed. Thanks John and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI love Aero chocolate bars - we have them here.
Hand up for Acrid before ACERB.
Interesting info on CANDLES.
serge de Nimes again today.
Keys on a piano, shift key and In E are all somewhat related.
ICE T . That's a rap.
PK- my grand-niece scored a perfect score of 36 on the ACT and took the tour of all the schools this past year ( Yale, Stanford, Pamona, USC,...etc). She was accepted by a few but I like what USC told her: If you have $62,000+ a year we have a place for you. And she's smart enough not to borrow that kind of money. So she got Offered a free ride at a few places and I'm not sure which one she is going to.
ReplyDeleteEasy for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteAnon-T: I don't think my neighbor is old enough to have been your wife's Phd advisor. They were a young couple with a two-year old and a baby on the way when they left maybe ten years ago. He wasn't over 30 then. Funny story: The day they moved in he came over and knocked on my door. I had just covered my face with one of those green mint julep clay masks for cleansing pores. I was expecting my daughter, so I opened the door and here was this handsome young man. He looked so shocked. I said, "You caught me." He said, "I sure did". We both laughed. I answered the questions he had come to ask. A couple days later I was out in the yard and met the wife and little girl. He came out and said, "I wondered what you looked like without a green face." His wife was so shocked that he'd said that to me. We had to explain. It was a joke between us until they left.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed emotions about the cost of college. My son with two years of trade school makes probably six times the annual income that my daughter makes with three degrees and a year of foreign study. Her sister with two years of secretarial school makes slightly more than she. But each of them studied what was right for their personality and interests. My 4th child's education cost me twice what his sister's education cost plus he had a big fat student loan I didn't know about until he graduated. He expected me to pay it and I couldn't. He did eventually. Glamourous job but he still hasn't made as much as his brother. But the brother is a go-getter with a real love of money, so who knows... Just an observation, not a conclusion.
PK - Funny "Green Face" story. I don't think your neighbor is Davis - DW got her PhD in '04. And yeah, for some, esp. handy go-getters, college is not necessary. For dopes like me, however...
ReplyDeleteBig E - I agree w/ cost of college. Go cheap for undergrad - LA Tech is good a school as any.
TXMs - glad you enjoyed the Blues Brothers clip - I could watch that movie 10 times in a row.
OMK - I'm still waiting for your response to Dudley. I too read your Leats entry as something you made up. If so, an ovation is in order; take a bow.
Cheers, -T
Ta-DAH! Thank you, Anonymous T, Dudley, and Avg Joe!
ReplyDeleteHere's my bow... (Dipping half way from the waist, pausing to twist head to look up & outwards towards audience, then splaying arms and hands to sides in a broad, gesture of gratitude - a pure Noel Coward-style bow.) I thank you, my mother thanks you, etc etc.
Yes, I made it up, and yes, I do believe there is such a thing as a Morris Minor. Not that I've ever seen one, mind you. I was a Jaguar man myself, but as sure as there's a Queen in Windsor...