Theme: A lot of Toro! Circles reveal the word BULL four times in the grid.
17A. Music in 62-Across : PASODOBLE. Here's one for blog-background music.
39A. Performer in 62-Across : MATADOR
62A. Fighting venues suggested by this puzzle's circles : BULLRINGS
Ernest Hemingway would approve of this puzzle's theme. Bullfighting and bull-running have been much in the news in recent days.
Neat theme from Matt; once I realized what was going on with the circles they helped me fill in a couple of blanks. Nice that three of the entries cross-referenced the theme. If you don't get circles in your puzzle and you don't like cross-referential clues, then this one probably wasn't entirely up your street.
Let's see what else we've got today:
Across:
1. UV filter once widely used in sunscreens : PABA. New to me. Para-amino Benzoic Acid. Apparently caused allergic reactions in a number of people, so no longer used.
5. Word in Italian dishes : ALLA. Food! Here's spaghetti alla vongole.
9. Italian for "wasp" : VESPA. New to me, but as soon as I had the "V" I knew what it was. Those scooters do buzz around like wasps.
14. Lifetimes : AGES
15. Sign on for more service : RE-UP
16. One-__ chance : IN-TEN
19. Swedish-born Chan actor : OLAND. Thank you, crosses. I've never seen any of the Charlie Chan movies.
20. Cunning : ARTFUL
21. River through Kazakhstan : URAL
23. Dating letters : BCE. Before the Common Era.
24. Fisherman's knot : SNELL. Another new one to me. I don't fish, so ..
26. They may be independent : CLAUSES
28. Race town near Windsor Castle : ASCOT. I'm going to be staying in Windsor next Thursday night. I'll say hello to the Queen and her peeps.
30. People never seen in "Peanuts" : ADULTS
32. Word with smoke or kisses : BLOW
33. Arthurian address : SIR. The Arthurian knights. Here's "the" Round Table hanging in Winchester's Great Hall. I'll be there again on Saturday. My friend is 5' tall to give you some idea of the scale.
34. Very old thing : FOSSIL
38. Sylvan sticker : BUR
41. Thurman of "Henry & June" : UMA
42. More than just suggest : REEK OF
44. Salyut successor : MIR. The Soviet/Russian space station programs. There were six Salyut stations; the last one came out of orbit in 1991.
45. Snead has won three of them, briefly : PGA'S. US Men's golf's PGA Championship. Jason Duffner's wife famously took this picture of him the morning after he won the trophy in 2013.
46. Existing: Lat. : IN ESSE. Never heard of this one, but then again I'm not a lawyer.
48. Work with a team : COACH
49. Misconception : FALLACY
52. Brown shade : UMBER
54. Brown address ending : EDU. Brown University can be found on the interwebs at www.brown.edu.
55. Bausch's partner : LOMB. Ray-Ban Aviators, anyone?
57. Opens up : LETS ON
60. Cover story : ALIBI
64. Levels, in Leeds : RASES. I used to live in Leeds as a kid. One of my earliest memories is being taken by my teenage sister to see "A Hard Day's Night" at the local cinema. I couldn't figure out why everyone in the place spent the entire movie screaming. The cinema was RASED in 1966 to make way for a shopping mall.
65. Comic strip canine : ODIE
66. Mind, with "for" : CARE
67. College near Albany : SIENA. Nailed it!
68. D-Day craft : LST'S. Landing Ship, Tank.
69. What it's risky to build on? : SPEC
Down:
1. Haydn sobriquet : PAPA
3. Visual media soundtrack Grammy Award : BEST SCORE
4. Presently : AS OF NOW
5. Winning, with "on" : A ROLL
6. Med. nation : LEB. Lebanon; the only country with a tree on the flag.
7. Doozie : LULU
8. Brief summary : APERÇU. I try to keep these summaries brief, but usually I fail miserably.
9. Crook, e.g. : VIOLATOR
10. Phot. lab request : ENL. Least favorite clue/entry of the day.
11. They may be taken on "Jeopardy!" : STABS
12. British coin additive? : PENCE. Here's an old sixpence from the Queen's coronation year:
13. Chilean range : ANDES
18. Number for two : DUET
22. Highly in favor of : ALL FOR
25. Metz milk : LAIT. Metz sounds more German than French; as it happens it's only a few miles from the German border.
27. Letters with Arizona or Missouri : U.S.S.
28. Short for short? : ABBR.
29. Swing around : SLUE
31. "Wee" pours of Scotch : DRAMS. Cheers, Tin-man!
33. Mariners' home, familiarly : SAFECO. Seattle's Major League ballpark.
35. Pea variety : SUGAR SNAP
36. Apple variety : iMAC
37. Hit violently, as waves against the shore : LASH
39. Oscar-winning song immortalized by Nat King Cole : MONA LISA
40. "Mon __!" : DIEU
43. About .62 mi. : KILometer.
45. Discourse on verses : POETICS. Aristotle wrote this c. 335 BCE
47. $, for one : SYMBOL
48. Many a trucker : CB-ER
49. Causes of trembles : FEARS
50. Dwight's two-time opponent : ADLAI
51. First two-time Best Actress Oscar winner Rainer : LUISE. Crosses all the way for me.
53. Lille lasses: Abbr. : MLLES. Mademoiselles, milk and OMG today for our French lesson.
56. Pals : BUDS
58. Folklore fiend : OGRE
59. Wee part of a min. : NSEC. Nanosecond.
61. Big __ : BEN. Another excuse to post a photo from my last UK trip. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge.
63. Brightened, with "up" : LIT.
That's it from me for today. I'm heading back to the UK tomorrow for a quick visit; to see family and eat as much curry as is humanly possible for one person without exploding. Here's a final sample from my last visit. Yum!
Steve
Annnnd ... here's the grid, circles 'n all.
17A. Music in 62-Across : PASODOBLE. Here's one for blog-background music.
39A. Performer in 62-Across : MATADOR
62A. Fighting venues suggested by this puzzle's circles : BULLRINGS
Ernest Hemingway would approve of this puzzle's theme. Bullfighting and bull-running have been much in the news in recent days.
Neat theme from Matt; once I realized what was going on with the circles they helped me fill in a couple of blanks. Nice that three of the entries cross-referenced the theme. If you don't get circles in your puzzle and you don't like cross-referential clues, then this one probably wasn't entirely up your street.
Let's see what else we've got today:
Across:
1. UV filter once widely used in sunscreens : PABA. New to me. Para-amino Benzoic Acid. Apparently caused allergic reactions in a number of people, so no longer used.
5. Word in Italian dishes : ALLA. Food! Here's spaghetti alla vongole.
9. Italian for "wasp" : VESPA. New to me, but as soon as I had the "V" I knew what it was. Those scooters do buzz around like wasps.
14. Lifetimes : AGES
15. Sign on for more service : RE-UP
16. One-__ chance : IN-TEN
19. Swedish-born Chan actor : OLAND. Thank you, crosses. I've never seen any of the Charlie Chan movies.
20. Cunning : ARTFUL
21. River through Kazakhstan : URAL
23. Dating letters : BCE. Before the Common Era.
24. Fisherman's knot : SNELL. Another new one to me. I don't fish, so ..
26. They may be independent : CLAUSES
28. Race town near Windsor Castle : ASCOT. I'm going to be staying in Windsor next Thursday night. I'll say hello to the Queen and her peeps.
30. People never seen in "Peanuts" : ADULTS
32. Word with smoke or kisses : BLOW
33. Arthurian address : SIR. The Arthurian knights. Here's "the" Round Table hanging in Winchester's Great Hall. I'll be there again on Saturday. My friend is 5' tall to give you some idea of the scale.
34. Very old thing : FOSSIL
38. Sylvan sticker : BUR
41. Thurman of "Henry & June" : UMA
42. More than just suggest : REEK OF
44. Salyut successor : MIR. The Soviet/Russian space station programs. There were six Salyut stations; the last one came out of orbit in 1991.
45. Snead has won three of them, briefly : PGA'S. US Men's golf's PGA Championship. Jason Duffner's wife famously took this picture of him the morning after he won the trophy in 2013.
46. Existing: Lat. : IN ESSE. Never heard of this one, but then again I'm not a lawyer.
48. Work with a team : COACH
49. Misconception : FALLACY
52. Brown shade : UMBER
54. Brown address ending : EDU. Brown University can be found on the interwebs at www.brown.edu.
55. Bausch's partner : LOMB. Ray-Ban Aviators, anyone?
57. Opens up : LETS ON
60. Cover story : ALIBI
64. Levels, in Leeds : RASES. I used to live in Leeds as a kid. One of my earliest memories is being taken by my teenage sister to see "A Hard Day's Night" at the local cinema. I couldn't figure out why everyone in the place spent the entire movie screaming. The cinema was RASED in 1966 to make way for a shopping mall.
65. Comic strip canine : ODIE
66. Mind, with "for" : CARE
67. College near Albany : SIENA. Nailed it!
68. D-Day craft : LST'S. Landing Ship, Tank.
69. What it's risky to build on? : SPEC
Down:
1. Haydn sobriquet : PAPA
- "Papa Haydn's dead and gone
- but his memory lingers on.
- When his mood was one of bliss
- he wrote jolly tunes like this."
3. Visual media soundtrack Grammy Award : BEST SCORE
4. Presently : AS OF NOW
5. Winning, with "on" : A ROLL
6. Med. nation : LEB. Lebanon; the only country with a tree on the flag.
7. Doozie : LULU
8. Brief summary : APERÇU. I try to keep these summaries brief, but usually I fail miserably.
9. Crook, e.g. : VIOLATOR
10. Phot. lab request : ENL. Least favorite clue/entry of the day.
11. They may be taken on "Jeopardy!" : STABS
12. British coin additive? : PENCE. Here's an old sixpence from the Queen's coronation year:
13. Chilean range : ANDES
18. Number for two : DUET
22. Highly in favor of : ALL FOR
25. Metz milk : LAIT. Metz sounds more German than French; as it happens it's only a few miles from the German border.
27. Letters with Arizona or Missouri : U.S.S.
28. Short for short? : ABBR.
29. Swing around : SLUE
31. "Wee" pours of Scotch : DRAMS. Cheers, Tin-man!
33. Mariners' home, familiarly : SAFECO. Seattle's Major League ballpark.
35. Pea variety : SUGAR SNAP
36. Apple variety : iMAC
37. Hit violently, as waves against the shore : LASH
39. Oscar-winning song immortalized by Nat King Cole : MONA LISA
40. "Mon __!" : DIEU
43. About .62 mi. : KILometer.
45. Discourse on verses : POETICS. Aristotle wrote this c. 335 BCE
47. $, for one : SYMBOL
48. Many a trucker : CB-ER
49. Causes of trembles : FEARS
50. Dwight's two-time opponent : ADLAI
51. First two-time Best Actress Oscar winner Rainer : LUISE. Crosses all the way for me.
53. Lille lasses: Abbr. : MLLES. Mademoiselles, milk and OMG today for our French lesson.
56. Pals : BUDS
58. Folklore fiend : OGRE
59. Wee part of a min. : NSEC. Nanosecond.
61. Big __ : BEN. Another excuse to post a photo from my last UK trip. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge.
63. Brightened, with "up" : LIT.
That's it from me for today. I'm heading back to the UK tomorrow for a quick visit; to see family and eat as much curry as is humanly possible for one person without exploding. Here's a final sample from my last visit. Yum!
Steve
Annnnd ... here's the grid, circles 'n all.
47 comments:
This seemed harder than Thursday for me. FIW. I had to walk away for a while before I could finish the SW or adjacent areas. Misspellings, wacky abbreviations, and naticks plagued me. It's a wonder I only had 3 cells wrong!
{A,B+,C+,C}
Into the BULLRING stepped the bold MATADOR!
His costume embroidered with sequins galore!
But animal rights
Had nixed any fights,
So he and Toro vied at spitting to a cuspidor!
BEN thought his jokes were ARTFUL and splendid,
So he sent a bunch off to a 'zine recommended.
But instead of a check,
He got a reject --
None got accepted. No, no pun IN TEN did!
Christmas dinner at Santa's was time for pauses,
To reflect on the year, the triumphs and causes!
Grandkids, the results
Of sons grown to ADULTS,
And out on their own as INDEPENDENT CLAUSES!
Mr. Potato-head a VIOLATOR? Not!
He'd just run afoul of a radiator, hot!
But the steam LASHED out
In a blistering gout,
And poor Mr. P. cooked his 'tator tot!
Morning, all!
I have the PASO DOBLE music playing in the background as I type this, so thanks for that.
Definitely a more challenging theme today. Circles? We don't need no steekin' circles!
Remembered APERÇU, OLAND, PASODOBLE, SNELL and a passel of other semi-obscurities, so that was nice. Totally didn't remember SAFECO, however, and that really held me up. ALso didn't know that Nat King Cole sang MONA LISA or that it won an Oscar (although I actually do know the song itself). REEK OF was very hard to think of, and I had SLEW instead of SLUE, and didn't know SIENA, all of which made that SW section a bear to get finished. But finish it I did!
Music is over, time to go...
The Who's Live At Leeds is one the greatest rock concert recordings evr produced. I'd link it's Magic Bus if I knew how.
Good morning!
The southwest gave me fits this morning. Thought the Latin was Id ESSE, misconception was FALsitY, knew it was a kilometer, but didn't recognize KIL as a valid ABBR. The clue for REEK OF was just obtuse. Only arrived at MONA LISA by ticking off Nat King Cole songs in my head. That showed the FALLACY of my FALsitY and things fell into place. Whew.
SAFECO was cruel...just cruel.
Knew OLAND, but only from cw's.
Don't think I've ever heard of SIENA College. Thought maybe we were dealing with a foreign Albany. I'll bet IM and Spitz got it immediately.
Two four-letter answers rang a sour note for personal reasons: IMAC and RE-UP.
Tough one, Matt. Thanks. Those 8's and 9's were nice. Steve, thanks for the walking tour of London. Tell the queen that the "corner" says Hi.
Link? Ya mean like this?
Magic Bus
Siena was Cinderella at the Big Dance a few years back.
Terrible struggle with this culminating in running out of time and patience and giving up. Got the theme very early, which helped with the circles. Even sussed the way the circles rolled, but still DNF. Rats. Ya beat me up, Matt! Nice write-up, Steve, thanx. Owen, better than yesterday: B-, A, B, C. Always a grin, thanks.
Good Morning:
Not too difficult for a Thursday but some of the cluing was odd. The theme circles helped the solve so got the Tada, but it took longer than usual. Yes, DO, Siena was a gimme; I took some courses there years ago and several nieces and nephews are graduates. It is run by the Franciscan Friars.
Steve, thanks for your entertaining expo and enjoy your trip to England.
Another 3H day but rain expected later so maybe we'll get cooled off a little!
Have a great day.
Thank you Matt and thank you Steve.
I'll have to be brief this morning (the crowd roars silently in appreciation) as I have to get to the golf course.
Started slowly but picked up the pace after coffee and some breakfast. The northeast was hardest for me this morning, because I just didn't think of VIOLATORS and the clues for PENCE and STABS just didn't stir any thoughts. Finally got IN TEN (duh!) and then BCE. Then saw PENCE.
Mike Wolfe is always interested in picking up a good VESPA.
And see, SAFECO was an easy fill for me. As was SIENA. They beat Ohio State one year in the NCAA Tournament.
Metz LAIT was easy. Metz looks to be a couple hundred klicks (KILs) west of Karlsruhe, but would be closer to Saarbrucken.
Enjoy your holiday Steve.
Good Morning!
Thanks, Matt, for a teaser. I struggled in the central west. Stadium names kill me. In light of the All-Star break, the Chicago Tribune rated the baseball stadia this morning. Only a handful have a name that suggests the team, locale, or the history--Fenway, Wrigley. I only knew Safeco because I had already read the paper. Some of them are so goofy to me. Minute Maid makes me think Flordia; alas, not so.
Nice Tour Steve. I see those must be the mussels you picked up at your local market! Mmmmm. Thanks for the Paso Double. Enjoy safe travels home.
Stay well, everyone.
Loved this puzzle and its theme, and Steve's great tour of England. Saw the BULL rings from the first one. That made PASO DOBLE and MATADOR easy. I don't watch Dancing with the Stars very often. I am more of a traditionalist in this area, so I prefer the Ballroom Dance Competitions where I learned of PASO DOBLE. I assumed the BULL would revolve to the right around the rings in sequence. TA DA!
Proceeded apace until the SW. Was it LUISE or LUISA? SIENA makes more sense. Perps and wags gave MONA LISA. Suspected 48A was related to FALSE. Finally thought of FALLACY which gave me SAFECO. I thought of KIL right off, but REEK-- seemed too strange. Then SAFECO gave me OF and I accepted REEK.
Just right for a Thursday.
We are having corn fritters today. Ours are not really fritters because they have no dough. Like my Mom used to do, we grate local grown corn with a special grater and add eggs, salt and a very LITTLE flour. Then we fry them by the spoonfuls. This is PA Dutch. I was very surprised when I learned that my prospective MIL made them the same way. She called them "up country" instead of PA Dutch.
I have to agree with Irish Miss that the cluing was very hard in places; work with a team: COACH; Opens up: LET'S ON; Taken in Jeopardy: STABS...they all are legitimate but not direct. Also the SLUE: SLEW: SLOUGH is always hard though it does remind me of this TALL TALE. And while I understand you can use a SNELL when putting on a hook the me this is a Fisherman;s KNOT.
Siena was near where I went to high school, and they are one of the schools that changed their name from the INDIANS to the SAINTS.
Considering how many times we have has WARNER OLAND in our puzzles, I would think he was a gimme. But then again, I have seen the movies with both him and Sidney Toler.
Matt is back. Thanks Steve, go give the new PM a big kiss
Good morning everyone.
KIL - Really? Otherwise a good puzzle and fun to solve. Liked the 4 BULLRINGS. No searches or white-out was needed. WAGGED PAPA / PABA successfully.
SIENA - IM was right. Funny; when I graduated HS, SIENA sent me an unsolicited letter to apply for admission. But I wanted to be an engineer so off to RPI I went.
LST - I won't tell you how I spent 4 days circumnavigating Catalina Island on the USS Greer County (LST-799). LST's are named after counties and parishes.
Leeds - Youngest son spent his junior year abroad at Univ. of Leeds as part of a cooperative arrangement with RPI.
APERÇU - We had that a few years ago.
Hello Puzzlers -
Hand up for Slew before Slue. The connection between Pence and its clue seemed odd. Safeco? All perps. However, what a delight to see the Bull rings follow the ideal pattern - letters in order, clockwise direction, and stepping through the four possible orientations in sequence. Nice work Matt!
Morning, Steve, safe travels.
Enjoyed Steve's exposé more than this puzzle, and my mouth waters at the idea of curry too!
Was lost for quite a while on most of the left side, but then recovered and got all except ABBR, SLUE (EW), BUR, REEKOF and SAFECO. I was sure 42A was going to end in ON, so that screwed up the stadium, which I've never heard of...I was even silly enough at first to be thinking mariners were seamen. I did quite like the circled clues with the tie in to the unifier, which helped me get going in the rest of the grid.
Metz is in the area of France that has been German as much as it has been French throughout history, so it's easy to be confused on that point. Their French even sounds guttural as if they're still not sure.
Definitely tougher than I expected today. Did it on Mensa, so, no circles. Officially a DNF because I had to use red letters, a couple of alphabet runs and the ITranslate app. Loved your write-up Steve. Enjoy your trip.
Didn't know PAPA, VESPA, PASODOBLE, OLAND, SNELL (not a fisherman), APERÇU and LUISE, but I did know SIENA and PABA.
The comic strip dog had to be ODIE or OTTO, so I put in the O and waited for the perps to fill it in.
WRT a DRAM, my favorite alcoholic beverage is a rusty nail with two shots of DRAMbuie and one shot of a very good single malt scotch over crushed ice. Good for sipping.
Off to an appointment with a SCORE client starting a new business.
Have a great day everyone.
Loved the theme and puzzle. Thanks, Matt, for a fine Thursday outing!
Nice tour of England, Steve, and lots of fill right up your alley! Have a great trip to England!
Lemony @ 9:04 - I thought you grew up in Connecticut? (Siena also defeated Stanford in the first round of the Big Dance. I think it was 1990.)
"Puzzling Thoughts":
My favorite PASODOBLE is La Virgen de la Macarena as played by Doc Severinsen for a funny comic star when he appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - the clip is worth watching for the full 12+ minutes . . .
Clever clues and themes; the "BULL RINGS" came into view for me when I corrected the mistake I made at 40d when I had AMIE before DIEU. Another ink blot occurred when I had EPSOM before ASCOT, but thanks to a lot of WAGS and perps, the puzzle solved at a bit less than my typical Thursday pace
Some of the more colorful words used were: FALLACY, APERCU, VIOLATOR, FOSSIL, and POETICS. Thanks Matt - and Steve - for a great puzzle and recap
Hoping that Owen doesn't mind my adding to the limerick / poems:
Have you heard of this story before?
When VP tried to be MATADOR?
As he entered BULLRING
Toro speared his hamstring,
And he soon became known as "El Gore"
BTW, when I was employed as an Intl Business Manager for a US-based company, I traveled to Mexico frequently. I had an opportunity to see a "live" bullfight in Mexico City and actually had a ring-side seat. Quite gruesome but also quite POETIC (using the third or fourth definition)
Does anyone know how I can copy a picture I took of the bullfight and show it here at the Corner? It's not gory; just shows El Toro and the Matador . . .
Irish M. I went away for high school and ended up in the Berkshire Mountains. The first alcoholic drink I ever bought on my own was when I was 16, purchased at the bus station in Albany on my way back to school. Siena and RPI were both well known.
Clever theme and circles by Matt but really obscure clues held me up yet I realize it's Thursday. And thanks for the PASODOBLE, Steve. It's a lovely serenade to accompany me as I read and write.
We usually see PABA as a clue so that was interesting and we've seen VESPA in other puzzles. I can never recall OLAND so had to wait for perps.
Metz is, if I recall, where the ornate cathedral is located, very rococo with gilt decoration throughout. SAFECO, of course, did me in as I couldn't finish the F in REEK OF. Like Madame De Farge, stadium names are killers.
This was a challenge but not an especially enjoyable one. Just my failing.
MATADOR and BULL RING. The only one I've ever been to was in Pamplona one year when we happened to be there for the running of the bulls. I can recall the excitement and noise of the crowd but the fight itself was quite benign though the MATADOR gracefully went through the paces.
Have a safe trip, Steve, and do say hello to the Queen and the new PM. Thank you for your review.
Everyone, I hope you enjoy your day!
OwenKL:
I really liked your poem today!
Chairman Moe:
Yours was good, too.
Lemon - when I lived in New England back in the late 1970's (at the time, I was in Granby, MA) I had a few friends who were into playing racquetball, which at the time, I was pretty good at. One of them was a former graduate of The Hotchkiss School near Lakeville, CT. Do you know of this school?
Anyway, one of his classmates was on the staff, and during the summer (when no students were present) they "opened" the school and grounds to us (about 20-30 people) for a weekend getaway. We stayed in the dorms; played golf at the school's own 9-hole course, had lots to do on Lake Wononskopomuc (both during the day AND night). Fond memory; could only imagine what "trouble" the actual students got into there. Sort of reminded me of the boarding school used in the film "Dead Poets Society" . . .
Lucina - I think that bullfights are only "sanctioned" in Spain and Mexico.
I just saw in today's paper that so far this year, in the annual "running of the bulls" in Pamplona, there have been 12 people gored, of which 4 of those were Americans. I can understand the macho nature of wanting to run with the bulls, but it never was on MY bucket list of things to do . . .
The mid-west sector did me in. Oh, man. I kept trying to make 33D into some real place, any sort of variation on Seattle, rather than the name of a *#@!'ing arena. But the real nasty one was 42A, which, as several others have already pointed out, was very strangely clued. Even now, REEK OF seems barely acceptable as an answer to "More than just suggest."
Lemonade! WHERE in the Berkshires did you go to school? I spent four years of my life teaching at Williams, right up there in the MA/NY/VT corner. Some of the loveliest scenery in the world can be found in those genteel environs. I've always said that if I were to retire anywhere but in California, it would be the Berkshires.
Ol' Man, teaching at William's; is that where you went to the dogs?
Musings
I think the LUISE/RASES crossing is right and so, OLE!
-My recent student of mine has been hurt doing what he calls BULLFIGHTING.
-A beautiful woman on a VESPA is Rome is a common sight
-Swedish-born OLAND claimed he had some Mongolian ancestry
-A rendition of Poe’s ARTFUL dodger - a chronic VIOLATOR
-Corn detasslers can come home covered in BURS
-A volunteer COACH takes more grief than he should
-When we would take a STAB in English class, Miss Thomsen would always say, “Are you telling me or asking me?”
-The MONA LISA became very famous in 1911 after three Italians who claimed they were returning it to Italy sayig Napoleon had stolen it.
-Here it is being returned to the Louvre just before WWI began in 1914
-That’s a big 10-4 on CBER!
-Bon Voyage, Steve and thanks for an informative write-up
-I wonder if QEII had/has an opinion on BREXIT
Clever theme, some strange clues, some great fill, some alternate spellings, and one not-so-great abbreviation (I'm looking especially at you, KIL). This puzzle has everything. It's all in there!
Excellent write-up, Steve. Not too windy at all. I hope you have an enjoyable trip.
Best wishes to you all.
Moe, I know Hotchkiss well and played many sporting events for competing schools. Dr. Fowler I almost went to Williams in 1965 when I graduated.
I questioned REEK, but adding OF makes it fine. This sweetheart deal does not only suggest corruption, it REEKS OF it.
Hi Y'all! Expecting circles, I did the puzzle on the LA Times site rather than Mensa. However, I didn't have enough circles filled to help with the reveal when I got to it. RINGS filled first, then MLLES so I WAGd BULL then went back to fill MATADOR & PASO Double. OLE, Matt! Muchos gracias! WEES said about obscure clues.
Always enjoy your English stories, Steve, thanks. I was thinking that when part of the United States of America tried to leave the union there was a bloody war. And when the New England colonies tried to leave the British Empire, there was a bloody war. Now we have Britain leaving a union. Hope BREXIT stays more civil and bloodless.
Thought the theme was very appropriate with the BULL running stories in the news. Never ran with the bulls, but I did run with the cows when I was very big & pregnant one hot summer day. They were out of the pasture into my yard and headed for the highway. The dachshund & I got them back in. Then I had to lay down under the air conditioner to prevent giving birth. Too bad I didn't have a video. Might have gone viral on the internet these days.
First heard of PASO DOUBLE watching ice dancing during winter Olympics. I see it on Dancing With the Stars. Sometimes they do it to non-traditional other than Spanish music. I hate that. I want the musical pomp and grandeur of the BULL RING.
MONA LISA was a favorite song way back when.
Anon of last night: Thank you for caring. Having Jerome call me a gnat just proves he doesn't know me. Most of my enemies call me a much larger animal with fangs which will remain nameless here.
PK, you go girl!
I remember once that Jerome wrote that C.C.'s policy of not discussing politics was "just silly". It now seems he the same disdain for her 'no personal attacks'. Shame on him. A few posters have be banished for less.
Too many unknowns in the North for me to complete today. VESPA, BCE, PASODOBLE, SNELL, & LUISE- all complete blanks in my mind; I know what a VESPA scooter is but the other four are new words for me. And why is PENCE and 'additive'? I always thought it was a separate word. I couldn't take any STABS and my chances were less than on IN TEN ( didn't fill either).
SAFECO & SIENA - I'd heard of but were all perps. A big DNF today.
But there is a good side. After sitting in the jury pool today for 5 hours apparently everybody settled out of court or made a plea bargain because everybody go to go home without being called to sit for a trial. I told them to keep their $25 but the clerk-of-court said they are mailed automatically.
Husker- Nobody in the royal family has given a specific opinion about Brexit. One of the princes, don't remember which one, made some vague reference about European unity, but when asked the family simply responds that it's not proper for them to weigh in on important political matters. No doubt they have an opinion, and probably a strongly held one.
Greetings!
Thanks, Matt and Steve! Have a great trip, Steve!
Did not know SIENA. REEK OF was a WAG. Luckily, chose OLAND first. Really liked those old Chan movies.
Cheers!
Bit of a struggle with this one, especially in the NW, and so had to cheat a little to finish. It's a relief that others found it a bit tough too. It was helpful to get the theme and the BULL circles early. Only I hate the thought of bullfights (including the matador being killed just a few days ago) and wish they were designed to tease the bulls but not murder them. But that has nothing to do with the puzzle which still had many clever and fun moments. And thanks for the expo, Steve.
Hope you all had a good day!
Got to it late, then just kept working it. NE last to fall.
Really a tough one, almost Saturday tough. Only reason it got done was I just wouldn't put it down. Sometimes stubborn is a good thing.
Rarely do I finish a puzzle thinking I have so many things wrong but come here and see I got it all right. Definitely a tough Thursday puzzle. Thanks, as always, for the recap!
Anyone want to fess up?
91-year-old woman fills in crossword at museum - only to discover it was a £60,000 artwork
Hi All!
What Big Easy said, but worse. I would take a Thumper but it was fun as I crawled through what I could get. Thanks Matt - I appreciate (and like) the difficulty in you getting the BULLRINGS to work.
SIR Steve - have fun w/ family & curry. I'll be in IL Sat doing the same but w/ pasta.
I was just not on Matt's wavelength. I'll toss in the FALICY: I was in linear-mode. I spent 11 hrs today getting some wicked-cool queries working*. I almost have another that follows every email, but it's not quite ready for prime-time. No offense Matt, but my query-puzzle is more hacker-friendly.
Fav - ADULTS: "wha, whaaa, wha, whaant". Runner up: MONA LISA - one IN TEN versions will be Cole's next week in Pop's kitchen.
Moe - time to watch your 12mi vid while I play w/ my query.
Sadness in Nice :-(
-T
*given a list of names what did each do today on their computer (within SPEC).
C.Moe (and probably others):
Adding pictures to your comment
Step 1 Part of the process of "going blue" (i.e. registering with Google+Blogspot) is that a blog-space is set up for you at http://user-name.blogspace.com, even if you don't intend to use it. Posting a picture from your computer to your own blog is easy, and once it's there, it's also an easy matter to get its location to repost it anywhere else on the Web. I won't go into the mechanics of doing this, since it may differ from browser to browser, but it's another good reason for those reluctant ones to go blue.
Step 2 Once you have a location address/URL for the online picture, include
<a href=link-URL>text to be the anchor for your link</a>
in your comment. Even if you don't usually use it, do use the preview button to check that links enter correctly!
It may help as a mnemonic to know that the <a stands for Anchor, and href= stands for Hypertext REFerence.
C.C., do you read the comments here on your blog? Just wondering. I feel like Jayce wrote a caring post the other day regarding Jerome's personal attack against PK and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Jerome has responded by obviously ignoring his own petulance and has posted several passive aggressive posts (one targeted specifically at CED). What gives? Personally I much more enjoy the posts of Jayce, CED and PK than Jerome's.
I knew Safeco because my son lives in Seattle. But, maybe 3 years ago, the sponsorship changed to a cellular company, Century Link or something like that. It's now nicknamed the Clink.
Lemonade, you would have arrived when I was teaching. I was there from '64 through '68.
So you had left before the Pownal track switched from horses to dogs.
The dogs is where I swore off gambling. I couldn't lose every race, I said, and kept betting bigger amounts. I found out I could lose every race!
Artful dodger is Dickens not Poe. Please sir, I'll have more sir".
Musical made from it. Name someone?
Owen if you revisit, loved them all. I dropping at the end of Friday. Thought I might break most D+ into C category.
I don't mean Owen C of course
The Great Unread
Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!! My dumb-phone insists on auto correcting. I'll bet I can turn that off.
I tried to say I Left a Limerick late Friday
I agree this was more like a Friday than a Thursday puzzle mostly due to odd clues.
Has anyone used LASH to mean waves bASH against the shore?
The LUISE/SIENA crossing is rather unfair. LUISa at least is a name I have heard of.
But I did get it all correct. And I even found the four rings of circles, even without having them in my version! So I suppose I am happy and satisfied!
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