google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, October 7, 2016, Jeffrey Wechsler

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Oct 7, 2016

Friday, October 7, 2016, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Jack's are wild!

Once again a big thanks to Tom for taking you through Joseph Groat last week.  I am back and our Friday phenom JW is back as well. We have an add-a-letter theme BUT it is not 1 letter; no, not 2 letters; not even 3; BUT a four letter word -JACK- is added to a two-word phrase. Two are tacked on the first word, two added to the second. I love some of the new phrases with Seventh Jackson and Jackal Fresco my favorites. As always with JW we have some fun fill like MIDLAND,  ONE ACRE, ANTOINE,  YEARNED, LINGER AT,  EDGINESS,  CAROUSES and OCCIDENT. Not easy, lots of fresh fill, but a fun ride. Let's go!

16A. Item on a certain thief's rap sheet? : PAST CARJACKING (14). Past caring.

32A. Dinner for a lottery winner? : JACKPOT ROAST (12). Pot roast. This gave it away to me.

39A. Mural of a wild canine? : JACKAL FRESCO (12). Al fresco. Jackal was hard to parse but the most creative fill.

56A. Last of a $140 stack? : SEVENTH JACKSON (14). Seventh son. If you can divide 140 by 7...


Across:

1. City NE of Odessa : MIDLAND. Texas. When you work your way west from Dallas through Abilene on you way to El Paso.  They are only about 20 miles apart.

8. American Pharoah accoutrement : BRIDLE. Some of you may bridle at the use of the French based accoutrement, or the need to know the HORSE that won the Triple Crown in 2015, but it is a very apt clue/fill.

14. Like many lots : ONE ACRE. Not down here.

15. Like bad butter : RANCID. From Latin meaning smelling bad.

18. Party planner's compilation : E-LIST. We must learn to accept these made up words for our electronic world.

19. Big Island entertainment : UKES.

20. Tour stop : GIG.

22. Put down : DIS. I see it more spelled DISS, but since the word comes from DISrespect, this makes sense.

23. Sequential exercise : SCALES. While I have never played, I have worked with many guitarists and they explained to  me this CONCEPT.

26. Name on the 1983 album "More Music for Films" : ENO.

27. Long-distance calling org.? : SETI. Complain, complain.

29. Linguistic ending : ESE. This is so easy after Splynter's comment about languages last Saturday.

30. Graceful wader : EGRET. Here  is a snowy one.

36. "C U When U Get There" rapper : COOLIO. I do not care much for rap, but this interesting.

38. Cans on a Lowe's shelf : PAINTS.

41. Flew like a birdie : ARCED.

42. Minn. neighbor : ONTario, Canada.

43. Zachary Taylor, e.g. : WHIG.
The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four Presidents belonged to the Party while in office. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s.

47. Affected denial : MOI.

48. Held up : PAUSED.

51. With 48-Down, judging with others : ON A. 48D. See 51-Across : PANEL. This seems like much work for two simple fill. E.g. _____wing and a prayer, but I guess that might be the dreaded partial. I do get confused about CW constructing rules.

52. Sign of spring : BUD. In the south people drink Bud year round.

53. Prominent feature of "Twilight" films? : FANG. Funny, I wonder if any would have answered this to "Phyllis Diller's husband."

54. Query in Matthew : IS IT I? Matthew 26:22...
King James Bible
And they were exceeding sorrowful, 
and began every one of them to say unto him, 
Lord, is it I?

60. Follows : ENSUES.

61. "The Little Prince" author Saint-Exupéry : ANTOINE. I will always have a soft spot for this MAN as it was his Vol de Nuit that I read with my father (who did not speak great French). My father would quote random and incomprehensible lines from the book. It was fun.

62. Like hunks : STUDLY. gratuitous pic. Loved him in True Blood.

63. Ached (for) : YEARNED. Any yearning PK, Yellowrocks?

Down:

1. Economical bikes : MOPEDS. This should have been easy, I forgot about them..

2. Not a good way to be caught : IN A LIE. A fun multi-word fill.

3. Call it off : DESIST.

4. Pullover beneficiaries : LATS. Latissimi dorsi.

5. Bookkeeper's concerns: Abbr. : ACCTS.

6. Gp. with many arms : NRA.

7. Strauss' "__ Rosenkavalier" : DER. The rose knight (or something like that in German, whence our word cavalier)


8. Slow down : BRAKE. We all like cute. HELP!

9. Hurries : RACES.

10. Tattoo parlor supplies : INKS.

11. Roman 601 : DCI.

12. Not hurry home from : LINGER AT. JW like his multi-word fill.

13. Avant-garde quality : EDGINESS. Nice fill.

17. Aromatic cocktail : JULEP. From the Mint. RECIPE.

21. Düsseldorf deity : GOTT. More German.

24. Director DeMille : CECIL. B.

25. "I'll kneel down / And ___ thee forgiveness": King Lear : ASK OF. Our drop of Will words from JW. Speaking to Cordelia Act V, Scene III
LEAR
No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison.
We two alone will sing like birds i' th' cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness. So we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues...

28. "Kidding" : I JOKE.

30. Former attorney general Holder : ERIC.

31. Moody Blues hit with an exclamation point in its title : GO NOW!

33. "When I was __ ... ": "H.M.S. Pinafore" lyric : A LAD.

34. Starts the day : OPENS. really vague...one's eyes? the mail? the bathroom door?

35. Sample : TASTE.

36. Whoops it up : CAROUSES.

37. West : OCCIDENT. Orient.

39. Hinge holder : JAMB.

40. Like stormy seas : ROUGH. Damn you Matthew!!

44. Sauce served with mu shu pork : HOISIN. Popular all over Asia. The Thai add crushed peanuts.
4 tablespoons soy sauce.
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter.
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar.
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar.
1 garlic clove, finely minced.
2 teaspoons sesame seed oil.
1 teaspoon hot sauce (more or less to taste)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

45. Chant : INTONE.Good Friday fill.

46. Profited : GAINED.

49. Not at all calm : ANTSY. Ants in your pants.

50. Judge's decrees : DICTA. Hmm, what do you mean by decree? Dicta are the opinion(s) of a judge that do not embody the resolution or determination of the specific case before the court.

53. It might be resolved through mediation : FEUD. Not likely, many lawyers including the one I work with are licensed and skilled mediators. Much faster and cheaper than litigation.

55. Candy bar with a Nordic name : SKOR.

57. Sch. near the Appomattox River : VSU. Virginia State, home of much joy and tragedy.

58. Noisy bird : JAY.

59. Chemical suffix : ANE.

With our hurricane howling I may not be able to read your comments for a while.  Be safe all in the path and see you next time. Lemonade out.

50 comments:

Anonymous said...



Didn't like it.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Tough, tough, tough! But fair, fair, fair. Enjoyed it, JW. Knew that a "pullover" could involve a car or could be a sweater, but didn't know it was an exercise. Along the way I tried to "LINGER on" which turned my (Lowe's can) PAINTS into STAINS. On the Big Island I was at a LUAU before playing UKES. Still, it came together in good Friday time.

Around here most lots are ONE ACRE or larger.

Lemon, I think "OPENS" refers to a business beginning its day. Could refer to eyes, though.

Heard from my brother in Stuart yesterday. He and his wife decided to hunker. Don't know how that's working out. Hope all in Matthew's path are safe.

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning all. We dodged the bullet with Matthew and are fully powered.

D-O I would agree it probably means open for business but thought it was too vague, IMO.

Anonymous said...

Yeah and you also know east from west. Just admit you didn't get the clue.

Hungry Mother said...

I left ALIST in, even though I knew that "mopads" was wrong, so DNF today.

Anonymous said...

Good call, Lemon: DICTA are not judicial decrees. DICTA is the plural of "dictum," which is short for "obiter dictum," which is a legal opinion expressed by a judge not directly bearing on the case at hand.

Anonymous said...

Good effort adding JACK to the themed answers, but definitely lost points for having to deal with DER, DIS, ESE, ANE, etc.

I also disagree with the conclusion that a certain clue/answer was "very apt."

Avg Joe said...

Got it done, but it seemed like too much work and even though the 2nd thru 4th themes seemed pretty clever, the first one gave me so much trouble I was past caring when it came together. I'll quote Drabble today

Haven't watched any weather news yet. But glad to hear Miami hasn't taken a direct hit. Hopefully the rest of the day is not too dreadful. Stay safe all in the path.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Tough slog for me today. That NW corner was especially stubborn, but finally I remembered mopeds (which were fun when they made an appearance in the U.S.) and managed to chip away.

The word "Gott" came into my awareness this way: I was nineteen, in college, and largely ignorant of German when I rented a room from an old Polish woman near campus. She had some sayings posted here and there in her house, in German, including "Gott gebe dir Freude". It wasn't clear at first why a Pole had chosen to decorate her house with signs in a language other than her own, but gradually I came to understand that she had been one of many Poles captured and taken to Germany to work in a wartime munitions factory. By war's end she had met and married a noncombatant German man and adopted that country and language. Eventually they moved to America.

Morning, Lemon, good to know you're not drenched.

Big Easy said...

I was beginning to think that I didn't know JACK-S**T after my first pass with CECIL, DER, GOTT, and DCI as about the only sure fills. I thought I had the theme at POT LUCK ROAST before the POT LUCK became a JACKPOT. Before that I 'figured' either $10s or $20s would somehow be in the $140 clue and 'fourteenth Hamilton' wouldn't fit and I filled SEVENTH JACKSON.

Don't know why MIDLAND drew a blank because my cousin lived there. the NW's ELIST, DIS, & SETI were known entities but came from perps. But so did BRIDLE, ENO, COOLIO, FANG, ANTOINE, ASK OF, GO NOW, HOISIN, DICTA and VSU- they were unknowns. A little tough this morning but I finished it.

JULEP-aromatic?- does it contain benzene or toluene?

Northwest Runner said...

Sometimes Friday is harder than Saturday. Nevertheless a good wrapup to the work week. I think you mean "as you work your way west from Dallas" though

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-What Lemon said
-I had PAST CAR JACKING but it took a while to see PAST CARING, which is a phrase I don’t see often, in this great puzzle
-ONE ACRE lots on bluffs above rivers are common here and make these common also
-Oh, ODESSA not in Asia and ONTARIO not in America
-MOI? Oui, toi!! (Yes you!)
-That two party system has “Held Up” much legislation for party loyalty and not merit
-Simon Cowell is a blunt fixture ON A PANEL in at least two shows. “Well sweetheart you asked for my opinion and you’re getting it!”
-Beautiful CHANTING at the top of the charts
-Derision might ENSUE when you pull your MOPED up next to a Harley
-Lemon! A body builder like you should know what you showed is a pull down, and this is a PULL OVER
-Mein GOTT!! (1:22)

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang -- just wanted to check in and say hi. Had a fun ride last night, but overall it was wasted day and a half of preparation. Winds only got up to around 80 with some pretty decent rain. It does appear, however, that Matthew may want to revisit us, which would be kinda cool.

This morning I read through several days of posts to see how everybody's doing and I wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, especially CED, whose cakes were outstanding.

As always, fun, tough puzzle from Jeffrey.

Time to undo all the hurricane preparation. Again, thanks for the birthday/hurricane posts and emails; I'll always feel a part of this blog, and it's nice to be associated with such a great group of people.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

JW threw me to the ground and stomped on me today, as usual. Even after looking up seven clues, the southern part of the puzzle was sparsely populated. Got all of the theme clues except SEVENTHJACKSON. Got MIDLAND because that area is commonly referred to as a singularity - Midland / Odessa, like Dallas / Ft. Worth. MOPED was easy because there are a lot of them here - folks who lose their licenses can still operate them. I didn't acquit myself in any other way.

Lucina said...

Except for messing up ANTOINE which I should very definitely know, I finished a JW puzzle! The NW was particularly troublesome as it was a toss up between Odessa, TX or Russia. Didn't know another one. Finally, changing LISTS helped with ONALIE and DESISTS. Then PAST joined the rest of its phrase. I like the word STUDLY.

My party was a LUAU then UKES appeared. I liked the JACKs scattered about.

Thank you, JW and Lemonade. I'm so glad you are safe.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I like JW's offerings and usually do well in completing them correctly w/o any help. Sadly, I completed today's without help but with an error. On the first go-around, I filled in A Joke and never noticed SETA instead of SETI which resulted in a Bzzt! Instead of a TADA. On top of that, I never parsed the theme answers as separate phrases; I just thought Jack was tacked on willy nilly. Mea Culpa, Mr. Wechsler, I should know you are more creative and craftier than that.

Thanks, Jeffrey, for an enjoyable and satisfying solve, errors and all and thanks, Lemony, for filling in what I had missed with the theme. Glad to hear you're safe and sound.

Dennis, nice to hear that all is well with you, also.

An update on yesterday's horn/airbag worry: Upon dismantling whatever he had to dismantle, my mechanic discovered a pewter charm which had fallen off my key chain and slipped down into the narrow space near the horn. He said I did the right thing by bringing the car in because of the possible danger vis a vis the air bag. Ironically, the charm was of a Guardian Angel. Retrieving the Guardian Angel cost me $132.00. OTOH, if the horn hadn't kept beeping I might not have bothered having the car checked and who knows what might have happened if the charm wasn't removed? So, I guess the Guardian Angel was doing its job after all! 😇

Have a great day.

Nice Cuppa said...

• What she might have said: "Is that a gun in your pocket or an OCCIDENT waiting to happen"

• Very nice JW: I note you seem to be preoccupied with body-building today. PULLOVER and SCALES are not yet in my dictionary for that STUDLY stuff.

- And if you ever watched professional badminton, you would see some arcs but plenty of straight smashes.

• HG – ODESSA (the original) is in EUROPE, not ASIA. There could always be another one in ASIA that I unaware of. LATS are European, too.

• My thoughts to all of you living in MATTHEW country. I suppose you must be asking "IS IT I" [of the hurricane?]. I JOKE, but it is not of a laughing matter – just part of the cost of doing business in paradise, I guess.


Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Excellent Jeffrey Friday offering

SCALES refers to music training, not body building. That took me by surprise.

Here is an interesting take that I have just started to work with, from another Jeff.

I know what a MOPED is but still FIW in the NW. Couldn't believe E-LIST is a thing, when I know that A-LIST really is. Also never parsed PAST CARING. In fact, never really sussed the theme. Since JACK POT / POT ROAST and JACKAL / AL FRESCO involve a connecting overlap, I wanted that to be the theme concept. Guess I was over-thinking.

Stay safe everyone.

Cool regards!
JzB

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-I am subbing for the second day in a row for a softball coach whose girls started playing in 40˚F weather this morning.
-I’m glad to hear that so far our Florida people have pretty much escaped the wrath of Matthew
-Yesterday I mentioned a movie where a fight scene was staged at Griffith Observatory. This is the movie and the monument to that cinematic moment.
-Oops, Nice Cuppa, thanks for the gentle correction. Give me a geography demerit! ☺
-Well, a new set of seniors just walked in.

TTP said...

Not my favorite type of puzzle, but I've come to expect that we will have these on Fridays. I'd rather have a puzzle like last Friday.


Couldn't quite completely fill the two diagonals before looking at the clues in the NW and SE. Easily got Jackpot Roast and then it was simply trying to find out where Jack fit in the other answers. Jack Alfresco was very easy as most of it was filled.

Didn't especially care for JAMB as the answer to hinge holder. Screw maybe. Bolt in some applications. Nail or baling wire in a pinch. Jamb could be a location for a hinge. As could gate or piano, but we wouldn't call them hinge holders.

Chuckled when I read Avg Joe's comment that incorporated the 16A theme answer.

Watched a couple of "Make Room for Daddy" episodes early morning the other day. Vaguely recognized the young man playing the role of Paul Pryor in the "Old Man Danny" episode. Looked him up. He also sang the theme song and had an appearance in the movie that HG linked.

Time to get back outside and back on John Deere. We've had many rainy days lately. Had to raise the deck as high as it would go to mow the front yard yesterday afternoon. Back yard today.


Chairman Moe said...

Just a quick visit to let y'all know that the Chairman and the LW are ok. Our neighbors informed us that we never lost power and it is safe to come back. I was out of town (on a trip scheduled months ago) and had my LW head to the west coast of Florida to stay with my relatives there on Wednesday. Neither of us were home to witness the storm. So blessed that Matthew stayed well off the coast as it passed by us; prayers to those in N Florida as well as GA, SC and NC who are still in the path.

CM

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody! I hope everybody is safe, that their property came through OK and that their power stayed on.

Thanks Jeffrey and Lemon. If anybody is keeping track, this puzzle is just past my ability limit. I wouldn't have finished without a couple of red hints. The theme didn't make sense at first until I read Lemon's explanation. Clever but tough; both theme and fill.

NC, I would say that because of the influence of gravity, the shuttlecock is always moving in an arc; hard smashes straighter than slower shots.

Nice Cuppa said...

A few on the same theme

"4 of them are kings" = MEN-IN-BLACK(JACK)

"Gambler's spouse?" = BLACK(JACK)-WIDOW

"22 things to do in Las Vegas" = BLACK(JACK)-AND-TAN

Unknown said...

Very fun, but tough. I was tempted to cheat in the NW corner but kept plugging away and finished with no help/cheats.

I don't get 27A. SETI filled itself but I can't figure out what it means.

billocohoes said...

The English words "cavalier" and "cavalry" as well as French "chevalier", Spanish "caballero" etc. go back to Latin for horse, "caballus". Germans usually use "Ritter" (rider) for knight.

My brother hosted a Polish exchange student who mostly spoke German because she was from Silesia, which wasn't in Poland until the borders changed after WWII.

Jayce said...

This puzzle was very hard for me. My (over)thinking about the overlap in the theme is the same as Jazzb described. In about three places I had to do alphabet runs with red letters turned on. Still didn't get the connections between some of the clues and answers until reading the explanations here. Very stretchy.

So glad you Floridians didn't suffer too much damage. If the storm turns around and returns, it'll be the first time I've ever seen such a thing. It would be very weird.

Bill G, good point. Irish Miss, glad you retrieved your Guardian Angel. Good observation about DICTA. Agree about E LIST. Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

@robert SETI is Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, seti.org

Misty said...

A real Jeffrey Wechsler toughie--more like a Saturday than a Friday. Can't believe the only things I got on my first run through were the German words DER and GOTT. Slowly a few more things filled in and when I got JACK POT ROAST and JACK AL FRESCO, I had the theme, but still ended up having to look up SEVEN JACK SON, and a few other items, including ANTOINE (just couldn't remember his first name). Also initially put SADDLE instead of BRIDLE, and of course tried LUAU and HULA before I finally got UKES. I too had A-LIST before E-LIST. I also had DYES instead of INKS but once I realized the JACK came near the end of the theme word, I changed that and got it right. So, thanks, Jeffrey, in spite of all that hard work--it was still fun. And thank you too, Lemonade.

So glad the Florida storm wasn't as dangerous as predicted, and hope everyone is safe.

Last question: what is SETI?

Aren't Guardian Angels wonderful, Irish Miss?

Have a good Friday, everybody.

desper-otto said...

Robert Emerson, SETI is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. They listen for non-random radio signals from space.

Jayce, in 2001 tropical storm Allison came ashore in Texas, then wandered into north Texas, then wandered back to Houston, dumping torrential rains before returning to the G-O-M and heading to Louisiana. Allison's first visit was a non-event; the second, a disaster. Seventy thousand homes flooded and several people died. Some went canoeing down the Southwest Freeway. The Medical Center learned an important lesson -- don't put your emergency generators in the basement!

AnonymousPVX said...

Super crunchy but fair and solvable.

Matthew is taking aim on SC, I'm 30 miles from the coast and hunkered down. Should be heavy duty tonight into tomorrow. Oh boy.

Ol' Man Keith said...


Yep, tough, as usual from JW. I loved SEVENTH JACKSON, the one theme answer I sussed before bogging down. I hit my longest, toughest snag in the NW corner, unable to decide between FASTCAR and PASTCAR and some version of NAS*CAR, with the first clue and perp being singularly unhelpful--particularly as I had PAD, not PED as the 1-A ending.
But all in all, this was a good'un.
Misty: SETI = Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Conducted I believe by listening to radio signals.

Lemonade714 said...

On the hurricane front, the only one to hit Broward County (where I live) in the last 50 years was WILMA which originally passed underneath the keys and went into the Gulf. Rather than once again pummeling Galveston or Pensacola, Wilma reversed her field and came directly across the tip of the Peninsula and did major damage. No power at the office or home for more than 2 weeks.
The history of WILMA

Yes I misspoke with east and west; I do make mistakes, and promise to make more as long as I blog.

Dennis, geat to hear from you and glad you too are safe as you were further north and Chairman, I recalled you would be gone. Good timing

Ol' Man Keith said...

My brother lives in W. Palm Beach. He chose NOT to evacuate, so we worried for him overnight--until he called this morning to say Matthew turned out to be a non-event, at least for him.
I pointed out that he has now used up his good luck--and had better beat it out of there the next time the governor orders "mandatory evacuation."

Anonymous said...

Diss not dis
Pulldown not pullover
Elist just silly
Etc
Puns were good

Pop Weasel said...

Enjoyed seeing all the JACKs in the boxes popping out all over the puzzle.

CrossEyedDave said...

(IMHO)

I thought yesterdays puzzle would have made a lovely Friday entry.

(but then, I don't know Jack...)

Tinbeni said...

Solved the puzzle while enjoying a Rolling Rock Beer at Capt. Jacks (on the Anclote River).
Kinda helped me with the themes. LOL

Well this was a "perp fest" ... counted at least 15 answers I did not know but the "perps" did ... go figure.

Lots of wind but so far hardly any rain ... maybe an inch or two.

The idea that Matthew may curve around and hit Florida again is NOT on my list of "cool things."

Call me crazy, but I don't find anything about a hurricane coming my way as "being cool."

Cheers!


PS The Emergency people in Jacksonville got a call from some people who were stuck at a Bar on the St. Johns River.
They asked: "Do you need assistance?"
The Bar patrons told them: "No we're fine ..."
(Definitely my kind of Floridians!)

Lemonade714 said...

Pop what a great title...Jack in the box

Bill G. said...

I went down to the bike path along the ocean this afternoon with my buddy Ralph. We rode for a while and then stopped at a bench, got a drink and stared out at the Pacific. I spotted a pod of dolphins lolling about just offshore. They seemed to be in no hurry to get anywhere, just enjoying the calm surf. Cool...

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Bill G - Do you think they were there by accident or on porpoise?

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

Wow! This puzzle was a humdinger. Got it done. Started on the train in Chicago and finished in Edinboro, PA.

Made several passes through getting a couple words. Got a foothold in the Southeast. Then worked up from there. My last to complete was the Northwest.

The theme came slowly, but it did. Very good one. First to get was JACKPOT ROAST.

Too many other tough ones to list them all.

Liked NRA.

So, I hope to watch some of the Cubs game tonight. Probably will not stay up to finish it. Have to get up at 4:00 AM. Keggs and Eggs tomorrow.

See you tomorrow evening, maybe.

Abejoyek

( )

Bill G. said...

Jinx, good one! Very finny...

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Touche! Enough pun-ishment! I used to sail from Marina del Rey to Catalina, and as often as not I would get a pod of them playing around the boat for a minute or two. Beautiful.

Dennis said...

Tin, you're just too cool.

Hurricane Watcher said...

Jayce: in 2004, Hurricane Ivan's path made a loop, so Matthew's loop is not unprecedented.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

I didn't think I was going to amount to JACK squat in this WAG fest. But I finished with only ONE (critical) lookup - ANTOINE was needed to break up the SE. Maybe I was just getting frustrated and ready to cease & DESIST 'DIS puzzle. Thanks JW for the apropos JACK 'o lantern Friday.

Lem - Thanks for explaining the theme. What JzB said re: that.

WOs: Idol b/f WHIG. I was thinking of the wrong Zach there (isn't there a Disney kid called Zach Taylor? There is! But, he's fiction and spelt w/ a k.)

Also had Surrly [sic] b/f STUDLY 'cuz I read 53d as meditation and put in FEar. Oh, and hand up for aLIST.

GOTT? ESP. I'm sure there's many others, like totally, DER. [Pronounced d'uh'errr :-)]

Fav - SETI. It is a fine project, plot device of Contact, and something I participated in w/ leftover CPU cycles (SETI @ home). The debate is - do we reply? Hawking says no. It would make me happier if we completed the SFTI* project before reaching out.

Good to see our FL contingent made it through. D-O, I was here for Allison. Two years later youngest was born premature and stayed at TX Children's in med center for 3 days. We walked the tunnels underneath to a nearby hotel. Lesson learned - there's submarine doors down there now. Sadness that we lost all the genetic mice that took 20+ years to bread for cancer research in that flood [the labs were in the basement too]

IM - LOL. Your guardian angel has a warp'd sense of humour :-)

Cheers, -T
*Search For Terrestrial Intelligence. "BEAM me UP Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here."** [present company excluded of course :-)]

**Ha... I just spoke that into my universal communicator, er, Siri. Reply: "Sorry Captain, your TriCorder is in Airplane Mode."

Dudley said...

T, can you imagine how much fun the young Apple engineers must have had inventing Siri's snarky side? Sounds like a great job!

Anonymous T said...

Dudley - I imagine, after a long day of slinging code, they sit back and swill a few... "What about Trek?" "Siri would say..." LOLs ENSUE. More code, 1/2 hammered, 'cuz why not? You should see the comments in the code I wrote as A LAD."

Cheers, -T
*A buddy pointed out that I'd left "I'm 6 beers into this- it's alive! Add exception handling", The comment made it into the production script. Legendary. Suites were not amused... :-)

Anonymous said...

Tragedy at VSU? don't you mean Virginia Tech?

Wilbur Charles said...

I think I finished Fri, this morning. Saturday last night and Sunday just now

As I'm sure has been mentioned there was a lot of wite-out and ink blots

As I recall NETTED was wrong as was RAISED

Oh well. Off to Sundays write-up