Theme:: CLAMS UP
(24. Figuratively, stops talking ... or, literally, what are hidden in
this puzzle's four longest answers) - CLAM goes up in these four
entries.
3D. Bell-shaped graphic : NORMAL CURVE. I did not know there's a term for this shape.
8D. Treat in a box with a circus wagon design : ANIMAL CRACKER. Like this? I never had Animal Crackers.
17D. District attorney's filing : FORMAL CHARGES
26D. Dissatisfied sorts : MALCONTENTS. You can be sure that constructors tried but could not find one more entry where MALC span across two words like the other three.
C.C. here.
The blog record shows that this is the second puzzle we got from Lonnie Burton & Nadine Anderton. Their last puzzle had an anagram gimmick.
For
this type of Up/Down theme, all the theme entries are placed in Down
slots for visual effect. Construction-wise, it's no easier or harder
than our normal puzzle. Same.
Across:
1. Temporary shelter : TENT
5. Boeing product : JET
8. Blue hue : AZURE. Rather a scrabbly top edge.
13. Decor finish? : ATOR. Drecorator.
14. Mediocre : SO SO. I noticed this morning that Blogger changed the link color in the Comments section. I much prefer the previous solid blue. You can't see, but our internal Draft title color and label color are changed also. The label is now gray. Hard to read. Sigh! Read the last comment for our Bad Request glitch. I reported the issue on Nov 2. Hard to believe it takes Google engineers so long to solve a problem, but the bland/double post glitch we face when we write the blog have been going on for months. The font size bug remains unsolved. So be tolerant when you see a typo in our write-ups, as every post is produced with efforts.
15. Stuffy-sounding : NASAL
16. Comparatively frugal : THRIFTIER
18. Apple products : IPODs. Trimmed down my Podcasts to 15.
19. Prepares to sail, maybe : UNMOORS. Spell check does not like this word.
20. Common fall hiree : TEMP
22. Extinct emu-like bird : MOA
23. Campus military org. : ROTC. Not such org in our campus. We did have Youth League. Its members were groomed to be Communist Party members.
25. Member of the flock : LAYMAN
29. Word with light or shade : LAMP
31. Idle : LOLL
33. Tavern offering : ALE
34. For example : SUCH AS
36. Baldwin of "Beetlejuice" : ALEC. I really liked the SNL debates.
37. Go beyond fudging : LIE
38. Same old same old : USUAL
39. Tussaud's title: Abbr. : MME. Never been to a Madame Tussauds. You?
40. Tried to outrun : RACED
42. Poetic contraction : E'ER
43. NFL sportscaster Collinsworth : CRIS. The guy on left. "Do you believe in miracles?"
45. Sticks for drum majors : BATONs
46. Mo. or Miss. : RIV. I had RI?, just could not believe the answer.
47. Rwanda native : HUTU
48. Desktop graphic : ICON
49. "Word Freak" author Fatsis : STEFAN. Forgot. We had him before.
51. President between Tyler and Taylor : POLK
53. To boot : TOO
56. More than annoys : IRES. Wish it were IRKS.
58. Name of 14 popes : CLEMENT
60. Mimicry : APING. I tried APERY first.
63. Sign, as a contract : ENTER INTO
65. Actress Zellweger : RENEE
66. Looked at : EYED
67. Store in a hold : STOW
68. Finishing nails : BRADS
69. Poll fig. : PCT (Percent)
70. "Around the Horn" channel : ESPN. We just had AROUND THE HORN last Saturday.
Down:
1. Jazz pianist Art : TATUM
2. Prefix with musicology : ETHNO. Wiki says "Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it". A mouthful.
4. Charlie's Angels, e.g. : TRIO. And 52. 4-Down plus five : OCTET
5. Support beam : JOIST
6. L.A.-to-Tucson dir. : ESE
7. Legal wrong : TORT. Also 34. Plaintiffs : SUERS
9. Speedy : ZAPPY. I've only used ZIPPY. Not ZAPPY.
10. "Force Behind the Forces" tour gp. : USO
11. "Totally cool, dude!" : RAD
12. Raised railroads : ELs
14. Barbershop bands? : STROPS. Nice clue.
21. Couture magazine : ELLE. Elle China used to be my guilty read.
27. Not of this world : ALIEN
28. Prerequisites : NEEDS
30. "Caught you!" : AHA
32. Spanish cheer : OLE
35. Start of a fitness motto : USE IT. We also have A TO (41. Words on Volume One, maybe) & IN A (62. __ nutshell). Normally partials are limited to 2 for a 15*15.
39. Cambridge univ. : MIT
44. Mystic character : RUNE
45. Handed the check, say : BILLED
50. Cited, in a way : FINED
54. In first place : ON TOP
55. "All or Nothing" boy band : O-TOWN. Unfamiliar to me.
57. Leak slowly : SEEP
59. __-en-scène: stage setting : MISE
60. Wall St. trader : ARB (Arbitrager)
61. Pricing word : PER
64. Home of LGA and JFK : NYC
I
hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Thanks for
hanging out here every day. I enjoy your daily puzzle comments, musings, limericks, quotes, silly picture links, recipes, advice & banters.
I
want to say "Thank you" to Rich, Patti, their test solvers, fact
checker, all LAT constructors. Thank you for another year of
entertainment and education.
Also
big "Thank you" to my blogging team: dear Santa Argyle, Melissa, Gary, Ron, Steve,
Lemonade & Splynter. Week after week, year after year, their
commitment and dedication remain unchanged. They blog when they're
traveling. They blog when they're under the weather. They blog when the blog is glitchy. They give each
puzzle its deserved attention and analysis. Total pros!
D-Otto
does not blog regularly, but he's always there for me and this blog.
Always gives me quick and reliable feedback. TTP is another behind the scenes hero, who
saved us out of the Google Hell a few years ago and continues to help me
with every Blogger glitch.
My thanks also goes to Agnes (Irish Miss) and all my puzzle collaborators, thanks for the trust and opportunities!
I'm so grateful that you're in my life.
My thanks also goes to Agnes (Irish Miss) and all my puzzle collaborators, thanks for the trust and opportunities!
I'm so grateful that you're in my life.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lonnie, Nadine and CC!
Harder than the usual Wednesday, I thought.
Unknowns were CHRIS, STEFAN, ZAPPY (this one really got to me) and O-TOWN. Nonetheless, finished w/o cheating.
Have a great day!
Good morning all.
ReplyDeleteA FIW due to a typo on my very last letter. Hit K instead of M, so my extinct emu-like bird was a KOA. I wonder what kind of TENT the MOA used at KOA...
Shouldn't have been rushing. Wasn't going to set any personal bests today. Had to be at least a couple of sigma east of the apex on the NORMAL CURVE.
Me TOO, FermatPrime; I questioned ZAPPY. OTOWN was perps. Most of CLEMENT.
Enjoy listening to Cris Collinsworth as he quips his way through the MNF games. He was a Bengal in his playing days. Went to the Superbowl with Boomer Esiason and Ickey Woods. They lost to San Francisco.
Anyone remember BRADS as Business Reporting Application Development System ?
__-en-scène. Sussed it. My French is limited, but I learned mise en place from cooking programs. Probably Julia.
I'll confess. I still like Animal Crackers as a treat every once in awhile. Nabisco makes the best.
"Totally cool, dude!" : RAD : Spicoli : Gnarly
Thank you Lonnie Burton & Nadine Anderton.
CC, I'm always happy to help where I can. Happy Thanksgiving to all !
UNMOORS is what Ferdinand and Isabella did to Spain in 1492.
ReplyDeleteNo problems with the puzzle, but it's been 3 or 4 days and I still can't walk! I getting cranky, and it shows. I killed 2 poems without finishing them because they were even more offensive than these. :(
{C, X, C.}
MMD RENEE declares the latest couture
Will be JET black and blue AZURE!
Umber now will be STUFFY,
Maroon EYED as fluffy,
But green still considered demure!
A pinheaded fellow named Zippy
Decided to do something ZAPPY.
He'd ENTER INTO a box
To test electro-shocks --
Now he drools, but is certainly happy!
The way a NORMAL CURVE's bent
Ensures that fifty PERCENT
Are able to boast
They're better than most,
But the rest will be left MALCONTENT!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteRumbles of thunder outside. Good, we can use the rain. It'll delay the 3-mile march, though.
Tried UNFURLS before UNMOORS showed up. Was certain ZAPPY had to be wrong -- it is, it's just wrong! RIV? Do we have to abbreviate River? That NORMAL CURVE is usually referred to as a bell curve. It shows a normal distribution with a few at the top, a few at the bottom, and a whole bunch in the middle. Kinda like my weight distribution. Thanks, Lonnie and Nadine.
That musicology clue reminds me of SoundBreaking -- a series about music recording that I've been watching on PBS. Very interesting. When things got electrified, and anything that could make noise was considered an instrument, music went downhill, IMO.
C.C., thank you for all the effort you put in to make this an interesting, educational, civil, and often humorous place to hang out.
I think it was Kazie who commented yesterday about the puzzles seeming to be more difficult. I agree, but I prefer a challenge instead of a just filling in the squares with no thought required. But, I don't like vague clues either. An example is today's fill for 19A, UNMOORS. I don't doubt that it is a recognized word, but come on...... How many of you have used that term when you are setting sail? Spitz, did you?
ReplyDeleteOK, that's my complaint for today, but otherwise I found a lot of cluing totally out of my wheelhouse. Yet perp help eased my pain.
Really liked 13A Decor finish/ATOR. Took a while to appear.
For once I figured out the theme, CLAMS UP. Helped big time with the long fills.
However a FIW. For 18A I entered Imacs and the down clues for 9, 10 ,& 11 looked okay with zampy, usa & rac. The correct fills are three more learning moments. But they will make a ZAPPY exit from my recall.
I'm likely out of the daily crossword challenge for the rest of the week. We are hosting Turkey day tomorrow, Friday is leaf duty and the week end will be spent in Albany trying to make a few $'s.
I had one change this am; TEEN to TEMP. I had to accept ZAPPY only because everything else was correct. It sound like a description of on electric bug killer. I've never seen the word before. (or MISE-en-scene or O-TOWN). But the clues today followed a NORMAL CURVE with the USUAL, SUCH AS 'same old same old' or 'Spanish cheer' (SANGRIA wouldn't fit). I think I need to CLAMS UP.
ReplyDeleteUNMOOR- we un-TIED the lines when we left the dock. Or Maybe it could be a term to describe the SPANISH INQUISITION.
CRIS was my last fill, not because I didn't know it. When I see the reveal in the middle of a puzzle I try to avoid any cross or perp that will give it away. Don't want to make the puzzle easy.
Zappy??? Unmoors??? Really??? Seems we are making up words now!!!
ReplyDeleteComing UNMOORed would be OK, but I've usually seen it as an accidental or malicious uncoupling from the dock; also used figuratively for a person who falls away from their longtime values. Not sure I've ever seen it in the active sense.
ReplyDeleteZAPPY, on the other hand...
I've done a fair amount of sailing. Never heard "UNMOORS". Nobody ever said "Unmoored the boat." It is "Cast off." Or "Untie", if u don't wanna sound boaty. Bell-shaped graphic is called a "Bell Curve", never heard it called a "NORMALCURVE". Never heard ZAPPY; have heard ZIPPY. Never heard of Word Freak, or Stefan Fatsis. Never heard of OTOWN. As u might guess, I struggled with this CW. Thanx for the nice write-up, C.C.! Owen, sorry to hear you're ailing. What's happened to you? Today I give u A,C,A.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who has ever taken a statistics class should know the term "Normal Curve"
ReplyDeleteA tad chewy in the SW for a Wednesday, but I got it all. Changing ZULU to HUTU when MIT crossed it gave me CHARGES which helped a lot. Changed APERY to APING. MISE EN SCENE was a gimme.
ReplyDeleteI doubted ZAPPY, but apparently it is a legit word. I love a new addition to my vocabulary like that, so I can't dis it. I find if I dismiss something like that I won't remember it for next time.
Billocohoes, your view is like mine on unmoored and something along that line would have been a better clue, but I can easily overlook it, even though boat handlers don't use UNMOORED.
Never hear of STEFAN Fatsis or CHRIS Cllingsworth but doable with perps and wags.
NORMAL CURVE was a gimme, too. I believe that in a class of all very bright overachievers the normal curve does not apply. They all cluster very near the top score.
That reminds me, I took a very tough course in college with mostly B or B- test scores.Once I studied extra hard and had an A-, but I received a C+ when graded on the curve. Someone got hold of the test and distributed it widely, but not to goody-two-shoes, me. All the cheaters aced it, skewing the curve.
Well, back to prep for tomorrow.
A jolly good fellow is Uncle Fred!
ReplyDeleteA poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed!
In hand, took a pencil
To attack a grid stencil,
Shot it down by filling the cells full of lead!
(Graphite, actually. HB. #2. Ticonderoga!)
Part of why I'm so cranky is that I don't know what happened to me! One day my shin is sore, the next day the arch of my foot hurts so much I can't stand! OTC pain pills help a little. Should I be taking my gout pills?
Usually FORMAL CHARGES are brought by grand juries, in the form of indictments, not by district attorneys. Formal but preliminary charges are brought also by police. A D.A. will occasionally bring, but usually only with the consent of the defendant, a FORMAL CHARGE known as an "information."
ReplyDelete"Cite" and FINE are not synonyms at all. The one precedes the other.
ALEC Baldwin in Beetlejuice? I don't recall him, only Michael Keaton.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting to fill. The entire eastern seaboard flowed in effortlessly, abetted by the long fill, then more slowly on the western side. As has been mentioned before, once the long fill is firmly in place, it's easier to work from them as an anchor. And speaking of anchor, I've never seen UNMOOR either.
I'm sorry, Owen, but the MOORS were not the objects of the inquisition. Torquemada had an obsession about Jews and that's who he hounded Isabela about. The MOORS were the object of the protracted war that Ferdinand and Isabela fought to remove them from Spain.
CRIS was also an unknown and when reading C.C.'s review, I had to rework that small section, remove IRKS then RUNE appeared so DIW.
Thanks to Lonnie Burton and Nadine Anderton for the nice challenge. And so many thanks to C.C., not only for today, but for everyday. I'm thankful for this Blog, all the bloggers and commenters who add another lovely dimension to my day.
Have a great day and a festive Thanksgiving in case you're not here tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
Well, as Oliver Hardy (I think) used to say, "This is a fine kettle of fish!" After overcoming several obstacles, I entered the last fill and, lo and behold, no TADA. Did a recon and found no glaring mistakes, so hit the Remove All Errors button and, aha, the Mystic being wasn't a hulk but a rune, Cris wasn't Chis, and ires wasn't irks. (Can't believe I spelled it Chis!) After these changes, still no TADA and then I noticed it wasn't USA and iPads but USO and iPods. Good grief, Charlie Brown!
Didn't care for unmoors, zappy, or riv and OTown is an "Oknown." I did catch the theme fairly quickly and that helped, as did perps. Normal Curve is new to me and took a while to fill in, partly because I was stumped on Mo. and Miss. Mise en place was a gimme because, as TTP said, it's used regularly on the cooking shows. Also, I took a film course years ago and learned a correlating term, mise en scene. Animal Crackers were a treat when I was a child and who could ever forget Shirley Temple's rendition of the song.
Thanks, Lonnie and Nadine, for a clever mid-week offering and thanks, CC, for popping in midweek and being our guide. I must say I had a moment of terror reading your eloquent Thanksgiving message because I thought you were leading up to the unimaginable announcement that you were ending the blog! Phew and double Phew! (I hope that's not a blasphemous euphemism!) Now that my heart rate is back to normal, I can say it is we who owe you thanks, CC, for creating and sustaining this wonderful world of camaraderie and caring. So, many, many thanks, CC, from the bottom of my heart.
Windhover from last night, so good to hear from you. Don't be such a stranger!
Have a great day.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteDidn't read a lot of comments as I am scrambling around today ...
Right back at you, CC, wishing you and yours (and all fellow bloggers) a Happy Thanksgiving
I was hooked on TEAM for 4d; should've known when I saw the clue for 52d that they were looking for a similar phrase. TRIO just never came to mind ... so my "NW Territory" contributed to a FIW. My only other error was at first trying OOZE before SEEP in 57d
ZAPPY? O TOWN? Jazz Pianist TATUM? MOA? Hmmm. But clever kudos for the theme and using the word MALCONTENT
Hope y'all have a great Turkey Day.
Oops. I'm sorry, Owen. My comment about the inquisition should have been directed at Big Easy.
ReplyDeleteGreetings to all!
ReplyDeleteI found today's puzzle to be a tad more difficult than USUAL for a Wednesday. STEFAN Fatsis, Art TATUM, O-TOWN, and CRIS Collinsworth were all unknowns. And when I still didn't get the "ta-da", I found my error in the NE which I had filled using only the downs, and reluctantly (*cringe*) changed ZiPPY to ZAPPY since NiSAL was definitely wrong.
Thank you, C.C., not only for blogging today, but for creating this site, and faithfully guiding and directing it for nearly nine years now.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
"Words on Volume One, maybe: A TO"
ReplyDeleteHmm ...
Politics.
ReplyDeleteReligion.
Personal attacks.
C.C. Nice, informative write-up. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteLonnie & Nadine: Thank You for a FUN THANKSGIVING EVE puzzle.
What everybody said about TATUM, ZAPPY, STEFAN and O-TOWN.
Hope everyone who is traveling has a safe journey.
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Musings
ReplyDelete-ZAPPY is forgivable as the rest of the puzzle felt very novel! I avoided the reveal, hoping I could get the gimmick. Didn’t happen.
-In college, I always hoped the prof graded on the CURVE
-Poignant Civil War TENTING song (4:48)
-Outrun punch line – “I only have to outrun you!”
-Granddaughter Elise and her favorite singer at MDE Tussaud’s in LA
-The 10 greatest sports calls in history w/audio. Al Michaels’ “miracle” made #2
-Taking tests on rote learning are a form of APING
-Heard at the altar many times – “Marriage is therefore not to be ENTER(ED) INTO lightly”
-ETHNOmusic – C.C. did you hear any Chinese rock and roll growing up? Or American rock and roll for that matter.
-I was CITED for going through a stop sign at 3 mph with no one else in sight last month. $149!
-It is we the pilgrims of this blog that are thankful for our brilliant and lovely Leader Of The Pack, C.C.!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteA bit knotty in spots, but the long fills with the up-clams came rather easily so there was lots of bang for the buck there. That helped got some head scratch fill like RIV, ALEC, and CLEMENT. No searches or erasures were needed.
UNMOORS - Agree with Hondo. To me the opposite of moored is underway. I don't think the log ever showed 'unmoored'; more like 'single up all lines' and then 'take in all lines'. But it was a long time ago.
ROTC - Yours truly is a product. Our school had all 3 services, but I always fell the Navy's had the most and best content.
"around the Horn" channel - Realized it probably had to do with sports, but did consider Cape Horn and the Drake passage. Would've fit the clue.
Good Morning,
ReplyDeleteThanks Lonnie and Nadine for some pre-TG fun. I enjoyed the CLAMS UP theme. It really opened the puzzle for me. I liked that MME is in the center. Pretty smooth start to a busy day--even though I'm only making stuffing, I offered to polish some of my DIL's silver. WHAT was I thinking???
I am grateful for having stumbled over the curbstone of this CORNER. I find great insight, humor, kindnesses, and fabulously wonderful useless knowledge here. (See Bertrand Russell's old essay on that subject--someday I'll learn how to link here.) You make my day! I am so happy to have "met" all of you. Thanks, C.C., for gathering us.
Enjoy your festivities.
I was struggling to try to understand how lightning works.
ReplyDeleteThen...it struck me.
Gary, that sucks. I sometimes do the same thing.
Thanks Lonnie and Nadine. And a special thanks to Rich, CC and everybody associated with our little Corner of this world.
I want to thank CC and all the contributors to the blog. I rarely comment but I suspect I am one of many that visit regularly and benefit from those who so generously give their time. A Happy Thanksgiving to all!
ReplyDeleteBill B:
ReplyDeleteI love your sense of humor!
I wanted to dislike this puzzle, but it was just too much fun. My problem was crossing CLEMENT with MISE and OTOWN, none of which I knew. I guess I should have known RUNE, but ended up with RUNk for my only bad cell. I raised an eyebrow at 53A because of having "to" in the clue and TOO as the answer. More like a Jumble clue.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know STEFAN Fatsis, but I love Stephan Pastis, the degenerate responsible for "pearls before swine".
I am a recovering sailboat racer, and in my 35 years of racing never said "unmoor". But I have also never said "ahoy" either, nor have I ever worn one of the snappy little captain's hats. That fill was fine by me. Around here, RIVer is pronounced (and sometimes spelled) "rivah". These days I'm an RVer, and spend a lot of time in KOAs.
Today's erasures were APery for APING, lade for STOW, ANIMAL Cookie for CRACKER and rAPid for ZAPPY. I agree with the others about ZAPPY.
still a fine puzzle, so thanks to Lonnie and Nadine for their efforts. And as always, the rest of us owe more to CC than we can ever repay.
It is great to have C.C. blogging on this Thanksgiving eve, and I am very grateful to her for creating this wonderful respite from the world. I also want to thank all who play in her sandbox, my fellow daily bloggers and supporter, commentators, posters, and lurkers. I also thank each constructor and editor and finally a warm shout out to all who have come and gone, You each have enriched me with your comments and friendship and I hope life is treating you well.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who wants to portmanteau this team to Lonnie Anderton?
WEES
eat well and enjoy
I have been reading your comments for ages and learn a lot from you all, thanks. "Animal crackers" was the first one I filled in.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving.
Funny how all the boy bands are the same guys…"we need one with facial hair, one clean-shaven with long hair, one or two of color, one bad boy look".…Geez. And it sounds the same. Now I sound like my dad. It's not easy getting old.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to all.
43 across- The guy on left is Cris Collinsworth but the guy on the RIGHT is Al Michaels, who said, "Do you believe in miracles."
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 8:12:
ReplyDeleteWell, natchery, we all took Stat ... but in my case, close to 50 years ago. BTW, it is also called a Gaussian distribution curve, and sometimes you will see something -- or someone -- described as being four or five sigmas out there, closer to Proxima Centauri than here.
But that raises an interesting side question: how much of what is attributed to Altzheimers, especially short-tern memory issues, is actually due simply to memory overload? The older we get, the more memories/words/ideas we acquire, and the harder it is to dredge some specific thought out of all those other ones. If my suspicion is correct, this isn't only a matter of brain structures, but also because there are, in this case, five or six differing names for standard distribution, which makes retrieval harder.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Lonnie Burton and Nadine Anderton, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was not a cake walk. More like a Thursday. However, I got through it and enjoyed it very much.
Liked the theme. Catching it helped with a couple.
UNMOORS is a little sticky, but it certainly makes sense.
I tried TUTU for 47A. Changed that to HUTU once I got FORMAL CHARGES.
No idea who STEFAN is. Perps.
Liked your YouTube H.G. on the 10 best. Especially liked the Tiger Woods chip.
Have to get to church pretty soon. We are having Pie Fellowship after the Service tonight and I am the pie cutter, one of two.
See you tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving. My daughter and her family are in from Ohio. Will be fun tomorrow.
Abejo ( )
MME Defarge said it all for me.
ReplyDeleteA little sticky for a Wed. I had two bad squares. Professor Bell is credited with recognizing that NORMAL distribution resembles a bell. Or do I have the wrong Prof Bell as in Conan Doyle's mentor.
I don't dare look it up since I spent all that time going from Belzer to JFK to one PFC Dinkin(s). To Mad Men.
Now I have to rent Mad Men to follow what is obviously an embedded theme about Madison Ave mind manipulation.
A somewhat timely theme. Speaking of timely. 30 years ago, Christmas, Cris Collingsworth was at a bar in Covington KY, expecting Miami to beat my PATS and put the Bengals into the playoffs.
But Grogan put the Pats ONTOP.
WC
Ps. CC and this blog is my reason to choose the LA times XW
RIV? ZAPPY? IN A? A TO? Aw, c'mon, that's just junk. The CLAMS UP theme was nice, though.
ReplyDeleteWC, was Tony Eason hurt in that game or did Berry just pull him for Grogan?
ReplyDeleteIt is great to hear from lurkers; we know thousands of people around the word read so it is nice to get some love for C.C.
I shall take the liberty to quote Madame Defarge, because I cannot express it better myself. I am grateful for having stumbled over the curbstone of this CORNER. I find great insight, humor, kindnesses, and fabulously wonderful useless knowledge here. ... You make my day! I am so happy to have "met" all of you. Thanks, C.C., for gathering us.
ReplyDeleteEvery Thanksgiving, at dinner, we go around the table to ask each person what he or she is thankful for. I know, it puts people on the spot, but the answer is always the same, and is my favorite answer: Thankful for you people who love me and whom I can love. Best wishes to you all.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my virtual friends here. You are a great bunch. Thank you for your insights and warmth. And a big thank you to CC for creating and overseeing this wonderful blog with wit, humor and caring. Your dedication is remarkable. Your unselfish mentoring is outstanding. You have drawn in a myriad of caring, word-loving like-mined followers who find this blog the highlight of our morning. And a big thank you for the hard work of the ever faithful expo writers who make each puzzle even that much more fun.
ReplyDeleteI am kinda surprised at the lack of acceptance of odd but interesting new words like ZAPPY which we can add to our vocabulary. I love offbeat stuff.
Has anyone noticed that the bell curve does not work well with a totally heterogeneous group, like those in most gifted programs or those in some of the special needs programs? At one time our Board of Education wanted to assign each teacher a place on the bell curve. Do they want to accept that they made such bad hiring decisions that 50% of their teachers are not that good and that a fixed % are terrible? They should have made wise decisions and hired an above average staff. Figures lie and liars figure. OOPS! We are supposed to be non-political.
Many parents do not accept the bell curve at all. In their loving eyes their child is exceptional and above average. When you parent a special needs child each step forward is truly remarkable and exciting, the heck with the bell curve. Our kids are exceptional, too, against great odds,
Some more of my prep dishes still need washing and the kitchen floor needs mopping. Duty calls.
Happy Thanksgiving if I don't catch you tomorrow.
Re: Gaussian distribution:
ReplyDeleteAt Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average. I think YR said it well.
In keeping with the spirit of the blog and the led from Bill G., I have to admit that I was addicted to the hokey pokey, but I turned myself around.
ReplyDeleteNot heterogeneous but homogenious. My mind is gone.
ReplyDeleteShe was only a moonshiner's daughter, but folks loved her still.
ReplyDeleteLemonade:
ReplyDeleteThe outlook wasn't brilliant for the Patriots that night
Their record in Miami was an ugly, orange blight
And so, when Eason's shoulder snapped
and the Dolphins took the lead
The hearts of suffering Pat's fans
Began to slowly bleed
And then I went on and on. I'll try to find my doggerel but to make a long story short...
Eason got injured, (Steve)Grogan took the helm, KC went to the playoffs and Collingsworth's "Sweet companion had herself a cry"*
Wilbur Charles who saw the Boston Patriots win their only have East (AFC) Crown at Fenway Park in the snow.
* Yes, in what must seem surreal today, the TV switched from the scene in the bar where Cincinnati's CC had a gorgeous girlfriend with him back and forth from the game.
OK Bill, Lemonade, et al - The big news from central Florida is that someone drilled a spy hole in the fence at the local nudist colony. A detective has been assigned, and he is looking into it.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteWEES re: ZAPPY but then I'd have complained more with NISAL (as in "Shizzle my").
Thanks Lonnie & Nadine - I caught the theme early and it helped. Fun! Thanks C.C. for the expo. It wasn't until you pictured STEFAN that I recall hearing of his books (NPR I think?).
WOs: STEveN b/f STEFAN; Ere b/f EER.
ESP + WAGS: MOA/TATUM; OTOWN; MISE; CLEMENT
Fav: POLK (TMBG). Hope it's old enough that's not TOO political :-)
V-8: "But Cambridge is a univ.!?!" "Oh, as in, 'Our fair city, MA"*
{B-, C, A-} {A and, um, yes}
D-O: Well, that's your opinion :-). I caught the '80s over the summer and Rap last night. Pretty interesting (even though I don't care much for Rap).
MME Defarge said it best. Might I just add a second-helping of thanks to Argyle for his constant curating keeping the Corner the happy place it is.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers, -T
*Cite: Click & Clack
Lucina and others: You asked about the Durrells in Corfu. I enjoyed the whole series very much. I didn't know it was such a short miniseries. (I guess I was expecting something longer like Downton Abbey.) The last episode's theme surprised me. If the show had to end, that ending seemed as good as any. I am looking forward to the next chapters coming in a year or so.
ReplyDeleteI just attempted the NYT puzzle from last week with a King Tut theme. Geez, it seemed so gimmicky. I have come to appreciate Rich's steady and conservative guiding hand even more.
Jinx. There's a nudist colony north of Tampa called the Caliente Club.
ReplyDeleteAs in a CC type of clue: Hot in OPERTO
WC who just finished Thursday's XW, thankfully and obviously