Theme: Siteswap Eight - or Juggling Jive. The word JUGGLING is spelled out by the circles, starting with the J at the bottom and progressing clockwise in a circle, cascade-style.
17A. Elaborate costume parties : MASKED BALLS
53A. Places for seeing stars? : BOXING RINGS
11D. What can help you avoid getting stuck changing diapers? : SAFETY PINS
28D. Groups with a piece-keeping strategy? : CHESS CLUBS
and the reveal:
48D. Nonsense talk, whose circled letter is the start of what might be done with items in the four longest puzzle answers : JIVE. Cue those falsetto-singing Australians. Get your disco on.
Wow, what a nice puzzle! This one presented three challenges for me - the puzzle itself, trying to figure out what the reveal meant, and finally seeing the juggling theme in the circles. The way I see it, the word JIVE is the juggler (as I've colored in the grid at the bottom). Fine work from Bruce today.
The first known juggling image comes from a wall painting in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian prince c. 1750 BC. The lady on the right doesn't seem to have much to juggle, but the one next to her is doing a cross-handed bedazzle. Neat!
I learned to juggle at a trade show in Maastricht back in the 80's. I was on booth duty and the show was very poorly attended, so customers were few and far between. One of the vendors had hacky sack giveaways, so we all took three or four and learned to juggle. By the end of the week the only activity to be seen across the floor was about 100 people doing three and four siteswaps. Fun times.
Across:
1. Asset for Sherlock : LOGIC
6. Fast : RAPID
11. Additional information? : SUM. Fine example of clue trickery. 1+2 = 3.
14. Important period : EPOCH
15. Eat into : ERODE
16. What makes a deal ideal? : AN "I". Love it.
Coach: There's no "I" in "Team"!
19. Pickle : FIX
20. "Zip it!" : SHH!
21. Prosperity : WEAL. This was new to me - I thought at first I'd made a mistake in the crosses. It seems to be a pretty obscure usage, dictionary searches don't bring it up at first pass, and it's buried pretty deeply in the thesaurus. Nice learning moment.
22. "Blah, blah, blah," for short : ETC, ETC
24. Golden __ : AGER
25. "I used to be Snow White, but I __": Mae West : DRIFTED. She was pretty racy for the times. Still would be, judging by this picture:
26. Part of the pelvis : SACRUM
29. In essence : MAINLY
30. "Bor-r-ring" : HO-HUM
31. LPGA great Lopez : NANCY. During her "farewell" season on tour, one rather famous player could be heard one Thursday: "I'm so sick of this. Every week it's the same thing. Nancy shows up, Nancy gets a plaque, Nancy cries, Nancy misses the cut. Call it a career already". Made me laugh.
32. Green shade : PEA
35. Rare blood type, briefly : A-NEG
36. Shakespearean barmaid : WENCH.
37. Picky details : NITS. We never see any of those around here, right?
38. "But __ got high hopes ... ": song lyric : HE'S
39. Neutral tone : BEIGE
40. Prefix with -gram : PENTA
41. Like angel food cake : SPONGY. I had SPONGE first until MANGY corrected me. MANGE didn't work as an adjective.
43. Curry favor with, with "to" : KISS UP
44. Ill-mannered : UNCOUTH
46. Veers suddenly : ZIGS. Z_GS and wait for the cross.
47. Distance runners : MILERS. I was a pretty OK distance runner, the longer the better - I was too stubborn to admit defeat. The sprint finishers always did for me though - I had no fast gear. Not too sure I've got much of a slow one any more, come to think of it.
48. First name in folk : JONI. Mitchell.
49. How it's always done, initially : SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. The crosses filled this one in for me - I had to think quite hard as to what the acronym stood for. In fact, I had to think so hard that I had Google do the thinking.
52. Heat meas. : B.T.U. British Thermal Unit. The British are very understated with their "thermal units" of weather. Icicles hanging from your ears means "it's a bit chilly out". Hurricane-force winds are "breezy". The opposite applies with heat, as there is rarely any of it. Any day above 70F is "a scorcher". Two consecutive scorchers constitute "a heatwave" and attracts comparisons to the weather in Spain. Three in a row and the Town Hall issues a three-week hosepipe ban.
56. CSA soldier : REB.
57. Green shade : OLIVE. Two shades of green today.
58. Fragrances : ODORS
59. Pack animal : ASS
60. Snooped (around) : NOSED
61. "Check" : NO BET. Poker term. When you decline to open the betting in a particular round and pass to the next player.
Down:
1. NASA vehicles : LEMS. Lunar Exploration Modules.
2. Fish with vermilion fins : OPAH. Reminds me of the toasts in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Ώπα!
3. "Jeepers!" : GOSH
4. "Ugh!" : ICK
5. Enjoy Orbit : CHEW GUM.
6. Masonry-reinforcing rod : REBAR. From "reinforcing bar", which is too much of a mouthful.
7. Inland Asian sea : ARAL
8. D.C. player : POL. Got me with "NAT" first.
9. Set-for-life set : IDLE RICH
10. Lot : DESTINY
12. Form a coalition : UNITE
13. Personalized collection of love songs, say : MIX CD. Mix tapes in my day. The main character in Nick Hornby's book "High Fidelity" makes mix tapes for any girl he's trying to date. John Cusack starred in the movie. Jack Black has an outstanding performance, one of his early successes.
18. Consider : DEEM
23. Toronto Argonauts' org. : C.F.L. Canadian Football League. Nine teams, currently.
24. "... bug in __" : A RUG. As snug as a ..
25. Hustle or shuffle : DANCE
26. Former Mideast ruler : SHAH
27. Tops : A-ONE
29. Like many a stray dog : MANGY
31. Bay sound : NEIGH
33. Incredulous dying words : ET TU?
34. "Hurry!" letters : ASAP! Not STAT. Wait for the crosses if you've just got the A.
36. Tried to make it on one's own : WENT SOLO
37. Storied loch : NESS. More than 22 miles long. Spectacular views too.
39. New Orleans' __ Street : BOURBON, I went for an early-morning run down Bourbon Street one Sunday morning. Let's just say it wasn't one of my better ideas.
40. Crude smelting product : PIG IRON
42. "Once upon a midnight dreary" poet : POE.
43. Two-checker piece : KING. I think this fella can jump backwards, but I haven't played checkers since I was five.
44. Eclipse shadow : UMBRA
45. Times in ads : NITES
46. Daydreamed, with "out" : ZONED. Sorry, what was that?
49. Stuffed shirt : SNOB
50. Brutish one : OGRE. I read "British one" first, and wondered why OGRE? We're not all meanies.
51. "You there!" : PSST
54. Ones following the nus? : XIS. It's all Greek to me.
55. Court promise : I DO. As in promising to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. We geeks learn the meaning of third normal form in a relational database by memorizing: "The key, the whole key and nothing but the key, so help me Codd".
And with that, I think I'm done. Time for some caffeine.
Steve
17A. Elaborate costume parties : MASKED BALLS
53A. Places for seeing stars? : BOXING RINGS
11D. What can help you avoid getting stuck changing diapers? : SAFETY PINS
28D. Groups with a piece-keeping strategy? : CHESS CLUBS
and the reveal:
48D. Nonsense talk, whose circled letter is the start of what might be done with items in the four longest puzzle answers : JIVE. Cue those falsetto-singing Australians. Get your disco on.
Wow, what a nice puzzle! This one presented three challenges for me - the puzzle itself, trying to figure out what the reveal meant, and finally seeing the juggling theme in the circles. The way I see it, the word JIVE is the juggler (as I've colored in the grid at the bottom). Fine work from Bruce today.
The first known juggling image comes from a wall painting in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian prince c. 1750 BC. The lady on the right doesn't seem to have much to juggle, but the one next to her is doing a cross-handed bedazzle. Neat!
I learned to juggle at a trade show in Maastricht back in the 80's. I was on booth duty and the show was very poorly attended, so customers were few and far between. One of the vendors had hacky sack giveaways, so we all took three or four and learned to juggle. By the end of the week the only activity to be seen across the floor was about 100 people doing three and four siteswaps. Fun times.
Across:
1. Asset for Sherlock : LOGIC
6. Fast : RAPID
11. Additional information? : SUM. Fine example of clue trickery. 1+2 = 3.
14. Important period : EPOCH
15. Eat into : ERODE
16. What makes a deal ideal? : AN "I". Love it.
Coach: There's no "I" in "Team"!
19. Pickle : FIX
20. "Zip it!" : SHH!
21. Prosperity : WEAL. This was new to me - I thought at first I'd made a mistake in the crosses. It seems to be a pretty obscure usage, dictionary searches don't bring it up at first pass, and it's buried pretty deeply in the thesaurus. Nice learning moment.
22. "Blah, blah, blah," for short : ETC, ETC
24. Golden __ : AGER
25. "I used to be Snow White, but I __": Mae West : DRIFTED. She was pretty racy for the times. Still would be, judging by this picture:
26. Part of the pelvis : SACRUM
29. In essence : MAINLY
30. "Bor-r-ring" : HO-HUM
31. LPGA great Lopez : NANCY. During her "farewell" season on tour, one rather famous player could be heard one Thursday: "I'm so sick of this. Every week it's the same thing. Nancy shows up, Nancy gets a plaque, Nancy cries, Nancy misses the cut. Call it a career already". Made me laugh.
32. Green shade : PEA
35. Rare blood type, briefly : A-NEG
36. Shakespearean barmaid : WENCH.
"Oh, ill-starred wench! Pale as your smock!"
Othello
37. Picky details : NITS. We never see any of those around here, right?
38. "But __ got high hopes ... ": song lyric : HE'S
39. Neutral tone : BEIGE
40. Prefix with -gram : PENTA
41. Like angel food cake : SPONGY. I had SPONGE first until MANGY corrected me. MANGE didn't work as an adjective.
43. Curry favor with, with "to" : KISS UP
44. Ill-mannered : UNCOUTH
46. Veers suddenly : ZIGS. Z_GS and wait for the cross.
47. Distance runners : MILERS. I was a pretty OK distance runner, the longer the better - I was too stubborn to admit defeat. The sprint finishers always did for me though - I had no fast gear. Not too sure I've got much of a slow one any more, come to think of it.
48. First name in folk : JONI. Mitchell.
49. How it's always done, initially : SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. The crosses filled this one in for me - I had to think quite hard as to what the acronym stood for. In fact, I had to think so hard that I had Google do the thinking.
52. Heat meas. : B.T.U. British Thermal Unit. The British are very understated with their "thermal units" of weather. Icicles hanging from your ears means "it's a bit chilly out". Hurricane-force winds are "breezy". The opposite applies with heat, as there is rarely any of it. Any day above 70F is "a scorcher". Two consecutive scorchers constitute "a heatwave" and attracts comparisons to the weather in Spain. Three in a row and the Town Hall issues a three-week hosepipe ban.
56. CSA soldier : REB.
57. Green shade : OLIVE. Two shades of green today.
58. Fragrances : ODORS
59. Pack animal : ASS
60. Snooped (around) : NOSED
61. "Check" : NO BET. Poker term. When you decline to open the betting in a particular round and pass to the next player.
Down:
1. NASA vehicles : LEMS. Lunar Exploration Modules.
2. Fish with vermilion fins : OPAH. Reminds me of the toasts in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Ώπα!
3. "Jeepers!" : GOSH
4. "Ugh!" : ICK
5. Enjoy Orbit : CHEW GUM.
6. Masonry-reinforcing rod : REBAR. From "reinforcing bar", which is too much of a mouthful.
7. Inland Asian sea : ARAL
8. D.C. player : POL. Got me with "NAT" first.
9. Set-for-life set : IDLE RICH
10. Lot : DESTINY
12. Form a coalition : UNITE
13. Personalized collection of love songs, say : MIX CD. Mix tapes in my day. The main character in Nick Hornby's book "High Fidelity" makes mix tapes for any girl he's trying to date. John Cusack starred in the movie. Jack Black has an outstanding performance, one of his early successes.
18. Consider : DEEM
23. Toronto Argonauts' org. : C.F.L. Canadian Football League. Nine teams, currently.
24. "... bug in __" : A RUG. As snug as a ..
25. Hustle or shuffle : DANCE
26. Former Mideast ruler : SHAH
27. Tops : A-ONE
29. Like many a stray dog : MANGY
31. Bay sound : NEIGH
33. Incredulous dying words : ET TU?
34. "Hurry!" letters : ASAP! Not STAT. Wait for the crosses if you've just got the A.
36. Tried to make it on one's own : WENT SOLO
37. Storied loch : NESS. More than 22 miles long. Spectacular views too.
39. New Orleans' __ Street : BOURBON, I went for an early-morning run down Bourbon Street one Sunday morning. Let's just say it wasn't one of my better ideas.
40. Crude smelting product : PIG IRON
42. "Once upon a midnight dreary" poet : POE.
43. Two-checker piece : KING. I think this fella can jump backwards, but I haven't played checkers since I was five.
44. Eclipse shadow : UMBRA
45. Times in ads : NITES
46. Daydreamed, with "out" : ZONED. Sorry, what was that?
49. Stuffed shirt : SNOB
50. Brutish one : OGRE. I read "British one" first, and wondered why OGRE? We're not all meanies.
51. "You there!" : PSST
54. Ones following the nus? : XIS. It's all Greek to me.
55. Court promise : I DO. As in promising to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. We geeks learn the meaning of third normal form in a relational database by memorizing: "The key, the whole key and nothing but the key, so help me Codd".
And with that, I think I'm done. Time for some caffeine.
Steve
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Bruce and Steve!
Didn't know NOBET, but otherwise OK!
Have a great day!
Bunny, bunny!
ReplyDeleteI turned on red letters before solving today. I surprised myself at how little help I needed. Didn't know the first 3 across clues, but got the next row, so slogged onward. In the end the perps came to my rescue.
ReplyDeleteI missed yesterday's puzzle. I went shopping in the 'big' (pop. 60,000) city of Great Falls, MT. The town I live is has 1500 residents.
The CFL Coach of this year is Dave Dickenson from Great Falls, MT. He is a local legend.
ORBIT is the mascot for the local baseball team. My avatar today is Orbit & me at a game. I couldn't get sports out of my mind while trying to figure out the Orbit clue. My mother always chose Orbit gum, but it was lost in my memories.
Winter is arriving. There's snow in the area and temps are predicted to drop below 0° soon.
I'm headed to CT for the middle two weeks of December. Hope it's nicer there.
Stay warm,
Montana
Hare, hare-D, hare, hare!
ReplyDelete40. Crude smelting product : PIG IRON I read as, Crude smelling product; d'oh.
Thank you, Steve, for pointing out the arc of the circles forms a juggler's loop.
Started off slowly, but then got going right along. Bruce, this is the most clever puzzle I've ever seen, and a lot of fun!! Thanx!! Best clue: "Groups with a piece keeping strategy." Brilliant! Must admit I never got the JUGGLING theme, but for me, that's the norm. Once Steve 'splained it, I was in awe of how clever and well constructed the clues and grid are. Superb!! Steve, terrific write-up, and nice enlightenment, thanx!!
ReplyDeleteRabbit, Rabbit.
ReplyDelete{A-, A, A, B+, C+, B+.}
I love to work my puzzles dearly,
Then poeticise upon them clearly!
HO-HUM NITES
Became delights,
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY!
Newspaper ads condense their lines,
Saving space and saving dimes.
Text may read
Of NITES or eves
When TIMES IN ADS are ads in Times!
Mae West a famous quip enlisted,
She was Snow White until she DRIFTED!
But many a WENCH
In time's FAST clench
Sees avalanches where hills once lifted!
In spring we see GREEN things a lot
From OLIVE drab to PEAS in pots.
And moldy OGRES
Exude green ODORS,
And springtime colds bring up green snot!
A JUGGLER once claimed he could juggle it all,
PINS and CLUBS and RINGS and BALLS!
He bragged, in SUM,
He could also CHEW GUM --
But he couldn't juggle OLIVE, NANCY, JONI et al.!
He was in a FIX, he was in a pickle!
Why did he have a girlfriend so fickle?
He'd used LOGIC to pick
The ideal birthday gift --
Who wouldn't love a tub of butter brickle?
Even with the JIVE reveal in place I didn't understand what it had to do with JUGGLING. I didn't notice WEAL until after it was in place, stared at it, and left it hoping it was correct. Ditto for SOP. I've never heard of WEAL or SOP's use as an abbreviation.
ReplyDeleteBOURBON st.- a couple of home boys saw each other and decided to shoot at each other Saturday night; all they did was hit 12 other people, one died. Yesterday a balcony collapsed with some people on it. One died.
Montana- The CFL uses my nephew's patented instant-replay program ( SkyCoach) for their teams to review the previous plays on the sidelines during the games. The NFL and NCAA don't allow it during games but some colleges have bought it to use in practice. He had to go to Toronto this past weekend for the Grey Cup.
At first looked like a real poser. Had me worried, but after a few fills it came together rather quckly . Weal was an unknown as was Orbit as a name for gum. Thanx for an enjoyable puzzle
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteWow, this one came together in normal Monday time. Had the circles, but forgot to look at 'em. Didn't get the theme until the reveal. Neat. Thanx, Bruce.
Steve, just what is a "three-week hosepipe ban?" It's just amazing what the British have done to the American language!
I'm A-NEG, and our local blood bank doesn't think it's particularly rare.
I recall reading of the "public WEAL" in some of those patriotic tracts from the 1700's.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all. Thanks Bruce. Thanks Steve.
Didn't have the circles, so missed out on the JUGGLING. Otherwise, PDQ.
Didn't know UMBRA, but UNCOUTH gave me the last needed letter. JOan to JONI.
SOP - I remember the attempts of the Six Sigma disciples to perfect all SOPs and processes, and then later those that toned it downed a bit with Lean Sigma. "Shift those paradigms !"
"We never see any of those around here, right?" At times we do. Some real splitters of hair.
Quick one today. After serving 3 years in the Army, I'll never forget SOP. It always makes me think about another phrase used in the service, "by the numbers", the series of steps involved in a job.
ReplyDeleteHungry Mother, now that you mentioned it, that's probably where I first heard SOP on a regular and repeated basis.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, that's funny. With the IG in place there, I almost entered lignite, but I don't think it's used to smelt ore. Doesn't burn hot enough.
Had to dig into the recesses of my memories for much of this and was slowed by the unknown sport references as always. The NW corner was strangely the last to fall, due to having YUK instead of ICK until the penny dropped. Nice Thursday challenge. Loved the clue for AN I, and felt smug because it was my first fill.
ReplyDeleteTTP, I also had JOAN before JONI, but even earlier had ARLO. Showing our age, I guess. Also, because I took so long to finish, I didn't even stop to think about the theme letters at all.
ReplyDeleteBoo hiss on me. I did this fantastic puzzle in 2 sittings because I had things to do in between. Alas, I neglected to return to finish the extreme NW and NE corners. Seems to happen often. I know. I know. That would not happen solving on line, but that tempts me to cheat. I had all the circles filled but didn't take time to suss that they spelled JUGGLING.Very clever, especially the juggling loop. No unknowns, so "I coulda been a contender." (from on the Waterfront.)
ReplyDeleteFavorites were SAFETY PINS and CHESS CLUBS.
Period English novels include wenches, and modern English novels provide many "Britishisms" for puzzle solving.
Thanks, Steve, for your excellent write-up and Owen KL, for your fine poems.
Rabbit Rabbit
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers -
Our corner of the country is normally plenty moist, but this summer was the driest within my memory, and we've had an all-summer hosepipe ban.
Notes from yesterday: I did drive from Natick to Truro once, back in '81. Some buddies and I piled into my VW Microbus for a short Cape Cod vacation. As I recall, Truro was the place where Marconi set up the antenna for his trans-Atlantic radio transmission.
Spitz: I've never seen touch and goes on a carrier. It sounds hairy!
Kazie, I know what you mean. And if the clue has or implies folk singer and it's four letters, I'm starting with Arlo, and then Pete. Joan, Joni and Ochs follow. Never knew of Phil Ochs until crosswords, but he is also a regular.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning.
ReplyDeleteGreat construction, Bruce. I struggled with Golden AGER, it took rule, mean, calf, and gate to get there! Ha! I should be more self-examining! Loved CHESS CLUBS.
Thanks for the explications, Steve. I really liked the juggling story to go along with the puzzle.
CAUTION: RANT: Who knows how SAFETY PINS relate to diapers? I'm glad I used cloth diapers, oh so many years ago. I only used paper for travel or visiting. Apparently I was saving land fill space for this "eco-conscious" generation of parents. They don't even toss the detritus into the commode, and their nurseries all reek of fecal matter despite their fancy diaper pail systems. YUK!! Got that the world has changed, but at least toss the excrement.
Apparently, I spoke too soon about the weather yesterday. We are not expected to see the sun until Saturday. I do love the sun in the deep of winter.
Have a sunny day nonetheless--wherever you are.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteGot the themefill alright, but messed up KING - haven't played checkers in decades. Good clue, though. Didn't need to, but also couldn't make sense out of the circles - writing a little sloppy today. Good puzzle with lots of fresh fill.
BTU - Liked Steve's take on the Brit weather guessers. I complain about ours a lot, too.
Dudley - very noisy with each A/C gunning 2 Wright radial 1525 HP engines. They could take off without catapult assist.
Well I guess I'm the dope of the day because this was sure as heck no walk in the park for me. Have no idea how long I worked at it because I walked away twice, then returned to try again. The cluing was tricky throughout, but I managed to eventually fill the squares in.
ReplyDeleteBut in the end an FIW. 11A Additional information wasn't registering and square 13 was blank. After reciting the alphabet twice, still had on clue so I tagged an s. I figured it was info that had been sussed out so I created the abbreviation. Had no idea what 13D was. I still don't. Oh well, life goes on.
BOURBON Street favorite clue. We are going to a Xmas gathering tonight at the Wadsworth Art Center in Hartford. Think I know what I'll be partaking of!
Pinch, Pinch ...
ReplyDeleteFave today, of course, was BOURBON Street ... though I prefer the parallel Scotch Street.
Cheers!
"Puzzling thoughts":
ReplyDeleteLoved the puzzle and recap! Great job Bruce and Steve! Was Q the only missing letter for a pangram?
My only correction was changing O NEG to A NEG once the perp filled in.
Was amazed to see the clue/solve for 38a as this song has been an earwig the past few days: Sinatra and the kids
And a limerick:
My fellow drinkers, to tell you the truth,
I find the following mixture UNCOUTH:
Combine BOURBON and Gin,
Pour in blender and spin,
Then add an OLIVE, along with Vermouth
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteWell, Bruce continues to keep us on our toes with another brain-bender. Threw in Arlo without hesitation and boorish instead of uncouth. SOP took longer than it should have but Weal was a gimme as I use that a lot in WWF. (I believe there was a Catholic magazine named "Commonweal."). Enjoyed lots of the fresh and fun fill: Chess Clubs, Safety Pins, Chew Gum, Pig Iron, etc. I don't think I even noticed the circles until I read the reveal clue and then was delighted to see the arc of Juggling. Wow!
Bravo, Bruce, for an outstanding offering and thanks, Steve, for a most entertaining commentary. Your riff on the Brits' weather pronouncements was chuckle-inducing as was DO's tongue-in-cheek jibe on the language mish-mashes! A pleasant start to a new month, I say, Old Chap!
Owen, my favorite is the first one.
It seems like ages since we've seen the sun but at least the rain has stopped and the mild temps continue. Each day without the "white stuff" is appreciated, except by the skiers and snow mobilers.
Have a great day.
Well, phooey. I just finished my comment and copied it onto the clipboard when I got a Low Battery warning. I plugged in the power cable, but it got bumped off when I moved my lap, and lost everything. Usually I paste the comment somewhere, but ... oh well, I'll try again.
ReplyDeleteWell, phooey. I just finished my comment and copied it onto the clipboard when I got a Low Battery warning. I plugged in the power cable, but it got bumped off when I moved my lap, and I lost everything. Usually I paste the comment somewhere, but ... oh well, I'll try again.
Thanks to Bruce for an excellent puzzle and to Steve for an equally excellent discussion.
Well, phooey. I just finished my comment and copied it onto the clipboard when I got a Low Battery warning. I plugged in the power cable, but it got bumped off when I moved my lap, and lost everything. Usually I paste the comment somewhere, but ... oh well, I'll try again.
Thanks to Bruce for an excellent puzzle and to Steve for an equally excellent discussion.
I solved it online, and pretty much went straight through with no red letters or Google, but got no TaDa. I checked entries, and the NE corner just didn't look right — MIXED crossing with ETCETE. Then the light bulb went on, I changed the E to C to get MIX CD and ETC ETC, and got my TaDa.
Another question: What's all this about Rabbit, rabbit and Hare, Hare?
Dudley, that was fascinating about Marconi setting up his receiver (presumably) in Truro, MA. He could've set up his transmitter in Truro, Cornwall, because it was so far West, but he didn't. I once knew whether or not he suspected the existence of the ionosphere (which reflected his outgoing signal earthward), or just relied on his intuition, or … “what the hell, I’m just going to try it.” Now, with Wikipedia, I will just go look it up.
All you people who never heard of Truro should go find Doc Martin (comedy) and Poldark (historical drama) on PBS. Cornwall seems to be a popular place for fiction; we also have Rebecca and, of course, Tristan und Isolde.
@D-O - yep, we've mangled Abe's English, I know! The hosepipe ban edict is issued when there's been a dry spell - you can't water your yard with a hose (sprinklers are pretty much unknown outside of golf courses). It's pretty much a standing joke that even though it seems like it's always raining, there never seems to be enough water after a couple of dry days.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteDid not zip through this one. However, it is a Thursday. Did finish with no inkblots. As the puzzle progressed it got easier (as they always do).
I also liked 16A AN I. That one took me forever to figure out. Then it hit me in the head (Like a V-8 can?).
CHESS CLUBS was also a great Clue/Answer.
The theme was one of the most clever I have seen. Great job!
SACRUM was unknown. Perps.
Never heard of JONI. All the perps were solid.
Heading to church in 15 minutes. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Musings
ReplyDelete-I agree with your summative paragraph, Steve. Wow!
-Piece/Peace Keeping was is a cautionary tale for careful clue reading
-The new Netflix Sherlock uses LOGIC and this flat Fresnel lens instead of a magnifying glass
-In the Mesozoic Era, the Jurassic Period is divided into Upper, Middle and Lower EPOCHS
-This GOLDEN AGER isn’t subbing today because he has home chores!
-A Renaissance Fair staple
-Waiter - “Would you like Red or White wine?” Steve Martin – “Colors, you have colors? I’ll have some BEIGE wine”
-Wanna move up the ladder? KISSING UP is SOP
-Our coach would punish kids by making them run a MILE in a meet
-The passive/aggressive CHECK/RAISE in poker can cost you friends
-The LEM wheels were made of spun piano wire
-IDLE RICH is as useless as a RICH IDLE on your lawn mower engine
-The HUSTLE in P.E. At they didn’t have to touch each other!
-A critic called Ringo Starr’s SOLO album horrific
Put "opas" crossed with "ssh", my bad.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Joni; must fix right now. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now (Live, 1970)
ReplyDeleteOops again! Sorry, everybody, for the multiple paragraphs in my post, which were due to an excess of caution, copying, and pasting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I finally got my TaDa I forgot all about the theme and the circles.
OwenKL, I liked all your limericks, but especially the one about Mae West.
Funny, I interpreted the clue for 55 down as the a promise made at the culmination of a courtship.
ReplyDeleteIt's late and most of you have commented, but I got to sleep once again! That's more important to me.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle, Bruce Haight and I got the JUGGLING theme as well as the cleverly positioned letters. Alas, I forgot to return to the NE corner to finish MIX! Drat!
However, the RAPID solve provided a rewarding enjoyment. SAFETYPINS, which I remember well, was cleverly clued as was CHESSCLUB. Hand up for reading "peace-keeping" before piece-keeping. That correction caused the light bulb to turn on. Yea!
WENCH and WEAL are well known to me from much reading as is Truro, the much visited town in Poldark.
I liked seeing the two shades of green, PEA and OLIVE.
SOP was new to me. Thanks to all for the explanation.
Thank you, Steve, for your unique interpretations.
Have a beautiful day, everyone. It's chilly here but the sun is shining with only a few scattered clouds.
I think of Joni Mitchell as more of a pop artist than a folk singer. She is one of the greatest song writers of all time, up there with Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann (who didn't write their own poetry). She is a true renaissance woman: poet, composer, singer, pianist, 12 string guitarist, and oil painter. A truly amazing human being.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve- nice write up! I am a juggler also, but I spend a lot of time chasing dropped balls. I can juggle three balls in a circle, which is harder than a "cascade", but I doubt there is anyone in the world that can do eight! There's not much difference between PINS and CLUBS in juggling, but fortunately Rich Norris was willing to overlook that. Bruce Haight
ReplyDelete"Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is one variant of a superstition found in Britain and North America that states that a person should say or repeat the word "rabbit" or "rabbits", or "white rabbits", or some combination of these elements, out loud upon waking on the first day of the month, because doing so will ensure good luck." Wiki
ReplyDeleteBruce has been very active this year and I really enjoying that fact.
Well, this started out pretty crunchy for me, and I feared that my great luck streak doing puzzles this week had finally come to an end. But surprise! After starting in the middle and working out the bottom left corner, I slowly made it almost to the top. Had to take a break and do a Sudoku at that point, to clear my head, but when I came back, I got the whole thing--including the JUGGLING theme! Yay! Hurray! Didn't even have to cheat! Woohoo! Many thanks, Bruce, for giving me a great morning! One of my biggest problems was the Shakespearean barmaid. I kept thinking "there can't be a WENDY in Shakespeare, can there?" Huge relief when I finally realized it was WENCH. I actually got I DO pretty quickly, but of course figured it referred to a marriage ceremony. You can't cure a romantic, I guess.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of LOCH NESS, Steve.
Off to get new glasses--probably my last pair before cataract surgery sometime in the spring.
Have a great day, everybody!
WEES, Crunchy but doable.
ReplyDeleteMost of it anyway...
SPitz, what carrier plane used two Wright 1520 HP engines?
I can only find reference to the 1820 version (B17etc...)
& yes, there are silly juggling acts...
A favorite Joni Mitchell song
that does not get much airtime, so you may not have heard it.
CED - One version of the 1820 engine has 1525 HP. Grumman S2F's had twin engines of this power.
ReplyDeleteOh, so PROUD of myself for solving a Thursday pzl w/o a hint of my "option 2"!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mr. Haight, for quite a beautiful X-word. Very clever. Although I didn't get the point of the circled letters while solving, I now see that your theme work is really first rate. Steve's explanation clarified it, and it gave me an aesthetic frisson.
Desper-otto, I too am A-Neg, and the bloodbank folk don't raise an eyebrow. I found the cluing to be generally excellent (11-D being my favorite) but I take issue with Steve's example for 36-A, "Shakespearen barmaid," where he quotes from Othello. That particular reference to a "wench" is not to a barmaid at all, but to the limp and blanched CORPSE of high-born Desdemona. She is the wife the Moor has just killed. "Wench" in this sense is an expression of her status lowered to a level of pitiful helplessness.
But otherwise, kudos all around!
Nice puzzle today. Loved the symmetry of the JUGGLING letters. Not sure how much of this was intentional, but I thought it was clever that to get from one circled letter to the next, you had to move like a chess knight. And there were the CHESS|CLUB and NITES entries adjacent to one another (along with a checkers-related entry).
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the daily write-ups and comments. This is my first contribution.
Awesome puzzle. The theme was so subtle (or complex) that I didn't understand it until Steve's explanation. Some excellent fill and clues, especially the original cluing for AN I. Thank you, Bruce Haight. And thank you, Steve. I see you have also studied Codd and Date.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to say SOP a lot, which he (correctly) pronounced as Ess Oh Pea.
If an angel food cake is SPONGY, is a sponge cake angelly?
Lucina, glad you are getting enough sleep again.
Montana, I used to live in Great Falls. Well, on Malmstrom Air Force Base, actually.
Best wishes to you all.
ReplyDeleteAnother good Bruce Thursday puzzle that took a while to get through. Steve's expo was very enjoyable also. Used Mensa site, so no4 circles, but they wouldn't have helped me get through the puzzle.
I didn't know WEAL. Had insTA before PENTA. I preferred KISSass vs KISSUP. NEIGH didn't register at first. All of the former were taken care of by perps.
Steve: LEMs actually stood for Lunar Excursion Module, but was later changed to Lunar Module (LM) because once it landed, no excursions were involved. The Ascent Stage was the part that returned the astronauts to the Command Module for the return to Earth.
HG @10:05am: Your picture is actually one of the Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRV) or Lunar Rovers that flew on some of the later Apollo missions (15, 16 & 17) and could be considered Excursion vehicles because they actually moved.
Today is National Pie day. I don't think it is a specific kind of pie, just your favorite. Enjoy.
Went fairly smooth, no issues.
ReplyDeleteOk' Man Keith, interesting about wench. Welcome to the discussion Chief Petosegay.Please keep commenting.
ReplyDeleteJayce:
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's only two nights, but I'm hoping for more.
Bruce Haight:
How lovely that you stopped by. Thank you for that and for the wonderfully clever puzzle.
Ray o' sunshine - PSST, me too. SSH, maybe no one will notice...
ReplyDeleteHi All - yep, FIW. But oh, what a joy this was to solve. Thank you Bruce - WEES re: sparkle (I'd use 20lines just praising your c/a's - brilliant! [I literally wrote that in the margin pointing to 11d) and thanks for stopping by. Thanks Steve for the expo - you weren't too shabby yourself :-)
WOs: Hand-up ARLO b/f JONI; 49d Suit b/f SNOB; tried costume ball 1st; NHL b/f CFL.
ESPs: APA[s]; NANCY
Fav: BOURBON St. Our goto in NOLA is the BOURBON Orleans in the heart of the Quarter. Best bit, the Bloody Marys on your way out the lobby in the morning.
{A,A+,A,B+,A,C} {:-)}
Montana - Orbit is also our local team's mascot :-)
HG - Ringo's Blast from Your Past had It Don't Come Easy which I thought was pretty good [had the LP].
Jan 1, 1970 is UNIX's EPOCH. Every second is +1 in a 32 bit register. In 2038 we'll run out of bits - Y2K all over again.
Bruce & Steve. I too love JUGGLING. I can handle 2, 3, & 4 balls, 3 clubs/pins, 3 knives, and do the devil-sticks [I can do most of those tricks - I need to learn propeller between hands - that's cool!]. I learned in grad-school while waiting for programs in the lab to compile. I can do behind the back, circles, between the legs, ETC ETC. My best trick, between the legs, I tried with knives once... That's why they say I'm half-nuts.
Cheers, -T
How OLD do you have to be to think Joni Mitchell was a folk singer?
ReplyDeleteJoni Mitchell won a Grammy for the best folk performance with "Clouds" in 1969. Later she won a Grammy for Pop.
ReplyDeleteChief. welcome to the world of internet expressing yourself. Come back anytime, we like new voices. How is the fur trade these days?
ReplyDeleteWhen I took my oldest to orientation at FSU back in 2005, the first speaker passed out a can of three juggling sacks to everyone and proceeded to teach us to juggle. I still have the can and will take it out every so often.
1 down - NASA vehicles. The answer "LEMS" Which stands for LUNAR EXPLORATION MODULE. I remember reading about this and as I recall they were called "LUNAR EXCURSION MODULE" This might be nit-picky and maybe I am the one that stands corrected!
ReplyDeleteHere at Camp Freightliner learning about scheduled maintenance on my diesel-powered motor home. Today we followed MOPs (Method of Procedure). I had BAU (business as usual) in the crossword at first.
ReplyDeleteMix CDs? Those are soooo 2010. The CD is going the way of cassette tapes. Make her a special play list for her iPhone.
I also never thought about Joni as a folk singer. Guess she can do just about anything she sets her mind to. Years ago I had a girlfriend who could play guitar (among other instruments) and sing JUST like Joni. She actually made a few singing commercials in her "Joni voice" before that practice became frowned upon.
Tired tonight. First time ever being on my feet all day in steel-toed boots. I learned a lot today, but I don't think I want to fly solo on much of the work we did. At least I know where the parts are, what they do, and what they look like.
Bruce - I found some dude doin' 8 balls. Yeah, not me. Wow. C, -T
ReplyDeleteCool video anonymous- usually you only see odd numbers of balls in a "fountain" or "cascade" pattern like that, but that was amazing. Juggling eight in a circular "shower" pattern would be way harder though.
ReplyDeleteLemon, thanks for the explanation of Rabbit, rabbit. I guess Hare, hare is just a variation.
ReplyDeleteI love learning such trivia here.
Marconi's transmitter was at Poldhu, Cornwall (about 15–20 miles SW of Truro). His receiver was at St John's, Newfoundland, the easternmost city in N America, with a 500-ft kite attached to the long antenna.
RetFizz, I don't know anything about the Newfoundland site, but there was definitely a Marconi antenna on Cape Cod. Apparently it was first set up at Wellfleet, which is the next town south of Truro, so I mis-remembered that detail. Wikipedia says it was later erected at Chatham, a bit further south.
ReplyDeleteI gather the proximity of another town named Truro in Cornwall was just coincidence.
Anon-T, you didn't have blogs thus ...
ReplyDeleteMisty. I cracked up on WENDY. Made my morning along with great write-up by Steve, all As from Owen(C+?? I liked that one best).
To ADD-ON to C-Moe's analysis yesterday. I-M-O, Owen has the soul of a poet behind his humor and use of XW terms. Thus his As for the earlier ones vs my personal entertainment of the C+er.
Enjoyed Bruce's Thur XW and his excursion to blogdom. I FIWed on OPA-H too.
Did Joni sing the one about the 'Apricot scarf'. I insisted on Joan Baez and left thinking that I never knew she went by Joni.
Doesn't Arthur get conceived in Cornwall?
WC who finished quickly at 8 pm waiting for a passenger to get bags but couldn't get here until the morning ETHER
WC
As a juggler and unicyclist, I enjoyed the theme!
ReplyDeleteHere http://swt.org/jug/ are photos of our annual Juggling Festival, supposedly the longest running juggling festival in the world!
But... I am still not understanding the connection with JIVE? A Google search of JIVE and JUGGLING is not showing anything helpful.
By the way, here http://swt.org/jug/ivjug08/saturday/P5031400.JPG is me on the unicycle.
NO BET was a total unknown and I was sure it was wrong. But I was wrong!
I don't think there is any connection. It needed to be a four letter word that started with 'J' to begin the J U G G L E loop. JAVA, JAIL, JINX, all might have worked.
ReplyDelete.
Thank you, Argyle! I always appreciate your helpful explanations!
ReplyDelete