Theme: "hashtag"
Words: 70 (missing Q,W,X,Z)
Blocks: 32
HA~!!! This one was looking bleak for the longest time, with a lot of proper names and vague clues, but I surprised myself by getting it done with nary a single cheat, Google, or red-letter peek. And within my personal allotted time, as well. The puzzle itself had to be a truly difficult one to construct, with triple spanners crossing triple climbers, in a "#"-like pattern. Very clever. I have to admire constructors who can pull this off without "meh" fill. In retrospect there was a lot of 'crosswordese' which I have seen before, including a repeat of last week's 'keeping it real'. The long fills;
20. Quantum mechanics symbol : SCHRODINGER'S CAT - I've posted a link to this before, and the more I try to understand it, the more my brain hurts. I get it, but the more I read, the more I don't get it
37. Herbie and Christine : SELF-DRIVING CARS
- one friendly, one no so friendly; Christine was one of the first
'adult' books I ever read, and as a result, the Buick Cutlass Supreme
Brougham that I was driving at the time earned the name "Christine"; the
new Dodge is "Daphne"
52. Game with a disc : ULTIMATE FRISBEE - my first thought was Frisbee, but the 'ultimate' part eluded me
4. Like the Toyota Prius : ENERGY EFFICIENT - a"repeat" from last week
7. Gadget affected by waves : SOUND LEVEL METER
10. Like some aquariums : CLOSED ECOSYSTEM
ACROSS:
1. Spent : JADED - there are days when I am definitely "jaded" at UPS
6. Wine city SSE of the Matterhorn : ASTI - looking back, I shoulda recognized this as merely Saturday cluing for a common crossword fill
10. Pasta alle vongole ingredient : CLAM - no clue; had two crossings, and the other two letters were WAGs
14. 1955 Dior innovation : A LINE - I remembered this from previous puzzles, too, but I needed two crossings to jog my memory
6. Wine city SSE of the Matterhorn : ASTI - looking back, I shoulda recognized this as merely Saturday cluing for a common crossword fill
10. Pasta alle vongole ingredient : CLAM - no clue; had two crossings, and the other two letters were WAGs
14. 1955 Dior innovation : A LINE - I remembered this from previous puzzles, too, but I needed two crossings to jog my memory
15. Create, in a way : COIN
- one of the line supervisors claims to have "coined" the term DERP,
which ended up being the route name of one of my UPS trucks - until the
driver looked it up, and said he didn't like the name anymore; so we changed the name of the route to DOUG
16. Actress Loughlin : LORI - I thought it was SARA - and of course, I had the "R" in place
17. Plague : BESET - "beset" always reminds me of the Pulp Fiction scene where Jules recites Ezekiel 25:17 - with a little embellishment from Quentin, naturally
18. Vintage vessels : TUNS - dah~! Not URNS nor TUGS
19. Silver sources : ORES
23. __ wire : GUY - the sound effects guys on Star Wars used one to create the sound of the lasers in the movie
24. "Piece of cake!" : "DEAD EASY~!"
25. Be true to oneself : STAY REAL - another 'repeat' from last week
29. Poor, as an excuse : SAD
30. Roast runner : EMCEE
31. Dramatic start? : MELO - melodramatic
33. Place with Sundance : ETTA - crafty - I did not know Etta Place was Sundance Kid's wife - the Wiki
16. Actress Loughlin : LORI - I thought it was SARA - and of course, I had the "R" in place
17. Plague : BESET - "beset" always reminds me of the Pulp Fiction scene where Jules recites Ezekiel 25:17 - with a little embellishment from Quentin, naturally
18. Vintage vessels : TUNS - dah~! Not URNS nor TUGS
19. Silver sources : ORES
23. __ wire : GUY - the sound effects guys on Star Wars used one to create the sound of the lasers in the movie
24. "Piece of cake!" : "DEAD EASY~!"
25. Be true to oneself : STAY REAL - another 'repeat' from last week
29. Poor, as an excuse : SAD
30. Roast runner : EMCEE
31. Dramatic start? : MELO - melodramatic
33. Place with Sundance : ETTA - crafty - I did not know Etta Place was Sundance Kid's wife - the Wiki
40. Adequate, in texts : ENUF
41. Tablet operator : USER
42. Capital at the foot of Vitosha Mountain : SOFIA - Saturday cluing
43. Network with a lot of reruns : ION - they started running Burn Notice, which I got hooked on - glad I have a Firestick so I can watch the episodes in sequence now
Love the sunglasses
45. End of the line : LAST STOP
47. Shore scavenger : BEACH BUM - I was thinking "birds" for some reason
51. Crowbar, e.g. : PRY
57. Architect Mies van der __ : ROHE - knew it, just couldn't remember how to spell it
58. Big name in credit : CITI
59. It's quite a blast : N-TEST
60. Reinterpret : SPIN
61. "Ad Parnassum" painter : KLEE - again, no clue. WAG
uh-huh....
62. Pass without flying colors : GET a C
63. __ dress : TENT - not as appealing as an A LINE dress, IMHO
64. Vassal : SERF semi-clecho with; 53d. Vassal's venue : FIEF
65. Line drive, say : SMASH - baseball
DOWN:
1. Sharp criticisms : JABS
2. Smart guy? : ALEC - har-har
3. Bobby Flay creation : DISH - a blank WAG on my part, and clearly a good one
5. Avoided traffic, perhaps : DETOURED
6. When Valjean is released from prison : ACT I - I have learned how to interpret clues like this; fill in "ACT" and wait; it was most likely going to be "I". From Les Misérables, which I know little about
8. Soupçon : TINGE
9. Like Halloween pumpkins : IN SEASON
11. "Oda a Salvador Dalí" poet García __ : LORCA - no clue again
12. Domains : AREAS
13. Indistinct : MISTY
21. Batik need : DYE
22. Dietary no. : RDA
25. Zaire's Mobutu __ Seko : SESE - got it because it's crosswordese again
26. Counterfeit cops? : T-MEN - Treasury agents
28. Nice friends : AMIs - Frawnche
32. Late Ottoman currency : LIRA - I first read this as "LIKE", not "LATE", so I didn't get it
34. Chief justice before Hughes : TAFT
35. Small club group : TRIO
36. "Pronto!" : ASAP
38. Football plays with special teams : RUNBACKS
39. D neighbors on most guitars : G-STRINGS - because the "other" G-string definition is unacceptable here
46. Easter time: Abbr. : SPRing
47. Star or cloud follower : BURST -Starburst, cloudburst; we had plenty of that here Tuesday
48. Cut out for a union? : ELOPE - ah, that kind of union
49. Walk __ line : A THIN
50. Handy : UTILE
54. Test release : BETA
55. Those, in Tenerife : ESAS
56. Permanently mark : ETCH - oops, not SCAR
Splynter
DNF¡ The NW corner killed me. I kept pAnS in for JABS, which kept me from seeing JADED or BESET, and without them dIsH didn't have enough for me even to WAG it¡
ReplyDelete{A+. / B, B, B-, B+, A-.}
The final poem today is about my Dad, who after retirement became a beach-comber and made driftwood knick-knacks.
I recall I covered one of today's spanners 12/14/16:
Pavlov's dog and SCHRODINGER'S CAT
Side by side on the table sat.
The dog was drooling to be fed
The poor cat looked to be half dead.
Dog and cat, they would have fought
But along came Rorschach with his blot!
What the animals saw in the ink
Was -- well, what do y̲o̲u̲ think?
Will SELF-DRIVING CARS be models of EFFICIENCY?
ReplyDeleteWhat next, a SELF-DRIVING golf ball and tee?
Could baseball survive
A LINE SELF-DRIVE?
But the ULTIMATE might be the SELF-SPIN FRISBEE!
There was a SAD tippler from ASTI
Who, when in his cups, could be nasty!
But sober, was a MELO-
Non-DRAMATIC fellow,
So they soaked him in TUNS of chai tea!
Sam was a rock-CLAM, on charts at the top!
But felt he was JADED, and at his LAST STOP.
His bass-man had to PRY
To get close to the GUY.
But he sprung back, when he switched to Glam-rock!
ALEC was BESET, earning COIN was tuff
But LORI wouldn't let him sit on his duff.
The two had ELOPED
As a "BETA-test" joke,
But USER upgrades weren't frequent ENUF!
A BEACH-BUM I knew felt it DEAD-EASY
For him to STAY REAL, when others got cheesy!
He found it UTILE
Always to smile,
But keep a driftwood pole from anything sleazy!
I gave up after getting 20 answers, 19 of which were correct. There was just so much white space left that I knew that it would be a long, frustrating session. Maybe someday I'll be up for this level of challenge.
ReplyDeleteAlthough humbled, I do have one nit - counterfeit cops are the Secret Service. Guys from the treasury (T Men) are more likely to be concerned with taxes - especially liquor and tobacco.
Congrats to Splynter and others who conquer this challenge.
Big day for us. We are going to a greyhound club meet-and-greet in The Villages, then meet our new rescue-to-be at a kennel in Orlando. Our wonderful greyhound died just before Thanksgiving, and we are just now to the point where our broken hearts can find room for another.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWow, what a tour de force! How Pawel managed to fit four grid spanners in perfect symmetry is beyond me. Nice work.
Had to nibble away at the NW corner, since Jaded didn't feel the same as spent. Etta was all perps because I forgot about her. Got there eventually.
Morning Splynter, my thoughts exactly about G string.
From yesterday: not many skaters, apparently, but the LW and I got a good guffaw from D Otto!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWSW -- what Splynter wrote. "HA~!!! This one was looking bleak for the longest time, with a lot of proper names and vague clues, but I surprised myself by getting it done with nary a single cheat, Google, or red-letter peek. And within my personal allotted time, as well." Exactly right! Hand up for SARA, too. My final entry was changing BAD to SAD, because INSEABON didn't look right. Corrected with original Wite-Out, not that fake Liquid Paper. Thanks, Pawel.
Nice puzzle overall, just a couple of quibbles with clues. 47A A BEACH BUM really isn't a scavenger per se, just a person who idles in beach communities (in lieu of having gainful employment or leading a "normal" life). I suppose some of them are moochers, but probably not scavengers. The 10D clue "Like some aquariums" implies a modifier (adjective or adjectival phrase) while the answer CLOSED ECOSYSTEM is a noun phrase. The commercial Ecosphere is cited as an example of this in Wikipedia, but the company's information suggest these last on average 2-3 years, so they're not really closed ecosystems, at least not in the true sense of being self-sufficient without outside resources. The aquariums that most people think of rely heavily on outside resources.
ReplyDeleteIt was a little too tough for me this morning. The NE had too many unknowns, LORI, CLAM, LORCA, TUNS, TINGE, and CAT ( I had SCHRODINGER by perps). I kept wanting SOLAR for SOUND to complete the LEVEL METER but it wouldn't work and I had never heard of DEAD EASY. I filled _ED ECOSYSTEM and SO___LEVEL METER but couldn't work the rest of the letters in.
ReplyDeleteI knew Herbie and Christine were CARS and just WAGGED that they were SELF-DRIVING and even though I didn't see either of the movies I bet they were ENERGY EFFICIENT since they probably didn't know how to work a gas pump and didn't need any.
T-MEN- the Secret Service IS under HOMELAND SECURITY, not the TREASURY
G- STRINGS- you can show the other type without it being on a body.
The long answers were all in my wheelhouse today, except SOUND LEVEL METER which came in with perps. A lot of the short answers were as well like Mies Van der ROHE and KLEE, so this is the quickest I've made it out of a Saturday in eons.
ReplyDeleteHave a relaxing and/or productive Saturday! I'm hoping for both
Thanks Splynter and Pawel!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteOn the first pass, I thought I was done for but, as is the norm, patience and perseverance pulled me through. I had several w/o's: GMAC/Citi, Utah/Etta, Agile/Utile, Hay/Guy, etc. Every time I see Schrodinger's Cat, I think of TBBT because that's where I first heard of it. The grid spanners were quite impressive and, once filled in, helpful with the rest of the solve. Took me longer than my usual Saturday time, but was worth the effort.
Thank you, Pawel, for a rewarding challenge and thank you, Splynter, for the grand tour.
I met my new neighbor yesterday. She seems very pleasant but, boy oh boy, does she talk fast! I better sharpen my ears!
Jinx, good luck with the new addition!
Have a great day.
JADED is not "spent."
ReplyDeleteWES: Never heard DEAD EASY.
Musings
ReplyDelete-The eclectic fill with 3 horizontal and vertical grid spanners boggled what little mind I have!
-A fun, four-minute explanation of SCHRODINGER’S CAT
-I immediately knew Herbie and Christine were cars but looked for a film link
-Do you remember this SOUND LEVEL METER?
-Do we ever see other four-letter wine cities?
-Grandson wants to go to the Car Show in Omaha today. That’s ENUF for me!
-It’s incredible what I thought I heard before the SPIN doctors took over
-My neighbor and I once had a spirited discussion about a BEACH BUM buying lobster with food stamps
-A LINE DRIVE that stills pains Giant’s fans like Hondo
-“Blocking in the back” penalties seemed standard on RUN BACKS.
Luckily, I knew about SCHRODINGERSCAT. That gave me the leverage that I needed to go the rest of the way.
ReplyDeleteHG,
ReplyDeleteDo we ever see other four letter wine cities?
Surely, you are pulling my leg...
Good day to all!
ReplyDeleteLovely puzzle today with some very clever cluing. Favorite was "Place with Sundance" for ETTA. Hand up for haY before GUY. Thanks for the expo and links, Splynter.
Enjoy the day!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteEventually got almost all of it. Had bad before SAD and that messed up getting IN SEASON. Got SOFIA early with the F in TAFT. Had Utah before ETTA; perhaps the best cluing of the day. Quite a tour de force with 3 vertical and 3 horizontal grid spanners.
Agree with the JADED and BEACH BUM comments. But the clues pointed in the right direction. And it is Saturday.
Tough one. Part way along the solve I checked to see my mistakes, three of them, then I went back to Master mode to change them. I did okay except for the S in SAD and IN SEASON, which required an ABC run. Still fun and challenging.
ReplyDeleteI think JADED is just a tick before being completely SPENT, not that far off.
I immediately pictured a beach bum scavenging for usable driftwood and other treasures as a hobby, just as OKL mentioned. I have read many novels about them. Alan and I are lake people. He has a T shirt that says LAKE BUM. David who is an ardent beach person thinks it's silly.
OKL, the first one is A+, wonderful.
Favorites were roast runner=emcee and counterfeit cops= T MEN
What a lovely challenge, Mr. Pawel Fudzinski! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat white expanse always appears daunting, but as noted by IM, patience and perseverance wins out. LORCA, one of my favorite Spanish poets started me in the NE followed by the familiar LORI and with -LAM, CLAM emerged and continued on toward CLOSED ECOSYSTEMS.
Much familiar crosswordese simplified matters and assisted in the long fill; SESE (I know you now), ETTA, ASTI, KLEE and ROHE which we've seen many times before.
I've heard of ULTIMATEFRISBEE but of course not RUNBACK.
This was quite a blast, thank you again, Pawel, and the indefatigable Splynter. Thak you, too.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Oops. That should be: thank you, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteHand Up for SCAR before ETCH, but otherwise pretty much plain sailing. Well crafted puzzle, good job. Thanks for the write-up, Splynter.
ReplyDelete"In search of Schrodinger's Cat" by John Gribbin is a great intro to the fascinating and weird world of quantum theory. Extremely approachable for non-mathematicians and non-physicists like me.
DEAD EASY is very much "in the language" for me.
Good morning all. Thank Pawell. Excellent puzzle. Thanks Splynter.
ReplyDeleteContrary to a today's 24A clue, this puzzle was not a "Piece of cake !" Coffee was needed. Took longer than normal. Glad I stuck w/ it. An unaided TADA.
Pasta alle vongole ? No idea. Thought perhaps wine, then vino, then cLAw and finally CLAM. Hi MISTY ! The clue doesn't fit you. You are far from indistinct.
Triple take on the GET A C clue. Finally saw it was w/o, not w/. Visa before CITI, but RUNBACKS fixed that.
Worked on the 27th, then 39th, and finally the 40th floor of an iconic Mies van der Rohe building for a few years. There seemed to be corresponding levels of work induced headaches.
Me too Dudley. ETTA / TAFT was my last fill. Early on, I was thinking Utah and the Sundance Film Festival, but that didn't fit with the common fill of stat or ASAP.
Still have a working Realistic (Radio Shack brand) SOUND LEVEL METER that was purchased in the early 80s.
Caught the last commuter train out of the city, a milk run, one early morning after an exceptionally long and grueling day. That's when I learned that the LAST STOP on my commuter line was the train yard well past my normal stop. The conductor must not have seen me sleeping on the upper level.
TTP, I've also got a working Radio Shack 33-2050 Sound Level Meter -- very handy for setting speaker levels for the surround system. Trying to set them "by ear" doesn't work very well.
ReplyDeleteByline: Natick
ReplyDeleteThesaurus has 'spent' as a synonym for Jaded.
ReplyDeleteBurn Notice got a bit ridiculous in later seasons, like most shows that go on longer than planned.
So a bit crunchy today, but a typical Saturday.
Thank you kindly Pawel Fludzinski for this fun and elegant challenge for all of us late week solvers.
ReplyDeleteFellow puzzlers, is there a crosswordese term for an answer that only a tiny percentage of solvers are likely to know? Natick as I understand it refers to the intersection of two such answers. I think of these as a two-dimensional or full fledged Natick. But what to call the ones that can be reasonably and fairly solved thanks to the perps? A half Natick? A one-dimensional Natick? Or something else? I expect a certain number of these beyond the usual misdirects and tangential cluing in a late week construction.
Another hand up for "hay" before "guy", and being a bit slow to parse/grok "get a C" . Other missteps for me included "visa" before "citi", "Sea Eagle" or at least "Sea something" before "beach bum", and "Mar" before "Spr".
Anon at 9:11 am:
I too never heard of jaded used in the "spent" sense, but xwording at its best should make you learn new things...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaded
And if it's any consolation, the J in jaded was my very last bit of fill.
Desper-otto,
ReplyDeleteI just checked the model # on my SOUND LEVEL METER. Radio Shack catalog # 42-3019. About the 6th one down in your link. The price label on the box from when I bought it shows $39.95. I bought mine for that same reason.
A Saturday toughie for me, that required lots of cheating even though I had done a pretty good job in the East, both up and down. Impressive grid, Pawel, and helpful expo, Splynter--many thanks to you both!
ReplyDeleteSo, did anyone notice the shout-out to me--MISTY--? Must be because I'm pretty INDISTINCT.
Jinx, I hope you get a sweet, wonderful pup!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
In my 60 years of literacy, JADED does not mean "spent". maybe disgusted as a one word clue, but not spent not in either meaning of spent...exhausted or as the past tense of spend. As a nominally trained physicist I of course got all the longs fills except the damn cat ! Again U don't see the cat as a "symbol". It's a cute story (there is a better word for story here that escapes me) that is used to introduce that electrons can be thought of in multiple places simultaneously both as a particle and as a wave. maybe it should be Heisenbergs cat anyway. Second semester QM was my downfall anyway. It was the point where I realized I wasn't ALWAYS the smartest person in the room !
ReplyDelete"puzzling thoughts":
ReplyDeleteAfter my first pass, and focusing on the "low hanging fruit", I found that this puzzle was not filling in very well. So, I looked at the one clue in which I had "no clue", and that was 20 across. Schrodinger's cat. Once I had this in place, I finished the puzzle with just a couple of mistakes. VISA before CITI, and PROM before TENT.
This certainly wasn't DEAD EASY, but I tried to STAY REAL. Favorite was the SERF/FIEF crossing - I like it when two "connected clues" can somehow intersect.
HG, Napa comes to mind as a four-letter wine city. And yes, there is a city called Napa, it's not just the region or county (in case anyone wondered)! 😜🍷
What others said, about a beach bum being a scavenger. Not a favorite clue, but I guess on Saturday puzzles, either the editor or constructor figures you need to have more obscure clueing to add to the difficulty.
Owen, I keep looking at your limerick about the tippler from ASTI and wanting to put a different word or phrase as the final rhyme/pun. Not a lot of words that rhyme with ASTI or nasty, however.
And how at the end of January could pumpkins be considered IN season ??? I resisted that fill until the end.
ReplyDeleteI know sports so ultimate Frisbee and runback came easy but runbacks are about the only thing special teams do and ultimate Frisbee is the fringiest of fringe sports. I marvel how different knowledge sets can solve such grids. Good on you all...it seems for some of you today was DEADEASY. ( I never heard the term either) Oh well..Ill probably have more to complain about tomorrow.
What an impressive construction! I knew Schrodinger's cat but spelling his name as Shroedinger messed me up big time. It took turning on red letters to fix it. Of course I then did the ol' forehead slap. Having walk A FINE line in the lower left also messed me up, and took a red-letter fix to set it right. Lots of fun, though.
ReplyDeleteLW and I often watch the ION channel when there's nothing else worth watching. We also used to like Burn Notice but lost interest in it after a couple of years.
OwenKL, applause for your first poem.
Hello Everyone!
ReplyDeleteWell done, Pawel, on the Saturday Stumper. I didn't get everything but still feel like I did well. And wonderful write up as well, S.
@Jinx - congrats on the new rescue! I am very excited for you to welcome a new friend into your home. Your old friends never leave you, they just scoot over a little to make room in your heart for the new one.
Off to study!
t.
BTW - @Owen, fantastic #1 today - brilliant!
ReplyDeletet.
Isn't the cat the symbol for the idea the story illustrates? Schrodinger's just tells us which cat.
ReplyDeleteThis whole "cat" idea does not appeal to my type of logic. I suppose I am too literal. For me the cat is actually dead or actually alive whether I am aware of it and can prove it or not, but please don't try to explain it to me. I have a mental block on it and I don't actually care. More power to you quantum physics types.
David is still in a great deal of pain ever since Sunday. His bike accident caused a lot of tendon and soft tissue damage and further damage was caused by the very difficult struggle to insert the rod and pin in his extreme upper femur. His thigh is swollen double in size. The surgeon said it would be quite painful for four weeks.
On the other hand, Alan is doing great and has been going to work all this month.
TTP, I checked my sound level meter...it goes to 11.
ReplyDelete:-)
Ringing in the Lunar New Year . . . it's the Year of the Rooster.
ReplyDeleteGung Hay Fat Choy!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Just back from The Omaha Car Show and it was not something I would go to again but grandson and I have gone for 10 years straight. The sun won’t rise on a day where I refuse to go somewhere when he asks me.
-Dave, your “four-letter wine” was hysterical!
-Do you Sesame Street veterans remember this GUY?
Splynter: Nice write-up. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteOK, I rarely solve the Crossword puzzles on the weekend ...
but it was a cold (for Tampa Bay) Saturday ... and I had to keep the Gasparilla Pirates from invading Tarpon Springs ... and yeah, we did NOT get invaded.
So I decided to take a shot (turns out it took four shots) at solving ...
Geez, what a slog ... but I "got'er done."
Never heard the expression DEAD-EASY before. Learning moment I will forget by morning.
Having been to SOFIA, I remembered the mountain Vitosha's name.
Liked the CSO to Moi at BEACH BUM ... though I seldom scavenge.
Also the CSO to Misty.
Well it will be Florida Cold (in the mid 50's) and rainy tomorrow ...
But beach weather by mid-week.
Cheers!
Cock a doodle doooooooooo
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all who managed this one without cheats, look-ups, or whatever!
ReplyDeleteI was feeling mighty cocky right up until just past the point-of-no-return, when two of my engines conked out. Yep - until then my old walnut was amazing me in coming up with long fills like 4-D and 37-A after only a letter or two. But once I lost half my power I felt those headwinds coming at me full blast.
My ship was buffeting, buffeting, and I had to send out two or three SOS signals. In the end I managed to bring 'er home - but not entirely under my own power.
A wag o' my wings to Pawel Fludzinzki - my worthy opponent! Splynter, you're an ace!
First ditto omk. I had TIRED and reluctantly went to JADED when JABS Jabbed me in the noggin.
ReplyDeleteI had to cheat. LORI, then DISH. Finally I got home and 20a still didn't make sense. My son took a quick look and said "Dad, the last word is CAT". DUH!!
I was going to toss in the towel after ten minutes but I managed a square here a FIEF and a SERF there. The SERF belongs to the vassal who owes his FIEF to his liege lord.
"Everyone knows: It's MISTY". I'm surprised no one linked that 67,68 song.
Yes OKL #1 was great but all deserve at least A-.
Yes I remember McCovey's line drive into Richardson's mitt. Ralph Terry pitched it.
WC
I thought everyone knew it was Windy. ?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tinbeni and Wilbur, for acknowledging MISTY! Made Misty's indistinct heart feel great!
ReplyDeleteHi all!
ReplyDeleteBack from Norman. ELDEST feels she nailed her audition; they even noted her ACT score and asked what other schools she was looking at. But, that's about a proud dad not this puzzle.
Pawel -- The only reason I'm chiming in at this late hour is Fav @20a c/a. I only had 2d (ALEC) at the time and ran though all the formula I could remember from my semiconductors classes; nothing worked until I thought "I've solved all His eq'ns and the Cat was Fluffy."
I inked SCHRODeNGERS CAT [hey, I can't spell] and that c/a alone was worth the price of admission.* Thank you sir. There was other fun in your symmetry but the full sol'n eluded me.
Splynter - You filled in all the squares I couldn't get with your wit. Thanks. I was snow-blind in the south because I was stuck on visa instead of CITI [card 'member' since '90, D'oh!]
{A+,A,B+,C,B,A}
You know, you kinda can "go home again." While Eldest was in her closed audition, I went down a block to The Library - a wonderfully named college-town pub [Mom, I was at The Library all night!]. It's been 19 years since DW & I haunted that joint... It hasn't changed a lick.
Y'all have a great night / Sunday.
Cheers, -T
*and the price was high! The hotel printer left off the last two rows of the grid. It wasn't until BETA I realized I needed to "draw" another row of squares! I GET BY, er, GET a c?!? Frogs...
Anon T @ 11:45
ReplyDeleteGood luck to your daughter! I remember when my daughter was doing her auditions and her mom and I had to sit back and wait.
I will have good thoughts for her. Music, yes? Voice?
BTW, one of my daughter's auditions was at Rice - and while she was not accepted there, later in her career she was lauded by the professor who rejected her as a student. He invited her to do a Master's Class and has reciprocated at her school ...
Thanks everyone for the positive comments. Much appreciated. I am glad you enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks to Rich/Patti as well for the great editing.
ReplyDeleteWas there a theme? Did the hashtag shape to the puzzle have significance?
ReplyDeleteFIR but agree this was quite a challenge!
"Quantum mechanics symbol" had this physics person mystified thinking literally of symbols. PSI was way too short! Likewise BRA and KET. Then the light went on.
Plenty of unknowns: ION, TUNS, LORCA, LORI Loughlin, ROHE.
No idea who is Bobby Flay, so DISH was my last WAG. Hand up for never hearing JADED meaning spent. JADED is the perfect word to describe someone whose joy is diminished by having a good experience too early and too often. A very sad state to be in.
Learning moment that ETTA Place was a person. Paul KLEE was one of my favorite artists when I was a kid. Never heard of that piece.
Misdirection on "waves" had me mystified before I finally realized it was sound waves, not ocean waves. Fun clue!
Pasta alle vongole is my favorite pasta, so CLAM was a gimme. Unfortunately there are not many clams anymore in California.