Theme: None
Words: 72 (missing J,X)
Blocks: 27
Ouch. Not a good way to start this year's Saturday puzzling. I had a
nearly blank grid after the first Across and Down passes, with "MOET"
and BIC" my only fills; then I tried a few WAGs, and the bottom started
to fill in. Worked my way up the sides, where MAESTRO got me into the
NE, but 24d. was a total blank - and so on came the red letters, and I
have to call Fun SPONGE on too many answers - even ones I got ( I am
looking at you, 55a.). Argh~! - yet ironic that I finished within my
personal time. Oh - and one Google cheat - might as well own up to a
complete crash and burn....Near perfect symmetry in the grid spoiled by
fill that carried a cringe factor (*) too high. Nothing longer than 8
letters;
2*. "100% juice smoothie" brand : ODWALLA - not a chance in millions was I getting this - California west coast thing, I guess
2*. "100% juice smoothie" brand : ODWALLA - not a chance in millions was I getting this - California west coast thing, I guess
14. Investor's concern, familiarly : P/E RATIO - thought it was "----TAX" at first
39. Club attention-getter : PERFUME - ah that kind of club - there was once a fragrance named "Escape" that made me swoon; it's not the scent or the liquor that gets my attention now....
43. CIA nickname : LANGLEY - Just finished "The Broker", John Grisham, featuring his CIA director Teddy Maynard, who's home base was frequently referred to as "Langley"
(redacted)
ACROSS:
1. "Easy!" : "NO SWEAT~!"
8. Scary high : BAD TRIP
15. Facebook co-founder Saverin : EDUARDO - my Google cheat; I am not on Facebook, and don't "tweet" either
16. Come by : ACQUIRE
17*. Soccer blunder : OWN GOAL - my dad would be so upset - he lived for soccer, and I never heard this phrase before
18. Arabian matchmaker : BREEDER - argh~! Horse talk
19. Site of many '60s tours : 'NAM - ah, not a musical tour, as I was thinking
20. Spread out : SPLAYED - dah~! Not ARRayed
22. MPG-estimating org. : EPA - I pondered this, and left it blank
23. Kiddie lit count : OLAF - not in my 'ute' - the Wiki
25. Provisions : TERMS
26. Eponymous 18th-century wine trader Claude : MOËT
27. Story featuring Paris : ILIAD - ah, the character, not the city
29. Govt. agency with domestic field divisions in 15 states : DEA - perps left me with D - A
30. Pacific island overrun by wild chickens : KAUA'I - I figured it was Hawaiian, but LANA'I was all I could think of
31. Original "SNL" cast member : RADNER - Gilda - got it once I had the --D--R
33. Godfather cocktail ingredient : AMARETTO - never had one; my first attempt had "----MIX"
35. Lump : GLOB - dah~! Not Blob
37. Wally who played himself in the "Taxi" episode "Latka's Cookies" : AMOS - never watched, but I can see the "Famous Amos" connection
38. Wine drink : SPRITZER
42. Forest weapon : ANTLER
46. Social group : PEERS - I tried CASTE
47. Wite-Out maker : BIC
49. Do away with : ERASE - hesitated on the first pass with this inkling
50. __ health : ORAL - I take good care of my teeth, but my gum is starting to bother me between my last two molars
51. Inexpensive vodka : POPOV - vodka was never my drink, so I pondered STOLI - 12 year anniversary tomorrow
53. Currently playing : ON TV
54. Draft letters : NFL - argh~! football sports draft
55*. Acid test supply : pH PAPER - I filled this in and said "no way"
57. "Wow!" : "GEE~!"
58. Colorful holiday candy : GUMDROP
60. First name in dognapping : CRUELLA - 101 Dalmatians
62. Stem (from) : EMANATE
63. Get gray gracefully : AGE WELL
64. Old Roman adviser : SENATOR
65. Early arrivals : RED-EYES
DOWN:
1*. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" genre : NEO-NOIR - got the NOIR from perps, but nothing made any sense
3. Raisin brand : SUN-MAID - ah, this company I know of
4. Reaction to a treat, maybe : WAG - oops, not "ARF"
5. Lover of Psyche : EROS
6. One way to cope : ADAPT
7. Sounded : TOLLED - I had ---LED; Called, Yelled~?
8. 2008 Poehler/Fey comedy : BABY MAMA
9. Real estate measures : ACRES - clecho with; 21d. Real estate measure : AREA - one outdoor, one indoor
10. Removed for a rules violation, briefly : DQ'ed - my online search pulled up dq'd, no "E" - short for disqualified
11. Day of the wk. : TUEsday - blank, I had a one-in-seven shot; give me a "U" and....
12. Weather : RIDE OUT - the verb, not the noun
13. Emphatic words : "I REPEAT"
24*. Obsessive young devotee : FAN GIRL - ugh. Never heard the term - but it was a movie from last year
26. Baton holder : MAESTRO
28. Benching targets, briefly : DELTS
30. Greenland currency : KRONE
32. Waitress in the comic strip "Shoe" : ROZ
34. Doctors' org. : AMA - oooh~! A gimme~!
36. Certain jazzman : BE-BOPPER
38. They hold water : SPONGES - FUN Sponges do not
40. Quiche shunner, in an '80s best-seller : REAL MAN - ah, did not know it was a book - the Wiki
41. Longtime morning host : RIPA - made me take out STOLI
44. One-named "American Boy" singer : ESTELLE - almost all perps
45. Lets out : REVEALS
48. Wheels of justice? : COP CAR - har-har
51. A filter may be used to produce it : PHOTO
52. Edge : VERGE
55. Start to fall? : PRAT
56. Regretted : RUED
59. Some trial evidence : DNA
61. Rebus animal : EWE
8. Scary high : BAD TRIP
15. Facebook co-founder Saverin : EDUARDO - my Google cheat; I am not on Facebook, and don't "tweet" either
16. Come by : ACQUIRE
17*. Soccer blunder : OWN GOAL - my dad would be so upset - he lived for soccer, and I never heard this phrase before
18. Arabian matchmaker : BREEDER - argh~! Horse talk
19. Site of many '60s tours : 'NAM - ah, not a musical tour, as I was thinking
20. Spread out : SPLAYED - dah~! Not ARRayed
22. MPG-estimating org. : EPA - I pondered this, and left it blank
23. Kiddie lit count : OLAF - not in my 'ute' - the Wiki
25. Provisions : TERMS
26. Eponymous 18th-century wine trader Claude : MOËT
29. Govt. agency with domestic field divisions in 15 states : DEA - perps left me with D - A
30. Pacific island overrun by wild chickens : KAUA'I - I figured it was Hawaiian, but LANA'I was all I could think of
33. Godfather cocktail ingredient : AMARETTO - never had one; my first attempt had "----MIX"
35. Lump : GLOB - dah~! Not Blob
37. Wally who played himself in the "Taxi" episode "Latka's Cookies" : AMOS - never watched, but I can see the "Famous Amos" connection
38. Wine drink : SPRITZER
42. Forest weapon : ANTLER
46. Social group : PEERS - I tried CASTE
47. Wite-Out maker : BIC
49. Do away with : ERASE - hesitated on the first pass with this inkling
50. __ health : ORAL - I take good care of my teeth, but my gum is starting to bother me between my last two molars
51. Inexpensive vodka : POPOV - vodka was never my drink, so I pondered STOLI - 12 year anniversary tomorrow
53. Currently playing : ON TV
54. Draft letters : NFL - argh~! football sports draft
55*. Acid test supply : pH PAPER - I filled this in and said "no way"
57. "Wow!" : "GEE~!"
58. Colorful holiday candy : GUMDROP
62. Stem (from) : EMANATE
63. Get gray gracefully : AGE WELL
64. Old Roman adviser : SENATOR
65. Early arrivals : RED-EYES
DOWN:
1*. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" genre : NEO-NOIR - got the NOIR from perps, but nothing made any sense
3. Raisin brand : SUN-MAID - ah, this company I know of
4. Reaction to a treat, maybe : WAG - oops, not "ARF"
5. Lover of Psyche : EROS
6. One way to cope : ADAPT
7. Sounded : TOLLED - I had ---LED; Called, Yelled~?
8. 2008 Poehler/Fey comedy : BABY MAMA
9. Real estate measures : ACRES - clecho with; 21d. Real estate measure : AREA - one outdoor, one indoor
10. Removed for a rules violation, briefly : DQ'ed - my online search pulled up dq'd, no "E" - short for disqualified
11. Day of the wk. : TUEsday - blank, I had a one-in-seven shot; give me a "U" and....
12. Weather : RIDE OUT - the verb, not the noun
13. Emphatic words : "I REPEAT"
24*. Obsessive young devotee : FAN GIRL - ugh. Never heard the term - but it was a movie from last year
26. Baton holder : MAESTRO
WTF~?
30. Greenland currency : KRONE
32. Waitress in the comic strip "Shoe" : ROZ
36. Certain jazzman : BE-BOPPER
38. They hold water : SPONGES - FUN Sponges do not
40. Quiche shunner, in an '80s best-seller : REAL MAN - ah, did not know it was a book - the Wiki
41. Longtime morning host : RIPA - made me take out STOLI
44. One-named "American Boy" singer : ESTELLE - almost all perps
45. Lets out : REVEALS
48. Wheels of justice? : COP CAR - har-har
51. A filter may be used to produce it : PHOTO
52. Edge : VERGE
55. Start to fall? : PRAT
56. Regretted : RUED
59. Some trial evidence : DNA
61. Rebus animal : EWE
Splynter
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteStarted off poorly because the NW corner was tricky - looking at you, Neo Noir - but by dropping down to the SW, a toehold was established and I burned right through, counterclockwise, in Wednesday time.
Blogger is behaving oddly on my iPad this morning - it refuses to generate the normal cursor in the text box. Huh.
Morning, Splynter, my hat is off and held high in recognition of your anniversary!
Morning!
ReplyDeleteI knew something was weird this morning when I opened my eyes and saw tall pines through the bedroom window. Normally there's just filtered light through the humongous philodendron. Phil had collapsed overnight during the hard freeze. He's now 4 feet tall rather than 10, and looks miserable. It's only 27 on my back patio...at least 50 degrees below where I think it oughta be. I hate winter.
OK, I've delayed long enough. DNF, DNF, DNF! I got most of this one, but the three stacked 7's at the top left just would not yield. SUNMAID and EROS were in place, but the rest of that area was stubbornly snow-covered. Didn't help that I WAGged 7d as PEALED. Nothing was working, and I finally had to throw in the towel.
DQED? Banished to Dairy Queen?
[Redacted] -- cute, Splynter. Congrats on your imminent anniversary. You should be proud of that accomplishment!
I appreciate today's puzzle on two levels. First, I think it is great that the many accomplished xw solvers get a real challenge. Second, I'm glad that it was so difficult that I gave up right away and didn't spend a lot of time only to get frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI filled in 11 "across" clues, 10 correctly. I got 11 of 13 "down" clues right as well.
I once saw a video starring Paris Hilton. Lots of action but no plot - legs as nice as those revealed by Splynter today. Thanks for those, and for the rest of the fine reveal.
Time for new glasses, or else change my default font from Arial - I read 55D as "Start to fail" instead of "fall" and filled in "pass" (for pass/fail) instead of PRAT, so it took a while to back into the SW.
ReplyDeleteNEONOIR felt like I was making up a term, and ODWALLA not only was unknown but didn't even look right.
Way too much for me today. I REPEAT; this was not 'NO SWEAT' TODAY. And no, I didn't make a WAG on 4D-WAG. Should I list the correct fills or fills that I have never heard of. I'll list the latter.
ReplyDeleteOWN GOAL
POPOV
NEO NOIR
ODWALLA
EDUARDO
BABY MAMA (film)
ROZ
ESTELLE (singer)
I correctly filled the SE but the rest was mostly white. Even after I correctly filled I ACRES,REPEAT & PE RATIO and the rest of the East I could get nowhere. Ditto for the NW (SUNMAID & NAM) & SW (I did have EMANATE, REAL MAN, & SENATOR). Very few fills in the North.
Favorite clues- "Wheels of Justice" & "Arabian matchmaker"
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is that one very important requisite (for me) in solving a crossword puzzle is enjoyment. That emotion was nowhere to be found during the hour + it took to finish with help. I will now defer to my dear friend, Thumper.
Splynter, you are a real trouper, in more ways than one. Congrats on tomorrow's milestone!
Jayce, have you ever purchased form iGourmet? They have lots of goodies!
Going to my sister Peg's birthday party tonight. I don't know what the menu is and I don't really care. It'll be a treat to not have to cook for myself.
Have a great day.
IM, just don't forget about that step down. Didn't that happen on your sister's birthday a few years ago?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSplynter, congrats on your anniversary. We have a close relative who needs to follow your great example.
Crashed and burned. Too many red letters and look ups. Keeps one humble. Hope this becomes a growing lesson for my solving. All perps for ODWALLA, PERATIO, DQED. I didn't realize that BABY MAMA was Tina and Amy's work. 60% or more was quite easy and kept me trying, but the rest was a real bear.
Arabian match maker was clever. I didn't think of horses until Splynter explained.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was really very NOIR, but I had trouble with the NEO part.
REAL MAN was one of my first entries. I know so many real men who like quiche. I especially like crustless ones. CRUELLA was my first entry.
Never thought of gum drops as a holiday treat. Is that common?
My friend is a meteorologist. He can look in his date's eyes and tell WEATHER.
YR, how do you recognize a crustless man?
ReplyDeleteHello, Cornernites.
ReplyDeleteAs the old Cubs announcer, Jack Brickhouse, used to say, WHOOO BOY!
NO SWEAT. Not!!! Quite a workout Mr. Steinberg, but all in all, lots of fun. I was not on your wavelength, but when I saw the light, I found it all quite admirable. My favorite clues in the end were for MAESTRO, ANTLER, AGE WELL, RED EYE, COP CAR, SPONGES, and BREEDER. Nice work.
Splynter, thank you for leading us through the forest even as you admit to the same troubles I suffered. Congrats on your most important anniversary. Hope you are resting well after the wild delivery and return season.
Enjoy the weekend. Stay cozy!
Splyntet I join with others to applaud your work on these Saturday puzzled and controlling your personal battles.
ReplyDeleteIs it just meet or does the stock market chart you chose resemble a popular one finger salute, perhaps to the puzzle!
I knew some of the stumpers Odwalla but it was a mine field to get it done.
Happy football playoff all
Good day to all!
ReplyDeleteYou got me today, David. I waved the white flag of surrender early on, and turned to Mr. G. to finish solving. The only solid area I had without help was the SE corner. Thanks for guiding us through today's offering, Splynter, and congratulations on your impending anniversary!
Enjoy the day!
Super challenging - but very slowly inched forward until it was done. The NW was the hardest for me to fill. I had NETNOIR before NEONOIR because I knew that Lisbeth Salander did most of her amazing work on the internet, but OWN GOAL changed that.
ReplyDeleteLast son headed off back to college this morning, so time to get the house back in order and the Christmas decorations down. Another cold day today, but very sunny!
Thanks Splynter and congrats! and to David for the tricky puzzle!
DO, LOL I can't recognize crustless men, but I can recognize crusty ones. i.e. cantankerous, irascible. Funny that the opposite of this kind of crusty is not crustless.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting that STEM can have almost opposite meanings
Sometimes stem means to originate or emanate; other times it means to stop something at its source. You stem the flow of a river, but you can also observe that a river’s flow stems from a spring.
It's snowing like crazy, but it is not expected to amount to much. Really? Even the salted road is white and the cars are thickly covered. Early morning temps are in the teens and single digits today and for the next three days. A warm up should be coming Tues. afternoon.
Musings
ReplyDelete-“General Lee, I need to borrow your white surrender flag.” ODWALLA, EDUARDO and NEONOIR along with incorrect ITS CAKE, OFFSIDE, BLARED, YUM and ARRAYED did me in. My usual M.O. of a bottom-up Sat. solve got everything until I stalled where I began.
-Wild speculation that ignored P/E RATIOS gave us this a decade ago
-Our friend Chef Wendy lives on Kauai. I wonder if she feels threatened. ☺
-I’ve adopted Gilda’s last word here when I mess up
-I just bought a 10-pack of very cheap Paper Mate Sharpwriters to do these puzzles because they have great ERASERS
-My 50-yr-old daughter decided to go gray two months ago
-She called last night to say she has to ADAPT to a big change at her State Farm job
-Yup, Otto, for DQ’s, track coaches say, “He went to the Dairy Queen”
-They RIDE OUT the storm in this movie
-Was it THAT long ago that Kelly RIPA took over for Kathy Lee?
-My ESTELLE would have been “Sophia on Golden Girls”
-Every final scene REVEAL on BBC’s Poirot is out of left field!
-Congrats on your anniversary, Splynter. My dad made 35 years after nearly dying
DO @ 9:26 - That unfortunate "mis-step" occurred on Christmas Day, 2013 at my niece's house. However, I did have an unfortunate accident at my sister Peg's house, also. Several years ago, I walked into the corner of the open dishwasher door and ended up with a 3-4" gash which should have had stitches but didn't. A third injury, all to the same leg, I might add, happened a few years later when I slipped and crashed on my left knee into concrete covered in ice-melting pellets. That required a trip to the ER and 8 stitches. 🙃
ReplyDeleteMAMA mia! David Steinberg, what have you wrought? I did enjoy the challenge though it was anything but easy. The entire east wing blossomed from the bottom up with some very clever cluing as has been mentioned. At KAUAI I had to laugh and envisioned the many chickens we saw roaming freely there.
ReplyDeleteThe unknown ESTELLE emerged through perps and I, too, have read LANGLEY in Grisham's tomes. Going west, it was a slog until ROZ binged into my brain which gave me SPRITZER and the rest followed. Northwest took much longer as only ADAPT, TOLLED and NOSWEAT initially appeared but once I had EROS and WAG, EDUARDO became obvious. No idea about ODWALLA so just looked it up, my only search as I would not have gotten OWNGOAL.
I remember the quiche craze when the book came out but for me it was never a permanent affection. I find quiches too bland. At start to fall, my first thought was PRAT but I dismissed it as too obvious and replaced it later.
PHOTO eluded me and PROTO seemed fine. Drat! Chemistry and physics never made an impression on me.
Well done, David Steinberg! Thank you. And many thanks, Splynter, as well as congratulations on your upcoming achievement!
D-o, you have a memory like a steel trap.
Have a fine day everyone! We'll finally have our all family and friends party with white elephant gifts today.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteNO SWEAT! I learned a lot in my Googles. :-) Thanks David for the puzzle. I thought, for just a second, I had a chance with BAD TRIP, BREEDER, TUE in place - that helped the NE, but I couldn't see PE RATIO (even w/ AMARETTO in place).
NW I had NAM & SUNMAID. drAc was wrong when I figured out FAN GIRL. That's when I turned to Google for the 1st time.
Hand-up for arrAYED. Who else entered ACRE twice?
Thanks Splynter for the expo. Good on you re: 12 years!
D-O: Yep. I'm 50mi South of you and my Phils are not happy either. :-(
Watch your step IM!
Jim with Latka's Cookies.
REAL MEN don't eat quiche - we call it a Frittata :-)
Cheers, -T
Great challenge - I had precisely three entries after the first pass. Came together slowly and surely. Loved PHPAPER - weird letter combination.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't "count" be capitalized in "Kiddie lit count"?
Here's a highlight (or lowlight) reel of ten great soccer own goals. A few fall under the "what was he thinking?" catetgory.
Quiches can be bland or piquant. The variations are endless with all kinds of herbs and spices, even cayenne or other hot pepper flavors. Like Emeril, BAM! You can kick it up a notch. Variations include bacon, caramelized or plain onion, garlic, tomato sauce, all kinds of veggies, with your imagination being the limit. There are many kinds of cheeses, both mild and strong. We like lots of extra sharp quality cheddar, for the most part. Crustless quiches eliminate many calories and much fat, but the reason I prefer them is that the taste of the filling is more pronounced without the crust. It is good to check out all the varied recipes and then enjoy experimenting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, David, for a challenging puzzle, but not impossible. Great cluing and fill, and not one "Meh" for me!
ReplyDeleteNice write-up, Splynter, and congrats on the anniversary!
Keep warm everyone!
David Steinberg, you defeated me with this well-constructed opus. Red letters, lots of them, enabled me to solve the whole thing. I admit I have never heard the term PH PAPER; we always called it litmus paper. I would never have imagined any half-decent soccer player would shoot the ball into his OWN GOAL. I learned you wanted SPLAYED, not smeared. More later maybe.
ReplyDeleteTough, tough, Saturday slog for me. I got through it without any look-ups, but only after turning on the red letters and later doing a couple of mental alphabet runs. It was a great challenge and an enjoyable solve. Thanks David and Splynter. Congratulations, Splynter, on your impending anniversary. You are obviously made of sterner stuff than I am.
ReplyDeleteLots of snow here today. A beautiful soft white blanket hiding all of the warts left by a wet, soggy, dreary Fall. Our resident squirrels have been busy at the window ledge feeder all day. Cute little critters. Don't know how I justified hunting them in my youth. One has become so emboldened that if DW doesn't spread the feed in time, she rears up on her back legs and rattles the storm window.
Gotta go. Cya!
Back in the 80s when I tried quiche during the craze, my time for cooking was limited and so after making one I just forgot about it and hadn't thought about quiches since then. Perhaps now with more time and cooking experience I will try again. Thanks, YR.
ReplyDeleteI just made one batch of brownies for tonight's festivities and have the eggs cooked for deviled eggs then a green salad. That's my contribution as requested by our hostess. Her husband cooks most of the meal.
Good afternoon! Late post for me even though I did the puzzle early this morning. DH was installing a cabinet for keeping the routers, Fi-Optic box and all the other gadgets needed for cable, phone and internet. Everything had to be unplugged, so had none of the above services for awhile. However, it looks very nice and tidy now; great work on his part. Then Daughter #1 stopped by for a visit. Yesterday, D#2 visited, so two days in a row of seeing my girls- such a treat! An empty nest has its pluses but I do miss their chatter and beautiful faces. All while trying to take down the Christmas tree. It looks like something exploded in my living room. This will be a project for several days.
ReplyDeleteI love a challenge and David certainly delivered! The NW corner was a no go at first. Started feeling confident after filling most of the NE and all of the SE corners. Then it went downhill with the SW- had several DNF's and after an hour, relented and read Splynter's wonderful write up to help with that. Thanks Splynter 😉 And congrats on your upcoming anniversary- that is a fine accomplishment to be proud of!
Steve, I also think count should have been capitalized. OLAF may have come to me then ( or maybe that's wishful thinking) D#2 and I used to read the 'Series of Unfortunate Events' books together when they were first published. I'm looking forward to the Netflix version with Neil Patrick Harris.
As for my mess in the SW corner- I had Sconces for SPONGES- yikes! Not sure what I was thinking. Didn't know FANGIRL or REALMAN and had Class/PEERS and Clot/GLOB - more Doh! moments. Had Shade/PHOTO so was convinced POPOV was Stoli. Crosses soon fixed that but couldn't figure out GUMDROP until seeing the pic from Splynter ( adorable btw- looks almost too pretty to eat!)
Knew BABYMAMA but second guessed myself. Surely it wasn't that long ago that the movie was made? But the other Fey/Poehler film I know of is Sisters which didn't work.
All in all, a great workout but phew!- it was a toughie 😅
We've reached 15 degrees here now but at least the sun is shining! We only need to RIDEOUT the freezing temps for a couple of more days, or so says the weather report.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
🐇
We have hurricane Iniki to thank for all of our chickens. Blew all the coops to hell and back again, freeing them. None around our house though, doggies run them off.
ReplyDeleteBig DNF on this one. Master David has that effect on my solving abilities or disabilities.
I somehow thought we were dealing with David Steinberg the comedian. Oh well, silly me.
ReplyDeleteKept working this and working this…and all done, but not correctly - confused Rudner with Radner - Rita vs Gilda, so no gold ring.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm kind of pleased anyway. Tough one. Fair though.
Also - Desper-Otto - thanks for the Silk reply a few days ago, appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSecond the appreciation on the Silk update. I had to back to look that up. I had been wondering the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that others had varying degrees of difficulty with Mr. Steinberg's creature, from mild discomfort, accompanied by a willingness to admit to a single Google, to flat-out DNFs, because frankly, this was the single most impossible pzl I can remember over the last five years.
ReplyDeleteI admit to multiple look-ups and outright cheats. I took a small measure of pride from the breakthroughs I managed on my own, but I was just out of my league (but apparently in fine company) with too many unknown names and clever mis-directions ("Arabian matchmaker," indeed!).
Splynter, I was born/raised in Northern California and have lived in SoCal for nearly forty years and have never heard of ODWALLA.*
But thanks to you both for diverting my brain for the better part of a Saturday!
*A little research shows ODWALLA was invented in Santa Cruz, but I can only find it available now from Amazon. My guess is that with the continuing decline of brick and mortar stores, we will be finding more and more products that exist in the "cloud" (and Xwd grids) and don't actually belong anywhere.
Jayce- I agree with you. PH PAPER is something I've never heard of, "just paper chromatography" or litmus paper.
ReplyDeleteSteve- I was thinking the same thing about 'count', even though I didn't know Count OLAF and it would have been strictly perped if I had filled it.
Years ago, I would Google for answers, and that's how I found 'The Corner'. After realizing that the puzzle would be solved if I clicked on the site, I totally abstain from using any resource, not even a dictionary. That handicaps me because sometimes I know the answer but not how to spell it. There are no RED letters in the newspaper.
BigE - you could do the puzzle IN RED PEN. //ducks
ReplyDeleteWhat is the name of that count? Lower case.
ReplyDeleteDid you like Count Basie's jazz performances? Upper case.
Well. I just filled a page and lost it. To wit. Great xword. Took all day, could have used some WITE-OUT.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, semper Fi. We used to get a cake, with candles. Except Wilbur. So, for #3 I vowed to work my ass off. The big day came and there's My cake sitting there, 3 candles.
So after the encomiums, I hear "Come get your cake, ...
And as I begin to rise
FRED! AAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!!
35 Years later I'm still sober.
Ps. Five years later I was chairing a mtg and spotted Fred in the back. So I gave him a coin and he was thrilled.
WC in the morning
PPS. It's cold down here in Fla
Blogger Yellowrocks said...
ReplyDeleteFilled this in without the long themers for quite a while. The penny dropped with SAND ADVICE. Then it was easier except for the NW. VERY and RHYS were difficult. But finally, "It's so DARNED (very) cold today," iced it.
The HERD ARE is not good American English. Herd is a collective noun as Dudley said and takes the singular. HERD'S means herd is.
Clue for BABY BOOTEE: infant footwear.
When my older son as a toddler was recovering from a broken leg, the grocer called him, "Hey, GIMPY!"
KIMONO are more formal than YUKATA. This article http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-yukata-and-kimono/
is helpful, but I disagree that YUKATA is mostly worn by women. Most men and women wear them at a ryokan (traditional inn) and after bathing in an onsen (hot spring). However mostly just women wear them at other times in the summer.
After bathing in the onsen men and women wear yukata to go shopping in the nearby mall. The men carry their washcloths on their heads. Although we were dressed like everyone else, the young men laughed at us westerners wearing their yukata.
Happy birthday, Patti. Thanks for all your hard work presenting us with hours of fun and challenge.
I tried to do today's puzzle. The # across and down did not always match w the grid. I considered the possibility that this was a new "challenge". After struggling a bit, I "cheated" and logged on the the Sun puzzle. Much to my chagrin, my issue of the LA Times has an incorrect grid. On to the NYT puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I finished this all correctly with no help. It was exceptionally difficult.
ReplyDeletePE RATIO I did know. During the Tech Bubble I argued with my fellow tech friends about whether we were in a bubble. I had never owned stocks, but I understood the concept that if a stock was selling for 50 times what the company was earning per share, that was almost certainly overpriced!
I got tired of arguing with these people and found it was more fun to short these overpriced stocks and make money. Very risky for a total newbie, but I enjoyed making money and being right about the Tech Bubble!
ODWALLA once again is my pet gripe: A regional brand. But we do have it here.
Hand up for thinking it was a music tour before getting NAM.
Never heard of Count OLAF or the surrounding kid lit. Never heard of ESTELLE nor EDUARDO even though I do use Facebook. Nor BABY MAMA.
Love the Dairy Queen explanation of DQED, another total unknown.