Theme: C.C. and E's Letter addition to the four theme entries to create a new phrase.
17A. Miss America runner-up? : SILVER BELLE. The Silver Bell is a pretty tree from the south-east USA. "Silver Bells" is the movie, and doesn't work with the letter addition.
36A. Passage for the birds? : AVIAN FLUE. Avian flu usually is not transmitted to humans, the virus needs to go through a number of mutations before it becomes a threat.
42A. Little Jack Horner's dream? : LIFE OF PIE. "Life of Pi" was a wonderful book, I didn't see the movie, I couldn't imagine how it could match up to the text.
62A. Emulating the writing style of "The Quiet American"? : GOING GREENE. Kermit's favorite environmental initiative; Graham Greene wrote some of my favorite books.
Here comes C.C. with a letter-addition theme. Simple idea, but the theme entries are fun and it's not easy to find a set of these which don't make you groan. There's a couple of her "trademark" long downs and some solid blocks throughout which make the fill flow. Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Buccaneers' home : TAMPA. The Bucs haven't exactly lit up the NFL since they won the Superbowl in 2002. They last topped their division in 2007.
6. Silly bird : GOOSE
11. Revolting word? : ICK!
14. Plane read : E-BOOK. I take real books along, but I do have some e-books on my iPad as a backup.
15. Large grouping : ARRAY
16. Pen user : CON. Convict. Penitentiary. I had to stare this one down before the lightbulb clicked on. Very nice.
19. Part of a royal flush : ACE. TEN at the other end of the flush, so wait for a cross.
20. Anastasia __, "Fifty Shades of Grey" character : STEELE. When this book first went viral, it was amazing to see how many people (women!) were reading a book with the front cover removed on the plane.
21. Emergency signal : SOS
22. Frosted flakes : SNOW
23. Called up : RANG
25. "Unsafe at Any Speed" author : NADER
27. Put in order : SORT
30. Fab alternative : ERA. Detergents. Would the FAB ERA be the 1960's?
32. Special Forces trademarks : BERETS. There are Green Berets in both the US and British armies. The British wearers are commandos. The Red Beret is usually worn by airborne forces.
35. Legendary horse tale setting : TROY. The Y was my last fill in the puzzle. I couldn't see past TRON for absolutely no good reason. Sanity prevailed. Those dastardly Greeks, hiding in plain horse.
38. Gold, in Granada : ORO
39. "My bad" : SO SORRY
41. Wartime prez : ABE. The civil war. Sneaky, I was expecting FDR or HST.
44. Proofreading mark : STET. The dots indicate what needs to stay after first being DELE'd
45. Overwhelm : ENGULF
46. Biological building block : DNA
48. Flight-related prefix : AERO-. Cue -Run DMC featuring -smith.
49. Emerged : AROSE
51. Carrier that doesn't fly on the Sabbath : EL AL
53. Order with tzatziki sauce : GYRO. Food! I was getting hungry. I love gyros. The Mad Greek truck stop in Baker on the I-15 between Las Vegas and Barstow has one of the best I've eaten.
55. Some Samsung TVs : HDS
57. "Yay, me!" : I DID IT! Crossword-solvers' cry everywhere.
61. Fishing __ : ROD
64. Weaken, perhaps : AGE
65. Jack's links rival : ARNIE. Nicklaus and Palmer. Along with Gary Player and agent Mark McCormack, they were instrumental in developing the commercial success of the sport.
66. Start a correction process : ERASE.
67. Secret competitor : BAN. Deodorants this time.
68. Bounded : LEAPT
69. Ice cream purchases : PINTS. Way down my list of what I'd be buying in pints.
Down:
1. Hardy heroine : TESS. Cracking read. Here's the Vale of Blackmore where the novel is set.
2. Minimally : A BIT
3. Lawn disruption : MOLE. I went with MOSS first as I had MO__ . That didn't work out so well.
4. "The parent of revolution and crime": Aristotle : POVERTY. I wasn't familiar with this assertion, but it makes perfect sense.
5. Cub Scout leader : AKELA. I was a Cub Scout way back when. "Akela, we will do our best". The significance of the all the "dybbing" and "dobbing" went straight over my head until I went to look it up two minutes ago. Now I find that we were text-speaking in 1965. DYB - Do Your Best. DOB - Do Our Best. Who knew?
6. Yak : GAB
7. Miner matters : ORES
8. DuPont acrylic : ORLON
9. Mexican buffet feature : SALSA BAR. I went to a very different salsa bar when I was in Hong Kong - a great bar in Lan Kwai Fong where the music was all Latin ballroom. There were some great dancers among the customers. I was not one of them, but that did not deter me. It was July 4th, and there was drink taken, in my defense.
10. Contact's spot : EYE
11. "Tell me about it" : I CAN RELATE
12. Nickname for late-night host O'Brien : COCO. New to me. Giving Ms. Chanel the day off cluing duty.
13. Didn't just think : KNEW
18. Russo of "The Intern" : RENE
22. Feudal grunt : SERF. Low man on the totem pole in Medieval England.
24. Comprehend : GRASP
26. Shoot down : DENY. As rumors.
27. Ripped off : STOLE
28. Longtime Utah senator Hatch : ORRIN
29. Area for urban growth : ROOF GARDEN. Nice.
31. Get around : AVOID
33. Potato, e.g. : TUBER. If you go green, you'll be growing these in your roof garden.
34. Look after : SEE TO
37. Goddess of peace : IRENE. I need to file this away for future recall. I must have seen this before but it was crosses all the way for me today.
39. Red cup brand : SOLO. Those ubiquitous party cups.
40. Like some oil rigs : OFFSHORE
43. Mark's successor : EURO. German (and Austrian) currency.
44. "Amadeus" narrator : SALIERI
47. Eccentric Sacha Baron Cohen persona : ALI G. This was his original alter ego, and his best as he was completely unknown at the time.
50. Twin Cities suburb that hosted the 2008 U.S. Women's Open : EDINA. In C.C's neighborhood.
52. Madison Ave. agent : AD REP
53. Snatch : GRAB
54. Discipline with poses : YOGA
56. Cut : SNIP
58. Big man on campus : DEAN
59. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr. : INST.
60. Golf tournament souvenirs : TEES. Tees like this?
or like these?
62. Country miss : GAL. She may belong to FarmersOnly.com, a website which I was convinced was a hoax when it first started airing ads.
63. Comprehend : GET. Got it!
And I think I've run out of runway, so that's it from me. Here's the grid!
Steve
17A. Miss America runner-up? : SILVER BELLE. The Silver Bell is a pretty tree from the south-east USA. "Silver Bells" is the movie, and doesn't work with the letter addition.
36A. Passage for the birds? : AVIAN FLUE. Avian flu usually is not transmitted to humans, the virus needs to go through a number of mutations before it becomes a threat.
42A. Little Jack Horner's dream? : LIFE OF PIE. "Life of Pi" was a wonderful book, I didn't see the movie, I couldn't imagine how it could match up to the text.
62A. Emulating the writing style of "The Quiet American"? : GOING GREENE. Kermit's favorite environmental initiative; Graham Greene wrote some of my favorite books.
Here comes C.C. with a letter-addition theme. Simple idea, but the theme entries are fun and it's not easy to find a set of these which don't make you groan. There's a couple of her "trademark" long downs and some solid blocks throughout which make the fill flow. Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Buccaneers' home : TAMPA. The Bucs haven't exactly lit up the NFL since they won the Superbowl in 2002. They last topped their division in 2007.
6. Silly bird : GOOSE
11. Revolting word? : ICK!
14. Plane read : E-BOOK. I take real books along, but I do have some e-books on my iPad as a backup.
15. Large grouping : ARRAY
16. Pen user : CON. Convict. Penitentiary. I had to stare this one down before the lightbulb clicked on. Very nice.
19. Part of a royal flush : ACE. TEN at the other end of the flush, so wait for a cross.
20. Anastasia __, "Fifty Shades of Grey" character : STEELE. When this book first went viral, it was amazing to see how many people (women!) were reading a book with the front cover removed on the plane.
21. Emergency signal : SOS
22. Frosted flakes : SNOW
23. Called up : RANG
25. "Unsafe at Any Speed" author : NADER
27. Put in order : SORT
30. Fab alternative : ERA. Detergents. Would the FAB ERA be the 1960's?
32. Special Forces trademarks : BERETS. There are Green Berets in both the US and British armies. The British wearers are commandos. The Red Beret is usually worn by airborne forces.
35. Legendary horse tale setting : TROY. The Y was my last fill in the puzzle. I couldn't see past TRON for absolutely no good reason. Sanity prevailed. Those dastardly Greeks, hiding in plain horse.
38. Gold, in Granada : ORO
39. "My bad" : SO SORRY
41. Wartime prez : ABE. The civil war. Sneaky, I was expecting FDR or HST.
44. Proofreading mark : STET. The dots indicate what needs to stay after first being DELE'd
45. Overwhelm : ENGULF
46. Biological building block : DNA
48. Flight-related prefix : AERO-. Cue -Run DMC featuring -smith.
49. Emerged : AROSE
51. Carrier that doesn't fly on the Sabbath : EL AL
53. Order with tzatziki sauce : GYRO. Food! I was getting hungry. I love gyros. The Mad Greek truck stop in Baker on the I-15 between Las Vegas and Barstow has one of the best I've eaten.
55. Some Samsung TVs : HDS
57. "Yay, me!" : I DID IT! Crossword-solvers' cry everywhere.
61. Fishing __ : ROD
64. Weaken, perhaps : AGE
65. Jack's links rival : ARNIE. Nicklaus and Palmer. Along with Gary Player and agent Mark McCormack, they were instrumental in developing the commercial success of the sport.
66. Start a correction process : ERASE.
67. Secret competitor : BAN. Deodorants this time.
68. Bounded : LEAPT
69. Ice cream purchases : PINTS. Way down my list of what I'd be buying in pints.
Down:
1. Hardy heroine : TESS. Cracking read. Here's the Vale of Blackmore where the novel is set.
2. Minimally : A BIT
3. Lawn disruption : MOLE. I went with MOSS first as I had MO__ . That didn't work out so well.
4. "The parent of revolution and crime": Aristotle : POVERTY. I wasn't familiar with this assertion, but it makes perfect sense.
5. Cub Scout leader : AKELA. I was a Cub Scout way back when. "Akela, we will do our best". The significance of the all the "dybbing" and "dobbing" went straight over my head until I went to look it up two minutes ago. Now I find that we were text-speaking in 1965. DYB - Do Your Best. DOB - Do Our Best. Who knew?
6. Yak : GAB
7. Miner matters : ORES
8. DuPont acrylic : ORLON
9. Mexican buffet feature : SALSA BAR. I went to a very different salsa bar when I was in Hong Kong - a great bar in Lan Kwai Fong where the music was all Latin ballroom. There were some great dancers among the customers. I was not one of them, but that did not deter me. It was July 4th, and there was drink taken, in my defense.
10. Contact's spot : EYE
11. "Tell me about it" : I CAN RELATE
12. Nickname for late-night host O'Brien : COCO. New to me. Giving Ms. Chanel the day off cluing duty.
13. Didn't just think : KNEW
18. Russo of "The Intern" : RENE
22. Feudal grunt : SERF. Low man on the totem pole in Medieval England.
24. Comprehend : GRASP
26. Shoot down : DENY. As rumors.
27. Ripped off : STOLE
28. Longtime Utah senator Hatch : ORRIN
29. Area for urban growth : ROOF GARDEN. Nice.
31. Get around : AVOID
33. Potato, e.g. : TUBER. If you go green, you'll be growing these in your roof garden.
34. Look after : SEE TO
37. Goddess of peace : IRENE. I need to file this away for future recall. I must have seen this before but it was crosses all the way for me today.
39. Red cup brand : SOLO. Those ubiquitous party cups.
40. Like some oil rigs : OFFSHORE
43. Mark's successor : EURO. German (and Austrian) currency.
44. "Amadeus" narrator : SALIERI
47. Eccentric Sacha Baron Cohen persona : ALI G. This was his original alter ego, and his best as he was completely unknown at the time.
50. Twin Cities suburb that hosted the 2008 U.S. Women's Open : EDINA. In C.C's neighborhood.
52. Madison Ave. agent : AD REP
53. Snatch : GRAB
54. Discipline with poses : YOGA
56. Cut : SNIP
58. Big man on campus : DEAN
59. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr. : INST.
60. Golf tournament souvenirs : TEES. Tees like this?
62. Country miss : GAL. She may belong to FarmersOnly.com, a website which I was convinced was a hoax when it first started airing ads.
63. Comprehend : GET. Got it!
And I think I've run out of runway, so that's it from me. Here's the grid!
Steve
Oh great; now I have a Rock Me Amadeus Ohrwurm now.
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to CC and Steve!
Fun puzzle, but took me awhile. Still not able to sleep when normal people do. Rain keeps coming.
Have a great day!
A MOLE is a lawn disrupter ! But I'm probably making a molehill out of that complaint.
ReplyDeleteSteve: WEBELOS (WolvEs, BEars, LiOnS) knew.
{A-, B, B+.}
Cassandra was a young BELLE from TROY
Who complained her hobby horse was a toy.
She wanted a pony
That wasn't a phony --
And wouldn't her city destroy!
There was a fierce pirate from TAMPA,
Who was shanghaied into being a grampa!
The cut of his jib
He used for a bib,
And ICKY top sheets sailed into the hamper!
A golfer who hailed from EDINA
Practiced TEE shots at the local marina.
"The fish don't complain
When a ball conks their brain,
And their lawyers don't file a subpoena!"
Santa:
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me why my post disappeared yesterday? I had a request therein,
I can't find hide nor hair of it.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteStalled out in the northwest, so I circled around and attacked it from the south. Only write-over along the way was I'M SORRY -- guess I was still thinking Brenda Lee. Did not know that EL AL doesn't fly on the sabbath. Couldn't figure out why there'd be a SAL SABER at a Mexican buffet. One nit: "Lawn disruption" -- the MOLE is the disrupter, not the disruption. Thanx, C.C. and Steve.
Close to record heat expected again today. I'll gladly deal with it.
Hand up for traveling upwards from the South after TAMPA in the north and not much else. SOLO cups took a while though we often use them. And ditto on IMSORRY before SOSORRY but that finished OFFSHORE. I had no idea that Conan was COCO and LOCO seemed applicable.
ReplyDeleteI loved Graham GREENE'S novels and have read most of them. Remember The Book of the Month Club? His books were often the featured one and that's what I opted for. Oh, such simpler times.
However, I've not read Fifty Shades of Grey or it's sequels so STEELE was unknown to me. Perps filled it though MOSS almost spoiled it. And ALI G escapes me though we've seen it on CWs many times and see it as ALIG.
Nice job, C.C., thank you and Steve, too, for being our AKELA today.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Well, this proved to be a real brain-buster for me. DNF. Thanx, C.C., for busting my chops! Nice write-up, Steve. Owen, B, C, A. STILL struggling with this damn cold. Two weeks now. Sheesh!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a fun puzzle today. Looked to be undoable at first , but circling around worked and once the theme appeared the rest fell into place . No write overs or look ups and the coffee's still warm.
ReplyDeleteNot so bad today. The NYT took me much longer. I pulled AKELA out of some old memories.
ReplyDeleteThis was somewhat crunchy, but doable without help. At first I thought the theme would be colors: silver, green, -lue. But the sure F for SERF and FLUE denied that.After I had most of the puzzle filled I saw the extra E in each themer. My last fill was C in ICK and COCO.
ReplyDeleteLike Lucina I always need all perps for ALI G.
MY BAD and OOPS! cannot replace SORRY for me. I made a mistake is not the same as I am sorry.
I read the Hardy novel and The Life of PI several times and saw the movies, too. Both great books.
Realizing that many of the Jewish people observe the Sabbath by not working, among other restrictions, EL AL, the Israeli airline, seemed a natural. In Jerusalem the elevators stop at every floor on the Sabbath and you just have to wait until they bring you to where you wish to be. This is so you can observe the Sabbath by not pushing the buttons.
GAL, does not seem a country word to me. It is used here in the NYC exurbs. Me and My Gal was not a country movie.
Happy Thursday. Nice and warm today.
This one was on the harder side for me. I'm much more of a Monday/Tuesday solver.
ReplyDeleteI wonder of the inclusion of Solo was a way to mark the founders recent passing.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/29/health/red-solo-cup-death-trnd/index.html
It's almost the weekend!
Good morning all!
ReplyDeleteThis was a bit of a slow start for me but I also kept circling around and finally got it done with only a few hiccups and DNF's in the SW.
So thanks CC for a fun workout and Steve for the fine write up!
Didn't know POVERTY and AKELA but perps helped there and with IRENE and ALIG (the only Sacha persona I know of is Borat)
I knew STEELE- I reluctantly admit I read the books. My MIL is the person who said " You should read these!" After I did, I had a hard time imagining that SHE read them, lol 😮
My missteps: I had Ernie (Els) for ARNIE ( I don't know much about golfers!) so that made "Country Miss" Gel not GAL, which made no sense. Had Cones for PINTS which caused another head scratching moment with Adrec /ADREP. I knew SALIERI but wasn't sure of the spelling. None of this was helped by the fact I couldn't remember Graham GREENE ( a big Doh! moment for this former Librarian Assistant) It all got sorted out after reading the blog, so thank you Steve 😊
Another cloudy, breezy day here but the high is expected to be 65. If it doesn't rain, we may fire up the grill and enjoy this short lived Spring weather as it's back to the 30's tonight.
Am I the only one still working on getting Christmas items put away? Everything's boxed up; it's just a matter of organizing them in our storage room - ugh.
Have a wonderful day!
🐇
Musings
ReplyDelete-I laughed out loud at the incredibly clever SILVER BELLE in C.C.’s very engaging puzzle
-First class write-up as always Steve.
-I loved Owen’s link to Brenda’s I’m Sorry (SO SORRY) yesterday!
-AVIAN FLU was devastating here
-Jody Foster listening to the Very Large ARRAY whose first half is a personal fav
-The captain of the CALIFORNIAN was found to be reprehensible for not acting on Titanic’s emergency signal.
-Nader’s Corvair tops Time’s List of 50 worst cars
-I considered DDE (_ D _) as he was a wartime prez for a few months and FDR seemed too obvious
-Unlike today’s clones, ARNIE, Jack and Gary had distinct personas
-I can’t GRASP the appeal of COCO
-Rumors printed/posted as fact are part of the 21st century
-Am I the only one who entered TATER for TUBER and AD MAN for AD REP?
-SEE TO (About) Me (2:23) earworm
-Matthew, Mark, LUKE! Nope, EURO!
What! A C.C. puzzle without a single baseball clue. But it had plenty of misleading ones: 'Pen user', 'Wartime prez', & 'Potato'- I wanted PIG, HST or FDR, & TATER before CON, ABE, & TUBER made their way into the little squares. I had some problems with proper names that were filled by perps- COCO, STEELE, ALI G- all unknowns and AKELA. I thought that DEN MOTHERS were Cub Scout leaders.
ReplyDeleteI caught the theme at LIFE OF PIE but stalled at AVIAN FL_E because TATER was in TUBER's place. In New Orleans everybody calls Hershey's Kisses SILVER BELLS.
SALIERI was one I knew but wasn't sure of the spelling, and wanting CONES and AD MAN before PINTS & AD REP corrected the spelling and finished the puzzle.
Steve- if they removed front covers from the books on planes, what would they carry with them to watch the movie?
EL AL- not flying? If their plane is crossing the Atlantic and the sun goes down, what happens? They fly everywhere between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Maybe the Sabbath on 'Israeli' time.
BunnyM- I know 'POVERTY' first hand. Worked like a fool to escape it.
'Red SOLO Cup, we'll fill you up,let's have a party', I was looking for a Toby Keith song; watch the YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68
Didn't get the meaning behind silver bells until reading explanation above. Always learn something on each puzzle. Today it was akela.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI like to see a CC late-week puzzle because it allows her to amp up the clue difficulty level and use the devious misdirection cluing that she is famous for. I had Ugh/Ack/Ick and I'm sorry/So sorry and needed perps in a few spots but finished smoothly sans help. I can never, ever remember Akela, even though we've seen it several times. Nice CSO to Tin at Tampa and moi at Troy.
Thanks, CC, for never disappointing us but always surprising us and thanks Steve for your witty repartee and reporting.
By some magical mystery, my ice maker is once again churning out cubes galore. (Actually, they aren't cube-shaped but more like a crescent.) Whatever the serviceman did when he checked it must have gotten it back on track. (My faith in his diagnostic abilities has lessened a bit, however). I just hope it was a temporary glitch and that it's back to normal.
Have a great day.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteCouldn't suss the theme, so thanks for the expo, Steve. SO SORRY, All I saw was an ARRAY of unrelated puns.
Had to G-spot STEELE, which is appropriate in a way.
POVERTY gave me the "V" I needed to interpolate the missing letters in SILVER.
NW corner was last to fall. AKELA had escaped my memory.
Lots of fresh fill in this puzzle. Nicely done, C.C.!
My mom's twin sister IRENE is the last remaining relative of that generation.
Cool regards!
JzB
Actually, they aren't cube-shaped but more like a crescent.
ReplyDeleteIce cube trays stop observing laws of physics and switch to sharia!? Land sakes alive! Make ice cubes great again!
I DID IT! - Not! C.C. got me today and I required red letter help to finish. Golf but no baseball today. Thanks Steve for explaining what I still did not GET.
ReplyDeleteHand up for ADMan before REP, FDR before ABE, Ugh to Yuk to ICK.
I know those red cups but not as SOLO and I must remember AKELA.
Nice misdirection with BAN deodorant and pen user=CON.
Was anyone else's Large Group an Octet or Nonet before an ARRAY?
I had Nylon before ORLON.
My Miss America runner-up was a Second BELLE for a long time and I was looking for number progressions in the theme.
People with EBOOKs on the plane do not have to worry about removing the cover!
Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI love to see a CC puzzle during the week because it means I have a chance, slight though it may be, to get through it. This was one of those, but I would have needed a full bottle of Wite-out if I had done it in ink. Steve's tour through the puzzle was outstanding.
A few of my missteps were:
- EZINE before EBOOK
- I didn't know SILVERBELLe
- Anastasia STEELE was another unknown. 50 Shades of Grey was not my cup of tea.
- IMSORRY vs SOSORRY. So Sorry and My Bad just don't sound like apologies to me.
- It took a while for TROY to fill in. I was thinking of real horses vs wooden ones.
- With perps I had A_IANFLUE and just stuck in an S without looking at the clue.
The V8 can hit came later when I reviewed it at the end.
- Like Steve I had FDR vs ABE.
Today had golf and tennis but no baseball. ?
I liked that we had TESS and TEES in opposite corners.
I agree with Steve about what should be acquired in PINTS. Ale for instance. Ice Cream has been shrinking in container size, but not price. There are a few places where you can still get a true half gallon, but not many. A local family owned dairy still has the old square box half gallons. My favorite is Chocolate Peanut Butter.
I also agree with HG about Conan O'Brien. He's just annoying.
Heavy rain today and in the 60's, with snow, sleet and freezing rain predicted for the weekend.
I hope everyone stays dry.
Little Jack Horner
ReplyDeletesat in a corner
eating his Christmas Pie.
He put in his thumb
pulled out a plum
and said what a god boy am I!
WEES. I also like a late week CC challenge, and this one delivered in spades. Some learning moments: 1) AKELA, 2) STEELE, 3)ALI G, 4)IRENE, 5) there is more than one four letter answer for the clue "Snatch". Fun puzzle and expo. Thanks to you both.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, why does that US Open tee shirt feature a baseball? Or is that supposed to be a tennis ball?
IM, I also have a GE refer/freezer with an icemaker that occasionally gets the bit in its teeth and won't make ice. Almost always the reason is because the on/off switch in the tray housing has been flipped off. Overfilling the tray will cause that. In my unit that switch is on the inside of the tray housing, on the left hand side, about 2/3 of the way to the back. You have to be a contortionist to check it, but the toggle should be up to be on. The only other time, the plastic water supply hose was kinked. Might save a repair call some day.
On my way to the chiropractor. Cya!
Thanks, C.C., for a bit of a challenge today..... AKELA, SOLIERI all unknowns, but managed the "TADA".
ReplyDeleteNice write-up, Steve. Love it when you have FOOD! in your entries!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteAdmired the clean execution of today's theme - not a groaner in the bunch. Nicely done C.C.!
I didn't know El Al ceased operations on the Sabbath. That must call for careful planning. Does vehicle traffic also stop on Jerusalem's streets?
Hand up for disliking Conan O'Brien's style of hosting. I never found him funny, just kind of neurotic. I was surprised that (at one time) Jay Leno supported him as the Tonight heir apparent.
I'm always excited to see a C.C. puzzle, and this one was a bit of a toughie with some crunch. I had big blank areas in the west for a while and wondered if I'd be able to finish, but slowly, slowly this word and that word cropped up and then it all fell into place. In the end I got everything--even AKELA, which I've never heard of, and STEELE, which I also didn't know. I figured out the end E theme almost right away and thought it was really cute. So, many thanks for getting my Thursday off to a fun start, C.C.
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy your write-up, Steve.
I lost my beautiful sister IRENE when she was only 31 (lymphoma). I still miss her.
Uncle Fred, hope you feel better soon.
Dentist appointment in an hour. It's raining really hard (ugh, I don't like rain). But I have to say it's amazing to see our hills around Laguna Beach actually look totally green after all these years. So I'll do my best to put up with the rain.
Have a great day, everybody!
"I love gyros."
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone.
Most murderers do.
Torturers too!
Definitely crunchy today,
ReplyDeleteI had to look up some of the names when I got stuck.
FIW in the end, because unlike BunnyM I never made it out
of the Ernie/Arnie trap, & Gel just didn't gell, so I
put in a "D" when my time ran out & went to the Blog
to find out why a country miss might be call a "Del?"
(Learning moment: Gell is actually a word regardless of what spellchecker thinks...)
Could not find any silly silver belles,
& I was running out of time, so...
(Meanwhile...)
Avian Flue?
A little trivia.
I found the Life of Pie clue most crunchy...
&, of course, we must lament...
Hello everyone.
ReplyDeleteNice robust puzzle from C.C. today.
Many deceptive clues but all fair. No searches or strikethroughs needed. Initially couldn't get a start in the NW so proceeded clockwise. After some patience, got SILVER BELLE, TAMPA, and POVERTY, and it was done. I've never said or heard ICK regarding a 'revolting' situation, but I guess it's in use.
ICK - However, I know it as the 1st person nominative pronoun ik or ick in L. German or ik in Dutch. Equivalent to ich in German.
Re: Icemakers:
ReplyDelete(Don't bother reading this if the subject leaves you cold...)
Thank you all for the ice maker discussion,
it led me to an epiphany.
I must have spent hours/days online searching for how to/manuals
but gave up in disgust about a year ago, however in looking for a link for you
today, I think I found a solution to my away fridge problem!
FYI, (or TMI)
Daughter #2 has that strange habit of chewing ice.
(yes, I have researched it...) however,
my home fridge has the icemaker in a bottom freezer with no other access.
When those crescents started jamming (explained in video),
I just reached in and dislodged them to create more ice.
My away fridge is one of those double door ice thru the door
contraptions that the word SNAFU was designed for.
For the past year I have simply shut it off
& occasionally dumped a tray of ice into the dispenser mechanism
so my Family could have easy access.
The problem was the fill tube got disconnected/iced up
& dumped water into the fridge instead of the tray,
& there (I swear) is no ^%*$* way to access it...
However, this video today shows the location
of those 3 magically hidden screws.
(hmm, now, where is that screwdriver?...)
@Bluehen - good eyes! It's a tennis ball! When I snagged the picture from the interwebs I didn't look at it too closely.
ReplyDeleteFor those with ice problems, I woke this morning to coffee problems - my Keurig contraption refused to dispense my early-morning jolt. Repairing a coffee machine without caffeine seemed cruel and unusual punishment. But yay for YouTube! A paperclip, a Phillips screwdriver and a couple of hours of fiddling around and all is well again!
Irish Miss- if your ice maker is acting up try blowing hot air on it with a hair dryer. That's what I do when it quits dumping ice.
ReplyDeleteoc4beach- Ice cream that is packed in round containers freezes evenly, unlike a square container. Think of it like a bundt cake pan, which heats from the outside and the inside. It cooks more evenly that a square or rectangular cake pan.
Spitzbov- agree with you on 'ick'; I've heard of the ick factor or icky but not just 'ick. But that's how Berliners pronounce ich. Ich verstehen Sie.
Thanks, Guys! - C.C. & Steve - for an entertaining start to the day!
ReplyDeleteThis was a bit tougher than I expected, but I only needed one look-up to reach a successful finish.
The most surprising fill to me was AKELA. I was never a Cub Scout, but as a Boy Scout I served as the Den Chief to my Mom's (as Den Mother) and little brother's unit. I guess I have assumed all these years that AKELA was a bit of private code and so never thought to see the name in a public crossword.
But I should know better in this new age of "leaking" secret intelligence - right?
The other bit of interest was POVERTY in filling out Aristotle's maxim regarding it as a source of civil unrest. Man, that Aristotle guy! He knew just about everything it was possible to know nearly 25 centuries ago. And what he couldn't know (because our species' tools of perception hadn't yet evolved sufficiently), he deduced or imagined.
He never ceases to -- well, he just never ceases.
Big Easy,
ReplyDeleteYou remind me that certain Germans are just about as picky as Parisians when it comes to proper pronunciation. I was once on a train from Warsaw to Berlin when, in response to a conductor's question, I began a sentence with "Ich reise durch..." He cut me off once he heard my "Ich" sounding like plain old American "Ick." He held his index finger aloft, looked me in the eye, and practically hissed, "Ichhhhh...", with a high pitched leaky steam valve sound. His Hochdeutsch was clearly superior to mine.
Bunny M, I, too, spent,yesterday and today boxing up and stowing away my Christmas decorations. I still have the window candles in a pile waiting to be boxed up tomorrow because I am too tired to get the ladder out and bring down the final candles from the upper sill of my two story atrium. Of course, they need to fit in the bottom of the box first. And I have all my outdoor and indoor lights in a pile waiting to be checked before putting them away tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteOn this gloomy day the house now seems dull and colorless. I would like to have waited another week but was afraid my real tree was becoming a fire hazard.
I need to clean my dishwasher filter. I looked up the repair online. It requires a good bit of disassembling on my model, so I'll call the repair man.
However, I fixed my garage door myself. It wouldn't stay down so I adjusted one of the sensor lights. Then the door would stay down for one closing, but not the next time. I was afraid of moving the sensor too much. Finally I was bold enough to move it just a little farther forward. Now the tremor of opening and closing the door doesn't shake the sensor out of position and the door closes every time.
I have heard and said ICK as an exclamation. ICK! is the same as "That's gross!"
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Punny Puzzle C.C. I didn't see the "extra 'E'" at the end theme but got the idea at AVIAN FLUE. LIFE OF PIE confirmed the 'pun.' Thanks for a clunker-less puzzle [ok, MOLE was a stretch]. And, Steve, fun expo - loved the AERO-smith link [tawnya - did you see my posts re: MTV book? It discusses RUN DMC and Aerosmith's mashup.]
WOs: Hand-up ADman. That almost DNF'd me 'cuz I was sure of it... Until I realized GGM is not a letter pattern conducive to Solve. EDeNA didn't help me see GOING GREENE either [I'd have known GREENE if it was clued w/ "Our Man in Havana"]
Also I had ORReN Hatch @1st. Oh, and I fell into the eRNIE trap too (Hi Bunny!)
ESPs: SALIERI, AKELA*, & STEELE (never read the Grey spectrum - I assume it's about optics?)
Great c/as: Fab and Secret as brands. Fool me once (ERA) but I got BAN. C/a for CON and ROOF GARDEN were cute too.
Fav: We still have some OFF SHORE rigs EN the GULF. I smiled @ the xing of those two answers. Come to papa WTI!
{A, B-,A-}
HG - w/ _U__ in place I was thinking Luke(?) too.
IM - I have a love/hate relationship w/ things that "fix" themselves. Love: no $$ needed; Hate: I donno root-cause and when it will fail again [Murphy's law suggests fail during a Margarita party].
Speaking of "broken" - I came home early today to meet the foundation guy. Bad news - $25k to fix :-(. I hope my "like a good neighbor" ins will help foot the bill. Good news - I've got ~3 years b/f it gets >cosmetic / doors not cleanly closing.
CED! Enjoyed the links. Thanks.
SO SORRY to be the detractor... Granted I've seen Conan's show only 2x, but COCO is funny in a silly yet sometimes pointed way [remember he was a writer on The Simpsons]. Case in point 2013 Corespondent's Dinner on CSPAN [27m]. (Well, I thought he had funny bits.)
Not much w/rt computing today except SORT(@ARRAY); //just a SNIP of psudo-code
Cheers, -T
*I was a Cub & Boy Scout - never heard AKELA.
Oh, crudE! I KNEW I forgot something - Argyle's Amadeus ear-worm . -T
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle. Somehow I can sorta recognize C.C.'s fingerprints on a puzzle. I like her work.
ReplyDeleteBill G, to answer your question from last night about rain we've been getting here, We, too, live on flat land and in San Jose which is an area that usually gets less rain than our neighbors to the north. Most of the rain was north of San Francisco and totalled over 20 inches, enough to cause the usually placid and rather shallow Russian River to overflow and flood many homes. A long length of the "Silverado Trail" was closed due to mudslides. The Santa Cruz mountains, which insulate us from the coastal weather, experienced a lot of rain also, with the concomitant mudslides. So, like you, we thankfully were spared from suffering any damage or heavy wetness.
Irish Miss, to answer your question from a couple of days ago asking whether we had ever used iGourmet.com, I confess we have not ever used it. However, a friend of ours has, multiple times, and loves it. It was on that basis I seconded your recommendation of it.
Yellowrocks, good idea about adjusting the sensor lights.
Lucina, I definitely remember The Book of the Month Club. My mom and sister, both of whom were/are voracious readers, were big fans of it. As a member of the Columbia Record Club years ago, I received many recordings from which I was exposed to and came to like a lot of music I erroneously thought I wouldn't like and that I otherwise would not go out of my way to buy.
I still would not go out of my way to buy Silas Marner or Fifty Shades of Grey, though.
Best wishes to you all.
Maybe mothers were into the Law of the Pack more than the Cubs were.
ReplyDeleteThe Law of the Pack
The Cub Scout follows Akela.
The Cub Scout helps the pack go.
The pack helps the Cub Scout grow.
The Cub Scout gives goodwill.
Just as the parts of the Cub Scout Promise have a meaning, each part of the Law of the Pack has a meaning.
The Cub Scout follows Akela
Akela means "good leader." To a Cub Scout, Akela may be a parent, a teacher, a religious leader, a Cub Scout leader, or another guide. A Cub Scout should choose a good leader to follow.
The Cub Scout helps the pack go
Your pack needs you to be a good member. A good member goes to all meetings, follows the leaders, and pitches in to make the pack better. Being a good member of the pack means doing your share, and sometimes a little more, to help the pack.
The pack helps the Cub Scout grow
With the leaders and Cub Scouts all working together, the pack helps you grow into a better person. You will learn new things and new skills. You'll learn the right way to do the right things. And along the way, you will help others.
The Cub Scout gives goodwill
Doing good things for others doesn't just make them happy. It also gives them the desire (or the "will") to do good things for others in turn. In this way, the good things you do for others make ripples that pass the goodwill from person to person. The spirit of helpfulness and good cheer spreads from you to others in your neighborhood.
From a proud grandmother of an Eagle Scout and the mother of a Cub Scout.
Does anyone remember the movie, Akeela and the Bee? (2006) My memory may be foggy and I should watch it again, but I believe in the movie, it is explained to Akeela why she was named that (with a spelling variation)and that motivated her in part to take a leadership role and compete for the national spelling bee.
ReplyDeleteThat and CWs is how I learned the meaning of Akela. It's a wonderful movie with excellent acting by Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett among others.
Jayce:
I know what you mean about the Columbia Record Club. That's how I acquired many LPs I might not have otherwise and still have some.
Tin is the Pinellas guy, I'm the Hillsborough(Tampa) guy. Great gimme to start. Somewhere, I looked up and saw CC's name. CCian: def. Fiendishly clever cluing often accompanied by Minnesota sports references.
ReplyDeleteAs in EURO despite spotting us the U as in MARK. I was really stuck in the SW until I went with GRAB and BAN Fell.
Etc
Steve and Owen, solid per usual.
Misty, Irene was lucky to have such a loving sister.
Goodnight Irene is a running joke with my son, Phil.
I echo the laughs CED Provided.
I remember the apt title of a RD book I never actually read
Apres Ca, Le Deluge
As in Fri's right around the corner
W C
Oops. The U in LUKE after Mark.
ReplyDeleteWC
Thank you, Wilbur--you are so kind.
ReplyDeleteLucy, I remember enjoying Akeela and the Bee very much.
ReplyDeleteLooks as if the rain is over for a while.
I like finding old westerns on cable. For me, Gunsmoke holds up very well. I don't know what I ever saw in Bonanza though.
ReplyDeleteThat rain is heading our way over the weekend.
t
This indeed seemed a bit more "crunchy" than usual for C.C.
ReplyDeleteSports is generally a big unknown for me, so TAMPA had to come with lots of crosses. Not easy as that whole area was very odd. Agree that AKELA was a learning moment. But STEELE is just an obscure name to me. And hand up for thinking the MOLE clue was not quite right.
Enjoyed the theme and FIR even though I was sure I was wrong when I ended up with that bizarre word AKELA.
I don't get the anonymous outrage about loving GYROs? Any idea what that is about?
Vegan is my guess.
ReplyDeleteThank you once again, Argyle, for a simple, clear explanation of something I was not getting!
ReplyDelete