Mark Feldman is here with his first puzzle of 2017; his last was a fun Spoonerism Puzzle. This time Mark out does Reverend Spooner by reversing the words in a two word phrase, not just the beginnings. Each requires the new first word be a sound-a-alike of the old second word. He then clues the fill with a silly meaning, and the hilarity ensues. He also finishes the grid with some challenges and some excellent choices such as ENDEARS, MAHATMA, DEADPAN, SEA STAR, CHORALES, HEADLESS, TOREADOR, TOASTERS, SOUL MATES and the previously unseen in the LAT- SEVERALLY.
The theme fill:
17A. Ladies' man with laryngitis? : HOARSE STUD (10). After successful racing careers, many champion race horses spend their time making their owners rich. SECRETARIAT.
28A. Infant at bath time? : BARE BABY (8). Baby bear has been a star for years. thanks to Goldilocks.
44A. High schooler just hanging out? : IDLE TEEN (8). Teen idols have been around seamlessly since SINATRA.
58A. Ordinary-looking fashion VIP? : PLAIN MODEL (10). An un-pc twist on model plane builders.
Across:
1. Earth tone : OCHER. My father painted in oils which is where I learned this word.
6. Popular speaker : BOSE. I have a Bose radio.
10. Unlike Wabash College : COED. Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States. Wikipedia.
14. "Voilà!" : THERE. Jeannie, where are you?
15. Over : UPON.
16. Company with a Select Guest loyalty program : OMNI. A HOTEL chain.
19. Ultimately earns : NETS.
20. Airport NNW of IND : ORD. INDianpolis and Chicago, O'Hare which originally was called ORcharD Field. 27D. Rail system that services 20-Across : CTA. Chicago Transit Authority.
21. Spicy cuisine : CREOLE. Time for some RECIPES.
22. A native of : FROM.
23. Goneril's husband : ALBANY. Our Friday Shakespeare REFERENCE. Harder than capital of New York?
25. Revered sage, in India : MAHATMA. None more famous than Ghandi?
27. Sweeps, e.g. : CLEANS. I made this too hard at first...think spys.
29. 1995 "Live at Red Rocks" pianist : TESH. I will control my urge to post my family pics from Red Rocks.
30. African scourge : TSETSE.
32. Indian silk-producing region : ASSAM. Part II, India.
34. Suffix with ethyl : ENE.
35. "Same here" : DITTO.
40. Counsel : ADVISE.
43. Cheer : ROOT.
Take me out
To the ball game
Take me out
To the crowd
Buy me some peanuts
And Crackerjacks
I don't care if
I never get back
For it's root, root, root
For the home team
If they don't win
It's a shame
For it's one, two,
Three strikes you're out
At the old ball game!
48. Highest peak in the Armenian plateau : ARARAT. It is mostly in Turkey. LINK.
50. Armed ocean dweller? : SEASTAR. We used to call it the STARFISH. Marine scientists have undertaken the difficult task of replacing the beloved starfish's common name with sea star because, well, the starfish is not a fish. It's an echinoderm, closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars. ... Most sea stars also have the remarkable ability to consume prey outside their bodies. wiki, i think.
51. Makes it right : ATONES.
52. Pride parade letters : LGBT. Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans.
53. "Macbeth" spot descriptor : DAMNED. Another double dip, this time Shakespeare. "Out, Out..."
55. Division of the Justice Dept. : ATF. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
57. Buffalo's county : ERIE. CSO to many.
60. Marketing opener : TELE.
61. "What a shame" : ALAS. Great word for our poets.
62. Really like : ADORE.
63. Aren't really, maybe : SEEM.
64. Nasdaq competitor : NYSE. New York Stock Exchange.
65. Like Vikings : NORSE.
Down:
1. Emperor after Galba : OTHO. He was number TWO in the year of Four Emperors, a year I learned all about from my son.
2. Bach works : CHORALES.
3. Word associated with Sleepy Hollow : HEADLESS. Do any watch the TV show? I enjoyed the crossover with Bones.
4. Goof : ERR.
5. Checkout correction, perhaps : RESCAN.
6. "Point Break" co-star : BUSEY.
7. Vision: Pref. : OPTOmetrist.
8. They're meant for each other : SOUL MATES. With all of our long married here at the Corner this might be a CSO.
9. Makes beloved : ENDEARS.
10. Informal discussion : CONFAB.
11. Last book of Puzo's "Godfather" trilogy : OMERTA. Silence? Spawned by this author...54D. "Serpico" author Peter : MAAS. He also wrote The Valachi Papers and Underboss.
12. Bury : ENTOMB.
13. Alarm : DISMAY.
18. "Trophy, Hypertrophied" artist : ERNST. Max.
28. Dahomey, since 1975 : BENIN.
31. One at a time : SEVERALLY. Jointly and severally in the law means "all are obligated and each is obligated."
33. Actor Damon : MATT. He works!
36. OPEC founding member : IRAN.
37. Ring fighter : TOREADOR. That is bull!
38. Pop-up items : TOASTERS.
39. As of 1937, he was the all-time N.L. home run leader until Mays surpassed him in 1966 : OTT. Mel had 511, I think.
41. Like many a successful poker player : DEADPAN. And comedians.
42. Consumed : EATEN.
44. Keys : ISLETS.
45. Unilever deodorant brand : DEGREE.
46. Likely to change : LABILE. Used in medical context mostly, I think.
47. Regard : ESTEEM.
49. Serling's birth name : RODMAN. Dennis loses out to this bit of trivia- Rodman was shortened to Rod.
51. Ouzo flavoring : ANISE. Licorice.
56. Hightail it : FLEE.
59. "Star Trek: DSN" changeling : ODO. Poor René Auberjonois. He was always challenged in Deep Space Nine. I like him best in Boston Legal.
So we traversed the mine field and emerged with another successful Friday in the books. Thanks you so much Mark, a sense of humor always helps, especially as I continue to struggle. Caudal epidural 2 was Wednesday. Sorry for the choppy write up, but I had fun. Lemonade out.
Notes from C.;C.:
1) Happy 50th wedding anniversary to dear Gary and his wife Joann! I'm
lucky to have met them and got to know them over the years. Their love
and support for each other are so inspiring. So unconditional.
2) Happy Birthday to Chairman Moe (Chris), our wine and beer expert, author of daily Puzzling Thoughts.
Chairman Moe, his wife, Oo & Lemonade, Sept 10, 2015
59 comments:
Utah, get me two!
If yesterday was Friday level, today was Thursday. The theme was five phrases that could be switched back to front to make a legitimate phrase. You only noticed 4? Well, reverse TSE TSE and you'll get TSE TSE, a homophonic shout-out to our ADORED mistress, C.C.!
{A+, B, B+, A-.}
The L.G.B.T. choir had, ALAS, low morale¡
The master expressed his DISMAY to a pal¡
He ADVISED a gay flying toy
Could drop and bring joy --
They'd see the chute Out, at the okay CHORALE!
There once was an emperor named OTHO
Who we don't ESTEEM well as we ought to.
He was back in the day
When Mel OTT used to play,
And he'd drive out to De Fe in his Auto!
It SEEMS that a horrible color is OCHER
As DEADPAN a color as Leo Durocher!
You'd not see its ilk
In ASSAM-woven silk!
Tie-tint of choice for an N.Y.S.E. broker!
COED and asteroidea were deprived of their druthers.
Kept apart by a CONFAB convened by their mothers!
Even if they were SOUL-MATES,
Their Moms were obdurate!
As un-LABILE to change as the SEA-STAR crossed lovers!
Greetings!
Thanks to Mark and Lemonade.
Got stuck in lower left corner but managed to muddle through with time. I had not seen SEVERALLY before.
Guess it's gonna precipitate here again with a passion. Bummer.
Happy Anniversary, Gary and Joann! Happy belated birthday to Hondo. Happy birthday to Chairman Moe!
Have a great day!
Good morning!
I liked this puzzle. Thanx, Mark. Figured out the theme at BARE BABY. OMERTA, BENIN and SEVERALLY emerged from the fog once a few perps were in place. LABILE, though, was a learning moment -- tried MOBILE first. Jack Benny was the epitome of DEADPAN. GONERIL sounds like a venereal condition.
Before I forget, happy birthday, Moe. Happy anniversary, Husker. And thanks for the tour, Lemon.
Like DO I hadn't heard of LABILE, and think that Goneril sounds like a disease. My artist DW buys stuff from Dick Blick, which sounds like a similar problem.
I kinda knew MAHATMA from a couple of reasons. I see a lot of farm tractor ads with that name, and one of the mythical staff members for Click and Clack was MAHATMA Coate.
The musical group Chicago got in trouble for naming an album "Chicago Transit Authority" without CTA's authority. If I remember correctly, they then tried "CTA", which was also shot down, and they ended up with just plain old "Chicago".
Thanks, Lemonade, for the Rod Serling explanation. I always thought he was S(t)erling. Our one channel didn't carry The Twilight Zone, so I've never seen it. I was thinking of the oddball BB player.
Thanks to Mark Feldman too. Nice puzzle, slightly beyond my skill level. I had to Google for BUSEY. I was, however, bothered by UPON for "over". I still don't quite get it. Minor nit on a solid puzzle.
ATF is now Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and EXPLOSIVES.
Good morning. Thank you Mark and thank you Lemonade.
Happy Golden Anniversary to Gary and Joann !
Happy Golden Birthday to Chairman Moe !
Very tough puzzle for me. Never got the theme.
SW corner almost did me in. The now obvious answers weren't coming. Tried to work around octopus, but that went nowhere. Filled in lobster, and locked it in with ESTEEM, MATT and Alicia Keys. Finally took Alicia out and put in ERIE and TELE. Then remembered LGBT and easily got DEGREE and ISLETS. IDLE TEEN completed the corner and gave me the totally unknown LABILE.
The south did me in. Was stuck for the longest time. "One at a time" had to end in onLY, or so I thought. I finally rejected SEVERonLY and clue non-congruent answer unIoN MODEL quickly became PLAIN. That gave me the missing DP in DEADPAN.
That left me with DA-N-D. Know very little about Macbeth, so it may as well have been clueless. The intersecting clues of "Serpico author" and "Serling's birth name" both drew total blanks. I never thought of DAMNED.
A couple of wags, but got it thanks to a nice theme. For some reason I thought SEASTAR was a theme entry, but couldn't make sense of it.
Me too, HM. "Star sea"???
"Out, damned spot" - Lady MacBeth's most famous line.
Lemonade, the ballpark treat is named "Cracker Jack". A guy lost on Wheel of Fortune when he couldn't help not pronouncing it Cracker Jacks, even though the solution was completely written out.
Billocohoes,
Thanks. Now I know there was a Lady Macbeth too. Was she doing the laundry ?
Good morning everyone.
Happy 50th Anniversary to HG and Joann.
Happy Birthday to C. Moe.
Great pictures; thanks for sharing.
Toughie today but eventually got it all. Couldn't fully suss the theme, so, thanks Lemon, for elucidating on that.
Learnings today included ALBANY and SEA STAR.
ISLETS - My surname comes from the NORSE for ISLETS.
ERIE - Buffalo's county. Lived there for 20 years. Erie, PA is also in its own Erie County, as Abejo will probably 's'plain later. Buffalo's neighbor across the border is Ft. Erie, Ont. Ah, the gift that just keeps on giving.
Famous German poem, John Maynard By Theodor Fontane in German and English.
[Die "Schwalbe" fliegt über den ERIE-See,…………
……………
Alle Herzen sind froh, alle Herzen sind frei --………]
Happy 50th Gary & Joann ... My 1st Sunset Toast is to you!
Happy Birthday Moe ... ALAS, you will get my 2nd Sunset Toast ...
Lemon, Great write-up explaining (yet, again) my Friday D-N-F ...
(Probably my "least-filled-in" puzzle of 2017).
Fave today was HEADLESS ... since that is how I felt while (NOT) solving.
Oh well, a 5 mile walk on the Dog beach at Honeymoon Island will lift my spirits.
Cheers!
I didn't catch the theme until I read Lemon's write up. I'm not a big fan of Spoonerisms. A DNF because of having to use Red Letters and alphabet runs. Oh well, it is Friday.
There are 60 Agencies, Bureaus, Offices, Task Forces and Divisions in the Justice Department that have an Acronym associated with them, so I waited for perps to fill in the right one. ATF is one of the obvious ones, but there are a number I had never heard of like the COPS (Community Office of Policing Services) and SMART (Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking) to name a few. The government just loves acronyms. If you are interested, here is the Justice Department makeup.
The weather in the East is supposed to improve for the next week or so, so get out there and enjoy it until the next storm comes along.
Owen, I agree that this one seemed to be a Thursday puzzle and yesterday's seemed to be a Friday puzzle. I enjoyed the clever theme which I spotted near the start.
ODO was all perps. After getting BUSE, I suddenly remembered BUSEY. I didn't remember ALBANY at all, so that was all perped.
OCHER was one of the Crayola colors in a giant pack. We call them cray-ons. I hear some say crans or even crowns.
Octopus before sea star, inlet before islet, mobile before labile.
After getting the S and V I wagged severally. I knew it as a law term, severally liable.
Favorite was pop-up items, toasters
Happy anniversary, Gary and Joann. Lovely example of soul mates.
Happy Birthday, Chairman Moe. I enjoy your limericks
Re 21A: I once worked with a guy who was Cajon. He loaned me a book of family recipes. It included some good recipes which I made copies of (I know; I ended a sentence with a preposition). Also some not so good (in my mind) such as preparing squirrel. I chose not to copy that one.
Good Morning:
This was an unusual theme but easy to suss after filling in Hoarse Stud and Bare Baby. However, there were other tricky spots to contend with. Learning moment was that Albany (two days in a row, no less! Mr. Cuomo must be preening away) was Goneril's husband's name. I'm not really knowledgeable about Shakespeare, but I knew that "Damned spot." Like Hungry Mother and Jinx, I was convinced that Sea Star was a theme answer and couldn't wait to read how it fit the theme. Funny how our minds and eyes fool us, sometimes. Labile and Severally were new to me but perps solved all of my hiccups and led me to the finish line in normal Friday time.
Thanks, Mark, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Lemony, for the chatty and cheery review. Sorry to hear you're still not feeling well; hope the epidural brings some relief.
Congratulations, Gary and Joann, on such a momentous occasion! Celebrate in style! 🎂🎁🎈🍾🎉💘
Happy Birthday, Chairman Moe, hope it's fun-filled. 🎂🎁🎈🍾🎉
Anonymous T, from yesterday: I didn't really react to the IM clue because I don't think of my "stage" name as IM, but Irish Miss. Or, sometimes, like yesterday, Silly Sally! 🙃
Have two long-time friends due soon for lunch and catching up.
Have a great day.
Musings
-Did you hear the thud here in middle America when the ingenious theme finally hit me with HOARSE? Until then I was trying to make something out of BARE, PLAIN,…
-iNlet seemed just fine and I had no idea on SEASTAR or LABILE and so I’ll take two bad cells and get on with spending a great 50th with my lovely bride
-SEVERAL states quote
-We did not choose the OMNI D.C. for our trip. BTW, any advice on touring would be welcome
-People FROM NE, KS, SD and Canada make up the population where my friend winters
-DITTO conjures up this movie for me
-Interesting pix and info about ARARAT
-I think I’ve heard every TELEMARKETER’s opening spiel. CLICK!
-Four word emperors ending in O – NERO, OTTO, uh, guess again
-HEED the call! (2:31)
-Happy Birthday, Moe!
-Thanks for the lovely wishes for me and Joann. Her motto – “The circus isn’t so much fun when you live with the clown!”
"Puzzling Thoughts":
Ever since midnight I've had this tune "haunting" me! 😜
So TTP @ 8:04, if you were using the term "Golden" to refer to my 50th, you missed by just 14 years!! 😀 But then, age is relative. I remember when I first listened to that Beatles tune when they released Sgt Pepper's album, and thought, 64? Damn, that's old! Thankfully I live by the mantra, "I don't know what I want to be when I grow up!" But I'd better find out soon ... I'm not getting any younger ... thanks, C.C. for acknowledging my natal day. Just a minor correction on the photo you shared (courtesy of Lemonade); the woman next to me is not my wife, just a friend ... I'm not married
Happy Anniversary to Gary and Joanne! Many happy returns and keep the unconditional love going!
A TA-DA was uttered when I filled in every square with a correct (and in some cases, corrected) answer. I started in the South and worked my way up the grid. Saw the "theme" after PLAIN MODEL & IDLE TEEN fell. Had a few write/overs, as is want to happen, but nothing severe. I had ADVICE > ADVISE and OTTO > OTHO. RODNEY > RODMAN and EYED > HEED. No googles needed!
LABILE, ODO, MAAS were unknowns. Some great words, too, incl SEVERALLY, DEADPAN, CONFAB and HEADLESS.
Which led me to this nonsensical limerick:
In Sleepy Hollow, folks comment, DEADPAN,
About old legends, and Ichabod's plan.
But their favorite quip
Was when Brom had the grippe:
"Can you be HEADLESS, and still a HOARSE man?"
Happy Anniversary Gary and Joan!
Happy birthday Chairman Moe!
Ever heard a Hoarse groan?
Bare baby!
How to communicate with the idle teen...
& finally, Plain model?
Well I finished it but not correctly. There was an initial sea of white and I'm glad for the reverse long fills because they were the easy ones. BOSE & COED were correct WAGS but there were two fills, LABILE & SEVERALLY, that I had never heard of but I got them. The cross of MAAS and DAMNED got me, as I just guessed HAAS as the name after making an educated guess that ROD Serling's name would be RODMAN-duh! There are no red letters in the newspaper so I take my test on this site.
I loved HEADLESS crossing HOARSE, which enabled the completion of OTHO.
Unknowns-OMNI, OTHO, BUSEY, ERNST, BENIN, ALBANY, TESH, ODO- the entertainers' names for movies, tv shows, and song's that I am unfamiliar with always are perped by me.
One of these days we will see a fill for MOHANDAS Gandhi instead of his nickname MAHATMA. But MAHATMA rice is a popular rice brand.
Magilla-I don't know any 'Cajon' people but many 'Cajuns'. Every Cajun dish seems to contain rice, pork, crawfish or shrimp, & okra and fortified with one of the hundred plus LA hot sauces. My DW won't eat gumbo without adding Tabasco or Crystal Hot Sauce.
Insisting on sticking with wrong answers I thought sure were correct proved my downfall. Including 1 down "Nero". On to Saturday.
First time in days I'm looking out on SUN reflecting off the fields and mountains of snow after days of on and off snowfall in upstate NY
Thanks, Mark, for the fine puzzle. Lots of smiles, but no groans... Cute theme and fine fill.
Thanks, Lemonade, for the tour. Hope you are feeling better soon!
Mohandas was Ghandi's birth name. Mahatma is a title or honorific. Renowned for his policy of nonviolent protest, he was widely known as "Mahatma Gandhi" or "the Mahatma." The title was reportedly conferred on him by poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1915, but spiritual leader and author Paramahansa Yogananda claimed that Gandhi didn’t embrace it himself. The honorific Mahatma is now used worldwide.
"Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?:
Newsman Paul Harvey claimed that the teen idol craze started 100 years before Frank Sinatra, with popular pianist Franz Liszt. Who knew?
Paul Harvey disappointed me when he repeatedly pronounced sidereal as side-real when speaking of the movements of the stars.
Happy anniversary, Gary and Joann! You must be SOULMATEs.
Happy birthday, Chairman Moe!
I hope your celebrations abound with merriment!
Though I had doubts about it, my puzzle was all correct! LABILE just didn't seem right but everything around it worked. And I love to see Shakespeare kept alive in CWs!
TTP@8:40
LOL. I see you haven't read it. Lady Macbeth was trying to wipe off the blood from her hands.
Remembering OTHO from a somewhat recent puzzle I saw that it would fit with HOARSE and away it flew. I didn't see "Point Break" but BUSEY certainly seemed right. And once I changed OPTI to OPTO, CREOLE emerged. Also my Honda has a BOSE system. Altogether this was easier than most Fridays.
Learning moment: RODMAN was Serling's birth name and it makes sense. Rod Serling.
ERIE County, what else would it be for Buffalo?
Thank you, Mark Feldman; this was quite satisfying to finish. And many thanks to you, Lemonade, to soldier on in spite of your pain.
Have a happy day, everyone!
I can't wait to read OMK's comments today.
Thanks for the Friday fun Mark and Lemonade. I found this a little crunchy but with some red letter and Google help, VOILA! I finished. I did get the theme and smiled. Thanks to OwenKL for more smiles.
I changed Beige to OCHER, Clears to CLEAN, Rodney to RODMAN, LGBQ to LGBT, Octopus to SEASTAR, Done to UPON. (I agree with Jinx@7:13am about UPON but perhaps thinking of Overtop helps?).
My deodorant was Secret before DEGREE.
TSETSE finally filled in because Ebola or Malaria wouldn't fit. BENIN fit the African area as I was sure it couldn't be Kenya.
WAGS and perps were COED, TESH, OMERTA, BAHA, CTA.
I have many select loyalty cards but not for OMNI. There are only two Omni hotels in Canada (King Edward, Toronto and Mont-Royal, Montreal). The last time I stayed at the King Edward, it was a Starwood property (changed to OMNI in 2013).
Irish Miss, I smiled broadly when I saw ALBANY again and thought of our pronunciation discussion yesterday. (I do wonder how you would pronounce Alberta - Al-berta or ALL-berta???? with accent on the 2nd syllable of course!)
Happy 50th Anniversary to SOULMATES Gary and Joann.
Happy 64th Birthday to Chairman Moe.
Enjoy the day.
HG: When are you going to DC? I spent over 35 years in the DC Metro area working at NASA and I used to go to a lot of the museums when I had a chance. Here are a few ideas for you.
There are all of the museums along the mall, especially the Air & Space museum that are worth visiting. Also the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. Definitely worth the trip even if you are not into Space. But I think you are.
There is also a small visitors center at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. Nothing as grand as at KSC and JSC, but interesting. There was a time when you could get on the center, but that was before 9/11. They take security seriously now.
There are some other interesting museums like the Newseum, The International Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum. I don't believe these are free, but you can get advance tickets.
Georgetown, and Foggy Bottom in DC and Roslyn in VA across from Georgetown are good areas to find interesting restaurants and drinking establishments.
Arlington National Cemetery is worth the trip and there is a Metro stop there.
If you have time, a 25 mile trip east on Route 50 to Annapolis is worth the time to visit the harbor and see the Naval Academy. Lots of good places to eat also.
For travel in DC I recommend that you use the Metro System. You can get day passes and Smart Cards at the Metro stations.
There are also a lot of tour companies, like Grey Line that will chauffeur you around DC for a fee of course. A good place to start is through your AAA office for info.
There is a lot to do and see. Getting into some buildings like the Capitol are not as easy as it used to be. Also there are areas you should avoid. Check with your hotel concierge or front desk staff.
Enjoy.
Happy 50th to Gary & Joann! Wow. I am so impressed.
Well, I guess I can offer a little competition, just behind, having been married for 48 years - if you add up my three stints. Ahem.
And a Happy B'Day to Chris!
Today's Feldman pzl was absolutely brilliant. I did not get it at all while solving, but must thank Lemonade for the grand reveal.
Well, this was as much of a toughie for me as yesterday's puzzle, and I know tomorrow's Saturday is not going to get any easier. So I just have to accept that this has been a bit of a tough week for me. But the puzzles still have fun clues and puns, and that makes them enjoyable even if I have to cheat. So thank you, Mark--and, Lemonade, I hope your procedure helps you with your back problem.
Gary and Joann, how wonderful that you've been married for 50 years! Congratulations!
Happy birthday, Chairman Moe.
We're weathering a real storm today, and I just hope the power doesn't go out. It's tough spending an evening in the dark without a computer or television or enough light to do crossword puzzles or sudokus or read a book. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Have a good day, everybody!
Hi All!
I'm HEADLESS w/ Tin... YR & OKL, I've had more ink on Sat pzls b/f I hafta look something up! In the end, 6 lookups [1d, 6d, 11d, 29a, & 49d] to finish. Didn't help I had mattador [sic] for 37d (at least that got fixed when I looked up RODMAN to confirm ARARAT in my thoughts).
I was good in the S. I got the SE and worked out from there. NE wasn't too bad w/ a WAG at OMNI everything else fell into place (after 11d lookup).
Thanks Mark for a Friday Fail. I didn't even get the theme b/f lookups but I really like the flip-and-homophone-it idea. Thanks Lem for the final expo and grid. After cheats all was right! :-)
WOs: CONFer and many others; mostly 'cuz I can't spell.
ESPs: SEVERALLY (? WTF); any potential others were cheats
Fun: c/a for BOSE; theme once I cheated and glam'd on; c/a for Cheer/ROOT (D'Oh! I was thinking riot or party or something...); Seeing DAMNED in the pzl
Fav: TOASTER. 1) I was going w/ pop-up adS or some such and 2) It reminded me of The Young Ones line [It's a TOASTER] (@4:19 and again @6:14).
{A+,A-,A+,B}
Jinx - I forgot about MA HAT MA Coate; I do recall Pikup Andropov [sp?] :-)
IM - sorry I'm prone to abriv. I grew up on UNIX and things like cp|mv == copy|move, respectively, in my head. When I saw IM in the clue I 'saw' a shamrock b/f Instant Msg.
Tin - Funny HEADLESS "solve"; TTP - LOL Macbethean Laundry!
HA HG! (And Joann too!).
HBD C. Moe! Now I can put a face with the name. Thanks for sharing the pic. Oh, and you're as only as old as the woman you feel :-). [Marx, right?]
Cheers, -T
Congratulations Gary and Joann! It'll be 52 coming up for us in June. Wow! Crosswords really are an attraction for the older and wiser crowd. Well, I guess not everybody gets wiser with increasing years...
I grew up near Washington DC. You've already gotten lots of good advice from lots of other folks about good stuff to visit. If you get in touch with your senator or representative, they can often set you up with a special tour of the Capitol. You can easily spend several hours in awe appreciating the Vietnam wall. It's really special.
Misty is right. The rain and wind are pounding our humble abode too. There won't be any bike ride or going out for lunch today...
Well lots of interesting comments today; the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." were copied and pasted, and while the product is called Crackerjack I would think if you bought more than one, the you would have "jacks."
Yes the full name is "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives" but the initials are for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. BTW I am surprised nobody has jumped on the distinction between an acronym and an initalism.
Rodman SERLING was a wonderfully intense and talented man, who fought bravely in WWII despite being only 5'4" tall. He was gracious to young people and died all too early - at 50 - probably hastened by the cigarettes that were always with him.
I love touring DC and have new discoveries every time, but for me and many of my generation, not trip would complete without visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and touching the names of my friends who did not come back.
Happy Birthday and Happy Year Chris and HG and Gloria were one of the inspirations for my comment to SOUL mates. 50 more!
Nice puzzle! Took me WAY longer than usual! Thanks for the expo, Lemon - some learning moments for me today.
Happy Anniversary Gary, and Happy Birthday Moe!
Getting battered with wind and rain along with Bill and Misty today. The LA Open is this weekend, the tournament organizers have the worst luck with the weather, it always seems to rain on Riviera. A couple of times recently they couldn't finish all four rounds. I went to the tournament a few years ago, and the player with the biggest gallery by a mile was John Daly. A crowd favorite for sure.
Chairman Moe @ 10:35 am
I finally got that Ear-Worm out of my head from my last birthday ...
Then I clicked on you "tune haunting you" link ...
And NOW that Ear Worm is back in my head. LOL
Oh well ... had a great 3 hour beach walk ... met about a 100 dogs ...
and got a nice sun-burn ...
Cheers!
Alan, my sister, her friend and I stayed outside Washington DC with handy, quick transportation to the city right outside our door. It was much less expensive than staying in the city and very convenient. Our concierge was a tremendous help with ideas of what to see and what transportation to take, recommending which stops to exit for various venues. We would spend most of the day walking and sightseeing in one area and the next day in a different area, so we spent very little time on local city transportation. The concierge made planning and navigating so easy. I especially liked all the war memorials. So moving. My sister and I are really into Lincoln. We found the Ford Theater and the house where Lincoln died very interesting. Also many of the museums were close together and very enjoyable. We made great use of our time, but here was so much more to see than we had time for.
Congrats to the Birthday Boys and Girls. Also to the Anniversary couples. I made it to 13 years until it blew up. That was 19 years ago, it was and is "one and done" for me. Nothing like the divorce process to turn what started as a romance into a bad business deal. Never again.
The puzzle was a joy, especially for a Friday. Was on the same wavelength as the author, even my educated guesses were correct.
Which usually means Doom for Saturday, we will see.
Whoo, another challenging puzzle. I liked it. Unlike yesterday, I was able to eventually solve it all without recourse to Google help or red letters. I learned LABILE and enjoyed seeing SEVERALLY. By the way, the theme entries are not spoonerisms, but thank you for your explanation anyway, Lemonade. So sorry you are on epidural number 2, and I hope you get relief.
Congratulations to you, Gary and Joann, and happy birthday wishes to you, Chris.
I pronounce Alberta as al-BERT-a and Albany as ALL-buh-nee. I know how you felt, desper-otto, at Paul Harvey's mispronouncing something many times; I am disappointed in Scott Pelley for always mispronouncing Beijing as Beizhing, and even mispronouncing Khizr Khan's first name as k'ZEER. You'd think he would ask his staff to research proper pronunciation of persons and places before going on the air. As it is, it almost makes it seem he doesn't know what he's talking about, just reading from a script without bothering to preview it to gain an understanding of the meaning of what he is about to say aloud.
Best wishes to you all.
I just counted - #6 lookup was 28d. I have no idea what c/a means...
HG - InRe DC:
I can recommend Hotel Monaco which is an old Post Office. It's nice, the patio happy hour lets you meet some interesting folk [ever meet a lobbyist? 4?], and it's within walking distance of most everything. Top it off w/ their friendly staff... you are well taken care of.
Monaco is within walking distance of Spy and Crime Museums and only 5 blocks from the Mall. I recommend Crime over Spy if you're morbid that way [Eldest is and really enjoyed it but in our limited time, it kept me from the News Museum.]
I did a 12 wk. stint w/ the USDA in DC, and Oc4 is right - no need for a car. The Metro will get you everywhere. I even took it out to Chevy Chase, MD. (That town's name always makes me giggle).
Oh, last thing. See Lincoln's Monument at night. Majestic / Really cool. And, if you need, we found elevators to the left (looking at it) of the steps. When do you depart for DC? I can look up more stuff we did...
Cheers, -T
Chairman Moe, all the best wishes for you. I hope you have a great day with many more to come.
I just saw the weather in Southern California, worse than I imagined . Be safe all
Golf can wait
Chairman Moe, then let's just call it the Golden Anniversary of your 14th birthday.
Lucina, thank you for clarifying. I knew it wasn't her dog, because spot wasn't capitalized.
H-G, just west of D.C. is Harpers Ferry. Apostrophe intentionally left out. No longer req'd.
NASA ? Those people are out to launch. :>) Cue the rim shot.
I once did an unintentional driving tour of D.C. at night after landing at Dulles and getting lost on my way to Rockville.
Bose 901 speakers were the best. Our Bose Wave Radio is impressive. A workplace anniversary gift my wife chose from her employer.
Anon - T, the African country of BENIN was formerly known as Dahomey. I saw the lit up Lincoln's Memorial, The White House etc on that night. I think I finally got to Rockville at 25 or 6 to 4. :>)
They went with 'SMART' when they could have used O SO SMART?
Happy Anniversary Gary and Joan!
Happy birthday Chairman Moe!
Ever heard a Hoarse groan?
Bare baby!
How to communicate with the idle teen...
& finally, Plain model?
CED
Your links always "crack-me-up" ... great links!
HELP! I have sound but no picture on my tv. The screen is completely black on all channels. (I rebooted the cable box to no avail.) I expect this is not good, right? The tv is about 8-9 years old.
Albany is the capital of NY--not its capitol building.
Irish Miss, I'd start my calling the cable company. But my guess is, it's time for a new TV. Luckily, with advances in technology, you can get a bigger one for less money. Sorry I can't help more. Good luck.
Irish Miss,
I get this problem a lot
due to a weird set up.
my cable goes thru a vcr and a playstation console before the TV.
I often get a blank screen if the kids do not return the settings.
Assuming your TV is an LCD (not CRT)
when you 1st turn it on with everything else off,
your TV should show something (anything) on the screen.
If you get anything it's the setup,
if you still get nothing, then maybe the old boob tube is dead.
Irish Miss.
Again, assuming your TV is not an old cathode ray tube model,
but an LCD flatscreen,
this video (while really complicated)
shows two very easy trouble shooting checks.
1st at 2 minutes, check for backlights,
2nd at 4 minutes is the flashlight test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUzCLgoSPGM
I am hoping it is just a simple wrong input selection on your remote,
unplug the TV, plug it back in, and click the menu button...
Anything?
I had a half hour about 3:00 PM and managed to knock it off. I was sure LABILE was wrong but as all the perps were solid...
Nice juxtaposition of OTT, DUROCHER and MAHATMA. Sans Hondo, I'll explain.
OTT was the "Nice guy" who finished last
Mahatma was the nickname of Branch Rickey, Leo's GM, who later fired him allegedly for hanging with gamblers in Havana.
Happiest to Gary et Femme and C-Moe.
Good licks by our ERATO duo.
I was lucky to spot a wiki about the year of the four emperors. Vespasian, of Jerusalem infamy was #4 I recall. He left his son Titus to do the dirty work and hiackoed to Rome to grab the crown.
WC
Btw Sorry to hear about your lousy weather Misty, especially the outage.
We caught some cold weather here in Florida too. Dipped into the forties last night
I'm no Mel OTT after all
WC
IM - did CED get your TV fixed? The inputs sometimes get messed up but at 7yr it might be time to go "Ol' Yeller" on it...
CED - looks like Argyle rescued your post(s). HG & Joann's cake was nice but "Plane MODEL" cartoon was funny. Thx.
TTP - Just for you CTA, er, Chicago. Thanks for erasing "When I'm 64" :-) [Hope your day was all that and a bag o' chips C. Moe!].
Cheers, -T
Actually, I was gone all day and here it is very close to 25 or 6 to 4 and just catching up on all the comments.
This seemed almost impossible at first, so I was amazed to FIR.
Got the theme with PLAIN MODEL and then I was off and running.
Learning moment about SEVERALLY and BENIN and RODMAN Serling's birth name. Also ALBANY as a Shakespeare name. Hand up about how Goneril sounds.
Never understood why they are BAHA Men as I only know of Baja California (Mexico) which I sometimes drive to. I see now that they are BAHA, short for Bahamian.
I concur with oc4beach on DC sightseeing. I grew up there and also recommend the Phillips art gallery. Be sure to see the Renoir Boating Party painting there which is magnificent.
And do be sure to see both parts of the Air and Space Museum. I also recommend going for a walk and/or rental bike ride along the C&O Canal starting in Georgetown.
50 across is a starred clue--so answer should be inverted with homophone for second word. Seastar becomes TAR SES--Star Wars character who would be armed.
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