Theme: Quaffer's Quintet - four slang terms for overindulging in the demon drink and a fifth in the reveal.
17A. *Judy Blume genre : KIDDIE LIT. She's prolific. At least 29 published novels.
25A. *Got from the cloud? : DOWNLOADED. Everything's going to "the cloud". Be wary about data security, it's out of your hands. The only person who can get files off my hard drive is me.
36A. *Like much Chinese cooking : STIR-FRIED. Food! Get a big steel wok from your local Chinese restaurant supply store. Don't get a non-stick one, you need to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there.
51A. *Three-year school, commonly : JUNIOR HIGH. Is this still a thing? Haven't they been Middle Schools for quite some time?
61A. Some football linemen ... and what the answers to starred clues have? : TIGHT ENDS
Kurt gives us a Thursday theme which is a dipso's delight. I like the reveal - all the ends of the other themers are synonyms for the start of this one. Nicely done.
Across:
1. Highlands hat : TAM. O'Shanter, formally.
4. Serenade, as the moon : BAY AT. First thought was "howl at" but I ran out of space.
9. Pearl seeker : DIVER
14. Botanist Gray : ASA. Influential professor of botany at Harvard.
15. Naproxen brand : ALEVE
16. "__ Mio" : O SOLE. Let's go with Luciano Pavarotti.
19. Bags with handles : TOTES
20. Calendario start : ENERO.
21. Sierra __ : LEONE
23. Former Radiohead label : EMI
24. __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. Here in Southern California. It's a beautiful spot.
27. Not having the know-how : UNABLE
29. Locomotive, e.g. : ENGINE
30. Compose, in a way : PEN
31. Single-celled creature : AMEBA. I cannot get used to seeing this spelling. I don't bat an eyelid at the other British/American variations now, but I still want to see AMOEBA or AMŒBA
35. Sinusitis docs : ENTS. Ear, nose and throat specialists.
39. Reebok rival : PUMA
42. Dapper : NATTY
43. Cal. pages : MOS.
46. Like : AKIN TO
49. Unite securely : CEMENT
55. Julie's "Doctor Zhivago" co-star : OMAR
56. Subj. with unknowns : ALG.
57. "Cool!" : NEATO!
58. Concert venue : ARENA
59. Softens : MELTS
63. 1999-2004 Olds : ALERO
64. Vast, in verse : ENORM.
65. How-__: do-it-yourselfers' buys : TO-S
66. Printing flourish : SERIF. Times Roman has them. Arial doesn't. Before these japes were common, in 1977 the Guardian newspaper in the UK published a seven-page special supplement on the idyllic island of San Seriffe in the Indian Ocean. It was April 1st, and because no-one in the print media had done anything like this before, everyone fell for it.
67. Freelancer's supply: Abbr. : SASES. They call them SAEs in the UK, the "self" part of the address is assumed.
68. Fused : ONE
Down:
1. Occupies oneself with, as a hobby : TAKES UP
2. Just plain silly : ASININE. Nice word.
3. Mob inductee : MADE MAN
4. Scott of "Arrested Development" : BAIO
5. Tavern favorite : ALE
6. Mello __ : YELLO
7. "__ From the Bridge": Miller : A VIEW. Arthur Miller's two-act play. The first staging was a one-act verse drama which didn't have much success, so Miller went back to the drawing board.
8. Wyoming county : TETON
9. Act grandmotherly toward : DOTE ON
10. Metric lead-in : ISO-. The "plank" is a good example of an isometric exercise.
11. Elected : VOTED IN
12. Gold or silver : ELEMENT
13. Lives : RESIDES
18. Trifle : DRIB. I think I can picture a drib, but I'm not sure what a drab looks like.
22. N.Y. Mets division : N.L.E. Baseball's National League East. Opening Day is looming.
25. __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI. Food! French reduction sauce usually used as a base for other sauces, such as a red wine glaze. If you don't want to use veal stock, use chicken stock and throw a pinch or two of gelatin in there to get that silky texture of veal.
26. Got on in years : AGED
28. Long. counterpart : LAT. Note the period in the clue. Longitude and Latitude.
32. Coastal eagle : ERN
33. Museum curator's deg. : B.F.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts.
34. Oils, e.g. : ART
36. __-Flush: household cleaner : SANI. Hesitated over SANI or SANO at first.
37. Bite symptom : ITCH
38. Network logo : EYE. CBS Television.
39. Overnight bag item, maybe : PAJAMAS
40. Elvis played one in "Blue Hawaii" : UKULELE. I had the misspelt "UKELELE" at first which led me down a SENIOR HIGH rabbit hole for a couple of minutes.
41. One working the crowd : MINGLER
43. Souvenir : MEMENTO
44. With no end in sight : ON AND ON
45. Berlin boulevard : STRASSE. "Straße" on the street signs:
47. Myriad : TONS OF
48. Pay dirt : ORE
50. "Encore!" : MORE!
52. Can't take : HATES
53. Turner autobiography : I, TINA
54. "We Got the Beat" band : GOGOS. Nit alert - the band name was "The Gogos".
58. Casino fixtures : ATMS. They don't take deposits.
60. Part of TNT : TRI-. Trinitrotoluene, not Turner Network Television. The former makes more of a bang.
62. Charlemagne's domain: Abbr. : H.R.E. Holy Roman Empire, as we all know by now.
The 2017 Masters Golf starts today. I'm looking forward to the tournament, as well as listening to Jim Nantz and his reverential whispering on CBS at the weekend.
Here's the grid!
Steve
17A. *Judy Blume genre : KIDDIE LIT. She's prolific. At least 29 published novels.
25A. *Got from the cloud? : DOWNLOADED. Everything's going to "the cloud". Be wary about data security, it's out of your hands. The only person who can get files off my hard drive is me.
36A. *Like much Chinese cooking : STIR-FRIED. Food! Get a big steel wok from your local Chinese restaurant supply store. Don't get a non-stick one, you need to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there.
51A. *Three-year school, commonly : JUNIOR HIGH. Is this still a thing? Haven't they been Middle Schools for quite some time?
61A. Some football linemen ... and what the answers to starred clues have? : TIGHT ENDS
Kurt gives us a Thursday theme which is a dipso's delight. I like the reveal - all the ends of the other themers are synonyms for the start of this one. Nicely done.
Across:
1. Highlands hat : TAM. O'Shanter, formally.
4. Serenade, as the moon : BAY AT. First thought was "howl at" but I ran out of space.
9. Pearl seeker : DIVER
14. Botanist Gray : ASA. Influential professor of botany at Harvard.
15. Naproxen brand : ALEVE
16. "__ Mio" : O SOLE. Let's go with Luciano Pavarotti.
19. Bags with handles : TOTES
20. Calendario start : ENERO.
21. Sierra __ : LEONE
23. Former Radiohead label : EMI
24. __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. Here in Southern California. It's a beautiful spot.
27. Not having the know-how : UNABLE
29. Locomotive, e.g. : ENGINE
30. Compose, in a way : PEN
31. Single-celled creature : AMEBA. I cannot get used to seeing this spelling. I don't bat an eyelid at the other British/American variations now, but I still want to see AMOEBA or AMŒBA
35. Sinusitis docs : ENTS. Ear, nose and throat specialists.
39. Reebok rival : PUMA
42. Dapper : NATTY
43. Cal. pages : MOS.
46. Like : AKIN TO
49. Unite securely : CEMENT
55. Julie's "Doctor Zhivago" co-star : OMAR
56. Subj. with unknowns : ALG.
57. "Cool!" : NEATO!
58. Concert venue : ARENA
59. Softens : MELTS
63. 1999-2004 Olds : ALERO
64. Vast, in verse : ENORM.
Sole Positive of Night!
Antipathist of Light!
Fate's only essence! Primal scorpion rod -
The one permitted opposite of God!-
Condenséd blackness and abysmal storm
Compacts to one sceptre
Arms the grasp enorm-
From Ne Plus Ultra, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
65. How-__: do-it-yourselfers' buys : TO-S
66. Printing flourish : SERIF. Times Roman has them. Arial doesn't. Before these japes were common, in 1977 the Guardian newspaper in the UK published a seven-page special supplement on the idyllic island of San Seriffe in the Indian Ocean. It was April 1st, and because no-one in the print media had done anything like this before, everyone fell for it.
67. Freelancer's supply: Abbr. : SASES. They call them SAEs in the UK, the "self" part of the address is assumed.
68. Fused : ONE
Down:
1. Occupies oneself with, as a hobby : TAKES UP
2. Just plain silly : ASININE. Nice word.
3. Mob inductee : MADE MAN
4. Scott of "Arrested Development" : BAIO
5. Tavern favorite : ALE
6. Mello __ : YELLO
7. "__ From the Bridge": Miller : A VIEW. Arthur Miller's two-act play. The first staging was a one-act verse drama which didn't have much success, so Miller went back to the drawing board.
8. Wyoming county : TETON
9. Act grandmotherly toward : DOTE ON
10. Metric lead-in : ISO-. The "plank" is a good example of an isometric exercise.
11. Elected : VOTED IN
12. Gold or silver : ELEMENT
13. Lives : RESIDES
18. Trifle : DRIB. I think I can picture a drib, but I'm not sure what a drab looks like.
22. N.Y. Mets division : N.L.E. Baseball's National League East. Opening Day is looming.
25. __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI. Food! French reduction sauce usually used as a base for other sauces, such as a red wine glaze. If you don't want to use veal stock, use chicken stock and throw a pinch or two of gelatin in there to get that silky texture of veal.
26. Got on in years : AGED
28. Long. counterpart : LAT. Note the period in the clue. Longitude and Latitude.
32. Coastal eagle : ERN
33. Museum curator's deg. : B.F.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts.
34. Oils, e.g. : ART
36. __-Flush: household cleaner : SANI. Hesitated over SANI or SANO at first.
37. Bite symptom : ITCH
38. Network logo : EYE. CBS Television.
39. Overnight bag item, maybe : PAJAMAS
40. Elvis played one in "Blue Hawaii" : UKULELE. I had the misspelt "UKELELE" at first which led me down a SENIOR HIGH rabbit hole for a couple of minutes.
41. One working the crowd : MINGLER
43. Souvenir : MEMENTO
44. With no end in sight : ON AND ON
45. Berlin boulevard : STRASSE. "Straße" on the street signs:
47. Myriad : TONS OF
48. Pay dirt : ORE
50. "Encore!" : MORE!
52. Can't take : HATES
53. Turner autobiography : I, TINA
54. "We Got the Beat" band : GOGOS. Nit alert - the band name was "The Gogos".
58. Casino fixtures : ATMS. They don't take deposits.
60. Part of TNT : TRI-. Trinitrotoluene, not Turner Network Television. The former makes more of a bang.
62. Charlemagne's domain: Abbr. : H.R.E. Holy Roman Empire, as we all know by now.
The 2017 Masters Golf starts today. I'm looking forward to the tournament, as well as listening to Jim Nantz and his reverential whispering on CBS at the weekend.
Here's the grid!
Steve
57 comments:
{B-, B+, C+, A-, B+.}
He was LIT, he was LOADED, he was FRIED to the sky!
In other words, my MAN, he was TETON range HIGH!
Though not ONE DRIB of tea
Tainted ALE on his spree!
He'll want ALEVE MADE of SANI-FLUSH ON-AND-ON, by-and-by!
In Doctor Zhivago, there's a character whose riff
Makes him stand out, even though he is stiff!
When an ending would dangle
He'll go off at an angle.
He adds something extra, does OMAR SERIF!
When something is huge, is vast, is ENORM;
The reporter is called, to give meaning and form!
A VIEW he TAKES UP
To PEN ART and such,
Though his EYE might prefer to be closed in his dorm!
There was a strange prude from SIERRA LEONE
Who'd only wear PAJAMAS when in bed alone!
But accompanied, he'd gaily
SERENADE with UKULELE,
Until UNABLE to take MORE, his guest would go home!
Said AMEBA to PUMA, "You're MORE highly evolved
Could you mentor me on the ENGINE involved?
ALGEBRA I already have on my side
Algae, to multiply, have to divide!"
Said the cat, "switch to sex, and your problem is solved!"
RE: junior high vs. middle school -- in some cases there's not much difference, but if they are structured as they were originally intended to be there is quite a difference. A junior high is just that; a little high school for younger kids. The day has the same structure of (usually) 8 periods of equal length and they all start and end at the same time across all grades. There is little or no attempt to keep kids together in smaller groups as they go through the day, other than "gifted" kids and possibly special ed kids. Teachers typically are grouped by subject area and meet only in subject area groups.
Middle schools may well have different time schedules for each grade. Kids are grouped in "teams" of (usually) 100 to 125, and they stay in those teams all day, mixing with other teams only when they are not in academic classes. Teachers don't meet by subject area, but rather by team. One small group of teachers works with one team of students. Planning is by team rather than just by individual subjects. There's a strong effort to make what's happening in one subject relate to what's happening in the others.
Having spent 35 years as a teacher and administrator at schools using both of these approaches, I'll take the middle school over the junior high in a heartbeat. Sorry it's such a long post; there's a lot to say.
Hi Y'all! Thought this puzzle was easier than yesterday. Good one, Kurt and Steve!
Surprised to see Sani-flush since it is no longer on the market since 2009, according to Google due to "environmental concerns". I couldn't believe it wasn't made anymore when I couldn't find it in stores. I thought maybe it was because of PVC plumbing at the time. Sure was good stuff.
My response to the Coleridge poem: Hunh? Sounds impressive. Not sure what he's trying to say.
Me too, Steve, on AMoEBA!
Casino fixtures: not slots. ATM was ESP.
Some JUNIOR HIGHS are grades 7, 8, & 9.
Yesterday we finally saw the sun after 14 days with rain falling each day. Newspaper says that is a record. I SEZ it's just plain dreary & soggy.
Greetings!
Thanks to Kurt and Steve!
Easy for a Thursday, I thought!
Thanks for the Pavarotti!
Have a great day!
Good morning. Thank you Kurt and thank you Steve.
Calendar confusion at the LA Times ?
I shouldn't mock. I spelled it AMOBA and never looked back. No TADA.
Good morning!
Monday came late this week. Thanx, Kurt and Steve. I even got the theme!
Doesn't "O Sole Mio" look like "Oh, My Fish?"
Steve, that second S in SASES is for "stamped."
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun puzzle. I sailed through the eastern side, but the west was a bit more challenging. The TAM came easily, but it took a pass or two to get the TAKES UP.
I think of Judy Blume as being more of a young adult genre writer. Probably her most well known book is Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
She also wrote and interesting book entitled In the Unlikely Event, loosely based on an event in the 1950s when three airplanes crashed in northern New Jersey in a 2 month period.
My favorite clue was Subject with Unknowns = ALG.
QOD: I am really driven, but my drive doesn’t affect the conversations I have in my head about life, and my worries and fears and insecurities. ~ Zach Braff (b. Apr. 6, 1975)
Is today Thursday? This seemed to be a Monday/Tuesday puzzle. I solved it zip, zip, zip. My only hangup was writing I TINA in the wrong set of cells.
WikWak, Thanks for reminding us of the difference. I knew that, but haven't thought of it in years. For us the change from junior high to middle school came in the 1970's. I haven't heard the term junior high for decades.
My elementary age students loved Judy Blume's books.
Some are recommended for ages 6-9 and other for ages 9-12. I enjoy many of them myself. I liked "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," which is recommended for ages 10-13. The term Kiddie Lit sounds sort of insulting to me, especially for preteens.
ASININE is much more pejorative than SILLY.
It is raining again. I wish I could send some to your drought stricken areas. We have overcome our drought. Tuesdays forecasted "storm" with driving rain and inundating floods wimped out. We merely had all day misting rain and sprinkles, much like today. Yesterday was a delightful spring day.
Good Morning.
Well, well, well. . . . I was with YR as I thought this was pretty breezy until I hit the midsection. Then I was stymied by being on the wrong wavelength. Thanks, Kurt, for reminding me that hubris can be dangerous. At least this was only a crossword. I hope the humble pie is made with berries!
Steve: Nicely done again.
YR (encore): I agree Kiddie Lit is definitely not Judy Blume. The term used today is YA Lit: for Young Adult.
The sun is trying to emerge here in the Chicago area. With high winds out of the North, I need to get down to Lake Michigan and watch her pretend to be the ocean! The Third Coast surfers will be out today! Have a nice day.
With themes LIT, LOADED, FRIED, HIGH and TIGHT (and some ALE) you know I liked this puzzle.
Steve I made the same UKeLELE error before UKULELE came into view from the "U" in JUNIOR HIGH.
Nice write-up, BTW.
Living in a "Resort Town" the souvenir MEMENTO is "big-business" in Tarpon Springs.
Especially down on the Sponge Docks.
Hmmm, maybe the theme will come into being once that Sun gets over the yardarm.
Cheers!
Good morning everyone.
This was a little easier than some of Kurt's offerings, but I like his style. Had 'lots of' before TONS OF. AMEBA is common in cwds. I would think a museum curator would more likely have an MFA.
ART is next to BFA.
In NY, Wyoming is a county.
Berlin boulevard - In German it's still Boulevard. Avenue is Weg or Allee, and street is Straße. (If a street evolves from a narrow cow-path to a major boulevard, it seems likely that it would retain its original name. We certainly do that here.) Straße in a street name seems to cover a wide range of widths, just like 'street' in the USA.
Hi Gang -
I totally missed the theme. Looked for something at both ends. Still influenced by yesterday, I guess.
Took a bit of hunting, pecking and perp help to get through. I thought it was on the easy side for a Thursday, but not at the Mon - Tues level.
Left the 2nd vowel space blank in UK_LELE, till JUNIOR filled it in. Didn't expect a "U" there.
Tigers have had 2 rain outs in Chicago already. Probably will get a game in today. Verlander was good in the delayed opener. Home opener is tomorrow, and we have a wintery mix forecast for tonight. I'm not optimistic.
Twins are 2-0 for the first time in a decade!
Red Wings missed the play-offs for the first time in 26 years. They haven't been an elite team for a while, though.
Cool regards!
JzB
Worked it fast, NW to SE with two changes, AVIA to PUMA and SENIOR to JUNIOR HIGH. Never watched 'Arrested Development' but BAIO fell easily to perps.
Of the descriptions of the states of drunkedness, I had never heard the term FRIED used that way. A brain being FRIED could be used to describe some student who crammed for an exam.
ISO- I do planking but it hurts not my back but the skin on my elbows.
Didn't seem quite right to build a theme around words (some pretty obsolete) meaning drunk, with so many people struggling with and recovering from alcohol abuse. Have you heard in the last couple of decades anyone saying "tight" or "lit" to mean drunk? Junior High? Sorry, this one just didn't resonate well for me.
Musings
-What happens if you fixate on Ted Turner and not TINA – one bad cell!
-Me too Wik Wak! My JH became a 7/8 MS bldg. with 9th gr. shipped out to the HS.
-Roy Orbison’s plaintive song (2:41) about a DIVER
-Americans in Italian restaurants will hear O SOLE MIO from all the strolling musicians
-Is ENERO the only Spanish month with a scrabble value of only 5
-Freetown, SIERRA LEONE was founded as a home for freed slaves after the American Revolution
-Plumbers should charge extra to fix stuff UNABLE people made worse!
-Two famous LOCOMOTIVES up on a bluff greet people as they enter Nebaska from Iowa on I-80
-ALG is even more important with Excel formulæ (for my friend Steve)
-in Goodfellas the Joe Pesci character thought he was going to become a MADE MAN but got killed instead
-I live at 41˚N LAT just like Eureka, CA with a very different climate
-I wonder if the Berlin Wall MEMENTO I bought at Checkpoint Charlie was genuine?
Good morning all!
Nice offering from Kurt today but I also found it easy for a Thursday. Thankful for the quick solve as I had an appointment with the knee surgeon and finished the CW over coffee and breakfast. Just now getting to the blog though as I had to dash to get there but I don't feel my morning routine is complete until I finish the puzzle :)
Thanks also to Steve- an informative and witty tour, as usual! I also misspelled UKULELE as ukElele and had Senior HIGH>JUNIOR. Avia>PUMA but Pasamas made no sense but PAJAMAS cleared it all up. And I always want AMEBA to be AmOeba.
No problems with the theme fills or getting the reveal answer. However, I didn't "get" TIGHTENDS as I've never heard TIGHT used for drunk. Am I the only one who has never heard of this?
Unknowns gotten via perps: ASA, OSOLE, BAIO, AVIEW and TETON. All easy to figure out but learning moments :)
I tried Arms>ATMS thinking of " one armed bandits" on slot machines. Thought I was clever, lol
ASININE seems much more negative to me than "Silly" Perhaps it's because someone I know over uses the word. They're a negative, contemptuous and belittling sort in general and apply this word to anything they don't like or agree with. Said person brings out the worst in me and I occasionally have to vent. My apologies for doing it here ;)
MELLOYELLO - I have a Mellow Yellow (Spirea) bush in my garden. I worked with it yesterday because it was being choked out by some ivy. It is a favorite spot for praying mantises to lay their egg sacs. I love it due to the ease of caring for it and the lovely, varying colors for three seasons.
Mother Nature is playing with us again. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny, warm Spring day. Now it's chilly, rainy and dreary with possible snow overnight. I'm getting antsy for the nice weather to stick around for more than a day at a time.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Good day to all!
Hand up for finding this easier than the usual Thursday puzzle, and for having UKeLELE/seNIOR HIGH before UKULELE and JUNIOR HIGH. The GOGOS were the only unknown.Thanks for the puzzle, Kurt, and thanks for the expo, Steve.
Happy Birthday (belatedly) to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you each had a day filled with wonderful memory making moments.
Enjoy the day!
Good Morning:
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out the theme until Steve explained it. I, foolishly, was looking for letters in the word "tight" at the ends of the theme answers. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees! I'll blame this lapse in judgment on the excitement of the last few days. Two examples of my brain-drain: wanted an Irving Berlin boulevard and a person Elvis was playing, not an instrument. Oh well, I finished it despite not grasping the theme.
Thanks, Kurt, for the challenge and thanks, Steve, for the enlightening expo.
We're due for heavy rains later and into tomorrow. It has been wet and soggy for days and with the rain and snowmelt, there have been flood watches (warnings?) due to the proximity of the Hudson River.
I received a cute birthday card from one of my best friends. The cover had two dark-colored bunnies but no sentiment, so I thought it was an Easter card. The inside read "Happy Birthday! Gray hares are beautiful! Thanks, again, everyone, for the kind words and wishes.
Have a great day.
It's grand to be in Kurt Krauss's wave length on a Thursday! Except for a few write overs, AVIA/PUMA, HAM/EMI, ALOTOF/TONSOF, I sailed through this puzzle.
In calligraphy a SERIF is the extended flourish on letters. Ditto on the spelling of AMEBA. And deep sighing at the mention of OMAR Sharif. Since I had PAJAMAS, JUNIOR HIGH, a term I hadn't heard in many years, emerged nicely.
Actually, HG, in Spanish we have marzo, abril, junio, julio, with five letters but ENERO seems to fit the situation any time it's used. It's just one of those MOS.
Ditto, also, on Judy Blume's books as KIDDIE LIT. Beverly Cleary's would seem more appropriate for that genre.
Tin, Scottsdale is also a tourist mecca and MEMENTOS abound especially in the shops on Fifth Avenue and in all of Old Town.
Thank you, Kurt Krauss, and MORE, MORE of your puzzles in the future.
And many thanks to Steve, that multitasker whose traveling doesn't deter from avid blogging. I loved listening to Pavorotti while reading the comments and writing. Thx.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Lit and loaded are current here, for sure. Tight and fried,also stewed, seem common, as well, whether from books or real life I am not sure.
Here is guy that has taken the theme, and mixed it with 1d (hobby?),
In an asinine attempt to find 365 words for drunk.
he is up to 362 so far...
Well, I had a pretty good morning, getting a tough Sudoku, a tough Kenken, a tough Jumble, and almost, almost this delightful puzzle--except for the SENIOR/UKELELE error, which I failed to fix. But with only two glasses of Bogle Merlot every evening, I even got the theme! Yay!
Thank you, Kurt--although once again the LA Times neglected to put your name at the top of the puzzle. But at least they took the nonsensical ATTENTION! off. Now if we could only get them to restore the constructor's name, that would be wonderful. Please keep helping, Ol' Man Keith, and others, so we can get this dumb problem resolved.
Many thanks for the Coleridge poem, Steve. Liked seeing Miller in the puzzle too.
Irish Miss, I love your Gray Hare card!
Have a good Thursday, everybody!
This seemed easy today for a Thursday but I think that's because of yesterday.
I don't really care for the colorful names for what are drunken states, but that's me. Please note, I don't care what people do but I do object to giving those states of inebriation funny names. You might disagree until someone who is "lit" or "fried" or "high" or "tight" slams into,you or yours. Stay the heck home.
Great Thursday puzzle with just a few slowdowns. Thanks for the fun Kurt and Steve.
I smiled when I got the TIGHTEND theme.
CWs usually have AMEBA but I am more familiar with the O added. I had another of those cultural spelling problems with YKINTO at 45A. Lightbulb moment when I realized that Americans spell PAJAMAS not pYjamas. (Surprised you didn't comment on that Steve?!)
Hand up for Lots of before TONS OF, Arm before ATM (Bunny M!).
We have UKE in CWs so often that we have forgotten how to spell the full word, UKULELES. I had the E also.
Favourite today was 9D. This grandmother loves to DOTE ON her grandchildren, especially the new little one.
Wishing you all a great day. We have more rain here and some snow predicted for tonight. Will spring ever come??
@WikWak - thanks for the enlightenment. Funnily enough, my friend just finished her admin credential. I proofed all the papers, so I think I could pass myself off as a reasonably convincing assistant principal :)
Thanks to all for the plaudits. Blogging these puzzles is definitely one of the fun parts of my week!
Hi everybody.
I had the same problem as some others; some of the theme words for intoxicated were not ones I was most familiar with. I tried and tried to suss out the theme but even with the reveal, I didn't understand it until I came here.
What happens if the day's blogger isn't sure about the theme? Do they e-mail CC or some of the other bloggers?
I just got back from the DMV. I had to replace my lost driver's license. It was relatively painless except for a bit of a wait, even with my appointment. Still, the wait was understandable with the number of people they were dealing with.
AnonymousPVX, from yesterday: It was the Alison Krauss Windy City album -- new this year. Pretty good. The [Deluxe Edition] has the original 10 cuts plus 4 alternate arrangements of songs in the original 10. Right now I'm listening to Rodney Crowell's Close Ties album.
Hi again,
Having read EVERYTHING Hemingway and Fitzgerald (et al, for that matter), I am very familiar with TIGHT as 20's parlance for inebriated. I'm not certain of contemporary usage as I no longer spend my days with high schoolers. ;^)
RE: "Tight" -- from the lyrics to Rum, By Gum:
Away, away with rum, by gum, rum, by gum, rum, by gum
Away, away with rum, by gum, the song of the Temperance Union
We never eat fruitcake because it has rum
And one little bite turns a man to a bum
Can you imagine a sorrier sight
Than a man eating fruitcake until he gets tight
Very easy today. I don't mind, but worry about tomorrow if the pendulum swings the other way.
I rec'd an email acknowledgement today from somebody named Lemuel Florague of the Los Angeles Times Mobile Team. He apologized for "any inconvenience," but otherwise his message showed no mention of the particular problem. He said he is sure the "Editorial team" will be glad to learn of the matter--and suggested writing to readers.representative@latimes.com.
A form response like this does not promise quick action. At least they took down that nagging "ATTENTION!" line. But I suggest we keep at them. Lemuel's recommendation of a formal Letter to the Editor may be too heavy-handed, considering the major political and social issues that most such letters address, but more letters to calendar@latimes.com may break through their defenses.
I am grateful to our Crossword Corner for letting me know I have Kurt Krauss to thank for today's pzl.
CED @1:01
Thanks for the link to "he is up to 362 so far" (words for drunk) ...
Kinda noticed that he had only 362 so far ... and that Tinbeni hasn't yet been listed. LOL
At Villa Incognito I have 365 words ... they are called DAYS in a year.
(Of course when it is "Leap Year" ... I have 366 words for drunk ...)
Cheers!
Easier for me than most Thursdays, but also more fun. Thanks Kurt. I'm embarrassed to say I got the theme and knew all the drunk words. ... and I don't even drink. I guess I've been hanging around the wrong people, and books.
Steve the write up was wonderful. I agree about AMEBA.
Loved the limericks, Owen.
Thank you, Ol' Man Keith, and I'm glad you received a response from the LA Times. I've had no response to either of my two messages, but I followed up on your message with a note to the readers' representative address. If we don't get some meaningful correction to the problem soon, I am going to consider cancelling my paper subscription, if I can figure out how to access the puzzle (and Sudoku and Kenken) online. But this would make my mornings much less happy (I enjoy the comics too--and have loved them for years!).
Again, thank you. C.C., I don't know if you can do anything to help us with this, but if you can, that would be wonderful.
Yes, excellent 'licks today from Owen. I liked the second B+
I got fixated on TED Turner and didn't get I TINA. I also had to write over AVIA
I saw PUMA advertised and when I reversed SENIOR and JUNIOR I knocked off the SW.
relatively easy Thursday. But keep em com'n Kurt. Steve, nice job too.
I always enjoy a little Orbison
The Bruins also had a long string of Stanley cup appearances, from the Bobby ORR era thru the ?? Who was that defenseman who played in the 80s? Frenchman.
Let's see what Coleridge was talking about? Night. OK. We all got that much. Scorpion rod?
This is Misty territory. He was probably on the opiates again. And Misty if that Latimes glitch ain't fixed by next Thursday, you have our permission to graduate from DUMB to ASININE.
Finally. We got that diphthong thing again with AMOEBA.
WC
This was a pleasant solve today. Thank you, Kurt Krauss. Enjoyable expo, Steve, as usual.
I didn't get the theme until Steve explained it.
WikWak, thank you for the explanation. The middle school concept started in this school district during my daughter's senior year so we had no experience with the set-up.
After a beautiful day yesterday, today is chilly and rainy. I'm ready for some nice spring weather.
Pat
Came home from work to a relatively easy Thursday puzzle. Not sure what a "mademan" has to do with the mob though . Corrected "seniorhigh once I got "ukulele" and changed "avia" to "puma" so a few pen overwrites but not too shabby. Cold and rain with some snow pile holdouts otherwise still no real sign of spring other than shivering robbins.
Didn't get the theme at all; I was thinking along the lines Irish Miss was. Nice workmanship on the puzzle. I liked ASININE, STRASSE, MEMENTO, UKULELE, and MINGLER, and nodded acknowledgment to our old friends ENERO, TAM, ARENA, ALE, ALERO, etc.
For years I used to think O Sole Mio meant Oh Lonely Me because the melody sounds sad to my ears.
Interesting to see OMAR and SERIF.
I wonder if I TINA uses an iPhone to send iMessages or has iTunes on her iPod.
Good luck, Bill G, and best wishes to you all.
@Jayce - cracking comment about OMAR SERIF. There's got to be a puzzle theme in there somewhere :)
@Ray o' Sunshine - I remember reading the original "Godfather" novel by Mario Puzo before the movie adaptation, and when a mafioso carried out his first hit he had "made his bones" or was a "made man".
@Bill Graham - speaking for myself, I don't think I've ever had to socialize the theme with the other bloggers to figure it out, although I know I have missed some subtleties with the entries on occasion (and the Corner regulars are always happy to fill in any blanks!) I think all the current bloggers are published constructors too, and so in the words of the Farmer's Insurance commercial "We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two"! Great question, thanks for asking.
Ol' Man Keith, I got a response from someone at LA Times. Apparently the problem is that the crossword puzzle is handled by a syndication service--not by the newspaper directly. But the writer says they're working on it and should be able to get it fixed soon.
Thanks for your concern, Wilbur, but it looks as though we may get help soon.
Hi All!
Hand up trying to find "TIGHT" or parts thereof at the end of the *'d clues. V-8! Loved it Kurt! Thanks for a fun, and somewhat easy (until I hit the SW), puzzle.
Thanks Steve for the expo. You gave constructors a new (to me) BFF clue w/ your Judy Blume cover; Yikes! I agree - The GOGOS. BTW, I loved your title :-)
WOs: Asic* b/f PUMA; Eases b/f MELTS; Hand-up for 3 spelling attempts at UKE (though, curiously, not the 'E'/'U' :-))
ESPs: ASA, O SOLE, STRASSE; SANI
Fav: I'm UNABLE to come up w/ better than the theme. Sorry; I HATE to disappoint.
ALG c/a was pretty cute too. [and I'm tutoring Youngest in ALG tonight - She's in Junior High (? Grade 8) - we have K-5; 6; 7&8; then 9-12 in separate schools here]
{A,A-,B,A,A}
Steve's Isle of San Serriffe [need .pdf reader]
Re: KID LIT - All books are children's books if they know how to read [Mitch] :-)
Cheers, -T
*I looked it up - It's Asics. I thought people added the 'S' 'cuz there are two.
**Asic 'cuz I was thinkin' Elvis was a "soldier" - no I've never seen the movie but I read there was Movie/Elvis/WWII propaganda back in the day. C, -T
I think it's the word kiddie that rankles.
Today the rain turned stronger, flooding some streams and bringing thunder and lightening.
Generally smooth solve. Only hang-up was when I put AVIA before PUMA - thought it would be weird if Elvis played a VUVUZELA :)) !
Our district has middle schools but the district 30 minutes away has junior highs in our area, so no hang up there for me. I only got hung up when our kids were playing bball and one of our middle schools was Thomas Jefferson and the junior high 30 min away was Thomas Jefferson- we got to calling the one Jeff Jr. and tried to show up at the right one to root them on!
Thanks Steve and Kurt!
Misty, OM Keith et al
Not sure what the LAT problem is, but I get the puzzle thru the Chicago Tribune at http://games.chicagotribune.com/games/daily-crossword/
No subscription needed
It still acknowledges the LA Times, and does show the constructor's and editor's names
Well I had a long boring post and, as I checked it, touched the wrong button and POOF.
So I'll switch gears and go conspiratorial. To wit: If Elvis doesn't go Army he never would have lived to see the Beatles.
Having said that Elvis going and coming to/from the Army was huge
I'll stop.
WC from the "Condensed Blackness"
Youngest best get an A. BIll G will appreciate this...
I couldn't recall the method to get the quadratic from a parabola. Youngest and I figured it out from 1st principles. Goes up|down asymptotically then a=+1|-1; X=0 & y=?=c; X=1 & y=? ; solve for b knowing: ax² + bx +c =y.
Bill G., tell me if I ruined her grade :-). [it work'd 3 times for 3 curves!]
IM - I forgot: Grey Hare LOL. Thanks for sharing.
BunnyM - cool plant. I thought of Dovovan @ Mello Yello [sic]
CED - I'm up to the j's [hic] and it's [hic] intoxicat[hic]ing. What?, it's not a [hic] drinking game?[hic]. V-1!
Cheers, -T
Thank you, billocohoes. Good to have your suggestions as a backup--really appreciate that.
AnonT: I'm not sure what you meant about Elvis in WWII. Elvis's tour of duty in the US Army from 1958-1960 was long after WWII & Korea. He went to Germany where there was no war at the time. Vietnam was just getting started and most of us didn't even know there was a war on there or where the heck that country was.
PK - So, I was on the horn w/ MIL puzzle talkin' (and solving all the world's problems) and your post came across. That's two of you v. my memory [mind you Elvis was b/f my time too]. MIL said maybe I was thinking of Flynn. I donno, I thought I recalled Elvis in green in a movie... I've been school'd (JUNIOR HIGH? :-)) so thank you. Google time :-). Cheers, -T
PK -- Well that didn't take long G.I. Blues. That's what I was thinking of, but now I know it was way-post war/post Elvis' enlistment. Again, in my defense, I was only -10 when the movie was made :-). Cheers, -T
AnonT, I'm not sure I totally understand your explanation but it seems right. Very impressive. If the parabola crosses the X axis in two places, there is an easier approach. The X intercepts are the same as the roots; also, where y is equal to zero. Say the parabola crosses the X axis at 2 and -3. Then write the equation as y = (x-2)(x+3). That multiplies out to y = x^2 + x - 6. Done. If the parabola doesn't cross the X axis, then there aren't any real roots and the solutions are imaginary and things get more complicated; more than I want to try to type out. Also, I'm sure most folks eyes are glazing over...
I think you and your youngest deserve extra credit.
Also, can you derive the quadratic formula from scratch? I always enjoyed that.
RIP Don Rickles.
He was much nicer than he appeared in his comedy routines...
Over posting to thank Bill G. Re: imaginary domain when not crossing X axis. We didn't solve one of those but they where examples in the "sight" questions (simply asking domains) that will likely be on her test. I texted her so she knows in the morning. Thank you Bill G.! Oh, and yes, at least I could once :-) Cheers, -T
Steve @ 6:13pm in reply to Ray O' Sunshine - I'm still scratching my head about "made man," even after your explanation of "mob inductee." Smooth puzzle-solving, except for that one, and, of course, the unifier, "tight" ends??? Never heard that term associated with excessive liquor libation.
Oh, 7th post.... C.C.'s Goons* are gonna get me.
Anon@12:24 -- "MADE MAN" is slang for someone that just got inducted into the Italian Mob [no such thing, and we don'n'a talk business at the table] by killing his first target or "hit." So, now that he's part of the "family business" he's got it made; he's cruzin' to the good life, et.al. Mob == Mobster; think GMen bringing down Capone in Chicago in the '20s [did I get that right PK? :-)]
Tight? I think Steve done 'splain'd that... All are other ways of saying Three-sheets-to-the-wind, Drunk of the good Grape, Hammerd, Smashed, One too many cocktails, Pushing up the daisies [no, wait, that's the Parrot]. All all synonymous slang with the slang TIGHT.
Does that help?
Cheers, -T
*Argyle - I kid because I love [RIP Rickles].
Wilbur Charles@ 4:00 + PM
Only defenseman I can think of is Ray Borque. Saw him help to do in the Whalers plenty of times.
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