Our Friday maven JW is back. Once again we have a letter switch puzzle, with the resulting fill clued whimsically. We have five clues where an "A" is replaced with a "U." The initial three have the change in the first word, the remaining two in the second word. All of the new fill are witty - BUNK Robber my favorite and Exhaust FUN the most poignant. But wait ! There is More, each word has an N after each A/U. It is hard enough to to make a letter substitution work, but to have the consistency of the AN to UN is the cherry on top. I missed it my first time through. With 61 theme squares, JW still manages to include ARTEMIS, USED CAR, EPITHETS, FORENSIC, SNATCHING and WOOD SCREW to leave a very satisfying grid.
17A. Thief at a sleepaway camp? : BUNK ROBBER (10). The BANK robber downsized.
24A. People who wear "I'm with stupid" T-shirts? : DUNCE PARTNERS (13). Perhaps they will become DANCE Partners.
37A. Fail a jewelry class lesson? : BUNGLE BRACELETS (15). Not my favorite, BANGLE Bracelet while alliterative, just does not excite.
48A. What drives a fashionista? : CLOTHES HUNGER (13). Clothes HANGERS have not changed much in my lifetime.
59A. Run out of amusing things to do? : EXHAUST FUN (10). Every stove has an Exhaust FAN.
I hope you are not too exhausted to move on....
Across:
1. Itsy-bitsy critter : MITE. Dust mite anyone?
5. Caroler's accoutrement : SCARF. Accoutrement is such a classy word!
10. Farthest from the hole : AWAY. This is for golfers, determining who plays next.
14. Slangy "Got that?" : Y'SEE? This contraction of 'you see' is in the dictionary now.
15. Izu Islands city : TOKYO. Major learning moment for me. LINK.
16. Soda opener? : COCA. Cola.
19. Red cap? : CORK. Red wine - nice clue.
20. Vivid dye : AZO. The wiki-chemist says "aryl azo compounds have vivid colors, especially reds, oranges, and yellows. Therefore, they are used as dyes, and are commonly known as azo dyes."
21. Kibbutz entertainment : HORA. The dance. There are variations.
22. End sections of some Greek poems : EPODES. Epode, a verse form composed of two lines differing in construction and often in meter, the second shorter than the first. In Greek lyric odes, an epode is the third part of the three-part structure of the poem, following the strophe and the antistrophe. The word is from the Greek epōidós, “sung” or “said after.” Sure. Britannica.
27. __ Cruces : LAS. The crosses, Spanish, is located in New Mexico.
28. It may be a lemon : USED CAR. A clear CSO.
31. Lhasa __ : APSO.
36. LP maker : RCA.
41. Bali or Hanes product : BRA. Any other three letter products?
42. Bridge call : I PASS.
43. Boo-boo : OWIE.
44. Deity with bow and arrows : ARTEMIS. The Greek goddess of the hunt, etc. She and Diana are similar but not the SAME. 56A. Superhero with a hammer : THOR. Now we have a Norse god added.
46. Bot., e.g. : SCI.
54. Go over : REHASH.
57. Natural resource : ORE.
58. Tissue box access : SLIT.
62. Forest climber : VINE.
63. Three-time 20-game winner for the '70s Red Sox : TIANT. I will never forget his WINDUP or his STORY.
64. Cried : WEPT.
65. Classifies (as) : PEGS.
66. Trig functions : SINES.
67. Fine things? : ARTS.
Down:
1. "I'm the culprit" : MY BAD. Mea culpa before the millennials came along.
2. Brand once hawked by an eponymous "Joe" : ISUZU. He was a STAR.
3. Joinery element : TENON. Splynter? You agree joinery is the wooden components of a building, such as stairs, doors, and door and window frames, viewed collectively?
4. "I sure don't want that" : EEK. Two weeks in a row.
5. Retrieves dropped keys, say : STOOPS.
6. Hooded snake : COBRA.
7. Mogul emperor, 1556-1605 : AKBAR. Interesting MAN.
8. Bakery offering : RYE. It was rye bread that led to the Salem witch trials.
9. Like "CSI" work : FORENSIC. Which I may have learned from CSI.
10. Agreement : ACCORD.
11. Item in many an IKEA kit : WOOD SCREW. "Wood screws are better than drywall screws for woodworking projects. Drywall screws are made of hardened, brittle steel, and the shaft will often snap during installation, especially if they're screwed into hardwoods."
12. Lot division : ACRE. There are 640 acres in a Section, but most lots are smaller than an acre.
13. Shoots the breeze : YAKS.
18. Carla portrayer on "Cheers" : RHEA.
23. Actress/author Holly Robinson __ : PEETE. Ex-Detroit Lion QB Rodney Peete's wife.
RODNEY did not have a great career, but he found a great WIFE.
25. Obstruct : CLOG.
26. Marching band section : TUBAS.
29. When "Kansas City" is sung in "Oklahoma!" : ACT I.
30. Knock down, in Nottingham : RASE. The British spelling of the word we spell raze.
31. "SOS" group : ABBA.
32. Run smoothly : PURR.
33. Pickpocket's activity : SNATCHING. Actually it seems more like stealing to me.
34. Humiliate : ABASH.
35. Union address? : MRS. Fun clue/fill.
38. Oscar night arrivals : LIMOS.
39. Peter the Great et al. : EPITHETS. They are not always nice, the Terrible, the Mad etc.
40. Butcher's offering : LOIN.
45. Brings great pleasure to : ELATES.
46. Shows anger, maybe : SHOUTS.
47. Ornery sorts : CURS.
49. Vermont patriot Allen : ETHAN. More famous for his furniture.
50. Oscar-nominated western : SHANE. Alan Ladd was 5'4" I am told.
51. Menial assistant : GOFER.
52. Blow : ERUPT.
53. Flat fees : RENTS. Pun on British word for apartment.
54. "I'll be there" message, e.g. : RSVP.
55. Author Wiesel : ELIE.
60. Number on old dials : XII.
61. BOAC competitor : TWA. They both are gone.
We are in the good old summer time; hope you all had a fun day on the 4th. It feels right to have Jeffrey back in the Friday saddle. Thank you all for tuning in; see you next week gwatcdr.
Lemonade out.
54 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Jeffrey and Lemon!
Always pleased to finish a JW sans cheats!
Some things not obvious: YSEE, TIANT (who?) and AKBAR (who?).
Had dermatologist appt. in one place (we thought), but it turned out to be in another. Got lost for a long time. Fixed Harvey's iPad and MacBook Pro afterwards, so he went home happy despite the awful day.
Have a great day!
Hi Y'all! I got the "an" to "un" theme and found it amusing. Did better time-wise than usual for Friday. Good one, Jeffrey. Good expo, Lemonade.
The NW corner was the last to fill despite having MITE/MY BAD before leaving that tier. Y'SEE (boo hiss!). "I sure don't want that." = EEK? I tried Yuk, eck, ugh which denote rejection to me. EEK denotes fright. Don't remember ever seeing that Joe in an ISUZU commercial OR any ISUZU commercial in that era in our boondocks area. So for me, the use of Y'SEE and those other two words all in a beginning block was just plain mean. Had two red-letter runs to finish it when everything else was filled.
The rest of the puzzle went more smoothly. Didn't know: AKBAR, TIANT.
Only one TUBA in my HS band so didn't think of that as a "section". Of course, it is. Tried "brass" & "drums" first.
EPITHETS: all perps & a WAG. DESPOTS didn't fit.
Unsalting: Was a house guest once where the chili soup was over-salted by 3 passing cooks. Inedible. We had bologna sandwiches for lunch instead. The hostess put a whole raw potato in the soup and brought it to a boil for a while. Apparently the potato absorbed the salt. She removed the potato, threw it away and we had chili soup for supper. I never tried it myself but thought I'd tell you for what it is worth.
Good morning!
This was an educational experience: AKBAR and TIANT (does it rhyme with giant? -- both soon to be forgotten), plus the non-disparaging use of EPITHET. Do they kibbitz for entertainment in a kibbutz? I thought the HORA was a wedding dance. I liked it, JW.
Lemon, he may have been listed at 5'4", but that was probably stretching it.
FIRbNTD! No ta-da, decided ABASH was a stronger answer than oRBIT, and rRS didn't really make sense. Put in AMBIT (which I knew was a word, but couldn't remember what it meant), and that got the ta-da!
The theme was a big help on this one. The switched letter was always the second letter in a word, tho it switched from the first word in the first three to the last word in the last two. Got it early with DaNCE PARTNER, which made me go back and change TENT (which I thought was a twist on TOMB) to BUNK. Still had a problem trying to fit in CLOTHES HaMPER/HUMPER!
The prescience of the Blog: FLN, Tony talked about "A woman in a head-SCARF in a Maserati sedan."
{C+, C.}
There once was a yo-yo from TOKYO
Who thought that CLOTHES HANGERS had to go!
"You don't need those rigs
If you hang things on PEGS,
It's comparing a USED CAR to a LIMO!"
If a certain politician you would care to ABASH,
You just need to call up his past to REHASH!
His SNATCHING AWAY candy,
Crumbled CORK in the brandy,
Or being a BANK ROBBER to SCARF up some cash!
Good morning. Thank you Jeffery and Lemon.
Still not a big fun of swap a letter puzzles, but it was easy enough. BUNK ROBBER gave it away too early, so it was downhill from there.
Tried to start with ITS ME before MY BAD. Put the K in AKBAR because TOKYO seemed like it would be the correct answer.
ABASE before ABASH. SLOT before SLIT. ELIA before ELIE. Read painter before patriot. The puzzle is part of my wake up routine. Guess I wasn't totally awake.
SNORTS before SHOUTS. Another easy fix with the theme answers.
I suppose some might have tried AMANA for Range before they got AMBIT, depending on how they got there. I already had TUBAS. Love that commercial.
From the last few days: Anon-T, yes to Lake Shore Drive. CED, did you master it with the piano lesson ? Me too, Yellowrocks. Pickled beets and eggs as you described. Mother and sister made them at least once a year. And as Anon-T said, the pickled eggs in the big jar are still seen around here. My question is, "How do they shell those eggs so perfectly ?"
Musings
-Me too Lemon! AMBIT worked and so I’ll take a “got ‘er done” out of petty compliments
-In miniature golf, farthest AWAY plays last
-We have only had one USED car LEMON
-My colonoscopy prep Wednesday definitely had me saying, “I PASS”
-A family where I sub are direct descendants of the famous BOTanist Linnaeus
-We vintage math and SCI people would have loved to have had calculators that just tell you the SINE instead of having to look it up
-Joe CAMEL delayed my NW completion
-A section around here has 640 ACRES, Lemon
-Since you don’t put a TUBA over your shoulder, you use a strap to carry it
-TIANT – TEE ahnt
"Tee ahnt"??? Who gnu?
I once finished a JW puzzle, so I thought I'd give it a shot. When I failed this time I switched from paper to the LAT site. I finally got it, but wouldn't have without red letters. I agree with EEK being poorly clued, even for a weekend. I didn't get CORK for red cap until Lemonade's expo. I knew that Ireland was never commie, but couldn't get that approach out of my feeble mind.
DO - TIANT is pronounced TEE-aunt. Louis. From back in the days before my divorce with MLB.
I knew AWAY right away. Meaning "your turn". Most dreaded four words heard on the golf course: "it's still your turn". Second place: "your wife's in labor". Both can destroy your concentration.
Thanks, Mr. Wechler, for reminding me that my golf skills are still better than my vocabulary skills. And thanks to Lemonade for a fine tour.
Bank robber? Hee hee hee
"The Great" is the EPITHET; "Peter" is not part of it.
Good morning all!
This was a fun Friday romp. I thought the A to U change was clever enough, so imagine my delight when I saw the blog and Lemonade's explanation that each one was followed by an N. Thanks, Jeffrey for a clever, crunchy, yet doable puzzle and to Lemon (CSO today) for guiding us through it.
Thank you perps for AWAY, EPITHETS, AKBA, TIANT, TOKYO and SHANE
W/O's : Slot/SLIT, Limit/AMBIT and Card/CORK - I was thinking of the red caps worn by the St Louis Cardinals lol :)
CLOTHESHUNGER - I do love the velvet/flocked "Huggable Hangers" . I switched to them last year and they really do give more room in our closet. Since I have too many clothes and not the walk-in closet of my dreams, this is a good way to organize and worth the investment to double the space. The knock off versions sold at Target and Bed Bath Beyond work just as well and no more shoulder "bumps"
Back to beautiful summer weather here for now but we're supposed to have severe storms later today which means more stress for Albus. Between the fireworks and weather, that poor dog has had a rough week.
Friday already?! - hope everyone has a wonderful day :)
Joe Camel wouldn't work and the slang, unknown (azo) and first word in the theme answers left me with a mess in the NW. So I'll take my medicine. While I admire the clever construction, puzzles like this leave me blah. Excellent write up as usual by Lemon. Happy Friday everyone! JB2
Good Morning:
Normally, JW and I are on the same wave length but today, not so much. Part of the problem was trying to solve while I was half asleep, in the wee hours of the morning. Picking it back up this morning, with fresh eyes, gave me my Tada but in more than double my Friday solving time. Joe Camel (hi HG!) held me up for ages, making that NW corner the last to fall. I dislike the expression "My bad" intensely so it never occurred to me. Eek is used when you see a mouse; "I sure don't want that" warrants an Ugh or Eew! Like TTP, I had Snorts/Shouts and Abase/Abash.
"Thunks", Jeffrey, for a toughie but goodie, and thanks, Lemon, for the grand tour with your special CSO, to boot! Enjoyed the clip of the hora; it looks like a fun dance but I think I might have two left feet trying to do it.
Have a great day.
This was the easiest JW puzzle that I've completed but the YSEE is something I've never seen before. But it had to be because I remember Lying Joe ISUZU. I correctly guessed, the letter replacement them at BUNK ROBBER.
IZU Islands and AMBIT- new to me. So TOKYO was a WAG after TO was on the board. AKBAR- heard the name before but it was all perps. Holly (or Rodney) PEETE is one I had never heard of. Calvin PEETE, the golfer is one I know.
After reading my comments, any of you could be my DUNCE PARTNER, the dunce being me.
Good morning everyone.
Enjoyed Jeff's puzzle today. He seems to push you to the edge, but pulls more out of you than you think possible.
Very tough. Firm anchors tho with ETHAN, ELIE, RHEA, and APSO. TOKYO looked right; a new learning. Needed help with the PEETE/AMBIT crossing.
I PASS - I do that a lot.
Joinery is a common shipbuilding term. Joiners "construct, erect, install, maintain, and repair structures, furniture, and fixtures made of wood, lightweight steel and other materials. Joiners perform similar tasks to carpenters with the slight difference being that joiners often join wood without the help of nails and carpenters use nails instead. Also, joiners often do the majority of their work in workshops, producing items such as cabinetry, furniture, window frames and stairs whereas a carpenter typically works on-site." If a ship's crew requires a joiner for maintenance needs, they are called a ship's carpenter.
I too like the BUICK Tuba commercial.
They now have Alan Ladd at 5'6" at wiki and IMDB. The longer he is dead, the taller he was.
We had torrential rains this morning. Alan's commute took 35 minutes, instead of 18. A section of the highway was flooded and three lanes had to squeeze into one. On our end traffic was tied up by an accident, but I knew back roads to come home.Just now the rain has stopped and the sky is brightening.
This puzzle took quite a while. I saw the A to U, which helped greatly, but I missed the more clever AN to UN.
TIANT, TOKYO, and PEETE were unknown, but I got them with perps and wags.
The NW cormer was a beast.Finally, getting CLOG and then DUNCE let me finish it off
Like, IM, I have a personal prejudice against MY BAD, so it did not come to mind readily. Just a simple one word, SORRY, would be better. Admitting it is your fault is not the same as being sorry.
I really like the movie, Shane, and have seen it several times.
In elementary school I wore a set of bangle bracelets which I loved. I would absentmindedly sit there jangling them together. It drove the teacher nuts. She threatened to confiscate them.
PK, I agree that EEK is more a sound of alarm.
EPITHET can be a descriptive nickname, such as Catherine the Great, Richard the Lion-Heart,
The Great Emancipator (Abraham Lincoln),The Piano Man(Billy Joel) But it is just as often used pejoratively. Hurling insulting epithets at one's enemies is so puerile.
Good day to all!
There is no way I could have finished today's puzzle without significant Google help. PEETE, TIANT, AKBAR, and AZO were all complete unknowns. The NW was the last section to fill with Y'SEE (I would say "ya see")and EEK (as clued) complicating the area. I liked "Flat fees" for RENT. Thanks for the expo, Lemonade. I'll admit to also googling "gwatcdr". All the unknowns in the puzzle I'll probably forget by noon, but that's one I think will stick. Very catchy.
Enjoy the day!
Another challenging but doable JW puzzle! Thanks Lemonade for the blog!
WEES about Joe CAMEL hanging up the NW until finally I took it out and stepped
back to look at the corner anew after finishing the rest of the puzzle.
Aiming for Jeffrey Wechsler's devious mind, I found his wave length! Thank you, JW for a fun fest today!
Though I recalled Joe ISUZU from the past when he was as prevalent as today's Finn for Toyota, I initially spelled it IZUZU so that held up my progress a bit. So I slithered down to the basement where my pencil flew through each cell and I saw the U/A switch. That helped.
AZO is a familiar CW fill and then I saw my error and corrected ISUZU. I'm in ACCORD with the miscluing of EEK and Y'SEE was a total wag.
Like Bunny M, I love the huggable velvet/flocked hangers and have now switched all in my closet; that creates more space and looks neater. I've kept only some yarn covered ones that my mother made for us.
Ditto for changing AMANA to AMBIT, SLOT to SLIT and learning about TOKYO's islands. The mention of TWA always reminds me of flight 800 where a friend's sister perished with her fiancé in 1996.
CSO and a big thank you to Lemon who provides us with Friday's guidance.
Have a fantastic day, everyone!
Fun wordplay puzzle. Loved BUNKROBBER, and that got the rest going. Thanks, JW, for a quicker than normal Friday.
Nice write-up, Lemonade, as usual.
Stay cool, all! Here in H-town, it will feel like 103 today!
C6D6 Peg, are you in Houston? Thought you were from parts north.
El Tiante was unforgettable in 8 years with the Red Sox, won 2 games in the '75 Series. 40 years later still has a cigar in his mouth. Parents got special permission to travel from Cuba to see the World Series
EEK was poorly clued, not a fan of the gimmick puzzle, but this wasn't all that bad, fair Friday difficulty.
Lemonade:
<< They now have Alan Ladd at 5'6" at wiki and IMDB. The longer he is dead, the taller he was. >>
At this rate. he will be 6'0" in 2217.
Well, I only got four answers on my first round on this Friday Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle: RHEA, ELIE, ETHAN, and APSO. I figured I was going to have to do a lot of cheating, but to my surprise, the bottom began to fill in, and once I got EXHAUST FUN, I got the A/U letter swap theme. That helped so much that in the end I had to cheat only a little bit, and ended up just loving this puzzle. So, many thanks, Jeffrey, for helping my week end better than I expected, and it's so great to have you back again, Lemonade.
Bunny, I hope Albus has some pleasant, sunny days ahead. Dusty is running again, which is great. Wonderful to have our pups in good shape.
Have a great day, everybody!
Dear Cornerites:
Whenever I put a note up here, I get two of these messages:
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Your message to argyle.d.scott@gmail.com has been blocked. See technical details below for more information.
LEARN MORE
The response from the remote server was:
550 5.7.1 Unauthenticated email from aol.com is not accepted due to domain's DMARC policy. Please contact the administrator of aol.com domain if this was a legitimate mail. Please visit https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2451690 to learn about the DMARC initiative. x67si1148121ybx.16 - gsmtp
The other one is for crosswordc@gmail.com.
I am a real person, not bringing spam ... I've been on AOL for decades ... so is there any way to "authenticate" me?
Michael
It's a squabble between the big guys. I'm afraid there is nothing we can do about it. You are not alone.
My Dad was a carpenter , my uncle a cabinet maker but I never heard the word "tenon". Of course my proclivities to science math and sport were an anathema to all my relatives but especially my uncle. I might not have been listening.
I had Camel too in the NW...finally changed to Isuzu...but was doomed as eek made no sense to me. oh well...gonna be 101 today.
Quite a nice puzzle with a simple theme. It played Saturday tough for me, but I slogged through it.
Hi All!
DNF. JW got me good today. 1a isn't 'gnat' and 1d isn't 'got me'...
I had to resort to outright cheating [looking @ Lem's grid] to (y)SEE EEK. Other blank squares PI in EPITHETS (TIANT == Google), P & S in IpAsS, the M&S in mRs (I know the word gambit from chess but AmBIT; I was thinking of Civil War at Union - Double D'Oh!).
Thanks for the effort JW but, with all the cheating, I EXAUST'd the FUN. At least I got the themers (BUNGLE BRACELTS was my first and I could fill in BUNK and start the over-inking going).
Thanks LEM for the expo. I vaguely remember that ISZUZU guy; didn't know he was called "Joe" (is that for Average Joe? - Hi AveJoe!)
WOs: REview @54a, 5a wasn't SCoRe, Ex-czars started going in @39d; Emperor was right out too. Hand-up: SLoT
Googles: AKBAR (it is TOKYO!), SHANE, TIANT, IPODES, PEETE. I coulda Google'd ARTEMIS, but was Googled out by then.
Fav:c/a for CORK.
{B, A}
PK - I hope I lernt my lesson and never need the potato trick but I will keep that info in my back-pocket. Thx.
I hope CED chimes in - I can't wait to see what he comes up with for BUNK ROBBER.
Michael - I'm assuming you're posting from the blog's input box AND that you use your AOL account as your primary for the blog. A 'maybe' maybe that Argyle and C.C. have the blog setup to auto-email them using your AOL address tied to blogger account when you post. Is the error on the blog page or in your email?
USED CAR == Lemon? Hummm, I always by used cars [except for DW's] and never had a lemon. I know what you're thinking... ya'better watch what you say about my Alfa* :-)
Cheers, -T
*this weekend, weather permitting, I'll try to get it started (again).
Oh, re: TENON... It is literally part of the joint. Wiki link . I knew this - but that damn'd gnat bothered me. C, -T
I just received a letter from my oldest and dearest friend whom I've know since we were 5 years old. She lives in CT so we don't see each other often, but we keep in touch. I was dismayed to read that she has stage 4 lung cancer that has widely metastasized. She discovered the cancer way too late. And her husband is on dialysis. So sad. She is part of my happiest childhood memories.
Arggg! 1st, I can't believe I got in to a national call-in radio show; 2nd, I was too late. They were bumping the hour. NPR's Science Friday was talking about cool cooking [given the summer heat] and sous vide was never mentioned! So I dialed up.
The phone screener said "it was on the board" but they never got there... Steve, I know you know the bath & torch drill. Oh, well, the other 18 listeners to the program will never know.
YR - that's so sad about your friend. Think of the happy times(?). God Speed to your friend (and you & Alan!). -T
Hi everybody. It's hot hereabouts today and tomorrow though it's much worse inland and in Lucina's vicinity. We don't have A/C but the fans help a little.
YR, I'm sure sorry to hear about your friend. Best wishes for all concerned.
YR:
That is so sad about your friend and I feel bad for you. My best friend from girlhood died two and a half years ago and I really miss her. Her husband followed her this past year. I hope your friends are coping and not suffering badly. Neither condition is high on the tolerance scale though.
The potato to remove salt was used by both my grandmother and my mother. Fortunately I haven't had to use it as yet. My sister does often as she has a heavy hand with salt.
Bill G: Yup. It's heading toward 116 today. Indoors is the best place to be. Even the swimming pool is deserted.
Re the "Unauthenticated email from aol.com is not accepted due to domain's DMARC policy" I get the same message except it says yahoo.com instead of aol.com. It has something to do with Google's strict requirement that emails adhere to their DMARC policy, which apparently aol and yahoo do not. As Argyle says, it's between the big boys. I just delete those messages; C.C. and Argyle probably see your postings on this blog anyway, without needing a special email sent to them.
Re the puzzle, I liked it and enjoyed Jeff's construction. BUNK ROBBER clued me in to the gimmick, but I got a little bit flammoxed when the letter substitution wasn't in the first word all the way through. I smiled when I finally got CLOTHES HUNGER.
By pure coincidence, yesterday I was musing about how in English the G in words that contain ING is sometimes explicitly pronounced, as in "finger" and "hunger" and sometimes not, as in "singer" and "hanger." Like the old "Lon Giland" (Long Island) joke. I forget what got me started musing about that; I think it must have been that I came across such a word and didn't know which way to pronounce it. (Then of course there are outliers such as "ranger." Or instances such as "lunger" as in "one-lunger motorcycle" and "lunger" as in the one who is performing a lunge as in fencing.) Fascinating stuff.
And, as if I haven't beaten the dead horse enough, I think about people's names, and realize anything goes. We say Henry "Kissin-jer" when probably he was "Kissing-er" as a boy. Same with Otto Preminger. In college I had a classmate whose last name was Genzlinger, and we deliberately mispronounced his name as "Gun slinger." Not as bad as a classmate of my brother whose last name was Shoenberger and everyone called him Scrotum Burger. Okay, TMI. I'll stop now and wish you all a good day.
Yellowrocks, I'm sorry about your friend. May the memories of those happy times always remain with you.
YR, I know how your heart aches for your friend's suffering. My BFF from age 5 and I trade emails several times a month. Lately much of our correspondence has been copies of obits of old friends, five in the past two weeks. I've come to believe that there are worse things than death and lung cancer is one of the painful ones. However, death is hard on those left behind. Thinking a big "yellowrocks" to you, girlfriend.
Dear Jayce, Argyle, and Anon-T:
Thanks for your replies. It's now clear that this is a Google issue, and like Argyle said, above our pay grade, and not worth our bother.
But it does concern me how easily these electrons have gone from servants, to being our masters ... next it will be DMARC for Reichsführer!
Plus, to add to the joy, it's 107 now. I love California, but occasionally we have too much of a good thing.
YR - My sincere sympathies for your friend's and her husband's plight. She is lucky to have a friend like you in her circle.
Jayce - re: singer, etc. Yes, I have mused about that pronunciation, too. In Dutch all g's in that position have the softer quality of the singer 'g'. The harder g is particularly pronounced in the Long Island area.
I'm especially irked today because all the news heads are pronouncing Hamburg like the hat. Half German, half not so German. The -burg g should have the quality of the ch in ach! Quel dommage!
Jayce:
You are not alone in your musings about the complexities of our language. It's been a subject for me since college days and continues to this day. I believe the diversity of pronunciations attests to the diversity and plurality from which English originated and even now continues to absorb words from other languages. Lately, technology also contributes to our national lexicon as new products and processes develop.
Early in the evolution of English, Latin was the main contributor but that is no longer the case.
YR, I'm so sorry you had to receive such sad news. Thoughts and prayers to you and your friend and her family.
Liked this puzzle! Nothing to add that others haven't said. Eek, y'see, my bad (hate this last one!) - yes, I agree they're not the best - but, hey, they stretched my imagination so that's ok. Know absolutely nothing about golf, so I'm glad perps rescued me with AWAY. Somewhere in my deep cerebral recesses, I remembered Akbar, Azo, and Artemis (know very little about deities, gods or goddesses as we never studied them in my rural high school, only the basics, ma'am). ABASE bf ABASH causes an inkblot.
Thank you, Lemonade, for your great recap. One reason I'm posting is because of your Luis Tiant links. I've never seen a wind-up like that ever - replayed it five times - incredible! And my heart ached watching the second link, sad but bittersweet. Thank you again.
And YR - I'm so very sorry about your childhood friend's prognosis. Thoughts of strength coming your way for you, your friend, her husband, and the family.
I add my thoughts and prayers for you friend, and all who may have health issues. I am finally improving with one surgery left.
Thank you for the positive comments
Yellowrocks,
It is extremely hard for me to post silly stuff after your news,
but remember this, "She will always be part of my happiest childhood memories."
We are all only here for a short time, it is what we make of it that counts...
Uh, Anon-T.
I don't mean to disappoint you,
but of all the funny bunk robbers I researched,
I had a feline that this was the one...
Re: Dunce Partner:I am not even going to look for a pic...
To me, a Dunce partner is a Teacher that failed...
Jayce & Lucina - that's why English is so frustrating to a moron like me who needs simple rules. Programming languages are simple [(ish); small nuances == big bug] and I get those...
++i; //increment i before anything
i++; //increment i after whatever
Simple, right?
English though, starts with a simple rule, i before e. Then I get I get friends who are weird not to mention BRASSIERE / BRASSEIRE (yesterday!)
When it comes to pronunciation - sure in programming some dialects pronounce '#' sharp and some pound; '*' is pronounced star or splat.
But in English? All bets are off on pronunciation. Two clowns from Cambridge (their fair (fare?) city), MA put EM-fa-Sis on se-LAB-el.
Cheers, -T
//of course I'm joking - English is fun and playful-able. I am in awe of non-natives [to Steve, Truebrit and Cuppa that includes 'Mericans, I'm sure :-)] that "get it" enough to join in the games.
Bungle Bracelets?
Hmm, clothes hunger,, Oh, go ahead,, eat it...
hmm, hmm, Having trouble finding a silly pic for exhaust fun...
My solving experience was a lot like Misty's. Then I napped and it all came fast. I suspected BUNK ROBBER and EXHAUST FAN clinched it.
Loved seeing El Tiante. Bill Lee wouldn't fit.
The saddest words in all golf play:
Putt again. You're still AWAY
YR, My condolences. Lemonade, great write-up and 😃 for your gradual recovery
I agree about the cluing, especially NW. EEK, seems off. I didn't think I'd get 100% with no cheats.
Good night all
WC
PS. Jeffrey, nice job; just a little different
PPS. Owen, your so-called Cs are always creative and fun.
Tough one, Mr. Wechsler.
It took me four lookups to complete this monster. For some reason, even after catching onto the theme, I couldn't "see" the dummy answers behind the actual ones. It was the perps that I needed, of course, so that's where I directed my cheating.
CED - I missed your BUNK ROBBER post somehow... LOL! You didn't disappoint and made me think back to Basic...
I was assigned a bunk-mate much, um, girthier than I. After deciding 'left or right locker' (I ceded even knowing Drill would look at mine -and ABASH me- 1st), it came to deciding top or bottom, "You got the left-locker, I'll take the top bunk" :-).
Dog HUNGER was cute and EXAUST FUN was, um, weird Patrick Stewart [SNL](?)
Cheers, -T
AnonT:
I know you yearn for simplicity and consistent rules to help in spelling and pronunciation but we know that isn't the reality. Some words are taken directly from another language and follow the rules of that language which are usually unknown to us. We anglicize them and want to force them into our pattern of writing and speaking. It doesn't work but thankfully today we have dictionaries at our fingertips and need not be embarrassed to research them for answers. The brave among us, though we stumble, consistently keep trying and learning.
My Dad often told me, "The key to proper pronunciation is to put the em-FAS-is on the right se-LAB-el." I've wanted to share that with this group several times, but could never figure out how to write it! Thank you!
I got the A to U theme fairly quickly. Did not catch that it was actually AN to UN.
Is there a deeper meaning to AN to UN? Have we missed something clever?
AMBIT/PEETE crossing was a lucky WAG. Could have been AMBIL/PEELE for all I know. Anyone else?
Hand up for re-learning moment of this other meaning of EPITHET. We have had this before.
Other unknowns/learning moments: AZO, AKBAR, Izu Islands, EPODES, TIANT, RHEA. I did follow the Red Sox a bit as a child in the 70s so TIANT seemed vaguely familiar.
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