Theme: None
Words: 72 (missing J,Q,X)
Blocks: 30
I
did not recognize the constructor's name until I reviewed the list on
the blog, and discovered we had Mary Lou twice on Saturday last year,
both with Jeff Chen - and my success with those puzzles was mixed. This
week, she is flying solo, and I did fairly well, tho I did cheat and
gave myself the "M" at 43a&d because my "ESE" corner was a mess.
Quite a few "quote" answers, and just a few too many proper names (*
- 17~! - and I left out the geographic names) to make this really
fun, yet I did get through them, and in my personal time. Triple
10-letter across corners, and paired 10 and 11-letter downs crossing two
nines;
17*. George Washington in New York, e.g. : TOLL BRIDGE
- funny how recent events can alter one's perception; I was watching
"The Story Of US" on History, and they discussed George Washington as a
general in New York during the Revolution. Totally missed the link to a
bridge I regularly traveled over. I crossed the new Goethals bridge
from Staten Island a month ago - at a cost of $15, the same as the
George - geez. At least it's only one way.
It was supposed to be faced in granite
30. Audacious : BALD-FACED - oops - I had bOld, but that's acceptable, too
36*. 2013 Nelson Mandela portrayer : IDRIS ELBA - WILL SMITH fit, too - but I was wrong
50. California Raisins ads production technique : CLAYMATION - like Gumby
O Drawn~!
ACROSS:
1. Two-sided : BIPARTISAN - pondered something like JANUS FACED, the Roman god
11. Shows one's hand, in a way : GINS - I considered "TELL", since I have been following the World Series of Poker
15. "Is anyone else here?" : "ARE WE ALONE~?"
16. "My turn" : "I'M UP"
18. Middle of a classical trio : VIDI - ah, not AMO, AMAS, AMAT, but VENI, VIDI, VICI, Caesar's boast of "I came, I saw, I conquered."
19*. Tolkien character : ENT - the walking talking trees
20*. Pindar works : ODES
21*. 2,000-year-old portrayal for Eden : GENIE - oh, Barbara Eden. Got it.
11. Shows one's hand, in a way : GINS - I considered "TELL", since I have been following the World Series of Poker
15. "Is anyone else here?" : "ARE WE ALONE~?"
16. "My turn" : "I'M UP"
18. Middle of a classical trio : VIDI - ah, not AMO, AMAS, AMAT, but VENI, VIDI, VICI, Caesar's boast of "I came, I saw, I conquered."
19*. Tolkien character : ENT - the walking talking trees
20*. Pindar works : ODES
21*. 2,000-year-old portrayal for Eden : GENIE - oh, Barbara Eden. Got it.
22. Word with steel or square : TOED - steel toed I got; I had to look up square toed - can you tell I don't own a pair of high-end men's footwear~?
23. "Semper Fidelis" group : MARINES
25. Baseball statistic : AT BATS
28. Tuscan treat : GELATO - oops, had an "I" at the end
29*. Model Cheryl : TIEGS - I knew the name, not sure of the spelling, but got it right
33. React to dizziness : REEL
34*. Kazantzakis title character : ZORBA - filled via perps
35. HR dept. concern : RELOcation - I have an appointment with my HR guy at UPS on Wednesday next week to discuss opportunities within the company - and I am not opposed to being re-located if it means I can get paid from the neck up; not sure I am willing - or able - to put in another 18yrs doing what I do today
38. Strained : TENSE
39*. Voice of Magoo : BACKUS - I remembered the name Thurston Howell the third....and I just found out he was in "I Dream of Jeannie", too
40. Shade-tolerant foliage : HOSTAS
41. Busts, e.g. : STATUES
43. The better part : MOST - ah. I was on the wrong wavelength here
44. Took the trouble : CARED
45*. Fashion designer Jacobs : MARC
46*. Arctic coast explorer : RAE
49. Fling : HURL
53*. Pitcher Hershiser : OREL - the one proper name I did know
54. Cylindrical stuffed pasta : CANNELLONI - knew the name, got the spelling wrong
55. River in Rwanda : NILE - well, now, I didn't think of that river....
56. Not taken : UNSELECTED
DOWN:
1. Subside : BATE - dang, I had EASE
2. Pressing agent : IRON - at first I thought there'd be a "?" here, but an iron really is a pressing agent
3. Skin : PELT
4. Its point is often boring : AWL - oooh, I went with BIT
5. Completes an installation, perhaps : REBOOTS - last week I had to install a printer on the network at the restaurant - what a chore, with all the rebooting and connectivity, but I succeeded
6. "Buenas __" : TARDES - considered DIOS and AIRES, both too short, and I needed buenOs for the second try - this answer translates to "good afternoon"
7. Jaw-dropping courtroom admission : I LIED
8. Does lawn work : SODS - dah~! Not MOWS
9*. Director Lee : ANG - OK, I knew two names
10. Born : NÉE
11. "Enough already!" : "GIVE IT A REST~!"
12. "It wasn't me!" : "I'M INNOCENT~!"
13. Film with few costumes? : NUDIE - new term for me. My generation calls it 'porn'. I went Googling, and I kept getting this; when I forced Google to connect the word with film, the original term was "nudie cutie", and I found this website
14. Infiltrators : SPIES
21. German count : GRAF - I shoulda known this - I am reading the "Bernie Gunther" novels from Philip Kerr, mostly set in WW II Germany
22. Pasta commonly served with Bolognese sauce : TAGLIATELLE
23. Peach __ : MELBA - interesting history
recipe~? It's ice cream, syrup and fruit....
24*. Pierce portrayer : ALDA - Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce, portrayed by Alan Alda
25. Abruzzi bell town : ATRI - dah~! Took too long to recall this crossword staple
26. Even : TIED
27. It might be tapped : BEER BARREL
28. Costumes : GARBS
31*. "Frozen" queen : ELSA
32. Impersonates : DOES - argh~! Not APES
34*. Cowardly Lion's farmhand alter ego : ZEKE
37. Skim along, as clouds : SCUD
38. Built like models : TO SCALE - oh, those kind of models, the ones I used to build in my "ute"
40. Spam source : HORMEL - the "other" kind of SPAM
41. "Danke __" : SCHON
42. Alpha __: Bull constellation star : TAURI - Aldebaran, the red eye of taurus the bull - we should get some data from Pioneer 10 in about two million years....
43*. ESPN journalist Kenny : MAYNE
45. Operates : MANS - ugh. Not RUNS
46. Fracas : RIOT
47. Excellent : A ONE
48*. Lover of Geraint : ENID
50. Ward for heart patients, briefly : CCU - the Coronary Care Unit
51. PC connection : LAN - Local Area Network, like the one at the restaurant
52. Attention in a 50-Down : TLC
Splynter
FIR for Thur, Fri, and today, but slept in too late to bother posting, since I didn't have decent poems anyway. (I did sorta have one, until I found out SIEVE rhymes with give, instead of receive.)
ReplyDelete{B-, C+.}
A story of a GENIE is in this strange little ODE
And a no parking sign that warned fines could be owed!
One scofflaw found his wheels
Replaced by high heels!
The sign had warned cars in violation would be TOED!
Then there was a GENIE who BALDFACED lies would invent!
He was warned but persisted until things got TENSE.
He'd not admit, "I LIED."
"I'M INNOCENT," he cried!
Condemned to a perfume bottle, now he's in a scent!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYes, Splynter, I was BOLDly going when I should have been clean-shaven. Easily fixed. Wite-Out was required for I DIDN'T DO IT / I'M INNOCENT. Schön is usually spelled schoen in English. It all came together in Thursday solving time, so life is good. Thanx, Mary Lou.
Put a new rear wheel on my bicycle yesterday. Time to try it out...
Well it's three days in a row with a DNF on Italian food day. I got GELATO, knew CANNELLONI but didn't know how to spell it, but had never heard of TAGLIATELLE. And those last two crossed IDRISELBA and MAYNE, which crossed MARC Jacobs, who I also had never heard of, and that never allowed TO SCALE to have a chance. Caesar Romero, aka ZORBA the Greek, was an ITALIAN.I filled CLAY MOTION instead of CLAYMATION.
ReplyDeleteSCUD-okay?, but I've only known it as a missile. BOLUS- another new word for me that I didn't fill. I couldn't finish the NE as I filled APES for DOES and HELP for RELO
NUDIE- porn, or as a Supreme Court Justice once said: " I can't define it but I know it when I see it". But "I'M INNOCENT"- that's what they all say.
Have a nice weekend.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was my first DNF in a long, long time. My downfall was the crossing of Claymation/Mayne, both totally unknown. I also misspelled Tagliatelle and didn't know Geraint's love or the Arctic explorer. I didn't have too much trouble completing it up until those stumbling blocks.
Thanks, Mary Lou, for a Saturday stumper and thanks, Splynter, for explaining it all.
Keith, I'm a big fan of Broadchurch, also. And I, too, find David Tenant's burr almost indecipherable at times. I'm sorry to see it end as I think there is great chemistry between the two leads.
Have a great day.
I really liked this puzzle, especially its beginning with pressing agent-iron. Only the SE was difficult for me.
ReplyDeleteWe use many types of pasta, but not tagliatelle. I don't recall seeing it in the store, or in recipes or on menus. So, it was mostly perps.
DO, I was looking for the E in schon, too, never having seen it omitted.
I was not sure of the I in TAURI. I was surprised that the NILE was in Rwanda, but only NILE fit. Wiki says,"....the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi," so Rwanda seems debatable.
IDRIS ELBA, all perps.
CLAYMATION, MARC (missed the MA)and MAYNE (missed the AY) did me in. I had RUNS instead of MANS. A man's name, --RC should have tipped me off. I don't have the patience these days. But the Y in CLAY and MAYNE would still have been a real Natick for me.
I knew BOLUS having read many historical novels about the development of modern medicine.
I knew BACKUS and SCUD was a gimme. I have often read about scudding clouds in novels and poems. My next post is an example.
Altering Eyes Behold The Scudding Clouds At Dawn - Poem by Ananta Madhavan
ReplyDeleteAt daybreak I step into the fourth-floor balcony and see
The scud of clouds and the chromatic repertoire
Of sun-tinged skyline. It alters by the second,
The strata of dark to light, pallid pink to carmine.
The small cloudlets fluffy, insistent on their identities,
Are melding into layers or vapour continents in the breeze,
Some to merge into mammoth shapes of unknown beasts.
It is a transient cartography of haze and mist. No map is final.
So let the dawn revoke the grudges and complaints
Of tasks unfinished or undone, the tedium
Of disappointed hopes, the certainty of failure;
Let me thank the way it happens momently, this new Now,
Gazing fondly at the scudding clouds, this dawn.
Even if the source of the NILE is in Burundi, it would have to flow thru (or alongside) Rwanda on its way northward.
ReplyDeleteBE, were you thinking of Anthony Quinn?
ReplyDeleteIt was hard to get PASTa clues!
ReplyDeleteBillocohoes, yes, you are correct. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all!
ReplyDeleteI must have been on Mary Lou's wavelength today, as I found this one of the easiest Saturday puzzles in a while.
Thanks, Splynter for a fine, fun review! Interesting link about BALDFACED vs. Bold faced. I've heard both used but wasn't sure which was the correct term- good to know they both are :)
$15 TOLLBRIDGE? Wow! There's been talk of making the The Brent Spence Bridge here a toll bridge but I believe the lawmakers in KY shut that idea down. No BIPARTISAN cooperation on fixing it permanently. It's used daily by many commuters in OH and KY, my DH being one of them. They're doing construction on it now, but it really can no longer support the amount of traffic it gets daily. It's in terrible shape.
I knew most of the proper names except RAE, MAYNE and IDRIS ELBA. I vaguely remember seeing a trailer for the movie and could picture his face but had to wait for perps to get the fill.
I wanted Mows/SODS, Apes/DOES and tried ICU/CCU.
I have a pasta shapes dictionary link saved on my phone and (sort of) knew TAGLIATELLE but couldn't remember the correct spelling, so took a peek at it to confirm. CANNELLONI isn't on the list, funnily enough but I did know that one.
GELATO is one of our favorite desserts to eat while on Isla Mujeres and there are several shops that sell it but my favorite is owned by a really sweet gentleman named Stefano from Bologna, Italy.
Danke SCHON threw me, as I've only seen it as Schoen. I always think of this scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" :)
BOLUS was a learning moment as was GRAF
My DH calls our dog Albus Jim BACKUS because he does resemble him with his prominent "eyebrows". Mr Magoo is another nickname due to his terrible eyesight. Of course, this is all in good fun and are terms of endearment :)
Beautiful day here except the wind is crazy! I had to put down the patio umbrella- didn't want it blowing away like it did a few days ago during a storm.
Wishing everyone a great day and a wonderful weekend!
Hi Y'all! I was speeding through this puzzle with perps & WAGs, thinking it was easier than usual Saturday when I landed stuck in the SE. Finally filled it with some red-letter runs and Ahas. Thanks, Mary Lou.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Splynter, good luck with your HR.
Luckily, I knew George Washington was a BRIDGE in New York. Just didn't remember the TOLL part for a while. I crossed the BRIDGE when I was moving to Massachusetts in 1961. My white driver was from the deep south and we were in the wrong lane for our turnoff to the Merritt Parkway. "Whitey" looked up and saw the sign above our lane that we were headed for Harlem then associated with black residents. We almost caused a multi-car pile-up getting into a different lane and off to double back to where we needed to be. Sheer terror helps a person remember certain places.
Buenos Noches fit but was wrong. Okay so I stayed longer than TARDES.
Knew Kenny MAYNE, but took a while to remember & try several spellings. I got IDR and immediately typed --IS ELBA. No idea how I knew that.
GIMMEE: Jim BACKUS was such a distinctive recognizable voice from the past.
UNSELECTED seems a bit off. Think not SELECTED used more often. I tried UNclaimed & chosen. Nope.
NUDIE: a naked injured young man was found unconscious in the middle of a busy street here recently. Witnesses said he fell, jumped, or was tossed from a car. Couldn't identify him for hours. Then he died. Ongoing investigation.
This is the first Saturday puzzle I've attempted in several weeks. They have just scared me off after a quick perusal. Mostly WBMS, except that I was always told that they built that bridge so the Buckeyes could swim in the shade.
ReplyDeleteMy golfing buddies call me Mr. Magoo (with an expletive in the middle) because I have a hard time tracking the ball flight.
I not only had "mow" at first, but corrected it to SOw before finally getting SOD. I had "runs" instead of MANS for "operates". Like Splynter I thought "oh THOSE models" for TO SCALE.
I had five cheats today. They have already been enumerated by others.
Thanks, Mary Lou, for allowing me to feel that I had a chance. Everyone needs goals. And thanks to Splynter for another fun tour.
Musings
ReplyDelete-IDRIS and the two pastas were shaky but correct. The top 2/3 fell easily unlike most Saturdays
-A rare 1933 production still of a very famous CLAYMATION character
-“MY TURN” is a sacred grade school refrain
-No AT BAT is registered if a batter walks, gets hit by a pitch or sacrifices
-To REEL was a common move when fighting Mike Tyson
-_ _ _ B A was not JOBBA
-Many think Tom Brady is the best QB that ever played but he went UNSELECTED for six rounds and was drafted 199th in 2000
-I grew up having to wait for a TV with tubes to warm up. Now it takes five minutes if I have to REBOOT the cable box hard drive. Ah progress!
-Give it a rest – “I heard you the fourth time!”
-The most famous BEER BARREL song (1:59)
-TO SCALE models that took Americans into space
-HORMEL makes lots of Spam a mile from here
A crunchy, but doable Saturday puzzle. Yes, lots of names. But it somehow came together in quick time for a Saturday. Thanks Splyter for the great write-up! Another lovely day here in the Windy City. Hope yours is enjoyable! JB2
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why anyone would think BUENOS noches is correct. It would be BUENAS noches which I tried then realized buenas TARDES fit. Noches is feminine.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary Lou Guizzo, whom we haven't seen in a while. This was challenging but doable except in the SE. TAGLIATELLE is unknown to me but it perped, and IDRIS ELBA is a hunk I admire though I spelled it ALBA (sigh). He stars in Luther on PBS. Also couldn't recall the spelling of Jim BACKUS so had to check on that. Of course MAYNE is also unknown as is MARC Jacobs. That entire SE gave me fits. CLAYMATION finally emerged and I finished most of it but never saw TO SCALE.
Thank you, Splynter, for your guidance. This one beat me in the SE.
Today is our Bunco gathering and so much fun.
Have a fantastic day, everyone!
All my starts were false today. I am in a hurry and didn't devote enough time to this. I will look at it later this afternoon and read all your comments.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a tough start and something to come back to later.
Hello everyone.
ReplyDeleteNot my cup of tea today. But worthwhile doing for training purposes. Needed help in the center and with CLAYMATION. ZORBA was an educated WAG as was ZEKE. GRAF and SCHÖN came easily.
I'M INNOCENT - The clue and answer both have inflected forms of the same pronoun (I). Does this violate the rule about not having the same word in the answer as in the clue?
SCHON - When shedding the umlaut, ", for an 'English 'spelling', the 'e' is normally inserted (schoen), (ueber). so my German 'ear' questioned the schon rendering. But I guess we do that with other languages, too, say with Spanish in leaving out the tilde ~.in a word like Peña.
this one beat me.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteUp early today to "run" a mile w/ Youngest. Having not run more than 100m in 30 years, I did OK [I need to give up cigars]. After the run I made breakfast [eggs, scrambled & over-easy, bacon, ham, and potatoes w/ garlic, onion & bell peppers] and got to the puzzle before Car Talk.
My grid? TAGLIATELLE? [I Googled - fat-flat noodle; I've made them just didn't know they had a fancy name]. And Mannecotti fills with a few extra letters! Oh well. Thanks Mary Lou.
I thought I was going to get pretty close to a win after filling MOST everything north of 28/29a and east of GIVE IT A REST but then I hit a brick wall. Guess how SCHON isn't spelt [hint: shane is right out :-)]. Oh, and HOSTA isn't w/ 2 As.
Thanks Splynter for the expo and filling in the SW->NE swath of white. Never heard of NUDIE? I said NUDIE aloud at family breakfast and DW said 14d wasn't going TO BE that. Ha!
Of what I got... Fav: an SO to FIL (RIP) and all other MARINES out there.
{A,A-}
BigE. I learned BOLUS from Mary Roach's Gulp [NPR interview].
HG - Cool models. I wonder how the SLS (Space Launch System) will scale against the Saturn V. Aside: my old firm developed the inventory control system for ISS. Upon delivery of the code, NASA gave us a TO SCALE model of ISS.
Obligatory HORMEL link.
Cheers, -T
Waste of twenty minutes. should have gotten Claymation but the technique is "STOP ACTION" but I knew where SPAM came from and have watched Kenny Mayne for at least 20 years but this was largely a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteGood day to all!
ReplyDeleteMany unknowns today forced me to turn to Google to finish. Favorite clue/answer was "Its point is often boring" for AWL. Hand up for "amas" before VIDI. Thanks for the expo, along with many interesting links, Splynter.
Enjoy the day!
I was defeated by this puzzle; so many proper names I didn't know. At first I spelled it SHOEN because I really wanted that E, but soon was made aware of the error of my ways. Also, I had WINE BARREL at first because I spelled Cheryl's last name wrong. Took some cheats to fix that area. I spelled Jim BACKUS's last name wrong too, at first.
ReplyDeleteWe used to watch an Italian show called Don Matteo (played by the marvelous Italian actor Terence Hill) and there was a pretty funny scene in which the only item on the menu of the local mom-and-pop restaurant was TAGLIATELLE. One character, who wanted to take his date there and impress her, pleaded with the owner to have something other than tagliatelle available for them because he was tired of eating it all the time. Well, sure enough, when he arrived with his date and asked for "the special" they were served, you guessed it, tagliatelle. At least his date seemed to enjoy it even though the male character's over-emoted, comical facial expressions clearly indicated his frustration and displeasure. Funny scene.
Speaking of peña, our son and his extended family are spending a fun weekend in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, as we speak. Our son's wife's parents own a home there and live there. LW and I have been there; it's a nice little fishing town on the Sea of Cortez coast. In English it is called Rocky Point.
Best wishes to you all.
Puerto Penasco is mentioned in a Hoyt Axton song about sweet Angelina, down Mexico way. He pronounces it Porto, though. I thought I did well on this puzzle surprising me, but saw my mistakes when I came on the page. Ah, well. I do love Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, though! rb (my initials)
ReplyDeleteLucina: I never knew noches is feminine. Thank you for the info. Most of my Spanish I learned at age 10 when a younger Mexican girl lived down the block for a few months. Her dad was there on a road construction job. They were the only Spanish
ReplyDeletespeaking people ever to live in our town to my disappointment. I then had a little pamphlet of Spanish words that I read often trying to learn them. Mostly just got a good idea of pronunciation. I tried to take a Spanish class after age 40 when we had had Mexican exchange students in our home. Retained very little of that. Both daughters took it in high school. One daughter became fluent but hasn't used it since college. The other daughter got enough to understand slow conversation. Alas!
Drat! Brand new rear wheel and inner-tube on the bike. Made it three miles before "Pffffft." That's inner-tube #5 in the past month. I had decided it had to be the wheel...thus the new rear wheel. What am I doing wrong? Every flat has resulted from a tear at the base of the valve stem. I've got a new tire and new inner-tube on order that'll arrive on Monday. I'm running out of ideas. Thoughts?
ReplyDeletePK, I can fluently order a beer in Spanish. But that's the limit of my fluency.
ReplyDeleteDO - did you replace the rim or the tire? If it's at the valve-stem it sounds like a burr in the rim. Put some electrical tape over the valve-stem hole and then AWL the stem through. That's my $0.02. Steve, you ride, ideas? -T
ReplyDeleteI started out so excited this morning, because I got the whole top third of the puzzle without any cheating. But then the trouble began, and never really ended. Even with cheating the Southeast corner never filled in completely. Aarrrgghh. And to make things worse, I couldn't get a Moderate Sudoku either this morning. If it weren't for blog friends, I'd think about throwing in the towel on this day. Not your fault, Mary Lou, but still very frustrating puzzle this morning. Splynter, what's BOLUS? Never heard of it. I too felt a little grumpy about SCHON. Well, at least I got ALDA--pathetic to brag about that, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteOkay, time to be a big girl and cheer up and get on with this sunny day. Love the wild life in my back yard: monarch butterflies, sparrows and other birds, squirrels eating my poor turtle Gophie's greens, lizards scurrying across the concrete, and flowers in bloom everywhere. Much to be thankful for.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
I replaced the rim. I used my rotary tool and electrical tape on the old rim to no avail. That's why I bought a new rim. Now, I've ordered a new tube and tire, so if that doesn't solve the problem, I'm stumped. Unfortunately, a hole at the base of the valve stem can't be patched. Anybody need five bike tubes with small holes at the base of the valve stem?
ReplyDeletedesper-otto, I have a feeling the new rim will do it. As Anonymous T said, your old rim probably had a burr or rough spot that quickly poked through your inner tube.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can use the punctured tubes to make an awesome slingshot!
"But I guess we do that with other languages, too, say with Spanish in leaving out the tilde ~.in a word like Peña."
ReplyDeleteHowever, we add a Y to translate Spanish cañón to English canyon.
DO - OK, new rim, tube and tire. Do you have a rubber lining between the rim & tube? My kid's bikes don't but my road bike does.
ReplyDeleteBTW, what kind of bike is yours? A cruiser, mountain, or road? If it's an expensive road-bike (like the Specialized my Brother lent me - he has 5 >$6000 bikes! [I'd never spend that on a bike but will gladly use his :-)]), take it to a shop and spend the $100 or so. Even if it's a cheap bike, $100 might be worth the hair you don't pull out in frustration.
Jayce's Slingshot idea is what I did w/ my old tubes. Squirrels! With 6 tubes, launch Pumpkins!
For the rest of the Corner Crowd (and font-nerds), here's the best headline I've read all week Pakistan Now Sans Sharif as Prime Minister is Disqualified
Splynter - I hope you locked down that printer you installed. The kids at BlackHat this week just showed new ways to hack 'em and pivot to the rest of the LAN.
Una cerveza! C, -T
Had "icu", so missed CLAYMATION, which I knew. So that one was one me. BOLUS? Give me a cross I can deal with. DNF
ReplyDeleteJayce, the first four tube failures occurred on the old rim. The fifth failure occurred on the new rim with a new tube and less than 4 total riding miles. Tony, it's a cheap cruiser bike -- one speed with coaster brake -- a $130 special. But it does have a rubber lining covering the spoke connections. I can only guess that somehow the tube is shifting around, abrading the bottom of the valve stem. Maybe a new tire will make everything fit together properly. At least, that's my hope.
ReplyDeleteRE Spanish -- I learned this past week that bolillos, those Mexican rolls I buy at the supermarket bakery, are pronounced bo-lee'-yos. Apparently a single l is pronounced the same as in English, but the double-l becomes a y sound. I'm sure that's not news to Lucina.
At the risk of overposting today says... Misty, I'm sorry I forgot to address your BOLUS question. Click my link to Fresh Air/Mary Roach to find out what a BOLUS is.
ReplyDeleteTL; DR; BOLUS is basically something the size/shape of a Vienna sausage (also made by HORMEL). Cheers -T
Do-I suspect your installation technique might be to blame. I used to add some talc to the inside of the tire and rub some around the tube to help it to "seat" properly. It's not going to shift once installed and properly inflated. You sure you have correct tube size? Balloon vs. Regular?
ReplyDeleteI just read that a scale model of the lunar module made of gold was stolen last night from the Neil Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio. It's only 1 of 3 presented to the 3 astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission. The French gifted them shortly after the mission.
ReplyDeleteIs some billionaire going to keep that alongside his. Illegal ivory, stolen nazi artifacts and pilfered Egyptian history or is some ignorant burglar going to take it to the local pawn shop and try to sell it for the precious metal value. The FBI is on the case!
Ta-[minus 1]DAH!
ReplyDeleteMs. Guizzo's creation seemed easier than most Saturday pzls, although I did need a single look-up (hence the "[minus 1]" above) to get past a block in the same corner that troubled Splynter. For me it was the "H" I needed at 40D to free me from TROLLS (for "Spam source") and let me move on with HORMEL.
The "M" that troubled him at 43A&D seemed somehow easier for me. I still had my slowest time through the SE sector while I worked out how many "N"s and "L"s are needed to complete CANNELLONI. But all in all, this was a happy experience with a series of satisfying moments of Aha!
Wishing everyone a very pleasant weekend!
Whoops!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to weigh in on the question of SCHON. Yes, it really needs the "E" after the "O" to be correct auf Deutsch.
When I saw it, though, I wondered if it might be a variant dialect. In my mind's ear, I often recall Wayne Newton's long-A pronunciation, "SHANE." To give him the benefit of the doubt, that might have been his notion of a Yiddish Thank You (based on a sheynem dank), which in turn reminds me that there are several ways of saying the same thing.
But back to basics: why not give us a hint in the clue if we're going for an offbeat answer?
Thanks Anon T. I looked up BOLUS after I posted and got a pretty literal explanation, namely that it's a large pill, among other things. One source says that it's a pill used in veterinary medicine--but I'm guessing that the little pills Dusty was given to help his back pain during a recent episode were not BOLUS (plural BOLI? forgot to check this). Anyway, this is probably as much as I need to know about BOLUS.
ReplyDeleteAs for BOLUS, I recognized it from somewhere, probably from treating one of our dogs. It replaced my first choice, HORSE.
ReplyDeleteAnon@3:31 -- Thanks for that. I did use talc on the new inner-tube, though not on the inside of the tire on attempt #5. I plead ignorance on the "balloon vs regular" issue. What is that? The tire is 26 X 2.125 and the tube is rated 26 X 1.95-2.35. We've got a pair of those bikes, and I've been using that same tube size all along, but we just started having problems.
ReplyDeleteSpitzboov said...
ReplyDelete"SCHON - When shedding the umlaut, ", for an 'English 'spelling', the 'e' is normally inserted (schoen), (ueber). so my German 'ear' questioned the schon rendering. But I guess we do that with other languages, too, say with Spanish in leaving out the tilde ~.in a word like Peña."
But don't leave out the tilde in "año"!
Give up after 20 minutes??! That's when I get started. I slogged along and finally got a short nap. TO SCALE and MANS got everything except I never corrected ICU. BOLUS defeated me anyways.
ReplyDeleteOwen. #1 was a solid A like someone mentioned
I used to think that song was Don Q. Shane
Seeing Ferris reminded me that Ferris Fain took a bunch of days off and still eon the batting title. In Philly.
Splynter, if UPS won't play ball get a degree elsewhere. My friend took a decade to get an IT degree nights but you're still young.
I'll take a QOD or a CSO on Semper Fi.
Mary Lou, very nice Saturday effort.
Misty, there's always Sunday.
WC
Interestingly, "ano" is a Japanese word literally meaning "that" but most often used as we might use "um er, uh" as a filler word while we're thinking. The Chinese also have a word meaning "that" that they use in the same way.
ReplyDeleteBut while you're at it, RetFizz, be careful how you pronounce analyze or analyst. Then there's always "penal colony." And no matter how you say "Uranus" it's a lose-lose situation. LOL
desper-otto said...
ReplyDelete"PK, I can fluently order a beer in Spanish. But that's the limit of my fluency."
Dos cervesas, sure, but how about "Dos 'Dos Equis'"?
Re my very late post from yesterday, I found the email answer from the sportswriter about the two Cal Polys: "Cal Poly SLO now goes by just Cal Poly. Pomona goes by Cal Poly Pomona."
I save too much email - that one was from 2010.
Jayce said...
ReplyDelete"But while you're at it, RetFizz, be careful how you pronounce analyze or analyst. Then there's always "penal colony." And no matter how you say "Uranus" it's a lose-lose situation. LOL"
I see no problem w. analyze or analyst. Nobody pronounces them with a long A. Or do they?
And as for Uranus, I first became aware of the lose-lose when I started work at JPL and became a rocket scientist. (I was a nuclear physicist in my first life - LOL.) I'd always pronounced Uranus with the stress on the second syllable, but discovered that the JPL scientists and engineers stressed the first. Dictionary shows both but prefers the first.
Astronomers also have a weird way with "aphelion," ignoring the Greek roots and pronouncing it "uh-FEELY-on."
I echo PK and others as I started with guns blazing and thought I was having a great Saturday solve. Then I hit the SE! Thanks for the fun Mary Lou and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI moved from uses to runs to MANS.
Hand up for Apes before DOES.
I thought those models were going to be stacked before TO SCALE. Probably misled by the busts at 41A!
Hand up for ending several tries to get the correct spellings for the pasta.
My Spam came from a Hacker before HORMEL.
CLAYMATION was a learning moment.
Niagara peaches are now picking. Yum! So fresh and juicy I don't need to make them into Peach MELBA.
Enjoy the weekend.
That's needing several tries not ending!
ReplyDeleteDesper-otto,
ReplyDeleteI was just lurking today, but your dilemma hit home...
It sounds like you are doing everything right,
talc, liner, right size tube, etc...
a real puzzle for sure.
Here is a video that brings up some other possibilities:
1) I have never seen that wierd valve with the screw, I assume that is not your problem...
2) filing the edges of the hole? If it worked on previous inner tubes, I don't think that's it.
3) hole bigger than the valve stem? Are they making inner tubes with narrower valves these days?
I don't think so, but if on inspection this might be the case, a plastic washer that tightly fits around the valve stem will solve this problem. (or create a new one...)
If all else fails, I saw a YouTube video on how to repair a leak at the base of a valve stem. Maybe with enough patches the dang thing might hold together...
Ooh, just remembered something!
We used to take a piece of old inner tube, about 2 inch square,
cut a slit in the center and thread the valve thru it before putting it in the rim.
it will protect the valve stem.
Another thing is to add one or two pumps of air (very little)
before replacing the outer tire, and pushing the valve in and out
to make sure there are no kinks in the inner tube near the valve...
Good Luck!
One last guess. Are you buying the new tubes at the same store in a short time period? Maybe a bad lot?
ReplyDeleteI always removed the valve core for the first inflation, letting all the air back out, to center the stem. Then replace the core and inflate.
ReplyDeleteD/O - If I remember correctly, there isn't a "double l" in Castilian (Spanish). They are two separate consonants "l" and "ll". Same for "n" and "nn", I think. Lucina, HELP please before I get into any more trouble with my half-vast knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI forgot - I knew veni vidi vici because I smoked Marlboros in my ute, and the motto adorns their pack. I asked in my Latin class and learned how to pronounce it was well as why it was an important quote.
CED - the screwy valves are Prestas which are used on high-end bikes w/ very skinny wheels. "Normal" valves are called Schraders. I doubt we'll see either in an xword tho.
ReplyDeleteJayce, RetFizz, Really? I mean Really? :-). -T
Jinx & D/O:
ReplyDeleteD/O, you are correct that "ll" is pronounced like "y" and in fact, as Jinx noted, it is a separate unit of the alphabet, l, ll, also, n and n with a tilde (which I can't seem to make on my computer) are separate entities.
PK:
You likely don't need to know much Spanish but if you recall, all syllables are pronounced in Spanish and there is only one pronunciation for vowels. Occasionally, an elision will occur such as in guacamole, wa-cah-mo-leh. The gu is pronounced as w.
nn is not a unit.
ReplyDeleteIf any of you readers out there read this, I noticed there's a book "Mrs Sherlock Holmes" about a NY detective at the turn of the century.
ReplyDeleteThe book jacket promises a fascinating tale.
$30.00. I'll buy it on YR or Splynter's recommendation. 😂. Or anybody.
WC a little late
Only one interesting thing about this puzzle for me and I don't know if anyone else caught it?
ReplyDeleteAlan ALDA was born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo. Meaning his family was from Abruzzo, also known as Abruzzi. Which is in the clue for 25D: Abruzzi bell town.
Which was the one answer I got wrong. The cross of ATRe and eDRIS SELBA was off by one letter. Utterly unfair, sorry.
I am proud that I got all of the other impossible stuff. Thank you, Splynter, for documenting the exact agony count of 17 proper names. Ugh.
Hand up for getting just a few: ALDA, ANG, OREL, TIEGS, BACKUS
These I never heard of and don't know why I would: MAYNE, ENID (Geraint??), RAE, ELSA, MARC
OK, at least RAE did something important.
I have never, ever heard of SCUD except (hand up) for the missile. And TAGLIATELLE??
Hand up for APES before DOES. I grudgingly accept DOES. Hand up for RUNS before MANS.
There were some amusing bits, like GENIE and HORMEL as clued. But overall I thought there was too much unfair stuff and that left a bad taste.
Thanks for the NUDIE movies to watch on a date, Splynter. Maybe DW will go along with one.