23A. *Filled pastry : CREAM PUFF. Cold cream.
29A. *Protective sports gear : SHOULDER PADS. Cold shoulder.
41A. *Prop in an iconic "Psycho" scene : SHOWER CURTAIN. Cold shower.
66A. *Ragtime dance : TURKEY TROT. Cold turkey.
68A. *Flower named for a legendary beast : SNAPDRAGON. Cold snap.
89A. *Contents of an abandoned one may be sold at auction : STORAGE LOCKER. Cold storage.
104A. *What will fix misteaks? : SPELL CHECKER. Cold spell.
15D. *2017 Broadway musical based on the rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein : WARPAINT. Cold war. Two of the Down 8's intersect two other Across entries. Those stacks of 8s in the upper and lower left are tough to pull off.
81D. *Lawyer's backlog : CASELOAD. Cold case.
Reveal:
111. It ushers in lower temperatures ... and what the answers to starred clues can have : COLD FRONT
Rich normally keeps this type of words-that-can-precede/follow for weekdays, unless the reveal entry really catches his interest.
This theme works the best when the key word change meanings. In this set, SHOWER, STORAGE and CASE remain the same.
Across:
1. Grand-scale poetry : EPOS. Also 38. Pope output : POEM. Alexander Pope.
5. Corrosive stuff : ACID. Also 6. Corrosive substances : CAUSTICS
9. Mariner org. : NASA. Unaware of the Mariner program.
13. Like an eddy : ASWIRL
19. An 80-footer is a long one : PUTT. I made a long one when I played my very first round. So excited.
20. Square to look through : PANE
21. Got on in years : AGED
22. Old propeller site : BEANIE. Never heard of propeller beanie.
25. Commend : CITE
26. "And God Created Woman" (1956) star : BARDOT
27. Done, for Donne : O'ER
28. Afterthought preceder : ALSO. BunnyM, I also love your posts. Always thoughtful and caring.
31. Had a sample : TRIED IT
33. Wickiup, e.g. : HUT. Wickiup is new to me. Primitive hut.
35. Most common draw in Scrabble : AN E. Odd to have an article in front.
36. Hanukkah toy : DREIDEL
39. Intolerant type : BIGOT
45. Janvier, across the Pyrenees : ENERO
46. Old TV knob : HOR
47. Gather in bundles : SHEAVE
48. Quick-getaway auditorium seat site : LAST ROW
50. Bygone : OLDEN
53. Actor Cage, in tabloids : NIC
54. CBS golf analyst Baker-Finch : IAN. He's from Australia.
55. Recited confidently : REELED OFF
60. Earthquake prefix : SEISMO. Hi there Jayce! Why can't you have venison burgers?
62. Wise guy : SAGE
70. __ facto : IPSO
71. Military camps : ETAPES
73. Farthest from the action, as arena seats : NOSEBLEED
74. Hogwash : ROT
75. Photog's item : NEG
77. Henri's health : SANTE. "A votre sante!"
78. Dentist's find : ABSCESS. Got via crosses.
83. Fusion, for one : ECO-CAR
87. Rap music article : THA
88. Westernmost African capital : DAKAR. Senegal's capital. Have any of you tried West African-style peanut butter chicken?
93. Ukrainian port, to locals : ODESA
94. Bowser's brand : IAMS
96. Flash : INSTANT
97. Astound : AWE. Inanehiker (Nina) on our blog is a doctor, who quieted my unease with her read of my recent blood test.
98. Hammett hound : ASTA
99. Soaked : WET
100. DNA component : ADENINE
107. Cry to Silver : HI YO
108. Crime boss : DON
109. Commotion : UPROAR
110. Comparable : AKIN
113. Split : CLEAVE
114. Dispatch : SEND. Average person checks his/her email 15 times a day.
115. Bailiwick : AREA
116. Ray, for one : ALer. Gluey fill. Tampa Bay Rays.
117. Hopper and Gabler : HEDDAS. Gluey fill.
118. Nervous : EDGY
119. Not : NARY
120. Italian noble family : ESTE
Down:
1. Spaceship Earth site : EPCOT
2. More refined : PURER
3. Ferrell's "SNL" cheerleading partner : OTERI
4. Penn, e.g.: Abbr. : STA
5. User : APPLIER. Odd *ER word.
7. Dope : INFO
8. Hi-__ : DEF
9. Morgen's opposite : NACHT. Night.
10. Currency exchange fee : AGIO. Learned from doing crossword.
11. Attack : SET UPON
12. Ross Sea penguin : ADELIE. Happy feet.
13. French clerics : ABBES
14. Scorch : SEAR
16. At risk : IN DANGER
17. Former Spanish Sahara territory that is neither a river nor has any gold : RIO DE ORO. Helpful clue. Like our grape nuts.
18. Tennis calls : LETS
24. Sierra __ : MADRE. Not LEONE.
29. Ottoman bigwig : SULTAN
30. Doo-wop syllable : DUM. No idea.
32. Uncle of Prince Wm. : EDW. Both Wm and EDW look odd.
33. "Take it" : HERE
37. "Well, that's obvious" : DUH
38. Game equipment : PIECES. We saw a Kirby Puckett game-used jersey at a store for $10K. Crazy.
39. Wanna-__: poseurs : BEs
40. Pull : TOW
41. Hip sound? : SHORT I. The i in Hip.
42. Stay out of sight : HOLE UP
43. Waiters take them : ORDERS
44. "We Try Harder" company : AVIS. Which is your favorite rental car company? We're going back to Payless. Bad experience with Dollar.
48. Reading lights : LAMPS
49. Battery pole : ANODE
51. Nevada city on I-80 : ELKO
52. Born : NEE
54. Golfer Aoki : ISAO. He should come to 3M. Both Jack Nicklaus & Gary Player were here this year.
56. Salon specialists : DYERS
58. Campus house, maybe : FRAT
59. Clotheshorse : FOP
61. Quaint lodging : INN
62. Casa room : SALA
63. Tommy Lee Jones' "Men in Black" role : AGENT K
64. "Faust" author : GOETHE
65. Win the love of : ENDEAR
67. Beliefs : TENETS
69. NFL ball carriers : RBs. Running backs.
72. Spanish wine descriptor : SECO. Dry.
76. More unpleasant, as details : GORIER
78. Stink : ADO
79. Troublemaker : BAD APPLE. Great fill.
80. Like kebabs : SKEWERED. Xi'an style. Lots of red pepper.
82. Stat for Aroldis Chapman : ERA. Rich is a Yankee fan. Patti is a Met fan.
84. Tilt : CANT
85. Govt. prosecutors : AGs. Attorney Generals.
86. Mall tenant : RETAILER
89. Walloped : SMACKED
90. Singer Billie Holiday's nickname : LADY DAY. Unknown to me.
91. __ a kind : ONE OF
92. Moving supply: Abbr. : CTN (Carton)
94. Book end? : ISH. Bookish.
95. Military command : AT EASE
98. Plot makeup : ACRES
99. Playwright Wasserstein : WENDY. Also new to me.
101. Stars watched by many : IDOLS
102. Good-sized chamber group : NONET. Group of nine.
103. Between, in Brest : ENTRE. Alliteration.
104. Quite : SUCH
105. Spewed magma : LAVA
106. Double-decker game piece : KING. Googled afterwards. Never played Pinochle. (Checkers. Thanks, WikWak.)
107. Bar mitzvah dance : HORA
111. Fire : CAN
112. Actress Charlotte : RAE
C.C.
35 comments:
Good morning!
Kurt came up with a soft-serve treat this morning. I still found a couple of ways to go wrong with SWIRLY/ASWIRL and BULL/POEM for the Pope output, but this one turned into a one-pass across and one-pass down event. Noticed the CSO to moi. Thanks for the expo, C.C.
I learned WICKIUP from the old John Lupton / Michael Ansara TV series, Broken Arrow. Remember it?
I think the patient probably "finds" the ABSCESS before the dentist does. It was probably the reason for the visit.
AGIO is familiar from the old Houston Post cws, before that paper merged with the Barnacle. I stopped home delivery of the Barnacle this past week. I don't like companies that treat new customers better than their long-time clientele. I also don't like their "prices subject to change" policy. When the price goes up, they adjust the end-date of your subscription. Bye, Barnacle! I'll read you online only.
FIW¡ Had PUnT instead of PUTT. The down was a total unknown, so no help at all. In fact, a lot of unknowns, so the surprise might be that I only got one cell wrong! The theme came hard, too. After all themers were filled, I listed them on my notepad, and just stared at them for the longest time! Nine clues, and I still wouldn't have gotten it without the partial reveal of the title! For me, that's downright shameful¡
Possibly interesting trivia: morgen: a measure of land, in particular.
(in the Netherlands, South Africa, and parts of the US) a measure of land equal to about 0.8 hectare or two acres.
(in Norway, Denmark, and Germany) a measure of land now equal to about 0.3 hectare or two thirds of an acre.
Origin --early 17th century: from Dutch or German Morgen ‘morning,’ apparently from the notion of “an area of land that can be plowed in a morning.”
MORGEN Le Fay and her friend thought for a fling
They'd play some games with the PIECES they'd bring.
Now witches like magic,
So boards are not static --
Men will get SMACKED by a SPELL CHECKER-KING!
{A.}
Hi Y'all! I liked this engrossing puzzle, Kurt, altho there were a lot of unknowns. Just kept plugging away. Thanks again, C.C.!
Last to fill was the "N" in NASA/NACHT via red-letter run then realized Mariner was a space program and Morgen is morning in German as opposed to NACHT = night. Commend = CITE didn't compute with me. Didn't remember AGIO. Only exchanged currency once in my life in Canada in 2003. Forgot APELIE penguins if I ever heard it. Emperor didn't fit. Didn't see the movie.
Forgot to read the title until I was done. Got the theme after the reveal with several "fronts" unfilled, but it didn't help. I was sure NOSE BLEED was a theme entry. You know, COLD NOSE as in doggies.
I only check my email 3 or 4 times a day.
So many Doo-Wop syllables. Hard to choose. Tried a bunch, none of them DUM which was a direct CSO to me.
We had a lovely much-needed rain in the night. Hope it helps my crispy baby grass.
Always thought the Lone Ranger said "Hi Ho".
-Yesterday afternoon I was chillin' with this cool puzzle from the early Sunday Edition. It was a breeze.
-We often see AGIO in crosswords. I was wondering if it is still used today.
1989, Isaac Levy, translator, , Der Pentateuch, ubersetzt und erlautert), (commentary to Exodus 30:16),
"Owing to the enormous number of half-shekel coins required each year in Adar, these were greatly in demand, and the money-changers made a small fixed charge of an agio for changing whole into half shekels."
1776, Adam Smith, An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations,
"The money of such banks being better than the common currency of the country, necessarily bore an agio..."
PK, you are one smart cookie. No Dum de dum dum.
-New World Encyclopedia,"A wigwam or wickiup is a domed single-room dwelling used by certain Native American tribes. The term wickiup is generally used to label these kinds of dwellings in American Southwest and West. Wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the American Northeast." We used to take our students to see an Indian village mock-up at Waterloo Village nearby here. It was let fall into disrepair and now has been restored better than ever. Fascinating.
-OKL, interesting about MORGEN.
-PK, you are one smart cookie, no dum de dum dum.
Bob Niles, I think you're thinking of Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy.
Good Morning:
I really enjoyed solving this offering but I was in the dark about the theme until I filled in the reveal. For some reason, I saw the title before starting the solve but then completely forgot about it. Had I remembered the "Brr", I'm sure I would have gotten the theme answers more quickly. No harm, though, as I moved right along, anyway. I had Cairo>Niger>Dakar (geography is not my forte), never heard of Wickiup (I thought it was cyber related, you know, like Wikipedia. Doh!), and the only penguin I'm familiar with is the Emperor. I had the same thought as PK with the Cold Nose-Dog connection.
Thanks, Kurt, for a just-right Sunday challenge and thanks, CC, for an informative and visually-pleasing write-up.
Have a great day.
Musings
-The theme seemed to be more of a weekday gimmick to me as well but I had a good time
-Neither COLD TURKEY, counseling or drugs could rid my brother of his vices
-Armed with a word processor w/SPELL CHECKER would have made me an infinitely better writer
-A clue in The Da Vinci Code says Newton was eulogized by the poet POPE not a POPE
-Those rare 80’ foot PUTTS that drop don’t make up for the ten short ones you miss
-LAST ROW – refuge for those who leave after communion
-What the Indians just REELED OFF
-World Series tickets for NOSEBLEED seats still command three figures
-I hadn’t written ADENINE since college biology
-I still remembered being AWED by my first ride through Spaceship Earth
-Gotta run for church and MIL duty
Morgen's opposite? NACHT-nein. Guten ABEND would be the opposite of guten Morgen; der Tag und die NACHT would be opposites. 'Wickiup' is a new word for me. Okay for the rest of the puzzle.
I never caught the theme because I didn't want to 'catch a cold'. I had the most trouble in the MAINE region, filling CHAR before SEAR, and had never heard of WARPAINT or RIO DE ORO but completing the puzzle was never IN DANGER. As for the Middle East, I wanted YALTA for the ODESA. YALTA 'was' in Ukraine; it didn't move.
WENDY & SECO were unknowns. Didn't know if the western capital was ACCRA or DAKAR. I see old Xword showing up- AGIA, ETAPES & ESTE.
Bob Niles- I agree with you on the HI HO Silver but HIHOs are cookies that OREOS copied.
HI YO is something that Ed McMahon would say on the Tonight Show many years ago.
Most people should never rent a STORAGE LOCKER because they will never use the stuff. Just give it away and save some money.
The LAST ROW in the Superdome is definitely in the NOSEBLEED section.
Morgen - Tricky word. It can mean 'tomorrow'. What is the opposite of that? Yesterday? Translates as Gestern. "This morning" would be 'heute Morgen'.
Opposite of morning is 'evening' which translates into Abend. When we say tomorrow morning it translates as Morgen früh.(or 'early').
In my mind, opposite of night is 'day'. which translates into 'Tag'.
Morgen? NACHT? I guess I should bone up on my German. That was the last area to fill as I couldn't recall ADELIE penguins and NASA came later.
Over all, I agree this was an easy fill though I ended up with three bad cells, NIK (NIC), SHORT I, and ODESS (ODESA). For the longest time I was sure that an 80 footer was some kind of boat so mentally went through all I knew then Penn STA dawned on me and PUTT emerged.
Otherwise, no problems. Thank you, Kurt Krauss. I wonder if he speaks German.
And thank you, C.C. Those kebabs look very spicy!
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Well, once again I almost, almost got this cool (COLD?) Kurt Krauss puzzle (cross puzzle?). Only I had ASTIRS instead of ASWIRL and POR instead of HOR because I stupidly didn't get that SHORT I and put in SPORT I instead. Can't believe ALER was correct--had no idea what that was all about. But this was a fun puzzle in lots of ways, so, many thanks, Kurt. And C.C., I love your Sunday write-ups--many thanks to you too.
Yep, Big Easy and Spitz, that German clue was a bit tricky. I kept reading MORGEN as TOMORROW and so put in HEUTE, meaning TODAY. But that just didn't work, and for some reason I wasn't thinking of morning and night in relation to the word. Sometimes even having German as your native language doesn't solve all the problems.
Bob Niles, I too wanted HI HO for the Lone Ranger's call. I grew up in Austria reading German novels about the American West (I remember one was about an Apache Chief named "Winnetou" or something like that). So when I came to the country at the age of 10 my first favorite TV shows were the "Lone Ranger" and "Hopalong Cassidy" and, yes, Desper-otto, "Broken Arrow." Ah, those were the days.
Have a great Sunday, everybody.
Too much foreign-language stuff for me to enjoy today's puzzle. And Kurt missed the best theme tie-in of the whole puzzle @ 72a. A warm nuzzle from a COLD NOSE is certain to warm my COLD heart.
So there is neither gold nor river in RIO DE ORO. There also is no lake at Lake Los Angeles (I checked). And it sometimes frosts in Frostproof, FL. Others?
From yesterday, I've had my credit reports frozen for years. The only problem I've ever had was getting a loan for my motor coach while I was in Tampa and my "thaw" password was in a file drawer in Norfolk. It was a PITA, but easier and quicker than solving today's puzzle. As a side effect, I almost never get pre-approved credit card applications any more.
C.C., the double decker game piece is from checkers. Whem one of your men gets to the back row it becomes a KING and is marked by putting a second checker on top of it.
And Misty, for ALER, think AL-ER; an American Leaguer. The Rays play in the American League.
Loved this one. Only a couple of brief slowdowns but no problems. Have a great day, all!
Hello Puzzlers -
Enjoyed today's challenge, just a few unknowns.
I spotted Lucina's post from yesterday in which she asked others about my well-being; it is representative of the fine, caring person she is, judging by our private correspondence and her blog style. I'm pleased to report that I have not exercised the poor judgment needed to fly myself into harm's grip among the various storms! :-)
I admit to a reduced Corner presence these days, which I attribute to blog burnout. As others have noted, after a while, it's hard to think up a fresh way to comment on puzzles. I'm pleased to see that so many familiar names have kept at it!
Guten MORGEN! This was slog city for me today. The last cell to fill was the N crossing NACHT and NASA. Hand up for wanting ABEND instead of NACHT. Like Lucina, I guess I need to bone up on German. I already have needed to bone up on Spanish. I've said it before but I'll say it again: if you need to know Spanish, French, and German in order to solve an English-language puzzle, something's not right. E.g. SANTÉ.
I remember Broken Arrow. I have always liked Michael Ansara. Wasn't he married to Barbara Eden for a while?
The reason I can't have those venison (or bison or ostrich) burgers from Sprouts is because, um, LW says so. No other reason at all. Why does she say so? She herself doesn't even know. I suspect it's a matter of "I don't want them, so why should you?" She is very subjective that way and often has a hard time seeing another person's point of view if it isn't the same as hers. "Why does he drive a Prius? I wouldn't!"
Good to see ya, Dudley.
Best wishes to you all.
Dudley! How nice to see you! I'm relieved to know you were not caught up in the recent stormy weather though I know you are too smart to even think about flying into a storm. I was simply concerned about you. You are also too kind.
Misty:
You make me feel good that even though German is your native language you had problems with the opposite of morgen. I do recall nacht from "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night) which is played on the classical station during December but didn't know morgen means morning so that stymied me. There is so much learning on this blog!
Hi everybody. I've got an hour of tutoring at 3 PM today. I had the girl last year for geometry. She's very nice and goes to a private school. The volleyball coach expects them to practice five days a week until six and then she has a long bus ride home. Geez... So I said I would fit her in Sunday afternoons, especially after her mother offered to pay me extra to thank me.
There's a cable station that airs The Lone Ranger. It's definitely not Hi Ho but closer to Hi Yo or Hi O. It's very old fashioned stuff with the chases going through the same scenery on one show after another. Simple minded plots too but I still enjoy them. Do you remember the name of Tonto's horse? Hopalong's? Dale Evans'? The Cisco Kid's?
Dudley, I've got blog burn out too. I find I seldom have anything worthwhile or original to add about the puzzle so I try to find other stuff to comment on, like tutoring, lunches, The Lone Ranger, etc. I hope that nobody minds.
Okay, I googled those horses, Bill Graham--hope that's okay. Tonto's horse was named SCOUT, Dale Evans had BUTTERMILK, and the Cisco Kid's horse was DIABLO. Hopalong Cassidy's horse was named TOPPER, the nickname of my graduate school boyfriend.
Lucina, glad you remembered "Stille Nacht."
Hopalong Cassidy was the only good guy who wore a black hat. Remember Topper with Leo G. Carroll, Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling and the Saint Bernard, Neil, played by Buck -- an original ghost story? And, of course, the ending of every Cisco Kid episode was -- "Oh, Cisco!" "Oh, Pancho!" Made you think something else was going on. The Cisco Kid lasted a long time in reruns, because somebody had the smart idea to film all of those episodes in color.
Greetings to all!
I found it very helpful that the puzzle had a title today, as I caught on to the "cold" theme early. The puzzle was challenging for me as there were quite a number of unknowns, yet I found it enjoyable nonetheless. Our computer froze when I was about 80% finished, and I knew I needed to reboot. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras. I simply took a picture of the screen before I restarted, and quickly filled in my answers when I got to a new page.Thanks for the thorough write-up, C.C.. Both the peanut butter chicken and the kebabs look yummy!
BunnyM--So sorry that you have such difficulties with the fibromyalgia. I agree that your posts are always cheerful and kind.
Best wishes to all!
Morgen/Abend morning/evening
Morgen/Nacht morning/night
Both could be opposites. Often there is more than one answer that fits the clue, but only one fits the puzzle.
Beany and Cecil was a children's cartoon in the early 60's. Beany was a boy who wore a helicopter beanie that helped him fly. Cecil was a dinosaur. cartoon
As freshmen at Susquehanna U. we were required to wear beanies in the school colors all year. No propellers, though.
Hi-Yo Silver was the Lone Ranger theme song.
Hi Yo Silver
Lucina, Jayce, Misty- my only Deutsch is from college 50 years ago. I didn't even think of HEUTE but I don't know how today and tomorrow could be opposites. ABEND was never a possibility as I had already filled NASA, AGED, CITE, and ADELIE.
Bone up on Spanish? Cerveza, tequila,AND uno, dos,TRES, quatro-----"WOOLY BULLY" by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs.
Send those bison burgers down my way if DW won't let you have them. I'm not PW.
Bill: That solution to burn-out is great! It's all these other things we talk about that make this blog interesting, and make the people here interesting, too! We have, what, about 40 people who post here semi-regularly, but it's only the dozen or so who talk about off-topic topics (oxymoron?) who I really look forward to reading. The puzzles get us together to a common starting point, but it's the knots of all those random threads that tie us together! I've been in so many fora over the years that started with burning interest (Mormonism, Freemasonry, face blindness, anti-theism, old-time radio, filksongs[sic], Toastmasters, science fiction, Star Trek, Cruciverb, webcomics, and bunches I've forgotten about by now), but always burned out after a few months or a year or so. I've been here about 4 years, way above my longest anywhere else! The appreciation I get for my poems is part of it, but the interesting people are essential, too!
Propeller beanies were iconic of SF fandom. I once saw a solar powered one at a science museum, passed up on buying it because I didn't realize how unique it was, and regretted not having it a thousand time since!
The Mensa site often freezes up on me, so I take a screen shot with the computer itself. Top-right corner of your keyboard is a key labeled "PrtScr" or similar. Press that (even if the browser's frozen) and it will put a picture of the entire screen in your clipboard. Press Alt (IIRC) along with that, and it will snap just the active window.
BTW, I knew Scout & Buttermilk, but not Topper or Diablo. These come up in trivia quizzes a lot. Remember Nellybelle?
FIW - arrgh! First, to a 4-year-old's ears (show discontinued in '57), I "distinctly" heard "Hi Ho, Silver Away!" and remember the horse rearing on his hind legs. Nobody said "Yo" back then, well at least in TX we didn't. So that messed up Holiday's name, big time - LA?HDAY. Phone rang, and I forgot to finish filling in "EntrE"/"EstE. Is "morgen" the first time for a c|w clue? The LA Times is where I learn a few foreign words, and I don't remember it. (And I don't remember any foreign words appearing in the Sunday NYT cw, but I could be wrong.)
IM, I was on your wave length - Wiki?Wiki? Guess it's that website's influence these days. When I saw C.C.'s picture of the wigwam-y thing, I googled "wickiup" and then vaguely remembered seeing the word in Zane Grey paperbacks I sneak-read upstairs while I was s'posed to be cleaning. My older brother had left behind a bunch of them when he moved out.
D-O, "Cisco/Pancho" thing? - funny! Re Barnacle: I should have the Chronicle and AT&T Uverse phone numbers on speed-dial. Just this morning, I got off the phone with Chron CS, and they reduced my daily subscription rate to $9/wk; I had already "negotiated" a lower rate two months ago, so yes, you're right, D-O, about "prices subject to change" which the rep pointed out initially. That's when I said I want the phone number of your home office in AZ so I can complain, and then she came back on the line and offered the lowered rate. I have to threaten AT&T every two months also, although the rep two months ago said my new "lower charges" would stay the same for a year. Can't wait until they improve SlingTV.
Have a good week, everyone!
Dudley and Bill G - If the daily comments were about the puzzle only, I, for one, wouldn't bother to come here. With very few exceptions, I can determine the theme and usually know most of the fill, so I don't need it explained. However, in addition to the lively, interesting, and informative write-ups, I then get to enjoy everyone's yays or nays. Then, the frosting on the cake is hearing about Bill G's lunches, DO's flat tire woes, Lucina's tamales, Owen's and Moe's verses, Mr. Meow's "cat-erwauling" and cheerful cakes, PK's backyard fiasco, Swampcat's hurricane updates, Keith's theater tales, Spitz's German lessons, HG's meandering musings, YR's grammar guidance, Jayce's sense of humor, Tin's toast of the day, and Hatoolah's QOD, Misty's Woo Woo's, Wilbur's sometimes cryptic comments and everyone else's personal tidbits. I'm also glad to be here for those who may need moral support from time to time: BunnyM, YR, and Owen, to name a few. Hats off to the blogmeisters Argyle, Melissa B, HG, JazB, Steve, Lemony, and Splynter. And a major thank you to, CC, the glue that holds us all together.
Owen (aka OKL!), I totally agree! I may not post, but I check the blog daily. I really enjoy the diverse viewpoints, anecdotes, links, personalities, etc. posted in the blog. (Have any of you checked out NY Times crossword blog - dry and boring as Zwieback toast!).
IM @ 6:47, I second that!
This is a caring community of virtual friends built around a common interest, crosswords. I feel I know the regulars personally. I enjoy your interesting personalties and points of view. I like that there is no snark here. The Corner is my favorite blog. Yellowrocks to all of you. Thank you.
Sunday Lurk say...
{A}
BillG, Dudley, and all the other regulars who aren't... I do like to hear the Cornerites' take on a puzzle -- words they liked, emotions evoked, random interesting tidbits - like Steve meeting DRE and his take on the Dr.
As an aspiring constructor, I take all this in when thinking up themes (recently, all are suck so don't expect anything soon :-)) and contemplating fill. You can tell when a constructor paid attention to make smooth fill (like yesterday w/ the Ostracize stack - POR is the only hail-Mary glue in the crossings; NAES could'a been but the clecho saved it; I think that was deliberate).
So pipe-up and say what was fun/clunk and learn-us all something special from your field. I think that's fun and it's always nice to thank the host who spent >2hs preparing for the after-party.
And, of course, what IM, OKL, and YR said +1. TxMs highlighted the way it could be by pointing to that other xword blog....The Corner is a special group of people.
Cheers, -T
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Kurt Krauss, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
C.C.: 106D refers to the game of Checkers. When you get your man to the other end, you get to King him by putting another piece on top. Now he can go both directions.
Enjoyed this puzzle. The theme popped into my head after about half the puzzle completed. Very clever. Helped me with a couple answers.
DRIEDELat 36A is a new word for me. Perps.
Of course I tried RENO before ELKO. I have been to both cities.
Guessing that ADENINE is the A in DNA.
I was going to write in OCTET for 102D, but held off. NONET won.
I learned how to spell ABSCESS today at 78A. I would have missed the C except for CASE LOAD.
Never heard of WAR PAINT. The things you learn in crosswords. I love it!
My sister in Pennsylvania was giving away a table she no longer needed. I said I would take it. Her renter's mother happened to be visiting, who lives in Bloomington, IL. She asked her to bring the table back with her and meet me on the interstate so I could take it off her hands. We met her in Joliet, IL, and I got the table. Had to take the legs off to get it in my car. Thank goodness for a kind gentleman who had a wrench in his car and loaned it to me. Life is always interesting.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
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I've been in San Antonio all week at a medical meeting - so getting the latest scoop on things. Thanks for the shout out CC - nice welcome back to the blog!
Anonymous at 10:17 - I have several friends who are attorneys in the Attorney General's office of our state - and they are all called Asst. Attorney Generals. The DAs are at the county level around here - maybe your state is different.
Thanks CC and Kurt!
Irish Miss:
I agree with you completely about the additional information we derive from our fellow posters. I learn so much from all of you and since we are all from diverse backgrounds and avocations, your knowledgeable input fills in the gaps of my knowledge. I'm grateful for that.
OwenKL:
Though I may not always comment on your poems, I look forward to reading them at the top of the Blog where they usually appear.
Woohoo! Woohoo! Irish Miss, I loved your write-up about all the friends and contributors that make this blog so special! Thank you!
This is a record FIW for me with four bad cells. Too many unfair crossings IMHO.
Got the theme early and enjoyed it. But the puzzle was ruined for me by those unfair bits.
Hand up for PUNT instead of PUTT and with OTERI totally unknown there was no way to know this. Had EPIC instead of EPOS. Anyone else?
Hand up that I have only ever heard HI HO Silver. Which made LADHDAY which I could not parse. But the crosses seemed solid. My father used to play Billie Holiday records a lot, but I never heard of her called LADY DAY.
RENO is also on 80 and that held me up for awhile.
Learning moment about RIO DE ORO. I was driving my friend across the desert in Morocco near that border. She was not feeling well and she told me if anyone tries to stop us, just keep driving. We eventually came to a group of men in the road and I tried to drive past them. She screamed in terror. The people I had almost blasted past were armed Moroccan soldiers. Morocco does not recognize the border. Close call.
For those of us who know about DREIDELs, there was an infamous NACHT that was anything but a "Silent Night".
I refer to Kristallnacht.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
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