Theme: P*TT - Three constant consonants with five progressive vowels.
25. Coast Guard rank: PETTY OFFICER
37. Roberto Clemente, notably: PITTSBURGH PIRATE
48. Ceramics shaper: POTTER'S WHEEL
59. Tinker in the workshop: PUTTER ABOUT
BOO! Argyle here. A diagonal solvers puzzle, but upper right to lower left. Maine to California. Washington and Florida are isolationists with just a one square connection to the rest of the puzzle.
FLASH: Husker Gary pointed out that the first vowel of the second word is regressive, U thru A. Coincidence, I think not.
FLASH: Husker Gary pointed out that the first vowel of the second word is regressive, U thru A. Coincidence, I think not.
Across:
1. Capital of Poland: WARSAW
7. Actress Moore: DEMI. IMDb
11. Dick and Jane's dog: SPOT
15. Tropical lizard: IGUANA
16. Large-scale: EPIC
17. Vagrant: HOBO
20. __-ran: ALSO
21. Diminutive suffix: ETTE
22. Fort full of gold: KNOX
23. Guitarist Clapton: ERIC
24. Spanish king: REY
29. Prefix with sol: AERO CAN
30. Flight height: Abbr.: ALT. (altitude)
31. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO
32. Rural road surface: DIRT
34. Carpal or tarsal lead-in: META. Bones of the hands or feet.
36. Prilosec target: ACID. Prilosec is made by AstraZeneca.
41. "__-daisy!": UPSY
42. Approximately: OR SO
43. Small fishing boat: DORY
44. D.C. United's org.: MLS. (Major League Soccer)
45. Sweetie pie: HON
46. Urge: PROD
52. 34-Down, in Toledo, Sp.: SRA. 34-Down. 52-Across, in Toledo, OH: MRS.
55. Naturalist John: MUIR
56. "__ Lang Syne": AULD
57. Truant GI: AWOL
58. Fatherly nickname: PAPA
62. Move a bit: STIR
63. "__, Brute?": ET TU
64. Not inclined (to): AVERSE
65. Meat safety org.: USDA. ( United States Department of Agriculture)
66. Loch with a mystery: NESS
67. Blowtorch user: WELDER
Down:
1. Windshield cleaner: WIPER but sometimes 17-Across.
2. Striped quartz: AGATE
3. Like old wagon trails: RUTTY
4. Appease, as hunger: SATE
5. Smart game-show vowel purchase for "F_LM CR_T_C": AN 'I'. It would be smarter to solve it unless the player wanted to gamble on one more spin.
6. "The Color Purple" author Alice: WALKER
7. Bus terminus: DEPOT
8. Modeling glue: EPOXY
9. 60 secs.: MIN.
10. Devils' playing surface, ironically: ICE. The New Jersey Devils are a pro ice hockey team in Newark, NJ. Ironic in the sense devils come from a very hot place. Watch out for little devils tonight!
11. Puppeteer Lewis: SHARI, with Lamb Chop, puppet.
12. Patrol vehicle: POLICE CAR. {One Adam Twelve, see the man...}
13. Target of captioning censorship: OBSCENITY
14. "That's __ bad": TOO
19. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO
23. Young salamander: EFT. Crossword and Scrabble staple.
25. Caresses, as a dog: PETS
26. Inaugural recitation: OATH
27. Envelope part: FLAP
28. Used a bike: RODE
29. Superficially cultured: ARTY
32. Embassy workers: DIPLOMATS
33. "What a harebrained idea!": "IT'S STUPID!"
35. Self-esteem: EGO
36. Retired Yankee slugger, to fans: A-ROD
37. Gas station machine: PUMP
38. Crude dude: BOOR
39. Catering coffeepots: URNS
40. Big screen star: IDOL
45. Ship's pronoun: HER
46. One-named soccer great: PELÉ
47. Change, as map details: REDRAW
49. Sparkly crown: TIARA
50. Light bulb units: WATTS
51. Many Rwandans: HUTUs
52. See 59-Down: SWORD
53. Shake awake: ROUSE
54. Change: ALTER
57. Brother of Cain: ABEL
58. Nittany Lions' sch.: PSU. (Pennsylvania State University)
59. It's mightier than the 52-Down, so they say: PEN
60. 4 x 4, for short: UTE. (utility vehicle)
61. Blvd.: AVE.. Streets.
Argyle
73 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to JW and Santa!
Fun Tuesday! Didn't know MLS, but that filled itself in!
Was one point from leader in Word Solitaire. I got the same score seven different ways! What a huge waste of time! How frustrating!
Happy Hallowe'en to all!
Have I ever mentioned how lame a device I think a vowel progression is?
An IGUANA was invited to WARSAW.
No one worried about quarantine law.
It was urgently needed
For vowels to be seeded
In Poland maps they were trying to REDRAW!
A Yeti who lived by Loch NESS
Averred, "There's no beast in its depths.
Frae lang syne of AULD
It's been frigging cold,
So that sighting was just my ICE chest!
{A-, C-.}
Good morning!
This was a smooth solve top to bottom. No nits. Thanx, JW and Argyle. Memories of "The _____ mightier than the sword" made me smile.
Me too
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Fun and easy Tuesday puzzle. I filled in all the blanks on the first pass. I enjoy the vowel progression puzzles. Not much else to say, though as none of the clues and answers really jumped out at me.
QOD: When you dominate other people’s emotions, the time has to come when you will have to pay, and heavily, for that privilege. ~ Ethel Waters (Oct 31, 1896 ~ Sept. 1, 1977)
FIR with only one erasure - AChe for ACID. Ok, ok, ok it is a Tuesday puzzle, but it's still a Wechsler. Didn't know PATTI LUPONE or Alice WALKER, but I did know John MUIR because I met him recently here in the Corner. I've never used EPOXY on a model, but I haven't built a model in more than 50 years. I wonder if Harvey Weinstein ever used EPOXY on a model?
Because of some crosswire in my brain, I wanted Alice Nelson (the Ann B. Davis character in The Brady Bunch) instead of Alice Walker. Perps (and restraint) to the rescue!
Thanks to Jeffrey and Santa for a fun Tuesday outing. We're off to New Bern, NC for a fall camping trip. Can't resist this nice spate of good weather.
Ironic that you acknowledged a penis joke with #me too...
And then HIS name is mentioned as I was typing my post! Crazy way to start the day.
At least we only have to be subjected to a "lame device" about once every couple of months. That's not even close to the torture of having to see a lame limerick posted on this blog every day. Tit for tat, brother.
"The pen is mightier than the sword" isn't what "they" say, it was a line written for Cardinal Richelieu in a play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, otherwise known as the world's worst novelist.
Good morning everyone.
Jeff got downgraded this morning - - to a Tuesday. Just kidding.
WAGged PATTI LUPONE, but got everything else without difficulty. Bright enough but not as nuanced as his later-in-the-week puzzles.
Only nit is that ceramics are shaped by the POTTER. The WHEEL is ONLY an aid to the POTTER. But, hey, it's only a puzzle.
Kudos to Jeff and Argyle for their usual good job.
DORY - In May of 1963, while steaming from Brooklyn to the Bay of Fundy, on the 1st night out off Long Island, the Captain and the bridge watch and lookouts were seeing many lights but essentially no radar contacts. He concluded they were fishing dories. Since they had every right to be there (and were the privileged vessels under international law) we had to constantly change course and slow so as not to have an incident. Thankfully he was a seasoned captain.
Is this some kind of trick? Or is it my treat for the day! I finished a 'Jeffrey' without throwing my hands up in disgust! Happy Halloween!
Good Morning:
BOO! ☠ 🕸🕷 Well, no goblins in the puzzle but a treat from Mr. W with a few tricks thrown in for good measure. I had smooth sailing all the way except for an unexplained blank on the actress Moore. I thought of Mary Tyler, Julianne, Terry, but Demi was late to the party. I liked the duos of Mrs. and Sra., Pen and Sword, and PSU and Pittsburgh. I caught the vowel progression with Pittsburgh which then made the last two themers a shoo in. I like this type of puzzle, especially with a four letter base. My only quibbles are strictly personal: ARod may have played for the Yankees but, IMVHO, he was and never will be a Yankee. I would have preferred Auld to be followed by Sod! ☘
Thanks, Jeffrey W., for a satisfying solve and thanks, Argyle, for the pleasant journey.
PK, maybe I should try some of those frozen entrees; they can't be any worse than some of my recent meals. I had a pork chop the other night that had all of the taste and tenderness of one of my shoes. Ditto to a veal scallopine that was so tough and sinewy I couldn't eat it. In this area, at least, decent meat is hard to find except, if you're lucky, at a butcher shop. Unfortunately, there are none within a reasonable distance for me. I know I should try to expand my culinary repertoire, but It's not easy when you're cooking just for yourself and, in my case, averse to leftovers. End of rant.
We have lots of sunshine but it's windy and, I think, on the chilly side. Heading out soon for a haircut and a trip to the grocery store, alas.
Have a great day.
Musings
-Am I the only one who saw another trick in Jeff Wex’s treat of a puzzle? The first vowel in the second words are in reverse order. I wouldn’t put it past him
-Name the movie with DEMI on the POTTER’S WHEEL
-San LUIS REY from the Sunday puzzle means Saint Louis the KING
-ALT. determiner. Talented people can fail
-Taking generic omeprazole (Prilosec’s ingredient) changed my life
-A store in the city where I student taught in the 60’s couldn’t figure why he had so many models left on the shelf but no glue
-“A scout troop’s short a child, Khrushchev’s due at Idewild, CAR 54 Where Are You?”
-The OBSCENITY bar keeps moving up (or down)
-When was the last time someone else PUMPED your gas?
-Today, some celebrate the 500th anniversary of his use of the PEN
Crunchy for me today, but doable. Almost a Narick at the WALKER/PATTILUPONE cross, but the L seemed to be plausible. I would love to see less proper names and more pure wordplay.
Husker Gary, I'm adding that reverse order to the write up. I think you're right, not by coincidence.
Hey, my first comment!
Got the theme and progression quickly.
Couldn't figure out HON. Tried to spell it HUN. First did HEN like in the UK.
Alice WALKER, not WATERS. Writing does not equal cooking.
An easy peasy Tuesday puzzle.
Thanks Jeffrey and Argyle. Put me down as someone who enjoys a good vowel progression. I liked this one. I'm OK with proper nouns if I know 'em. Heh heh. I often prefer them to abbreviations.
Irish Miss, I agree. Good pork chops are hard to come by. I did get a good one in a restaurant a couple of years ago. It was big enough for Barbara and me to split for lunch (along with the go-withs).
Gary, that would be Ghost as I remember. If I remember correctly, you were not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon the last time I was there.
Jinx, I used to enjoy our camping trips, both back east and in California. Photos?
All treats and no tricks today! Okay, maybe a few misdirections but I finished a Wechsler and I'll take my victories any way I can! So much fun in this one. Like IM, I loved the "duos" ...PSU, Pittsburgh, pen, sword. Mrs, Sra. 5Down was my favorite....smart Game show vowel. Thanks, Jeffrey. Great tour, Argyle.
HG, no one will ever look at clay the same way again after Demi and Patrick in Ghost. How appropriate to remember it today!
Owen, both great, but I liked the Yeti one best!! Thanks.
Happy Halloween...don't let the goblins get ya.
Fun theme. After PATTI and PETTY, I was looking for PITY, POTTY, PUTTY based on sound rather than spelling. PITTSBURGH changed my mind. HG, nice catch on the backward progression in the second word.
This could be a vacation theme puzzle, bringing back happy memories for me, Warsaw, Loch Ness, Muir and the National Parks in the West. I know IGUANAS are pests, but they bring to mind our lovely Florida vacations.
HG, I loved Car 54, Where Are You?
IM, my older son and I bemoan the tough tasteless pork chops we get these days. The attempt to make them almost fat free, the "other white meat," has ruined them. I wish stores would sell old-fashioned and fat-free side by side and give us a choice.
How appropriate for Halloween to remember the Jersey Devil myth for which the N.J. hockey team was named.
Jersey Devil myth
Thanks, JW, for a great puzzle (albeit not a Halloween theme)! You truly are amazing with the reverse progression of the vowels.
Thanks, Argyle. Loch Ness looks pretty inviting.... not as I would have pictured it!
Go 'Stros!
Thank you, JW, for the treat! The vowel progression appeared early so I filled in the remainders with the first two letters. That simplified the solve. Gary, very good catch on the reverse progression of the last letter! Jeffrey is a sly one!
More cleverness with the vowel blanks in F_LM CR_T_C and Ohio MRS, Spanish SRA.
We meet John MUIR again. Seeing DEMI Moore's name I immediately think of Ghost. What a scene!
DORY takes me back to our trip to New Foundland where they write songs and sing about them.
Thank you, again, Jeffrey and Argyle especially for your remarkable photos. Fermat, congratulations on your continued success!
Wishing you all an uneventful and happy Hallowe'en!
Dan@10:37
Welcome! Don't be a stranger.
Wow ! Not only a speed run, but it featured my all time favorite team in the answer (PITTSBURGH PIRATE) and ball player ROBERTO CLEMENTE in the clue. Saw a number of games at both Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium.
And another favorite from my youth, the PSU Nittany Lions. During the college football season, every Sunday morning one of the local stations had back-to-back-to-back half hour shows with highligts and coaches comments on their Saturday games. OSU (Woody Hayes), PSU (Joe Paterno), and Notre Dame (Ara Parseghian).
Did my basic training at FT KNOX. It's pretty cold in January and February and especially at 4AM when we were ROUSEd out of bed each morning. Then off to Virginia for AIT. Then Germany for a few years. Wouldn't trade the experiences for anything else. Benefits helped pay for college afterwards, and the VA Loan secured the mortgage on our house with no money down and no PMI.
AWOL is broadly understood, but I believe in the current parlance, it's DUSTWUN. DUty STatus, Whereabouts UNknown.
Typical Tuesday puzzle, a very easy but fun puzzle, I can't wait until Splynter sends us all a bottle of Long Island wine.
W of F doesn't let you spin once only vowels remain. You have to buy or solve, so the clue should have been something like "foolish purchase" or something else entirely like "Darth's early nickname." Either way editor slipped up here.
I don’t keep track of my times but this one was finished as fast as I could read the clues. Per Halloween tradition, I’m off to my sister-in-law’s house to eat jambalaya and take up my post on the front porch. She has young ones so she takes the kids around the neighborhood and I sample, I mean, give out the candy. Happy Halloween.
There once was a dog named SPOT
Whose owner, a WELDER, had taught
For him to eat metal
With water to settle
So then he’d poop out RUSTY pots
PS: I know my limericks are lame, that’s why I think they’re funny.
Hi Y'all! Good one, Jeffrey! Thanks again, Argyle.
Caught the vowel progression early which I like. Never heard of Patti Lupone. ESP No red-runs today although I did have a few red letters show up with guesses. Redirects my thinking.
IM: I remember one of my big disappointments when I moved from meat-raising Texas to Massachusetts in 1961 was the poor quality of meat at twice the price. I was shocked to find hamburger was $.58 a pound. I'd been buying it for about half that. Wish we could buy it for that now. Now I live only a few dozen miles from meat-raising yards and don't buy it. My grocery store stocks excellent meat, however. My own cooking tastes better than the frozen dinners, but I like a five-minute cooking time and very little clean-up more. Gone is the hour to prepare and an hour to clean-up those meals my four kids and man liked. In those days I spent much time raising food, preserving food, cooking meals and doing cleanup. I saved all my first free-lance writing money for a dishwashing machine. Best money I ever made/spent. The kids old enough to be dishwashers thought so too. My kids remember those days fondly with us all in the kitchen chatting away. I remember them tiredly.
"Puzzling thoughts":
I didn't see the reverse vowel progression in the second words until HG and Santa revealed it in the recap-posts. Very clever indeed, and me thinks it was not by accident. I often wonder if a puzzle such as this is "worth" more (in compensation) to a constructor than ones not as complex? While this was "Tuesday"-level in difficulty, it was Friday/Saturday level in creativity. Kudos, JW
I, too enjoyed the Roberto Clemente and PITTSBURGH PIRATES reference; and as we all know, our resident TAMPA BAY BUCCANEER, Tinbeni, would find aversion to 10d, I was a bit put off by 58d. I'm a Pitt grad, and PSU is/was a big rival. I won't get "political" here, per the Corner's rules, but there are many things about the school in State College PA for me to dislike ... and it's not just about football ...
I had but one WO (3 d) as the clue in my paper version read "like old wagon". So I filled in RUSTY. Once I saw 18a progress, I saw my error, and changed to RUTTY.
Coach J, your limericks are just fine.
I'm old enough to remember when JFK was called Idlewild. I copied this from Wikipedia:
"John F. Kennedy International Airport was originally Idlewild Airport (IATA: IDL, ICAO: KIDL, FAA LID: IDL) after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that it displaced. It was built to relieve LaGuardia Airport, which was overcrowded soon after opening in 1939."
And my "lame limerick", if nothing else than to p**s off one of the Anonymous posters:
At the behest of his co-bureaucrats,
Embassy worker just took their L-SAT's.
After his graduation
They bought this decoration
For his house: a pair of DIPLOMA-MATS.
💀🙀🎃
Woohoo! Woohoo! I got a Tuesday Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle without a single erasure--not a single one! And it was really exciting to get the theme after I had only two of the long answers fill in. What a treat! (Well, it is Halloween, isn't it?) I didn't know they allowed OBSCENITY in crossword puzzles, but there it was. I too liked all the duos, PEN and SWORD, and MRS and SRA. Only I still don't get how 4 x 4 is UTE, although thank goodness the across items filled it in.
Many thanks, Jeff, and great write-up and pictures, Argyle.
Welcome to the blog, Dan.
Liked your Loch Ness limerick, Owen.
Have a great day, everybody!
Chairman Moe:
When the reference is to a Hockey Surface I have "No Problem" with 10-d, ICE.
And I am a Tampa Bay Lightning fan ... that NHL team with the most points! (so far!)
(Yup, I actually typed that "3 letter word!")
Caught on to the "vowel letter progression" ... missed entirely the regression.
Hope you all have a safe Halloween.
BOO !!!
Misty the "ute" is a truck or sport utility vehicle. The 4 X 4 signifies that it has 4 wheels and 4 driving wheels, usually called all-wheel-drive. An ordinary pickup truck (or sedan for that matter) is 4 X 2. TMI?
He's ba-ack!
Why, hello there, fella! Once again, it's our dog SPOT!
Wagging his happy tail and making a return appearance, thanks to Jeffrey Wechsler and his incredibly easy Tuesday pzl--Woof, Woof!
("Who's a good boy, who?!!!")
Ta- DA!!
Glad to be reminded of PATTI LUPONE and her transformative Broadway performance in Evita. I was so stunned by her metamorphosis as an actor - and how it paralleled the real-life Evita's role playing! - that I tried to create special exercises for my acting classes. In the end, of course, it proved impossible to reduce such artistry to any by-the-numbers steps.
Viva Lupone!
Thanks for the lovely photo of the "old town" WARSAW, Argyle.
It is sad to see how small the restored section is in the modern-day capital. So many sky-scraping socialist style tenements, so little charm or Polish aesthetic ....
Hello C.C.:
Are you aware that some of the LA Times puzzles are missing from the Mensa website? I have had to go to Merriam-Webster's site to get them. Friday, 10/27 was missing - Saturday and Sundays appeared - but then Monday & Tuesday's for this week were not there either, and I expect tomorrow's will not be there.
Not sure what is going on, but thought you should be made aware, if you are not already.
Thank you,
Claudia
The front porch is Booby Trapped...
Just waiting...
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Got through this fairly easily. It is a Tuesday.
Thought the theme was outstanding! Vowels progressive and regressive. Unbelievable.
Of course I quickly wrote in PITTSBURGH PLAYER. Changed it quickly after the first perp. Big inkblot, though.
MUIR. Didn't we just have him recently?
ET TU. Anything Latin I enjoy, just not french.
Never heard of PATTI LUPONE. Perps to the rescue.
See you tomorrow. Abejo
( )
No. They're excellent. Keep'em com'n
WC
Thank you, desper-otto--I always appreciate learning something new. Since my car is a 2003 Subaru station wagon, I'm not up on utility vehicles or trucks.
Lotsa repeats today from recent pzls.
I spotted SPOT above, and yes, Abejo, MUIR is another.
But veteran cruciverbalistos will tell us there are only a few short fills that keep recycling.
How often have we seen ET TU, for instance?
NESS and STIR don't trail far behind.
My trip to the grocery store lightened my wallet to the tune of $210.00 which included two $50.00 Gift Catds. I have two 90th birthday parties coming up so I wanted to get the cards while I was thinking of them. Mysteriously, no, change that to inexplicably, there were cards for 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, and 95 but not one single card for 90. I'm still shaking my head! Most of the rest of the $210.00 was for the momentary lapse in good judgment at the meat counter, which led to a small pork roast, a piece of corned beef, a half turkey breast, two roasting chickens, lamb chops, and ground beef ending up my cart! (Now all I need is the energy and motivation to cook the darn stuff!) BTW, PK, don't faint but your expensive .58 lb ground beef is now $5.99 for Angus.
Welcome, Dan @ 10:37
A regular old Tuesday puzzle, nicely done.
You dont like the limericks, then Hey!...don’t read them. You want to be snarky, then everybody is going to write one. Just to p%ss you off.
Enjoyable puzzle JW, and a nice write up with all the extra tid bits , Argyle. I can't imagine the time it takes to prepare, so another big thanks.
I surprised myself for seeing the theme early on, which helped until I foolishly wrote in putts around.The 34/52 combo also puzzled me, so that SE corner took more time than it should have... also slowing mrs and or so.
Have a great Halloween evening.
Congrats Fermat!
Hello everybody. Just back from the DMV and a nice lunch date with LW. Tomorrow it's to the dentist and then another lunch date. Life is good.
Nice puzzle today. Well done!
Bill G, true about pumping gas in Oregon. My sister loves that she doesn't have to pump it herself.
Agreed about how hard it is to find a good cut of meat. Big ag has engineered all the flavor out of it.
Best wishes to you all.
Claudia, I noticed the Sunday puzzle was still on Mensa today, unfortunately. I wonder who is sick, dead or fired that usually put up the puzzle at midnight? Or maybe they are in negotiations over the cost? Or Rich is mad at them and won't send it to them? Inquiring minds want to know.
Good grief, Agnes, you are going to cook up a storm. Price doesn't surprise me a bit. Don't know what hamburger costs here, but the equivalent of cars that sold for $2,500 when I kept books at a Ford dealership in 1962 now cost around $25,000. Inflation, inflation, inflation.
The fall leaves on the trees here are now coated with snow and very pretty. The ground has a light dusting in places, but is so warm yet, the snow is soon melting. Hope the goblins stay home tonight. I didn't get to the store to buy candy.
Happy All Saints Day tomorrow.
Agnes, that's why the professionals advise to never go to the supermarket when you're hungry. I make a list at home, and then try to stick to it. Doesn't always work, though.
Jayce, I'm laughing about Big Ag "engineering" the flavor out of meat. The flavor is in the feed and how much is given to the animal. I agree today's pork isn't as flavorful as what my kids raised for 4-H and ended up on our table. I can't see much difference in the beef we buy in the stores here. However,I can hardly eat the 93% fat free hamburger, I tried. Bloody awful. Literally. Fat is tasty, I guess.
Many years ago when we were in Oregon, my husband popped out and started pumping gas before the attendant could get out to our car. I thought the attendant was going to have a stroke trying to take the hose away from my bigger husband. That was the first we had heard you weren't supposed to pump your own. When I was still on the farm, my gas station would still pump gas for customers. That's one of the things I missed most in moving to the city. That and getting air in the tires. I can't do the air at all.
I don't know about the rest of the country but around here "farm to table" and "locally sourced are ubiquitous. Is fairly easy to get eggs, milk, fruit , vegetables and meat from local sources. Pork is especially easy to find. Sausages, brats and bacon. Also occasionally some goat, lamb and even bison becomes available. Venison will be in season(literally) soon. Prices are usually higher but still worth it. Flavor is exponentially better and my purchases support the family farmer and thumbs my nose to big at. From what I see and read, this should true for the rest of the country. Just not at the mega Mart which is as much to blame as Tyson, Hormel, the others.
PK, don't turn on your porch lights!:-) I bought my house when I was 22 (still here) and lived in apartments before that. Halloween night, trick-or-treaters kept my doorbell ringing. I hadn't bought any candy! Frantic, I started giving out all the change I had - nickels, quarters, and finally pennies. Finally, a kind mother told me that a "lit porch light" is like a welcome mat for the children and, if I didn't have any candy, then I shouldn't have turned on my porch light. Having grown up on a farm, I never trick-or-treated, as we only had one neighbor way down the road, so I didn't know this "rule."
IM, wow! You'll be cooking that stuff until next year!
Why can't a person pump their own gas in Oregon? Never heard of that, but how very nice!
IM - look for bone-in rib pork chops, thick cut. If you have a Trader Joe’s in your area, their frenched rib pork chops in the fresh meat case are wonderful - tender and juicy as long as you don’t sauté it to death. A little pink in pork is okay these days.
Someone has to post it.
5 Down
Grilling the meat and using tasty spices flavor it for us. Pork chops are trickier, but again, rubs and spices help.
IM:
It sounds like you're going to cook for an army! Well, maybe a small one.
I got the P-TT ascending vowels theme, but totally missed the descending vowels bit. Thanks, Argyle and Husker Gary!
A bit too many sports references for me, including odd ones like MLS and PSU. PATTI LUPONE unknown. But all were do-able with crosses, so I am happy! Surprised some people don't know of Alice WALKER.
Glad to see my hero John MUIR again!
Here are some photos of me in MUIR Woods
Here I am with MUIR AS WOOD!
Thanks for explaining "unique words" yesterday, Argyle. And I enjoyed the discussion of Descartes' COGITO. You do not have to think to exist. But thinking leaves no doubt of your existence.
Happy Halloween!
Here was our local piece of the international Thriller celebration. Don't miss the flash mob video in the Library!
Anonymous @ 4:38 ~ You are very lucky to have such an abundance of fresh and local produce, meats, eggs, etc. I'm not aware of any local fresh meat sources in my area, although there could be some in the more rural farm areas. I do enjoy the local produce in the summer but, alas, it's a short season.
Anonymous @ 5:03 ~ I always buy rib chops on the bone but have never had any luck with them, no matter how thick or thin. I know it's not just me, as all four of my sisters agree. In fact, one sister gave up buying them at all. I will, however, take your suggestion and try Trader Joe's.
TxMs, Lucina, PK, et al: Don't worry, I was just stocking up so I'll have something in the freezer besides _ _ _ ! The turkey breast is for Thansgiving dinner and the corned beef may end up as Reubens, as it is a small piece. One of the pieces in the meat case was $38.00; what family could afford that for one meal?
Flavoring and then breading pork chops makes them tasty and juicy. Stuffing them with sage bread stuffing also works. But it is a shame they need more special treatment than they used to.
HG: Excellent spotting on vowel regression!
Manac: Thanks for keeping an eye out for that meme!
Self-service gas pumping is outlawed in only 2 states -- Oregon and New Jersey! An unlikely combination, but that's the way it is!
Just read an article about Chinese & S.Korean scientists using genetic engineering to produce leaner-meat pigs.
Anon@7:25 -- Ahh, another brother who dislikes limericks! Sincerely, thank you for your support! I know you have to read them to totally despise them as much as I sometimes do! It's the people who skip reading them who hurt me¡
I am very happy not pumping my own gas in NJ. No standing out in the rain or cold. No dirty hands. No credit card glitches at the gas pump. No having to go into the store to pay. I waste very little time waiting for an attendant. Actually I hate pumping my own gas in other states on trips.
Boo hiss on geneticaly enginered leaner meat pigs.
We normally get 0 to 5 trick or treaters so I bought only two bags of candy. Tonight we ran out of candy early and turned off the porch light. I was very surprised.
Halloween is from 3 until 7 here, but it often runs a bit longer depending on the weather.
Last week, DW bought the 160 count treat size bag of Snickers, M&Ms, Skittles and Starburst. Yesterday, I bought a few extra bags of other candies, including Reeses Cups and Peppermint Patties just in case.
Didn't have any trick or treaters this year until 3:30, and then it was just two, so I gave the little princess and rocker girl 4 candy bars each. Got seven more in a group around 5:30, and that was it.
I looked at my post from last year on Oct 31st. Only had 21 kids ring the doorbell by 7:23. I know I only had a few older kids after that, as well as the parents of the little girl that have always come by and ring the doorbell around 9PM, after the lights are out. They always go to his childhood neighborhood first, where the houses are much closer, to maximize the yield.
Anyway, I figured I'd better start giving out two handfuls to each. And I started when the next two characters came by around 6:15.
Can you guess what happened next ? Nineteen kids in the next hour. None since after 7:15 PM or so. All the age 10 and unders are surely done. Officially, Halloween is now long over, but I still have some candy left. If they come, I have enough for the few daring tweens that might have snuck back out, and the early to mid teenagers that aren't quite sure if they are ready to give up on trick or treating just yet.
It's not quite as big as in years past, but it's a little better than last year. The neighborhood doesn't have a lot of turnover, and the children are aging. Probably time to turn off the porch and pumpkin lights, and wait for the inevitable 9PM doorbell ring.
Ding-Dong. "Trick-or-Treat" TTP :-)
Hi All!
A fun Tuesday puzzle for JW w/ barely a hiccup. Thanks JW - nice to A->U and U->A (thanks HG for catching that!) progression in the themers.
Thanks Argyle for the expo - the snap of NESS looks almost inviting (but I know there's a monster in there on Halloween).
WO: HELO (where's my I?) @29a. And I always spell SWaRD wrong.
ESPs: PATTI LUPONE [L was a WAG], PSU.
Fav: OBSCENITY next to thought-POLICE CAR.
Runner-up: STUPID again IT 'S
{B+,B-} {ha!}
Welcome Dan - Stay and play.
Claudia - C.C., nor anyone here, has anything to do w/ Mensa's site's content.
@4:38 - Pray tell, where in the country are you?
Abejo - Yes, MUIR recently. That's the only way I got it w/ only --IR in place ;-)
OKL - I read that same 'lean pork' article. Apparently, by ALTERing pig's gene to allow them to regulate their own body temp was an attempt to cut down on feeding & heating. The leaner meat was a by-product IIRC.
IM - shucks. You're putting all that food on ICE? I was going to invite myself to dinner...
Play later.
Go Astros! -T
Hey Jinx - did you notice the Google Doodle?. A CSO to you. -T
Well, we had a bag of Snickers candy bars waiting for Trick or Treaters--but the doorbell has not rung one single time, even though two boys under sixteen live right next door and a little boy an girl live a bit down the street. But I forgot to put pumpkins or Halloween decorations out, and even though I left the front entry light on and lit up the living room, our place just didn't look inviting, I guess. Not bad having a bag of snickers to snack on, off an on, for the rest of the winter. But next year, I think I'll leave the entry light off an just pray that I don't have to dole out nickels and dimes if anyone turns up.
Glad some of you had a great Halloween evening!
KY, just below the river from the Queen City.
Misty, just enjoy those gold medals of Halloween treats! Bought a BIG bag of those after my nickeling-and-diming experience the previous Halloween. No trick or treaters. Oh, well, yum, my favorite candy bar - my treat!!
Disappointed says:
Good game Bill G. See ya' tomorrow. This sure has proven to be a roller-coaster of a World Series; DW is finally into it.
We only had a few trick-or-treaters too. I don't get it - there's at least 10 kids on this block. Neighbors & I had fun quaffing with idle chat b/f the game.
TxMs - that's the pro-tip: buy the candy you like then leftovers aren't an issue :-)
Time to finish some work.
Cheers, -T
I haven't bought candy for trick or treaters for years. They just stopped coming. At one time we had many small children living in the complex but they either grew up or moved away. During the big scare of "pins in the apples" the city of Scottsdale started hosting a big party at one of the parks nearby which continues yearly. A local church also does.
We can say good-bye to Hallowe'en for another year and start planning for Thanksgiving. Tonight is the traditional time cool weather starts here and it has. Thank God.
Was wishing for a game 7, we are given a game 7.
Nothing better.
Every pitch is a lesson in anticipation. Can't wait.
What a day and night!
Terrorist tragedy in NYC. Then later, an angry parent took over a classroom this afternoon about an hour east of here in Riverside. (All OK I think.) Two politicians indicted. Meanwhile, local kids were ringing the doorbell all evening. Then my new grand daughter came by for a visit in the arms of her mommy. Later, the Dodgers played well enough to play one more day.
I'm exhausted but at least still able to wish the people well who were injured in NYC. That's certainly more important than a baseball game and passing out candy.
Best wishes all. Good night...
Thank you, all, for sharing your information about decreased trick or treating--sounds like it may be a shift in the tradition all around. Maybe not a big loss if the kids still get to celebrate at parties or other events. Anyway, late as it is, happy Halloween!
Anon-T, being a superstitious sort on steroids, when did DW "finally get into it"? Was it just tonight? - if so, please, take one for the 'Stros, and restrict her viewing time! Kidding, of course. While reading an article today, I was reminded that the Astros were 2-3 going to New York, but then came back to H-town and won the ALCS at Minute Maid. And so it goes with the Dodgers (home field is a game-decider). Hope to eat crow tomorrow. I echo Anon-T's comments to Bill G - good game.
Lucina, I think you are totally correct; pins/razor blades in candied applies and subsequent scare of cyanide-laced Tylenol tablets captured the public's attention. The Tylenol scare did have a positive effect: "The tamper-proof packaging of medications that is standard now is largely a result." These alerts prompted more sponsored school/ community-based Halloween parties for children. Really sad!
Bill G, read your comment only after I posted mine - certainly a horrible and sad day for all of us. I fear that this is a horrendous New Normal for which we are not prepared (at least I am not). Prayers and/or positive thoughts for all.
TxMs...
I'll address cyanide-Tylenol first... My Scout Master was ill on the couch when I went over to check on logistics for upcoming camping trip. He was scared silly trying to read the lot number to the bottle against what was broadcast that day. No cyanide for him but it taught me to pay attention to the news.
Wasn't pins & needles & poison candy a urban-myth? I don't remember any hot-pennies on cookie-sheets or the other nonsense that turned Trick-or-Treat into lame Trunk-or-Treat at the park/church.
Now to the 'Stros - LOL! I told DW after the game she does not get to watch Game 7 because we watched Game 4 together and we lost then too. It was cute because she was the one that said, "It seems when I watch..." "Then DON'T!" :-)
Cheers, -T
AnonT:
I believe it was an urban myth but it scared people enough that going house to house was discouraged. My personal theory is that it was started by some who hated giving away free candy. Have you read any of those nasty letters to the editor about that? It's really sad.
Prayers and positive thoughts going out to those in NY who fell to the attack; I cannot understand why people think they can achieve paradise with hatred. It's contradictory.
Have a good night, all.
Lucina - You're going to send me down a rabbit hole... It's now on tomorrow's todo list just to find said letters (don't hold your breath - low priority) on why the myths exist(ed).
And, you said it better than I could re: NYC - I don't get it. I could easily execute such an attack (and with anonymity) but to what F*^% end? My only question about the whole incident (sorry, this is my security-minded self) were there not bollards to keep vehicles off the path? //shakes head - I hope everyone can recover from losing theirs... #MoreSenselessSadness #CanICry?
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180 changing gears... The best Halloween costume tonight: //Stop reading if you get easily offended
At the adult gathering our pregnant neighbor joined late. She had a T-Shirt on w/ a baby-doll poking iits bloody arms and one leg out of the white tee with the dolll's "face" just visible under the fabric. It was just nasty (and funny).
She patted her belly... "This is number three and I'm more than ready. I'm done; he's not getting his boy. He's done too." They're a hoot.
Cheers, -T
D'Oh It's after 1a - Happy All Saint's Day! -T
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