Where do I begin in discussing this most perfect example of the constructor and his humor? JL begins with a shout out to himself, as his name Lampkin is a pet form of Lambkin. Kin was added in the 12th century when taxes began being collected from individuals rather than property and they needed surnames to keep track of who paid and who did not. (Opinion, not fact, as who really know?)
He created a 15x16 puzzle to fit in all of his whimsical reboots of famous pieces of music. John is an accomplished professional musician and piano teacher who I am sure is very familiar with each of these actually finished pieces. In contrast to the adding KIN to his name, John removes the end of each of the titles of the work and clues the result for maximum humor. The themers are presented in pinwheel with a center fill. He also adds NO CLUE, CAROMED, DESPOTS, FLEABAG, GYRATOR, the mini-theme added musical fill LULLABY and SAD SONG along with SLAMMER, UP A TREE, RECRUITS and TOOK CARE. So, here we go.
18A. Unfinished Puccini work a.k.a. "Homage to a Dairy"? : MADAMA BUTTER(
42A. Unfinished Beethoven work a.k.a. "Salute to Manning"? : FÜR ELI(
66A. Unfinished Beethoven work a.k.a. "Dracula's Boy"? : MOONLIGHT SON(
12D. Unfinished Mozart work a.k.a. "A Sorcerer's Bug"? : THE MAGIC FLU(
26D. Unfinished Vivaldi work a.k.a. "Water Music for the Mathematically Challenged"? : THE FOUR SEAS(
Across:
1. Meat of which Australia is among the largest producers: LAMB. Shamelessly crossing 1D. Hasty flight: LAM. The self-referential beginning to this over-sized effort is wonderful.
5. Down-and-out inn: FLEABAG. Such a fun ORIGIN.
12. Apt brew for a golfer? : TEA. A tee for two pun.
15. Healing Salve: ALOE.
16. Oral soporific? : LULLABY. More music, but not so fancy.
17. Solo with memorable lines: HAN. Very popular this week.The new Star Wars movie, without Han, opens today. It also is the 49th anniversary of my first corneal transplant and 44 years since I graduated law school.
20. Fertilization target : EGG. Ova last week. As most of you know, John Lampkin is also a world class photographer with insects his specialty. So, look at these insect eggs. The world is a fun place.
21. Cashed, as a forged check: KITED. It actually is THIS which has nothing to do with forgery. Juxtaposed with...
22. Hoosegow: SLAMMER. Where people can end up for kiting checks.
24. Completely filled: SATED.
27. Singers do it: SEW. A fake out addition to the mini-theme. My grandfather used a Singer like this
30. "Argo" setting: TEHRAN. The Movie.
32. It may make you 29-Across: SAD SONG.
Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
35. "All bets __ off": ARE.
36. Soak (up), as gravy: SOP.
38. They may be raw: RECRUITS. A new, inexperienced, or fresh recruit, such as someone just entering the army, navy, police, etc. Also, college athletes.
41. Whistle-blower: REF. Fun.
44. Cabin bed: COT.
45. Proceeded cautiously: TOOK CARE.
48. Arcing shot: LOB. Tennis.
50. Side dish piece: FRY. The "French" is being fazed out. Freedom never caught on.
51. Stuck: UP A TREE. Cats 1?
53. What the puzzled have: NO CLUE. And of course, we have lots of clues here.
55. Baseball commission? : ERROR. Tricky baseball clue/fill; not an investigative body.
57. Mex. distances: KMS. Kilometers also in Thailand.
59. Tie for cooking: TRUSS. Did you?
60. Dictators: DESPOTS. Unless they are benevolent.
63. Track bet: PLACE. Win, place, and show = 1, 2 and 3.
65. View: SEE.
71. Actress Gabor: EVA. Merv Griffin's beard and the Green Acres' wife.
72. "M*A*S*H" unit? : EPISODE. JL was an early creator of clechos.
73. "M*A*S*H" actor: ALDA.
74. Guitarist Paul: LES.
75. Held up: DELAYED.
76. Putin's refusal: NYET.
Down:
2. In the style of: À LA.
3. Stylish, '60s-style : MOD. The mods and the rockers. FLASHBACK.
4. Lab container: BEAKER.
5. Like day-old seltzer: FLAT. The bubbles burst.
6. Garage services: LUBES.
7. Dodges: ELUDES.
8. Key usually pressed and held: ALT. CTRL/ALT/DEL.
9. Takes cuts in a box: BATS. Another of the tricky baseball clues.
10. Slain brother: ABEL.
11. Belly dancer, e.g.: GYRATOR. You want to watch? LINK.
13. Gung-ho: EAGER.
14. Steamed: ANGRY. Coming out of your ears?
19. Gilt-ridden king? : MIDAS. There have been so many clues to this storied king, but this is perfect.
23. List of options: MENU. Not just food any longer.
24. Square one: START. GO?
25. Word on Spanish mail: AEREO.
28. Soft finish? : WARE.
31. Dietary watchwords: NO-FAT.
33. Farmer's habitat? : DELL. More baby stuff.
34. Boxy Toyota: SCION. They aren't anymore, but were in 2004.
37. Persian murmur: PURR. Another kitty cat for CED and the other feline fanatics.
39. Bagel shape: TORUS.
40. Eye sores: STYES.
43. Smell to high heaven: REEK.
46. "Gangnam Style" genre, for short: K-POP. LINK.
47. Ricocheted: CAROMED. A gimme to any billiard/pool player.
49. Make a mess of: BOTCH.
52. Use: EMPLOY.
54. Ancient Knossos denizen: CRETAN. Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. The citizens of Crete are Cretans, literally.
55. Collectible lemon: EDSEL. A fabulous CSO to yours truly!
56. "Still Me" memoirist: REEVE. LINK.
58. One way to come home: SLIDE. A cool baseball misdirection.
61. Hit the sauce: TOPE. Archaic, literary. Drink alcohol to excess, especially on a regular basis.
‘he was toping the while from a flagon of sack.’ Or perhaps, port.
62. Get dirty: SOIL. This has so many negative implications.
64. Like port, usually: AGED. It is one of this wine's ADVANTAGES. Something else our Renaissance Man knows about.
67. DOD division: NSA. Department of Defense oversees the National Security Agency.
68. Underhanded: SLY.
69. Keats forte: ODE.
70. 2017 NLDS player: NATional. One final baseball reference for C.C.
I have such fun doing these write-ups especially when the puzzles are as whimsical as this one was. Happy Chanukah to those who light the candles and get ready for Christmas- 10 more shopping days. Thanks, John Lampkin, nice baseball stuff: and all of you who come to the corner. Lemonade out.
54 comments:
Did you know that the unit of measure for simplicity is the Simple Ton. I really measure up!
TGIF you GIFTed Cornerwriters!
I was so late working the latest Loo term, the "Johnny," that it was 300A today when I finished the previous comments. I had much to say, but others said it better than I could, so with thanks to Ed Sessa for creating the fun, I turn to several Steveisms in his creative review.
42A sung by Freddy Fender is nice, but the real talent was his cousin Barry Bumper.
50D Hindu Princes, I made into Princess = RANI.
56D "They made a three-wheel one-person car with the door opening at the front." I rode in one, an Izetta, which held two people, when I was a teenager. They are still made Today.One has the front door open.
Now I can move on to today.
Dave 2
Thanks Lemon for the warm and fuzzy write up. Yes, "Collectible lemon" was indeed a shout out to you in hopes that you will keep writing these positive reviews!
Tomorrow is Beethoven's birthday, more or less so that is why Rich picked today to publish this one.
That must be a typo for the clue for MADAMA BUTTER. Should have been "Homage to a Dairy Queen." I actually preferred "Homage to Elsie the Cow" but one doesn't always get what one wants, does one?
Wishing y'all a happy and healthy!
Good morning. Thank you John and Lemonade.
Yay ! One in a row. Slowed down and checked all the perps. Took my time (27:31) and got the unaided TADA.
When I read the clue at 19A, I thought, "Here we go again." Didn't try to make any sense out of it. Just skipped it, and skipped over each of the other "Unfinished" clues.
Not a fan of these types of puzzles, but they're growing on me. They're clever. And playful. I get it. I just don't care for crosswords that drop/add/change letters, especially late week, but they are becoming more readily solvable with practice. Just not my cup of TEA.
My approach is simply to ignore the oddball clues, fill all around and get as many letters in their answers via the perps. Then I'll read the odd clues that are composed to make the answers work.
So today by the time I got all gettable fill, each of the artist's works was mostly recognizable. Except MADAMABUTTER and MOOuLIGHTSON which were filled. Questioned the A but FLAT was solid. Changed from U (US Army) to N (Nat'l Sec Agcy).
Filled in the last few letters here and there and it was completed.
Liked the clues "Collectible lemon", "Baseball commission", "Gilt-ridden king" and others.
Dodges (and many of its synonyms) with a six letter answer ? Easy. Fill in E,(blank),(blank), D,E,S and wait. Singular tense and five letters ? Drop the S and do the same.
See all y'all later n'at !
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I loved this puzzle. I caught on to the theme immediately with the MADAMA BUTTER.
I liked the crossing of LAMB and LAM.
My favorite clue was Singers Do It = SEW. Of course, this was a great mislead, as I was thinking of a person who sings.
I wanted No Idea in lieu of NO CLUE.
QOD: If you want your checkbook to follow your heart, make a donation to those doing work you support. ~ Donna Brazile (b. Dec. 15, 1959)
Good morning!
I never met a John Lampkin puzzle I didn't like, and this was no exception. Even I was able to figure out the theme, and the non-theme answers were sparkly. Very nice, John. Lemon, you were in top form this morning. My biggest booboo was making the whistle-blower a RAT. I was looking at T___CARE until the penny dropped. Read the definition, but I'm still not sure what KPOP is.
Last fill was 38A RECRUITS when 28D WARE finally dawned on me. 39D TORUS was then a gimme. Fun puzzle! I love to listen to classical music, especially in the car to drown out all the chaos on the roads. Happy Friday to all!
Thank you, John Lampkin! I loved this puzzle! It's clever in so many ways.
First, the unfinished opuses were clever and sussable since I'm familiar with all the original works. Made me chuckle every time I filled one. I can't choose the funniest one. Maybe THEMAGICFLU.
Even the baseball references were decipherable to me. Come back soon, JL, I'm EAGER for another brain teaser from you.
Would KPOP be Korean POP?
Thank you, Lemonade, and what a nice CSO to you! You make it all seem so easy.
Today I'm thankful for a full and good night's sleep! In fact, I'm ready for more.
You all have a really great Friday!
I loved this puzzle filled with puns and misdirections. Well done, John Lampkin and Lemon.I knew the original musical compositions. Having Madama Butter first helped set the clever theme.
I use KITE the way The Free Dictionary does, "to write (a cheque) in anticipation of sufficient funds to cover it." PS. and hope it does not clear until you can deposit more money.
BEAKER reminds me of Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth always gives Liz a beaker (mug) for her coffee fearing that Liz will drop the Royal Doulton cup.
In MASH, Maj. Winchester regularly calls people Cretans. Alan Alda is a favorite of mine in many roles. I loved his MASH wise cracking character.
The courage and fortitude of REEVES to make a new life for himself and to advocate for those with spinal cord injuries is inspiring.
SOP in puzzles usually brings to mind Mussels Marinara. I love to sop up the spicy sauce with crusty bread. Yummy!
Good Morning:
Like Hatoolah, I caught the theme immediately at Madama Butter and the rest were easy to get as they are all well known works. Fur Eli took a while but perps saved the day. MB was the first opera I saw performed live and loved it. The Four Seasons and Moonlight Sonata are also listening favorites. John was a real trickster with the non-theme cluing, with lots of misdirection and word play. Guess who came to mind at PURR? 🐈 I thought the theme was very clever and fresh and I appreciated the consistency in using all classical and well-known pieces.
Bravo and thank you, John, for brightening an otherwise bleak and gloomy December day and thanks, Lemony, for the fun and informative summary. I interpreted your CSO as having owned an Edsel, but JL's comment cleared that up. And thanks for the link on Kiting which affirmed my understanding of the term.
Have a great day.
Musings
-What a delightful theme with fun ancillary fill!
-This ALDA movie really brought the Vivaldi work to the masses
-Soporific is a word I didn’t know I knew
-My first SOLO thought was this feisty athlete
-My friend’s RAW RECRUIT student teacher should do something else for a living
-My MS kids only got glass BEAKERS to use when they had to be heated
-Does a FLAT SODA help with your tummy ache?
-A CAROM board was a memorable Christmas present to me and my siblings
-My Port was first A RED
-I’m off to teach linear equations. How many of you remember y = mx + b?
YR, while Charles was forever referring to everyone as cretins, it was CRETIN not CRETAN. I have attached this LINK to clarify.
Lucy, you are correct about K-Pop. I enjoy my Friday assignment, so while it takes considerable time, it does seem easy.
D2, posting on the day a puzzle is published even the next day, will still be read by many. Each post is delivered to the Corner mailbox. Additional, Blogger tracks how many hits a blog has each day, and we see 1000 or more hits after the day of publication. In fact, I have seen comments made months after what I wrote.
My husband and I were both part of DOD for a number of years, and we were both wrong on whether NSA was part of DOD. I had the answer right, which prompted my question to him, so then I had to look it up. I should know better by now that the clue will be correct. That was the last fill. It's always a good day when I get the puzzle done before I'm done with breakfast.
A personal shout out from a puzzle creator? How cool is that?
Congratulations on the 44th anniversary of law school graduation. I graduated from law school 36 years ago, which seems like forever.
Did not know the movie FOUR SEASONS nor have I ever seen, let alone received a Carom Board HG. Looks like fun.
MS kids brought bad connotations to mind.
Here it is mb+x= ☺
Lemonade, you are correct, it is cretin. I haven't seen it in writing for quite a while, but now I remember.
Good puzzle. My first thought for 'Down-and-out Inn' after the FL was in place was FLOP HOUSE but it turned out to be a FLEA ridden BAG hotel. I'm glad LULLABY was there because I always have a brain fart when it comes to ELUDE-EVADE ( and ROSIN-RESIN or DELL-DALE).
Lemonade- I agree. KITED has noting to do with forgery.
NO CLUE. I had 'no clue' as to what TRUSS was for cooking; only construction. I was UP A TREE on that one.
The EDSEL was only a lemon in terms of sales. Actually it was a very good car with warning lights, seat belts, self adjusting brakes and many other things no available in other cars.
Yes, Jess P., it is super cool. I have had the pleasure of meeting John Lampkin, corresponding etc. and am proud to suggest we are friends.
Big E., it was a very progressive car but it was UGLY! It took the worst of the Studebaker and added it to the 50s fin mobile body.
Good morning everyone.
Lemonade covered it very well. A delight to solve this morning with its whimsicalness and mis-directions. I got the "unfinished" gimmick with the middle entry FÜR ELI(SE). Didn't know K-POP, or the spelling of AEREO, or REEVE, but crosses were firm. Had donut before TORUS.
Argo - I had occasion to meet the (real) Canadian ambassador (Ken Taylor) who help free the hostage subjects of the film, a few months after the Argo events took place. (He died about 2 years ago.)
HUSKER GARY, I had a carom board. Hours of fun back in the day right next to a game called Rebound.
Good Morning!
I am in complete agreement with TTP: "Clever and Playful" all around. I really enjoyed this all over the place. I was successful with theme clues--a rarity for me--by automatically starting MADAMA at Puccini. Oops. . .that won't work. Verified with FUR ELI. Ah, NIU!! (I am a Northern Illinois University alum where we used to say it stood for Now I Understand.)
John, you have so much brilliance hiding under that hat of yours. Very nicely done today! Thank you so much for a bright spot on a cloudy day.
Lemonade, loved the shout out! Thanks so much for a delightful tour. That same Singer is sitting in my house. It works, too. I bought a new leather drive band. It is a better machine than the Singer I gave up for my workhorse Bernina--mechanical not electronic. Enjoy the Celebration of Lights.
Have a sunny day, even if you are also under a cloud cover.
Fantastic puzzle!
Hi Lemonade:
Just a couple of questions:
1) 50 Across "Freedom never caught on" - what did you mean? This was almost a Natick because I didn't know torus - so it was between fry and fly, and I couldn't imagine eating the latter
2) 71 Across "Merv Griffin's beard"? for Eddie Albert? Don't understand that either.
Thank you,
Claudia
Thanks John and Lemon. Clever and lots of fun!
Yes Gary, I remember y = mx + b. Also, Ax + By = C. I'm weird in that I like that stuff and enjoy explaining it..
I got the theme OK but I got stuck with MADAMA. I know Madam and Madame but I am not familiar with MADAMA. Can you guys explain it a bit?
LACW:
The story of FREEDOM FRIES was one of many silly name changes. MORE NAME CHANGES .
Merv Griffin was very successful and died a billionaire, but his SEXUALITY was always in dispute. When I was working out of a law office in NYC, Merv was 'dating' Eva Gabor and they could often be seen walking around the city. Beard is a slang term describing a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner (boyfriend or girlfriend), or spouse either to conceal infidelity or to conceal one's sexual orientation.
This one took some time but was worth it. Thanks for the fun, John and Lemonade (wonderful to get a personal shout-out not a CSO!)
I got the theme with MADAMA BUTTERFLY (although like others I fought the A) and I LOLed at FUR ELI! I was thinking of an insect for 12D Bug and it took a moment for the light to dawn with MAGIC FLU.
My farmer was in a barn, then a silo, then dale, before DELL.
I had the Latin OVA before EGG (with the plural, I am going to get twins!)
Thanks for explaining BATS. I had NO CLUE.
I did not remember TORUS, TOPE or SCION.
I was misdirected by 27A Singer and 58D SLIDE (I was thinking of coming home for Christmas not baseball after the TRUSSing the turkey clue).
Canada like Mex. uses KMS. Singular FRY looks odd as I am used to the plural Fries (or the British Chips).
Spitzboov, interesting that you met Ken Taylor. After Argo won an Oscar, Taylor set the record straight and said that he accepted Hollywood's "poetic licence". Book with the story is called Our Man in TEHRAN. There is also a Canadian documentary film by the same name.
CanadianCaper
Would Justin Bieber be CPop? Eh!
Lucina - glad you had a good night's sleep.
WC FLN - hope your foot is not too painful.
Hahtoolah - appropriate QOD for this time of year.
Wishing you all a good day.
Bill G., Madama is the Italian for Madame (Madam) and the opera was written by an Italian- Puccini.
Lemon, I think Deney Terrio removed any doubts that may have lingered about Merv Griffin's sexuality. Cya!
Hi All!
Didn't make it yesterday because of (I think) food-poisoning. I enjoyed your puzzle Ed but you got me w/ ARS (I had iRS).
John - you too got me. I could not "see" MOON w/ USA as DOD division. Too, I was thinking TiPE (as in tipple - don't know if that's a word, but that's what I was thinking). Anyway, Dracula didn't conjure MOON and FIW. Thanks for the whimsy though. I enjoyed all the AHA!s upon sussing the misdirections (looking at TEA, SEW, REF, SLIDE, ERROR - very nicely done, sir!)
Thanks Lem for the expo. LOL'd at Freedom Fry.
WOs: Rat (hi D-O), TErRAN, and USA (Hi TTP) - well, it should be :-(
ESPs: None - thank you John for no obscure (to me) names nor places!
Fav: UP A TREE followed by NO CLUE. Lem already pointed out KITED SLAMMER's PLACEment.
FLN - {A-,B+} [liked 'em Coach J.]
D4 - Funny, Simple Ton
HG - OH! OH!, Pick Me! y=mx+b... Hint, x=0 y=b; m=0 is a horizontal line.
Spitz - Tell us more about the Real Argo... Fascinating.
C, Eh - um, no. Bieber is C, as in Crap, Pop :-)
I knew K-Pop b/f I knew it stood for Korean Pop. There was a Norman, OK band (DW's friends) in the late '90s called KPop. OMG! I found it - . Track 11, Videostore is one of my favorites and show's off Edie's voice.
Cheers, -T
Fun! I was pleased to know all of the original musical references which made it more enjoyable for me! I often play FUR ELISE on my less than MAGIC FLUTE.
We have seen this incorrect cluing of KITING before. How does that get by the editor? Otherwise, no complaints, just a good ride. This is my favorite kind of puzzle: No Naticks. Just a clever theme and clever cluing.
But... Can someone please explain how BATS comes from "Takes cuts in a box"? I understand that one who BATS stands in a batter BOX. But what's with "cuts"?
In case you missed my previous post with this kind of BATS, here it is again. I was leading a Sierra Club hike with a crazy huge number of people when we saw these. In my last post I gave the wrong number of photos. More BATS than I had remembered!
Agree that the EDSEL was no lemon. My saying: "The opposite of progress is fashion."
Thank you, Lemonade, for the GYRATOR link of the BELLY DANCER.
These BELLY DANCER Jingle Bellies livened up our Christmas back in 2003!
They were a big hit in front of our Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History!
Yes, the SEW/SINGER clue was good mis-direction. My former boss used to work for SINGER making flight simulators. Who knew they did that, too?
Picard - Swings at the ball are cuts. -T
Yes, Yes, a total delight this morning, topped by John Lampkin checking in with us this morning. Many, many thanks! I got most of this Friday toughie before I had to start cheating but it was still fun all the way. Laughed out loud when I got the first opera answer and also at other clues, like that golfer's TEA. Loved seeing references to two of my favorite sit-coms, "Green Acres" and "MASH." Never heard of KITED, TOPE, or TORUS, and TRUSS made no sense to me, but my cooking never got that sophisticated. Anyway, a real pleasure all around, thank you again, John. And Lemonade, your write-up and pictures were wonderful this morning, and thank you for giving us "Hey, Jude."
Desper-otto, I too had RAT before REF and that complicated that corner for a while.
Have a great day, everybody!
Greetings!
What a treat to have a puzzle from John Lampkin, one of my favorite constructors. Lots of fun clues. Favorites were "Baseball commission?" for ERROR and "Gilt-ridden king?" for MIDAS. Thanks for the puzzle, John, and thanks Lemonade for a superb write-up. You certainly went above and beyond today.
WC (FLN)--Ouch! Hope your foot heals quickly. Best wishes.
Enjoy the day!
This was a well clued and constructed puzzle with a noticeable crunch, most enjoyable. Theme not needed to solve, plus the theme entries were clever and well known. A perfect Friday puzzle, IMHO.
As AnonymousPVX said, a perfect Friday puzzle. John Lampkin, you are a master and I love your work. Like Canadian Eh I laughed out loud at FUR ELI and like Hahtoolah I got the theme at MADAMA BUTTER, at which I also laughed. Terrific cluing! An enjoyable way to start a pleasant Friday morning.
Bounced before caromed, evaded before eluded, and I never did get Kpop.
Hmm, reminds me of that Led Zepplin song, The Crunge,
where at the end he could not find the Bridge...
Oh, there's the Bridge!
First things first. By deviating from the 15x15 grid standard, Mr. Lampkin takes us where no pure diagonal may survive. In any case, this one would break down at square 137 - if it were to have been allowed.
On other fronts, I really enjoyed today's cluing. Like Yellowrocks and others before me, I appreciated the wordplay and subtle misdirections. I believe cluing is the true art of Xwd making.
And the theme answers were a special delight. Happily, Mr. L chose only well-known classical pieces, offering a pretty level playing field.
All in all, a most pleasant Friday pzl, leading to a satisfying Ta- DA! -- the kind of challenge that only seems tough but gradually yields up its goodies w/o driving one to cheat, i.e., the best kind!
I can't prove it, but I am certain forgery is involved in "kiting" a check. Say you write a check for $100.00 dollars. If the numbers are not carefully written this can be "kited" to $180.00. The word eighty can then be added to the cursive line. I usually fill any space left with a wavy line to prevent this.
Don
They put stitches in the foot (TRUSSed) it up). Yes, it's a little sore.
Anon@227, I too in my MC Disbursement days was taught to"fill" the check. Especially watch the space to the left of the written amount. Of course, now we have payday loans.
I had a devil of a time with Mr Lampkin's opus. Not being operatically knowledgeable didn't help. But I TOOK CARE(not TAKE), spelled GYRATOR with an O, changed BOUNDED to CAROMED and almost had it. But
NLDS was baseball not football and PATS should have been NATS. Blame it on the foot??
And, I was thinking of Jason and the Argonauts. So, they spent time in Persia. Ok.
Poor Phillip. He wakes up at 6:00 am, mom and pop gone, blood all over the bedroom. He sussed it out.
WC
FIR! Waaay overslept today, possibly in response to this embarrassing incident at https://www.facebook.com/owenkl/posts/10155257919313214?pnref=story.
RICOCHETS. Also anyone else remember the western comic strip Rick O'Shea?
KITING a check could be pretty serious at one time, as the tale of Rev. Dr. William Dodd would attest! Despite being the Billy Graham of his generation, he was hanged for kiting a £4000 check to cover a £300 gambling debt, even tho he paid it back!
HG: that CAROM board looks magnificent! Wonder why I've never seen one before?
Saw Monarch butterflies again this morning--so rare in December. I'm beginning to wonder if climate change will make them no longer have to fly south to Mexico in the winter, but let them stay in California? Regrets for the Monarch lovers in Mexico, but it would be lovely for us.
Oops. Rick O'Shay! And more on that armadillo!
Misty, I don't think that 'climate change' (whatever that means -- climate's always changing) is involved. There have been high pressure cells over SW Utah/NE Nevada all my life, which mean Santa Ana winds for SoCal, and no rain for anyone south of the Oregon border. And then they go away, and it snows on Mt. Wilson.
Hi Y'all! Tricky as usual with John Lampkin but most enjoyable. Got the theme early and chuckled through the puzzle.
Also enjoyable was Lemonade's expo. You sounded like you were in high spirits, man! So glad you are well.
Still don't understand "soft finish" = WARE.
Singer: my grandmom had a treadle machine like that on which I learned to sew. Took a steady rocking rhythm to keep the machine going smoothly or you could make a mess of stitches in one spot. Aaagh!
FUR ELI: looking like a wookie with too much FUR to put on a helmet.
Mark the calendar. AnonPVX actually liked one. LOL
KITED: long ago I was keeping books at a business with too many accounts receivable and too little cash in the bank. The boss had another business in another state with similar problems. Boss would write a check on the other business and have me run it through on my bank deposit to avoid overdrafts. Then he'd go up to the other business and write a check on our business to run through that bank account. In those days, it took several days to clear. Made me awfully nervous. The bank president knew what was going on but was nice to me. I was so relieved when someone else bought the business and I quit to have a baby.
Anon -T @ 1157
He was kind of a guest of honor at a Reserve training evolution we were at in Northern NY. I remember he had dark, very curly hair; reminded me of Elliot Gould the actor. He did not speak to us of matters dealing with his recent role in the hostage matter. I felt though that we were standing in the presence of a true hero.
After the hostages under Canadian protection were released, there was great joy in our country. Workers at the Buffalo water treatment plant , across from Ft. Erie, Ontario, placed a huge sign on their largest building facing the Niagara River and Ft. Erie, saying "THANK YOU CANADA". It was real easy to see since the River is only 1500' wide there.
Interesting, Michael--thanks. Well, whatever is making them stay in California, I'll just keep enjoying the Monarchs as long as I can.
PK, if you finish the word SOFT with WARE, you get the word SOFTWARE. Tricky.
I claim to my nephews and nieces and the like that I know everything. Mostly because I can answer jeopardy questions. The truth is although I can sort of play the keyboard I have little to no knowledge of Classical Music. I also worked many years in the Defense Agency and NSA was right down the street from my Reston VA HQ ; I NEVER thought of NSA working for the DoD. Thus I had USA instead of NSA and there was no TADA for me. I had to go play 12 holes of golf before I came back and realized baseball commission was Error. A lot of sneaky clues today. Winds have died down and another perfect day in SoCal.
BTW the probability that the changes in climate are part of a random distribution is 1 in 10 to the eighth. Us scientist ( we are all in a left wing conspiracy) fake all the data including temperature gradients, glaciers, polar ice cap measurements just so coal miners will be out of work ! Shhhhh don't tell anyone
Michael: This is what scientists mean by Climate Change
The Random House College Dictionary defines KITE as to increase a check's amount before cashing it, not to cash a forged check. But that's forgery, folks.
A CRETAN is someone from Crete (it's also an adjective). A CRETIN is a stupid person with a medical excuse. The two words have different roots (and the derivation of CRETIN includes "Christian").
Spitz - Now I (vaguely) recall "Thank You Canada" banner pictures on the papers I delivered in '79. I saw C, Eh!'s link too and Canadian Caper is now on my Christmas list. [I heard the story when the movie came out and saw a bit of a documentary - but don't know it]. Thanks both of you.
CED - Oh, God! I can't wait to drive that bridge :-)
BillG - D'Oh! I got it right for the wrong reasons. I though "wear" softly as in a smooth pebble softly worn over time.... Dyslexia gave me "ware." Tricky JL, tricky.
OKL - Ricochet makes me think of the Rabbit.
Eldest should be here from OU in an hour. Poor kid took I-35W and had a side-trip through Fort Worth. Too much reliance on GPS say I. Now she's stuck on back-roads trying to find (GPS assisted of course) back-roads to I45 and US59/I69.
Youngest made Pizzelles for her big sister. I couldn't ask for two better kids (or I'd get a bridge :-))
Cheers, -T
Thanks, Bill! My duh for the day.
Hahtoolah, I hope you got my thanks late last night.
ChuckL. I knew it! We are all part of a vast conspiracy led by scientists led by, um, science.
//rant | note to trolls: science is not a Fact - it is the best that can be systematically surmised by actual 'I can SEE it' evidence. Evidence: science facts change when we learn more [See: Bohr model of the atom - wrong! even though it was the best "fact" of atoms in the early 1900s]
I use PK's connotation of KITED.
//little narrative:
My Pop told me a story of when I was 2 or 3 (early '70s); He was a young (20yro) trying to make things "work" for the family.
We lived in Detroit, he had Guard duty in IL, and oft had to travel to Albany for work.
He said, "I'd KITE (or float) a check in Detroit drafted from the bank in Albany; to the bank in Albany - it was drafted from IL, and one in IL from the Detroit bank. I did that for almost a year. Damn, I was so glad I never got caught; I was sick to my stomach for a year." [sic].
There was also something about bologna sandwiches and not spending Corp money on dinners and peers getting mad at him for not putting in $$$ expense reports...
I think his story was to impart on me the worry that weighs on one when you lie - I don't remember... Just the story of KITING. I guess the 1st bit stuck w/ me too; a lie follows you and you have to remember all of them (and few folk are that good) or the jig is up.
Eldest just arrived! Cheers, -T
Anon T....I think your story tells of an age. We alll did what we had to in order to survive. No apologies needed ! Each era has its own rules!!
John, as always, the puzzle was fabulous !! So much fun! Lemon.....your insight and humor are a treasure . Thanks for the pleasure.
Very pleased by PVX's positive spin on the puzzle.
It is interesting how many people comment on the puzzle and never read the blog.
It is interesting that the puzzles which are hated get the most comments.
Thanks, AnonymousT, for explaining "cuts" in baseball! Learning moment!
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