We have a palindrome puzzle presented by a constructor who had his debut puzzle here on a Friday in 2010 and was one of my first Friday blogs. LINK. In researching past puzzles, I see 4 or 5 earlier such puzzles, including the use of two of the palindromes, but they are all clued very differently. Also. EGAD NO BONDAGE is all Paul and my favorite. For CED and others, WAS IT A CAT I SAW? is also new. I really enjoyed the cluing of the theme answers, as Paul showed wit and timeliness. We also have the fresh IN A BOX, DEVIANT and IT'S LATE. I await the verdict from the Corner jury.
17A. "The terrible tsar has arrived," either way? : TIS IVAN ON A VISIT (15). Ivan the terrible stops by.
27A. Disappointed reaction to the censored version of "Fifty Shades of Grey," either way? : EGAD NO BONDAGE (13). Very whimsical and a still modern phrase.
48A. Query about the Cheshire's grin, either way? : WAS IT A CAT I SAW? (14). Seeing only the teeth could inspire that question.
63. Mrs. Claus' remark about what she did to keep Santa home, either way? : TOO BAD I HID A BOOT.Would he ride without his signature black boots?
On to the rest...
Across:
1. Plodded (through) : WADED. I am never happy when 1 across does not fill immediately. I am not thrilled with definition, but what do I know.
6. Dies down: EBBS. More trickery but this did not fool me.
10. Not quite shut: AJAR. Of course, it is not a door.
14. Where something can be set for later: ASIDE. I like this one.
15. Protected at sea: ALEE.
16. Queen of Heaven: HERA. Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. One of her characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's other lovers and offspring and against the mortals who cross her. For more WIKI click.
20. Gambit: TACTIC. A gimme for any chess players in our readership.
21. __ Field: NYC stadium: CITI. Where the Mets play in QUEENS.
22. QB Peyton Manning has an NFL passing record 539 of them: TDS. Touchdowns.
23. "I could __ horse!" : EAT A. But why?
25. "Sommersby" actor: GERE. Richard. A very odd MOVIE. (2:00)
32. Amused initialism: LOL. Laugh Out Loud.
33. Clumsy boats: TUBS. Number 6 on the dictionary.com definition list. 6. Nautical. an old, slow, or clumsy vessel.
34. Sweethearts: LOVES.
37. Eponymous virologist: SALK. Love the word EPONYMOUS; anyway- polio and the vaccine were important in my childhood, First my grandfather had contracted polio as a child, and as a cure they dug a hole and buried his affected leg to keep it from twisting, Second, my uncle was the county health officer and my brothers and I were used as test subjects.
39. Part of NAFTA: TRADE. North American Free Trade Agreement
42. 39-Across, perhaps: SELL.
43. Hawaiian greeting: ALOHA.
45. "The Americans" actress Russell: KERI. LINK.
47. Magic org.? : NBA. Correct twice, Orlando and Johnson.
52. Chipmaker's prefix: NANO. Personally, I like YOCTO better.
53. A, in many orgs. : ASSN.
54. "__ who?!" : SEZ?
57. DEA agent: NARC.
59. Slip away: ELAPSE.
66. __ Domini: ANNO. A bit unnerving to see these two words both meaning YEAR next to each other in the grid. Latin/Italian
67. Calendario units: ANOS. Spanish/Portuguese.
68. Springsteen's "Born __": TO RUN.
69. Tuts: TSKS. Tut, tut- tsk, tsk
70. Wail: YOWL. We had an owl fall down our chimney one winter. Luckily the grate was up. Our long-haired dachshund was convinced it was meant to be her friend. The both yowled alot.
71. __ innings: EXTRA.
Down:
1. Measure of power: WATT. This too did not jump to mind, so it was a slow start.
2. Tibet's place: ASIA. A gimme.
3. __ jockey: DISC. Many predicted this profession would be gone by now.
4. Polished words: EDITED. He was looking for the verb, not the adjective.
5. Nowhere near the norm: DEVIANT. Harsh.
6. Ending with Tyrol: EAN. Very straightforward clue/fill for a Friday.
7. Common-interest group: BLOC.
8. Harmless: BENIGN. Bingo is back and one of our favorite calls- B9.
9. Ready for the curtain to open: SEATED.
10. Sushi tuna: AHI.
11. Kid: JEST.
12. Moistureless: ARID. Despite its frequent appearance as fill, ARID has never been clued this way in the LAT.
13. Traitors: RATS. Not really that simple.
18. Rebel, in a way: ACT OUT. Right next to traitors.
19. Like some memes: VIRAL.Does everyone know what a meme is?
24. ERA or RBI: ABBR. Tricky, as it seemed like a baseball clue.
26. Coaches' headaches: EGOS.
27. Big cat of film: ELSA. She is back and Frozen takes a back seat. I finally watched the entire movie (a favorite of my granddaughters) and I enjoyed it.
28. Certain score: GOAL.
29. Give the okay: ALLOW.
30. City near Kobe: OSAKA. Okay, we leave Europe for Japan.
31. Roulette bets: EVENS.
35. Actor Idris _ _: ELBA. Interesting choice to avoid ABLE WAS I. Perhaps an intentional extra hint?
36. Sandwich side: SLAW. I make a mean cole slaw.
38. Medieval Tatar chief: KHAN. Was this where the Han came to Geroge? LINK.
40. Ten up front? : DECA. A prefix meaning ten from Latin.
41. Undid: ERASED.
44. Pose in yoga: ASANA. Not one, but all of them.
49. How Rome wasn't built? : IN A DAY. Cute. Nor was...
50. Piemonte city: TORINO. The first car I drove regularly was my Uncle's Torino station wagon. It had the fake wood panels.
51. Ready to be shipped: IN A BOX. Rather timely considering the holiday.
54. ERA or RBI: STAT. A baseball clue fake out.
55. An eternity: EONS.
56. Pass (out): ZONK.
58. Food on the trail: CHOW.
60. Wine named for an Iberian city: PORT. Where hopefully the wine is not made from...
61. __ grapes: SOUR.
62. Sicilian mountain: ETNA. So much Europe in this puzzle.
64. Derek and Peep: BOS. Bo Derek and Little Bo Peep, interesting couple.
65. U.K. component: ISLand. I think this is a great explanation, but I defer to Steve (Nice Cuppa if he stops by) and others. LINK.
Is that some Jingle Bells I hear in the distance? Good luck finishing your Xmas shopping if you haven't. I celebrated 3 years married to Oo yesterday and the beginning of winter. Hope you enjoyed the puzzle Thanks and welcome back Paul C. 2. Lemonade out.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Paul and Lemonade!
A workable Friday puzzle with no hangups!
Loved the theme!
Feeling better today. Even was able to eat!
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
PS.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks: Forgot to mention how sad I am about David and Alan's troubles.
PK: hope your daughter is going to be just fine!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI recognized the awkwardness of those theme answers, but not that they were palindromes. That whooshing sound was the theme going over d-o's head. Turned into an easy solve, though. No overwrites. Thanx, Paul and Lemonade.
KOBE: Visited in the '60s. A shirt-tail relative was stationed there by Price Waterhouse. He took DW and me to a "little lunch" that had umpteen courses and lasted for hours.
DISC JOCKEY: I spent a number of years in radio back in the day, but I haven't been inside a broadcast studio in over 40 years. Bet I wouldn't recognize it. What, no turntables? No cart machines? No knobs?
BOS: Filled by perps. Could probably have got this one, but I saw "Derek" and my mind said, "Sports -- move on."
Happy Lemonversary!
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I loved this unique theme. I caught on with the wording "either way" in the first theme clue, which led me to believe we were looking at palindromes. That certainly helped fill in letters to the remaining clues.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Pact before BLOC.
QOD: Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them. ~ Lady Bird Johnson (Dec. 22, 1912 ~ July 11, 2007)
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI caught the theme right away which helped with the solve. This Catholic lass plopped in Mary, Queen of Heaven before Hera forced herself in and my Arks became Tugs before finally becoming Tubs. Other than those two boo boos, clear, if a little choppy, sailing. I prefer straightforward puzzles but I do appreciate the cleverness and craftsmanship that was needed to create this offering. (BTW, FLN, I'm no fan of rebus puzzles, either.)
Thanks, Paul, for a challenging Friday and thanks, Lemony, for the extensive and informative review. Happy Anniversary to you and Oo.
We were supposed to get 3-5" of snow overnight but there is barely a trace on the ground. Good news for the commuters.
YR, I'm sorry to hear of the setbacks for both David and Alan. You're a real trouper!
Have a great day.
I SAW the palindrome immediately at TISIV. Made the puzzle easier as I WADED through but not easy. I made a few sloppy mistakes that required correcting before finishing, namely filling TUGS for TUBS, JOSH for JEST, ESCAPE for ELAPSE, and "Born IN THE (USA) instead of 'Born TO RUN. The perps fixed those.
ReplyDeleteKERI Lotion I know of, but not KERI Russell or Idris ELBA.
35. Actor Idris _ _: ELBA. ELBA and Napoleon? How about DEVIANT & BONDAGE in the same puzzle
BENIGN-one of my favorite calls also but not about Bingo, but from the dermatologist after I have a biopsy.
.
Excellent morning Cornerwriters!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Copperhead, Paul Cuerdon, and Lemony for explaining his elementary nature.
I must act quickly to point out to Ol' Man Keith that I noticed the Ultimate that you pointed out to us just yesterday, "Three side-by-side fills from the NW corner to the SE."
I also noticed a Clecho at 24D ERA or RBI, and 54D ERA or RBI.
My romp ended in a FIR . Yee Hah!
Dave also
I loved this one. I caught on to the palindromes early on and so filled in the mirror side where ever possible. That made it Wed. easy. Not seeing the palindromes would make it tougher.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of IDRIS ELBA, but needed ESP to fill it in. I happen to know an IDRIS. Her last name escapes me, too.
Like DO, let me chime in with Happy Lemonversary to Lemon and OO. You seem so good for each other. I love the portmanteau.
In a box - Today is recycle day and there are many discarded Amazon boxes all up and down the street. The ordering and shipping is easy, but the threat of theft of the delivered packages is huge. Fortunately we live in an out-of-the-way section here in a very benign town. No worries for us.
Thank you all for your concern about my sons. Alans' problem this time is with the stomach. It is not the daunting usual one. That still seems to be gone. We will see the doctor today. We hope to solve it before Christmas. I would like to hurry David along, but trying that would only cause trouble.
Fermatprime I am glad you are getting better. Also, PK, I am glad your daughter is improving.
Very cool! I love creative puzzles like this, well done!
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Thank you Paul Cuerdon and Lemonade. Happy anniversary.
ReplyDeleteOH NUTS ! Wait, that was yesterday, and it was OH RATS. Anyway, it describes how I feel after missing the TADA by one cell.
I'm going to have to read about IDRIS ELBA to cement that name.
No SOUR GRAPES because I couldn't complete the puzzle. It's just a game, and there's no reason to ACT OUT.
Didn't mix up ELSA and Ilsa today.
Dudley (FY), That's neat. Every pot has a lid. Just gotta find it. There was a "Re-Use-It" center that opened nearby 10 or 15 years ago. Heavily promoted by the local towns and the waste companies as a way to reduce landfill. I liked wandering about the place in search of odd pieces and parts needed. Unfortunately, it was not self-sustaining and it closed. Sad.
Plenty of to-dos to do.
See all y'all later n'at !
Loved the puzzle, especially the palindromes. Thanks, Paul for the clever challenge. However I FIW, having YelL instead of YOWL. Should have caught CHOl for CHOW, but didn't know TORINO.
ReplyDeleteOther unknowns were the queen of Heaven, any of the "Summersby" cast, Tyrolean or Idris ELBA. Erased Jane for Keri Russell ("The Americans" sounded like an oldie) and Desk jockey.
D-O, my mother used to talk about "shirt tail cousins", meaning people who were around the house so often that they were treated like family although they weren't relatives. I haven't heard it used elsewhere.
Thanks, Lemony and congrats on your anniversary. May you have many more.
Its going to be 70 degrees here tomorrow, even as I continue to prepare for our escape to Florida to avoid the cold.
Musings
ReplyDelete-WOW! That was clever!
-The (A)LEE side of Oahu
-I well remember the day we kids all lined up for the SALK vaccine in the city auditorium
-My 1,500 WATT portable heater is keeping my sunroom toasty today on this truly first full day of winter
-My National Education ASSN. is a BLOC that can ignore other sides of legislation
-I worked for two great principals, two lousy ones and the rest were BENIGN
-If you’re SEATED for a 7 pm show, it’ll start after 15 min of trailers
-This was a wonderful movie about racism and overcoming it
-QOD – My sister was upset with her daughter this summer when she saw she had the same poor parenting skills she had
-Congrats, Lemon!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteResFizz @ 0352 FLN. Great post. Nice précis on Farsi.
Lemon. Happy Anniversary. Good planning - getting married on the longest night of the year.
ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA - -
Love palindromes. Paul did a good job with today's entries. Must have taken a lot of work to get the right cadence and the right degree of difficulty. The palindromic fill helped, tho, since if you had a few letters from one side, you could start filling them in from the other. Only one wite-out - avgs before ABBR; and no look-ups were needed. Favorite fill was for BO'S.
ELBA - Is a town in Genesee County, in Western NY; known for its muck and onion farms.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteCrafty grid today! I’m always impressed when constructors find grid-spanners that work, but to find palindromes as well, that’s got to be hard!
Morning Lemon, perhaps you remember Dennis’ take on the various yoga asana names...my favorite was “crippled yak”. Dennis, if you’re out there, best wishes!
RetFizz from last night: good points. First, I had an English colleague explain Cricket once, about 1980. I didn’t understand it then, and still don’t. Next, on my one and only business trip to Pakistan in 1997, I was surprised at the interest shown in both Cricket and tea. It was charming, to be honest. Last, I do wish that the world had settled on a single standard for driving - this mixture of left and right side driving is a hazard. I have read that Sweden started out English style, but quickly and deliberately changed over to match the trend in the rest of the Europe. Good decision.
Ho Ho Ho!
ReplyDeleteThat was fun! Thanks for the palindromes! I saw the possibility at IVAN, but I missed it in the either way cluing. Quite a bit of fun today. Thanks so much.
Another fine tour, Lemonade. Happy Anniversary!
Have a wonderful day.
Thailand follows the Engish tradition. When arrived in the small town where Oo's mother lives, her brother left us a small truck to drive. Oo confidently got behind the wheel but determined rather quickly that she had forgotten how to shift with her left hand. I never knew. We walked a lot.
ReplyDeletePalindromes! Who knew? Not I. No, I didn't see them but was in awe when Lemonade pointed them out.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I thought the solve was a bit odd and now I know why. Good job, Paul Cuerdon!
I also confidently entered MARY as the Queen of Heaven. What? No. HERA as evidenced by AHI, etc. Not in my book she isn't.
If you've never seen Idris ELBA you're in for a treat. He is a hunk of a man. As is Richard GERE. Sommersby is an intense movie, as I recall with Jodie Foster, too.
Thank you, Lemonade, for your elucidation and congratulations on your anniversary! How time flies.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
ReplyDeleteGood one by Paul this morning. It made Friday a little easier than a usual Friday.
Palindromes are neat when you see them. It can take a minute or two to realize what is going on, but then it helps the fill-in go faster.
I first saw Idris Elba play a drug dealer from Baltimore in the HBO series "The Wire." At the time I didn't realize he was English and his normal speech was heavily accented English. I think it is interesting how many English-speaking foreign actors from England, Scotland, Australia, etc.(and probably others) can turn off their accents and speak as if they were Americans (from the heartland). I had an English aunt (who traveled the world and the US with my American uncle) who could turn on or off just about any accent she wanted. When she lived in the south she sounded like she was born there. When living in NY you would swear she was born in Brooklyn. She had a lot of fun with it.
I hope everyone is ready for Christmas.
Have a great day.
Fun to work with such long palindromes - but made for an easier solve as I went along. One hang up I had was starting with TUGS instead of TUBS and crossing with AVGS instead of ABBR
ReplyDeletebut had to switch to get BONDAGE instead of VONDAGE.
We have a friend coming to visit for today and tomorrow - I think we're going to go see the new film out about Churchill "Darkest Hour". Interesting that there have been 4 movies this past year about the same time in history: "Churchill", "Dunkirk", "Their Finest" were the others.
SALK gets all the credit for getting the first polio vaccine which was an injection - but equally important was Sabin's oral polio vaccine - which not only made it easy to give to large groups "Sugar cube, anyone?" but it gave immunity in the gut as well as the bloodstream- and since it is a GI virus initially - provided better protection. It fell out of favor in the US because of the 3 cases per million of paralysis - but the oral is still used as the better vaccine in countries where it is still endemic like China.
Thanks Lemonade and Paul!
oc4beach, I too have always marveled at how well others do American accents. I used to really enjoy The Mentalist with Simon Baker from Australia and Owain Yeoman (Rigsby) who is Welsh. I wonder Steve and Nice Cuppa think of Dick Van Dyke or Renee Zellweger and any other Americans.
ReplyDeleteFerm, glad you're feeling better!
ReplyDeleteYR, I knew an Edris (E not I) Kelley. I believe she was named after an ancient deity or historical figure.
Inanehiker, thank you for that unknown nugget of polio being caused by a GI virus. My learning moment of the day. I don't remember getting the vaccine but that doesn't mean I didn't. Was the administration of it based on age, geography, or other factors?
Friday fun. Thanks Paul and Lemonade (Happy Anniversary to you and Oo).
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw the palindromes which helped the solve.
I was on the same wavelength as Irish Miss with TUGS and MARY.
Howl changed to YOWL and Dears to LOVES.
Yes Dave2, I noticed the RBI/ERA clecho also.
Waited for perps to decide between North or TRADE for 39A. Canadians are waiting to see how the NAFTA negotiations work out.
Busy day - must run.
Have a great day.
Woohoo! Woohoo! I got a complicated, interesting Friday puzzle without a single cheat or look-up! Woohoo! Especially welcome after doing poorly on yesterday's puzzle. My salvation was that I got the palindromic theme when WAS IT A CAT I SAW began to fall into place. That let me go back to the other themes and start filling in letters in front and back which made it possible for me to get the whole thing. A total thrill! Many thanks, Paul, for this Friday gift! And happy anniversary, Lemonade!
ReplyDeleteFermatprime, so glad you're beginning to feel better.
Yellowrock, hope Alan and Dave have recoveries soon.
Have a great day, everybody!
Stupid Palindrome.
ReplyDeleteBetter Palindrome.
Betcha didn't know palindrome?
D-N-F ... only about 50% solved ... including NONE of the themes.
ReplyDeleteOh well ...
Here at Villa Incognito we are celebrating FESTIVUS EVE !!!
That's right, tomorrow, December 23rd is "FESTIVUS for the Rest-of-Us".
Already got my Festivus Pole decorated.
Cheers!
Thank you, Paul Cuerdon, for entertaining us with such a well thought-out puzzle. I liked the palindromes very much and laughed out loud at the NO BONDAGE one. After finishing the puzzle I didn't get the ta-da, so I thought maybe I had gotten Idris Elba's name wrong. Nope, I had spelled DISK jockey with a K and didn't notice the resulting TAKTIC. Nope, not a palindrome for the breath mints. Heck of a fun puzzle!
ReplyDeleteSp glad you are feeling better, fermatprime, and able to eat. So important to get your nutrition.
Wow, Lemonade, it has been 3 years already? Congratulations to you both and may you enjoy many more years together.
I learn a lot from you fellow bloggers: about Persian vs Farsi, about polio vaccine, about interesting places, philosophies, musings, food, carpentry, etc. Thank you and good wishes to you all.
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Paul! Thanks, Lemonade!
ReplyDeleteCaught onto the theme when I had the first and last few perps which were the same in reverse on the first theme entry. Helped fill all the others. Yay!
Hand up for Mary first. But when "H" appeared, I WAGd HERA. Who wants a mean heavenly queen? I like our BENIGN helpful Mary better. No wonder HERA didn't last.
Never saw PIEmonte before, always PIEDmonte. I thought it was a typo but looked it up today and it is the Italian spelling of the word. Had TO.... so WAGd TORINO. My parents had a 1972 Torino, baby blue with black top. When they were in their 80's the transmission went out 20 miles from any town while they were on their way to a doctor's appointment. No cell phones those days. Good Samaritan came along and rescued them after an hour. My husband fixed the car and it went to college with my girls when it was 12 years old. They loved it.
Splashed through would be more apt for a WADED clue. Plodded? Nah! Memes? Who dat?
I hated all three books of "Shades of Grey". Sounded injurious and bad examples for young women to let themselves be led astray by a DEVIANT. I kept reading them in hopes of some redemption. Still hated the ending book. I'm ashamed they still show up on my Kindle, but don't know how to ERASE them. Don't want my kids to know I read every single one.
Loved "Sommersby" and saw several times so GERE was a gimmee.
Happy Anniversary, Lemony!
Ferm: glad you're finally better.
Happy Anniversary Lemon!
ReplyDeleteMrs Claus hid his boot?
(If she really wanted him to stay home...)
This ones for you Splynter!
P.S. Splynter, it is not the one I wanted to post....
Three children in one family in the next town died of polio one week when I was a kid. I remember all the parents being in panic state. This was before the vaccine. They closed the swimming pool because those kids swam everyday and it was believed the polio might be transmitted there. I don't remember hearing that any other kid in the area was stricken. Several years later we got our Salk shots. I had a high fever after the shot and scared my mother. My kids all got the oral vaccine.
ReplyDeleteRe Tugs. I, too, had TUGS like at least 4 others of you. It bothered me though that the clue said clumsy boats. Finally the ABBR down loomed and I could change it to TUBS.
ReplyDeleteWhile they look clumsy they are ideally suited to their task. Helping maneuver large cruise liners and cargo vessels around a harbor and to and from their berths requires dexterity and pin-point action. Ones featuring azi-pod drives are highly maneuverable.
(A couple days ago I posted a Link to the Port of Los Angeles live stream which I'm reposting above. Frequent cargo transits with tug assists can be viewed at your convenience. (On the left is the retired battleship Iowa. At night it is all gussied up with lights for the Christmas season.))
Yep, D4E4H, you got it!
ReplyDeleteToday's pzl allowed a three-fold side-by-side diagonal solve! (No mirror possibility, but I wonder if that's even possible with a major 3-fold?)
The prospect of such a juicy three-way slowed me down, as I needed to keep my eye on that broad central slash - and not be distracted too soon by other, perhaps easier parts of the grid. In the end it paid off - big time! - with a splendid wide diagonal, followed by a complete Ta- DA!
What a great pzl from Mr. Cuerdon! Not only a great diagonal opening but four major palindromes too!
And Congratulations to friend Misty for her clean Ta- DA! This was far from an easy romp, with so many elliptical clues. Until one sussed that palindromes were in play it was nearly impossible to crack.
"Woohoo" indeed!
I am glad I WADEd (plodded) through my chores early today. We spent two hours going to the doctor. Things seem fairly benign at this point. Alan is always subject to serious dehydration due to all the meds he takes. Thankfully he usually drinks a lot which keeps it from being more severe and life threatening. Yesterday when I went shopping I realized that hardly any of the scads of drinks I stock needed replenishing. Oh, my goodness! Immediately I pushed the drinks yesterday and today. We caught it in time and things should turn around soon. The sepsis and kidney failure Alan had several years ago was, in large part, due to or exacerbated by dehydration.
ReplyDeleteTo those of you working stiffs who are jealous of my head start on the holidays, I really do feel for you. Remember, I am retired. While I was working, my December was crammed full and crazy busy up to the last minute. These day I fold early, no more slogging (wading) through up until bedtime. I must start on Christmas days earlier now.
I thought I remembered lining up at school for polio injections. It could not have been, because I graduated in 1955, the year Salk vaccine was introduced. I wonder what we lined up for? I do accurately remember the dread of polio which was wide-spread in the 1940's. I remember the pictures of the iron lung from those days. My brother had a mild case of polio. It didn't affect him too badly until his 70's. Now he has much muscle pain due to the after effects of polio.
We are eagerly looking forward to family time over Christmas if the snow monster doesn't get us. My sister plans to stay with me on Christmas Eve and then we will all go to David's for Christmas.
I Palindrome, I! [TMBG].
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul. I loved! this puzzle even though it stymied me. Too many blocks were HID'n from me to see all of 63a. DNF in the Deep South (ISL?, um, OK). I'm going to give myself props anyway because I figured out the theme with only VISIT and WATT|ASIA in place. Very creative - my fav themer was TIS IVAN...*
Thanks Lem for the expo. Even after two Googles, I ended up w/ a FIW (11d I had JOSH and never questioned HDS (Peyton may have passed 539 TV's, who knows? :-))
WO: BENIne b/f GERE fixed it.
Lookups: TORINO and SALK for the K - KHAAAAAN! [VIRAL meme link]
FIW - JoSh and hand-up for TUG - I was waiting for Lem to enlighten me on what ABGR meant.
Once I looked up TORINO I could finish what was HID'n - V8 at CHOW. I knew NARC but 'gorp' lingered in the grey-cells prompting 'grub.'
Fav: IN A DAY as Rome was not built. Our IT is good but, boss-man,...
FLN - {A,A}. Yes RetFiz we do. I DNF'd it yesterday too 'cuz I was DENSE and didn't get ITALY! (B-R- for BYRD, -E- for LEE, and I had no idea that Avarice meant so I had GRE--) :-(
Hahtoolah - I loved the QOD! A little CSNY to go along w/ it
Inanehiker - Was the oral vaccine a tiny red capsule? I remember that in the 90's before Desert Storm. I think they said it was Polio; who knows? - we got experimental anthrax stuff too.
YR - Fingers crossed re: Alan. I'm one of those working stiffs - DW & I plan to brave the mall tonight. Then, tomorrow, I have to brave the grocery store for the feast.
I've had 4 different (Indian and UK) buddies explain Cricket. Each thought they got through to me which is why I had to ask another :-)
Cheers, -T
*fun fact - dyslexics can "see" palindromes almost immediately because of the way we see words
ReplyDeleteLemon - Happy Anniversary.
Lemon - I also enjoyed "The Mentalist" with Simon Baker and was surprised when I saw him on the Jay Leno show talking in his normal Australian accent.
Another show that I liked was "The Glades" with Matt Passmore who is also Australian. He mastered a Chicago accent that moved to Florida quite well. I was mad when they cancelled the show abruptly.
Oh well, why keep on a good show when many people will watch drivel.
I remember going with my uncle to return my cousin's iron lung. She lived, but with one arm longer than the other (I almost said "but with a short arm", but former army-types would get the wrong impression). When she was old enough to drive, her license restricted her to operating only cars that were equipped with "spinners", the wheel-mounted knobs that facilitate steering with one hand. My parents were terrified because my sister had played all day with that cousin the day before she came down with the disease. I got a Salk vaccine when I got old enough, but by the time my booster was due I got the Sabin sugar cube (much to my relief).
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks, I join you in commiserating with the "working stiffs" who have to cram their Christmas joy in between days/shifts of their various labors.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow retiree (still relatively new at it), I welcome the freedom - but also find it tricky to plan a month ahead, without the former determining map of my teaching schedule.
Now that I can do anything at any time, which time do I choose?!
I guess that sounds like a trivial matter to those who don't have the time luxury, but it has turned out to be a real thing for me ...
Back when I was working a professional schedule (running theater companies), I really couldn't take time out for Christmas until the very last minute. I kept it from being a curse, though, by turning it into a blessing.
I would do practically all my shopping and wrapping on Christmas Eve. So I decided to love it! The crowded department stores! The smells of Christmas baked goodies! The Carolers!!
And all the terrible impulse buys!! Man, that was the best!
Finally, the last one to bed after cramming gifts under the tree...
Y R 217P
ReplyDeleteYou wrote "Alan is always subject to serious dehydration....." I know a little about that subject. I am on Lasix to help remove lymph from my feet and legs. If I use too little my feet look like sausages, too much, and I am dehydrated. I drink water all day and night to replenish what has passed.
This morning I did not feel right. Years of this condition guided my to replenish my electrolytes. The big 4 are sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The sports drink "Powerade" has all 4 in it. I drank some immediately. I ate some potato chips for sodium, and took supplements for the others. Calcium is Rxed, the others are OTC. Within minutes the "Ill at ease" passed, and I was returned to my normal abnormal.
I wrote on the chance that some portion of my story brings something new to you, and then to Alan.
Dave 2
I spotted IVAN and wondered what Paul intended. I was shocked at 15 letter palis. There must be software out there.
ReplyDeleteI thought we had a CSO to our old Saturday host, Splynter in 53A. I entered ANON, confidently. Maybe next time.
Yep. The clecho fooled me too but ABGR had to be wrong.
I have a kidney thingy which apparently went benign.
"Shirt-tail"? I guess I had a dozen of them- sons and daughters, S-T cousins of an only son. I remember a Prof who loved the word LYNCHPIN. That was Phil, my son.
The exact opposite of me- I had two.
I think the Anglo version of TORINO is Turin.
IDRIS is a guy? Whodathunkit.
Spotting the palis was the absolute key to my solve. I think the brain was slow but if I can get 4 or 5 free boxes I can slog home.
Congrats Misty on the TaDa. If you missed it FLN*, GLOAT was from the Thursday jumble. I skimmed it today but got nuttin.
Speaking of accents, I've kept my Boston one. Plus I replace an L with an R as in PARM/PALM.
Lemonade, many happy etc,etc on your wedding anniversary and same, same to the fabulous Oo**.
WC
* Actually FTM
** Eddie Andelman of Boston Sports talk (in)fame(y) always referred to"The fabulous Judy A. He took the HtoWFs and IP book***, reversed it and became a success
Plus he owned a large part of the land that the Patriots used for parking. Sports talk is hopeless in Tampa Bay.
Stop me. I could fill a dozen blogs on this subject.
*** Who can grok that
Thank you, Ol'Man Keith and Wilbur--it did feel good!
ReplyDeleteI always thought "shirt-tail relations" were people you knew were related by a common ancestor or by marriage but you weren't exactly sure how. In the town where I grew up, everybody was related to everybody else -- all shirt-tail cousins -- except for my family who were related to no one and often reminded of that. When we visited my grandparents in the town where they lived, we were related to half the county. Had some cases of third to fifth cousins intermarrying because the didn't know they were related.
ReplyDeleteWhere's Picard? Hope the fire hasn't driven them out of their home.
ReplyDeleteJust a few responses to earlier questions:
ReplyDelete@Yellowrocks - you are correct about the injections in 1955- that was when the Salk vaccine came out - the oral Sabin vaccine came out in 1961! The oral is much used in mass campaigns because no worries about sterile conditions like with a shot- and it only costs $0.25 a dose even today! In the schools when they first used it - they would drop the red liquid on sugar cubes so kids would take it easily.
@AnonymousT - it could have come out in a red capsule - because the oral was a red liquid - so they could have put it in a capsule for easy administration.
We still see a few people with postpolio syndrome - but they are now in their late 60s and up because people younger than that were immunized.
It's great to see the list of polio free countries increasing-China in 2000 India was declared polio free in 2014! unfortunately there are still some countries where it's endemic - and of course with travel people can cross borders!
Inanehiker - I said capsule where I should have said capsule-sized vial of red liquid. Sounds like the same stuff. Not sure why they'd give it to us in our 20s if we were already given it in the early 70s (or was it eradicated by then so they didn't administer it(?). Thanks for the info on "red." Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteInane Hiker: My BFF is married to a man who had polio as a child and has had post polio syndrome to cope with in his later years. I'm not sure when this began. He is in his early 90's now and using a walker or wheel chair.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your concern, PK! Still catching up after holiday travels.
ReplyDeleteFIW with JOSH instead of JEST. HORA seemed as good as HERA. And I thought maybe HDS were a sports term new to me. Hand up for TUGS before TUBS. IDRIS ELBA unknown. Neither name sounds like a first or last name!
I am impressed with the work that must go into a puzzle like this. The palindromes were all new to me and valid and amusing phrases. The clues gave away the theme right away.
Hand up that the clue for WADED seemed odd. WATT a gimme from both my physics and engineering lives. That other unit "erg" for energy, not so much.
Thanks, CrossEyedDave, for the Mrs Claus link!