Priscilla makes her LAT debut with one of the master mentors- Jeff Chen. He previously helped her to publication in the NYT in 2016. Jeff is a prolific constructor, writer, editor and very nice man. He writes daily about the NYT puzzles, where he has 46 collaborative publications. Each theme fill takes a phrase with the "ens" sound word converted to the "ins" sound.
Finding two grid-spanning fill was nice and the grid was very open. Jeff and his partners always include a great deal of sparkly fill and here we have ROTUNDA, VINTNER, ALLOPATH, CURTAINS, REAR EXIT, REGICIDE and TIDEPOOLS. My only unknown was TILSIT a cheese I guess I should remember. As with all sound puzzles YMMV.
17A. Instruction for dolphin riders? : STRADDLE THE FINS (14). Straddle the FENCE. Does the sound of dolphins and fins grate?
22A. Flashy genetic enhancements? : DNA SEQUINS (10). DNA SEQUENCE. They started rerunning the original CSI on ION TV.
34A. Groaners in a routine? : SINS OF HUMOR (11). SENSE of humor. The central themer has the change in the first word, the rest the last word.
50A. Time capsules? : FUTURE TINS (10). Future TENSE. Capsule = tin? Maybe.
57A. Use second fiddles in a pinch? : RESORT TO VIOLINS (14). Resort to VIOLENCE. I am not sure why they needed to be second fiddles, but this is my favorite.
Across:
1. Compass output: ARCS. Last week it was EAST. The other compass. LINK.
5. Gershwin title color: BLUE. This is a wonderful piece of music. RHAPSODY IN BLUE.
He also wrote BLUE LULLABY.
9. Presidential daughter Reagan: PATTI. Ms. Davis changed her last name to her mother's maiden name in an effort to have an independent career.
14. Bird's-nest, e.g. : SOUP. I put this in and took it out and then put it back. INFO.
15. Ounce: IOTA. If you had one iota of gumption...
16. Zac of "Baywatch": EFRON. He was in the movie version with the Rock.
20. Reader with reprints: UTNE. A popular crossword fill, the Utne Reader is a quarterly American magazine that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and DVDs. Wiki.
21. Flight attendant's indication: REAR EXIT. Too many politically incorrect thoughts to comment.
25. Ticket: CITE. That is why it is called a citation.
26. Oscar role for Forest: IDI. Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin.
27. Piña colada liquor: RUM. Mixed with pineapple juice and coconut cream.
28. Like "black diamond" slopes: STEEP.
29. Hot-dog it? : PANT. A warm canine pants, the tongue is their sweat gland..
31. New England cape: ANN.
33. __ generis: SUI. This TERM has importance in the Law, likely misunderstood by me and others.
38. "I'm such a moron!" : D'OH. Not just Homer Simpson uses this phrase.
39. Car nut: LUG. Not someone who loves cars, but the lug nut which holds your tire in place on the wheel.
40. Campbell of "House of Cards": NEVE. The puzzle was likely written before the Kevin Spacey scandal, but apparently, Neve was an interesting character. I had stopped watching before the kerfuffle.
43. Filled entirely: SATED.
46. What bills may become: LAW.
48. "Amscray!" : GIT. Our first pig latin in a very long time.
49. Pace often rapid: CLIP.
54. Alternative medicine practitioner's term for a mainstream doctor: ALLOPATH. The expression was coined in 1810 by the creator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843).In such circles, the expression "allopathic medicine" is still used to refer to "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine." Wiki. I learned this while auditing a course in alternative medicine that my massage therapist was taking.
56. One might have tears in it: DUCT. Not if it is the TAPE. Lots of fun stuff.
61. Quick: AGILE.
62. Name of kings in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden: ERIC. This was an easy guess, but there is much more to learn about these Constitutional MONARCHIES.
63. Light bulb, metaphorically: IDEA.
64. Pioneer of song who "crossed the wide mountains with her lover Ike": BETSY. This was hard. I did not remember much of this SONG. The lyrics are not the same as the Johnny Cash version.
65. Risqué: RACY. Two old fashioned words.
66. APB quarry: PERP. Two weeks in a row for this fill.
Down:
1. Jenny's offspring : ASS. Not poor Jennny McCarthy, but the female Donkey. All you need to know about ASSES.
2. Capitol sight : ROTUNDA. Just think round, usually with a dome.
3. Disastrous end : CURTAINS. My mental image:
4. Extends over : SPANS. Like the bridges we discused recently.
5. Compete for the job : BID.
6. Online chuckle : LOL.
7. Female marsupials have two : UTERI. The poor male marsupial. Kangaroos have three vaginas. ... Koalas, wombats and Tasmanian devils all share the three-vagina structure. The side ones carry sperm to the two uteruses (and males marsupials often have two-pronged penises), while the middle vagina sends the joey down to the outside world. I can't make this stuff up.
8. Taken back, as words : EATEN.
9. Equal : PEER.
10. Love : AFFECTION.
11. Ed's wife on "The Honeymooners" : TRIXIE. She was played by five different actresses during the life of the SHOWS from 1951 to 1970.
12. Ad time : TONITE.
13. Shoe part : INSTEP.
18. Lots of bucks : DEER.
19. Is afflicted with : HAS.
22. Depression : DIP.
23. Put down : QUASH. A rebellion?
24. "Did you really think I'd go for that?" : UM NO.
28. Largest number in many a column : SUM. This added up for me.
30. Homes for creatures of the not-so-deep : TIDE POOLS. Tide pools provide a home for hardy organisms such as starfish, mussels and clams. Inhabitants must be able to deal with a frequently changing environment — fluctuations in water temperature, salinity, and oxygen content. Wiki.
32. Org. in a 1966 merger agreement : NFL.
33. Raw, brown or white stuff : SUGAR.
35. Third of a kid's poem trio : NOD. I was winken and blinken through this one.
36. TV streaming option : HULU. I have not tried them, using only Netflix and Amazon. Anyone have a review?
37. "Game of Thrones" evilness : REGICIDE. Killing the King- we have both Cersei and her brother, the Kingslayer. Add that to doing away with Joffrey....well it is not a nice place to visit.
41. Wine label info : VINTNER. A CSO to Chairman Moe.
42. "Hitchhiker's Guide" beings, for short : ETS.
43. Many a hieroglyphic insect : SCARAB. Odd to see this again- two weeks in a row.
44. Claim : ALLEGE. A very popular legal word.
45. Semihard Swiss cheese : TILSIT.
47. Declaration at a group wedding : WE DO. I think they each say, "I DO" but I do not know. Oo said I could have only one wife.
50. Target of budget trimming : FAT.
51. Complete : UTTER.
52. Birch of "American Beauty" : THORA. I have had her in a few friday write-ups.
53. Showy bulb : TULIP.
55. Hunted one : PREY.
58. Ford's Crown __ : VIC.
59. Like comets : ICY.
60. Easy mark : SAP. Beacuse they get sucked dry?
Well there was a lot there and much to discuss. Hope you had fun and look forward to all the comments. Lemonade out.
57 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Priscilla, Jeff and lemon!
Really nice theme, although this took me awhile!
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
There was an dead lady named BETSY BLUE
Who blew as a ghost, 'cause she couldn't say "Boo!"
So some angels above
Had their VINTNER send love --
A whole case of "booze," marked "Heaven's, to Betsy!"
PATTI was AGILE, but Patti was wild
A SUI GENERIS of a problem child!
She found new ways to SIN!
Gave the LAW a good spin!
But still garnered AFFECTION from the way that she smiled!
Kitty had claws, that was for certain!
ARCS of scratches were her caretaker's burden!
Every sunbeam was PREY
To pounce on in play,
And she climbed at a CLIP that was CURTAINS for the curtain!
{A, B+, B+.}
Hi Y'all! Very clever, but hard! Priscilla & Jeff. Good ones, Lemonade.
SINS OF HUMOR well describes this puzzle. I groaned all the way thru when 3rd & 4th guesses turned red & so did the perps. I Finally persevered and filled it with several red alphabet runs TONITE. I would UTTER some RACY BLUE words but instead will GIT me some breakfast. Should have EATEN before I tried to SCARAB some entries. EXIT my REAR.
Owen: Loved your birthday poem!!
Thanks to C. C. and Steve for yesterday's offering!
Good morning!
My bird's nest was a SNAG before it was liquidated. And my wine label had VINTAGE until it didn't. D'OH! TILSIT was an unknown, and will probably be forgotten by lunch time. Otherwise this was a pretty smooth solve, just not a quick one. Thanx, Priscilla, Jeff and Lemonade.
A young THORA Birch played Jack Ryan's daughter in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. You didn't see as much of her as in American Beauty, though.
Lemonade, you can also watch the original CSI from the beginning on Netflix and CBS All Access. Have you "cut the cord" and cancelled your cable/satellite service? I'm toying with the idea of cancelling DirecTV and using Hulu along with my Netflix, CBS All Access and Amazon Prime. I could add a $360 Tivo Roamio DVR and still finish the year paying less than I currently pay.
UM,NO.
Good Morning:
I had a few rough spots to overcome but, all in all, everything fell into place. I did the puzzle very late last night so I'll blame my woes on dozing and drowsiness. It wasn't until a last minute grid check this morning that all of the themers, finally, made sense homophonically. (Auto correct doesn't like that word; it sounds okay to me.) W/os were: Insole/Instep, Olaf/Eric, and Genocide/Regicide. I have never heard the term Allopath; it almost comes across as pejorative. My favs were Hot-dog it=Pant and Car nut=Lug. Car nut would be a cute way to clue Jay Leno.
Thanks, Priscilla and Jeff, for a Friday challenge and thanks, Lemony, for your always wise and witty wrap up.
We're supposed to have heavy rains throughout the day, causing some flooding concerns. I have an 11:00 appointment so I'm hoping for a lull so I don't get drenched. Then, tomorrow, temps plunge and icing becomes an issue. Ah, the joys of winter in the great Northeast! I'm not complaining, though, as I really think we are blessed, weather wise, compared to the floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, mud slides, etc. that devastate so many other areas, time and time again.
Have a great day.
-After quite a while, P&P finally paid off with no look ups or red letters. Things picked up a bit when I sussed the theme.
-The only unfamiliar fill was THORA. ALLOPATH was ESP, then I recognized it. V-8 can moment.
-Our cheese loving family knows tilsit.
-I have heard the first 2 verses of Sweet Betsy from Pike. The other verses had me laughing. Thanks, Lemonade.
-Forest Whitaker did a masterful job as IDI AMIN in the Last King of Scotland. I thought the concept of the callow young doctor, Nicholas, was poorly conceived. He could not have experienced working with Amin's evil without being changed very much until his mistress was murdered.
-I have seen SUI GENERIS in most of its forms, but not in law.
Wiki
-Great challenge, Priscilla and Jeff. Always interesting blog, Lemonade.
Dogs PANT to cool themselves, but sweat only from their paws and nose.
Always called them TIDal POOLs so had trouble in the SW, BETSY and THORA unknowns
DO, I discovered binge-watching while home all last year but the commitment to all 337 episodes of CSI is too daunting. It is interesting (perhaps) to note that no actor appeared in all the episodes.
Thora is a popular girl.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
Well, after 4 days of perfect puzzling, I had Friday. Cheated at least twice (REGICIDE and TILSIT for sure; could've been more); write-overs in COD/ANN BETTY/BETSY); errors in spelling, too.
More later
Thanks for the SO Lemon; nice recap BTW
Lemony, either you're not aware of the meaning of kerfuffle or are insensitive to the plight of Kevin Spacey's victims.
Musings
-Now that was fun and only the TILLSIT/ALLOPATH crossing was a trial
-They put Radar’s teddy bear in their time capsule to represent soldiers who came to Korea as boys and left as men
-I always had kids who asked for a protractor when they needed a compass
-The first few bars of Rhapsody in BLUE must be every clarinetist’s dream
-Patti and her parents parted ways on many things, as seen in this RACY photo
-Yeah, having the smoking section near the REAR EXIT of a plane really helped. Not!
-NEVE and THORA played women who had unhealthy relations with Spacey
-Nebraska has many VINTNERS now that they have found grapes that can survive our winters
-My memory of a CROWN VIC
-An amusing addendum about BIDS
Yea for a fun Friday! Thank you, Jeff Chen and Priscilla Clark.
It took a long while to suss the punny themes. DNASEQUINS was the first to emerge but the others took a painfully long time.
Since I don't watch Netflix, Game of Thrones is unfamiliar but I guessed GENeCIDE. HUMOR changed it to REGeCIDE. Drat! I didn't notice the misspelling and didn't finish the T in TILSIT/BETSY.
UTTER gave me ERIC though I had OLAF. THORA? If we've seen it before I don't recall yet knew SUI generis for some reason. ALLOPATH filled only with perps.
I love cheese but had not seen TILSIT before.
Thank you, Lemonade, for an always glowing and informative commentary.
Have a sensational day, everyone! Every day is a gift.
Greetings!
Thanks to Priscilla and Jeff for today's fine offering. I caught the theme early, but still needed help to finish in the central area. Loved "Hot-dog it?" for PANT. Thanks for the thoughtful and thorough expo, Lemonade. I especially enjoyed the "Rhapsody in Blue" link.
Owen--Belated happy birthday to your bride Brenda. Thank you for sharing the lovely poem you wrote to her.
Enjoy the day!
Well, I got the bottom part of this puzzle before I had to start cheating, but still found it a lot of fun--many thanks, Priscilla and Jeff. Not only did I remember sweet BETSY from Pike, but the song has been buzzing in my ear since I finished the puzzle (is that what they call an "ear worm"?). My sweet first dachshund many years ago was named BETSY which is probably how I got to learn and love the song. Irish Miss, INSOLE and OLAF were also among my erasures. Delightful write-up, Lemonade--many thanks!
The termite inspector is coming this afternoon and I'm just dreading it. The last time we had termites was fifteen years ago, and luckily we had no dogs at the time, so that we were able to go to a hotel for three days while the house was tented. But my doxie Dusty is fourteen and a half now and has never spent the night anywhere except in this house. He's so needy that he cries when I leave the room for fifteen minutes, and I can't imagine how he could survive three nights in a kennel. So I'm just praying that some other solution can be found.
Have a great day, everybody, and I hope mine will be better than I fear.
Hi Gang -
Not a success for me to day - guess it's that kind of a week.
Didn't know ALLOPATH. Tried an E for the second L and TIESiT did not look unreasonable for that natick.
Didn't know THORA. UTTER seems like a stretch.
Obviously, the theme also eluded me. RESORT TO VIOLINS really doesn't make much sense.
As a pun lover, i object to SINS OF HUMOR.
Ah, well. Some days the bear gets you.
Freezing rain turned to snow here with more cold temps coming. After a two-day reprieve, winter is back.
Happy weekend everybody.
Cool regards!
JzB
Dear Misty,
You don't HAVE to move out. Tenting is the most effective way to kill termites but there are several spot treatments like orange oil, borax and others. They aren't as effective and will probably need repeating every few years but you don't have to leave or bag up all of your food and plants. That's what we do. It works well enough and avoids the hassle of tenting.
Good luck!
G Day Corner Mates,
I'm caught up on my Binge CWing. I too found this CW to be quite a challenge, yet P & P, across and down eventually brought me to that satisfying last square.
Thank-yous to Pricilla Clark, Jeff Chen, and Lemony for my fun.
When I found STRADDLETHEFINS I averred "There should be laws against this, as I groaned."
Once I sussed the theme, it helped me fill other theme-ers.
I am not ready to enjoy links. Will do so later.
I'm on a different computer, so if I look black...
Dave Too
I’ve never heard of TILSIT, ever. Only been a cheese lover for over 40 years, so it must be me.
Horrible....puns, if that’s what they are. Yuck.
Anonymous D4E4H in BLACK: A-ha, that is why your comment showed up in my G-mail box.
Anonymous @9:52-- Thank you so much for saying what you did about Lemonade's comment on 40 across. When I saw that he called it a kerfuffle, I gasped out loud. Perhaps he didn't actually mean to trivialize that situation, but it surely came out that way.
Slee
That would be such a relief, Bill G. Thanks for mentioning alternatives--I'll ask the termite guy about that right away.
FIW with NaVE/RaGICIDE. No idea about either cross. Otherwise it was a challenging, fair and fun ride.
Lemonade: Thanks for the most interesting lesson on marsupial UTERI and vaginas! Who knew?
Hand up TILSIT unknown, but able to WAG. Crossed with ALLOPATH would be a challenge for some. Here in California we are used to a lot of wacky "alternative" medicine, so I knew that term.
Other unknowns: THORA, EFRON, FOREST/IDI. I highly recommend the UTNE Reader for a wide range of views often missed elsewhere.
billocohoes: I have never heard them called Tidal Pools. I think that has another meaning. I live a ten minute bike ride from TIDE POOLS. But they have been "loved to death" with too many canine and human feet trampling them. Perhaps another time I will share photos of some more pristine ones further up the coast.
Here are photos of my father and me with the beautiful TULIPS at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
After a long, dark winter their brightness is especially welcome!
Husker Gary: Thanks for the interesting image of PATTI. Like me, she was unhappy with her father's assault in Nicaragua. She wrote a novel about it. In an interview she said she was afraid to go there. I was sad to hear that. In my experience in Nicaragua at the time, I think she would have been welcomed with open arms. I hope this comment does not count as "political". Just meant as another insight into PATTI's independence.
Was that 12:18 one hand congratulating the other?
Took me a bit to get the theme, but after that, pretty easy puzzle for a Friday. TILSIT is a new cheese for me. I had CLAP instead of CLIP across, 100% other than that.😀
I know, do not feed the trolls.
How funny that I have the anons agreeing on the meaning of my words. I referred to the SCANDAL concerning Kevin Spacey, hardly trivializing the allegations. I am familiar with the word, and my statement was that the SCANDAL caused a KERFUFFLE. My words in no way diminished the horror of the Spacey allegations. M-W says, "a state of noisy, confused activity predictably, the royal scandal caused quite a kerfuffle on Fleet Street." I was referencing the media not the events. Go find something meaningful to complain about.
HG did not mention any political decisions whereas you did Dave 2.
Lemonade714. I still think you don't understand the meaning of the word. I hope you understand there was no kerfuffle over the fact that Kevin Spacey sexually abused those young men going as far as attended rape.
A kerfuffle is a dispute or commotion caused by confusion or disagreement. You and I are in a kerfuffle. There is no kerfuffle over what Spacey did and the resulting firing of the actor. I think you were trying to be cute by using a funny sounding word but all it accomplished was trivializing a travesty.
Also in for 104p post I think you meant Picard, not Dave 2.
Gary, re Patti: Do you suppose they had trouble finding someone willing to play the "bra boy"?
Good grief, I see no indication that Lemony is condoning assault of any kind.
The creator must have had a really big sense of HUMOR to come up with those marsupial reproductive systems. I can see Her saying, "UM NO, that isn't going to work as well as I first thought." Then She came up with a better plan.
Misty: what do you do with Dusty when you go back east for a week if he can't go to a kennel?
I have heard of TILSIT but don't think I've ever EATEN any. Looks like you can get it by mail. Don't everybody rush to order at once.
Thank you Priscilla & Jeff & Lemonade for the work you put in on this puzzle & expo. I was a cranky old woman at 5 a.m. But I have had chocolate and sweetened a bit since.
Hmmm sounds like politics today !
DNF ! So glad you all found this so easy !! The SW was a complete mess for me. Beetle instead of scarab doomed me but the cheese was unknown and so was the actress although I have seen American Beauty twice. Thora was maybe the fifth lead, with a minimal future career. The cheese isn't in the top 20. I sussed "path" but the rest required knowledge of a crackpots name for real medicine ??? WOW...congrats to the covers. You are a class above me in this hobby.
Since we are discussing Spacey, wasn't it obvious that he was gay? But anything he did to a very young man sounds criminal while other accusations go from inappropriate to gross. Poor flirting skills seem to be the basis for some of this. I am glad that I am too old for this crap.
I had a vasectomy 33 years ago ... so there wouldn't be any FUTURE TINS.
Lemon, thanks for explaining my "Rorschach Ink Blot" test.
Too many write-overs.
and Yup! a D-N-F ...
Cheers!
Funny, Tin!
Hi All!
What an odd week of puzzlin' for me; FIW M-W and two FIR on the "hard" days. Oh, well. Take 'em as they come.
Thanks Pricilla & JC; the puzzle seemed a bear w/ all the names and references to shows I don't watch but everything slowly became guessable. The theme helped once I caught on at DNA SEQUINS (apparently I didn't pronounce FINS punny enough). Thanks Lem for the fine expo - I'll liked Sherlock's UM, NO :-)
WOs: C'mon b/f UM, NO; Ann->Cod->ANN; AdoraTION b/f AFFECTION; Olaf b/f ERIC
ESPs: ALLOPATH, NEVE.
Fav: The word QUASH is particularly fun.
Lot's of other sparkle that just makes the puzzle art; c/a for SOUP, CITE, CLIP, VIC, PEER... I enjoyed all the 'double-think the meanings.'
{A,B,B}
Sure, I had to WAG the L in TILSIT but it was an educated WAG (eWAG?) because I learnt my cheese! [@1:39 is TILSIT] The cheeses from the sketch were the play-codes for the Monty Python game (basically, poor-man's DRM*, the game would pause until you identified the cheese on page x).
Misty - I hope BillG's IDEA works out for you & Dusty.
IM - I'm sure TxMs & D-O will attest (1st thought @44d) it got cold here after the rains yesterday. And the winds... Almost ripped the car-door out of my hands when I got home last night. Stay warm!
62a's clue made me think "UM, not s***hole countries?" //ducks
Cheers, -T
*Digital Rights Management; you couldn't just copy the disk and give the game to a friend because they'd need the book too in order to play.
Thumper
Thumper
Thumper,
Hmm, maybe I'm grumpy because
a) this puzzle kicked my butt,
&2) I had about a dozen things circled on the puzzle to
rant about, but lost my dead tree version to my wife's Dumpling cravings...
Yes, I know this sounds more CrossEyed than usual, but DW loves Potstickers,
and the paper had a two page article about food to die for in New Jersey
that surrounded the puzzle. Apparently the best Dumplings in New Jersey
can be found at a Thai place at Newark Airport! (Terminal C)
(They must be good if the reporter braved TSA just to taste them...)
Let's see, from memory, I loved Hot Dog = Pant
Hated:
12d ad time = tonite??? (I don't get it...)
Jenny's Ass
I liked Car nut=Lug
but feel 24d. "Did you really think I'd go for that?" = UM NO. sums things up quite nicely...
Learning moment: The birds & the Bees And the Kangaroos...
Must come back with Theme images, because I really thought it was quite good.
P.S. Misty,
I had termites in Staten Island.
The Eastern Termite require access to the soil for water
and created mud tubes across concrete surfaces to gain access.
Therefore all we had to do was poison the ground around the house.
(I am not familiar with Western Termites though...)
AnonymousT: From yesterday, thank you for your concern! And thank you for taking the time to appreciate the beauty of the Yoko ONO all white chess board and pieces! Even if it is hard to understand how the game would work!
To the Anonymous critics of Lemonade: He correctly referred to the Kevin Spacey scandal. As he has tried to explain, the "kerfuffle" comment was in reference to the discussion that followed the scandal. Not a reference to the actual crimes that are alleged.
Haven't had time to finish it yet, but wanted to check in to claim victory over the opening 3-way diagonals!
Yep - it's another day (three in a row?!) with the wide diag opening.
I'll be ba-ack...
Thank you, Cross-Eyed Dave. We have to be careful with poison around the base of the house to protect my dog Dusty, who often sniffs around there. So, it's helpful for me to know that this might be an option, so I can discuss the risks with the termite guy. All this information is really helpful--thank you.
CED - TONITE as opposed to tonight will be found in Ads.
Coda: I had more ESPs: SUI, THORA. DUCT was one two b/f the V8 hit.
-T
Okay -I'm back.
Ta- DA!
Sorry about that - my rushing in and out! But I didn't want to wait to mark the latest day of diagonals. What I'd thought was fairly rare - three diagonals side by side, running unfettered from the NW to SE corners - is apparently turning out to be a common thing.
In any case, I want to thank the Clark/Chen team for today's pzl - & another chance to fill in an aesthetically-pleasing backslash opening.
No hidden messages yet. I am only trying the more obvious ways of reading and/or decoding, from straightforward (AORNE...) and backward readings (PEIUE, etc.) to sequential blocks (AS ROT URT ...), so there's a chance I am missing something.
But my best guess is that the first time such a message appears it will be in the clear.
Thanks, Lemonade, especially for filling us in on the background of Ms. Clark and veteran constructor Jeff Chen. I enjoy knowing a little about the folk who possess the skills that we find so entertaining.
I enjoyed the puns today, my favorite being RESORT TO VIOLINS. On a smaller scale, I liked PANT as perhaps the least obvious fill.
Today's gimme for me was SCARAB. I wonder why the infamous dung beetle grabbed my instant attention...?
Owen, a note in passing: I liked today's 2nd stanza (B+) most of all, as in my mind it came closest to a crisp meter. I don't know how you manage to create your poems day after day. I like to compose haiku, a fairly simple metrical form, but I can spend a couple of days trying to complete just three short lines.
I congratulate you on your talent - and discipline.
I trembled with trepidation at seeing Jeff Chen's name, but the puzzle was not as difficult as I expected it to be. Maybe I'm getting more skilled at solving. I liked the sound-change puns. Had VINTAGE at first, as many of you did, until IDEA and PERP made me change it. Loved the clue for PANT.
Marsupials are weird!
Best wishes to you all.
Making sense of the them fills was easy. Completing the SW was not and I had a DNF. With three unknown and unheard of fills- ALLOPATH, TILSIT, & BETSY or the Pioneer of 'song'- I only filled SATED, SCARAB, and RESORT TO VIOLINS. I lightly wrote in TIDE POOLS thinking maybe it could have been a TIDAL POND.
Never seen Game of Thrones, House of Cards, American Beauty, or Baywatch but with 'killing' being part of a clue I knew it was some type on 'CIDE' but REGICIDE is a new one for me; ZAC, THORA, and NEVE were perps. Also never heard of 'winken and blinken and NOD', which crossed DOH, which I think is only used by Homer and in X-word puzzles. I think most people would say 'DUH'.
But it was a damn good puzzle that wracked my brain, currently suffering from vertigo. I will now GIT out of here.
The incorrect spelling of "tonite" is a word Madison Avenue created like lofat. The dictionary also says, "[t]onite is often used in advertising in the entertainment industry in the United States, for example on signs outside theaters displaying the evening's performances. Tonight is almost always used in most other contexts such as academia, politics, news media, etc."
Sorry T, I missed your post.
Hey lemony. While you're at it, you should do some research as to dogs and their sweat glands. "The tongue is their sweat gland." Really?!?! It does help them to cool off but our friend Gareth is still stunned by that fake factoid you posted this morning.
DNF: I don't think even Google would have helped.
East central was my problem.
RUT for DIP; RNA for DNA; looking for KID*POOL (but no alternative for SATED); "Hot dog it?" is not TANK; did not get Forest Whittaker's last name and probably wouldn't have connected him with IDI Amin.
Did not get the theme.
I have no interest in ever trying bird's nest SOUP.
Waited for perps to decide on Cape ANN or COD.
I must have heard of ALLOPATH and TILSIT somewhere(?).
UTERI was a WAG; didn't know this.
VINTAGE>VINTNER; ADORATION>AFFECTION; OLAF/OLAV>ERIC.
Most of the TV references were WAGs (in this puzzle); knew names from CWs; REGICIDE was from thin air.
OwenKL: I have 50+-year-old scars from our cat; Sam was a gentle beast until you teased him too long.
From a veterinarian:
"While sweat glands are designed to aid with cooling in humans, heat release does not occur in dogs this same way. Dogs lack the normal, predominant sweat glands that humans and other species have.
How do dogs cool off?
While dogs have a small amount of sweat glands (which are prominently in the paw pads), their primary source of heat exchange (i.e., getting rid of heat) is by panting."
I.e., via the tongue and mouth. Anon @4:31 assumes sweat glands are the only method of heat exchange, so perhaps a little clarification everywhere, before firing the artillery. would make for a more pleasant day for innocent bystanders?
I was only reacting to the tidbit presented in the write up. I found it interesting enough to further research it. Turns out it was entirely false. I just brought it to the attention of others that one should not believe everything you read. I never it assumed anything, hence my curiosity and learned facts long before Michael's post.
As I mentioned earlier, dogs use their tongues to cool off (via evaporation of their saliva) there are no sweat glands in the tongue. No need to resort to violence in the discussion.
Meanwhile, my favorite SNL Weekend Update Editorial Reply
Violins on Television
BillO - LOL. Close but TIN still wins the Internet w/ Future TINS. :-)
Thanks for helping end VIOLINS and spreading Whirled Peas. Cheers, -T
How funny- I obviously did not mean that the tongue was the sweat gland, I meant, as explained by Michael, that the main way dogs cool off is by panting. I will be more careful with my word choice as both this and other comments lead to more kerfuffle.
*kerfuffles
Lemonade, don't feed the trolls!! Intelligent folk knew what you meant. The Anons have their own agenda, which has no relation to reality.
Well, Betsy from Pike gave me the answer to a long standing question. Where did the tune for the old Vietnam song, known simply as the PhuBai song, come from.
It went:
Oh PhuBai oh PhuBai's a helluva place...
The rest is an unprintable tirade of Louies vs Field grade among the chopper pilots.
I'd always suspected that I knew the verse from somewhere. But the most popular song among the pilots: ?
Home, home on the range.
"We gotta get outta this place.." was a close second.
My father was a B24 pilot and I was reading the book "Catch-22"* where Yossarian gets into a fistfight with a LtCol. I said this book is nuts. He responded "Oh no, that's exactly what it was like.
And lo and behold, at the end of a show at the O Club there was the fistfight to be broken up by a full bird.
WC
* The movie was on the other night
Yellowrocks:
Tonight at a performance of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat I thought of you and Alan. That is because the musical was performed by a group of handicapped people, about 45 or so of which my step-nephew is a part. It was thrilling and gut wrenching to watch. They were obviously enjoying themselves and at the same time putting their whole heart and soul into the acts.
The group, called Detour Company, was formed 18 years ago by a woman whose child was mentally impaired and she couldn't find suitable activities for him. It's inspiring to see these performances which they do two or three times a year. My step-nephew, Steve, has acted in everyone of them, I believe. It's stimulating and invigorating for them and impressive for us the audience.
I thought it would interest you to know about the group.
billocohoes, hilarious! Thank you, I loved all of Gilda's personalities - the very best of SNL.
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