THEMELESS SATURDAY
Alan's puzzle provided entertainment and provided new learning for this cowboy (marked in RED below)! Here are some of his gettable long fills that proved to be useful in solving:
20. '60s counterculture slogan : MAKE LOVE NOT WAR - This iconic Bernie Boston picture for the Washington Star is what always leaps to my mind for this sentiment
25. Cry of dominance : WHO'S YOUR DADDY - Yankee fans having a good time at Pedro Martinez's expense
45. 20-mile annual Boston-area fundraiser sponsored by Project Bread : WALK FOR HUNGER - The Marathon and this are big in Boston
51. Excuse for rowdy behavior : BOYS WILL BE BOYS - A lame excuse that has definitely fallen out of favor
Now let's see what else Alan has for us:Across
1. Video file format : MPEG - Moving Pictures Experts Group. Lots of internet videos use this format
5. Offenbach opera "Daphnis et __" : CHLOE - One interpretation of the story of the romance between two shepherd girls on the Isle of Lesbos written 1,800 years ago
10. Jerk's concern : SODA - The jerk is so called for this action of "jerking" the handle to get carbonated water
14. Former Sony brand : AIWA - I once had an AIWA boom box
15. Aggressive corporate tactics : RAIDS - He played a corporate RAIDER and she played a, uh, Lady of the 24. Poetic night : EEN
16. Fast-food legend : KROC - Ray Kroc did not invent McDonalds. He took (read stole) the McDonald brothers system and made it huge as seen in the 2016 movie The Founder
17. Presently : ANON
18. Mail-order outlet for outdoorsy types : ORVIS and 19. Harpsichordist Kipnis : IGOR. A Vermont based outdoor company and a musician I did not know but that's why we have perpendicular fill.
23. Math ratios : SINES - Ah, back to stuff I know, opposite/hypotenuse
30. "The Yankee Doodle Boy" composer : COHAN - Seeing Jimmy Cagney as Cohan singing Yankee Doodle Boy from the movie of the same name should be part of becoming a citizen! 😁
32. Big letters in toys : FAO - I recently posted the picture of Tom Hanks dancing on the FAO Schwarz floor piano in Big
33. CBS Sports NFL analyst Tony : ROMO - His body finally said, "That's enough" and he's now in the broadcast booth
34. Map abbr. : RTE - In my part of the world we say "rout" and in other parts they say "root". You?
35. Loosed : SET FREE - Julia Ward Howe wrote, "He has LOOSED the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword"
39. Neat ending? : NIK - Felix not Oscar
40. After-lunch sandwich : OREO - Haven't we had this word before? 😜
42. Word with big or house : CAT - My loving wife with our BIG HOUSE CAT
43. Together : AS ONE - When the Huskers do their tunnel walk, the fans rise AS ONE
49. "Macbeth" character : HAG - Shakespeare's non-PC designation
50. Gay leader? : ENOLA - This plate tells you where my Mom worked during WWII and where this particular B-29 that became the ENOLA GAY was assembled
57. Defeat soundly : DRUB
58. Serve : AVAIL
59. Per : A POP - $2 A POP for bottled water makes it way more expensive than gasoline. Talk about marketing!
60. "No prob!" : EASY
61. Merci, across the border : DANKE - DANKE Schön worked for Wayne Newton and Ferris Bueller
62. Nigerian pop star : SADE - Born in Ibadan, Nigeria
63. Cry of glee : WHEE
65. Side for a dog : SLAW - KFC has wonderful cole SLAW
Down
1. Hat-tipper's word : MAAM - Can you tip a ball cap that is on backwards?
2. Fruit in un cóctel : PINA -Pineapple es "piña" en español (Pineapple is piña in Spanish)
3. Fuzzy Endor resident : EWOK - A Star Wars cast member
4. Hindu god with the head of an elephant : GANESHA
5. Sings smoothly : CROONS - Harry Connick Jr., Michael Buble'...
6. "Family Feud" host since 2010 : Steve HARVEY
7. Exists simply : LIVES OFF THE LAND 8. Valhalla VIP : ODIN - ODIN rules over Valhalla - "The house of the slain"
9. ExxonMobil trade name : ESSO
10. Garb for schussing : SKI WEAR - Not much use here for us flatlanders
11. Transplant figure : ORGAN DONOR - This shows 1) I take a lousy picture, 2) my hair is gray and 3) I am a an ORGAN DONOR
12. Way out : DOOR
13. Spanning: Abbr. : ACR - The Royal Gorge Bridge near Canon City, CO spans ACRoss the Arkansas river at 1,000 ft up but all you can do is cross it and turn right around and come back
21. Only NFC team that hasn't played in a Super Bowl : LIONS
22. Talks acronym : TED - Thought provoking online talks about Technology, Entertainment and Design. See more at ted.com
25. Area of expertise : WHEELHOUSE - Give me the microphone to talk about space and I'm good to go!
26. Nasser's org. : UAR - In last Saturday's puzzle it was 15. Group formed in Cairo in 1945 : ARAB LEAGUE
27. Caviar : ROE
28. Key of Beethoven's Ninth: Abbr. : D MIN - This choral part still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
29. Tie on the farm : YOKE
30. Talk big : CROW - Peter Pan's self aggrandizing anthem
31. Not esta or esa : OTRA - Not esta (this) or esa (that) but OTRA (another)
36. "Foucault's Pendulum" author : ECO - Umberto ECO's satirical novel
37. Crew member : TAR - Or gob, swab, swabbie, salt, sea dog...
38. Apollo 11 lander : EAGLE - "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the EAGLE has landed"
41. "See ya later" : OKAY BYE
44. Fish market offering : SEA BASS
46. NFL threes : FGS - The behemoths play for 59 minutes and then the smallest guy on the squad comes in to decide the game with his kicking
47. Facebook reversal : UNLIKE - I had to "UNFRIEND" several people in 2016 because I got tired of them 56. Expel strongly : SPEWing their political opinions whether I agreed or not. There's a time and place
48. Word in Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy : NOBLER - Sometimes it is NOBLER to "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" than to "take arms against a sea of trouble." Hill worth dying on?
51. "My man!" : BRAH - Brother -> Bro -> BRAH
52. Cross a stream, perhaps : WADE
53. English : John :: Slavic : __ : IVAN In Spanish, it would be Juan and 约翰 in Chinese
54. Girasol, e.g. : OPAL - Yeah, I didn't know either. Also called Moon Opal
55. Sci-fi character voiced by Frank Oz : YODA - Oh, that's how it's done!
57. Green moisture : DEW - Early golfers are called "DEW Sweepers"
Time now for your pertinent or impertinent remarks:
DA GRID
DA GRID
73 comments:
Hi Y'all! WHEE! I filled this about 10 minutes faster than usual on Saturday, despite thinking this was not in my WHEEL HOUSE. Thanks, Alan. Another great one, Gary.
I knew only 2 out of all the names in the N tier: Not Koch bur KROC & HARVEY (I watch Family Feud during meals as the most digestion compatible show available). Jerk's concern: not Self but SODA. Duh! Took a lot of WAGs without many perps to rassle this baby into shape.
Remember when an ORGAN DONOR was only the rich guy who donated a pipe organ to the church?
BOYS WILL BE BOYS: Is there a male alive who hasn't behaved inappropriately in some small way at some time? That's why mothers were invented.
I never knew "WHOSE YOUR DADDY?" was a "cry of dominance". Here I thought it was just a nosy question.
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR: still the smartest move in world diplomacy unless it's with someone inappropriate.
Nice in my WHEELHOUSE puzzle today -- Science fiction mini-theme with EWOK, YODA, and ENDER, supplemented by mythical characters who turn up in fantasy, GANESHA, ODIN, HAG; and real-life technology, too, like SINE, TED Talks, EAGLE!
From Indiana, a DRUBBING in not made EASY,
They don't CROW by taunting "WHO'S YOUR DADDY?"
No, when rivals fall
They've their own CAT-call --
They shout out with glee, "Hoosier Daddy!"
[My LW was born and raised in Indiana, got her degrees from I.U., and although it's been decades since she lived there, she has a whole collection of "Hoosier" T-shirts!]
Don't feed the trolls, who go by Anon.,
It just gives them leave to go on and on!
It will do no AVAIL,
To argue will fail,
But give them no fodder, they'll depart ANON!
{B-, B+.}
Greetings!
Thanks to Alan and Husker!
Fantastic, a doable Sat. puzzle!
There were some unknowns which perped and WAGged out, fortunately!
Here they are: ORVIS, ROMO, GANESHA, FGS and OPAL.
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
Can't tell you what a great joy it is to check this blog each day after (usually!) completing the puzzle. Thanks for your efforts. It adds to my day!
What I can't understand is how you have the comments and answers posted before I even see the puzzle at 6 AM on the East Coast.
Good morning!
How can I go wrong? Let me count the ways... This was a Wite-Out festival, and I almost turfed it smack-dab in the middle. I was absolutely certain the "Crew member" was an OAR, and with the clue "Loosed," it would probably end in a D. That gave me SEOFRED. Looked at it for quite awhile before the light came on. Thanx, Alan and Husker.
I guess I haven't seen Family Feud in a long time. I only remember Richard Dawson as the host. He was also in Hogan's Heroes.
Anybody else think those opals looked like breast implants?
Anon@6:16, the blogger of the day gets a prepublication copy of the puzzle, so the writeup can be prepared in advance.
Enjoyed HARVEY intersecting with WHOSYOURDADDY because Harvey was ours!
Started 7d with ...griD instead of LAND, SW had problems until enough crosses filled in. GANESHA and ENDER were new to me
Take a walk through Orvis flagship store in Manchester, VT. They have a trout pond in the store plus a big pond outside. They make their fishing rods there, too.
Great puzzle today. Couldn't sovle today without about six lookups . FLN kerfuffle I though it was kerfluffle from - fluffing - a word we encouraged our kids to use when talking about breaking wind. Our attemp at sugar coating or as the mother tongue puts it " speaking through the flower"
Hello Puzzlers -
Lots of little flubs along the way today, starting with Akai where Aiwa was meant to be. Oops. Got there eventually. Nicely placed floor-to-ceiling fill in the grid!
I’m not familiar with the use of “who’s your daddy”. I gather it’s a sports taunt.
It seems as though Family Feud is always there when we first turn on the TV. What garbage!
Howdy Husker, you’re a natural for this job.
PK 4:15 - I’m an organ donor in that sense, but without the wealth. Our local church decided to get an electronic organ in order to be done with the expense of the faulty old pipe organ; I happily agreed to take the old instrument off their hands, with a view toward re-assembling it in my home. Within a decade I realized the impracticality of this scheme, and donated the organ to a restoration company. It was fun for a while.
D. Otto - now that you mention it...
Alan's got a twofer today. He also created the NYT puzzle. That one beat me up.
An EASY Saturday puzzle! Thank you, Alan DerKazarian.
Most of the fill was in my WHEELHOUSE and what I didn't know emerged from the perps. Unknowns were ENDER, BRAH, which I was certain was wrong, FGS, and not sure about GANESHA. That one took every perp.
My weak areas are sports and Hindu deity.
The long spanners were all familiar phrases.
Thank you, Gary for a colorful commentary.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Thought it was BIKE or RIDE for hunger. Once I peeked and put in WALK was able to finish that section and the puzzle. Overall, not too hard for a Saturday. Liked the long answers. Who's your daddy - in the end, Pedro got the better of the Yankees, will never forget 2004!!!
Re "English: John / Slavic: ____"
It is IVAN in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene and Ukrainian; but it is JAN in Polish (and also in Czech and Slovene), IOAN in Romanian, and IOAN, YOAN and YANKO also in Bulgarian.
Good Morning.
This was especially fun for me. I have been very busy this last two weeks and off my morning game. I expected to fail fully with this one. Ah ha! It was indeed, somehow, in my WHEELHOUSE! Nicely done. Alan. Thanks for confirming what I believed to be true about the DER in an Armenian surname. I learned that from my Bio lab partner in high school. His great-grandfather was also the source of his name. I can remember such info from more than a half century ago, and every detail of the EAGLE landing, but often, I cannot find my glasses! Hmmm. . . .
Thanks, Gary for another grand tour. I knew JERK certainly didn't refer to the server, but I wasn't sure about the job that earned the title. I often think of the $2 A POP price relative to gasoline. I have often thought wondered what the cost of the spices on the shelf would be if they were sold by the pound! Must be the most expensive aisle in the store. You DL looks like my new Illinois version. Wonder if it meets some federal standard. . . .
HOOSIER Mama Pie Company in Evanston is a great spot for sweets and sandwiches--with or without the great coffee.
PK: from a bit ago. I would find mini OREOs dangerous, not as a choking hazard, but because they would be way too easy to eat!!!! ;-).
It's a chilly one today, so stay cozy!
Quicker than usual for a Saturday - probably because the longer answers were in my WHEELHOUSE which then made the perps easier. Usually it's the perps on Saturday that help me finally get the longer answers.
I did not know BRAH and forgot that GANESHA had an A on the end. And yes D-O those do look like implants - I remember my plastics rotation in med school where there would be a tray with those on it and the surgeon would try various ones before finding a good match and closing up- it always made me think of trying on shoes.
Thanks HG for the write-up and especially the "Ode to Joy" -always inspiring and to Alan for a fun puzzle!
Stay warm and safe - everyone who was in Storm Hunter's path
Welcome Alan. I'm glad your grandfather escaped from Eastern Turkey-alive- and you were able to construct the puzzle for us today.
I can't say WHEE. It was a DNF today due to my sloppy penmanship and not bothering to read the clue for 33A, which I definitely knew but somehow filled as POMO instead of Tony ROMO. The long fills were gimmes, easy enough for a Monday puzzle but some of the fills were complete unknowns. TED, GANESHA, AIWA, ORVIS, IGOR Kipnis, ENDER Wiggin. I'd heard of AIWA but never seen or heard of the other five, all filled by perps. I had FORD before WADE took over. I never knew SADE was Nigerian, only a Marquis.
Wayne Newton couldn't correctly pronounce DANKE 'shane'. I don't know or care to learn how to type an 'umlaut'.
Family Feud Host- Richard DAWSON fit but I know he's dead, so Steve HARVEY it is. Not as good.
Good morning everyone.
No long horizontal stacks today; but some lengthy fills with perky slogans. Tried to relate 'merci' to English, but then loosed my mind and tried DANKE. Voilà, it worked with the n and k cross. Did get bolluxed up in the center with SET FREE. Sigh. Great Saturday puzzle. This about the 3rd of Alan's puzzles that I recall. Roughly one a year?
Re Alan: I don't recall that I've shared this before. A web search seems to indicate that Alan's Dad is interred in the same cemetery as our daughter, Mt. Auburn in Cambridge, MA. We lost her to cancer, 5 years ago this month at age 46.
Thanks Alan for an engaging puzzle, and to Husker for an always stellar intro.
Good Morning:
This was such a smooth solve due to the four long phrases, which were very easy to deduce, with just a few letters filled in. I consider it a FIW, though, as the crossing of MPEG/Ganesha required four guesses before I put in the "G" and then got the tada. My w/os were Each/Apop, Otro/Otra and, like billocohoes, Grid/Land. Learning moment was the Lions dubious distinction. I believe we've had Brah before.
Thanks, Alan, for an enjoyable Saturday stroll and thanks, HG, for being our dependable, delightful docent. Lily is such a pretty kitty!
We had sleet early this morning and right now it's snowing. It's a perfect day to be curled up with a good book!
Have a great day.
Easier than yesterday, no prob! But, I had a careless mistake. I thought the Hindu god was GANESHE. When I filled in COHAN, I forget to change the E to A. DOH! Of course, it's CohAn.
I have seen many pictures and photos of GANESHA.
CHLOE was my first fill. Daphnis and Chloe was part of my ex's extensive music collection. I knew IGOR and IVAN. Took a while for me to remember ECO.
ORVIS, ENDER and BRAH were new to me.
OKL, I liked the second one best.
PK, I see you are still up in the middle of the night. I hope you get some rest soon.
We had breakfast with a long time friend this AM. Freezing drizzle was forecast, but instead it turned cold and sunny. I am glad, because we have been postponing our date.
Fun puzzle, Alan. Witty and informative write-up, Gary.
Have a great weekend.
I saw an interesting TV biography about how Roy Kroc bought out McDonald's and built it into a huge success story.
Greetings!
I found today's puzzle to be enjoyable, though with eight unknowns, I needed google help to finish. I also did not realize that "WHO'S YOUR DADDY?" was a cry of dominance. Thanks for the challenge, Alan. And thanks for the expo, Husker Gary, and for being our new Saturday guide.
Enjoy the day!
YR:
Last night I wrote you a message which upon reflection should have probably e-mailed it. I hope you saw/see it.
Thanks, Alan, for an enjoyable Saturday solve..... not to much on the first pass, but all filled in nicely in short time!
Thanks, HG, also, for your great write-ups, links, and pics!
Well, it's a poor day when you don't learn something. I guess that makes today a wealthy one; lots of learning moments! Somehow I had it as GANESH in my mind and then found myself short a letter. I knew GERITOL but GIRASOL? Not so much. The northern tier fell quickly but then I got to the midwest...
I did FIR, but it took tons o'perps.
Gary, I always look forward to your expositions but you outdid yourself today. Love all the pictures.
After a yesterday of gloomy, windy (VERY windy), snowy weather it's nice to have a blue sky today. Still rilly chilly though.
Have a good day, all.
why is a cookie after lunch? If you were fortunate enough to have mom include a couple of oreos or a twinkie it was part of your lunch, just like desert is part of supper. DNF
Boston events other than the Marathon/Patriots day are unknown here in the west. I don't like puzzles with Hindu deities and multiple translations from languages other than Latin. BLAH to todays clueing !
FLN, Lucina, thanks for the thoughtful comment. I thought I had read all the posts before I went to bed. That is very interesting group. It is heartening to see people like this group participating in something they so thoroughly enjoy. I am glad your step nephew was an eager part of it.
Alan really enjoyed the beginner square dance at my recent birthday party. In two weeks we will have an open to the public beginner dance at our club. Alan is eager to attend.
Well, I was so happy when I saw the grid, thinking this was going to be an easier Saturday than usual. But, alas, 'twas not to be. I did get a few on the first round: CHLOE, ECO, and ENOLA (thanks for the question mark, Alan), among a few others. But then I had to start cheating. The LA Times puzzle didn't have the clue for 57 down, by the way, but no big deal, perps filled it in. Lots of fun clues and answers. Getting SODA for Jerk's concern cracked me up. So did SLAW for Side of a dog, and OREO for After-lunch sandwich. But lots of unknowns for me. Never heard of GANESHA or BRAH. Kept looking at BRAH after it filled in and thinking 'that can't be right.' Guess not hanging around teenagers anymore takes its toll when it comes to slang. Anyway, fun Saturday puzzle, many thanks, Alan (great pic!), and delightful expo, Husker Gary. Loved seeing pictures of both you and your wife and that sweet kitty.
Spitzboov, what a sad report about your daughter. My heart goes out to you and your family.
Quick update on my termite inspection. What I thought were termites turned out to be silver fish, but as it happens, I do have termites, though, thank goodness they'll be treated without tenting. The nasty surprise was to learn that there were tons of rat droppings in the attic, which will require extensive work to clean up and prevent in the future. I won't even mention the cost of all this work because it will just depress me on a sunny, lovely Saturday morning.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Hi All!
Thank you Alan! That was fun romp through the grid, er, LAND. The puzzle was just perp-friendly enough that I could get c/as like CHL-E xing -DIN. I was hung up on 25d for the longest time until the first BOY went in and the V8 hit. //Like we don't say WHEELHOUSE at least 2x a week at the Corner :-)
Excellent expo HG. I can't get enough Ode to Joy. [5:41].
WOs: cROk b/f swapping, DANKa, LIVE OFF THE grid (Hi BillO & IM!)
ESPs: CHLOE, ODIN, IGOR, COHAN, ECO, OPAL (as clued/shown [LOL DO]), ENDER.
Fav: MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR BRAH
Runner-up: The NOBLER EAGLE xing ENOLA Gay; [see fav]
{B+,A}
Misty - that's good(ish) news about the termites; I take it Dusty's not a ratter.
Think YODA, after a kick ass battle*, CROWs "YOUR DADDY, WHOmmm"?
OKAY BYE, -T
*top that silliness CED - no, please, top it :-)
YR, thank you for your concern about my rest. Actually, I'm getting plenty of sleep but not at the desired time. Right now I'm having trouble staying awake in the evening to watch my favorite TV shows. Some 24 hr. periods I've had 10-16 hrs. of sleep. I'll sit down to read and zonk out, wake up in my chair one to three hours later, cold if Im not covered -- as I did after posting this morning. Driving me nuts.
Gary, interesting about your mom. Did she work on the airplane production line or in an office or something?
Misty, never know what creepy crawlies you have in your house. I had what I thought was a swarm of winged termites in one window casing a few years ago. Sprayed them and called the exterminator. Don't know why I did it, but I put a few of the little bodies in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Good thing I did. By the time the exterminator came the next day, all the bodies had been carried off by their brethren working in pairs. Astonished me. I saw a few of them go. Turned out they were carpenter ants swarming. Sprayed and never saw any more. It would take a book to tell all my vermin stories from the farm. Always feel violated with uninvited "guests".
Well I’m happy anytime to get a Saturday solve.
Musings
-PK, my mom worked in the office at the Martin Bomber Plant and she said she walked to and from downtown Omaha at night to see movies without any fear. She wouldn’t today.
-Anonymous T – I almost posted a version of Ode To Joy which featured 10,000 Japanese musicians both playing in the orchestra and singing the German lyrics but it was 14 min. long. Google it for real cross-cultural treat.
-Thanks for the kind words about Joann and Lily and my write-up which I love doing
-Here are some one-hit-wonders singing the The Jerk
-A google search for stupid Family Feud answers is worth a few minutes!
-I’m still waiting for your pronunciation input for ROUTE – root or rout. It’s the latter around here.
Knowing that a variety of solvers will find a variety of difficulties I hesitate to describe a Saturday puzzle as easier than expected, but I have to make an exception today. I found this one to be the 3rd Wednesday level of the week. The first coming on Monday, and the second coming on Wednesday. A marvelous puzzle to be sure with many original clues and entries. A double on Star Wars and music. My familiarity with girasol came from a movie with Sophia and Marcello, so I had no idea how to fit the answer in until the crosses helped me out.
Nat ”King” Cole sang Root 66 But I tend to use rout for the path traveled
With out a doubt, rout here.
HG - I Google'd the 10,000 and it was worth it. Thanks x2.
Re: root v. rout; it depends... Root 66 but rout 390. Also, rout around X by taking root 12. I'm not sure why this is... Syllabic-count reasons?
Of course, an Internet Packet-mover is a rout'er.
W/ the S in place @10a, did no one think Jerk's concern was S*** / Shinola?
Cheers, -T
Anon @6:16 -- the LA Times posts the new puzzle on its web site at midnight PST, and I think the Chicago Trib does, too. So it is available ... but you have to slog through the endless advertising on the Times' site.
Ah, Misty, didn't they give you a blank Bankruptcy Petition form when you signed all the paperwork to buy your home? They should have, as homes are almost as expensive as children are.
Rout. Always rout in west central IL.
I can get the LAT on the Mensa site just after midnight in our EST zone. When I can't sleep, I print the LAT from this site. Hello, PK!
Here we say,"What route (rout) will you take?" meaning course of travel or as Billo said, path traveled. We refer to the highways as "roots," Rte. 66, Rte. 10, Rte.80.
Misty, I agree. I feel violated by these small invaders. Treating them early is key. I am sure you have done this, but just in case, have you checked out the reliability of your exterminators.There is a tremendous range in the reliability and fees of exterminators. Some low cost ones are more reliable than the expensive ones. The reliable ones will give free revisits if the problem is not solved.
Madame D. It is amazing the scraps of esoteric info I can recall when I realize I cannot find something I just laid down two minutes ago.
I like Ode to Joy. Someone, please link the Japanese version. If it is too long, others can skip it.
YR - Here's the 18m Ode I found after HG's post. -T
Hi Gary. I grew up in Virginia, went to college in upstate New York and moved to California after graduation so my rout/root usage is an amalgamation. When a friend earned money delivering newspapers, that was a paper rout. When I wonder which road to take, that is a root. Dunno why...
Misty, I'm glad you can avoid tenting. I will never do that again. BTW, you generally don't find evidence of a termite infestation by seeing termites. They produce a "kickout" hole to get rid of their waste products (poop). That looks like tiny little round pellets; looking almost like sand or pepper or ... When you find that evidence when vacuuming or dusting, look straight up and that's where the culprits are. Anyway, maybe you will avoid the problem now.
I agree there was Wednesday cluing and gettable long fills albeit some trickery. I debated on UAR vs UAE; then I filled FOO where FAO sb. So, carelessness killed the Wilbur.
I recall the song earlier than 1962 but thought She?? was talking about a guy name Don Q. Shane. A cool CAT.
So, 48D wasn't BODKIN not to speak of FARDEL(s).
Dudley, I guess Redsox nation doesn't reach West of Worcester* if you don't recall Pedro and his "Daddy". So much for trying to use American slang.
* The Jesuits referred to anything West of Worcester as barbarian country.
I see some of you (PVX?) do the NYT. I thought of you when I discovered the Rebus which represented Rudolph's nose not unlike the mischievous PEA from an earlier Shell game.
Where are the boys?
Owen I love your Bs and Cs
WC early for a Saturday
Fun puzzle; I liked it. Only one answer that made me wrinkle my nose, namely FGS (does anybody ever really call a field goal an FG?) and one clue, namely "Green moisture" for DEW (is dew green?). Otherwise I enjoyed solving it. Hand up for having to change LET FREE to SET FREE, for having FORD before WADE, and for thinking the Hindu god's name was GANESH or GANESHE. So COHEN it was until I resorted to red letter help which steered me to changing that E to an A. At least I did remember we had BRAH not too long ago; apparently that is the current Hawaiian pronunciation of BRO. (I don't watch Hawaii Five-O so I don't know if they use that term or pronounce it that way on the show.)
Gary, thanks again for a terrific write-up. Lovely pictures.
We pronounce it "rout" except when we say we are "on root" (en route).
Hey, 约翰 was my name when I was in Taiwan.
WHOSYOURDADDY was a cheat code in the old game of Warcraft 3.
Man oh man, I just read that Charles Dutoit, the orchestra conductor, has been accused of sexual assault and rape, and London's Royal Philharmonic has cut ties with him. Other world-famous orchestras that he has been associated with are also disavowing him.
Misty, good luck in eradicating the various critters.
inanehiker, interesting comment about trying on shoes.
Best wishes to you all.
Anonymous T,
You requested Silly?
As someone earlier mentioned: DEW referred to the Golf greens early in the morning.
And the hint for FGS was NFL eg Abbr.
WC
Thank you for all the kind words and advice on my termite+ problem, AnonT, Michael, Jayce, Bill G., and PK. The anxiety will continue until this is over at the end of the month. Will let you know how it goes when I get the first treatment next Friday. Attic rats treatments come two weeks later. I'm afraid that if my Dachshund Dusty ever saw a rat, he'd bark EEK in dog-speak and scurry off.
Ta- DA!
Mr. DerKazarian was either on my wavelength, or I was on his, as this seemed the easiest Saturday pzl I've faced in a very long time.
When a pzl falls into my lap, I really wonder whether I'm just extra-sharp & super-shrewd on that given morning, or the constructor is going easy on us all. That's when I check around among my fellow cruciverbalists to learn the majority opinion.
And - Jeez, Louise! - wasn't that deflating!
The first several responders, starting with PK and running through fermatprime and many more, found Alan dK's opus an easy-peasy handout. Everybody seemed to be singing, "Winner-winner-chicken-dinner"!
But then, just as I was about to eat CROW, I saw that some of my brighter colleagues (Misty, are you there?) were stumped by this one.
So, what does this go to show? That the list of variables in Crosswordlandia is still as long as ever, and the days of our victories and defeats cannot be determined by a single perspective.
What else may be said about today's Xwd? Well, for one, it broke the near week-long streak of wide diagonal openings. But it compensated by giving us a mirror diagonal (NE to SW), didn't it?
Any tough spots? It looks like a few of us paused, or erased & revised, like desper-otto at 35A. I too had SEOFRED for a while. We are so accustomed to filling OAR as a "Crew member," we rarely think twice about it.
HuskerG, thanks once again for a fine write-up. I enjoyed learning a bit about today's Armenian host. And, speaking of diversity, it was fun to be reminded of Mr. George M, Cohan and that delightful old film, Yankee Doodle Dandy!
The movie is so popular, I'll bet nearly everyone thinks of Jimmy Cagney's face whenever Mr. Cohan is mentioned. If anyone is wondering what the real McCoy looked like, here is the actual George Michael Cohan ...
This weekend marks the 22nd anniversary in Ol' Man Keith's household.
It is strange and wonderful to contemplate how 21st century lives count decades differently than in the past. This was a late-in-life re-marriage for both of us, so who would have thought we'd rack up so many adventures over so many happy years?!
I thank my stars for Janice, my third and final bride!
I had "Live off the grid" to start with. Living off the land seems anything but simple - but that probably says more about my skills (or lack thereof) than about the clue.
Well, I just discovered a purported piece of spyware on my Windows 10 computer, called HP Touchpoint Analytics Client. It was installed on my computer without my knowledge or consent back in November, apparently during a routine update. (We have an HP printer.) I have just now uninstalled it, and there seem to be no deleterious effects from having removed it. Anonymous-T, do you have any information or advice to give us on this matter? Thanks!
Congratulations, Ol' Man Keith and Janice!
Thanks very much, Jayce!
How do I find out if I have that HP Touchpoint thingamabob?
I have an iMac desktop and a Macbook: do I need to worry?
I'm not a Mac guy, but I bet you can tell whether or not you have it by looking in the Applications folder on your hard drive. If it's there, it will be named "HP Touchpoint Analytics Client" or something similar. Drag it to the trash. If you don't own an HP printer you very likely won't have it anyway, so no worries. If you do, but do not have automatic updates for it enabled, you probably don't have it. It won't adversely affect your computer, so no worries in that regard. All it does (and that's a big "all" to me) is send, daily, information to Hewlett-Packard about your computer and how you are using it. The more I research it, the more I think it only affects computer running Microsoft Windows. Have a look at, for example, here and here. Don't worry, my friend. You're probably fine.
Husker Gary, thanks for the recommendation of the Japanese mass rendition of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It is an amazingly powerful performance. What a cultural landmark!
The Japanese often celebrate New Year's with the Ninth; they see it as a humanistic bonding event. To see and hear Japanese singing Schiller's German lyrics puts me in mind of other cross-cultural experiences, such as the current diverse casting of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton on Broadway.
The conscious ignoring of ethnic differences, while offensive to a few ultra-conservatives, is a reminder that our common humanity is more important than social factors and superficial racial traits.
Ta-Nehisi Coates was once challenged to "Name the Tolstoy of the Zulus!"
His answer was simple and direct: "Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus."
Exactly. No group or sect "owns" universal genius. And, lest anyone miss the point, Toni Morrison is the Morrison of Russians; Goethe is the Goethe of Brazilians; Dante is the Dante of Cambodians...
And Shakespeare is the Shakespeare of all humanity.
Happy 22nd anniversary Keith & Janice!
Keith I didn't say or think the puzzle was easy peasy. I thought it was hard but it went faster than usual, probably because the long sayings went in fairly easily once there were enough perps to glomb onto it.
Did anyone read the list of Tony ROMO's injuries. Man, I bet he aches when a weather front comes in -- if not all the time. Why anyone wants to play rough contact sports is beyond me. I got enough breaks being cautious.
Thanks again, Jayce.
I checked my Applications and did not see it. My printer is a Canon, so that may be what's protecting me.
Just to be sure, I checked my Canon utilities folder, and did not see anything suspicious.
One more personal note about Beethoven's Ninth.
Back in the '80s I was on a rail and hiking tour of Germany and Poland. I arrived in Berlin on a Sunday and asked at the info kiosk whether there were any "events" I might check out that day. A lady steered me to the dedication of a new museum, an outdoor event featuring music groups.
I went to the locale and was delighted to find that the Berlin Phil would be performing Beethoven's Ninth! I was in for a real treat!
Just after I arrived, the musicians and chorus filed into their places. The crowd went immediately into a respectful silence, and the music began.
While the grand themes soared, my gaze took in the whole scene - of people young and old, families that had come to picnic, and single wanderers like me. My eyes landed on signs announcing the event. Some signs celebrated a long history of Prussian liberalism and tolerance. (We forget that prior to the 20th century, Prussia was sometimes the progressive leader of middle Europe.)
Then I found a sign that said this new museum of tolerance was being erected on the grounds of the former Gestapo headquarters.
The Ninth Symphony seemed the perfect antidote to a toxic dose of recent history. It alone could not sanctify the grounds. But it offered the right sentiment for a fresh start.
Our freeway is now not only closed, but there is no date for it to re-open. In many places a freeway is just a fast bypass. Here it is the only way in or out of town. The mud slide is so bad: As they remove the mud and water on the freeway, more just pours down from above. I tried bicycling over to see what was going on, but a broken gas main is so dangerous they are not letting anyone in the area.
Lots of unknowns, but crosses let me FIR. A satisfying achievement! Good to learn about the constructor!
Here again is the ENOLA GAY. I was there with my best friend from high school who lives near this branch of the Air and Space Museum in Northern Virginia
A copy of the EAGLE is at the other branch of the museum.
Hand up I thought it was GANESH. I had a Hindu girlfriend for many years. GANESH(A) is probably the most popular god. Everyone loves elephants! If you have never heard a TED talk, you don't know what you are missing. Free online.
This outdoorsman never heard of ORVIS. Learning moment. Learning moment SADE was born in Nigeria.
Here is Smooth Operator by SADE.
Does this sound familiar?
GIRASOL is so weird even Google does not seem to know it.
Other unknowns (as clued): FGS, BRAH, HARVEY, ENDER, ROMO.
Nice CAT, Husker Gary! Glad you are also an ORGAN DONOR. Glad if someone can use mine when I can't use them anymore.
Wow, a powerful performance indeed! Imagine getting 10,000 people to synchronize on anything, let alone such a magnificent performance. It made the hair on my neck stand up, too, as well as having brought tears to eyes. Man oh man, the various new pathways you people on this blog open up! I love it.
That first Ode; The little girl that starts it and then stands there through the whole thing only to disappear in the final seconds. Where did she go?
How kind, Ol'Man Keith, but surely I don't talk CROW (whatever that means?). Do I have to eat it since I don't get it?
The Ode to Joy
Wouldn’t you love to be part of this?
Schiller and Beethoven address their Ode to Earth’s “millions.” Don't the Japanese have the perfect response?
I hope listeners get to know the words. They fill anyone who hears them with the joy of overcoming divisiveness, of a massive victory over pettiness and hate.
When circumstances look bleak and answers seem distant, this can rally the spirit. Schiller sings of winning humanity’s common battles through unity - "freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen!"
I quit signing my organ donation card because I've reached a point where I don't think my organs would be of benefit to anyone. They aren't doing a very good job for me now. It would be a waste of time and money to try to transplant them. I'm wanting a full-body transplant.
Speaking of eating crow, I should figure out how to cook one. I’d call the recipe Corbin Tetrazzini.
Even better: Corbin Bleu
It makes me happy that I live after Beethoven.
Life was poorer without his music. Imagine being a medieval king, with access to all the luxuries the world can give you. Then think how sad your life is because you can't hear the Moonlight Sonata - or any of the symphonies.
That's not all. So many artists have yet to be. You can't hear Strauss, or Mahler. You can't see any of Michelangelo's painting or statuary. You can't read Cervantes or Tolstoy, or see Shakespeare.
Nope - You don't even have Shakespeare to show you how to be a king.
Our son, Tim, used our financial gifts at Christmas and his birthday to buy a fairly expensive drone. He brought it over today and flew it from our backyard. He could make it hover, maneuver, take photos and climb to about 400 feet, where it was almost out of sight. Very cool.
OMK@ 7:32:
Here! Here! Aptly put.
Way cool Bill G about the drone. I have been less successful with an inexpensive one I bought. Can you tell us the specific drone model your son Tim bought?
Late to the party but I got 'er done. Thanks for the fun, Alan and HuskerG.
This required P&P (as YR would say).
Hand up for having Ganeshe giving Cohen instead of COHAN giving me a FIR.
Another hand up for Self before SODA and Let before SET FREE.
I wanted the cry of glee to be WhooHoo (hi Misty -Hope you can say that when the exterminator is finished his work) but there was only room for WHEE.
This Canadian says root for any usage (and ab-ow-t). LOL!
Stay safe Picard.
Happy Anniversary OMK and Janice.
Spitzboov, sympathy in the anniversary month of your loss.
Thank you, CanadianEh--I hope so too!
OMK:
Though it's late I hope you see this.
Congratulations to you and Janice on your anniversary!
BillG - I think that's why I root /rout too... Too many Areas I've been confuse grey cells...Mine.
WC - LOL your cool CAT. FYI - The BOYS are back in town [Thin Lizzy].
CED - You win... I was going w/ Coconut, in the Lime.. Seagulls were over the top... LOL & good show.
Congrats on 22 OMK.
Cheers, -T
Misty and Canadian Eh. Thank you for your kind notes. We lost her on Jan 17, 2013; she suffered from uterine stromal sarcoma for which there is no known treatment. Many in the Blog offered their heartfelt condolences at the time and gave us much comfort.
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