JW is back again with one of his specialties, the "add letters to known phrases" gimmick. This time "AS" is added with a nice simple reveal. I am curious if you all are becoming so familiar with Jeffrey's style, that his Fridays do not seem as difficult as they once did.
As with all of his puzzles, there are tricky clues, sparkly fill like: BRITON, BY AREA, CITY JAIL, FROTHING, GUTTURAL and OUTSTRIP. There also some very funny fill like JUMPING JACKASS and ALL BEASTS ARE OFF. The marvel of JW is that as he beats you up making the puzzle a challenge, his cluing and fill make you smile.
No more delay
17A. *Dog that really needs a bath? : GREASY HOUND (11). The base is GREYHOUND which is the outlier. It is only one word, and the basic meaning of hound stays the same.
22A. *Donkey that has mastered the hurdles? : JUMPING JACKASS (14). JUMPING JACKS were such an important part of the early exercise in my life.
32A. *Holiday employment schedule in "Animal Farm"? : ALL BEASTS ARE OFF (15). ALL BETS ARE OFF is a nice phrase similar to:
47A. *Offer to acquire a rising agent? : I'LL GET YOU YEAST (14). I'LL GET YOU YET.
55A. When required ... or a terse hint to solving the starred clues: AS NECESSARY (11). Literally "AS" is necessary to get the fill.
Across:
1. Med. recording: ECG. I fell for EKG first.
4. Type sizes: PICAS. When I began working, I knew pica and elite - that was all.
9. "__, then ... ": IF SO.
13. __ Post: Nassau County, N.Y. school: LIU. This the current incarnation of CW POST COLLEGE, named for the founder of Post Cereals, Postum coffee substitute and eventually General Foods. The family history is interesting and timely as his daughter, Marjorie Merryweather Post had Mar-a-Lago built.
14. Spectacle: ECLAT. Interesting to see in a puzzle along with 1D. Joie de vivre: ELAN.
15. Haunted house sound: WAIL.
16. Letters on a communications corp. logo: ATT. American Telephone and Telegraph.
19. The Gray Lady of the press: Abbr. : NYT. Our friend the New York Times.
20. Exile of 1979: AMIN. The last king of Scotland? He only ruled for 8 years.
21. Els on greens: ERNIE.
26. AB negative, among blood types: RAREST.
27. Cockpit no. : ALT. An abbreviation for Altimeter, or Altitude on a plane, but also for; Altbier, German beer; Alternate character, in online gaming; Alternate route, type of highway designation; Alternating group, mathematical concept; Alternative lifestyle; Alternative rock.
28. Prepared: SET.
29. Big Ben feature: DIAL.
30. Odysseus' faithful dog: ARGOS. Sad tale; the dog waited 20 years for his master to come home and died when Odysseus returned.
39. Friend of d'Artagnan: ATHOS. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
41. One-fifth of MD: CCC. Roman math- 1500/5= 300.
44. Swindle: CON.
45. Any Beatle, say: BRITON. The name meaning a citizen or native of Great Britain was borrowed from the historic CELTIC BRITONS.
51. Give one final flicker: GO OUT.
52. Greatly reduced sea: ARAL. And its similar sounding: 50D. Range with one end in Kazakhstan: URALS.
53. Old possessive: THY.
58. Where Simone Biles won four golds: RIO.
59. Welsh actor Roger: REES. I knew this ACTOR first from Cheers.
60. Subway entrance: STILE.
61. Lake Mich. state: INDiana.
62. Criteria: Abbr. : STDS. Standards.
63. Thompson of "Creed": TESSA. She has been busy and they are filming CREED II
64. Org. with a tee in its logo: PGA. Not to be confused with the logo og the PGA Tour.
Down:
2. Lockup: CITY JAIL. In Florida, the Jails are mostly run by the County.
3. Throaty: GUTTURAL. What a fun word that came after I saw the G.
4. Hunter's need: PERMIT.
5. Trap during winter: ICE IN. This seemed like a stretch as a clue but variations have been used often. Newsday - Feb. 5, 2018; New York Times - Jan. 13, 2018; LA Times - Nov. 16, 2017; New York Times - July 29, 2017; USA Today - April 20, 2017; WSJ Daily - March 18, 2017; USA Today - March 11, 2017; Newsday - Feb. 12, 2017
6. Sound on some San Francisco streets: CLANG. The wonderful streetcars.
7. Small batteries: AAS. Instinctively put in AAA, but the perps changed my mind.
8. Muddy abode: STY.
9. "__ very hard, and ... play very hard": Maya Angelou: I WORK. She said, "I work very hard, and I play very hard. I'm grateful for life. And I live it - I believe life loves the liver of it. I live it."
10. Regional animal groups : FAUNAS. Flora and fauna.
11. "Forrest Gump" actor : SINISE. Lieutenant Dan.
12. Most stale: OLDEST. News, not just bread.
17. Voids: GAPS.
18. Bully: HECTOR. verb (used with object); definition 4.(lowercase) to treat with insolence; bully; torment: The teacher hectored his students incessantly.
23. __ toast: MELBA. Melba toast is a dry, crisp and thinly sliced toast often served with soup and salad or topped with either melted cheese or pâté. It is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of Australian opera singer Helen Porter Mitchell. The toast was created for her by chef and fan Auguste Escoffier, who also created the Peach Melba dessert for her. The hotel proprietor César Ritz supposedly named it in a conversation with Escoffier
24. Baby food array: JARS.
25. Bit of aquatic life: ALGA. A bit is accurate.
26. Nutritional fig. : RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance.
30. Cadillac compact: ATS.
31. Hue of many Renaissance drawings: SEPIA. Sepia is a reddish-brown color, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia.The word sepia is the Latinized form of the Greek σηπία, sēpía, cuttlefish (wiki).
33. Long list substitute, briefly: ETC ETC. This was tricky as Et cetera did not fit.
34. "Cat on __ Tin Roof": A HOT. Tennessee Williams.
35. Xperia maker: SONY. My step-son who works selling cell phones has this one.
36. Best: OUTSTRIP. Definition synonyms: go faster than, outrun, outdistance, outpace, leave behind, get (further) ahead of, lose.
37. Causing to foam: FROTHING;
38. Marshy expanse: FEN. Very popular in Great Britain and British mysteries.
41. Pleasures shared by Churchill and Castro: CIGARS.
42. It might be stuffed at home: CLOSET.
43. Like one who is beside oneself? : CLONED. A very fun Friday misdirection clue.
45. How land prices are often calculated: BY AREA.
46. Lean (on): RELY.
48. Stab: GUESS. This was my method.
49. Refreshing spot: OASIS.
54. Small figure wielding much force? : YODA.
56. Del. winter hrs. : EST. Hey Bluehen.
57. Jeanne d'Arc, e.g.: Abbr. : STE. French for a female saint.
Another Friday done and done. Thank you, JW. Next time, we will be in March. Thank you all.
Note from C.C.:
Happy 79th Birthday to Keith Fowler (Ol' Man Keith), who's been with our blog since 2009. Dear Keith is the longest-living Fowler on record.
This picture is more recent.
Thanks, dear C.C., for the b'day greetings!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your finding & running a more recent photo. I'm afraid I look even older than that on my 79th birthday.
Your mention of me as the "longest-living Fowler" is true, at least for my branch of the clan. My parents and grandparents and my earlier English, Welsh & Cornish ancestors all passed on at relatively young ages, so I feel something like a pioneer. I keep my two sons up to date on what's in store for them, genetically speaking. I have been doing fairly well holding off the ravages of age with the aid of my dear wife, exercise, modern medicine, and a daily pharmacopoeia.
It can get a bit lonely out here, so I look forward every day to shooting the breeze with my cruciverbal buddies.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to JW and Lemonade.
Got it w/o too much trouble. Things that I didn't know: LIU, AMIN, ARGOS, RIO, TESSA, HECTOR and SONY.
Cute theme!
Happy birthday, Keith! (You are about two months younger than I!)
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
LIU Post > Look It Up Post.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, good to know the LIU Post is appreciated in your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteKeith very Happy Birthday and many more
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI liked this one, probably because it was a rare occasion where I got the theme. Stumbled here and there with MOAN/WAIL, SHAH/AMIN, SPEC/STDS. Still, I finished in good time. Thanx, Jeff Wechs and Lemonade.
PICAS: Remember those typeface balls for the IBM Selectric? High tech stuff back in the day.
Oops, forgot. Happy birthday, OMK!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to Keith, from southeast Texas. Enjoyed today's fruits of JW's orchard...almost as much as your note.
ReplyDeleteJW is back! I love the challenge of JW's puzzles though at times the solve is frustrating, some might even say unfair. But with a few good GUESSes and some head scratching, it all came together. CITY JAIL was my last fill because LIU is a complete unknown but I recalled NYT as the gray lady.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the cluing for HECTOR (great fill that one), CLONED, YODA, CLOSET and GO OUT, one final flicker.
JW has a devilish sense of humor!
Happy birthday, OMKeith!
Have a sensational day, everyone!
This was the usual Friday difficulty, surprising because I got the theme early on. Thanks for a fine puzzle, Jeff and an always great expo, Lemony.
ReplyDeleteSinise was perps and wags, but I recognized it when I got it. The alternate spelling of ARGUS as ARGOS gave me pause. I was so sure of the more common U, but it had to be Hect(O)r, not Hect(U)r. An E wouldn't do, either.
ETC ETC took a while, SONY was perps and wags.
I knew Amin and the Last King of Scotland.
MOAN to WAIL. SPEC to STDS.
Alan's mysterious symptoms have returned. He has been home from work these past two days. He is weak, dizzy and lacking in balance. It can't be psychological because last time it came on suddenly at the end of a very happy, positive vacation at the shore in September. We came home a day early and he suffered for a week. My "fixer," type A personality is flummoxed. This I cannot fix. Maybe it will keep recurring with no answer available and the response must be, "This is the new normal."
Happy birthday, Keith. I enjoy your posts. Live long and prosper.
Good mornig all . Happy birthday OMK. You keep putting smiles on my face as i'm sure you do on many others . Thanks JW for a fun and funny puzzle . A bit more crunch than most mornings but I had more time today and took time to finish with only two look ups. Started. In the NE and sloughed my way counter clockwise. Got the theme after AS NECESSARY and I'LL GET You Yeast. On the way up I puzzled a bit then laughed out loud when JUMPING JACK ASS jumped out at me. Got some interesting looks here at McD's . Checked up on the three muskateers to make sure of ATHOS . The only other LIU was Nassau County NY universities which yielded LIU :-)) i always get a warm feeling when my name shows up somewhere in the grid :-) Am watching Olympic Hockey Semi Final btwn Germany and Canada. A few minutes to go and Germany is ahead 4-3. Germany has been the stronger team throughout the game and in MHO deserves to unseat the Canadiens.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to OMK. Have a great day!
Eventually got it but not without a little help in the AMIN/PERMIT sector. Kept wanting the Shah. Had trouble spelling GUTTURAL, too. Got the lower 2/3 without significant hassle. Had spec before STDS. Got ARGOS from perps. HECTOR was slow in coming, too.
LIU was a WAG.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAnother challenge with a well hidden reveal. W/os included EKG/ECG, Fonts/Picas, Etalia/EtcEtc. I liked the crossing of Urals/Aral and the duo Elan and Eclat. Unknowns were the Cadillac ATS and Sony Xperia. I was puzzled by Best=Outstrip but Lemon verified the usage. Overall, a relatively smooth solve but not as rewarding a theme as usual from JW, IMO.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a Friday workout and thanks, Lemony, for the detailed and informative review.
Happy Birthday, Keith, and may you enjoy many more! 🎂🎉🍾🎈🎁
Thoroughly enjoyed the Olympic women's figure skating finals and was delighted for the young Russian skater (only 15 years old!) who won the Gold. It was so close between her and her fellow teammate, both of whom deserved to win. Congrats to the Canadian skater who won the Bronze Medal. I felt bad for the other Canadian, Gabrielle, who had a disastrous performance. She is the one who skated so beautifully to "Rhapsody in Blue" in the short program. I, for one, will be glad to see the Olympics end so I can go to bed at a reasonable time!
Have a great day.
Neat AS they come. My first long fill was JUMPING JACKASS, and I was thinking Rolling Stones, AS in J.J. FLASH. Got me off on the wrong track and after filling GREASY I was trying to think of a dog that sounded like a GREASY SPOON. It was only after YEAST was filled that I noticed the AS inserted. Everything else fell into place.
ReplyDeleteLIU Post school, Cadillac ATS, ARGOS, TESSA, SINESE, I WORK were all unknowns filled by perps.
One thing I really didn't like was the NW's four crosses were ALL INITIALS. ATT, ECG, LIU, & NYT.
ELS as a clue instead of a fill. That's different.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteA few stumbles on the way through today’s Wexie. Even though we’ve had Rees before, I was sure it was Rhys (maybe it once was?). Similarly, we’ve had the unfamiliar-to-me Caddy ATS before but I never manage to recall it, needing perps. Grokked the theme early, though, and thus sped up the solve.
Morning Lemon, I was unaware that Mar a Lago was an historic property until reading your link.
Relatedly, all recent presidents have had the benefit of suppressed air commerce wherever they are on land. It’s done in the name of security, of course, but it’s a horribly lopsided system. The amount of disruption to air travel has varied by office holder; the use of Mar a Lago is especially troublesome because of the normally heavy air traffic around Florida.
OMK, Happy Birthday from the familiar end of Massachusetts!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Lemon’s second paragraph does it for me. What a hoot!
-The item stuffed at home (C _ _ S E T) was not a CORSET
-The NYT and others are having to kill fewer and fewer trees these days
-PICA was the only choice I had
-Will I ever see/read the word ECLAT in the real world?
-A good friend skipped my daughter’s wedding because he has always used his PERMIT on the first day of pheasant season
-FENS and spinneys are at the first and last of this fun scene (1:28)
-Happy birthday to our dapper, Keith!
Thanx 714 for the review. Always a pleasure. Desper - Otto and Spitzboov , I feel I'm in good company with first trying Shah ,Spec , and moan. Spitzboov -germany won the hockey game- :-) . The other night I watched as a poor sport took off a Silver Medal while on camera. In MHO if good sportsmanship doesn't rub off on you ,even in defeat , maybe you're not mature enough to compete at that level .
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI may just be picking a nit but I was told by a Londoner that Big Ben was the bell NOT the clock. This tripped me up a bit during an otherwise smooth solve. I'm a fan of Mr. Wechsler's puzzles.
Didn't enjoy puzzle at all!
ReplyDeleteLemonade, thank you for the splendid illumination. You write with such ECLAT.
ReplyDeleted-o:
Yes, I remember how excited we were when we saw that IBM Selectric with the balls.
Anon Don, I believe you are historically correct, but life is dynamic. Words and nicknames evolve. Wiki says: Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lucy.
What a treat this JW puzzle was! I was on the right wave length...even got the theme. That never happens. Lemonade, you may be right .Maybe we are getting used to the wonderful trickery and clever clung Jeffrey offers.
ReplyDeleteI fought the same battles others have mentioned. Shah before AMIN, Moan before WAIL. The unknowns were filled by crosses and WAGs
Keith, I hope your birthday is filled with merriment. You've taught me so much.
Friday workout. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI was so busy trying to get the Tada, that the theme totally flew over my head until I got here. D'uh! I changed GET the YEAST to GET YOU YEAST and still didn't catch the phrase.
Hand up for Shah (1979 exile for both Shah and AMIN), Moan (moved to Howl before WAIL) but I got STDS (fought the S for a second).
Changed Acre to AREA, Rarity to RAREST, Sight to ECLAT, Stair to STILE, and moved from Ding to Dong to DIAL for Big Ben feature.
OUTSTRIP required Best to be a verb not an adjective. Interesting that best can be an adjective, adverb, noun or verb.
I smiled at URALS crossing ARAL and also noted GuttURAL.
SINISE and LIU were not in my wheelhouse and I questioned HECTOR.
Waited for perps to decide FAUNAe or FAUNAS, and EKG or ECG.
TESSA could have been clued for our Olympic gold ice-dancer, Virtue.
This boat got ICE(D) IN in Montreal. Never assume that one winter will be the same as the next. What were they thinking leaving Buffalo December 16?
USSLittleRock
Happy Birthday OMK.
Wishing you all a great day.
I found many usages of eclat, but none of them contemporary. These days it is found mostly in period novels and works written long ago. Both the following quotes are from the 1800's.
ReplyDelete"I am glad of it, and especially that we closed our war with the eclat of the action at New Orleans." Thomas Jefferson Randolph
"Hume, Gibbon, Walpole, indeed every foreigner of distinction who visited Paris, lent to this salon the eclat of their fame, the charm of their wit, or the prestige of their rank." Amelia Ruth Gere Mason
Being iced in, trapped in the house during an ice storm, is no picnic. Being trapped out on the highway trying to get home is far worse.
I enjoy reading about expeditions to the North and South Poles and about the exploring of the Northwest Passage.
Lemonade, I agree about the evolving meaning of Big Ben. So many things we are sure of change over time. What is common and colloquial eventually becomes the standard.
"You have words with him" Tommy Edwards - It's All In The Game(2:36) "words" @ 0:39.
ReplyDelete"I'll get you, my pretty" WWW "and your little dog, too!"
I must say I was remembering it as "get you yet". Guess not.
I have saved my Olympic discussion for a separate post (except for TESSA).
ReplyDeleteFrom the other day, congrats re Miracle(s) on Ice repeat (on Feb. 22 anniversary) with American win over Canadian women's hockey team (plus knocking out Canadian Men's Curling team from moving to the Gold Medal match).
Yes Oas, the athlete who took off the silver medal has apologized (how Canadian can you get!).
MyEmotionsGotTheBetterOfMe
Yes IM, these Olympics in another time zone have played havoc with the sleep schedule. The two Russian skaters (Zagitova and Medvedeva) were amazing. And Canadian, Kaetlyn Osmond, with bronze medal did well also.
Interesting article about the Medal Ceremony as Olympic anthem and flag were used because of the doping ban.
ANightWithNoMusic
Yes, very sad about Gabrielle Daleman's performance. Apparently she felt nauseous just before the skate. Courageous of her to finish but you could see the devastation on her face. And then to face the press (after a 20 minute cry) and say “Crap happens. It’s not very fair but crap happens.” You just want to give her a hug.
Perhaps, it will be some comfort that she has a Gold medal from the team skate.
She has spoken out against HECTORing.
Gabrielle
Norway is doing very well with 37 medals.
Canada has 27 medals (10 gold) currently.
The German win over Canada in the Men's hockey (congrats Spitzboov) gives Germany 26 medals (but with 13 golds, they are 2nd in the standings).
Have a wonderful, wonderful birthday, Keith! (Can we just call you Keith? You're not that old, given my own math). And thanks for posting those great pics, C.C.
ReplyDeleteWell, I had a good night's sleep for a change, but that didn't help with what still felt like a Jeff Wechsler toughie to me. I did get most of the south, but had to cheat to get much of the north. But still found it a lot of fun, and was happy to get the theme early--many thanks, Jeff! I don't know why HECTOR just doesn't sound right to me. (Maybe I was lucky I was never HECTORED much, growing up).
Lemonade, thanks for the fascinating discussion of MELBA--all new to me.
Yellowrocks, so sorry to hear that Alan is not doing well. Hope he gets better soon.
Have a great day, everybody!
Fun puzzle. Happy Birthday, OMK!
ReplyDeleteAgain, it's type STYLES, not type SIZES. Sizes are measured in points (10pt/12pt). We've had this clue before, so I sighed, threw in the towel and penned PICAS. Pica is also a disorder in which people crave and eat non-nutritional substances: ice, soil, chalk, etc. Usually due to mineral deficiencies, and they are sometimes anemic. TMI, sorry.
What others said, it was pretty easy for a Friday but waited for perps for spelling of SINISE. Remember Gary Sinise from watching CSI: NY and reading about his support for veterans, servicemen and their families. Wanted SHAH but the H wouldn't work with CLANG. Then remembered AMIN from working cws. BY ACRE before BY AREA. Never heard of ARGOS and vaguely remembered ATHOS since ARAMIS wouldn't fit, but perps rescued those areas.
YR, a co-worker had those exact symptoms as Alan but with nausea. Her doctor diagnosed it as vertigo and showed her some simple exercises turning her head which alleviated the problem. I certainly don't mean to diagnose as Alan is receiving excellent medical care, but I was just struck by how similar my co-worker's symptoms were.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Happy Birthday Ol Man Keith! Good to "meet" you virtually!
ReplyDeleteAnon Don: Hand up I was stuck with Big Ben as a bell. Hand up with everyone else that it had to be SHAH. Stuck a long time with that, too. And hand up confused about the second U in GUTTURAL. We have seen this before.
Did anyone else think of the Kinks singing "Lola" when you heard GUTTURAL?
Last to fall for me was CLOSET/CLONED/REES/CCC for a well-earned and satisfying FIR! Having grown up in Maryland, I was sure that one fifth of MD had something to do with the Chesapeake Bay. Anyone else? Thanks for explaining, Lemonade!
Here I was visiting my good friend and his wife and child at LAKE MICH in IND. You can see the LAKE in the final images.
Three of us went swimming nude in LAKE MICHIGAN which was delightful. Sadly, my friend died soon after of cancer. He was a health fanatic and a doctor, so it was especially sad and unexpected.
From yesterday:
AnonT: Thank you for the kind words about my rocket launch photos.
Here again is my article/photos/video on our spectacular SpaceX rocket launch yesterday!
Yes, I miss my days as a print journalist. But I also very much appreciate the higher limits of on-line journalism.
Hi Gang -
ReplyDeleteJW on an FRI, always a pleasure. At least one thing is right in the world.
Tough go for me today. Lots of hunting and pecking. SW corner was last to fall.
My brain does not work in a way to come up with this kind of a theme.
Awesome!
Delighted by the URALS-ARAL crossing.
Don't think I'd want to meet my CLONE.
Was ARGOS a GREASY HOUND?
Cool regards!
JzB
I enjoyed this puzzle; fun theme and some typical Jeff Wechsler humor and misdirection. It seemed a little easier today than most of his work, but still plenty of crunch. I laughed out loud at the mental image of a GREASY HOUND. WEES about MOAN -> WAIL, ETALIA -> ETCETC, etc.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday greetings to you, Ol' Man Keith, and may you enjoy many more. I enjoy reading your comments and have learned much from you.
I can never remember the designations of the Cadillac cars. CTS vs ATS vs XT5 vs CT6? To me, meaningless strings of letters and digits. Don't know why they didn't give their vehicles actual names that can be remembered to distinguish them. Acura does a similar thing.
Good wishes to you all.
I would have sworn Cadillac had a GTS. They have a CTS(as well as ATS). I just figured that Greek dog growled a lot.
ReplyDeleteHECTOR could have been clued Homerian too.
As usual I couldn't suss the theme*. I liked the JACKASS clue. Not that difficult, Wesh avoids naticks .
Just as well that the NHL skipped the Olympics, it made it more competitive.
Now to read Wednesday's comments
WC
I guess"Grok" is for NYT commentary
Ps .HBD OMK
Wow, a toughie even for a Friday. Had HECKLE b4 HECTOR, SHAH b4 AMIN and MOAN b4 WAIL. And that was it, I was surprised to get the solve.
ReplyDeleteJayce....check out BMW/Audi/Mercedes names as well.
Always good to have a birthday...the alternative is not as pleasent.
Thanks for the SO, Lemony, and thanks to Jeff Wex for the CSO. My first thoughts upon getting the Tada was surprise at the speed of the solve. I thought perhaps I was catching on to the tricky ways of the constructor. Then I come to the corner and I see that a lot of you had the same experience. So, I'll refrain from patting myself on the back and speculate if Mr. Wechsler is maybe mellowing . . .maybe.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was a delight, but there were some entries/clues that gave me pause. Foremost was HECTOR as a verb. I'm pretty sure that I've never seen that before. I also remember from my brief sojourn in England back when dinosaurs stomped the earth that Big Ben is the bell, so I entered "bong" for my answer. One of the quickest ways to earn a Brit's disapproval (at least back then) was to refer to the clock or the tower as Big Ben. Like Picard, I wondered what 1/5 of Maryland could possibly be. I also cringed at the anglicized plural of FAUNA(S).
On the other hand, this puzzle had more than its share of sparkling cluing/answers. 42d and 43d especially brought a smile.
Happy Birthday, Keith. I refuse to call a fellow septuagenarian an "Old Man". Remember, age is just a number. Why, just this morning I woke up feeling like a twenty year old. I sure wish I knew where to find one. One's life should be like a bottle of fine wine. The more it ages and the more it breathes, the better it gets.
Belated Happy Birthday to you, Argyle. Your wit, knowledge, and gentle humor are an inspiration.
Gotta go. I need to start getting dinner ready for the young lions. It's Fishy Friday at the Bluehen Ponderosa: Lemon-pepper salmon with a minuet sauce, porcini risotto, broccoli scampi, and Caesar salad.
Cya!
AnonymousPVX, good point about the German car names, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd, oh yeah, at first I thought MD meant the medical degree and tried to figure if DOC or MED was 1/5 of "MEDICAL DOCTOR". Close but no CIGAR. Then I thought MD referred to Maryland and wondered what 1/5 of that could possibly be. When CCC (Civil Conservation Corps?) emerged as the answer, I was baffled until reading Lemonade's write-up. Tricky Jeffy!
Also, Lemonade, what Misty said: Thanks for the fascinating discussion of MELBA.
Picard, what do you mean by "the higher limits of on-line journalism"?
Darned autocorrect. Mignonette sauce.
ReplyDeleteMisty and TX Ms, thanks for caring. I am sure it is not vertigo, but that was a reasonable thought. The primary suspect is dehydration. I have been forcing drinks. It helped a lot. Today he was actually better, but is getting good at faking it to avoid going to work. I caught on too late and let him stay home. I am making it as unpleasant as possible, no TV, no electronics, no going out. It is so difficult to suss what is going on with him because of his poor communication skills and atypical physical reactions. Perpetrating a hoax just drives me up a wall. It's crazy making.
ReplyDeleteI thought of the verb hector instead of the mythical Trojan. I think the verb is common enough.
"Cable news borrows much from the reality playbook: tension-inducing sound design, hectoring repetition, orchestrated indignation. Los Angeles Times, Dec 15, 2017
"Casie Baker, 29, a bank worker, said her family prodded and cajoled and hectored each other until the voting was done." New York Times, Dec 13, 2017
Happy Birthday OMK!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your Wiki link...
A JW workout for sure today, but I kept at it
until all the empty spaces were filled
(I didn't say I got them all right...)
my downfall was misspelling Gutaural (aural,,sound maybe...)
Did not know the Gray Lady, and all that French...
I seem to remeber we had much discussion about Big Ben versus The Elizabeth Tower.
Oh well, Stiff upper lip and all...
Canadian Eh! @ 1058.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking the Little Rock article. When my SIL who lives in Tonawanda first sent me a note in November on the upcoming Commissioning and planned transit down the St. Lawrence, I was astonished and told him that's very close to closure of the Seaway and they risk not getting out in time. Well, they at least got to Montreal. Years of real-time operations in Niagara's winters had made me very sensitive to timing of first ice in various lower Lakes areas. (But, nobody asked me.)
On the Olympics hockey, I would only say that I mostly don't follow the events, and don't watch it on television. Blog rules forbid me from discussing politics.
WOW! For the first time I FIRed (with no erasures) a JW puzzle! I will admit that the A and O in ARGOS were eWAGs. Maybe I was more astute than usual because I didn't pick up the puzzle until I got back from escorting my DW to the local giant flea market.
ReplyDeleteZoe claims a CSO at GRE[AS]Y HOUND.
Didn't know ECLAT, LIU POST, ATHOS or TESSA Thompson, but perps rescued me.
HBDTY OMK. You have a big part in making the Corner fun for the rest of us.
Dudley, remember when Bill Clinton tied up LAX while he got his hair cut on AF1? I don't think any of these guys have any concept of how disruptive they are when they travel.
FLN: Anon -T, I remember when Cincy's mighty Johnny Bench was at bat against Oakland. The runner on first was awarded second, and with a full count the A's showed an intent to pitch ball four. Instead, the catcher crouched back into position and the pitch was a fastball right down the pipe for strike three. I loved baseball in those days. Sometimes I still miss the game since our divorce.
Thanks to JW and Lemony for a fun Friday.
Bluehen @ 1:38 ~ You made my nose twitch as I thought, "What, pray tell, is minuet sauce?"
ReplyDeleteBluehen @ 1:47 ~ You made me burst out laughing at the corrected "Mignonette" sauce. (What makes me laugh is just as much a mystery to me as it is to anyone who didn't find that funny the way I did!) In any case, your menu sounds delicious (I'm partial to a good Caesar Salad) and I'm sure the lions will devour every morsel! Bon Appetit!
I have complained before about the outrageous prices for greeting cards but today's example took the cake. I was looking for a card for an upcoming wedding and picked up one that was very pretty and had an expressive sentiment. I turned it over to see how much it was and almost fainted right then and there. Would someone really pay $8.99 for a nothing-out of-the-ordinary card? I certainly wouldn't.
OMK and all us 'Cornered' folk -- I am waiting for the birthday when the count starts going backwards! Right now, I'm working at getting back to 17 once more.
ReplyDeleteAnd Irish Miss, there has been a slow and persistent upward creep in prices for years. The $8.99 price is surprising (and rejectable!), but the local Hallmarks outlet had "meh"-level Christmas cards for $5.99 last year, and I'll bet they will creep up to $6.99 in a few months.
Isn't 'minuet sauce' the one that makes you able to do "a slow graceful dance in ³/₄ time characterized by forward balancing, bowing, and toe pointing"? I'm not pointing any fingers here....
Fittingly, for the FIR!!!!, that I wrapped AS around the T for the Cadi simultaneously getting ARGOS & ATHOS ESP'd.
ReplyDeleteThanks JW for a really fun puzzle.
Like BigE, JUMPING JACKASS was my 1st fill and I thought of the Stones - Exile (on Main St.?) made me do it again.
I was all over the map w/rt the theme - 'add an ASS'?, 'word-pairing' (jumping jack | jack ass)?, or 'animals'? - BEASTS (second get) didn't upset that idea. It wasn't until YEAST and looking back at AS NECESSARY that the penny dropped
//wait.... yeasties are little beasties for bread & beer. It's AS IF JW did a double-theme. SO, JW do tell.
North Central was last to fill as the only gimme was AAs. When STY (V8! I so wanted hut) filled I could finish and get rid of IRAN (knew it couldn't be SHAW w/ 22a in place). Lem had to tell me AMIN wasn't related to Idi.
Thanks Lem for the expo and 'splainin' that Xperia is a phone. SONY was WAG'd from S-N-.
My sparkle-list matches Lucina's @8:25.
YR - Sorry to hear of Alan's relapse.
Jinx - I'll relate the wild-pitch as I remember later... Running out of lines now and must include:
Happy Birthday! to my namesake* OMK.
JUMPIN' JACK Flash for a movement of Zen.
Cheers, -T
*before I "went blue" OMK called me 'Anonymous -T'
Thanks again to all my well-wishing comrades for your greetings on this strange (not quite octogenarian) birthday!
ReplyDeleteTo Misty and others who quibble as to whether I truly rate the elderly designation, let me just say that it's a matter of cultural perception. I have been called "Ol' Man" since my first graduate year of study in England. It is (or rather, was) a friendly familiarity, roughly equivalent to today's "Dude" or "Bro."
Among my American generation, my first name "Keith" was then a rarity. Not so in Britain, so that was a first time I really fit in. In a funny way, being called "Old man" added to my sense of belonging.
Today's pzl from our eminent challenger, Mr. Jefferey Wechsler, was a beast. I nearly earned a full Ta- DA! but must confess he got the better of me. My undoing was in the small fills. The top center sector hinged on 20A, which I first filled with SHAH (my hand is up, CanadianEh, and all like-minded friends) and then followed not with the proper AMIN but with IRAN. I settled stupidly for GIP at 17D and ICE AN instead of ICE IN.
PERMIT should have set my head straight but I left it hanging. Shameful...
No excuse. I had the birthday lazies. Too comfortably low on P+P to see it all the way through. Time now at the Fowler villa to thank everybody once again and get back to enjoying the homey attentions of my wife and mother-in-law!
____________
Diagonal Report: A mirror 3-way running NE to SW. No hidden message.
∞
And thanks, Anon T, for giving us all the link to the Stones' Jack Flash! It's good to be reminded once in a while, of our misspent youth ...
ReplyDelete(I guess millennials can get a kick out of Ol' Man Mick, eh?)
IM and Bluehen, I also chuckled at the Minuet sauce. I figured, correctly as it turns out, that it was just our old friend auto correct at work again.
ReplyDeleteMaybe calling OMK MonikerMaker would be a better descriptor than namesake -T says...
ReplyDeleteDudley - were you maybe thinking of when we got Jean Rhys?. // I only know of Rhys' writings from reading (ad nauseam :-)) DW's dissertation drafts.
Jinx - as I recall, and this was >10yrs ago so I don't remember who was playing whom nor which team was at bat, the situation was 1 out and runner at second.
The thought, I'm sure, of the tossing-team was: put the batter on 1st and, bam!, the double-play's in vogue. During the pitch-out, one went wild and the runner went to 3rd. The batter walked anyway and now it's 1 out and runners at the corner. LOL! and D'Oh! #Backfire! #NoFreeFourPass*
Moving on...
OKM - Mic J. is only a few years your Junior and my kids are Millennials which, I guess, makes me a lost X'ER. Happy Birthday and keep Truckin' [11m montage through the ages/ing.]
Croudsourcing here... How do you teach a kid Chess? She knows how each man moves but just got slaughtered by her friend. I came in, looked at the Board, and said "She's got you in 4 moves kid - your guys are immobile and your Board control sucks."].
Aside from "Bad Dad!", any advice for teaching this, seemingly innate, way to play?
-T
*think that'll go viral :-)
Canadian Eh?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the athletes apology. I was too quick to judge . I remember participating in a Trade Convention competition in Cincinnati in the '70s.
Pressure to take home the top award was huge. Stress at any age can undo even strong characters , more so when you're younger. In my experience some of the older chaperones and instructors who helped get me there wished to put a feather in their caps as well and kept pushing to long and hard. Others were supportive and kind and remain respectfully appreciated in my mind.
One more x word comment I remember Liz Taylor's line " like a cat on a hot tin roof " and thinking that it was an interesting title to a movie with one mention only of the cat. But then , we hung on every word Liz uttered . Easier times, sigh :/
Bluehen: Yes, I also cringed at FAUNAS rather than FAUNAE
ReplyDeleteJayce: Yesterday AnonT wrote "Picard - Nice article. Nice that the limit of news-print doesn't limit the sharing of shots on-line."
A down side of print media is a limitation of space for quantity of photos as well as length/depth of articles. One advantage on-line is I get to display many photos and can go into greater depth.
Hand up for plenty of unknowns today: LIU, REES, SINISE, ARGOS, ATS
But I can deal with that as long as there are fair crosses.
I once served on a board with a guy who was a bit of a bully. Ironically, his name was HECTOR, so I found that association easy to make!
Jinx 2:20 - indeed I do. It seemed outrageous. I hope the then-President was simply uninformed, rather than simply unconcerned.
ReplyDeleteIM 2:26 - agreed! I’ll only spend that kind of money on a handmade, beautiful card. A mass produced item isn’t worth it.
-T 5:53 - sort of. I get the idea that Rhys is a Welsh surname, anyway, so it fit the clue that way.
Nero Wolfe had a case in which he was trying to get the recipe for Saucisse Minuit. Of course someone got murdered.
ReplyDeleteBut I can't recall which story it was . possibly Too Many Cooks. I'll LIU.
I was thinking of that reds- A's game too
Lemony, are you saying that AMIN was NOT! Idi? eg not 1979 for Idi's downfall.
WC
Yes it was "Too Many Cooks" . One of Stout's early ones as in his best ones. The recipe is out there on the internet.
ReplyDeleteExcept Wolfe used the intestines to wrap the sausage .
WC
Btw. It was Idi Amin. He went into exile in 1979. What a beaut .
ReplyDeleteWC
Hi all.
ReplyDeleteI believe Lemonade was referring to the film, Last King of Scotland; Forest Whitaker won the best actor Oscar for playing Idi Amin in the film.
SLee
@SLee - Oh, crap. Thanks. The joke's on me I guess inre: AMIN. I thought I learnt something about Royals... :-(
ReplyDeleteNope, I just LIU - Movie about a Scottish MD, personal physician to Idi... At least there was only one AMIN.
Lem, If I wasn't so dumb that woulda been cute :-). -T
IM & Dudley:
ReplyDeleteFor my birthday in December, a close friend sent me an exquisite, handmade birthday card; she included a note with it telling me that she paid $15 for it, which, according to her I was worth it. We have been friends since high school and are almost like sisters. Of course, I treasure that card!
AnonT:
ReplyDeleteBut isn't the movie actually about Idi AMIN from the doc's point of view? I didn't see the movie so I'm going by the review.
R.I.P. Nanette Fabray
ReplyDeleteShe was such an entertaining performer!
Lucina - that's the way I read the review too //never heard of the movie 'till now.
ReplyDeleteIM - I'm with you... I was too "get 'er done" to pay attention to card prices. Three for Valentine's (DW +. Girls) , one for DW's BD, and one for Church-anniversary (Feb 14th/18th/19th!) + a dozen roses (which I knew was only $18@HEB. Total > $65! Ridiculous.
Happy Sat. Solving, -T
Lucina - to be more clear... The movie is about Idi "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, King of Scotland Lord of All the BEASTS of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular. ///WHEW.... What a title.
ReplyDeleteThe Dr tried to escape His Excellency.... At least that's the way I read it.
And that's all I know. Oh, and something about '79 and the Rolling Stones :-) -T
It is interesting how much late badinage there is going on at the Corner. If S Lee would be Stan Lee I would be over the moon as he is one of my major idols. In any case, thank you for assisting with explaining what I obviously did not make clear. Sometimes things make sense inside my head that do not on paper.
ReplyDeleteNanette Fabray and her niece Shelley Fabares have entertained for years, but if you look at their credits, forgotten by Hollywood as they aged.