Roland presents a challenging workout, with a classic theme that I have seen in a few Sunday puzzles, where you generally have a title rather than a reveal. A quick look at the record books shows this PUZZLE from the pre-Will Shortz NY Times. That cluing was much easier. The most impressive thing about this version is that Roland took two single words- SHORTSTOP + OVERHEADS and made them two-word themers and took 2 two word phrases and made them a single word. Then we have the rest of the puzzle. Triple stacks of 7 letter down fill with many of the words very sparkly such as ALANINE, ENTOMBS, HABITAT, JOCKEYS, MORTARS, NAIROBI, ONE COAT, SCABBED, SHYSTER, USER FEE, WALKURE as well as E-TICKETS and ICE SKATE. This took me longer than most Fridays. YMMV.
17A. *Prepares to pass the football: BACKDROPS (9). A quarterback DROPS BACK to pass. LINK.
21A. *Baseball position: STOP SHORT (9). A SHORTSTOP is placed between 2nd and third base. LINK.
38A. *Strokes in tennis: HEADS OVER (9). OVERHEADS are the smash of tennis. LINK.
59A. *Basketball strategy: BREAKFAST (9). The FAST BREAK is where a team gets a rebound and attempts to make it downcourt before the other team can get back to play defense. LINK.
65A. Fair play? ... or the key to understanding the answers to starred clues: TURNABOUT (9). It can be one or two words. The phrase has been in existence since at least 1755.
Okay now on to some very Friday clues/fill.
Across:
1. Fifth pillar of Islam: HAJJ. If you want more information READ.
5. Puts on a patch, say: SEWS. Does anyone patch clothes anymore?
9. Intestinal tract division: ILEUM. This is the third portion of the small intestine, between the jejunum and the cecum.
14. Moises of the 2002-'04 Cubs: ALOU. He was the outfielder in the famous Bartmann Cubs loss to the Marlins and he was a very good PLAYER as well as being related to the Alou brothers- dad Felipe, uncle Matty and uncle Jesus.
15. Card in a baby straight: TREY. Baby straight: ace, deuce, trey, four and five.
16. Playground retort: CAN SO. Cannot.
19. Butyl acetate, e.g.: ESTER. I will let our scientist handle this one. Chemistry.
20. Graphic novel artist: INKER. The page is drawn in pencil, then the lines inked, colored and the talk bubbles lettered. 4 people plus the author and editor.
23. Is connected: TIES IN.
25. Water__: dental brand: PIK.
26. Curator's deg. : MFA. Masters of Fine Arts.
27. Word with idea or luck: ANY. Random.
28. Gaucho's weapon: BOLA. We get this about once a year.
31. Schmoozing sort: GABBER.
33. Hardy heroine: TESS. d'Urbervilles.
35. Sweeping: VAST.
37. Shocks, in a way: TASES.
41. Uppity sort: SNOOT. So - informal: a person who shows contempt for those considered to be of a lower social class.
44. Hospital fluids: SERA.
45. Hair adornments: BOWS.
49. Aerobic regime, familiarly : CARDIO.
51. Many a Black Friday worker: TEMP.
53. Casual negative: NAH.
54. First _ _: AID.
55. Two-timer: CAD.
57. 100 percent: PURELY. Not 99 and 44/100 percent?
63. Big haulers: MACKS. The trucks. For SALE in Miami.
64. Comedic pianist Victor: BORGE. So entertaining.
67. "Sneak Previews" co-host: EBERT. It started more than 40 years ago. LINK.
68. Niagara Falls source: ERIE. A CSO to Abejo and others.
69. Empty: BARE. This came to mind.
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To give the poor dog a bone;
But when she came there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
70. Pranks: DIDOS. 1. a mischievous or capricious act: prank, antic —often used in the phrase cut didoes. Not a word I remember.
71. It may be payable monthly: DEBT.
72. Bodily passage: ITER. Anatomy. 1. a canal or passage.
Down:
1. Natural environment: HABITAT. Also the chosen name for Habitat for Humanity.
2. Amino acid used in protein biosynthesis: ALANINE. More CHEMISTRY that I have forgotten or never knew.
3. Derby VIPs: JOCKEYS. Both in Kentucky and the ORIGINAL race.
4. Diner devices, familiarly: JUKES. Jukeboxes. Did you know restaurants are supposed to pay mechanical rights to the publishers? The LAW.
5. Orch. section: STRing.
6. Piccadilly Circus statue: EROS.
7. Turned on the waterworks: WEPT.
8. Network admin: SYSOP. While it was an abbreviation, it may no longer be one - LINK.
9. One of many seen at the NCAA's Frozen Four: ICESKATE. The hockey version.
10. Mascara target: LASH.
11. Puts to rest: ENTOMBS.
12. Cover charge relative: USER FEE.
13. Pestle partners: MORTARS.
18. Smidgen: DRIB. Dribs and drabs.
22. Barnyard rooter: PIG.
24. Stellar phenomenon: NOVA.
29. Fellows: LADS.
30. Corporate machinery, e.g.: ASSET.
32. Caustic remark: BARB.
34. Like racehorses: SHOD. Clecho with...
36. Went like racehorses: TORE.
39. Modern concert conveniences: E-TICKETS.
40. Mae West persona: VAMP.
41. Crossed a picket line: SCABBED. I do not like this as verb.
42. Capital east of Lake Victoria: NAIROBI. You might want to go, use this TRAVEL GUIDE.
43. Requested at a drive-thru: ORDERED.
46. Primer application: ONE COAT. Not necessarily. READ.
47. Wagner's "Die __": WALKURE. It is pronounced like Valkurey (Valkyrie) a gimme for our German speakers.
48. Lawyer to avoid: SHYSTER. More German: mid 19th century: origin uncertain; perhaps related to German Scheisser ‘worthless person.'
50. Clumsy one: OAF.
52. Big cat: PUMA. We have them in Florida. They are endangered, they arecommonly known as the cougar, mountain lion, puma, panther, native to the Americas.
56. Old hat: DATED.
58. Religious leader: RABBI.
60. Prefix with industry: AGRO.
61. Unwavering: SURE.
62. Salt Lake daily, familiarly: TRIB. The daily TRIBUNE.
66. Realize: NET. How much profit did you realize?
Well, I profited from another entertaining Friday presentation from Roland and have enjoyed unraveling the theme - easy; the fill - not so much. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for stopping by. Lemonade out.
Notes from C.C.:
I was not able to talk to Argyle yesterday. He is still out of it due to pain meds, but he's stable.
Several have asked me about where to send the get-well cards to Argyle, here is his home address.
Argyle will be in the hospital for a few days, so Agnes (best wishes to your brother Jack!) helped me get the hospital address:
D. Scott Nichols
Saratoga Hospital
211 Church St.
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Thank you for your kindness, prayers and thoughts. I just cannot stop sobbing after learning his surgery.
Thank you for your kindness, prayers and thoughts. I just cannot stop sobbing after learning his surgery.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Roland and Lemonade!
Cute theme!
Had trouble with: PURELY, DIDOS, ALANINE, EROS and E-TICKETS. Had semis before MACKS.
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
FIW¡ I didn't understand the clue for 43d, had AGRi instead of AGRO, and have never heard of DIDOS, so had DIsiD [dissed] for prank¡
ReplyDeleteThe theme, however, was an easy one for me. The first one I got was STO______ for baseball position, and that was so obvious the rest came easy, except volly/ball > HEADS/OVER.
December, the mall Santa's elves were short men --
That is, BARB and Temple were absent -- again!
Another round of flu meant
The two were "a-flu-ent"!
Their she-elf was shelfed, and Temp the temp had a temp!
{A-.} And temp should be TEMP. Your choice which one.
ReplyDeleteTGIF Cornies,
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Roland Huget, Please send flowers to my local mortuary. You killed me with this one. The first word I found, 7D Turned on the waterworks: WEPT. Is this an ominous omen?
I followed the P & P principle, and like a Zenith, rose from the CW ashes to FIR in a whopping 50:46.
Thanks Lemonade for your excellent review.
Spitzboov FLN 5:32 PM
Wrote "It looks like you take notes on the blog posts."
You are correct. On a normal day I read every word, and follow every link. Each person who comments brings such wealth of info to the Corner. I want to capture everything.
Thank you for providing info about yourself.
I'm too sleepy to find one of those Para Thingies.
Dave
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteStumbled somewhat in Nebraska/Kansas but made it to the finish line in normal Friday time. Thanx, Roland and Lemonade. Turnabout is fair play.
Hope that Argyle will be "back in the saddle" soon.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. The theme was apparent early. I was surprised it took so long to solve, because there was only one unfamiliar word, ALANINE. The last to be filled were the J in JUKES and HAJJ, (I wanted a D in there somehow) and the W in WALKURI and BOW. (The reference was gimme, but not the spelling. I thought it began with V.) Only ABC runs got the J and W.
ReplyDelete43D, At MacDonald's drive through I requested (ordered) a burger.
Busy, busy day. Catch you later.
I caught the theme immediately and did finish the puzzle with the help of perps- incorrectly. Never Heard of DIDOS or ITER and only due to my college Deutsch classes was I able to guess the WALKURE after changing PURITY to PURELY. I filled AGRI for AGRO and DIDIS for DIDOS. Also had to change RENT to DEBT to keep the southern border from being completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteButyl acetate- An ESTER is an organic molecule with the formula R-O-R, with R being hydrocarbons on both sides of an Oxygen atom. They usually smell sweet.
USER FEE- C.C., how do you like the idiotic "Resort Fees" that all the Las Vegas Hotels add to you bill whether you use them or not?
Musings
ReplyDelete-What fun! BREAK FAST filled in without my seeing it.
-A dating move in a car - STOP SHORT (:23)
-“Hey Gary, I’ll bet you can’t jump off this roof!” “CAN SO!” Fractured my leg.
-My friend founded this nationally known company here in town. Plus he has the biggest airplane at the local airpot!
-A MORTAR and Pestle in a logo
-The speaker at the drive-thru at my drug store (see logo above) is one step above tin cans and string
-Off to the funeral of our dear neighbor.
Good morning everyone
ReplyDeleteGood Friday workout. Got bolluxed up by misspelling PIK (pic). Finally invoked red letters and saw we were headed for ICE SKATE (wanted ILEUM all along.). ENTOMBS settled the BFA - MFA controversy. Always satisfied when I can finish a Friday, even with a little help.
Die Walküre - (per YR's comment). Very understandable. The German 'W' is pronounced like an English 'V'. Ex.: Wasser. The Ger. 'V' like an English 'F'. Ex. viel; the Ger. 'F' like an English 'F', Ex. Fahrt. So much for phonetic orthography which Germans pride themselves on.
ERIE - not untrue. The Niagara River is essentially a strait connecting L Erie with L Ontario. It has small amounts of local inflow from both sides of the border. But the real source of the waters is the hinterland or watershed of the 4 upper Great Lakes, which includes parts of 8 US states, and the Province of Ontario. 5000 cfs of Arctic drainage (Long Lac - Ogoki) is also diverted into the Gt Lakes at Superior, but is normally dispatched down the Welland Canal to L. Ontario.. Simple clue but (can be) a complicated answer.
Thanks, Spitz,I knew the Germans pronounce W as V but I was hung up on the English spelling which I see more frequently. The Ride of VALKYRIES.
ReplyDeleteWhere is everyone today? - only 10 so far! Fun Friday with a little crunch. Thanks Roland and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI had a slow start but then things started to fill; when I got the theme, I could go back and fill in some more. NW was the last corner to fall.
Hand up for Semis before MACKS (like fermatprime), Purity before PURELY (like BigEasy) and wanting a D in HAJJ (like YR) (apparently Hadj is an alternate spelling).
My smidgen was A Dab before a DRIB. Realize was Ken, See, Get before NET. I agree about the randomness of 27A - I wanted Bad before ANY.
I was thinking of NAIROBI and our safari in Kenya with Lion before PUMA. We did not see Lake Victoria although we were not too far away at Masaai Mara. Not much of Lake Victoria is actually in Kenya; most of it is in Uganda and Tanzania. But NAIROBI is directly east while other capitals are not. (Kampala, Uganda is north, and Dodoma, Tanzania is south-east)
Spitzboov - Thanks for the background on WALKURE which required an alphabet run. Valkyrie I recognize! Also thanks for the info on ERIE; I was not a big fan of that clue either.
My brain was forced to remember some Biochemistry for ALANINE, chemistry for ESTER (we have it often but with easier clue), and Latin and Anatomy for ITER (although Latin won because I cannot think of a body part that uses ITER - anybody else??)
I dimly recall the expression "Cut up DIDOS" but I remember it as being associated with a bratty kid and temper tantrums.
I'll take a CSO at ERIE and MORTARS (Dave 2 will NET it).
Basketball at 59A reminded me of our Toronto Raptors. Did you see that they won their 51st game of this season last night and are tops in the east, Anon T? We have high hopes but other years, they have been eliminated by the Cavs. Maybe this year will be different.
I must sign off as I am taking more than my allotted space.
Continued thoughts and prayers for Argyle, Aaron, & Jack. Thanks for the update C.C.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteA rare day off, so I thought I'd catch up a bit...
FLN: To D4E4H and OMK --> yes, Dave, to my Moe-kus being haikus. I came up with that "moniker" as my haikus alwsys contain a pun. And thanks, OMK. As much as I enjoy writing limericks, haiku is far easier, and doesn't have to rhyme.
My Moe-ku du jour:
The local painter
Has a limited wardrobe;
Only needs ONE COAT
As for today's puzzle, it was a DNF/FIW, as the Naticks of ALANINE/INKER; BARB/BOWS; and AGRO/DIDOS did me in. I also spelled ILEUM with a second "i", which also misspelt ENTOMBS.
I studied German in Hochschüle, but failed miserably on WALKURE. Adding to what Spitz said about the pronunciation of the letters V and W, auf Deutsch, of course when put together they make an automobile. In German, Volkswagen literally means "car of the people", and abbr is said "fow vay".
I love Victor Borge; one of my favorite of his skits is about punctuation (a favorite topic, here at the corner).
Argyle, hope you're improving by the minute. Will keep positive thoughts for you; get better!
One "moe" haiku:
The pipe organist
Likes baseball. His favorite
Position? SHORT STOP.
Hi Everyone:
ReplyDeleteAfter my first pass, there was as much snow in the grid as there is outside my front door. When I finally caught the theme, the dominos began to fall, one by one. However, I had a big, fat FIW due to Ilium instead of Ileum. W/os were Racy/Vamp, Tech/Temp, Purity/Purely, Rebbe/Rabbi, and Semis/Macks. Alanine and Ester were unknowns but perp friendly. The southeast corner was a bear but I finally conquered it. I liked the Oaf/Cad crossing but did not like Scabbed. CSO to Abejo with the ubiquitous Erie.
Thanks, Roland, for a clever and challenging offering and thanks, Lemony, for being such a dedicated and enlightening docent.
Thank you for the best wishes for my brother. He was feeling better yesterday so the antibiotics must be kicking in. I hope Argyle will start feeling better soon, also.
Have a great day.
Must remember:
ReplyDeleteIlium - Hip (or Troy)
Ileum - Intestine
Turn about is fair play! Yea! I got this! First I thought it would be entirely about sports but by the first two themers the jig was up.
ReplyDeleteALMS morphed into HAJJ fairly quickly as JOCKEY emerged though JUKES much later. Puts to rest, ENTOMBS, was tricky but ITER and ILEUM fell right out. I believe ITER is any passage within the body. ICESKATE surprised me as I had not heard of the NCAA's frozen four, but then it's sports so of course I don't know it.
I, too, am more familiar with Valkyrie so VALKURE was perped all the way. TRIB took a long while to grok since RENT was in the way. However, once DEBT emerged so, too, did TRIB.
Alas, DIDOS never made it because I was SURE of AGRIbusiness and have not heard it as agrobusiness. Auto correct doesn't like it, either.
Thank you, Lemonade, for your usual thorough analysis. And thank you, C.C., for the information on Argyle. I have the perfect card for him.
Have a very special day, everyone!
My tax person came by early this morning to complete my tax returns, so I had to scramble. When I saw the sports clues on the puzzle, I prepared to cheat and it's a good thing I did because although I got some sections, there were lots of unknowns. Still, many thanks, Roland, for a challenging puzzle, and you too, Lemonade, for your always helpful write-up. And thank you, C.C., for your kind updates on our Argyle.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the geographical survey of the lakes, Spitzboov.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
I know I have seen "cut up didos" quite a bit in novels. On the internet the sample sentences are mostly about Dido, Queen of Carthage, in Greek mythology.
ReplyDeleteI remember ITER clued as anatomical passage from other crosswords. I couldn't remember where it is located. LIU. It is in the brain.
I know I Have heard of agro-fuel/biofuel and agronomy.
Examples of AGRO- as a combining form:
agro-
Irish Miss, glad to hear your brother is perking up a bit.
Argyle and Aaron, you are in my thoughts today.
It’s almost 2 PM EDT and still only 17 comments?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, a real toughie, misleading but fair clueing. The theme/gimmick was easily sussed out, but still a challenging grid.
I agree with just about everything Lemonade said up top.
Was happy and pleased to get this solve today.
OK, No MOR-TARS! Here's my lunch money Roland. You beat me up but good.
ReplyDeleteSW was the 1st to fall and, with BREAK FAST, I figured out it wasn't going to be SHORT STOP but STOP SHORT. Now, Fades BACK becomes BACK - Oh, crap. I WEPT in DRIps and DRABs. Didn't help that I kept reading Gaucho as Groucho (Marx - duck(?); boas(?)) nor that I didn't know the tennis move. I was left with VAST open squares....
My death-knell was in the SE. SEMIS was PURELY wrong, but why? I never TURN'd my fate AROUND so, ENTOMB me.
Thanks Roland; I had fun but finally "red-lettered" off of Lem's Grid. That kept the fun alive and I, paid back DEBT (not RENT!), post DATED. //Crap, it was the TRIB that I entered 1st!
Thanks Lem for the fun expo and C.C. for the update on Argyle (see your email).
Fav: SYSOP. My 1st fill and I resemble that :-)
{A-} {ha!, groan}
C, Eh! - we will have to agree to exchange BARBs (not SASS) if it comes to Raptors v. Rockets. Your guys is good. #GoRockets
Good(ish) news about Jack IM. PK - update on Aaron?
DW is home in 2 hours from 2 weeks in Italy with her students. Time for a quick nap.
Cheers, -T
FIW: DRop for DRIB; TIES iN sounded as good as TIES ON; BOLA is known, but couldn't dig it out of the memory banks.
ReplyDeleteDidn't want to put in the *ed answers that I saw until I got TURNABOUT.
HADJ>HAJJ; SEMI>MACK; BAD>ANY; COLON>ILEUM; PIC>PIK.
ITER I knew from Latin, not from English; I knew DIDO as the queen of Carthage; no clue on ALANINE. Thank you, perps.
I did know the German Die Walküre
The statue in Piccadilly Circus is Anteros not his brother Eros. At least that's what the sculptor thought, and one would imagine he would know!
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaftesbury_Memorial_Fountain
Got 'em all (even DIDOS!),
ReplyDeletethough it took a while,
and I confess to one cheat in the middle west (CARDIO), an area where, as it turns out, I didn't need the Natick help I thought I did.
ALANINE was the one other word that, like Yellowrocks I didn't know and so hesitated over - mainly because I'm not a baseball fan and so wsn't sure of the 14A perp. Whether to go with ALOU or AROU? In the end, an "R" in ARANINE felt funny in my mouth.
Ah, well, Fridays are s'posed to be tough, no? Mr. Huget lives up to his side of the deal.
To judge by the low number of comments when I logged on, more folk are still struggling to form their own opinion as to the relative chewiness of today's confection!
Chairman Moe, Aha, so one of your secrets is the pun! Thanks for divulging. That fits with the traditional haiku request for a shift of viewpoint or meaning of some kind somewhere along the way, usually (but not always) in the second line.
C.C., I appreciate very much the updates on Argyle's recovery. Thank you! We all wish him good health and good spirits!
____________
Diagonal Report: The usual four. I say "usual," because the most frequent combination is a full 3-way on the left side - a center diagonal flanked by two sub-diags, all running from the NW corner down to the SE - plus a single diagonal on the mirror side, running NE to SW.
It is rare to have no diagonals, but just last weekend we had two such critters, nearly back to back.
Rarest of all (so far!) is to find five diagonals on a single side. This occurred once in memory: a center line diagonal was flanked by two sub-diags on each side.
What I have not found yet is a hidden message. It is possible that something may have been sent via an anagram that I missed. But I don't think so.
From my Latin dictionary:
ReplyDeleteiter, itineris n. 1. a. going, walk, way; 2. journey, march, passage; in itinere: on the march; a day's journey; b) legal right of way; c) passage, road, path; d) course, method, custom, means
I thought this worth posting because ITER is often encountered in puzzles and many English cognates derive from it, e.g., itinerant, itinerary
YR:
Thank your for LIU the location in the body
I perservered but didn't follow the corner's advice about"If the shoe don't fit...".
ReplyDeleteWagner did me in, I should have known it was about Valkries , if it's NAH Valkrie it's nae Wagner. I'm more familiar with the ol' SHORTSTOP Honus .
I had UniCoat which I see is a brand. And of course PURITY .
Misty can tell us all about Wagner or is it Neitzche? I had a Neitzche conversation in the shuttle last weekend.
I mostly listened.
WC
Lucina - Ah! That makes sense. Did you ever read Mary Roach's "Gulp"? The book tracks the journey of the bolus in the Alimetary Canal. #GrossScienceFun! C, -T
ReplyDeleteSpitzboov, Yellowrocks, CanadianEh, et al.: It was the lack of an umlaut that caused me to hesitate.
ReplyDeleteI went with it but, sadly, it vitiated the purity of the pzl overall.
I'm up on my Wagner (having spent the last couple of months playing through his operas via YouTube), so figured Die Walküre was intended. But there were too few squares for Valkyries - and still one too few for a compensating "E" to be inserted for the German title - so I thought the naked "U" was a puzzlement, a strangeness.
YR - there appear to be more ITERs in the body. I don't remember anyone mentioning "iter dentum" when my wisdom teeth were erupting!
ReplyDeleteFree Dictionary lists:
"iter ad infundi´bulum the passage from the third ventricle of the brain to the infundibulum (1).
iter chor´dae ante´rius the opening through which the chorda tympani nerve exits the tympanic cavity.
iter chor´dae poste´rius the opening through which the chorda tympani nerve enters the tympanic cavity.
iter den´tium the passage through which a permanent tooth erupts through the gums.
Dorland's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers. © 2007 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved."
I liked this puzzle and the clever theme.
ReplyDeleteWilbur, I published my discussion of Nietzsche in my book "Beasts of the Modern Imagination" in 1985--over thirty years ago. So I hardly remembered what I said about Nietsche's relationship to Wagner until I looked it up just now. I guess my argument was that it was "a substitution of living music by theatrical production that occasioned the rift in his friendship with Wagner" rather an any jealousy he might have felt over Wagner's "rise to fame and power."
ReplyDeleteAnon@1:39pm - Other references agree with you that although the statue is known as The Statue of Eros, it really is of Anteros. Clue as worded, "Piccadilly Circus statue", is technically incorrect without a disclaimer, it seems. Wonder if Rich would like to comment?
ReplyDeleteYes AnonT, we'll keep watching those Raptors, and we can have a friendly rivalry when they meet your Rockets, eh!
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Roland, for a learning experience. WEES. Tough, but for some reason I got through it in less time than usual for a Friday. Thanks, Lemonade, for patiently taking us through the ITERs of the puzzle. (Okay, incorrect usage, I'm sure. But it's brain passages, isn't it?)
ReplyDeleteNever heard of NCAA Frozen 4, but I'm sorta into NCAA March Madness now with the three largest schools in our state participating. I've been watching some of it. After watching NBA ball all these years, most of the college players aren't as interesting but Kansas University is. I've had close relatives graduate from the five largest state universities. My brother is in his last semester of teaching at KU and a nephew-in-law played basketball there 12 yrs. ago.
C.C. Thank you for the updates and address for Scott. Hang in there, girlfriend, we don't want his illness to make you sick too. You are both too valuable to us.
IM: glad Jack has finally got the right antibiotic.
As for Aaron, my son let me know today that he is over his tummy trouble, eating well, and went back to school Wed. I think this shows the caliber of eager student he is. Some kids would use the surgery for an excuse to stay out for a couple of weeks. On the other hand, I would have kept him out a week just to be safe and let him heal a bit.
Picard: FLN, enjoyed "Another Day" & found the clot picture interesting. Thanks.
We certainly get schooled here in the most fascinating things. Thank you all for enlightening us.
Amplification on BigEasy@9:01--
ReplyDeleteAn ETHER is two alcohol molecules, with one water molecule removed: CH3O[H--OH]CH2CH3, methyl ethyl ether.
An ESTER is an alcohol molecule, and an organic acid molecule, minus one water: CH3CH2O[H--OH]COCH3, ethyl acetate.
Sure to be forgotten, but it is of note how often chemical terms show up in crosswords.
Yay! Aaron, a plucky young man.
ReplyDeleteEROS: per Wikipedia "The memorial was publicly unveiled on 29 June 1893 by the Duke of Westminster. Given the prudery often associated with late Victorian England it should come as no surprise that there were immediate public complaints about the nude statue. It was considered too overtly sensual and unsuitable as a memorial to the notably respectable Earl of Shaftesbury. Its location in the theatre district, considered a haven for inappropriate behaviour, was also thought unsuitable. Some ruffled feathers were smoothed by officially renaming the statue as 'The Angel of Christian Charity', a very Christian approximation of the role Anteros was thought to play in the Greek pantheon of gods.
The statue's official name never caught the public imagination, and Anteros became popularly - and incorrectly - known as Eros."
Canadian Eh! Thanks for your more thorough research into iter, which appears quite often in crosswords. Not being of a medical bent, I have only seen it in puzzles, never in print outside of this research, or in real life.
AnonT@2:42
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't read Mary Roach's "Gulp" but I read halfway through "Stiff" and found it much too graphic in her descriptions of bodily functions.
I loved Mary Roach's articles in Readers' Digest and thought her books would be enjoyable. Just not for me.
PK ~ That is very positive news about Aaron. I hope he continues improving by the day. (I hope the same for my brother, too.)
ReplyDeleteThe good news is my ice maker (sorry, Tin!) is churning out cubes like nobody's business, thanks to my new filter and my nephew who installed it.
The bad news is finding water in my basement due to a disconnected drain pipe which is being repaired as I type by the same nephew. Fortunately, there is nothing in my basement except a file cabinet so no harm, no foul. I rarely go into the basement but maybe I should check it every now and then. The file cabinet will be empty in an hour or so as another nephew is coming to haul away all of the ancient files that are no longer needed and take them to a commercial shredder. (I won't admit how far back the tax returns go.)
My next project will be sorting through a large box of memorabilia and deciding what stays and what goes. Is anyone really interested in my grade school report cards or the note from my third grade teacher to my mother which began: Dear Mrs. McGrath: Your "little Miss Chatterbox" has done it again."? I think not! It's been years since that box was packed away, so heaven only knows what I'll "discover."
You've gotta admit, a nude male statue seems the perfect choice to honor the Earl of Shaftesbury.
ReplyDeleteIM, exactly what had "little Miss Chatterbox" done?
Yes, IM, inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteDO and Lemony ~ "Little Miss Chatterbox" had gotten all A's on her report card again. Ha, I bet you two thought I did something bad! 😇
ReplyDeleteSeveral tried, but I still don't get AGRO. Can someone spell out why AGRO is "Prefix with industry"? Hand up, I was done in by AGRI/DIDIS which seems as good or better. Has anyone heard of DIDOS?
ReplyDeleteThe rest was a struggle, but mostly fair. SE challenging needing ESP for WALKURE. Could not parse ETICKETS for too long. Last to fall was JUKES/ALOU. Slow to get the theme. STOP SHORT gave it to me as there are not very many baseball positions. The other sport terms were unfamiliar to me.
I got some photos and videos of these polo JOCKEYS spend a lot of time JOCKEYing for position!
Our local University of California teams are GAUCHOS.
PK: Glad you enjoyed my father's pioneering image of a RED Blood CELL clotting yesterday! And thanks for the good news about Aaron!
PK and AnonT: Glad you enjoyed ANOTHER DAY yesterday!
D-O: the Earl did have a rather steamy name, didn't he? And to think we might have not gotten the full meaning without you pointing it out. Keep up the good er...work. LOL!
ReplyDeletePicard - I'm not happy with it either, but from the dictionary site:
ReplyDeleteag·ro-in·dus·try
ˈaɡrōˌindəstrē/
noun
noun: agroindustry
industry connected with agriculture.
agriculture developed along industrial lines.
Took it as Friday cross-wordese.
Of course, we knew it was good, miss Chatterbox. You were just a touch paranoid
ReplyDeleteWow are y'all lucky . I just lost a long boring post .I'll quit with one thought: HoF SS Honus Wagner's baseball card was the most valuable one .
ReplyDeleteAnd Misty, thx for the Wagner- Neitzche talk . Your books sound fascinating.
WC
Spitzboov: Thanks! I had no idea what the clue or the answer meant!
ReplyDeleteNow someone needs to tell us if they ever heard the term DIDOS! I do see it shows up in the dictionary, but it must be regional and/or outdated.