Theme: No RE-veal - common phrases get a RE- tacked onto the beginning for a punning new phrase. No reveal entry in the puzzle.
20A. Meal owed to President Clinton? : REPAST DUE BILL
28A. Employing echo in audio? : REVERB USAGE. Here's a reverb - pretty, eh?
48A. Rules for righting wrongs? : REDRESS CODE
58A. Mail about system improvements? : REFORM LETTERS.
This looks like an LAT debut for Winston, so congratulations if it is! There's been a couple of debutants recently. I found one puzzle from Winston in the CHE, and one in Wall Street Journal, so he''s not a total rookie.
Enjoyable theme - some punning puzzles come across as groan-worthy, and not in a good way. This one was nice - the original phrases are solidly in the language, and the modified ones are fun. Some nice longer downs and the rest of the fill smooth. A good job all round.
Let's see what attracts attention;
Across:
1. Farm unit : BALE. I was tempted with ACRE, but resisted diving straight in.
5. "Uh, don't forget about me ... " : AHEM
9. Selling point : ASSET
14. Soon, quaintly : ANON. I'm not sure if this sounds quaint:
15. Diamond corner : BASE. The diamond misdirection always gets me, I was thinking facets and what-not.
16. Busch Gardens city : TAMPA. Tried MIAMI at first, thought about it, took it out. There used to be one in Van Nuys, near to where I live now.
17. USAF plane for small runways : STOL. Short Take-Off and Landing. VTOL ones can go straight up.
18. Word of proof? : ERAT Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
19. Video game based on a film, e.g. : TIE-IN
23. Help : ASSIST
24. __ bran : OAT
25. PC-to-PC system : LAN. Local Area Network.
32. River to the North Sea : ELBE. A North Sea river pair today, there's another one waiting further down.
36. "Blue Bloods" rank: Abbr. : DET. Detective.
37. Devotee : ADORER. Not a fan of the word, but it's valid. I'd never use it in conversation though.
38. Northeast gubernatorial family name : CUOMO. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York since 2011, which I where I happen to be sitting right now high above Lexington Avenue, and his father, Mario, who held the same office for three terms.
40. Paris café brew : THÉ. Tea. The elegant sounding "une tasse de thé" doesn't have the same ring to it as "a nice cuppa" to my English ears. Nice Cuppa from the Corner will agree.
42. African antelope : ELAND
43. Get in : ARRIVE
45. "__ Believer": Monkees hit : I'M A. Composed by Neil Diamond and first recorded in 1966 by The Monkees. Mickey Dolenz sang the lead. Catchy little ditty. I can't figure out how Davey Jones manages to dance like that. It looks like his top half is disconnected from the bottom half, and his legs are independently wealthy.
47. __-bitty : ITTY
51. WWII general : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
52. Map abbr. : RTE.
53. Bun, for one : HAIRDO
62. Like gymnasts : AGILE. That's an understatement
64. Camping stuff : GEAR
65. Every which way : AMOK
66. Wash cycle : RINSE
67. One-named supermodel : EMME
68. Nutrition bar with a crescent moon in its logo : LUNA. Seems logical.
69. Like pet hamsters : CAGED
70. Conciliatory gestures : SOPS
71. North Sea feeder : YSER Partner entry to 32A
Down:
1. Southeastern Iraqi port : BASRA
2. Dealer's requests : ANTES. "Ante up, fellas!" Poker dealer's call.
3. Circuitous routes : LOOPS
4. Zhou of China : EN LAI
5. Helped in a job, perhaps : ABETTED. Slow to see "job" in the larceny sense, rather than a work task.
6. Difficult : HARD
7. Biblical brother : ESAU. There's few of these four-letter biblical brothers. Wait for the crosses.
8. Comet fragment, perhaps : METEOR
9. State of mind : ATTITUDE
10. Proceed easily (through) : SAIL
11. Sense something's amiss : SMELL A RAT
12. Prefix with center : EPI-
13. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist : TAN. Amy Tan. She co-wrote the screenplay of the movie adaptation released in 1993.
21. Georgia, once: Abbr. : S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic.
22. Syrup-soaked cake : BABA
26. Ticket __ : AGENT
27. Dweebish : NERDY
29. Pro with a tabletop scale : VET. This stumped me for a while. I was trying to think of a three-letter word for an assayer.
30. System of moral values : ETHIC
31. Most piano sonatas : SOLI
32. Bluemountain.com product : E-CARD. My mind was firmly on the Jamaican coffee track, so this one was slow to emerge.
33. Drew : LURED
34. Adjacent to : BORDERING. Amazingly, neither this nor OVERFEED have appeared in any of the major puzzles, or at least since the Cruciverb web site began archiving the puzzles.
35. Mideast potentate : EMIR
39. Stuff at mealtime : OVERFEED
41. My Chemical Romance genre : EMO. Three-letter music genre? Fill it in and move on.
44. __ perpetua: Idaho motto : ESTO. "Let it be perpetual". Please let the Idaho Gold potatoes be perpetual too. I love 'em.
46. Sticks : ADHERES
49. Worsted fabrics : SERGES
50. Consume : EAT
54. Amalfi Coast country : ITALY
55. Romulus' twin : REMUS. Nice proximity to Italy, above. The wolf-raised brothers whose story tells of the founding of Rome by Romulus after he indulged in a spot of friendly fratricide because they couldn't agree which of the Seven Hills they should build on.
56. Source of some overhead footage : DRONE
57. Heroic Schindler : OSKAR
59. "What __ could it be?" : ELSE
60. Brief reminder : MEMO
61. "__ Unto My Feet": longtime CBS religious program : LAMP. I've never heard of the show, and I also had never heard the phrase. Combined with an unknown model where I forst wanted "ELLE" for no good reason, this was my final fill.
62. Circle part : ARC
63. Italian actress Scala : GIA
And finishing up with grid - here it is! Back to LA this afternoon, home sweet home. Well, for two days anyway!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
1) Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss, our loving Agnes, the life of our Crossword Corner! I finally got to talk to Agnes on the phone two weeks ago, after tons of email exchanges over the years. Her voice is so young and reassuring. She's given me invaluable feedback and advice on various issues. I'm so lucky to have you on our blog, Agnes!
2) Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), our Amazon guy who's always volunteering for various causes. Abejo is Persian for "beer". Bradley worked in Iran for a few years.
20A. Meal owed to President Clinton? : REPAST DUE BILL
28A. Employing echo in audio? : REVERB USAGE. Here's a reverb - pretty, eh?
48A. Rules for righting wrongs? : REDRESS CODE
58A. Mail about system improvements? : REFORM LETTERS.
This looks like an LAT debut for Winston, so congratulations if it is! There's been a couple of debutants recently. I found one puzzle from Winston in the CHE, and one in Wall Street Journal, so he''s not a total rookie.
Enjoyable theme - some punning puzzles come across as groan-worthy, and not in a good way. This one was nice - the original phrases are solidly in the language, and the modified ones are fun. Some nice longer downs and the rest of the fill smooth. A good job all round.
Let's see what attracts attention;
Across:
1. Farm unit : BALE. I was tempted with ACRE, but resisted diving straight in.
5. "Uh, don't forget about me ... " : AHEM
9. Selling point : ASSET
14. Soon, quaintly : ANON. I'm not sure if this sounds quaint:
I see that you will start carving me anon, and take me to Monmouth's camp in sections.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
15. Diamond corner : BASE. The diamond misdirection always gets me, I was thinking facets and what-not.
16. Busch Gardens city : TAMPA. Tried MIAMI at first, thought about it, took it out. There used to be one in Van Nuys, near to where I live now.
17. USAF plane for small runways : STOL. Short Take-Off and Landing. VTOL ones can go straight up.
18. Word of proof? : ERAT Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
19. Video game based on a film, e.g. : TIE-IN
23. Help : ASSIST
24. __ bran : OAT
25. PC-to-PC system : LAN. Local Area Network.
32. River to the North Sea : ELBE. A North Sea river pair today, there's another one waiting further down.
36. "Blue Bloods" rank: Abbr. : DET. Detective.
37. Devotee : ADORER. Not a fan of the word, but it's valid. I'd never use it in conversation though.
38. Northeast gubernatorial family name : CUOMO. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York since 2011, which I where I happen to be sitting right now high above Lexington Avenue, and his father, Mario, who held the same office for three terms.
40. Paris café brew : THÉ. Tea. The elegant sounding "une tasse de thé" doesn't have the same ring to it as "a nice cuppa" to my English ears. Nice Cuppa from the Corner will agree.
42. African antelope : ELAND
43. Get in : ARRIVE
45. "__ Believer": Monkees hit : I'M A. Composed by Neil Diamond and first recorded in 1966 by The Monkees. Mickey Dolenz sang the lead. Catchy little ditty. I can't figure out how Davey Jones manages to dance like that. It looks like his top half is disconnected from the bottom half, and his legs are independently wealthy.
47. __-bitty : ITTY
51. WWII general : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
52. Map abbr. : RTE.
53. Bun, for one : HAIRDO
62. Like gymnasts : AGILE. That's an understatement
64. Camping stuff : GEAR
65. Every which way : AMOK
66. Wash cycle : RINSE
67. One-named supermodel : EMME
68. Nutrition bar with a crescent moon in its logo : LUNA. Seems logical.
69. Like pet hamsters : CAGED
70. Conciliatory gestures : SOPS
71. North Sea feeder : YSER Partner entry to 32A
Down:
1. Southeastern Iraqi port : BASRA
2. Dealer's requests : ANTES. "Ante up, fellas!" Poker dealer's call.
3. Circuitous routes : LOOPS
4. Zhou of China : EN LAI
5. Helped in a job, perhaps : ABETTED. Slow to see "job" in the larceny sense, rather than a work task.
6. Difficult : HARD
7. Biblical brother : ESAU. There's few of these four-letter biblical brothers. Wait for the crosses.
8. Comet fragment, perhaps : METEOR
9. State of mind : ATTITUDE
10. Proceed easily (through) : SAIL
11. Sense something's amiss : SMELL A RAT
12. Prefix with center : EPI-
13. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist : TAN. Amy Tan. She co-wrote the screenplay of the movie adaptation released in 1993.
21. Georgia, once: Abbr. : S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic.
22. Syrup-soaked cake : BABA
26. Ticket __ : AGENT
27. Dweebish : NERDY
29. Pro with a tabletop scale : VET. This stumped me for a while. I was trying to think of a three-letter word for an assayer.
30. System of moral values : ETHIC
31. Most piano sonatas : SOLI
32. Bluemountain.com product : E-CARD. My mind was firmly on the Jamaican coffee track, so this one was slow to emerge.
33. Drew : LURED
34. Adjacent to : BORDERING. Amazingly, neither this nor OVERFEED have appeared in any of the major puzzles, or at least since the Cruciverb web site began archiving the puzzles.
35. Mideast potentate : EMIR
39. Stuff at mealtime : OVERFEED
41. My Chemical Romance genre : EMO. Three-letter music genre? Fill it in and move on.
44. __ perpetua: Idaho motto : ESTO. "Let it be perpetual". Please let the Idaho Gold potatoes be perpetual too. I love 'em.
46. Sticks : ADHERES
49. Worsted fabrics : SERGES
50. Consume : EAT
54. Amalfi Coast country : ITALY
55. Romulus' twin : REMUS. Nice proximity to Italy, above. The wolf-raised brothers whose story tells of the founding of Rome by Romulus after he indulged in a spot of friendly fratricide because they couldn't agree which of the Seven Hills they should build on.
56. Source of some overhead footage : DRONE
57. Heroic Schindler : OSKAR
59. "What __ could it be?" : ELSE
60. Brief reminder : MEMO
61. "__ Unto My Feet": longtime CBS religious program : LAMP. I've never heard of the show, and I also had never heard the phrase. Combined with an unknown model where I forst wanted "ELLE" for no good reason, this was my final fill.
62. Circle part : ARC
63. Italian actress Scala : GIA
And finishing up with grid - here it is! Back to LA this afternoon, home sweet home. Well, for two days anyway!
Steve
1) Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss, our loving Agnes, the life of our Crossword Corner! I finally got to talk to Agnes on the phone two weeks ago, after tons of email exchanges over the years. Her voice is so young and reassuring. She's given me invaluable feedback and advice on various issues. I'm so lucky to have you on our blog, Agnes!
 |
| Eileen (sister of Agnes) & Agnes |
2) Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), our Amazon guy who's always volunteering for various causes. Abejo is Persian for "beer". Bradley worked in Iran for a few years.
 |
| Madame DeFarge and Abejo, 11/15/2017 |
48 comments:
A weary old man from BASRA
Had a desire to retire to TAMPA.
But to jump all the hoops
Of the red tape LOOPS,
It was easier to migrate up to LUNA!
A fish from the flood of the ELBE*
Was thought to be exceeding clever.
He located the fulcrum
Archimedes had spoke on,
But he never could find the right lever!
{C-, C.}
*According to Wikipedia, ELBE is pronounced as if it were spelled LEBA.
Hello Puzzlers -
Sailed through, except for a little roughness in the West. I confidently put in Remorse code with no perps in place, and it looked so solid I tried to keep it. Didn’t work.
Morning, Steve, you’re quite right. Davy Jones executed some funky moves in that primitive video. It didn’t seem to to harm his popularity with girls, however - I recall they were crazy about him, my sister right there among them.
A Grand Thursday fellow Corner Cruciverbalists,
- - I have been eating my broccoli so I can write that last word from memory, and I spelled it correctly. When I went to Mother Google to check my work, she reminded me that it means a person skillful in creating or solving crossword puzzles.
- - Before I came to the Corner I had never even hear of a Cruciverbalist and now I "are" one. Aw shucks.
- - I wish to thank Mr. Winston Emmons who Cruciverbed such a fine CW. There were several cells where I was stuck on one letter, but I was able to guess the letter each time so I FIR in 40:10.
- - Thank you Traveling Steve for you tour thru the CW.
Ðave
Good morning!
I did not fall into the ACRE trap, but only because I already had BASRA in place, and it was solid. A little further down YSER stood proudly....briefly...only to appear even further down. LAMP immediately popped into this infidel's mind, no idea why. CUOMO was slow to appear; I was thinking Oregon or Washington -- tough question for the geographically challenged. Very nice outing. Thanx, Winston and Steve.
Happy birthday I.M. and Abejo!
32D, I had moonshine on my mind so that was my last section to give it up. Green Mountain is the coffee people.
Good morning everyone.
No problems with the solve, but I was wary of 'acre', too, because Basra seemed quite firm. Eventually BALE loomed, and the rest of the fill was uneventful. Glad to see ELBE for once, a major river of N. Germany, but its source is in the Czech Republic, I think. Theme was interesting.
The BASRA clue was a bit odd with use of the qualifier 'Southeastern." Iraq only has one short stretch of coast of 36 mi. and only one port. Previous puzzles have used the simple clue - Iraqi port - which is more than adequate.
Thanks, Winston, for a fun Thursday CW, and congrats on your LAT debut. Good job on the tour, Steve.
A smooth solve for a Thursday, with the exception of the west coast. Up here on the northern side of the longest undefended border, Blue Mountain (32D) in Collingwood, Ont., was a pretty famous pottery company. During my youth, my parents brought home bushels of the pottery as curling prizes, most of them very expensive ashtrays. Not sure if this was unique to the curling club they played out of, or if it was common across the country (CanadianEh!, can you help?), but we sure ended up with a lot of that pottery in the old house.
Happy Birthdays to Irish Miss and Abejo, and here's wishing Argyle well, as always. A good day, all....
The theme was readily apparent today which helped the solve. I enjoyed your puns, Winston. Travelin' Steve, fine blog. Thank you for making time for us in your busy life.
61 D I never heard of the religious program, but the Bible verse is very well known. Psalm 119, verse 105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path."
I have only read anon in works written long ago or about a long ago time. I never heard it spoken. The dictionary calls it archaic. Doyle was born around the time of the Civil War.
Blue Mountain ecards came immediately to mind.
Cuomo is right in my back yard, so it was my first choice.
I like Amy Tan's books and have read quite a few of them, including the Joy Luck Club.
BABA, reminds me of our traditional Easter dessert, British trifle made from scratch. I slice pound cake in layers, spread them with raspberry preserves and sprinkle them with sherry. I fit pieces of one third of the cake in the bottom of a trifle bowl, topped with many fresh raspberries and one third of my homemade custard sauce recipe. I repeat this for three layers and just before serving I top it with homemade whipped cream and decorate it with more raspberries. David always asks for a repeat performance on his birthday, in lieu of cake.
Agnes and Abejo, I wish a delightful birthday. You both add so much to the blog.
Scott, keep on keeping on, so that you can return us in good shape as soon as possible.
Good morning. Thank you Winston Emmons and thank you Steve.
Loved RE PAST DUE BILL.
Me too Dudley, I got hung up on RE morse CODE for awhile. Compounded it by entering ITO (Takeo) for the WWII general. CUOMO and OVER FEED let me off that hook.
My sister as well. She watched every episode on TV. She had Monkee's posters, Monkee's 45s, bought the Monkee's chewing gum packs that came with the trading cards, etc.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Irish Miss and Abejo !
Gotta run.
See all y'all later n'at !
Musings
-VERB USAGE? Still not sure why “I could care less” became the same as “I couldn’t care less”
-My geometry students all had to calculate the distance from home BASE to second BASE using the Pythagorean theorem
-Did that Neil Diamond guy do anything on his own after writing for The Monkees?
-A runner-up trophy is insufficient SOP for losing
-Disney bus drivers are in a LOOP all day
-My kids enjoyed finding an EPICENTER by triangulating three seismograph readings
-Happy Birthday to Agnes and Bradley!
-Here come my welders again!
"Puzzling Thoughts":
A few ink blots, but FIR.
My first impression of what should go into 48a spawned this Moe-ku:
The penitent man
Sent a phony S.O.S.,
Via REMORSE CODE
HBTY Agnes and Abejo
Good Morning.
Thanks, Winston, for some Thursday fun. I found the theme at RE PAST DUE BILL--or at least the RE part of it. I wanted assisted for ABETTED, and overeats, which didn't fit verb agreement, for OVER FEED. Congrats on your debut.
Steve, you are such and ASSET to the Corner no matter your time zone. Thanks so much, and thanks today for this tour. Safe travels home!
HG: I feel your pain regarding could and couldn't care less. My other favorite misused pairs are hilarious and hysterical and "Hopefully, I ..." instead of "I am hopeful." The retired English teacher in me has successfully, albeit slowly, let go of the need to correct everyone.
Brad, I wish you a very wonderful day. I'm glad we have met and are nearly neighbors given the broad map of Cornerites. We need to meet again at that spot with TTP, WikWak, and any other nearby Corner Cruciverbalists. Thanks for all the time you spend assisting others. Happy Day!
Anges, I wish you a most delightful birthday. I am glad we have connected, and while we are not nearby neighbors, our footsteps have followed many of the same paths, especially in Maine. In November when I met him, Abeyo revealed that you and he share a birthday, Fun! Thanks for your very positive attitude, and most recently for identifying TEAM ARGYLE. Nice. Happy Birthday.
HBD to IM and Abejo. So the song "In Baghdad there is no beer, the Ayatollah's there" is not strictly accurate?
I remember the Monkees . It was a made for TV Beatles imitation that obviously had lots of talent behind it. Last Train to Clarksville was legit. Anyone know what John and Paul thought?
Getting CUOMO was the key for me
WC, AKA the unpaid Bill
PS. Argyle if you've started reading, the card's in the mail
I was just discussing language mistakes with my son on Easter. He resents the new use of literally, Oxford Dictionary says that, informally, literally is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true."I was literally blown away by the response I got."
Language progression
1. There are mistakes.
2. The mistakes become widely used.
3. The mistakes are accepted as informal English (e.g. literally)
4. Later they are accepted as standard English
5. Then people vigorously defend them as totally correct and never in question.
Although, it grates on my ears, I am thinking that "You look well in blue," will become accepted, if not in my life time, then in my children's life time. It is not yet used in dictionaries, but I find it many novels by supposedly erudite authors.
We had to learn that much of what we studied in science classes years ago has been superseded by newer knowledge. The same thing is true about what we learned in English classes. Otherwise we still might be using the language of Beowulf or earlier.
Fine debut for Winston Emmons. We thank Steve's commentary revealing the reveal. I thought this to be mostly easy but several passages took me into issuing verbal abuse at myself.
Put down ticket EVENT instead of AGENT. COUMO spelled trouble (CUOMO). Same with AMOC, you may ask how could I misspell it so badly? I get the OSCAR for spelling it that way.
I could never understand the strange phrase, "Lamp Unto My Feet" as I watched some of it when I was little kid on Sundays waiting for Davey and Goliath and Gummby.
Too bumpy of a puzzle for me to say, "Wow," and ADORER and STOL are two of my least favorite fills. Had to use them, I know.
Not enough time or the best words in the puzzle to build a story.
Thank you
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Winston (congrats on your LA debut) and Steve.
I got the theme early and filled in the REs.
Hand up for Acre before BALE. (But I had Barn in between).
STOL, LUNA and ESTO were educated WAGS.
Hoops moved to LOOPS.
I thought of Iman before EMME filled the spot.
I debated between Ethos and ETHIC. Apparently Ethos describes the character, values of a person or group, while ETHIC describes the rules, standards which are based on that Ethos.
Do those French cafés make THÉ the proper British way with fresh boiling water?
Living across the border from NY, I knew CUOMO.
In a cross-border rivalry, ANON T, Toronto Raptors moved closer to clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference by beating the Boston Celtics 96-78 on Wednesday night.
And in another cross-border rivalry, Toronto Maple Leafs have clinched third spot in the NHL Atlantic division, and will meet either Boston Bruins or TAMPA Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference first round.
NorthernBoy - I am so glad that there is another Canadian here to remember the Blue Mountain Pottery company. I don't have a curling connection, but I have inherited a collection of the ubiquitous swans and vases! Here's a link for our American friends who are not familiar with this bygone pottery manufacturer. bluemountain.ca is the link for the Collingwood ski resort.
BlueMountainPottery
Enjoy the day.
Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo.
So, mistakes kick off a language change 4 steps later. Just think about all the language changes acomin' from Autocorrect.
Forgot - - Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and to Abejo (known as Bier in Brunsbüttel [where the ELBE meets the North Sea.]}. Hope you both have a great day.
Have a wonderful, wonderful birthday, Irish Miss! And you too, Abejo!
I thought this was going to be a real toughie, and at first got only small items like OAT and I'M A and TAN. But then slowly, slowly things began to fill in, and in the end I got the whole thing perfectly, without any errors or cheating. Woohoo! Thank you, Winston--I will remember this great LAT debut of yours! And thank you, Steve, always, for a delightful write-up.
Had TULSA before TAMPA, and wondered why I couldn't remember Busch Garden. (I had my first teaching job in Tulsa and lived there for four years). So glad I figured out the RE beginnings early on--that helped a lot. My favorite clue was "Pro with a tabletop scale." I cracked up when I realized it was VET, although our VET weighs Dusty on a flat scale on the floor before putting him on the tabletop.
Have a great day, everybody!
Not exactly a speed run, but I did manage to FIR in just under 20 minutes. WEES about the west side; I must have spent nearly half of the time trying to get through it. Thanks, Mr E, for an enjoyable start to my day. And Steve, I always look forward to your offerings.
CanadianEh!, I was right behind you—ACRE became BARN became BALE. Probably I avoided the correct answer because of the negative memories that always surface when I remember, in my ute, bucking bales for my uncle at a nickel a bale. (End of rant)
And ever since Abejo joined the circle here, I have been wondering what that name meant/stood for/etc. Now I know!
Have a great day everyone. It’s still cold here but you can tell Spring’s nearly here—my wife has started sneezing already. :/
Rick @10:37, you asked. Since the origin of a "lamp unto my feet" is the Bible, it is impossible to explain outside of religion. So beware my answer.
Literally, when you are walking a path in the dark,shining an oil lamp in Bible days, or a flashlight these days, on the path illuminates the way to keep your feet on it.
Figuratively, the verse says God's Word (the Bible) shows believers the way to keep on the right track in their path through life. Accept it or not, this is the meaning.
Spitz, yes, mistakes, regionalisms, slang, etc. used consistently over a long period of time, often become codified into standard language. Some of these usages do fade away over time, but many of them stick (ADHERE). Quite a few get stuck in informal language and remain there, but many become standard.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Irish Miss and Abejo
Busch Gardens city, TAMPA, was a gimmie since I live about 20 miles from its front door.
Was also thinking "coffee" from that Bluemountain.com product clue.
I always brink back a couple of pounds whenever I visit Jamaica.
Cheers!
My thanks to Winston Emmons for a fun Thursday puzzle and to Steve for a great writeup. And Happy Birthday to Agnes and Bradley. Best wishes to Argyle in his rehab.
The due West was the last to fall for me, and I was using the red letters!
Wanted Ike for 51A before DDE appeared.
I think only EMIR and ARRIVE came without a lot of alphabet running.
I think the original misquote of “I could care less” for “I couldn’t care less” was done with a Yiddish accent and a rise in tone at the less, signifying not. The rise in tone, however, is left out now.
This topic, of course, brings to mind the Weird Al song and youTube video "Word Crimes"
Word Crimes
The graphics in the video take several times to get all the jokes. I partially like the one near the end where an email is set on fire then moved to recycle bin,then moved to a biohazard bin.
Live Well, Heal and Prosper
VS
Whoops, I particularly like the email one.
Wilbur, can you please email me crosswordc@gmail.com?
Hi Everyone:
Late to the dance due to my nemesis: Sidetracked! Thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings and thoughts. CC, I appreciate your generous compliments. And I wish a very Happy Birthday to my companion celebrant, Abejo, hope you have a special day. 🎂🎁🍾🎈🎉
This was fairly easy for a Thursday with only two w/os: Ethos/Ethic and Iman/Ellel Cuomo and Blue Mountain were gimmes but Lamp was an unknown in that context. Fun pairing of Elbe and Yser.
Thanks, Winston, for a Thursday treat and congrats on the debut and thanks, Steve, for the tour straight from The Big Apple.
I just received a beautiful floral arrangement for my birthday and was intrigued as to who sent it. Was I ever shocked and surprised that it was from my long-time Words With Friends opponent from St. Louis. We've never met but have been playing WWF for 6-7 years and communicating via IM or email. What a lovely gesture!
Madame Defarge, you have become synonymous with Maine for me. Several of my nieces are up in Wells for a long weekend bachelorette party. I think they're heading to The Front Porch for Saturday night shenanigans,
Have a great day.
Whoops! We just had an earthquake. It wasn't a really big one, centered offshore not too far from Santa Catalina island (26 miles across the sea...). It rock and rolled the house in a pleasant way, pleasant that is unless it keeps getting stronger. But it didn't. All is OK.
After I dug myself out a hole in the NW after filling ACRE and AQABA(wrong gulf) instead of BALE and BASRA, The RE-PAST DUE BILL opened the long fill up for easy solving. My RE-VERB USAGE is not an ASSET for me; let's just say it's BORDERING somewhere between 6th and 9th grade.
RE-DRESS CODE- no denim, that we had a while back; It's a no-no on most golf courses but I've never run across it at a restaurant before but I've had them put one of their house blazers on me for not wearing a coat.
THE, LUNA ( sounds logical to me too), ITALY, ESTO, LAMP, GIA Scala, E-CARD (tacky, tacky, tacky)- all perped. I was thinking LAMB for LAMP because somebody could be crying-SOBS instead of SOPS- as a gesture. I had a lucky WAG on that cross.
YSER before ELBE on 32A but it showed up anyway at 71A.
METEOR or should it be METEOR-ITE if it falls into our atmosphere
Nifty puzzle. I wanted REMORSE CODE so much it took me a long time to give it up. I was unable to think of anything other than something to do with coffee at that Bluemountain clue, which also got in my way. Then I began wondering if the answer was some kind of dog food, but no, that's Blue Buffalo. So, two big bullet holes in my foot. I finally went to the bluemountain.com website which very quickly gave me ECARD and my foot healed up and I finished the rest of the puzzle more or less unscathed. I had fun on this little journey.
Happy birthday wishes to you, Abejo and Irish Miss, and cheers to you all.
Happy Birthday to fellow puzzle-junkies, Irish Miss and Abejo! May today exceed your expectations.
A nice pzl today from Mr. Emmons, one that I found easy-peasy in all the non-theme fills, but difficult with the four themes. I had to remind myself that the only phrase that needed to be natural-seeming was the original. But I caught on and registered another
Ta- DA!
As to the quaintness of ANON, I have to say that the word is not entirely dead. It is in common use today in pockets around the country and in certain individuals' verbal repertoire - myself included. I first encountered it in Ashland, Oregon, the home of the first North American Shakespeare Festival. Because the word is so commonly used in Shakespeare's plays, the actors and other company members use it freely in everyday speech. They don't mean "Soon," but rather, "Coming, but I won't say exactly when..."
Nobody thinks it quaint.
I have worked at Shxper Fests and theaters around the country and find the word used freely at each - and from these specialized centers individuals branch out and use it in their daily lives.
If you haven't heard it yet, I expect it won't be long. It should be coming ANON.
____________
Diagonal Report: A solid 3-way, with no mirror action. I doubt there is a hidden message intended, although there is a (partial) anagram of A BIRD IS A VITAMIN.
When I was in the US Army 60 years ago, all the old soldiers said "I could care less" (all the young soldiers, too). Never heard the other version.
Kerry_in_Carefree
Too busy today to add silly puzzle links,
but not too busy to wish Irish Miss a Happy Birthday!
The side view has Shamrocks!
And Happy Birthday Abejo!
OMK. that the anon users are Shakespeare lovers says a lot.
Ol' Man Keith, in your adventures in Ashland re. Shakespeare, have you run into a retired teacher named Jim Amberg?
Greetings to the constructer ,reviewer and bloggers. I'm late to the party today because a dear friend who battles cancer on an ongoing never ending , day to day rollercoaster ride joined me for coffee at the local Mcd's this morning. He's in his early 70's and okay with the journey. I'm so healthy I almost feel guilty in comparison. Almost finished but put the paper down and visited. Sometimes he passes me by when he sees me busy with the crossword. An inspiration in positive attitude.
The crossword
I picked up a paper off the rack at Mcd's and when I opened it to the crossword page I saw some early bird had started the crossword and filled acre for 1(A). I folded the paper and got one that was clean. I thought of acre as others have said but waited because BASRA seemed sure , and then BALE filled in.
Fun puzzle thanks
Irish Miss happy birthday. When I see Irish I think of Celtic music and how well DW used to flit through the River Dance routine .WOW !! Better than the professional showcase we watched one evening . We took up dance after the kids left us with an empty nest . Country , Ballroom ,Square you name it . what fun.
YR, Yes!
and, considering how it spreads out from the "Shakespeares" (Oregon lumberjacks' term for festival actors) to the actors' families and friends, it serves as an interesting instance of language revivalism.
I wonder if there is a technical term for it among language specialists - the re-introduction of obsolete words into current use by those who encounter old words in their professional lives?
Hmm. I can't think of another example off-hand, although I spent a couple of years studying 16th C paleography.
Jayce,
I too love your idea of REMORSE CODE. Oh, why couldn't it have been!?
BTW, "Irregardless" is the non-word being held up to ridicule today by a F'Book friend...
Irregardless has crossed the scorn barrier to being accepted as standard English. Illogically,flammable and inflammable are both standard English. Popular usage frequently becomes standard. An apt illustration of my point.
YR, LOL, I shall so inform my F'Book friend.
Happy Birthday Irish Miss and Abejo.
IM: did you have chips with your cake and ice cream?
I didn't get to the puzzle until tonight because of a little project that blew up in my face (literally) this morning. I was replacing the fill mechanism in the powder room toilet on the first floor when the supply pipe in the wall broke when I tried to turn the shutoff valve back on when I was finished. The pipe was cracked and blew when I turned the valve. It hit me in the face and flooded the room and leaked into the basement before I could get to the main shut off valve in the basement. Yeah, yeah, I know I should have shut off the main to begin with, but I thought I was safe just shutting off the local valve. DW has reminded me a few times already that I should have done it differently. Annnyway, my favorite HVAC contractor was here within 30 minutes and had the problem fixed within an hour. Then the cleanup proceeded.
On to the puzzle. Good one and I really liked Steve's write-up. I was able to solve it with perps help and I think everyone else covered any issues I had along the way.
Again, Happy Birthday Irish Miss and Abejo.
Have a great day everyone. (What's left of it)
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Winston! Great Expo, Steve!
Happy Birthday dear Agnes & Brad!
Had errands all day. They say a big snow storm is coming tomorrow. Now I need to find supper.
Hi All!
Winston got the better of me today. Body of waters and names I didn’t know (OK, I knew OSKAR after I Googled it). I needed 3 more Googles to “hurry-up-and-finish” (my plate was full today and I didn’t spend enough time – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
Thanks Winston for a REaly fun theme. Thanks Steve for parsing ENLAI and fixing REMoS (I initially inked it RaMoS).
Hand-up for coffee @Blue Mountain. Then I thought of bottled-water. CUOMO fixed that and Google gave me an ECARD. St. Louis didn’t fit for Busch Gardens and w/ T-MP- , I inked TEMPE without reflection on a desert is a dumb place for lush greens. SAIL finally fixed that.
Small wasn’t ITsY
Fav: NERDY xing LAN
{B, B+} {grin}
Thanks YR for explaining LAMP.
VS – I love Word Crimes!
Happy Birthdays to Abejo & Irish Miss. Both of you add wonderful character to the Corner.
Cheers, -T
I like the word "Irregardless" .I think it provides emphasis (negative).
I always like Owen's C's and B's.
WC
I tried something sorta-new and ordered groceries from Jet.com. Then put a note on the door: "Delivery person -- The resident here is deaf, so don't bother knocking, just text 660-9281 with "package at door" and I'll come fetch it anon." Worked like a charm, I've got my groceries! Just wish I could get dairy this way -- I nearly live on milk, yogurt, kifer, ice cream...
I remember LUMF -- it came on early-early morning before the cartoons. Just looked it up to be sure I have it right:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lamp Unto My Feet was an American ecumenical religious program that was produced by CBS Television and broadcast from 1948 to 1979 on Sunday mornings. The program used a combination of drama, music, and dance to explore the histories, cultures and theological philosophies of the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths. In 1979 this program and another long-running CBS religious series, Look Up and Live, were combined to form a new show called For Our Times (April 28, 1979 to 1988), sponsored by the National Council of Churches, New York Board of Rabbis, and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
I get that the "USAF" in 17a was to indicate an abbreviation in the answer, but I'm fairly certain the USAF has no STOL aircraft in its inventory.
Anon at 11:15: I thought the same thing. The Navy has the Harrier which might be classed as STOL. I know my son had seen the Harrier in action while he was in HS and wanted to fly one but it was a Navy project. He went USAF instead and flew other planes.
@11:15 - I didn't think it that far through but, then again, I ink'd VTOL at 1st :-)
OKL - Thanks for looking that up. Living now in Osteen's viewing area I've a visceral reaction to GodTV but LUMF sounds like a nice program.
VS - I just re-watched WordCrimes - The funniest bit, to me, is @2:40 where Weird Al parodies the hell out of Alanis Morissette's Ironic on the chalkboard. #Meta
Cheers, -T
Bill G,
the name doesn't ring a bell. I didn't run across him in my years in the late '50s/early '60s.
If he was in the plays, you'll find him listed in the OSF archives.
No speed run for me. I threw in the towel and picked it back up in the morning. Glad I did as I was able to finish it correctly somehow. I normally use a pencil for Thursday and later puzzles but had a pen within reach so went with that. Big mistake. REFORMLETTERS was my first theme answer then incorrectly wrote in ADDRESSCODE for 48A. I eventually figured out the RE theme, but the northwest corner was a mess. I fell into the ‘acre’ trap crossing ‘cards’ at 2D. All in all a great puzzle though.
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