Theme:
Across:
16. What constant stress does, healthwise: TAKES A TOLL.
24. Old West folklore cowboy: PECOS BILL.
49. Very expensive: BIG TICKET.
59. Taunts on the field: TALKS TRASH.
37. Things gathered by aficionados ... or what the ends of 16-, 24-, 49- and 59-Across can be?: COLLECTORS ITEMS.
Melissa here. Love this theme from our own duo. So fun and clever, and a sparkly grid-spanning reveal, right in the middle.
Melissa here. Love this theme from our own duo. So fun and clever, and a sparkly grid-spanning reveal, right in the middle.
Across:
1. __ Romeo: Italian car: ALFA.
5. Machu Picchu people: INCAS.
10. __ Plaines: DES.
13. Copier room quantity: REAM.
14. Spanish peak: MONTE. Monte is Spanish for mountain.
15. With 27-Down, Captain Picard: JEAN.
18. Disney woman loosely based on Andersen's Snow Queen: ELSA.
19. Draw out: ELICIT.
20. Flustered state: DITHER.
22. Bathroom fixture: BASIN.
26. FedEx alternative: U.S. MAIL.
28. Arsenal inventory: AMMO.
29. "What was __ was saying?": IT I.
30. Japanese rolls: SUSHI.
33. Dip __ in: test: A TOE.
41. Patella's place: KNEE.
42. Decorate: ADORN.
43. Video game letters: NES.
44. N.Y. Cosmos org.: NASL. North American Soccer League.
47. Wee bit: SMIDGE.
54. Indian __: OCEAN.
55. Enthusiastic reply to "Who knows the answer?": I DO I DO.
56. More lax: LOOSER.
58. Muscat money: RIAL. Muscat is the capitol of Oman.
63. Barracks beds: COTS.
64. Forest fixtures: TREES.
65. Citrus hybrid: UGLI. Grapefruit, orange, and tangerine.
66. Brooklyn __, N.Y.: HTS.
67. Medicinal plant: SENNA.
68. Techie, often: NERD.
Down:
1. Co-star of Jackie on "The Honeymooners": ART.
2. __ & Perrins steak sauce: LEA.
3. Happy face that's put on: FAKE SMILE.
4. Bedelia of kiddie lit: AMELIA.
5. Apple choice: iMAC. Sneaky.
6. "Reward" for poor service: NO TIP.
7. 20 fins: C NOTE. $100. Fin is French for five. Correction (thanks NB & YR): Per Wiki, "The $5 bill is sometimes nicknamed a "fin."
8. Braves, on sports news crawls: ATL.
9. Once in a long while: SELDOM.
10. Indian city on the Yamuna River: DELHI. Sad.
11. Studio support: EASEL.
12. Doghouse "Don't come any closer!": SNARL.
15. Water-propelled craft: JET BOAT.
17. "Truman" actor: SINISE.
21. Belief ending: ISM.
22. General Motors brand: BUICK.
23. __ Martin: British car: ASTON.
25. Tahrir Square city: CAIRO. Capitol city of Egypt.
27. See 15-Across: LUC.
31. Follow furtively: STALK.
32. Mason's tray: HOD.
34. Youngster's time of life: TENDER AGE.
35. Luxury timepiece: OMEGA.
36. City on the Ruhr: ESSEN.
38. Soup legumes: LENTILS.
39. Most Soc. Sec. recipients: SRS.
40. Secret to the max: INMOST. If you say so.
45. Give a leg up: AID.
46. Lawn care giant: SCOTTS.
48. Post-winter river thaw: ICE RUN. I was thinking a different kind of ICE RUN.
49. Canoe wood: BIRCH. Any John McPhee fans?
50. Nincompoop: IDIOT. Love the clue.
51. Kids on a farm?: GOATS. Who knew this is a thing?
52. First name in daytime TV: ELLEN. Same number of letters as OPRAH.
53. Arcade coin: TOKEN.
57. Mount of Greek myth: OSSA. Wikipedia.
60. "__ You Lonesome Tonight?": ARE.
61. Camera type, for short: SLR. Single-Lens Reflex.
62. Put in a secret place: HID.
50 comments:
Continuing my ignominy this week, FIWrong. Misspelt ASTiN and didn't notice the perp, and had the game controller NEc, and since the cross was a German word, I wasn't expecting it to be anything I'd recognize anyway.
Came across the reveal before I'd even tried to look for a theme, so that was no fun today, either.
Her constant stress TAKES A TOLL,
AMELIA DITHERS without control.
For relief from this lash
On the Web, she TALKS TRASH.
Her stress solution takes a troll!
The INCA'S fortress city, Machu Picchu,
Was on a MONTE with Paradise in view!
Now it's tourists who invade,
Even those of TENDER AGE.
Ghosts are gone to Heaven, so SELDOM STALK in Peru!
{B, C.}
¡Excellent Hump Day you Corner Writers!
¡Sheldor is back on line and he's Spanish!
CanadianEh! FLN at 10:00 AM
- - Message received loud and clear. It was clever of Northern Boy and you to coordinate your posts so they followed one behind the other.
- - Well how about that, I worked the CW sans reading the constructors. No wonder it was so much fun. They are, of course our very own Irish Miss, and C.C.I FIR in 29:41.
- -Thank you melissa bee for your excellent review.
T T F N
Ðave
I filled IN MOST of the cells correctly the first time, but had to erase INCAn and ASTiN. My favorite restaurant of all time was Romano's in Des Plaines. If you were driving around Chicagoland and looking for that city, you had found it if you could look up out of your car window and deres planes (it's on the ORD approach).
US MAIL is as much of an alternative to FEDEX as an Oscar Mayer wiener is an alternative to a ribeye steak at del Friscos. [Sorry, my frustrations with USPS get rekindled every winter when I am forced to use their forwarding "service" during our Florida trips.]
Thanks to ESP for NASL, SENNA and AMELIA Bedelia. Thanks to IM and CC for a terrific Wednesday puzzle, and to Melissa B for another fine review.
Good morning, Cornerites. I hope we're all smiling this morning after the spate of dental appointments yesterday. TTP, you're hereby given leave to smile as well in advance of your follow-up appointment in two weeks.
Thanks to today's clever constructors, the Corner's own Irish Miss and CC, and to Melissa B for the great tour through the grid. However, Mel, I'm not sure where you picked up your French, but "cinq" is "five" in the language of Molière, not "fin." Per Wiki, "The $5 bill is sometimes nicknamed a "fin". The term has German/Yiddish roots and is remotely related to the English "five", but it is far less common today than it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."
Fairly smooth solve today, but the Eastern seaboard slowed me down a tad. Also nice to learn that aloe is not the only medicinal plant in the universe, and that SENNA might also bring one relief for ........ what, exactly? I'm sure we'll find out anon.
Have a great day, all....
Nice collection of clues, Agnes and CC. Very easy. TOKENS also can be collected. Thanks for the fine review, mb.
FIN in French means the end. The $5 bill was named fin after the Old German, funf and Yiddish finf.
On the rare occasion I get really terrible service I leave only five percent instead of NO TIP. It sends a message other than I just forgot to tip.
I don't care for lentil soup, although I love homemade navy bean soup.
Senna is used for constipation. Brand name SENOCOT.
My students loved Amelia Bedelia. When she was asked to call the roll, she put a bread roll on the floor and called, "Here, roll." When she was playing baseball and was told to run home, so she ran to her house. She stamped the letters by stomping on them. Etc. Etc.
Good morning everyone.
Fine job of puzzle creation, IM and C.C. BZ
I thought the theme execution was excellent. Finished without problems but perps directed spelling for ASTON, and forced AMMO where I had ArMs. No issues.
HTS - Visited Brooklyn HTS several times during the 50's and 60's. My uncle lived there and it was close to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Great view of Lower Manhattan.
DES - Genitive form of German definite German articles 'der' and 'das'. French for 'of the' (plural form).
ESSEN and Düsseldorf are near each other.
Sorry, Northern Boy, I unintentionally duplicated your thought.
After filling TAKES A TOLL I was expecting names for islands after seeing ATOLL. Wrong. I only know PICARD from our 'Picard' but the LUC came from perps, along with the unknowns AMELIA Bedelia and Truman actor SINISE.
Anon-T from yesterday. I usually only work the WSJ puzzles on Saturday but when I noticed C.C.'s name, I felt honor bound to work her puzzle. And that makes two days in a row for C.C. getting published. And I won't leave out Irish Miss.
Jinx- in just a few minutes I will be driving by the former Ruth's Chris Steak house that 'Dale' Frisco once ran with his former wife, who happened to shoot a few rounds (not round steaks either) at him for some hanky-panky. He moved to Dallas and started the 'Del Frisco's' steak chain. Changed the name to sound Spanish.
Hello Puzzlers -
Cruciverb is on extended leave, apparently, so I used LAT again. Despite that handicap, zoomed right through. Had to admire the central grid-spanner! Thanks C.C. and IM for a solid Wednesday romp.
Morning MBee, I enjoyed the goofy lunch scene from Breakfast Club. Haven’t seen that in years. Goat yoga? News to me.
Spitz, you’ll probably know that the Brooklyn Navy Yard was once home to lots of peripheral suppliers of navy goods; at some point in the last century, the decision was made to spread out the various vendors, reducing the nation’s vulnerability to air attack. Because of that initiative, the maker of periscopes - Kollmorgen Corporation - was moved up here to Northampton. I worked there as a student intern. The periscopes were superb pieces of equipment.
Irish Miss & C.C. Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle.
Melissa: Good job on the write-up.
Needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get AMELIA ... not up on "kiddie lit".
I've enjoyed UGLI fruit when in Jamaica many times. Delish!
Cheers!
Good Morning:
Thanks for all the kind words and thanks to Melissa B for explaining the theme and fill so clearly and concisely. As always, thanks to CC for sharing her talents so unselfishly.
I think Rich changed many of our clues (not unusual at all) because I was stumped in a few places and actually needed perps to come up with the answer. No complaints, though, as I enjoyed the solve through different eyes.
My doctor's visit went well: my BP is great but my cholesterol is on the high side. I wonder if those Gibble's potato chips that oc4beach introduced me to are a contributing factor? Or, much more likely, lack of will power with portion control! Surprisingly, there was no co-pay for the visit as my doctor is now designated an Enhanced Primary Care Physician by my insurance company. Co-pays will only apply to specialists' visits which, in my case, include my ophthalmologist and retina specialist.
Hope all is well, Argyle.
Have a great day.
Great puzzle from CC and IM. Melissa had some neat videos in her tour through the grid.
I was able to finish the puzzle in usual Wednesday time without Red Letters, but a lot of perp help. When I filled in 37 across the Ah Ha moment hit. However I didn't need the theme to solve the puzzle today.
I needed the perps to fill in the proper names. I never heard of AMELIA (other than Earhart), didn't know ELSA and there were so many cowboys to choose from that I just waited to get a few perps as a toe-hold for PECOSBILL.
For a minute I considered MEMEME, before putting in IDOIDO. I remember yelling that in elementary school trying to get the teacher to call on ME. In high school it was a different story. In some classes it wasn't considered cool to be called on. I guess it was a teenage thing. I know there are a number of teachers on the blog and wonder if this was a normal response that they saw when they were teaching.
IM: Sorry to hear that your Cholesterol was up. There are 4 mg of cholesterol in a serving of Gibble's chips, but as you implied, what is a serving. However, there are 30 mg of cholesterol in a TBSP of butter, so, I don't think 4 mg is going overboard. Enjoy them when you want.
IM and CC: how about a CW based on CHIPS, like potato, corn, poker, micro etc.? Just an idea.
It's National Animal Cracker day. Take a spin through childhood days and get a box of Animal Crackers.
Snow squalls yesterday. Boy, it's getting tiring. It's time for Spring to really show up.
Have a great day everyone.
I love seeing an Irish Miss and C.C. puzzle in the morning--Woohoo! Only I have to confess I had to cheat a little on this one because I didn't know JEAN LUC--or is it LUC JEAN? But I got the delightful reveal and all the theme answers, and thought the puzzle was full of fun material, including IDIOT and NERD. No FAKE SMILE from me this morning--many thanks, C.C. and Irish Miss.
Glad your doctor's visit went well, Irish Miss. I have a pre-surgery appointment with my doctor this morning to get checked out for my cataract surgery next month.
Hi, Argyle, have a good day!
And you too, everybody!
What a treat! A Wednesday wonder from our own dynamic duo. Thanks IM and CC!
Too many fun fills to mention. I loved AMELIA Bedelia, so that was easy. SUSHI as Janpanese rolls was so obvious....after I got it! Fun! Never heard of SENNA as medicinal but thanks, YR, for explaining senacot. (My spell check wants to change it to "senator." Hmmmmm??)
Clever 'l'icks, Owen! So that explains our Anons!
Argyle, how ya doin' ?
It is always fun to see an Irish Miss/CC puzzle.
Being a regular, I can see how previous Blog posts
got the wheels turning to create this puzzle...
Alfa Romero (definitely Anonymous T)
Pecos Bill has been linked numerous times...
Although, I do, I do, does not match previous links...
And I am sure "No Tip" came from one of my previous links...
And of course, Nincompoop=idiot,
must refer to...
(hey wait a sec!)
(that's not a very nice way to refer to CED in your puzzle!)
Since many of you don't read all the stuff from late at night and, since many of us are word people and enjoy the way words fit together, here's a repeat of mine from late last night that I really enjoyed...
A woman is sitting by herself at her husband's funeral. A man leans over and asks, "Do you mind if I say a word?"
"No, go right ahead," she replies.
The man clears his throat and says, "Plethora."
"Thanks," the woman says. "That means a lot."
Musings
-Another C.C. and Irish Miss delight with SENNA learning/forgetting
-I greatly admire TRASH Collectors. What a vital service they provide!
-Woe unto the teacher that exceeds their monthly REAM allowance
-The witty, brilliant Techie where I sub is very far from being a NERD!
-ART and Jackie rank right up there with Stan and Ollie
-I think Amelia helped foster my daughter’s love of language
-ATL on TBS was a staple of early cable TV
-My daughter’s stereotype of a BUICK driver
-What I used instead of a HOD when I tended mason
Hi Y'all! Great fun puzzle, thanks, Agnes & C.C. & Melissa.
Not sure I'd call my TRASH COLLECTOR an aficianado, but I appreciate their good work. When I lived on the farm, the kids or I had to COLLECT the TRASH and take it to the county dump.
Didn't know NES, NASL, OSSA, or Yamuna River. With all the smart people of Indian descent we see in the U.S. & a seemingly unlimited supply of workers, one would think they could come up with better sanitation facilities. My niece lived in India for awhile and my brother always came back from there shaking his head over the lack of cleanliness. They flew into Delhi so I'm sure he saw the Yamuna River, but didn't understand the problems there. Not just sad but criminal.
GOAT Yoga: the thought cracks me up. Doesn't seem healthful to have smelly hairy animals with cloven feet on top of a person. My niece has a hilarious Yoga picture with her two-year-old son climbing all over her that looks like more fun.
BUICK: have owned 3 in the last 20 years, Gary, but I don't look quite that bad. Yet.
Had a fun time doing this puzzle today. This car guy liked seeing ALFA Romeo and ASTON Martin. And, well okay, BUICK too. Nice job, Irish Miss and C.C.
I thought ART Carney was extremely funny in The Honeymooners. A very talented actor, he. Actually, Jackie Gleason was no slouch either. As an actor he was terrific in Gigot. He was also a musician, with his own "mood music" orchestra. And oh yeah, he also did all his own pool shots in The Hustler.
Bill G, good one.
Best wishes to you all.
So, I just looked up Jean Luc Picard and learned he was a Star Trek officer. Any relation to you, Picard?
Yes, I spent quite some time trying to get
Patrick Stewart in a 4 and 3 box space...
Toll Collector?
Bill collector?
Good Luck Collecting tickets!
If only...
Did you know?
A bit of crunchiness appropriate for a Wednesday puzzle. Very well clued and constructed, any unknowns were handled by crossers.
Misty @ 11:00 AM: You will be amazed at how much better your vision and color perception will be after your cataract surgery. Make sure that you follow your doctor's directions with the eyedrops after the surgery. I made up an Excel spreadsheet to make sure I did each drop when I was supposed to. One of my friends used an Amazon ALEXA to remind him when he should put drops in.
Good afternoon! (Boy, am I late.)
Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Enjoyed the puzzle, even if I didn't get the theme, and even if I don't like LENTILS. Thanx, IM, CC and MB.
MONTE: Some may be full.
OMEGA: In 1987 I received an Omega watch as a five year anniversary gift from my employer. It was an analog wristwatch with the company logo on the face. It's still in the box it came in. The company with that Z logo (George Bush's old company) is long gone.
IM and Oc4Beach: I've been battling high cholesterol for decades, and it's been my experience that high cholesterol results not from the cholesterol you eat, but from the fats.
What an honor for Irish Miss and CC to include me as JEAN LUC PICARD in the puzzle! Thank you!
Misty and Big Easy: Yes, I humbly take my Crossword Corner avatar and alias from Captain PICARD. He is my ideal: He has the best mix of explorer, scientist, humanist and fearless and visionary leader. He is the creation of Gene Roddenberry who also aspired to those qualities.
NASL almost got me. Unknown and I was not confident of some of the crosses. Hand up for ASTiN before correcting it. AMELIA also unknown, but crosses were solid. FIR!
You have probably already seen these views of me in the land of the INCAS.
But I just found this video I made at dawn at Machu Picchu.
The video still cannot capture the magical feeling. The area was completely socked in by fog. Just as the sun began to rise, the fog began to disperse into wispy clouds.
From yesterday:
Cross-Eyed Dave: Were you able to get my wildflower photos/article to load?
Here again is the link to our wildflower adventure.
WikWak: I remember when UC Santa Cruz became the Banana Slugs. One of my high school friends from Maryland went to school there and I stayed with him. He was the only person I knew in California when I first arrived.
He explained that they chose the name because they don't like the whole concept of blind obedience that usually goes with team sports. They see it as too similar to the blind obedience that leads to war and tyranny. Choosing that name would guarantee they would never take themselves so seriously! Ironically, they have come to be quite strong players!
Great job ladies ! All three of you ! Sweet !
I liked the variety of the COLLECTORS.
Thought of Dash-T at 1A with ALFA, and Picard with the Picard clue.
Shame on me for spelling SENISE as SENEeSE and not checking the cross. US MAeL ?
Family and friends live in Des Plaines. Locals know the highways that intersect at Des Plaines are the Jane Addams and the Tri-State.
The informal start of our golf league is supposed to begin in about 20 minutes with a practice round. Don't think that any of the twenty golfers in the league are going to make it. It's 34 degrees, dismal and damp outside. We may get one to two inches of snow. What happened to spring ? It was here, and then left.
This too shall pass.
On this date in 1924 the first crossword puzzle book was published by Simon and Schuster. THAT would be a COLLECTORS ITEM for crossword aficionados !
Back to the laundry. See all y'all later n'at !
Ta- DA!
Many thanks to C.C. and her partner, Ms. Davidson, for a fine hump day level challenge! This gave me pause (paws?) in a couple of spots, but nothing to complain about.
Not being a close follower of soccer, I wasn't certain of NASL, but the "S" perp left no choice.
Misty, I had the cataract surgery four or five years ago, and have not needed glasses for close work ever since. Good luck with yours!
____________
Diagonal Report: Two. The main line and its mirror.
No hidden messages - unless something is buried in an anagram. I readily admit that anagrams are not my forte, so I invite my colleagues to try. Below are the letters in question.
Main line: AEKLNLSOOSOEALD
Mirror: SALTSMIOASIIAOH
Thanks Irish Miss and CC and Melissa. Good stuff as always.
I just got another call from a guy with an Indian accent wanting to fix my Windows computer. (I have a Mac.) They claim to be able to tell something is wrong that they can fix online for me. Yesterday I called the person a liar and he began to defend himself. Today I just set the phone down until he got bored and hung up.
It used to be that I thought of many advertisers as annoying. Lately they've become dishonest too.
BillG: I read your joke last night and thought I got it. When I read it again today I got the full meaning and really laughed!
CrossEyedDave: I totally missed your link yesterday of Gary 7's "cat".
Yes, I totally had a crush on her, too!
Learning moment that she was Angela Dorian, Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 1968.
Melissa, forgot to thank you for the great write-up and pictures!
Now I'll always think of you as a hero, Picard.
Thank you for the encouraging words on cataract surgery, Ol' Man Keith. And I really appreciate your advice on the eye drops, Oc4beach--and will definitely follow it when the time comes next month.
What an unfortunate day for me to have to leave early for a blood draw then a chauffeuring errand! But what a delight to come home to an Agnes and C.C. puzzle! this was fun and quite doable in a fairly short time.
WEES. I liked seeing the car names in there, the CSO to Picard though it took me a while to recall JEAN then JETBOAT emerged. A few times I felt like an IDIOT since even MONTE was slow in coming. However, I sashayed through the bottom. My students also liked AMELIA Bedelia.
So, thank you Irish Miss, C.C. and Melissa; your commentary enhanced the pleasure today!
Hi, Argyle. I saw your name in another puzzle yesterday.
I hope you are all having a most enjoyable day!
Misty:
My ophthalmologist encouraged me to think of it not as eye surgery, but as cataract removal which sounds less menacing. And the results are astounding as others have said. Your vision will be restored to brilliant results!
I don't understand what the Diagonal Report is.
Don't hear SMIDGE much any more.
Mostly, WEES. Good puzzle.
Saw the last day of French Quarter Festival was a wash out. Too bad.
Thank you, gentlewomen, for this entertaining experience! Fun puzzle and witty expo!
Hand up for INCAn/INCAS, and ASTiN/ASTON. Also had trashtalks/TALKSTRASH. Perps to the rescue.
My daughter read some of the AMELIA Bedelia books so that one was easy. Also, I have a niece named AMELIA and there is a town by that name about 10 miles away.
I got a phone call from someone trying to sell me a casket. I said it was the last thing I needed.
Happy Wednesday.
Misty, what oc4 said at 1328. I had cataract surgery last October. My doctor gave me the equivalent of a spreadsheet showing the drops requirements for the next 5 weeks from 3 different medicines. Easy to follow, though, and no big deal.
Dudley, thanks for sharing. I guess the Connecticut Valley is known for its fine technical products. The Silicon Valley of the 19th century?
FLN - the video of the A-1 in Lower Saxony (TTP link). Still got some of it to see. The first stretch was a bit surreal with the lane signage and off ramps. My Dad had contacts in Osnabrück and both my parents embarked at Cuxhaven when they left the old country for America.
To all who have had said cataract surgery, do they put you to sleep (I hope)? What is one to expect?
thanks NB & YR - it is corrected. wish i could remember where i saw that but now all i can find is the correct translation of fin=end. maybe it's time for eye surgery ;).
Jayce,
for me they numbed the area around the eye, but needed to keep me awake.
I know, the thing that bothers most folk about eye surgery is that you have to have your eye open for the doc to work on it.
No matter how many times they reassure you that the surface of your eye has no pain nerves, you find it hard to believe - until they are actually working on your eye and you don't mind at all!
I guess Nature figured that you really need to protect your eyes, hence the blink reflex. But I guess She also reckoned that if the blink won't save the eye, it'll be too late to give you a pain warning!
Fortunately, most docs aren't predators; they're trained to use Nature to advantage - right?
Lucina, many thanks for the encouraging news. Spitzboov, five weeks of eye drops! Wow! I had no idea. Jayce, as I understand it, I won't be asleep during the surgery, er, cataract removal (thanks, Lucina). But I've never heard anyone say it was painful--at least I'm hoping it won't be. Again, thanks for all the good advice, everybody. Mine will be in two weeks and I'll let you know how it went when the time comes.
Always enjoy your links.
Terry Fowler: Whose links?
Misty, Jayce, and OMK. My cataract ...er....removal was the best thing that ever happened to me. I could finally see after a lifetime of nearsightedness. No glasses!
As others have said it REALLY isnt painful! I was not asleep...I had to follow instructions....but I was so Gaga from all the medication I felt nothing. I do remember seeing wonderful colors. And when I came to, I immediately could see better than before.
Misty, please do let us know your experience.
Misty: are you getting both eyes done. They usually wait a week or two between eye surgeries. They did my right eye on August 1 last year and the left eye two weeks later on August 15. That was why the drops seemed to take a long time (4 weeks of drops for each eye so there was a 2 week overlap). It was 6 weeks total. However, you won't be doing all of the drops at every application time. It helped that I had my DW do the drops for me. When I tried to do it myself I missed my eyes a few times.
One thing I noticed right away was the brownish/yellowish tint of the cataract was gone and colors were much clearer. Since the cataract growth was so gradual, you don't realize your eyes are changing. But it's a radical change when you have it replaced.
Please let us know how it goes.
Picard,
Thank you for the Wildflower re-link,
absolutely beautiful!
Question,
Dawn, on Machu Picchu?
You didn't climb up there in the dark...
Where did you sleep?
(In that spooky place waiting for dawn???)
(more info pls...)
2nd question, are those colors on the mountain from the poppies?
Also, you do realize I am a cat fancier...
Gary 7's cat,, 2 thumbs up,
Angela Dorian, Eh,
(maybe if she took her clothes off...)
Trivia:
After years of watching Machu Picchu videos,
I only just recently found out the central stone
is so perfectly aligned with the sun
that is casts no shadow during the equinox...
Intihuantana stone
This would be remarkable if the sun during equinox was directly overhead.
But, at Equinox, it is actually 30 degrees North...
An amazing feat of stone masonry...
(note that the stone leans 30 degrees...)
Hi All!
From ALFA to OMEGA this puzzle was a hoot! Thank you IM and C.C. for both the puzzle and fun with the Cornerites. JEAN LUC Picard, ALFA NERD (me), an SO to SCOTT (hi Argyle!), and CED's self-effacing CSO :-)
Then there's Spitz on the OCEAN, Pecos BILL G, and 1/2 the Cornerites with a replacement KNEE :-)
The puzzle wasn't coming quickly at 1st; I had work on the mind (odd-ball traffic we discovered late last night) so I wasn't concentrating puzzle-wise. After a wickedly-intense morning, I looked at the puzzle right before heading out the door to pickup lunch. I was done in <10min! I don't usually fire on all 8-cylinders so that was nice.
Speaking of cylinders... ALFA, BUICK, ASTON, and a Chevy MONTE Carlo ADORN'd nicely for an auto mini-theme. Some of those rides are way more C-NOTES than the others; we're talking BIG TICKET ITEMS vs. a handful of TOKENS :-)
Thanks mb for the great expo - loved the Ferris Bueller clip!
WOs: TALKS smAck; and ArMs (hi Spitz!)
ESPs: HOD, MONTE, SINISE, NASL, SENNA.
Fav: D'uh, ALFA
Sparkle - DITHER, SNARL, IDIOT, STALK
{A,B+}
Misty - I got nuthin' re: advice but good luck with the "removal."
Oc4 - CED's clip beat me to Horshack's OOH!, OOH!, OOH! for your ME ME ME. I also like your chips idea... Wheels ARE turning.
PAT - LOL your casket quip!
Back to work. Cheers, -T
CrossEyedDave
Glad you enjoyed the wildflowers! Yes the brilliant orange patches on the mountains indeed are California Poppies!
Here are photos from 2009 when I hiked all the way up there to Grass Mountain with some friends. Now you can see the California Poppies up close!
By the way, this is immediately next to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
Regarding more details of Machu Picchu at dawn. I stayed in a wonderful little village below called Agua Caliente. Yes, there are natural hot springs there. I was the only Gringo who seemed to dare to enter them! I enjoyed hanging out there with the natives.
I took a bus up to the park entrance way early in the morning. And then I indeed walked into Machu Picchu in darkness. I think I had a flashlight. I was not alone. as others were doing the same thing.
The mad rush came as soon as the sun rose. There is a trail to the top of Machu Picchu (Huayna Picchu) and they limit the number of people who can enter. I ran like crazy and barely made it in time to be allowed in. By chance I met two American women when I entered and we did the hike together.
Gary 7s cat in human form... Her real name is Victoria Vetri. I read the Wikipedia entry for her and they had left off the Star Trek reference! It was the first time I have ever edited a Wikipedia entry! When I read the rest of it I was a bit less enthused about her. She is in state prison for shooting her husband during an argument.
I also like cats, but I am allergic enough not to be able to own one. Hence, I keep frogs and sometimes lizards!
At equinox, Mar 20, or Sep 22. the Sun's declination is 0º or directly overhead at LAN at the equator.
Swamp Cat, Oc4beach, and AnonT, thank you for all the kind comments. They are extremely helpful. My procedure is not for two weeks, but it is so helpful to be prepared for how it will work and what comes next. I'll be keeping my glasses, Swamp Cat, because I've had them since I was 11 years old and can't picture being without them. But I gather I'll be able to read without glasses. Oc4beach, my procedures will also be 2 weeks apart, so it's good to hear that that's a good plan. Again, thanks everybody--I really appreciate all this helpful feedback and advice.
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