A Themeless Saturday puzzle by Jeff Chen
One thing that caught my eye on Jeff's fine puzzle was a plethora of J's. He had nine in all but the stair step of four J's in the middle stands out like an honest politician. I wonder if that was just serendipity. Last Saturday's Greg Johnson puzzle only had one J - DON'T JINX IT!
Every corner had speed bumps for me but worked out beautifully with Tintinnabulation being my last head scratcher but the bell finally rang and I got it. Yeah, I know, don't quit your day job!
Here are the balance (MBA, get it?) of Jeff's Saturday-worthy clues:
Across:
1. Begin another chapter, e.g.: WRITE - ...and the plot thickens
6. Gets high at a moment's notice?: JET SETS - I don't think these are people I want to, uh, "get high with" at a moment's notice!
13. Country name on "The Woman in Me": SHANIA - Now, on the other hand, Shania...
15. Suppressed guffaw: TITTER.
16. Art using locks: JIU JITSU - "When I say no..."
17. Verbalize: UTTER.
18. Double over?: FOLD - An elementary teacher taught me this FOLDING mnemonic
19. Grave: TOMB and 8. Part of a historic 19-Across name: TAJ - It costs 1,000 rupees to enter the TAJ MAHAL to see the TOMB of Mumtaz Mahal. It is open everyday but only Muslims can enter on Friday
s20. Bit of tintinnabulation: PEAL - The Moon has no air, so if a bell is rung there does it make a TINTINNABULATION?
21. NBA great __ Olajuwon: HAKEEM - The two most famous NBA stars with Nigerian parents.
 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo Hakkem Olajuwon |
23. MIT mentors: RAS - Resident Assistant. In our dorm their thankless job was to keep beer out of the dorm
24. Lilly of pharmaceuticals: ELI.
25. Insert into an email, as a video: EMBED.
26. Buckets: A TON - It is supposed to rain buckets today
28. Hard-boiled genre: FILM NOIR - Turner Classic Movies is a good place to find them
30. Self-titled 2001 album: J.LO - Jennifer LOpez, her boyfriend (our cwd friend A ROD) and their four children from other marriages
31. Voter's choices: YES OR NO - It surprised me on Tuesday how many bond issues around here got a YES vote!
32. Worried about losing one's place?: JEALOUS
36. Spree: JAG
37. Source of trial figures: JURY LIST - This is the JURY LIST of the men who found Al Capone guilty. Judge Wilkerson got wind that the original panel had been bribed by Capone and so he swapped Capone's original jury with these men who had been empaneled for another trial across the hall
38. Asian genre influenced by The Beatles: J POP - Japanese POP music. Here's sample with Japanese lyrics and the English translation. 30 seconds should give you the idea that this ain't Mozart!
40. Throws out: JUNKS - Those temporary taxes never seem to suffer this fate
41. Debt-laden Wall St. deal: LBO - Leveraged Buy Out
42. Small Indian state: GOA - Yeah, I'd go with small
43. Hardware with elongated heads: T BOLTS.
45. Awestruck: AGOG and 25. Unable to look away: ENRAPT and I think some of these 600 kids were this on Monday during my Manned Space Flight presentation. Uh, that's yours truly in the Carrot Suit.
46. Game with a 2210 A.D. edition: RISK - An angry Ukrainian took exception when Kramer 52. Hint at, with "to": ALLUDED to negative characteristics about Ukraine while playing RISK with Newman
48. Et __: ALIA
49. Arcade giant: ATARI.
50. Retirement obstacle: INSOMNIA- Retire for the night
53. Dessert analog to turducken: PIECAKEN.
54. Puts on: STAGES - Let's PUT ON A SHOW!
55. George Carlin was the first, briefly: SNL HOST - TV Guide announcement
56. Firefighter, at times: HOSER - A popular Omaha event
Down:
1. Slight fiction: WHITE LIE - Think carefully before you answer Honest Abe
 |
| Does this dress make me look fat, Abe? |
3. Agents' gathering: INTEL - His skill and diligence at gathering INTEL by decoding Japanese messages made the difference at Midway
4. Level with fans: TIER - Wanna see the Yankees and Dodgers in Yankee Stadium? The price depends on which TIER you choose - $24 - $2,000.
5. __ trumpet: EAR - Eh? Not quite the same as my Bluetooth hearing aids!
6. Given a sentence to complete: JAILED - With Nebraska's "good time" law and good behavior, you can get out after completing only half that sentence
9. Hot rod?: SPIT - Improvisation
10. Corrida combatant: EL TORO
11. Eponymous explorer of Australia: TASMAN - Abel TASMAN was the first European to see this area that is now a southern state of Australia
12. Intentionally overlooks: SNUBS.
13. Make one's eyes pop out: STUPEFY.
14. Nickname for tennis star/prankster Novak Djokovic: DJOKER.
18. Icon often pictured with wind-blown hair: FABIO - Heartthrob FABIO then and now
21. Chinese ethnic group: HMONG - In Grand Torino Clint Eastwood plays an ex-marine that helps a HMONG family
22. Ringgit spenders: MALAYS - The price of a Big Mac Combo meal in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia is RM15 (three of these ringgits) which is about $4
27. Passing charge: TOLL.
29. Magical power: MOJO - Gotta get your MOJO workin!
30. Yanks: JERKS - Derek Jeter was one Yank who wasn't a JERK!
32. Post-fall cabal: JUNTA - Zimbabwe’s new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa is being accused of having formed a JUNTA after overthrowing Mugabe last year
33. Pressure indicator: OIL GAUGE.
34. Part of it was a 2016 campaign issue: US BORDER - Mama don't allow no politicking here
35. Cheap smokes: STOGIES - Famous STOGIES of song at :50
37. Assange of WikiLeaks: JULIAN - A man without a country
38. Hum along, say: JOIN IN - If you don't know the words, just make 'em up like my mother did!
39. Scores, with "a": PASSEL - Dropping an "R" after a vowel and before a consonant is common in English like PARCEL - PASSEL and Curse - cuss
40. City where Jake Blues was in prison: JOLIET - Played by brilliant, disturbed John Belushi
42. Some movie set techs: GRIPS - Here they are setting up a camera dolly
44. Hold-up targets: BANKS.
45. Hold-up man?: ATLAS - He did not hold up the aforementioned institutions47. "Mayor" author: KOCH - Ed
49. One not often hitting the high note: ALTO - ALTO daughter had no shot at the soprano ingenue lead of Laurey in Oklahoma. She was a great Ado Annie
51. Leader with a jacket named for him: MAO - When paired with my Nehru and Eisenhower jacket, my wardrobe is internationally complete!
52. Elastic wood: ASH.
DA GRID
52 comments:
Happy wedding day.
Mr. Jeff Chen provided such a difficult CW that I BAILed in every cell. I eventually FIW.
Thank you Husker Gary for you excellent review.
Ðave
Good Morning!
I stutter-stepped through J-J-J-J-Jeff's Saturday offering, learning along the way that there are two Is in JIU JITSU and it was OIL GAUGE instead of MILLIBAR (hey, it could'a been!). Thought the southwest was the most difficult area. INSOMNIA finally broke it open. Thanx, Jeff and Husker.
Jeff Chen - finally someone appreciated the letter J, thank you. Jeff is a very skilled constructor and like our own C.C., a most gracious mentor. He has been very kind and helpful to me since I found my way to the Corner. His creations are never easy but always entertaining.
HG you outdo yourself every week.
Thank you, Gary and Jeff.
Obviously, all of the rest of you are watching the royal wedding. Pretty cool stuff.
The album J.LO did not title itself; it was titled by J.Lo or her producers.
Perhaps Canadian Eh! could give us the nuances of the northern usage of HOSER. I know it’s kind of derogatory.
I didn't intend to watch the Royal Wedding, but sometimes I am up at 4 a.m. so I noted the time. Yesterday I had what was probably a virus and my body demanded I go to sleep at 7:00 p.m. I was up briefly at midnight then back to sleep. At 3:30 a.m. thunder woke me up. Since I was up I turned on the TV. At first just seeing the concoctions women guests were wearing on their heads was so amusing, I kept watching. I'm usually not a celebrity fan but I found myself excited to recognize some people. The cathedral was gorgeous. When the herald trumpets sounded to begin Meghan's procession to the altar, I burst into tears. The music was so moving. All of the music was excellent and worth tuning in for if you liked nothing else. The young couple certainly looked like they care for each other. Meghan has an appealing unspoiled quality and Harry has a rough & ready caring sense. And face it, the British are masters at putting on a parade. I was startled at the horse guardsmen wearing what looked like shining medieval metal armor. Jolly good show! Glad I watched.😀
One things for sure. Jeff Chen likes the letter J. JLO, JEALOUS, JURY,JERKS, JUNTA, JULIAN, JOLIET, JUNKS, JAILED, JETSETS, DJOKER and he beat me today. A PASSEL of Js this morning.
My MOJO for completing puzzles didn't get it. I couldn't complete the SW. Never heard of J-POP or GOA, correctly guessed PIECAKEN, had S__HOST but "a PASSEL" and JOIN IN would never 'join in'. "Scores"- I wouldn't drop using it as a verb.
An Asian influence is detected today. HMONG, MALAYS, GOA, MAO, TAJ, J-POP, JUNKS (the boats)
I never knew JIU JITSU was an "art" and I can't believe I spelled it correctly. It was my last correct fill after King TUT's TOMB became the TAJ Mahal.
I can't wait to see some dork with both a RAT TAIL and MAN BUN. It will happen.
DATA PLAN--C.C.- pick one yet?
Jeff provided Just about the toughest Journey through the grid today. Red Letters and a few look-ups were needed to get through the puzzle today. After seeing the number of J's popping up, I started adding them to each unknown and got a toe-hold in the middle with the tiered J's. Officially a DNF, but challenging.
HG provided a nice tour through the grid with a lot of entertaining visual aids.
I stumbled and fumbled my way through the grid today and if I had done it on paper, I would have totally destroyed it with an eraser.
All of you who can get to a military facility with a National Armed Forces day program today should try to go.
Have a great day everyone.
Good Morning,
Thanks, Jeff. Madame Defarge, whose real initials are J.J., really enjoyed this one. I noticed a couple of J's and the race was on! Not that I wasn't fooled, but I had some needed fun here this morning!
Thanks, Gary, for the tour. NASA provided you with the best ever sub material!! Always a fine story when the classroom teacher leaves 10 minutes of work for a 50-minute class! I subbed between my two full time teaching gigs, I was always able to punt due to my vast wealth of totally useless knowledge, but your experience is a winner! Hooray for you!
PK: I also had insomnia but feel into a deep sleep in the early morning hours for me. The Royal Wedding will be highlights tonight. In honor of the new Duke and Duchess, I asked my DH why Sussex was so important. He knew. That's where Sherlock Holmes planned to retire in order to keep bees.
Have a sunny day!
Hi Y'all! This puzzle was so hard, everyone else seems to still be grinding away at it. I tried it at midnight, but gave up when I only had five entries after the first pass. Took some more aspirin and went back to bed. I posted above to get that out of my system then tried the puzzle again. Only my perseverance was better. I spent more time red-letter running to get the first letters of so many words, I'm AGOG! I caught onto a lot of "J's" so I started plugging one in every time I got stuck. At least half were right.
Jumping Jehosophat, Jeff, I bow to your superior word skills and forgive you for Jinxing me.
PIECAKEN: good grief. I've heard of "death by chocolate" but this looks like a faster way to go. Might be worth a try though.
Thanks, Gary, for another enjoyable expo. Glad you explained what you were doing in the orange jumpsuit. The only time I've ever seen that orange fashion is in court with shackle accessories or running away from the jail like a bat out of HE**!
Good Morning:
A Jeff Chen Saturday puzzle means one thing: Fasten your seat belts, you're in for a bumpy ride! And today's offering was indeed a bumpy ride but also fun and enjoyable. I went astray wanting Tut for the Tomb reference but, eventually, Taj became evident with Jui Jitsu. (It can be spelled with or without that extra "I".) I'm unfamiliar with those Rattail hairdos and I thought Ringgits was some sort of web site, like Reddit. I never heard of Piecaken (sounds terrible, to me) so I threw in Tiramisu. I also had Jury Pool instead of List. I'm not keen on Hoser in any usage but that's just me. Overall, it was challenging but, in the end, quite doable. My favorite combo was Retirement obstacle=Insomnia. I, too, noticed the plethora of J's and would have guessed there were more than nine.
Thanks, Jeff, for an arduous journey but a satisfying ending and thanks, HG, for the super-sparkling summary. Your visuals are stunning, as usual. I noticed on the b-ball players picture that the spelling was Hakkem vs Hakeem. I wonder if they're interchangeable?
I'm looking forward to watching the wedding recording, even more so after reading PK's rave review.
Anonymous @ 8:32 ~ If there is ever an award given for Nitpicker of the Year, you're most definitely a shoo in! 😇
Have a great day.
Challenging but doable puzzle where perserverance paid off! NE was my slowest corner mostly because I had TORERO and DARWIN next to each other before EL TORO and TASMAN- once I started erasing and rethinking -that corner finally fell!
I had DVR'ed the wedding festivities, planning to watch later. But I woke up at 530 with the birds' morning song in my backyard's woods - and decided to stay up and watch it live. I second PK - wonderful service with music as the highlight from the men/boys choir to the gospel choir to the amazing 19 year old cellist. Who knows- Sheku Kanneh-Mason may be the YoYo Ma for future crossword solvers? He won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2016.
Thanks HG for another entertaining write-up as well as Jeff for a challenging puzzle!
Good morning everyone.
What Lemon said about HG's write-up. Ditto.
Did it with help, just to experience its content and construction. Very well done by Jeff, but alas, beyond my capabilities except for the bottom third. Too many obscure clues. For me, Saturdays are a crap shoot.
PEAL - Thanks HG for mentioning Armed Forces Day. Following is a link to the ship's bell of the USS Saratoga CV-3 which served during WWII. It reposes at the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery. (It can't be rung because the clapper is secured.). (The cemetery came into being about 1999. It abuts the farm I grew up on and is located about 2 miles North of the Saratoga Battlefield.)
Once a Marine forever a Marine,no ex's got the j's hint @ 16,30 & 32 a filled the rest no problems
Leroy Jethro, is that you?
Inanehiker: I didn't catch the name of the cellist on TV. He was certainly impressive with nerves of steel to play in that venue in front of all those celebrities. Surely they were pieces he had already prepared and did without music. My daughter had that "Ave Maria" played at her own wedding by a cellist. Gorgeous.
And speaking of "No music" I was shocked to see the professional military band with their music holders attached to their instruments. My grandsons marched in the London New Years Parade with their music memorized. Their band director required it.
My daughter-in-law is excited because she got to walk down the same aisle as Meghan when they were in London at New Years.
My favorite part of the wedding was the fact that no terrorists spoiled the scene with violence. I got a little nervous when the front guard got too far ahead of the bridal coach at one point. Otherwise they were visible but pretty well protected by the horsemen. They soon slowed down and waited for the coach to catch up and I breathed better. So sad to have to think that way.
Holy Toledo! I almost didn’t even try today’s puzzle when I saw it was a Jeff Chen—and now I wish I had followed through with that. He well and truly did me in today. I did finish (finally), in well over half an hour, but only with about a dozen trips to Mr Goog and some red letter help.
I liked all the J words and wondered whether that may have been Jeff's SO to himself. Husker, your effort rates 5 stars again today.
Now I’m going out to the garden to eat worms…
Defeatedly yours,
Me
Well, this Jeff Chan was brilliant but way too tough for me. I only got a little of the middle before I had to start cheating. But I did get JURY--though, like Irish Miss, JURY POOL before JURY LIST. I also got JULIAN Assange and therefore JUNKS and JUNTA, so at least I got most of those middle Js. Then a J goof up when I put JAKEEM instead of HAKEEM. Guess I got overconfident about all those JS. Anyway, fun puzzle in spite of being so difficult, and thanks for the fun write-up, Husker Gary. I've never heard of RAT TAILS as a hairstyle, so your picture was a big help.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Good afternoon all. Thank you Jeff Chen and thank you Husker Gary.
Irish Miss, to answer your question, Hakkem is not correct. Probably a typo by the person that created the pic that Gary linked.
His name was improperly spelled as Akeem Olajuwon when he came to the U.S. He was a star on the University of Houston Cougars basketball team along with Clyde (The Glide) Drexler in forming the basis of the "Phi Slamma Jamma" above the rim style of basketball that excited the city and fans, and popularized the team around the country. I was working at and taking additional business classes at the U of H at the time.
Some 10 years after immigrating, Akeem formally changed his name and corrected it to Hakeem Olajuwon in 1991.
This was a toughie for me, very little toeholds except for Julian, Hakeem, Hmong,Tasman, Atari, Koch, and White Lie. Took me a long while, so finally I googled Jake Blues' prison. Had air gauge instead of oil, Tut before Taj, and juju instead of mojo, but the perps made me see the light.
HG, terrific recap as always. Great pic with the orange jumpsuit (PK: snicker), but I certainly could have done without the visual of rattail (Big E: funny).
Spitzboov said it better than I can, so I'll use his words: Did it with help, just to experience its content and construction. Very well done by Jeff, but alas, beyond my capabilities. The only answers I knew, to get a tiny toenail hold, were ELI Lilly, JULIAN Assange, TASMAN, and GOA. I had always considered the HMONG to be Laotian, but Wikipedia shows they are indeed a sub-group of the Miao (苗族) of China. I wanted BAROMETER as the pressure indicator, but it was one letter too long. Not wanting to relinquish TUT at 8d flummoxed me in that area for too long until I finally figured out JIUJITSU. Congratulations, Jeff Chen.
Thank you again for a terrific write-up, Gary.
Good wishes to you all.
The NW stopped me, couldn’t work it out.
Hello. WEES. This was a difficult grid by Jeff Chen as I knew it would be but I forged ahead anyway. The NW yielded its secrets quickly as did the SE corner. I saw the plethora of Js; good for you, Jeff.
Hand up for TUT before TAJ and TORERO before ELTORO; having TAJ opened up the NE which was my last corner to fill. The SW corner took an exorbitantly long time as I've never heard of PIECAKEN and MAO took very long to suss. I did have to Google some names: HAKEEM, KOCH (The Mayor author), and DJOKER. Totally unknown sports figures for me. I did, however, know HMONG for some reason and JULIAN eventually seeped out of my memory bank.
I recorded the royal wedding and have been watching it while solving and have seen only half the event, no actual wedding yet.
Thank you, Jeff Chen; this was decidedly a challenge and good for my brain.
Thank you, Gary, for the splendid graphics and analysis.
I hope all are having a wonderful day!
Misty:
It's good to see you here and I'm surprised, too. I wore a patch over my eye for a week after my procedure. Maybe that isn't done anymore.
Thank you, Lucina. My eye is much better today, thank goodness, so I'm getting hopeful that all will be well. I don't have to wear a patch during the day but a plastic cover at night in bed. And I have to wear huge dark sunglasses when I go out in the sunlight. But those are very small items that are easy to handle. I'm just so grateful that I can see much better today than yesterday.
WikWak - you wanna see #Fail? [snap of what I got].
I worked this during "Wait, Wait," "Ask Me Another," went to the Garden store w/ Eldest, and whilst on hold w/ PayPal and Amex [$500 charge at 5:27a???? - //resolved] AND yet that was all I could suss. Jeff Chen, you win again. I know I'm a dope but, really?, throw it my face? :-)
Embed? Not Paste? I don't recall "Edit->Embed" in the menu.
Runner-up: I knew of Julian way b/f Wikileaks. He wrote strobe; Fydor used some of that code in nmap.
Fav: Joliet Jake [50m - you only need 1:12m for the reference like I only needed <30s for J-POP (thanks but, no HG)]
Thanks Jeff for the grid and HG for finishing my fail - JETSETS seems so easy now...
Misty - glad your doing well.
Catch up later - it's nap time. -T
I don't usually get all ga-ga about things, but wow, I just read this fascinating article by columnist Nicholas Kristof in today's New York Times. I was mesmerized, entranced, and deeply moved by it. It's long but well-written, and what it had to say will stick in my memory for quite a while.
Toughest Sat puzzle this year
I got most of this Saturday killer from Mr. Chen, but the NE corner prevented me from claiming a complete Ta- DA!
Indeed in that sector alone I used up four (count 'em, f o u r !) look-ups, from TASMAN (Doh! - shouldda remembered!) to DATA PLAN.
In the earlier stages, I might have gone for JURY POOL, like Misty, Irish Miss, ET ALIA, but I was a little too smart for that, knowing that STOGIES just had to provide a "T" as the final letter.
The only gimmes on my first scan were EL TORO, STOGIES, FABIO (w/fingers crossed), GRIPS, JULIAN, and ATARI.
---
Jayce, that's a fascinating piece by Kristof! He is fast becoming one of my favorite writers. Did you see his piece on how we can curtail gun violence? It was a reprint in yesterday's Times, offering his take on the several steps needed before we can expect results. It includes excellent data on the research that has actually been done (although denied by some 2nd amendment fundamentalists and embarrassing to certain "lawmakers").
You'll find it under this link: ”How to Reduce Shootings”.
BTW, this is not political. The man has done his homework. Readers will find the INTEL here that they need to speak intelligently on the issue.
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: This section is fast becoming an over-evolved appendix, i.e., unnecessary - as once again we have no diagonals.
Zip.
Nada.
Bye bye.
Those two articles were terrifically interesting. And well written, and so so sad.
As was Mr. Chen's puzzle. Zowie!! Hardest Saturday ever!
Misty: I'm happy to hear that your eyes are doing well. It'll get better each day.
Ol' Man Keith, yes, I read that article too. Also well written and researched.
Becky, agreed.
Interesting puzzle...but waaaay over my head.
HG, I loved your expo especially the link to Joe Rochefort's War. The Battle of Midway Island was a turning point in the war in the Pacific during WWII and one of my special interests . Don't get me started on the Dauntless! Thanks!!
Jayce, Kristof is one of my favorites, too. I often disagree with him but he is fair and his research is thorough . This article you linked is disturbing on many levels. I hadn't seen it. Thanks for the information .
Misty, you seem to be on track for a good recovery . Prayers from here continuing.
Lucina, how are the bruises? You said yesterday they were more intense, but that is usually a good sign of healing . But not fun!! You are also in my prayers.
Sheldor is back on line.
How was it that I did not see all the Js?
Wilbur Charles, You have e-mail.
Misty, and Lucy, and anyone else who's name ends in "Y", I'm praying that what's preying on you resolves perfectly.
Ðave
Dave4, what does Sheldor mean?
SwampCat at 7:47 PM
- - Wrote "Dave4, what does Sheldor mean?" You may be unfamiliar with the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory"(TBBT). The lead character is Sheldon Cooper. The video, Sheldor is back on line provides the setup. I use Sheldor is AFK to mean that I will be away from my usual computer for some period of time.
- - My first post today read "D4E4H in Black". I wrote that on another computer. I choose to stay logged in to my usual computer, so I am not able to be blue on second computer. I use "Sheldor is back on line" to mean that I am back on my home computer.
I hope that helped you, and wasn't just so much blah, blah, blah.
Ðave
I'm quite familiar with TBBT and SheldoN Cooper. And you have mentioned that you use two computers. Sometimes your private shorthand gets confusing for the rest of us.
Got the preponderance of "j" right away but that's where it ended for me. Couldn't Crack SW corner with a jackhammer. Not a fun Sat. for me!, especially after a 4 hr. Sat. a.m. meeting
I skip to the next one when I see D4E4H
Swamp Cat:
Thank you for asking. The bruises are darker and on my face if you can imagine a purple mustache across the area above my upper lip all the way to my nose then forming a goatee around my mouth to my chin. Also a small arch beneath my eyes, parallel to my nose. Of course, my nose is a mess with stitches across it.
There is also a very large bruise on my left upper thigh and one on my right thumb and the area surrounding it.
None of it is pretty and all a bit sore.
Lucina, I am certainly not medically trained but my experience with bad bruising is that all those ugly discolorations are blood concentrating at the site of the injury to help heal it. Looks awful, but it is probably helping to heal it. Keep a good thought!!
Back to the party and what a workout it was. Thanks for the fun Jeff and HuskerG.
After several days in Stratford* and then up early to watch the Royal wedding, I needed a break. Not today! But I finished with just a few trips to Google. SW was the last to fill.
Loved your "jolly good show" PK. Yes, the Brits know how to do pageantry. Even the Canadian participants, the Mulroney**twins who looked after the train, and their sister Ivy who was a flower girl, performed their roles flawlessly. (Have you seen the photobomb of the one twin AGAPE with his missing front teeth?)
I noticed all the Js. I even tried JBOLT; I even wondered if OMK was getting a diagonal message with the 4 J steps.
Hand up for JURY Pool before LIST, and Torero before EL TORO.
HAKEEM was familiar; he was a Toronto Raptor at one time.
I'm not sure if Anon@8:32 was serious but nobody has answered. I understand "self-titled" to refer to the name of the album being JLO's own name.
Yes, billocohoes, HOSER is derogatory slang for a Loser made popular by the Mackenzie brothers. There is some thought that it may have originated in Canadian pond hockey when the losers had to flood the rink using hoses. (Which ties it in to today's firefighter clue LOL) But actually, we don't use the term in the Great White North.
Glad your eye is improving, Misty.
*OMK- we saw Martha Henry play Prosperous in The Tempest! Apparently, her first role was Miranda in the same play in 1962.
**grandsons of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Prospero not Prosperous. Auto-correct got me!
I'm going to comment and then read the write-up. I'm assuming I FIR'ed. And, that there's a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then again, welcome to a Jeff Chen Saturday. This taxed my P&P to the max. I put it down after an hour and slowly slogged away. I thought it would be one of those seven day trials. NW especially.
WC
Now to read the comments.
How nice to get more good wishes--thank you, AnonT, Dave, Swamp Cat, and Oc4 beach, and all others--you are so kind and it means so much.
Lucina, my thoughts and prayers are with you on this weekend.
JETSET- CSO to Steve?
Anybody think of TUT, LOGE, STATE? Before TAJ,TIER UTTER. My one solid of course was HAKEEM. Then again SHANIA was forever coming. I had WHITE LIE from the git go but I couldn't think of a country beginning with SH.
I really should think of taking the xword pen and ink gang's advice about erasable pens and / or witeout. I had GIGGLE hastily inked in. Ironically, I cursed at hastily crossing KOCH and RISK only to find I'd guessed right.
I second the HG kudos. As tough as I found this and I'm feeling good about the P&I FIR, when I look at it after the fill it doesn't seem that bad.
I actually perped in ATLAS. I also had to write over FAKE IT before JOIN IN.
Misty, glad you're feeling better after the second cataract surgery. Btw. I picked up two Hemingway novels: Sun Also Rises and Farewell to Arms. I know the Twenties was your era, but I suspect not Papa.
He's not my cuppa either.
WC
If this doesn't heal soon I'm passing myself off as the bearded lady! That's just what it looks like.
I really enjoyed watching the pageantry of the Royal Wedding. Everyone looked smashing and the hats were gorgeous. The Queen certainly lit up the screen with her neon green and purple accents! What is most impressive though, is the diversity in the crowd right up to the Gospel choir! It was titillating to see Idris Elba and George Clooney among others.
Lucina, I guess you knew the black and blue would arrive . Your taking it like the trouper you are . That "HOSER" word Time is APT here .
WC
Thank you, Wilbur. Yes, I'm not crazy about Hemingway, but I just taught his "A Farewell to Arms" to my Senior Center class in March and we found things to admire about it.
Busy day today. Our early music group performed. Then we rushed to our Humanist Society meeting where a good friend was the speaker. I have known him for about 35 years and I learned new things about him today! Then off to a unique art show presented by another good friend.
Hand up this was really tough. I think I could have FIR, but I was so exhausted at the end that I left GO IN ON instead of JOIN IN. G-POP (Great Britain Pop?) seemed as good as J-POP. Thanks, Husker Gary for the J-POP sample. Does anyone get the Beatles influence?
Hand up TUT had me stuck in that area. JIU JITSU finally opened up that area. HAKEEM UTTER-ly unknown. So was RAT TAILS. Fashion is the opposite of progress. Some clever cluing for sure for JEALOUS and INSOMNIA! TIER, too! Was I the only one who had PSI GAUGE?
Learning moment that HMONG are Chinese. We had many HMONG settled here next to UC Santa Barbara when I was a grad student. Not sure where they are now. Learning moment about George Carlin and SNL. I had no television then as a poor student.
Here are photos of one of my MIT MENTORS.
His name was Jerome Lettvin and we called him Jerry. He was an MD and a PhD. He was a professor of biology and of electrical engineering. I can't begin to convey how amazing his talks were. His wife was Maggie Lettvin who had a fitness show on PBS called "Maggie and the Beautiful Machine." Did anyone see that back in the 1970s? If you look at the photos you will see what an unusual couple they were. I took her fitness class and it was quite a challenge!
Believe it or not, they were RAS for the craziest dorm on campus when they were still in their 70s!
Misty: Glad to hear the good news. Please do keep us posted on your progress.
From yesterday:
AnonT: Glad that the HOYT Axton song "Never Been to Spain" did end up being familiar to you. Curious if anyone else knew it. It seems that he was quite a versatile composer and I was surprised to know so many of his songs.
Lucina - you crack me up. The bearded Nun :-) //some of the kids called Sister Mary Helen "Sister Harry Melon" 'cuz she had a few chin hairs and kids are cruel.
Picard - I had to look up Lettvin because he looked familiar. I read his Wiki but I still can't identify were I (think I) know him from. Something in my AI studies(?); the closest thing to that was his Frog paper or maybe the one on color. Perhaps it was the latter I saw when working on machine vision - I donno.
OMK - Kristof's article may be the answer I was looking for yesterday when thinking "stop this s***!" While the probabilities are low, I still think about it when Youngest heads off to HS in the AM. Thanks you and Jayce for sharing links.
TTP - Of the first things a guy learns sport-wise upon arriving in Houston: Love Ya Blue and Hakeem /Clutch City. Nailed it! :-)
Cheers, -T
Recycling the ads adjacent to the puzzle grid really, really SUCKS!!!!
Delays as long as 80 seconds result.
FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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