17. Horror film setting: VACANT HOUSE. I'm not a maven of this genre, but it seems like an appropriately scary choice.
24. Rural "Out of the office" sign: GONE FISHING. Alternatively, in slang, oblivious or unconcerned about the realities of daily life. Also, this:
37. Ammo for a starter pistol: BLANK CARTRIDGES. Contains gunpowder, but no bullet or shot. When fired, the blank makes a flash and an explosive sound (report), the wadding is propelled from the barrel of the gun, and the firearm's action cycles. [Wikipedia]
48. One whose "chicks" have flown?: EMPTY NESTER. Parents in the house, after the children are grown and gone. Tough transition for many. Our kids are approaching that point in life.
59. Explanation for an evolutionary transition: MISSING LINK. Presumed gap in the evolutionary fossil record. Most scientists find the term to be cringe-worthy.
Hi gang, JzB NOT absent today, and here to lead the way through - well - nothing, really. The irony is that, with 5 entries, a theme built around absence is so full of thematic richness. Let's see if we can poke holes in the rest of the puzzle.
1. Bullpen hero: CLOSER. The pitcher who is usually brought in for the 9th inning of a game when his team has a small lead he is supposed to protect.
7. Technical opening?: PYRO. PYRO-technical refers to fireworks displays or a brilliant performance of some specific skill. Fireworks and affix clues generally leave me cold.
11. Juan or Jose lead-in: SAN. City names. SAN Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. SAN Juan is a town in Trinidad and Tobago, located in the San Juan-Laventille Region in Saint George County.
14. Mom's sis: AUNTIE. My Mom's twin sis is still alive and will be 97 in a few days.
15. Semi warning: HORN. Beep-beep.
16. Asian menu general: TSO.
19. Physicist with a law: OHM. His law states that the current through a conductor is equal to the voltage divided by the resistance: I = V/R. R is a constant property of the conducting item, and the current flow depends on the applied voltage.
20. Bird feeder cake: SUET. White animal fat. The fat is white. The color of the animal doesn't matter.
21. Common math base: TEN. The base is the number of symbols [numerals or letters] that a counting system uses to represent numbers. In base TEN, these symbols are the digits 0 through 9.
22. Ocean dots: ISLES. Dots represent small islands on maps.
27. Acting twins Mary-Kate and Ashley: OLSENS. Former child actresses, born in 1986, they shared the roll of Michelle Tanner on the TV series FULL HOUSE. They have had several other acting projects, and are now fabulously wealthy fashion designers.
30. Feel some pain: ACHE. Day-after-yard-work syndrome.
31. Send forth: ISSUE. Emit.
32. Hotshot: ACE. High-level performer. What you want your CLOSER to be.
33. Easy gait: LOPE. A long, bounding stride.
41. Zingers: MOTS. Short for Bon MOT, which is French for "good word," said of a witticism or biting retort.
42. Vote, say: OPT. Make a choice from among a range of options. Also from French, and ultimately Latin optare, choose or wish.
43. Title Kazakh in a 2006 spoof: BORAT. More low humor.
44. Big heads?: EGOS. In psychoanalysis, the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. More loosely, a person's sense of self esteem and importance. In context, an overweening self-importance.
46. Revolver?: PLANET. Each PLANET in the solar system rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun.
52. Color separator: PRISM. This video, just under 6 minutes, gets pretty deep into the weeds. I suspect Gary, at least, will like it.
53. __ Gang: OUR. Kids comedy team from back in the day. There are lots of long vids on YouTube, if you want to go down that rabbit hole. Here's a short excerpt. Evidently the piano was over-dubbed later, so this 7-yr-old did a really good job of staying in tune on this great old song.
54. Minimally: A BIT. Not too much off the top. It's thin there.
58. Many times, in poems: OFT. Because "frequently" is hard to work into the metric scheme.
63. Pointillism unit: DOT. A neo-impressionist painting technique that uses tiny dots of pure color that become blended in the viewer's eye. Interesting counter-point [so to speak] to the prism we encountered not so very long ago.
64. Stirring solo: ARIA. An operatic song, not mixing alone in the kitchen.
65. Rio Grande city: EL PASO. In far west Texas, across from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
66. George Strait's "All My __ Live in Texas": EXS. As long as we're in Texas, why not. George Strait is one of the few country singers I can tolerate for more than about 12 seconds. Here's a link.
67. Watch over: TEND.
68. Bird hangouts: ROOSTS. Birds' resting spots. They usually sit upright on roosts. Bats, however, will hang. Just sayin' . . .
Down:
1. LeBron et al., briefly: CAVS. LeBron James and his team mates on the Cleveland Cavaliers professional basketball team.
2. Waikiki party: LUAU. A traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment. It may feature food such as poi, Kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia and beer, and entertainment such as traditional Hawaiian music and hula. [Wikkipedia]
3. Back in the day: ONCE. Frex, when the OUR GANG kids were kids.
4. Saves, for a 1-Across: STAT. If the lead is 3 runs or fewer in the expected final inning of a baseball game when the CLOSER enters, it's a save situation. If he then shuts down the inning without the opposing team either tying or going ahead, his team wins, and the save is recorded. Otherwise, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
5. Strauss' "__ Heldenleben": EIN. "A Hero's Life," an 1898 tone poem by Richard Strauss. In it's entirety, it lasts ca. 50 minutes. Here is a short low brass excerpt - and, oh, boy, are these guys good!
6. 1984 Olympics gymnastics standout: RETTON. Mary Lou [b 1968] won a gold medal, along with 2 silver and 2 bronze, back in the day.
7. LG product: PHONE. LG Electronics Inc. is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea, and is part of the LG Group, employing 82,000 people working in 119 local subsidiaries worldwide. [Wikipedia]
8. "That's so __!": YOU. Said of clothing or a situation that seems to suit a person perfectly.
9. $200 Monopoly props.: RRS. The Rail Road properties.
10. Vague lunch date time: ONE-ISH. Approximately 1:00 pm. Hold a spot for me.
11. Skyy alternative, familiarly: STOLI. Vodkas. Skyy, now available in at least 17 flavors, is owned by the Campari Group of italy. Stolichnaya [for long] comes from the former Soviet Union. Ownership is disputed between a Russian state owned company and a private company owned by a Russian billionaire.
Now vodka is fine in its place;
in martinis, though, never a trace!
It’s swilled on the docks,
Can be used to clean clocks,
The gearwork, the hands and the face.
12. Looking drained: ASHEN. Pale from shock, fear or illness.
13. Chinese menu promise: NO MSG. MonoSodium Glutmate, a flavor enhancer.
18. Coop residents: HENS. Not sure if they are allowed to occupy the ROOSTS.
23. Jim's role on "The Big Bang Theory": SHELDON.
24. Best Buy "Squad" member: GEEK. Computer experts.
25. It's true: FACT. Something that is indisputably correct - though you can always find somebody who will dispute it. Cf, Flat Earth Society.
26. One piping frosting: ICER. Cake decorator.
27. Kon-Tiki Museum city: OSLO. The museum presents a broad selection of Thor Heyerdahl's life work.
28. Hurdle for atty. wannabes: LSAT. Law School Admission Test.
29. Stereotypical Western-ending backdrops: SUNSETS.
31. Watson's company: IBM. Watson is a computer designed to answer questions asked in natural language.
32. National Gallery attraction: ART. The Gallery is an ART museum located on the National Mall in Washington D. C.
34. Meanie: OGRE. A mythical man-eating giant, or, figuratively a mean-spirited boss, or bully.
35. Fuel used in some whisky production: PEAT. An earthy material made of partly decomposed vegetation. It's used in Scotland for whisky production. Anywhere else?
36. Md. winter hours: EST. Eastern Standard Time.
38. Masked critter: COON. The raccoon is the largest animal of the procyonid family,
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39. Holy recess: APSE. Usually the semi-circular or polygonal shaped end of a church, where the altar is located.
40. Building girder: I-BAR. A metal structural beam shaped like the letter I. this shape maximizes stability in all dimensions.
45. Floor exercise surface: GYM MAT.
46. Spitting sound: PTUI. Erm . . .
47. "My Fair Lady" lyricist: LERNER. Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe also collaborated on Camelot, Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon.
48. Lyric poem: EPODE. A form written in couplets, with alternating long and short lines. Another meaning is the third and final part of an ode, following the strophe and the antistrophe Last time out, I had EPOS, and didn't know that, either.
49. "Fantastic" Dahl character: MR. FOX. Eponym for the 1970 novel, and then 2009 movie. A rare story, in which a predator is the hero, and the farmers and their live stock are the enemy.
50. Pulitzer-winning columnist Leonard: PITTS. His home paper is the Miami Herald. He won his Pulitzer in 2004.
51. "Alas!": SO SAD. [sigh]
54. Lunch for Spot, maybe: ALPO. A dog, and his dinner.
55. Fairness obstacle: BIAS. A skewed point of view that enables interpreting new information as confirmation of existing beliefs, even when it isn't.
56. Brookings, e.g.: Abbr.: INSTitution, a century-old American research group on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C. It conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development. [Wikipedia]
57. Boxing stats: TKO's. Technical Knock Out. A decision by the referee or ring physician that the boxing match cannot safely continue.
60. Fury: IRE. Anger.
61. Ignore a Commandment: SIN. A transgression of divine law.
62. Day-__: GLO. An American paint and pigment company, and it's registered trademark for luminescent decorative products.
That wraps up another Wednesday, in a bright and colorful manner. Here's the filled-in grid, then I really am outa-here.
Cool regards!
JzB
Note from C.C.:
Happy 55th birthday to Yellowrocks' son Alan! Have a wonderful day shopping and visiting places you love. You have the best mom!
 |
| Kathy and her son Alan, Costa Ric, 2009 |
60 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Mark and JzB!
No problems. PITTS filled itself in.
Watson also created IBM.
Change caption on YR picture!
Monday the GPS on my phone screwed up repeatedly. Ended up lost. Took 90 minutes for ac 40 minute drive coming home from cardiac specialist.
Anyone else have trouble with phone GPS?
Hope to see you tomorrow!
Welcome to Wednesday Corneries.
Picard FLN at 12:09 PM
- - Wrote "The Bahai Gardens are spectacular." I have never seen such extensive formal gardens. Your photos are amazing. I did a Wiki, and reviewed the images on the net. They went on, and on. Bahai is listed as a main tourist draw, and yet what struck me was the lack of people in the PICs. I found this PIC with trees in bloom.
YR, HBD to the 55 year old Alan.
- - Thanks to Mr. Mark McClain for this fine Wednesday CW which I FIR in 25:04.
- - Thank you Jazzbumpa for your expert review.
fermatprime at 4:59 AM
- - I do not trust GPSs. They have directed me incorrectly more than once. I prefer MapQuest with a printed copy. I also like Google Earth views so I can see the building's facade.
- - The gmail didn't like Mapquest. I checked, to find out it is "MapQuest." Why do we need a capital letter in the middle of a word?
Ðave
Good morning JzB, Mark M., and fermatprime.
A fun, fast Wednesday with one of those themes that seems so obvious but why didn't I think of it? I guess it is the void where my brain used to be.
I really liked the fun mark was having, for example, pairing BORAT next to EGO and SHELDON next to GEEK. Also enjoyed the shout out to the Miami Herald. Both the Ft. Lauderdale paper - the Sun Sentinel (which runs the LAT puzzle) and the Herald have had some wonderful writers. Carl Hiaasen, Edna Buchanan, Michael Connelly and Dave Barry come to mind.
Happy humpimg
Good morning!
Totally forgot to look for a theme this morning. No matter, it filled in a hurry with nary a write-over. Thanx, Mark and JzB (wasn't familiar with frex, but figured it out).
CLOSER: I wondered why just because he was nearer he should be a hero.
COON: DW's nemesis. Nightly they de-pot what she had repotted the day before.
ISLES: A weird crease in the newspaper made me wonder how this could be "Ocean Dos."
SIN: My Sunday school teacher (who was also the minister) took umbrage when I referred to them as the Ten Suggestions.
EIN: Richard Strauss is probably best known as the composer of the fanfare from 2001, A Space Odyssey, "Also Sprach Zarathustra"
AUNTIE: My last aunt passed away last year. I hadn't seen her in over 50 years.
YR, please pass on my happy birthday wishes to Alan. Hopefully today will be a good day.
Good morning all .
Cloudy today with chance of rain.
Thanks Mark andJzB
Not too difficult puzzle this morning.
I liked the theme especially “Vacant House” and “Empty Nester” .
When the oldest two of four got married and left the nest DW and I saw the writing on the wall and decided to rekindle some romantic times by having date night once a week to prepare for the inevitable EMPTY NEST . Country Dance then Ballroom Dance became a weekly outing for the last Twenty- five years. DW always says taking or giving dance lessons can make or break a marriage . Made ours fun with something to look forward to each week.
Hope this day finds you all in good health and spirits.
FIR, but erased trot for LOPE and HOnk for HORN. My motor home has two very loud air HORNs.
Favorite today was "revolver" for PLANET. V8 moment was "one piping frosting". At first I thought it must be a type of frosting called one-piping.
One of these days I'll have to watch TBBT. Seinfeld too. I just don't watch much broadcast TV except for local news and sports. Last program that was "appointment TV" for me was 24, starring Donald Sutherlands's son.
YR, hope Alan has a great birthday. You are such a special mom.
Thanks Mark and JzB for a fun start to Wednesday.
Good Morning.
It's thundering loud and long here. I love to be in bed during an early morning lightening and thunder storm, but ALAS not today.
Thanks, Mark. I especially liked the cluing for PLANET, REVOLVER< and EMPTY NESTER.
Thanks for the tour, JazzB. Well-done. RaCOONs are quite cute but s-o-o-o messy.
Happy Birthday, Alan!!! Enjoy your day.
Have a sunny day wherever you are--even Chicagoland. BaBoom!
48D - Lyric poem: EPODE. A form written in couplets, with alternating long and short lines.
Another meaning is the third and final part of an ode, following the strophe and the antistrophe.
Here is a poem with the three sections identified. Ode to beauty-w
Ðave
A CLOSER can also earn a save with as much as a five-run lead if he comes in with the bases loaded (therefore the tying run is on deck), or if he pitches at least the last three innings, regardless of how big a lead he has.
Hi Y'all! Another fun & fast puzzle from Mark, thanks. Witty, as always, thanks, JzB.
Theme was very apparent with no need for a reveal and describes my life right now. Whine, whine!
CAVS just defeated the Toronto Raptors 4-1 games in the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs.
Didn't know EPODE, MR FOX, PITT. ESP
Happy Birthday to Alan. Hi, Kathy!
COONs: Last year I was on the farm, I put out a self-feeder with 5# of cat food for my cat while I went to visit my kids for a week. That would usually last my cat several weeks. Came back and it was all gone. I started watching and sure enough, a COON was partaking. I set the feeder up on an old table which didn't stop the COON long and made it closer to watch her. One night as the animal was leaving, I said, "What are you doing you little bandit?" She stopped to listen, so I kept talking. Then she left. Pretty soon, I was back in the other room reading and heard, "Brrrt, brrrt, brrt..." She had brought back her four fat roly poly babies to show me. So cute, I never begrudged feeding her with that big family to nurse. The babies were soon eating Cat Chow too.
Musings
-Even the reveal was missing in this fun puzzle
-BTW, I was all of these theme answers yesterday due to golf, yard work and granddaughter’s spring show
-You start your stopwatch when you SEE this not hear the sound
-I’ll bet you’ve stood on a roadside trying to get a trucker to blow his HORN
-SUET attracts the dreaded grackles so the little birds can eat seeds
-On Mars I’m 37 yrs old and on Saturn 2½ yrs (counting revolutions)
-I did enjoy the video, Jazz! Man, I am a GEEK!
-Marty Robbins’ EL PASO tells of yet another man done in by love
-Mary Lou RETTON’s 1984 gold medal vault on a broken left ankle is a great sports moment
-If you say 1 pm, I expect you to be there at 1 pm or a darn good explanation
-My favorite Western ending scene with no sunset (1:16)
-Sunday I warned a pollster that if this turned into a BIASED “push poll” I was hanging up. It did, I did.
Fast puzzle today. I saw the missing synonyms, but was looking for a missing link, in addition. Sometimes the simplest answer is best. JzB, I always look forward to your posts.
Lemon, I, too noticed SHELDON near GEEK. Thanks for pointing out BORAT near EGO. He is not my cuppa tea.
OKL, I loved your first one and your Ballad of Ned and Rocky.
Thanks for Alan's birthday wishes, Dave, DO, Jinx, and Madame D. CC, thanks for your wishes and for posting our pic. Costa Rica was Alan's favorite foreign trip. Our favorite waitress treated Alan to breakfast and a hug this AM.
Sometimes when we rent a cottage in the WV woods, we make the garbage can hard to get into, or so we think. The coons always find a way. Once we placed a heavy log on top and watched through the window as the coons "teeter-tottered" it off. Some places the garage cans are in a shed to deter bears. At one place we watched as a hungry bear ripped a hole in the side of the shed and reached in. He kept getting a pawful of plastic with each reach and gave up. He should have made a larger hole. PK, cute story about your coons.
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthday to Alan. Enjoy your day!
I think I was dense this morning; for bullpen hero I wanted el toro. Duh! Of course nothing fit and I began to see we were talking about baseball. Easy peasy with the corner. Theme fills were easy which helped bridge the solution to the puzzle generally.
ROOSTS - We had to clean the droppings under our chickens' ROOSTS several times a year. You could always see by the height of the corn rows where they were spread on the field.
OSLO - We have visited the Kon-Tiki Museum.
LOPE - Seems akin to German laufen, L. German lopen, Dutch lopen (to walk). As a kid, I would hear "Lope nie so gau". "Don't walk so fast".
TSO - LIU. Gen'l Tso's chicken is not known in Hunan, Tso's home province. Sigh.
Good Morning:
Well, I sashayed (Hi Lucina!) through this with nary a bump or write over. Pretty straightforward in cluing and theme. My favorite C/A was Revolver=Planet. On a serious note, IIRC, some one was either killed or seriously injured during the making of the movie "Gone Fishing."
Thanks, Mark, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JzB, for the usual mix of wit and wisdom. You always hit the right notes! 🤗
Happy Birthday to Alan. I hope the day is everything he wants it to be! 🎂🎉🎁🍾
Misty, I hope your eye issue is resolved.
Have a great day.
JzB: lets not ignore SAN Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico like many others have.
PK : I believe the Cavs swept the Raptors 4 games to none.
HG: wasn't that Kerri Strug, with a broken ankle, that competed in the vault in Atlanta in 1996?
I hit publish too soon. Thanks, PK, IM and Spitz for Alan’s birthday wishes.
PK, did you get your email running? I often think of sharing thoughts with you. Email me if you wish.
Gary, our kids used to pump their fists as we drove past truckers to get them to blow their air horns. The kids were delighted with the response.
Our Modern Western Square Dance doesn’t use much country music. We are mostly urban and suburban dancers. Wikipedia: Modern Western square dancing is danced to a variety of music types, everything from pop to traditional country to Broadway musical to contemporary country music—even rock, Motown, techno and hip-hop.
We learned on Monday that some square dance callers will no longer call yellow rock, due to the current PC climate. It is most dancers’ favorite call. I know only one lady who objects. She just takes a step back instead of moving forward, smiles and shakes her head, if necessary. There is no insult or awkwardness. Most of our callers will still call yellow rock.
Fun and fast puzzle!
HG - I think you were thinking of Kerri Strug's vault at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (but maybe Mary Lou Retton also vaulted injured)
Thanks JzB and Mark!
HBD to Alan - I think we need a picture where he looks a little happier!
Jazz: Wonderful write-up.
Mark: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle.
There were TWO, count'em 2, faves today.
The first, of course was 11-d, STOLI ... booze is always a fave!
The second, (also a CSO to me) was 29-d, SUNSETS ... something I "toast" every night, NOT with vodka but with scotch, or rum, or ouzo.
Cheers!
(way off topic): As a new hockey fan I noticed that the Washington squad is called the Capitals, but on their jerseys (sweaters?) "capitals" is written in lower case. Delicious. In homage to Car Talk I refer to the game segments as "first half", "second half", and "third half". Now if I can only figure out "icing" and "offside".
YR -- I was amused a few months ago when I discovered "red rock" means hug your partner, and "yellow rock" means hug your corner! Your comments are hug to us all on the Corner! I square-danced for years, but with an instructional group that never got beyond the basic calls.
My grade school was next to the Interstate (pre-freeway), so a lot of lunch hours and recesses were spent miming those air horns, and a lot of truckers responded to our delight. The ones who didn't we assumed were grumps.
I didn't get the theme until JzB's explanation. I enjoyed the puzzle from Mark and JzB's tour through the grid today.
Most of the theme fills and the other clues were easy enough but I never heard of Pointillism, so, I had to look it up and discovered that it is art made up of dots. So, one of the shortest fills was the last to fall today. This is similar to the Halftone process that typically uses only one color(black) of dots to print pictures in newspapers.
My DW says my stomach is on a timer and I have to eat at specific times, so ONEISH is a little late for me. Noon is time for lunch. When you are hungry, ISH is not specific enough.
Misty FLN: I'm sorry that you are having problems from your cataract surgery. I hope it is something that is easily fixable. My sister ended up with After-Cataract cloudiness (posterior capsular opacity) in one eye and is going to have YAG Laser surgery on her eye to clear up the cloudiness. It is supposed to be an easy procedure and not as difficult as the original cataract surgery.
Similar to PK's coons, DW has a relative who lives on a farm and has many different animals that come to feed on his cat's food. He also treats the coons and the baby coons to fig newtons that he gets at the Dollar Store. They scratch at the patio door and show off their babies to him and wait for their fig newtons. However, he has had visits from some less wanted animals like skunks and bears. Cute, maybe, but definitely not as desirable.
Spring is here. Finally. Have a great day everyone.
Its not a "Sin" its a "Mortal Sin" to break a Commandment!
OKL, thanks for the kind words.
I have been square dancing for 40 years and have never heard RED ROCK nor seen it in any of our literature. I have attended US and Canadian conventions. There, too, red rock is not heard. I LIU today and found one reference that agrees with you. Possibly, it is used in Appalachian square dancing which is less formalized and more country and folk oriented than our modern version.
We just use YELLOW ROCK. Our calls are yellow rock your partner or yellow rock your corner.
Yellowrocks to you, OKL.
Husker Gary at 8:35 AM
- - Here is another example of how you and I think alike. I have written the lyrics for you. Note: You have a shortened version which passes over 6 of the last,
and most descriptive verses.
- - Here is the long version
El Paso by Marty Robbins.
Lyrics:
Marty Robbins Lyrics
"El Paso"
Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl
Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden
I was in love but in vain, I could tell
One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina, the girl that I loved
So in anger I
Challenged his right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor
Just for a moment I stood there in silence
Shocked by the foul evil deed I had done
Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there
I had but one chance and that was to run
Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran
Out where the horses were tied
I caught a good one, it looked like it could run
Up on its back and away I did ride
Just as fast as I
Could from the West Texas town of El Paso
Out to the badlands of New Mexico
Back in El Paso my life would be worthless
Everything's gone in life; nothing is left
It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden
My love is stronger than my fear of death
I saddled up and away I did go
Riding alone in the dark
Maybe tomorrow, a bullet may find me
Tonight nothing's worse than this pain in my heart
And at last here I
Am on the hill overlooking El Paso
I can see Rosa's cantina below
My love is strong and it pushes me onward
Down off the hill to Felina I go
Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me
I have to make it to Rosa's back door
Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
But my love for
Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen
Though I am weary I can't stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest
From out of nowhere Felina has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
One little kiss and Felina, goodbye
And with that goodbye.
Ðave
Thanks for the nice expo and comments! This puzzle was harmless fun, and one of the fastest from submission to publication that I've had with LAT. Simplest of themes, and as some noted, enjoyable even if you don't notice the theme (there should be a crossword jargon term for that kind of theme).
Spitz: I'm with you. When I saw Bullpen I immediately thought of bull fight and confidently filled TORERO. Wrong! AUNTIE quickly made me see it wouldn't work as did VACANTHOUSE.
But once that was sorted the sashay began (Hi, IM) and it all finished rather quickly.
One other w/o was O'ER to OFT when MRFOX made it obvious.
I also liked revolver: PLANET
Thank you, JazzB, for your stellar presentation!
YR, happy birthday to Alan!
Enjoy peace and love today, everyone!
Hi All!
In addition to Lem's notice of "Mark's fun," I'll add TSO xing NO MSG and STAT (dupe'd @57d) xing CLOSER.
Thanks Mark for the SANS puzzle. I was SANS thought-process as I tried to fill (allergy meds make you dopey) but I FIR.
It was JzB's expo that actually took me longer... Like, HG, this GEEK watched all of the MIT PRISM vid. Excellent Expo Jazz.
WOs: CTRs b/f CAVS (is LeBron a Center?); TURN (wide) b/f HORN
ESPs: RETTON (oh, her!), LERNER, MR. FOX and PITTS. I should play the lotto today given that BIT of luck.
Fav: COON; made me think of all the Corner's Coonasses. Where's BooL been?
{A++, B+ (Hasenpfeffer!); A!}
D4: gentle reminder ~20 lines, eh? //think of Windover on his iPhone!
Misty - did I miss something underlying your comment last night? Complications or just a pain in the a**?
Fermat - LOL & so true: Watson (Tom) ->IBM ->Watson (AI)
YR - Extend my HBD wishes to Alan! //interesting YR & RR square-dance calls.
OAS - I thought you were going to say "writing on the wall" == divorce :-). I will propose your idea to DW as we've got 3 years until EMPTY NEST. [And she's already thinking the latter(?) :-)]
HG - I thought you were going to link Blazing Saddles. Then I recalled there was a SUN SET as they're driven away.
Y'all have a great day!
Cheers, -T
PK at 8:22 AM
- - Your COON story is so touching. Thanks for composing it.
When I watch a video on You tube, It offers other, similar fare. Today pardner, for your Marty Robbins pleasure are two more links, no lyrics, and he is the good guy in each of these. Spit.
Marty Robbins - Sundown / The Texas Ranger
Marty Robbins Pride And The Badge
Anonymous T at 12:51 PM
- - Thanks for being gentle. It was only seventy (70) lines long. May I make up by not posting for days when I go downstairs?
Ðave
D4E4H A hearty laugh at your going downstairs. We practically lived there years ago but since Empty Nest took over the basement is practically a Vacant House . Go there to add salt to the softner . DW is more the homemaker and gets more stair exercise with a daily trek on the treadmill too.
An easy, pleasant hump-day opus from Mr. McClain, one of our familiar constructors.
I paused only to change 11A from DON to SAN. The rest was a smooth ride, first along the forward slash diagonal (NE to SW or 10A to 66A), then filling the remaining sectors, a quick ride to my Ta- DA!
Oh, no! I see our Misty is missing again. I hope it is just to rest her eyes a bit longer after her surgery. Here's wishing her a quick and happy resolution to any problems she's encountering - and a swift return to the Corner.
Jinx, Irish Miss, Lucina and others have jumped in already, but I'll join them in naming the COD as 46A, "Revolver."
You gotta love it when the hint is so obvious you gotta struggle to get there. (OMK's Law #13)
____________
Diagonal Report: Today's grid threatened to be another diagonal-free entry. I swear I'm beginning to grow paranoid, wondering if the constructors are conspiring to omit diagonals on purpose. When I first scanned the front end (NW to SE) I saw right away that there are no diagonals to start with.
Then I turned my eyes to the mirror side (NE to SW) and Lo! they beheld a single line, intact, and just waiting to be filled!
This gave me a lovely forward slash from SAN to EXS.
No, there are no sub-diags. But beggars, as they say ....
One! Today we have one.
Hallelujah.
.
Every time I see “coon” I think of the South Park episode. Hysterical.
No issues today at all....with the puzzle, at least.
Now I have to run, UPS just delivered my new espresso machine.
I was tempted to say there was nothing to todays puzzle,
but quite honestly, the SW corner made me look up pointillism...
(which is only fair, because epode/mrfox/pitts was making me dotty...)
Hope you had a great day Alan!
puzzle about nothing? is that really something?
Hmm, do you want to fill this position?
No bears in our area. I had a bobcat living in one old shed once, I'm pretty sure. I had possums several years. Saw deer eating my fruit off the trees. Once I had a mink on the porch and didn't know what it was until I got out the wildlife book -- wasn't big enough to make a coat so I let him LOPE along back to the creek. Also had coyotes.
YR: I've thought of several things I wanted to email you about, but still haven't got any email.
D4: if your song were written in normal line length, it would probably be only 35 lines. Shorter is better. I heard the song so many times through the years, I have it pretty well memorized.
I tried to find an easier way to fish,
but the boat was a goner...
There is nothing worse than an empty mind...
Gratuitous empty cat pic...
Am i missing something?
Thanks for checking in with us, Mark--I really enjoyed your puzzle. The top stumped me at first, but it slowly filled in and in the end I had to cheat only on PYRO, but I got everything else. And I figured the theme out pretty early too. Yay!
JazzB, I loved your vodka poem--did you make that up?
PK, your coon story is a delight.
Have a wonderful birthday, Alan. You are a wonderful mother, Yellowrocks!
Thank you for the kind questions, Irish Miss, Oc4 beach, AnonT, and Ol'Man Keith. I made a big mistake, I think, by telling the eye surgeon I wanted to continue to wear glasses. He said fine, but as a result the surgery in my left eye has produced neither good distance vision nor good close up vision. Next week I have surgery on my right eye, and I suspect I'll have the same result. I should have said nothing, and then just gotten glasses with clear lenses, if I really wanted to keep wearing glasses. I feel so stupid, and just don't know how this will all turn out. Meanwhile, it's miserable not to see properly, and to have the drops really burn my eye when I put them in (3 different drops) four times a day. Well, I don't want to keep complaining every day, but I'll let you all know if anything changes, or how my surgery goes next week. Thank you for your kindness, everybody, and sorry to be such a pain.
Have a good day, everybody!
D4E4H,
Yes, GPS cannot be trusted 100%. It's like Wikipedia, roughly right most of the time. But when it is the only guide, and when it must get you safely & swiftly to your destination, that's when it will fail you.
I use both MapQuest and GPS when the target is unfamiliar and important.
I like to change the GPS voice every now and then. Don't some of them seem just a bit snide?
I am glad we no longer have to hear "Recalculating... recalculating...." whenever we defy the GPS preferred route.
On 5-7 I posted My new wheels. Today Flo sent me an invite to Progress. There was an "Opt out" phone number. The first question was "What was my full SSN?" CLICK. Flo had her chance.
OAS at 2:15 PM
- - it does the cockles of my heart good to know that my note could bring you a chuckle. I vaguely remember the basement. Haven't ventured there in years. The downstairs to which I allude is the ground floor where one can "Exit stage left" to the grand out of doors, and my next visit to a Dr. I invite you to my PIC on 5-3, in my nest in the living room, oh so many stair risers below me.
- - While I have your attention, I have noticed how your avatar resembles the start of oc4beach, but with them together, even I see no similarity.
With that, I'll see myself in. I ain't going nowhere!
Ðave
Glad to see you back, Misty!
I'm sorry to read of your trouble adjusting to the after effects of your surgery. My doc didn't offer me such options. He said he would try to fix my eyes so I would no longer need glasses but that it is not something he could promise. It turned out I now have perfect close-up vision but still need glasses for anything beyond 3 feet. This means, of course, that I still wear glasses with graduated lenses most of the time.
But it is nice to be able to remove them when I settle in with a book or kindle - or to watch a movie on my iPad. And as long as I am not driving, I can manage pretty well if I happen to forget my glasses on a day trip.
AnonymousPVX @3:06:
When I first read your posting I thought you had to run from your new espresso machine.
My bad.
I envisioned a monster machine hissing and frothing as it gained on you...!
GPS - I have no trouble with the GPS in my car. It's as good as the maps that are loaded into it. Sure beats Celestial all to heck. I suspect anybody having trouble with it may have an el cheapo product, or are trying to use it for a purpose for which it was not intended.
Misty - so more of a PITA? I, for one, cannot do eye-drops; someone needs to do it 'cuz I always flinch. I hope your vision keeps improving even as there's more to come :-(. Stay strong and keep us posted.
D4 - do not regale yourself to the dungeon (nor the sub-floor!) of not posting... Just a point of order to maintain such [I've broken them before #NoBiggie] I enjoy your posts and it wouldn't be a day w/o 'em.
As for FLO's offerings on your new ride - let's revisit the silliness CED introduced me to. OMK - pay attn. to you assistants.
//SideBar: I changed my Siri to Australian to stop the auto voicemail-to-text conversion (it would try to scribe them and, not only didn't do a good job, but it took voicemail like an extra 30 seconds to "play").
DW changed her Siri to an Aussie male.
What, me worry?
Um, yeah:
CED - LOL EMPTY position considering OAS pointed out DW & I need to get something in common before the Girls fly the coop. [oh, and I had PUNT for #4 - is that a fail?]
Spitz pre-GPS: I see your passenger with a sextant feverishly keeping up as you careen down the road... #Ball'sInCED'sCourt :-)
Cheers, -T
The factory GPS in my 2013 Honda CRV is the worst device ever. It wants us to take an off-ramp jut to get back on the interstate after being on a surface street for a short distance. It also frequently tells us to "Turn Left" after we have already gone through the intersection. Probably not the device's fault, but even after a $100 upgrade it thinks we are driving through a field when we are actually are on a road that was opened 5 years ago. If you want to go to Home Depot (for instance), you MUST select a subcategory (grills, plumbing, lumber, etc.). Chose the "wrong" one, say "lumber", and the nearest store may be 1,500 miles away. I want it to just give me a list of all businesses named home depot, sorted by distance to travel. Can't do it. I wish one of our local druggies would break in and steal the damned thing so I can put in a good aftermarket unit.
We have a good stand-alone GPS for our motor home. It warns us about low overpasses and yells at us if we are overweight for the road. We still double-check the routing because all the makers use government data bases, and because we can't back up without uncoupling our towed car.
But I'M NOT BITTER. NOT ME.
OMK --
"When I first read your posting I thought you had to run from your new espresso machine.
My bad."
We sure don't want that espresso machine to get steamed off at us!
Musings
-Happy Birthday, Alan! Your mom personifies what we are celebrating Sunday!
-YR, I lived 10 feet from Hwy 30 before I-80 was built and we did that gesture many times!
-Dave2 – Any Marty Robbins tune works for me!
-Erratum, you are right! This personifies courage in sports!!
-AnonT – I forgot all about that Blazing Saddles ending. Fabulous.
-My GPS works fine and only failed me when two brand new 4 -lane roads were not in its update as Jinx mentioned. Had to pull a UIE (There, I finally used that word!)
Husker, if by "that gesture" you mean what I think you mean, then yeah, I've done that gesture too.
D-O just won the Internet.
I can't start the day without my espresso machine...
I don't need a GPS in my world...
It's more like this...
Don't tell the cops!
Alan appreciated the cake, CE Dave. So thoughtful of you. Thanks. He also appreciated all the good wishes, Misty, Lucina and Anon T. and those from earlier. I hope I haven't missed anyone. Thanks for your support. We had a fun day together.
Today Al bought me a Mother's Day bouquet from his allowance. He is so sweet and kind. All the waitresses, local clerks and coffee shop regulars love him. I know I will miss him when he leaves.
Misty I am writing an email to you.
I like Mark McClain's puzzles and today's is no exception. Like Lucina, I too quickly entered TORERO at 1A. Also TROT before LOPE. Didn't even see MOTS at all; if I had I would have wrinkled my nose. Rightly or wrongly, to me a zinger would be a BON MOT, not just a MOT, which means nothing more nor less than "word." Like saying "gotcha" is ONE when a gotcha is really more like a GOOD ONE, or saying "sass" is TALK when sass is really BACK TALK. Anyway ...
Good wishes to all.
Misty, I can't find your email address. I am not sure what your eye problem is. I hope it will be easily solved, I still wear glasses after my cataract surgeries and have no problem with that. I have astigmatism. My Varilux progressive lens are for close work, distance and computer work, I had the less expensive lens installed during surgery and so still need glasses.
To give you hope, my sister needed a second very easy operation after her cataract surgery and she did very well. I hope that is your experience. I am pulling for you. Yellowrocks.
I rushed through solving it before I realized the theme. Clever! Last to fall was the sports Natick CAVS/CLOSER. Interesting that CLOSER is just one letter away from LOSER. The SW with EPODE and MR FOX was a challenge. Hand up with Jinx HONK before HORN.
Here is my photo of that Seurat DOT painting in context at the Chicago Art Institute.
Here is my DW with a parody of it that we saw in Flagstaff last month!
Here are a couple of photos I took of PEAT harvesting in the heartland of Ireland in the 1990s. The family of my Irish lady friend at the time used PEAT for their heat.
D4E4H: Thank you for the kind words about my HAIFA photos yesterday. Yes the Bahai Gardens are eerily empty of people. They only allow people in on a tour. And they only seem to do one of those each day. I was rushing around like crazy trying to find the start of the tour. It turned out it started way at the top! I tried to take a city bus up there, but I was confused about the stop and the driver did not seem to know. I ended up finding others who wanted to go and chartering a kind of taxi-bus for us all. We got there with seconds to spare. There would have been no second chance. It is strange that that huge park is empty most of the time.
Misty: I am very sorry to hear of your challenge regarding needing glasses. I wear contacts that are adjusted near in my left eye and far in my right eye. It works surprisingly well. Perhaps before they do your right eye you can discuss this option. Perhaps a good compromise can be found.
CED: Thanks for the amusing GPS cartoons. I do not own a phone so I have no problems with phone GPS! I rented a Hertz car in New York City to take my niece out of the city. I paid extra for GPS. Their GPS got us seriously lost within a few minutes. It took us to a bridge that took us far out of the way. The bridge toll taker was as nasty as could be. She refused to let us turn back. And she made us pay a huge toll. I could deal with the wasted money, but the wasted time was lost forever.
I prefer maps. I do use Google Maps which I print out. At least if there is a mistake I know where I am.
Am I smarter than a second grader? Perhaps I need to relearn subraction. I have square danced only 30 years, not 40.
D4E4H @3:22 Sometimes I find things funny and soon realize I'm the only one laughing. I thought your comment was tongue in cheek but see now you may have been serious. I filed your comment in the recesses of my mind next to statements like "I've nearly quit drinking , I drink only on days ending in Y" or "I've decided to give up celibacy for Lent" . Wishing you good days and better times.
If it were not for my Garmin GPS I would still be circling around certain areas looking for unknown streets. It has been a great boon to me. I update it at least once a year and is remarkably accurate.
YR:
How sweet of Alan to buy you flowers!
Misty:
I'm sorry you are experiencing problems after cataract removal. Perhaps your doctor will have some positive suggestions after your next one. During my cataract procedure, I had laser surgery to correct my astigmatism and now see well for distance. Glasses are needed for reading, however.
WEES about the puzzle. Thanks, Mark, for the puzzle and for stopping by, and thanks to JazzB for his usual fine job.
RE Mme DeF's comment about the weather this morning, we had that too—for a while. The day ended up being
Ba-boom! Bam!
Wait—what? It’s sunny now? Well, it’s nice the rain is over.
Ba-boom! Bam!
Sunny and warm but getting very windy.
Ba-boom! Bam!
What a nice evening.
We'll see. We'll see.
I have been using GPS since 2002. Mostly I bought the cheap little Garmin handheld so I could go geocaching. Since then I have had two more handheld units and now an aftermarket one in my car. Better half has one built into her car. I use it all the time and can remember only a few times when it didn’t choose the best route. I wouldn’t be without it.
Have a great evening, all!
Ol'Man Keith, Lucina, Yellowrocks, Picard--thank you so much for your valuable information and encouragement. It helps me understand why my surgeon didn't just suggest I forget about the glasses and get the other surgery done. His experience may suggest that many patients still need glasses afterwards anyway, and so my decision maybe wasn't as stupid as I thought it was at first. Just considering this possibility, is a huge help to me. You've all been wonderful--thank you again!
First, Misty sorry a routine cataract surgery hasn't gone smoothly. Drops should not burn . I was just like YR, I went from needing glasses for distance to needing them to read . I have progressive lenses for general use including progressive sunglasses .
We definitely want to hear how you do. Same with Alan(late HBD, he looks like a sterling chap . My 'stache never had his panache .)
At first I thought this was Monday easy until the SW. XES of course is correct or else EXES . When PRISM V8'ed the rest fell .Mr PITTS often makes an appearance in TBTimes but I'm not a fan .* .
Of course, unlike Picard, CLOSER/CAVS was a gimme and I was off and running . I as looking for a theme and naturally needed
JzB to clarify.
Owen, you've outdone yourself . A+ all around . I remember the Math Majors just loved the Hillbillies . I'd migrated to Russian lit.
Btw . I see a BLANK square at ICER/ACE . I won't call in a DNF since it was too easy. It was a long day: Mas, mtg*, funeral then acrosstown to pick up my car at the shop*" .
Paul, do drop in often .
WC
* Re. Pitts. No politics, nuf CED
* Picked up my XL chip
* 2011 BMW . Electrical system is a nightmare
Thank you, Wilbur, for the kind comment. I hate that my eye drops make my eyes burn and don't know what to do about that. But I'll talk to my doctor about it next week when I go in for my right eye surgery.
Misty @ 12:04 am. I've never had eye surgery, but please don't wait until next week - perhaps call your doctor's office tomorrow (well, today) to see if this stinging reaction is normal? I know the pain I experienced for three days after an optometrist gave me a scrip to relieve dryness and, after my call, she said to stop. She never said if I had a reaction, but I had read the pharmacy pamphlet beforehand and didn't find any reference to stinging pain. But please don't stop the medication before calling your doctor.
Dear TX Ms @ 01:20 --
Misty might be the one in a million for whom there IS a reaction.... no fun at all, if that's the case. We're all lab rats here.
The medication problem is two-fold: first, not a single medication has ever been tested for decades (well, aspirin maybe), so long-term or slow-building reactions are being discovered by ... us'ns, the hard way.
Second, almost every patient prescribing info sheet that I've read -- you know, those densely informative sheets folded like pharmaceutical origami that nobody ever reads -- says somewhere that the "Exact mechanism of action is not clearly established." In English, 'It works, but we don't know how.'
And we won't even get into interactions among various drugs: some known, many being established by us, again, the hard way.
Misty: Hand up with TX Ms and others, don't wait to call your eye doctor. And not just about the medication.
You need to discuss what correction you want for your right eye. There may be other options. You will want to do that before you show up for the procedure.
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