John is back following up last week's insect infested puzzle with a challenging and very creative entry in the LA Times not quite a REBUS puzzle type. Rich Norris does not accept classic multi-letters in a single square in puzzles, but here the word BODY is actually crammed into a black square, so it is hidden. Even if you do not like that explanation, this was a very fun puzzle to solve and a wondrous bit of construction. The special twist that makes it shine is the BODY missing at the front of the theme is placed on the left and the BODY missing at the end is on the right. He then puts a big bow on the puzzle by alternating the left-right march. WOW. With 66 squares committed to the theme, John still features some nice fill such as EVEREST, LOCALES, RUBS RAW, SLEEP IN, SPATULA, STOP HIM, PUHLEASE and TRAVIATA. We are given the extra hint of the * so you all knew which were theme related, and if you did not catch on to the gimmick, the two-part reveal should have made the puzzle very doable. I will begin with the very clever movie reference that inspired this effort. Considered one of the 50 best Sci-Fi movies of all time with Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy
27A. With 44-Across, classic 1956 film ... and why the answers to starred clues aren't quite themselves?: INVASION OF THE (13). 44A. See 27-Across: BODY SNATCHERS.(13).
Now let us find those bodies.
1A. *Tattoos: ART (3)
8A. *Hypothetical object that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation: BLACKBODY (5).
A blackbody (sometimes spelled "black body") is a theoretically ideal radiator and absorber of energy at all electromagnetic wavelength s. (various). This is an unknown term for me.
A blackbody (sometimes spelled "black body") is a theoretically ideal radiator and absorber of energy at all electromagnetic wavelength s. (various). This is an unknown term for me.
16A. *Nonverbal communication: BODY LANGUAGE (8). A key to understanding other people, this is very important in business but may be most important for a COUPLE.
22A. *Snoop: BUSYBODY (4). I think of Samantha Stevens' next-door neighbor, MRS. KRAVITZ.
22A. *Snoop: BUSY
50A. *Bumper repair site: BODY SHOP (4). Automobiles are always vulnerable and you need a good mechanic and good body shop.
62A. *Star or nebula: HEAVENLY BODY(8). A CSO to our NASA rep HG. There are so many TYPES.
67A. *Circadian rhythm: BODY CLOCK. (5). Steve could give us his interesting perspective on this BIOLOGICAL phenomenon. Meanwhile, I have commented first like three times recently, what's that all about?
69A. *Coveted journalism award: PEABODY. (3). The George Foster Peabody Awards program, named for American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and now, online media. Some past WINNERS. (various)
Across:
4. They churn out dough: ATMS. I have not used an Automated Teller Machine for some time.
13. Sign of summer: LEO. That kind of sign.
14. Ecologically challenged Asian sea: ARAL.
15. Ovine output: BAA BAA. Black sheep, have you any wool. CONTROVERSY? Also, we have 9D. Ewe's output: LAMB. No double BAA, but a shameless self SO by John.
18. Deepest, as feelings: INMOST.
19. Realm: AREA.
20. Op-ed takes: VIEWS.
23. Outdoor gear giant: REI. Recreational Equipment, Inc., commonly known as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. It is organized as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells sporting goods, camping gear, travel equipment, and clothing. (wiki) I never heard of it.
25. Game that may involve bumpers: POOL. The second reference to bumpers, one for a car and this one.
33. Dose people?: DEM. I bet DIS clue/fill did not please some.
35. Elite prep school: ETON. We started the week with this institution.
36. Dominica native: CARIB. I went to school with two brothers from this small island, and now I work on various projects there.
37. Abrades painfully: RUBS RAW. Alliterative fill, followed by...
39. Flay's flipper: SPATULA. Alliterative clue. Professionals do not need ONE. My wife just uses her wrist.
41. Furious: IRATE.
42. "Better Call __": SAUL. Part of the BREAKING BAD franchise.
43. Foxy: SLY. Saul must be.
.
48. Chihuahua chow: TACO. Cute JL, but ridiculous- they can't fold or hold them.
49. The SEC's Tigers: LSU. A CSO to our many Louisiana friends here at the Corner.
54. First course in German?: SUPPE. Soup, at a meal, not a school.
56. Thailand, once: SIAM. A CSO to my sweet wife, thank you JL.
60. Watch a neighbor's pooch, say: PET SIT.
64. Café: EATERY.
65. Ingrid, in "Casablanca": ILSA. So classic.
66. Tell's apple support: SON.
68. Face: MEET.
Down:
1. Penne __ vodka: ALLA. One RECIPE.
2. Caboose: REAR.
3. Text alert, often: TONE.
4. Nonpro sports org.: AAU.
5. "Fallen woman," in a Verdi title: TRAVIATA. A translation, this was an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. (wiki)
6. Star followers: MAGI.
7. Take advantage of a day off, maybe: SLEEP IN.
8. Bar: BAN.
10. "__ Ben Adhem": ABOU. Funny, I would not have known this poem unless YR had printed it when it was fill in a January BAG puzzle. Then again, it was already filled by the perps.
11. Mama with two Papas: CASS.
12. Pop's Perry: KATY. Did any of you watch the new AMERICAN IDOL?
15. Bearded bovine: BISON.
17. Jake __, first Congressman to fly in space: GARN. They named a SCALE after him.
21. Court: WOO.
24. Hillary's peak: EVEREST. An interesting MAN.
26. Neighborhoods: LOCALES.
27. "Don't mess with me": I'M BAD. Are you LEROY? I wonder if that is where they got Gibbs' name.
28. Spread: SOW. This would have been one of the harder three-letter fills ever but the perps were there.
29. Generous, as a contract: FAT.
30. Bind: TRUSS.
31. Jack and Jill's Waterloo?: HILL. Very cerebral clue.
32. AuctionWeb, since 1997: eBAY.
33. Little bit: DRIB. Not drab
34. French bread: EURO.
38. Pen with oink, not ink: STY. Cute.
39. Anatomical pouch: SAC. John, you trying my DF nature.
40. Eye-rolling word: PUH-LEASE. Exaggerated form of please, short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you, which replaced pray. (dictionary)
42. Cry after a holdup: STOP HIM. Stop thief probably jumps to mind
45. Awful: NASTY.
46. Pressure prefix: ACU. sharp-acute, acupuncture, accurate
47. Ploy: RUSE.
50. What a crossword is often constructed on: SPEC. 90% of them I imagine.
51. Mend: HEAL.
52. "Beetle Bailey" hound: OTTO.
53. One 60-trillionth of a min.: PSEC.
55. Brazilian hero: PELE. Soccer (football) legend.
57. Clouseau's rank: Abbr.: INSPector.
58. Bug bite soother: ALOE. Okay, an insect but one that bit.
59. Feathered mimic: MYNA. How do I get this bird two weeks in a row?
61. Bug: IRK. Not really an insect reference.
63. Dye holder: VAT. A change from the normal beer or wine reference.
Always fun to be taken on a ride by John who often bedevils with his vast and varied knowledge on little critters and music but presented a very fun Friday. After two weeks of almost steady rain, today starts Hurricane season here. Yay. Be safe all, my Charlotte graduated preschool last night. See below. Have a great month, Lemonade out.
65 comments:
TGIF Corner writers!
- - And yet there was no relief in sight with this impossible CW from Mr. John Lampkin. I really needed the 3P principle to complete, and to report that I FIR in 48:00.
- - Thank you Le Mon for scaring the skin off me with the "Snatch em up" trailer. I have some body that they are welcome to in the sequel, "Invasion of the Belly Snatchers."
- - When I filled 8A - BLACK, I thought that the missing word was "hole", but 16A - LANGUAGE corrected me to "body".
42D - Cry after a holdup: STOP HIM. - Feminists unite! Demand "Stop her."
Congrats on Charlotte's graduation, magna cum little lady. What a memorable PIC.
Ðave
Stop the presses. This just in. It's National toric shaped desert day. Yes, that is a doughnut.
Ðave
Note: The Classic 1956 Body Snatchers starred Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The Sutherland/Nimoy version was a remake from ‘78.
Enjoyed solving this puzzle.
Art
Art, thank you for your post. I was uncertain if the 1956 VERSION was as well known as the one I linked. You are correct that it was a classic.
Good morning!
JL's theme went right over d-o's head. Still, it was a fun outing with some really nice non-theme fill. Thanx, JL and Lemonade.
Lemonade, you mentioned "ergative." Sounded like a vomit-inducer, so I looked it up. According to Merriam Webster: "of, relating to, or being a language (such as Inuit or Georgian) in which the objects of transitive verbs and subjects of intransitive verbs are typically marked by the same linguistic forms; also : being an inflectional morpheme that typically marks the subject of a transitive verb in an ergative language." Yup, vomit-inducing.
🐰 🐇 We'll start out with a serious one, then on to lighter stuff. I'd never heard of Flay, so had to LIU.
For the men of Columbus do not grieve.
Shed a tear for their treatment of CARIB.
INVASION OF THE slavers,
BODY SNATCHERS, never saviors,
Genocide is what they did achieve!
Unless you like meat raw like Dracula
Bobby FLAY'S Burger Palace comes to back ya!
In seventeen LOCALES
He fries patties for his pals,
And he flips them with his magic SPATULA!
If plastic overuse just RUBS you RAW
And pollution just sticks in your craw,
You can help the seas to HEAL --
Plastic drinking tubes don't peel,
Instead provide your own rubber straw!
There was a shy man from SIAM
Whose joie de vivre was a sham.
His room was a STY,
He wasn't that SLY,
He just filled it with all he could cram!
{B-, B, C+, B.}
Wiki says the abbreviation for PicoSECond is ps, not p3sec. One ps is to one second as one second is to 31,689 years.
PSEC, of course. I hate that my auto-backup moves the cursor around
Good morning everyone.
Agree with Lemon about the theme except for the disappearing into a black square part. This does not hold for PEA(BODY). I take the BODY SNATCHER literally and envision that for the starred clues, BODY has been snatched away. YMMV.
A fun John Lampkin CW today. Really couldn't suss how the starred input was to be handled but seemed like a kind of rebus as Lemon said. But at the end when wanting to fill PEA(BODY), it all became clear. A real tour de force. My favorite was BUSY (BODY).
STOP HIM seems somehow sexist.
SUPPE - Eng. soup. L. German Supp; Dutch soep. (The 'oe' sound is the same as 'ou' in soup.)
Interesting and clever puzzle by John today. Finished in 20 psecs, I mean minutes, so maybe the more interesting a puzzle, the easier?
And I ask you, whatever happened to one of my very favorite shows, Better Call Saul? Don't tell me "'s'all good, man."
Nice photo Lemonade. Very nice. Best to all.
Good day,
Well, I finished it, but it "weren't" right. Themes and I seldom unite making the errors incorrect wags. For 8A, I had block. I thought about Oboe, but decided maybe ABOU had a brother who played a string instrument. Still don't get BLACK. It's not an object, is it? 50A 2nd error. Had NSEC. Didn't know what a SHON was, but PSEC was no where in my vocabulary. Thought NSEC was a given.
Fridays still get me the majority of time as do the weekend challenges. Fortunately, I have a show both Saturday & Sunday this weekend, so I will be avoiding another trouncing.
Hope everyone has a fun Saturday/Sunday and stay safe.
HH @ 0758 : From Brittanica: " BLACKBODY, in physics, a surface that absorbs all radiant energy falling on it. The term arises because incident visible light will be absorbed rather than reflected, and therefore the surface will appear black. The concept of such a perfect absorber of energy is extremely useful in the study of radiation phenomena."
Rabbit Rabbit
OOPS! I had "Better Call MACO" until STOP HIM brought out the eraser. My Chihuahua chow was ALPO before I figured out it was el estado, no el perro. I had dog SIT before PET SIT, and my ewe had wool output before LAMB.
Since I had never heard of Better Call SAUL or PUHLEASE I wagged SAhL x PhHLEASE for my only bad square. i know it's Friday, but please.
Thanks to John for a fun and easy-ish Friday puzzle. And thanks to Lemonade for another clever review.
Oh PUHLEASE? Is that how it's spelled. I caught the BODY theme after ART was in place and PEAbody. I didn't know the movie but after enough perps were in place I remember hearing the name. I know that BLACK theoretically absorbs all light didn't know a color (or absence of color) would make magnetism disappear.
What misleading clues we had this morning. I did a lot of backing up to finish.
INK to ART- Calling Tattoos ART is what I would equate to calling spray-painted graffiti ART. You can paint over graffiti but you are stuck with the tattoo. "NO REGERTS'
Perry COMO changed sex and became KATY Perry
WOOL before MILK and went to LAMB and it took a V8 moment to get BAABAA.
I'M MAD became I'M BAD
AIL changed to IRK
DEM & Dose- took the longest but I can't say it RUBS me RAW but it didn't please me either.
PELE- the one in HAWAII is more active lately, REAL ACTIVE
REI- I only know it from Xwords. ACADEMY, DICK'S, and CABELA'S I know but not REI.
CARIB- I thought they were decimated from smallpox.
'Better Call SAUL'- never heard of that show
SUPPE- that's a German word that I didn't know.
Hello Puzzlers -
Early on, I could see something wasn’t making sense, but couldn’t quite get a handle on it. Eventually the light clicked on and the rest of the solve was a zoom-through.
Black body absorption as well as emission figured prominently in my Optics studies back in the day. The color temperature of today’s LED lightbulbs relates to this.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as preschool graduation!
Good morning all.
Very fun puzzle this morning!
Thanx John Lampkin and L714
FIW.
Didn’t know MYNA so missed out on PEA Body. Unfamiliar with TRAVIATA and missed REI although I think now I’ve seen it before.
GARN also contributed to my missing REI.
Thanks also for the enjoyable earlier posts .
Never heard of REI!!!! My backpacker friend Bruce drives all the way from Macon to Atlanta just to shop there. I get all my boots there. If you're a camper or hiker check them out. It's like crack for the outdoorsman (or woman😊).
FIR. Fun! Great theme. I got some of the theme answers by perps and wags, but said, "What???" With the reveal I understood it. Nice that the right hand answers had body last and the left hand ones had body first. Thanks for pointing that out, Lemon. The body disappears across the border in both cases instead of hiding in the black squares.
My mom used to read poetry to us. ABOU BEN ADAM was one of my favorites.
Better call Maaco came to mind first, but it is too long. Hi Jinx.
SUPPE was the key to PUHLEASE (pre teen talk) and PELE. It took some thought to come up with a German appetizer.
KATY PERRY was unknown.
Acronym Finder accepts PSEC as PICOSECOND.
Rainman, glad you stopped in. Don't be a stranger.
FLN Did you see my late post that some fool did steal parking tickets from windshields?
Off to PT again. I am so pleased that it is helping, but I kinda begrudge the time it takes.
Alan is home from work again today. The problem is more than dehydration. He is drinking about a gallon a day. The mystery is still not solved. ER gave all kinds of tests with no negative results.
Musings
-What a fun departure from our usual fare. Lemon your summation stimulated my head and your BODY ART…
-Getting the movie title kept me from wandering in the wilderness
-BLACK BODY is very common to us physics geeks
-Our BODY SHOP always does our vehicles first because we pay the day we pick them up
-The broken ATM refused to churn out anything yesterday Lemon, could you shoot me a quick $100? :-)
-Hey LEO, we’ve had the highest temps since the dirty 30’s! You owe us a spring
-Our kitty Lily and her litter mates would sing this song (2:30)
-This literate group probably knows why William Tell took two arrows from his quiver
-Superfluous CABOOSES (CABOOSI?) have gone the way of the buggy whip
-BISON : Buffalo = Tuba : Sousaphone. Others?
-Hillary and later Tenzig Norgay both appeared on To Tell The Truth. Which do you think is Sir Edmund?
-We are reaping the radishes we have SOWED (SOWN?)
Hi gang -
In a time crunch today, but I had to pop in and say how much I LOVE this theme.
John hit it out of the park!
Happy weekend everyone.
Cool regards!
JzB
Pinch, Pinch ...
Lemon: Excellent write-up.
John: Thank you for a FUN Friday puzzle with a wonderful theme.
A "toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
This was relatively easy for a Friday but clever and fun to solve. I think I caught the theme after entering Language, so the other themers were pretty evident. However, Black body was unfamiliar to me. Only w/o was I'm mad/I'm bad. (Actually, I'm neither!) Nice CSOs to DO, Oo, and HG.
Thanks, John, for a nice start to the month of June and thanks, Lemony for the spot-on review. Great picture of you and Charlotte; she looks so studious with her glasses!
YR, sorry to hear that Alan is still having issues. Good news about your PT results, however.
Have a great day.
...national toric-shaped dessert day?... (ss=so sweet, single s for arid region)
Really fun theme today - though started out thinking like Dave that it was "hole" instead of "body" that was being added when BLACK was the first theme answer.
I have usually seen the PUHLEASE spelled PUH-LEEZE with 2 syllables in the slang usually in a conversation but ILZA needed to get changed to ILSA, so got 'er done as HG would say.
We jumped into summer here too - would have like more spring. Relay for Life is here from 6 pm to 2 am at the fairgrounds. It will likely be warm and humid - but the rain left yesterday so shouldn't be soggy. Best wishes to all those who have survived cancer or are fighting it!
Thanks Lemonade and JL!
Woohoo! Woohoo! I got a Friday John Lampkin puzzle, and got the whole thing without cheating. This started out as a toughie, and at first had only the northeast and southwest corners filled in. But I got the Body theme early and that helped, and I had to laugh when I got to the final PEA--BODY. I too had ALPO before TACO, and am still not sure what "flay" is, even though I did get SPATULA. Having OTTO cross PET SIT was cute, I thought. In the end I was worried about a single letter because I didn't know Jake GA_N, or the outdoor gear giant. But I went through the alphabet and the only possible answers were GAIN, GAUN, and GARN,and luckily I went with GARN. When I looked up the puzzle, Woohoo! I had it right and that meant I got the whole thing. Many thanks, John, and I love the picture of sweet Charlotte, Lemonade.
Hope Alan feels better soon, Yellowrocks.
I spent six months on the island of Dominica in the early 1960s--beautiful but very primitive in those days. I remember going to the doctor's office and it had chickens and goats eating crumbs on the floor because the wait was so long that patients brought sandwiches and lunch and the animals had figured out there would be scraps.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hi Y'all! Easy, fun, fast puzzle with a cute theme gimmick, John Lampkin. Great expo, Lemony, cute granddaughter.
I sorta caught on to the theme with LANGUAGE because it badly needed the BODY to fulfill the clue. Didn't understand BLACK then or since the explanations. One of those mysterious science things no one gets without a lot of imagination.
Surprised to come up with PUHLEASE and find it right.
I got DEM right away, but thought dose people might be MDs.
D4: I second your motion for a return of the BODY SNATCHERS, but take it all. PUHLEASE. I want a full-body transplant.
Didn't know REI, SUPPE, GARN. PSEC sounds like a trip to the bathroom.
Misty: Bobby Flay cooks on TV. I've only seen the trailers.
YR: I am beginning to think Alan & I were SOWed by aliens from another planet IN our mothers' SLEEP, since our maladies are unknown to earth doctors.
BLACK BODY was a gimme for this physics guy. My very first solve and I had the theme. But it still took awhile to remember the theme movie name. Yes, it is a classic. I assume everyone knows the political meaning of it?
The Ultraviolet Catastrophe was a curious mystery with BLACK BODY radiation a hundred years ago. It led to Planck coming up with the strange solution that radiation was quantized. This was the birth of Quantum Mechanics.
Quantum mechanics gave us most of our modern technology.
Red Rock is my favorite kind of POOL. A long hike on a hot day, but worth it.
My friend in Prague showed me this cool CLOCK in the city center. All those figures do a dance on the hour.
I agree 100% with Big Easy about BODY ART as being like graffiti. Except that you are stuck with it. But I loved the video, Lemonade! That kind of BODY ART is temporary, beautiful and creative!
Lemonade: How do you get money if you don't use ATMs?
Can somebody explain FLAY? Hand up for not knowing the term.
Oh, and congratulations to Charlotte and Lemonade!
I loved this John Lampkin puzzle!
It took a while to suss the theme; my first guess was BLACK hole but once the movie name came up, BODY became apparent and I saw where the BODY was snatched, so to speak.
A JL puzzle with animals and animal sounds is a given, BAABAA, BISON, PETSIT, SAC, LAMB, MYNA. ALOE, of course, is what cleared my face; the rest of me, leg and hand, are still quite purple.
I've been to REI only to buy gifts for other people.
After thinking about Flay for a long while it occurred to me he is a cook and so SPATULA emerged. ILSA was easy; I can't count the number of times I've seen Casablanca.
CSO to d-OTTO.
Sweet picture of you and Charlotte, Lemonade. Thank you for the guidance today.
YR:
You and Alan are continually in my prayers and I hope some diagnosis followed by healing can be found for him.
Have a sensational day, everyone! Yes, summer has definitely arrived!
Picard:
Your photos are always beautiful and clear! Thank you. I remember that clock in Prague and I'm sure I have a photo of it.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
FLN ---> OMK, TX Ms, Misty, and any other Jumble puzzle solvers ... today's is equally baaaaad ... agree with you, OMK, I'm not a big fan of the "new" version of Jumble. Misty, I'm glad I was able to allow you some sleep LOL. Let me know if you need help with today's ...
Lemony, great pic of you and Miss Charlotte. While it's nice to congratulate folks on graduation day, I personally think that they've gone too far with adding robed ceremonies to pre-K, grade school, et al. Maybe I'm an old fuddie-duddie, but wearing a cap and gown is for HS or college grads, IMO
As for the puzzle, I, too had INK > ART, as well as WOOL > LAMB; ABEN > ABOU; LOUSY > NASTY; and NSEC > PSEC. I didn't "get" the theme until after solving 27 and 44 across. It was then that the V-8 can hit me squarely in the noggin. I got all of the "play-on-words" clues (4a, 11d, 13a, 25a, 33a, and 48a) on the first pass, which helped me eventually solve the puzzle. I did look up GARN, as REI was a total unknown. BLACK (BODY) was a phrase I was unfamiliar with, but it, too filled in with perps once BISON came into VIEW
SO to my daughter, who's an LSU grad.
42a made me first think of Paul Finebaum, whose daily radio sports show has as its tag line: "Call Paul". I also thought of "Better Call Maaco", but knew it required a 4-letter answer.
I went crazy yesterday with my haikus, so today I will just do one. Hope it gets a positive remark from -T (LOL):
Should BAA-BAA Black Sheep's
Question, really be stated:
"Have 'ewe' any wool?"
ps: today would've been Dad's 92nd birthday. Hope you've found some Bridge and Cribbage players in heaven to keep you sharp - I'm still sharing my daily poems with Mom, just as you used to do. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree ...
33A: "Dose people?: DEM. I bet DIS clue/fill did not please some." You got DAT right!
Ta- DAH!
Thanks, Mr. Lampkin. Loved this! - for the same reason as Misty and D4E4H, because it seemed tough yet I got it. No lookups.
Favorite word? PUH-LEASE!
Great photo, Lemonade, of your little grad! What size robe is that?
Chairman Moe and all Jumble-doers: I just started reading CM's posting, then broke off for fear of reading a spoiler. Please, I haven't finished today's Jumble yet,
so PUH-LEASE refrain from posting spoilers here. (I'm not saying you did, Moe, because I didn't read that far. But ...) Please give a warning at the top of your posting if there will be a spoiler - as a standard courtesy.
PUH-LEASE, and
Thanks!
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: Another day w/o diagonals... Sigh ...
.
ChairmanMoe: I was just thinking about my dad; today would have been his 102nd birthday.
Rabbit rabbit.
I always likes me some John Lampkin on a Friday! This took me a while and it wasn’t until I had INVASION OF THE that everything clicked into place. FIR in just under 18 minutes. I had to leave a whole buncha blank space in the northwest at first, but I guess finishing the rest got me on track, and when I went back there the fill came much more easily.
Other than for depositing checks, I almost never use the ATM any more either. Pretty much gone cashless here. It’s so much easier keeping a handle on where the money goes this way.
I have spent many hours at REI, and many days and weeks using their products. Favorite place for using their gear is Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario (howdy, CanadianEh!), reached by going through the Boundary Waters wilderness canoe area.
Favorite clue/fill today: Ewe's output = LAMB. Not so sure about Dose = DEM, but on the other hand I got it right away, so it must not have been too bad.
Much more pleasant here today; cooler and lots lower humidity. Have a great day, all!
Jay Green, sorry, I have never been much of camper.
HG: I rubber-banded a hundred on a raven and gave him your address; please confirm receipt. No interest on the loan.
Picard, I actually go into banks and speak with tellers to get my cash.
BOBBY FLAY has been all over TV, not only Iron Chef but many guest appearances on regular tv as well as reality cooking shows. LINK .
OK, I'm ba-aack.
SEMI-SPOILER ALERT (Jumble Dept):
And now I've finished the Jumble. Moe, at least this one has the virtue of using all real words (assuming I did it right), not made-up sounds or dangling suffixes. (Yesterday's "ICAL")
Still I'd rather see a real pun, a legitimately punny pun, than a contortion that "sounds" like something else.
Someone once decreed that the "pun is the lowest form of humor." So, no need to force it yet lower.
~ OMK
Sorry, where was I? I got lost in HG's William Tell link...
JohnL, hang-up your hat - you can retire. This was the pinnacle puzzle. I've thought about creating a "think-out-side-the-grid" puzzle but only a letter at a time. You, sir, nailed it. Bravo.
I just wish I'd FIR. I had NAtTY @45d. :-(
Thanks Lem for pointing that out. :-)
Otherwise, I enjoyed the expo ++pic of you & Grand.
WO: I put an S at the end of 37d thinking it would be plural; it was but in 2 words.
ESPs: GARN, CARIB
Fav: Both the theme and execution (BODY always is outside)
{A (dark), B, B-, B+} {now that's funny}
Play later [DO is near home from Philly].
Cheers, -T
(Ditto, re: HG's William Tell link...)
Surprised hat so many are so enamored of the dog, that they have no idea
Chihuahua is a place...
Interesting that Invasion of the body Snatchers/John Lampkin puzzle
has roots on Butterfly Metamorphosis. (Hmm, Coincidence? I think not....)
Looking for something silly, I spent an exorbitant amount of time trying
to link a SpongeBob episode called "Wormy." It is copy protected, and clips
from it are just awful. But if you want to see a completely silly takeoff of Invasion of the body snatchers, This is classic...
Anywho, 1950's SciFy/Horror, PShaw, Bah Humbug...
Bodysnatchers? That'snot scary...
Now Beer Snatchers! that's Scary!
I thought it was “PUH-LEEZE” but internet shows both ways. So no issues.
Thismwent a lot smoother than I thought it would. Other than the above, no write-overs.
CED, I believe you hit the nail on the head with the Butterfly cocoon and the movie cocoons being the tie that brought JL to create this awesome puzzle.
Thank you
PK, thanks for explaining FLAY to me. Now I understand the clue and response.
Ol'Man Keith, I was just about to ask if you'd put on a Spoiler Alert, and send me the Jumble answer, when I decided to give it one last try. Woohoo! I got it! Great relief!
YR, your post was not that late as we have more for an additional 4 hours with Bruce stopping by after midnight my time. Anyway, I finally read your link to the clown in Orlando - it would be Florida - who was taking parking tickets. Good job!
To all grammarians: "dose and dem??? AAAARGH!!!
Fun Friday. Thanks John and Lemonade. (Great photo with grand!)
This was clever, and once I moved from BLACK Hole to BODY, I got the theme.
(Could have added BODY to the front of first part of 37A too LOL!)
But my newspaper still had lots of inkblots.
I merrily entered the . . .EST ending for Deepest answer but moved to INMOST.
I had no idea of the game for 25A and entered Polo until POOL perped itself.
Canadians have MEC; Americans have REI. I have seen it before here but it took a while for my memory to dredge it up.
Canadians have ABMS; Americans have ATMS. Braviata turned to TRAVIATA.
My crosswords were constructed on a Grid before SPEC took its place.
Hand up for DogSit before PETSIT.
My German is lacking but SUPPE filled the spot (but I thought it meant Supper) D'Oh! Soup makes better sense of the clue.
I got DEM right away, although like PK, I thought about MDs.
CED- You beat me to pointing out that Chihuahua is a Mexican state, when everyone was associating TACO with a dog.
I did not know Flay and SPATULA filled the spot but I needed the explanation here.
WikWak- DH comes from NW Ontario and family would camp at Quetico. Beautiful provincial park.
Enjoy the day.
I agree with what Jazzbumpa said: "I LOVE this theme. John hit it out of the park!" And as Anonymous T said: "This was the pinnacle puzzle."
Ol'Man Keith, thank you for your articulate remarks about Robert Stack (and Jack Webb) yesterday.
Good wishes to you all this fine first day of June, which is finally here but not exactly bustin' out all over.
Did not give the answer, OMK. Wouldn't do that until end of day at the earliest
I enjoyed the puzzle and all of these comments. Thanks John and Lemon. (Cute photo!)
I remember my father telling me the William Tell legend many years back almost identical to HG's link.
I like cash. For tutoring, I ask to be paid in cash. Then I go to the supermarket or a restaurant or merchant and pay in cash. No paperwork, no deposit slips. I still use my credit card but much less often. It suits me.
With all of the talk about JUMBLE, I looked it up. I found it online at USA Today and gave it a try. (Do you do it online? What source do you use?) Pretty tricky today I thought. Can you get to a stockpile of some of the older puzzles too?
Bill G,
I can't answer for the others, but I do the Jumble right on the page of the LA Times "Business section." There's usually enough margin to test run words before filling in the final answer squares.
I'm new to these anagrams. Once I solve the four preliminary words, I look for a single word within the mass of letters, and if I find one that's somewhat relevant to the cartoon and question, I set that word aside and try to form the rest of the answer from the remaining letters.
QUASI-SPOILER -->
Today the first word that popped up to me was ROAR, which turned out to be irrelevant. The next word that I saw turned out to be the second word in today's final answer.
~ OMK
OMK, when I work the Jumble I fill in only the circled letters. Otherwise there's too much "noise," making it difficult to see the correct answer. Lately, the weirdness quotient has gone up.
I was thinking AUTO(Body) for 50A. Sarge's PETDOG solved that
I never noticed (Mr)PEABODY. I usually do the last across because it's so easy to find, SPEC-wise*
ABOU always reminds me of this ditty
link
I agree this was an imaginative, clever xword. I didn't get the "Pop's" for KATY Perry.
My sci-fi peer group thought highly of Body Snatchers. Btw, wasn't the'56 version allegorical? eg Communist brainwashing. I see Picard noticed it.
The theme came to me when I perped BUSY.
Re. ATMs... I find using the card I spend more. Btw, I bank via my smartphone
WC
* When I forget to put on my reading glasses
Misty,
Congrats on finishing off the Jumble w/o aid! You say it's a "relief" to get it done, and I think that is exactly how I feel. More relief than victory or triumph.
Halfway on my struggle through the Jumble (which YOU got me started on!) I often wonder why I began it again! Why?! The frustration and tension continue to mount, and I feel stupid and childish when I can't yet see the *#@! word!
(Aargh. May this burden pass from me!)
Then at last! Then comes the PDM - when the sky clears and the sun shines. And I feel -- what is it exactly?
A little let-down but greatly relieved.
~ OMK
PS. Jayce: You are most welcome, sir.
Between WAGS and perps, I was getting the *theme answers. INK>ART. A journalism award named for a small round green legume? When I had enough letters to get the movie title, EUREKA! All the starred clues finally made sense.
Foxy: HOT>SLY.
No matter how many times it comes up, I can never remember if it's ILSA or ELSA.
Had to memorize ABOU Ben Adhem in school; strong rhythm and good rhymes.
Dad's Perry was COMO, pop music's was KATY.
I'm not LeRoy, I'm not ElRoy, I'm just Roy.
"Jane and Jill's Waterloo" brought this to mind. For you youngsters, there's this.
EURO not PAIN.
Lucina: Thank you for the kind words about my photos. I am happy that you also got to see the Prague CLOCK. You also seem to get around!
There are quite a few videos of it, but surprisingly few that are good! This one shows the workings inside and out.
This video shows a most spectacular and surprising celebration of the 600th anniversary of the CLOCK!
Lemonade: Thanks for explaining how you get cash without using ATMS. It seems people are divided into so many different categories. Some only use cash while others avoid using cash. Some use phones for everything while people like me don't even have one.
And thanks for explaining about FLAY. We do not have cable and in our small city we have just one TV station. I was thinking of the kind of FLIPPER we have on our many local marine mammals. But I did eventually get it with crosses to FIR.
Wilbur Charles: Yes, BODY SNATCHERS is widely believed to be an allegory for the paranoid Cold War era of the 1950s.
But this is one of several articles that disputes this. A learning moment.
Apparently the original book writer and the film makers deny it had any hidden political message. Apparently the film got very little distribution or attention at the time. It was only later that it became a "classic". It was certainly a very original and creepy idea.
From yesterday:
AnonT: Glad you enjoyed the NARCO video!
But it also feels good to get a Jumble, doesn't it, Ol'Man Keith? By the way, after tracking them this week, I think maybe they do get more difficult as the week progresses. Anyone else notice that?
Picard:
After I retired in 1995 I started traveling and went throughout Europe including Scandinavia (except Norway), part of Russia, Greece and Turkey as well as Hong Kong. I'm glad I did it while I was in good health and able to walk. Not that I'm suffering ill health now but don't believe I have the stamina to do all that walking. I loved it at the time!
My photos are all in albums and don't know if I'll ever scan them to digitize them. Maybe. There are hundreds of them.
Keith and Misty:
I used to do the jumble all the time then tired of it; you are both inspiring me to try it again.
Thanks for the link about the meaning of the movie Picard. I really appreciate how much you all contribute to making a complete discussion of a puzzle.
Roy, thanks. Now I get "Pop's Perry". eg Pop music. And this pop remembers Perry Como as in Round and round
WC
I get cash by going through the bank drive-thru. I use it to pay my yardman who kept forgetting to cash my checks or left them in his pants when they went thru the laundry. Also use cash for the large number of gifts to kids & grandkids for the same reason. Also pay cash at the fast food drive-thru. My ATM debit card number was used by a bank employee to buy on line before I ever used it. I've told that story here before. Now I don't have or need an ATM card.
I recall John Lennon etal arguing that "Lucy " wasn't about LSD. As I posted the word "allegory" I was thinking, like the article, that the pods could be on either side of the political spectrum.
Then again, I didn't see it in 1956, my buddy, a Bircher, told me about it. Perhaps I'm just reflecting the critics viewpoint.
Then again I seem to be the only one who thinks "Foundation" by Asimov is an allegory of the history of "Capitalism"
Picard. Any thoughts on that? Perhaps the word should be "parallel" not allegory.
WC
Great to have you join the Jumble crew, Lucina.
Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone..
.....on her balcony.
Yeah, she could hear the cars go by
Out on 441.
Like waves, crashing on the beach.
And for one desperate moment there...
...he crept back in her memory
GOD, it's so painful when something that's so close is still so far out of reach!
😊
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