17. Follow-up vaccination: BOOSTER SHOT. Re-exposure to an immunizing antigen to increase or restore immunity. I thought it was a snort of alcohol for a devotee of college athletics.
26. Bit of equine trickery: GIFT HORSE. Unhappy memory for Trojans, but, somehow otherwise, not to be looked in the mouth.
36. Tall tale: FISH STORY. An improbable, boastful tail.
52. Part of Ursa Minor: NORTH STAR. Polaris, a trinary star system with a yellow super-giant and two small companions.
61. Cheat at checkout ... and a hint to the circled letters: SHORT CHANGE. Literally, not give back sufficient CHANGE for a large bill. Figuratively, to treat unfairly by withholding something of value. In the theme fill, the word SHORT is CHANGED by re-ordering its letters. This would be tough to spot if you didn't get the circles
Across:
1. Script deviations: AD LIBS. Spontaneous, not formally prepared speech.
7. Shallot, e.g.: BULB. A type of onion, with a milder flavor.
11. "Wicked!": RAD. Slang words for "good."
14. Knitted shoe: BOOTEE. Infant's foor wear.
15. "The African Queen" screenwriter James: AGEE.
16. Bird on Australian coins: EMU. A large flightless bird that is one of the cultural icons of Australia. Here it is on a postage stamp. Inexplicably, this is not the mascot of Eastern Michigan University.
19. Cul-de-__: SAC. Literally, the bottom of a sack, but generally used to indicate a dead-end street.
20. Birth announcement abbr.: OZS. Along with Lbs.
21. MontrÈal mates: AMIS. French speaking friends from our neighbor to the north..
22. Defeat soundly: CRUSH. Stomp, bash, trounce.
24. Clip-on accessories, perhaps: TIES.
29. Fax forerunners: TELEXES. Per Wikipedia, they comprised a public switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, for the purposes of sending text-based messages.
32. Florida produce: ORANGES. Citrus fruit.
33. Turkey neighbor: SYRIA. South of Turkey, north-west of Iraq.
34. "__ news?": ANY. Update, anyone?
35. Supreme leader?: ESS. First letter of the word. The type of self-referential clue that diminishes the quality of a puzzle.
40. Airline to Oslo: SAS. Scandinavian Airlines.
43. Shoot the breeze: YAK. Chew the fat.
44. Watts of "Twin Peaks" (2017): NAOMI.
47. Kind of illusion: OPTICAL. See some here.
54. Mine, in MontrÈal: AMOI.
55. Justice Samuel: ALITO. Appointed by George W. Bush and on the bench since January, 2006.
56. Organic fuel: PEAT. Boggy ground consisting of partly decomposed vegetable matter. Not the only organic fuel.
59. Directional suffix: -ERN. All's quiet on the -ERN front.
60. Tank or tee: TOP. Article of informal clothing worn on the torso.
65. Birthday card number: AGE. These numbers keep increasing.
66. Currency for 19 countries: EURO. It was introduced on January 1, 1999.
67. Apartment dweller, typically: RENTER.
68. Barrett of Pink Floyd: SYD.
69. Gas in a sign: NEON. A noble gas [chemically inert] with atomic number 10 and atomic weight of 20.1797, having a density about .9 * that of air.
70. Like the smell of a brewery: YEASTY. Brewers' yeast transforms carbohydrates to alcohol under low oxygen conditions.
Down:
1. Costello's cohort: ABBOTT. Comedy partners
2. Humdingers: DOOZIES. Things that are remarkable or outstanding. "Humdinger" is a word of uncertain origin that arose in the U. S. in the late 19th century. It might simply be a mash-up of hummer and dinger, older words of similar meaning. DOOZIE is of unknown origin. It is definitely not derived from the name of the Duesenberg motor car, as is sometimes suggested. The use of the word predates the 1920 introduction of the automobile by more than 20 years.
3. How some scripts are adapted from novels: LOOSELY. ASoIaF mavens take note.
4. "__ go time!": IT'S. A challenge to fight some one; or a realization that the moment for decisive action has arrived. Also, this year's advertising slogan for the Detroit Visitor's Bureau.
6. Appear to be: SEEM. Give the impression or sensation of having a particualar quality.
7. Operatic voices: BASSI. Italian plural of BASSO.
8. "Gross!": UGH. Eeew!
9. Zodiac sign: LEO. July 23 to August 22. We are now in Virgo.
10. "You __!": "Bingo!": BETCHA. Of course.
11. Make a comeback: RESURGE. To regain popularity or strength after a decline.
12. Stockpiles: AMASSES. Accumulates.
13. New title for Meghan Markle: DUCHESS. Of Sussex, having married Prince Harry on May 19th of this year.
18. Semis: RIGS. North American term for large trucks. More generally, a RIG is an apparatus or device designed for a specific purpose.
23. "This Is Us" Emmy nominee __ Cephas Jones: RON. No idea.
25. Feudal laborer: SERF. Laborers who were bound to a particular piece of property.
27. Word processing choice: FONT. Letter character style.
28. "Have a sample": TRY ONE. A tiny morsel.
30. A dozen ova?: XII. OK. Ova is latin for eggs; eggs are generally sold by the dozen; and XII is the Roman numeral for 12. Still . . .
31. Helpful courses for underachievers: EASY As. A class where a high grade can be achieved with minimal effort.
34. Inquire: ASK.
37. "Don't move!": HALT. Stay put.
38. Campaigned: RAN. As for public office.
39. Diminutive Jedi master: YODA.
42. Like Ronald McDonald's sleeves: STRIPED. Advertising mascot in a clown outfit.
45. They may be precious: MOMENTS. Sweet memories, or overly cutsie ceramic miniatures, if you're in to that sort of kitsch..
46. "My memory fails me": I FORGET. What was i saying . . . ?
48. Cousin of Gomez Addams: ITT. From the Addams Family TV show.
50. Lose sleep (over): FRET. Worry.
51. Sunday best: FINERY. One's best clothing.
53. It may say "World's Okayest Cook": APRON. A protective and/or decorative garment worn over the front of one's clothing, and tied in the back.
57. __ for help: A CRY. S.O.S. perhaps.
58. Quaker pronoun: THEE. Obsolete singular objective case version of "you." A relic of the English language's Germanic roots.
62. Shade: HUE. An attribute of color determined by its wavelength distribution, independent of brightness or intensity,
63. Conquistador's treasure: ORO. Spanish gold.
64. Actress Ortiz of "Ugly Betty": ANA.
Betty's more fashionable sister
Well, that wraps up another Wednesday. Make sure you have all your nickels and dimes - and marbles, too, just to be on the safe side.
Cool regards!
JzB
There was a miss named NAOMI.
ReplyDeleteHer French boyfriend called her AMOI.
He liked that she had a wide smile,
Said AMIS is as good as a mile!
Then he signed her up to sell Amway!
In "The Lord of The Rings" are events
That are very memorable and intense.
Some things I FORGET
Like which Hobbits met
Those MOMENTS with pop and MOM ENTS!
{C, B-.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteHad the circles and forgot to look at 'em. But I did read the entire reveal clue and got the idea. Didn't care much for the "dozen ova" c/a. Otherwise, this was a fine mid-week diversion. Thanx, Craig and JzB (and just what does ASoIaF mean?)
BOOSTER SHOT: I'm due for a Shingrix booster. This time I'm going to be smart and pay cash with a coupon, rather than running it through my Part D non-paying Aetna drug plan. Have you gotten this vaccine? It's supposed to be much more effective than the original shingles shot, at least that's what my doctor says. Pricey -- over $300 for the two injections.
NORTH STAR: Learning moment. I didn't know Polaris was a multi-star system.
Plumber coming this morning to give me a quote on installing an outdoor faucet in our front lawn island. This afternoon it's the quarterly visit to the oral hygienist. Busy day.
We have had quite a run of puzzles with circles and word scrambles.
ReplyDeleteJzB, tell us about the accent grave and capital E in Montréal, please. Cul meaning 'bottom' is a very euphemistic rendition. Growing up I learned a much more salacious use of the word in French.
You did not acknowledge the CSO- "This Is Us" Emmy nominee __ Cephas Jones: RON who I did not know from a show I never watched.
Thanks Craig and Ron.
Had my second Shingrix shot a couple of weeks ago. Didn't make my arm nearly as sore as the first one did.
ReplyDeleteThanks Craig and JzB
ReplyDeleteFIR and Mcd’s coffee still hot.
I thought SAS stood for Swedish Air Service
FIR, but erased BOOTiE for BOOTEE. Two days in a row covering angler prevarication.
ReplyDeleteBeta software is entirely different from prototypes. Prototypes are used to verify or improve design: screen layout, menus, color schemes, etc. Beta software is used to catch problems that weren't detected in quality control testing. The design isn't expected to change as a result of beta testing.
We used TELEXES early in my career, primarily to document agreements made over the phone. If the agreements were really important we followed that up with a formal letter using letterhead original and four different color carbon copies (using real carbon paper). The secretaries all had five colors of "white" out.
My favorite apron features an image of The David.
Thanks to Craig for the fun puzzle. I don't mind the "ess as in succotash" clues. And the little bit of foreign language stuff is OK because of the fair perps. And thanks to JzB for the chuckles.
Hi Y'all! No circles (statement of fact, not whining, D4, LOL). However, I managed to come up with the SHORT CHANGE theme. Good one, Craig! Enjoyed it and the expo RON. Hand up for wanting to know what D-O asked about.
ReplyDeleteLiked AD LIB to start. Forgot ABBOTT had 2 "T's" until I needed the second one.
Did not know: shallot is a BULB duh!. AGEE wrote "African Queen". TELEXES (but I think that must be what our newspaper got AP service on. We just called it "the wire".) RON whats-'is-name. "Wicked" is RAD not bAD.
Took getting an X perp to come up with XII ova altho it was really EASY AS...
A bus tour I took stopped at Precious Moments factory outlet in MO. One woman was so excited because she collects the ceramics pieces as well as giving them to her grandchildren. I FORGET how many glass curio cabinets she said she had filled with P.M.'s in her home. Her husband was quietly indulgent. Not my thing although I can appreciate the sentiments. I think I was the only woman on the bus who didn't buy any. I was in the process of downsizing.
Lovely and cool here. Windows & doors open to let in fresh air after many days of wet or hot.
PK, I suspect your newspaper had an AP teletype that sat chug-chug-chugging in a closet with a huge box of yellow fan-fold paper underneath.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sonata and the interesting blog, JzB.
ReplyDeleteFISH STORY today after yesterday's growing fish tale.
I haven't heard "You betcha," in many years, except by Sarah Palin.
Too bad great novels are interpreted so loosely in some movie versions. I like the novel better 99+% of the time.
I FORGET where I have laid things just moments before. Usually I can remember what I was doing when I last used them, so that places me in the ballpark.
Sunday Best is becoming dated. Many places people dress more informally for church than they do for going to the mall.
I have been reading about the red tide (algae bloom) in Florida. Has it affected many of you?
PK, your cool weather should get here by the end of this week, after we suffer through several days of heat in the 90's.
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun, Craig. Thanks. I am doing better on paper than on the computer. I saw the circles and found this all so much easier and clever. I was moving along well until Equine trickery. Horseplay fit but didn't match the other circles. Ah, GIFT HORSE. FIR. BUT I didn't realize it as I failed to parse ACRY correctly. TELEXES was easy peasy. I learned all about them when I worked summers at Baxter Labs in college. Also Teletype Corporation had a huge facility in Skokie, IL. When it was sold for a shopping center--natch--the buildings were re-purposed for the most part. When we go to Dick's Sporting Goods, my DH says, "Glenview?" Nope, just over to Teletype! I never remember the name of the mall.
Ron, thank you for the explications. I remember the gulls in Nemo, and I thought they were hilarious. Just seeing them this morning made me laugh. Mozart is always a nice interlude. I love them oldies!!
The storms last night really cooled the temperature. The rain was amazing and fully filled the detention pond in front of our townhouses. Hope the weather's better where you are--well, west of here anyway. There may still be some rain left for our eastERN pals. Enjoy your day.
Interesting puzzle. We weren’t SHORT CHANGED at all. Thanks, Craig. JzB thanks for the SONATA.
ReplyDeleteI had Bad before RAD. I must have missed all that hippie talk. I always get it wrong in CWs.
I had trouble parsing EASYAS. I wondered what the courses were EASY AS.... but at least I filled in the spaces right.
GIFT HORSE for equine trickery didn’t sound right to me. Yes, I know about Troy. Just a quirk, I guess.
Learning moment: NORTH STAR. Thanks, JzB.
It’s still hot here, but the rains have come every day so that helps.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSHORT CHANGE theme. Cool beans. Enjoyed this puzzle. Only head scratcher was OZS but finally #'s and Oz's loomed into my brain as Jz B explained. FIR.
NORTH STAR - Original thinking was Polaris. It's the only navigational star not needing sight reduction tables; lending itself to an abbreviated method of determining it's computed height. During the present decades, it is at its closest approach to the exact celestial pole; less than 1º. Earth's rotational wobble will make Vega the 'pole' star in a several thousand years, but it will only come within 5º or so of the celestial pole.
Peat - German Torf, L. German Törf; cognate to English 'turf'. When my Mom was a kid in Schleswig-Holstein, one of her jobs was to dig out large peat 'bricks' and stack them so as to dry out.
Jazz: Wonderful write-up. Good Job !!!
ReplyDeleteCraig: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle. I liked the "SHORT" theme.
Yup, 23-d RON was all perps. A learning moment I will forget by noon.
Fave today was 2-d, DOOZIES ... what a fun word. LOL
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a perfect Wednesday, IMO, with just the right amount of difficulty. My w/os were Asides/Ad libs and Trash/Crush. Any unknowns, as clued, (Ron, Ana, etc.) were perp friendly. I got a chuckle filling in Fish Story after yesterday's "whopper." I saw the play on Short right away, but I was still surprised by the reveal.
Thanks, Craig, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JzB, for the usual wit and wisdom.
Lucina, your granddaughter's determination and talent will pay off, sooner or later. I wish her well
DO @ 7:01 ~ When I saw my primary care doctor recently, he encouraged me to get the new, more effective shingle vaccine. He also informed me that Insurance will cover the cost if I get it from my pharmacist but won't cover it if he administers it. I never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. Anyone have any thoughts about this restriction? In any case, there is a shortage of the vaccine (in this area, anyway) so I haven't gotten it yet. Several family members, over the years, have had the shingles, but, so far, I've escaped them.
Lemonade @ 7:14 (How appropriate!) ~ "This Is Us" is one of my favorite shows but the name Ron Cephas Jones means nothing to me. I'm going to guess, though, that he plays the biological father of Sterling K. Brown. I'll verify this with Mr. G. If you have the time and inclination, watching this from the beginning would be well worth your while.
I spent a chunk of time this morning filling out 5 pages of medical information for my one-time visit to the retina specialist, this afternoon. It was sort of depressing to list all those ailments, surgeries, family history, etc., not to mention the numerous medications I take. OTOH, I'm very happy to be around and able to do so. 🤗
If our weatherman is correct, today is the final day of this miserable heat and humidity, thank God. And is the Farmer's Almanac is correct, we're in for a colder and snowier than normal winter. I promise not to complain. ☃
Have a great day.
Instead of checking with Mr. G, I just clicked on Lemony's link (which I should have done earlier) and my guess was correct on who Ron Cephas Jones is. His role is an important one and he is very effective in it. Actually, the whole cast is terrific. I'm really looking forward to the premier at the end of September.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Is should be If at the beginning of my last sentence.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteLemonade -the accent grave and capital E in Montréal was handed down to me, and I accepted.
Otto - ASoIaF is A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic novel series adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones. That is the title of the first book, but rather misses the point of the greater story arc IMHO.
Cheers!
JzB
Musings
ReplyDelete-I did need the reveal on this fun puzzle
-Telling a clerk they gave me too much change made them angry. What is the opposite of SHORT CHANGE?
-On one cold field-trip trip to Florida we saw many frozen ORANGES
-Other women of Twin Peaks
-RENTERS abound in Lincoln and Omaha where DINK’S, et al don’t want to mow
-Changing BITA to BETA changed BOOTIE to BOOTEE
-FLN – What things SEEM to be – The McGurk Effect was very interesting
-Wanna job? There’s thousands of them for driving the big RIGS.
-TRY ONE - Grazing day at Costco!
-Gibbs’ Rule #6 – “Don’t APOLOGIZE, it’s a sign of weakness”
-Hometown VB coach has CHOSEN to play 4 freshmen and let her upperclassmen sit
-Off to a checkup today!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteJZ: Enjoyed the Optical Illusions and the Sonata. Thanks.
No cruciverb again. That's three days in a row. I wonder what is up? Did mine on paper this morning. Which I like anyway.
A couple french words I actually figured out. AMIS and AMOI
Never used a TELEX myself, but the first fax machine I used had a drum that spun. You attached the document to the drum and a reading needle passed slowly over the paper as it spun, reading the images. On the other end a person put a blank sheet of paper on their drum and the machine printed on the paper what it was receiving from the originating end as it spun. Worked fine. Was slow and the image received was kind of skewed, but readable. That was in 1980 in Pomona, CA.
I liked XII. I am always a fan of Roman stuff, Latin words, Roman Numerals, etc.
No idea who RON is or was. Perps.
Off to my day. see you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
too easy for my taste today, no problems under 8 minutes.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned Karl May yesterday. He is one of the biggest western genre ( or adventure in general) for the generation growing up in 60’s behind iron curtain. It was a rare opportunity to read that kind of book under hard censorship. Made into several movies shot in Yugoslavia with Lex Barker in it! I guess only western movies in cinemas back then.
Still popular in Europe, mainly the Vinnetou series. I cannot imagine what would you say to these movies, which are even further away from classic american movies than spaghetti western.
IM, thank you for pointing out the timing of my post, fun.
ReplyDeleteEasy-peasy for a Wednesday IMHO. Thanks for the fun, Craig and JzB.
ReplyDeleteI had the circles in my newspaper, saw the SHORT CHANGE early and FIR.
I LOLed to see circles again after Dave2's admonition last night.
Also smiled (like others here already) to see the FISH STORY again.
Hand up for BOOTiE before BOOTEE. BETA fixed that. (Hi HG)
Nice to listen to that beautiful SONATA.
I agree with SwampCat re "GIFT HORSE for equine trickery didn’t sound right to me."
Gift horse can be defined as "An apparent gift, that has substantial associated costs or drawbacks, especially a gift that does not fit perfectly with the recipient's wants or needs." which I suppose implies a bit of trickery. But I think our minds go to Trojan Horse which was certainly a trick and could also be seen as a gift. Perhaps a very small nit re the cluing. But of course I can't think of a better clue. LOL.
I was thinking about Diana Ross with Supreme leader? Oh, ESS! Is ALITO one of the Supremes?!
I smiled at the "A dozen ova?" clue for XII.
CSO to OMK with 1A and 3D "Scripts".
Canadian content twice today with Montreal (no accents here!) which is about 221 miles due N of Albany.
Ontario covers the cost of Zostavax shingles vaccine for those 65 to 70 years of age. But the new Shingrix vaccine has greatly improved efficacy (over 90% even as you age). I suspect that once all the required studies re cost/benefit are completed, Shingrix will replace Zostavax in the formulary. But of course, this may take several years (Sigh!). In the mean time, patients without drug plan insurance that covers vaccines must decide whether to pay or take the less effective vaccine in the meantime.
We are waiting for the heat/humidity to break later today.
Wishing you all a great day.
Fun theme with no Natick crosses. Yay! Got the scrambled SHORT theme quickly, but took awhile to get the reveal.
ReplyDeleteDo Quakers really say THOU and THEE? I have Quaker friends and they don't talk that way.
JzB Thanks for explaining OVA/XII! Got it, but not why. And thanks for the YODA music video. Yay, Weird Al Yankovic! And thanks for the OPTICAL illusion video. They packed in a lot in three minutes.
Years ago I visited the Museum of NEON Art (MONA) in Los Angeles. Overdue for another visit.
Since we had FISH two days in a row, I will show off the Piranha I caught in the Amazon.
Once again, here are my PEAT harvesting photos in Ireland.
I think it was Jinx who pointed out this is not eco-friendly even if it is organic.
From yesterday:
ReplyDeleteAnonT Glad you liked the McGurk effect video! Good that you had seen this; I had not seen it until a few years ago. It is kind of an OPTICAL illusion, but more than that.
Yellowrocks Glad you liked the Kodachrome/NIKON video! Yes, beautiful song and video.
OAS SAS stands for Scandinavian Airlines System
ReplyDeleteHere my grandparents arrived to visit us when we were living in Copenhagen.
If you click on the first photo you can see "Scandinavian Airlines System" on the arrival stairway.
Well, I had a lot of fun doing this puzzle, moving from the middle, down the east, and then back up north. But the top left corner just gave me endless trouble. I started out with ASIDE instead of AD LIB, eventually put BOOTIES, like others, and simply could not get that birth announcement abbreviation. Oh, ounces, OZs--darn! Well, it's been over half a century since I sent out a birth announcement, so no wonder I don't remember. I did get EASY As but surely that's not a course--only grades for a course. My professorial instincts resisted that one. But I got the SHORT fill-ins early and liked the reveal--nice theme, Craig. And Jazz B, your pictures were a delight this morning.
ReplyDeleteKrijo, I was the one who mentioned Karl May yesterday. Wasn't the Apache chief WINNETOU? I'll have to look that up sometime.
I saw a fabulous production at the Laguna Festival of Arts last night. Watching those actors create still paintings is just amazing. A wonderful treat.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
I looked the GIFT HORSE in the mouth at first, then on thinking about it I came to appreciate the clue. The Trojan horse was, indeed, a gift from the Greeks to the Trojans. The gift horse or horse gift was also a trick. I find the clue very clever.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the phrase has anything to do with "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," to assess its value. I had a friend who would immediately turn a greeting card over to see how much we paid for it.
Musings 2
ReplyDelete-I just violated Gibbs’ Rule #6. We had a 9:00 am appointment and I thought it was 9:30 am and Joann saw me here typing into the blog and said, “Aren’t you ready to go?” I apologized! Maybe that’s why the Gibbs character had been divorced multiple times
WEES. Quick and EASY!
ReplyDeleteThe SHORT CHANGE revealed itself but was not necessary to the solve.
SYD Barrett is almost a BFF I've seen him in so many puzzles.
The wife of one of my cousins collects Precious MOMENTS ceramics and likely has all that they produce.
Drat! I didn't check for BETA so BOOTIE stayed along with bita. It's what happens when I solve the puzzle so fast.
Thank you, Craig Stowe and thank you, JazzB, RON! Your elegant commentary makes even a mundane word like SEEM appear special.
Irish Miss:
Thank you. I hope you are right about my granddaughter. That is what I think, too.
Have a grand day, everyone!
Had the circles, it doesn’t mattter and I dont care. I do have advice...don’t say anything in a blog you wouldn’t say face to face and then defend. Too many chicken hawks with big mouths and zero bravery. And disappearing bone spurs.
ReplyDeleteA nice Wednesday puzzle that I went through quickly. Had BAD before RAD and that was about it.
I had the Zostavax already and will get the Shingrix regardless of out of pocket. Actually I’d do almost anything to avoid shingles. My brother had a case of shingles and was also unfortunate enough to step in a fire ant nest (not at the same time). He said shingles were a lot worse.
Speaking of vaccinations..I had the flu about 25 years ago....I’ve gotten the shot every year since. You don’t want the flu either, get the shot.
JazzB, I just listened to the Mozart Sonata and remembered how lovely it is. Thank you for posting it.
ReplyDeletePicard:
ReplyDeleteYour photos are so interesting! I am surprised by the size of the pirhana; thought they were smaller. And now I must investigate PEAT.
I liked this puzzle. I like circles, too. I like puzzle without circles, too! I like puzzle with or without a theme. Gosh, I'm easy to please, I guess.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I filled BOOSTER SHOT I concluded we were looking for some sort of SHORT shakeup.
I like how the word CRUSH has different meanings in different contexts. I used to have a small CRUSH on ANA Ortiz.
The accent in Montréal is because it's pronounced something like "MonreyAL" in French; the name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. Canadian and other English speakers pronounce it like most of us do.
Obviously Supreme leader wasn't Diana Ross.
I notice we have RON and RAN. Also APRON. "Does the ron in Spon falls monly on the plon?"
Thanks for the sonata link, Ron. I thought that looked like Daniel Barenboim and checking it out in YouTube confirmed it.
Best wishes to you all.
Picard: Do people eat piranhas? I've heard piranhas eat people. Pretty fish.
ReplyDeleteTa- DA!
ReplyDeleteClever Mr. Stowe! I should have taken more advantage of his theme's circled letters That might have helped me crack the NE corner faster than I did on my own.
Thanks for the mention, CanadianEh!
As to the reference to AD LIBS, I have to report that one of the little-noted uses of spontaneous dialogue is to get oneself out of those *#@! moments on stage when somebody else goes blank or feeds you the wrong line. This can be either frightening or exhilarating, depending on your temperament.
Two examples: In a long run of a show (over two months), actors will sometimes purposely alter dialog to challenge one another to stay alert. I was in a production of Henry IV/ part one once where we dared one another to insert the word "pig" into speeches without breaking the meter or being flagged by the audience. (The winner gave a speech about a character riding a "wingéd Pig-asus.")
Example two (how to save a show): In London once I was in the audience when Peter O'Toole went up on his lines in Man and Superman. I was familiar with the script so caught on to what was happening, although most of the audience may not have noticed.
What happened when he dropped his line was, first, a longish pause, and then his scene partner adroitly offered, "Hmm. I know what you're thinking; you want to tell me ..." and he simply spoke the rest of Peter's words for him.
This continued for about four or five exchanges. In between his own scripted speeches, the other actor would AD LIB,
"And then you'd like to say ...."
"But I suppose you'd object by telling me ..."
"Aha! But then you could counter ..."
- until at last O'Toole came to his senses, caught up, and resumed speaking for himself.
When you're that "other actor," it's really exhilarating! (There's nothing like live performance!)
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: One diagonal today on the mirror side. Running NE to SW it cuts through three of the theme circles.
Husker G @ 10:45 -- "-Telling a clerk they gave me too much change made them angry. What is the opposite of SHORT CHANGE?"
ReplyDelete'Uneducated Teenager"?
I'm ba-aack...
ReplyDeleteInteresting puzzle,
but I was a little confused about the whole Bootie thing.
Isn't the Bootee the guy who gets kicked in the rear end?
Hmm, having been flying a lot,
short change reminds me of this story....
Luckily, 46d to the rescue,
I know I have posted this before,
do I have to remind you?
Keith I really enjoyed your retelling of the exchange with Peter O'toole in an ad lib situation from your unique perspective. That's a large part of what makes this place enjoyable. Not many would pick up on that slip.
ReplyDeleteBut I would also note that an ad lib doesn't have to be verbal. One that's tacit can be every bit as much fun. As an example, I had the role of Oscar in The Odd Couple in a little theater production in my home town while still in high school. Little town, small audience. But a lot of fun. There was a scene where Oscar threw a glass of water in Felix's face. There was also a lamp on the set, lit up and hot. I tossed the water as required, but then hit the hot light bulb. It exploded. Not a single person on the set broke character, save for a few sideways glances. It took a few seconds, but audience roared. Had anyone on stage freaked out, it would have been a major screw up. But with the non-response, the audience was in on the joke and the show went on uninterrupted. An unforgettable moment for all involved.
Wonderful live theatre stories OMK and Avg Joe. Thanks for telling us.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous PVX - you are entitled to your views about circles and themes, but unfortunately your advice bordered on a threat IMHO! Perhaps we should invoke the Thumper rule. We don't all have to agree here but we can be civil.
Was looking for links,
ReplyDeleteand thought D4E4H might enjoy this one:
On this anniversary of Hurricane Katrina one TV channel is paying tribute to our food / restaurant scene which has always been a big part of our identity. After the hurricane most of our celebrity chefs prepared their award winning fare for the first responders... free!
ReplyDeleteThey were determined to return, which is hard when you’ve lost everything.
The memorials tonight are a tribute to the return of the food scene which is once again up and running.
Resilience!
Shortchanged?
ReplyDeletePVX, please chime in. I read your comments totally different than C-Eh, in fact just the opposite. Did you mean to connect your first and second sentences? I read them as separate thoughts, and I agree that too many folks are happy to be flamethrowers on line, but when called upon to defend their statements in person or on the air have nothing germane to say.
ReplyDeleteLucina Thank you for the kind words about my photos! The Piranha is not that big; less than a foot long. They are dangerous because they can attack in schools of many FISH. And because they have some scary nasty teeth.
ReplyDeleteHere is my photo that shows the teeth up close and personal!
PK Yes, they are eaten. But we were out for the day in a small boat and had no way to keep them alive or chilled long enough to get them ashore to eat them. So... We released them. They were amazingly easy to catch. They were quite abundant and went crazy for the bait.
I thought my catch of the OBAMA photos yesterday was more of an achievement. Surprised no one commented!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Craig for this EASY-A Wednesday puzzle; you can keep the CHANGE...
Wonderful expo JzB - really enjoyed Kink's Lola sent up as YODA and the etymology(ish) of Humdinger.
WOs: Hand-up w/ BOOTiE b/f BETA; FINEst until YEASTY.
ESPs: RON, SAS
Fav: How delicious is the juxtaposition of ORANGE CRUSH
{B-, A}
CED's back!!!
And AveJoe made a cameo! Thanks for yours and OMK's theater "FISH" STORIES.
Speaking of FISH STORIES - Are you sure that's a piranha Picard? :-)
C, Eh! - LOL'd at your ALITO one of the Supremes
Lucina - I hope your grand was let down easy... I've seen one of those audition things (it was on the news in Houston a few years ago) and the "judges" can be brutal; SEEM'd like a form-letter via TELEX would be nicer.
Jinx - I almost added that APRON to DW's cart. Then I remembered that Eldest has the Prime password too. Good I didn't FORGET - Eldest would have FRET for sure.
Cheers, -T
Should have refreshed b/f posting says...
ReplyDeletePicard - delete your post and put it after mine... Too Funny.
Re: Obama pics; they were neat but comments would lead to politics which leads to TSK TSK.
PVX - I'm w/ Jinx (I think)
Cheers, -T
Yes, GIFT HORSE is an odd usage. You can estimate a horse's age by the condition of its teeth, so "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" because you're getting it for free, and you won't refuse it no matter how old it is. Not sure if this is also where "long in the tooth" for someone aging comes from.
ReplyDeleteI was watching Richard Harris in Camelot once when he blanked on one of the songs, so he just asked the audience to sing along to help him. Later, a piece of plastic that colored some of the overhead lights fell off and fluttered onto the stage, he made some remark about what huge birds Camelot had.
Picard - I liked the pictures of President Obama and your review of his talk. Usually by the time I get here it's the middle of the night on the mainland. I generally like all your pictures and articles.
ReplyDeleteBillO - there you go. [TL;DR - Yep, similar origin]
ReplyDeleteDid y'all read that Coke bought Moxie? Because someone on the Corner mentioned Moxie I knew what that was (maybe it was just Sam's puzzle and Argyle's review'cuz no one in the comments seemed to know that). Anyway, thanks Cornerites!
MikeS - many of us read FLN; so always feel free to chime in and see our response(s) 'tomorrow'.
Cheers, -T
er, Moxie Soda [wikiP] -T
ReplyDeleteCrossEyedDave at 4:53 PM and 6:53 PM
ReplyDelete- - Welcome back to the Corner.
- - I forget what video I am trying to remember. That one hits a little too close to home.
- - Mary Maxwell's prayer is shorter than the ones we hear at lunch and supper. It cleverly covers many of the conditions in my new home. Thanks for thinking of me.
Ðave
A neat recollection, Avg Joe!
ReplyDeleteI can "see" it as you describe it, the lamp exploding to punctuate your gesture - and it must have been a hoot!
~ OMK
I finished early but never could get here.
ReplyDeleteYR, I agree with you on GIFT HORSE. The expression does indeed come from the "Equine trickery" pulled by the Greeks. That's not Aeneid btw, came from a later tradition.
FLN re. Constructor dissing. Not much of that in here. @Rex, much more so. Anons can be ignored. Not you, PVX but since I mention it, the themes do provide entertainment.
What I started to post yesterday was that I've often observed that the most boring conversation for non-xwers was xwords. Hence the CC.
I assume today marks the end of three pretty easy, even for M-W xwords.
WC
So I was in a meeting with Vendors today [good ones, I like these guys - used 'em before; smart fun-fellows] and, while they fumbled with their presentation RIGS, I'd fill a few bits of the grid.
ReplyDeleteBoss-man kinda looked at me funny and said, "We hired him* because he's a crossword pro. Look at that; In ink."
That started the least boring-to-them conversation about crosswords as they talked about their attempts sussing a grid. Trust me, laughter ensued ;-)
Yeah, WC, "talkin' grid" bores most [see: DW] but the Corner is here. I think that was my point...
Cheers & Nite!, -T
*actually I hired him and eventually got him promoted to take my job so I could get back to playing without personnel/budget crap.