Themeless Saturday by Lewis Rothlein
Tonight is International Observe The Moon Night sponsored by NASA. This NASA educator and you are all encouraged to go out and look at the second brightest object in our sky and Earth's only natural satellite. Here in Eastern Nebraska the Moon will rise shortly after 5 pm tonight and should be a magnificent sight after the Sun has set. I invite you to identify as many features of the lunar surface as you can, including, but not limited to, the magnificent Tycho crater and the Sea Of Tranquility that was visited by Neal and Buzz on July 20, 1969 - Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.
Today's constructor is Lewis Rothlein whose last puzzle appeared on August 28 of this year and was well-blogged by Steve. Lewis currently lives in Asheville, N.C. and teaches this course at UNC-Asheville. I wonder if I could take it online?
In a lovely note to me Lewis said he started doing crosswords a dozen years ago and constructing four years ago. His vocations include having been a magazine editor, a syndicated newspaper columnist (SF Chronicle) and an elementary school teacher. He added that he owned a yoga studio for 10 years and decided to stretch his mind with crosswords the way he was stretching his body with yoga.
Lewis's offering today stretched me especially in the SW. I will explain my perils with those fills as I blog this wonderful puzzle and prepare to look at the Moon tonight:
1. Name derived from a Kyrgyz word meaning "sea of islands": ARAL - A "big boy" clue for our old friend ARAL. The Kyrgyz word for sea of islands is "Aral-denghiz" which has lost much of its water between 1989 to 2014 as shown below
9. Food quality: SAPOR - A quality perceptible to the sense of taste
14. Makes a play for: MOVES IN ON - You'd have to be my age to remember the Everly Brothers lyrics, "Johnny is a joker that's a'tryin' to steal my baby" and the title of the song.
16. Patriotic nickname: U.S. OF A
17. Start of many a puzzle: ONE ACROSS - I commented there already
18. Enjoys a course: GOLFS - Just a minute, I have a tap in
19. Stopped using: KICKED THE HABIT
21. Addie's husband in "As I Lay Dying": ANSE.
22. "Our acts make or __ us": Victor Hugo: MAR, "we are the children of our own deeds"
23. Fee: Abbr.: CHG - I wonder if Lewis has a Lab CHG for supplying crosswords for his class
25. "The Night They Invented Champagne" musical: GIGI.
27. Curved sword, to Brits: SABRE.
29. Elver, e.g.: EEL - At the bottom right of this cycle
30. Bug: DEFECT - _ _ _ E C T cried out for INSECT and was my first roadblock.
32. In a happy place: GLAD.
33. __ Fridays: TGI - We drive by one on our way to our favorite restaurants
34. "Seriously?": IT IS - IT IS? is synonymous and IT IS answers the question
35. Hard-to-find items, to collectors: RARES - Do you really think this RARE, an 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar, just happened to walk into a Las Vegas Pawn shop?
37. Teller's output: YARN - Yeah my first teller first output was CASH. 40. "No more!": STOP IT, Lewis! 😉
38. Sydney's st.: NSW - The state of New South Wales is in Australia not Sydney in NEBraska's panhandle
39. Strong reaction: RISE - Some kids just want to get a RISE out of a teacher. Good teachers follow the advice below
42. First cloned mammal: EWE - We all remember Dolly and I propose we clone C.C.
45. Shaded: HUED - I have had a rose-HUED face from embarrassment on occasion
46. Noël Coward, for one: SIR - S _ _ cried out for SPY which SIR Noël was during WWII. Churchill fought granting him a knighthood.
47. Proverbial team feature?: NO I
48. Where Zeno taught: ELEA - On the west coast of current day Italy
50. Experimental vehicle: SELF DRIVING CAR - Hmmm...
56. "Twilight" author Stephenie: MEYER - No idea, which did not help my SW ills
57. "Nurse Jackie" Emmy winner: EDIE FALCO - A lovely harvest of vowels
58. Compensate (for): ATONE - A _ _ _ _ is not ALLOW. More SW issues!
60. Wet: DOUSE - There was a time when this was a habit at Husker games
61. Spotted: SEEN - Not PIED
62. Refusals: NOES - They all mean NO
Down:
1. Out of control: AMOK - Always sounds like AMUK to me
2. Pasta __: food brand: RONI - Rice-a-RONI was introduced in 1958, Noodle-RONI in 1964 and became Pasta-RONI in 1995
3. "__ plaisir!": AVEC - J'ai blogué ce puzzle avec plaisir (I blogged this puzzle with pleasure)
4. Auto fluid problems: LEAKAGES - What fluid is that on your garage floor?
5. Braces (oneself): GIRDS - Florida has had to GIRD their loins twice this hurricane season
6. Online reminders: E-NOTES.
7. It can tide you over: NOSH - How 'bout 9. Like many donuts: SUGARED.
8. Harmonious outfit: ENSEMBLE - Pronunciation?
10. Tell __ story: elicit sympathy: A SOB - "Tell me again why you don't have your project done that I assigned 10 weeks ago"
11. Legal barrier: POLICE TAPE - You can have your own 1,000' for $19.29
12. How some survivalists live: OFF THE GRID - OFF THE LAND didn't cut it!
13. __ al-Khaimah: UAE emirate: RAS - In a very strategic location
15. __ route: SCENIC
20. Hound: HARASS - A questionable joke comes to my mind but I'll spare you.
24. Sparkle: GLINT - John Marshall forever changed the west when he saw the GLINT of gold flakes in a creek named for his boss John Sutter on January 24, 1848
25. Sees through: GETS WISE TO - Too late, you voted for him/her
26. "Here's my advice ... ": IF I WERE YOU - A British comedy about a man and wife who change bodies and get a different 51. Viewpoint, metaphorically: LENS in the second act
28. Go along: AGREE - It's usually not a hill worth dying on!
30. Patronizes, with "at": DINES
31. Word from the Greek for "three-footed": TRIPOD - I first learned this word in P.E. class
36. Wannabes: ASPIRERS
37. "I thought we were done": YOU AGAIN - Some in the above crowd follow the auditions from city-to-city despite being rejected
39. What animals do in the wild: RUN FREE - No more train rides for this elephant as Ringling Bros. retired all of them in 2015
41. Roger Goodell's gp.: THE NFL - The $30M dollar man who has tried to 44. Work out: DEVISE ways to keep players safer
49. Protest where people do and don't take a stand?: LIE IN - Ah, the 60's with John and Yoko
52. One from a penseur: IDEE - L'IDEE de Rodin était de faire une sculpture appelée "Le Penseur" (Rodin's idea was to make a sculpture called "The Thinker")
53. "Pinocchio" goldfish: CLEO - A charming example of Disney anthropomorphism starring CLEO and Figaro
54. Often embarrassing outbreak: ACNE.
55. Doesn't keep: ROTS
56. __ money: MAD - He's not right all the time!
DA GRID
This one beat me up. I was able to fill the central and greater SE areas (except sIt IN > LIE IN), but the entire W and N sides where heavily white, with lots of red when I gave up on doing it without cheats.
ReplyDeleteThere's a challenge in living OFF THE GRID,
You don't know where ONE ACROSS is hid!
With no crossword puzzle
You could be in trouble
So GIRD up your loins to KICK THE HABIT, kid.
It's good to always be an ASPIRER,
To always try to RISE much higher!
When that GLINT of gold
Takes its fevered hold,
To be one-UPPED is a fate most dire!
{B, A-.}
ReplyDeleteSurprised HG didn't mentioned the line "AVEC plaisir, miss snake in the grass!"
ReplyDeleteCan you name that tv show, speaker and intended target?
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWhew...a second day of infamy avoided! Got 'er done in better-than-normal Saturday time. I fell into Husker's INSECT and CASH. Tried Mame for the old-timey musical, and Dines for the "course" clue -- DINES showed further down. Hmmmm "St" isn't Street, but State. Thanx for the workout, Lewis, and for the world tour, Husker.
Haven't been to R'AS al-Khaymah, but I spent several weeks just up the coast in Sharjah years ago. Pan Am lost my luggage, and I was surprised to learn that the Arabs normally go commando -- the only "underwear" available in the Suq was French designer bikini briefs.
Learning moment: The Greet Zeno lived in ELEA in what's now Italy! We have a black-and-white cat that DW has named Zeno. I call him One-eye. He doesn't seem to mind.
Hi Y'all! Very challenging, Lewis, but doable. Enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gary, hope I can stay awake tonight long enough to MOON about with you long distance. I did see it earlier tonight. Always a treat. I don't have good views of the moon because of houses and trees here.
1a. I thought, "Darn it, now we have to know Kyrgyz words too". A reason to SOB? Turned out easy with perps.
17a. Had ONE A -- couldn't get the rest for several passes. Duh! ONE ACROSS!
Elon Musk, IF I WERE YOU, I'd have KICKED THE HABIT of a SELF-DRIVING CAR before the IDEE came up. I thought the longer phrases were easier to come up with than some of the short words in this puzzle.
11d. Had --LICET & tried ilLICET before POLICE TAPE secured the scene.
Again needed perps for SAPOR. Doesn't sound tasty to me, I guess.
DNK: ANSE, MAR, penseur = IDEE, GIGI song, Zeno or ELEA, MEYER.
GENE therapy: just after finishing this puzzle, I happened to tune into a PBS program on the subject. Very interesting segments on new treatments for Muscular Dystrophy & Cystic Fibrosis. There was more that I didn't see. One of my daughter's classmates had two children with Cystic Fibrosis. Both he and his wife carried the GENE and were told they'd never be able to have children who didn't have the disease. They divorced and married other people and had other children without the tragedy of this disease. Both the older kids died as teens.
"Greek."
ReplyDeleteObserve the moon? It's hard NOT to see it. So no 'howling' today for those who had a DNF.
ReplyDelete1A & ONE ACROSS were easy fills and got the puzzle moving after my OIL LEAKS changed to LEAKAGES. MOVES IN ON was a WAG that really helped because ANSE, GIGI, MAR & AVEC plaisir were unknowns in that area along with Stephenie MEYER in the SW. RISE for 'Strong reaction' was the final fill today.
RA'S al-Khaimah- hands up for those who knew that because I certainly didn't. Perped.
I also had INSECT and CASH before DEFECT and YARN overwrote them. I see I wasn't alone.
I WAGged SELF DRIVING after CAR was in place in the SE.
IF I WERE YOU- definition- you're an idiot.
SAD or SOB story.
MAD or PIN money.
NOT AGAIN or YOU AGAIN
'Wannabes'- see my comment from yesterday.
Big Easy: I didn't know RAS al-Khaimah either. I was just ignoring it. It filled in and I didn't see the clue.
ReplyDeleteSW the last to fall, not only insECT but Noel Coward was just a knight, not OBE. Luckily New South Wales is the only Australian state besides Victoria that I know.
ReplyDeleteMost common use of a TRIPOD is to hold something steady, like a camera.
My book of Why You Suck at Golf says one reason is using "golf" as a verb; you don't golf, you play golf (or something resembling it). Common usage, though.
Thanks Lewis Rothlein for the construct and Husker for the review.
ReplyDeleteAlmost FIR but left 62A as NAES in place of NOES.
A messy puzzle but fun just the same ,
Tried CASH at 7 D and again at 37 A.
I do my puzzles in ink , so no erasures but messy write overs . My grade school teacher would have rapped my knuckles with a ruler for the mess.
Had SABOR before SAPOR.
INSECT before DETECT .
SITIN brfore LIE IN.
The T in. sit in made me start with EDITH where EDIE FALCO went.
In spite of all this it was still satisfying to see a Saturday puzzle done.
Mcd’s coffee no longer warm .
Time to move on.
Cheers
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing Lewis's byline again as I read his comments every day on the other paper's blog. I had a tough time with this offering, mainly because of the devious (but fair) cluing. But, as usual with a Saturday solve, I just chipped away here and there and, pretty soon, it was fini! Some unknowns were: Sapor and, as clued Mar, Ras, Idee and Avec. My Wolfs turned into Golfs (CSO HG) and my Detect became Defect. Also, Coin/Yarn, Toss/Rots, and A sad/A sob. I knew the "Twilight" author, but it took ages to dredge up her last name. I'm not keen on Rares, but we've had it before, so no harm, no foul.
Thanks, Lewis, for a challenging and enjoyable solve and thanks, HG, for the sparkling and educational write-up. I liked the kitties and the goldfish link.
FLN
I DVRed Jeopardy! and watched it late last night. I was happy that Erik won; he seemed very much at ease, not nervous at all. Maybe his abundant Afro gave him extra strength. Not my cup of tea, though.
I have 13 TV shows in my DVR queue, which I better start whittling down today.
Have a great day.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Larry, my first thought for “avec plaisir” was of Frank Burns’ saying it to Hot Lips in M*A*S*H but I tried to keep the phrase somewhat relevant to the puzzle :)
-D-O Elea and present-day Italy
-Ear worm alert!! Here’s the fun 50’s song about MOVES IN ON
Husker, I wasn't denying that Elea was in Italy...just very surprised. I always thought it was one of the myriad Greek islands in the Mediterranean.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Lewis Rothlein, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteCruciverb worked again. So, I started last night. Got tired and went to bed. did not get very far. This morning I got up and finished it. Took me about 2 hours total. This was a tough Saturday.
The NW and the SW were my hangup areas. The two long ones, 25D and 26D took me a long time. Not too many did not help. I had INSECT for 30A for a while. I finally got SCENIC for 15D. That gave me the I. Then I got GIGI, with a wag. Then DINES for 30D. That changed INSECT to DEFECT. Had LEAK, so then I got LEAKAGES. Had BROKEN TE HSABIT for 19A. Tried AMOK for 1D, which made me change BROKEN to KICKED. Then ONE ACROSS hit me in the head. Should have had that ups front. Slowly I pieced it together.
Had NSW with a wag and remembered EWE from when that happened. With those two and the finished NW I got the two long downs. After the the SW bottom corner.
It all worked, just took me a while. But, that is OK. I love the exercise.
Lots to do today. Paperwork and yard work. Cold and windy.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteFinally got it solved. The long downs were prickly; particularly in the SW. Took the longest time to get the irksome DOUSE/LENS cross. Subtle but fair. Had 'insect' before DEFECT. HUED didn't help.
We don't hear much about RAS al-Khaimah. It is on the Musandam peninsula along with Oman.
ARAL - I knew what was meant but I questioned the Kyrgyz attribution. So I looked it up. Wiktionary says the word comes from the Kazakh. The Sea straddles the Uzbek-Kazakh border. Kyrgyzstan is several hundred miles to the East.
Have a great day.
WEES about lots of stuff. INSECT, CASH, LIEIN. Had trouble parsing NOI and USOFA. The Kyrgyz word could have been ARAL or Azov; put in the A and let the perps decide. Wanted RAj for RAS until the perps fixed that, too. I know it’s correct, but I still don’t like NOES.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that it’s time for a nap, but sleeping in the hospital is durn near impossaroo. Thanks, Lewis and HG, for the excellent Saturday outing.
Wow, Husker, what a fine review of the puzzle! And thank you folks for your kind comments. Also, grateful to Rich, who had me clean up some ugly fill and who sharpened up the cluing. What's funny is that I purposely didn't look at the puzzle for a long time so I could do it again this morning with fresh eyes, and I had a hard time with it!
ReplyDeleteA fine puzzle. “Legal” got me thinking of lawyers so the NE took me a long time. Fresh and lively and fair. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteWikWak @ 10:29 ~ If you are really in the hospital, I send my best wishes. (You're such a prankster, I'm never sure when you're serious.)
ReplyDeleteLewis @ 10:32 ~ Thanks for dropping by. It's always fun to learn more inside info from our constructors.
WikWak, whatcha doin' in the hospital? Just visiting, I hope. Hospitals are high on my list of places to avoid if at all possible.
ReplyDeleteLewis, glad you got a taste of what we have to go through! :)
WikWak at 10:29 - Are you in the hospital as a patient or accompanying someone else as a patient. Were the frequent naps a symptom of a condition? I ask because I'm doing a lot of naps lately.
ReplyDeleteLewis: thanks for the input. There is some justice in the world if the creator of hard puzzles also finds them hard to work. LOL!
Musings 2
ReplyDelete-Lewis, I appreciate your correspondence with me, the kind comment on my efforts and the fact that you dropped by with info for us.
-Now this teacher wants to know about your Crossword course: 1. Can it be taken online (even thought my wife would very willingly drive back down to Asheville to see the Biltmore Mansion again)? 2. Do you use a text for your class? 3. Do you have a syllabus you could share with us?
-I too struggled a little on a recent puzzle that C.C. and I had constructed months earlier with a football theme
Glad Lewis Rothlein admitted that he had a hard time coming back to do his own puzzle. There seems to be such an emphasis on trying to be obscure that creating an enjoyable puzzle is not the intended result. No fun!
ReplyDeleteVery different puzzle today. I started off skimming over all of the across clues looking for the low hanging fruit, of which there was very little. But those across answers gave me enough traction to make good progress on the down clues, and from there it just snowballed as I wove my way through the remainder of the puzzle. I had much the same missteps as others have documented, but in the end I got the "Tada" in 23+ minutes. That's blazing fast for me on a Saturday. Thanks for the fun challenge, Lewis, and for dropping by to share your constructor's insight with us. HG, I find it hard to believe that you feel that you need lessons in crossword solving. I get the impression that you do vey well on your own.
ReplyDeleteOvercast here today. I hope it doesn't rain on our cookout tonight.
One Last Thought: Electricians have to strip to make ends meet!
Cya!
All Saturday puzzles are toughies for me, but I was happy to hear that Lewis found it a bit tough too! Delightful comment, Lewis--thanks for checking in with us. I initially got GLAD, EEL, CASH, EWE, and EDIE FALCO, thanks to being a "Nurse Jackie" fan. I was also pretty sure the "As I Lay Dying" husband was ANSE but waited for support from downs before putting it in. CASH turned out to be YARN, and I suspected early that that teller could be a story teller rather than a bank employee. And, like Big Easy, I also had INSECT before DEFECT. But still lots of fun--thanks, Lewis. And always delightful write-up, Husker Gary. Nice to be reminded about the Everly Brothers.
ReplyDeleteWik Wak, sorry to hear you're in the hospital, but hope you'll be back home soon.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
@husker -- The Level 1 Art of Solving Crosswords class is eight weeks long, one class a week (the Level 2 class is six weeks). No text, no online version. The executive summary of the syllabus would be as follows. The first class we watch the documentary "Wordplay", which is fun and insightful. In the classes that follow, I give two mini-lessons and we solve two puzzles (the class is two hours). The lessons cover solving strategies, crossword jargon, crossword conventions, themes, the world of crosswords (competitions, blog sites), crosswordese, and more. As the class is solving, I walk around with hints and help, and afterward we go over things that came up in the particular puzzle. All this takes place in a no-stress environment. My mottos are 1) Be happy with what you get; be at peace with what you don't get, knowing that with patience and good solving strategies you will progress. And 2) Don't fret over what you don't get!
ReplyDeleteLots of fun, Lewis. I enjoyed the challenge. There were multiple answers that fit for much of the fill. We truly needed to cross the words with perps to choose which one was needed. SAPOR quickly broke open the NE and ONE ACROSS, the NW. Most of the puzzle went quickly for a Saturday, but the SW slowed me down. ---ECT seem to beg for insect. Then I tried DETECT and got DINES. Finally DEFECT broke open the rest of the SW just in the nick of time, before I had to leave. Only RAS and MEYER were totally unheard of, but perpable.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your Saturday.
SW was what slowed me down. But after staring at it for a while things just began to fall in place. Tough puzzle... even for Saturday. Glad I finished.
ReplyDeleteLewis....I believe you’re missing an opportunity here, online learning is the present and the future of education.
ReplyDeleteDespite the ocean of white left after my 1st passes across and down, not that many markovers. TASTE b4 SAPOR, GLEAM b4 GLINT, SHOPS b4 DINES, SITIN b4 LIEIN and PIN b4 MAD.
Still a toughie, right up there with the tough Saturday puzzles.
Enjoy the weekend.
Thank you, Lewis, for this tough Saturday challenge!
ReplyDeleteARAL sea immediately emerged though I didn't know it was Kyrgyz; it just made sense. I had to erase TASTE in favor of SAPOR. That helped complete the downward strand. In fact, most of the puzzle fell in good time because of the long fill.
Stephanie MEYER is an Arizona resident and has been featured in the local newspaper.
You may have heard that one person, here in our state, was killed by a SELF DRIVING CAR.
It has been at least 60 years since I read As I lay Dying so ANSE did not come easily. It emerged with perps. However, CLEO, was easy. My daughter and granddaughters love Pinocchio; one of their cats is named CLEO. Wheel of Fortune had OFF THE GRID as one of their phrases. Looking at Gary's chart, it is easy to see why R,S,T,L,N,E are given letters as they are the most frequently used.
CSO to all here who play GOLF.
I finally had to LIU GIGI to finish.
Thank you, Gary, for your wit and wisdom and for the hint about tonight's moon; it must be a harvest moon.
Owen: loved your poem.
Fermatprime: I hope you are feeling better.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Husker Gary Thanks for the Moon reminder and for your many illustrations!
ReplyDeleteYes, Saturday puzzles are a challenge! Thought of Edward TELLER and tried NUKE. Anyone else?
Had DERIVE -> DEVINE -> DEVISE. Anyone else?
Did anyone else think of other things before RUN FREE for what animals do in the wild?
ELEA was a gimme for this math person who enjoys the paradoxes of ZENO!
My ROO photos yesterday were taken in NSW. I have lots more NSW photos. Another time!
Big Easy Hand up for NOT AGAIN before realizing it was YOU AGAIN. I am sure that was intentional!
Unknowns included: ANSE, MEYER, CLEO, GIGI, Pasta-RONI, RARES
SAPOR/RAS a double Natick for me. Managed to WAG that correctly to FIR! Overall, a satisfying challenge. Thanks!
Did anyone else think of Disneyland as the HAPPY PLACE? Obviously it would not fit! The Happiest Place on Earth is just about three hours from here. But I had never been there until about ten years ago when my friend Bianca came to visit.
Here are some of my photos from the HAPPY PLACE of Walt Disney
Did anyone else think of the Rodin Thinker with regard to PENSEUR/IDEE?
Here DW and I were with the Rodin PENSEUR at Stanford University.
I have lots of Rodin PENSEUR photos in Paris, too. And in Los Angeles! They are everywhere! And they are all "originals"!
Here is our Early Music ENSEMBLE performing one of our Christmas concerts.
Our director and many of us musicians are Jewish which adds to the fun! The blonde lady in the lower photo is my music teacher.
Instant update! It is snowing now in NE Illinois.
ReplyDeleteAbejo
()
Wik Wak:
ReplyDeleteWhich hospital are you in? For how long?
Abejo
()
I just started Gary's write-up (btw, why do they call them 'Seas'?) and I know it's a topic but...
ReplyDeleteWho else had INSECT<DEFECT?
Bird Dog of course. He was after Phil's Quail.
So it was Faulkner not Camus.
I suppose Teller's output could have been ATOM or BOMB
I thought of SPY for Noel, too. Heck he hung around with Ian
I also thought of PIN Money but it's not LAXw material
Extremely common as in I'm going GOLFing or "WHERE WERE YOU ALL DAY!!!(She yelled)
I was wandering around Strip Joints
SLAP, "LIAR!!!". You've been out GOLFING!".
"Other paper", IM? Has it come to that?
(Chuckle)*
I'm only at the beginning so I better post and come back later
TTP: Check. I forgot replies get buried.
WC
* I can't explain the joke because of "No Politics" rule. (chuckle, chuckle)
I forgot to mention that EDIE FALCO would have been unknown except for these puzzles. Learning moment about ELVER and EEL.
ReplyDeleteFrom yesterday:
CrossEyedDave Thank you very much for the Tesla one way valve with no moving parts! I had never seen that before. I did some more searching. No one seems to have an example where it was ever actually used. But it still is cool!
MikeSherline Thanks for the follow up on EDISON/Tesla and DC/AC. AC has the power transmission advantage that transformers can easily step voltage up and down. High voltage is good for long distance transmission because it lowers the current needed. Wires don't care how much power they carry; their cross section area limits the current. But there is that down side of AC having inductive coupling losses to the outside world.
Way cool that you remember seeing the original SMOKEY Bear at the National Zoo, too! Funny about your little brother. Film was so much more expensive than digital photography. Which means so many special moments were never captured on film. Now too many moments are captured for anyone ever to look at again!
Glad that you enjoyed my ROO photos. That place I was at was not fully out in nature. It was a wildlife "reserve". Since the animals have to be fed anyway, they let us visitors pay for the privilege of feeding them. I did see some ROOS and their close relatives in the wild, too. But I was mostly in developed areas. They are like deer in terms of their habitat. But, yes, those hands are quite human!
Wilbur Charles Thank you for stepping up with your kind words. Much appreciated!
TTP your advice is wise on all counts. Thanks!
WikWak Please do tell more of what is happening with you and your hospital visit. Are the naps really a thing for you? I was not sure if it was just a joke.
ReplyDeleteI was flipping channels using the guide and I stumbled across André Rieu, his orchestra and friends playing their collection of schmaltz. It's all music I know and I love it! Oops, here comes The Blue Danube.
ReplyDeleteWikWak, we all are concerned about you. If you can, please pop in.
ReplyDeleteI have an Andre Rieu Christmas concert which I love to listen to in the car.
I am going to an Octoberfest tonight, music, dancing, feasting. Unfortunately very little beer as I am driving home for an hour alone.I am meeting friends who live well east of here.
Thanks for the pic of elephants, Husker G! They have become my favorite mammal of late (not counting of course the shorter, furrier guys that live with me).
ReplyDeleteEver since the circus stopped hiring them, I have been worrying about the elephant unemployment crisis.
I know some of them were seriously mistreated, and I'd truly hate to see a return to the bad ol' days. But what are these great gentle critters doing for jobs these days?!
Today's pzl was a tough Ta- DA! Thank you, Mr. Rothlein. It kept me going - with several second & third thoughts and multiple erasures. I suspect everybody had INSECT before DEFECT and wondered which or what "Teller" was up for an "output."
Bank employee? Penn's partner? Father of the H-bomb?
Ay yay yay...
But in the end, heheh, we got 'er done.
~ OMK
__________
DR: 1, mirror side.
For any subscribers to the WSJ, C.C. had a 21X21 puzzle today and it was very tricky.
ReplyDeleteComplete DNF. My Kirgiz is right up there with my ProtoMongolian, and it went downhill from there. Thought 4d just had to be "LEAKS GAS", which ruined the Oregon coast. RAS al-Khaimah was also not on the Top 40 list.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, there's always Monday to keep the qi balanced.
Picard,
ReplyDeleteI am afraid the ThermoMagnetic motor is a bust, not enough
power. Except maybe for a slow fan, but with the heat required to power it,
definitely unpractical. Still researching Alternating Current radiation loss.
Fascinating!
Anon @ 2:38, we try to get along here, please don't be the I in team...
Rain forecast here for tonite, no Moon watching...
But if you get into it, try to find Vallis Alpes.
When I 1st saw it thru a telescope, I was sure a meteor had come in sideways and plowed thru the mountains!
More recent closeup shots indicate that something else must have caused this oddity.
Bill G @ 2:16 ~ I caught only the last 16 minutes but thanks for the heads up. I saw Mr. Rieu in concert several years back and it was a most enjoyable evening. I, like you, am a sucker for schmaltz. 😊
ReplyDeletePicard:
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting photos of Disneyland which is the only way I shall see it. Twice is enough for me!
I'm surprised that you participate in a Christmas concert.
WEES about this puzzle. Low hanging fruit indeed; that and red letters turned on. Chip chip chipping away (isn't"chip" a GOLF term?) led to the final solve. Tricky tricky cluing.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, final report on the Anton Bruckner jag I've been on for the past several days:
ReplyDeleteBottom line: no wonder his Symphony No. 4 is the only one that gets played much. His other works are really hard to take. I gotta say, though, that his style has never been replicated; it is unique and inimitable. The fact that my wife is still in the house after my having played Bruckner loudly and for hours at a time for days on end is proof of her love for me. Yeah, that's it, that's gotta be it. Next up: Prokofiev, the Peter and the Wolf guy.
Best wishes to you all, moon watcher or not.
Thanks for all the expressions of concern, Cornerites. My daily (hourly?) naps are just me being playful; the hospital part, not so much. They’re trying to get my breathing under control. For the last week I haven’t been able to walk more than a few feet without having to sit and catch my breath. Yesterday I went to my cardiologist and he took some X-rays that showed fluid buildup in the lungs (not pneumonia). So he sent me here to dry out, so to speak. I’ve been on industrial strength diuretics, have spent most of the time in the bathroom, and in the last 24 hours have lost 14 pounds and over 8 liters of fluid! Feeling much better and probably will get to go home tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAnd just in time, too—I'm getting way behind in my naps. ;)
Abejo, I’ve been at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.
WEES, but for teller I had LIAR > TALE > YARN
ReplyDeleteAs you gaze at the moon tonight, you may remember this l'ick from 8/1/17:
There are horses on the Moon, but no one seems to care!
All those poor ponies run around with no air!
THEY'VE no one for shoes,
No PARDS rub and sooth,
Alone on Luna, there are MARES everywhere!
Jayce ~
ReplyDeleteI know whereof you speak.
My wife tolerated my Mahler kick. But then I've got ear buds.
~ OMK
Thanks, Lewis for an extremely challenging and satisfying puzzle, and Husker for the great revue. It takes me extra time checking out all your links - but I always enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI generally use red letters late week, but have never actually looked up anything. Was amazed when, on a lark, I typed ONEACROSS at 17a and got no red! I don't know if that emboldened me to try the right answer as my 1st guess for 14a too.
19a took a lot longer and quite a few crosses to figure out.
9a when crosses showed SA_O_, I just couldn't see how it could be anything but SAVOR, so I got the R but the V was red. Now I vaguely remember this happening a few months ago with the same word. Still didn't know RAS - trial & error.
25s thought of the tune, and that dredged up Maurice Chevallier singing "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" (different times). Still took a minute to remember Gigi.
30a WEES - had ECT but INS turned red. Didn't think of enough meanings of bug - just bother, insect, and secretly record; didn't get to the software meaning for quite awhile.
37a My ol' walnut was the same as OMK's - bank clerk, Edward, and Penn's partner. Took time and 3 perps to come up with "one who tells".
57a I never watched Nurse Jackie but have read/heard about it - probably here.
62a I never like these added Es. What's the point? NOS, ODS, etc. seem a lot less awkward to me. As someone said earlier, I guess it's "right", meaning it gets used a lot.
Irish Miss (and everyone else), on that same PBS station here, the André Rieu concert is being rebroadcast a second time. I'm recording it because I missed the first half hour of the show.
ReplyDeleteDodgers, move your bloomin' arse!
~ Mind how you go...
WikWak, good news!
ReplyDeleteLucina, I agree with you about Disneyland. Once was enough.
Picard, I didn't know you and your wife had visited Stanford, although I guess I should not be surprised. Glad you had a chance to see the Rodin museum. My wife and I have enjoyed it on several occasions, usually only when we had visitors after having gone there ourselves the first time.
I guess it makes senses that the Arabs normally go commando, desper-otto, given the design of their clothing.
I gotta say I liked the previous Jeopardy champion (Alan something) better than Eric Agard. The former seemed to me to have much more "personality" than the latter, who appeared to me to be quite aloof and disengaged. Maybe it was all that shoulder shrugging.
LW is making Gumbo for dinner tonight. I wonder what the SAPOR of it will be.
Keith, hooray for your earbuds! I used to love to listen to my stereo through my Sennheiser earphones (aka headphones), which eventually wore out. Earbuds and the anatomy of my ears don't play well together; the earbuds always fall out within a minute.
Picard - enjoyed your early music conSOrt's conCErt. Very good playing and singing. Being a low instrument guy, I'm fascinated by the bass recorder at the left end of the line, with the end pin like a modern bass clarinet. I wonder how many keys it has, and now I'm going to have to get out my histories of musical instruments and find out when they were added. Originally that type of instrument just had holes that had to be covered by the fingers, causing a lot of acoustic limitations - they could only be placed as far apart as the fingers could reach. But on larger, lower pitched instruments, they would have to be farther apart for the scale to be in tune. They tried boring the holes at various angles and using various tapers, but that was only a partial solution. Eventually they came up with the idea of adding keys, so the tone holes could be put where they needed to be acoustically, and the levers controlling the keys to cover/uncover the holes where the fingers could reach them. My 2nd wife was a bassoonist, and her modified postwar Heckel had, if I remember correctly, 13 keys for the left thumb!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us know your situation, WikWak, and sure hope you make it back home tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteBill G @ 5:55 ~ The showing of André Rieu that I caught was on from 4:30-5:30 EST. It is 7:22 EST but there isn't any repeat scheduled and Midsomer Murders is on our PBS channel right now.I've already checked tomorrow but no luck.i suppose it could have been shown earlier this afternoon but I have no way of checking. Anyway, enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWikWak @ 5:21 ~ Glad to hear you're improving and will soon be back home. I doubt you're getting much nap time where you are!
Jayce @1718 - Good on ya for listening to all that Bruckner! I've never listened to him much or gotten to play anything other than the 4th Sym. Many years ago I read a novel in which one of the protagonists concluded that Bruckner had composed under the influence of marijuana, and that his works were best enjoyed that way, because of the extreme distortion of the sense of time. Too bad I didn't make a note of the title/author, as now I have no idea of either.
ReplyDeleteProkofiev is one of my favorites composers; I've studied and practiced and performed his music quite a bit. I find his 5th Sym. and Romeo & Juliet Suite especially magnificent. Enjoy your listening!
Mike Sherline:
ReplyDeleteThe spelling of NOES is simply following the grammatical rule for plurals: nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add _es. E.g. potatoes, volcanoes, dominoes, etc.
Irish Miss, I found it again at midnight (Saturday/Sunday) after Midsomer Murders.
ReplyDeleteEverything that PVX said, ditto. Here's how the day went:
ReplyDelete630 take friend to TPA
Stop at West shore McDonald's to say hello to the old gang
Usual routine with newspaper: News, Sports,agony,comics, bridge,J(a fast one)
Now, just before leaving I "skim" through Xword looking for foothold*. Found none.
Back to sun City. Actually get some answers. Pick up shopping and head to the door with coffee-no lid, forgot it.
Pay and head out the door and half the coffee spills. Xword is crammed into handle of cart.
Load car and head out. Then I realize that I'd forgotten newspaper. Dilemma.
But... I grab coffee and lid, find a used newspaper and pull xword page.
Late to Mtg. Go-to lunch.
I have one hour to nap and finish xword. I have to refill but I somehow finish xword. FIR.
330 back to Tampa for dinner with S-I-L and neice. Trump discussion erupts. I desperately try to change subject five times.
730 I'm home exhausted. I identify with Lewis, I'd forgotten the stuff I'd previously filled. Finally grok'ed US OF A
CED, thanks for the hearty chuckle. FLN, I was the spectator trying to nap Altuves' HR. But, I did want Picard to know his work is appreciated. I will go back and view the photos. I don't comment because I use enough bytes on my own stuff
NAE?? As in: If there's NAE Cursing, there's NAE GOLFing
I thought of Jayce and his tastes on my ride home from airport. My main goto"*" is Beatles but I switched to Sinatra. I got Washington and Holiday. Then when Frank came on I switched to 50s and got "Tweedle, Dee Dee DUM(DE DUM... Laverne Baker.
I'm just about asleep.
WC
* Exactly as someone else solves
** Sirius Radio
Musings
ReplyDelete-Blue Hen, thanks for the comment about my solving ability but I love learning as much as I can about subjects that interest me and Lewis likes he would be cool to have as an instructor.
-Wilbur, I loved your story! Been there done that. I tried to snap my seatbelt with a red smoothie in my hand, punctured the bottom and my clothing and interior of my pickup picked up a bright red HUE.
Bill G @ 7:59 ~ Not on my PBS. Maybe sometime during the week; I'll keep checking. Thanks for your sleuthing! 😎
ReplyDeleteSpitz - was going to thank you for the etymology lesson, but your comment disappeared.
ReplyDeleteLucina @1844 Thank you for the grammar lesson. So it's a rule? I never knew, but of course I completely trust your knowledge and judgement. I still don't like it - never liked the added e in any of the examples you gave. Potatos, volcanos, dominos, nos. They don't look right either - probably because, as you just said, they're not. What a conundrum...
There are quite a few full concerts by Andre Reiu on youtube.
ReplyDeleteYeah Gary, not one annoying GIF, looks l Ike you KICKED THE HABIT, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteLewis, really liked this one, difficult for me but doable.