Theme: "For-gone Conclusions" - FOR is removed from each theme entry.
27A Horses' feeding period?: STALL TIME. Stall for time.
29A. Nightly newscaster's preparation?: REPORT WORK. Report for work.
49A. Easter feast, say?: SPRING DINNER. Spring for dinner.
63A. "We're driving around in circles"?: LOST WORDS. Lost for words.
84A. Ticket selling for a major golf event?: OPEN BUSINESS. Open for business.
101A. Severe dip in contributions during a telethon?: CAUSE ALARM. Cause for alarm.
104A. Hurricane tracker closeup?: EYE DETAIL. Eye for detail.
36D. What may accompany hunger pangs?: FOOD THOUGHT. Food for thought.
40D. Result of a faulty tab setting?: MARGIN ERROR. Margin for error.
Hmm, no subtlety. The puzzle title is literally telling us what the theme is.
Gail
again started her theme entries in the 4th row rather than the
traditional 3rd tow. She also made sure none of her fill is longer than
the theme fill. Subtlety of a pro constructor.
Across:
1. Minor dustup: TIFF.
5. Ladder danger: FALL.
9. Jeff who started an online bookstore in 1994: BEZOS. No minimum limit for free shipping at Amazon right now.
14. Give form to: SHAPE.
19. Free speech org.: ACLU.
20. New Balance competitor: AVIA. D-Otto favors former.
21. Put on, as pressure: EXERT.
22. Development units: HOMES.
23. React to too much sun, perhaps: PEEL.
24. Overcharge: SOAK.
25. "Silas Marner" girl: EPPIE. Unknown to me.
26. Penetrating winds: OBOES. Wind instruments. You don't want to feel the penetrating winds in Minnesota.
31. Burpee product: SEED.
32. It has strings attached: APRON.
33. Fed. financial gp.: OMB. OK, Office of Management and Budget.
34. Sight in an unfinished attic: RAFTER.
37. Southwest worker: PILOT.
39. "You may say I'm a __": Lennon's "Imagine": DREAMER.
43. Waiting room read: E BOOK. VA has few Wi-Fi spots.
44. Where dos are done: SALON.
45. Dire prophecy: DOOM.
47. Hang open: GAPE.
48. House with layers: COOP. Lay-ers.
52. One in a workout count: REP.
53. Unexpected: ODD.
54. River to South Carolina's Winyah Bay: PEE DEE.
55. Genesis matriarch: EVE.
56. "Megastructures" channel, familiarly: NATGEO. Anyone watches it?
58. Tennis surprise: NETBALL.
60. Govt. agents: T MEN. 90. Iconic 60-Across boss: NESS. Eliot Ness.
61. Document preparer: TYPIST.
62. Museum posting: Abbr.: HRS.
68. Anna's "The Accountant" co-star: BEN. Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick.
69. Red Guard member: MAOIST. Dark period.
72. Lanai neighbor: MAUI.
73. Tour guides, e.g.: LEADERS.
77. Enemy of Mr. Bill, in old "SNL" skits: SLUGGO. Learning moment for me.
78. Start a course: EAT.
79. "Once Is Not Enough" author: SUSANN. Jacqueline Susann.
82. Nicki Minaj genre: RAP.
83. Unkind remark: DIG.
87. Puff pastry cheese: BRIE.
88. Publisher Adolph: OCHS.
91. Consider with care: WEIGH. As pros and cons.
92. Around the corner: CLOSE.
93. Predetermined steps: SET PLAN.
95. Historic caravel: PINTA.
96. Took in the sights: TOURED.
97. Escape: LAM.
98. Something in the air: AROMA. 100. 98-Across, often: LURE.
109. Case place: COURT. Law case.
110. Italy's "Supreme Poet": DANTE.
111. Twitter's bird, e.g.: LOGO.
112. Belgian capital: EURO. Currency again. Brussels is beautiful in this time of the year.
113. Scorch slightly: SINGE.
114. Actress MacDowell: ANDIE.
115. Aviation pioneer Sikorsky: IGOR.
116. Bond was kicked out of it: ETON.
117. Entered into a deal: ANTED.
118. Cross with: MAD AT. Followed by 119. Fresh answers: SASS.
120. Number with words: SONG.
Down:
1. Brewpub array: TAPS.
2. "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE-T.
3. Pet peeve?: FLEA. Cute clue.
4. Period, to British grammarians: FULL STOP.
5. "Hurry it up!": FASTER.
6. Bypass: AVOID.
7. Hemsworth of "The Hunger Games": LIAM. The tall guy.
8. Common camp site: LAKE.
9. Pub game with balls: BEER PONG. Sparkly fill.
10. Whiz: EXPERT.
11. Youngest Marx brother: ZEPPO.
12. Mythical hunter: ORION.
13. Team backer?: STER. Teamster.
14. Skeptic's demand: SHOW ME.
15. Droopy-shaped purse: HOBO BAG. Slouchy.
16. Bow-toting god: AMOR.
17. Cheat, in a way: PEEK.
18. Serious extreme?: ESS. Serious.
28. Garlic relative: LEEK.
30. Agony: TORMENT.
32. Without peer: ALONE.
34. Info-gathering mission: RECON.
35. Quarters: ABODE.
37. Bud on a drive: PARD
38. First name in '70s tennis: ILIE (Nastase)
39. Slip into: DON.
41. Pentathlon gear: EPEES.
42. Provide more room for growth: RE-POT.
44. While: SPELL.
45. Salvage crew member: DIVER.
46. Upright: ON END.
49. Pommes frites condiment: SEL. French fries.
50. How-to lesson: DEMO.
51. Maker of Wayfarer sunglasses: RAYBAN.
54. Turn a Monopoly corner: PASS GO.
57. Used Charmin for shenanigans, for short: TP'ED.
59. Sea cell: BRIG.
60. Bi- equivalent: TWI.
64. What diviners interpret: OMENS.
65. Former Swedish imports: SAABS.
66. Bolshoi outfit: TUTU.
67. Part of 1/2: SLASH.
69. Passé PC system: MS DOS.
70. "Off with her head!" head owner: ALICE. "Alice in Wonderland".
71. Star that's a draw: TOP NAME. The biggest star I've met in person is Harmon Killebrew. How about you?
74. USCG rank: ENS.
75. It's often merit-based: RAISE.
76. Ticket number you don't want to see: SPEED.
79. City near Pisa: SIENA. Another Italian reference: 101. Trevi toss-in: COIN.
80. Blood bank quantity: UNIT.
81. Arcade giant: SEGA.
85. Bard's bedtime: EEN.
86. Competition in lanes: SWIM MEET.
87. Challenging golf hole starting points: BLUE TEES.
White tees are for average golfers. Red tees for lady golfers. Gold
tees for seniors. Black tees for tournament players. Just the set-up in
golf courses here in MN.
89. Blow the budget: SPLURGE.
92. Center: CORE.
94. Hung in there: LASTED.
95. "The Merchant of Venice" heroine: PORTIA.
96. Some exposed-beam homes: TUDORS.
98. Actress De La Garza: ALANA. "Law & Order".
.jpg/220px-Alana_de_la_Garza_2013_(cropped).jpg)
99. Scientific dept.: R AND D.
100. Blocks often disassembled and reassembled: LEGOS.
102. Polly, to Tom: AUNT. Tom Sawyer.
103. Sistine Chapel ceiling figure: ADAM.
104. Bulldog supporters: ELIS.
105. Discipline with poses: YOGA. GOAT YOGA just sounds so strange.
106. Lot purchase: AUTO.
107. Resolve, with "out": IRON.
108. Dull, maybe: LONG.
109. J.E.B. Stuart's side: CSA.
Boomer updates:
We met with the radiation oncologist Dr. Esther last Monday and continued Boomer's daily radiation. Boomer decided to
take Abiraterone (the chemo drug) after he completed the radiation
treatment next Wednesday. We don't want to compound his discomfort, esp after that dreadful experience with the Zoledronic acid infusion two weeks ago.
One more meeting with Dr. Esther tomorrow morning and 3 more radiation treatments, then a blood draw (monthly procedure), then the chemo drug. The neurosurgeon department is going to arrange a MRI scan soon to see the result of the radiation.
One more meeting with Dr. Esther tomorrow morning and 3 more radiation treatments, then a blood draw (monthly procedure), then the chemo drug. The neurosurgeon department is going to arrange a MRI scan soon to see the result of the radiation.
C.C.
44 comments:
Didn't do well on this one. Had to turn on red letters to catch a handful of errors, but they were scattered all over the grid.
I'll take a Thumper on the theme today,
We all know that Amazon was founded by Jeff BEZOS.
Imagine the horror had he instead done for OBOES!
We'd have woodwinds made for infants,
Service dogs to carry instruments,
Murder and insomnia up, music haters becoming HOBOES!
Once there was a girl named ALICE,
Who wanted to live in a palace.
She became an EXPERT
On what force to EXERT
To get whatever with TORMENT and malice!
There are OMENS of DOOM all around.
In ABODES and HOMES they abound.
There are RAP songs,
And BEER PONG,
And the worst thing
That's still wrong:
My car keys still haven't been found!
{B+, C, A-.}
PK From 11-23 at 3:52 PM
Your response made my day. I'm still smiling.
My note From 11-23 at 7:58 PM had an error. I misread ARMORER as armored. OOPS!
FLN 41 A - What kitty? Oh there it is. This rates right up with the cutest PICs ever.
FLN 60 D - Chiquita - I have replayed the ABBA video over, over, and more overs. Thanks. To repay your kindness, here is Laura Bretan.
OwenKL FLN at 11:06 AM
- - Thanks for the link to Goat Yoga. I watched several more videos, and now I know something about this novel activity.
Ðave
Good morning!
Sure glad you 'splained the theme, C.C. All I heard was the whooshing sound it made as it flew over my head. No real problems with the fill. Thanx, Gail, for the diversion.
MSDOS: I really miss it. It was powerful, compact, and there was no silly mouse to deal with. I still go to the Command prompt and use DOS to backup my music server to an external hard-drive:
xcopy z:*.* f:*.* /S /i /d /y
It'll back up anything that's new (or changed) since the last backup.
FULL STOP: I remember a phone conversation years ago with a Brit expat storekeeper in Singapore, trying to walk him through a keyboard DOS command sequence that included a period, like the one above. "Period?" "Period." "What the bloody hell is a period?" "It's the thing you put at the end of the bloody sentence!" "Oh, you mean the stop!"
TOP NAME: Got to meet lots of singers and bands back when I worked in radio. Probably the most famous today was Cher, but she was just a wide-eyed teenager at the time.
Hello Puzzlers -
Earned a Technical DNF today. Had to look up that muddy little river, because the nearby base phrase “spring for dinner” just wouldn’t coalesce in my tired brain.
Morning C.C., I don’t happen to know the climate in your old hometown, but I’m willing to guess that the piercing winds of Minnesota came as a bit of a shock. :-) Similarly, I met a young pilot in Australia who had desired to elevate himself from the boring job of carrying skydivers up to altitude. He was interviewed by telephone for a copilot job in America, and accepted their offer. So, one blisteringly hot summer day - in February - he left for his new job in Chicago. He had never seen snow, or gloves, or even heavy jackets in all his life. Winter in Chicago came as quite a surprise!
As for encounters with fame, I suppose the best-known was Ted Kennedy, who traveled through my airport from time to time.
Good morning on the day after Small Business Sat., after Black Friday, and before Cyber Monday. Do I fall for the sales? NO. Just went out to eat yesterday, my contribution to the economy. As for the puzzle, the missing 'for' was an easy spot and easy one to finish. The NW was my last section to fall because SPAT and BURN were stuck in my head and FULL STOP & ICE-T were unknown.
But there were a couple of nice clues- Pet peeve for FLEA and Cross with for MAD AT.
Merit based RAISE? Very few ever get it due to many factors. Most raises are just cost of living raises caused my inflation. The usual A&E unknowns today-EPPIE, LIAM, SUSANN, BEN, ALANA to go with the already mentioned ICE-T and FULL STOP.
BLUE TEES- usually for the long hitters and those who think they are. Black tees-forget it. And at the TPC here there are tee boxes that are only used for the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic. 450-490 yard holes with bunkers (over 150 of them) and water hazards to swallow your golf ball.
FIR, but erased nike for AVEA, ales for TAPS, billards for BEER PONG, mac os for MS DOS, pint for UNIT, acre for AUTO and work for IRON. Whew!
I remember when I had to upgrade my MS DOS to upgrade from Windows 3.0 to 3.1. Backing up with DOS? D-O, that's what Carbonite is for!
I DNK why truckers joined the Teamsters union until I saw a Budweiser Clydesdale demo at Santa Anita. The union was formed when the delivery vehicles were propelled by teams of horses, not Freightliners.
Those of us prospered under a merit-based raise system thought it was great. Those who didn't fare as well called it the brown-nose system.
I just couldn't help myself. When I read the "penetrating wind" clue, I thought of American Pie and the "one time in band camp" meme. No, I won't link to it.
Thanks for Gail-by-her-self for the fun Sunday puzzle. I liked that a house with layers could have been COOP or CO-OP (like those apartment houses in NYC). I also liked HOBO crossing OBOE. Finally, I liked that the historic caravel was PINTA. Seems like most crossword constructors only know of the Nina.
CC, thanks for the Boomer update. Good review as well, but life has priority.
Musings
-Penetrating winds on the plains today are mitigated by Gail’s lovely puzzle
-Rally scoring and eliminating NET serve BALLS has speeded up VB
-Our TOUR GUIDE wasn’t all that friendly until the last night in Rome before tip day.
-These non-Christmas carels impede PEEKING
-I never saw LAM as a verb until I did these puzzles
-Another sign of winter – ORION is rising in the evening sky
-Jimmy Hoffa and the TEAMSTERS helped get Las Vegas get started
-Words, words, words! SHOW ME!! (2:41)
-Yikes!! I first thought “used” was an adjective in front of Charmin.
-I resisted the urge to SPLURGE at the auto LOT last month and I’m glad I did
-Keep on keepin’ on, Boomer and C.C.!
-Happy Birthday, Robert (Picard)!
Thank you Gail and C.C. Today's puzzle was an enjoyable challenge for me with the top left and bottom right areas last to fall.
Best wishes to Boomer. As always, I'm praying for him.
Jinx- speaking of merit based raises, back in the dark ages (1970) I remember getting a $1.00/hour raise when others got a quarter. Then under Gerald Ford's WIN program ( remember Whip Inflation Now) which was supposed to stop wages and inflation, I got another raise for doing the same work but the boss had to give me another job title, hard as it is to believe, because it was against the law to give raises.
That BS keep prices from rising. The companies just changed package sizes so they could raise the prices. Things under Jimmy Carter didn't get any better as prices and wages spiraled out of control. Everybody got a "raise", and I'll use that word loosely.
Fun puzzle
Thought I was a goner through most of it
Lots of empty spaces
Figured out the theme and it started to come together
Had to Google Peedee river
Re Boomer and my experience (just me talking)
Comfort and quality of life is more important that even staying alive
The time you both have now is precious, no matter how it ends (tears in my eyes right now)
Bless both of you
Good Morning:
I'm always happy to see Gail's byline, whether it be solo, or with partner, Bruce. This was a cute theme but, as CC stated, way too obvious from the title to offer much of a challenge in solving. That's not to say that it was smooth sailing, though. Sunday puzzles usually have scads of proper names and that's where I struggle: Ben, Sluggo, Susann, Ice T, and Alana are all known to me, but not as clued. I had my usual quotient of w/os, including: Apply/Exert, Torture/Torment, Rifle/Epees, Dormer/Rafter, Tips/Tees, and Acre/Auto. I had trouble parsing R and D and my Coops were Co-Ops (Hi Jinx!) until CC enlightened me. It was fun to see Adam and Eve in the same puzzle, and I liked the repeat entries of Yoga, sans Goat, and Coin, sans Op.
Thanks, Gail, for a enjoyable Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for the detailed and entertaining expo. Thanks, also, for the update on Boomer. Many positive thoughts to you both. I wasn't introduced to him but I sat next to Mike Ditka at a country club bar in Florida. I've never forgotten the size of his hands. I saw Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in a hotel lobby in Florida, Dudley Moore in a NYC theater lobby, and Liberace when he visited a neighbor in Connecticut and waved and said hello to us, poolside.
Have any of you seen "The Shape of Water"? I watched it last night and I'm still deciding whether I liked it. It wasn't typical SciFi (which I don't like) but it had a lot of "this could never happen" moments. It was a strange, to say the least, love story and I guess I must have liked it after all , as I watched all two hours. There were some disturbing acts of violence, so maybe that's where my ambivalence lies.
Have a great day.
Fun Sunday. FIR in half an hour, about average. Turns out a solo Gail is just as good as one with a partner. C.C., thanks for the Boomer update. He is never far from my thoughts.
Owen, I'd give "OMENS of DOOM a full A, not an A-.
No real nits, but there sure were a lot of names crossing names today.
We were supposed to get 6” of snow starting about 6 PM yesterday. Then it was supposed to be closer to 12”. Then 8”. Woke up this morning to everything wet outside but no snow. Now it may start this evening. Just as well; I spent several futile hours yesterday trying unsuccessfully to get my snow blower started. Going out now to resume the battle. Have a dry day, all!
The theme was a big help in solving this fun puzzle, but it still was quite a challenge, especially in Texas. The N in ANDIE crossing ALANA panned out. Good one, Gail.
Thanks for the detailed review, CC. I appreciated the update on Boomer. I admire the bravery of both of you in facing this challenge together. My thoughts are with you every day. I hope the next steps are not too arduous.
I love reading my ebook in waiting rooms where there is no WIFI. I set the book up before I leave home. Even when there is WIFI I hesitate to use it for fear of intruders, and so turn it off most of the time.
The most famous person I have met is Ronan Tynan, one of the Three Irish Tenors.Ronan was waiting to board our plane. I love their music.
Danny Boy
Owen, I like the sing-songy rhythm of the true limerick in the second one. A. "And got hers with torment and malice."
Usually we hear ON THE LAM, which has many references. There are only a few references for lam as a verb. Let's lam out of here.
After several bitterly cold days, it is warm and sunny today, in the 40's.
Very good Sunday puzzle. Took me longer than usual, but finished.
I can't believe Thanksgiving is over!! Chicago expecting 8-12 inches of snow beginning later this afternoon. How did Winter get here so fast?
Brrr! Blizzard conditions as I type. Snow mixed in with the last of the maple leaves coming down. Yardman was sick so none of my leaves are picked up. Shin-deep Mess! Glad I don't have to go out!
Very engrossing puzzle, Gail! I read the title but heard D-O's swoosh as it flew over. Couldn't make sense of it with the theme entries, most of which I had 1/2 for long periods but not FULL STOPs. (Knew that term from my daughter's year in New Zealand.) i had a lot of flashing red letters while trying different words before getting enough perps to go on. Had to red-letter the NW & SE sections to finish. Whew! Perseverance is the word of the day.
C.C. thank you for the expo and the update on Boomer. So many hard decisions for you. Bless you both! Hope you feel the love pouring your way from us.
I was proud to get PEEDEE River after seeing it here last week (?). Had EE ending but tried SwanEE before getting it right.
DNK: LIAM, ALANA, R AND B, BEZOS, OMB, or Megastructures. Never been on a golf course so I didn't know about the colors for TEEs. I did know the big courses had more than one TEE.
D4: glad I made you smile. The thought of your pjs flagging down passers-by made me smile.
Owen: still no keys or just poetic license? Maybe someone hid them from you?
Can anyone explain PARD as the answer for Bud on a drive? Thanks
I think DRIVE is a cattle drive and PARD is informal for partner or pal. So is BUD, both are the cowboy's friends.
Right off the bat, all that slogging and I had AVEA. Should have noticed that LIAM has an I. Btw, I think he got People magazine "Hottest/sexiest Guy".
On his last at bat in '67, HK hit a homerun to tie Yaz for HR crown and putting an asterisk on Yaz' triple crown season. Not enough to keep Sox from winning the Pennant.
Also called the BACK Tees which slowed me up. I was slow all over. Devilishly clever clueing.
So, Jinx had MAC-OS too. What was the OS < Windows? Link it, link it....
The Vega, the Pinto and Toyota Corolla
I could've used a "Carel" in HS chemistry
The Capt of the FB team copied my tests all year. What a buddy. I ran into him a few years later at a touch football game when he hit me with a forearm shiver.
Luckily we had PEEDEE recently. I was thinking of the "Unkindest CUT of all before I finally realized that the second down word was thought. I don't think the FORs "helped" they just brought clarity as in MARGIN-ERROR. That one got me started.
WC
Even though knowing the FOR would be GONE from the theme entries, I found other parts of this puzzle to be a bit challenging, especially, as others have mentioned, where a proper name crosses another proper name. I always like Gail's work. Wanting BURN instead of PEEL and TURMOIL instead of TORMENT impeded my progress. I'm glad I remembered PEEDEE from before, but I did put in SWANEE first.
That xcopy command works like a charm, desper-otto. Thanks for mentioning it.
Nice verses, Owen.
As for meeting any famous people, I had post-show beers with the barbershop quartet, The Buffalo Bills (the ones who sang in the movie The Music Man), back in the summer of 1964 when the barbershop quartet I sang in participated in the international convention in Calgary, Alberta.
Good wishes to you all and special best wishes for Boomer and C.C.
Celeb?? A certain pro football coach was a drinking buddy in '67. And I shared a cab with an NFL er from Triangle to Quantico. I had on a 3 piece suit complete with watch FOB. And suitcase. He was in sweatshirt, jeans and gym bag . One of us knew what we were doing
WC
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
This puzzle started fairly easily, but soon became quite difficult. Got the theme after a while, not immediately. Made sense and it did help me a bit to get it.
BEZOS was easy since I worked for Amazon for a year and a half, until this summer. Learned a lot.
Tried SAL for salt until PAEDEE did not look right. Changed to SEL and PEEDEE. Looked better.
OCHS was unknown. Perps. ALICE was easy. Just saw the play two weeks ago at our high school.
R AND D took me forever to figure out. Finally got ADAM and DANTE. Then I had it. Looked real simple after I figured it out. Duh!
Had SWIMMING before SWIM MEET made more sense.
LEGOS was easy, especially if you've stepped on them in your bare feet.
My dad was a TEAMSTER and did not like the union, but had to belong. So, he did. If you want to find out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa, look into Russell Bufalino.
Never heard of or played BEER PONG. Not sure why.
One famous person I bumped into in a hotel lobby in City of Industry, CA, was Claude Akins. I said hello Mr. Akins and he smiled back. That was about it. I did see Mohammad Ali from a distance at the San Francisco airport once and also at O'Hare Field in Chicago, also from a distance. It's all coming back, I saw President Eisenhower at the Boy Scout Jamboree at Colorado Springs in 1960. Also from a distance.
Boomer: Keep on truckin'
Snowing to beat the band in NE Illinois right now.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Before I even look at the answers,I have to complain, bitterly. I have solved Sunday puzzles for several decades and usually get nearly all the answers without going to cheat sites. This entry completely flummoxed me. Instead of having my blood pressure driven to dangerous heights, I looked here for the solution. Sad, inane, silly, preposterous, unbelievable, ...(please add your own negatives. Come on, folks! Sunday puzzles should be a challenge, not an insult to our intelligence. Do the LAT puzzle editors even look at the quality of their puzzles? Or are they looking for an ever shrinking audience so they can eliminate this passtime as an archane thing of the past? You have to do better!!!
Famous encounters: Worked in the Lawrence Welk building in Santa Monica. Once I was in an elevator with him and someone got him to do his signature "cheek pop" sound of a champagne bottle opening. Saw Buddy Ebsen in Boys Market in Marina del Rey while he was in the Barnaby Jones series. Looked 100 without the makeup. Drove Emmylou Harris from a benefit concert for families of the Scotia mine disaster to the Lexington (KY) airport. Very nice to talk to. Was at my sister's 50th birthday dinner at the Brown Hotel in Louisville. Mikhail Baryshnikov was dining a few tables over, and my sister insisted on having her picture taken with him. He was less than gruntled. Met Mitch Albom and Tommy Kirk (Old Yeller) following their speeches. Tom T. Hall (known as "Peewee") was a regular customer at my parent's restaurant in Morehead. Peewee wrote "Harper Valley PTA", "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine", "I Love", and "I Like Beer" among many others. My only bad experiences were with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Great musicians, but total divas who treat concert staff like nitty gritty dirt. I was "treated" to interaction with them at the Emmylou Harris event I mentioned and at a small venue in Cincinnati.
Bobbi - We'll add you to the "undecided" list.
Hello, All,
I've been working on this all day off and on. Early this morning I started on the Eastern Strand and worked all the way down from SHAPE to SONG. Later when I resumed I was also watching my recording of Sunday Morning so that slowed my progress. I saw Gail's theme but it wasn't necessary for the solve.
PEEDEE river took a while to recall and I've crossed it many times in NC but it's been a few years. SPRINGDINNER took me the longest because I had SINCE instead of SPELL and PARD took me way too long to suss. I should have been on YR's wave length for that. Though I live in the West, believe me, no one talks like that; it's only in movies.
Yesterday I bought my grandson a set of LEGOS he wants. I didn't know SLUGGO as clued but it perped. I've always loved ANDIE MacDowell in movies. One of my nieces is married to a PILOT and their son is one as well.
Besides sports clues those for drinking are my weakest but TAPS emerged eventually.
I liked the clue for FLEA.
I hope all are having a beautiful Sunday; it's superb here! C.C., my prayers for Boomer and you are constant and I hope he has only good news from all those tests.
OOH I lied. My first experience with NGDB was at Stompin' 76 in Galax, VA, not at the Scotia benefit.
A few minutes ago I wrote a commentary on how inane todaysy puzzler was ...it wasn't even included here. Are we disallowing negative reviews? I'm a long time Times puzzler and often write some negative comments. Was my pan of this puzzle disallowed because of it being negative? Here, again, is my complaint: I DO NOT like defs that play on the "cuteness" of the constructor of the puzzle. It certainly isn't fun trying to figure out the twist and turns of a writer more interested in fooling rather than challenging the solver. Most Sunday Puzzlers are challenging and enjoyable. This one, however, was a waste ....of time and energy.
Bobbi, you remind me of Leopold Stokowski, the late orchestra conductor, who was famous for saying to the musicians, "Play better." No specific explanation of what exactly was lacking nor any concrete explanation of what "better" actually means. To simply say, "That was terrible. Do better." conveys no meaning and is of absolutely no help at all.
Year later and the same old complaints. As for famous encounters, I flew so much nofor business i was frequently upgraded. I did sit next to 114 across. As with many tv and film actors, she was strikingly beautiful but also had a big head. Not that they are necessarily full of themselves, but a big noggin !!
Both are still there as of my reading this one now.
I think this was a perfectly fine puzzle, but I have no problem with Bobbi’s criticism. As solvers, we invest a lot of time; if we don’t like a puzzle, so be it. It’s not a personal attack. I’ve gotten some flak for my criticism of overuse of circles in grids. Again, my opinion, nothing personal.
Jinx, I was sorry to hear about your experience with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I really enjoyed their first album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Emmylou Harris is another favorite. We've seen her in person a couple of times.
RIP Ricky Jay, a magician's magician. He didn't do stuff like make the Washington Monument disappear... but he could do stuff right in front of you with cards and I could never see the deception.
The biggest star I've met in person? Years ago I drove into Beverly Hills and went to a fancy store hoping to find something memorable for Barbara for Christmas. The guy next to me with a similar goal turned out to be Jack Palance, a classic bad guy in western movies. Also, Barbara and I went to a club to see Josh White, a great blues guitarist. I wandered backstage to find somebody who could get a request for Barbara's favorite song of his, "Miss Otis Regrets." They pointed me to a room up some stair. I was quite surprised to find myself face to face with Josh White. I made the request, he sang the song for Barbara and she was a very happy camper.
Not me, but my daughter spent an hour with Bruce Springsteen and his father at a little Italian restaurant in Red Bank, NJ. There was a couple of feet of new snow, and she had a new Jeep to try out. It was just the three of them, plus a bartender and a cook. The restaurant closed when the Springsteens left.
She has also done some artwork in Jon Bon Jovi's house, but I don't think she ever met him.
This took me at least 3 1/2 hours, off and on all day. It's dark now and I'm on my second vodka. Rained earlier this week, which helped greatly with the fires, and no mud slides so far. I did have lunch for nine people today, that took up some of my crossword time. I've worked with a lot of good actors, maybe stars Ed Asner,, Billy Crystal . Alyssa Milano.But I remember being stuck absolutely dumb, when we were picking up Gregory Peck's son to take him to a water park in Anaheim. Gregory Peck was in the back yard in his bathrobe and bedroom slippers, hadn't shaved yet, was completely affable and pleasant and all I could do was stammer and look at the ground. I once sat next to Linda Ronstadt at El Coyote in Hollywood and also spent an inordinate amount of time watching Orson Welles get up from his table and walk out the front door at the same restaurant. He was really really really fat. And slow
Becky
burn and spat in the NE made a rough start. HOBOBAG was new. This was slower than usual for Sunday but I didn’t think terribly unfair.
I shook hands with Nelson Rockefeller as he was campaigning when I was twelve, have known a couple of Congressmen, waited at a ride pickup/drop off spot at the Saratoga race track with Reba, but the only show-biz “stars” I’ve known are the Lind sisters - Heather was the female lead on Washington’s Spies, her twin Cristina guested on Blue Bloods robbing banks to pay for her veteran husband’s therapy. Of course, when I knew them they were still in high school, in summer musicals which th my daughter
My nephew, Daniel is a pilot flying for Southwest Airlines. He has pulled scheduling strings that allow him to overnight in Louisville on Dec, 7th.
I have just received Cosmic Confirmation that Daniel's visit has been approved. I am working today's L A Times crossword puzzle when I came to
37 Across, Southwest worker: PILOT
Come on Daniel!
Ðave
I was the opposite of Abejo, I had to pass on the top. I came back and P&Ped my way through. I had ACLU and stayed with it.
I just saw Bobbi's post. We love ya girl. After slogging through, a post like yours is a cool breeze on a hot day. What you say it AIN'T S'posed to be is exactly what it IS S'posed to be.
Nice going Jinx. Yesterday we had RAVEL , this Saturday we'll have GRUNTLED! Can't wait to see that clueing.
Lucina, ol' PARD, if you knew ANDIE I bet you also new ALANA. I was trying to get some snappy xword talk going at the walking pool. Thus*, CC-ville.
Jayce, I beg to differ, but with one major "differ"ence. Exactly that which she hates I (and I think you too) extol**.
I repeat, it's music to my ears. As I was filling box by excruciating box I prayed that a Bobbi would come along and post exactly like she did. And as someone said a lot of fill seems so obvious in hindsight
WC
* I've got Frend's History of Christianity in the bathroom and in his footnotes(>100 per 20 pages) he uses that word)
** I used that word and a fellow cruciverbalist was impressed. Jayce, my pastor used "dissimulate" in his sermon Saturday. As opposed to disengenuous
How cool that your nephew is coming to visit, Dave 2.
Becky, as someone who worked in show business for a long time and appeared in shows with George Clooney and James Garner, as well as working with Lee Horsley on three (3) different series, it is reassuring that you were blown away by Gregory Peck. I just flew into LAX for the first time in years and was reminded of a time when I causally entered into the crosswalk knowing that once in the walk I was safe. At that point, a cream-colored Rolls Royce convertible came around the corner and had to screech to a halt. I was more shocked that the driver was Muhammed Ali. He was very nice. I also watched Yul Brynner shave his head while driving his Mercedes into Manhattan when he was appearing on Broadway in a KING and I revival and I have been to two parties with Jane Fonda. But of course, number 1 was watching John Lampkin play the piano in restaurant/bar near my home.
I am back but my internal clock is spinning; thanks Gail and C.C.
If you are wondering about the Lee Horsley reference, Lee is one of the few actors who has played Archie Goodwin.
I'm wide awake. Now I have to search for a Nero-Archie. Or I could take my annotated Sherlock Holmes off the shelf .
I think I'll skip Scarlet and go right to the Four.
Tin will be back tomorrow and I can mention something re. Tarpon Springs
WC
Sunday Lurk say...
Robert DeNiro was in front of us at the girls' Christening at St. John the Divine in NYC - his kid was getting Christened too (there were only 3 families, including ours, at the church). Youngest was trying to grab the tuff of his hair, BIL kept trying to mouth "Robert DeNiro" to me, and I remained oblivious - DeNiro just looked like one of my Italian uncles and I was trying to keep Youngest from grabbing his hair.
DW says she talked to him for about 5 minutes; he said Eldest was pretty [Eldest was 3 & 1/3 at the time].
Ethan Hawke was in the room next to ours at the Bourbon Orleans in NOLA. I saw him on the adjoining balcony but, again, totally missed he was someone famous. He looked like a normal guy cleaning up after the previous night's party, so I just said "Good Morning" and had my coffee. DW went out while I was showering and talked with him for about 20 minutes. She was so excited after coming back in -- waking on cloud-nine... I'm still not sure how I feel about that :-)
I've probably met other famous people but, out and about, wouldn't know them from Adam unless they made a big show of themselves.
Play tomorrow. Cheers, -T
D'Oh!
{B, B+, A}
HBD Picard
Cheers, -T
WC:
Yes, I knew ALANA. She was in Law and Order when I used to watch it.
I just watched the DVD of Seabiscuit. I love that movie; it has so many great lessons about courage, not giving up on people (or animals) and how just caring is important. Many others, too.
Lemony. I worked with Lee. My husband Jamie wrote produced and directed the show, Paradise. It was a western. Shot at the Disney ranch just off the 14. He was very pleasant and professional and I thought the show was great!! Course, I could have been biased. I just remember how cold it was. For CA. Those high buttoned boots had very thin soles.
Becky
Husker Gary and AnonT thank you for the birthday wishes! Still catching up on the puzzles from the past week when we were travelling!
CC thanks for the Boomer update.
This puzzle was tough going in the noted places of unknown names. I was actually slow to catch on to the theme until I remembered to look at the title!
Learning moment that TWI means the same as BI! Learning moment about BLUE TEES.
Hand up for PINT before UNIT which had me stuck. A struggle to the end. FIW w PEE PEE instead of PEE DEE. I remembered it from these puzzles that it was funny. But not that funny.
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