Themeless Saturday Puzzle by C.C. Burnikel
Since 1999, December 22nd has been the day to celebrate Abilities Day. The school where I sub has a girl who lost her right forearm in a ATV accident. Here you can see her as she is competing in a recent swim meet where she won two events. If you need a hero, she would be someone you should consider.
Personal note - It has been one year since I became the regular Saturday blogger and I appreciate C.C. giving me the chance and for you to not giving me the boot.
And now let's see C.C.'s many abilities on this wonderful Weekend puzzle:
Across:
1. Hypoallergenic wool: ALPACA While similar to sheep’s wool, ALPACA fiber is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic (unlikely to cause an allergic reaction)
7. Chinese way of life: TAOISM
13. Be the victim of a slaying?: ROAR AT - Good comedians are said to "slay" the audience who are probably ROARing AT them
14. Taiwanese drink originally made with milk and tapioca pearls: BOBA TEA - I had no idea but here is the finished product and a kit to make said beverage
15. Sports cheaters: DOPERS - Jose Canseco's book blew the whistle on this practice
16. Series of celebratory visits: PUB CRAWL - This ritual seems to be de rigueur for some 21st birthdays
17. Squeeze (out): EKE.
18. Fixes, as a pump: RESOLES - C.C. loves shoes and I'm sure has many pairs of pumps
20. Green span: LEA - A wonderful play on Alan Greenspan for an old cwd friend
21. Convention: NORM - The NORM at this site is educated discourse 23. Because it fits: APTLY to the subjects at hand
24. Cat's hangout: SILL - Not the cat in its LAIR but the kitty on the window SILL
25. Prominent parade brass: TUBAS - If you're a musician you probably already know which of the below is a TUBA and which is a Sousaphone. If you aren't you probably don't care. Here's the difference
27. The Cuban?: LAS - A Cuban speaking Spanish would know LAS Vegas literally means "THE Meadows"
28. Wolf in "The Jungle Book": AKELA - The Disney Wolf was voiced by this gentleman. AKELA was also the name of the leader in our cub scout pack.
29. Kicks back: TAKES IT EASY
32. Place for a frozen treat: GELATO STAND - A ubiquity in Rome
34. Response to a welcome return: WE MISSED YOU - A common sentiment when a former blogger returns to our fold
36. Apps with errors: BETAS - Fortunately, now they've got all the bugs out 😅
39. Avril follower: MAI - Les averses d'avril apportent des fleurs de MAI (April showers bring May Flowers)
40. Stopped lying: AROSE - As opposed to started telling the truth
42. Drained of color: ASHY.
43. Sharp picker-upper: TALON.
45. Put under: DRUG.
46. Early Melotone Records competitor: RCA -Melotone
49. Turn sharply: ZAG - After a zig
50. Factor in exit velocity, in baseball: BAT SPEED
52. Wore thin: GOT OLD - Remember the political ads this fall?
54. Life-saving devices, at times: EPIPENS
55. In a calm manner: EVENLY.
56. Make drinkable, in a way: DESALT - This Carlsbad DESAL(T) plant will provide 7% of San Diego's water from the ocean
57. Two-day trip, often: RED EYE - Guide to conquering Red Eye Flights
Down:
1. Deeply devoted: ARDENT.
2. Guard: LOOKOUT - Bikers must LOOKOUT in the 33. Hazardous area for a bicyclist passing a parked car: DOOR ZONE
3. Checkout choice: PAPER BAG - Or in the Dr.'s office
4. Equal: ARE.
5. __ Fire: 230,000-acre Northern California conflagration of 2018: CARR.
6. Bewildered: AT SEA.
7. Maguire of "Spider-Man": TOBEY.
9. Boat mover: OAR.
10. Ballet's birthplace, to Parisians: ITALIE - The word ballet comes from the country of ITALIE (French for Italy) where the Italian word ballade meaning to dance. C.C. at her best!
11. "Black Beauty" author: SEWELL - My Dad said, "That is the only book I ever remember reading"
12. __ Fund: org. supporting girls' education founded by a 2014 Nobelist: MALALA - Another hero!
14. Informal discussion: BULL SESSION.
16. Side with a dog: POTATO SALAD - Substitute CHIPS for SALAD for me
19. Elmore Leonard novel whose title overlaps itself on some covers: SPLIT IMAGES - Yup.
22. Step aside: MAKE WAY.
24. "Sweet Home Alabama" band, familiarly: SKYNYRD - (Lynyrd SKYNRD). That and Georgia On My Mind are two great songs about states
26. Four-time Australian Open champ: SELES - Monica the tennis player
28. Carne __: ASADA - Literally "meat grilled" because those pesky Spanish have the adjective follow the noun
30. Finger-pointing uncle: SAM - Now 101 years old
31. Enjoyed a roll: ATE.
35. By and large: USUALLY.
36. Like fishhooks, as a rule: BARBED.
37. Pen pals' plan?: ESCAPE - Debate continues whether these penitentiary pals make it
38. "In other words ... ": THAT IS - Fourscore and seven, THAT IS, eighty seven years ago
41. Dip popular at Easter: EGG DYE.
43. 16th-century council site: TRENT - An 18 year series of meetings in TRENTo, Italy where Pope Paul III tried to end corrupt practices in the Catholic Church. Hmmm...
44. African country with rich uranium deposits: NIGER - So far this month we have had Gabon, Burkina Faso and now NIGER
47. German auto: OPEL - 1964 Opel Ad. I wonder what the words Economisch, Rulm, Pitting and Handig below the picture mean
48. Dock setting: COVE.
51. Mother's Day destination: SPA.
53. Talk acronym: TED - Are you up to a 12 minute M.I.T. TED talk about puzzles and constructors?
52 comments:
I knew it, C.C. has decided to dominate themeless Saturday as well. This was not as difficult as many Saturdays but it was chockful of interesting stuff. I could not dredge ANNA SEWELL from the memory banks, though I read the book 60+ years ago. Anna wrote Black Beauty in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but having lived long enough to see her only novel become a success. wiki.
I also did not know the name of the California Wildfire CARR or that it was so because it broke out near Highway 299 and Carr Powerhouse Road, which is named after Judge Francis C. Carr , a prominent figure in the creation of the federal Central Valley Project, which influenced water management in California for decades to come.
I was not in love with DESALT as fill, and have never been on a PUB CRAWL , but I know BOBA or BUBBLE tea haing had it in many different types of Asian restaurants. It may have started in Taiwan but you can get it everywhere now.
Santa Claus is coming to town, so I must run. Thanks, C.C. and HG and the inspirational story of the young lady was great.
Went with Camp Fire far too long.
Good morning!
Was sure it was the CAMP FIRE (Hi, Bob), but DOPEMS and PESOLES just weren't working. Those two letters were my only over-writes this morning. Never heard of a DOOR ZONE, but I understood it when it showed up. But at the bottom of my cup of coffee I managed to produce a DNF: ITALIA/AKALA. Bzzzzzt! Ya got me, C.C. Enjoyed the tour, Husker.
"Black Beauty" -- In my ute we had a "book cleansing" at our school library. At first the books were simply removed, but after a student uprising (I forget who started it...), the books were put back, but on Senior Reserve only. Black Beauty was one of 'em.
NORM: Makes me think of Norm Abram of This Old House fame.
BETAS: I switched years ago from Microsoft Office to Libre Office. You?
Government Shutdown: I think it would be a great idea if all congressmen of both parties, the President and Vice President were required to remain in Washington for the duration of the shutdown. It might give them some incentive to work out a solution.
Thank you C C Burnikel .
A tough slog but stayed with it and FIR in the end.
Was held up too long at Pen Pal Plan , not thinking of Pen as a place .
Having Pen Pals was popular in my early days but I imagine with social media taking over it might be a thing of the past.
ROAR AT was the last hold up as I didn’t think of laughter as a slaying.
Fixes as a pump was also a misdirection that took too long to shine thru
About halfway through things started to speed up especially after the long crosses appeared.
DOOR stood alone for a while as DOORZONE was also a stranger.
SIL a part time bee keeper always carries EPI PENS just in case. Has had to use them once but seems to be over the allergy to bee stings now.
Thanks Husker Gary for the tour .
Cheers
FLN, billcohoes, the DEATH IN PARADISE season 1-3 are available on Netflix, and I think they were the best shows. I have not watched season 7 yet.
Good morning. Thank you Husker Gary and thank you C.C.
I thought this was a really fine themeless. Maybe it was just me, but I had to think through many of the clues, and finally got on a roll and ended it under 40, so I'm a happy camper.
it didn't start out very well. I read "Checkout choice" as cookout choice.
Some favorites:
Stopped lying for AROSE
ROAR AT
Green span LEA
Fixes as a pump had me in a plumbing mindset
Pen pals plan for ESCAPE
Changed sOBA TEA to BOBA TEA with BULL SESSION
Oops, I linked "Sweet Home Alabama" and Lynyrd Skynyrd in Tuesday's write up. I had no idea it was in today's gem.
TUBAS today for Abejo !
Never cared for BULL SESSIONS and idle chatter when I worked in the office.
Gary, I tried chips too, but was confident of MAI and BAT SPEED.
This seemed daunting at first. 3/4 of the way through I turned on red letters to check. One bad cell lit up, then back to master mode and FIR minus one cell.
"The Cub Scout follows Akela."
Have you read Malala's book, "I Am Malala" a real heroine.
Addie, also is a real heroine.
It took a long time to dredge up BOBA TEA, I think of it as bubble tea. Tapioca pearls in my tea? No thank you. Also, no thank you to sugar, milk or cream in my tea. I'll take it barefoot or with lemon.
Surprisingly I needed three perps to think of SEWELL.
CARNE looked like CAME in the paper. I was going to say "Unfair!" I needed ESP until ASADA popped up.
I didn't understand why The Cuban was LAS until I came here. Oh,emphasis on THE.
CAMP before CARR.
Gary, congratulations on your one year anniversary blogging here. You are a treasure.
CC, fun challenge.
Yes, this was tough, but doable.
Ironically, LAS was one of my last fill and if it is meant to be THE, then it's a severe infraction, IMHO, because Cuban is male and LAS is female. In foreign languages gender agreement is de rigueur.
My solve occurred corner by corner. In the NE, TAOISM and MALALA, whose book I read, was firm fill so that provided me with an anchor to finish it. BOBATEA is unknown to me and I had SOBATEA for too long. BULLSESSION knocked it out.
In the NW, ALPACA started me off and though it took a long time, I finally got ROARAT and ARDENT. That helped to clinch the whole area.
My sister brought me a wool scarf from Peru and it itches terribly but I don't recall if it is llama or ALPACA. I'll have to check.
Next the SW then the SE corners flooded in and the center finally yielded SPLITIMAGES and POTATO SALAD. Oh, those dogs. ORANGE morphed into ORGANIC, too. BATSPEED seemed doubtful but it was right.
Thank you, C.C.! This was a perfect challenge for an insomniac type of morning.
And thank you, Gary; congratulations on completing a year of Saturday salutations! You are doing an excellent job. All A+. Keep it up
Have a peaceful, if frantic, Saturday, everyone!
What a slog.
What a grind. Finally got a hold in the SW, but the NE remained a snowstorm in Natickland. TOBEY and PUB CRAWL were my only fills (shows my preferred milieu, NORM reminds me of Cheers), until I gave up and googled BOBATEA, MALALA, SEWELL and AKELA. Didn't remember AKELA from the Disney cartoon film of The Jungle Book.
Double misleading clue at 10D, who would guess that the French would admit ballet started outside France?
With only the "S" I ran thru all of "Seventy-six Trombones" - and TUBAS aren't even in the song.
Tried for a while to put in TAKE A LOAD OFF
Billocohoes - there was a compromise for rhyme: “I modestly took my place as the one and only bass...” The lyric doesn’t say that it’s the bass horn, i.e. the Tuba, but it’s the best guess.
Being a Saturday puzzle, the NORM is that most people don't finish it correctly. I'm in that group today. I floundered in the NE, Never having read either the Jungle Book or Black Beauty. AKELA & SEWELL were unknowns along with MALALA. Somehow I scribbled BOBA TEA but incorrectly guessed ITILIA instead of ITALIE. There are BUBBLE TEA places in NOLA that the local Vietnamese frequent. SILL couldn't work its way in.
GARY- It would take me 15 YEARS to get the NE. My grid looked like yours except I definitely know LYNYRD SKYNYRD. I wanted LAIR but knew it was wrong.
I filled LAS but didn't like the clue; maybe "The in Cuba" would have made more sense.
TED- had no idea what it was, clicked on your clue. Looks like just another BULL SESSION to me. Any time I see the words "riveting" and 'Remarkable people" I know it's usually full of BULL feces.
ORGANIC- means overpriced but really nothing else, or better, instead on ammonium nitrate fertilizer, it is fertilized using the last two words of the previous sentence.
Changes: MERINO-ALPACA, CAMP Fire TO CARR Fire, AWOKE-AROSE, TONIC-TALON, GHENT-TRENT
Zhouqin-you beat me today. Congratulations.
Good morning everyone.
Real slog today. Finally mucked my way through most of it but the NE seemed like a Natick. I feel your pain, Husker. Finally got the right ending on TAOISM which fit with MALALA, and the Black Beauty author seemed to want to be SEWELL. Gave me BOBA TEA and began to see the makings of ITALIE (last fill) crossing with SILL, known for a cat's desirable digs. WAGS included TUBAS, LEA, LAS, and MALALA. Liked the EGG DYE fill and clue.
ROAR AT - Actually some clever cluing as HG pointed out but also felt it was a bit of a reach. Guess the editor thought not.
GELATO - I think CC likes GELATO; feels like she's used it before.
COVE - My sister's special friend maintains a 70 year old seaplane in a COVE in Coveville (NY)
TUBAS - Enjoy
MAI - German Mai, L. German Mai, Dutch mei.
ZAG - Our Task Group formation would occasionally do Zig-ZAG maneuvers for training to be sharp on evasive skills. Interesting; the exact zig-zag plan came from a classified pub and it was necessary for all the ships to synchronize clocks for the turns and course changes so that they wouldn't run into one another.
Yes, Dudley, but the lyrics don't have the word TUBA, which is what I needed for the puzzle.
Of course, the sousaphone was invented by Robert Wagner in Stars and Stripes Forever to project the sound forward and make the horn easier to carry.
Good Morning:
This is, by far, the most difficult CC puzzle I've ever solved and solved it, I did, but with much teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling. The misdirection was magnificent or malevolent, depending on your point of view. I was certain of Camp Fire (Hi Bob and DO) so that area took forever to straighten out. Also as bad was seeing Carne (Hi YR) as Came, so Asada took some time, too. Worst of all, though, was thinking Pump was water or tool related, never even considering a shoe. Doh and Double Doh! I never heard of Door Zone, either, and Niger needed perps, as well as many other entries. P and P paid off, though the price was rather steep. Thought of Abejo at Tubas, naturally.
Thanks, (I think!) CC, for a true Saturday stumper and thanks, HG, for the grand expo and visuals. Addie is a beautiful girl, inside and out.
WikWak, I hope the doctors get to the source of your problem and get you back to good health.
Wilbur, best wishes for continued benign reports.
YR, how is your DIL doing with rehab?
Misty, did you see the opthamologist yet?
Have a great day.
Thanks, CC, for a crunchy Saturday with some tricky misdirection and unknowns. FIW with ITALIa/AKaLA.
Husker Gary thanks as always for your informative and illustrated write-ups!
Hand up stuck with CAmp instead of CARR.
The DOOR ZONE is dangerous for cyclists. But the law is on the cyclist's side. It is the responsibility of people in the car to look first. By law. I was nearly killed by motorist opening her door into me on a busy road. She was a police officer.
It is also the legal responsibility of motorists to tolerate cyclists "taking the lane" to avoid the DOOR ZONE. Two days ago a motorist in a huge BMW SUV leaned on his horn because I had to move into the right lane on my bike. He had another lane. I did not.
Here is my article about the DOOR ZONE and other motorist laws that people don't seem to know.
Some people did not like my writing style. Others very much appreciated it.
Here is my article on our TUBA Christmas celebration last weekend! Videos and photos!
Once again, here I was very privileged to experience MALALA up close!
Yes, she is a true hero! OK, we are off! Happy Holidays!
From yesterday:
Yellowrocks thanks, I did see your post about ACES. It is just that I have never heard that word used that way. Learning moment.
AnonT thanks for the engineering humor!
CrossEyedDave I hope you didn't spend too much time on the ONE SHOT link! It was just an inside thing for EEs!
TTP glad you also know about multivibrators!
SO not fun!
Stupendous Saturday. Thanks for the fun C.C. and HG (happy 1st anniversary).
This CW required P&P and a couple of Google helps to finish. Several inkblots included Pale to ASHY, Go Bald to GOT OLD (I knew the tense was wrong), Los to LAS. But the biggest holdup was in the SE corner with DOOR Jamb giving me JAG and other empty squares.
(Yes Picard, I thought of your accident with DOOR ZONE.)
I groaned at the misdirection of "Side with a dog", "be the victim of a slaying?", "fixes,as a pump" (Jimmy Choo?)
Hand up for knowing Bubble Tea but not BOBA Tea.
Yes YR, I have read MALALA's book. Great.
SEWELL was dredged from my memory bank. I loved Black Beauty as a youngster.
Busy day ahead.
Wishing you all a good day.
Gary: did you have permission to post the name and photo of your local heroine? If not, you may be putting yourself and the blog in jeopardy for violating her privacy rights. This is not a constitutional issue because the blog is not a governmental entity.
Privacy, I appreciate the heads up. This story and these pictures have been all over Omaha TV, Omaha, Fremont and Arlington newspapers, their online media plus the school's webpage, Instagram and Twitter pages and since are all over the web, that's why I used the pix. Many of us post personal pix of ourselves and others here and I would think we mostly do that without permission.
I have now taken out the girl's name, the second picture and only kept the picture from the local newspaper without showing her face.
Husker Gary: Wonderful write-up. I t explained my Ink Blot very well. LOL
C.C. Thank you for a FUN Saturday D-N-F.
Fave today was the answer at 16-a, PUB CRAWL ... they happen a lot here in Tarpon Springs.
Happy FESTIVUS DAY EVE
Cheers!
Oh dear, I love C.C. puzzles but Saturdays are of course such toughies for me. But I gave my first-run through my best shot and here's what I got. For across I got ANGORA, EKE, LEA, MAI, and AROSE--only ANGORA was wrong and turned out to be ALPACA. For the downs I got OAR, MALALA, ASADA, SAM, ATE and TRENT, and those turned out to be okay. Then the cheating started and overall the puzzle turned out to be a lot of fun. My favorite misleading clues involved the PUMP--I never thought of a shoe--and the Pen Pal's ESCAPE. So, many thanks for a fun Saturday morning, C.C. Sorry it was tough for you too, Husker Gary, but so glad you do commentaries for us.
Thanks for asking, Irish Miss, but my eyes are okay at the moment, according to the opthamologist (spelling?).
Tomorrow night I host my annual Christmas party, so I may not make it to the blog in the morning. Have a great weekend, everybody.
Italia vs Italie - Akala vs Akela. This is a natick imho.
Hello Puzzlers -
Getting back to the puzzle: glad I’m not the only one who struggled in the NE corner. My solve progressed similarly to Spitz’s, apparently.
I never read Black Beauty - is there something controversial in the story that would get it removed from a library?
Howdy Husker, that’s an uplifting story about the young woman with a positive attitude! I have respect for that.
Hello C.C., definitely a challenging project today.
Misty @ 1217 - - LOL about the pump. I was trying to fix a real pump with o-ring seals, check valves, stuffing boxes and the like, but - - - Bupkis. Finally I thought of the shoe and the letters I already had for RESOLES worked out fine. I wanted 'camp' before CARR, because I remember the news talking heads using that name for a while. California is a big state.
IM, thanks for asking. My DIL has been home for a few weeks and is doing well. She is walking around the house without a cane now and with a cane when she goes out. She and David go to outpatient PT together. David is able to do almost everything except running, jumping and skiing, but still has pain after all these many months.
How are you? Have you recovered? It is a bad time of year to be sick.
Gary, I forgot to mention my admiration for Addie!
My ALPACA scarf from Peru, clearly marked as such, itches. I wore it once and could not bear it so whoever thought it was hypoallergenic likely never experienced it.
NIGER. Learning moment for me that it contains so much uranium. Doctors without Borders sent me a lovely world map with updated African countries. I checked it and noted all the five letter ones and since I already had the final r, picked NIGER. If I ever knew it, I don't recall. It's sad how much I've forgotten
HG, it's been a year already? No! It can't be...
Picard, I found the EE Tech stuff fascinating,
but will have to reread it a couple of times to fully comprehend.
(In the back of my mind, I am still looking for another use for a multivibrator...)
Conversation heard in my house this morning:
Daughter#2, Where you going?
Me, down the basement to use the computer...
Daughter#2 Why?
Me, I have to do todays Crossword, even in red letters,
because it was constructed by our fearless leader...
In an unrelated 18a,
If you used this Tesla one way valve with no moving parts you would never have to fix the stupid pump...
(on the shoe end, I can only recommend superglue...)
Just noting the Carr and Camp fires were separate incidents in different parts of northern California.
Ayee, what a slog! And I'm doing this voluntarily?
I see that I'm in good company with Geriatric Ocular Disorder ... 'carne' instead of 'came' wasn't clear at all.
"Geriatric Ocular Disorder" -- is that a GOD complex?
This was a doable Saturday for me - good thing- with not much time on this pre-Christmas weekend!
California has had so many major fires in the past year or two: the most recent Camp fire in Paradise, California, last summer's CARR fire in the Redding/ Mt Shasta area and the Tubbs fire in the Santa Rosa/Napa/Sonoma area!
WEES about CHIPS before SALAD as the hot dog's POTATO side!
Thanks GARY - really enjoy your write-ups each week! And thanks CC for a fun Saturday solve!
Hi Y'all! For the first time ever, I started the puzzle at midnight, read all the acrosses & downs for the top tier. No fill at all. Decided I was too sleepy. Shut off the computer and went to bed. Slept until nearly noon. See? I was too sleepy. Couldn't be that hard? Oh yes, it was! How does C.C., our Chinese puzzle master know this stuff when we, who have spoken English all our lives, don't know it? All I can figure out is: having to learn a new language makes her hyper-alert to everything. Her brain must be a super soak-up sponge with all synapses firing a/k/a SMART.
Gary: Congratulations on one very fine year of blogging. Keep 'em coming! Wonder what Splynter has done all this time.
Hand up for CAmp before CARR & AngorA before ALPACA.
Right before coming to do the puzzle, I read a "friend's" posting of a recipe for Bubble Tea. Had to laugh at that. If you slur BuBble like you are a little drunk, BOBA kinda sounds like it. When most of BuBble turned red, I immediately WAGd BOBA. Yay, me!
Thx oas, fixes a shoe. Duh.
So.. CC, eh. Doable. Huh? After it's done, uh huh. I'm shocked I tell ya, shocked that I pulled a FIR. I pulled every trick: sips of regular coffee, peaks at the J.. I was trying to come up with the word: sauerkraut and since my new solve loc is Winn Dixie I thought I'd saunter over to the condiment aisle. Then SALAD perped but it took awhile to peel the POTATO.
Btw, not a good P&I xword. Esp in the SE
Gotta post church at 4
WC
Gary:
I use Libre to compose, write, create labels, etc.
Another very difficult, but great Saturday by CC, and a fine Husker writeup. By the way, I’ll take that CSO along with Abejo for TUBAS.
Also by the way, a Sousaphone IS a tuba, just a different shape.
And billocohoes @0929 had it partially right - as the movie depicted, one of Sousa’s tuba players suggested turning the bell forward. The already existing Sousaphone, which had an upturned bell, thus was dubbed “the raincatcher”, had been an improvement on the helicon, which was a similar shape to facilitate carrying on foot or horseback but had a much smaller bell and consequent thinner sound.
Spitzboov @0928 Thanks for one of my favorite marches, “Alten Kameraden”, by a pretty good, very enthusiastic brass quintet of young women. Farther down on the same page you can hear an early Canadian Brass recording of Bach’s “Toccota & Fugue in D Minor”, which showcases some truly magnificent tuba (and trumpet, horn and trombone) playing.
Picard @1017 Thanks for the brass Christmas. TubaChristmas includes only tubas and euphoniums (a small tuba). The name is trademarked by the Harvey Phillips Foundation. He was a great tuba player who started it many years ago in honor of his mentor William Bell. Groups have to pay something and register to use the name. They get standardized arrangements for tuba and euphonium only, and hats and scarves and buttons with Tuba Christmas on them. They are mostly organized by the tuba studio instructors at colleges and universities, and include all interested players of the two instruments in the area. Every year the TV network morning shows play a few seconds of the NYC Tuba Christmas, which occurs at Rockefeller Center. They usually have a couple of hundred participants. We used to get around 40-50 in Tucson. A friend forwarded me a link to a Huffington Post article about the one in Kansas City, where they apparently set a world record with 835!
Big Easy @0927 ORGANIC means grown without industrial chemicals - in the soil or sprayed on the plants to control insects or weeds. Buying organic produce is a very small thing that millions of individuals can do to protect their own health and contribute to the effort to save this planet from being poisoned.
Picard posted his article about the DOOR ZONE here recently.
We’ve also had a discuaaion, fairly recently, about BOBA TEA, but I thought it was bubble tea.
I drowned my laptop, am using wife’s, ao I’m not really Anonymous.
Mike Sherline
I could not finish this puzzle without looking up (1) the band who played Sweet Home Alabama and (2) the title of Elmore Leonard's novel. Then I had to turn red letters on the find out AS A RULE, AUDI, MILK TEA, and a few other places were just plain wrong. (I should have known milk tea was wrong because "milk" was in the clue.) Very difficult. I sure did like "Green span" and the clues for RESOLES, AROSE, and ESCAPE. Hand up for thinking of the CAMP fire at first. NORM makes me think of "Cheers."
Good wishes to you all.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, C.C., for fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
Tuba Christmas was today in Chicago, at the Palmer House. I elected to not go this year. My knee problems was what prompted my thinking. I have gone several times and it is a fun event. We get 200-300 horns in that event in Chicago. They always have a guest conductor, usually someone sort of famous. You had a nice article Picard.
The puzzle started pretty good, but then bogged down for a while. Got it done, but it took me quite a while.
A TUBA and a SOUSAPHONE are identical instruments as far as the sound. Of course they look different. One is for marching and the other for sitting. However, you can march with a Tuba. There are straps that will support it. And you can sit with a Sousaphone and play. I have one of each. I am playing Christmas Eve at church with three others. Two trumpets and a saxophone.
My clue for 28D looked like Came_________. I only realized is was Carne___________ when I came here. Such is life.
Tried FRENCH FRIES for 16D. Fit perfectly, except nothing worked crossing it. POTATO SALAD won that battle.
BARBED was easy for 36D. And, yes, I have stuck myself with a fish hook a couple times. The trick is you are supposed to push it through the skin past the barb, cut it off and then pull it back out. Well, I never got it that deep that I had to do that. Maybe next time.
I had MAI for 39A. FRENCH FRIES made me erase that. Then POTATO SALAD caused me to put MAI back in. Such is the life of a puzzler.
Anyhow, I am off for now. Could not finish Friday's puzzle. Too difficult for me.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Hi all!
5 hours while wrapping at the mall + another hour of hard-noodling to end with ITALIa being my one bad square?!? [Hi D-O & BigE!]. So close to a Saturday win.
Thanks C.C. for the fine puzzle to contemplate in between wrapping packages for the dance team. Thanks HG for the sparkly expo (T.E.D. Talk later!).
WOs: Oh, so many false starts - I thought it was Bubble TEA but that didn't fit. Pumps to move fluid not people (don't be sexist :-)), BUGGY b/f BETAS. Hand-up: CAmp Fire.
SW corner was my 1st win, NE last.
We won't bother w/ ESPs again... Too many.
Fav: Clue for LEA; I kept reading Alan into it.
I've only ready everyone though 9:27a but folks here want dinner. Read all and play later!
Cheers, -T
I tried to RESEAL that pump. And GRATED for Wore thin. And AS A RULE < USUALLY.
I tried to talk my friend into milk with his coffee instead of ND creamer and sweet-n-low. He went with the cream but insisted on fake sugar
I thought the Cuban was CHE.
When I saw CC's moniker I said to self "Ok, where's the baseball!". Later I thought of Picard who hates Sports questions and lo and behold CC throws him a "Sports" Physics question.
So, Sousa didn't invent his own horn?
Abejo, you actually found Friday more difficult than today? I agree with IM on difficulty. Btw, the Dr didn't exactly say "benign" just non-aggressive.
Picard, I read your article. How in the world did Car mfg'ers get away with using the car horn as a lock acknowledgement???
Here's something that I'd add: Do not change to the right lane when cars are waiting to turn right . There's all too much lane changing going on.
Also. I've decided that 80mph in a 70 is plenty fast for the Left lane and I'll only move out if there's a long stretch.
WC
If anything is "pesky," it's that durn CARR fire (istead of CAMP). I still think PESOLES is an excellent way to fix a pump.
Just a note of appreciation for C.C.. I have been on the lookout for over a year for a pzl with a diagonal message, either NW to SE or the reverse. So far, it has been a mission with elusive results, yielding only some interesting (to me) anagrams, but no message "in the clear."
Well, our C.C. found one, and she took the time and trouble to email it to me--off the Corner, as it were.
C.C.: A big THANK YOU for your kindness and consideration!
~ OMK
WC: Sousa was probably too busy writing superb stirring marches and rehearsing his band to build a horn. By the way, as a teenager at summer band camp I had the enjoyable privilege of playing in a French horn choir directed by a man who had played French horn in Sousa's last band. The sound was incredible. I wrote a note of thanks to the director after camp was over and he wrote back the nicest letter, saying I sent the first thank you note he ever received. He sent me a signed picture which I hung on my wall. I have been trying to remember the man's name for days.
Puzzle stumped me at about 50% last night, but a second crack at it this afternoon FIRight.
Extremely boring account of why I didn't poemize today. My original failure with this puzzle did not help.
Owen, I hear ya!!! I’ve been there. Hang in there. You’ll survive.... even if it seems impossible now! We care about you!
OwenKL:
Please take comfort in the fact that we here (I'm sure most) at the Corner admire you, your poetry, all the stress and health problems you have dealt with and wish the best for you. You inspire me, for one, with your customary poem at the beginning of our session. And more than once you have helped me find the solution to the Jumble with your poems.
I shall keep you in my prayers.
Owen ~
I am on your case about taking time off for your personal health & comfort.
Thank you for all you give us! You have contributed so much to both this Corner and the Jumble site. You provide us with daily poetry, a minimum of two poems, often more, of multiple stanzas, at serious length.
I am not alone in asking you to consider taking one or two days off each week.
Of course, I'm not suggesting you stay off the blogs, only that you needn't feel an obligation to entertain us seven days at a stretch.
Health first, good friend!
~ OMK
OKL - You know we enjoy your daily muse but we don't expect you (or anyone) to be full-tilt every day. Take your time, meds, and IT EASY. Get well bro.
D-O @1:45 - LOL G.O.D. Complex.
HG - I have Libre on my Linux boxen. Insofar as giving you the boot - only if we're playing Monopoly :-) I enjoy your expos as well as daily musings.
A ZAG back to puzzledome:
For the record - I like taTOr tots aside my Dog. [BAT SPEED, thankfully, wouldn't let it go in - and that's all I had at the time!]
My solve: I got out of bed at 11a (I like to listen to NPR and drift in and out of sleep on Sat) to get ready to go to the mall and, as a "volunteer," wrap packages at noon. Grabbed the paper and coffee and started in while waiting for DW to get ready. I only got 1a: Angora(?) - perp check gave me CAmp which made ALPACA go in. Aha! Plastic_ (oops - good thing I counted before inking...) PAPER -A- (sac or BAG?)...; TUBAS -> BAG! b/f leaving the house.
But I had time, in between wrapping packages, to noodle clues ('green span' a 'span of green', an era, wad of cash (nope too many letters), etc). Still took the L to aha! on LEA. That was essentially the hack-n-slash I did all the way through.
How I ever thought TRENT... I had --EN- and thought T could follow an L (from OPEL) aaaaand TRENT just pop'd into my head(?!?) letting me see TALON, the N let NIGER ink. Ahh, Puzzles.
Anyway, it was a fun romp that kept my little grey cells engaged whilst I wrapped gifts*... Thanks C.C.!
Oh, I almost forgot: NORM! [3:09]
Cheers, -T
*I'll tell you - last Sunday we (6 folk) pulled in ~$680 over 6 hours. I'd bet this afternoon we hit >$1,500 easy. 9 of us were wrappin' fools for a solid 4.5hrs (before relieved by 2nd-shift). This week of wrapping for donations is how the girls pay for their travel during competition season --It's the biggest fundraiser they do all year.
WC @ 7:04 -- "So, Sousa didn't invent his own horn?"
But he did invent the phrase, "He who tooteth not his own horn, neither shall it be tooted."
Owen: Hope the beauty of the trip will refresh your spirit. I believe your poems are good therapy for you and for us, but rest also refreshes. Hang in there, man! I've been housebound lately too and it is only just bearable. When the crossword is the highlight of my day, you can bet I know at least a little how you feel. Big electronic hug!
CanadianEh, CrossEyedDave, Anon at 4:35PM, Abejo and Wilbur Charles thank you for taking the time to read my article(s) and for your comments!
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