Theme:WHAT ON EARTH?
17. Flowering plant also called May bells: LILY OF THE VALLEY.
35. 1960 King Coleman dance song: DO THE HULLY GULLY.
25. Pig out: GORGE ONESELF.
43. "Galveston" singer: GLEN CAMPBELL.
59. Title subject of a children's song that ends with "cheese stands alone": FARMER IN THE DELL.
Each theme answer hides a geological feature. The three grid-spanners (impressive) have the hidden word at the end, and the other two at the beginning, which is part of what threw me off in parsing the theme. I also got stuck on the L's, thinking they meant something. Nope. As usual, it seems obvious after the light is turned on.
48. Caveman Alley: OOP.
Also a basketball term. Per Wiki: "an offensive play in which one player throws the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid air and puts it in the hoop before touching the ground." It also says the term is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap."
2. Overused: TRITE.
Across:
1. Quite puzzled: AT SEA. I can relate.
6. Often-painted body part: NAIL. Often chipped, too.
10. Those with privileges, briefly: VIPS. When singular, it's Very Important Person. Plural would technically make it Very Important People, so the S is superfluous, no?
14. Sturm und __: DRANG. From britannica.com: (German: “Storm and Stress”), German literary movement of the late 18th century that exalted nature, feeling, and human individualism and sought to overthrow the Enlightenment cult of Rationalism. Goethe and Schiller began their careers as prominent members of the movement.
15. Midshipman-to-be: Abbr.: USNA CADET. US Navy.
19. "That's precious!": ITS A GEM.
20. Big name in riding mowers: DEERE.
21. Actress Arthur: BEA. And then there's Maude.
22. __ Lingus: AER. Irish airline.
24. Leftover food bit: ORT.
31. Equipment: GEAR.
33. Like the light at twilight: DIM.
34. Small, in a small way: LIL. Cute clue.
40. Whitewater rafter's need: OAR.
41. Quarterback Manning: ELI. New York Giants.
42. Proof word: ERAT. Wiktionary says: "third-person singular imperfect active indicative of sum." Sure! Let's try it this way: Sum = “I am.” Erat = “he/she/it was.” For example “Caesar imperator erat” would mean, “Caesar was a general."
48. Caveman Alley: OOP. Also a basketball term. Per Wiki: "an offensive play in which one player throws the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid air and puts it in the hoop before touching the ground." It also says the term is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap."
49. Wasn't active: SAT.
50. "A Wrinkle in Time" director DuVernay: AVA.
53. Bewitch: CHARM.
56. Rhodes __: SCHOLAR.
63. Underpass concern: CLEARANCE.
64. Renée's "Chicago" role: ROXIE. Zellweger.
65. Corporate symbol: SEAL.
66. Bit of news: WORD.
67. Floorboard repair nails: BRADS.
Down:
1. Many a Robin Williams bit: AD LIB.
2. Overused: TRITE.
3. Taquería bowlful: SALSA.
4. "Orinoco Flow" singer: ENYA.
5. Flabbergasted: AGOG.
6. Grated spice: NUTMEG.
7. Tree with "helicopter" seeds: ASH. Seeds that spiral through the air during dispersal. Interesting aerodynamics.
8. Suffix with salt: INE. Saline.
9. Loo: LAV. Loo is British slang. Lav is shortened version of Lavatory, is that equivalent? I guess so, both are primarily used by Brits, although one is shortened and one is not. Ew.
10. Restaurant workers with lots of keys: VALETS.
11. Not occupied: IDLE.
12. __ review: PEER.
13. Lid inflammation: STYE.
16. Specially trained group: CADRE.
18. "Then live, Macduff. What need I __ of thee?": Macbeth: FEAR.
23. Facial features in many cosmetics ads: RED LIPS.
24. "__ honor!": "Promise!": ON MY. I will do my duty ...
25. Cry of frustration: GAH.
26. Natural resource: ORE.
27. Natural resource: OIL. Clecho.
28. First name in jazz vocals: ELLA.
29. Bouncy tune: LILT. Don't remember seeing this word as a noun before.
30. Word with house or horse: FLY.
31. Score on the ice: GOAL.
32. French 101 infinitive: ETRE. "Be."
35. 2018 Chinese New Year animal: DOG. 2019 is pig.
36. Disorganized pile: HEAP.
37. Einstein's birthplace: ULM.
38. Salon goop: GEL.
39. Result of Googling: URL.
44. As expected: NORMAL.
45. Rising star: COMER.
46. Like juicy turkeys: BASTED.
47. Mark for good: ETCH. Dig this clue. I bought my son a new iPod for Christmas this year, and discovered you can now get them engraved for free.
50. One taking home orders?: ALEXA. Amazon's virtual assistant.
51. Not expired, as a license: VALID.
52. Van Gogh's "Bedroom in __": ARLES.
53. Ozone-depleting chemicals, briefly: CFCS. Chlorofluorocarbons.
54. Spy Nathan: HALE.
55. Environs: AREA.
57. Catnip, e.g.: HERB.
58. Air Wick target: ODOR.
60. Unprocessed: RAW.
61. Italian diminutive suffix: INO. Bambino - masculine. Feminine is Bambina.
62. ATM giant: NCR.
58 comments:
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Jeffrey, for a fun one with just a bit of bite to it. Thanks, Melissa, for a good expo.
Like Melissa, I thought the theme would be about LL's but GORGE messed that up. I did get the theme when I was done & looked back over the long ones. Could have fallen into the theme if not careful.
Never heard of "DO THE HULLY GULLY". In 1960 I moved three times with no radio or TV so I wasn't up on pop music.
United States Naval Academy CADET. Son wanted to go there & had a Senatorial appointment offered but we couldn't get an official military medical test processed. Maddening at the time, but turned out for the best. He did great in USAFROTC & got to fly.
Not ROsIE but ROXIE. X marked the last fill spot in ROXIE/ALEXA cross.
My maples have helicopter seeds. Didn't fit. Didn't know ASH had them too.
GAH? Meh! Rat, cat, pig, DOG! Yay!
FIWrong. 😫😖🤬 👺. ALEsA + ROsIE. I knew aLEsA was wrong, and should have known ALEXA, but was unsure of AVA (which was correct) or ROsIE (which wasn't).
Sorry I missed posting yesterday. Went to sleep before composing a l'ick, and over-slept so late it didn't seem worth it when I finally woke up. Didn't even read yesterday's comments yet, so going back to do that now.
Down in the VALLEY
A VALET named ELI
Caused a mar
With a car,
That's when OOP went "Oopsie!"
For only a dollar
He hired a SCHOLAR
To prove it was valid
To turn very pallid
When an ODER brought on a pallor!
A musical COMER named LILY
Thought that her LILT was silly.
"I like the AIR,
But it makes my hair
Look a LI'L too HALE and frilly!"
{all B's.}
Good morning. Thank you Jeffrey and thank you Melissa.
Jeffrey, you've gone to new lows with this puzzle. :>) No canyon or ravine ?
I nailed LILY OF THE VALLEY, but that King Coleman song went from DO THE hanky panky to hurly gurly and finally to HULLY GULLY. King Coleman didn't ring any bells. Then nailed GLEN CAMPBELL but first tried it with two ens. Guess I don't know the words to the FARMER IN THE DELL because those closing words didn't strike any chords.
GAH is not my cry of frustration word.
Liked how CADET and CADRE intersected.
The cathedral in ULM is awe inspiring, as is the one in Cologne.
Spitzboov used Stürm und DRANG in his Saturday comments when writing of the recall on his BH's car for a CPV problem that might cause engine stalling. I read that to mean "another headache" or along those lines.
When I think of John Deere, my first association would be large farm tractors, combines, and other field equipment, not riding mowers. But Deere is big there too. My John Deere STX38 is now about 30 years old. It pays to spend a little more to buy quality products.
Thought of Homer Simpson and Moe at that Macbeth quote to Macduff.
interesting article on loo Melissa, and learning moment that Alley OOP in basketball may have come from that French term.
Hi everyone,
Like to wish everyone a very happy holiday. Read the blog every day as well as attempting to solve the puzzles, but with limited success. As a couple of you have commented, even Monday's & Tuesday's have become more difficult.
However, all is well within the family, I've a couple of lingering issues, but they are clearing up.
Xmas promises to be special this year. For the first time in a long while, the whole family will be gathering at our home on Christmas day. Lucy and I will be hosting two sons, two, DIL's & two grandchildren. Casey will be hosting three dogs. It will be one heck of a day.
In closing, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Hondo & family.
Good morning!
Say it ain't so. Hmmm...no takers. The sad truth is that d-o fell into the ROSIE/ALESA trap and never fell out of it. DNF! Dang, I knew better. Thanx, Jeffrey, for the "deep" theme, which I did not fall into, as per usual. Today's failure does not bode well for the coming weekend. Enjoyed your expo, Melissa Bee. Was unaware of "allez hop."
Helicopter seeds: In my ute we had a boxelder tree in the front yard. Every fall it would make a real mess, and dad would threaten to chop it down. Then the snowflakes would fly and he'd forget about it. He wasn't the one who had to rake 'em all up.
Chore time...
Quite an intricate construction with a few layers of self-imposed difficulty in the grid. I see Tony also spotted that all 5 theme words were depressions in the Earth (JW's most depressing puzzle?) with theme 1,3 and 5 the grid spanner all having the keyword ( VALLEY GULLY DELL ) at the end of the fill, while 2,4 have the word ( GORGE GLEN ) at the beginning. It really amazes me how he does it!
Really good to hear from you Hondo; I wish all of our past posters would stop by now and then and let us know they are ok.
PK, I agree about maple trees; I had to show their special seeds to my wife when I took her to my hometown NOSE JEWELRY.
We get a Shakespeare and lots of other stuff. Thank you, JW, and melissa the LOO info was very interesting as was your write up.
SALT-INE crackers.
I await Misty's take on LOO. (nice link, mb!)
Lemon: your link to jewelry got a 404.
FLN: before you check the link, do you recognize the source?
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
Sturm und DRANG, and Donner und Blitzen ...
No STEVE CANYON? I guess GLEN CAMPBELL was more well known. Swift fill for this Hump day.
GAH- new 'written' word for me. I've heard it but never seen it in print. Perped, along with AVA, ASH and ROXIE
USNA CADET? Isn't that what a Midshipman is?
VALETS- I never let them park my car.
COMER- not a rising star but one with the most free publicity. Don't you love it when the news media designates somebody, who has really never done nothing anything, as the latest up and coming 'rising star'. The WSJ had a great article last week about how people are fooled by the up-and-COMERS.
TTP- you left out the HARLEM SHUFFLE.
Had COMEt before COMER but CLEARANCE cleared the way. FIR with WAG solving the ALEXA/ROXIE intersection.
All the keywords are topographical features lower than the surrounding ground.
I wouldn't think much of GAH except I've been told that's my usual grunt when I slice a golf ball about 40 degrees left of where I thought I was aiming.
A Visit from St. Nicholas by either Clement Clark Moore or Henry Livingston, Jr.
QOD - "Chaque foutue chose que tu fais dans cette vie, tu dois payer" (Google translation of "Every damn fool thing you do in this life you have to pay for") - Last words of Édith Piaf née Édith Giovanna Gassion, 19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963)
FIR, but erased face for NAILS, logo for SEAL, item for WORD and ito for INO.
I almost gave up on this one because I had trouble getting a foothold, and I have a ton of stuff to do. But I saw that it is a JeffWech and decided to continue for a while. Before I knew it I was done!
I wanted "husband" for "one taking home orders" but it wouldn't fit. King Coleman was before my time. And I thought of the old folk song:
Sturmmin' on the old banjo!
Singin' fee, fie, fiddly-i-o
Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o-o-o-o
Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o
Sturmmin' on the old banjo.
What? It's "strummin'? Never mind. BITCH! (my apologies to the late Gilda Radner)
Thanks to JeffWech for another stellar puzzle. My favorites were "often-painted body part" for NAIL (never been to Fantasy Fest, Jeff?) and "restaurant workers with lots of keys" for VALETS. Least favorites were DRANG and USNA CADET. And thanks to melissa for your NORMAL excellent review.
Walk in the park today. No unknowns. I found the "deep" theme with valley and gorge. Thanks, Jeffrey. Interesting expo, mb, especially the discussion of LOO. New to me that alley oop might be from French, "allez hop". I knew of the basketball term and the comic page character, though.
Sturm and drang brings back memories of German lit. claas. Nowadays it commonly means turmoil.
My mom's favorite flower was lily of the valley. She wanted it for her wedding bouquet in July, but it was not available in the summer in 1935. She went the other direction and had long gladioli.
ORT is almost always used in the plural, except in crosswords. ORTS.
I like the clever ads, Nothing runs like a DEERE, and It's hard to stop a Trane.
As kids we used to love to watch maple seeds spin like helicopters rotors. We also put them on our noses. My MIL called the seeds NOSES.
Because VIP is not pronounced to rhyme with tip and each letter is said separately, VIPs as a plural makes sense.
One of the comic strip characters always says, GAH!" Could it be Cathy?
I liked "Chicago" with Renee as Roxie.
Good to hear from you, Hondo. Please chime in as often as you can.
Lemonade,
I'm doing fine, since you asked... and getting busier all the time. One of the hazards of being involved in local causes added to my long-term pursuits. Add to that our younger son is now (at 39) finally engaged to a wonderful lady with 2 young daughters, who loves to host and entertain us frequently. I still attempt the CW on weekdays, but rarely visit the blog unless to check on answers I had trouble with, or to reassure myself that others had problems too.
I agree that all days of the week are becoming more challenging, and sometimes Tuesday feels like the old Fridays. Also, I'm starting to more frequently have trouble just thinking of words that should be totally familiar to me. Then I need perp help to get started on them. Sometimes the easiest clues for me are those involving French or German. Incidentally, it was good to see Melissa's exposé on Sturm und Drang today (no Umlaut needed on Sturm! TTP).
We still travel frequently too, not only to visit the kids in Germany, but also working off a long bucket list. My DH is still working, officially at 70%, but coming home on his full days at 7pm or later, it feels like 120%, and now even he is starting to use the "R" word more often. Good thing he's free to take time off whenever he wants, hence the travel opportunities.
I hope everyone here has a wonderful holiday season, especially C.C. and Boomer, and that 2019 brings you all you could wish for!
I always look forward to a JW puzzle, no matter what day of the week, as it will always be a fun and challenging mix. 8D SALTINE, always in the pantry, anything goes well on them.
I actually say GAH quite often which must mean I'm often frustrated.
Billocohoes, I think you meant hook for hitting your golf ball to the left of where you were aiming. Unfortunately, I do both.
Favorite JW misdirection, 6A NAIL.
Good Morning:
How fitting that our favorite Word Wizard wows us on a Wednesday! I wasn't sure where Mr. Weschler was headed with this, but Gully turned the light on. No unknowns but a few w/os: Hit/URL, Etta/Ella, and Comet/Comer, which had a super misdirection clue. I liked the Ore/Oar homophones and the Ore/Oil clecho. I think Gah may be more of a British expression. Agog was one of my mother's favorite words, along with Grand. (Hi Madame Defarge and CanadianEh!)
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a midweek treat and thanks, Melissa, for a very informative summary. Any recent photos of precious Jaelyn?
PK, you and Mr. Sandman must be on the outs again!
Hondo, nice to hear from you. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family. I hope Casey gets lots of treats from Santa Paws!
I'm still a little off kilter but thanks for all the kind words of concern.
Have a great day.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.
Puzzle went pretty good for a Wednesday. The theme was fine. Got them all easily.
I believe ERAT, as a proof word, was intended as a part of Q.E.D., Quod Erat Demonstrandum. That which is to be demonstrated.
Liked the LOO discussion and various sources. The 100 sounds most logical to me. My two cents.
DRANG was with perps.
ALEXA was easy. We have two of those units (Echos). They are really great.
COMER was accurate, but tough to arrive at. Some perps helped.
Lots to do today. Cooking for 30 tonight.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and melissab.
Wow, I completed a JW CW in good time with just a couple of ink blots.
I had Holly Golly before that GULY matched the theme. (No chasms today, just minor indentations.)
Hand up for Comet before the STAR DIMmed. But I did get ALEXA quickly.
I am also more familiar with messy Maple keys than ASH.
Minor seasonal theme with the BASTED turkeys (and probably plenty of ORTs) producing wonderful ODOuR (aroma would have been better.) Add some HERBs and spices like NUTMEG (but not catnip if you value your tree!) and the Lilt of Christmas tunes. Plus there was an ELF that SAT on the shelf. (Actually on the GULLEY- look for it,)
Christmas greetings to Hondo and kazie. Thanks for stopping by the Corner today.
Wishing you all a great day.
GJ, no I meant slice, I just should've said right (or pretended I'm actually left-handed)
BE, yes entrants at the USNA and Merchant Marine are appointed as Midshipmen. Cadet is the equivalent rank in the Army and Air Force.
Good morning! Thank you Jeffrey and Melissa for the interesting start to the morning.
The puzzle went quickly but there was an interruption from SIL with boxes they took from our porch while we were traveling. We have quite a delivery system. Our elderly neighbor is so fearful of something being stolen that she calls our daughter the minute something is left at our door. Then, my daughter picks up the boxes and puts them in the garage or takes them with her if she is in a hurry. For some I just have the packages delivered to my daughter if I know we are to be away. It is safer and causes the poor woman across the street less stress.
The Alley Oop history was ineresting. It also brought to mind the song from my younger days: Alley Oop Oop.
I did have one nit. The students at the Naval Academy are already Midshipmen. The cadets are at West Point.
If you are in the midst of celebration planning, my best wishes for all going smoothly.
InTerestng, not not whatever I posted. Now, autocorrect is changing it every time!
Musings
-A three-day sub job just popped up because a science teacher got WORD her new adopted baby was born today in Texas
-Jeffrey’s gimmick was even obvious to me
-ELI is in the twilight of his career
-I SAT the bench while my high school won two state championships
-RO_IE/ALE_A took some thinking
-Your first chip full of SALSA can be a big surprise
-Maple tree helicopters fill roof gutters in our town
-URL – we started say http://www.usatoday.com, then www.usatoday.com and now just usatoday.com
-MIL’s license is not VALID until she is 100
-I was disappointed to learn DEERE does not make push mowers anymore
-Granddaughter called yesterday saying she got a full-time job. The employer said she was probably going to get the job anyway but when the leader of the State Democratic Party called sing her praises…
Aah, a Wednesday JeffWech (sounds like sandwich) I can get my teeth into!
Finished with 4 WAGs that were all borne out by perpage, (RoXie/AleXa etc...)
However, I never saw the countryside theme?
Interesting Blog write too, VIP Vs VIPS?
Very interesting... Is it superfluous?
I Googled, but got stopped by this Lil' item titled Commentary would be superfluous...
We have a lack of Ash trees, and an abundance of Maple trees here in New Jersey, so
Maple would have been the answer of choice for helicopter seeds. But a little research
does reveal that Ash does have aeronautical seeds...
Of note, in watching the Ash tree video, about half way you run into a comparison
of Ash seeds to Maple seeds. And near the end that they both came from a frankentree!
Etch? Permanent? Bob Ross would have argued that one...
Hope to be back to play later with some "actual" silliness,
like Loo/Lav. I have been going thru my archive of saved links.
(I have more saved links than Picard has pictures...)
One of which was a documentary about toilets, starting with an outhouse
that had a bucket of fireplace ashes and a scoop.
Apparently, the ashes were used over #2 to keep the flies out.
(Ash seeds over this scenario would have been a disaster...)
However, it seems it was not a link, but a cable TV on demand episode
(who would demand this???)
So I cannot post it.
(lucky you...)
I did it! But it wasn’t pretty. So many write-overs I can hardly see the answers. Thanks, Jeffrey, for a special challenge. Too many wonderful words to mention, like CADRE crossing CADET, and VALLEY crossing VALET, ORE and OAR and ORT.
I got the theme words but didn’t appreciate how low JW had gone. Such a clever theme with many layers of interest.
FARMER IN THE DELL was a gimme after suffering through several grandchildren playing it endlessly. At the time I was bored with it , but seeing it today brought back fond memories.
Owen, all A’s!
IM: The sandman and I will never ever go steady.
I finished the entire puzzle before I had any idea what the theme was about. I saw VALLEY, GULLY and DELL. Missed the leading ones GORGE and GLEN. It seemed a bit weak as a theme, but I still enjoyed the puzzle.
The SE was a bit of a Natick challenge with AVA, ALEXA, ROXIE, ARLES, but hazy memories and a WAG gave me a FIR!
Has anyone ever used the word ORT or heard anyone else use it? I never have.
At the March for Science last year, there was this chant:
What do we want?
Evidence based science!
When do we want it?
After PEER REVIEW!
Here is the PEER REVIEW chant on a sign!
Across the Golden Gate Bridge, the highway passes through the ROBIN WILLIAMS Tunnel. The tunnel has rainbows. I had some ideas why, but I was not sure. Now I know!
Here is the story of the rainbows at the ROBIN WILLIAMS Tunnel entrance.
In San Francisco most parking involves VALETS. Just not enough room for self parking.
My friend Melanie does NAIL art for a living. Here she is with her own NAIL art.
I never heard the "CHEESE STANDS ALONE" line. Anyone else?
This puzzle was so much fun!
Happy Wechsler Wednesday!
I love JW's puzzles and this one hit the like-o-meter to the top!
Hand up for HURLYGURLY. That and logo/SEAL were my only writeovers. I don't recall that particular dance. But then in the 60s I was living in a much sheltered place.
ROXIE came easily. This household of dance afficionadas (yes, fem.) love dance movies and Chicago tops the list.
REDLIPS and NAIL induced a chuckle. My NAILs are almost always RED.
Well done, Melissa; thank you!
Kazie and Hondo, best wishes to you for a joyous holiday!
I'm late today because of an eventful night but not what you might be thinking. Since Friday I have been wearing a heart monitor as part of a study. Initially it was hardly noticeable but each day it itched slightly then last night about 11 the itching increased dramatically. When I looked in the mirror the area surrounding it was red and blisters were developing. I called the number given, talked to a nice lady who advised me to remove the device and send it back. Whew! What a relief.
I hope you have an exceptional day, everyone!
CrossEyed Dave yes you probably will win with your links! I love them!
From yesterday:
Wilbur Charles thanks for the ATL temperature explanation. I also was familiar with the ATL being cold. That is why it was such a treat to have the warm OCEAN water of the ATL in NORTH CAROLINA!
AnonT glad you enjoyed the Santa kayaker and the fireworks show! The Boat Parade in Oxnard is actually much better than ours in Santa Barbara. I have a bunch of photos from last year, but I apparently never edited or posted them. Perhaps if there is interest I will do so.
TTP yes, I found the same information about MUSSEL vs MUSCLE spelling. Standardized spelling is surprisingly recent. I wonder if MUSSEL and MUSCLE have a common etymology for a reason. They both come from the Latin musculus.
Here is DO THE HULLY GULLY
Never heard of this. But it sounds very similar to other songs of that era. A simple chord progression. I was just one year old at the time.
I love Jeffrey Wechsler puzzles but worried that this Wednesday would be a real toughie for me. It was for a while since I had trouble in the north and mid-east, but in the end it all fell into place, once I realized the FLY came after and not before house and horse. I had a happy start though because my German helped me get DRANG and ULM. And although I never got the theme until I came to the blog, everything else worked. I even got ALEXA though I don't use her or Siri. One other problem I had was having ERGO before ERAT for a while. Anyway, fun puzzle--many thanks, as always, Jeffrey. And thank you too for the always delightful commentary, Melissa.
So why on earth would I be interested in LOO, Owen? That puzzled me until I checked your link. I've been a James Joyce scholar for over fifty years, but never heard or read anywhere that he might have come up with the word. Still, I bet he'd be pleased to get credit for that.
Have to run to a doctor's appointment. Have a great day, everybody.
Lucina, a year ago I had to wear a heart monitor for a month. You know the kind...with four (or was it six?) attached leads that you stick to your chest and abdomen. I was supposed to wear it constantly, except when bathing. In the middle of the night, one of the leads would become unstuck and it would start screaming like a banshee, rousing me from a sound sleep. I ripped the wires out of it and gave it a time-out in the pantry for that misbehavior. The "screaming" occurred on multiple occasions. It'd scream if a lead became detached. It'd scream if it wanted to be recharged. It'd scream if you attached a lead in the wrong location. I think sometimes it screamed just for the helluvit. The thing was so needy and whiny that I named it "Baby Trump." I was so happy when the day finally arrived when I could disconnect and send it back from whence it came. It never did reveal any anomalies, so it was all for naught.
I learned a new work, DO. I never knew how to spell helluvit. Thanks
And with auto correct I can’t seem to spell WORD!
Regarding the plural of VIP, there other case to consider (which I think leads to the conclusion that adding s to an initialism makes sense). Initialisms where the something other than the last letter stands for the noun sound more natural with an s (points of view, runs batted in).
I have a slight quibble with having etre and erat in the same puzzle. This seems to border on using different forms of the same word. While they are in different languages, they're clearly related.
d-o:
LOL! I'm sorry but your experience sounds much worse than mine and the device, too, sounds more complicated. The one I wore is a small box, about 1 1/2" X 2" with two winglike adhesives spreading outwardly. That, I believe, is what caused the itching. But thankfully, no whining or screaming!
34 A could become LOL
42 A could become ARAL
29 D could become LOLL
38 A could become GAL
This would maintain the theme and the rest of the grid without using ERAT.
Valley? but we just got here?
Gully definition: A water-worn ravine...
Yeah, I know, It's all funny until some one loses an eye...
Glen
Farmer in the Dell?
Sorry for the delay,
I often fall into the YouTube Rabbit hole,
but today I fell a lot deeper...
Hmm, farmer in the Dell,
I wonder if I should have titled the last link
"skip to my loo?"
Picard
"Has anyone ever used the word ORT or heard anyone else use it? I never have."
NEITHER HAVE I. Only in crossword puzzles
"I never heard the "CHEESE STANDS ALONE" line. Anyone else?"
Also new to me.
ORT? Never.
The farmer in the dell (2x)
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
...
The farmer takes a wife ...
The wife takes the child ...
The child takes the nurse ...*
The nurse takes the cow ...*
The cow takes the dog ...
The dog takes the cat ...
The cat takes the mouse ...
The mouse takes the cheese ...
The cheese stands alone.
*I don't recall these two, but I guess it all depends on how many children are in the circle.
I couldn't sing all the verses, but I do remember the cheese standing alone. It was Limburger, as I recall.
This grandma and one time kindergarten teacher says, "If you play singing games with tots you have sung, "The cheese stands alone." You techies and science types have your field of expertise; we have ours. PS I never heard it was limburger, which BTW is appreciated by this cheese loving family.
Why all the sturm und drang over ERAT? We have all the sturm und drang we can handle with each news cycle. As Abejo said, "I believe ERAT, as a proof word, was intended as a part of Q.E.D., Quod Erat Demonstrandum. That which is to be demonstrated." This is a well know quotation and ERAT appears frequently in crosswords, as does ETRE. Since these words are in different languages, it does not bother me, but then, I am not much of a purist in any field. The older I get the more I think, "Whatever floats your boat." I am more into advocating for looser constructions.
ORT or ORTS is old fashioned and not much used in everyday speech. I like to read historical novels, where one finds all these old expressions.
CED, LOL at all of them. You never lose your touch.
Canadian Eh! I liked your seasonal theme.
I remember seeing the Hully Gully during my senior year in college. That type of dance was no longer my cuppa tea. Neither my fiance nor I were into it at that point. We spent our spare time playing bridge among other things. LOL
I thought some of the baseball talk would lure Hondo in
I had COMET. Especially since the stars fall as quickly as they rise
Oops, there's Bill V with the same. I was tied up with the VA all day
I never saw the theme either. All in all reasonable A Wesch-Wed
Farmer... There are things that stayed the same for a century and then TV and the modern world came along. I'm a '44-62* . I think we played the same games the same way as the Boston kids born in 1844.
WC
* Like Misty and others in here
What is a 44-62?
Pretty sure that means born in '44 and graduated H.S. in '62. Whew, I'm not that old...
I believe Wilbur means he was born in 1944 and graduated from high school in 1962. Correct me if I'm wrong, Wilbur; sometimes I have trouble understanding your allusions too.
NorthwestRunner:
Have you considered constructing your own grid?
I agree with YR in her comments about ERAT and ETRE. They are in different languages and in a different context.
As for ORTS, it can be found in period literature so if a person never reads that kind of material, it will always be unfamiliar. Many of the words in puzzles are often not used in everyday speaking. We would be the poorer if it were so limited.
Yes, you're right, Wilbur and Sandyanon.
Hi All!
D-O & OKL: Scooch over and make room on the Group-FIW bench for -T. I too had ROsIE and thought I learnt a new word w/ ALEsA.
Thanks JW for the very crunchy Wednesday - your puzzles always bring a pleasant (and sometimes frustrating!) drip of Aha!s. I caught the theme at FARMER IN THE DELL [nailed it w/ just the F!] and looking at my other filled theme - LILLY OF THE VALLEY [nailed /w just the first L!] The other 3 themers took much longer to suss.
Thanks mb for the expo. I spent too long in the LOO link. See, the tagline "Home of Fine Hypertext Products" made me search for 'who is this?'. They've been around since the 90s? How is it I've missed KOTTKE.org for so long? I also liked the analog Palm Pilot.
WOs: missed the plural at 10d, so, needing and extra letter, put two Ts in VALLETt; I fixed that my SELF. Hit for Google search b/f URL (Hi IM!). NEC b/f NCR.
ESPs: DRANG, GAH(? really?) ETRE, ARLES, AER, ULM, RO-IE.
WAGs: ENYA, AVA (thought about eVe too)
Fav: The clecho for OIL & ORE was cute. //Oil (Brent) is down again today but WTI* was up... [Oy!, my suffering stocks]
{B, C+, A} //thanks for the link on coursers - never knew that.
Hondo, Kazie! How nice to see yous at The Corner!
Picard - You said Robin Williams and I saw the rainbows and thought "'Mork & Mindy' suspenders"... Alas, not why they painted a rainbow.
Jinx - that's I've Been Working on the Railroad.
CED - Now I gotta go back and watch the side-link "Where I got my mercury."
Cheers, -T
*West Texas Intermediate crude. Trades ~$10 less/bbl than Brent (North Sea crude). My employer plays both Resources.
Hello everyone.
Jeff on Tuesday - - nice treat. Enjoyed the breadth of fill and the theme although MB helped flesh out the themes nuances for me. No searches were needed.
Sorry for overdoing the umlauts. Sturm (storm) is correct. But the verb, to storm, is stürmen. If you've seen "The Battle of the Bulge" you've heard the German tankers sing "Ob's stürmt oder schneit; ,Ob die Sonne uns lacht,………"
In Syracuse today for semiannual post check-up on melanoma removal 2 years ago. Long story short, all OK; and check-uos interval extended to once a year.
OOps, I meant - - Jeff on Wednesday. (It's been a long day.
CC. Forgot to mention, I was keeping station on a Graybar truck while driving into Syracuse. Thought of Boomer.
I've been waiting for several weeks for the next rocket launch from Vandenberg. It's been postponed several times. It's on for tonight in a couple of minutes. Whoops, it's seriously cloudy. Rats!
Small world dept.
I was talking with my wife about our ALEXA this morning--precisely when I found myself filling her name in at 50D.
We have to be careful about saying her name for fear of stirring her into life unintentionally.
When we are not addressing her directly, we refer to her as "She-who-must-not-be-named." Even so, when a TV ad comes on touting her virtues, it can wake her up--and sometimes drive her nuts.
"I'm sorry; I don't understand. I'm sorry; I don--"
~ OMK
The clouds lifted. I struggled down the stairs and went outside to wait hopefully. Alas, it was not to be. Scrubbed again until tomorrow. Curses!
Prescience? I'll give you prescience. Yesterday I'd just finished the xword and opened the blog (at Winn Dixie where the coffee I'd free and I can get free WiFi too)
I was next to the wine and I heard "What is Presentation". And right then I have a link in front of me about Somneliers and Presentation. Uncanny.
Btw. The owner of the voice could care less about my Google link.
WC
WC - yeah. And I just mentioned Galveston last night [with no connection to GLEN CAMPBELL]...
BillG - I just read in the business pages that it's a 9,700lb GPS-III sat (with bad(?) capacitors) that was to be launched. Get a snap when it finally goes up! (Picard, are you close enough to take a pic?).
CED - You Rat Bastar... That CodysLab LAV link flushed 2+ hours down the toilet. Somehow I ended up on Mark Rober's channel [Throwing cards - 11:32] for another hour. Your Rabbit Hole runs deep. Thanks!
Cheers, -T
WC - I just re-read my post and realized it may "sound" or, have the tone of, toss-off-ish.
It's not; I was agreeing w/ you. I think it's the breadth of stuff in an xword that we can, most daily, say "I was just!!!!..." But who knows? we may really be intuits :-)
So the listener didn't give a rat's patoot about Presentation even after asking?
D4 - still reading? How you doin'?
Cheers, -T
MBee:
Thank you for the fun today!
We made it through the day without anyone noticing the date on today's write is incorrect. Today was the 19th.
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