Today is a natural fit for the many tea connoisseurs on this site. This is one of many areas where my tastes are quite plebeian and can be satisfied with generic Lipton that you can see my green friend savoring below. I can hear C.C. and Steve roll their eyes right now! My mother's stock remedy for a cold was tea and toast.
Our neighbor did bring us a large supply of Tazo tea for minding her house while she was in Minneapolis and it is delicious as well. Do you have a favorite?
Our neighbor did bring us a large supply of Tazo tea for minding her house while she was in Minneapolis and it is delicious as well. Do you have a favorite?
Today's constructor is our Canadian friend Craig Stowe. I last blogged one of his wonderful themeless Saturday puzzles on U.S. Navy Day October 13, 2018. My start today was in the SW and then built quickly to a satisfying "got 'er done"
Across:
1. Likelihood of success: PROSPECTS - Kids are quickly learning what training or degrees greatly increase their PROSPECTS of success
10. __ change: CHUMP - CHUMP change to me and Warren Buffet are two very different commodities
15. Ritz offering: HOTEL ROOM - Segue - Speaking of famous people from Omaha, Fred Astaire had a big hit in 1946 with this Irving Berlin song written in 1927 about the opulent Ritz apartment/hotel at 465 Park Avenue in NYC.
16. Award, say: HONOR.
17. Confides in: OPENS UP TO - Be careful what info you solicit
18. Invest, as with a quality: ENDUE - Not a common word for me
19. Word reportedly coined in Seuss' "If I Ran the Zoo": NERD - At the time it was just an silly imaginary animal - And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo/And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep, and a Proo,/A Nerkle, a NERD, and a Seersucker too!"
20. Glimpse: PEEK - What is the kitty glimpsing?21. Ideal places: EDENS.
22. Puts on the right track: ORIENTS - My legally blind friend must be ORIENTED for every golf shot but does very well!
24. Trade talk subjects: EXPORTS
26. Qtr. components: MOS - Your estimated tax payments for the 2018's fourth QTR are due in the MO of January, 2019
27. 1991 political thriller with eight Oscar nominations: JFK - Rotten Tomatoes consensus: "As history, Oliver Stone's JFK is dubious, but as filmmaking it's electric"
28. It may be flat: FEE - Not TAX as it turns out
29. Latin 101 word: AMAT - A fun one-minute chant
31. Sensitive subjects: SORE SPOTS.
34. It doesn't require a long answer: QUICK QUESTION.
36. One may include three kings: FULL HOUSE - Appropriate in the season of Epiphany?
37. Official records: ACTA - Learned (and almost forgotten) in cwd's
38. Chinese zodiac critter: RAT - The next Year Of The Rat is 2020
39. Hit in a box: BAT - This batter is out because his foot is completely out of the batter's box when he contacted the ball
40. Cartoonist Browne: DIK - When Mort Walker spun off Hi and Lois from his Beetle Bailey strip (Lois was Beetle's sister), he recruited Dik to do the art work while he came up with the gags. Dik eventually started his own iconic strip Hagar.
41. Flies: AVIATES.
44. Party store stock: PINATAS - Paul Coulter's Sunday's puzzle clued this as "One getting smashed at a bash"
48. British bishop's topper: MITRE - Some will recognize this MITRE-wearing bishop who had his own 1950's TV show. Answer at the bottom *49. Hustles: HIES - Lady Macbeth to Macbeth - Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear (Hurry home, so I can talk to you)
51. Essence: CORE.
52. Conservatory exercise: ETUDE - This looks like some serious exercise
53. Strength, in a "1984" slogan: IGNORANCE - Explanation of all three
55. Gas that glows when condensed: RADON - It is usually not made to glow because it is so radioactive
56. Connected on LinkedIn, say: NETWORKED - It seems to make it easier to make a connection in the business world; much like Match.com does in the dating world.
57. Clairvoyants: SEERS - A mathematician at Temple University coined the phrase "Jean Dixon Effect" where an occasional correct prediction by someone like Jeane Dixon is celebrated and their many wrong ones are overlooked
58. Family guys: GRANDDADS - A proud appellation for many here!
Down:
1. Player of singles: PHONO - Mine was always stacked pretty high!
2. Rodeo competitor: ROPER - A hard event for me to watch
3. "Scary Movie" actress Cheri: OTERI - She is not on this poster and is listed way down in the credits. Fellow SNL cheerleader with Ferrell must have seemed too easy for Rich on a Saturday
6. Goes off: ERUPTS which 13. The Italians call it Mongibello: MOUNT ETNA - Just last Christmas Eve
7. Manages: COPES - MIL has COPED with living alone as a widow for over thirty years
8. Lug: TOTE - Before collaborating with Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II wrote "TOTE that barge, lift that bale" for Showboat with Jerome Kern supplying the melody
9. Like many American workplaces: SMOKE FREE and restaurants, airplanes, bowling alleys and best of all for me - teacher's lounges!
10. Pet store sound: CHEEP.
11. 1953 John Wayne film: HONDO - Also a CSO to our Skip
12. In the way: UNDERFOOT - One day of Kindergarten subbing cured me
25. Classic sports cars: XKES - In my teens our town's only doctor drove what is easily the most 23. Top-__: NOTCH vehicle seen there then and since
27. Tilter's milieu: JOUST - Henry II famously lost an eye and subsequently died after a JOUST in 1559
30. Legion: MULTITUDE.
31. Suppressing: SQUASHING.
32. Soil: STAIN.
33. Magician's directive: PICK A CARD - A cool trick. Give it 30 seconds
35. Asian beef source: KOBE - If you are willing to pay $350 for KOBE beef, you can get this steak in The Old Homestead Steakhouse in NYC even though it is not on the menu. My lovely bride would 40. Repudiate: DISOWN me if I ordered it
36. Constitution bigwigs: FRAMERS - Legislators and judges have twisted and turned the 18th century words chosen 230 years ago
42. Passion: ARDOR.
44. Prefix with gram: PENTA - Religious symbolism in many sects including wiccans
45. Maker of the Mighty Dump: TONKA - 1960's toy nirvana! (Name came from Lake MinneTONKA)
46. Curving: ARCED - This blindfolded Globetrotter ARCED the ball perfectly
47. Cluster of sunflowers: SEEDS - They are so closely associated with ball players, they are in every dugout in bags or...
50. Disney CEO since 2005: IGER - He has announced that a Star Wars Land will open at Disney Studios in Orlando this year at a cost of a billion dollars after some older attractions are demolished. I may have to make my 41st visit.
54. Angling need: ROD - Equipped with a reel
*Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is the MITRE wearer
61 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks To Craig and Gary!
FIR. Another miracle! Perped were: ENDUE, NERD, JFK, and MT.ETNA.
It's pouring here again.
Have a great day!
Good puzzle. Thanks for explaining PLSTY for me. I'm not fluent in textese.
'Got hung up in the NW when I confidently put DIRECTS in 22 across, but eventually got reoriented,and everything fell together!
New one for me: enDue.
Well I got thru this one with no spell checks for Ballet dancer names and such......
Took me a while to finish the North West corner though..... I had Tells it to for Opens up to.... Same thing but a different spelling.....
Then I wanted Upper room or finer room for the Ritz clue........ Then I wanted Repents for Orients.....
I was at a loss for PLS.. I don't text a lot and when I do I don't use the text LINGO... I knew Send E Mail was in order so I just worked the brain and finally got thru it all.....
Framers was baffling me but everything else fit so I got the Tada when I finally put PHONO in.....
Raining again over here in Cajun Country, we sure didn't need it......
Put your Muck boots on Hathoola you gonna need them to go in your garden.....
Bon Matin from Cajun Country ...........
Good morning. Thank you Husker Gary and thank you Craig Stowe.
Husker Gary, my solid start was in the SW as well, with AVIATES, MITRE, ETUDE and SEERS. That gave me enough to fill FRAMERS and MagNITUDE, which quickly changed to MULTITUDE with RAT.
Unlike you, I didn't build quickly from there. I pieced it all together, step by step in a whopping 1 hour, 22 minutes and 16 seconds.
Craig, I really enjoyed the solve and cluing. Might have solved it quicker but Tatort: Borowski was on the MHz channel.
I had AQUA VITAE and was confident with the perps. New to me, I think. It just looked wrong and I thought it was one word.
IGER, TONKA and ARCED provided a solid foundation for the southeast, ROD and PICK A CARD followed, but it still took some time to correctly figure out that section.
In the middle, "Tilter's mileau" gave me JOUST, and then JFK made me change vets (s/b vettes) to XKES. That was enough to get SMOKEFREE (had to ditch espy for "glitch") and EXPORTS. CHirP had to change to CHEEP with EDENS and CHUMP gave me HONDO which led to PRESSES and MOUNT ETNA (had to change ACTs to ACTA with that one).
Had to change SENDs MAIL to SEND EMAIL in the NW. Argued with myself that "Correspond, in a way" could support the plural sends until ORIENTS mandated the change. There is wite-out all over my screen ! Had the same argument with "Likelihood of success" and PROSPECTS, but already had the S from SMOKE.
All's well that ends well.
Good morning Gary and all who are reading. This was another doable Saturday, I guess I was ENDUED with enough skill to solve the puzzle, even if I have never heard that word. I did appreciate the CSO to all of us GRANDDADS; thank you, Craig.
We got our first television around 1956 and I remember seeing BISHOP SHEEN and his LIFE WORTH LIVING SHOW . It was the inspiration for what I recall was my first attempt at poetry.
My mother Irene
Keeps our clothes clean
Using her Speed Queen
Watching Bishop Sheen.
We did have this WASHER
Have a good weekend all. I know our Louisiana contingent is rooting for New Orleans, our Texas people for Dallas, the usual New England Fans but do we have any for the RAMS the CHARGERS or the EAGLES? Or the COLTS and the CHIEFS ?
Good morning!
Only one write-over on my road to victory: IMBUE/ENDUE -- methinks IMBUE is more common. Was a little worried about that "Mighty Dump" maker. Husker, thanx for 'splainin' PLS-TY. Craig, well done. I always like a puzzle that's challenging, but satisfying. Nice expo, as usual, Husker. (I did recognize Fulton J Steamboat.)
KOBE: We were treated to KOBE beef in KOBE back in '69. A shirt-tail cousin who was posted there by Price-Waterhouse treated us to "a little lunch."
RITZ: Why did Andy Griffith head for the hotel roof? Because everything's better when it sits on a Ritz.
QTR: Roughed out our taxes, and was pleasantly surprised to find that we can skip the 1/15/19 quarterly estimate.
Lemonade, I don't have any dog in that race, but I suspect folks around Houston would root for New Orleans (or even New England) before they'd root for Dallas. There's not a lot of love there.
Thought was easy for a Saturday, no red letters or Google. SE was last to fall, had Mateo before Tonka appeared. Had Iler before ignorance forced me to revise.
That's Matel
After I finished the puzzle-incorrectly I might add- I kept wondering what a SMOREFREE workplace was. I Peeked at all the crosses and PEER seemed reasonable for 'Glimpse' when used as a verb. Shot myself in the foot.
PLS before TY; I had to just look at it because the crosses were so solid. I had no idea and really don't care about text abbreviations and acronyms. AQUA VITAE was all perps; never heard of it (neither had TTP).
MOUNT ETNA was a WAG after I changed ACTS to ACTA.
JFK the movie- young people who learn history from movies turn into clueless adults. Ditto for most historical movies and television shows. To say that the directors have political agendas would be an understatement. Then you show Jean Dixon, whose claim to fame was predicting the JFK assassination.
NERD- I never heard the word until I was in my 30's when my bosses wife called her cousin one and I had to ask her what it meant.
Bob Niles- you still spelled it wrong. It's Mattel, not Matel.
Good morning all and thanks Craig Stowe and Husker Gary for a fine puzzle and review.
Doable but had to change Fathers to FRAMERS and Xles to XKES.
FIR
Started with FULLHOUSE in the sw and went around clockwise to finish with the I in HIES and IGER.
No SORESPOTS but I agree Mattel is the maker of TONKA trucks . When the Kiddies were young we often shopped for toys by Mattel .
Cheers
Eau de vie (French) = AQUA VITAE (Latin) = water of life (English) = uisge beatha (old Scottish Gaelic) from which uisge became whisky.
Couldn't stop thinking of Ritz crackers, took a long time in the NW. DIK and PICK A CARD opened up the SE.
Started out slowly, but once I got going was able to finish fairly quickly for a Saturday. Nice, fair puzzle.
Another frigid day in VT. Clear, crisp blue skies, and fresh snow, so very pretty - looking out my window!
WOW! A Thursday puzzle on a Saturday. No unheard of fill. Mount Etna was the sticking point in the NE, but I was sure of ENDUE which led to MOUNT, so I FIR.
HG, hand up, my mom's go-to meal for sick kids was tea and toast, too. I prefer black tea, such as Lipton. I don't care much for herbals. I will occasionally drink green tea at Chinese or Japanese restaurants. Most of our tea making at home is iced Lipton or similar black tea all year round.
We had a washer similar to the one pictured. When I was 10 or 12 I got my long hair stuck in the wringer. I screamed and my mother came running and pulled the plug. My dad lifted me up and they cut off that chunk of hair at the scalp. The rest was trimmed to look neat. I went on a Girl Scout outing right afterward while my mom's heart was calming down.
I would never pay the price for Kobe beef. I can't believe it would be special enough to be worth over $300, although I love steak.
Rereading the article on 1984 sounds very plausible these days.
HG, I'll trade you a middle school class for a kindergarten class any day. Five year olds are so eager to learn and enthralled about everything. What you see is what you get, no hidden motives. You can see the results of your teaching practically overnight.
Thank you Swamp Cat, Anonymous T, Misty, Lucina, IM and PK for your kind thoughts. That is really all I need, a chance to give voice to my concern and to see that I am not alone. I visited Alan last night and he was calm and happy in the closed environment. I briefly mentioned he could now get help for his worries, just that one sentence. He immediately clouded up and said he didn't like to talk about that. So I went back to happy talk and will let the pros handle it. I am sure the impending move has a lot to do the present stress. Yesterday on the phone a nurse in his unit said it took her and her son 2 years to go through the group home process.
Maybe I can finally complete my boxing up today.
According to Wikipedia, Tonka actually did make Tonka trucks for many years. Then, "In 1987, Tonka purchased Kenner Parker, including UK toy giant Palitoy, for $555 million, borrowing extensively to fund the acquisition. However, the cost of servicing the debt meant Tonka itself had to find a buyer and it was eventually acquired by Hasbro in 1991." I believe Hasbro still makes Tonka trucks.
Can anyone explain how the "remember your card" trick at 33 Down works? It's driving me (more) nuts! Thanks to anyone who's less gullible than I?
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Craig, for a fun meaty Saturday puzzle with no obscure names. Thanks, Gary, for another great expo.
Favorite entry: SMOKEFREE. I'm so bloomin' allergic.
5d. I tried ParTY. No idea what PLS was when it perped in.
I have trouble remembering the names of cartoonists. Tried Bil before DIK perped in.
Clues for MOUNT ETNA & JFK left me waiting for perps too.
Never had enough money to think any of it as CHUMP change. I guess all of my carefully hoarded funds would be considered that by people with "real money". I appreciate what I do have a lot more.
My elder son owned & played a lot with both those TONKAS Gary showed. Now he has lots of extra large models to rent out to contractors.
Last fill: "F" and "T" in FEE/FOOT/ACTA crosses. "It may be flat had me thinking of a musical note & B-C-G turned red. Official records = ACTA? Did not know that.
Gary, how does your MIL like her new place?
YR: glad Alan has calmed down. Bodes well for his future move.
Winter wonderland here today. Good news: my magical driveway has no snow on it. The ones across the street have six inches of snow on them.
Barry T, the trick to that card trick is that ALL of the original set of cards has been replaced with similar appearing cards. N matter what card you picked, it's going to be gone. They all are.
Been wondering...... anyone have an up date on Dave, (DEH, I THINK). Last I knew the Docs gave him a pacemaker. If I recall, it was quite awhile ago. Seems like he s/b posting by now.
Looking forward to the NFL playoffs this weekend. Hope the Pats get the "stuff" knocked out of them. Don't have a favorite, but wouldn't mind seeing the Colts come out on top.
Make that "No" in the penultimate sentence.
Musings
-PK, MIL did not move. She became very emotional about staying in her house and she would just be spending $1,800 per month with no benefit for independent living. She has lived by herself over 30 years in that house and couldn’t tolerate moving.
-Barry, as Blue Hen said, the second screen changes all the suits. Thus the Queen of Clubs becomes the Queen of Spades on the second screen and all the other cards simply change from one red or black suit to the other. Your “chosen” card is not on the second screen.
-Lemon, KC is three hours from here and so I like the Royals and Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes alone is worth watching!
Husker: Wonderful, informative write-up. Good job!
Craig: Thank you for a FUN Saturday puzzle.
Fave today, of course, was 29-d, AQUA VITAE ... though I will make mine SCOTCH.
Off to donate blood ... then to Gal Pals to enjoy our 75 degree weather.
Hope that those of you "Up North" are staying warm.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
There was a lot to like about this puzzle including scads of great fill, nifty cluing, and very little three letter fill. It took a while for me to make any significant headway, but once the long fill started appearing, finishing was as smooth as silk. I liked the Erupts/Mount Etna entries, as well as Bat and Rat, and Cheep and Chump. (Sounds a little like Cheech and Chong".) My favorite was the Pick A Card/Full House combo. My only w/o was Alfa before XKEs because I missed the plural cars and, Anonymous T's Alfa just popped into my head. Nice CSO to our own Hondo and to Dudley who Aviates. Filling in Piñata reminded me of Lucina's comment yesterday about their popularity. Not fond of Endue but that's an insignificant nit.
Thanks, Craig, for a truly enjoyable but still challenging solve and thanks, HG, for an extra-special expo. I especially enjoyed the Card Triick (thanks to those who explained it), the lilting Latin lesson, and the itty bitty, pretty kitty! Before Bishop Sheen was on TV, he had a radio program that aired on Sunday afternoons. We had to listen to it so we could answer questions about the sermon in class on Monday.
PK, that insurance/hospital mix-up is unforgivable. I can only imagine the added stress and anxiety that the delay is causing your DIL. I think your prayers will be stored in the prayer bank for next Friday. Best wishes for a successful surgery and rapid recovery. BTW, why is your driveway magical?
YR, I hope Alan's condition improves soon and I hope you don't have too long of a wait getting answers from the state.
Have a great day.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
So, When I read this I learned that today is National Tea Day. I did not know that. Now I do. I am a big tea drinker, having quit coffee years ago. The only tea I drink is Earl Grey. Black tea with Oil of Bergamot. At home I drink loose tea called Earl Grey Bravo. When traveling I usually drink Twinings or Bigelow. I always carry my own bags. I recently found that Lipton has an Earl Grey tea.
Anyhow, to the puzzle. This puzzle was fairly easy for me. Normally Saturdays are not easy at all. Got through it in about an hour and a half, while drinking Earl Grey tea.
Got started in the South and worked upward. QUICK QUESTION and SQUASHING helped a lot. MITRE was easy once I straightened out the RE. I do remember Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Liked the NERD history.
FEE gave me MOUNT ETNA. Then I got ACTA.
I never saw the movie JFK. Sounds like it is worth watching. Might check Netflix for that.
Tried RIK Browne before DIK Browne became obvious.
Snowing lightly here. I think they are getting more south of us.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
This one was faster then most Saturdays for me- I guess a lot of the answers were "in my wheelhouse" I thought it would be harder because I was solving online - it has been snowing for almost 24 hours here ,and isn't done yet, so our paper hasn't been delivered or it is buried under the snow somewhere!
"British" bishop emphasized the answer would be MITRE - the British spelling - so Bishop Sheen's hat would be a miter.(though we sometimes borrow the British to be classy like theatre on some signs.) AQUA VIT terrace is what they called the outdoor terrace/lounge on the Viking river cruise we went on several years ago.
I am rooting for the Chiefs as I grew up in Kansas City! Fortunately they got less snow than we did here, but I'm sure it will still be a cold game and I'm sure they are scrambling to get the snow off the seats! I wish they weren't playing the Colts because I'm also an Andrew Luck fan as he played college ball for my alma mater.
Thanks HG and Craig!
A thirty minute Saturday puzzle! Thank you, Craig Stowe!
It took me as long to solve this as it took the plumber to replace my kitchen faucet and I now have hot water!!!!!
I thought I would be on a roll with QUICKresponse but was getting nowhere and as soon as I erased response, my PROSPECTS improved.
CSO to our HONDO.
New learning that Dr. Seuss coined NERD. He was one himself.
And I liked seeing all of MOUNT ETNA. ERUPTS, too.
Since all the younger generation in my family texts I'm familiar with PLS and TY. Interesting to see SEND E-MAIL there as well.
I only had to change RIDER to ROPER and ENDOW to ENDUE as well as the above mentioned response.
Yes, Gary, I recognized Bishop Sheen immediately. Thank you for all the graphics and top NOTCH blogging you do.
Have a delightful day, everyone! I'm going to run some hot water now!
Good morning everyone.
Got most of it easily enough for a Saturday, but the 5 squares radiating out from #1 stymied me for quite awhile. Finally thought of ORIENTS and tried SEND E-MAIL Tried OTERI thus making HOTEL ROOM likely and the rest then filled in. Since I don't text, PLS took a long while to register. But got'er done which was the main thing. The cluing was fair but pulled at my ability.
Husker - great write-up. Always very educational. BTW - Got Bishop Sheen right away - - He was always on Sunday afternoons on the single channel b&w TV we had in the early 50's. I think one of his last posts was as Bishop of the Rochester, NY diocese.
A very slow start for me with this Saturday challenge! This was one where the long fill was easier than the short fill!
Hand up PLS/TY was a total mystery to me. Filled it to FIR, but mystified! I don't do phones and even if I did I would never text. What an awful human/machine interface to poke with two fingers at a tiny screen! But I did finally figure it out just before reading the review!
Did anyone else think of Beanie Baby Billionaire TY Warner?
Here is an article about TY Warner who lives here. I often bike past his house on perhaps the most beautiful bike path I have ever ridden on.
There is some dispute whether NERD was coined by Dr Seuss. GNURD was the spelling at MIT where we knew them well! At times I was proud to be one!
Husker Gary thanks for the story behind DIK and I loved the Jean Dixon Effect regarding SEERS! It should be a requirement before publishing the latest round of nonsense predictions to enumerate the last round and note how many came true!
My friend Mark Collier is one of the best magicians I have ever seen. He performs at The Palace Grill here regularly.
In the second and third photos Mark is doing the PICK A CARD thing with my brother on Solstice Day.
At a very early birthday party I got a real metal TONKA truck which was probably my most prized birthday party gift ever. What was most interesting is that it came from a school mate who was dirt poor in our rural community. I was very moved by his generosity.
Well, Saturdays are of course toughies for me, but I was very happy that, like others, I got the southwest corner without any trouble. Can't believe that MULTITUDE popped into my brain first, and that gave me AVIATES and ETUDE, and that gave me ARDOR and so on. I also got other words here and there before needing help, and found this a fun Saturday puzzle--many thanks, Craig. And you too, Husker Gary, for your clear and helpful and enjoyable write-up.
When I saw the photo of the Bishop, FULTON, popped into my head. He was an important figure at the time of my youth, but interesting that I remembered his first and not his last name.
Woke up in the middle of the night with horrendous thunder outside and flashes of lightning that jolted me even when my eyes were pretty much closed. Then dry with even a bit of sun this morning, and now rain again. I'm afraid the birds will have to wait for their breakfast until it stops and I can empty the water out of the bird-feeder.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Blue Hen and Husker Gary: Thanks for the explanation. I'm an idiot, lol. :)
Picard, your deep rooted disdain for the smartphone raises it's sad little head once again. It is fascinating to me. I'd love to know why you have this objection towards the technology that most of Earth's denizens find useful and some even necessary? Is it fear of something new? Jealousy that others have it and love it and you dont? Do you feel that it is beneath your standards?
You do realize that many here on the blog use that "awful human/machine interface to poke with two fingers at a tiny screen!" to solve the puzzle, post on the blog and communicate with others off blog. We actually find it much more convenient than using a stand alone computer.
Gary, I'm confused. I thought you had posted about moving your MIL into an assisted living facility. Are you having someone in to help her now or did plans just change?
IM: my driveway is magical because it often clears itself when others on the street don't. It is slanted toward the winter sun and seems to hold more heat so the snow melts as it falls then runs off down the hill. We've had a lot of warm days recently. All the others on the block have about 4-6" accumulation of snow on them as does my lawn.
Anonymous,
I expect that Picard was merely expressing a personal opinion and was not disparaging those for whom a smartphone is a part of everyday life. I share Picard's sentiments and I suspect that a great many Cornerites feel similarly. I suggest it is generational. And for the record, I have a Ph.D in Information Systems and while I have a smartphone, I detest using it for anything except for which its use is essential.
JB2
A fun pzl, with only two cheats to finish.
Owned three Jags in my day, but never an XKE.
Woke up to persistent heavy rains & flooding in our north patio. My wife had to go downstairs in the middle of the night to hold our Golden's paw during a thunder & lightning episode.
Unusual for SoCal. *#@! climate change...
~ OMK
____________
DR: A pair of diags, front & back. The forward diagonal yields an anagram most appropriate to an agreement among senior fellows in a "think tank," a ...
"DEEP CONSENSUS"
Musings
-PK, her age and some issues with her house seemed to make her a great candidate to move into Independent Living. But taking her from a 1,300 sq’. house with many windows to 550 sq’ with two small windows was never going to work once we saw her there.
-The cost to fix her house issues was far less than 4 months at the facility.
-We will check on her daily (I will still mow/water weekly) and make sure she and we both think she is safe.
-This getting old stuff ain’t for sissies, both the elder and the children.
-Thanks for your concern.
If it's raining in California it can't be far behind in AZ. I believe it has been forecast for next week. Already the cloud are forming.
Book Club today so I should get ready. Did I mention my kitchen now has hot water???
Since my NFL team was eliminated back in October I am able to have a sentimental favorite in this weekend's matchups.
I'm rooting for the San Diego Chargers*. More specifically, their QB Philip Rivers. He is old. Not one of these young whippersnappers with their fleet feet and their fast fingers flicking a flatscreen fone. Many consider him as one of the greats to never win a Super Bowl ala Marino, Tarketon, Fouts, Kelly or Moon. I'd like to see him get one. He is a humble man from Alabama who hasnt forgotten his roots. He dresses with plain brown cowboy boots and jeans. A deeply religious man, he devotes a large portion of his life and money to various charities including his own. He has 8 children, soon to be 9, and his family is so important to him that he decided not to move to LA when his team did. Instead he took a large SUV and customized it to house a film study room so he could do his required homework on his long commute to and from his teams facilities while he pays a driver to get him around. Also he had been dominated in the playoffs by a guy named Brady and I tired of seeing the flashy, jet setting, spouse of a supermodel golden boy always getting the victory.
Btw, Philip isn't perfect as his competitvness sometimes gets the best of him. I cringe when a bad call from a ref goes against him and he displays a childlike behavior. I understand it though. When you devote so much blood, sweat and tears to a lifelong goal it is very tough to see human error derail it all in an instant.
Good luck Phillip, I'll be rooting for ya.
*It will be a couple years before I will be able to call them the Los Angeles Chargers.
PK @ 1:03 ~ Thanks for the driveway info. I'll bet your neighbors are envious. We haven't had any serious snowfall since November and, even then, it was only about 5-6 inches. Of course, we have a lot of winter ahead so I'm sure we'll get our share.
I had an XKE as well, a 67 convertible that I bought in 1993. I'm grateful to that car, it taught me that I couldn’t afford “exotics” even if I got one for free, the associated maintenance was priced for the guy who could buy them new and not care what they cost. I’m in a Miata now, could not be happier. Everything is inexpensive on that car, even the go faster parts.
Not too many markovers today as I couldn’t even hazard a guess. Had to start in the SW and move around as I could.
Markovers...SENTEMAIL/SENDEMAIL, ILER/IGER.....I never remember that guy’s name.
Also looking forward to the playoffs, I hope the Rams toast the Cowboys.
See you Monday.
Also I forgot to mention that many don't remember that when Rivers entered the league he sat on the bench behind some guy named Brees. Brees left to be a hero and fine role model himself down in New Orleans. That would be welcomed reunion for those two to meet again in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium* on Super Bowl Sunday.
*I'm sure this will be told ad nauseam between now and Feburary 3rd** but many here might not be aware. Chick-fil-A has a location in the stadium but as their corporate policy dictates, it is not opened on Sundays, so no delicious sandwiches, waffle fries or frozen lemonade will be available.
**I often question the NFL and TV networks' decision to continue to stage the SB on Sundays. There is ample time for the teams to rest, prepare and travel for the game as there is already an extra week for that after the last playoff game. And because the day has morphed into the biggest party day of the year, it would be better for corporate America and colleges to have an extra day for the masses to recover from the revelry. I think the Monday after the game has the largest "call in sick" occurrence of the year.
This one surprised me; I usually take at least half an hour for a Saturday puzzle, and frequently up to 45 minutes or more, but this went down in under 20 minutes. I must have been on Craig’s wavelength today. I did need your explanation, Husker, before PLSTY meant anything to me. I was seeing it as a single "word" PLSTY. Took a while to realize that a person would first use PLS and then later use TY. (Ham radio operators use TU instead of TY when communicating using Morse Code; Y takes much longer to send than U does.)
You call THIS snow? We’ve got maybe 2” down now (still snowing) but my brother, who lives about a hundred miles south of here, has 7” already. Boo. I loves me a good heavy snow!
Sledding, anyone?
Another FIR, rather tough. I wasn't familiar with ACTA nor ENDUE. EMBUE, ENDOW yes. Perps forced me to recheck and tada.
I had inked ARIGHTS < ORIENTS eg classic Saturday fare.
I learned only yesterday that Bishop Sheen co-wrote much of AA 12&12.
Ok. JFK far-fetched? More so than Warren report? As I said, Deighton (LEN) seems to have embedded the inside story in his Sampson books. It is nucm more farfetfar-f than Stone evet dreamed
We had PINATAS yesterday. As the clue. Which replaced WEEDS for Sunflower SEEDS.
John Havlicek got his nickname from the JW movie. It was in 3D.
The usual NE fans? You mean besides me?
Re. BATters box. Kirk Gibson probably stepped out on his historic WS homerun. Ump fortuitously didn't make the call in front of 70000 LAD fans.
DW said "Conure owners think of their parrots as part of the family". I said "ike dogs?". "Oh no, much closer". Misty etal may beg to differ.
I knew the Irish called whiskey water of life but Spitz enlightened me on that.
Mom used to give us hot toddies laced with whiskey, the household AQUAVITAE
Did the Dr's "preeps" CHEEP?
I had to change ROPER to RIDER just recently
Manny Ramirez* called the Ritz home during his stay in Boston.
WC
* The new ownership (2001?) considered his signing a poison pill to delay the purchase. After firing everybody they could they took the only revenge they could on Manny himself. Even hiring a recovering addict for Sports Talk to bash Manny every hour of the program.
I liked this puzzle. I started off with my common response: "Sheesh, that could be anything!" I notice one thing that makes guessing the answer harder, namely that the answer could be one word or more than one word. For example, the answer to 1a is one word: PROSPECTS. Just below it is two words: HOTEL ROOM. And below that the answer is three words: OPENS UP TO. Definitely makes it more of a challenge, a welcome challenge. Going from top to bottom, the first across answer I filled with confidence was TARIFFS, which was wrong, and then DIK, which was right, and the first down answer I filled with confidence was OTERI. From there it was little by little. A really fun solve!
Hi All!
I turfed it in the SW. I had Fathers instead of FRAMERS, erAT, and TSE TSES @41a for Flies. Stuck, I needed a PEEK at HG's grid to move on.
Thanks Craig for the appropriately difficult puzzle. My first fill was EDENS, then SEERS, then ROD and TONKA. Took >2hr before DNF/taking a PEEK. I can only echo Irish Miss in how much I enjoyed the puzzle (she said it better than I coulda) -- after I got going :-).
Thanks HG for the expo (esp. PLS / TY) and the link to analysis of Orwell. Oh, and of course, for bailing me out in the SW so I could play a bit longer.
Fav: TONKA. My inner-child still loves playing with them at Pop's house.
Runner-up: (after cheat) MITRE... The consultancy I was at for 15yrs was originally called MITRE; the founders: MIT & Rice Engineers, 1 ea.
Did anyone want Cat [4:34] @38a just so Al Stewart would be linked?
Lucina - Whoot! for your hot water. Finally, eh?
unWhoot for my hot water. My Civic overheated Thursday night; took it in Friday and found out today the block is cracked :-(. I see a new (used) car in my very-near future.*
Picard - You could just voice a text. "Siri, tell Eldest I've deposited it in her account." Boom - text sent. Also, do you have a cite for the NERD kerfuffle? If not, I'll go look. #NerdsIsCool
As far as the follow-up on disdain, etc...
DW SENDS EMAILs from her phone regularly. I'm in awe that she'd waste so much time tapping when a laptop (sitting right there!) would make composing quicker. Like @1:27 JB2 said, 'right tool for the job.'
OMK - Your DR's amaze me. Today's is just brilliant.
LEM - What D-O said, this Houstonian will never root for Dallas -- Go Saints!
Cheers, -T
*I'm looking at late-model Civic Sis. Crowd-sourcing for ideas. A manual transmission is a must.
Look what I found, a computer in the rehab that I can use to post. I am going to keep this short lest the beast eat my note.
Dave
I just completed C.C.'s masterpiece from 12/23. I am using the CW from our local paper.
Dave
D4 - Glad to see you! I was going to ask YR (in response to HONDO @9:51 - it's in my notes!) if she's talked w/ you lately. Have a great day & keep puzzlin' & postin'. Cheers, -T
Wilbur Charles - I believe it was Billcohoes @0857 that explained about the water of life.
Re: MITRE. So the founders, who were indeed Engineers (Rice=Electrical & MIT=Ocean) selected MITRE after one read a Tom Clancy novel. Liking the 'fictional' company Jack Ryan worked at, they thought it'd be perfect for their new company / escape from Author Anderson. They were sued for the company name.
After I was hired (I was one of the first 10 folks), I learned of this story. I, being in CyberSec/Govt, was a bit taken aback that these two smart guys didn't know MITRE was a real company.
However, it wasn't the .org (let's be real, .gov) MITRE that sued for the name but the MITRE who makes futbols as plaintiff. The founders capitulated (MOUNTing legal FEEs) and changed the name to M.R.E. M.R.E - Same sentiment, less confusion. Erm, Not an Army Ration. No. :-)
Cheers, -T
Spitz righto, I was used to your German. That was Gaelic .
Pick a card
Re. Smartphones. I do everything on mine. And.. why phone when a text will do. Except... I need a new phone that won't run out of battery
WC
WC, re: smart phones. I agree. I do everything on mine... no other computer... and love it. Yes, I post to the blog about the CW. I find people who fight the future (present??) sad.
Anon T, I’m fascinated by your MITRE company. Years ago (20? 30?) I worked for the MITRE Corporation out of Washington DC. No idea who they were really. I worked for Boeing as a government contractor and when they lost the contract to Mitre, I went along for the ride.. and the paycheck. They were an engineering concern and I used my skills as a writer to keep them from lawsuits.
JB2 and AnonT thank you for understanding my intent regarding my attitude toward smart phones and texts. I meant no disrespect toward people using whatever device they choose.
AnonT correctly identified a key point: Use the right tool for the right job.
I love innovation and progress. Which is exactly why I am so disheartened by "smart" phones. We were just starting to get devices with a better human-machine interface and then we took a giant step backward. I do acknowledge that a speech interface can be helpful. But in my experience with "autocorrected" posts and speech interfaces, the result can be grammatically perfect and completely miss the intended meaning.
Palm PDAs had two innovative entry methods:
1) "Graffiti" handwriting which created text entry in a natural way
2) A full-sized keyboard that folded to pocket size
It was very sad to see "smart" phones abandon these superior interfaces
I would ask:
1) Can you envision a better interface than the two-finger texting entry?
2) What is the best way to create the change you would like to see?
3) Can we agree that the technology could be better if people pushed harder for it instead of just accepting what is given?
I would like to think we can make the world a lot better in many ways!
Picard, re your abandoned Palm PDA technologies:
1) Samsung already has this.
2) Google "bluetooth keyboard for smartphones"
As to your questions:
1) yes quick, easy and accurate voice commands
2) be patient, it is almost here.
3) we are. Every day innovation is happening. But be careful what you ask for. :)
Most times the smartphone IS the right tool for the job. It does so much more than make phone calls and does them superbly. The amount of unitaskers it replaces with superior technology would fill a small suitcase and it all fits nicely in my pocket.
The only unitasker that I need is a fire extinguisher.
If your cat could text back, it wouldn't.
D4: glad you are getting along well enough to post. Welcome back. As for doing crosswords, better late than never. They last.
Lucina: glad your hot water is up and flowing. Know you must rejoice!
PK:
I do rejoice! Nothing is so appreciated as to be deprived of it.
If anyone is interested, our next book club selection is Paper Wife by Laila Ibrahim. We read Yellow Crocus by the same author and really liked it.
AnonymousPVX ~
As I wrote above, I never had an XKE. But I had 3 Jaguars over the years and never had the maintenance problems that others complained about. There was a little electrical trouble with the first, but I had a good private mechanic who quickly got it under control.
My last model, a "Sovereign," was built after Ford took over. I guess it's a tribute to American technology that, while the others gave me minimal trouble, that one required the least work of all.
Happy to see the Rams looking so good against the Cowboys tonight. Now if the Chargers can hold up vs. the Patriots tomorrow, that will really be something for L.A. fans.
Sorry, Spanos, that S.D. couldn't hold onto the Chargers. But it looks like the northward move has done them a lotta good.
Maybe the Angeleno spinach tastes better...?
~ OMK
Swamp - to be clear, the company I was at was not the "real" Mitre (of CVE fame - well famous to us CyberFolk) but a consultancy in Houston.
//side-bar: In Boston for a conference, I met a guy from Mitre. He was the father (er, FRAMER) of the CVE taxonomy. I was kinda in awe - as was he in that that I knew what CVE was.
Anyway, now, I'm fascinated by your Mitre story. Do tell.
Cheers, -T
Picard - I went looking for a cite re: Nerd dispute. That link's the best I found. What do you know of? Cheers, -T
Thank you! My book club is getting stuck in ruts of sameness.
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