Themeless Puzzle by Ryan McCarty
Going to the movies can be a great to mediocre event but the one constant of going is the beguiling smell of popcorn. Today we celebrate this simple delight on National Popcorn Day. A Univ. of Cal. at Irvine prof figured it cost $.10/oz to make and is sold for way more per oz. than a filet but how can you resist?
Popcorn comes in infinite varieties but for me, I'll take plain old yellow popcorn in real oil, salted and lightly buttered! Keep your chocolate, cinnamon, cheese and jalapeño flavors!
Our constructor today is Princeton grad Ryan McCarty ’14. Ryan info from the last write-up I did of one of his puzzles.
Ryan's puzzle drove me crazy as some of the clueing was two steps beyond fiendish but turned out to be really fun in the end, like getting that caraway seed out from between your teeth! I'll complain comment in my write-up of this puzzle where I quickly filled in the NE and then had a wonderful slog to the finish line at the DNIESTER River.
BTW, I think the grid design was incredible and very elegant! Ryan used only 22 blocks and only 62 words! Wow, those are some very impressive numbers!
BTW, I think the grid design was incredible and very elegant! Ryan used only 22 blocks and only 62 words! Wow, those are some very impressive numbers!
All right, let's see what else popped into Ryan's head (ya had to see that comin'!)
Across:
1. Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is in it: B FLAT MINOR - Oh, not a bigger musical work but the key in which it was written. Ryan!
11. Hits with a charge: ZAPS - "Don't tase me bro!"
15. Kerry Washington's "Scandal" role: OLIVIA POPE - I had to look up her and the show and same goes for 40. "Clown Prince of Hip-hop" Biz __: MARKIE. Biz MARKIE
16. Jukebox opening: SLOT - One of the first
17. Sang: NAMED NAMES - Film maker Elia Kazan joined the Communist Party in 1934 for a year-and-a-half. Sixteen years later he NAMED NAMES of others who had joined the party to the HUAC committee so he could keep working. Most other Hollywood types kept quiet and Elia's party invitations diminished.
18. Villa-studded Italian lake: COMO - Ho una villa sul Lago di Como (I have a villa on Lake Como)
19. Salon boards: EMERIES - Emery boards
20. One taking things literally?: REPO MAN - 22. Angry: HEATED Matt Burch from short-lived Operation REPO TV show has a discussion with a car owner with delinquent payments.
23. Part of a football game-ending tradition: GATORADE - Coach Saban does not seem to be pleased with his GATORADE bath
24. Rear attachment: ENDER - Texting while drive can cause a REAR-ENDER car accident
25. Worked together: PARTNERED - When these two PARTNERED together, they became the #1 passing/receiving duo in NFL history
26. Nailed, test-wise: ACED.
27. "Rabbit ears" antennae, e.g.: DIPOLES - We had a TV with the aforementioned devices that looked like this
28. Pixie and flip: DOS - HairDOS
29. Wheat whackers: SICKLES - Undoubtedly, someone with a scythe or SICKLE cut this wheat but these wheat whacking women in Punjab, India are not using either to thresh the grain
30. Poor: BAD.
33. Washington team: HUSKIES - Oh, Washington University (UDUB) in Seattle 3,000 miles away from D.C.
34. Goat-man of myth: FAUN - Is this the right shot for Match.com?
35. Rocks below bridges?: NOSE STUDS - This one below her nose's bridge are magnetic
38. Cabinet member under Dubya: CONDI - The owner of the Cleveland Browns talked about hiring lifelong fan CONDI Rice as their new head coach.
39. See 43-Across: OLD CHAPS - Our cheerleaders back in the stone age had a cheer: 43. With 39-Across, "Listen up, lads": "I SAY (clap, clap), OLD CHAP(S) (clap, clap), Take the ball (clap, clap), fight back (clap, clap)". No really!
41. Boards around the house: DECKING - We switched out real wood for synthetic DECKING
42. Rocky Mountain rodents: MARMOTS.
44. Ones sniffing out trouble: CANINE UNIT - A valued member of the UNL CANINE UNIT
46. Reactor meltdown site: CORE - Not a geographic location but where the fission takes place
47. Old cooking show with a Creole theme: EMERIL LIVE - BAM!
48. Outcomes: ENDS - That arm is merely a means to an END to this kitty
49. "Gotta split!": SEE YA LATER - I'm not saying alligator, you can't make me!
Down:
1. Unthinking, as a mistake: BONE HEAD - #78 Leon Lett celebrated too early and hustling #82 Don Beebe made him fumble before he got a touchdown which 4. Staved off: AVERTED the Cowboy's scoring a touchdown
2. Spanish steps?: FLAMENCO - Why do I remember the name José Greco after all these years?
3. Fruity refreshments: LIMEADES.
5. Larger, as a sum: TIDIER - A sorta variation on "a TIDY sum"
6. Like gnus: MANED - I'm not saying "I already GNU that", you can't make me!
7. Draft choices: IPA'S - Englishman George Hodgson made a lighter colored Pale Ale by using coke-fired malt and he exported it to India where it became very popular. Hence...
8. __ de guerre: NOM - An assumed name under which one writes, paints or fights such as
9. Macbeth and Otello: OPERA ROLES - Both these OPERA ROLES created by Giuseppe Verdi (Joe Green in English) call for baritones
10. Puts down new roots: RESETTLES - The second generation of Hispanics whose families have RESETTLED in our town are really adapting
11. Standard deviation measures: Z-SCORES - A Z-SCORE of +1 means one standard deviation above the mean (average) and a -1 means... Of course, it is figured by z = x – μ / σ,
12. Baseball family name: ALOMAR - Sandy, Sandy Jr. and Roberto
13. Salon stuff: POMADE - Johnny Cash's choice
14. Hopped-up: STONED.
21. Johnnycakes: PONES - Johnnycake. Johnnycake (also called journey cake, Shawnee cake, corn PONE or johnny bread) is a cornmeal flatbread. Johnny is thought to be a corruption of Shawnee Cake. Wiki
23. Retailer specializing in youth fashion: GAP KIDS - Had to erase GAP BABY
25. Impromptu competition: PICK UP GAME - Getting picked last is a trauma that lasts a long time
27. Golfer's yardage book data: DISTANCES - I don't write down the distances, I use this
29. Bar food: SUSHI - What? No bar nuts?
30. "There's no doubt about this": BANK ON IT - I can hit that green shown here on the Golf Buddy over the water from 123 yards out! I said I can, not that I will.
31. Hearing-related: AUDITIVE - Ryan!
32. River to the Black Sea: DNIESTER - Essentially from Kiev to Odessa
33. "Why, sure!": HECK YES - Do we get a lot of European Rivers in crossword puzzles?
34. Conventional writing method: FORMULA - TV sitcoms come to mind if you aren't talking about chemistry formulae - Lame sarcastic lines filled in with laugh tracks
35. "Uh-uh": NO DICE.
36. "Little House" antagonist Nellie __: OLESON - Alison Arngrim, then and now
37. Digital camera insert, briefly: SDCARD - Scan Disk CARD
38. Steve of "Foxcatcher": CARELL - He recently lamented that his famous show, The Office, could never be made in today's PC climate. No matter what is written, someone will take offense.
40. Craze: MANIA.
42. Like wetlands: MIRY - Ryan! 😏
45. Alumni newsletter word: NEE - I am totally okay with a woman retaining her birth surname.
All this talk just gave me an idea. I'll be pop back to read your comments after a visit with Orville Redenbacher and the microwave!
1. Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is in it: B FLAT MINOR - Oh, not a bigger musical work but the key in which it was written. Ryan!
11. Hits with a charge: ZAPS - "Don't tase me bro!"
15. Kerry Washington's "Scandal" role: OLIVIA POPE - I had to look up her and the show and same goes for 40. "Clown Prince of Hip-hop" Biz __: MARKIE. Biz MARKIE
16. Jukebox opening: SLOT - One of the first
17. Sang: NAMED NAMES - Film maker Elia Kazan joined the Communist Party in 1934 for a year-and-a-half. Sixteen years later he NAMED NAMES of others who had joined the party to the HUAC committee so he could keep working. Most other Hollywood types kept quiet and Elia's party invitations diminished.
18. Villa-studded Italian lake: COMO - Ho una villa sul Lago di Como (I have a villa on Lake Como)
19. Salon boards: EMERIES - Emery boards
20. One taking things literally?: REPO MAN - 22. Angry: HEATED Matt Burch from short-lived Operation REPO TV show has a discussion with a car owner with delinquent payments.
23. Part of a football game-ending tradition: GATORADE - Coach Saban does not seem to be pleased with his GATORADE bath
24. Rear attachment: ENDER - Texting while drive can cause a REAR-ENDER car accident
25. Worked together: PARTNERED - When these two PARTNERED together, they became the #1 passing/receiving duo in NFL history
26. Nailed, test-wise: ACED.
27. "Rabbit ears" antennae, e.g.: DIPOLES - We had a TV with the aforementioned devices that looked like this
29. Wheat whackers: SICKLES - Undoubtedly, someone with a scythe or SICKLE cut this wheat but these wheat whacking women in Punjab, India are not using either to thresh the grain
30. Poor: BAD.
33. Washington team: HUSKIES - Oh, Washington University (UDUB) in Seattle 3,000 miles away from D.C.
34. Goat-man of myth: FAUN - Is this the right shot for Match.com?
38. Cabinet member under Dubya: CONDI - The owner of the Cleveland Browns talked about hiring lifelong fan CONDI Rice as their new head coach.
39. See 43-Across: OLD CHAPS - Our cheerleaders back in the stone age had a cheer: 43. With 39-Across, "Listen up, lads": "I SAY (clap, clap), OLD CHAP(S) (clap, clap), Take the ball (clap, clap), fight back (clap, clap)". No really!
41. Boards around the house: DECKING - We switched out real wood for synthetic DECKING
42. Rocky Mountain rodents: MARMOTS.
44. Ones sniffing out trouble: CANINE UNIT - A valued member of the UNL CANINE UNIT
47. Old cooking show with a Creole theme: EMERIL LIVE - BAM!
48. Outcomes: ENDS - That arm is merely a means to an END to this kitty
49. "Gotta split!": SEE YA LATER - I'm not saying alligator, you can't make me!
Down:
1. Unthinking, as a mistake: BONE HEAD - #78 Leon Lett celebrated too early and hustling #82 Don Beebe made him fumble before he got a touchdown which 4. Staved off: AVERTED the Cowboy's scoring a touchdown
2. Spanish steps?: FLAMENCO - Why do I remember the name José Greco after all these years?
3. Fruity refreshments: LIMEADES.
5. Larger, as a sum: TIDIER - A sorta variation on "a TIDY sum"
6. Like gnus: MANED - I'm not saying "I already GNU that", you can't make me!
9. Macbeth and Otello: OPERA ROLES - Both these OPERA ROLES created by Giuseppe Verdi (Joe Green in English) call for baritones
10. Puts down new roots: RESETTLES - The second generation of Hispanics whose families have RESETTLED in our town are really adapting
11. Standard deviation measures: Z-SCORES - A Z-SCORE of +1 means one standard deviation above the mean (average) and a -1 means... Of course, it is figured by z = x – μ / σ,
12. Baseball family name: ALOMAR - Sandy, Sandy Jr. and Roberto
13. Salon stuff: POMADE - Johnny Cash's choice
14. Hopped-up: STONED.
23. Retailer specializing in youth fashion: GAP KIDS - Had to erase GAP BABY
25. Impromptu competition: PICK UP GAME - Getting picked last is a trauma that lasts a long time
29. Bar food: SUSHI - What? No bar nuts?
30. "There's no doubt about this": BANK ON IT - I can hit that green shown here on the Golf Buddy over the water from 123 yards out! I said I can, not that I will.
31. Hearing-related: AUDITIVE - Ryan!
33. "Why, sure!": HECK YES - Do we get a lot of European Rivers in crossword puzzles?
34. Conventional writing method: FORMULA - TV sitcoms come to mind if you aren't talking about chemistry formulae - Lame sarcastic lines filled in with laugh tracks
35. "Uh-uh": NO DICE.
36. "Little House" antagonist Nellie __: OLESON - Alison Arngrim, then and now
38. Steve of "Foxcatcher": CARELL - He recently lamented that his famous show, The Office, could never be made in today's PC climate. No matter what is written, someone will take offense.
40. Craze: MANIA.
42. Like wetlands: MIRY - Ryan! 😏
45. Alumni newsletter word: NEE - I am totally okay with a woman retaining her birth surname.
63 comments:
Wow. Worst. Performance. Ever! At the point I gave up I had only 12 words filled in. Worse, 5 of those were wrong! Even after I turned on red letters, it took me nearly an hour, with lots of write-overs.
Some HUSKIES in the CANINE UNIT
Thought their job should have more to it.
Dogs are good at catch and fetch,
So their new career was set,
If targeted by REPO-dogs, you are most unfortunate!
His NAME of "NAMES" some thought was comical
But was entered in the official chronicle.
When he was in an accident
Off to the hospital he went!
The doc said his condition was considered NOM-inal.
{B+, B.}
Morning, all!
Been awhile, but I actually had time to do the puzzle today and just couldn't resist popping in to complain about the ridiculousness of crossing DNIESTER with MARKIE. I mean, there were other obscurities in the puzzle I struggled with, such as OLESON and ZSCORES and OLIVIA POPE and ALOMAR, but at least they had fair crossings. Not so with DNIESTER with MARKIE, which were not only obscure as HECK (YES!) but also seemed impossible when faced with the initial DN of DNIESTER. Tossing AUDITIVE into the middle of it just seemed like a little bit of extra unnecessary cruelty.
Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with the red letter help fully engaged...
OK, got that out of my system. Carry on!
Morning!
OK, let's get it out of the way....big fat DNF this morning. I did well in the top left, and down that center diagonal. But, the entire SE seaboard was awash in whitecaps. I looked at it, stared at it, cussed at it until the DNIESTER kicked my kiester. I finally threw in the towel at the 40-minute mark. I'd picked all the fruit I could reach. Even with CANINE, I couldn't see UNIT. And even with EMERIL, I couldn't see LIVE. Not sure I've ever seen AUDITIVE before. No red letters in the dead-tree version, so I was at an impasse. Barry, I feel your pain (good to see you, by the way). Husker, fess up, were you able to finish this one unaided? Too tough for the likes of moi. Congrats, Ryan.
Slogged my way to the SE and then ran out of brain wattage. Wanted "sad" for "bad", "sureofit" for "bankonit" and something plural with an "s" at the end for "canineunit"so it was never going to fill. Hope my 🌵🏌️♂️game is better.
D-O, Gary mentioned looking up two fill, so like the rest of us, there was no possibility of finishing this without help. MARKIE is someone I have actually seen but his name has never stuck in my mind. I think it is impossible to create a puzzle with this kind of word count and not have fill be too hard for most of us. Though I am grateful because we now know Barry G. is well.
I was in the Rose Bowl for Super Bowl XXVII and saw Leon Lett's foolishness, but the game was already well in hand. By then the Cowboys had a commanding 52–17, and the play is viewed as not having significantly affected the outcome of the game, but it embarrassed Lett and is still well known today.
Thanks, Gary and be well Ryan.
HECK YES, I filled it! If Ryan's intention was to make us feel like BONEHEADS, he succeeded. I read through the upper half and had three words and a few odd letters then stubbornly started using the red-letter run method of getting a toe-hold. Even the names I knew were not spelled the way I remembered: OLESON, CONDI, etc.
"Standard deviation method": I had _SC so confidently typed eSCapES. ZAP! It was ZSCORES. What the HECK is that? Gary 'splained and I still didn't get it. Thank you, Gary, for slogging thru this.
Hi, Barry! Hope to see you again soon. NOT the same message for Ryan. He's mean! DNIESTER indeed!
Hello Puzzlers -
Technical DNF. Had to look up too many things to call it a victory. This was a toothy bear and then some.
UNCLE! UNCLE! That's me crying, "UNCLE!" Owen, I hear you. "Wow. Worst. Performance. Ever!" I have never before quit with so few filled. Like many of you, I had just a few answers when I became totally stumped. I threw in the towel. I will use red letters and LIU when I have about 2/3 completed on my own and take a DNF. Using help for most of it gives me no sense of accomplishment. It is about as satisfying as taking the printed solution and copying it into the cells. Gary, only 2 LIU? I admire you.
Good to hear from you, Barry G. You are missed.
After yesterday's and then today's, I may give up crosswords.
. I am off to Tai Chi to calm my brain, after attempting to solve this puzzle. Breathe...
Good Morning from Illinois' Winter Wonderland.
First of all, let me congratulate all our Cornerites who successfully completed yesterday's puzzle. You gave me lots of advice--unbeknownst to you--as to why I failed. I enjoyed reading about your tactics and ideas. That's why it's so much fun to be here.
Today, I persevered. I left the puzzle twice and returned a bit RESETTLED. I wanted baritones for OPERA ROLES. Oops--too short! Dnieper for DNIESTER. Likewise. Much of the rest fell into place with both educated and WA guesses after harvesting fruit from the lwer branches. I liked NOSE STUDS because, duh, I was stuck in traffic on a bridge, and I could not remember what two initials belonged with my SD CARD. Thanks for the challenge, Ryan.
Gary, is it possible you outdid yourself today? Maybe you were snowed in and had plenty of time to retrieve so many fine links. Thank you.
Nice to hear from you Barry.
Also from yesterday's Blog reading: Thanks, Swamp Cat and C,Eh, for the Louise Penny recommendation. My son made the same call three days ago. Something tells me she's a must read!
Feel better, Abejo. C, Eh is on it! Earl Grey is your cuppa tea!
Anon -T: Yay for you! Good Luck with your nicotine cleanse. I think WC may have suggested a specifically planned reduction to start. I've never smoked, but I have had friends who have found this successful. Just keep Band-Aids in your pocket for the times you start gnawing at your fingers! ;-) Don't worry, we'll be your online support group.
It's snowy, windy and cold here in northern Illinois, Madame is staying in to knit (Mais oui!) and read. Oh, maybe a little Netflix binging--fewer calories than chocolate. Cozy it is! I wish you the same.
Worst Saturday in months. Only completed the NW corner and a smattering elsewhere...must be preoccupied with the storm coming our way to upstate NY. Got to have some excuse!!!
Oh, My! I still lurk on the outskirts of your wonderful community of puzzle solvers and appreciate the fact I can turn to this blog! Today, I needed you all more than ever! This wracked my brain! I was lost in a sea of white, empty squares. Thanks, Gary for giving the explanations, and to everyone else who regularly contribute to the comments. I don't feel so totally ignorant. The Black Hills are covered in snow, but the storm that is headed east didn't smack us too hard. This bonehead is out to shovel the driveway and take out my puzzle solving frustrations on the snowdrifts.
Like others, I didn’t finish this one, specifically NE and SE corners. I wouldn’t get DNIESTER in a million years. And was on the wrong track with FORMULA.
One man's Natick is another man's Boston.
MARKIE was one my first fills as was his neighbor CONDI. Biz's one hit wonder was a fun sing along for my buddies growing up. " Oh baby yoooouuuu , you got what I neeeed. But you say hes just friend, you say hes just a friend. Oh baby yooooouuuuu...." it's great because you sing it as awfully as you can to match the artist's performance. Great drinking song.
This song was from the early nineties and was about the same time I was visiting Chicago and discovered "Chicago mix" popcorn. Mmmmmmmm. A sweet and savory mix of caramel and cheese flavored popcorn. My fave.
Good Morning:
I very rarely am unable to finish a puzzle because I'm as stubborn as a mule and have lots of Patience and Perserverance. Well, after struggling for 1:20, I gave up and asked for help and then finished that (expletive of choice) SE corner. I won't bore you with a rehash of the problem areas mentioned by others but, suffice it to say, I broke a record with 8 Unknowns and 7 W/Os, unheard of in a 15x15 grid. Three nose wrinklers: Emeries, Auditive, and Miry. Some of the cluing was not only devious but bordered on bizarre, IMO.
Thanks, HG, for the usual spot-on summary with kitties and canines sharing equal billing (Layla looks very professional) and the other fun visuals and links. I'm with you on homemade popcorn vs microwaved, but the fresh kernels tend to get stale unless they're used quickly. I have a box of Orville's single serving packages in my pantry.
Barry G, visit more often as we miss you. Josh must be all grown up by now.
FLN
Anonymous T, I agree with WC that going cold turkey is the best method of quitting but I will say, from personal experience of 25 years ago, it is the hardest. My only advice is to have pieces of hard candy or chewing gum handy to suppress the urge and do whatever you can think of to distract yourself, such as going for a walk, playing a computer game, etc. Most importantly, resolve to not give in, especially in the first few weeks; it will get easier as time passes. Oodles of good luck to you!
The last weather forecast I heard was 12-18" of snow, followed by single digit temps, and high winds. Areas a little further North (Hi Roy) can expect 18-24". Winter is here, folks.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
A real stinker as Husker implied. DNIESTER was an early fill. Other possibilitiies, Danube and Dnieper, didn't have enough letters.
But there weren't many more. Had lots of unabashed red-letter help, but wanted to do it for the learnin experience.
Lac COMO - One of the few others I got unassisted. This melody Lake Como Sweet People (Alain Morisod) is very beautiful to listen to.
Re: Red Baron - - I have seen a swatch of the Red Baron's plane (skin) at the Military club in Toronto. He was shot down by a Canadian.
SICKLE - I knew what was meant but didn't like the cluing. The sickle is used for cutting. If it whacks, it needs to be sharpened. Whacking implies the threshing aspect of harvesting wheat, so a tool other than a sickle would be used; say, a combine?
MIRY was kind of stilted, too.
My Windows 10 was upgraded yesterday and now my computer is a good bit slower. I accepted it because I thought it probably contains virus blocks.
I see I have lots of company in needing help for this puzzle. It was about as satisfying as my trying to read a book in Chinese, which I have never studied.
Anon T. good look with your fight against tobacco. Abejo, feel better soon.
I am going to squeeze in a cervical MRI before the storm, instead of rescheduling. The imaging center is open.
So happy to see that I was not the only one who found this really difficult. I abandoned my newspaper early on and resorted to online solving with lots of help. Lots!
Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is in it. Thinking "Deer Hunter" but it was "Platoon"
That's where my first of many mistakes led me.
Part of a football game ending traditional...Tearing down the GOAL POST. Nope.
Rocks below bridges is absurdly cruel.
Do these constructors use a computer program to come up with this stuff?
Did anyone finish the SE unaided? Miry/auditive/Dniester/Markie??????? My hat's off to anyone who did. I like a good challenge but this was...a fun sponge.
JB2
Too hard, no fun whatsoever
Hi everybody. I took one look at this grid and figured it was going to be too hard for me. I gave it a fair start though and discovered my initial impression was correct. After a couple of lucky long fills, I gave up 'cause I wasn't having any fun.
AnonT, good luck to you. My parents were both heavy smokers but finally were able to quit. For years afterward, I would sometimes wake up from a bad dream where my father had relapsed.
D-N-F
Fave today was 49-a, "Gotta split!" ... SEE YA LATER ...
Oh well, stuck again with a Sunny, 75 degree day ...
Life is tough here in Tarpon Springs, Florida ... LOL
Cheers!
Pretty much what everyone else said. A couple of the crosses made the puzzle unsolvable for me without Red Letter alphabet runs.
Just because you can make a puzzle tough doesn't mean you have to.
There have been a lot of boneheaded plays in sports. Here is an example of some of the dumb plays.
Getting ready for the storm in Central PA. It started snowing an hour ago, but stopped for a while. Looking at the Weather Radar, it will start again here soon enough. We're planning on hunkering down and watching it snow. I filled up the bird feeders, so the local birds are happy. I just hope the local black bear doesn't come out looking for food.
Stay warm and dry everyone.
Husker,
I liked the football flavor you added to today's write-up. I remembered Leon Lett and his boneheaded move but I was thinking it was in the snow. So I had to LIU. So, wow, he had 2 high profile bloopers in his career. The one I was recalling was from a Thanksgiving day game in a very snowy Texas stadium. Turns out that hole in the roof that allowed God to view his Cowboys, also let a unusual November snowstorm to drop several inches of snow onto the playing surface. A blocked field goal attempt should have won the game for the Cowboys but ol' Leon Lett decided to roll around in the snow with the ball and gave the Miami Dolphins a second chance to win the game. Which we did. Poor ol' Leon is remembered for those bloopers more son than his above average career.
On a related football factoid, the Super Bowl is approaching rapidly and there are many bets unique to the game. From the result of the coin flip to reason for the first flag, gamblers have a lengthy list of things to bet on. Atlanta native Gladys Knight will be singing our National Anthem and I loved what she had to say about that honor. So, the powers that be have set the over/under on the length or her rendition at 1 minute 50 seconds. She is 74 so does that mean she will take longer than expected? If you know, make your bets!
Um, you folks need to practice on the NYT Saturday puzzles where Rexy would have rated this medium to medium-challenging. Not East coast biased, grandma moved to LA in 1905...
It was a DNF today, even though I was able to grind out many unknowns by perps- OLIVIA POPE, Nellie OLESON, Z-SCORES, SD CARD, MIRY, & CARELL- but the SE was not completed. I've never heard of Biz MARKIE, the term FORMUAL writing or the word AUDITIVE and there was no way I would have filled CONDI for the W clue. But I did get the B FLAT MINOR after changing ALES to IPAS ( can't stand them).
SCYTHES had to change to SICKLES. DISTANCES-when in doubt , lay up before the water. You 'think long, you think wrong'.
It was a very white sea until I WAGged PICKUP GAME, DNIESTER (not DNEIPER) river, GATORADE, & HECK YES. But ultimately it was NO DICE this morning.
Well, XQQQME, but 'we folks' in flyover country ain't as sophisticated as the snobs on the coasts.
Wow...no solve and also no fun.
Impossible to get a foothold. I had the NE solved all the way into the middle and still couldn’t get any further.
I’m actually angry....I’d like to think that after 40 years of puzzles I’d be able to make a dent in this, but no. I mean, there were clues and answers I’d never seen nor heard of before. This was beyond hard, it seemed to me to be designed to get the fail.
Mission accomplished.
My sentiments exactly. Hope Ryan is satisfied turning off so many crossword enthusiasts.
I also found this puzzle to be too hard for me. I (over)confidently filled some answers but they were wrong. These included SCYTHES instead of SICKLES, AUDITORY instead of AUDITIVE, RELOCATES instead of RESETTLES, CANINE NOSE instead of CANINE UNIT, something PARADE instead of GATORADE, and ZSCALES instead of ZSCORES. Put in FORMULA, took it out, then put it back in again. I looked up Kerry Washington's role, Biz's last name, Emeril something, and some others. I wasn't fooled by what Adagio for Strings is in, but entered KEY OF and then had to take it out; once OR showed up as the last two letters I guessed it was going to be either MAJOR or MINOR, which left enough space for a letter and four more letters so it had to be FLAT and not SHARP. I ended up having to look it up because I couldn't solve the perps.
Musings
-This puzzle took me some time but my lookups were to see who the heck OLIVIA and MARKIE were once they filled in. It’s a good thing I’m retired
-With only 62 words, Ryan had to really scramble to make it work and using obscure fill seems to have been necessary. I noted some of them in the write-up
-The storm that closed schools and businesses around here yesterday yielded no measurable snow but it did put down an incredibly slick layer of sleet/ice. A SWA jet slid off the runway at Omaha Eppley Airfield but no one was hurt.
-Good FB tomorrow!
IM: FLN My son finally had time to message me after I'd gone to bed. My DIL came thru her cervical disc replacement all right & was home yesterday evening. They made it despite rain all day & snow after dark. Now the healing process. She isn't good with laying around -- always on the go. Hope she'll be careful. She says her pain is extreme when the meds wear off.
Spitzboov: modern combines have SICKLES with pointed v-shaped moving SICKLE teeth which cut the stalks as they are fed into the header. Each SICKLE tooth can be sharpened or replaced. There are many such teeth on a 20', 30' or 40' header.
YR: good luck on your MRI. When I do red-letter runs, I usually just do one or two to point toward a word/words and WAG the rest of those long ones.
Tony: to stop smoking would be the greatest gift you could ever give your three ladies and YOURSELF.
Sorry... my comment kept going in under my other Google account. I deleted them
Wow!! Now that was tougher than the 10 inches of snow I shoveled this AM. Both the puzzle (41 min) and the snow (70 min) took me a little longer than usual, but alas, got both done. Time to relax.
PK - I know they and mowing machines have sickles in the configuration you describe. My problem is with with whackers. Whackers don't really cut per se; they strike at and if the object is tender enough, it will slice through. Ripened wheat is not in that category. In my mind, whacking does not cut the way a mower or combine sickle blade does.
Even as a kid I was not a fan of those who NAMED NAMES to HUAC. But I have since learned that Kazan got a bad rap--for two reasons. He only named people who had been previously outed, and he had become disillusioned with the party. Still, each of these is only a half excuse. He felt guilty for the rest of his life, having internalized the fierce disapprobation of his colleagues, including Arthur Miller.
Irish Miss, Jayce, Sandy, et al. ~
Don't feel bad. Today's pzl was a real doozy. About a third of the way through I decided to change from participant to observer. I stopped toiling, sat back, and happily Googled my way to the end.
(Notice how many friends have yet to show up...)
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the mirror side (NE to SW).
Today's anagram offers a shout-out to Near Eastern STONErs:
"HOOKA TOKES!"
YR, hope you get favorable results from the MRI.
PK, thanks for the update on your DIL. I hope she is careful with her movements and limitations so that she heals properly.
OMK, I don't feel bad. (Mad, maybe, but not bad or sad!)
Snow hasn't started yet; forecasters said around 4:00.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Ryan McCarty, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
First, nice to see you again, Barry G. We have all missed you.
Second, I went to bed last night at 9:00 PM. I felt terrible. Got up today at 10:00 AM. The 13 hours seemed to help me a little. I am still stuffed up and have a cough but do feel better today. Thank you all for your good wishes.
Puzzle took me 2 1/2 hours. I was so impressed with it I had to stick it out.
DNIESTER was not that bad to get. I knew many names from that neck of the woods start with DN. That gave me a start. Getting the three long ones at the bottom helped.
Z SCORES was baffling, but I felt I had a solid ZAPS, so I stuck with it.
My last to get was NOSE STUDS. I had NOCE STUDS, then started running through letters for the C and when I got to S my iPad lit up. Then it made sense. Oh well.
This guy really put together a great puzzle.
So, today is national popcorn day. I did not know that. Popcorn is one of my favorites things to snack on. As a youth in Erie, our family had soup and popcorn for supper every Sunday night. That was fun. My dad always ate his with milk. He would have a bowl of milk and then throw in a handful of popcorn. He would eat the corn with a spoon before it got soggy. Then he would throw in another handful.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Hi All!
I picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue...
Chalk it up to a Learning Day (there's a DNIETTER(?!?) letter pattern; MIRY is a word(?)). HG's grid provided my "red-letters" as I struggled. I had <10 answers inked (mostly wrongly) and took a DNF. Looked to HG for a mulligan @1a & 15a to begin anew.
Thanks Ryan, but this puzzle is way above my pay-grade.
Enjoyed the expo HG. Popcorn day, eh? That might substitute for the hand-to-mouth of smokes :-)
IT'S RIGHT was not; BANK ON IT.
I wanted Sigmas @11d but was fairly sure of SLOT. POMADE is not in my vocabulary. I was STOkED b/f STONED [Dylan, Harrison, Petty 3:16]
Fav: I SAY - Reminds me of that old Cosby bit.... "He lit his pipe and said, 'I Say, I Say'.... And then he didn't say anything!"
{A, B+}
Nice to see you Barry G! How's the gig going? Tiptoethru - you too. Don't be such strangers.
PK - Yeah, I knew OLESEN but didn't know it had an extra E. I did know CONDI. Good news on DIL!
Thanks everyone for the tips. I've already #failed (just a bit... 4 drags) so I guess no cigar :-(
WC - I'm down to 3 a day... those last three are the hardest. Saying "No more, never" is such a mind-f***. But I will keep trying. My trainer has booked me extra days at the gym to help.
OMK - Your DR isn't helping !!!! :-) //in Egypt, I did enjoy the Hooka with my buddies
IM - I've got a case of Altoids I've been going through the last few weeks - that's why I'm down to 3 to 5 smokes. However, my 'Toid habit is up to a tin-a-day :-)
Cheers, -T
MRI results next week. We are just hoping to see no further change.
Another advantage of being an inveterate reader, I spent the time reviewing in my mind plots of novels I have read. Soon I did not hear the clanks or notice my imobility. My only problem was a nose itch I couldn't scratch.
Monday evening the forecast is for zero or below. I believe even our most stalwart regulars will not attend our square dance. Would you if you were a regular? My co-president never says die. He is a great guy and a good friend. Should I persue this?
Just brutal. Sunday time even with red letters on almost from the start.
BONEHEAD would've been easy if clued "Fred Merkle." He carried the nickname to his grave after costing the NY Giants the 1908 pennant.
Knew DNIEper but not DNIESTER, tried ScythE before SICKLE. Hand up for not liking EMERIES, MIRY, AUDITIVE.
Saturday slog. Thanks to Ryan for his effort and to Husker Gary for his explanation.
This CW was above my pay grade too and I see that I share that with many others here.
WEES about having a sea of white (and it wasn't snow!) and finally giving up, resorting to Google and coming here for answers. I did have to do some housework today!
Chernobyl or Fukushima would not fit. Oh CORE was the answer.
No CSO for Lemonade today; it was LIMEADES. Do they go with GATORADE? (Yes Jayce, I was trying to have some kind of Parade after that football game too.) Hand up for Relocates before RESETTLES.
My draft choices were ALES before IPAS. Isn't that an abbreviation but there is no indication in the clue. Acceptable on Saturday???
This Canadian was Stoked (Hi AnonT) before being STONED (although it is legal here now, but don't drive!)
I thought of the Alou baseball family before ALOMAR.
I had Auditory before the nose-wrinkling AUDITIVE. Nose also wrinkled at BONEHEAD because my adjective form of the word has ED on the end.
I smiled when Sang (not in B FLAT MINOR) became NAMED NAMES, and thought of the usual clue "Rat on", which linked to the Rocky Mountain rodent.
After our LAD clue yesterday, I knew that "Listen up, lads" had a British flavour. "I SAY OLD CHAP" also brought a smile.
DNEISTER is known to me but DNEIPER is more familiar as DH's ancestors came from that area.
Glad you dropped in today, Barry G and tiptoethru.
PK, thanks for the update on your DIL.
YR, hope the MRI results are good.
Abejo, glad you are feeling a little better today.
AnonT, are nicotine patches and gum available to you? They can help with the nicotine withdrawal symptoms especially at the start. Congrats on your determination to quit. "Down to 3" is a start!
Stay safe and warm. We haven't received the expected amount of snow . . .yet!
Spitzboov: okay, I understand your thinking now. We have what we call "weed whackers" out here that chop up unwanted plants so the terminology didn't bother me.
The constructor aimed to pester
Us with 'Dniester'
And succeeded!
Totally impeded
We sank before his bester.
Apologies for this lame effort -- Billocohoes is right: it was BRUTAL.
++Michael. LOL! Pullet Surprise worthy :-)
C,Eh! I can get gum, patches, and Rx & whatever. It's not the nicotine (ok, it is) but the boredom time/ come down from the day/ '-T, think! NOW!' moments that drives it. Honestly, if I can't quit, just the act of trying makes me healthier in mind and body. Like Lem quote'd from Twain FLN - it's easy, I've done it many times... :-)
Cheers, -T
DNF-but only one white square at the natick of NOSE STUDS and SD CARDS.
With DN- wanted DNIEPER, but not enough squares. DNIESTER was second choice.Same story with ALOU and ALOMAR.
EMERIES and AUDITIVE are legitimate English constructions, even if I didn't care for them.
Started with a lot of white space, but kept chipping away until perps helped.
Canadian Eh!, IPA is usually written without periods, so probably not necessary to specify (abbr.), just like NCAA (unless you’re The NY Times.)
My understanding is that IPAs have a higher alcohol and hops content to kill the bacteria and better preserve the ale on the long sea voyage to India in those unrefrigerated, pre-pasteurization days.
Hi everybody.
This is about yesterday, my VERY bad day. (Apologies and sympathy to those of you having bad days due to health problems or family problems. Those can produce VERY VERY bad days or months or ...)
It all started with the blinking red light on my answering machine. It was a man named detective Olney with the LA County Sheriff's Department. He said that this was regarding my failure to respond to a jury summons. I said that I hadn't gotten one and that I was excused because of my age. He checked if he had my address and birthday correct (they were). I said there must be some mistake. He said, yes, but that's what everybody says. He said that even if there had been a mistake, my ignoring the notice had resulted in a Failure to Appear Warrant and that I could be picked up and brought downtown. According to him, I had to go somewhere, like 7-ll, to get a money order. I was to call him on a cell phone immediately when I was enroute and he would give me the particulars and where to bring it downtown at City Hall. It got worse and worse. He had answers to all of my concerns. I was panicked and perspiring. About this time, Barbara came in and suggested I call the Manhattan Beach Police and get their help. (Sometimes, she's is much smarter than I.) I called the MBPD and spoke to the Watch Commander. He assured me this was a scam and that I should avoid answering the phone if this guy called back. Waves of relief began to wash over me. I am a reasonable smart person and yet I had been completely taken in. I am embarrassed, angry and ultimately relieved. Whew...
Bill G, what an upsetting experience. I long for the days when we did not need to be so suspicious of everthing.
Guidance, please, would you attend a favorite activity lasting to 10 PM in zero degree weather? Several members and uninvolved freinds say no. We would have to pay for the caller and the hall if we did not cancel, no matter how few paying guests showed up. I, myself, would prefer a warm fire and a good book. I need to decide on whether to cancel our dance on Monday. I hate to be the decider. All opinions appreciated.
YR, I definitely would not go out in those temperatures, especially at night. I think you should cancel. 😔
Bill G, you aren't the first, nor will you be the last, to almost be a victim of these despicable thieves! Glad for the happy ending! 😉
I concur, YR. It won't hurt anyone to miss one session, surely.
YR, stay warm! That has different meanings in different areas. But the message is the same. Don’t push it!
I've come to the conclusion I'd be a lot better off if I memorized all the rivers in the world.
Wow, Bill G, I trust you still have your mustache after that close shave.
A long time ago, 6th grade to be exact, some of us had a geography game. I learned a lot of rivers including, as C-eh spells it, DNEISTER.
That misspelling was my mistake although doing it in pen was a bigger one.
I just couldn't remember Rice's first name. She plays in the big Pro-Am on the coast. And. She broke the barriers at Augusta.
So I coulda been a contenda! I see this baby gave the usual suspects fits.
My rule is no lookups and no give-ups. I have faith in my cerebellum. It just needs time.
I had very little to start. ALOMAR was my 'get' just like getting MARKIE was a gimme for some.
Again, knowing nanes like CARELL and CONDI isn't the same as pulling then out of the Ol' BONE.
Anon-T, at some point you'll have to actually buy another pack. When I threw that pack away it woke my Midas instinct.
I could detail my solving adventure box by box . In short I had the long downs and then NE/ SW.
NW I had to get rid of OVINE - Lots of blotches there.
WC
YR: Monday weather may be worse & slicker than expected and dangerous to go out in. Your friends may be relieved if you cancel because they then don't have to make the personal decision to go or stay home.
Jayce, yes, my mustache is intact. My pride is wounded though. Looking at the incident with a half day's perspective, it seems obvious what was going on. But when I was in the middle of it... Isn't it frustrating when there's no way to give somebody like that the comeuppance he so deserves.
It's very late but I had to come here for comfort from friends and I found it! WEES! I thought this puzzle was unusually brutal. Like some of you I can normally pick off the low fruit and make connections from there but today very little low lying fruit existed!
I started with ACED and DOS and came to a screeching halt as I scanned the grid. A bit of progress was made in the SE with MARMOTS, CANINEUNIT and EMMERIL ? LIVE wouldn't emerge. And so it continued. ALOMAR would never have occurred to me. It's ALOU or nothing.
As it turns out most of my day was spent at a family gathering and during the course of it someone mentioned the TV show Scandal and I asked about Kerry Washington. They knew. It was OLIVIAPOPE. Not I.
I got GATORADE but didn't realize that's what is in that bucket. Like Jayce I wanted some kind of parade. It helped to finish the NE because I had ZAPS/POMADE and STONED. GAPKIDS ensued then SICKLES. But it was much too painful. My last fill was the S in NOSESTUDS and huge roar of laughter when I realized which bridge and what stones!!!!!
Barry G: great to hear from you. I also wonder about Josh.
Abejo: I hope you are feeling better.
AnonT: You! A smoker? I didn't know. Good luck. People I know have used the patches and it helped them.
YR: Surely one missed day isn't too much. My vote is to cancel.
I hope you all had a very pleasant day! I spent many hours of pleasure with my family. I love those people!
Gary, congratulations on finishing most of this on your own and thank you for the excellent commentary!
WC - that all you missed in this diabolical grid was I before E in an obscure (to me) river @32d... I doff my lid.*
YR - Cancel it. Your brain has already raised the doubt - don't try to justify it otherwise. The safety of others is at play. PK said it best, " Your friends may be relieved if you cancel because they then don't have to make the personal decision to go or stay home."
BillG - SIL (on DW's side) fell for it. She even gave up her credit card number. I'm not sure how they do it to come off so convincing but their script must be good.
It's not that we need to be so suspicious of those around us. Communications (and breaches such as OMB & Equifax) has put the whole world of 'marks' at the fingertips of criminals globally. //who else is getting calls from 'local numbers' that they need to discuss their toll-road violation or health insurance options?
Oh, .... Lucina. Yes. sigh I smoke. I'm the whole package of sinner. I drink, I smoke, and DW & I pre-martially kanoodled (we got married 31yrs ago, so I guess that's no longer frowned upon - except by our kids, which is weird; how do they think they got here anyway? :-))
Well, that's one smoke... Nite.
Cheers, -T
*lid == hat. That WKRP allusion is for Bill G. (smile Bro): Venus Flytrap- "Cop's got a lid, I want a lid." .
AnonT- here is one man's way to stop smoking
https://theknittingspace.com/knitting-trucker-beat-smoking-addiction/
You can ask MadameD for tips!
Wilbur C - LOL re my "Canadian" misspelling of those rivers!
Very late to the game; not sure if anyone left to read this.
Did anyone actually finish this correctly without help?
AnonT hand up I wanted SIGMAS for 11D. I actually did WAG Z SCORES even though it was unknown.
I am proud that I actually did finish much of it correctly. But utter unknowns CARELL, DNIESTER, MARKIE and EMERIL LIVE ultimately were too much to surmount.
I know EMERIL only from these puzzles and did get that correct. But I guessed it was NOLA because of the CREOLE THEME. But that did not work with FORMULA.
Not sure there was any way I could have unravelled that mess.
I have photos of Lake COMO where one of my best friends lives and of MARMOTS. But I am not sure anyone is looking here anymore.
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