A Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler
Today marks a very tasty holiday - National Whipped Cream Day that honors the 1914 birthdate of the man who invented the process of putting whipped cream in a spray can - Aaron "Bunny" Lapin (Lapin is french for rabbit). He named his product Reddi-wip and became fabulously wealthy by selling it and the valves necessary to make it work.
The most famous record album cover featuring whipped cream is at the bottom of this blog *
Seeing Jeffrey Wechsler and Saturday in the same sentence can put a crimp in your colon! I fared very well on this one as AUTODIDACT was my only real unknown. Others were unknown because Jeffrey really put the clue wrench on a few common fills. C.C.'s interview with Jeffrey
Below, our C.C. is the rose amid all the thorns that include Jeffrey second from the left.
Well, let's see what Jeffery has, uh, whipped up for us today (Hey, you had to see that coming!)
1. "Everything is ruined!": WHAT A MESS - This 11-second video is a salute to today's celebration and this clue!
10. Felipe's assent: SI SI and 48. Panamanian pronoun: ESO.- "¡SI, SI, ESO es una gran pista!" (Yes, yes that is a great clue!)
14. Teacher and student in one: AUTODIDACT - From Greek AUTOS (self) and DIDASKEIN (learning). Bill Gates is the self-taught AUTODIDACT that leapt to my mind
17. Gray day feature: CLOUD COVER - Horrible this time of year, wonderful in August
18. Buds: PALS.
19. Red-and-white hat wearer: SANTA
20. Units: ONES.
22. Weed-gathering org.: DEA - Drug Enforcement Agency. Since weed (do I need to say marijuana?) is legal in Colorado but not in Nebraska, there have been issues on the border
23. "Put your wallets away": MY TREAT - We've all had friends who seem incapable of uttering these words.
26. Rich beverage: NOG - Egg NOG is a hate/love beverage for most
27. They need receivers: PASSERS - Unfortunately PASSER Ben Roethlisberger's receiver had a microphone
30. A parade may require one: DETOUR - A PSA for those of you in Hesperia, CA
32. Well-judged: SANE.
33. Word before stand or hold: WITH.
35. Snow __: WHITE.
36. Mounted, in a way: HUNG - These falling fractal lamps must have been HUNG very well because they do not hit the floor
37. Word from the Arabic for "friend": SAHIB.
39. Unemployed: IDLE.
40. Homophone for a word of permission: ALOUD - Library policy - "Talking ALOUD is not ALLOWED!"
42. Deceive on the ice: DEKE - Now that's a DEKE (decoy/feint)!!!
43. "Being so great, I have no __ to beg": "King Richard II": NEED - If Muhammad Ali had lived in Stratford on Avon...
44. Cattle drive figures: RIDERS - Famous cattle drive RIDERS of song
46. Timon of "The Lion King," e.g.: MEERKAT Timor and the show's meme
49. Back: ENDORSE.
51. USN bigwig: ADM - Husband Kimmel was demoted from Full ADM to Rear ADM and relieved of his Pacific Fleet command after Pearl Harbor.
52. Bad lot: DOOM - Some people feel DOOMED because that is just their lot in life
53. Unskilled workers: PEONS - I hired 100's of "PEON" corn detasselers for 23 summers
58. Hippie era activity: BE IN - One attended by 20,000 people
60. Site for old wheels: USED CAR LOT - Or a club for retired CEO's
63. Strike zone, at times: LANE - I'm sure Boomer has seen 3. Very much: A TON of these
64. Where love doesn't conquer anything: TENNIS GAME - Love is tennis scoring for zero and might come from l'œuf which is french for "the egg" which resembles a zero
65. Remove an apostrophe from, say: EDIT - My oak tree loses it's leaves late. Hmmm...
66. It may be the best thing to do when you're stuck: START OVER.
Down:
1. Their 1943 manual said, "Be Ready To Take Over": WACS - and the Woman's Army Corp did where they could
2. Entertainment with swaying: HULA.
4. Praise extravagantly: TOUT - Do you buy something because some celebrity du jour is TOUTING it?
5. Cartoonist with an Edgar Award: ADDAMS - Some of his cartoon characters were used in TV's The Addams Family
6. Podium fixture: MIC - Testing, 1, 2, 3 testing
7. Tokyo, long ago: EDO - How EDO became Tokyo
8. Drinks it all in: SAVORS THE MOMENT and 9. View: SCENE - You would certainly SAVOR THE MOMENT with this view of the Champs de Mar from the top of the Eiffel Tower
11. "You could've fooled me": I HAD NO IDEA, I was just a 10. Patsy: SAP.
12. Exclusive source: SOLE OUTLET.
13. Words of concord: IT'S AGREED.
15. Step: TREAD - or under the TREAD
21. Hearty fare: STEW.
24. Ornamental shrubs: YEWS - They frame the front of our house
25. Common chord: TRIAD - Here are three TRIAD chords
27. '60s music conspiracy theory: PAUL IS DEAD - Of course McCartney is dead. If you play the song Revolution backwards you hear "Turn Me On Dead Man"
28. Dating clarification: ANNO DOMINI - Gregorian calendar today is Jan. 5, 2019 A.D. while the Islamic calendar it is Rabiʻ II 22, 1440
29. Smooth shift: SEGUE
31. IBM's __ exhibit: THINK - I don't, uh, THINK I can make it
32. Like some big entrées: SHAREABLE - You might want two straws for this 10 lb. Souvlaki 47. Meal: REPAST.!
34. Backpack carrier: HIKER
38. Drones, e.g.: BEES - Drone BEES are males that have no stinger, do no work and only job is to mate with an unfertilized queen. Yeah, I can see several cheap jokes in there!
41. 1856 Stowe novel: DRED - Harriet's follow up on Uncle Tom's Cabin
45. Muzzle: SNOUT - A substantial MUZZLE on a substantial dog's MUZZLE
54. Cartesian connection: ERGO - Here it makes two connections
55. Name of five Norwegian monarchs: OLAV.
56. Northwestern U.S. city: NOME - The high in Nome today is forecast to be -7˚F with a low of -1˚F. You might want to bring a sweater.
57. Analog of -ist: STER - Can a MOBSTER also be called a MOBIST?
59. 64-Across need: NET - Sometimes it gets in the way
61. 23andMe test subject: DNA.
62. Frequently complex traffic pattern: Abbr.: CIR - Round and round she goes...
*Here's that famous Whipped Cream LP cover!
47 comments:
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Jeffrey, for a midnight challenge for me. WHAT A MESS it started out for me, but got 'er filled.
Gary, I owned that very Whipped Cream album. One of the few I ever bought. Another great expo, thanks. Alas, I don't understand what Anonymous at 5:32 finds Anti-Semitic about that picture of a boy and his draedl.
The great SW 2/3 of this puzzle was just as snowy as weather maps said the continental SW was this week. Really hung me up. PAUL IS DEAD? Huh? Really? I never heard that one before. Dating clarification was not a declaration of relationship status on FB but ANNO DOMINI. I had OMINI for a loooong time scratching my head. Duh! Wasn't steERS but RIDERS. Well, it was 50% right. Had SEGUE & DRED on the 2nd pass. SHAREABLE? Okaaay! Red-letter runs to the rescue.
I did much better on most of the rest of the puzzle.
Muzzle wasn't "muted" but SNOUT.
AUTODIDACT never heard of altho I probably qualify as such. I learned a lot of stuff out of books and put it into practice. Always thought if I could read about it, I could do it: canning, knitting, crochet, gardening, pruning, home remodeling, whatever.
Not Trump, but SANTA in a red & white hat. Why was that so hard for me?
Good morning!
The diagonal swath from top left to lower right filled quickly. The east coast wasn't far behind. The west coast, not so much. With PASSER in place, I thought that music conspiracy might have been PAYOLA...oops, that was the 50s, not 60s. There could've been STEERS on that cattle drive. Nope. That big entree could've been EXTRA...[something]. Nope. Finally, ANNO DOMINI and HUNG broke things open. Whew! Disaster averted. Thanx, Jeffrey and Husker (I owned that album at one time. I think the Nome weather forecast must be in error -- the predicted high is colder than the low.)
LANE: CSO to Boomer. Hope he's getting back in the groove.
YEWS: Expression often completed with "guys."
EDO: Often spoken by the Best Man after the "Do you take this woman..."
Oops, the "e" escaped from the end of draedle.
There once was an AUTODIDACT
Who always was sure of one fact:
"If the ball's in the LANE
A four-six split isn't SANE,
But Boomer could pick it up with a whack!"
Was Tonto really Native 'Mericin?
Legend was that no tribe let him in.
With the nations he was warrin'
Like Elizabeth Warren --
Kemo-SAHIB-i to his Indian kin!
{A-, C.}
AUTODIDACT, yeah that's I word I use each and every day-as in never heard of it. No NEED (perped) to lie about that. I was sure of the perps but did I HAD NO IDEA if it were a real word. A tough but fair puzzle from Wechsler today. Only a few changes. HAND hold & Hand stand before WITHhold & WITHstand. IT'S ON ME changed to MY TREAT.
I remember the idiotic BS PAUL IS DEAD theory and that saved the SW.
DOOM was the only logical fill but I don't associate it with the clue.
WACS, DRED, THINK, MEERKAT-perps
BE IN- for those who didn't get to take part in SIT-INS or LIE-INS or DIE-INS. You can't fix stupid.
SHAREABLE-DW always says let's split an entrée BEFORE she sees the menu and then decides that she wants her own.
Gary- 'detasselers'- that's a word that I hope never shows up as a X-word fill.
Egg NOG is a HATE beverage for this guy. Ditto for whipped cream. I don't know who started the fad of adding it to malts and shakes but I always tell the waitress/waiter 'NO whipped cream'; I refuse to accept the drink and have them make another.
OwenKL- I like 1/1024 of your limerick.
I must agree with PK; as an observant Jew, I find nothing offensive of a picture of the young boy. It does not appeal to the pejorative image of Fagan or related insults. I also have gotten to know Gary and I am sure he is not anti-semitic.
Themeless puzzles from Jeffrey are not common especially considering his theme creativity, so this was a pleasant surprise. AUTODIDACT is not a term I have ever heard. They need receivers: PASSERS was hard to fill; Site for old wheels: USED CAR LOT and Where love doesn't conquer anything: TENNIS GAME were fun; Drinks it all in: SAVORS THE MOMENT and Dating clarification: ANNO DOMINI both took a while.
Overall, doable. Thank you, Jeffrey and HG. I enjoyed the picture from the time JW went to Minnesota to help out with their crossword event.
In my increasingly less humble opinion, finding the image and caption at 16 offensively antisemetic is another example of PC run amok. I, too, am Jewish. It's a game. A kid's game. Yes, it's a "gambling" game, with the big rewards most often pieces of candy. Big deal. It's not like that all isn't real, or true. Using the image and caption to parody that truth, in this case from a self-absorbed teenager's perspective, is the stuff of humor. Get over it.
Fine puzzle today bt Jeff W
Great write up and review by HG
IMHO the sensor should rather remove anons comments as I see those comments lighting and adding fuel to the fires of intolerance anti semitism and the over the top political correctness usually touted by seemingly narrcisistic rabble rousers afraid of their own shadows.
A (somewhat) related story from my youth:
I grew up in a quiet suburb, in the 50's and 60's. Small housing development, fifteen closely-packed houses on a dead-end road. Lots of kids. All the time I was growing up, coincidentally, in every-other house lived a Jewish family, in the other every-other houses Catholic families. All the neighbors got along. All the kids got along. The parents socialized with each other. My Dad and our neighbor directly across the street, Mrs. Brady, were both quick wits and big kidders, so they got along particularly well. One day, apropos of nothing memorable, in the course of conversation Mrs. Brady said to Dad, "You know, I used to think that all Jews were rich, with fur coats and fancy cars." Dad replied, "If I was rich, do you think I'd be living across the street from YOU?" They remained fast friends until the end.
Good morning everyone.
Needed red letter help with A TON (had 'alot') but got everything else. Jeff draws a lot out of you, so his puzzles are worth working on IMO.
Had rovers before RIDERS, and stet and dele before EDIT. Also had 'permit' before DETOUR. Liked the PASSERS clue,
CSO to Boomer AND TTP with LANES.
Have a great day.
Good Morning.
For such a sunny day, I spent this morning with A TON of snow. While I didn't START OVER, I did have to walk away, throw in a load of wash, and retrieve some freezer items for dinner tonight. Upon my return, the CLOUD COVER lifted, and I saw the light. Thanks, Jeff. My problem was not seeing the other meaning of just about every clue. My breakthrough was TENNIS MATCH.
Great tour, Gary. Thanks so much for the entertainment and the links. Nicely done, again.
FLN & yesterday. I really enjoyed the discussions of grammar, usage, dialect and standard English. Dr. Mrs. Anon-T is right on target. It's all about code switching. YR and OMK also! I used to do a great exercise to explain all of this to my students--teen-agers of all sorts. I had them compose a simple three sentence paragraph; then rewrite it for a peer reader, a grandmother, a pastor/rabbi, a police officer, and me. High-larious. Sometimes a little dicey, but the theory was at work. AND they understood it.
On Filler/Hesitation words: "like" has replaced the "you know" of my youth. Sometimes the reason older folks use "like" is the result of hearing it so often. We learn language auditorily. Hence the Audio Lingual Method, which most of us probably used "mid-century": Hello. Where is the library? It's just ahead. Are you going there right now? Yes, I must search for a book. Just translate that into which ever language you learned. ;-) Pour moi, "Bonjour. Ou est le biblioteque?" (Sorry, I don't know how to use accents here.)
All of this has little relation to intelligence. Consider this the next time you watch a PBS interview (or listen on NPR) with an absolutely brilliant interviewee who answers almost every question by beginning with "So, ...." Filler, filler everywhere.
WC: I love your not feeding alligator in the back creek. I will never forget that image!
YR: I wish I were closer and could offer you more support than words.
Have a sunny day wherever you are!
Good Morning:
What a nice surprise to see the Wizard of Wordplay on a Saturday! Although I finished in respectable time (20 minutes), I struggled in the SW quadrant. I was so confident filling in Pay to Play, I was stuck there way too long. I finally broke through with Anno Domini and that brought forth Paul Is Dead. My only other w/os were I Had No Clue instead of Idea, and Ropers for Riders. I wasn't familiar with the Think exhibit but Meerkat settled that area. I loved the crossings of Tread, Treat, and Triad. Not sure about Shareable but JW can do no wrong in my book!
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a themeless treat and thanks, HG, for a delightful deconstruction and the sparkling visuals.
Have a great day.
Ok, Jeffrey,you can give me back my lunch money! I’m sure the bruises will heal! But, you see. I really won because you did all the work of creating this fabulous monster but I had all the fun of trying to untangle it! Thanks for the battle!
I loved the c/a PASSERS. I tried my best to squeeze in quarterbacks but there was too much left over.
HG, great expo. I loved the picture of of HOT streak boy. Barry T and OAS, I agree the overly PC anons seem more biased because they are reading their own predjudices into a funny picture. It’s a kid playing a kids game!
I did have question about YEWS being shrubs. I once had a YEW tree 30 feet tall. I guess you have to trim them.
Thank you madame defarge!
Beginning an answer or explanation with "So,..." is ubiquitous with the under 40 intellectual crowd. I cant stand it and really dont know where or when it came from. I get it from HR professionals, doctors, nurses and my insurance agent. It is not used as slang or by habit. It seems that people feel that is makes them seem intelligent and thoughtful so they actively try to include it in there professional conversations as I rarely here it in casual situations.
Lmao at your reference to PBS and NPR because that is where I hear it most often. Maybe that is where it originated? There or pompous academia? Because that is how I perceive the user's attitude. "So, since I am smarter than you(you old dinosaur), I will slowly explain this to you so you may be able to understand."
Good morning. Thank you Jeffrey and than you Husker Gary.
Not by fastest Saturday solve, but a very enjoyable and challenging one. I think crosswords are always more enjoyable when you have a successful solve, especially on a tougher one.
I was stuck for the longest time on "Homophone for a word of permission" because I was thinking present tense allow. It took walking the alphabet to get the leading D in the unknown DRED to see that I had the right verb but in the wrong tense.
Loved the clue, 'Where love doesn't conquer anything." I always like Jeffrey's clues. And Gary's write-ups. Fun all around.
Like Madame Defarge, I've been multiplexing to start this bright and sunshiny day. Quietly though. DW didn't sleep well last night and went back to bed.
I think Big Ben got a little too much air on that pass. The Steelers didn't make the playoff, so I am bummed about that, but am looking forward to the Bears / Eagles game tomorrow. Go Bears !
That looks like the Holman Highway 68 / Highway 1 Roundabout at Monterey Peninsula, CA at 17 Mile Drive that opened in July of 2017.
I sure wish you had been my teacher - I’m sure no one ever got bored in your class!!
Husker, your NOME comment has me going for a 3rd cup of coffee. Isn't -1 higher than -7? Or maybe I missed the joke?
What are Red Letters? I’m still trying to learn the “language”. Got perps abd WAGS, but not Red Letters. Reading your comments after I’ve clawed my way through the puzzles is half the fun!
Wendybird, those of us who solve puzzles on a computer generally have the option of turning on, or off, a feature which shows incorrect letters as they are being typed in. Most often, incorrect letters are shown in red when the feature is turned on.
Wendybird, I'm with you. I think I would have done good in Madame Defarge's classes. :>)
I would opine that the leading "So, ..." can be relevant but it depends on usage and context. In the context of summation, it can be the modern day equivalent of the Cartesian conclusion in casual conversation and prose. It alerts the listener / reader that what follows next substantiates a prior point. It is the simple 2 letter word for (therefor, thus(ly), hence, in other words, i.e., etc.)
I agree that as with "like" it has become filler and grates, so its usage should be avoided, especially in business writing.
As I mentioned earlier I really enjoyed the puzzle and the write up .
I could not finish without look ups in the S/W and even then had to check the review. I've heard of "sit ins" "lie ins" and "sleep ins" but BE IN eluded me.
After seeing PAUL IS DEAD in the write up I recalled some people thought playing a Beatles song backwards ended with "I buried Paul"
I had the word allow going through my head but missed ALOUD.
Dating clarification had me thinking ground rules for dating like "no kissing on the first date" "no means no" "keep the door open when visiting in your room" etc.
Anyhow thanks for the fun.
Thanks also to BARRY T and SWAMPCAT for more eloquently stating my sentiments.
I find the most intolerant people are the ones preaching tolerance, finding issues where there are none.
Well, I love Jeffrey Wechsler puzzles but Saturdays are toughies for me no matter who constructs them. I thought I had a good start in the northwest corner with A TON and TOUT and SANTA, but that led me to put in TUTOR instead of AUTO and that created problems in the middle. I also got SISI, PALS, SOLE, NEED, ADM, DOSED and OLAF on my first run-through, but knew it could also be OLAV, which is what it was in the end. Was happy that I somehow got SAHIB and MEERKAT without cheating later on, but in the end it took a lot of cheating on the long items to finish up. No problem, it's a Saturday puzzle and that's how it goes. So thanks, Jeffrey, and you too, Husker Gary, for your always delightful write-ups.
I have a Gourmet Club planning meeting tomorrow night at my home, so it's a busy weekend.
Have a great one, everybody!
The second shot at the puzzle was the charm. I had an ocean of white, all except for DEKE. I was rushing through my breakfast to get to the supermarket before the crowd. When I returned home and settled down the puzzle was solved fairly quickly. I was kind of on a hot streak for a Saturday. I slowed down in the NW because WACS didn't have a note that it was shortened. I already had WHAT at 1A. Accepting WACS allowed me to finish. I have heard of autodidact, but it was my last fill.
Thanks to all the word nerds who followed the grammar and usage thread FLN. Very enjoyable. We follow technical, computer and scientific threads. This was right in our word nerd wheelhouse.
Um, ahem, uh, so etc. seem to be intros, segues into what we are about to say. We should think of better ways to begin.
I hate parade detours, because the way around them is seldom indicated. The detour might be noted in the local newspaper, but out of towners are out of luck.
I can find many written references using REPAST, but in my everyday experience, it is usually used only in reference to meals after funeral services. Do you use REPAST?
HG, as a teen I used to pick up potatoes on a farm, as I walked behind the digger. That's where my a allergies began. I never could have survived detasseling corn.
Does BAD LOT mean bad fate? That's the only way I can relate it to DOOM.
Alan had lunch with his stepmother today. He seems very calm and happy. Then they came back to the house and we exchanged gifts. So, (LOL) Christmas is over for us. I will start to put away the decorations tomorrow. It will take three days.
Have a great weekend.
This seemed impossible, but I was wrong. FIR! Yes, Wechsler on a Saturday is a scary thought, but he gave us a tough but fair challenge.
I guessed that the EDGAR (Allan Poe) AWARD was for things that are creepy. And ADDAMS was famous for creepy cartoons. Voila!
AUTODIDACT I have not used, but I have heard it used. Many who claim to be self taught should reflect on those who were mentors who helped them at key moments. I am grateful to those mentors in my life.
Husker Gary thanks for yet another beautifully illustrated write-up. I loved the HOT STREAK image. This Semite finds it funny and not the least bit offensive!
Anyone else put reveRSE before ENDORSE? That had me stuck for awhile.
Spitzboov hand up for PERMIT before DETOUR
I have not yet had a chance to edit my hundreds of Rose PARADE photos.
But here are seventeen of my video clips from the Rose PARADE on Tuesday!
Here I bicycled around perhaps the most famous CIRcle in the world, in Paris!
Certainly the most COMPLEX TRAFFIC PATTERN I have negotiated!
Here is the BE IN song from the Broadway musical "Hair"
Has anyone else heard that BE IN song?
I loved today's puzzle!! Thank you, Mr. Wechsler for this daunting offering. I had Waldo instead of Santa which stopped me in that corner, and I also held onto it's on me instead of my treat for way too long. But I FIR with no help, which always surprises me on a Saturday. Autodidact was my favorite and probably will be for a long, long time!
From yesterday:
AnonT thanks for the tip about the ALAN puzzle. But I am not sure where to look for it. Can you point me?
Thanks for explaining about COS and adult! By the way... Japanese adult videos are quite different than American ones. They do things that are quite outrageous by American standards. Yet, they censor pubic hair!
Thanks for looking up the King Tut tour that came to Houston. Glad you got to experience that! Each tour is unique in terms of the pieces on exhibit and with regard to policies like photography. This one in Los Angeles had over 150 pieces on display and allowed photography.
Here is my full King Tut article!
The King Tut discussion started with SCARAB in the puzzle. Can you see the SCARABs in my article and photos?
I almost forgot: SANTA reminded me of our own dear departed Argyle!
I loves me a good JW puzzle! HG, your exposition raised more than a few memories from the murky depths. Detasseling corn, the Herb Alpert album (which I was just listening to earlier this week), Ghost Riders in the Sky... we must’ve been on the same wavelength today. Twenty minutes; good time for a Saturday JW.
YR: I do use REPAST occasionally, but have never heard it used in the sense you described.
Am I the only one who wanted the red & white hat wearer to be WALDO?
The long fills mostly eluded me until a few perps showed the way, but PAUL IS DEAD leapt immediately to mind.
Loved the c/a for 64A.
Surprisingly, AUTODIDACT came to mind after only a few perps.
Nap time … have a great day, all.
Wow....a real genuine toughie today, unthemed as well.
After the ocean of white cells, had to start making educated guesses....not so educated though, judging by the writeovers.
Which were....ALOT/ATON, LAUD/TOUT, PERMIT/DETOUR, ROPERS/RIDERS, LINE/LANE, CTY/CIR.
I must say, I’m somewhat taken aback when I see the criticisms of current slang/lingo on the younger generation. It’s not like everything was so much better years ago.
So, like, I mean, really, y’know?
WikWak, thanks for your answer. Every meal I have ever been invited to after a funeral has been called a repast. I wonder in what context you hear it.
funeral repast
Anonymous PVX, yes, I agree. Every generation has had its own lingo and slang, even ours. It seems we do outgrow it. I think of teenage and its lingo as just a stage everyone must go through. This, too, shall pass. Just like the terrible two's.
Picard, I love your King Tut pictures.
Hi All!
I could not ink my way out of a paper-bag this morning. I took a DETOUR at Permit [Hi Spitz!] and didn't recover before peeking at HG's grid. What's really pathetic, I had IBM's RHINO exhibit for a while :-)
Prole (hey, it's Saturday and JW!) b/f PEONS. OLDS for a CAR manual @1d - HG fixed that (WAC would have never come to mind) and AUTODIDACT emerged (I'm surprised so many at the corner haven't heard that word, usually with -ic suffix).
Thanks for the diversion JW but, as usual w/ your efforts, above my pay-grade. But your grids are always worth dipping into.
Thanks for the fantastic expo HG - hope you don't mind my looking at your paper :-) //Those fractal lamps are too cool!
Dating clue had me on carbon-dating right off, so didn't fall for 'blonds-only' or some such.
PAUL IS DEAD blead into the 80's - I remember hearing that from a friend (remember, we were 10 or 11 yros) -- and that was after John was shot.
Receivers didn't need anything related to stereo equipment.
Fav: DRED xing DOOM.
Clue for TENNIS GAME is stellar.
{A, A+} [funny BigE]
@11:08 - pipe-in and add to the fun.
Picard - the link D-O provided for the Alan puzzle.
On the use of 'so'. So what? :-)
I think the word has dual use in the common annoyance -
NPR-STER (and what TTP said): shorthand in an explanation (take it as so that xyz, {explanation follows as to how two ideas are related}) and
Storyteller: 'so' as to introduce a SCENE (So [anyway], I was standing in the express lane with my 12 items or less and... ) //should be 'or FEWER'!!!
I'll consult Dr. Mrs. Anon -T [love it MdF!] later today.
Have a wonderful Saturday!
Cheers, -T
A challenging JW puzzle today. Red letters, perps wags and outright google look-ups were needed to fill in all of the white spaces. HG, your tour splained a lot that didn't make sense at first.
Officially a DNF, even though all of the letters were filled in ultimately. A learning puzzle today.
When watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune or some other show where the host asks participants questions, I've noticed that just about every one starts their explanation/answer with "So," and some then add "Like" before getting into the answer. Generally the ones who add "Like" are younger than those who do not. So, Like, it can be annoying, but I guess that is how they talk.
Nice to know that it's National Whipped Cream Day. I enjoy it on many desserts (notice I spelled it correctly this time). One day a friend made a homemade dessert and took it to work to share with her staff. Along with the dessert she took a mixer, chilled bowl, whipping cream, vanilla and sugar and made scratch whipped cream to put on the dessert. Many of her younger staff were amazed that you could make whipped cream. They thought it only came in an aerosol can.
Around here the meal after a funeral is called a Repast.
Here we are in another year. Boy does time fly by.
Have a great day everyone.
Big Easy: I'm afraid I don't get your comment to me, altho I notice the I in SAHIB is directly above a K.
I seem to be in the minority on knowing (and even using) AUTODIDACT.
PERMIT > DETOUR, JOHN IS DEAD > PAUL, FORD > WACS, expected Chester Gould (Dick Tracy) > ADDAMS, could also have been Al Capp (Fearless Fosdick), Ed Gorey, Gahan Wilson, Will Eisner...
HG: "Cogito ERGO sum" I've heard hundreds of times, but "dubito ergo cogito" never before. Had to look it up to verify that yes, it really is part of that quote, and adds significant meaning to it!
How many longbows can you get out of those YEW shrubs? 😉
I don't like whipped cream on milkshakes either, but it's because when I finish the drink, the cream is a solid sitting on the bottom with no decent way to get to it.
Many years ago I wrote a song about a dreidel. Actually, added verses to an existing one. The original had 3 or 4 verses, and I added about 20 more. Lost to the drives of a dozen or more new computers since then. As I vaguely recall, each verse had it made of a different material. (I'm not Jewish, but somehow got on Chabad's permanent mailing list.)
If the NOME high is -7˚ and low is -1˚, they must be having a really weird temperature inversion!
Like = um = uh = er etc., IMHO.
So, I misspoke on my "Like TTP said" re: so. He distinctly indicated it was "as in Ergo." and I missed it. So, that's, um, 3, 3! uses :-) Mea Culpa.
OKL - BigE was referring to Warren's DNA test showing 1/1000th Native American blood. It gets political from here/thar be Dragons.
Cheers, -T
A Saturday Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle! What could be better? Actually my new refrigerator which I was refilling and doing the puzzle in between while waiting for it to be installed. I love it!
The top, right, center and bottom filled in almost no time. I thought JW had given us A TREAT but then I came to the SW. Since a large cultural gap exits for me during the 60s I had no idea about PAUL IS DEAD. And for date clarification I was looking for romantic dating and having DOGIES didn't help. Finally I erased it all and just LIU. With Paul in place I could suss the rest.
Gary, I'm sorry to tell you that in your sentence that should be ESA.
SHAREABLE. One of my sisters always loves to share her meal at restaurants. It drives me crazy.
AUTODIDACT. New to me, too.
DRED. I didn't know Harriet had written that.
It's time to go back and finish cleaning the kitchen. I found so much to throw out!
I hope you are all having a fine day!
A big, hearty thanks to JW and Gary!
The first Saturday puzzle I've ever completed without a mistake AND all chained answers. The cartoonist awarded an Edgar (Allan Poe) had to be Charles Addams, and everything followed from there. I'm so proud of myself, I'm going to have a big slice of pumpkin pie. With whipped cream.
A tough but doable Wechsler today, just the ticket for a football Saturday.
Oh, yeah: Ta ~ DA!
It took two separate passes (like Yellowrocks) to allow P+P enough THINK-time to finish.
I felt I was on A HOT roll.
So, I told my wife that this is Nat'l Whipped Cream Day, and she looked at me like I wasn't SANE. She doesn't like the stuff. I think she thinks those of us who do betray a moral weakness.
~ OMK
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DR: If Jayce is still looking for a diagonal, this is his day. There is one hearty anchor line stretching from NW to SE.
The more I stare at today's diag, the eerier it seems to me. It contains an anagram tribute to an obscure creature of the phylum Nematoda. I would not expect to see such a bizarre reference from Mr. Wechsler, especially because this particular plant-eating parasite bears my own name. I mean the ...
"EELWORM KEITH"!
Finally got to this enigma after lunch (chores all morning). Needed a break from "honey do's". Shoulda stayed with the chores! Only got 1/3 done in 90 min. Let's say going back to the chores was more pleasurable than this conveluted, esoteric toughie! Not a pleasurable use of my time!
Well, of course -- it's Saturday AND a Weschsler; going down in flames a foregone conclusion.
But as the altimeter wore down to zero (but hadn't hit it yet), the I noticed that my crosswordification was proceeding.
Look, 10A "Felipe's assent" just had to be "¡Si! Si!" `16A had to be "On A HOT streak." (But not everywhere: DOOM for 'bad lot' one of many misses.
We're starting to tune in when there's still V-8 juice left at the end of the puzzle.
I loved this puzzle and very much enjoyed solving it. This is one of those puzzles that I enjoy looking at both forward and backward. Looking forward, it was often a matter of "Sheesh, that could be anything!" Looking backward, it was often a matter of, "Gosh, what a nifty clue and answer!" And indeed there were some nifty clues and some nifty answers. Top notch Wechsler.
Keith, ha! The perfect diagonal for you!
Sitting here before a blazing fire, a lovely nostsligic tree, candles and all my angels I am not ready to say adieu to Christamas. This is the freshes tree I have had in years. I will wait. Our last municipal tree pick up is next Friday. It was well worth the effort to decorate so fully. I have more years to act my age. Continuing merry Christmas.
Madame Defarge ~
The assignment you gave your students was a wise idea. I hope they enjoyed it as much as they may have learned from it.
It overlaps in a way with the kind of improv we would give to acting students. They had to imagine on their feet how the same plot device would be played in different physical circumstances by various characters.
Think of bumming a small loan from college dorm buddies, then a stranger at a diner, and then between homeless guys in an alley. The choice of words would change along with everything else.
Over half the time they would have had no experience of the environment & characters, but they quickly learned to exercise their imaginations--and their logic!
In some cases, they'd be dispatched to do follow-up real-life research.
~ OMK
Big Easy ~
You are with my wife when it comes to your hatred of whipped cream. And she (and you) positively deplore(s) my love of egg nog.
I prefer brandy to rum as the "extra" ingredient, but it is the lovely creamy flavor and aerated milky substance with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top that I absolutely must have for about a month surrounding the winter solstice. Ahhh!
I repeat: Ahhhh....
Do you join her in considering it a moral weakness? A sort of first-world luxury indulgence that a person of character should resist?
Or do you share her (mild degree of) lactose intolerance? (For which, I extend my sincere sympathy.)
~ OMK
I can't let Whipped Cream Day go by without mentioning one of my all time favorite birthday presents, an Isi whipped cream maker. You place whipping cream in a metal cylinder and add a little confectioners sugar. If you don't use it right away refrigerate it. When ready, screw on an aerating cartridge, replace it with the nozzle and squirt. The remainder keeps ten days in the refrigerator. So quick, so easy, so muss free. I love mine and use it often. Pricey, but worth it,
Isi
Yellowrocks thank you for the appreciation of my King Tut photos!
AnonT thanks for the ALAN puzzle link. I just downloaded the puzzle and the solution and look forward to solving it!
Greetings!
Thanks to Jeffrey and Gary!
A miracle! No problems! Only unknown was PAUL IS DEAD.
Have a great Sunday!
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