Theme: Hipster Talk: The first word of each theme entries is a slangy form of "nice" as suggested by the clues:
21A. "Dude, nice triatomic molecule!": FRESH WATER. Three atoms, two hydrogen and one oxygen.
23A. "Dude, nice metered text!": EPIC POEM. Those Homeric staples the Iliad and the Odyssey are not strangers to the crossword.
34A. "Dude, nice root vegetable!": SWEET POTATO
49A. "Dude, nice riding crop!": COOL WHIP. The odd man out in the theme entries. The others are what I would call self-referential - the phrase as a whole is a variant of the second word. In this one "whip" and "Cool Whip" are completely different things.
51A. "Dude, nice buzzer collection!": KILLER BEES
Inventive theme from Andrew today. I'd not heard of "fresh" in the slang usage before, but it didn't slow me down much. There did seem to be a lot of three-letter fill, especially around the middle section, but nothing too irritating.
I did think the COOL WHIP entry was a little out of left field, and rather pointed up that the rest of the entries were just modifiers of the second word. Not a cardinal sin, but - gave me a little of a "meh" moment. Also "buzzer" for "bee" seemed a little contrived. Anyway ....
... let's take the tour.
Across:
1. Color in a darkroom: SEPIA. Sepia toning is still used to give black & white photographs a warmer quality, and to improve their life. The technique was common in 18th-century portrait photography. Check out this English couple from 1885:
6. "May I say something?": AHEM?
10. Flat for an artist: LOFT.
14. Lake named for a tribe: HURON
15. Folk hero Crockett: DAVY
16. Song for one: ARIA. Resisted the temptation to plonk SOLO in here until I had some confirmation from the crosses.
17. Olympics infrastructure project: ARENA. Sadly, quite often never to be used again. There is very rarely any long-term economic benefit to be gained from building Olympic facilities. Los Angeles, hosting the Olympics in 2028, is not building any new permanent facilities for the games.
18. One not found on a violin: FRET. I don't know how violinists do it. I tried to play a fret-less electric bass guitar once and I was lost.
19. Communist icon: MARX. Karl, buried in Highgate Cemetery in North London.
20. Former U.N. leader Annan: KOFI. I can never remember this fellow, I always wait for the crosses.
25. Free bakery treat?: AROMA. Nice clue.
26. Letters after T?: REX. I resisted the "UVW" run.
27. Get a lode of this: ORE
28. Muddy home: STY
30. Scabbers, in the Potterverse: RAT. I don't know the Harry Potter canon too well, but the crosses were solid. There's another Potter reference later on.
31. Nonprofit URL ending: ORG
32. Like: À LA
33. Producer of cones and needles: PINE
37. Oompa-Loompa creator: DAHL. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" author Roald.
39. Tear: RIP
40. Conan's network: TBS
41. Novelist Umberto: ECO. I remember reading "Foucault's Pendulum" when I was on vacation in Greece a number of years ago. I clearly remember where I was while I was reading it and thoroughly enjoying it. Now I can remember absolutely zero about the book itself. Ripe for a re-read.
42. Cyclops organ: EYE
43. Animal that sounds like a musical note: DOE. Not re? Doh!
44. Sports bar fixtures: TV'S Remember when they were not flat-screen and had to sit on steel-braced shelves or mounts to support the weight?
47. Open, as oysters: SHUCK. I used to host an oysters and Guinness party on the last Sunday before Christmas back in my London days. We went through a ton of oysters, I got to be a pretty good shucker. I provided the oysters and the kegs of Guinness, the guests brought Champagne. Happy Sundays!
54. Aid in battling blazes: HOSE
55. Yoda trainee: JEDI
56. Many millennia: EONS
57. "Sesame Street" woman for 44 years: MARIA. She was bilingual. The actress who played her, Sonia Manzano, felt the human characters on the show were getting less and less of the script action, so she moved on in 2015.
58. Broiling spot: OVEN
59. Crumb carriers: ANTS
60. Yoga pose similar to a push-up: PLANK. I try to plank most days, it's good for the central core. My record time for planking is the entire song "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart, which runs 6:21 on YouTube. One of my favorite songs from the '70s.
61. "Sesame Street" Muppet: BERT. Second character of the day from the show.
62. Mexican coin: PESO. Maria knows this.
63. Bad spells: HEXES
Down:
1. Salt dispenser: SHAKER. I don't use shakers, I use bamboo wood pots, easier to get at. I have one each for kosher and finishing salt.
2. Where Andorra is: EUROPE. Between France and Spain in the Pyrenees. It's a beautiful part of the world. Pretty cracking food too, sitting between France and the Basque Country.
3. In or out, at times: PREFIX. Challenging clue. For example, in-swinger or out-swinger in baseball.
4. Jefferson Memorial column type: IONIC. Here's a few of the columns:
5. Gasteyer of "Lady Dynamite": ANA. No clue, thank you crosses. This show passed me by.
6. Like some subscription-based sites: AD-FREE
7. Word from Arabic for "sacred, inviolable place": HAREM
8. Party times, often: EVES
9. Bit of folklore: MYTH
10. 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music winner Kendrick: LAMAR. The Compton-based rapper won for his album "Damn".
11. "Messiah," e.g.: ORATORIO
12. Relief pitcher, in baseball lingo: FIREMAN. I hadn't heard this term before, it made me smile. I can't hear Metallica's "Enter Sandman" without seeing Mariano Rivero heading to the mound. The band played the song live for him at Yankee Stadium when the Yankees retired Rivero's number 42.
13. IRS table column: TAX RATE.
21. Fake: FORGERY
22. Method: WAY
24. Opening on a sweater?: PORE. Nice clue. There were a couple of humid days in Jamaica last week where my pores were definitely open!
28. __-mo replay: SLO
29. Parlor pictures: TATTOOS. Took me a while, I was thinking about family portrait photographs in the parlor (or parlour).
31. Hermes, in the Potterverse: OWL. Had the W, so didn't hesitate here.
32. Handy program: APP
33. NBA stats: PTS. Points, simple enough.
34. Place to pull over: SHOULDER
35. Rare NFL result: TIE. Donovan McNabb, then the Eagles quarterback, famously didn't know that an NFL regular season game could end in a tie when he played in a 13-13 tie with the Bengals back in 2008. "I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book,"
36. Genesis casualty: ABEL
37. Office position: DESK JOB
38. Accomplish: ACHIEVE
42. __ out a living: EKE
43. Playground retort: DOES SO. Some of these are tricky to parse. I saw "DO ESSO" first.
44. Insect midsection: THORAX
45. Redness-removing brand: VISINE. I use it sparingly, my optician tells me it's not good for your eyes. It's a lot cheaper than the brand she wants me to use though.
46. Appeals (to): SPEAKS
48. Director Eastwood: CLINT
49. They're beside the point: CENTS. Another nice clue. $9.99
50. Pod member: WHALE
52. Bring in: REAP
53. Study, with "up": BONE
57. Indy 500 stat: MPH
And with that, it just remains for me to post the grid and then skedaddle.
Steve
21A. "Dude, nice triatomic molecule!": FRESH WATER. Three atoms, two hydrogen and one oxygen.
23A. "Dude, nice metered text!": EPIC POEM. Those Homeric staples the Iliad and the Odyssey are not strangers to the crossword.
34A. "Dude, nice root vegetable!": SWEET POTATO
49A. "Dude, nice riding crop!": COOL WHIP. The odd man out in the theme entries. The others are what I would call self-referential - the phrase as a whole is a variant of the second word. In this one "whip" and "Cool Whip" are completely different things.
51A. "Dude, nice buzzer collection!": KILLER BEES
Inventive theme from Andrew today. I'd not heard of "fresh" in the slang usage before, but it didn't slow me down much. There did seem to be a lot of three-letter fill, especially around the middle section, but nothing too irritating.
I did think the COOL WHIP entry was a little out of left field, and rather pointed up that the rest of the entries were just modifiers of the second word. Not a cardinal sin, but - gave me a little of a "meh" moment. Also "buzzer" for "bee" seemed a little contrived. Anyway ....
... let's take the tour.
Across:
1. Color in a darkroom: SEPIA. Sepia toning is still used to give black & white photographs a warmer quality, and to improve their life. The technique was common in 18th-century portrait photography. Check out this English couple from 1885:
6. "May I say something?": AHEM?
10. Flat for an artist: LOFT.
14. Lake named for a tribe: HURON
15. Folk hero Crockett: DAVY
16. Song for one: ARIA. Resisted the temptation to plonk SOLO in here until I had some confirmation from the crosses.
17. Olympics infrastructure project: ARENA. Sadly, quite often never to be used again. There is very rarely any long-term economic benefit to be gained from building Olympic facilities. Los Angeles, hosting the Olympics in 2028, is not building any new permanent facilities for the games.
18. One not found on a violin: FRET. I don't know how violinists do it. I tried to play a fret-less electric bass guitar once and I was lost.
19. Communist icon: MARX. Karl, buried in Highgate Cemetery in North London.
20. Former U.N. leader Annan: KOFI. I can never remember this fellow, I always wait for the crosses.
25. Free bakery treat?: AROMA. Nice clue.
26. Letters after T?: REX. I resisted the "UVW" run.
27. Get a lode of this: ORE
28. Muddy home: STY
30. Scabbers, in the Potterverse: RAT. I don't know the Harry Potter canon too well, but the crosses were solid. There's another Potter reference later on.
31. Nonprofit URL ending: ORG
32. Like: À LA
33. Producer of cones and needles: PINE
37. Oompa-Loompa creator: DAHL. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" author Roald.
39. Tear: RIP
40. Conan's network: TBS
41. Novelist Umberto: ECO. I remember reading "Foucault's Pendulum" when I was on vacation in Greece a number of years ago. I clearly remember where I was while I was reading it and thoroughly enjoying it. Now I can remember absolutely zero about the book itself. Ripe for a re-read.
42. Cyclops organ: EYE
43. Animal that sounds like a musical note: DOE. Not re? Doh!
44. Sports bar fixtures: TV'S Remember when they were not flat-screen and had to sit on steel-braced shelves or mounts to support the weight?
47. Open, as oysters: SHUCK. I used to host an oysters and Guinness party on the last Sunday before Christmas back in my London days. We went through a ton of oysters, I got to be a pretty good shucker. I provided the oysters and the kegs of Guinness, the guests brought Champagne. Happy Sundays!
54. Aid in battling blazes: HOSE
55. Yoda trainee: JEDI
56. Many millennia: EONS
57. "Sesame Street" woman for 44 years: MARIA. She was bilingual. The actress who played her, Sonia Manzano, felt the human characters on the show were getting less and less of the script action, so she moved on in 2015.
58. Broiling spot: OVEN
59. Crumb carriers: ANTS
60. Yoga pose similar to a push-up: PLANK. I try to plank most days, it's good for the central core. My record time for planking is the entire song "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart, which runs 6:21 on YouTube. One of my favorite songs from the '70s.
61. "Sesame Street" Muppet: BERT. Second character of the day from the show.
62. Mexican coin: PESO. Maria knows this.
63. Bad spells: HEXES
Down:
1. Salt dispenser: SHAKER. I don't use shakers, I use bamboo wood pots, easier to get at. I have one each for kosher and finishing salt.
2. Where Andorra is: EUROPE. Between France and Spain in the Pyrenees. It's a beautiful part of the world. Pretty cracking food too, sitting between France and the Basque Country.
3. In or out, at times: PREFIX. Challenging clue. For example, in-swinger or out-swinger in baseball.
4. Jefferson Memorial column type: IONIC. Here's a few of the columns:
5. Gasteyer of "Lady Dynamite": ANA. No clue, thank you crosses. This show passed me by.
6. Like some subscription-based sites: AD-FREE
7. Word from Arabic for "sacred, inviolable place": HAREM
8. Party times, often: EVES
9. Bit of folklore: MYTH
10. 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music winner Kendrick: LAMAR. The Compton-based rapper won for his album "Damn".
11. "Messiah," e.g.: ORATORIO
12. Relief pitcher, in baseball lingo: FIREMAN. I hadn't heard this term before, it made me smile. I can't hear Metallica's "Enter Sandman" without seeing Mariano Rivero heading to the mound. The band played the song live for him at Yankee Stadium when the Yankees retired Rivero's number 42.
13. IRS table column: TAX RATE.
21. Fake: FORGERY
22. Method: WAY
24. Opening on a sweater?: PORE. Nice clue. There were a couple of humid days in Jamaica last week where my pores were definitely open!
28. __-mo replay: SLO
29. Parlor pictures: TATTOOS. Took me a while, I was thinking about family portrait photographs in the parlor (or parlour).
31. Hermes, in the Potterverse: OWL. Had the W, so didn't hesitate here.
32. Handy program: APP
33. NBA stats: PTS. Points, simple enough.
34. Place to pull over: SHOULDER
35. Rare NFL result: TIE. Donovan McNabb, then the Eagles quarterback, famously didn't know that an NFL regular season game could end in a tie when he played in a 13-13 tie with the Bengals back in 2008. "I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book,"
36. Genesis casualty: ABEL
37. Office position: DESK JOB
38. Accomplish: ACHIEVE
42. __ out a living: EKE
43. Playground retort: DOES SO. Some of these are tricky to parse. I saw "DO ESSO" first.
44. Insect midsection: THORAX
45. Redness-removing brand: VISINE. I use it sparingly, my optician tells me it's not good for your eyes. It's a lot cheaper than the brand she wants me to use though.
46. Appeals (to): SPEAKS
48. Director Eastwood: CLINT
49. They're beside the point: CENTS. Another nice clue. $9.99
50. Pod member: WHALE
52. Bring in: REAP
53. Study, with "up": BONE
57. Indy 500 stat: MPH
And with that, it just remains for me to post the grid and then skedaddle.
Steve
Wouldn't it be heavenly
ReplyDeleteIf the Net were AD FREE?
If we could SHUCK
Annoying huck-
Sters, and just let things be!
ABEL was the apple of Adam's EYE,
Cain was the child who made EVE sigh.
When the two were gone,
Then Seth came along,
And said,"What a good boy am I!"
If I could write an EPIC POEM
I'd want it to be more than foam.
It could fit
With a great MYTH,
Like maybe from the HURON.
{B, B-, C+.}
Another interesting theme created by Andrew who gave us the double dose in his LAT debut. Like Steve, I never heard of the NETFLIX series LADY DYNAMITE but I know ANA from her many shows. IMDB for ANA.
ReplyDeleteAll in all a nice fairly easy Tuesday; off to visit my youngest. Thanks, Andrew and Steve.
FIR in way too many min.
ReplyDeleteGreat Morning to each of you!
Thank you Andrew Linzer for this crunchy Thursday CW.
Thank you Steve for your excellent review.
Ðave
Good Morning, Steve and friends. This was a quick and easy Thursday puzzle. I stumbled a bit on the south-east corner, but other than that it was smooth sailing.
ReplyDeleteI liked the crossing of ORATORIO and ARIA.
My favorite clue was Get A Load of This = ORE.
We read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was in the 4th Grade. I remembered that Roald DAHL wrote the book.
I am not up on my Harry Potter, so needed the perps for RAT, and after getting the O _ L, I figured out Hermes the OWL and not the high-priced luxury goods manufacturer.
EUROPE was just too easy.
I knew the name ANA Gasteyer from SNL.
Cain slew ABEL.
More heavy rain and bad weather is predicted for today.
QOD: Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit. ~ Edward R. Morrow (né Egbert Roscoe Murrow; b. Apr. 25, 1908 ~ Apr. 27, 1965)
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteBack in H.S. our photography club darkroom was painted BLACK. Bzzzzt! Wite-Out, please. Almost needed it later when I thought of SOLO, but that wouldn't work at all with the perps, so ARIA went in. Steve, this was my thought when COOL WHIP showed up. Works for me. Thanx, Andrew.
VISINE: In my ute there were only two brands at the drug store, VISINE and MURINE. Murine was a yellow liquid, and we thought it was the height of humor to scratch the M off the bottle.
Alas, it's BFM (beg for money) time on the local NPR station. Makes it tough to get my morning news fix.
It's so cute when blokes from across the pond try to talk baseball.
ReplyDeleteClever theme and over all went faster than many Thursdays!
ReplyDeleteSteve - the reason your eye doctor didn't want you to use Visine is that the component of the drops that shrinks the blood vessels to get the "red" out has a rebound action - so when it wears off your eyes can get redder than they were to start with. There are a lot of cheaper moisture eyedrops than the namebrand fancy ones your doctor recommended- but just don't get the ones that say that they will get the redness out! Patient education of the day over ;)
Thanks Andrew and Steve for a fun start to the morning!
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteOnce I found I could do CW,s on the computer, I thought it was such a fine idea. It has taken me too long a time to realize I work better on paper. Once again, today I found the theme! Yay for theme-challenged Madame!
Thanks Andrew for this morning's fun. I began in the NW and didn't see SEPIA right away, so I went down and immediately filled cellar--I use them also in prep but we don't use salt at the table so. . . . When I came to KOFI, I saw the error of my ways and filled SHAKER. LOFT created a similar problem with solo, since 10D did not ask for law school exams. Bzzt! Ah, ARIA. My first understanding of the theme came at EPIC POEM, and I was on my way. I knew HEXES from very long ago needlework, but as I recall most PA Dutch hexes are for good luck. Distalfinks(?) and all. So back to Macbeth and the three HAGS (from yesterday) for some Shakespearean curse work. (Groan.)
Thanks, Steve for the tour. COOL WHIP worked for me as in a totally groovy buggy WHIP. My salt cellars are glass, but I do like the wooden ones. The glass works better in the dishwasher when I finally grow tired of my fingerprints all over them.
Have a sunny day everyone. Be well.
I hesitated at FRESH WATER for a bit because fresh did not seem to fit the theme. LIU
ReplyDeleteUrban Dictionary:
fresh - it is acceptable and highly approved by someone.
Orgin: Hiphop Mid 80's Ny
Fresh is derived as in the sense of seeing something brand new and is attracting people like cars in commercials, but is used to refer to anything highly approved by someone.
"Those are some fresh shoes!"
"Lets go to Darrels Shop they got fresher records down there".
Gotta run.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteNot so hard for a Thursday. No searches needed. Perps were solid where needed; especially in the MARIA + PLANK area. Had 2 white-outs: earn before REAP, and solo before ARIA. Favorite theme phrase was COOL WHIP.
SHUCK - Interesting that Merriam says the word origen is unknown. Any takers?
Musings
ReplyDelete-TRIATOMIC two days in a row!
-SWEET potato vines are a staple in my DW’s landscape pots
-Sad pictures of abandoned Olympic ARENAS post-competition
-Scabbers (pl.)/RAT (sing.)? Scabbers is the name of the RAT I find out
-Oompa-Loompas aren’t as creepy as Oz’s flying monkeys but still…
-NBC paid Conan $45M to go away and let Jay return
-We SHAKE precious little salt here at Chez Gary
-A baseball FIREMAN is said to have poured gasoline on the fire
-FORGERY? My snowbird golf partner said his friend got a ROLEX for $20 in Mexico
-Cardiothoracic surgeons treat organs inside the human THORAX (chest)
Well shucks, Spitz, I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteSpitz- Went to a dozen dictionaries and all of them stated the origin of the word shuck is unknown. Odd. Well, shucks, that sucks!
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-From Husker, of course, How to Husk and SHUCK corn on the cob. (1:30)
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI thought it was quite a coincidence that Triatomic showed up a second day in a row, as it was new to a few of us yesterday. My Plank was Asana, which is the usual Yoga c/w answer and the only one I know. As I'm ignorant of The Scabbers, Harry Potter, Sesame Street and SNL, I needed perps for Rat, Owl, Maria, and Ana. I kinda got the theme, but not the Dude-Hipster first word synonym aspect. Overall, it was an easy, fun solve.
Thanks, Andrew, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for explaining the theme so well.
Belated Happy Anniversary wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Abejo!
Have a great day.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Andrew Linzer, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteWell, cruciverb is up and running again. PTL.
Got home from my Commandery meeting last night at midnight. Opened a brewski and jumped into the puzzle via cruciverb. Got 95% of it done by 12:30. Hung up in the SW corner. Then went to bed. Finished this morning.
My hang up was KILLER BEES. I could not suss that. I thought SHOULDER was some sort of AREA, so I had AREA as the last four letters. Did not know DAHL or JEDI. Once I figured out SHOULDER, everything else fell into place with a perp or two.
TATTOOS was a tricky one. Good clue.
HAD KOFI wrong for a while. Tried KOKI. Fixed that with PREFIX.
I also tried SOLO for 16A. After I got all the verticals, ARIA was it.
Liked HAREM. Never knew the basis for the word. Makes sense.
Have a meeting at church in a half hour see you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Husker. I think a baseball fireman is someone who puts out the fire.
ReplyDeleteThe fire could be: bases loaded, top of the ninth, 2 outs and up by a run. They call on the best relief pitcher on the team to come in the game and put out the fire. The home team plays loud music to further amp up the fans. Great part of the game. Two of the best were the aforementioned Mariano Rivera along with Trevor Hoffman. Their songs? Enter Sandman for Rivera and Hell's Bells for Hoffman.
From the 70s until recently the award for the best relief pitcher was sponsored by Rolaids(get it?). The award is now given for the best in each league and was renamed for Rivera in the AL and Hoffman for the relief pitchers in the NL.
Rivera's number 42 is another story. Let's just say it is Jackie Robinson's number 42 and Rivera was permitted to wear it. The last player to be allowed to. It is now permanently retired throughout all of professional baseball. I think it would be frowned upon at every other level also.
Woohoo! Woohoo! I got a Thursday puzzle without a single error! Woohoo! Many thanks, Andrew, for this fun and doable puzzle. Liked seeing DAVY Crockett. Didn't know MARIA but fondly remembered BERT from "Sesame Street." Had SOLO before ARIA but ORATORIO fixed that. Struggled a little with that T letter but when REX had to be the answer, I finally got it. And I can't believe I remembered KOFI Annan. Thanks again, Andrew, and thanks for your always cool commentary, Steve.
ReplyDeleteLiked your second poem, Owen.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hola y buen dia!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrew Linzer and Steve for today's amusement! Fun.
I remember KOFI Annan but even if I didn't, I recall the interchange mocking of GW Bush in SNL. Funny stuff.
I loved COOL WHIP as the answer!
Though I've resumed my practice of yoga, I'm on a modified program so haven't done any PLANK positions yet. My first fill was ASANA, too. Hi, PK!
Drat! I failed to review my grid and didn't see that I had PREFaX so FIW.
I liked the clever clue for PORE!
My doctor prescribed a generic kind of EYE drops that are quite economical.
Have a happy day, everyone!
I usually start off by saying I liked this puzzle, but I realize that it is "needless to say" because if I didn't like the puzzles I wouldn't keep doing them. So, needless to say, I liked this puzzle, but it took me a while to comprehend the "Dude" stuff until I got EPIC POEM. I remember how popular it was to call everything "epic" about 5 or 6 years ago, sorta like "awesome" was the superlative du jour not long ago. I also fondly recall a co-worker loved to say "sweeeeeeeet!" when he liked something.
ReplyDeleteYeah wow, TRIATOMIC two days in a row! Can "Baader-Meinhof" be far behind?
There was plenty of KILLER cluing in this puzzle today. I especially like "One not found on a violin", "Get a lode of this", and "Crumb carriers". "Letters after T?" was pretty COOL too.
Sure enough, I entered CELLAR for the salt dispenser, but it didn't take long, what with KOFI, to change it to SHAKER. I guess a shaker is more of a "dispenser" than a cellar is. We here at chez Jayce have a salt cellar; we both find it is easier to dispense a literal pinch of salt that way.
A FRESH learning moment re HAREM. As Abejo said, "Makes sense."
Good to know about those eyedrops, inanehiker. Thanks.
Good wishes to you all, and please make sure you really need it before agreeing to a root canal treatment.
My trio of Haikus:
ReplyDeleteHow does the Spanish
Golfer know when to tee off?
Announcer says, “EUROPE”
Man wants leftover
Chuck Roast. Wife could care less, and
Gave him cold SHOULDER
Oyster preparer
Won “Employee of the Month”.
He replied, “Aw SHUCKs”
ReplyDeleteThis was a cleverly put together Thursday puzzle.
The best relief pitcher in baseball used to get the ”Fireman of the Year” award, now it’s “Reliever of the Year”.
It had to end...
Markovers....PRANA/PLANK. Too eager at the end I guess.
Friday awaits. Have a good one.
FIW,
ReplyDelete(I guess I get an F minus...)
Note to D4E4H, always click on the comic to enlarge it before copying the address
to avoid tomorrows readers not seeing the pic you intended. However, some sites
copy protect, and you may not be able to hot link...
Anywho, Maybe it is not a Natick,
but I thought 26a, letters after T? Was ree (as in tree? how lame...)
Which gave me a 3d, in, or out, at times = Prepie???
(well, it is possible for Prepie stuff to be in &/or out at times...)
Nuts!
Wait a Sec! Prefix = Baseball? It was a Natick!
Speaking of other (unrelated) no win situations,
Last warm day I opened the windows, & found tiny Ants! (on the 2nd floor!)
Called the exterminator, who said I wasn't covered for this
because they were not insects, and his poisons would not eradicate them anyway.
Learning moment: They were Springtails, not Ants! Attracted by pollen collecting
in the windowsill, + rain = Springtails, which will die out in a couple of weeks anyway.
Curious knowledge is they are not insects because their mouthparts are on the inside.
(yeah weird, look it up...)
Cont...
Like Jayce, I didn't quite dig the "Dude" hints. But I have to acknowledge that they did help me when I couldn't think of what should precede WHIP. I had everything from REAL to DOLL until I mentally ran things through Dudespeak and hit upon COOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Lucina in singling out 24D (PORE) for a fave clue.
~ OMK
____________
DR: We have one diagonal today, NE to SW.
Its anagram remarks upon the attitude of those cool cats who lean against things, so casually they can be said to be without animation.
These "dudes" place themselves among the...
"VAPIDLY ATILT"!
Double Yest (Tuesday)
ReplyDelete(sorry, I was busy Yesterday, the toilet broke & I had to fix it.)
(amongst other things not to be mentioned...)
PK said She would call 911 on me, & the ASPCA would be after me???
(Ouch!)
(Reference: I thought walking the dog in one hand, & carrying a machette, knife, & Axe in the other might be a dangerous four in hand.)
(Crossword Theme Silliness...)
(& yes, searching for Fatwood is a very common practice for people in the know.)
The following is not intended as a rant, or diatribe,
(but maybe interpreted as such.)
(the following is for entertainment purposes only...)
It is just that, in my Ute, I had an experience hiking with friends,
that we were verbally assaulted by other , older hikers, for carrying Knives
on our belts, in the woods... I never forgot it. Why did fear and ignorance
cause this unnecessary scene?
(& to be fair, it would be my ignorance that would cause me to be arrested
for carrying what I think is a tool in a Suburban area...)
I am an Outdoorsman, & I survive the Winters by watching YouTube videos
of how to Bushcraft. This caused me to discover the Hobby of Whittling,
and how to practice with something called The Try Stick.
More here...
I find this fun, relaxing, and yes I have too much time on my hands...
On the other hand,
for the paranoid, watch John Wick,
He doesn't bother with the Try Stick,
and is known for killing 3 men in a bar with a pencil...
I guess I'm not a 'hipster' because the only theme word I had previously heard used for nice is COOL. The puzzle was easy but the theme totally was beyond my comprehension. MARIA was an unknown, as I've never watched Sesame Street ( or Netflix), but I do know of BERT, ERNIE, ELMO, & BIG BIRD.
ReplyDeleteDidn't really know whether the columns were DORIC or IONIC.
FIREMAN was new to me. Never heard the term used when describing baseball.
D-otto, as for Conan, you know when a comedian is NOT funny is when he laughs at his own jokes.
Big Easy -- ?????
ReplyDeleteI *loved* this theme! It made me laugh a lot,which isn't easy after solving literally thousands of puzzles. I thought FRESH WATER was the weakest entry, but the rest were great. The clueing for the themers starting with "Dude..." was inspired. Great grid, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteDNF, leaving blank ORATO_IO x _AT. I was in a hurry to get to work and forgot to go over the grid before I came here. Otherwise I thought it was easier than yesterday's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard of a ridiculous construction budget for Olympic Games was Montreal's Big Owe that was built for the 1976 Games. But the Expos will make the citizens whole!
Steve, I’m with you. I love the entire “Year of the Cat” album. I think “On the Border” is my favorite cut. Thanks for an epic review. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks to Andrew, too. I enjoyed this puzzle, FIR in just over 20 minutes.
Liked “Get a lode of this” = ORE and T-REX. Never heard the term Fireman in relation to baseball, but then I hardly ever watch it. What I know of it I get by osmosis from my BH, who is a raving Cubs fan.
The translation of HAREM from the Arabic was my learning moment of the day. I must say it makes perfect sense.
Growing up, my mother had a set of swan figurines that were meant to be (and were) used as salt cellars. They each had a tiny silver spoon for getting the salt from the swan and sprinkling on your food. I’m not too sure just what the swans were made of, but whatever it was it was so thin you could see light through it. My kids called them ducks. I’m not sure where they ended up after Mother’s death.
Supper time. Have a nice evening, everyone.
An interesting interview on Jeopardy! tonight. While Alex was questioning the current champion, the subject of last names came up. It was then that James revealed to the audience that his surname was German for "wood wacker".
ReplyDeleteSorry for the above
ReplyDelete(not a rant, or Diatribe...)
Maybe I need to lighten up a bit...
I wanted to leave this on a lighter note,
ReplyDeletebut, of course,
should you choose to not abide...
(Actually,)
on a lighter note...
Everyone who dies in this movie is wearing a red shirt. (ALA Star Trek...)
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrew for a doable Thursday-level puzzle; quite enjoyable (esp. since I knew names KOFI and MARIA) and I loved the Dude [2:39 - don't watch it all but make it to 1:20] theme.
Excellent expo Steve. I'll mention FRESH later on, Dude.
WO: N/A
ESPs: ANA, LAMAR, ECO, and only the C in CENTS was ABC-run b/f the penny dropped.
Fav: I'm with Hahtoolah on ORE's clue
{A, B+, B}
[cute Haiku Harry; like'd 'em all]
Apropos DR Dude.
WEES re: surprise at TriAtomic - I tell ya', Dude (Rich) tries to teach us here...
Bob Costas - I'd also add the FIRE MeN were the Flame Throwers - Billy Wagner, when he was with the Astros, hit 101 on the Radar Gun. His intro was also Enter the Sandman.
D-O: Dude! I wrote exactly that re: SHUCKS :-)
Oh, yeah dude, the dreaded pledge-drive. I set my alarm 15 minutes b/f the hour so I can listen to Market Place before getting out of bed. I heard "if you value this station" and just got out of bed. Bogus dude.
Steve, YR - Perhaps Will Smith's role as The FRESH Prince of Bel Air is more familiar to you.
CED - Dude!?! (you did what? 'cuz I was late); you beat me to The abiding Dude.
Cheers, -T
Oh,yeah. Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I am not so cool or fresh these days.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I am underwater at this time. Tears.
24down “opening on a sweater?” Pore? Need help to turn on the light bulb.
ReplyDeleteYuman - if you're jogging and sweating like a glass of ice tea in Summer's sun, your skin's POREs are wide open and you're the sweater. -T
ReplyDeleteRead SWEATER as A PERSON WHO SWEATS. Sweat comes from the pores.
ReplyDeleteCED: I didn't mean to get you lathered up. I just had a picture of you going into the woods as you described and some indignant idiot misunderstanding the situation. Too many people raging and shooting first before questions are asked. Hugs to you.
ReplyDeleteYR: Hugs to you too. Loving thoughts to buoy you up.
I tried to do the puzzle at midnight and got a lot of strange text about having no internet connection. I just shut 'er down and unplugged the thing. Didn't get back until this evening. Slept about 14 hours today. My life is strange. Did the puzzle & got Tada. Didn't understand some of it but enjoyed being back on the grid. Thanks, Andrew & Steve and all SWEET commenTATOrs.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Andrew and Steve (I may have been the only one who appreciated parlour!).
ReplyDeleteI found this a little crunchy but my brain may have been tired by this hour of the day. NE corner was the last to fall; I was not familiar with the FIREMAN term, I had Firs before PINE and hand up for Solo; i knew OWL but not RAT; this Canadian has never seen a IRS table column and TAX RATE was slow to fill.
But I LOLed when COOL WHIP appeared.
It took a minute before I saw the point with the CENTS (or the penny dropped AnonT😀)
Lucina- maybe your Prefax could be another body part to go with THORAX!
YR- virtual hugs😪 This is the hard part of your necessary and wise decision
Click,Thanks WikWak and Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAs a compulsive knitter I was seeing holes in a knit sweater. I was a sweater today when it hit 98 degrees.
YR:
ReplyDeleteHugs from me too!
Canadian Eh!:
Prefax as a body part? I guess it would have to precede the THORAX.
Yuman:
We hit 99 degrees today so my PORES were definitely open.