17. *Employee insurance coverage, briefly: WORKERS COMP.
60. *Unmanned aerial attack: DRONE STRIKE.
11. *Hotel bed choice: QUEEN SIZE.
32. *Persist despite difficulty: SOLDIER ON.
46. Symbolic Egyptian snake, which includes the start of a hint to the answers to starred clues: ASP.
Look at the hind end of this ant:
After noticing worker, drone, queen and soldier as answers in the starred clues, I first thought "Bees" but I had never heard of soldier bees. John threw me for a loop with ASP. What does ASP have to do with bees ? At that point, I paid attention to the circles and reread the reveal. ANT COLONY might have been hard to spot without the circles.
Clever puzzle and design. I like how ANT COLONY is arranged so that it represents a mound. We had plenty of fire ant mounds in the pastures and yards in Central Texas. Dang things were so hard to get rid of. It was like playing Whac-A-Mole.
Across:
1. "Star Wars" warrior: JEDI. All you want to know and more at Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.
5. Treaded winter vehicle: SNO-CAT.
11. "Proven," in proofs: QED. Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Latin, from the buzzwords used by great Greek mathematicians, such as Euclid and Archimedes.
14. Laptop brand that sounds like a top tennis player: ACER. Cure clue.
15. Pays homage to: HONORS. Pays respect to.
16. Prefix with corn or cycle: UNI. As a preteen, my gangly friend Brian became an accomplished unicycle rider in our hilly little town. He turned out to be a pretty good basketball player on our high school team.
19. It may be bruised: EGO. 8 Ways to Overcome a Blow to Your Ego
20. Blight-stricken tree: ELM. A fungal disease spread by bark beetles. "This disease is not of Dutch origin, but because early work on the disease was done by Dutch pathologists in the 1920s, the disease has been called Dutch elm disease (DED)." - Morton Arboretum
21. Deceived: LIED TO.
22. Lo __: noodle dish: MEIN. Lo mein - soft boiled noodles. Chow mein - crispy fried noodles.
23. Church officers: DEACONS. Not germane to the clue for any other reason than Deacon is in it:
25. "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline: SUSANN. A best selling book about three pill-popping women. It was later adapted into a movie of the same name.
27. Animal that can learn sign language: APE.
28. Parting site in Exodus: RED SEA.
30. "Who's there?" response: IT'S ME. Pretty song:
33. Rank above maj.: COL. Major / Colonel. Colonels have two grades in the Army. "Light"(Lieutenant Colonel - grade O-5, silver oak leaf insignia) and "Full Bird" (Colonel - grade O-6, silver eagle insignia).
36. Makes an effort: TRIES.
37. Small store: SHOP. My parents small store was in a 6600 sq. ft. two story building my dad and his contractor buddies built. Antiques, Furniture Stripping & Refinishing. That's why I can tell people I used to be a stripper.
38. Serious no-no: TABOO. Women's fragrance: Tabu.
40. Poet Pound: EZRA.
41. Be under the weather: AIL.
42. 11 p.m. personality: NEWSMAN. 10 p.m. Central.
44. Mentalist's "gift": ESP. Every Single Perp was not required for this initialism of Extrasensory Perception.
45. Installs, as a minister: ORDAINS. Ordains, as a deacon: Deacons.
47. Sound like an ass: BRAY. I'm not touching this one.
49. Blu-ray buy: DISC. lu- added to bray above.
50. Quick breaths: GASPS.
54. "To reiterate ... ": I REPEAT.
57. Like sunset-silhouetted scenery: REAR LIT. A photog like John Lampkin knows how to get the perfect shots .
59. Golfer's goal: PAR. Unless you are a tour player. Then you are looking for birdies or better. Canadian Corey Conners qualified last Monday to play in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. He birdied six of nine coming in on Sunday to win the tournament. It was the first time in the last 9 years that a Monday qualifier won a PGA Tour event.
62. From __ Z: A TO. An idiom for beginning to end.
63. Shrek's kiss made Fiona one for good: OGRESS.
64. Hint of the future: OMEN. I don't believe in them.
65. Home in the woods: DEN. I'd prefer a cabin.
66. Treating kindly: GOOD TO.
67. Sunset direction: WEST. On this planet. I assume the same for the others in our solar system.
Down:
1. Ranted (at): JAWED. It's baseball season. So many great clips to choose from. Let's look at this blast from the past for a good example of a couple of guys that jawed at each other:
2. French school: ECOLE.
3. Skin care prefix: DERMA.
4. Annoy: IRK.
5. Sacred place: SHRINE. I wonder if the PGA Tour players had time to stop by the Alamo, and perhaps stroll along the River Walk.
7. Like one's prized music collection, perhaps: ON CD.
8. Small water birds: COOTS. Thank you perps. An internet search tells me they are closely related to the moorhen, which didn't really help me. A group of them is known as a covert or a cover. I don't remember when I was first told that girls had cooties, but I asked my mom and she said it wasn't true. We didn't have the internet back in those days.
9. Big name in canned meat: ARMOUR. Hormel too.
10. Baking soda amt.: TSP.
12. Amtrak employees: ENGINEERS.
13. "My Heart Will Go On" singer Celine: DION. The theme song from Titanic:
18. Flee to wed: ELOPE.
22. Mexican mother: MADRE.
24. Sleep in a bag, maybe: CAMP.
26. Gig component: SET.
29. "Pronto" letters: ASAP.
30. Japanese golf great Aoki : ISAO. Isao Aoki with Arnold Palmer.
I had the exact same clue and answer on March 20th, 2018. Here's the exact same picture and comments:
He credits watching Arnold Palmer for giving him the inspiration to pursue a golfing career.
"Isao Aoki only plays with golf balls marked with the number 5. That number is pronounced “Go” in Japanese and it also represents the worst score he wants to make."
He was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Source - World Golf Hall of Fame.
31. Hardly the best: THIRD RATE.
33. Sounds like a crow: CAWS.
34. Docs who deliver: OBs. Obstetrician.
35. Bausch partner: LOMB.
38. On a scale of one to __: TEN.
39. Sculler's need: OAR.
42. "Please don't bite me!": NICE DOG.
43. Persistently worry: NAG AT.
48. Peter of Peter, Paul & Mary: YARROW. Friend and fellow Cornell student Leonard Lipton wrote a poem in 1959 that Peter Yarrow put into lyrics for this 1962 song that had nothing to do about smoking marijuana or other drug use. - paraphrased from Wikipedia. Our own Bill G went to Cornell.
51. Snail trail: SLIME.
52. Colorado's __ Peak: PIKES. Aaron Kaufman of the Discovery Channel's Fast N' Loud narrates this short clip of him racing up Pikes Peak a few years ago in his '63 Falcon.
53. Cardiologist's implant: STENT.
54. Apple tablet: IPAD.
55. Jason's ship: ARGO. He was searching for the Golden Fleece. Greek mythology. Not my cuppa, but here is an article that shed some light on the story line and players involved. I had no idea that Hercules was an oarsman on the Argo.
56. Lawn mower brand: TORO. I keep thinking about replacing my old John Deere rider. It's a yellow deck STX-38. It was built to last and it has. Faithful service for nearly 30 years.
57. Take a load off: REST.
58. Exxon, formerly: ESSO.
61. Homer's neighbor: NED. Homer Simpson and Ned ("Okilly-dokilly!") Flanders.
Here's the grid !
Notes from C.C.:
1) Lovely grid, John!
2) So what did you shoot yesterday, TTP? 80s?
3) Dear Agnes (Irish Miss) had to spend 5
hours in the ER yesterday due to the excruciating foot pain from the
fall she suffered a few weeks ago. She's going to see her GP tomorrow
and an orthopedic doctor soon. It's been tough few weeks for Agnes, who
lives alone. Please send positive thoughts and love to Troy, New York!
Great morning Cornies.
ReplyDeleteThank you John Lampkin for this colonizing Tuesday CW. I enjoyed solving it.
Thank you TTP for your excellent review. I'm listening to the "Puffy" video as I type.
FLN - YR, I too pray for Alan, and you.
Thanks C.C. for the info on Agnes. Positive thoughts, prayers, and love are on their way to Troy, New York. Driving up I71, and I90 would take 14 hours, by car, but my prayers will reach Agnes in the next moment. GOD speed
Ðave
What A great puzzle from a friend of the corner, John Lampkin.
ReplyDeleteTTP covered it well from A TO Z and I'd give an 11 on a scale of ONE TO TEN but that is PAR for the course.
Loved the clip of Sweet Lou showing us how managers used to behave in order to get their point across, whether for benefit of his players, the umpires or the fans. I sorta miss those antics. Sort of. Remember when he ripped the base out of its attachment and hurled it? I believe it was a second. Good times.
Speaking of sweet. I was sorry to hear of Irish Miss. Must've missed the story of her fall. I once spent 24 hours on a chair in an ER waiting for a room to be assigned for a special person I was accompanying. Get well Agnes
I still don't understand what asp has to do with bees. Help
ReplyDeleteI meant with ants
ReplyDeleteOur favorite songwriting, photographing, performing, entomologist constructor really delivered a wonderful Tuesday. TTP did it justice with wit and links.
ReplyDeleteBefore I continue, anon 5:53 the "A" in ASP is the beginning of the circled ANT COLONY ; the the start of a hint .
I love a puzzle that has the CSO of Jason and Argonauts, despite its sad elements. Also, some nice musical references which are linked for a fine way to start the day.
Meanwhile, Canadian Corey Conners (don't you love an alliterative athlete?) had ten (10)! birdies and only four pars. To pull himself together after the four bogeys in a row to have bridies on 6 of the next 9 was very impressive.
Great day all. Great to see you are still making us happy JL.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteIt's been awhile since we had a JL treat but this one was worth waiting for. The theme completely escaped me until I filled in the reveal. Leave it to John to make insects so much fun. No w/os and no unknowns but a hearty chuckle at Please Don't Bite Me=Good Dog! Also like the trio of Asp, ESP, and Tsp. Nice CSO to Lemony at Argo.
Thanks, John, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, TTP, for the sparkling and informative summary.
Thanks for the well-wishes, especially CC's kind words. Keith, I'm joining you in trying to navigate with a cane, without tripping over my own feet! I'm wearing an orthopedic shoe for support and to prevent extraneous movement of my foot. Ice packs and Tylenol are helping.
FLN
Best of luck with the transition tomorrow. I hope once Alan makes the initial step, he'll calm down and settle in comfortably with his peers. You, dear lady, are entitled to an extra glass of your favorite spirits!
Have a great day.
I forgot to address my last comment to YR, but it's a given, I think. 😉
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Happy Solvers!
ReplyDeleteThank you TTP for a thorough write-up, jam-packed with fun links.
Ants get a bad rap because of fire ants and pantry ants but they are truly astonishing critters and are considered by many to be the most "advanced" of all insects because of their societal structures.
Because of the ANT COLONY mound, this is one of my favorite constructions, just in case anyone is wondering, and you probably aren't!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWell, we had coots, pikes, an asp, a nice dog, a toro, a drone, an ant colony, and an elope (missing its ant). It must be a John Lampkin creation. I enjoyed it, though I went wrong with CO-OP before COMP showed up. Nicely done to both JL (learning moment: gaster) and TTP.
Fire Ants are everywhere in SE Texas. It's easy enough to kill a mound, but they'll soon show up a few feet away, hopefully in your neighbor's yard rather than yours. Even floods won't kill 'em. They gather into a ball, trapping air inside, and float with the flood. Persistent little critters.
Arboretum: We used to enjoy visiting the Mercer Arboretum south of us in Humble. It suffered loss of many trees from the droughts a few years back, and then was severely damaged in the Harvey floods. Now it's closed to the public, perhaps forever.
Take care, IM. I hope the doctors can provide some relief.
YR, best wishes on Alan's move. Fingers crossed.
Time to "bug out" for another taxing day.
Speaking of PAR, the Par 3 Contest at the 2019 Masters is tomorrow at 3pm on ESPN. I consider it appointment TV. Golf Digest has an article declaring it the best "non event" event in sports. Besting the slam dunk contest and the home run derby. I believe it was last year's competition that gave us that tear jerking scene of Jack Nicklaus proudly witnessing his grandson sink a hole in one to roars of thunderous cheers from the patrons. "Im not crying, you're crying.", I told my wife as we luckily got home in time to watch it. Hopefully this year will bring another fond memory from those hallowed grounds hosting an event like none other. Wax poetic, dear Jim Nantz.
ReplyDeleteWonderful grid and puzzle - thanks JL!
ReplyDeleteand thanks Lemonade for clarifying the ASP- I didn't get the very literal beginning of ANT COLONY in the grid until you told us. I was thinking of formic like I think of api for beginning related to bees. (FYI a condition one never wants figuratively or literally: "formication" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formication)
Thanks TTP for a fun blog entry today!
Prayers for Agnes and figuring out her foot issue!
Great morning ! Thanks JL for a fun puzzle and TTP for the review.
ReplyDeleteSaw the circles and started there with ORDAINS and BRAY .
The hill came into view and the game was on.
Bees and ants have a lot in common except maybe the SOLDIER .
Didn’t get the significance of ASP tho till L714 explained it .
FIR but had to fix DRONE STRIKE as I had pencilled in SORTIE.
Thanks again for a nice start to another fine spring morning
Cheers
TTP, great links. I have always thought that Puff the Magic Dragon was an innocent little song. I am glad you confirmed that. John, fun puzzle. I liked the theme and the visual ant mound and all the other animal references.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, you must be in so much pain. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Is your foot actually broken?
Thank you all for your concern about Alan. He is back to being happy, like he is 95% of the time, and making plans for his new room.
Deacon=church officer. In congregational type denominations this is a lay person.
In the Roman Catholic, Anglican(Episcopal) and Eastern Orthodox denominations a deacon is is ordained not lay, a clergy order below a priest.
Although the Thesaurus says ordain and install are synonyms, in the church circles they are not. Ordain means made a priest, bishop, deacon, taking Holy Orders, or, in some denominations, a minister. A person is ordained only once, but installed whenever they come to a new parish. My dad was ordained one time and installed 5 times in different parishes.
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteJohn, thanks for visiting. I could've done a better job of clarifying that the A in ASP was the starting letter of the ANT COLONY mound, but Lemonade covered for me while I was still sleeping in. Thanks, Lemonade !
Irish Miss, sorry that you are having problems with that foot, and Yellowrocks, I hope all goes as well as possible today.
C.C., yes, I was shooting in the 80s, but still had 3 holes to go. A whopping 105 ! Had to shake off a lot of rust, and it surely didn't help that the greens had been aerated late last year and never recovered. Just imagine dime-sized potholes, half-filled with sand covering the entire greens. Two and three foot putts were an adventure. It was still fun. Should have put on sunscreen.
Congratulations to the Virginia Cavaliers and their fans.
Making ANT COLONY a hill is brilliant! You're so damn good, Mr. Lampkin!
ReplyDeleteRe-posting a comment from Anonymous that was posted to the interview with John Lampkin rather than today's comment:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said:
Note for John Lampkin reference April 9th crossword. 33 across "rank above maj". "col" is TWO ranks above major. The rank above major would be "LTC" (lieutenant colonel). The only time "colonel" would be used for an 0-5 lieutenant colonel military officer would be in casual discussion/conversation, etc. That said, folks like you who come up with crossword puzzles for us to enjoyare geniuses, in my opinion. Thank you!
April 9, 2019 at 7:34 AM
Musings
ReplyDelete-Oh, only the “A” of ASP is the start of the clue! Fun!
-I wonder if John would ever use APE as a verb
-Many SHOPS went under from big box stores. Now Amazon is threatening them
-Reiterate redundancy – I REPEAT again
-Record snowfall and heavy rains in the WEST were an OMEN for us this spring
-Union Pacific executives have been allowed to “climb back down the ladder” to become ENGINEERS during recent layoffs
-Strict seniority and poor administrators can lead to the retention of THIRD RATE teachers
-After reaching the summit of PIKES Peak on the cog railroad I had to GASP for air when I trotted over to get a picture of my girls
-Seeing women playing their National Amateur Championship on the hallowed grounds of previously all-male Augusta last week was a wonderful sight
-I know Irish will SOLDIER ON!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, John Lampkin, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteLiked Q.E.D. right off the bat. I always like Latin stuff, as opposed to French.
Theme was great. Got ASP easily then worked up and down the hill. Piece of cake.
SOLDIER ON was difficult for me to read vertically. Finally got it.
I don't have a TORO lawnmower, I have a Snapper. Works great. Sets all winter and then starts on the first pull. I do have a TORO rototiller. A little light weight for my situation. I should have bought a heavier one. Anyhow.
No words today I could not figure out. Worked.
Beautiful day, so far. Cold and rainy tomorrow. See you then.
Abejo
( )
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWith John's love of nature, it is not surprising that he would gin up an ANT puzzle. Well done; particularly the ant hill.
Otherwise, a very easy solve with no searches needed.
BRAY - Always liked this word. Compare German brüllen (to scream or bellow).
TTP - Good intro as always.
Anon @ 0734 - I was troubled a bit by wanting LT COL, too, but all the ranks above maj. are a "Rank above maj." I think there's leeway here.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteVery nice puzzle from John Lampkin. It was enjoyable and had many fresh clues and answers. TTP added a lot of info and enjoyment with the expo.
Since I use the MENSA site there were no circles to spell out ANT COLONY. However that didn't stop me.
Perps gave me JAWED, YARROW and NED. I've never watched the SIMPSONS, so I don't know the characters.
IM, I hope you recover soon. Needing to get around with a cane is a definite PITA.
Today is National Unicorn Day. You can celebrate by by trying to find the elusive animal in your travels today.
I had no problem with COL in response to the clue. It is "a" rank above MAJ, also above CAPT, etc. There has to be some flexibility in CW interpretations.
Have a great day, everyone.
Great puzzle. Thank you for the additions in the write-up, TTP.
ReplyDeletei stumbled by wanting a z in Susann. Other than that words fell quickly.
My husband, before retirement, was a Lt. Col. Unless the closets in our dwellings were exceptionally large, we needed at least two in the Master bedroom- one for civilian clothing and one for uniforms. Three would be better than I didn’t have to share.
YR: I pray the adjustment period for you and Alan is a short, uneventful one.
IM: I pray you do not need that cane very long.
I am enjoying a bright, sunny day. May everyone have the same.
One of the best puzzles I've done in the L.A. Times.
ReplyDeleteI loved, loved, loved this John Lampkin puzzle! Not a single problem or erasure going through it, and lots of fun clues and occasional surprises. Couldn't wait to see what the circles were going to contain, and it was fun to see ANT COLONY emerge. And then more pleasures when I got on the blog. Loved seeing a picture of that ANT, and thanks for pointing out its big heart, John. I realized I'd better look up GASTER to see what I could call it, and it turns out to be an enlarged tummy! The things you learn doing crossword puzzles! Many thanks, John, and thanks for all the helpful comments, TTP.
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing a reference to Peter, Paul, and Mary, and got YARROW after a letter or two filled in. I also liked the clue for OGRESS.
So glad to see you check in this morning, Irish Miss, after reading C.C.'s account of the traumatic experience you had with your foot. My goodness, what a long time to have severe pain--my heart goes out to you. And what a brave soul you are checking in with us today. Take good care of yourself, and know we are thinking and praying for a good and speedy recovery for you.
Will also hope that Alan has a good transition to his new home, Yellowrocks.
Have a great day, everybody!
Irish Miss ~
ReplyDeleteWishing you the best--the best of luck and the best of acquired technique as you strive to master the cane.
We don't normally think of it as an art, but it is one. It comes to you gradually, but it will definitely come!
However, you may find that at home, or in any regular environment, you'll learn to do without the cane--because each room or hallway will afford you a series of handholds that you are bound to discover.
For instance, when I leave my bed to go to the bathroom, I reach in turn for the foot of the bed, the arm of a settee, the edge of my wife's dresser, the molding by the door jamb of the bathroom, the edge of a sink, and the knob of the inner door to the toilet itself.
These points of reference assure that I will always have the needed 3-point resistance to gravity.
"Break a leg!" (Kidding.)
~ OMK
My two cents: Implying that ASP had anything to do with the theme was both unnecessary and confusing. The circled letters alert us, right away, to "This is themed material." Suggesting that ASP had anything to do with the theme detracted from my pleasure in the solve, which overall was very high -- very clever presentation of the reveal, ANT COLONY.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant puzzle, John Lampkin! Thank you for the fun of so much discovery during the solve. It was like walking through a festival of the animals! And not only is it a brilliant puzzle but almost a pangram as well. F and X are missing.
I love the ant hill mound and when I first saw the circles in that shape wondered what it would be.
Others have listed the obvious animals but even SNOCAT suggests one as does PIKE(S).
Irish Miss:
I'm so sorry to hear of your fall. Please do take care of yourself and watch your step!
YR:
You explained DEACON perfectly. Thank you. Good wishes for Alan as he transitions to his new home.
Thank you, TTP, for your very apt and informative review.
Have a hale and hearty day, everyone! It's sunny here.
Anonymous ~
ReplyDeleteI feel the same. The fact that the "A" of ASP is also the "A" of ANT COLONY doesn't seem enough justification. Most of us were trying hard to connect the whole word ASP to the theme. It was tempting in a Xwd that also included the word GASP.
Other "A" words competed for our attention - APE, AIL, ATO, &c. &c.
I wonder how Owen is doing today? I miss his Corner poem.
On his Jumble blog, he posted a cartoon and a poem but didn't complete his usual posting of the anagram clues.
~ OMK
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, John and TTP.
ReplyDeleteI had a straight-forward solve and thought the ANT COLONY mound was impressive. But hand up for thinking that tying ASP to the theme was just confusing. Thanks for explaining, Lemonade.
I was forced to my ACER laptop because my 4 year old IPAD kept crashing with all of TTP's wonderful links. Time for a new one I guess (unless you Cornerites have any suggestions?).
At first, I thought we were going from A TO Zed to have a pangram. But we are missing X, F, and I can't find a V either Lucina. But we did go from one to TEN.
I am more accustomed to Back LIT than REAR LIT, but will accept it as a variation.
This Canadian smiled to see HONOR crossing ARMOUR. U know which spelling I preferred!
Canadian Celione DION is leaving Vegas to go on tour, starting in her home province of Quebec, I believe.
Canadian Corey Conners (yes, Lemon, that alleviation is great)is from the little town of Listowel, Ontario, located just north of Stratford. He and Mike Weir are our Canadians at the Masters.
IM- good luck with the cane. I hope your pain lessens and the foot heals quickly.
YR - I hope that all goes well with Alan's move.
Wishing you all a great day.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very nice Tuesday effort.
YR best of lucks with the change.
IM...hang in (on?) there.
No markovers today.
Enjoy.
-T, FLN:
ReplyDelete"I wish paper-publishers understood that we readers can get national/international news from many sources but local investigations and color is why subscribers are called such. //rant over."
'It's all about the benjamins' ... it costs more to have real reporters and staff, for local coverage, than to have UPI feed. By the time the national news gets in print, it's already old news: another reason newspapers are loosing subscribers.
FIR, but erased a couple of items. Had to take a car to Costco for tire rotation and tossed the CW there, I think.
ReplyDeleteIM / YR: WEES.
In his book "All The Trouble in the World", P. J. O'Rourke reveals that the reason that Tarzan yelled "uh-yeya-ah-yeya-uh" (my approximation) is that there are ants under his loincloth. He (P. J.) marvels about these creatures from a visit to the Amazonian rain forest. Great book so far. His "Parliament of Whores" is the best political book I've ever read. This one's good too so far. Hope I see more of his works in future yard sales.
Hand up for loving this one. Nice graphics TTP.
Loved the circles in the puzzle for this one, very creative!
ReplyDelete57 Across: "Backlit" is the usual term.
ReplyDelete51 Down: Snakes are not slimy and do not leave a slime trail. Slugs do.
I loved this puzzle; it's probably my most favorite in quite a while. My favorite clues were for ACER, OGRESS, and NICE DOG. I had DERMI until DEACONS came along.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excellent write-up, TTP.
I, too, looked up gaster to learn more about it.
Good wishes to you all.
Anon @ 1558 - 51D - The clue said snail; not snake. Slugs are a type of snail with out the shell covering.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wiki: Snail slime is a kind of mucus, an external bodily secretion which is produced by snails, gastropod mollusks. Land snails and slugs produce mucus, but so does every other kind of gastropod, from marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats. The reproductive system of gastropods also produces mucus internally from special glands.
Spitzboov, for some reason your avatar has not been displaying for the last several days. In Firefox, it shows up as a "broken" image. "Reload image" does not fix it, I just wanted to let you know.
ReplyDeleteThank you Spitzboov, for the heads up about my misreading snail for snake. I feel a proper fool. No wonder I found that cell so frustrating.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 1558 - 51D
Jayce - My avatar is showing broken up to me, too. I've made no changes to the profile so it must be something Google did. I thought I'd give it a few days to rectify, otherwise I'll have to figure out how to load a new one. Anyone have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 1754 - Don't let it bother you. I find myself misreading more and more. Sometimes the font the paper uses leaves something to be desired for certain letter combinations.
Mea culpa! I wrote the following last night, but went to sleep before I could post it, and forgot until just now!
ReplyDeleteThe light side of the Force is the JEDI
They protect us from every bad guy!
Their sabers are neat,
They do magical feats,
And they still stick around when they die!
The church was also a SHRINE.
To mind it, was a DEACON assigned.
He was ORDAINED
To keep it maintained,
So to guard it he buried some mines!
Can a SOLDIER ANT rise to a COLONEL.?
He can if he keeps a GOOD journal.
Record every night
Whatever ain’t right
A log of bad deeds nocturnal!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteOy! I didn't even look at the by-line until coming to The Corner. I should have because I'd have enjoyed the puzzle more theme/constructor wise. I solved most in traffic [1.5hrs this morning!*] and then finished the remaining squares during a HouSecCon presentation.
Thanks John L for the buggy puzzle. Cute what you did with the theme; Wait, no, I'll second Jerome - Brilliant!
TTP - I got confused too until I realized the ASP started up the ANT hill. Your expo is much too much - thanks!
Fire-ants are a menace but Amdro bait is wicked-good. //better than homemade napalm [soap + gas + fire] (fight fire w/ fire I say) -- neighbors don't look at you funny and bring their children close / inside...
WO: BRAe
ESPs: ISAO, YARROW, NAG AT took 4/5ths perps to parse
Fav: This is too hard today... the whole damn thing was smooth and the theme stands out w/o clobber. I must to pick you say? Ok, you asked for it... Bird House in your Soul [TMBG] has the lyrics "after killing Jason off and countless screaming ARGOnauts" [it's if you were a nightlight doing a lighthouse's job...; the song is from a night-light's point-of-view. Brilliant!]
{A, B+, A+}
Michael - FLN; I get it; I just don't like it. Too, I think, papers would lose subscribers if they kept it close. I hear the 11p NEWS MeN are also being replaced by the likes of "national fillers" //Google Sinclair and John Oliver
IM - OMG!!! You've been so chipper at The Corner, I had no idea. Take care girl.
Lucina - with the Q & Z covered in QUEEN SIZE, I too was looking for the pangram. Alas. The full probably would have suffered.
C, Eh! - I see you were thinking the same. And an LOL! on U.
YR - You will be in my thoughts tomorrow as the big day comes.
Cheers, -T
*A truck lost its load on US59/I69 - a load of (Unicorn?) shit... Imagine slowly merging along as the smell seeps in... Whatcha gonna do?
Spitzboov @ 6:08 PM, Try to fix it: Double click on your avatar image, select Edit Profile, scroll down, delete the image, and after deleting, edit it again and add the image back (or choose another one). I don't have the exact steps, but it would be along those lines...
ReplyDeleteDash T, - I meant to have a note in the blog today specially for you. Don't feel like you have to visit all the links and listen to all the music. LOL. Whatever interests you...
You should have rolled up your windows, turned on the AC, and changed the fan selector from fresh air intake to recirculate. And got off the hwy and taken the surface streets up and over...
I know about Amdro, but it hadn't been invented yet. When it first came out sometime in the 80s, it flew off the shelves once people found out it was effective. You can't burn out a fire ant nest. They just eat the fire and then they are worse than before.
They are just about as bad as those Texas hoop snakes. You know, the ones that jump up on you car axle, bite their tail, and hitch a ride to wherever you are going.
Oh wait, it's April 9th, not the first.
Relatively easy , typical Tuesday level. My cellphone is having the screen repaired by Dr Phil. He managed to puncture the lithium battery so we'll need another one. No explosion.
ReplyDelete" for this 1962 song that had nothing to do about smoking marijuana or other drug use.". Rrrufffruff. (subdued hysterical laughter)
"Parliament of Whores" is similar to Chaucer's"Parliament (of Birds)
As I recall, seldom would we actually use "Lieutenant" with Colonel to refer to a LtCol. However, the full Bird got the respect. It was the latter who broke up the fistfight between Lt and a LtCol on a memorable night at a 'Nam O-Club. Shades of Catch-22.
WC
DW arrived home right as I was proofing/posting...
ReplyDelete//She goes out of town again tomorrow [Why must I be Sad? [more TMBG - BTW, if you're a fan of Alice Cooper - listen for the references]] so I post-hast'd to her and not proofing post.
Corrections:
...I think, papers would't lose subscribers..
Birdhouse in Your Soul link.
-------------
WC - you know better re: Lt. and Lt.COL... :-)
TTP - So, look out for hoop-snakes on tomorrow's commute, eh?
Cheers, -T