Bruce offers us a 15 x 16 puzzle where the theme is the grid which contains 72 words and uses only 9 letters in the alphabet!!!!!!!!!
We do have a reveal- 64A. Country spelled with the only nine letters used in this puzzle's answers: SINGAPORE (9). Gimmick puzzles can be a lot of fun but seldom have such perfect reveal. I was very impressed by the skill required to bring this home while maintaining the left/right symmetry. The only cheater squares are the three on each side of SINGAPORE. The puzzle allowed for such sparkly fill as APENNINES, APPEASING, ENGAGES IN, PING PONGS, ASIAN PEARS, and REGRESSION. No doubt some of the fill was a bit obscure, but the final result was all doable once you understood you did not need any alphabet runs. We have some music, some tv, some food.... well it is time to work.
Across:
1. Getaway spots: SPAS. This was a good start for me.
5. Prefix with phobia: AGORA. Initially, I had left this blank, but when I had filled ARGO and ANGORA, I came back put AGORA in. I did not quite get the theme at that point, but it made sense.
10. 2012 Best Picture: ARGO. Ben Affleck.
15. Place to start an IV: PREOP. Do you think it needs a hyphen? Pre-op. Nicely misleading clue because I was trying to decide where they were sticking me.
16. Accessories: GEAR.
17. Yeats' birthplace: ERIN. WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS appeared in a comment this week. Not only a well-respected poet, but he was also very proud of his Irish heritage.
18. Dissect in class, in a way: PARSE. A common crossword concept.
19. "To share, or not to share?" food brand: EGGO. No waffling on this answer.
20. Butters up, maybe: PRAISES. Unless it is your waffle...
22. Long-haired cats: ANGORAS. This BREED.
24. Prefix with -gon: NONA. This is geometry -a plane figure with nine straight sides and nine angles.25. Zip: NONE. Hmm, next to each other.
26. Fill in: APPRISE.
29. Wintergreen family herb: PINESAP. This is any of several yellowish or reddish parasitic or saprophytic herbs (genus Monotropa) of the wintergreen family resembling the Indian pipe. It has nothing to do with the SAP from a pine.
32. Once called: NÉE. For a female.
33. Assigning to, as blame, with "on": PINNING.
35. Multitude: SEA.
36. Hoppy brew, briefly: IPA. India Pale Ale. Very hoppy.
37. Search tools: ENGINES.
38. Apple platform: IOS.
39. Formal addressees: SIRS.
41. Factions in "West Side Story": GANGS.
42. Word in family business names: SONS.
43. Former CNN journalist David: ENSOR. I no longer watch any national news but seems like a NICE man.
45. Misunderstanding metaphor: GAP.
46. Pick up: SENSE.
47. Bird seen in only one state: NENE. CSO to our Hawaii readers.
49. Letters near zero: OPER. If you remember the classic telephone.
51. Germane: APROPOS.
54. Like some doubts and injuries: NAGGING.
58. Polish for "dumplings": PIEROGI. Food.
59. Less experienced: GREENER.
60. Football's "Boomer": ESIASON. A HOF quarterback, sort of.
61. Inflation-indexed U.S. savings bond: SERIES I. What is FOR SALE now.
62. __ Marino: SAN.
63. W-2 info: SSN.
Down:
1. Trickle: SEEP.
2. Last of three Catherines: PARR. She was an interesting woman, and here is a LINK to a wonderful historical website.
3. Far East fruit: ASIAN PEARS. This looks like an apple but tastes like a pear and is available in the street markets in Thailand and some large Asian markets here in Florida. Many of the fruits named in this THAI FRUIT LINK are grown in Homestead. Just be careful of the Durian.
4. Ranking: SENIOR. My card says "senior assistant" meaning I am old.
5. Settling down: APPEASING.
6. French fat: GRAS. Foie gras...a delicacy that extends back thousands of years, based on a rather barbaric CUSTOM.
7. Anthem word with an apostrophe: O'ER the ramparts we watched...
8. Parks in American history: ROSA.
9. Corno Grande's range: APENNINES. A complete unknown despite talking with my son and d-i-l about their time in Italy, but nothing here. Geography is clearly my weakest subject.
10. Early personal milestone: AGE ONE. Weird phrasing.
11. Word in medicine that sounds bad but is often good: REGRESSION. Another word that goes both ways - sometimes good, sometimes bad. re·gres·sion (rē-gresh'ŭn), such as shown:
1. A subsidence of symptoms.
2. A relapse; a return of symptoms.
12. Infatuated: GAGA.
13. Spanish medals or metals: OROS. Spanish Gold.
21. Take potshots: SNIPE.
23. Loud ringers: GONGS.
26. Biscotti flavoring: ANISE. Alphabetically first, but man they make many FLAVORS.
27. Jacques of PBS' "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home": PEPIN.
I did not know this SERIES or M. Pepin
29. Goes back and forth: PING PONGS. A nice visual clue.
30. Long periods: AEONS.
31. So yesterday: PASSE.
34. 1493 Lisbon arrival: NINA. HEADLINE.
40. Only Mexican state that borders Baja: SONORA.
42. Composer Rachmaninoff: SERGEI. I really did not know his first name. Listen.
46. "Night Moves" singer: SEGER. Listen and watch.
50. Cut back: PARE.
51. Parrots: APES. Funny, two animals used to mean imitates.
52. City on the Arno: PISA. You can see the river through the town.
53. Hold back: REIN. You need to control your joy at getting this Friday puzzle.
55. Supermodel Sastre: INÉS. This was the last of the total unknowns for me. She is quite pretty and more. Sorry for the removed info.
57. Silly look?: GRIN. Yes, what my face looks like now that I made it to the end.
Bruce always delivers some fun and creativity, and today was a classic. I feel blessed to do Friday puzzles because they are so diverse and this was an incredible challenge to create without making it clunky. Thanks, Bruce. Lemonade out.
DNF. A WAG got me the N between unknowns PEPIn + EnSOR, but even a WAG couldn't solve unknown SeGAR + OPeR (I was looking for an acronym, not an abbreviation).
ReplyDeleteThe theme was awesome, and completely eluded me until I finally read the reveal. I also gave up on the country, and used the red letters to get SIN.. before I finally guessed it.
Thought the grid looked like a clown face at first, then a Christian chalice. I guess now that it was neither.
If by chance you land upon a foreign shore
You could do worse than land on SINGAPORE.
It is a bustling place,
A skyline skyscrapers grace,
Across the SEA, a pleasant place for a tour!
Satellites go whizzing thru the skies.
Their mission: to SENSE and APPRISE
Which land ENGAGES IN
Any environmental sin.
For a GREENER Earth, they're the bad guys!
To APPEASE a language teacher,
PARSE a poem as being deeper.
You can hide in the jargon
To make a Devil's bargain,
So your stunning genius will reach her!
{B, B-, C+.}
OKL, I also thought the grid looked like a face. Perhaps Bruce will stop by and comment.
ReplyDeleteAfter filling in a portion of the top, I noticed the odd looking line at the bottom. I read the clue and found all nine letters in the words I had filled in and unraveled the country name with just 10 answers filled in the puzzle. This allowed me to eliminate lots of answers that came to me on the remaining clues and made it somewhat easier, although it was by no means a cinch. Enjoyable and very clever.
ReplyDeleteLemon: Word for the day: Pareidolia.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that Bruce was able to construct such an elegant late-week puzzle using only 9 of the 26 letters. Tried WINESAP before I realized that no Ws were allowed, and that an apple probably wouldn't be called an herb. When I arrived at the reveal, and listed the 9 letters, SINGAPORE came to me immediately. I spent several months there back in the '80s -- it was supposed to be a "3-5 day" trip that began in July and ended just before Thanksgiving. Never did get used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road...especially when making left turns. Very nicely done, Bruce, and thanx for the explication, Lemonade.
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I just LOVED this puzzle. How clever to use only 9 letters do craft this marvel.
ReplyDeleteI liked the near crossing of GANGS and GONGS.
NENE used to be a crossword staple.
A CSO to our Boomer with Boomer ESIASON.
It was appropriate to see Catherine PARR (1512 ~ 1548) to day, since today marks her 476th Anniversary of her marriage to King Henry VIII. While she may have been his last wife, he was her 3rd husband. She outlived Henry and went on to marry a 4th time. Her last and final husband was Thomas Seymour, who just happened to be the brother of Jane Seymour, Henry's 3rd wife! And with all her husbands, Catherine was only about 36 years old when she died.
My favorite clue was Letters Near Zero = OPER. Does anyone under the age of 20 know what this means?
QOD: What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do during our leisure hours determines what we are. ~ George Eastman (July 12, 1854 ~ Mar. 14, 1932); American entrepreneur and founder of Eastman Kodak Company
So this was really a 15 x 15 crossword with today’s second Jumble added.
ReplyDeleteSpoiler alert: the punchline of today’s King Features Cryptoquip is
Eliot-ness
Slogged thru all the clues in 36 minutes, never did unravel Singapore.
ReplyDeleteOK, but APPEASING was a foul.
ReplyDeleteMusings¬
ReplyDelete-Brilliant and fun!
-Me too, Owen, on chef/CNN guy
-What if hyphenated boy marries hyphenated girl?
-Hamlet ponders about taking arms against a SEA of troubles…
-My iPhone IOS syncs with my hearing aids and can control them
-Mickey Mantle was an MLB immortal despite NAGGING knee injuries
-Esiason in NFL Hall of Fame? No. Marino (two clues later)? Yes
-Joann got three scam calls from people claiming to be from SSA
-Annually we pick ASIAN PEARS at The Kimball Orchards in Nebraska City
-War-weary Europe found APPEASING Hitler did not work
-SING SONGS looked right to me
-The ARNO flows out of the APENINES to Florence, Pisa and then the Ligurian Sea
: PACIFY, CONCILIATE
ReplyDeleteespecially : to make concessions to (someone, such as an aggressor or a critic) often at the sacrifice of principles
appeased the dictator by accepting his demands
Placaters, who try hard to appease others so as to keep the peace, fear getting hurt in some way.
— Mike Cote
2 : to cause to subside : ALLAY
appeased my hunger
trying to appease her guilty conscience
3 : to bring to a state of peace or quiet : CALM
appease a quarrel
settle down
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy Bruce's talent for wordplay and unique themes, but today's is a downright gem and quite a feat to pull off so smoothly. I never noticed the reduced letters usage and had no idea of the theme until reading the revealer. It took me a while to rearrange those letters into Singapore, but I finally did and felt a great deal of satisfaction. My unknowns were: Ensor, Ines, and Seger. Like DO, I had Winesap until I realized I needed Ping Pongs, not Wing Pongs. Noticed the Nona, None, Nene, Nina foursome, and the Gangs ~ Gongs duo. CSO to our own Monday Morning QB, Boomer and to our Nina, inanehiker.
Thanks, Bruce, for a delightful solve and thanks, Lemony, for the grand tour, especially the Jacques Pepin clip, one of my favorite chefs and the Rachmaninov piece, one of my favorite composers.
FLN
TTP, any relief from the pain yet?
Keith, congrats on your good A1C news.
Owen, hope you're feeling better.
Lucina, enjoy your Smart TV; I'm still learning about mine, but I love having Netflix streaming.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteGot the nine letters after a few fills which lessened the options for the remaining fill as Anon stated. Got it all done exept for the country. Somehow Singapore was the only country I had not considered, and anagrams are not my strong suit.
Bruce had a fine concept and did a great job at cluing. BZ
What a great puzzle! Amazing Bruce could create this using only nine letters. Crosswords should be fun, and this one certainly was.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lemonade! Left-right symmetry usually makes it look a little like a face but I wasn't going for any grid-art here. It's not that difficult to make a nine letter puzzle (I have had seven and eight letter puzzles published), but I was lucky to find a nine letter country with nine different letters that are pretty common and include plenty of vowels. Unchecked squares are like tightrope walking without a net - I can imagine staring at that nine letter opening a long time before coming up with the answer.
ReplyDeleteHi Gang -
ReplyDeleteA DNF for me, and there was something wrong in what I have, so a near epic fail.
I knew SERGEI but not PEPIN.
SENIOR for "Ranking" seems somewhat askew.
Was stuck on some kind of substitute for "fill in" so never sussed APPRISE.
And, of course, unscrambling SINGAPORE was beyond me.
I've never seen a puzzle with a word totally disconnected from the rest of the words in the grid.
Plus, I feel like I'm missing something else. The picture made by the blocks in the grid looks like a chalice and a cross. Usually a recognizable shape had meaning in the puzzle, but I can't connect this to anything.
Well, the weekend is upon us. Enjoy.
Cheers!
JzB
HG: your morbid fascination with Hitler is disturbing. You never miss an opportunity to bring him into the conversation.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle; forgot about Singapore! I’m pretty sure that Argo won Best Picture in 2013 and The Artist in 2012...oops. What it a typo?
ReplyDeleteNow that I see Bruce's comment, the apparent symbolic picture in the grid is revealed as a fig newton of my imagination.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm nit even very religious.
Go figure.
Anyway, a brilliant puzzle with clever construction that beat me up.
Cheers!
JzB
Unknown, "Best picture of..." is awarded the following year.
ReplyDeleteDNF, looking up ENSOR and using an anagram-solver for SINGAPORE.
ReplyDeleteLooked to me as though this was constructed for other constructors. Plenty cute - ARGO/ANGORA/AGORA, NEE/NENE, PINNING/PINE for few. I really liked that "parrots" and APES are synonyms in this context. They usually look a little different. Like Hahtoolah I thought about O for OPERator being PASSE.
JzB - I've been watching a lot of Capital Hill hearings. They introduce the most senior person of the committee as "the ranking member".
Thanks for the interesting puzzle, Bruce. But if I wanted to do the Jumble, I would just turn to that page. (I like to solve them, but only if I can do so from the picture and cartoon. Not an anagram guy.) And thanks to Lemonade for the solid review.
Oohh, a Friday Bruce Haight puzzle--tough but clever and satisfying. Many thanks, Bruce, and also for checking in with us. And how interesting to get that lone solution on the very bottom. I missed it only because I forgot to add one letter to the mix, but was happy when it finally fell into place. Your explanations are always a huge help, Lemonade, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteSon and grandson are visiting today--am looking forward to a delightful day.
Have a good Friday, everybody!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteWell, this puzzle was something. I just headed into it getting a word here and there. It slowly filled in. When I was about 3/4's done, I noticed the 64A at the bottom with no crosswords. So, I read the clue. Then I went back and checked all my letters. I found the nine. I did have one error, for 15A, I had THE OR. So I fixed that to PRE OP. Then I easily filled in the rest of the puzzle, knowing the only letters I could use.
Tough part was getting SINGAPORE. I kept frogging letters on sticky notes, and then it slowly appeared.
Hahtoolah: Yes, I got OPER easily. Of course I am slightly over 20. I am sitting here looking at an old dial telephone by my desk on the floor. So, as I am typing, I looked at it and the whole word is spelled out, OPERATOR. It happens to be an old Western Electric phone. I do have some old AE phones around here somewhere.
PIEROGI was easy. I love those. My wife makes them from Scratch. She is Polish and knows all the recipes. Yumm!
This puzzle was so much fun! Loved it. Great job from the constructor.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
DNF!
ReplyDeleteDown from 26 letters to 9 & I still could not figure it out!
Oh the Shame!...
Very clever and fun puzzle, but I didn't realize only 9 letters were used until it was pointed out. Didn't get Singapore. 😒
ReplyDeleteHahtoolah, I always enjoy your QODs. Today's a good one.
Owen, I've never even read the word 'pareidolia' before -- that's a new one!
Hi Y'all! Wow! I had such a sinking feeling when I realized that line at the bottom had no perps. My first thought was Haight must hate us. Like Owen, I had to do a red-letter run to know where to start -- with SIN? Wow! (SIN sounds suggestive or descriptive.) Wasn't SeNeGal. I was hampered by not knowing SINGAPORE is a country. Thought it was just a city or an island. I thought of that word and dismissed it while I tried to unravel all the possibilities by checking out the nine letters. Finally plugged it in and TADA. Later I tried to LIU and got a lot of possible hotels but nothing that told me it was a country. I didn't dig very deep because of blurry eyes.
ReplyDeleteWanted an "L" instead of the first "S" in ESIASON. Spell check doesn't like it either.
Other than SINGAPORE, the last fill was E center bloc.
Thanks, Bruce, for the learning & stretching exercise. Thanks, Lemonade, for all you do.
ReplyDeleteI guess I’m the odd man out here.
I did not and do not appreciate gimmick puzzles and this one was the king of the gimmick.
I appreciate the puzzle only using 9 letters, that was clever. And would have been enough.
I had a couple markovers today. Who cares?
I didn’t bother doing the Jumble that somehow got inserted into the puzzle.
See you tomorrow, hopefully with a real crossword.
Well, I should have read the clue for 64a first; it would have made the puzzle much easier knowing that only 9 letters were used. But, anticipating it was the reveal, I deliberately did not look at it until last. Nevertheless I was able to solve the whole puzzle with only two alphabet runs, which I would not have needed to do if I had known the 9-letter gimmick.
ReplyDeleteLike others of you, anagrams and jumbles are not my strong suit so I was unable to unscramble those 9 letters into SINGAPORE. Ironically, I mentally "saw" a world map and did think of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines, Pakistan, Argentina, Nicaragua, Guatemala, etc etc etc, but none of them filled the bill.
So DNF.
I do indeed admire the creativeness of this special construction and thank Mr. Haight for producing it. While I did find it fun to solve, I nevertheless came away from it feeling a bit let down somehow, perhaps due to frustration at myself for being to inept at unscrambling jumbles.
P.S. I was wondering where Lemonade's comment "56. Loch of note: NESS. No Eliot for Boomer." came from. It made no sense to me whatsoever until billocohoes's spoiler alert.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteORO for Bruce Haight! This puzzle was golden! It's genius to use only nine letters.
Clever cluing, too, and misleading but I managed to PARSE it all with only two errors, SAGER/SEGER and no, I did not get SINGAPORE but didn't spend much time on it. My landline telephone has OPER on it.
I loved seeing SERGEI Rachmaninoff, one of my favorite composers.
Thank you, Bruce and Lemonade. Today sparkled.
Irish Miss:
Thank you. As a rule I don't watch TV in the daytime but I'm fascinated by this one and all it can do. It has Roku which provides many added features especially free movies. Yesterday I watched The Artist, a wonderful film.
Misty:
I'm so happy for you that your son and grandson will be visiting. I'm sure you'll create special memories.
We are still on baby watch for my granddaughter. That baby is taking his time in appearing.
Have a marvelous day, everyone!
I was impressed with the skill needed to construct this unique puzzle. Even with the limited letters hand up there were some challenges. Last to fill was Natick crossing of PEPIN/ENSOR which I got with a lucky WAG to FIR.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me was how long it took me to unscramble SINGAPORE as I have been there.
Of my many photos in SINGAPORE, this little set is my favorite.
On our way back from Ontario, Canada we spent a few more days in the Detroit area. Our very first destination was the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn.
And our first destination there was the ROSA PARKS bus exhibit.
I was sitting in the seat that ROSA PARKS refused to give up that launched the public career of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The bus spent much of its history as a tool shed before being purchased for the museum surprisingly recently (2001).
Hahtoolah, SwampCat, B-E, Bouquette: Hope you're on high enough ground to "hunker" through this one. Doesn't look good for southern Louisiana in general.
ReplyDeleteLucina, ROKU is not a free service. You're probably enjoying a free trial. If it's not something you want to pay for, be sure to cancel before the trial expires and you're automatically charged for another month.
d-otto:
ReplyDeleteI was assured it was a one time payment I made for Roku, but yes, I'll definitely look to make sure it doesn't recur.
A fun pzl, very timely for our house. We were wondering aloud just the other evening, when Wheel of Fortune was on the TV, whether languages with shorter alphabets have an easier time guessing the answers.
ReplyDeleteI think today's nine-letter Xwd gives us the word:
Not necessarily!
I'm looking forward to a visit this afternoon from my former student who is now the associate director of the New Swan Shakespeare Festival, the professional company on the UCI campus. She is stopping by with a couple of the actors.
She is staging their production of Two Gentlemen of Verona this year, so I'll get to ask her Why on Earth anyone wants to direct that play. There really isn't much to recommend it--except for the dog.
Crab the Dog always steals the show, and rightly so!
Misty ~
Your visitors top mine! You're getting a double bonanza: three generations is always the best combo.
~ OMK
I don't have a Roku monthly payment, just the one-time purchase. But a lot of the content is subscription-based. If I just want to play Angry Birds I'll never have to pay another dime.
ReplyDeleteD-O, thanks for asking. I’m hunkered down at the highest spot above sea-level in a fortress of an apartment building . No, it’s not perfect but should be good enough.
ReplyDeleteLemonade, I spent more time on your wonderful links than I did on the puzzle , which was way above my pay grade. Thanks Bruce for the challenge. Lemon, the link to Katherine Parr led to many others. Thanks for the history lessons!
FIR, except for SINGAPORE. Enjoyed the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMy family had an ANGORA. Sam was about 25 lbs. of muscle at his prime, but was a good mother to my sister's kitten. He was intelligent and affectionate. No pushover; I remember him chasing large dogs out of the yard; After 55 years, I still have the scars on my arms from teasing him.
Tried galumpki before PIEROGI. (O, that's stuffed cabbage!)
Got thru the puzzle in usual Friday time, it was tough though. But a big fat, DNF as I could not suss out SINGAPORE. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tough puzzle that took luck, perps, and a couple of WAGs to finish. But Haight's puzzle was "Like A Rock" that I had to beat apart with a sledge hammer. With that tropical storm directly south of me I was working "Against The Wind". "Still The Same", we might lose power tonight and I might get to work on my "Night Moves" because DW says..."We've Got Tonight". We can fantasize strolling down "Main Street and I'll turn on some "Old Time Rock and Roll". Who's Bob SEGER? Never heard of him...LOL.
ReplyDeleteUnknowns galore and obscure synonyms today. EGGO, PINESAP(never heard of it), PEPIN, ENSOR, INES, SERGEI-unknowns filled by perps. Figuring out the correct spelling of ESIASON, APENNINES, and PEIROGI took perps. I knew them, just not how to spell them. It took a globe and a trip around the world to finally reach SINGAPORE.
SERIES I bonds- the only ones I ever bought. They are guaranteed to pay MORE than the rate of inflation but you can only buy $30,000/year. That keeps the big money from getting in on the action.
"Mickey Mantle was an MLB immortal despite NAGGING knee injuries". And a NAGGING(Self admitted) alcoholism problem. Aided and abetted by Billy Martin until the boss* got rid of Billy in 1957. Still, the recently deceased Jim Bouton , recounted Mantle's drinking excesses and game day hangovers in "Ball Four".
ReplyDeleteI would have sworn APENNINES had two P's.
I really slogged through this beauty. Searching for a foothold I finally looked at the strange, lone entry labeled 64A- with the added fillip- "contains all the letters". And I had all nine.
The clueing fooled me despite the 9 letter trick. NADA / NONE; RAPT/GAGA held me back. PEPIN (II)was the father of Charles the Hammer(Martel) of Battle of Tours fame.
I had a little trouble with slang(Zip) for NONE. And Scrub(bed) for NOGO seems to be inconsistent, tense-wise. ROSA should have been a gimme and opened up the north.
So, congrats to Bruce for making me work like a Saturday. I did FIR.
WC
*At that time the no nonsense George Weiss
PS. APPEASEMENT and Munich (eg of Hitler) are still synonymous 80 years later.
DeleteBoy, that Anon guy really reaches.
Albeit, twenty years ago, before blogs but in the days of "Noting" somebody came up with a "Gumperson's" law* that any discussion that gets x replies will ultimately bring up Hitler.
Strangely true.
WC
* Catch-all for the many "Laws" of this genre
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteBravo Bruce! Yours is one amazing puzzle and brilliant idea. Like @6:36a said, I saw 64a's clue and thought 'does he really mean there's only 9 letters used in the grid?' Yep. Made some fill easier but the NW was still a bit hairy - one never knows how Ireland will be abriv'd. Thanks for stopping in at The Corner with some inside-the-grid.
It took a while to un-Jumble SINGAPORE. I had to do the ol' vowels-on-one-side-consonants-on-the-other. Now make connecting lines. Rinse 'n' Repeat. //worst part, based on my PARSEn' of the clue, I wasn't sure a letter wouldn't be included. GEORGIA was an early contender :-) Took me about 10min.
Excellent Expo Lem. Really loved your intro and the supplemental links weren't bad either.
WOs: I entered OR @15a thinking "thE OR" (Hi Abejo!), SERGEo b/f I sussed SERIES 1, started P-R - not realizing until late in the solve there's two vowels between the P & R in PIEROGI.
ESPs: INES, ENSOR, APENNINES, and much spelling. I thought PINE SAP (guessed the PI) had something to do w/ Pine Trees
Fav: Other than this awesome theme, clue for SENSE
Hahtoolah - OPER is my runner up because Jim Croce came to mind immediately.
{A, B, B+}
Oh, c'mon PVX, it was pretty cute and kinda fun not giving up on those last nine (isolated) squares after getting that far. No?
HG - I loved that article on hyphenated last-names. My (fertile) Bro and I have girls - our last name is grinding down. //Bro also has a boy but he's destined for jail or an AKA...
LOL CED! BigE - even funnier! Love me some SEGER. You (and all y'all in Barry's path) stay safe.
Cheers, -T
WC - Godwin's Law.
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
I hope Bruce checks in on the comments today. I am in awe of the construction of this puzzle today. WOW, just wow. I loved it! Thank you Bruce.
ReplyDeleteJudie B
Good evening. Great puzzle, Bruce. Failed in the area of NONA / SNIPE / APPEASING. Hard a hard time concentrating though, and I forgot to solve the SINGAPORE anagram after I put the puzzle down for awhile and closed my eyes. Nice review Lemonade
ReplyDeleteBefore I realized the limited letters, I got to "Corno Grande's range" and tried to fit in "Two Octaves". I guess Corno isn't a relative of Ariana.
I enjoy watching Jacques Pepin. Masterful.
Hahtoolah, good catch on the coincidence of Catherine Parr appearing in today's puzzle. I saw it in the "This Day in History" article as well. "1543: England’s King Henry VIII marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr."
Abejo, FLN thanks for asking. I guess it's going as well as can be expected. Hand up for loving pierogis. We get them at Costco. Have you ever been to the Whiting, Indiana Pierogi Fest ? WGN News usually has some coverage of it. Looks like fun.
Lucina, and Irish Miss, thank you also for thinking of me and asking. The meds are doing their job. I'll be fine.
Wikiwak, thanks for the comment about Southern Illinois with all the Egyptian names. I read the Southern Illinois Wikipedia page to get an overview. I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteAbejo, after posting I remembered that it is weatherman Steve Baskerville of CBS Channel 2 that is the one that is always super hyped up about Pierogi Fest every year.
Prayers and best wishes to all in the path of BARRY as well as all of you left-coasters
ReplyDeleteFantastic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce (glad you chimed in here) and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant construction today. I saw 64A early in the game and then figured out the 9 letters. That clarified my thinking in deciding on possible fill. I am amazed that with all those words, none of them have a T.
Of course I had a DNF and FIW today. I could not get the Word Jumble, SINGAPORE. (But I did solve the final phrase in the real Word Jumble today for DH). I required Google help for ARGO, which changed Agog to GAGA; that messed up my "To share, or not to share?" Oreo (hey, I was desperate and the letters fit); I changed to Iogo yogurt. None of the above. That whole NW corner was a mess.
Then I arrived here to discover that I misspelled ENSOR as Esser; Pepis and Senora sounded OK to me.
A worthy challenge!
Anybody else see the vowel substitution category on Jeopardy tonight; none of the contestants knew the Hawaiian state bird to change NENE to Nana. GAGA was changed to Gigi also) They should take up CW solving!
Wishing you all a good evening.
Stay safe, those in Barry's sights.
Since I had RAPT/GAGA I tried ALPO as a food to be shared
ReplyDeleteOr not
To the dating of Godwin's Law is right but the noters at DEC had a different name. It is uncanny.
WC
Canadian Eh!
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought that Jeopardy contestants would do better in certain categories if they solved CWD puzzles. I noted the NENE to NANA change.
Please stay safe all you in Barry's pathway.