google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, September 19th 2019 Jeffrey Wechsler

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Sep 19, 2019

Thursday, September 19th 2019 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Squeaky Clean - who's washing your dishes?

17A. Tall display of dishwashing liquid?: IVORY TOWER.

27A. Global donation of dishwashing liquid?: JOY TO THE WORLD.

42A. Rock band's preferred dishwashing liquid?: DAWN OF THE DEAD. The Grateful Dead.


57A. Using dishwashing liquid in the shower?: SUN-BATHING.

A quiet sashay down Aisle 11 in the grocery store and dish washing options galore. I use Palmolive, so I was not represented here. Simple enough theme, but nicely done. As always, Jeffrey pays attention to the fill and makes sure there's nothing clunky to make you wince. Some nice longer downs as always - Jeffrey and C.C seem to be masters at that aspect of construction.

Across:

1. Barista's concoction: BLEND. I started on the wrong foot here with LATTE, and I still think it's a more appropriate answer to the clue. Baristas don't blend the coffee, they brew whatever beans are blended for them.

6. Domino dots: PIPS.

10. Rotating rod: SPIT. Barbecue! Food!

14. Construction rod: REBAR.

15. Square __: ROOT.

16. Skirt with a flounce: TUTU.

19. MiG developer: USSR. In an oddly non-Soviet personal recognition move, in 1939 the USSR named the MiG fighter airplane for its developers - Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich.

20. Wee: TINY.

21. Soy sauce taste: UMAMI. The fifth "taste" - salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami - savory or meaty. When I need an umami "bomb" to season a casserole, for example, I go with a mixture of soy sauce, anchovy paste and Marmite.

22. Sleuth of radio, movies and TV: CHAN. Jackie.

23. Sitcom star from Melmac: ALF. Crosses all the way, this series passed me by.

25. Sticker: DECAL.

32. Set in a golf bag: IRONS. Arnold Palmer was once asked what he did if he was caught in a lightning storm when he was out on the golf course. He responded "I walk down the fairway and hold a one-iron high in the air". When asked if that was wise, he told the interviewer "Yes, even God can't hit a one-iron".

34. TV exec Arledge: ROONE. Head of ABC Sports and later ABC News.

35. Barcelona bear: OSO.

36. Short dog, for short: PEKE.

37. Or so: ABOUT.

38. 1956 crisis site: SUEZ. A kerfuffle over a canal.

39. Chest-beating beast: APE.

40. Darts: FLITS.

41. Slow, to Ravel: LENTE. Here's a great excuse to revisit one of the great performances in Ice Dance from 1984 - Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean interpret Ravel's Bolero. The dance won them the Gold medal at both the 1984 Olympic Games and the World Championships.

45. "Supergirl" actor Jon: CRYER. He's most famous, I think, for his role in "Two and a Half Men".

46. It can be thin but not fat: AIR.

47. Glance through: SKIM.

48. Goaded, with "on": EGGED.

52. Seed used in smoothies: CHIA. Do the pets get smoothied too?

56. "O brawling love! O loving __!": Romeo: HATE. A tad conflicted, was our boy Romeo:

“Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”


59. "__ that a lot": I GET.

60. One likely to snap: CRAB. I've just finished the latest season of "Deadliest Catch". Those king crab are snappy little buggers, steer well clear.

61. Spree: BINGE.

62. Like everything in a she shed: HERS. Is a "she shed" really a thing? I've only encountered the expression on a rather lame insurance company commercial.

63. Ballpark figure: OUTS.

64. Aconcagua's range: ANDES. 22,841 feet and the highest mountain outside Asia.


Down:

1. Pram pusher: BRIT. A baby carriage, more formally a "perambulator".

2. Son of Leah: LEVI.

3. Black, to a bard: EBON.

4. Zero, quaintly: NARY A ONE.

5. Martini specification: DRY. The only way, in my book. Ice, gin (NOT vodka!). Shaken. Glass. Twist. Drink.

6. Dance with a queen: PROM. Nice clue, it took a while for me to see this.

7. Captain Kirk's home state: IOWA. We learn something every day.

8. Common greeting card content: POEM.

9. Far from soothing: STRIDENT.

10. Masonry finish: STUCCO.

11. Bully: PUSH AROUND.

12. "Everything's ready to go!": IT'S ALL SET!

13. Chance at the spinner: TURN. Wheel of Fortune? There are some grand "Wheel" bloopers, some of which are not fit for a family publication. I'll leave it at that.

18. Clump of dune grass: TUFT.

24. Fleur-de-__: LYS. Finally - I got my LIS/LYS mojo. Nailed it!

26. Baa ma: EWE.

27. One whose work is laughable: JOKE WRITER.

28. Heavenly path: ORBIT.

29. Gear bit: TOOTH.

30. Word with hot or dog: HOUSE.

31. Zonk out: DOZE.

32. Tablet with Air, Pro and Mini models: IPAD.

33. Update the look of, as a product: REPACKAGE.

37. Like some bistros: AL FRESCO.

38. 1957 Coasters chart-topper with the refrain "Gonna find her": SEARCHIN'. Crosses, but solid. No real problem.

40. Opponent: FOE.

41. Fragrant chain: LEI.

43. MLB team with Mr. and Mrs. mascots: N.Y. METS. Crosses, but solid. I think this might be the refrain of the day for me.

44. Duchamp genre: DADA. Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dalí play chess:


47. __ Tzu: SHIH.

49. Trusted advisor: GURU.

50. Pesky bug: GNAT.

51. Goes back: EBBS.

53. Rear: HIND.

54. "Picnic" playwright: INGE. Crosses, but solid, here we go again. A 1953 play by William Inge which, I suspect, would be long forgotten except it was the Broadway debut for Paul Newman.

55. Forever: AGES.

58. Placeholder abbr.: T.B.A. To Be Advised.

I'm going to give the rest of this blog over to the cryptic puzzle which appeared in the UK's Guardian broadsheet last Thursday while I was in the UK - the top and bottom rows spell out a quite forthright political opinion. I encourage you to read the resulting article and click the interview with the constructor, who is also a heart surgeon. (Puzzles in the Guardian and Telegraph are published under a pseudonym, the Times puzzles are published anonymously).

And now here's the grid in all its glory:

Steve


53 comments:

D4E4H said...

Dear Cornerites,

I treasure each of you as you post.  I feel that you are family to me.  You prayed for me when I had my heart attack, and wished me a HBDY when I turned 75.

Among you are individuals who know much more about computers than do I.  Please draw your attention to my spacing problem.

Thank you for considering my dilemma.

Today's CW:

FIR  in 67:50 min.

Thank you Jeffrey Wechsler for  this challenging Thursday CW.

Thank you Steve for your excellent review.

Ðave 

Prairie Woman said...

Good morning!

Thank you JW and Steve for my early morning entertainment. I was pleased that even in my groggy, not-able-to-sleep stateI finished in good time for me.

To answer the question about she sheds: yes they do exist. One use is storage for quilting machines. Making quilts is an expensive hobby. Quilts may be finished by hand, regular sewing machine or a quilting machine. Quilting machines are at least 12 feet long and cost from 10 ton 40 thousand dollars. Those who have smaller houses cannot house the machine. So, if one has extra cash, the quilting machine is housed in a building in one’s back yard and referred to by some as a she shed. I am sure there are other uses for those buildings. I just pay someone who has a machine to quilt mine at a rate of 2.5 cents per square inch if the quilts are large.

Lemonade714 said...

Another favorite combination of mine is waking up to a Thursday combination of Steve explaining a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle.

Things I learned - where the name MiG came from; that JON CRYER who has an inrregular gig on NCIS is now part of theSUPERGIRL franchise and constructors (setters) in Britain have a sense of humor. I miss doing the cyptics.

Steve, one piece of late-night TV you missed not growing up in the US is the running of CHARLIE CHAN movies. In those non-pc days, the character was not played by an Asian but WARNER OLAND, or SIDNEY TOLER

Finally, where I live there are many restaurants that have outside seating (especially in the fall and winter) but I learned today that though the term is from the Italian that is not what it is called in ItalyVorrei mangiare fuori.

Nice Shakespeare today and a fun tour. Thank you, Jeffrey and Steve.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

At 6:10 the lights went out and left me standing in the bathroom with a face full of lather and a razor in my hand. Forty-five seconds later, the generator kicked in and we were back in business. The power is still out. We've had 11 inches of rain since yesterday morning, and it's still coming down. I'm supposed to do a M-o-W route later this morning, but doubt that I'll be able to get out of town. The bridge over Peach Creek is probably flooded.

Oh, there was a puzzle. Yup, started with LATTE. Wite-Out, please. It was an up-front theme that even d-o was able to grasp, and it turned into a quick solve. I enjoyed the outing, Jeffrey, and the expo, Steve. (On this side of the pond we say "To Be Announced.")

SEARCHIN': I remember it well. Bought the 45 back in '57. The flip side was also a mild hit -- "Young Blood."

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased thorn for DECAL, thin ICE for AIR, scan for SKIM, agee for INGE, TBd for TBA, and acAI came out, went back in, then came out for CHIA.

I thought the she shed commercial is entertaining. But I also liked the Pittsburgh's perfect Peter, that's why I picked Pittsburgh tongue twister commercial too.

i thought Kirk was born in Montreal. I blame C-Eh! for the Travelocity commercials.

Thanks for the challenge, JeffWech. I always enjoy it when I think there's no way I'll finish, then I do. My favorite was DAWN OF THE DEAD. And thanks to Steve, but how DARE you suggest that some dogs get smoothied. Can't even imagine where one would get get a blender big enough for even a SHIH Tzu.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Jeffrey Wechsler forces me to think and I'm grateful to him for that! I also loved this cleansing theme. At some time in my life I've used all four of those detergents and still use DAWN.

UMAMI refuses to attach itself to my memory. Maybe I can associate it with soy sauce.

I believe William Shatner is Canadian but I guess Kirk is from IOWA. Does anyone know?

The clue for AIR is brilliant! DADA had to wait for perps.

My CHIA was first FLAX and AGEE preceded INGE.

I also had a sleepless night (hello, Prairie Woman!) but having finished this puzzle I'm at peace and might be able to sleep.

Have a really wonderful day, everyone!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Got it all so I'm a happy camper. Wasn't as nuanced as some of Jeff's other masterpieces, but it had a nice theme. Two WO's; limb before CRAB and acai before CHIA. Agree with Steve about the she shed.
4 cheater squares today (and 4 yesterday.)
DAWN - We use DAWN as a sink soap; in the dishwasher we have always used Cascade. That DAWN liquid soap is pretty good stuff. Amazing what physical chemists can come up with.
Had a peach-mango 'smoothie' at Olive Garden last night. The ice chunks made it a bit less smoothie than it could have been.

Claudius said...

Per Wiki:

Yes Bill Shantner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is of Jewish descent as all of Shatner's four grandparents were Jewish immigrants. They came from Austria-Hungary, Ukraine, and Lithuania.

I imagine the clue refers to his portrayal of a character named Kirk. I am not always aware of such things.

I find the clue for the blending barista valid. I know of many coffee shops with a house blend. The local proprietor proudly mixes and matches the roasted beans into his own concoction for his discerning connoisseurs.

OwenKL said...

I grew up with Momma's cooking so it's perfect to me.
An ideal mix of sweet and sour and UMAMI.
What she makes, even gruel
Will surely make me drool,
And once I taste it, respond, "Ooh, Mammy!"

This POEM is ABOUT a PEKE named SUEZ
The TINY dog was owned by Ms. SUE EBBS.
When alone he FLITS
In starts and fits,
And loves to roll around in some sewage!

{B+, B+.} (#1 lost points for only usin one seed word, #2 gained points for using so many.)

OwenKL said...

Charlie CHAN and #1 son. I only saw a few, and remember very little about them. Was there a #2 or #3 son?

To Be Announced/Arranged/Arrived at/etc.

Prairie Woman said...

If interested, see the Wiki for Riverside, Iowa for the birthplace of the fictional James Tiberius Kirk.

Yellowrocks said...

I liked the puzzle. Nice theme, Jeffrey. Most of it was Wednesday like for me. I got hung up with *E*D, and SE*RCHIN. I tried DADA which gave me the first D and then wagged the A. I know of The Grateful Dead, but not The Dead. I see this band was made up of former members of The Grateful Dead. Thanks for the fine review, Lemonade.
BLEND. My first thought was that the barista blends the drink (concoction), not the beans.
I think of TBA as to be announced.
There is much talk on TV and in magazines about she sheds. I don't know anybody who has one. I know some women have a room in the house for crafts and/or sewing that is theirs alone. Converting a shed and adding heat, electricity and plumbing is too costly for people like me.
She Sheds
DO, I heard about the terrible flooding. I hope you and all others are safe and that your property is safe, too.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Steve.
I thought this CW was a little crunchy, and then I arrived here to discover it was a JW creation. That explains everything. Clever. P&P were required but I FIRed and saw the Dishwashing detergents. Loved your "Squeaky Clean" title, Steve.

Unknowns included ROONE, CRYUER, SEARCHIN (before my time!). CHAN, ALF and ANDES did not come immediately.
I wanted Scan for 47A "Glance through" and when the K perped, I fought Skan; SKIM was acceptable.
My first thought for Ballpark figure was EST or STAT but those are abbreviations; OUTS perped. Hand up for thinking of Latte before BLEND.
Nanny wouldn't fit for the "pram pusher". Ah, BRIT.
I knew Chai was not the "Seed used in smoothies". Unscramble to the correct CHIA. (LOL re the pets.)
I'm sure that I am not the only one who thought of "Shaken, not stirred" before DRY for that "Martini specification"!

The Bolero link didn't work for me, Steve. Try this one.
Bolero
Appropriate with the retirement announcement yesterday of Canadian Olympic ice-dancing medal winners, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue.
Retirement

Have you seen this cute TUTU meme? Here, you can buy a magnet from a BRIT.
TutuMeme

Wishing you all a great day.

billocohoes said...

There be a plaque to its future son James Tiberius Kirk in Riverside, Iowa. It were revealed in Star Trek IV: The Return Home. (Aye, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.)

Methinks she-shed be a fem counterpart to a man-cave.

Anonymous said...

Slow to Ravel should be

LentO

Not LentE

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

My first reaction to this theme was why didn't I think of that. Simple? Maybe, but clever as all get out and executed perfectly with solid, very much in the language phrases. My favorite was Ivory Tower, but I liked them all. I use Palmolive but I think all liquids are basically the same. There was so much to like about this offering that I don't know where to begin. I did have a few stumbles with I Beam/Rebar, Turf/Tuft, Osa/Oso, and Acai/Chia, but the only unknown was Searchin. I got a kick out of Flits under About and Dead over Air. Jeffrey led me astray, also, thinking the Pram pusher called for a specific person, like a Nanny, and I was looking for a Chinese philosopher to go with Tzu. There was a sub-theme of creatures with Shih (Tzu), Peke, Ape, Crab, Gnat, Ewe, and Oso. What a menagerie!

Thank you, Jeffrey W, for a truly enjoyable solve and thank you, Steve, for your always witty and informative reviews. I enjoyed reading the interview with Philistine and seeing the not-so subtle messages in the puzzles. (I've done those type of puzzles but I find they require more effort and concentration than I'm willing to expend. I suppose if you do them on a regular basis, you become more in tune with the cryptic cluing.)

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

YR, so far, so good chez d-o, but if it doesn't ease up soon, things could get dicey. It's too late to evacuate. The remnants of Imelda were moving NE, but then stalled. Since early morning the thunder boomers have been forming near Conroe and training SE over us, dumping about 3 inches per hour. The ditches have over-flowed, and water is hubcap deep in the road out front. The few drivers attempting it are having to guess what's roadway and what's ditch. Here's the latest Channel 11 Weather Radar. (Hope that link works.) My M-o-W route has been cancelled. In fact, M-o-W has shut down for the day county-wide. Most schools are closed. Power is still out in my neighborhood, and Entergy says they won't be working on restoring it until the thunderstorms end. Hooray for the whole-house generator!

CanadianEh! said...

Addendum, now that I have read the comments above.
D4 - I saw your post, but am not savvy enough to figure out your spacing problem.

I have seen photos of She sheds, but I had not heard of them for quilting machines, Prairie Woman. YR beat me to posting a link.

This Canadian had not seen the State Farm She Shed commercial; I LIUed and not only found it, but a back story on the "star" of that commercial.
GoingViral

Jinx, I was not familiar with the Shatner commercials; again I LIUed, but it looks like it was Priceline not Travelocity. His most recent commercials are for SoClean (for CPAP machines)! Yes, he is Canadian-born and raised (in Montreal), and has a degree from McGill University.
As Prairie Woman reports@9:20, Wikipedia says "James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa, in the year 2233"

I love my iPAD mini, but it is almost 5-years-old, I am due for a new one.

My dishwashing detergent is SUNlight. Both SUN and Sunlight are made by the same company. Apparently "Sunlight is available as laundry detergent and dish soap in Canada and as dish soap in the United States." The American laundry detergent is shortened to SUN. Do you have both SUN and Sunlight dish detergent??
I think that all the detergents in the CW are available for either dishes or laundry.

Stay safe, d'otto.

Yellowrocks said...

Ravel was French. Lente is the French designation for slow. I, too, had tried lento first.We were warned by the choice of composer.
ACAI before CHIA. The only CHIA I knew of was the chia pet.

Jerome Gunderson said...

Lee Trevino made the quip about god and the one iron... not Arnold Palmer.

Lemonade714 said...

YR, I appreciate the mental connection with JW and my reviews, but today is all Steve.

The brought back the She Shed commercial for a second run through.

Hopefully, OKL's poem will add UMAMI to your memory banks. Trekkies all know where JTK was born. He appears to be still going strong while most of the remaining members of the cast have joined the heavenly chorus

Anonymous said...

When I see the puzzle was constructed by Jeffrey Wechsler, I know I’m in for a fun time. He’s my favorite.

Judie B

Yellowrocks said...

Lemonade, I realized that just about a half hour ago and didn't comeback to correct it. I have been mixing up the days of the week for the last three days. Alan corrects me over the phone.
Sorry, Steve. It's still true, it's but about you. I really did enjoy the expo.

When I ceased to be Alan's representative payee for Social Security, they still sent me three more checks. I sent the money on to the agency. Of course, I have documentation, but I must go to the local SS office with it. There is often an hour wait.
Since today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, my take on this is ARRGH!

Lucina said...

OwenKL:
I loved your poem! It might even help me remember UMAMI!

So, it was Kirk who was born in IOWA. As you can see I'm not a Star Trek fan so did not know that bit of information.

d-o et all who are in the flood zone, please take good care and stay safe.

LENTo is Spanish and likely Italian.

CrossEyedDave said...

For those that never saw (or would want to...)
Star Trek IV, here a the best funny bits condensed
into 6 minutes and 24 seconds...

The "Kirk is from Iowa" reveal can be seen at the 5 minute mark.

D4E4H,
your situation appears to be unique,
I have never encountered what you described.
To possibly help, we would need specifics:
what are you doing this on? Ipad/PC/phone etc...
Let's see if I understand this,
you compose on your email, then copy and paste it to the Blog?

I don't want to sound like the Doctor that says
if it hurts, don't do that, but why not just compose in
whatever program you want it to end up in?

Based on the facts so far,
all I can add is AAAARRGGH!

Tinbeni said...

AAARRGGGG ... it is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

FUN Thursday puzzle.

Cheers!

desper-otto said...

Yay, we've had a respite, and the waters have receded somewhat -- down at least 4". I can see my driveway once again. I think I saw a dove with an olive branch in it's beak. Maybe not...

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

D-O: Best of luck to you in this bad weather. I bet your neighbors like your generator.

Caught the theme with IVORY TOWER. Got all the rest with a few perps. Very clever theme.

Nice to see Charlie CHAN. That goes way back. I remember Warner Oland as Chan.

I also tried AGEE before INGE. BINGE helped with that.

I like the word STRIDENT.

UMAMI was unknown. Even though I like soy sauce.

Off to my day.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Spitzboov said...

D4 - When you copy from your e-mail to the blog, you are probably stripping text and paragraph attributes which keep your spacing. Use either the blog editor or another simple text editor.
The mail editor and blog editor may not play well together.
CED gives good advice.

AnonymousPVX said...


JW beat me today, 2 bad cells.

The 1957 Coasters clue got by me....I was a kid, not even in school.

I put in ACAI, it changed to. ACIA which I knew wasn’t correct and CIND made no sense, neither did AKIA. Never saw SEARCHIN.

I’ve never eaten CHIA seeds nor would I put them in a smoothie. Not that I’d have a smoothie either.

See you tomorrow.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-5 am call to sub and here I am “teaching” Spanish!
-I’ve yet to find a BLEND of coffee of which I would say ,“That’s too strong”.
-This DECAL wound up on all my Revell Kits
-One site calls the SUEZ crisis “one last fling of the British imperial dice”
-“You seem to have a little OCD”. “Yeah, I GET that a lot. Just face my dollar bills all the same way!”.
-JOKE WRITERS of today risk a lot if they use non-pc material
-You can REPACKAGE Kentucky Fried Chicken as KFC or Sugar Crisp as Golden Crisp but you ain’t foolin’ anybody!
-I heard an administrator once say, “He is going to GURU that committee for us.”
-Hasta luego

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Jeffrey, which brought JOY TO THE CW WORLD here. Great expo, Steve!

Actually, it took me a while to find the JOY. Jeffrey never is less than challenging. Had a lot of white on the grid a long time, but the reward of solving is the satisfaction of seeing the right word finally.

UMAMI just never sticks in my mind. I can never remember which vowels go where. Steve, sorry but I think your UMAMI concoction would really "bomb" in a different way at my house.

I have a tape that includes Torville & Dean's "Bolero" performance. I watched it so much, I could probably have done the choreography myself -- if I could stand up on ice skates. It isn't quite the same without the skates.

CHIA seed is food? Does it grow in the gut the way it does on the pet? Not a good image.

HER she shed & his man cave: do they improve a marriage over "our house"? I'm all for togetherness!

PK said...

D-O: thinking of you with all that rain! Stay safe!

Northwest Runner said...

If only the editor saw fit to use Jackie in the Chan clue. Or since it's Thursday a reference to its use as a suffix in Japanese on girls' names.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

We need to get the JOKE WRITERs going. I'll help with the setup:

Robert Byrd, Ralph Northam and Justin Trudeau walk into a bar.
OK, that's all I've got.

SwampCat said...

I did it! I finished a JW all by myself!! Thanks Jeffrey for the challenge. As always so many fun clues. One likely to snap wasn’t a rubber band but an irate crab. Oran pusher wasn’t nanny or mum but just any ole Brit.

Loved JOY TO THE WORLD. Jeremiah and I do drink wine!

Steve, thanks for the walk through.

D-O and all our Texas friends, stay dry. I’m with ya!

SwampCat said...

Oops, that was Pram pusher. Just a typo. I can’t even blame autocorrect!

Ol' Man Keith said...

We use DAWN. I'm not sure how I feel about the connection "OF THE DEAD." Maybe we should switch to JOY or SUN for a more uplifting dish-washing experience.

Enjoyed Mr. Wechsler's smart and funny challenge. I slowed down in the SW corner because I couldn't remember Jon CRYER's name. But it all worked out in the end.

Big night last night. We were having trouble with a very-slow-to-flush toilet in our master bathroom, Yesterday our insurance co. plumber brought us a brand new commode, and last night -- whoosh! -- all our troubles vanished. As often as we wanted!
~ OMK
____________
DR:
One diagonal on each side today.
The near side offers an anagram of a gathering place for ancient prophetesses (possibly a mystic dive bar?), where all the best seeresses hang out, don't-ya-know, a...
"SIBYLIC ROOST"!

CrossEyedDave said...

Jeffrey made me work real hard on this puzzle...

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle a lot. I always like JW's puzzles. I learned that "One likely to snap" was not TWIG and that "Pram pusher" was not NANA. LEI forced me to change ICE into AIR. Much energy was transferred in the process. (Physics joke.)

Hand up for thinking of a Chinese philosopher upon seeing the clue "____ Tzu". I could actually come up with three of them where that blank part is 4 letters: Kung Tzu (Confucius), Meng Tzu (Mencius), and a fellow called Hsun Tzu. I'm not fluent in modern Pinyin spelling but I think nowadays they would be referred to as Kongzi, Mengzi, and Xunzi. Of course my mind also thought of one of my favorite foods, the dumplings called Jiaozi. Nope, neither philosopher nor food, just a dog. I recommend pronouncing it "Sheezu."

LENTE looks awfully close to a Starbucks-invented word.

I would go so far as to say anybody who tastes soy sauce is going to taste SALTY more than anything.

When my wife goes shopping she FLITS.

Having been in the US Air Force, I was familiar with names Mikoyan and Gurevich. Tupolev also.

As far as I'm concerned, Torville and Dean's performance is an enduring classic.

I love my IPAD and use it extensively.

In re TBA, we had a colleague at work who overused TBD (To Be Determined) when giving presentations. He would also drive everybody nuts by droning on "blah blah blah i.e. blah blah blah i.e. blah..."

Good wishes to you all. Sleep well, Lucina.

WikWak said...

C.Eh!, did you see your shout out today? The refrain in SEARCHIN’ is

Searchin, I’ve been searchin’, I’ve been searchin’ every which away (yay yay)
But I’m like those Northwest Mounties,
You know I’ll bring her in some day.


(One of my favorite songs in Jr High.)

Hand up for wanting latte before BLEND.
GNAT—I loves me a word that begins with GN.
You may talk all you like, but when I was learning all about the senses there was no such thing as UMAMI... and as far as I’m concerned there still isn’t. Don’t understand this a-tall.
I liked the clue for EWE (baa ma).
Playing darts in my wasted yute, I learned that the darts you throw are collectively known as a flight. Made it a looooong time to realize that FLITS was correct! Sometimes I am slow that way.

Thanks, Jeff; you are one of my favorite constructors. And thanks, Steve, for doing the ‘splaining. (FIR in 33 1/2 minutes... almost a [vinyl?] record.)

Nap time! Have a good evening, all.

Michael said...

Dear C-Eh! @ 9:22 --

Thank you, thank you, for the Bolero/skating link!

Amazing ... now I see why so much skating is uninteresting to me: mechanical, arbitrary mandatory elements, sterile. But not this one.

SwampCat said...

WikWak, I’m with you on UMAMI . Sweet salty etc are good enough for me. But I do realize I’m hopelessly out of date and I know enough to fill in UMAMI in CWs.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Thank you! I had a two hour nap and feel refreshed.
I love the way you described your energy-transferring process.
Dinner is in the crock pot so I don't have a lot to prepare.

CED:
That kitten washing dishes is hilarious!

Jayce said...

SwampCat, WikWak, et. al., I agree with you about UMAMI. I am not convinced. What we are talking about here is the ability of the tongue, and the tongue alone, to discern "tastes," which, as Wikwak mentioned, and which I was also taught, are salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. The exact taste buds on the tongue that discern these "tastes" have long been identified. I personally have done experiments on myself. I went to great lengths tp "plug my nose," that is, to prevent any aromas, fumes, etc from reaching my nose, so that the tastes I experienced were limited to those produced my the taste buds on my tongue. It was easy to find sources. Table salt for saltiness, lemon juice for sourness, table sugar for sweetness, and tonic water for bitterness. The results were exactly as expected. Note: it is important that when tasting sour, for example, with my nose totally plugged, I honestly could not tell whether the sourness I was tasting was from a lemon, lime, or even vinegar, because the distinctions between these foods is determined by the nose, not the tongue. As for "umami" I have so far been unable to find something to try as a taster. I tried a piece of raw meat but was only able to sense a certain bitterness to it, most likely due to remnants of blood, which has a pH higher than 7 and is therefore bitter. What should I try to determine whether or not I can discern that elusive umami on my tongue's taste buds? Of course it is important not to take texture into account and assume I am tasting umami because the thing on my tongue has the texture, or feel, of meat? As of now I am still an unbeliever.

SwampCat said...

Jayce, what a fascinating private experiment! I have not done anything like that. I just assume what others call Umami I would pronounce “It tastes good!”

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thank you JW for a puzzle that was a JOY to suss. Thank you Steve for a great review and the link to the Cryptic story.

WO: started Nero b/f perp-check indicated CHAN
ESPs: ROONE, LENTE, INGE, CRYER
Fav: AL FRESCO - Lem, thanks for the link; I know not to say that next week in Italy.
Runner-up: Like Swamp, I've had Three Dog Night in my head all day.

Oh, I also like Dance as a noun at PROM.

{A, B+}
Had to lookup Sibylic.

D4 - you may have turned on auto double-spacing in your mail program. Try entering an extra Return after each line and see if that works.

C, Eh! - Interesting about Cheryl's SHE SHED.

Jayce - um, did you read Steve's Marmite link? Maybe try your experiment with that.

Jinx - this JOKE WRITER is not going to polish that shoe.

Imelda's is (mostly) done raining (maybe another inch or so over-night) but I'm still at the office waiting for the water to drain off the main road home. Earlier today, the entire company (except those with big trucks) was marooned with all the streets around us flooded. We watched (and placed bets on) which cars were NOT going to make it down Post Oak (Galleria Area for those that know Houston).

Cheers, -T

Steve said...

@Anon 9:45am - you'd be right, if Ravel was Italian. He wasn't, he was French. Therefore LENTE.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Jayce ~
Thank you, THANK You! --for a much sweeter way to pronounce SHIH Tzu.
I am too fond of dogs to want to insult one with a not-so-decent name.

BTW, I enjoyed the "Speed Bump" cartoon this morning in which a woman was complaining that her emotional support dog had eaten all her comfort food.
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...


I thought of weather VANE for that rotating rod

"I imagine the clue refers to his portrayal of a character named Kirk. I am not always aware of such things."

Or a character named Sheldon or a Viscount… What a varied entertainment world. Another void I have is the CSI Franchise. But a CSO to Picard who's an expert on Kirk

Jerome, good call. I think the final line is something like "only Arnold can hit a one iron". Or "Who does He think he is, Arnold Palmer?"

"Just face my dollar bills all the same way!”.... In the disbursing world there was a viable reason for that. The bills were grasped between the fingers and flipped through. The counter kept an eye on the President's eye in case a bill was folded . The latter would make 49 20's look like 50.

Nobody counts that way anymore so it is in fact OCD'ish. There are other examples of anachronistic "rules". Especially with Google and YouTube at ones fingers.

D4-Dave, do you have a "Docs" or non-email editor? I use "Docs" on my cell phone and paste into blogger.

-T, my first guess was MOTO. Btw, I thought this was the easiest of the week. I never realized Jeff was the constructor. And… I always love Steve's write-ups.

Jayce, your UMAMI post was amazing.

I did an Orlando pkup this morning, ran off the J and xw but Betsy has me timed so I was busy until 9. Two hours on the blog I see. And not all the links.

OMK did you catch Argyle? Argyle Sweater

WC


PK said...

Tony, did you get home okay or are you still at the office? Stay safe!

Anonymous T said...

PK - Thanks for caring.
I am home. Right after I posted, DW called and told me to get home before it rains again. Rather than argue it won't for a while, blah-blah-blah*, I headed out.

I had to take some city streets (and avoid cars that were earlier abandoned) to get past the flooded-out portion of the freeway but, otherwise, easy-peesy.

Cheers, -T
*Jayce - I thought of that at your blah-blah-blah, i.e.... bit. For the back-story, RUSH was ignored for years by critics & Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When Alex pantomimes the watch spinning, that's what he's saying. The rest you get. Best award acceptance speech ever :-)

Alice said...

CrossEyedDave - Oh boy, your YouTube links cost me at least a half hour tonight!