Theme: Bent-o Boxes - BENT is, well BENT in each of the theme entries:
16A. Participated in a pub crawl: WENT BAR HOPPING. There is a Tube line in London which runs in a circle around town, called, very appropriately, the Circle Line. Back in my day, there were 27 stations on the continuous loop, and the "Circle Line Pub Crawl" was to ride the train for one lap, get off at each station and drink half a pint of beer at the nearest pub to the station. Back then, some stations actually had a bar on the platform, so that made life easy. For those of you doing the math, that meant downing thirteen-and-a-half pints during the ride.
24A. "Shadows of the Night" Grammy winner: PAT BENATAR. When I was a callow youth, never having seen her, I thought she was a guy. Women rockers were unusual in prehistoric times. Bass guitarist and Detroit bad-ass pop icon Suzi Quatro put me straight on the matter when I was around 13.
37A. Placating words before a confession: DON'T BE MAD ... I don't believe the placation has worked, ever. There's always a kicker too - "Don't me mad, I ran over the dog, but I got you a NEW PUPPY!"
53A. New and improved: EVEN BETTER. A new and improved family dog?
61A. Upset ... and what can be found in the four other longest answers?: BENT OUT OF SHAPE. Especially when the family dog has joined the choir celestial due to careless spousal driving.
Across:
1. Gold rush storyteller Bret: HARTE. All crosses, this made the north-west a struggle. A question - why do we refer to the "Pacific North-West" when describing that part of the country? I don't see many other north-wests?
6. Saints' org.: NFL The New Orleans Saints of the National Football League, he said, in an official tone.
9. Word pronounced like its middle letter: ARE.
12. "The Lion in Winter" co-star: O'TOOLE. For no good reason, I had GARP at 13D, so this was a struggle. I was puzzled that I didn't remember Costner in the movie. Eventually reason prevailed.
14. Senator Lisa Murkowski, notably: ALASKAN
18. Cleanse (of): RID
19. Afore: ERE "Able was I ere I saw Elba". Poor Napoleon, reduced to a palindrome, a complex and a cookie.
20. Video game pioneer: ATARI
22. Sch. playing home games in the Sun Bowl: U.T.E.P. Although I know full well that the Sun Bowl is in Texas, my left brain could not stop my knee-jerk-impulse brain filling in "UTAH" here. More corrective action required. Sorry, El Paso.
28. Numbs, as senses: DULLS
30. Bilingual TV explorer: DORA
31. File menu command: SAVE
32. Seiko Group printers: EPSONS. Had to wait a little for this one. With "----NS" in place, Canon and Epson had equal dibs on the fill.
34. Mountain myth: YETI
36. Flower location: BED
40. The Eiger, for one: ALP. Any Yeti in the Alps, or do they stick to being unproven in the Himalaya?
43. Scott who played Chachi: BAIO
44. Supplement: ENRICH
48. Snowblower brand: TORO. Pure guess, but "T" seemed to set things in motion. We see leaf blowers around here more than the snow cousins.
50. Schedule: PLAN. There's some English words I can't remember how to pronounce now depending on which side of the pond I'm on - this is one of them - SKED- or SHED-?
52. "Borat" star __ Baron Cohen: SACHA
56. Vegetable with Golden and Chioggia varieties: BEET. Food! (Sort of!). I know golden beets - Chioggia not so much.
57. San __, California: MATEO. One of the Bay Area bridges too.
58. "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" singer Chris: REA
60. __-di-dah: LAH
66. Nonworking time: LEISURE
67. Twain of country: SHANIA. I'd already got "HAT HAIR", so that required a rethink. A few do-overs today.
68. Bigger copy: Abbr.: ENL.argement.
69. Place to retire: INN. You have to drink thirteen-and-a-half pints before they let you go to bed though.
70. Over: ENDED
Down:
1. Indignant reaction: HOW RUDE!
2. Savored the flattery: ATE IT UP
3. Short poems: RONDELS. I had a N and an S. In went SONNETS. I was way too impulsive today. Here's Henry Austin Dobson having a crack at a rondel c.1877:
4. Playdate participant: TOT
5. Hamburg's river: ELBE. "Eble was I 'ere I saw Elbe". "Eble" means "The condition of a person who has never visited Hamburg, nor seen its river". Apparently. Not.
6. "I don't wanna": NAH
7. Woman in Progressive ads: FLO. Is the character now moving beyond "irritating" to "mute the TV?"
8. One of 12 on a sitting jury?: LAP. Clever. 12 jurors sitting, making one lap each.
9. Tough dogs: AKITAS
10. Deferred payment at the pub: RAN A TAB. You can't do that on a pub crawl.
11. Impress deeply?: ENGRAVE
13. 1994 Costner role: EARP. So not GARP then? OK.
15. Go over: SPAN
17. Get lost in a book: READ
21. Ticked off: IRED. Nahhhh, c'mon, you're pulling me leg 'ere Guv'nor. There ain't no word "IRED" Mary Poppins! Unless, o' course, yer 'iring me to sweep yer chimney!
OK, enough of that. I haven't been on a pub crawl, honest, guv.
23. Lumber (along): PLOD
25. Bath time plaything: TOY BOAT. I had a toy deep sea diver when I was a kid, complete with helmet, dry suit, weighted boots and air supply. Sadly he was 12 inches tall, and there's not much more than 12 inches of water in a bathtub, so he didn't do much.
26. "Grimm" actress Turner: BREE
27. Wonderland cake words: EAT ME.
29. Elitist sort: SNOB
33. Harry Potter's potions teacher: SNAPE. Severus, brought to the screen by the fine, and sadly departed, Alan Rickman.
35. Fleming and Holm: IANS. I used to work for Fleming's, a private bank in London which was founded by the family. The bank had the largest collection of Scottish art in private hands, much of which was on display in the building. We had a bagpiper serenade us into work between 8:30 and 9. If you missed the piper, you were late. On the upside, the bank had its own pub, called the Scottish Pound.
38. Incline: TILT
39. Hardly lively: DRAB
40. "Lemme __!": AT 'EM
41. Precious: LOVABLE. One meaning of precious.
42. Many a middle schooler: PRE-TEEN
45. Most sparsely populated European country: ICELAND. But a footballing powerhouse despite only having a population of 300,000 and a coach who is a part-time dentist.
46. Inexpensive knockoff: CHEAPIE
47. Consequence of wearing a cap too long: HAT HEAD
49. Low soccer score: ONE NIL. And the score by which Iceland (reminder, population 300,000) beat England (population sixty-odd million) in the European Championships in 2016 to dump England out of the competition and force the resignation of the coach.
51. Sleuth Wolfe: NERO
54. Some spammers: BOTS.
55. Two-legged zebras: REFS
59. 1975 Wimbledon winner: ASHE
62. Non's opposite: OUI
63. Coffee server: URN
64. Phil Rizzuto's retired number: TEN. Yankee shortstop "The Scooter". Why? No idea, ask C.C. (Steve: "Holy cow!")
65. Chewie's pal: HAN. Star Wars, Chewbacca the Wookie and Han Solo. The clue isn't really "correct" though - Chewie was a nickname, Han was Solo's first name. Details, details.
Right, that wraps it up for me. Onwards and gridwards!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
As Lemonade mentioned a few times, tomorrow's write-up will be unique. Be sure to come back and celebrate the special occasion of a blog favorite.
16A. Participated in a pub crawl: WENT BAR HOPPING. There is a Tube line in London which runs in a circle around town, called, very appropriately, the Circle Line. Back in my day, there were 27 stations on the continuous loop, and the "Circle Line Pub Crawl" was to ride the train for one lap, get off at each station and drink half a pint of beer at the nearest pub to the station. Back then, some stations actually had a bar on the platform, so that made life easy. For those of you doing the math, that meant downing thirteen-and-a-half pints during the ride.
24A. "Shadows of the Night" Grammy winner: PAT BENATAR. When I was a callow youth, never having seen her, I thought she was a guy. Women rockers were unusual in prehistoric times. Bass guitarist and Detroit bad-ass pop icon Suzi Quatro put me straight on the matter when I was around 13.
37A. Placating words before a confession: DON'T BE MAD ... I don't believe the placation has worked, ever. There's always a kicker too - "Don't me mad, I ran over the dog, but I got you a NEW PUPPY!"
53A. New and improved: EVEN BETTER. A new and improved family dog?
61A. Upset ... and what can be found in the four other longest answers?: BENT OUT OF SHAPE. Especially when the family dog has joined the choir celestial due to careless spousal driving.
Across:
1. Gold rush storyteller Bret: HARTE. All crosses, this made the north-west a struggle. A question - why do we refer to the "Pacific North-West" when describing that part of the country? I don't see many other north-wests?
6. Saints' org.: NFL The New Orleans Saints of the National Football League, he said, in an official tone.
9. Word pronounced like its middle letter: ARE.
12. "The Lion in Winter" co-star: O'TOOLE. For no good reason, I had GARP at 13D, so this was a struggle. I was puzzled that I didn't remember Costner in the movie. Eventually reason prevailed.
14. Senator Lisa Murkowski, notably: ALASKAN
18. Cleanse (of): RID
19. Afore: ERE "Able was I ere I saw Elba". Poor Napoleon, reduced to a palindrome, a complex and a cookie.
20. Video game pioneer: ATARI
22. Sch. playing home games in the Sun Bowl: U.T.E.P. Although I know full well that the Sun Bowl is in Texas, my left brain could not stop my knee-jerk-impulse brain filling in "UTAH" here. More corrective action required. Sorry, El Paso.
28. Numbs, as senses: DULLS
30. Bilingual TV explorer: DORA
31. File menu command: SAVE
32. Seiko Group printers: EPSONS. Had to wait a little for this one. With "----NS" in place, Canon and Epson had equal dibs on the fill.
34. Mountain myth: YETI
36. Flower location: BED
40. The Eiger, for one: ALP. Any Yeti in the Alps, or do they stick to being unproven in the Himalaya?
43. Scott who played Chachi: BAIO
44. Supplement: ENRICH
48. Snowblower brand: TORO. Pure guess, but "T" seemed to set things in motion. We see leaf blowers around here more than the snow cousins.
50. Schedule: PLAN. There's some English words I can't remember how to pronounce now depending on which side of the pond I'm on - this is one of them - SKED- or SHED-?
52. "Borat" star __ Baron Cohen: SACHA
56. Vegetable with Golden and Chioggia varieties: BEET. Food! (Sort of!). I know golden beets - Chioggia not so much.
57. San __, California: MATEO. One of the Bay Area bridges too.
58. "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" singer Chris: REA
60. __-di-dah: LAH
66. Nonworking time: LEISURE
67. Twain of country: SHANIA. I'd already got "HAT HAIR", so that required a rethink. A few do-overs today.
68. Bigger copy: Abbr.: ENL.argement.
69. Place to retire: INN. You have to drink thirteen-and-a-half pints before they let you go to bed though.
70. Over: ENDED
Down:
1. Indignant reaction: HOW RUDE!
2. Savored the flattery: ATE IT UP
3. Short poems: RONDELS. I had a N and an S. In went SONNETS. I was way too impulsive today. Here's Henry Austin Dobson having a crack at a rondel c.1877:
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling,
The old, old Love that we knew of yore!
We see him stand by the open door,
With his great eyes sad, and his bosom swelling.
He makes as though in our arms repelling
He fain would lie as he lay before;
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling,
The old, old Love that we knew of yore!
Ah ! who shall help us from over-spelling
That sweet, forgotten, forbidden lore?
E'en as we doubt, in our hearts once more,
With a rush of tears to our eyelids welling,
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling
4. Playdate participant: TOT
5. Hamburg's river: ELBE. "Eble was I 'ere I saw Elbe". "Eble" means "The condition of a person who has never visited Hamburg, nor seen its river". Apparently. Not.
6. "I don't wanna": NAH
7. Woman in Progressive ads: FLO. Is the character now moving beyond "irritating" to "mute the TV?"
8. One of 12 on a sitting jury?: LAP. Clever. 12 jurors sitting, making one lap each.
9. Tough dogs: AKITAS
10. Deferred payment at the pub: RAN A TAB. You can't do that on a pub crawl.
11. Impress deeply?: ENGRAVE
13. 1994 Costner role: EARP. So not GARP then? OK.
15. Go over: SPAN
17. Get lost in a book: READ
21. Ticked off: IRED. Nahhhh, c'mon, you're pulling me leg 'ere Guv'nor. There ain't no word "IRED" Mary Poppins! Unless, o' course, yer 'iring me to sweep yer chimney!
OK, enough of that. I haven't been on a pub crawl, honest, guv.
23. Lumber (along): PLOD
25. Bath time plaything: TOY BOAT. I had a toy deep sea diver when I was a kid, complete with helmet, dry suit, weighted boots and air supply. Sadly he was 12 inches tall, and there's not much more than 12 inches of water in a bathtub, so he didn't do much.
26. "Grimm" actress Turner: BREE
27. Wonderland cake words: EAT ME.
29. Elitist sort: SNOB
33. Harry Potter's potions teacher: SNAPE. Severus, brought to the screen by the fine, and sadly departed, Alan Rickman.
35. Fleming and Holm: IANS. I used to work for Fleming's, a private bank in London which was founded by the family. The bank had the largest collection of Scottish art in private hands, much of which was on display in the building. We had a bagpiper serenade us into work between 8:30 and 9. If you missed the piper, you were late. On the upside, the bank had its own pub, called the Scottish Pound.
38. Incline: TILT
39. Hardly lively: DRAB
40. "Lemme __!": AT 'EM
41. Precious: LOVABLE. One meaning of precious.
42. Many a middle schooler: PRE-TEEN
45. Most sparsely populated European country: ICELAND. But a footballing powerhouse despite only having a population of 300,000 and a coach who is a part-time dentist.
46. Inexpensive knockoff: CHEAPIE
47. Consequence of wearing a cap too long: HAT HEAD
49. Low soccer score: ONE NIL. And the score by which Iceland (reminder, population 300,000) beat England (population sixty-odd million) in the European Championships in 2016 to dump England out of the competition and force the resignation of the coach.
51. Sleuth Wolfe: NERO
54. Some spammers: BOTS.
55. Two-legged zebras: REFS
59. 1975 Wimbledon winner: ASHE
62. Non's opposite: OUI
63. Coffee server: URN
64. Phil Rizzuto's retired number: TEN. Yankee shortstop "The Scooter". Why? No idea, ask C.C. (Steve: "Holy cow!")
65. Chewie's pal: HAN. Star Wars, Chewbacca the Wookie and Han Solo. The clue isn't really "correct" though - Chewie was a nickname, Han was Solo's first name. Details, details.
Right, that wraps it up for me. Onwards and gridwards!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
As Lemonade mentioned a few times, tomorrow's write-up will be unique. Be sure to come back and celebrate the special occasion of a blog favorite.
46 comments:
I am IRED ERE I see red!
I crave to retire to my BED!
But I'm kept awake,
BENT OUT OF SHAPE,
By the earworm in my head!
Paddy O'TOOLE WENT BAR HOPPING.
Once he started there was no stopping!
He's no disgrace
To his "race" --
These were high hurdles he was topping!
{B+, A.}
From yesterday:
Lucina thank you for your concern about power outages in California. It seems quite brutal. We are not in the designated areas right now, but that could change.
CC thanks for the exceptional write-up. I was impressed with how you got the LOW HANGING FRUIT to fit in the puzzle.
SAN MATEO is home to the SAN MATEO County History Museum in Redwood City. Which is the site of an extraordinary light show at times.
Here are videos and photos of this extraordinary SAN MATEO light show.
My brother and his wife live in that area and they took us there.
Thank you, KC for a fun but challenging puzzle. I did not know "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" singer Chris: REA nor "Grimm" actress Turner: BREE but the perps were solid.
I enjoyed some of the songs of PAT BENATAR who became a big star while I was working with AXE traveling the country to watch rock and roll. The drummer made me laugh when he told us he felt he had made it when he got a Christmas card from Pat. Speaking of the band AXE here is LAND OF OUR FATHERS from their recently released album.
OKL, you pondering a RONDEL for the corner. Thanks, Steve for the tour.
Good morning!
Oh no. I pulled a Lucina this morning, writing in an incorrect answer, and then failing to look to see if the perps fit. That was INGRAIN at 11d, resulting in ARI, SAIE and BND. D'oh! DNF. Thanx for the abasement, Kevin, and for the pub crawl, Steve. (It should definitely be SKED. SHED is where you keep your TORO.)
"Chewie": Never made the Star Wars connection, and assumed it was a comic strip. The trash collectors often see CHEWY boxes in front of our house. DW keeps 'em in business.
I haven't visited here for many a moon, due to my switching from real paper to digital in my morning newspapers. It's lovely to be back solving my favorite puzzles and reading insightful commentary. I lived in San MATEO until I was 12, but still took a while to fill it in. In a similar vein, I spent a couple of memorable days in the lovely ICELAND, but took a while to fill it in.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kevin C. Christian, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Puzzle was fine. A little tough and a little easy. Something for everybody.
Caught the theme after I finished. Found all the BENTs.
Some sticky answers: ALASKAN, PAT BENATAR, BAIO, RONDELS, and SNAPE. Perps helped.
Kept looking for ERIE, but no cigar.
Heading for Erie and Edinboro, PA, later this morning. My daughter and I are going to help my nephew with his event.
See you tomorrow from PA. Hope cruciverb works.
Abejo
( )
FIR, but erased wan for HAN.
I wanted Neil Young for 1A, but his story was After The Gold Rush.
Microsoft users get a "new and improved" version of Windows 10 on the second Tuesday of every month. May the bugs be with you.
CSO to moi at HOW RUDE.
I wonder what the Hollywood actresses-waitresses think about the money that the FLO portrayer has accumulated over the years for those stupid commercials?
EAT ME has become LHF in LAT CWs. It reminds me of the ending scene in Animal House.
Thanks to Kevin for the fun puzzle. I thought it was easy, except for the simi-Natick of HARTE x RONDELS & ELBE. And thanks to Steve for the storyline tour. You are right - Pat does look like a bloke.
Semi, not Simi. I'm just a Valley Boy at HARTE.
Lemonade, your challenge made me look up RONDEL. With A and B as refrains, a rondel will have a rhyme scheme of ABba abAB abbaA. The meter is open, but typically has eight syllables per line.
The words, they are a mystery,
To suss them out: painful pleasure.
The grid reveals hidden treasure
Once it is filled for all to see.
A theme there may emergent be,
Reward to our idle leisure.
The words, they are a mystery,
To suss them out: painful pleasure.
Yet if the grid, no theme has he
That can yield to mental pressure,
Enjoyment, yet, scorning measure,
Comes from riddles that clues may be.
The words, they are a mystery.
{A.}
10:10 to finish. Didn't see the theme.
Like Jinx, I didn't care for the top left section (Harte, Rondels, Elbe).
"Shadows of the Night" was/is a great song, though I haven't heard it in years.
I'm looking forward to the big reveal here tomorrow....
Good morning everyone.
Ultimately FIRed although I was in the tall grass for awhile. I knew ELBE was right so I entered OTOOLE only to wite it out and then re-enter it again. Sigh. Once I realized some of the longer fill was compound phrases like DON'T BE MAD and RAN A TAB, thing sped up a lot.
Hello. I didn't get BENT OUT OF SHAPE over the puzzle but didn't notice the scrambled BENTS.
The NW was difficult because RONDEL(S) was an unknown word. But stumbled my way to finishing with only REA and BREE as other unknowns.
SHANIA Twain- do I "Feel Like A Woman"? No I'll stick to the men"s restrooms. If I didn't, some lady would "Hit Me With "Her" Best Shot"- Had to get BENETAR in there.
EPSONS- Didn't know Seiko was part of the company.
UTEP- I remember it as Texas Western.
Chioggia, Golden, and any type of BEET- never liked any of them; DW loves them.
21 d ire is not a verb. You can’t be ired.
Musings
-I am subbing for softball coach but it rained over 2” last night and I thought I would be told to not come in. However, here I am and he is down pouring drying agents on the field to try and play by noon
-Clever cluing (Jury/Lap!) and a nice theme.
-Being identified as “gifted” punishes/rewards some kids with ENRICHED curriculum – read “more work”
-I played every day but never had a playdate in my misspent yute
-During non-play days, I got lost in many a Hardy Boys Mystery or tried to avoid TILT on pinball machines
-Spring floods wiped out many SPANS around here this past spring
-D-O, we are Chewy customers too for our kitty, Lily. When tracking shipping, Chewy posts, “Hang on, Lily, your treats are on the way!”
It was a struggle...”a painful pleasure” .... but I won in the end. Thanks, Kevin. I liked Two legged zebras for REFS (we call them something else down here!) and also Impress deeply for ENGRAVE. Steve, your accent was impressive. Mary Poppins would be pleased.
Owen, your talents are endless. I was still chuckling over poor Paddy when I saw your RONDEL. Thanks!
Right out of the box, HARTE, 1A, was LHF for me, a gimme. After that I had to work for it, skipping right to the bottom half, so BENT OUT OF SHAPE, helped me with BAR HOPPING. I wanted SASHA, but ICELAND provided the C. Forgot O'TOOLE until *T*OL* brought it to mind. I would have gotten Katharine Hepburn, the female lead, right away. She was wonderful as the queen. Perps were very helpful today.
In re Rizzuto, Google says, "His nickname, “Scooter,” was given to him in 1939 by a minor league teammate in response to the short strides Rizzuto took when running the bases. Rizzuto, a shortstop, was called up to the major leagues in 1941 and played with the Yankees until 1956."
IRED is one of those literary words. I have seen it quite often in novels. I like when the constructor throws in one or two of these and sometimes uses archaic words, slang and other informal words. It adds a little spice to the puzzle.
Many of our "gifted" students liked the challenging curriculum. They were very competitive and liked the "bragging rights," too.
Good Morning:
Overall, not too much difficulty but needed perps for Pat Benatar, Rondels, Bree, and Rea, for once not Stephen. I, too, had Hat hair before Head and the usual mistake of Epsoms instead of Epsons. I had trouble coming up with Refs because I was focused on a literal two legged zebra. Non's opposite, Oui, gave me too much pause, as well. Nice CSO to our New Orleans contingent with Saints. (A local college's sports teams are the Siena Saints.)
Thanks, Kevin, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for a rollicking tour, pub crawls and all. As annoying as Flo has become, whiny Jamie is even more grating. Why is that the worst commercials, IMO, are all for insurance companies: Progressive, Liberty Mutual, Geico?
FLN
Alice, I noticed your use of some of the Corner's shorthand lingo, per Spitz's tutorial. Good for you! You're a quick study!
Have a great day.
FLN, I noticed that right after Jayce posted wishing me peaceful bowels, Alice posted talking about mandatory evacuation. Coincidence? I think not.
I happily solved this puzzle which contained a lot of ill humor. (How rude, bent out of shape, ired, don't be mad.) Maybe that's why Kevin included bar hopping, the need for a happy hour or as we used to say, attitude adjustment hour.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Kevin and Steve (I feel your pain over remembering which side of the pond you are on, and I am on this side LOL).
I FIRed and saw the BENT theme; but there were a few inkblots.
My bath toy was a Duck (think Ernie) before a BOAT. Sasha changed to SACHA (hello YR) when ICELAND perped. ONE-one changed to ONE NIL (we need REFS at those soccer games). Scan changed to SPAN, and Dead changed to DRAB (DULLs was already taken).
I wasn't sure if I loved or hated the LAP clue, but I smiled to see ENDED at the End!
How many places in California have a name starting with San? (Approx 38 per my quick Google search but only 5 with 5 letters to the 2nd part). Diego came to mind first before MATEO.
This Canadian did not know Lisa Murkowski (thankfully ALASKAN perped), or FLO (thankfully from the sounds of it) as Progressive Insurance is not available around here. But I have learned UTEP from CWs. And of course I knew Canadian SHANIA (Ojibwa word for “on my way”) Twain. Very turbulent life story.
Survivor
Mark S- the Scrabble dictionary accepts IRED as a verb (simple past tense and past participle of ire) but it is another of those CW fills that is not used in everyday speech.
Beautiful photos, Picard.
Welcome back, Hungry Mother.
Yes, Alice, I noticed your use of our lingo.
Way to respond to the challenge OwenKl. Great RONDEL (and thanks for defining it!).
Tomorrow will be EVEN BETTER. Waiting for the reveal.
Wishing you all a great day.
S., I could not agree more about the use of IRE as a verb, but Mirriam Webster disagrees.
Per MW online:
Verb
ire (third-person singular simple present ires, present participle iring, simple past and past participle ired)
(transitive) To anger; to fret; to irritate.
JINX, the picture Steve linked is SUZY QUATRO
This image is YOUNG PAT
Anonymous 8:06 we look forward to your comments
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun Thursday puzzle with some fun new clues.
I especially liked: Word Pronounced Like Its Middle Letter = ARE.
One of 12 Sitting on a Jury = LAP was especially clever.
I never read, nor saw any of the Harry Potter books/movies. Everything I know about Harry Potter I learned from the crosswords, so I was able to easily fill in SNAPE.
I learned that Tough Dogs are not Alphas, but AKITAS.
Hand up for wanting a TOY Duck before the BOAT.
QOD: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it. ~ David Lee Roth (b. Oct. 10, 1954)
Way too many names to make this enjoyable for me.
What Hahtoolah said ...
FUN solving experience.
Cheers!
Well, I took a guess on HARTE, which turned out to be right, and gave me ELBE (though I first wrote ELBA). Then came ARE, cute clue. Took a chance on READ, which seemed way too simple, but it gave me DORA. "Happy Days" was a favorite TV program of mine for decades, so remembered Scott BAIO. And, along with YETI, that gave me the TOY BOAT. And so it went, filling in little areas here and there. I kept wanting to put in San DIEGO, but knew it wouldn't work with the downs; thankfully I remembered hearing of San MATEO. Liked the crossing of LOVABLE and LEISURE. So, fun Thursday puzzle--many thanks, Kevin and Steve.
Owen, I loved your explaining RONDEL to us, and giving us lovely examples of how it worked.
Have a good day, everybody.
Hi everybody. Gary - Count me in as a Hardy Boys fan. I read them all, at least all I could find at the library. I found out that they didn't have just one author but a stable of writers who could fit into their format.
I like beets OK. I like beet tops (greens) a lot though. Prepared like spinach or any other variation. My favorite green leafy vegetable.
Hola!
WEES! This was a very enjoyable puzzle thanks to Kevin C. Christian. I was not BENTOUTOFSHAPE while solving and in fact chuckled at the clues for LAP and ARE.
Of course I knew Bret HARTE. American Lit 101. And who can forget Peter O'TOOLE as the king in The Lion in Winter.
Funny to see RANATAB crossing WENTBARHOPPING.
Like others I had to change SACHA from SASHA and DRAB from DEAD.
And like Hahtoolah, I've not read any Harry Potter books but knew SNAPE from CWDs. My best recollection of Alan Rickman is from Sense and Sensibility.
Only recently did I experience golden BEETs which taste exactly like red ones.
Owen, you are a wonder as I've said many times. Thank you for the RONDELS.
Steve, any errors you make are perfectly understandable considering the time you post on your commentary! Thank you for all your efforts.
Picard:
I'm glad to know you are out of the outage zone and can't imagine how inconvenient it must be for those who are in it.
I'm waiting for the delivery of my new dining room set which seats TEN since my family is growing.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
d-o:
My excuse for those uncorrected errors is OLD AGE but I can't imagine it's yours!
Hahtoolah,
Money can't buy happiness
But it could buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it
It could buy me a Yeti 110 iced down with some silver bullets
according to Chris Stapleton.
We were completely BENT OUT OF SHAPE over the Dodger game last night. Awful!
Wind's blowing hard here in Thousand Oaks, Ca this morning... expecting electric shut off.
Nooooo, D-O! That scatalogical reference was no way intended, (but you're very clever to think of it) 😜
@Lucina - thanks - did I get something wrong today?
Ired?
Wanted to put out a special thanks to Picard for the pictures and videos of the many wonderful sites he has seen. The San Mateo Museum was a delight!
JB2
Steve:
No, your commentary was delightful as always. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Chalk it up to my advanced age. That's my line anyway.
Hi, this is Kevin, I made today’s puzzle. Thank you everyone for solving.
My middle initial is not C, that’s a typo. No biggie. Not sure why there’s a middle initial there. Usually it’s just my first and last name.
Three black squares in a corner is not common but I did that so I could get the reveal in the 13th row. Otherwise the reveal would have been in the 12th row, the grid would have gotten cramped, and I would have had to drop one theme answer.
The clue for LAP is clever but that was the editor’s creation, not mine.
I live near San MATEO.
The first rock concert my daughter and I ever attended together was PAT BENATAR. Since then we’ve also seen Toto, ELO, and Elton John, but Pat Benatar was the first. Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and many other Pat Benatar songs were big hits when I was in high school.
See ya!
Happy Double Ten Day. I liked this puzzle. Same favorite clues/answers as several of you.
Terrific write-up, Steve. I agree with you about DON'T BE MAD. (It wouldn't placate me. "I'm sorry" probably would.) I also agree with you about "Chewie" as the clue to HAN.
Terrific verses today, Owen. I add my thanks for explaining and demonstrating a RONDEL.
I learned that DORA is bilingual. I'm sure that does not mean she has a forked tongue.
Hand up for changing SASHA to SACHA when ICELAND perped up. Also had to change ONEONE to ONENIL when LEISURE and BENT perped up.
OUI as the opposite of NON is nifty, but I took too long thinking in terms of Non-starter, Nonplussed, Non-fat, etc.
Picard, thanks for the photography.
Try saying TOY BOAT three times fast.
Bill G, BEET greens, eh? Well dang, now I'm gonna hafta try 'em.
Good wishes to you all.
Carol and I FIR in 50:13 min.
Good Day Cornerites and Cornerettes.
Thank you Kevin C. Christian for your crunchy Thursday CW.
Thank you Steve for your excellent review.
Ðave
Kevin, thanks for coming. It was a wonderful treat! So much fun for us solvers!!
Kevin, I removed that erroneous middle initial C. I checked. That's the way it came to us. Fun puzzle with the Bent Out Of Shape theme.
I saw Pat Benatar with my girlfriend in a small nightclub in downtown Youngstown in 1980. It was before she became a star and just after she started to get a lot of air time on the radio, especially WDVE out of Pittsburgh and some on WHOT in Youngstown. It was open seating and we were first in line at the door so we sat in the front section about 10' in front of her, centered on the small stage. It's hard to imagine how such a powerful voice could come out of such a small frame. Blew me away.
@Lucina - phew, I thought I'd dropped another clanger somewhere and didn't know it.
Thank you all for the kind words about my San MATEO videos and photos.
Kevin thanks for the puzzle and thanks for stopping by. Good to know you live in that area. Have you ever see that Redwood City Magic Lantern 3D Light Show at the San MATEO County History Museum?
I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow...? A big mystery from our C.C.!
I lived for a year in Stratford (UK) in the rear flat behind Peter O'TOOLE. I knew Max Adrian who was performing in shows with him that season--but never met O'TOOLE.
Theater is a small world.
~ OMK
The original(Great) NW was Illinois, Indiana etc.
When they beat Kentucky in the famous "Busted flush" game for the NCAA championship in 1966, they were Texas Western
HAT HEAD???? I knew SACHA but that meant going with HAT? HOT I'll buy. After discussing this with the water walking gang I see this refers to the indentation the hat makes in the hair. Apparently the expression actually exists.
Picard, the most interesting light show was your shirt. But you so-cals know how to enjoy life
No Hardy boys but the full set of the Mel Martin baseball books including "The Southpaw's Secret".
The TBTimes had Kevin C Christian
I had _AT_ENATAR but guessed BREE and recognized PAT and there dropped EARP.
WC
Hi All!
FLN - thanks all for the get-well wishes. While I still have sinus issues (and DW now has the cold), I think it was sleep I needed most. I'm not a 100% but at least I made it to the office.*
WEES said re: the NW. I mean WOW DUDE (what I nearly filled for 1d with -OW-UDE in place).
Thanks Kevin for the puzzle that I thought, due to all the names, I was never going to finish. A few Hail-Marry WAGs (looking at you OTOOLE, HARTE, ASHE) got 'er done. Thanks also for swinging by The Corner with some inside-baseball.
Thanks Gov'nor, er, Steve for the wonderfuy witty write-up. Q: What happens to the other 1/2 pint at each stop? Seems like a waste of ale, no?
WOs: IrELAND, DeAd b/f DRAB.
ESPs (+WAGs): HARTE, EARP, ELBE, AKITAS (are they tough? they look cute), OUI, REA, SHANIA, BREE, MATEO
Fav: I liked seeing PAT BENATAR in the grid. //anyone catch that Debbie Harry has a new book out?
--What's funny is I read the clue thinking, "I don't know that song nor Grammy winners." As soon as I realized the answer from P*AT-E-ATAR, the song began playing in my head. *Italicized b/c I was guessing letters to end -AR- at 13d.
{A, A | A for ENRICHMENT on the RONDEL; thanks}
IM - I think the Farmers' commercials are actually good/funny insurance spots. We discussed State Farm's Cheryl's She Shed a few weeks ago - that was a good one too.
Hahtoolah - Love me some Diamond Dave. Do you know the story behind the Brown M&Ms?.
Picard - Nice pics. Too bad you weren't behind the camera for this shot of me with aloe in one of the Cinque Terre towns.
Wait, I know CED (and others) like Potty Humour. //Seen in Venice - A local was delighted I noticed.
Re: PAT BENATAR - I was smitten with her in the 80's until I saw a picture of my mom from her early '70's modeling days. My mom's HEAD-shot is a ringer for Lem's 10:24 link of Pat (and my mom's name is Pat too!!!! -- I probably still need therapy...)
'Stros needed 5 to take it from the Rays. This weekend we take on the Yanks around the same time OU takes on UT [Austin] in Dallas. The latter game (aka The Red River Rivalry) Eldest gets the weekend off from school and RA duties. Thusly, I will see her in about 90 minutes!
Hoping all our California Cornerites survive the PG&E brown-downs (when I first heard of this I could only think of ENRON's "robbing grandma" rate manipulations - now I realize another fire caused by their equipment will put them beyond restructuring bankruptcy). Take care folks.
Cheers, -T
*And my office was still intact. Our floor played musical offices while I was away and they thought about moving mine down the hall before I got back - you know, just for giggles. Could you imagine returning to work after a long vacation to find someone else in your office? That feeling of "Um, was I fired while I was gone?" And, "Why didn't you a**h***s tell me before I sat in traffic for two hours?" :-o
Also FLN...
WC - I did see your note on the 'musically monikered TB Ray's pitcher, Oliver Drake?' whilst away but I didn't get it.
It's a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in 108 double-stitches that's probably before my time / beyond my casual observation of the game. I'm always willing to learn though. Unwrap the yarn from rubber and feed me the the corky-crux.
Cheers, -T
Welcome back, Tony - we lurkers missed ya
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