Theme: Tricky Treats - Five punny theme entries in keeping with tonight's scare-fest:
18A. Halloween feeling in a warren?: RABBIT FEARS. Rabbit ears. I thought these antennae had gone the way of the dodo, but recently people who are jettisoning cable TV are using digital antennae to pick up the local free-to-air stations.
24A. Halloween feeling near a water supply?: WELL DREAD. Well-read loses its hyphen for the theme entry.
39A. Halloween feeling in the office?: CLERICAL TERRORS. Clerks make clerical errors. Fire-and-brimstone-preaching priests are clerical terrors with their Sunday sermons.
54A. Halloween feeling in the yard?: LAWN SCARE. The lawns around here are scary, my neighborhood goes all-in at Hallowe'en. They're generally pretty cared-for too, so that's a two-fer for me today.
62A. Halloween feeling in the loo?: FLUSH FRIGHT. Flush right, otherwise known as right-justified, in typographic alignment terms (in case you were wondering as I was!)
Fright-night theme from David today, and he didn't scare us too badly with terrible puns (an occupational hazard as a crossword constructor!) I thought this was fun, once I tumbled to the theme it was entertaining finding the others. A quick solve for me for a Thursday, and not a lot to make me POUT. Let's find and go seek ....
Across:
1. Spot for a salt scrub: SPA ... where you will doubtless be exposed to the aroma of ...
4. Aromatic evergreen: BALSAM
10. Wind with nearly a three-octave range: OBOE. I know pretty much nothing about orchestral woodwind instruments, but it's the only four-letter one, so not a tough fill no matter how you clue it. Its cousin is the English Horn, which isn't English, and isn't a horn. Makes sense, right?
14. Fresh from the oven: HOT
15. Collection of hives: APIARY. A honey farm, if you will.
16. Sullen look: POUT
17. Track: RUT
20. Buffalo lake: ERIE
22. Like the vb. "go": IRR. Irregular. It seems like most verbs in the English language are irregular.
23. Belly laugh syllable: HAR. I don't think I belly laugh. I chuckle mostly, and I have cried laughing which mostly involves snorting when you can draw breath. I'm not sure how you spell a chuckle or a snort-laugh.
27. Valleys: DALES
31. "Take Care" Grammy winner: DRAKE. A very melodic rapper is Drake. Here's the "Take Care" video, featuring Rihanna, from 2012. 300 million+ views on YouTube.
32. "We've waited long enough": IT'S TIME
34. Bebe's "Frasier" role: LILITH. Speaking of Grammy winners, what happened to the Lilith Fair?
38. Overlook: OMIT
44. Enjoy privileged status: RATE
45. Poise: APLOMB
46. It may get the ball rolling: INCLINE. Or the car, which is a lot less fun.
48. Trio in "To be, or not to be": IAMBS. This "Hamlet" snippet is an example of iambic trimeter, three iambs forming the line.
53. "Borstal Boy" author Brendan: BEHAN. This might be a little obscure for some; A youth member of the IRA, Behan was jailed at 16 after being arrested in possession of explosives while on a solo mission to bomb Liverpool docks. The "Borstals" were part of the system of youth detention centers in the UK. I re-read the book a few months ago after many years. The Borstal experience described seemed almost quaint compared to today.
58. Angel dust, initially: PCP. The street name for the hallucinogen phencyclidine. How do I know this? The movie "Trading Places" with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy. Honestly, officer.
60. "You wish, laddie!": NAE!
61. Put out: EMIT
67. Summer hrs. in Denver: MDT. There's a slow-burning move to abolish Daylight Savings time here in California. Prop Seven passed in 2018 to begin the process to allow law-makers to progress the initiative.
68. Stood: ROSE
69. Paparazzo's gear: CAMERA
70. Mature: AGE. The verb form.
71. Lumberjacks' tools: AXES. Ox, Oxen. Ax (or axe!) Axes. How the heck anyone learns English as a foreign language is beyond me.
72. Gave it more gas: SPED UP
73. Finch family creator: LEE. To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper.
Down:
1. Astute: SHREWD
2. Bartender, often: POURER
3. Fifth-century conqueror: ATTILA
4. Soap unit: BAR
5. Two (of): A PAIR
6. Cuba __: LIBRE. Rum, cola and a squeeze of lime. "Free Cuba" was the slogan of the Cuban independence movement in the Spanish-American war.
7. Brand of hummus and guacamole: SABRA. There's about a billion different flavors of hummus now. When I make it, I stick to the basics - garbanzo beans (dried, not canned), garlic, lemon juice and tahini, a pinch of cumin; I serve it drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkling of ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice blend. I love hummus, when I make it it nets out at about 3 lbs a batch. Here's some that I made on Sunday. The green dab is zhoug, a middle-eastern blend of cilantro, chili and spices.
OK, let's get back to the crossword!
8. Actor Millen of "Orphan Black": ARI. Thank you, crosses.
9. Folk story: MYTH
10. Wheeler-dealer: OPERATOR
11. Feathery neckwear: BOA
12. CSNY's "__ House": OUR. Cute song written by Graham Nash while he was living with Joni Mitchell and later recorded by the band.
13. Many "Guardians of the Galaxy" characters: E.T.'S. I have to confess I have no idea how to punctuate plurals of acronyms which include periods. That's my best shot above.
19. Latest things: FADS
21. Rockies bugler: ELK. I didn't know that elk bugled, a learning moment for me today. The elk mating call is termed a "bugle". Who knew? Not me.
25. Sandwich source: DELI
26. "Same here": DITTO
28. Vehicle with a partition: LIMO
29. Mideast potentate: EMIR
30. Slowly sinks from the sky: SETS. When I visited Malawi in Africa, which is very close to the equator, the sun seemed to set in about five minutes flat.
33. Those folks: THEM
35. Confident words: I CAN
36. Suit part sometimes grabbed: LAPEL. I think you have to grab them both at the same time, right?
37. Unhealthy: ILL
39. Nursery piece: CRIB
40. Narrow way: LANE. We visited the famous lane in Liverpool a couple of years ago. Every road in England is narrow, even the new ones. Driving is a heck of a lot of fun when you have to choose between sideswiping the oncoming tour bus or scraping the wall (or the pedestrians!)
41. Engrave: ETCH
42. Backslides: RELAPSES
43. Hitting stat: RBI'S. Runs Batted In, now a word in itself, not necessarily an abbreviation.
47. Advance slowly: INCH
49. Big club: ACE. Handy when playing 51D.
50. Koala, for example: MAMMAL
51. Game based on whist: BRIDGE
52. Living room piece: SETTEE. Originally, the settee, couch and sofa where quite distinct items of furniture, but nowadays they've all come to mean the same thing. It used to be an indication of social class back in the UK (less so today) which word you used.
55. Japanese art genre: ANIME
56. Carried on: WAGED
57. Big name in Indian politics: NEHRU. The first Prime Minister of India following independence from the British in 1947.
59. Some GIs: PFC'S
62. Monk's address: FRA. "Fra" is sometimes thought to be an abbreviation - it's not - it's derived from the Italian for "brother". The monk and painter of the early renaissance, Fra Angelico, translates as "the angelic brother". Like any Italian renaissance artist worth his salt, he painted on the walls of the Vatican. It must have been difficult to find elbow room in there.
63. Cured salmon: LOX
64. Employ: USE
65. 31-Across genre: RAP
66. Covert information source: TAP. With fewer and fewer landlines, the wire tap is going virtual, eavesdropping on cellphone conversations and hacking into IP networks.
And with that, I'm tapping out! Stay safe this Hallowe'en, and be careful if you're driving after dusk, the kids don't stop to think when they run across the road to the next "Trick or Treat" target house.
Steve
18A. Halloween feeling in a warren?: RABBIT FEARS. Rabbit ears. I thought these antennae had gone the way of the dodo, but recently people who are jettisoning cable TV are using digital antennae to pick up the local free-to-air stations.
24A. Halloween feeling near a water supply?: WELL DREAD. Well-read loses its hyphen for the theme entry.
39A. Halloween feeling in the office?: CLERICAL TERRORS. Clerks make clerical errors. Fire-and-brimstone-preaching priests are clerical terrors with their Sunday sermons.
54A. Halloween feeling in the yard?: LAWN SCARE. The lawns around here are scary, my neighborhood goes all-in at Hallowe'en. They're generally pretty cared-for too, so that's a two-fer for me today.
62A. Halloween feeling in the loo?: FLUSH FRIGHT. Flush right, otherwise known as right-justified, in typographic alignment terms (in case you were wondering as I was!)
Fright-night theme from David today, and he didn't scare us too badly with terrible puns (an occupational hazard as a crossword constructor!) I thought this was fun, once I tumbled to the theme it was entertaining finding the others. A quick solve for me for a Thursday, and not a lot to make me POUT. Let's find and go seek ....
Across:
1. Spot for a salt scrub: SPA ... where you will doubtless be exposed to the aroma of ...
4. Aromatic evergreen: BALSAM
10. Wind with nearly a three-octave range: OBOE. I know pretty much nothing about orchestral woodwind instruments, but it's the only four-letter one, so not a tough fill no matter how you clue it. Its cousin is the English Horn, which isn't English, and isn't a horn. Makes sense, right?
14. Fresh from the oven: HOT
15. Collection of hives: APIARY. A honey farm, if you will.
16. Sullen look: POUT
17. Track: RUT
20. Buffalo lake: ERIE
22. Like the vb. "go": IRR. Irregular. It seems like most verbs in the English language are irregular.
23. Belly laugh syllable: HAR. I don't think I belly laugh. I chuckle mostly, and I have cried laughing which mostly involves snorting when you can draw breath. I'm not sure how you spell a chuckle or a snort-laugh.
27. Valleys: DALES
31. "Take Care" Grammy winner: DRAKE. A very melodic rapper is Drake. Here's the "Take Care" video, featuring Rihanna, from 2012. 300 million+ views on YouTube.
32. "We've waited long enough": IT'S TIME
34. Bebe's "Frasier" role: LILITH. Speaking of Grammy winners, what happened to the Lilith Fair?
38. Overlook: OMIT
44. Enjoy privileged status: RATE
45. Poise: APLOMB
46. It may get the ball rolling: INCLINE. Or the car, which is a lot less fun.
48. Trio in "To be, or not to be": IAMBS. This "Hamlet" snippet is an example of iambic trimeter, three iambs forming the line.
53. "Borstal Boy" author Brendan: BEHAN. This might be a little obscure for some; A youth member of the IRA, Behan was jailed at 16 after being arrested in possession of explosives while on a solo mission to bomb Liverpool docks. The "Borstals" were part of the system of youth detention centers in the UK. I re-read the book a few months ago after many years. The Borstal experience described seemed almost quaint compared to today.
58. Angel dust, initially: PCP. The street name for the hallucinogen phencyclidine. How do I know this? The movie "Trading Places" with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy. Honestly, officer.
60. "You wish, laddie!": NAE!
61. Put out: EMIT
67. Summer hrs. in Denver: MDT. There's a slow-burning move to abolish Daylight Savings time here in California. Prop Seven passed in 2018 to begin the process to allow law-makers to progress the initiative.
68. Stood: ROSE
69. Paparazzo's gear: CAMERA
70. Mature: AGE. The verb form.
71. Lumberjacks' tools: AXES. Ox, Oxen. Ax (or axe!) Axes. How the heck anyone learns English as a foreign language is beyond me.
72. Gave it more gas: SPED UP
73. Finch family creator: LEE. To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper.
Down:
1. Astute: SHREWD
2. Bartender, often: POURER
3. Fifth-century conqueror: ATTILA
4. Soap unit: BAR
5. Two (of): A PAIR
6. Cuba __: LIBRE. Rum, cola and a squeeze of lime. "Free Cuba" was the slogan of the Cuban independence movement in the Spanish-American war.
7. Brand of hummus and guacamole: SABRA. There's about a billion different flavors of hummus now. When I make it, I stick to the basics - garbanzo beans (dried, not canned), garlic, lemon juice and tahini, a pinch of cumin; I serve it drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkling of ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice blend. I love hummus, when I make it it nets out at about 3 lbs a batch. Here's some that I made on Sunday. The green dab is zhoug, a middle-eastern blend of cilantro, chili and spices.
OK, let's get back to the crossword!
8. Actor Millen of "Orphan Black": ARI. Thank you, crosses.
9. Folk story: MYTH
10. Wheeler-dealer: OPERATOR
11. Feathery neckwear: BOA
12. CSNY's "__ House": OUR. Cute song written by Graham Nash while he was living with Joni Mitchell and later recorded by the band.
13. Many "Guardians of the Galaxy" characters: E.T.'S. I have to confess I have no idea how to punctuate plurals of acronyms which include periods. That's my best shot above.
19. Latest things: FADS
21. Rockies bugler: ELK. I didn't know that elk bugled, a learning moment for me today. The elk mating call is termed a "bugle". Who knew? Not me.
25. Sandwich source: DELI
26. "Same here": DITTO
28. Vehicle with a partition: LIMO
29. Mideast potentate: EMIR
30. Slowly sinks from the sky: SETS. When I visited Malawi in Africa, which is very close to the equator, the sun seemed to set in about five minutes flat.
33. Those folks: THEM
35. Confident words: I CAN
36. Suit part sometimes grabbed: LAPEL. I think you have to grab them both at the same time, right?
37. Unhealthy: ILL
39. Nursery piece: CRIB
40. Narrow way: LANE. We visited the famous lane in Liverpool a couple of years ago. Every road in England is narrow, even the new ones. Driving is a heck of a lot of fun when you have to choose between sideswiping the oncoming tour bus or scraping the wall (or the pedestrians!)
41. Engrave: ETCH
42. Backslides: RELAPSES
43. Hitting stat: RBI'S. Runs Batted In, now a word in itself, not necessarily an abbreviation.
47. Advance slowly: INCH
49. Big club: ACE. Handy when playing 51D.
50. Koala, for example: MAMMAL
51. Game based on whist: BRIDGE
52. Living room piece: SETTEE. Originally, the settee, couch and sofa where quite distinct items of furniture, but nowadays they've all come to mean the same thing. It used to be an indication of social class back in the UK (less so today) which word you used.
55. Japanese art genre: ANIME
56. Carried on: WAGED
57. Big name in Indian politics: NEHRU. The first Prime Minister of India following independence from the British in 1947.
59. Some GIs: PFC'S
62. Monk's address: FRA. "Fra" is sometimes thought to be an abbreviation - it's not - it's derived from the Italian for "brother". The monk and painter of the early renaissance, Fra Angelico, translates as "the angelic brother". Like any Italian renaissance artist worth his salt, he painted on the walls of the Vatican. It must have been difficult to find elbow room in there.
63. Cured salmon: LOX
64. Employ: USE
65. 31-Across genre: RAP
66. Covert information source: TAP. With fewer and fewer landlines, the wire tap is going virtual, eavesdropping on cellphone conversations and hacking into IP networks.
And with that, I'm tapping out! Stay safe this Hallowe'en, and be careful if you're driving after dusk, the kids don't stop to think when they run across the road to the next "Trick or Treat" target house.
Steve
I enjoyed the theme, but did notice an inconsistency. WELL READ has nothing to do with water wells, and FLUSH RIGHT puzzled me for a while because it has nothing to do with flushing a toilet. But CLERICAL ERRORS are ones that occur in an office*, and LAWN CARE does happen to a yard. RABBIT EARS is sort of middle ground to these distinctions.
ReplyDelete*The clue could have said CLERICAL TERRORS were in a parsonage or cathedral, but that would have brought up thoughts of clerical sex or pedophile scandals, so I can understand why that was avoided.
In "bee", you'll note A PAIR of E's.
And bees you'll note in APIARIES.
And when you can rest
At a nanny's behest,
That's when you'll feel au pair ease!
A CUBA LIBRE is by some
Just an excuse for more rum,
But it's not a joke,
If you OMIT the Coke
You'll likely end up like a bum!
In MYTH, Adam's first wife was LILITH
But she wouldn't do whatever he willith.
So he kicked her out
And got a new spouse,
Who thought IRREGULAR stuff was the chillest!
A fart you would rather OMIT.
Though comfort it helps quite a bit.
But the smell makes one reel,
And the sound is a squeal,
So you can't feign you didn't EMIT!
At a SPA, there's no need to POUT
If HOT towels for a SALT SCRUB run out.
You can, with APLOMB
Use a sheet on your bum,
And your boobs, just wave them about!
{B, B-, B+, B+, A.}
FIR, but erased gravity for INCLINE, LAnd SCARE, old for AGE, hall for LANE, and spy for TAP.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't you think that you would find apes in an APIARY?
We had ERIE yesterday. Hi, Abejo. We had WHEEL AND DEAL too, I think. Made me think of Sade's Smooth Operator.
"Put out" reminded me of teenage boy banter.
The vehicle with a partition turned out to be LIMO. Police cars have them too. Don't ask how I know.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, DAB. No BOOs from me. And thanks to Steve for another fine foodie review. I wouldn't have understood FLUSH (F)RIGHT without your help.
Good morning! (Brrrrrr.)
ReplyDeleteHeard on the radio minutes ago that the Washingtonians (Just realized I don't know the team name. It's not Senators.) won last night's game. Now that's Houston, the Clutch City, that I remember.
Enjoyed today's puzzle and managed to get all the punny answers. Thought perhaps it was a maChINE that got the ball rolling, and the Koala began life as an aniMAL. BEHAN was unknown, but the perps were kind. CSO to Lucina at DALES. Nicely done, D.A.B. and Steve.
RABBIT FEARS: I installed a rooftop antenna several years ago. We're too far out for rabbit ears. Now we can watch weather news when there's a hurricane bearing down on us and DirecTV is "washed out."
LAWN SCARE: DW has instructed me to take a photo of one Halloween house in our town. For weeks the lawn has been littered with uninflated inflatables. She wants to know if they're ever going to blow 'em up.
OK, I LIU and see it's the Washington Nationals. Do they call 'em the Gnats?
ReplyDeleteVery punny and funny puzzle! Never heard of flush right.
ReplyDeleteNationals win the World Series! First time ever, in any sport, that the away team won all seven games. A lot of one-sided games by the final score, but several of the games were close until the last few innings, as was last night’s 6-2 game. The Nats scored all their runs in the last three innings to break it open.
Amusing puzzle - and fun write-up!
ReplyDeleteI have to leave for work early - hopefully to get a parking place under the roof
since it snowed this morning!!
Thanks Steve and David!
Halloween home decoration has become very competitive here in So. Fla. I think it is because we do not have any changes in seasons to speak about.
ReplyDeleteI had trouble relating to the theme fill. In my world it is ALIGN RIGHT or JUSTIFY , I guess it is easier for the IT people.
Thank you DAB and Steve and be careful out there
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteGot the theme easily enough. Steve, thanks for 'fleshing out' FLUSH RIGHT. Otherwise - FIR without help. I think this was a tad easy for a Thursday.
ERIE - Had it yesterday; different clue today. Actually, not so different. Buffalo is in ERIE Co. NY. How can I clue it? Let me count the ways. Vowel rich makes you popular here.
BRIDGE - Based on whist as the clue says. When I'm asked, how BRIDGE is played, I have to compare it to something else because nobody knows how to play whist, including me.
Always enjoy a Halloween Theme ...
ReplyDeletePerfect puzzle for Lake ERIE to appear also!
Hope everyone has a safe evening.
Cheers!
Late start today. I rose at 9:45 instead of between 6:00 and 7:00 for the first time in years.
ReplyDeleteFairly fast solve for a Thursday. I like holiday themed puzzles.
Funny how we sometimes know just enough bits and pieces to solve some clues, without being up on the subject at all. I know Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy is about the Irish uprising, but nothing more. I have read other riveting novels about this subject. Goodreads gives Borstal Boy 4 stars. The film is rated only 2 or 2+ stars.
DST, I despise dark late afternoons and evenings. I love that it is light until well after 8:30 PM in early summer.
I rode behind the partition in a police car when my car failed in an intersection. The policeman gave me shelter until the tow truck arrived. I, who am only 5 foot 1 and kinda average size, found it cramped quarters. I feel sorry for men over 6 feet tall and built like a linebacker. My favorite deli has a cute sign, "Free Ride In A Police Car If You Shoplift, Compliments Of Your Police Department."
We had only six trick or treaters last year. Our town has a party for the kids and the school has trunk or treat. My lovely neighbor's kids stopped by, but they have recently moved out of town. Lots to do today, including computer work for the square dance club. I will pass on that, hoping the sun will come out tomorrow.
Lemon @ 7:49 am
ReplyDeleteWe do to have a "Change in the Season" here in Tarpon Springs.
It just went from "Baseball Season" to NOW "Football, Basketball & Hockey Season"
...
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a playful, punny Halloween treat with a few tricks thrown in, like Rap and Tap and Omit and Emit. My only unknown was Ari, as clued. Erie, again, Abejo! Because of the obvious theme, the solve was easier than a typical Thursday, IMO. I'm unfamiliar with Flush right but it makes sense, I guess.
Thanks, David, for a fun and timely solve and thanks, Steve, for the fun and informative write-up. Your hummus looks yummy, although I'm not sure about that spicy topping!
I never have any trick or treaters because of being off the beaten path. Based on the rainy and windy weather expected later today, I doubt there will be many little goblins roaming about anywhere.
Stay safe, all of you Californians!
Have a great day.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteTrick or treat! This was entertaining! Thank you to DAB and Steve.
You ask, "how the heck does a foreigner learn English as a second language?" I'll tell you, Steve: not easily and with great teachers such as Yellowrocks, myself, and other dedicated educators. LOL. At the college where I taught, ESL is a two-year course but even then proficiency comes with hard work and intense application on the part of the students. I know of only one of my students who continued in English and earned a Master's degree and when I left she planned to continue for a PHD. That is unusual.
But about the puzzle, it was fun and fast for the most part. I laughed at the "scary" theme answers. But the SE gave me fits only because I insisted on LAWNSENSE until it made no sense. After erasing it and seeing the CARE part did I advance. Oh, and I started with ANIMAL before MAMMAL.
Then IAMBS emerged and I was done! I love a bit of Shakespeare in a puzzle.
D-O:
Thank you for the CSO. I can tell you that the DALES continue to proliferate and will no doubt do so even after I'm gone.
I see a CSO to Spitz at BRIDGE.
Today I'm going to attend the funeral of a person whose family has been estranged from her for many years. Last night at the viewing the daughter created a terrible scene which demonstrated why they did not get along. The deceased is the mother-in-law of my niece and her husband, the son, did not attend. It's sad.
Wishing you all a fearless Halloween with more treats and few tricks!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, David and Steve.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed eventually and saw the theme. WEES re FLUSH RIGHT. I had a very slight nit with the theme inconsistency re being singular or plural. I would have preferred FEAR and TERROR.
Let me count the inkblots. Hah changed to HAR, Did To changed to DITTO, Aye changed to NAE.
Unknowns included BEHAN, SABRA, LILITH (as clued).
LILITH fair, started by Canadian Sarah McLachlan, was woman-centric, a "marriage of music & activism".
LilathFair
Koalas are not bears; Marsupial would not fit.
Thanks Steve for clarifying that ELK bugler.
This Canadian does not use or hear the word SETTEE very often. Sofa or couch are more common, and have replace chesterfield.
Tinbeni @10:33, LOL re eerie ERIE being appropriate today.
Wishing you all a great day.
Let's try that link again and get the correct spelling too!
ReplyDeleteLilithFair
HAR, HAR, HAR, Steve. You wondered, 71a, how anyone can learn English as a second language. Well, after more than seven decades of trying, I haven’t figured it out. I have always wondered how anybody can learn it as a FIRST language. Then you confirm my suspicion that it can’t be done with ETs and RBIs.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI hated commuting home 2 hours on the So. Cal. Freeways in the dark at rush hour when Daylight Savings Time went off. I feel my spirits lift when it returns in the spring. I really hope they don’t do away with it!!
I seldom hear settee in everyday communication. I see it in novels and newspapers. Vocabulary.com says, "It's more commonly used in Britain than the U.S., and has an old-fashioned sound to it, but you can use this word to describe your loveseat or couch if you like."
ReplyDeleteLucina, in addition to our teaching efforts, I believe immersion is necessary to learn any new language well. And the younger, the better. Having taught ESL students in grades kindergarten through the fifth grade, I find that kindergarteners learn English more quickly than older students. Often the playground is the best teacher. Of course, kindergartners need to develop only a five your old skill level, and they still are able to reproduce sounds that older children no longer can easily make. Fifth graders through adults have quite a lot to catch up on.
While visiting Germany, one day I stayed behind in a village where only German was spoken while the rest of the tour spent the day out and about. My college German was beginning to come back to me that day. I think if I had to survive alone there, my German would soon improve.
Wendybird, me too. Even in the winter time, my spirits lift as each week the darkness descends later and later.
Apropos of lucky 13 down and today's holiday, I give you all;
ReplyDelete"The wonderful scene in the middle of Steven Spielberg's E.T., where we first hear the full-bodied version of John Williams' 'Flying' theme. There's also an earlier statement of 'Yoda's Theme' from 'The Empire Strikes Back', which Williams slipped in at the appropriate moment.
Starring Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton and Dee Wallace. Music, of course, by John Williams."
E.T.'S Halloween Seen
The scene reminds me of the Trick or Treating of my youth.
I loved this David Alfred Bywaters Halloween puzzle! Many thanks, David. Got SPA instantly and then HOT and that corner fell right into place. Cracked up when I got RABBIT FEARS and that set me up for the other delightful theme answers. Loved CLERICAL TERRORS, especially. Kept wanting TIP for the covert information source, but the across had to be CAMERA, so I finally gave in and made it TAP. Also liked "You wish, laddie!" for NAE. Lots of fun, and your commentary was a Halloween treat, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Austria and my widowed mother married an American GI who brought us to this country when I was 11. I spoke only German until then, but then spent two weeks on a U.S. Army ship where I got to play with American children every day. After two weeks of hearing and learning English from those kids, my English was good enough that I was able to go right on to fifth grade without having to repeat a year of school. So the trick to learning English as a second language is to learn it before puberty, I guess.
Have a fun Halloween, everybody.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, David Alfred Bywaters, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeletePuzzle went pretty easily. Caught the theme after I got a couple of theme. Clever.
Aha. ERIE made it again! This time Buffalo's Lake. Which is just up the lake from Erie, PA, which is also on Lake Erie. I was just there 2 1/2 weeks ago. Went out on Presque Isle State Park, which is also on Lake Erie. Saw Misery Bay, where Oliver Hazard Perry and his men spent one winter.
I vacillated between VALES and DALES at 27A. Finally FADS gave me DALES.
DRAKE was unknown. Perps. As was BEHAN. Perps.
Got SABRA with 5 perps. One at a time. After WELL DREAD I had it.
32 degrees this morning as I was guarding. Now 31 and snowing steadily.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Tin- ever since the Dolphins gave up playing professional football, our seasonal changes are limited. The Heat, however, has looked surprisingly good. They have some intriguing rookies and Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-What a fun Halloween treat. Had to do it in red pen!
-Subbing today and she is keeping me busy.
-We’ve got 242 bags of candy ready to go and are preparing for the onslaught of wonderful little kids tonight.
Husker Gary::: That is just Scary. We're lucky to go through one bag of candy.
ReplyDeleteMailman:
ReplyDeleteI think that is 242 individually packed bags(brown paper or ziploc) for 242 different kids. Not 242 bags of candy bars. Or at least I hope so.
HH, everybody! Boo!
ReplyDeleteMisty, I heard that the best time to learn a foreign language was before age 6 (or was it 7?). Anyway, it seems kids can learn a 2nd language without an accent if they can do so before that early age. Apparently the English of Henry Kissinger's younger brother-- only younger by a year-- was accent-free.
I studied German in school, then spent a summer at the Universität Wien where I could finally speak with some fluency. No longer, unfortunately, as I have had little chance to practice--except as an occasional tourist.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One far-side diagonal.
The anagram:
In 1954, the IRS shifted its due date from the Ides (15th) of March to the Ides of April. Nevertheless, it has been unable to relieve the Ides from a classical reputation (Hail Caesar?) as an…
“UNPOPULAR DATE”!
Happy Halloween crossword gurus,
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone in California is staying safe during this particularly long and spooky fire season.
I reached out a couple of days ago, but I was wondering if anyone has any feedback or suggestions for our new Crossword Solver: https://www.crosswordsolver.com/
As you all know, links are extra important for a site like ours. Any recs for how we can improve our site to boost link quality and quantity?
I appreciate you all!!
Smiles,
Emily
I liked this puzzle. The only writeover was to fix TACTICAL ERRORS. Oh, and IAMBS made ANIMAL change to MAMMAL.
ReplyDeleteI, too, wish we could have "Daylight Savings" time all year 'round, as I also prefer having more daylight in the late afternoon than in the early morning.
Wouldn't it be cool if there was a plumbing product brand called FLUSH RIGHT?
Steve, that hummus looks delicious. Good to learn of those spice blends.
Happy Halloween.
Ol'Man Keith, I always heard that puberty was the borderline between learning to speak a new language like a native or speaking with a foreign accent, even if the speech itself is otherwise perfect. So, have you detected an Austrian accent in my English? Oh wait--even after all these years of communicating on the Crossword blog and e-mail, I guess we've never actually spoken in person, have we? Well, let's do that one of these days, and then tell me if I sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
ReplyDeleteThey Might Be Giants mentions the Koala in MAMMAL.
ReplyDeleteSteve - I'd love to see that hummus recipe in the blog's recipe section. Also, why dry chickpeas?
Play later if time permits. Cheers, -T
Emily, I am not sure this blog is the place to promote your site. It makes solving the hard parts too easy, which seems like your goal. While we are not elite solvers, we are generally stubborn.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is 242 Ziploc bags with five pieces of candy in each. As I write this, we are about 1/2 done. My fav costume was a boy with a big cardboard school bus costume where he lifted the "hood" for me to put in the candy!
ReplyDeleteCC has over 60 links listed.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I like having to think puzzles through by myself.
ReplyDeleteemraeshine I had some feedback for your earlier request back here on 10/28. I know it was disappointing, but I doubt anyone here will give you much better. Actually, I rather hope someone here will be more encouraging.
ReplyDeleteEveryone, please check out emrae's site and chime in!
I suspect Nationals was chosen as Washington's nickname because the old SeNATorS were shortened to NATS in newspaper headlines.
ReplyDeleteWhile RBI has become a noun in itself, nitpickers would say the official "stat" is still RBI for runs batted in.
We often get over 350 beggars this eve, (including repeats, parents collecting for their "sick children," and vanloads brought in from the suburbs where homes are too far apart for efficient candy harvesting) so now we travel over the holiday. Local TV full of tornado warnings here in Richmond/Emporia VA tonight. High wind predicted tomorrow, so I'll have to start raking when we get back home.
@Anon T - I'll happily post the recipe, but if you don't want to make a couple of pounds of hummus, adjust accordingly! Also, you must use a blender - the texture should be creamy and smooth, and you just can't get that with a food processor or mashing stuff with a fork (great for guacamole though!).
ReplyDeleteI use dried chickpeas as I think the canned ones have a funky taste and texture - I can't put my finger on it, but the taste just seems a little "off".
OK, Culinary Corner over, back to Crossword Corner :)
What a disappointing Halloween. I've been getting very few kids coming to Trick or Treat at Halloween over the last few years. But we have some new families with kids in the neighborhood, so I got a supply of Snickers and turned on the outside lights and looked forward to having some kids turn up to Trick or Treat. Sadly, not a single solitary child or teenager or anyone came by. The candy is just sitting there, and I'm assuming this is the end of Halloween as we knew it when I was growing up. Sad. Guess I'll have a Snickers bar after supper for the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteFair enough, Steve, back to the Crossword :-)
ReplyDeleteHi All!
Apparently I did OK on the football field* with my dancing daughter. I'm sure it will be on the YouTubes later...
Thanks DAB for the Halloween themed puzzle; some fun fill as mentioned w/ OMIT EMIT (ha! One of the guys I work on-and-off with is Amit) and nice cluing.
Steve - always an enjoyable light on how the other-side-of-the-pond thinks.
WOs: I read 4d as soup not soap so cup turned to BAR; "vb. go" wasn't intransitive [INT(?)] if that even is a part of speech. My PFC was fist a PVT; and PVT dumbass was holding up CAMERA way too long.
ESPs: BEHAN, ARI.
Enough perpage filled DRAKE and LILITH
Fav: I don't know why I like the word APLOMB so much. It's gotta be the MB at the end.
Steve - Dan Ackroyd knew his drugs (and mail sorters) [SNL]. I learnt "PCP, Angel Dust" from the original Dragnet with Webb.
As for making 3lb of Hummus at a time - I'm good with that. When, at the store, I think of getting ingredients to build some, I just grab some SABRA (or whatever) because the work for one small batch (single can) isn't worth it. For a bucket of hummus, I'd spend an hour and nosh for a week or two.
{A+, A, A+, LOL, A}
LOL DR OMK
YR - I've been reading about your fall. Good that the MRI was OK and that you're getting PT; a fall like that...
Better news about Alan too.
Misty - It's not over. We had goblins all over the neighborhood - I was just sad that the HS Football game (that I had to attend) fell on Halloween and I couldn't meet them all. We were the "dark house" this year. [I got home after dancing expecting TP in the trees].
Jayce - after the fill, I did think FLUSH RIGHT was a plumbing (an MB word!) product. Lem, I always called it Right Justify or "right TAB" (in Word, you have tab-stops that are Left, Right, and Middle).
D-O: Are you pulling our leg re: NATS? We get them in the puzzle quite regularly.
Emraeshine, I don't want to be a damper, but have you seen Crossword Tracker?
I see what you're coding for and it could be a cool one-stop letter shop (anagrams, fill-in-the-blanks, etc) but to get ads/links you need eyes; being on Google's platform, as you are, should help (see AdSense).
I am curious, though, the domain was registered in December '99 (dot-com days) and just recently (August) updated.
Oh!, my process finished - Back to work.
Cheers, -T
*Once a year, dads do a choreographed dance with daughters for the 1/2-time show. Tonight was that night.
We didn't have as many kids as we did maybe 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, when I was feeling a little feisty, I would respond to "Trick or Treat" with, "OK, I'll take the trick then." They looked totally confused and befuddled. After a few seconds, I'd relent and say, "OK, here's extra treats for you guys." Their temporary confusion disappeared and it was smiles all around.
I chatted up a couple of teen age girls who rang our bell tonight and asked where they went to school. They responded that they went to our local middle school (where I used to teach). It turns out their math teacher is the guy we hired to replace me when I retired. They have math in the same room where I used to expound on Pythagoras and other cool algebra stuff. They seemed really pleased to meet me and to be able to connect me with their present middle school experience. It made me a little nostalgic...
I haven't bought candy for Halloween in several years. Going door to door has been discouraged and parties are held at nearby churches or community centers. It is deemed safer and I suppose it is.
ReplyDeleteBill G. How you holding up w/ the rolling blackouts I hear about?
ReplyDeleteLucina - maybe in some neighborhoods "it ain't the same" but here we have kids (the little ones) starting at 4:30p and the fun continues until the teens (with nary a costume) show up at 9p.*
Cheers, -T
*that was my last year 'cuz, well, read above re: TX Football.
Another funny [peculiar, not HAR!] is how many dads leave the office early to take their tots treatin'
Greetings all, I left Tampa Bay on Saturday noon, spent two days South of Boston* and Monday in NH. Left Tuesday and drove two days back to Florida.
ReplyDeleteSolved Saturday on the first leg. In Baltimore I bought a NYTimes(talk about tough). Fortunately the guy sitting next to me on the plane had a WSJ. I borrowed the xword section and got started.
It was a struggle but I had one section left and a clue:"Orange spot". Then I misplaced the paper but my mind finally spewed out BLIGHT. **
Then I bought a Boston Globe and tackled the magazine xword. Finally, staying overnight in VA I grabbed the Tuesday USA Today xword and the next morning, the Wednesday xword. Quickies.
It was nice to have the TBTimes in my hand. Fairly straightforward but I was doing it in the car and misread that genre as LILITH'S not DRAKE'S. You might recall that I mentioned to Anon-T that the Ray's have a pitcher named Oliver* Drake.
That Globe xword had a similar Halloween theme in that the word BOO was embedded.
I want that Misty & OMK telephone call to be three way.***
WC
** Yes Virginia, there is a South Boston VA. I booked Fri night there. Aaarrrggghhh!!! Then I left my wallet at the bank on Monday. Double aaarrrggghhh!!!!
*After a memorable Patriots victory in 1986 I penned:
"The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Pat's team that night
Their record in Miami was a cursed orange BLIGHT"(and forty more lines)
**Oliver was famous for "Good Morning Starshine"(1969)
*** And Sandy and Owen will want to be on it too.
I borrowed all the bytes unused from last week, TTP :-). And finally…
I'm typing this in Eureka, FLA. No bars so I'll post in Ocala later.