Themeless Saturday by Joe Deeney
I had a very pleasant exchange with Joe about this puzzle and here is his response:
Hi Gary,
I always enjoy reading the Crossword Corner blog post and the comments when I have a puzzle in the LA Times. Of course I'm familiar with her puzzles (and a fan of them!), but I've never had the pleasure of meeting or talking with C.C..
This photo was taken at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 2014. I believe the device was intended to swap one's hearing left/right. I don't remember much else about it, but I've always enjoyed the photo. :-)
My notes suggest I originally constructed this puzzle in June of 2018. I submitted it to Rich that November; in January, he requested a revision to the SW corner. I gave him a few options and he accepted this version in February.
I keep a running list of potential seed entries for themeless puzzles - I try to limit myself to entries that I've got clever clues for. The seed for this puzzle was SAGITTARIUS, which I clued as [Fall guy?] - I haven't seen the final version yet so I'm not sure if Rich kept the clue.
I have a unexplained fascination with grids that have 90 degree rotational symmetry - more than half of the themeless grids I construct have this. I thought this grid arrangement would be a fun challenge. In hindsight, the corners are quite difficult to fill cleanly. FUELOILS, DYSONS, and FREONS are all unfortunate plurals that I probably wouldn't use today.
Thanks for your fun photo and sharing a bit about yourself. I look forward to Saturday's blog post! Let me know if you have any more questions.
-Joe
Across:
1. Jacket whose earliest version was created for pilots: BOMBER - This WWII BOMBER jacket was "featured" on Pawn Stars and eventually sold at auction for $2,650
13. "The Conduct of Life" essayist: EMERSON - All nine of his essays from this 1860 publication
15. Players on the road: TROUPE - Taylor Swift required 82 semis for her TROUPE to set up here in Columbus, Ohio
16. Place to park a whirlybird: HELISTOP - Our local hospital has a HELISTOP where patients are loaded and unloaded. Maintenance is done on the aircraft in a HELIPORT at the local airport.
-and-
6. Whirlybird part: ROTOR - Both horizontal and vertical
18. Even though: ALBEIT.
19. More than is prudent: ONE TOO MANY - AA motto: "ONE drink is TOO MANY and a thousand aren't enough"
21. If-then-__: programmer's construct: ELSE - Below you get two chances
22. Factor in club selection: LIE - Use a very lofted club and swing hard!
24. Drilling org.: ROTC - Yeah right, I was the only one who had to change OPEC
25. First of a box set: DISC I - DISC I is their first studio album Please, Please Me
28. DVR button: REW.
29. Crooked: ATILT - Gate Of Europe in Madrid
30. Privileged group: INNER CIRCLE.
33. Sign of fall: SAGITTARIUS - Joe's cluing of "Fall Guy" didn't make it past Rich
34. Comedy of errors?: BLOOPER REEL - Google at your leisure
35. "Speak up!": SAY IT - "Just shout 'em right out!"
36. Some smoke detector batteries: AA'S - Why do those AA'S always go dead at 3 am? Beep, beep...
37. Spruce (up): SPIFF - Wal Mart's attempt to SPIFF up
41. "Over here!": PSST.
42. Groom carefully: PRIMP.
44. Surly sort: CUR - A CUR can have two or four legs
45. Is in Spain?: ESTA - "Dónde ESTA el baño" is probably a phrase we all have learned to relieve a biological imperative
46. Michigan national park: ISLE ROYALE - Cost to get to ISLE ROYALE from Copper Harbor, MI - $136/person for this boat (round trip), $7/day National Park user fee and $10/day to park your car at Copper Harbor.
49. Sat on a sill, perhaps: COOLED.
51. Avoided a tag at: SLID INTO - Whit Merrifield SLID INTO and contorted around the tag at second
52. Minolta partner: KONICA.
53. Boards with a jump: LEAPS ON - Or not...
54. Cunning: SNEAKY.
55. V11 vacuums, e.g.: DYSONS - Want one?
Down:
1. Take in: BEHOLD.
2. 1978 horror sequel: OMEN II - Meh...
3. Free-for-alls: MELEES.
4. Many a theatre attendee: BRIT - Theatre/theater
5. Gulf Canada alternative: ESSO.
7. Halts: STAYS - S T _ _ S Hmmm, what else could it be?
8. Business card letters: URL.
9. "I Spy" actor: ROBERT CULP - Too soon to mention his co-star?
10. They usually have higher flash points than kerosene: FUEL OILS - Kerosene's flashpoint is around 100°F and it's 150°F for FUEL OILS and so the latter is considered to be safer
11. Dispatch: EPISTLE - St. Paul's EPISTLE to the Corinthians contains my favorite words from the Bible
12. Discover: DETECT.
14. Baby shampoo product line: NO MORE TEARS - An ad campaign that has been around for a long time
17. Auditors' follow them: PAPER TRAILS - Part of the PAPER TRAIL that sent Al Capone on an all-expenses-paid trip to Alcatraz
20. Air freshener option: NEW CAR SMELL.
26. PBS cooking show hosted by Mary Ann Esposito: CIAO ITALIA - Here 'ya go
27. Pricey bar: INGOT.
29. Celestial ovine: ARIES - The Ram
31. Pinch: NIP.
32. More than displeasure: IRE.
33. Singer at Woodstock with his "Family": SLY (and the family) STONE - Unlike countless others, SLY has proof he was actually at Woodstock
34. Big wind: BASSOON - First of all, ya gotta love a musical group called The Breaking Winds. Secondly they are a BASSOON - playing quartet, here doing Lady Gaga music complete with costuming and choreography!
35. Iotas: SPECKS.
38. "Just you watch!": I CAN SO.
39. Atlanta's county: FULTON - When Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was torn down, the outfield fence over which Hank Aaron's 715 sailed was saved in place and a parking lot was built around it
40. Trademarked halocarbon products: FREONS - Everything you could possibly want to know
42. March 14, mathematically: PI DAY - Google is full of many clever, delicious variations
43. Asked too much: PRIED.
47. Jazz singer Anita whose stage name is pig latin for a slang word for "money": ODAY - DOUGH in pig latin is ODAY
48. Performance anxiety: YIPS - Usually associated with golf but can happen to hitters, fielders, field goal kickers, 3-pt shooters, ad infinitum
50. Luther opponent Johann __: ECK - The Leipzig Debate
FIWrong. nIPS instead of YIPS. The last letter I got was pried, so I didn't recognise ROyALE. Had problems all over. OM EvIl > OMEN II, OvEr OO > ONE TOO, oaf > CUR, DISk > DISC, STopS > STAYS, REW > REv > REW. dab > NIP (Hiya, Tin!)
ReplyDeleteInteresting juxapositions "speak up" above PSST. ARIES + SAGITARIUS. PRIMP + a shampoo. SLY + SNEAKY. ROTOR + HELISTOP (HELIport or HELIpads, yes, but STOP?)
SAGITTARIUS was a hunter bold
ARIES had a fleece of gold.
Libra, with scale ATILT
Could DETECT hidden guilt,
And Aquarius was a sight to BEHOLD!
{A-.}
Nice one today. Had OPEC first also. The “Y” in YIPS was last to fall.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteFelt so proud when I figured out that the pilot was driving a boat, so the jacket was a BOATER. Oops, that's a hat. D'oh! Across the way, TEL slowed me down til URL showed up. Is it REC or REW -- wait on the perps. Wanted that whirly-bird to land on some kind of "top" rather than "stop." The one that caused the most consternation was in Georgia: CAD. I knew it couldn't be FALTON County and what the heck is FDEONS? Oh, it should'a been CUR. Hooray. Thanx, Joe (I like your "Fall guy" clue) and Husker for all the visuals.
FIR, but erased over the top for ONE TOO MANY, stops for STAYS, tel for URL, nab for NIP, and aires for ARIES (BSOTW, UNTIE!). i wasn't thinking opec, I was trying to pluralize the ADA.
ReplyDeleteHand up for never hearing of a HELISTOP, just pad. I live two blocks from our level 1 trauma center. This year they moved the landing area (whatever it's called) from just outside of the ER to the rooftop of their new addition. We used to hear the machines as they took off and landed, but now it is much louder and we hear it from the time it is fired up. I always pictured a defcon-1 type of readiness, but the reality is that the pilot strolls around doing preflight checks, and doesn't lift off for about ten minutes after startup. And the arrival doesn't look like the opening scene from M*A*S*H at all. But they save a lot of lives, so the noise is a small price to pay.
I lived in north Fulton County. It was frustrating to see most of the taxes being collected from the north, but mostly spent in the southern part of the county. We lost a vote to split off into a new county.
I'm always in Ocala on 3.14. Most of the pizza joints have specials that day.
I saw a documentary once where James Bond caused Auric Goldfinger to YIP a putt by dropping a gold INGOT onto the green. I'll bet that 007 never had performance anxiety.
Thanks to Joe for creating this Saturday special that even I could get. My favorites were "drilling org." for ROTC and the pig Latin clue. And thanks to Gary for the fun tour. But was that WalMart story the best you could find SPIFF?
What does FIR mean?
Delete
ReplyDeleteWow ! What a grid !
It looked daunting, but nailing CIAO ITALIA, ROBERT CULP, NO MORE TEARS and PAPER TRAILS within minutes gave me a lot more than a toehold. The answers flowed from there, and my winning streak continues.
Thank you, Joe, and thank you, Husker Gary. Really enjoyed the puzzle and tour.
"Michigan national park" - Another "Nailed it". Yooper territory. We stayed at the Keeweenaw Mountain Lodge and explored the scenic peninsula from there. Copper Harbor is just down the road. If you ever go, you have to dine at the Harbor Haus restaurant.
You can see Isle Royale from the peninsula. Brockway Mountain is the highest point between the Alleghenies and the Rockies. We didn't take the boat to visit Isle Royale though. DW was "natured-out" by then. We should have done that on an earlier day of our trip.
George Gipp was born and raised in Larium, a community about a third of the way up the peninsula. Notre Dame's first All-American. "Win one for the Gipper" was the famous line uttered by Ronald Reagan in "The Knute Rockne Story."
A very memorable getaway.
"March 14, mathematically" was a favorite clue
Hand up for having to change OPEC to ROTC. Also had to change REC to REW.
Wouldn't have known ECK; the perps gave it to me.
HG: That link was fine, I just had forgotten the business use. From an 1890 article, "a 'spiff' system is usually adopted, spiffs being premiums placed on certain articles, not of the last fashion, indicated by a marvelous hieroglyphic put on the price ticket. These marks are well known by the assistant, and the almost invisible mystic sign explains why an article, wholly unsuitable, is foisted on the jaded customer as 'just the thing'".
ReplyDeleteSo SPIFF meant "specific", which also described a fop or dandy, which lead to "SPIFF up". Learn something new every day. Especially on Saturdays.
Good morning all.
ReplyDeleteThax Joe Deeney for a tough but doable Saturday workout.
And nice tour H G
I had to change two entries to make it all work . TYPHOON became BASSOON and FUELCELS became FUELOILS.
After surveying the completed work I looked up YIPS DYSONS ROTC and KONICA to get better educated on some unknowns.
Lakes are starting to freeze over, winter is sneaking in.
Cheers
I started out slowly, but eventually got the long answers across and down in the middle, and was able to get the corners after that. Lots of interesting answers. Very good Saturday puzzle, just right in the difficulty range.
ReplyDeleteThis was a quicker than usual Saturday until I hit the NE corner - It didn't help that I had HRS for the business card letters instead of URL and WEES about OPEC before ROTC. I also had REC before REW for the DVR button. And I got the OILS but was stymied for the FUEL part for awhile!
ReplyDeleteThere are several Michigan sites on my list including ISLE ROYALE and Mackinac island.
Thanks HG for the blog and Joe for the puzzle! When I lived in the Bay area, I always enjoyed the Exploratorium in Golden Gate park - now it has a more established structure down by the pier on the Embarcadero - back then it was in the Palace of Fine arts in the park - just felt
a big warehouse inside.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo; I finally got it all unaided, but it was dicey for a while. NW was toughest but some problems were of my own making. Wanted HELoport; changed to HELoSTOP, and kept to it for the longest time. When I finally saw that theatre goer was gonna be a BRIT, HELI made sense.
Very fine puzzle from JD. Many misdirections, but on a high level (ie. TROUPE). Made me hold off on 'OPEC' until I saw it was going to be ROTC. Loved the long downs in the center. Liked PI DAY. ISLE ROYALE looked like it could have meen the seed, but Joes's note was informative; thanks for sharing that.
Saw the pinwheel shape but was wondering about the cheater squares. Perhaps Joe could comment. Thanks Husker for another great intro.
FUEL OILS - Clean enough for me. I'm familiar with #! fuel oil through #6. So the plural is apt. #1 is mostly kerosene, while #6 is almost like tar; it needs to be heated to ignite. Our DD bunkered NSFO (Navy Standard Fuel Oil) which is a government spec of #6. UP's restored steam locomotive burns #5 fuel oil. Diesel at fuel pumps is mostly #2, except in cold weather when it is blended with kerosene.
ECK - L. German for 'corner'
What is the apostrophe for in the 17-D clue?
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThe readily inferable long fill made this an easier than usual Saturday solve, but still offered sufficient challenge. I had Stops before Stays and Nab before Nip, both examples of clue misdirection that was cunning, but fair. I also had Heliport until perps corrected it to Helistop which I questioned, but a post-completion Google confirmed its legitimacy. I needed perps for Isle Royale, Pi Day, Omen II, and Eck, but I knew Ciao Italia as I've watched that show often. It was fun to see Aries (Hi, Abejo) again, especially with fellow Sagittarius in the same grid. I found the overall fill fresh and lively and the low count of three letter words was an added bonus.
Thanks, Joe, for an enjoyable solve and for sharing some background info with us; I, too, liked your Fall guy clue. Thanks, HG, for a lively and colorful summary; that My Cousin Vinny clip was priceless. Whenever I see Joe Pesci's comedic character in Vinny, I marvel at his seamless transformation into the cruel, crazed, homicidal maniac in Good Fellas.
I was out and about yesterday and got an early taste of winter. It was bitter cold due to lower than normal temps and a brutal wind. The surrounding hill towns got some snow overnight Thursday and I believe snow for the valleys is in the forecast for Monday. Does not bode well for a mild winter, me thinks!
Have a great day.
I love this blog.
ReplyDeleteIf I can figure out a puzzle unaided but there are so many things I don’t know. So I consider googling ok because usually I learn something new.
Thanks for this site
Anon@9:26, it's gotta be a misteak. [sic]
ReplyDeleteJerry S, drop in now and then. The water's fine.
Jerry S, Welcome.
ReplyDeleteDesper-otto, are you sure it's a misteak ? It looks to me like it was done on porpoise.
Anon @ 0926 - - I took it as to intend a slightly more fleshed out clue showing the plural possession by the auditors of PAPER TRAIL. Since the fill was plural, it was deemed apt to involve more than one auditor.
ReplyDeleteCrashed into the NW corner and HAD to come here! Hi, all! I've lurked here for a long time and sometimes chime in, but this Saturday was a sudden brain freeze and no clues were coming quickly except bomber! Maybe that's because those jackets were some of my favorites---my husband wore his well! Winter's been here in the Black Hills, it seems, since the first of October. I dread the next five months, but will happily spend the snowed in mornings with my cup of coffee and the crossword puzzle. Thanks for all the explanations and I always marvel at the puzzle constructors!
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joe Deeney! The information you provided greatly supplements your opus.
Overall I found this a bit easy for a Saturday, that is until I hit the SE where unknown territory awaited me. FULTON? ISLEROYALE? I had to LIU. Michigan is one of the few states I have not visited so ISLE ROYALE is unfamiliar but it sounds nice.
My sisters and I have a goal of visiting the 50 states and we lack only a few but one of my sisters has painful foot problems so our progress has been stalled. This weekend much of my family is in Cancun for the destination wedding of my grandniece.
YIPS is another unfamiliar term relating to sports. To me it's a dog's complaint.
I'll take a CSO at SAGITTARIUS along with a few others here who fall under that sign; Hahtoolah and Jazzbumpa are two I recall.
Gary, thank you for yet another brilliant discourse.
Have a happy day, everyone!
Difficult for me, but I eked it out until I got to the SE. Hi Lucina. I didn't know FULTON. I looked up ISLE ROYALE.
ReplyDeleteI attended Susquehanna U. a Lutheran College. Sorry to say it took me a while to come up with ECK.
Favorite clue was Saw the sites/surfed.
In the 50's leather bomber jackets were fashionable for the guys. My fiance had one. A gimme.
Fulton County thinks it has it bad? Pity us from New Jersey.
Residents in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have some of the highest tax bills in the nation. They also pay thousands more in federal taxes than their state receives back in federal funding.
Thanks, Joe and Gary for a fun diversion.
In total, 10 states are so-called donor states, meaning they pay more in taxes to the federal government than they receive back in funding for, say, Medicaid or public education. North Dakota, Illinois, New Hampshire, Washington state, Nebraska and Colorado round out the list.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteWhew! It took forever for lift-off on this one. I had just ESSO, ELSE, opec, PSST, and PIDAY until a third cup of coffee. Giving up on lethER [sic] Jacket and noodlin' a bit harder, the fill came into view. Still a DNF in the NE until a peek at HG's grid.
Thanks Joe for the puzzle and for giving HG some inside baseball. I think Rich got 33a right 'cuz Fall guy would have me thinking of Lee Majors and stunt doubles. Sign makes it (a tad more) clear we are looking to the stars.
HG - always a bang-up job. Thanks for your effort and time for setting up the after-party.
WOs: ONE TOO Much, put SLY in IRE's squares, OPEC/ROTC, cad b/f CUR.
ESPs: Oy!
Fav: EMERSON but for the wrong reasons. [ELP's Karn Evil 9 -- 4:51].
IM - I also liked ARIES xing SAGITTARIUS (I was so sure it was CULP but a U following an I made me leave the square blank dreading it's CaLP and my memory failing me again. Whoot! it is CULP).
{A}
Welcome Jerry S. I'm not as astute a'solver as my fellow Cornerites but they let me play in the sandbox anyway. Chime in more oft.
Nice to see you back tiptoethru.
Jinx - I live about a mile away from a hospital HELIpad too. When I see a red-orange chopper overhead, event thought I'm agnostic, I do the Sign of the Cross hoping they (the patient) is OK.
I don't know any pilots that fly those things but they gotta be ballsy.
//Story: One night driving home from work* on a two-lane road, there was a bad accident and Medivac was called in. The road was backed up with cars, there were trees on both sides (plus power lines on one side). I was called into action to help clear cars from the road ("Move it to the ditch!" - Army training learnt me how to take command in situations like this; people will do what you tell them if you do it with urgency and authority). Anyway, the chopper dropped right in the middle of that mess, boarded the patient, and took off like something out of M*A*S*H. There couldn't have been more than three yards on either side of the ROTORs...
Y'all have a great Saturday!
Cheers, -T
*Near Trammel-Fresno road on 521, for those that know South Houston/Alvin/Missouri City area
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Joe! Great interview & expo, Gary! Needed the ODAY explanation specifically.
ReplyDeleteI watch enough golf on TV to get the "Factor in club selection = LIE". Then I over-thought the clue wondering if the club was like a country club or night club where you LIEd about your resume to get in. Naw!
Knew ISLE ROYALE from reading Nevada Barr's novel "Winter Study" about the park several years ago.
Hand up for HELIopad before STOP.
Had ____ERREEL for many puzzling minutes before the BLOOP landed.
DNK: FULTON, ECK. When we lived in town and had two little girls, a family named ECK moved in across the narrow street with six little girls. I got pregnant and my husband made remarks about hoping the "girls only" situation wasn't catching from the neighbors. I was relieved when it was the boy he wanted.
NE corner last to fill. It was as snowy as that part of our country is reported to be today.
I have ask, has anyone ever seen a smoke detector that uses anything but 9 volts?
ReplyDeleteFingers faster than the brain say...
ReplyDeleteTwo TOO MANY Ts in "event thought I'm agnostic..." //sigh
-T
PK, I'm sure your DH knew that his "contribution" determined the baby's gender. I learned that bit of biology early because our neighbor's kids were all girls. He used to joke that girls were easier to produce, because the pattern was right there in front of you.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle immensely. Fell into the same pitfalls as many of you did and liked the same cluing that many of you did.
ReplyDeleteEvery smoke detector I have researched uses a rectangular 9-volt battery (or is powered directly from the 110-volt mains).
Happy Saturday.
Another tough but doable Saturday pzl. I screwed up only with HELASTOP instead of HELISTOP. Why not?
ReplyDeleteThis gave me BRAT in place of BRIT for "Many a theater attendee." If you have spent much time upon the stage you know how my errant fill feels true, especially at matinee performances.
It's enough to overcome the YIPS, isn't it? --without having to endure out-and-out screams & wails?
Sometimes a sector only opens up if you take a stab in the dark, a leap in the void. I found this to be the key to this one, as the clues were pretty opaque--until of course you stumbled into the right fill.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Sadly, no diagonals today.
Today’s haiku is a bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteJim Croce’s beer fans
From U.P.* like a brown brew
Called “IS LEROY ALE”?
*Upper Peninsula
I agree with Jayce. We've got a half-dozen powered by house current, but each has a 9V battery for backup in case house power fails.
ReplyDeleteY'all must not have shopped for a smoke detector lately...
ReplyDeleteEveryone I have purchased lately, even the hardwired type, do not accept the old fashioned 9-volt battery. the Kiddie website states, "These alarms are either powered by a 10-Year sealed-in, non-replaceable lithium ion battery or have 10-Year battery backup." Same with the ones on Home Depot.
And don't worry about replacing that sealed lithium battery. All fire departments and alarm manufacturers recommend replacing all alarms units within that 10 year time span.
Addendum
ReplyDeleteI know it's Kidde, but apparently auto-correct does not.
Yes, the older 9-volt battery types are still out there but not recommended as the battery will fail several time over the lifespan of the detector.
It is Saturday. It was quite a challenge for me. PREEN before PRIMP. Hand up REC before REW. Do DVRs have REW? I thought that only makes sense for a machine with a tape to REWind?
ReplyDeleteHere I got photos of ESSO stations in Ontario, CANADA this past summer.
It appears so often in our puzzles I wanted to make a point of capturing this. Of course, when I was a child, ESSO was also our common gas station in the US as well. Not sure if I have any photos of those.
On our way to and from Ontario we were in Michigan for several days. But we never heard of ISLE ROYALE. The cross with the utterly unknown and bizarre YIPS was indeed the last to fill. FIR.
Time to buy a new smoke detector, I dare say.
ReplyDeleteJust got back from Tuscaloosa. GO TIGERS!!!!
ReplyDeleteBig Easy, it wasn’t easy! But Joe was a geaux! And here’s to Coach Oeaux!!
ReplyDeleteSparky scarecrow, I agree. The new smoke detectors are better.
Not that anyone cares......
B-E and SwampCat - Very seldom do I watch college FB, but I was rootin' for the "underdogs" (1-8?? against Bama). But that Joe is somethin' else! 1st round draft, for sure. Happy for y'all! But I'll give Bama credit during the last half and also limping QB Tua. True grit on both sides.
ReplyDeleteHELISTOP? WEES. Smiled at NIP and YIP. Still think "Fall Guy" would've been a terrific clue - sorry, Anon-T.
HG - loved your visuals - my fav: "Breaking Winds" bassoonists - funny, but they appear talented. Where do you come up with these?! ("Lady Gaga" and "bassoon")
Jayce,
ReplyDeleteMake sure to check with your local fire station. They usually give out a free one(taxpayer funded!). That's how I learned of the new technology a few years ago. And of the 8 to 10 year replacement advice. Then you can purchase 2 or 3 more to cover the rest of your home. They run about 50 bucks apiece but I got a multi-pack for about 40 apiece. Small price to pay to possibly save your life one day. Works out to be less than 25 bucks a year.
I'm with a new TV service and there's a "Movie" channel and it was about Ben Hogan. He had an infamous case of the YIPS in his 45-55 period. Tee to green: flawless;3-5 footer: disaster.
ReplyDeleteI've been running around. But . . I knocked this off as quickly as a Wednesday. Maybe Joe's my cousin.
"Fall guy" would have been a fabulous clue but Rich apparently doesn't want to become the Saturday NYT.
Betsy is big on astrology and the anti-science arts. I meantioned* that I bought a Sunday Boston Globe which featured an article on the attempt to bar reflexology, Reiki and other "Arts".
Jinx, I'll be spending a lot of time near Ocala come next spring. I'll look for you at McDonald's or vv- the guy solving on paper.
Liked the clueing,the write-up and both poets.
I never got to the Fri write-up as I solved late, per usual. I found Friday harder than today. But … I've had difficult Saturdays that y'all found easy.
WC
.** Come to think I mentioned it in the J blog.
@10:04/10:07 - Olio explains it's Finished It Right as opposed to FIW [Wrong].
ReplyDeleteI know, it's hard to find in the sidebar.
TxMs - I do like the clue but, for morons like me who grew up on 6MM Dollar Man, Majors is the Fall Guy.
FLN - Fernwood 2-Night was put on by Norman Lear. Who knew?
Cheers, -T
FIR = Finished It Right
ReplyDeleteGood evening, folks. Thank you, Joe Deeney, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteGot a slow start. I bounced around and got some gimme's. Eventually conquered the North. The SE was my last to complete.
I had SLID HOME before SLID INTO worked better. Did not know ODAY. But, I had the DAY from knowing pig latin. The O appeared with ISLE ROYALE. Did not know FULTON. Even though my sister lives near Atlanta. Perps helped.
After a couple perps got KONICA.
BASSOON was tricky, in my opinion. Since I play the tuba.
CIAO ITALIA was unknown. Perps helped.
Going to bed. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
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