Lemonade here beginning 2020 welcoming another new constructor who begins with an "add-a-letter" theme which was easier for me than the reveal. I hope Kevin stops by to explain his take. There are numerous Kevin Conways in the world, so I will wait to hear from him. In my ongoing discussion of solving themed puzzles, I mentioned two weeks ago that first I look to clue/fill 17A. Today I saw -
17A. Lawyer's missing text?: LOST CLAUSE (10) [LOST CAUSE].
Then I look for the mirror fill, here it is:
54A. Another name for the five-second rule of dropped food?: MORSEL CODE [MORSE CODE] (10).
The pun is better in 54 A, and it certainly reveals the theme.
The rest -
22A. Offer from one unwilling to negotiate?: STICKLER PRICE [STICKER PRICE](13) and its mirror -
44A. Military directive?: BATTLING ORDER [BATTING ORDER](13) fit together nicely Then we have the bonus of a reveal:
35A. Calendar period that 17-, 22-, 44- and 54-Across are celebrating?: L-WEEK. My only thought as shown in the Title I chose was HellWeek, the time when pledges make their final pitch for membership in fraternities/sororities. But a reveal that needs a reveal would be new.
The puzzle itself is a classic Friday.
The distribution is fair.
| Stats | Average Values by Day of Week — 15 x 15 only | 21 x 21 only | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This puzzle | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
| Blocks | 34 | 37.5 | 37.3 | 37.4 | 36.8 | 31.4 | 30.7 | 73.9 |
| Words | 72 | 77.0 | 76.8 | 76.3 | 74.8 | 69.6 | 68.9 | 139.3 |
| Open Squares | 83 | 69.3 | 69.4 | 69.7 | 72.9 | 91.3 | 94.7 | 122.7 |
| Scrabble Avg | 1.52 | 1.57 | 1.58 | 1.59 | 1.58 | 1.56 | 1.56 | 1.55 |
| Avg Word Length | 5.31 | 4.87 | 4.89 | 4.92 | 5.06 | 5.59 | 5.66 | 5.28 |
| Freshness Factor™ Percentile | 77.2 | 18.5 | 26.2 | 30.7 | 46.1 | 78.1 | 84.3 | 62.6 |
On to the solution which did not leave me cranky, but see if you spot why below:
Across:
1. Sports headwear retailer: LIDS.
5. Joplin's "Me and Bobby __": MCGEE.
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free, no no..."
10. Charlie Brown's "Darn!": RATS.
14. Comic strip dog: ODIE.Garfield's pet.
Not related to 59A. Tributes in verse: ODES.
15. Variety: ARRAY.
16. Poetic black: EBON. 1350–1400; Middle English eban, ebyn ebony < Anglo-French eban(ne), Old French eban, ebaine < Medieval Latin ebanus, for Latin (h)ebenus < Greek ébenos, of Semitic orig.
19. Prepare to fly, maybe: TAXI. On the runway.
20. Type of battery: ALKALINE. ALL you want to know.
21. Coherent: LUCID.
25. Chicago Outfit gangster: CAPONE. Not called the mob nor the mafia in Chicago - just the "Outfit."
27. One for the road: SIGN. Cute clue.
28. Be flexible: ADAPT.
29. Saves up: SETS ASIDE. The way we were taught to save.
34. Hot __: MIC. Another name for a microphone that is turned on, in particular, one that amplifies or broadcasts a spoken remark that is intended to be private.
36. Wooden shoe sailor: NOD. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night. Sailed off in a wooden shoe,— Sailed on a river of crystal light. Into a sea of dew. By Eugene Field.
37. Create opportunities: OPEN DOORS.
40. First owner of the expansion Los Angeles Angels: AUTRY.
Gene Autry was a singing cowboy who became a movie star and rich enough to be awarded the expansion baseball franchise. This time of year his Christmas contribution - he was the first to record Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane), and Frosty the Snowman. Additionally, he co-wrote Here Comes Santa Claus.
42. Travel prefix with méxico and perú: AERO. National airlines.
43. Monks' homes: ABBEYS.
49. Spring time: APRIL. Notice that it is two words.
50. Support: UNDERPIN. That is where the pins go when Boomer and TTP bowl.
53. Makeshift blade: SHIV. Thank you to the gypsy population, this is from chive, chieve, chife, chiv (“knife”), from Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger") from 1915.
56. Group of online pages: SITE. What a perfect description of so many sites.
57. Of past times: OLDEN.
58. Garage sale term: AS IS.
60. Greet with howls, as the moon: BAY AT. Or is it bays at?
61. Restaurant menu heading: REDS. Whites, or rosés?
Down:
1. Showgirl of song: LOLA. It is actually a very sad SONG.
2. Worshipped object: IDOL. Originally from Latin idolum ‘image, form.’ Hence the Hebrew law against worshipping graven images.
3. Modern capacity measure: DISK SPACE. Alternatively referred to as disk space, disk storage, or storage capacity, disk capacity is the maximum amount of data a disc, disk, or drive is capable of holding. Disk capacity is displayed in MB (megabytes), GB (gigabytes), or TB (terabytes). All types of media capable of storing information have a disk capacity, including a CD, DVD, floppy disk, hard drive, memory stick/card, and USB thumb drive.
4. Put on, as a high shelf: SET ATOP.
5. Bad intentions: MALICE.
6. Street organ feature: CRANK. Monkey not included. See 47D.
7. "Oliver Twist" food: GRUEL.
8. Warning service co-coordinated by FEMA: EAS. The Emergency Alert System is used by alerting authorities to send warnings via broadcast, cable, satellite and wireline communications pathways.
10. Investment gains: RETURNS.
11. Old calculators: ABACI.
12. Like guilt-trippers, say: TOXIC. There are so many KINDS.
13. Nasty: SNIDE. My favorite.
18. He played Dirty Harry: CLINT. Unlike John Wayne or other famous western stars, his real name is CLINT EASTWOOD, Jr.
21. Women's links gp.: LPGA. Ladies Professional Golf Association.
23. __ Park, Colorado: ESTES. A very small town at the base of Rocky Mountain Park Northwest of Denver. A gimme since my son moved to Denver. I went there for a moment.
24. Actuary's specialty: RISK.
25. Army gear, briefly: CAMO. Camouflageis the use of any combination of materials,
coloration, or illumination for concealment,
either by making animals or objects hard to
see (crypsis), or by disguising them as something else (mimesis).
29. Pass out: SWOON.
30. Always, to a poet: E'ER.
31. Put between: INTERPOSE.
32. "Finding __": 2016 sequel: DORY. A blue tang from the earlier Finding Nemo.
33. Dreyer's, east of the Rockies: EDYS. I scream you scream...
35. Loughlin of "Full House": LORI. Perhaps in bad taste, while she remains at the center of the College Admissions Scandal.
38. Indigenes: NATIVES. Indigenous people.
39. Lenovo rival: DELL. More computer talk.
40. Egyptian president __ Fattah el-Sisi: ABDEL.
This MILITARY MAN who is only 5'5" tall.
41. Ride available via mobile app: UBER CAR. I have never heard anyone use this term...just UBER.
43. Passionate: ARDENT.
44. Bartolo in "The Barber of Seville," e.g.: BASSO.
45. Ladybug's lunch: APHID.
46. Overdone: TRITE.
47. Half a stringed instrument: GURDY. Hurdy Gurdy.
48. Southend-__: ON-SEA. Southend-on-Sea is a resort town on the Thames Estuary in Essex, southeast England.
51. "Already taken care of": I DID.
52. Fabled loch: NESS. Do you like this clue better than Eliot?
54. Flash __: MOB.
55. Old ending for "Motor": OLA. We still have a factory here.
What a way to begin a new year, a new decade (?) 1-10, or 10-19?
Welcome, Kevin and welcome back for another year all. Lemonade out. Thank you, fellow bloggers, for all of your help and another year of work.
In the "it's a small world" I was speaking with my son, Aaron and he told me he had made dinner, and sent a picture because it was a Thai/Lao dish he had learned to cook when he worked in a Thai restaurant while in college (long before I met Oo)
It is called Laab (Larb) Gai. I had never heard of it. Then tonight on the great American baking show one of the semifinalists was making some Larb filled pastries. Recipe
The theme befuddles me, too. I tried googling lweek and got L(ion)Week, an event for animal photographers or L(ion)Week for Furry cosplayers with cat personas. Hell Week got SEAL training first, then police academy training, final exam week, or fraternity hazing.
ReplyDeleteMy only other thought was that last week was NO-EL, so this week is add-an-L.
A Sasquatch there was at Loch NESS --
How he got there I haven't a guess --
Went into a SWOON
When a hot-air balloon
Landed by him, from Oz-land, no less!
The EBON Staff of Solomon
Was carried by that solemn man.
From Temple SITE
To trial-court TRITE,
And helped the ski-king slalom, man!
Turning the CRANK on a hurdy-GURDY
Makes tinny music some think "purdy".
It's a reminder
Of an organ grinder
And his little monkey so perky!
A driver of a Yellow Cab
Said UBER CARS made him mad!
They took his job
Which made him sob
In his non-TOXIC TAXI cab!
{B, B+, B+, B.}
I'll go with add-an-L! I was thinking of the roman numeral L, but not sure how that would fit in.
ReplyDeleteFinally got some sun peeking through the clouds here in Sweden. Since the sun pays us a very brief visit this time of year, I'm very grateful to see it! Very windy the past few days, but above freezing, which always helps.
Picked up a Christmas package which was on its way back to the States, owing to my not receiving the first notice of its arrival. Luckily the fella could retrieve the box from the outgoing stack. Swedes are too punctual.
Happy New Year SwenglishMom. It is good to see you posting. In our little (70 unit) condo, we have residents from Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Colombia, Panama, Canada, and Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I forgot our resident NEW CALEDONIA and one from UKRAINE.
ReplyDeleteAn explanation of the EBON Staff poem (I added the skiing part) --
ReplyDeleteAccording to Islamic legend, Solomon enslaved the Jinn, and sternly oversaw them constructing palaces for him. He died while leaning upon his ebony staff, but the magic pentagram on it kept him upright and undecayed, so his demise did not become known until a mouse gnawed through the wood of the staff, and his body fell to dust. Had the enslaved jinns known he was dead, they would not have continued to labor for the king.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one was suitably crunchy; I liked it. Maybe Kevin Conway is a Cockney with his 'L WEEK. My favorite theme answer: MORSEL CODE. Had to change HOT MIx to MIC, but otherwise, my grid was clean this morning. Thanx, Kevin (if this is a debut, it's a good one) and for the tour, Lemonade.
CAMO: The military employs color-blind people as camouflage spotters, because we rely more on texture than color.
ALKALINE: For years we were told to set these batteries aside for hazardous waste pickup. Now the advice is, "just put 'em in the trash."
OLA: There's a German couple that dw has known all her life. The husband is retired now, but was formerly head of MotorOLA operations in Europe.
AUTRY: If you watched Ken Burns' Country Music, you learned that Gene AUTRY was a much bigger star than Roy Rogers (if you didn't already know that). Surprised me.
ReplyDeleteAl Kaline had a battery named after him? Here all this time I thought he was just a Detroit Tiger star from my 'ute.
I went through a helL week in my fraternity at FSU in 1961. The first night we had to paint the entire interior of the house. We had to be silent for the whole week except when speaking to a professor in class. We had to sleep without covers or pillows on a rectangular area of mattresses thrown on the floor. The culmination of the week was a road trip to Atlanta, where we had to do some silliness. This puzzle was a slog, but a few wags got me through it. I liked the theme and it helped me through it.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteTook me a while to figure out the theme, but finally the penny dropped. I liked the Odes ~ Odie duo, although every time I see the clue for a Comics dog, I invariably want to it to be Otto. I think they share 50-50 representation. My only w/o was Nemo before Dory. My favorite themer was Lawyer's missing text=Lost clause.
Thanks, Kevin, for a fun Friday and congrats on your debut and thanks, Lemony, for the very informative expo. My learning moment was that a Hurdy Gurdy is a stringed instrument; I always pictured one as an organ-type instrument.
FLN
CED, best wishes to your DW for a speedy and uneventful recovery.
Anon T, that Collin Street Bakery embezzlement story was fascinating. It makes you wonder why no one noticed the lavish lifestyle and spending habits of this couple, especially since it went on for 15 years. Years ago, a fellow co-worker embezzled close to $100,000.00 from our employer, peanuts compared to your example, but it devasted me as he was a trusted friend. To make matters worse, I was assigned to trace the thefts through a couple of year's of cash transactions. This occurred amost 50 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.
Have a great day. I'm excitedly awaiting delivery of a new iPad! 😉
People really get up this early every morning on purpose?! One of our grandsons had a sleepover at our abode and he’s up with the birdies. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteOn to the puzzle, which I finished at about 2 AM, a couple of hours before bedtime; today’s blog wasn’t available yet and somehow I never got back to look at it.
KC presented us with a fine first appearance; just the right amount of crunch for a Friday. Lemon, you never fail to amaze me with your knowledge and presentation of the etymology of so many of the words we encounter here.
Caught on to the add-an-L theme with the first entry and never looked back. My favorite? MORSE(L) CODE, of course. How can I not like ite, using Morse daily as I do? But I thought they were all cute. A little corny, but fun.
As usual this late in the week, I started out having trouble getting a foothold and gave up on the north and moved on, and when the rest was finished those answers came much more easily.
Biggest learning experience today was finding out what a HURDY GURDY (HURDY-GURDY?) actually is and seeing one played. Thanks, Lemonade!
Owen, give your fourth one an A! Fun.
Hand up for HOT Mix needing to be HOT MIC. I’ve never liked that spelling, having used MIKE instead of MIC all my life. It’s a ham thing.
D-O, that was an interesting item about color-blind people being used for camo spotting. I never knew that.
Irish Miss, I’m with you, having always thought of a hurdy gurdy as an organ-type instrument.
Gotta go play with the grandson. Six year olds take a lot of playing with. Probably none of you knew that. :)
I hope you all have a good weekend.
FIR, but erased blts for REDS, malign for MALICE, nemo for a WAG at DORY, acer for DELL, and abdul for ABDEL.
ReplyDeleteSabots are also kid's racing sailboats similar to Optimists. They have a wooden shoe emblem on their sails. There are DORY sailboats as well, but dories are more commonly rowboats. Cape DORY sailboats are well known around Beantown, and are nice but not all that small.
When I lived in LA, the radio sports talk hosts referred to AUTRY as "The Cowboy."
Remember CONELRAD? 640 and 1240 on your radio dial. "Hey grandpa, what's a radio dial?"
I never saw Full House and only knew LORI Laughlin from her college prep system.
IM - We had three great restaurants (A. W. Shucks, Tortilla West and CHOW) that were owned by three partners. The partner who was assigned bookkeeping duties let unpaid bills pile up, then absconded with more than $800,000. All three local favorite restaurants went out of business. Apparently the way the partnership was set up was tax advantaged, but also kept the embezzlement from being a crime.
Lemony, airliners don't usually TAXI on the runway. But planes approaching LAX occasionally line up to land on a TAXIway and have to go around and try it again. IIRC, planes taxi on the runway in Grand Cayman. Kind of eye-opening to land, do a (crossword favorite) uie, and TAXI to the terminal. Thanks for the fine review, BTW.
Thanks for the fun, tough puzzle KC. ON SEA almost got me, but UNDERPIN finally fell.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Adding an “L” in the first week of the year?
-SETting ASIDE teacher retirement money thankfully was not optional.
-UBER CAB gave me BEDS (menu?) so I had to call in an UBER CAR for REDS
-I miss NONE of Gene’s Christmas tunes!!
-Of whom was it sang, “And whistles on the stair, I even heard her singing in the ABBEY”?
-APRIL – The Masters, baseball and taxes. 2 out 3 ain’t bad
-DISK SPACE on the Apollo 11 computer was only 72K
-Absence Of MALICE was a fine 1981 movie about consequences of sloppy reporting. Hmmm…
-Sinatra had ‘em SWOONING wherever he went
-LORI is going to go from Full House to the Big House
-HURDY GURDY, MONKEY and CRANK
Addendum
ReplyDelete-STICKER PRICE SHOCK:
-I discovered a broken tail light on my car this L-WEEK
-Dealer where I bought the car wanted $459 for a new one plus installation charge
-I found a new, in-the-box one from a highly rated company on Amazon for $139
-YouTube showed me how to install it in ten minutes
-Hmmm...
The SE corner had me scratching my head for awhile then the morning espresso kicked in and the neurons started firing. MORSELCODE seems the most obscure of the L clues.
ReplyDeleteHad "Abdul" first instead of ABDEL. The way he runs Egypt obviously he's no "Sisi"
"Puts aside" corrected to SETSASIDE.
For the first time in the many years that we've lived by an old growth forest we've been startled twice now by sudden BAYing in the evening from what sounds like a large gathering of coyotes. They start and stop on a dime. It's likely the result of ongoing impingmemt of their territory by us hewmins. More deer, turkeys, foxes, unannounced than ever.
STICKLERPRICE. My Dad was an expert when it came to negotiating the price of a car. It was like a game between him and the salesman that could go on for days. He always thought he got the best price that way and had fun doing it. (I assume the salesman knew exactly what he would let the car go for.)
I got the theme with adding the L, but still don’t get the reveal.
ReplyDeleteBut that aside, this was a good puzzle, with lots of long answers and nice play on words with the L’s. More of a Saturday difficulty level IMO.
UBERCAR was a bit of a stretch.
Fairly quick solve with the add-an-L theme helping to get the theme answers quickly.
ReplyDeleteWEES about the reveal - looking forward to what Kevin meant - if it is just a cockney version of "Hell Week" - a little lame, but okay....
I thought the "One for the road" answer was TO GO - but ESTES Park, CO made me take it back out again to put in SIGN. Had to switch ABDUL to ABDEL.
HG - "Sound of MUSIC" reference to "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" song was a gimme as it was my first LP and I memorized all the songs - plus I was in it in a summer community production back in my teens!
Thanks Lemonade and congrats Kevin!
I thought Lola was from "Whatever Lola Wants" from the musical Damn Yankees. Showing my age, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme quickly. It was a good one. I needed to change three red letters in the NW. Interesting puzzle. I use red letters to find mistakes, but not to guess the answer.
ReplyDeleteI got hurdy gurdy easily, but I learned here that the organ grinder with the monkey has a barrel organ, not a hurdy gurdy. Life long misperception. Never too old to learn.
IM, another officer and I were involved with solving and prosecuting the embezzlement done by our priest. I initially discovered the problem and worked with the bonding companies to retrieve the money and with the diocese to defrock her. When she sued the church I worked with the attorney to defeat the suit. The other officer pored over the shady bookkeeping. So sad! IM, I echo your sense of betrayal.
My sister Doris did not not like to be called DORY. She said she was not a fishing boat.
CED, best wished to your wife for a speedy recovery.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteDid not know what the 'L L-WEEK was but soldiered on and got it all without a flub. Took a bit to set the anchor but a steady fill began in the SW and then spread up and NE'terly. Got BATTLING ORDER toward the end. Liked MORSEL CODE. Agree with Lemon about the puzzle; lots of longer fresh fill. Perps were friendly today.
And now, a special treat.
It is Navy tradition to render the 1st ship's log of the 1st watch of the New Year in verse.
I found on the web the New Years log I had written on USS Beale in OLDEN times 60 years ago this week:
00-04 (1 Jan 1960)
We’re moored at Pier 20 in a nest of 5 ships
Our radar’s secured, there are no pips
Berth 202 DesSub Piers, Norfolk, VA is where we are
We’re home for the holidays, not traveling afar.
The Sierra is inboard riding the tide,
Conway Beale, Murray, and Bache at her side.
Standard destroyer mooring lines are making us fast
With spring-lay wire rope Both fore and aft.
The tender is providing all services as of late
Because our plant is in a cold-iron state.
Units of Atlantic Fleet are with us present;
District and small craft are also resident.
SOPA is VADM W. L. Rees COMNAVAIRLANT
And so brings to a close this Mid-watch chant.
(Spitzboov)
Ens USNR
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteI had a heck of a time in the SE until I gave up on BATTLE (what's a BATTE?). After filling ING ORDER, I had enough perpage to finish. (and realize it was NOT going to be kiDS menu @61a)
Thanks Kevin and congrats on your debut (at least at The Corner). Thanks Lem for the musical interludes. Enjoyed Joplin!
WOs: started WPGA b/f I was LUCID, puTS ASIDE (hi Ray-O!), ibid (taken care of==already cited(?)) b/f I DID
ESPs: ABDEL, ON SEA, NOD as clued, LWEEK
Fav: LOLA but for a different song [The Kinks - 4:01]
So, there's no L-WEEK for Bar exams, LSATs or anything like that, eh? I was thinking along the lines of ONE-L.
{B, A+, B+, A-}
A+ Spitz!
WikWak - You will have earned that nap today!
HG - Pop had the same issue (broken taillight) on his truck. After finding out what the dealer/repair shop was going to charge him, he was going to leave it broken. Then his DW found one on Amazon. The package arrived the next day and he fixed it in 30 minutes.
IM - "It makes you wonder why no one noticed the lavish lifestyle and spending habits of this couple." Some folks in TX (esp those who's family has been here forever get "mailbox money" / oil royalties. I worked with a lady that would get a very nice car every year or two and had an array of expensive jewelry. Turns out her royalties made her a millionaire but she still liked her job (until she didn't and left).
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteGot the solve but not without effort.
Kind of a weak reveal for the theme, IMO.
Well, I got MCGEE and RATS instantly, and then EBON and LUCID, and that made me excited about a possible easy Friday solve. But 'twas not to be. Things got tougher, although it was still fun with some tricky clues like REDS for the restaurant menu (at least I know my wines). Can't believe I got SHIV--must be from crossword puzzles because I never heard the word in real life. Ray, I also had ABDUL before ABDEL. And thank goodness for the ODES, which seem to pop up in puzzles almost daily. Anyway, many thanks, Kevin, and welcome! Lemonade, thanks for giving us the verse for NOD--would not have known where that came from otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHave a great first 2020 weekend coming up, everybody.
This is my take on Hell Week. "The week before final examinations in college, thus named because it is the week that -everything- is due. (ie papers, presentations, things of that nature) and yet you must still find time to do other assignments and study for your exams." The nervous tension was relieved by much silliness and many pranks. Throwing fellow students into the fountain was a favorite. Just before Christmas would have been a perfect time for this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMy grandson just went through Hell Week before Christmas vacation, but without the pranks. For him pranks are part of band trips.
I do hope the constructor stops by to confirm - or deny - the interpretation of the reveal. Lemonade and the rest of the blogging crew conferred on this one because it seems so odd and none of us could could come up with anything other than Lemony's take on it. It would be nice to know.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the expo, Lemonade!
This puzzle was caught up in it's own imagined cleverness. Who clues a reveal like that.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle took me way too long. Felt like an enormous slog.
What the hell is L-WEEK. Never heard of it. I only got it because or LORI, who I'd never heard of before she was railroaded by the Feds. They are making a crime out of something that not a crime. Lots of MALICE by the US Attorney. If the so-called 'elite' colleges would publish what the 'real rules' were for admission, people wouldn't have to play the silly games but the colleges wouldn't receive those seven figure donations from alumni to allow their progeny to enroll. But as we find out, there are no 'real rules', so people have to play games and hope for the best. I know a few people who had to 'donate' to get their children admitted or reinstated.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest of the puzzle I had very little trouble completing it, starting with 1A- LIDS was unknown. But I caught the L addition. Then there was EAS, DORY, ABDEL, ON-SEA, NOD- unknowns. 'Chicago Outfit' was unknown but CAPONE was an easy guess.
My first computer at work (IBM 1130) had huge DISK SPACE- one drive with a whopping total of 1.5 Megabytes- not giga or tera. 8k OF 'CORE'. But that was in the 70s.
D-otto, Gene may have been a bigger star than Roy but does anybody remember Gene's horse's name or his wife? I doubt it. Everybody 'our' age knows Trigger and Dale Evans.
So, EL-SISI is only 5'5", eh? Something about these Napoleonic military types. Feisty lil' buggers.
ReplyDeleteJust ask my Yorkie. He's only 5.5 lbs, but he's the meanest lil' cuss. Always pacing, looking for action. Keeps the others in line.
I love the song, "Me & Bobby McGee." I sing it a lot around the house. I admire both artists connected to it: Janis Joplin for her near-deathbed interp of it, and Kris Kristofferson for writing it.
Today's "L" theme was inconsistently clever. I take issue with BATTLING ORDER because "Battle order" is the proper military term.
I tried to make the 1st part of this one into BATTALION, but of course that wouldn't fit.
~ OMK
____________
DR: The same ARRAY as yesterday: A single diag on the near side and a 3-way on the distaff.
The main diagonal anagram memorializes the illnesses of yesteryear, the pre-vax days of polio, smallpox, and measles, i.e.,...
"OLD DISEASES"!
George, I remember CHAMPION very well and while his wives were/are active in Southern California they were/are not entertainers. You can read all about the LIFE AND TIMES OF GENE AUTRY who became fabulously wealthy.
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem Spitz, and OKL you are just too damn consistent to get a comment every day. We do love your poetry.
Reading the comments, I realized I did not mention my Thai wife, the Serbian couple and an Armenian man as residents here at NHC. There are a few others I must ask.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I enjoyed solving this puzzle. Like others, I have always thought a HURDY GURDY was an organ-like instrument. Once, when I was a kid, a street performer allowed me to crank his instrument for a minute or two; at that time is sounded to me more like a reed instrument, sorta like a concertina sounds. By the way, he didn't have a monkey. Or, for that matter, a moustache.
ReplyDeleteWanting ABDUL instead of ABDEL prevented me for far to long from seeing UNDERPIN.
Long ago (the early 1980's) I co-founded a business with a guy who, I and others learned later, was basically a crook. He would spend company money for his personal benefit and hide it from me, the VP, and the investors. Once he bought himself a new luxury car, "justifying" using company money to buy it by calling it a company car, even though he suddenly no longer had his previous personal car. Then when a new investor began to show interest in putting money into the company, he began dunning and bullying me to sell him all my stock because he didn't want his share to fall below 51%. He would yell at me and belittle me in front of the employees. Eventually, realizing I didn't want to work with a guy like him any more, I told him he could have my shares for a million dollars. Of course he went ballistic. "Where the hell am I going to get that kind of money?" he would bellow, to which my response was basically, "That's your problem." Within a week he wrote me a check for a million bucks and we did the paperwork to sign over all my shares to him. Yes, the check was good so that was that, but I wondered how he raised that much money so fast. It turned out he "sold" a Miro painting he owned to the company for $1,100,000. So basically he used company money to buy me out and pocketed $100,100 but at that point I no longer gave a damn. Epilog: the investor backed out because the company's books looked so fishy to them, and the company went defunct within a year. And because that painting was officially company property, he did not get it back.
Good wishes to you all.
Irish Miss, I have a feeling you are going to like your new iPad. I trust it will serve you well.
ReplyDeleteSpitzboov, your ship's log was indeed a special treat to read.
As were your verses today, Owen.
Jayce, I am proud of you for striking while the iron was hot. Greed often backfires.
ReplyDeleteThe very last cross: I stopped at BEDS and UBER CAB. As in BED of lettuce. Just call me "One Box Wilbur".
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought Dora the Explorer got lost
LORI is targeted but the practice is as old as Harvard circa 1630. As college has gotten more expensive the $$ get noticeable. Plus where does one define "cheating". Re. "LORI is going to go from Full House to the Big House" - who was it that just got probation for a lot worse?
Overall a difficult but satisfying solve. Always like a lemony write-up but as a he said, thanks to all the blog writers
WC
Jayce - first of all... "allowed me to crank his instrument for a minute or two" sounds very wrong :-)
ReplyDeleteOR
Um, you were the monkey? :-))
Your story of crooked business partner reminds me of when Pop went into business w/ my step-mom's sister's husband [step-step-uncle(?) -- family connections are complicated with multiple marriages on both sides].
Anyway, Pop's partner started using the "Company Amex" for his rent, a boat (for client entertainment!), etc. Pop got a whiff of this and removed his name from the Amex account just in time. Looks like you made out very well -- even if you had to deal w/ that asshat for a while.
BigE - the rules are clear(ish). Donate $$$ in public and all is good. Pretend your kid played water-polo and/or have SAT examiners change scores / take tests on your kid's behalf is over the line IMHO. Eldest isn't at an 'elite' school but I'm sure that my & DW's connections with OU (we both have post-grad degrees there) helped a bit with the costs / scholarships re: out-of-state tuition.
BTW, FLN, I've never been rich (I grew up 'lower middle class') but I've never felt poor - I have family, friends (well, mostly family), everyone is healthy, and enough $ to do (mostly) what I want while helping those around me).
//DW's friend is a multi-millionaire [South Louisiana Oil $$ + Cajun style too :-)] but damn if they don't have a rough go of it [at least they have the $$ to deal with all the illness].
OMK - Aye, the OLD DISEASES are on the rise with the anti-vaxers spouting their madness. Nice DR.
Kevin! Com'on man, what gives? Tell us what the meaning of 'L' is!
//and if you say 42...
Cheers, -T
Great job, today, Lemonade, Yes, we are all curious. However, if you add up all of the letters in the theme answers, and then add the number of other Ls in the puzzle, and if the Roman Numeral for L is 50, and then you...
ReplyDeleteDash T, I was an anti Vaxer. That 11/780 was promoted as a 1 MIPS machine, but it was half that.
TTP - LO-F'n-L!
ReplyDeleteThose that want in on the joke... DEC's VAX... By today's standards, not so much DISK SPACE :-)
Cheers, -T
OK, TTP. Back to the PDP-11 for you!
ReplyDeleteOne person said that since Christmas week is "No-El" week, This week is "L" week. ????
ReplyDeleteJayce -- Wow! Just wow! As a teacher, my employed financial life seems kinda dull by comparison.
ReplyDeleteOne year, we had all three kids in college. The powers that be decided we still didn't deserve any financial aid 'cause we both were employed teachers and owned a home. Geez... I don't know how we made it. But we did, so I guess they were right.
ReplyDeleteJinx, the one DEC product that I really liked was their AltaVista search engine. It was the best search engine / web crawler for about 4 or 5 years, hands down. No other could touch it. Then Google just kept getting better and better.
Kevin- still waiting for your input on the reveal. And tho it's my first post, I love all you folks! I have learned SO much from this blog. And if I stop learning something new EVERY DAY, I hope I go quickly. The best of the new years to all the bloggers!
ReplyDeleteChester K. Shyster
Shyster, welcome to the posting world. Are we related?
ReplyDeleteBillG, I can relate. We had 2 years with 3 in college. 3 years with 2 in college, and 3 additional years with 1 in college. I'll leave it at that. I don't want to bore anyone with TMI.
ReplyDeleteBill G, congratulations on making it.
ReplyDeleteI had two sons in college/grad school for 6 years. I was on my own and it was extremely fun at times, hard at times and it made me realize money could be useful and I was incapable of holding on to it.
ReplyDeleteBetsy (DW) told me one day that she new Bobby McGee. I got "the story" but I could never pursue it. She simply didn't think it was significant. What's news is that JJ didn't know him either. Then again she said she new Anna Vanna dadada. Again, getting details unimportant to her.
ReplyDeleteDEC had "main frames" from 70s into early 80s. I believe the demise of DEC was because the VAX had to much security and Big Brother wanted to use the PC as a window into its citizens .
.
Also. If DEC should have simply bought a chicken and tossed red corn and green and made all it's major decisions on the Red/Green method. They virtually got every one wrong: DECnet, Microsoft, Social networking (which they invented) and on and on.
Alta Vista? c above. They needed to spin it off. DEC unfortunately was obsessed with quarterly earnings. Structurally unable to make dynamic decisions.
WC
Sorry. I should have previewed. Autocorrect dropped the K on knew
DeleteFabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Kevin and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteThis was a workout for me with many inkblots. I started this morning and had to put aside to do chores. I returned tonight with more P&P and finally finished. But I don't see the L theme either, and no sign of Kevin here yet . . .
We did have the month of APRIL to go with L WEEK.
Hand up for Abdul before ABDEL, UBER Cab before CAR, BATTLe ORDER before BATTLING.
My online pages were a Zine before a SITE.
Plus, I had On It before I DID. That SW corner was the last to fall.
Did nobody else notice CAPONE and NESS? And Steve even asked about Eliot at 52D.
I also smiled at UBER CAR and TAXI.
CED - best wishes to your Wife for a good recovery after her surgery.
Welcome Shyster.
Good to hear from you Swenglish Mom.
Good night all.
Boomer!! Because of you and C.C. I am watching an extremely exciting and involving sports event. The professional bowling bowl. Well, I don't think that's what it is called. Boy,hasbowling changed. I'm watching Francois Lavoie s Rash. And the shirts are so ugly. I'm watching Francois Lavois and somebody with the last name of Rash. They polish their balls all the time, some people use two hands to throw the ball, they called it protecting the ball. It was almost like a shot put without them turning around. It's pretty gosh darned cool and thank you for getting me interested in thesport because of your involvement in the Corner. Becky
ReplyDeletePSA - Don't click on wordcreation's "profile" it goes to hxxps://wordcreation[.]info/words-containing-r[.]html //sanitized for your protection
ReplyDeleteTTP - clean-up on aisle 7.
Jinx - LOL PDP-11. We should stop b/f LL'sM gets geek-freaked :-)
Nice to read you again Becky (and you too SwenglishMom!). Both y'all don't need to be strangers.
Ave Joe - I'll add you to nice to read again and add: DW & I didn't really plan it this way but our Girls are 4 grades apart. As one enters grad-school (on her own dime!) the other will be a Frosh in College. 5&1/2 more years and all the money is mine (er, DW's) again! BillG - a dollar use'ta go a lot further then. :-)
C, Eh! - Brilliant catch. I missed the Eliot NESS against CAPONE. I wonder if Kevin had a cross-reference there originally.
Kevin? Kevin? Inquiring minds and all that...
Cheers, -T
Lemonade714-Only professionally. Greetings from the Windy City, whose motto should be "ubi est mea"!
ReplyDelete