After only three weeks, Dr. Ed is back again and his distinctive grid immediately caught my eye. His 10/13/15 horizontal top rows were mirrored with his 15/13/10 bottom row (TERRACE LEVEL?) in this 64-word puzzle. The bottom such trio was much more helpful but as usual Dr. Ed's Rx helped mitigate some of the gloom of this dreary, winter season here on the Great Plains. I wonder if the fill dictated the grid or the grid dictated the fill. Maybe the good doctor will enlighten us.
Avoid Walgreens today and get your elixir direct from the Sessa enclave on Sanibel Island, FL (a spoonful of crossword helps the medicine go down):
Across:
1. "We're done here": CASE CLOSED.
11. Wit: FACETIOUSNESS - How hard can she throw that club?
14. Lead-in for an old saw: AS THE SAYING GOES - "Hell hath no fury..." (see above)
16. Bio lab preparation: STAIN
17. Star associated with Venus: SERENA - The tennis star sisters
18. It may be taken before a vote: POLL
19. Reality: FACT.
23. __ Stadium, home to the 49ers: LEVIS and 48. Word with box or dome: SKY - Here's a SKYBOX at LEVIS Stadium
24. Wild fruit is a feature of it: PALEO DIET - A diet that emulates our hunter-gatherer ancestors
27. Unadon fish: EELS - A classic Japanese dish consisting of steamed rice topped with filets of EELS (Unagi).
28. Manufacturing statistic: NEW ORDERS
30. Either co-author of Curious George books: REY.
31. Ward of "FBI": SELA - A beautiful and frequent crossword law enforcement visitor
32. Clubs for Cubs: BATS - In 1932
34. Movement-controlling pedal: GAS - 42. Fill up again: REPLENISH - How hard you push the pedal determines how often you have to REPLENISH the GAS
37. Decides when: SETS A DATE - My granddaughter Emma has SET A DATE of January 2021 for her wedding after Colten popped the question in Estes park
40. Aphrodite's love child: EROS - Another cwd All Star
44. Opposite of original: TIRED.
46. Baseball's Maglie and Bando: SALS - If you're interested - Maglie - Bando
47. TurboTax pros: CPA'S - My tenth year using this instead of a CPA
49. Tequila sources: AGAVES.
51. Short-legged lizard: SKINK - Cute?
52. Song title line after "once, twice": THREE TIMES A LADY - A very nice musical respite
57. Basements, to Realtors: TERRACE LEVELS - This apartment building units are Upper Floor, Main Floor and, uh, TERRACE LEVEL
58. Sources of sprays: NEBULIZERS - The only way my poor asthmatic brother got through his childhood
Down:
1. Andorra's only official language: CATALAN - "I am a citizen of Andora" is "Sóc ciutadà d’Andorra" in CATALAN and "Soy ciudadano de Andorra" in Spanish
 |
| CATALAN is the first language of 38% of Andorrans |
3. Understood: SEEN.
4. "Men in Black" gp.: ETS and 5. "Men in black" gp., some say: CIA - Aliens and spooks
6. Myrna who played Nora Charles: LOY.
7. Sí, across the Pyrenees: OUI - When those ANDORRANS cross the Pyrenees into France
8. Figs. with two dashes: SSN'S.
9. Tannenbaum topper: ENGEL - In Deustchland, "Our Christmas tree has an angel on top" becomes "Unser Tannenbaum hat einen ENGEL an der Spitze"
10. Master's award: DEGREE - I've got one of those
11. Depth-of-field setting: F-STOP.
12. To any extent: SO EVER.
13. Declining in later years: SENILE - MIL's Dementia and Alzheimers issues have dominated our last few months
14. Slithery danger: ASP.
15. Back-talking: SASSY.
19. Bit of deception: FOOLER - If Penn and Teller can't figure out how a magician does a trick on their TV show, the magician is called a FOOLER, wins a cheesy FU (Fooled You) trophy and gets to appear in their Las Vegas show. Sample
20. Marketing fees: AD RATES - The AD RATE for the Super Bowl I was $37,000 for thirty seconds. This year for Super Bowl LIV, it was over $5M for the same time
21. "El Cantar de mío __": Castilian epic poem: CID - The Song Of My CID (Lord or master)
 |
| More Spanish Geography |
22. Minor league game?: TEE BALL - This minor is serious about using a TEE in this league game
26. Sports news highlights: TRADES - The most lop-sided TRADES in history
29. Hockey Hall of Famer Mikita: STAN - One of a few STANS we get here
33. Exacting sort: STICKLER
34. Try to say: GET AT.
35. Correctly: ARIGHT - Have you ever said something stupid and then had to set things ARIGHT with a sincere apology? Me too!!
36. Like a June day, to Lowell: SO RARE.
38. Where many get manis: SPA.
39. Observations: ESPIALS - A natural collection of ESPYING efforts
41. The U.S. Naval Academy is situated at is mouth: SEVERN - Two weeks ago, Evan Kalish clued Annapolis as the second city in an alphabetic list of state capitals.
43. Piano duet quartet: HANDS - These four hands had a beautiful Top 40 Hit in my yute
45. Caterpillar rival: DEERE.
51. Act with a rainy day in mind?: SAVE.
53. Hosp. area with few visitors: ICU.
54. "AGT" judge __ B: MEL - She storms off the show dramatically by throwing water in Simon's face during a taping of America's Got Talent
55. Singer in the Whiffenpoofs, e.g.: ELI.
56. Slangy states?: SEZ - Mike Royko's book
I'm thinking of going off to pack to take up Dr. Ed's invitation of three weeks ago for any of us to visit him on Sanibel Island. You can comment while I get out my suitcase.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Thank you, Ed Sessa, and thank you, Husker Gary.
Wow. Neat grid. The white space looked like a big block letter S.
Ended up with 1 mistake. Spelled it NEBULIsERS. Should have caught that. Wanted Atomizers at first. The crossing clue "Slangy states" threw me for a loop. Had it been "States (slang)" I might have stood a chance, but now I get it. I guessed SES (as esses) without any solid reasoning, but by that time I was tired.
So many corrections !
- Angel to ENGEL.
- If ever to SO EVER
- Slide to STAIN
- Power Diet to PALEO DIET (D'OH !)
- AAA Ball to TEE BALL
- Sets a time to SETS A DATE
- Skank to SKINK
THREE TIMES A LADY was a gimme. That one long fill at the bottom paved the way for a comparatively fast fill of the south.
As I solved the middle and got SALS, STAN, TRADES, BATS and TEE BALL, and above with LEVIS and SERENA, my thoughts strayed to Lucina and Desper-otto, and their professed lack of sports knowledge. Not saying they wouldn't work it out though. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I remember once trying to fill in Jane Eyre as the author of Little Women.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteHoo-boy! This was a workout worthy of a "Silky." In other words, I really liked it. Dr. Ed provided plenty of red herrings to lead us astray, and I followed. Got 'er done, though, so life is good. Not sure I've ever seen ESPIALS before. Doubt that many (if any) CPAS use TurboTax -- more likely it'd be TaxWise. Thanx, Dr. Ed and Husker (needed that link to figure out what AGT meant).
TTP, I did have problems in that center section. It didn't help that I was certain "Decides when" had to do with pouring coffee.
The pirate said, "CASE CLOSED."
ReplyDeleteAs he shut the chest on the ghouled.
"Those bodies in there
Got navies in my hair,
So that's how THE SAYING, GOES!"
The gossip would REPLENISH her plate
When she espied an item SET A DATE.
Her column, she'd preen,
Would help them be SEEN --
If for ESPIALS they paid an AD RATE!
{B+, B+.}
Another nice Saturday from Dr. Ed who has stepped forward to assist in filling the void left by BARRY SILK. I never have seen, nor used the word ESPIAL and frankly, I have not missed it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you tried the British spelling of NEBULISER D-O.
Who are the Corner's Oscar choices?
Thanks Gary and Ed
Lemonade, I think you meant TTP. Oscar choice? Wilde - the best Oscar ever.
ReplyDeleteFirst pass thru the puzzle produced a desert of blank spaces with few notable exceptions like THREE TIMES etc but a major error 1a. I had "itsallover"
ReplyDeleteAt this point the choice is walk away with my crossword pen between my legs
Or
WAG it baby WAG it!!
This produced errors but a lot of wins and was able to perp my way to a finish.
1d..Iberian? Is that even a language? Then remembered a colleague with family from Catalonia and things began to fall into place. Corrected 1A
Figured UNADON meant "one tooth" Narwhal wouldn't fit. (Its horn is actually an overgrown tooth.) Hold on..its a Japanese word!! Now convinced that a 3 letter answer to any fish question (other than the rare "cod") is always EEL.
Looking for a Teutonic word for star atop a tree. Then switched to something like Angel as in Angela Merkel. Should have thought of of one half of the "Communist Manifesto" author. Not really an engel.
ESPIALS? really
What started out as my ACHILLES heel ended ARIGHT.
We are still digging out from yesterday's winter assault in Central NY.
FIR!!! But had to put it down twice and restart after doing other stuff. Erased CIA for ETS, then used CIA next door. Slide gave way to STAIN. I'm the one person who hasn't seen MIB. I hadn't seen ET until last year. Also dele'ed then stet'ed FSTOP.
ReplyDeleteI was proud to know SEVERN and SKINK offhand. I've spent time on the water around Annapolis, and have read a lot of Keys-themed fiction.
Thanks to Ed for this fine puzzle. It took me to the edge of my ability to solve without help or WAGging. I especially liked that this level of difficulty was achieved without benefit of Natick. And thanks to Gary for another fun review. Have fun in Sanibel. We had frost this morning in central FL.
Several sports references, which helped me. But in the end, didn’t get all of the SW corner, and even with fills, didn’t get all of NEBULIZERS. Tough, but fair puzzle. Some neat long answers.
ReplyDeleteNow onto shoveling out of the blizzard from yesterday. Got plowed out last night, but still some clean up work required.
A lot easier than it seemed at first. The unknowns were gettable by perps. Came away unscathed from both Times puzzles today. I try to stay away from all of the fad diets and just eat what my body craves. In ultramarathons, my choices are astounding.
ReplyDeleteThe clue for SERENA was spectacular!
ReplyDeleteOscar? Why Madison of course, Felix.
I'm crying uncle on Dr. Sessa's puzzle today. I managed to correctly complete everything below SELA and BATS but CATALAN and FACETIOUSNESS stumped me. PALEO DIET and ACHILLES were words I know but somehow I couldn't drag them from my memory. Even tried POKE SALAD and REBATES instead of AD RATES. CID- no way I would know.
ReplyDeleteTERRACE LEVELS is filled but never knew it was in the basement; always associated it with outdoor patios on UPPER levels.
Not to be a STICKLER but ARIGHT just sounds like an 'AWRONG' word. Down here we just 'make 'em RIGHT'.
The only show that I have set on the DVR for me is Penn & Teller's Fool Us. It doesn't come on often. I'll watch the magicians, card sharks (sharps), and others and see if I can catch their moves. Sometimes after rewinding about 5 times I can see what they did. It's amazing to watch some of the things they manage to do without being noticed.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a real workout but I finished in normal Saturday time, thanks to plenty of P and P. There were lots of unknowns (to me) but perps were fair or guessable: Espials, Aright, Fooler, Engel, Catalan, Severn, Mel, Rey, Skink, and Cid. I found some of the cluing a little off, but it's Saturday, so expected and accepted. Ed seems to be channeling his time and efforts into themeless puzzles which, IMO, have gotten increasingly more difficult to solve. I do hope, however, that he'll treat us occasionally with a cute and clever themed offering that showcases his talents for wordplay at its best.
Thanks, Ed, for a Saturday stumper and thanks, HG, for another dazzling and delightful commentary. Congratulations to Emma and Colter; they sure look happy! 💞
FLN
Ray O ~ The closest I came to having an Ex Pat beau was my first steady boyfriend, William Patrick. Your genuflection story reminded my of an experience an acquaintance had many years ago. Bob, (Protestant) attended Midnight Mass with his Catholic friend after a long night of "partying" and as they were ambling along the aisle in single file, the friend abruptly stopped to genuflect and Bob, not prepared for this rite, ran into him and sailed right over his body. (I think this incident may have been the catalyst for Bob's friendship with Bill W.)
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteNice grid arrangement with the white squares forming a large "S". For Sessa, maybe?
Ultimately got almost all ARIGHT; but had four bad cells in the center bottom. Fell short of getting NEBULIZERS from the perps.
Had 'slide' before STAIN, and 'Stern' before ENGEL. As kids, we sang Oh Tannenbaum every Christmas.
SEVERN came easily; we had anchored off its mouth, and passed it on the way up the Chesapeake to Baltimore several times.
ENGEL reminded me of a FACETIOUS song:
Schnaps, das war sein letztes Wort
Dann trugen ihn die Englein fort
(Schnaps was his last word,
then the angels drew him forth.). [lein is a diminutive suffix.]
Nice intro as always, Gary. Thanks.
A tad easier than most Saturdays. P&P solved this fine puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI wondered why SERENA fit until Gary explained it.
CASE CLOSED is sometimes a friendship ender. I was working on a project with a friend who would reject my ideas I spent hours working out without giving any expressed reason and was unwilling to hear my reasoning. Just no, case closed. I decided I could not work with her.
Slide before stain.
I have seen "aright" used many times before and found dozens of citations in print today. See aright, hear aright, use aright, understand aright. It does not mean merely right, but in the right way.
I learned terrace level today. LIU I see it is a common thing in the real estate business. We used to have a bilevel. The basement level had a back wall that was completely above ground. You could walk out onto the patio. When we bought it, it had a major flaw, that we could not solve in all the years we owned it. When we were trying to sell it, the realtor suggested a fabulous fix. It turned out to be lovely, but we did not get to use it for more than a month or two before it sold.
No unfamiliar clues or answers. They just took a while to dredge up. Lovely puzzle and expo.
Love Sanibel!! Wish I were there now instead of Chicago. My favorite place is the Island Cow. After going there we ride to Captiva, hang out at the beach in front of Mucky Duck all day and ride back to Sanibel. About 28 mi. roundtrip
ReplyDeleteYR, are you gonna leave us hanging as to what that fabulous fix was?
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteOoh! Boy! I loved this puzzle, sports clues notwithstanding! Thank you, Ed Sessa.
Amazingly SAL Bando popped out and I didn't even know I knew it. At the top, a few perps filled and it was CASE CLOSED! FACETIOUSNESS is a superb word and also filled with a few perps. In fact, all the top bloomed with a few fence post helpers.
SERENA and Venus Williams are often in the news so that was not hard. It was a surprise to learn that the 49ers home is the LEVIS Stadium.
The center was more difficult but P&P helped and with SELA in place, a few erasures and it was done.
The bottom killed me; I did not know there was a SEVERN River in the U.S. only know it in the U.K. Had to LIU. Also no idea about "AGT" judge, another LIU. I don't watch any of those shows. Finally finished in just an hour which is great for a Saturday.
Thank you, Gary. You never disappoint with your colorful graphics and grand narrative. Congratulations to your granddaughter, Emma and her fiancé! I have an Emma, too.
Have a fabulous day, everyone!
Here in AZ it is rare to have basement or basement level apartments. The ground is too hard and is costly to dig. A few do exist, though.
ReplyDeleteLike TTP, I too marveled at the S grid when I first looked at this daunting Ed Sessa Saturday puzzle. Decided to first do Sudoku, Kenken, and Jumble to get my confidence up, and then began tackling the challenge. Got LOY and OUI and SSNS, and wanted to put the German ENGEL since Tannenbaum was clued in German--but first thought I'd best go with ANGEL. Other items that helped were FACT, EROS, ICU and SELA Ward, and one of my favorites, MEL B from "America's Got Talent." And, happily, I also got a Master's DEGREE. So, lots of fun, Ed, and Husker Gary, I always love your pictures--and how nice to hear of Emma's engagement.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend, everybody.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Wow! Now that I have stepped back from the trees, I can see the forest and that Dr. Sessa did indeed put a huge “S” in his puzzle! I wonder if this is a “one-off” thing or if Ed has this as a template and puts fill in for the puzzle from time to time.
I know it is Saturday, but wow. That was really tough! Has anyone heard of any of these words: ARIGHT? ESPIALS? FOOLER?
ReplyDeleteI only know SEVERN because I mostly grew up in Maryland. It must be a Natick for most people? I also know Natick because I lived near there for awhile. I know that Tannenbaum is the German word for Fir Tree which is often used to refer to a Christmas Tree. I have never had one. I thought a star goes at the top. I was trying to think of the German word for Star. That was the last to fill. FIR. Whew!
Note: The Maryland state song is set to the same tune as O TANNENBAUM! Home of the NAVAL ACADEMY and the SEVERN!
Husker Gary thank you for all of the explanations and illustrations. And congratulations to your beautiful granddaughter who has SET A DATE with her handsome fiance.
I have never been to LEVIS stadium, though a good friend has a box seat there. Not how I would choose to spend the money if I had it. Good for him.
But here I was at LEVI'S actual headquarters in San Francisco
I love UNADON. But it has gotten crazy expensive. It costs more now than tuna. Seems crazy. EELS used to be the catfish of the fish world. Cheap and muddy tasting. Now it is expensive and muddy tasting!
Has anyone ever heard of TERRACE LEVELS for BASEMENTS?
ReplyDeleteFrom Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles and Lucina thank you for the kind and thoughtful comments about my ASTROS and BARRENS posts and about my other posts and adventures.
Also had an”s” in NEBULisER because I figured the cross clue was either a plural or a verb.
ReplyDeleteIf Oscar Madison was reading Wilde whlle eating a Mayer would he likely STAIN his DeLaRenta suit?
Haven’t been out to Sanibel in years, traffic off Fort Myers Beach and then over the causeway is more than I’d want to put up with. But I remember when the Mucky Duck was on FMB
Oscar choice? Levant - the most irascible Oscar ever. (Credit to desper-otto for the original sentence, of which I only changed 3 words.)
ReplyDeleteSecond Oscar choice? Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, after whom our son is nicknamed. His aunties still call him John-O.
I liked this puzzle a lot, but it stumped me in the PALEO DIET area; I had to do a "reveal word" to finish. Still loved it, though. Thank you, Mr. Sessa, for creating it.
No basements here in earthquake country either. Some below-ground parking garages, though.
Good wishes to you all.
ReplyDeleteThis Saturday go was a typical Sessa outing....rough. And appreciated. Silky-esque for sure.
Not a lot of write-overs because in many spots couldn’t even guess...
ENGEL/ANGEL, SAYSADATE/SETSADATE, STUN/STAB, ESPIATS/ESPIALS, SOS/SEZ. Whew.
Happy to get the solve, to put it mildly. The kind of grid I would have quit on earlier in my solving history, haha.
Oscar...Mayer?
See you Monday.
RIP Orson Bean.
ReplyDeletePicard,
ReplyDeleteTERRACE LEVELS - Yes. NYC and Chicago are famous for their brownstones. Most often, it's 8 or 10 or more steps up from the street level to the main level, and, 5 to 7 or more steps down from street level to what is often described as the terrace level. The main floors were elevated for one major reason. Flooding.
ARIGHT - No, but it had to be.
FOOLER - Yes.
ESPIALS - No, but worked it out. Observes - Verb. Espies - Verb. Observations - Noun. Espials would agree with the clue as a noun.
In general usage, the suffix -al forms adjectives out of nouns, and nouns out of verbal actions. - Wikipedia.
Why not -ial as the suffix ?
The basic rule is, for any word that ends in a consonant plus “-y,” change the “y” to “i” if adding a suffix or forming a plural. So the i is not part of the suffix.
So espy (verb) becomes espial (noun) espials (plural noun).
A similar example would be the verb rely changing to the noun relials. Like espials, relials is probably also archaic. Reliances would probably be one of the more current usages.
Another easier to see case example would be try (as a lawyer) to trial or trials.
Hi Y'all! Wow! Real trial for me, thanks, Dr. Sessa. I managed to plunk in six words in the upper half on the first pass. The bottom half went somewhat better, but would have been impossible without red-letters informing me my letter guesses were wrong. The NE corner was a bugger.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the "S" in the grid. I see a laughing face: unibrow, two eyes -- one with two tears overflowing (from Ed laughing at our puzzlement), a nose in the middle and a grin curving up below.
Thank you, Gary, for a great expo. Slow down on your way to Sanibel if you pass my city & I'll hop on board and pay for the gas. Thinking hugs for you and Joann concerning her mother. After dealing with my mother's dementia, I can say only don't try to correct her -- just try to guide her gently toward reality and don't worry about it if you can't. Your calmness & support is all she needs. It doesn't matter if she doesn't know who you are, if she knows you love her. Heartbreaking but you can live thru it.
I couldn't believe I didn't know the SEVERN River and had forgotten about F-Stops after my years of camera work.
A rather "sophisticated" pzl today from Monsieur Sessa...
ReplyDeleteFrom a cool character (Nora Charles/LOY) and foreign languages (OUI, CATALAN und ENGEL) to classical references (Paris/ACHILLES), a transplanted Welsh river (SEVERN), and university life (ELI/DEGREE), this one fairly reeks of le cosmopolite.
Basement? Basement? Here in SoCal, we don' need no stinkin' BASE-MENT!!
~ OMK
What is “Natick”??
ReplyDeleteToo tough for me. I put Slide for Stain and (embarassed to admit) Jacket for Degree. We’re watching the Pebble Beach tournament , so ...
Obviously I was too messed up to get out of trouble.
Learned some new words, such as Espials.
Thanks for the lesson, Dr. Sessa. Thanks for the explanations, Husker.
ReplyDeleteHi, Wendybird,
On your cell phone, scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the comments. You should see a "button" that says, "Load Web Version" or something like that.
If you press that button, your page will reload, and you should be able to see all the helpful hints, interviews and links that C.C. had added.
Under the heading "Olio", there is a link to Comment Section Abbreviations. "Natick" as well as other common abbreviations that blog regulars use are explained there.
C.C. has so much useful information on the right side of the page that mobile phone users don't typically see, so I encourage you to follow thos steps and check it out.
DO, not to keep you hanging:
ReplyDeleteWhen we bought our bi-level, the concrete floor on the lower level, which was covered in linoleum, was somewhat sunken in the center partially crushing the under-the-floor heating ducts. The heating situation was not bad, but the aesthetics were not good. The realtor knew a contractor who could jackhammer the floor and lay new concrete. The contractor built a soffit along the top of the long wall to hide the new heating ducts. It looked nice. We completed it with informal carpeting. It made a lovely room. Most other contractors had no solutions.
I was not pleased with this room when we were considering buying this bi-level, but in the early 60’s it was the time of the heap big chief and his little woman. My doubts didn’t count.
LIU and you will find ads for terrace apartments in the basement with walk-outs to the outdoors. Unless you have a reason to think about this type of real estate you are not likely to know this.
Several weeks ago I was amazed at the negative, unbelieving reaction here to the concept of en suite bedrooms. I tell everyone Alan has an en suite bedroom and they immediately understand and say how lucky he is. In this part of the country it is a common real estate term, listed in many ads as a great selling point.
I actually finished this one before 06:00 today. I thought “Oh boy—I’ll be one of the first today, instead of one of the last!”
ReplyDeleteThen life got in the way...
I mean really In the way. Oh, well... I finally made it.
Dr Ed’s puzzles are becoming among my favorites, and this was no exception. I liked the block S (reminds me of the Michigan State marching band which both my oldest son and his wife were in). Now if he could just do a block I (my other son and his wife), it’d be a matching set.
I especially liked the number of relatively underused words: STICKLERS, SKINK, ARIGHT, ESPIALS and CATALAN* come to mind.
It’s not always called a TERRACE LEVEL or Terrace apartment in the Chicago area; sometimes it’s called a Garden Apartment, but I think TERRACE is the more common term.
Hand up for Slide before STAIN.
Penn and Teller’s Fool Us is one of my favorite shows. When someone gets the FOOLER trophy it really fires up the audience.
Husker, you were right in my wheelhouse today. So much of interest in your dissertation! Best wishes to your granddaughter and her soon-to-be SO.
OK. That’s enough. Time to get productive. I hope your evening is a pleasant one. Bye.
*Although it’s in the news a lot lately as Andorrans (once and still called Catalonians by many) get more forceful in trying to deal with the Spanish government.
I really enjoyed this puzzle...we happen to be on Sanibel..two blocks away from Hurricane Lane!
ReplyDeleteFOOLER seemed awkward.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because it is so close to my own surname?
~ OMK
My dad used to say things like "That was really a FOOLER dooler."
ReplyDeleteAmongst my readings today, I discerned an interesting analogy, to wit:
Janja Lalich, a sociology professor at California State University, Chico, who studies cults and extremist groups, explains, “Cult members experience cognitive dissonance when presented with facts that contradict their beliefs. That kind of closed-mindedness is just so typical of cult members.” She also said, "It’s common for members to use outright lies and mental gymnastics to protect their leader and themselves."
Oh my, I grok'ed the east but after Sirius wouldn't fit I perped SERENA and told Mr S. that a clue referring to Venus's sister would have been better. Duh
ReplyDeleteBut, SKINK/SKENK - ESPIALS was a FIW mystery. Perhaps Gary has explained. Lemonade simply LIU, TTP educated me.
Sal "The Barber" Maglie, so named for the close shaves he gave batters.
TERRACE LEVEL may correspond to the French rez de chaussee(premier etage above(au dessus)
I'd still rate the Broglio-Brock trade the worst: eh Cubs fans? And I've explained the "Curse". Re. Celtic -SF trade: it was enabled by an inexperienced GM in Detroit who gave the C's the #1 for McAdoo*
Speaking of music links, how about
SO RARE
How about OSCAR Robinson. This Sports guy didn't get Venus and I don't like corporate names for stadiums. Luddite.
Wendy, I thought of jacket first. Natick? Near Framingham. Doug Flutie's hometown.
WC
*The GM? None other than Dick Vitale who landed the fabulous CBS College b-ball gig. He's happy, C's happy and after he leaves Pistons win NBA crown
After a long, tough day, settled down @10 p.m. for a relaxing puzzle before bedtime. YIKES! Should a seen Sessa's name. Again I disagree with the majority here - to wit: FACETIOUSNESS is NEVER used in a positive sense as WIT would be and ergo the def just doesn't fit. And I can't find any reference anywhere that explains the letters ETS association with "Men in Black"???? Finally: who calls cellers "TERRACE LEVELS"??? Mr. Sessa: I will continue to complain about your stretches!
ReplyDelete