Theme: SPIN DOCTOR
Melissa here. This would be nearly impossible to see without the circled letters. There are five word groupings (one in each corner plus one in the center) in which the circled letters, read from the top and SPINning around to the right, spell the name of a doctor.
NW Group: Dr. JEKYLL
1. __ d'art: OBJET.
14. Move furtively: SLINK.
17. Rite of Christian ordination: HOLY ORDERS.
NE Group: Dr. DOOM
10. Axlike tool: ADZE.
16. Cow conversation: MOOS.
19. Hip '60s Brits: MODS.
SW Group: Dr. PHIL
62. Mall directories: MAPS.
67. "Ick!": BLEH.
70. Director Kazan: ELIA.
SE Group: Dr. WATSON
63. 1850s Eurasian conflict: CRIMEAN WAR.
69. Salty expanse: OCEAN.
72. Celestial red giant: SSTAR.
And the reveal in the center ...
71. With the circled word in the grid's center, what each circled word is?: SPIN.
Center Group : DOCTOR
35. Carries out: DOES.
38. Fabric ponytail holder: SCRUNCHIE.
43. Foldable beds: COTS.
Across:
6. It's sold in bars: SOAP. Nice clue - and timely, too, especially if it's disinfecting soap.
15. "In memoriam" bio: OBIT. Shortened word "bio" indicates shortened word for obituary.
20. Rodeo ropes: LASSOS.
21. Honeybunch: DEARIE.
23. Montréal mate: AMI. French for male friend. Amie for female friend.
25. Fights (for): VIES.
27. "Cold Mountain" hero played by Jude Law: INMAN.
28. Bolster: PROP UP.
31. Enhance, as an expense report: PAD.
33. Whiz: ACE.
34. Sticking points: TINES. Like on a fork.
37. ER personnel: RNS.
41. Chinese menu surname: TSO. From Wikipedia:
a sweet deep-fried chicken dish that is served in North American Chinese restaurants. The dish is named after Zuo Zongtang (also romanized Tso Tsung-t'ang), a Qing dynasty statesman and military leader, although there is no recorded connection to him nor is the dish known in Hunan, Zuo's home province.
a sweet deep-fried chicken dish that is served in North American Chinese restaurants. The dish is named after Zuo Zongtang (also romanized Tso Tsung-t'ang), a Qing dynasty statesman and military leader, although there is no recorded connection to him nor is the dish known in Hunan, Zuo's home province.
44. Pet store enclosures: CAGES.
48. Dismissive syllable: FEH. Don't see this as much as meh, but seems to have the same meaning.
49. Hasty escape: LAM. Nice cluing. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, lam means: "flight," as in on the lam, 1897, from a U.S. slang verb meaning "to run off" (1886), of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from the first element of lambaste, which was used in British student slang for "beat" since 1590s.
50. Computer key: DELETE.
51. Bounded: LEAPT.
53. Quite: OH SO.
56. Leaves in the afternoon?: TEA.
57. Irritate by rubbing: ABRADE.
59. Supermarket walkways: AISLES. I haven't been to one in over a week - a little reluctant to go this week, even though I need to. What's it been like for you?
68. Spanish cat: GATO.
Down:
1. __Kosh B'gosh: OSH.
2. Rain-__ bubble gum: BLO.
3. Word whose meaning wouldn't change if it began with "z": JILLION. From vocabulary.com: Similar to words like zillion, tons, or oodles, jillion is perfect for talking about a huge but vague number. It's also hyperbolic — in other words, it's an exaggeration. The word is modeled on actual numbers like million and billion, so it almost sounds like a real quantity. But like zillion, jillion is imprecise.
4. One-named singer: ENYA. Not Cher.
5. Boxing decisions: TKOS. Technical Knock Outs. A TKO is declared when the referee decides during a round that a fighter cannot safely continue the match for any reason.
6. "Me too": SO DO I.
7. Corpulent: OBESE. Rarely used word, needed perps.
8. Ultrathin MacBook: AIR. Who has one? I shy away from anything that thin when it comes to a laptop.
9. War affliction, for short: PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A little suprised this passed the breakfast test - but we've probably seen it before, it's a great crossword entry.
10. Jordan's capital: AMMAN.
11. Entry-level job?: DOORMAN. Great clue.
12. Astrology diagrams: ZODIACS.
13. Ancient ascetic: ESSENE. A member of an ancient Jewish ascetic sect of the 2nd century BC–2nd century AD in Palestine, who lived in highly organized groups and held property in common. The Essenes are widely regarded as the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
18. Invite letters: RSVP. French - Répondez s'il vous plaît; please reply.
22. __ al-Fitr: end-of-Ramadan feast: EID. Eid al-Fitr, also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast", is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.
23. Fitting: APT.
24. Hosp. scan: MRI. Magnetic resonance imaging.
26. MS format details: SPECS. One of the regulars can explain this better than I.
29. Mexican money: PESO.
30. L.A. school: USC. University of Southern California, in Los Angeles.
32. Tray filler: ASH.
35. Milano cathedral: DUOMO. Closed to tourists right now for the Coronavirus alert.
36. Prov. bordering four Great Lakes: ONT.
37. Authentic: REAL.
39. Early TV maker: RCA.
40. Freezer cubes: ICE.
41. Game for little hitters: TEE BALL.
42. Wrinkly dog: SHARPEI.
45. Jumps in the lake: GETS WET.
46. Summer in la ville: ETE.
47. Vast quantity: SEA.
48. Served like cherries jubilee: FLAMBE.
49. British co. letters: LTD.
50. A teaspoon, say: DOSE.
52. Ottoman title: PASHA. A higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries and others.
54. French-speaking Caribbean country: HAITI.
55. Colorful memory game: SIMON. Players take turns repeating a sequence of lights and sounds. Play in your browser here.
58. Heart tests, briefly: ECGS. An electrocardiogram — abbreviated as EKG or ECG — is a test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat. With each beat, an electrical impulse (or “wave”) travels through the heart. This wave causes the muscle to squeeze and pump blood from the heart.
60. Golden Triangle country: LAOS.
61. SASEs, e.g.: ENCS. SASE = Self-addressed stamped envelope. ENC = Enclosure. So a SASE is a type of enclosure.
64. Missy Elliott music genre: RAP.
65. Battery for small electronics: AAA.
66. GI's furlough: RNR. Hm. If you say so, but I usually see R&R, which is military slang for rest and recuperation. RNR is how it's pronounced, so maybe that's why ..?
I felt lucky to have only one square wrong in this mishmash of weird stuff. Not on my wavelength I had aHSO, thinking of Charlie Chan.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteI say Fie on FEH and RNR. Only finished it correctly due to two lucky WAGs at the crosses of EID/INMAN and DOUMO/OH SO. The only "Simon" game I'm familiar with is Simon Says. Spin Doctor is a cute theme...if only I'd figured it out. I'll take the win, but I'm not proud of it. Thanx, Paul and Melissa Bee.
Completed the puzzle, never got the theme. A tough Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI tried commenting using my phone when my mouse froze; it didn't work. The mouse resurrected so it is all good. I like visual puzzles so this was fine for me. EID was my only unknown. I liked that all four Doctors are fictional characters - oh you mean DR PHIL is real? I do not believe it. I watched the show once. I missed seeing the trifecta - FEH BLEH and and MEH
ReplyDeleteThank you PC and mb
Thanks, Melissa. Super cute picture of the Shar-peis. The central circled DOCTOR with SPIN at the bottom was Rich's idea. I originally had SPINDOCTORS on the central line.
ReplyDeleteI've been making lots of puzzles over the past week, since everything is closed. That, and Netflix binge watching, like many others, I expect. Stay safe, folks.
"Feh" & "Bleh" - seems appropriate, and "Spin" is a stretch.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, I had abride instead of abrade. Took a little over 9:30 today.
"Cold Mountain" is a great movie.
DNF, looking up arcane INMAN because of the arcane EID and ESSENE. Put me off enough that I wasn't motivated to try to get the theme. I thought there was a lot of clever in this one, like OCEAN and SEA, and ICE (hi Tin) and ACE.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we have UN-PC Monday, PC yesterday, and PC as the constructor today?
Decades ago I used to kid my administrative assistant about the unit of order for expense report forms being PAD. Lower tech version of the credit card entry record "card swiped".
IIRC, our sun is destined to become a red giant. The NYT will blame the orange monster.
Sailors mitigate ABRADEd lines by putting baggywrinkle on standing rigging. Spitz, have you ever made any?
One of my favorite cities in California is Los GATOs. Gateway to Napa Valley. 'Course I don't drink wine anymore, so maybe I wouldn't like Napa so much.
FLN - WC, the diesel discount program is https://www.tsdlogistics.com/services/fuel-program/. It only works in the big truck stop chains, only in the truck lanes, and no longer includes Pilot/Flying J due to P/FJs arrangement with Sam's Club. Love's has the best discount. If you have a city in mind I'll look up the current discount price for you. The prices are only available to members. Membership is free, but you have to allow them to do a direct withdrawal overnight after you purchase fuel. I have a (free) checking account that I use only for this purpose. They take 5% of the savings, so if the discount is from $3.00 to $2.50, they keep $0.025 and you get $0.475, making your real cost $2.525.
Thanks to PC for the challenge. Not my favorite, but I appreciate your skill, and that you contributed to the Corner. And thanks to mb for the fun review. I especially liked the SHAR PEI getting a massage at the doggie spa. Guess Covid-19 hasn't changed their routines.
Didn't think of Dr. DOOM, but was happy thinking it was a mOOd doctor/
ReplyDeleteEID al-Fitr is May 23 this year. Learn a lot of non-Western holidays on my phone calendar.
Very creative puzzle - since the first circles spelled Jekyll - it helped solve the rest of the puzzle with doctors' names.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of desserts that are flambe' - seems just for show and doesn't make it taste any better - and sometimes worse! WEES about FEH - being meh - never even heard of it after the fact.
@Jinx - haven't ever thought of Los GATOs as a gateway to Napa country as it is way down in the Southern Bay area by San Jose - I think of it more as the way over the mountains to head to Santa Cruz!
Thanks Melissa for an entertaining blog and Paul for the puzzle and for stopping by!
Re: the discussion about the alternative endings to "Casablanca"...the one I'm familiar with is where Ilsa goes to the US...becomes a nun...meets Bing Crosby who hits her over the head with one of "The Bells of St Mary's" wakes up from a coma thinking she's "Anastasia" the Czar's (tsar's) daughter. Ends up "Notorious"... framed for "Murder on the Orient Express"
ReplyDeleteThe Pope's takeout .....HOLY ORDERS
Totals up....ADZE
What Bambi calls his GF.....DEeRIE
French fine tipped permanent marker.....SHARPEI
Twisted pony tail..ABRADE
Orso to OHSO. Had to think for a minute how to spell AISLES. "Aflame" to "flamed" to FLAMBÉ (Pet peeve..accented letters should the same for the perp as well....it's not ÉLIA Kazan).
Apropos of JILLION
POTUS was told that 2 Brazilian soldiers were injured in Afghanistan. "That's terrible,....that many?...but tell me again ...how much is a brizillion?"
FIR but the theme escaped me.....FEH!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Wonderful gimmick explanation MB and thanks for the visit, Paul!
-Holmes’ aide Watson was a DOCTOR. Bell’s aide Watson was not.
-Two degrees of connection to today’s puzzle – Bell’s first transcontinental phone call originated JEKYLL Island, GA
-PAD – Receipt – Tavern On The Green. Actual meal – McDonalds
-Shopping yesterday – No TP and a somber MOOD as people SNEAKED around the AISLES
-Redux, my son-in-law says the SPECS for restrooms in Lincoln, NE’s two new high schools are contentious
- Most here know who wondered whether he should “To take arms against a SEA of troubles”
-I wonder how my MIL with Alzheimer’s would do with a SIMON game
-We got a political solicitation envelope whose ENCL was a $1 bill. We kept the bill
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteEasy solve; WAGS and perps helped with the fuzzy stuff like BLEH or BLO. Had trouble focusing on the circle theme; it made the grid look too 'busy', so I ignored it. Liked the fresh fill such as CRIMEAN WAR and HOLY ORDERS. DOOR MAN was clever.
ABRADE - When ropes on a large ship, get ABRADEd, they should be replaced as a safety issue. The whipping from a snapping nylon rope can maim or kill. No, Jinx, I have never seen that technique used.
GATO - One of my favorite cheap red wines is GATO Negro (black cat) from Chile.
TINES - Seems like a cognate to 'tooth' in L. German: Tähn.
Thanks Melissa for your explanation of the theme.
Didn't get the theme. Tough Wed.
ReplyDeleteJinx, you just can't stop, can you.
ReplyDeleteHusker, when we receive political solicitaions with pre-paid envelopes, we stuff 'em with our unwanted junk mail and send 'em off.
Musings
ReplyDelete-I enjoyed the Casablanca discussion yesterday generated by my offhanded reference. Yes, I knew ILSA thought she was a widow in Paris and she really wanted Rick but he “did the right thing” by insisting she leave with Victor. oc4beach – I loved the Casablanca trivia!!
-D-O, great idea but I fear it’s like being rude with phone solicitors in that “the beat will go on”
-Golf yesterday, golf today and tomorrow – High Friday 28F.
Yeah, Husker, but you get a real sense of satisfaction. Plus, it's actually recycling!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI completed the puzzle with only a hiccup at Meh/Feh (I think Feh is Yiddish) and Flamed/Flambé, but it took me forever to understand and figure out the theme, mainly because I kept seeing Jelly instead of Jekyll. Doom was easy enough to see, but Phil wasn't obvious immediately, and Watson took some time. (I wouldn't watch Dr. Phil if you paid me.) I really liked the cluing, especially Entry level job=doorman and Sticking points=Tines. I'm not keen on the above average number of three letter words, but the cleverness of the theme and cluing more than made up for them. I also liked the duos of RNS and RNR and Mods and Mods, and Inman crossing Doorman. PTSD is becoming a frequent entry, sadly. CSOs to Tin (_ _ _), Misty (RCA), and CanadianEh.
Thanks, Paul, for a fun solve and thanks, Melissa, for the colorful and interesting review, especially the cute Shar Pei photo. BTW, has Jaelyn recovered from her broken collarbone? I, personally, haven't been to a grocery store since the madness began, but everything I hear from others mirrors what I see and hear on TV: panicked pandemonium. Ironically, my automatic spell feature offered up pandemic right away.
Our St. Paddy's celebration was very subdued and there were several who chose not to attend. No hugs or kisses either, sad to say, but lots of green! ☘️💚
Stay well and safe.
That should be Moos and Mods and Ont for CEh's CSO.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Paul.
Ray @ 9:27 ~ Your opening paragraph caused me to burst out laughing! I needed a good laugh, so thank you!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNo circles on the Merriam-Webster website, so, I really didn't get the theme. Good puzzle otherwise and MB's write-up brought on the Ah-Ha moments.
I wanted BEER instead of SOAP at first. I didn't know INMAN or FEH, but perps came to the rescue again.
Like IM I liked the Entry level job=doorman and Sticking points=Tines clues.
Paul C: Many CWs have a number of vowel-rich words in them. How about a word with no vowels in them. The Merriam-Webster word of the day yesterday was CRWTH. It's definitely what I'd call obscure, but it has no vowels, not even a Y. Is it a word that would be fair to use in a puzzle?
I think ER Personnel are going to be stressed for a while.
I find it hard to practice Social Distance.
I hope all are surviving the trials and tribulations of our times. Be Well.
Spin Doctor?
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime...
oc4beach - Vowel-less crosswords is a category that already exists. Frank Longo is the master of this form. It's not exactly what you're suggesting with words like CRWTH. Instead, it's a very difficult form where all vowels are removed from standard words and phrases. I enjoy them personally, but they're not everybody's cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle and its theme. Slower than a usual Wednesday for me, even though INMAN was the only unknown fill. The spin started at the very top circle and went clockwise. I wish I had seen that when I was trying to find the doctors after filling the circles.
ReplyDeleteS STAR took a while because I had ENCL instead of ENCS, odd abbreviation. Texas was my main hold up. 53-A was O--O. When I thought of OH SO, Texas filled quickly.
I have read FEH in several novels. I hear it in real life, but not voiced. It is like FF without a vowel sound and said dismissively with a snarky tone.
I enjoyed the Cold Mountain novel, but I read it so long ago I forgot the name of the main character. Then I saw the movie on Netflix. Later on I reread the novel.
The news in this polyglot region notes the celebration of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr when they occur. A few of my students were Muslims.
I have friends with the surname EID. I think Eid is a Norwegian place name.
We have had ESSENES here before. My sister and I visited QUMRAN in Israel, or occupied Palestine, depending on you politics. It is said to be the remains of an ESSENE community near the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy kids had the SIMON mb pictured. It was fascinating for a few months, but the fad soon passed.
I hear OBESE a lot. Some think it is kinder than FAT.
I am social distancing by staying home 100% of the time, starting yesterday. I think the hardest day was the first one. It is like being house bound after surgery. Once I accept that it is impossible to go out, I am okay. Most of my usual places to go are closed anyway. I have enough groceries to last a while. I need to be very sure I am healthy so I can pick Alan up on weekends and not infect him and his whole cohort. He loves for me to take him out on weekends, but sorry to say, it will only be the ride from one home to the other.
Woohoo! I got an entire Wednesday Paul Coulter puzzle without a single mistake! Woohoo! Weeks don't get any better than this---well, except when you don't have a Corona-virus infection rocking the whole world, but that's another matter. And thank you for checking in with us, Paul, and thank you, Melissa, for your always great commentary.
ReplyDeleteI was proud that my Catholic background helped me get HOLY ORDERS early on, and that got me started on the northwest corner. Then, after getting LASSOS, I got JILLIONS, which I found really clever and funny. My other favorite clue was "tray filler" for ASH--oh, I get it, ASH TRAY (I don't smoke anymore, thank goodness). And so it went, with everything filling in, even when I didn't understand some clues like SIMON at all (never heard of that game). And having that celestial star start with SS daunted me too, but I stayed with it. Anyway, fun puzzle, thanks again, Paul. And Melissa, I would never have understood the theme without your help, even though all my circles filled in correctly, so many thanks for that too.
Irish Miss, I too kept wondering about JELLY K before guessing it might be JECKYLL. And thank you for remembering that my Dad worked for RCA for all those decades.
Have a good day, everybody.
I enjoyed the puzzle, P.C.! Just enough of a challenge to feel like a triumph, without spending all morning on it. I struggled with "aflame" where FLAMBE belonged, but eventually worked it out, and was able to recognize the spin doctors as well.
ReplyDeleteThere is no circled word in the whole puzzle, let alone in the center.
ReplyDeleteLAM is not necessarily hasty; sometimes it's just sneaky.
It's EKG, not ECG (KRIMEAN WAR?)
RAP is not music.
FEH?
BLEH?
I remember in grade school, grammar books would list the vowels as “A,E, I, O, U and sometimes Y or W” but I never knew when the W was. I guess they must all be Welsh words, but does that mean crwth actually has a vowel?
ReplyDeleteOwn, know, chow, etc
ReplyDeleteFIR: Done in on the INMAN/ESSENE intersection as well as the B in BLO and the J in JILLION.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the theme felt a little busy but I also thought it was creative. I may have preferred "SPINDOCTORS" as a unifier in the middle of the puzzle, as Paul apparently originally intended. I always appreciate when a constructor stops by to give his take, so thanks, Paul.
I'm a day late but here's The Simpsons' take on Casablanca's alternate ending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o8FLdIIVeg
That link is underlined but not clickable. I believe this should work:
ReplyDeleteThe Simpsons' take
Well, first I too had aHSO. But, I should have known DUOMO. FIW
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jinx. I pulled into a trucker's deisel and they had some kind of jibberish as to what "kind" of deisel so I left and filled elsewhere. I didn't know Pilot had a Sam's discount. Deisel prices can range 50cents. Also, I see the cash discount as high as .15.
Circles. One of my bad habits is scribbling answers thus overwriting the number and in this case making it hard to see the circles. So I completely "un"grok'ed the theme. Online would be a big help.
Thanks Paul for dropping in. Re. Melissa's point about R&N-RNR, I imagine someone has devised an xword where "&" represents AND and perhaps the black squares are to be transposed as "AND". There's a xword term for that which escapes me.
WC
@12:56, "Elvis is not music" is what my parents always said. I'm not a fan of rap, but I recognize the artistry. And don't forget that famous rapper Jimmy Dean who performed the rap song Big Bad John in 1961, except that there wasn't any mention of "hos" or shooting the police.
ReplyDeleteDO, no I can't stop. But at least I am very ashamed of myself.
Anyone know if the sender of those junk and political mailings can grok the sender from coding on the return envelope? I've been tempted to send back the empty envelope just to drive up their costs, but sending them other junk mail is genius! Those envelopes aren't prepaid - the spammers don't have to pay postage on the reply envelope unless it is actually mailed back to them.
Inane H - I used to fly from Burbank to San Jose, attend meetings in Los Gatos, then go on to Kenwood, which I think of as being in the Napa Valley. Maybe it's not. Stayed in Novato if necessary, but Los Gatos was much nicer in those days.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteTwo long distance telephone calls later, here I am, finally getting to the comments. It is gratifying, though, that people are calling me to find out if I am all right. Thankfully, I am fine.
Thank you, Paul, for this fun challenge. I didn't take the time to look for the circled DOCTORS until Melissa pointed them out.
As someone commented, the numerous three letter fill can be overlooked because it is so cleverly constructed. My Natick was at EID/INMAN. It has been many years since I saw Cold Mountain and it might be a good time to call it up on Netflix.
Mexican money was precise enough that PESO immediately filled but Jordan capital always makes me hesitate because it could be money or city. AMMAN finally emerged. It's a very white city, I can tell you. All the buildings are painted white.
We haven't seen ESSENE for a while but it used to be common fill.
EKGS was changed to ECGS when CRIMEAN WAR became obvious.
Ah, GATO. Our Spanish lesson for today as Susan likes to say.
I, too, liked the cluing for TINES and DOORMAN.
Be well, everyone!
I liked this one Paul! Very creative and just enough crunch to make it interesting. Loved TEA. And FLAMBÉ
ReplyDeleteI hear OBESE often . Maybe that’s a reflection of our population. I had ENCl before ENCS, which looks funny to me. But. SSTAR Insisted.
MB, I would never have understood the circles without your help! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis PC Wednesday puzzle filled quickly.
No surprise then, I had
No write-overs today.
I’m staying in as well, so I decided to order some delivery. Popeye’s was highly rated by the late Anthony Bourdain, so why not?
Let me tell you.
First, you cannot order the ”normal” online way, you must send them your email. You then get an email back allowing you to enter the rarified air of Popeye’s for 24 hours. Lucky me!
Um, ok.
Then after ordering, you must pay. As I was ordering a delivery - and you cannot pay in cash like everyone else - you need a CC #.
Ok.
So I type it in, hit “continue” and it won’t. Because Popeye’s DEMANDS you let them record your card # on their website for “ease of future ordering”. It’s a click option, but it won’t let you continue unless you click.
Umm....no. Just no.
And that was my Popeye’s experience. Guess I’ll try KFC next.
See you tomorrow.
I liked this puzzle for all the reasons herein given. I loved the cluing for JILLION, DOORMAN, and TINES. But I can't get the bad smell of RNR out of my nose.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a lovely neighbor lady who was so sweet, and as Irish as Irish can be. She often called my wife, or me, DEARIE pie.
Good wishes to you all.
Well technically it would be RnR. Mine was in Sydney.
ReplyDeleteMemories
WC
Hard times. I wish everybody well. And by "well," I really mean Good Health & Good Spirits.
ReplyDeleteFlatten the Curve.
I enjoyed the pzl, but did not have sufficient concentration to finish w/o help.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One mirror diagonal today.
The anagrams don't offer many options.
Maybe this will do. A missive that is a bit more serious than a typical Valentine; it is an...
"ELOPE NOTE"!
Hi Y'all! Wow! what a complicated theme, Paul, with circles & spins (almost like a square dance, YR!). I tried to make it even harder, thinking the letters were an anagram. I had grokked JEKYLL & DOOM (MOOD) but didn't see the DOCTOR part until PHIL popped out. I, too, got held up on JELL & KY but thought that was probably too racy for our Paul & Rich. Glad I changed over to the Washington Post site some months ago so I had circles. No hope of getting this theme without.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melissa!
DNK: INMAN, FEH, BLEH, ESSENE, EID.
Had 2 ECGS in my ambulance/ER adventure a few weeks ago. Kept on ticking despite the licking. No apparent problems. Yay!
I ordered Kleenex & TP just before the much ado hit. I really wasn't out of them. ESP? I also ordered a week earlier than usual because they had brought only one milk instead of two the week before. I hope by the time I need more, the frenzy has died down a bit.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Paul Coulter, for fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteWorked the puzzle. I consider it medium level. Good for a Wednesday. I could not get the theme until well after I finished. I kept looking at all the circles and the SPIN. Finally I saw DOCTOR, then JEKYLL. The rest all fell quickly. I felt good about that.
JILLION was easy. I had six letters with perps, then I plugged in the J.
56A TEA. Good word.
FLAMBE took me a while. I had no idea what Cherries Jubilee was.
GATO was easy. I worked in Los Gatos, CA, a few times. As I recall I stayed at the Alvarado Inn when I worked there. I learned that meant The Cats. Jinx mentioned Novato, CA. I also worked there. It is located in Marin, County, CA. Marin County is the highest per capita income in the state of California. Or, at least it was back in the early 1980's.
I stayed in bed for 13 hours last night and this morning. Was up yesterday from 4:00 AM to 10:00 PM at the Polling Place, including clean up. Long day. Did the Tuesday puzzle while I was there, but no time to log in when I got home.
Corned Beef and Cabbage tonight. Maybe I will get some of my weight back. I am down to 138 pounds now.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteRay-O-Sunshine @ 9:27: we had a mind meld going, as my only haiku du jour consists of the following, and I penned it long before checking the CC blog page. 😀
Today’s haiku:
What kind of marker
Would a wrinkly dog use? Why,
A SHAR-PEI of course ...
EID/INMAN was my Natick; otherwise I finished the puzzle with no runs, drips, or errors ...
I was very impressed with this SPIN DOCTOR construction. Only know SIMON because we had it not too long ago. Hand up EID/INMAN a bit of a Natick crossing. But EID is actually one of the holidays that is commemorated on US postage stamps.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else remember this scene in "A Hard Day's Night" when Ringo is asked if he is a MOD or a Rocker?
I have photos at the SALTY EXPANSE known as the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Instead, I have this unique short TEA video
DW ordered Jasmine TEA at a Burmese restaurant in San Francisco at Thanksgiving. Has anyone else ever seen this delightful opening of the Jasmine flower?
Husker Gary and inanehiker glad you enjoyed the CASABLANCA discussion. It is a heroic story of idealism that is so much bigger than a love triangle.
By the way, I also have photos in the real CASABLANCA.
This one gave me a headache and a DNF. Lots of marginal words,and Natickness.Gotta love a theme that requires explanation. Feh, bleh,oh so Can we use actual English words in our crosswords.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteD'Oh! FIW at SHARPaI / BLaH.
Thanks Paul for the puzzle. Saw DOCTOR and JEKYLL which helped fill DOOM and PHIL. Thanks for swinging by the corner and I look forward to your quarantine puzzles.
But you had to say SPIN DOCTORs [Jimmy Olsen's Blues - 4:55]
I enjoyed the expo mb! Thank yous too.
WOs: EMO b/f RAP, mEH, ELIA
ESPs: ESSENE, INMAN [yeah, N was a lucky WAG]
Fav: JILLION just 'cuz of what Ray-O did w/ it. DOORMAN c/a was cute too (I was going for typist, steno, data analyst, or some such).
OMK - More like a note to my / DW's parents :-)
PVX - wise choice to not let them save your CC# as so many companies cannot protect the data the collect.
Wheels42 - LOL! I missed that Simpsons.
WC - yes, the A&E channel is always the 'takes me too long to parse' AANDE.
Inanehiker - what about Bananas Foster? The quick flash caramelizes / crisps the bananas but good.
Eldest just got an email that OU will be on-line for the rest of the semester. I don't know what this means about her RA job (does she have to go back since there are students who can't go home / international?). I'm just glad she's home - made tomato soup from scratch tonight, she did.
Cheers, -T
Just one more time...
ReplyDeletefor Rick's sake...
Late Wednesday post. Thanks for the fun, Paul (and for dropping by) and melissa.
ReplyDeleteI saw the SPIN doctors but FIWed; hand up for DOUMa and aH SO.
FEH was a nose-wrinkler, but if it doesn't rhyme with MEH and BLEH, but is more like a blowing F sound (I don't remember the linguistic term) , I may have used it myself.
I wanted Chafe before ABRADE, and hand up for Encl before ENCS.
Did anyone else notice that the clues for OCEAN and SEA could have been interchanged? I also saw SEA crossing TEA.
Hard to pick a favourite between clues for TINES and DOORMAN (and the crossing with INMAN was an Easter egg).
Yes, I 'll take the ONT CSO. There is another one at 50D, but I am ashamed to say that I held onto Dash for far too long.
Anon@12:56- I waited for CRIMEAN to decide between ECG or EKG. Either could be correct, and this Canadian is quite used to hearing ECG. (Seems a logical abbreviation to me , since it is not an ElectroKardiogram)
Good evening all.
Bill G - Hit the 16:31 mark on This. Not quite Scott Joplin but made me think of him and you.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well. Cheers, -T
The real Casa Blanca was a disappointment. It is a huge slum with seemingly no electricity or running water from what I could tell. Maybe things have changed since that long ago time.
ReplyDelete