Theme: "Before and After" by Kevin Christian
(Kevin is a veteran constructor, and he appears here often. C.C. interviewed him back in 2015.)
TTP emailed me last week asking if I'd be willing to sub for him this morning. That could mean only one thing – everyone on his a-list had already turned him down. I don't often get a shot at late-week puzzles, so I was happy to take this opportunity to make a fool of myself.
Methinks Kevin may be a Wheel of Torture fan. Each 3-word themer is a mash-up of two common phrases. The middle word can cleverly be expressed as a word or as a single letter. That gives us…
17a. One studying the waters near England
IRISH SEA STUDENT – Irish Sea / C Student (I can relate!)
27a. Communication device with a fancy patterned case
TIGER EYE PHONE – Tiger Eye / iPhone (I cannot relate.)
47a. Part of a Chinese restaurant’s expenses?
OOLONG TEA BILL – Oolong Tea / T-Bill
62a. Nutrition for a leading insect?
QUEEN BEE VITAMIN – Queen Bee / B Vitamin
As an added bonus (at least for me), there is no reveal that someone might miss in his haste to solve.
Here’s what else Kevin served up for our breakfast crunch today.
ACROSS:
1. Conference giveaways: SWAG
5. Tampa NFLers: BUCS I was thinking “Bucks” but nope, “Buccaneers.”
9. Place for a phone no.: ID TAG
14. Capital of Cuba: PESO
15. Drama honor: OBIE
16. “Odyssey” enchantress: CIRCE
20. Cool kin: NEATO
21.Loud sound:ROAR.
22. Comprehends: GETS
23. Jackson of country: ALAN. You might remember Midnight in Montgomery.
25. Namesake of a speed ratio: MACH. Named for Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916). Mach I is the speed of sound – about 767 mph. Of course, 0 mph is known as “Mach’s nichts.”
32. Benefit: AID
33. Equine parent: SIRE
34. People pairs, say: ITEM. People magazine. Didn’t last.
36. Dinner party insert: LEAF. in the dining room table.
38. There are two pennies in a classic one. ADAGE
41. Word with wing or life: SPAN
42. Value system: ETHIC. I’m never sure if it’ll be Ethic or Ethos. Perps will decide.
44. Irritated: SORE
46. Be indisposed: AIL
51. Unpleasant look: LEER. Sometimes it’s OGLE.
52. Bloom support. STEM
53. Radio switch: AM/FM
56. Lush: WINO. The noun, not the adjective.
58. Swindles: REAMS. I was not familiar with this usage. Now I am.
65. Old Northwest competitor: US AIR
66. Nixon or Agnew, once: VEEP
67. Storage structure: SILO. In my ute, dairy farmers filled them with chopped corn stalks.
68. Insurance giant: AETNA. Named after our old cw friend, Mt. Etna.
69. Misses the mark: ERRS
70. “That hurts!”: YEOW. I thought of several colorful possibilities for this 4-letter answer.
DOWN
1. Public relations specialty: SPIN
2. Are in the past?: WERE. Tense answer.
3. “Heat of the Moment” band: ASIA. You Tube’s got it, if you’re interested.
4. Attend alone: GO STAG
5. Only 21st-century four-time World Series champs, on scoreboards: BOSton. (C.C. would’ve known this immediately. Moi, not so much.)
6. Geekiest of geeks: UBERNERD. I believe it’s a single word.
7. “Buh-bye!”: CIAO
8. Street on TV since 1969: SESAME
9. IV site: ICU (I tried ARM first.)
10. Imbibed in small doses: DID SHOTS. I learned many years ago that this can be a recipe for close-range sidewalk inspection.
11. Playhouse locale, perhaps: TREE
12. Unwanted spots: ACNE. Could’ve been SPAM.
13. Comprehends: GETS (I tried SEES first.)
18. Donut features: HOLES
19. Speed ____: TRAP
24. “Nessum dorma,” e.g.: ARIA. I’m not much of an opera fan (surprise, surprise), but I found Nessum Dorma to be particularly moving near the end of The Sum Of All Fears as the co-conspirators get their comeuppance.
26. Antepenultimte Greek letter: CHI. I first became acquainted with this 64-dollar word back in ‘61 when the Limeliters performed Have Some Madeira, M’Dear. You’ll hear “antepenultimate” – second from last -- at the 4:21 mark. If you’ve never heard the song, it’s a real treat. If you have heard the song, it’s still a real treat.
27. Connect with: TIE TO
28. State with a Sawtooth Range: IDAHO (I suspect Ray-O-Sunshine will have some fun with this one.) Looks pretty.
29. Beer-making ingredient: YEAST (I thought it was just grain, water, malt, and hops.)
30. Country between China and India: NEPAL
31. Office chore: EMAIL (I don’t think of it as a chore.)
32. Newcastle Brown ___: ALE
35. NBC show with many Second City alumni: SNL. Saturday Night Live. From day one. Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd to name a few.
37. “I’d like to know more.” FILL ME IN
39. Peruses: GOES OVER
40: Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT What was to be shown.
43. Iowa campus: COE. It’s in Cedar Rapids on First Avenue S.E., just up the street from the former KHAK studios. Now how did I know that?
45. Roeper’s former partner: EBERT. Richard Roeper became the co-host after Gene Siskel died.
48. Rookie, briefly: NEWB. I think it’s pronounced “Noob,” though it could be New-B.
49. Lament: GRIEVE
50. “Whatevs”: I’M EASY
53. Ocean shade: AQUA
54. Erato, for one: MUSE
55. Exploit: FEAT (Could’a been DEED.)
57. “In thy dreams!” NEER. “Thy” clues us that it’ll be old-timey.
59. Parisian friend: AMIE
60. “The Phantom Tollbooth” protagonist: MILO. Not a clue! Plus, I misread Tollbooth as Toothbrush.
61. “The Hunger Games” president: SNOW. Donald Sutherland played him in the movie.
63. FDR “fair practices” agency: NRA. No, not that NRA, the National Recovery Administration.
64. URL addresses: IPS. The only IPS I’m familiar with is “Inches Per Second“ from the old tape-recorder days. Feel free to educate me in the comments.
That does it! C.C. will now make the completed grid magically appear. Desper-otto out.
59 comments:
Damn, we have the special thrill of a D-O write-up. I hope the other Tom is fine. This was a Friday filled with some large speed bumps. I love the theme. Lots of short words which helped but some stuff I did not know like MILO but it filled.
Thank you Tom for pinch-hitting for Tom and KC you have been busy; we look forward to your comments
Good morning. I got the theme immediately with just a few unknowns to slow me down and almost came to a dead end in the FL Keys- MILO & SNOW unknowns but AMIE & SILO opened it up.
The last fills were ARIA & ADAGE, which I didn't understand until the explanation.
Roeper was a total unknown but EBERT came through after REAMS hit the grid.
C.C.-I've heard REAM used when somebody has all their money taken in a situation. 'Reamed out'.
ETHIC or ETHOS- COE took care of that.
UBERNERD- I'm afraid many people would call crossword people something similar.
Northwest & US AIR are still competitors- as Delta & American.
CIAO.
Desper-otto, thanks again. Excellent review. What are you doing in 2 weeks ?
Lemonade, Thanks for your concern. I'm fine. Just bruised, sore, and tired.
Slightly sloggish as befits a TGIF puzzle. ETHos and haDSHOTS were in there for a while. Very cute theme which I didn’t see until I was done. Happier today.
The malt in beer is produced from the grains, yeast converts the sugars in malt to alcohol, hops add bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt.
FIR in a speedy (for me, for a Friday) 22+ minutes. Thought the theme was clever. The crossing of MILO and SILO threw me for a minute. I thought from the deep recesses of my mind that MILO was correct, but I couldn't believe that Mr. Christian would cross those two. Perps finally forced me to try it which led to REAMS which led to SNOW which led to TADA. Life is good. Thanks, Kevin and DO. Good job, both of you.
Spending the day prepping and pre-cooking for the weekend cookout. Baking potatoes for the Bacon/ranch baked potato salad, cooking up the pasta for macaroni salad, soaking beans for the baked beans, boiling up our oldest eggs for deviled eggs, etc. Better put some beer in the fridge. So much to do, but I love it.
When I was out yesterday laying in supplies, I picked up a toilet brush. Long story short, I'm going back to toilet paper.
Talk about a missed business opportunity. Why on earth hasn't Hooters opened a home delivery service called Knockers?
Antepenultimate is third from the end. Penultimate is second to last. Ultimate is the last. Preantepenultimate is fourth from the end.
Hi Y'all! A real challenge, Kevin, but thanks! Great fill-in Desper-otto, thanks!
TTP: did you fall off a ladder again? Hope you are okay!
Very unusual theme. I thought I must be missing some hidden meanings. Nah! Finally got 'em. Had a bunch of SNOW in the north at first.
Been through the Sawtooth Range 20 years ago, but forgot which state they were in. Counted the squares & IDAHO fit.
DNK: COE, NEER, MILO, SNOW, NRA, IRS...
No one will ever accuse me of being an UBERNERD despite my love of CW. I'm just a word lover.
Had a young co-worker who DID SHOTS at a company party. She spent the rest of the party face down "rug sniffing" at our publisher's house. I was told next morning that she stayed the night. We teased her about her "rug sniffing" hobby. Not funny tho.
Blue Hen: so funny!
CED and fellow cat lovers, check out today's Non Sequitur comic strip.
Good puzzle. Nothing really bad about it. Took a little over 10.5 minutes.
Didn't know Circe or Coe. Not a fan of neer.
Musings
-The SE corner was crammed with ambiguity for me but I “got ‘er done!”
-BUCS – Brady and Gronkowski ride again!
-My lovely bride “GETS” me, but stays anyway
-The Space Shuttle reaching MACH I
-LEAF storage is inside our beautiful new Amish table
-Was that a LEER or an OGLE when I looked at Picard’s YOGA PAIR pix yesterday?
-The greens we played on yesterday were so LUSH I couldn’t putt the ball hard enough
-BOS waited from 1918 – 2004 for a championship and then kept going
-A fabulous TREE HOUSE that is definitely not ADA compliant
-Oops! VITAMIN has two I’s and only one A. TEA BALL sounded okay to me.
-Thanks D-O!
Brian, I think we're saying the same thing...only differently. Ultimate is the last. Penultimate is next to last (or first from last). Antepenultimate is second from last.
Inking in SIREN / CIRCE made a mess .
I'll take the CSO on BOSton. I had to recount:04,07,13,18
I immediately thought of MILO Minderbender of Catch-22. SW had two Naticks needing perps .
Yep, try talking xword to almost anybody. They automatically want to Google any unknowns .
My FIR after a string of careless bad boxes . Tbtimes provides the weeks worth on Sunday so I did this early yesterday.
I kept trying to guess the mystery blog-master. I should have gotten it from "added bonus (at least for me), there is no reveal". BEE VITAMIN helped me figure out the other themers.
WC
Fun puzzle: I got a bit worried when I made my initial pass and didn't come up with many answers, but I was able to piece everything together to FIR. I must admit that the pennies adage I was thinking of was "take a penny, leave a penny" until the write-up set me straight!
The talent that has come out of Second City is remarkable.
Was there an issue with the blog yesterday? Doesnt appear everyone'a contributions were included. There were references made to blog comments that didn't show up in my blog. My own as well. A gap of 3 hours between posts at one point seemed unusual
Ray-O, look again. I don't see any 3-hour gap, and your post is there.
I just finished submitting this comment today ..
Was there an issue with the blog yesterday? Doesn't appear everyone's contributions were included. There were references made to blog comments that didn't show up in my blog. My own as well.....
And I immediately received the following email...
"Message blocked Your message to crosswordc@gmail.com has been blocked. See technical details below for more information. LEARN MORE The response was:
550 5.7.26 Unauthenticated email from aol.com is not accepted due to domain's DMARC policy. Please contact the administrator of aol.com domain if this was a legitimate mail. Please visit https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2451690 to learn about the DMARC initiative. d18sor9586385qkk.67 - gsmtp"
So I just resubmitted both with my email address removed from my blog info
If anyone sees this let me know what's up
Good morning everyone.
WAGS worked today, so eventually solved what started out to be a very daunting puzzle. Had 'scams' before REAMS; and 'ethos' before ETHIC. But the theme was interesting and not hard, so that helped. Ultimately, FIR.
Chortled over D-O's 'Mach's nichts'. From German "Das macht nichts" : That doesn't matter.
Good Morning:
This was a very clever, therefore enjoyable offering. I went astray for a moment or two by entering Irish Sea Serpent instead of Student, but that was soon corrected. I also had Tea Ball (Hi, HG) before Bill. After filling in the second themer, I saw the pattern. I was so proud that I remembered the Iowa campus, i.e., Coe. Swindles=Reams was new to me and caused delay in the SE because of also not knowing Snow or Milo. Thank goodness for perps. I had Opera before Adage, thinking The Three Penny Opera, until I realized the clue called for only two pennies. My favorite C/A was Dinner party insert=Leaf.
Thanks, Kevin, for a fun Friday solve and thanks, DO, for pinch hitting and knocking it over the fence. I knew it was you from the comment about the Bos entry. Your admitted non-interest in sports is well known. ⚾️ 🏈 🏀 ⚽️ I had a good chuckle visualizing a Tool Booth vs a Tooth Brush!
FLN
Ray, I’m still snorting (tee hee) over your Paris Piggy’s Oui, Oui, Oui!
PK, you are much too strong for any such thoughts. Give ‘em Hell, Girl!
oc4beach, you are a good Dad!
Dave4, glad to hear you and Carol are receiving such concerned and protective care and that you’re making the best of a difficult period.
CED, a belated Congratulations to Daughter #3 on her graduation, 👩🎓
Stay safe, all.
Ray-o,
When you created to Google Account to "go blue", did you create it with a GMAIL ID or did you create it with your AOL ID ?
You mean the blue "EMAIL" under the Avatar pic? I used my AOL account. I never use the gmail account
No. When you initially created your Google Account, did you do that with a GMAIL ID ?
I'm not sure what you mean by "So I just resubmitted both with my email address removed from my blog info"
Steve, JzB, Husker, CC, etal write and submit the daily blogs. Everyone else submits posts, or more accurately, comments.
Are you saying that you unchecked "Email follow-up comments to rayex aol dot com" ? (Address obfuscated). And then it worked ok ?
Hola!
Thanks to Kevin for the alphabet run! Only in CWDS do we find such disparate characters as CIRCE and SNOW in the same grid!
As I mentioned before, this is grid-spanning week and I believe today's is as clever as any of the previous ones.
For me, E-MAIL is not a chore; it's deleting the numerous unwanted ones that's laborious.
Hand up for ETHOS before ETHIC. COE set me right.
CSO to Owen at MUSE.
D-Otto:
Thank you! Your analysis was terrific! I especially appreciate your link to Nessum Dorma, one of the most beautiful and moving ARIAs.
TTP:
I wish you a quick and EASY recovery.
CED:
Congratulations on your daughter's graduation! You have a right to be proud of her.
Dave 4:
It's so good to know you are doing well.
Have a safe and healthy day, everyone!
PK, no, I didn't fall off a ladder. It was just all the work to replace the laundry room faucet, paint that part of the laundry room, and then repair the drywall. Then getting ready to paint the other half of the basement. Then we got the water in the basement, and dealing with that. Just a little worn out...
Thanking you and Lucina for your concern, but I'm fine.
A truly nice, hard, Friday puzzle from Kevin. DO did an admirable job subbing for Tom. It took me just over 30 minutes to finish the puzzle correctly without looking anything up or Red Letters.
I think IM and I were on the same wavelength today, because I went through the same sequence that she did in filling in the grid.
IM, thank you for the compliment. You always try to make your kids happy.
DO and Brian: Thanks for the Ultimate discussion. Now I know.
Stay safe everyone.
Wow! A good finish for a Friday puzzle. Needed a pause at Tampa NFL because I first read NHL.
Down fills corrected: maRE/SIRE ETHos/ETHIC Shed/SILO.
It helped to get the theme early.
Great job D.O. Thanks to Kevin & C.C.
MO
I enjoyed this creative theme- thanks Kevin!
There were lots of answers in my wheelhouse today. In 6th grade, our classes put on a play of "The Iliad and the Odyssey" and I portrayed CIRCE the enchantress - best part was turning Odysseus and his men into pigs!
"The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster was a favorite of my kids. It's a great book for adults as well as it is full of wordplay and puns. MILO, who previously thought school was a waste of time, enters the fantasy Kingdom of Wisdom where the two capital cities Dictionopolis and Digitopolis are at odds because they argue about whether words or numbers are more important!
Thanks D-O for subbing today!
It's now been 1 year since the tornado here- there will be a few commemorating events today (with social distancing). Our rebuild where the house was destroyed is coming along, we are hoping to have it done by October!
Yes that is my aol email address. I don't use the gmail account. When I first created my blogger profile I was shy about including my email address. Added recently and that's when I started getting the "message blocked....etc and things got unstable. I dont want to take up blog comment space from the rest of the CCers. Could you email me?
Today's puzzle was devilishly difficult for me, and I was tempted to cheat, but ultimately FIR relying only on the recesses of my brain. I recently encountered "noob" as shorthand for "newbie" and was surprised to see NEWB in today's puzzle as an alternate spelling. Thanks for the workout, Mr. Christian, for the enjoyable write-up, D-O, and for the good company, all y'all.
Your request to educate is as follows:
URLs are the addresses (names) of web sites. Those addresses are translated into IP addresses by your DNS servers. DNS stands for Domain Name Server. IP or Internet Protocol addresses are the way that internet routers find the site that is specified in the URL or Universal Resource Locator.
Got that? Don't you just love initials?
Huh?..wha?...that's my problem I have no idea whatcher talkin' about. Thanks Lee it's now crystal clear.
Hi Gang -
Well done, Tom, pinch hitting for Tom.
Loved Mach's nicht!
Also loved today's theme. Puzzle put up a good fight, but I got it eventually.
SEES crossing GETS with a clecho is a nice touch
Mis-spelt SIRCE. Also NOOB. CLUE before FILL ME IN. Didn't notice the MILO - SILO cross. I like it.
Up early today. We went out and bought some flowers and a couple tomato plants for the patio. Haven't slept well this week and am very tired.
Happy weekend, everybody.
Stay safe. We live in interesting times.
Cool regards!
JzB
I see a fair number of cornerites finished early this morning. Loved the theme once I got a toehold. Wanted ouch before yeow then was able to suss milo and snow which I DNK. Also tried RSVP before leaf and liked Asia and aria in the same puzzle. I see Anon above finished in 10 1/2 mins. Us mere mortals are at least double that and getting slower by the day thanks to Father Time. It's just a blessing to enjoy CWs at all.
Hi, this is Kevin Christian, thanks everyone for your kind comments.
Thank you CC for mentioning when you interviewed me in 2015. That was one of the highlights of my constructing career. It was amazing to be acknowledged by a constructor as talented and prolific as CC.
The idea for this puzzle started with BLUE JAY LENO which ended up on the cutting room floor. The problem was that I decided to standardize on the second half of the mashup starting with a single letter. JAY LENO is JAY, not J, so it would have been inconsistent. But BLUE JAY LENO was the start of the idea.
I like the long downs in this one: DID SHOTS, GOES OVER, UBERNERD, FILL ME IN. I placed the theme answers where I did because that positioning allowed for the best long downs.
Everyone have a good day. I hope you're all doing OK with sheltering in place. Please everyone go for a bike ride or a long walk today if you can, it's good for your health.
Take care. - KevinC
DO: I SEE what you mean that we were saying the same thing on the antepenultimate, etc. BTW, a nice write up.
Well, Fridays are toughies for me, but how nice to get a Kevin Christian puzzle. I got the northeast corner early on, and did really well on the bottom half, so that was satisfying. Thanks, Kevin, and you too, Desper-otto and C.C.
Got ACNE and GETS right away and that gave me the ID TAG. Then got CIRCE--hey, I know my 'Odyssey.' I first wanted ARM for IV site but the other letters made it the logical ICU. A small corner only, but a fun start.
In the southwest corner, I started out with AMFM which gave me AQUA and MUSE. Then AETNA helped me get the rest of that corner, and before long I got QUEEN BEE VITAMIN, my first long theme answer--Yay! And so it went, although it took a bit of cheating before I got it all done. But still a pleasure.
Have a good end of the week, everybody.
Oh yeah...I forgot....today's puzzle
First DO great job on the narrative. Not an easy task.
Great puzzle too .... obviously because I FIR on a FRI.
As DO alluded to ..it was recently NOOB, but today it was NEWB...
Why not NUBE in a future puzzle? The word is an abbreviation of what was already a neologism NEWBIE (or NEWBY. Is NOOBIE or NOOBY next?) IMHO just because the "dictionary" decides to accept some inane neologism doesn't mean it and its variety of spellings should be CW fill. That's taking the easy way out. This is just one example The fill challenge should work both ways
Rant over...leaving quietly ...no need to shove!
🙄
Re the commentary for 24D - the correct spelling of the great tenor aria in Turandot, Puccini's final opera, ends in an 'n' not an 'm'. "No one sleeps tonight". Kevin had it right in the puzzle.
Oops! Typo! Nessun dorma. Thank you, Waseely.
Dang it Desper-Otto!
You know I don't parse things well...
(to backtrack...)
For some reason, the font size of The Blog comments
causes it to appear, & then immediately drop to the bottom
of the comments when I click on "comments."
I actually like this, because as I peruse the Blog at
various times during the day, it always goes straight to
the last comment, & I do not have to scroll.
So,
The 1st thing I saw today was "posted by CC"
I then read about how TTP was unavailable etc...
I was struck by the increased amount of (very excellent) linkage
& thought, TTP must have started this posting, & CC must have finished it...
(no bad reflections of CC's posts,
but CC is not a Link-a-holic like some of us...)
& everyone has there own style...
So I spent the entire reading of the bLog anticipating ways
to comment on this, in various (hopefully humorous) ways.
only to be thwarted at the last moment by
"That does it! C.C. will now make the completed grid magically appear. Desper-otto out."
So now what do I do with all the devious plans I had to respond?
(hmm, maybe Irish Miss is right, I am an Imp...)
Oh well, the following is posted out of Desper-Ation...
Beer making ingredient? Yeast.
Hmm, I wonder? Unleavened beer?
Bluehen got me wondering, maybe that brush thingie
IS a good idea? I think I will order this & give it a try...
after all, it worked for the Romans...
& in conclusion...
P.S.
I thought the brush pic would include its description,
which read,
Super Soft Silicone bristles
suitable for car fenders...
This Friday go had its moments.
Write-overs...ETHIC/ETHOS (hand is up), IMIGHT/IMEASY, OUCH/YEOW.
Here’s some good free advice..
STAY OFF LADDERS.
A friend of a friend saved $125 cleaning out his gutters. Except he slipped off the ladder. Now he’s in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
I just spent $$$ for Leaf Filter gutter covers. They work great and now I’m done paying for gutter cleaning.
I do use a ladder to change HVAC filters and smoke detectors...but no stretching to the sides needed. Plus the ladder is firmly grounded. And I’m so paranoid while doing so. But that’s it.
Anyway....stay safe.
Good Afternoon, all. Somebody's got to take the bullet...DNF. Challenging Friday xword, thank you Kevin. Did pretty well on most of the fill except the NE Quad finished me. Had Irish sea sampler (people that study water take samples) crossing 10d sippedon, arm in 9d and so on. Oolong tea bags anyone. lol Once the wrong entries start (wags) the solve becomes impossible for this guy. D O straightened me out so thanks D O. All in all a good Friday.
Take a walk or a bike ride and have a great day.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Kevin Christian, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Desper-Otto and C.C., for a fine review.
I shot through this puzzle at first and got almost nothing. Then I slowed down and went through it again. Still, almost nothing. Then I really slowed down and looked again.
My first theme to get was TIGER EYE PHONE. Then IRISH SEA STUDENT. OK, now I knew.
Those gave me a few more perps to help. I had tried NORTH SEA at first. But I had no Downs in the NW. With IRISH I now had some usable perps and filled in the NW corner. Same for STUDENT. That basically gave me the NE.
Worked my way down (again) and got the other two themes easily. That gave me more perps to rely upon.
With all of that I was able to fill ion the puzzle. The Theme Answers are what did it. Tough puzzle, but I liked it.
Better weather today. Going outside for a bit.
TTP: Hope you are feeling better. I had to replace all the parts in a toilet tank this week. That took a lot out of me. Laying on the floor, etc. Fixed the toilet. I was happy.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Pardon the ad on this link but it's very comprehensive on the how's and why's of
tcp/ip etc
Nice one Ray-O, now we'll see NEOLOGISM on a Saturday xword. And.. I LIU, thus: "a newly coined word or expression.". Which should have been obvious. ? How newly coined is NEOLOGISM?
WC
Bluehen, your cookout menu sounds yummy! Will you be able to socially distance, or are you guys not worrying about it?
I was sure I couldn’t finish this puzzle without
help, but little by little the murk cleared and I finally FIR! I never worry about how long it takes me - good thing because sometimes more than an hour goes by.
Bluehen, my apologies. My tiny, literal mind didn’t get the joke. My face is scarlet!
Yay, d-o is back online. An AT&T subcontractor is running some new underground wires in the easement beside our lot. And, yup, with the first swipe of the backhoe they severed my internet connection. Spent over 45 minutes (at $.25/minute I should add, since I had to use my flip-fone. Our VOIP phone was, naturally, out of service.) dealing with SoddenLink's automated assistant before I could get switched to an actual person. After another 25 minutes (still at $.25/minute) the lady assured me that they'd have a repair person on site sometime between 9 and 11 next Monday. Luckily (for me) the sub ran to WallyWorld and picked up a short coax cable and a couple of coax connectors. They were able to patch things back together.
Lee, I see it now. I couldn't parse it as IPs, only as IPS. Wouldya believe at one time I was a network administrator? D'oh!
Waseely, of course you're right. To quote myself, "I’m not much of an opera fan (surprise, surprise)." I did like the purdy musik, though.
Kevin, thanx for dropping in. It's always nice to get the viewpoint from the constructor of the day. I enjoyed the puzzle and the chance to do today's write-up.
Bluehen @8:11 - I was going to email you off blog but your email is not on your profile. For hassle free peeling steam your eggs in a vegetable steamer for approx. 14 minutes, you’ll never have a peeling problem again, older or fresh eggs.
As for the puzzle, loved it.
WC the worst of it is that with TTP's help everyone is once again forced to read my nonsense.
Irish Sea Student?
(learning moment...)
Tiger Eye Phone?
another learning moment...
Oolong Tea Bill?
It's all in the name...
Queen Bee Vitamin?
another learning moment...
I did not say it was funny...
Hi All!
Kevin you ornery* person. Theme-ing a Saturday is just not nice.
Thanks for the puzzle and for stopping in.
Yes, I know it's Friday but dang, that SE corner was not going to fill itself. DNF.
Thanks D-O for stepping in. Don't sell yourself short, I've read your expos in the past and you always shine Bro.
WOs: Mare b/f SIRE, EEO b/f NRA -- worse, Geiko [sic and the F from the radio made 55d?.... No, Rich would never...] supported it. What a mess. Oh, and Shed where SILO goes.
ESPs: CIRCE, um [shoot, another DNF - what's 23a/24d?] [double-shoot - see 56xing57d's square]
Fav: Clue for SNL. Lorne knew how to pick 'em form Second City.
Runner-up: MACH c/a... an early toehold for this NERD [I'm not uber, just average - right Joe? :-)]
BigE! Nice avatar (and you went Blue? - cool)
I kept thinking two penny Opera which just didn't work [and I have no idea what that ADAGE means]
HG - check out this TREE House [@3:23 - that was a cute movie]
WC - The irony that Fever Pitch was filmed [and extended!] in '04 is sweet for you BOSox fans. I recall seeing Drew Barrymore [huge crush!] at the end of Game 7 and didn't figure out why until much later... '05 CHISox took the 'Stros :-(
I'm only down to WC's post on TCP/IP (which URLs ≠ IPs and that's the point) but if I don't click submit on this post now...
//I really do need a nap b/f takeout INDIAn tonight (I loves me some NAAN!)...
Cheers, -T
*that's what Mom calls me when I'm being bratty-cute [like you were with the alphabetic-homonyms, Kevin! :-)]
Agnes, FLN: Yep, I'm a tough old bird, but not if faced with a ventilator.
Correction - it was Game 4 in '04 that BOS swept the Cards 1 year b/f CHISox swept the 'Stros. -T
FIR, great theme which I found very helpful.
I had a good porch visit with Alan this morning. We miss hugging.
Sans Beach, thanks for your concern about my sister yesterday. We are not that far along as yet. Later I will contact you. My brother came to help her with her paperwork on Wed. She sneaked out and was later picked up by the police and taken to a hospital. We didn't know where she was or whether she was safe. Thursday morning my brother contacted the police and got just that minimal info. Sister is using HIPPA to keep anyone from knowing where she is. My brother has been so patient and kind and hard working on her behalf. It is difficult to help her.
I liked the theme; really NEATO. The SE corner did me in because I didn't know MILO and SNOW and having VITAMIN didn't help.
I had GETS where SEES should have been and having SIREN instead of CICRE didn't help straighten that out. Finally ACNE fixed it.
I, too, thought of Milo Minderbinder. I also chortled over D-O's "Mach's nichts".
Bill G, mind how you go.
Anon-T - Loved the Tree House clip and the other assorted nonsense.
YR: How scary about your sis. Hugs and prayers for your family.
Got 'em all, tho' didn't think I would.
A lazy Friday.
~ OMK
___________
DR: A 3-WAY near to hand.
The center anagram refers to the danger awaiting at a Golden Oldie station, an...
"EARWORM SITE"!
Another late post, but the veggies and flowers are planted . . . and I am tired and a little sore. But I FIREd this CW while taking a break this afternoon. And I saw the alphabet theme. Thanks for the fun Kevin(and for stopping by), and d'otto.
Did we all want Ethos before ETHIC?
I smiled at SEES crossing GETS (and yes, I penciled them in until perps confirmed).
Favourite clue was for LEAF. The two leaves for my table are in my closet; I would prefer if they could be stored in a compartment under the table.
Good evening all.
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