4D. Downwind: KITE FLYING NECESSITY.
5D. Downgrade: KINDERGARTEN. No kindergarten when I grew up.
10D. Downplay: THE CRUCIBLE. It's an Arthur Miller play. Here, it's an example rather than defining PLAY.
19D. Downstream: YOUTUBE TRANSMISSION.
24D. Downward: JUNE CLEAVER'S HUSBAND
67D. Downcast: THEATER GROUP
70D. Downdraft: ORDER IN A PUB.
Pam seems to be fond of definition puzzle. We just had her "Get Going" earlier this month.
As I mentioned before, definition puzzles tend to have made-up entries. No "all caps" clues for this one. Just an extra "Down" element.
Across:
1. Dodge a conviction: WALK. And 58. Help the bad guys: ABET.
5. Kin kin: KITH.
9. Amazon review rating units: STARS. Alas, still no umeboshi for me. Amazon has another glitch.
14. Gathered dust: SAT.
17. Morlock prey: ELOI.
18. Logical opening: IDEO. Ideological. And 85. Prefix with cortical: ADRENO. 123. Gator tails?: ADES. 26. New start?: NEO. 55. Surgery opening?: NEURO.
19. Swift's brutish race: YAHOOS.
20. Backing: PRO.
21. Easter precursor: LENT.
22. What's expected: NORM. I finally caved in and went to the local Asia store for my salt kelp, umeboshi, fermented tofu, etc. Sadly lots of stuff are out of stock. There are just not enough planes to fly from Asia to the States.
23. Kind of lead a closer often has to protect: ONE-RUN. And 8. One that usually leaves the park: HOMER.
24. Hop on the bandwagon: JOIN.
25. People's 2019 Sexiest Man Alive: LEGEND (John)
27. Drop-down item: MENU.
29. Grammy channel: CBS.
30. Patient person?: NURSE. Nice clue.
31. Sense: FEEL.
33. Copter topper: ROTOR.
35. Tarnished: TAINTED.
37. More than just asks: IMPLORES.
41. Dawn: SUN UP.
43. "Now __ heard it all!": I'VE.
44. Austin __: Tennessee university: PEAY. Wiki says "the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitting Governor Austin Peay, who is further honored with "Governors", the name of the university's athletic teams.
45. Conquest for Caesar: GAUL.
47. Osso __: BUCO.
48. Court break point: RECESS.
52. 1971 New York prison riot site: ATTICA.
54. Phil Collins' longtime band: GENESIS.
56. First name in student loans: SALLIE. Mae.
57. Big 12 Cowboy's rival: SOONER.
59. Buzz creator: BEE.
61. Twilights, in verse: EENS. Twilight is plurable?
62. Vocalist: SONGSTER.
64. Long border range: URAL.
66. Dives into, as a workload: ATTACKS.
69. Dundee denials: NAES.
70. Speak with style: ORATE.
71. Makeshift weapon: SHIV.
72. Luray attraction: CAVERNS.
75. Burgundy and Weasley: RONS.
76. Landed with a line: REELED IN.
80. Novelist Waugh: ALEC.
81. Ref. whose recent updates include "chillax" and "whatev": OED. Oxford English Dictionary.
83. Ward of "FBI": SELA.
86. College URL ending: DOT EDU.
89. Madison in "Splash," e.g.: MERMAID.
91. Acorn coats: TESTAE. No idea. Plural of "testa".
92. Thumbs-ups: YESSES.
93. "... kissed thee __ killed thee": Othello: ERE I.
94. Foreshadow: BODE.
96. Cut down: HEWN.
97. "Told you so!": SEE.
98. Laundry cycle: RINSE.
100. Furthered the development of: NURTURED.
102. Eager beaver's demand: ME FIRST.
106. Leading airplane features?: NOSES.
108. Farm gatherings: EGGS.
109. Red-carpet honorees: ELITE.
110. Thurman of "Pulp Fiction": UMA.
112. Maker of BILLY bookcases: IKEA. Looks nice.
114. Outback offering: RIB-EYE.
118. Small craft: DORY.
119. Acknowledge the general: SNAP TO.
121. Folksy Guthrie: ARLO.
124. "Great" primate: APE.
125. Post-Christmas event: RETURN.
126. "Forbidden" perfume: TABU.
127. One of a seagoing trio: Niña. 68. 127-Across feature: TILDE.
128. Beethoven's "__ Adieux" Sonata: LES.
129. Horses originally developed in a desert climate: ARABS.
130. Sty feed: SLOP.
131. He played Ricky in early TV: DESI. "I Love Lucy".
Down:
1. Competently: WELL.
2. Sheltered, at sea: ALEE.
3. Time-consuming: LONG.
6. Sworn statement: I DO. And 37. Bridge call: I PASS.
7. Stint: TERM.
9. __ Salvador: SAN.
11. Simple choice: A OR B.
12. Haul out of bed: ROUST. And 15. Crop up: ARISE.
13. Phishing target, briefly: SSN.
14. Wear with pride: SPORT.
16. Fit as a fiddle: TONED.
28. Cardinals, e.g.: Abbr.: NOS. Numbers.
30. Skin care brand: NIVEA.
32. Field: LEA.
34. Heavy burden: ONUS.
36. What some put on to feel better about themselves: AIRS.
38. Anti-harassment movement: ME TOO.
39. Anti-apartheid author Alan: PATON. He wrote "Cry, the Beloved Country".
40. Cube makeup: SUGAR.
42. Prepare for a selfie: POSE.
46. Syr. neighbor: LEB.
49. TVA output: ELEC.
50. Descend: SINK.
51. House mtg.: SESS. Session.
53. "Dog Whisperer" Millan: CESAR.
60. Simplify: EASE.
63. Canadian gas: ESSO.
65. Very confused: AT SEA.
72. Suffragist Elizabeth __ Stanton: CADY. Learning moment for me also.
73. Skin soother: ALOE.
74. November honorees: VETS. We're going to the big VA hospital on June 5th. A bit nervous to be there for a few hours. The blood draw area is always a zoo. But we have the KN 95 masks Spitzboov kindly sent to us.
76. Home detector target: RADON.
77. Block: DETER. Our Asia store has this sign.
78. Blown away: IN AWE.
79. Interminably: NO END.
82. Part of FEMA: Abbr.: EMER.
84. Rights movement shorthand: LIB.
87. Maker of Zero-Turn mowers: DEERE.
88. Functions: USES.
90. City that aptly rhymes with "casino": RENO.
95. Word on a bill: DUE.
99. What a mouse may evoke: EEK. Boomer just set up a trap two days ago. We have a troublemaker in the basement.
101. __ Fridays: TGI.
102. Podium handout: MEDAL.
103. Bolt to tie the knot: ELOPE.
104. Sends packing: FIRES.
105. One working on pitches: TUNER. Don G is one.
107. There aren't quite enough of them in musical chairs: SEATS. I don't get this clue.
111. Hari of espionage: MATA.
113. Sea devastated by irrigation projects: ARAL.
115. Actress Falco: EDIE.
116. Urges: YENS.
117. Morales of "Jericho": ESAI.
119. Span. title: SRA.
120. __-80: old computer: TRS.
122. Bit of Wall St. news: LBO.
41 comments:
Good morning!
Had a rough start with PLEA/WALK and ABLY/WELL out in Washington. Got it eventually. Dredged up CADY and PEAY from somewhere, but TESTAE? That had to be the result of a "What the heck am I gonna fit in there?" moment. Nice to see both ELOI and YAHOOS. Have to plead ignorance when it comes to John LEGEND. Who? Still, it all came together in good time, and d-o even got the theme, so life is good. Thanx, Pam and C.C. (Watch the first 15 seconds, C.C., and you'll see why there are too few SEATS.)
SELA: She's no longer in the FBI cast. I always thought it was cute that her name backwards is "DRAW ALES."
NIVEA: I use their aftershave balm. Today was also a styptic pencil day.
BILLY: I confess there are a couple of BILLY bookcases in my office. Wood finish rather than white, though.
TRS: Back in the day, when I still had my Heathkit H-8 with three outboard 100K diskette drives and a 64K memory, we called the Radio Shack offering the "Trash" 80.
Like most Sundays, this was an effort of endurance. The theme was cute. PAK often uses the downs for her themes, so I was ready for this grid. I did not recall Anti-apartheid author Alan: PATON nor Acorn coats: TESTAE. No idea. Plural of "testa" . I knew CADY from its more frequent appearance in the NYT and enjoyed a Shakespeare quote.
Thank you, Pam and C.C.
I leave you with a scene from SPLASH where the nubile Daryl Hannah tells her real name which is not MADISON
At intermission of their basketball games, the Governors' fans chant "Halftime, Halftime, Let's go PEAY".
Good morning, all. Thank you, Pam and thank you, C.C.
Nope. Not today. Not even a FIW. It was a Did Not Finish. That area of TESTAE, ADRENO, and TILDE would not budge. Another day and ADRENO and TILDE would have surfaced, but not today.
Never did figure out any kind theme that would help me with theme entries.
Stared and stared at THE --ER GROUP and could only think of beER and a few other nonsensical entries.
Also stared at K_TH and _DO for too long. Finally put in I for IDO. That made sense for sworn statement so I left it. Still didn't know what KITH was. Looked it up later. New word for me. It looks like a Star Wars word, but that was sITH.
C.C., I use d-CON Poison Bait Station. Works really well. Actually, I don't use the station to trap them in it. The mice get into my shed. Don't have any young'ns or pets, so I just cut a couple of baits in half and throw one down along each wall. Three more goners in the last month or two. In a basement or house, or with little ones or pets around, you would want to use the bait station.
TTP, haven't you ever heard the expression Kith and Kin?
No, Desper-otto, I don't recall ever reading it or hearing it, but thanks for the link. Is that where the expression kithin couthins comes from ? :>)
Struggled with this until "June Cleav" had to be something with Leave It to Beaver and the light came on. Until then it was a slog but soon came together.
Going to be a nice day here. Hope yours is where you are.
Be safe.
JB2
I couldn't figure out what was going on until _OUTUBE TRANSMISSION was in place by perps. By then most of the crosses were filled on the other downs. THE CRUCIBLE was 100% perps. I'm glad because it was an unknown. But it was a DNF today. I correctly guessed the E in TESTAE but the unknown ADRENO crossing the TILDE got me. I wanted TILLER for the NINA and knew it wasn't TILER. I just left that square open. No RED letters in the newspaper. I see TTP had the same problem.
CADY, CESAR, PATON, THE CRUCIBLE & TESTAE unknowns solved by perps.
Changed SALUTE to SNAP TO.
This took me longer than any puzzle this week. When I caught on I really liked the theme. It took me a while to realize that DOWN was not part of the definition and only referred to writing the answer top to bottom. After that it was easier. Finally FIR w/o help.
PEAY was new to me. ADRENO and TESTAE needed ESP but upon seeing them I remembered having heard of them.
I used a word processing typewriter with discs to write my master's thesis. My first real computer experience was with my students using TRS 80s. We called them TRASH 80s, too. The school's first attempts at using computers were quite fumbling.
The sexiest man alive? YMMV
I read "Cry the Beloved Country", a great book, long ago. I will have to reread it.
JUNE CLEAVERS HUSBAND opened the flood gates, but FIW. Being a sailor, I knew tiller had two L's, but entered TILer for TILDE anyway.
Grew up and lived in Tennessee for many years (many years ago). There is an Austin PEAY highway in addition to the university. I promise I passed TN history class, but never knew until reading C.C.s expo why the name. Still, I had to dig deep to get the correct spelling.
Thank you C.C. & Pam.
MO
Hi Y'all! CRUCIBLE is a good word to describe this puzzle. Thanks for a learning adventure, Pam. So many proper nouns took a lot of thought, but I knew most of them. Lot of groans when I finally filled the themes and studied the meanings.
Thank you, C.C., for 'splainin' stuff.
I knew Austin PEAY, but couldn't remember the spelling. Remember learning the name during NCAA March Madness one year. I was amazed that anyone wanted to go to PEAY (pronounced PEE) U. Didn't know it was in Tennessee tho.
Never heard of Luray CAVERNS. LIU: In Virginia. I thought at first it might be Luray, KS which has cement statues made over a hundred years ago by the artist, who can be viewed post mortem in a glass tomb. (Or at least could be 50+ years ago when I was there. Creepy place.
Also DNK: TESTAE, ELOOI, PATON, ADRENO but the latter filled without reading the clue.
EEK: the year I had a mouse invasion because of a poor fitting door, I caught five with glue traps, none with conventional traps, and they ate lots of bait. I did a lot of EEKing that year. Shudder!
PK,
Those durn mice have cost me plenty. Only in my shed now, but the same thing years ago when I had garage doors that weren't fitted properly.
One night years ago, I went town to the garage and opened the man cave refrigerator. In the darkness, I thought I saw something fly across the ceiling. I blew it off as a reflection or something from the refrigerator light. Some time later, maybe a month or so, the same thing.
Turns out I had bats living in my garage. One area was in the cavern like setting (for them) of where the steel i-beam ran from the front to back of the garage. It was closed in with drywall, except for one small spot near the garage doors. I also had them living behind a big painted sports sign that was hung on one of the sidewalls with french cleats. You wouldn't think large ants could get behind it, but bats did.
Had to rip off the roof of the garage and readjust the location of the i-beam that when I did my addition. I made certain that there were no openings in any of the drywall and had tight fitting garage doors installed.
Musings
-Since THE CRUCIBLE is a “down” play I thought that might be the gimmick but it was just directional
-I remember where I was when OJ got to WALK
-Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s HOMER records were TAINTED by PED’s
-How many Grammy winners did you know?
-PATIENT? We pulled into a McDonalds yesterday but the line was 12 cars deep…
-Caesar captured Lutetia Parisiorum before it became known as Paris
-Landing prey with a fishing line is not PHISHING
-Joann picked EGGS as opposed to gathering them
-I had a 2 ½ hr odyssey to RETURN golf shoes from Amazon last week
-Have we ever had ARABS clued as Bedouins?
-There seems to be NO END to the number of grackles at our feeders but they will be gone by July 4th
-A teeny tiny hole let mice into our garage. We had it fixed and used traps baited with peanut butter to dispose of them
Woke up with a headache -- must be the Santa Ana winds again -- and today's puzzle didn't ease the pain, but FIR in one sitting. Yellowrocks wrote: "It took me a while to realize that DOWN was not part of the definition and only referred to writing the answer top to bottom." I didn't grasp that until Yellowrocks wrote it! I was thinking that kindergarten is a low (down?) grade, that The Crucible is kind of a downer, and that Ward Cleaver must have been kind of a downer, too. Thanks for the headache relief, Yellowrocks!
Hello everyone.
No serious problems with the solve. The stack of ADRENO and TESTAE was Natick-like, but the perps were friendly. Liked the long downs; they helped knit the puzzle together.
NIÑA - Found out that was not her official name but a nickname which was probably a pun on the name of her owner.
A Sunday toughie, but clever if a bit tricky in lots of places. Still, thanks, Pam, and always enjoy your commentary, C.C.
I got pretty good chunks all over the place but the theme answers just eluded me. But lots of neat moments--my favorite being NURSE FOR 'Patient person.' SUNUP was a nice answer for 'Dawn,' and it was a treat to see the OTHELLO quote. Got EDIE and UMA without any problem, and even figured out that those desert horses were likely to be ARABS. So, fun puzzle, thanks again, Pam.
And have a nice Sunday, everybody.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Pam Amick Klawitter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
Caught the theme with KINDERGARTEN, early on. The others came forth as I looked at them. That did help with the puzzle.
Took me a while to pick up on THE CRUCIBLE. Finally got enough perps.
Wanted AVAST for Bridge Call. Finally got IMPLORES. Then I thought of the card game and I PASS. Oh well.
Wanted SALUTE at 119A. After a couple perps got SNAP TO.
PEAY was unknown. Perped and Wagged it. Learned from the puzzle responses that he is pronounced PEE. So, I learned two things with this. His name and how to pronounce it.
Supposed to be 84 degrees today. I plan on some work outside, but not much.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Hola!
This was fairly easy but a LONG slog just because Sunday puzzles are but I love it! Thank you, Pam.
Thank you all for the explanation of PEAY of which naturally I've never heard; ADRENO is another and I'm not sure of ever seeing TESTAE. In college botany we were required to diagram many types of plants, seeds, etc., and I may have seen that.
Like Misty I find it a treat to see some Shakespeare and Beethoven, too. We women owe a great deal to Elizabeth CADY Stanton. She and her fellow suffragettes endured criticism, humiliation and even jail so that we might vote. And I always vote, in local as well as national elections or issues whether it's on bonds, councilors, mayors, governor, etc. I also encourage all my KITH and kin to vote. As soon as the younger set turn 18 I advise them to register.
It took a while for the light bulb to turn on at TILDE mostly because I was thinking of the physical ship, sails, masts or other.
Thank you, again, Pam. I just did one of her puzzles in my puzzle book and last night I started one by John Lampkin. They are very LONG and I watched Downton Abbey so still have to finish it.
Thank you, C.C. I hope it won't be too long before you can find the products you are looking for. I so enjoy your insights and enthusiasm.
Have a sunny day, everyone; if you don't I'll send you some sunshine from here. We have plenty to spare!
Sunday workout. Thanks for the fun, Pam and C.C.
This CW took a while to finish. I had more luck in the south and worked up. Maybe that's why it took me so long to see that Down was just the direction for the themers.
Hand up for Ably before WELL, and thinking of masts, sails before TILDE.
And of course, this Canadian had several disadvantages today because of lack of American info, like CADY, PEAY, CBS, SOONER, PATON (the general I would have known!), SALLIE. SSNS I have learned here! But I was thrown a bone with ESSO!
Plus I was working online with no newspaper today , and I found the platform a bit clunky.
Beautiful afternoon to sit out and enjoy my back patio.
Wishing you all a great day.
New to this site. What does perp/perps mean?
Perpendicular, that is the down fill.
Anonymous at 2:08 - perps means words that are perpendicular to the words you are trying to solve. If you look on the blog under "Olio" in the right hand column - click on Comments Section Abbrs to see many of the common abbreviations used in the blog comments.
FLN: Bill, the Farsiide cartoon with the bullseye on the deer is my all time favorite Gary Larson cartoon.
Thankyou Pam and C.C. for an enjoyable but looooong workout. I almost FIR and could see the finish line in sighr, but ADRENO, TESTAE and THEATER GROUP did me in so FIW after all.
Sorry. “Sight” not sighr.
This was a fun puzzle - and quicker than some Sundays once I got the "down"drift gimmick.
A few years ago I read Alan PATON's "Cry, the Beloved Country" set in Apartheid South Africa- it was excellent. Our book club every year picks a classic that we should have read somewhere in our lives but never got around to. Apartheid was a hot topic during my college years where the students were protesting the university's investments in company's that were perpetuating apartheid in SA- all the signs were some variation of "Divest"
I got a kick out of JUNE CLEAVERS HUSBAND for a long fill- bet that is a first for a crossword.
Thanks CC - hopefully the VA visit will not be too stressful - I know at our offices they have the lab and the patient waiting rooms with large spaces between the chairs and everyone gets their temperature checked and questions to answer to come in the door.
Thanks Pam for the clever puzzle!
Checking in late here. Oh so close to a FIT, but not to be. It went fairly fast for a Sunday ending back up at the NW. I refused to let go of ably at 1D and couldn't suss kite at 4D. Such is life. At least there's Monday to rule over.
Should be FIR above.
Hand up I kept wanting DOWN to somehow mean something. My first theme solve was THE CRUCIBLE. Hand up I thought it was because it was a "DOWN" play. When I realized that was irrelevant the other theme answers flowed fairly easily.
But the puzzle was almost spoiled for me with the utterly un-guessable cross of the utterly unknown PEAY and PATON. I did throw a dart and WAG it correctly to FIR. Learning moment about PATON, so it was worthwhile.
No IKEA in our small town. Learning moment about BILLY Bookcases.
I had no hope of knowing who is a current "Sexiest Man Alive". But I was surprised to realize I knew LEGEND. He was in "LaLa Land" which we did see.
I am very familiar with Elizabeth CADY Stanton. There was a dark side to the suffragist movement. Some suffragists worked together with black activists to gain the vote for blacks and for women. But Stanton and some other suffragists said "We educated, virtuous white women are more worthy of the vote" than "degraded black men". This may have delayed voting rights for both by decades.
Here is an article giving this dark side of Elizabeth CADY Stanton on the 100 year anniversary of women getting the right to vote.
Husker Gary thank you for that video of Madison the MERMAID telling her real name. I had no idea!
Here our family was at LURAY CAVERNS back in 1966
My brother was just ten years old, but he already knew he wanted to be a geologist. He persuaded our parents to take us there. For me it was a memorably magical experience.
From yesterday:
Lucina and Wilbur Charles thank you for explaining that it was desper-otto who wrote up the Friday puzzle. For some reason it still shows it as being written up by CC.
Jayce and Wilbur Charles glad to know you also had SHAVES before SCARES. Since I had no idea about "The Office" and KEMPER I thought it might have been a name ending in V.
Wilbur Charles yes, way cool about my friend's adhesive to RESHOE horses. In my surgery two weeks ago I was glued back together with adhesive, too! I am still waiting for the glue to come off and not mess with it. Do tell more about the late adhesive night ads!
In many ways it is disappointing how little progress there has been with adhesives. The biggest progress was in making WEAK adhesives to create Post-It notes! I have a story about that.
Fav: SOONER!
Eldest is awaiting news on her return
SONGSTER, as a major is not a pandemic-friendly path to degre
//on a walk this week, I saw an OU flag hanging... Lady of the house was chatting w/ someone on the lawn...
Me: BOOOOOOMER!
Woman: SOONER!
Youngest: Really dad?
Me: *Big Smile*
DW: Honey...
Youngest: Wait, am I the only one in the family that hasn't gone to OU?
Sunday Lurk Say...
Hi All!
I leave my garage wide-open [not the bay door, just window & doors] and have some mice occasionally. I leave them alone until they go main-house or mess around w/ the garden.
Then
It's game on...
//I won't use sticky traps 'cuz, once, I saw a mouse's leg in it - it was very grim.
I need a cat(?)
//We have a Covid-lock-in emotional-support baby red-ear'd turtle.
S/he's not much of a mouser it turns out.
TTP - LOL Kithin'... Brilliant!
Lucina - You will be pleased to read, Youngest will be 18 in Sept. She'd done all her research and reached out to her KITH on when they too can register leading up to...
I don't care how they vote [actually, I already know] but knowing they will *grins*
Wait, PEAY is pronounced 1st letter only?
...
*snicker*
Wendybird - All you have to say is "Cat Fud" or "Bummer of a Birthmark" and it will be beer out the nose from KIN.
//Pop actually wrote Cat Fud on the container for his garage cats' kibble.
Y'all have a great afternoon.
Cheers, -T
I loved this puzzle. Such admirable and imaginative construction. And the nifty extra theme layer is that Downdraft, Downgrade, etc. are all actual words in themselves. Yes, I found it to be a challenging solve, but Pam's puzzles usually are. I love her work.
Hand up for having SALUTE at first. Last to fill was the A in PATON and PEAY, which was a purely lucky guess since I didn't know either of them. I'll remember them now, though, I think. Fave clue was for NURSE.
I did not know that Twilight, or EEN, is plurable, and frankly I still don't think so.
I don't think I'll ever confuse TESTAE with Testes. At least I hope not.
Since I have been familiar with the expression "It does not BODE well" for most of my life, for many years I have pronounced the BODE plot in electronics the same way. Only about 15 years ago did I learn it is pronounced "Bodie."
Once LW and I went to the Outback restaurant and had RIBEYE steaks. We were both whelmed. The same steaks at Flemings were orders of magnitude better.
Fond memories of my old TRS-80. My old Commodore PET, too. (I'm guessing "TRS" comes from "Tandy Radio Shack").
Take good care of yourselves, all.
TTP: I suppose you know bats often carry rabies? The people in the house behind me put up a metal box on the side of their shop building. I didn't know what it was until I saw a picture of a "bat box" (here?). Now it has been there long enough that there are yellow-gray streaks of "guano" down the side of the building. Not a pleasing sight. Never had one in the house -- just mice.
One year on the farm, I had one behind my washer in the kitchen. I could hear it scratching around. I'd sing to keep up my courage when I washed dishes and this squeaky little mouse voice would sing with me. Very unnerving. Kids thought it was great.
AnonT: If a mouse traumatizes me by coming in my house, I don't have any humane sympathy for them and what they might encounter in a glue trap. Filthy things!
Hi everybody.
I finished the puzzle with a little help. Even though I got the long downs, I couldn't really make sense of them. I guess I'll try going back and rereading CC's analysis.
Our family often drove toward and through the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia on the way to somewhere east of there. I would see all the highway signs advertising the Luray Caverns but my parents seemed to view them as a crowded tourist trap. I do think we may have stopped once there or somewhere else of a similar ilk. I enjoyed our family trips except for the time I spent sitting in the back being carsick.
Our kids occasionally had a mouse or rat for a pet. I hated seeing them suffer. If we had to get rid of them, I much preferred a sudden snap for a quick end.
Good evening, all. Wasn't going to comment today because of the late start. Thanks Pam and thanks CC for sorting it out. Bill G, just drop the "down" out of the cluing and it will all make sense. I didn't get that from CC's but further comments clued me in. DNF today as I couldn't figure out that the "down" wasn't needed. Sad because a lot of the fill was kind but without the long fills, it was a no go. I did have "on tap in a pub" but just couldn't make sense out of the down. Stayed with this one until I couldn't take it anymore. :o) Thanks to all of you that comment on this blog as it really does help to understand the cluing and retain for another day.
Hope the long weekend is going good for everyone.
Sansbeach: Aha! Thank you very much. It seems so simple now that you cleared the cobwebs out of my brain.
Enjoyed the write-up, CC, and thanks, Pam. A head-scratcher until June Cleavers Husband showed up (Anglicized last name of my Czech one).
Re mice discussion. My dad, who only was able to get a 6th grade education (had to work in the fields starting in 1917), came up with another one of his ingenious electrical “inventions” (certainly none of which would have passed code even back then). We didn’t have cats on the farm, controlling the mice population. Using an old electrical cord, he attached the bare cord wires to a small tin circle and to a larger tin one. He put the smaller one in an ice cream carton lid, along with some cheese, and plugged the cord into the outlet at night. A fairly humane mouse-zapper. Miracle our farmhouse didn’t burn down.
TxMs: so nice to read you again! LOL your pop's "new and improved" mouse trap
//That was down near Pearland IIRC, no? I assume this was after the REA...
Do tell, you doing OK? If you need anything let me know
//seriously, we're close enough I can actually help.
SansBeach - It's never too late to ruminate... The Internet is up all night and The Corner is usually open.
Coffee Bill G.?
//nice to read you to friend
PK - If things are Mice or Men,...
every now and again I see one in the garage.
Once, I saw one in the kitchen
It was on like Donkey Kong.
little bastards...
//at least they are fellow mammals - roaches are a different class of evil
Huuuummm...
I can't close on that...
Let's think of something happy.
//channels CED w/ my ESP...
Mom told me how to pot-up potted meat tonight
So there's that.
Oh! The TRS 'Trash'-80*. Little Bro's friend's Big Bro had one. I played HHGTTG on it. Hated the keyboard, I did. Apple's ][e was better :-)
Cheers, -T
*Based on Zilog's Z80 microprocessor. Ask me nice and I'll pull a Picard and get a pic [I know I have a Z80 in the garage unless the mouse got it(?)]
Anon-T, your memory’s pretty good. Actually Pearland, back when, was an “upscale northern” community, compared to Angleton/Danbury (yikes), but all three are in Brazoria County. But now some of its newer residential subdivisions might be encroaching up to Harris County lines. I’m good, Tony, thanks for your thoughtful generous offer! Never enjoyed malls, shopping, movie theaters, “fine dining”, etc. even before I retired, and so I don’t miss ‘em now. But I do miss Houston teams’ televised games, even if it’s the Astros … well, kinda. Hey, read in the Chronicle yesterday that gardening boosts the mood-elevating brain chemicals, equal to running and working out. So maybe mention that to your DW after you tend to your veggie/herb garden before flopping on the couch? :)
AnonT:
Good for your youngest! I applaud that action.
Oh, my goodness. It's so dangerous for me to be home and be bored. I just spent over $200 on new dishes!! I have been thinking about it because the two sets I now own have only 8 settings and my family now consists of 10 people so more are needed. Please don't remind me that I could mismatch. Remember I am OCD and that would never do!
Yesterday I put up flags on vet graves (as I do every vets and memorial day). Alste breakfast at 9 a.m. coffee and LAT puzzle at 10 a.m. It's now 1:30 a.m. (almost). Need I say, this puzzle did me in.Got the theme about dinner time but torched it in the fireplace only 3/4 complete. Stiff neck and back, high blood pressure ...is it really worth it? I know to here will be those who say"Seek out simpler puzzles". LAT puzzles have been my Sunday companion for over fifty years. I refuse to be defeated by them. They have kept my brain working and kept me up with the latest trends. No, I'll continue trudging through them but I again warn you. The "puzzling crowd" is growing ever smaller, partly because of entries like today's. In the not too distant future there may well be an end to them due to budget cuts due to waning interest in trudging through toughies like today's.
Enjoyed the write-up CC. The musical chair clue is in reference to a kids game that makes you find a seat when the music stops. Always one less seat than people playing. Keeps going until there is only one chair and two people playing.
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