Theme: Salad Days - scrambles of five different green veggies as the reveal tells us:
53A. Mesclun, and a hint to the circled squares: MIXED GREENS
and so we find:
16A. Casual appetizer: CHIPS AND DIP. Spinach.
23A. Tool for flooring jobs: TILE CUTTER. Lettuce.
30A. Designated spaces for some riders: BIKE LANES. Kale.
38A. Opening: INAUGURAL. Arugula.
47A. Rewards earner, perhaps: CARDHOLDER. Chard.
A nice theme from Blake. It's puzzles like these that need the circles to explain the reveal - the ones where the theme words are not scrambled are fun to hunt down, but the scrambles would be very tough to find without some guide. The theme obviously doesn't help with the solve, but you have a few minutes' bonus to go treasure hunting. Nice work with the theme, I enjoyed the scambles. The rest of the puzzle didn't have a whole lot of sparkle, but you can't win 'em all.
As for all the Food! on display here - it's a shame to consign all these greens to a salad - spinach and mushroom curry is one of my favorites, lettuce as a wrap for larb beats the heck out of it just being a quiet salad ingredient (and in a cheeseburger, let's not be a snob here, what is a burger without shredded lettuce?), Arugula - or rocket in the UK - what a great bed for smoked chicken, cous-cous and spicy stomato sauce. It brings pepper, green and crunch. Chard! If you can't get collard greens, here's your answer, and you can pickle the red stalks. What am I missing? Kale. Ah, Kale. dear kale. Not for human consumption, let's all admit it.
Recipes available on request!
So back to the puzzle. The numbers when you crunch them, are firmly in the "Monday" category but the theme just about carried it through. The fill felt a little stale and skewed heavily towards 3- and 4-letter words.
Let's go seek. Without hiding.
Across:
1. __ de deux: ballet dance: PAS. The first three-letter fill, and a fill-in-the-blank too. Don't worry, you've only got another 35 three-letter words to go.
4. Spell: TRANCE
10. Rite opener?: AM I. Really? OK, not my thing. If someone asked me "Am I rite?" I would ask how old they were.
13. "Fire away!": ASK
14. Web banners: HEADERS
15. Auerbach of the Black Keys: DAN. We meet another AUER further down, so thank you crosses for both, unknown to me.
18. Tap quaff: ALE. Now you're talking.
19. Sunday cry: AMEN!
20. Sneaky critic: SNIPER
22. Sweater mishap: SNAG
27. Extra qtrs.: O/T'S
28. Game fish: BONITO. I keep dried bonito flakes, or katsobushi in the pantry. I put 'em on rice with soy sauce and sesame seeds, and make dashi with katsobushi and kombu - the dried kelp.
29. __ boots: GO-GO
32. One of 12, usually: JUROR
33. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD
34. Natural drier: AIR
35. Concrete support rod: REBAR
44. Qatari chief: EMIR
45. Masses: DROVES
46. Source of iron: ORE. Or spinach!
49. "And another thing ... ": ALSO ...
50. Breaks up: ENDS IT
51. Wheel connector: AXLE
52. Beaver creation: DAM
59. GPS calculation: ETA. Apparently you can get an Estimated Time of Arrival from your Global Positioning System device. I'm sure that's really important. At least it's a change from an airline clue. I'm tired of the fill though.
60. Folded breakfast fare: OMELETS. I think my favorite omelet is spinach, mushroom and brie. Lots of food to get my teeth into today!
61. Conk out: DIE
62. Place to relax: DEN. Probably not very relaxing if the lions are home.
63. War zone lifesavers: MEDICS
64. LG rival: RCA. Not strictly true, RCA does not exist as a company any more. The branding was sold to Technicolor and Sony Music by GE when the division was closed down.
Down:
1. D.C. funding group: P.A.C. Political Action Committee. I make no comment.
2. Her 2002 self-titled album debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200: ASHANTI
3. Protection on the slopes: SKI MASK. Not a bad alternative protection to wear in the store right now.
4. Afternoon brew: TEA
5. Sought office: RAN
6. Total: ADD
7. Former Royals manager Yost: NED
8. Shortening brand: CRISCO. Funny, just yesterday I was looking up shortening, lard and schmalz.
9. College sports channel: ESPN U.
10. Charger accessory: ADAPTOR. I had ADAPTER and apparently was wrong. Oh well. Was I wrong?
11. Cause of some tough-guy behavior: MALE EGO
12. Mistakenly: IN ERROR
14. Channel that can be costly to watch: HSN. Nice clue. Whenever I've had the misfortune to come across the Home Shopping Network I've never had the slightest urge to buy whatever is being shilled. I almost enjoy watching to see what outlandish claims are made for the stuff they sell. How do they not get sued for misrepresentation?
17. Cribbage piece: PEG
21. Geek Squad employee, for short: I.T. GURU
22. __ story: SOB
23. Creep: TOAD
24. Cozy stopover: INN
25. Shakira's "Hips Don't __": LIE
26. Aliens, briefly: ETS
28. Make unclear: BLUR
31. Some last-minute birthday greetings: E-CARDS. Handy things when you forget a birthday or anniversary.
32. Dances for leprechauns: JIGS
34. Violinist Leopold: AUER
35. Drew back: RECEDED
36. Exude (from): EMANATE
37. 2014 Best Picture: BIRDMAN
38. Like offline interaction, initially: I.R.L. "In Real Life". "Dude, I have to get off Instagram, I have a test tomorrow IRL".
39. Doze: NOD
40. Urban way: Abbr.: AVE.
41. Burrito feature?: ROLLED "R". We just had Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday. We had tacos al pastor, but burritos will feature on the "leftovers" menu shortly. Yum!
42. "__ and Old Lace": ARSENIC. 1944 movie starring Cary Grant. The sceptics might wonder what he was doing making movies when WWII was heading into a critical period. Did he have flat feet or something?
43. Celestial feline: LEO
45. Complete a sentence: DO TIME
48. Mouthed sideline greeting: HI MOM!
49. Log splitter: AXE
51. MGM motto word: ARS
54. Chose on a form, with "in": X'ED
55. New Haven alum: ELI
56. Present mo.: DEC. Fun play on words.
57. Classic muscle cars: GT'S
58. __ salt: SEA. I have Maldon salt from the UK and Fleur de Sel Guérand from France in my pantry.
I guess that's about it!
Please stay safe. Some states are "re-opening" but please remember that the virus is not contained, there is insufficent or inaccurate testing, there is no adequate treatment and there is no vaccine. Use your best judgment!
Steve
53A. Mesclun, and a hint to the circled squares: MIXED GREENS
and so we find:
16A. Casual appetizer: CHIPS AND DIP. Spinach.
23A. Tool for flooring jobs: TILE CUTTER. Lettuce.
30A. Designated spaces for some riders: BIKE LANES. Kale.
38A. Opening: INAUGURAL. Arugula.
47A. Rewards earner, perhaps: CARDHOLDER. Chard.
A nice theme from Blake. It's puzzles like these that need the circles to explain the reveal - the ones where the theme words are not scrambled are fun to hunt down, but the scrambles would be very tough to find without some guide. The theme obviously doesn't help with the solve, but you have a few minutes' bonus to go treasure hunting. Nice work with the theme, I enjoyed the scambles. The rest of the puzzle didn't have a whole lot of sparkle, but you can't win 'em all.
As for all the Food! on display here - it's a shame to consign all these greens to a salad - spinach and mushroom curry is one of my favorites, lettuce as a wrap for larb beats the heck out of it just being a quiet salad ingredient (and in a cheeseburger, let's not be a snob here, what is a burger without shredded lettuce?), Arugula - or rocket in the UK - what a great bed for smoked chicken, cous-cous and spicy stomato sauce. It brings pepper, green and crunch. Chard! If you can't get collard greens, here's your answer, and you can pickle the red stalks. What am I missing? Kale. Ah, Kale. dear kale. Not for human consumption, let's all admit it.
Recipes available on request!
So back to the puzzle. The numbers when you crunch them, are firmly in the "Monday" category but the theme just about carried it through. The fill felt a little stale and skewed heavily towards 3- and 4-letter words.
Let's go seek. Without hiding.
Across:
1. __ de deux: ballet dance: PAS. The first three-letter fill, and a fill-in-the-blank too. Don't worry, you've only got another 35 three-letter words to go.
4. Spell: TRANCE
10. Rite opener?: AM I. Really? OK, not my thing. If someone asked me "Am I rite?" I would ask how old they were.
13. "Fire away!": ASK
14. Web banners: HEADERS
15. Auerbach of the Black Keys: DAN. We meet another AUER further down, so thank you crosses for both, unknown to me.
18. Tap quaff: ALE. Now you're talking.
19. Sunday cry: AMEN!
20. Sneaky critic: SNIPER
22. Sweater mishap: SNAG
27. Extra qtrs.: O/T'S
28. Game fish: BONITO. I keep dried bonito flakes, or katsobushi in the pantry. I put 'em on rice with soy sauce and sesame seeds, and make dashi with katsobushi and kombu - the dried kelp.
29. __ boots: GO-GO
32. One of 12, usually: JUROR
33. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD
34. Natural drier: AIR
35. Concrete support rod: REBAR
44. Qatari chief: EMIR
45. Masses: DROVES
46. Source of iron: ORE. Or spinach!
49. "And another thing ... ": ALSO ...
50. Breaks up: ENDS IT
51. Wheel connector: AXLE
52. Beaver creation: DAM
59. GPS calculation: ETA. Apparently you can get an Estimated Time of Arrival from your Global Positioning System device. I'm sure that's really important. At least it's a change from an airline clue. I'm tired of the fill though.
60. Folded breakfast fare: OMELETS. I think my favorite omelet is spinach, mushroom and brie. Lots of food to get my teeth into today!
61. Conk out: DIE
62. Place to relax: DEN. Probably not very relaxing if the lions are home.
63. War zone lifesavers: MEDICS
64. LG rival: RCA. Not strictly true, RCA does not exist as a company any more. The branding was sold to Technicolor and Sony Music by GE when the division was closed down.
Down:
1. D.C. funding group: P.A.C. Political Action Committee. I make no comment.
2. Her 2002 self-titled album debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200: ASHANTI
3. Protection on the slopes: SKI MASK. Not a bad alternative protection to wear in the store right now.
4. Afternoon brew: TEA
5. Sought office: RAN
6. Total: ADD
7. Former Royals manager Yost: NED
8. Shortening brand: CRISCO. Funny, just yesterday I was looking up shortening, lard and schmalz.
9. College sports channel: ESPN U.
10. Charger accessory: ADAPTOR. I had ADAPTER and apparently was wrong. Oh well. Was I wrong?
11. Cause of some tough-guy behavior: MALE EGO
12. Mistakenly: IN ERROR
14. Channel that can be costly to watch: HSN. Nice clue. Whenever I've had the misfortune to come across the Home Shopping Network I've never had the slightest urge to buy whatever is being shilled. I almost enjoy watching to see what outlandish claims are made for the stuff they sell. How do they not get sued for misrepresentation?
17. Cribbage piece: PEG
21. Geek Squad employee, for short: I.T. GURU
22. __ story: SOB
23. Creep: TOAD
24. Cozy stopover: INN
25. Shakira's "Hips Don't __": LIE
26. Aliens, briefly: ETS
28. Make unclear: BLUR
31. Some last-minute birthday greetings: E-CARDS. Handy things when you forget a birthday or anniversary.
32. Dances for leprechauns: JIGS
34. Violinist Leopold: AUER
35. Drew back: RECEDED
36. Exude (from): EMANATE
37. 2014 Best Picture: BIRDMAN
38. Like offline interaction, initially: I.R.L. "In Real Life". "Dude, I have to get off Instagram, I have a test tomorrow IRL".
39. Doze: NOD
40. Urban way: Abbr.: AVE.
41. Burrito feature?: ROLLED "R". We just had Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday. We had tacos al pastor, but burritos will feature on the "leftovers" menu shortly. Yum!
42. "__ and Old Lace": ARSENIC. 1944 movie starring Cary Grant. The sceptics might wonder what he was doing making movies when WWII was heading into a critical period. Did he have flat feet or something?
43. Celestial feline: LEO
45. Complete a sentence: DO TIME
48. Mouthed sideline greeting: HI MOM!
49. Log splitter: AXE
51. MGM motto word: ARS
54. Chose on a form, with "in": X'ED
55. New Haven alum: ELI
56. Present mo.: DEC. Fun play on words.
57. Classic muscle cars: GT'S
58. __ salt: SEA. I have Maldon salt from the UK and Fleur de Sel Guérand from France in my pantry.
I guess that's about it!
Please stay safe. Some states are "re-opening" but please remember that the virus is not contained, there is insufficent or inaccurate testing, there is no adequate treatment and there is no vaccine. Use your best judgment!
Steve
65 comments:
DNF. Complete natick at ASHANtI + OtS, [I still don't know what an OT is] and the SW corner stumped me because I misspelt EMeNATE, had rTe instead of ETA, didn't know BIrDMan, and found the clues too vague (to me, with insufficient or incorrect perps) for REcEDed, carDHOLDER, and dEn.
I did, however, unscramble the theme before I got to the reveal. So there's that.
An EMIR who ruled the QATARI
Essayed to play the guitar; he
Sounded so bad
His wives DROVE him past Chad,
Now he wanders the far Kalahari!
A LOG SPLITTER was young Abe Lincoln
But while using his AXE, he was thinkin':
Maybe lawyers split hairs,
But the Forefather's heirs
Shouldn't split their country, thought Lincoln!
{B+, A-.}
Good morning solvers!
Overnight shift tonight, just finishing up at 6:00 am and I'm sleepy. Next day's paper gets delivered here at the hotel around 5 am so I thought I'd do it now and be among the first to say hey to y'all.
Not to be a SNIPER, but some issues with the puzzle today! I'm usually a pretty ace speller, but I was stumped and confused by ADAPTOR which I have forever spelt ADAPTER. I was similarly defeated by EMANATE in which I would have, IN ERROR, spelt eminate. And is to be ROLLED really a feature?
What the heck are GOGO boots?
DOZE is to snooze or nap or space out. NOD is something you do with your head to affirm something. "Doze, with off" might have been a clearer clue, especially for a dummy like me.
As you can see, Vermontah struggled a bit with the puzzle today but had fun anyway in his sleepy night-shift TRANCE.
Hope you had more luck than I!
And BTW, what does FIR mean? Is it like in golf? Finished in regulation? Finished it right? Fled in recrimination? Someone enlighten me por favor!
Owen, funny limericks!
I have a friend who has a tee-shirt that says "I am the man from Nantucket!"
Good morning!
Saw the circles, read the reveal, and was too lazy to spend time figuring out those green thingies. Sezst Lah Vye. Plus, this was a DNF due to that pesky O in what should'a been ADAPTER. Figured GEGO boots were a fad thing that had passed me by. I looked skeptically at your sceptic, Steve, but I'll cut you some slack as a cross-ponder. Thanx for the challenge, Blake, and the foodie expo, Steve. (You were right-on about kale.)
ROLLED R: Vermontah, that's a "feature" of the pronunciation of burrito. So far as FIR, you were right the second time. You should check out Abbrs in the Olio section on the R-H side of the blog main page.
BLUR: Just gimme a camera, and I'll show you how it's done.
Steve wrote, "...there is insufficent or inaccurate testing..." Our county will be fully open this Friday, but we won't get our first public test-site until May 10th -- it's a Mobile Test Site. It'll be there one-day only, and it's 30 miles away. Yay.
Dw claims due to being cooped up, she finished three books yesterday. Believe me, that's a lot of coloring.
Here is a picture of a pair of GO GO BOOTS . And their ANTHEM a shout out to Splynter.
Nice write-up Steve, and thanks Blake
FIR and noticed the theme, but didn’t make use of it. I liked DROVES and came up with it right away, but I don’t often use it. Since I’m on the Auto Train, I solved it electronically.
This was a little challenging in spots. I definitely felt old with not knowing AM I rite (sound like some kind of rock or a ritual in Africa) and IRL!
I had MIXED GRAINS before GREENS because I hadn't sussed the circles but perps straightened that out!
I really wanted GO GO boots in late grade school but my very practical mother said "You're growing, so only 3 pairs of shoes: church, school, and tennis shoes." I wasn't savvy enough until later to know that I should have asked my dad :)
Thanks Steve for the fun and yummy blog! and thanks to Blake for the Thursday morning wake up puzzle!
Thank you, Blake, and thank you, Steve.
I too thought the puzzle was rather easy for a Thursday, but that's ok with me.
But now see, I had no second thoughts about spelling it ADAPTOR, so there must be some reason ? I keyed in Adapter versus Adaptor in Google, and many references say both are acceptable, similar to racoon versus raccoon.
What is funny is that I also wanted to check adopter versus adoptor. If you google search adopter, you'll get some images of adapters.
D-O, funny. Did you check her work. Did she stay within the lines ?
I took some BLURry pictures of my new garden with my cell phone camera the other day, so I could upload them to the computer and show them to Lucina. Didn't see how bad they were until they were on the bigger screen of the computer.
So the LG rival is (or was) RCA. What's LG?
It was tough slogging to finish today. And I'm not referring to the MIXED GREENS that I never noticed. Just the A&E unknowns. I can truthfully say I'd never heard of ASHANTI, DAN Auerbach or the Black Keys, BIRDMAN (not Alcatraz), or maestro Leopold's last name-AUER. Not familiar with the song "Hips Don't LIE" but I'm always telling my wife 'chair dancing' doesn't count; only hip action. I felt like I was about to DO TIME as punishment for not completing this puzzle. IRL- never heard of it or the term 'In Real Life' for offline interaction, considering I don't do Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, Zoom.
The NE was the last to fall when GO GO boots danced onto the grid.
SEA Salt- there's some in our pantry but most of what little is used in our house is Morton's NaCl. I rarely put salt on anything. DW salts her food but not me. You want hypertension- salt away at your own discretion. But if you look at the deaths from Covid19, 53% had hypertension and 32% had diabetes as underlying conditions.
HSN and all the multiple shopping channels- I have ATT's U-Verse and one of the options is 'Hide Channels'. I hide them all so DW doesn't even have the option of running across them by accident.
Anon (SNIPER)@7:49- LG is a Korean electronics company- It is really "Lucky Goldstar" but they call it "Life's Good" in America because Lucky Goldstar as a brand name just doesn't get it.
Good morning, all. Started early this morning. First, recognized that the 3 letter haters were not going to like this puzzle. I find that the 3 letter puzzles can be more difficult especially when you have CRS. Maybe just me. Thanks Blake and thanks Steve for today's effort. FIR, changing the e to o for Go Go (Weren't go go boots part of the disco era?) Never did understand why am i rite was right. Still don't. Had to change spa to den and nap to nod. Even though IRL (In real Life) perped in and I thought it was still wrong. I try to keep up with the internet rap but it is difficult IMHO. Hope everyone has a great day and stay safe wherever you go.
I liked this mixed greens puzzle.
One time I picked up frozen kale instead of spinach. I used it in my popular spinach cheddar quiche and no one knew the difference. They came back for seconds. I didn't tell. The cheddar tamed the bitterness. I don't care for kale raw.
I have heard of the singer ASHANTI. The only reason I remember her name is that she was named after the ASHANTI tribe in Ghana.
Although adapter and adaptor are both correct adapter is more common.
See chart
I looked up racoon and it redirected to raccoon. This week is the first I have seen the one C spelling.
inanehiker, we had church shoes, too, when I was growing up. We called them Sunday shoes.
Lemonade, These Shoes Were Made for Walkin' was my first thought for GOGO boots, too.
Walmart and Best Buy still sells RCA phones.
I left a blank cell that became obvious later, but I forgot to go back. I usually make a mark in the margin to remind me.
OKL, nice poems. Good to see you hanging in there.
Dictionary,com: Amirite is an internet slang spelling of the rhetorical tag question am I right? Amirite is often sarcastic in tone, amirite?
Cary Grant was 35 years old and married when WWII began, also he was employed by the British secret service finding Nazi sympathizers in Hollywood, and donated his movie earnings to British war relief.
Good morning everyone.
I do like baby kale and love spinach or Boston lettuce in salads. You can keep the arugula.
Relatively easy for a Thursday. Interesting theme with the circles but needed MIXED GREENS before proceeding to unravel the anagrams.
Lots of fresh fill. ie. BONITO, TRANCE. Some mis-direction: DO TIME, ROLLED R.
I wondered about RCA ala Steve, but perps were solid.
Noted that ARS and ARSENIC start with the same 3 letters. I believe they are unrelated etymologically.
Have a great day.
FLN, Anonymous PVX, the comment about McKinley was a joke. AS WC stated impeachment would have probably been preferable. As I read it, the only reason McKinley got "bumped off" again was because one of O's boys found a way to rename without Congress. I hope that's not too political. I was going to mention the Ski cap and today Ski mask issue. I did some time in the mountains of Co, Cal, and UT and I don't remember anyone wearing a ski cap. Ski helments were becoming popular at the time. Ski masks were worn on windy days. BTW, I didn't mean to offend anyone by the McKley comment so I will apologize to anyone it did offend. I would understand. Steve
Good Morning:
SansBeach @ 8:23, you are so right about the three letter haters, of which I am one of the most vocal. I counted 35 (Steve counted 36); that’s almost half the entries in the entire puzzle. Way, way too many. I’m also anti circles in late week puzzles and, IMO, today’s entries could have been figured out without them, once the revealer was filled in. This would have added an extra layer of challenge to the solve. I found some of the cluing a tad odd but I liked the theme much more than I like some of those greens. Unknowns were Dan, Ned, Auer, Ashanti, and Birdman, as clued. I liked seeing Leo the lion and Ars and MGM. My w/os were Rte/Ave and conflating ESPAN with ESPNU. CSO to Misty at RCA.
Thanks, Blake, for giving us something to “chew on” and thanks, Steve, for the fun and “tasty” commentary. Some of the dishes you mentioned are unknown to me, but never, ever have I put lettuce, shredded or not, on a burger. If it was served this way in a restaurant, the lettuce would be relegated to the side of my plate.
FLN
Thanks, Kevin and Mangesh, for dropping by.
Stay safe, all.
Finally!!...FIR albeit with lots of extra ink. "AMIRITE?".. Only if you are a French Friend's Ceremony uthrweis ewer kumpleetlee raung.
Folded breakfast crèpes wouldn't fit ( my omelets look more like a tornado in the frying pan.) Mesclun? Wha?
Instead of CRISCO Mom always used a more energetic form of shortening called Spry
MGM LEO is back in his DEN where his roar can't scare me!!
CREEP ... unfairly disparaging the world's toad population. (Frogs? They all tend to be jerks!!)
IRL?.... IMHO, WTF? OMG, LMFAO!!!
Rolled R needed explanation. A GRRRREAT gotcha clue.
Tossed out our SEA salt when studies began showing minute particles of ocean plastic debris in the mixture.
Toss this out too:
Because all the grass had died the lawn was ______...RECEDED
Of or pertaining to Ms McIntyre......REBAR
The Santa Maria is minus a captain, where did ______?...CRISCO.
We did it just because we_____!!!...CUD
Arriverderci....Don't forget to roll your ____. ARS
Musings
-ROLLED R, vowel issues in ARUGULA and ADAPTOR, IRL and DAN/AUER slowed me down.
-Steve would better understand my physics terms that I would his cooking ones
-tiLECUTTEr gave me the clever and helpful gimmick
-Inedible ornamental KALE are stars in our flower beds
-How we know this high-powered JURY got it wrong
-People are showing up in DROVES at our local big-box hardware store
-My COVID-19 binge watching shows me every couple ENDS IT on Grey’s Anatomy
-The GPS in my car assumes I drive the speed limit
-Phone script for IT GURU – [address customer by first name] [sympathize with customer’s issue] [assure customer you will solve his problem]
-Some colleagues quit joining our teacher unions because of how the NEA PAC money was spent
-Our school put on the play ARSENIC And Old Lace on the night of November 22, 1963
-Pre-internet AM I RIGHT? (:04)
Just the right amount of crunch for a Thursday. Several unknowns, but nothing that couldn't be gotten with a perp here and there. My favorite, or favourite for my friend CanandianEh, was ROLLED R. Didn't even try to unscramble the circles. Does one get "extra credit" for that? Just getting a FIR is satisfaction enough for me.
Are we hip? We have had internet slang B4. NOOB, TOTES, ADORBS, and now amirite in crosswords. And as Ray said there are IRL,IMHO, WTF? OMG, LMFAO! Each era has its own silliness. In the 1920's they had the "bee's knees" and the "cat's pyjamas”. Some of this dies out over time and some becomes common-place.
I like a cheeseburger deluxe, which includes lettuce, tomato and onion. If I want to spurge on calories I add bacon. We put lettuce and tomato on the cheeseburgers we grill at home, too. You can't beat garden lettuce and tomato on burgers in the summertime.
I was glad to have the circles.I never would have found the greens without them.
Gary, interesting article about 12 Angry Men. It makes sense.
"The Koyukon people who inhabit the area around the mountain have referred to the peak as "Denali" for centuries. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali in 1975, which was how it is called locally. However, a request in 1975 from the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board on Geographic Names to do the same at the federal level was blocked by Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, whose district included McKinley's hometown of Canton.
On August 30, 2015, just ahead of a presidential visit to Alaska, the Barack Obama administration announced the name Denali would be restored in line with the Alaska Geographic Board's designation."
After five years on the fence I have decided that I like Denali. IMO they should not have changed it to Mt. McKinley in the first place. Just saying.
Even though it's meat and potatoes for me, I got the tada.
Saw YR's splaining of am I rite. The xword clue is still meh.
BONITa instead of BONITO. (too many years have passed since I worked at Bass Pro)
GOGO boots were seen frequently on the TV music shows of the 1960's.
Sad story changed to SOB.
For this bad speller, ADAPTOR wasn't a problem.
Thanks Blake & Steve.
MO
Hola!
My daughter and granddaughter learned PAS de deux at an early age and I have a beautiful photo of my granddaughter in the pose.
Luckily I could fill horizontally because I have no idea who ASHANTI is. Another unknown is violinist Leopold AUER.
I enjoyed looking for the MIXED GREENS. Thank you, Blake Slonecker.
I long ago gave up my GOGO boots but I still have my hot pants outfit. It's a size 5 in blue velour. Those were the days! No, I believe it left the house with that last bundle given to Goodwill.
My sister and I went to see BIRDMAN and left even before it was half over.
TTP:
I hope you will take more photos and show them.
Gary:
Your KALE is gorgeous!
My favorite clue was for DEC.
Thank you, Steve; I'm so glad you had so much food to work with today.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Well, Thursdays are generally toughies for me, but I don't mind as long as they're fun, and I really enjoyed this one. May thanks, Blake. Nice to get started right away with PAS and ASK at the top, which gave me SKI MASK. My favorite clue was "Sunday cry" for AMEN, and that also helped with the SKI MASK. On the bottom it helped to get ELI and DEC next to each other, which gave us both OMELETS and MEDICS. And, thank you again, Irish Miss, for remembering that my Dad worked for RCA for all those years--a happy memory.
Nice to have your poems back, Owen.
Have a good day, everybody.
Today, I am going against my own posting rules
& posting "before" reading the Blog, in an attempt
not to be swayed by the conversation (& enlightenment)...
My own take on this puzzle, even online with the red letters
was "just freaking hard!"
I never heard of "Mesclun"
(or ever thought it might be spelled that way)
& I have a terrible time digesting salads unless
they are coated with a creamy dressing, preferably
garlicky in nature...
Too make matters worse, the theme initially hindered
more than helped as I was looking for scrambled words describing the
color "green"
Sorry to spout off, but for once I wanted to
add "my own personal opinion" before it was moderated
by the sanity of reading the Blog & everyone elses opinion...
Re: Cary Grant making a movie during the war when men were fighting overseas.. Grant was 40 yrs old when he made that movie. Entertainers (including those making movies), were deemed essential and were not necessarily required to join the armed forces. Bob Hope was the same age as Grant, and he famously did many USO tours. Suggesting Grant was shirking his duty as a citizen is unfair.
Definitely a tough one today. No circles on the Merriam-Webster site, so, I got no help there. Steve provided good explanations so I could understand it all after the fact.
Didn't know AM I RITE or In Real Life. I guess I'm not up on the the younger generation's shorthand speech.
I wanted SNARK instead of SNIPER, but it didn't fit, and I put in MONTH before JUROR became evident. I also spelled OMoLETS wrong until I XED it out. The proper names, ASHANTI, DAN and NED were also unknowns. Perps to the rescue as usual.
If the clue for NED was *** Ryerson, I would have gotten it (See HG's Am I Right link above). I've seen Groundhog Day over, and over, and over ...
In addition Hot Pants were a fad in the 60's that went along with GOGO boots.
ROLLEDRs got me also. Didn't like that one.
Stay in and stay safe everyone.
Hi everybody.
I enjoyed the puzzle and the writeup. Thanks.
The puzzle didn't include my favorite leafy green vegetable. It's beet tops or beet greens. Like spinach but even better. People would throw away the greens at the local farmers' market. I could often score bunches of them for free.
My daughter sent me the following site: erinbromage.wixsite.com
It explains the biology and math of contacting corona virus. With both the lock down and the gradual opening of our states.
It's really scary.
On a lighter note, kale is excellent torn into small pieces, dressed lightly in olive oil and salt, and baked in a high oven until dry. It becomes light and crunchy, a great snack.
This Thursday crossword was a bit of a workout.
I just didn’t care for the clue for 10A...and I knew it.
Never bothered with the circles.
Write-overs...NAP/NOD.
As Steve wrote...no medicine, no vaccine, extremely contagious, sometimes no symptoms....yes be very careful. Plus, let’s face it, there are a bunch of “folks” who still think it’s all fake and just don't care about anyone else.
Unbelievable. I’m thinking this is a ”Darwin Moment”.
Stay safe, see you tomorrow.
Too hard for some, too easy for others, and just right for me. INAUGURAL and ROLLED R were the last to fall so that I could FIR. A little current slang as it occurs IRL is only fair, as we also hearken back to GOGO boots and other relics of the past, AMIRITE? If you are trying to eat curly KALE, I recommend you try lacinato kale instead. Wash it, strip out the stems, and saute. It's our favorite leafy green.
I used to make sloppy looking omelets. Now I have a nonstick pan that is just the perfect size for one egg. I heat the pan over medium heat and then add a beaten egg tilting the pan a little to cover the entire bottom very thinly. The layer of egg should be thin enough to cook through without having to touch it. When the top begins to begin to get a little dry and just before the bottom browns, I add grated cheese, sauteed veggies, whatever, and flip one side over the other. Then it should be done. If not, I just flip the entire thing over for a few seconds. Never fails, always neat. I think the secret is the pan size and the thin layer of egg.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Blake and Steve.
I found this CW to be somewhat crunchy (like any good salad!). But eventually I FIRed and saw the MIXED GREENS (although like CED, I started out looking for colours!). But I do grow summer salad greens from a seed package called Mesclun Mix (and like Spitzboov, I prefer only a tiny amount of ARUGULA in my salad).
This Canadian had no problem spelling ADAPTOR. I must be in the camp that "use adaptor when referring to devices and adapter when referring to people".
But I was held up in that area by having Tenor for "one of the 12 usually" as the cross instead of JUROR, and IT Nerd instead of IT GEEK.
I had RTE before ETA and then tried it for "Urban way" but AVE was needed. (I forgot that Americans use RTE for what Canadians might call a highway.)
I was misdirected by that month clue into entering May, until I realized that the clue had an abbreviation. Ah, Christmas present month!
CRISCO is my favourite (thanks Shankers) for making my pie crust.
Those of us who remember GOGO boots and hot pants, probably had trouble with AM I RITE and IRL!
I had Leaders before HEADERS (maybe remembering yesterday's LEDE); in a similar vein, I smiled to see SKI MASK on the same hill as yesterday's SKI CAP.
ECARDS may be coming for Mother's Day if children can't get to the store to buy a "real" one. And on that note (pun intended!), my "Place to relax" was a Spa before a DEN (which I associate with men). I don't think I will be getting a Spa certificate this year. SOB.
Wishing you all a great day.
Well,
I read the Blog, & posts,
& now I see it would not have changed my opinion anyway.
But before making a final decision,
I think I will check with an expert...
Pas de deux is often a term for verbal jousting.
The HSN Outlet is a source for bargains.
Actually, the theme was the key to my FIR(End of the one-box blues). After grok'ing INAUG?RAL I guessed ARUGULA and thus FILLED(Burrito) became the mischievous ROLLED R and IT GURU as a bonus.
Good ol' DEC, a noble experiment in ennobling and empowering employees. Worked well -all sorts of opinions re. It's demise.
We had AM I RITE awhile back with same discussion.
Re. OJ and JFK. 1. Was a quid pro quo,2. Was a contract killing. Then again everything is IMHO
I'm with the"Difficult Thursday" folks. And, since no one else explained it here's
A wiki def:"Mesclun (French pronunciation: [mɛsˈklœ̃]) is a mix of assorted small young salad greens that originated in Provence, France. The traditional mix includes chervil, arugula, leafy lettuces and endive, while the term mesclun may also refer to a blend [1] that might include some or all of these four and baby spinach, collard greens, Swiss chard (silver beet), mustard greens, dandelion greens, frisée, mizuna, mâche (lamb's lettuce), radicchio, sorrel, or other fresh leaf vegetables."
I think the right salad dressing can make the difference.
WC
Greetings!
I am a casual solver, and stumbled here by accident.
I am responsible for having one of today's clues in the on-line versions changed.
The clue, "2014 Best Picture". If you Google that phrase, you get "12 Years a Slave."
The answer in today's puzzle was "Birdman."
So, after sending off my email to the publisher, I did a bit more digging.
Birdman was *released* in 2014, and won Best Picture in Jan '15.
So, now that it's been changed in the WaPo and LA Times (and others), I'm now thinking I may have jumped the gun claiming the clue was "wrong".
Opinions?
TIM @ 1:9 I found a similar discrepancy with the year a film won Best Picture and the year it was released when I decided to bucket list all the Best Pictire Oscar's
from the year I was born (1950 "All About Eve"). Some Oscar lists use the release date others the reward year. Confusing
Rite???? WTF?
Had a few missteps before getting it RiTE. Started with xxxSHOPPER instead of CARDHOLDER, took a while to figure out INAUGURAL. IRL is new to me. And the AMI rite answer is not in my wavelength.
I can tell you that SKIMASK is a real word as opposed to SKICAP yesterday.
Started the puzzle this morning, then went out and played my first round of golf, with 15 minute tee times, no touching the flag, no rakes, no ball washers, etc. Was nice to get out but don’t see how courses are going to make money with the clubhouse being closed, and most of the players, at my course anyway, being members so little incremental revenue coming in.
Timbered, welcome to the "pool." IMO, Birdman was the best picture of the 2014 crop -- the awards are always announced the following year. I'm pretty sure the tag on the statue would've been "Best Picture 2014."
"Mesclun" -- unfamiliar term to me. Thought it was just the way a Texan would spell "Mescaline."
Just enough crunch for me. Thanks, Blake. I had more trouble with all those 3-letter words because there wasn’t enough to hang them on. Interesting experience. Loved End a sentence and Present mo.
Steve, thanks for walking us through. I agree about Kale.
Owen, both A+ !! Loved your take on Lincoln! I’m glad you seem to be feeling better. I hope you really are.
The Ampas use "The 48th Annual..." so they are no help.
All news clippings say "The 2015 Oscar's were presented last night..." in March of 2015, films released in 2014.
So, I guess there isn't a single "correct" answer.
I liked yesterday's puzzle better than today's but enjoyed solving both. I had totally forgotten Am I Rite but later remembered we had it in another puzzle not all that long ago. Some of my favorite fill is INAUGURAL, ADAPTOR, and EMANATE. I'm with CanadianEh about "use adaptor when referring to devices and adapter when referring to people". In my work I used many kinds of adaptors, both physical adaptors and electrical adaptors. My designs also employed a variety of HEADERS, the electrical connector kind.
AMIRITE makes me think of some sort of gemstone, or a citizen of AMIR.
LW and I also didn't like or understand BIRDMAN.
The first time I saw IRL I had to ask what it meant.
Yellowrocks, I like your new avatar picture of the dancers.
I think the PAS de deux in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker is the most beautiful piece in the entire ballet. My wife doesn't like Tchaikovsky's music. She thinks it's shallow and manipulatively "tear jerking."
For a long time I thought ARUGULA was another kind of lettuce, like romaine or iceberg. I guess endive isn't lettuce, either. Dang.
The state may be "opening up" but LW and I are still staying home and being very careful.
Good wishes to you all.
I love most GREENS, but I totally agree with you Steve about KALE! I actually can tolerate it raw, but when it is cooked with other vegetables it makes the whole thing inedibly bitter for me. Anyway, I very much enjoyed the puzzle and the theme.
The theme did help me a bit in the vicinity of LETTUCE. Amused when I figured out ROLLED R. I did know IRL. But not ASHANTI or BIRDMAN or DAN or NED or AUER or MESCLUN. Thanks to crosses FIR.
Not sure if many people saw my post late yesterday.
Here are a few photos and a very short video I made of an ICE SCULPTURE being made.
I will repeat a point I have made before: I think TOADs are among the most delightful creatures on the planet. Sorry to see a CREEP compared with a noble TOAD!
From Yesterday:
PK that is pretty freaky about your noisy medical condition. As far as I know, an epigastric hernia involves a lump. Not sure if you have a lump.
From Two Days Ago:
SwampCat you wrote "In my quarantine (boredom?). I’ve been watching the first year of Startrek". Way cool! Everyone gets something different from the show. May I ask what you especially enjoyed about it?
Ray-o-Sunshine, what do you call those funny plays with the assortment of puzzle words at the bottom of your post? I really enjoy them?
Big Easy no offense intended but I really wonder why you seem to make a point of ignoring the puzzle themes?
I believe that is "Finished It Right"
YR Racoon.
IM Lettuce. There used to be an old riddle about the only food sold in stores that is never sold canned, baked, fried, or processed in any other form than raw. Now-a-days, you can get it bagged and shredded, but in a sense it's still raw. I decided long ago life was too short, I was never going to waste any of it on lettuce. My one exception, shredded lettuce on a taco or burger.
Misty, Thanks. Like most of the Cornerites (* please don't encourage him*!) I'd call them groan-worthy nonsense play on words
Work can be stressful so I have fun with the blog.
test
Anon@3:52 I ignore the themes because I am concerned with solving the puzzle's words, not some scrambled letters with a secondary theme. Also, if you happen to notice the theme it make your unknowns easier to solve. But Mesclun is a word I'd never heard.
For those who don't like 3-letter fills they are usually necessary in you have longer fills. Especially if there are triple-stacked spanners. Only so many spaces in a 15X15 puzzle.
I like themeless puzzles but the LA Times crossword is the one published in my local newspaper.
I don't like kale either. In any salad, fashion, or form.
I'm home prepping for a BIG meeting tonight (reopening school district ...phew!!) Used LAT as a break. Fun!! When "best picture (star, director ...) clue is dated 1 usually look up BOTH years as a precaution since constructors use both in their cluing. "I.T.GURU"??? Isn't it about time to remove the derrogutory "GEEK" when talking about I. T. personnel? They're pretty much "in control" right now!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Blake Sloneker, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Puzzle was a solid Thursday level. Some easy, some hard.
I did catch the theme after getting MIXED GREENS. They were all there. I do like green vegetables.
ASHANTI was new to me. Perps.
I had ROLLEDR for a while, but thought it was wrong. Until I thought about it. Hispanics do roll their R's. As well as a good share of the rest of the world.
Was thinking Back of the Bus for 30A. Then I realized that was unPC.
I saw the play Arsenic and Old Lace several times in my life. Really enjoyed it.
Anyhow, have to get back to my book. "This is how it Always Is" by Laurie Frankel. Book Club book.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Musings 2
-The Denali/McKinley discussion led me to think about the cities named for Native Americans here in our state:
-Sioux City, Tekamah, Brule, Omaha, Tecumseh, Ponca, Arapahoe, Dakota, Ogallala and many more
-I first thought the theme was "tossed salad"
You make a good point Gary. I'd add that many of the rivers and creeks in the state also have native names. Such as Minnechaduza, Keya Paha, Nishnebotna and Nemaha. These are based on time honored names that were given before the arrival of European settlers, and were justifiably preserved. And Nebraska is hardly unique in this regard. It runs across the country.
I've always referred to Denali with that title. McKinley didn't discover it, didn't settle it, and damn sure didn't build it. It bore the native name for centuries prior to the brief change in modern history. There's no justifiable reason it should be named for him other than arrogance.
Picard
How interesting that you want my reaction to the early Startreks. You may not like my answer.
I see those early episodes as pure fantasy... escapism. Kirk and his Good Guys go exploring and always seem to find someone who needs rescuing from the Bad Guys.
They were like old fashioned morality plays. The good guys fought the bad guys and always won.
They reminded me of Errol Flynn and John Wayne.
Swashbuckling Flynn dueled the bad guys in Sword Fights that always appeared to me to be ballets. And he won! But there was never any blood or unpleasantness. Pure fantasy!
And The Duke would pull his trigger, the Black Hat would fall from his horse, but again, no blood or broken bones. Fantasy!
These early Startreks seem the same to me. I basked in the fantasy and escapism!
(We won’t even discuss the lack of CGI and the fact that most action takes place in one set, the control room. With LOTS of talk!).
Oh. And the fact that I was madly in love with Mr Spock also helped!!
SwampCat thank you very much for sharing your feelings about the early Star Trek episodes. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to what draws you in. And when it comes to love, who can argue with that!
I just took a look at the list of episodes from the first season to try to remember how they may have been different from later episodes. The list is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_episodes
In general I see what you mean. In most of these early episodes Kirk and his team are the good guys. But things are often more complex in Star Trek than they first appear. The episode "Errand of Mercy" had Kirk coming in ready to save a seemingly passive society from certain slaughter by the Klingons. Kirk becomes exasperated and even disgusted with their passivity. He gets to the point of hating them as much as he hates the brutality of the Klingons. But things indeed were not as they appeared.
Thank you for explaining your attraction to the series... and to Mr Spock!
Ah, Picard. You’ve put your finger on the problem with rescuers...and do-gooders in general. Some people don’t want to be rescued.
But I was just looking for relief from the never ending news of the virus!
HAve to jump into the fray here for (a sec?)
Swampcat, I agree with you on the original Star Trek series(& I am a huge fan.)
But do not take it out of context,
you have to realize that everyone else was watching The Beverly Hillbillies
& Gilligans Island! Star Trek was still leaps and bounds ahead of
(shall I say, Lost in space...)
However,
When The Next Generation came out,
I was sorely disappointed.
The 1st season was pure drivel...
But then something happened,
my best guess is with the episode
We will always have Paris...
SOmething changed,
It was interesting,
& then it just kept getting better...
(Sure, there are always episodes that are just fill,)
(try to make a crossword without them...)
But the standouts were excellent!
My favorite has to be The Inner Light.
I cannot get you a link to the entire episode,
but I highly recommend you watch it in reruns or on Netflix.
After season one, all the episodes were a continuation of a story.
& you were always made aware that Picard hated (or was afraid) of children.
In this episode, they encounter a probe, that makes a mental contact
with Picard, & he is mentally transported to another planet.
Ok, I can sense many of you turning off right here, but hear me out...
For the next hour, Picard is unconscious on the Bridge,
but his mind is made to relive the memories of a man, from
after his wedding, to his (almost dying day).
He has children
He learns how to play the flute,
He tries to help save some piece of his dying planet...
In the next hour, you watch him the live the entire life
of this man. & in the end,
You discover that the people that sent the probe died 1,000 years ago,
when their sun went nova. but they save the memory of one man
in the probe to contact another, to remind anyone
anyone of their existence...
If you watch this whole episode,
& don't come out crying,
you are not human...
From then on, Picard has a different attitude to children,
plays the flute,
& future episodes will dramatically play on this...
Some hilites...
Hey!
A happy grid from Blake Slonecker,
The man's a world class puzzler!
His way with words is not amateur,
We need more champs of his caliber.
~ OMK
Hi All!
Nice puzzle with the perfect Thursday crunch (just a little P&P required). Thanks Blake.
If there ever was a puzzle for you to expo Steve, this GREEN-leafy is it. LOL'd the KALE quip.
BTW, I disagree - the (early) reveal was very helpful at fixing KALE (not KEZO [see: WOs]), CHARD, and finally unscrambling INAUGURAL [was thinking, 'opening' == 'INside track' or somesuch]. FWIW, CED, I was thinking colors at 1st too.
Before we get going, keep in mind that any footwear donned when you have budding builders are LEGO Boots...
WO: ADAPTeR eventually fixed by (leGO?) GOGO, BIKE zoNES, RTE b/f ETA
ESPs: AUER (is that right?), ASHANTI, NED [a DEN relaxer?], DAN, BONITO
Fav: ROLLED R was pretty cute; DEC equally so.
{B+, A}
FLN - TTP, I was still up after finishing work around 3ish (BadGuys(TM) are taking full advantage of WFH) and then winding down for a bit. Had to be back up at 8:20 this morning for our Teams meeting (haven't seen the gang IRL since 13 March).
PVX - I too thought the same thing re: Darwin Awards. I continued on that path and remembered reading something re: how viruses affected our evolution.
YR - Thanks for the AMIRITE def to jog my memory of why I knew it. Nice avatar too.
Jayce - LOL the rare AMIRITE from the mines of Sar-Chasm.
C, Eh! (and Jayce) - Me too on 'OR' == thing; 'ER' == folks.
Is this the Mesclun [and now I know, thx WC!] you get? Here it is in action (close up - it's only 2.5 weeks old) in my newly built container garden.
BillG - I've also beets going on in above containers. What recipe do you use?
Misty / Ray-O: how 'bout "Ray's Mal-O-Props"? :-)
Becky - your daughter's link tosses a 404-not found at Wix's site.
//Folks, do not attempt loading random links at home. I am a URL detonation professional.
Bobbi - As a guy deep into computers, I take no offense at geek, nerd, dork, wizard, guru, ninja, nor super-genius.
***Nerd Alert***
Swamp - StarTrek was sold as "Wagon Train to the Stars" but, in short order, Roddenberry buried social commentary in it. An early imprint that mocked racism was the episode where folks who's faces where 1/2 black & 1/2 white hated each other... "But can't you see? He's black on the left side and I am black on the right!" Makes you think, eh?
CED - Inner Light had to be the greatest TNG episode ever made - the way, at the end of the episode, you actually felt like you just sat through an epic and were emotionally drained. No, you felt like you lived that entire life.... Patrick Stewart is one of the few that could pull that off.
Bobbi (again) - want to see what a nerd/geek finds while cleaning-out [who AMI kidding? -just re-organizing/inventorying my junk] the garage? TV Trek Captains.
Break's over. Back to the Cyber-(SEA)Salt mines.
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, Blake, thank you. Found it easier than yesterday's. Thank you for a great expo, Steve.
Got the theme okay, despite never having eaten KALE, ARUGULA, or CHARD. Probably never will eat them. Never heard of Mesclun.
DNK: DAN, AHANTI, NED, AUER, I.R.L. ARS.
I bought a snazzy pair of black patent leather shin-high low-heeled GOGO boots in the late 60's to wear to a dance party with my snazzy mini-skirted three-color-blocked GOGO dress. I had two little girls ages 3 & 1. We were cash poor. My husband was not happy with the expenditure. I got my money's worth several years later after a third child arrived. I broke a bone in my foot which didn't heal properly because I couldn't stay off of it. Only thing that foot could walk in was that tight GOGO boot with the zipper up the size for over a year. At home on the farm, I wore a cooler shoe on the other foot. No longer cared about snazzy. I had three little kids to chase.
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