Saturday Themeless by Jim Peredo
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| Jim and Penny Jim in appropriate attire |
Jim counts himself as a Chamorro (people who live in Guam and people who live on some of the other islands of Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean) as both his parents are Guamanian, although he himself has lived in Guam for only a year. Here's Jim's gracious note to me:
Hi Gary,
Hi Gary,
I’m an occasional constructor and a blogger at Amy Reynaldo’s Diary of a Crossword Fiend. This is my second puzzle in the L.A. Times, the first one being my very first published puzzle back in 2012 (Jul 17).
And I’m happy to say this is my first themeless puzzle. Trying to get a themeless published has been a goal of mine for a long time since I tend to focus on themes.
This puzzle started out with ABRACADABRA at 1-Across where it stayed through several iterations. I eventually abandoned it to smooth out some of the fill, and it worked for the most part. I tried not to stay married to any particular entry in order to give me the best overall result. I succeeded in some areas better than others, but I’m mostly happy with how it turned out, my favorite entry being, of course, PIEHOLE.
As per usual, a number of clues get altered for the better in the editing process. One clue I’ll note is for MARTINET, which I tried to clue by way of voice actor Charles Martinet, the voice of Nintendo’s Mario. (He’s the one who says, “It’s a-me, Mario!”) But I totally understand the change since his name isn’t so widely known outside of us grown-up Nintendo fanboys and girls. Sorry, Mr. Martinet!
I hope everyone is getting their Saturday off to a good start. I’m happy to be a part of it.
Jim
1. Early finisher's luxury: TIME TO SPARE - What I had today since I was on Jim's wavelength.
12. Word heard before a hike: HUT - Said before the football is hiked
15. Paper Mate introduced one in 1979: ERASABLE PEN.
16. Hearth debris: ASH - What Vape cigs did not have in yesterday's puzzle
17. Mock question of literacy: CAN'T YOU READ.
18. Poe's __ Morgue: RUE - Some say Murder In The RUE Morgue is the first modern detective story and you daily solvers recognize its author as the theme for Jeff Wechsler's Thursday puzzle.
20. Struggle with one's sins?: LISP - Pronunciation issues
21. Vicuña cousins: LLAMAS.
23. __ pit: MOSH - Maybe one of these will form during a RAGE which we had last Saturday
24. Trap: PIE HOLE - Either can be the direct object in this rude sentence, "Shut your ____"
25. Set out: DEPART.
28. Relay: PASS ON and 33. Malicious gossip: DIRT - Ya gotta love Norman Rockwell
29. Some memory triggers: ODORS - The odor of a new box of crayons does it for me!
30. Polite gesture from Alice: CURTSYING.
34. Actions to avoid: DONT'S.
35. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" setting: MOOR - $12,000 will get you this 1902 first edition
36. Trial results: DECISIONS.
38. "Nobody Listens to __ Poundstone": comedy podcast: PAULA.
39. Not on the ball: UNWARY - An intriguing book
40. Spacely Space Sprockets employee: JETSON - George and his 60's cart00n family. If you're too young to know
41. Some pending cases: APPEALS - As long as you have money for the lawyer
43. French bean?: TETE and 53. A, to Amélie: UNE. Combien coûte UNE TÊTE de laitue?(How much is a head of lettuce?)
44. Twist in pain: WRITHE - Keri Strug severely injured her ankle on her first vault but came and back for a gold medal winning vault on that ankle. After that vault she was soon WRITHING in pain but produced an all-time Olympic moment! (Click on Watch On YouTube)
45. Play the sycophant to, with "over": FAWN - Why do Americans FAWN over British royalty?
46. Ms. Pac-Man ghost: SUE - SUE replaces Clyde in the Pac-Man lineup of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde
49. Hedonist's goal: FUN.
50. Boss's unsettling request: I'D LIKE A WORD - Uh oh!
54. Barcelona star: LIONEL MESSI - He makes $80M/year between playing and endorsements
55. "__ Miz": LES - Short for this
56. Thurible go-with: INCENSE BOAT - The BOAT (with spoon) holds the incense to be burned in the the thurible that is suspended by the chain. New terms for this guy who married a lovely Catholic woman.
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| Thurible/Censer INCENSE BOAT |
1. Modern fixer: TECH - They keep the place running
2. Hymn singer's wrath?: IRAE - A cwd staple
3. Loads: MANY.
4. Part of i.e.: EST - id EST i.e. "that is"
5. Musical family including James and Livingston: TAYLORS - Brothers
6. One behind a violist, maybe: OBOIST.
8. BOLO target: PERP - Be On the Look Out for this alleged PERPetrator
9. Clint's Clyde, in a 1978 movie: APE - Eastwood called this orang a natural actor but he could only do one take because Clyde got bored easily
10. Dreamers' opposites: REALISTS.
11. Circular, in a way: ENDLESS.
12. Like Pentatonix numbers: HARMONIOUS - Any day is improved with Pentatonix
13. Expected: USUAL
14. What we have here: THESE.
22. Sailor's shout: AHOY MATE - Graham Bell's suggestion that the phone be answered "AHOY" lost out to Edison's idea of "Hello"
23. Strict disciplinarian: MARTINET - One human and one not
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| Two MARTINETS |
25. __-Frank: 2010 financial reform bill: DODD - If you must know
26. Singer Brickell: EDIE - Mrs. Paul Simon for 28 years
27. Natural-born quillers?: PORCUPINES.
28. Like Nash poetry: PUNNY - "Hark to the whimper of the sea gull, He weeps because he's not an ea-gull"
30. Brewery in Golden, Colorado: COORS - What movie had a "plot" about the transfer of COORS under a time limit? (*Answer under the grid)
31. Short court plea: NOLO - NOLO Contendre i.e. "I'll take the conviction but admit no guilt"
32. Pop's ma: GRAN.
34. Focused: DIALED IN - Son-in-law using a scope to get my grandson DIALED IN with a pistol
37. One of Kenya's official languages: SWAHILI - Bantu SWAHILI and English are the two working languages of Kenya
38. Honey or sugar: PET NAME better than the 41. Not good at all: AWFUL Bae
40. The Dresden Green and The Graff Pink: JEWELS.
42. Cut back: PRUNE.
43. Occupied: TAKEN
45. Okay: FINE - His catch phrase
46. Just okay: SO SO - Just SO is very different from Just SO-SO
47. Space bear: URSA - The back quarters of these bears form the asterisms the big and little dipper which are NOT constellations themselves
51. "Funky Cold Medina" rapper Tone __: LOC - I love the beat and the lyrics aren't as offensive as some rap songs but you're on your own to find it.
52. Pathological liar's creation: WEB
*Smokey And The Bandit was about a truck that was "eastbound and down, loaded up (with Coors) and truckin'"
Comments for Jim?
Hard
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteFinished very quickly, and enjoyed the challenge. Thanx, Jim. Back in the '60s I lived off-base in Dededo. The base is gone now, but I suspect the town is still there. I really enjoyed Guam -- Talofofo Falls, Marbo Cave, the old tank battlefield. It was the best part of my four-year naval internment. Nice tour, Husker.
PAULA: My grandmother was named Paula, though I never met her. I worked with a Paula Hedington who I once accidentally referred to as Paula Headstone.
PENTATONIX: Sounds like a shoe brand, doesn't it?
My brother became fluent in SWAHILI for his Kenyan missionary work. I had enough French to know a "Bean". Not enough Latin to immediately know I'd EST. But knew URSA.
ReplyDeleteAnd enough Soccer to know MESSI; and had set /HUT(How about __ Two, Three-re. MARTINET)
I remember a charity trivia contest asking "Jetson's dog?". ???*
I sat down with 15 minutes to spare (Thurs morning) to glance at this. 30 minutes later I was done and running late.
And right on schedule there's Mr Poe and the RUE Morgue.
BOLO For APB was mentioned and forgot. Plus two legal clues. How about "Guilty".
Looking back not so hard but for awhile I was thinking DNF.
WC
*We had a young'un at our table, amazed at obscure trivia we knew. But she saved the day with ASTRO(Just came to me)
FIR, but it had me sweating for a while. The SE held out the longest until I got JEWELS. One write-over: ERASABLEPEN 4 ERASurEPEN; either would be cheating for me in Inklandia. I spent my whole career without a boss, so never heard IDLIKEAWORD. LES Miz was my favorite Broadway experience. I had a front row seat right over the orchestra. When the cast sat on the edge of the stage, one of the actors said, “How are you doing?” It was my first time noticing how actors on stage spit as they talk or sing; a warning for me in the time of COVID.
ReplyDeleteRe. Poe; The sequel to RUE was "The Purloined Letter". It occurred to me that Doyle in his IRENE ADLER* tale used a similar device (hidden letter) and then in The Naval Treaty similarly using the dramatic presentation of the missing document in the end.
ReplyDeleteWC
*Both xword staples hence Cap's
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
Me too, Husker Gary and Desper-otto. The timer shows 20:53.
Some gimmes (Irae, ape, realists, these, mosh, Dodd, Edie, Coors, Rue, Paula, Jetson, une, Les, tete, so so, Ursa) gave me plenty of footholds across the board.
Still, I had to work out more answers than not. Some gave way quicker (Time to spare, Lionel Messi, porcupines) than others (erasable pen, harmonious and incense boat), but it all came together cleanly.
Solving Pie Hole for "trap" made me laugh.
Knew the Kenyan language was a Bantu language since many languages in Africa are, but needed more letters, and Swahili became obvious.
Great puzzle, Jim.
I would use martinet to describe Mrs H, the HS sophomore English teacher. Mrs H was a strict disciplinarian, and she wouldn't hesitate to send for Mr C if she thought a student needed cracks for acting up in her class. I still fear that woman. :>)
Loved the "Can't you read ?" image, Husker Gary. That happens a few times each year in Chicago. I guess mostly from drivers trying to avoid traffic jams and not paying attention while looking at their GPS maps.
Singer songwriter James Taylor is one of my all time favorites.
Husker, the IOC blocked the video of Kerri Strug from playing in the review, but it was worth the effort to open the link in a separate tab on You Tube. That display of the determination, inner strength and courage of that young woman still brings a tear to my eyes.
Jim's a communications engineer? I figured lawyer with NOLO, APPEALS, & DECISIONS as fills in the puzzle that was my first DNF in two weeks. The NE got me this morning. I couldn't think of anything before 'hike' other than PAY HIKE; football didn't enter the brain today. RUE & HUT were unfinished and even with USUAL, LLAMAS, & PIEHOLE filled I couldn't complete THESE or _A_MONIOUS for the singing group.
ReplyDelete'Thurible' & INCENSE BOAT- no knowledge of either but the perps took care of it. ditto for PIEHOLE and JEWELS.
COORS beer was not available East of Texas for many years. Growing up 15 miles from Texas I remember people back in the 60s going to Wascom, TX across the state line to buy cases of COORS Banquet beer (not the Silver Bullet). Adolph Coors 'invented' the AL can for beer to be recycled (the 'can', not the beer), but more importantly the pop-top that didn't come off the can so that people would not litter.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gary for your USUAL good lead-in. Jim seems like an interesting fellow.
Had trouble getting a starting foothold. PORCUPINES was the first long fill, and the SE filled in rapidly. SWAHILI helped branch out into the center. Finally remembered what a thurible was. Had Jersey before JEWELS. Pretty sure about LLAMAS, but 'camels' are (more distant) cousins, too. With compound fill like TIME TO SPARE and CANT'T YOU READ, parsing to get the phrase right took time. Long ago JzB taught me to be patient and don't overthink the answers so this advice served me in good stead today. FIR.
Lies : WEB - - "Oh, what a tangled WEB we weave when first we practice to deceive." Scott (1808)
MOOR - German Moor or Moorland. L. Ger. Muur. I heard the term a lot while growing up; my parents came from a district in Schleswig with that kind of landscape.
How nice to see Jim P. back after 8 years and a day. His initial LAT PUZZLE was a collaboration with the friend of the crossworld, JEFF CHEN . If you click the link you will get some nice insights from both Jim and Jeff. If you have been here longer than the 8 years, you will also have some bittersweet memories of ARGYLE EDDY B and others.
ReplyDeleteLike many Saturdays, this was daunting and impossible until it wasn't. My only true unknowns were the term THURIBLE though I have attended many Catholic and Episcopalian masses and seem them in action; the fill LOC though the rapper has been around for years and appears often, it always is filled by perps, not my brain (C.C. has used the name a puzzle!); and I forgot James has a brother.
I also remember in college and law school groups driving to buy Coors, which I never cared for.
Finally, another product of my slow brain, I often get the response from the computer when a link breaks or the like, said by a robot, AW, SNAP! .
Thanks Jim and Gary
Great puzzle!
ReplyDeleteERASABLEPEN was my first toehold, and it led my way to the rest of the puzzle. In a funny coincidence, someone in the NY Times crossword comment section made a joke yesterday about filling in the crossword in pen, but using an erasable one! That made me think about erasable pens, which had been out of my mind for years. Then it shows up here some hours later!
If I hadn't read that comment, I don't know if ERASABLEPEN would have leapt to mind as quickly as it did. Life is funny sometimes!
I had never heard of a thurible before, but was able to get INCENSEBOAT through crosses. I think some solvers are going to be unfamiliar with both a thurible and LIONELMESSI, which will lead to problems in that section.
FIR, It's interesting that we all employ slightly different techniques. For example, Spitzboov apparently looks for a foothold while I seek a toehold.
ReplyDeleteINCENSE BOAT was a new term for me.
The Jetsons' family dog was, of course, Astro. I am not too young to remember but the antithesis is becoming a real possibility. The flying cars were supposed to have been here decades ago.
Another one where I almost gave up with the top part.
ReplyDeleteI went through a bunch of iterations of PEN: Fountain, Leakproof, Ballpoint. Then once I had ...ablepen I had more: Disposable, Reliable, Clickable, Storeable. OMG will it never end? It didn't help that I had TONS instead of MANY and DONTYOUREAD instead of CANTYOUREAD. I finally sorted it all out.
My least favorite answer was PIEHOLE. Thanks for the explanation as in Shut Your Trap. Oh, I get it now. Cute.
I always get mixed up remembering BOLO, YOLO, BOGO, FOMO (I don't think we've had that one yet). Are there more?
Finally, I thought 'Deceiver's creation' would have been a better clue for WEB, as in "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we first we practice to deceive."
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI was so proud of myself for sticking with this most challenging (to me) puzzle. My problem was the unusual difficultly (again, to me) in parsing the long fill. There were many unknowns throughout the grid, so helpful perps were scarce for a long, long time, even though there was a “Perp” CSO to us all. It took forever to fill in Incense Boat because it took forever to remember what a Thurible was and I never heard the container referred to as a Boat. This struggle was compounded by my brain inexplicably connecting Thurible with the Runcible spoon. Why, I have no idea. Another trouble spot was my absolute certainty that it was the Hyde-Frank bill. Eventually, Dodd came into play. I also sputtered with those unknown Jewels, which I saw as New Age musician groups. I also floundered with Taylors, Swahili, Llamas, Loc, and Jetson.
After all this angst and 54:54 minutes of effort, I FIW because I had Gram instead of Gran and Jetsom instead of Jetson.
Thanks, Jim, for a true Saturday stumper which, despite my travails, I enjoyed solving and thanks for the personal contact; I read the reviews at Crossword Fiend every day. Thanks, HG, for your usual stellar review and fun links and visuals.
FLN
CED and Anon T, how do you guys remember all of these TV/Movie skits?
Have a great day.
I am so proud of myself. It did me take several hours, off and on, to complete it, but it was a fun crossword. Can't say that for every Saturday puzzle. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDon'the understand lisp, 20 across.
ReplyDeleteAs Lemonade said, this seemed daunting until it wasn't, which is the way that Saturday puzzles should be! Great job, Jim!
ReplyDeleteAs follow up to yesterday's comments about Evan Birnholz's puzzle, here is a link to an article where Evan talks about the puzzle in detail. What a nice son he is! https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2020/06/21/solution-evan-birnholzs-june-21-post-magazine-crossword-like-father-like-son/
I'm one of those unfamiliar with the horrible THURIBLE and the MESSI LIONEL. Managed to get 'em both, though. Thank you, perps.
ReplyDeleteRon in LA, try saying "one's sins" out loud.
Musings
ReplyDelete-115F heat index this afternoon so I just finished mowing. If someone called to golf I’d be out the door.
-Ron in LA - 20. Struggle with one's sins?: LISP - Pronunciation issues. Someone with a LISP could struggle pronouncing “one’s sins”. I debated about further explanation but did not. There always seems to be one fill I, uh, struggle with on that issue.
-Stitches in my head are doing fine but forgetting about them and trying to run a comb through my hair first thing this morning was a little painful
-I followed Lemon’s link back to Jim’s first puzzle and was surprised was blogging that long ago. Let’s see, 8 years ago, how old was I…
-“Illegal” COORS beer brought back to Eastern Nebraska from Colorado seemed so exotic in my misspent yute! Now Coloradoans bring their “illegal in Nebraska” weed into our state parks..
I was ready to toss this one after the first run resulted in an ocean of white. Little by little answers emerged finishing a mere two minutes under IM's time, but with a single wrong square. I had darts for play things at 24D which gave me diehole for 24A. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh well, it's like getting a leaner in horseshoes. So close.
ReplyDeleteJEWELS - Expensive clue. The Dresden Green fetched $46,000,000 in 2010 at auction. The Graff Pink was acquired by the Saxon king in the 1740's for 400,000 thaler.
ReplyDeleteHG @ 10:40 ~ Did I miss a message explaining why you have stitches in your head? Also, could you tell this pop culture-deficient lass who the man is in the picture for the Fine clue?
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, I believe that the man is actor Fred Willard.
ReplyDeleteAnon@1001: The estimable Owen calls that "prescience"
ReplyDeleteYep, I didn't grok' LISP until D-Otto and Gary 'splained. I had a lidpers delight that I've since forgotten but there's hope since Astro popped out.
What'd we say about PARTS yesterday?
"Saxon king"?. I thought the last one was Harold in 1066. Of course, speaking of Scott, we have Ivanhoe's dad, Cedric, pining for one. Read all about it on the J-blog.
WC
Ps, I had prescience that some solvers would cruise and veterans like Irish Miss have problems. Since I had it available I see solved Thursday. Knowing TAYLORS and MESSI was a big help.
Fun puzzle, I missed just one cell. I didn't recognize the JEWELS. I had JEWESS, although I wondered about it being single.I know of LIONEL MESSI. I don't why I missed that final L.
ReplyDeleteFairly fast run for a Saturday. The two long bottom answers held me up. I knew thurible is related to incense, but we never used an incense boat which needed all perps.
WC @ 1147. - Saxony was a Kingdom in the HRE in the 1700's. Capital: Dresden. Today it is one of the German States.
ReplyDeleteLower Saxony is another State. It is the homeland of the Saxons who invaded England .
Even though I FIW, I think this puzzle was intelligent and creative, with many interesting clues. Like others, I fell into the abyss of the southeast corner. I had fair instead of FINE, which screwed up the across words. Never heard of the soccer stat or INCENSE BOAT.
ReplyDeleteLoved the Alice in Wonderland clue.
Thanks for a challenging adventure, Jim and an excellent tour, Gary.
FLN. Yellow Rocks, I have a friend who frequently uses DISIRREGARDLESS. Sort of like “Let’s do a 360 and get the heck out of here”.
Lucina, thanks for the New Yorker suggestion. We get it every week, but can’t seem to keep up with all the articles.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Irish – After my round yesterday, my DW picked me up and I remembered my billfold was in my golf bag so I jumped out to get it. The tailgate was up and in my haste I drove the corner of the gate right into the top of my head and got a lovely 2” gash and a face full of blood. I covered the wound with a semi-clean State Farm golf towel and the bleeding practically quit. We drove the half -hour back home and a former student who is now a physician’s assistant at a medical emergency place stitched me up and I am recovering nicely. Thanks for your concern.
-The man in the “Okay, Fine” picture is the estimable Herb Tarlek from WKRP In Cincinnati and that was his catch phrase.
Gary, I guess this is the week for cornerites to become walking wounded. Monday, I tripped in the living room and crashed head first into a huge, ceramic pot. Raised a knot on my head which has turned into a real shiner, and the bruising is progressing down to my jaw. I was wearing a pair of slippers with grippy soles, which have caused problems previously - they now are in the trash. I’m glad you are okay!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGreetings from the Death Zone.
This Saturday puzzle filled in quickly without issues.
I have a nit though...I don’t believe anyone has ever invented an “erasable pen”. Erasable INK, sure.
Anyway, no write-overs today.
Stay safe, see you Monday.
Fun puzzle and wonderful Husker write-up.
ReplyDeleteErasable pen was a gimme for me. Many years ago I was part of the audit team for Papermate. On arriving at a plant for inventory I was surprised to see floor to ceiling metal racks with huge spools of nylon filament. The filament from each spool was fed through a succession of progressively smaller eyelets until they all met just before a heat device which then formed them into the barrel for a pen. I also got to weigh the gold that was used to accent the fancy models. We got to pick out a pen, but no gold samples.
Heat index of 110 in Chi today. Ugh. Stay safe everyone.
JB2
I am so sorry to hear that Wendy! Joann thought I was a goner when she saw me on the concrete but I was just mad that I was so stupid - which isn't exactly plowing any new ground. Hopefully the two of us will heal, learn and move on! I suspect there are many others in our little outpost here who have had similar experiences.
ReplyDeleteMay I quote Lemonade, who said it best? "Like many Saturdays, this was daunting and impossible until it wasn't." FIR in reasonable time. Was not familiar with MARTINET as a person, "Thurible," "BOLO," or those specific JEWELS, but perps helped out. Thanks, Jim, for the challenge, and Gary, for the expo. Thanks also for the Pentatonix link, which really made my morning.
ReplyDelete110 in the shade, there isn’t any shade, and my neighbor is out mowing his lawn. Takes all kinds, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an excellent puzzle. Hard enough that it took nearly half an hour but not so hard that I didn’t FIR.
I don’t remember ever seeing PORCUPINES in a puzzle before. Loved it. Reminded me of a news item out of Alaska about 30 years ago or so. A man living there came home drunk, saw a porcupine on the porch of his cabin, and tried to get it to go away. When shooting towards it didn’t do anything more than make it leave the porch he doused it with gasoline and set it afire. The porcupine proceeded to run under the cabin, set it afire, and burn it to the ground. Sometimes there IS justice in the world. Not that that made any difference to the poor porky though...
Never heard the term INCENSE BOAT but knew what a thurible was and sussed the boat.
Anonymous PVX: erasable ink—heh.
Husker & Wendy, I hope you heal up quickly.
Did I mention that it’s hot?
Stay well.
Great Saturday challenge.
ReplyDeleteThe one letter that almost pushed me to a DNF was the E in APE. I understood CANT YOUR EAD? not CANT YOU READ. But OTOH the first run-through produced a sea of white so I took a lot of WAGs ..ERASABLEPEN...TAYLORS etc. I need to leaf through the newspaper's sports section and probably met LIONEL on my way to the puzzle on the last page. Stop to read Dear Abby but she never seems to have crossword advice
So after an hour FIR with an unERASABLE PEN. A slew of Inkovers: balls/PARTS, nosh/MOSH, punts/DONTS, Busch/COORS, gran/GRAM et al. In the clue for PETNAMES the S in sugar should have been upper case.
I never liked "LES miz". Not exactly misérable but not my tasse de thé.
Trap? PIEHOLE? aaahhh. Gotcha! ...Cute clue
Paula does stand up but mostly now a panelist on a favorite NPR gameshow. .Glad the Boss only wanted a WORD, almost wrote in "kiss."
Hot day brain frying so..
How long it takes to change a tire.....TIMETOSPARE.
Able to ___ to the occasion....WRITHE.
Morning doves....COORS
HG... up on your tetanus shots?
Hola!
ReplyDeleteHow did it get so late? For one thing, I took my time solving this puzzle while leisurely sipping coffee since I have TIME TO SPARE.
HUT was my first fill then the NE corner blossomed from that. Next I went with AWFUL in the SW and had FUN filling that. Recalling EDIE and DODD helped with the center and before I knew it, my coffee was finished and so was the puzzle. However, I'D LIKE A WORD gave me trouble since I didn't know Tone LOC; I believe I've heard of Tone Def.
I am very familiar with thurible and INCENSE BOAT having been a sacristan for many years. However, the altar servers usually filled the BOAT with coals.
I love PAULA Poundstone's humor!
PASS ON was slow to fill because I had FUNNY instead of PUNNY.
I am not a fan of James TAYLOR. I find his voice grating and didn't know he had a brother.
I like the clue for PORCUPINE and what a sad story, WikWak.
My grandchildren call me Nana, not GRAN. And my late DH's PET NAME for me was, Sugar.
Gary, I'm so sorry to hear of your misadventure and hope it heals soon.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderfully sunny day, everyone!
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Jim, for a challenge. Nothing SO SO about it. Stellar expo & interview, Gary! Heal well!
ReplyDeleteI solved this puzzle like a dog. ie: Did a lot of WAGing! LLAMAS, URSA, MOSH & COORS -- just those four words were the only words in the entire puzzle that didn't have at least one letter turn red on the first try. Took several tries turning red on some fills. I'm a REALIST. This puzzle was hard. But I'm also persistent enough to enjoy the challenge. NW 2/3 was last to fill.
Have to admit I got COORS only because I lived in Colorado three summers. Don't drink it.
Play things weren't PropS but PARTS so I got the P___S which helped move on.
Pentatonix wasn't "a capella" or "HARMONIzed" but HARMONIOUS. So it went.
Confused BOLO for BOgO briefly.
DNK: LIONEL MESSI or thurible (thought spellcheck had done a number on terrible.)
ANON PVX: why do you say "Greetings from the Death Zone"? What "Death Zone"? What'd I miss?
I'm glad most people enjoyed my puzzle. Thanks for all the kind words!
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, Malodorous Manatee - The actor who portrayed Herb Tarlek on WKRP in Cincinnati was Frank Bonner, not Fred Willard. I've confused them in the past as well since they were both pretty active in the '70s.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteWas up early this morning, as my Medicare Advantage Plan allows me an annual “house call”, where an RN/LPN visits me in my house for a Medical checkup of sorts ...
Our Saturday paper has several puzzles to solve, and I save the LAT xword for last
I truly enjoyed this themeless Saturday from Jim Peredo, because it didn’t seem ENDLESS
I, too, solved with an un-ERASABLE PEN. Only two write-overs: DECISIONS (I tried squeezing SETTLEMENT into one too few squares), and LLAMAS - I initially thought LEMURS, but who knew?? Lots of great clues.
Ok, a couple of “Moe-kus” for Wilbur and whoever else wants to enjoy:
First is a CSO to C.C.’s hubby:
Why does Boomer bowl?
‘Cause as a retiree
He has TIME TO SPARE
When *Polo’s swimming
And the kids all yelled “Marco”,
He just says, “NOLO” ...
112 expected here today ...
HG and Wendybird~ Ouch! I can relate to you both with stitches, copious bleeding and shiners and bruises. The watermelon fiasco was four weeks ago yesterday and I still have discoloration on my face and my hand is still unpleasant to look at. I wish speedy healing for you both and hope all the Cornerites watch their step so we have no more casualties!
ReplyDeleteBTW, Gary, thanks for identifying the man from WKRP. I never watched the show so it’s no surprise that I didn’t recognize him. Malodorous Manatee, thanks for trying to help but while I wasn’t convinced that it was Fred Willard, I had no idea who it was. (Judging by his outfit in the picture, he certainly lacked sartorial style!)
Jim P @ 2:23 ~ I was typing while you posted. Thanks for dropping by and for the clarification on the actor.
ReplyDeleteRay O @ 1:32 ~ After my initial examination in the ER recently, the first thing they did was administer a tetanus shot.
Thanks for the correction, Jim P. I was a fan of WKRP. I probably should have put my reading glasses back on prior to looking at the picture.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle very much. It was a pleasure chipping away at it until I solved it. A well-constructed puzzle, IMO.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pleasant surprise!
ReplyDeleteAfter yesterday's "gimme" pzl, I fully expected that today's installment would be far chewier than this.
But Mr. Peredo has offered us an entertaining yet do-able challenge.
It took some mulling and some trial & error, but in the end it brought a most satisfying Ta ~ DA!
I join with Jayce, Irish Miss, and others in praising it as a "well-constructed" pleasure.
Irish M ~ I also started 56A thinking of a "Runcible spoon." I'll bet we weren't alone.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Today's single diagonal (on the far side) yields a double reminder that when the rodent problem gets out of hand, you may hear from them;
- and -
when snitches get criminal immunities in exchange for their singing, your ears may be serenaded, for they can be truly...
"RESONANT RATS"!
Very interesting and FUN puzzle! Thanks, Jim and Gary!
ReplyDeleteStarted it early this morning, right after the button-puncher at the “Comical” finally got around to posting today’s paper ~0130! Peeps! The new day starts at MIDNIGHT! PUNCH THE STINKIN’ BUTTON!!! Anyway, I got about two-thirds of it done before I folded my tent and went to bed, and I finished it around noonish.
The grid looked ominous, but my first fill was CANTYOUREAD, followed closely by TIMETOSPARE, so I figured I had a fighting chance. By the time I went to bed, I had a demarcation line running kinda above the lower diagonal black squares, with a few holes above it. Below the line is where the trouble began! I got IDLIKEAWORD, but had no knowledge of MESSI. As if that wasn’t bad enough, this former altar boy from back in the dark ages (I can still recite the Latin), did NOT know THURIBLE, so the INCENSEBOAT left the dock without me. Once I looked it up, I thought of THURIFER, which was a word I remembered, but upon further review, I learned that the latter was the person carrying the former.
Anyway, I did get my other unknowns filled in with perps. My favorite fill was COORS, of course. Visited the refinery a couple of times when I lived in Denver. It wasn’t available here when I moved to Texas (“Smokey and the Bandit”), but thankfully, they started shipping it to me shortly thereafter.
Thanks also, Gary, for the link to Gordon W. Prang’s book. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, he was my historiography professor at Maryland, and one of the finest historians and educators and people I ever met.
EVAN BIRNHOLZ's EXPLANATION if you are too lazy to copy and paste anon's link. It is a very insightful and fun article about an obviously interesting young man and the many ways he honored his father.
ReplyDeleteJim P. than you for stopping by, just because you work for the 'competition" do not hesitate you are always welcome here if you are the constructor or not. I enjoy reading your thoughts and the way your mind works.
Poor Frank Bonner competing with legendary and recently deceased Fred Willard in people's memory banks. Frank is still alive though not active for a few years.
When we bought a Honda HRV for my wife, now that I am not allowed to drive, she hit herself in the head twice closing the back. We now have a "step away from the car, far away from the car" routine to allow me to close the hatch. Anyway, heal quickly and maybe rethink golf in 115 heat index.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss,
ReplyDeleteHow do Anon-T & I remember these old TV shows?
Well,
1st he posts it,
then I post it,
then he posts it again,
then I post it again...
(etc...)
Strict Disciplinarian?
Hmm,
I am a firm believer that my 1st grade teacher with the ruler
made me the antisocial person I am today...
sort of like this...
(Anon-T, Tag! Your it!)
Funny Blues Brothers link. Just saw clips of that movie. Now I suspect there was a plot. Shades of Sisters of Saint Joseph in JP*
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing 2014. No Wilbur yet. I think Andre Agassi was a 'gent". But McEnroe on the other hand...
WC
* Where the El came rumbling down the tracks. They told me "One more fight and yer outta here". I had my next one already scheduled. But we moved to the burbs before they could throw me out. Years later I heard about the Parochial system and the 3 Strike Rule.
My fifth grade pub school teacher was renowned for strictness. I thought she was rather nice. Plus I got a Rirz cracker and milk at ten am. Unheard of.
What a delightful change between yesterday's disaster and today's challenge. Took a bit of time (70 minutes - fast for me!!). Unlike yesterday, when I WRITHED IN PAIN, this puzzle had few PITHOLES to trip me up. Some of my fills were a bit MESSI because I don't have an ERASABLE PEN. The swiftness of my fills today gave TIME TO SPARE to write this review.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteMight be an over-long post but it's the end of the day and no one has to read it anyway :-)
But, there's my take + loose ends... //and you thought you were late Lucina?
~80% filled, I took a snap of my puzzle b/c I was about to throw-in-the-towel & take a cheat.
Then I thought, "-T, fill SWAHILI [WAG at the time] so it looks like you at least tried (and aren't a total idiot)."
That made 42a catch my eye again... WRITHE! Ink started flowing, SW filled, & I FIR!
Thanks Jim for the fun puzzle (lots of sparkle) and for stopping by The Corner. Took me all day (on-and-off) but I did it!
Fun Expo HG. Like the COORS | Smokey & Bandit reference ++WKRP after yesterday.
WOs: SLeet b/f MOSH pit fixed it; started RUE in 16a's square; GRAm b/f JETSON; fair b/f FINE; UNa, LEz, LoONEL b/f I DIALED IN (on) 34d.
ESPs: UNE, EST, LIONEL MESSI. INCENSE BOAT took 9 PERPs.*
Fav: PIE HOLE as clued.
Sparkle - CAN'T YOU READ', 'PORCUPINES', 'I'D LIKE A WORD', 'ERASABLE PEN' [my 1st entry!]. Then there was PET NAME [TMBG] xing PAULA & JETSONS - I felt at home :-)
A double-meaning DR?!? Nice OMK.
Fun Moeku's C.Moe!
HG & WendyBird - Both y'all be more careful! Healing wishes.
Aw Snap! - you just told me you use Chrome Lem. #BadOpSec :-)
RonInLA - Sylvester the Cat can's say 'ones sins' 'cuz his spteacsh impediment or LISP.
//again not clued as programming language *sigh*
MManatee - As Jim Peredo said (and you acknowledged), Herb Tarlek was Frank not Fred. Fred Willard is a great character actor who recently passed. His last ROLE was in NetFlix's Space Force [Colbert] //I recommend the program. Not sure I've laughed that hard at the 1st 4 minutes of a program than I did at Space Force.
FLN Q: IM - If I see something and it tickles me, my brain locks it away. Donno why. We (family) just watched Knives Out, funny bits are locked & loaded & ready for the right moment [or about 5 minutes after -- then "D'Oh!" :-)] //I recommend the movie
CED - Nothing can top The Blues Brothers Nun scene to illustrate 1st grade at St. Joes.
//You too, WC?
Cheers, -T
*and yet I still though it was the ASH catcher for an incense stick stoners use to cover up pot smell until HG enlightened me.
So...
ReplyDeleteBored & playing around / watching Smokey & Bandit links, I wanted to listen to Convoy.
Instead, I found out C.W. McCall is fiction?!??? [NPR]
Disillusionment sets in. :-(
I mean, I was OK about the Santa thing [had my suspicions] and the Bunny [that's just dumb - any 7yro can see Christians co-opt'd pagan traditions & Bunny ≠ Resurrection] but C.W. McCall? Oh,... I'm shattered. I loved that song but now I know.
Well, I guess it was a successful ad campaign & #Protest.., so that's something(?)
Cheers, -T