Summer Beach Reading. Each summer, I pack a big bag of PAPER BACK books to take to with me on my beach vacation. In today's puzzle, the word Paper is found at the "Back" of the last word in each theme answer.
18-Across. * TV coverage of city events, say: LOCAL NEWS. Newspaper
23-Across. * Metaphorical boundary that shouldn't be crossed: LINE IN THE SAND. Sandpaper
30-Across. * "That'll be the day": WHEN PIGS FLY. Flypaper
41-Across. * Jerusalem prayer site: WESTERN WALL. Wallpaper
47-Across. * Phrase used by experts: TECHNICAL TERM. Term Paper
And the Unifier:
58-Across. Softcover book, and what the last words of the answers to starred clues can have: PAPER BACK.
Across:
 |
| 1928 John Deere Tractor |
6. Silly: DAFT.
10. Flow very slowly: SEEP.
14. __Valdez: oil-spill ship: EXXON. // And 31-Down. Fuel in a tank: GAS.
15. Palm tree berry: AÇAI. This must be my special word. This is the 4th Tuesday puzzle in a row in which this word has appeared.
16. Gucci of fashion: ALDO. Aldo Gucci (May 25, 1905 ~ Jan. 19, 1990) was the son of Guccio Gucci (Mar. 26, 1881 ~ Jan. 2, 1953), who was the founder of the fashion House of Gucci. He ran his father's company for years. Sadly, in 1986, when he was 81 years old, he was convicted for tax evasion and spent a year in Federal Prison in Florida. The following year, the family-owned company was sold.
17. Disney World's __ Center: EPCOT. Epcot opened despite the pandemic. I hope its July visitors didn't contract Covid-19.
20. Author of macabre fiction: POE. Edgar Allan Poe (Jan. 19, 1809 ~ Oct. 7, 1849) had an entire puzzle devoted to him recently.
21. Container weight: TARE. The Tare Weight is the weight of an empty vehicle or container. Noun: a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container. As defined by Merriam-Webster.
22. Start of a choosing rhyme: EENIE.
27. Creamy pastry: ÉCLAIR. Yummers!
29. Paintings and such: ART.
34. Amazement: AWE.
37. Geologic time frames: EONS.
38. Octogenarian's 80, e.g.: AGE.
39. Nobelist Wiesel: ELIE. Elie Wiesel (né Eliezer Wiesel; Sept. 30, 1928 ~ July 2, 2016) was a holocaust survivor. He is probably best known for his book Night, which was semi-autobiographical about his experiences in Auschwitz.
40. Drunkard: SOT.
45. Scot's cap: TAM. Tam is short for Tam o'Shanter, which is a traditional cap worn by men.
46. Honks at, say: ALERTS. // I liked how this crossed with 34-Down. Source of a ringing warning: ALARM BELL.
53. Be mad about: ADORE. This was my last fill. I was thinking of mad as being angry. Think: I am mad about you.
54. Historical times: ERAs.
55. Library contents: Abbr.: BKs. As in Books. My library now offers curb-side service. I just picked up a whole new stack of reading materials. They are hard cover, however, and not PaperBacks.
60. Censor: BLEEP.
62. "__ miracle!": IT'S A.
63. "Got it!": I SEE!
64. Middle East ship, perhaps: OILER.
65. Marsh growth: REED. Reeds in the Louisiana Marshes are being destroyed by some sort of insect. The reeds are an important element in helping to prevent land-loss along the Louisiana coastline. Did you know that Louisiana loses the equivalent of a football field a day along its coast?
66. Kings and queens: BEDS. Fun misdirection.
67. Word with laugh or dance: BELLY. You, too, can learn how to Belly Dance.
Down:
1. Thought-provoking: DEEP.
2. Montreal MLBer before 2005: EXPO.
3. Like A+ work: EXCELLENT.
4. Piglet's joey pal: ROO. A reference to A.A. Milne's critters from Winnie the Pooh.
5. Tolkien talking tree: ENT. I'm not a fan of Tolkien, but this word appears with some frequency in the puzzles.
6. __ Lama: DALAI.
The 14th and current Dalai Lama.
7. Nut from an oak: ACORN.
8. Gem surface: FACET.
9. Acapulco aunt: TIA. Today's Spanish lesson.
10. Most sensible: SANEST.
11. Colleague of Ruth and Sonia: ELENA. Sonia Sotomayor (b. June 25, 1954), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (b. Mar. 15, 1933), and Elena Kagan (b. Apr, 28, 1960).
12. Astronomer Hubble: EDWIN. The Hubble Telescope is named in honor of Edwin Hubble (Nov. 20, 1889 ~ Sept. 28, 1953).
13. Sat for a photo: POSED. I had the present tense of this verb last week.
19. Suspicious: LEERY.
21. Actress Garr: TERI. Teri Garr (b. Dec. 11, 1944) is a comedic actress. She was in Tootsie.
24. McShane and McKellen: IANs. I am not familiar with Ian McShane (b. Sept. 29, 1942), but Sir Ian McKellen (b. May 25, 1939) is more familiar.
 |
| Ian McShane |
 |
| Ian McKellen |
25. Little bite: NIP.
26. "2001" computer: HAL.
27. Female sheep: EWEs. // And 36-Down. "Electric" fish: EELs. The words Sheep and Eel can be both plural or singular. In this case, both were plural.
28. Half a toy train?: CHOO.
32. Army NCO: SGT. As in Sergeant.
33. Lawyer's charge: FEE.
35. Go limp: WILT.
39. Big pitcher: EWER. Change the R to an S and you get 37-Down.
41. Lloyd or Paul of Cooperstown: WANER. The brothers Paul Glee Waner (Apr. 16, 1903 ~ Aug. 29, 1965) and Lloyd James Waner (Mar. 16, 1906 ~ July 22, 1982) both played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1920s and 30s. Paul was known as Big Poison and Lloyd was called Little Poison.
 |
| Lloyd (left) and Paul (right) Waner. |
42. Former U.K. recording giant: EMI. The name is the initialization of the originally named company of Electic and Musical Industries.
43. "Darn!": RATS.
44. N.Y. Mets' division: NLE. As in Baseball's National League East. From Sunday, we also know that the Phillies are in the NLE.
45. Needle eye insert: THREAD.
47. Hoglike animal: TAPIR.
48. Skype appointment: E-DATE.
49. Thicket of trees: COPSE. Not to be confused with Corpse.
50. Halt: CEASE.
51. Shaped like a rainbow: ARCED.
52. "Great" quintet: LAKES.
56. Ship's spine: KEEL.
57. Quick-footed: SPRY.
59. Tot's food-catching chest protector: BIB.
60. Hope or Newhart: BOB.
Bob Hope (né Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 ~ July 27, 2003). Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of his death.
Bob Newhart (né George Robert Newhart; b. Sept. 5, 1929)
61. Falsehood: LIE.
Here's the Grid:
Which is the hardest to say?
a. You are right, I was wrong. I'm sorry.
b. I need help.
c. Worcestershire sauce
d. I love you.
72 comments:
Good morning!
With one cat wailing outside demanding entrance at 4:30, and then another rubbing up against the remote, turning on the TV at 5:00, I finally gave up and got up. This one turned into a real race to the bottom. I didn't time it, but I'm sure it came in under 5 minutes. I did notice the EWES and EELS. Managed to miss the reveal on the way down, so guess who didn't get the theme? Yup. Thanx, Jerry and Hahtoolah.
TARE: My postal scale has a "Tare" button.
BKS: I haven't read a dead-tree-version in years, but I'm never far from my Kindle Paperwhite. Usually I read cheap novels, but I'm currently struggling through Infinite Powers about the history and logic of calculus. It's interesting, though a lot of it goes over my head.
Hahtoolah, I can't speak to the most difficult, but "Worcestershire sauce" is definitely the easiest.
You don't see flypaper very often these days. I wonder if anyone under 30 knows what it is. Still sold at Walmart, both in sheets and the pull out rolls.
Very fast puzzle today. WANER and IANS filled in themselves. Got the theme with the reveal. Thanks for all the fine illustrations, Susan.
We used to buy fly paper at the camp store to put up in our screen house. Not pretty. but effective.
I read few dead tree books these days, but plenty on my Kindle Fire. I have so many in my Kindle library I am rereading some of them. The bricks and mortar library can get dead tree books that are not available locally or online, but it is too far away. Our little town is too cheap to pay its share in the consortium, so our only source is the county library. I can borrow ebooks from them from home.
FLN, thanks CED. I forgot about NBA bubble and didn't know NHL protocol.
This went smoothly and fast. No hiccups. I didn't ink WAILING for that WALL because I was working right to left and had the ERN. But I did have to change gate to WALL.
WC
I did this last night and just read Hahtoolah's EXCELLENT write-up. In Boston, Worcester rhymes with whister*.
For today's xword 101 lesson we'll discuss brief words begining with E as in ELI,EMI,ENO;ELIE,ESAI,ERIE ..and ELO but not EMO which I mistakenly inked.
* As in someone who plays Whist?
FIR, with one write-over: ELIE 4 ELIa; usual spelling issue. Counting EWES more lately in puzzles than in bed trying to sleep.
As a former Northeaster, Worcester is pronounced Wooster not Whister. Worcester is west of Shrewsbury, home Spags, as in Spags has no bags. Sadly Spags closed about 20 years ago, loved that store.
Good morning everyone.
Smooth and fast like others have said. FIR. Considered Wailing WALL but waited for add'l perps. RATS and NLE confirmed WESTERN WALL. Liked the cluing for 52d LAKES. We used to see HOMES a lot.
Two DEERE People
Have a great day.
Hi Y'all! Fun & fast puzzle, Jerry! Great expo, Hahtoolah! Always learn something new from you.
The theme was definitely on my wave-length after 20 years of writing for NEWSPAPERs, using reams of SANDPAPER to finish woodwork in my old house & my son's new house, and even hanging WALLPAPER.
Only slow-downs: tried "a" before "i" in TAPIR but knew that animal. Couldn't remember EXXON until I wrote in EXCELLENT, then it hit me.
DNK: WANER, EMI, IANS. Perps to the rescue.
Good Morning:
This was an easy romp, although the theme was well hidden, so the revealer was a pleasant surprise. I plopped in Wailing Wall because that’s what I’m most familiar with, but perps said Western Wall. Cute duo of Ewes and Ewer, both of which appear on a regular basis. I don’t like the common (and accepted) practice of just adding an E in front of any old word and cluing it as electronic-speak. Email, yes, Edate, no. Just my personal nit.🧐
Thanks, Jerry, for a fun solve and thanks, Hatoolah, for a bright and cheery summary with scads of sparkling visuals. I especially liked the critter sporting the cute Tam o Shanter!
Yesterday I brought lunch to one of my best friends (since 3rd grade) who is recovering from a very long, (7 hours) and complicated back surgery. We had a nice long visit and I was happy to see her doing so well. She has to wear a rigid brace almost 24-7 for three months, but if she is pain free, it’ll be worth it. She is my Poster Child for not complaining about my minor, by comparison, aches and pains as she has already had both knees and both hips replaced. Talk about the Bionic Woman!
FLN
Welcome, Gaspasser. 🧑⚕️
Average Joe, how many of your Nine lives have you used up? 🤕
Have a great day.
Fun puzzle and theme! I'm on my way to CO to help our son and DIL move there - so will solve this week on the computer and not much time to come to the blog!
Thanks Susan and Jerry!
Stay safe everyone!
This was an interesting Tuesday puzzle. FIR in less time than yesterday. While there were a few crossword cliches (e.g. ACAI, EWES, ARCED, TAM) there was also some creative fill. My least favorite quadrant was the Northwest where four proper nouns were stacked on top of each other. Despite that, the puzzle was a pleasure to solve. Thank you Jerry, and thanks to Hahtoolah for the wonderful write up. I especially enjoyed the Jack Handey clip. It’s been a while and for some reason it made me think of Tim Kazurinsky’s Hvanagootiim Vishnuuerheer.
FLN, I did see, and noted with curiosity, the “foreign actor” post for which TTP posted an alert. Given the guidelines here, I thought it was odd that such an obviously political comment had been posted. I have not been here long and it was my first encounter with such a set of circumstances.
And now, without further ado but with inspiration from, and apologies to, Ray-O:
I can feel it coming in DEERE tonight, oh Lord.
If you are unable to sign your name just put your EXXON the line.
That’s not true, she just told DALAI !
Is that an ADORE are we back from the commercials already?
It’s really hot. I’m going down to the corner for an ISEE.
That does look a bit like new foliage but I think it SANEST.
Cheese it, the COPSE!
When Pigs Fly - The Simpsons
Let’s be careful out there.
Thanks for the cels and quips, enjoyed. No problem with the puzzle, except for "tare", not familiar. The phrase, you are right and I am wrong. Most difficult.
Hahtoolah: Wonderful write-up. 41 links, most impressive!
We often see ESSO but today we got EXXON.
They gave out "Hurricane Season" packages Saturday ... it had:
5 MRE's
6 Face masks
2 Bug Spray bottles
An Emergency Red Cross Kit
2 bottles of Hand lotion
A Pinellas County Evacuation Map (I'm 18 feet above Sea Level)
Nice Kit ... I got two. They were free!
Cheers!
My favorite Jack Handey line: When I die, I want to go in my sleep like my grandfather did...not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.
A fairly easy Tuesday. Had to change ooze to SEEP.
C.C. may be familiar with the WANER Bros. Not me. Crosses filled that name.
Theme entries were all filled prior to the reveal.
Thank you Hahtoolah and Jerry.
MO
desper-otto: if you like Math, this is my favorite book: "Journey through Genius"
I loved today's theme--got it right away.
Although I thought it was the Wailing Wall at first, I then had to puzzle over whether it is called the Eastern or the Western Wall. Guessed right!
I am surprised that many do not know the ubiquitous IAN MCSHANE who has appeared is so many wonderful roles from LOVEJOY to DEADWOOD The JOHN WICK TRILOGY GOT and on and on.
Are 42 links a record? Tin I need the bug spray. After never being bitten by mosquitoes my entire life, this year they are on a feeding frenzy on my body. I think it comes from the healthy lifestyle Oo has imposed on me.
I grew up driving with my father twice a month to Worcester, Massachusetts to go the Jewish Deli and Butcher. I assure you earlier commenters it is pronounced WOOSTAH by the locals. We have snow bird her winters here and it has not changed.
Fun puzzle and enjoyed the write up Susan. Needed the reveal for the theme, but had all themers in place when I got that far. Had the ERN, so wasn't tricked by the Wailing wall, but still had to figure out east or west. Knew the record company had to be BMI or EMI, so that took care of it. The only complete unknown was Waner, but it worked out fine.
IM, I've probably gone through 7 or 8. I do try to tempt fate less frequently these days.
"her winters here" what great English I am speaking; I was trying to say "who"
Much easier and faster than yesterday. Like IM, I immediately filled in wailing before western, but that corrected itself quickly. I knew Waner from collecting baseball cards as a kid. My favorite three letter word is sot. Why? Perhaps because my older sister was one. Sad. It cost her life. Long story.
Sorry to hear that, Shankers.
Another single-inked FIR puzzle. The theme wasn't revealed to me till the Southern clue/answer.
Oh DEERE...EWES (sheep) and EELS (fish) are three singular/plural nouns.
Usually ELENA is clued differently so I thought at first Ruth (the notorious RBG) Bader Ginsberg and Sonia (don't pull my leg) So-Tow-My-Ear referred to baseball players.
Isn't there a riddle: "when is a jar not ajar?" "When it's ADORE!"
If I keep writing in the word ACAI in all these puzzles will I finally get some of the antioxident benefits?
(*** "what's wrong with him today? Such nonsense"***)
Pet name for a water bird ______ the Stilt...WILT.
The ____ caught the thief hiding in a stand of trees...COPSE
Keenan's father......EDWIN.
End of a sternutation.....CHOO
Next stop.. Humpday....
BobB, we Bostonian's pronounce many things differently. I do believe the universal pronunciation of the sauce is whister-shire. In 1952 a tornado originally aimed at Boston veered West and hit Worcester. It was called the whister twister.
The Waner Bros kept the Pirates in contention throughout the 30s but only Paul's rookie season of 1927 got them the Pennant.
WC
Ps, a lot of places throughout NE have those local pronunciations. One oddity is Medford where locals not only drop the R(naturally) but also the D. Meffah.
I struggled to finish this puzzle. Did not know WANER, wasn't sure about TAM, and had trouble with TAPIR and COPSE. Eventually I did FIR but it took some head-scratching. Fun, dense theme with five entries and a revealer.
Good Morning.
Thanks, Jerry for today's puzzle. I figured out the theme in reverse. First I filled PAPERBACK. Ah, ha! The I went back to do the long fills. A little backward, but it worked.
Susan, thank you for such a fine review. Your links were fantastic. I appreciate the work you do for us. ECLAIR was an easy "fill" for me. My Dad loved them, so I made them for him all the time. Those and blueberry pie. Hmmm. . . . Sounds like an idea.
Hang in there Abeyo!!
Have a sunny day wherever you are.
Morning everyone,
Seems like a lifetime since I aced a puzzle. Noting really slowed me down, I'll no longer feel DAFT. Tomorrow will probably change that. Have to run for an MD Appointment. Aging process catching up and the body is really convincing me I've aged. wife wants me to get a walker. My response is filled with one or more expletive deletives.
Everyone be safe.
W C
I would like to find the town along the Hudson River going from Albany to NYC where the final r is dropped from words. "Sister" suddenly becomes "Sistah." Is it neighbor against neighbah right down the middle of some street? 😳
Thanks for the walk in the park, Jerry, and for the opportunity to relish it again, Hahtoolah. It took me a moment to grasp the theme, but what fun when the light dawned upon me.
Appropriate choice with the Beatles song, Hahtoolah.
Congratulations, PK ! I knew you didn't need the red letter help !
Welcome, Gaspasser. So now we have a Malodorous and a Gaspasser. Who is next ? Stinky ?
M. Manatee, now channeling Ray-O... Funny stuff. Liked the Phil Collins play.
Ray-O, my fav was Keenan's father.
This longtime Pittsburgh Pirates fan immediately knew who Lloyd and Paul were. They were nicknamed "Little Poison" and "Big Poison". Like Gaspasser and Mickey Mantle, they were from Oklahoma
TARE - There was a local material supply company in the next town over. When you pulled in, you drove onto the scales, told the clerk on the other side of the drive thru window what you wanted, got a pick ticket and drove out into the yard. A worker with a front end loader would take your ticket and direct you. After getting your load of material such as stone or dirt or sand or mulch, your truck was weighed again, and you could pay through the window. You never had to get out of your truck. Very efficient.
From yesterday: Nice job, Boomer ! Hand up for knowing "chippy" as Oc4beach described and as shown in the list of synonyms that Spitzboov provided. Never heard of the other version. Or the fish and chips version.
Yellowrocks, hope you are feeling better today. Abejo, glad you are now more than half way through the regimen.
Canadian Eh, thanks for the MLB / NHL / NBA explanation in reference to the Canadian teams.
Avg Joe, ouch !
Ray-O, click this link for the instructions on how to create HTML links.
Delightful Tuesday puzzle, very doable but with surprises here and there. Lots of fun--many thanks, Jerry. And Susan, your pictures and comments are just amazing--a real treat and treasure.
Like Bob Lee and others, I had the same EASTERN and WESTERN WALL challenge. Manatee and Ray, I love your fun word plays. Keep it up. Cool to have ELENA join RUTH and SONIA in court.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hola!
Thank you, Jerry Edelstein and Hahtoolah! I really love your visuals, Susan, and today the TAM wearer made me chuckle.
I love seeing BKS or anything related to them in a puzzle! With my weakening eyesight it's easier for me to read hard backs than PAPERBACK books.
It was fun to see unusual words today such as COPSE, BELLY, BLEEP, and WHEN PIGS FLY. I am familiar with IAN McKellen, but not McShane.
Of course, I immediately filled WAILING instead of WESTERN WALL. But it didn't take long to see my error though I've never heard of WANER.
I still subscribe to the daily NEWSPAPER primarily for the crossword puzzle but I also like reading the LOCAL NEWS as well as scanning the obituaries to check on friends and relatives.
How I would love to eat an ECLAIR! However, my blood work must be problematic because I received a call from the doctor's receptionist to make am appointment. Uh, oh. ALARM BELLS!
There's TIA again of which I am many times over.
I hope you are all enjoying a pleasant day!
This was a quick Tuesday fill.
No write-overs today.
I pick answer A...numerous studies have shown that the most difficult thing for anyone to do is admit they were wrong...about anything.
Stay Safe, Mask Up, see you tomorrow.
Easy puzzle, even for a Tuesday. The Sudoku in my paper was also easy today. Conserving my few remaining brain cells for something else.
Hondo....here's a Walker you might appeciate assistance from.
Lucina: I used to tease Mom over always checking the obituaries. Now it's one of the first thing I check in the local news. to make sure my name isn't there...
TTP. I know the formula for sending internet links and most of the hangups. Thanks. Though I I don't know how to send snapshots effectively
Musings
-Farm families here are intensely green (DEERE) or red (Farm-All)
-A golfer ran out of GAS in his personal cart this morning and our friend used a course cart to push him back in
-What makes a GUCCI tie worth $220?
-Semi-trailers usually have their TARE weight on the side
-Johnny Carson disliked having BOB Hope on The Tonight Show because he gave Carson a strict list of gags he wanted to use in order while being “interviewed” and wanted no ad-libbing.
Lucina, I hope your blood work signals nothing too major.
Thanks for all the support, Cornerites. I am feeling almost human today. Tomorrow I go in for a followup and to see why my glucose readings are so high this week. I am barely eating anything.
FLN: Jayce ~ You asked about the FOURTH WALL. I'm not sure what to tell you, just that actors are trained from early on that when playing in realistic or naturalistic shows, they must ignore the audience. We don't look directly at anyone seated out front as that would destroy the illusion of the "fourth wall."
In such plays, the audience gets a sense that they are peering into "real" lives on stage. When an actor has reason to look out (forward), it is usually over the heads of the ground level audience--to the back wall.
But there are plenty of shows where the fourth wall doesn't exist, shows in which we acknowledge the audience's presence. This style is generally called "presentational."
Many plays move back and forth. Shakespeare does this. There is some debate about whether soliloquies should be spoken TO the audience or OVER their heads. I prefer the direct approach, taking soliloquies directly to folk out front.
Think of the musical Cabaret, with the M.C. speaking directly "out" to the nightclub audience, which is coincidentally the real audience. Such scenes alternate with realistic scenes.
The nicest thing about the fourth wall is that it is so flexible. It can be there, and then--poof!--it's gone. (Sometimes there is a neat jolt the first time it vanishes.)
I hope that addresses your interest.
Neat pzl today!
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal on the far side.
The anagram is a message. Perhaps the creator of the pzl, Mr. Edelstein, has cause to be angry at a certain type of weasel. His hidden message is simple, to the point, those *#@! --
"DAMN FERRETS"!
Sorry,
but because I was having so much trouble finding
silly theme links,
& even could not find a good copy of Grouch Marx
saying to the audience, "All the jokes can't be good, you gotta expect that from time to time..."
I am going to have to go all educational on you about John Wick.
1st, OMG! Ian McShane! I thought I recognized him!
"He" is "Winston."
The Manager of the Continental Hotel in The John Wick Movies!
Judging that out Xword Blog Audience would have no clue
as to what John Wick is all about, I will try to enlighten you
(in the next post-so most of you can skip over it...)
BTW, stage actors never really "forget" the audience is there, although that is the illusion. We teach beginners to ignore the audience because some of them have a hard time doing so at first, and they let themselves be distracted, self-conscious about how they are being seen.
But in truth, we have to project our voices "to the deaf little old lady in the back row" and always be aware of sight lines.
On film, actors can delve deeper into the illusion--almost like hypnosis--that there is no audience, that they are alone. They needn't worry about being heard and seen, as it is then up to the camera and audio to seek them out.
~ OMK
YR:
Thank you. I also hope that. It may be because of the nightly glass of wine I've been drinking. It's only about three ounces, but still. . .
Easy enough puzzle today...I even knew both IANS.... But with plenty of interesting clues. Thanks, Jerry. I loved Kings and Queens for BEDS. I got ...ERN from perps so WESTERN WALL was easy
Hahtoolah, all the links were good, but I appreciated the news of the scale on the marsh reeds most. There has been very little about it in the paper. I had no idea it was so widespread. Scary!
IM, I agree with you on the E- words!! Enough! But I’m afraid they are here to stay.
I’ve never been to that town in Massachusetts or the shire in England which gives Lea &Perrin’s it’s name, so I can’t joined the debate over pronunciation. Y’all have fun! I’ve only heard Wooster, for what it’s worth, in the vein of free advice is worth what you pay for it! YMMV
Nice write-up.
Adore was one of my last fills also.
Let me just say, that John Wick probably started as a paperback thriller.
It has everything that you will probably hate about current movies,
needless bloodshed,
The 1st movie has 76 people killed
(or, that might have been 176...)
& is a new movie venture, entitled "GunFu..."
(meaning, there is gun violence aplenty mixed with martial arts...)
Now, I realize that this will turn off most of you immediately,
but, you might actually be surprised how this Movie can suck you in
(like a good paperback novel...)
Take the premise for instance:
John Wick recently lost his Wife to Cancer...
The only two things in his life left that give him solace
are his restored classic Ford car, and the puppy given to
him as a parting gift to keep him company by his dead Wife.
Enter young (A-hole) who wants his car,
breaks into his house at night, takes car, kills puppy...
(beats up John Wick...)
We then discover, that John Wick is a retired Assassin...
(let the killing begin...)
But there is something about the story that continues to suck you in
as you find out, more, & more about john Wicks past.
It turns out, he was not just an Assassin, he was the best ever assassin!
He quit (what we thought was the Mob) to marry his beloved
(now dead) wife & live in peace. (u know how that turned out!)
But he didn't work for the Mob! He worked for (they that can't be named...)
The Russians called him "Baba Yaga" (the BoogeyMan)
He who could not be killed...
He who once killed three men with nothing but a pencil...
There is a running joke, that of the (176?) people he kills
in the 1st movie, all where red shirts, in homage to Star Trek
throw away actors...
Movie one: Background
Movie two: he breaks the code...
Movie three: He must die (but they can't kill the Bugger!)
& in the middle of all the is Winston, the manager of the Continental Hotel,
the place where Assassins go to rest...
Answer to question from yesterday: Edmond, OK. Went to OSU (OK). Thought I wanted to be a veterinarian but changed majors to go to OU Medical School in OKC. Have sons in Baltimore & San Francisco. Retired March 2020 - just in time to miss Covid at the hospital.
Ray-O, at the link I gave you, there is a link to Google's old photo sharing and archiving app called Picassa. Picassa has been shelved and replaced by Google Photos. If you take the Picassa link, it will lead you to Google Photos, or you can just search for Google Photos to find it. Play with it, and you'll learn how easy it is to upload photos from your computer.
Hahtoolah and Swamp Cat, scale is the insect that attacked my Star Magnolia. I have the scale under control for now, and am no longer concerned that I am going to lose that beautiful tree.
I'm going to release thousands of ladybugs at the base of the tree next late spring, a couple of weeks after spraying with horticultural oil and doing another soil drench with a systemic insecticide (Imidacloprid).
I'm hoping the horticultural oil will suffocate the scale while it is in the crawler stage. Any that get around that treatment will hopefully be eaten by the ladybugs, giving the systemic time to travel from the roots to the canopy and out to all the little branches and twigs. About 90 days.
That's my theory and my plan for next year.
Don't know if the ladybugs would work on the scale in the reeds but it's probably worth a test or two.
I was impressed with so many long theme answers and the theme was satisfying. I also immediately thought of the Beatles song PAPERBACK Writer.
Unlike yesterday with the utterly incomprehensible CHIPPY, today's fill was well done. I loved seeing my hero EDWIN Hubble honored. Before EDWIN, the entire universe was just our galaxy and no one even know what a galaxy was. He made the universe bigger by a truly astronomical factor.
Here we were at and around the WESTERN WALL.
It is my understanding that "Wailing WALL" is not considered politically correct; it was a term used when Jews did not have access to that area. Jews only regained access to that area fairly recently. Instead of leaving a prayer, I left a note asking for answers to my big questions as you can see. So far, no answers!
From Sunday:
Learning moment about the word RUBRIC.
From Saturday:
WilburCharles, AnonT, NaomiZ thank you for the kind words and glad you enjoyed my photos of EILAT and Comet NEOWISE!
Husker Gary thank you for updating our Crossword Corner community map! It seems I have many neighbors and it would be good to meet up sometime!
Picard, what is the status/timeline for your move?
Swamp, you've given me an idea. Let's get Steve to opine about Worcester when he joins us Thursday
WC
Golden oldie 😉
My daughter's family lives in a suburb of Framingham MA called Ashland. All the commercial stuff near her is on WORCESTER RD. She pronounces Wuster like looker. I used to incorrectly say Framingham with a short a like bam. Now corrected to a picture frame
Both towns not far from the Natick Mall. "naytik not nattick Dad"
Im not a maller but Natick is not all that obscure due to its fairly extensive mall which wiki says is one of the largest in New England.
I suppose Rochester NY where we lived during residency should be called "Rooster" ?
Well, it was an easy Tuesday puzzle, so easy that I managed to, er, FIW!. As others have mentioned, I also wanted WAILINGWALL first, but I chose EASTERNWALL as a replacement, because I didn’t know WANER (I’m old, but not THAT old) or EMI. Eaner and AMI looked fine to me. BZZZZ! Sit down, punk!
FINALLY! ERAS and EONS in the same puzzle. I’m sure it’s happened before, but I don’t remember it (senile too, you know). BIB and BOB were cute too.
ECLAIR: Love ‘em! Ain’t supposed to eat ‘em! Every once in a while….
EXXON: One of the most successful business decisions and implementations in history occurred when Standard Oil of NJ (ESSO) brought all of its US business entities together under one name by inventing and introducing the name EXXON. At the time, some had serious doubts that the name change would succeed.
Gaspasser: Welcome! Speaking of names, love the handle!.
I just got this lovely note from Sarah (in our CA contingent) about our little puzzle stand here:
Hi Gary,
I have been solving and lurking on CC's excellent blog for over six years but have never been able to post a response probably due to my wall of anti-spam software. Therefore I have resorted to emailing members including CC directly. The corner members are a unique combination of informed, polite and personal participants who I continue to meet every day and follow their triumphs and travails . It is nice to know where they reside per your map.
Best
Sharon Sasse
I'm sure you join me in encouraging her to blog!
With all this talk about New England pronunciations I'm reminded of a midwestern native I met a few years ago that had spent a few years there and had a good observation. She said: "New Englanders drop R's from a lot of words. But they don't eliminate them. They recycle them. They use them on their idears."
Husker Gary, please pass on to Sharon encouragement from this fellow Californian. I had visited this blog perhaps a dozen times over a period of months prior to posting my first comments. During that period of time I had come to reach the same opinion of the people here voiced in her note. There are likely people here who can help her with her technical issues.
Also, Picard your thought to somehow organize a gathering is a good idea. The current COVID situation obviously makes that difficult at this time but, as my father used to say, "this, too, shall pass."
Picard: In Jerusalem the Western Wall (so called because it is said to be the Western Wall of the Temple) is generally called the Kotel הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי. Wailing Wall was what the Europeans called the Wall when seeing Jews praying at the wall. You can view teh Western Wall in real time.
Swamp Cat: Check your email.
QOD: True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it. ~ Sir Karl Popper (né Karl Raimund Popper; July 28, 1902 ~ Sept. 17, 1994), Austrian-born British philosopher
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Jerry Edelstein, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Hahtoolah, for a fine review.
Worked this puzzle this morning traveling to the cancer Center. Got 'er done quickly. Liked the theme.
DEERE was easy. Big name in Illinois.
You can have all the ECLAIRS in the world. I have no appetite for that stuff.
Liked LAKES at 52A. And ERIE is one of them.
Thanks for rooting for me Madame DeFarge. Appreciate. 17 days down, 13 to go. Not sure what comes after that.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
I liked this puzzle and enjoyed solving it. WAILING WALL had to give way to WESTERN WALL, OOZE had to change to SEEP, and SURE had to change to SPRY. I loved the theme.
I borrowed a paperback book from our DIL not long ago and was chagrined to discover I couldn't read the small typeface. I would love to read our local newspaper, too, but the small typeface and the fact that the ink is no longer all that black and the paper is no longer all that white (low contrast) make it impossible. I am now an avid reader of online sources.
Hahtoolah, I very much like your "Which is the hardest to say" challenge. At first I voted for A, then thought All Of The Above, then went back to A.
Non-intuitive pronunciations of people and place names seems to be widespread. I dare say Gary is well aware of the little town of Beatrice, pronounced "bee AT riss", not far from where he lives. (Similar to "beatify" I suppose.) I learned that the British pronounce the train station Mainwaring as "Mannering." One of the most amazing examples, to me, is how the English surname Featherstonhaugh is pronounced. Ray-O, I love your "Rooster" comment.
We used to live next door to an elderly woman who called watermelon "wummum". Not sure if it was because she was missing so many teeth.
Thanks for your comments about the Fourth Wall, Ol'Man. Much appreciated.
Good wishes to you all.
This was a good Tuesday effort! Thanks, Jerry E. for the fun. Thanks, Hahtoolah, for the explanations and links.
Guess who got the theme for a change?! Usually I forget to look for it. Only had a couple write-overs today.
WEES so I won't add anything to the puzzle discussion, other than I enjoyed it!
As Comet Neowise is leaving our area, I'll share my brother's Comet Album. A couple pictures haven't made it to the album yet, and it includes a couple other comets. Hover your cursor over the picture and a description should appear.
Have a great evening!
Sharon, in California: I hope you will join the Corner commentariat very soon. We’ll look forward to getting to know you as well as you seem to know us! 🤗
Abejo, sending positive thoughts your way! ☺️
Hello Sharon,
Based on your note to HG,
I like you already!
We would be glad to assist you in any way you might
Need in order to post on The Blog.
1st, you need to go Blue...
(So people cannot assume your identity,)
Unfortunately, I went Blue so long ago that I do not remember how I did it...
But, people's profiles usually include emails
And we would be glad to help you with any questions you may have.
Just ask a Q on the blog, & we will respond ASAP....
Thank you everyone for your kind encouragement.
It worked! Hooray! Talk to you soon!
Sorry if I may be over posting:
but I am so excited with this link I found to
Sweet Judy Blue Eyes...
I have always wanted to play this on guitar,
but what's the point if you don't have three part harmony...
But this link makes me want to find two more people...
Welcome, sasses.
Note the guitar on the right is in special tuning
(which I have yet to figure out)
but the back up guitar is in standard tuning
capo'd at the 2nd fret!
This is a learning moment!
Welcome Sarah!
Good evening Cornerites.
Thank you Jerry Edelstein for your enjoyable Tuesday CW.
Carol and I FIR in 26:46 min. She touched the optical mouse, kicking and screaming "I don't want to do this !" It was PC poetry. she put the arrow on just the perfect square and highlighted the word.
Thank you Hahtoolah for your excellent review.
"Which is the hardest to say?" That's hard to say. I opt for the unwritten answer e. All of the above
Ðave
Hi All!
Thanks Jerry for the fine puzzle.
Thanks for the sparkly expo Hahtoolah; loved the Jack Handey [your fav is mine too D-O!] quote and your QOD.
WO: started TaRI Garr
ESPs: WANER, IANS
Fav: ADORE - last fill and the V8 hit "mad about" as in gaga, not irate.
Cute DR, OMK. I was looking for more of "line or cue slipped and the audience got in on it." One of those 'oops' moments that are funny (now) :-)
Sharon - See to setup a free account. Come play with us.
Spitz - Nice shot of you and Santa and the giant DEERE. Seen it before, but nice to be reminded. Thanks for sharing it today.
D-O: I got myself a nice kitchen-scale for Christmas. I saw the TARE button and thought, "I know what that is! Thanks xwords!."
//I swear our lab scales in college had a 'set' or 'reset' button.
Glad to read you're feeling better YR.
Hondo - it started with cheaters & now I have to see an optometrist.
Is it our bodies failing or just getting back at us for how we treated it for so long? :-)
//Go w/ Ray-O's walker; much nicer to be seen leaning on her...
IM - right. With COVID, everything is eSomething unless it's vSomething (virtual-meeting, vConference, etc. - I hope to never see that.
CED - Thanks for they synopsis of John Wick. Folks ask me, "You've never seen it?!? Dude...." Now I can say what it's about without watching mayhem I will never unsee.
Oh, and hey, for Judy Blue Eyes, in the ERA of COVID, you can find some eFriends and vHarmonize :-)
Gaspasser - I know exactly where Edmond is. Buddy of mine lived up there. He was a test pilot at TAFB; after the B52s finished maintenance, he'd take them up for a spin.
DW taught a few English classes at OU-OKC in the '90s when she was a TA at the Norman campus.
Tin - No Pinch? You will have to augment your emergency kit(s).
On that note - Lucina: I can't imagine 3 oz of wine doing that much skewing but, then, I'm not a Dr.. Let us know how it goes.
Greater than 1/2-way there Abejo!
MManatee - Apologies to Ray-O? What about to the rest of us? :-)
//In the Air Tonight [Live 5:40]
Kuykendahl is a major street in Houston and it's pronounced with a "found" Boston 'R'.
a. I say you're right, I'm sorry after every disagreement w/ DW - even if I'm right. //happy wife, happy life :-)
b. Never be afraid to ask for help.
c. Worcestershire sauce. I can say sauce properly.
d. I tell DW and/or the Girls that at least 20 times a day - especially now that we're home together.
You're still reading this post?... You need a hobby. Google 'Bob Newhart standup telephone.' I did; He's still got it.
Cheers, -T
I’m late to the party today so WEES by now. I did find this CW quicker to fill than yesterday’s. Thanks Jerry and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed and got the theme (although not until the reveal).
Hand up for Wailing before WESTERN WALL.
Started well with a CSO to DH. Also loved that photoSpitzboov.
YR, glad you are feeling a little better.
Abejo, continued thoughts and prayers.
Good to see some new faces here. Welcome and keep posting. (I’m still waiting for more Canadians to post; I know you are out there!)
Wishing you all a good evening.
Who was that from Ashland? Along with the Mall, Natick was the home of Doug Flutie, he of Heisman fame. C-eh remembers him well from his CFL days. His first professional team was owned by a certain Mr Donald Trump.
After WFL faded he was hired as a replacement player by the NE Patriots.
His game at Foxboro put the nail in the coffin of the strike. The Patriots drew the biggest crowd of the by year.
WC
AnonT:
I'm not sure of the exact measure but remember it's EVERY NIGHT. Surely it's a cumulative effect, no?
I am sending good wishes and prayers for Abejo.
And I forgot to weigh in on Hahtoolah's question. I don't find any of them difficult. Saying "I love you" is, in fact, something I enjoy doing. And anyone who went through basic training (it's called the postulate and novitiate) must learn to acknowledge guilt.
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