It is the not uncommon double dose of Jeffrey and me. I have never understood Rich's scheduling parameters, but looking back I only know that I have written up back to backs before. As we take the day to recover from the fun and frolicking associated with celebrating my 72nd birthday we are treated to an "add a bigram" and make everyone laugh puzzle. This is among my favorite of JW's silly puzzles. He once again uses the 15 x 16 grid to feature a central themer and to avoid using any cheater squares. He also blended in such fun fill as ERASERS, FLEXION, MALAISE, PLUNGES, POPE LEO, ROSETTE, BENTO BOXES, and DIVVYING UP. Again, the ones in red are major puzzle originals.
On to the tour.
19A. False claim about one's pioneer ancestors?: WESTWARD HOAX (12). Things I learn blogging. Did you know Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England? Steve? This is a reference to the generic call for the early Americans to go west. HOAX is too political a word to comment.
25A. Medieval German spendthrift?: PRODIGAL SAXON (13). The Bible tells us of the Prodigal Son, a son who receives his inheritance and travels to a distant country, wastes all his money in wild extravagance, becomes desperately poor, returns to his father, and is received with open arms. Saxons were a group of early Germanic peoples who fought the Anglos.
41A. Transmitted documents with Red Riding Hood's location?: FAXED TO THE WOLVES (16). Fed to the wolves was the plan for Red, but the image of the wolf in the forest receiving a facsimile transmission showing the way to gramma's house is priceless.
52A. Beauty treatment for poultry?: CHICKEN WAXING (13). Thinking of taking a simple chicken wing and adding two letters to create the image of a big fat chicken at the salon getting her bikini wax...(Brazilian) disturbing.
63A. Big-screen entertainment for angels?: IMAX IN HEAVEN (12). You lose an apostrophe to get this wonderful fill, picturing the angels watching the movies.
And the rest.
Across:
1. Quick blow: JAB. A quick start and a "J.'
4. Weary worker's sigh: TGIF. Thank God It's Friday.
8. Dives: PLUNGES.
15. 4 x 4, briefly: UTE. Utility vehicle.
16. Six-ton predator: ORCA.
17. Leopard spot: ROSETTE. My last fill; I learned that many of the spots are not spots at all, but clusters of black, yellow, and tan markings called “rosettes”. These patterns are unique to each leopard, like a human fingerprint.
18. ICU staffer: LPN. Licensed Practical Nurse.
21. Taking courses?: EATING. Haha. Eating a three-course meal.
23. Crest box abbr.: ADA. American Dental Association.
24. Crafty: SLY.
30. Honey, in slang: BAE. This is a common fill.
31. Zip: PEP.
32. Lot choice: SEDAN.
36. Wall St. event: IPO. Initial Public Offering.
38. Enforcer of some ACA provisions: IRS. Affordable Care Act.
39. Vague unease: MALAISE.
45. Bending movement: FLEXION. The action of bending or the condition of being bent, especially the bending of a limb or joint.
46. __ clear: ALL. on the western front.
47. Large receptacle: VAT.
48. Nods, maybe: YESES.
49. It was precious to conquistadores: ORO. There's gold in them there clues.
50. Oliver Twist or Tiny Tim: BOY. So simple, this was hard.
58. Half-hearted: WAN. This was a stretch that took perps.
61. "There's __ in team": NO I.
62. Laundry employee: IRONER. A real word. Meh.
68. Hurdle for srs.: GRE. Graduate Record Examinations.
69. First religious leader of his title to be called "The Great": POPE LEO. Thank you, Joe Deeney and HG for teaching me this Saturday. This is another silly dupe with 57D. Rich does not seem to care.
70. Guy: MALE.
71. Charlottesville sch.: UVA. University of Virginia. My brother dated a woman who was teaching at the medical school.
72. Tools for some crossword solvers: ERASERS. Or backspace.
73. 500-mile race: INDY. The Indianapolis 500.
74. Furry friend: PET.
Down:
1. Derby cocktail: JULEP. Churchill Downs has promoted Mint Juleps since 1938. Each year around 120,000 this classic mint julep recipe are served over the 2 day race period. That’s a lot! While Woodford Reserve is the official whiskey of the Kentucky Derby, we chose another Kentucky Bourbon, Knob Creek, which is one of our favorites.
2. For face value: AT PAR.
3. Japanese takeout orders: BENTO BOXES. They are popular in Thailand as well. We had some at Zen, 2 Mahidol Rd, Hai ya Subdistrict | Central Airport Plaza Level 1, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
4. Many an off-campus local: TOWNIE. Initially, I read this as "locale." In prep school, there were great conflicts with the townies.
5. An Allman brother: GREGG. He was no Duane, but he did marry Cher.
6. Suffix with robot: ICS. -ics. a suffix of nouns that denote a body of facts, knowledge, principles, etc., usually corresponding to adjectives ending in -ic or -ical: ethics; physics; politics; tactics.
7. Budgetary excess: FAT. Politics.
8. Fendi rival: PRADA. A learning week as I bet you didn’t know that in 1999, the LVMH group and Prada purchased 51% of Fendi.
9. Seuss activist: LORAX. Geopolitical STORY.
"Unless someone like you
Cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
It’s not."
10. Amer. capital: USD. Money.
11. Bk. before Esther: NEHEMIAH
12. Classic muscle cars: GTOS. Gran Turismos.
13. Shorthand for unlisted items: ET AL.
14. Alluring: SEXY.
20. With 35-Down, papery construction best left alone: WASP. 35D. See 20-Down: NEST. A wasp nest is made from chewed wood that gives them their distinctive papery walls.
22. Filmmaker Lupino: IDA. Her IMDB.
26. Blacksmith wear: APRON.
27. For fear that: LEST.
28. Capital on a fjord: OSLO. CSO to our Norwegian friends.
29. Patricia of "Hud": NEAL. Paul Newman's wife.
Dividing up.
34. Like pirates, often: ASEA.
36. Uncertain: IFFY.
37. Part of IPA: PALE.
38. Midori in a rink: ITO. Time flies.
39. Gourd fruit: MELON. An anagram of LEMON...
40. Piercing tool: AWL.
42. Corner off. occupant: EXECutive.
43. Share juicy details: DISH.
44. Fabled braggart: HARE. The tortoise and...
49. Dust Bowl migrant: OKIE.
50. Dancing dinosaur: BARNEY. And I learned so much more about THIS.
51. Kitchen gadget maker: OXO.
53. __ circle: INNER. When I was representing AXE before they got their record deal, they rehearsed at SIR Studio in NYC and INNER CIRCLE was also their rehearsing.
54. Pacific salmon: COHOS. Sockeye is an oilier fish with deep red flesh, sockeye salmon also high in heart-healthy omega-3s but has a stronger flavor and stands up well to grilling. Coho is milder and often lighter in color
55. Brandish: WIELD.
56. Guts: NERVE.
57. "That's what I'm talking about!": GREAT. More greatness.
58. Sanitizing cloth: WIPE. The be-all and end-all of MONK.
59. Latin love: AMOR.
60. California tourist valley: NAPA. Don't whine. This VALLEY.
64. Kisses, in love letters: XES. And OOs. And at my house.
65. Paris' __ de la Cité: ÎLE. Tourists flock to Notre Dame, located on Île de la Cité, but few take the time to discover the island’s many parks, shops, and cafés.
66. "What __ missing?": AM I. Looks like the French AMI.
67. FedEx fleet member: VAN.
You may get a week off next week, but we never know. I really had a great !~ time on this one and I hope you all did. So much to learn. Thanks, Jeffrey and thank you all, Lemonade out.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI got the AX at WESTWARD HOAX, and knew what to expect going forward. GREGG used to be clued as a type of shorthand, back in the olden days when folks still knew what shorthand was. TOWNIE immediately evokes Good Will Hunting. IDA is another one from my UTE -- I remember her from Four Star Playhouse, must-see on '50s TV, with Charles Boyer, IDA LUPINO, David Niven, and Dick Powell taking turns as the star. Enjoyed the outing, but found it pretty easy for a Friday. Not complaining, though. Thanx, JW and Lemonade.
Cleverly clued as per JW, I enjoyed the Monk clips. IDA was a household name in the 50s.
ReplyDeleteWC
12:02. I enjoyed the heavy dose of the Xs and the Vs.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteFriday and JW usually mean a difficult but always enjoyable solve, and while today’s was enjoyable, it was far from difficult. I guess when the theme is obvious from the get-go, the solve is fairly quick, especially when the themers are easy to parse. My favorite one was IMAX In Heaven. It was fun seeing Malaise which is a word I’ve always liked; it reminds me of Miasma. Having Boy and Male was cute, also. My one w/o was Julep because I invariably want to spell it Julip. My only nit is the plethora of three letter words, but since Jeffrey can do no wrong in my book, all is forgiven. 😉
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a Friday romp and thanks, Lemony, for a very informative and entertaining expo. Learning moment was the tidbit about leopard’s rosettes. Who knew? Also enjoyed the Fred and Ginger nostalgia and the background of Barney’s demise. Again, who knew?
FLN
CED, I hope you get relief from the tooth problem and good luck on your trek into the Big Apple! Is this the second daughter to move into the City? If so, you only have one daughter still at home, right?
I hope those affected by Laura didn’t suffer too much damage or discomfort.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteROSETTE was my last fill too. Except for JULEP, the top started out sparsely. Better hunting in the lower half. After IMAX IN HEAVEN, the AX long-themers came in smartly. Note that HOAX didn't have the same sound as the other 'AX's. Fairly easy for a Friday. No ERASERS were used in this solve.
Have a GREAT day.
I loved the long answers. Figured out 'Faxed to the Wolves' first and wondered what the theme was. Once I got 'IMAX in Heaven', I got it.
ReplyDeleteWe've had Pope Leo a few times, so that one was obvious.
I laughed when I penciled in Pencils for crossword solvers tools, and then had to erase it to put in Erasers.
And I like having some 3-letter answers mixed in with the very long answers. For someone like me, it helps tremendously.
As did Irish Miss, I found this puzzle enjoyable and relatively easy to solve ... for a Friday. FIR in under ten minutes which was faster for me than was Thursday's outing.
ReplyDeleteThe AX theme was sussed out early in the process and was a big help. I knew neither ROSETTE as a synonym for leopard spot nor FLEXION but CWs are a bit like double entry accounting. If you're careful then things usually fall into place. Of course, if one's thinking is haphazard then errors abound.
I share Lemonade's reaction to CHICKEN WAXING. I will spend a good, long time trying to get that image out of my mind. This will not be at all easy to do because Valerie's neighbor is raising chickens and the hens will likely be "in my face" for the next few days. Ugh!
FIR again today! Oh, what a feeling! Got the theme easily with PRODIGAL SAXON, and everything below that went quickly. My slow section was TGIF, ORCA, and TOWNIE which came after I realized Amer. capital meant USD bringing WESTWARD HOAX to mind. I had HOAX early on but the first W and T were slower to see in WESTWARD.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting puzzle, Jeffrey, and for your good explanation, Lemonade. Lots of new words today.
Have a good weekend, puzzlers! See you tomorrow.
What?? Another enjoyable and easier JW? We are seeing a kinder and gentler side of him!!
ReplyDeleteAx me no questions I'll tell you no lies!
ReplyDeleteTGIF with no AX to grind from Big Easy. The WESTWARD HOAX gave away the puzzle's theme up front. The NW caused a little slowdown due to not knowing BENTO BOXES-perps. The rest was fairly easy, especially for a Friday. I didn't know BARNEY danced, only that he was purple.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeffrey for very little A&E.
SEDAN- car rental companies offer sedans because the Mfgs. dump them a low prices to keep their plants running. People are buying SUVs, trucks, & crossovers but NOT sedans.
GREGG Allman- great keyboard player. Cher? An off-key singer but played a great 'straight (wo)man' to Sonny's jokes on their TV show.
Never understood what you gain by using DIVVYING. It has the same number of letters and syllables as DIVidING
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-The California Gold Rush turned out to be a WESTWARD HOAX for most
-Ginger did everything Fred did going backwards in heels
-If I were to SPAR with Mike Tyson, his JAB would knock me into the middle of next week
-An LPN may have to do CPR in the ICU if the EMT brings in a patient who is not DOA
-Having a fire drill on a freezing day meant the kids stood outside until the ALL clear was given
-Sudoku puzzles really put a strain on ERASERS
-Constructor Christopher Adams calls himself a TOWNIE in Iowa City
-DIVVYING UP was a familiar phrase and the final activity in all our family gatherings
Ecstatic to finish a Friday J.W. right.
ReplyDeleteFAXED TO THE WOLVES helped tons. Last to fill was NE.
Corrected dol to USD.
MO
ROSETTE was my last answer as well. And a fun thing to have learned today!
ReplyDeletePRODIGALSAXON was my entry into the theme.
Nice and straightforward puzzle today. Well done!
ReplyDeleteBefore I opened the puzzle, I was thinking that it was going to be a Jeffrey Weschler puzzle, and by golly, I was right. I really enjoyed the AX insertion today.
At first I thought the puzzle revolved around just the X's before I realized that the insertion was AX. This made the puzzle a little easier to solve today.
Lemon did a great tour today.
I got TOWNIE right away because when I went to "Collech", I was a TOWNIE and lived two blocks from campus. We were always looked down upon by the guys and gals in the frats and sororities, so, we told everyone that we were Gamma Delta Iota's (G** D**N Independents). Most of them had no clue that we were pulling their legs. One advantage that I had as a TOWNIE was that I could drive a car as a Freshman. All other Freshmen on campus were not allowed to have cars at school back then.
ROSETTES was also my last fill. Learning moment. Perps to the rescue with this word and a bunch of others today.
The 500 mile race coulda been at Daytona, but it was too long.
It took perps and a few minutes to get SEDAN as a lot choice. Clever cluing. Back in December, I traded in my last sedan for a Grand Cherokee, so now all 3 of my vehicles are a truck, 2 UTE's and are all 4WD. Just what you need in Pennsylvania in the winter.
I hope all are well and please wear your masks.
I enjoyed this puzzle with its fun theme, which was detected very early on and sped the solve along.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly there was no unheard of fill, just fun misdirections, like taking courses/eating. Some fill took a few perps to suggest, but all were known words.
Fed to the wolves is commonly used like this: sacrifice someone, especially so as to save oneself.
IMO, WAN can mean half-hearted. "lacking in forcefulness, competence, or effectiveness:
their wan attempts to organize the alumni." from Dictionary.com
My Japanese DIL used to make lovely bento boxes for Kenny's lunch. In Japan before boarding the Shinkansen (bullet train) we bought bento boxes to eat on the train during our trip.
Why use divvying when we have dividing? For variety. Look how many words we have for large. English is among the largest languages by word count. The variety makes English expressive and colorful.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteI'M IN HEAVEN! Though this was easier than most, still, it's a Wexie!
Not too much time to comment or read everything because I'm going to a funeral, my brother's MIL who lived a long and mostly good life until age 93.
I got that Jeffrey gave us the AXE and I sliced right through it. Thank you, JW and thank you, Lemonade. It sounds like you enjoyed your birthday.
I hope those in Laura's path were left unscathed.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
During the Gold Rush most people did not get rich from mining. Most miners only found about $10-$15 worth of gold dust a day.
ReplyDeleteMost people who got rich were entrepreneurs who made money from selling things or making new businesses. Most entrepreneurs sold items that people needed on a daily basis. They were able to make a lot of money from this. They raised the prices much higher than they could any other place in the world because the miners needed these goods and there were not a lot of stores in California to sell them.
A very happy belated birthday to Vidwan and Lemon.
CE Dave, I hope your pain soon subsides. Is the only treatment antibiotics?
I hope our Gulf contingent stays safe and your property is not severely damaged.
Abejo, you're in my thoughts as you work through this illness. Here's to brighter days ahead.
It looks like I was the only one who struggled today. I did FIR but in longer time than usual. Sticking point was the NE. For some reason PRADA and LORAX escaped me for the longest time and were the last to fall.
ReplyDeleteBARNEY came along a bit too late for our kids; they’d moved on to other things to drive us nuts with.
We do a lot of geocaching; one of our favorite finds was a huge paper WASP NEST that had apparently been long devoid of inhabitants. The hider put some varnish on it to protect it from the elements, cut it in half top to bottom, hollowed it out, put hinges on it, and hung it back up. Looked very real until you got quite close to it, which we were reluctant to do for quite a while. Lotsa fun.
Mr W never fails tto entertain me, and a discourse by Lemonade is always a treat. Thanks, guys.
Abejo, I think of you often and hope you will soon be feeling better.
Mask up and go out and slay some dragons today; it could give you back some of the pep you’ve been missing.
Not knowing the constructor before coming here I figured it had to be JW. Tough, but fair and fun. Got the theme right away with westwardhoax, then a steady fill with the help of my 72A (eraser) changing dividing to divvying, and the last to fall for me was the crossing of pep and wasp. Woohoo (hi Misty) a Friday FIR.
ReplyDeleteWhat made this a fairly easy Friday (for a Friday with the accent on fairly) is the obvious AX clue early on and the relativley easy perps that helped unknowns.
ReplyDeleteNever heard the term ROSETTE for a leopard spot...would avoid getting close enough to confirm. Almost filled CHICKENnoXema as a beauty treatment but stuck with AX.
Speaking of chicken related issues. My Corner blog is peppered with ads. One PLIED an electic metal cylinder device identified as a home chicken defeatherer. I LIU and apparently there is a market for these. For about the next week I received unsolicited ads for a number of variations of home chicken defeatherers (if anyone is interested
Do it yourself home defeatherer a fancy way of saying chicken plucker.
Whenever DW and I frequent a Japanese restaurant fo lunch we always order the BENTO BOXES since besides sushi we're not familiar with much else.
Mo Rocca in "Mobituaries" mentions that althought IDA Lupino was one of the first female directors she is mostly known now for crossword fill...so true. Wonder why it's a "bee hive" but WASP NEST?
The SE was the last to go because I held onto SAT too long before changing to GRE. Second inkover was cohoe/COHOS. The real hurdle for srs. is figuring out your Medicare coverage. (Wonder if POPE LEO runs the IMAXINHEAVEN?) WAN to me conjures up "weak and pale" not "half-hearted"
Lot choice? acreage?.nope..almost put "SODOM" perpwalked. (The devil wears PRADA, the fiend wears Fendi?) Isn't the gourd the fruit? (Albeit dried out) of a squash-like plant? MELON is somerhing to be avoided by Irish M.
John in Mexico was first in the race. He ____ WAN.
Imitate Pres. Reagan....APRON.
Eat my high fiber cereal from a _____ BRANDISH.
DNF: got the puzzle ____ wrong....AWL.
On to Saturn (one of the Octet) day.
ReplyDeletePatricia Neal was not HUD’s nor Paul Newman’s wife in the film or in real life, respectively. . In the film Patricia Neal was the housekeeper. In real life Joanne Woodward was his wife.
Thanks for pointing this out. I immediately caught that also
DeleteWan, indeed, conjures up, weak and pale. But that does not bar it from having other meanings, maybe not quite as common, but equally legitimate.
ReplyDelete"The mediocre songs, for the most part, conjure wan memories of Tin Pan Alley, and the dialogue scenes wallow in cheap sentiment. "Washington Post Nov 15, 2019
"This is its reward: a performance so wan that it is difficult to believe this team was the champion of Europe just 16 months ago." New York Times Sep 18, 2019
First, there was an incredibly wan ceremony in March, hosted by a disengaged Jimmy Kimmel.
New York TimesDec 7, 2018
The first Sunday of the NFL season ended with a final flourish of wan incompetence
Washington Post Sep 11, 2017
Other meaning of wan: Half-hearted, lacking in forcefulness, competence, or effectiveness.
Meaning of half hearted: lacking in forcefulness, competence, or effectiveness
Isn't it interesting that words we use all the time have other meanings that , perhaps, we have never met?
PVX, thank you for pointing out my error in marrying Patricia to Paul. PATSY was married for 30 years to puzzle and reader favorite Roald Dahl. He was 6'6" inches tall
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeffrey and Lemonade!
ReplyDeleteI ALMOST got it right! Came close, but no cigar! My biggest problems were not knowing PRADA or LORAX, which prevented my getting PLUNGES, which for some stupid reason I couldn't suss. Didn't know ROSETTE in that context either. Pretty much figured out the rest of the puzzle.
On to Saturday!!!
Finally finished late this afternoon. I saw one leopard on safari, but didn’t notice the ROSETTE. Also did a double-take on WAN. However, FIR and I’m taking it to the bank.
ReplyDeleteLoved this puzzle. WEES.
ReplyDeletePatricia Neal became famous, as far as I am concered, in HUD and also because of the serious brain tumor or perhaps an AVM .... Arterio-Venous Malformation, ( which can cause strokes ) or so that she had several operations,in 1965 (?), and eventually survived from.. until 2010.
ReplyDeleteHer illness, treatment and recovery was discussed in TIME, LIFE and even in the US Congress, and was instrumental in increasing the amount of medical coverage not only for ( then existing ) health insurance company plans, and but also, eventually for Medicare ( which prob did not exist, at that time -).
When famous people are afflicted with some unusual medical problems, they become a poster child for a national exposure. Remember when Prez Reagan got a hearing aid, or had a rectal exam for his enlarged prostrate ?
I also knew Paul Newman was married to Joanne Woodward, and I was always impressed at his fidelity in his marriage. ( not entirely true, plus she was his second wife). But I was impressed that such a handsome man, with such a reputation, and such a talent, would be so faithful and no affairs.
Lemonade, I realized you had made a minor mistake, but after yesterday's red letter day - you were entitled to one flub... Now, thats been used up ...no more allowed. ;-) Lol
I'm late to the Friday party. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed a JW CW. Woohoo, as Misty would say! And I saw that AX was Axed.
(And that CHICKEN WAXING made be laugh!)
(Small nit with the plural WOLVES when there is only one wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, but plural was needed for FED TO THE WOLVES; I'll let it go.)
ERASER was needed. (Actually I solve in ink, and just create inkblots!)
Bin changed to VAT.
WESTWARD started out as WESTern.
Dol changed to USD. (at least I didn't have WDC)
Diss changed to DISH.
This Canadian has no idea what "ACA provisions" means but IRS filled the spot. Something to do with American income tax I presume.
YR - I just finished reading Bel Canto. I enjoyed it. Thanks - I believe you were the one who recommended it here.
SwampCat - If I remember correctly, you introduced me to Louise Penny's books. I see there is a new one coming soon - All the Devils are Here.
Good evening all. Stay safe. We are expecting to get the remnants of Laura tonight in the form of thunderstorms with heavy rain.
I see that others already noted that Patricia NEAL was married to Roald Dahl and Paul Newman to Joanne Woodward. Paul was once quoted as saying about his fidelity, "why eat hamburger when you have steak at home." I don't know if it's true, but it seems to fit him.
ReplyDeleteToday was a long and exhausting day. First, the funeral Mass was late. Instead of at 10:30 it started at nearly 11:00. Then the trip to the cemetery and a long service there in the blistering sun. For lunch we returned to downtown Phoenix, Alexis on Central and Columbus (if you know the area) and spent the entire afternoon visiting with friends and family whom we have not seen in a long time. Some since a previous funeral. Home by 5:00. But it was worthwhile.
I hope you all had a good day and stayed out of trouble! You know who you are.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteWhoot! I got a Friday JW sans outside help! Wasn't easy but finally...
//Oh, so y'all say it was easy... No wonder this moron could solve it :-)
Thanks JW for the puzzle. Took me a while to fully grok the theme (not C->X or some such [iMac in Heaven?]) even with the bottom 3 themers filled. It was while trying to figure out what letter could go before OAX in 19a [WEST-----OAX] when the penny-dropped. Fun!
Speaking of fun - enjoyable expo Lem. //No idea what Alluring Woman is about
WOs: JULiP, WAll->WASP, nil->PEP, troubles spelling DIVVY [had an E in there for a while]
ESPs: Kinda feels like all of them. NEAL was last to fill. Oh, definitely COHOS.
Fav: That I finished! Ok, I thought a little Suss was cute.
ROSETTE took 4/7th perpage b/f I pulled it from past puzzling grey matter.
BENTO BOXES - the -T family leant of these during a trip to SFO. DW made American-style [read: PB&J, Ants on a Log, Apple slice] for the girls' early school days. She even included a little lunch note.
Lucina - sorry for your family's loss. My love to y'all.
BobLee - Funny (Meta) pencil incident!
WikWak - My FIR took me forever too. My Uncle has 3 shellacked paper WASP NESTs between his garage & shed. He found them hiking and came back later towards winter. They're pretty cool.
All day and no one linked The Allman Brothers? Ramblin' Man [5:56]
Cheers, -T
Anon+T:
ReplyDeleteThank you. One consequence of a family funeral is reconnecting with people we don't see often and they are all such nice folks. We all live so far flung from each other though in the same geographical area. I can't say city, because, in fact, we live in the cities that surround Phoenix.
I could have sworn I posted this morning because I made a whole series of comments on different words and concepts, including one on Bob Lee's pencil/eraser story. But somehow my post has disappeared for the first time. Well, it's nice to see everyone's comments anyway.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteHU for finishing the puzzle in the NE corner. Fendi was an unknown (I kept thinking Fender, and was trying to guess a guitar brand). But when USD fell, and by then I had figured out the “AX” insertion (WESTWARD HOAX), the puzzle was completed. Whew!
No ERASER(s) for this solver; pen and paper. A few write-overs: SAT/GRE; FLEXING/FLEXION; but other than those, it was a pristine solve
The clueing made this tougher than it was, but all in all, a fun puzzle
Where is Owen? It’s too late, for the most part, for my posts to add levity to the blog. My night owl habits are not conducive to posting, as I bet no one will see this
But if you do, here is a limerick I recently wrote (and amended for today’s puzzle) for your amusement; maybe -T will see it ...
A TOWNIE who’s in college, agrees,
That in August we all crave cool breeze.
But he’s learned this one rule:
If you take summer school,
It’s for sure you’ll earn higher degrees.
C, Moe: Some of us can't sleep either :-)
ReplyDeleteDid Summer School every year living as a TOWNIE w/ DW on my way to EE. Still took me 4.5 years.
What I'm sayin': your prose speaks to me :-)
C, -T
Not only that many of us read the late post before moving on to the new day. If you could see the tracking of views, you would see that generally two to three hundred views are added after the day the puzzle runs.
ReplyDeleteFor better or worse, they all get read
I eventually FIR... but didn’t realize I had an ax to grind until I read the blog...duh!
ReplyDelete