Volleyball terms. I learned only recently that Beach Volleyball is an NCAA sport. The LSU Women's team has done well in the tournmaments. No tournaments this year, however.
The first word of each theme answer is a Volleyball term. [NOTE: I know virtually nothing about Volleyball and how it's played. The definitions I used, and other volleyball terms, can be found at the link I included at the end of the introduction. Apparently, there is more than meets the eye to today's theme. If you know what it is, please let me know in the comment section.]
17-Across. * Bring dinner to diners, say: SERVE A MEAL. Serve: One of the six basic skills; used to put the ball into play. It is the only skill controlled exclusively by one player.
24-Across. * Discover incriminating information: DIG UP DIRT. Dig: Passing a spiked or rapidly hit ball. Slang for the art of passing an attacked ball close to the floor.
39-Across. * Band's cheat sheet: SET LIST. Set: The tactical skill in which a ball is directed to a point where a player can spike it into the opponent’s court
50-Across. * Stiletto on a shoe: SPIKE HEEL. Spike: Hit or attack. A ball contacted with force by a player on the offensive team who intends to terminate the ball on the opponent’s floor or off the opponent’s blocker.
And the Unifier:
62-Across. Sport that involves the moves that start the answers to starred clues: VOLLEYBALL.
For a comprehensive list of Volleyball terms, check out this site.
The first word of each theme answer is a Volleyball term. [NOTE: I know virtually nothing about Volleyball and how it's played. The definitions I used, and other volleyball terms, can be found at the link I included at the end of the introduction. Apparently, there is more than meets the eye to today's theme. If you know what it is, please let me know in the comment section.]
17-Across. * Bring dinner to diners, say: SERVE A MEAL. Serve: One of the six basic skills; used to put the ball into play. It is the only skill controlled exclusively by one player.
24-Across. * Discover incriminating information: DIG UP DIRT. Dig: Passing a spiked or rapidly hit ball. Slang for the art of passing an attacked ball close to the floor.
39-Across. * Band's cheat sheet: SET LIST. Set: The tactical skill in which a ball is directed to a point where a player can spike it into the opponent’s court
50-Across. * Stiletto on a shoe: SPIKE HEEL. Spike: Hit or attack. A ball contacted with force by a player on the offensive team who intends to terminate the ball on the opponent’s floor or off the opponent’s blocker.
And the Unifier:
62-Across. Sport that involves the moves that start the answers to starred clues: VOLLEYBALL.
For a comprehensive list of Volleyball terms, check out this site.
Across:
1. Give kudos to: LAUD.
5. Trudge through water: SLOSH.
10. News piece: ITEM.
14. Marriott alternative: OMNI. This is becoming a crossword staple.
15. Cake instruction Alice followed: EAT ME.
16. Empty-truck weight: TARE.
19. Gumbo pod: OKRA. This is becoming a crossword staple. Fried okra is actually quite tasty.
20. Villainous expressions: SNEERS.
21. Jamaican export: RUM. Yo-ho-ho and a Bottle of Rum.
22. Revolutionary Trotsky: LEON. Leon Trotsky (né Lev Davidovich Bronstein; Nov. 7, 1879 ~ Aug. 21, 1940) was a Russian revolutionary and a leader in the Russian October Revolution of of 1917. He was later clashed with Joseph Stalin and was forced into exile. He ultimately landed in Mexico where he was assassinated at age 60 almost exactly 80 years ago.
23. To and __: FRO.
26. Not yet resolved: AT ISSUE.
29. Yorkie, size-wise: TOY.
30. Sans accomplices: LONE.
31. Work on punches: SPAR.
34. Buffalo hockey pro: SABRE. The hockey team.
38. ID checker's concern: AGE.
41. Schlep: LUG. Schlep: From the Yiddish: שלעפּ,
42. "Sorry to say ... ": SADLY. // Which crossed with 26-Down. "Sorry to say ... ": ALAS.
44. Apiary unit: HIVE.
45. Yao of hoops fame: MING. Yao Ming (b. Sept. 12, 1980), played professional basketball with the Houston Rockets. He is 7 ft. 6 in., tall.
46. Connections: INs.
48. Storefront covers: AWNINGS.
55. "Not only that ... ": AND.
56. Put to work: HIRE.
57. "__ let you know": I'LL. Meaning: The answer is "no", but I don't want to tell you that now.
58. Stream crosser: BRIDGE.
61. Word in a hot day simile: OVEN. It's so hot, I can bake cookies in my ...
64. Speech quality: TONE.
65. Olympic blades: ÉPÉEs. A crossword staple.
I hope those aren't blood spots!
66. Molecule component: ATOM.
67. Hearty bowlful: STEW.
68. Tenant payments: RENTS.
69. Credit union seizure, briefly: REPO. Repo Man was a 1984 film that starred Emilio Estavez and Harry Dean Stanton. I saw it when it first came out and thought it was very funny. I haven't seen it since, so don't know if it has stood the test of time.
Down:
1. Fiscal disappointment: LOSS.
2. "Couldn't agree more!": AMEN!
3. Like crude oil: UNREFINED.
4. Not at all homogeneous: DIVERSE.
5. Black and Red: SEAs. I have been to both. Some of the best snorkeling I have experienced was in the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula. The Black Sea borders on Turkey. The Red Sea is between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the map below.
6. Run for it: LAM.
7. "SNL" alum Cheri: OTERI. We haven't seen Cheri Oteri (née Cheyl Ann Oteri; b. Sept. 19, 1962) in quite a while. She makes regular guest appearances in the crossword.
8. Dragon in "The Hobbit": SMAUG. I have tried reading The Hobbit, but just couldn't get into it, so I didn't know the name of the Dragon.
9. __ Kohl, first chancellor of reunified Germany: HELMUT. Before the reunification of Germany, Helmut Kohl (né Helmut Joseph Michael Kohl; Apr. 3, 1930 ~ June 16, 2017) was the chancellor of West Germany.
10. "Listen to me next time!": IT OLD YA!
11. "Star Trek" actor George: TAKEI. George Takei (né Hosato Takei; b. Apr. 20, 1937) was born in Los Angeles, California. He wrote a graphic novel entitled They Called Us Enemy, about his life in an internment camp during World War II.
12. Fielder's fluff: ERROR. A baseball reference.
13. Should have said: MEANT.
18. God of love: EROS.
24. Pool diver's concern: DEPTH.
25. Fence support: POST.
27. Forum garment: TOGA. Another crossword staple.
28. Purpose: USE.
32. Oscar winner Mahershala: ALI. Mahershala Ali (né Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore; b. Feb. 16, 1974) is such a good actor. He won two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor): one in Moonlight (2016) and the other in Green List (2018).
33. Adversary: RIVAL.
35. Sight-unseen encounter: BLIND DATE.
36. Ladder part: RUNG.
 |
| Anatomy of a Ladder |
37. Incubator contents: EGGS.
39. Last word in the first song of the year: SYNE. And I thought it was Happy New Year!
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne.
40. Suture, say: SEW.
43. Showing no wear: LIKE NEW.
45. Pay-for-what-you-use hotel feature: MINI BAR.
47. React to cold: SHIVER. For day's when it is not as Hot as an Oven.
49. __ a one: zero: NARY.
50. Annual pet checkup components: SHOTS.
51. Turn on a shaft: PIVOT.
52. Cara of "Fame": IRENE. Irene Cara (née Irene Cara Escalera; b. Mar. 18, 1959) is probably best known for writing and singing the songs from Flashdance.
53. Marry on the fly: ELOPE.
54. DeGeneres who voices Dory: ELLEN. Ellen DeGeneres (née Ellen Lee DeGeneres; b. Jan. 26, 1958), has been in the news recently but not for good reasons. She was born in Metairie, Louisiana, which is just outside of New Orleans.
58. Gershwin heroine: BESS. A reference to George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.
59. Unsavory stuff: GLOP.
60. Saint with a fire: ELMO. Also the name of a 1985 movie.
63. Tennis do-over: LET.
Here's the Grid:
Stay Positive, but test Negative!
Stay Positive, but test Negative!
56 comments:
Wake up Corner!
A nice Tuesday and the usually jam-packed Hahtoolah write-up but who is the constructor?
Ah, there it is - MARK MCCLAIN . Thank you Mark; I guess this is part of the new blogger interface which I will deal with this Friday for the first time. Have a great day all and stay safe!
Hello, all! There is a nicety to this theme which Rich insisted on. I won't explain it here - hoping that someone will spot it and share with all.
Good morning!
My newspaper says this one was created by Mark McClain. I liked it, but didn't get the theme until the reveal. I remember watching Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh playing beach volleyball in multiple Olympics. They were really good. This puzzle was a quick solve; no Wite-Out required. Thanx, Mark and Hahtoolah.
HELMUT: The Germans called him the equivalent of "Cabbage Head" -- "Kohl" slaw.
RUNG: Had to buy a 16' extension ladder when we moved up here to redneck land.
OVEN: I read that Death Valley set a new record temperature this past week, possibly the highest temp ever recorded on earth -- 130°. (CanadianEh!, that'd be 54.4° to you.)
Mark, is that because Serve, Dig, Set, and Spike appear in the order they would occur in a game?
Tom, for someone who claims not to understand themes you just hit an ace!
BTW, I keep getting too many phone calls that interrupt my thought process, but C.C. had two nice puzzles published on Sunday, the Universal 21 x 21, and a USA Today if you have some pandemic fever and need relief.
MM, thank you for stopping by and continuing to create at both quantity and quality level.
I clicked on NCAA Beach volleyball to see if bikinis were de rigueur.
Ok, here's part of the original:
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne
I agree with D-O on the order the terms. SPIKEing has to be tempered in recreational,coed volleyball I learned. And it's entirely dependent on the SET.
Liked seeing my old friend SMAUG from my Jumble Hobbit saga of Jan-June.
The bios of Trotsky and Lenin were interesting. Fake news was alive and well 1918-1940 in the communist world.
WC
FIR with no iISSUEs. I went to a beach VOLLEYBALL session at the London Olympics. It was a big beer party with quite a spectacle to watch while drinking. My son-in-law said it was the best sporting event he ever saw. I enjoy George TAKEI on Twitter.
Good Morning:
I thought this had a bit of crunch for a Tuesday which I think was due to the tricky cluing, rather than difficult fill. Smaug was the only unknown among the numerous proper names. The theme was well hidden until the reveal, at least for these eyes, and that’s exactly the way a puzzle should be, IMHO. I know nothing about Volleyball but I can understand why Rich would insist that the themers be in order.
Thanks, Mark, for a fun solve and for stopping by and thanks, Hatoolah, for the colorful commentary and visuals. The diving video made me queasy but the Yorkie photo brought a great big grin! 😊
FLN
Ray O, what Adirondack lake do you go to?
George Jefferson and his Weezie was timely for me. My brother’s new granddaughter is named Louise and we all wondered if she would become a Weezie. Didn’t happen because my brother started calling her Louie from day one and it stuck. I think Louie is cuter than Weezie.
Have a great day.
I loved the theme and the puzzle went quickly.
I don't know how those beach volleyball players can jump on sand. I barely can reach above the top of a regulation net jumping off a regular floor! The best dig I learned (which you can't do on sand) is to slide with your arm out and your palm against the floor--the volleyball will bounce off the back of your hand into the air!
And, playing on an A team coed league--nobody eased off on their spikes!
Good morning everyone.
Got the reveal before the theme fill. I guess. Got it all without help. Did have 'solo' before LONE.
Schlep : LUG - - The German word for 'tugboat' is Schlepper.
Olympic EPEES weigh < 770 g.
POST - Did you ever drive a barbed-wire staple into a locust POST? Extremely hard wood.
Re: homogeneous - - Dimictic lakes like L. Erie overturn (fully mix) twice a year, when the water temperature approaches its densest @ 39º F. At other times there is a temperature gradient and the waters are 'layered'. Enough limnology today.
HELMUT doesn't seem to have an English equivalent. Interestingly, Helmut Kohl's predecessor was Helmut Schmidt.
Hahtoolah: Outstanding, informative write-up & links. Good job!
Fave today, of course, was 21-A, RUM ... there is always Jamaican Rum at Villa Incognito.
Cheers!
When I lived at the beach (commuting to grad school) we played a ship-load of V-ball. I set up my schedule so that classes were Monday through Thursday. Friday was for homework (unless a volleyball banged against the window and I heard the chant “We’ve got doubles, can we get Threes?"). Saturday and Sunday were for more aesthetically pleasing beach-related activities. We used to say SERVE, Bump, SET, SPIKE but that is a small difference from what Mark laid out in the puzzle. I was also impressed with vocabulary not often seen in an early-in-the-week cw with clues that were still at a Tuesday level. Well done all around, Mark and Hahtoolah's write up was, indeed, "jam packed". It is always nice to see Snidely Whiplash drop in. Well, maybe not "nice" but memory evoking.
Ray-isms:
LAUD, I am so tired
Cheer the team? OKRA
Is that LEON bass? (Lee Sklar)
It’s hay fever season. I need ATISSUE
I blew a disc at LONE L-two
But that’s SPAR for the course
OVEN will they ever learn?
That’s my dog. EPEES everywhere
Enrolling? Get in the correct line. ATOM or N to Z
Good Mroning.
Mark, thanks for the fun. I worked backward from SPIKE HEEL, filled in VOLLEY BALL, and went back to the top. Nicely done. Thanks for stopping by.
Hahtoolah, thank you for another fine tour. I can only imagine how much time you spend on our behalf. Mr. Whiplash came to my mind as soon as I entered SNEERS. I laughed out loud at the CoViD closing. High-larious!!
Have a very sunny day today. Not quite as hot as Death Valley, but sunny nonethless.
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Mark (thanks for dropping by) and Hahtoolah.
I LAUD this CW. Say AMEN.
I FIRed eventually and saw the theme (and the neat progression of volleyball moves!).
SERVE A MEAL gave me pause; I was unsure of all the crosses for MEAL. But it eventually came together.
I changed Hit to SET. (Either might have worked.)
30A has the French "sans" but no French in LONE. I wondered about entering Seul.
Perps were required for MING.
I changed Pole to POST.
We have Tess in CWs frequently, but BESS was the Gershwin heroine.
I trust that you all entered the "correct" spelling for SABRE today. LOL
Yes d'o, 54.4 is too hot in F or C!
Wishing you all a great day.
Hola!
I LAUD Mark McClain and Hahtoolah for this quick and easy puzzle! It filled so fast I had to go back and study it and I had only one ERROR which was soon corrected; EROS because I expected it to be AMOR. Wite-out, please.
Yes, OKRA is becoming a crossword staple but I don't recall ever seeing a picture of it. Thank you, Susan! I've looked for it in the grocery store but haven't found any.
Yes! It's hot as an OVEN, reaching 117 this week. No SHIVERS here.
I was glad only the first name was required in ALI. One Sunday called for his surname and that was a challenge.
When I first came home from the convent, my family would frequently set me up with BLINDDATEs, none of which worked out. I found my own life partner.
Interesting to see UNREFINED and DIVERSE next to each other.
SMAUG? That's a new one. I never read The Hobbit though I tried but, like Hahtoolah, could not get into it.
Thank you, again Susan and Mark.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Nice smooth, uninterrupted fill. Only had to suss Smaug as I never got into The Hobbit. Clever theme too. Has anyone seen Green Book. Ali was incredible playing the piano. His long fingers mastered the keyboard so well that he completely fooled me. I found out after the fact that he mimicked playing. Anyway, I highly recommend it if you've not seen it.
Womens' (and mens' for the ladies) a true spectator. I definitely did not spike the theme
Easy FIR Tuesday. One inkover: nota/NARY shoulda waited and perpwalked. Always forget that Black and Red are not checkers. A common head slap.
Think of fluff as something simple and unimportant while flub; more likely "screw something up" but LIU and Wiki agrees with the constructionist. Then there's schleping I think of as "trudging" not LUGging an object. Probably wrong... again.
Liked the perp fence POST crossed wIth DIG UP DIRT. Misread Jamaican port thinking of a town then cleaned my glasses...oh..EXport....RUM!
At first thought Pay-for-what-you-use hotel feature referred to the a "no-tell hotel" amenity. oops... (not a14 dollar bottle of water from the MINIBAR)
St Elmo's fire: an electromagnetic glow on pointed objects during a storm: the wiki explanation technical. Never was that bright in physics (or is it chemistry?) Leave it to the smarter cornerites to elaborate. St Anthony's fire: Erysepalis (a skin infection) or Ergotism skin manifestation from ingestion of a toxin.
Legal order to " _____ and desist"....SEAS.
Reef explorers: SCUBA ______ .... DIVERSE.
______ in Wonderland ....ALAS..
Toxic city air quality.....SMAUG.
Silted up ancient Ephesus.....EXPORT.
Irish M. Our camp is on Lake Easka, one of 2 small lakes known as Okara Lakes (the other is Tekeni) in Thendara NY a town just south of Old Forge off Rte 28 in the SW Adirondacks. Let us know if your ever out our way!
spectator sport
Mark, this was fun as I raced from across to down, across to down. My two children, and two step children, all played volleyball in high school, so we saw a lot of serve, dig, set, and spike. We also saw some injuries and surgeries; kids are pushed too hard in competition! To think, they could've been like me, shelving books in the library for exercise. Thanks, Mark and Hatoolah!
Did anyone else think of a different four letter word for HOT DAY SIMILE? My friends in Paso Robles endured 113 degrees yesterday.
I have played VOLLEYBALL but some of the terms were new for me. Educational theme.
Are people familiar with the ATOMium sculpture in Brussells, Belgium?
The ATOMium sculpture is barely visible in the distance beyond my brother.
It was built for the 1958 World's Fair. Remember when the future was going to be... futuristic?
From Yesterday:
Yellowrocks thank you for the kind words about my CONTORTIONIST video and photo. And my ARSON fire article and photos. I had never shared any of those photos before this 30th anniversary. I have friends who lost everything in that fire.
And thank you for validating that FRIEND ZONE as a concept was well known, but that the term is quite recent.
Hi Y'all! Enjoyable & fast, thanks, Mark! Great expo, Susan!
Never played volleyball, but must have watched enough Olympic action to get the theme before the reveal. My daughter wanted to play VB in HS but was larger than any of their uniforms. I spent hours sewing her a uniform that looked just like the others. She looked good in it on the bench, but played fewer minutes than I spent sewing the outfit.
DNK: SMAUG, four perps & "G" was a WAG.
My lovely friend & sis-in-law woke me this morning calling from her hospital bed. She is doing better after a set-back day before yesterday that had us all worried. Oddly my son-in-law was biking with a friend Sunday. She hit a pothole and is in the hospital ICU now with a fractured skull. This is like an "echo accident" for us: two very similar wrecks in less than a week. All you Cornerite bikers, please choose pothole-free streets.
Very enjoyable Tuesday puzzle--many thanks, Mark. And, Susan, your pictures and comments are always a delight--thanks for that too.
I'm so happy that I did so well on this puzzle when I'm not great at sports and know absolutely nothing about VOLLEYBALL. But that didn't stop me from getting SERVE, DIG, SET, and SPIKE anyway. OKRA shows up a lot in puzzles lately, doesn't it? I share wine and snacks with a friend every week and she brought OKRA for a snack recently. 'Sight-unseen encounter' cracked me up as the clue for BLIND DATE. Never heard of MING, but got MINI BAR. Never heard of SMAUG but I know my Alice and my RUM, so no problem. Lots of fun.
Have a cool day, everyone.
Misty did you just say "Never heard of Smaug"?
WC
Robert (Picard) I wish someone in my family had been as industrious as you are in saving and cataloging pictures of life. The question of the day is "Is hell a firepit or a frozen pit?"
Or maybe a week in Philadelphia.
IM et al.
Lake Easka in Autumm
Mark, thank you for this lively puzzle. I suffered through volleyball in grade school gym class and never played again. But your presentation was much more palatable. BLIND DATE was a fun fill, as was GLOP ( did you really get that into puzzle!). We had George TAKEI from StarTrek for Picard, OKRA, for those of us who like it, and those who don’t.
Hahtoolah, did you really have to give us that picture of a TOGA? I can’t unsee it! But you redeemed yourself with the grocery store quote. I’m glad I had finished my coffee! Thanks for all the funny visuals.
Stay cool and safe, everyone.
Lemony, Frost answers, sorta, your fire and ice query.
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Musings
-I shot very well this morning on another beautiful summer day
-I coached JH VB for 23 years
-Most VB coaches want a good PASS from serve receive, then a nice SET and then a big HIT or spike. A DIG is when a player has to really get down to get the ball up. BUMP is not heard very often anymore.
-The Husker Volleyball team had a National Championship in their sights this fall but…
-We neglected to notice that our new OVEN does not have a self-cleaning feature
-Hooters – Delightfully tacky, yet UNREFINED
-It took three sutures to close my scalp after running my head into the liftgate edge
Ray O @ 10:33 and 1:25 ~ I’m unfamiliar with all of the locales you mentioned, with the exception of Old Forge. During the winter, our TV weatherman often references Old Forge, usually as the coldest place in New York State that day, or the area that had the most snowfall on any given day in the state. Thanks for that lovely picture; I’m very much looking forward to the days ahead that will produce those vibrant fall hues.
Hahtoolah, great review. Your covered bridge pic reminded me of the novel, “The Bridges of Madison County” that was made into a movie staring Eastwood and Streep. Recently I read “A Thousand Country Roads” an epilogue that Robert Waller wrote that gives closure to the main characters.
I surprised that Eastwood didn’t make it into a movie.
FIR, with an easy romp. Thanks Hahtoolah and Mark. Very nice puzzle. I actually got the theme and reveal very early in the solve, which made things even easier. Didn’t know SMAUG or ALI or APIARY; got the first two with perps, and HIVE looked obvious for the third one.
I have a granddaughter who is a pretty decent and tall lefty volleyballer (and softball pitcher/first baseman). The lockdown is certainly NOT helping her chances of getting a scholarship at all! (She's also an excellent student, though.)
Yeah, I’m kinda LIKE CRUDE OIL, thank you very much, and proud of it!
C-Eh! Of course, I did!
Hi everybody.
I spent most of five autumns in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The scenery was much like those in the photos. It's a truly beautiful area in the fall.
I tried reading The Hobbit. I got about halfway through and gave up on it. I could never get interested in any of the characters or plots.
Like most kids, I played volleyball with friends and in gym class in high school and at Cornell. It wasn't until I came to California and watched it played on the beach that I began to understand the skills involved when it is played properly. I got fairly good but never had the athletic ability to jump high enough to spike the ball when playing in the sand. "White men can't jump" plus I have fairly short arms. Still, it was fun.
Ray (10:33), I agree with your opinions about fluff, flub, schlep, lug, trudge, etc.
It's really warm here today. No sea breeze to speak of. (It was 130 in Death Valley yesterday.) Thank goodness for our fairly recent acquisition of A/C.
I've been to Hooters twice. The 'fast food' was decent and the waitresses were very chatty and congenial.
Oh, and today’s installment from my bottomless pit of completely USELESS information:
Speaking of IDs (two days in a row), I was absolutely floored last night when I went to my friendly neighborhood C-store to buy my weekly ration of lottery tickets. I hadn’t paid attention before, but there is a little calendar stand sitting on the counter that says that your birthdate has to be prior to XX–XX-XXXX in order to purchase tobacco products.
No big deal, right? Uh, NO! It was a very BIG deal, because the date was 08/18/1999!
Riddle me this, Batman: How come the kids that were conceived and born back in the middle of the Y2K pandemic are already able to buy beer and cigarettes??? WHERE have the last 21 years gone???
Oh, and back in the good old days (when I was seven and eight years old), my mother used to send me up to the corner grocery store to buy her cigarettes for her. ‘Twas a perfectly OK thing to do in Savannah, GA, USA.
I enjoyed this puzzle even though I zipped through it with NARY a stumble. I also loved Hahtoolah's write-up and laughed heartily at the grocery store joke.
Picard, yes, I did think of a different four letter word for hot day simile.
CanadianEh, I, too, wondered about the use of a French word in the clue for LONE.
Madame Defarge, Mr. Whiplash also came to my mind as soon as I entered SNEERS.
Yellowrocks, I add my thanks to Picard's thanks to you for validating that FRIEND ZONE as a concept was well known, but that the term is quite recent.
My son and his wife first met while playing VOLLEYBALL at UC Berkeley.
Yeah, I did read The Hobbit so I knew SMAUG.
Good wishes to you all.
By the way, speaking of the excellent acting in the movie Green Book, Viggo Mortenson gave a standout performance, and showed us all how to fold and eat a New York pizza.
Nice one Mark. Liked the theme. Seemed easier than yesterday's puzzle.
This was a delightful puzzle. It was, appropriately, fairly easy but with interesting fill. Hatoolah, your tours are amazing! I loved seeing Belucci in his toga from Animal House.
My son captained his high school volleyball team and later in college at The Air Force Academy. The games were always exciting, but the first time I saw him dive onto his chest to dig out a spike, I almost fainted. It’s a whole different sport from the pit pat ball we used to play when I was in high school! The cw clues and fill were spot on.
Bridges of Madison was a favorite book, despite knowing many folks disparaged it as “sappy”. I also loved the movie, especially the score. Clint Eastwood wrote the music for the theme.
It is really hot here today, and there is fear that the so. cal. energy needs will “break” the grid. We don’t have A/C because “we don’t need it” Living so close to the water, but on a day like today, it sure would be nice! Thank heaven for ceiling fans.
Bill G, I have been to the Finger Lakes in autumn, and I agree it is heart stoppingly beautiful. The color almost don’t look real.
I take it that Picard's was a rhetorical question.
SwampCat at 1:49: thank you for posting that poem. Enjoyed it.
Always appreciate your teaching comments.
A neat Tues pzl. Fun to do.
Sorry, Wilbur, I know SMAUG is high on your list, but even with your fantastic efforts he didn't stay fresh in my memory bank.
I had to go with perps.
~ OMK
___________
DR: Two today, one to ea. side.
The near side anagram continues the list of miseries from yesterday. This time, it is that state of confusion for a film editor who has six or seven different clips--and none of them line up for jump cuts or overlap with transitional music.
This is just plain old-fashioned...
"MOVIOLA WOE"!
Puzzling thoughts:
Late to the party, again ... skim read the comments from others ... nice job, Mark McLain and Hahtoolah for the entertainment. As Misty said, I did not know SMAUG, but the perps filled it in quite nicely.
Misspelled TAKAI; and since LAON did not look right, the E/A exchange was my sole write-over ... oops, I noticed that I lightly penned in an S at the end of 1across ...
Good theme and entries; Desper-otto, I think you figured out the extra clue in the puzzle. Serve-dig-set-spike is the usual order for VOLLEYBALL.
I saw no OKL, so here’s today’s quip ...
When drapes first met rod,
Would that have been as if they
Were on a BLIND DATE?
That's right, Wilbur--I never heard of SMAUG until today. The things you learn on this blog!
Thank You Mr. McClain for very nice puzzle , and for writing in.
Thank you Hahtoolah for your wonderful blog, very enjoyable. You put in a lot of effort into the blog and it shows, and it is appreciated.
Btw, when I first came to this blog, and you were only a contributor, I had a tough time with your name. I realized it was hebrew, prob yiddish, but I needed a mnemonic,,, so I imagined the protoganist, Nia Vardalos,of My Big, Fat Greek Wedding ... being discovered, hiding, in the closet ....Hah, Toula !
Thank you Shankers and many others, for correcting me on Weezie, from yesterday.
BTW, i saw the Green Book, when it was out on DVD. One of the nicest and poignant movies. I loved it. It seemed like a role made for Mahershala Ali. Btw, I dont want to touch the third rail on this blog by mentioning religion ... but as a matter of record, Mr. Ali is an Ahmadiyya Muslim - considered by most Islamic countries as an abhorrent heretic sect, and severely banned, in some countries. under penalty of imprisonment, against even being mentioned as 'muslim'. This created a huge crisis and controversy, as to whether he should be considered ( to be-)the first muslim actor to win an Academy award.
I would like to apologize profusely for my long post.
Eydish, vas iz das?
Also late in posting today. FIR early this morning but the day got busy before I had a chance to read Hahtoolah to confirm it. Thank you for the interesting explanation. I especially liked the Alice cartoon since that described my day. Thanks to Mark as well for a themed puzzle I enjoyed. DIG was new to me as a volleyball term but it fit. I had a couple of write-overs (like C. Moe, expecting 1 across to end in S, for example) but perps soon straightened me out.
DH and I bought a refrigerator this afternoon for the first time in our lives. Every place we have lived in came with a working fridge, and the house we have lived in for so long now had its fridge replaced by the rental managers during our years in Germany. The new fridge is for the carriage house, but it is likely we'll be shopping for a new one for ourselves before long since ours is also old.
For what its worth, Mr. Picard's nice picture about The ATOMium sculpture in Brussles, Belgium ... had the chemist in me, thinking. I counted the electrons on the outside of the nucleus and there were 8 of them.
Hence an element with an Atomic Number of 8.. ? Am I right ??
That would be Oxygen.
Except that Oxygen generally exists and lives as a binary atomic molecule, O2.
Plus the 8 electrons would be in two shells, the inner one containing only 2 electrons.
Oh Well. Its still a nice aculpture, and in 1964 I would be just as old as the handsome young lad shown.
Bill G or Jayce .... among others .... could probably, and certainly, add more to this line of comment..........!!!
Maybe, I'm totally wrong.
I also counted 12 external faces, so as a solid, it would be a regular Dodeca-hedron.
The Useless Doodles of an idle mind,
That can imagine worlds never seen,
Thanks to Covid19.
Vidwan, when I went back and looked at that 'atom' again, I counted nine 'electrons' which would be Fluorine. That's based on my simple-minded recollection of basic chemistry. I liked physics better but I sure had trouble with it my Freshman year.
I thought that episode of Endeavor (Deguello) had a very satisfying climax. I'm glad things worked out OK for most of the Thames Valley contingent.
~ Mind how you go...
Hi All!
Thanks for an "over the net" puzzle, Mark. And, for swinging by the Corner.
I think D-O SPIKE'd the buried elegance.
Great expo Hahtoolah! Thanks for all the side links and, while not quite a QOD - LOL!
WOs: Ares -> EROS, sLOP b/f GLOP,
ESPs: HELMUT, IRENE, ALI, SMAUG [I know the dragon but forgot the name]
Fav: I'll pick SABRE for C, Eh! today.
Yao, he's 'uge! Buddy has season tix for The Rockets and I've seen him 4th row from the bench. Even sized-up against other players, he's towering.
Speaking of towering, Eldest's BFF received a scholar ship at Notre Dame in VOLLEYBALL. After one semester she dropped out 'cuz "It was practice all the time - I never had time for studies." [she is ChemE and now at University of Houston]
DW was a BLIND DATE. DW's friend dated my friend and convinced both of us we "just [had] to meet - the two of you will make beautiful babies" [Whoa! Slow down there, Ann]. It wasn't really a date, per-se, it was a party with three friends & their girl friends. Later that Spring we play'd volleyball and, to the chagrin of my team, I wouldn't SPIKE against future DW.
Cute DR OMK :-)
*groan* C, Moe.... :-)
Loved 'ode to 19' Vidwan!
PK - wishing your SIL a speedy recovery. I've had some pretty gnarly crashes but, with bikers like your Bro, we just get back in the saddle & peddle*. God Speed to her.
Picard - did you post a similar article after the Camp fires? I swear I read some of it before.
Ray-O - fantastic photo! For our Anniversary, DW & I went to Vermont in '11 to leaf-peep. We don't get those colours [for C, Eh! again] down here.
LEOIII - It was also common in Springfield, IL. Step-mom would send me on my bike down to Kroger for "Benson & Hedges, Menthol Light 100." I had to have that memorized 'cuz -- don't come back wrong.
Vidwan, Picard, & BillG - is that supposed to be an atom? Looks like a model of a molecule; kind of a crystalline structure(?). //I can tell it's not Si nor a carbon-lattice.
//"Never was that bright in physics (or is it chemistry?)"
Wait, aren't you an MD Ray-O? I'll get a second opinion :-)
(Army) Bro just got back from Kuwait. Don't ask him about the heat ther because "OVEN" is not part of his similes. //His imagery is not un-'see'-able either :-)
Cheers, -T
*MS150: I tried; went ~35mi w/ a busted knee & dislocated shoulder. 1/2 the time I was peddling w/ just my right leg [clip-in shoes allow that]. I tapped-out at lunch.
ILU - "The Atomium depicts nine iron atoms in the shape of the body-centred cubic unit cell of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times." [wiki]
Cheers, -T
Dash-T : Smart man for not spiking. Had you done it you may still be single.
My DW was also a blind date. It only took us three months of badgering by her sister and my friend for us to go out. We had never met before the first date. Best decision, ever. 54 years and counting.
Cheers.
Thank You Bill G. and Anony T for your replies. On the ATOMium...
If the darn thing has 9 Balls, one of the balls, the center one is a nucleus,.. the one containing the protons and neutrons ... and therefore should not be counted in the "electrons". So, the number of electrons is 9 - 1 or 8.
Anon T thanks for the Wiki comment ... I shouldha gone there in the first place.!! Duh !
If the sculpture is meant to be a BCC ferrite Body Centric Cube ... then that is what it must be. Maybe the Atom would have had all 'electrons' in the same plane, and hence wouldnt be much of a scupture. It is difficult to make out the depth of the sculpture, from the photograph, but if Wiki says it is a Ferrite crystal structure ... then that is what it is.
The Wiki article also mentions that the 'picture' of the structure was copyrighted for ALL intents and purposes .... until 2076 ???
The copyright restriction was later decided to be a ridiculous idea and has now been removed.
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