Theme: ME, MYSELF & I
17. *Colorful addition to an aquarium: DAMSEL FISH.
24. *Big rig need: DIESEL FUEL.
46. *Eco-friendly source of some shellfish: MUSSEL FARM.
59. Like someone who only has I's for you? ... or an apt description of the answers to starred clues: EGO CENTRIC.
Melissa here. Love the phrase, "only has I's for you." Of course I kept looking for "EGO" hidden in words - until the light finally went on. Dig the extra layer to figure out - puzzle inside a puzzle. There can't be too many two-word phrases with "SEL F" stretched across that way. Appears to be Nina Sloan's debut here at the corner.
Across:
1. Little jerk: TIC. Love this misleading clue.
4. Human: PERSON.
10. Grand __: SLAM. Makes me think of Denny's.
14. NAACP co-founder __ B. Wells: IDA.
15. Really go for, as an opportunity: LEAP AT.
16. Spanish boy: NINO.
19. In the thick of: AMID.
20. Down the road: AHEAD. Why not up the road?
21. 13th to beware?: Abbr.: FRI.
22. Cropped up: AROSE.
23. Weaver's contraption: LOOM.
26. Modern sweetie: BAE.
28. Sidewalk stand drinks: ADES.
29. Hot stuff: TABASCO.
33. They roll at the end: CREDITS.
36. "Planet Money" network: NPR.
37. ATM user's need: PIN. Personal Identification Number.
38. Possess: OWN.
39. '60s war zone: NAM. Vietnam.
40. Afternoon break in London: TEA TIME.
42. Vexes: BOTHERS. If you say so.
44. Bareilles of "Waitress": SARA.
45. "Star Wars" sequel trilogy heroine: REY. Wikipedia.
51. GI on the lam: AWOL. Absent With Out Leave.
55. Celestial ovine: ARIES. Astrology - ram.
56. Dictator Amin: IDI.
57. Where to find Bologna: ITALY. The capital B gave it away.
58. Cake layer: TIER.
61. Present: HERE. Bueller?
62. Not quite four times: THRICE.
63. Binge-watcher's device: DVR. Hardly necessary any more, with all the streaming services.
64. Winter glider: SLED.
65. Shorthand pros: STENOS. Stenographers.
66. Salty expanse: SEA.
Down:
1. __ wave: TIDAL.
2. Craters of the Moon state: IDAHO. National Monument and Preserve.
3. Typical Stan Lee role: CAMEO. Interesting life.
4. Begged: PLED.
5. It might shock you: EEL.
6. One-named "Baby Beluga" singer: RAFFI. Love Raffi - with my kids and now my grandloves. Here he is on CBS Sunday Morning in January of this year. (6:31)
7. Empire State Building topper: SPIRE.
8. Desert relief spot: OASIS.
9. To the __ degree: NTH.
10. Wolfed (down): SNARFED. Didn't realize that was a real word.
11. Stretch at a wedding?: LIMOUSINE.
12. Licorice-like flavoring: ANISE.
13. Prototype: MODEL.
18. Brazilian dance: SAMBA.
22. Like firm pasta: AL DENTE. "To the tooth."
24. Number that has a point: DECIMAL. Cute clue.
25. Far-too-memorable song: EAR WORM.
27. Hopes (to): ASPIRES.
29. "Snowpiercer" network: TNT.
30. Big swinger: APE.
31. Lingerie top: BRASSIERE. Rarely see the whole word spelled out.
32. __ of a kind: ONE.
33. Kernel holder: COB.
34. Road goo: TAR. Awful smell when it's hot. I saw a picture of an airport worker in Arizona, walking on the TARmac this week that got to over 130 degrees. Melted through two pairs of shoes.
35. Texting format, for short: SMS.
41. Used a stun gun on: TASERED.
43. Hilton competitor: HYATT.
46. Arithmetic, to Brits: MATHS.
47. Archangel who guarded Eden with a fiery sword: URIEL.
48. Making-up preceder: FIGHT. Aw.
49. Love to bits: ADORE. Aw.
50. "Breaking Bad" poison: RICIN. Wiki Fandom.
52. Fends (off): WARDS.
53. Kalamata __: OLIVE. My favorite olive.
54. Stretchy fiber: LYCRA.
57. Model/actress Sastre: INES.
59. Sci-fi beings: ETS.
60. Novelist Umberto: ECO.
17. *Colorful addition to an aquarium: DAMSEL FISH.
24. *Big rig need: DIESEL FUEL.
46. *Eco-friendly source of some shellfish: MUSSEL FARM.
59. Like someone who only has I's for you? ... or an apt description of the answers to starred clues: EGO CENTRIC.
Melissa here. Love the phrase, "only has I's for you." Of course I kept looking for "EGO" hidden in words - until the light finally went on. Dig the extra layer to figure out - puzzle inside a puzzle. There can't be too many two-word phrases with "SEL F" stretched across that way. Appears to be Nina Sloan's debut here at the corner.
Across:
1. Little jerk: TIC. Love this misleading clue.
4. Human: PERSON.
10. Grand __: SLAM. Makes me think of Denny's.
14. NAACP co-founder __ B. Wells: IDA.
15. Really go for, as an opportunity: LEAP AT.
16. Spanish boy: NINO.
19. In the thick of: AMID.
20. Down the road: AHEAD. Why not up the road?
21. 13th to beware?: Abbr.: FRI.
22. Cropped up: AROSE.
23. Weaver's contraption: LOOM.
26. Modern sweetie: BAE.
28. Sidewalk stand drinks: ADES.
29. Hot stuff: TABASCO.
33. They roll at the end: CREDITS.
36. "Planet Money" network: NPR.
37. ATM user's need: PIN. Personal Identification Number.
38. Possess: OWN.
39. '60s war zone: NAM. Vietnam.
40. Afternoon break in London: TEA TIME.
42. Vexes: BOTHERS. If you say so.
44. Bareilles of "Waitress": SARA.
45. "Star Wars" sequel trilogy heroine: REY. Wikipedia.
51. GI on the lam: AWOL. Absent With Out Leave.
55. Celestial ovine: ARIES. Astrology - ram.
56. Dictator Amin: IDI.
57. Where to find Bologna: ITALY. The capital B gave it away.
58. Cake layer: TIER.
61. Present: HERE. Bueller?
62. Not quite four times: THRICE.
63. Binge-watcher's device: DVR. Hardly necessary any more, with all the streaming services.
64. Winter glider: SLED.
65. Shorthand pros: STENOS. Stenographers.
66. Salty expanse: SEA.
Down:
1. __ wave: TIDAL.
2. Craters of the Moon state: IDAHO. National Monument and Preserve.
3. Typical Stan Lee role: CAMEO. Interesting life.
4. Begged: PLED.
5. It might shock you: EEL.
6. One-named "Baby Beluga" singer: RAFFI. Love Raffi - with my kids and now my grandloves. Here he is on CBS Sunday Morning in January of this year. (6:31)
7. Empire State Building topper: SPIRE.
8. Desert relief spot: OASIS.
9. To the __ degree: NTH.
10. Wolfed (down): SNARFED. Didn't realize that was a real word.
11. Stretch at a wedding?: LIMOUSINE.
12. Licorice-like flavoring: ANISE.
13. Prototype: MODEL.
18. Brazilian dance: SAMBA.
22. Like firm pasta: AL DENTE. "To the tooth."
24. Number that has a point: DECIMAL. Cute clue.
25. Far-too-memorable song: EAR WORM.
27. Hopes (to): ASPIRES.
29. "Snowpiercer" network: TNT.
30. Big swinger: APE.
31. Lingerie top: BRASSIERE. Rarely see the whole word spelled out.
32. __ of a kind: ONE.
33. Kernel holder: COB.
34. Road goo: TAR. Awful smell when it's hot. I saw a picture of an airport worker in Arizona, walking on the TARmac this week that got to over 130 degrees. Melted through two pairs of shoes.
35. Texting format, for short: SMS.
41. Used a stun gun on: TASERED.
43. Hilton competitor: HYATT.
46. Arithmetic, to Brits: MATHS.
47. Archangel who guarded Eden with a fiery sword: URIEL.
48. Making-up preceder: FIGHT. Aw.
49. Love to bits: ADORE. Aw.
50. "Breaking Bad" poison: RICIN. Wiki Fandom.
52. Fends (off): WARDS.
53. Kalamata __: OLIVE. My favorite olive.
54. Stretchy fiber: LYCRA.
57. Model/actress Sastre: INES.
59. Sci-fi beings: ETS.
60. Novelist Umberto: ECO.
FIR, no write-overs. Happy with mySELF.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteDidn't make a single mistake until 1a. TUG had to go. Otherwise my grid was clean this morning. Briefly thought IDES for that "bewareable" date, but it was too long. Hand up for looking for EGO before SELF showed up. Thanx, Nina, Ross and Melissa Bee.
Bad start: I had Tug/TIC. I think it was CAMEO that unraveled it. Is there such a thing as DAMSEL FISH? I thought that was a riddle to be unraveled by the theme. Which, btw, never did get unraveled. I naturally thought that replacing U with I was the trick.
ReplyDeleteHence I completely missed SELF.
Latex/LYCRA caused a mess in SW. SEA told me I needed another fabric.
When I saw the answer was SNARFED I thought ",Oh no, I put ScARFED. But I had NINO earlier and hence saved. When I ate like my son eats I scarfed. Now food has to be cut and eaten slowly and I stop the minute my tummy says "No Mas".
I also hastily inked ruMBA. Proper nouns and abbrevs were perp-able - INES needed all four.
Speaking of NPR, who's that delightful woman who does those interviews. Names have become difficult these days. So I shouldn't condemn Misty and OMK who sat through four months of Hobbit doggerel. Actually, SMAUG appeared in the first month (Feb). And I originally thought JRR intended his pronunciation to be Smay-Ogg. And…
I read LOTR first thus "The Hobbit" was read to fill in. From SMAUG on it's no children's book.
WC
It was a bit tough for a Wednesday, but I got through it. Don’t see LIMOUSINE and BRASSIERE fully spelled out very often. Are there still any STENOS in this day and age? Secretary is another extinct job, even ten years ago when I retired from a major corporation, the employees and a lot of the managers were doing their own meeting scheduling, etc.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteToyed with 'tug' like D-O, but held off since I didn't know any 5-letter state starting with 'u'. Plunked in IDAHO, and TIDAL, and then WAGGED CAMEO. Lotsa names today; not my forté. Got the SELF theme and was able to FIR. Liked the TABASCO clue. Thought of 'pod' before COB (hi, Husker) LOOMed with CREDITS.
Have a great day.
Well this was a fun Wednesday! Before getting to the theme reveal answer - first I thought they would all begin with the letters D and F until Mussel Farm messed up that theory. Then I thought it had to do with them all having ELF....close but not quite!
ReplyDeleteI loved looking for Stan Lee's cameos in all the MCU universe movies (eg Iron Man, Spiderman, Avengers...) similar to Alfred Hitchcock's cameos. I wonder if they have enough footage to have him pop up by CGI in future movies?
TIC for the "little jerk" came quickly- many people have very small ones that don't have any impact on their lives - but in a syndrome like Tourette's it can really impair them. If you haven't seen "Motherless Brooklyn" - Ed Norton does a masterful job as the main character who has Tourette's- I would recommend it!
Thanks for the RAFFI clip, Melissa - many fond memories listening to him with my kids and for the rest of the blog!
And congrats to Nina for her debut and to Nina & Ross for a fun puzzle.
And a shout out to all the amazing women on the blog(and to the men who I can tell have great respect for their wives and daughters) as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage!
Nice puzzle today, thanks to Nina, Ross, and Melissa B.
ReplyDeleteI confidently started across putting in imp for TIC and prix for SLAM before perps straightened me out. FIW when spelling HiATT, not noticing until I read Melissa B's report. I did try to switch "i" and "u" (like you, Wilbur) in the theme answers before noticing SELF. Big swinger didn't bring APE to mind. Do apes swing? Liked seeing THRICE for a change.
Hope you all stay cool and well today. Middle of the week already!
Musings
ReplyDelete-IMP not TIC gave me five letter Moon state and MAINE didn’t seem right so…
-Obscure proper names all surrendered gracefully
-Me too, inanehiker, D___ F___ was not the gimmick
-The ATM requires my other green credit card. It only took five minutes – Duh!
-Wedding – Granddaughter called last night to tell us she has switched from a fairly large indoor January ceremony to a much smaller September one on the groom’s father’s farm
-EAR WORM – For some reason Wolverton Mountain took up that role yesterday
-We are off to Omaha’s beautiful Lauritzen Gardens “an OASIS of beauty” on another lovely day
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle from Nina and Ross. However, I didn't get the theme until Melissa 'splained it.
I considered IMP for 1(a) but decided TIC was a better answer.
It was either ruMBA or saMBA. Waited for perps. I also didn't know the proper names, IDA, RAFFI, INES, SARA and REY until perps filled them in for me.
I got TABASCO right away, although I like Frank's hot sauce better.
I thought HIGH TEA was the afternoon break, but it was just TEA TIME. I had an English Aunt who introduced me to tea and the correct way to brew it. She considered teabags an abomination. My mother made her tea so weak that we said she just waved the teabag through the steam.
With so many products using oldies in their advertising these days, I get tired of the repetitious nature that results in EAR WORMs for me. Can be annoying.
The double T made HYATT obvious. My recently graduated nephew with a hospitality degree was laid off from a HYATT in Austin, TX because of the pandemic. They kept him on the payroll until July, but couldn't continue. They hope he will come back when things get better.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood today. 80° with some puffy clouds. Hope it's nice in your neighborhood. Enjoy.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Nina (congrats on your debut)(was NINO a CSO to your brother?) and Ross, and Melissa bee. Technically a FIWed, but I got the theme eventually (hand up for searching for Ego!); I'll blame my empty square on a personal Natick. This Canadian does not know all your American networks, and the cross of TNT and NPR was my downfall today.
ReplyDeleteI noted IDA, IDI and ADES.
The cross of RAFFI (Baby Beluga) and that unknown DAMSEL FISH (I wanted Tetra) brought a smile. (Another hand up for having kids and now grandkids who love RAFFI)
I toyed with Imp but CED is not a jerk! TIC was cute.
I also noted the EAR WORM crossing the COB. Hopefully we can just cut off the end and eat the rest.
Perps changed Ariel to URIEL.
I also smiled at the cross of "Hot stuff" and BRASSIERE.
I finally had a chance to complete last Friday's CW and saw that there was a question directed towards me by Spitzboov (and comment by Shankers) re Canadian equivalent of MPG (KPL?). No, we use L/100km and call it "fuel economy" not gas mileage. Confused yet!?
Wishing you all a great day.
Finished it wrong with one bad cell. Incorrectly spelling words when crossing a proper name is still a problem for me. I need to pay closer attention.
ReplyDeleteDid not pick up on the ego theme, but fish, fuel and farm filled okay.
Fun puzzle.
MO
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteI, like Inanehiker and HG, thought that the D F sequence was going to be the theme, but that was soon debunked. So, the revealer was a big Aha and totally unexpected as I never noticed the makeup of Self in the themers. Raffi and Ines were unknowns and my Tamales (Hi, Lucina) morphed into Tabasco and my Tug became a Tic. I liked the duos of Idi and Ida, TNT and NPR and the mini ethnic theme of Italy, Al dente, Eco, Olive, and Anise. Anon T is probably dancing the Tarantella! CSOs to Abejo, PK, The Curmudgeon, and Moi. (Aries).
Thanks, Nina an Russ, for an enjoyable solve and congrats, Nina, on your debut and thanks, Melissa, for the grand tour and expo.
Inanehiker, I read the book Motherless Brooklyn years ago and really enjoyed it. Thanks for reminding me of the movie as I’ll put it in my Netflix queue; actually, it may already be there. Edward Norton is a very talented actor; I remember him well from his role in Primal Fear with Richard Gere.
Have a great day.
Goodness. Where is everyone today? If I wake up and don't know what day it is, I can usually tell by the difficulty of the cw. It was Wednesday-worthy today I thought with no real speed bumps, but just a tad slow at the bottom. Nonetheless, a feel good FIR. Earworms. Yes, I get them all the time because I love music and singing. It keeps me sane. Laying in bed at night I often end up singing The Gloria from church in my mind til I finally fall fast asleep. Speaking of the movie The Waitress, I recommend it highly. Fun, fun story of a pie making waitress played by Kerri Russell and also starring Andy Griffith.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle...the theme...meh (always say that when I have no idea.) WAGed IDA Wells (learned something) as well a stunning INES
ReplyDeleteKept coming up a letter short on LIMO-U-SINE (the common answer is "limo".) Same issue with EARWORM kept coming up short with EARWIG (earwhig alt. spelling?)
Have seen written and heard on British movies and TV MATHS as a plural (kinda hard to say). Didn't we have SNARFed recently?
Great to see my Univerity city as a (57a) clue. My Alma Mater Studiorum ("nourishing morher of students: first to use the title) founded in 1088 is considered the oldest university in the world. First to use the term "universitas" as students came from all over Europe and beyond.. Umberto Eco (a CW familiar) a professore as well as Enrico Fermi. A few of its famous alumni (besides yours truly) include: Copernicus, Petrarch, Dante, Marconi, Thomas Becket, Albrecht Dürer, Popes and Saints et al.
Sent some pictures once but not sure they came through.
Bononia Docet
Putting my "laurea" (laureate) to good use:
If I knew you were coming _____ baked a cake....IDA
______ large....LOOM
Neonate breast feeding schedule ______ ...TEATIME ðŸ¤ðŸ¤ðŸ¤
Divided Berlin _____..... AWOL
Viagra therapy, treats ____...IDI
48 degrees last nite....brrrr
Ramblings:
ReplyDeleteFIR although it took a bit longer than the usual Wednesday CW.
Fortunately, I knew both RAFFI and that IDAHO was the location of Craters of the Moon. I rode a motorcycle through Craters several years back. That day was very, very hot. IIRC, when I stopped for gasoline and opened the gas cap the rush of vapors out of the tank was remarkable.
Oddly, I had used the word EARWORM in a post here just a couple of days ago.
I don't recall having ever used the word BRASSIERE unless it was to pronounce it as Bra Zeer. Further investigation is required.
URIEL was filled by perps. If I ever go on Jeopardy two topics that will give me trouble are Religion and Pop Culture.
Stay cool all you cruciverbalists.
Enjoyable puzzle, Ross and Nina (did you enjoy putting NINO into the puzzle?). And your write-ups are always a pleasure, Melissa.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to put MORTAL for Human but the degree had to be NTH, so had to wait until PLED gave me PERSON.
Once I got the theme answer EGOCENTRIC, I looked and saw SELFISH in DAMSEL-FISH. Woohoo, I thought. But no way that BIG RIG NEED could be DIESEL-FISH--no, it had to be DIESEL-FUEL, and it would just be SELF words without the FISH from now on.
Two other favorite words today: TOBASCO and EARWORM. Fun puzzle, Nina and Ross, thanks again.
Have a good hot day everybody.
Breezed thru today early on,
ReplyDelete& thereby reveals a problem...
I never saw "self."
Kinda bummed that I missed a part of the puzzle,
but that happens to me every time I do not get challenged,
I miss things...
I am not saying the puzzle was easy,
it was just in my wheelhouse
(whatever that means...)
Oh, Baseball, no wonder I didn't Grok it...
From Yest:
Yes, the Hobbit, love it, or hate it...
For years, my friends would tell me,
you have to read this book!
It is awesome! Elves Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards!
(all of which turned me off..)
Bill G (& others,) I am surprised that you started reading,
& did not get hooked...
The opening lines:
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
You did not stick around for the "comfort" explained?
& then have the comfort "disrupted" by a bunch of Dwarves?
Led by a Wizard, that could blow pipe smoke pirate ships thru your
your circular smoke rings?...
It is a mystery, that BEGS explanation!
(I could not put it down...)
(read it 7 times now...)
(maybe 8, it is that good)
(8 was to compare it to the movie...)
In other news:
CanadianEh!
Thank you for the positive assessment!
Re; Silly Theme lInks:
Oh nuts! There goes my North of the border assessment rating...
Hand up TUG before TIC. Thought the theme would be D-F but then I was utterly mystified. Even when I saw the reveal it took time to figure it out. I was looking for something with "I". I don't consider my puzzle solved until I get the theme. Very clever!
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't think I knew any of the proper names, except for REY. Which I had to dust off cobwebs to retrieve.
PERSON for HUMAN reminds me of a fascinating article I read years ago in Free Inquiry Magazine. They were pointing out that they are not the same. They gave the example of Star Trek. The explorers go to other planets. They will never meet another HUMAN. But they do manage to meet many a PERSON. If Neanderthals had survived they would be PERSONs but not what we call HUMANs.
Even more interesting: A living thing can be a HUMAN yet not be a PERSON!
In my set of IDAHO photos I have shared before, the entire middle section is CRATERS OF THE MOON.
I love such places as they are so alien to the temperate places I grew up in Europe and in the Northeast. IDAHO is very geologically and biologically diverse; almost like different continents all in one.
I put this in a separate post, in case The Powers That Be
ReplyDeletedecide to delete me. In my defense beforehand, I am just
Unquenchably curious,
(spellcheck did not like Unquenchably, so I capitalized it...)
Daughter#1 busted my chops this AM, telling me that
Christians are not allowed to eat Shellfish...
I know about Pork, & understand why, but Shellfish?
She even pulled out the Bible, which confirmed it!
Now, I grew up in multiple cultures,
one of which was the Xmas Eve 7 fishes Dinner, which
was one of the highlites of the year!
& you are not allowed to eat Shellfish!?!?!
(P.S.) I hate anything with fins & scales. Gimme a crab/lobster/ever oyster, & I am happy.
(P.P.S. I think the fish hating has to do with choking on a bone,,,)
But WHY?
Sorry TTP, But the Bible will not explain it to me.
I am hoping that One of you guys can...
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteBillG, Vidwan, AnonT and others
Thank you all for taking the time to think about the ATOMium sculpture in Brussels and what it represents. Yes, a quick Google search indeed reveals that it was not meant to represent a single atom, but a unit of a crystal of iron. Its scale is staggeringly huge. Each ball is 60 feet in diameter and has a museum room inside of it! One has a restaurant inside of it!
Here is what is interesting: A friend in Asia sent me that old postcard because she thought I would enjoy the art and science. But then I looked through our old family photos and discovered that indeed we were there!
Lemonade thank you for the kind words about the organization of our family photos. All credit goes to my father for carefully writing everything down. Almost all of his photos were slides. He kept them in the original slide carousels, ready to be shown at any time. It took up a lot of space, but it kept everything organized.
The carousels have a written index that he carefully filled in. About 15 years ago I started scanning those indexes and having the slides scanned. DW has been typing up the indexes so that I can search them. I pay her for that whenever she delivers another page!
I kept his habits and also try to keep track of labeling my photos.
SwampCat thanks for the shout out about TAKEI and Star Trek. I was so thrilled to get to see him speak here not too long ago. He is so much more than an actor.
Jayce, Malodorous Manatee thank you for your comments as well
AnonT regarding my ARSON photos, no I had never shared them before. They were taken here where I live near Santa Barbara. I was not at the Camp Fire.
From Earlier:
I loved the IDIOT LIGHT for items left on roof of car! More than once I have flagged down someone about to drive off that way!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Nina Sloan & Ross Trudeau, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteWell, as of yesterday, cruciverb is back from lunch. He was gone for at least a week. I did them on paper.
Agnes: Thank you for the nice card. That really brightened up my day.
CC: Thank you for the email. That made me happy as well.
Puzzle went about at a wednesday level. One tough spot. SARA, TASERED, MUSSEL FARM, and BRASSIERE crossing. Once I figured that out and fixed LYCRA, I had it.
Got BAE from numerous prior crosswords.
Theme was fine except I never got the SELF. I understood the theme but missed that word.
When I saw people commenting on ED NORTON, I kept thinking of the Jackie Gleason show and Art Carney playing Ed Norton. Must be a different guy.
Well, now my challenge is eating. I had my last Radiation on Monday. For about a week now I cannot eat with out pain. I have to chase everything with water. So, I eat a can of soup a day and chase every spoonful with water. It takes me about two hours and two bottles of water to eat a can of soup. That is my total food intake, plus a bottle of Ensure. Hope my esophagus heals up fast.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
CED: The answer can be found in Leviticus 11:9. Among all [creatures] that are in the water, you may eat these: Any [of the creatures] in the water that has fins and scales, those you may eat, whether [it lives] in the waters, in the seas or in the rivers.
ReplyDeleteCED, do you remember Earl Sinclair from "Dinosaurs"?
ReplyDeleteHe worked for the Wesayso Corporation. One way to look at it is to extrapolate from there.
;-)
Pretty easy solve for me today. Saw the theme too.
ReplyDeleteOYSTER before MUSSEL was probably my only real Wite-Out (hadn’t seen the theme yet). Everything else pretty much fell into place. I had four unknown names – RAFFI, REY, URIEL and INES, nor did I know BAE. Perps took care of them.
EARWORM – I’ve had one for a couple of weeks now. This morning, I can’t remember what it was, so MAYBE it’s history. If I do remember it, though, I’ll be sure to pass it along for your enjoyment.
TABASCO – Here’s today’s item from my Useless Information Department (especially for those of you who are fans of Tabasco products): If you ever find yourself on I-10 around Lafayette, LA, drive 30 miles south on US 90 to Avery Island. That’s where they grow the peppers and brew the stuff. They have a factory tour. I didn’t take it, but I did spend a couple of hours going through the museum. Lots of stuff to see and read. Unfortunately, one can spend a fortune in the gift shop. It’s not because the gift shop stuff is that expensive. They just have so many neat things there. According to their website, though, tours and the museum are closed to visitors during the pandemic. Guess even Tabasco Sauce isn’t the antidote.
Forgot to add the website:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tabasco.com/visit-avery-island/
I like "Wolverton Mountain". I can handle that EARWORM
ReplyDeleteThe Manzeer
So, Picard or??, Do they know what caused those craters?
Re. "NO Shellfish". My Dr noticed I had gone to emergency for a gout attack. "You did WHAT?!!!". I'd had the Captain's Platter. I'm guessing they put shellfish on the list like trichinosis did for pork. Boston, being Irish and Italian Catholic but a seaport had no trace of that Leviticus prohibition.
WC
Ps, So... Who's that NPR interviewer?
Picard!!! Great photos!!! It's on my ever-growing list!!! Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteWilbur, NPR has lots of interviewers. What program were you listening to? Who was being interviewed?
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion of the prohibition against shellfish. Rabbi Akiva says it best. We don’t eat shellfish because we’re told not to. There really isn’t any health reason
ReplyDeleteThe rationale is that they are scavengers, eating nasty stuff and are unclean.
Not everything has to make sense.
I finished the puzzle without too much trouble. Loved the c/a Number that has a point for DECIMAL. Not too happy with BAE for sweetie but we’ve had it before. Missed the theme.
Thanks Nina and Ross, and mb for the tour.
Picard, Takei was indeed a special person.
LeoIII I also love Avery Island and Tabasco. My kids keep a bottle on the table with the salt and pepper.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteTo echo Canadian Eh, Wonderful Wednesday! The puzzle was fast and fun! Thank you, Nina and Ross. And thank you, Melissa, too.
I started with NINO then the entire eastern strand just AROSE and blossomed as did the bottom! I don't believe I've ever been to a MUSSEL FARM but I have seen a prawn farm. That was in Hawaii.
Of all the hundreds of students I've taught only one was URIEL. Otherwise I, like other teachers, have seen a wide variety of names.
Except for the words of Jesus, I was taught that most of the Bible is to be taken as symbolic, not literal. It took hundreds of years for all Scripture to be written, by many authors, and while it could have been inspired, it is mostly the work of sincere but human PERSONs.
Picard:
Thank you for the photos of IDAHO. That is one of the 16 states I have not yet visited.
I hope you are all enjoying your day!
Funny, I was thinking of Stan Lee’s CAMEOs in some of the Kevin Smith movies.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nina and Ross, for the fun puzzle. Thank you, Melissa B., for the fun expo.
ReplyDeleteMy write-overs:prix/SLAM, gift/HERE. There were a few unknowns but perps helped fill them in. A good Wednesday level puzzle.
Fav: 23a Weaver's contraption, LOOM. In the late 1950's, my dad's parents had 2 looms. They wove 5-6 pair of drapes for my mother. The pair that was in their master bedroom now hang in my master bedroom. A treasured item.
I question 46a ECO-friendly source of some shellfish and 60d novelist Umberto ECO.
Today's high temperature will be 80*, a welcome relief from the 90's we've been having. We're not done with the 90's but a break from it is appreciated.
YR, glad to hear you're getting better all the time.
Abejo, best wishes that you heal quickly.
Have a wonderful day!
I enjoyed this puzzle, although I didn't find SELF. I knew most if the names and the others were easily perped.
ReplyDeleteI always use down the road, not up the road.
After a lifetime in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches and years of training in both I was amazed to read that Christians are forbidden to eat shellfish and pork. Raised in a PA Dutch pastor's home we often ate oysters, pork, ham, bacon and sausage. I have a large ecumenical circle of friends and associates who don't observe these dietary laws and never heard of them applied to us. I think the average Christian church goer would be totally surprised to hear of this prohibition.
Obviously Christians do no follow all the Jewish laws. Although our boy babies are often circumcised it is not for religious reasons. We don't keep Kosher or celebrate the Jewish holy days. We operate elevators on the Sabbath, etc.
I read a autobiographical book by a young Jewish man who tried to observe all the Jewish laws, many more than the average Jew observes. Some were very minute and specific. In this modern age it was nigh impossible to do.
There is a lot of support online for Christians following these dietary laws, but I do not personally know anyone who follows them.
I cleaned out my car yesterday with some help from the employees. I overdid it and have been resting for the last 27 hours. Starting at noon today I am beginning to perk up.
Thank you for explaining the "Shellfish puzzle!"
ReplyDelete(I ask all of my puzzlement questions here...)
It really had me going, since I LOVE shellfish.
I even asked DW, & she said , go ask a priest...
(P.S. - She turned me on to Oysters...)
((She is my Eve...))
But, after stewing on this all day,
I went & asked my neighbor, the guy who knows everything!
& after referencing old testament, He summed it in just two words:
NO ICE!
I knew I was on the right track asking the Corner Crew,
Tinbeni could have solved this for me in a heartbeat!
TTP, I apologize for stretching the boundaries of puzzlement.
Tomorrow, I have questions about politics!
Friday, (the toughest day of the week)
Why are Anons so Nasty?
Oo-oh! The light comes from Melissa! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't even looking for an interior word. SEL-F, eh?
Otherwise this was a pretty neat pzl.
Except that the black "I" in the center of the grid prohibited any diagonals from forming.
~ OMK
PS. Wilbur. ~ Sorry again that I couldn't remember SMAUG! Mea culpa! I lost track of dragon names after FAFNER.
Good Afternoon, All. Taking a couple days off from house projects so able to check in before everyone is in bed. Enjoyed this puzzle, and as usual it challenged me. There is so much I don't know. Thanks Nina and Ross and thank you Mel B for the "splainin". I don't usually get the theme but for some reason today "self" jumped off the grid. Tug b4 Tic and I had to stare at earwo_m and _ey cross a long time b4 wagging an R. Never heard of earworm b4. LIU and didn't realize they had a name for that musical condition.
ReplyDeleteMost other unknowns perped. Musselfarm and damselfish were unknowns but had to be. A very satisfying FIR. Until tomorrow.
This was a good Wednesday puzzle, and I was able to FIR by waiting for peeps when I stumbled. My favorite answer was DECIMAL - very clever.
ReplyDeleteI loved to sing Raffi songs with my literacy students (at-risk 1st, 2nd, 3rd graders) and play on the piano for my grandchildren. Thanks, MB, for the clip. How can you not love this kind, funny, talented guy?
I’m with the folks who weren’t big fans of The Hobbit. I inhaled and own all the LOTR books, but The Hobbit just didn’t grab me.
I’m bracing myself for the tough puzzles coming up late in the week!
I forgot to ask: how does one pronounce BAE? Is it “bye”? “bay”? I don’t think I’d ever use it, it it’s starting to creep in as a frequent item, so I wondered.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle and enjoyed the theme. Zipped through it with no stumbles or erasures except for TUG.
ReplyDeleteWho has a DVR these days? Apparently Norah O'Donnell of the CBS Evening News thinks many people have one because she always signs off by saying, "If you can't watch us real time, set your DVR to watch us later." Actually, there are times I wish we had one, but LW says no.
Be careful out there and stay well away from unmasked PERSONs.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteDNF. Lost focus in the southern half of the grid. ARIEL/URIEL was my biggest mistake, as MUSSEL FARM ended up being MASSEL ?A??. MUSSEL FARM was a bit of a stretch, IMO.
RICIN? No clue. EAR/COB, too.
Thanks Melissa for the recap.
I hope OKL comes back, as my erstwhile creative poetic mind is not always that clever. I usually can find fodder in the puzzle for my puns, but not always ... here goes:
Daughter’s pet fish was
Thrashing in its tank. It’s a
DAMSEL in distress...
Where do most bi-valves
Go to pump iron? Of course,
To the MUSSEL FARM
Wendybird, according to online sources it is pronounced "bay" as in San Francisco Bay or Bay horse or the Scottish Nae. I assume that it is a truncated version of the word Baby with the Bee sound dropped. You are right about the creeping use in crossword puzzles. I do not recall ever having heard it used in conversation. Still, it's probably better than some of the "old-time" crosswordese.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best Bible teachers I've ever encountered is right here in Phoenix. Many Christians believe in the Bible literally, but the Bible teacher explained that much should be viewed literarily because of parables, metaphors, etc. Big difference between the two. Growing up Protestant I couldn't understand why Catholics couldn't eat meat on Fridays. After converting to Catholicism 15 years ago we do eat meat on Friday. Go figure. And, last night I had shrimp for dinner. Go figure again.
ReplyDeleteHi everybody.
ReplyDeleteJayce, Yes, I have a DVR and I LOVE it. It transformed the entertainment I get from television. I can skip over tedious advertisements and I can watch shows when I want to see them, not when they're scheduled. If I'm in the middle of something significant, either educational or entertaining, I can pause the DVR to eat, or for a phone call, or to run an errand, or ??? Sometimes a really good movie will show up on TCM at 2 am. So I record it and watch it the next day or whenever it's convenient. If two good shows are on at the same time, I can watch one and record the other for later consumption. Have LW get in touch. :>)
I've never said or heard BAE in my life, except in CWs. I think it's one of those words like ELHI that constructors use grudgingly when they've painted themselves into a corner.
The word "swims" upside-down is still "swims".
~ Mind how you go...
I liked the two Moe-kus. I thought"Nae rhymes with "Bye", as in If there's NAE wind there's NAE Golf.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of the NPR gal that does a midday interview. Very refreshing personality. Her name is well known but like OMK and Smaug it just slips my mind. I'll LIU.
There it is: Fresh Air with Terry Gross
I solved Thursday earlier. It's Roland, need I say more? He's so clever.
WC
CED - I think your daughter must belong to a Christian sect that has dietary prohibitions (eg Seventh Day Adventists) which include pork and shellfish, but some Christians just personally adopted kosher eating rules from the Old Testament believing it is healthier.
ReplyDeleteBut there are no prohibitions on either of those things in Christianity - the freedom to depart from the kosher laws came about when Peter came to meet a nonJewish believer and ate with him with the Lord's blessing - Acts 10 in the New Testament. So she needs to get off your back and not impose her choices on you!
swims upside down is smiws. swims upside down and backwards is swims.
ReplyDeleteBAE Systems is Europe's largest defense contractor, and is based in London. One of their companies built the Spitfire of WWII. They are a major contractor to US DOD.
Bill G, what is the make and model of your DVR?
ReplyDeleteSo if I swim upside down and/or backwards I'm still swimming :)
ReplyDeleteOr smiwing.
ReplyDeleteJayce, I'm not sure about the DVR. We decided to lease it from the cable company. It seemed to be the easiest choice though maybe not the cheapest. Otherwise, I'd probably check out TIVO. Maybe Consumers Reports might be helpful.
ReplyDeleteJayce - I think you got the 'hang' of it.
ReplyDeleteAnother early morning where I neglected to hit "post" for my comments.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Moe you can google MUSSEL FARM .
Ross is another of our young, very prolific new constructors who have presented a number of collaboration puzzles. Welcome, Nina.
I also started with TUG after having the "T" confirmed by TIDAL . Alas, Craters of the Moon had to be Idaho...
I have a vague recollection of SARA BAREILLES but not the movie.
Jayce, if you're into swims upside down you're smiws
ReplyDeletebut, backwards you're .... gniwwims ... ( thats crosswordese, for the back stroke ) ;-)
Actually Bill G.'s the SWIMS upside down only works in Capital letters.
Which is OK, since both of you are 'capital' guys ! ;-) lol
I would guess these letters have Vertical symmetry.
The more common, Horizontal symmetry would be 'mirror' symmetry.
There are 11 capital alphabets with Horz. symmetry ... A H I M O T and .... U V W X and Z
Why not 'Y' ... I dont know ....
(ical)
Apparently, three thousand yrs ago, the men/women who invented the alphabet, got smarter as they reached the end of alphabet(ical ) invention, so the last letters are all Horizontally symmetrical.
The two common large words using HorzSym are WITHOUT and TIMOTHY ( none on this blog :-/)
Question ( in a GMAT test ...) How many Three Letter Computer Passwords can be made with atleast one symmetry letter, of the above 11 letters ?? ( No repetition allowed ...)
The possible answers are
A. 2145 B. 6435 C. 12100 D. 12870 and E. 25740
( Note: I do NOt have the answer :-/)
Wrong Hint: I thought it would be 26 x 26 x 11 or 7436
It is not even one of the possible answers.
I'm so glad, that many many many moons ago when I sat for the GMAT, such questions had not been discovered yet .....
Hi Y'all! Great fun & fast puzzle, Nina & Ross! Great expo, Melissa, and thanks for explaining the theme I didn't get.
ReplyDeleteDNK: RAFFI, URIEL, RICIN as clued.
Picard: thanks for the Craters of the Moon pix.
My grandson moved into a college frat house ten days ago. Watching TV news last night, a picture of his frat house appeared with the news that 14 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed there. Called my son who says our kid is not sick. Small comfort at this point. All but one of his classes are online. He could quarantine in the family basement, but wants to be at school. He's too big to force into anything. Aaargh!
RE Regarding the above question, I just found out the answer from a cheat sheet.
ReplyDeleteFor those, who may be remotely interested .... here it is... you dont have be up all night ... and Sleepless in Seattle ...
In a three letter computer Password, using atleast one of the 11 symmetrical letters, in the password. No repetitions.
NOTE: No Repetitions, which I did not understand was that ... no words like XXY or XYX or YXX ... each position, in the 3 letter word, must have a unique letter ... That is important to understand here.
Total Number of 3 letter passwords possible 26 x 25 x 24 = 15,600
Note the subsequent multipliers reduce by one, each time, to prevent repetition !
Total Number of letters in the alphabet= 26 = 11 Symmetrical letters + 15 Asymmetrical Letters
Hence, Number of 3 letter comp passwords, using only Asymmetrical letters, is =
Only Asymmetrical letters = 15 x 14 x 13 = 2730 ( since no repetitions allowed )
Ergo, No. of 3 ltr CompPass using atleast one symmetrical letter is
= 15,600 - 2,730 = 12,870 ..... Voila, that is option D, in my previous post.
Good night. No more posts.
"I'm so glad, that many many many moons ago when I sat for the GMAT, such questions had not been discovered yet ....."
ReplyDeleteMe, too !
RE: IN RE about Ricin. How to remember it !@#@!@@
ReplyDeleteI have not watched Breaking Bad, because I am not into drug manufacturing ;-)
But Ricin is curious !!! It is in the seed of a common castor plant seed. Castor plants are ornamental plants in many homes.
Castor Oil, ( which does NOT contain Ricin !!) is the old fashioned dreaded, terribly, horribly, yucky, laxative, that would put the fear of God in all children who were forced to swallow it !! ( generally for an upset stomach ! )
Ricin is so deadly, there is no antidote in the world except with the Russians, the CIA and maybe the Israeli Intelligence ( reportedly so). About one grain of rice worth will kill immediately. The Russians have used it on several of their defectors. Many successfully.
The Israeli Mossad used it on an arab terrorist chief in Jordan, but then had to reluctantly hand over the antidote, or so.
There are over One million pounds of castor seed production, for oils etc. in the world, today.
The castor oil has no Ricin. but the remaining oil cake has Ricin, and has no commercial value even as cattle feed. It kills them too. Ricin is an extremely controlled substance in the US, Schedule One, A Special ... anybody with more than one gram has to be registered with the Drug Enforcement Admin.
Despite the popularity of the show, Breaking Bad, and despite of the easy availability of this super potent poison, in common household ornamental plants ... there has been no uptick on persons being poisoned by Ricin, in say, Forensic Files !
Ignorance of Chemistry can be bliss.
Blog Meisters are welcome to poison and delete this article, for its length. Many apologies.
Just to clarify the shellfish question, Peter meets and eats with Cornelius in Acts 11:9.
ReplyDeleteMore decisively, the Council in Jerusalem, in Acts 15:28-29, says:
"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell."
No mention of shrimp.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteCongrats Nina on your LAT debut. Good on you Ross for mentoring. Like mb said, nice secondary layer.
Thanks mb for the fun expo. Hand-up for looking for EGO b/f finding SELF (but who am I, really?)
WO: Tug -> TIC (Hi Everyone Else!)
ESPs: SARA, INES, ECO, URIEL*
Fav: IM is right, ITALY, AL DENTE, ANISE (for pizzelles!)... Oh what fun.
Sparkle: c/as for: CAMEO, DECIMAL, & EAR-WORM; Fully-stretched LIMOS & BRAs
You're doing great subbin' for OKL, C. Moe!
FLN - You too Oc4 re: BLIND DATE?
Abejo! - Good to read you. Hoping you can eat solids soon - with a beer chaser!
Jayce - my cable box is a DVR [technology licensed from TiVo]. I can tell it "record all < insert TV show > and it does. Problem is, I have more stuff recorded than I'll ever watch!
CED - Yes, I loved the Hobbit. Fav part was "Canadian Breakfast"** - they had twosies!
I was Two Towers I could never make it through.
Picard - I know you weren't at Camp but I thought you had something about the Arson and court-fight before. Memory is the second thing to go...
"What's the first?"
"I forget."
Thanks for today's IDAHO pics.
WC - are you thinking of Fresh Air with Terry Gross? [Carl Reiner interview] //I see you figured it out - I started drafting this post at lunch :-)
TABASCO is good but I'm partial to Crystal.
PK - Eldest is an RA at OU. Based on her charges' behavior, she's hoping they get at least a month of classes b/f the whole thing shuts down again. // 2/3rds of her classes have already converted to online-only.
Vidwan - Pop has beautiful caster-bean plants. His only worry was, that after the 2003 envelope scare, he'd be a suspect. Right, a guy in SPI?
That's about enough from me. Have a great eve.
Cheers, -T
*In Good Omens [Trailer], his name was Aziraphale(?)
**In Vancouver for CanSecWest, we'd have second-breakfast each morning. I assume it's a Canadian thing :-)
//Data-point #2: a buddy from Canada would bring an impressive spread when it was his turn for Friday Breakfast Club at the office. This tracks... :-)
Tony, oh, to be young and feel invincible!
ReplyDeleteAnon-T,
ReplyDeleteTwosies?
I could never wait that long!
Could you possibly be thinking about Elevensies?
I agree, The Two Towers had to be the hardest read.
Probably because it was such a downer...
But once you get thru it, you will definitely enjoy watching
the movies deleted scenes!
(My Fav deleted scenes has to be TheHobbit/Dwarves in Rivendell, etc...)
Hmm, I went looking for the above remembering the Dwarves bathing in
the Elves fountains. But it is such a short scene. Only to be flabbergasted
by seeing (just now) Elronds prediction that Thorin Oakenshield would succumb
to the Gold Madness... ( he was right, & yet , wrong...)
Picard, Tx for the Craters of the Moon pics!
(you know I cannot resist close ups of the Info Boards!)
I cannot find the same pic they used, but it reminded me
of present day Alien Theorists footprints on the Moon...
I also have a DVR supplied by DirecTV and love to record programs for later watching,especially Sunday Morning which airs before I awake. But sometimes programs overlap and by recording them I can watch afterwards. Like Bill G., it's really nice to fast forward the commercials!
ReplyDeleteFor example, since I've been watching the Dem Convention this week I have recorded all episodes of Jeopardy!
BTW, DirecTV charges $6 for the DVR.
PK - She so doesn't want to be there but - how you going to do music w/o performance? That and she has a PhD-level class and really wants to meet the prof. We will see.
ReplyDeleteWait. Wait until 2p? as opposed to 11a? - LOL! CED. Twosies was just 2; Second Breakfast. 'Round about 10:15a for those who wanted more or others didn't make it to the 8a breakfast 'cuz --- Oy! last night. :-)
Ever heard RUSH's Rivendell? You may like the guitar.
Cheers, -T
Lucina - since your still up...
ReplyDeleteCan you explain Aziraphale v. URIEL? Is the former a made up last name for the latter?
I mean, it's not as important as CED's shellfish Q but...
Cheers, -T
Aziraphale? I don't know. I'll have to look that up. I had not heard of him and didn't recognize the name. More tomorrow. My head is still distilling Obama's speech. Did you hear him? How I miss that man!
ReplyDeleteLucina - don't waste too much time on it. I've Googled seven ways to Sunday and everything points back to Good Omens. Looks like it was just made up(ish - he has the flaming sword!).
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T