Chairman Moe, here, with the honor and pleasure to recap a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle! I can see why Lemonade714 so enjoys doing a Friday Wechsler. This puzzle creates its unique scheme by swapping the two vowels in the second word (CAROL -> CORAL), completely changing the meaning. This continues throughout the long entries.
For example: 16. Yuletide decorations at a beach cottage?: CHRISTMAS CORAL/CHRISTMAS CAROL. We all have heard of a Christmas Carol, but a true Christmas "Coral" version of a Christmas "Carol" might be this:
29. What many skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas represent?: CORPORATE TEXAS/CORPORATE TAXES. When I owned a business back in 2010-2012, I filed corporate taxes for the first time. Glad I had a competent accounting firm ...
35. Opera group sponsored by a '70s-'80s sitcom family?: JEFFERSON DIVAS. The Jeffersons was a spinoff from "All in the Family". The DIVA singing this is Ja'net Dubois from "Good Times" fame. JEFFERSON DAVIS was president of the Confederate States of America. But if you really want to hear a JEFFERSON DIVA, then click on the link
53. Denim's golden age?: DAYS OF OUR LEVIS. DAYS OF OUR LIVES is one of the longest running soap operas on television, dating back to 1965! I personally am not a fan of "soaps", so the link should give you all you need to know about this Emmy Award Winning series ... in tribute to Splynter, here is my impression of DAYS OF OUR LEVIS:
What I truly enjoyed about Wechsler's puzzle was how "tight" it was. No forced clues/solves. Everything ran like an expensive, Swiss watch. And from what little experience I have at creating crossword puzzles, squeezing quadruple 13's into a 15x15 grid could not have been easy. While it took me just under a half hour to solve, I had very few "write-overs".
BTW, a big tip of the hat to all of our first responders; especially today, but let's give them kudos EVERY DAY on keeping us safe, protected, and healed during times of crisis. You are appreciated!
On to the rest of the clues!
Across:
1. Staging area: THEATER. Nice deflection. Staging area could also be referred to as a stopping place, or assembly point
8. Oregon Trail sights: WAGONS. Straight-forward clue
14. Part of a score: MEASURE.
15. "No need to point": I SEE IT. At first, I didn't "see it" with regard to the theme and its entries. But once solved, I felt more prudent: WISER. 8. Down
18. Michigan, e.g.: LAKE. No U Michigan vs. The Ohio State U football game this fall due to the Big 10 Conference postponing its season
19. Some summer arrivals: LEOS. Here is a link to this sign, if you'd care to learn whether or not you're compatible with them
20. Bit of baby talk: GOO. I hear that the "GOO GOO Dolls" will go on the road with Lady Gaga. They're billing this as the "GOO GOO GAGA" tour.
On a more personal note, Chairman Moe celebrates - via FaceTime - his first grandchild; born earlier this year, to my daughter and son-in-law. This past weekend I heard the 3 month old, handsome devil, utter his first "GOO"! I am definitely smitten, though the 2,400 miles we are apart has made visiting impossible during this pandemic
22. Quick cuts: TRIMS. I have been using this to cut my hair the past 6 months
24. Snowball fight defense: FORT. All we need in the part of Arizona where I live is some snow ...
25. Sing the praises of: LAUD. I hope this doesn't "break" the no religion code here; but whenever I see the word "LAUD", this hymn comes to mind ... please enjoy the melody; words are optional of course ...
26. Furniture chain that also sells lingonberry preserves: IKEA. I only knew them for having great meatballs
27. Tolkien's Legolas, for one: ELF. More info, here
28. First name of the first woman to win a Nobel Prize: MARIE. From the nobelprize.org website: "Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity."
33. Righteous Babe Records founder DiFranco: ANI. Righteous Babe Records is an American independent record label that was created by folk singer Ani DiFranco in 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. Wikipedia. Some crossword editors might only accept a clue such as, "Wheel of Fortune" purchase
34. Darken in summer: TAN. One thing I have learned from living 10 years in FL, and not quite 1 year in AZ, is that having a TAN is not what a lot of "natives" do. They let the visitors broil in the sun!
43. Drops off: WANES. In keeping with the puzzle theme, how about this for a limerick?
Esthetician (and Mom) is quite keen
'Bout her business; and here's what I mean:
Her twin boys stopped breast-feeding;
Hairy clients kept pleading;
Now her day's spent with waxes and WEANS
44. U.K. part: ENG. Also consists of N Ireland, Wales, and Scotland
45. Target ball in a pool game: NINE. Nine-ball was always one of my favorites
46. "The Martian" novelist Weir: ANDY. My son was called "Andy" (short for Andrew) by us, up until he decided he'd rather be called "Drew"
47. Young newts: EFTS. Crossword staple filler
49. Momoa who plays Aquaman: JASON. OK, ladies; I gave the guys the "Splynter Jeans". Here is your Aquaman!
50. DVR button: REC. I went from Cable/Dish to streaming about 2 years ago. No REC button on my REMOTE, and no DVR
51. Give off: EMIT. After yesterday's "E-BOOK" and "E-TAILERS", I am waiting for the following "word" to be allowed in crossword puzzles. Clue: what does a catcher wear on the video game, "MLB, The Show, 2020"? Answer: an E-MITT
52. Mountain cat: PUMA. Or what brand of clothes Rickie Fowler and several other PGA pros wear
58. Codeine, e.g.: OPIATE. Cough syrup with Codeine used to be sold, OTC. From FDA.gov: "FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA requires labeling changes for prescription opioid cough and cold medicines to limit their use to adults 18 years and older"
59. How a leaf blower operates: NOISILY. With leaf season nigh in many parts of the US, here is a friendly reminder from the folks at Remington:
60. Gets a gander at: ESPIES. ESPY, singular, is either getting a gander at, or a sports award
61. Put together: AMASSED. I am amassing a whole lot more knowledge about "stuff", now that I'm blogging
Down:
1. Film buff's network: TMC. The Movie Channel. Part of Showtime Networks
2. "That's sorta funny": HEH. HEH? Meh. JK, Jeffrey ...
3. Like a flashback time: EARLIER. THIS GUY had a few flashbacks
4. World atlas spread: ASIA MAP. Pretty big place
5. Walrus features: TUSKS. First thought that came to mind was this:
6. Art Deco icon: ERTE. Wiki
7. __ sleep: REM. According to my SO's FitBit, she should get between 15-25% REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep each night. Dream mode
9. Cravat cousin: ASCOT. Haiku:
Brutus the Buckeye
Must have face cover. Is that
Wearing a M-ASCOT?
10. Most 1990s Prizms: GEOS. Geo Prizms were only available in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, Chevrolet was the owner of the brand
11. Above, to a bard: OER. More crossword-ese
12. River between two Great Lakes: NIAGARA. After last week's "memory" of Lava Soap, I seem to remember this brand of spray starch
13. First U.S. city to host the Olympic Games: ST LOUIS. Used to travel there a lot when I was a working stiff
17. Flying: ALOFT. I will cede this to Ray-O-Sunshine for an appropriate pun
21. Lines from an admirer: ODE. Very few of my haikus and/or limericks are ODES
22. Idiosyncrasy: TIC. Not a good thing to have if it's your "tell" in Texas Hold 'em Poker
23. Classic studio letters: RKO. Not THIS RKO:
24. Distinctive style: FLAIR. This guy was the eponymous FLAIR
25. Remiss: LAX. Also the airport code for Los Angeles International. CSO to Steve, Picard, Bill G, Misty, Fematprime, Malodorous Manatee, Sarah, Wendybird, NaomiZ, Keith, Edward, and Michael. All of whom reside not too far (relatively, speaking) from LAX (the airport). Was I lax??!!
27. Fish-eating bird: ERNE. Yesterday's clue? It was a Sea Eagle
28. Fix: MEND. Oh, darn
30. Stumblebums: OAFS. From dictionary dot com: early 17th century: variant of obsolete auf, from Old Norse álfr ‘elf’. The original meaning was ‘elf's child, changeling’, later ‘idiot child’ and ‘halfwit’, generalized in the current sense.
31. Jackets named for a British school: ETONS. His AND hers models:
32. Distinctive flavor: TANG. It sure was distinctive! But why did they choose it for the NASA missions? Here's one version
35. Mystery woman: JANE DOE. I had JEZIBEL in as my first answer
36. Market aisle border areas: ENDCAPS. When I worked in the wine biz, this is what we were aiming for:
37. "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" co-creator: FEY.
38. Row: SETTO. As in fighting. Guessing that RKO and Ric FLAIR had a few SETTOS
39. Completely disorganized: IN A MESS. Like the desk in my den/office
40. In relation to: VIS A VIS. There are lots of "VISA V's" in this image, as their stock price fluctuates:
41. "Is that __?": ANO. Or could this have been clued: Doce meses?
43. "1917" subject: WAR. The official trailer
47. Overact: EMOTE. Who would you add to your top ten list of emoters? In Hollywood or in TV?
48. High pipes: FIFES. I used this in a haiku last week ...
49. Child played by Meryl: JULIA. Nice misdirection! I was trying to think of whether actress Streep actually was a "child actor". Turns out she was 25-26 years old before landing her first role
51. Actor Morales: ESAI. More crossword-ese. Great vowels!
52. Anticipated dance: PROM. Anticipated by whom?! Not sure I could afford to go now. Back in the '60's, a tux rental (white dinner jacket/cummerbund/bowtie) was around $10-15. Corsage was what, $4-5 or less? A stretch limo? C'mon! And "after-PROM" was .... well, that varied!
54. Shrill bark: YIP. At age 40, I developed these:
The YIPs
55. A, in Oaxaca: UNA. UNA cerveza mas, por favor
56. Tahiti, to Gauguin: ILE. Frawnch
57. Qantas hub, in itineraries: SYD. An iconic view from the Harbor Bridge Climb
That's all! There's no "Moe"!!
The grid:
Notes from C.C.:
 |
| Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, C.C. and Joanne |
2) Please continue putting Abejo in your thoughts and prayers. He's in hospital due to pneumonia right now.
I have just started doing the LAT xword and reading the blog. I'm lovin' it.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, d-o saw the CORAL and latched onto the theme immediately. FIR in good time, too. I'll take a CSO at CORPORATE TEXAS along with Anon-T, though the corporation I worked for is currently in bankruptcy. Hard times in the awl patch. Thanx for the diversion, Jeffrey. Exceptional expo, Moe. (Technically the Middle East is part of Asia, making it even bigger than that map shows.)
TRIMS: I also have a Wahl clipper kit. DW helped trimming the back. I knew things weren't going well when she commented, "I didn't know you had a birthmark back here."
Today was my oldest brother's birthday; he's been gone for several years. It's also the nineteenth anniversary of 9-11 -- it seems like yesterday.
Got an early start today and FIR! Also figured out the theme when I filled in DAYS OF OUR LEVIS. ENG and ENDCAPS were corrected in time when I proofed before starting to read C Moe. Thanks for an entertaining review! It was a happy moment when you verified my answers.
ReplyDeleteThanks too to Jeffrey for a super puzzle. Unlike C Moe, HEH didn't bother me, but ASIA MAP sounded clunky. Map of Asia comes more to mind, but constructing puzzles is not easy, I'm sure, and when I am consistently perfect in every way.......
The weekend is coming! Everyone enjoy. Happy birthday, Husker Gary, and healing thoughts to Abejo!!!!
This was a fast Friday, as it took 8:24.
ReplyDelete"inamess" looked like a mess at first. "Noisily" took awhile to come to light too.
I had "WWI" instead of "war," initially (pun intended).
Fun puzzle. Easy for a Friday. I saw the theme early on with CAROL/CORAL which helped..
ReplyDeleteGreat post, C Moe. VISA V's LOL. Lovely grandson, how thrilling.
All glory, laud and honor was the only hymn I could play on the piano as a teen. C Major, no sharps or flats. Now I can't play anything.
I had a friend who always said HEH HEH instead of laughing.
JASON? No, thanks, not my cuppa.
OPIATES for pain, no thanks. I can't stand them.
I loved Julie and Julia. Meryl Streep and Julia Child are two of my favorite celebraties.
I am not a beach bum. I usually tan from just doing my thing. As a teacher, outdoor recess duty tanned me early. I have not spent as much time running around this summer, so my tan is lighter.
A very happy birthday, Gary. Thanks for all you do.. I look forward to your posts.
Abejo, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Good morning to all and nice write up Chairman Moe. I like you Splynter tribute.
ReplyDeleteI was having the hardest time getting MEASURE on the paper after filling HAH for HEH and AMC for TMC but had no other problems on Jeffrey's Friday vowel switch. Wasn't thinking music. I'm a little WISER now. I'd already filled CORAL by perps before I'd read the 16A clue, so the theme was obvious from the get go. JASON, FEY, ANDY- unknowns filled by perps.
ASIA MAP- it only show part of Asia in dark. Left out Russia, Turkey, ...etc.
Anon:7:05- I also had to Change WWI to WAR.
Anon@6:34- I wonder when the 'cancel culture' crowd will attempt to change the name of JEFFERSON 'DIVAS' Parish, which ain't far from the state line where they collect CORPORATE TAXES in Texas.
Amusing theme - wasn't sure at first whether each theme would be an O to A switch - which would be even more difficult - but they were all funny! DAYS OF OUR LEVIS - I'll have to tell my mom as she is a soap fan!
ReplyDeleteStarted out not knowing whether it would be TMC vs TCM (Turner Classic Movies) vs AMC - but the perps sorted that all out!
I always think of HEH HEH - as how a creepy lecherous person laughs...
I still have my Wahl clippers from the days of buzz cuts with my younger two- never got to the point where I had to trim my husbands hair during the pandemic.
Thanks Chairman MOE - your name could almost fit todays theme!
HB to HG and will be praying for Abejo!
Prayers for Abejo and all who lost a loved one in the 9-11 atrocity. Never forget. People at all levels need to stop killing each other.
ReplyDeleteIt is only right that your first Friday is from Jeffrey. I just learned from TTP that I have blogged 82 of his LAT efforts, as well as co-creating one!
I really enjoyed the puzzle and the write-up. Thanks, guys.
YR, my feelings are hurt.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteGood job, CM. A pleasure to read your intro.
A fun Friday Wechsler challenge. Liked the theme and the fill fulfilling it. Helped me get JEFFERSON DIVAS. Only white-out was I had 'Tetons' before WAGONS.
Lingonberry - crepes at IHOP are a favorite. BH has made them at home, ordering the lingonberries on-line from an ENGlish purveyor.
Happy Birthday to Husker. Lang soll Sie leben.
Thanks C.C. for the update on Abejo.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Moe, I really liked your summative paragraph about a tight puzzle below those jeans
-LAKE Michigan – The M in the mnemonic HOMES
-A movie trailer for the movie Radioactive about MARIE. I enjoyed it more than Rotten Tomatoes did
-On the other hand, Rotten Tomatoes and I both liked The Martian
-We rarely see ANI clued as a cuckoo bird any more
-2-cycle engines, like the one on that blower, are all replaced by battery-operated devices here
-Common mistakes - Tijuana has only three syllables. NIAGARA has four.
-All wars are brutal, but WWI featured 18th century tactics against 20th century weapons
-Welcome, Michiganman! We’re here everyday!
No DVR here since I cut the cable about 5 years ago. I had REw before REC. Actually, the Sling app on my Roku provides a DVR in the cloud. AreAMAP before ASIAMAP and oNe before ANO. I remember JASON from GOT.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the attempt. One bad cell because I quickly fill in words spelled incorrectly, and I don't proof read.
ReplyDeleteDays of our Levi's was fav. Thank you to Chairman MOE for the write up and Splynter reference. Like many others I cured my putting YIPs by changing to the claw grip.
MO
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Husker Gary My "First Sunset Toast" is to YOU !!!
ReplyDeleteWell I can't ever "Build a Snowman in one minute" ...
Cheers!
I’m slowly warming to Fridays with J.W.!!
ReplyDeleteThis solve was smooth and fun (once I caught the vowel switch) but I was hung up on “how a leaf blower operates”.......until my neighbor fired his up while i was doing the puzzle!! Ah! Yes....totally get the clue now!!
A fun JW puzzle that filled faster than his usually do for me. And a great debut for CM who has now set a high bar for his future contributions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on Abejo. I was just thinking about him yesterday. Lots of prayers.
And HB to HG. And many, many more!
I remember where I was on 9/11. I bet you all do too.
Be safe and well everyone.
JB2
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAfter two failures this week, back to back, no less, the sight of JW’s byline brought a smile and a contented aah! And, as always, Jeffrey didn’t disappoint. Although I finished in below average Friday time, I had a few stumbles: Snips/Trims, Coo/Goo, TCM/TMC, Hah/Heh, and WWI/War. (I just recently watched 1917; it was a brutal and intense depiction of the horrors of war.) I needed perps for Andy and Fey, as clued. I loved the crossing of Leos and GEOs and the Ano/Ani duo. All of the themers were spot on and comical and of perfect example of Jeffrey’s word wizardry and creative talents.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a fun and enjoyable and successful solve and thanks, Moe, for your humorous and enlightening summary. You’ve taken to blogging like a duck to water. Bravo! 🤗 Congrats on that precious grandchild; I hope you’re able to meet him in person soon. I know you meant to please the ladies with Jason Momoa’s picture, but this lady will respond with a resounding No Thanks! Now, if you come across any pictures of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck, feel free to share them. 😋
Happy Birthday, HG, and best wishes for many more. 🎂🎉🎊🎈🎁 Many thanks for your Saturday blogging; your above and beyond efforts are obvious and much appreciated! 😉 (Great picture of the you and Joann with the Burnikels.)
Positive thoughts and prayers go out to Abejo.
FLN
Pat, I hope you get long lasting relief from that cortisone shot. Good luck!
Not you, Jason C. Jason in the picture. You, my Friday sherpa, are better looking, my cuppa.
ReplyDeleteBack from my haircut. We sign up online and choose an operator. I choose the one who gave me my last haircut. A+. She was off today. The result is fine, but not A+.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Thank you, Jeffrey and Chairman Moe.
Happy Birthday to Husker Gary !
Abejo, you are in our thoughts and prayers.
Again with the waking up in the middle of the night after just a few hours sleep. Decided to solve the puzzle after I couldn't get back to sleep. I've been LAX on my exercise routine, so I've already done my first set today. More later today. Exercising should help with the sleep...
Got the four themers easily enough, but for some reason TAXES for TEXAS took a moment to register.
Noticed the first name shout outs in the puzzle with CHRIS, EARL, LEO, NIA, MARI and MARIE, JEFF, ANDY, JASON, JANE, JULIA, ANI, ESAI and SYD.
Beautiful little grandson, Chairman Moe.
Pat (FLN), I'm having that problem with my left knee. Had the opposite problem with my right knee. Too much synovial fluid resulting in what is termed a Baker's cyst. Simple procedure to correct it. Fittingly, it was the opposite of an injection. :>)
Great to see C-Moe this morning. Is the last word of the limerick weans or WANES? Nice to refresh my mind re. Tolkien's most enigmatic character:Legolas. "That still counts as one". Great line.
ReplyDeleteFor NINE, I think clue should have said "Billiards".
I'm heartily in favor of carrying forth the Splynter tradition. Anybody hear from him?
Big holdup: Tcm/TMC. Also, I know I'm not supposed to refer to that LAX crew as Calis but I can't help myself. "Beat LA, Beat LA"*
WWI had to give way to WAR. I think I tried to fit overalls where LEVIS ended up. A typical JW xword that required navigation around a few key perps.
I see a HBD for Gary is in store. I logged in early before the first post opened up the blog.
* Chant when Celtics lost the East final to Philly and next opponent was Lakers.
Ps, IM, add ELF and EFT
DeleteI had those cortisone shots for my left knee. They worked only for a short time. Pain, limping, and having to sit out a lot led me to knee replacement. Blessed relief. Then the same thing happened with the right knee which was replaced. After that I could square dance many sets in a night.
ReplyDeleteNow we have virtual square dancing. Not for me. The social aspect, the smiles, the camaraderie, the banter, the touching is very important to me. Sometimes they used to play a waltz between tips. Some ladies without partners danced alone. I see no pleasure in that.
My house is finally in the best order it has been since the accident. It's nice to be well and strong. Of course, my 80 year old body demands plenty of breaks when I play with the computer. Rest time is up. Back to the salt mines.
Hand up for WWI/WAR. Hmm... maybe today I should be WWIKWAK? Wait—no. That sounds like a 1917 duck. HEH.
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, I have been thinking a lot about Abejo recently and wondering about the lack of comments from him. Thoughts and prayers going your way, buddy.
I finished this one before bed last night. Too early for C Moe’s delightful rendition, so once again I am late for the party. Oh well. I do so love me a Jeff Wechsler and today’s effort was an outstanding example of why.
What comes after ESPIES, teepies?
Took me a while, but the shoe dropped when JEFFERSON DIVAS emerged. Great theme, Jeff!
Learning moment: I didn’t know that ST LOUIS ever hosted the Olympic Games, let alone the first. I grew up about 90 miles north of there, in western IL, so St Louis radio and TV were staples but I never heard that mentioned.
Is ERNE going for a hat trick?
The former owners of this house left behind a regulation pool table, so there’s a lot of NINE ball happening here.
FIFES made me think of the Andy Griffith show. Barney was my favorite character.
Put me in the camp of those who get all the TAN they need/want from just the normal exposure of daily life.
I thought ALOFT was where you put the hay.
It’s getting hungry in here so it’s time to go do something about it. Thanks, Jeff and C Moe, for getting me through the morning.
Mask up, stay well. That’s an order.
I've been absent several days due to a few embarrassing, inexcusable gaffes in previous posts. Still a little flushed about it. Should have known this was a JW puzzle. He's certainly one of my favorite constructors. Didn't get the theme until the divas/Davis vowel switch. Then the cranium light went on. Although the bottom third was the slowest fill for me, my last completion was measure for part of a score. A fun, fair FIR for sure.
ReplyDeleteAbejo, best wishes for a very speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteNine eleven is a day to remember and to remember the great deeds of our first responders.
I really enjoyed the clever vowel switching in the puzzle, and, as mentioned previously, the very "clean" fill. IN A MESS did not come immediately but, after a few crossing letters, I was able to clean things up. My family had been in the retail business at one time so END CAPS got filled in quickly. I knew MARIE Curie (from science) and ESAI Morales (from crosswords) but ANDY was a bit more challenging. Went through the usual "is it UNA or Uno"? hesitation. I have never heard of Righteous Babe Records but with DeFranco in the clue that was superfluous.
Ch. Moe, an impressive performance. Great graphics and an amusing and/or pithy comment on each an every clue/answer pair!
Well, a Friday Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle is bound to be tough for me, and it was! But I still got the northeast and southwest corners for a start, and once the theme words appeared, they cracked me up. Lots of fun, many thanks, Jeffrey. And a great commentary, Chairman Moe. Also, sweet baby picture.
ReplyDeleteJANE DOE for Mystery Woman was neat surprise. Like others, I too had WWI before WAR. Have never seen a picture of ESAI Morales, but I always get his name. And I must have been a bit groggy this morning because I kept thinking Meryl Streep was not a child actress, was she? surely not. Oh, that Child--Julia! Laughed when I finally figured it out.
Happy birthday, Husker Gary.
Hope you have a good recovery, Abejo.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
When I scroll down and see the name Jeffrey Wechsler, I know I’m in for treat. Today was no exception. Clever and fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever, clever theme. Thank you, Jeffrey for the workout, and thanks, Ch. M., for an entertaining tour.
ReplyDeleteA few wo’s screwed me up - WWI/WAR, TCM/TMC, You/ALL/ANO and lag/LAX (no idea why), so it took a while to unscrew myself.
I’ll take a shout out for Lake Michigan since I was born and raised in Ann Arbor and still go back once a year for a family/ friend fix.
Happy Birthday, Gary, and many more.
Sending warm wishes for a fast recovery, Abejo.
No fires near Dana Point, but the ash from far away has covered our patio furniture. The devastation is heartbreaking.
Hi everybody...
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Gary. I enjoy everything you post. Thanks.
Thanks Jeffrey and Moe.
Best wishes Abejo. Barbara and I have been spending too much time in the hospital 'cause of her kidney infection. I hope you're all better soon.
Re. 25 Down LAX, yep, that's us. We're about four miles south near the coastline.
~ Mind how you go...
Fun Friday mostly due to easy to parse long horizontal fill providing plenty of perpage.
ReplyDeleteAlmost tempted to put skulls along the Oregon trail. SETTO is an expression I only see in CWs. (Is the plural settee?). Kind of guessed it would be MARIE Curie.
Waited for the perp for FLAIR (not sure it wasn't flare). Held of for perps on RE...either Rew or REC. Why is NINE a target ball?
Add HEH to the owie, aha oho etc. collection
Should we expect a Moe-Goo? From the Chairman? plus a Niagara Falls rant
Or..
Crew sport requirement.....OER
Garret apartment....ALOFT (as c.m. requested)
Donkey's bed...ASCOT
Get fat...ETONS.
2020 flm reprise of "____ World" ...WANES
Plus
___ Griffith Show" mini-theme: ....ANDY
......
Part of one of Aunt Bee's pies that _____....OPIATE
Pertaining to Mayberry's deputy.....FIFES
Happy B day Husker G....Abejo hang in there
I had a tough time with this JW puzzle, but thanks to CMoe's blog, I finally understood the clever punny and the fine points.
ReplyDeleteThank you JW and thank you ChMao for your fine humorous and very pictorial review. Your haiku was very nice too.
Happy Birthday to Husker Gary ... An auspicious occasion on this unfortunately infamous anniversary. Have a great day !
You remind me of some of my favorite school teachers ... Who taught me things I will never forget.
Prayers and good wishes for Abejo. Hope you get better soon.
Yellow rocks, thank you for your good wishes from a couple of days ago, for me. May I also pray and good wishes for your health problems to resolve soon and for the better, permanently.
With everybody else's health problems ... And especially yours, I am loathe to bring out my own relatively minor ones, but it slipped into my post anyway. As a group on this blog, our ages are highly skewed distribution towards the senior end, and maintaining and juggling our health issues is our number one problem .... Next to keeping our memories, our IQ and main ting our sanity !
Best Wishes to all.
ReplyDeleteFrom yesterday....
CED....AVENGERS...could not find it free anywhere, but Walmart has the entire Diana Rigg edition for $31, all the seasons (3?) she was in the show. Not free, but shows of this type are hard to find free, not bad for $31, watch at leisure.
https://www.amazon.com/Avengers-Complete-Emma-Peel-Megaset/dp/B00E5G03I4
Happy Birthday, Husker Gary !
ReplyDeleteWendybird, all I have to say is Go Blue (from this UM Dad)
FLN, Picard, I know very little about what my mother's experience was with the jazz scene in New York. I know that she was a clarinetist and a pianist. In the 1930's and early 1940's Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Chick Webb and other great musicians/bands would play at the Savoy. I never gave much thought to the concert scene of my parents' youth but when Ken Burns did the Jazz series I learned about of some of what had transpired and, as I had always thought of my mother as a classical musician, I asked her if she had been aware of the jazz music scene. That question elicited her response that not only was she aware of what was happening but that she went to the shows. It is something of a "flat spot" for me not to know more. Maybe that's because the music of my parents' era did not stay popular for as long a period of time as has the music of my early adulthood. I now realize how sad that is as much of that music was very, very good, indeed.
ReplyDeleteRay - O, here you go:
"The game of nine-ball is played on a billiard table with six pockets and with ten balls. The cue ball, which is usually a solid shade of white (but may be spotted in some tournaments), is struck to hit the other balls on the table. The remaining balls are numbered 1 through 9, each a distinct color, with the 9-ball being striped yellow and white. The aim of the game is to hit the lowest numbered ball on the table (often referred to as the object ball) and pocket balls in succession to eventually pocket the nine-ball.
As long as the lowest numbered ball on the table is hit first, the player may continue to shoot as long as any ball is pocketed in any of the 6 pockets. A shot where the player hits the object ball and pockets any other ball is sometimes called a combination shot. The winner is the player who pockets the nine-ball, even if doing so by a combination shot." - Wikipedia
Ray-O: the NINE ball is the target ball for the first shot in the game of nine ball. The striped balls are not used and the remaining nine are racked in a diamond shape with the nine facing the first shooter.
ReplyDelete...aaaand I see TTP beat me by 60 seconds. :(
ReplyDeleteTTP. Thanks for splainin'...🙂
ReplyDeleteSince I'm sitting around the house today, not doing much as I let the cortisone work its way into my knee, I was more patient with this J.W. puzzle. I didn't get the theme but enjoyed the solve which seemed to be easier than usual. Thank you, sir, for the fun. Thank you, C. Moe, for the write-up, comments and links.
ReplyDeleteDon't care for JASON Momoa. Tattoos don't appeal to me at all.
I'll also take a CSO at LAKE Michigan, having grown up in the Ann Arbor area. MichiganMan, where do you live?
Abejo, you're in my thoughts. Best wishes for a quick recovery.
I'd like to recommend a series of books by Jeffrey Archer: Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter, Best Kept Secret and Be Careful What You Wish For. Kane and Abel are immigrants to the US, work in the same business and are bitter, bitter rivals. One has a son, the other a daughter who, of course meet, fall in love, wed and have a family. In The Prodigal Daughter, since she was young she's wanted to be the first female President of the USA. This is the story of her life and political career. Since this is a Presidential election year I thought it would be an interesting read.
Happy Friday!
What le you're at it TTP and wikwak: Is 9-ball "billiards" table the same as 8-ball Pool table?
ReplyDeleteNIAGARA- Hilarious
WC
Has sudden severe dizziness got any correlation to Covid-19?
GOO GOO GAGA Tour? Really, C. Moe? :-)
ReplyDeleteHi All!
Thanks Jeff Wex for the fun puzzle but you got me again! I had ink'd OPIodE [sic] and EMOTE only changed the d->T. Missed the A, I did. Ya beat me by one square...
C. Moe, seriously Bro, you're going to burn yourself out with expos like these. I wasted plenty of time just reading about TANG [Astronauts on the Moon? HEH HEH].
Happy Birthday HG! (No, I'm not a denier - just love comedy)
//Oh, I just got an 18v weeder & blower too. My two-strokes are headed to Salvation Army's thrift shop.
WO: OPIodE
ESPs: WAR|ANDY, A NO (oh, that's how you parse it), //I know there's other names I didn't know
Fav: I'm going w/ ST LOUIS. Filled sans perp and I don't know why I knew that but I just SEE(d) IT. (WikWak - I grew up in SPI - ~80m NNW of STL)
//Runner-up: CORPORATE TEXAS (but I don't know why we had to bring Dallas into this. Right, fellow Houstonians? :-))
No one even thought of dysentery @8a? [1:45]
Welcome Michiganman! Put your $0.02 in.
Abejo - Pneumonia? I don't like this. God Speed Brother. Get well soon.
BillG - I hope to hear of Good New re: Barbara soon.
And Pat - hope you don't need the knee re-done (MIL did that - still caning around [be careful what you say, the cane gives her extra reach for a whack!])
YR - glad to hear the accident hasn't changed your pace. 'Cuz you're a dancer! (wait for it...) [Belushi was the 1st to go :-( ]
Lem - funny! //for those that don't know, JASON is Lem's 1st name and YR @7:18 brushed him off :-)
I tried to get Wahl clippers for lock-in but they were sold out. DW bought some professional scissors and promises to watch some YouTube how-tos. Um, I'm going full Dave Grohl now [That kid is good! (sorry, pulled a CED* there - stumbled on that looking for a good pic of Grohl)].
Thanks for The Stooges Ray-O
"Is that..." All?
No.
Everyone in Lake Charles & the West Coast fires have my soul in a twist.
Warm Wishes [wait, that sounds wrong somehow]
Cheers, -T
*You know I love your links CED!
WC: I am pretty sure the two tables are the same. At least in my house and at the Drexel pool hall where I grew up (25 miles west of TTP) they were played on the same tables. Not so sure about Snooker but I think it’s played on the same tables also. I played it but not often, and the passing years have taken their toll on my remembery.
ReplyDeleteDash-T, thanks for that Oregon Trail link. That game was being played constantly in my school for a number of years before it became passé. It was good to see its genesis.
ReplyDeleteAnd Gary, how did I not wish you a happy birthday?* Many more to you!
*I’m a little slow, that’s how.
Happy Birthday Gary!
ReplyDeleteWik Wak.
ReplyDeleteI think we got trouble ...lots of trouble right here in River City with a capital T and that rhymes with C and that stands for Crossword??. (Wait...huh?)
😕
Wikwak, snooker is played on a much larger table than a standard billiards table. Not only is the table larger, but the pockets are smaller as are the balls too.
ReplyDeleteAre those small balls in your pockets or are we playing Snooker? (Sorry Shank..couldn't resist.😆)
ReplyDeleteHG,I'm sorry I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday! I hope it's a wonderful day!
ReplyDelete-T thanks for the concern. I've had my right knee replaced, now my left one is demanding equal treatment.
Thanks for the explanations of NINE Ball, Eight Ball and Snooker. The previous owner let us buy their pool table instead of trying to get it upstairs. I have no interest in playing pool but it was nice to have when our daughter was in high school. In cold/rainy weather the group of friends would gather here on Friday nights to enjoy the game and the big screen TV.
ReplyDeleteDash T, I saw that video the other day on WGN. That girl can hit it ! Dave Grohl is a super human being.
BTW, following up... Did I understand you to say that your daughter's dorm is being used to house students that have tested positive ?
Errata: SPI is ~80 miles NNE of St. Louis. Whatcha doing, T, trying to trip up solvers for when Rich gives us that as a clue ? :>)
Errata: WikWak, you grew up 25 miles west of Dash T, not TTP. :>)
Wilbur, 9 ball can be played on any sized pool table. We played on bar sized tables, 8' tables and 9' tables. Never played it on a snooker table. Didn't have the numbered and different colored balls.
I thought I was a pretty good pool player, back in the day. Name the game, I'd be in and willing to bet that I could beat you. Then while in the Army, I played snooker and carom billiards against some Dutch soldiers when I was in Rotterdam. Carom billiards ? Where are the pockets ? Here, let me show you. Then I got my clock cleaned and my wallet lightened.
I loved this puzzle. Nifty theme. Good wishes to you all.
ReplyDeleteTTP - You got me on the STL->SPI NNW screw-up.
ReplyDeleteDyslexia sucks 'cuz I always come off like a compete moron [even after edits!]...
[oh, yeah this is my right hand, um, East]
No worries -- I'm used to it :-)
Re: OU dorms - Yes, they're cording-up test-positive kids in her dorm [floors 2, 6, & 9] b/c there's an over-run Today, Eldest had an awkward conversation w/ her boss who found the RAs' posts re: their worries in an online chat.
She can navigate this.
Pat - When you had your knee done did they give you a cane to whack idiots?
That's MIL's favorite toy.
Cheers, -T
Pat, hoping for a great outcome for you. Knee replacement was wonderful for me. Cane and/or walker for a few days only.
ReplyDeleteBill G.,sorry to hear of Barbara's recent health crisis.Healing thoughts to both of you.
Anon-T I had a cane but DH was faster than I was so didn't use it for that purpose. Besides, he took over all the work at home that I usually did.
ReplyDeleteYR I used a walker for a month, then a cane for a few weeks. Before surgery I had a little bit of cartilage on the outside of my knee an walked with my foot turned out. I needed to relearn to walk with my foot pointed forward. A month and a half after surgery a volunteer from the shelter gave me rides to/from the shelter. I walked a couple sedate dogs, leash in one hand, cane in the other. Good exercise and got me out of the house.
Bill G., I hope Barbara heals soon.
Late, as I just got back from driving DW all day to
ReplyDeletetile/fixture/bathroom/ stores
(it's not just curtains anymore...)
(sheesh, I thought this part of my life was behind me...)
but I got a chance to get my teeth around this Jeffwich
when I could not find a parking spot, & had to sit in the car
by the fire hydrant for an hour. (life is good!)
AnonymousPVX, Thanks for the tip!
I think I will put it on my Birthday/Xmas wish list!
Who knows, maybe I can still get the complete Avengers for free!
Anonymous-T,
I dunno, looks to me like she beat the pants off David Grohl.
But it did remind me of a link I posted previously,
However, when I went to look for it, I got side tracked
by a longer version that included a Gonzo bit!
Grohl/Animal face off is at the end...
HBD Husker Gary!
Also, (not sure if this will work)
but Popular Science sent me a puzzle pack that looks interesting!
hope this link works!
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteRe-entering this, as the original link for Irish Miss was not entered properly by me. I hope she gets to see it!! ;^)
HG —> HBTY, sir! Maybe shoot your age today on the golf course??! And yes, I did think about “the placement” of the word tight; but you notice that I didn’t say anything about it!!
Abejo, our positive thoughts and prayers to you
WC, yes to weans. I moved the vowels in WANES (wax and wane) to make it wax and wean for the pun
IM, this is for you, my dear!
TTP @ 4:27–
ReplyDeleteWe were just testing to see if you were awake.
C Moe @ 12:24 ~ I clicked and got a 404 Error Message.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to relate my tale of woe from yesterday. I had a grocery order delivered from Hannaford that included a fresh split turkey breast. Checking the Sell By/Freeze By date, I noticed it was September 9. No way was I going to keep it so I set it aside while I unpacked the rest of the bags. In the last bag, I found the cash register receipt and I looked to see what the final total was, as there were a couple of items unavailable from my initial order. It was much higher and should have been lower than the initial order total, so I looked at each item and discovered that the 10 Little Neck Clams @ .59= $5.90 rang up as $59.00. So, a trek to the store resulted in a credit for the $59.00 and a cash refund of double the cost of the turkey breast. I went to the meat counter and found 6 turkey breasts, all dated the previous day, I left empty handed but did advise Customer Service of the bad dates.
Today’s tale of woe is too grim to relive so, suffice it to say, Julia Child is probably turning over in her grave! 😬
C Moe @ 6:09 ~ I didn’t see your second link until just now. Thanks for Cary and Gregory; I sure needed a pick-me-up! (See the last sentence at 6:58.)
ReplyDeleteLate to the party. Thanks to Jeffrey and CMoe (cute photo of the grand).
ReplyDeleteI FIRed and saw the shifted vowels (although like inanehiker,I thought it was just A/O after 16A.)
I smiled at ELFS and EFTS (interesting about the OAFS connection too). Plus LEOS crossing GEOS. (I see IM and WC beat me).
Then there was ERTE and ERNE, ANI, ANO and UNA.
I’ll take a CSO withNIAGARA. Yes, HG, we spell it with 4 syllables, but around here it is pronounced with 3. Great Stooge clip.
I saw “gander” in the clue for 60 A, and thought of Gander, Nfld., looking after all those plane passengers 19 years ago. Come from Away tells the story.
Time for the Raptors game. Canada 🇨🇦 is glued to the set tonight!
Happy Birthday to HuskerG.
Continued thoughts and prayers for Abejo.
Enjoy the evening.
To Chairman Moe,
ReplyDelete(& anyone who might be interested...)
a little unsolicited advice:
A few frustrating experiences taught me
that when hot linking (via Chrome on a PC)
(other methods will vary)
Always (ALWAYS) highlight and copy your post BEFORE
hitting "preview"...
In preview mode, right click your blue hi-lighted link
& select "open in a new window."
(phones & ipads have different ways to do the same thing)
If it works, Great! close the window & publish...
If it doesn't work, well, then you have more work to do...
just hit edit, (& don't copy your changes yet-see * ahead)
find the culprit (not easy) fix it & try preview again.
It took me years to discover that the " notation required
for hot links is not the same as Apples curly version of the same thing.
this requires changing keyboard to one that has the correct shaped ".
(or whatever you call that thingy...)
Another frustration is some sites (Pinterest is notorious)
have gobbletygook jiberish that goes on for ten pages in their
picture addresses. When this happens, you know your hot link is
not going to have the pic you want, but pages of crap you don't want.
If this should happen, you do not have to manually backspace out of
10 pages of bullcrap. just put your curser right after your first " symbol
(it doesn't work anywhere else)
right click & select "undo."
Now, if you still want "that" pic, right click it & select "Google search for image."
which should give you dozens of options for the same pic in all sorts of sizes.
Again, your results may vary,
but! You still have you (*) original copy
One more hand up for WWI before WAR. I am guessing this was intentional misdirection by the ever clever Jeffrey Wechsler. I was quite impressed with the effort that must have gone into constructing this clever theme and the extensive big fill.
ReplyDeleteI was quick to get that a gas blower operates NOISILY. I have a good friend who did a single-handed campaign to get them banned in the City of Santa Barbara. He is one of the few people who is even more NOISE averse than I am. In the case of these dirt blowers, what really bugs me is when I am walking or cycling and dirt is blown into my face and lungs. Can you imagine cleaning the inside of your house by blowing the dirt around?
I totally did not get the JULIA CHILD answer until I read your writeup Chairman Moe. JULIA CHILD lived here in Santa Barbara but I don't think I ever saw her.
Here are photos of me visiting a dear friend from college who was living at LAKE MICHIGAN with his lovely Canadian wife and little boy.
We were delighted to go swimming in our birthday suits in this rural area of LAKE MICHIGAN. You can see the signs for Kemil Beach and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Sadly, my friend died young of cancer soon after this and his wife and child moved back to Canada.
Chairman Moe thank you for the LAX shout out. Yes, we often have to fly out of LAX because the flights from Santa Barbara to connect to LAX are frequently cancelled.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the Splynter-esque post! I loved his posts as much as some people hated them!
Malodorous Manatee thank you for the further details of your mother and the jazz scene in New York. It is too bad that you were not able to learn more about this. I know that my father was also part of that scene. He played jazz clarinet with the "music and arts crowd" as he called them over in Greenwich Village. I went on to play his clarinet but I can't say I ever really mastered it. And my brother and I have no idea what happened to the clarinet now.
Just an afterthought:
ReplyDeleteBefore I started the above rambling,
I got a msg that windows would update, to which I
selected "cancel".
The above post, as you see it, in its entirety,
was in my "leave your comment" box,
& I was about to copy it before preview,
when my PC shut down, went blue screen, & into a windows update...
(you can imagine my profound, articulate words, at this occurrence...)
However, when everything came back up, ten minutes later,
everything in the post, as you see it was still there for me to copy!?!?!?!
(The Universe is trying to mess with my head...)
P.S. to Anonymous-T
ReplyDeleteWhere -O- where
did you find that John Belushi clip!
I have never seen it before!
That is just so freaky!
What a wonderful Wechsler wonderland of words!! And I was on the right wavelength because I solved it. ( That seldom happens!)
ReplyDeleteMy fave was DAYS OF OUR LEVIS . Fun pun and the description of my life right now.
Happy birthday Gary, and thanks for all you do.
Abeokuta, prayers for healing. Get well!
Mow, you are working too hard! But thanks .
Come to think about it, my fave was Darken in summer for TANS. Well yes, now that I got it. Like all of Jeffrey’s clues it’s Obvious when we get it! Such fun! Thanks Jeffrey!
Abejo, auto correct doesn’t like your spelling. I was sending you prayers!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGary, I hope you had a Great Birthday.
Bill G. - - Best wishes for Barbara's improvement and recovery. Hope she conquers her health issues.
ReplyDeleteCED
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for the tutorial help on the pic's and links. I think what made my earlier link (Cary and Gregory for Irish Miss) not post, is that for some reason my iPhone doesn't like doing HTML "a" tags. I can do "b" and "i", but not "a" for some reason. Oh well ...
HG ... we watched Radioactive tonight based on your reco' from watching the trailer you linked. What a great and powerful movie! Neither of us knew much about her personal life. Very well done; Rosamund Pike gave a brilliant performance - maybe even worthy of an Oscar nomination ...
Swamp Cat @ 9:04 --> I assume you meant me (it's Moe, not Mow), and another typo!! And I don't think of it as hard work. It's an honor and pleasure to be listed and included among these other great CC bloggers. Now that I'm retired, I am happy to have another "job" to stay busy!! :-)
ReplyDeleteCED - I saw the Belushi "film" when I was 8 or 9yrs of age.
ReplyDeleteI think all the 'Not Ready For Prime Time' players had to come up w/ a B&W film and that was his.
Gilda Radner had one too [La Dolce Gilda(?)] but YouTube won't cough it up.
Oh, snap - I found it!
//Stop, leave me alone! No, follow me. Dreams are like paper...
Crazy the stuff that sticks (warps?) one.
Enjoyed catching up with everyone else.
Why am I still up?
DW & I binged Netflix's updated Lost In Space.
Pretty campy at 1st
//DW told me "STOP!" ~9x when I was doin' my best MST3K on the first few scenes
But it got better. Cute show.
I really should sleep now.
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteHA ! Dash T going to sleep and I just woke up. We're pulling guard duty !
"You and WikWak keep spme strange hours", said the guy who went to bed about 7PM and woke up at 4AM. ie, finally caught up on a little sleep. Now to get back to getting consistent sleep :>) Maybe it was the sets of exercising that helped.
Whom, I?
ReplyDeleteHeaded for bed now. By the time I get to today’s (Sat) puzzle, I will be late to the party again. >sigh<
ReplyDeleteHA ! (again). Almost as if on cue.
WikWak, I hope for your wife's sake that you weren't up until this hour practicing combination shots on that pool table. :>)