Theme: Time for a drink! As the theme reveal neatly explains:
37. Breaks found on rows 3, 5, 11 and 13 of this puzzle?: INTERMISSIONS.
Intermissions are lovely. You put in your drink order at the bar before the first act, and when the curtain drops for the break, off you trot and find your order ready and waiting for you. It's part of the magic of live theater. In the case of "The Woman in Black" in London's West End, I damn well needed it. I was scared to death. My daughter (I think she was 17 at the time) had to pat my hand to calm me down. I did notice she downed her Jack & Coke pretty quickly though.
So moving on, the grid at the bottom gives you a better picture of the theme entries, but the "intermission" breaks up the names of four Shakespeare plays (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello) on the four rows of the puzzle which have only one black square. I'm visualizing the black square as the curtain coming down for the interval. Coming back from the interval, you might see this:
I looked to see if there was anything deeper to the theme, but I couldn't uncover a "meta". We have a prince, a king, a thane first and then a king and finally a general, but nothing I can see to link the title characters together.
Straightforward enough theme then, nothing to anger the crossword gods as far as I can see. It might be a little on the easy side for a Thursday, but there's no harm in a breeze through the puzzle every now and then. Let's take a tour:
1. Gets ready for vacation: PACKS.
6. Initialed, perhaps: OK'ED.
10. Turkish title of honor: AGHA.
14. Before-bed read: E-BOOK. Peculiar clue/answer, why an e-book in particular and why specifically before bed?
15. After curfew: LATE. Before curfew: LATTÉ
16. Boy friends: BROS.
17. Entrée with a sweet glaze: CANDIED HAM.
19. Reply to "Shall we?": LETS!
20. __ Minor: ASIA.
21. Indian princess: RANI. Aghas and Ranis today. We are honored.
22. Grand, moneywise: GEE.
23. Making out: NECKING.
25. Do-it-yourself manual phrase: LEARN TO.
29. Baby blues, e.g.: PEEPERS. Jeepers, Creepers!
31. __ & Perrins steak sauce: LEA. Repeat after me. It's pronounced WUSTER. Guy Ferry (oh, I'm sorry "Fieri" as he now prefers to be known) revelling in his own ignorance annoys me just a little. It's not difficult. Moving on, rant over.
32. Make the grade?: PASS.
35. Country with the highest and lowest points in the W. Hemisphere: ARGentina. The high point is Cerro Aconcagua at 22,141ft and the low point is Laguna del Carbón which is 344 ft below sea level, making a height differential of 22,485 ft. Quite a climb from bottom to top.
36. Like cranberry juice: TART.
41. Senate staffer: PAGE. I tried AIDE first. Was wrong, but easily rectified.
42. Attila follower: HUN. I like this one - HUN follows ATTILA in his generally-accepted name, and the Huns as a whole followed him. Neat!
43. Lymph __: NODE.
44. Switch ups?: ONS. Switch downs - Offs. Just to confuse the issue, the Brits, not content with spelling words with a redundant "U" and driving on the wrong side of the road have "Off" being up and "On" being down. I know.
45. Old dinero: PESETAS.
48. River under the Arlington Memorial Bridge: POTOMAC. Not difficult if you know that the Potomac is in D.C but a nice clue.
50. "Don't miss it!": BE THERE!
55. ER workers: RN'S.
56. Animal house: LAIR.
58. Rink jump: AXEL.
59. Unintended ink, maybe: BLOT. Not a tattoo when you've had too much to drink? Someone should tell Jimmy Buffett "... how it got there I haven't a clue".
61. Sanrio character with a red bow: HELLO KITTY. I have a picture of myself with a six-foot Hello Kitty costume character at one of the Licensing Expos in Las Vegas. I'll spare you.
63. Car with a bar: LIMO. I was thinking railroads and trying to think of an alternate name for the bar car when the penny dropped.
64. H.S. subject: BIOL.
65. Cajun pods: OKRAS. I'm not sure I'd use the "S" to pluralize this one. To me, "okra" is singular and plural.
66. Cookbook abbr.: TBSP. How many okra to a tablespoon?
67. Binary code digits: ONES. Binary. It's as easy as 01,10,11.
68. Bill Parcells' real first name: DUANE. Nice bit of trivia this, I had no idea. The Big Tuna adopted the name "Bill" because at high school he was always being mistaken for another student called Bill, and he didn't like his given name, so he went with the misnomer.
Down:
1. Pie choice: PECAN. Apple for me.
2. Humble: ABASE. Verb, not the noun.
3. Like megaphones: CONIC.
4. Company that coined a photographic "moment": KODAK.
5. Compete in a biathlon: SKI. Then you shoot. The biathlon and the modern pentathlon are all based on what skills a soldier would need; in the biathlon's case an infantry soldier in winter, in the pentathlon's case a cavalry officer (although I'm not sure quite why a cavalry officer would need to swim unless his horse went on strike).
6. Time of one's life: OLD AGE. When does old age start? I remember when I was a kid that I was aghast when I worked out that by the year 2000 I'd be 41. I was convinced I'd never make it to be that old.
7. Actress Madeline: KAHN. Who? Thank you, crosses, always bailing me out with TV and film peeps.
8. Amazon and Etsy: E-TAILERS.
9. AOC, for one: DEM. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic reprentative for New York's 14th Congressional District.
10. More competent: ABLER.
11. Home of Thule Air Base, the U.S. Air Force's northernmost: GREENLAND. What happened to the plan to buy the country? That seemed to die a quick death.
12. In great demand: HOT.
13. Donkey: ASS.
18. Sea eagle: ERNE.
24. __ dixit: assertion without proof: IPSE. "That's just how it is".
26. Units of energy: ERGS. Derived from the Greek "ergon" meaning work, or task. In SI units it is equivalent to 1.000000×10−7 J; the Brits again make it complicated expressing it as equal to 7.375621×10−8 ft⋅lbf, but at least now you all know. I'd go with the SI version if you're ever asked.
27. Laconic: TERSE.
28. Cheerios grain: OAT.
30. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE. Thomas Paine. He was born in Thetford in England and came over here to cause trouble. Not the first Englishman to stir the pot.
32. John's instrument: PIANO. Sir Elton, master of tickling the ivories.
33. Light-wave units: ANGSTROMS. Expresses wavelength and interatomic distances. Equivalent to 10−8 cm. We're getting quite a lesson in exponents today.
34. Sault __ Marie: STE. Thank you, crosswords past.
36. "__ bad!": TOO.
38. Flightless bird: RHEA.
39. Intrude (on): MUSCLE IN.
40. Research ctr.: INSTitute.
41. Soda: POP. Are all sodas pop, and are all pop sodas? I'm not sure, I'll turn it over to the wordly-wise.
45. Some govt. leaders: PM'S. Prime Ministers, or should that be "Ministers, Prime"? It's not widely known, but the designation of Prime Minister is usually an honorific, and not an official title, the UK included.
46. Govt. notes: T-BILLS.
47. Aviation prefix: AERO- You can have aeronautics, aerobatics and aeroplanes, but you can't have airnautics or airbatics, but you can have airplanes. Anyone care to tell us why?
51. Short verse: HAIKU.
52. More than needed: EXTRA.
53. Cure again, as leather: RE-TAN. I'm not sure if you can re-tan something, isn't it one and done, or worse, one and failed?
54. "Family Ties" mom: ELYSE. I never saw the show, but the solid crosses filled in the name for me.
57. Skin cream additive: ALOE.
59. Club alternative: BLT. The classic sandwich.
60. Ad-__: LIB.
61. "Big Little Lies" network: HBO.
62. Decked in a ring: KO' D.
[Cast Exeunt]
And so, here find ourselves at the end of the puzzle. Usually I'd just post the grid and be gone (begone with thee!) but today there's a little coda.
The sharp-eyed among you might have noticed that I skipped a couple of the solution entries, so here they are to finish things off:
49D. Good way to go out: ON TOP.
22D. Fun time: GAS.
As you might guess from that, this is my last blog at the Corner for the forseeable future (that's a cracking expression, isn't it - you can't tell what's going to happen in the next two minutes, so not exactly a lot of the future is foreseeable. A car crashed into my house once while I was sitting in this same chair, I certainly didn't foresee that happening, even two seconds before.)
I'm not sure I'm going out "on top" but I am going out "on Thursday" but you get the idea. And it's been a gas. Or, in the great words of the Rolling Stones - a "gas gas gas".
That's a cue for my final musical link: you might have to "click to expand" or unmute if you want to hear it. There's an expression "dance like no-one's watching" - I love how Mick Jagger dances precisely because someone's watching. So do the same. For the sheer musicianship, theatricals, lyrics and dance I think this is my favorite video of all time.
Thanks for all the education, comments, questions and clarifications over the years; it's been quite the experience. The blogging team here have been wonderful, and C.C. is an amazing mentor and inspiration.
Keep as well as you are able; and remember to be nice to each other. It's a short life, however long you live it. Or a long life, however short you live it. Don't hold back.
Now it's Theme Time - it's time for a drink!
Sláinte!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
I'm very sad to tell you that today will be Steve's last write-up. He joined our team in 2012 and has faithfully guided us over 354 posts (thanks, TTP!). Steve blogged when he was traveling for work in India. He blogged when he was home in England for Christmas. No matter where he was, he's always here guiding us on Thursdays. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication over the past 8 years, Steve. We'll miss your incomparable humor and wits You're a クールな男!"
56 comments:
A day to be both happy and sad. A typical Steve entertaining ride through a puzzle as seen through his eyes and his experiences. The specter of the hole he will leave on Thursday is not a good feeling. But I wish he enjoys all the extra hours he will have to live life instead of writing about it. Be well, my friend.
The puzzle was harder for me as DUANE as clued was a complete unknown and I don't have any idea about ANGSTROMS . I also took a moment to picture how someone got an unintended TATOO.
Thank you for all you have done Steve and welcome back Mr. Schenck.
A couple of wags in the SE helped me FIR. My pie was PEach at first, even tho PECAN is my wife’s favorite. Don’t tell The Rock that Bill is a better name, even though it is mine too.
Good morning!
Theme? Not a chance. I was looking for some word that meant INTERMISSION in the long answers. Couldn't find any...except maybe DIED in CANDIED. I should've read the complete reveal clue to know where to look. Filled the grid correctly, so that's something. Thanx, Timothy. Steve, Thursdays will never be the same without our stalwart sherpa leading the way. We'll miss you.
Adios Steve. Good luck in the future. You're going out ON TOP.
The split theme was an impossibility to figure out for this guy. Even with INTERMISSIONS filled by perps after I avoided reading the reveal clue I still didn't understand it until after the puzzle was completed. Then I noticed the Shakespeare plays. Duh!
The puzzle was an easy one for a Thursday with just a few unknowns- ELYSE, HBO and DUANE. HELLO KITTY was already filled by perps but I wouldn't have been able to fill it from the clue. I knew the highest point was in the Andes but not which country. Didn't know about the depression.
Switch Ups- ONS. We were staying in a hotel in Australia and the 'Switch up' turned the lights OFF. Hot water was on the right. And they drove on the wrong side of the road. And dammit, I was used to the sun rising from the 'left' and setting to the 'right'. It's different on the other side of the Equator.
ANGSTROM- A light wave measure replaced by NANOMETER. Equal to 1/10,000,000,000m (one ten-billionth of a meter) vs. Nanameter's 1/1,000,000,000m.
10 Angtroms= 1 Nanometer
FIR though I had a few detours. Thinking of recent discussions, I put CANDIED yAM before seeing "entree." And my first thought was baby blues meant sadness not eyes and tried wEEPERS. Like Steve, I put aide before PAGE. This Midwestern girl has been away too long: I put ade instead of POP. Umm, I see a pattern there, aide and ade. Maybe I am addled. But I'm doing better at proofreading so far this week, it seems.
Steve, we will certainly miss your Thursday appearances! Thanks for years of being available. We learned from you and enjoyed it.
Thanks to Timothy for a manageable puzzle with a theme I saw after a few minutes. Yes!
Best wishes to all for a productive day.
Mr. Schenk, Thank you for consructing a puzzle I could skate through but the theme gave me trouble until I read Steve's explanation.
Steve, thank you for the years of amusement. I especially enjoyed your insight into British wit, humour and sport. You will be missed.
I recently learned that AOC graduated from the same high school as I. Yorktown, a hamlet in upscale Westchester County. Quite different from the hard-baked Bronx denizen persona we all see.
I am off to do buinsess - Too - da - LOO
Enjoyed the easier Thursday puzzle, Timothy, but the clever stage theme escaped me until Steve put the spotlight on it. Thanks.
Sorry to see you go, Steve. I always enjoyed your unique viewpoints.
Glad "baby blues" were not the postpartum kind that having a beginning "P", I tried to cram in there.
Good Morning:
Well, two days in a row of a FIW. My brain froze at the Gee/Gas crossing because I could only come up with Cee (Note) for Grand, money wise and Fun time totally flummoxed me. I even did an alphabet run but my lack of concentration and patience sealed my fate. However, I saw the clever theme and, despite my Candied Ham-handedness, I enjoyed the solve. Angstroms was unknown, as was Duane (I only know him as Bill Parcells.) My w/os were Buds/Bros and Ipso/Ipse. I liked the Oked/Kod duo and the CSOs to Moe (Haiku) and Lucina (Packs, for her trip).
Thanks, Timothy, for a fun Thursday, and thanks, Steve, for a jolly good commentary and expo. I will miss your humor, your bon vivant travel tales, and hearing about your unique culinary talents and adventures. IOW, I will miss YOU! Please drop in once in awhile to keep us up to date on your exploits. Thank you for your faithful dedication for so many years.
Have a great day.
Easy puzzle, but one bad cell due to not checking the perps. Very clever theme, but I didn't find the plays. Thanks for a fine puzzle, Timothy.
Steve, your inimitable style and take on life will be sorely missed. Thanks for your years of hard work and great posts. Please stop in to let us know how you are doing.
The L in LIMO was my last fill. I was looking for a bar car, too. BLT is one of my favorite sandwiches. I was looking for the wrong kid of club at first.
With 4 perps I remembered ANGSTROM, but could never define it.
My downfall was candied HAM. We usually call it glazed ham. I ignored ENTREE in the clue. My mind was on candied yams from yesterday. Here "yam" and "sweet potato" are often used interchangeably. "Very likely most Americans have never eaten a real yam. Real yams originated in and are now mostly commercially grown in Africa. Everything produced and sold in the United States as a yam is really a sweet potato. The two aren't even very closely related biologically." Even the "yams" popular in the southern states are really sweet potatoes found in several varieties. You can LIU.
Whether you say soda or pop is regional. Macht nichts.
Took me 8:29 today. Didn't see the theme, at all.
Lea was unknown. And, Angstroms?
I've heard a few stories of unintended tattoos.
All the stories involve lots of alcohol.
My thanks to Steve. I appreciate the all the effort and time.
Easy enough to complete the grid but never saw the theme even with the unifier.
Thomas Paine was a political protester but never threw a brick or looted a store.
Very creative theme - but I needed the blog to see it even though I FIR - I might have seen it later - but I was up/ sleeping poorly last night so Im not fully awake!!
I started with PACKS so then picked PEACH over PECAN for the pie - we're right in that season! and also had AIDE before PAGE for the senate staffer! Also had E-RETAILS before E-TAILER
Will miss you Steve - giving the British (and often international with all your travels) flair to your blogs as well as FOOD insights!!
I don't know about the Worcester in England but in Massachusetts it's simply WHIST-er rhyming with twister which hit in '52. The locals themselves may differ a bit.
Am I so politically dense as to not know AOC by the initials? And I assumed she was a Cali.
I was dense enough not to proofread like ATL and never noticed it was HAM even though Madeleine KAHN is familiar.
Sorry to hear of Steve's gas-out but enjoyed the witty English slant to the Thursday xword.
As a fellow "Bill" I'm glad Parcells went with the more Coach like moniker.
I missed the theme completely. Talk about dense.
I was told that I was extremely "COLIC"y as a baby. Said as if it was all my fault and I had a passel of 'tonen to do. I'll blame it in meager wartime rations.
WC
Good morning. Thank you, Timothy. Thank you, Steve.
Got to the reveal in the middle on this north to south solve, and then looked back at rows 3 and 5. So when I got to the 11th row and saw MAC, BETH went in with nary a pause. Then didn't use the help to get OTHELLO.
Started to read Steve's into and at that point was compelled to look up and read about The Woman in Black (play) as I was not familiar with it. Eerie, for sure.
Steve, I'm with you on okra v okras. Okra is a collective noun. S not normally needed, except for possibly in a crossword.
DNK that Parcell's real name was DUANE.
Enjoyed the review and especially liked the Rolling Stones link.
Steve, hand up for saddened to see you leave the stage.
Enjoyed the puzzle quite a lot. Took a couple minutes to figure out the theme, but did manage. Thought the clue for GEE was a bit redundant, would have preferred Thou over Grand. But all's well that ends, so it was a win.
Very sorry to hear of your departure Steve! But it's completely understandable, and your efforts and humor for all these years is appreciated very much.
Good morning everyone.
Best wishes to Steve; thanks for all you have done. You have made this blog a richer place. Going along with what C.C. said, you are a mensch.
Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
A bit on the easy side as Steve said. Liked the theme - great choice of fill to depict it. Had 'coned' before CONIC. No help was needed. FIR.
Lymph NODE - I had a sentinel one of mine taken when I had a melanoma removed about 4 yrs. ago.
OLD AGE - Really sucks, doesn't it?
ASS - German Esel, Dutch ezel. Funny, Low German uses Langohr (long ear)
Thanks Tim Schenck for today's gift which is what your name means (as a verb).
Such a novel theme to mark such a sad occasion as Steve’s valedictory. As Shakespeare also wrote All’s Well That Ends Well and this write-up, as your others have, provides a lovely start to my Thursday even as we mark your last posting. Your wit and joie de vivre (I know you'll love that phrase) will be sorely missed. Good luck, my friend!
Slainte !
Although I side with the Patriots during the Revolutionary War, they were no angels.
"The Patriots were not a tolerant group, and Loyalists suffered regular harassment, had their property seized, or were subject to personal attacks. The process of "tar and feathering," for example, was brutally violent.
Patriots subjected Loyalists to public humiliation and violence. Many Loyalists found their property vandalized, looted, and burned. The patriots controlled public discourse. Woe to the citizen who publicly proclaimed sympathy to Britain." History.org
Even fence sitters were thus harassed.
OK - - One has to think of OK as a verb form of itself. Nominally, as a weak verb its past tense would be inflected by adding 'ED'
Different manuals of style give these examples:
Verb (Past Tense):
Highlights of gun bill OK’d by Massachusetts House
Bill delaying plans to move disabled from institutions OKed by NJ Assembly
Cyber Bill okayed by US Senate committee; faces uphill struggle
Hope this helps.
Musings
-I usually don’t like early reveals but this gimmick was so clever and then I saw HAMLET, et al.
-PACKS – I can get all I need in a single carryon bag these days
-Turns out that Laguna del Carbón is endorheic
-Concern about 20th century HUN invaders
-Joann had a small procedure yesterday and I went with her. All four RN’S who tended to her were former students and I praised them all for their courageous work
-After BIOL class, I went to geom where we studied CONIC sections
-KODAK film is the buggy whip of the 21st century
-I like AERODROME better than airport
Madeline KAHN famous (to me) for playing Lili von Schtupp in Blazing Saddles and Elizabeth in Young Frankenstein among many roles in Mel Brooks films
Your Dictionary.com accepts gee as slang for one thousand. "Abbreviation of grand; a thousand dollars. ten gees" Also G.
BLT is an acronym. No dots, not B.L.T. Although it is informal, it is much more common than bacon,lettuce and tomato sandwich. As a waitress I saw it listed on the menu and heard it in diners' orders as just BLT. The answer, NASA, would not be clued as an abbreviation, either.
As Spitz said, OK'd and OKed are both acceptable. I use OK'd.
I am having my house evaluated by a realtor this weekend to see what improvements I should make if I plan to sell it. It's been a bad 2020. I am finally strong enough to vacuum,polish, scrub etc. to present it in its best light.
A fun puzzle although, as others have commented, a little on the easy side for a Thursday.
I have always looked forward to Thursdays because of Steve's wonderful write-ups. Whether it was FOOD! or things English, or his perspective, Steve never failed to add something special. My thanks to him, and to ALL of our wonderful bloggers who are so lavish with their time and efforts.
JB2
Ok, I may get in trouble for this. It's interesting that for 12 and 13 down you had HOT and ASS.
More Tuesday-ish. But the theme? huh? wha?..are the themes supposed to get harder as the week progresses tool?
Thanks for your write-ups Steve. Not an easy task.
Just one inkover: aide/PAGE. Always thought it was KO'ed not KOD (a type of fish?). OK'ED not OKD? (Anonymous)....... isnt to ABASE more like discredit rather than simply "humble"?
GEE but I think a "grand" is a G .BETHERE for "don't miss it" kinda "be square" crunchy. Like ATL almost put yAMS for HAMS but the entrée part held me back (unless you're a total vegan I suppose)
As Steve mentioned: is GREENLAND still for sale? Govt. Leaders ..PMS (like Canada Eh' s Trudeau)
I know what a Moe Ku is ...but a HAIKU?
When I lived in Rochester (78-83).. KODAK employed so many it was known as "The Great Yellow Father"
In college NECKING with GF who smoked and chewed gum at the same time. I rated 3rd in importance.
Don't open till Christmas, and no ___ PECAN.
Scam actor Cage ......CONIC.
Wally Cox role " Mr ______" ... PEEPERS.
Attila called his sweet heart "....... "... HUN.
How director Lee plays the guitar.....ANGSTROMS
Off to Friday
....
I'll chime in today to say that I've loved your blogging, Steve, and also looked forward to Thursdays on the Corner for that reason. Good luck and thanks.
I had a tough time with the puzzle, with my computer and my both eyes, both afflicted with a virus, so I had to borrow my wife's iPad , which is also on a fritz.
Steve, your review was wonderful and witty ... And charming. It is always delightful to hear a different point of view and a different way of looking at things. We all see the same common objects, but our perspective varies, radically, based on our past upbringing and past life's experiences. Like the four blind men describing an elephant ..... With touch and feel. That is the exquisite nature of diversity and why it is so important. Life would be indeed a boring place if we all had the same points of view. Thank you for your work, we will miss you, and best wishes for the future.
I am surprised some people did not know Angstrom units .... I learnt about them in the ninth grade, and knew the symbol of the A with a halo as my fav sign. I knew some of the colors of the rainbow by their common A unit values, generally in the thousands of Ang units. Even in analytical chem the colors of potassium flames ( violet) are in those units. I read all about the Swedish scientist, but never bothered to think about how visually small it could be.
On the other hand, I have never eaten a BLT sandwich , OLT with onions seems more appetizing. I just can't stomach eating something
else's stomach ... Although I do eat meat, and all. To eacch their own.
I thought AOC was an air conditioning with Oxygen ? Rather expensive and unnecessary. Or some sort of aide-de-camp.... I am not up on politics ... Just found out that Biden chose a running mate .... ;-)
Good luck Steve.
How absolutely wonderful to get a Thursday puzzle with a Shakespeare theme! Wish you could have given us some hint that that's what we should be looking for, Timothy. As a result I never got it until Steve's helpful write-up and then was just enchanted to find HAM-LET, KING LEAR, MAC-BETH, and even OT-HELLO there in the four theme answers. Lots of unknowns too, but they filled in nicely along the way. Had only a little trouble in the top northwest corner because E-BOOK also didn't occur to me for the bedtime read (can't imagine having a computer in bed at night--but then, to be fair, it was BEFORE-BED, not BED-TIME read. Hey, I might even read a little Shakespeare in bed? No, I'd rather do crossword puzzles, I'm afraid.
Have a great day, everybody!
Well, this is a sad/glad day because of Steve's leaving us on Thursdays. Sad for us for missing his wit and wisdom and glad for him in having more time to enjoy other things in life. I hope you visit often.
A good puzzle today that I was able to finish in reasonable time. However, without Steve's guidance, I never would have seen the Intermissions in the Shakespearean plays. I've never been fond of Shakespeare in puzzles or as a subject on Jeopardy. I had to read the plays in school, hence my dislike for them.
A few missteps along the way. AIDE before PAGE, PALS before BROS, PAyNE before PAINE, THE before HUN, COOP before LAIR and URSA before ASIA were errors that were all fixed by perps. I DNK DUANE, HELLO KITTY or ARG. Again perps to the rescue.
I couldn't miss AERO after spending a career in AEROspace and for a number of those years crossing the POTOMAC to go to work.
Steve is right that the Potomac river is in the District of Columbia (DC). The border between Virginia and DC is the high water level on the Virginia shore so that the Potomac in this area belongs to DC. Just a bit of trivia that has been a large bone of contention between the two jurisdictions for years. The same goes for the Maryland and Virginia border.
On Maryland's eastern shore, Worcester county is pronounced Wooster (Rhyming with Rooster).
Even though he is a ham and a bit annoying at times, I enjoy Guy Fieri's shows on the food network.
I hope everyone has a great day today, and please wear your masks.
Good bye, Steve. Thank you for all your write-ups and explanations. You will be missed.
Best wishes, Steve, and thanks for all you did for the blog.
Hmm, Thursday Stumper for me...
(I know as much about Shakespeare as I do about Hello Kitty.)
Steve, don't Ghost us!
(I will miss our Thursday Sherpa...)
(or, guide over mountainous words...)
Love a good Ghost story, & had to peek after reading
about The Woman in Black. Sorry, but I peeked at the end.
Also, Steve said:
47. Aviation prefix: AERO- You can have aeronautics, aerobatics and aeroplanes, but you can't have airnautics or airbatics, but you can have airplanes. Anyone care to tell us why?
Could it be "Familiarity breeds Contempt?" (or laziness.)
If you ask me, it is just brevity.
If everyone used aeronautics, or aerobatics, as much as aeroplanes,
they would have shortened those words too...
Hey guys... man, can you believe that about Steve? Downer.
Thank you Steve for all your Thursday posts. I used to rely on you for squares' fill 'cuz Thursdays were too hard for me. It was wanting to enjoy your brilliant company (expo / take) w/o hanging my head in shame that propelled me to be a gooder solver. Thanks for the Stones - I'll greet you Happy Trails. You will be missed but remembered - #Food!
Thanks Timothy for the puzzle. I too missed the theme; BLOT HELLO[? - I don't get it :-)]. Lotsa fun in the fill. 31a reminded me I need a new bottle of LEA & Perrins.
WOs: CANDIED yAM (Thank you Madeline! [7:40m], Ursa Minor, aide->PAGE, T-notes->BILLS
ESP: AGHA (I'm sure we've had this before but...)
//Don't read ESPs as if I knew DUANE (among others as clued). But, a few perps and educated-WAGs got 'er done.
Fav: ANGSTROM - don't see that every day.
FLN - Leo3 - I got my first hummingbird too. Came right up to the garage window. Saw it later on the trumpet flowers but I wasn't quick enough to get a snap.
FLN - Love'd seein' your Avatar (wait, are you the HOT ASS? [funny Mailman1959!]) considering yesterday's theme AveJoe //nice to read you too.
BobB - Dumping tea in a harbor is destroying property. Not saying PAINE was there.... but who knows? :-) 'Nuff (post YR) said.
4d elicited KODAchrome.
Y'all have a great afternoon.
Cheers, -T
Just read that Diana Rigg has passed.
Emma Peel in "The Avengers" kick started my adolescent/teenagers hormones!!
🤩
Thank you Steve. Thursday at the blog will be a lot different without the addition of your entertaining facts from across the pond.
MO
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with zero write-overs
I filled in INTERMISSIONS last, and then went looking for them in the lines identified. It was when I saw HAM LETS that I figured I was on to something. Very clever puzzle, Timothy Schneck, and thanks Steve for your blogs and commitment to C.C.'s community
-T, thanks for the Madeline KAHN clips. The more I watched, the more I saw a bit of Mae West in her. Also, her singing voice - when she isn't fooling around - was quite good. Sad that she passed so young ...
Learning point: ARGentina having the highest and lowest points in the W Hemisphere.
Nice refresher: on ANGSTROMS. Been a long time for me since HS, and my profession really never dealt with them
The evolution of the camera and film ... wonder how many Millennials have even heard of KODAK? Maybe, but Polaroid, I'm guessing, is a whole 'nother story. What that camera (Polaroid) did for those of us who were too impatient to wait for a roll of film to be developed ...
"HAIKU. Is that anything like a MOE-ku?", asked Ray-O-Sunshine. Dunno ... but if it's in 5-7-5 syllabic form, I think so ... like this one, maybe?:
Parallelogram's
Invite to a party, said:
"BE THERE, but be square
We will miss you, Steve! Thank you for your steady, witty & faithful service to the Corner & Cornerites!
Today's exegesis is right on the money. I take exception only to the "British Hamlet" cartoon--because it happens to fly in the face of the very topic that's addressed by Hamlet's speech. He says of Yorick, the jester, who apparently served as a father-surrogate to the child prince, providing him with warm adult comfort while Hamlet's fierce soldier daddy was clanking around in armor and off fighting foreign wars.
What does Hamlet actually say of Yorick? "He hath borne me on his back a thousand times."
No mistaking that. My gripe is with the cartoonist for making a joke based on just the opening line of the speech.
Do your *#@! homework!
I got quite a kick out of the pzl's theme. These are plays I know pretty well, having directed them all and played two of the four roles myself. I appreciate that Mr. Schenck presented them all with just a single INTERMISSION!
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals, a 3-way on the far side.
If you take two of the three diags, they offer anagrams of at least two of Shakespeare's female characters.
Although their names are not enshrined in the play's titles, they are important personae.
One very noble name is PORTIA, who figures most prominently as a lead role in The Merchant of Venice. She's the one who owns the famous "Quality of Mercy" speech.
Her name is also borne by the wife of Brutus in Julius Caesar, the noblewoman who, when she learns her husband is about to be defeated by the forces of Mark Anthony, commits suicide by "swallowing fire."
Another important Shakespearean name that is also common today is MARIA, as popular then as it is now. My favorite of the women of that name in Shakespeare is in Twelfth Night, where she helps Sir Toby make a fool of Malvolio.
In doing her honor, Sir Toby offers one of my favorite tributes when he says,
"She's a beagle--true bred!"
Hi everybody.
I'm going to miss you Steve. Thanks for your intelligence, wit and all the rest. And thanks to Timothy. I thought the theme was very clever once I figured it out.
I'm going to miss Diana Rigg. I came across some reruns of The Avengers on cable. They made a bit more sense than The Prisoner.
I love Paul Simon's Kodachrome but I've said that before.
The fires aren't close by but the air is still smokey-looking and our cars are covered with little ash flakes.
Good Afternoon, All. Thanks Timothy for the xword challenge as it is always good to finish. Even if FIW. I left the yAM in for HAM. Didn't recognize Madeline. Oh well. Thanks Steve for the always informative Thursday write-ups. I had to go back and reread your 'splainin' about the theme. I'm dense that way. WEES, sorry that you are movin' on. I don't know the work required to do these blogs but I am sure it's demanding. Thanks, again.
I wasn't going to comment on AOC, except to note that the Canadian National Bird would not fit in that space. Had to change TKO to KOd after I reread clue. Have a great day.
Good bye and good luck, Steve. I will miss you.
I enjoyed this puzzle and appreciate the nifty theme and the fun/misleading clues, as well as some the lesser pleasing entries. As an example of the former, I loved the clues for PEEPERS and OLD AGE. Examples of the latter include OKED (with "ED") but KOD (no "E", ala KO'D) which made my brain boggle slightly at the blatant inconsistency, and the weird clue for EBOOOK.
Sure enough, AIDE went in then was kick'd out by PAGE, and BROS replaced AMIS (boy friends as opposed to girl friends). ASIA replaced URSA and ONES replaced BITS. I misspelled AGHA as AGAH and PAINE as PAYNE. Sheesh.
Be well, all.
Neat "ku" today , Moe.
OMK, I thought of you Tuesday* when I actually solved. Re. Yorick. Mass audience appeal. Some Sports commentary is like that for me. But I'm enjoying Paul Pierce on ESPN. He was the original object of double and triple teaming which has marked this year's playoffs.
Alas, poor Yannis. The Bucks asked him to bear them on his back too much.
I need to stop solving without checking the perp clues. I was enjoying finding them in the write-ups.
WC
* I have (the weeks xwords) therefore I solve.
Pleased that I knew all of the theme plays split by INTERMISSIONS! Hand up for URSA before ASIA. That NW corner was hard for me. PECAN pie is the only pie I really like. My favorite version mixes the pecans with chocolate!
ANGSTROM was a gimme for me. An ANGSTROM is a unit meant to be the approximate size of an atom. Yes, it is now "replaced by" nanometer but a nanometer is ten times bigger. Not the size of an atom. Much of my career was designing atomic force microscopes that worked at the ANGSTROM scale.
Here is my favorite ANGSTROM scale image on our microscope, taken by my friend Bruce Schardt. I have shared this before.
Very happy to see one of my favorite radicals and Founding Fathers Thomas PAINE. The Revolution was far from non-violent.
Here is our unique Pyro BAR. My favorite CAR WITH A BAR!
The Pyro BAR is one of the highlights at Burning Man and we are fortunate to have it show up at local events here like this one.
Very sorry to see you go Steve. Thank you for all of your British perspectives and thoughtful crossword illustrations and commentary.
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Diana Rigg. I totally had the hots for her in The Avengers when I was a child.
Ray O Sunshine thank you for that information and thank you for your hilarious comments!
From Monday:
Malodorous Manatee you wrote:
When I was was watching the Ken Burns "Jazz" series I asked my mom if she had been aware of the scene in NY at the Savoy. She replied, simply, "I was there."
Can you please say more? What scene and how is it that she was there?
Yellowrocks thanks for sharing your happy memories of being able to take the train to the trails in Switzerland. I saw the same thing in Korea. Right now all of our trails in the Santa Barbara area are closed due to the fires. But if not for that, it is a challenge to get to them because each person has to drive separately in a car. Interesting, since it is all that driving of cars that is contributing to the fires.
Thanks to everyone who commented on the desire to have SOAP that doesn't stink of perfume:
AnonT, SansBeach, AnonPVX. Thanks for those tips which I will look into: Dove Sensitive Skin and Jergens White.
DW found a version of Johnson's Baby Soap that is imported from Southeast Asia. I was getting it for years on Amazon. But then she found one called Basis Soap that can be found more locally. It is about as free of stinky perfume as I have found.
Steve, I will miss you. You add fun to the Thursday adventure! Enjoy your extra time, no matter what you do with it.
Had the same issues as other have already noted. Did not get the theme so I needed Steve's explanation and grid to finally see it. I had to take a Shakespeare class in college but I chose to read the comedies.
Nine years ago I had my right knee replaced after getting injections of synthetic fluid for 7 years. I went to the Orthopedic Surgeon today for pain in my left knee. Arthritis under the kneecap, no cartilage on the outside edge so I got a shot of cortisone. Hope it lasts at least a year.
Have a good evening.
I must parrot another's quotation: "RIP Diana Rigg. One of the most iconic characters of Game of Thrones. 'Tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me.' That legendary line would not be forgotten ❤️," Not only was she the heartthrob of our youth in her black leather, but she also became a wonderful actress and personality. She added much during her tenure as the host of MASTERPIECE MYSTERY both as host and performer.
Personal Quotes from Diana:
[on hitting middle age] I am devastated at what has happened. I have completely disappeared. I am totally invisible. I never really liked my sexy label but on the other hand, to disappear so totally is quite startling.
I don't go without make-up, though. I rather like that transformation in the morning from "I don't want to look in the mirror"; then you start pulling yourself together. It's a rather nice present to yourself that you can still do that.
I had an eye job in my early forties. Someone took a photograph of me in a play, after I'd lost a lot of weight, and I did look like Miss Havisham. I thought, "I have to do something - I'm too young to look like this." So I went and had an eyelift once the play was finished, and the doctor said that it would last only about eight years. I imagined after that it would all cave in with a terrible groaning sound, like scaffolding, but it didn't, and I haven't had anything done since. I look at women who are my age who look absolutely ravishing and I know they have had something done. Well, why not?
If I meet a woman who is immaculately groomed, I really admire her discipline. I grew up admiring out-of-this-world screen goddesses, such as Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth, but I have to acknowledge that I haven't the patience for getting dressed up very often - at my age you think: "Why bother?". Now that I'm older, I don't go to premieres or first-night parties, not even my own.
I didn't like my Bond Girl outfits. The designer was a friend of the directors and I thought they were too boring and middle-aged for my character. The right costumes are essential for getting into a part; I've witnessed many costume parades with grumpy or even weeping actors because they've been put into the wrong thing.
In those days, trousers were appallingly cut for women so I used to go to a gentlemen's tailor to have them made. Nowadays you can look at some quite highly priced clothes and be astonished at how badly they are finished. But then, people don't look for that any more, it's only old bags like me that do. When I need to look smart, I go for Armani because he's just absolutely brilliant at tailoring. I always dress for myself, not men or other women. I'm well aware of them though - you get the sweep of the eye up and down and I think: "You poor thing, are you so competitive that you have to measure yourself against everyone else?". It's so pathetic.
I think I was quite daring. I was once escorted out of a restaurant because I was wearing a trouser suit. It wasn't considered good breeding for a woman to go around in trousers after 6:00 pm, especially in smart restaurants and bars such as the Connaught Hotel, which served the best cocktails.
Society was so much more prudish in the 1960s. In one episode of The Avengers (1961), I played a belly dancer and I had to stick a jewel in my navel because the Americans wouldn't tolerate them. In those days, you didn't flash the boobs at all. What you did do to look glamorous was jack the boobs up and probably wear something quite low-cut.
The leather catsuit I wore in The Avengers (1961) was a total nightmare; it took a good 45 minutes to get unzipped to go to the loo. It was like struggling in and out of a wet-suit. Once I got into the jersey catsuits, they were very easy to wear but you had to watch for baggy knees; there is nothing worse. I got a lot of very odd fan mail while I was in that show, but my mum used to enjoy replying to it.
FIR, but ANGSTROMS? (LIU afterward to verify). After that “hurdle”, my brain was too taxed to find the theme. In my rural school, the sciences weren’t the main focus, unlike Vo-Ag and football. The other unknowns, like Duane, Hello Kitty and Elyse, were filled by perps. I remembered Madeline Kahn from her comedic TV appearances, especially on “Cosby.”
Thursdays won’t be the same without Steve’s unique British observations and wry sense of humor, along with his accounts of life experiences and last, but not least –FOOD! opinions, techniques and recipes. Steve, enjoy your extra free time, but you’ll be so missed here at the Corner!
Pretty enjoyable Thursday puzzle. Yes, it was easier than most Thursdays.
Thanks Timothy and Steve.
It took a few perps and a correct WAG for PESETAS/RHEA, but I FIR. I completely missed the theme, but that’s par.
William Seward wanted to buy Greenland and Iceland (along with Alaska) back in 1867; Congress objected. Denmark turned down a $100,000,000 offer from the US in 1946. It ain't over 'til it's over, although I don't think anything will come of the latest discussion. We have more than we can handle as it is, although there are all those natural resources up there. Our track record ain't all that good, though.
I always think of PAGE first, rather than AIDE, but then I remember the scandals way back when. This time is the first in a long while that I remember its actually being the correct answer.
Madeline Kahn in "Blazing Saddles"
Diana Rigg in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
I'm very sorry to see you go, Steve. I always enjoyed your perspective. Good luck and come back and see us often.
Sigh...
just been watching (many) Emma peel clips,
(I'll let you do your own searching...)
But, for the past year or so, I have been waxing nostalgic
the the 60's TV Avengers, & tried to find it online or
otherwise. Without success. The closest I have come was on
my Daughters Amazon Prime account, which said they were available,
except when you clicked on them, they weren't...
Anyone know where to find full episodes?
(free, did I mention free...?)
Actually, after Diana, the only Linda Thorson episode I "really" enjoyed
was Stop me if you heard this one, but there were these two fellas.
Where you can see John Cleese, as a curator of a museum of clown faces
painted on (raw?) eggs, in his 1st screen appearance...
Steve, once again., I am very sorry to see you go.
Why is it that when people leave, after you have been accustomed to their
presence, they abruptly disappear forever...
HeartRx, where are you?
Dennis? you OK bud? (we do hear from him from time to time...)
Steve, Pls come back & visit once in a while...
(Don't be like all my Ex Girlfriends...)
Did not see until I got here: What does the American Olympic Committee have to do with the DEMs? [Oh, the politician.]; Why are those specific black squares INTERMISSIONs? [Did not see the plays.]
When I saw Arlington, my first thought was the Charles River. Arlington is a suburb of Boston, but now I see Cambridge is between it and the river. I did wait for the perps and got POTOMAC.
I'm surprised there are no complaints that the crosses of ÅNGSTRÖM didn't have the proper diacritics.
>>Roy
ANGSTROM is the unit of length; not the man's name. Ergo, no diacritics are used by English speakers.
CED - Stop me if you've heard this already... Cleese's new book [NPR interview].
Steve, there's something decidedly English about this :-)
Cheers, -T
Although I have yet to see an accented letter perped by the same accented letter. One of my pet peeves. (pet peeves: easy to care for, no feeding, cleaning cages or shots required....sorry its passed my bedtime)
Ray-O: yeah, I've always wanted to see an ñ cross an ñ.
I hope Lucina isn't holding her breath :-)
Cheers, -T
I'll post this here rather than use up Friday space
Re. "Cleese": He reiterates what xword solvers have known all along eg when we step away or even nap the brain keeps working. That Evan Birnholz Wa-Post xw of "1500" infamy* succumbed after several days.
WC
* THREE PM. How about this one: "Palindromic muscle"(7 ltrs)?
Steve - I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday and hope you will still see this.
I am sorry to see you leave the Thursday blogging job. I will miss your British view (which often matched my Canadian view😊)
Thanks for all your hard work here.
Don’t be a stranger but join us at least occasionally.
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