Good morning, cruciverbalists. Ed Sessa follows up his Wednesday
October 7th puzzle with a Thursday offering featuring some challenging
clues/answers and an interesting grid. The entries at 55 and 58 Across
combine to reveal the theme. Candidly, even with the reveal, it took
this mulling marine mammal many more moments to make sense out of Ed's
machinations. By that time, the theme answers were all in place but I
had not the slightest idea that that had already occurred.
THEME: JUMPING JACK FLASH
55. With 58-Across, cardio exercise ... and what's hidden in three puzzle
rows?: JUMPING.
58. See 55-Across: JACKS.
58. See 55-Across: JACKS.
Okay, so JUMPING JACKS is the theme. Now, just what the heck does
that mean? Ed has a reputation for presenting solvers with challenging
(puzzling?) themes and today is no exception.
There are several possible ways to begin to interpret the theme.
Jack B. Nimble leaping over candlesticks would certainly be a Jumping
Jack. Jumping Jack Flash would be a gas. Jack Rabbits could
provide some hip-hop fun. Perhaps, though, it is a reference meant to be taken at face value. Jacks who jump.
On three puzzle rows, JACKS are JUMPING across the black squares to combine
the final letters in the first answer with the opening letters in the second
answers. The results form the JACKS' surnames and all, of course,
share the same first name, JACK.
It is probably a good idea today to start off with a look at the grid
rather than waiting until the end of the write-up. Ed elected not to
add circles to the grid and this early look will make the theme's
mechanics easier to see.
As can be seen, in red above and below, these are the JUMPING JACKS :
20. Across - Showing shock: A GASP and
21. Across - Squalid quarters: RAT HOLE.
AGASPRATHOLE - SPRAT, Jack
Sprat
THE SPRATS
35. Across - Like a pendulum's motion: TO AND FRO and
37. Across - Light at some roller rinks: STROBE.
37. Across - Light at some roller rinks: STROBE.
TOANDFROSTROBE - FROST, Jack Frost
JACK FROST
42. Across - One of the Magi: CASPAR and
45. Across - Sidewall-sharing abode: ROW HOUSE.
CASPARROWHOUSE - SPARROW, Jack
Sparrow
CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW
Across:
1. Radio toggle: AM FM. As Chairman Moe rightly pointed
out last Friday, AM FM radios have become a bit archaic in our digital
world.
5. A minor, for one: CHORD. A bit of misdirection.
A person less than eighteen years old? Something of lesser
importance? No, and no. A musical triad. A CHORD in
the key of A Minor. No sharps, no flats. The relative minor of C
Major.
10. Animal shelter sight: CAGE. Clear The Shelters is a
nationwide ongoing campaign to reduce the number of animals in CAGEs.
14. Big do: GALA. In this case "do" means a social event.
A GALA, or a Fete, or a Ball. These choices have been offered to
us many times before. AFRO would have fit, and been fitting, but it
would not have worked out.
15. Place where fast bucks are made: RODEO. Here, fast
bucks is not a slang term for easy money. At a RODEO you might see a
bucking bronco, or a bucking bull, or .... a bucking tortoise?
16. Team that pulls for its driver: OXEN.
OXEN PUT BEFORE THE CART
17. Delivery made by mouth: ORAL REPORT.
19. Tear apart: REND. To REND means to tear something
into two or more pieces.
23. Surrealist Tanguy: YVES. YVES Tanguy (1900 - 1955)
was a French surrealist painter.
REPLY TO RED - YVES TANGUY - 1943
25. Color in four-color printing: CYAN. The four colors are CYAN, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The
inks can be combined in various proportions to form a vast array of
colors.
26. Open, in a way: UNCAP.
29. Fraternal order member since 1868: ELK. The Benevolent
and Protective Order of ELKs (BPOE).
31. Blocks that lock: LEGOS LEGOS are plastic toy building blocks
but they have been used to build some amazing things. It's
difficult to say how these particular buildings will hold up in the next
big earthquake.
38. Critical hosp. area: ICU. The Intensive Care Unit.
39. Going up in smoke: AFIRE. On fire or
burning. Or, as Ray might put it:
41. Ref. whose first edition took decades to
complete: OED. Volume One of the Oxford English Dictionary, covering only A and B, was published in 1888. Volume
10/2 which covered V to Z was not published until 1928! The
OED started an online version in 2000. A completely revised
Third Edition is expected to be completed in 2037.
48. Warn: ALERT.
49. Business VIP: CEO. Chief Executive Officer.
50. Engrave?: INTER. The answer is not meant to be the
prefix meaning among or within. This time, taken as the clue's bad
pun intends, INTER, with the accent on the second syllable, is used to
mean to place in a grave or in a tomb.
51. Scintilla: IOTA. How did the ninth letter of the
Greek alphabet come to represent a very small amount? Some
etymologists say that it came about because IOTA is the smallest letter
of that alphabet.
53. Carry-on item: TOTE. As with OREO, ACAI, APSE,
EURO, ASTA, ODIE, AGUE, ELAN, etc., etc., etc., TOTE is a short,
vowel-rich word that can be a big help to constructors. TOTE also
features constructor-friendly consonants.
61. Court loser, maybe: PERP. Short for PERPetrator.
62. "You had your chance": TOO LATE NOW. I will
pass on the possible Carole King link and go with the Chuck Willis song
from 1956.
65. What a slight favorite has: EDGE.
66. Satchel Paige's first name: LEROY. LEROY Robert Satchel
Paige was a baseball player who pitched in the Negro Leagues and in the
Major Leagues. He began his career in 1924 with the Mobile
Tigers. In 1965, the then 59 year old Paige pitched three innings
of one-hit ball for the Kansas City Athletics.
SATCHEL PAIGE
67. The Big Easy, informally: NOLA. New Orleans, LouisianA. This clue/answer
likely put a smile on the face of one of our Cornerites.
68. Motley: PIED. In this case, both the clue and the
answer are synonyms for varied in color. The Motley Piper?
Pied Crue?
69. Shangri-las: EDENS. EDENS are (mythical)
delightful places where one dwells in a state of happiness and
contentment. We are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get
ourselves back to the Garrrrrrdennnnn.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
70. Pairs: TWOS.
Down:
1. In the past: AGO. One of the most well-remembered
uses of AGO was employed by the gentleman referenced at 47 Down.
Bill & Ted's ORAL REPORT was far better than Bart Simpson's.
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN...
2. "Mary Magdalene" star Rooney __: MARA. You'd
think that MM would be familiar with a 2018 movie called "Mary
Magdalene" but that is not the case.
3. Symbol on a pole: FLAG. Fun With FLAGs was a
recurring bit on The Big Bang Theory.
4. Kuala Lumpur native: MALAYAN. Kuala Lumpur is the
capital city of Malaysia. In graduate school, the MALAYAN
students would casually refer to "K.L." in conversation the way I
would refer to "L.A." It was a good lesson in the shortcomings
of parochialism.
KUALA LUMPUR
5. Thin pancake: CREPE. Oh to be in Paris snacking
on a CREPE with Nutella and bananas.
6. Old school dance: HOP. A perfect fit for today's theme. Is this Ed sharing a little joke with us?
AT THE HOP
7. Sign of some gas leaks: ODOR. The natural gas
that we use has no ODOR. Mercaptan, which does have a
distinctive, rotten egg ODOR is added to the gas to make leaks easier
to detect.
8. Set up again, as pool balls: RE - RACK. The RACK
is the frame that holds the balls before they are broken up to start
the game.
9. Slightly touched: DOTTY. Slang for somewhat mad or eccentric.
10. Forensic team member: CORONER. A CORONER is the
public official who investigates violent, sudden, or suspicious
deaths. Here, a CROSSWORD CORONER.
11. Feat on ice: AXEL. Another bit of whimsy from
our constructor? An ice skating JUMP, the AXEL is named for it's
creator, Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen.
TANYA HARDING
12. Code carrier: GENE.
What did the DNA strand say to the other DNA
strand?
Do my GENEs make me look fat?
13. Close: END. If you look up the difference between Close and END, both as nouns and as verbs, you might encounter the word "ergative".
13. Close: END. If you look up the difference between Close and END, both as nouns and as verbs, you might encounter the word "ergative".
18. Got back to, in a way: RSVPD. It is a bit odd to
see the way that "Respondez S'il Vous Plait" has morphed into a
verb. The "D" stuck on the end is something that Ed is probably
still trying to figure out how to tweak.
22. Stop: HALT.
24. Feudal laborer: SERF. A SERF was an agricultural
laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.
26. Erie Canal city: UTICA. Due to high levels of
both political corruption and organized crime in the city, UTICA was,
at one time, known as "The City That God Forgot".
27. Diet drink spec: NOCAL. I first put LO CAL into
the grid but UNCAP made it clear that I needed to cut out even more
calories. NO CALories.
28. Something to believe in: CAUSE. St. Jude is
referred to as the Patron Saint of Lost CAUSEs.
ST. JUDE
30. Longest river in France: LOIRE. The LOIRE River
is the longest river in France but, at a length of approximately 1,000
kilometres, it is only the 171st longest river in the world.
32. Date, with "with": GO OUT.
33. More than a little plump: OBESE.
34. Meal with matzo: SEDER. At the traditional SEDER
meal, the story of the Jewish People's miraculous Exodus from slavery in
Egypt is retold so that it will be remembered from generation to
generation. Matzo, AKA "the bread of affliction" is the unleavened
bread served as a reminder that in their hasty departure there was
insufficient time to allow bread to rise.
MOSES PARTING THE RED SEA
36. A long way: FAR.
37. Verb that becomes its homophone by changing its
vowel: SEW. So, is it going to be Sow or Sew?
It could have been Sow and, if so, it could have been clued with wild
oats. It turned out to be SEW. Sew what?
40. Trunk supporter: ROOT. Oh, a tree
reference.
43. Groomed oneself fastidiously: PRIMPED.
44. At the pinnacle of: ATOP.
46. Try to belt: HIT AT.
47. Words engraved under the Lincoln Memorial?: ONE CENT. I first tried to think of a quotation etched into the
Memorial, itself. The question mark at the end of the clue
should have alerted me to skip that thought.
49. Paddled, perhaps: CANOED.
52. Book list listing: TITLE. I went to a book store
for their sale which was "One Third Off On All TITLEs". I picked
up a nice copy of The Lion, The Witch.
54. "Love Train" singers, with "The": OJAYS.
Released in 1972, Love Train reached Number One on
the Billboard Hot 100.
55. Sci-fi good guys: JEDI. A Star Wars
reference. The JEDI Knights were the guardians of peace and
justice in the Galactic Empire. Dark Helmet, from Space Balls, is not a JEDI.
MAY THE SCHWARTZ BE WITH YOU
56. Encourage: URGE.
57. "It's My Party" singer Lesley: GORE. This one
was a gimme. So was the choice of the audio/video clip.
LESLEY GORE - 1964
59. Recognize: KNOW.
60. Without help: SOLO. ALONE would not
fit. We'll save the "Han Solo crashes his airplane" jokes for
another time.
61. Word with rally or talk: PEP. A PEP
Rally is sometimes held before a big game. A PEP Talk is
sometimes given to the team by a coach at halftime.
63. Actor Chaney: LON. LON Chaney, Jr. appeared in
many movies and television shows. His most famous role was as
Larry Talbot, Wolf Man.
64. "Where __ I?": WAS. Honestly, at this point, I really cannot remember.
Have a great Thursday, everyone, and let's stay safe out there.
MM OUT
40 comments:
Good morning Cornerites.
Thank you Ed Sessa for your enjoyable Thursday CW.
Carol and I FIR in 25:40 min.
Thank you Malodorous Manatee for your excellent review. I have only glanced at it and I am greatly impressed.
Ðave
MM, once again you have presented a most masterful manuscript. I will have to step up my game tomorrow.
I had surrealy had no idea about Surrealist Tanguy: YVES and Thin pancake: CREPE reminded me that at this time last year, Oo and I were in Thailand enjoying the street food version, though I am not a Nutella fan. Pandemic 1; trip to Thailand 2020 0.
Dr. Ed is a master and you are getting there.
FIR with too many write-overs. Kuala Lumpur was an eye-opener when I visited it on an Asian cruise: lots of tall buildings, very modern.
Good morning!
Preened where I should'a PRIMPED, but that was my only Wite-Out moment. Failed to notice that JUMPING JACKS was a reveal. Also failed to find the hidden theme answers until MM pointed 'em out. Thanx for the outing, Dr. Ed, and for the excellent summation, MM.
RERACK: This could also refer to yesterday's PINSETTER.
GORE: I was surprised she was sufficiently famous to get an obit on the evening network news back in '15. I'm sure she recorded more, but I can only remember three songs of hers.
KUALA LUMPUR: I don't remember it being nearly so pretty as that picture. Of course, I saw it almost 40 years ago in its pre-sky-scraper days.
Only saw FRO ST after entering Jumping Jacks. Circles would have helped, or letting you all show Sprat and Sparrow to me!
I also Preened before Primped.
Just watched Leroy Robert Paige on an old Dick Cavett rerun explain how he got the nickname Satchel.
Another creative masterpiece by Ed Sessa - I definitely needed MM's explanation to find the JUMPING JACKS especially since they weren't all in the longest answer rows! (I'm looking at you ORAL REPORT and TOO LATE NOW)
I had heard of a person from Malaysia being called a MALAY or a MALAYSIAN - but since they didn't fit I waited for perps for MALAYAN.
37D homophone I had SEE which one vowel could change to sea before correcting to SEW (Sow).
Thanks MM and Ed!
On my trip from NH to Grand Rapids, MI I gauged that UTICA was the half way point. Betsy believed in stopping. When I did it alone I finally forced myself to stop for fifteen minutes to sit and have a coffee.
Why does praying to St Jude for lost keys actually work? Two conures escaped yesterday, prayers were answered .
ONE CENT. Great clue.
Didn't LON Chaney play Dracula?
Great write-up, MaloMan
Leslie sang a sequel to her "It's My Party". She flirts with an unsuspecting foil who gets punched by Johnny. UnPC but very identifiable.
I was trying to fit Malaysian but when one looks for a French name with a V YVES is the ticket.
WC
Well The Big Easy from NOLA (suburb) FIR making just a few changes. PREENED to PRIMPED and UNCAP to UNCAN and back to UNCAP to fill the 5-consonant word RSVPD. YVES Tanguy and Rooney MARA were unknowns filled by perps today.
Did I notice the JUMPING JACKS. No.
A minor? A-C-E for 1-3-5 notes.
INTER for 'Engrave'- let's put that one 'to rest'.
Agasp is in the OED...a valid word, although not much used currently.
Good Morning:
This was a relatively smooth solve with no w/os but a few entries that needed perps (CSO): Yves and Ojays, and although I knew Leroy and Caspar, I needed help to remember their names. I needed the reveal to see the theme and then it took a minute or two to find the Jacks. I like this type of theme because it’s almost impossible to decode as you’re solving. Circles would have spoiled the challenge, IMO. CSO to our Louisiana contingent at NOLA.
Thanks, Dr. Ed, for a fun Thursday and thanks, MalMan, for a stellar summary and a dazzling display of visuals and links.
FLN
Lucina, I hope you’re able to find a way to have the tamale marathon. 😉
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
Big CSO to our New Orleanians. I'll take one @ UTICA; ½ mile outside the city limits and overlooking it.
I echo Inanehiker's comments; not much else to say. No problems with the solve. I always enjoy Ed's puzzles.
ELK's club. Are they called the Wapiti in Europe?
Meanwhile, Scientists in the Netherlands have discovered New Human Salivary Glands which they have dubbed 'tubarial glands'. More grist for future puzzles?
Sunday, a Sharp-shinned hawk came and perched about a dozen feet from our bird feeder. Do you suppose it viewed feeding birds as bird feed? I think the passerines all got the word and were ALERTED as not a single one was in sight.
Neil Gaiman performs a similar trick in "The Graveyard Book" (one of his many brilliant
whimsical wonders) with his wicked "Jacks of All Trades" - Frost, Tar, Ketch, Dandy and Nimble. A great little Halloween read!
Musings
-A wonderful Dr. Ed puzzle. Lots of clever and/or misleading cluing, so my eraser has the rest of the day off. Even the search for the correct rows was entertaining!
-Our S.F. guide said any two ROW HOUSES with three feet of separation were called ranches
-One of my favorite lessons/demos was showing the difference between primary colors of light and pigment in a dark room
-MARA is the great-granddaughter of NFL Steeler founder Art Rooney and Giant founder Tim MARA
-I was in the other forensics in high school and so I put in DEBATER and SPEAKER first.
-I am trimming surface roots of two shallow ROOTED trees that retard grass growth
-Trying to HIT AT a golf ball and missing completely is embarrassing, uh, so I’m told :-)
-Mom’s threat of corporal punishment was, “Quit teasing your sister or I’ll paddle your CANOE!”
-Leslie, what a fun memory but the reverb on the record helps your voice quality
-Leslie became a champion of gay rights and her 1963 You Don’t Own Me was a feminist anthem
Very clever theme Ed, although didn't see it until coming here. And, a marvelous review by MalMan too. This went smoothly and quickly for a Thursday til getting to 55A which I thought surely had to be pumping. But, after staring at Pedi for 55D the light bulb went on to complete jumping jacks and a FIR in a shade less than 20 minutes. Enjoyed this one very much. Thx. Ed.
Musings
-MM, you are on the verge of cracking my list of MM fav’s after Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mantle, Mickey Mouse, Maid Marian, Mary Martin, Manny Mota, et al. You just moved above Mitch Miller and Mister Miyagi but below Manny Machado! Nice Job!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Ed and MM.
This was a bit (IOTA) of a workout for me, but I got the JUMPING JACKS (eventually after looking for scrambled JACKS in 17A & 62A -hello inanehiker!)
Let me count the inkblots.
Agape changed to AGASP; yes, a valid although archaic word, and another of our hated A-words. Today we also had ATOP and AFIRE. I was thinking of Ajar for 26A but it was UNCAP.
Hand up for Preened before PRIMPED.
Again like inanehiker, I wanted an S in MALAYAN.
9D was inked in lightly as DOpeY, DOseY, before PERP gave DOTTY.
And now I see that I actually FIWed; I did not correct eNTER to INTER. Proofread, eh!
I smiled as ONE CENT filled in, and when RSVPD was the correct consonant run.
I am more used to TownHOUSE but it did not fit; ROWHOUSE did.
TO AND FRO also fit better than my first thought, Back and Forth.
I was thinking of Balzar before CASPAR. I LIUed and names given by tradition to the three magi are CASPAR, Melchior and Balthazar. (Remember them for another CW!) The assumption that there were three is made because of the three gifts.
A minor CHORD reminded me of Leonard Cohen's Broken CHORD.
I noted REND crossing END, and SOLO crossing TWOS (I wanted Duos first).
ODOR (yes, a nose-wrinkle for that spelling) crossing RATHOLE was appropriate also.
I don't usually think of CANOE as a verb and equating Paddled with CANOED brought a nose-wrinkle. But Merriam-Webster says that a canoe "is usually propelled by paddling", and verb means "to travel by . . . or in a canoe". I will cancel my nit.
Yes, d'o RERACK also reminded me of Boomer and bowling, but I think Reset would be better for bowling.
I saw the CSO to Big Easy and our Louisiana gang.
I distinctly remember Lesley GORE and "It's My Party". Does that make me old?
Wishing you all a great day.
What fun! And I FIR to boot. Writeovers were tenet/CAUSE, TabLE/TITLE, and duOS/TWOS. The theme was found after the reveal, though like Spitzboov and Inane Hiker, figuring which rows had JACKS took me some time. Many thanks to Ed today. And MalMan, you get even better every week! What fun!
Looking forward to tomorrow. Best wishes to all.
Very impressed with your writeup, MM. I virtually never Google for crossword help, but I got impatient whilst searching for the JJs.
Cheers,
-t
Really fun puzzle today, Ed. I saw FROST but thought it was a fluke, as I didn't think of Jack Frost, and missed the others. MalMan set me straight.
Wish I had the opportunity to repeat MM's line: "I went to a book store for their sale which was "One Third Off On All TITLEs". I picked up a nice copy of The Lion, The Witch."
Thanks, everyone!
FIR but, a few mistakes, inkovers; Dial/AMFM (shoukda knowed you can't toggle a dial), Afro/GALA,
CASPe/AR, the friendly Magus.
Thought "blocks that lock" referred to something "obstructing a canal "..so the perpwalked answer made no sense at first. My 10 y o grandson is a LEGOS addict.
The theme flew over my head like an SST.
Based on Cornerite comments and recommendations I watched the first 3 episodes of "Flesh & Blood" last night.
Interesting premise, who done it and who got done. Note how the Brits like to finish a statement with a rhetorical question. "That's a nice house, isn't it.".."Wonderful family, aren't they"..."That was a nice car, wasnt it"
If I try harder IOTA do better next time.....
Lowly laborers have no time to ____ the web.....SERF
Baby doctors.....OBESE
Nawlins: NOLA. Northern California: ____ NOCAL.
Granny: " ____ finally cleaned out the ce-ment pond!"... JEDI
Clumsy French snoop ... ____ dropper YVES.
I really enjoy today's puzzle but will admit I had to have the theme explained to me.
A big "Thank you" to all for your kind comments. I am planning to take next week off. My excuse is prepping for and undergoing a routine colonoscopy. Writing the recaps is much more fun than that. Most things are.
WC - I know that Lon Chaney played Count Alucard in Son Of Dracula. Alucard is, of course Dracula spelled backwards. He may have played that role in other films, also.
Lemonade, let's all meet at the floating market! Here it's Pandemic 1, Scotland 0
Husker, that's quite good MM company to be (almost) keeping with Manuel Geronimo Mota, et al.
Naomi, I confess that the TITLEs joke is not an original on my part.
Hola!
Yes, this was great fun from Ed Sessa! And even more fun from MalMan! Thank you both.
However, I did not look for the JUMPING JACKS.
Nice CSO to the NOLA contingent.
I had only one w/o at AGAPE to A GASP which I like as two words.
Minor CHORD almost beat me as I was thinking of an underage person. Aha, musical CHORD.
Return of the JEDI is the only Star Wars movie I've seen in the theater. It was such a novelty at the time that the line to enter wrapped around the block; the theater was a stand alone building before multi-plex days.
Yesterday I organized my books by alphabetical order, not by TITLE but by author. Though it was a tedious job I like the sense of order and the shelves had to be dusted anyway.
Irish Miss:
I hope we make tamales but I haven't heard anything yet. My sister and her daughter are vulnerable to illness so it's understandable that they are hesitating. It would be the first time in our entire lifetimes that we wouldn't have them for Christmas.
Again, thank you, Ed Sessa and MM!
Tata for now, everyone!
Many thanks for a fun puzzle, Ed. And, great pictures, MM, thank you for those too.
I got most of the top, a bit of the middle, and a small chunk in the southeast before needing a bit of help. Lots of clever clues and answers. I liked GO OUT with, for 'date.' TO AND FRO was neat for the pendulum motion. Loved having LEGOS be the answer to blocks that lock. Very enjoyable, over and over again.
Have a good day, everybody.
As I text this I'm sitting in my office on Genesee St. The main UTICA thoroughfare of my parents, DW's and my home town . Undergone quite a renaissance and some incredible changes in the last few decades. Unfortunately the narrative opted only to accent just a bygone era that had certainly no monopoly on political corruption even then. Snow in winter but no fires, floods, or home wrecking hurricanes... great people, great food, great culture. Wouldn't care to live anywhere else.
Ray’o@11:15- “Note how the Brits like to finish a statement with a rhetorical question. "That's a nice house, isn't it.".."Wonderful family, aren't they"..."That was a nice car, wasnt it" — perhaps that is the forerunner of our Canadian “eh”!😁😁
Hi All!
Nope. I wouldn't let go of LO-CAL. DNF. :-(
//FIW too - iVES.
Thanks Ed for the puzzle. MM - for realz? That's a lot of expo time! THX.
WOs: CRaPE, misread Paddled as peddled == cycled, SEe b/f SEW, duOS, eNTER, ORs b/f ICU.
ESPs: Nope -- DNF'd it.
Fav: LEROY evoked CROCE.
Runner-up: NOLA (sorry Swamp!). I love the Quarter.
ONE CENT was cute.
IM - I too was thinking of Lucina's tamale party - sadness.
Lucina: while they are delicious, no point in anyone getting ILL over them.
Hi Tom @11:10a. Welcome to The Corner.
C, Eh! - no kidding, eh? :-)
Cheers, -T
If I could be there with you, Ray, I would ask for both your & DW's forgiveness and buy you both a drink in atonement.
Almost gave up but managed to finish with lots of write-overs: NUTTY:DOTTY; AGAPE:AGASP; GOING:GOOUT; PREENED:PRIMPED; DUOS:TWOS. Oy!! But, good mental exercise, thanx, Ed!! And as usual a terrific write-up, thanx, MM!! As usual, didn’t figure out the reveal. It took MM to ‘splain it to dopey me. Oh well.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Didn't see the jacks until reading MM's terrific review. An hour well spent.
I was working on this thing and wondered why it was so misleading....ahh...Mr. Sessa.
Another gem.
As a Brit rowhouse was confusing, we call them terraced houses.
XL-ent pzl from Mr. Sessa ~ Meaning both chewy and do-able in my book.
Neat job, MM!
I did get hung up in the mid-eastern sector in the ROW HOUSE/ ROOT nexus.
I grew up in such a house in San Francisco, but don't remember calling them anything but houses and flats.
~ OMK
____________
DR: NO diagonals today.
Just as well because--
when I started to check I discovered 4 "A"s in a row on the near end and 3 "E"s followed by an "O" and an "A" on the far side.
They would have been over-vowelled if the diags had gone through.
Since I haven't heard from either my sister or my niece I am holding onto the hope that the tamale making will be a go. We shall see. But the clock is ticking . . . .
My grandson loves LEGOS. Any project I buy him will be accepted with gratitude.
Puzzling thoughts:
I was also stumped by the “reveal”, as there were no starred (*) clues to help, nor circle. Thankfully the MalODORous Manatee ‘splained all that in his recap; regardless of his overt plagiarism at the END of END. Hey, Bud: don’t look in the “rear” view mirror! Get yer own calling card!! 😂😂 Liked your use of the red letters within the grid to highlight where the JACKS JUMPED.
HU for PREENED/PRIMPED; AGAPE/AGASP.
PERPs @ CASPAR/ATOP/PRIMPED and YVES/MALAYAN. But they all seemed to fit.
Ok, not a haiku; not a limerick; not even a Moe-ku; but similar:
Magician had a card trick
He used at the gym.
4 knaves flew out of the deck;
Calls this: JUMPING JACKS
FIW. Missed LORIE/ROWHOUSE. Concentrated too hard on trying to figure out the river, and I missed the obvious. Happens all the time!
Missed all the JUMPINGJACKS also. Loved the puzzle, though. I’m NOT unhappy when I do as well on an Ed Sessa puzzle as I did today.
Other than LORIE, YVES was my only unknown, and the perps got that one.
As Husker Gary mentioned Rooney Mara is the grand-progeny on two NFL icons. As I think I have mentioned before, I thought Daniel Craig and she were spectacular as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It’s one of those movies I watch over and over again.
For what it’s worth, she did receive critical acclaim for her work in the picture, receiving both Golden Globe and Academy Award best actress nominations. I wish the two of them (and director David Fincher) had been able to make movies of the other two original Stieg Larsson "Millennium Series" books. I'm sure I would have enjoyed them as much. (Oh, I have also read the original trilogy books three times each, and I NEVER reread a book!)
Leo111
Welcome to the Stieg Larsson fan club! It's such a shame that he died after writing that trilogy. We can only imagine what other creative works could have been.
From yesterday: Meant to chime in but got busy. FIR, but never went back to check out the theme - "safety" first. Thought of D-Otto at PIN SETTER (remembered it was your first job, but forgot your measly wages - you was robbed!) Today, got the theme and FIR. Terrific write-up, Mal-Man!
When I lived in Cohoes, I discovered that the former millworker housing were ROWHOUSEs; when you went out to the suburbs, there were townhouses.
>>Roy
C.Moe - don't care what you call it - it was fun!
Speaking of 'magic,' did y'all see James Randi passed? I saw Penn Jillette's sweet Tweet yesterday.
Just hung up with (Army) Bro. Poor guy is on mandatory quarantine (he went to sickbay Friday & thems the Army's rules) and is bored out of his gourd.
Today he seasoned a cast-iron skillet (a 5 hour undertaking) an ex-girlfriend gave him a few years ago and made pork chops. Wouldn't shut up about the skillet, he wouldn't. :-)
Then we moved on to tonight's debate (he didn't watch) & politics. I know how he's voting (or not?!?) and he knows how I am. But we talked (animated (of course - we're Italian(ish))) but we did it with love & respect.
That is all.
Cheers, -T
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