Theme: "Ch-ch-ch-changes" - CH is added to each familiar phrase.
23. Headline announcing Thomas Kingsford's 1842 process?: A STARCH IS BORN. A Start is Born. Thomas Kingsford was a former chemist who invented a process for manufacturing corn starch. Learning moment for me.
37. Breakfast product made from trees?: ALL BRANCH CEREAL. All-bran cereal.
49. Place for the good guys?: MENSCH ROOM. Men's room.
66. Mad Hatter's cup?: CHALICE IN WONDERLAND. Alice in Wonderland.
79. Apex predator at the feeder?: SHARK FINCH. Shark fin. Shark fin soup is special treat during Chinese New Year.
90. Literary slugger making cookies?: CASEY AT THE BATCH. Casey at the Bat. "... but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out."
109. What keeps the church singers healthy?: CHORAL HYGIENE. Oral hygiene.
Looks like it's a debut for Joe Grzybowski. Most constructors start making weekday puzzles first, as Sunday puzzles are just tough to fill. Amazing achievement!
And Joe gave us a 138-worder. Our norm is 144 words.
Across:
1. Respectfully tip: DOFF. Boomer always tips his hat at others in our walks.
5. Shopper's delight: SALE. 17. 5-Across alert: AS IS.
9. Four-time NFL Pro Bowl safety __ Chancellor: KAM. Dr. Ed just mentioned limiting proper names in his grids. We get quite a few today: 15. Newscaster Lindström: PIA. 18. Garfield's foil: ODIE. 77. Field and Ride: SALLYS. One more plural: 52. Cook Paula et al.: DEENS. 97. Soong __-ling: Madame Chiang: MEI. 102. Composer Saint-Saëns: CAMILLE. 119. 2000 Peace Prize recipient Kim __-jung: DAE. 5. Vanzetti's partner: SACCO. 25. __ Bigelow, echoically nicknamed 20th-century wrestler: BAMBAM. 32. Somali-born supermodel: IMAN. 42. Former NPR host Hansen: LIANE. 45. "SNL" alumna Oteri: CHERI. 59. Astronaut Wally: SCHIRRA 56. Half-elf married to Aragorn: ARWEN.61. Turner on a screen: LANA. 68. Pulitzer-winning Chicago journalist Mike: ROYKO. 73. Exiled religious leader: DALAI LAMA. 79. "The Blacklist" star: SPADER. 84. Actress Lamarr: HEDY.100. ESPN journalist Kenny: MAYNE. Most are common, some are tough.
12. Computer addresses: Abbr.: IPS. Just google "What's my IP address" (Internet Protocol), you'll find yours.
19. Elemental bit: ATOM.
20. Street in Montréal: RUE.
21. Farm equipment: SEEDERS.
26. Peak in Exod.: MT SINAI.
27. Speeds: RACES.
28. Poet's "in a trice": ANON. Or some nice commenters on our blog. I can recognize Vidvan's voice in a few. The amount of stuff he know!
29. Secret supplies: STASHES.
30. English cheese town: STILTON. So, Chairman Moe, is my bottle of wine dead also? It's a special gift from Jimmy B. I thought we could just age it.
33. Ovid work: AMORES. "To be loved, be lovable".
35. The Beatles' "__ Loser": I'M A.
36. Gimlet garnish: LIME.
43. "Hold your horses!": IN A SEC.
46. Approx. landing time: ETA.
47. Carnival city: RIO.
48. Mid-12th-century date: MCLI. 1,151.
51. Tissue swellings: EDEMAS. And 54. Medical suffix: OMA.
55. Little laughs: HEES. And 95. Conniving laugh: HEH HEH.
56. From the top: ANEW.
57. Ancient German: TEUTON.
59. Eye layer: SCLERA.
62. Fast-food franchise started in Rocky Mount, NC: HARDEE'S. Never been to one.
65. Do penance: ATONE.
69. Pants fabric: CHINO.
70. Tops that bare arms and midriffs: HALTERS.
71. Bites: NOSHES.
72. __ vinegar: OIL AND. Rare 6-letter partial.
74. Secluded valley: GLEN.
75. Lad in Limerick: BOYO. A boy or a lad. Learning moment for me as well.
76. MD's request: MRI.
85. Gets steamed: IRES. Gluey.
87. Golfer's concern: LIE. Uphill lie. Downhill lie.
88. Part of a split: PIN.
89. Worth remembering: OF NOTE.
96. Email button: SEND.
98. All but one of the balls in 9-Ball: SOLIDS.
99. D.C.'s __ Row: EMBASSY.
106. Lift one's spirits?: TOPE. Liquor "spirits". Here's the popular Chinese cooking "spirits".
107. Bike part: CHAIN.
108. Low-tech traveler's reference: US ATLAS.
114. Puts on a pedestal: ESTEEMS.
115. Give a leg up: AID.
116. Legal claim: LIEN.
117. Promo on the tube: TV AD.
118. Sault __ Marie: STE.
120. Apt. listing abbr.: RMS.
121. Pain in the neck, e.g.: ACHE. Ouch, ATLGranny. Wish you a quick recovery.
122. Evergreen shrubs: YEWS. Oh, my friend Carmen just sent me
this picture of her visiting the chrysanthemum flower show in Guangzhou
yesterday. Life there has been back to normal for a few months. Malls,
parks, restaurants are all crowded. Same in Xi'an.
Down:
1. __ double take: DO A.
2. Consumes to excess, briefly: ODS.
3. It's thrown in anger: FIT.
4. Courageous: FEARLESS.
6. Greek goddess of wisdom: ATHENA.
7. Daily Planet name: LOIS. Lane.
8. Ambulance initials: EMS.
9. Swedish monetary units: KRONOR. But Sweden is an EU remember. Odd that they don't use euros.
10. Second-largest Illinois city: AURORA.
11. Skin Bracer maker: MENNEN. Aftershave.
12. Beliefs: ISMS.
13. Ruffled-edge underskirt: PETTICOAT.
14. Kind of oil used in hummus: SESAME. I saw a bottle of chickpea miso at our local grocery store the other day. I was surprised.
15. Phnom __: PENH.
16. Wrath, in a hymn: IRAE.
22. Win over: DISARM.
24. Informer: RAT.
30. Remote: SLIM. As chance.
31. Spork prong: TINE.
33. Voice above tenor: ALTO.
34. Attached with spiral hardware: SCREWED.
38. Many August births: LEOS.
39. That guy: HIM.
40. Transition area between plant communities: ECOTONE. See this.
41. Nuts that put the joy in candy bars?: ALMONDS. Almond Joy.
44. Levels of authority: ECHELONS.
50. Get to: REACH. Rich allows stray letters in fill. Two extra CHs in this grid.
51. Home of the Ewoks: ENDOR.
53. Closes securely: SEALS OFF.
58. Home of Canyonlands National Park: UTAH.
60. Habaneros and jalapeños: CHILIES. I can handle a few slices of jalapeños.
62. Like sledding terrain: HILLY.
63. Feeds the pot: ANTES.
64. Tijuana mister: SENOR.
67. Aerie newcomers: EAGLETS.
69. Demetri Martin, e.g.: COMIC.
75. Judge's seat: BANC.
78. Ignited: LIT.
80. Top numbers: HITS. Nice clue.
81. Extreme foolishness: INSANITY.
82. Negatives: NOES.
83. UPS boxes: CTNS.
86. Arab or Hebrew: SEMITE. Also 93. Hebrew God: ELOHIM.
91. Showed anger, perhaps: YELLED.
92. Wheels involved in a crime, maybe: HOT CAR.
94. Two-legged supports: BIPODS.
101. Trending: BIG.
102. Lines before yours, say: CUES.
103. Admin. aide: ASST.
104. Pal: MATE.
105. Latin 101 verb: ESSE.
107. __ Stic: retractable Bic pen: CLIC.
110. In the manner of: ALA.
111. Night before the big day: EVE.
112. Rural regrets: NAW.
113. Magazine VIPs: EDS.
C.C.
40 comments:
Good morning!
Got the theme (really, I did), but the name game made this one a slog. Took time out midway through to do the sudoku. Wasn't familiar with ECOTONE, but outside the plethora of names, it was the only real unknown for me. Impressive debut, Joe. (is that a silent Z?) Thanx for the tour, C.C. (Your picture link for ECOTONE is broken.)
SCLERA: Had an eye exam on Wednesday. My cataracts are progressing nicely, but aren't ripe yet.
AURORA: It's a suburb on Chicago's west side. When I lived in the area, Rockford was the second largest city in Illinois. Aurora and Joliet have pushed it down to fourth.
It was 57 years ago today that JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Seems like yesterday.
Mew!Not my cup of tea today.
Good Morning:
Thumper and I share the same thoughts today.
DO @ 7:42, my sentiments exactly.
FLN
ATLGranny, I know exactly what you’re going through. So sorry to hear of your fall. Heal quickly. 💐
Anon T, yes, it was a good week for checkups, especially considering the car is 19 years old, (only 26, 000 miles), the furnace is 16 years old, and IM is XX, but young at 💚!
Have a great day.
Musings
-ECO_ONE/TEU_ON. ECOZONE seemed to fit area but I was sure TEUTON was right. I had the T and then changed it later
-Joe’s fun gimmick saved the alternate CH pronunciation for the last
-Grackles are very unwelcome springtime apex predators at our feeders
-Loved seeing astronauts Wally SCHIRRA and Dr. SALLY Ride in the forest of proper names
-My row crop farming friends use planters but the one who has a sod farm uses a SEEDER
-Husker theme song this morning: I’m A Loser
-1151 - After the Battle of Ghazni, the city is burned by the prince of Ghur. Yeah, sure, you knew that!
-I loved Hardee’s breakfast biscuit on my way to sub until I saw it had 700 calories
-Picking up the 7 – 10 split
-We used a US Atlas to drive through UTAH’s Canyonlands Park 40 yrs ago, but here is the woman who invented GPS navigation
-We have at least 40 little birds living in YEWS on the southside of our house
-PENH? Ah heck, let’s just throw a silent H on the end for no particular reason
-I wonder if choosing Demetri for a COMIC was Joe’s or Rich’s choice
-Pulling TOPE out of the ether finished off the completely unknown ELOHIM
I figured out the theme, so I figured out all the long answers, but many single letter errors here and their because of all the names.
I got Shark Finch, but I didn't really like the clue.
Loved "Casey at the batch" -- very clever.
Can't believe hardly anyone has checked in yet. Loved the clever theme. First to fall was chalice, then Casey. Scherra was corrected to Schirra. Didn't know Pia, Mei, Boyo or Dae, but got them all by perps. Likewise for Endor and Arwen since I'm not a fan. Although a ton of unknowns, I still enjoyed the effort it took. Time to get myself pretty for Mass. Talk about effort!
Hola!
Congratulations if this is a debut! I can't imagine what maturing will do! It took me an inordinately long time to finish this and ended up with a bland at TOpE/BIPOD.
Our newspaper did not print the constructor's name nor the theme as in the past. However the CH trick was very obvious.
CHORALHYGIENE was my favorite and made me chuckle. And I'll take a CSO at AURORA, my middle name.
The headlines for SACCO Venzetti are etched in my brain. It was such a scandal at the time.
PIA entered easily. She is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman.
I was absent yesterday because it took me waaaay too long to finished the puzzle. Parts of it were very challenging.
Time to go. Have an awesome day, everyone!
Thank you, C.C., for your most enjoyable commentary.
Good morning everyone.
Usual Sunday slog, but got it done. Joe did a good job. Lots of interesting and mostly gettable fill. Cat(CH)y theme.
ROYKO - Always enjoyed his op-ed pieces. Read him frequently when we lived in the Buffalo area where he was syndicated.
STILTON - BH adds it to cauliflower soup. 'Délicieuse'
ECOTONE - My browser couldn't render CC's visual; (Oops, I see it's now fixed.). New learning.
EMBASSY Row - Years ago we attended a reception at the Canadian ambassador's residence there. (I think their Embassy is at the head of Pennsylvania Ave., within sight of Capitol Hill.). (Also attended one at the former Iranian one which became a State Dept. asset after 1979. George Schultz hosted that one.)
Sault STE Marie - - Once took a ferry from Sault STE Marie, Ont to Sault STE Marie, MI. Now the crossing over the St Mary's River and Soo lock system is by highway bridge.
Gary, thanks for the tip on Gladys West. I've always mistakenly believed it was invented by Min Kao, co-developer of the Garmin, the first popular GPS.
I believe that Elohim is the acceptable Jewish word for the Deity, the "Y" word being frowned upon in Orthodox circles. The former is also the root of the word "Eloist", one of several schools of Biblical interpretation.
The King won't care!
Thank you, Joe Grzybowski and thank you, C.C. Congrats on your debut, Joe.
Over all, mixed feelings about today's puzzle. Got the theme early and knowing it helped fill in subsequent theme answers. Those helped fill in (or correct) some letters along the way. Especially names, such as tiNA to LANA and ARWEN.
Echoically ?
C.C., I'm glad you asked Moe about your bottle of wine. It slipped my mind to toss all those bottles after asking him. I should have done that right away. They are now headed for the trash. Moe, I saved that bottle of 2011 Picchetti Reserve Angelica White Port. Apparently it is a Chardonnay made in Cupertino, CA. Pretty bottle. I didn't mention it before, but just now when cleaning out that cupboard, I found a bottle of Montezuma Tequila. Can I assume that like the other spirits, it should be fine ?
FLN, Dash T - I ordered a 16" 5 topping pizza special and turned on the OU and OSU game. I think they gave me an 18" pizza. I made it through less than one quarter. That's the qualifier for both the game and the pizza. I couldn't keep my eyes open and missed most of the game.
Time for pro football.
Valerie and I slogged through this one even after quickly grasping the theme which we found to be clever and amusing but, BOYO boy, the plethora of (often obscure) proper nouns was neither.
DNF. Undone by a pin. Bowling was the first thing to enter my mind for 88A, but then I out-clevered myself with the notion that it was a meta-clue and used the middle of "split" for the answer. When nothing seemed to work around it I don't know why I didn't revisit it.
69D Didn't know Demetri Martin was a COMIC, already had SCHIRRA, and CHILIES filled in, and used PRI for 76A thinking it might be a dosage on an RX. And BTW CC,can you handle a few slices of Habaneros?
... just make sure you sit on the right!
Very clever theme. MENSCHROOM was my Rosetta stone. Because there were way too many names this was more difficult for me than yesterday's puzzle. Could this fine puzzle have been reworked to eliminate many of the names? I misspelled DEEN and ARWEN, so I didn't get Hardees. Two bad cells. I didn't think of HARDEES. They left NJ many years ago.
I have heard of BOYO.
My sister attended ELOHIM Bible Institute in Castile, NY.
Since the baseball cap has become standard among men, we do not see many doffing their hats today. You see it often in old movies, where everybody dressed up much more than we do.
Balsamic vinegar and olive oil is one of my favorite dressings.
I am going to try writing most of my Christmas cards today to tip off friends and family to my new address before they send theirs to me.
Delightful Sunday puzzle, many thanks, Joe. And your write-ups are always a pleasure, C.C.--thank you for that too.
Got the top pretty easily, but then it got tougher in the middle. ODIE came right away, I remember Garfield. Haven't heard the word PETTICOAT in ages! Can't believe women wore them back in the day. Now I guess the younger ones wear HALTERS. But my favorite answer was CHORAL HYGIENE for what keeps church singers healthy. I suspect prayer helps a bit as well.
Have a great Sunday, everybody!
Puzzling thoughts:
CC —> if your wine has been stored in a cool, dark area, and on its side (to allow the wine to contact the cork) it should be ok. I’m not as familiar with Solano County wines as it’s a very small viticultural area. I’d drink it sooner than later
TTP —> Montezuma Tequila is akin to José Cuervo. Perfect for mixing as in a Margarita. Not a sipping tequila; shot and a beer brand!
For some reason The Arizona Republic has stopped printing the constructor’s name and the Sunday Puzzle “theme”. Nevertheless I discovered the CH addition. CHA CHING!
Nice debut and recap. CSO to Owen KL (and me, occasionally) in the clue “Limerick”.
Favorite pun was CHALICE IN WONDERLAND
Was the Apex reference in 79-across Apex Legends? I tried to LIU but didn’t find that “character/predator”
HARDEES is familiar to me only because I've seen them in North Carolina. They are not present here in the southwest.
Our church choir has not appeared for many months. Only the organist and a soloist lead the music and since only 150 people are allowed in, the church looks very empty. At its peak about 500 attend Mass.
Shankers, where do you attend Mass? I assume it's OLPH.
IMAN and Imam were once difficult for me to recall the difference but I have a trick by which to know which is which and that is, IMAN, though a woman contains the word MAN; IMAM who is male, contains the word MAM.
Christmas cards already? I understand your reasoning YR and I have purchased mine but will not send them until after Thanksgiving. And speaking of that, tomorrow I will transfer the turkey from the freezer into the refrigerator then Tuesday it will go into the sink to thaw completely. We shall be ten for dinner on Thursday and that's a far cry from the usual 35-40 at my niece's home.
I'd like to know everyone's Thanksgiving menu; is anyone serving something unusual?
Waseeley, thank you for the shout out. Hey, guess what? The King didn't care! Of course, I knew that. And, DW and I always sit on the right.
YR:
Those are beautiful costumes! How sad that it's all going away but perhaps might resume after enough time has passed and the virus disappears. Thank you for sharing with us.
Lucina, DW and I go to St. Thomas at 11 a.m. Fr. Bolding is the absolute best. First 200 to sign up get in. It's ad orientem (sp.?).
Tough slog for me and I made many errors. I was delighted to see Mme Mei-ling Chiang (Soong Mei-ling) in the puzzle. She was very interested in America from her study in college thru the war years and later.
Shark Finch? Not a term that will endear Joe to birders! A cross between a cute little bird and an orca? But in this business the words are exigent.
FIW, missed TOPE, but did OK in the rest. Tough clueing, nice challenge.
Hope to meet you "Up There" someday!
Sunday Lurk say...
Hi All!
Congrats Joe. I didn't play but if this (CHALICE IN WONDERLAND?!! LOL) is your debut, I can't wait to meet your weekday efforts.
C.C. - your inbox should be teaming with goodies; Let me know if it didn't get through.
HG - Thanks for the article on Dr. Gladys West. I did not know that.
When I was 10->14yro, it was treat once a week to read ROYKO (other treat day was Dave Barry's column) after my paper route.
YR - I'm with you! (unless it's a Caesar salad). When DW & I were in Italy, we'd stop at wineries on our drive to Cinque Terre. Almost all of them sold olive oil or balsamic vinegar too - and that's what we'd drive away with. Youngest made a romaine & strawberry salad the other night - nothing but Italian balsamic to dress it. Yum!
Wait, YR - where are the costumes Lucina mentioned?
Lucina - DW & I had C19 already BUT she was likely exposed last week at work. Not sure what we're going to do about Turkey Day / DW's mom...
Maybe Indian curry and do a turkey next July like CDC recommends?
//that & they ate all the leftover naan Friday... I want a do-over! :-)
Demetri Martin's [7:25] humor is cute.
Where is PK? Anyone?
Cheers, -T
FIW today because of spelling issues, MENNoN and KRONeN, ExiTONE and LIeNE. Otherwise I figured out the theme and other sections and thought it clever. Thanks, Joe, and many thanks C.C. for explaining so well.
So, I noticed yesterday my failure to proofread (FTP) when reporting on my mishap. A speaking wrist makes me think of American Sign Language! Actually as some of you guessed, it is sprained and improving with time and R.I.C.E. My brain is getting a lot of exercise finding new ways to do things with only one strong hand and my DH is getting a crash course in the kitchen where I usually work alone. Thank you for your encouraging words. Enjoy the holiday week!
Good Aft. I caught the added CH at a STARCH IS BORN. Faster than normal completion for a Sunday. Just a 'few' unknowns PERPED today and most were those PROPER NAMES- KAM, PIA, MEI, DAE, MAYNE, ARWEN, BAMBAM, SACCO, LIANE. BOYO.
ECOTONE- new to me. I thought ECO-ZONE but the perps were SOLID(S).
EHOHIM- another new word
Demetri Martin- he's an unknown but COMIC filled easily,
KRONER, KRONA, KRONE- I'm never sure which one those Nordic countries use.
SCHLERA I knew. SCHLERODERMA is a horrible disease. I've know two people who had it. Their skin and organs gradually harden. It's inherited and it lasts a lifetime, which is usually shortened.
US ATLAS- I carry paper maps of the SE USA in my car and when I travel anywhere I print a map of that area. I also carry a Garmin GPS because sometimes cellular is not available and I'm not paying rental car companies an extra $8-10/day for them to activate the GPS that I know is installed in their cars.
C.C.- glad to see your friend Carmen is doing fine and things are back to normal in her area. They are mostly back to 'normal' in the NOLA area except inside the city limits. Restaurants are open without all the tables available. All stores have been open here since June 1st. We've actually eaten at a couple of places that had live music. If people would use common sense there would be no need for the insane lockdowns that some states are trying to impose.
Back from the salt mines. Nice Friday and Saturday to have to work. The weather was just about perfect both days, especially since I was outside all day yesterday. Haven’t had time to finish either day’s puzzle or read the expos and comments. I’ll get around to them tomorrow.
I’m sorry to have to say it, but I didn’t particularly like this puzzle. I don’t usually do as horribly on a Sunday puzzle as I did today.
Yes, there were a ton on names, some which I knew or could perp, and some for which I had no clue. LIANE bothered ME, because although I knew who she was and have listened to her at times, I had never seen how her name is spelled. Now I know.
Likewise, there was a bunch of other stuff I just didn’t know, some of which I could perp.
USATLAS: Sorta like Big East said, here I am on my generational soapbox! I have my Garmin, and I won’t go anywhere without it. I won’t use the map app on my phone, because it is just too small for my taste. However, when I’m traveling, I also have my Rand McNally Road Atlas (Large Scale, so that I can read it, thank you very much), and for Texas, I have my Roads of Texas Atlas, which shows the back roads of Texas. Both come in ring binders, for ease of manipulating them. Crossing state lines, I always stop at the welcome center and pick up the state map and (if one is available) the state travel guide. (Texas has the best travel guide; no brag, just fact. I don’t say that just because I live here and because my tax dollars are paying for it.)
AURORA surprised me. I wasn’t aware it had passed Rockford, which was my first guess. My ex grew up in Joliet.
CHILIES (glad to see that the answer wasn't PEPPERS): I pretty much stick to jalapeños, but I'll do a serrano (little bit hotter) every now and then. I put them in lots of stuff, but I remove most of the seeds and de-vein them. I want the flavor and a little bit of heat. I can tolerate the heat, but I don’t want it to ruin the taste of the dish.
I don't mind proper names and cultural references, as long as they don't descend into "Natick minefields" - I can usually figure them out with perps.
I largely gave up TV after being dressed down for poor grades by my favorite 6th grade teacher. Thus I depend for my knowledge of what Ian Shoales used to called "Popular Culture" on a variety of sources including newspapers, online news, and the most eclectic source, crossword puzzles. These are my only connection to what used to be called "Reality". For me crosswords are not a goal, but a journey, and if I am finally cornered I'll LIU and learn something.
I believe it was Will Shortz who leveled the crossword playing field to all classes and interests. Go Will!
Bill
YR, sending those cards is your crossing the Rubicon.
I'll give this a SOLID B+. Another FIR on the two tough ones after several FIWs last week. Lucina, kudos for the P&P to finish Saturday.
Actually in LOTR ARWEN and Aragon only "Plight their troth" as JRR quaintly puts it. She does forgo immortality to end her days with the King.
CC, PIN was Rich's CSO to Boomer, a Sunday special. DOFF'ing. Try driving in an Officer jeep and saluting every five seconds, much to the delight of enlisted. It's de Rigueur to return the salutes.
I read the HEDY clue as actress Laman. When it perped in I thought why not HEDY Lamarr.
I almost blew it on MRI/SHIRRA with Med. Had trouble spelling PENH? How about Phnom?
HARDEES western counterpart is often clued but I'd need perps to remember.
I had to inkover CorneA for that odd SCLERA. Another inkover: Shut for SEALS OFF.
I think I've done at least three takeoffs of Casey. One titled "Grogan at the Helm".*
WC
** December, 1986. The Patriots and Dolphins for the East crown. Loser sits out playoffs. I've lost it but strangely they showed Chris Collinsworth in a bar since the outcome would determine whether Cincinnati or KC would get to the playoffs. Chris had company which spurred the lines(as the Pats clinched:"And Collinsworth's** sweet companion has begun to cry".
** Ironically Chris Collinsworth's voice is in my air on KC-Vegas.
Well it's late, the ether as I used to put until Argyle told me that folks read the late posts before a new day. So, as some know, we poeticize the Jumble words over in the other corner. And I knew I'd done a Casey recently and dug it up.
It's fictional, except I've kept the names.
swirl, ninth, govern, weasel, stern warning.
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville team that night
In the preceding eight innings they hadn't put up a fight
And so when Pat McTiernan took a called third strike
And Tommy Foley popped to third, what was there to like?
Bobby Lee was a busher and Heinzy even worse
But Bobby weaseled out a walk and of course
Heinzy scratched a single. And who now should stride
Up to the plate but mighty Wilbur in all his pride.
Last of the ninth, two men on base could this be the inning?
Would Wilbur blast one out or would he go down swinging.
As the dust swirled about the field the fans were hard to govern.
"Play ball!", the umpire said in a voice both loud and stern.
Warning both teams and especially the cocky Wilbur
That feisty Jocko Donlan was in charge for sure.
Two strikes flew past ol' Wilbur, his face was turning red
But now the look on Wilbur's face clearly meant 'nuf said*.
The spheroid flew could Mudville stand the strain?
Wilbur took a might cut and yes he'd whiffed again.
Somewhere birds are cheeping, children laugh and play
But Wilbur has a ticket on the bush league expressway
*'Nuf-said Mcgreevy was a famous Boston bartender at the turn of the century. He led the royal rooters in singing Tessie
*****
Wilbur did you solve Birnholz today ? Not sure how can I both like and dislike a single crossword so much...
Leo, I'd recommend Key Maps for Houston and Texas. The laminated version. Once you get used to how it works, you'll never go back. I looked for mine after the last time I posted about it, but couldn't find it. I'm pretty sure now that I must have given it away as I left for the big city of Chicago.
TTP --- No, I haven't looked into Key Maps lately. I did check them out back in the last century, after I moved to Houston. I guess I'll have to look again.
Thanks for reminding me.
TTP, I've been neglecting Birnholz. I have it and I'll get on it. I'm not sleep yet.
I didn't even get to the xword until very late plus the Jumble. Then my Jumble poem.
Birnholz usually gives us enough solids that we can eventually prevail but forewarned is forearmed
WC
WC, you should have been a play-by-play announcer!
TTP, do you hate me? Boy were you Right. You double dared me and I took the bait. Phew. I finished after about three hours. I finally figured out Evan's dark secrets. Talk about enough red herrings to feed an army.
Thanks partner in misery. Now that I finished(FIR?I think so) I guess I feel good. I don't know the seven letter mystery word.
I knew the basketball player but looked it up just to be sure. Not to speak of that "glove".
I've got some past Birnholz, today was why I've put them off.
WC
Wilbur, yes that was definitely different. I got the 7 letter hidden answer and can reveal it, but let's give it a few days in case anyone else wants to tackle it.
If you think those are tough, try try the Monthly Meta puzzles by Peter Mueller at the same site. But you'd better know music. Songs, singers, groups, instruments, genres... And then after you solve the crossword, you have to figure out the meta. I've done the 8 oldest, and am working my way back to present. Next to do is July, 2020 "Jazz Combos".
Post a Comment