Theme: THE END IS NIGH (36. *Warning on a street prophet's sandwich
board ... or a hint to the answers to starred clues) - The ends of four theme
entries all have the same pronunciation as "Nigh".
16. *Southeast Asian monarch: SULTAN OF BRUNEI.
28. *Pentateuch peak: Abbr.: MT. SINAI.
56. *Certain PAC-12 graduates: STANFORD ALUMNI.
46. *Guy who "Saves the World" on Netflix: BILL NYE.
Boomer here again. Filling in another slot. A slim 14x15 grid with lots of 3-letter words.
Good day everyone and happy Wednesday. Thanksgiving is over our shoulder so we can look forward now to vaccine and Christmas. I'm sure most of you have heard that the new vaccines need be kept at extremely cold temperatures. Be careful if a guy walks into a bar and orders a cold one.
Across:
5. Gear tooth: COG. Also an acronym for Children's Oncology
Group.
8. Sets upon: HAS AT. Our Gophers could not have at Wisconsin
last week due to the virus. Paul Bunyan's AXE stayed at home.
13. Angelou or Dickinson: POET.
14. Celebrity chef Garten: INA. Many items in her cookbook.
15. Cause to blush: ABASH. DanA BASH is on CNN news.
19. Stat: PDQ.
20. Fancy dresser: FOP.
21. Common TV set-top box: DVR.
22. Tokyo okay: HAI.
25. Home of the Oregon Ducks: EUGENE. They have had nasty air
quality there all summer and fall due to all the fires.
27. Place with pillows: BED. Or Maybe flowers.
30. Award named for Poe: EDGAR. I think he was famous for "The
Pit and the Pendulum". Now he's famous for a museum in Virginia.
32. Catcher's need: MITT. Yogi and others were the only ones to
wear a MITT. All others wore gloves.
33. They, in Tours: ILS.
35. PBS URL ending: ORG.
40. Adams of "American Hustle": AMY. I have a sister of the same
name.
41. Concert equipment: AMP. A measure of current flowing through
wire.
42. What 34-Down means in Swahili: LION. 34. He hung out with
Pumbaa and Timon: SIMBA.
44. Befuddled: AT SEA.
48. __ constrictor: BOA. Also fluffy neckware,
49. Smooth musical passage: LEGATO.
51. Roam (about): GAD.
52. Dogspeak syllable: ARF. I think Dennis' dog says RUFF.
53. Roth __: IRA. This has some tax benefits but I am too old to
cash in.
54. Dr. Mom's skill: TLC.
62. Implied: TACIT.
63. __ choy: BOK. It kind of looks like cabbage only long not
round. I'm sure C.C. knows more than I.
64. FBI operation: RAID. I think you spray it to kill bugs and
such.
65. Colorado's __ Park: ESTES. "A Rocky Mountain Colorado
High". John Denver.
66. Be in the red: OWE. "I OWE, I OWE, so off to work I go.
67. Big show: EXPO. No longer Montreal's MLB team. Now
known as the Washington Senators.
Down:
2. Second person: YOU.
3. __ Aviv: TEL.
4. Start of many Web addresses: HTTP.
5. American literary form inspired in part by haiku: CINQUAIN. A 5 line
poem.
"There once was a girl from St. Paul
Who went to a newspaper ball
Her dress caught on fire
And burned her entire
Front page sports section and all."
6. Tokyo-born artist: ONO. John Lennon's Wife.
7. Diplomatic blunder: GAFFE.
8. Wouldn't stop talking about: HARPED ON. MSNBC and CNN about
the virus.
9. __ Dhabi: ABU.
10. Holding back to gain an edge: SANDBAGGING. I have been
SANDBAGGING my golf game for years.
11. Letter sign-off: AS EVER. AS if I EVER
12. Almost-home base: THIRD. Could also be last strike of an at
bat.
17. Port on its own gulf: ADEN.
18. Skeleton part: BONE. "Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry
Bones."
22. "Let me think ... ": HMM.
23. "They're __ again!": AT IT.
24. "Oh, really?": IS THAT A FACT. That's a fact, Jack.
26. Radner of "SNL": GILDA. An original cast member of 'Saturday
Night Live" back when I used to watch. Unfortunately passed of cancer at
age 42.
29. List components: ITEMS.
31. Cookout feature: GRILL. We got rid of ours. Impossible
to keep clean and a hassle sitting on the deck.
37. Ocular surgical procedures: EYELIFTS. Eye surgery does not
look like much fun.
38. Comedic reaction involving a sprayed beverage:
SPIT TAKE.
39. Georgetown athlete: HOYA. Great basketball teams.
43. Outlaw Kelly: NED.
44. Large arteries: AORTAS. Probably the largest.
45. Prefix with dynamic: AERO.
47. Hang loosely: LOLL. Durham Bulls - A bunch of "LOLLYGAGGERS".
Kevin Costner as Crash Davis.
48. Moisten while cooking: BASTE. Gave our BASTER a workout last
Thursday.
50. Movie legend Greta: GARBO.
55. Medical research goal: CURE. Or at least a VACCINE please!
57. Nuremberg "never": NIE.
58. Part of DJIA: DOW. I think his second name was JONES.
59. Highest output: MAX.
60. Something in the air: NIP.
61. Altar promise: I DO.
Boomer
Good morning Cornerites.
ReplyDeleteThank you John Guzzetta for your enjoyable Wednesday CW.
I FIR in 34:30 min.
Thank you Boomer for your excellent review.
Ðave
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteDidn't have a chance on the theme after failing to read the full reveal clue...again. Still, this one went into the record book four minutes faster than yesterday, so life is good. ABASH was back for an encore, funny how those repeats seem to happen. Managed to remember it's the EUGENE Ducks and Georgetown HOYAS. Senators, Boomer? Great sports fan that I am, I think you meant Nationals. CINQUAIN was new to me, but I've heard of a Quatrain, so why not? Thanx for the outing, John, and for filling in, Boomer.
AWOL: Back in the late '60s I was assigned to SP(Shore Patrol) duty in San Diego. From 10 PM till 2 AM I patrolled the same 1-block by 3-block area. Had to keep walking. Entering any building or business was verboten. If I saw any trouble, I was to blow my whistle. Meanwhile the "professional" SP's drove around the area in their jeeps, stopping in at the bars for the freebies. I think that may have been the longest four hours of my life.
Took about 7 minutes for me to realize I didn't know cinquain, and wouldn't be able to rely on a "celebrity chef" and something in Tours. Promptly threw in the towel.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington baseball team is now known as the Nationals (long before that, the Senators).
The Washington football team is now known as Football Team.
Creative puzzle - these themes always highlight how confusing it must be for English language learners to figure out all the variations! They were all pronounced with the long I sound - but it made me think of the knights who say "Ni" (pronounced nee) of Monty Python fame:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHqy_AyKIUI
I was slowed down a bit when I started with 36A THE END IS NEAR and 24D IS THAT RIGHT before perps forced a change. I sat with STANFORD filled in for awhile before the last half ALUMNI became evident. (a true Doh! moment from the Stanford graduate- it was too short for Cardinal)
Thanks Boomer for filling in! and to John for the puzzle!
FLN, Naked Gun got me rolling. Also, for Picard: That's b-ball lingo(Drain) is from forever. Be thankful b-ball wasn't a college addiction to go with Bridge and a few other B's. And.. -T I love your legibility and not writing over the numbers on A/D(on XW)
ReplyDeleteBoomer, right off the bat you get me chuckling ("Cold one").
FIW. PDQ??? As a stat? Who will illuminate that? And of course INA/aNA was unknown. What happened to Bach? Odd clueing for a Wednesday
If there's NAE 'baggin there's nae golf.
Boomer of course is right. The Montreal EXPOs moved to Washington which the expansion Senators had abandoned for Texas where they became the Rangers. And Walter Johnson's Senators had left in the 60s and became the Twins.
WC
WC, Bach was last sighted at the Southern University of North Dakota at Hopple.
DeleteOne more time - "Hoople".
DeleteHi all! I couldn't let go today without expanding a little on Ned Kelly. The best information online for him is on Wikipedia, but as an Aussie, I need to expand a little more. He was revered among the poor in his area as a kind of Robin Hood, who robbed the rich highway travelers and he and his band of "bushrangers" as they were called, made sure the locals always were taken care of. They were of Irish origin, and as such, were generally treated much as the blacks are here. He was finally tracked down and survived a wild shootout with police, by constructing armor that covered them all from head to toe. However they were captured and eventually hung at the Melbourne jail (gaol). He was only 26. These days, he exists in aussiespeak whenever people feel they're being scammed or conned, it's common for them to remark: "Ned Kelly is alive and well today!"
ReplyDeleteEasiest Wednesday puzzle for a while, but I never understood the theme other than the rhyming last syllables.
WC, PDQ = STAT in emergency medicine (abbreviation of Latin statim, "immediate"}
ReplyDeleteNatick at xNA - CxNQUAIN
Old newspaper sports headlines abbreviated SeNATorS as NATS
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John, for a fine Wednesday outing. I zipped right though this because I was on your wavelength with the three-letter words. That opened the path to the longer fills. I also liked CINQUAIN, SANDBAGGING, AND SPIT TAKE. Fun entries.
Boomer, thank you for the ride around. It was good of you to sub today. Nicely done.
It's a sunny, crisp morning here. Hope all of you have a sunny day also. Be well.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteFirst, the Arizona Republic newspaper has Adam Vincent as the constructor.
Second, this was a whiz to finish. Very quick as others have said. I've seen INA Garten in passing but never watched her show. After I was diagnosed diabetic I quit watching cooking shows which I used to love.
Though it's a sports team I remember HOYA because it's so unusual.
Kazie, thank you for chiming in with information about NED Kelly. It's so good to see you here.
Though I lived in Denver for five years I never went to ESTES Park but visited many other sights.
I never have to BASTE the turkey because I cook it in a bag and it retains its own moisture.
Yesterday I finally got to do yoga after a long hiatus due to my mat being ruined (it's a reasonable excuse). I was given a new mat for my upcoming birthday.
We have only sunny days here with rarely a cloud or rain to be seen.
Have a fine day, everyone!
Thank you, Boomer, for doing double duty. You add to the puzzle pleasure.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting clues today and PDQ fun. Especially enjoyed the silly limerick in Boomer's write-up, though not a true CINQUAIN which only contains 22 syllables. But def 5 lines! Here's to hoping the end of covid is NIGH!
ReplyDeleteThank you, John and Boomer for the puzzle and the tour. Great way to start the day.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that Boomer is working so hard for us...it means he's feeling well and able! We appreciate all his efforts!
ReplyDeleteLucina, nice to hear from you too...this year when we've all had so little to entrtain us, it seems I'm still struggling just to get the puzzles and everything else done each day. It's why I haven't visited the Corner often.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSolved it correctly. Only strikethrough was I had to change BaK to BOK with the DOW crossing help. Realized how the theme worked near the end; very clever. You don't see the SULTAN OF BRUNEI much. Didn't notice the 14 x 15 until coming here.
Hang loosely : LOLL - - One time in a NATO exercise, a British vice admiral we were briefing asked what a group of ships were doing off the Norway coast: "Are they just hanging about?"
Thanks Boomer for doing yeoman duty.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, John and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteI FIWed and forgot to look for the theme. My personal Natick was the cross of HMM and HAI; my Japanese is lacking and I though GMM (give me a minute) and GAI looked okay.
Several inkblots today also. Somehow I thought of Geena instead of GILDA and that held up the middle for a while. CINQUAIN was an inkblot too.
The Stat clue for 19A should have had an ! IMHO to give the PDQ order rather than a baseball stat like ERA or RBI. (WC will agree I think - billocohoes beat me)
We had HAS AT and AT IT. Actually we had a plethora of ATs with AT sea, is thAT a fact, has AT, legATo, AT it. (The end is AT hand alternate theme perhaps LOL.)
SANDBAGGING and SPITTAKE required perps as they are not in my common usage.
DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) was not on my radar either. I thought it was something to do with Department of Justice. Canadian disadvantage perhaps.
Grammar lesson with YOU and ILS (I had Les at first).
"Hang loosely=LOLL" was a meh IMHO (too "cutesy"). I was thinking of Sag, drape.
OTOH, "Something in the air=NIP" was clever.
kazie- thanks for the Ned Kelly explanation.
We had more snow overnight. It looks like fairyland now with the sun shining.
Wishing you all a good day.
Musings
ReplyDelete-C_NQUA_N/_NA/_LS? Piece ‘o cake! Nah, I just chose the right vowel out of the bin.
-DVR – I took out the VCR and put it back in the 20th century
-Grandson got accepted to be a Duck in Eugene
-The first catcher to use a glove was thought to be less than manly
-I thought Clair de Lune was LEGATO but the sheet music says to play Andante Espressivo with LEGATO passages. Either way it provides a lovely ending for this movie
-This site converts what we type to HTML to post at HTTP://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com
-Some bowlers get accused of SANDBAGGING on the first league night to set a low average. Ever see that Boomer?
-“They’re AT IT again.” We quit hanging out with that couple
-List components: ITEMS: I’m assembling ingredients to make Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches
-Machine Gun Kelly just wouldn’t fit
-Dang! TACET not TACIT = 1 bad cell. I blew right by NEE.
FIW today two squares, due to inadequate proofreading. I should have finished my second cup of coffee before reading Boomer's post! It might have helped me catch the need for H in uMM and uAI plus the O needed for LaLL and LEGATa. I had put faLL for hang loosely before I saw the themer BILL NYE. Problem was not making the other necessary changes nearby.
ReplyDeleteGot the trick only after reading the reveal, and like inanehiker, redoing it since my END WAS Near before it was NIGH. Cleverly planned, John, I thought. Thanks! And thanks, Boomer, for filling in again in your entertaining way.
ESTES Park brought to mind a summer stay in a cabin near there where we slept on an open porch and watched bats swoop around catching the mosquitoes. Hope you all are staying well and mosquito free. FLN: Sorry to hear of your family's COVID experience, Ray O. Best wishes to all.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI liked the theme and thought the reveal was not only humorous but spot on perfect! As DO noted, Abash reappeared and a new word, as well, with Cinquain, of which I’ve never heard. My only nit is my usual complaint about the number of three letter words which, today, total 30. That’s close to half the words in the entire puzzle and way too many, especially in a truncated grid. I always enjoyed watching Ina Garten’s show because of her soft-spoken, laid back demeanor. Her show focused on food, not the flashy flamboyance on most of the other cooking shows.
Thanks, John, for a mid-week romp and thanks, Boomer, for the week’s double dose of Boomer Humor! You’re a clutch pinch-hitter. BTW, I loved your poem!
I had an unnerving experience this morning. I decided to test my medical alert system, which the service provider recommends you do weekly. Mine was overdue so I pressed the “Panic” button on my lanyard and it lit up and flashed and after several seconds longer than it usually takes, announced my call had been received and to stand by for an operator. Normally, an operator comes on within 5 seconds and asks if you need help. Not so today. After a minute or two, the light stopped flashing so I hit the Reset button and an operator came on, asked if I needed help and after saying no, I was just testing the system, I explained the failed attempt. She then asked me if I wanted her to cancel the ambulance request, stating that she was unable to get through to me when I made the first try. I’m going to test it again later in the day, but I shudder when I think of the EMT’s showing up at my door, had I not retested it! (I didn’t ask why she was unable to get back to me the first time because canceling the ambulance took priority.)
Have a great day.
As usual I missed the theme, but FIR fairly quickly. Thanks, Boomer for so ably filling in whenever called to duty.
ReplyDeleteI used to watch INA Garten, Emeril, The Galloping Gourmet, Yan Can Cook and many others from time to time. Julia Child reruns were my favorite. Loved her personality and recipes. I don't much care for the cooking competitions. I think they turned me off to cooking shows. Now I get new recipes and how-to tips from Google.
WC, I was a bridge addict in college, too, along with my fiancé. I belonged to an informal bridge group for many years, which included eating and chatting as well. Since I came here 30 years ago, I haven't played bridge at all. I think I have lost all my knowledge of the moves and rules.
Moe, having been away from formal, traditional haiku for many years, I have lost my tight definition of it and have come to appreciate your haikus.
I like STAT/PDQ, both mean right this very minute. The bank never heard of STAT. Still cooling my jets.
Kazie, so nice to hear from you again.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteDouble-FIW: ANA @14a and, while I knew there was an A in SIaNI, I wasn't sure where it went.
Thanks Adam for the puzzle - quite the crunch for Wednesday; BRUNEI?
Thanks for stepping-in for a great EXPO Boomer.
WOs: HOYt (we had that 2 weeks ago and I missed the Y then :-)), -- OVER (as in NATO-alphabet letter?)
ESPs: ILS (WAG'd the I), BRUNEI, NIE, NED
Fav: GILDA [5:10 King Tut]
Runner-up: SPIT TAKE
WC - Pretty Darn Quick
Kazie - Thank you for the story of NED KELLY and the origin of the phrase (my Aussie buds would say that and ??)
IM - Did the ambulance end up coming?
HG - Ooops, make that 3 bad cells for me. Missed the TACiT (even in the expo) too.
YR - The only cooking competition I enjoyed was the original (Japanese) Iron Chef. I think it was the cultural difference I found fascinating.
Speaking of cooking, Lucina - years ago, Alton Brown taught me to brine instead of BASTE. [4:22]
The bag works too.
Play later, -T
I can't 'DENY' it took me a little bit longer than usual to get the theme of this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThanks John and Boomer for a fun puzzle and a double dose this week of groanworthy analysis. FIR for the second day in a row. Is Rich going easy on us for the Holidays? Or because THE END IS NIGH? These days, some days it certainly seems that way!
ReplyDeleteAll the themers came pretty easy, except for BILLNYE, which I got from perps. Not that I haven't heard of him, I've just never seen the "Guy who Saves the World" (at least not this guy) and I'm not HIGH on NYE, as we have some fundamental differences about metaphysics and epistemology, which I won't go into here.
New to me was CINQUAIN, which I perped from PDQ, which I recognized due to all of the STAT urinalyses I performed in a former life. "Those were the days my friends, I thought they'd never end!"
Bill
Wilbur C.: I don't see how Boomer is right ("67. Big show: EXPO. No longer Montreal's MLB team. Now known as the Washington Senators."). Aren't they now known as the Washington Nationals?
ReplyDeleteDelightful Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Adam. And how nice to get your great help again, Boomer.
ReplyDeleteLoved starting out with MYTH and POET--made my literary self happy. But then, sadly, didn't get CINQUAIN even though I've taught plenty of poetry in my day. Happily, another literary clue made me feel better when I got EDGAR Allan Poe. Also enjoyed getting Greta GARBO and GILDA Radner--sad that we lost her so early.
Totally flummoxed by SAND BAGGING. Have never heard that expression.
Sorry to hear about your problem testing your medical alert system, Irish Miss. But will hope that it works perfectly if you ever need it.
The Christmas tree is up and ready to light, with stars in the window and wreaths on the front door and on the fireplace. Makes me happy.
Have a good day, everybody.
I'm not complaining, but...
ReplyDeleteMy last fill was the "Q" in PDQ/Cinquian,
(spell check does not like it either)
and not because it was tough, or new to me,
or I had to learn something. But because
I threw in a "Q" as a W.A.G. & got a Tada...
43. Outlaw Kelly: NED.
Having come from Australia,
(Hi Kazie!)
& always complaining about French words in English
Crosswords, 43. Outlaw Kelly: NED. is quelque chose d'ironique!
I mean, on Monday, the clue would have been
43. Homer Simpsons neighbor: Ned.
Outlaw Kelly seems more Thursday/Friday (even Saturday(ish)
Should you want to know more about this Australian Folkhero,
here is more than you ever wanted to know...
(might be quicker to watch one of the many movies on the subject...)
and so, In Conclusion...
Good afternoon everyone! Thank you, John Guzzetta, for a fun Wednesday diversion. And it’s a treat to get a double dose of Boomer’s wit in the same week!
ReplyDeleteThe “long I” theme showed itself fairly early on, although I had to wait for perps to decide between “ei” or “ai” in BRUNEI. Our daughters watched plenty of episodes of “Bill NYE the Science Guy” when they were young. Hand up for VCR before DVR (hi, Gary!) I get a kick out of physical comedy, so SPIT TAKEs always tickle my funny bone. My late brother liked to accuse others of SANDBAGGING when he lost at our family poker games – he didn’t get much sympathy, lol!
Ray-O, I hope your family is well on their way to recovery.
YR, good luck with your move. I hope the bank finally gets its act together.
Have a terrific day all!
Anon T @ 10:18 ~ No, the alarm service operator canceled it, although after I hung up, I was worried they were already en route and I had visions of sirens and flashing lights descending upon my house and disturbing the neighborhood. The worry was for nought, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteMisty @ 12:37 ~ Thanks. This was the first time this has happened since I’ve had the system. I did get through on the second try so I’m assuming the issue is with the operator and/or her equipment. Anyway, the system worked the way it’s supposed to, even though I didn’t need help.
To continue the recent riff on indifferent job performance, I received a call today from the billing office of the imaging center where I had a recent MRI done, asking if I needed to arrange a payment plan for the outstanding co-pay of $100.00. I politely explained that I had paid that charge on Nov. 15, the day I received the bill. I gave her the Discover Confirmation and Authorization Numbers and after a minute or two, I received a perfunctory apology and a breezy “I’ll make the correction on your account. Have a nice day.”
*Spoiler alert - boring stuff below*
ReplyDeleteFIR, but perturbed with all of the proper names. I continue to think it’s due to laziness on the part of the constructor. I knew most of these names and could infer the rest, but no joy in the trivia. I was a commo (communications) man in the Army, mostly with a construction engineer battalion. After serving a year in the jungle in Thailand in 1963, I was given my choice of region of next duty. I chose Germany and was offered a posting there, with a catch. The catch was that I would have to sign an intent to re-enlist, since I had less than 18 months left in my hitch. My separation date was September 10 and my semester at Villanova started very soon afterward, so I refused to sign. I was assigned to Ft. Dix, since that was my point of departure to Germany. I was assigned to a STRAC (Strategic reserve Army corp, I think - we had to keep our bags packed for deployment in less than 24 hours to anywhere in the world.) MP outfit. My girlfriend lived in Wayne, PA, a drive of less than an hour, so this location worked well for me for my final 8 months of service. I installed and fixed Jeep radios for the cops and also was put on rotation to be the base radio dispatcher. Just after my separation, the MP outfit was flown out to Saigon for street patrol duty. Figuratively, I just dodged a bullet, and maybe literally.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteOddly, I “sensed” that the puzzle grid was a bit smaller than normal, as the grid blocks seemed wider, if only fractionally. A quick count of 14 blocks across confirmed this - CC, is this size even more unusual than a 16x15? Boomer, thanks for the recap
A few write-overs: EVE/YOU, FALL/LOLL. Natick with CINQUAIN/INA; I had ANA
Yellowrocks, thanks. I was once told that my punny style of haiku is called senryu
I’d have to google CINQUAIN vs limerick. I occasionally do a 5-liner:
The pandemic for many deprives
The resources they need for their lives.
Please just pass stimulus,
‘Cause too many of us
Need a “shot” before vaccine arrives.
Note: if this CINQUAIN is too political please delete.
Your limerick, though clever, is not a cinquain which has only 22 syllables, with a proscribed # in each line. And they don’t traditionally rhyme.
DeleteMy recommendation would be Knob Creek Moe.
ReplyDeleteWhew! I went to do some Christmas/birthday shopping today and am exhausted! My youngest granddaughter has a birthday Monday, the 7th so it's a double whammy for me but she of course loves it. I can't believe she will be 11 years old. Now the only baby in the family is my great-grandson who is 18 months.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard from PK?
ReplyDeleteNice job today, John Guzetta and Boomer.
Hand up for having to change near to NIGH to make the puzzle theme work.
Anons @ 7:37 and 11:43, don't you think that Boomer may have been kidding ? He does that.
Moe, They are actually playing the game !
Waseeley, there were three horses. What looked to you to be an extra long nose was actually the nose of the middle horse that won. See yesterday's comments for a better picture.
Lucina, C.C. wrote (on Sunday I believe) that PK may be having problems with her computer again, and family that could fix it are all being especially careful because of Covid.
Wednesdays should be fairly easy to FIR but when 1A (MYTH) was an unknown solved by perps I was worried. I didn't catch the "I" ending and BILL NYE was another. But most everything else fell smoothly except CINQUAIN- never heard of it but since I know quatrain, cinquain made sense.
ReplyDeleteSPIT TAKE- seen it but have never heard the term. With COVID19 I doubt there are many Spit Takes these days.
SANDBAGGING- the ONLY time I ever broke 80 on a 'real' course, two of the guys I was playing with said I was sandbagging with my 19 handicap. I went from a 77 at Lakewood to 105 at English Turn the next week. BOTH courses were used for PGATour tournaments. A hot putter is always better than any other part of the game. One-putt greens made you feel like you can actually play.
ALT Granny- re ESTES Park- when we were there two years ago we rented s condo about 1/2 mile from the Stanley Hotel. It was on the ground floor, it was NOT air conditioned and we slept with the windows open. I rigged an alarm of bottles along the window sills. The week after we left a BLACK BEAR somehow got into the Stanley Hotel and walked across the lobby and out the back door. It can be seen on YouTube. Maybe it was Yogi Bear who claimed "smarter than the average bear". It somehow managed to open both the front door to the lobby and another door across the hotel to leave.
I liked the theme. Nice to see a word like CINQUAIN, which seems maybe more a later-in-the-week word, but as desper-otto said it was inferable if you knew the word quatrain. Also nice to see EUGENE in the puzzle; I have fond memories of my 4 years there at the U of O. Our son was born in Eugene. I also happen to be a STANFORD ULUMNus. Frankly, I got a far better education at Oregon than I did at Stanford.
ReplyDeleteDana Stabenow, the author of the series of Kate Shugak mysteries set in Alaska, was thrilled to have been awarded an EDGAR for her first novel. In the Forward to the book, she wrote of her breathless experience in going to New York City to receive it. I think she was quite overbowled by it all.
Boomer, thank you again for subbing in and for writing such an informative review, replete with your subtle humor.
Ah, Misty, a glass of wine, stars in the window, and a wreath on the fireplace paint a lovely picture of contentedness.
Good wishes to you all.
Natick, Natick, Natick.
ReplyDeleteI've jotted many a limerick, those well-known 5-liners, but have never, ever heard of a CINQUAIN.
An unrhymed 5-liner, with a Haiku-ish syllable count.
Makes sense now that I have seen it, but apparently I am not the only Cornerite--
nor the only poet--
nor professor--
who has not heard of such a thing. "Obscure" is one thing, but "uniquely-unknown" is another category altogether.
And talk about asymmetry! I believe this is the first 14X15 grid I have seen on the site*. Didn't notice at first, but now that I have counted the squares, I am shocked, d'ya hear? Shocked!
~ OMK
____________
DR: *The asymmetry automatically rules out any diagonals. No anagram activity.
I may close tomorrow AM, but not move until Dec. 10. Cross your fingers for me. More in the late morning after I see how real this is.
ReplyDeleteBillocoes, Just before checking back in, the V8 dropped. Stat not 'istic'. RBs and TDs didn't perp. Don't they usually capitalize STAT? Probably because the doctors shout it. I see it's for Pretty Damn Quick. Also …
ReplyDeleteThe Washington team prior to EXPOs arrival were referred as the Nat(ional)s. If it was an abridgement of SeNATorS I never heard that.
YR, I haven't played Bridge in decades but uses to read the bridge column to see what Cy the cynic and last with the bifocals were up to. My college partner gave up on me when I redoubled and blew the contract by not being able to get to dummy to cash the remaining tricks*. And .. Will you close and move tomorrow?
Re. Remaining xwords. I've completed thru Friday. I found them tough but I'm usually wrong. Saturday later today.
Anon@1143. Correct. He's half right. Nationals. Perhaps because they're in the National League. His point was the EXPOS became the third DC Team.
WC
*HM's mention of Saigon recalls being cajoled into a Bridge game in ChuLai. A Major thought this inebriated Lt would be easy pickings in a money game. He said dime a point. Whoa. But we played, I sobered up quick and won two rubbers and said Major owed $300. Then he pulled rank and declared the money was 'just kidding'. I should have gone to the Colonel.
OK, I'm confused (what else is new?) My paper says Adam Vincent is today's constructor?
ReplyDeleteBut, after more than two y'all called him John... I looked.
Yep, that's what the blog says (and Crossword Fiend agrees).
IM - Good news. You'd have spent an hour reassuring all the neighbors you're fine.
Misty - we have everything up but two high wreaths (need the extension ladder) and the live (well, not any more) garland. The garden store finally got their garland in today so I got DW 32 ft of it. When we're finally done, DW'll be as happy as you, I'm sure.
Hungry Mother: Your story reminded me -- Brother received his separation orders yesterday. In ~6mo, he will be a civilian for the 1st time in 23 years.
//and I wasn't bored w/ your story
CED - LOL end-time cults
Waseeley - LOL C.Moe's "shot" of Knob Creek Whiskey.
BigE - Black Bear in Stanley Hotel's lobby. Also found out Stephen King (an EDGAR winner!) stayed in spooky Room 217 [3:11]
Cheers, -T
If you want to see a scary horror movie,
ReplyDeleteWatch Steven Kings Room 1408.
The trailer does not hint at how
it will seriously mess with your head...
Not sure if this is going to work,
But yesterday's pickles had a new word...
Hi, all! Got most of today’s puzzle finished in what I consider record time for me. I actually started working on it long before the sun arose. Had to work today, so here I am now.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the first fill today was the reveal (but I had to wait a little while for perps to determine whether the end was NEAR or NIGH). Unfortunately, though, I had a DNF/FIW (take your pick), because I couldn’t cross ILS and CINQUAIN.
I cannot stand either the Minnesota Twins or the Texas Rangers, because both deserted me in Washington the two times I lived there. Sorry, C. C. and Boomer. When the Expos moved to D.C., I swore I would not get my heart broken a third time, and D.C. was so far in the past anyway, and I don’t like Bryce Harper at all, so I have no good vibes for the Nationals. I am still, however, a Washington Football Team fan, and NO, the lanyard I wear around my neck with my museum badges on it DOES NOT say Washington Football Team! HAIL…!
Always loved Estes Park. As mentioned, the Stanley Hotel is there (”Redrum, Redrum”). When I lived in Denver, I made an annual pilgrimage through Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road (which starts west of Estes Park) and over Rollins Pass, which traversed the railroad bed that was replaced by the Moffat Tunnel. Both crossed the continental divide and went down the other side of the mountain. Unfortunately, there was a cave in at the Needle’s Eye Tunnel, and the through route over Rollins Pass has been closed at that point since 1990. The local county officials are still trying to get it reopened.
Hungry Mother, I have a similar story, but it turned out a little different from yours. My buddies in tech school all went to Germany. I chose an assignment in the other direction. I was in the middle of my four year enlistment, and I put in for a consecutive overseas tour to Germany. Met my wife in Hawaii for R&R, and we stopped in our headquarters for a visit. The first sergeant asked me if I wanted to sign my reenlistment papers, while I was there.
ReplyDelete“What, reenlistment papers?”
“We aren’t going to send you to Germany with only 11 months left on your enlistment.”
“Oh, so you’ll just send me to Offutt Air Force Patch for 11 months?”
“Uh, no. When you get back to the states, you’ll be discharged.”
“Please don’t throw me in the briar patch!”
Arrived at Travis AFB at 1600 hours and was out of Uncle Sam’s Air Force (with an 11-month drop on my enlistment) by 1800!
The funny thing is that being an Army brat, I more or less had thought I'd follow in my dad’s footsteps. The problem was that the guys in my MOS were ending up back in Southeast Asia about six months after leaving. My thinking was that if I made it out of there one time, I shouldn’t temp fate. No military career, but I haven’t looked back.
So much fun in this one! Thanks John and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteAnonT, I loved your comments on brining vs BASTING! I love Alton and have met him at book signings. He’s as dry in person as he is on TV
I also love INA Garten. She’s so cool and unflappable. Everything I’m not!
Jayce, I also love Dana Sterbenow and her Alaska stories. I now eat only Copper River salmon because of her descriptions!
CED, I also saw that Pickles cartoon. I had actually heard of that word but could never have come up with it! I love Pickles.
Stay warn everyone!
That was WARM
ReplyDeleteAh, Copper River salmon. Us too!
ReplyDeleteJayce, 100 percent better than farmed!
ReplyDeleteTTP
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information about PK. If I read that it has now escaped me. My memory has turned to mush I'm sorry to say.