Theme: B AND B (38. Inn offering a morning meal, briefly ... or a hint to six puzzle answers) - Each theme entry is in the pattern of B* B*:
17A. Foamy tubful for unwinding: BUBBLE BATH.
27A. Lumber on a diamond: BASEBALL BAT.
47A. Bryan Cranston crime drama: BREAKING BAD.
62A. Fish-and-chips coating: BEER BATTER.
3D. Infant's source of nourishment: BABY BOTTLE.
30D. Icon with a left-facing arrow: BACK BUTTON.
Boomer here. Congrats to Jared Goudsmit on his LA Times debut.
My older sister, Barbara Burnikel, is pretty good at solving crosswords. She lives in San Francisco and subscribes to the New York Times.
Last Friday I needed a "Boomer Blood"
draw at the VA. and today I will receive a phone consultation from my
oncologist to let me know how I am doing. During the Blood Draw, I asked
if they had any Covid vaccine doses lying around, and the young lady
told me that they just had a clinic for vaccines the previous week and
650 veterans received shots. I was shocked by the news that all of the
recipients were 85 years or age or older. I remember years ago when I
was too young to buy cigarettes or liquor, but I never knew the day
would come where I was too young to get a shot.
Across:
5. Top dog: ALPHA. This sounds like a fraternity thing.
10. Trojan War hero: AJAX. A cleanser that you might clean your driveway with.
14. Stroller, in Sheffield: PRAM.
15. Give up, informally: BAG IT. Our Las Vegas trip was cancelled this year, so I won't have to BAG IT at the craps table.
16. Serenity "before the storm": CALM. "Serenity now" - Frank Costanza on Seinfeld.
19. Excessive publicity: HYPE.
20. Needlelike engraving tools: STYLETS.
21. Mae __, first Black woman in space: JEMISON. About 10 years younger than I. She floated aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
23. Airer of Tyler Perry's "The Oval": BET. Black Entertainment Television.
24. Harmonic: TONAL.
25. "Last Week Tonight" network: HBO. I have cable TV but I pass on paying extra for HBO.
33. Deli sandwich, initially: BLT. One of my favorites, but a little tough to open wide to eat.
34. Nobelist Wiesel: ELIE.
35. Use the exit: LEAVE. "Leaving on a Jet plane, Don't know when I'll be back again." John Denver.
36. On the __: quarreling: OUTS. Three of them are the end on an inning.
41. Whole heap: SCAD.
42. Turns to soup, as ice cream: MELTS. I have found some
excellent "Vanilla Bean" ice cream at Aldi. 1/2 fat and I lace it with
sugar-free chocolate pudding powder and some sugar free wafers.
44. Mystical vibe: AURA.
46. Jest: KID. No KIDDING - it's a great dessert.
50. Investigative journalist Nellie: BLY. HOF Twins pitcher Bert BLYleven.
51. "Check it out for yourself!": GO SEE.
52. Bird in Liberty Mutual ads: EMU. Yup, and if you ask me, they are pretty stupid ads.
54. Ali of "Love Story": MACGRAW
57. Artist's board: PALETTE.
61. Loafing around: IDLE. If you live in my state, it's called letting your car warm up in the winter.
64. Old Russian ruler: CZAR.
65. Hosp. trauma pro: ER DOC. I have a bowling buddy named Don. He is a retired ER gas passer so of course we call him "Doc".
66. Caramel-filled candy: ROLO.
67. Shift and Tab: KEYS. On the keyboard. It has taken me time
to get used to the fact that our Santa Fe does not have KEYS. Press a
button to open the doors. Put your foot on the brake and push a button
and it starts.
68. Praises highly: LAUDS.
69. Small bills: ONES. Honoring our first president but these days it doesn't buy much.
Down:
2. Very dry, as Champagne: BRUT. I seem to remember a cologne by this name.
4. Easygoing pace: AMBLE. Putt out on the hole then AMBLE to the next tee.
5. Help a robber, say: ABET. Double it $10.00 on the Pass Line.
6. Experiment sites: LABS.
7. Links org.: PGA. I was following them in Phoenix last week. A
few spectators but I did not see any masks. Okay, I did not wear a
mask when I played last summer, but I kept a distance.
8. Assassin's assignment: HIT JOB. Also Albert Pujols' assignment.
9. Greek goddess of wisdom: ATHENA.
10. Trojan War hero: ACHILLES. He must have been the guy with the bad heel.
11. Blue birds: JAYS. Toronto's MLB baseball team eh.
12. Purina rival: ALPO.
13. Marvel-ous heroes?: X-MEN.
18. Do not disturb: LET BE. "Speaking words of wisdom, LET it BE, LET it BE. Beatles.
22. Retail complex: MALL. Minnesota has a "Mall of America" on
the South side of Minneapolis. Since we live on the north side, we
don't visit it much. Have not been there at all since the virus hit.
24. Like many first-time workers: TEENAGE. My first time job was a caddy at the country club. I was fourteen. Great job and free golf every Monday morning.
25. Cold War threat: H BOMB.
26. Clearer, as a sky: BLUER. It's a bit odd. A clear blue sky
in the summer and it's very pleasant. Same clear blue sky in the winter
and you freeze your tail off.
28. Priest's robe: ALB.
29. One-named "Chandelier" singer: SIA.
31. Be of use to: AVAIL. We had a bit of snow last week and had
to AVAIL ourselves of a couple of shovels. Nothing like the Northeast
got last week however.
32. Bear in a kid's bed: TEDDY. Mr. Roosevelt on Mount Rushmore.
37. Walks drunkenly: STAGGERS. My meds prohibit alcohol in my system but sometimes I stagger anyway.
39. Name, as a knight: DUB. Hit a golf ball less than five yards.
40. Bikini top: BRA.
43. Toffee candy bar: SKOR.
45. Journalist __ Rogers St. Johns: ADELA.
48. Author Allende: ISABEL.
49. Period "ushered in": NEW ERA. This is our NEW ERA of Covid
vaccine. Minnesota has given shots to 8% of its citizens. I have
received four emails "We'll let you know" from the VA. Still waiting my
turn.
53. Paris subway: METRO. I thought it was one of those big, long sandwiches.
54. Rocking Jagger: MICK. HOFer Mantle.
55. Axlike tool: ADZE.
56. Potter's material: CLAY.
57. Jab: PROD.
58. Elementary lesson: ABCS.
59. Marketing prefix: TELE. Yes and I wish they would leave me alone.
60. Greek matchmaker: EROS.
63. Tulane URL ending: EDU. And many others.
Boomer
54 comments:
Another can't sleep night so I may be the first to comment. Thank you for the Bubbly puzzle Jared (and a debut) and your usual sterling write up, Boomer.
FIW in 11 minutes. Had "LULL" before "CALM" and NEWAGE before NEWERA. ADELE looked good until the BEER BATTER caused the change.
STYLETS was new to me.
First vaccine today because of working in school support. Hope all goes without a hitch.
Stay safe out there, and wear your mask!
Good Morning - C.C. asked that I not make any of the Superb Owl comments for which I am famous so we just made a bet and I lost. I thought the commercials were a bit over the top, but at least there were none of the stupid car insurance commercials or Joe Namath trying to sell some kind of Medicare enhancement. Have a great week !
Well done Jared and welcome to the LAT. The Bs had it and there were a couple of challenging for Monday fill STYLETS and JEMISON. Many Greek proper names and a CSO to my red betta AJAX.
Boomer you always entertain; best wishes for your medical reports. Stay warm, we are.
All Hail TOM BRADY who reaffirmed that he is the GOAT . Being a Dolphin fan I rooted against him for years but it is obvious that he is an exceptional player, but more importantly, inspires those around him to be better.
Good morning!
Wow, Rich went to Jared! Crockett1947 explained my experience perfectly. Nice debut, Jared. Best wishes on your vaccine hunt, Boomer. (I had to read your IDLE comment three times before "ear" changed to "car.")
BET/HBO: Got an email offer from Soddenlink to "bundle" cable TV with Internet. I didn't want their TV service, but the monthly price was $30 less than I'm paying for Internet alone. I tried to sign up. Foiled again. I'd have to get new house cabling and rent a set-top TV box. But, I still managed to score. The agent switched me to a discount Internet-only package, saving me almost $50/month. Sweet.
Hola!
Also unable to sleep I tackled the puzzle and found the Bees! Lots of them! Greeks were also abundantly present: ATHENA, AJAX, ACHILLES and EROS.
I love ABBA so that was quick as was LET(it)BE but I've never heard of SIA.
Since Mark was here for dinner I watched the game with him and still don't understand why if it was the L (50) they had LiV. Can anyone explain, please.
d-otto:
LOL, he went to Jared! Good one.
I never saw BREAKING BAD but the HYPE was unavoidable.
However, I have read ISABEL Allende's books; all of them, I think.
Congratulations to Jared on your LAT debut and thank you, Boomer! I hope you soon get your shot. I have an appointment next Monday.
Seize the day, everyone!
Tougher than usual Monday, which took 5:06 today. Jemison, Isabel, Macgraw, and stylets were unknown.
The Tampa Bay defense was the real star of the game yesterday. Held the mighty KC offense to zero touchdowns, and 9 points total.
AJAX and ACHILLES battled for the Greeks,
Fighting together, back-to-back (cheeks-to-cheeks?)!
When Ilium fell
The heel-man did as well,
And Ajax was left to "clean up" the keeps!
A BASEBALL BAT is made to swing
A good hard hit will make it sting --
Or so I'm told.
When ten years old
I got only OUTS with the accursed thing!
{A-, A.}
Loaded with names, but got through it. The theme was helpful. Near Natick at ELIE/SIA cross. I had an English professor at Villanova that read excerpts from “Night” from time to time.
Quick Monday morning romp as usual. A little crunchiness for a Monday like ADELA (never heard of her - but I've never heard of another ADELA so likely kept it in rather than re-doing that part of the puzzle!)
Lucina - this Super Bowl was actually 55 with the Roman numerals LV - the middle character is actually the Lombardi trophy which looks like a stylized I with a football on the top!
There weren't many notable commercials this year IMO- the John Travolta one was amusing with the gardening.
Boomer have you signed up for the shot at your county health dept as well? You might get it sooner that way.
Thanks for the write-up Boomer and congrats on the puzzle debut Jared!
Mae Jemison was the first (and I believe still the only) astronaut to Boldly go where no one has gone before, aboard the Starship Enterprise! And I note that her clue and the one immediately following it were both nods to Black History Month.
Of course the theme was obvious. Only three unknowns. SIA was filled so I didn't even notice it. BET was all perp. Jemison was perps and wags. I followed the space program and am surprised I don't recall her. Lovely photo of her. Jameson Whiskey, I recall. In Ireland it was less expensive than beer.
Here we have four entrée choices for every dinner. This week I had beer battered cod and fries or fish and chips.
BLT is one of my favorite sandwiches. Although it is not heart healthy I am a sucker for bacon. And in the summer I love local tomatoes.
After giving up tent camping about five years ago, we always stay at a B&B near the park. Alan and I really missed the B&B last summer.
In my experience, when subscribing to a new cable company I get a fabulous come-on rate for a year or so and then the price escalates.
We just received a memorial booklet for residents who died in the last six months. All of them were past 90 and some were past 100 years of age. Only two succumbed to Covid.
My PA Dutch mom called house flies MICKS.
Thanks Boomer and Jared.
YR
Good morning everyone.
Mostly easy. Almost entered 'medic' for ER DOC, but saw the need to mesh with ISABEL. Everything else was green-lighted all the way. FIR.
Light cruisers HMS AJAX and HMS ACHILLES, fought in the Battle of the River Plate against the Graf Spee.
CZAR - Cognate of German Kaiser and Dutch keizer; from the Latin Caesar. Invoking "Kaiser", my Dad would sometimes say "Wo (selbst) der Kaiser zu Fuß hingeht" when asked where he was going. (To the Loo.)
Nice puzzle, Jared, and breezy intro from Boomer.
It is a beautiful day here in Tampa Bay ...
Yup. Sunny, Cloudless Sky, 70 degrees ...
Oh, and the Super Bowl trophy ... LOL
38th day I have worn my Buccaneers Sweat Shirt.
The clean T-Shirt underneath is 7.
A "Toast-to-ALL" at sunset.
Cheers!
Baby Bottle wasn't the first "B" word/phrase that came to mind as a source of infant nutrition.
Tinman, I'm glad you said "clean" -- 7 is too many days to wear the same undershirt.
Another Superb Owl Sunday has come and gone without much of note occurring unless you care much about one team or the other. Thanks, Boomer for the write-up up. The puzzle was fitting for a Monday - and that is not always the case.
inanehiker:
Thank you! Yes, I forgot it was 55 but that middle i puzzled me all evening. Good to know. Anyway after Mark left I changed the channel to PBS. No way would I miss All Creatures Great and Small.
Fortunately not stung by the swarm of B's buzzing around this fairly str8forward Monday puzzle.
My DW's sister and BIL like to stay at BandB's, when we travel, problem is usually no elevators for aging knees.😖
ABBA: A Swedish pop group singing in English about a Spanish girl. Never heard of SIA
AJAX a "Greece cleanser" during the Trojan War. ATHENA encouraged "horse sense" to defeat Troy and aided the perp ACHILLES
I filled "skol" before SKOR!...😄 Wouldn't want a child chewing Skoal. Only one more inkover: test/TELE, which ADZE up to a FIR.
The STYLETTES 🎶
Our BABYBOTTLE history....."Me to DW"....
1978, first kid: "I want to make sure they're sterile, let the bottles boil a few more minutes
1980, 2nd kid: "I think I washed out those bottles?"
1981, 3rd kid: "How about you breast feed this one?"
Where the Hershey company performs tests, chocolate _____ LABS
Buck hunters......STAGGERS
It rests upon a bride...AVAIL
Girlfriend....PALETTE
More snow this week..surprise ☃️
Musings
-We stayed in B and B’s in New England years ago and it just wasn’t for us
-Last night proved that the NFL does have an ALPHA dog
-I can start my car remotely and have it IDLE but not worry about having it get stolen. The car won’t move until someone with a fob is actually in the car.
-BRUT, Jade East and English Leather were the scents of yute
-Today F-BOMBS are now just part of the language to some
-One-word singer today is SIA? and not ADELE
-Omahan Gene McDaniels sings 100 pounds of CLAY 50 years after it was a hit
Thank you Jared, for a crispy monday puzzle, and Boomer, thank you, for your review and your observations on Life, which I relate to whole heartedly.
On Covid shots, many think that the program has been totally mismanaged, and it is a disgusting disaster, that our sophisticated system of all things, algorith-mically, data determined and controlled, could not come out with a rational, sensible, fair and equitable solution.
The entire program has been riddled with errors and inefficiency, that is a disgrace.
I could give many examples, but I better stop.
On the puzzle, mercifully, I did not come across Sia, in the clues. It could have been clued as a Korean automaker, with a lisp ... or a texter's 'So long'.
I watched some parts of the Super Owl, and the good thing, for me, is that it only comes once a year. The cut out audience was hilarious. Who sang at the half time show ? I have to google that.
Have a great week all, and the cold weather will eventually end.
Nice Monday puzzle debut, Jared. FIR with just a few WOs of hasty fill. But no matter, perps straightened them out as well as the unknown SIA and JEMISON. Unlike Spitzboov, I actually wrote in medic before ER DOC was needed. And I put in the wrong tsar. We have had that discussion of usage before, I think. Saw the theme early so got some help pre-filling later entries. Thanks Boomer for your helpful review. It wasn't until MalMan's comment about the Superb Owl I caught what you had meant by it. I'm a little slow today.
Lucina, I had the same confusion about the SB symbol at first. Maybe the design was not the best idea? I also look forward to All Creatures Great and Small. Well done and one of the few new programs on our PBS station now.
Hope you all have a sunny day today.
Oh! Oh! I just caught on to Superb Owl and yes, I'm a bit slow especially when it comes to sports. I can never relate.
It's not Super Owl its SuperB Owl 🦉
My Daughter graduated last year from Tulane. (63A Tulane URL ending) Great School. Can't say enough good things about it. Acceptance rate is now at 12%, so you know others think highly of it as well.
As many of you can see, I even use their pre 2020 Sports logo as my Google AVATAR.
Good afternoon all. Great start to the week after suffering some humble pie last Thur, Fri.🤪 Thanks Jared for the xword and thanks Boomer for the 'splainin'. FIR
Reaching out this morning for a suggestion. My DW has taken to caring for the neighborhood feral cats. (Feeding them) One that she is quite fond of has mysteriously quit eating and drinking. She took to the vet and no help. I plan to take him to the humane society tomorrow. Vet gave it appetite stimulant and an antibiotic but kitty is wasting away. I have never seen an animal commit suicide b4. Any suggestions appreciated. 😊 Thanks.
Fun Monday puzzle, many thanks, Jared. And thank you, too, Boomer for your always neat commentary.
Lots of names, and it was cool to see MICK and ELIE and ISABEL and, most of all, ALI MACGRAW--brought back happy memories from seeing "Love Story" so many years ago.
Have a great week coming up, everybody.
Hello there,
Missed a Good Morning whilst I did quite a few chores around here. One thing leads to another.
Thanks, Jared. I liked the B AND B theme. I liked all the B's especially since they helped me all the way around. Congrats on your first LA Times Xword.
Nicely done, Boomer B. We, too, missed our first chance for a shot. We went into the family room for our dinner cocktails and my prepping of our meal. We went in at five just as the email from the city health department came in with a sign up option for 2/10. Not worried, we'll be more diligent. There's no place to go anyway. Might as well finish out the year on high alert. No Superspreaders for us.
I liked SBLV. I agree Lucina. It's kind of a goofy graphic. I agree with Lemonade's assessment of Brady. I've never seen him play here because the Pats don't play the Bears often. The very few times he played here one of my kids or grandkids wanted to go. So....Peyton Manning remains the best quarterback I have ever seen play the game (LIVE). What's different about live? Well, at the stadium there is more to observe than what the TV crews decide. I often like to watch players on the sidelines. It shows a lot about how they operate and their character: leaders, followers, temperamental, coaching or being coached, disengaged, or big babies.;-)
Off to finish up here. Then I'll talk to some of my academically errant athletes, before I study my Italian. Busy Bee.
Stay well. Find some sunshine. Have a good rest of this day. A domani.
Hi Everyone:
Late to the dance for the usual reason, I.e., getting sidetracked. No problem with the solve but I imagine newbies might struggle a bit with Achilles, Jemison, Isabel, and Adela. Then again, perps were fair, so maybe not. The top row had a nice symmetry to it with Achilles Alpha Ajax, and Skor and Rolo added some sweetness. The theme may have been B and B, but Jared had his A Game going: ABBA, Alpha, Aura, PGA, Athena, Sia, Bra, Adela, and Era.
Thanks, Jared, for an enjoyable solve and congrats on the debut and thanks, Boomer, for the generous serving of chuckles and nostalgia. Good luck with your tests and vaccine schedule,
I had 3 scam calls before 10:30 this morning, two with the same spoofed name but two different numbers, using my area code and my prefix
numbers. A caller last week did leave a message suggesting that if I didn’t contact Social Security immediately, I was facing possible jail time.
So far, I’m free as a bird. 😈
JJM @ 12: 04 ~ I still remember the picture of your very young ☘️ children.
Have a great day.
Please excuse the jumbled paragraph. Gremlins are at it again! 🐵🙈🙉🙊
BET??? I had HBO?? Oops, my BET was all perps, never saw the clue. Phew, three bad Squares on a Monday would have ruined my day.
"Stupid" and AD are synonyms today. The bar on stupidity was set early by Geico.
Ah, Love Story. The ultimate tear jerker. Ali had a fling with Steve I recall*
Lots of Trojan War clueing today. Just missing Hector**. I never spotted EROS.
Ditto on the caddying at 14-17. Re. Mantle: You forgot the The(MICK)
Yep. Can't answer the phone anymore. Ya want me, text me.
I'm just beginning to get D-O's Jared lol. NtSo Superb Owl. Lemonade, so ADELA, SIA and ISABEL*** are household names?
LIV??? The thingy with the football on top is not Roman Numeral "I". But I can't find an explanation of what it's supposed to represent. Thanks InaneH.
RayO, I like PALETTE for Girl Friend that's not a girlfriend.
Mme D, as Tin said, not hard to find Sunshine here in FLA. And yes, the TShirt is de rigueur - for the AC.
WC
* Yep, they were even married
**N(ot)t(o)S(peak)o(f) Helen, Priam,Odysseus…
***My Allende is Salvatore. If not a suicide then quite convenient. Picard, beware the moderator
Puzzling thoughts:
I am a member of a Facebook Group called: "Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory". I received an alert earlier today that Jared Goudsmit, our constructor du jour, had posted on the Group page. Here's what he had to say:
"Hey, y'all! A while back, I asked whether BET and I BET counted as a dupe if BET was clued as Black Entertainment Television. I just wanted to say I appreciate the feedback – I redid a good third of the grid, more than worth it to feel satisfied with the final product! The puzzle is my LA Times debut as of today: I BET is now ABCS, and I kept BET clued as the channel! Thanks for your help, hope you enjoy!"
I replied to him with: "Just did it - pen to paper - in The Arizona Republic. Very good debut. It felt more like a mid-week puzzle but the cluing made for an easier “Monday” solve."
ATLGranny --> I too inked MEDIC before correcting to ER DOC
Boomer - good job recapping
IF I had any nits to pick here it would be the ABET/BET and BAT/BATTER dupes, but the use of 6 themers in a 15x15 must have meant that Jared had to put in some similar words to fill.
Oddly, ADELA was one I knew; JEMISON was perped, although JETISON was my first thought! How cool that an astronaut could've had that last name ... or maybe even JETSON?!
Lots of Greek words/names today, and two similar (SKOR and ROLO) candy bars
BLUER? Well, if you really want to see BLUER skies come to Arizona. The blue quality to our area is unlike I've ever seen
I actually watched this year's NFL Championship Game for the football, not the commercials. The few commercials I did see were nothing to write home about; and in the end, neither was the game. The Chiefs were completely outmatched last night
My haiku/Moe-Ku du jour idea (oddly enough) came from my horoscope reading. This is targeted to parents of toddlers:
When potty-training
Accidents occur. Don't fret.
Accept, undie turd [sic]
IMO, super easy Monday. Zipped right through.
>> Roy
SIA's appearances in major publication puzzles:
LA Times - Feb. 8, 2021
WSJ Daily - Jan. 19, 2021
LA Times - Dec. 4, 2020
WSJ Daily - Nov. 2, 2020
USA Today - Oct. 8, 2020
New York Times - Oct. 5, 2020
USA Today - Sept. 14, 2020
New York Times - Aug. 30, 2020
Universal Crossword - Aug. 21, 2020
USA Today - Aug. 8, 2020
USA Today - Aug. 1, 2020
New York Times - July 12, 2020
USA Today - July 1, 2020
New York Times - June 30, 2020
Universal Crossword - June 20, 2020
USA Today - April 29, 2020
WSJ Daily - April 20, 2020
New York Times - April 4, 2020
USA Today - March 23, 2020
USA Today - Feb. 18, 2020
WSJ Daily - Feb. 03, 2020
Universal Crossword - Jan. 31, 2020
New York Times - Jan. 26, 2020
New York Times - Jan. 24, 2020
WSJ Daily - Oct. 24, 2019
Universal Crossword - Oct. 10, 2019
New York Times - Sep. 19, 2019
New York Times - Sep. 01, 2019
USA Today - Jul. 30, 2019
WSJ Daily - Jul. 13, 2019
Universal Crossword - Jul. 09, 2019
New York Times - Jul. 07, 2019
USA Today - May. 16, 2019
USA Today - Mar. 16, 2019
USA Today - Feb. 23, 2019
The Puzzle Society - Nov. 22, 2018
LA Times - Nov. 17, 2018
A quick and easy Monday crossword.
My Mom loved BLTs, I would bring one to her on Saturdays. She passed the love of that sandwich to me, now I think of her every time I get one. Jersey Mike’s has a good one.
I won’t stay at a BANDB, if I’m going to pay to stay I want all the bells and whistles.
Stay safe.
I stayed at a BandB only once and that was in Alaska on our way to view the glaciers. Not many options were available for overnight stays and it was clean and comfortable. The owners cooked breakfast for us in their kitchen. Quite cozy.
The glacier sighting was absolutely freezing! I have never been so cold in my life even though I wore warm clothes and the crew had extra blankets to cover us. But the experience was worth it.
I liked this puzzle. STYLETS is a word I have never heard before; learning moment.
Had to change NEW AGE to NEW ERA.
Ray - O - Sunshine, your PALETTE was funny.
Yeah, Ali MACGRAW was married to Steve McQueen and according to her he was a nasty piece of work.
Yeah, I scratched my head for a while at that "i" thing between the L and the V.
It seemed to me Mr. Mahomes was totally flummoxed and made many of his throws out of sheer desperation.
I stayed at a B&B once many years ago. Like Gary and AnonymousPVX I prefer a hotel or motel.
Good wishes to you all.
Lemonade @ 3:21
S(orry) I A(sked)? 🤔
Sorry you weren't old enough to get your shot, Boomer. Or maybe I should say, I'm sorry you haven't been contacted to get a shot.
I guess I am still one of the lucky ones. I am only on the cusp of my 82nd b'day, but my university emailed me to come and get my shot.
At least my first one. I am still crossing my fingers that they will have enough serum available to do the 2nd one.
A good Monday PZL from Mr. Goudsmit. Straightforward cluing, fun to do.
My only hesitation was at 54A. I kept misreading "All" for "Ali."
What was "ALL of 'Love Story'"? TEAR-JERKER wouldn't fit.
TREACLE? SACCHARINE? Finally figured it out.
It always feels weird to write CZAR in a XWD instead of TSAR. Will wonders never...?
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal on the near side.
WooHOO! Its anagram uses all 15 letters! The Jackpot!!
A timely reference to "Incurable Diseases."
Expressed here as...
"UNTREATABLE AILS"!
Cc emailed me requesting a cake...
(Been lurking of late)
(Hmm, I'm a poet & don't know it...)
Anywho,
Carol, can you hear me now?
I first thought the LIV at the Super Bowl logo was LIV for 'Live' or 'Life' , in spanish. Then I realized the 'I' was the football trophy itself, icon-ized in the middle of the Super Bowl number emblem.
It was confusing for a lot of people, since both team players and their staff were wearing that logo. 'Life' in spanish, probably would be 'Vida'. Live would be 'en Vivo'.
Stylets, in another sense. are also the common intubating tubes used in or with laryngoscopes, to ventilate the patient lungs, and/ or introduce gases for general anesthesia by anesthesiologists. They are, of necessity, softer and flexible. Other medical stylets are probes, in general.
Stylets in engraving, of course, are a well known alternate meaning of the word.
I really do not understand why bat meaning hit at and batter meaning a flour mixture are dupes. They are entirely unrelated words. The same with bet and abet. Are mist meaning water droplets suspended in air and Mister as a title of respect for a man dupes? Please explain. If they actually are dupes I think they should not be. Ymmv.
YR @ 5:30
I realize the difference in meaning. In my brief attempts at puzzle construction I've been critiqued and mentored to refrain from using similar words. Would be akin to using ASEA at ATSEA in the same puzzle. But as my post indicated, it was a minor nit. No big deal.
Further to YR:
And BATTER could mean the person using the BAT in baseball. Cluing made them different. That's all! ;^)
So, if we had mannequin and Manny Mota* in the same xword that too would be illegal clueing?
I lean with YR on this one.
Then again, the niceities of clueing are not my bailiwick.
WC
*Pinch-hitter extraordinaire for the Dodgers a few decades ago.
Manic Monday. Thanks for the fun, Jared (congrats on your debut) and Boomer (yes I smiled at those Blue JAYS - is BLUER a dupe?)
I saw all those Bs early in the solve and the B AND B theme filled easily. I liked that the themes ran both across and down. I also noted a SCAD of other Bs too.
But I had a little crunch to deal with; I will blame Canadian disadvantage for not knowing all the networks. Thankfully the totally unknown BET filled with perps. But I had a personal Natick at the cross of ?BOMB and ?BO. I toyed with A and N (Atomic or Nuclear) but really should have seen H. Yes, HG, I did think of F too😮
Having MICK already in place saved me from entering the usual Tsar.
Yes, Just the Facts @9:22am, I immediately thought of Breast Milk for 3D. It fit the spot but not the perps.
Montreal has a METRO also.
I have read ISABEL Allende’s A Long Petal of the Sea.
Wishing you all a good evening.
I understand that those are the rules constructors must follow. There are more puzzle rules that seem arcane to me. I go for meaning. I would not like to see bat meaning to hit at and batter meaning the player who hits the ball in the same puzzle. But, like a two year old, I always wonder WHY, Which has not been answered. No biggie, just idle thoughts.
A+ A+ !!!!!!
Hi All!
Congrats Jared on your LAT debut; impressive number of themers.
//I thought we were going to surround ourselves with As at 1st, AbbA, AlphA, AjAx, AurA, AdelA; some more C words and ABCs coulda been the theme :-)
Thanks Booomer for kicking-off the after-party! Fun expo, as always.
WOs: PRAt->PRAM
ESPs: ELIE | SIA, MACGRAW | ISABEL, ADELA
Fav: AMBLE above STAGGER is cute.
{A, A}
Nice job on the DR, OMK.
Funny Moe-Ku
BTW, C.Moe, did you tell Jared about The Corner? :-)
LOL Pal-ette, Ray-O.
Thanks for the 100lbs of Clay, HG.
Wish I had some advice SansBeach; poor kitty :-(
Hand-up: I kept thinking they were being cute with the trophy for the LIV numerals and that it was only SB-54. I couldn't recall how long ago the NFL went w/ Arabic numbers at 50 'cuz they thought L alone would confuse folks or just look stupid.
DW & I like to stay in B&Bs for our getaways. For our 25th, we went leaf-peeping and stayed at Round Barn Farm in VT. At breakfast we had the apple-cider I watched them press a day earlier - that alone was worth the trip :-)
Enjoyed reading everyone!
Cheers, -T
I have little experience with B&Bs, but I do remember my first which was owned by a couple who bred Labradors. I love the place and especially the THE PUPPIES .
Two DNFs over the weekend. Well, there were three, if we count not watching the second half of the football game.
Congratulations, Jared! Thanks, Boomer!
Yes, there were too many names again. Only a correct guess (I won’t go so far as to say it was wild) with the “I” in ELIE/SIA saved me. Perps took care of the other unknowns.
I had promised that if the Chiefs made it, I would watch it, but only because of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. (The last PROFESSIONAL sports event I had watched was last year’s super bowl. I’ve not given up on college sports YET.) I really didn’t feel like watching the second half of the slaughter, so I didn’t. I thought the officiating was horrible – but it had no effect on the outcome of the game.
YR @ 7:41 - neither have I been told "why". I've worked with both CC and Mark McClain, two well-respected constructors, and they've both said that editors are less likely to accept certain repeated words and or phrases, among other "no-no's". I have yet to submit one of my puzzles to the LA Times so I don't know their leniency. I DO know just how difficult it is to form a puzzle with multiple "theme'rs". The amount of "B's", and where they cross each other, makes the "fill" that much harder, so in this case perhaps the editor was more lenient. Don't know.
-T @ 8:10 - no, I did not mention the "corner" to Jared. Thought about it, though. Maybe when he does another here
We love our B&B. Much more comfortable and better furnished than a motel. And the breakfasts sure beat motel breakfasts. The owner is a great hostess This B&B is in the town where I grew up so the owner and I know some of same people, old home week. This makes me eager for a safe summer so we can return. I loved relaxing on the shady porch reading when I had down time.
Our newspaper, the Arizona Republic had an article featuring the 50th anniversary of Love Story. I only saw the headline but will read the article at a later time, possibly tomorrow. Today I dropped off my tax information which I had spent the weekend compiling.
Speaking of weekend, it was a surprise to learn that the featured singer was named Weeknd! Who knew? We spent the entire length of his song wondering who he was.
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