20. Give up on: WALK AWAY FROM.
33. Serve as a reminder: JOG ONE'S MEMORY.
41. Do an accountant's job: RUN THE NUMBERS.
55. Write briefly and quickly: DASH OFF A NOTE.
Nice, tight theme - each phrase begins with a word describing physical activity that uses one's legs.
Across:
1. "__ All That": 1999 movie: SHE'S.
5. Diver's gear: FINS. More leg work.
9. "Fancy seeing you here!": OH HEY!
14. Hoof it on a bad knee, say: LIMP. Again with the leg work!
15. Ecstatic internet shout: WOOT.
16. Driver's choice: ROUTE.
17. Oberlin's state: OHIO. Home to home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students.
18. "We tried, but this won't work": IT'S USELESS.
22. Superman's makeup?: STEEL. Nice clue.
23. Fashion plate: FOP. A vain man excessively concerned with his looks, clothes, and manners.
24. Kerfuffle: ADO.
27. Construction girder: I-BAR. Is this the same as an I-beam?
31. Dubuque denizen: IOWAN.
37. Mic __: triumphant move: DROP.
39. Finnish company that created Angry Birds: ROVIO.
40. James Patterson hero __ Cross: ALEX.
44. Cheapen: ABASE.
45. Subtle summons: PSST.
46. Run-of-the-mill: MEH. Blah.
47. Nonsense: ROT. Poppycock.
50. Yellowfins, e.g.: TUNAS.
59. Cause of a crash: FATAL ERROR.
62. Family __: TREE.
63. Cup or star: AWARD.
64. Emerald City princess: OZMA. From The Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
65. "Haven't decided yet": I MAY.
66. Uses WhatsApp, say: TEXTS.
67. Eject: BOOT.
68. Tibetan title: LAMA. A teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. As in the Dalai Lama.
Down:
2. Drum kit item with a pedal: HI HAT. (Seen at left.)
3. "Into the Wild" star Hirsch: EMILE.
4. Took the mic: SPOKE.
5. "Just saying," in 66-Across: FWIW. Acronym for For What It's Worth.
6. Kappa preceder: IOTA. Greek alphabet. See this table.
7. Meddlesome: NOSY.
8. Nonsense companion?: STUFF. It's a saying, "stuff and nonsense."
9. Black-and-white dessert: OREO PIE.
10. Ian who plays Bilbo Baggins: HOLM. Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit of the Shire, the main protagonist of The Hobbit and a secondary character in The Lord of the Rings.
11. It might be adjusted in Photoshop: HUE.
12. Kang and Kodos, on "The Simpsons": ETS. Extra Terrestrials
19. Sellout letters: SRO. Standing Room Only.
21. Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego: ALI G.
24. Mil. truants: AWOLS. Away WithOut Leave. Looks strange in plural form.
25. "You wouldn't __!": DARE.
26. Black gemstone used to make beads: ONYX.
28. Snooze inducer: BORE. Haha.
29. Auth. unknown: ANON.
30. Gun: REV UP. We have new neighbors across the street. They have his and her hot rods and every morning about 5:30a outside my bedroom window they REV UP on their way to work. One of my least favorite sounds.
32. Actor Epps: OMAR.
33. Fish story notable: JONAH. Biblical story.
34. Backs (out): OPTS. Misleading clue.
35. Popular video game series, with "The": SIMS.
36. Unruly groups: MOBS.
37. Scot's Scotch order: DRAM. The fluid dram (or fluid drachm in British spelling) is defined as 1⁄8 of a fluid ounce, and is exactly equal to: 3.6966911953125 ml in the US customary system.
38. Yahoo: RUBE. Funny word. 1 : an awkward unsophisticated person : rustic. 2 : a naive or inexperienced person.
42. Foreshadows: HERALDS.
43. R&B great James: ETTA. Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins. James' father was white and has never been identified but James speculated that he was the pool player, Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone.
48. Ending with malt: OSE. Maltose is a sugar produced by the breakdown of starch.
49. Ache: THROB.
51. "__ we meet again": UNTIL.
52. Fashionista Kamali: NORMA. She is best known for the "sleeping bag" coat. Just no.
53. Likely roster for the big game: A TEAM.
54. "I'm outta here": SEE YA.
55. Bar flier: DART. Cute play on 'barfly.'
56. Rice-shaped pasta used in salads: ORZO.
57. Acronymic anxiety about being excluded from the fun: FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out.
58. Group with pledges: FRAT.
59. The 1% in 1% milk: FAT.
60. Flabbergast: AWE.
61. Sales __: TAX. Oregon has no sales tax. They make up for it by hiking up property taxes.
Notes from C.C.:
1) Happy 54th anniversary to Husker Gary and his amazing wife Joann. Here's a picture of them with their grandson Hawkin, who plays French horn in the Lincoln Youth Symphony.
2) Happy birthday to Chairman Moe (Chris), our fantastic Friday sherpa! Margaret is from Minnesota.
 |
| Chris and his love Margaret |
3) D-Otto lost electricity and internet early Monday morning. Luckily he has a generator. Anon-T just updated me with below message:
"Our power has been out since Monday at 8a which means no heat. We’re gathered with layers around an inefficient gas fireplace (exists mostly for looks) trying to stay warm.
A pipe valve popped off from the force of freezing water. The ice dam thawed today spewing water everywhere so I had to shut off water to the house. That might get fixed tomorrow.
Anyway, by Saturday all this cold should be over. :-)"
The story of JONAH I'm sure that you all know.
ReplyDeleteServed to a whale for brunch, and taken down below.
In the whale's tummy
A TUNA was his buddy.
They played poker. When he left, a FIN he still did owe!
NORMA was a femme fatale, a terror.
It was USELESS to resist the siren snarer.
SHE broke a dozen hearts,
Until she aimed her arts
At EMILE, who was Gay, a FATAL ERROR!
Thank you, Julian, for this clever puzzle. It is good for the earlier generations to keep abreast of the languages of TEXTing and gaming. The theme fills helped with the solve but I had to JOG my MEMORY for WOOT, FWIW and FOMO. Keep up the stimulating work and we hope to see you again soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melissa, for the clarification of some of the foggier aspects of the puzzle today.
I had a neighbor that bought a 5.0 Liter Mustang with the remote start. Every time he fired it up in the morning my heart would skip a beat - or two. Of course, suggesting he dial down the roar only elicited more roaring. Needless to say, we no longer live there.
On a personal note, I sat for the second vaccination and now I am feeling stronger every day.
Very hard for a Wednesday puzzle. So many things I have never even heard of. FOMO, Woot, Ozma,
ReplyDeleteFWIW to name just a few.
I agree that this puzzle is very difficult. Many obscure items and poor clues. Not an enjoyable solve.
DeleteFIR in spite of names and FOMO. For some reason the TAX/TEXTS cross was hard for me. I had to run the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteIf this puzzle HERALDS the use of modern TEXTing jargon I'm doomed to fail. Overall it was fairly easy to fill the long phrases and then attach the hanging fruit from them. But I was lost on WOOT, FWIW, SIMS, FOMO and ROVIO. Leaving two blank spots is utterly unsatisfying.
When I TEXT I type complete sentences and use actual words.
OZMA was my last fill and should have realized its origin. Luckily ORZO is a pasta I'm familiar with.
I'm sorry to say, Julian, you stymied me today. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for enlightening me on the above noted jargon.
Happy birthday, Chris!
Happy anniversary, Gary and Joanne! I hope you can celebrate with a feast.
Thank you, C.C., for the report on d-o and I hope Tony and family are safe. My prayers go out to all suffering from the terrible winter storms.
Please stay safe and warm, everyone!
Not quite a sprint for me, as it took 6:56 to finish.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know Ozma or the so called fashionista.
Fairly certain I don't know any fashionistas.
Thanks for the great expo, mb.
ReplyDeleteI found the theme early on, but I had some of the same problems as others. I didn't know OZMA and FOMO so I missed the M. I missed the W in WOOT and FWIW. I had HOOT. Now I realize I had seen FWIW before. I correctly wagged the I in SIMS and ROVIO. This seemed crunchy for a Wednesday. Two bad cells.
I wrote a long blog yesterday, but the computer ate it. I will copy this one before I publish.
OKL, I especially loved your first poem yesterday. Lovely cadence. I like best the ones that sound great when read aloud.
DO, so glad you have the generator. Anon T, sorry for your troubles. I hope you have heat soon. Where in the house did the water leak? I hope it did little damage. My nephew and family in Houston also have no electricity. They are very cold and are worrying about the pipes.
Sleet was predicted before dawn yesterday, but it was warm enough to have rain instead. Yesterday afternoon and today we have blue skies and sunshine. Tomorrow we expect more snow.
Happy birthday, Chris and Gary.
ReplyDeleteAnon @8:07 was I.
YR
HBDTY Moe, and HATY Gary and Joann
ReplyDeleteFor a "Julian Lim", I found this to be very doable. He has been my nemesis over the years. I didn't (don't) know NORMA but it was filled by the time I got there.
Thanks, melissa and julian
A lucky FIR today. I agree that there were problems with fill but the themers were not bad and helped as Lucina said. The NE corner was slow, especially when I tried whoOPIE before seeing OREO PIE. A new use of our favorite oreo fill. WOOT (used by AnonT some?) was slow to come, but at last I remembered FWIW. I had chaTS before TEXTS but perps fixed that. Names I didn't know were perped. I noticed that recently on Jeopardy Angry Birds and Finnish company were used but the company name ROVIO wasn't, so it was new to me. Thanks, Julian, for waking us up on Wednesday, and Melissa B for clearing our heads of questions.
ReplyDeleteThanks C.C. for the updates on DO and AnonT. Hope help comes sooner than later!
Happy Birthday to C Moe! Happy Anniversary to Husker Gary! We'll celebrate with you all and send warm wishes to everyone here.
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteJulian's puzzle got off to a slow start in the north, FWIW & STUFF were WAGs and I'd never heard or seen WOOT. SHE'S & HOLM were also unknowns up north but I don't WALK AWAY FROM challenges and I FIR. I figured the theme after WALK and JOG started and anticipated RUN, DASH or SPRINT would follow.
FOMO, ETS, ALEX, EMILE, NORMA and OZMA were unknowns solved from perps. I agree with anon@6:23 on his/her assessment of a Wed. puzzle.
ROVIO- it was on Jeopardy a few days ago; only reason I knew it.
ETS- this Simpson has never seen a Simpson's show but know all the characters from crossword puzzles.
I-BAR- turn it sideways and it's a H-BAR. Not to be confused with angle-iron.
STUFF- I've only heard "stuff OF nonsense", not stuff AND nonsense.
RUBE & Yahoo- when will the PC police try to make those non-words?
40 years ago I had the same luck as Tony. Luckily I've had no problems with the 'deep freeze'. I never lost power but my Generac took care of power after the October hurricane and it would have handled this too. When I built my new house in 1990 I made sure that Anon-T's fate wouldn't happen to me. The few pipes for the 2nd floor bathroom in the attic are insulated. Fiberglass AND Styrofoam insulation in the walls (call me anal).
Happy Birthday to both Gary and Ch. Moe !!
ReplyDeleteSorry to learn of D.O's travails and those of others here impacted by the freezing weather.
It is always fun when Kang and Kodos visit our planet. "We must go forward, not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom."
Happy 54th Anniversary Husker Gary & Joann.
ReplyDelete(I was always able to make it to the 1st Anniversary in my marriages).
Happy Birthday Chairman Moe.
Had a learning moment at 64-a with OZMA (Thank you ESP, Every-Single-Perp).
Hope everyone is Safe-N-Sound.
Cheers!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary to Gary and Joanne. Best wishes.
Two red letters in the center bottom. Like Lucina said, too much texting-shortcut fill. @ 61d, my puzzle did not have the line following Sales, so I had to assume 'TAX' was meant.
CSO to all the Anons with ANON.
Sorry about all the Sturm und Drang for our Texas contingent. Hope you cope and stay well. The maps showing outages on the Poweroutage site are telling.
Thanks MB for starting us off.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThough the theme was simple and obvious early on, some of the fill needed perps which, in my case, made the solve more difficult than a typical Wednesday, the culprits being Rovio, Ozma, Holm, Norma, Woot and SIMs. I didn’t care for the two forced plurals, I.e., Tunas and AWOL and while I know what FWIW and FOMO mean, I don’t care for Text-ese in crosswords. Speaking of ese, that’s what I entered for Malt ending, as in the canine Maltese.
Thanks, Julian, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, Melissa, for your detailed commentary.
Happy Anniversary, Gary and Joann, and best wishes for many more to come.🥂
Happy Birthday, Chris, hope you celebrate in style! 🎂🎁🎈🎉🎊
DO and Anon T, here’s hoping you both get back to normal quickly, with a minimum of hardship or damage.
Have a great day.
This was a smooth solve for a Wednesday - especially being a Julian Lim puzzle. In grade school middle son was really into reading all of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, so OZMA popped in as a first fill for that section.
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa for the blog!
We are having our last snowstorm of this series this morning - glad I didn't have to go to work today - Thinking of all who are dealing with the power outages - so far my sis in Fort Worth is doing fine - but friends in the Houston area are dealing with power outages. We have a chance of the rolling outages - but hopefully the measures everyone is taking around here will help to avert that!
HBD to Chris and happy anniversary to Gary & Joann!
ReplyDeleteThank you Julian Lim for a rather difficult CW, and Melissa Bee for all the explanations on your blog. The cluing was understandably rather difficult. FWIW.
I was unfamiliar with many. many terms and words, but the main aim of Crosswords is for to Live and Learn. If you have Learnt nothing, it's just a waste of time.
Happy Birthday to Chairman Moe, and Happy Anniversary to HuskerG and Joann.
Prayers for our folks, 'down under', in the US, who are affected by cold weather, and hope it resolves itself soon, preferably as soon as possible.
WhatsApp is truly a miracle, its just not the texting, it has enabled convenient transfer of loads of internet sharing. First there was VoIP, which reduced the cost of all international telephone calls by 90 percent, then WhatsApp reduced it by another 95 percent ... essentially Free ... Now, you can talk to your family, halfway around the world, 24 hours a day, as if they were in the room, next door. Like all things free, it invites Spam, and can quickly clog up your entire phone memory... @#*#@!!!
Have a great rest of the week, everyone.
Forgot to wish CM a Happy Birthday. Hope your day is special.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks Julian for an interesting puzzle. MB's tour through the grid was a nice stroll.
I have heard the Text answers occasionally but it took perps to totally fill them in. They're not something I use a lot, so, they are not committed to the front part of my memory. They sort of lurk in the back somewhere.
I didn't get the theme until the end, so knowing it didn't help fill anything in.
Happy Birthday to Chairman Moe, and Happy Anniversary to HG and his bride.
I hope you all get your power back soon. Being cold is no fun, especially when it results in broken pipes. A Generac really sounds like a good idea.
The storm in Texas is headed our way and they are predicting freezing rain with about .25 inches of ice accretion (again) and 8 to 12 inches of new snow starting late tonight and on into Friday. The countryside in central Pennsylvania is all white, but it ceased being snow and is now a solid block of foot deep ice. The high temperature is predicted for the high teens today. The snowblower is gassed up and ready to tackle the next onslaught.
Be safe, stay warm and please wear your masks.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Thanks for the good wishes. Realizing that lovely woman has spent 54 years with me fills me with AWE!
-It is 5F this morning which is 28F higher than yesterday
-I didn’t have a single cell filled in the top five rows and then the great Superman clue JOGGED my memory and two minutes later the entire top was done.
-ROUTE – Like Robert Frost I sometimes take the road less travelled
-From the alley in Florence, “PSST, wanna buy a Rolex for $20?”
-FATAL ERROR for the Challenger – Ignoring what might happen to O-rings in cold weather
-Covid ended Husker Volleyball’s string of 260 straight SRO matches
-Hark! The HERALD angels sing…
-Norma and other fashionistas – “It’s fashionable because I say so!”
-In my high school it was A-Team/B-Team. Today it is Varsity/Junior Varsity
-I’m sorry to hear about your problems D-O, hang in there. Who else is going to critique my writing? :-)
Wonder where Mr Lim(b) got the idea for this ambulatory puzzle? Limped my way through.
ReplyDeleteFWIW I sussed the theme when I saw WALK and DASH and crunch numbers wouldn't fit..RUN fit the space and the theme. But alas, FIW...had OHHaY crossed with aTS..forgot who Kang and Kodos were..👽👽
To FIR requires all clues to JOGONESMEMORY.
By reflex started to fill SCUBA for diver's gear obviously not enough spaces. HItop I learned from prior puzzles but wrong: HIHAT. Guessed at OZMA. I recalled L. Frank Baum (born down the road in Chittinango NY) had written a follow-up OZ story with that title. Knew FOMO when looking up its meaning attached to an emoji a few months ago (fear of missing out). But WOOT?😖... It's not family ties but 🌳
🦈 Fish story name? Nemo? Dora?..Ah!! Must be "A Fish Called Wanda" ..(great 80's flick with Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis), still wrong!.. perped JONAH 🐳 . (How does STUFF accompany nonsense?) When I was addicted to playing Angry Birds I must have seen ROVIO hundreds of times but it needed perps today. SIMS toadily unknown
OREOPIE? Two chocolate pies with a creme filling between 'em? Yum! 😋
A floating shot of scotch ____ buoy....DRAM
To afford and conduct war expect a ____ ...TAX
French ends.....FINS
Hope power is back up for those without. 🔌
Happy Birthday and many MOE!!
Happy Anniversary Gary & Joann
On a tough enough Wednesday Jeremy throws internet CANT at me. My WAGging skills are sub PAR so WOOT had a Y. I'd completely forgotten ALIG from a recent xword but perped it in.
ReplyDeleteAs I did ROVIO. And I missed M. OZrA. I'll bet I read several Baum books. Allegories of turn of the century politics.
There was a HI HAT bar in Boston's Combat Zone.
In the birth of texting, abbreviations were de rigueur as keystrokes were are at a premium. I use FYI although I like this FWIW. I spent HS in FOMO land. Ironically I was in a distinct minority who knew about the teacher who had the child with the student. I almost blurted it out at a reunion. Said student was there.
I second YR* on Owen's lovely limerick (#1 esp)
HA to HG, HBD to C-MOE; Love that pic Chris.
My (Non) FATAL ERROR was not understanding "Stand your ground" applied to driving in FLA. In Boston rule #1 was "Don't hit anybody or anything"**
This was a mix of late and early week difficult. States and the usual HF helped. Two pure Naticks hurt. Painless FIW.
WC
* Notice I always add WC at the end. I always know it's you after two sentences.
** Rule #2: Don't let the other driver know rule #1.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteRay-o @ 11:08 —> Floating shot of Scotch: DRAM bouy! 😂 Your best by far. Classic. Mic 🎤 drop!
Happy Anniversary to HG and your bride. Enjoy the celebration!
Thanks melissa bee for the recap of what I found to be a most difficult puzzle. As Irish Miss said, the plethora of abbreviations and acronyms related to text messaging were a bit too much. Ditto, that OZMA, ROVIO, the cluing for ETS, SIMS, et al, are known immediately only to those who are familiar with their source. I’ve watched the Simpsons infrequently and would not know Kang and Kodos if their spaceship landed in my front yard! I recall SIMS from when my kids were into the early video games (they’re both now 40+), but having never been an Angry Bird, ROVIO was a complete WAG/perp. Needless to say, my puzzle grid is awash in FATAL ERRORS with several write-overs. I ended looking up OZMA as FOMO never came to mind. That crossing was today’s Natick.
Thanks for the birthday greetings. 68 years young. Probably a “kid” to some of you!! 🤡 Margaret and I are going for a hike in a new location later today. The Hieroglyphic Trail in the Superstition Wilderness. Tonight she’s going to treat me to dinner out ... will be our first outside the house dining event in almost a year ... and despite my birthday falling on Ash Wednesday, I’m gonna have meat ...
Spoiler Alert: you all are gonna have a blast with Friday’s puzzle ... just sayin ...
Neat Wednesday puzzle, Julian--many thanks. Enjoyed seeing two states appear--OHIO and IOWA. And helpful commentary, Melissa, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the terrible power problems in so many areas around the country. My heart goes out to families with freezing weather and no power for heat. D-Otto and Anon-T, hope your problems get resolved soon.
Happy birthday, Chairman Moe. And have a lovely anniversary, Chris and Husker Gary.
And have a good day, everybody.
A bit too many proper names for my taste. But I did get the WALK-JOG-RUN-DASH sequence to indicate ever faster movement. As a child we watched "The Wizard of Oz" every year. But I never heard of OZMA. Apparently she was not part of that story.
ReplyDeleteUnruly MOBS were very much in the news lately. FOMO drives a lot of behavior and is a concept worth understanding. I did not understand the clue for OPTS?
The puzzle was valuable to me for the learning moment about KANG and KODOS in the Simpsons. They are two Star Trek characters. The Simpsons is full of hidden meanings and references like this.
Here is the story of KANG the Klingon.
Here is the story of KODOS.
KANG was a worthy adversary. KODOS was on the good guys team but was forced to make an impossible decision. He was head of a remote outpost colony whose food supply had been destroyed. He made the decision to save some colonists by killing others.
DNF by choice. This whole thing was a dreadful slog.Pop culture trainwreck.Way too much obscure pop culture crap and names.
ReplyDeleteI feel very sorry for those who live in normally warm places that are getting the Arctic weather. Your places are not prepared for this. Burst pipes are horrific. I grew up in places that were cold and appreciate every day I don't have to deal with this.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, climate change has the effect of diverting the Arctic air streams far south at times. These major disruptions and extreme weather patterns are going to be the new normal until we can fix the root problem.
From Last Thursday:
Alice wrote "Can we describe Picard as 'a mere mortal'?"
I am honored by your generous comment.
From Yesterday:
Lucina Thank you for the very kind words about my photos.
CrossEyedDave Thank you for asking about the location of the cave where we saw the bats.
Here is a Google Satellite Map of the approximate location.
It is hard for me to picture the exact location this way, but that is within about 100 feet of it. There are no trails. You need a guide or a lot of luck! I am usually up for being a guide there. Where do you live?
Picard, you do the most amazing hikes and events!
ReplyDeleteBecky
happy anniversary HG et al...
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Chairman Moe,
(the other cake said "to my favorite stooge..."
Based on the provided GPS coordinates,
here 8s more 8nformation on Picard Playground.
Addendum
ReplyDelete-Our Monday constructor Stella Zawistowski sings in the Oratorical Society of New York that usually performs at Carnegie Hall. I wrote to her and asked her to link to some of their performances and she did so yesterday. This year Covid has forced them to perform the Messiah this very unique setting and it is fabulous. I posted this yesterday but am hoping more people see it and treat themselves to some wonderful music.
-Also, thanks for the lovely well wishes. We are off to Omaha with some lobster and crab in our gastronomical crosshairs.
My apologies to Gary and Joann. Happy Anniversary!!!
ReplyDeleteBig Easy,
ReplyDeleteHow could you get both FOMO and OZMA by perps, when they are perp to each other?
This was a difficult Wednesday. FIW due to the M in OZMA/FOMO. I have seen Wizard of Oz plenty of times, but I don't remember Ozma. I had heard of FOMO before, but my memory couldn't pull the trigger. Too many other acronyms clogging up the brain, lol (BOGO, YOLO, etc.)
Bob
Sorry for my faux pas, Gary. Happy anniversary to you and Joann.
ReplyDeleteDNF. Never heard “STUFFANDNONSENSE”; never heard of an “OREOPIE”. I got all the theme answers but got stuck in the NE. Rats.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary, Husker Gary and Joann! Happy Birthday, Chairman Moe! Prayers for the quick restoration of power to all who lost it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julian, for the nice puzzle, and to Melissa Bee for doing the legwork in guiding us through it.
ReplyDeleteThis Wednesday Lim was a toughie.
It took some time to get the solve.
Kang and Kodos are hysterical, and I love how the Simpson’s writers got them from Trek...Picard beat me to that factoid.
And I just got a new date for my Vax...this Friday, and my second shot is already scheduled, all at Walgreens. Sure beats the April 7 date I had originally elsewhere.
Stay safe.
STUFF AND NONSENSE is mostly of British origin, I believe; I've seen it only in British novels.
ReplyDeleteAs Lucina pointed out STUFF AND NONSENSE is in the lexicon though somewhat old. Changing flUFF to STUFF and seeing that the PIE began with the ubiquitous O(REO) resuscitated the NE.
ReplyDeleteI had begun the solve Tuesday morning and resumed Tuesday night when a lot of white space filled.
WC
I have heard of stuff and nonsense all my life. Interesting how we all have different experiences with words.
ReplyDeleteThank you Julian and Melissa. This puzzle was very crunchy for a Wednesday, but I persisted and finally FIR for a change. Despite it not being exactly porcine PC, an old pal of mine used to say whenever I "got lucky", "Even a blind pig gets an acorn now and then!".
ReplyDeleteRandom rambles ...
Had my doubts about "ALI G", but reluctantly accepted it on perpose. I've never seen any of Sacha's screen appearances, but it sounds like he's very funny. Just read that he nails his role as Freddie Mercury in a new biopic coming out. Anybody who performed duets with Montserrat Caballé (Freddie, not Sacha) is okay in my book. Doubt that anyone plays her in the pic, as NO ONE nails her voice.
I did have a question about a DRAM (1/8 oz?) being a "Scot's Scotch order". Must be an awfully wee Scot!
I'm with Melissa on 22A "Superman's makeup" being a really great clue.
Happy Birthday CMoe, and HA Gary and Joann.
Gary and Joann - you two must know Maestro Edward Polochick, whom I believe was/is the conductor for the Lincoln Philharmonic? For years he was the conductor of a superb group here called the "Concert Artists of Baltimore" and for many years has conducted and played harpsichord for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's annual Messiah. A real genius and a truly great guy!
Cheers,
Bill
The French Horn ain't for sissies. Good on ya, Hawkin!
ReplyDeleteHBD, Chairman M!
Too many Naticks today. I guessed my way out of them, but is that a way to run a XWD?
Good news: my 2nd Moderna shot is scheduled for this Friday. Thanks to my university!
~ OMK
____________
DR: We have a single diagonal on the near side, NW to SE.
It offers an anagram of a serious observation, using 13 of the 15 letters, a Warning--focusing perhaps on what happens when political rivalries become too heated:
"TRIBALISM SANK"!
DRAM - Is about 1.5 ounces according to a whiskey WEB site.
ReplyDeleteGood evening all. Always smile reading the blog when the puzzle is a challenge. I DNF. Ran out of guesses. HBD CM and HA Gary & Joanne. Thanks MB for the'splainin'. Texas is due for a warm up.😎😎
ReplyDeleteI expected to be unable to solve this Julian Lim puzzle and was surprised that I did solve it. Not without much gnashing of teeth, though. Last cell to fill was the wagged M crossing OZMA and FOMO.
ReplyDeleteI mistakenly read the clue for 1a as "All That ___" so immediately filled JAZZ and patted myself on the back. Oops.
I wanted BETA for the Kappa preceder, as in Phi Beta Kappa. Second oops.
I wanted ROFL as the ecstatic internet shout. Third oops.
Hand up for doing CHATS instead of TEXTS. Another oops out of many oopses.
Also hand up for thinking of maltESE at first. As Splynter would say, that's 66.6% right.
Got STEEL right, though. Agree it's nicely clued.
"Sergeant, how many AWOLS we got today?"
I learned that Kang and Kodos are ETs, and that they were originally characters from Star Trek.
Happy birthday, Chairman Moe, and happy anniversary, Gary and Joanne.
Best wishes to you all.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Julian and melissa bee.
ReplyDeleteI started with a sea of white in the north, but when I switched to doing the Downs, things got better. Then I saw the theme progression, and with P&P I finished.
No time to post any more but I wanted to say:
Happy Birthday to CMoe
Happy Anniversary to HuskerG and Joann
Thoughts and prayers for our Texas crew who are in distress.
AnonT might be wanting one of those sleeping bag coats! Seriously, I hope things improve quickly for you and you get some heat - and hopefully not too much water damage.
Wishing you all a good night.
Hi Y'all! Got thru Julian's puzzle with less angst than usual -- just went with the flow. Last to fill were the crosses at BORE/ROVIO & ORZO/OZMA/FOMO. Had trouble coming up with THROB for ache. Most of my aches don't.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melissa, for another fine expo. I can commiserate with you on your revving neighbors. I had one for two years that could not have been noisier -- and he tried. Thankfully, they moved. The guy that is there now has a souped-up Dodge Charger that roars, but he slips it out and doesn't rev it up until he's half a block away.
Happy birthday, CMoe! Happy Anniversary Gary & Joann!
Hoping sunshine & warm weather soon come your way, D-O & Tony. I think all the nasty stuff this year is giving us all a "what's next?" complex.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteI'm back on the (rolling-blackout) grid after the initial 48hr no-power (and boy did it get cold - 42F inside). House is now heated to 68F and we got to use the microwave -- DW was jonesin' for some popcorn :-).
Fortunately, the only plumbing problem I had occurred on that outside valve. Until it thawed we had water and filled every vessel in the house from the tap and two 5 gal buckets from the pool for flushing.
The pipe thawed yesterday around noon and I cut-off the water to the house. Surprisingly, my plumber showed this eve and fixed it.
What I really feared, plumbing-wise, was (before I cut off the water) nothing came out of the kitchen's hot-water side. Oh, if that was frozen / burst damage to counters and drywall!
Neighbor had 4 cracked pipes and lots drywall to repair; I got off easy by comparison.
But, the saga continues; today BIL, SIL, & MIL rolled into blackout...
I want to thank everyone for their good wishes. It wasn't pleasant but we were prepared.
LeoIII - we haven't heard from you yet... How you holding up?
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Thanks Julian for the fun puzzle; I had no problems with FWIW, WOOT (I say it when I get a Sat), FOMO, WhatsApp, etc.
I printed your offering right after power returned and my computer area sufficiently heated. I like the progressively faster leg-work too.
Fun expo mb. Thanks for the image of Kang and Kodos; got ETs but forgot the vacuum-tube headed hexapod.
WO: HARoLDS
ESPs: ALEX, HOLM, NORMA, OZMA
Fav: Yesterday was FAT Tuesday and we feasted on the King Cake DW was going to take to her office. We warmed it over the fire in the fireplace and served w/ cowboy coffee.
FOMO is akin to YOLO (You Only Live Once).
FOMO is you really wanting to be wherever someone says "hold my beer" and then yells YOLO. :-)
{B+, A}
Happy Birthday C. Moe!
Happy Anniversary HG & Joann
BigE - If DW gets her way (read new house) I'm making damn sure there's room for a Generac on the lot. And it will be on stilts! (D-O, has yours ever failed due to high-water?)
Ray-O: I second C. Moe re: DRAM bouy - LOL.
During the power-outages we took shifts tending to the house. First, our fireplace is ornamental and really isn't meant to run 24/7, so there was watching that. Second you want to loop the house every hour or so and make sure faucets were still dripping and the "drapes" (read: blankets, sheets, any "tapestry" we could hang with painter's tape over the drafty windows & doors) were still hanging / holding in the heat. Anyway, I had the overnight shift.
After I read the corner (but couldn't post from my phone?!?), I read A Man Called Ove by flashlight (I have plenty of hurricane batteries :-)).
Guys, will definitely like the book; no idea what DW would think.
Cheers, -T
Anon-T:
ReplyDeleteWhat a relief to hear from you! I am glad that you and your family are doing well (as can be expected) and hope your neighbors and other family are as well. My prayers for all of you will continue. I'm also pleased that you liked A Man Called Ove. It's different, I'll say that.
Please STAY safe and warm. Our eyes are upon Texas!
I hope we hear from the rest of the Texas contingent soon, especially d-otto.
ReplyDeleteI'm down and dealing with STUFF. How that goes with NONSENSE is beyond me.
ReplyDelete