Title: Pi DAY.
My first Sunday blog, and my first time not needing to try to create an appropriate but entertaining title. Today is March 14, which in our shorthand world is 3.14. Pi Day celebrates the mathematical constant π (3.14) and was coined by Physicist Larry Shaw in 1988 as it is also the birthday of Albert Einstein. Happy birthday, Al. HISTORY. Now it is a celebration of eating pies, not a bad thing.
As I have mentioned I went to boarding school for high school and my sophomore year I was paired with George Harvey who had a goal in life to memorize Pi to 100 places. He was at 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510.
On to JW's creation, he has taken 7 in the language expressions and inserted "PI" in various locations to bring us new and whimsical phrases. Obviously, with a 21 x 21 grid, there is room for a lot of nice words and we get ENDOWED, FINE TIP, OPACITY, PILES IN, SECRETE, SOJOURN, TIE DYES, BEST CASE, LAKE ERIE, LORRAINE, PRANCING, IN GENERAL, JUMPSTART, KEEPS AT IT, and YOU CAN TRY. LEANA and ESALE, are also new. We have much work to do so let's get started.
The theme:
24A. Shrimp dish ordered online?: INTERNET SCAMPI (14). I really liked turning the awful internet scam into a very popular dish.
34A. Not someone you'd want in the cockpit?: VACANT PILOT (11). I get the vacant lot, but I think "not something" you would want in the cockpit makes more sense.
45A. Candidate's concern after the latest poll?: OPINION DIP (12). A fun conversion from food this time. See 24A.
68A. Hook during a typically slow period?: OFF-SEASON PIRATE (15). Our friend the Captain is back without Peter or Smee.
93A. Physician for longshoremen?: PIER DOCTOR (10) An ER doctor might be what these hard workers need.
99A. No-brainer card game?: STUPID POKER (11). With all the varieties people make up like 3s and one-eyes kings are wild...
117A. Like most clouds, compared to cirrus clouds?: NONE THE WISPIER (14). I hope you know your CLOUDS.
No time to rest, on to the rest.
Across:1. Yellow smoothie fruit: PAPAYA. A very important fruit in our home for ส้มตำไทย (som tum), which uses the papaya before it ripens.
7. Chick's sound: PEEP. Hence the expression, not a peep out of you.
11. Turin-based automaker: FIAT. FIAT is an acronym that stands for “Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino”, which means Italian Automobile Factory of Turin.
15. One going through an eyelet: LACE. Shoe, shoe.
19. Anthology compiler: EDITOR. He/she makes the selections as opposed to correcting them. Our Rich does some of each.
20. Loud sound: ROAR. A clue that needed perps because after all, it could have been BURP.
21. For the most part: IN GENERAL. Another fill you need to work for and wait.
23. Squeal on: RAT OUT. Since 1902 it has been a police informant, made more specific in 1934 when it became to turn traitor and act as an informant. Originally from rats off a sinking ship.
26. Equestrian action: PRANCING. Did you ever expect to see dressage to a foul-mouthed rap song? Viewer discretion advised.
28. Sticks in a parlor: CUES. Billiard parlors, not pool halls.
29. Gulf of California state: SONORA. We have seen this Mexican state often recently.
30. Simile words: AS A. We the young actor ASA Butterfield introduced as an alternate clue.
31. Divert: SHUNT. avert, deviate, move, rechannel, shift, sidetrack, swerve, switch, transfer, deflect, divert, redirect, swing, turn, veer, wheel, whip, swivel, twist, whirl, zigzag, bend, curve, sway
reverse, turn back.
33. Mumbai apparel: SARIS.
39. NYSE events: IPOS. Initial Public Offerings.
43. Effect, as a law: ENACT. A good way to explain Effect vs, Affect.
44. In its current condition: AS IS. Important real estate term.
51. Lows: NADIRS. Zenith was not only a TV.
53. Complete: UTTER. I hear "disregard."
56. Decorates tees: TIE-DYES. Most of us are of an age that has personal experience in both wearing and creating. According to the media it recently made a comeback as one of the biggest fashion trends of 2020.
58. Hurl insults (at): SNIPE. Another use a very "hot" word.
60. Ricoh rival: NIKON. Are they STILL?
61. Retired jet: SST. Making a COMEBACK also?
62. Fertile: LUSH. IRELAND?
65. Hit with a water balloon, say: DOUSE. We had some multi-story buildings in high school and balloons...
67. Restaurant kitchen array: OVENS. I never thought of them as on display.
72. Russian milk drink: KEFIR. It used to be a SECRET not it is on sale at PUBLIX. More Russian influence a word I only know from solving puzzles 89A Ukase: EDICT.
75. Driver's target: SCREW. Really nice misdirection but I am not sure I would have it followed by...
76. Punctilious to the extreme: ANAL.
77. Shakespearean "Shake a leg!": HIE. JW sneaks a Will S in.
80. Online exchange: E-SALE. Made up word that is probably in the dictionary by now.
81. Carouse: REVEL.
83. Temporary stay: SOJOURN. They cannot agree where the word comes from but it sounds French to me. LINK.
86. Toledo is on it: LAKE ERIE. The official lake of the Corner.
92. Defensive castle feature: TURRET.
95. National symbol: FLAG.
98. Bawl: WEEP. So sad...
101. Soft drink options: SODAS. As opposed to the "hard" drinks of real men!
106. Humiliate: ABASE. An old-fashioned word which I saw often in books in school.
108. Discernment meas., in meteorology: VISibility. A link to our not so cirrius theme fill, and to THIS.
109. Tolerates: ABIDES.
111. Fish tank buildup: SCUM. I wonder how the red betta is doing.
112. Optimal: BEST CASE. Scenario.
121. Carried with effort: HAULED.
122. Doesn't give up: KEEPS AT IT. A very Jeffrey fill with multiple words.
123. Prayer wheel spinner: LAMA. Buddhists unite for the Prayer wheel, in Tibetan mani chos 'khor, a mechanical device the use of which is equivalent to the recitation of a mantra
124. Missing the mark: ERRING. I almost put this one red, but that would have been a red 'erring.
125. CEO's helper: ASST. Anyone's helper.
126. Like venison: GAMY. A new four-letter WORD?
127. "The Killing" actress Mireille : ENOS. This ACTRESS has appeared in many shows, both evading zombies and dealing with polygamy, which is ironic as she is a Mormor. I like HANNA which is coming back for a third season.
128. Exclusive date: STEADY. I never tried it, I either married them or I did not.
Down:
1. One in cuffs, maybe: PERP. A Corner favorite word.
2. Month after Shevat: ADAR. It ended today giving us Nissan and the PESACH holiday in two weeks.
3. Filled food truck buy: PITA. So many food trucks.
4. Very much: A TON.
5. "Take a shot at it": YOU CAN TRY. Another classic JW fill.
2. Month after Shevat: ADAR. It ended today giving us Nissan and the PESACH holiday in two weeks.
3. Filled food truck buy: PITA. So many food trucks.
4. Very much: A TON.
5. "Take a shot at it": YOU CAN TRY. Another classic JW fill.
6. Con __: ARTIST. Another time?
7. Puritan: PRIG. "a conceited, narrow-minded pragmatical person; a dull, precise person; one who cultivates or affects propriety and offends or bores others," 1753, originally in reference to theological scruples (1704
9. Celebrate an anniversary, say, with "out": EAT. Where you might start with...
10. Like veggies in platters: PRECUT. Crudites.
11. Marker choice: FINE TIP.
12. Supermodel Sastre: INES. She has appeared in puzzles often but not MOVIES.
13. FBI figure: AGT.
14. Hardy title teenager: TESS.
15. CNN medical analyst Wen: LEANA. A nice change from sebaceous cysts but still controversial.
12. Supermodel Sastre: INES. She has appeared in puzzles often but not MOVIES.
13. FBI figure: AGT.
14. Hardy title teenager: TESS.
15. CNN medical analyst Wen: LEANA. A nice change from sebaceous cysts but still controversial.
16. Protective suit: ARMOR.
17. Blue Grotto isle: CAPRI.
18. Sewing machine inventor Howe: ELIAS. Appropriate after highlighting Mr. Singer.
22. Army sgts., e.g.: NCOS.
25. Flee: RUN.
27. Valley known for viticulture: NAPA. Viticulture- wow? I think it means vines?
31. Small opening: SLIT. Not necessarily...for you Richard.
32. Talk show VIPs: HOSTS. Yeah, right/
34. HVAC system openings: VENTS. No vents. you die/
35. Nin of literature: ANAIS.
36. Officer trainee: CADET.
37. Etching supply: ACID.
38. Terre Haute sch.: ISU. Indian State University.
40. Enters en masse: PILES IN.
41. Tokyo-born peace activist: ONO.
42. Newton honorific: SIR. Isaac.
45. Betelgeuse's constellation: ORION. We have not seen this clue since April 24, 2015.
46. Negative afterthought: OR NOT. I love you so much ...
47. Unworldly: NAIVE.
48. Water container?: DIKE.
49. Aware of: IN ON.
50. Bank conveniences: PENS. They stopped attaching so they could not be stolen and now give away thousands; they about a week's worth of ink, but hey it is free!
52. Word with interest: SELF. Made tricky by being near banks.
54. Gave money for: ENDOWED. Mostly Universities.
57. Figure (out): SUSS. A very common word in our write-ups and comments.
34. HVAC system openings: VENTS. No vents. you die/
35. Nin of literature: ANAIS.
36. Officer trainee: CADET.
37. Etching supply: ACID.
38. Terre Haute sch.: ISU. Indian State University.
40. Enters en masse: PILES IN.
41. Tokyo-born peace activist: ONO.
42. Newton honorific: SIR. Isaac.
45. Betelgeuse's constellation: ORION. We have not seen this clue since April 24, 2015.
46. Negative afterthought: OR NOT. I love you so much ...
47. Unworldly: NAIVE.
48. Water container?: DIKE.
49. Aware of: IN ON.
50. Bank conveniences: PENS. They stopped attaching so they could not be stolen and now give away thousands; they about a week's worth of ink, but hey it is free!
52. Word with interest: SELF. Made tricky by being near banks.
54. Gave money for: ENDOWED. Mostly Universities.
57. Figure (out): SUSS. A very common word in our write-ups and comments.
59. Part of a moth's life cycle: PUPA. John Lamkin, where are you?
63. Hide: SECRETE. Add an "E" to create a verb.
64. March __: HARE. Sure that was my first thought, not!
66. Significant times: ERAS. EONS and ERAS?
68. NFL Titan, when in Houston: OILER. The original team was the Houston Oilers led by quarterback George Blanda.
69. Let go: FREED. Goes with...
70. Break, as ties: SEVER.
71. Very much: A LOT. Of there is of...
72. Growth in a wet forest: KELP. In the oceans.
73. Actor Morales: ESAI. They do love his vowels.
74. Expert's discovery: FAKE. How do you "discover" a fake? You may reveal it...
77. Impresario Sol: HUROK. The MAN.
78. Goddess of peace: IRENE. My mother's name and she was all of that.
79. Shift key neighbor: ENTER.
82. Elevates: LIFTS.
84. Give fresh energy to: JUMPSTART. Your car?
85. Nabisco brand: OREO. Nice clue.
87. Noisy disturbance: ROW. Not a boat.
88. Bar supply: ICE. Tin, look away.
90. Game that might end in a library: CLUE. With Miss Scarlett and the knife.
91. Dance genre: TAP.
94. Murkiness: OPACITY. I know all too much about opacity especially as it relates to post-cataract surgery. LINK. I did include the gruesome part but I did suffer from this after my surgery and despite YAG laser surgery to fix it, my eye has never been the same. Last Saturday, I awoke with no usable vision from that eye, which has always been my "good eye." So please forgive any errors or deficiencies.
96. With 97-Across, words before "good reason": GIVE. 97A. See 96-Down: ME ONE. Give me a good one for using this kind of referential cluing?
99. Free thing to try: SAMPLE.
100. Something done after a meal: DISHES.
101. Pioneering decaf brand: SANKA. Orange is the new black pioneer?
102. Orchestral pair, at a minimum: OBOES. Please explain why.
104. Skillful: ADEPT.
105. Drill bit purchases: SETS. I always have gotten mine as part of other purchases.
107. __ stop: BUS.
110. Chase, as flies: SHAG.
111. Exercise activity: SWIM.
112. Bali products: BRAS.
113. Medical breakthrough: CURE.
114. Et __: and others: ALIA.
115. Transmit: SEND.
116. Avant-garde: EDGY.
118. Touchdown hr. calculation: ETA.
119. Holm of "The Hobbit": IAN. Played Bilbo in the LOTR trilogy.
120. Punk subgenre: EMO.
I am worn out, but I hope the sojourn was fun; thank you Jeffrey and C.C., and all who read. Lemonade out.
41 comments:
Good morning!
Yay, d-o managed to leap forward without injury. Popped out of bed when I heard the coffeemaker burbling in the kitchen. Don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke alarms today.
This was faster than your average Sunday puzzle, and surprisingly Wite-Out-free. I must've been on Jeffrey's wavelength -- everything was within reach. I really liked the OpiNION DIP and NONE THE WISpiER themers. Thanx for the outing, Mr. Wechsler, and congrats on your Sunday debut, Lemonade.
ADAR: It's followed by Nissan? I always thought Datsun came before Nissan.
OPACITY: I can relate to your woes, Lemonade. I had a stroke in my "good eye" a few years ago. Now there's a reclining "South America shaped" OPACITY right across the visual field. You'd think it'd be black, but it's not. It's not any color. It's just not there.
FIR, but didn't care for "kelp" as a forest growth.
Happy Pi Day!!!
Happy Pi Day
and also
Happy Pi Day
Also, Happy New Year for me and other aviation photographers! We get an extra hour of daylight to chase airplanes!
Gotta go get my first Covid shot!
Later....
KS, you're just not thinking of the right kind of forest. I thought it was a cute Q/A.
Tom, it really is a small world. They keep ordering the MRI and other tests because they cannot determine what happened to my eye. They speculate it was either (a) a stroke; (b) cancer; or, wtfk? I am sorry to hear about your problem but it is helpful to know someone who has a similar problem.
That video of Andreas and Matine was some kind of re-dub. That language would not be allowed in FEI competition. The ride was actually done to “Lady Marmalade”.
Thank you, anon 9:24, it seemed unlikely. D-O, what about my ongoing question from last evening about what I did not notice?
FLN:
Lemonade, you'll find it just to the left of MaryLou's photo. I think Husker may have mis-quoted her when he came up with "Ruth Badger Ginsburg." I'm pretty sure she went to Cornell and Harvard, not Wisconsin.
Jayce, was that a criticism of Betty? BLAST FURNESS
YR, you wrote "I found my neighbor two doors down was burned out by fire, totally gutted and charred black. Shocking." I hope he's gonna be OK, but it doesn't sound like it.
Good morning everyone.
FLN - PK; Nice tribute to your friend.
PI Day- - MARIO Day came and went here w/o notice. Sigh.
Got ENOS wrong but got everything else. Was stalled a bit at the KELP/KEFIR cross, but finally parsed it all correctly. Held up in the east, too, until getting a bead on NAIVE, and DIKE. At 69d, had 'fired' before FREED. At 84d, wanted 'juvenate before JUMP START came into focus. (I don't think it's a word, either.). Thanks Jeff and to Lemon for a fine lead-in.
29a - SONORAn - is Lucina's desert.
92a - TURRETs are trainable andhouse the guns on battleships and cruisers.
45d - Betelgeuse is a bright red star in ORION's right shoulder.
11d - FINE TIP - My Pilot G2 is a FINE TIP 0.7mm. with which I did this puzzle.
55a - LORRAINE - Remnant of the middle (region) carved out by Charlemagne's grandson, Lothar, (Lotharingia). Today's Dutch is 'Lotharingen'.
And I always thought TURRETs were incorrigible. Who knew?
I've said it what seems to be a hundred times before and I'll say it again. JW is easily my most favorite constructor. Always a challenge and always fair which is always satisfying. Loved the theme and got it right away at 24A. My favorite answers were stupidpoker and nonethewispier. I'm just guessing, but were the answers at 1D and 57D CSOs to us Cornerites? You never see perp and suss as CW answers. Anyway, time to tackle the NYT puzzle, which is always two weeks old, then off to Mass and breakfast out.
Hola!
A super Sunday solve! Thank you, Jeff Wex and Lemonade. Congratulations on your Sunday debut, Lemonade.
Happy PI day! I saw the PI inserts but most had a short i pronunciation which, IMO, blunts the theme but that's the enigma of the English language.
UTTER. Do you take that as a CSO, d-o?
I left the K blank at KEFIR because I just couldn't see the forest for the trees at KELP though I've watched plenty of David Attenborough's seascapes. Sigh.
Dr. LEANA Wen is one of the best commentators. in my opinion.
FINE TIP is what I often use for calligraphy writing.
Shrimp SCAMPI is one of my favorite dishes!
Yes, Spitz, SONORA is our southern neighbor and most of our state is comprised of the SONORAn desert which this week was blessed with STEADY rain! Thank you, Jayce, for the congratulations. We are about halfway through our yearly quota of seven inches.
Have a very nice day, everyone!
Musings
-This will be Exhibit A when I bill Jeffrey for a new eraser! Yeah, I know, it was still great!
-The older kids get, the less likely they are to RAT OUT a classmate
-AS IS – I’m glad MIL’s house is sold and is someone else’s problem
-E-SALE – Craigslist has never failed us
-VIS is very low today as we are getting a very welcome, soaking rain (2.6” so far)
-At some basketball games, YOU CAN TRY to make a half-court shot for big money
-The line for the Blue Grotto Tour was way too long but there were A LOT of other things to do
-PILES IN – Anybody remember phone booth stuffing?
-Did anyone else DIGEST before doing the DISHES?
Delightful puzzle, Mr. Wechsler! You made me work for it, but I was able to FIR without frustration. Loved the PI insertions in popular phrases. In pre-COVID times, I've enjoyed seeing KELP forests growing in towering tanks at the aquaria in Monterey and in Long Beach, California. Lemonade, thanks for the expo. Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!
Today's puzzle was on Target for a Sunday. Nothing was too obscure and not much was too much of a gimme. Started in the NW, as usual, where it took a while to sort things out. Then, pretty much solved along the diagonal axis to the SE and back to the SW and NE corners to compete the grid. As far as KELP Forest goes, that was something that was known even though it was far from the first thing that came to mind. Did Mike Nelson refer to Kelp Forests on Sea Hunt? Something rattling around says "yes".
Thank you Jeffrey for a delicious puzzle with lots of yummy clues, which I FIR for a change. And thank you Lemonade for your savory commentary (see below for some suggested answers to some questions you raise.
Today has become a favorite of RYO* Geeks everywhere who prefer this PI flavor. Any takers on the Corner? Anon -T?
For some reason this puzzle stirred up a long lost memory of the ending of Carl Sagan's novel Contact. As Lemonade's HISTORY link points out, Pi "is an irrational, transcendental number, and as it continues on to infinity, the pi-ssibilities are endless!" Sagan riffs on this, with protagonist astronomer Ellie Arroway, after returning from incredible journey through multiple dimensions of time and space, has now written a program to calculate Pi ad infinitum and to alert her if it ever begins to detect a non-random pattern.
On the final pages of the novel she receives an alert which I'll paraphrase: "kilometers to the right of the decimal point the program has discovered a number sequence, which when expressed in binary (i.e. zeroes and ones) and printed out in a square matrix, slowly reveals a CIRCLE". Arroway muses that this circle was placed there from the beginning of the Universe by its "Caretakers" to tell us that it has meaning and further that calculating Pi for this circle will reveal another, and another ... I remember being disappointed that this was not somehow depicted in the 1997 film with Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey. Still a great flick though.
96D To stump solvers?
102D The lowest number of OBOES would be a pair? Any pair of instruments for that matter.
110D What, no tie in to 75A-76A?
Cheers,
Bill
* Roll Your Own.
Woohoo! Woohoo! No, I didn't get the whole thing, but I got a great start with solving most of the top half--Woohoo! Many thanks, Jeffrey--this is why you're not only my favorite constructor, but why you're also a favorite all around! And cool Sunday commentary, Lemonade, many thanks for that too.
I got the theme with INTERNET SCAMPI--which just cracked me up. Looked more closely, and there was the PI, and since there was already a lot of PI day discussion on the web this morning (not to mention the puzzle title) there it was! Was surprised that I got PUPA--didn't remember that I knew anything about moths. And, once again, there was ONO, making her frequent appearance in puzzles these days.
Anyway, lots of fun, and have a great Sunday everybody!
Oboes need a pair of reeds.
Great puzzle, even though I FIW - NW got me. I couldn’t let go of A LOT/ATON and EPILOG/EDITOR (no idea - really dumb).
Thanks for the great dressage clip - such grace!
We sailors dread kelp forests! More than once, we’ve had to dive down to cut some away from the prop when we didn’t keep a good enough watch to avoid a big patch. Not fun!
Thank you, Jeffrey, for your usual elegant challenge. Maybe I’ll be more successful with your next one.
Great tour, Lemonade, and Happy Pi Day.
I love having Daylight Savings back and the accompanying longer evenings. Springing happily forward!
Great puzzle, Jeff. Great expo, Jason. I didn't have the title so I had theme answers but didn't understand them until I got to STUPID POKER. AHA! Then things moved along more quickly. KEFIR was entirely new to me.
DO, sorry I was inexact yesterday. My neighbor's body was not burned out, just her property that was all turned to char, nothing salvageable. I was pleased the connected condos did not burn or even char. The condos are attached side my side with upstairs and downstairs, six units to a building. I couldn't tell whether or not the unit next door had water and smoke damage inside.
ABASE is still up to date in many newspaper citations. "History will not judge kindly these legislators who abased themselves and their institution." Washington Post Mar 16, 2018.
I was thinking our vacant pilot was devoid of thought.
I wanted banana before papaya. I'm not a fan of papaya.
I love scampi, but not here. It is too bland. The garlic flavor is very weak.
That prancing dressage was lovely. I could not hear the words, so I wasn't scandalized.
DO and Lemonade, sorry about your ongoing vision problems.
Musings 2
-This morning person does not care for DST. I like golfing at 7 am not 7 pm.
-Just to clear things up, the extraneous “g” from yesterday was typed by Mary Lou and I did her a disservice by not proofreading her generous note after I copied and pasted it. I have now corrected it.
-I showed all my classes the fabulous opening sequence in Contact to show vast distances in space.
Sunday Lurk Say...
HG - LOL billing JW for your eraser.
Waseeley - I have 7 Raspberry PIs of different configurations. They're fun to play with and sometimes can be useful (made myself a firewall out of one so I could put my work laptop on Defcon's conference network).
Speaking of Firewalls, YR it sounds like your community's building codes were followed. Any idea what caused the fire?
Re: irrational numbers - I've been fascinated since learning about Golden Ratio in Fibinacci's Sequence in HS.* I'm not a number theorist but I do hypothesize if we can represent primes as irrational numbers, factoring could be trivial. [one of those other back burner projects]. I mean, heck, if we can use sqrt(-1) to make frequency-math easier...
FermatPrime - you still read us?
PK - FLN: That was a lovely tribute to your mentor. I'm sorry for your loss.
TTP - LOL Working Man. Worked hours yesterday proving their issue WASNT! security's systems.
Lem: Just ask Click & Clack, FIAT == Fix It Again Tony :-)
Cheers, -T
*I won State in math for developing a formula/program that can determine if a given number is in the Fibonacci sequence.
Happy PI DAY!
Was I the only one to think MOSS before KELP? Misdirection?
Here are a few short videos of me snorkeling in the KELP FOREST off of Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel.
A few years ago I was hiking with a dive master who had led Scuba dives all over the world. I was surprised that he said the KELP FOREST here in the Santa Barbara Channel was the most interesting diving in the world for him. Personally I prefer warmer, clearer water! I guess I am still NAIVE!
Lucina I love the Saguaro cacti in the SONORA Desert that extends to where you live. Lots of photos there.
I was actually stuck at the end with cross of ?IE/?UROK. Anyone else? Did WAG to FIR. Learning moment about HUROK.
Lemonade We enjoyed a delicious PAPAYA salad two days ago at our favorite Thai restaurant. Dining outdoors, of course. Glad you get to enjoy it at home.
Hand up I don't get the OBOES clue.
Picard:
What a wonderful video of KELP!
I'm pleased that that you enjoy the saguaros in our desert. I love to see them when driving toward Flagstaff or to California. They are truly the sentinels of the desert.
Today I felt unwell so did not attend Mass and I really miss that.
YR:
Was the fire at your former condo? I missed the details if you posted them.
Well, I guess no one else thought that perp and suss as answers in the same puzzle was a CSO from JW to us since no one cared to comment. I guess I live on an island.
I think the OBOES clue/answer is like this: if you say "oboes", plural, you are saying there must be at least two of them. Otherwise you would say "oboe." If a score specifies Oboes (or Clarinets, or Bassoons, for that matter) it means the score is specifying that there be more than one of them in the orchestra. Usually a score just has O written on it, to save time writing it. On most pre-20th century music scores, Fag means Bassoon, which used to be called by its Italian name Fagotto. They didn't specify how many of them, per se, but if there were, say, two staffs (staves?) labeled Cor you could pretty much tell you needed two (or more) Cornets (or trumpets) to play them.
Yes, the fire was two doors down from my former residence in the condos. Yesterday on my way back from visiting Alan I stopped by a deli I used to frequent before I moved. The owner told me about the fire which happened a few days ago. I detoured to see it. I feel sorry for the owner who is a very friendly person, but more of an acquaintance than a close friend. Luckily she seems unhurt. I am sure my buyer had a huge scare but my former home is fine. I worry about smoke and water damage for my former neighbor who lives between the fire and my unit. We have been friends.
The source of the fire is unknown. The fire happened in the wee hours of the morning. One news article suggested a propane fire, but the condos are in a total electric community. And the fire seemed worse on the second floor. Therefore there is a rumor of arson. That is hard to believe in such a benign, off the beaten track neighborhood.
The condos are 30+ years old, so I wondered about the building code back then. Apparently it was good.
The odd thing is that I have been feeling all week that I should revisit my old neighborhood.
Over many years this is the fourth time I have had such a premonition. I am not a believer in the supernatural, so this is soooo weird.
Jayce, good explanation about oboes.
I loved this puzzle. So clever the way "PI" was inserted into phrases to change them and still make sense! And some terrific fill. Jeffrey Wechsler is definitely a master.
There were many proper names I didn't know (I won't bore you by listing them all) but I could solve the puzzle anyway. That is but one indication this puzzle was masterfully constructed.
Interesting that a KELP is a growth in a kelp forest, much as, I suppose, a pine tree is a growth in a pine forest.
I think the SONORA desert is one of the most beautiful deserts in the world. A Saguaro cactus in a forest of Saguaros. Where else can one find trees that have green bark, the Palo Verde?
SHUNT is a word we used often in the electronics business.
I played around with a Raspberry Pi once. And an Arduino Uno. Then I discovered the Beagle Bone Black and never looked back.
I consider Canon to be the rival of NIKON. I don't know if Ricoh ever was.
We had a nice telephone call with our son and his wife today. Their daughter is SOJOURNing with them, so we got to talk with her, too.
PK, it was really good to hear from you last night.
Desper-otto, I would never BLAST Betty FURNESS :)
NaomiZ, my wife and I have enjoyed seeing KELP forests growing in towering tanks at the aquaria in Monterey also. When he was little, our son loved to search for and find "beached" kelp when we went to the beach, and tug it along behind him. He seemed fascinated by its bulbous shape.
By pure coincidence ("There are no coincidences!") LW is making shrimp scampi with pasta tonight. My tummy is already growling.
Good wishes to you all.
Jayce:
Mmmmmm. How lucky for you that you will be dining on shrimp SCAMPI. That gives me an idea for Friday's dinner since we are still observing meatless Fridays during Lent.
YR:
Thank you for the detailed explanation of the the fire.
Jayce - Thank you for the introduction to the Beagle Bone Black. I played with the Arduino but... [yet another back-burner project].
//I've left-over take-out shrimp curry and naan to sup on tonight :-)
Cool KELP video Picard!
NaomiZ - I've been to the Monterey Aquarium with DW & our college BFFs (two other married couples who went to U. w/ us) & all our kids in tow.
Such a neat place. And it was fun to observe our little children's' minds blown looking at the fish.
YR - listen to the Universe. Visit your friend.
Cheers, -T
Waseeley @ 12:54 -- Methinks that yon raspberry you mention would be imPIous.... (Spoken as a MacMan for decades -- de gustibus non est dsputandum, or in English, YMMV).
Another DNF this weekend.a total of 20+ hours looking up info in my library and couldn't solve either Sat.or Sun.. what saddens me the most is that this weekend was my Veggie Garden Rehab project. Never got to it. My count is 27 disagreements with cluing in Sat/Sun. puzzles. I'm becoming more and more convinced that LAT puzzles are aimed at MENSA members. I'll give it one more weekend before it renewing my LAT subscription. If next week's puzzles are as esoteric as this week's were ....Bye Bye!
Hi Y'all! Fun one, thanks Jeffrey, a challenge done in bits & pieces, perps & WAGS.Got the theme after a couple which helped with the others.
Lemonade, you are a marvel that you take on this difficult puzzle & turn out a great blog. So sorry to hear about your continuing eye problems. Thank you.
Moss & fern in my wet forest before KELP. Remember reading a story years ago about a mariner being becalmed in the KELP forest so it made sense.
boom before ROAR. Enervate before JUMPSTART -- this from the person whose car spends 99% of the time on a battery charger.
banana before PAPAYA. Never seen or eaten a PAPAYA, or a smoothie for that matter.
Thank you for the kind words about my tribute to my friend. I am so glad I wrote him for his birthday, telling him how much he meant to me.
Hit it 'on the screws'" is Golfer terminology for a well hit drive.
At the buzzer I switched fIE to HIE(as did Picard I see). Robert, I thought your video was "Follow that fish"
Hmm, OMK seems I misused unworldly next door. I was thinking 'out of this world'.
Yep, always grab that 'free' pen.
Now we have "grok" courtesy of Rex.
We had that HARE yesterday
Re. George Blanda*
Yes, I thought of digest first but held off on the ink. The only messy area was the DIKE, PENS, INON , NIKON fills which replaced vase, ATMs, onto,Epsom. SUSSing OpiNION DIP was key
Misty, until I read your post I didn't realize it was Yoko that Jeff was referring to. Duh.
I'd keep DST. The small pain of losing an hour on a Spring morning is more than made up by the pleasure of that extra morning hour in October.
I liked seeing Jeff as author. Wees about his fairness although I had slow going and had to go back for PAPAYA and PITA.eg Slowwww going.
WC
*"The 1970s TV series Happy Days was set in 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the Season 3 episode "Football Frolics", first aired January 20, 1976, Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard) and Ralph Malph (Donny Most) are watching the December 9, 1956, Chicago Bears – Chicago Cardinals televised game. After Ed Brown's pass to Harlon Hill is intercepted by the Cardinals, Richie wants "the other quarterback" put in. Ralph says that the other quarterback is "washed up. He's old. He's 30. He's got no future." Richie argues back, "George Blanda has two or three good years left." The joke was that Blanda, 19 years after the date depicted in the show, was still playing."
Anon(Bobbi?). This was a relatively easy weekend. As you can see, these xwords are exactly what this Corner richly enjoy. I had a bad experience a week or so ago on a Saturday but after reading the Write-up I realized I just needed more patience and perhaps wite-out.
Apparently not all solvers found Sat. easy. I can never gauge difficulty.
WC
Picard, Gary, and Dash T: Thank you all for blowing my mind. One of the great things about this blog is how it brings some great minds together, and Pi certainly stimulated a lot of that fusion today.
Picard for your fascinating video of the KELP forest. I loved the shot where the goldfish (was that the species?) turns toward you and asks him/herself "Who is this guy and why is he following me?"
Gary for the psychedelic opening sequence from CONTACT. I just put it on my re-view list.
T - I was certain you had some Raspberry Pi's tucked away, but 7? A magic number? And the videos on the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence made my day. They led me to a website devoted solely to this ratio, which I plan to explore at my leisure.
All of these concepts point to deeper layers in reality that we have yet to fully fathom. The idea that all the "components" of reality (an illusion?) are interrelated is explored in one of my favorite works of fiction, Hermann Hesse's Glass Beadgame (a.k.a. "The Master of the Game"). Picard I and have already had some asides on this book, which describes a "secular order" that has developed a machine, vaguely resembling an organ, that can reversibly transmute concepts in any intellectual discipline into another, e.g. music to mathematics to philosophy, etc. etc. Well worth the read.
Cheers,
Bill
After a very mild vertigo episode this a.m. I was very late working the puzzle today only to get a DNF. The 47, 48, & 49D got me and I couldn't figure it out. I had OPINION_IP but DIP wouldn't register. My NIKON was an EPSON - did not know that NIKON made printers or that RICOH made cameras. DIKE was not to be even after I correctly changed ONTO to IN ON and ATMS to PENS.
VIS as a fill? All I can say is that's an abbreviation I've never seen.
KEFIR & INES were the only other unknowns filled by perps today.
PI today but beware of the Ides of March.
Lucina, AnonT, Wilbur Charles, WA Seeley Thank you for the very kind words about my KELP FOREST videos. It was actually a set of three videos in a single Play List, but it seems YouTube pauses after each one. You have to press PLAY after each video to play the next one in the set.
Wilbur Charles Yes, follow the fish! The second video is especially amusing. It looks like the fish is coming up to greet me. In fact, this species is very territorial. It was swimming at me to indicate it was not happy that I was in its territory.
WA Seeley I am honored that I helped blow your mind today! This fish is called a Garibaldi. It is the State Fish of California. I just learned that it was named for Guiseppe Garibaldi who helped unify what we now call Italy. Apparently he liked to wear bright shirts (like the color of this fish). My kind of guy!
Yes, thank you for the fascinating discussions of the Big Questions.
Here was my recent print newspaper article on these Big Questions.
Lucina and Jayce Glad you indeed share my love of the Saguaro cacti of the SONORA Desert.
Here are lots of photos of us in the SONORA Desert admiring the Saguaro Cacti.
Jayce Thank you for your OBOES explanation. After I posted earlier I Googled this.
This article claims that 2 or 4 is the standard number of OBOES in an orchestra. Meaning they always come in pairs.
I wish we could find out exactly what Mr Wechsler had in mind!
Sigh, another FIW, due to failure to proofread both directions today. I had sidestepped many traps and found some errors checking the across fill, but then on reading Lemonade's review (well done, by the way!) found one bad square. Still, lots to like in this puzzle, Jeff, so thanks A TON! Got the PI theme which helped some and added fun to the puzzle. Interesting word choice, too, including LAKE ERIE spelled out. All in all worth coming back to during lulls in the day.
PK, I enjoyed your post as usual FLN and your touching tribute to your mentor/friend. I'm not so sleepy yet, due to DST, and am wishing I had some PI/pie to end the day with. See you all tomorrow!
Couldn’t get to it yesterday; having too much fun outdoors. This was a somewhat pleasant slog. I enjoyed seeing the theme as I crawled along.
Perp and suss as answers in the same puzzle. Uh! I guess the proper response is--who the hell cares.
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