Good morning, cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with his friend Shaun the Sheep. Shaun seems in fine fettle on this spring day. Easter, Passover and Flauschink have all come and gone (until next year) and it's a good time to sit back, relax, sip a piña colada, or two, and contemplate today's theme. After giving the matter some thought, Shaun has suggested that we start with the reveal:
34 Across: Palm fruit ... or what the creator of this puzzle's theme apparently is?: COCONUT. As in COCONUT Palm. Watch for falling objects!
Theme: I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
Merv Griffin
Jeffrey Wechsler is a name quite familiar to those who hang out at the LAT Crossword Corner. To say that he has constructed a shipload of puzzles published by the L.A. Times would be an understatement. If I am not mistaken, this is his second within one week and his one hundred seventy-ninth overall. For today's puzzle, Jeffrey has elected to riff on COCONUTS. As he suggests in the reveal, Jeffrey has apparently gone cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs due to all the research and writing and punning and cluing and re-writing. Then he has to sit back as editors second guess everything he has done. Oy! There certainly exists a correlation between all of this and one's mental well being. Whether or not there is causality is a matter best left to the judgement of you, dear reader.
14 Across: Attempted coup participants: CO-CONSPIRATORS. A coup d'etat (French for "blow of state" as used, also, in final blow or "coup de grace") often shortened to "coup" is the seizure of a government and its powers. In 1799, Napoleon and his CO CONSPIRATORS staged a successful coup against the ruling French Directory. Napoleon was, himself, the intended target of a coup. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Napoleon Bonaparte et Amis
20 Across: Many an 18th-century painter: ROCOCO ARTIST. ROCOCO is an elaborately ornamental style of painting.
42 Across: Environmentally concerned: ECO CONSCIOUS. ECO, ECO-friendly, and ECOlogical were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2008.
51. Source of an organic fiber: SILKWORM COCOON.
Silkworm Cocoons on a Mulberry Leaf
Let us now take a look at the other clues and answers. Puzzles are sort of like responsive reading, aren't they?
Across:
1. #1 Toto song that mentions the Serengeti: AFRICA. Toto is a band originally formed in Los Angeles in 1977. Depending on the source cited, the name came either from the canine in The Wizard of Oz or from the the phrase "in toto" meaning all encompassing and which was scrawled by the band, as a means of identification, on some of their early demo tapes. The Serengeti is a region of AFRICA renown, among other things, for its large lion population.
7. Whittling, for one: CRAFT.
12. Wavy patterns in some op art: MOIRES. Although it is a word that few of us have occasion to use, and as a plural on even fewer occasions, we do come across MOIRE not infrequently in puzzles.
13. Cool one's feet at streamside, say: DANGLE. A shaman gave a man a potion for erectile dysfunction. The instructions were to take only a single teaspoon and then count out loud: one, two, three. "How do I stop it from working?" asked the man. "Say one, two, three, four" replied the shaman. That evening when he and his wife were in the bedroom he followed the instructions. His wife became quite excited and, while taking off her clothes, asked "What was the one, two, three for?" This is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition. We might end up with a dangling participle.
17. Stretching muscles: TENSORS. Today's other anatomy lesson.
18. Iowa State city: AMES. Alternatively, a State University location often seen in crossword puzzles.
24. Low-quality: POOR.
26. CFO's degree: MBA. A company's Chief Financial Officer might, or might not, hold a Masters of Business Administration degree.
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Class of 1979
27. Intelligence org.: NSA. National Security Agency. We need to be careful, and not be too hasty, because sometimes it turns out to be the National Security Council.
28. Form close ties (with): BOND.
29. "Let's have at it!": GAME ON.
Wayne's World
32. Point: AIM.
33. Circle segment: ARC.
35. __ dog: TOP. TOP Dog means someone who is dominant, or apex, in their field.
36. Classic Pontiac: GTO. Gran Tourismo Omologato loosely translates to Grand Touring Homologated (a vehicle, or engine, approved for sale or for a particular use). I had a 1999 Suzuki SV650 motorcycle that was homologated for sale in California. When I went back to the dealer to ask why the owner's manual had me in shifting into sixth gear at 35 miles per hour when you could hit about 50 mph in first gear, the salesperson just smiled silently.
1969 Pontiac GTO
37. Not moving: AT REST.
38. Desires: YENS.
39. Bellows of "The Agency": GIL. "The Agency" was a television show about the CIA. GIL Bellows is an actor who appeared in that show and who also, among other roles, played Tommy in "The Shawshank Redemption" motion picture.
40. Dessert order: PIE.
41. Flower holders: BEDS. A reasonable attempt to device us but the use of the plural meant the neither VASES nor STEMS was going to fit. URNS would have fit but . . . .
47. Old Venetian judge: DOGE. The DOGE's Palace, en Venezia Italia has many murals on its walls painted by Tiziano Vecellio who we know as Titian. He was famous for his use of reds (the colors, not the barbiturates).
Doge Andrea Gritti by Titian
48. Catching a glimpse of: ESPYING.
There was a young lady named Hannah
Who slipped on a peel of banana
As she lay on her side more stars she espied
Than there are in the Star Spangled Banner
56. Most cunning: SLIEST.
57. When Rome wasn't built?: IN A DAY. Per the old saw. Rome was not built in a week either or, for example, was it built in the 10th century BCE. It was, according to legend, founded on April 21st 753 BCE.
58. Weighty reading: TOMES.
59. Guiding principles: TENETS.
Down:
1. Film lover's TV option: AMC. Originally known as American Movie Classics, AMC Network debuted in 1984 and originally focused on airing motion pictures made prior to 1950. As of 2015, almost 95,000,000 American households received the channel.
2. Pay, as a bill: FOOT. The idiom "FOOT the bill" is derived from an earlier idiom: to "foot up" or total the items on a bill at the bottom, or foot, of the bill. By the 1800's it had come to mean to pay the total at the foot of the bill.
3. It may be fried or puffed: RICE.
Fried
4. Piece of rebar, essentially: IRON ROD. Rebar is short for reinforcing bar.
5. Suppress, in a way: CENSOR.
A Hayes Code Certificate
See 44 Down
6. Part of NAACP: Abbr.: ASSOC. NAT'L would have left us a bit short so National ASSOCiation for the Advancement of Colored People it was.
7. Jaguar, e.g.: CAR. It could have been CAT but Co Coconspitators would have been a real stretch. Jeffrey used a different clue for CARs last Friday.
8. Genetic molecule: RNA. RiboNucleicAcid acts as a messenger carrying instructions fromDeoxyriboNucleicAcid.
9. Actor's rep.: AGT. AGENT One of about a dozen abbreviations in this puzzle - depending on what you chose to include.
10. Parade staple: FLOAT.
The "Animal House" Classic - 1978
11. Closed: TERMINATED.
The Terminator
13. Data storage medium: DISC.
15. Country club employee: PRO. As in golf PROfessional.
16. Stretches on a couch?: SESSIONS. A bit of misdirection. Not stretches such as one might do before exercising but stretches as in lengths of time. In this case, at a psychiatrist's office.
19. Some can be used forever--but only once: STAMPS. A nice riddle.
21. Signs: OMENS.
22. In the neighborhood of: ABOUT.
23. Overblown critique: RANT.
What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?
24. Elaborate entryways: PORTICOS.
25. Physician wearing a pink ribbon, perhaps: ONCOLOGIST.
28. Like potato chips, often: BAGGED.
What's In The Bag?
29. Showed up: GOT IN. Appeared wouldn't fit nor would arrived. In fairness, showing up and getting in are not quite the same thing . . . except, perhaps, on Saturdays.
30. Farm measures: ACRES.
31. Curly slapper: MOE. Hmmmm. let's see. As clued, MOE Howard from the Three Stooges. MOE Szyslak from "The Simpsons"? Moe Green, Moe Drabowsky? Naaah. Let's go with our very own.
Chairman Moe
34. Crime boss: CAPO.
Carmine Sabatini and the Stock Market
38. "That's well within my abilities": YES I CAN.
41. How to receive a freebie, perhaps: BUY ONE. A BUY ONE GET ONE Free offer sometimes appears in our puzzles.
43. Yo-Yo strings?: CELLO. Yo-Yo Ma is a world-renown cellist. I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform in person. My favorite recordings are the ones he did with Mark O'Conner and Edgar Meyer. O'Connor is a National Fiddle Champion and Mayer is the only bassist ever to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding achievement in classical music.
Chief Sitting In The Rain / College Hornpipe
44. Official doc.: CERT. A candy mint? A breath Mint? Oh, it's a necessary-evil-let's-truncate-a-word-to-fit-the-grid moment. Hey, it happens. Official Document = CERTificate. See, for example, 5 Down.
45. Belief system: ISM. What is the correct way to pronounce nihilISM? Doesn't matter.
46. In the previously mentioned work, briefly: OP CIT. An abbreviation for OPus CItatum or OPere CItato.
49. Connection point: NODE.
50. Initialism for Tom Brady, according to most: GOAT. GOAT is often used to denote the player who's blunder causes a sports team to lose a game. In another context, as used here, it becomes the acronym Greatest Of All Time. Polar opposites.
52. 2000s toon heroine __ Possible: KIM. I am familiar with many animated series but I did not know this one. Fortunately, the answer was only three letters. Thanks, perps.
53. Tiny: WEE.
Wee Willie Winkie
54. CIA predecessor: OSS. The Office of Strategic Services
55. Finger Lakes locale: Abbr.: NYS. New York State. For the second time in a row, the puzzle I recap ends with a punt.
Yay, d-o saw the embedded COCOs and managed a speedy win -- faster than yesterday. We've seen AMES three times this past week. Tried BuDS before BEDS became obvious. Noticed the SO to Chairman MOE. At the end, it took a lucky WAG to score the win. It could'a been SLYEST/KYM or SLIEST/KIM. Thanx, Jeffrey and Mal-Man. (Enjoyed your "dangling participle.")
High expected near 90° for my M-o-W route. Spring has definitely sprung. Today begins the second full week of April, and the hummingbirds are already at war over our backyard feeder.
I got this one done in under 11 minutes. I erroneously entered "hobby" instead of "craft," which slowed me down in the top right. I also struggled with "Got in" as the answer for "showed up." "Moires" was new to me.
It is always a pleasure to wake up to a Jeffrey Wechsler crossword, and the entertaining and enlightening write-ups from MalMan but today is special. As Joseph has pointed out, JW is our most published LAT contributor other than our fearless leader. But as the chronicler here I must celebrate this the 5000th publication at the Corner. Amazing dear C.C. and Boomer and all who have come by over the 13+ years.
I just rechecked and changed GaL to GIL. I was thinking of that GAL G** character from an earlier xword. But…. I spelled SLIEST correctly with a Y but KyM was clearly my first FIW in two weeks. I see D-O, guessed it Jeff's way
MaloMan, I've extended that joke to five minutes with the magic words "beep, beep". I like your ending.
The PROs are in Augusta this week for the Masters. Jordan Speith seems to have become a new popular favorite as a comeback story. Knee works for me too.
I pronounce it with NYEhillism. My wo was cLOwn to FLOAT
The theme helped this puzzle speed along for a Thursday. JW showed his expertise as a constructor as the COCOs moved from beginning to the end of the theme answers!
Thanks MM and to JW!
Congrats to CC and all the bloggers for reaching the 5000 mark!
Fun puzzle, Jeff. I liked the funny reveal. MM, I wish you would change your avatar to the more apt, MARVELOUS MANATEE. I refuse to use malodorous. One bad cell, K(y)m and sl(Y)est. I used the Y spelling for slyest first and did not match it to the down perp. Slyest and Sliest are both correct. But the toon uses KIM. I started from bottom up again. The theme COCO suggested ROCOCO and COCONSPIRATOR. With Bellows as a clue, I thought of the writer, Saul, although I have never read his books. GIL was all perps. For ARRIVED, I thought, GOT IN to the airport. My favorite clue was "some can be used forever, but only once." Cute. MM, LOL your dangle joke. Like potato chips? Addictive. I now have to watch my salt, which I crave. Very infrequent chips and pretzels. Hide the salt shaker. I do tolerate the normal salt in cooking, as long as I eschew the extra salt. Yes, I can, Sammy Davis's motto, has been mine for many years. Now I have to moderate that, too. Lucina, who used to sew a good bit, probably knows the wavy fabric, moiré, "a textile with a wavy (watered) appearance produced mainly from silk, but also wool, cotton and rayon." "See stars" was mentioned yesterday and today. Whenever I have fallen or hurt myself I have never seen stars.
Quite a nice outing, although my RAve became a RANT on the way to FIR. AFRICA reminded me of the safari that my wife and I took in South Africa. I learned about MOIRES from physics class.
Musings -Our prolific former art curator has produced another lovely work! -ROCOCO would be a natural for Jeffrey -AMES is perched on the banks of the Skunk River which is a flower in a BED -“COME ON, that’s wrong. It’s GAME ON.” -I was not the SLIEST when I almost fell for a scam this week. Coda – I reported that young clerk’s competence to management yesterday -I used to FOOT the bill for family restaurant outings until it became outrageous -My new computers required me to buy an external DISK drive - Some can be used forever--but only once: S T A _ _ _. I thought I was clever in writing STAPLE -There were many OMENS for the KC Chiefs stinker Super Bowl performance last February -Free ≠ At no added cost -Having grandkids in the early 2000’s gave me KIM POSSIBLE
POOR hunting in the top sector, but things got better as I moved down and around the sides. Saw the reveal and then that 'COCO' was somewhere in each of the long acrosses. Prefilled 'O's" in COCONSPIRATORS. Saw that it was a Jeffrey puzzle and thought "YES I CAN.". and tried not to overthink the answers. Words like CRAFT and GOT IN worked just fine. FIR.
Got my 2nd and last Shingrix vaccine for shingles yesterday. Also looks like we'll be restarting our bridge group in a week or two. We're all vaccinated for COVID.
YR, I've learned that "Yes I Can" doesn't apply to replacing the thin, plastic innard components of a dripping Roman-style bathtub faucet. It turned into the DIY project from hell. Although the replacement parts were free from the manufacturer, removing the original delicate, brittle, 17-year-old components turned into an adventure...an adventure to nowhere. At the end of the day there's still an easy-out stuck inside the pipe housing. There's no doubt that the very very fine internal threads are no longer fine at all, indicating the need for a new faucet. The tub has no underside access panel, so implements of destruction will be required to gain access through the ceramic tile tub surround. Latest estimate -- $500 parts and labor to install a new faucet, and there'll still be that damaged tile to replace afterward. Fun times.
Lemon, 5000 puzzles for Jeff? Wow! One a day for 13 or more years. Fun typo.
I haven't played bridge for 15 years. I have forgotten most of what I knew. I used to read the bridge column in the paper, but now it is difficult. I hope we can start a beginners' club here. They do have a club for the initiated.
DO, what a horrid tub situation. Nowadays NJ laws requires an access panel for the tub's plumbing. I didn't have such a panel in the condo. Good thing I sold the condo "as is." A panel could be opened in the den closet on the other side of the bathroom. No longer my problem.
I saw the string of Cocos early on but had no idea what the reveal would be. MalMan’s explanation makes sense, but it’s a very unusual and tricky theme from JW, IMO. Gil and Kim were unknowns but easily inferred with perps. My favorite was the clue for Stamps. I started out on the wrong foot with TMC and didn’t see the light until finally coming up with Foot which gave me Tfrica which led me to Africa and AMC. I also Raved before I Ranted and I had a V, thinking Viola for Yo Yo’ strings. I’m blaming all of my silly errors on the unrelenting discomfort of allergy attacks from whatever Spring is springing. CSOs to Moe and all New York Staters!
Thanks Jeffrey W, for a fun, if confusing, to me, solve and thanks, MalMan, for your excellent and hilarious commentary. I enjoyed several of the links.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Really liked the clues for stamps, to yo strings and Rome wasn’t built in a day.. Just great.
Getting an MBA isn’t easy, as many of you know. Son just applied to three very good colleges for his. Very tough getting in and super expensive. He is an Army vet, so our government will help him out, as will his employer.
Best wishes to all on another very beautiful spring day.
My string of FIRs ended today with a sloppy DNF, not noticing an empty square when I proofread or while reading MalMan's expose'. Only later reading the comments and looking at my grid again did I see I hadn't entered the d in NODE. And that was after sidestepping the BuD/BED trap (Hi! DO) and putting in the necessary Gs to finish GAME ON and BAGGED. My dessert was an icE before PIE. Finding the theme helped loads in completing the long fill. All in all an enjoyable puzzle today, Jeffrey, even if imperfect for me. Thanks too to MalMan for explaining things like CERT so well. Nice to see you again, Lizza.
Tomorrow is another day to improve my proofreading patience. Meanwhile, we celebrate the Crossword Corner reaching 5000 puzzles for us puzzlers. Congratulations to C.C. and all who make it possible! Have a great day!
Forgot to mention, back in the day, about 25 years ago or so, I sewed a beautiful valance for my living room window out of a lovely moire fabric. I really loved it . Now it’s just a very lovely memory.
Congratulations to Jeffrey and his prolific output with the LA Times and congratulations to CC and Boomer and all the bloggers for the amazing 5,000 days of enlightenment and entertainment, not to mention camaraderie and humor. Thanks to all.
Thursday Triumph. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and MalMan. This was a workout (GAME ON) and I was happy to finish with a win. Then I arrived here to discover that JW was the COCONUT, and I was even more pleased to have succeeded. YES I CAN! (Oh no; now I see that I fell for the Slyest/Kym trap. Not a FIR after all. POOR me.)
I got all the way down to our CW friend AMES before I entered anything. Then I waited until ARC for the 2nd fill. Talk about low-hanging fruit (Coconuts?). But the bottom half filled more easily, and seeing COCO and the theme enabled me to add some letters to the top themers.
We had op art MOIRES and ROCOCO ARTIST. I smiled at COCONSPIRATORS crossing CENSOR. I also smiled at TENSORS and those other stretches (SESSIONS). We had AMES and AIM, ISM and TENETS.
This Canadian wanted CIA (but then saw it in the clue for 54D) before NSA perped; ditto for TMC before AMC (Netflix was too long to fit). And I can never remember NCAAP but ASSOC seemed logical.
The chips are BAGGED not Ridged. We are not Inert or Still, but AT REST. The flowers are in BEDS (AT REST?) not a Vase (plural would not fit). That Jaguar is a CAR not a Cat.
Hard to decide for favourite clue between 41D BUY ONE, and 19D STAMPS (that one took some head-scratching for me as we call them Permanent not Forever Stamps).
CSO to CMoe. Celebrate the 5000th! Wishing you all a great day.
Lizza, I forgot to thank you for the details on where you live. I’m familiar with Nyack, Nanuet, Pearl River, Spring Valley, etc,. as I worked for the RCA/Whirlpool distributor that serviced many electronic and appliance stores in those towns.
Woohoo! Woohoo! Brilliant puzzle by my favorite constructor! Woohoo! Many thanks, Jeffrey. And, MalMan, your pictures were just a total delight this morning--a real gift-- thank you for that too. And C.C. and Boomer, thank you for giving us so many years of sharing puzzle solving on this wonderful blog--one of our pleasures of the day for so many of us.
Like Irish Miss, my favorite clue this morning was the one for the FOREVER STAMP. I got it instantly. But I had to struggle with lots of others--hey, it's Thursday, when puzzles start getting tougher. Also loved how Rome wasn't built--IN A DAY--funny and clever. And also cracked up to put in MOE for the curly Curly slapper.
FIR in 26, seeing the theme immediately helped get ‘er done. Favorite clue: Yo-Yo strings. CFO’s degree could have been MBA or CPA; perps to the rescue. Fun CW, thanx, JW! Nice write up, thanx, MM!
Congratulations to C.C. and all her CO-CONSPIRATORS, so to speak, on the 5,000th puzzle! What an impressive achievement and I'm so pleased to be a part of it.
I shall have AFRICA in my head all day but it's beautiful so that's ok.
AMC, IMO, is not this film lover's option. Turner Classic Movies is my preference.
Hand up for STAMPS being my favorite clue.
Spitz: I'm so happy for you to being able to resume bridge with your friends.
YR: Yes, in the past I have used MOIRES to sew some lovely items. Thank you for remembering.
One of my former classmates, now departed, was surnamed BOND. She was a superb and creative seamstress as well as making CRAFTs. She died too young of cancer.
In Turkey we saw women unraveling the SILK COCOONs and others weaving gorgeous rugs from it on gigantic looms. BUY ONE get one is not an option there!
My laundry is TERMINATED so I shall have to stop here and hang it outside. It's gloriously sunny so it won't take long to dry.
Started doing crosswords on lunch breaks at work. When we retired (2000), started doing them every day in the local newspaper. Eventually got tired of waiting for the next day's paper to get the answers and went fishin' on the internet. Totally by accident clicked on "The Crossword Corner" Don't remember when it was but surely remember the name Barry Silk. Got hooked and still am. Don't comment much but read the comments every day. Informative and comical. VERY informative.
Whoot! I solved a JeffWex! //Sure it's only Thursday - gimme this :-)
Thanks JW for a self-effacing puzzle. Loved it!
MManatee - that' participle joke took an unexpected turn :-) Thanks for the Expo.
WO: CENSeR ESPs: GIL, DOGE Fav: STAMPS clue was fun. Runner-up: clue for (Chairman) MOE.
BooL - That's you at 12:13p! Welcome back; I've missed you.
Kim Possible - watched it with the Girls when they were younger. Also, a COworker's name was Kim; she was in charge of end-user support; her team (as a prank) hung a huge Kim Possible poster in her office while she was on vacation. She loved it and kept it on the wall - even when she moved offices.
D-O: Ugh! with the plumbing. Pop calls it the 'begat system' 'cuz one thing leads to another [The Fixx]. Younget and I replaced the garbage disposal 2 weeks ago. Supposed to be easy... Nope, the old one was rusted onto the sink/drain mount. Had to replace everything BUT the kitchen sink. //more plumbing problems? Yeah, sure - 5 cracked joints under the house. To get to one of the broken joints by tunnel, they're going to have to bust up the driveway. There goes 12.5k.
YR - two weeks ago I was curious how to play Bridge. I found this. He lost me half-way though scoring.
5,000 days in a row... Wow! That's an achievement Cornerites.
FLN...HUSKER G..,Kudos for the follow up to the clerk’s manager for a shout out, that’s a classy move.
But you didn’t answer the coffee question, hahaha.
This Thursday JW was tough on top, went to the bottom and worked back up.
Write-over...TCM/ACM.
D-O....no way to access of the other side of the tiled wall? I had to do that in my condo, cut in an access panel on the other side.
Potato chips/Salt...on my last visit the Doc said “I’m going to tell you something I don’t say very often...your BP is so well controlled I want you to start using salt on your food if you’d like to”. I was shocked to hear that for sure. Where's the chip aisle, haha.
I’ve noticed now that a lot of Seniors are vaxxed that there are still fatalities, and that they are occurring in younger people now. Plus that extra contagious British strain is now dominant.
YR, exactly; I had a bag of snacks and suffered for two days. Kidney Dr warned me. The rare ear of corn? Light dusting.
On behalf of C-eh, can we add lhf(low hanging fruit) to olio vocab? As the week extends, the lhf are invaluable. Speaking of… I just gathered a basket of mulberries from our tree. Yum.
So IM, we can add you to the CSO for RCA with Misty. I'd've CSO'ed C-Moe if I'd noticed the Curly clue. I tend to do down because I don't have to read the numbers
AMC found it could make more money with Saul and the meth makers than old movies.
50 years ago a Major thought he'd spotted a drunken, patsy Lt and offered to play for a dime a point. A half hour later he owed me $300 but pulled rank and refused to pay.
A perfect Thursday PZL from Mr. Wechsler. Tough, but not overly-challenging, thought-provoking but doable throughout.
CELLO. One of our drama students was also a cellist, and because of him I was invited to a small, select master class with Yo-Yo Ma. What a warm, friendly, open guy, as well as a brilliant musician! He was funny, easy to follow (even for a non-player such as myself), and highly encouraging to the young string artists.
OP. CIT. Among my favorite foot-notations! "In the work cited." ~ OMK
AnonymousPVX, it's a corner tub with the faucets mounted up against the shower wall. The only options are to cut into the tiles under the tub in the surround, or through the tiles in the interior of the shower. T'aint pretty, McGee. Remember what Sancho Panza said? -- "Whether the stone hits the pitcher, or the pitcher hits the stone, it's going to be bad for the pitcher."
The constructor interviews, some polls, some posts with tips (eg "How To Remember Roman Numerals"), along with various other posts.
To get an idea, open up the year 2008 in the archives. February and March in particular had a number of posts that were not blogged puzzles. I have enjoyed reading many of these posts in the archives, such as "Invasion of the Irate Puzzle People" on Feb 20, 2008.
Thank you Jeffrey and thank you MalMan for a just right puzzle and a just right review, which I managed to FIR. The theme was quite obvious (5 COCO's including the reveal) and didn't DRIVE me NUTS, but those who know me would say it's only a short PUTT.
Some FAVs:
12A Moiré patterns are an example of a phenomenon in physics called an INTERFERENCE pattern. These patterns occur when two waves emanating from nearby points (e.g. ripples in a pond, fabric patterns, diffraction gratings, etc.) "interfere" with one another, with the low points of the waves cancelling one another and the high points augmenting one another. An in-depth examination of this "effect" by Niels Bohr and his colleagues in the early 20th century, discovered certain anomalies in these so called "double-slit" experiments. Further researches to resolve these anomalies gave rise to a new science: QUANTUM MECHANICS. And in turn this science led to the very technology that we are using on the Corner to discuss this today.
20A The ROCOCO period also describes the interim between BAROQUE music (e.g. J.S. Bach) and the CLASSICAL (e.g. W.A. Mozart). Two of the great composers of the period were sons of Bach: Johann Christian and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Bach's youngest son, P.D.Q. also founded the school of BROKEN music, which persists to this very day and refuses to go away.
27A I though those initials stood for No Such Agency, a close relative of "The Agency" alluded to in 39A.
8D Turns out there are many varieties of RNA molecules, beside the "messenger" and "transfer" versions used by RIBOSOMES in the synthesis of proteins. These "non-coding" RNA's were formerly thought to be "JUNK DNA", until it was discovered that the served many biological functions. There are many types of "short RNA's" collectively known as "sRNA's". See e.g. Non-coding RNA.
13D CD's are quickly becoming obsolete for both data and music storage. They are being supplanted by low-cost "jump drives" (e.g. 128GB for $16 on Amazon) or "Cloud" storage (I prefer the term "Fog", but that's a different RANT). A lot of young folks keep all their music online and download it on demand. I keep mine on my favorite FM station WBJC. Of course I'm at the mercy of the DJ's, but they have much better musical taste than I do.
23D "What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?" See esempli gratia. Plus they gave us Monty Python!
Once again I failed to hit send, I wrote an explanatory post right after my first one explaining that the 5000 included interviews and other matters. I did not do the research to specify that there were 137 non-puzzle posts. I also think that by referencing the 5000th post it was obvious I was not referring to JW's 5000th but what do I know. I love the link posted from February 2008 which was before my time. But as said, it was/is amazing to keep this going this long
Loved the puzzle. Jeffrey even threw in a couple of extra COs for us in PORTICOS and ONCOLOGIST.
Witty write-up, MalMan. I would not have commented on this bit of grammar, but you did it twice: "The Serengeti is a region of AFRICA renown, among other things, for its large lion population" and "Yo-Yo Ma is a world-renown cellist." RENOWN is a synonym for FAME. RENOWNED is a synonym for FAMOUS. Both of your sentences call for the adjective RENOWNED. If you prefer the noun form, it has to be "Yo-Yo Ma enjoys world RENOWN as a cellist." RANT over!
Congrats to the Corner on the big milestone, and many thanks to all who contribute.
Love the "rains down in AFRICA" song, but never knew what it meant till now. Wait, wait...LIU..all these years I've been mishearing the lyrics. It's not "I test the rains but I bless. Sheesh.
The last Doge, Manin (Venetian names typically do not end in vowels) of La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, abdicated when Napolean pretty much walked in and took over the city.
Use rebar ironbars/RODS to secure my 6 outdoor lit Christmas reindeer. Find the rods scattered on the lawn now that it's spring. exTENSORS more likely to stretch. A shout out to the Chairman today. Clever STAMP and Yo-Yo clues.
Hear a lot about RNA and the Covid vaccine. I knowed NODE from previous puzzles as well as GOAT (learned entirely from blog comments). Wanted couch siestas before SESSIONS, perps said no. My grandkids watched KIM Possible & Ron Stoppable.
Waseeley, I really hate to see the demise of the music CD. I still buy the occasional CD and rip it to my music server. CD's are capable of (and usually have) much better fidelity than the streaming MP3 versions, plus in most cases the CD turns out to be cheaper. Go figure.
D-O @4:45pm So do I actually. Just received a Naxos recording of some spectacular arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition compiled by Leonard Slatkin, one movement even with a chorus. There are a lot of great old recordings out there at very reasonable prices.
Good puzzle. I learned whittling is a CRAFT, not a HOBBY. I learned MOIRE is apparently a noun that can be pluralized, not an adjective as in MOIRE pattern(s). I learned Ms. Possible's name is KIM, not KIM, thus SLYEST had to be SLIEST. (Does that rhyme with PRIEST?)
Loved the cluing for INADAY, STAMPS, SESSIONS, MOE, BUYONE, and ONCOLOGIST. (Whose clues are they?)
Manatee, I love love love your story about DANGLE.
Jayce, LOL I was just thinking, were I to construct a puzzle I could just throw in junk clues and let Rich put in his own. Sometimes I think that way, too. Does a constructor lose his/her identity when so many of the original clues are changed?
@Anonymous T , Yes it is Boo LuQuette , the unknown is my other google account, mostly for my Cajun Coin Hunter You Tube channel....I need to put that info into the blog so my avatar will pop up ..
The Plus Tard was a dead giveaway for you I reckon....
Riddle me this, Batman: How does someone who starts the puzzle as soon as it is available online at 11:00 each night --- and usually mostly finishes the “easier” ones before going to bed, manage to arrive so late to the Corner? It’s happened three days in a row. At least today I had sort of an excuse. I had some computer issues.
Anyway, here goes:
I was extremely pleased with myself for finishing a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle in about an hour this morning. Thought I had won, but I messed up SLIEST/KIM like others did. Bah! Humbug!
AFRICA was my first fill. It’s one of my favorite songs too. Ray-O, my bad rock ‘n’ roll ears often mishear lyrics. In this song, it was the second verse, “… as they grow restless….”
Yes, getting COCONUT early helped with the theme.
Played bridge in my ute. Never was too good at it. I could bid and defend pretty well, but I had trouble bringing home tough contracts. We even hosted some duplicate parties, which were quite fun.
Gave up adding salt many years ago. My doctor tells me I have high blood pressure. I tell him its white coat syndrome. He gave me a monitor, and I report daily. Told him that the daily results depend solely on whether or not I’ve messed up and gotten on Facebook before I do my blood pressure. He DID get a kick out of that one. On days when I haven’t done the puzzle overnight, I also have to make sure I don’t start it before I take my BP. Guess what drives it UP!
Used to love TCM, especially “31 Days of Oscar” in February. Stupid Comcast moved it over from the basic to the premium side a couple of years ago. Luckily, I had “Casablanca” (my fav) saved from before the change. In fact, I’ve watched it twice late at night in the past month.
Had forgotten GOAT, as clued, which was my last fill. I’m not that much of a Brady fan, although I do give him kudos for winning the SB in his first year at TB. What can I say? My two favorite QBs ever were Sonny Jurgensen (who graduated from the same high school as my mother) and Billy Kilmer. Neither had what one might describe as a model physique.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, d-o saw the embedded COCOs and managed a speedy win -- faster than yesterday. We've seen AMES three times this past week. Tried BuDS before BEDS became obvious. Noticed the SO to Chairman MOE. At the end, it took a lucky WAG to score the win. It could'a been SLYEST/KYM or SLIEST/KIM. Thanx, Jeffrey and Mal-Man. (Enjoyed your "dangling participle.")
High expected near 90° for my M-o-W route. Spring has definitely sprung. Today begins the second full week of April, and the hummingbirds are already at war over our backyard feeder.
I got this one done in under 11 minutes. I erroneously entered "hobby" instead of "craft," which slowed me down in the top right. I also struggled with "Got in" as the answer for "showed up." "Moires" was new to me.
ReplyDeleteIt is always a pleasure to wake up to a Jeffrey Wechsler crossword, and the entertaining and enlightening write-ups from MalMan but today is special. As Joseph has pointed out, JW is our most published LAT contributor other than our fearless leader. But as the chronicler here I must celebrate this the 5000th publication at the Corner. Amazing dear C.C. and Boomer and all who have come by over the 13+ years.
ReplyDeleteI just rechecked and changed GaL to GIL. I was thinking of that GAL G** character from an earlier xword. But….
ReplyDeleteI spelled SLIEST correctly with a Y but KyM was clearly my first FIW in two weeks. I see D-O, guessed it Jeff's way
MaloMan, I've extended that joke to five minutes with the magic words "beep, beep". I like your ending.
The PROs are in Augusta this week for the Masters. Jordan Speith seems to have become a new popular favorite as a comeback story. Knee works for me too.
I pronounce it with NYEhillism. My wo was cLOwn to FLOAT
WC
The theme helped this puzzle speed along for a Thursday. JW showed his expertise as a constructor as the COCOs moved from beginning to the end of the theme answers!
ReplyDeleteThanks MM and to JW!
Congrats to CC and all the bloggers for reaching the 5000 mark!
Fun puzzle, Jeff. I liked the funny reveal.
ReplyDeleteMM, I wish you would change your avatar to the more apt, MARVELOUS MANATEE. I refuse to use malodorous.
One bad cell, K(y)m and sl(Y)est. I used the Y spelling for slyest first and did not match it to the down perp. Slyest and Sliest are both correct. But the toon uses KIM.
I started from bottom up again. The theme COCO suggested ROCOCO and COCONSPIRATOR.
With Bellows as a clue, I thought of the writer, Saul, although I have never read his books. GIL was all perps.
For ARRIVED, I thought, GOT IN to the airport.
My favorite clue was "some can be used forever, but only once." Cute.
MM, LOL your dangle joke.
Like potato chips? Addictive. I now have to watch my salt, which I crave. Very infrequent chips and pretzels. Hide the salt shaker. I do tolerate the normal salt in cooking, as long as I eschew the extra salt.
Yes, I can, Sammy Davis's motto, has been mine for many years. Now I have to moderate that, too.
Lucina, who used to sew a good bit, probably knows the wavy fabric, moiré, "a textile with a wavy (watered) appearance produced mainly from silk, but also wool, cotton and rayon."
"See stars" was mentioned yesterday and today. Whenever I have fallen or hurt myself I have never seen stars.
Quite a nice outing, although my RAve became a RANT on the way to FIR. AFRICA reminded me of the safari that my wife and I took in South Africa. I learned about MOIRES from physics class.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Our prolific former art curator has produced another lovely work!
-ROCOCO would be a natural for Jeffrey
-AMES is perched on the banks of the Skunk River which is a flower in a BED
-“COME ON, that’s wrong. It’s GAME ON.”
-I was not the SLIEST when I almost fell for a scam this week. Coda – I reported that young clerk’s competence to management yesterday
-I used to FOOT the bill for family restaurant outings until it became outrageous
-My new computers required me to buy an external DISK drive
- Some can be used forever--but only once: S T A _ _ _. I thought I was clever in writing STAPLE
-There were many OMENS for the KC Chiefs stinker Super Bowl performance last February
-Free ≠ At no added cost
-Having grandkids in the early 2000’s gave me KIM POSSIBLE
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeletePOOR hunting in the top sector, but things got better as I moved down and around the sides. Saw the reveal and then that 'COCO' was somewhere in each of the long acrosses. Prefilled 'O's" in COCONSPIRATORS. Saw that it was a Jeffrey puzzle and thought "YES I CAN.". and tried not to overthink the answers. Words like CRAFT and GOT IN worked just fine. FIR.
Got my 2nd and last Shingrix vaccine for shingles yesterday.
Also looks like we'll be restarting our bridge group in a week or two. We're all vaccinated for COVID.
Have a good day.
YR, I've learned that "Yes I Can" doesn't apply to replacing the thin, plastic innard components of a dripping Roman-style bathtub faucet. It turned into the DIY project from hell. Although the replacement parts were free from the manufacturer, removing the original delicate, brittle, 17-year-old components turned into an adventure...an adventure to nowhere. At the end of the day there's still an easy-out stuck inside the pipe housing. There's no doubt that the very very fine internal threads are no longer fine at all, indicating the need for a new faucet. The tub has no underside access panel, so implements of destruction will be required to gain access through the ceramic tile tub surround. Latest estimate -- $500 parts and labor to install a new faucet, and there'll still be that damaged tile to replace afterward. Fun times.
ReplyDeleteLemon, 5000 puzzles for Jeff? Wow! One a day for 13 or more years. Fun typo.
ReplyDeleteI haven't played bridge for 15 years. I have forgotten most of what I knew. I used to read the bridge column in the paper, but now it is difficult. I hope we can start a beginners' club here. They do have a club for the initiated.
DO, what a horrid tub situation. Nowadays NJ laws requires an access panel for the tub's plumbing. I didn't have such a panel in the condo. Good thing I sold the condo "as is." A panel could be opened in the den closet on the other side of the bathroom. No longer my problem.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI saw the string of Cocos early on but had no idea what the reveal would be. MalMan’s explanation makes sense, but it’s a very unusual and tricky theme from JW, IMO. Gil and Kim were unknowns but easily inferred with perps. My favorite was the clue for Stamps. I started out on the wrong foot with TMC and didn’t see the light until finally coming up with Foot which gave me Tfrica which led me to Africa and AMC. I also Raved before I Ranted and I had a V, thinking Viola for Yo Yo’ strings. I’m blaming all of my silly errors on the unrelenting discomfort of allergy attacks from whatever Spring is springing. CSOs to Moe and all New York Staters!
Thanks Jeffrey W, for a fun, if confusing, to me, solve and thanks, MalMan, for your excellent and hilarious commentary. I enjoyed several of the links.
Have a great day.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Really liked the clues for stamps, to yo strings and Rome wasn’t built in a day.. Just great.
ReplyDeleteGetting an MBA isn’t easy, as many of you know. Son just applied to three very good colleges for his. Very tough getting in and super expensive. He is an Army vet, so our government will help him out, as will his employer.
Best wishes to all on another very beautiful spring day.
My string of FIRs ended today with a sloppy DNF, not noticing an empty square when I proofread or while reading MalMan's expose'. Only later reading the comments and looking at my grid again did I see I hadn't entered the d in NODE. And that was after sidestepping the BuD/BED trap (Hi! DO) and putting in the necessary Gs to finish GAME ON and BAGGED. My dessert was an icE before PIE. Finding the theme helped loads in completing the long fill. All in all an enjoyable puzzle today, Jeffrey, even if imperfect for me. Thanks too to MalMan for explaining things like CERT so well. Nice to see you again, Lizza.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is another day to improve my proofreading patience. Meanwhile, we celebrate the Crossword Corner reaching 5000 puzzles for us puzzlers. Congratulations to C.C. and all who make it possible! Have a great day!
Forgot to mention, back in the day, about 25 years ago or so, I sewed a beautiful valance for my living room window out of a lovely moire fabric. I really loved it . Now it’s just a very lovely memory.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Jeffrey and his prolific output with the LA Times and congratulations to CC and Boomer and all the bloggers for the amazing 5,000 days of enlightenment and entertainment, not to mention camaraderie and humor. Thanks to all.
ReplyDeleteThursday Triumph. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and MalMan.
ReplyDeleteThis was a workout (GAME ON) and I was happy to finish with a win. Then I arrived here to discover that JW was the COCONUT, and I was even more pleased to have succeeded. YES I CAN!
(Oh no; now I see that I fell for the Slyest/Kym trap. Not a FIR after all. POOR me.)
I got all the way down to our CW friend AMES before I entered anything. Then I waited until ARC for the 2nd fill. Talk about low-hanging fruit (Coconuts?). But the bottom half filled more easily, and seeing COCO and the theme enabled me to add some letters to the top themers.
We had op art MOIRES and ROCOCO ARTIST.
I smiled at COCONSPIRATORS crossing CENSOR.
I also smiled at TENSORS and those other stretches (SESSIONS).
We had AMES and AIM, ISM and TENETS.
This Canadian wanted CIA (but then saw it in the clue for 54D) before NSA perped; ditto for TMC before AMC (Netflix was too long to fit). And I can never remember NCAAP but ASSOC seemed logical.
The chips are BAGGED not Ridged.
We are not Inert or Still, but AT REST. The flowers are in BEDS (AT REST?) not a Vase (plural would not fit).
That Jaguar is a CAR not a Cat.
Hard to decide for favourite clue between 41D BUY ONE, and 19D STAMPS (that one took some head-scratching for me as we call them Permanent not Forever Stamps).
CSO to CMoe.
Celebrate the 5000th!
Wishing you all a great day.
Lizza, I forgot to thank you for the details on where you live. I’m familiar with Nyack, Nanuet, Pearl River, Spring Valley, etc,. as I worked for the RCA/Whirlpool distributor that serviced many electronic and appliance stores in those towns.
ReplyDeleteI see 5000 puzzles was for the Crossword Corner. Starting a new paragraph would make it clearer.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, congrats to all who have helped us get to 5000. FIW. Should have remembered most dry/driest.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Woohoo! Brilliant puzzle by my favorite constructor! Woohoo! Many thanks, Jeffrey. And, MalMan, your pictures were just a total delight this morning--a real gift-- thank you for that too. And C.C. and Boomer, thank you for giving us so many years of sharing puzzle solving on this wonderful blog--one of our pleasures of the day for so many of us.
ReplyDeleteLike Irish Miss, my favorite clue this morning was the one for the FOREVER STAMP. I got it instantly. But I had to struggle with lots of others--hey, it's Thursday, when puzzles start getting tougher. Also loved how Rome wasn't built--IN A DAY--funny and clever. And also cracked up to put in MOE for the curly Curly slapper.
Have a great day, everybody.
Nice Thursday puzzle. A lot more enjoyable than yesterday's name fest.
ReplyDeleteFIR in 26, seeing the theme immediately helped get ‘er done. Favorite clue: Yo-Yo strings. CFO’s degree could have been MBA or CPA; perps to the rescue. Fun CW, thanx, JW! Nice write up, thanx, MM!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning to all, Great expo this morning , That video clip for TERMINATED is Total Recall...
ReplyDeleteI caught the CoCo Puff Theme right away....
Plus Tard from Cajun Country...
Hola!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to C.C. and all her CO-CONSPIRATORS, so to speak, on the 5,000th puzzle! What an impressive achievement and I'm so pleased to be a part of it.
I shall have AFRICA in my head all day but it's beautiful so that's ok.
AMC, IMO, is not this film lover's option. Turner Classic Movies is my preference.
Hand up for STAMPS being my favorite clue.
Spitz:
I'm so happy for you to being able to resume bridge with your friends.
YR:
Yes, in the past I have used MOIRES to sew some lovely items. Thank you for remembering.
One of my former classmates, now departed, was surnamed BOND. She was a superb and creative seamstress as well as making CRAFTs. She died too young of cancer.
In Turkey we saw women unraveling the SILK COCOONs and others weaving gorgeous rugs from it on gigantic looms. BUY ONE get one is not an option there!
My laundry is TERMINATED so I shall have to stop here and hang it outside. It's gloriously sunny so it won't take long to dry.
Ooh, I have KYM/SLYEST!
Enjoy a pleasant day, everyone!
Many thanks to Jeff Wex and Malman!
ReplyDelete5,000. Wow! Honored to have played a very small part.
ReplyDeleteStarted doing crosswords on lunch breaks at work. When we retired (2000), started doing them every day in the local newspaper. Eventually got tired of waiting for the next day's paper to get the answers and went fishin' on the internet. Totally by accident clicked on "The Crossword Corner" Don't remember when it was but surely remember the name Barry Silk. Got hooked and still am. Don't comment much but read the comments every day. Informative and comical. VERY informative.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteWhoot! I solved a JeffWex!
//Sure it's only Thursday - gimme this :-)
Thanks JW for a self-effacing puzzle. Loved it!
MManatee - that' participle joke took an unexpected turn :-)
Thanks for the Expo.
WO: CENSeR
ESPs: GIL, DOGE
Fav: STAMPS clue was fun.
Runner-up: clue for (Chairman) MOE.
BooL - That's you at 12:13p! Welcome back; I've missed you.
Kim Possible - watched it with the Girls when they were younger. Also, a COworker's name was Kim; she was in charge of end-user support; her team (as a prank) hung a huge Kim Possible poster in her office while she was on vacation. She loved it and kept it on the wall - even when she moved offices.
D-O: Ugh! with the plumbing. Pop calls it the 'begat system' 'cuz one thing leads to another [The Fixx].
Younget and I replaced the garbage disposal 2 weeks ago. Supposed to be easy...
Nope, the old one was rusted onto the sink/drain mount. Had to replace everything BUT the kitchen sink.
//more plumbing problems? Yeah, sure - 5 cracked joints under the house. To get to one of the broken joints by tunnel, they're going to have to bust up the driveway.
There goes 12.5k.
YR - two weeks ago I was curious how to play Bridge. I found this. He lost me half-way though scoring.
5,000 days in a row... Wow! That's an achievement Cornerites.
Back to the salt mines; play later.
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteFLN...HUSKER G..,Kudos for the follow up to the clerk’s manager for a shout out, that’s a classy move.
But you didn’t answer the coffee question, hahaha.
This Thursday JW was tough on top, went to the bottom and worked back up.
Write-over...TCM/ACM.
D-O....no way to access of the other side of the tiled wall? I had to do that in my condo, cut in an access panel on the other side.
Potato chips/Salt...on my last visit the Doc said “I’m going to tell you something I don’t say very often...your BP is so well controlled I want you to start using salt on your food if you’d like to”. I was shocked to hear that for sure. Where's the chip aisle, haha.
I’ve noticed now that a lot of Seniors are vaxxed that there are still fatalities, and that they are occurring in younger people now. Plus that extra contagious British strain is now dominant.
So Stay Safe.
ReplyDeleteYR, exactly; I had a bag of snacks and suffered for two days. Kidney Dr warned me. The rare ear of corn? Light dusting.
On behalf of C-eh, can we add lhf(low hanging fruit) to olio vocab? As the week extends, the lhf are invaluable. Speaking of…
I just gathered a basket of mulberries from our tree. Yum.
So IM, we can add you to the CSO for RCA with Misty. I'd've CSO'ed C-Moe if I'd noticed the Curly clue. I tend to do down because I don't have to read the numbers
AMC found it could make more money with Saul and the meth makers than old movies.
50 years ago a Major thought he'd spotted a drunken, patsy Lt and offered to play for a dime a point. A half hour later he owed me $300 but pulled rank and refused to pay.
WC
A perfect Thursday PZL from Mr. Wechsler.
ReplyDeleteTough, but not overly-challenging, thought-provoking but doable throughout.
CELLO. One of our drama students was also a cellist, and because of him I was invited to a small, select master class with Yo-Yo Ma.
What a warm, friendly, open guy, as well as a brilliant musician! He was funny, easy to follow (even for a non-player such as myself), and highly encouraging to the young string artists.
OP. CIT. Among my favorite foot-notations! "In the work cited."
~ OMK
AnonymousPVX, it's a corner tub with the faucets mounted up against the shower wall. The only options are to cut into the tiles under the tub in the surround, or through the tiles in the interior of the shower. T'aint pretty, McGee. Remember what Sancho Panza said? -- "Whether the stone hits the pitcher, or the pitcher hits the stone, it's going to be bad for the pitcher."
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAs Lemonade wrote, "But as the chronicler here I must celebrate this the 5000th publication at the Corner."
This is true. Today was the 5000 blog post.
It is not, however, the 5000th puzzle blogged. There are 137 blog posts that are not blogged puzzles.
Today is the 98th day of the year. 137 days from now will be the 235th day of the year.
That will be Monday, August 23rd, 2021 Boomer will be blogging the 5000th puzzle. Apropos.
TTP, what were those 137 blog posts about?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete:>)
The constructor interviews, some polls, some posts with tips (eg "How To Remember Roman Numerals"), along with various other posts.
To get an idea, open up the year 2008 in the archives. February and March in particular had a number of posts that were not blogged puzzles. I have enjoyed reading many of these posts in the archives, such as "Invasion of the Irate Puzzle People" on Feb 20, 2008.
Congratulations, Crossword-Cornerites on your milestone! I really, really, love this site!
ReplyDeleteLink to TTP's reference: Invasion of the Irate Puzzle People.
ReplyDeleteLOL the guy on the can.
Cheers, -T
Thank you Jeffrey and thank you MalMan for a just right puzzle and a just right review, which I managed to FIR. The theme was quite obvious (5 COCO's including the reveal) and didn't DRIVE me NUTS, but those who know me would say it's only a short PUTT.
ReplyDeleteSome FAVs:
12A Moiré patterns are an example of a phenomenon in physics called an INTERFERENCE pattern. These patterns occur when two waves emanating from nearby points (e.g. ripples in a pond, fabric patterns, diffraction gratings, etc.) "interfere" with one another, with the low points of the waves cancelling one another and the high points augmenting one another. An in-depth examination of this "effect" by Niels Bohr and his colleagues in the early 20th century, discovered certain anomalies in these so called "double-slit" experiments. Further researches to resolve these anomalies gave rise to a new science: QUANTUM MECHANICS. And in turn this science led to the very technology that we are using on the Corner to discuss this today.
20A The ROCOCO period also describes the interim between BAROQUE music (e.g. J.S. Bach) and the CLASSICAL (e.g. W.A. Mozart). Two of the great composers of the period were sons of Bach: Johann Christian and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Bach's youngest son, P.D.Q. also founded the school of BROKEN music, which persists to this very day and refuses to go away.
27A I though those initials stood for No Such Agency, a close relative of "The Agency" alluded to in 39A.
8D Turns out there are many varieties of RNA molecules, beside the "messenger" and "transfer" versions used by RIBOSOMES in the synthesis of proteins. These "non-coding" RNA's were formerly thought to be "JUNK DNA", until it was discovered that the served many biological functions. There are many types of "short RNA's" collectively known as "sRNA's". See e.g. Non-coding RNA.
13D CD's are quickly becoming obsolete for both data and music storage. They are being supplanted by low-cost "jump drives" (e.g. 128GB for $16 on Amazon) or "Cloud" storage (I prefer the term "Fog", but that's a different RANT). A lot of young folks keep all their music online and download it on demand. I keep mine on my favorite FM station WBJC. Of course I'm at the mercy of the DJ's, but they have much better musical taste than I do.
23D "What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?" See esempli gratia. Plus they gave us Monty Python!
Cheers,
Bill
Once again I failed to hit send, I wrote an explanatory post right after my first one explaining that the 5000 included interviews and other matters. I did not do the research to specify that there were 137 non-puzzle posts. I also think that by referencing the 5000th post it was obvious I was not referring to JW's 5000th but what do I know. I love the link posted from February 2008 which was before my time. But as said, it was/is amazing to keep this going this long
ReplyDeleteLoved the puzzle. Jeffrey even threw in a couple of extra COs for us in PORTICOS and ONCOLOGIST.
ReplyDeleteWitty write-up, MalMan. I would not have commented on this bit of grammar, but you did it twice: "The Serengeti is a region of AFRICA renown, among other things, for its large lion population" and "Yo-Yo Ma is a world-renown cellist." RENOWN is a synonym for FAME. RENOWNED is a synonym for FAMOUS. Both of your sentences call for the adjective RENOWNED. If you prefer the noun form, it has to be "Yo-Yo Ma enjoys world RENOWN as a cellist." RANT over!
Congrats to the Corner on the big milestone, and many thanks to all who contribute.
Thank you NaomiZ..and no sarcasm is intended. It is a joy to learn new things.
ReplyDeleteManatees are clearly not thin skinned. Thanks, MalMan!
ReplyDeleteMM -
ReplyDeleteExcellent presentation and explanations!
Cheers!
JzB
Not bad for a Thursday.
ReplyDeleteLove the "rains down in AFRICA" song, but never knew what it meant till now. Wait, wait...LIU..all these years I've been mishearing the lyrics. It's not "I test the rains but I bless. Sheesh.
The last Doge, Manin (Venetian names typically do not end in vowels) of La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, abdicated when Napolean pretty much walked in and took over the city.
Use rebar ironbars/RODS to secure my 6 outdoor lit Christmas reindeer. Find the rods scattered on the lawn now that it's spring. exTENSORS more likely to stretch. A shout out to the Chairman today. Clever STAMP and Yo-Yo clues.
Hear a lot about RNA and the Covid vaccine. I knowed NODE from previous puzzles as well as GOAT (learned entirely from blog comments). Wanted couch siestas before SESSIONS, perps said no. My grandkids watched KIM Possible & Ron Stoppable.
Inkovers: hobby/CRAFT, orem/AMES, CIA/NSA , toy/TOP
2 theories on how The NYS finger lakes were formed
1. God was pleased and touched NYS to bestowed a blessing upon the state.
Or
2. God was angry and attempted to grab the state and rip it off the map.
Thanks Mellow Man...great write up
Waseeley, I really hate to see the demise of the music CD. I still buy the occasional CD and rip it to my music server. CD's are capable of (and usually have) much better fidelity than the streaming MP3 versions, plus in most cases the CD turns out to be cheaper. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteD-O @4:45pm So do I actually. Just received a Naxos recording of some spectacular arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition compiled by Leonard Slatkin, one movement even with a chorus. There are a lot of great old recordings out there at very reasonable prices.
DeleteGood puzzle. I learned whittling is a CRAFT, not a HOBBY. I learned MOIRE is apparently a noun that can be pluralized, not an adjective as in MOIRE pattern(s). I learned Ms. Possible's name is KIM, not KIM, thus SLYEST had to be SLIEST. (Does that rhyme with PRIEST?)
ReplyDeleteLoved the cluing for INADAY, STAMPS, SESSIONS, MOE, BUYONE, and ONCOLOGIST. (Whose clues are they?)
Manatee, I love love love your story about DANGLE.
Now I will read all your comments.
Lucina - Thanks for the good wishes.
ReplyDelete………………………………………………………………………
Thanks to those who delved deep and illuminated the starting days of this blog. 5000 is only a number but it spans a significant period of our lives.
I was just thinking, were I to constuct a puzzle I could just throw in junk clues and let Rich put in his own.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteMM & JW —> what a wonderful way to complete the day! Excellent on all levels
Curly slapper? Great clue and I appreciate the CSO
I failed by choosing KYM/SLYEST
A few other W-O’s that corrected themselves as perps appeared ( ONE DAY/IN A DAY; LAP/TOP; ON LINE/ BUY ONE. But KYM/SLYEST made this a FIW
See y’all tomorrow; with the same pic that MM used to honor me!
Jayce, LOL I was just thinking, were I to construct a puzzle I could just throw in junk clues and let Rich put in his own. Sometimes I think that way, too. Does a constructor lose his/her identity when so many of the original clues are changed?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous T , Yes it is Boo LuQuette , the unknown is my other google account, mostly for my Cajun Coin Hunter You Tube channel....I need to put that info into the blog so my avatar will pop up ..
ReplyDeleteThe Plus Tard was a dead giveaway for you I reckon....
Thanks Jeffrey and MM!
ReplyDeleteRiddle me this, Batman: How does someone who starts the puzzle as soon as it is available online at 11:00 each night --- and usually mostly finishes the “easier” ones before going to bed, manage to arrive so late to the Corner? It’s happened three days in a row. At least today I had sort of an excuse. I had some computer issues.
Anyway, here goes:
I was extremely pleased with myself for finishing a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle in about an hour this morning. Thought I had won, but I messed up SLIEST/KIM like others did. Bah! Humbug!
AFRICA was my first fill. It’s one of my favorite songs too. Ray-O, my bad rock ‘n’ roll ears often mishear lyrics. In this song, it was the second verse, “… as they grow restless….”
Yes, getting COCONUT early helped with the theme.
Played bridge in my ute. Never was too good at it. I could bid and defend pretty well, but I had trouble bringing home tough contracts. We even hosted some duplicate parties, which were quite fun.
Gave up adding salt many years ago. My doctor tells me I have high blood pressure. I tell him its white coat syndrome. He gave me a monitor, and I report daily. Told him that the daily results depend solely on whether or not I’ve messed up and gotten on Facebook before I do my blood pressure. He DID get a kick out of that one. On days when I haven’t done the puzzle overnight, I also have to make sure I don’t start it before I take my BP. Guess what drives it UP!
Used to love TCM, especially “31 Days of Oscar” in February. Stupid Comcast moved it over from the basic to the premium side a couple of years ago. Luckily, I had “Casablanca” (my fav) saved from before the change. In fact, I’ve watched it twice late at night in the past month.
Had forgotten GOAT, as clued, which was my last fill. I’m not that much of a Brady fan, although I do give him kudos for winning the SB in his first year at TB. What can I say? My two favorite QBs ever were Sonny Jurgensen (who graduated from the same high school as my mother) and Billy Kilmer. Neither had what one might describe as a model physique.