Title: AYE YI EYE!
Bruce does a quick turnaround from last week's joint effort with Kevin Christian and delivers a 'sounds like' pun puzzle. The key to a successful pun puzzle is the wit involved and if any make you smile or laugh when you suss what they are parallelling. I have no intention of influencing your opinions, as I perceive my role to be that of guide, but I look forward to your feedback. Well I may suggest my favorite...I also have my nits, will they appear? Not if I use my nit medecine.
We can also find a variety of non-proper noun words sprinkled in like HOLY SEE, IN A SNAP, LUCIDLY, LOCKSTEP and SODA LIME which an interesting chemical combination and the brand name SKI-DOOS. So we start with the theme:
17A. Assorted caustic solutions?: PACK OF LYES (10). Pack of Lies. Of course we all know lye is a caustic, as are many of your criticisms.
23A. Receiving annoying questions?: GETTING WHYS (11). Wise. With so many teachers in the audience, did you get 'annoying questions'? If so what took the cake? And why is it cake?
34A. Agreements just between us?: PRIVATE AYES (11). Eyes.
This cute fill, sadly reminds me and perhaps most of the longtime posters of a dear friend who died who signed on as Clear Ayes.
48A. Quick and unexpected exits?: IMPULSE BYES (11). Buys. I really enjoyed this pairing and confess that while I was always able to resist infomercials, now Amazon gets more of my money that it should.
57A. Pretense of being a brute?: TOUGH GUISE (10). Guys are supposed to be tough, or so we were taught. The ETYMOLOGY reveals that this word is related to the root word for WISE. Many times you can just research too much.
Across:
1. Bill collectors?: TILLS. I was not fooled by the clue, but it did take the "T" in 1 down for for this to fill. I wonder if younger people know that the noun till means the same as "cash register?"
6. "Get back to us" letters: RSVP. We get some French, but I doubt you need to know répondez s'il vous plaît to understand the letters.
10. Not much: A TAD. One on Lincoln's chilcren?
14. Elitist: SNOOT. This person who shows contempt for those considered to be of a lower social class, "looks down his nose at...
15. Resort WNW of Breckenridge: VAIL. There are many fine ski resorts in Colorado, with Vail and Aspen likely the most famous.
16. '80s-'90s group, informally: GEN-Y. I started trying to think of a musical group. Now we call them MILLENIALS.
19. Very bright: NEON. During the 70s these colors became "dayglo."
20. Some snowmobiles: SKI-DOOS. Back in Colorado for a ride through the snow, the number one maker of snowmobiles was created in Canada (Eh!) back in the 50s. The story goes that the printer screwed up the promotional brochures which were supposed to say SKI-DOG, after the Dogs which pulled the sleds. He did not have the money for a reprint.
6. "Get back to us" letters: RSVP. We get some French, but I doubt you need to know répondez s'il vous plaît to understand the letters.
10. Not much: A TAD. One on Lincoln's chilcren?
14. Elitist: SNOOT. This person who shows contempt for those considered to be of a lower social class, "looks down his nose at...
15. Resort WNW of Breckenridge: VAIL. There are many fine ski resorts in Colorado, with Vail and Aspen likely the most famous.
16. '80s-'90s group, informally: GEN-Y. I started trying to think of a musical group. Now we call them MILLENIALS.
19. Very bright: NEON. During the 70s these colors became "dayglo."
20. Some snowmobiles: SKI-DOOS. Back in Colorado for a ride through the snow, the number one maker of snowmobiles was created in Canada (Eh!) back in the 50s. The story goes that the printer screwed up the promotional brochures which were supposed to say SKI-DOG, after the Dogs which pulled the sleds. He did not have the money for a reprint.
21. 2018 CVS Health acquisition: AETNA. CVS is a Rhode Island based company, Woonsocket, RI to be precise; and AETNA was about 70 miles west if you take Connecticut route 44 through my home town of Putnam. One of my uncles and many cousins live(d) in Woonsocket. Anyway, the PRESS RELEASE about the purchase explains it.
22. Type units: ENS. But not EMS
26. Buccaneer's buds: MATEYS. I do not see Tom Brady calling his Tampa Bay teammates mateys.
28. Mil. category: NCO. Non-commisioned officer. This terminology always seemed oxymoronic to me, but I never was permitted to serve.
28. Mil. category: NCO. Non-commisioned officer. This terminology always seemed oxymoronic to me, but I never was permitted to serve.
29. Vitals checker, briefly: EMT. Emergency Medical Technicians.
30. Letters seen between * and #: OPER. Only if you have a landline.
31. Prized smokes: CUBANS. You need to know the real deal.
38. Got on the board: SCORED. Tom Brady or Tom Cruise?
39. Mineral hardness scale: MOHS. Friedrich Mohs, a German mineralogist, developed the scale in 1812. He selected ten minerals of distinctly different hardness that ranged from a very soft mineral (talc) to a very hard mineral (diamond).
42. Singer/songwriter __ Mia: PIA. I never had heard of Pia Mia Perez who was born September 19, 1996 in Guam, which is a territory of the United States. She is of Chamorro, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian descent. Watch the
VIDEO and you decide.
45. Jungfrau, e.g.: ALP. Literally "young maiden" perhaps if marti were still here she could tell us if this deserves its place as one of the best places in the Swiss mountains.
39. Mineral hardness scale: MOHS. Friedrich Mohs, a German mineralogist, developed the scale in 1812. He selected ten minerals of distinctly different hardness that ranged from a very soft mineral (talc) to a very hard mineral (diamond).
42. Singer/songwriter __ Mia: PIA. I never had heard of Pia Mia Perez who was born September 19, 1996 in Guam, which is a territory of the United States. She is of Chamorro, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian descent. Watch the
VIDEO and you decide.
45. Jungfrau, e.g.: ALP. Literally "young maiden" perhaps if marti were still here she could tell us if this deserves its place as one of the best places in the Swiss mountains.
46. Soap dish?: TV IDOL. A fun clue/fill combo.
52. Sisters pop duo __ & AJ: ALY. More young woman music which I would never have known in a million years but I recently binge watch a 2001-2004 Simon Baker series called The GUARDIAN. To make a short story long it is about a young lawyer who gets in trouble with the law and because his father is a very successful Pittsburg attorney, he does not go to jail but has to do community service at a free clinic that helps abandoned or troubled children. (hi Moe). The father, played by the awesome Dabney Coleman gets 'involved' with a troubled woman (Farrah Fawcett in one of her final roles) who has a young daughter who is left alone when her mother dies. Whew. The daughter was played by AJ Michala, who with her older sister Aly make up the pop duo.
53. Con artist's aide: SHILL. This is "one who acts as a decoy for a gambler, auctioneer, etc.," 1916, probably originally circus or carnival argot, probably a shortened form of shillaber. Which brings us back to Simon Baker, whose character in THE MENTALIST grew up in a carnival.
54. With a sound mind: LUCIDLY. Basically this means clear headed with its origins from the Latin for "shine." A CSO to Lucina.
56. Romeo or Juliet: TEEN. Another fun red herring.
60. Doomed boat in "Jaws": ORCA. I did not recall this but it was easily inferable.
61. Longtime syrup brand: KARO. I think it has been more popular in the south and west.
62. Celebs: NAMES. Friday difficult.
63. Look the wrong way?: LEER. Rather a wrong look.
64. Space balls?: ORBS. Love the movie.
65. Power-saving mode: SLEEP. For both computers and humans.
Down:
1. Five-mL medicine dose: TSP. A Conversion LINK.
2. Just like that: IN A SNAP. in a trice, in a twinkling, in two shakes of a lamb's tail, twinkling etc.
4. Trickster in "American Gods": LOKI. I know Loki from THOR and mythology, but I have not sampled this show. I may now.
5. Stick-in-the-mud: STODGY. Not LOKI.
6. Motorhome stopover, for short: RV LOT. But maybe a visitor to an RV Lot.
7. Speak, as thou might: SAYST. Biblical, which was full of...
8. Battle: VIE. This word.
9. Polite texting letters: PLS.
10. "Nattering nabobs of negativism" speaker: AGNEW. Our dishonest but educated vice-president under Mr. Nixon; I think from Maryland.
11. Raise canines?: TEETHE. Funny.
12. Assumed moniker: ANONYM. Without the ITY it is the "AN" prefix like from ANODE, so it means 'not the name'. Six years of Latin helps .
13. Hereditary ruler: DYNAST. Without the Y, it is the person.
18. Nemeses: FOES.
21. Intense suffering: AGONY. Ah, but wait for the ecstasy, but not MMDA.
22. Kind of rock: EMO.
24. Retired, maybe: IN BED. Not yet.
25. Sports scholarship org.: NCAA.
27. Isn't right: ERRS.
31. Seize like Caesar: CARPE. DIEM bro'
32. Pac-12 athlete: UTE. Utah athletes. CSO to Becky now?
33. Prefix with arid or dry: SEMI. Random.
27. Isn't right: ERRS.
31. Seize like Caesar: CARPE. DIEM bro'
32. Pac-12 athlete: UTE. Utah athletes. CSO to Becky now?
33. Prefix with arid or dry: SEMI. Random.
35. Words that might expose a bluff: I CALL. Very fun.
36. Lady __: Tenn. college team: VOLS. Volunteers,
37. Gas-absorbing mixture: SODA LIME. Soda lime absorbs carbon dioxide which is invaluable in rebreathing machines like spacecrafts.
40. Vatican jurisdiction: HOLY SEE. The Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes), also called the See of Rome, is the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, which includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome with universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the worldwide Catholic Church, as well as a sovereign entity of international law, governing the Vatican City.
41. Like some winks: SLY. Mine are always friendly...
42. One traditionally drawn at dawn: PISTOL. Love this wit.
43. Incoming words: I'M HERE. But we are nearing the finish line.
44. Distribution word: APIECE. Two words or one?
46. Stock sector: TECH.
47. Churchillian gestures: V-SIGNS.
49. Type of nerve or artery: ULNAR. Also random
50. Jacket material?: BLURB.On a book.
51. Short-lived '80s-'90s cars that sounded like they should always work: YUGOS. You go Hugo.
55. Twin: DUAL. Not duel.
57. Fight decision: TKO. Technical Knock Out.
58. Blade in the water: OAR.
59. Medium strength?: ESP. And the final witicism, what a medium must have.
55. Twin: DUAL. Not duel.
57. Fight decision: TKO. Technical Knock Out.
58. Blade in the water: OAR.
59. Medium strength?: ESP. And the final witicism, what a medium must have.
Well I barely made the finish line, but here we are. I turn the reins over to Moe for next week and see if he can whip you all into shape. Thank you from Bruce to Zendaya. Lemonade out.
39 comments:
Hi Y'all! TOUGH but amusing & fun, Bruce, thanks. Great expo, Lemonade, using the ANONYM LEOMADE in a hasty goodBYE.
DNK: ANONYM, PIA Mia, or ALY.
Many of my first guesses turned red, but I kept perping along and chuckling as the funnies emerged. I was so proud of the few entries that stayed black like AGNEW, TEEN & HOLY SEE -- the latter which I sang out to almost the same question on Jeopardy the other day. It was wrong then.
Clue for OPER never did make sense because I was looking at my laptop keyboard. Thanks, Lemony.
Loved the SKIDOOS story, Lemony.
Jacket material BLURB gave me fits until the last. Had URB and my seamstress-days mind wouldn't let go of an unknown fabric.
A more difficult puzzle isn't a bad one, but this was way harder than most Fridays for me. Neighboring ANONYM and DYNAST made the NE very challenging. I didn't love SAYST, and PIA Mia has had one charting song in the US, which only made it to #71. I had a lot of re-writes, too. Too much trickiness and obscurity in the cluing for me.
It feels like the Friday and Saturday puzzles have been harder recently than they used to be. I really hope that's not a permanent trend. If I wanted a very difficult puzzle, there are other places I could find them. If the change in difficulty is deliberate, I hope it will be re-considered.
Good morning!
Got 'er done, though it took twice as long as yesterday. Caught the theme with PRIVATE AYES, and that allowed me to go back up to finish the first two themers. Was going to comment that everybody calls GEN Y "millennials," but nobody can spell it, but decided not to. Cleverly done, Bruce. Thanx for the tour, Leomade.
HOLY SEE: Did Robin ever say this to Batman?
A TAD: Lemonade wrote, "One of Lincoln's children?" Have you noticed that if current Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, went by just his first initial, he'd be A. Blinken? I'm going to my room now.
Yes D-O, but imagine if the press saw him blinkin' and nodding...
Never hold back!
I can hardly believe I FIRight! After the first pass, I had way more white than black, and suspected most of the black was really red! (And I would have been right on red!) But pecking away at it, I finally filled it, then had to go back thru and make some changes to get my ta-das. If I'd done it on paper it would have really been a mess!
Really respect today's gimmick! Just coming up with all those puns would have been a chore, but then getting them all to rhyme? And fit in the grid besides? Magnifico!
I loved this theme. I caught on to it quickly. DNF because I skipped a cell and didn't go back to it, the crossing N in GEN Y and ANONYM. Difficult today, but par for the course on a Friday. I like the challenge of difficult Fridays and Saturdays, even though I sometimes need to LIU on a Saturday. I believe challenges help us grow.
I buy a good bit from Amazon, but nothing I would not have bought elsewhere. It saves me from running from store to store to find an item. I can find almost anything I might want all in one place. I also like the list of exactly what I bought previously.
I grew up with Karo, not unusual here.
I needed the OP perps for OPER.
No annoying questions for this teacher. I liked questions.
SKI DOO for SKI DOG. IMO the printer should have reprinted it free of extra charge.
The term take the cake is derived from the cakewalk. A cakewalk was a competitive dance performed by black slaves which mocked the over-refined manners that plantation owners employed at their formal balls. The winner or winning couple of these competitions was awarded a cake. So take the cake means take the prize for the best, or sarcastically, for the worst.
FIR without much difficulty. Very nice and useful theme.
Occasionally, Anon-T gifts us with a pic of his handwritten xword. Within the ocean of white is this clear and LUCID handwriting. The opposite of my scribble. So…
My D in SKIDOO looked like an O. So, I had STOOGE for that "Stick in the mud ". And MATEe. FIW.
The word "type" should have been appended to the down clue. Or "ish". It's not a noun, I'd say adjective. YR???
I mentally went through the PAC-10. The U saved me. VOLS was a gimme
Anybody try drapes or shades < PISTOL?
PK, did you guess Papal SEE? Ha, yes a fabric ending in RB??? I had thought of serge.
L214, then they might confuse him with the standing next to him
Yep, Wed and Fri had a lot of Saturday in them with the Thurs interlude. But no pop-cul Naticks. PIA and ALY could be perped
WC
Ps, no redletters on my newspaper.
If I did it once I'd always be doing it. Ink on paper is my way
YR, fascinating about the cakewalk
1A had tolls instead of tills. Seemed to make sense.
I believe stick in the mud is a noun. He is a stick in the mud and not open to new ways of doing things.
In addition to the theme "I" sounds we also had VIE. It wasn't 'high' in priority.
After waking up at midnight I downloaded this puzzle and finished it in a few minutes, hoping for a harder one to kill time for insomnia. Just two total unknowns-ALY & PIA Mia. LOKI was just a good guess for a trickster. ANONYM? Halfway knew it.
SKIDOOS- should have been in 23A, as in '23 SKIDOO' OR 65A as the last fill.
GEN-Y, X, & Millennials - the generations where 'everybody is above average' and everybody gets a trophy.
AETNA- CVS bought a local drugstore that I used for years. They are pathetic. They take hours to fill a script that should take less than 5 minutes (my company installed a ROBOT to fill Rx for the top 400 items; they probably don't know how to use it) and refill items you don't want or need and send a text telling you it's ready to pick up. It takes over 3 minutes to get a live person on the phone.
L214 - hmm where are my 500? I notice that autocorrect changed my "winkin'" back to blinkin'
Nod if you understand
Jeffrey W had the Universal yesterday which also reference Aly and AJ; small world.
Good Morning:
I’m a big fan of BH’s work, but this wasn’t one of my favorite solves. The theme was clever enough but I agree with staili @ 5:36 about the cluing. I also thought some of the fill was green paintish, e.g., In a Snap and TV Idol. Pia and Ali were unknown and I thought GENY was some pop musical group that I never heard of. I had Maties/Mateys, Sere/Semi, and I’m Home/I’m Here. My favorite C/A was Jacket Material=Blurb.
Thanks, Bruce, and thanks, Lemony, for ‘splainin’ it all.
Have a great day.
This was a struggle, done in messy ink on paper, with a break to make further progress. Ultimately a FIW since I left LiES and needed the pun LYES. I had SAITH at first, changing it to SAiST as perps required, but didn't notice I misspelled it. Like DO I got the punny theme at PRIVATE AYES. I had the most trouble with GETTING, having filled in WHYS easily. PISTOL was slow for me too, WC, though I thought of duels early. CUBANS was another late fill. Cigars just wasn't working. I accept my wrong square since I didn't expect to be able to finish it at all! Thanks Bruce for the workout and Lemony for clearing things up so wittily.
Just like YR, PK, and WC, I too thought of fabric, instead of books for jacket material. And thanks YR for the info about cakewalk. Knew what a cakewalk was, experiencing one as a fundraiser years ago, but not the history of it. Hand up for MATieS, Irish Miss.
The week has flown by. Hope you all are doing well!
This one took a while but I was able to FIR. PrivateAyes was the first to fall. After that I started looking for Y's, and found several but, of course, Guise deviated from that pattern. I also kept thinking of CSNY as a group name so I wondered who the heck GENY were before I could see it as GEN Y. Noon, in lieu of Dawn, in the clue for Pistol would have led me more quickly to the answer. Oh, and I do agree with the nits picked by everyone, above.
Thanks, Lemonade, for the fine explanations.
Watched a recorded episode of Antiques Roadshow last night and noticed CBGB on the chyron. Thought somebody just made that one up when it appeared in the cw recently.
Thanks, Bruce ! Thanks, Lemonade.
Tough and vague in many spots, so it took ruling out many answers before finding the ones that worked. Each corner area provided challenges.
Finally nailed it, but somewhat like D-O, it probably took almost twice as long as my normal Friday time, at 35:01 today according to the clock.
I only knew of ALY and AJ from an answer in Wednesday's USA Today by Zhouqin Burnikel.
YUGOS - A friend of a friend bought one and wasn't happy after the novelty wore off and all the problems started. Still, I started with hUGO. That always reminds me of the book, "Let's Jump Off The Cliff" by Hugo Furst.
From yesterday: Nice review, Malodorous Manatee. Never got to write up my comments. Had back to back 3 hour visits from a couple of boys that have completed their sophomore years in college. Time flies. Have known both families since the boys were 4 or 5. Both are smart, hard workers and purpose driven. Both maintained their high GPAs despite some of the issues they faced with Zoom lectures and other difficulties last year.
Started in the nw, went straight down, over to the se, then up finally getting to Agnew, my first full. At that point, knew it would be a toughie (for me at least) but much prefer the challenge of this level to say a Monday level. DNF but still enjoyed it. Not sure I've ever heard "in a snap" but we gotta give these constructors some slack.
Musings
-Just the right formula for an enjoyable puzzle!
-An annoying question for this teacher – “Does spelling count?” “Will you spell better if I say yes?”
-IMPULSE BUYS - 57 things at Amazon you didn’t know you wanted
-Hmmm… SHILL (person) or SHELL (where’s the pea?)
-Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy were the Romeo and Juliet of feuding Tennessee families
-Inspirational LOCK STEP
-Some RV LOTs can offer your unit water, electricity, wi-fi, sewer and cable.
-Some DYNASTS are from a family tree with very few forks
-P _ S T _ L – Initially I thought a PASTEL would be helpful in drawing as dawn
-Possible themer? Advice to the penultimate alphabet letter?
Good morning everyone.
Thru the grinder today, but took 2 breaks and finally got it done w/o Google help. Sussing the theme helped with GETTING WHYS and a couple of the other endings which all rhymed. Had ALP and TEEN; white-gunked them out and then wrote them in again. Sigh.
Thanks Bruce for the work-out (stress test), and Lemonade for his always fine informative intro BLURB :-). BZ
TILL - BH's née name.
Jungfrau - German for 'virgin'.
From double Jeopardy last night: - - The 'German authors' category had a question about what war, 1618 - 1648, was Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen in. He was BH's direct ancestor.
…………………………………………………………………………………
For IM (in part) - Beautiful weather here. Drove yesterday to Gloversville; 70 miles east of us to get a ship's clock repaired. [It gongs 1 - 8 bells every 4 hours.]. (There is no one capable of repairing such clocks in our area.). This guy had the most squared away tool shop I have ever seen, In passing, he mentioned he had repaired clocks on the USS Slater, a museum ship berthed at the Port of Albany. So I left feeling good about getting a proper repair.
I absolutely loved this CW, even though it was a struggle and took 39 minutes to FIR. Like PK @3:20, DNK ANONYM, PIA or ALY. I agree w/ Staili @ 5:26 that the last week or two, including today, Friday CWs seem more difficult. I, too, hope that isn’t a trend. But I did enjoy the wit and the cluing for this CW, thanx, BH, fine job. Difficult and time consuming, yet fun. Lemonade thanx for your as always excellent write-up. D.O. @ 6:36 I use that frequently, saying Biden has the most honest SoS ever. You can’t get more honest than having A. Blinken as SoS. I took my gf to J. Mark’s last night for their prime rib. It was excellent! Back at my house, she noticed some dust on the floor, said “What’s this pile of dust?” looked up and pointed to termite damage. Oy. Again. I must have vacuumed 1,000 of the buggers out of there today. Termite company coming tomorrow. Just had termites treated 3years ago, but turned down their maintenance plan. Regret that now. Rats. (Yes, I’ve had those too. Old house in FLL). This old house is wearing this old man out.
Well, Fridays are bound to be toughies, but there's always something to like in a Bruce Haight puzzle. So, thank you, Bruce, and you too, Lemonade.
The "I" solutions are really funny--thanks for pointing them out, Lemonade. I got AGNEW instantly--who could ever forget that jerk. I wanted CIGARS for those smokes, but I guess they have to be CUBANS to be prized. Nice to see the HOLY SEE in a puzzle--haven't encountered that very often. Why are PISTOLS drawn at dawn? Oh, duels, okay. I guess if they waited till later in the day they'd figure out a less dangerous solution to their hassles.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
I agree about CVS. When my pharmacy closed they sent all their customers' prescriptions to CVS which could not handle the sudden influx. Time after time CVS had errors with my order, once four times with the same prescription. Bye-bye CVS. But, I do have Aetna health insurance which I am very satisfied with. They offer the teachers more perks than they do some other customers in order to get all that business.
HG said, "Some RV LOTs can offer your unit water, electricity, wi-fi, sewer and cable." Not my idea of camping. If I has stronger legs, I would still be tent camping. I loved it. We used to go with one of my sisters who had her own setup. She has had to give it up, too.
My older sister who was moving this week to a continuing care retirement community like mine, but in the Chicago suburbs, has had to put her plans on hold. Her buyer for her present house reneged, so she has the house up for sale again.
I’m just never on this guy’s wavelength - his puzzles just don’t do it for me. If you’re going to have a theme - at least support it somewhere - there’s nothing here.Problem here was the fill. All of the "difficulty" in this puzzle,for me, came from "?" clues. All 11 of them.I like most puzzles, but I did not care for this. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t care for it.
The (?) clues were homonym puns. For me that was the charm of this puzzle. We all have such different tastes. TOUGH GUISE was my favorite.
I also liked bill collector/ till, got on the board/ scored, traditionally drawn at dawn/ pistol, soap dish/ TV idol. For in a snap, I can just picture someone snapping her fingers. It happened in snap, just like that, so quickly. Seems common enough to me.
Tomorrow I will likely pay for today with a puzzle not in my wheelhouse.
Well…this BH Friday grid was Tough, Tough, TOUGH.
I almost threw in in a couple times. Hard to get a foothold.
This is one of those crosswords where you look up - after a long time solving - and somehow it’s all filled in.
Correctly to boot.
Write-overs…,TTYL/RSVP (at least they’re all inits), SAYTH/SAYST, SPIRO/AGNEW, WPM/ENS, RAISE/ICALL, MOHR/MOHS, ROLE/TEEN.
“I’m gonna need a bigger pen.”
uncle Fred….Never a good idea to not get the termite prevention…they just don’t give up. The guy down the street bought the house from the previous owner, who had lived in it 7 years since new. The new guy got the termite bond. A year later he had to have over $30k of remediation done, all paid by the termite bond and not him. They are everywhere. They want your wood.
Stay safe.
Threw “it” in.
Thanx BH and Lemon. Glad for everyone who FIRd it today. 76 yo brain just couldn' suss anything it seems. Got about half of them but perps didn't even seem to help. Printed it out and DW is having a whirl at it now. Speaking of now, I'll just see myself out. TC
YR I agree on the clever clueing especially when I'm able to solve them.
And as regards closing agony I remember your angst
I took a long time to solve this difficult but satisfying puzzle. 3 perps and I had PIA. Same thing with ALY and UTE. Hand up for upgrading CIGARS to CUBANS. Other hand up for changing IM HOME to IM HERE.
In the Inspector Morse TV series, and also in the show Endeavour, Morse's friend Jim Strange always calls him MATEY.
Good wishes to you all.
Read “Bag Man” by Rachel Maddow interesting parallels of what took place in the Washington 46 years ago and what took place in Washington in the last four years.
Never heard of Pia Mia. Soap dish? TV idol, meh
Bruce was really cracking WHYS today, and I loved it, especially because it was challenging, and required a short break to relieve brain strain. I did struggle with a couple of clues, especially "stick-in-the-mud" which must be read as an adjective to get STODGY. TOUGH GUISE and PISTOL were holdouts until late in the game. FIR.
Thanks, Lemonade! Hope things are looking up for you.
A triple tough Saturday-weight PZL on a Friday from the popular Mr. Haight. Well-discussed by Lemonade!
HOLY SEE reminds me of our visit to the Pope's home base. Man, if you ever need to see a Cardinal, that place is overrun with 'em.
While we were in St. Peter's, there was a procession of some sort--apparently a routine parade. There must have been 15 or 20 cardinals shuffling along.
The security is tight. It isn't the Swiss Guards who do most of it. They seemed to be just posted for formal effect. No, the guys who handle regular crowd control are polite but pushy gents in dark suits and ties.
I dunno, maybe they are Swiss Guards but outta uniform?
I bought a souvenir in the Vatican Museum shop--a reproduction of a Roman bust (or just the head) of an ancient actor. You can't see the actor's actual face because he is wearing a mask. Pretty cool.
I paid for it there and they shipped it. I figured I could trust them.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Well, today's PZL is a real outlier. First of all, it has an abundance of diagonals, four in all.
That's one on the near side (NW to SE) and a three-way on the far side (NE to SW).
But the main diagonals (the two center lines, one to each side) show a scarcity of vowels. It's always difficult to find decent anagrams in such vowel-poor territory.
But--Get this!--the top sub-diagonal (of the two that sandwich the center line) offers not only a fair balance of vowels and consonants, but we can get a Jackpot anagram (fully 14 of the 14 letters!).
This anagram seems to be the startled reaction of someone who has been deprived of visual stimuli for a spell, and who then is suddenly shown a brilliant back-lit kaleidoscopic pattern, OR...
the cry of someone who is exposed to a blinding NEON-lit tray of faceted gemstones.
Here it comes...
"YEOW! OPALESCENT!!"
I loved Bruce Haight’s puzzle because of the clever theme that relied on homophones. I saw the theme at PACK OF LYES, and skipped to the other theme entries before completing the puzzle. The crossing of PIA and PISTOL was the biggest challenge. I thought the clue for PISTOL could have been better, and I simply didn’t know songwriter Mia.
Fancy Friday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Lemonade.
I’m late to the party again after spending most of the day outside gardening.
But I did sit on the patio in the shade this afternoon (we have record heat for late May!) and worked on this CW.
I got the wonderful I theme, but DNF officially. The NW corner was my Nemesis.
I had to Google to find LOKI (and I found Odin first which held me up even longer).
That opened up the top, but I did not know ENS and did not see OPER (hand up for thinking of a computer keyboard).
Onward to Saturday (if I get a chance).
Great diagonal OMK.
Wishing you all a good evening.
Puzzling thoughts:
DNF as I needed some cheats
Enjoyed the puzzle despite its toughness. Clues were a bit obscure
Thanks Jason for the recap; I’ll be ready for the 28th
Would’ve liked to see all of the homonyms be *YES
Enjoy the weekend
ENS and EMS were very common fill in the 50s thru the 70s. It relates to type size and PROPER USE OF DASHES . I am sure all our educators knew this, and that it was not related Mrs. Dash from yesterday.
Thanks Lemonade- great write-up!
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