Theme: THE FOUR TOPS (62. "I Can't Help Myself" Motown group ... and what's comprised by 18-, 24-, 39- and 52-Across' starting words?)
18. Cloak-and-dagger spy: SECRET AGENT. Top secret.
24. Typically yellow tangy fruit: BANANA PEPPER. Top banana.
39. *Accessory metaphor for an accomplishment: NOTCH ON ONE'S BELT. Top notch.
52. Spaghetti-in-a-can icon: CHEF BOYARDEE. Top Chef.
 |
| Andrea Carla Michaels, Tom Pepper, C.C. and Boomer, 2015 |
Boomer here.
A great photo. Three extremely outstanding crossword constructors, and one old guy in a "National Senior Games" Bowling shirt from 2015. I finished 6th in my division and got a ribbon.
TOP of the morning to all of you. I did not receive a NOTCH on my belt for eating a BANANA but I do remember the Four Tops ! Told you I was an old guy.
Across:
4. Purple color named for a flower: LILAC. I thought Green grows the LILACS all sparkling with dew.
9. Kind of minister or suspect: PRIME. Or cut of beef.
14. Habit wearer: NUN. The good sisters of St. Joseph taught grade school to me.
15. "Mutiny on the Bounty" captain: BLIGH. Captain William Bligh.
16. "Star Wars" director George: LUCAS.
17. Two-base hit: Abbr.: DBL. Double. Also two strikes in a row on the lanes.
20. Heroic tale: EPIC.
22. Direction of the dawn: EAST.
23. Easter egg coloring: DYE. Easter is in the rear view mirror. Looking forward to Memorial Day.
29. Quivery vocal effect: TREMOLO.
30. Spanish eight: OCHO. Gesuntheit
34. Of an arterial trunk: AORTAL.
38. Belle's suitor: BEAU. Also son of President Biden. RIP.
44. Gas leak giveaway: ODOR. Rougned Odor is with the Yankees now. But on the DL at the moment.
45. "I'm clueless": NO IDEA.
46. City near Tahoe: RENO. Home of the National Bowling Stadium, and some of my money.
47. Whiner: CRYBABY. Yup I was a whiner instead of a winner.
57. Emails a dupe to: CCS.
60. Goddess for whom a month is named: MAIA. Goddess of spring.
61. Theater segments: ROWS. I still have not heard much about
theaters. Baseball parks are allowing 10,000 customers and the PGA golf
courses have been crowded. C.C. and I have still stayed away.
67. Frito-__: LAY.
68. Old toga wearer: ROMAN. Also the frat guys in "Animal House".
69. Frighten: SCARE. BOO! 5 1/2 months until Halloween
70. Start for fab or fix: PRE.
71. Pinocchio's problem: LYING. Your nose will grow!
72. Roll of the dice: THROW. My favorite way to lose money in Nevada. No wonder they named it Craps.
73. "__ the DJ, I'm the Rapper": 1988 album: HE'S.
Down:
2. Not up to snuff: SUBPAR. Not many SUBPAR rounds last weekend at the Wells Fargo PGA tournament.
3. Browsing the Web, say: ON LINE.
4. Scale units: Abbr.: LBS. I am less than 200 LBS, even holding my bowling ball with me on the scale.
5. Land in la mer: ILE.
6. DMV certificate: LIC. License.
7. Go along (with): AGREE. I tend to agree with Minnesota
Governor Walz on Covid restrictions. Seems things are opening a little
too early and why does our state only have 52% vaccinated last time I
looked?
8. Tightfisted: CHEAP. There is no charge for the shots. Can't get any cheaper.
9. Table setting item: PLATE.
10. Snug bug's place?: RUG.
11. Covered, as a cake: ICED. Summertime is ICED tea weather in Minnesota. No need to stock up. Summer is very short up here.
12. Numerous: MANY. How many putts did you take today, Boomer??
13. Punta del __, Uruguay: ESTE.
19. Recipe abbr.: TSP.
21. Cell pic taker: CAM. I do not know how to do this. C.C. helps.
25. Ark builder: NOAH. "Right, What's a cubit ?" Bill Cosby.
26. Crazy as __: A LOON. I think Minnesota's state bird is A LOON. Maybe we are all crazy
27. X-rated stuff: PORNO.
28. Lynda Bird's married name: ROBB. "Lucy Baines, she is no
Jackie but then who complains, she may be tacky but she is the brains
behind our foreign policy" Chad Mitchell Trio.
31. Average grade: CEE. I got plenty of those.
32. Actor Holbrook: HAL.
33. Not in the office: OUT. Hit 'em OUT, Byron Buxton. Strike OUT Miguel Sano.
35. You, in French: TOI.
36. With unnamed partners, in bus. names: AND CO.
37. Suspicious (of): LEERY.
39. Neither's partner: NOR. You cannot have a Neither without a NOR.
40. Wordsworth's "__ to Duty": ODE. It was the third of June, Another sleepy, dusty, Delta day. (Bobbie Gentry) "ODE to Billie Joe."
41. Trucker's unit: TON. 125 - 16 LB. Bowling balls
42. Gator kin: CROC. Someone not telling the truth.
43. "Don't __ word!": "Shh!": SAY A. Or say AAHH and have a Doctor put a stick down your throat.
48. "I'm freezing!": BRR.
49. Brewer Coors: ADOLPH.
50. Sign warning word about a watchdog: BEWARE.
51. "Absolutely!": YES YES.
53. Chinese ethnic group: HMONG.
54. Water, in Cannes: EAU. EAU CLAIRE is a city east of us in Wisconsin.
55. At the head of the line: FIRST. The old Washington Senators.
"FIRST on land, FIRST on sea, and Last in the American league. This
team moved to Minneapolis in 1961 and are now trying to uphold that
tradition.
56. Cookie baker's lot: BATCH. "Please sir, may I have one"
57. Bottom-corner PC key: CTRL.
58. Bok __: Chinese cabbage: CHOY.
59. 18-wheeler: SEMI. I always end up behind one on the highway. I would not call it a SEMI though. It looks like a whole truck to me.
63. One cheering for the team: FAN. Most stadiums are limited to 10,000 FANs. They may be lifting restrictions soon.
64. Sculler's prop: OAR. When I was a kid we had a small boat on
North Star Lake near Marcell Minnesota. We replaced the OARS with a 5
horsepower Johnson.
65. Whiz: PRO. I am no whiz, but I did bowl one senior PRO
bowling tournament at Village North in Brooklyn Park around 1998. 10
games of qualifying and I averaged 207. Not good enough to cash, but I
was in the same tournament as a guy named Dick Weber.
66. Stitch together: SEW.
Boomer
Very easy except for that “M”, which was an educated WAG.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNo comments yet ?
Thank you Carla M. for an easy puzzle, and Boomer for your humorous comments and iluminating review.
You could have been a contender in Bowling.
Enjoy your retirement and your baseball collection.
Best wishes to both of you.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThe theme didn't help me. In fact, after finishing I had to hunt up the reveal and then puzzle out the common elements. Only misstep was CHOI/CHOY. Nice one, Andrea. Enjoyed your bubbly expo, Boomer.
ADOLPH: It seems nobody names their kid Adolph any more.
IN DEBT: Nope. Not since the mid '90s. My credit report is penalized, because there's no recent long-term debt payment record.
Boomer, I had those NUNS for grades 2-5 until I moved.
ReplyDeleteI hastily inked Juno as another month named for a goddess. I didn't know HMOMG but only M fit.
We have LOON Mtn in NH. Beginning of the Kankamangus hwy. Watch out for moose.
.
Big FIW. I inked YESsir and never checked the perps. This was mostly very easy. I also used my O on Juno to ink dozen/BATCH. BTW, when solving online if all squares are filled and "Congrats" doesn't appear is that considered FIW? It does for me. I leave a square blank and recheck.
Unfortunately, I like to see unknown clues appear on the write-up. Slow down Wilbur.
Famous ADOLPH was Rupp of Kentucky (white) basketball fame. Ironically integrated teams has made KY bball even more successful. Until this year.
WC
A manageable Monday for a FIR, though not too easy peasy. Learning moment was HMONG (not just in Vietnam) and MAIA, an unknown-to-me goddess. Some missteps causing WOs were actS & runS before ROWS, FronT before FIRST, and AORTAs before AORTAL (use adjectival form!) I needed the reveal to find what was going on with the themers. I had NO IDEA before. A fun puzzle, Andrea, thanks. And thanks to Boomer for extending the fun with your witty remarks.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear from you last night, PK. That was a miserable illness, it sounds like. Nice that you were feeling better and had some Mother's Day joy. Happy Monday to all!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteA bit crunchy, but moved right along. Filled in the middle; then fleshed out the sides. Only wite-out was I had 'front' before FIRST. No searches; FIR.
LOON - CSO tp Canadian Eh!. We have a LOON lake in the Adirondacks.
Had both EAST and ESTE; which is Spanish for EAST.
Have a great day.
Nice and smooth Monday - only question I had was: why did 39A clue have an asterisk but none of the other theme clues have the * ?
ReplyDeleteThanks Boomer for the amusing blog and Andrea for the puzzle!
Belated Happy Mother's day to all the mothers on the blog - I was visiting KC to see my mom and my "like a mom" for the weekend. Hadn't seen my 2nd mom since before COVID as she lives in a senior living place like YR and only recently started allowing visitors. Masks in the hallways but since my mom and I were vaxxed we didn't wear masks in her apartment. We had a very close Scrabble game - those 89 and 92 year old women are no pushovers!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Yes, inane. Only the clue for the themer NOTCH… had an * in today’s Omaha paper.
-Chef Boiardi (boi AR dee) became Chef Boy-Ar-Dee (boy ar DEE) to make name easier to pronounce
-Our persistent spring winds have had the ISOBARS close together on the weather map
-The unmistakable TREMOLO in Edith Piaf’s voice is featured in this commercial
-I’m sure we’ve had the alternate AORTIC here
-PREFAB/PRECAST walls were used in our new school and they leaked at first
-Lucky shot? No! They don’t ask how they just ask how MANY!
-After a stream of racist remarks, Clint Eastwood winds up defending an HMONG boy in Gran Torino
-The INS point with pride, the OUTS view with alarm
-Don’t SAY A word! You have the right to remain silent. Use it! Right Lemon?
Thank you Andrea for a FIRry Monday and thank you Boomer for the groaners. Didn't get the TOPS theme until you 'splained it.
ReplyDelete1A ISO. In addition to ISO(BARS) being a way to depict equal atmospheric pressure lines on a weather map, ISO stands for the International Standards Organization. The standards for the TCP/IP and HTTP protocols used to bring this blog to you are specified by it.
9A Was thinking of a religious minister (e.g. FRIAR) and didn't see 9D PLATE until 16A LUCAS gave it away and the NE TOPpled like a house of cards.
39A Never understood this metaphor. Why is it considered an accomplishment when you have to add a NOTCH your BELT when you've gotten FATTER. For anorexics maybe?
4A Strictly speaking a LILAC is a TREE not a FLOWER. It HAS purple flowers. At least the one in my back yard does. And when it's in bloom it has the most wonderful fragrance.
45A How can this be? You ARE a CLUE!
57A Or it belongs to Boomer's DW.
7D Leadership?
8D IMHO the problem is much DEEPER than that.
13D Punta del ESTE. Unknown to me - looks like a beautiful city.
35D MOI?
49D I remember when COORS wasn't shipped further than the Rockies to maintain the freshness of its mountain spring water. It was a BIG DEAL when they started shipping it to the East Coast. The first tony domestic beer! But then nobody in the West had heard of Rolling Rock, brewed with Appalachian Mountain spring water.
53D Many HMONG now live in Minnesota (est. 66,000), having come here as refugees from the Laotian strife associated with the Vietnam War.
Cheers,
Bill
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was an easy solve, but the reveal was needed to see the theme and that’s fine by me. We had some fun duos with Eau/Beau, East/Este, Beware/Scare, and Cee/CCs. We also had a mini O theme with Iso, Tremolo, Ocho, Reno, Porno, And Co, and Pro. CSOs to Lucina (Nun and Ocho ), CC (CCs), and CEh (Loon). I, too, (Hi, Inanehiker) wondered about the lone asterisk; must have been a printing error because the reveal clue references a number not a star for the theme answers.
Thanks, Andrea, for a smooth start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for the good cheer and chuckles.
FLN
PK, sorry you’re under the weather but glad you had some pleasant Mother’s Day moments. Hope the day was special for all the Moms.
A few of you (maybe Jayce, DO, Spitz, or HG?) mentioned watching The Queen’s Gambit. I didn’t think I’d like it, just based on the little bit
I had heard, so I ignored it up until Saturday night when I decided to give it a look. Well, I got hooked very quickly and have watched every episode except the final one which I’ll watch later today. (I was astonished to see the actor who played Liam Neeson’s son in Love, Actually in the role of Benny, the New Yorker with the huge hat.)
Have a great day.
BTW, CC wrote today’s New York Times puzzle. Lots of fun to solve. Congrats, CC.
ReplyDeleteMarvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Andrea and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed and saw the TOPS theme, but agree that it was just a little crunchier than some Monday’s.
Yes, Spitzboov, I’ll take a CSO at LOON, and another at PRIME since Canada has a PRIME Minister.
Hungry Mother - that M was the last fill for me too.
d’o - I debated Choi or CHOY also.
waseeley- I fought LILAC defined as a flower too. Violet did not fit.
I am used to Leary, not LEERY (which makes me think of PORNO,). I LIUed, and Leary is an old, unused variant. So I can’t blame it on American versus British/Canadian like ODOR/Odour.
But Aortic is the medical adjective used. I LIUed AIRTAL and one site said it was only used in NY CW😮😁😁
I wanted Vibrato but had no perps. TREMOLO it was.
My scales were musical, which gave me Las before LBS.
Glad you are feeling better PK.
Wishing you all a great day.
Not only did CC receive an almost unheard of rave review from Rex Parker but she also received a POW from Jeff Chen. Way to go, CC!
ReplyDeletePlus it was very colorful!
ReplyDeleteNo, Boomer, Washington was FiRST in war, FIRST in peace, and (according to Light Horse Harry Lee in George's eulogy) FIRST in the hearts of his countrymen, changed by sportswriter Charles Dryden to "last in the American League" over 100 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe second iteration of Washington Senators, now the Texas Rangers, are also now flirting with the bottom of their division.
Not to be a CRYBABY but harder than the usual breezy Monday. but eventually, FIR..
ReplyDeleteAORTAL? C'mon even my generous word recognition dictation software would never buy that. (aortic)
Inkovers...Lukas/LUCAS, saga/EPIC.... from an Adirondack experience, nothing crazy about a LOON except the homophonic similarity to "lun"-atic and the haunting sound they make one of which is a TREMOLO (Almost wrote in vibrato )
To keep my now 4I & 44 yo then competitive kids quiet on long trips I'd declare we were playing a game called "Don't say anything" ...the loser was the first to make a sound. Lasted all of about 2 minutes.
BOYARDEE is as bad an anglicization of the original name BOIARDI as the product itself. (Boia means "executioner" ..the guy with the hood). .....Still found in the ruins of Pompeii signs warning cave canem "BEWARE of the dog"
I suppose that only a poor ROMAN would likely be the wearer of an old toga. ....Pinocchio's (pine eye = pine knot) bigger problem was that he was made of wood.
What's PORNO? (Go ahead and 'splain it to me) 😉🤭
How the farmer says he starts....ISO
Nice surprise exclamation...EAU
Laura's plaint..."Oh _____ !" ...ROBB
"There's a fungus ______ us!!"....HMONG
Hope mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers had a great day 💐
... colorful and built on a very interesting grid. The form of symmetry was refreshing.
ReplyDeleteYes C.C.‘S CW is great. Not too hard, even if I did have a Natick cross with the wrong generation and not knowing the Sephora competitor.
ReplyDeleteColourful d’o?? Well I went to read Rex Parker, and I solved a different C.C. CW🤔😮 that I found on the Seattle Times site with today’s date. https://www.seattletimes.com/games-nytimes-crossword/
Can someone link the proper CW (I tried not to look at the answers on Rex’s blog.) without a subscription?
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice Monday grid that filled quickly.
Not to pile on, but
Write-overs…AORTIC/AORTAL.
D-O…Credit rating…I’m with you…in December I paid off the car loan on time, it was the last payment. The very next month the Vantage score went down…by 40 points. “An account was closed”. Yes, an account was closed when the last payment was made, like every other term loan on the planet. Geez, these credit agencies make up the rules and are unregulated. But to get docked when a fixed term loan ends fully paid with never a late payment seems wrong. Because it is.
Stay safe.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteIt's Monday and time to go to my volunteer duties at church but finished Andrea Carla's TOP NOTCH puzzle in good time.
I love LILAC shrubs and their intoxicating ODOR. Wish they would grow here.
In the five years I lived in Denver, the name ADOLPH Coors permeated the city.
thank you, Boomer!
Time to go.
Everyone, have a wonderful day!
Not a particularly difficult CW, I just managed a particularly bad job of eventually getting it done. Lots of W/Os: AORTIC:AORTAL, NOTCHONYOURBELT:NOTCHONONESBELT, BADDOG:BEWARE. All this made a mess of my grid, and cost me time. FIR in 19 is not good for a Monday. ACM, terrific job on the CW, thanx. And thanx Boomer for the terrific (as usual) write-up.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Andrea's puzzle, and was able to get the theme, but not before solving everything else. Thanks, Boomer, for the tour!
ReplyDeletePutting a NOTCH ON ONE'S BELT means to add a tally mark, recording a series of accomplishments. Why would anyone use their belt for this? Well, maybe if you were a cowboy, it would be more convenient than pulling out a memo pad and pen! Too many accomplishments, and your pants might fall down, though. ;-) Happy new week, everyone.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Got it done without really seeing the theme until Boomer told me.
My kids didn't like Chef BoyArDee, but they loved SpaghettiO's, and wanted them every day when they were little. I couldn't even stand the smell of any of them.
I agree with others about AORTIC vs AORTAL. I also needed perps for MAIA.
Have a great day everyone.
Nothing too arcane and esoteric, but this took longer for me than a Monday should.
ReplyDeleteI love lilacs, both the bush and the bouquets of flowers. David was very allergic to the flowers. When he was young his teacher had lilacs on her desk and he suffered all day, being too shy to speak up.
53D HM?? Really? Then Hmong dawned on me.
medicinecabibet.com: "Aortal: Pertaining to the aorta, the largest artery in the body. Aortal is not often encountered (except in The New York Times crossword). The preferred term is aortic. Mar 29, 2021" But it was not hard to suss.
PK, so sorry you were ill on Mother's Day.
Yesterday was Alan's birthday. I picked him up on Saturday morning and and will take him back after lunch today. He gave me a lovely bouquet for Mother's Day. David and Motoko were here yesterday and they gave me a goodie basket with wine and snacks to entertain my new friends here. It was good to have us all together. We missed Kenny who is still at college. I made baked ziti with homemade sauce, garlic bread, and spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. David and Motoko brought a delicious chocolate mousse birthday cake with ganache icing. We had a great day.
David sharpened my chef knife, hung a decoration and other odds and ends. He is so handy and helpful.
Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.
I just now read that gunslingers notching their guns after each kill is basically fiction.
Delightful Monday puzzle, many thanks, Andrea. And your comments are always a pleasure, Boomer, thanks for those too. Also loved the picture of you and C.C. with Andrea.
ReplyDeleteI moved right through this neat grid with only some hesitation up in the northeast corner. But nice to see NUN (had lots teaching in my Catholic schools). Don't know my rock groups, but no problem since perps helped out. Forgot that it was LYING that made Pinocchio's nose grow. Didn't know Lynda ROBB either, but again, the across items took care of that.
Have a good week coming up, everybody.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea Carla Michaels, and thank you, Boomer.
FIW in super fast time. Keyed in AORTIC and never looked at the perps.
Mellow Monday puzzle. Not too many proper names and only one easy question clue.
ReplyDeleteCEh! @9:09 AM Maybe LEARY is unused because of its associations with TIMOTHY. More people should have been LEERY of him!
ReplyDeleteOn carving notches (@3:16)...
ReplyDeleteIM @9:27 AM Great news about CC. What's a POW? Unfortunately my digital subscription to the Times doesn't include their puzzles (don't do enough of them to justify it). The Baltimore Sun publishes the syndicated version of the Times puzzle but it runs about 5 weeks behind the Times (like much else in this city!). I'll put it on my calendar to look for it 5 Tuesdays from now.
ReplyDeleteBill
Have not heard from Bill G in quite a while,
ReplyDeletePls check in Bill...
Re: puzzle?
I dunno,
Seems like a Monday puzzle was saved by a stray "M" outta nowhere.
Hmong/Maia???
(Methinks that "M" came from a Friday somewhere...)
Oh well,Be careful what you ask for,
you might get screwed...
billocohoes @9:53AM That's what Minnesota gets for buying a 100 year old team. No wonder they're losing. They must be tired!
ReplyDeleteMake that 5 MONDAY's from now - June 14th.
ReplyDeleteRay-O @9:55AM I'm with you on LOONS. None around here, but we saw a pair on a pond on an early morning hike around a lake in Acadia National Park in Maine. Beautiful birds, and such an ethereal call.
ReplyDeleteYR @11:15AM AORTAL - apparently Will Shortz can manufacture neologisms as required!
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, ACME, and thanks for the shout-out to Motown, my hometown! Congrats, too, C.C. on your NYT puzzle. waseeley, POW stands for "Puzzle of the Week."
ReplyDeleteOh, and raising my hand for also having the Sisters of Saint Joseph in school!
Bill @ 12:25 ~ POW is Jeff Chen’s Puzzle of the Week designation on his xwordinfo.com blog on The NY Times puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIM et al @1:51pm. But it's only Monday so there's only been one puzzle so far this week. Is Chen a seer?
DeleteGood link, HG. With all the wackiness of insurance ads , Edith is a joy. Brings me back to French IV. with Ms J
ReplyDeleteI would think the NOTCH is added as waist gets slimmer. After being 40 for years I just fit in a 34 albeit with the word "Stretch". The "Scale" is a lot friendlier too
Wow, Mere "faint damnation" is high praise from Rex.
Actually, 100 years ago the Senators won a WS thanks to Walter Johnson
My car game was cars. Certain cars had points. Caveat. To score you had to be wearing the seat belt else score was deducted. 21 pts (exactly) won.*
I was a Franco-American kid
I see TTP was hasty, too.
WC
*So Saabs were 2, Volvo 1. Phil was at 20. He unbuckled , said "Volvo", buckled and said "SAAB!. Cabs were 2, until we drove through Boston one day.
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Andrea & Boomer for a fun start to the week.
ReplyDeleteForgot to look for the theme until Boomer 'splained it. Liked it. Did not see the TREMELO clue either ESP.
Hand up for YESsir. IMO the clue should have been "Absolutely, absolutely" to denote the double YES. AORTic before --AL.
Knew ROBB years ago when she got married, etc. All perps today.
Knew HMONG as soon as the M perped in. I didn't know they were considered Chinese. I sorta interviewed some once for a newspaper article. Well, I got a good picture. Hard to interview people who spoke very little recognizable English. One of our neighbors sponsored a group of immigrants to work on their farm. Neighbors couldn't talk to them and they were third world farmers who couldn't manage modern machinery or drive here. They grinned a lot.
AtlGranny, IM, CanadaEh, & YR: thank you for your concern for my health. I am feeling better today. Very annoying to be sick on one of the few days my kids could come. I did have nice phone conversations with the two I didn't see.
A super easy PZL to start our week, from Ms. Michaels.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Boomer for the fine write-up.
No need to suss out the theme in order to solve the long fills. They were familiar expressions or terms, fillable on their own w/o any help.
I remember the Johnson/ROBB wedding in the White House--late '60s.
Ah, Time. Tempus fugit...
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, on the near side.
Its anagram (12 of 15 letters) speaks to the large pot in which the Macbeth witch stir up all sorts of sicknesses and curses they intend to inflict on humanity. It is known sometimes as their...
"'ILLS' CAULDRON"!
Peasy easy
ReplyDeleteBill @ 3:29 ~ The bloggers get the week’s puzzles in advance.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteDOZEN/BATCH was my lone W-O; MAIA/HMONG was my lone WAG.
I didn’t see the reveal/theme until solving 62-Across; well-hidden Andrea
I remember when Coors beer was a “big deal”, as it was only available west of the Mississippi. First time I drank it I might’ve said “meh”, even though “meh” wasn’t even a word or expression back then
Ditto all of the CSO’s today; ICEd is potentially a SO to tinbeni but I haven’t seen him post here in quite some time. Hope he’s ok; maybe I’ll send an email and check up
Wilbur @ 1:52 ~ I agree. This is one of the few ads that I don’t find annoying, not only because of the treat of hearing Edith’s lovely voice but for that incredulous look on the little girl’s face. (Thanks for posting it HG). My favorite ads are the ones for Subaru that have the Labs driving along like it was the most natural thing in the world.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSo TREMOLO it was, not VIBRATO. And MAIA it was, not JUNO.
I learned that in China the HMONG are classified as a subgroup of the Miao people.
Good wishes to you all.
We met Miao people in villages near the Stone Forest. Difficult to arrange meeting minorities in China but worth the effort. Very welcoming
DeleteA double-DNF and FIW... On a Monday?!?
ReplyDeleteHi All:
NOTCH iN ONES BELT blocked A?OiN [A LOON] and I had no clue at H_ONG xing _AIA. M, you say?
Thanks Andrea for the puzzle; thanks Boomer for smearing the egg on my face with good humor.
WO: NAS -> HES the DJ
ESPs: ROBB, TREMO_O, H_ONG, _AIA
Fav: anyone else get Johnny Rivers playing in your head at 18a?
I do like BANANA PEPERS too; got five in the garden.
Love the DR, OMK. Fitting for your profession.
FLN: PK - glad you got better in time for a visit.
FLN: Happy Mother's Day. DW put us to work in the yard all weekend :-)
Hand-up for St. Joe's; Kindergarten & 1st, then (after living w/ Mom) 5th->8th.
Smokey and the Bandit was about bootleggin' COORS.
D-O & PVX: Hummm. I just (early) paid off Eldest's car and I'm on track to get Youngest's paid off early too. I wonder what that's going to do to FICA? I guess if they can't make money off me for extending credit; I'm no longer a good creditee? :-)
Cheers, -T
LOL who else was watching Jeopardy and got the Cotopaxi question? 😊😁👍
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDash T, I didn't think we'd see you here today. Thought you'd be burning the midnight candle prepping for a dog and pony show (assuming the brass wanted a readiness assessment) and verifying safeguards against the darkside.
Didn't think of Secret Agent Man, but did think of Sugar Pie Honey Bunch at the reveal, which led to Baby I Need Your Loving and more of the hits from The Four Tops, such as Reach Out - I'll Be There.
TTP - LOL. Yeah, three of us Sr. Security Analysts spent from 8a -> 3p preparing that readiness assessment / "we've search our logs and see no indication of compromise based on the IoCs available to us from intel services /buddies" paper.
ReplyDeleteFun tunes! Did you also think of Pat Benatar at "[ Put another] NOTCH in my lipstick case?" :-) [Starts at 2:59]
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteDash T, I didn't think of Pat Benatar, but should have. I think you are onto something. Maybe we should do a "tie-ins" with daily musical review of the crosswords. I think we could do it With A Little Help from our friends.
I thought of -T re. "Darkside"
ReplyDeleteWC
ReplyDeleteWilbur, is it possible you were thinking of Eddie And The Cruisers - On the Dark Side ?
Dash T is a white hat.
TTP @9:37pm WH yes, but he's on the lookout for the "Darkside"
DeleteEddie And The Cruisers!
ReplyDeleteNow where are those tapes?
Eddie Lives!
FIR. Thanks, Andrea and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteHaven’t been here for a while. As TTP mentioned a couple of weeks ago, this retirement stuff is hard work. I generally get started on the puzzles (because I‘m up in the middle of the night), but finishing them and getting here are a different story.
NOTCH --- In the old TV shows and movie western movies, the gunslingers cut another NOTCH in their gunbelts every time they killed a man.
ADOLPH --- He was kind enough to start shipping his beer to San Antonio, after I got transferred there from Denver in 1975.
Since I haven’t been here lately, I don’t know if anyone here has mentioned that “Doc” was here last week. She is one of the two FLYING B-29s, the other being “FIFI”. I saw “FIFI” at an airshow in Punta Gorda, FL, back in 2012. Yesterday, I got to stand in line with “Doc” for an hour and a half to spend about three minutes inside her. Got lots of pictures, though.
I told my daughter and son-in-law that WE were going to take my 16 year-old granddaughter to see “Doc” up close and personal, so that the she could see the type of airplane that finally put an end to WWII. Yeah, the kid (who is smarter than I ever was) was impressed seeing the big airplane, BUT she was more impressed when we were standing by the tail (just before we climbed the ladder), and we pointed out the rivets.
Me: Little Bit (she’s now as tall as I am), did you ever hear of Rosie the Riveter?
Her: Yes.
Me: Rivets like these were the contribution of all of those Rosies the Riveters back then. That’s what they did!
Yes, she was duly impressed, BUT what really blew her socks off was when one of the pilots (standing right there answering questions) told her that there were over a million rivets on the plane.
Oops! Gotta run! Tuesday’s puzzle should be available right now!
LEOIII - I kinda wondered if that was something you were associated with...
ReplyDeleteLast week, DW & I were outside talking 'bout something and I interrupted her:
"Listen. That's a WWII airplane."
So, we just stood there and watched it go overhead. A little while later another one passed.
Cool beans and nice that your granddaughter got to see it up close.
Cheers, -T
Yes, I heard "cotopaxi" and took a second look!
ReplyDeleteMissed a poster or two say...
ReplyDeleteReally, y'all gotta stop with that Cotopaxi. My brain can't handle the placement of those vowels.
Ha! TTP re: Eddie and the Cruisers.
Waseeley is right, WC; I've crossed over... My Darkside is hobby only.
Setup: What's the difference between a BlackHat Hacker and a WhiteHat Hacker?
Punch: Two kids and a mortgage. :-)
Cheers, -T
I suppose I should explain (and any joke you have to explain... :-( )
ReplyDeleteThe correct answer is "Have permission".
See, in hacking, you can hack a company if you have permission - a literal "Get out of Jail Free" card.
But, if you infiltrate systems w/o permission - you're a bad guy.
Go pro, and get companies to pay you to infiltrate (and tell them how to fix s***), well, that's on the up-and-up and you can live a happy life in the Burbs with your family.
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteThose tapes are in the palace.
Eddie Wilson Lives !