Good Morning, Cruciverbalists! Malodorous Manatee, here. Today, Betty Boop is kicking things off for us. This is appropriate as it seems to be Women's Day in puzzle-land. Betty is making certain that the occupants of that pink '57 Chevy are well fed prior to their road trip Down Route 66.
In an interesting twist, today's puzzle setter, our frequent visitor Jeffrey Wechsler, has placed the reveal at the last clue/answer - 66 Down. At eight other places within the grid Jeffrey has inserted the last names of well-known Mrses, er Mrss, er Missuses, oh heck, Mesdames and, just to make make sure that we don't miss any of the highlights along the route, the clues for the theme answers are starred - at least in the source I use (L A Times Online).
The straightforward reveal: 66 Down - Title for eight puzzle answers: MRS.
Another fine feature of today's puzzle is that the theme answers are neatly placed completely across the first row and the final row The middle two rows are side-to-side except for the black squares. Nice symmetry.
*1 Across - Historic barn owner: O'LEARY. Although Mrs. Catherine O'LEARY denied the charge, her cow is, in legend and song, said to have started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by knocking over a lantern in the shed . The cause of the fire has never been determined.
*7 Across - Screen seductress: ROBINSON. Mrs. ROBINSON from The Graduate (1967)
*38 Across - Dried spices brand: DASH. Mrs. DASH
*39 Across - 1993 Williams role: DOUBTFIRE. Robin Williams played Mrs. DOUBTFIRE in the eponymous motion picture.
*41 Across - Bart's teacher: KRABAPPEL. Bart Simpson was (is, perpetually) in Mrs. Edna KRABAPPEL's 4th grade class at Springfield Elementary School. Get it? Edna Crab Apple.
*43 Across - Frozen fish brand namesake: PAUL. Mrs. PAUL.
*69 Across - Virginia Woolf protagonist: DALLOWAY. Mrs. DALLOWAY
*70 Across - Big name in cookies: FIELDS. Mrs. FIELDS Original Cookies.
That takes care of our look at the themed answers. Here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
15. "Peter Pan" playwright: BARRIE.
16. Intimate: ONE TO ONE. ONE of two three-word answers in the puzzle.
17. Sells at a huge markup: SCALPS.
17. Sells at a huge markup: SCALPS.
18. Modernize, as a factory: AUTOMATE.
19. Sorbonne summer: ETE. Today's French lesson . . . . and one we have had many times before.
20. Sticker shock source, perhaps: Abbr.: MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price
22. ESPN analyst who was a three-time A.L. MVP: AROD. Alex RODriguez
23. Shakespeare's 154: SONNETS.
25. Small ammo: BBS
27. Tokyo's Yoko: ONO. She appears very often in xword puzzles.
28. Color variant: HUE.
29. Classic ref. work: OED. Oxford English Dictionary
32. "... some kind of __?": A NUT.
Sometimes You Feel Like A NUT -1980
35. Iridescent stones: OPALS.
37. Wages: PAY.
44. Continental trade org.: EEC. The European Economic Community was created by The Treaty of Rome in 1957. In 1993, The EEC was incorporated into the EU - the European Union.
45. Metal en una mina: PLATA. Today's initial Spanish lesson. Often clued as part of Montana's State Motto: Oro y PLATA (Gold and Silver).
46. General's domain: ARMY.
47. One of many on today's phones: APP.
48. Word with luck or hole: POT.
49. Price __: WAR. Price Club would not fit but Price Tag might be the three-letter answer on another day.
51. Qantas luggage tag letters: SYD. The code for the SYDney, Australia airport for Qantas, and all other, airlines.
52. Mediterranean language: MALTESE.
56. Give a heads-up: WARN. WARNing: You might laugh yourself silly:
Bill Maher's Classic Film Warnings
59. BLT component: MAYO. This mindless marine mammal initially thought that it had to be something to do with either Bacon. Lettuce or Tomato. But no, it's MAYOnnaise.
60. L.A. commuter org.: MTA. Metropolitan Transit Authority. In L.A. it is actually called the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
61. Ornamental shrub: OLEANDER. A popular shrub despite its toxicity.
64. Eastern philosophy: TAOISM.
67. Cloudy: OVERCAST. Since we did not see these guys earlier, even though it was teed up at the Mrs. Robinson clue, we'll visit them now.
CLOUDY - Simon and Garfunkel (1967)
68. Old-timey stable groom: OSTLER. By definition and, as pointed out in the clue, rarely heard these days.
Down:
1. Out of use: Abbr.: OBS. OBSolete, I suppose. Punt.
2. What slippers generally lack: LACES.
3. Bard's muse: ERATO. ERATO is the muse of lyric poetry.
ERATO - Francois Boucher (1703 -1770)
4. "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN. Harold ARLEN wrote this little ditty.
5. Tear: RIP. Not tear as in to shed a tear.
6. Agreeable types: YES MEN. It should have been YES woMEN, today.
7. Crowd approval: ROARS. Or not.
8. "Come __!": loft dweller's invite: ON UP.
9. Raise, say: BET. A poker reference.
10. Skater Midori: ITO.
Midori Ito Conquers the Triple Axle
11. Eduardo's "Enough!": NO MAS. Today's second Spanish lesson. I would have gone with Roberto in lieu of Eduardo.
November 25, 1980
13. Aware of: ON TO.
14. Require: NEED.
21. Didn't draw a card: STOOD PAT. Another poker reference.
24. Discontented: NOT HAPPY.
25. Light source: BULB. . . . and often used to symbolize getting a new idea.
26. Majority (of): BEST PART.
28. Remove with trucks: HAUL AWAY. Also, a nautical reference.
Haul Away Joe
29. Kind of poppy: OPIUM.
The Wicked Witch of the West
30. Like an eager "bird": EARLY
31. Coloring agent: DYE.
32. Madison Ave. figure: AD REP. AD something-or-other (ad rep, ad man, ad fee, ad rate, etc.) has become almost as ubiquitous in our puzzles as E-something-or-other.
33. Spingarn Medal org.: NAACP. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Springarn the then-chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
34. Modern sort of port: USB. Universal Serial Bus
A Universal Cereal Bus
36. Sappho or Pindar: POET.
40. Partner of away: FAR. "FAR and away" is an idiomatic expression for for having surpassed something, or someone, to a great extent.
41. Mauna __: KEA. We always have to wait a bit to see if the Hawaiian volcano is going to be KEA or Loa - but the A can go in immediately.
42. Walk with effort: PLOD.
50. Much: A LOT OF. Our second three-word answer.
51. Sound from a cornered cur: SNARL.
Betty Boop's Dog Bimbo
52. McFly in "Back to the Future": MARTY.
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
53. Overact: EMOTE.
Worst Informercial Acting Ever
54. Yet: STILL.
55. Simplified: EASED.
Ease His Pain
56. Timber: WOOD.
57. Part of TAE: ALVA. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor and holder of 1,093 patents including forms of 25 Down and 58 Down.
58. Projection booth item: REEL.
59. Southwestern sight: MESA.
62. Cpl., e.g.: NCO. Non Commissioned Officer
63. Crow cousin: DAW. A bird not often seen in crossword puzzles.
A Western Jackdaw
65. Just-thought link: AS I. We have reached the end of today's recap . . . .
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53 comments:
The would-be POET who would court ERATO
Would do well, to practice long and hard.
For she expects her acolytes, like castrato,
Forego some truancy, to be a worthy bard!
While within her orbit, be ye yet wary
She can devour you with doggerel and pastiche.
She can intoxicate you with your own whimsy,
Like a sot in a winery, you'll need relief!
Erato is a fickle bitch, a limber whore.
She will leave for another in mid-SONNET.
While she's with you, she can make words SOAR;
Then she's flown, you're alone to sweat upon it!
Erato is a Muse who'll ne'er be overthrown,
And she ever has me in thrall as her own.
FIRight. Saw the theme before the reveal, but didn't realize it was the theme. The food ones, Mrs.DASH, Mrs.PAUL, and Mrs.FIELDS, really needed the title to correctly answer the clues. The rest stood alone.
Wow, the CSOs to me today! ERATO, POET, and even SONNET (tho my poems over at JumbleHints usually fall 2 lines short of a traditional sonnet, but Old Man Keith uses the proper form correctly, so sonnet is more a CSO to him.) POET, in particular, is a CSO to several here: Misty, Wilbur Charles, Chairman Moe, in addition to OMK & OKL.
We are visiting our son in the Eastern time zone and he arranged coffee to meet some of his friends at 7 this morning - so early day on vacation!
When I started I thought this was going to be a toughie with all the blank space across the north - but then as I gained momentum it was pretty smooth even though I didn't have the reveal helping me along! Now if I had solved this like HG often does it might have opened up quicker!
I'm always recommending MRS DASH and MR DASH seasonings to help people who need easy alternatives to salting their food when they have high blood pressure and other heart issues.
MRS FIELDS cookies originally started a mile from my college campus - I think they were a splurge at 35 cents a piece - but so yummy and warm!
Thanks MM and JW!
Waking up to a Thursday JW - nice! It had a Friday feel except for the stars and reveal.
I did not remember Mrs. Dalloway or that the little yippy dogs spoke an official language. Must run, off to the eye doctor
Thanks Joe and Jeffrey
Good morning!
Yay. D-o did not miss the missuses. Learned this AM that Mrs is derived from Mistress. Probably obvious to you. Also learned that OPIUM is a type of poppy. Thought all poppies were OPIUM poppies. Now, will d-o hang onto this new knowledge? Probably not. Nice one, JW. Excellent review, Mal-Man.
While I had four WOs, I totally missed the E in EEC and KEA, putting an O, for a FIW. I thought my WOs were good answers until perps showed differently: ret/OBS, basta/NO MAS, pea/BBS, and joke/A NUT. Otherwise the puzzle bopped along and the theme was quite clever. Very enjoyable, Jeffrey. Thanks! And I NEED to thank you MalMan for explaining things so well. OBS, for example, I did not get without your help.
OwenKL, you outdid yourself today! And Lemonade, (smile), it's better the little yippy dog is speaking MALTESE rather than SNARLing at us.
FLN Thanks for the update, Jayce. Thinking of you all. And the few Christmas cards I still send are mainly to farflung friends to stay in touch when we can't get together.
Hope you all have a great Thursday!
Crow cousin......daw (jackdaw) was a ‘hapax legomemon’ which was fitting as this was the word-of-the-day!
The theme saved me. I realized the Spice madam was DASH, Jeff want EEC not u and NAACP made a lot more sense than the gibberish I had yesterday when I commented about being stuck. I feared FIW on a xword I'd sailed thru.
Then after all the perps there was PLATA
Interesting that Malta has its own language. When the warrior monks were returning from outre mer I believe it was the Hospitalers that settled Malta.
MaloMan, the Maher skit had me rotfl (actually bed where I'm reading this)
Why do restaurants assume diners are MAYO addicts. That and catsup.
MTA is where Charlie was marooned in Boston. That was my first inkover as I had Sofar/STILL
I had adman, then prrep and finally ADREP. That side is an inky mess. Oh, and I had the xword familiar cab for that type of port. USB led me out of the woods
DAW was 3 perps
I'll take PF Sausalitos over Mrs Fields. No, D-O, i didn't know that about mistress/MRS.
I imagine Maher has comments about introducing children and dogs to OPIUM
FIR, on to Fri
WC
Excellent puzzle. FIR. NE was a puzzler for a while. MRS at 66D finally suggested Mrs. Robinson. I held on to BASTA for too long. Sussing AUTOMATE changed it to NO MAS.
DAW was a gimme.
OPAL CSO to Kazie.
When I was a waitress MAYO usually had to be specified except on a BLT. The BLT always included mayo unless the diner said to hold it. Traditional. "I'll have a BLT, hold the bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo." LOL. We sold a rarebit open faced sandwich which had bacon, tomato and cheese rarebit sauce on toast. My customer ordered it without cheese. I pointed out she would just get bacon and tomato on toast. She stuck to her guns. Her dining companions spent more than 5 minutes talking her out of it.
When one of my sons was a toddler he asked me to higher his trike seat instead of raise it. Logically, if you lower the seat why can't you higher it? We had similar problems in Japanese class. The teacher just said, "It is never said that way." Languages are not necessarily logical.
When of the joys of my erstwhile hiking days was to reach a mountain top and watch the birds of prey soaring on thermals below us.
Shakespeare needed the inspiration of ERATO to write his SONNETS because, as sung in the musical "Something Rotten", "It's Hard to be The Bard."
While in The Graduate Ben was 22 years old and Mrs. ROBINSON was about 45, off camera Dustin Hoffman was 30 and Anne Bancroft was only 37,
The MTA of the Kingston Trio song is now named the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, but there are MTAs in New York, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Nashville, and others as well as Los Angeles.
When I saw Jeffrey's name at the bottom I was expecting a tougher puzzle for a Thursday. I FIR not noticing all the 'married' (except DOUBTFIRE) women. KRABAPPEL and DALLOWAY were unknown women but easily filled by perps after I changed JAY to DAW, a bird I'd never heard of except in previous puzzles. I guess ITO and ONO (MRS Lennon) didn't make the MRS cut today.
OSTLER- new one for me- I don't ride horses.
SCALPS- I didn't like the clue because it's usually associated with shortages of an item (gas, ice,...etc) after a catastrophe. 'Huge markup'-I-phone, computer software, medicine.
AUTOMATE- I was walking in Sam's Wholesale and a huge automatic floor scrubber/cleaner was coming down the aisle at me and just went around me and kept going.
MSRP- with the current shortage of cars they are actually selling for the MSRP and more.
Wilbur- I always request NO MAYO and NO ketchup (catsup). Don't like the taste of ketchup and IMHO MAYO is just tasteless calorie-laden slime (60-100 Kcal/tbsp). Give me a Miller Lite or Corona for my Calories.
Good morning everyone.
Got all the MRS's okay, but needed a bit of perp help with DALLOWAY. Had 'jay' before DAW. Couldn't break through the ARLEN BARRIE Natick; and guessed 'd' instead of the correct 'R'. So; GOW (got one wrong).
REEL - Familiar item to me. I had collateral duty as the ship's Movie Officer. Ran the projector many times while showing movies in the wardroom. (Our prints were 16mm., I believe.). One time we swapped movies with a sub and the transfer line parted and the Movie went to Davie Jones' Locker. You guessed it; more reports.
Have a great day.
OSTLER is very common in western and early Americana historical novels. Reading fiction supplies a whole world of vocabulary among other fields, despite my David's poopooing it.
Musings
-Eight entries, fun cluing and not a Natick in sight! Wow, Jeffrey, what a treat!
-Husker FB ticket SCALPERS have fallen on hard times as the team has gotten so bad
-AUTOMATION has made meat packing plant jobs less back breaking
-Mrs. KRABAPPLE is pronounced “crah-bopple”
-“What are you, some kindA NUT?” Heard often on 60’s TV
-I’ll use my free iPhone golf APP today as our group of 16 golfers head to North Bend, NE on an OVERCAST day
-I asked Omaha mayor, MRS. Jean Stothert, if she hated calls about snow removal. She said, “Yes, but my most frequent complaints are about POT holes!”
-I remember these 60’s Price WARS
-“See Saw Marjorie Daw, Jacky shall have a new master” is where the only place had seen DAW before
-Speaking of FORE…
inane hiker - What strategy of mine is that? :-) I am usually held up as a bad example!
Thursday Toughie. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and MalMan.
WC did warn us that it was a JW goodie!
I DNF officially with two Natick (for me) areas. But I did get the MRS. theme fairly early, which allowed me to go back and fill in some names.
I started slowly in the north, and was happy to see CW favourites ETE and ONO to get me started in a sea of white.
Some Canadian disadvantage today. We don’t have MRS. PAUL,S fish but it perped. We don’t have MRS. FIELDS either, but I knew the name after a couple of perps.
I had no idea about the Springarn medal. I was fixated on The EU from yesterday and STOOD PAT (also from yesterday!) with TEU instead of EEC. Plus I had C instead of K for Mrs. KRABAPPEL. I had Moa changed to CTA (forgot about Kea) and knew it was wrong.
My other Problem area was the cross of a playwright and a composer. I had Allen instead of ARLEN , and should have remembered BARRIE, but did not have the B in 1D and could not get anything from _AR_IE. Ah well! (Hello Spitzboov)
CSOs today also to Lucina with MESA and the Spanish PLATA and NO MAS.
Yes YR, I too knew OSTLER from historical novels. I love them!
Wishing you all a great day. Beautiful warm weather here all week. Off to do more gardening and spring cleaning.
Hand up for Tag before WAR.
I've always assumed calling Bart's teacher Krabappel was an homage to one of the little rascal's teachers, Miss Crabtree. Guess only the show's creators know for sure. BTW, wonderful puzzle.
Good Morning:
If I ever needed proof of my lack of observation skills, today’s theme provides it in spades. Why I didn’t notice all the Mrs answers, especially since they were starred, I’ll never know, but I guess this is a perfect example of hiding things in plain sight. All I can say is JW got me but good! I didn’t have any trouble with the actual solve and the only unknowns were Ostler and Krabappel, both easily inferred and perped. Loved seeing Maltese as it’s one of my favorite breeds. Also liked Roar(s)/Soar, Erato/Poet/Sonnet, and Maltese/Snarls. Also had a mini O theme with Mayo, Ono, Ito, Erato, On To, NCO, and No (Mas). CSO to the Arizona contingent with Mesa.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a fun solve and thanks, MalMan, for the wit and wisdom in your expo. I’ll have to come back later for the links as, per usual, 90 % didn’t come through.
Jayce, thoughts and prayers for your loss.
Another new baby in the family arrived yesterday, a great-granddaughter of my sister Peggy, named Vivienne.
Have a great day.
In spite of all of the names - have words gone out of fashion? - I persisted and FIR. I was an AV guy in junior high and the ARMY, so was quite familiar with the REEL. Very little wordplay here. Maybe the LA Times should call it the crosstrivia puzzle. Luckily, the SB gives me my words workout before the NYT and LAT bombard me with names.
Daws or jackdaws are common in much of the world, but not so common in the USA, which is probably why solvers have not heard of them.
Most of the references I can find are literary and many of them refer back to Shakespeare's quote talking about wearing one's heart on one's sleeve. Daws seems notorious for jabbering untunefully and for pecking. There are very few positive citations.
It was at the end of the first Elizabethan age that Shakespeare's Iago said: "I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at."
Jayce my thoughts are with you and your family regarding your DIL at this trying time. How sad.
Welcome to baby Vivienne. Lovely name.
MM, you were absolutely spectacular today. Thank you. I especially enjoyed the clips of Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Krabappel.
Becky
This was like two puzzles for me. I sailed through the top and it took a lot of p&p for the bottom. Good puzzle and abfab MM write-up.
Warm day in Chicago - the first of real summer-like weather.
Be safe and well.
JB2
oops Twice, sorry
Started out as a Monday or Tuesday level then I had a brain block for the entire SW corner but neurons suddenly fired and I changed "growl" to SNARL and everything else fell into place. I even parsed the MRS theme. Almost put "basta" for Edoardo's "Enough!", then realized wrong language; it would have to be Eduardo to work.
Thought Edna KRAPAPPLE was single until she married Ned Flanders but she's listed as MRS before that. Loved her character, last seen after Marcia Wallace who voiced her died. MRS DOUBTFIRE, apparently a real name; from Wiki: "The name Doubtfire has a history dating as far back as the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It was a name for a person who was considered brave and strong"....Thought Cpl., eg. was "couple" and almost filled "two". DAW? d'oh!!! 🙄. Springarn Medal also unknown.
Amazing that MRS ROBINSON was married to Mel Brooks. Pete Buttigieg last name is MALTESE. Interesting that the French word for boy is "garçon" while it's "ragazzo" in Italian. But the Italian word for Stable boy/groom OSTLER is "garzone".
Lucina: French (argent) and Italian (argento) use the Latin root Argent for "silver" and Argentina (same derivation) is a Spanish speaking country so why PLATA? 🤔
Too many actors....OVERCAST
Yet they kept making moonshine ____ STILL
I can't pick just_____ that's my favorite song...ONETOONE
Digital cinema is a ____ good upgrade...REEL
Results in a litter of compact cars..AUTOMATE
Spare ____ and spoil a baseball player...AROD
Knew as soon as we left Florida last Wednesday the awful Central NY weather would suddenly improve. Now back home doing the puzzle on the deck,🌞 outside in 80 degree weather. Thanks Malman.🙂
Always exciting to see a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle, and this one was a special treat with the delightful MRS. theme. So, many thanks, Jeffrey, and MalMan, your pictures were a real pleasure--thanks for those too.
Finding POET, SONNETS, and ERATO in a puzzle gets the day off to a good start. But seeing OPIUM and POT is a little more problematic. Little bit of gloom too, with NOT HAPPY and OVERCAST. But all those married ladies--what a treat.
Wonderful poems, Owen, and thank you for the kind CSO.
Have a lovely day, everybody.
Thanks Jeff for a Thursday FIR and thank you MaloMan an entertaining review and for making sense of all that MStery!
Clueless as usual on the theme. So what the themers had in common was that the all the clues started with ASTERISKS right?
17A Got SCALPED in MILAN. Guy sold us tickets to a 3 hour concert of 12 tone instrumental music at La Scala. But it was worth it just to sit in the house that VERDI built.
32A Or "To catch a squirrel, stand in a tree and act like " ____.
41A DNK Mrs Krabappel, but before Bart, Miss Crabtree taught the Little Rascals and she was beautiful.
68A My only association here is Dr. William OSLER, one of the 4 founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Despite the slight difference in spelling, his family must have come a long way from humble beginnings.
63D Jackdaws are members of the CORVIDAE family that includes not only Crows, but also Ravens, Bluejays and Magpies. Noisy, aggressive birds.
Cheers,
Bill
Jayce, all my sympathy for your loss.
Yes, Astor “gave up” a seat that was for women and children. But MRS. Astor gave up hers, one she was entitled to as a woman. So who’s the hero?
Another JW gem, as is now expected.
Write-overs…ONEONONE/ONETOONE….I think “on” is more intimate, hahaha…KRABAPPLE/KRABAPPEL….and I never miss the show…ECU/EEC….ECU? what the x is that? What on earth was I thinking?
Stay safe.
Hi Y'all! Thank you to JeffWex for a puzzle I was expecting to be harder than it was. Fun! Thanks, MalMan, always interesting.
I got the theme early which helped fill others. I tried Delilah before Robinson became obvious.
DNK: NO MAS (altho I know that Spanish), NCAAP had a medal, DAW (altho I had heard of them).
STOOD PAT: PAT sure is busy this week in CW land.
GRRR before SNARL. SNARL is a word. GRRR is the sound. They asked for a sound.
Another in a long week of cool, rainy days drifting up from the Gulf of Mexico deluge. Will I never shed my winter sweatsuits & cap?
Lots of white for quite a while. Worked my way all the way to the reveal before MRS lit up a lot of answers for me. Also slowed down by the number of names and foreign words. But eventually (30 minutes) got a FIR. Several W/Os: LOA:KEA; MOSTPART:BESTPART; ASA:ASI; KRABAPPLE:KRABAPPEL. All-in-all a fun challenge, thanx, JW. And as always an excellent write-up, thanx, MalMan. I always enjoy reading everybody else’s comments, to see how their experience with the solve compare to mine.
Hi All!
JeffWex beat me again. DNF - ALVA (oh, TAE == Edison, Duh) and DAW xing DALLOWAY (who? Oh, thanks MManatee).
Fun puzzle JW - I got the theme early on (no MRS - oh, wait, there she is at the end) and that helped with OLEARY to finally crack the NW.
Wonderful write-up MManatee. I liked the Cereal Bus :-)
WOs: Bid->BET, cRAB APPel, BBs BMs (no comments :-)) for mostPART back to BB for BEST. POEm -> POET
ESPs: BARRIE | ARLEN, EEC, PLATA, OSTLER, and [see: above FIW]
Fav: Lemonheads MRS. ROBINSON cover.
{A+}
Ray-O: Mel & Anne [ffw to 2:50]. LOL OVERCAST and STILL.
Misty - LOL OPIUM & POT! I missed that.
Waseeley - You're not kidding re: Blue Jays. I have one that visits my feeder and the squirrels take off when (s?)he comes around. That Jay don't play!
Pop's coming tomorrow so I'm tidying up my garage & garden. I don't need a "Son, what the Hell is this mess?" at 50yrs old :-)
Eldest got here last night so she's helping (Youngest hates gardening).
Oh, and she got me the cortisone cream after I inadvertently put my hands in a fireant mound - you can still see the welts but they don't hurt as much now.
Cheers, -T
What a terrific puzzle -- loved it all! And welcome, Vivienne!
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with W/O’s —> IDO/ITO and ANI/DAW
I “got” that all of the starred clues were MRS, but somehow thought there would be a different “reveal”
I knew that MM would use the boxing pic with “NO MAS”!
I know I’ll STAND PAT when I get a good poker hand dealt to me, but rarely refer to it in the past tense 😬
Lots of fun words that couldn’t have been easy filling into a grid
And while I appreciate the CSO from Owen for POET, my CSO should be MESA. It’s where I live!
Glad I bought a new car last year. I paid well under the MSRP, got a good trade-in price on my 12 year old car, and bought it on the last day of the month. Cars - both new and used - are selling for higher than list price these days. Supply and Demand almost always determines the price of a good or service ... one of the few things I recall from my BA in Economics earned 47 years ago
Today marks my 10th anniversary of my 3rd hole-in-one
What a terrific beginning from Owen today. He combines a serious contemplation of ERATO with hints to all the clue words in today's Jumble. A major poem. (Check out his web page at Jumblehints! Do it.)
A neat PZL from Mr. Wechsler--or so I thought, until I paced it off and found it is a 16x15 grid*.
Up till then I was enjoying the challenge. Got 'em all, but only after several hesitations.
This was the kinda PZL that seemed EZ--a sweet pushover--at first. But after filling the NW and SE corners rapidly, I stalled in various spots.
DALLOWAY helped in the SW, and the last to fall for me was the middle west. I went for LOA long before KOA dawned.
(I always go for LOA first because when I was a kid our school teachers had us bring in news clippings of the 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa!)
~ OMK
____________
* Asymmetrical--meaning no chance for diagonals today, ergo no anagrams.
Anon T @2:22pm
MRS ROBINSON's maiden name was Anna Maria Louisa Italiano.
Thank you all, for your kind comments. I am happy to learn that some of the "riffs" struck a note with several of you whether it be toons spoofing movie classics, bad tech puns, pugilists or warning overreach. I had not noticed that the grid was 15 x 16. I am going to have to start paying attention to that sort of thing!
I normally notice a 16x15 but it takes OMK to notice a 15x16.
Ray-O: I Googled; Italiano is really the last part of her name! Did not know that.
//sent you an email re: Eldest's name. Shhh - don't tell; she's trying to get into Grad-school and doesn't need her name on a crossword blog :-)
MManatee - that you, C.Moe, and Bill (Waseeley) have picked up the Blogging host's mantle...
Tip O' The Cap.
You guys are knocking it - park-wise.
Maybe in 15 years, when I retire, C.C. will ask me(?)
Naw, I know better... I'm to dense to get that gig.
Cheers, -T
Condolences, Jayce.
Another ALMOST today, but I messed up BARRIE/OBS. Like others have said, getting MRS fairly early made the theme fills easier. The W in DALLOWAY was a guess, though.
Thanks, Jeffrey and MalMan!
No mayo for me. When I was five years old, seven-year-old Mike, who lived two doors down, explained how bad mayo was. In other words, he didn’t like it, so it was BAD! I have no problem with something mixed into it, but I don’t want it nekked on my sandwich or burger or anything else!
-T, in my magnolia tree, the male blue jay has a deeper shade of blue on his chest, while the female’s is practically gray. She’s usually smaller in stature too.
Facebook meme of the day:
“Some a****** billionaire that wants everyone on the planet tracked is asking for PRIVACY during his divorce.”
Thanks LEOIII. Now I know, from your color description, he's a he (unless he asks to be identified as they. Though I don't speak Bird).
//anyone see Spies in Disguise? [Trailer]. The Girls made made me watch that last night over Indian SAMOSAS, NAAN, and curry. Will Smith? -- How bad can it be?
Yeah... The curry was better :-)
Cheers, -T
Loved this puzzle. I can't think of a puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler that I did not like. Of course I expected it to be hard but it turns out it wasn't quite as hard as I expected. Maybe that's why it's on Thursday instead of Friday. Anyway, hand up for BASTA before NO MAS and JOKE before A NUT. Tried to squeeze MRS FIELDS in for the cookie lady, which of course didn't fit, so put in FIELDS and thought to myself that looked weird. Then MRS showed up and the light BULB lit up and the rest went lickety split. Also, getting BARRIE got me ARLEN whom I didn't remember.
Loved the clue for EARLY.
Loved your exposition, MM.
The California poppy is ubiquitous here and although it is really pretty it could almost be considered a weed. There is no OPIUM in it at all.
Welcome to new baby Vivienne!
So, how do you pronounce cicada? "Si CAY da" or "Si CAH da"? (I say it the latter way.)
Keep on taking care, all.
-T --- It wasn't any great brainpower. Just happened to see both of them together and had one of those Aha! moments. Cardinals are the same way: The male is a deeper red and usually larger, and the female has a brown tinge to her coat and is smaller. Now you know as much about birds as I do.
What is it Yogi said??? "You can observe a lot by just watching." Fortunately, said tree is right outside the kitchen dining area, and since I don't drink beer anymore....
Don't forget: I came close to flunking botany!
Since you didn't ask there are over 120 species of poppy in the genus Papaver---the genus we usually think of when we say poppy, and which includes the common red, field or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) as well as the notorious opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). My father grew the common red not the opium...ah well.
Becky, in the 13+ years, the blog has been blessed with a really diverse and energetic group of bloggers who each bring something completely different to the task. Let C.C. know when you are ready to try your hand at the process.
JM Barrie has appeared very often in the LAT, I was surprised by his being a part of a Natick
...and just for the record, for me it is always "Hold the mayo."
Basically a repeat of yesterday's waste of time. You push the name laden theme then add more names to your fill? What were you thinking J.W.?
LEO, it's always "do as I say, not as I do" , or "rules for thee but not for me".
Big Easy --- Yepper! Of course, our kids accused us of the very same thing sometimes.
Jace ~
I always said "Chi-kay-duh."
I was wrong according to dictionaries, but I have to say I liked it better that way.
I learned it from no less than T.S. Eliot in his recording of "The Waste Land."
~ OMK
Very nifty that you heard T.S. Eliot reading "The Waste Land." I remember a poet, I can't remember who, maybe Robert Frost?, reciting "Shovel them under". His voice was very melodic.
But I was wrong,
or rather my ears mis-heard.
It didn't take me long
to go back (an obsessed nerd!)
to check Mr. Eliot by YouTube
and to learn I was the boob.
All these years,
one year after another...!
No correction from my peers,
not even from my brother.
Mr. E? He say, "Si-kay-duh"
as if to echo "Bo-dega."
~ OMK
The only pronunciation I have ever heard, even on the news, is suh kay duh. That is with two schwas. I now see that the British pronunouce the middle syllable KAH.
In American English C before I is usually pronounced S. Cite, the first C in circle, circus, circuit, cinema, cistern, city, cicada
KAH for this Canadian!😁👍
Better be on your toes, tomorrow. Cannily clued
HG - I thought you had mentioned at some time that you often solved from the bottom of the puzzle up rather than the top down - but I may have gotten that wrong!
Soon lotsa sih-KAY-duhs in the Bodegas.
Land-of-Oz poppies made a Junkie outta Dorothy.
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