Won't you be my friend.
19-Across. Aid for shade at the shore: BEACH UMBRELLA. Chum.
29-Across. Award first won by Naughty by Nature: BEST RAP ALBUM. Pal.
39-Across. "Breaking news!" teaser: FILM AT ELEVEN. Mate.
And the unifier:
50-Across. Facebook invite ... to which the circled letters respond: FRIEND REQUEST.
Across:
1. Hit the jackpot: GET RICH.
8. One with faulty "I" sight?: EGOTIST.
15. Deficiency of red blood cells, across the pond: ANAEMIA. Too many letters for Americans. Here it is spelled Anemia.
16. Pasta specification: AL DENTE. Today's Italian lesson. Al Dente comes from the Italian phrase which means "to the tooth." When cooked, pasta should be tender, but still firm to the bite.
17. Symbol on the "5" key: PER CENT.
18. Handyman's carryall: TOOLBOX.
21. Abdomen neighbor: GROIN.
23. Parisian article: LES. Today's French lesson.
24. Pool sticks: CUES. // And 45-Across. Pool hall triangle: RACK.
25. Chain with links: iHOP.
26. Nine-digit ID: SSN. As in Social Security Number.
28. Rivals: FOES.
33. Scrooge's cry: BAH.
34. Norwegian pop band that sounds like a revelation: A-HA. A-Ha is considered a synth-pop band and has been around since 1982. You have probably heard this song. I know I have, I just didn't know the band.
35. "http" often begins one: URL. The Uniform Resource Locator often finds its way into the crossword puzzles.
36. Judoka's belt: OBI. A Judoka is one who practices Judo.
42. Washer cycle: SPIN.
44. Rx item: MED.
46. Jefferson's vice president: BURR. Aaron Burr, Jr. (Feb. 6, 1756 ~ Sept. 14, 1836) is probably best known for killing Alexander Hamilton (1750s ~ July 12, 1804) in a duel.
47. News agcy.: UPI. As in United Press International.
49. Obstinate: BALKY.
54. Area sheltered from the wind: LEE SIDE.
55. Former weekly with home viewing listings: TV GUIDE. I think it may still be available.
58. Most of Google's revenue: AD SALES.
59. Had a hankering: YEARNED.
60. Wobbles: TOTTERS.
61. Glossy cottons: SATEENS.
Down:
1. Generation divide: GAP.
2. LA-to-Denver dir.: ENE. If you are going from Los Angeles to Denver, then you are going East-North-East.
3. Hat similar to a fez: TARBOOSH. Is there a difference?
4. Proof of purchase: RECEIPT.
5. "Let me explain ... ": I MEAN.
6. Prez's title: CINC. As in the Commander in Chief. I'm not sure I have ever seen this abbreviation.
7. Biblical word of possession: HATH.
8. Cake's instruction to Alice: EAT ME.
9. Chunks: GLOBS.
10. Prominent garlic feature: ODOR.
11. Verizon's biz: TELE-COM.
12. Dressed like many Union soldiers: IN BLUE. A reference to the American Civil War. The Union Army uniforms were blue and the Confederate uniforms were gray.
13. Mink wraps: STOLES.
14. Laredo's state: TEXAS.
20. Forearm bone: ULNA.
21. Barry, Robin or Maurice of pop music: GIBB. I'll spare you the musical interlude. Sadly, however, Barry (b. Sept. 1, 1946) is the only surviving brother of the band.
22. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA. I never watched Better Call Saul and never heard of Rhea Seehorn (née Deborah Rhea Seehorn; b. May 12, 1972).
26. Humorist Mort: SAHL. Mort Sahl (né Morton Lyon Sahl; b. May 11, 1927) will celebrate his 94th birthday next Tuesday. He was a political satirist.
27. Email filter target: SPAM.
28. __ moon: FULL.
30. Word before check or forest: RAIN.
31. Minstrel's strings: LUTE.
32. Raised, as cattle: BRED.
36. Malt drink since 1904: OVALTINE. Yummers! This brings back childhood memories.
37. At one's __ and call: BECK.
38. Pac-Man ghost: INKY.
39. Tries to hit, as a rifle range target: FIRES AT.
40. Friendly femme: AMIE. Today's French lesson.
41. Evidence of an error: ERASURE.
42. "You bet!": SURE DO!
43. Mass leader: PRIEST.
46. Note above A: B FLAT.
47. Farm milk "dispenser": UDDER.
48. Newspaper media: PRESS.
49. Sired, biblically: BEGAT.
51. Giza's river: NILE. Giza is home to the Great Pyramids.
52. Col. headings on many spreadsheets: QTYS. Quantity. Meh!
53. Iris layer: UVEA. Eye anatomy.
56. Lair: DEN.
57. Newsroom staff members, for short: EDs. As in Editors
Here's the Grid:
חתולה
DNF, with 7 squares blank in the W and NW. Never heard of a TaRBooSH, no idea how the British spelling of ANaEMIA might differ from ours, no inkling of the identities of giBB nor rhEA. groIN had me going through every organ I could think of when thorax wouldn't fit, but groIN wasn't one of them. And ihoP was a good funny clue I just didn't have enough perps to help me with.
ReplyDeleteThe theme was easy enough, but I wish the reveal had indicated where the words were, even though they were circled. SECRET FRIENDS or INNER CIRCLE, e.g.
What do you do with a FRIEND REQUEST?
Is it someone you know, or some EGOTIST?
Make up your mind,
Should you decline,
Or search who they are with a profile quest?
A tiny PERCENT of us ever GET RICH.
Most of the rest are stuck in a ditch.
Wealth may be YEARNED,
But our status is earned
By choices made before we knew which was which.
{B+, C+.}
That second l'ick gets a low grade for being a downer, but my first couple endings for it were far worse.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteGot 'er done, but not without some stumbles. Wanted a TOOL Bag for that carryall. The rifleman aIms for before he FIRES AT. Also tried ANoEMIA first. Thank you, Wite-Out. This one seemed difficult for a Tuesday. Thanx, Prasanna and Hahtoolah.
Still resting assured...
Good Morning, Crossword friends.
ReplyDeleteHubby is off to see his 92-year-old mother for the first time since the lockdown. An opportunity to clean the house without having to tiptoe around while he works from home!
QOD: A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked. ~ Bernard Meltzer (May 2, 1916 ~ Mar. 25, 1998), American radio personality
I agree with D-O that this was a little crunchy for Tuesday - but certainly doable!
ReplyDeleteNew word to me was TARBOOSH- thanks for the link Susan to explain the slight differences between it and a fez. I'm pretty used to the British medical lingo vs American - since whenever I read a British med journal like Lancet they use all British spellings of course!
We went last Friday to see one of our congregants in a skilled nursing facility- nice to see her in person with human touch. She can't hear or see too well - so the I-Pad alternative hadn't worked very well. I'm sure, Susan, that your husband's mom will be glad to see him!
Thanks Susan and Prasanna!
I had POP ALBUM. I had a lot of w/o's: teeters, Gill, desired/TOTTERS,GIBB,YEARNED. Soak/SPIN.
ReplyDeleteA lot of misdirection. Definitely not xwords 101. But I saw the theme right off with CHUM
My fav breakfast is fried(well) SPAM and eggs. Crispy home fries.
Nice xword from Presanna and usual excellent write-up from hahtoolah
I still like both l'icks Owen. B+,B-
WC
Ps, I'll have to go to web mode for more links
DeleteMore Wednesday-like than Tuesday IMO, but certainly not difficult. Just a few minutes longer than most Tuesdays. No hangups.
ReplyDeleteWith CHUM and PAL I was ready to meet more friends.
Not a Facebook fan.
I did not care for Ovaltine, even as a child. We preferred Nesquik or, even better, Hershey's chocolate syrup, which I gave my own kids.
It seems to me that after multiple news teases, each giving one more hint, the final reveal is anticlimactic and is not worth waiting for.
After perping T-RB--SH I remembered seeing it with the A and OO, but didn't know much about it. Susan, thanks for the article.
To me the extra letters in British spelling seem unnecessary and off-putting. I struggled for the second A in ANAEMIA. Luckily TARBOOSH, which I had seen before gave me that A.
This use of RHEA and AHA were new to me.
Right about now, BEACH UMBRELLA seems inviting, at least for a day or two. But, this is my favorite a time of year here, lovely, with the flowers and the blooming trees. This year it seems that everything bloomed at almost the same time and lasted longer than usual.
A Tuesday FIR. Thanks, Prasanna Keshava, for a not-too-easy puzzle. And thanks, Hahtoolah, for a fun review bringing morning smiles.
DeleteI had one WO due to hastily filling in EGO Trip before EGOTIST. I had to puzzle out what QTYS referred to, maybe because it looks funny written down instead of across? C IN C was another slow spot. The FRIEND synonyms jumped out right away with the circles, but the reveal was a surprise. All in all, a satisfying FIR.
Hope you all have a Friendly Tuesday with more social possibilities.
ANoEMIA/ToRBOOSH was a Natick for me.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen it for the President, but have heard CINCPAC used for the Navy - CINC Pacific
Know OVALTINE mostly from A Christmas Story, the "secret message" from Ralphie's Little Orphan Annie decoder ring.
Oops, forgot to wish you a belated Happy Birthday, D4. 77 sounds like a lucky year.
ReplyDeleteToday was TARBOOSH Tuesday?? FIW 'cause I didn't no how to spell British LOW RED CELLs. Tuesday??
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank you Prasanna for a challenging puzzle, and Hahtoolah for a cartoon filled enjoyable review.
Quote of the Hour: You like a friend BECAUSE of his manners, qualities and interests ...
..... You love a friend DESPITE of his manners, qualities and interests ....
The presence of the British ( and Canadian - ) spelling, (like anaesthesia and paediatrician,) hints at a british commonwealth educational background. Thats the age when the memory dendrites get hard coded.
In India, where fez or tarboosh(es) are not usually worn, a tarboosh ( in Hindi -) is a melon, or more particularly, a watermelon.
hahtoolah, thank you for the picture for the ERASURE for 41 Down.
I finally recognized it as the general solution for a quadratic equation
If y = ax*2 + bx + c
Then x = { -b +- ( b*2 - 4ac )*0.5 } / 2a
Have a nice day, all.
Hi Y'all! Cute theme & nice flow, thanks, Prasanna. Very informative & chuckle-worthy expo, Hahtoolah, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAHA: never heard of the band and only part of the song on commercials or something. Couldn't understand the words, but the sound was okay. Raggedy chic bunch. I've patched a lot of jeans that looked like those. Threw the T-shirts away. Oh well, maybe they'll get RICH and dress better. LOL
Last to fill: ES in BEST RAP ALBUM. Hand up for never hearing of RHEA & TARBOOSH. Also never heard of "Naughty by Nature" altho I've known some kids that fit the description.
Hand up for the 2nd "A" in ANAEMIA giving me fits. The English don't pronounce a lot of the letters they stick in their words. We know that from Worcestershire Sauce.
Owen, I'd give you an A on #2 for it being too true.
DNK: Pac-Man ghosts had names? Wasn't friendly enough with that game.
Hahtoolah, hope your MIL knows her son. My SIL's ma doesn't have a clue who he is. Didn't know who her dying husband was when they took her to see him in a coma.
ReplyDeleteSorry, .... the quadradic equation should be ...
ax*2 + bx + c = 0
From a math geek:
ReplyDeleteThe correct way to show an exponent is with a ^ so the formula is ax^2 + bx + c = 0
Do you know the easiest way to remember it is to sing with the tune Pop Goes the Weasel:
x is equal to negative b
plus or minus the square root
of b squared minus 4 a c
all over 2 a
Trivia: i or the square root of -1 came into being in solving cubic (x^3) and quartic (x^4) equations. But, alas, there is no formula for solving quintics (x^5) or higher powers.
A shout out to all my invisible cornerite chums , pals & mates
ReplyDeleteOne hit wonder: AHA's "Take on Me" a 1980's MTV combo of reality and fantasy which was great. Almost put too long erratum for ERASURE . For abdomen neighbor: I had torso first. Liked the chain with links clue.
Finally FIR.
I developed iron deficiency anemia from a too strong dose of the oral anticoagulant XARELTO..went to Canada for a cure and came back with ANÆMIA!! Frustrating to research "esophageal diseases" and "edema" in the index of a text and finding zip.. only to realize it's British and I should be looking up œsophagus" and "œdema.
That forgetful wolf cartoon reminds of going upstairs and forgetting why I'm there? And what exactly is OVALTINE?
STOLE...when I was a kid I wondered why my mom's friend would wear a fox carcass around her shoulders (but the jaw spring fake fox mouth was fun to play with when no one was looking)
"Better call SAUL"/SAHL..looking forward to a new season of the former and glad to hear the latter is still with us.
An EGOTIST must be worse than a slightly more diminutive egoist
Most babies..QTYS
Unhappy adolescents....SATEENS
A rabbit's brief list of hobbies...IHOP.
H2LH love your cartoons!!
Hasn't stopped 🌧 ... someone hand me at least a BEACHUMBRELLA ⛱☔ and where's my TARBOOSH
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSeemed more difficult than your usual Tuesday, but finally got it done. Last to fill were WAGs at GIBB and RHEA, and then sussing IHOP. Great clue. Pre-filled CHUM after seeing where the theme was going. Had print before PRESS, and teeters before TOTTERS. FIR.
BRED - Thought of 'born and BRED' and then heard it on the radio while working this puzzle.
UDDER - As per Hahtoolah's diagram, the actual 'dispensers' are the four teats. The UDDER is the 'reservoir'. Trust me on this. As a youngster I milked a lot of cows. Even though we used milking machines, they still had to be prepped with a cleaning solution, and checked for mastitis. Some had to be stripped afterward because the machine didn't get all that the animal had. And then there was the occasional cat sashaying down the aisle, so it was fun to squirt milk at them. They would sit up on their hind haunches, open their mouths and try to ingest all they could. Of course, there was spillage on their fur, and they would spend hours afterward schlicking and grooming themselves back to presentability before the other cats.
UDDER is Euter in German, but Jiller in L. German. We always said 'Jiller' around the cows. I don't think I learned UDDER until I was grown.
Fine puzzle from Prasanna and another great intro from Hahtoolah.
anAemia was a lucky guess that solved my two unknowns: ANAEMIA and TARBOOSH, so FIR in good time. Thank you, Hahtoolah for a funny and informative write-up, and thanks to Prasanna for a fun puzzle.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank you, Prasanna, and thank you, Hahtoolah.
Another early week FIW. Hit an R when I meant to type an E. Bet I couldn't make that error solving with pen and paper. Anyway, my Union soldiers were IN BLUr and my "Rivals" were FOrS. ATLGranny, I noted that your FIR streak ended Sunday but that you are on a roll again.
Haven't heard "FILM AT ELEVEN" for years, but I remember it. Here, it would be FILM AT ten if it was still being used.
TARBOOSH ? New to me. Thank you, perps. And a good guess for the A.
TeetERS before TOTTERS.
SPAM - 325 pieces of it in this blog's filter.
D-O, rest assured that they (Suddenlink) are working as quickly as they can to restore your service. Yeah, right. I looked to see where they are ranked, pulling up "Best" ISPs in a recent US NEWS report. They weren't listed in the top 12. In fact, they weren't listed at all. So I looked for an article on "Worst" ISPs. A 2020 ranking by the American Customer Satisfaction Index had Suddenlink ranked as the second worst ISP, with only Frontier being ranked worse. Frontier filed for bankruptcy last year. So rest assured, Suddenlink is almost at the top of the list. The list for worst ISP.
Ray-O, I started to put in glute for "Abdomen neighbor" (hey, it's in the general neighborhood) but then though glute is slang and abdomen is not...
Read yesterday's comments a bit earlier this morning. Clean up later.
BTW, Magilla from yesterday, I don't know what feed you were using to get blog comments sent to your email. All I can suggest is that you check your email's spam folder and see if the comments are being directed there. I also don't know what you mean when you wrote "share" is no longer available.
Also KS, you wrote, "Small nit, but that was not an ogee molding. It was a chair rail." It does look like it may be a section of a chair rail, and I suppose it might be used as such in certain applications, but the picture Boomer linked shows the description as: Ogee Molding 2 x 12 Tile Dolomite Marble Polished
Lastly, Happy Birthday yesterday to D4 Dave !
I, too, found this one to be a bit more difficult than the usual Tuesday. FIR after a few of the same false starts described by others. It was very nice to start the day with a Marty Robbins song, the cat-themed cartoons and a local call.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add: Happy Star Wars Day. May the 4th Be With You!
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteHave we seen Prasanna Keshava before? What a clever puzzle she constructed. I worked it mostly downwards then connecting letters for the long fill. Fun!
RHEA/IHOP was my last fill. Clever cluing for I-HOP! One of my vice-principals was named RHEA and that is the first I heard it as a person's name. Only knew it as an Aussie bird before that.
Unlike us, the British have kept Greek and Latin spellings in many cases.
We saw the Brothers GIBB recently, Sunday, I believe. Their ALBUM was in my car when all the contents were stolen. It was in the Nissan Maxima and by then the automatic locks did not work and I failed to lock it manually. Curses on whoever took it!
TEXAS was an answer on Jeopardy for Barbara Jordan's state and non of the contestants knew that. I find it sad as she was such an outstanding speaker and advocate.
My grid does not show ERASUREs but occasionally a few spots with white-out. Not today. It's clean.
Thank you, Susan, for your amusing review! Wishing safe travels to your hubby.
Have a happy day, everyone!
Oh, right. Today is my daughter's and her husband's wedding anniversary. Can you guess they are avid Star Wars fans? Thanks for the reminder, MalMan.
ReplyDeleteRayO you're redhot today.
ReplyDeleteAHA, That explains it, TTP was busy yesterday and couldn't employ his deletion machine.
As stuff like that goes it wasn't too bad. I think it was TTP himself that warned "Don't feed the trolls "
Re. Buffalo and Indians. As I said, I've been reading the Morris biography of TR and the decimation of wildlife in the Dakota area was tragic. Particularly damaging was the winter of 1986.
As mentioned the Indians were just part of it but very efficient hunters.
The modern political ramifications need not be mentioned.
WC
I loved this FRIENDly puzzle, Prasanna, and the colorful review, Hahtoolah! I only saw two personal names in the grid, and one of them (GIBB) was in yesterday's puzzle, and therefore easy to recall. My last fill was IHOP (tricky clue), which gave me the unknown TARBOOSH. FIR!
ReplyDeleteI was amused by YR and PK's objections to unpronounced letters in British spellings. The English language is notorious for preserving forgotten historical distinctions. With all the talk of beer lately, an obvious example is that we enjoy a draught of beer more than a draft of air -- but you all know that list goes on almost forever. A sensible language like Spanish has this philosophy: drop the ridiculous "ph" and discuss filosofía! What a thought /THôt/ !
Hahtoolah Thank you for the very amusing illustrations and helpful explanations. Learning moment about TARBOOSH. I incorrectly had ANoEMIA which I think has been used in older British writing? Which gave me ToRBOOSH to FIW.
ReplyDeleteIn 1989 I headed off to Morocco with a friend who was starting an import business. My job was to pretend to be her husband so she would not get hassled too much. A co-worker friend asked me to bring him back a FEZ. I indeed brought one back for him and another for me which I wear on occasion at the eccentric events we have here.
Here are some of my photos in the actual city of FEZ which I have shared before.
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeletePK Yes, it seems we share an appreciation for mastering a range of different skills to make life more joyful and rewarding. I can't claim I have mastered all that I have tried, but at least I tried!
Curmudgeon It seems we agree that sports clues indeed are usually "obscure knowledge". To me the test is whether I would ever want to know that information again. Because it has enduring importance. If so, it is a "learning moment". If not, it is "obscure knowledge". Knowing that Roger Bannister first broke the four minute mile is a rare example of enduring sports information.
From Sunday:
Husker Gary Thank you for the Spirit in the Sky link. It sent me down a rabbit hole learning some back story. Apparently you are not the only one who wants it played at your funeral.
Writer and performer Norman Greenbaum is Jewish, so why the ODE to Jesus? He had heard gospel songs before and apparently it just popped into his head that he could write one. He said he wrote it in fifteen minutes once he had the idea! I always enjoyed it musically and now I enjoy it at a deeper level knowing how and why he wrote it.
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Prasanna and Hahtoolah.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed (eventually) and saw the Friends theme (plus the Easter Egg AMIE!).
I started out strong but got bogged down trying to fit Aims at into the spot for FIRES AT (hi d’o), and the crossing FILM AT ELEVEN (an American idiom that I have never heard!). I was also unsure of SAHL and the BUR_ president. I put it aside and came back later with success.
Ray-o probably groaned at ANAEMIA. I use Anemia but know the British version from MEDical journals.
We had LEESIDE not Alee.
Did we all look at our keyboard to get PER CENT?
I did not know Judoka, but CW favourite OBI finally perped.
I’ll take a CSO at 44A.
I was never sure whether folks who claimed that they ate several garlic cloves daily and never had any colds, infections etc. had great immunity, or whether everyone social distanced from them because of the ODOR (you know I wanted a U) 😁😁
I’ve never heard of TARBOOSH, but fez reminded me of Abejo.
Thanks for explaining CINC.
I smiled at BAH and AHA, and the IHOP clue.
We had the GIBB brothers again.
FLN, hope your birthday was great D4.
Wishing you all a great day.
American English has its idiosyncrasies, too, in spelling.
ReplyDeleteAll different OUGH's in though, through, bough, thought, rough, cough, etc.
English Pronunciation Poem g
I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead – it’s said like bed, not bead.
For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for pear and bear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose
Just look them up — and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward.
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come I’ve hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I’d mastered it when I was five!
Delightful Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Prasanna. And your pictures were terrific, Hahtoolah, and very funny, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing CHUM, PAL, and MATE show up as the FRIEND'S QUEST. Not many names, but I got BURR and SAHL. Only TARBOOSH and CINC were both unknown to me. I got EGOTIST instantly, but hope it doesn't make me one for saying that.
Have a great day, everybody!
Thank you Prasanna for a slightly crunchy, but FIRable puzzle. And thank you Susan. YOU are special.
ReplyDeleteSaw the theme, as the SUN circled the themers. Lotsa learning here ...
I'll betcha our editor sometimes thinks that certain solvers are out to 1A.
8A I'd rather deal with DENTISTS.
15 Didn't know, but little perps told me that, that the BRITS add an A to this.
18A What tools do you use to fix a broken TOOLBOX? Oldest grandson was hotdogging my box of (HEAVY!) ratchet wrenches up the driveway on a skateboard when it fell off and the plastic handle snapped. I've been pondering how to the fix it for 2 years now, now have all the parts, but still haven't followed thru.
29A Learning moment, as I don't really follow RAP. Not that I have anything against it of course.
16A Whatever Ray-O or -T says.
34A Haven't heard it, but it looks like the lead singer could use a new T shirt.
39A My meme of choice to cut myself off when I've blathered on too long.
50A As Facebook nearly drove me crazy (a short putt actually), I stopped using it years ago.
3D All of the explanations I've heard about this have been very FEZZY.
22D I thought this was a relative of the EMU. Never watched "Better Call Saul", nor "Breaking Bad", from which it is supposedly a spinoff. B.I.L. thinks the latter is the best series of all times. My money's on Vera, or maybe "New Tricks". Speaking of Brenda Blethan, I'm hyping "Kate and Koji" streaming on BRITBOX. Classic British ensemble comedy.
31D Apparently the "10 stringed LUTE" dates back to Biblical times. It was mentioned today in Psalm 33 in the Liturgy of the Hours. Does that count as a TOPANGA?
FILM AT ELEVEN,
Bill
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIR with zero ERASUREs ... when I first saw the grid with only 33 blocks and a paucity of words, I thought this one would be more difficult than it turned out to be ... but slow and steady solved it with few WAGS but a lot of perps
Susan, enjoyed all of the graphics even though I’m not a cat lover; more of a cat “tolerater”
I liked the IHOP clue and agree that the use of QTYS is a bit of a stretch
I remember OVALTINE but I don’t think it was a staple at our table ... I also remember something called “Postum” but don’t know if they’re related
FIR, but in 19. I agree with several others that this CW was a little crunchy for a Tuesday. All-in-all, though, fun and doable, thanx, PK for a nice mental workout. Only one W/O: TEETERS:TOTTERS. Never heard of a TARBOOSH, all perps. Hahtoolah, thanx for the excellent write up and illustrations. I have a pool table and your illustration reminds me of some especially good times on the pool table, when I was younger and friskier, that had little to do with playing pool. Your illustration of stoles reminds me once again of my revulsion to people hanging dead animals around their necks. Have a good Tuesday, everyone!
ReplyDeleteRay-O @9:49AM Yeah I've been thinking a lot about the "here after" lately. I walk into a room and I wonder "What am I HERE AFTER?".
ReplyDeleteRayO and waseeley, do it's not just me
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI agree with others that this Tuesday grid was more like a Thursday, loaded with crunchy goodness.
Write-overs…SLABS/GLOBS.
TV GUIDE is no longer a weekly, it is biweekly now.
May the 4th be with you.
Stay safe. Still.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThat West Side was something else... Official DNF 'cuz I looked up RHEA. (Oh, Abdomen isn't a city or a Baltic State :-))
Thanks Prasanna for a crunchy Tuesday. Thank you Hahtoolah for a most entertaining review. And, that's fantastic your DH can visit his mom.*
WOs: FRIED RE... wait - no word ends in Q [I forgot the N]. Aims AT, Lyre [Brooks] ->LUTE
ESPs: TARBOOSH, UVEA.
Fav: BEGAT. Pop calls "TOOL BOX" projects that quickly go south "The BEGAT System." Try to install a faucet and [BEGAT] the valve breaks, try to fix the valve and [BEGAT] the next thing you know you're sweating pipes 10 feet away :-)
{B+, A+} //I'm w/ PK on the second one.
Fun prose YR! LOL QTYs Ray-O. Nice pix Picard.
Vidwan - along w/ Hahtoolah's, I'm going to pocket that Friend quote.
Spitz - I love that milking story #TeaseTheCat
C, Eh! - You're rubbing off... Last night, I actually typed humour and got the red-underline for edit. :-)
Waseeley - You know you can boil noodles when Pop puts you in charge. Always Al Dente and no mushy-mushy. [Barney Miller - they are high on brownies]
TTP - Thanks for cleaning up after us :-)
Cheers, -T
*DW's Mom was admitted to hospital Sunday - blood clot in her lung. She's OK but I have to smuggle her the daily xword. (well, maybe not today's - that west-coast might put her BP over the line :-))
CMOE @12:16PM Never liked the taste of OVALTINE. POSTUM was the first non-caff coffee. The name is derived from Marjorie Merriweather POST, the heiress to the General Foods fortune (think POST Toasties), and among other things the inventor of frozen foods. The MAR in Mar-a-Lago also comes from her. She had it built and wintered there, before it eventually passed on to a recent president. Her former residence in the D.C. suburbs, Hillwood, has been turned into a museum and is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in that area. A quick study in how the truly rich used to live.
ReplyDeleteBill @ 12:59 —> thanks! I have been to Mar-a-Largo once. It was during 45’s time in office, and I was there along with other “vendors” doing a charity event. Very worthwhile fund raiser that 45 really had nothing to do with other than offering the property grounds for the event. It’s an annual deal and also featured some vintage and expensive automobiles on display. I was there to help with a wine tasting ... one of these blog days I’ll share a few photos, ala Picard. The security measures were pretty intense as 45 was there that weekend ...
ReplyDeletePK: Hubby and I are both very lucky that our surviving parents (his mom and my dad) are both in excellent health and sound mind. They both live alone and in the place , my dad in a house and my MIL in a condo, that they have lived in for years. The hard this for us is that we live so far away in different states.
ReplyDeleteLucina: Today's constructor, Prasanna Keshava, last made an appearance on Tuesday, March 30. Vidwan gave us the following explanation of the name: "The name Keshava is a male name, generally from SW India. I have never come across a female of that name. It also happens to be the name of one of my grandsons. The P name is more likely the surname or patronym, and the K is more likely the given name. As to the style, where the surname precedes the given name, is a peculiarity among certain south indians."
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-FaceBook has been a great way for me to reconnect with people who I would never have contacted again
-First encyclopaedia and now ANAEMIA
-URL – it does take a while to learn to type without spaces
-Hitters love to hit a baseball into the GAP
-TARBOOSH is not on the tip of my tongue
-Some feel that if Henry Wallace had remained VP and become the C IN C instead of Harry Truman, America would never dropped the atomic bomb
-Kids that came to my astronomy class were amazed there wasn’t a full MOON every night and there was a nice quarter Moon that rose at noon
-FIRES AT – the heroes of the westerns of my yute could always shoot a gun out of the bad guys hand
-Picard – Joann’s cousin had it played at her husband’s funeral and people did smile and even dance a little on the way out. My second choice is Rocket Man but I’m not sure what that is about!
-Always a fun expo, Susan!
Belated sorry I'm late,
ReplyDeletePaul coulter and D4
does anyone have a match?
my problem with Facebook...
I mean, on the internet, it could be anybody!
Waseeley - Interesting about POST. I've been to Biltmore and ... talk about opulent. (but pretty cool - they had a light'd indoor pool!)
ReplyDeleteHG - Both Elton John's 'Rocket Man' and David Bowie's 'Major Tom' [Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield's cover] are, while great songs, pretty melancholy - lyrically anyway.
Stick with 'Spirit in the Sky' :-)
Cheers, -T
Hmm,
ReplyDeleteRe link #2?
I do not have any problem with the blog,
it was supposed to be...
By the way...
Who are you people?
TARBOOSH??
ReplyDeleteD'Oh! I screwed that up... I know it's called Space Oddity and should have proof'd. :-(
ReplyDelete-T
We also had GIBB yesterday. And Sat and Mon we had IROC. For some reason that bugs me. Must becoming a grumpy old man.
ReplyDeleteBound to over post say...
ReplyDeletejfromvt - I've said for years that Rich primes us for upcoming puzzles but C.C. says I'm a nutcase (which is a short putt - LOL Waseeley).
If we see Tarboosh in the next week... I will don my tin-foil hat again :-)
I enjoyed your links CED! Wait, WHO Are You?
Cheers, -T
jfromvt @ 3:27PM Welcome to a large and growing group!
ReplyDeleteI, too, have noticed that a word that I have not seen in a puzzle for a while, or ever, will then reappear several times within a short period of time. What makes this even weirdervis that reappearance seems to occur across different puzzle publishers (LAT, USA Today, Newsweek, WSJ, etc). An interesting basis for a conspiracy theory.
ReplyDeleteMM @3:55PM Just heard the other day that TTP suggested we call these occurrences TOPANGAS. Re conspiracies, Raphel in "Thinking Inside the Box" wrote that at least one of these "conspiracies" was actually an instance of plagiarism. You'll have to read the book for details.
ReplyDeleteT @3:44PM It's a little known fact that not once since the first episode in 1963, has Dr. Who revealed his name. Although, I've not seen all the new episodes, so I may be wrong about that (along with lots of other things). Great clip BTW.
ReplyDeletejfromvt, welcome back! It's been a long, long while since you posted.
ReplyDeleteCoincidence! Only coincidence.
jfromvt:
ReplyDeleteYou used to post regularly but it's been a long while since we've seen you. Welcome back!
No photos but discussions of taroosh and fez bring back many memories of the incredible Biblical beauty of the desert around Fez.
ReplyDeleteWaz... I agree about peculiar appearance of the same puzzle answers in different publication crosswords in a relatively short period of time. Although the clues are usually different.
ReplyDeleteIt's bizarre but occurs often when I do the 2 week old Sunday big NYT puzzle our paper carries.
I theorize "Rich" is not a person at all but a megacomputer and is behind this conspiracy. I suspect a computer program: R. I. C. H. (Reinforced International Computer Harmony) which explains why the
constructioners always nervously agree when the computer changes their clues and answers to fit the program's eventual scheme to control crosswords world wide.
😱
But you didn't hear this from me.🥸
A tough start for a Monday PZL. It all ended up falling into place, but the usual starting place (NW corner) wasn't such a cakewalk.
ReplyDeleteA very enjoyable write-up from our Hahtoolah. Lotsa charming illustrations, funny cartoons--much appreciated.
WTF? TARBOOSH?! I don't appear to be the only one for whom this was a strange fill.
Also strange? I can't imagine many in this Corner are knowledgable when it comes to BEST RAP ALBUMs. Not a subject in most of our wheelhouses...
Speaking of which, "wheelhouse" seems to have flared recently, then practically disappeared as a common term.
Uniforms. I believe both the north & the south had a variety of uniform colors and styles in the Civil War.
But in the south, there was greater variety, as soldiers often just wore what they could put together from their own clothing.
The Army of Northern Virginia, under the generalship of R. E. Lee was the CSA's major military unit, and their uniform color was "butternut gray," gray with a sort of brown tinge.
~ OMK
MM and Ray-O, are you guys working in tandem at the expense of the now suspect Rich.😂
ReplyDeleteAnd FWIW, don't forget CINCLANT! (CinC AtLANTic Fleet).
ReplyDeleteAnon-T - I think so too!
ReplyDeleteNo No No conspiracy theories here! I have a dear life-long friend who has never been involved in politics, a highly educated & talented woman. In the past year she has become obsessed with conspiracy theories & underground political movements. I am almost to the point of un-friending her. So sad for me.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that I'm the first to say it.
ReplyDeleteMay the Fourth be with you.
>>Roy
OK, two people beat me to it. Find didn't bring up 4th for Fourth.
ReplyDelete>>Roy
Hmmm. Very interesting theory behind the Topanga occurrences. It might explain the extensive use of aliases.
ReplyDeleteMonday puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI once referred to C in C as Conspirator-theorist in Chief. (A few months ago I could have shortened that to Conspirator in Chief.)
ReplyDeleteBeing vague there to avoid being political.
A few years ago when I was daily doing the NYT online at the Seattle Times (which was 6 weeks behind -- I wonder when they boosted it up to two weeks?), I used to mention several times a week when non-crosswordese words would show up in both puzzles on the same day. That was before I began relating the Prescience of the Blog when a word from the prior day's comments would show up in the day's puzzle. We are part of the conspiracy!
Hmmm. Nobody commented on my “fun on my pool table that had nothing to do with the game of pool” comment? I was sure there would be a variety of wise cracks. Susan’s pool table illustration sure triggered some memories.
ReplyDeleteUnclefred:
ReplyDeleteWas that during your naughty period? We had those "in every room of the house" before our daughter was born. And actually when she was about three and awoke from her nap we were in the shower. I wonder if she remembers that.