Saturday Themeless by Kurt Krauss
A nice note from Kurt about himself and this puzzle: I am a retired business executive. I had a very successful career as a
management consultant - first as a partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and
then as the founder and Managing Partner of my own firm, The Mead Point
Group, where I served a number of large, national and multinational
corporations. I ended my professional career as the Chief Financial Officer
of Burson-Marsteller, the then largest public relations and marketing
communications firm in the world. I retired at fifty (it's better to be
lucky than good) and have spent the past twenty years serving on company
boards of directors, writing, constructing crossword puzzles and enjoying
life. My first puzzle was published in the New York Times in 2010. Since
then, I have had forty-nine puzzles published in the NYT, LAT & WSJ.
This will be #50!
This is my first themeless puzzle. They are tough to construct. Rich
Norris gave me some help and coaching and I was able to get one over the
finish line. Finally!
Kurt's cluing and word selection made for a fun puzzle for me but, as you
can see below, I had two vowel coin flips and I missed one where I puta a
"Y" instead of the correct "I". On the other one I put in a correct "E".
Sigh...
Across:
1. Made a seat-of-the-pants mistake?: BUTT DIALED - I did
this to my sister-in-law yesterday and we had a great half-hour
conversation
11. Spunkmeyer of cookie fame: OTIS - OTIS bakes here often
15. As it happens: IN REAL TIME
16. "Hmm ... don't think so": UH NO.
17. It's undeliverable: DEAD LETTER.
18. Tibiae supporters: TALI - The talus (pl. TALI) is shown here below the tibia (pl. tibiae)
11. Spunkmeyer of cookie fame: OTIS - OTIS bakes here often
15. As it happens: IN REAL TIME
16. "Hmm ... don't think so": UH NO.
17. It's undeliverable: DEAD LETTER.
18. Tibiae supporters: TALI - The talus (pl. TALI) is shown here below the tibia (pl. tibiae)
20. Symbol on a Heineken label: RED STAR.
22. Request sweetener: PLEASE.
25. Word of agreement: LIKEWISE.
26. Palmer of "The Boys From Brazil": LILLI - As mentioned above, the I or Y coin flip came up wrong for me
COUPLED WITH
5. Monetary unit of The Gambia: DALASI - You could get in your 2¢ worth
with a DALASI because that is what it is worth in US money. The bill below
would pay for a McDonalds combo meal in Banjul, Gambia and you'd get 60
GMD in change
28. Refuse: WASTE - Lines 10 and 11 in Emma Lazarus' The New Colussus, "Give me your tired , your poor, your huddles masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched REFUSE of your teeming shore."
29. Crazily: AMOK.
30. Filling material: AMALGAM - Some countries have banned this substance because it contains some mercury. The ADA has not banned it in America.
32. Appetite: YEN.
33. Keyboard in a Bach title: CLAVIER - CLAVIER (kluh VEER) is French for keyboard. Bach's original title was Das Wohltemperierte Klavier
34. Besides: TOO - If someone gets TOO tired
to continue compressions in 54. Hosp. areas: ERS., he might
ask someone to 37. Spell: RELIEVE him as
he 45. Breaks: RESTS.
38. Soul singer Franklin: ERMA - ERMA and Carolyn
provide backup as their sister Aretha sings Respect
|
| ERMA, Carolyn and Aretha Franklin |
39. Hog's little cousin: MOPED - I'm not sure if a MOPED
rider would get the motorcycle "wave" from a rider on a Harley (called a
Hog).
42. More than a stretch: LIE - When you've stretched the truth too far
43. Depressing: BLEAK.
44. Showing ingenuity in: CLEVER AT - I could list all our wonderful constructors
46. Queen of fiction: ELLERY - ELLERY Queen is the main fictional character created in 1929 by Manfred Lee and his cousin Frederic Dannay. Queen helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders.
47. The Acropolis, in its time: CITADEL - A CITADEL is the core, fortified part of a city. While many Greek cities had one, the most famous CITADEL is here on the Acropolis (high point) at Athens. The Parthenon is one of the surviving structures on it.
48. California city name meaning "tar": BREA - The smell of the Tar Pits when we got of the car was overwhelming.
49. Female gamete: OVUM.
50. Tentacled marine creature: SEA ANEMONE - Most stay attached catching passing food in their tentacles but some can move to escape danger.
55. TripAdvisor rival: YELP - A YELP review of our fav small town steakhouse
56. Industry-specific publication: TRADE PAPER - Also called TRADE Journals
57. Span. titles: SRAS.
58. Responds to anxiety, in a way: STRESS EATS - Did you put on the COVID 15?
Down:
1. Nod, maybe: BID - 15 auction bidding tips
2. Nice article: UNE - Un chapeau (a hat) is correct because un is used before masculine nouns in French. UNE chapeau would not be right because UNE is used for feminine nouns. You have to memorize the differences.
3. Song syllable: TRA.
4. Address limited to 18 minutes: TED TALK - Choose one from this list
6. __-France: Paris region: ILE DE - Literally Island Of France but no one knows exactly why. It is the most populous of the 18 regions of France.
7. Encouraging start?: ATTA - "ATTA Boys/Girls" are nice but they don't buy any groceries
8. Started burning: LIT.
9. Old cooking show that often had a Creole theme: EMERIL LIVE - EMERIL and his famous catchphrase
10. Literature Nobelist Walcott: DEREK - Here ya go. Is NY Yankee DEREK Jeter too easy for Saturday?
11. Lapped, perhaps: OUT SWAM - Getting lapped means that not only is a swimmer ahead of you but that they have caught and passed you
12. In other words: THAT IS.
13. Having the worst record: IN LAST - Sorry Boomer!
14. Evening do: SOIREE - Here is a place you could
celebrate a SOIREE in Paris
21. Big name in Scotch: DEWAR.
22. Latitude: PLAY - Politicians try to leave some PLAY
in their positions so as to not get pinned down to specifics
23. Key __: LIME - A pound of conventional LIMES compared to a pound of Key LIMES. Key LIMES take their name from being grown in the Florida Keys but since hurricane wiped them out, Key LIMES are now mostly grown in Mexico.
23. Key __: LIME - A pound of conventional LIMES compared to a pound of Key LIMES. Key LIMES take their name from being grown in the Florida Keys but since hurricane wiped them out, Key LIMES are now mostly grown in Mexico.
24. Tar Heel State university: ELON - Last month, ELON University grad Joe West broke the record for most MLB games umpired at 5,376.
25. "Don't bother": LEAVE IT - Not Rover!
27. What an online beep may signify: EMAIL ALERT
30. Bar none: ALL.
31. "Fancy that!": GEE.
33. Relinquished: CEDED
34. Ring bearer: TREE - Fun clue! This tree lived from
550 A.D. to 1891 A.D. when it was cut down
35. "The Wire" antihero __ Little: OMAR - Here ya go.
36. Oenophile's adjective: OAKY - Wine aged in OAK barrels take some characteristics from the OAK
37. Modifies: REVAMPS.
38. Author/activist Johnson who attended President Obama's inauguration at age 105: ELLA MAE.
41. "Downtown" singer Clark: PETULA - Love it!
43. They may replace oaths: BLEEPS - Hilarious BLEEPS!
46. White-tailed seabirds: ERNES - Birds of a
feather that flock together in crosswords
48. Ordered: BADE - I BADE my children to line up for recess
51. Berne's river: AAR.
52. Günter's gramps: OPA - Günter's Opa liebt seinen neuen BMW (Günter's grandpa loves his new BMW)
53. Celtic foe: NET - The NETS eliminated the Celtics
this year
DNF. Top and center were done, but still significant white on both lower coasts. Red letters only revealed I'd misspelt SnAS < SRAS and used the wrong meaning of break to get buSTS < RESTS.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know (*as clued):
ERMA, ELLA MAE, OMAR, ELON, LILLI, DALASI, CITADEL*, OVUM*.
Got fooled by:
TREE, (stress)EATS, OAKY, BLEAK, PLEASE, PLAY, YEN, MCCOYS, CLEVER(at), OLIVER, REVAMP.
Once a boy named ELLERY
Was fascinated by a SEA ANEMONE.
was it a plant,
Since move it can't?
No it's an animal with a weird anatomy!
{C.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteMy experience mirrored Huskers exactly -- correctly WAGged the E in ELLA MAE, but went with a Y rather than the second I in LILLI. Dang. DNF. DALASI/DALASY, Potayto/Potahto. Got ILEDE but looked askance at it when I couldn't parse it. Noticed the CSO to IM with DEWAR. Ya got me, Kurt. Husker, enjoyed the tour. (How was Branson? I've deliberately avoided going there.)
TREE: A month ago today one of the 100-footers in our woodlot decided it'd had enough, and took a header across the road out front. We never noticed, until a guy banged on our door asking if we'd like him to clear the road and haul the tree litter away. We did.
CITADEL: "Parthenon" is a gimme -- we live on Parthenon Pl. When people ask how to spell it, I tell them it's just like the CITADEL in Athens. Only once did the asker say, oh, OK, got it. Usually, I still have to spell it. PAR as in golf, THE as in the, NON as in a french NO.
Hi Y'all! THanks, Kurt, for a challenging but enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Gary, for another enjoyable explanation for what I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteI almost gave up on this when I read both across & down clues and had only two entries on the entire top tier. Did a short red-letter run to get a B for square 1 and immediately correctly guessed BUTT DIALED. Encouraged me so much to be on Kurt's wave-length, I kept going.
Knew CLAVIER but can't play Gary's clip.
Saw most of the games with NETs beating the Celtics in the NBA playoffs. Now NETs battling the Milwaukee Bucks. Good games.
DNK: ERMA, TALI, LILLI, DALASI, DEREK. Tried famous Amos before OTIS Spunkmeyer.
A DNF today. An incorrect WAG for the cross of LILLI & DALASI (put E). I had filled STRESSES S hit 58A and EATS was never a thought. OPA- not a German word that I know.
ReplyDeleteELLA MAE, DEREK, and ERMA were unknowns that made their way into the grid by perps.
KURT, I beat you by two years. I QUIT working at 48 after saving enough to live comfortably. Most of the men from both sides of my family died young and it made no sense to drop dead at work.
This filled rather nicely - and compared to many Saturdays- having BUTT DIALED and the top open early made for a smooth solve. I was in great company with going with the Y instead of the I in LILLI and DALASY. Before I had to switch to PLAY to get PLEASE, I had SWAY and the actor's name as WILLY Palmer - as it was a complete unknown.
ReplyDeleteWe have one of the largest manufacturer's of oak barrels for spirits and wine down in Lebanon, MO an hour from here. They used to be a stand alone company- but now are part of a big conglomerate when they were bought by the Independent Stave Company.
Thanks HG and Kurt!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteMy experience was much the same as PK’s but things broke open for me starting with Stress Eats. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever solved a puzzle from bottom to top. There were many tricky clues that just had to wait for some perp help and, fortunately, help came in the form of the long entries that provided toe holds, such as Email Alert, Butt Dialed (my favorite), Trade Paper, Dead Letter, etc. The many unknown, pesky proper names, as usual, needed perps: Erma, Dalasi, Omar, Ella Mae, Clavier, etc. I held onto Amos for ages until Otis finally elbowed his way in. Aar was a staple when I first started solving, but it’s been ages since I’ve seen it. As DO mentioned, I’ll take a CSO at Dewar and raise my glass to Moe at Oaky.
Thanks, Kurt, for a challenging but ultimately doable solve and for dropping by and sharing your thoughts with us and, thanks, HG, for the always entertaining and uplifting commentary. I thought of your Darling Lily at the tricky Lilli Palmer whom I’ve no recollection of in The Boys From Brazil, but, then again, that movie is over 40 years old.
Have a great day.
Same I/y for LILLY
ReplyDeleteThanks HG for giving the pronunciation for CLAVIER. I knew the word but had always used three syllables, STRESSing the first.
Didn't know Aretha had sister singers
Similar to Gary I had DALASy but didn't know 'gramps' so I had OPu thus STRESS nuTS made sense. Just check Tito Francona munching during a tight ninth inning
ReplyDelete3 perps for BID. OUT? sped>SWAM finally yielded AMALGAM. My two solids were PETULA and DEWAR. Guessed Kurt was talking about the NETS that just beat my Celtics in NBA playoffs
Not Les . Compare La plume de ma tante. I expect Misty, YR etal to sing along.
Gotta go. I was AT SEA for hours on this one and the two naticks won't ruin my day.
WC
Musings
ReplyDelete-Yes, Irish, Lily was of no help in my “Proper Noun-Vowel-Natick” situation!
-I love living in Nebraska but one downside is we have to drive so far to get to a vacation area. The 7+ hr drive to Branson is not fun but, unlike 30 years ago, it is all good 4-lane highway. However, the “main drag” in Branson is still a 2-lane road where the attractions are literally shoulder to shoulder, traffic is always bumper to bumper and you can feel almost claustrophobic. The entertainment is first class and the Titanic Museum was fabulous but it’s our last trip.
Lots of clever clues in the puzzle, but that DALASI/LILLI cross really, really should have been avoided. That last letter could have been A, E, I, or Y, and there is no way to figure that out. There needed to be some extra hint (that LILLI only has two different letters, for example). And Lilli Palmer's role in The Boys from Brazil is very small.
ReplyDeleteIn general, there are a lot of obscurities, maybe too many for one puzzle, even if it is a Saturday.
Like billocohoes, today I learned how to pronounce CLAVIER correctly. Thank you, Husker Gary!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteThere's a fine line between tough but fun, and tough and a slog. This was the latter; for me. Too many arcane names, and titles such as TED TALK. I should have gotten BUTT DIALED, but muffed it. ELLAMAE and ERMA made a Natick, too. At least we had AAR which we have had a lot of in the past.
Favorite clue/fill was for MCCOYS, and AMALGAM.
CLAVIER - Klavier is German for 'piano'. Probably a French borrowing.
OPA - My five grandkids call me OPA. Always nice to hear it.
Have a great day.
Husker: Good job on the write-up & links,
ReplyDeleteFave today, of course, was 21-d, DEWAR Irish Miss's favorite Scotch.
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Not an easy puzzle, but I was fortunate enough to remember LILLI PALMER who I think I recalled because of the second I in her name. When I was young there were fewer varieties for common names. Right Garree?
ReplyDeleteI also knew 11. Spunkmeyer of cookie fame: OTIS not from his cookies but his packaged muffins which I used to pack in my boys lunches. We also have one of their stores not far away. For me, Spunkmeyer is like Smuckers for name recornition.
My first Kurt write-up was after I got back in town from meeting my first grandchild CHARLOTTE some events are worth remembering.
I am going to send C.C. some new pics
Thank you KK, but not KKK and HG
Even with DWs assistance, we had 4 wrong squares. Still a lot of fun getting most of the long, albiet deceptive, answers. Thanks HG and KK for a fun Saturday run.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNot even close to finishing it correctly today without Red Letters. A big fat DNF.
Nuff said.
Have a great day everyone.
FIR, but oh what a slog. No complaints, because I loved the creative cluing for things I know. For some reason, STRESSEATS gave me trouble, but it’s a very common term. My wife had to listen to my oaths, in lieu of BLEEPS, while I struggled with the solve. A great puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWhoever commented a week or two ago about the increasing difficulty of Friday/ Saturday puzzles I assume is doing back flips as we speak. Had about a third or so completed correctly on my own, about 3/4 with simple googling (unknown names, etc), then almost all going deep into the web. BTW, is google trying prevent crossword cheating? I'm not trying to cheat, I'm simply trying to get a some kind of foothold when completely stuck. Why would they care anyway.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kurt for an informative, but challenging Saturday slog. While I finished the puzzle and ended up with all of the right fill, I "inadvertently" discovered corrections to some that I'd swagged as I googled to confirm them them, e.g. EMERIL LIVE started out as EMERIL TIME.
ReplyDeleteLots of good stuff ...
28A Nowadays shouldn't that be REFUSED?
30A Filling material FILL (pun intended Kurt?), which I didn't fill correctly until the above mentioned "correction".
33A The The Well-Tempered Clavier was a set of 24 major and 24 minor key preludes and fugues (counterpoint on the preceding preludes) intending for budding keyboard players. Chopin later wrote a similar set of exercises in his Op. 28 24 Preludes in major and minor keys.
37A Somebody PLEASE 'splain the equivalence between SPELL and RELIEVE?
39A Cute clue.
42A Clever clue.
44A We could start with KURT and work backward. They all seem to have been CLEVER of late.
47A I've always thought of the ACROPOLIS as a Temple to Athena, and it never dawned on me that its vantage point atop Athens made it ideal as a CITADEL as well.
58A STRESS EATS. My weight gain is more likely due to switching to the Seefood Diet. I see food, and I eat it.
1D Thanks for the bidding tips Gary. I'm reminded of the BRIT Comedy-Drama Mystery series LOVEJOY
starring Ian McShane and the divine Phyllis Logan (don't let her Mrs Hughes persona fool you). Lovejoy is an antiques dealer with a "second sight" for authenticity. He's also an adept art forger. Definitely worth the bid.
13D Yeah, but I bet they're ahead of the O's in the AL East.
34D Another great clue. Since perps said it started with a T and ended with an E, I wanted TYKE at first.
48D Well did they?
Cheers,
Bill
ReplyDeleteWell this one kicked my butt.
The SE beat me. Didn’t help that I misspelled ANEMONE as ANEnOmE. This left me with ME_ for 53D, no clue.
Didn’t know 38D. Had the wrong fill for 36D…I don’t drink. I had 43A as BAD AS.
FLN…Didn’t mean to cause a kerfluffle about my pet peeve, the garage, but really, look up “pet peeve”. I know I’m nutty on that already.
See you Monday.
Oops. Forgot to thank Gary for an excellent review! I'd never seen that Seinfeld clip and I've always thought his shtick was telling clean jokes. But it was appropriate for the clue, among consenting Cornerites. We live and learn.
ReplyDeleteWaseeley, I'll spell you for 5 minutes. I'll relieve you for 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteD-O @11:52 AM Thanx. I was completely unfamiliar with that usage. The third set of definitions from the Oxford Language dictionary has:
DeleteNORTH AMERICAN
allow (someone) to rest briefly by taking their place in some activity.
"I got sleepy and needed her to spell me for a while at the wheel"
Oh god this puzzle was so unfun.DNF by choice. What a dreadful slog. Not a big fan of we made this hard by making the cluing preposterously awkward.If you insist on including esoterica,at least don’t have them crossing each other like *Dalai crossing Lilli*
ReplyDeleteVery tough CW for me. I’m unsure whether to award myself a FIR since I did end up with all the cells filled correctly, or a DNF since I had to cheat and Google a couple of things. I guess I should concede and give myself a DNF due to the Google’s. Anyway, there were some really clever clues at 1A, 39A, 34D and 39D. I guess my favorite would be 39A “Hog’s little cousin” that had me thinking “Swine” because it was all I could think of that fit size wise. Piglet didn’t fit. When I finally perped MOPED I really smiled. I also had some W/Os, AMOS:OTIS, KLAVIER: CLAVIER, UHUH:UHNO. I’m not a big fan of calling YELP a rival to TripAdvisor. Yelp is mostly business reviews, mostly restaurants, and TripAdvisor is mostly getting hotel reservations. At least the way I use them. Overall a really tough (for me) CW, but a really clever one, thanx, KK. And thanx too to HG for the very nice and entertaining write-up.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention I spent almost an hour on this bugger, even with the cheats.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBoneheaded me nearly shot myself in the foot with "BUTT called" and "IN REAL life" in the NW corner. It could have been cALASI instead of DALASI for all I knew, but it was recognizing that it was ILE DE, not aLE DE, and knowing there was no such word as LLTA that made me REVAMP those two long answers. Yes, ATTA made a lot more sense for "encouraging start"
Thought it would be Justin Wilson's cooking program at 5D, but got enough letters to see EMERIL LIVE.
In the MW, I was comfortable with swAY for a while before it had to become PLAY. Guessed the last I in LILLI Palmer mainly because I think I've seen her name before.
Keyed in storm ALERT and held it until I couldn't get any crosses to agree with storm. Reread the clue and noticed "online" and EMAIL became obvious. D'OH !
In the SW, "hog's little cousin" was TAPIR for far too long, but as I worked up from the bottom in that corner with SRAS, YELP, OVUM, and then CITADEL, it was clear that the tapir had to leave. Chuckled when the answer was MOPED
Those winos over in the SE had a different adjective in mind than the one that I held on for TOO long. I had rosy, but the answer for "Besides" was certainly going to be either AND or TOO, and I finally realized OAKY. That led to TREE because 'ring bearer' had previously stumped me (see what I did there ?), and then it was done.
Everything else was correct, but it took more time than usual. Much more time than normal. A little bit of a good guess or luck didn't hurt. I love tough(er) puzzles. Otherwise, what's the point ?
No cheats for me. There were lots of unknowns, but I enjoyed the slow fill. Finally FIW by one square at the crossing of unknowns LILLI and ELON. Should have known ELON, I guess! I feel badly for those who solve daily and hate it almost as often.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, thank you for your kind concern yesterday. My 90 year old mother lives alone in Carefree, Arizona, and on the rare occasion that she experiences a health scare, I do my best to coordinate the response from my home in Los Angeles. Thursday night, I had paramedics come, got her to the hospital, and home again about 3 AM Friday morning via Lyft. The problem turned out to be a UTI. Better safe than sorry.
Many thanks to Kurt Krauss and Husker Gary -- and to Rich Norris, as well -- for this morning's entertainment.
This was a typical Saturday puzzle. I got about 1/2 of it on my own, then had to peek at Gary's grid for help. Thank you, Kurt, for the morning entertainment. Thank you, Gary, for the fun explanations.
ReplyDeleteFavs: 9D Old cooking show that often had a Creole theme/EMERIL LIVE, and 23D Key ____/LIME. Here's a favorite recipe, Emeril's No Bake Key Lime Cheesecake.
We are nearing the peak of the Cicada invasion. It's hard to walk the dog and keep her from eating the bugs because there are so many on the ground. I'm so ready for this mess to be over.
Have a nice weekend!
Well, this was a Saturday stumper! Even after a few REST breaks to let my problem areas solve themselves, no progress was made so I gave up. Husker Gary to the rescue! Thanks, Gary, for making me feel better. I too had the I/ Y wrong choice for LILLI.
ReplyDeleteBesides that (or TOO) I did not see EATS for STRESS. Should have since it fit better than all the choices I thought of. But my big problem was the seven squares completing TOO and ERMA. I had the E and A for ERMA but kept thinking of EttA, a frequent fill. TREE and OAKY never occurred to me although I did try OMAR briefly for 35 D.
In spite of my troubles today, I did get a sense of satisfaction of the fill I got right and enjoyed the clever clues. So, thanks, Kurt. I also enjoyed hearing your story. It sounds like you've kept busy after retiring as has DH, retiring at 55. On to tomorrow!
Hola!
ReplyDeleteSo late today but I solved in between breakfast, laundry (washing and hanging it out in over 100 degrees) so it took longer than normal. The SW yielded its secrets first. I laughed at MOPED! CLEVER (th)at.
Then proceeded to the SE where SEA ANENOME greeted me. I did not recall ELLA MAE but perps filled it. Thought of IrishMiss when DEWAR emerged.
I, too was thinking of Justin Wilson but EMERIL LIVE fit instead.
OTIS kept me guessing for a long time because I wanted Amos. SOIREE was in place and feeling lonely. Finally that whole corner just gelled.
LILLI/DALASI was the last to be completed and LIU to ensure I had the correct spelling.
TADA! I'm still not convinced that RELIEVE = spell.
Thank you, Kurt Krauss! I enjoyed reading about your life decisions and hope to see many more of your interesting puzzles.
And thank you, Gary. Your illustrations always enhance your narrative. I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation.
I hope all are enjoying a pleasant Saturday. I'm going to my granddaughter's graduation party. We shall be fashionably late and leave early after dropping of her gift since it will be mostly young people there.
Lucina @2:55 PM TADA! D-O convinced me. See my post @3:01 PM for alt definition of 'spell'. I think our posts 'LAPPED.
ReplyDeleteCall me a prude, but shouldn't slang references using "BUTT" (i.e. ...NAKED or ....DIALED) be verboten in crosswords? Had to peek at the NW corner to finish this time. Besides, those who carry their $800+ phones in their back pocket deserve to get them stolen!! OK, OK! I'll hobble back to my rocking chair to continue my crochetting!
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteAfter about 15 minutes staring at what little I had and filling nothing more, I Tossed In The Towel and started cribbing from HG's grid (is it TREE?, "ah, yes, HG's grid says so"; "oh, EON is not longer than a Stretch" (wanted Justin Wilson @9d [Hi TTP!]); etc.).
Thanks for the puzzle, Kurt. BUTT, it was TOO much for me.
//I was proud of getting TED TALK w/ only AMOK in place (that was the very start of my fill - not good when 29a is your first entry :-))
Thanks for the expo, HG. Plus the nudges through the grid.
//there is fat in that frozen treat.
NaomiZ - I missed that about your mom. Not terrible but a UTI can take you south if untreated. Good on you for looking out for her.
Lucina - Stay at the graduation party and do what Pop did; corner one of the quiet kids and proceed to give them life lessons. (I rescued her after about 10 minutes :-))
waseeley (et.al.) I've never heard that use of spell. I've heard, "I'll be over in a spell [while]" but never used as a verb unless it was putting ABCs in the right order to convey a meaningful word.
Well, another broken sprinkler head fixed, garden weeded* (and some tomatoes & peppers harvested), and all the potted plants are watered. I think I'll Beer myself now.
Y'all have a wonderful afternoon.
Cheers, -T
*weeds thought they were being smart by mixing in close to the basil. Little did they know, I weed my outdoor cacti - my fingers are deft at weeding just the right thing :-)
-T @4:05 PM D-O insisted the verb form had an alternate connotation, so I LIU.
DeleteRe weeds: I'm far from an Orthodox Darwinist, but weeds do seem to an uncanny ability to increase their survival rate by APING common garden vegetables.
Hubby and I took a twelve hour day long trip one summer spelling each other at two hour intervals. During some of the switch overs we took breaks for potty, gas and eats. It was very comfortable and relaxing both as a short term passenger and as a short term driver. I could have driven even farther without being tired.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone needs their day brightened - a volunteer sunflower (near the bird-feeder).
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
-T @4:32 PM You did brighten it. Thanx T!
DeleteLove your sunflower, -T.
DeleteActually in French it's Kla-vy-ay
ReplyDeleteAnother DEREK might be. Sanderson Irony: Jeter was named after him
Seinfeld was great. Followed incidentally by a Hott Wilhelm interview. Google knows what I like
YR, in 2003 I took a half dozen or more RTs between Grand Rapids, MI and NH. After about five non-stops I came up with the brilliant idea of a rest-stop. And that made all the difference. Said diff =15 mins.
WC
This puzzle was too hard for me. Especially hard was the crossing of two names, ERMA and ELLA MAE, which I didn't grok because I also didn't know STRESS EATS, which I couldn't figure out because I didn't know NET. Having SWAY instead of PLAY led to WILLY Palmer and SLEA-E, which I figured couldn't be SLEAZE. And then there was the totally unknown, to me, DALAS- which I entered as DALASY because of that WILLY person. Hand up for AMOS before OTIS, too. So it took lots of looking up to solve this puppy. None of the articles I consulted about Obama's first and second inaugurations mentioned ELLA MAE Johnson at all. Hand up for entering KLAVIER before CLAVIER. And hog's little cousin was not VESPA. DEREK was all perps; I never heard of him. Names -- you either know a name or you don't, and with perps that are also unknowns there is no way to suss it.
ReplyDeleteI loved the clue for MCCOYS. I hope it was Kurt's.
Congratulations on being able to retire so young, Big Easy.
Good wishes to you all.
Thanks, Gary, for your recap - as someone said (Lucina?), we always learn so much. Fun, but doable puzzle, thanks to all the perps. Like Anon-T, I only had AMOK to get TEDTALK. Other fills were OTIS, TARSI, EMAILALERT, EMERIL, etc. FIW because I finally looked up Gambia money, which changed my BUTTcallED to BUTTDIALED, which is the common term.
ReplyDeleteAnon-T @4:32. Great photo, and I can see eldest's trellis and rebar project in the background. Couldn't open link without logging into Google, so I opened it "in cognito window." Love that option because a few online news sources want you to subscribe before you can read their articles. And you deserve a beer (or two) - Houston, heat and humidit is here until November. Humidity is what's so bad. Went to Egypt in July years ago - didn't compare.
Lucina, I bet your laundry dries a lot faster in AZ than it did when I was assigned the chore growing up on the farm - hanging clothes on the "clothesline." The laundry always had to be hung by ascending size - sheets last (which she thought could be viewed by people whizzing by at 50 mph on the county road 75 yds away), and underwear always hung on the middle line, out of view. Mama was always guided by "what will people think" on everything - as an 8yo, I thought to myself - silly.
TXM @5:50 PM How does one access the "incognito window?". As the only Cornerite who is not "incognito" I'm intrigued. :-)
DeleteCan't believed I finished. Worked on and off during the day interrupted by chores and a drive to camp...just figured out STRESSEATS ...and like so many cornerites exclaim...TADA! 😁
ReplyDeleteThe first run produced little and needed perps to perp the perps.
Some excellent clues that needed head scratching to answer but mostly made sense although some of that "sense" was an extreme definition.
Never heard of DALASI, (prev. CW?) never watched "The Wire". ERMA Franklin probably didn't get R-E-S-P-E-C-T like her sis.
Inkovers, many of which I stuck with way too long, included: les/UNE, eon/LIE, tapir/MOPED (wrong kinda hog), decoys/MCCOYS (how could real things be "decoys"?).
Sly rodent....CLEVERAT
What one should do to Beaver....LEAVEIT
Turn it up loudin....REVAMP
Sounds like career-wise Kurt Krauss was no slouch. What a CV! and 6 years old!
Perfect day...enjoy the REST of the weeekend.
Hog's little cousin =/= VESPA (Hi, Jayce!)
ReplyDeleteSTRESS ziTS < EATS
LEt it be < LEAVE IT
EON < LIE (Hi, Tony!)
Spell = RELIEVE was fine to me, both mean to take over a job from someone else, tho spell has the connotation of temporary while relieve's connotation is of a shift change.
Forgot to say says...
ReplyDelete{B+}
LeoIII - where are you?
Since I'm here...
Waseeley - small weeds do try to disguise themselves as basil buds. That's why I waited until there was a clear difference (and I'm a lazy gardener).
Ray-O: Almost... LEAVE IT *TOO* :-)
TXMs - I'm surprised (flattered?) that you remembered the trellis story. And your eagle-eye spotting it.
Can I tell a story of kids spreading their wings?...
Youngest (18) took off to a camp ground near San Antonio w/ her friends yesterday (at 5am!). They stayed out in the elements overnight and then went to a Riverwalk hotel today (I assume they want a shower :-)). They are taking care of themselves and each other.
She's all grownup now.
//I still make her text me every 12 hours so I know she's good. #OverprotectiveDad #SheHasMyAmex
Cheers, -T
Waseeley - I think it's just a feature of Chrome (my default browser) but it may exist in Firefox, Opera, Safari, Edge. Right click a link and select "Open link in incognito".
ReplyDeleteTo open a new Chrome window 'incognito'; Ctrl-Shift-N. On a Mac, I think it's Command-Shift-N.
Note: It's not 100% anonymous; it's just that tracking-cookies and history go away after you visit sketchy(?) sites (or NYT/WSJ/Bloomberg that limit you to 3 "free" articles a month - you get unlimited :-)).
Cheers, -T
Incognito - Safari calls it 'New Private Window.'
ReplyDeleteVery late to the party. We had a bit of trouble at the same "Topangas" that others have reported but we guessed correctly and FIR. I enjoyed the puzzle and the write up. I especially enjoyed seeing the motorcyclist "wave"! I hope everyone had/is having a great Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThe party was better than I expected. We visited with the graduate and one of her classmates about their future plans, colleges, majors, etc. and it was surprisingly interesting. They are mature young ladies.
ReplyDeleteLater we joined the rest of the company in the living room and they were watching, (surprise!) another episode of Star Wars. Mark loved all the exploding planets, taser dueling, etc. I just studied the costumes and face make-up. Cinema has some talented artists in that field. Billy Dee Williams (Lando) has aged and so has Richard E. Grant. I know him from the Scarlet Pimpernel.
AnonT
That is a beautiful sunflower!