Our constructor for today is Alex Bajcz (pronounced
like "badges") who last appeared here March 19th, 2018,
reviewed by Lemonade. As we will see, Alex has his fingers in a lot of pies having
published in the NYT, WSJ, as well as here on the Corner. Here is a more
complete list of his constructions on his
website. But you will also notice that he has a day job - that of a
Plant Ecologist at the Drew University P.R.U.N.E Research Lab
(Plant Reproduction in (Un)Natural
Environments). Here is a picture of Alex giving a “lesson” on
blueberry reproductive ecology to blueberry growers at Blueberry Hill Farm:
Among his other interests Alex, is an expert in a programming language called R. I'm familiar with scores of programming languages, but as my cockney relatives would say, "I never 'eard of it!". I gather that it has a lot of powerful tools for processing statistical data.
Today he will give us a lesson in 4 other pies he has his fingers in.
The themers contain hints as to what he's baking up, enclosed in the fill
circles (here highlighted in RED).
17A Cornell's main campus overlooks it:
CAYUGA LAKE. I believe this
calls for a CSO to Irish Miss, Spitzboov, and
Ray - O. Which one of you is closest?
23A. Home to
more than 425 US wineries:
SONOMA COUNTY. Not the
VALLEY, but the COUNTY wherein it lies. Looks like it
might be close to JayCe and GarlicGal.
33A. "V." novelist (1963):
THOMAS PYNCHON.
46A.
Ham, pepper and green onion dish:
DENVER OMELET.
As I'm sure
by now the AROMAS of the themers have clued you in to the reveal:
54A.
Pie-making scraps ... and what this puzzle's circles represent?:
APPLE CORES. I'm not sure I'd call them "scraps", but rather
delicious Crossword FILLING consisting of 4 different types of
APPLES. I've already given away where two groups of Cornerites might buy
these apples locally. The remaining two are
ROME apples from Ohio (hands up
anyone?) and SPY apples, also from
Upstate New York. SPY apples have the additional distinction of
having been recognized by the USPS in commemorative stamps issued in
2013. Clockwise from the top left we have: SPY,
GOLDEN DELICIOUS, BALDWIN, and
GRANNY SMITH apples:
Here's the rest of the filling:
Across:
1. Measuring tools: TAPES. Both my parents were crafts
people. My mother was a seamstress who used tapes for the fitting and
alteration of suits, dresses, gowns, furs, you name it. My father was a
carpenter who used tapes to measure wood. He would always say "Measure it twice, cut it once".
6. They're often removed for the National Anthem: HATS.
10. Those in charge: Abbr.: MGMT. Geeks usually call them
"suits".
14. "Same for me": AS AM I.
15. "Or __ what?!": ELSE. A response to an
ULTIMATUM.
16. "Unfortunately ... ": ALAS. The bad news. Which
do you want first?
19. TV heroine whose name is derived from the Greek for "stranger":
XENA. This is where we get our word XENOPHOBIA, or "fear
of foreigners". The heroine in the clue was
Xena: Warrior Princess, played by Lucy Lawless, a New Zealand actress. DW and I have not seen
her in Xena, but we have seen her in a new Aussie series playing the
retired detective Alexa Crowe, whose old boss keeps hitting her up for
free consulting in
My Life is Murder. Season 2 is currently being filmed in New Zealand. Alexa is also an
expert in the operation and maintenance of
German coffee makers.
20. Adorns playfully, for short: TPS. I got this with perps, but
I'm still not sure what it means. Is "to toilette paper"
now a verb?
21. "The Maltese Falcon" genre: NOIR. It starts to get dark in
the evening here on the Corner, when the groaners begin to run out.
22. Marvel's Stark: TONY. The IRON MAN.
Here's but one of many portals into the Marvel Universe. Be careful not to venture in too far!
27. It's fun to skip them: STONES. I showed one of my grandsons
how to skip stones when he was about 5, and then we had to do it for at least
the next hour. It can be a highly addictive behavior!
And the hopelessly addicted have even turned it into a competitive sport:
29. Modern test of humanity: CAPTCHA. Since when did we start getting "humanity" tests? With the arrival of computers of course. CAPTCHA stands for the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. CAPTCHAs are tools you can use to differentiate between real users and automated users, such as bots who might co-opt them to run spam nets. Hand up if you thought that the narrator of the video sounded like a bot!:
30. Sushi fare: EEL. I love sushi, but UNAGI (Eel) is very fatty and I find it hard to digest.
31. Spicy cupful: CHAI. Read all about it from a registered dietitian. Click the Jump to Recipe button if you don't want all the foodie stuff.
32. Big name in chips: LAY. As a hypertensive, I prefer Utz No-Salt Potato Chips, made in Hanover, PA, just up the road from where I live. The only problem with them is that you CAN eat the whole bag:
39. "Typee" sequel: OMOO. TYPEE and OMOO published in 1846 and 1847 respectively, are based on Melville's experiences in the South Pacific.
40. Set a price of: ASK.
41. College schedule entries: CLASSES.
43. They're tapped in spring: MAPLES. A CSO to
CanadianEh! Maple sugaring is such a labor and energy intensive process
that I've always wondered how people can make a living at it. Perhaps
they make enough money to support this labor of love when the "sap isn't
rising" in Spring, Summer, and Fall. Helen and Scott Nearing made
a living from it, as they describe in a remarkable book that I read many years
ago called
Living the Good Life
first published in 1973.
48. Conks out: DIES.
49. Binge to excess, as a TV show: OD ON. If you have an
addictive personality, steer clear of LINE OF DUTY on
Prime. DW and I binged our way to the last season and now find
that we actually have to WAIT for the new episodes, that are being
released only once a week. I'm running out of fingernails.
50. Mobile __: APP.
53. Appliance appendage: CORD. First support question in the
troubleshooting decision tree: "Is it plugged in?"
57. V-day note sign-off: SWAK. Clever clue I thought. I
immediately thought of VJ Day 1945 when my parents were married in
England. But this note is from someone to his/her
Valentine 💕,
Sealed
With A
Kiss. Of course I'm sure my parents sealed their marriage with a
KISS!
58. Slide cry: WHEE. A whole lotta' slidin' on the Corner
today. See also 26D.
59. Creative nuggets: IDEAS.
60. Tolstoy's Karenina: ANNA. I confess to not having read
this 800 page novel, considered near the pinnacle of Western literature. A hand up from anyone
who has? There are several film and TV versions based on it. DW
and I saw and enjoyed the 1977 BBC version staring
Nicola Pagett, which I believe is still available on YouTube.
It consisted of ten 50-minute episodes, and so was able to include more
of the original plot than some adaptations. Perhaps the most famous of all the adaptations is the 1935 film
staring
Greta Garbo. The film was ranked #42 on the American Film Institute's list
of
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.
61. Swirl: EDDY. An EDDY is a
circular current of water. Eddies swirl in different directions in the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres due to a phenomenon known as the CORIOLIS EFFECT
62. Part of LCD: LEAST. No not Liquid Crystal
Display, but rather Least Common
Denominator. Today's math lesson:
Down:
1. Statesman's asset: TACT.
2. PDQ: ASAP.
3. Uses Venmo, say: PAYS. I use Paypal, which owns Venmo, and have generally found it easy to use and reliable. However I did have one experience in the early days of the pandemic where an overseas company was able to compromise it using a cleverly designed website. I'd say how, but that would be tellin'. Here is a comparison of Venmo vs PayPal ( CAVEAT: I've not vetted the reviewer, theBalance.com, so who can say whether they're on the level? You can't trust anybody these days, except for Cornerites of course!). A CSO to Anon -T, who might actually have something intelligent to say about this subject. But then he's probably got enough sense not to say anything about it!
4. Aussie runner: EMU. This bird seems to catch up with me every time I blog.
5. You need a password to do it: SIGN ON. While we're on the topic of security ... I've got scores of "strong" passwords and a 20 page document to keep track of them all. What a mess. See 29A for more on this mess. A CSO to anybody who has found a good way to deal with this problem.
6. Chariot-riding god: HELIOS. The Greek god of the sun, a guardian of oaths, and the god of sight. The "Colossus of Rhodes", a 108 foot high statue of Helios stood from 280 - 226 BC overlooking the island of Rhodes, before being destroyed by an earthquake. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
|
|
The Colossus of Rhodes artist impression 1880 |
7. Wake-up call?: ALARM. May simply be the clock that wakes you in the morning, or a metaphor for "trouble is brewing". We seemed to have had a lot of those in the last few decades.
8. Judgy sound: TSK.
10. Crank to 11, say: MAX OUT.
11. Actress with the most Oscar nominations without a win: GLENN CLOSE. Eight as of this writing. But she HAS won three Primetime Emmy Awards, three Tony Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She's has the distinction of being tied with Peter O'Toole for missed Oscars, she's still alive, and there is still time!
12. "I really appreciate it!": MANY THANKS. Is Elvis still in the building?
13. Org. using wands: TSA. But they've got stiff competition from the other IBM:
18. Top-notch: A ONE.
22. Focus of discussion: TOPIC. I have to admit to a tendency to go off this from time to time, e.g. ...
23. On one's own: SOLO. As in an operatic aria. Here is a performance by soprano Angela Gheorghiu of Puccini's aria Vissi d'arte from the opera Tosca. The absolutely saddest opera I know. I actually heard Ms Gheorghiu sing it just today (well 6/19/21) in a rebroadcast from Covent Garden. :
24. Hurting: ACHY. It may be your aching back, or it may be your heart:
25. "Thief" star James: CAAN. As we learned last Saturday, he has an actor son named Scott, one of the stars of the reboot of Hawaii 5-0,
26. Cry on a slide: YAY. See 58A!
27. "Chill!": SETTLE DOWN. I'll have to try "Chill!" on my youngest grandsons. SETTLE DOWN doesn't work.
28. Capital north of Doha, Qatar: TEHRAN IRAN. TEHRAN is in North central IRAN, closer to the Caspian Sea than the Persian Gulf. The latter body of water to the South is named for Persia, the old name for Iran. The Persian Empire was an ancient civilization, dating back to Paleolithic times. It is ironic that the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great brought an end to the Babylonian Captivity in 538 BC, freeing the Israelites and helping them rebuild their nation. Today the nations of Iran and Israel are in a state of perpetual cold war.
|
|
Tehran, Iran |
31. USCG rank: CPO. Chief Petty Officer.
34. Noted receiver of tablets: MOSES. That is the Prophet MOSES, the most important in figure in Judaism and important to many other Western religions as well. The tablets MOSES received on Mt. SINAI are sometimes call the DECALOGUE, but are more commonly known as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. As depicted in this painting by Rembrandt, Moses later smashed the tablets upon finding that, in his absence, the Israelites had been worshiping a golden calf, a violation of the First Commandment:
|
|
|
The Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany |
35. USA part: Abbr.: AMER. The United States of America. Here is the USA flag:
|
|
The Stars and Stripes |
36. Just passable: SO SO. Meh.
37. Screeching __: HALT.
38. Calculator feature, for short: LCD. Now it's Liquid Crystal Display. More than you'll ever need to know about the technology. Here's what they look like:
42. Smirnoff competitor: SVEDKA. Apparently this vodka is cheap and fruity and doesn't YELP very well; the hangovers are reportedly terrible.
43. Olympic swimming event: MEDLEY. Also a series of musical numbers, e.g. a SUITE. Handel's Water Music wasn't a swimming event, but it did involve floating down the Thames River to entertain King George I. Given that it involved two barges, one for the King and a second for Handel, and keeping 50 musicians in tune on open water, the first performance of the work can certainly be described as an olympian effort:
45. Write (in) tentatively: PENCIL.
47. Scooter kin: MOPED. Looks like the PEDALS have become obsolete.
50. Region: AREA. It can cover a lot of territory.
51. Podded veggies: PEAS.
52. Hissed "Yo!": PSST.
53. Its last official capital was Richmond, Va.: CSA. Confederate States of America.
54. Wonder: AWE. Shucks!
55. Prof.'s holding: PHD. A CSO to all the PhD's on the Corner!
56. Laudatory work: ODE. For example Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn.
Here's the grid:
waseeley
And special thanks to my Dear Wife for her Eagle Eyed
proof reading!
Cheers,
Bill
60 comments:
FIRight. This theme might have stumped me if I hadn't stumbled on the reveal before trying to figure it out. I've never heard of a MACOUN APPLE, and might not have recognized SPY without NORTHERN. I also tend to get ROME and ROMA mixed up, apple or tomato. So GALA is the only one I'd have known for sure, and it's more often a celebration.
MGrs < MGMT, DITTO < AS AM I, ALeRt < ALARM, SKATE < MOPED. Didn't recognize MEDLEY, tho I may have known it at one time. Also didn't recognize SVEDKA, though it's the language my mother said she grew up with (Swedish).
38d, 62a -- Laughed at LCD:liquid crystal display vs. LCD:least common denominator. (Neither one caught me.) I wonder if this is what the recent spate of clue/answer dupes has been working up to?
22a -- CSO to Anonymous-T, TONY.
31a, 42d, 58a -- An acrostic fan, a crossword fan, and a Jumble fan come across a genie's magic water-slide. The genie tells them whatever they yell going down the slide, that's what they'll end up in.
The acrostic fan goes first, yells "Lemonade", and splashes into a pool of lemonade.
The crossword fan goes next, yells "Scotch", and splashes into a pool of scotch.
The Jumble fan hasn't been paying much attention, so goes last, yelling "WHEEE".
(I could have used CHAI and SVEDKA, but personalizing it was more fun.)
{It's an old joke, just retold, so no grade.}
Good morning!
Well, d-o didn't like them apples. ROME was the only variety I recognized, so the theme remained a mystery. Got 'er done, though, so life is good. Noticed the Cornell CSO to Bill G. Tried MGRS and SIGN IN, but Wite-Out took care of them. Enjoyed the puz, Alex, and the expo, Waseeley. (I don't care for opera, but I'm back to give that aria a try, to confirm or deny my opinion.)
LCD: My favorite pocket calculator is my HP 10B Business model. But, ALAS, the LCD screen has a bobo at the top left partly obscuring the first two digits. Is that a 7 or a 1?
MOPED: Nope. We have the PED, but not the MO. We push those pedals every weekend, weather permitting.
SETTLE DOWN: You can SETTLE DOWN or Calm Down. You can also SETTLE UP, but you can't Calm Up, however, you can Clam Up. Can't Clam Down, though. Ain't English grand?
Good morning everyone. Enjoy doing the puzzle vs listening to and watching the early morning news. Enjoyed the apple core theme, an apple a day…thanks Waseely and Alex. I’m realizing more and more just how hard and time consuming it must be to construct edit and critique a crossword puzzle. Such a great job everyone. Thanks.
Took me 8:32 to get to the core of this one; I wonder what the seed entry was.
Good thing I didn't need the theme because macoun and spy were unknown to me, as were Cayuga and Svedka. I liked the clue for captcha.
Lovely CW, thanx, AB. I got the theme immediately, but only knew GALA and ROME apples, had never heard of SPY or MACOUN, so those fills were a challenge. FIR in 29. CAPTCHA rang a vague bell in my head, but had to read Lemonade’s very nice write-up to finally recall. I also liked the clecho at 58A and 26D. Thanx for the nice write-up, Lemonade.
FIW, missing CAnUGA LAKE x PAnS. Brain fart had me thinking that Venmo was like Yelp. And a friend participates in a big catamaran regatta on CAYUGA LAKE every year, and frequently wins. DOH!
nec-->LAY, valley-->COUNTY. Great misdirection with LCD as a clue after it was fill.
A few days back someone made a remark implying that mass-market MAPLE syrup has added sugar. I raced to my kitchen to check my grocery store brand and was relieved to find out that the list of ingredients had only one: Maple syrup. Later this week I was waiting for Costco to rotate my Michelins, so I checked out their big jugs (excuse me if that's un-PC.) The ingredients listed "100% pure maple syrup" and nothing else. Does anyone have an example of a brand that has added sugar? I know that it is loaded with sugar on its own, and can't imagine why producers would add more.
Bill, I'm still trying to figure out the "other IBM" context. I drink decaf, so that may be the reason. Maybe I'll understand after a few Diet Pepsis at lunch.
Jinx, here's an article about commercial non-maple-sugar syrups. Basically, if it's a "brand" at the supermarket, it probably has little (or no) maple sap in it. On your other question, apparently you were unable to see Waseeley's illustration for the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
OOH OOH! I forgot to mention that when I bought my first computer in 1977, the store sponsored a computer club named "Apple Corps Computer Club." I still I have my tee shirt somewhere, featuring an Apple II and paddles (one for the X-axis and one for the Y-axis, forerunners of the mouse. Kind of like an electronic etch-a-sketch.) I remember that the store wanted to teach BASIC programming, but the majority of the members wanted to learn how to program in machine language. Idiot geeks!
My fav are Cape Cod potato chips.
Aha, Valentines Day. Not V(E) day code. Messed up the SW good for a three square FIW
I have AK up next on my list after Mailer's 'Harlot'
There's another one: PAYS/PAnS. I knew the lake but didn't recheck I was so bolloxed in the SW
I had pCt/LCD thinking Ptr for Portrait and Pct for Percent. And I should have remembered DENVER OMELET but Seagrams wouldn't fit and I don't know vodkas. Betsy uses it on a peppermint spray.
I'll solve Friday later today.
WC
Make that 4 squares. And the Apple is Northern SPY a fav of my mother for her world class pies
This went pretty smoothly even though WEES about only knowing two of the four apple types! It was fun to have CAPTCHA in the answers since it is what I have to click on at the bottom of the blog comments to post - wonder if it was the first time in a major crossword? - (Lemonade would probably know)
Thanks to Waseeley and Alex!
It's supposed to rain today-woohoo!
We have a very large maple tree on our property that has gotten lots of TLC through the years by a trusted tree expert. Mainly because we don’t want any property damage but also to make sure it’ thrives. Now that we may have time really interested to learn about tapping the tree for syrup.
I loved seeing the apple varieties. Several times I have researched and tested many of them for use in my apple pies. I settled on half Granny Smith and half Yellow Delicious. I get rave reviews, requests for the recipe and requests to "bake me an apple pie." We use pies instead of birthday cakes.
Google says, "The Northern Spy, also called 'Spy' and 'King', is a cultivar of domesticated apple that originated on the farm of Oliver Chapin in East Bloomfield, New York in about 1840."
I doubted SVEDKA but left it in.
I had two silly misspellings in the NE which held me up for a while. I finally found them.
My first thought on seeing the Colossus of Rhodes pic is OUCH!, an allover sunburn.
The prank is called "TP"ing, a verb. We have "TP"ed a square dance caller while he was singing.
My TSK TSK to kids is mild and said with a smile. It is always met with a return smile and compliance.
I love grilled eel.
Yesterday on Jeopardy! in the words with a single vowel category, the W was ignored as a vowel.
Yes, skipping stones is addictive.
Hi Y'all! Yummy puzzle & theme, Alex. Thanks, Bill, for a fine expo.
Hand up for never hearing of SPY or MACOUN apples. I googled and found the MACOUN is a cross between the Jersey BLACK and MacIntosh and is found in New England. I have made many delicious MacIntosh pies, crisps, sauce. Drool! Haven't made a pie in 25 years now.
CAluga before CAYUGA LAKE.
DNK: THOMAS PYNCHON but perps & a couple WAGs filled him in. DNK: SVEDKA, LCD, LCD -- ESP.
Last to fill: NE corner. First pass had only ALAS which was how I felt about all the white space around it. Did not know as clued: MAXOUT, MGMT (not CEOS), TSA (Not Harry Potter), XENA, TONY. Finally got GLENN CLOSE & MANY THANKS from lower down perps. Had to red-letter the rest.
Still like the puzzle & hope Alex returns.
Raining here. Very dark morning. I put my garbage & recycle bins out where the rain can wash off the nasty stuff the squirrels have been expelling thereon.
A MACOUN is a cross between a Macintosh and a Jersey Black. I prefer to eat Empires, a cross between Mac and Red Delicious. Both were developed at the Cornell University NYS Agricultural Experiment Station (in Geneva on Seneca Lake, not Cayuga.)
Cornell is also in the heart of the Finger Lakes wine country.
I first heard of Venmo when somebody emptied my checking account, must have scanned my wallet or stolen my bank number, so I'm leery of using it myself. (the bank caught it so no harm done except for getting a new card and updating all my autopay accounts)
I will now use reCAPTCHA to prove I'm not a robot
RE STONESKIPPING: think I've mentioned before about the last time I skipped a stone. With seven little kids around me on the lake bank, I said, "Look kids, I'll show you how it's done." Threw the stone and whacked my little son in the temple. Stunned him a minute and then he was okay. Scared me spitless.
FIR today, but as usual with a few WOs.
Slow to come were MAX OUT, EEL, and CORD, but once they did, I was done. I had heard of all the theme apples and enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks Alex! And last but not LEAST, thanks waseeley. Until you explained, I didn't understand LEAST.
I am going to SETTLE DOWN now and wish you all a productive Thursday. My next project is doing my daily knee exercises, then we'll see.....
IBMs Watson computer has shown human-like reasoning and intelligence skills, e.g. its ability to compete on Jeopardy and understand the nuances in the clues and the particular idiosyncrasies the clue-writers use to assist in people getting only one correct answer.
Good morning everyone
CSO to TONY. Cannot get clearer than that.
Moderately easy for a Thursday. Bounced around a bit, to get good anchors, though. Had ……Valley before ……COUNTY. Got the APPLE theme.
CAYUGA LAKE. Bill; I went to RPI, but my sister went to Cornell. A beautiful location. Maybe you're thinking of Bill G. (who hasn't posted lately.)
MAX OUT - - On our DD, the main engine room had the expression "bend on the turns" for squeezing out a few more RPMs when needed; when the plant was already essentially MAXed OUT.
Good re-cap, Waseeley.
OKL, thank you for the role in your retelling of the story. Bill, thank you for featuring my write-up which earned me my first BAJCZ badge. inanehiker , this puzzle does introduce CAPTCHA to the LAT lexicon, but it has been used before in USA Today (4 times last year) the Universal and the NYT started the trend in 2017.
Very nasty storm here as well, be safe. I like seeing so many comments.
Thanks all
Musings
-Those who pine for a challenging puzzle without so many names got it today! I loved it!
-MACOUN and SPY “fructus non grata” for me. ACHE not ACHY cost me one bad cell.
-With the var. spelling of OMELET, WESTERN OMLET worked briefly
-Long homeruns are sometimes called TAPE measure shots
-Have you ever got caught up in a terrible movie and couldn’t stop watching? This 1932 film NOIR got me yesterday!
-College CLASSES – The grapevine tells kids which PHD’s to avoid
-CORD – my bedside has a lamp, clock radio, CPAP machine, iPhone charger, Apple watch charger and cordless phone charger
-I’d wager very few people can correctly add 1/2 and 1/3
-Skilled debaters can go off TOPIC and get back to their talking points
-15 commandments? (:24)
-Nice job, Bill
Lizza @7:58 AM To get maple syrup you have to boil down the sap quite a bit. IIRC you get about 1 gallon of maple syrup for every 40 gallons of sap. I'm not sure a single tree would produce much syrup. YMMV
Bill
FIR, with no problems. I was a swim meet director when my kids were in a local club. We had IMs (individual MEDLEY) and MEDLEY relays. I sorta saw the theme, but it didn’t help. The vodka was just ?????? for me. In a case like that, shouldn’t the constructor start over?
D-O, so you were just talking about the trade named syrups like Log Cabin. Looks like the stuff in the grocery that is labeled "maple syrup" is...maple syrup. I once sent a brunch order back because the menu said "with maple syrup" and the crap they sent out was definitely not that. I have been known to take a small bottle with me if I'm going to breakfast in a restaurant for the first time. Guess I've turned into a syrup snob.
I get the IBM joke, just not how it connects with the puzzle.
YR, RE Jeopardy!: Please cite an example of a word where W is the only vowel. Would that be Welsh or Romanian? PK wrote, "Still like the puzzle & hope Alex returns." Not sure she was talking about the TV show, though.
Good Morning:
I was going to nit pick the use of circles on a Thursday but, based on many of the comments, they were necessary. I knew all of the different types of apples but Rich wisely surmised that many solvers might not, so I’ll hold my tongue. (According to Wiki, New York State produces 29.5 millions of bushels annually and is the number 2 producer in the country. There are many apple farms in the Capital District rural areas.) We had some cute duos with Whee/Yay, Emu/Omoo, and Yay/Lay and nice CSOs to AnonT (Tony), Bill G (Cayuga Lake): and our resident PhDs. Perps were needed and helpful with Helios, Sonoma, as clued, and Svedka. I liked the mini Academia/Literary theme with Anna K, Thomas Pynchon, Omoo, Classes, Topic, Ode, and PhD.
Well done, Alex, and, Bill, once again, your breadth of knowledge amazes me and I thank you for imparting so much to the reader. I also enjoy your self-deprecating comments in your analysis, as well as your daily posts. Bravo! BTW, I’m about 170 miles east of Lake Cayuga.
FLN
oc4beach, AnonPVX, and Anon T, yes, I am now a cool kid once again. A/C is up and running great and the timing was fortuitous as the ceiling fan in my den died a sudden death yesterday.
Have a great day.
My nit with Jeopardy was that DOWN does not have just one vowel. The W counts as a vowel, too.
Didn't get the theme until I read Waseely's excellent tour. Good puzzle from Alex. I didn't see the circles.
I also wanted WESTERN OMELET, but it didn't fit. It took a minute or two for DENVER to show up from perps. When I go to my favorite local breakfast cafe (The Waffle Shop) I usually get a Western Omelet with a short stack of pancakes with real Maple syrup. You can tell the difference. My DW's father and uncle had an 80 acre wooded lot with a lot of Maple trees on it. Every spring, they tapped the trees and collected a lot of sap that they turned into syrup by boiling it down. Really good syrup.
IM: Glad to hear your AC is back up and running. Just in time for the next round of hot weather. I just had to have a ceiling fan replaced last month by my son. One of the fan blades broke off.
LAY's potato chips are OK, but IMO Gibble's, Middleswarth, Diefenbach and UTZ potato chips are better. With many of them, you can't get them outside of Pennsylvania easily (Right IM?)
Have a great day everyone.
OwenKL, Anon, unclefred, PK, Husker Gary Hand up never heard of SPY or MACOUN apples. Thought an anagram might be involved. I do not like Macintosh apples. Too mushy. So MACOUN is probably not for me. I like my apples crisp and tart. GALA is my current favorite.
WA Seeley Hand up thought Liquid Crystal Display for LCD. Thank you for offering your take on the Turing Test and the Singularity. I have attended Kurzweil's Singularity Summit at least twice. I think people misunderstand it.
A machine does not have to think like us to out-think us. Consider an airplane vs a bird.
Kurzweil is also not pitting us vs machine. There are many ways to get to the Singularity. One way is that we enhance ourselves.
Machines already are being used to design ever better machines. I did this on my job for decades. I have no doubt that something will surpass our intelligence in the not too distant future. The question is what will it value? Nick Bostrom warns that it might just try to maximize the number of paperclips in the universe.
On the other hand, we humans are doing a good job of fouling the planet by our own misguided values. Perhaps something better is coming!
FLN I watched the whole Bob Ross video. Loved it! As I always do. What a sweet unassuming guy and I'm sure everyone's blood pressure goes down when they watch them. I loved it when he was talking about the only power he has at home is taking out the garbage.
Becky
From yesterday:
Token Creek Thank you very much for the additional information about hot air ballooning and how cancellations are handled. Perhaps you could email me directly at sbrobert (at) ucsb.edu if you are OK with connecting?
Good morning, folks. I thought it was a fairly quick solve for a Thursday. I was only familiar with Rome apples. My husband makes a dynamite apple pie and always uses Granny Smiths. He makes the best crust (his Mom taught him well).
Yes, we do live about 125 miles south of Sonoma, maybe a 3 hr drive, give or take traffic. We don't get up there very often though. Our area of the Santa Clara Valley is home to many award winning wineries as well. Drink Local - Stay Local, we always say!
Nice to hear from ya'll.
Hi All!
FIW - SVEDie giving me ANNe and SWAi(?)
Thanks Alex for the puzzle providing a diversion as I awaited a colonoscopy. I only knew the GALA APPLE, so theme was of no help :-)
Fun expo Waseeley - loved the Cardinal 'toon. KeePass is the password-vaulting tool I've used for years. Everyone of my passwords are complex and different for each account.
WOs: SIGN iN and I was going for __ASkY at 33a; Chief Petty Officer wouldn't stand for it.
ESPs: 17a, 33a
Fav: CAPTCHA had to do w/ computers; Tablets (MOSES) not so much.
HG beat me to Brooks' History of the World, Part I.
{LOL}
D-O: I love my HP 28s. I wish every calculator supported RPN.
YR - you throw Toilet Paper at square dance callers?
Nice to see you GarlicGal!
Becky - Bob Ross - the Godfather of ASMR :-)
Y'all have a great day!
Cheers, -T
D-O: I meant I hope Alex Bajcz returns with another puzzle. I know A. Trebek isn't coming back unless he's found a loophole no one else has.
Lots of Apple mentions, but no love for the Honeycrisp? Only the tastiest Apple ever…I’m thinking 1/2 Granny Smith and 1/2 Honeycrisp would be the best pie.
Not a lot to say about the grid, usual Thursday scale, but really nothing of note, could take or leave the circles.
See you tomorrow.
Also…the maple syrup discussion…I would apologize to no one by bringing actual maple syrup to a “restaurant” that serve flavored sugar syrup in its place. Of course, I would also be wondering what else isn’t real there.
There is simply nothing better than 100% pure maple syrup. There are “grades” and I like the darkest and most flavorful. That would be “Grade A Very Dark and Strong Taste”. I can only get this online, the only thing close in stores is “Grade A Dark Color and Robust Flavor”.
The funny thing is that all the levels of darkness/taste have the exact same calories/sugar content, the only difference is the color and taste.
oc4beach @ 11:00 ~ I’m happy to report that my ceiling fan did not die, my brain did. I forgot that I turned it off manually. Fortunately, I discovered this before my handy-man nephew made an unnecessary trip. And yes, Gibble’s are #1 with me and I’m delighted they’re available online. Utz are sold locally but none of the others you mentioned are.
I greatly enjoyed today's puzzle. Thank you Alex Bajcz.
I made maple syrup with my little brothers when I was growing up in Western NY State. I only did it once since it's a big production collecting the sap and then boiling it down. It took so long to boil down the sap that the wallpaper on the ceiling over the stove started to fall off the ceiling. Then, after all that work, I didn't like the syrup as much a Karo syrup!! To this day I don't care for the taste of maple syrup.
I like the discussion of CAPTCHA, of which I had never heard, even though I've used it.
Have a good day, everyone.
Musings
-My friend’s father worked in a potato chip factory that made Weaver’s Potato Chips in the morning which were great and more expensive. In the afternoon they put the very same chip into a generic Hinky Dinky (local supermarket) bag that sold for much less.
-Forbidden syrup
-Garage door openers, automatic lawn sprinklers and A/C make life tolerable!
-1/2” of rain and strong storms last night. My golf course was closed due to rain and wind damage and Hwy 30 I use to get there had power lines down on it in several places and was blocked off. More to come tonight.
A wonderful group of comments and a rare Garlic Gal siting.
I have not eaten an apple since 1978 when I had my second anaphylactic reaction, a story I have told before. I can still eat cooked apples and I volunteer to try all of the recipes mentioned if you wish to ship and get my unbiased opinion.
I think I have also mentioned that the boarding school I attended made, and still makes maple syrup from the countless trees on the property. The work is done by students with staff oversight and generally provides very good results. I always have some small bottles on hand. They do not produce for mass market.
The discussion of ASMR is also very inspirational to me, especially when I was 16 to 30 and falling in love 2 or 3 times each month. It was not a reaction to sexual stimulation, but to the five basic senses -Sight (Vision), Hearing (Auditory), Smell (Olfactory), Taste (Gustatory), and, Touch (Tactile). They could occur in combination or in conflict. An unappealing voice such as JULIA GARNER the fetching young actress in OZARK and DIRTY JOHN would be an example. These days I am down to once or twice a year.
A lovely XWD today from Mr. Bajcz! (Imagine having to explain that name over the phone!
"... and, finally, 'Z' as in 'Zebra'.")
Not all Profs hold PhDs. My doctorate is a DFA.
In the arts, many professors hold Masters as their "terminal degree"; their teaching and research are often focused more on practice than theory or criticism.
CAPTCHA almost did me in, but after perps led me to it, I recognized--vaguely--that I had heard of it. Nice to be able to read about it in Waseeley's excellent review.
I lived for many years in Richmond, the former CSA capital. It was a very different experience--living in a war-defeated city in our own country.
I learned a lot of history and came to a fresh understanding of how people (and their descendants!) respond to such a terrific, cataclysmic event.
I did my daily run in Hollywood Park, the old cemetery. It was always peaceful. I did a lot of my writing while resting on Jefferson Davis' grave.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals today--on the far side.
Speaking of WHEE (58A), today's main diagonal anagram (13 of 15 letters) tells us what to do when we either repeat that "slide"--
--or go for another round of hanky-panky (and don't mind all the "Judgy sound" around us).
Yes, in either of those circumstances, we are directed to...
"REPEAT WHOOPEE"!
I liked this puzzle. Hand up for not knowing SPY or MACOUN apples. There are far too many kinds of apples for me to try to remember. I got fooled by LCD at 62 across. ASAMI, if viewed as one word, looks as if it might be a Japanese word.
We're in the same camp as Garlic Gal with regard to SONOMA wine country, It's beautiful and they have some excellent wines, but it's a long, traffic-plagued drive. As she said, there are some good wines made right here in Santa Clara county.
Waseeley, your write-up was informative and entertaining. Thank you.
Speaking of vowels, "R" is a vowel in some Chinese words. The word for sun or daily is 日, pronounced simply "r". Japan, "the land of the rising sun," is 日本 in Chinese (and in Japanese), literally "the origin of the sun." Unfortunately (in my opinion) 日 is spelled in Pinyin as "ri," which I think is an abomination. I shall refrain from any further ranting about how Pinyin lacks any credible relationship to actual linguistics (phonetics) or any understanding whatsoever of the use of Western letters to represent Asian sounds.
By the way, the Swedish word for the Swedish language is Svenska.
Good wishes to you all.
Anonymous T, we dancers are into pranks. A dancer or two wraps TP around am easy-going caller as he stands there calling and he/she keeps right on with his schtick. I have seen this twice. It is not an everyday occurrence or it would not be remarkable.
At times during the dance callers try to have dancers meet their original partners and return with them to the "home' position. We sometimes switch partners when the caller is not looking so that he goes crazy trying to match us up and bring us home.
In a very experienced square two women dancing as a couple keep switching who is the leader and who is the follower. The dancers in that square can keep up, but the caller has to be very alert.
Since you need eight people in a square there may be a few left over dancers who are not enough to make a square. They jump in to take the place of someone who is already dancing in a square.
Hola!
So late to this lovely party because of a long telephone conversation with a follow-up e-mail arranging our next book club meeting which is going to be a social event, i.e., swim party.
Needless to say the solving of this puzzle dragged out throughout the morning and into the afternoon. I loved seeing CAPTCHA there!
And a big CSO to TONY!
SONOMA COUNTY is where I often visit or drive through.
Bill G., my thoughts were of you at the mention of Cornell. Where and how are you?
I love APPLES but have never heard of MACOUN. Granny smith are my preference for pies.
I read ANNA Karenina many years ago and was totally befuddled by the many Russian names.
Sad about the collapse of the condo in Florida which I just saw on the news.
I hope you are all doing well this summer day! We are overjoyed with the rain!
OMKeith:
What an interesting comment about Richmond. (Being dyslexic I not only see letters mixed up, but now I'm typing them!) Can you tell us more.
Thanks, Alex, for the lovely puzzle. and Bill for the tour.
I love ANNA Karenina, all 900 pages of it. Tolstoy can be brilliant but boring all at the same time. Anna’s suffering and courage (hardheadedness??) are wonderful.Russian farming, not so much.
SwampCat
Jayce ~
Very interesting, your notes on Chinese pronunciation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
"R" is maybe the most versatile letter in the western alphabet. There are at least 8 different pronunciations that fall under this one letter.
In American English, we recognize that "R" is often a vowel--
either unstressed, as in "butter" (commonly in "er" and "or" endings, a phoneme symbolized by a schwa with a lower case "r" tag = ɚ)
or stressed, as in the word, "word" (or "heard" or "burr" = ɝ).
~ OMK
Last time I played golf I SKIPped a ball through a pond right onto the green. Three putted for bogey
The reason I favor Macintosh apples is exactly the firmness and tartness. Perhaps by the time they get to Cali they've become mushy. Speaking of LA…
That Clippers vs Suns end of game was surreal. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory and five minutes extended to nearly a half hour in NBA time.
WC
Hi, Lucina ~
I'm afraid there isn't time or room to summarize my experience of Richmond VA. I loved the city as I got to know it more and better.
But I would say the chief lesson I took was that since the Confederate capital lost its standing as the leading metropolis of the Old South (and was largely destroyed by the fire set by Lee's retreating troops) it gradually recovered by emulating its victors--or its concept of the virtues that led the north to victory.
I don't know that we can generalize about all war-beaten cities, but it is certainly the case that Richmond has long since abandoned its self-image as a home for the Cavalier culture and mentality and has in many ways become more "Yankee" than the Yankees.
It has grown quite puritanical in personal affairs. Also strictly careful in money matters, like careful or "stingy" northerners, especially in municipal planning and budgeting. Its churches (I went around to different denominations) were quite strict in upholding personal responsibility, atoning for sins. (The Black churches were much more "comforting.").
I lived there throughout 1970s into the early '80s, and it was of course changing all through the time. This was the transition politically from Segregation and Democratic-led Jim Crowism to Integration and the new Southern Strategy that saw Republicans taking the racist lead.
Also the population was shifting from a white majority to a 50/50 Black/white balance. The city was just starting Black leadership, while the state remained generally white-dominated.
So, I can only say now...
The times, they are a-changin'.
~ OMK
OMK, very interesting about Richmond. Thank you for elaborating.
For some reason I could never get into Russian literature, although, contrarily, I like Russian music.
Macintoshes are my favorite apples for eating raw, firm, crisp and tart. Yum.
One of the things I found interesting in Richmond was its Monument Ave. Many large statues of Confederate military leaders on horses. All were positioned facing south as if in retreat, except that Lee was positioned facing north. All have been or will be damaged and/or relocated.
There are still dirt berms from the civil war around the airport. Not much to look at unless you have someone or something to guide you.
Thanks Lemonade for confirming my CAPTCHA suspicion!
Where we are you can get MACOUN or SPY apples. I do like Honey Crisp and Gala for eating and Granny Smith in recipes. One of my new favorites came out of research done at Washington State - Cosmic Crisp. Here is the story of it's creation:
https://cosmiccrisp.com/
There are not too many apple pies, kuchen, strudels that I haven't enjoyed.
But one of my favorite recipes is the Gold Hill Inn's Sour Cream Apple Pie.
https://theknow.denverpost.com/2019/06/19/gold-hill-inn-boulder/217303/
OMK, thank you for you’re comments on Richmand. Very interesting.
Late to the party due to strawberry picking, but I did enjoy this CW. Thanks Alex and waseeley.
Running out of charge on my iPad, but I did want to acknowledge the MAPLE CSO (yes I love it on my homemade waffles).
I also love SPY apples for making pies, but didn’t know MACOUN.
Good evening all.
Speaking of apples, strawberries and maple syrup, this recipe is a family favorite.
Peach French Toast
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
1 29-ounce can peaches, drained
12 slices French bread (3/4 to 1 inch thick)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
cinnamon
Mix brown sugar, butter, and water together; bring to boil for 10 minutes. Pour into a 9-by-13-inch pan. Layer peaches over syrup, then layer French bread on top. Mix eggs, milk, and vanilla well; pour over bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Refrigerate overnight.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more.
Inanehiker @7:30 PM Thanks for the Sour Cream Apple Pie recipe Nina. We found it in the link you posted and it sounds YUMMERS. We're going to give a try!
Thanks,
Bill
Moses Yoder @10:34 PM. Thanks Moses. This recipe sounds delicious!
Bill
OMKeith:
Thank you for that recap about Richmond. I have been there only once many, many years ago and I have only a vague recollection of tree lined streets. Your description evoked that memory.
Moses:
Thank you for the recipe. It sounds yummy.
I just binge watched two hours of The Golden Girls. They are soooo entertaining! I haven't laughed that hard in a long while.
Bill - you'll have to let me know how you like it!
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