Theme: Rhyming Time- The first word is a country, the second word rhymes with the first word.
16. Quito apron-like dress?: ECUADOR PINAFORE.
25. Sana'a citrus fruit?: YEMEN LEMON.
37. Suva car wash implement?: FIJI SQUEEGEE.
52. Bamako dog?: MALI COLLIE.
61. Yerevan flower?: ARMENIA GARDENIA.
Boomer here again, filling in another blogging gap. Today's constructor Jeffrey came to Minnesota in 2016 & 2017 for our local crossword tournament. Here's a picture. A brilliant wordsmith.
 |
| Left to right: George Barany, Jeffrey Wechsler, Victor Barocas, David Hanson, C.C., Andrew J. Ries, Chris Adams, Tom Pepper & David Liben-Nowell. |
This tournament was an incredible success as money was raised for charity. I could hardly believe how quickly the contestants solved the puzzles and I believe everyone in the above picture as well as others provided donated the puzzles to the hosts every year. I normally accompanied C.C. to the tournament in a historic and interesting old post office building in St. Paul. A great day was spent in Minnesota.
Across:
7. No: LACK OF.
13. Go places: TRAVEL. Also looking forward to the Graybar retirees get-together in Las Vegas next February. They have lots of buffets there.
14. Type of eyeglass spray: ANTI-FOG. I have several pairs of glasses for reading and such but I have never needed the spray.
19. Alt. spelling: VAR. Variation.
20. ORD postings: ETAS. I think this is Estimated Time of Arrival. Pretty sure it is not EXACT.
21. "Off with her head!" head owner: ALICE. Shame on the Queen of hearts. Very Mean.
23. Fed. power dept.: ENER. Energy. I have not heard too much
lately about the troubles that Texas had a few months ago. Our gas
company here in Minnesota said they were going to add a surcharge to our
bills in the fall.
29. Tubular hangers in delis: SALAMIS.
32. "Either thou, __ ... must go with him": Romeo: OR I.
33. Spanish Surrealist: DALI. Followed by 36. Legendary Spanish knight El __: CID.
34. Yoga surface: MAT. Lots of High School wrestling also. I always had to compete with someone my own size.
35. Grand in scale: EPIC.
41. When doubled, amply covered New Orleans classic: IKO.
43. Chowder, e.g.: SOUP. "Today is Wednesday! Wednesday SOUP! Is everybody Happy. All you Hungry children, come on eat up."
44. Set on fire: LIT. My sisters all live in California. No one seems to know where all the fires came from.
45. Bjorn with five Wimbledon wins: BORG.
47. "Bird Set Free" singer: SIA.
48. Live wires: DYNAMOS.
55. Rob of "9-1-1: Lone Star": LOWE.
56. Move about, as water in a pan: SLOSH. Move about in Minnesota in March and sometimes later.
57. Campus sports org.: NCAA. This year Baylor clipped Gonzaga.
I hope you filled out your bracket and pocketed a little money. We
always had these going at work. I never won.
60. "What's more ... ": AND.
66. Big name in electric shavers: NORELCO. When I first started
at Graybar (1970) we sold Norelco shavers to department stores. But we
gave it up. I guess it was not terribly profitable or the small
electrics went around us.
67. Gift of the gifted: TALENT.
68. Pulls a chair up to, as a table: SITS AT.
69. Slight amount: SMIDGE.
Down:
3. Winner's wreath: LAUREL. Ollie's buddy Stan.
4. Actress Gardner: AVA. She had 20 husbands, three of them hers, What kind of life is that?
5. __ Gardner, co-producer of "Moonlight" and "Selma," among others: DEDE.
6. Vending machine feature: SLOT. I know of other kinds of machines that have that feature.
7. Go unrenewed: LAPSE.
8. What the names of three contiguous U.S. states begin with: AN I. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa.
9. USPS delivery: CTN.
10. Source of Souls: KIA. Brand similar to Hyundai. And easier to spell.
11. Butcher's waste: OFFAL.
12. Pulled a switcheroo on, say: FOOLED. The clue of 8-Down FOOLED me.
15. Pained expression: GRIMACE. Golf is not so bad, but I have GRIMACED with the 15 pound bowling balls.
17. 2020 World Series team: RAYS. Tampa Bay lost to the Dodgers but it never seemed to be like a real World Series to me.
18. Food safety concern: E COLI.
22. City west of Tulsa: ENID. Tulsa was in the news this week for its history in 1921. I had never heard about it before.
24. Malek of "Mr. Robot": RAMI.
26. Attend to a spill: MOP UP. Our Twins have not had to MOP UP any of those "winning by 10 runs" games this year, but sometimes their opponents do.
27. One of a "Great" five: ERIE. I have only ever seen Superior and Michigan, but I am awed by the great lakes.
28. "__ done!": NICELY.
30. Rank above capt.: MAJ. I worked in a clinic with a MAJOR. I also read CATCH-22 where I think there was a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR. They get an oak leaf.
31. "I'm telling the truth!": IT IS SO. I played golf on Monday and missed every par putt I had.
35. Part of ERA: EQUAL.
37. Down in the dumps: FORLORN. This is the maiden all FORLORN That milked the cow with the crumpled horn that lived in the house that Jack built.
38. Garden base: SOIL. I call it Dirt.
39. Singapore Sling liquor: GIN. Never had a Sling. Sometimes I mixed it with Tonic.
40. End-of-list abbr.: ET AL.
41. PCs, originally: IBMS. International Business Machines made the big computers for companies. I don't remember that they were in the PC business.
42. Critter in old Qantas ads: KOALA.
46. Gadgets: GISMOS.
48. Ten: Pref.: DECA. So why is December our 12th month?
49. Complained: MOANED.
50. Renting alternative: OWNING. I was a renter until 1997. It
was not too bad. Then I became an owner. Bigger living and taxes to
pay, but it's an improvement.
51. Tranquil: SEDATE.
53. "SNL" alum Oteri: CHERI.
54. Pricey bar: INGOT. I invested in some silver coins but never owned an INGOT.
58. Muses may represent them: ARTS. Carney and Garfunkel?
59. Genesis guy: ADAM. Yesterday we visited A DAM that crosses the Mississippi here in Minnesota.
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| Boomer, 6/1/2021 |
62. Word with profit or weight: NET.
63. They, in French: ILS.
64. Obamacare, for short: ACA.
65. Quarterback Manning: ELI. I wonder why we have not seen him in Medicare commercials yet.
Boomer
FIRight with no problems, but my 'puter was starting to act buggy, so I restarted it. Which erased the CW I'd neglected to save! So after it restored, I decided to refill the grid from memory. Almost made it. Forgot LACK OF, which I'd had a hard time with originally, and for one of the themers, I entered ANATOLIA GLADIOLA. Hey, it fit.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of before -- DEDE, SIA, IKO-IKO. Had TRIVIA < ARCANA, SERENE < SEDATE.
GIZMOS is misspelt.
The contiguous states I had NEW (York and Jersey abut, and my geography is poor enough, I thought Hampshire might, too) When perps forced ANI, I tried to figure out which they were. ANIBAMA? ANILASKA? ANIZONA?
Also had to look up IKO-IKO, because I was sure that must be wrong!
What a year! A LACK OF TRAVEL
Had people descending to Scrabble!
No flight E.T.A.S
Made for humdrum days,
And an EPIC upheaval by the rabble*!
The EPIC tale of the hero, EL CID
Is quite different from what L.Ron** did!
And both overshadowed
How Lucius Sydney dabbled --
So nobody's heard of L. Syd!
*Which rabble, Black Lives Matter or White Supremacist, depends on your politics.
*L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.
{A-, B.}
I thought gizmo was misspelled as well.
DeleteGood Morning. Happy to have a go at the Wednesday puzzle. I usually do not take time to comment on Monday because I am too busy playing golf and missing putts. C.C. and I walked across the Mississippi yesterday. The Dam is there built by Northern States Power to provide electricity to many homes in the Minneapolis area. Also there is a huge water tower nearby which provides water to 90 % of homes in our North Suburban Area. I think the river is about a quarter of a mile wide at the point of the dam. The further South it goes the wider it becomes. We were in St. Louis once and I think the expanse was about 4 miles.
ReplyDeleteThe Twins finally lost to Baltimore last night. I think they have about 6 or 7 players on the injured list. It's gonna be a long season.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteGot the theme early, and it definitely helped with the solve. Didn't know who sang Bird Set Free nor who coproduced Moonlight, but the perps were solid. Thanx, Jeffrey and Boomer. (How could you forget the IBM PC? It was their decision to make it open-architecture, which allowed other companies to get into the game, and the personal computer age was born.)
Texas Power Problem: Without getting political, our state legislature decided to talk about the problem. And they did. So that takes care of things until the next time.
Not on Jeff's wave length. Catching on to the clever rhyming theme helped. Suva, Bamako, Yerevan were unfamiliar. Thankfully Quito and Sana tipped me off. I
ReplyDeleteI penciled in ANI, but needed Boomer to parse it.
I had only -B-S for IBMs. An ABC run for the M in MALI suggested IBMS, but I doubted IKO IKO. I never heard of it.
The chowder clue led me to look up chowder head which is not about soup, although we used to say, "You are full of soup."
Merriam Webster: Chowderhead is a mispronunciation of jolterhead, a derivative of the 16th-century insult jolt head. Before being extended to a thickheaded person (i.e., a blockhead), the term jolt head was used literally for a large, heavy head. The etymology of jolt head is obscure; the term is likely connected somehow to the jolt that means "an abrupt jerky blow or movement," but the exact nature of the connection is not known.
Canadian Eh! Your post about tea yesterday reminded me of my waitress days. Some ladies ordered tea with the tea bag on the side. By the time they got it, the water had cooled some. They dunked the tea bag in for 3 or 4 dips, barely coloring the water. We called such weak tea or coffee dishwater.
DO, I used to sit on several committees where all they did to address issues was to talk. We would circle back to the same subject month after month. I resigned.
Seems like Saturday came on a Wednesday this week. Huge DNF. Gave up after 37 minutes spent snd only about 1/3 filled. I had TRIVIA for 2D, NEW for 8D and LTR for 9D, all of which pretty much garbage up the entire North. I count ten (10) names in this CW. GIZMO is NOT spelled GISMO. I did not like this CW at all. (Grumble, grump). Boomer, thanx for the explanatory write-up, and all the work u put into it. I think I’ll finish filling holes today.
ReplyDelete19A VAR. Example, gizmo also gismo in many dictionaries and thesauruses,
ReplyDeleteUnclefred, GISMO is an accepted alternate for GIZMO. You can count on JW to fully research his content.
ReplyDeleteOn my puzzle, the clue for 37 down was left out and since I did not know Malek of "Mr. Robot" I had __jisqueegie at 37 across. I guessed FI and it was right, but really does anyone proofread anything these days? GRR
ReplyDeleteThat's the Good Ole AZ Republic for ya. Actually, the 37D clue starts on the line above, 35D, jumbled onto the end of ERA...
DeleteWay too many names again, but FIR. The theme was maddening/amusing as I trudged through it. Not as many directors, as I would have hated, so there’s that.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I hate question clues!!
DeleteAnon, in my paper 37D wasn't exactly left out, they missed the tab to the next line, so the clue was jammed in 35D.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of IKO IKO
8D would've taken a lot longer but I remember there used to be a Three-I League, nickname for the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, in minor league baseball.
FIR day and it seemed like Monday with Boomer's review (well done!) and the ease of filling in the grid. Thanks, Jeffrey. The theme helped, though I struggled some with getting the countries. First big slow down was entering mEyEr LEMON before understanding the theme. Put EqUAtOR and sardena (what?) but perps came to the rescue (and second cup of coffee!). I too wanted SErenE, OwenKL. And "hand up," lKO IKO was unknown to me too until Boomer's explanation. But all in all it was an enjoyable start to the day.
ReplyDeleteHope you all have a great day!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteLooked a SMIDGE wider than than high so counted the squares. Yep, a 16 X 15, so I knew Jeff had something special planned. Country rhymers. Cool. Got it all but had 'serene' before SEDATE. Delightful Midweek solve. FIR.
Forlorn - Akin to Dutch and L. German 'verloren'. Verloren zoon means prodigal son in Dutch.
Thanks for another fine intro, Boomer.
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeffrey for today's challenge. I discovered the theme at MALI COLLIE, on first pass thinking I'll never come up with the breed of an African dog. Ha!! Hand up for not knowing IKO IKO, but the KOALA made it so. OFFAL: Did you see Stanley Tucci's episode in the Roman Slaughterhouse District? It was certainly interesting. Sorry, I'm not licensed for puns.
Thank you, Boomer. When we were kids, "they" used to say you could step across the Mississippi in Minnesota. I always thought that was amazingly impossible as I grew up in Illinois, let alone after visiting New Orleans.
Have a sunny day. It looks like a beauty so far.
Anon @7:26 and billocohoes, I doubt that 37D was a proofreading error. My copy was fine, giving me FORLORN and the F. RAMI was all perps. The error must be due to the website or printer that was used.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it took me longer than a Wednesday puzzle should, I liked it because of the theme. And the names were "perpable."
More coffee? Just a skosh, please(for liquids usually). More pie? Just a smidge, thank you.
I thought verloren meant lost in German. Do you know this German folksong? My dad used to sing it.
In Lauterbach hab' ich mein' Strumpf verlor'n,
und ohne Strumpf geh' ich net heim.
So geh' ich halt wieder nach Lauterbach hin,
und hol' mir mein' Strumpf an mein Bein.
In Lauterbach, I lost my stocking,
And without my stocking I won't go home.
So I'll just go back to Lauterbach
and fetch me my stocking for my leg.
Mr Robot is back. I had slow going until I grok'ed the theme. I knew Quito but not the rest. No???
ReplyDeleteDo you remember NICELY, NICELY?
I can't believe I had les/ILS for 'they'
AN I fooled me completely. Yes, an FIR but not smooth and quick. Jeffwesch? For once I didn't check. The king of ARCANE clueing
IBM didn't have the Supply Chain setup which essentially was similar to Lego.
WC
I agree that much of the puzzle was slanted harder than a Wednesday, but the perps made it doable. I also know the big CSO to our Lousiana contingent IKO IKO would not have been so hard if it referenced JOCK-A-MO the creator's title. It has an interesting MUSICAL HISTORY .
ReplyDeleteI agree with D-O, how did you forget the IBM introduced and was the platform the PC?
I enjoyed the AVA and DEDE Gardner clecho. DORCAS GARDNER has won two Oscars as a producer, and continues to produce movies and TV shows.
KIA is owned by HYUNDAI ;and, the ARCANA are divided into the 22 trump cards of the Major Arcana and the 66 cards in the suits
My complete unknown was 1D. Rick who tours Europe on PBS:STEVES
"Iko Iko" & "Jock-a-mo fee no ah na nay"- those two songs get intertwined around Mardi Gras. I never knew the Dixie Cups did the song. But I also didn't know that a PINAFORE was a piece of clothing. Got it by perps. Working crossword puzzles lets you know your LACK OF knowledge about so many things.
ReplyDeleteSo it's Wechsler Wednesday Rhyme Time. Wasn't FOOLED by the easy theme fills but the proper names came through perps- STEVES, LOWE, RAMI, SIA, DEDE.
GISMOS- I can never remember if it's "Z" or "S".
OWNING- rent or own- one way or the other, you still pay the taxes. Bought my first house in 1974 and paid it off in 1977. Never borrowed another dime since then. But you really don't own your property; you rent it from the local government and pay them every year- taxes.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a smooth enough solve but not a typical JW theme. I thought Yemen Lemon and Fiji Squeegee were spot on, the others not as perfect. I loved the S food triple crown of Salads/Soup/Salamis. IKO, Sia, and Dede needed perps. I have only seen Gizmo, but as YR mentioned, variations allow for the S. CSO to the Florida folks at Rays.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a mid-week treat and thanks, Boomer, for pinch hitting. Always enjoy your Boomer humor.
Have a great day.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteJW had fun with this one! And so did I. I liked the rhyming countries.
IKO is unknown to me and I agree that GISMOS looks wrong but it is a variant.
Back in the days when I was in TRAVEL mode, I watched Rick STEVES intently for his recommendations on European tours, etc. He has encyclopedic knowledge of the travel industry.
One of my nephews named his baby Bjorn. It sounds a bit out of place in a Hispanic family. I had not realized he was such a fan of tennis.
NICELY done, Boomer! Thank you.
Everyone, have a fantastic day today!
CTN worked thanks to perps, but how is it "USPS delivery"?
ReplyDeleteJohn E, the USPS delivers CarToNs in my area. Thank you, Cynthia, our local USPS delivery person. About half of our A-to-Z deliveries arrive via USPS.
ReplyDeleteOlio:
ReplyDeleteHMS PINAFORE | Stratford Festival 2017
Bjorn means 'bear' in Sweedish
Lauterbach lies about 50 miles NE of Frankfort am Main. Many Pennsylvania Dutch ancesters came from that part of present day Germany, and spoke the Franconian dialects of that region.
Fjord sight: NORWAY DOORWAY
Yurt decoration: MONGOLIA MAGNOLIA
John E. CTN is an appreviation for CARTON, and that is what they often deliver.
ReplyDeleteI did forget to thank Boomer for his pinch hitting and JW for his middle of the week deviltry
Musings
ReplyDelete-Once I figured out that Jeffrey wasn’t looking for a specific ECUADORAN garment, I was off to the fun races!
-ALICE and NASA!
-We recently found the ANTI-FOG spray but now we don’t wear masks
-I heard IKO IKO recently and it lived in my brain for days!
-A former student’s talent was that he remembered the birthdate of anyone he ever met
-A real GRIMACE generator, eh Boomer?
-GISMO is an alt. spelling of GIZMO
-Visit the three contiguous I states? SIA could travel with PIA VIA a KIA from my driveway.
Reading everyone else's comments I guess it was not the CW being unduly difficult for a Wednesday, but just me. Maybe trying to do it when I first woke up, and before any coffee, did not help. Still....ten names? Not on the same wavelength as JW today.
ReplyDeleteYou were correct in your first assessment 🙂
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhen I click "preview" my comment disappears..hmmm. A Cornerite conspiracy? 😳
Long rhyming kloos made this kinda easy at first...BUT couldn't complete NO, and most of its perps. Then hit the "loo" and suddenly LACK OF hit me. which meant the USPS clue answer was CTN, carton? Think we fought about this veryashun (var.) last year.
'cept
🎼 Yes we have LACK OF bananas, we have LACK OF bananas, today!🎶
doesn't work 😆 but...heh
Also for most of the puzzle I read the clue as Santa's citrus fruit: 😳 (DEMONLEMON wha? could SANTA really be the "Church Lady's" ..SATAN?) Finally cleaned my glasses with ANTIFOG spray and saw the light.
Inkovers: serene/SEDATE, sopUP/MOPUP
head owner "Anne Boleyn" and "Mary Queen of Scots" wouldn't fit.
WEES: Thought they were GIzMOS? Know the song "Iko Iko" but the clue?
Kiddie's seats...LAPSE
Role of Ben at the Ponderosa....FORLORN
We left at intermission, the play was just... OFFAL
The Chairman's prehistoric ancestors: DYNAMOS!
Thanks Boomer
Have a nice Woden's day, all
Having a brain fart,
ReplyDelete7a, no: = lack of
My brain kinda sorta wantsta make sense of this
but it is just not coagulating.
I want to understand it, but no, there is a lack of understanding.
(Seriously)
Oh well,
in the spirit of Thumper...
What could be more delightful than a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle accompanied by a Boomer commentary? A total Wednesday treat in my book--thank you both for making this a real pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI got most, if not quite all, of the answers on my first try. And laughed when I got YEMEN LEMON and FIJI SQUEEGEE. I had mis-read the clue and thought it was SANTA'S citrus fruit, but the downs corrected that. Got the GARDENIA (I know my flowers) but Yerevan meant nothing to me. Nice to see CHERI Oteri in the puzzle. Lots of fun all around.
Neat poems, as always, Owen. Loved your pictures, Boomer.
Have a great day, everybody.
I used to Maintain an RCA 301 computer at the Vo Tech in Enid Oklahoma back in the 60's and 70's Went up there once a week. about a two hour drive, but I was young back then so it was not that bad of a drive. This was a little harder than last weeks Wednesday puzzle, but all of last weeks puzzles were easier. Boomer, Have yoou ever waded across the Mississippi?
ReplyDeleteWinning Wednesday workout. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed in good time and saw the rhyming theme. Arrived here to see it was a JW CW and am doubly happy to have done so well.
I was thankful for perps to give me some of the place names when I didn’t know the city.
Marie was getting her head off before ALICE. That made me remove and then reinsert OFFAL and GRIMACE.
I had wipe before MOP UP.
Anon and billocohoes. My newspaper messed up (joined) the 35 and 37D clues; it took me a while to parse🤔😮
I’m off for a massage AAH. Read you all later.
Wishing you all a great day.
Billocohoes, Yellowrocks & Canadian EH!. My delivered LAT paper (says the dinosaur) in Orange County CA had 37A missing and the sentence " ERA 37 Down in the Dumps" stuck in 35D, which kinda messed up both. I mean what is ERA37? But the crosses made everything OK.
ReplyDeleteJimmie
ReplyDeleteMy local daily morning paper just omitted the clues for 4,35, and 50 down. It left me guessing which quarterback they wanted for 65 down. I feel that this local paper is struggling to survive. It has slimmed down noticeably, the price has sky-rocketed, there are delivery problems, and proof reading has slacked off. I will miss it if it stops publishing.
Hard Wednesday and a tough slog. Eventually FIR. Not a fan of the puzzle, especially of ECUADOR PINAFORE, which doesn't rhyme, at least not in the same way as the other four long answers whose syllables all rhyme, in contrast to the one where only one of the three syllables rhyme.
ReplyDeleteI don't see USPS delivering a lot of cartons.
Hadn't heard of IKO IKO or SIA, but got them with perps.
Agree with others about GISMO, but given the relatively easy cross of SLOSH, I wasn't complaining.
Bob
CTN - USPS seems to deliver a lot more CTNs/pkgs than they used to. I think they have 'final mile' delivery contracts in cahoots with UPS, DHL, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn the past couple weeks, we have received medicine, English Marmalade, and sundries from various sellers.
I think the clue/answer was spot on.
Gismo is used, but not nearly as often as gizmo.
ReplyDeleteVocabulary.com - It worked perfectly as a lighter, too, till you pushed in on a little gismo on the side.
Piper, H. Beam
Look; you gotta press this little gismo, here, to let the action shut when there's no clip in, or when the clip's empty.
Dongen, H. R. van
I wonder why my puzzle printed from the LA Times website had 37D placed correctly when so many others had it wrong.
Terry, who was correct in what assessment? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteO my Gosh!
ReplyDeleteafter mowing the yard I took a look at
7a No:lack of
and it made perfect sense!
Then I looked at it again, & couldnt remember why all
of a sudden it made sense?
That is when I realised that the two letter word "no"
did not mean you cannot,
but that "no" having none!
I think I have found a way to solve these crossword thingies!
(now, where did I put that joint...)
typo correction:
ReplyDeletethat "no" meant having none...
FIR first thing (PDT) this morning. Presently "in the weeds" work-wise but s/b caught up later this afternoon. Thanks for pinch hitting today, Boomer.
ReplyDeleteWhen your themers are names don’t have your downs include a slew of names as well. This puzzle is a disastrous collection of proper names. I used to enjoy a J.W puzzle. Not so much since he's joined the name game.
ReplyDeleteRick Steves coul use a better haircut
ReplyDeleteSince the Albany Times-Union, AZ Republic, and LAT all had the same 37D error, it must have been a problem with the file they sent to the print editions.
ReplyDeleteIn Catch-22, MAJOR MAHOR MAJOR was the officer's name. He got along well with other officers when he was just a Captain, but then "a computer with a sense of humor" promoted him to MAJOR
I've walked across the Mississippi. It's a fun thing to do, and Itasca State Park is a beautiful place. A good way to spend a day if you are in northern Minnesota. The stone walkway they mention in the article is about 20' wide and 4 to 6" deep, IIRC. In other words, you'll get your feet/shoes wet, but it's not exactly wading.
ReplyDeleteItasca State Park
ReplyDeleteThis was another gem by JW.
Write-overs…SERENE/SEDATE.
IKO was new for me, as was STEVENS.
Ray O Sunshine….yes, I misspelled paisano for sure, eagle-eye! Hahaha.
I got my first haircut in 15 months today. More hair on the floor than on my head now, hahaha. And at this point I swear I will NEVER make a comment on how much hair care a woman does. Just respect now! What a pain in the (fill in the blank) it was to handle that mop. I grew my hair out back in the 70’s because, 70’s, but it was longer than that. And it takes so long to dry.
Now for the gym.
Jeffrey, I loved today's puzzle and FIR first thing this morning. The rhyming theme definitely helped with the solve. Like most of you, I DNK IKO, and had to deal with a little typo at 37 Down.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can complain about the theme answers including proper names. These are *country* names, people! You can fold with a little grace.
Lemonade's DNK was my favorite entry: Rick STEVES. DH and I like to watch him visit places we've been, or places we'd like to be. He's a nice looking fellow. If you don't like his haircut, you must be quite a looker yourself.
Boomer, your review was very entertaining. Really appreciate you pinch hitting. Look! I used a sports reference! Things I learn.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteScoot over Unklefred; JW beat me too - and on a Wednesday(?!?).
PKG at 9d didn't help me a lick.
Thanks JW. Liked the theme - it was fun. And so was learning some vocab from Boomer (IKO?, OFFAL?).
Thanks Boomer for stepping up to the plate for a Wednesday Write-up. Your expo salved my wounds.
WOs: GIzMO, tIA -> SIA, YEMEN mElON
ESPs: BORG (clued as Start Trek Next Gen and I would have gotten it :-))
Fav: I'll go w/ Rick STEVES - DW & I would listen to (and follow) his walking-tour podcasts when we were in Rome. Good memories.
ibid: 35 and 37d being mashed together in the Hou Chronicle.
{B+, B}
HG - funny, The Honeymooners' reference!
CED - Itsy's motivational speech is just what I needed :-)
D-O: LOL your post-legislative analysis of the Big Texas Power Outage. What a bunch of putzes / lapdogs.
Old Okie - I lived in Norman, OK for 5 years. DW called ENID a "weather town" 'cuz we only heard of it when tornadoes were happening :-)
//same with Wakita where Twister was filmed. A buddy studied at Severe Storms' Lab at OU; he loved that stuff.
PVX - I went a long while w/o a hair-cut too*... Looked like I belonged in Chicago [25 or 6 to 4] or maybe Lt. Columbo on a bad day :-)
Billy meets GIzMO, a Mogwai.
Cheers, -T
*DW said, "OK, risk it [hair cut]. You look ridiculous." around Thanksgiving.
Hi Y'all! Good start to the day with Jeffrey & Boomer & sunshine. Fun!
ReplyDeleteLast fills were squares 9 & 10. Could not come up with CK in LACKOF which wasn't acknowledged by my mind as NO. USPS delivery = CTN is something I get often but my brain didn't get it. Source of Souls wasn't God but at long last KIA.
Got the theme on the first one which helped on the others since I didn't know what country belonged to any of those cities except Quito was in S. America. Got enough perps to WAG each one. Thought the theme was very chuckle-worthy.
I DID know IKO IKO. I listen to the New Orleans' music legends the Neville brothers a lot and it is on their play list. Not one of my favorite songs, but an audience favorite in NOLA, or so I read.
DNK: SIA, DEDE, RAMI. Couldn't remember Rick STEVES name until I had a few perps. I used to watch him a lot back when I had only 3 TV channels. Duh!
Oh rats! AN I. I was parsing it as one word and like others apparently couldn't think of any states that started ANI.
My brother worked for IBM when they developed a PC but sold the rights to it because the higher echelon couldn't believe regular people would ever want to use a computer. My brother couldn't believe those computer snobs would be that financially dumb.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIR but with a few W/O’s: SERENE/SEDATE; ARCANE/ARCANA; LTR/CTN; SHERI/CHERI
Cute theme; thank you Boomer for filling in and for the various explanations
I’m guessing the reason for the “blended” clues (35 and 37 down with no separation) must have to do with the space each printed paper has to SLOT in the puzzle. A 16x15 is a column wider and may have contributed to the problem
Thanks for the CSO/pun Ray-O!
For those of you who have ever eaten at a well-known breakfast diner, here is a Moe-ku with its nickname as the play-on-words:
Vultures eat breakfast
At their favorite diner:
The OFFAL Waffle
When I was still working, the nearby Waffle House lost it's illuminated "W," becoming the less alluring, but more accurate, "affle House."
ReplyDeleteOops -- its.
ReplyDeleteOk, y'all may clown around but The Waffle House provides important information during disasters.
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
The first theme answer I filled was YEMEN LEMON and I laughed out loud. And, since I knew Yerevan (my granddaughter spent a year there studying) it was not hard to figure ARMENIA GARDENIA. Fun! So, on the whole I liked this puzzle. Some clues and answers I didn't even see because the answers were already filled in. I didn't know IKO IKO at all.
ReplyDeleteNames? Let's see:
ALICE
DALI
El CID
Björn BORG
SIA
Rob LOWE
Rick STEVES
AVA Gardner
DEDE Gardner
RAMI Malek
CHERI Oteri
ADAM
ELI Manning
That's 13.
Good wishes to you all.
I have heard of nine in that list. The other four p!us iko iko, Suva, Bamako, and Yereven were unfamiliar. Thank you, perps.FIR, but too many proper nouns.
ReplyDelete44. Set on fire: LIT. The tense fooled me for a while.
ReplyDelete"She had 20 husbands, three of them hers" made me LOL!
Grimace. Who knew they have their own wiki?
My Dad, who grew up on the lakeshore in Wisconsin, retired to become a beachcomber in Oregon. He said it felt like home, because the Pacific looked almost as big as Superior!
"DECA. So why is December our 12th month?" Because the New Year used to be the ides of March, until some guy named Julie changed it. But the ides got their revenge!
YR, d-o, et al. If GISMOS had been clued as "Gadgets that are an example of 19a" [VAR], I wouldn't complain. But I still say GISMOS is spelt W-R-O-N-G!
Chorus of Iko, Iko written out:
Iko, iko, un-day (Oh, oh-oh)
Jock-a-mo fee-no ai na-né
Jock-a-mo fee na-né
I wonder what that translates into, and in what language.
Ray, I also thought of bananas.
OKL - Thank you for linking the song IKO IKO. Turns out I know that song!!! DW taught it to the Girls for Mardi Gras. I always thought it was "I Go, I Go" (for "I say"...). My learning for the day is done :-)
ReplyDeleteWC - 'Stros / Bo-Sox was a nail-biter in the 9th but the Home Town Team prevailed.
Cheers, -T
OKL - IKO IKO meaning.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's mostly Cajun Creole w/ two Native American words thrown in. I honestly don't know if this is true or not, but there you are.
Cheers, -T
Re. 8 Down: 3 contiguous western states also begin with A, N, & I — Arizona, Nevada, & Idaho.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of the constructors ...... so many people that I have shaken my fist at for so long! In a good natured way, naturally ;)
ReplyDelete