Good morning, cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with a canine friend to celebrate the first day of July with a puzzle that might have been more appropriately published on the first day of October. Go figure. Of course, jumping into a pile of loose leaves is fun at any time of the year. Just ask any Labrador Retriever.
Today's constructor is David Poole. David has previously had several puzzles published in both the L.A. Times and the N.Y. Times.
At four places within today's grid David took the letters of the word LEAF and scrambled them. It seems that David just could not LEAF WELL ENOUGH ALONE.
To make it even more interesting, David starts each sequence with a different one of the four letters. Those are my words. His, or, perhaps, the editor's, are found at 57 Across:
57 Across. Kind of paper . . . and a hint to a sequence, each starting with a different letter, found in four other puzzle answers: LOOSE LEAF.
In any event, here are the four theme answer:
17 Across. Pub purchase: YARD OF ALE We saw YARD used this way in a recent puzzle. That might have helped with the answer.
26 Across. Standard for a high seas villain: PIRATE FLAG Standard, in this case meaning a flag used for identification.
35 Across. Property insurance phrase: PERSONAL EFFECTS I have most often heard the phrase used when someone is being put in, released from, jail as in "Here are your PERSONAL EFFECTS."
48 Across. 1996 Gere thriller: PRIMAL FEAR This one could be interpreted as a slight break in the sequencing as the A in PRIMAL also works to jumble LEAF.
Here is how everything looks in the completed grid:
. . . below are the rest of today's clues and answers:
Across:
1. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" quintet: IAMBS. Dictionaries, and probably my High School English teachers, say that IAMBS are metrical feet consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.
6. Vietnamese soup: PHO. Still working on the correct pronunciation.
9. Country album?: ATLAS. Cute clue. An ATLAS could be described as an album filled with maps of the world's countries.
14. Sidewalk artist's supply: CHALK. Some of the CHALK is washable.
15. Runner's circuit: LAP. Sometimes clued in reference to sitting down or standing up,
16. Wince or flinch, say: REACT.
19. Follow: ENSUE. An answer that often follows crossword puzzle clues.
20. Produce providers: GROCERS. Produce as in fruits and vegetables.
22. Prefix with angle: TRI. RECTangle was not going to work out.
23. Me-time resorts: SPAS.
29. Part of UCLA: LOS. The University of California at Los Angeles. Neither University nor California nor Angeles was going to fit. I did more than one year of undergraduate and two years of graduate work at UCLA. I also taught for a while at the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning.
30. Trip letters: LSD. This could have been AAA or another travel-related answer but, as answered, we're talking about an Acid Trip. LySergic acid Diethylamide.
31. Onion rolls: BIALYS. Brought to the United States by Polish Jewish refugees in the late 1800s. Many know of the onion rolls. More, likely, know of Max.
Max Bialystock
32. Asia's __ Mountains: ALTAI. This is known to me only through it's occasional appearance in crossword puzzles.
34. Four-time Emmy winner Woodard: ALFRE.
Alfre Woodard
41. Kick off: START. The original use (the first kick in a football match) apparently dates from 1857. The first use in the figurative sense dates from 1875.
42. You might hang one if you're lost: U TURN.
43. "Get lost!": BEAT IT. Also, a song by Michael Jackson. This marine mammal prefers Weird Al's version.
Side By Side
45. Up to, in ads: TIL. Short for unTIL.
47. Hot __: TEA. A three-letter fill in the blanks clue. Hot AIR? Hot TUB? Hot ROD?
50. Not superficial: DEEP.
Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey
51. It may be checked at a station: OIL. When was the last time someone at a gas station checked your oil or cleaned your windshield?
52. Computer building game: SIM CITY. There are a series of SIM games. Among them are Sim Ant, Sim Earth, Sim Town, and, of course, SIM CITY. SIM as in SIMulation.
54. Go out at night?: SLEEP. The question mark tips us off that this answer will be a pun or some other unexpected usage.
61. Justice Kagan: ELENA. Of SCOTUS.
62. "Lou Grant" production co.: MTM. Lou Grant (Ed Asner) was the eponymous character in a television series produced by Mary Tyler Moore's production company. A spoof both in name and in logo. The cat would meow instead of roar like the MGM lion.
63. 2011 title cowboy chameleon: RANGO.
64. "SOS" and "Help!": SONGS. SOS is an ABBA song and Help! was written and recorded by the Beatles. I could use a bit of help on this one. Hands up for those who want to hear the ABBA song. Okay. Now, hands up for the Beatles. Not even close.
65. Red __: SEA. Another three-letter fill ion the blanks clue. Red Fox (not the comedian)? Red Ant? Red Dye? Red Sox? Red Hot?
66. Last part of many a book: INDEX. Appendix was too long,
Down:
1. Needing salt, maybe: ICY. As in putting salt on ICY roads.
2. "Now I get it!": AHA. AHA is an exclamation of understanding, realization, recognition or invention. OHO expresses surprise.
3. Blemish: MAR. From the Old English merran meaning to hinder or to waste.
4. Campus units: Abbr.: BLDGS. There are many other locations for BuiLDinGS. But a campus can, indeed, made up of same.
5. Hershey toffee bar: SKOR.
6. Composed: PLACID.
7. More healthy: HALER.
7. More healthy: HALER.
8. In working order: OPERABLE.
9. Modern art?: ARE. Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Where ARE you, Bae?
10. Highest Scrabble tile point value: TEN. The Q and the Z. There are only one of each.
11. In conclusion: LASTLY.
12. Luxury cars since 1986: ACURAS. Honda Motor Company's line of upscale automobiles. Other than oil, fluid and filters my 2011 RDX has required on one minor repair.
13. "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" author William: STEIG. This was new to me but the perps filled it in. If the clue had been "Shrek" I would have gotten it more quickly.
18. Dandy dressers: FOPS. Men who are concerned with their appearance in an affected and excessive way.
21. Leave zip for a tip: STIFF. The use of the idiom ZIP (meaning zero, nothing) in the clue indicates that the answer will also, most likely, be idiomatic. To STIFF someone means to not pay for something for which it is expected that you will pay.
23. High-five, e.g.: SLAP.
24. Gondolier's implement: POLE.
Photo By MM
25. Subj. for Neil deGrasse Tyson: ASTR. Although Neil deGrasse Tyson is eminently worthy of our esteem, using ASTRonomy as fill is a Punt!
27. Severe scolding: EARFUL. Another idiomatic expression.
28. Admiral's command: FLEET. Hmmm. It might have been an instruction to a subordinate. No, it is what the Admiral is in command of.
30. Ray who played "Shoeless Joe" Jackson in "Field of Dreams": LIOTTA.
33. Indian tea region: ASSAM. With two A's and two S's ASSAM is a five-letter word favored by constructors.
34. Genre modifier: ALT. There are many, many ALTernative music genres.
36. Manicurist's targets: NAILS. What is the hardest part about making a manicure joke? You really have to nail it.
37. Small-theater movies: ART FILMS.
38. Like cat videos: CUTE.
39. Genealogist's chart: TREE.
40. Pic: SNAP. As in to SNAP a photograph.
43. Scrubber brand: BRILLO. There was a time when almost all households were either BRILLIO or SOS (but not as used at 64 Across).
44. Astronaut Collins, first female Space Shuttle commander: EILEEN. Without the qualifier, Michael would have been a good, if unworkable, guess.
45. Airport sharer with Seattle: TACOMA. SEATAC airport used to be famous for spending a lot of time getting through security. Perhaps things have changed.
46. Crocus cousin: IRIS. Has anyone named their child Crocus?
48. Runway array: POSES. As in modeling clothing. A not-too-difficult attempt at misdirection. Still, something airport-related was the first thing to come to mind.
49. Chew the scenery: EMOTE.
50. Musician who was the 2016 Literature Nobelist: DYLAN. This might seem like a good place to insert a song by Robert Allen Zimmerman (aka Bob DYLAN). However, I am going to go with my favorite Nobel Prize Awards Dinner moment.
Richard P. Feynman
53. Actress Hatcher: TERI.
55. U.K. part: ENG. ENGland, Scotland, Wales and the northern portion of Ireland comprise the United Kingdom.
56. Faux __: PAS. Could this still be considered to be a French lesson? It has become pretty mainstream in the English language.
58. Conclude: END. Too bad this was not the final clue although that has probably been done.
59. What candles may measure: AGE. After a while, putting one candle for each year on a birthday cake becomes a fire hazard. But not for this three-year-old.
60. Kit's parent: FOX. A female fox is called a Vixen, a male is called a Dog Fox or Tod and a baby fox is called a pup, cub, or Kit.
Photo By MM
Have A Great Independence Day Weekend, Everyone !
____________________________________________________________
58 comments:
DNF. The NW corner stumped me. As I write this, I know it's not a pAil OF ALE, but not 1a _A__S, 1d _C_, 3d _A_, nor 4d _L_GS.
The gimmick seems very lame. Besides a sequence of random letters with no particular significance, the clue even had to specify different initial letters to keep the last one as LFEA and not the otherwise acceptable ALFE.
Been away from the puzzle for a bit to record the above, and upon returning saw ICY, and the rest just fell into place without further recourse to red letters!
I do note the scattered letters in EArFuL, ALFrE, FLEet, ArtFiLms, ELenA. Several other words with just 2 of the target letters are just collateral effects, I deem.
I also note that with ASSAM and TEA in the puzzle, I'm surprised the reveal wasn't "a way to brew a beverage without bags".
Never heard of BIALYS, nor (as normal) a couple of the proper names.
farmERS < GROwERS < GROCERS.
A connoisseur from ASSAM
Said, "An expert on TEA, I am!
Brew it LOOSE LEAF,
Or in bag, let it steep,
And I'll praise it in poetic IAMBS!"
A PRIMAL FEAR upon the DEEP,
A PIRATE FLAG will make dread seep
Into the bones
Of Davy Jones,
And interrupt his watery SLEEP!
{B+, B+.}
Good morning!
Of course, d-o failed to read the full reveal clue. Of course, d-o failed to find the theme. No news there. But d-o got 'er done in good time, so life is good. Enjoyed the outing David, and our Picard-photo-bug-in-training, Mal-Man. (Cute kittens.)
So does "washable chalk" easily wash off the sidewalk? Or is it wash-resistant? Inquiring minds want to know.
White rabbit, white rabbit. Yes, not only is Joseph giving a wonderful write-up, but he has highlighted his own photographic skill. Well done!
Thanks for the tip about manicure jokes.
ALTAI always requires a deep dive into the memory banks and EILEEN COLLINS requires perps to get going, but I am sure HG NAILED it.
Have a safe and joyful holiday weekend; thank you David and MalMan
I read a bio of John Wooden whose UCLA Bruins ruled college bball from '64-'75.
Neil de Grasse is known for ASTRology? Oh, duh.
I actually conjured up LIOTTA from just the L
And here are the twins: IRIS and Crocus. Any of you golfers ever use krokies to hold their glasses tight?
Lots of unknown P&Ps but all perpable.
WC
Hi Y'all! A challenge but fun, David P. Great expo, MalMan.
Got the theme after the reveal, but thought it was too simplistic to be correct. DUH!
Got LIOTTA from the bottom perps.
The NE corner stumped me. I had only TEN, TRI & FLAG. Never heard of STEIG or BIALYS. Couldn't think of ACURAS or LASTLY. ARE? ARE? Good grief! Thank you red-letters.
Other DNK: ALTAI, ALFRE, RANGO, ASSAM, EILEEN, & Neil DeGrasse. I'm shocked I filled it as well as I did.
This was a puzzle that seemed more puzzling at the start, but came together quite nicely. I didn't think the BLDGS was going to be right - I thought it would be a more college related answer but perps filled it in!
BAGELS became BIALYS. STEIG took perps.
Thanks MM for a fun blog - enjoyed the Weird Al link, and to David for the puzzle.
Happy Canada Day for all our Canadian Cornerites!
Dear C.C., a belated happy birthday to you and thanks for all you do.
I didn't get back to the comments yesterday after my early morning post. Went back & tried unsuccessfully to read it now. Glad to see Barry's still going strong.
We are having monsoon weather here for the past few days. Never have seen so many days of pouring rain. My eyes are bothering me so can't read the Corner as well as I want. I'll go use the drops then try again later. Hate to miss out on all the news.
I meant to add, A-*2 on Owen's l'icks.
Another A on MaloMan for gracing us or should I say his Rabbit* Redux
WC
*Anybody read those bioks?
STEIG was unknown, had to erase PIRATE FLAN, which would be a sea villain's dessert
BIALYstock, from which the roll and Max's name derive, is a city and district in Poland
Easy to remember the pronunciation of PHO (fuh) because the morality police refused to let a Vermont restaurant name itself PHO Q.
FIR but wasn't sure why ARE was the answer. ATLAS kinda made sense to me so I kept the A. I too had GROwERS first, OwenKL. Another sequence I tried was bag/OIL, thinking of a train station though I have usually schlepped my bags onto the train myself. And I wanted to party instead of go to SLEEP, but perps cleared that up. Got the theme easily after the reveal. Thanks, David, for a good Thursday puzzle. Thanks, MalMan, for explaining everything and for sharing your photos.
Yes, Rabbit, Rabbit, another month has flown by. Hope you all have a good start to July!
Good morning everyone.
Got it all without aid, but was lucky with the BIALYS and RANDO WAGs. FIR. Thought the theme clue was clumsily worded. MM's explanation was a bit better. Nevertheless, the theme fill itself consisted of known phrases, and perps were generous.
STIFF - If service is so bad that a server is worthy of a zip tip, it's time to talk to the manager and get their ACT changed. The internet provides easy access to the chains' corporate offices for complaints, and many will contact you personally to make things right.
FLEET - The Navy's numbered FLEETS are each commanded by a Vice Admiral. Even nos. are used for the Atlantic and Med. areas; odd nos. are used for the Pacific and Indian Ocean commands.
Happy Canada Day to Canadian Eh!.
Musings
-BIALYS, ALFRE and STEIG added some uncertainty along with the fun theme
-A real post 1918 challenge for ATLAS makers
-My grandson got accepted into UCLA but the cost prompted him to say, “You have to be either very rich or very poor to go there”
-Knowing Max BIALYstock gave me some confidence in this unknown bakery item
-My friends barely OPERABLE junker of the 50’s caused him to say, “Fill up the OIL and check the gas”
-Joe, did you see my hand go up for ABBA? Nice job anyway! :-)
-STIFFING hard working waitstaff for a poorly made meal makes no sense
-AGE – Any compliments I get now as a 74-yr-old man have “for a man your age” appended
It took me a bit, and figuring out the theme early on really helped.
Thank you for the modern art-> ARE explanation. Oh! I get it.
Some very tricky clues in today's puzzle but I enjoyed them (once I figured them out). I've played too many if the SIM games and offshoots (most recently Surviving Mars where you build domes for your explorers).
Now I have the song by Michael Jackson "BEAT IT" running through my mind (and "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Eat it!")
It was a difficult finish today. And it was a FIW. The theme answers were easy but STEIG was an unknown- I guessed STEIN- and didn't double-check my work. At least billocohoes didn't like his FLAN. Did I see the theme? NO.
PIRATE FLAN- a dessert on the high seas. Other unknowns filled by perps were ALFRE, LIOTTA, BIALYS, EILEEN, & RANGO. I'd seen RANGO & SIM CITY in puzzles before but didn't know them; the other three relied completely on perps.
BEAT IT, get lost, drop dead, close the door from the outside,...LEAF plural without the S.
ATLGranny wherefore ART thou.
Gary- my grand niece was accepted to many schools (UCLA, USC, & many others) but the cost was insane. My nephew told her she could borrow and never get out of debt or take one of the full scholarships she'd been offered. She took the latter. Currently working oh a PhD at Washington State, which gave her a scholarship.
Don't enjoy stand-alone anagrams (don't really see the point) so don't like seeing them as the theme in a crossword puzzle (though I guess if you enjoy them it's double the fun.
Don't believe in stuffing service people unless they overtly cross the line - would not like being docked pay for honest mistakes or the rare (hopefully) off day.
Stiffing not stuffing - autocorrect to the non-rescue.
Good Morning:
Thanks to Rich for no circles which would have lessened the challenge and suspense considerably, IMO. Enjoyed the tricky cluing and the fun duos: Sea/Tea, Slap/Snap, Deep/Sleep, Alt/Altai, and Emote/Art Films (Hi OMK). I also liked Pirate Flag crossing Fleet. (Hi, Spitz). I had Air before Oil and needed perps for Altai and Steig. CSO to Moi at Acura (1988) and Eileen, my older sister whose legal name is Noreen, but that’s a long story. Interesting to see the complete U Turn again.
Thanks, David, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, MalMan, for the entertaining review and visuals. Although I’m a canine lover, I enjoyed the feline follies video very much. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos.
Happy Canada Day, CEh! 🇨🇦
Have a great day.
Malodorous Manatee Thank you for yet another amusing and illustrated review. Fun to see Feynman at his Nobel Dinner. LEAF theme helped a tiny bit with the solve.
Good to see LOS Angeles featured today. We were just in LOS Angeles for almost a week as DW got her passport renewed and we were having construction at our new home and asked to stay away.
Here are a few highlights of our LOS Angeles visit: LA County Museum of Art - Koreatown - Angels Flight Funicular - The Last Bookstore - Grand Park - Temescal Canyon Hike to Skull Rock.
We did not get to UCLA this time. But my father got his Cell Biology PhD there in the 1950s and has photos from that.
Tomorrow I go in for surgery for an inguinal hernia. Usually not a big deal. But this is the third time in the same location. The surgeon says it is a lot of extra work for him, but he assures me I will be OK. Wish me good luck!
I beLEAF that I did not figure out the theme. Interesting puzzle otherwise with some different fill. Great tour by MalMan.
One WO today, FARMERS before GROCERS.
If you've ever lived in or near New York City, you should know what a BIALY is. It is not a Bagel, even though it has a resemblance to one.
I never heard of William STEIG, but I am familiar with STEIG Larsson who wrote the "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" which is part of the Millennium trilogy of crime novels.
I knew ELENA but not EILEEN and luckily RANGO was filled in by perps before I got to the clue.
Happy Canada Day, CanadianEH.
Have a great day everyone.
In order to "harden" a near end of the week puzzle the constructor introduced lots of "either-you-know-it-or-you-don't" proper name clues: 2016 musician Nobelist (didn't even know there was a music category), Emmy winner Woodard, Author STEIG, a cowboy chameleon. (wasn't "Rango" about a freed slave cowboy trying to help his wife? sorry that was "Django")...anyhoo ended up with an inky mess, FIR, but not a pretty site 🥺
I had no working neurons left to parse the cryptically described theme...was looking for types of paper.🙄
OPERABLE, (amenable to surgical intervention)
I haven't seen a station attendant check OIL for decades. Liked the misdirection on SOS (near BRILLO) and Help!, as well as country album and modern art. How is a SNAP a pic?.. you can SNAP a picture but one is a verb, the other a noun.🤔 (2 snaps down on that clue).
I remember chalk artists who would draw elaborare reproductions on European sidewalks receiving their donations as they sketched knowing with the next rainfall their work would disappear
When I was a teen, "ART FILMS" were movies we had to sneak into... if you get my drift
🙊
Inkover: pint/YARDOFALE, stein/STEIG...Aha! I remember seatac from previous puzzles..WRONG! TACOMA ...cat videos: "dumb" wouldn't fit.
That last slasher movie was even ____ than the first...GROCER.
The inventor or Vietnamese soup, ____ Pas....PHO
Gondoliers' Eastern European Aide....POLE
Blind man's buff shout after corneal transplants...ICY
Happy Canada Deh 🇨🇦 Canada Eh!
I liked the puzzle. The reveal just zipped right past me. I needed MM's explanation. Still not a fan of the theme, but I loved all the misdirections.
With our large Jewish population here we used to see bialys. Not so much these days. (Notice that the plural is not -ies.)
Link text
Yard of ale was a gimme, having seen it recently in the LA puzzles.
Where ART thou, Romeo?
Modern, Where ARE you, Romeo?
William Steig wrote Shrek and many children's books.
In a totally different genre, Steig Larsonn wrote The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and The Girl Who Played with Fire, among others.
I just had my 5000 mile oil change in my new "to me" used car after nine and a half months. The next change will come around much more quickly. Toyota's very busy service center is so impersonal, I will use my local mechanic next time.
I used to tip well at our breakfast spot. There was one waitress who was very unfriendly to us. After months, I began tipping her only $1. She must have complained to the other waitress and soon saw her solution. She became very friendly with us and I began tipping her well. Problem solved, no need to get her in trouble with the boss.
OTOH, at a different diner, when one of the waitresses was indifferent and incompetent, some other patron must have complained. After that she paid attention and did well. I had gone the meager tip route with no success.
Spitz...
The grosbeaks have been showing up at the feeder. Also saw a mamma bluejay with two large chicks who kept begging her for food instead of pecking at the suet cake themselves. She refused and they finally realized if they wanted to eat they'd better start pecking.
I know it should be wherefore ART thou?
SNAPS is short for snapshots.
"Wherefore art thou Romeo"..Wherefore = why
Juliet is asking "Why are you Romeo?"..someone from a family who is at odds with her family.
Fun Thursday puzzle, David--many thanks. And always enjoy your commentary, MalMan, thanks for that too.
Nice to have a puzzle start with IAMBS, even if we didn't get a lot of poetry to follow.
Also enjoyed seeing ALFRE Woodard and ELENA Kagan turn up today. Oh, yes, and TERI Hatcher and EILEEN Collins--lots of cool ladies today. But had no idea that "SOS" and "Help!" were SONGS.
Have a great summer month coming up, everybody.
Struggled to FIR in 34. NW was a real problem, since I put PINTOFALE which really made for puzzling perps. “Now I get it!”: aha, oho, ahh, ??? Couldn’t think of anything ending in “i”. “Needing salt, maybe” also stumped me for a long time. Salt as a flavor led me nowhere. Of my 34 minute struggle, 10 of that was in the NW. Also DNK ALTAI or RANGO. “Modern art” was a clever clue. So thanx, DP for the mental workout. And thanx MM for the wonderful write-up.
Thanks for the Wherefore explanation, Ray. If I may, sort of, return the favor: Bob Dylan can be described (as he was in the clue) as a musician, but he won the prize for Literature.
Hola!
Greetings from home! I am here temporarily to check e-mail and do laundry which is now hanging outside to dry. It will soon be finished and I'll return to Mark's. I thought the A/C repairman would be here today but they rescheduled to Saturday so I contacted another who will be here tomorrow. I sincerely hope! The news reported that A/C repair people are extraordinarily busy and it is understandable with our over 100 degree temps. My unit is 25 years old so I hope it still has some life left in it.
I liked this puzzle. Thank you, David Poole. And thank you, MalMan, for your expanded version.
I first heard of BIALYS on the stage play, The Producers. Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane were in the Broadway production I saw.
As a retired teacher I'll take a CSO at LOOSE LEAF, something with which I am supremely familiar. I even have recipe books in that style.
CSO to Sptiz at FLEET. Have you ever told us your rank? Now I'm curious.
I've never heard of SIM CITY but ART FILMS and other perps filled it.
As a literature lover, IAMBS speak to me.
ALFRE Woodard is a wonderful actress and married, I believe, to actor, Courtney Vance.
Well, time to check on the laundry and return to my guest quarters. It is so nice to read you all. Please stay well and stay cool.
Happy Independence Day to us!
Nice pics, Picard. Is there one where you're standing on skull rock?
I wonder what % re reorganized "Help" as a song and which % SOS? Beatles were my goto station on Sirius since majority listenable >65
WC
This Thursday grid had some crunch.
However, no write-overs today.
Lucina, if you have a 25 year old AC I would wonder why you are fixing rather than replacing…the energy savings with the new units can be substantial, never mind the new warranty. But maybe your unit is efficient, although at 25 years I wonder how efficient it could be.
FLN…Ray O Sunshine…thanks for the accurate reading of my post. I thought I was very clear. I still wonder how hard it is to GOOGLE anything, even if you are tech-shy. I mean, if you can figure out how to post up a blog…
Who’s AVX? I was thinking a typo, but the A and the P are literally at opposite ends of the keyboard.
The Yankees are again unwatchable. Plus, ever since the pitching inspections it appears Chapman just cannot throw.
See you tomorrow.
Owen, I liked your tea-drinking poet this morning.
MalMan, your Family Tree joke cracked me up.
Hope you have an unproblematic procedure tomorrow, Picard.
And, Happy Canada Day, CanadianEh!
Ray-O - - @1148 - - We haven't seen any grosbeaks yet. When we do, it is usually for a day or two. They always seem to be on the lam. We get a few bluejays to our sunflower seed feeder but they seem to be top-heavy for the roost, which is more suited to cardinals, finches and sparrows.
Lucina @ 1219. My rank is commander.
Good luck with your A/C repair.
Ref. Lucina, 12:19
Alfre Woodard m. Roderick Spencer 1983
Courtney Vance m. Angela Bassett 1997
Lucina @ 12:19 ~ Your 25 year old A/C seems to be an anomaly by today’s standards of product longevity. The one I just had replaced was only 5 1/2 years old with usage of probably 4 months each year, and that one replaced the original unit which was 12 years old. I’m fully expecting the furnace to be next. On the positive side though, my Maytag washer and dryer are almost 20 years old with nary even a hiccup of trouble. Good luck tomorrow!
I liked the puzzle -- found it challenging but gettable. Never heard of Stieg,Alfre or Rango. At least no Harry Potter,sports,or Frozen clues.
Fun PZL today.
EZ PZ, but delightful anyway. Thanks to Mr. Poole!
Started with a hiccup. Had to think twice about how to squeeze the six-letter SONNET into a five-letter fill.
Oh, yeah, IAMBS.
Even when it should be a breeze, "rough winds do shake the darling buds of May...."
Thanks for the shout-out, Irish M!--although I am not sure how ART FILMS connects to moi.. (Maybe I have been guilty of EMOTing sometime-or-other...)
~ OMK
Robert, good luck with your surgery. I had that same surgery once, and hope to, never again.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIW; my Natick was DEEP/DYLAN/RANGO/SNAP. Not a Natick; more like most of E Massachusetts! WO’s surrounded BIALYS as it took perps to make that word and its spelling fit. I also had OCELLO/BRILLO.
Thanks MM for the fun explanations, pics, and videos.
Moe-ku:
Admiral’s command:
“For those with constipation,
Be one, with the FLEET”
Dang, I couldn’t properly link a picture in my Moe-Ku … oh well, you probably got my drift! 🤡
Yes, C-Moe, it's coming down wind as we speak.
Pretty much WEES. Some good stuff in this puzzle, such as the clue for UTURN, and some not-so-good stuff, such as HALER, ASTR, and BLDGS. My FARMER quickly went the way of the buggy whip as the GROCER has come to be seen these days as the source of our produce.
No comma in "Wherefore art thou Romeo?". Ray-O-Sunshine explains it well. It's a beautiful speech.
MalMan, I love that GIF of the dog jumping into the pile of leaves.
Nice verses, Owen.
Man oh man, I wish there was some way to build huge pipes and pumps, or use huge tanker trucks, to suck all that excess water y'all are getting and deliver it to the west coast.
Interesting that PHO is pronounced like "fuh." It's sort of like the fact that the Gobi desert is pronounced like "Guh bee."
Happy First of July and Canada Day.
It's probably for the best that something along the lines of Ch Moe's take on 28 Down went right over my "head" at the time I was writing the recap or I might have added an additional (green and white) visual aid.
First:
CC Happy Birthday and Many More! Thank you for everything!
Wilbur Charles Thank you for the kind words about our LOS Angeles highlights. Unfortunately, no photo of me on top of Skull Rock. DW could not stand the heat so she hurried back down the trail. No one to take my photo after that. You can see my photo from on top of the highest rock above Skull Rock and her umbrella in the distance.
We normally would be meeting my unicycling doctor college friend Lisa in LOS Angeles, but she was heading back East to see her new grandchild. She told us about this hike and insisted on a photo of us at Skull Rock!
Here are photos of LOS Angeles friend Dr Lisa and me unicycling in Modesto in 2009 when she was living there.
Misty, Malodorous Manatee, Chairman Moe Thank you for the good wishes on my surgery tomorrow.
RayOSunshine Yes I was thinking of OPERABLE in my case! It used to be if you had too many hernias in the same place it was not OPERABLE and you would be disabled. This happened to my father. I am putting all my trust and hope in this surgeon who has gotten to know me well in recent years!
"Wherefore art thou Romeo?"
-- One of the mysteries of Juliet's question is why she picks on his Christian name.
Juliet's problem is not with his first name, but with the Montague family.
We might suppose, perhaps, that "Romeo" is a common first name among the Montagues. But nothing in the play lets us know that.
It wasn't because Shakespeare needed the meter. Both "Romeo" and "Montague" are dactyls; they have the same rhythm.
It remains a mystery.
~ OMK
OMK..not a Shakespearean but to follow up on the last name issue you raise, Juliet goes on to say...
"Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love. And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
Remember also that Italy was a Catholic country and Shakespeare was expected to support the new Anglican church. Many feel that it's not a conventional love story but by Elizabethan standards the story of two disobedient children egged on by a meddlesome priest.
When DW visited "Juliet's House" in Verona 1975 our first year of marriage we saw the (1972) new life size bronze statue of Juliet in the garden. When we returned 25 years later the breasts and backsides of the statue were shiny golden from millions of tourists having taken pictures palming those same anatomical structures. 😂
IrishMiss:
I agree. The unit was made by a local company, Goettl, who were in business here for many years, since the 1950s. I don't know if they still exist and didn't look it up. It has needed repairs only once before that I can recall. The year it was installed, 1996, is memorable because that is the year my first granddaughter was born.
Commander Spitzboov! I like the sound of that though I realize it's not really your name.
Picard:
Your pictures are always interesting! Good luck with your surgery.
Ray ~
Exactly. She goes right on to specify that it's all about the Montague name, not Romeo.
My last (only) trip to Verona was in '72. That statue was new at the time. (Built in '69, but just erected.)
The visit was by accident. We were driving Italy's E70 to visit the beautiful Teatro Olympico in Vicenza, then saw that it was just a bit farther to Verona (then down to the Italian Riviera!).
Also in Verona (besides all the homage to Shakespeare's play) is the Roman Arena where we were able to catch a performance of Verdi's "Macbeth."
What a hoot! It was a massive production, with a massive bunch of Italian claques in the great auditorium.
On stage we had the "B" team of tenors and sopranos--plus a horde of witches for the chorus.
Regardless of the non-star status of the lead singers, each had his or her gang of cheerleaders in the house. Gad! The performance lasted twice as long as it ought--thanks to time consumed in applause, group chants, and forced encores.
But nothing was funnier than the witches' chorus. They numbered over 150, all clowns on display on the multi-level background of the arena.
They all did semaphore gestures with their arms to seem like a mass of evil "snakes" at times.
Funniest moment of the show was when they were playing the opposing army (Malcolm's "men"), disguising themselves by carrying parts of the forest's trees. Well, these "trees" were cut-out sheets of plywood painted green. And when the cue came to drop their limbs, over a hundred plywood popsicle trees went clattering to the deck!
This was supposed to be during a musical "rest," I think, but nobody could hear a bar of music for the next five minutes while these badly rehearsed trees went slipping and sliding around the arena's cement steps.
~ OMK
Wow, OMK, it sounds like that was a very entertaining performance!
Thursday test. Thanks for the fun, David and MalMan.
Late to the party after visiting family. Perhaps the busy day was my problem as I DNFed and did not see the complete theme.
My PIRATE was playing golf, and his standard was Par (with the possessive S (giving my Admiral command of a Sleet😮). I could find no LEAF (not even a Maple one for Canada Day) in that mess.
I believe I heard here previously that David Poole is a Canadian CW constructor; how appropriate to see him here on Canada Day with a LEAF theme. But the Maple would have been bonus.
ALTAI crossing LIOTTA was a Natick for me.
I smiled at Hot TEA and ASSAM (but really it was a dupe).
I wanted Bland, thinking it was food that needed salt- ICY.😁 (matched my mistaken Sleet).
END wasn’t quite at the end, but it did cross the book-ending INDEX.
Ah, Ray-O, thanks for reminding me why I did not like OPERABLE when it filled in. I wanted Operational or Operative, not a Surgical term. And on that note, best wishes to Picard for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
Thanks for all the Canada Day wishes. It has been different this year (and not just because of Covid). As a nation, we are reflecting on some sad revelations about our history and treatment of our indigenous brothers and sisters. We cannot undo history, but we can acknowledge it, learn from it, and endeavour to not repeat past mistakes. Making reconciliation and improving the present (and future) will take effort.
Wishing you all a good day.
Sheesh, the local news anchor just said, “The fire was caused by arsing at the electrical line.”
Enjoyed Romeo and Juliet in Verona. Beautiful music in the arena illuminated by
thousands of candles.
OMK @ 3:29 ~ I was connecting you with Emote more than Art Films, but they’re both acting related and I’m sure you have seen more than your share of Emoters over the course of your career! 🙃
I love Prokofiev’s music to the ballet Romeo and Juliet. The dancing, too.
Well...I just finished Friday. I can't say anything. Except, Wilbur FIR ergo it's doable.
At first it seemed to be full of P&P but not in hindsight.
WC
IM, I can up the ante on your Maytag set. My original Maytag washer and dryer are still working after 39.5 years of laundry f(including diapers for three kids) with only a couple of minor repairs done by DH. They don’t make them like that anymore! (Plus there are only dials ; no computer controls to kick up and create major repair problems/cost.). I keep a close eye on them and don’t run when not home. (Hope I have not jinxed them by commenting😮)
Jayce @ 2027. - - Well, that can get pretty hot, too!
Hi All!
You BEAT me by two squares, David. Thanks for the puzzle; I enjoyed the theme which helped me finally get PRIMAL FEAR.
Fun writeup, MManatee. Haven't thought of Jack Handey in years. Oh, and thanks for explaining ART / ARE - I was thinking painting / variation (or other language) of ARS.
FIW: Had the AIR instead of OIL (Hi IM!) checked at the service station (I check my tires but not my oil)
WO: BIALeS
ESPs: ARE, STEIG, BIALYS, ALTAI | ASSAM & LIOTTA, ALFRE, EIrEEN, TERI
Nits: Art clue @9d ART in FILM @37a; 33a Indian TEA (47a) region
Fav: I will go with MTM - happy memories of the studio's shows.
Runner-up: SIM CITY -- the first time I played it in '91, I pretty much stopped playing video games after DW and I didn't realize we'd spent 26 straight hours straight playing it.
//well, we did have to repair the town after we asked "I wonder what [Menu]-> Disasters->Monster does?" :-) [FF to 6:16]
{B+, A}
LOL FLEET, C.Moe. //inre link: you need the 'https://' in front of your "paste" otherwise the browser assumes the link is relative to current page (hover over link to notice blogger.com out front)
Picard - Good luck with the surgery. Hopefully they get it right this time. Oh, and nice pics, er, SNAPs.
Lucina, et.al.: While I understand the onboard computer in modern appliances increases efficiency (saving water and power), I don't like it because, in 5 to 7 years, you will not be able to buy replacement bits / the board. So, when it breaks, the whole machine goes to the dump.
I had to throw away an 8yro oven because a relay on the board lost it's smoke.* Ovens with knobs work until an element goes out and then you can replace that.
Billocohoes - LOL re: PHO Q.
YR & Oc4 - thanks for the BIALY links.
LOL Jayce & Spitz with the arsing wires.
And finally, Happy Canada Day, C,Eh!
Cheers, -T
*I did replace the relay (had to order it from MN - only on-line site w/ that specific relay) so I'd have an oven for Thanksgiving prep. I purchased another oven anyway 'cuz I didn't want my house to burn down 'cuz I'm not great at soldering :-)
DNF. Fooled around with this one off and on all day, but there were a couple of sections that I just couldn’t suss. Got LOOSELEAF right away, and the last three of the theme answers fell into place, but YARDOFALE never made it to the top of my brain. Didn’t know PRIMALFEAR, but the perps got enough of that one for me to suss the rest. Also had some actual errors/I don’t knows, all of which were included in the comments others made.
Pho’ (Vietnamese soup) is pronounced FUH. Yes, of course I put the apostrophe on the O' on the grid! The neat thing about Vietnamese is that even though it is a tonal language, it is written using a Latin alphabet, with diacritical markings of the vowels designating the different vowel tones. There are also two versions of the letter D, one hard and one soft, and a few other quirks, depending on whether it is being spoken by someone from the northern or southern part of the county. It's also mono-syllabic. Saigon, is actually Sai Gon. (I left off the diacritical marks.)
Yes, I took a year of it, but I never really used it too much; no, I was never fluent; no, I cannot remember very much at all. I DID make the cute Vietnamese pharmacy tech blush one day, when I thanked her in Vietnamese.
HG, my hand was up for ABBA too!
Robert, good luck with your surgery. Ask them if they can just put a zipper in there for you. I’ll look at the pics later. Gotta get some sleep, but I'll wait a few minutes, so that I can print out tomorrow's puzzle. (Of course, THEN I'll try to work on it!)
Work tomorrow and probably Saturday too!
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