Regular contributor
Mark McClain
is back and he's found a way to predict the future using just these
themers:
17A. Leaping grab of a would-be homer, say: CIRCUS CATCH. Alright sports fans, this panoply of plays will keep you busy for quite a while, so don't forget to come back for the rest of the puzzle:
46A. Northern glacial formation: ARCTIC ICECAP. "Polar ice caps are melting as global warming causes climate change. We lose Arctic sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade, and over the past 30 years, the oldest and thickest ice in the Arctic has declined by a stunning 95%." While it is a matter of dispute as to whether global warming is anthropocentric in origin or due to natural causes, there is no disputing its impact.
62A. Souvenir of a Black Forest vacation: CUCKOO CLOCK. Some of these can get pretty intricate, so be sure to "mouse over" the image in this ad to see the details of the clock. And they can be pretty pricey, so don't forget to take your checkbook. Or just skip the vacation and buy the clock over the net.
And in case you still can't see how Mark does it, here's the reveal:
37A. Anticipates ... or, phonetically, what's found in puzzle answers of more than 10 letters: FORESEES. It's all in the grid:
Across:
1. California's __ Verdes Peninsula: PALOS.
6. Historic shrine: ALAMO. I'm sure anyone who has visited this shrine will tell you, it's not as big as it looks. How the defenders held out as long as they did against the odds they faced is astonishing.
14. Beautify: ADORN.
15. Antique photo color: SEPIA. This article describes the basic components of the toner. Nowadays I guess it's just a setting on your phone's camera.
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A sepia-toned photograph taken in England in 1895 |
19. Sleep study letters: REM. Everything you might want to know about sleep studies. And why one might be a good idea if you're of a certain age.
20. Based on sound reasoning: TENABLE.
21. "Fantastic!": SUPER. We saw the The Fantasticks off Broadway years ago and it was really SUPER. I believe it still holds the record (42 years) for the longest running off Broadway show. In recent years it ran into some controversy for its use of an archaic term in one of its songs, whose connotations have changed in recent years, as explained in this article. However there is nothing controversial about this classic:
24. Division word: INTO.
27. Hardly at all: A BIT. Well is it or isn't it? (1)
Yes or (0) No?
33. Word with place or door: MAT. Add a T and you get a
MATT glaze:
35. __ de Cologne: EAU. Today's French Lesson
36. Many tax software users: EFILERS.
40. Deal with: ADDRESS.
42. Barge unit: TON.
43. Hitchcock's "__ Window": REAR. This film got mixed reviews when it was released in 1954. Critics said it lacked that NOIR feel and the pervasive air of DREAD typical of many of Hitchcock's earlier films. DW and I decided to watch it to see for ourselves and we're really glad we did. It's worth watching for many reasons: for its humor; its early 50's edginess; for the chemistry between the stars, James Stewart and Grace Kelly; and for Franz Waxman's score and his peppering of the soundtrack with popular tunes of the day heard coming from the courtyard below Stewart's REAR WINDOW. And Hitchcock does manage to compress plenty of NOIR and ANGST into the last quarter or so of the film. Here's a good summary of the reasons to watch this masterpiece.
45. Cabbage option: RED.
50. Villainous look: LEER.
51. "The Burning Giraffe" artist: DALI. Dali painted this in 1937 after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. This article will clarify much of the painting's symbolism, but it refers to Dali simply as a "surrealist". But as war approached in Europe, specifically in Spain, Dalí clashed with members of the Surrealist movement. In a "trial" held in 1934, he was expelled from the group. Dali left Spain for America in 1940 and he subsequently abandoned many of the iconic surrealist features of his earlier work and his paintings began to dramatically increase in size (as compared to the diminutive scale of "The Burning Giraffe"). To gain a better idea of his the totality of his life's work I recommend a visit to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg the next time you are in Florida. Or visit it virtually.
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The Burning Giraffe Basel Kunstmuseum 13 3/4" x 10 1/2" |
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55. Press down: SMUSH.
58. Standard salary: BASE PAY.
61. Contest involving letter placement: BEE. Spelling bees are something we start rehearsing for in elementary school, but only a few make it to the big time. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that they don't have spelling bees in Germany, Italy, and Spain. France maybe. I wonder why?
65. Thumbs-up vote: YEA.
66. Authorize: ALLOW.
67. SiriusXM channel 5 tune, say: OLDIE. My Mother used to sing this OLDIE when she was growing up in WWII England. She brought it to America and we'd all sing it around the dinner table after supper:
69. Grace word: BLESS. Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts ...
70. Lab activities: TESTS. My Labs didn't do any testing, but they sure did a lot of licking and scratching.
Down:
1. Treaties: PACTS.
2. Parting word in Paris: ADIEU.
3. Michaels of "SNL": LORNE. Cruciverbalists owe this guy big time. Not only has he been producing SNL since 1975, but he is credited with the production of nearly 70 films and TV shows. The amount of CW FILL he has created boggles the mind. In fact I'm almost certain there is some more besides this in this very puzzle!
5. Cold shoulder: SNUB. My Mom always applied Vicks VapoRub to my snubbed shoulders:
8. On topic: APT.
9. Lapel attachments: MICS. Always remember to remember whether they're ON or OFF.
10. Locale of the surfing mecca Sunset Beach: OAHU.
11. Hard-to-find group: RARE BREED. Here's a RARE BREED and a CSO to our Spitzboov:
18. Minor error: SLIP.
22. Six-time NBA All-Star __ Gasol: PAU. This will give you hoopsters some stats to chew on.
26. Numeric prefix: OCTA.
28. In this way: THUS.
29. So__: CAL. A CSO to all you SOCAL Cornerites.
30. Cheri of "SNL": OTERI. I told ya so.
32. Many-headed monster: HYDRA. Hercules slaying the HYDRA. The second of his 12 labors; and it was all uphill from there.
36. Bibliography abbr.: ET AL. Short for ET ALIA ("and other") or ET ALII ("and others")
38. __ room: REC.
39. Came out with: SAID.
41. Agent: REP.
44. Color TV pioneer: RCA. A brief history of color television.
47. __TV: Turner channel: TRU. Hand up if you use this channel.
48. Some pipe joints: ELBOWS.
49. Parma parting: CIAO. Italian CLECHO of 2D.
52. Touch and others: IPODS. I have two IPOD Nanos, both tuned to WBJC 91.5 FM (also streamable at www.wbjc.com). They're really nice to listen to while gardening.
53. Unspoken: TACIT.
54. Guitarist John who played with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake: SYKES. Here's Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town" with lead vocalist Philip Lynott and John Sykes on guitar and backup vocals:
59. Tony Blair, by birth: SCOT.
60. Fashion magazine since 1945: ELLE. As luck would have it, this was the only cover I could find that was suitable for Corner viewing and it featured the accomplished actress Emma Stone. She was named world's highest paid actress in 2017 and named by Time as one of the "100 most influential people in the world". And to top it all off, she HAS had "her picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone". Unfortunately I think that one might not be suitable for Corner viewing!
61. Parting, or half of one: BYE. I'll save the other half until
the next two clues bid us ADIEU.
63. NFL's Browns, on sports crawls: CLE.
64. Decks, briefly: KOS. That about KNOCKS it
OUT.
waseeley
BYE,
Bill
54 comments:
FIRight, tho I did have to change SMaSH to SMUSH to get my ta-da. I didn't know Tru-TV was a Turner station.
I got the gimmick ahead of the reveal. It was in an unusual spot, but I realized what it was before (consciously) reading it, and skipped past it quickly. At that point I had two C-C- themers, but hadn't yet realized there were four C's. ARCTIC ICE CAP broke that pattern, and forced me to notice the extra C's.
The ARCTIC ICE CAP is in danger,
It's melting like a Greenland glacier!
One can FORESEE
An open sea
Where a polar bear would be a stranger.
In mythic times, a HYDRA dragon
With too many heads was draggin'.
In modern times
Tiny hydra find
In ponds, where tentacles, food will drag in.
{B-, C+.}
Good morning!
There were some Rice Crispies in this one. I liked it. Didn't need a reveal to see the four Cs in each themer. Good thing since d-o, in typical fashion, missed the reveal. Don't recall seeing TENABLE in a cw before. We can add fresh to the snap, crackle, and pop. Thanx for the diversion, Mark, and for the esoteric expo, Waseeley.
ALAMO: Touchy topic in Texas today. The Barnacle's business reporter is co-author of a new book which debunks the traditional Alamo myth. Our Lieutenant Governor has decreed that the book cannot be discussed on state-owned property, i.e. university campuses.
SUE: That Johnny Cash song was written by another frequents cw visitor -- Shel Silverstein.
BEE: We watched a portion of the prelims for this years Scripps National Spelling Bee. I was surprised that there's a multiple-choice section to the competition. The contestants are given a word and four possible definitions. They must pick the correct one. Learning moment. Eleven contestants remain. Finals will be aired tonight on ESPN.
Frequent -- no S. Otto-correct got me again.
Took me 8:34 today to finish, which was enough to avoid feeling CaCheCtic today.
I looked up Emma Stone's filmography, and the only movie I've seen with her in it is "The Help." Surprised to see that was released 10 years ago, but apparently she's been busy ever since.
Like OwenKl today , I FIR with WO at SMaSH/SMUSH. As for the theme, I also noticed the words were starting with C, but until the reveal I missed noticing the other C's. Of course ARCTIC ICECAP didn't fit my original theory with its buried C's. (hi again OwenKL!) My other WOs happened when I precipitously started writing in FOur at the reveal in spite of knowing I needed an R in ARCTIC. End of my pristine grid. Oh well. Thanks, Mark. It was a SUPER puzzle. And BLESS you Bill for a waseeley wonder of a review today!
Looking forward to reading your comments later today. Hope you all are doing well.
Fun and fast theme today - though like OKL I thought it was going to be 2 C words with the second ending in CH - but no! Captain Crunch missed the cut by a C!
I love the "Fantasticks" even though the modern renditions have had to change the middle "Rape Ballet" to something more palatable. Love Jerry Orbach as the original El Gallo starting in 1960 long before his worldwide fame in TV's "Law and Order"
Thanks Bill and Mark!
Well I wasn't able to FORESEE the CCCC but did notice the CC after CIRCUS CATCH and COPTIC CHURCH. Mark's puzzle was a lot easier than yesterday's with PAU, SYKES, and DALI as unknowns. I like his puzzles that have very few proper names.
DW has SiriusXM in her car but it's not in mine. OLDIE was a WAG.
One change today. SMASH to SMUCH
RARE BREED- the way I usually hear it said is when somebody is describing another person.
Parting word-s today. BYE, CIAO, & ADIEU.
Ted Turner of TRU-TV did win AMERICAS Cup. It started out as Court-TV. Do I watch it-NO.
For months now, I've been able to solve Thursday puzzles more easily than other days, even Monday’s.
I even got the C theme today.
Thanks for a very enjoyable puzzle and expo.
Montana
I liked this puzzle and its theme, Mark. Thanks for the explanations, Bill.
I have been reading about the recent Alamo book. I believe it is shameful that the governor will not allow the Texas state university to discuss it. Aren't college student mature enough to read controversial ideas?
Alamo
In the US, ever since I was a child, I have seen more mince pies than mincemeat pies. I like them better without the meat. I used jarred mince. Some of our kin have made them with meat, but have gone back to jarred meatless mince.
The D has been dropped in mince(d)meat and ice(d)cream and is slipping away from ice(d)tea. Another dropped D in Bangers and mash(ed potatoes)
I love A Boy Named SUE, especially the last verse.
Isn't MATTE GLAZE a more common spellling than MATT.
I have heard of snub nosed. What are snubbed shoulders? We used Vicks VapoRub for colds. Now it is banned as toxic in America. Yay, we sibs survived!
Along with a large group of residents here we are going to a Mexican restaurant for lunch today.
Hola!
Easy and quick puzzle today. It all filled so fast I hardly noticed the theme but then the plethora of Cs caught my eye.
My DH bought me a CUCKOO CLOCK one year but it woke me in the middle of the night so I had to muzzle it.
I had one write over. SMASH/SNUSH. I know nothing about TRU TV.
It's news to me that Tony Blair was a SCOT.
In the cartoon movie, Hercules, the HYDRA appears ferocious.
MMMMMM, MINCE MEAT! I haven't had any since my grandmother died.
Bill, thank you for that interesting and detailed analysis!
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
I liked today's puzzle, which felt pretty straightforward for a Thursday. I particularly liked that the only C's in the puzzle were those in the theme answers.
Musings
-The first two long fills are C* C* which put our brilliant webmistress (and Andy’s sister) in my mind and blinded me to the actual gimmick
-How old do you have to be to know the song R A G G M O P P, RAG MOP?
-When teaching factoring, I used the word “guzzinta” as in, “What numbers guzzinta 20?”
-E-FILE – Turbo Tax remembers all the info from previous years and I am done in 20 minutes
-All of us who have taught chem, have used RED Cabbage as a ph indicator
-The smell of burning leaves, the taste of Clove gum and 50’s OLDIES can get me a trip in the “way back machine”
-Yes, this is a real picture of the most famous ASCENT on Earth
-Bluetooth hearing aids and my iPhone have made me put away my iPod
-Our birds love our sunflower chips. They somehow remove the HULL and eat only the seed leaving a pile of chaff in the feeder, which reminds me…
-Nice job, Bill.
Very nice puzzle today, and I really liked the 'reveal' answer of FORESEES. Which reminds me -- do all the restaurants that call themselves the Four Seas now have to change to Five??
The only change today was I originally had ARIL as the seed covering -- aha I thought. I haven't seen that one in a while and I learned it from puzzles and the puzzle creator thinks I don't know it. Oops. Wrong.
I had ARIL, too, Bob.
Husker, I'm old enough to remember that Ames Brothers oldie. It's on my music server. But what did you mean by "...a pile of chaff in the feeder, which reminds me...Nice job, Bill?"
Good Morning:
This was a pretty breezy Thursday with no w/os and only two unknowns, Sykes and Pau. Lots of fun duos today: Lea/Yea, Its/Tis, Adieu/Ciao, Octa/Orca, and Elle/Elbows. CSOs to Misty (RCA) and the California contingent (So Cal). I, too, was unaware of Tru TV being a Ted Turner network. I loved Jerry Orbach in Law and Order and in Dirty Dancing. His son is a crossword constructor, though I haven’t seen his byline in quite awhile.
Thanks, Mark, for a fun Thursday solve and thanks, Bill, for the educational and entertaining commentary and links. I never saw The Fantastiks but Try To Remember brought back pleasant memories. I did see Jerry Ohbach in 42nd Street but that was before his Law and Order role.
Have a great day.
Sirius #5 is OLDIES? never noticed. I can't find my insert so solved online. Ugh. Held off thfinal square and "Congrats" told me 35 minutes. Albeit I was eating breakfast at the eponymous Station.
One w/o was aniL/HULL
Cabbage was RED not Raw
There's an implicit debate between Sirius and Streaming embedded here
I go along with "Not a particularly difficult xword "
WC
staili @9:36 AM Thank you for that very Cool observation. Hand up from anyone else who Caught that. Hey Mark, Can you Certify that?
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Mark and waseeley.
I got the theme, although like inanehiker, I saw the CH ending in the first two themes and wanted it to continue.
But officially a FIW- twice! My minor error was a blip instead of a SLIP; I knew something was wrong with my 17A but I am not familiar with the CIRCUS CATCH term.
This Canadian is not familiar with the Turner stations (although I have learned TCM from past CWs; thus I never changed Smash to SMUSH.
TRU is usually clued with Capote.
My Touch was a sense before IPODS.
Of course, I thought of Stanley Cup before America’s. Congrats to Tampa.
Hand up for smugly entering Aril before HULL perped.
We had a CUCKOO CLOCK from the Black Forest in my teen years. You get used to its noise marking the hours and half-hours day and night.
I buy MINCEMEAT in the jar for tarts or pie at Christmas. No meat in it.
I smiled to see CIAO, ADIEU and BYE.
Good to see you today Montana.
Wishing you all a great day.
stalli - Great CATCH about those Cs. I missed that.
Not being a "Little Woman" myself the only sister's name I knew was "Jo" (which was perp averse.)
"Contest involving letter placement "..W.O.F.? (Wheel of Fortune) wouldn't work!😆
The theme....I was just about ready to circular file the puzzle when my last neuron fired ... 4 C's !!!😊
I bought a cuckoo clock in Lucerne Switzerland as a stoopid stoodent... the movement was plastic!! ☹
I filled "husk" first and then all went to HULL! 😈
EFILERS another invented "E"- noun word.. Sirius XM channel 5 is 50's, 6 is 60's oldies etc (no aughts yet)
First the SCAB, then maybe the "scar". I strongly resisted putting SMUSH..(can't possibly be the answer!!). Never heard of CIRCUS CATCH or Mr. PAU.
*ARCTICICECAP can now be clued like ARAL SEA. "Disappearing natural water feature"
The mountain lake was ____ so cold!... EAU
Military earnings....BASEPAY
Space to repair autos ____ room...REC
How wolves travel, with "in" ....PACTS
* If 3 go the way of the ARAL there will be only _____ left... FORESEES.
On to Fish FRYDAY!
Waz: Isn't it "BLESS us oh Lord for these thy gifts ...". We say it with each evening meal, are we wrong? and have been eating unblessed food??? 😬
Musings 2
-D-O, ya got me again! The hull chaff reminded me I have to go shake out the feeders again and was no reflection on Bill’s expo! :-)
-I proudly had ARIL first as well
-Ted Turner is the largest land owner in Nebraska and this is what he is going to do with it
Rats! Took 24 minutes to FIW. Messed up bad in the NE. PAN instead of RAG and a wrong WAG of UMA instead of AMY sunk me. That left me with verticals of PUREBREED, AMERICAS and NAM. NAM was a real forehead wrinkler, but with PAN and UMA I was sunk. Otherwise, a very nice CW that I did see the gimmick, and got the rest right. But really screwed up the NE. Nice CW anyway, thank, MMC. And terrific write-up, thanx, Bill.
I could "foresee" I wasn't going to figure out the reveal so I went straight to the blog. Thanks Bill.
Neat Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Mark. And enjoyed all your great pictures and helpful comments, Bill, thanks for those too.
"REAR Window" will always be my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie of all time. Terrific performances by Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly--you can't get a better cast than that. And that whole complicated plot of seeing and having to interpret what you see--wonderful!
Haven't heard the word SMUSH in ages. Nice to see Cheri OTERI in the puzzle, and, of course, DALI.
Irish Miss, how kind of you to remember that my Dad worked for RCA. He's 92 now, but of course retired quite a while ago.
Have a great day, everybody.
Sirius XM Channel 10 is, and has been, the aughts.
I've not seen a ban on VapoRub, and am sure I saw it very recently in the store.
FIR, but mop->RAG, cocOo->CUCKO, sam->PAU, and hand up for aril->HULL.
My first job in California was an PALOS Verdes (green tree). Next was Rolling Hills, just around the peninsula from PV. Rolling Hills is where Tiger Woods learned that he'll never be a race car driver.
Hand up for thinking of "The Fantasticks." I saw it in New York as a teen, and have seen several other productions of it since.
Hand up for first thinking of Stanley Cup before AMERICA'S Cup. America's Cup used to be a great competition, but it has diminished in my mind since the crews have just become hired guns available to the highest bidder, and since they have started using catamarans. Kind of like if Ryder/President's Cup teams were made up of any golfers the teams could recruit, regardless of national origin. I think that the nonsailing public like the speed of the cats better, which makes it better for TV. Kind of like the AL's DH rule (uh oh, now I've done it.)
I may have mentioned that my 30 day complimentary subscription to Sirius XM that came with my car has lasted for 8 years so far. I just found Yacht Radio, channel 70. My kind of OLDIEs.
I did not FORESEE the theme until I was mostly done. But it did help with the final solve of ARCTIC ICECAP. Very fun! Cross of unknown TRU with SMUSH vs SMASH had me stuck, but I did WAG it correctly to FIR.
WA Seeley Thank you for the informative and illustrated writeup. Especially the part about DALI. I have been a fan of DALI's art since I was a child. It is only in recent years that I learned he had a perverse attraction to Hitler and that he truly supported Franco as recently as 1975.
Here is our DALI sculpture in our living room.
I bought it in Florence in the 1990s under the false claim that he made it with his own hands and that the signature on it is his own. I recently contacted DALI expert Bernard Ewell who gave me a detailed explanation of its true origin. He also told the story of how corrupt the art market it. He said even though our piece is now widely known not to be actually made by DALI, it still has value. He said you should only buy art because you like it. He said that art is very rarely an actual investment.
Here is an article I recently published on a talk about the complexities of gender. Including the peculiar case of DALI.
My post-surgery recovery took a turn for the worse lately with severe pain and that entire area of my body turning black. Scary. The surgeon called me yesterday to assure me this can happen and that I will be OK. I can get through it as long as I know all will be well!
From Yesterday:
AnonT, Jinx and Wilbur Charles Thank you for the kind words about my 1940s Ford SNAP featuring TOPANGA!
Jinx Thank you for the kind healing wishes!
LEO III Glad you also thought CRUELLA was DE VILLE! I think I get it now. Having it just be VIL makes it d'EVIL. Does that seem to be the intention?
Hi Y'all! Great fun, thanks, Mark & Bill!
How can you say the "only C's were in the theme words" when the C's were also part of the crossing word? The statement is not TENABLE.
Last to fill was the F & ES in the FORESEES/EFILERS cross. I have stubbornly resisted EFILing so I couldn't make sense of what I had as perps. I kept putting in a C where the F should be because I had seen all the C's. Duh! Finally had to do a red-letter run. Ooooh! I got the jist of the theme but not the reveal.
PAU Gasol was one of my favorite players. After 20 successful years in the USA NBA, he is back in his home country in Barcelona, Spain. He looks so much like my oldest brother, I had to like him.
Anonymous anon @ 11:54.....U R correct...I've never dialed higher than the 9 for 90's...
Picard: praying for your healing. Doesn't sound right to me. I've had five family members who had hernia surgery and never had anything that scary. Are you running a fever?
Ray - O @11:29 AM I doubt there's an actual canonical prayer for it, but ... I just lifted this from the Wiki: "Latin Catholic (before eating) – 'Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, ...'". I'd have inserted the whole prayer, but that could violate the Corner canon on the prohibition of religion. The Wiki of course is canonical for everything. :-)
HG @11:34 AM 'Sok Gary. I can handle a bit of "feint praise". Like your feeder chaff, I do "pile it high" and deep at times! :-)
Hello everyone.
Had annual inspection on my car this morning so, late to the party. Got the 4 C's schtick ok. Interesting phrase selection for the theme. One RED letter on CIRCUS CATCH - sloppy. Liked Mark's puzzle. Two parting words CIAO and ADIEU.
Waseeley - thanks for the CSO. Every dog has its day. Won $1.80 at bridge yesterday.
Tschüß. (Etymology)
Picard @12:40 PM. Dali's "Inclinado a la derechas" don't surprise me. He was quite an odd duck.
Speaking of corruption in the art market I'd recommend streaming "Lovejoy", about a brilliant, but occasionally dodgy, antiques dealer. It's worth it just for the dishy "Lady Jane Felsham" played by Phyllis Logan - she's come a long way since playing "Mrs. Hughes" in Downton Abbey.
I'll keep you in my prayers and you keep us posted on your progress.
This Thursday XWord filled quickly, at least for a while.
Got a bit bogged down in the SW.
Write-overs…SMASH/SMUSH, ARIL/HULL.
AC guy was just here for the hot weather check, all is AOK.
See you tomorrow.
Thanks all for the great write up and comments. Yes, that was intentional that there were exactly 16 C's in the puzzle, four in each themer and no others. This can be a bit tricky, but C is a letter that you can usually do it with (unlike R, S, E, A, T and a few others). See you next month!
Picard @ 12:40 ..Didn't the signature on the sculpture "Salvador DOLLY" make you suspicious? 🤔
Waz...I said the blessing to myself I do say and and not for! The other question that has stumped Catholic theologians for centuries even before the counter reformation (when the altars tops were changed from formica to popular granite) ...Must a grace be invoked over...
take out? (particularly pizza)
To Jinx in Norfolk: I find SiriusXM to be the single most astoundingly poorly run company on the planet. First, their service, at least here in Fort Lauderdale, is exceedingly on-again-off-again as I drive down the road. Second, they auto-billed me $336 for a year, which I protested and told them to just cancel the service if they couldn't give it to me for the $99/year I paid last year. The woman on the other end of the phone line made several offers, getting less with each offer, but stopped at $169/yr, so I cancelled my service. Two weeks later I got an email offering the all-channel best package for $69/year, which I took. Mind you, I'd already offered to pay them $99/yr, which they said no to! So I have my service restored, such as it is, but still get almost daily emails to "Restore your service on your 2016 Dodge Ram...." I don't own a Dodge Ram, and never have! I drive a Jeep! I really am amazed SiriusXM manages to stay in business.
Yay, staili, for noticing the exclusitivity of the Cs! Nice puzzle, Mark! Bill, we were BLESSed with a Coptic Christian med student living with us a few years ago...she wouldn't worship at our Roman Catholic church but instead another Copt lady would pick her up ever Sunday morning and drive her an hour or so to the nearest Coptic church...inspiring!
Ray - O - and appetizers?
I liked this puzzle and the theme. I usually like Mark McClain's puzzles.
Very late to the party, even though I always enjoy Mark McClain's puzzles. I am glad he confirmed that the 16Cs in the across fill was intended as the only C fill. Jerry Orbach really was a wonderful actor as well as a song and dance man who created the roles of El Gallo in "The Fantasticks," Billy Flynn in "Chicago" and Julian Marsh in "42nd Street" on the New York stage.
I guess we will give our latest Brit reviewer a pass for adding the "O" to Burnikel.
Lovejoy was created 20 years before DOWNTON ABBEY
happy day all
Btw John Lampkin wrote the NYT
Ray-O
I've been trying to follow your comments about grace before meals but I don't understand what the dilemma is. Please explain!
Picard:
Just now I sent a prayer for your healing. If I did it right you may have felt a temporary warm sensation in the affected area. If you did not, I'll repeat it. Please let me know.
Puzzling thoughts:
Mark McClain --> excellent! I FIR with just two mistakes: MOP/RAG and LOREN/LORNE. May I guess correctly that you had the "reveal" on the right side (SE part) of the puzzle at first, but had to reverse it to make all the words and fill fit?
A most famous "FORESEER" also had a pair of "C's" in his name, CARNAC, the Magnificent"
Nice recap Bill - love all of your attention to detail!
Picard, I "feel" for you, as I have been there with an inguinal hernia surgery. I never had a vasectomy but imagined the pain and swelling to be similar. Oh, and I read your paper on sexual identity, ET AL, and also watched the video of the father and son. Yes, I can only imagine that conversation today with my son if he were a GEN-Z rather than a GEN-X. Looking back, it seemed a whole lot "easier" for our dads when we were growing up
See y'all bright and early tomorrow . . .
Late to the party. Lots of RL stuff to attend to this day including a visit to the lab for some blood work in preparation for my annual physical.
The puzzle went smoothly and required only changing SMASH to SMUSH as I had no idea that there was a TV channel called TRU although that seemed to make more sense than TRA. I really enjoyed the FORESEES pun.
Thanks Bill for the informative, entertaining and thorough recap.
Gong to the Dodger Diamondback game tomorrow night. Maybe I'll get to see a CIRCUS CATCH.
Bill. @ 12:55, that blessing is popular with us Protestanrs, too, along with many others. Extemporanious ones are also widely used.
Picard, I am thinking of you and wishing you a quick recovery.
FIR, and saw the four Cs. I thought it was a very nice puzzle. Thanks Mark and Bill.
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said.
Hang in there, Picard. Hopefully, every day you’ll feel a little bit better.
Picard, thanks for that article on sex. I grew up highly homophobic, but time and friendships eroded my prejudice. I'm still a fiercely heterosexual male, and have a hard time accepting some of the most extreme LGB+ stances.
One (seemingly minor) bit that I originally supported tho was the neuter pronoun "they" as singular. Then I read a story with a main character/narrator who constantly used it for themself, that I had a hard time reading. And it was one where they were never in any crowd situation. I think it would have been totally unreadable then. 'They' has some historical precedent, and I've not seen any other term that has gained widespread acceptance, so I'm afraid our binary language needs to prevail.
YR @ 9:21: "We used Vicks VapoRub for colds. Now it is banned as toxic in America. Yay, we sibs survived!"
Only in India, as far as I can see: "The product was one of 344 drug combinations, including several antibiotics and analgesics, that India ordered to be prohibited, saying that a government-appointed panel of experts had found the combinations lacked “therapeutic justification”.Mar 16, 2016"
I also tried reading an article in which a female (in my opinion) referred to herself as "they" and was befuddled by it. I really don't understand all that gender identity bit. I mean, I think I know what is going on, but my mind does not accept it.
Hi All!
Thanks Mark for the fun puzzle; thought theme was CwordCword until ARTIC showed.
Fun expo waseeley. Nice pottery (I assume you made it). Thanks for some of the extra backstories on REAR Window and Dali
//Did it take anyone else like 10 seconds to realize there was a burning giraffe in the painting?
WOs: ADeaU, CaiO, CooCoo(?) - I don't think I could compete in the BEE
ESPs: PALOS, AMY, OAHU, PAU ('A' was last fill)
Fav: SMUSH is a fun word
{A, B}
Sorry to hear of the setback, Picard.
Forget the ALAMO [book]
A friend of mine, who I met in Houston when he lived here, is from and had moved back to Cairo when I went there. He showed me around Coptic-Cairo which has beautiful architecture and mosaics (many showing Jesus' visit to Cairo). I'm pretty sure my buddy is Muslim, but he sure knew plenty about the area and the Coptic.
Gotta finish packing for Denver. If you don't hear from me for a while it's 'cuz I'm hangin' with my Bros (Army & CEO) before the Home Run Derby and All Star Game.
Cheers, -T
Want a story?
I was late posting today 'cuz my buddies of 20+ years and I went to dinner (we haven't seen each other since BC (before C19)).
My buddy from Algiers has a very dry/wicked sense of humor...
I was telling the table how, b/c of Georgia's voter laws, MLB moved the All Star Game to Denver where my (CEO) Bro shared season tickets w/ 3 other families. He had dibs on the HR Derby and could bid on the All Star Game. Bro scored tickets for both.
My Algerian-American buddy: "So voter suppression was good for you?"
I nearly fell out of my chair.
Ok, I'm done w/ laundry & packing; I will leave you nice people alone (for now).
Enjoyed reading everyone!
Cheers, -T
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