17. Expand regs to one's advantage: STRETCH THE RULES.
28. Impulsively get involved: JUMP IN HEADFIRST.
35. With 38-Across, take a dangerous risk: SKATE ON.
38. See 35-Across: THIN ICE.
61. Do the opposite of what those who 17-, 28- or 35-/38-Across do: EXERCISE CAUTION.
Melissa here. Interesting grid, right? Three grid-spanners in a grid with left/right symmetry. Normally if you turn the grid upside-down, the pattern should be the same (180° rotational symmetry). Clever how the first words STRETCH, JUMP, SKATE are all types of EXERCISE, which is the first word of the reveal answer - makes for a tight theme. This appears to be Owen Travis's LA Times debut.
Across:
1. Rural assent: YES'M.
5. Michelle who wrote "Becoming": OBAMA.
10. Rikishi's sport: SUMO. Japanese word rikishi is a term for a professional sumo wrestler.
Rikishi is also the ring name of Solofa Fatu, an American wrestler. Fatu has a twin brother, and he and his twin both have their own twins. What are the chances of that?
14. Beat fast, as a heart: RACE.
15. __ Wiggum, Lisa Simpson classmate: RALPH. From The Simpson's.
16. Bracketology org.: NCAA. Basketball - National Collegiate Athletic Association.
20. SEA postings: ETAS. ETA = Estimated Time of Arrival. SEA is the airport code for Seattle airport. Also referred to as Sea–Tac.
21. Very large: MEGA.
22. Emerald City creator: BAUM. Emerald City is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
23. NBC's "Weekend Update" show: SNL. Saturday Night Live.
26. Exile isle: ELBA.
32. Nanny, mostly?: ENS. Three n's in the five-letter word.
33. " ... a farm, __": EIEIO.
34. AP rival: UPI.
41. Carried: TOTED.
42. Sub detector: SONAR. Sub as in submarine.
43. Mystical old letter: RUNE.
46. Salty margarita glass spots: RIMS.
48. Fishy email asking for personal info, perhaps: SPAM. Spam vs. phishing.
51. Many an April birth: ARIES. Zodiac. An Aries is said to be
a passionate, motivated, and confident leader
who builds community with their cheerful disposition and relentless
determination. Uncomplicated and direct in their approach, they often
get frustrated by exhaustive details and unnecessary nuances.
53. Lessen in intensity: EASE.
57. Actress Ullmann: LIV. Norwegian actress and film director.
58. Rights activist Carmichael: STOKELY. Born in Trinidad, civil rights leader, antiwar activist, and Pan-African revolutionary, Stokely Carmichael is best known for popularizing the slogan “Black Power.” He adopted the name Kwame Ture after moving to Africa in 1968.
60. "Planet Money" network: NPR. So much good programming on NPR.
64. Ritzy NYC thoroughfare: PARK AVE. Top Ten Secrets of NYC's Park Avenue.
65. Joins the service: ENLISTS.
66. Taste test request: TRY ONE.
67. Can't bear: DETEST.
Down:
1. Jr. and sr.: YRS. High school or college student years, junior and senior.
2. Chow down: EAT.
3. Lets have it: SCREAMS AT. Ohhhh - sneaky.
4. Connect (with): MEET UP.
5. Hobbit enemies: ORCS. From the book The Hobbit. In Tolkien's works, orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugly and malevolent race of monsters.
6. Exclamation from Scrooge: BAH. Charles Dickens's miserly protagonist in A Christmas Carol. Ebeneezer Scrooge is "a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas."
7. Key to some shortcuts?: ALT. Nice clue - computer keyboard. I just got the new iMac - was so pleased that the signature Apple keyboard and magic mouse are now charged wirelessly - no more changing batteries.
8. Meas. with city and highway calculations: MPH. Miles per hour.
9. "If I might interrupt ... ": AHEM.
10. Aptly named baby carrier brand: SNUGLI.
11. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in coll.: UCLA BRUIN. Basketball.
12. Sallie __: MAE. Originally the Student Loan Marketing Association. The company's primary business is creating, servicing, and collecting private education loans.
13. Western treaty gp.: OAS. Organization of American States. The OAS has 35 members, which are independent states in the Americas.
18. Suspense novelist Hoag: TAMI.
19. Great Barrier __: REEF.
22. Swindling scheme: BUNKO. I only knew this word from the game (I've never played) - but the spelling for the game is bunco. BUNKO is a
swindle in which a person is cheated at gambling, persuaded to buy a
nonexistent, unsalable, or worthless object, or otherwise victimized.
23. Place for a soccer guard: SHIN. Shin guard.
24. Once known as: NEE.
25. Pain au __: French dessert: LAIT. Translates directly to "milk bread," a humble name for these slightly sweet, elegant, brioche-like rolls.
27. Org. concerned with boxers: ASPCA.
28. Kid: JEST. Verb not noun.
29. Classical prefix: NEO.
30. Exclamation from Homer: DOH. Second clue from The Simpson's.
31. Level: TIER.
36. One of two for 52-Down: TERM.
37. Dot follower, on campuses: EDU. Email address.
39. Doctrine suffix: ISM.
40. Win by a __: NOSE.
44. Locally grown: NATIVE.
45. Like jagged edges: EROSE. Having an irregularly notched or toothed margin as though gnawed.
46. Volleyball star Gabrielle: REECE.
47. Madagascar, e.g.: ISLAND. Second largest island in the world, after Indonesia.
48. Snoozed: SLEPT.
49. "Inside Out" studio: PIXAR.
50. Looney Tunes animator Tex: AVERY. The name is a little obscure, but he created well-known characters such as Looney Tunes stars Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd.
52. Prez before Jack: IKE. Jack = John F. Kennedy. Ike = Dwight D. Eisenhower.
54. Licorice-like flavoring: ANISE.
55. Parking places: SPOTS.
56. Physicist Mach: ERNST. noted for his contributions to physics such as the study of shock waves.
58. Read, as a bar code: SCAN.
59. 'Tis the season: YULE. Linguists debate the origin of the word of
the word Yule. Some suggest the word is derived from “Iul,” the
Anglo-Saxon word for wheel. This makes a connection to a Celtic
calendar, the Wheel of the Year. However, in the Norse culture, “Jul”
refers to the god, Odin. Odin was celebrated during Yule as well.
62. "Citizen Kane" distributor: RKO. RKO Pictures - a subsidiary of Radio-Keith-Orpheum, aka: RKO.
63. Chickadee kin: TIT.
44 comments:
A bit of a tough Wednesday. I count ten names called for. Also, the real answer for 8D should be MPG, not MPH, as there are separate calculations for city and hwy MPG, but not MPH. I don't consider SNL a "Weekend Update" show. An email asking for personal info is a phish; spam is mass marketing stuff. With all the nits now picked and the CW thoroughly de-loused, the CW was clever, as Melissa pointed out. AVERY was all PERPS. ETA and ETD always requires PERPS. Thanx for the mental EXERCISE, OT & JC. And thanx Melissa for the terrific write-up.
The hardware store guy was nobody's fool
But his treatment of yard-sticks was overly cruel.
A vise on each end,
The pull to extend,
He'd make them meter-sticks, STRETCHING THE RULE!
The loo was plugged up, an obstruction submersed.
A midshipman was call the problem to burst.
The action to take,
Like stomping a grape,
Was for the cadet to JUMP IN the HEAD FIRST!
Sightseers thought flying fish nice,
Rays could also glide to a height!
And on a winter morn
When a glaze would form,
They might see a SKATE ON THIN ICE!
Why a scarecrow? There is a cause, son.
He endures taloned crows' claws, and sun.
He helps the corn
Grow to strong form,
Sees that as they EXERCISE, CAWS SHUN!
{A, A-, A-, B.}
Good morning!
I agree with unclefred -- had to change MPG to MPH. Didn't notice the lack of apostrophe in "Lets have it," and that slowed things down considerably in that area. Finished in good Wednesday time, so life is good once again. Thanx, Jeff, Owen and Melissa Bee of wireless, rechargeable mouse fame. (Where'd you get that info on largest islands? The list I found has Madagascar fourth, after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.
NPR: I've got four streaming presets on my music server. All of them are NPR stations.
UCLA BRUIN: Thought we were looking for Kareem's birth name, like Cassius Clay. Reminds me, we have a Cassius Court in our little town -- no clay tennis grounds there, though.
FIR, but erased meta for MEGA, salt for RIMS, mpg for MPH, bunco for BUNKO, and reese for REECE. IIRC, Dragnet used to mention BUNKO occasionally as a division of LAPD.
DNK rikishi, EROSE, RALPH, Emerald City, RUNE (although we just had it as fill), SNUGLI, TAMI, and AVERY. Dope-slap when STOKELY, OBAMA, UCLA BRUIN (tried to shrink "lew alcindor" to fit), and REECE became obvious.
I wish we would stop coddling the unvaccinated. Those who cannot receive the vaccine should continue to play it safe, but we should let everyone else know that as of a certain date we will no longer require masks of anyone. Of course, the FDA needs to approve the vaccine first, which will hopefully happen very soon. Interesting comparison - we are losing about 300 people per week due to COVID now. On average we lose about 1,700 per week due to alcohol, and about 9,200 per week due to tobacco. Although I don't wish covid on anyone, I have no sympathy for those who are eligible for the shot but decide to pass.
I heartily agree with unclefred that MPH is wrong, and should be MPG. Ditto the clue for SPAM is wrong. I'll let others address SNL.
A BUNKO artist was Sgt Bilko.
YESM, I agree with 'unclefred'; tougher than the usual Wednesday. Lot's of unknowns to guess with triple movie fills in the SW- PIXAR, AVORY, & RKO- side-by-side with a radio network in the SE- NPR.
But the unknowns were easy guesses after a few perps. OBAMA, RALPH, TAMI LAIT, REECE. I had to change IVORY to AVORY and JOSH to JEST on my grid today. It was either LIPS or RIMS for the salt. No salt on my margaritas.
Sallie MAE- I read an interesting article about Al Lord, the former its CEO this past weekend. He basically apologizes for all the loans because the more money Sallie Mae loaned the higher the tuition was charged by the colleges. Borrowing six figures to get a degree which will not qualify you for any job that pays enough to pay to pay off the loan is not a wise decision.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/al-lord-profited-when-college-tuition-rose-he-is-paying-for-it-11627048831?mod=searchresults_pos1&page=1
Agree with unclefred, the cluing was very poor indeed!
D-O, melissa should've written MADAGASCAR as the second-largest "island nation", Indonesia being composed of #6 Sumatra, #11 Sulawesi, #13 Java, parts of #2 New Guinea and #3 Borneo, and many other islands.
Also wondered why "Lew Alcindor" didn't fit for Kareem
A wicked Wednesday which seemed harder than expected. But a FIR after all, perps coming to the rescue. A debut for Owen so maybe a few more puzzles from him (and Jeff) will help us get on his wavelength. Overall I liked this puzzle, having a sense of satisfaction getting it done, YESM.
Had some WOs: wane/EASE, polo/SUMO (should have paid attention to the name), snugly/SNUGLI and uma/LIV (I know...not every 3 letter name will be Uma!) The clue for EIEIO was sketchy but worked eventually.
Like DO, billocohoes, and Jinx I tried to put Kareem's original name down, though I had more trouble remembering it and ultimately perps filled in most of the right answer. Good work today, OwenKL. And good work by you, Melissa B, clearing up our questions in your review. Thanks! Hope everyone has a day of EASE today.
ENS, Duh. I left the S square blank. Double duh: SCREAMS AT. FIW
Owen, let's call all four W's. But Bilko was less a pure "BUNKO Artist " vs the swindlers at the carnival. Bilko just wanted to organize poker games etc. Either way the fool parted with his money
Yes, at UCLA he was Lew.
WC
Good Morning:
Other than needing perps for two unknowns, I.e., Ralph and Reece, this was a smooth solve with a surprise reveal. My only nit is the over abundance of initialisms and abbreviations. I know they can’t be avoided entirely, but the sheer volume today was hard to ignore. The Simpsons received double billing with Doh and Ralph and Hollywood did, as well, with Pixar and RKO. Re SNL, the show features a segment titled “Weekend Update.” CSO at Aries to PK, Moi, and, I believe, Jayce.
Thanks, Owen, and congrats on the debut and thanks, Jeff, for a mid-week treat and for your generous mentoring endeavors and thanks, Melissa, for an informative and entertaining review. I’m not sure I fit that Aries profile but I like its positivity.
Have a great day.
MPG, as clued? Certainly.
SNL has a long running bit called Weekend Update where they present their take on current news topics. It is not that the show,itself, is a weekend update.
Also, I am more familiar with Stretch The Truth and Bend The Rules than I am with the hybrid idiom used in the puzzle.
Still, a lot of fun...and that's not Bending The Truth.
The clue for MPH is so clearly meant to be a clue for MPG that I wonder if the grid originally had MPG in there. Then when it got changed to MPH, people forgot to change the clue also. It's a clever clue for MPG, though!
I also agree that there is a difference between phishing and SPAM.
I had only ever seen Bunco before and not BUNKO. Using Google Ngram viewer, it looks like both Bunco and Bunco squad were much more common than BUNKO and BUNKO squad until very recently. Nowadays, Bunco and BUNKO are about equally common, as are Bunco squad and BUNKO squad. But none of them is particularly common nowadays.
Never heard of EROSE before.
But it's a nice grid and theme in general. Melissa, great writeup! I hadn't noticed before reading your work that each theme answer has an "exercise" verb as the first word. That adds an extra layer to the theme that really elevates the puzzle.
Good morning everyone.
Got it all w/o error. FIR. Agree with MM and UF about MPH although perps were clear. The context of the clue overwhelmingly augured for MPG. Liked ASPCA with boxers.
Don't know how Jinx got onto coddling, but I totally agree with him.
FWIW, I thought my covid comments were in reaction to a Cornerite stating something on the order of "I wish everyone would just get the vaccine already." It was meant to be a "right on, bro (or sista)" but I must have been on a different site. Sorry for the disconnected remark. I really dislike those, especially when they are mine.
staili @8:52 AM. First SAW cutting edge fill EROSE in Cwds and it still do from time to time.
Musings
-Another assist from Jeff Chen produces a fun puzzle
-Phooey! Parking SLOTS and NLR (DOH!) were a stupid oversight.
-SUMO wrestlers are not on a first name basis with Marie Osmond
-My MPG’s are 25 Hwy and 19 City. My MPH are whatever the traffic will bear
-RALPH’s who didn’t make the cut: Fiennes, Macchio, Lauren, Nader, Waldo Emerson…
-I hope the ASPCA is monitoring the emus in those inane insurance commercials
-Hats off to you if you know that Antananarivo is a city of 1.25M people and is the capital of Madagascar
-An early credit for Tex under his real name
-Friday and Gannon investigate a SCAM very low on today’s LAPD radar
Nice steady solve today- no hang ups or write-overs! EROSE is one of the words that I only see in crosswords, kind of like EWER is a word for pitcher that I only see here. Fun theme that they likely ran today to be during the Olympics
Thanks to Melissa and Jeff and congrats to Owen for the debut!
I also had MPG instead of MPH at first.
I was stuck for a bit since I had DIVE in head first instead of JUMP.
I didn't know BUNKO vs. BUNCO. Thanks for the explanation.
And I didn't know the word EROSE.
Finally was TIT short for Titmouse? We have tons of them at our bird feeder along with the Chickadees.
Wordy Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Jeff and Owen (congrats on your debut), and melissa bee.
I got the EXERCISE theme early but ended up with a FIW. I was not interpreting the margarita clue properly (thinking of white spots on the glass), plus I had ISe instead of ISM, and choose a D for Dies and the unknown to me Deece. (We had SPOTS as an answer at 55D also😮👎). Ah well.
IM beat me to complaining about “initialisms and abbreviations”; the over-abundance of these (many of which are American) exacerbates 😮😁 my Canadian disadvantage. Perps solved most of them (but cross of BAUM and TAMI might have been a stumper for some).
YES’M, hand up for learning EROSE in my early CW-solving days.
I thought of Noel before YULE. (I did note YULE and RULES.
Favourite today was the clue for ENS.
Wishing you all a good day. I’m off to do some gardening as we have beautiful weather here.
EROSE - I go down rabbit holes often when exploring plant taxonomy and I frequently encounter EROSE in those write-ups.
“Erase” is practically Crosswordese 101. I too have never encountered it other than in CW land.
Make that EROSE, not Erase. My bad.
Harder'n yesterday but eked out a FIR.
Something seemed wrong with the grid, then realized as Melissa later pointed out ..no 180 degree rotational symmetry. Isn't this against CW Canon? What if CW police find out? 😳
As a recurring answer for the last few days RKO wasn't really a WAG, kinda like **EROSE which I only learned from puzzles and never heard used outside of them. 🙄WEES.....STRETCHTHERULES...more akin to cheating than the other two perilous answers.
Always spell ORc/K raung. From the picture looks like they spend a lot of time in the gym 🏋️♂️...Inkovers: Ruin/RUNE, com/EDU (think!!). Tex who? ..."Fifth" AVE wouldn't work.
Thought Kareem's birth name was what was needed. (Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr)...
What ewe might scornfully reply.. .BAH
Yesterday's "King (and I)" ______ Brynner...YULE
Make reigns last longer..STRETCHTHERULES
SCUBA tube...**EROSE ...btw.. LIU...(or should I say, listened.) It's pronounced ə-ROSE' 🌹(like what would "smell as sweet by any other name").
Happy rest of Hump day.
I think YESM is more Southern than rural. In either case, it's probably not the best 1A answer.
Wednesday toughie for me too, but still fun--many thanks, Owen and Jeff. And thanks to you too, Melissa, for your always neat commentary.
Nice to see Michelle OBAMA right up there, on top. Got me off to a good start which didn't last very long. But I did get BAUM and ELBA, and YULE, and then my favorite: EIEIO. Also liked getting PARK AVENUE, although I can't remember ever visiting it.
Have a great rest of the week, everybody.
This grid seemed Wednesday appropriate.
But some…shaky…clueing in a couple of spots.
1A…only if replying to a female. 8D…Just wrong.
Otherwise no issues.
Write-overs…DEES/TERM, REESE/REECE.
See you tomorrow.
As a few people have pointed out, SNL has a SEGMENT called "Weekly Review", it's not the whole show. I used to love SNL. I don't know if I changed or the show changed, but I seldom watch it anymore, don't find it nearly as funny. Is it ME or the show? Anyone else?
UncleF, I've stolen a catchphrase (I don't remember who from): "I'm so old I can remember when SNL was funny."
BTW, C.C. has a puzzle over at USA Today, Wednesday crunch and edited by Erik Agard.
SNL, an NBC show, has a segment called "Weekend Update". This shouldn't be causing any problems. Regarding SPAM. The clue ends with "perhaps". SPAM is 100% fine. And yes, MPH is not right for the clue. Someone was trying to be a little too cute, perhaps.
Gary, you forgot Kramden
In Rich's defense: In "Measuring" MPG one would factor in the average mph of city vs hwy driving. Although the constant mph of hwy produces better mpg vs lower city speeds with stop and go.
Then again current hwy speeds 80+ probably reduce mpg. Who drives under 80 on the hwy nowadays.
WC
desper-otto & billocohoes (thanks): i inadvertently dropped a word.
Wikipedia says: "Madagascar is the world's second-largest island *country,* after Indonesia.
one thing about checking in late is that all the questions and unknowns are already answered :).
the wirelessly charged keyboard and mouse are awesome because rechargeable batteries apparently tend to read low, and i was constantly having to close the 'low battery' notification. someone will have a more technical explanation of that, i'm sure ;).
'weekend update' was an instant classic the first season, with the original anchor chevy chase: 'i'm chevy chase, and you're not.' later followed by dan aykroyd and jane curtin. i haven't watched in so long i have no idea who the current anchor(s) are.
The word TIT--meaning "a small bird"--seems to be unusually popular this week.
I was only recently telling the story of the very proper tea I attended years ago with a small group of fellow American students hosted by the wife of our dean of The Shakespeare Institute in England.
In making polite conversation she spoke of their country home where she took great pride in the many visits to their garden by her "two blue tits."
She made a point of inviting us to stop by, if we happened to be in the neighborhood, to see "my magnificent blue tits."
Needless, to say, none of us Yanks dared make eye contact with one another.
But the current popularity of the word may have something to do with the Australian Olympic gold medal swimmer, Ariarne Titmus, whose surname seems likely to be derived from an alternate spelling of "titmouse"--yet another name for a small bird.
A fine Wednesday PZL.
FIR, but I was held up for the longest time by 32A, the "Nanny" clue.
I had JOSH for the perp at 28D (instead of JEST), which slowed me down considerably.
~ OMK
___________
DR: No diagonals, but it was unusual to see both sides coming a cropper in the same square--smack dab in the center at sq. 113. (Well, literally in the center of that square, at the 112.5 mark.)
As soon as I saw that Jeff Chen was one of the constructors I thought, "Oh man, there is going to be a bunch of clues that make no sense to me." I was about 60% right. This again raises the question of whose clues they are. It also again illustrates the two sides of the crossword coin: the point of view of the solver vs the point of view of the constructor. Specifically, to the solver a clue may seem utterly meaningless, such as "Rikishi's sport" to me, but once solved, looking back from answer to clue, the clue can then make sense in hindsight.
I did, however, FIR without help, thanks to gettable perps to answers I didn't know or were otherwise ungettable. For example, to me the answer to "__ Wiggum" is utterly ungettable, i.e. I had (and still have) no idea who that Simpson's character is. But because the perps ORCS, BAH, ALT, MP(?), and AHEM were solvable, they filled RALPH for me.
Irish Miss, my sign is Libra, as my birthday is October 8. Our son, born in April, is an ARIES, and Melissa's exposition on that zodiac sign actually does describe him pretty well for the most part. I understand and appreciate that you are not sure you fit that Aries profile but I also like its positivity, as you do. I'm thinkin' those zodiac profiles are deliberately, and sometimes rather cleverly, written to be quite generic and cover a lot of bases. Thus they can describe almost anybody to some extent but do not describe that person in other extents. Therefore a person can truthfully say, "Wow, that describes me pretty much" and at the same time assert "but it gets me wrong in several ways, too."
It's a little bit like fortune cookies. "You will solve a difficult problem." Oh gosh, that fortune cookie was right! I solved a Jeff Chen puzzle!
About MPH vs MPG. I agree that MPH is simply not the right answer, or that "Meas. with city and highway calculations" is simply a bad clue. Again I ask, whose clue is it? Inquiring minds want to know. (I wonder how Steve Marron is doing. Has anyone been in touch with him?)
Here's wishing you all a happy Wednesday.
Melissa, interesting to hear about your recent acquisition of a new iMac. I have just recently been reading all about it, in anticipation of perhaps having to abandon my current PC because apparently it doesn't support the upcoming Windows 11. So rather than buy a new PC I was thinking to go all Apple (my wife and I already have iPhones, iPads and a Mac Book Pro, and are invested in the Apple ecosystem) and dump Microsoft. I'm going to wait until Apple comes out with a new 27-inch iMac and learn as much as I can about it. Your new iMac is definitely a gorgeous and highly competent machine.
About rechargeable batteries. Well, it's tad complicated. Forgive me if I wax too technical on you. Devices such as your previous keyboard and mouse, that have replaceable batteries, are often "tuned" to report the State Of Charge of non-rechargeable Alkaline batteries. Probably AA or AAA cells. They expect you to replace them when they become depleted. However, you can replace them with rechargeable batteries, called Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH) batteries. But here's the rub. A fresh Alkaline battery puts out 1.5 volts but a fully charged NiMH battery only puts out 1.2 volts. So, on a device that is expecting Alkaline batteries, the NiMH batteries will always seem low. The mouse and keyboard that come with the iMac probably have Lithium-Ion batteries, which is a whole 'nuther kettle of rechargeable fish. Among other good things, the "meter" in the computer is calibrated to correctly report the battery's State Of Charge.
Whew!
jayce - the 27" iMac is available now. (they only have two screen sizes, 24" and 27".)
I made the switch from windows to apple and never looked back. had nothing but trouble with every windows product i ever had, and knew every geek squad employee on a first name basis. finally got fed up and told them i don't even WANT it back, i'm buying an imac. that was in 2009 and i'm only now replacing it but handing the 2009 down to my mom because it's still reliable. she hates her windows laptop ;).
i read that the low battery notification on a mac is set to pop up when the battery is at 20%, and that there's no way to change it.
Jayce - I am on a 27" 4-yr old IMac.
"Needless, to say, none of us Yanks dared make eye contact with one another." Rotfl And…
Nanny caused my FIW too. total brain freeze
I use android for everything. Peeve: the profile button is too close to the left corner of the screen where the blue cut/paste button appears.
Hence many a lost post.
WC
I have been solving the puzzles and lurking these last few days.
Alan had an anxiety attack on Sat. afternoon. On Monday I took him to the ER where we spent 11 hours, mostly cooling our heels. Finally he was admitted and seems to be doing very well.
Weekend Update is the only part of SNL I like these days. I usually fall asleep waiting for that segment and then I miss it.
I wrote MPH without a quibble. When I calculate how long a trip will take, I consider that I will go fewer MPH through city than on the highway. I don't understand the objection.
Re: 27-inch iMac. The current one is very good, but still uses the Intel processor. The new (24-inch) iMac uses the new M1 processor. I'm holding out for Apple to make a new 27-inch guy with the M1 (or perhaps M2) processor and all the other goodies that the 24-inch guy has.
Jinx @9:15 No need to apologize, I too am fed up with the ignorant excuses given by the unvaccinated, who, by offering up their bodies for the virus to mutate and grow stronger, are putting all of us who got vaccinated back at risk. Some of the excuses they offer are stunningly stupid: “Bill Gates put a microchip in the shot so he can track you!” REALLY?? This entire nightmare would be over already except for the ignorant not getting immunized. And no this is not political, it’s medical. Get immunized already!! Rant over.
Hi All!
Long day at the office getting ready for a two week vacation. I'm now all packed for SFO & Springfield, IL. The towncar (can't count on Lyft @2:45am) will be here in ~2 hours to take us to Hobby for our 5:25am flight.
Thanks Owen (congrats on debut!) and Jeff (I know which clues were yours :-)) for the puzzle and thanks mb for the expo -- loved the Seinfeld.
DNF: Had to look up BAUM to get my NW/WCentral WOs fixed.
FIW: STaKELY | FRaZE
WOs: YEah, JoSh, noel -> YULE, MPg, SNUGLy
ESPs: LIV, REECE
Fav: Tex AVERY. A hero of my misspent youth watching cartoons.*
Runner-up: BUNK[c]O [Dragnet for Jinx @0:28 of 1:28:13 (3 radio plays).
{A, A-, A-, A-}
OMK - sorry re: DR. You've told the "blue tits" story before; but it's always LOL!
UncleFred - Like IM & MManatee, et.al. said, "Weekend Update" is what the satire "news" segment of SNL is called. Here's one of the best [Jane you ignorant slut].
mb - current "Weekend Update" hosts are SNL writers Colin Jost and (the oft xword fodder) Michael CHE. Their 2021 finale telling jokes they written for the other.
Someone's got to explain how MPH's calc. changes between city & highway. It's still Miles / Hours regardless, no?
//I see we mostly agree :-)
A Phish is SPAM but SPAM isn't always a phish. Both are fishy.
BigE. For years, I've said the same thing as Al Lord re: cost of tuition == easy $$. La Tech didn't have a lazy river and the dorms were no better than army barracks at Ft. Sam.
++my attitude toward the unvax'd. //unclefred - B.Gates et.al. can already track us sans vaccine - that 'chip' is already in our damn pocket. #SmartPHONE :-)
R.I.P. ZZTop's Bassist Dusty Hill. [La Grange] Every now and again they'd still do a show here 'round Houston.
See y'all on-and-off over the next couple of weeks.
Cheers, -T
*Thanks HG - I didn't know AVERY's real name was Fred.
BigE - I reread my link and I realized I should have also pointed out state cuts to state schools also contributed to cost of tuition. But, I ask, would those cuts have occurred if student loans weren't so readily available.
And don't get me started on the 'for-profit' schools that qualify students for loans for worthless degrees. -T
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