Theme: Wishy-Washy
16. "Let me consider this for a bit": I'LL THINK ABOUT IT.
22. "Who can predict the future?": YOU NEVER KNOW.
39. "Maybe": PERHAPS. (Thanks, Owen!)
50. "We'll just have to wait to find out": TIME WILL TELL.
61. "Can't rule anything out": IT'S A POSSIBILITY.
Boomer here.
This
theme is a perfect example of "wishy-washy". I know that most of you
have heard this response to a question of two in your lifetime. But
when I saw this I could not help but stop and think about the weather
forecasts that I see on the news nearly every night. Minnesota is
finally receiving a bit of rain and the grass is "thinking about"
turning green. I do have a great deal of sympathy for both the gulf
coast and the northeastern seaboard of the USA last week. So much
suffering due to weather.
Across:
4. Dangerous snakes: ASPS. Cleopatra had one of these.
8. Grammar lesson subject: USAGE.
13. Commercial suffix with Cray- or Motor-: OLA. I had many crayons in my youth. But our TV's were always RCA
14. Nose (around): SNOOP. Nickname for Charlie Brown's dog.
15. Catcher's position: SQUAT. I played a bit of catcher in my
youth. It is extremely difficult. Later as a teenager I graduated to
center field. " Put me in Coach, I'm ready to play, today". John
Fogarty.
19. Step on a flight: STAIR.
20. Presidential period: ERA. I don't think Presidents last an ERA. However a pitcher won't last if his gets too high.
21. First-rate: A ONE.
26. Mild Dutch cheese: EDAM.
27. Territory that lent its name to two states: DAKOTA. C.C. and
I have been to both. Teddy Roosevelt state park in NODAK is
unbelievable! We visited Sioux Falls on our honeymoon and got as far as
a golf game in Chamberlain and a visit to Pierre. We did not get to
Mount Rushmore (My bad) or Sturgis (My good).
 |
| July 2002, on our way to Billings, Montana |
31. Partiality: BIAS.
34. Congregational seats: PEWS. We have them in the church I attend, but they do not smell.
37. Former Russian royals: TSARS.
38. Toronto's prov.: ONT. There is a big lake named after this.
41. "Hooray team!": RAH. RAH RAH RAH for Sky U Mah. It's a Minnesota Gophers cheer. I have no idea where it comes from.
42. Get one past the goalie: SCORE. If the same player does this three times in one game, everyone is supposed to toss their hat on the ice.
44. Walk-the-dog toy: YO YO. Yup, I had a Duncan when I was a kid.
45. Catch sight of: ESPY.
46. "Great White North" country: CANADA. Fits very well with 42 across. Our neighbor to the north has a plethora of NHL teams. I have relatives in Saskatoon.
48. Elaborate ruse: HOAX.
56. Sign of sorrow: TEAR.
59. __ tai: MAI.
60. Folded manuscript sheet: FOLIO. Reminds me of POLIO virus. I got it a long time ago with no side effects. My sister was not so lucky.
65. Singer's asset: VOICE. Mine was Bass. Not the fish but the low guy in the glee club.
66. Like things that make your skin crawl: EERIE.
67. Article in some hip-hop titles: THA.
68. Beginning: ONSET.
69. Haul with effort: DRAG. Quarter mile trip in a hotrod.
70. Sushi fish that must be cooked: EEL. I still do not think this is a fish.
Down:
2. For __ see: in plain sight: ALL TO. We had a State Fair
(ending today) in Minnesota. C.C. and I did not attend this year but
they do have exhibits for all to see there.
3. Caroline Islands nation: PALAU.
4. Singer-songwriter DiFranco: ANI.
5. #43, to #41: SON. It took me awhile to figure H.W. and plain old W.
6. Texas Hold 'em, e.g.: POKER. A difficult game I never played. I never had enough money.
7. Engine plug discharge: SPARK. You should change them about every 60,000 miles.
8. "For the Boys" org.: USO.
9. Parrots a parrot: SQUAWKS. Parrots are beautiful birds when they keep their beak shut.
10. Car: AUTO. Our Santa Fe is an SUV. Sometimes I trip and call it a car.
11. Profit: GAIN.
12. Suffix with novel: ETTE. CORV - an expensive sports car. CHEV a cheap compact.
14. Rip to pieces: SHRED. My bowling score sheet from last Monday.
17. Trident tips: TINES.
18. Radiohead or Motörhead: BAND.
23. Puff on an e-cig: VAPE. I quit cigs about 20 years ago. I never got into VAPING at all.
24. 39-Down board: EMERY. 39. Treat for the feet: PEDI. I just use a clipper.
25. "Wild" things to sow: OATS. Mares eat OATS, and does eat OATS, but little lambs eat IVY.
28. Rowboat pair: OARS. Years ago, until my dad bought a 5 horse
Johnson. It worked pretty well on our boat. I think real horses would
have drowned.
29. Lobster pot, e.g.: TRAP. We use them when a mouse invades our house.
30. Like a well-used fireplace: ASHY. I used to use our fireplace in the basement but it is too much of a hassle.
31. Brown-skinned pear: BOSC.
32. Peruvian empire of old: INCA. "Inka Dinka Do" (Jimmy Durante.)
33. Lots: A TON.
35. "Which person?": WHO. Done it? In the game of Clue? Professor PLUM?
36. Greet, with "to": SAY HI.
40. Where Marco Polo is played: POOL. Yes, In an insurance commercial.
43. Daily grind: RAT RACE.
45. Praise to the hilt: EXTOL.
47. Arsenal stockpile: AMMO.
49. 2004 remake starring Jude Law: ALFIE. "What's it all about?" Dionne Warwick.
51. Let up: EASED. The rain has EASED up in the Northeast, but left a mess behind.
52. Older partner?: WISER.
53. High society: ELITE. Not me. I cannot mingle with that crowd. I am sure they wouldn't let me anyway.
54. Nimble: LITHE.
55. Faithful: LOYAL.
56. Watch-when-you-want gadget: TIVO.
57. Prince Harry's alma mater: ETON. Is Harry still a Prince? I thought he gave up his crown when he left England.
58. Like no-returns merchandise: AS IS.
62. Champ, to Biden: PET.
63. Rollover acronym: IRA. This is a pretty good tool for investments.
64. Huge: BIG. BIG deal, We made it !!
Boomer
40 comments:
You want me to buy you a deluxe YOYO kit?
The one with colored sparklers that spit
Real sparks to go
With each up-and-down yo?
I tell you, I'LL THINK ABOUT IT.
⠠⠪⠢
A prince from the Royal Kingdom of Togo
(Not Nigerian, so it's not a HOAX, doh!)
Sent you an E-mail
A deal that can't fail?
You can try it, PERHAPS. YOU NEVER KNOW!
⠠⠪⠢
Enquirer may print pictures to sell,
People will imply, and that's swell,
Readers Digest
May coyly suggest,
But for certainty, only TIME WILL TELL!
⠠⠪⠢
So long cloaked in deep secrecy
U.F.O.s, now called U.A.P.,
Navy pilots ESPY
In clear blue sky --
Could they be aliens? IT'S A POSSIBILITY!
⠠⠪⠢
And for C-Moe's puzzle at Universal today (I won't ALL CAP the puzzle words, since most of you probably haven't done it yet):
Eating out may mean
ordering a la carte, eh?
in Canadian.
⠠⠪⠢
Gents approve see-thru
lingerie on mistresses
more, on their wives less.
⠠⠪⠢
To make a scene if
your bill is totaled up wrong;
Slam FINAL AMOUNT!
{A, A-, B+, B+; B, B+, B-.}
The word in the very center of the puzzle,
39. "Maybe": PERHAPS.
Should be included as not just another themer, but the ur themer that describes all the others!
Good morning!
Good observation, OwenKL. Up early this morning. Thunder-boomers in our area woke me up, and one of those peals almost blew me out of bed. I was done sleeping.
Enjoyed Craig's offering and Boomer's light-hearted expo. Thanx to both of you.
With the quotation marks around the clue "MAYBE" I agree that it was intended as part of the theme.
What a delightful picture of Boomer and C.C.!
A fine introduction to the week from Craig who is equally adept at a Monday easy puzzle and a Saturday workout. Speaking of easy, nice Universal Chris. Owen linked it here for all who wish to solve by merely clicking.
Thanks Boomer and I am sure by October you will be back in bowling form.
FIR, but erased SQUwaKS and NOISe. DNK PALAU.
Rich must be looking to build some street cred. We just had HAMMER and ONEAL, today we have SNOOP and THA. I'll bet we see "U Can't Touch This" as clue or fill soon. BTW, Hammer "borrowed" the bass line for that song from Rick James' "Super Freak".
I think the president should change his PET's name from Champ to Chomp. He has repeatedly bitten Biden's badged benefactors in the USSS.
Mary Hopkin corrected C&A for 52D: "Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser. For in our hearts the dreams are still the same Those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day..."
Thanks to Craig and Boomer for a lot of fun from our old pros.
Hello Everyone. No bowling today, Happy Labor Day. I am on my way to the golf course. Our league has no big silver cup or 15 Million dollar prize. Congrats to Patrick Cantwell!
FIR, but erased arms for ammo.
Good morning everyone.
Nice to start the day reading thoughts of Boomer. Always a pleasure.
Easy solve. No issues. Scratched my head over POOL, but perps were clear and it was explained above. FIR. Agree w/ OKL on PERHAPS. I've been to both Dakota's, too; Medora in ND, and Gavins Point dam in Yankton, SD.
ONT and CANADA - Fitting for the puzzle, today; they also celebrate Labor Day.
AMMO - Our destroyer would take on AMMO at Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown. 5 in. was the main gunnery suit.
Have a great day.
Hello everyone! Haven’t been around in a while, trouble with my email account. I think it’s ok now. Hope you’re all doing well, especially all of you who endured the terrible weather lately.
The puzzles have been very enjoyable. My usual trouble is with the names, not the words. I always manage to get things right though. Thanks everyone for the enjoyable puzzles and comments.
MN son, wife and baby girl coming home to our house tomorrow. Son’s 10 year reunion from West Point being celebrated this weekend. Lots of of classmates friends and family will be at WP. We are doing a tailgate for 20 people and football game. It will be 9/11. God bless America the beautiful and all those who have served our beautiful Country. Happy Labor Day.
Took a little under 5 minutes, but felt quicker than that.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park in N. Dakota is beautiful, and it's easy to see wildlife there too. Packs of wild horses and prairie dog "towns" were plentiful. If I remember correctly, it's about a 4 hour drive from there to Badlands National Park.
OwenKL ~~ I checked out and did the Universal puzzle that C-Moe said in yesterday’s blog that he created “solo”....does that mean that he not only constructed it by himself but also edited it, since I did not see an editor credited?
Yooper, Moe's prior publication was a collaboration. This was his first solo creation but it was edited by David Steinberg, the Universal parallel to Rich Norris. Solo is harder than it sounds nad requires extra effort on your own with designing the grid the initial challenge
FIR in 17. Slowed down be W/Os AGILE:LITHE, ARMS:AMMO and misreading “congregational seat” as “congressional seat”. Also dopey me started writing in CROUCH w/o noticing it wouldn’t fit, and having to W/O the two letters CR with SQ when filling SQUAT. And of course CSAR/CZAR/TSAR wait for perps. Other than those goof-ups, smooth sailing. Very nice CW, CS, thanx. I even sussed the theme! DNK PALAU or remember ALFIE. Boomer, very nice write-up, thanx. Great picture of u and C.C., too. As for the Dakotas, my father grew up on a farm in SW ND, near Mott. They used REAL horsepower to drag ice they’d cut from the Cannonball River back to the farm to put in a deep hole in the ground lined with straw. That was their refrigerator for the summer! No electricity. As a kid a went to grandpa’s farm in tge ‘50s a few times to help with the harvest, which was invariably wheat. I remember feeling like a big deal driving the farm truck next to the combine, and when the truck filled driving it to town to weigh and sell the wheat. At age 12, w/o a drivers license! Nobody cared much, it was about getting the job done. They didn’t get electrical power until sometime in the early ‘60’s. I also remember looking under the refrigerator at the flame and wondering how a flame under the refrigerator made it cold inside! And the kerosene lamps, with the ash mantle. A whole different world.
Cool Rap talk, Jinx. And Hammer to Hopkins, what range. I see Rap in a clue and go AAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!
I noticed "PERHAPS" and "Maybe" L714 nailed it
Posted very late, FLN as I didn't start til midnight.
Owen, A+ for creativity, I especially liked the mags one.
All W's here.
Boomer, too bad you can't throw a bowling ball like you can a golf club. Or a tennis racket like Ms ?? yesterday. Did Alvarez win again? How about that Cantlay* and his 10 million$ approach on 18
UncleFred enjoyed reminisce of old days.
WC
** I once putted for $7.00 when the 25 cent Skins game added up.
From yesterday, re:Peter Pan
I highly recommend mischief theaters "Peter pan" THe play goes wrong
As it is hilarious.
Due to copyrights, only clips are available.
However, for a short time, here is the whole hilarious play.
enjoy it now before it gets removed
It will make your day....
A Monday FIR to start the week, with only one WO: NOISe/NOISY. The theme was no problem today, and I liked the SQUAT and SQUAWKS entries. Thanks Craig for the holiday fun. Thanks Boomer for guiding the way. Enjoy the golf course today. Glad your toe is doing better.
OwenKL, thanks for all your poetry today. You were inspired. Good to hear from you, Lizza. Best wishes to all.
Good Morning:
This was an easy, breezy solve with no unknowns, no w/os and no nits. I agree that Perhaps is a key to the theme. Liked the Oats/Oars and A Ton/Big duos and the Oh so many Os: Yoyo, Folio, To, USO, Auto, Ammo, and TIVO. Nice big CSOs to CanadianEh at Tor and Canada.
Thanks, Craig, for a fun Monday and thanks, Boomer, for the humor and nostalgia, as usual. Great photo of you and CC.
FLN
Lizza, congrats to your son and enjoy the family celebration.
Congrats on your solo, Moe, I’ll solve it later.
Have a great day.
Puzzling thoughts:
Thanks Owen for linking my puzzle at Universal Crossword today! As Lemonade714 said, this was my first “solo” shot, but C.C. and Mark McClain were both very helpful in mentoring me over the past year.
As for today’s puzzle in the LA Times, I’ll have to find it online as we had no paper delivery today
C-Moe, here ya go:
https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword
Print it or solve it on line.
Hi Y'all! Yippee! An easy Monday romp with no indecision on my part about the theme. Thanks A LOT, Craig. Great review & picture, Boomer. thanks.
I remembered seeing a picture of the Bushes with caps that had bright numbers 41 & 43 on them. Didn't hesitate to write in SON.
Knew PALAU from watching "Survivor" filmed there years ago. Guess watching that was more worthwhile than expected.
Musings
-A fun puzzle from Craig who lives in 38. Toronto's prov.: ONT 46. "Great White North" country: CANADA
-These devices are supposed to help a SQUATTING catcher
-The Roaring 20’s ERA had three presidents
-TSAR – For the first time I got the “S” first!
-Ski U Mah nonsense phrase location
-ESPY – I was surprised that Craig didn’t use the nickname for a famous hockey player, Phil Esposito
-Do you know of a more famous HOAX than the one about Martians Orson Wells’ pulled on the radio in 1938
-“Who done it?” Grade school kids will tell you. Secondary kids- fuhgeddaboudit it.
-Professor Harold Hill sang that he preferred The Sadder But WISER Girl
OwenKL, from my iPhone I couldn’t follow your link.
CrossEyedDave, thank you for the link to Peter Pan Goes Wrong! It is hilarious. The same group put on The Play That Goes Wrong on Broadway a few years back, with many of the same actors. It was very funny, and the set, like this one, had a lot of tricks up its sleeve. The set deservedly won the Tony that year.
I was. Stationed in Guam on a government mission, went to Palau often. Beautiful
HG, I used to be a very loyal baseball fan but when the Marlins moved from the Broward/Miami-Dade border all the way to south Miami I lost interest. I also stopped watching the game on TV as the combination fo free agency and absurd salaries made it difficult to root for any team. I know we have many Yankee fans here, but who are the Yankees now? Anyway, I was amazed to learn of the knee protectors which are being used by 50% of major league catchers now. There were great players who could have been greater if their knees has lasted longer. I used to be a Chicago White Sox fan during the first 40 years of their inability to make it to the World Series, and the team had personality and the players stayed. No longer. I also watched the Blackhawks who had Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and were an awesome team in the early 60s made better with the arrival of Phil Esposito. Those three could score, with Espo centering for the Bobby Hull. He was traded to the Bruins, which were the local team for this Connecticut boy. Phil became the greatest scorer, first to get over 100 points in a season, scoring leader 6 years in a row on a great team with Bobby Orr. Of course Wayne Gretzky came along and broke every record. But Phil was so good, you had to admire him. He also was part of the group that brought hockey to Tampa Bay after he retired and is still involved with that franchise.
All of which is my totally unsubtle way of saying he was Espo, not ESPY. Love your comments HG and your continued interest in sports
I enjoyed this one. Seemed almost Tuesday plus in difficulty, but still a solid puzzle.
This Monday puzzle filled quickly.
No write-overs today.
Yesterday I’m watching the Yankees score 7 runs, then watched their bullpen give it back. David Cone, the ex-Yankee pitcher and current broadcaster, said it was one of those times when “the hitters have to pick up the pitchers.” While I agree with the idea, they had been up by plenty as the bullpen failed…so how many runs do they have to plate before they are “picking up” the pitching staff? The truth of the matter is the Yankee bullpen is weak weak weak, their “closer” Chapman hasn’t been able to do anything since the stickum ban, and the rest are either dead tired or actually hurt. Not looking like a great September for sure.
See you tomorrow.
How nice to get such an easy, manageable puzzle on Labor Day. Loved it--many thanks, Craig. And thanks to you, Boomer, for posting that sweet young photo of you and C.C.! What a cute couple you were--and still are!
Given that there are a lot of speakers making comments in this puzzle ("I'll think about it") it was a good idea to include VOICE in the answers, even if that was a singing one.
I'm not sure I've ever had EDAM cheese, even though it turns up in puzzles a few times each week. Nice to see a picture of it--looks yummy.
I guess some of the ELITE go to ETON, but does that make them any WISER?
Have a great week coming up, everybody!
Thanks Craig and Boomer. Finished today's puzzle before finishing yesterday's. Started the latter in the AM before DW and I left for Annapolis to spend the day at the USNA to celebrate one of our grandsons' 16th. Worked on it some more when we got back in the evening and finally wrestled it to the mat this morning. Both puzzles were fun FIRS, as was Chris's puzzle @ Universal Crossword: favorite clue/fill "29D: No longer in Drafts: SENT.
As usual I was pretty WISHY-WASHY on the theme, but I don't lament the fact, as there doesn't seem to any space to write it down (NO ONE WILL NEVER KNOW whether I got it or not!). TIME WILL TELL whether I'll get the one for 9/16 or have to send out an SOS to the blogger team. IT'S A POSSIBILITY.
A coupla favs:
1A NAP, which I awoke from 15 min ago and sat down at this laptop.
4A ASPS Read somewhere that Cleopatra actually tested various poisonous snakes on condemned prisoners, to find the species that caused the least painful death. You never know when you might be taken captive by ROMANS.
52D I'm getting OLDER, but don't seem to be getting any WISER.
Cheers,
Bill
Oh and Boomer, thanks for the GOOD GROANS and please follow your doctors' orders!
Speaking of baseball, last night watched a pinch-hitter hit a walk-off slammer (4) in bottom of the 9th to beat the Cards. But also watched as the same Cards "edged" the Brewers 15-4 last week. I still say pitching is everything. TC
Hi All!
Not much Labor expended to Day on Craig's Monday puzzle. Thanks Craig -- centering the grid with a 5th themer is a nice touch.
Thanks Boomer for the expo. //Tee-hee, PEWs don't smell...
WOs: EMoRY board, DAKOdA
ESPs: ALFIE, PALAU
Fav: Great White North, eh?
{A, B+, B, A+, [//goes to do Universal (nice solo, Chris!)] B+, A+, C+}
CED - I've seen that Peter Pan Panto and it is an hour of humour well spent.
staili - As you know, there are many "That Goes Wrong" and all are worth watching.
unclefred - cool story of being on Gramp's farm. Share that with every young person you can find so they understand iPhones didn't always exist.
On the road home (from Norman, OK) yesterday, I heard this NPR program [Thoughline 1h] that said we can thank the Socialist Party for Labor Day. Donno how much is true (I'm not a historian) and your politics may vary, but, I found it interesting.*
Cheers, -T
There's not a lot interesting on I-35 & I-45 between Norman, OK & Dallas and Dallas & Houston, respectively :-)
Staili - I missed my link... The Play That Goes Wrong (abridged).
Cheers, -T
An easy Labor Day romp from Mr. Stowe, well elucidated by Boomer.
I never played baseball, but watched a lot of it. I can't understand how a catcher can bear to SQUAT for hours at a time. I know one can build oneself up to it, but WHY?
And isn't it truly hard to work the kinks out AFTER the game?
Good (NOT bad) Cess to 'em, sez I!
Looks like my "home team," the SF Giants, has beat my 2nd home bunch, the Dodgers.
I'd claim some pride, but I never went with the Giants. To me, they are still guilty of displacing the true home team, the one I grew up with, the old SF Seals.
~ OMK
___________
DR: Three diagonals, near end.
The central diagonal yields an anagram (13 of 15 letters) of a bland foodie's nightmare, the torment he or she endures when served a meal at the Gilroy (CA) Festival.
Naturally, I mean it's an...
"AIOLI HELLHOLE"!
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Craig and Boomer.
I FIRed and saw the PERHAPS theme (laid out symmetrically).
Just a few inkblots. Arms changed to AMMO (hello KS). Squacks corrected to SQUACKS (yes ATLGranny, I smiled to see it cross SQUATS). Exalt changed to EXTOL; Agile changed to LITHE (hello unclefred) (that SE corner is a little messy in my paper).
Well, Craig is Canadian, and has thrown me several CSOs- TOR, CANADA, SCORE. Thanks also to OwenKL.
Even this Canadian figured out #43, #41 (is that two ERAs?), plus I knew Champ, Biden’s PET. (LOL Jinx, re Chomp)
We are celebrating Labour Day here.
Happy Labor Day to you Americans!
Dang! You're right, Lemon. Thanks for ESPYING my boo-boo!
Colin Cowherd has said that if you remain loyal to a team where the players are not familiar, stay for only a short time and come from a myriad of sources driven by paychecks (which is only right), you are only rooting for laundry! Forcing them to stay on the same team without a chance to do better financially or competitively is not fair either which was the norm in my yute! The only laundry I root for are my hometown, small high school Arlington Eagles and Cornhuskers after 65 years of faithfulness.
I liked this easy puzzle, Boomer's comments and photo, and all your comments.
Interesting that a headline in Business Insider today is "Americans rushed to Canada when it first opened but crossing data shows the Great White North has lost its allure..."
Happy Labor Day and good wishes to you all.
Anon-T, thanks for the link! That's a scene from the show I saw - brings back great memories! I will have to check out some of the others.
HG, I often have commented on the regional knowledge parameters that are displayed in our comments. I spent my first 23 years in the Northeast and it was before cable TV so my data imput was skewed. The greater number of puzzle solvers were products of the same environment. Also the constructors until about 7-10 years ago were primarily veterans. We had a wave of new creative minds come to the puzzle world, too many to name but it included our own C.C. But the wave skewed younger with David Steinberg, Eric Agard, Neville Fogarty, Alex Vratsanos etc. We have oldtime solvers complaining about the "unknowns" of modern culture; we have newer solvers railing against outdated tv stars...and so it goes.
For those of you who like light verse, may I recommend a weekly news round-up in poetic form at Light (scroll below the cover picture). As a teaser, this haiku by Paul Lander about the recent weather in the NE:
It’s so damn wet that
Outside my window I saw
Snorkeling pigeons.
Interesting that along with the L714 rehash of " baseball players are overpaid" and Anon-T 's Debs Bio was a note from a baseball file about Carl Furillo being blacklisted because he sued to collect pay while injured on the job. And…
The ultimate irony will be a repeat of the team with lowest salaries (TBRays) (re)playing the team with the highest salaries(Dodgers). And…
The former lost last year because they wanted to protect their asset (Snell) so they could get the best deal in a trade.
WC
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