22A Rocker since the '60s, familiarly: STONE.
We interrupt this review to bring you a special report on a
STONE known familiarly as Charlie, and the news of a
MILESTONE in music history, the passing of
Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021),
jazz bandleader and also the drummer for the Rolling Stones.
Charlie died
with Shirley, his devoted wife of 57 years, by his side. He was the quiet CORNER STONE of the "World's Greatest Rock and
Roll Band". He was no "Jack Flash", but rather the gentile,
soft-spoken, and in fact humble STONE. Here is
the interview
Dash T posted on the Corner on the day Charlie died. Below is
Part 1 of an interview with him by drummer Chad Smith:
May Charlie Rest in Peace.
And now we return to our regular programming, a review of
PUZZLEUS INTERRUPTUS
George Jasper is a regular contributor to the Corner, last appearing here on
July 12th of this year. His theme for today is ...
65A.
Interrupt ... and a hint to each set of puzzle circles:
CUT IN. I've heard this phrase used most often to interrupt a couple
dancing with a gentle tap on the shoulder and a polite request to dance with
one of the partners. A CSO to YellowRocks for any other
etiquette she might add.
However George explores several other
usages of the phrase, some of which are not so polite:
17A.
Rubber in the kitchen?:
BRILLO PAD.
LOP, as for example to pruning a tree or bush. Unpunned we have:
|
|
Accept no substitutes! |
24A. Major seen annually in Paris: FRENCH OPEN. CHOP might be applied to a tree, firewood, or perhaps a cut of steak. The French Open, officially known as Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May of each year. Roland Garros was a WWI aviator and hero:
48A. Ones skilled at making deductions: TAX EXPERTS. An AXE is usually used to HEW trees. I'm beginning to think that George may be a Dendrophobiac.😠 But come to think of it DW and I have two 75' tall twinned Tulip Poplars within 30' of our house and sometimes I fear that they may fall on our bedroom one night. On the other hand our arborist regularly LOPS off weak limbs and has connected the twin trees with a high-tensile-strength steel cable, and he assures us that everything is okay.😊
61. White House nickname: HONEST ABE. STAB? Now I'm really worried. Tree limbs, trunks, and veal chops are not the usual targets for STABS.
Here's the grizzly grid:
Have no fear. We'll soldier on, despite the theme:
Across:
1. Nest egg, perhaps: CACHE. Stored under the mattress? Not a good ROI. I hope Ron is feeling better and can weigh in on this.
6. One of the Tide's rivals: VOL The Tennessee VOLUNTEERS, not this:
9. Marine supports: MASTS.
14. Literary musketeer: ATHOS. Athos is the oldest of Alexander Dumas' Three Musketeers:
15. Kind of moment: AHA. Cornerites have many of these every day!
16. Fancy tie: ASCOT. Also the name of a racecourse in Berkshire, England. And the venue for the introduction of Miss Eliza Doolittle to English high society:
19. European river: RHONE. The Rhône is a major river in France and Switzerland, arising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. Also a reference to the Rhone Wine Region for wines grown along the river valley:
20. Overly suave: OILY. Or - a dirty rotten scoundrel:
21. Driver's warning: FORE. FINES?, FIRES?, FORE. A CSO to all the golfers on the Corner - "What's your recommendation if you find yourself the target of a FORE?"
23. Smidge: TAD.
26. Pedi places: SPAS. A perhaps pedestrian description of SPAS. They were traditionally situated near mineral springs, and people would visit them to "take the waters". My parents used to have a house outside the SPA town of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., and our family would visit there every Fall for the Apple Butter Festival.
29. "Atlas Shrugged" author Rand: AYN. I believe this is the third time I've blogged novelist and philosopher AYN Rand. I guess it's because she's so gluey.
30. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES. William Estes Nipper (born October 21, 1978) is an American actor known for his role on CBS police drama Blue Bloods as Jameson "Jamie" Reagan.
32. They may be fine: ARTS. See also 13D.
35. Remained on the shelf: SAT.
42. Country E of Cyprus: SYR. Since East is abbreviated, the answer is abbreviated.
43. Edward G.'s "Little Caesar" role: RICO. Edward G. Robinson of course, and the role was Caesar "Rico" Bandello, an aspiring small-town criminal:
44. Light on one's feet: AGILE.
45. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA. "In 2013, Breaking Bad entered the Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed show of all time. 'Breaking Bad' is binge worthy. Once you get rolling, you won't be able to stop." Apparently a very popular show, although I've not seen it.
This past June the "War on Drugs" celebrated it's 50th birthday.
47. Islamic official: IMAM. The word "imam" in the Koran (the Muslim sacred text) refers to Abraham and other leaders. ... Imams are Muslim clergy (religious leaders) in mosques (Islamic places of worship) and in Muslim communities. They lead prayers, deliver sermons, and provide religious education and counseling.
|
| Imams |
54. Hagen of Broadway: UTA. Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee. She also plays minor roles in crossword puzzles, because of the high ratio of vowels to consonants in her first name.
|
|
Uta Hagen |
After being blacklisted for her association with Paul Robeson, she devoted considerable time to teaching acting. If you don't have time to read the Wiki above, see at least the section subtitled "Students of Uta Hagen". You might recognize some of the names.
57. Some nerve?: OPTIC. The exquisite structure of the OPTIC NERVE, the intricacies of the EYE, their complex integration with the rest of the NERVOUS SYSTEM lead me to be highly skeptical of simplistic Darwinian explanations for how they evolved. To say more would be to venture into scientific POLITICS.
58. Fixer's need: TOOL. We hear a lot of chatter on the Corner
about fixing things. Man has been called "Homo Faber" ("Man the Maker"). And
because of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, the things that men and women make
eventually need to be FIXED, and this requires TOOLS.
The universe of TOOLS is virtually infinite, and
they are explored in this link
and this clip:
59. Not good, as a chance: SLIM. I pass.
59. Not good, as a chance: SLIM. I pass.
60. Asking __: PRICE. "He knew the price of everything and the value of nothing" - Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan.
64. Supplement, with "out": EKE. Never heard this definition for EKE, but then here it is.
67. Trip taker's vehicle: LSD. One of the common forms of transportation in crossword puzzles - Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The drug was first synthesized, and its psychedelic properties discovered, by Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.
|
|
Albert Hofmann |
His discoveries also let to a better explanation of the epidemics of Egotism in the Middle Ages. One of the symptoms of these epidemics were mass hallucinations, that were traced to Lysergic acid found in the Ergot fungus of spoiled rye.
68. Brainstorming output: IDEAS.
Down:
1. Northwest Passage seeker: CABOT. John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto; c. 1450 – c. 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer, who was the first European to reach the entrance to the Northwest Passage, reportedly landing at Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland
|
|
The Northwest Passage |
2. Sunlit courts: ATRIA.
3. Temple, for one: CHILD STAR. Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; (April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. As an adult, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
|
|
Shirley Temple in 1948 |
4. Sanctified: HOLY.
5. Immigrant's subj.: ESL. English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as (1) English as a second language, (2) English as a foreign language, (3) English as an additional language, or (4) English for speakers of other languages. A CSO to any Cornerites with experience as a Teacher of English as a Second Language to share your experiences.
6. Jet trail: VAPOR. Jets leave white trails, or contrails, in their wakes for the same reason you can sometimes see your breath. The hot, humid exhaust from jet engines mixes with the atmosphere, which at high altitude is of much lower vapor pressure and temperature than the exhaust gas. The water vapor contained in the jet exhaust condenses and may freeze, and this mixing process forms a cloud very similar to the one your hot breath makes on a cold day.
7. Midway alternative: O'HARE. Only if I can't avoid it! OTOH this airport IS sometimes impossible to avoid if you are a cruciverbalist, as constructors delight in testing our knowledge of airport codes, which in this case is ORD. So why ORD?
|
|
O'Hare Airport (ORD) |
8. Freight-filled, say: LADEN. As we learned last week, a freight container's weight when UNLADEN is called the TARE. GROSS wt. - TARE wt. = FREIGHT wt.
9. Like the Okefenokee: MARSHY. The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness.
|
|
Okefenokee Swamp |
10. He played Steve in "Jobs": ASHTON. Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, model, producer, and entrepreneur. Last Saturday he was in That 70's Show, this week he is the star and producer of the movie Jobs. Big shoes to fill, but the film didn't exactly get rave views, although it was a modest box office success.
11. Reporter's coup: SCOOP. Given the rapidity with which news is discovered and propagated these days, I think this usage is rapidly becoming an anachronism. So whad'ya think TTP?
12. Metric unit: TONNE. A unit of weight equal to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb)
13. Rembrandt contemporary: STEEN. Jan Havickszoon Steen (c. 1626 – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humor and abundance of colour. And because his name has an "EE", he is often sought out by those engineering crossword puzzles.
|
|
Jan Steen |
18. Plural word attached to rip or send: OFFS.
25. Durango digs: CASA. Today's Spanish lesson. There is also a Durango in Colorado, but presumably George meant this one:
|
|
Durango, Mexico |
27. Adoptee, maybe: PET. Also stands for a diagnostic test called Positron Emission Tomography. A good friend of mine had a PET scan for cancer, and I'm happy to report that her test results were negative.
28. Pack animal: ASS.
30. UFO operators: ETS. The government recently released a report on the more PC term Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, but the jury is still out on whether they're operated by ETS.
31. Like one sitting alone at the dance, probably: SHY. Wallflower wouldn't fit.
32. Sashimi selection: AHI. Japanese fast food, Sashimi (not to be confused with Sushi) consists simply of slices of very fresh raw fish. AHI is the name of a variety of raw tuna. Other selections might be Salmon, Yellowtail, Octopus, or Whitefish (the green blob on the lower right is called Wasabi, a condiment made of type of "hot" radish):
As Sushi chefs keep their fish ultra-fresh, it is a misconception that it tastes "fishy", and in fact some varieties of it are even cooked. If you haven't tried it you should put it on your bucket list, but get a Sherpa to guide you in selecting and eating it. You can even sit at the bar and watch the chef make your order. Thus endeth the Sushi sermon.
33. VCR button: REC.
34. Bill featuring Jefferson: TWO. Looks like this if you haven't seen one lately.
35. Jump-start: STIMULATE.
36. Come down with something: AIL.
37. "Four Quartets" monogram: TSE. Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. He is probably most popularly known for Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but Eliot regarded Four Quartets as his masterpiece, and it is the work that most of all led him to being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
39. Corner: TRAP.
40. Orange edible: YAM. No not a Clementine, but a tuber (the one on the left doesn't look very orange to me):
|
|
Yam or Sweet Potato |
41. Supermarket franchise initials: IGA.
45. Cleared, in a way, as plane wings: DEICED.
46. More than needed: EXCESS. This blog is like a smorgasbord. Don't feel like you have to eat more than you need! 😉
47. Chain link?: ISLE. An island chain perhaps?
48. Trading cards giant: TOPPS. Hello Boomer! 10 of the Greatest and Most Expensive Topps Baseball Cards.
And more breaking news! I predict that this will backfire on MLB and only drive up the price of TOPPS cards.
49. Arbor Day month: APRIL. National Arbor Day is always celebrated on the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates throughout the year based on the best tree planting times in their area. Here's a good resource for tree huggers:
50. Scrabble 8-pointer: X TILE.
51. Lucy's landlord, in old TV: ETHEL. Vivian Roberta Jones; July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979. Here Ethel (with the help of her old buddies), says goodbye to the hometown theatre that gave her her start:
52. Pieces that castle: ROOKS.
The rook (/rʊk/; ♖, ♜) is
a piece in the game of chess resembling a castle. Formerly the piece
(from Persian رخ rokh/rukh, meaning chariot) was
alternatively called the tower, marquess, rector, and comes (count
or earl) (Sunnucks 1970). The term castle is considered to be
informal, incorrect, or old-fashioned, although it is
still a part of the name of a special chess move.
56. Agreeing chorus: AMENS. AMEN has a Semitic root connoting “firm,” “fixed,” or “sure,” and the related Hebrew verb also means “to be reliable” and “to be trusted.” The Greek Old Testament usually translates amen as “so be it”; in the English Bible it has frequently been rendered as “verily,” or “truly.”
59. Poker choice: STUD. Stud poker is any of a number of poker variants in which each player receives a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple betting rounds. Not only are there a number of poker variants, but there are a number of stud poker variants. This presenter demonstrates what he calls the "traditional way":
62. It may be natural: Abbr.: SCI. Here's one way to tell if it is not Nat: "Any field that has the word 'Science' in its name is not a Science", or words to that effect.
waseeley
And special thanks to my DW Teri for proof reading and making several
constructive suggestions for improving this post:
Cheers,
Bill
46 comments:
Tex decided his wealth to employ
To visit Europe, and some travel enjoy.
He visited the Alps,
At a Swiss river he knelt,
Picked a rock for belt-buckle, now he's a RHÔNE-STONE cowboy!
When life seems to be going by in a whiz,
And your gentle joys have lost their fizz,
Then repeat after me,
Say "C'EST LA VIE,"
That's FRENCH for THAT'S THE WAY IT IS!
{B, B+.}
Musings
-Early completion and posting before I, well you know – FORE.! (I look around while ducking when I hear FORE!)
-Bama has a 57-38-8 FB edge over VOLS
-Shirley fared better in adulthood than fellow CHILD STAR Judy
-In all my trips through O’HARE, I sought out the cart selling Chicago Hot Dogs
-I referenced Kutcher’s portrayal of Jobs and his amazing resemblance to the father of Apple Computers. The movie was tedious and wordy. 28% on Rotten Tomatoes
-Are there UFO’s? Certainly! Are they controlled by aliens? I’m open to proof but have never seen any!
-TWO dollar bills were big in Omaha when their AK-SAR-BEN Race Track was drawing 12,000 people/day
-Wouldn’t ETHEL have been the landlady?
-Nebraska is the home of Arbor Day.
-A lovely picture of Teri, Bill!
Some tricky clues from GJ today: 6A “One of Tide’s rivals”; All? Era? When perps filled VOL my first thought was, “Humph! Never heard of it!” Then the lightbulb lit. Another of GJ’s tricky ones, 21A: “Driver’s warning”; Horn? Toot? Beep? (“Middlefinger” didn’t fit!) but no, FORE. Oh. That kind of driver. 34D “Bill featuring Jefferson” had me confidently write in “TEN”, which buggered that area up for some time, until 38A forced a W into it, giving me a TEN:TWO W/O mess. 52D coulda been KINGS or ROOKS, had to wait for a TOOL to figure it out. DNK CABOT or ESTES, all perps. At the end of it all, a 35 minute slog to FIR. I bet ANON will be able to take “3” off my time.
Oops! I forgot to say thanx to GJ for his work to give us this clever CW, and forgot to say thanx to Bill for the fun snd informative. terrific write-up.
Good morning!
Got through this one in better-than-normal Thursday time. No Wite-Out need apply. Had the circles, got the theme, the crowd went wild. Thanx, George and Waseeley. (Very informative write-up.)
SPA: There's a national park in Hot Springs, ARK -- right in the middle of town. It must be one of the smallest national parks ever.
O'HARE: Before Atlanta deposed it, O'HARE was the busiest airport in the nation. My last winter in the area, '78-'79, O'HARE was closed for snow more days that in all the previous years combined. The snowbanks on either side of my driveway grew higher than I could throw snow. I was glad when winter finally ended.
TWO: The $2-bill is often refused at retail establishments because a) employees don't recognize it as real money and b) there's no slot for the bill in the cash register.
APRIL: During the interminable spring fund-raising on the local NPR station, a local charity group will plant a tree in public spaces for every $50 donation.
Compliments to George for the excellent Thursday CW. It was challenging without being daunting, any head scratching was alleviated with the perps in rather short order. Bill, your commentary was masterful. I admired the "Cut In" for the long revered and fondly remembered Charlie Watts. I found the additional information on O'Hare and Sushi enlightening, thank you.
FIR, but erased STEiN, nosed for TONED, and hand up when ten became TWO. For me this one was the easiest of the week.
Our AAA baseball team is The TIDEs, the Baltimore affiliate. It's gotta be tough to be a player not good enough to be on a poor team in The Show.
I always think of "Take On Me" when I fill AHA. Wonder why it's never clued that way?
Maybe ASHTON had big shoes to fill when he took on "Jobs", but I think his more notable accomplishment was succeeding Bruce Willis as Demi's spouse. He had a big BRILLO PAD to fill, whether in the kitchen, the Jacuzzi or wherever.
Thanks to George for the fun, doable puzzle. My favorites were the clues for CHILD STAR and FORE. When I hear FORE, I turn away from where I think it is coming from, duck my head and put my arm over the back of my head. The courses I play are usually so crowded that it's hard to tell where the ball is coming from.
And thanks to Bill for the extensive, informative review. You obviously DO have a "better half"
I managed to slice through this one in 8:07 - only to disappoint UncleFred yet again.
Good puzzle, despite the circles. I didn't know Estes or Rico, and found the clue (supplement, with "out") for "eke" to be awkward.
Creative theme made easier by the circles. The W in HEW made the Thomas Jefferson bill TWO easier to think of.
Interesting that Edward G Robinson's "RICO" character in 1931 became the acronym for the RICO laws enacted in 1970 to decrease racketeering and organized crime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
Thanks to Bill and George!
A very fair Thursday with a most comprehensive exposition; thank you George and Bill. I will take a somewhat sad CSO for OPTIC NERVE as the one controlling my left (dominant) eye is dying. To date there are no treatments.
Since my wife is a chef at 9Face Sushi Cafe she can explain that Sushi is a popular Japanese dish made from seasoned rice with fish, egg, or vegetables. ... Sushi comes from a Japanese word meaning "sour rice," and it's the rice that's at the heart of sushi, even though most Americans think of it as raw fish. Another family CSO.
enjoy all
I saw the the theme after filling two sets of circles. The S in HONEST ABE and SCI was my last fill.
Interesting blog, Bill.
The aside about LSD should have been ERGOTISM instead of EGOTISM. Was STONE gentle or gentile?
These days the terms landlord and actor can apply to ladies as well as gents.
The longest waiting lines at airports, in my experience, have been at OHARE.
No one cuts in at a square dance. Eight dancers to a square, first come, first served. In our club most members offer their places to visitors, which is unique to us. Company, first. Club member couples even split up to offer a place to a visitor.
In another sense, rude people cut in when someone else is telling a story.
You can tell a good sushi restaurant by how well-made the rice is and by how extremely fresh the fish is. And, as Lemon says, not all sushi contains raw fish. Lucky you, with a sushi expert wife.
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, George. Great expo, Bill & Teri. THanks.
YR: Were you not in the New Jersey storm area being reported on the weather channel this morning? I was worrying about you.
I got the theme early which helped fill the other circles,
VeL (soap) before VOL for my Tide rival. Changed it later to VOL but Needed Bill's explanation for that.
No AHA moment for me today, but an "oh no" one instead. Before reading waseeley's ever helpful review, I had one WO that marred my otherwise pretty grid at RICO and REC(ord). I had tried REv(erse) and REw(ind) before realizing it had to be RICO for the name. So I saved myself there, but put bUT IN for "interrupt" and left it for a FIW! I even had a question mark by SbI, wondering what it meant, never realizing it should be SCI!
On the other hand, there was much to like in today's puzzle and the review, so I thank George and waseeley both. (Nice picture, waseeley!) Thanks also to Boomer for making me aware of TOPPS cards. THAT'S THE WAY IT IS today. Onward to Friday....
Well, my comments above posted themselves. Don't know how that happened.
I was proud to come up with 1a. CACHE but had to wait for perps to get 1d. CABOT. DNK him. Tried CLARK (of the LEWIS partnership). Bzzzt.
Also DKN: ESTES, RICO, DEA as clued.
I had CHILD for Temple but it took several passes for Shirley to dawn on me and STAR in our CW.
Good morning.
Yes, an easy solve, but still fun. Don't think the circles were needed. Very in-depth and thorough review, Bill. Pass kudos along to your proofreader and editor in chief !
CACHE - Not long after filling the bird feeders with sunflower seeds yesterday, I watched this chipmunk scurry in and suck up the over spill like a vacuum cleaner. He/she wasn't eating though. Those little cheeks ballooned out in just a moment or two. Then it hurried off. It couldn't have been three minutes later and the (same ?) chipmunk was back for more stores for its larder.
BTW, still very happy with that squirrel proof feeder I bought. Neither they nor the chipmunks have been able to defeat the weight sensitive lever mechanism that closes over the trough. It's funny to watch them continue to try.
Bill, AFAIC, there's new news, regurgitated news, filtered news, hidden-agenda news, and more. Then there's the non-news that is pushed on us as if it were news. Let's not forget breaking news and special news reports that interrupt the normally scheduled broadcast. So if it's omnipresent, is it really news ? I don't think I'm bearing bad news when I say that sometimes no news is good news.
SCOOP, however, always brings to mind Al Oliver of the early 70's Pittsburgh Pirates. The nickname was due to his fielding prowess, but as a member of Pittsburgh's "Lumber Company" that won the 1971 World Series, his bat did a lot of talking. He could flat out hit. I read that he is the only player with over 2500 hits, over 200 HRs, and a lifetime BA of over 300 NOT in the HOF (those are very good numbers, in case you aren't a baseball fan). He is also one of the relative few players that played on both of the Canadian MLB teams (The Expos and the Blue Jays) during his MLB career.
So busy yesterday, and much more to get done today. Gotta run.
See all y'all later n'at !
PK, thanks for thinking of me. It rained hard,but there was not wind right here. We had two short, maybe half hour, outages. I turned off my laptop so as not to drain the battery or get a surge when the power returned. No other immediate problem. The governor has asked us to stay off the roads. The commuter traffic by my door was quite thin today. It is difficult to pinpoint where the local flooding is, so I canceled a medical test this morning and will stay in today and tomorrow. We were fortunate.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, George and waseeley ( and Teri).
I FIRed in good time and saw the CUT IN theme.
One inkblot to change Era to VOL(all perps); the clue did say “the Tide” and this Canadian has learned ‘Bama.
This Canadian has also learned DEA, but I had to wait for a perp to get TWO. (You all know that we have Toonies.). I also had to wait for perps for APRIL. We don’t celebrate Arbor Day. Okefenokee was unknown too and a few perps were required to get MARSHY.
I did know OHARE.
If that SHY person SAT on the sidelines at the dance, nobody will CUT IN.
Cape Breton Island on the north of Nova Scotia has a CABOT Trail that circles the island. It is a beautiful drive in good weather, and a must for any tourist.
TTP- that chipmunk was LADEN with a TONNE of seeds😁
Wishing you all a great day.
Good Morning:
This was a fun solve with just a few stumbles: Dab/Tad, Ulnar/Optic, and Toes/Spa. Some cute duos include Yam/imam, Tonne/Toned, Shy/Sci, and Rhone/Stone. CSOs to the Chicago contingent (O’Hare), Lucina (Casa, ESL), and Boomer (Topps). Will Estes, Jamie in Blue Bloods, is one of my favorite actors in that talented ensemble. Top choice, though, is Tom Selleck.
Thanks, George, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Bill, for another fact-filled summary and entertaining links. I particularly enjoyed the My Fair Lady scenes even after seeing them many, many times. Nice photo of Teri and thanks to her, also, for her co-piloting duties.
DO @ 6:52 ~ Your mention of the winter of ‘78-‘79 brings back vivid memories. We were living in Connecticut at the time and were in the midst of moving into a new house the day after a monumental snow storm. The movers had to shovel a very long driveway to even get near the house. Needless to say, they were not happy.
SwampCat, belated sympathy on your Ida damage; I hope it’s not too severe.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
One of the easiest Thursday solves in quite awhile. Fun to do and clever theme. Thought Rhine was coming up, but SCOOP was firm; ergo RHONE. No strikethroughs or searches were needed. FIR.
STEEN - - Means 'stone' in Dutch and L. German. Long 'a' vowel sound like 'lake'.
TWO - I periodically get a strap of uncirculated TWO's from my bank. Fun to give out sequential serial numbers. Used to give them to grandkids on birthdays but they're out-growing that. (Think more $$$.). Still use them for bridge losses. Clerks give them funny looks, but I've never had one refused.
Back in the 50's, when the Navy held payday, the pay officer would distribute cash in the minimum combination that would work. When cabbies in NYC would see TWO's, they knew the fleet was in.
Oh, rubber (like scrubber} not rubber (like tire). Aha moment.
YellowRocks @8:23 AM Thanks for the catch on ERGOTISM. Charlie was gentile (for a STONE anyway). Glad to hear you didn't get too much storm damage.
Fun Thursday puzzle, not easy but enjoyable--many thanks, George. And helpful commentary as always, Bill, and thank you also, Teri.
Always a relief to get at least a few names right away, like AYN and UTA, and then, even ETHEL. Neat to see the theme words fill in slowly, LOP and CHOP and HEW and AXE and the slightly troublesome STAB. LSD for "trip taker's vehicle" cracked me up.
Have a good day, everybody.
I found this Thursday grid a bit crunchy.
Write-overs….STERE/TONNE, TREE/TRAP, EEL/AHI.
Not trying to flame anyone, but I have never heard the phrase “ simplistic Darwinian explanation”, which would seem to show the person saying it has little actual working knowledge of same. Again, not trying to start a fight. I just leave science to actual scientists, it’s good advice.
And that’s that, see you tomorrow.
I'll start out by asking the musical question; 🎼 When did Frédéric Chopin become a major in the Army and change his name to FREd CHOPEN?..all because of one letter ☹ LADEd instead of LADEN!!! So a FIW! "C'est la vie" 🥴....RICO: "So I made one mistake, See! Ain't nuthin' yer gonna do about it. See!!" 😡
Easy theme, again they don't get harder as the week progresses. As I "hack" my way through I at least avoided swampy "Okefenokee", toes for "Pedi places". Era for Tide (what is VOL? can it get rid of "ring around the collar"?...ooh I see, nevermind.)... I had just seen a online ad for "Jobs" with ASHTON Kutcher. Is ESTES Will's middle name?
I guess ETHEL wasn't a landlady. (Wonder what a nice Manhattan apartment rent was in the '50s?). EKE out, means barely manage, "supplement"?🤔
My car battery died in our parking garage, 3 weeks ago, needed AAA to STIMULATE it 🚘
Fun clues: kitchen rubber, driver's warning, deductions, some nerve,
Bill, you have an arborist? how high TONED.🧐 I hire a guy to trim trees, not sure he knows he's one of them guys. 😂
It seems If a river clue does not mention a country the answer won't be a river limited to that country like Italy/Arno, France/ Seine. These would not likely be clued as "European River"...The Rhône flows through France and Switzerland as Bill pointed out
Among the musketeers, only one is named Aramis, a few Porthos, but a lot of ____.... ATHOS
What Little Cæsar does in the film....OFFS
I get my boat and go ____ down the Rhine...RHÔNE
Short-lived kids moulding compound replaced by Play-doh....CHILDSTAR
I'm shiverin' in shorts on the back deck, sun clouded over, now down to 50. sheesh. Going inside.🥶
YR and waseeley re: Charlie Watts being gentle or gentile. Maybe he was genteel?
ATL Granny @1:05
According to his biography Charlie Watts' religion is listed as "Christianity" making him a Genteel Gentile 🤔
Oops did I just break the NR rule? ...😳
ATLGranny @1:05 PM & YR - ROTFL! I must have lapsed into some Old French!
In between meetings say...
Jinx - AHA was clued as "Take on Me" band July 25 @7d :-)
Caused quite the ado, it crossing HI HO.
Play later, Cheers! -T
AnonymousPVX @1:01 PM My opinions on Darwinism are based on 20 years or so of reading articles like this. As it sounds as if you do have some knowledge of the subject, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you via email. I notice your profile doesn't include an email address, but you can reach me by just adding "@gmail.com" to my userid. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions of Tompa'a and Rose's article.
Cheers,
Bill
ASHTON replaced Charlie in 2 ½ Men in later episodes.
That poker choice could have been pass or call
I guess we can ad LINKster to the FORE Group of golfers.
FIR as values synced nicely
WC
Balto wasn't pure fiction, he was the lead dog in the final leg to Nome. Togo was a more experienced lead dog and travelled more miles than Balto in the multi-team sled dog relay.
Anonymous @2:45 PM Thanks for that Anon. IIRC, in the cartoon account of Balto the dog is presented as a stray, but as you point out there are elements of truth to the story. Here's a detailed discussion of the race, its aftermath, and the cartoon account of Balto, voiced by Kevin Bacon.
I sorta liked this puzzle. I guess I don't much like clues that have "caveat" words such as "perhaps", "maybe", "say", and "for one" added for the sole purpose of making the clue "harder." So right off the bat my nose wrinkled at the clue for 1-across: "Nest egg, perhaps." Not a good start.
Some other clues, however, are pretty cleverly good, such as "Kind of moment", "Driver's warning", and "They may be fine."
Are they George's clues or Rich's?
Hand up for relying on the perps to determine EEL vs AHI, REC vs REW, TEN vs TWO, and KINGS vs ROOKS.
Also hand up for knowing TOPPS from Boomer's write-ups.
I enjoyed your write-up more than the puzzle, waseeley. Thank you. And thank you for the link to the article by Tompa and Rose.
Good wishes to you all.
The Darwinian explanation of how eyes evolved is not ‘simplistic’, as stated in the commentary to 57A, but is easy to understand. I recommend reading the book Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins. There is no such thing as ‘scientific politics’, just science.
Steven M @4:43 PM I read Climbing Mount Improbable when it was first published in 1996, and I don't find it very convincing. I tend to look at evolution, which I DO believe has taken place, at a much more granular level, e.g. the level of molecular biology. See my reply to AnonymousPVX @2:13 PM and the link to a paper that I reference. I make the same offer to you if you'd like to discuss this further "offline".
Cheers,
Bill
Enjoyed this PZl from George Jasper very much!
And waseeley's explication was fun as well. Thanks to both.
This was the kinda PZL that took some work, but each fill provided a solid pleasure. Well worth the time it took.
Wilbur ~ 2 1/2 Men is the only program I ever saw ASHTON K on.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, on the far side.
This anagram (12 of 15 letters) took some work.
I dunno. It seems to refer to the most laughable member of the WW2 union of Nazis & Fascists.
See for yourself. It is the...
"HOOTIEST AXIS"!
(Who is YOUR bid for the leader [in memory] you most enjoy hooting at ? Der Führer or Il Duce?)
...Or Tojo?!
~ OMK
Hi All!
Whew! I needed CABOT to help me find that NW territory...
Thanks for the do-able puzzle, George. Took lots of noodlin' to get a FIR.
Waseeley - what a wonderful start to the expo (RIP Charlie Watts).
Your follow-through [FORE!] wasn't so bad either ;-)
And thank you Teri for proofing Bill's goofing [around].
WOs: hORn, Ten (duh, that's Jackson (for now))
ESPs (and WAG!s): ATHOS, CABOT, ESTES, SYR, TONED, VOL, and likely, more
Fav: How can I not say c/a for STONEs?
unclefred - I eKe'd out the ROOK over King but that's another spot [eel/AHI] I had to stop and think "well, which is it?" Jayce called out the other 'wait-for-its...'
LOL "middlefinger" as a warning.
"the" in 6a's clue clued me into Bama RollTide but I wanted LSU until the VAPOR [RUSH (it's OK, not in my top 40 RUSH songs)] Trails perp'd
{B, B+}
Glad to hear you're safe YR from Irm's aftermath. You too IM. Swamp? How goes it?
Lem, you lucky dog... Not only is Oo your SO but,.. sushi too?
D-O: Since I eMet you, instead of 'tree-day' I now add my NPR "extra donation" (I'm a 'sustainer') on MoW's day.
TTP - LOL the chipmunks' cheeks at the feeder.
Thinking of the baseball bat slang, "lumber," I remembered our team's nemesis when I was a kid: "Pawnee Lumber." Sponsored by the (literal) lumber-yard in Pawnee, IL. Those farm-boys could hit!
Ray-O: I can't just respond to one thing... Your entire post was entertaining.
Catching up on posts say... [can you tell I do this in between work?]
Science is Science.
Fact don't change -- just how we interpolate them.
I was at Dr's today (it's not a tick on my head just a sebaceous cyst [I could link a song with that line but no one would like it...]) and she asked if I was vax'd.
Duh! Moderna 2x.
She's had 6 patients die 'cuz they refused. I could summon the sympathy for her knowing a patient who died but I couldn't summon the sympathy for the fools that refused.
And, on that somber note...
um,... yeah.
Cheers! -T
Late today. Other duties called. Thanks Bill, and DW Teri, for the great recap. I will try to read today's posts tomorrow.
OPTIC (eye and evilution)
Don't want to get into the evolution versus creationism debate but I remember from Invertebrate zoology the fascinating fact that the human eye (mammal) and octopus eye (cephalopod) are very similar in form and structure.... "Each has a cornea, an iris, an accommodating lens, a fluid-filled vitreous humor, a retina, and so forth.." Two quite different creatures. An example of what is referred to as Convergent Evolution. Similar endpoint organ development based on similar environmental stressors not a common ancestor.
Ray -O @7:32 PM Didn't say I was a Creationist. Just that I don't think that Darwinism provides anywhere near an adequate explanation of what we see in nature (as have Stephen J Gould and many other scientists). For one thing Darwin had nothing substantive to say about the actual origin of life (the subject of the peer reviewed paper I linked above for AnonymousPVX). I think you would find it very interesting. It is a truism to say that life can't evolve until it exists.
"His discoveries also let to a better explanation of the epidemics of Egotism in the Middle Ages."
Isn't it well known that an excess of Rye can lead to this?
YR, thanks for letting us know you are okay. Was hoping we'd hear from Big Easy & Swampcat today. My BFF's granddaughter from NOLA reported on FB that her family had celebrated their 5 yr old's birthday in another city. That child was born a few days after her mother was taken from her home in a boat after another hurricane and flooding. Their home was partially destroyed then. They don't know yet about their current home. I haven't heard yet whether my granddaughter's apartment in NOLA is okay. She evacuated to Texas.
Re: convergent evolution, I wrote a poem about that back in '17:
The LLAMA and the YAK are examples that are classic
Of convergent evolution, they are in fact quite graphic!
Long woolly coats for mountain cold,
Sure-footed, on STEEP crags to hold,
But llamas don't have horns, because the Andes have less traffic!
Owen KL...you and Willy Shakespeare are both poets. Yet another example of Convergent Evolution.
(You remembered a poem from a "comment" you wrote in 2017? 😳...I can't recall what I ate for breakfasf)
Ray-O, that was one of my favorite poems, but I wouldn't have remembered it word-for-word. I've been keeping files of all my poems from when I started writing them in '13. Three month's worth is about 90 pages, enough for an average sized book of poetry. I'm up to volume 30 now, and another 14 of Jumble poems. After months of procrastination, I'm finally getting them in shape for publication, tho have no idea how to find a publisher.
Post a Comment