Theme:"Preparing for Takeoff" - Last words orderly describe a plane trip.
23. *Attraction with exotic animals: SAFARI PARK.
33. *Former NASA project: SPACE SHUTTLE.
47. *Jump-start connection point: BATTERY TERMINAL.
63. *IT executive's concern: NETWORK SECURITY.
84. *Berlin monument that's a symbol of Germany's reunification: BRANDENBURG GATE.
97. *Something to go back to when things aren't working out: DRAWING BOARD.
113. *Brew pub sampler: BEER FLIGHT.
This describes nicely our annual trip to Las Vegas in February. No shuttle in Minneapolis though. We use Sun Country. After we park, we take an elevator and arrive at the terminals. After we arrive in Vegas, we do need to take a shuttle to the car rental place.
Super smooth grid from Mark.
He's not one of the constructors who go low on word count or black
square count. I actually don't recall a Saturday grid from Mark. He
won't stump you with strange Abbr. or obscure names. Total pro!
Across:
6. Francis, most recently: POPE.
10. Scornful comment: TAUNT.
15. Self-righteously proper sort: PRIG.
19. Fancy to extremes: ADORE. Argyle used to visit Agnes and sat in one of those chairs. He'd then email me about how neat Agnes's house was.
 |
| Agnes's Home |
20. Caspian Sea feeder: URAL.
21. Come after: ENSUE.
22. Single: LONE.
25. It may be skipped: STONE. And maybe CLASS too, for these kids.
26. SLR setting: AUTO.
27. Self-absorbed: SMUG.
28. Works in a museum: OILS. Noun "Works".
29. Oops provoker: SLIP. Thanks for the various buttons, D-Otto! You're just a genius!
30. Got rid of: TOSSED.
32. Knob-handled tools: AWLS.
35. Range option: AMANA.
38. Massage therapist's employer: SPA. Our Melissa used to be a massage therapist. We also have 77. It may need massaging: EGO.
39. Dismiss casually, with "at": SNEEZE.
40. Piece of land: TRACT.
41. Release predecessors: BETAS.
43. Embellished: ADORNED.
52. Word on an Irish euro: EIRE.
53. Basics: ABCs
54. Tickle pink: ELATE. Friendly combo, hence its frequent appearance.
55. Silent __: White House nickname: CAL.
56. Pet store rodent: GERBIL.
58. "Grey's Anatomy" showrunner Rhimes: SHONDA. Her company is called Shondaland.
 |
60. Flier in a show: AEROBAT.
62. Bishop's purview: SEE.
68. Go downhill fast: SKI.
71. Obsolescent wrong number cause: MIS-DIAL.
72. Omelet request: ONE EGG.
75. Move stealthily: TIPTOE.
78. Brown shade: BEIGE.
81. "Sunday Night Baseball" nickname: A-ROD. Now he co-owns Timberwolves. Why didn't he just buy a baseball team?
83. Jazz home: UTAH.
87. Sleeping bag alternative: BEDROLL. Never used it. Not a camping person.
90. Wonderland cake instruction: EAT ME.
91. Café lightener: LECHE. Spanish for "milk". Looks like this in Chinese. Most Chinese just drink soy milk.
92. Contemptible: ODIOUS.
95. Trauma ctrs.: ERS.
96. Causes of much yawning: BORES.
101. Moved like the wind: BLEW.
103. Potato color: RUSSET. We use Yukon Gold for potato salad.
104. Crop unit: ACRE.
105. Fireplace duct: FLUE.
106. Forget where one put: LOSE. Boomer always puts his keys and wallet over the fridge.
110. Golden rule word: UNTO.
111. Bert's chum: ERNIE.
115. Wise adviser: GURU.
116. Its code is BOS: LOGAN.
117. Murray with a star on both the Canada and Hollywood Walk of Fame: ANNE.
 |
118. Judge who excelled in the Field of Dreams game: AARON. Boomer has riffed on his names many times. Here comes the Judge.
119. Notice: SPOT.
120. Avocet cousin: STILT.
121. Puts in: ADDS.
Down:
2. Fall figure: ADAM. The fall of man.
3. Vegan protein source: TOFU. My grandma used to make tofu & chives dumplings every Saturday when I was home from college.
4. Rocky projection: CRAG.
5. HRH part: HER.
6. Eye opening: PUPIL.
7. Rigorous exams: ORALS.
8. Scorecard standards: PARS. We used to have a couple's season ticket for Ceder Creeks. I was not long but I was always straight.
9. Moose cousin: ELK.
10. Model 3 maker: TESLA. Does anyone on our blog own a Tesla?
11. Marxian activities: ANTICS. OK, it refers the Marx brothers.
12. Arthur Ashe Stadium is its main court: US OPEN. The next largest is the Louis Armstrong Stadium. We also have 36. 12-Down contest: MATCH.
13. Sister: NUN.
14. Achieved a baby milestone: TEETHED.
15. Classic wall worker: PLASTERER. TTP is one. Total DIYer.
16. Awaken harshly: ROUST.
17. Mole's collection: INTEL.
18. Crystal-bearing rock: GEODE.
24. Hoover was the only president born there: IOWA. Gimme! No president was born in Minnesota.
29. Twitch, say: SPASM.
31. Taverna aperitif: OUZO.
32. Meridian opening: ANTE.Antemeridian. Before noon.
33. Trunk item: SPARE.
34. Aquatic carnivore: SEAL.
35. Iraqis, mostly: ARABS.
37. Doesn't ignore: ACTS ON.
38. Editor's "keep it": STET.
40. Sched. uncertainty: TBA.And 42. GPS projection: ETA.
41. Club rules: BYLAWS.
44. Avian bills: NIBS.
45. Pennsylvania county or its seat: ERIE. Hello, Abejo, can you see us?
46. Editor's "cut it": DELE.
48. "Power" accessory, perhaps: RED TIE.
49. Cold treat brand: ICEE.
50. Dealer's pursuer: NARC. Drug dealer.
51. First Dominican MLB manager Felipe: ALOU.
56. Somersaulting dive: GAINER.
57. Kitchen suffix: ETTE.
59. Dory's friend: NEMO. Voiced by Ellen DeGeneres in "Finding Nemo".
60. Gestural comm. syst.: ASL.
61. Sturdy shoe: BROGUE.
64. River through Frankfurt: ODER. Along the German/Poland border.
65. Capital of Latvia: RIGA.
66. Particle also called a K meson: KAON.
67. Sound barrier breaker Chuck: YEAGER.
68. E-ticket's lack: STUB.
69. __-Eating Tree: "Peanuts" phenomenon: KITE.
70. 2010 Apple debut: IPAD. I first saw an iPad when Boomer's daughter-in-law visited us.
73. Common prayer: GRACE.
74. Invaders of ancient Rome: GOTHS.
76. Discards: THROWS OUT.
78. Trimming target: BEARD.
79. Thyroid MDs: ENTS.
80. "Big Blue": IBM.
82. Actor Billy __ Williams: DEE.
86. Pleasant feeling: GLOW.
88. Pooch with a large tongue: ODIE.
89. Horizontal door beams: LINTELS. Directly over the door.
93. Congo tributary: UBANGI.
94. __ media: SOCIAL. In Chinese WeChat, you can see who likes your posts and who comments, but no one else can, unless it's from a mutual friend. For any of Carmen's posts, I can't see who likes or comments, unless it's from Lesley, since Lesley is also a friend of mine.
96. Major Nebraska product: BEEF.
97. Puts under: DRUGS.
98. Accumulate: RUN-UP.
99. Houston MLBer: ASTRO.
100. Ain't perfect?: AREN'T.
101. Barista's creation: BLEND.
102. Entices: LURES.
105. Ward (off): FEND.
106. Wearer of hot pants?: LIAR. Liar, pants on fire.
107. Fairy tale monster: OGRE.
108. Useless, now: SHOT.
109. Sicilian mount: ETNA.
112. Hogwash: ROT.
113. Shearing day sound: BAA.
114. Jet __: LAG. Proper ending!
Some extra notes:
1) Come here tomorrow for an exciting LAT debut of a regular on our blog!
2) Thank you so much for the cards and best wishes for our sweet Agnes! She's very encouraged. She's seeing her doctor on Wednesday then her oncologist on Thursday. Hopefully we'll know more about the next steps then.
The road ahead will be tough, and she'll need our thoughts and prayers and songs.
C.C.
Who thought the POPE could be so SMUG?
ReplyDeleteThat such a face ever ADORNED his mug?
PRIG U.S. bishops
Ignored his wishes,
So from under the bunch he could pull the rug!
{B.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYay. D-o didn't notice the theme while solving, but found it after finishing. Never got stuck anywhere on the grid; unusual for a 21x21. Thought of PLINTHS before LINTELS, but otherwise, the first word that floated up was the correct one. Very nice, Mark. Thanx for the tour, C.C.
BRANDENBURG -- That's the family name of the relatives on my maternal side. I haven't seen any of 'em in decades.
LOSE -- I used to misplace my keys. Now we have a digital lock on the front door, a digital keypad for the garage, and a fob for the car. I no longer have to carry any keys. Life is good. "Now, what was that combination?"
FIR, but erased erin for EIRE and flew for BLEW. DNK SHONDA, KAON, UBANGI or LINTELS (I thought those were beans). D-O got a Mulligan FLN @ SNEEZE.
ReplyDeleteI guess a single SPACE SHUTTLE launch was a project, but I usually think of SPACE SHUTTLE as having been a NASA program.
I will never, ever request a ONE EGG omelet. Three egg-white omelet, maybe.
I wonder if today's engineering students recognize the term DRAWING BOARD.
Disney parks used to require E-tickets for their best rides. Held down the lines, but all-inclusive admission must have marketed better. E-Ticket was also a fast sailboat in the Southern California racing scene. (Roy Disney also had a very fast boat at the same time, but that one was named Pyewacket.)
I loved The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Chuck Yeager's story was especially interesting. IIRC, the Dodgers' Steve Yeager is a distant relative.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, Mark. And thanks to CC for the nice review and the update on Agnes.
Oh, C.C., thank you for those kind words! I never got a complaint from a solver who thought there were too many black squares or too many answers in the puzzle!
ReplyDeleteI used to submit low word count themeless puzzles occasionally, but you're right, none of them ever got published in NYT or LAT - just a few in Mega Crosswords book several years ago.
Very nice job, Mark! Long theme answers that seemed very natural and don't seem forced at all, and a theme that kept me guessing (in a good way) for a while. And nice writeup, CC!
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, I wish you the best.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteEasy for a Sunday as D-O said. No white gunk needed today. Interesting theme with bright fill to display it. Good job, Mark.
TESLA Model 3 - - Youngest has had one for a year and a half. He loves it.
ODER - Frankfurt an der ODER; as distinguished from Frankfurt an dem (am) Main. Die ODER is feminine; Der Main is masculine. Der and dem are the respective dative forms of the definite article.
Thanks for the IM update. Missing your posts.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Once I got a toehold, I FLEW through Mark’s entertaining puzzle
-A TAUNT in a football game will get you a 15 yard penalty and could get you TOSSED out
-SMUG – “Journalists” on 24 hour news channels
-SLIP/GAINER – I hope they’re not in my winter walking future
-The unique medical issues on Grey’s Anatomy keep me watching. I mostly fast forward through the dysfunctional relationship dialogue
-A very poor administrator I had used GURU as a verb
-If a house to be renovated on HGTV has PLASTERED walls, you know it’s quite old
-MIL was amazed by Solitaire on the iPAD but couldn’t remember how to get a new game each time
-Will the ASTRO’s cheating be forgotten like the Black Sox were?
-Speaking of listening to a BORE, I gotta run
Fun theme, pretty straightforward Sunday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteGary, I'll see your administrator who used GURU as a verb and raise with a boss who used "dialogue" as a verb. Sheesh. Jeeze. Geeze.
ReplyDeleteOK, unlike you early posters, I didn't realize that avocet is a bird and left SToLT. (Couldn't get stoat out of my mind.) In a mixed week, another Sunday FIW!
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I found the puzzle fun and manageable, seeing the theme progression early. Some WOs as expected for a longer puzzle, but I held off on troop at 1A, looking at perps. I've heard acrobat but ICEE was solid so AEROBAT, it was. Had amuse/ELATE and Sign/SPOT. BEERtaster filled first, though I have tried a BEER FLIGHT.
Thanks, Mark, I enjoyed it and your comments. And thanks, C.C. for the nice review and the update on Irish Miss. Best wishes to her and to you all for the week to come!
Jinx, "D-O got a Mulligan FLN @ SNEEZE." I don't understand. Please explain.
ReplyDeleteAddendum
ReplyDelete-Confession: Major Nebraska product: BEE_? Lincoln and Omaha have many microbreweries and Sugar BEETS are a big crop in the western part of the state. Duh, then it hit me!
D-O, I apologize, it was one of my other favorite geezers - C-Moe - who got the Mulligan. I like both of your styles.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteI had no BEEF with this clever puzzle from Mark. Liked the fact that it just progressed through the process of taking an airplane trip - something the Chairman did a lot of back when he worked for a living …
CC on Saturday, Mark on Sunday, and one of our bloggers tomorrow? Fun!
A great voice you have, Boomer. Agnes, if you’re seeing today’s blog know that you’re getting lots of love and hugs from your internet friends.
My “groaner” for the day:
“South Pacific” star
Won diving medal doing
The Mitzi gainer.
Mitzi Gainer? I thought that she washed out. But I might have been ha'i.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the puzzle and the recap. Coincidentally, I am presently enjoying puzzles from the latest Mega Crosswords book- Volume 21. It's refreshing to be working in pen/pencil and paper again because most of my solving over the last few years has been on a computer of one sort or another.
Delightful Sunday puzzle, many thanks, Mark. And always appreciate your thoughtful Sunday write-up, C.C. Thanks for reminding us to keep Agnes in our thoughts.
ReplyDeleteLots of nice items, like POPE Francis and our common prayer GRACE.
Still remember young GRETA Thunberg's first speech many years ago--woke us all up to the need for climate change.
Always thought of GERBIL as a pet more than a rodent.
Nice to get a reference to Bert and ERNIE, but I didn't remember that KITE-eating tree in "Peanuts."
Have a lovely day, everybody.
Mark McClain Thank you for the clever Sunday challenge and for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteAlmost gave up on ARO?/?EE and on the BEER part of BEER FLIGHT. Never heard of a BEER FLIGHT. Anyone else? Learning moment. Correct WAGs there to FIR. I kept looking for a reveal, but then I realized the theme was a sequence of the final words of the starred answers. Fun theme! I remember a time before FLIGHT SECURITY. Anyone else?
Has anyone ever heard the word AEROBAT? Learning moment with that and its unknown cross BROGUE. I thought BROGUE was an accent? I enjoyed seeing a particle physics term KAON!
In Yiddish, SHONDA is a shameful act. Not a good name!
Here I was at the BRANDENBURG GATE.
I had just been visiting my friend Petr in Prague. He just called me this morning from Prague!
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteMalodorous Manatee Thanks for validating the aha moment regarding being hoist by one's own PETARD. I think my mother told me about this decades ago.
AnonT I Googled TERI GARR and Gene Roddenberry and I was able to validate what you said. Most unfortunate. Apparently, Roddenberry wanted to give her an entire spinoff series based on that episode. To the credit of Star Trek, the short skirts may have increased viewership which was more opportunity to spread Roddenberry's positive vision.
desper-otto Yes, interesting how many of us thought of ONEIDA and that it is not even a Finger Lake. I was probably primed by the fact that I had recently purchased an ONEIDA silverware set for our home.
Wilbur Charles Thank you for the kind words about my photos of Stratford Upon AVON and the actual home of the BARD Shakespeare! I was wondering if anyone had looked at them. Thanks! That experience helped me with the solve and I wondered if anyone else would get it.
Todays blog combined an enjoyable solve with a caring tribue to Agnes. Thank you C.C. and Boomer. Best wishes to Agnes for a good outcome.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark for a welcome respite from yesterday's wrestling match. A very agreeable and well constructed puzzle - got all the themers, but not the theme. I guess I didn't really need it get the FIR.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks to C.C. for explaining it and the rest. Hope you'd didn't lose too much in Vegas! Loved the picture of Agnes's Home. Teri and I have been in communication with her, so I sent her a copy of the picture, along with your remembrance of Argyle's visits.
Selected clues:
25A STONE What used to be just a kid's way to have fun has now morphed into a competitive sport.
71A Nowadays it's called "butt dialing".
5D Could be "HIS" as well. Sounds like Prince Charles has plans to downsize royalty when he finally takes the helm of the Kingdom.
13D A CSO to Lucina.
32D DNK Antemeridian. Meridian is usually a geographical reference, but thank you Mark for a fresh way to clue ANTE.
34D SEAL - finally a 4 letter alternative to ORCA.
48D They're no longer a "power symbol". Hope they don't come back in 3 years.
96D So that's what they do with all that CORN, besides dispensing some of it here. 🌽 😀
Cheers,
Bill
p.s. A beautiful Medley Boomer!
Sunday Lurk say...
ReplyDelete{B}
C. Moe - you messed up your HTML on Kite-eating tree & beer-flight.
//I'd look for a space between your href= and the "
Picard - Most brew-pubs will have a beer-flight of 4 or 6 2oz "shots" so you can sample their offerings before committing to a pint.
Oh, good. I didn't totally misremember the Garr incident.
Boomer - should we all be sending IM lollipops? :-)
Nicely done.
IM - you get strong soon so you can come back out and play with us.
Cheers, -T
Antemeridian is generally written as two capitalized words: A.M. -- before noon. You all use it every day, even if you think you didn't recognize it.
ReplyDeleteC.Moe your links to "Kite-eating tree - Peanuts" and "BEER FLIGHT" both go to 404. Both go to the address <https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2021/10/''>, so most likely you forgot to include http:// in your link address. I'd cover for you, but I have no clue to where you intended to go.
I'd never heard of BEER FLIGHT either.
Boomer, I just listened to the beautiful medley you sang for Agnes--what a wonderful voice you have! A gift not only for her, but for all of us!
ReplyDeleteChairman Moe, sadly your Kite-eating tree cartoon didn't work on my site. But thank you for thinking of sending it. I much appreciate the kindness.
Hi Y'all! Thanks for an enjoyable & challenging puzzle, Mark.
ReplyDeleteBravo, Boomer, your song for Agnes was very touching. Especially since it sounds like she will be going thru some of the same things you have. Dear Agnes, hugs & prayers for you. Miss you.
Nebraska product: thought Spam & corn but typed in BEEF. Omaha Steaks are more advertised.
Knew LINTEL & got UBANGI. Had a "U" and typed in UBANGI expecting it to turn red. Nope, stayed black. Yay!
DNK: SHONDA & KAON or BEER FLIGHT (don't imbibe).
PLASTERER: I was a de-PLASTERER and tore out a lot of lime & horse-hair plaster ceilings & walls remodeling my 100+ yr.old stone house. Probably still have sediment in my lungs 30+years later.
C.C. Thank you for the great blog & for caring about us in sickness & health.
ReplyDeletePK - LOL still have sediment in your lungs (as a concept, not in reality).
ReplyDeletePop's house was built when ABE Lincoln still lived in Springfield, IL - all lath & plaster.
For his Birthday one year, us 5 kids helped demo his attic so he could begin on the GQ (Gentleman's Quarters) remodel.
100+ years of coal-soot up there; we looked like old-timey miners when we were done.
Cheers, -T
Well I thought Mark's puzzle was easy, and it was, until I got to the SE corner.. I could not notice any theme and it didn't help that I'd never heard of BEER FLIGHT. I filled MOOT instead of SHOT, looked at LOME & BEER FLIOOT, and just left if-FIW. I had to clean a lot of mold that has grown on the driveway and didn't have time to go back and fret over FIR.
ReplyDeleteLINTELS, SHONDA, KAON - new to me. So is the term 'showrunner'.
SOYA became TOFU.
Thought of LATTE & LAITS before filling LECHE. The GOTTS after LATTE just didn't look right. GOTHS.
RUSSET- no name brand potatoes for us; red potatoes for potato salad. Cook them in a pressure cooker and peel with a terry cloth towel.
If GRETA Thunberg wins a Nobel Prize it shows how political the voting has become. About as dumb as CUOMO getting an EMMY for his 'leadership' in the COVID pandemic. And if the World Health Organization wins then it's worse, considering their lack of accountability. The only "Climate Crisis" is the out of control population growth who use fossil fuels to cook food and stay warm. But stranger things happen; Bob Dylan won for literature.
Kite-eating tree:
ReplyDeleteKite eating tree, hopefully
Beer flight:
Beer Flight, hopefully
C. Moe - it worked! Great Schulz link. Alas, my kites & model rockets and them damn trees :-(
ReplyDeleteTTP - delete me if you must...
BigE - Let me start by saying, I really enjoy your posts/input and your take on puzzles & life. I agree with you on the stupid awards for nonsense.
//though - they do raise consciousness of real issues that so many are ignorant of... so maybe?
People do need to heat their food and stay warm.
China seems to recognize this too even as they gobble up 'our' coal WHILE cornering the market on rare-earth metals for "green" energy.
//You read the WSJ so I know you know...
Bob Dylan's lyrics are poetry even if you (or I) can't understand a single word he says. :-)
From the other day [Lou Reed's 'Wild Side'], I also need to take exception to "Those people are still weird."
Who people?
Both of my offspring do NOT conform to being 'girls' nor wanting a boyfriend.
They are Gay and have friends with self-pronouns (and secondary names(?)) that I, honestly, can't keep track of.
But they're all good kids. They're all off at college studying engineering, mining, etc.
To ostracize them as 'weird' says more about us than them (they?).
Let's let people be.
Cheers, -T
CMOE @4:04 PM Looks like both your links worked. BTW, you can preview and test them before publication: just right-click on the blue text and select "Open Link in New Window".
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to meet our latest debutante tomorrow!
-T @3:14 PM Great pic of you and your sooty FAM. 😊
ReplyDeleteMissed two squares this time for my FIW! I stuck in PRIM in the NW corner and didn’t go back and correct it, and I had ACROBAT for 60A and wondered about ICCE.
ReplyDeleteDUH! BOO! HISS!
Thanks, Mark and C.C. I believe that this was the first Sunday puzzle that I actually took/had time to complete in a long time.
DNK’s: SHONDA, KAON, LINTELS and UBANGI. Thank you, perps!
I got into a BIG argument with my older son-in-law, when he said he plans to get a TESLA. Then, my younger son-in-law BOUGHT one. He let me drive it around a parking lot one day, and then a few weeks ago, I actually rode from their house to a restaurant and back with my daughter driving it. I must admit that it does have its good points and safety features. My son-in-law often does 200+ miles a day for work, so it’s pretty ideal for him.
My problem with it is that pre-COVID, I sometimes took as many as half a dozen LONG road trips a year (Have Camera – Will Travel), and the battery range just ain’t gonna hack it for me. Like, I was supposed to do over 600 miles this past weekend, but the latest monsoon forecast for North Texas cancelled the annual airshow/fly-in I always attend the first weekend of October. I also had a circuitous route planned for the return trip. (I’m on a quest to photograph all 254+ county courthouses in Texas. In some counties, the OLD courthouses are still standing next to the NEW ones, so I have to get both of them, thus 254+.) I simply couldn’t have done it in a Tesla.
Jinx @ 7:30: "I wonder if today's engineering students recognize the term DRAWING BOARD."
ReplyDeleteOr T-SQUARE or LEAD SHARPENER or SLIDE RULE ....
Michael:
ReplyDeleteor SHIP'S CURVE or POLAR PLANIMETER or PARALLEL RULERS……
Thank you Mr. McClain for a long and interesting Sunday puzzle, and CC for your educational and explanatory blog, and thank you Boomer. for the kind medley song for Agnes.
ReplyDeleteI had no real problems, just a few bumps up the road.
I thought the MD expert on thyroids was a thyroidologist ( yes, that word exists - ) , or in general an endocrinologist...
About US Presidents, Ohio gave 7, but none in the last ~100 years. President Garfield was born a mile from our present home ... and his birth home is a faux-historic structure that is the city hall of the next township...
Picard, nice to see your pic at the Brandenburg Gate, ... was that before 1990 that is, reunification, or afterwards ? *** I read the Wiki on this, and found out that the presence of the Iron cross on the four horse chariot, itself, confirms that the picture was after reunification ... because the GDR had removed the iron cross from the sculpture ....
I faintly remember that the US and USSR used to exchange their convicted spies, at the gate .... Maybe even Rudolf Abel for Gary Powers...as in The Bridge of Spies. movie... Maybe not.
I thought the "emblem" or logo above the gate was a Nazi symbol ... perhaps it predates them. Maybe the cross inside the emblem is a simple cross and not a swastika.*** I found out that this is an Iron Cross, and that the Gate, itself, was built circa 1788-1791 AD.
I too, am excited about the mystery blog meister who has constructed tomorrow's blog.
Have a good week, all.
I love it that middle-class tax payers are subsidizing Tesla purchases by wealthy folks, and are also paying to install the charging stations to juice them up. Freightliner thinks that battery power is an important stepping stone, but that hydrogen fuel cells have to follow-on fairly quickly. In my mind, its sorta like the curlicue CFC light bulbs that tided us over until LED lamps became good and inexpensive.
ReplyDelete-T, my Johnny-come-lately house was built just in time for the start of "the war to end all wars." But it is still lath and plaster. It had a bunch of coal-burning fireplaces, which are just decorative now since the chimneys have been removed. We now have radiator heat, fired by a natural gas boiler. Some of the old tube and knob wiring remains, but I don't think it is energized. The house still has the original gas light valves from the days before it was wired for electricity.
Chairman Moe and AnonT Thank you for your BEER FLIGHT comments. I had already Googled it, so I see it is a real thing. Learning moment. Yes, good to know your memory about TERI GARR was correct. Many of the things I remember most clearly never happened.
ReplyDeleteVidwan Thank you for the kind words about my BRANDENBURG GATE photo. This was in October 2003.
Regarding the comment about GRETA THUNBERG and politics, the Nobel Peace Prize by its very nature is about policy. The Nobel Committee usually picks a person to draw attention to an urgent policy issue. If anyone can name a more urgent policy issue than the Climate Crisis, please do speak now.
Here is a brief Reuters article that explains exactly why the Nobel Committee is seriously considering GRETA THUNBERG.
Here is my article from August explaining the related issues.
My article ends with:
"Solving the climate crisis looks very cheap if you look at the alternative. There is no Planet B. Laws of physics carry on regardless of political denial. We need action. Now."
Hello everyone! I haven’t been commenting here regularly lately, although I do read the Blog every day. But I just had to take a moment to add my prayers and good wishes for our dear Agnes. Hope to hear your cheery “voice” here again soon. Many thanks to C.C. for keeping us informed, and to Boomer for that lovely medley – very sweet!
ReplyDeleteTake care, all!
Thanks, Mark for a delightful romp today! Only had to research a half dozen clues!! Didn't understand the theme clues until the write up. "PARK" threw me off - wasn't thinking of ORDER OF EVENTS! Looking forward to McClain' future efforts.
ReplyDeleteI loved this puzzle. I don't think Mark ever constructed a puzzle I didn't like. Thanks again, Mark.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your write-up, C.C.
Thank you for the songs for Irish Miss, Boomer.
Hand up for having to change ACROBAT to AEROBAT. Also FLEW to BLEW. Also VAIN to SMUG.
Re: BEER FLIGHTS: LW and I used to enjoy having Sunday brunch at a place in Los Gatos, CA, called "Flights." Every "flight" was an array of 3 items, such as 3 kinds of Eggs Benedict or of Waffles with Chicken. One of the offerings was a flight of beers (hello ATLGranny) ranging from a light lager, through a medium ale, to a dark stout, each topped with a strip of bacon. I always ordered it. LW would get a flight of mimosas. Unfortunately the pandemic wrought havoc and almost bankrupted the business. I think they are, at this time, still (barely) up and running. I have sent several emails to the creator and owner, Alex Hult, encouraging him to hang in there. He is.
We don't own a Tesla but our dentist does. A model 3. He says he loves it.
LW and I love our iPads and use them a lot. She uses her iPhone more, though.
I don't recognize the first character in that picture C.C. posted at the LECHE answer, but the next two characters, 牛奶, I do recognize. They mean milk. Literally, they are the characters for cow and teat.
During my engineering career I have hunched over a DRAWING BOARD for hours on end.
While in the Air Force one of the essential parts of our uniform were heavy duty shoes called Brogans, the long name for BROGUES.
Good wishes to you all.
Re electric cars and so-called "zero emissions": Most of the pundits I have read utterly fail to take into account where the electricity to charge those cars comes from. You guessed it: fossil fuels. With electric cars, the fossil fuel is simply burned somewhere else. The same is true of hydrogen fuel-cell technology: it takes HUGE amounts of energy to produce hydrogen. It's just that all that energy, mostly fossil-fuel based, is expended elsewhere, so is usually not taken into account.
ReplyDeleteSpitz @ 6:09 -- My son-in-law graduated from Cal Maritime (California State University Maritime Academy) in Vallejo, CA. IIRC, the school teaches full classical navigation -- no GPS stuff -- so the tools you mention are not merely 'historical relics.'
ReplyDelete(Forgot to mention: it is the only Cal State campus which has regular, MANDATORY, weekly formations for the Corps of Cadets -- all is not lost here in LaLa Land!)
Dear Spitz: Alas, my son-in-law just replied:
ReplyDelete"Ah, but I'm not a "deckie", so I never took navigation. Not much use navigating when you're 4 decks below sea level. Engineers just make the ship go. I'd love to have taken a navigation course though.. "
Michael - I understand what you're saying. The tools I mentioned were used by engineers and techs to process data, generally, and display it.
ReplyDeletePosting in the ether I guess.
ReplyDeleteSolved just after Pats-Bucs final(Bucs on late FG)
Dnk SHONDA(Thought of Shania), FLIGHT(until Tony refreshed my memory)
Fell asleep before I could get to the write-up (thx CC + Mark)
Theme answers were easy except ???W?R? SECURITY - I thought ware or wire would be in there. FIR finally
Picard, so that's the famous GATE. I always click your pic-links
Big playoff game tomorrow. Lots of CSO's including Moi@BOS(go Sox)
WC