Title: Furniture for a $1,000.00 please, Mayim.
I had to resist my inclination to be sad when I finished solving this Friday from Gary "Taking over the World" Larson because for me it is a take off on JEOPARDY . Naturally I do not relish missing the incomparable Alex Trebek but we soldier on.
Gary creates every kind of puzzle and this one is Friday hard based on (1) no reveal; and (b) some very thoughtful but deceptive cluing. I still enjoy the aha moment when I find a theme without having to call any of my co-bloggers and this was one of such puzzles. I also have the advantage of having written-up 400+ puzzles so I should be pretty good. For example, we know that the convention is to not have non-theme fill longer than the theme fill. We find the four longest and BINGO, we have a place to begin. More solving tips next week.
The themers:
18A. Furniture for an angler?: WATER TABLE (10). This puzzle is so apt after Joseph discussion on polysemous words, which are the key to today's puns. Table is the furniture but when you add water it doesn't grow it becomes the level below which the ground is saturated with water. Very important in South Florida construction.
22A. Furniture for an efficiency expert?: SNAPPY DRESSER (13). Dresser can be both a bureau/armoire and someone with clothes on. Snappy is an old fashioned compliment.
49A. Furniture for a military officer?: SERVICE BUREAU (13). Back to putting away clothes, this time in the miltary.
With only 46 spaces of theme there is plenty of room for longer fill: AIR BASE, CLOAKED, IKETTES, LIE IDLE, NOT WITH, OPEN PIT, SECULAR, SHAPERS, SWEEP UP, PRESORTS, and REBIRTHS are all interesting. Let us see how he weaved his web.
Across:
5. Move unsteadily: LURCH. My favorite will always be TED CASSIDY .
10. Mex. title: SRTA. Senorita.
14. Yawn-inducing: SLOW. Like my write-up this week.
15. "That's __": 1953 Top 10 hit: AMORE.
16. Close relative, often: HEIR. Or legatee, or beneficiary?
20. German article: EINE. Drei?
21. Kind of barbecue: OPEN PIT. Great in our non-winter cool nights.
27. Highways: Abbr.: RTES. Routes.
30. Small game pieces: PAWNS. In our game.
32. Alphabetically fifth of Santa's reindeer: DASHER. Blitzen,
37. Hidden: CLOAKED.
39. One attached to a binding, perhaps: SKI. Stand height influences leverage on the ski as well as the ski's feedback on your body parts ...so bindings definitely make a difference.
40. Organized set: SERIES. Many different variations of the same meaning.
42. Family group: MAFIA. Not mine.
44. Cheat, in a way: PEEK. People did like sitting near me on test day.
45. Gather dust: LIE IDLE. A wonderful mash-up of vowels.
54. Against: NOT WITH. Sorry, I am not with your program.
55. Anna Pigeon mystery series writer Nevada __: BARR. She is a very open book. BIOGRAPHY.
60. You won't get cards without it: ANTE. Noy xmas, but playing cards for poker etc.
61. Actress Knightley: KEIRA. A puzzle favorite.
62. Barely go (through): SEEP.
63. Red ink: LOSS.
64. Touch, say: SENSE. One of many.
65. White-tailed shore bird: ERNE. Now you know why they call them sea eagles.
Down:
1. Weigh: ASSESS. Important in assaying ores.
2. Illusionist David known for death-defying stunts: BLAINE.
4. Remove with a broom: SWEEP UP.
5. __ of diminishing returns: LAW. One of the first things I learned in law school is that you could study too much...
6. First name in "Pulp Fiction" credits: UMA. We have seen her so often.
7. Turbine part: ROTOR. Part of the spinning process.
8. __ paper: CREPE. Not to be confused with Suzette'
9. "__ a bottle and an honest friend!": HERE'S.
11. New beginnings: REBIRTHS. An oversued term
12. List: TILT. A boat will list/tilt.
13. Equals: ARE.
19. Heavy wts.: TNS. Tons.
23. Word after fire or first: PLACE. You have others?
24. Two-masters: YAWLS. Sailing craft.
28. Startled cry: EEK. Not eke.
29. Hindu title: SRI.
31. Short beer order: SAM. Adams. Meh.
32. Emergency room treatment, for short: DEFIB. Defibrillator.
33. Parting word: ADIEU. Buh bye.
34. Hieroglyphics creature: ASP. The snake made famous by Cleopatra, but was Cleopatra killed by an asp? LINK?
35. One of a peppery trio?: PEE. I never tasted mine.
36. Does a laundry task: PRESORTS. A weird answer never used before.
38. Mustard family member: KALE. They are characterized by herbaceous plants having alternate leaves, acrid or pungent juice, clusters of four-petaled flowers, and fruit in the form of a two-parted capsule, and including broccoli, cabbage, candytuft, cauliflower, cress, mustard, radish, sweet alyssum, turnip, and wallflower.
41. Aptly named backing group for the Turners: IKETTES.
43. Flight center: AIRBASE.
46. Place to get wheels: DEALER. I only heard they sold eightballs, dime bags, or keys.
47. Yankee Don who pitched the only no-hitter (a perfect game) in World Series history: LARSEN. A fun self reference (spelling be damned) to the rarest feat in baseball.
48. Iceland is in it: EUROPE. I am seriously thinking about going after talking to two of Devin's friends who go often.
50. Letters after either Cowboy St. senator's name: R-WY. Republican from Wyoming. Tricky.
51. Maker of NyQuil and DayQuil: VICKS. VaPoRub
52. "... __ wed": I THEE.
53. Mountain __: CHAIN. I see many mountains, lions and peaks and passes.
54. Technology start: NANO. Not nanu.
56. Amigo: PAL. No hint of language change.
57. Org. that takes many forms: IRS. Very amusing clue.
58. Issa of "Awkward Black Girl": RAE.
49 comments:
FIWrong. CLOudED < CLOAKED. I saw the two crossing words didn't make sense, but chalked that up to unknown vocab. (KALE is a mustard? Who knew?) Had more than usual white after the first passes, so it wasn't easy, and I'm satisfied with getting as close as I did.
Liked the theme, and it did help a lot.
Because of his Masonic connections, I've read a lot of Burns, but this is one I hadn't seen before.
In school he'd been a sprinting master,
A SNAPPY DRESSER with a haberdasher.
But now his task
Was marking maps,
Tracing ROUTES, he was a DASHER!
With keen eyes, the scene he'd SWEEP.
At secret documents he would PEEK.
As an able spy,
His trade he'd ply,
And through the hierarchy he'd SEEP!
{B+, B.}
Once again, this CW took so long to FIR, 42 minutes, that I almost gave up several times. Too many DNKs to even list. Perps we’re working overtime, and demanding time-and-a-half….which I guess explains the 42 minutes! W/O REP:RWY. Did not understand PEE, and stared at it (consuming more time) but it was all that would fit. It had to be PEE. (As opposed to “It had to be You”, I guess). Anyway, finally the lightbulb lit: Oh, the LETTER “P”. A tough Friday. Thanx for the workout, GL. And thanx for the terrific write-up, Lemonade.
Good morning!
Went wrong in several places. Was PRESOaking my laundry; that Yankee was LARSoN, and I thought the "cowboy state" was Colorado -- Denver Cowboys? Oops, that'd be Dallas; Denver is something else. (Sports references are always my downfall.) Fell into the CLOudED trap. Got RWY, but never saw the WYoming part. (Thanx for 'splainin', Lemonade.) Also wanted TERN before the ERNE flew in. Finally worked everything out, but it was a struggle -- definitely a Friday-worthy offering. Thanx, Gary and Lemonade.
Ouch!! What a head scratcher. A fine challenge on a Friday. Thank you Mr. Larson. Your puzzels are appearing more often, and I look forward to more. Leomonade, I always enjoy your explanations and images/videos (where did you get that Lurch ditty?).
As I have commented before, I smile when an answer coincides with my current life. I am reading DR NO again so I was incredulous at the answer that popped as my first inclination. But there it was.
FIR, but here were some real curve balls today. I was equally thrown off by "Tilt" and "Two-Master" - both boat references - brilliant.
My last fill was LURCH after puzzling through all of the possibilities for "Move Unsteadily" over and over.
I wish I could say I cruised through but it was a bumpy ride.
The University of Wyoming Cowboys began the season 5-0. The beat my UConn Huskies 24-22 and have not won since.
Thank you Gary L. for a very punny and challenging puzzle. I really enjoyed it.
Thank you Lemonade, for your wonderful review ... I am glad we Relected you to that elevated position ... was anybody else in the running ?
Who voted ?, ... or did you draw the short straw ?
The clues were difficult, but not impossible ... the long theme answers could be guessed, with enough hints. I thought Dasher was Dancer, but that was a minor holdup.
YAWLS could also mean company, down South...
I did not know the actor who played Dr No., but his last name, Wiseman, aptly describes my avataric name.
32 Down, Emergency Room Treatment .... shouldnt the full name be defibrillation .. the treament, not the equipment. Minor nit.
I have a busy day, and a long drive ahead, so all of you take care. Lemonade, don't do anyting, I wouldn't do ... ;-)
Have a nice day, and a good weekend, Y'all.
Good morning !
DAncER meshed in nicely with SAndERS, but DASHER and SHAPERS fit more better.
I was clueless with Anna Pigeon and Nevada BARR.
unclefred, if it makes you feel any better, it took me 34:50 unaided minutes to successfully complete this gem.
But I was watching "My Three Sons" while solving. At the end of the program, they always show scenes of single cars driving on scenic roads while the credits roll. Last week I realized that they were all Chevrolet cars, and then WIKIPEDIA (not wiki, Wiki is a format) confirmed my hunch that Chevrolet was the program backer and used the closings to advertise their 1962/1963 new car lineups. Subliminal messaging ? These days, there's an APP for that.
D-O, repeat after me, "Larson is the constructor and LARSEN is (was) the Yankee pitcher." I, too, wasn't sure if it was O or E until the answer SEEPed in.
Bindings and SKIs - Joseph's realm. I know I've used Rossignol and K2 brands of skis, but I couldn't tell you what the bindings and boot brands were. When you are laying on your back with your feet up in the air, the ski brand names are prominently featured on the skis.
OwenKL, yes KALE is in the mustard family. That's why it tastes so good. Well, for me, the "baby kale" does (after I have CLOAKED the taste with enough peppery salad dressing).
Nice job, Lemonade. BTW, I corrected your label. You had the review attributed to you and me. Also, see 11D. Why is the term being sued by so many ? :>)
Vidwan, the clue had "for short". Although we don't always see an indication that an answer is going to be abbreviated, especially in late week puzzles, we did today.
32. Emergency room treatment, for short: DEFIB. Defibrillator.
DNF, finding myself on the far side of P&P and looking up AMORE (I'm too young to remember a time before this classic wasn't an oldie) and OPEN PIT (I had "outdoor"). Erased blade for ROTOR, cabin for CHAIN, and KieRA (UNTIE!).
An easy way to remember the difference between a ketch and a YAWL: YAWL rhymes with "small", and YAWL masts and sails are smaller than those on ketches. (That's not the technical definition, but it works.)
FLN: MM, I lived in Hermosa Beach, San Pedro, Torrence, Santa Monica, Topanga and Canyon Country. Worked in Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Santa Monica and Mission Hills. One of my favorite restaurants was part of a tamale "factory" in Pacomia or San Fernando (don't remember which). When I would go there they had to go find the person who spoke enough English to take my order. Unbelievably good Mexican food.
Thanks to Gary for the fun stall-out, and to Lemony for the informative tour. Glad you never tried yours. Me neither.
Good morning. I caught the theme right away but had a small pause in the NE; not familiar with the term SHAPERS but I've never done any woodworking. Nevada BARR and KEIRA Knightley were the only unknown people filled by perps today, a rarity for this late in the week. I had no idea what "HERE'S a bottle and an honest friend" referred to but it fit and I left it.
Only one change today. GOP to R-WY
NyQuil maker could be either VICKS or P AND G (Procter & Gamble)
TNS- why bother to abbreviate a word to only remove one letter.
EUROPE- only part of Iceland is in Europe; the western part is in N. America. The island is part of the Atlantic Ridge, most of which in deep under water.
Took 13:51 to put this to bed. Tough one, but a good one.
Didn't know the author or her work.
I don't love it, but I can't think of a better clue for "RWY".
Lemonade, I'm sure wood was available during the Neolithic, but SHAPERS and other woodworking tools were not. The Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of stones.
DNF! Uncharacteristically, I gave up on the NW quadrant before my second cup of coffee. Too many words just weren't coming, I had wrong fill complicating things, and inklings that didn't go anywhere. A total disaster. But I enjoyed Lemonade's review and explanation and got the rest of the puzzle just fine. Figured out the themers except for SNAPPY. Thanks, Gary, for today's puzzle. Next time I will do better.
SAGE was one of my problems and my excuse is that cornbread dressing doesn't have sage in it. Didn't know YAWLS, but am very familiar with y'all, the plural form of you.
TGIF, everyone. Enjoy!
Good Morning:
Gary’s bag of tricks seems to be bottomless. You never know where he’s headed, but, sooner or later, you have that Aha moment and today’s offering is a prefect example. No revealer, but an obvious link showed itself early on. The NW corner was very slow in filling in, mainly because Blaine was elusive and Assess was equally slow to materialize. ABCs seemed too obvious, but proved to be correct. Some fun duos included: Peek/Eek, Sweep/Seep, Dealer/Ante, and Ski/Sri. W/os were Rice/Sage and RepRWY.
Thanks, Gary, for keeping us on our toes and thanks, Lemony, for your always interesting and informative expos. Your subtle humor adds an extra, if sometimes tongue in cheek, layer.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
Woohoo. FIR, but had to revisit it 4 times. Last fill was SERIES. (Partly held up by mis reading hieroglyphics Feature, instead of CReature. ASP, obviously, and the last letters slid in. Also had brandy before COGNAC. Got TNS OK, but not much efficiency there - saving only one letter in a four letter word. Lucky I could think of YAWL. (Sounds like everyone in LA.)
Wanted to stick with this one, because Gary's puzzles are always well-crafted. IMO.
Thanks Lemon for your erudite review, and deeper background.
EINE is indefinite article for feminine nominative and accusative nouns.
I enjoyed this theme - no reveal needed today!
I had a little slow down in the Ohio Valley as my first fill was DETOX rather than DEFIB which delayed all the other fill. I have never seen DEFIB used as a word for an action in an actual ER- though it was able to be figured out from defibrillate/ defibrillator. Very commonly med staff use A-Fib, V-Fib and V-Tach to describe the rhythm they are seeing on the monitor or EKG/ECG - but for DEFIB - we just say we need to "shock the patient"
Down in the SE - below the grid I wrote both ERNE and tern and then waited to see which fit the down answers for 45-48
I grew up with no SAGE in the dressing/stuffing because my grandma was allergic to it- I always associate that flavor with Stove Top stuffing mix
Thanks Lemonade and Gary!
Spitz, thank you for the added German lesson. Tom, my vision is slowly leaving so I am afraid there will be more typos as long as I continue my blogging. Oo is not fluent enough to help correct me but as long as I learn things and get a few laughs, I will be back
Friday furniture-flounder. Thanks for the fun, Gary and Lemonade.
Officially a DNF today, since I I had to resort to Google, and even then was defeated in the NE corner.
But the furniture theme was easy to spot (and the question marks confirmed the themers).
Hand up for Blade before ROTOR, detox before DEFIB, Kiera before KEIRA.
I also had Debt before LOSS, and debated between Tern or ERNE.
I too wanted Sanders and my BarBQ was OPEN air (I should have saved the air for HEIR!), my close relative was Dear, and my list was unknown, since I was going shopping with it.
This Canadian did not understand RWY when it perped, although I presumed the WY stood for Wyoming. Ditto for SAM which is not well-known here. I thought of IPA and then Bud (which I already had entered before PAL).
Yes, you are getting a picture of my inkblotted grid!
I am happy to see that IM is beating me to all the combos. I did smile at the family group and close relative clues.
How many of us were singing the intro to Rudolph the Red-Nosed, and then rearranging those reindeer alphabetically . . .?
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings
-I’m posting late because a) I got up late b) I read the entire paper first c) I played golf on this cool, windy day d) I had a delightful struggle with Gary’s puzzle. Answer in last line of this post.
-I always enjoy your write-up and opening paragraph(s), Lemon.
-I’ve never heard of a WOOD SHAPER but here is one and I still don’t get it
-The new OPEN PIT fire places have Wal Mart, et al charging huge amounts for a small bundle of logs
-The state VB tournament has almost as many parochial schools as SECULAR ones participating
-PEEK? Not in my class, I ran off three different versions
-NOT WITH – The partisan struggles continue in D.C.
-Ornamental KALE make for striking cool weather displays
-That perfect game was the only noteworthy accomplishment by the Yankee journeyman pitcher
-The answer is d!
Great puzzle. I found it very challenging but enjoyable. Got me on the R-WY. Cross fills allowed me to solve.
Hi, Gary, I guessed C.
I learned very early on in elementary school not to peek, when the teacher told the class that she had eyes in the back of her head.
A SHAPER is like a (table mounted) router on steroids, with a lot more more power.
Gary, I decided against linking the WOOD SHAPR because I did not to cause a run on BALEIGH products
All hail KALE
C-eh you will always be at a disadvantage
I feel the same way when I try to do the London Times puns and anagram puzzles
Tough Friday puzzle, but they're supposed to be tough--so, many thanks, Gary. And thanks for the very helpful write-up, Lemonade. So sorry to hear about your vision problem--hope you can get some help.
Easiest item was the place for Iceland: EUROPE (of course, where else?)
Cool to have ABCs as the simple start to today's puzzle.
Ah, I THEE WED--always a pleasure to see that one.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Thank you Gary for a Friday challenge. Your pitching was really great but you DID miss a NO HITTER, as I managed to EEK out an FIR (my last sound as I was about to DIE trying to find my (not so ABC) last FILL in the NW).
And thanks Lemony for an excellent review. And be on your guard, as you are actually featured in a puzzle next week. Not saying which, and I hope 'yall will have forgotten what I just said by then.
Some favs:
22A A DRESSER is also a SERVICE provider. See e.g., Downton Abbey or ask OMK.
26A SECULAR. One of its many connotations is worldly.
55A BARR. This was a real stumper, so I have to give Teri partial credit for my FIR (we're a team!). So I have this to add re Nevada Barr.
9D Loved the Burn's poem. Reminds of that great T.S. Eliot line (perhaps).
10D SHAPERS. I had ROUTERS and SANDERS before I remembered this, an advanced tool for professional woodworkers. Also a class of Ladies undergarments.
11D REBIRTHS. And what crimes have they committed Lemony?
35D A Peck of Pickled Peppers?
36D PRESORTS. You mean you don't separate you whites from your darks? Shocking!
38D KALE. One of the easiest cole crops to grow. My favorite is TUSCAN KALE when it's young and tender.
46D What no LIDS?
50D RWY. Very tricky. Even trickier was figuring out how to pay for my grandson's tuition to Wyoming Catholic College. So far he seems to spend most of his time trekking around the Wyoming wilderness, dodging lightning strikes.
54D NANO. If you don't PEEK very, very closely, you might miss it.
Cheers,
Bill
Friday level. I'd say Saturday. Slogged thru online (I left the insert home) in hour plus. I was 90% sure it was KEIRA but confess to putting KEIRA into Google. A mini cheat.
MerKe had the K. VICKS? Where does Officer relate to SERVICE CHAIR. Drop the R and it works.
I'm with you on PEEK. The Captain of the football team copied the multiple choice part of my Chem test. Left essay blank. Teacher got mad at me.
COGNAC not brandy. I had D_NO and needed the 4th perp. Duuuuhhhhh!!
SAM? I tried BUD(this is 2021 Wilbur!). ADIEU again. DEFIB is better than detox.
Yes, I just toss it all in the wash but PRESORTing is de rigueur among fastidious laundrettes
I had carlot<DEALER. LARSEN was bedrock for me. Makes up for pop-cul
Vidwan, re. Your nit. They've verbified "defibrillation" as with detoxification.
I would scald the KALE(like spinach) and serve with a MUSTARD Dressing
Gary, simple answer: Parochial Schools recruit much like Mass Hockey in the 70s. Rinks replaced ponds so city kids had the advantage. ORR was the catalyst.
So much more but I see many of my thoughts echoed earlier.
WC
Hola!
Thanks, Gary, for the Friday challenge! I started this at about 6 this morning, about two-thirds in, returned to bed, slept a while, then came back to finish. Of course, Don LARSEN is completely unknown to me, the non-sport person, so LIU.
The furniture fill was fun and BUREAU was my last one after EUROPE emerged. That got me DEFIB as well.
I read a Nevada BARR book decades ago and knew her name would come to me and eventually it just popped out.
I keep a jar of VICKS to help with my stuffy nose in winter time. It's amazingly effective.
The parting word had to be either ADIOS or ADIEU so I inked ADI- until it could be finished which it did with LIE IDLE and BUREAU.
Since I had -SHER from the down words, DASHER quickly appeared.
Thank you, Lemonade, for your persistent and consistent Blogging in spite of your serious vision problems. You are a trouper! I know two other people close to me who are experiencing similar deterioration of their eyes. One is my friend Sister Dee and the other is my cousin Paul who apparently inherited his degeneration from his mother. It's all very sad.
Have a fantastic Friday, everyone! It's another day of shopping for me. I've made a serious dent in my Christmas list.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIW with a Natick in South Central California. I had ASS and ANT but never ASP. I figured that NERVES might be the organized set, and though I knew of IKE and TINA Turner, IKETTES just never appeared. I guess I could’ve taken a PEEK at the right answers, but I didn’t.
I’ve recapped more Gary Larson puzzles than any other constructor, so I guess I should’ve seen this one coming together, better than I did. Thanks Lemony (my fellow Friday foil) for getting voted into another term as a recapper!
HG: I also chose C. And speaking of golf, I have made the decision to get back into playing or at the least, going to a driving range once or twice a week. When I recently played, though, I realized that the 10-20 year old clubs I had were too strong (all stiff flex) and unforgiving. I went to a 2nd Swing to try out a few new used clubs. Having not purchased any golf equipment in well over a decade, I was a bit shocked by the prices. But at least I’ll be using the right “tools”
Hand up for singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” to sort out the names. As a child, one of my grandfathers used to make up stories about Santa’s reindeer. The two that he chose to be the mischievous ones were Donder and Blitzen - great memories of a great guy
Happy Weekend all
Just as I posted yesterday, my wifi went out,
So the post went kerflewy...
No big loss as I was only going to reply to TTPs 7:04 am
Post asking what time was on the sundial.
It's daytime....
I dunno why this vid reminds me of the puzzle,
But in case the wifi goes out again I am going
To post before I move the furniture around...
WASEELY, you chose the front page of the same site from which I obtained the biography which I linked. I loved her self assessment comments. Interesting.
Rebirth- no crimes, just overuse by the media for any reoccurence, comeback or the like.
Your comment about Gary Larson puzzles you have blogges is interesting because did not have any Fridays until about the time you started. C.C. has blogges 16 of his Sunday LAT
CED, you are amazing. I just watched that fascinating but sad video of the man with the 60" garage yesterday. Keep 'em coming.
H-Gary: "The partisan struggles continue in D.C." Not particularly partisan. More like a feud between traditional dems and the Squad and their ilk. A lot like traditional republicans and the Tea Partyers a few years ago. Its SO much fun to watch when it happens to the other side.
I did pretty well on this Friday toughie from Mr. Larson. I blame him for one of my write-overs, as I misspelled LARSEN at first.
My one serious downfall, requiring a cheat, was that nasty R. WY fill at 50D. I see I wasn't the only one...
I had REP for the longest time, and that wasn't helping with the perps at all.
~ OMK
___________
DR: Just one diagonal today, on the near end.
It offers a few anagrams. I am choosing a simple one (13 of 15 letters) that refers to a lower class sort of seaweed.
I mean the...
"PLEBEIAN ALGAE"!
Hi All!
Technical DNF - I looked up the spelling of COGNAC because I didn't have enough perps (only BLAINE (know it!), ABCS, & SWEEPUP in that corner) and I knew it was spelt funny.
Thanks Gary for a very crunchy Friday. Thank you Lem for walking us through the grid.
WOs: PREsoak (Hi D-O!), started wren b/f checking perps for ERNE, put an 'S' at the end of 13d thinking plural.
ESPs: RAE | KEIRA, BARR, YAWLS, SAM (oh! ha!)
Fav: I wanted an IPA @31d but I'll take a SAM Adams
{B+, A}
LOL on the DR, OMK. I am literally giggling as I type.
BigE - a road in the sticks: RWY (Rural Route?)
Jinx - I'm not on either side - D nor R. Rather than eat popcorn and be entertained, I'm saddened that our elections have devolved into a popularity contest with unqualified asshats on both sides duping the electorate by touting pie-in-sky BS or pandering to humanity's worse impulses. Our Great Experiment is slowly failing.
//hope that's seen as observation and not poli
HG - for my woodworking, I just use a router-table to shape over-rounds or whatnot. This video tells us the difference [6:35 (watch at 1.5 speed, he's a SLOW talker)] that TTP alluded to.
C, Eh - yep, wrote the reindeer down in the Rudolph song's order and then numbered them 1 thru 8 (Rudolph isn't in Clarke Moore's poem. #ButItsNotEvenThanksgivingYet #sigh
SAGE (a story):
Young, poor, and in college, DW would look for recipes to un-bland our ramen diet. She found a "Hurry Curry Chicken" recipe. Basically, it's casserole of one chicken breast, spices, and 4 packs of (just the) ramen noodles (dry - they'll puff up w/ the chicken broth). One of the spices was SAGE.
Instead of X tsps, she put in X tbsps.
Tasted great but after 20 minutes it felt like we had little pot-belly stoves in our tummy.
OK, now I'm going to finish CED's parking video.
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! Thanks for another challenge, Gary Larson. I didn't know we voted for you to continue, Lemony, but you have my vote if you need it. I want you to do what is best for your eyes.
PRESORT evaded me for awhile. SORT seems adequate with PRE meaning "before the sort." When all my family was home, I had four plastic bins in the main bathroom, one for each type of load. Family members undressed and put their different clothing in the proper bin. When the bin got full, it went in the washer. I never had to SORT or PRESORT.
I had trouble with RWY too. Knew the Cowboy ST. Had good friends whose son got a full-ride 4-yr. scholarship to play football at the University of Wyoming and take ROTC. He's a military officer now. They couldn't afford college for him without it.
I've read all of Nevada BARRS books, which take place in National Parks -- except for one.
Lemon,
You shouldn't encourage me...
You made me look further...
water table?
snappy dresser?
service bureau?
And,I dunno,
This one just spoke to me...
party chair?
CED, always love your funnies. Forget to tell you so too much. Keep 'em coming. Please.
Some parts of this puzzle I sped right through and other parts stumped me dead in my tracks. The last letter I filled was the in the square that crosses BA-R and LA-SEN, neither of whom I knew. An alphabet run yielded that elusive R. Nice grid, Gary Larson.
Thanks for your explanations, Lemonade. Without them I would never have figured out what the heck RWY meant. I agree with you that SAM as clued is meh; so many better ways to have clued SAM.
In hindsight it all looks obvious, of course.
Husker Gary, I too guessed C.
HERE'S wishing you all a good day.
Like many others, this was a toughie for me. Got the theme, but getting the answers wasn’t as easy. Took a nap, which has become this time of year, and was able to finish the puzzle after that. Getting the simple DEFIB opened up the bottom part of the grid for me.
CED - I'll up-vote PK. A day without a CED LOL post is an incomplete day.
For the curious...
(me? I watched so many 100yro restored woodworking tool videos... I digress).
Go back and look at Lem's pic of the ERNE.
Notice the left wing feathers?
What does that make you think of?
Me? I see SW Air's winglet.
Early planes tried to emulate birds' flapping but the airfoil won over for lift (not LIST!).
But, the winglet? Them Birds ARE smart*
Cheers,
Curious -T
*anyone recall Letterman's Them bats is smart; they use radar? :-)
CED, those are great. I'll bet you were a fellow fan of Mad Magazine's "Horrifying Cliches".
-T, I think you are right. My take is that it took just about 200 years before the parties perfected the science of buying votes with taxpayer money. I always poo-pooed people like the late Jack Kemp who favored tying the dollar to gold, but maybe they were on to something. I think it might have made the pols less anxious to borrow money we can never repay to implement programs we can never afford. It also might have kept us out of wars in middle east and southeast Asia.
Very busy day here. Thanks, Gary and Lem. Tough but doable puzzle.
For anyone with 3 hours of nothing to do...
BLAINE's full Ascension vid that Lem teased us with.
//his poor daughter worried about him the whole time :-(
-T
CrossEyedDave, Yes, you are correct that the sundial indicated it was daytime. I also echo PK's comments about your links to "Keep 'em coming"
PK's motion at 3:58 is hereby seconded ... and carried unanimously. WooHoo, CED!
Once again my day ends learning something new from those who post. I had never heard of a winglet. I always encourage CED. The vote for my continuing ivolved only a single ballot - C.C.'s.
I appreciate all the postive thoughts about my vision, and I would be happy to discuss but not on the blog. It is not everyone. My email works and I never go more than 2 days without reading the little buggers. I just watched two season of a CW/Netflix series IN THE DARK which raised many feelings in me.
Don't forget the clocks unless you are in Arizona
I was close, but no cigar! I’m not really too upset with today’s FIW, considering that when I got home from work this evening, I was staring a great big DNF in the face.
We were kinda busy at the museum today, but there were some down times when I worked on the puzzle. Got home with a whole bunch of empty squares, but with a whole bunch of Wite-Out (taking out whole sections that were plausible but incorrect), I finally finished. Rather than trying to list all of them, let me just say that I probably had to correct every trial and error fill that each of you mentioned.
Problem was that my last fill was in the SE corner, and I had AIRFARE instead of AIRBASE. I knew it didn’t look right, but I was fried by then. Not knowing any better, I talked myself into FARR, instead of BARR. Should have tried a little harder to correct REEP, instead of SEEP.
I have three bottles of NyQuil sitting on the two-drawer filing cabinet sitting next to my desk. I never paid any attention to who made the stuff. I just know that when I have a stopped up head, it does the job. Let the record show that I DID NOT 44A. Luckily, my computer tower was blocking my view. I eventually figured it out at work.
I had PRESOAK before PRESORT; I’m not a big fan of KALE, although I will eat it if necessary; I remember LARSEN’S World Series perfect game (1956).
Of course, I knew Joseph Wiseman, and 25D was my first fill, since I saw it when I was scanning for the theme.
Luckily, SANDERS (which finally gave way to SHAPERS) and REBIRTHS kept me from having to rearrange the reindeer. Why didn't Santa line up the original eight in alphabetical order???
Thanks, Gary and Lemon.
Tomorrow is our Book Club meeting so I may or may not appear here until very late. It all depends on what time I awaken. Oooh, thankfully we do not have to change our clocks here. I did not even realize it was THAT weekend. We have enough sunshine and need not extend its rays any longer.
My worst DNF in at least six years!
I can cope with the occasional obscure word (Brunoise anyone?) or a proper noun owner I'm insufficiently aware of. But a half empty grid left me seriously questioning my mental acuity.
Since I'm feeling sulky I'll whinge at 41d. In what sense is 'Ikettes' an apt name for a group backing both Ike and Tina?
Anon at 4:52: Probably way too late for anyone to read this, but Ike and Tina Turner's backup singers were called the Ikettes.
Post a Comment