Saturday Themeless by Steve Mossberg
Hi Gary,
I’m a music teacher in the Boston area and have been solving crosswords as quickly as possible for a couple of decades now. I began constructing in 2019, and have since developed a particular affinity for making cryptic crosswords as well.I started building this grid around the central entry POP BUMPER. I love playing pinball, and it involves a lot of lively language that’s well-suited to puzzles. Many pinheads are also crossword solvers, so I’m excited to hear their reactions! The second anchoring point was THELONIOUS Monk. As a jazz pianist myself, I was shocked to find that one of the true greats hadn’t had his first name in a grid. From solving crosswords alone, you’d think Al HIRT and ELLA Fitzgerald had the scene cornered. Fellow constructors, let’s get some more of these legends into our grids!
In addition to adding his own fun clues to the puzzle, Rich made a lot of small tweaks that gave this one an extra layer of elegance. I enjoyed the subtle punning angles he found for POP BUMPER and TRANCE, and thought it was cool that he included George Takei in his clue for AKIRA.
I like a light touch in my grids and cluing and feel proud of the ones for IT’S A SECRET, [“No telling”] and SPELL [One often cast in fantasy movies]. [Iron-rich potluck staple] for SPINACH DIP also makes me chuckle, because it’s such an odd way to talk about party food.
 |
| Give us a downbeat, Steve! |
Let me know if you need anything else. I look forward to seeing how it comes out!
-Steve
1. Wild way to go: BANANAS.
8. Holds up: STYMIES - Until about 100 years ago this was a golf rule/strategy. If your ball was between the hole and your opponent's ball, he was obligated to putt around you or jump over your ball. Now the closer ball is lifted, the position marked and the player farthest away putts.
15. Suggestive comment to a nearby lover: I'M ALONE - Uh, what'd have in mind?
16. Overseas play area?: THEATRE - Here are two such "play areas" in Stratford Upon Avon
17. Bad mark: DEMERIT
18. Enters gingerly: EASES IN.
19. Wields: EXERTS - Congressional majority and minority leaders EXERT a lot of power
20. __ party: PITY.
21. "There's more, right?": AND.
22. Monk famed for his unorthodox piano playing: THELONIOUS - A jazz pianist like Steve.
25. Samantha Bee's network: TBS.
28. Go very slowly: SEEP.
29. Race on skis: SUPER-G - If the Giant Slalom isn't quite fast enough, you can put the gates farther apart, widen them and call it the SUPER-Giant Slalom. Speeds might reach 90 mph. Yikes!
32. Impressive six-pack: RIPPED ABS and 39. Wrestler John: CENA.
35. Reminder of a bad scrape: SCAR.
36. "The Simpsons" waiter first voiced by George Takei: AKIRA - Steve liked Rich's inclusion of George Takei in the cluing
37. Small seal: PUP - Awwww...
38. Aptly named subsidiary of American Eagle Outfitters: AERIE - Walk right on in from the American Eagle Outfitters store
40. Common sense approach to determining authenticity: SMELL TEST - SMELL TEST is usually a metaphor but here it is literal.
42. Blank state: TRANCE.
45. Walk with effort: PLOD.
46. Gossip, in modern parlance: TEA - I filled it in but had no idea why. I had a group of 16-yr-old girls in a study hall and asked if they knew what TEA meant in slang and everyone of them giggled and yelled out "gossip". They taught me some more slang (e.g. "Nice cut, G) and laughed really hard because "It sounds so funny when you say it, Mr Schlapfer." FWIW, they had never heard of "dish the dirt"! A thorough explanation of the phrase
47. Adoption site: CAT SHELTER - This is the night Lily adopted us at the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln
50. Work the aisles, slangily: USH(er) - More slang
52. Swizzle: STIR.
53. Least common hit: TRIPLE.
57. Orange liqueur cocktail: SIDECAR.
59. Show the door: LEAD OUT.
60. Qatar, for one: EMIRATE - Qatar is an EMIRATE but not a member of the UAE
61. Fantasy beasts: DRAGONS - The one I know "lived by the sea in a land called Honah Lee.
62. No longer green, perhaps: RIPENED.
63. Working well with others: SYNERGY.
Down:
1. Wait for: BIDE - Oh Danny Boy: "You must go and I must BIDE."
2. Charging option: AMEX.
4. Heads-up: ALERT.
5. View from The Hague: NORTH SEA.
6. Palate cleanser at Indian restaurants: ANISEED.
7. A concert may feature one or more: SET - A two SET list written on the back of a postcard by Paul McCartney for an April 2, 1963 concert in Sheffield, England
8. HofbrÀuhaus vessel: STEIN - Ja, bier!
9. To wit: THAT IS - Legalese
10. Finger-pointing words: YES YOU - Moi?
11. Whitman who voices Tinker Bell in the Disney Fairies franchise: MAE.
12. "No telling": IT'S A SECRET - "Don't spill the TEA!"
13. Multi-instrumentalist McKeown: ERIN.
14. Mail: SEND.
20. Pinball component that keeps the ball moving: POP BUMPER.
23. Vaults: LEAPS.
24. Knock over: UPSET.
25. Development site: TRACT - Levittown in postwar NY
26. Hog lover: BIKER.
27. Iron-rich potluck staple: SPINACH DIP.
30. Up: RAISE - Up as a verb - My Omaha newspaper has decided to RAISE/up my subscription price
31. "Little Women" (2019) writer/director Gerwig: GRETA.
33. Sanskrit for "life force": PRANA.
38. Leia's home planet: ALDERAAN.
41. Hard-to-win game: LOTTERY - 1 in 175,711,536 chance of winning
43. ER procedure: CT SCAN - It can inadvertently test for claustrophobia
44. Type of sale frequented by antiquers: ESTATE.
48. Brought on board: HIRED - "We Are HIRING" signs are ubiquitous these days
49. Chip feature, maybe: RIDGE.
50. App buyer: USER.
51. California's __ Valley: SIMI - An hour from LA (if traffic is moving!)
54. Shoddy: POOR.
55. Breather: LUNG - Polio treatment used the negative air pressure from iron LUNGS in the early to mid 20th century. Today the positive air pressure from respirators is used for LUNG issues
56. Modern artisan marketplace: ETSY - ETSY
58. Poetic preposition: ERE.
59. Church based in SLC, Utah: LDS.
58. Poetic preposition: ERE.
59. Church based in SLC, Utah: LDS.
37 comments:
DNF. Not quite as bad as yesterday, but still bad. The entire NW quad was white except for a single word, and along the right edge, 3 naticks in a row - SUPERg + AERIe + TEa + gReTa.
That's still a great improvement over yesterday, when I had white all over, and couldn't even see the reveal or themers for all the gap-toothed naticks. That may have been more a reflection of my mood, though I don't think I was off normal.
CSO to Canadian,Eh with THEATRE.
Too bummed out for poetry today. Sorry.
Good morning!
Stopped cold at the west coast on this one. AKIRA, PRANA and CENA were outside my wheelhouse. TRACT could've been gettable, but I needed more than _R__T to see it. Wound up with four empty squares and one wrong -- CBS/TBS. Bzzzzzt. Thanx for playing. Still, it was a nice outing. Thanx, Steve and Husker.
TRACT/ESTATE: There's a D.R. Horton development underway in our little town. Looks like it'll be more than 400 units of TRACT housing. The lots aren't small, but smaller than most folks have here. Of course, they've named the development "The ESTATES."
NORTH SEA: Been there. That is one rough patch of ocean.
HOFBRÃU: There's a HofbrÀu restaurant in the next town south of here. It used to be one of our favorites, but it's been steadily going downhill for about a decade. Sad.
All-time leaders in TRIPLES are virtually all pre-WWI Guys. It was said that TRIS Speaker's Glove was "Where TRIPLES go to die"
Smaug was Bilbo's DRAGON nemesis in The Hobbit
The second A in ALDERAAN was my last fill. Oh, a potato chip RIDGE. I was thinking of a fancy poker chip.
I remember a HOFBRÃU in Boston . Was it Park Sq?. There it is(was)
In the 60s, perhaps Copley Sq
Not terribly difficult, less so than Friday (YMMV). Caffeine made a difference
WC
Steve, you had my STYMIED for a while in the NE and West Coast area. But I managed to FIR. MAE, GREAT, & ERIN were total unknowns filled by perps. Had to change EDGES to EASES IN and IT'S to YES YOU. POP BUMPER is a new term but aren't all the bumpers 'pop' bumpers in a pinball machine? THELONIOUS Monk was a gimme for me. TEA for gossip? Never heard that one before.
This Simpson has never watched The Simpsons show but I thought I'd heard of all the characters until today. The cross of two foreign word unknowns- AKIRA & PRANA- finished the puzzle. I don't think that I'M ALONE giving you one DEMERIT (not really) for that.
ANISEED-all perps; had no idea.
ALDERAAN- knew the name but didn't know about the AA spelling. Help me Obi Wan.
Like The Simpsons' characters I only know of John CENA and Samantha BEE from working crosswords. Not into wrestling or TV shows.
Gary- looking at McCartney's line up I noticed a song that I never knew the Beatles sang, Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin', what's you got cookin'.
Definitely a CW worthy of a Saturday! With quite a few DNK’s I surprised myself with a FIR in 26:46, the last fill being a WAG, the “R” in AKIRA and PRANA, neither of which I had any idea of who or what, not being fluent in Sanskrit or knowing the Simpson’s waiter.
Thank you so much for the challenge Steve, and your informative bio, always nice to know the background and motivations and inspirations of the constructors. I too have always loved pinball (especially the sound the machine makes when you beat the required score or get a match, don’t think there’s an onomatopoeic word to describe that :). Pinball used to be the dominant game in arcades but it seems like it has been usurped by video games favored by the younger generation. Didn’t know that they were called POP BUMPERS, but FLIPPERS didn’t fit.
Was struggling a bit after gaining a foothold in the SW with only 50% filled after 18 minutes, then I came across 22A and I knew THELONIOUS Monk, which gave me enough letters to suss the perps. Didn’t know MAE or ERIN or ALDERAAN, and I first thought race on skis was SCHUSS.
Thanks to Rich for tweaking the puzzle to Steve’s liking, and to Gary for the always interesting and entertaining expo! Especially liked the Shakespeare quote! Good day to all!!
Good Morning:
This was a challenge because of the plethora of unknown proper names: Akira, Erin, Mae, Prana, Alderaan, plus Super G and Pop Bumper. However, a little chip here and a little chip there did the trick and I received my Tada in 32 minutes, about average time for a Saturday with some crunch. I really enjoyed the tricky, but fair cluing. Only two w/os with Rest/Lung and It’s You/Yes, You. (Yes, you is so much more accusatory.) CSOs to Ray and Inanehiker (CT Scan) and OMK and CanadianEh (Theatre). I chuckled at Smell crossing Spell.
Thanks, Steve, for a fun solve and for sharing some background info with us and thanks, HG, for the excellent review and the many photos and links, half of which didn’t show up, as usual. I’ll return for a second look but I doubt if I’ll see anything as cute and “Aww” inducing as the Seal Pup! I can’t wait to see the Lily adoption photo. On second thought, that may overshadow the Seal Pup for “Aww-ness”!
FLN
Lucina, glad you finally received your phone. I learned the hard way that tracking information is often incorrect.
Ray O, sorry you won’t have your decorations before Christmas. I fear there is going to be much disappointment this year with late and missed deliveries.
Lemony, yes, you are correct that Thursday’s collaborative puzzle was a pre-illness project. I think that was submitted back in late Spring or early Summer. I know the turnaround time wasn’t as long as usual.
Have a great day.
Natick at P*ANA/AKI*A. Took a while to replace Slalom with SUPERG. Didn't know *OP BUMPER, GRETA or ERIN.
The clue for SYNERGY seems off, using a gerund to define a noun grates.
That crossing of P*ana/Aki*a was rough, as was the spelling of Alderaan.
Took 15:37 to get this. A good Saturday puzzle, although there seemed to be a few too many proper names for my taste buds.
This was a really fun puzzle. Much I did not know as clued AERIE , AKIRA , MAE Whitman, ANISEED and completely did not know was ERIN MCKEOWN . You all? SING A LONG .
Thank you Gary and Steve for the puzzle and the kind words about C.C.'s blog.
This was a nice steady Saturday - I always expect some Saturday challenge - the Northwest was the last to fall. I had a few changes along the way as SNIFF TEST had to change to SMELL TEST, SPINACH PIE became a DIP, ASANA became PRANA, and PET SHELTER became a more specific CAT SHELTER. Funny that CT crossed CAT as CT SCANs can also be called CAT scans.
I have found that claustrophobia is more of a factor with MRIs of the brain than CTs.
I sometimes rue having a great sense of SMELL - even though as a diagnostic tool once you have experience, strep throat and pseudomonas infection have distinctive smells before the fancy tests are even back! sorry if that is TMI
Thanks HG - sorry your Huskers lost another close one! and thanks Steve for a creative puzzle and for stopping by
On my return trip to the blog, all of HG’s photos and links were visible and I must say that Lily adopting Joann wins the award for “Aww-ness”. But the Seal Pup is first runner-up by a whisker!
Steve, wipe that smirk off your face, YESYOU! ð¡
For me it was a "hard to win game". Most of the NW is in a "blank slate". Lots of other empty spaces.... so a big fat DNF....my usual excuse...too much to do today. Christmas decorations, digging through the snow to plant spring bulbs. Back to work Monday. Irish M fewer outdoor decorations means decrease chance of frostbite. It's 32 without the wind chill factored in.ð¥¶
"Suggestive comment to a lover" : "my place or yours" wouldn't fit.."pinball componenet etc.." flipper(s) too short." (POPBUMPER?) ....sensable approach to authenicity" acts, looks, and talks like a duck way too long. Never heard of SUPERG,TEA,AKIRA et al.ð
Quickly fillled Thelonius then deleted when it didn't fit ...oh...THELONIOUS!!!
USH?..Aw c'mon. Who says that? ð®. John the wrestler more recognizable as an actor (CENA, It. for supper, "CHAY' nah"). "Not a creature was SWIZZLE-ing not even a mouse."ð
THEATRE: "overseas?" how about "over the (Niagara) falls" or "over the (St Lawrence) river" in our Canada Eh's Ontaro. ðšðŠ
Tinkerbell talks? ð€
Summer in Sorrento....ESTATE (es-TAH'-teh)
Hog: "I need a home".....STYMIE
Lady Di's second....AERIE
TV award statistics...EMIRATE
Have a nice rest of weekend. lotsa leftovers.ðŠðŠð¥ð¥ðœðœ
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the challenge, Steve. Thanks for a great expo, Gary.
My first entry was THELONIOUS after a completely white top tier which filled last with difficulty. The rest of the puzzle filled somewhat more easily.
Never heard of POPBUMPER. Haven't played pinball since high school after which I put away childish things.
My potluck staple was always SPaghetti so tried that long before SPINACH DIP perped in. I doubt my family & friends would have thanked me for SPINACH anything.
DNK: Samantha Bee, MAE (but knew her face as a favorite actress), ERIN, ALDERAAN, AKIRA, PRANA.
Oh, not vaults like in a bank, huh?
Thanks Steve for a Saturday challenge, up to which I simply was not. I skipped the Northwest, circled round and round, filling here and there, and then back to the starting line, but was still STYMIED by that big WHITEOUT. This CAT finally TITT just to find the alluring answer to 15A. When I saw Gary's grid and the NW was no longer a SECRET, lots of light bulbs, duhs, and "why didn't I think of thats" POPped up. Great puzzle nevertheless and so was Huskers review. Loved the POP BUMPER GIF - DNK how they worked.
26D BIKER. My crazy cousin Michael is a HIPPY Hog rider with long hair living in Indiana. He tools into Baltimore every 6 months or so, just to buy CRABS. He is also an authority on the antique CHINA of Staffordshire, England.
We're heading to Thanksgiving II at my Son's house. TTYL.
Cheers,
Bill
Woohoo! A FIR Saturday, confirmed by Husker Gary! A good start to the day, though there were plenty of unknowns and false fills to reckon with. The NW and SE took some time but my last fill was the GRETA and TEA cross. DNK AKIRA but PRANA looked familiar. As I proofread, I caught sEnD OUT and sDS. Fixed that area in time.
Thanks for the challenge, Steve. I enjoyed the puzzle and your comments. And extra thanks to Husker Gary for all the goodies you provided us. Nice picture of Joanne and Lily, for example.
A good Saturday to all. See you tomorrow!
Way out of my wheelhouse,
(The puzzle that is...)
I completed it (big DNF) on the Chicago Tribune site
Which is red letters by default. And had to take the 3 freebie
Hints to finish. But I consider this a win as the fourth freebie hint
Would have forced me to watch ads.
I am constantly thinking in the wrong direction based on
The clues given, like "pinball component that keeps the ball moving."
I could only think "gravity" or "the tilt of the table."
Pop bumper is fair, I guess, but what part of a pinball machine does not
Keep the ball moving? (And there are a lot of parts...)
In these pandemic days,
The last thing I would want to do is
Go to an arcade and touch those unsanitary flippers.
However for the past two years I have been happily playing
Pinball at home, and even learned a lot of new skills.
I have about 30 tables, and play at least several of them
Every day.
No, I could not possibly afford what they want for a real table,
This is strictly simulated, but still very satisfying.
( & more often, frustrat8ng...)
If you are interested:
If you have an iPad, get this free download
Which includes one free game (Frankenstein) and view all the website options for info.
They include 2 free games monthly to try if you watch ads.
Note that I am too cheap to pay money for downloads,
But my kids got me an apple gift card ($25~) so I blew it all
On pinball games and have never regretted it!
You have multiple views.
You can nudge the table in various directions
(But still may tilt, so sparingly)
And it is as realistic as it gets.
Oh, and you will find you will need to improve
You flipper skills by learning things like
the dead bounce, live catch, post pass, drop catch etc...
I have even made a couple of "death saves."
This is when the ball has passed the flippers and is draining
But you nudge the table just right in such a way as to get
The ball back onto the playing field!
Good luck, and have fun!
Saturday toughie for me, of course, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks, Steve, and thanks for your interesting commentary. Great pictures, Husker Gary, fun to enjoy.
My favorite was your SMELL TEST picture.
Fun to see both PUP and CAT-shelter in the puzzle.
Hey, I got EMIRATE. Guess I know something about Qatar.
Of course, expected 'Hog lover' to have something to do with pigs. Nope, BIKER.
My German helped me figure out STEIN for that Hofbrauhaus vessel.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Easy peasy
I had to google several times, so I expect I DNF.
But, I LOVE pinball!! When I was in college, my goal in life was to play the machine at the Rock Chalk Cafe all day for one quarter. Three games for a quarter. Yes it was a long time ago. There was a place in the machine where, if you leaned down to look in the ball feed, you could see the tilt ball and get it to calm down by shoving the machine in a certain way. Some fun. I can't remember the name of the game machine, but when I learned of the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas aka Pinball Museum I went to see if I could find it. Couldn't. But boy, did it have some great machines! Really, really, early ones but when I was leaving I ended up playing a machine with four balls at once! Which I thought I would be really bad at, but did much better than I expected.
I spent forty dollars in tokens for three hours of fun. Much better than a casino. For anyone in Vegas, I highly recommend it.
Becky
Hola!
Today was telephone catch-up day so spent most of the morning chatting. Off and on I worked on the puzzle. Thank you, Steve, this was interesting to solve.
(Sigh) I may have to watch the Simpsons sometime or other. AKIRA is a new character NAME for me.
But I did SPELL (other meaning) THELONIOUS correctly, so I haven't entirely lost my senses and have not yet gone BANANAS.
However I had STIMIES/IT'S YOU so that's one error. The other was AKIRA/PRANA I left a blank not knowing it would be R. Unfamiliar with both. I also don't speak Sanskrit.
Though I've never watched Samantha Bee I know she is on TBS from ads I've seen. And hog lover did not fool me. I love pork but I know hog referred to a bike.
SPINACH DIP is so good! I'm not a fan of spinach per se, but the dip is delicious.
At vaults I thought of safes for a split second but the L was already in place.
A few weeks ago I watched the version of Little Women directed by GRETA Gerwig but could not recall her name. Perps to the rescue. No, they are not perps but what do we call horizontal fill?
When he first became ill, my dad was in an iron LUNG for a short time.
The only reason I know of John CENA is because he has appeared on talk shows that I sometimes watch.
SIDECAR is a drink? It's news to me. I was thinking of a cocktail I used to love but can't think of the name. It starts with a C. Anyone?
d-o: I'm sorry to hear that your neighborhood is expanding but maybe you will meet some nice neighbors.
I hope you are all having a spectacularly restful Saturday!
I liked this PZL by Mr. Mossberg. No fancy theme, but a nice variety of references.
USH was my first fill, a silly one to be sure.
SIDECAR reminded me of the drink I used to favor. I'd nearly forgotten it. I was a new, young drinker, and an older relative gave me a bottle of Cointreau. What else was I to do?
It is a common error to think of TRANCE as "A blank state." It is, if anything, quite the opposite. As a certified hypnotherapist (in my research into the mentation of acting), I know TRANCE as an intensely focused condition, nothing blank or dull at all.
In writing of it, I have sometimes referred to "performance trance," to clarify how it may appear to an observer.
~ OMK
____________
DR: A three-way on the near end. nothing on t'other side.
The central diagonal gives us a curious anagram (13 of 15 letters), a reminder of yesterday's similar term. This is a variation on "Houseboy" which in a subtle shift of domicile offers a much friendlier sense.
This no longer pushes down on a person, but honors him as a "homie." The reference is to a pal who's made his way in the Corps, a...
"HOMEBOY MARINE"!
Hi All!
Another Saturday, another big-fat-DNF with a smattering of un-ink'd squares and the NW completely blank. In NW, I couldn't get a perp to confirm my (all wrong - eg visa @2d & AMP@7d) thoughts.
Thanks for the puzzle and for some inside-baseball, Steve. I enjoyed a) learning your background and b) what I solved.
Thanks for a few grid-nudges and the expo, HG. Methinks someone doesn't know how gears work at SYNERGY graphic :-)
Didn't knows: AKIRA, CENA, PRANA, SUPER-G, GRETA, ERIN, MAE
Fav: THELONIOUS Monk (AND my third fill after THEATRE)
Sparkle: RIPPED ABS, SMELL TEST, THEATRE and Sam Bee's show, "Full Frontal,*" on TBS.
I like the DR, OMK.
inanehiker - I too can smell (sense) sick b/f tests confirm.
As a teen in the '80's (Pac-Man Fever! [3:51]) there were few pinball machines left in the arcade but they were a ton of fun and patternless [most video games - know the pattern (or a bug!) and you easily beat the game].
So, thank you Becky; I will be checking out the Vegas museum next August when I go for BlackHat & Defcon.
Maybe then, I too can be a Pinball Wizard [Sir Elton in Tommy]
Cheers, -T
*Google at your own risk. Sam Bee's show is political ala The Daily Show (where she was a correspondent)
I see I FIW after all. I had AKILA/AKIRA and plana/PRANA. All the Simpsons I've learned here and my Sanscrit is rusty. The founder of Reiki(Mikao Usui) said he got his inspiration for healing from the Gospels and perfected by the study of ancient Sanscrit (Bhuddist) texts.
WC
-T, I was able to get several levels of pacman by memorization. No true skill.
WC, you sell yourself short. You still needed a steady hand to repeat the pattern.
Is it here that someone was talking about Hal's of New York Kettle chips?
Becky, I did not know you were a player; it isn't mentioned anywhere in your bio.
Enjoy Thanksgiving II, Bill. One of the guests at my son's house had to schelp his wife and two kids 60 miles to South Dade to repeat (and eat) with her family leaving as the kids finshed their pieces of pie.
Not my cuppa. Wrinkled my nose so many times it got stuck that way.
Ray-O, Ari (AERIE) was Jackie-O's second, not Lady Di's.
Lucina "No, they are not perps but what do we call horizontal fill?" Still perps. Perpendicular to the word you need, not perpendicular to the horizon.
"a cocktail I used to love but can't think of the name. It starts with a C. Anyone?" Cosmopolitan/cosmo? Like Cosmo Topper?
Lemony @5:21 PM Just got back, stuffed to the gills. After dinner we watched a PIXAR animation feature film called "Inside Outside" voiced by a team of A-List stars. A very clever representation of anthropomorphized emotions such as Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust working inside a young Minnesota girl named Riley, and how everything went haywire when the family moved to San Francisco. A highly recommended family movie.
Thank you Steve Mossburg for very challenging puzzle, and HuskerG for a charming and instructive review. Lily must be one-lucky-cat to have a loving home like yours !
I hada tough time with the puz .... I didn't know PRANA (!), AKIRA, POP BUMPER and so many others. But I completed with the help of lot of googling. ;-o)
I didn't even know the breath freshner in Indian Restaurants ! ANISEED. I have eaten the 'breath freshners', often with Supari- scented, sweetened betel nut, and Paan - the betel leaf go-with, and I am eating candied fennel seeds right now....
Actually the seeds eaten after meals is Fennel seed ( various varieties...)
Anise and Dill have sharper flavors, so they are used in flavorings like Baby Gripe Water ( supposedly to prevent baby colic, after feeding ... although this is now considered passe, and ineffective ...)
..... but the seeds offerred in indian restaurants is always Fennel. Fennel has the right amount of flavor, and is naturally, quite sweet and pleasant tasting, the latter being very important.. There are ofcourse, many varieties of fennel, Lucknavi fennel ( - from Lucknow city ) is one of the best for the purpose.
Lucina mentioned that 'she does not speak Sankrit'....
Lucina, it would surprise you to know that most of the highly 'educated' indians, actually over 99 percent, who actually learn Sanskrit,... do NOT actually speak it ... it is unfortunately a dead language... like Latin.
we learn the vocabulary, the grammer and how to translate sentences, but we dont actually EVER speak it. Like Latin, it is the root of most indian languages, so familiarity with this ancient language does help.
I had heard of PRANA as meaning 'life' but I never thought it would turn up in CW.
I had a very busy morning and afternoon, with lots of family, and cooking and setting the table etc., and I am soo glad its all over... Thank God, Thanksgiving comes only once a year. Btw, we did not use our 'good' china, just the usual Corningware. The good China is too much trouble to take out and clean, .... its there only for 'looks'.... altho at our age and status in life, we dont have anybody left to impress....
Have a good weekend, all.
Vidwan - A buddy of mine, who's Brahmin, would educate me on which words had roots in Sanskrit. Sometimes, he could get long-winded about it :-)
Re: ANISEED. One of our new analysts came over from India to join the rest of her family 2.5 years ago. I was eating licorice and asked if she wanted some. I tried to explain it tasted like anise. Once I Googled for a picture, her eyes lit up - "Oh, yes, we use that in cooking all the time" and then went on to explain different dishes and the use of [what she called*] licorice, anise, and fennel.
*her English is pretty good but, I guess, all the foods haven't translated yet.
Today was a day of rest 'cuz it was rainy and no one wanted to help put up the Christmas lights. So, we picked out a tree, ordered up some sushi, and (much to my dismay) watched Hallmark Christmas movies. It's Eldest's last night in town so I let it slide. In three weeks, when she graduates and moves back in for 9 months b/f grad-school, I won't be so accommodating :-)
Cheers, -T
Vidwan:
Actually, I was trying to make a joke since I assumed most posters would know or assume that neither I nor any of them speak Sanskrit. In fact, I wasn't sure anyone still spoke it so thank you for the information.
Owen:
No, not cosmopolitan. I have been trying all day to recall it. Many years ago it was my drink of choice and now I can't remember it. Thank you for your help.
There were some strange squiggles coming onto my computer so I believe someone was trying to hack it. I immediately shut it down then later re-opened it.
Lucina: Can you describe the squiggles? That doesn't seem like a hack but...?
Campari? Chimayo? Here's a list of cocktails A-Z. Scroll to the C's and see if one of those ring a bell.
Cheers, -T
It was GALIANO but I can't recall the cocktail. I used to love it!
The squiggles were about 1 square inch or less and were right in the center of the screen. It resembled a set of book spines. All are gone now.
Time for bed. I'll research some more tomorrow. Thank you, Tony.
It was the Harvey Walbanger!
Lucina:
I was going to suggest "Cuba Libré", but Galiano doesn't fit in there.
Those transient squiggles sound to me like a video problem ... when the video feed gets dicey on our TV, the screen will break up into colored squares.
Lucina - LOL!
You pulled a classic me...
"um, it starts with a K"
"You mean a buckeye?"
"Yes!"
"But it doesn't start with a K"
"Well, there's one in there(?) isn't there," I say trying to save face.
My excuse is dyslexia :-)
Pop useda like an occasional Harvey Wallbanger. Nowadays, his goto is just (cheap) beer or a good bourbon.
Cheers, -T
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