Ahoy, cruciverbalists! Malodorous Manatee here with the recap. Today's puzzle setter is August Miller who has been seen in these parts quite often lately. I recapped one on his puzzles on June 17th of this year. That effort by August was followed with puzzles on September 3rd, September 29th, October 13th and, just a bit more than two weeks ago, on November 3rd. Apologies if I missed any.
The theme of today's puzzle made all marine creatures feel right at home. At six places within the grid, the names of six SEAS are placed, as anagrams, within circles. Did you see it? If your publication chose not to print the circles then you may have found yourself in a bit over your head, underwater, or, at least, up to your neck. . . theme-wise.
The explanation is found at 33 Down: Dramatic shift . . . or what's literally found in each set of circles?: SEA CHANGE. The vocabularic ancestor of Paradigm Shift.
PAINSCA - CASPIAN
EAGANE - AEGEAN
YLOWEL - YELLOW
LITBAC - BALTIC
INGERB - BERING
ICRADIAT - ADRIATIC
The phrase The Seven Seas" is a merely a figurative term so having six seas is okay. Seas differ from oceans in that they are found on the margins of oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet.
Because there are no themed answers, per se, let's dive right in:
Across:
1. Apply softly: DAB. Also, a small amount . . . and a flatfish. Oh, and a puzzle constructor.
4. Indy 500 leader: PACE CAR. Only at the start of the race.
11. About 40 gallons of it usually makes a gallon of syrup: SAP.
14. GPS calculation: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival
15. Mollusk with a nacreous shell: ABALONE. We often saw NACRE as a crossword puzzle answer back in the day.
16. Gp. for moms and dads: PTA. Parent Teacher Association. Abbreviated clue with GP for group.
17. Particles from far, far away: COSMIC RADIATION. High energy charged particles , x-rays, and gamma rays produced in space.
20. Burger topping: ONION. Relish wouldn't fit. See 23 Across.
21. 23andMe subject: DNA. 23andMe is a company that offers genetic testing. See 28 Across.
15. Mollusk with a nacreous shell: ABALONE. We often saw NACRE as a crossword puzzle answer back in the day.
16. Gp. for moms and dads: PTA. Parent Teacher Association. Abbreviated clue with GP for group.
17. Particles from far, far away: COSMIC RADIATION. High energy charged particles , x-rays, and gamma rays produced in space.
20. Burger topping: ONION. Relish wouldn't fit. See 23 Across.
21. 23andMe subject: DNA. 23andMe is a company that offers genetic testing. See 28 Across.
22. Lena Dunham TV show: GIRLS. One of several actor/actress references, today.
23. Dog topping: RELISH. Onion wouldn't fit. See 20 Across.
25. To wit: NAMELY.
26. Wind-driven clouds: SCUD. Also the name of a missile.
25. To wit: NAMELY.
26. Wind-driven clouds: SCUD. Also the name of a missile.
SCUD Clouds
28. Hereditary unit: GENE. See 21 Across. Might have been clued as _____ Simmons or Autry.
29. Riddle end, maybe: WHAT AM I. You can see me once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day. What am I? The letter e.
32. 2001 NBA MVP Allen: IVERSON. A basketball reference.
36. Goal: AIM. Alternatively: We ___ to please. You ___, too, please.
37. Student, ideally: LEARNER.
39. Runner Down Under: EMU. Down Under being slang for Australia. EMUs are flightless.
40. Zoom alternative: SKYPE. A bit of present-day technology. Fixed focal length lens was not going to fit.
42. Race part: LEG. Sometimes, a racer's part, too.
43. Over: AGAIN.
45. Brazilian soccer great: PELE. Ne Edson Narantes do Nascimento.
46. Responds to a phone solicitation, perhaps: GIVES. I first thought of YELLS, RANTS, RAVES. Neither HANGS UP nor CURSES would fit.
48. Improvs, e.g.: ACTS. I guess IMPROV is now an "official" word. Its use here as a verb seems a bit off.
49. Eye-bending genre: OP ART. An example:
51. Fiennes of "The Grand Budapest Hotel": RALPH. Another of several actor/actress references, today.
53. Drops off before midday?: DEW. Clever. The drops of dew come off the grass before noon. We were, I suppose, meant to think of something sleep-related,
55. Easy throw: LOB.
56. "Later": BYE. As in "See you later."
57. Words With Friends, for one: APP.
60. Post-teaching title for some: EMERITA. Female equivalent of EMERITUS.
62. Latvia neighbor: ESTONIA.
64. Fluorescent element?: SILENT C. We have seen this type of c/a before. They fool me less often than they used to.
65. Like many a wedding planner: ENGAGED. For those who plan their own weddings.
66. "It's just a flesh wound": ILL BE OK. A staple of OATERS.
67. Repair crew with tiles: ROOFERS. TILERS was too short and FLOORERS was too long.
Down:
1. Interior designer's specialty: DECOR.
2. Make reparations: ATONE. Afterwards, one can be AT ONE with their conscience.
3. Margherita pizza herb: BASIL.
2. Make reparations: ATONE. Afterwards, one can be AT ONE with their conscience.
3. Margherita pizza herb: BASIL.
4. It tops out at ten in a doctor's office: PAIN SCALE. It has been argued that the PAIN SCALE was used to inappropriately market opioids. Pain Scales And The Opioid Crisis
5. "Mixed-ish" airer: ABC. Another TV show.
6. Calling or playing follower: CARD. Pick a CARD, ANY CARD. But don't Teller which one.
7. Stylish vigor: ELAN.
8. Musical symbol resembling a set of crosshairs: CODA.
9. Young Darth: ANI. Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are characters in the Star Wars series of films.
10. When the Cold War ended: REAGAN ERA.
11. Pinnacle of religion?: SPIRE. A nice play on words.
12. Coral island: ATOLL. I always forget if it's two tees and one ell or vice versa.
13. Violet hybrid: PANSY. Violet could refer to a color, a flower (in this case), or her:
18. Like eyes starting to tear up: MOIST.
19. Dingy kitchen item?: TIMER. Dingy means dirty or unclean. A dinghy is a small watercraft. In this case, though, the puzzler maker (or editor) wants us to think of something that makes the sound "ding". Ding-y, if you will.
24. "A Treatise of Human Nature" author: HUME.
25. Campbell of "Scream" films: NEVE. Another of several actor/actress references, today.
27. Ease up: DIAL IT BACK. Idiomatic expression defined in the clue.
27. Ease up: DIAL IT BACK. Idiomatic expression defined in the clue.
28. Spiced brew: GINGER BEER. Hands up for first thinking of some kind of tea.
29. Paper-nest builder: WASP. Did wasps invent paper?
30. Backpack, e.g.: HIKE. Noun or verb? Verb.
31. 1926 Pulitzer-winning poet: AMY LOWELL.
29. Paper-nest builder: WASP. Did wasps invent paper?
30. Backpack, e.g.: HIKE. Noun or verb? Verb.
31. 1926 Pulitzer-winning poet: AMY LOWELL.
34. Neglect to mention: OMIT.
35. Sisters in the 2017 film "The Little Hours": NUNS.
38. Excite, with "up": REV. The first of three three-letter answers in sequence.
41. Exuberance: PEP. The second.
44. Gender __: GAP. The third.
46. Underground recess: GROTTO.
41. Exuberance: PEP. The second.
44. Gender __: GAP. The third.
46. Underground recess: GROTTO.
Grotta Azzurra
47. Declines: SAYS NO. PASSES would have fit the space and two of the letters would have worked out.
50. Flared dress style: A-LINE. One can see whence the name was derived.
52. Released: LET GO.
53. Arnaz of early TV: DESI. Another of several actor/actress references, today.
Babalu
54. Painter Nolde: EMIL. One of the early Expressionists.
58. Place to drop a line: PIER. Another play on words. "Drop a line" is idiomatic for writing. In this case, though, fishing.
59. Paw parts: PADS.
61. 1860s gray: REB. A Civil War reference. The soldiers of the Confederacy wore gray uniforms and re referred to as REBs (rebels).
63. Klutz: OAF. So, this shark swims into a bar . . . "Arrrgg", he yells. "I'm such a klutz!"
. . . and with that, the completed grid:
________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
46 comments:
As promised,
This message has repeated on 11-18 am, then it will self destruct.
Anonymous T,
FLN "D4 - what? No hints?"
Hint #1, Carol is a woman of the feminine persuasion.
On November 14, 2021 at 5:20 PM you wrote "Robbing the cradle there? eh, D4 :-)"
Your powers of observation are incredible. Yes, a cradle has been robbed.
I was born on May 3 1944 which makes me 77.
Your task is to tell me Carol's age.
In fact I open the contest to anyone who wants to guess her age.
The person who comes closest will win a priceless prize.
The contest will run through close of posting on 11-18.
I will report the winner on 11-19 if I can wake up.
All data become the property of the no-accounting infirm of Falling Price WaterShed.
Ðavið
FIRight, but didn't solve it without the reveal. Saw YELLOW right away, so it was an easy guess that we were dealing with anagrams, specifically mixing colors! BZZT. Wrong answer! I spent so much time trying to get some other colors before I gave up and read the reveal 😕 . Even with the reveal, unscrambling the rest was not easy. Anagrams I do fair to middling, but geography is a weakness.
The NE center almost got me. Two names crossing, couldn't get _A_ELY, and that damn "dingy"!
The D.N.A. strand had a dream,
All curled up inside a GENE.
It would make
A man so great!
Alas, it birthed a wolverine!
{A.}
32 minutes to FIR. W/Os CLEF:CODA, HESS:HUME, PAINSVORE:PAINSCALE. 10D “When the Cold War ended” I thought was 1991. Wasn’t GHWB President then? I saw the theme only when amYLOWEL perped in and I saw YELLOW, then went back to the other anagrammed seas to suss the theme. Nice CW, AM, thanx. Terrific witty write-up, MM, thanx.
Pretty impressive construction by August Miller here. Six scrambled seas of at least six letters each, with some crossing each other, plus a seventh theme answer of the reveal. And the surrounding fill is quite reasonable. Nice work, August!
It looks like the last August-less month for the LAT was...August!
Good morning!
Had the circles. Failed to look at 'em until the reveal, but managed to unscramble the seas. Nice, and the theme didn't affect the solve. Yup, hand up for thinking "tea." Also dialed it Down before BACK elbowed in. Thanx, August and Mal-Man (Methinks Improvs and Acts are both nouns.)
GIVES: We have a firm rule against buying/giving anything to a cold-caller. Was surprised to get a call yesterday from the alarm company that installed their system when our house was built back in '04. It's never been connected. Why now?
D-O, I will answer your question first with a fill-in the blank. M_N_Y.
Dave, are we supposed to email our "educated" guesses?
YELLOW was my last see that I saw. AMY LOWELL took all the perps; COSMIC RADIATION was great fill and EMERITA was a solid CSO to our own retired professors.
Thank you August, and August Joseph
FIR, but erased race car for PACE CAR, lap for LEG, ended for AGAIN, ethopia for ESTONIA, freed for LET GO, csa for REB, and misty for MOIST. And I was gonna crack wise about Clint Eastwood and note Misty's CSO. NTM: GIRLS, RALPH, ANI, AMY LOWELL, EMIL, "Mixed-ish", "The Little Hours" and the CODA symbol.
I'll bet that a lot of Cornerites have been to the Blue GROTTO on Capri. I loved it. Thanks for the memory, MM.
ABALONE are hard to harvest and hard to cook. If you sneak up on them you can pluck them right off their rock with your hand. But if they sense danger you have to chisel them off, not easy in scuba gear. The best I've ever eaten were from Doug's Harbor Reef on the Catalina Island Isthmus.
The last time I had GINGER BEER was at Hampton Yacht Club. It was a dark 'n' stormy night.
FLN: -T, when I lived in Topanga CA we heard the double-sonic booms when the Shuttle returned. BOOM-BOOM "Oh I guess the shuttle's home." No sleeping through that.
Thanks to August for the fun. I didn't like all the names, but fair perps made it a fair Thursday challenge. After solving I looked at the circles, saw they were anagrams, and went on to other things. I don't do the Jumble either. Another fine job, MM.
Good morning.
Solved the jumbles in the order of YELLOW, BALTIC, BERING, AEGEAN, CASPIAN and then (finally) ADRIATIC. For me, solving the jumbles was just as much fun as solving the puzzle. Unscrambling them, especially the last three, took as long as the solve. Just didn't see them quickly.
I'd not heard of SEA CHANGE and thought it was missing the preposition 'of', but then realized I was thinking Wind of Change. I read the Wikipedia article on SEA CHANGE to reinforce the meaning. "Paradigm shift" became a part of corporate jargon - business buzzwords - that I grew to detest.
EMERITi to EMERITA
WHAT Are (D'OH !) to WHAT AM I
I also thought rACE CAR was a pretty lame answer until it morphed into PACE CAR. D'OH !
AMY LOWELL, HUME and SCUD (as clued), are new to me. That U was a guess, and my final fill.
Fiennes had to be Ray or RALPH, so five spaces cleared that quandary quickly.
ABALONE was clued in a recent crossword "as sea otter treat" or something akin to that.
Burger topping ? Hot Dog topping ? ONION and RELISH. True, and they fit. But in Chicago, the relish that denizens prefer is giardiniera. On burgers, dogs, polish sausage, brat sausage, Italian beef sandwiches and pizza. But no ketchup on that Chicago style dog, just as no beans in real Texas chili.
Kudos to today's constructor and to today's blogger. Well 'splained, MM. That article "Pain Scales and The Opioid Crisis" was especially thought provoking.
UncleFred, yes. Officially, technically, formally, the Cold War ended Dec 3rd, 1989, during the Bush Era.
The tide turned in 7:52.
Oh joy, (lots and lots of) circles. I prefer to keep my crossword puzzle and jumble separated.
I didn't know the 1926 Pulitzer winner, nor do I understand her quote in the review.
I also didn't know the author Hume, the scud clouds, or the movie (but that has quite an interesting quote on the movie poster).
Since we have a partial eclipse of the moon overnight, I wonder if we'll get "syzygy" as fill in tomorrow's Friday puzzle. Where's Vana when we really need her? WE NEED TO BUY A VOWEL!
I usually don't pay attention to circles but with this puzzle it was hard not to notice them. Getting the six sea names scrambled in two or three words must have taken Mr. Miller a while (or a computer program).
After finishing the top half I was puzzled after filling WHAT AM I. But I never noticed the SEA CHANGE. I stumbled in the starting blocks with RTE instead of ETA for the GPS calculation. Obviously I'm a slow LEARNER as I immediately filled LAP for the Race part before the effects of the GINGER BEER 'sobered ' me to LEG.
I had a few A&E unknowns billed by perps- GIRLS, RALPH Fiennes, ABC (and Mixed-ish), NEVE Campbell, and Emil NOLDE. I aced two meteorology classes in college and never ran across the term SCUD for clouds. ALL clouds are 'wind driven'; they aren't stationary.
PACE CAR- a friend bought a 2021 Corvette Pace Car about 8 months ago. I noticed it as I was walking into the gym. It was in the HANDICAP parking spot and had a handicap plate. Five of the women who play pickleball with us have Corvettes and I thought it was one of theirs. It wasn't. My friend who is definitely NOT handicapped (his wife is) owned up to it. None of the GIRLS (all over 75) ever park in the handicap spots.
GIVES- I hope the rest of you aren't dumb enough to actually listen to a phone solicitation from a phony number. I hang up after five seconds if it's from my area code and don't bother to answer if it's an out of state or 800,888,...etch area code.
Tough one, touch and go, finally FIR..BUT I hardly had time to do the puzzle today much less figure out an advanced JUMBLE so the theme was a no go. Y'all much smarter 'n me.🙄
Inkovers: amend/ATONE, rte/ETA (fooled yah), sex/DNA , roo/EMU (a Roo hops, dummy), EMERITI/A.....Never heard of HUME, IVERSON, or AMY LOWELL...all perpwalked.
"Backpack" (HIKE) is verbified. So is "improvs", I think..Why does RALPH Fiennes call himself "Rafe"? 🤫 GINGERBEER, one way to make a Moscow Mule. I first thought of the 2002 film "The Hours" (Kidman's fake Woolf nose and no NUNS). Oh dingy the sound! cute...😄
COSMIC RADIATION from a round trip NY to LA flight delivers the dose equivalent of one chest xray.
Isn't a GROTTO a cave? which is above ground, not an underground recess. Just a flesh wound, the fleshy part of the heart.😆.. 🎼"Johnny Yuma was a REBel (and neeever changed his clooothes)"🎵. Why is OP ART "eye-bending" (What does that even mean? do I need to see an ophalm...ophthal....eye doctor? 👀)
PAINSCALE...
this is a 😫
Just buy maple syrup, don't be a _____....SAP
A Coral Island is hardly an island _____....ATOLL
Gonna keep ____ you!....ONION
Lift the sofa cushion, betcha you'll _____...SEACHANGE
Dear Ann's sister's foolish advice...ABALONE
Crazy week..glad it will soon be over.
This was difficult for me after starting so quickly. I was partly saved by sports refs like IVERSON, PELE. Now if they'd had _____ Branca as a clue
Then again having an i in SKYPE held back an otherwise easy AMY LOWELL**
I think A.M. was using 'Improvs" as a noun , eg. Comedy Theater(s)
Doppler Effect
is another example of OP ART
CSO (again) yo Misty and Keith with EMERITA
I assumed from 'Florescent ' it'd end in ANE
I was thinking of Asa Gray The Botanist
I got all them all* but Y,L,O,W,E,L had me ASEA. The Y in SKYPE saved me there.
I was surprised by the sudden FIR. The whole West was a SEA of white for awhile
D4, I'm guessing 74; I'll bet you liked those Frosh girls in HS. As I recall you met her at A.L.
So, Owen, you spotted AMY** right away. You poets…
* Yes, ADRIATIC,AEGEAN,CASPIAN, BALTIC, BERING popped quickly
** AMY'S ODE to Mr S.
A Blockhead
by Amy Lowell
Before me lies a mass of shapeless days,
Unseparated atoms, and I must
Sort them apart and live them. Sifted dust
Covers the formless heap. Reprieves, delays,
There are none, ever. As a monk who prays
The sliding beads asunder, so I thrust
Each tasteless particle aside, and just
Begin again the task which never stays.
And I have known a glory of great suns,
When days flashed by, pulsing with joy and fire!
Drunk bubbled wine in goblets of desire,
And felt the whipped blood laughing as it runs!
Spilt is that liquor, my too hasty hand
Threw down the cup, and did not understand.
I had to reread that poem to really appreciate it. Sandy? Your thoughts
FIR. I soon saw that the seas were changed, but I didn't work on the anagrams. Not a fan of anagrams. BALTIC just popped out at me.
The DINGY TIMER and wedding planner/engaged were my favorites.
CSO to Misty at emerita. Keith is an emeritus.
Phone solicitation, hang up, or better yet don't answer. I never give anything in response to them.
Scud is more familiar to me as a verb, but I know it as a noun, too. In wind driven, the operative word is driven, a very strong word. It does not refer to the normal movement of the clouds, but to those clouds you can see moving quickly, scudding, across the sky.
Pele was easy. I did not know, nor can I remember, his birthname.
We cannot use the pain scale with numbers or pictures for Alan. He has no sense of proportion. He expresses little problems and big problems the same way, also minor pain and major pain.
New to me were 23 and Me, Allen Iverson, Ralph Fiennes, and Lena Durham. Perps and wags to the rescue.
I like Amy's Blockhead poem. After gathering my thoughts I LIU. The site, Poetry By Heart has the same take on it that I had.
"EXPLORE THE POEM
Amy Lowell’s sonnet begins with the speaker presenting a picture of a life that is full of monotony and drudgery. Her days are ‘shapeless’ and covered in ‘dust’. One day is almost indistinguishable from another and her actions appear mechanical and repetitive as she sifts and sorts a joyless life. Notice how there is something almost scientific and cold about the diction, with references to ‘atoms’ and ‘particles’. She compares her actions to those of a monk counting prayers on a rosary with movements that are repeated time and time again.
However, in the ninth line, which often represents a change of direction in sonnets, the poet recollects a very different time of passion and excitement. The poem is now full of references to ‘joy’ and ‘fire’, ‘wine’ and ‘desire’; to a time of ‘glory’.
In the final couplet the speaker reflects that she did not make the most of the days that pulsed with energetic life. What has she failed to ‘understand’, as she puts it, in the final word of the sonnet?"
Thank you August for a very august puzzle, AVAST improvement over yesterday. I managed to stay afloat long enough for a FIR helped by, of all things, the THEME!
And thank you MalMan for a great review and for 'splainin' the theme. Didn't see AEGEAN, but I got the rest and was really only looking for YELLOW, as it filled in the W I need to get AMY LOWELL and by extension the E I needed for EMIL NOLDE.
Lots of great cluefills:
1A DAB. For those of you who haven't as yet, I'd strongly suggest visiting his website. Lot's of freebie Bywaters' puzzles, PDF's of Victorian novels and paintings to match.
11A SAP. Not a particularly green condiment, as those 40 gallons are reduced to 1 by burning wood. Accept no substitutes.
40A SKYPE. A freeware resource. My son and I used SKYPE to communicate back home when we visited China to "get" #2 grandson, aged 3. He actually recognized his new mother when he saw her on the screen, from a photo he'd previously seen. The preparations for this trip made WEDDING PLANNING look like a walk in the park.
51A RALPH. The Grand Budapest Hotel. A truly great film. You'd love the SKIING SEQUENCE MM.
64A SILENT C. I don't think August meant CARBON.
2D ATONE. I wonder if that riff works in Hebrew? Susan? Jason?
28D GINGER BEER. Tom Baker's DR WHO was fond of this drink. It's about as strong as hard cider, i.e. not very strong.
31D AMY LOWELL. DNK AMY. I found her adrift in the YELLOW SEA.
50D ALINE. Look's like a V-LINE dress to me MM.
54D EMIL. DNK NOLDE. An interesting artist and a contradiction. He was a rabid racist and anti-Semite and his works were included in of a "Degenerate Art Exhibition" held by the Nazis. He remained in Germany though and died in 1956 at the ripe old age of 88.
63D OAF. It was an ATOLL, you KLUTZ.
Cheers,
Bill
Good Morning:
This was a very ambitious effort by AM and a very successful one, IMO. I didn’t even try to parse the circles until I filled in Sea Change (what a great reveal!) and then, of course, the seas were pretty obvious, although Aegean was the last to fall. August brought his A game with Coda, ETA, Estonia, PTA, Emerita (Hi, Misty), DNA, and Era. Liked the Rev/Reb, Onion/Relish duos and the rhythmic Sap/Gap/App trio. Nuns always brings Lucina to mind. (Looking forward to Lucina’s review of Belfast which looks very compelling, sans the violence.)
Thanks, August, for a Thursday challenge but quite doable and thanks, MalMan, for your insights and critique. Unfortunately, 90 % of your links/pictures remain hidden, so I’ll need a return visit to appreciate your efforts.
I thought Liberty Mutual hit rock bottom with their ridiculous and intelligence-insulting ads when they introduced the young man and his look-alike dog, but the newest one showing Doug letting a spider bite him is even sillier and more insulting. If I ever needed any kind of insurance, Liberty and Progressive wouldn't even be considered because of their ads. It’s a toss up as to the most annoying characters: Doug and Limu or Flo and Jamie.
Ray O, as our resident film critic, any suggestions for any Netflix series or interesting movies? (I watched Midnight Mass but only because I wasn’t aware of the story line. I stuck with it, anyway, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.)
Have a great day.
TTP @6:41 You mentioned corporate buzzwords. During the '90's they seemed ridiculously over-done. At first I found it annoying, but it got so bad it was actually funny! I can recall sitting in big corporate meetings and making a list of a dozen or so buzzwords or phrases and checking them off for each speaker. One of my favorites was, "Think out of the box", but as soon as you did, you were in trouble because it had not been approved by corporate lawyers. As to the end of the cold war, I put it at the fall of the Berlin Wall. I thought it was 1991, but you are correct: November 9, 1989.
TTP @6:41 AM You might find this SEA CHANGE, a streamable series from "Down Under" on Prime, to be an absolutely delightful antidote to "corporate jargon" starring Sigrid Thorton. In fact corporate jargon is what drove her to it.
Ray - O @8:16 AM For the same reason Ralph Vaughan Williams does. It's his name. You bin doin' this for how long Raph, and you expect English pronunciation to make sense? Really! 🙄
IM
Resident film critic? Better not give up my day job..😁
Are you watching the new season of "The Morning Show?" also I Iiked "Click Bait" on Netflix. The new season of "The Sinner" and a fun Netflix movie "Red Notice". HBO series "Succession" hard to follow but great characters.
I liked "Squid Game" on Netflix but super violent. I thought "Midnight Mass" was great in an allegorical sense..but like you said not for everyone like my other favorite "Dexter"
I read a great novel btw "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides...psychosocial thriller. though I usually tend toward historical fiction.
I feel that today's FIR was lucky since I was close to stopping to read the review with wrong words in place. The crossing of TIMER and NAMELY was hard to get. I confidently put TowEl and didn't rethink "dingy." Of course NAwELY didn't make sense so I kept trying. Another WO was roo/EMU (Hi, RayO). New to me (NTM) was IVERSON, so its spelling didn't help with TIMER.
Thanks, August, for an appropriate challenge today. Even the SEAs in the theme were puzzling. Before completing the reveal, I spent lots of time and ink trying to rearrange the circled letters in COSMIC RADIATION to spell "dramatic" to no avail with no M. Then I filled the reveal and found the seas. Whew!
Thanks MalMan for your helpful and SEAsoned review. You explained my lingering question about SCUD which was NTM. Nice picture too.
Dave4, I seem to remember Carol is a good bit older than you are, though she doesn't look it. Maybe in her 80's or early 90's? Hope everyone has a calm Thursday.
UncleFred, yes, the Cold War ended Dec 3rd, 1989. The answer threw off course me because I knew it formally ended after Reagan had left office, and before the reunification of Germany in late 90. So it had to be later in 89 or before the end of 90, and Bush was in office then.
Waseeley, I never heard of that series either. Don't recall much about 1998 or 1999 because of all the Y2K work that had to be done.
But I'll look for it on Prime. I've signed into Prime on both of my new smart TVs and have streamed a documentaries and movies. So many programs to watch !
Hola!
On a SCALE of one to ten, this was a ten! It took me longer than usual for some reason, but it felt satisfying once finished. After solving SEA CHANGE I knew the circles would be SEAs but did not bother to unscramble them. These days I find myself not driven to do things like that as I once did. Old age? I suppose so.
I've never had GINGERBEER and it doesn't sound good. But then, no BEER appeals to me.
Yes, I originally had RTE but ETA soon replaced it.
Mmmmm. ONION and RELISH sounds delicious!
DNA. I was supposed to go for a blood draw today but my doctor gave me the wrong form. It's not just me, then! Luckily I checked it before leaving for the lab.
CSO to Misty at EMERITA but Keith can take a bow, too.
Well, it has been 52 years but I'll take a CSO at NUN.
I was never actually ENGAGED. We dated for seven years then married. Why so long? He was my supervisor and wanted to avoid any semblance of favoritism. Our co-workers knew we were seeing each other but did not realize how serious it was.
Thank you, MalMan, for your insightful review!
Have a RADIANT day, everyone!
Musings
-The school OMITTED how bad the sub shortage is and so I will have no time off today. Not a problem.
-Not only were there circles but the circles intersected which turned out to just be cool and not part of the gimmick
-I want that ONION on my burger to be raw
-C.C. has made me a blogger but also an avid septuagenarian LEARNER
-GIVE to a phone solicitor? No good deed goes unpunished!
-DEW finally came to my weak mind. Seeing YELLOW gave it to me and reinforced LOWELL
-SILENT C – Meta references can be tricky
-ROOFERS are making a lot of noise outside the window today as this school is putting on an ELL
-She made DINGY very famous
Husker @11:41 AM ROTFL! 🤣
Puzzling thoughts:
FIW with my Natick being 29-Across; 24 and 27-Down. I had WHATARE/HURE/DEALITBACK.
RTE/ETA; RACE/PACE: LAP/LEG
Lucina, GINGER BEER is a mixer; it’s non-alcoholic. It’s used both in a Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer, lime, served in a freezer-chilled pewter or copper mug), and in a Dark and Stormy (dark colored or spiced rum replaces the vodka). By itself, ginger beer is definitely spicier than ginger ale as it has a steeped ginger element rather than a flavoring.
The only way this puzzle could work, I’m guessing, was with a 1/2 grid symmetry (note how the black spaces are placed). As others noted, the criss-crossing of both the circled entries, as well as their placement in the grid, took quite an effort. I use the help of a software program called Crossword Compiler (there are others, too) when constructing a puzzle, as I’m sure August Miller does, too. Still, a software program could not have created this masterpiece. Kudos!
Thanks for the AMY LOWELL poem, WC. I interpreted it as a person who was well into their senior years, and well past their salad days.
Speaking of poems/sonnets, an interesting movie/short (it’s about 50 minutes in length) is “The Song of Lunch” starring Alan Rickman (whose narration of the poem is about 85% of the film) and Emma Thompson. I think it’s available on Prime Video, as well as other streaming networks. Well worth the watch.
Of course Harry Potter fans recognize RAPLH Fienes as Lord Voldemort. And Alan Rickman as Severius Snape
I unscrambled the circled SEAs quite easily once I solved 33-Down. I feel quite ignorant not knowing that phrase - SEA CHANGE - but Margaret explained it for me! She’s undergone a SEA CHANGE in her diet, for example. Doing mostly vegan now …
Loved seeing “Words With Friends” as the clue for APP, as that “game” is much like Scrabble. And a word of caution if you should ever engage playing WWF with IM: she’s GOOD!!
On a PAIN SCALE of 1-10, this was a 5
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the challenge, August. Thanks for the expo, MalMan.
The good news is I got a lot of this puzzle easily. The bad news is it wore me out doing it and when it was filled, I just looked at those circly things, groaned, and turned off the computer. I was completely at SEA with this theme.
I knew Alan Iverson, but not from that clue. With some perps, I knew it had to be him. Poor man was great then took a turn for the worse somehow and was out of rhythm with every team that took him his last few years. He made a lot of money, but I read recently that he is broke.
"Since David Hume his thought perfected,
nothing can be unexpected."
~ Kf
HUME was my favorite thinker in my Philosophy 101 class. He was the one who pointed out that regular event correspondences do not necessitate causality. A great blow to the superstitious.
~ Yay!
This good PZL from Mr. Miller turned out to be more do-able than I thought at the get-go.
My only regret is there are no diagonals from which to do my anagrams.
~ Dang!
~ OMK
MalMan ~ I was finally able to enjoy all your photos on my third try. Thanks for your efforts.
Ray O @ 10:18 ~ I don’t have access to The Morning Show or Succession, but I’ve already seen the latest episodes of The Sinner. I have no interest in the Squid Game, based on what I read about it, but I’ll give Red Notice and Click Bait a look-see. I just received the DVD of Nomadland, so that’s next in line. I enjoyed Maid with Andie McDowell and her real-life daughter, Margaret Qualley, playing a crazed mother and semi-estranged daughter, a victim of spousal abuse. There were moments, though, that Andie’s frequent frenetic tangents were almost unbearable. Thanks for the suggestions.
Chairman Moe @ 12:02 ~ IIRC, you were no slouch at WWF, either. I have been playing two separate opponents for about 8 years and feel as though I know them both. One is a 40-something woman who lives in Australia and the other is a 60ish semi-retired man who divides his time between St. Louis and Punta Gorda, FL. We’re pretty evenly matched which makes the game more interesting.
Hola!
CMoe:
Thank you for that clarification of GINGERBEER. As I said, any term associated with BEER repulses me only because of childhood memories of my mother's alcoholism during my childhood after my dad died. Having been raised in a prosperous family, married to a man she loved who then died at an early age leaving her with six children, I'm sure drove her to drink.
When my brother, John, became ill and suffered for many months, hovering between life and death, my mother made a promise to God that she would not touch alcohol if he recovered. He did and she kept her promise. I know it was hard for her.
Currently I am reading, The Book of Longings, by Sue Monk Kidd. It is about Jesus' early life when he supposedly married and lived with his wife, Ana, and the rest of the family including Mary and his siblings. I have to say, it provides an entirely different perspective of Jesus and his human attributes. I had never before heard any reference of his being married. His main association with women mentioned in the Bible is to Mary Magdalene and her sister, Martha.
IM: Glad you’re still playing with some familiar friends/opponents. I don’t have a single APP on my phone that’s game related. Margaret and I play Scrabble the board game, occasionally, and I get to do the Scrabble puzzles when they appear in our paper, as well as the daily Jumble. That’s more than enough for me!! But I did enjoy our games.
Lucina
As a nun Weren't you married to JC...then got divorced?
Sorry....Couldn't help myself 🤭
Ray-O:
That is one way of looking at it. It required a dispensation from the Pope! I had to produce it when I got married.
Delightful puzzle, August, with all those long downers--many thanks. And loved all your pictures, as always, MalMan.
Our area had a planned power outage today, so it's been difficult to get online and send messages. But nice to see that all is well here in the corner.
Wlbur, thank you for remembering that I'm an EMERITA, and that Keith is an EMERITUS.
Exciting to see that word in the puzzle--thank you, August.
Oh, and thank you for acknowledging our students with the word LEARNER.
Have a good day, everybody.
All, thanks for your kind comments.
Agnes, I am happy to hear that you were eventually able to see and enjoy the photos.
Up in Boston we had Howards Piccalilly. Besides DOGs I liked it with fish. When I came to FLA I found a place that stocked it. I should have bought a dozen jars. Maybe Amazon
I used to know PELE's given name.
Re. "Thingy". Did you catch the Tim Conway Elephant Story? I hurt myself laughing
Iverson's "Gangsta" lyrics were misunderstood. I felt his intention was art and he portrayed the mind and feelings of alt-contemporary youth. He chose not to release the album.
WC
Late today, due to power outage that last most of the day. This puzzle was not my cuppa tea. Maybe I've just been grouchy yesterday and today. Plus, I suck at jumbles (and at anagrams. Today's sea changes are not anagrams.)
Keith, Hume was also one of my favorite philosophers to study in Philosophy 101. Descartes was another.
Interesting how many today's major religions were started by the teachings and behavior of just one person:
Judaism: Abraham
Christianity: Jesus
Islam: Mohammed
Sikhism: Guru Nanak
Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama
Zoroastrianism: Zoroaster.
Good wishes to you all.
Jayce, you are correct. Jumbles, not anagrams.
Very late to the game of posting on this blog .... Again...!
I guess I was very busy ;-)
thank you August Miller for a nice and challenging puzzle. I noticed the circles but did not have the time to analyze ... and in all fairness I might have had some difficulty parsing ... Aegean, Adriatic and Bering...
As Canadian Eh! would have said, the seas were all european or thereabouts ... none on the asian side, so I was at a disadvantage....
MalMan thank you for the excellent review and wonderful links.
Lucina, I wanted to correct you on Ginger Beer, that it is like a non alchoholic cider, but ChairMoe has already mentioned it. It is very strong, and potent, and sometimes a small amount is good for digestion.
I too, have a relative who was an alchoholic so I avoid drinking altogether, although I have a very large inventory in my bar closet. I don't like to drink beer anyway, although rarely, I've used it to ferment certain baking doughs. The bigger problem is I don't have it at home, when I actually need it.
MalMan, your link to The Pain Scale and the Opioid epidemic, ..... did not lead to any particular study.
The link I have provided may give some indication of the story you intended ... it is from the British Journal of Anaesthsia. (notice the british spelling ...)
I have several close relatives who are anesthesiologists, and my eldest daughter is a pain specialist. She told me recently, that she does not write any prescriptions, period. ... to avoid dealing with compulsive drug users. I don't know how she performs her job, but she was a valedictorian, and passed magna cum laud ... so I guess she knows what she is doing ...
D4E4H ... i wouldn't even hazard a guess at your wife's age ... looks can be very deceptive !
.....
Last year, ...I was meeting with a doc about a serious personal medical problem, in a hospital,
and my wife was in attendance, because of the importance of the visit ...
and the doc, a Chairman of the dept., .... told my wife ...
'It looks like Dad will have to undergo an MRI scan, could you drive him to the center ? ' ..
He thought, my wife, 3 yrs younger than me, and a prof. to boot, at the same hospital,
... was my daughter .....
She was shocked, I never felt prouder in my life .....
Have a good evening, all.
-T wrote about me "Robbing the cradle."
I noticed a category in Double Jeopardy today of words made from "The Cradle."
Who'da thunk.
Ðavið
D4 - well, that hint was obvious... Um, 66?
//BTW - take down your post w/ email address - otherwise, you'll be SPAM'd to death.
Hi All!
Technical DNF. I had to look up AMY LO-E-L [it is DEW! dang it].
//Hey, at least I knew David HUME
Thanks August for the puzzle. I'll echo staili on the complexity of construction. Nice.
Thanks MM for the expo; well done.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: More like WAGs - IVERSON, EMIL, ABALONE, NEVE, RALPH... the list goes on.
Fav: Kitchen dingy thing. LOL
I also liked the topping on the Dog & Burger
{A}
Lilly Tomlin & Tim Conway posted today... Oy! My ribs are hurting!
Lucina - John Paul II?
Ray-O: One episode of Squid Game was enough. We might watch episode 2 in a month or so when we've recovered.
TTP & unclefred - those corporate-clichés bleed into IT. Internally, we'd make up and pass out "Buzzword Bingo" cards for vendor presentations. Hide one a page or two back in your note book and then refer to it when a buzzword pop'd. I got Bingo once :-)
David HUME could out consume [...]
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart' "I drink there for I am."
[cite [Python - 1:03]
Cheers, -T
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, August and MalMan.
I am so late to the party after a busy day. I will blame my tiredness on my two FIWs.
I never got my Race Car corrected to PACE CAR, and thus my doctor had a Rain scale (appropriate for our watery theme today).
Plus I had It’l be OK, giving me Emit for that unknown to me painter.
But I did get five of the SEAs. CASPIAN was lacking the P due to my FIW and would not appear.
(Vidwan, the BERING SEA is not European, but up by Alaska.)
Our ROOFERS use shingles, not tiles.
BYE (and I do not mean later).
If GINGERBEER is not alcoholic but is "strong and potent" what makes it that way?
AnonT:
Are you asking who signed my dispensation? Yes, John Paul II. I should look at it to make sure and I just did. It's all in LATIN. (I've forgotten most of what I knew in that langauge). No! It's signed by a subordinate. Darn. I thought I had his actual signature. I'll have to ask Ray about the Italian currency they paid. Of course, that was decades ago.
Dash T, It would have been fun to create cards and play Buzzword Bingo. Something to do during many of the long boring meetings.
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