You Take the High Road
And I'll Take the Low Road
And I'll Take the Low Road
Today's constructor is Debbie Ellerin, who has published 24 puzzles on the
Corner, starting on March 15, 2015. Her puzzles seem to be
predominently themeless, but today her starred clues treat us to a
WALK through a themed puzzle.
3D. *Delivery job not as common as it once was: PAPER ROUTE. My very first job was as a paper boy, circa 1960. Hand up if you delivered papers when you were a kid.
9D. *Computer storage device: USB DRIVE. Here Husker tells us that Debbie is a retired Computer Programmer. Perhaps she constructs crossword puzzles as a different way to DRIVE people crazy. I hope this one didn't affect you that way. 😆
31D. *Nostalgic locale: MEMORY LANE. Here's a trip down MEMORY LANE for you:
38D. *Solar system's home: MILKY WAY. The Milky Way got its name long before anybody knew what a galaxy was. It is seen from Earth as a "milky" wide band of stars and dust clouds, spanning more than 100 degrees on the sky. In the Summer night sky, it's directly overhead. THIS JUST IN: a discovery in the last decade has radically changed the traditional view of the Milky Way described in the link above.
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The Milky Way from Earth |
While the little ditty in the intro above describes the LOW ROAD as just a short cut to Scotland, Debbie reveals that on this side of the Pond it has a more sinister meaning:
24A. Underhanded approach, and a hint to the answers to starred clues: LOW ROAD, with which Your Dictionary seems to agree:
All right, now let's try to get back on TRACK:
Across:
1. Hula swivelers: HIPS.
5. Knife in the cooler?: SHIV. A SHIV is an improvised knife often found in "coolers", i.e. prisons.
9. Jones, so to speak: URGE. Many Cornerites have a crossword puzzle jones.
13. Boys Town is a suburb of it: OMAHA. A CSO to Husker.
15. Stiff wind?: OBOE. It wasn't until I perped 23 Across that I realized that Debbie wasn't talking about a gale force wind, but our old friend with a VTCR* of 75%. Here is Katherine Needleman, principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by Jennifer Lim, playing Robert Schumann's Three Romances for Oboe and Piano, Op. 94, No. 2:
16. Linger in the bath: SOAK.
17. Vatican-related: PAPAL. For example Papal Bull:
20. Half of an Arnold Palmer: ICED TEA. The other half being LEMONADE. Hi Jason!
22. Loads: OODLES.
23. 15-Across piece: REED. One of two. This is what they look like and how they're made.
24. Madagascar mammal: LEMUR. Primitive primates indigenous to Madagascar.
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Ring-Tailed Lemurs |
28. Exacting standard: RIGOR.
30. An arm and a leg: LIMBS. Also slang for a very large sum of money, per Merriam-Webster:
35. Uses the overhead bin for: STOWS.
36. Turn aside: AVERT.
37. Depressed area: SLUM.
39. Bar mitzvah dances: HORAS. I've blogged this before and I still think this is the best demonstration. It's for a wedding, but it's the same dance.
41. Gulf States ruler: EMIR.
42. Holmes who played Jackie Kennedy in two TV miniseries: KATIE. Here's a trailer.
44. "You __ be kidding!": GOTTA.
46. Dedicated lines: ODE.
47. Peachy keen: SWELL.
48. Goofs off: LAZES.
49. DVR button: REW.
50. Bounced, in a bad way: KITED. From the Online Etymology Dictionary:
52. Best Play, e.g.: ESPY.
An ESPY Award is an accolade currently presented by the American
broadcast television network ABC to recognize individual and team athletic
achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year
preceding a given annual ceremony.
Here are the awards for 2021.
54. 32-Down of July '81: LADY DI. Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales—the heir apparent to the British throne—and mother of Prince William and Prince Harry.
57. Used a bit, maybe: DRILLED.
60. "Can I go already?": ARE WE DONE. Sorry, we've got a lot more to do ...
63. Debonair: SUAVE.
64. Bear with cold porridge: MAMA.
65. Spring or League opener: ARAB. The Arab League was founded in 1945 and its stated purpose is to seek close cooperation among its members on matters of common interest—specifically, economics, communication, culture, nationality, social welfare, and health; to strengthen ties, improve communication, and promote common interest among Arabic-speaking nations.
The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in response to corruption and economic stagnation and was influenced by the Tunisian Revolution. The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations met with violent responses from authorities, as well as from pro-government militias, counter-demonstrators, and militaries.
66. Navel formation: INNIE. I'm leaving this one to the medical professionals.
67. Bit of trickery: PLOY.
68. Staying power: LEGS.
69. Kombu, e.g.: KELP. When we visited Ireland we stayed in the townland of Rossadillisk named for a nearby bay on the West coast of County Galway. As I recall Rossadillisk was Celtic for "Bay of the Edible Seaweed". It was abundant on the beach just outside our cottage, but we never ate any. Kombu is also an edible seaweed, with many uses, including as ingredient for seasoning sushi. This dish, made from an another edible seaweed called Wakame, is often served as an appetizer with sushi.
Down:
1. Kachina doll carver: HOPI. Hopi, (literally translated) means a person who behaves in a polite or peaceful way. The Hopi are a communal farming people who reside on and near three mesas in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi have been carving Kachina dolls since the mid-19th Century:
2. Apple product since 1998: IMAC.
4. Beach umbrella benefit: SHADE.
5. McGwire rival: SOSA. The 1998 Major League Baseball home run chase was the race between first baseman Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, and right fielder Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs that resulted in McGwire and Sosa breaking Roger Maris's long-standing and highly coveted record of 61 home runs. McGwire broke Maris's record on September 8 against the Cubs and finished with 70 home runs. Sosa finished with 66. I'll leave it to Corner sports fans to weigh in on any controversies surrounding this race.
6. Network with Comedy and Family channels: HBO.
7. Letters for debtors: IOU.
8. Jellyfish defense: VENOM. Not something to worry about at this time of year, but they can be a pain in the Summer.
10. Churn: ROIL.
11. Total ticket sales: GATE.
12. Squeaks (by): EKES.
14. Changes: ALTERS.
19. Midwife co-worker: DOULA. A midwife is a licensed health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. A DOULA is also a professional, but they don't actually deliver babies. However a doula provides continuous support to the mother from the time labor begins, whereas the midwife might not be present throughout.
21. Gloria's mom in '70s TV: EDITH. Here's Edith explaining to Archie about the cling peaches in heavy syrup:
25. Like knockoffs: ERSATZ. Ersatz is simply the German word for "replacement". It becomes a "knockoff " only when it's presented as the real thing, e.g. a Rolex watch.
26. Costume ball sights: MASKS. Sorry, I couldn't resist! 😎
27. Wedding day acquisition: IN LAW.
29. Search for, for many: GOOGLE. I've lost count of the number of Googles I've made for this review.
32. Wedding day VIP: BRIDE. 27D maybe not so much.
33. Scatter: STREW.
40. Take the wheel: STEER.
43. Omit in speech: ELIDE.
45. Birthplace of St. Francis: ASSISI. Assisi is town in the Perugia province in the Umbria region of central Italy. St. Francis is one of those riches to rags stories so common in Christianity. His poem the Canticle of the Sun in praise of nature, has inspired literally dozens of musical settings.
51. Word with pool or wave: TIDAL. Tidal pools are unique ecosystems found at the edges of the sea. Tidal waves, also known by their Japanese name TSUNAMI, are generated by undersea earthquakes and can be extremely devastating. The last of the 3 tidal waves in this video occurred in 2011 in Japan, severely damaging a nuclear reactor and necessitating the evacuation of 140,000 nearby residents.
46. Dedicated lines: ODE.
47. Peachy keen: SWELL.
48. Goofs off: LAZES.
49. DVR button: REW.
50. Bounced, in a bad way: KITED. From the Online Etymology Dictionary:
54. 32-Down of July '81: LADY DI. Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales—the heir apparent to the British throne—and mother of Prince William and Prince Harry.
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Diana, Princess of Wales |
57. Used a bit, maybe: DRILLED.
60. "Can I go already?": ARE WE DONE. Sorry, we've got a lot more to do ...
63. Debonair: SUAVE.
64. Bear with cold porridge: MAMA.
65. Spring or League opener: ARAB. The Arab League was founded in 1945 and its stated purpose is to seek close cooperation among its members on matters of common interest—specifically, economics, communication, culture, nationality, social welfare, and health; to strengthen ties, improve communication, and promote common interest among Arabic-speaking nations.
The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in response to corruption and economic stagnation and was influenced by the Tunisian Revolution. The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations met with violent responses from authorities, as well as from pro-government militias, counter-demonstrators, and militaries.
66. Navel formation: INNIE. I'm leaving this one to the medical professionals.
67. Bit of trickery: PLOY.
68. Staying power: LEGS.
69. Kombu, e.g.: KELP. When we visited Ireland we stayed in the townland of Rossadillisk named for a nearby bay on the West coast of County Galway. As I recall Rossadillisk was Celtic for "Bay of the Edible Seaweed". It was abundant on the beach just outside our cottage, but we never ate any. Kombu is also an edible seaweed, with many uses, including as ingredient for seasoning sushi. This dish, made from an another edible seaweed called Wakame, is often served as an appetizer with sushi.
Down:
1. Kachina doll carver: HOPI. Hopi, (literally translated) means a person who behaves in a polite or peaceful way. The Hopi are a communal farming people who reside on and near three mesas in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi have been carving Kachina dolls since the mid-19th Century:
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Three Kachina Musicians |
2. Apple product since 1998: IMAC.
4. Beach umbrella benefit: SHADE.
5. McGwire rival: SOSA. The 1998 Major League Baseball home run chase was the race between first baseman Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, and right fielder Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs that resulted in McGwire and Sosa breaking Roger Maris's long-standing and highly coveted record of 61 home runs. McGwire broke Maris's record on September 8 against the Cubs and finished with 70 home runs. Sosa finished with 66. I'll leave it to Corner sports fans to weigh in on any controversies surrounding this race.
6. Network with Comedy and Family channels: HBO.
7. Letters for debtors: IOU.
8. Jellyfish defense: VENOM. Not something to worry about at this time of year, but they can be a pain in the Summer.
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The Pacific Sea Nettle |
11. Total ticket sales: GATE.
12. Squeaks (by): EKES.
14. Changes: ALTERS.
19. Midwife co-worker: DOULA. A midwife is a licensed health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. A DOULA is also a professional, but they don't actually deliver babies. However a doula provides continuous support to the mother from the time labor begins, whereas the midwife might not be present throughout.
21. Gloria's mom in '70s TV: EDITH. Here's Edith explaining to Archie about the cling peaches in heavy syrup:
25. Like knockoffs: ERSATZ. Ersatz is simply the German word for "replacement". It becomes a "knockoff " only when it's presented as the real thing, e.g. a Rolex watch.
26. Costume ball sights: MASKS. Sorry, I couldn't resist! 😎
27. Wedding day acquisition: IN LAW.
29. Search for, for many: GOOGLE. I've lost count of the number of Googles I've made for this review.
32. Wedding day VIP: BRIDE. 27D maybe not so much.
33. Scatter: STREW.
40. Take the wheel: STEER.
43. Omit in speech: ELIDE.
45. Birthplace of St. Francis: ASSISI. Assisi is town in the Perugia province in the Umbria region of central Italy. St. Francis is one of those riches to rags stories so common in Christianity. His poem the Canticle of the Sun in praise of nature, has inspired literally dozens of musical settings.
51. Word with pool or wave: TIDAL. Tidal pools are unique ecosystems found at the edges of the sea. Tidal waves, also known by their Japanese name TSUNAMI, are generated by undersea earthquakes and can be extremely devastating. The last of the 3 tidal waves in this video occurred in 2011 in Japan, severely damaging a nuclear reactor and necessitating the evacuation of 140,000 nearby residents.
53. Pay, with "down": PLUNK.
54. Genie's digs: LAMP. Doesn't sound like he really dug his digs too much ...
55. Disappearing Asian sea: ARAL. The second time this month. There are only 6 clues left before it disappears again.
56. Musician's mailing: DEMO.
57. Ball stars: DEBS. Here's Cinderella, the most famous DEB of them all ...
58. Bad doings: EVIL.
59. Like an investigative dive: DEEP.
61. Lode load: ORE.
62. Badger: NAG. Badgers, like skunks, are members of the family Mustelidae, from the Latin mustela, weasel. If I recall correctly, this critter poked up his nose in my very first review.
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Badger |
*VTCR = Vowel To Consonant Ratio
Here's the grid
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive suggestions.
waseeley
Cheers,
Cheers,
Bill
41 comments:
FIR in an award winning 22 minutes! (LOL!) anyway, I did manage to FIR, however slowly. I liked this CW a good deal: only one W/O ERZATS:ERSATZ. I even managed to suss the theme! Good clues, fun CW, thanx, DE. Terrific write-up, Bill. I got a grin from Edith’s cling peaches story, among your other fun links. Thanx.
Good morning!
Slept through the coffeemaker this morning. In my dream I was calculating how many chicken, ham, and roast beef sandwiches to order for lunch for a class of 20 crane mechanics. Knew ASSISI had a double-S, but wasn't sure which S was doubled. Perps. Waseeley, what are you doing here on a Wednesday? I had already decided that JzB did today's write-up, and then you turned the universe up on edge. Jarring. Debbie, thanx for taking us "On The Road Again," and Waseeley, thanx for the tour. (Those Kachina dolls look like Meerkats.)
NAG: Bucky Badger is the official mascot of the ole alma mater.
Not sure where JzB is. Hopefully taking a well deserved day off. C.C. asked me to fill in. I knew I should've listened to Teri re the Kachinas. She suggested photos instead of paintings. But since when do Meerkats play musical instruments? 🎶
34A. To change pets to poets, add "an o" after the "p" in the word pets. Cute.
FIW, not catching LEMeR x the unknown DOeLA. Erased ohs for AN O and obie for ESPY,
I thought of Cheech & Chong's "Basketball Jones", one of those catchy, meaningless tunes that just won't erase from the coconut.
Checks were KITED more often in the days before online bill pay. People who sent out checks on Wednesday or Thursday when payday wasn't until Friday were KITing, even though the checks didn't bounce.
GATE is the number of people through the turnstiles, whether paid or not. Visiting MLB clubs used to be paid based on the home team GATE. Vin Sculley told a tale of a baseball executive who, after a particularly inept performance of his team, worked his way to the PA announcer's booth and apologized to the fans and told them they could come to the next day's game at no charge with today's ticket stub. He had to pay the visitors for all those freebie fans who showed up.
Thanks for the fun, Debbie. And thanks for the interesting sidetracks, Bill.
AN O. Not Spanish just ultra simple.
KITED: Now they have Payday loans. If you wrote the check late enough on Wed you could cover on Fri
I agree, this was a fun solve.
WC
Me too, Jinx, only I put DOoLA, missing the misspelled LEMoR. FIW Wednesday. DO, I was surprised to find out at the end who our reviewer was today also. Waseeley was unexpected, but did a good job with Teri's help as usual. Thanks!
Debbie, your puzzle construction had some interesting fill (ERSATZ) as well as a theme easy to get. You gave us the LOW DOWN, after all. Thanks. Most words were familiar once they filled, but Kombu being KELP was new to me. Perps confirmed it. Nice work!
Uncle Fred, it sounds like you are doing well to me. And I hope everyone else is doing well this Wednesday!
Oops, I just noticed I had eVERT(Chris) and the midwife asst was a complete UNK with or without the A. FIW.
Yes, unless Charlie Brown's tree interrupts, it's just a KITE. Better clearing systems changed things. Some banks hold the check, others gorge on the double bouncing fees.
Also, at first I read Chum/Churn. Couldn't think of a pal beginning with R_ _ _
WC
Hi Y'all! Enjoyed the puzzle, Debbie, thanks. Thank you, Bill, for a great expo. Like D-O I was expecting JzB & went to my phone to see if I was mixed up on my days.
Liked the theme and thought I got it. Glad to find Bill agreed.
DNK: USB DRIVE, JONES (never heard of that usage).
Why is an OBOE a "stiff" wind? However, None of the instruments are less than stiff in make-up of metal or wood.
HORAH: only know of one Jewish dance. Are there others?
SOSA: Yay, a baseball clue even I knew.
PLUNK: ESP
Good Morning:
I like a puzzle with the themers in vertical placements because it conceals the theme quite well, at least in my experience. It was fun to see Oodles which I just mentioned recently as being a word I love. We had some cute duos today: Ore/Ode, Legs/Hips, iMac/USB Drive, and Lady Di/Bride. Nice CSOs to HG (Omaha) and Hahtoolah, Lemony, and Picard (Horas). I liked the theme, reveal and, most of all, the very low three-letter word count.
Thanks, Debbie, for the pleasant road trip and thanks, Bill, for the guided tour. I enjoyed the musical interludes and the very funny Papal Bull cartoon, plus those semi-cute Lemurs and Badgers. (I, too, thought that JazB was the commentator until your sign-off). Thanks, also, to your right-hand aide, Teri.
I tried to play a DVD last night but there is either a malfunction in my brand-new player or the disc is defective. I tried Netflix’s suggestion of cleaning the disc in warm, soapy water, but no luck with that. I’m returning it for a replacement as that’s the only way to determine the culprit. It’s “The Father”, starring Anthony Hopkins who won Best Actor for his performance.
My niece is bringing me fresh haddock and lobster meat right out of Maine waters today. As Hahtoolah would say, Yummers!
Have a great day.
Yesterday’s telemarketer/scam calls topped off at an even 30. It’s 9:45 right now and I’ve received 2 so far.
Musings
-DOULA – In reading the comments, I must have been the only one who didn’t know it
-My PAPER ROUTE provided me a lot of business background. Kids don’t seem to do this anymore and delivery is sketchy because of labor shortages
-USB DRIVES that started as MB’s of memory now have TB’s
-BOYS TOWN used to be 10 miles west of OMAHA. Now it is midtown.
-Astroturf has been described as ERSATZ grass
Hi and thanks for the write up, had to stop at the tsunami video. I was living in Äland at the time,a Swedish-speaking territory of Finland located a 2 hour ferry ride from Sweden. The second speaker during the first tsunami in the video is Swedish. 543 of the deaths were vacationing Swedes and 179 were Finns. The obituary pages were horrifying. Entire families were lost. I cried and cried. My second daugher,born two years later, went through that common childhood phase fearing natural disasters, and unfortunately there was a lot of talk about the tsunami still at that time. Many nightmares.
Waseeley, you have earned the Manuel Mota Geronimo award for your pinch-hitting prowess.
I.M., C.C. has a USA Today puzzle today that uses vertical placement themers and sports a very descriptive title.
Hi All!
Some crunch in this Wednesday offering from Debbie. Thanks!
//unclefred - took >8 min of just looking at clues b/f my first fill went in. A good 30m to ink it all.
Waseeley - what are you doing here on a Wednesday? [Ha! D-O for the win]
Mighty-fun expo.
My first job was also as a PAPER boy - week before Thanksgiving was brutal (all the Black-Friday ad inserts filled 1/2 the bag and required two trips on the bike). Christmas week was the reward; usually cleared ~$500 (cash money) in tips. That was early '80s
WOs: tAkE ->GATE; I put ARAL into 58d's squares; I thought there was an M in DOULA but LEMuR already had one. [U was last fill]
ESPs: N/A. However, much fill took a perp'n'
Fav(s): SHIV was cutely clued; 38d brought to mind Douglas Adams*; Pat, can I buy AN O?
42a is a CSO to DW. She's under the (elective?!?) SHIV right now.
Anyone else get these LEMURs in their head?
PK - you never heard of anyone Jones'n' for a hit? My vice is nicotine and I'd PLUNK down a few bucks for a smoke right about now. //sadly, I quit :-(
Sammy & Mark got me back into baseball after the Big Strike. //that and my Eldest was newly born - I just had to teach her the game.
IM - that's one heck of a niece. Yummers.
WC - Pop taught me about KITE'd Cheques [for you C, Eh!]. An Air Guards man with a kid, he working in three states - write one in NY and bank in Detroit would take a few days...
I'll leave y'all with some Boz's Lowdown.
Cheers, -T
*Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the MILKYWAY galaxy lies a small unreguarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at roughly ninety-two million miles lies an insignificant blue-green planet whose ape-descendant life forms are so amazingly primitive they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
This planet has, or rather had, a problem.... [SIC - it's from memory]
FIR...but AREWEDONE? Nope missed the theme Didnt see it coming, wasnt up my alley, hit a dead end...Didn't even go down the primrose path 😏
Inkovers: take/GATE ,sweet/SWELL, prune/PLUNK, gotto/GOTTA (should still start with you've)......Kombu?
Anyone watching the series "Succession" knows Siobhan "SHIV" Roy,
Vatican electric bill paying service....PAPAL
"____ make a Kachina doll you like"...HOPI
Brylcreme for ladies,,"A little dab 'll ___ "...DOULA
Congressman Greeley and his means of travel...HORAS.
On to the last day of the work week...Lots of snow last night.❄❄❄
Ray-O, beware the Bronteroc! It will Streep you nekked.
Did I ink SWELL? [@3:35]
:-) -T
This isn't the HORA, but I'm exercising my reviewer's license to share a clip my son sent me today of my 7 yr old grandson dancing with his cousin at his aunt's 50th birthday party. He certainly didn't inherit those moves from me!
Hola!
I'm off to a party today and just want to thank Debbie for leading the WAY to an easy and interesting puzzle today and a special thank you to Bill for taking the reins in Jazzbumpa's stead.
I enjoyed solving and musing over this opus.
Wishing you a good day, one and all!
DO...
How'd they know it was called Bronteroc?
Streep never gets "behind" in her parts..
🙈
Fun theme! USED A BIT fooled me. Tried TRIED ON before getting DRILLED. Anyone else?
We can walk to TIDAL POOLs in about 20 minutes.
Here is my article about a particularly interesting TIDAL POOL adventure back in February.
The comments on the article were exceptionally vicious. I am friends with the caretakers of the state reserve that includes the TIDAL POOLs and they assured me we did nothing wrong.
Irish Miss Thanks for the HORAS shout out! We have an annual Jewish Festival in Santa Barbara with plenty of folk dancing. Two of our recent mayors were Jewish even though the percentage of Jews in this small city is very tiny.
From Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles and MalMan Thanks for validating that you have used T-BARs and that they are a bit tricky.
Wilbur Charles, LEO III, Vidwan Thank you for the comments on my BRIDAL VEIL photo at Yosemite. This was during a severe drought, so the waterfalls were thin or absent. But that one works well without much water. The idea is that it is a thin gossamer mist like a BRIDAL VEIL.
From Christmas Day:
Michael I forgot to thank you for your learning moment comment about my SNAKE photo. You wrote "Nice omphaloi!" Had to look it up! Thanks!
Delightful Wednesday puzzle, Debbie--many thanks. And always cool commentary from you, Bill, thanks for that too.
Those HIPS came in handy for getting us started, and I remembered the Boys Town, and so got OMAHA as well. Nice way to start.
The OBOE and REED combination was nice too.
Picture of LADY DI brought back that sad memory of her death in that car crash in a tunnel. What a tragic ending to what started out as such a wonderful life for her.
Two unknowns for me were KITED and KELP. Guess I'm just not good with K words.
Have a great day, everybody.
Ray-O, Peter Isherwell's mighty algorithm predicted that the president would be eaten by a Bronteroc. So 20,000 years later when it happened, that must have been the perpetrator.
MalMan @ 10:35 ~ Thanks for the heads-up on CC’s puzzle. That’ll be on this afternoon’s to-do list!
Anon T @ 10:55 ~ Yes, my niece is very accommodating, but the delivery is COD! (Cash on Delivery, in case this is an outdated expression.)
Bill @ 11:14 ~ Your grandson is quite the dancer. I just hope his partner’s arm recovered from all the twisting! 😉
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with several WAG’s
DOULA and ARAB were the two WAG’s that I thought wouldn’t hold
Bill S —> thanks for pinch-hitting today
Nice AHA moment with the LOW ROAD(s), and for a change the center reveal position was not a problem. Sometimes for me, when the reveal comes too soon, I lose interest. This one didn’t. Tight theme and entries; DOULA and SHIV. seemed to be the only “forced” words
DO...the esoteric question is how did Isherwell's algorithm come up with the name? Who named them?? The unlikely survivors? What were tigers called before there were peeps to name them?
Loved the last line...
"Whatever you do, don't pet them"
Ray-O, there's another brief scene after that one. Not particularly illuminating, but it's there. So far as your 'esoteric question' is concerned, the algorithm created the name (and probably the creature, as well). Sort of like, let there be Bronteroc, and there was Bronteroc.
A neat Humpday PZL from Ms. Ellerin! Well explained and illustrated by waseeley!
The kind of PZL that enlightens as well as entertains. (I learned what "Kombu" is.)
I was living in Vienna at the time of the royal wedding of LADY DI to That Man. I couldn't afford a TV, so remember watching the ceremony in the window of an appliance store near my pension.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals close to hand.
WooHoo!! The central diag offers a JACKPOT anagram (15 of 15 letters!) that refers to habitations of '60s communal folk sufficiently concerned about staying "off the grid" that they have posted sentries!
These tribes are ...
"ALERT HIPPIEDOMS"!
Anon T.: Congratulations on giving up smoking. My life has been around people who don't use much slang and aren't badly addicted to much except maybe over-eating.
OMK:
I watched LADY DI get married after my PAPER ROUTE - the wedding usurped all my morning cartoons.
I was in Dallas with DW, her BFFL, and BFFL's husband; And they (DW & BFfL) were having "girl time" while us guys went down to the hotel bar. While swilling a pint, we got the news over the bar's TV that Princess Di's life ended.
It's odd b/c I never cared about The Royals (we did win that war, right?) but I experienced both events live.
PK - If I ever really - truly! - give it [smoking] up, it will be a miracle. I know there are some cigs out here in the garage I hid years ago. When I find them.... :-)
Cheers, -T
Loved this puzzle.
... and thanks for the Fermi Bubbles link. Fascinating stuff.
MM @6:13 PM I had finished the annotations for MILKY WAY and stumbled upon it while browsing the news. Apparently this has been known for about a decade, but I'd never heard of it before. Mind boggling.
"Anon T: in an ideal world, those long-hidden cigs will be moldy, taste bad and make you so sick you'll never want another one. My dad was old, sick, never left his house, and still smoking. Mother said, "He makes me bring him cigarettes." after complaining about the smell of smoke making her nauseas. I asked her if she thought that frail old fool would beat her up or something. She stopped bringing them in and I never heard another word about it.
PAPER ROUTE? You must go down MEMORY LANE if you think people subscribe to the newspaper. Of the 37 houses on my two block street less than 5 take the paper and 4 of us subscribe to both the WSJ and Times-Picayune.
Three unknowns filled by perps today- KATIE, KELP, & ESPY. I remembered DOULA from an earlier puzzle. I noticed the streets filling the left side but had some trouble in the NE. In my newspaper's font "rn & m" look alike on paper and I thought the clue was 'chum', not 'churn'.
I had the URGE to write TAKE for 'Total tickle sales' until chum changed to churn and ROIL made in on the paper.
d-otto- I'm with you on those double consonants that 3 & 4 syllable Italian word have.
Anon-T, delivering both the TIMES (morning paper) and Journal (afternoon paper) for The Newspaper Production Company?
FIW. Messed up KITED and ELIDE for NO good reason at all, except that I wasn’t paying attention. Got the theme, though.
Thanks, Debbie and Bill! Very nice puzzle and expo! Needed a few perps along the way.
KITE --- Every so often, a customer would mail the check to our office (by mistake, of course), rather than to the lockbox. By the time we forwarded his check on to the bank, there was money there to cover it. Of course, we had to release product orders, because we had the check in hand, but…. EFT put an end to those shenanigans.
Thank you Debbie Ellerin for a nice yet challenging puzzle, that I certainly enjoyed.
Thank you Waseey and Teri for a wonderful review.
LADY DI was a surprise answer, KOMBU was an unknown.
I am away from my home town, in NJ, where people drive too fast, and honl too hard and persistently, in an urban jungle, ... and there is road rage all over the place. Why anybody would want to live here is a million dollar question ...
Have a nice evening you all.
Vidwan - LOL they drive too fast in the NE. Traffic is too dense.
Y'all come to Texas, Houston that is. 70 mph is slow on our freeways.
PK - Quitting is a slow hard slog. Days like this (with Girls on a road trip and DW punched out on pain meds) is when I miss it / need it most. Alone time ya know?
BigE - I was still in IL when throwing papers. The Journal (afternoon) and the Register (morning) [I may have that backwards] had already merged. History[ish].
//BTW - Sangamo is the name of BIL's pub in Chatham*.
I still get the Dead Tree version of The Paper [H. Chron] every day. It's gotta be habit but I do enjoy the smell of newsprint in the morning (or is that napalm? :-))
OK - time to figure out WTHeck D-O & Ray-O are talking about...
Cheers, -T
*cute story follows: Scene opens - Eldest, at OU, was working with a professor who was from IL.
Eldest: Oh, where in IL?
Prof: Southern IL, Springfield.
Eldest: Oh? Where in Springfield?
Prof: You know Springfield? Well, it's a town called Chatham. I just say Springfield b/c no one knows where Chatham is.
Eldest: Ever been to Fat Willy's [name b/f Sangamo]?
Prof: You know Fat Willy's?
Eldest: Yes, my Aunt's husband's dad owns it. Great shoes but his don't beat D'Arcy's
Do you like Mel-O-Cream too?
Prof: OMG! Yes!
//cue Disney's 'small world after all' :-)
I was just watching PBS on Climate Change and got severely depressed. I may see some of it in my lifetime but I fear it's my grandchildren and great-grands who will suffer.
Our annual Christmas party was a smashing success with only two absent, one husband who was helping a grandson move and another member who is ill. She thinks it's covid. I truly hope she recovers as she is the eldest of us.
Anon-T:
When our daughter was born my late DH decided to give up smoking, which he had done since age 16, and by sheer will power did so. He never smoked again but gained weight. He lived another 16 years. BTW, we were older parents, 40 and 45.
Dear Lucina:
Climate Change does exist (and there's some human causation involved), but this has been going on for 21,000 years at least. There is something called the Last Glacial Maximum* when glaciation was widespread -- so what warmed up the ice to melt and raise the sea level by 410 feet? It certainly wasn't us, nor is it as simple as some make it out to be.
** If you're interested (from Wikipedia):
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of North America, Northern Europe, and Asia and profoundly affected Earth's climate by causing drought, desertification, and a large drop in sea levels.[1] According to Clark et al., growth of ice sheets commenced 33,000 years ago and maximum coverage was between 26,500 years and 19–20,000 years ago, when deglaciation commenced in the Northern Hemisphere, causing an abrupt rise in sea level.
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