google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Paul Coulter

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Jan 18, 2022

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Paul Coulter

Animal Sounds that Aren't.


16-Across. Antidote fraud that doesn't come from a duck?: QUACK CURE.  What does the duck say?

28-Across. Social media barrage that doesn't come from a bird?: TWEETSTORM.  What does the bird say?

43-Across. Voguish term that doesn't come from a bee?: BUZZ PHRASE.  What does the bee say?  Also known as Buzz Words.

58-Across. Fabric made from tree exteriors that doesn't come from a dog?: BARKCLOTH.  What does the dog say?  Hand up if you knew what Barkcloth is.

Across:
1. Broke off, as talks: ENDED.

6. Retired flier: SST.  We haven't seen the SST Concorde in the sky since its retirement in October 2003.


9. Lola's nightclub, in song: COPA.


13. To a degree, informally: SORTA.  I'm sorta okay with clues and answers like this.

14. Lyndon Johnson girl beagle: HER.  And the boy dog was named Him.



15. Breakfast sizzler: BACON.


18. Northeast express train: ACELA.  This train line appears with some frequency in the puzzles.

19. Swipe: STEAL.  I was thinking of "swipe right" or "swipe left" instead of actually theft.


20. Pub with suds and entertainment: BEER HALL.


22. Jog or racing gait: TROT.

24. Caught in the act: SEEN.

25. Bat's home: CAVE.


33. German river: EDER.

34. Gets really high: SOARS.


35. Asian language: LAO.

36. Director Wertmüller: LINA.  Lina Wertmüller (née Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich; Aug. 14, 1928 ~ Dec. 9, 2021) was an Italian film director best known for her art-house films from the 1970s.  She died just over a month ago at age 93.


37. Rock gp. sometimes joined by Young: CSN. With Young, the band is known as CSN&Y.


38. __ stick: bouncing toy: POGO.


39. Wide shoe spec: EEE.

40. "When I Need You" singer Leo: SAYER.


42. Hunchbacked lab assistant: IGOR.


46. Daly of "Judging Amy": TYNE.  Tyne Daly (née Ellen Tyne Daly; b. Feb. 21, 1946) is the older sister of actor Tim Daly (né James Timothy Daly; b. Mar. 1, 1956).


47. Three-vowel African river: UELE.  Everything you wanted to know about the Uele River, but didn't know to ask

48. Bit of bickering: TIFF.  If the tiff is big enough, it might result in a gift from Tiff's ...



50. Military "pineapples": GRENADES.



54. Wikipedia policy: NO ADs.

57. Archaeological find: RELIC.

Sad, but true.

61. __ worse than death: A FATE.

62. Downed: ATE.

63. Arm bones: ULNAE.  The plural of Ulna.


64. Ho Chi __ City: MINH.  Formerly known as Saigon.



65. "Sure": YEP.

66. Certain NCOs: SSGTs.  As in Staff Sergeants.  This abbreviation appears with some frequency in the puzzles.

Down:
1. Letters on a law office door: ESQ.  Esquire it the title one can use after passing the bar exam.

2. We, to one who says "oui": NOUS.  Today's French lesson.

3. "Dang!": DRAT.

4. And so on: ET CETERA.  Today's Latin lesson.

5. Senegal's capital: DAKAR.  It's also a port city.


6. Moo __ pork: SHU.  You, too, can make this at home.


7. Balkan native: SERB.

8. Certain surgeon's "patient": TREE.  Cute clue!


9. Prestige: CACHET.

10. Cousteau's field: OCEANOLOGY.  Jacques-Yves Cousteau (June 11, 1910 ~ June 25, 1997) was a pioneer in ocean and marine conservation.


11. Gallup specialty: POLL.

12. Fastidious to a fault: ANAL.

15. Exposes: BARES.

17. Thickens, as cream: CLOTS.  You can purchase clotted cream across the pond.




21. Approximate nos.: ESTs.  As in Estimates.

23. Like a good-sized garage: TWO CAR.

25. People focus, for short: CELEB.  


26. "Bye" that's bid: ADIEU.  Another clever clue.  And more of today's French lesson.

27. Caracas native: VENEZUELAN.  Caracas is another port city.


29. Snap course: EASY A.

30. Writer Hemingway: ERNEST.  Ernest Miller Hemingway (July21, 1899 ~ July 2, 1961) wrote many books that are considered classics.  I had to read some when I was in high school.


31. Make fun of: RAG ON.

32. Mandy of "This Is Us": MOORE.  Mandy Moore (née Mandy Leigh Moore; b. Apr. 10, 1984) is also a singer.


38. Traps for the unwary: PITFALLS.  Pitfall was also the name of a relic of a Atari video game.  At the time it seemed really state-of-the-art.


40. Lawn tool storage building: SHED.


41. Sign again: REINK.  Meh!

44. Highest point: ZENITH.  Zenith was also an American company that manufactured televisions.  The company sold its shares to LG in 1995.


45. "Peyton __": PLACE.  Before it was a television show, Peyton Place was the 1956 novel by Grace Metalious (née Mary Grace DeRepentigny; Sept. 8, 1924 ~ Feb. 25, 1964).  The novel was quite scandalous when it was first published as it delved into the dark secrets of adultery, incest, lust, abortion and murder in a small New England town.


49. Concentrate: FOCUS.

50. Fat unit: GRAM.

51. Bank offering, briefly: RE-FI.  As in Refinance.

52. "Buy It Now" site: EBAY.

53. Fill to the max: SATE.

55. Bell sound: DONG.  I tried Ring and Gong before settling on Dong.

56. PDQ, in the ER: STAT.

59. Sales agent: REP.  As in a Representative.

60. Cock and bull: HEs.  Both a Cock and a Bull are male animals.




Here's the Grid:




חתולה


And Now I will Bid you Adieu!




45 comments:

  1. FIWrong. Couldn't see NOA_S, and the bell was riNG, raNG, gONG, bONG, sONG. Finally I got DONG, but only after red letters told me all my other tries were wrONG.

    I liked the theme, very simple and a big help. I wasn't familiar with BUZZ PHRASE, tho it was easy to suss. And I'd never heard of BARK CLOTH, so that took a while, since it crossed one of my doom words. I had BARK CLIT_ for some time.

    When you need insurance -- AFLAC!
    When you need a Covid CURE -- a QUACK!
    Why can't we all see
    That Doctor Fauci
    Is what we need to get -- on track!

    There once was a teetotaler named BEER
    Who inherited a fortune quite dear.
    She opened a cafe,
    But alcohol? No way!
    At the BEER HALL Cafe there's no beer!
    (Except for the proprietress.)

    {B-, A.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Hahtoolah. Owen, your first verse about Dr. Fauci is spot on. The beer one was cute, too.

    This started as a 21x with additional themers like SPEAKINGTRUMPET (elk) and COOCHIECOO (dove) GRUNTWORK (hog) BUBBLEANDSQUEAK (mouse) and RATTLEBRAIN (diamondback) Its title was "Nature Calls," which I guess tells you about my low (cow?) sense of humor.

    There was a nifty theme in yesterday's NYT with the revealer ADROPINTHEOCEAN, if you get a chance to check it out. It does the opposite of my Rising Sea Levels theme with the working title "I'm Swamped" of a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  3. GM all. Susan, your 42A lost his "r."

    We have had ULEE before but it has been a long while. Ubangi tributary lat Elizabeth A. Long Thu Oct 25, 2012 . The only prior appearance of BARKCLOTH was in this RANDOLPH ROSS NYT . Which made this a bit challenging for a Tuesday.

    I did like seeing HIM and HER not being lifted by their ears and the cartoons were awesome.

    Have a great day and wonderful progress for Boomer and all who need more health.

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  4. Good Morning, Crossword friends. What a treat to have our constructor visit us this morning. How nice to see you, Paul.

    QOD: Some people talk to animals. Not many people listen, though. That’s the problem. ~ A.A. Milne (né Alan Alexander Milne; Jan. 18, 1882 ~ Jan. 31, 1956), British author

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    Worked this one yesterday, due to brain fog. It did seem familiar this morning. BARK CLOTH convinced me to change my DiNG to a DONG. And it was done. Cute theme, Paul. Nicely done, Hahtoolah. (Great cartoons for TREE and ERNEST.)

    BEERHALL : Evokes a famous putsch in Munich back in '23.

    ZENITH : Eventually became the parent company of HeathKit. In my ute I spent many happy hours with a soldering gun in one hand and a multimeter in the other. (Colorblind folks can't read those colored rings on resistors!) Among other projects, I assembled a stereo amplifier, digital clock, digital thermometer, and an 8-bit computer complete with video monitor, and three diskette drives.

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  6. A Tuesday treat from Paul today and he stopped by to check in already! Thanks! In spite of two WOs, I FIR, thanks to perp help and a manageable theme. Interesting to see the other animal sound possibilities you considered.

    Thanks Hahtoolah for your review and helpful additions. Lots of smiles today, too. UELE was a learning moment for me but perp solid. We'll probably see it again. So many vowels.

    I liked your poetic offerings today, OwenKL. Hahtoolah's BEER HALL picture showed stacked mugs in the servers' grips. New to me. They must have strong arms!

    Looking forward to reading everyone's comments. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  7. FIR, but erased venesulain. And I worked in Caracas for a brief period. (I don't remember Caracas being a port, though. From the airport you take a long, slow drive up mountains to the city. People drove in the emergency lanes, except that every few miles Federales armed with Uzis force everyone back into the through lanes.) DNK LINA, SAYER, UELE, and can't put my hand up for knowing BARK CLOTH. I only knew TYNE as Cagney. Or Lacy.

    My favorite RELIC cartoon is a Larson. A dinosaur is at a podium addressing an audience of other dinos. He says "Gentlemen, the situation is bleak. The climate is changing, the mammals are taking over, and we have brains the size of walnuts."

    I remember ads for ZENITH TVs bragging that they eschewed printed circuit boards and stuck with point-to-point wiring. I wonder if any of their execs attended the dino briefing. I built a Heathkit amateur radio receiver and a digital frequency counter. I wanted a Benton Harbor Lunchbox, but couldn't seem to save enough to buy one.

    My first three houses had three-car garages. I loved my Atlanta house, but felt crimped by its two-car garage. Now I wish I just had a driveway in my 108-year old monstrosity.

    FLN - Pat, sorry to learn of Maggie's status. Best wishes on these final days.

    I do not share Paul's and OKL's opinion of St. Fouci. Seems to me that he has morphed into a wannabe politician more than an epidemiologist.

    But thanks to PC for the fun puzzle, and to Hahtoolah for the many chuckles.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Got this one in 5:31.

    Wasn't familiar with bark cloth, and have only heard of "buzz words" not "buzz phrase."
    I also didn't know Lina, Sayer, or Uele.
    So, I guess I've learned something new already today.

    Might as well go back to bed then.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good Morning:

    Another fresh and clever theme from PC. I thought it was a tad above Tuesday level of difficulty but perps were fair. I don’t recall ever seeing Uele before and Sayer was also unknown. My w/os were Peal/Dong and Oder/Eder. Only one duo today, at least the only one I noticed, Fate/Ate. Thumbs down to Reink.

    Thanks, Paul, for a fun Tuesday and for stopping by and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the fun and facts. Favorites today were the Kangaroo and the Book Report and the closing Cereal chums.

    FLN

    Pat, I’m sorry to hear about Maggie’s health issues.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Paul for a fun FIR and for reminding me of this album.
    And thank you Susan for another Tuesday of Hahtoolahan Hilarity. Fav cartoon was for TREE surgeon: I should have guessed that TREEbeard would have a main squeeze. Where else would acorns come from?

    Some favs:

    16A QUACK CURE. COVID9 has certainly spawned a lot of these.

    28A TWEET STORM. Once the news of the day, replete with BUZZ PHRASES, TWEET STORMS seem to have ABATED. Let's hope permanently.

    58A BARK CLOTH. Woof and warp, the foundation of the Universe?

    10D OCEANOLOGY. DNK that OCEANOGRAPHY had a synonym.

    45D Peyton PLACE. Now it's kinda MEH.

    Cheers,
    Bill

    ReplyDelete
  11. Word of the Day: rapt

    Pronunciation: ræpt

    Part of Speech: Adjective

    Meaning: 1. Carried away, enraptured, transported by sheer fascination. 2. Characterized by intense, finely focused fascination. 3. (Archaic) Having been lifted up bodily to heaven.

    Notes: Today's word is evidence of how far the sense and pronunciation of a word can drift apart over time: it comes from the same Latin word as rape. Its noun is rapture, which brings a large family to the table: rapturous, rapturize "fall into ecstasies; praise rapturously", and rapturist "an enthusiast, someone who falls easily into raptures".

    In Play: This word can be used to describe psychological states of people: "Gladys's description of dinner preparation in the late afternoon to a rapt audience was long remembered." It may also be used to modify psychological states: "Gladys knew how to hold her audience at rapt attention for long periods of time with her speeches."

    For more on this word see the Alpha Dictionary.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I loved this theme. Very easy romp today. I knew UELE and bark cloth right away. The thing I knew about bark cloth, enough to get the answer, was "Today, what is commonly called barkcloth is a soft, thick, slightly textured fabric, so named because it has a rough surface like that of tree bark. This barkcloth is usually made of densely woven cotton fibers." from Google. Thanks Susan for the article. I learned so much more.
    Susan, another fabulous blog.
    SAYER and MOORE were unfamiliar, but perps and wags sufficed.
    Often, all or half of a two car garage replaces a shed.
    I like all kinds of moo shu dishes. I love hoisin sauce.
    I have accepted that crosswords use all types of language, standard, literary, informal, slang, archaic, vernacular, etc. Sorta doesn't bother me. In fact, for me, this makes puzzles more interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  13. A Tuesday puzzle who's BARK 🐕 is worse that it's bite. Some odd theme clues but FIR.

    During University I visited an Italian villa, incredible beautiful scenery. Hard to believe that some horrendous WWII fighting had taken place near the Gothic Line Appenine mountains there until I saw a low hedgerow wall made of ivy covered hand GRENADES.

    EBAY goodbye: either "buy it now" or "bid" ADIEU. How many started to fill OCEANOgraphy then realized it was too long😃..(OLOGY?). BARKCLOTH? sounds kinda scratchy. BUZZPHRASE? (see below)

    ZENITH: Remember the horizontal and vertical roll control knobs? 📺

    Didn't know Tim and Tyne were sibs. UELE? River.

    Sino-Amish dessert: Mu ____ Fly pie...SHU
    "To infinity and beyond!" ....BUZZPHRASE
    Clean up the tavern with one....BARKCLOTH
    Place to skate....REINK

    Could tell the commentator was H2HL from the first hilarious cartoon.😆 Thanks Mr Coulter for stopping by.

    Wonder how Dr Salk, would have handled daily criticism by antivaxxers, antiscientists, and politicians with an agenda and conspiracy theories?🤔

    ReplyDelete

  14. Sure seems to be a lot of administrative deletions today, someone must have been seriously violating policy. Sound of reproach - TSK

    I enjoyed your puzzle today Paul, and nice to see you stop by, always good to know the inspirations of the constructors! Managed a FIR in a little under 10 minutes, a few unknowns being LINA, and no hand up for BARKCLOTH either, wasn’t familiar with CACHET but the perps aided the fill.

    We’ve had several African geography lessons lately, today with DAKAR and the UELE River (which I have seen in CW’s before, and surprisingly, being as vowel heavy as it is, not nearly as often as the stale Oreo.

    Thank you for providing your illustrative commentary Hahtoolah, always a delight to read your take and see all your cartoons and visuals!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm running out of encomiums for hahtoolah write-ups but for today: Fabulous. I loved COPA and I agree about the cartoons. Re. QOD: NtSo listening to the trees(as Betsy does)

    I keep my weekly posts and enjoy rereading. Last week: dilemma of the Lady and the Lady boss

    My insert was in the car so I solved online. No "Congrats". Problem with ysER,oDER,ODER, although I know my rivers and my French*

    Nice to know there are pro-Fauci** folk out there. He sure has spunk. Owen, #1 had shades of a dry COPA

    Irish Miss, remember our old anona-troll complaining about my phrase "Pen and ink"

    * Or as the much missed Splynter would say: Fwanche

    ** Talk about a hot button eh, Jinx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well, I certainly never heard of the Uele River and I didn't remember Lina Wertmuller's name but I ended up FIR anyway. As often happens, no "ulnas" just "ulnae." Didn't fool me though! A pretty normal Tuesday, for the most part.

    ReplyDelete
  17. WC - With apologies to Billy Joel, [I] didn't start the fire. But as long as there is one, I'll help myself to some s'mores.

    Ray - not to mention the "fine tune" knob that was usually the ring outside of the channel selecting knob. VHDF channels (2-13) were on detents, and UHF channels were continuously variable. I was an adult before I realized that it compensated for my inaccurate TV, not the TV station.

    ReplyDelete
  18. When OCEANOGRAPHY wouldn’t fit had to rely on perps for the LOGY bit. Not familiar with the word OCEANOLOGY. Got bogged down for a while in the SE, had MSGTS, HIS and BONG in there to mess me up for a while, but eventually managed to sort it out and FIR in 18. DNK BARKCLOTH, but filled it right in due to sussing the theme early. Thanx for the CW, PC, good fun. Great write-up, Hahtoolah, learned some things from your links. The pictures of the people carrying impossible numbers of huge filled beer glasses is true, I managed to go to Oktoberfest in Munich one year and, amazingly, they really do that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hola!

    Twas a terrific Tuesday grid from Mr. Paul Coulter! I laughed loudly at QUACK CURE. HES and HER also make me chuckle.

    But it was ZENITH, VENEZUELAN and OCEANOLOGY that really caught my attention. We don't often see those kinds of words in CWDS. Maybe one or another, but not all three. And it's rare to see ET CETERA written out completely.

    But what does CSN stand for? If Susan explained it I should go back and reread that.

    I loved the TREE surgeon cartoon!

    POGO over IGOR is cute.

    Isn't there a third Daly sibling?

    I must have seen Mandy MORRE before because I immediately knew it but I don't recall.

    It's always a treat to see some literary reference, this time, ERNEST Hemingway. Thee's another joke about that book having to do with anatomy but I can't recall it.

    Have a beautiful day, everyone!


    ReplyDelete

  20. A great PC puzzle today. And, as always a very enjoyable Hahtoolah tour with words and graphics.

    Hahtoolah: I sent the bacon cartoon to my son, who got a real charge out of it.

    It was nice to see Paul join the blog. I wish more constructors would do that.

    I FIRed it with an average Tuesday time today. Like others there were a few unknowns like HER, EDER, LINA and UELE. Also, I tried mSGTS before SSGTS became apparent, and I wanted RE UP before RE INK. Perps to the rescue.

    When I was working in Reston, VA I would watch the SST coming in for a landing at Dulles International Airport. If the wind was right, it would be making it's turn onto final to the North/South runway, it would appear to be coming straight in my window. It was an impressive sight.

    DO: I know what you mean about colorblind issues with electronics. As a Co-op student at Boeing I had to wire strain gauges to oscilloscopes with various colored wires. I had to get someone to verify that my guess's were right. Usually there were errors.

    We had about 6 inches of snow with the latest storm. Got the snowblower out to clear the driveway and sidewalks, but with the high winds yesterday some areas got filled back in. I gave up.

    Stay warm and safe.



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  21. Lucina, CSN is Crosby, Stills, and Nash. CSNY adds Young to the mix.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I don't know what that "fox says" song is all about,
    as I prefer this one...

    For me, it seems to be one learning moment after another.
    Yesterday I found out out my favorite MLK quote,
    The only place for a just man in an unjust society is in jail.
    Is actually Thoreau...

    Today I find out that my favorite quack, Dr. Quackenbush,
    is not even his correct name.
    (Although it should have been...)

    And Wordle is making me late for my daily xword!

    Oh well, at least what the fox says was a delightful diversion...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Musings
    -Subbing today and so I have to work around a bunch of adolescents
    -Fun! Didn’t know LIA, UELE and MOORE but unlike Sunday’s Natick these took care of themselves
    -Musk, Branson, et al will soon be flying passengers in space where there is no air resistance and it will make the SST look like a wagon train. NYC to London in 15 minutes? Yup!
    -COPA – I’ll have that song in my head all day now!
    -Our TREE surgeon performed quite a few amputations for us this fall
    -Every school I’ve ever taught in. has elements of a PEYTON Place

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thank you Mr. Paul Coulter for a very nice puzzle, which I enjoyed a lot, and thank you for stopping by at an early hour.
    Thank you Hahtoolah for your review brief on the puzzle, and your charming cartoons. It took me some time to understand the Tree Surgeon Cartoon ... I must be somewhat dense.

    Regarding your Q Of the Day: I haven't had too much opportunity to be close to animals, but I have talked to some that I've met. And I've heard voices from them. Then I realized that the voices were my own...

    Desper-Otto, You must have been one heck of an electrician/kit hobbist !! I admire you. I always wanted to build things, as a teenager, generally inspired by kits, encouraged by cut out coupons, on the back of certain old comic books and Popular Mechanics, 1958-64, but alas, my adult mentors were very discouraging. Now, when I have the funds, I am too old, and the enthusiasm is waning ...

    I had Peal before DONG, for the bell. I have a chinese neighbor, whose first name is DONG - pronounced 'Dung'. Because of the word, and its connotations, I always call him, formally, as Mr. Dung. He does not CODE SWITCH ( see yesterday's CW), but speaks English with a such a strong accent, which is impossible to understand ...

    the answer for 12 Down - ANAL, seems to me, to be very obscene. I would be very disturbed to hear it in close company, and my kids were warned about never to use that word. If a person is the opposite of fastidious, would they be Penal ??

    Could Moo Shoo pork .... consist of Cow-Cat and Pig meat ?


    Have a nice day, you all.

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  25. Delightful Tuesday puzzle with some fun animal sounds, many thanks, Paul. And your pictures are always a delight, with many enjoyable jokes, Hahtoolah, thank you for those too.

    Nice to see Lyndon Johnson's HER turn up today. Will we get to meet HIM the next time?

    Pleasure to see ERNEST Hemingway arrive in the puzzle.

    Some cool women too, like LINA Wertmueller and TYNE Daly and Mandy MOORE.

    Owen, liked your poems and the nice tribute to Dr. Fauci.

    Have a great day, everybody.

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  26. Hi All!

    Nice puzzle, Paul. The California area took a bit of work and luck. Thanks for stopping by w/ some inside-baseball.

    I thought the theme was going for fun puns - QUACK CURE sounds like cracker. TWEET STORM spoiled that idea.

    Thanks for the sparkly expo, Hahtoolah. LOL the Farewell to Arms comic. Thanks for the learning-link re: BARK CLOTH.

    WOs: YEs, put STAT in DONG's squares.
    ESPs: EDER, LINA, UELE | PLACE, TYNE | MOORE, SAYER
    Fav: I'm SORTA keen on BEERHALLs but TREE's clue is cute.

    {A, B+} //if it makes you feel better, I had to do a mental ABC-run to get the D in NO ADs

    FLN - Pat, my heart goes out to you re: Maggie

    Observation: If you deal in Public anything, you better have political skills. Decades ago, Fauci had to persuade politicians that AIDs was bad.
    I'd had hope he'd have gotten better politically but, instead of emotional persuasion, he still just relies on facts.

    Ray-O: Hand-up for wanting OCEAN (life?) -> Ography -> OLOGY

    Vidwan - Cute cow's, cat's, & pig's meat. I'll still eat Moo Shu Pork, but that quip will be stuck in my head :-)

    D-O: Throw HER a bone... CS&N's Our House.
    Lucina, you may recognize it from Eckrich Farm's sausage commercials back in the '80s.

    Cheers, -T
    Wordle: got 1st three letters in 3 and it took me 3 more (plus a whole-latta Not a Word) to finally get it in 6.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anon-T, not being color-oriented, I have to look at the "help" window every time I do the Wordle. My solve today was similar to yours...got the first 3 in 3. Took two more to finish in 5. It's a good game.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Another Peyton Place according to Jeannie C. Riley's Momma was Harper Valley.😮

    Jinx: My folks were likely the last holdouts on a color TV 🦚. My Dad used to say "The color hurts my eyes." 🙄

    Husker..15 min flights NYC to London?..boarding takes way longer than that. ...."All passengers with red hair now welcome to board" .. "You'll have to check your carry-on if it won't fit in the overhead compartment"....."and your seat cushion becomes a flotation device"...(Why doesn't the plane become a boat?).

    Vid ...I believe ANAL has been used throughout the ANALs, sorry,the annals of history. What a neighborly dilemma, Mr Dung or Mr Dong (what were you saying about Penal?).🤭

    Sorry, one too many cups of cafeteria coffee..I'll show myself out.🚪

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  29. Vidwan,
    I don't know if your showing your age,
    Or I am. But you never heard of Heathkit?
    Hanging out at the radio shack, or local electronics store
    Led to great speaker and speaker cabinets and parts found junked outside.

    have you never seen one of these?

    Alas, perhaps I am reminiscing the old days,
    As I take my non functioning wifi plug and throw it in the garbage.
    here are the insides
    Let me know if anyone knows how to fix it so the Bluetooth connects..

    Oh well,
    There is an upside..
    Wordle has a color blind mode"

    Hmm,
    Spell check doesn't like color?
    (Damn things gone brit8sh on me...)

    ReplyDelete

  30. WORDLE>>>>> WORDLE >>>>> WORDLE >>>>>

    A few words to the (already) Wise, from a NOvice....
    Source No. 1. The frequency of letters in the alphabet, by usage ....

    E ..T ...A,I,N, O, S ...H,R ....D,L ... U,C,M ..... F,W,Y .... O, P, B ....V, K,Q .... J, X,Z .

    Source Number 2. alternate source, for freq of usage ...

    E, A, R ... I, O, T ... N, S, L ... C, U, D, P ...M, H, G,...B,F, Y, W .. K,V, X, Z, J, Q.

    1. Get the vowels, a,e,i, o, u and Y out of the way first.
    2. Then eliminate the consonents by the highest frequency of usage. ...

    The most useful words for the first three rows might be -
    RATIO DUNCE RAISE PRUDE BREAD MONEY NEARS
    and then
    HOARY CLUED WACKY WIMPY SONIC STOLE STONE STONY

    depending on the clues you get.
    I welcome critical criticism.

    ReplyDelete
  31. CED -- thanx for pointing out that colorblind mode on Wordle. That's much better.

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  32. These days I frequently hear anal used to mean overly meticulous and people hearing it seldom turn an eyelash. It is usually used pejoratively about someone who needs excessive control of details or the environment. Example, Felix Unger. Hardly anyone thinks of the body part when hearing it used this way. The term comes from Freud's term, anal retentive, supposedly owing to conflict over toilet-training in infancy. Many terms have strayed from their original meaning and have become socially acceptable.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Perusing the internet,
    I see a lot of interesting things.
    Today, I came across this guy

    While watching, and thinking,
    "I am in a rut"
    It occurred to me that I need a hobby...

    ( then it occurred to me)

    You guys are my hobby ...

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  34. I enjoyed this PZL. Thank you, Mr. Coulter!

    Jacques Cousteau was an inspiration.
    I always was a swimmer, and because of him, I wanted to explore under water. Sadly, I put it off and only took time to SCUBA later in life.
    I loved it, but got into it too late to keep it up.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    Four diagonals, one nearby, the other three in opposition.
    The center diag, far side, offers an anagram (14 of 15 letters) that refers to Gretel when, puzzled by her brother's behavior, she sets her mind to suss him out.
    She is then a...

    "HANSEL FATHOMER"!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Vidwan @12:51 PM The PC ("politically correct", not Paul Coulter) term for "a**l" these days is OCD, i.e. "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". This disorder is rampant among cruciverbalists, e.g. debating "le mot juste", solving in pen, white-out, etc. [I hope this won't start a COMMENT STORM]

    CrossEyedDave @12:20 PM Loved your foxes. Loved the tube tester. The old organ in our church was a tube model (definitely warmer sound than digital) and a dearly departed organist kept it alive by cherry picking defective tubes with the tester at the local drugstore.

    -T @1:24 PM Crosby, Stills, Nash AND Young. And here's the lady who was playing her love songs.

    ReplyDelete

  36. Waseely, Thanks for the info on OCD. Tell me about it ! DW has definite OCD.
    She cleans the glass three times before filling a glass of water, for drinking, from the tap.
    Seven or Nine times, if its early in the morning - to eliminate all standing water in the copper pipes in the house, during the night.
    She spritzes her N-95 with disinfectant, before use.
    She washes ripe bananas before peeling them.
    Also she rotates three times, before coming to bed .... because she can't disinfect me ...

    I just heard from my extended family ... All addicted to Wordle. Thanks Canadian Eh! and YuMan.

    Wordle Archive by (Mr.?) Devang Thakkar
    https://www.devangthakkar.com/wordle_archive/-

    ReplyDelete
  37. Another one space FIW! I had QUACKCARE/SHA, instead of QUACKCURE/SHU. Guess I should have read the clue more carefully. Other than that.... I did get the other theme answers, although I’ve never heard of BARKCLOTH, which is why NOADS and that were my last fills.

    Nice puzzle and review, Paul and Susan! I enjoyed both. Thanks for stopping by the Corner, Paul!

    I needed a few perps, most of which have been mentioned already. One I did NOT need was SAYER. His voice is kinda unique (falsetto), so hearing the song might help you the next time:

    "When I Need You"

    Here is his other big song:

    "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"

    Thought I’d be here early for a change, but… Having grown up in the era when that “sinful” movie (45D) hit the silver screen (1957), and never having seen either the movie nor the TV show it spawned, I spent a couple of hours reading all about it. I was left with two thoughts:

    1. It ain’t nuttin’ like some of the stuff that has been made since then.

    2. I laughed when I read that the movie critics (AND ESPECIALLY THE BOOK’S AUTHOR – GRACE METALIOUS) were highly incensed that the screenplay had been watered down as much as it had. To quote Wiki, “The film was developed with Metalious serving as a story consultant, though the screenwriters' exclusion of some of the film's more salacious elements resulted in Metalious' abandoning the project and openly detesting the film.

    How times have changed!

    ReplyDelete
  38. I liked this puzzle and all of your comments.

    ReplyDelete

  39. This is Vidwan AGAIN >>>> ON WORDLE ARCHIVES
    Forgive me, for the numerous errors ....

    The Link to the WORDLE archive web site... just click on this here, hypertext..

    This lets you go backwards and forwards through all the Wordle words thru time, to the beginning of time, at the app, or at random, so you can enjoy to your hearts content, or until you go crazy ....

    ReplyDelete
  40. Leo: i had already included the first Leo Sayer video in my commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Oops! I forgot. I should have gone back and checked it. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I have a dear sister who was obsessive about control of details and having to do things the same way every time, but not nearly as radical as OCD. Since sis is now in her eighties, she is more relaxed about things.
    I don't hear nearly as much talk about people being OCD as about people being anal or obsessive. The later have milder compulsions like my sister did, more like set preferences, which they can forego if necessary.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Many in our family inherited OCD from our paternal grandmother. However, I find that now, later in life, things don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. I can even sometimes ignore a painting or towels hanging crooked which in years past I could NEVER ignore.

    ReplyDelete

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