Title: No Duh!
We have a somewhat unusual offering from our JW that features only three (3) themers! Is our reliable one slowing down? Not at all, as this puzzle is chock full of wonderful elements.
1. The long non-theme fill are gorgeous. I have highlighted in my usual coloring chart - FRAGMENT, SUBTRACT, FOR A PRICE, GEOMETRIC, GONE TO POT, and RAY LIOTTA. The purple been in the LAT twice before; the blue has appeared but once (a 2009 Sunday); the red are making their first appearance here with the BOLDED a first appearance in any major publication. Considering how many puzzles are now published this selection is awesome.
2. The themers are each a five letter word ending in D paired with another word(s) that creates a familiar phrase, but by removing the D the fill is silly and evocative.
3. Most impressively, each of the remaining 4 letter words are an animal. The before and after phrases have nothing but letters in common. The baby reveal
60D. Silent assent ... or, in two parts, a hint to three long answers: NO D.
Can you come up with a similar concept that is put together so tightly?
So here we go, the theme:
21A. Yogi's barber?: BEARD TRIMMER (11). I did LOL trying to picture Yogi and BooBoo in the salon. I think painting of toenails would be in order.
53A. Function of a straw man?: CROW
The rest:
1. "Smooth Operator" artist: SADE. "Shaday" is a very impressive performer LINK.5. Play groups: CASTS. A performance for an audience not just kids.
10. Pop of punk: IGGY. A one-time icon
14. Miso go-with, often: UDON. Udon noodles are made out of wheat flour; they are thick and white in color. Best as fresh, they are soft and chewy. On the other hand, soba noodles are made out of buckwheat, with a strong nutty flavor. Many though have wheat in them also, which means they are not gluten-free.
15. Sean who played Samwise: ASTIN. He is the step-son of actor John Astin and his mother Patty Duke who appeared here recently.
16. Many August births: LEOS. Not all, I am a Virgo.
17. Panache: ZING.
18. Grand __: PIANO. So many five letter choices. E.G.; GRAND PIANO, GRAND STAND, GRAND HOTEL, GRAND OPERA, GRAND TOTAL, GRAND DADDY, GRAND CANAL, GRAND FORKS, GRAND TETON, GRANDCHILD and more
19. Unique: LONE. This was the lone correct answer.
20. Desire: YEN. Do Japanese Yen for Yen?
23. Cheesy Mexican appetizer: QUESO. Per WikiDiff: As nouns the difference between cheese and queso is that cheese is (uncountable) a dairy product made from curdled or cultured milk or cheese can be (slang) wealth, fame, excellence, importance while queso is melted cheese, used for instance as a dipping sauce.
25. One found among blocks: STREET. Nice misdirection, again not kids toys.
26. Related on mom's side: ENATE. We all know "natal." E is for girls, AG is for boys.
30. Tiffs: SET TOS. I do not think this phrase is as common as it was in 1743, "bout, fight,"originally pugilistic slang,
20. Desire: YEN. Do Japanese Yen for Yen?
23. Cheesy Mexican appetizer: QUESO. Per WikiDiff: As nouns the difference between cheese and queso is that cheese is (uncountable) a dairy product made from curdled or cultured milk or cheese can be (slang) wealth, fame, excellence, importance while queso is melted cheese, used for instance as a dipping sauce.
25. One found among blocks: STREET. Nice misdirection, again not kids toys.
26. Related on mom's side: ENATE. We all know "natal." E is for girls, AG is for boys.
30. Tiffs: SET TOS. I do not think this phrase is as common as it was in 1743, "bout, fight,"originally pugilistic slang,
32. Break into pieces: FRAGMENT. I did not even get to the 8 letter fill.
35. Troy, N.Y., campus: RPI. A CSO to our two Rensselaer Polytech graduates; do you recall who they are?
40. "Nice __!": TRY. THis clue is trying to suck you into the French trickery.
41. Do the math, perhaps: SUBTRACT. The second of the fun 8 letter fill.
42. Light courses: SALADS. That depends on the dressing.
46. "A moveable feast," to Hemingway: PARIS. A wonderful post-humously published look of his world and all the people who he interacted with in the 20s in Paris. I do not know if he was lampooning the religious connotation.
47. They work in lofty places: PILOTS.
Ha ha.
49. Scratching (out): EKING.
57. Ginza agreement: HAI. A simple yes will do in Japan in the Ginza section of Tokyo.
58. Formality: RITE. But are they really right?
59. California coastal county: MARIN. Chief Marin was the tribal leader of the indigenous in this wonderful area NW of San Francisco. A beautiful area with many beautiful people.
60. Super star: NOVA. I thought noone like those cars?
61. It precedes Romans: ACTS. Significant writings by early Christian authors to explain aspects of the Gospel. Those who are religious see them as sacred.
62. Hardly a libertine: PRUDE. This is a simple antonym.
63. Word with season or mind: OPEN. Interesting choice as open season has some negative connotations while open mind is an important part of growth.
64. Vanquished: BEAT. And if they defeat me are they beat'nicks?
65. Trim and graceful: SLEEK.
66. Bench press muscle: DELToid. The shoulder.
Down:
1. Bygone Devil Dog competitor: SUZYQ. Hostess brings back classic Suzy Q's after fans complain. The people have spoken and Hostess has answered. ... The iconic cake was originally released in 1961.
2. One-consonant parting: ADIEU.
3. "Any man's death diminishes me" writer: DONNE. A religious philospher and poet who wondered as did Hemingway, for whom the bell tolls.
4. University dept.: ENGineer. A CSO to many of our regulars; you know who you are.
5. __ May: CAPE. Billed by New Jersey as America's original resort.
6. K2 locale: ASIA. Climb that mountain and try not to die.
7. Leading: STAR. Not my favorite clue/fill but I get it.
7. Leading: STAR. Not my favorite clue/fill but I get it.
8. Adds sepia to, say: TINTS. Why sepia?
9. Is bullish?: SNORTS. A very fun clue/fill, I can picture the bull getting ready to gore somebody.
10. "__ by moonlight, proud Titania" : Shak.: ILL MET. JW's continued inclusion of Will, this time from A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 2, scene 1, said by Oberon.
11. Like art using circles, squares, etc.: GEOMETRIC. I love this pair of nine letter fill.
12. Failed: GONE TO POT. Not initially related to marijuana but simply a cooking pot, but now the puns are endless.
13. River in Flanders: YSER. Our most common 4 letter river.
21. Old coffeehouse drum: BONGO.
9. Is bullish?: SNORTS. A very fun clue/fill, I can picture the bull getting ready to gore somebody.
10. "__ by moonlight, proud Titania" : Shak.: ILL MET. JW's continued inclusion of Will, this time from A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 2, scene 1, said by Oberon.
11. Like art using circles, squares, etc.: GEOMETRIC. I love this pair of nine letter fill.
12. Failed: GONE TO POT. Not initially related to marijuana but simply a cooking pot, but now the puns are endless.
13. River in Flanders: YSER. Our most common 4 letter river.
21. Old coffeehouse drum: BONGO.
22. Choler: IRE. In medieval science and medicine) one of the four bodily humors, identified with bile and believed to be associated with a peevish or irascible temperament.
24. Blacken a bit: SEAR. Searing is a cooking style to preserve the juices in the food being grilled.
27. Big letters in bowling: AMF. The American Machine and Foundry (known after 1970 as AMF, Inc.) moved into the bowling business after World War II, when AMF automated bowling equipment and bowling centers became profitable business ventures, and in subsequent years into many other manufacturing businesses. wiki. I hope Boomer comments, I grew up with the Brunswick/AMF rivalry.
28. Begins a round, with "off": TEES. From bowling to golf. If your first drive goes out of bounds you get teed off. Then you will...
29. Eventually become: ENDUP. Losing many golf balls.
31. Envy, say: SIN. Can any one but Bill name them from these?
32. "... but it isn't free": FOR A PRICE. More 9 letters and a multiple word fill.
33. Shoeless Joe Jackson portrayer in "Field of Dreams" : RAY LIOTTA. I loved him in GOODFELLAS as well and having his brain eaten. I find it surprising with his vowels he has not appeared more often.
34. Low wind: TUBA. Boom.
36. Band with members Jimin and Jin: BTS. The Korean Boy Band phenomenon.
37. QB feeder: CTR. Center.
38. Prospero's servant: ARIEL. More Shakespeare, this time from the TEMPEST.
39. Something to do: TASK.
43. Division with A's: AL WEST. A handy gluey fill.
44. Bugs address: DOC. What's Up?
45. Energetic dances: STOMPS.
48. Tie-up: SNARL. Traffic.
50. "Fingers crossed": I HOPE. Don't hope, do!
51. __ orange: NAVEL. I wonder how they get them out of the belly button.
52. Fairy tale figure: GIANT. Unless you live in New York, or San Francisco.
53. Maryland catch: CRAB. This is true, but if your careful and use condoms...oh you mean the seafood...nevermind.
54. Not subject to debate: TRUE. These days true no longer means not subject to debate.
55. Wheels: RIDE.
56. Short jog: ONE-K. About 6/10 of a mile.
50. "Fingers crossed": I HOPE. Don't hope, do!
51. __ orange: NAVEL. I wonder how they get them out of the belly button.
52. Fairy tale figure: GIANT. Unless you live in New York, or San Francisco.
53. Maryland catch: CRAB. This is true, but if your careful and use condoms...oh you mean the seafood...nevermind.
54. Not subject to debate: TRUE. These days true no longer means not subject to debate.
55. Wheels: RIDE.
56. Short jog: ONE-K. About 6/10 of a mile.
We are at the end of another tour and my typing and formatting skills have abandonment me. I had fun and hope you did; thanks Jeffrey and thank you all who read and write.
54 comments:
FIWrong, but I protest! I saw TASK going down, but also EX-ING going across. That overlapping cell had to be either K or X,
but couldn't be X or K. I filled in X, but the Crossword God decreed K.
Got the reveal before I figured out the gimmick, so no points for that. I think I would have figured it out. Knowing the trick did help me get BOAR(D) and CROW(D).
When SCARECROW didn't fit, I thought it was going to be about the logical fallacy.
ONLY > SOLE > LONE.
When I was a little tyke, my favorite doll I named Suzy Q. That predates any pastry or song I might have heard, so I have no idea where the name came from.
Do you say sayonara, adios, or ADIEU?
Ciao and aloha say hello, too!
So many good-byes,
Raising sighs,
I never want to say any to you!
Our friend Keith has been in a CAST,
A career as actor in his past!
Not like Scott,
Who's GONE TO POT,
And ended up in a full-body cast!
{B+, B+.}
FIR! Erased elan for ZING, sole for LONE, job for TRY, gone south for GONE TO POT, char for SEAR, deadly sin (wrong place) for SIN, oboe for TUBA, moot for TRUE, and rims for RIDE. Phew! DNK Devil Dog or SUZIE Q, but thought of the CCR hit. See, even I know a three-letter rock group that isn't ELO, but not BTS. Oh yeah, I know BTO ("Takin' Care of Business") too.
I wanted an adjective for QUESO, like flameado, which is my favorite QUESO dish.
I thought of Lawrence Ferlinghetti when we had BONGO in the coffeehouse.
Jimmy Buffet explains the Deadly Sins in his hilarious song "Bank of Bad Habits". In the studio version he reveals that the eighth deadly sin is pizza, but on tour he changes it to something local, like "CRAB cakes" in Baltimore.
Lemony, I think that TRUE has become relative, thanks to TV talking heads, social media and politicians. I think a modern definition is "my cronies and I believe it".
Thanks to JefWech for another gem. Can't believe I got it. My favorite was "one found among blocks" for STREET. V8 city! And thanks to Lemony for another fine Friday tour.
Good morning. Thank you, J&J
Not my fastest Friday fill. Not by a longshot. Too many errant thoughts this morning.
SUBTotal before SUBTRACT, owlETS before PILOTS, lithe before SLEEK, chAR before SEAR, job before TRY, RIms before RIDE, ExING before EKING. Resolving each of those answers added a little time.
CROW CONTROL was the first of the theme answers I worked out. Shortly after, I got NOD and realized the hint was NO D*. That eased the confusion on the other two theme answers.
"Old coffeehouse drum" left me baffled for a long time. I had no idea what the clue was about. Perped it in, and then it dawned on me. Before my time.
I was also a bit perplexed by not seeing an apostrophe or an apostrophe S after Bugs in "Bugs address". Shouldn't the clue have been Bugs' or Bugs's address ?
Owen, I aslo had ExING first, but it had to be TASK going down. Then understood that it was EKING in the sense of scratching out a living (barely getting by).
Lemonade, why sepia ? Because colors would have been too easy of a clue for Friday ? IDK, but that would be my guess.
Looking forward to the Super Bowl. Will it be a high scoring, closely contested game with little to NO D, or a one-sided blowout ? Wondering if the Bengals O-line can hold up against the Rams D-Line and pass rush ? They've held their own so far.
Good morning!
Slept in an extra half-hour this morning. OK, failed to wake up on time. Really enjoyed this one. It took about twice as long as yesterday's outing. Needed my trusty Wite-Out to change "Wheels" from VIPS to RIDE and MOOT to TRUE -- not major stumbling blocks. Sensed the theme at BEAR TRIMMER, and BOAR OF EDUCATION confirmed it. Missed seeing the reveal, [Sigh]. Looked sideways at ALWEST. Oh, it's not a single word. ENATE used to appear often, not so much lately. Noticed the CSOs to Spitz (RPI) and I.M. who lives nearby, and the CSO to the late, great, Abejo at TUBA. Excellent execution, J.W. Thanx for the explication, Lemonade. (Methinks ENG is meant to be the English Department.)
RITE: Something to eschew.
AMF: Responsible for ending my budding career as a pin setter. I used to earn the princely sum of 10¢ per line (game).
FIR, but it was a workout.
Lemonade ~~ I agree with your initial critique, a most impressive puzzle creation by JW, one of the best at his craft! It’s interesting that you always point out new appearances of words, or how many times and the dates of when some have appeared, do you have some kind of library that you find that info?
Managed a FIR in 20:27 which is good for me on a Friday, especially a JW grid, but as usual required major help from perps. Figured out the theme after I had BOAR CONTROL and looked back up at BEAR TRIMMER which didn’t make sense at first, but made getting CROW CONTROL easier. Never saw the reveal till my last few fills in the SE. I think I have to bone up on my Shakespeare as I DNK ILL MET or ARIEL as clued. I know Ariel is a Disney Princess, so I thought Prospero must be a Disney character also, duh. I agree with d-o about ENG referring to ENGlish dept, or it may have been clued as “tech university dept”.
All in all, a fun Friay fling, thank you JW, and Lemonade for your fine review!
Another brilliant puzzle with very few proper names by Wechsler. It took a while for the NO D to sink in but I did FIR. BEAR & beard and CROW & crowd weren't pronounced the same way. I started dead in the water because both 'Devil Dog' and SUZYQ were unknowns. I've had my share of Hostess Cup Cakes, Twinkies, Sno-Balls, Ding Dongs, and Hi-Hos but apparently neither of the puzzle items were sold around her.
BTS- no idea. RAY LIOTTA was a guess after it was half filled by perps.
ILL MET- thank you perps
Had some trouble in the deep south thinking MOOT, AUTO, & TROT before I realized the NO D.
12D Failed- a large segment of society has GONE TO POT because they have GONE TO POT (and other drugs). Been to SF or Seattle lately?
I think I know one county in Cali and fortunately MARIN was right. That glued together Texas which is full of w/os:fact*/TRUE;lithe/SLEEK and enabled me to perp RIDE,ONE K.
Another w/o was Gnome/GIANT saved by DELT. NOD got me the theme. At that point, after all squares were filled I had my AHA moment! Jeffrey Wechler.
I'd forgotten there ever was a SUZYQ but trying to FATHOM Mad Men ? Sausalitos price is up a buck to !4.89. And quality is down.
TINTS replaced Tones. A CSO to OMK with ILL MET(all perps pour moi.
"Then you will…" Take a Mulligan? I saw Shoeless Joe and thought we had a baseball clue.
Talk about prescience(btw Owen originated it) FLN Anon-T linked us to Looney Tunes history which had me glued
Owen, masterful #1 re. OMK…
And for Keith a needless SET TO
He'd refer to as Much Ado...
"Think nothing of it, mon ami
Life's about gaiety and bonhomie"
And parting's sweet sorrow? Bon ADIEU
WC
* Also a subject of debate these days
Good Morning:
I never met a JW puzzle that I didn’t like and I liked this one very much. (I will say, however, I had a really difficult time with some early JW puzzles; either he has mellowed with time or I’m more in tune with his style.) As Lemony pointed out, the theme was very tight, as well as being clever, and there were lots of fresh fill. I had trouble in the NW corner because I didn’t know Sade, Suzy Q, or Donne, as clued. I think Queso, which I do know, broke the ice and led to a FIR. (Devil Dog and Suzy Q are both unknown to me, believe it or not.) My w/os were Roles/Casts, Salsa/Stomps, Oboe/Tube, and Moot/True.
Some cute duos were: Bongo/Tuba, RPI/Education, Cast/Acts, and the foursome, Yen/Hai/Udon/Asia. Intentional or not, this puzzle has numerous CSOs to us Cornerites: Leo III (Leos), Dear Spitz and Moi (RPI-Hi, DO), AMF (Boomer), Tees (Golfing Gang), Crab (Bill-MD resident), Doc (Ray O and Inanehiker), Nova (HG), CC (Asia), Lucina (Queso), All Academics (Education), Ray O (Ray Liotta), and our resident Theater Tsar Keith (Cast, Acts, Ariel, and “ill met.” Why does the capital I have to look exactly like the lower case l?) Anyway, that’s a lot of CSOs! I hope I didn’t slight anyone. There was also a mini-musical theme with Sade, Iggy, BTS, Bongo, Tuba, Piano, and Stomps.
Thanks, JW, for a fun Friday, filled with all sorts of treats and thanks, Lemony, for the excellent review and commentary. You’re a seasoned pro at dissecting and explicating Jeffrey’s offerings.
FLN
Keith, glad to hear that Maggie is home and I hope she is soon back to her old self.
Have a great day.
Ironically, I'd grade myself with a "D" today. Took 18:14, and had many false starts. I made similar missteps to the ones Jinx did. Had no idea what a Devil Dog is/was, would never associate a bongo drum with a coffeehouse, and, well, struggled to fit "maternal" where "enate" went. But, that's a good Friday workout.
A Friday FIW for me today. I put iSER for the river and didn't look carefully at IGGi which I should have caught. I need to get all the 4 letter names of European rivers straight! Oh well, occasional FIWs keep me on my toes.
My WOs were rare/LONE, job/daY/TRY, and SEAR/Soil/SEAR. I needed the reveal to get the themers but struggled mightily with BOAR (d) OF EDUCATION. I was trying to put the d just before EDUCATION and couldn't think of any animals that fit. Part of the reason was filling "aba" for AMF early on. That certainly didn't help. Thanks, Jeff, for the amazing puzzle with interesting and challenging fill.
Lemonade, many thanks for your humorous and helpful review. You cleared up areas still puzzling me as I wondered "why": SUZY Q, and ONEK (oh, one k!)
Another sunny day here and it's Friday already. Enjoy!
Anon 8:49, you are dating yourself as younger than most of us as the coffeehouse with the bongo player banging and reciting poetry was very popular from the 30s to the 70s. Before society began many of the changes since then, a coffeehouse was the one place you could "be yourself."
There were many fun times
A quite impressive puzzle and the write up. Many thanks to both JW and Lemonade for a time-consuming (but time well spent) start to the day.
I found this one fairly easy, for a Friday puzzle. I don't know who or what "BTS" is, and I was sure "energetic dancse" was "sambas" or "salsas", but it turned out to be "stomps." And "ill met" is not easily in my wheelhouse, but I understand it to mean not meeting under the best of circumstances. FIR without too much difficulty, for which I'm grateful.
Musings
-Such a clever gimmick with a three-letter reveal and devilish cluing. Ya gotta love Jeffrey!!
-I echo Lemon’s summative paragraph
-Buddy Holly sang of Susie Q and the Dovells sang The Bristol STOMP
-Professor Hill warned of, “Libertine men and scarlet women, and ragtime, shameless music”
-When John quit writing for the day, he was DONNE
-Our friend Nick Kaup hears those SNORTS up close and personally
-GEOMETRIC Progression – Would you prefer a million dollars today or a penny today that doubles each day for a month? Answer: The latter will give you well over five million dollars in 30 days.
-FOR A PRICE, “Oh, I’ll take your lunch duty for a week, but…”
-My lovely, young ASIAN pedicurist was shocked that this gray-haired man knew about K-Pop.
Husker, Buddy sang of Peggy-Sue, but it was Dale Hawkins who recorded Suzie Q.
Thank you Jeffrey for a fierce struggle that led me to END UP GOING TO POT! When I finally TITT for a DNF all of it was in the NNW. As soon as I opened Lemony's review it took me 1 second to realize that CIAOU is not the only mono-consonantal word for "parting". DUH!, we had ADIEU just YESTERDAY! I quickly closed the screen and shoveled all the snow there in a trice. Still an FIW at best. Great puzzle though and Jeffrey compensated for my failure with lots of great fill, especially with riffs on my two favorite Shakespeare plays; well the comedies anyway.
Thank you Lemony for a great review, especially your explanation of the theme. Although I filled all the themers, I filled 60D with perps from the 4 letter stack in the SSE and completely missed the reveal.
Still licking my wounds:
35A RPI. Can't name any Corner RPI grads, but did work with a brilliant guy named Andy Lim who got his ENG degree from there.
60A NOVA. The South Americans at least didn't like it. IIRC "NO VA" is Spanish for "doesn't go".
61A ACTS. An unusual thing to remember about this book is that it is really a continuation of the stories related in the Gospel of Luke (i.e. Part II of the latter). Both were written by the Evangelist Luke. However both volumes are separated by the Gospel of John, so it appears to be a separate book. Why this is so has probably been debated for centuries.
21D BONGO. Also the favorite instrument of Nobelist Richard Feynman. Physics is all about timing.
27D AMF. Thanks for the history on this. We have an AMF Bowling emporium (woke enough?) right up the street, but never know what the the acronym stood for.
31D ENVY. MOI Lemony? I'm so Holy I can't even name the 7 deadly sins.😈 Well maybe GLUTTONY.
34D TUBA. I must register a protest here. The TUBA is a member of the BRASS family not a WIND instrument. The fact that it is played by blowing "wind" into it is a stretch. Anyway there is an equivalent "low wind" called the BASSOON, but it doesn't fit.
53D CRAB. Steamed CRABS and raw OYSTERS are acquired tastes for most people. Marylanders are born with these tastes.
Cheers,
Bill
Word of the Day: asperse
Pronunciation: æ-spêrs
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: 1. To spatter, sprinkle, especially with holy water. 2. To bespatter, slander, defame, attack the integrity or reputation of someone.
Notes: We often hear the action noun of this verb, aspersion, because it occurs in the idiom 'to cast aspersions'. Someone known for casting aspersions is an asperser who, by definition, is aspersive. An aspergillum is a handheld holy water sprinkler and an aspersorium in a decorative holder for one of these.
In Play: This word is for some reason closely associated with the activities of the clergy despite a much wider range of applications: "Overnight the dew had aspersed itself over the entire garden and twinkled in the morning sun." How the second sense became so negative is anyone's guess: "Clive jumped up and began defending the woman whose character had so shamelessly been aspersed."
See Alpha Dictionary for more info.
By the way, as I may have mentioned before, we have been downloading the Wordle puzzle every day at my day program for the last couple of weeks. It's a collaborative effort, and today we got the solution in three tries, with yours truly providing the final answer. Pretty good, wouldn't you say?
Musings 2
-D-O, thanks for the gentle reminder to mind my “p’s and q’s”.
-No “low wind” here today. Winds will be whipping by at 40+ mph here on the plains.
-Those of us with some miles on our tires will remember Maynard G. Krebs playing BONGOS
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with two minor w/o’s:
BTO/BTS (Bachman Turner Overdrive, for those who wondered “BTO”??)
And ONER/ONE K
Otherwise, a clean grid
A NOD goes to both JW and JC for the puzzle and recap; Lemony, I’m sure you enjoyed blogging a Wechsler and not having to swap weeks with me! 😂😂
A Moe-ku retread from 4 years ago:
What Doris Day sang
When nacho cheese didn’t melt:
“QUESO raw, so raw …”
I didn't find this puzzle easy, but it was a good one that I enjoyed doing even though I needed Red Letters to fill it all in. Officially a DNF.
I got the North filled in which gave me the missing D which helped with the other two themers.
DW has always named her cars. Because her first one had SQ on its license plate she called it SuzyQ. She also liked the Hostess Suzy Q.
I remember the bongos from the Beat Generation. Here is Sheldon annoying Leonard by playing the bongos when he was depressed on The Big Bang Theory. I found it annoying also.
Have a great day everyone.
Hi All!
JW beat me. *SIGH* Kinda what Waseeley said -- I had to look at Lem's grid to get me started in Minnesota and another cheat to get SambaS->SalsaS->STOMPS(?!?).... [Hi Subgenius!]
Ah well, Monday will be here soon :-)
Thanks JW for the puzzle. I enjoyed the them and that helped change ensue to END UP.
Wonderful expo, Lem. Thank you for the visuals and history of Chief Marin, IGGY's Lust for Life, and Maynard G's BONGO*. LOL picking up CRABs from uMD :-)
WOs: I misspelled ADeiU two days in a row; fact->TRUE, CONE kaPuT, ensue->END UP, QUaSO , ARIEL; PARIS took 3/5th ESP and some hard noodling.
ESPs: eNATE, BTS, ASTIN, DONNE, RAY LIOTTA, IRE (as clued), ILL MET, ++cheats.
Fav: BONGO was LOL Aha! I kept thinkin' of oasts or something
Dupe: 7d: STAR; 60a's clue is Super STAR.
D-O listed CSOs I thought of... One more goes to DW, a Prof of ENG.
eKING? Is that Pet Cemetery, Cujo, et.al. on a Kindle or NOOK?
No one else thought we were going to have to know Berra's Barber @21a?
{A+, A}
LOL Ku, Moe.
Jinx - I had the same thought; some CCR SUZieQ (baby, I love you, Suzie Q) for us. //Never heard of a Devil Dog but SU_YQ gave it up (ah, good - not 'elan' @17a - that would have messed up every thought in the NW)
HG - re: GEOMETRIC progression - or all the grain in the world if doubled daily on a chess board (2^63 grains :-)) //recall Vidwan's Sessa(?) post a few weeks ago? :-)
FOR A PRICE - Pop would spit-shine boots & do laundry for fellas at AF Basic for extra money to send home to his new wife & baby (me!).
Donno if I told y'all but we are having foundation work done. There's a 7' long 5' deep pile of dirt in the driveway plus mounds all over the front yard.
It is kinda funny to hear Mexican music drifting up from the floor.
Tomorrow they'll poke through the floor inside the house.
Noisy mess and there went my bonus :-(
Cheers!, -T
*Lem - dating self? :-) DW & I were born in '70 but we watched a lot of Nick@Nite back in the '90s. Now MeTV helps familiarize me with old shows. //woke at 2a this morning and watched Barnaby Jones & Highway Patrol 'till I drifted off again; OMG/LOL! What Camp.
This was a fun puzzle. I literally yelled out, "Ohhh!" when I finally realized how the theme correlated with the answers I had already solved.
Per Jimmy Buffet:
Now let me tell you about the 7 Deadly Sins:
1. Pride...Thou shalt not have pride in thy neighbor.
2. Coveting...Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
3. Lust...Thou shalt not lust after his neighbor's wife.
4. Anger...Do not be angry with your neighbor's wife.
5. Gluttony...Do not eat thy neighbor's wife's ........popcorn.
6. Envy...Do not envy your neighbor's wife.
7. Sloth...Do not be a slob.
DO - Dale Hawkins was a little before my time. But I do remember "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers from about the same time frame. Maybe older sisters influence.
Nods, and bongos? really?
(Cmon guys, I need something more to work with here...)
3 hr layover in HOTlanta. Plenty of time for lot of annoying comments 🙄..Finished the puzzle to airport piped in music.
Inkovers: sole/LONE,
Helen Keller and Gomez Addams son...Sean AST__N ...had to perpwait the schwa. ENATE, relatives from Mom's side stop by after a long CW hiatus. Troy NY (RPI campus) CSO to IM. 😊 Thought "bench press muscle" was the pec(toralis). Never heard of those guys nor their band BTS. Not suzeek but Suzy Q. and who is AL WEST? 🤔
"Function of a straw man" Find a brain! 🤣There's a separate country on California's coast? wait..um...nevermind. "Low wind" was a head scratcher.📯 Almost wrote svelte but one "e" too long for "trim and graceful"
STOMPS
Intending to secure wood for his carpenter boss Apostle Peter's plans to forego fishing for forestry were abandoned when he couldn't find an __ ACTS.
Legal activity in around 18 states...GO TO POT (yes the puns are endless, Lemmy)
The original star of "50 Shades" the Marquis de ____ SADE.
Those shoes have seen better days, you ____ buy a new pair...RAY LIOTTA.
WAZ..you CAST aspersions.
There is a infection from a fungus called apergillus (apergillosis) because it looks like a sprinkling aspergillum.
Lem..Catch CRAB?..lol...just avoid dating in or anyone from.. Maryland. 😄
Back to ink and paper tomorrow. My thumbs are tired.👍👍
Anon-T, Wake Up Little Susie was the third 45 I ever bought. The first was Bye Bye Love (also Everly Bros) and the second was Be-Bop Baby (Ricky Nelson).
Good luck on your foundation repair. We had our foundation repaired twice during the years we lived in Houston. Once they had to go through the floor in the guest room to solve a "load-bearing door" issue. Another time, they accidentally jacked the house right off the toilet flange in the back bathroom, and guess where all the grout/cement went? Holy constipation, Batman! We had gone to San Antonio that day, so everything was fully "set" when we got home. They had to dig down and replace 20 feet of sewer line in the back yard. Fun times. Olshan never grumbled about having to eat that cost. Northerners probably can't relate. The "gumbo" soil in SE Texas doesn't make for solid foundations. Any home more that 20 years old probably needs repair; some younger ones, too.
I did finally google "BTS" and found out that it's a very popular Korean boy band, whose name translates in Korean to "bulletproof boy scouts." Just FYI for everyone.
Oops, should'a addressed that first item to Jinx and only the second to Anon-T.
Jinx @ 1:51 pm
7. Sloth
a. Don't be lazy like your neighbor's wife
b. Don't give an arboreal Neotropical xenarthran mammal , constituting the suborder Folivora * unto your neighbor's wife 🦥
*Wikipedia
Bill S ~~ thanks for clarifying that the tuba is technically a brass instrument. They say if you suck at playing a wind instrument, that’s probably why.
Hi everybody. Another excellent puzzle by Jeffrey and excellent writeup by Lemon. Thanks for your efforts.
If you'll be watching the football game on Sunday, keep your eyes and ears open for Cooper Kupp of the Rams. He's a difference maker.
Thanks to Mr. Wechsler for today's toughie.
Got 'em all, but with a LOT of re-writes.
ELAN to ZING was typical, wherein not a single letter carried over.
The 60D clue served as a real help in solving the long fills. Usually, I find the theme isn't needed to finish a PZL, but today it was.
~ OMK
___________
DR: Only one diagonal, on the far side.
At first glance, I thought we were in trouble for an anagram, as there are only three vowels in this diagonal, and all of the same letter!
But we fared pretty well, if you don't mind an obscure anagram (14 of 15 letters) referring to medieval weapons that have lost their minds!
(They have either gone bonkers on extended siege patrol [didn't they give those guys R + R?] or were just too highly strung in the first place.)
Yes, I am speaking of those...
"DOTTY CROSSBOWS"!
By the time they were diagnosed, they couldn't hit a thing.
-T @1:46 PM Speaking of VIDWAN, where IS VIDWAN? Have I missed something?
Ray -O @ "E" (All of the Above) This place is starting to get to me. The scary thing is I understood everything you said! And yes, Marylanders are an acquired taste.
I never understood 'coveting' being included with the serious sins like murder. A little coveting doesn't seem so bad to me.
If you are listening to some youngish adult expounding about politics or some other serious topic on a talk show, you'll hear the word 'like' unnecessarily dropped into the conversation so often that it's hard to count.
A newer addition to these expositions is ending many of their opinions with 'Right?' It's like stating an opinion and implying that it's so obviously true that you couldn't possible disagree with their POV, right? It seems to be a new phenomenon and it's annoying and spreading fast, right?.
Go Rams!
~ Mind how you go...
Bill G
Bill G, you're just now noticing "Like?" It's so, like, last year.
D-O: My other house (now a rental to MIL, BIL, & SIL) was built in the '80s over old rice-fields in what's now Lake Olympia. Never been a problem over there. This money pit I'm in in Greatwood on the other hand... Pool is a four-letter-word.
Subgenius re: BTS. Pop's (3rd) DW took a neighbor kid up to Chicago for the kid's B-Day (ALMS, eh?) to a BTS concert in Feb o' '20. Guess who got Covid b/f the rest of us. :-)
Thanks for the WTF BTS means.
Ray-O: you gotta get yourself outta them books. Arboreal Neotropical xenarthran mammal; Bro!?!
Also where's that fungi? In the woods or on me?
The other day we had ORBIT in the grid. I was too busy to post - "Why wasn't it clued as 'Stros' mascot?"
BillG, Right? It's, like, you know, a verbal tick and a way to ensure the listener is.
A short-hand for "does that make sense," if you will. We corporate kids used that the late '90s, Eh?
Cheers, -T
Frantic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Lemonade.
I was BEAT (shouldn’t that be beaten?) by JW today. Inkblots galore. But I got the No D theme!
Let me count the misdirections and errors. OTOH let’s not!
Let me share the Canadian disadvantage! But I see some if you Americans were not familiar either!
This Canadian had no idea what a Devil Dog was, so I LIUed. First answer up - a US Marine. SUSY Q perped and I didn’t know how she competed with a Marine. Thanks for enlightening me, Lemonade. Food!
The only coastal California county that I know is Sonoma. Another Google map showed all those SAN counties, but only MARIN fit.
I did know CAPE May and RPI.
Hand up for a nose wrinkle at STAR clueing (adj. to noun?); and doesn’t Bugs address need an apostrophe? (TTP agrees)
Thanks to all of you for the chuckles today - Rayo, OMK’s diagonal and more).
Wishing you all a great day.
Gary & D-otto
CREEDANCE's first #1 hit was "Susie Q",
Anon-T- remember Stan's Record Shop in S-Port? Stan Lewis was one of the 'disputed' writers of Susie-Q. Many stories about the origin of that song. Years ago many musicians didn't know that the only ones who collected royalties were the composers, not the singers or musicians. Producers would stick their names on songs to collect the money. Fats Domino lost a lot of money on his songs.
THANKS TO OWEN for including me in a poem, and to Wilbur for the acknowledgment.
Glad to give you a chuckle, too, CanadianEh!
Yep, the gimmes for me today were CAST & "ILL MET by Moonlight, Proud Titania!"
I had the honor of appearing as Lysander in grad school and of teaching it years later in the Max Reinhardt movie version, starring Mickey Rooney as Puck, with Victor Jory as Oberon and Anita Louise as Titania.
Others in the all-star cast were Jimmy Cagney as Bottom, Joe E. Brown as Flute, Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, and Dick Powell in my old role.
And I had the privilege of directing the whole of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Asolo Theater in Sarasota.
That's the theater that John Ringling had dismantled in Italy and shipped to FLA, lock, stock, and barrel; and then rebuilt in Sarasota. We called it the "air-conditioned jewel box."
~ OMK
I drove over Topanga Canyon Road today. My thoughts kept returning to the Topanga as a Natick discussions here. As far as stuff rattling around in my head goes it wasn't too bad.
@Mal-Man, if the road is bad enough to make the stuff in your head rattle around, it sounds pretty bad to me. Look what happened to Bob Saget.
Neato puzzle. I enjoyed it.
MalMan, did you notice a mobile home park at the very apex of Topanga Canyon Highway? The first home I ever owned was a trailer (didn't call it that when I owned it) in that park. My work buddy got a speeding ticket going down that road into the San Fernando Valley. On his bicycle. Two points on his license and a fine.
-T, when I rented a house just north of DFW, I had to agree to water the house's foundation every three (I think) days so the soil wouldn't dry up, shrink and crack the foundation.
Rayex @ 2:17 PM
What'd I say one minute after my 2:16 PM comment that was censored @ 2:17 PM? I can't think or thumb type that fast!!
😳
DNF, not enough P&P left over, due to a busy mind.
I inherited a task for my church that meant calling more than 3 dozen people with the usual phone tag and no returned calls. I also sent many emails with very late or no replies. I have sorted though all that and now have most of the data I need. Okay. That took P&P.
The parameters and goals of the task are still a little unclear. The continuing helpers I am to lead are also in the dark about this. All the info I have gathered about data and goals is conflicting. The main lay leader of the church I serve under is also unclear about it. She has many skills and much knowledge, but has few administrative skills. And we are without a priest at present.
I HATE chaos. We WILL end up with a logical, doable plan. This is where my P&P is right now.
Onward!
Ray Of Sunshine, your 2:17 comment was just a duplicate post of your 2:16 comment. Operator error on your part ? It wasn't censored. It was just cleanup of your duplicate comment. But you can keep being paranoid that you are being censored if that fits your mien.
Dash T, so your water leak turned into a broken main ? Or what ? I am so confused...
D-O, I know about Texas gumbo. It can be so bad in central Texas. Releveling houses is a business for some. When it's dry, a yardstick cannot usually measure the depth of a crack. And when it's wet, it swells like a double yeasted dough. There goes the foundation or the pilings. Prestressed concrete is one answer - but only when the foundation is being laid. After the fact is too late.
Bill G at 3:04, I know, right ?
MalMan, your new service seems to be working just fine.
We had a nice day. The temp got up to almost 45 degrees, so after the grocery run, I washed the truck in the driveway and then scrubbed down the garage floor. Yes, I could have went through a car wash...
After a busy day, it's time to clean up the spam and the deleted comments.
To set the record straight, it was actually me, lil old lemonade who deleted your dupe post ROS. On blogging days I am allowed some input and just happened to be checking in when your dupe appeared. Dupes appear now and then and it is a cleaner blog when they are removed. I too have been error about admin actions because of my vision issues. The best advice is if you know you did not post anything horrendous, you were not censored.
OMK, I am most impressed with that cast your worked with! Awesome. How are your memoirs coming?
Have a loving weekend with your SOs and families, continue to pray or whatever your favorite superstition is for Boomer, all of the Corner and in this awful time all of the world. We really are a nice place to visit
NW corner fell easily ("Smoother Operator" - earworm); TONES>TINTS. RAYLAMOTTA (say what?)>LIOTTA. DNK Devil Dog, but SUZYQ perped in. FIR in the end. Thanks, Lemon, for the recap - don't know a thing about Shakespeare, so though I got ILL MET, I translated it as I'll MET- duh.
May I jump on the "like"/", right?" bandwagon? Additionally, another pet peeve of mine: "I go" and "he/she went" instead of "I said" and "he/she said". I have a dear friend, AARP-age and college-educated, who always uses this verbiage, and it drives me nuts.
G'night, all.
Is there a particular reason to pray for Boomer or still the same problem? Please let me know.
And don't forget "ILL MET in Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber , with Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
I got stuck, because "Devil Dog is a nickname for a United States Marine." [Wiki] I never hear of such a music group. and I couldn't make Imperial Japanese Army fit for 1D.
Lemon @10:00 ~
Sorry if that was unclear, but when I taught Midsummer “in the Max Reinhardt movie version,” I was not working directly with all those brilliant actors.
Their prime was a bit before my time. The movie premiered in 1935, when I was -4 years old.
(That is a minus sign, before the “4.”)
No, I chose to screen the Reinhardt film for my students because his stage version was the most popular rendition of Shakespeare’s play in English (and German) throughout Europe, Britain, and America in the mid-20th century. Most of this film adaptation holds up beautifully to this day. Maybe the only part that fails a modern test is Rooney’s infernal screeching as Puck.
~ OMK
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