A Multi-media Meta-theme
Today's constructor is Lin Josephson and I believe this is her debut in the LA Times. I hope she stops by and tells us a bit about herself.
Lin cleverly hides today's theme with 3 clues, sans circles or asterisks, that point to what turns out to be an implied reveal at 57A. As we'll see each of these refers to an 18th Century innovation, but each also has at least one other meaning. Here are the themers:
20A. Only way to tackle a 57-Across: PIECE BY PIECE. An album/song by singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson (lyrics) ...
Lin cleverly hides today's theme with 3 clues, sans circles or asterisks, that point to what turns out to be an implied reveal at 57A. As we'll see each of these refers to an 18th Century innovation, but each also has at least one other meaning. Here are the themers:
20A. Only way to tackle a 57-Across: PIECE BY PIECE. An album/song by singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson (lyrics) ...
28A. Question muttered while tackling a 57-Across: WHY WON'T IT FIT?. "If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit" famously spoken by Johnnie Cochran, the defense attorney at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in September of 1995.
48A. Popular theme for 57-Acrosses: NATURE SCENES. Who doesn't like NATURE SCENES? Here's a recent picture of the Patapsco River that I took at sunset while we were hiking in Patapsco Valley State Park, Maryland. I plan to have it made into a 57A ...
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| The Patapsco River |
Which brings us to 57A, the implied reveal ...
57A. Challenge commercialized by mapmaker John Spilsbury circa 1760: JIGSAW PUZZLE. I wonder if John had any idea how much enjoyment he would bring to the world with this simple "teaching tool". I call this a "Meta-theme", because it is a puzzle about a puzzle, and "Multi-media", because it is about both words and images.
Here's the grid:
Now let's puzzle over some other clues and see what pictures we can conjure up ...
Across:
1. Day __: SPA.
4. Door support: JAMB. Door JAMBS are the top and sides of a door frame. They also play an important part in the Book of Exodus, in the 33D.
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| Door Frame |
8. Keep busy: OCCUPY.
14. China shop threat: OAF. BULL wouldn't fit.
15. Native Nebraskan: OTOE. A CSO to Husker. The Otoe are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe tribe were historically a semi-nomadic people who lived on the Central Plains along the bank of the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri:
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| Otoe Lands |
16. Newcomer: ROOKIE. Here's our favorite rookie, Cal Ripken. The "Iron man" played his entire career with the O's and holds the Major League Baseball record for consecutive games played.
17. Red crawler, perhaps: ANT. Some but not all "red crawlers" are called FIRE ANTS, but they are not necessarily the same.
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| Red Fire Ant |
19. Bays, e.g.: INLETS. We live near the Chesapeake Bay, which is an estuary, or "drowned river", the largest in the US. Here are some other types of INLETS:
23. Paper bit: SCRAP.
24. __ only: sale caveat: ONE TIME. Until the next time.
32. Modern cash source: ATM. Automated Teller Machines. Here's a brief history of these ubiquitous devices, which Paul Volcker once described as the "only useful innovation in banking."
35. Barely flow: SEEP. 37A tends to move this way.
36. Back nine opener: TENTH. The first of the last nine holes on a golf course?
37. Gunk: GOO.
38. Jackson Hole's county: TETON. TETON county contains all of Grand Teton National Park and 40% of Yellowstone National Park. One of my grandsons is attending Wyoming Catholic College in the adjacent Fremont County. The country there is so beautiful that it wouldn't surprise us if he decides to stay. If so we plan to visit him!
41. Salem's lot?: Abbr.: ORE. Not the novel by Stephen King, but rather Salem, OREGON.
42. Frottage artist Max: ERNST. Max Ernst (born April 2, 1891, Brühl, Germany—died April 1, 1976, Paris, France), German painter and sculptor who was one of the leading advocates of irrationality in art and an originator of the Automatism movement of Surrealism. He became a naturalized citizen of both the United States (1948) and France (1958). Ernst used Frottage patterns (pencil rubbings of such things as wood grain, fabric, or leaves) as inspiration for his Surrealist works. I'm afraid I couldn't connect with any of them.
45. 13-Downs heard in pairs: I DOS. I Do being a synonym for YES. Our nephew and his bride exchanged I DOs just a few weeks ago.
47. Contacts list no.: TEL.
52. Aptly named "Music From Big Pink" group: THE BAND. A Canadian-American group, who played backup for Bob Dylan's first electric tour. "Big Pink" was the house where they jammed. Here's The Weight (lyrics), my favorite from that album:
53. Enlighten: TEACH. John Spilsbury started out simply to TEACH geography and ended up spawning an industry.
61. Novelist Graham: GREENE. Graham Greene, (born October 2, 1904, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England—died April 3, 1991, Vevey, Switzerland), English novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist whose novels treat life’s moral ambiguities in the context of contemporary political settings.
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| Greene in 1975 |
64. Sky-high stunt: LOOP. Also a ubiquitous stunt in computer programs, which sometimes gets the programmer into trouble.
65. Shade on a beach: TAN.
66. Amazon delivery: PARCEL. It has its faults, but this company has transformed commerce around the world:
68. PC rescue key: ESC. As a lefty, I love where IBM decided to put this key.
69. Outpourings: SPATES.
70. First-time biology student, usually: TEEN.
71. Friend of Fidel: CHE. Fidel Castro that is. Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14 June 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture. This photo was cited by the Maryland Institute College of Art as "the most famous photograph in the world":
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| Che Guevara |
1. Cakes not for eating: SOAPS. Some British mothers did in fact feed their children SOAPS when they said certain words. Just sayin'.
2. Kind of button or room: PANIC.
3. Time-telling word: AFTER.
4. Margaret of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey": JOSEPHS. Margaret Katona Josephs is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur and television personality. She is the owner, founder and designer of a lifestyle brand called Macbeth Collection. Everything you wanted to know about Margaret and maybe more.
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| Margaret Josephs |
5. Run __: A TAB.
6. "Holy __!": MOLY. COW was too short. GUACAMOLE was too long. What else could it be?
7. Car talk?: BEEP. What horns say? Car Talk was also an NPR talk radio show broadcast from 1977 to 2012, offering auto repair advice from Click and Clack, alias the "Tappet Brothers".
8. Familiarize: ORIENT.
9. Downfall for Narcissus: CONCEIT. A myth related by both by the Greek Conon and the Roman Ovid in his Metamorphosis III. Narcissus is also the source for the name of the psychological condition known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which seems to be pandemic among contemporary politicians and entertainers.
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| Narcissus John William Waterhouse |
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| Colette circa 1910 |
12. Peach center: PIT.
13. "Without a doubt": YES.
21. Crow's cry: CAW.
22. Charged particle: ION. There are two types of IONS. An ANION is negatively charged, having captured an electron to its outer shell. A CATION is positively charged, having given up an electron from its outer shell.
25. "__ for You": Dylan song to his first wife: IF NOT. Dedicated to Sara Dylan, "If Not for You" was first released on Dylan's October 1970 album New Morning. It was also issued as the A-side of a single in Europe in early 1971. Here's George Harrison's cover (lyrics).
26. British bishop's headdress: MITRE. I like to wear one of these when I'm pontificating. Do they spell it that way in Canada CanadianEh!?
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| Bishop's Mitre |
27. "I Love Lucy" role: ETHEL. Played by Vivian Vance (née Vivian Roberta Jones; July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979) was an American actress and singer. Vance was known for playing Ethel Mertz on the sitcom I Love Lucy (1951–1957), which won her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, among other accolades. In 1991, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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| Vivian Vance |
30. Apt adjective for Stuart Little: WEE. Stuart Little is a 1945 American children's novel by E.B. White. It was White's first children's book, and it is now widely recognized as a classic in children's literature. Looks WEE to me ...
31. Eye-related: OPTIC. Like much of our language this word is traceable back to Indo European roots.
32. CIA worker: AGENT. 71A met his fate in Bolivia at the hands of a CIA worker.
33. Synagogue scroll: TORAH. The TORAH is comprised of the first 5 books of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books are foundational for both Judaism and Christianity.
34. Three-card con: MONTE. Three-card Monte is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards. It is very similar to the shell game except that cards are used instead of shells.
39. Literary homage: ODE.
40. Prefix with binary: NON.
43. Sentence focus, grammatically: SUBJECT. OTOH one could argue that the OBJECT is the objective of a sentence.
44. Newcomer: TRAINEE. Same clue as 16A. Identical clues are often used to indicate themers, but not in this case.
46. Attack: SET UPON.
49. Marx co-author: ENGELS. Friedrich Engels, (born Nov. 28, 1820, Barmen, Rhine province, Prussia [Germany]—died Aug. 5, 1895, London, Eng.), German socialist philosopher, the closest collaborator of Karl Marx in the foundation of modern communism.
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| Friedrich Engels |
51. "Word" with who or me: SEZ.
54. Montezuma follower: AZTEC. The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
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| Aztec Empire in 1519 |
55. Fail to match: CLASH. Don't see eye to eye? Also an English rock band. The Clash formed in London in 1976 and were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the post-punk and new wave movements that emerged in the wake of punk and employed elements of a variety of genres including reggae, dub, funk, ska, and rockabilly. Here's Rock the Casbah (lyrics).
56. Therefore: HENCE.
58. Dozens and dozens: A LOT.
59. Eroded: WORE.
60. "The Thinker" has an iconic one: POSE. Here's one of my granddaughters POSING with the POSER at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She is my only left-handed grandchild (see 68A). "The Thinker" appears to be right-handed.
.jpg) |
| The Thinkers |
61. Traveler's aid, briefly: GPS. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based radio-navigation system consisting of a constellation of satellites broadcasting navigation signals and a network of ground stations and satellite control stations used for monitoring and control. Currently 31 GPS satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of approximately 11,000 miles providing users with accurate information on position, velocity, and time anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions.
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| GPS Satellites |
62. Knock hard: RAP. Sorry, I don't do RAP.
63. Time capsule time: ERA. A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates back for millennia, but the practice of preparing and preserving a collection of everyday artifacts and messages to the future appears to be a more recent practice. Time capsules are sometimes created and buried during celebrations such as a world's fair, a cornerstone laying for a building, or at other ceremonies.
waseeley
Thanks as always to Teri for proof reading this review and making constructive suggestions.
I am happy to report that our nephew's wedding near the Gulf coast of Alabama was a truly wonderful experience. Every person we met in Alabama was friendly, generous, and helpful. We liked it so much we may go back there for a vacation.
Cheers,
Bill
52 comments:
I found this to be a very hard puzzle with much I did not know, Frottage Ms. Josephs, Moly without an E...
However the theme was very clever and the write up was very good
I did find a puzzle she created for the New Jersey Jazz Society JAZZ WORDS
Welcome Lin and thanks to you and Bill
Fln, -T, You mean that racket Rush and the rest put out? Linda evokes a mood in Blue Bayou, takes you cat fishing
Aha, ORE as in Salem, Oregon. Anyone play "Game of the States" as a kid(in the 50s)?*
Not just British mothers. Also, the whiskey enfused Hot Toddy
Ah yes, Narcissus, author of bestseller "I Never Met a Mirror I Didn't Love"
Now that's one cute grand-daughter
Thanks Waseeley. I enjoyed reading about Car Talk, a Boston phenomenon
WC
* So… We're stopped on the way to Jefferson, NH and I pose a quiz to Phil, my nephew and Adam the A student. What's the Capital of Idaho? Adam is flustered and Phil pipes up "BOISE!". I then walk them around the corner to Boise Rock across from what used to be The Old Man in the Mountain.
Good morning!
Enjoyed this one, especially the easy theme with no need for a reveal (that d-o would miss). Nice debut, Lin. Thanx for the explication, Waseeley. (What a cute granddaughter!)
CLASH : Don't know if it's true of all color-blind folk, but d-o has no sense of clash. Style, either.
PARCEL : Amazon has built a new distribution warehouse beside I-69 near here. It was finished several months ago and has sat idle ever since -- no cars, no semis, no activity at all.
Lemony @4:23 AM Thanks for the kinds words and thanks for the link to Lin's puzzle. How did you find it? It didn't turn up in any of my searches, although it is consistent with some other NJ links I found. Apparently Lin is a retired elementary school teacher and has a background in philosophy. She has several related books on Amazon. I tried reaching out to her on Facebook and Twitter, but she hasn't been active on either of then in recent months.
Word of the Day contranym
Pronunciation: kahn-trê-nim
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A polysemous word with two diametrically opposed meanings, a word that is its own antonym.
Notes: Today's word has made it into only a few dictionaries. This could be because of its limited usefulness or the recency of its appearance (see Word history). Its adjective is contranymic(al), whose adverb is contranymically.
In Play: If we trim a tree, we add to its edges; if we trim a dress, we subtract from its edges. If the US sanctions oligarchs, it denies them privileges; if it sanctions arms to Ukraine, it allows arms to go there. If we dust for fingerprints, we add dust; if we dust your room, we remove dust. A peer can be above your station or your equal. We can rent or lease to or from.
Word History: Today's word arose in the late 50s. No one knows who made it up; I first read it in one of Richard Lederer's books (can't remember which). Whoever dreamed it up coupled contra with -onym by analogy with antonym and synonym. Contra is a Latin preposition meaning "against, opposite", as in English 'pro and contra' (often shortened to 'pro and con').
For more info see Word of the Day
FIR, but erased one week for ONE TIME and ext for TEL. DNK JOSEPHS or COLETTE. I'm embarrassed to admit that finishing _AF took an alphabet run.
Max ERNST has become one of those fills, like OBOE and ERIE, that are so common that they are obvious even with ambiguous clues.
My sister has lived most of her adult life in the D.C. area. She clued me in that when someone says they work in the State Department, they likely work in the CIA.
Aside to Bill: GPS provides lat/long/alt, but don't count on the time. If you need the exact time, use www.time.gov. The reason is that the GPS system doesn't get the leap seconds that terrestrial timekeepers use.
Thanks to Lin for the very fun puzzle. I needed that after I struggled so much yesterday. Maybe a little too easy for Thursday, but timing is everything. And thanks to Bill for another fine review. BTW, what is that "instrument" that provides that weird electronic overlay in "Rock the Casbah?
PS: DW and I got our forth COVID-19 jabs yesterday.
Fln re. 67. Yellow or Red ( or White) follower: SEA
As in SEA of WHITE. My Saturday morning xword after 15 minutes
WC
I pieced this one together in 8:35.
Still find it odd to see a word such as "sale" as an answer (18A) and in a nearby clue (24A).
CIA employees are "officers," not "agents" - despite being an "agency."
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/degrees-that-can-lead-to-cia-jobs-and-how-to-work-for-the-cia
Didn't know the Housewife, the Dylan song (my dad will be angry), and wasn't sure on any of the authors (Greene, Engels, and Colette).
FIR. Confused myself a bit when I misread the clue for Aztec as flower instead of follower. Doh!
Happy April Fool's Eve everybody. I've never watched any "Fake" Housewives show but I see TRAINEE, ROOKIE Lin almost got her own name in the puzzle with JOSEPHS, which was the only unknown filled by perps today. I never figured out the JIGSAW PUZZLE them until it was almost filled by perps.
Didn't really know "IF NOT For You" by Dylan, only George Harrison. Those tribute songs to wives always go the same route. John Denver's "Annies Song"- divorce. I remember Dickie Smothers singing about his wife on his TV show- divorce.
Bill- welcome to The Redneck Riviera of Gulf Shores. Orange Beach, and Flora-Bama country. It has really built up in the last 20+ years and an easier drive for me than to the Florida beaches farther east.
I am in favor of abrogating the convention that a word in a clue cannot be used again for a word in an answer. I have always thought, "So what!" In a way, it adds a layer of cleverness.
Jigsaw puzzles are a big pastime here. The residents start a new complicated one in the common area about every five days. They leave it up and anyone who comes by can help to solve it. Not my cuppa. I prefer word puzzles.
I realize that Salem is the capital of Oregon, but why LOT? Meh, unless someone has a better explanation.
Holy---- brings to mind Robin, Batman's sidekick. Someone came up with a list 359 Holy sayings by him.
I finally filled JAMB, after that area PUZZLEd me a long time, but I missed my misspelling of MONTy. THy BAND seemed quirky for a band's name but I didn't rethink it. I was familiar with the song you linked, waseeley. Thanks for reviewing Lin's debut puzzle which I FIW. In spite of that, I look forward to the next by each of you. And added thanks to Teri for her contribution.
The themers helped with the fill and I had my suspicions early on what the reveal would be. I enjoy crossword puzzles more than any other kind, though for a while I did Sudokus when traveling in Europe since they didn't require knowing any foreign language and were widely available at the time.
FLN: Welcome, Mister Canoehead. This is a great place!
Glad to know your hearing aids are working out so well, Husker Gary.
And finally on the music voting, I generally agree with Anon T, choosing faster moving and more upbeat music.
On that note I need to move along. Ciao!
Creative theme and learning moment about a mapmaker inventing or popularizing the JIGSAW PUZZLE. After getting PIECE BY PIECE - I thought the reveal might be about elephants - ("how do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time")
I knew the song, "IF NOT for you" but didn't know that Dylan wrote it. Thanks Bill for the link and the puzzle write-up
Congrats to Lin and thanks for a creative puzzle
YR @7:48 AM A very LARGE lot stretched to suggest King's novel? But as "lot" wasn't capitalized it wasn't the latter. Anyway I perped it.
Good morning all,
Thanks to Lin for a fun and doable Thursday puzzle .
Slow start today with quite a few possibilities but hesitated to fill too quickly. Troubles in the Mideast started when I penciled in ONE EACH .
Couldn’t make headway till I remembered ETHEL and MITRE. ORE became obvious but like YR I didn’t quite see Lot as a clue , but the question mark suggested a misdirection . Moved on down and when WPUZZLE showed up the rest became easy. Like Jinx I stared at AF until I though of SOAP in cakes rather than bars.
Coffee getting cold
Cheers
A crossword puzzle is like a jigsaw puzzle in a sense. This puzzle "fit" together without too much trouble. I wasn't familiar with Margaret Josephs. But after that, it was smooth sailing. FIR, so I'm satisfied.
Good Morning:
I have noticed that we’re seeing more and more fresh approaches in themes, as well as many new constructors. I imagine this is a result of the last two years of isolation and boredom. Whatever the reason, we’re the beneficiaries. My only unknowns were The Band and Josephs. Pop music is my Achilles heel and “reality” shows are of no interest to me. The only pairing I saw today is Rookie/Trainee but there were several CSOs: All Academics (Teach), HG (Otoe), Lemony, Hatoolah, Picard, and MalMan (Torah), Owen and Moe (Ode), and Tel ( Jinx and TTP, I believe). I’ll take a very coincidental SO at Optic, as I had my yearly eye exam yesterday. No changes which is what I want to hear.
Thanks, Lin, for a fun puzzle within a puzzle and congrats on your LA Times debut and thanks, Bill, for the usual enlightening and entertaining review. Loved the Rodin photo with your sweet little granddaughter. As usual, some of the visuals didn’t come through, so a return trip is in order. Thanks, also, to Terry for her contributions.
FLN
Owen, I am so sorry about your situation, especially because you’re not able to do much to resolve it. I do hope it’s over soon and doesn’t reoccur.
Is anyone watching The Thing About Pam with René Zellwegger? It’s based on a true story and Miss Z plays one of the most evil people you can imagine. I see an Emmy in her future for her compelling, if somewhat creepy, portrayal as Pam.
Have a great day.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Lin (congrats on debut here), and waseeley (and Teri).
I FIRed with a few stumbles. The theme appeared early (my Mom loves JIGSAW PUZZLEs. Not me - WHY WON’T IT FIT? seems to be my problem).
Inkblots abound in my central area. Drip changed to SEEP, Ere to YET, Cis to NON (oh, it’s Cis-gender!), Ayes to I DOS. I thought of Lil before WEE.
You all know that I smiled broadly as I entered the British MITRE (yes I use that spelling here).
How many of you pronounce Aunt like ANT? Or do you say Ont?
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings
-Granddaughter always put a piece in her pocket so she could put in the last piece.
-The substitute teacher problem of keeping kids OCCUPIED is helped by kids having cell phones
-A LOT of waterproof paint solved/hid the problem of water SEEPING into MIL’s basement
-We always buy locally when we can but now we get a lot of Amazon PARCELS delivered these days. I am amazed at the ingenuity of the packing which you never see when the item is on the shelf
-“Most famous photograph in the world”? This is my choice.
-I have two friends. One is named COLETTE and the other Claudette - another great Roy Orbison song :-) featuring Elvis’ drummer and guitarist and Bruce Springsteen
-In NONbinary numbers I am 75. In binary numbers I am 1001011 (A NONbiology example)
-Do you know the SUBJECT of the first sentence of the Declaration Of Independence?. I didn’t.
-Hearing aids are great and now I am going to save $600 on eyeglasses.
-Here on the banks of the Platte, we mostly had Pawnees
-Nice job, Bill.
Hola!
Did Lin Josephson start this PUZZLE with JOSEPHS of whom I've never heard? The Housewives of any place are not something I watch.
At my daughter's home they always have a JIGSAW PUZZLE going and anyone can add a PIECE at any time.
I've read books by COLETTE and by Graham GREENE. It was a long time ago. COLETTE was required in one of my classes but GREENE was by choice.
Recently two bags from WhataBurger were mistakenly left at my front door and covered with ANTs.
When my sisters and I went on a trip to Yellowstone we saw the Grand TETONS then continued on to Mount Rushmore.
Usually MOLY is spelled MOLEY.
Thank you, Bill (and Teri), for your dedicated and enjoyable analysis
An enjoyable puzzle and a great write-up. Many thanks to both authors. For me it was one of those experiences where, while muttering about a proper noun that I did not know, one that was well known opened up a significant section. Adding to the fun is the fact that Valerie is a compulsive jig-saw-puzzle-put-er-together-er. JOSEPHS didn't hurt either.
Who "sez" sez was a good clue? Not me.
Weather is impartial, might have a thunderstorm rolling through any minute now. Otherwise, puzzle was fun today. Quite liked the clues.
Since I start xwords in the NW, I find it annoying when clues refer you to the bottom where you have to start a whole new section just to get a reveal before going back to where I was.
Thursdays are traditionally toughies for me, but this was not so bad and quite enjoyable--many thanks, Lin, and welcome. Thanks for your always helpful write-up too, Bill.
Loved that the reveal turned out to be JIGSAW PUZZLE. A pleasure to find a 'puzzle' in a puzzle.
I guess I know my Germans: got both Max ERNST and Marx's co-author ENGELS without any problems.
I loved ETHEL on "I Love Lucy."
Yep, I was probably a TEEN when I took my first Biology class.
Have a great day, everybody.
Good afternoon. Thank you, Lin and Waseeley. Congrats on your LA TIMES debut, Lin !
Welcome back, Bill. Great write-up. I've been off reading many of your links and then taking off on tangents from them. Almost forgot to come back.
Did you ever have one of those solves where you quickly entered the answer to every clue without giving it much thought ? I didn't have that today. Not by a long shot. Progress was so slow that I almost threw in the towel, so I walked away and got another cup of coffee. That helped. Got the reveal, and then the other three long answers that related to it.
Still, I had to correct day glo to SPA, Amok to A TAB, Holy he double hockey sticks to MOLY, aaa to GPS, and ONE each to ONE TIME. Speaking of time, a whopping 27 minutes and 20 seconds for me. The longest Thursday solve in a long, long time. Glad I stuck with it !
Irish Miss, no, not me with TEL, but thanks for the shout out.
FLN, Unclefred, yesterday you were writing about Pink Floyd, and then on the news last night, “Pink Floyd” Was Spotted in Texas. The fugitive flamingo has been on the lam for seventeen years after escaping from a Kansas City zoo.
Dash T, - You love Rock and Roll ? Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with two w/o's: AMOK/A TAB; MITER/MITRE
Thanks to the constructor and blogger
IM: I'm enjoying the Pam series/serial too. The narration and some of the other acting isn't on par with RZ's performance.
Lucina: I also had a very enjoyable trip that included Grand Teton N.P., Yellowstone N.P., Mt. Rushmore, and other places "nearby" including the Badlands N.P. and Wind Cave N.P.
HG: First, I bet you have more than two friends.
Second, speaking of binary, you've probably heard this, but there are 10 kinds of people in the world:
those that understand binary numbers, and
those that don't.
Anonymous at 7:13 (aka S.S.)
Thank you Waseely (& Mrs Waseely) for this illuminating write up.
Learning moments! Estuary = sunken river! What a wonderful visual!
Estuary has a whole new meaning for me now.
Also loved the jigsaw link. Before boxes they had no pictures! What a great idea! Up the difficulty! I love it!
Loved it so much I ran out ( to the internet ) to look for a source of jigsaws without pictures!
So far no luck, and, the 1st thing to come up...
1a day(blank) forced me to 1d, cakes you can't eat. Why oh why can't I get the picture of those things you find in the urinal out of my mind...
Run (blank) it's not away, it's not amok, what the heck is it?
This went on and on with almost every clue this constructor threw at me.
(And I loved it!)
I had to act7ally figure out the theme and backtrack my way through all my (and her) blanks...
What a work out!
Enjoyed this JIGSAW PUZZLE theme! Learning moment about the DYLAN origin of IF NOT FOR YOU. Always enjoyed the George Harrison version. Which reminds me of yesterday: Learning moment that Roy Orbison wrote BLUE BAYOU. Hand up I prefer the Linda Ronstadt version. When I first came to California as a teen she was our honorary First Lady.
Irish Miss Yes, and I recently shared my rabbi friend Elihu with his SYNAGOGUE TORAH. He was one of the first people I met at UC Santa Barbara.
Here I posed under the JACKSON HOLE Antler Arch in 2008 with my then lady friend Bianca.
Who else has posed under the JACKSON HOLE Antler Arch.
Bill Seeley Thanks for all of the illustrations today. Nice NATURE SCENE photo. I did not realize you are also from Maryland. Hope to get back that way to visit.
From Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles Glad you enjoyed the La Boheme girls having fun while I rode my UNICYCLE around them! I have several friends in that group. They sure do work hard and have fun hard!
Hmm,
My search for jigsaw puzzle boxes without pictures is not going so well...
It sort of reminds me of
the old cartoon of a hobo cooking an unlabeled can that turns out to be tennis balls...
Anon @12:14 PM An 0ld1e, but st1ll a g00d1e!
Yes, there are CIA agents. "The salaries of Cia Agents in the US range from $15,700 to $419,096 , with a median salary of $76,346 . The middle 57% of Cia Agents makes between $76,351 and $190,212, with the top 86% making $419,096." This is in real life, but I find a plethora of CIA agents in fiction.
UNICYCLE is a CSO to Picard and many photos of you, my dear, riding one. Picard, you are so active in so many venues. I admire your energy and wide ranging interests. You would be fun to meet.
When I was a kid it was a cake of soap, now it is a bar.
I get to vote "like it" or "not a fan" on daily changes on my screen saver. Almost all of my likes are nature scenes, especially with water and/or mountains. I wish I could extend the screen time on my favorites. My last one to wish to hang on to was Japanese cherry blossoms. I would have liked to see it for a week.
Right now I am enjoying my first Merlot in three months. Almost 3:00 here. My glucose readings are great, but my BP readings are back and forth. Stronger BP meds turn me into an idiot. I know that exercise is the answer.
EZ Peezy Thursday PUZZLE. Corner colleagues all seem to have had their way with this one, even though past the halfway mark in the week.
Or maybe it is truly tough and we are all just feeling our oats today. Who's to say?
45A - Hands up, all (like me) who said, "I will" instead of "I do."
~ OMK
___________
DR: It is nice to see a diagonal, even if there's only one of them (on the near side)...
and even when the number of vowels is so limited as to restrict the possible anagrams.
The best (IMHO) is a brief homage (just 7 of 15 letters, plus a borrowed "h") to one of Uncle Walt's Short Seven (and one of my faves)...
"A(h), SNEEZY"!
While in the mood for borrowing, how about if I borrow some actual letters--an "a" and an "o"-- from the near diagonal below today's one true line? That will allow us to observe a Cajun farmer, a...
"ZYDECO PEASANT"!
- or-
As a neat discovery for those poets among us who appreciate metrical technique, the example of a...
"ZYDECO ANAPEST"!
On the days I review puzzles I don't have a puzzle to solve, so I usually do one by David Alfred Bywaters. But today I decided to do one from a collection called "Not-Too-Easy, Not-Too-Hard Wednesday Puzzles" edited by Will Shortz, that I got from my SIL for Christmas. I turned to the next blank puzzle and found that it was by a delightful constructor named Zhouqin Burnikel. It must have been on the Not-Too-Hard side, as I did manage an FIR. Shortz didn't title it and there was no reveal, but the three long fills appeared to be themers about crime movies: JAIL HOUSE ROCK, THE ITALIAN JOB, and RUSSIAN MOB, the latter being particularly apropos these days.
TTP @ 11:59 ~ Sorry, I think I mixed you up with our dear Abejo. RIP.
SS @ 12:14 ~ Are you aware that the narrator is Keith Morrison from Dateline? I knew the voice sounded familiar but didn’t know it was KM until I read it in article about the series. René’s performance, especially her facial expressions, not to mention her glib fabrications, are so riveting that the other actors are almost like background props, although I do like Josh Duhamel and the kooky Judy Greer character. It took two episodes for me to realize that was Josh Duhamel because of his hair looking so different. BTW, my knowledge of binary numbers is 0. 🙃
Jinx @6:22 AM Re the limitations of GPS. Another one is the "last mile", which if you don't have some kind of Internet access you get ZIP. We found this out in Alabama when we were trying to get to a restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. We ran into a massive rainstorm that completely knocked out cell tower internet access. However we were able to make a landing the old fashioned way: we called the restaurant and a personable young lady guided us there by first ascertaining where we were and then telling us where to turn at every landmark along the way to the dinner. The really remarkable thing was that (1) she was from Michigan and had been in Bama only about a year, and (2) we had called a different restaurant in the franchise and she was directing us from a different location!
The media and public constantly refer to members of the Central Intelligence Agency as "CIA Agents." This is grossly misleading, amateurish and a source of annoyance for those in the profession.
Typically, when people think of the CIA, they are referring to the "Case Officers" of the Clandestine Service. These officers are primarily tasked with the identification & recruitment of foreign sources of information. These CIA "Officers" run clandestine operations to manage confidential sources and obtain valuable information in furtherance of national security objectives. In intelligence parlance, foreign sources of information are called "Agents."
For obvious reasons highlighted in the aforementioned paragraph, it is highly insulting to call a CIA "Officer" an "Agent." By doing so, you are relegating the government civil service to the status of a foreign confidential informant.
Irish Miss, no harm, no foul. Your knowledge of binary is 0 ? Then you are halfway there !
ATLGranny, in my limited attempts to solve WorLdle since you've mentioned it, I have yet to succeed in identifying a single country by its shape. Today was especially hard. I got to the right part of the world in my first guess, and got as close as 63 miles away, but couldn't come up with the country name.
The one I am most embarrassed about is Germany. I lived there for three years. But then again, it wasn't shaped then as it is today.
Had to do a "Check Grid" to reveal that THY BAND and MONTY were misspelled. I also put ISR as Salem's lot until perps revealed it had to be ORE; ah what a difference one apostrophe makes.
Excellent write-up, waseeley.
Good wishes to you all.
TTP @ 2:46PM
About WorLdle, I completely share your embarrassment about Germany. I didn't get it after living there four years. I like your excuse though! I have had some successes but never with small islands.
Hi Y'all! A challenging puzzle about another kind of puzzle, thanks, Lin. Always enjoyable, Bill.
Most of my life I've lived on the Central Plains where the deer, antelope & OTOE roamed. I thought I knew the Indian tribes who were here. Never heard of OTOE until I started doing CWs.
Been to the TETONS. I asked my teenaged grandson which of their many vacations he liked best. He said, "Well, Rome was nice, but I liked the TETONS best." Their group rented ATVs & went buzzing around all over the place. What did I expect? His name is Chase.
FLN: Tony, I understand your love of fast music. Doing "BLUE BAYOU" fast would be sacrilege. It's a lazy, laid back, slow moving watery place after all.
TTP said:
Irish Miss, no harm, no foul. Your knowledge of binary is 0 ? Then you are halfway there !
OK, now you've done it....
You may be top management, but I am middle management,
and I invoke my rights to keep it under budget!
Actually, none of that is true,
I just found out how to link the daily comics, and I wanted to test it out...
Or, I could blame blame it on my post traumatic link disorder...
Well, I have to announce that I have PDVD, POST DENTAL VISIT DISORDER. Originally I was scheduled for a cleaning but it turned out to be drilling and filling and of course $$$. Next year I hope to change my insurance plan to one my friend, Mark, has. It covers everything with no premiums!
Hi All!
Thanks Lin for the puzzle of a puzzle. South-central threw me for a loop.
----
Story: I loved the theme 'cuz it made me think of paternal GrandPop. He did jigsaws every winter on a large piece of plywood. First he'd sort each piece into their shapes (which he named (e.g. 'camelback,' 'doublehumper', 'locker', etc)) and then build the edges.
When he'd get stuck (or want a beer): "-T, get over here and help me find a <silly-name>!"
When the puzzle was complete, he'd flip it over on a piece of cardboard, glue it to a newspaper-based backing, and hang it in the basement.
----
Excellent expo, Waseeley. I enjoyed the Dylan and your Grand is cute.
I miss Car Talk...
WOs: job->SPA which lead to befor[sic]->AFTER, AwAy -> A TAB, pakage [sic] -> PARCEL, ImNOT.
ESPs: JOSEPHS, COLETTE, ENGELS,
Proud moment: I did know Graham GREENE (was an MI6 AGENT!). DW studied his Our Man in Havana and when she reads a book, I know so much about it, I don't have to! :-)
Fav: YES [THE BAND - 4:18]
//It gets up-beat ATLGranny ;-)
FLN - Picard, I use the word 'backsplash' all the time and so does Pop; "Your brother and I installed a new backsplash for Mrs. X today."
//Pop's a Handy Man and Army (Ret.) Bro is taking over his one-man-show.
FLN/Today: PK/et.al. OK, OK! I do like Blue Bayou just gotta be on a vacation week ;-)
Just heard on NPR, come April 11, you can get an X in Sex on your passport to indicate NONbinary.
Misty - I was thinking I learned a different sort of biology when I was a TEEN.
DW & I have now been married 32 years ;-)
HG - The Big Blue Marble. It should put us all in our place but, somehow!, some folks just don't do PEACE. //oops, wrong piece :-)
D-O: Sounds like you're not buying enough online. There's one at Belt and 288. During the pandemic, they visited ~ 4x/week.
//holy MOLY - ILIU, Amazon has 20(!) warehouses in Houston. No wonder I sometimes get things the same day. Remember when everything went through Nashville?
CED - LOL I had urinal cakes in my mind for far too long too! ++Pun comics.
TTP @2:46 - LOL 1/2-way there.
C, Eh! I say ant for both Mom's sister and the insect. However, DW's father's sister is ont. She's from Boston and that's the way it is.
Unknown@11:34... SEZ me :-)
SpeedySolver - There's also two kinds of people in this world: Those that can extrapolate from incomplete data
Cheers, -T
Thank you Lin Josephson for a challenging Thursday, which I enjoyed. I am just a bit late in posting because certain medical procedures took precedence.
Thank you Waseely, for your fun filled review ... it got me side tracked as well.
>
BTW, There is a Rodin's The Thinker, at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well ..... But his pedestal and part of his legs were blown off by a bomb or 3 sticks of dynamite ... during the anti-Viet Nam war protests on March 24, 1970 ..... and the authorities made a conscious decision not to repair it ...
Somehow I knew from 'piece by piece' WOULD BE A JIGSAW PUZZLE !!
I have over 200 puzzles, but only about 30 Jigsaw puzzles .... the latter are not my favorites, but I have unusual ones ... like a polish jigsaw puzzle plus spilt milk ... all white, no pictures and odd shapes.
I have Tesselz jigsaws in which all the pieces are the same size and same shape ... they 'tile' infinitely and continously .. so you have to match the shades and hues of color, when attaching.
When I was undergoing some med treatments at a Proton Beam therapy center, 6 years ago, there were 12 tables of jigsaw puzzles .. the patients typically were called up ato 18 hours a day, and the average wait time was 20 mins, and the patients would wander to their favorite jigsaw table and do their little contribution for the day...
This is apparently very common in other cancer centers as well, where patients have to undergo long treatments, over several months, and long wait times. Some of the puzzles had over 1500 pieces. The puzzles got solved around every two weeks.
Staves is like, the puzzle maker, WentWorth, that Waseely linked ... a Rolls-Royce of puzzles..
Have a good night all, tomorrow is Friday !!!
FIR, got the theme and the reveal easily enough. Needed a few perps, as usual.
Thanks, Lin and Bill and Teri!
I still miss Click and Clack. I’m not an auto mechanic, and I don’t play one on TV, but I used to listen to them religiously on Saturday mornings.
d-o, that’s at least the third Amazon warehouse that I know of that has been built here in the ‘hood recently. There’s the one –T mentioned down on the South Sam. There's a new one southwest of me, just off the Grand Parkway. I’m also thinking there’s a new one on the west Grand Parkway between I-10 and 290. Of course, none of that kept them from losing my package the ONLY time I ordered directly from them, which led to my despising their customer service!
Salem: YR, I took it to be that the state of Oregon is the “lot” on which the city of Salem sits, the whole state being its lot. I imagine it could have also been a pun on Steven King’s novel and the movie, but since I've done neither of those, that is just a guess.
I don’t do jigsaw puzzles anymore. Once one is started around here, I don’t get anything else done, such as the stuff that keeps me from getting done what I should be doing in the first place.
LEOIII - You reminded me I forgot to respond to YR re: 'lot'. Yes, a 'lot' is a PIECE of land (mine is a smidge in a subdividge) and the Salem clue is a play on words re: King's book/movie. My $0.02.
Namaste Vidwan - sounds like the docs & treatments are an ordeal I wouldn't wish on a nemesis. Stay strong.
Cheers, -T
Y'all got 43 minutes of insomnia?
Click & Clack at MIT.
Them'a good a Italian boys. Pinch their cheeks.
Cheers! -T
LOT also means fate or destiny also one of a set of objects (Random House dict.) i.e. to choose by lot
I also miss Click and Clack They were fun to listen to on Saturday mornings.
-T just above here...
Didn't the MIT president mispronounce the brothers' family name? Or is my limited Italian at fault again?
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