Theme: When the theme entries are vertical, it generally means there is some sort of a gimmick. The presence of circles in the grid confirms this notion. If you didn't get them, then this theme would be very opaque. The circled letters, when read in reverse, spell part a certain kind of fitness activity. The vertical orientation suggests that the implied common word is UP.
3 D. "It's safe to come out": THE COAST IS CLEAR. Idiomatic, suggesting that there are no enemies in sight. The contained word, when read up is SIT, giving us the SIT UP -- an abdominal endurance training exercise to strengthen, tighten and tone the abdominal muscles. Our multi-talented oldest granddaughter, Amanda, is a certified fitness trainer, and she assures me that this is a completely useless activity.
9 D. Predictors of most 20th-century U.S. presidential elections: GALLUP POLLS. Gallop is an organization that conducts polls: assessments of public opinion by the questioning of a [presumably] statistically representative sample. Here the contained word is PULL. A PULL UP is a closed-chain movement where the body is suspended by the hands and pulls up. As this happens, the elbows flex and the shoulders adduct and extend to bring the elbows to the torso. Resistance is provided by body weight.
25 D. User's rescuer: TECH SUPPORT. This is a service provided by a hardware or software company which provides registered users with help and advice about their products. The contained word is PUSH. The PUSH UP is an exercise in which a person lies facing the floor and, keeping their back straight, raises their body by pressing down on their hands.
11 D. Workout suggested by the circled letters and their orientation: EXERCISE ROUTINE. This is what you get when you combine these items. My routine involves a tread mill and free weights, instead.
Hi gang, JazzBumpa here. I'm not a fitness trainer, but I will be guiding us along as we exercise our brains in this puzzle routine. Let's hit it.
Across:
1. Bank security device, briefly: CCTV. Closed Circuit TV.5. Aim high: GO BIG. Or, as the saying tells us, go home.
10. Harvest: REAP. Gathering in of crops.
14. "Fancy meeting you here!": OH, HI. Sometimes said in awkward situations.
15. Vital vessel: AORTA. The main artery of the body, supplying oxygenated blood to the circulatory system. In humans it passes over the heart from the left ventricle and runs down in front of the backbone
16. Semi bar: AXLE. A rod or spindle (either fixed or rotating) passing through the center of a wheel or group of wheels. A semi is a tractor trailer rig, which will have several AXLES.
18. Shoulder warmer: SHAWL. An article of fabric worn over the shoulders and/or head.
19. Table parts: FEET. Person parts, too.
20. Region on the South China Sea: MACAO. An autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong.
22. Members with unflinching loyalty: STALWARTS. Those who are loyal, reliable, and hardworking.
24. Landlord's sign: TO LET. Meaning: for rent.
26. __ Ellen, J.R.'s wife on "Dallas": SUE. Portrayed by Linda Grey
27. Maximum: CAP. As in a limit on spending.
28. HHS agency: FDA. Food and Drug Administration.
29. Exchange need: RECEIPT. As in returning a purchase to a retail establishment for a refund or replacement.
32. 12-Down output: IPA. India Pale Ale, a hoppy brew.
33. "No problem!": EASY. Piece of cake.
35. ER skill practiced on a doll: CPR. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.
36. Pet-adoption ads, briefly: PSAS. Public Service Announcements.
38. Part of MB: BYTE. The Megabyte [MB] unit of information equal to 2^20 bytes or, loosely, one million bytes. A byte consists of 8 adjacent binary digits (bits), each of which consists of a 0 or 1.
39. Couldn't refuse: HAD TO. No choice.
41. Text recipient: CELL. Cellular telephone
44. Tattoo parlor supplies: INKS. And needles.
46. Pussy-cat's partner, in verse: OWL. In this bit of doggerel. Or, perhaps, it's catterel.
47. One with many limbs: TREE.
48. Facebook barrage, at times: ADS. Unfortunately.
50. Unconscious: OUT COLD. Unconscious or asleep.
53. "Srsly?!": OMG. Oh My Goodness! [perhaps]
54. Media-monitoring org.: FCC. Federal Communications Commission.
55. "Up First" network: NPR. National Public Radio.
56. Flu fighter: SERUM. A fluid used to provide immunity to a pathogen or toxin by inoculation or as a diagnostic agent.
58. Emotionally break down: FALL APART.
62. "__ while they're hot!": GET 'EM. Whatever they happen to be.
64. Bicolor cookie: OREO. Crossword's favorite cookie.
65. Dinnertime draws: ODORS. Aromas are more inviting.
67. Italian tower city: PISA.
68. End of the line: REAR. Back end,
69. Burning again: RELIT. As upon seeing an old flame?
70. Column in math: ONES. Tens, hundreds, thousands . . .
71. Risk it: DARE. Take a chance. It can be beautiful.
72. Walk heavily: TROMP. Or STOMP.
73. Pursue: SEEK. Follow, attempt to catch.
Down:
1. Micro- ending: -COSM. A community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.
2. Calorie counter's break: CHEAT DAY. Based on the idea that a dieter can 'cheat' for one day a week as long as they eat to their diet plan for the remaining six days.
4. Author Gore: VIDAL. Eugene Luther Gore Vidal [1925 - 2012] was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and essays interrogated the social and cultural sexual norms he perceived as driving American life.
5. Fun time, in slang: GAS.
6. Fireworks cries: OOHS. Not to mention Aahs.
7. Frank's cousin: BRAT. Two naughty boys? No, wieners and BRATwurst - types of sausages.
8. Formal confession: IT WAS I. Yep. I done dooed it.
10. Nadal's nickname: RAFA. Rafael Nadal Parera [b 1986] is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is ranked world No. 4 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals; he has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.
12. Pub dispenser: ALE TAP. Keg dispenser
13. Pampering spot for cats and dogs: PET SPA.
21. Above, in poems: O'ER. As, frex, ramparts.
23. Dampens: WETS. Moistens.
28. Winter mo.: FEBruary. Shortest because it's the worst.
30. Bookkeeping pro: CPA. Certified Public Accountant.
31. Triage MD: ER DOC. Emergency Room physician. Triage is the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or casualties.
34. Craving: YEN. I thought about going to Japan but didn't have the YEN to travel.
37. Pretense that's put on: ACT. As in a play, or sometime in real life.
40. 28-Down number: TWO. Because it's the second month of the year.
42. "I wanna look!": LEMME SEE. The more proper "Let me see" also fits.
43. Thanksgiving dinner choice: LEG. Commonly called a drum stick. Always my first choice.
45. Hawaii's __ Coast: KONA. Coffee region, I believe.
48. Pay for on one's own: AFFORD. The ability of pay for something.
49. Georgetown Univ. locale: DC AREA. Near the nation's capitol.
51. Wall Street regular: TRADER. One who frequently buys and sells stocks or options.
52. Ph.D., e.g.: DEG. An advanced degree.
57. Targets for towers: REPOS. Towers, as in vehicles that tow, not tall architectural structures. REPOS are repossessed vehicles, because of a 48 D failure.
59. Mythology: LORE. A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth. I fail to see equivalence here. Myths are historical stories, not necessarily factual, that are of importance to a society. They can be an aspect of LORE, but the whole is not equal to one of its parts.
60. Caramel-centered treat: ROLO. Coated with chocolate.
61. Request at the barbershop: TRIM. Just make me look neat.
63. Render indistinct, as an odor: MASK. Cover something up.
66. Longtime NASCAR sponsor: STP. It's the racer's edge.
40 comments:
FIRight. Okay for a Wednesday.
Would have gotten it wrong on paper, but lack of a ta-da warned me to look for errors. RAFe < RAFA (STALWeRTS was close enough I didn't notice it), and LEtMESEE < LEMMESEE (I couldn't figure out what OtG was). I actual tried LEMESEE first, but it was a letter short.
Didn't like the reveal so soon, but I was able to ignore it until I had the first set of bubbles filled and could see the theme EASY.
When Jessie James was robbing trains
He'd race his horse to catch his goal.
Then match speeds by measured reins
He'd calculated by a GALLOP POLL!
Once there was a corpuscle
Who flowed thru the AORTA.
Refreshed regions cortical,
Because he felt he ourta!
Once there was a wise old OWL
Perched on an older, wiser TREE.
Advice Owl sold was seldom foul.
Counsel from the Tree was free!
{B+, A-, B+.}
FIR in an award winning 28 minutes. DEC at 28D buggered up the west coast for a while, and HAM at 43D buggered up the east coast. Between the two, I spent a lot of time sorting things out. Done with paper and pen, those were my only two W/Os (28D & 43D). It took 40D “TWO” to finally feel the V-8 can smack me in the head that 28D was FEB not DEC, and then FDA & BYTE made more sense than DDA & CYTE. CELL and TREE let me know that HAM had to give way to LEG. I did see the theme, for a change, but thought “UP” would be part of the reveal. Nice CW, JL, thanx. Thanx too to JzB for the nice write-up.
Good morning!
Yup, fell into the LET ME SEE trap, and never fixed it. Figured OTG was some text abbreviation I didn't know. Bzzzzt. But my grid is Wite-Out free. Does that count? Thanx, Julian and JzB.
As just about everyone else has said, I first had " let me see" rather than the correct "lemme see" but I fixed it in time. And the gimmick was opaque to me at first but eventually became clear. FIR, so I'm satisfied.
I was shocked when I read Myra Breckinridge by GORE Vidal. You know the part
I missed "Wanna" as the clue for LEMME(SEE). Left OtG thinking it was some unknown texting abbrev(Hi D-O). REPOS didn't seem to fit that structure- oh the TOW-Truck
As I started I saw Julian Lim was the constructor and groaned. I thought this was late week tough until it wasn't.
I may and may not have unconsciously added UP to the circled words.
FWiW, myth and LORE are basically the same thing, at least for Wednesday xword purposes.
WC
I'm on the way to VA myself today
FIR, interesting puzzle. But still don't care for circles. Yuk!
I'm keeping my chin up, despite taking 8:51 to finish today.
Oh joy, circles.
I stumbled in the mid-right. I had "air" for pretense before "act," and the apparently common "let me" before "lemme". ERDOC and DCAREA took me awhile to parse.
Like WC, I saw Julian Lim's name and thought I was in for a workout - but this was a slow and steady solve - which is also a good approach for an EXERCISE ROUTINE. Not sure why JzB's granddaughter thinks SIT ups are worthless - they are a part of most routines for core strengthening which help with back support. I recommend just lifting far enough to get head and shoulders off the floor and hold isometrically before going back down.
Thanks JzB and Julian for an interesting EXERCISE!
Am I wrong or is this Lim offering below par? Only three theme entries and whelming at that.
Hand up for LEt ME SEE first but I did catch OMG being needed for the perp and fixed it. Other WOs were caused by OWL changing the perp from Ten to TWO. Oh sure, the winter mo. was supposed to be FEB, not Oct, which is actually an Autumn mo. OwenKL, I had RAFe too until STALWARTS filled. Lots of fun fill today, Julian. Thanks!
JazzB, thanks for confirming my FIR today with your informative review. For me the circles were needed to see the theme. No complaints.
New clues today for AORTA and OREO. And I TROMP over to the gym on campus for my EXERCISE ROUTINE a couple of times a week, using the helpful adjustable machines. Granny power on display.
Hope you all have an upbeat day!
Hola!
Aha! I finished a Julian Lim puzzle. Okay, so it's Wednesday, but still a JL. He gave us a break with that long fill which helped immensely. No TECH SUPPORT needed.
However, I fell into the LET ME SEE trap so FIW. Drat! In my defense, I don't know many text abbreviations. OTM seemed correct.
Yesterday I went for a TRIM so that was fresh in my mind.
Thank you, JazzB, for your usual erudition.
Have a fantastic day, everyone!
A tough Wed puzzle to start, as the NW had to wait to the end to FIR. COSM was about last of my choices to add to 'Micro', wanted SAFE instead of CCTV, and the South China Sea has many countries around it. I thought MACAO was just the former Portuguese city. But CHEAT DAY was the hardest fill in the NW, a new unknown for me to remember.
DC AREA was a strange fill; I notice the abbr. on Univ. and knew it was in WASH D.C. but it took perps to get it going correctly.
Never noticed the exercises until EXERCISE ROUTING was filled but I do SIT ups daily and use my Nautilus Gravitron to do PULL ups and Bar dips every day. (40-60 pound resistance) I do that in hopes that I won't FALL APART faster than I already am.
I had to change AIR to ACT for 'Pretense' to get CELL as the text recipient'. I was thinking of some type of person, not the phone.
NPR's "Up First" was the only other unknown today filled by perps. I always like the puzzles with very few proper names. RAFA, VIDAL.
MB- I knew it was Mega BYTE but it could have been Mercedes BENZ.
Thank you Julian Lim for a Wednesday doable puzzle. Took my time, and had no real problems ... except Lemme see. Some of the argot got me ... and the Towers really got me !! I mus remember Crosswordese of towers, flowers, showers, etc.
Thank you JazzBumpa for an eclectic review. Finally understood the meaning of the circles. A brisk long walk is generally enough excercise for me... if I do it faithfully enough...
I agree with you, MYTH and LORE are not equivalent ... but they 're good enough for CWs on a Wednesday.
Flu Fighter ... just about describes it ... Both my daughters, and a son in law have fallen sick to the Corona virus ... despite receiving the 2 mandatory vacc shots, each ... and one or two of the booster shots as well. But they were asymptomatic or mildly so.
I have had my 3 shots, but I am prepared to get infected any month now... I still wear my masks religiously and diligently, and avoid crowds. But I keep thinking that this virus is as inevitable as day and night.
If a certain politician were to get a 'friend' who trod heavily ...
.... would that be TR---'S TRAMP'S TROMP ?
Not meant to be a political statement....
have a nice hump day, you all.
Actually, though not so difficult as I feared seeing JL, I thought the clueing clever
Come to think of it OTG could mean On The Go as Anon-T often is who btw gets a CSO for TECH SUPPORT
Did any wordlers go deja vu on Nadal?
I used to read Owl&Cat to my son when he was 2-3. Wondered about "pussy" (or is that my Myra-esque mind)
Didn't VIDAL and Buckley have a RHUBARB on TV some years back?
WC
Good Morning:
Thanks to the later posters for yesterday’s birthday wishes and kind words. CED, I don’t know which pleased me more, the beautiful cake or the darling Corgis. You’re the bestest, sweetest Imp I know! Thank you! Moe, thoughtfulness is never too late! Michael, Bith Go Raibh Maith Agat, Thank You in Gaelic. (I can’t imagine having to learn that language.)
I have mixed feelings about this puzzle. I don’t think the circles were necessary because the reveal clue is so straightforward that I believe the key words could be found with a bit of effort, thus adding to the challenge. I also thought some of the cluing was off kilter for a Wednesday and that there were an inordinate number of initialisms and abbreviations. On the positive side, I always enjoy a puzzle with down themers as we see them so rarely and, as JazB pointed out, they are usually gimmicky, in a good way. My only w/o was Yam/Leg. Lots of fun pairings with Feet/Leg, CPR/CPA, Rolo/Oreo, FCC/FDA, Gas/STP, and Seed/Tree. CSO to our Nerds (Byte and Tech Support), Ray O (Rafa), InaneHiker and Ray O (CPR, Serum, Aorta, ER Doc), Anon T and Ray O (Pisa), Misty and OMK (Deg), OMK (Act), and all Cornerites (Mask).
Thanks, Julian, for a Wednesday workout and thanks, JazB, for enlightening and entertaining us.
Have a great day.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Julian and JazzB.
I FIRed and saw the Upbeat theme.
COSM beat out Soft, Let me changed to slangier LEMME (we had a plethora of slang expressions today), SHAWL beat out Stole.
I noted ALETAP crossing IPA, ODORS and MASK, ER DOC and CPR.
Does the OWL not get to go to the PET SPA with the cat?
Quick post before a busy day.
Read you all later.
Enjoy your day.
Musings
-Thoroughly maddening and enjoyable!! My favorite criteria.
-CHEAT EAT, DEA and DEC looked so good I moved on and did not double check. So SUE ME! :-)
-Now I have to proctor a test and tell adolescents, “Be sure and check your work!”
-I just polled my 8th grade girls and found out none of them can do a PULLUP.
-Can’t resist, Rooms TO LET, Fifty cents
-When did RECIEPTS get so long?
-Joann mutes the TV and looks away when pet adoption PSA’S come on
-Learning for me today: The Iditarod does not commemorate 1925 Great SERUM Run
-Patsy Cline is a great addition to any day!
-If one lane is closed, do you let someone from the REAR back in line?
-On M*A*S*H they told any patient it’s best to be in the REAR during triage
-Granddaughter just got a big scholarship from American University in the D.C. AREA
I should have recognized Julian trying to PULL a fast one by PUSHing Friday clues on a Wednesday (or was it a Rich last grasp for Xword stardom?). Well I didn't SIT for all this theming ANTI-GRAVITY. Without gravity we'd never 'ave 'ad Isaac Newton. Anywho, I did get some exercise circling around quite a bit to earn my horseshoe.
And thank you JzB for acting as our personal trainer.
Just a few favs:
64A OREO. Quick, name another Xwd cookie?
1D COSM. The Corner is a microCOSM of LA Times Xwd solvers all over the world.
Not so fav clue:
42D I wanna look. Not noting the contracted slang, I too quickly entered LET ME SEE, which as JzB points out fits. But it doesn't perp and earned me an FIW. OTG? Wassat?
43D LEG is my fav too Jzb.
59D LORE. Mythology is much more than simple LORE. It encompasses eternal truths in stories that may or may not have ever occurred. The greatest exposition of this was by 20th Century mythologist Joseph Campbell who himself has had a significant impact on modern mythology
Cheers,
Bill
Out on a LIM for awhile but FIR. Easy theme.😊
Whoa!..SIT UPS don't strengthen the abdominal muscles? Been waisting my time for years? 🙄
NPR: My favorite show is "Wait, Wait Don't Tell me 🙉
The Stones agree ...
"In fact it's a GAS" 😉
Inkovers CHEATing/DAY, yam/LEG, air/ACT (like our Anonymous friend)
"Vital vessel" beer stein?. CPR doll (Resusci Annie): "Annie are you OK?"... since Annie won't answer, start CPR.
Doesn't the poem indicate that Pussy Cat visited the Queen? ("What did she there? Frightened a little mouse under her chair"). Georgetown University's locale? (Like who is buried in Grant's tomb?). "Target for towers" REPOS?.. Ah I see, not tall buildings...clever..."I wanna see" instead of want to clued me in on LEMME instead of "let me).
Agree with JzB, LORE is frequently partly true. "myth" implies fantasy. 🤔
MASK: the new 4-letter word.😆
It would be interesting to list all the various CW clues for OREO. "flu fighter" SERUM or just plain RUM. (A "Foo Fighter"" recently passed.)
Arnold or Quisling....TRADER
Warsaw Cavalry....GALLUPPOLLS
What Japanese "crave".....YEN
Edsel...AFFORD
Kramer at birth... MICRCOSM
Count the rings to determine the ____ TRIAGE.
Hope weather warms up. Tired of being OUTCOLD 🥶
Word of the Day hodiernal
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. (Rare) Related to today (only), this day (only). 2. (Rare) Just for one day.
Notes: This is a rare word hardly ever used outside grammar, e.g. 'hodiernal tense', referring to an event occurring only today. If there were a noun, it would be hodiernality, like most adjectives ending on -al. This word comes with a partner, hesternal, meaning "related to yesterday (only)".
In Play: Mwera, a language spoken in Tanzania, has a hodiernal tense and Mwotlap, an Oceanic language spoken on the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, has a hodiernal future tense. If you ever need a rare word that means "today's", you might try this: "I read in the hodiernal newspaper that you've been promoted to Vice President of Union Busting at your company."
Word History: Today's Good Word was created from Latin hodiernus "of today, today's", the adjective for hodie "today", a reduction of the phrase hoc "this" + dies "day". We find the descendants of this Latin word in all Romance languages, including Spanish hoy, Portuguese hoje, Italian oggi, and French aujourd'hui, literally, "in the day of today"—all meaning "today"
For more info see Word of the Day
Bill's comment: This will the hodiernal post of this word.
FLN, - OwenKL, altar/alter is misgraded, (should be an A+)
From today's poetic intro, (oh, so that's what "doggerel" is...)
"Because he felt he ourta?" =A-?
(I'm sorry, I can only give this one a groan...)
WR-OS
(What Ray-O Said)
Yes, I was "out on a lim" for quite a while on this one.
While I could have stuck it out longer and enjoyed more puzzlement, I for one was happy for the circles and reveal...
Speaking of (doggerel?)
My nose does take offense at the odor vs aroma clueing.
But I will let Mr. Lim slide as the perps here went down like sweet dessert...
Aorta clued as vessel kind of threw me, I imagine the heart as a vessel, but not a blood (vessel?)
Oh nuts, Julian got me on this one...
(From the internet:)
"People also ask
What is vessel in human body?
Blood vessels are channels that carry blood throughout your body. They form a closed loop, like a circuit, that begins and ends at your heart. Together, the heart vessels and blood vessels form your circulatory system. Your body contains about 60,000 miles of blood vessels)
Note:
Don't forget to click on Jzb's blue link below the Dallas pic. (It's a hoot!)
Hmm, speaking of hoot,
Doggerel, catterel? Owlerel???
Oh, I almost forgot,,,
Exercise routine somehow reminded me of Cheers, and specifically, Norm.
I know there has to be a clip out there where Norm shows Cliff that his basic exercise routine is doing one armed pull ups moving the weight of a mug of beer to his lips, but the first clip to come up,
shows what his full exercise routine is...
Delightful Wednesday puzzle, Julian--tough long entries but with plenty of manageable items to help us out. Many thanks for this mid-week pleasure. And thanks for the helpful commentary, JazzB.
The northeast corner is almost always my start to a puzzle. So I was so happy that REAP turned out to be correct and helped with PET SPA and other words in that corner. Only I put table LEGS at first, which didn't work and had to be replaced with FEET.
OK, puzzle wasn't EASY, but nice to see the word show up.
Ah yes, didn't the OWL and the Pussycat go to sea in a boat, or something?
TREE cracked me up as the one with many limbs.
Owen, your first verse made me laugh.
Irish Miss, thank you for giving OMK and me our DEGs.
Cross-eyed Dave, I loved your memory of "Cheers"! What a pleasure it was to watch that show so many years ago.
Have a great day, everybody.
Waz, re: Hodiernal
Latin hodie "today". I remember a Christmas song we sang at an 8th grade public school concert "Christus Natus Hodie"
Corrupted to "Oggi" in Ital. "Hoy" Sp. "Hui" Fr.
Hmm maybe; "corrupted" too strong a term
"evolved into.."😊
According to the clue, you need the owl and the pussy cat as partners. Click on Jazz's link. That doggerel says, "in a beautiful pea green boat."
"Lore - a body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth."
"Myth -body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth." Myth has many meanings with different nuances.
Maybe not a one to one correspondence, but surely a second order synonym. Many crossword answers are not one to one correspondences. I agree with WC.
I had LET ME SEE instead of LEMME SEE. So I had OT- for 53A and missed the G in OMG and LEG. Both easy in retrospect. I see I have a lot of company on this.
We slice the thighs of the turkey for dark meat and call the lower legs drumsticks, but that is no excuse for missing it.
Thanks for the fun Julian and Jazz.
When I saw "WANNA" I avoided the trap and went straight to "LEMME". But hand up with several others who got stuck with AIR before ACT. Surprisingly slow to get MBYTE. Yes, the theme was a bit thin, but I still enjoyed it. Pleased that Julian Lim avoided too many proper names.
Here is my photo of the KONA COAST in 1986
Very rugged. No sandy beaches. But I had just taught myself to snorkel with a cheap kit from the local store there. The snorkeling was excellent there among those volcanic rocks of the KONA COAST. This was before affordable underwater photography, so no photos of that.
From Yesterday:
Vidwan Thank you for the kind words about my eclectic skills. Greatly helped in that case by our very special MUSICAL CONDUCTOR Katie. Yes, I am indeed the only male in the group right now! I am not complaining! Katie's husband Nick used to play harp in the group, but that ended when they had kids and he was more valuable for babysitting! I was introduced to the group by my music teacher Nancy who tragically died hiking last year in Peru.
Lore: You may remember this bit of "Lore" from one of Tom Lehrer's song intros:
"It may remind you of the career of the late doctor Samuel Gall, inventor of the gall-bladder, which certainly ranks as one of the more important technological advances since the invention of the joy-buzzer and the dribble-glass. Doctor gall's faith in his invention was so dramatically vindicated last year, as you no doubt recall, when, for the first time in history, in a nation-wide poll the gall-bladder was voted among the top ten organs.
His educational career began interestingly enough in agricultural school, where he majored in animal husbandry, until they caught him at it one day, whereupon he switched to the field of medicine in which field he also won renown as the inventor of gargling, which prior to that time had been practiced only furtively by a remote tribe in the Andes who passed the secret down from father to son as part of their oral tradition. He soon became a specialist, specializing in diseases of the rich. He was therefore able to retire at an early age"
Agree totally
I really enjoyed this PZL from Mr. Lim, expounded by Jazzbumpa.
Like several colleagues (Owen, desper-otto, Wilbur, &c. &c.), I was puzzled by OTG. Only reading JzB did I realize the perp might be "LEMME" rather than "LET ME."
I did, however, find an alternate meaning in the tech acronym sense, whereby OTG for "On-the-Go" suggests a sense of "hurried KB typing."
When we are in a rush, "On-the-Go," we will often resort to dropping vowels from longer words. In this sense, the fill--OTG--fits the clue "Srsly?!" perfectly!
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals today, all on the near side.
The central diag gives us an anagram (11 of 15 letters) referring to the poor soul who receives unwanted pornography on his/her internet screen.
Such a victim is...
"A LEWD HACKEE"!
Like unclefred I had _AM but knew ham isn't for Thanksgiving so I put YAM until crosses fixed it. Meat from the thigh is as good as from drumstick.
waseeley, (ginger) SNAP is another xword cookie.
DO..If the gallbladder is so popular why do so many people get rid of them.. Actually it was co-invented according to myth by Dr Gall and his partner Dr Bladder of urological fame.
Hi All!
Oy! My brain was stuck in second-gear this morning. Took me forever to fill the grid and my WOs are just embarrassing.
Thanks Julian for the puzzle. Why did Rich put you on a Wednesday(?); felt Thursday hard but, then again, [see: above].
//my trainer makes me UP all them things. DW likes the results ;-)
Thank you JzB for explaining the puzzle with pictures. I think I'm of the last generation that saw Dallas ['cuz stepmom loved the show and probably shot JR herself].
WOs: soft wasn't Micro- ending and safe wasn't either [Hi BigE!], lots of INK wasted spelling GALLUP, had an ale b/f an IPA, put on airs -> ACT, & hand-up: LEt ME.
ESP: MACAO | VIDAL
Fav: BYTE.
And I'll tell you why: At my 1st consulting gig, I was kiddin' w/ a buddy. I sent "BYTE Me!" to his computer but, um, it was to the whole network. Bossman let me stay.
Runner-up: NPR. I listen daily from 5a to 11:55p. I may tune-out next week as they go into Spring Fundraiser mode.
Runner-runner-up: RECEIPT [Roy Wood Jr. TV-MA - click on a DARE]
Somehow, DW takes every DAY as a carb CHEAT. And then blames me(?) ;-)
Anyone else read Foo Fighters at 56a? Nope, just me? R.I.P. Taylor Hawkins
{B+, (?), A}
OMK - You only get those images if Google determined you liked 'em :-)
FLN / Today: SpeedySolver - your one word summaries are a hoot. Don't think I didn't SAW that yesterday.
WC - just a checkup at the VA?
CED - LOL Cheers. There's another show that I'm the last generation to have watched. #MustSeeTV
Yes! Ray-O link'd The Stones at 5d for the win!
Back to work. Cheers, -T
Not one of my most favorite puzzles today. And if ever there is a good example of "Green Paint" I think ALE TAP is it.
Abbreviations, hmmm, let me count them:
CCTV
FDA
IPA
CPR
PSAS
OMG
FCC
NPR
FEB
CPA
ER DOC
DEG
Good wishes to you all.
Anybody have physical fitness tests in the 50s? Casually mentioned was that the % of European girls who passed the identical test was higher than our boys. But…
One of the tests was standing on your head for 8 seconds. I passed that one standing…
I like WaitWaitDon'tTellme. I never remember to tune in on the weekend. Re.(RHUBARB) I liked Garrison too
Doggerel referred to a cheap wooden hilt not a specially metallic one(not to speak of the fancy SCABBARD)
WC
WC - Well, not the 50s... You Marine you....
We were de-cluttering the bookshelf: Eldest found my St. Joe's report card from when I was (let's say 12 years old).
I got a C+ in P.E. [see 12d]. She laughed at [not with!] me.
I told her:
"Yeah, that's when they didn't give participation grades."
"And climbing a rope b/f you hit puberty is a hard."
//Nailed it in Basic Army training :-)
WWDTM is pretty funny. The programme [for C, Eh!] is my Saturday coffee goto.
Don't get him wrong though...
Peter Segal plays nice on NRP, but he's very a naughty boy [cite] and a marathoner.
I introduced our new analysts to "Non Impediti Ratione Cogitationis" (Unencumbered by the Thought Process). So I think my work today is done.
//Tom & Ray would be so proud.
Cheers, -T
Anon-T,
I think I may have discovered something profound.
I am not sure it applies to everything,,,
But as a mechanic trying to fix a Chinese scooter...
Life is the Hokey Pokey... (that's what it's all about...)
… You put your one foot in
You put your one foot out
You put your one foot in
And you shake it all about
… You do the hokey pokey
And you turn yourself around
That's what it's all about.
This may seem confusing/&/or bizarre,
But, Chinese cheap crappy Scooters require,
You do "everything" over and over again you get it right...
(You would not believe what finally fixed it. )
(Actually, it was multiple problems.)
But, in the end....
( actually Chinese cheap scooter problems never end...)
But,
What I did learn was a life lesson...
(Life is the Hokey Pokey...)
CED, LOL & ++Life Force. -T
Waseeley, don't forget the additional form to today's word: when you miss -- or miss out -- on something today, "HO-DIERN-IT!" is appropriate.
I too am happy to have finished a Julian Lim mid-week puzzle. No problem with the theme and reveal either.
As usual, I printed out and started today’s puzzle right after signing off last night. I probably got about two-thirds of it done before I went to sleep. However, the undone third and (more importantly) some of what I had already done needed some re-working and some real thought, which I’m not used to doing a 0700. However, I got it all squared away within an hour.
Nothing “formal” about 8D. That’s the only CORRECT way to say it. (There I go picking nits again. Sorry.)
It took me a little effort to figure out where Julian was going with 48D, having lived in THAT metro area three different times in my life. I finally saw the light.
I needed a couple of perps for RAFA. I haven’t watched tennis since Chrissy retired.
Thanks, Julian and JazzB.
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