Good morning, Cruciverbalists . . . and what a nice morning it is here! What's happenin' wordsmiths? What's in store for us today? What's with this puzzle? Exactly.
Malodorous Manatee here with the post-puzzle recap. Today's puzzle setter, making (I believe) her LAT debut, is the highly accomplished Katherine Baicker. Here is a link to her Wikipedia page:
Despite the obvious depth and breadth of her experience, here, today, Katherine asks only a single, simple question. That question is not Who, Why or Where (except, maybe, for 27 Across) but, simply, WHAT. The reveal is found at 39 Across:
39 Across: Rhetorical strategy of countering an accusation with another accusation, and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues: WHATABOUTISM. It means to twist criticism back on the initial critic. The short version: "I know you are but what am I?"
The word WHAT is split evenly in half and the WH and AT bracket the multi-word themed answers. The word WHAT could be said to be ABOUT the answers (as in "There are challenges all about (around) us.") The structure of the theme is similar to last Thursday's puzzle but today's is simpler because the identical broken-up word pattern is repeated. When I saw the IS of WHISKEY I thought, for a brief moment that we would find ISM in the middle of the bracketing. That would have been quite impressive but 'twas not to be.
Here are the starred clues/answers:
18 Across: *Easy order for a bartender: WHISKEY NEAT. Nothing simpler to pour. Straight. No ice. No mixer. No lime wedge. No umbrella.
27 Across: *The place to be, informally: WHERE IT'S AT. Let me show you . . .
The Dave Clark Five - 1965
55 Across: *Toast choice: WHOLE WHEAT. Not a wedding tradition. Bread. Not money bread but food bread.
64 Across: *"Is it almost time for dinner?": WHEN DO WE EAT.
And now, with apologies to Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story:
Across:
1. First lady Biden: JILL. Not to be confused with the first lady. Eve.
15. On a cruise: ASEA. What do the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and reading have in common? Both are literacy (litter ASEA).
16. Couple: PAIR UP. Used as a verb. To become a couple.
17. "Mon __!": DIEU. Today's French lesson. OMG!
20. Rare blood type, briefly: B NEG. "Briefly" tips us off that neither NEGative nor POSitive will be called for. Also, we can be pretty sure that the answer will start with A, B or O.
21. B'way passes: TIX. Slang for tickets.
22. Blasting material: TNT. TriNitroToluene.
23. "Oh, brother!": YEESH. Just a wee bit of a punt. Still, easier to suss out than its crossing partner, 23 Down.
24. "It __ meant to be": WASN'T.
29. "Invisible Man" novelist: ELLISON.
31. Galoot: OAF.
32. Bygone airline: TWA. So many from which to choose but few with three letter.
72. Mani-pedi spots: SPAS. Oft' visited in puzzles.
73. "What a shame": IT'S SAD. Might this refer to the number of things-people-could-say clues/answers used today?
74. Fig or olive: TREE. TREE, clued this way, could have been clued with approximately sixty thousand other words. Fortunately, we've seen this gimmick before.
Down:
1. Moose __, Saskatchewan: JAW.
Mac The Moose - Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
2. "Give or take": ISH. Punt
3. Floral wreath: LEI.
4. Yesterday evening: LAST NIGHT.
Traveling Wilburys
5. Climber's goal: APEX. ACME was also a reasonable guess.
6. Blu-__ Disc: RAY.
7. Closer's inning: NINTH. A baseball reference.
8. Adler called "the woman" by Sherlock Holmes: IRENE. A not infrequent visitor.
9. Dos y dos: CUATRO. Today's Spanish and math mashup. 2 + 2 = 4
10. Suitable: APT. Anyone presently looking for an APT 2-bedroom apt.?
11. "__ on it": "You can be sure": I'D BET.
12. Best: FINEST.
Winston Churchill
13. Experience schoolyard highs and lows?: SEESAW.
The Moody Blues - Not 1968
14. Should, informally: OUGHTA.
19. Hobby shop buys: KITS. Sometimes clued as young foxes.
23. Liu who plays the title role in 2020's "Mulan": YIFEI. What? Who?
24. Organic flytrap: WEB. Spider WEB.
25. More than most: ALL. All is certainly more than most.
26. Boring: SLOW. If I had a dollar for every time someone called me a boring nerd I'd have a mean daily income of $6.54 with a standard deviation of $1.25.
27. Sparks org.: WNBA. Women's National Basketball Association
28. Singer Sheena: EASTON.
30. Ban: OUTLAW. Used as a verb.
35. Tidal movement: EBB and 54. Tidal movement: FLOW. The second set of clues paired like this. Brava.
36. Joey of kiddie lit: ROO. Kanga's child. A joey is a baby kangaROO
Kanga and Roo
38. Final thoughts?: ESSAY TEST. A final exam might have an essay component.
40. Buenos __: AIRES. Argentina. Neither NOCHES, nor TARDES nor DIAS would have fit.
41. Hand or foot: UNIT. Cute. Body parts, too. A hand is a unit, now standardized at 101.6 mm but based on the breadth of a human hand, used to measure the height of horses.
42. "Mental Illness" Grammy winner Aimee: MANN.
46. HDTV choice: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. It could have been a brand name (e.g. NEC, JVC, RCA).
47. __ shadow: EYE.
48. Unexpected endings: TWISTS.
49. "I'm blushing!": OH STOP.
50. "Fancy!": OOLALA. More often spelled this way:
52. Southern California chain known for pastrami: THE HAT. I'm a native of SoCal and I have spent more than a few hours at the (pellet) grill but I had never heard of this restaurant. Pastrami could also be savored in yesterday's USA Today puzzle constructed by C.C.
Photo and Pastrami by MM
56. Lets use for now: LENDS.
57. Ideal places: EDENS.
58. Some matriarchs: AUNTS.
62. "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck: TODD. The show debuted in 1947 and there have been only eleven permanent moderators in all this time.
64. 1910s conflict, for short: WWI. World War (Roman Numeral) One
65. Narc's org.: DEA. Two
66. Unit of corn: EAR. Three
67. Get on in years: AGE. Four
68. Simple shirt: TEE. Five. The last of five three-letter answers to (almost) wrap things up.
It is not often that a first time LAT constructor has her own Wikipedia page, but Katherine does. She is a puzzle mentee of Ross Trudeau and first appeared in a collaboration with Ross in November 2021 in the Universal platform, followed up with a solo effort there.
She appears to be an ideal match with Patty and Christina, and does bring a variety of potential complete unknowns. MULAN was a wonderful animated movie out of Japan which begat a live action version by Disney MULAN TRAILER . The actress was excellent. The Southern California chain known for pastrami: THE HAT was beyond me, I had GEESH before YEESH, and the use of the plant is likely not widely known.
Finally, the theme fill WHATABOUTISM is too woke for me.
Joseph your write-up was great but not know STAN LEE if only from puzzles was puzzling. Thank you Katherine and MM
FIRight. It's Thursday, near the end of the week. Several unknowns: ARNICA, YIFEI, THEHAT, and several proper names. The theme was about as easy as they get, but the reveal was obscure.
I can only echo what OwenKL has said. I could hardly believe there was a person named "Yifei" but the perps made it mandatory, and, fortunately, it turned out to be right. FIR, so I'm happy.
Yay, a themeless Thursday. D'oh. Only needed Wite-Out to change IN UTERO to INFANCY. That crossing of YEESH and YIFEI was brutal. The Y was a WAG and my final fill. Impressive debut (and resumé), Katherine. Thanx for explaining the missing theme, MalMan. (I thought of linking the Wilburys, but you beat me to it.)
ARNICA: No idea what it is, but there was a tricky problem in H.S. algebra involving a solution of ARNICA. Also, no idea why I would recall that 60+ years later.
Putin is a master "What abouter", and an American friend of his has used it a time or two.
I LIU, and see that a common name for ARNICA is Wolfsbane.
MM, you should be sent to a punitentiary for ASEA & SALE!
IIRC, MON DIEU was a catch-phrase for Poirot.
STAN Lee made a cameo in every Marvel Universe movie. Since he was in his late 90's when he died (or was assassinated -- there are rumors), I understand he pre-filmed several cameos that could be inserted into future Marvel movies long after he died!
TEETER (totter) < SEESAW.
Way back when I directed an amateur theater (very amateur), one of the plays we did was a Shadow episode.
FIW. Never heard of YEESH, YIFEI, or Mulan, and will forget all three by the time I hit "Publish". I confidently changed shESH to sEESH to accommodate I'D BET.
SALEs at malls these days are likely to be final clearance events, since the fancy enclosed malls have fallen out of fashion and are failing all around the country.
I remember when gas pumps couldn't handle prices above $0.999 per gallon. When prices went to $1.019. stations set the price to $0.509 and doubled it. (It was before pay-at-the-pump.) Now retailers are doing a Y2K-type effort to make sure pumps can handle prices above $9.999.
I'll check for favorite constructors, but probably won't be back until Monday. I hope all Cornerites enjoy the weekend.
Thanks to MalMan for the fun commentary. BTW, my favorite SoCal restaurant is the Apple Pan, on Pico IIRC. Except for late night drives home after a Dodger game, and that was the Tommy's across the street from the Budweiser brewery in The Valley. Chili on everything they sell, a great hangover preventer.
Creative and fun puzzle - went faster than many Thursdays. ARNICA was a gimme for me - my granddad thought Tincture of ARNICA was great to rub on whatever was sore (muscles, joints) and my uncle thought the same. Boy did it stink though!
I have a friend who uses YEESH all the time to express her exasperation or frustration!
I enjoyed solving the puzzle last night. My home was 40 miles from Moose Jaw. My children liked riding through there as we went to water slides in Medicine Hat. Also, today, my husband had B-neg blood type.
A DFN today. I was thinking WHAT ABOUT YOU, with the WHISKEY, WHERE, WHOLE, WHEN, and WHAT starts. Never heard the term WHATABOUTISM but with the flimsy spelling of Y-J-G-EESH and the unknown YIFEI I couldn't make it work. My ESSAY was didn't make the grade.
Unknows that I did fill correctly were THE HAT, ELLISON, MANN, and Paul LYNDE (should have known that one). ARNICA- my arms and only my arms bruise every time they bump anything. Arnica doesn't work for me.
In NOLA Eddie Jordan was an incompetent US Attorney and DA who was known for wearing a hat and some of his campaign slogans were 'Vote for THE HAT'. He was a lousy prosecutor and got his backing from our crooked Congressman William Jefferson, who ended up in prison. Had $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer. Jordan ended up resigning.
YEESH! This, crossing YIFEI got me today for a FIW. I put in jEESH, but had considered gEESH as well. Liu was no help. But wait, there's more! I also totally missed the theme. I did notice the questions: WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and wondered why WHI was spelled wrong. I stayed struggling with this and didn't look further.
The ISM ending was a guess in a tricky spot but worked so it could have been much worse. I also put SLOg before SLOW and neap before FLOW but no other WOs. The "aha" moments were fun. Thanks, Katherine. And your review was helpful and fun, MalMan. Thanks!
The days are getting hotter and there's work to be done. Best to get started. Have a good Thursday, all!
Alright, KB, you almost got me. It took 47 minutes to FIR. DNK any of the eleven (11) proper names except JILL and BONO. Also DNK ARNICA, DIEU, or THEHAT. W/O QUATRO:CUATRO, ANEG:BNEG. Coulda been PEAK or ACME, but perps revealed APEX. Thanx for the workout, KB. Thanx too to MM for the terrific write-up. Please know that all your time and effort is (are?) appreciated. How's Bommer?
Musings -WH__AT stood out and I too searched for ISM in the middle -Me too, our streak of obscurities remains unabated with YIFEI. -GEESH or JEESH, nope it’s YEESH (Ed Norton exclamation) -Oops, a “Q” doesn’t work at ARNI_A and _UATRO (sorry, Lucina!) -When telling kids to PAIR UP in class for an activity, I had to make sure everyone got included -WANTED – Both full time and substitute teachers are much in demand -My musical entry for LAST NIGHT -Anyone else have LAST WORDS for final thoughts? -TWIST – What? Bob Newhart (as Dick Loudon) was just dreaming about being an innkeeper?
My downfall was the Cuatro/Arnica crossing, not knowing Spanish led to Quatro and never having heard of Arnica led to a FIW. The other landmine, Yeesh/Yifei was a WAG. Doesn’t Jayce use Yeesh often? Other unknowns were The Hat and Mann. The reveal clue came early but it took me a few minutes to figure out the “What” split in the answers. There were numerous fun pairings today: Told/Rat, Ear/Eye/Jaw, See/Tee/Tree, Ebb/Flow, Slow/Flow, See/Seesaw, Ebb/Web, Infancy/Tot, Age/Sage, Neat/Wheat/Eat, and Hat/Rat. Plenty of CSOs, as well: Jayce (Yeesh?), DO (Asea), Cornerites (Blog), Golfing Gang (Tee), Academics (Edu), and Ray O (Ray).
Thanks, Katharine, and congrats on your LA Times debut and thanks, MalMan, for a succinct summary, laden with humor. Boring nerd you’re not! 🤭
FLN
Ray and Tony, Tucci’s upcoming Sunday’s episode has him exploring Italian cuisine in, of all places, London. Should be interesting. 🍝
I forgot to mention my Dorothy (Oz)/Mary Poppins fiasco the other day. Just as I was pulling into a parking spot for a medical appointment, the skies opened up and the wind started gusting like crazy. I had a Totes-type umbrella which I started to raise while getting out of the car. Well, before I got it fully open, the wind blew the top right off and it skittered across the parking lot, leaving me holding the top-less pole and, I might add, getting drenched. I hurriedly retrieved the top but there was no way I could fix it, so I threw it in the trash and went about my business. When I left the appointment, I discovered that my car key wasn’t in my pocket but had probably fallen to the ground while I was dealing with the umbrella fiasco. Happy ending, though, thanks to the extra set of keys in my purse. At least I didn’t get blown away! 🤣
Actually, I did learn something from this puzzle, or the write up, and that's that I need to learn how to play "SeeSaw" on my guitar. Unfort7natley, in order t9 learn something this complicated, I have to watch "many" different how to videos to catch all the different aspects of how this brilliant song was out together. But there is "something" about this one particular video that speaks out to me.
Too many "never heard ofs" to list, but that's to be expected at my age and living in a town of only 5,000 too far from anywhere with big city chains, and after two years without movies in theaters or much else going on.
OUGHTA reminded me of Aussies complaining about the government, generally referred to as the great AORTA, as in: "'ey oughta do something about...?"
This seemed easy until I got to the East Coast. YIFEI did me in. Also I had Q for C in cuatro. I spelled LYNDE with an I. Otherwise it was a good puzzle. I think constructors and editors "oughta" try harder to avoid using so many names. I wish they would take this on as a challenge. To me names are a fun sponge, even when I know them or they have good perps, but more so when they are clumped together. I missed the theme, but it should have be gettable. MM, I like your style. I recognized it right away. Whataboutism - I hate when politicians duck an answer to a complaint about themselves with a nonsequitur complaint about someone else. But I do think "What about you?" when, for example, an inveterate liar calls everyone else a liar. Now, on to the dentist. Oh, joy!
ARNICA was UNK, 6 perps. I wonder if it'd work for the pain in my foot. I think it's gout. In fact I'm at emergency right now. It was the shrimp in the fried rice from Tuesday
There's my bad box. I had qUATRO/CUATRO vs unknown ARNICA. Also a pure Natick on jEESH/jIFEI needing a Y not J or G. Jayce is the expert on geesh
Lamont Cranston was the SHADOW as I recall
This was one of the easier Thursdays but I stalled on INFANCY and ESSAY TEST. Those were excellent clues. Various tests(motor vehicle come to mind) are easy but have one or two stumblers.
I too was defeated by many unknowns crossed with other unknowns. On the other hand I’m glad to see Ellison’s novel recognized. Although not as well known as the work of his contemporaries, Ellison’s Invisible Man ranks up there with the greatest 20th century American novels.
More TWISTS again today. But so twisted I DNF ..It woulda been one wrong proper name WAG after another and that's not how you OUGHTA do a puzzle.
ITSSAD but in some TWISTed way I'm glad I didn't finish a puzzle with YEESH as an answer. Plus YIFEI, MANN, TODD, ARNICA (Owen KL wolf's bane?..InanH, mayne ot smelled bad but bet Grandad was never attacked by a wolf!😁) ....
Inkovers: toobad/ITSSAD ,Linde/LYNDE, emag/BLOG (what's that?😉) Agree Malman..usually oh la la or ooh la la. Almost put WHISKEY SOUR, 🧉but not a simple drink to make. BONO (Sonny's cousin?) Due + due ≈ Quattro (Ital)
YEP, fell into the trap..It's not The Invisible Manby HG Wells. Methinks we've has this ruse played on us before. The wh's helped parse the last WHEN.
"Don't Cry for me Buenos AIRES and Surrounding Country" (original title before it was abbreviated) 😉
I'll dry my DNF tears with nonsense.... (litter asea/literacy..cool!!)🤧
How will you know where they go?....EYE SHADOW. Lyme disease culprits....TIX Unornate...INFANCY Pealed....TOLD Any one of DW's relatives....OUTLAW
One thing I really like about Crossword Cornerites is even when they DNF or FIW they always have witty and original things to say, and they (as a rule) maintain a cheerful outlook on life. You guys rock!
Thursday toughie, but that's what they're supposed to be--so, still, many thanks, Katherine. Great images and explanations, MalMan, thanks for those too.
My favorite, of course, was getting BLOG on the blog.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Katherine and MalMan. Officially a FIW today, but I did get the theme . Hand up for looking for what the WHAT was ABOUT (wow, that’s a mouthful). My downfall was the cross of YIFEI and YEESH. I chose the J (isn’t it Jayce who says Jeesh?).
I’m glad to see that it was not my Canadian disadvantage that forced me to wait for perps for THE HAT. I must travel to California. But I have been to Moose JAW. The city’s own website says this about the name’s origin. “ The name Moose Jaw comes from a Cree name for the place, moscâstani-sîpiy, meaning “a warm place by the river”. The first two syllables, moscâ-, sound remarkably like “moose jaw”.”
My toast at 55A caused a major inkblot when I jumped to enter brEAd with only the EA in place. WHEAT is needed. I knew ARNICA although I would not recommend the homeopathic product. Your FDA (not DEA) does not evaluate those products for safety or effectiveness. There may be some evidence for the herbal topical product of higher concentration.
Welcome back kazie. Good to hear from you too Montana.
In reading all of the comments about "Yeesh" and "Yifei" I have to admit it was a bit of a WAG for me, too. But "Yeesh" as a euphemistic watering down of "Jesus" was known to me, so that's what I guessed. And it turned out to be right.
I just heard from TTP that my 9:06 post was held up but now appears in that time slot, in case anyone missed my daily musings. 😂 While waiting to hear from TTP about the absent post, I remembered a comment someone said the other day about “ so, we can’t say a certain word any more” and I remembered using that word to describe the gusting wind. If this is the reason, it’s an example of the definition of said word, IMO. 😉
Hand up I cry foul over ?EESH. Hand up flipped coin between J and G but it was Y. ?EESH is supposed to be a softened form of "JESUS" which needs to start with J or G. Sorry.
I did enjoy the theme as WHATABOUTISM is my pet peeve when discussing a controversial subject.
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT is an oxymoron. By definition, HOMEOPATHIC means it contains not a single molecule of the claimed "TREATMENT". Are people aware of this?
Hard to get actual TIX anymore. Worst of all? Venues that demand you install an "app" on a phone or else you don't get any TIX. What could possibly go wrong?
I am constantly searching for good Jewish deli food. Live in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Never heard of THE HAT. Has anyone been there? We go to BRENTS if we are in LA which also fit.
We live in SAGE country. In the mint family. Most have square stems.
From Yesterday: Tante Nique, Jinx, AnonT Yes, I print the puzzle from the LA Times web site and fill it in pen.
Jinx and Others How do you get it to print properly from the LA Times web site? About a year ago it stopped working properly. Printing leaves out half the squares. I have to do a screen shot and print from that.
RayOSunshine Sorry for being dense: What is HICIREL?
Vidwan Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and detailed reply to my TANTRA comments and Borobudur photo. Loved the additional images you shared.
You said Jonathan Schooler was a master of clever acronyms.. and in the "HIghly CIted REsearchers List". Wouldn't that be HICIREL? (a not so clever acronym)
Yikes! It's so very late. I believe I am suffering from jet lag! Or maybe it's just old age that is slowing me. In any case, I enjoyed solving this gem from Katherine Baicker.
Who is it on the BLOG that likes WHISKEY NEAT?
I used to love the quips by Paul LYNDE. He was funny.
When I do eat bread, which is rare, it is WHOLE WHEAT.
ARNICA is unfamiliar and unknown to me.
Returning from the airport yesterday we took UBER and were surprised at how economical it was. It was my first experience with it.
YIFEI?? No idea.
YEESH a sort of CSO to Jayce.
The last time I flew on TWA was to Hawaii in about 1983 or so.
STAN Lee lived here in AZ.
I hope you are all well and from the comments so far, it appears so.
WAY TOO MANY proper names today--as have been noted above by colleagues--plus an unknown (to me) product, on an ASYMMETRICAL grid. It's all fine, just not for me ... ~ OMK
DNF. My favorite bit was MalMan's commentary, along with all of your observations. YEESH, YIFEI, and LYNDE were among my WHAT?s today. Just looked up The Hat and learned that it started in East LA and spread to outskirts from there. Here on the Westside, it is completely foreign.
Picard, about printing from the LA Times web site, I do every Sunday and it has been working fine so far. I wonder if it depends on your printer and it’s settings? I use a HP printer.
Well sheesh. YEESH and YIFEI killed me. DIEU went in, came out, and went back in after I figured out ID BET and OUGHTA. I couldn't let go of WHAT ABOUT YOU for a long time and not knowing YIFEI and MANN didn't help. TOO BAD had to be changed to ITS SAD. NEAP became FLOW. Never heard of THE HAT and will forget it quickly.
I appreciate and enjoy solving a difficult puzzle if it is in fact solvable by thought and logic. I can even eke out an iota of enjoyment from a cross-name trivia-filled puzzle if I learn something from it. I'm reviewing in my mind whether I learned anything new from today's puzzle that I am likely to remember and make future use of, and the results are not encouraging.
NaomiZ & MalMan ~ I've lived in SoCal for over 40 years & have never heard of The HAT either. These glorified sandwich stands apparently take their name from the chef's toque in the logo. (Not as cool as the cowboy version used by Arby's!)
I may have missed it, but it does not look as if there are any THE HATs in the City of Los Angeles. Nor down here in OC. They seem to be east of LA proper, out to Riverside, and in the Valley up to San Bernardino. All hovering around the main SoCal action. ~ OMK
Picard, I've printed out the CW from the LAT site for years, using various Win10 laptops, desktops, printing to ink jet and laser printers from HP, Epson and one or two other brands that don't remember. My isp is cox cable when I'm at home, and either Verizon or public WiFi when I'm away. Never had a problem with any combination. Here's the URL I use: https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword
Thanks Katherine for the puzzle. WEES, that NE was a WAGfest.. Congrats on the LAT debut.
"Oar deal"? Really, MManatee? ;-) Thanks for the fun expo - love me some Moody Blues! //fun link too, CED //BTW, DW, in Puerto Rico with her students, went to a manatee rescue facility this morning
FIW: jEESH | jIEFEI WOs: qUATRO (Hi KS!), WHISky -> WHISKEY sour -> NEAT ESPs: ARNICA, DIEU, yIFEI, THE HAT Fav: R.I.P. STAN Lee. He has a whole new generation of fans (my Girls are two) due to the Marvel Movies
Beck - WHERE ITS AT. //Thanks for Psychedelic Shack, Jinx. Thanks for the Keys, HG. And yes, Bob Newhart's finale is still one of the greatest moments on TV. See also M*A*S*H
Good luck with the account woes, Montana. It's great to see you back even as Anon. B-Negative? No, I like to B-Positive in life (and my ABO type :-)) Also a big Welcome Back to Kazie!
Lem - WHAT-ABOUT-ISM -- lazy arguments trying to equate one bad to another (usually about a competitor) but is completely different.
IM - when you just can't win you joke about it... Love it! I hope you're dry now.
WC - God Speed eBuddy. Did you not know they put shellfish in there (or just didn't care 'cuz it was yummy?)?
Picard & Ray-O: LOL... I read it as Hi-Circle. Like the upper-echelon. #DyslexiaInAction :-)
I read ELLISON's book in HS. English teacher made us pick a book from her shelves. "Cool! SciFi," I thought... Took me about 50 PAGES before I realized the narrator was NOT a dude with an invisibility potion / cloak. Powerful story, however.
I don't know her new music but Aimmee MANN was front for TIL Tuesday //see what I did there :-)
Have you tried selecting "save to PDF" as your printer? I've done that when I've run out of paper, toner, and/or a working printer. Then I've been able to print the PDF when I've resolved the problem.
I started to fill in the puzzle in today's paper, and then said, " Wait, WHAT??!"
MM will "get" my humor, as he asked both Bill and me to solve this LAST week, to see if he was missing anything from the puzzle, theme-wise. I stopped filling at WHISKEY, NEAT. A CSO to Tinbeni (where's he been?), who abhors ice in his Scotch. So Andy, if you're reading these posts (lurking), I'll raise my first toast at sundown to you! I also like my WHISKEY, NEAT
The puzzle was ok - the YEESH crossing wasn't my favorite but the puzzle has its moments. Nice debut by the constructor, and a thoroughly enjoyable recap by the stinky sea cow
Thank you Katherine Baicker for a challenging Thursday puzzle, I completed it barely with a lookup. but I sorta / otta enjoyed it ...
Thank you Mal Man for your extensive review that explained all.
I was also befuddled at many places YEESH / YIFEI etc and ARNICA , as many of you were, but I muddled through it all ... not something Id enjoy doing for a living ...
... and, it is very popular in certain parts of India, ,,,, it may not cure you, and it certainly takes a lot of time and patience, but it prolly will not kill you ... ;-x)
BTW, Western Medicine, which we are familiar with, is called Allopathy .... and, in addition there is Ayurvedic Medicine ( Hindu med.) and Unani (Muslim meds.) and ofcourse, Chinese Medicine.
Have a nice evening, all. and a great weekend ahead...
SubG, not when it's a pure Natick like YEESH. Nor a spelling of qUATRO with a C. I should've caught the last, as ARNICA reads better. I missed a very difficult xword by misspelling the Dnieper River(EI). That still smarts*
Actually in the Latin it's Iesus(INRI**) which would become YEESH.
Re. Homeopathy and non AMA certified "Treatment ". Apparently Massachusetts passed laws cracking down on "Eastern" medicine.
One type is Reiki which has only one thing going for it. It seems to work. Along with this is psychosomatic "pain". Again , pain is pain and 'cure" means pain is gone.
Speaking of… Thanks Anon-T for your concern. They took an XRay which saw some degeneration in the ankle. Which I had a cast on for weeks in 2nd grade. Still walked to and from(½ mile) school including lunch break. I stopped at a convenient store and asked for a glass of water. Owner told me to get lost. Then he saw the cast. But no Coca-Cola.
I even have some pain pills to go with non NSAID Gout pills. I should be fine tomorrow. Got an Ace bandage too.
Hi Y'all! After 20 years of writing for newspapers, (despite the fact I haven't published anything for pay since 1998) WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW are indelibly inscribed on my brain. So I didn't go looking past those for a theme that turned out to be WHAT? There were a lot of WHAT? questions in my mind throughout the entire puzzle. When I was writing for pay, my strength was digging into the issues of the day and presenting facts in such a manner as to promote understanding. When I saw an obvious wrong situation, I tried to educate the voters & politicians to right those wrongs. Mostly I was successful at this. I guess this is why I think crossword constructors should present words & clues that give solvers a fair chance of getting and enjoying the material. I don't mind learning new facts about far away places and people, etc., but YEESH! Some puzzles are on overload.
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52 comments:
It is not often that a first time LAT constructor has her own Wikipedia page, but Katherine does. She is a puzzle mentee of Ross Trudeau and first appeared in a collaboration with Ross in November 2021 in the Universal platform, followed up with a solo effort there.
She appears to be an ideal match with Patty and Christina, and does bring a variety of potential complete unknowns. MULAN was a wonderful animated movie out of Japan which begat a live action version by Disney MULAN TRAILER . The actress was excellent. The Southern California chain known for pastrami: THE HAT was beyond me, I had GEESH before YEESH, and the use of the plant is likely not widely known.
Finally, the theme fill WHATABOUTISM is too woke for me.
Joseph your write-up was great but not know STAN LEE if only from puzzles was puzzling. Thank you Katherine and MM
FIRight. It's Thursday, near the end of the week.
Several unknowns: ARNICA, YIFEI, THEHAT, and several proper names.
The theme was about as easy as they get, but the reveal was obscure.
I can only echo what OwenKL has said. I could hardly believe there was a person named "Yifei" but the perps made it mandatory, and, fortunately, it turned out to be right. FIR, so I'm happy.
Good morning!
Yay, a themeless Thursday. D'oh. Only needed Wite-Out to change IN UTERO to INFANCY. That crossing of YEESH and YIFEI was brutal. The Y was a WAG and my final fill. Impressive debut (and resumé), Katherine. Thanx for explaining the missing theme, MalMan. (I thought of linking the Wilburys, but you beat me to it.)
ARNICA: No idea what it is, but there was a tricky problem in H.S. algebra involving a solution of ARNICA. Also, no idea why I would recall that 60+ years later.
Putin is a master "What abouter", and an American friend of his has used it a time or two.
I LIU, and see that a common name for ARNICA is Wolfsbane.
MM, you should be sent to a punitentiary for ASEA & SALE!
IIRC, MON DIEU was a catch-phrase for Poirot.
STAN Lee made a cameo in every Marvel Universe movie. Since he was in his late 90's when he died (or was assassinated -- there are rumors), I understand he pre-filmed several cameos that could be inserted into future Marvel movies long after he died!
TEETER (totter) < SEESAW.
Way back when I directed an amateur theater (very amateur), one of the plays we did was a Shadow episode.
FIW. Never heard of arnica and misspelled cuatro with a Q. Also never heard of Yifei and yeesh was a stretch. Oh well, it's Thursday.
FIW. Never heard of YEESH, YIFEI, or Mulan, and will forget all three by the time I hit "Publish". I confidently changed shESH to sEESH to accommodate I'D BET.
The Temptations know WHERE IT'S AT - it's at the Psychedelic Shack.
SALEs at malls these days are likely to be final clearance events, since the fancy enclosed malls have fallen out of fashion and are failing all around the country.
I remember when gas pumps couldn't handle prices above $0.999 per gallon. When prices went to $1.019. stations set the price to $0.509 and doubled it. (It was before pay-at-the-pump.) Now retailers are doing a Y2K-type effort to make sure pumps can handle prices above $9.999.
I'll check for favorite constructors, but probably won't be back until Monday. I hope all Cornerites enjoy the weekend.
Thanks to MalMan for the fun commentary. BTW, my favorite SoCal restaurant is the Apple Pan, on Pico IIRC. Except for late night drives home after a Dodger game, and that was the Tommy's across the street from the Budweiser brewery in The Valley. Chili on everything they sell, a great hangover preventer.
Creative and fun puzzle - went faster than many Thursdays.
ARNICA was a gimme for me - my granddad thought Tincture of ARNICA was great to rub on whatever was sore (muscles, joints) and my uncle thought the same. Boy did it stink though!
I have a friend who uses YEESH all the time to express her exasperation or frustration!
Thanks MM and Katherine!
I enjoyed solving the puzzle last night.
My home was 40 miles from Moose Jaw.
My children liked riding through there as we went to water slides in Medicine Hat.
Also, today, my husband had B-neg blood type.
Montana
I can’t get my account back.
I’ll work on it.
Montana
Took 9:01 today for me to answer "WHat's up with thAT?" And by "that," I mean that top-right corner.
A French saying, over a blood type, over an alleged saying (presumably from America), crossing an actress from Disney movie?
Arnica was unknown, but I can accept that. Same for "The Hat." That top-right corner though....
A DFN today. I was thinking WHAT ABOUT YOU, with the WHISKEY, WHERE, WHOLE, WHEN, and WHAT starts. Never heard the term WHATABOUTISM but with the flimsy spelling of Y-J-G-EESH and the unknown YIFEI I couldn't make it work. My ESSAY was didn't make the grade.
Unknows that I did fill correctly were THE HAT, ELLISON, MANN, and Paul LYNDE (should have known that one).
ARNICA- my arms and only my arms bruise every time they bump anything. Arnica doesn't work for me.
In NOLA Eddie Jordan was an incompetent US Attorney and DA who was known for wearing a hat and some of his campaign slogans were 'Vote for THE HAT'. He was a lousy prosecutor and got his backing from our crooked Congressman William Jefferson, who ended up in prison. Had $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer. Jordan ended up resigning.
YEESH! This, crossing YIFEI got me today for a FIW. I put in jEESH, but had considered gEESH as well. Liu was no help. But wait, there's more! I also totally missed the theme. I did notice the questions: WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and wondered why WHI was spelled wrong. I stayed struggling with this and didn't look further.
The ISM ending was a guess in a tricky spot but worked so it could have been much worse. I also put SLOg before SLOW and neap before FLOW but no other WOs. The "aha" moments were fun. Thanks, Katherine. And your review was helpful and fun, MalMan. Thanks!
The days are getting hotter and there's work to be done. Best to get started. Have a good Thursday, all!
Geesh! Never knew there was a YEESH.
Never thought I'd say I miss Rich Norris.
Alright, KB, you almost got me. It took 47 minutes to FIR. DNK any of the eleven (11) proper names except JILL and BONO. Also DNK ARNICA, DIEU, or THEHAT. W/O QUATRO:CUATRO, ANEG:BNEG. Coulda been PEAK or ACME, but perps revealed APEX. Thanx for the workout, KB. Thanx too to MM for the terrific write-up. Please know that all your time and effort is (are?) appreciated. How's Bommer?
Musings
-WH__AT stood out and I too searched for ISM in the middle
-Me too, our streak of obscurities remains unabated with YIFEI.
-GEESH or JEESH, nope it’s YEESH (Ed Norton exclamation)
-Oops, a “Q” doesn’t work at ARNI_A and _UATRO (sorry, Lucina!)
-When telling kids to PAIR UP in class for an activity, I had to make sure everyone got included
-WANTED – Both full time and substitute teachers are much in demand
-My musical entry for LAST NIGHT
-Anyone else have LAST WORDS for final thoughts?
-TWIST – What? Bob Newhart (as Dick Loudon) was just dreaming about being an innkeeper?
Out of 10 proper names I knew two, Jill and Easton. Never heard of Arnica. Crossing Yifei with the other y slang word sunk me.
Good Morning:
My downfall was the Cuatro/Arnica crossing, not knowing Spanish led to Quatro and never having heard of Arnica led to a FIW. The other landmine, Yeesh/Yifei was a WAG. Doesn’t Jayce use Yeesh often? Other unknowns were The Hat and Mann. The reveal clue came early but it took me a few minutes to figure out the “What” split in the answers. There were numerous fun pairings today: Told/Rat, Ear/Eye/Jaw, See/Tee/Tree, Ebb/Flow, Slow/Flow, See/Seesaw, Ebb/Web, Infancy/Tot, Age/Sage, Neat/Wheat/Eat, and Hat/Rat. Plenty of CSOs, as well: Jayce (Yeesh?), DO (Asea), Cornerites (Blog), Golfing Gang (Tee), Academics (Edu), and Ray O (Ray).
Thanks, Katharine, and congrats on your LA Times debut and thanks, MalMan, for a succinct summary, laden with humor. Boring nerd you’re not! 🤭
FLN
Ray and Tony, Tucci’s upcoming Sunday’s episode has him exploring Italian cuisine in, of all places, London. Should be interesting. 🍝
I forgot to mention my Dorothy (Oz)/Mary Poppins fiasco the other day. Just as I was pulling into a parking spot for a medical appointment, the skies opened up and the wind started gusting like crazy. I had a Totes-type umbrella which I started to raise while getting out of the car. Well, before I got it fully open, the wind blew the top right off and it skittered across the parking lot, leaving me holding the top-less pole and, I might add, getting drenched. I hurriedly retrieved the top but there was no way I could fix it, so I threw it in the trash and went about my business. When I left the appointment, I discovered that my car key wasn’t in my pocket but had probably fallen to the ground while I was dealing with the umbrella fiasco. Happy ending, though, thanks to the extra set of keys in my purse. At least I didn’t get blown away! 🤣
Have a great day.
Hmm,
With all these new harder puzzles, this link may become my new go to....
MM, thanks for "splainin" it.
I found this while researching "whataboutism." Lemonade, pun intended...
Actually,
I did learn something from this puzzle, or the write up,
and that's that I need to learn how to play "SeeSaw" on my guitar.
Unfort7natley, in order t9 learn something this complicated, I have to watch "many" different how to videos to catch all the different aspects of how this brilliant song was out together. But there is "something" about this one particular video that speaks out to me.
Too many "never heard ofs" to list, but that's to be expected at my age and living in a town of only 5,000 too far from anywhere with big city chains, and after two years without movies in theaters or much else going on.
OUGHTA reminded me of Aussies complaining about the government, generally referred to as the great AORTA, as in: "'ey oughta do something about...?"
This seemed easy until I got to the East Coast. YIFEI did me in. Also I had Q for C in cuatro. I spelled LYNDE with an I. Otherwise it was a good puzzle.
I think constructors and editors "oughta" try harder to avoid using so many names. I wish they would take this on as a challenge. To me names are a fun sponge, even when I know them or they have good perps, but more so when they are clumped together.
I missed the theme, but it should have be gettable.
MM, I like your style. I recognized it right away.
Whataboutism - I hate when politicians duck an answer to a complaint about themselves with a nonsequitur complaint about someone else. But I do think "What about you?" when, for example, an inveterate liar calls everyone else a liar.
Now, on to the dentist. Oh, joy!
ARNICA was UNK, 6 perps.
I wonder if it'd work for the pain in my foot. I think it's gout. In fact I'm at emergency right now. It was the shrimp in the fried rice from Tuesday
There's my bad box. I had qUATRO/CUATRO vs unknown ARNICA. Also a pure Natick on jEESH/jIFEI needing a Y not J or G. Jayce is the expert on geesh
Lamont Cranston was the SHADOW as I recall
This was one of the easier Thursdays but I stalled on INFANCY and ESSAY TEST. Those were excellent clues. Various tests(motor vehicle come to mind) are easy but have one or two stumblers.
WC
A two box FIW
I too was defeated by many unknowns crossed with other unknowns. On the other hand I’m glad to see Ellison’s novel recognized. Although not as well known as the work of his contemporaries, Ellison’s Invisible Man ranks up there with the greatest 20th century American novels.
More TWISTS again today. But so twisted I DNF ..It woulda been one wrong proper name WAG after another and that's not how you OUGHTA do a puzzle.
ITSSAD but in some TWISTed way I'm glad I didn't finish a puzzle with YEESH as an answer. Plus YIFEI, MANN, TODD, ARNICA (Owen KL wolf's bane?..InanH, mayne ot smelled bad but bet Grandad was never attacked by a wolf!😁) ....
Inkovers: toobad/ITSSAD ,Linde/LYNDE, emag/BLOG (what's that?😉)
Agree Malman..usually oh la la or ooh la la. Almost put WHISKEY SOUR, 🧉but not a simple drink to make. BONO (Sonny's cousin?)
Due + due ≈ Quattro (Ital)
YEP, fell into the trap..It's not The Invisible Manby HG Wells. Methinks we've has this ruse played on us before. The wh's helped parse the last WHEN.
"Don't Cry for me Buenos AIRES and Surrounding Country" (original title before it was abbreviated) 😉
I'll dry my DNF tears with nonsense.... (litter asea/literacy..cool!!)🤧
How will you know where they go?....EYE SHADOW.
Lyme disease culprits....TIX
Unornate...INFANCY
Pealed....TOLD
Any one of DW's relatives....OUTLAW
Pouring and cold again...🙄
One thing I really like about Crossword Cornerites is even when they DNF or FIW they always have witty and original things to say, and they (as a rule) maintain a cheerful outlook on life. You guys rock!
Thursday toughie, but that's what they're supposed to be--so, still, many thanks, Katherine.
Great images and explanations, MalMan, thanks for those too.
My favorite, of course, was getting BLOG on the blog.
Never heard of TIX but it made sense.
Yep, EDU is my domain too.
'Organic flytrap' was one of my favorite clues.
Have a great day, everybody.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Katherine and MalMan.
Officially a FIW today, but I did get the theme . Hand up for looking for what the WHAT was ABOUT (wow, that’s a mouthful).
My downfall was the cross of YIFEI and YEESH. I chose the J (isn’t it Jayce who says Jeesh?).
I’m glad to see that it was not my Canadian disadvantage that forced me to wait for perps for THE HAT. I must travel to California.
But I have been to Moose JAW. The city’s own website says this about the name’s origin. “ The name Moose Jaw comes from a Cree name for the place, moscâstani-sîpiy, meaning “a warm place by the river”. The first two syllables, moscâ-, sound remarkably like “moose jaw”.”
My toast at 55A caused a major inkblot when I jumped to enter brEAd with only the EA in place. WHEAT is needed.
I knew ARNICA although I would not recommend the homeopathic product. Your FDA (not DEA) does not evaluate those products for safety or effectiveness. There may be some evidence for the herbal topical product of higher concentration.
Welcome back kazie.
Good to hear from you too Montana.
Wishing you all a great day.
In reading all of the comments about "Yeesh" and "Yifei" I have to admit it was a bit of a WAG for me, too. But "Yeesh" as a euphemistic watering down of "Jesus" was known to me, so that's what I guessed. And it turned out to be right.
I thought "Oh, brother!" was "Jeesh" ... and it went downhill from there. Just not my day.
I'm dying to ask Montana what blood-type her husband had yesterday.
I just heard from TTP that my 9:06 post was held up but now appears in that time slot, in case anyone missed my daily musings. 😂
While waiting to hear from TTP about the absent post, I remembered a comment someone said the other day about “ so, we can’t say a certain word any more” and I remembered using that word to describe the gusting wind. If this is the reason, it’s an example of the definition of said word, IMO. 😉
Hand up I cry foul over ?EESH. Hand up flipped coin between J and G but it was Y. ?EESH is supposed to be a softened form of "JESUS" which needs to start with J or G. Sorry.
I did enjoy the theme as WHATABOUTISM is my pet peeve when discussing a controversial subject.
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT is an oxymoron. By definition, HOMEOPATHIC means it contains not a single molecule of the claimed "TREATMENT". Are people aware of this?
Hard to get actual TIX anymore. Worst of all? Venues that demand you install an "app" on a phone or else you don't get any TIX. What could possibly go wrong?
I am constantly searching for good Jewish deli food. Live in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Never heard of THE HAT. Has anyone been there? We go to BRENTS if we are in LA which also fit.
We live in SAGE country. In the mint family. Most have square stems.
Here we encountered Hummingbird SAGE on my Sierra Club hike last Saturday.
At its peak, those beautiful SAGE spires are all purple.
From Yesterday:
Tante Nique, Jinx, AnonT Yes, I print the puzzle from the LA Times web site and fill it in pen.
Jinx and Others How do you get it to print properly from the LA Times web site? About a year ago it stopped working properly. Printing leaves out half the squares. I have to do a screen shot and print from that.
RayOSunshine Sorry for being dense: What is HICIREL?
Vidwan Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and detailed reply to my TANTRA comments and Borobudur photo. Loved the additional images you shared.
Picard
You said Jonathan Schooler was a master of clever acronyms.. and in the "HIghly CIted REsearchers List". Wouldn't that be HICIREL? (a not so clever acronym)
🙊
Hola!
Yikes! It's so very late. I believe I am suffering from jet lag! Or maybe it's just old age that is slowing me. In any case, I enjoyed solving this gem from Katherine Baicker.
Who is it on the BLOG that likes WHISKEY NEAT?
I used to love the quips by Paul LYNDE. He was funny.
When I do eat bread, which is rare, it is WHOLE WHEAT.
ARNICA is unfamiliar and unknown to me.
Returning from the airport yesterday we took UBER and were surprised at how economical it was. It was my first experience with it.
YIFEI?? No idea.
YEESH a sort of CSO to Jayce.
The last time I flew on TWA was to Hawaii in about 1983 or so.
STAN Lee lived here in AZ.
I hope you are all well and from the comments so far, it appears so.
And I hope you are enjoying a wonderful day!
RayOSunshine Thanks for the explanation! If it were him, perhaps he would say HI-CI to rhyme with HI-FI or WI-FI!
I was supposed to meet with one of our colleagues for lunch today, but his wife just tested COVID positive, so we postponed it.
WAY TOO MANY proper names today--as have been noted above by colleagues--plus an unknown (to me) product, on an
ASYMMETRICAL grid.
It's all fine, just not for me ...
~ OMK
DNF. My favorite bit was MalMan's commentary, along with all of your observations. YEESH, YIFEI, and LYNDE were among my WHAT?s today. Just looked up The Hat and learned that it started in East LA and spread to outskirts from there. Here on the Westside, it is completely foreign.
Picard, about printing from the LA Times web site, I do every Sunday and it has been working fine so far. I wonder if it depends on your printer and it’s settings? I use a HP printer.
Well sheesh. YEESH and YIFEI killed me. DIEU went in, came out, and went back in after I figured out ID BET and OUGHTA. I couldn't let go of WHAT ABOUT YOU for a long time and not knowing YIFEI and MANN didn't help. TOO BAD had to be changed to ITS SAD. NEAP became FLOW. Never heard of THE HAT and will forget it quickly.
I appreciate and enjoy solving a difficult puzzle if it is in fact solvable by thought and logic. I can even eke out an iota of enjoyment from a cross-name trivia-filled puzzle if I learn something from it. I'm reviewing in my mind whether I learned anything new from today's puzzle that I am likely to remember and make future use of, and the results are not encouraging.
Good wishes to you all.
Picard, I failed to say that I print the LA Times puzzle from my iPad via wifi. Sometimes those details make a difference.
NaomiZ & MalMan ~ I've lived in SoCal for over 40 years & have never heard of The HAT either.
These glorified sandwich stands apparently take their name from the chef's toque in the logo. (Not as cool as the cowboy version used by Arby's!)
I may have missed it, but it does not look as if there are any THE HATs in the City of Los Angeles. Nor down here in OC. They seem to be east of LA proper, out to Riverside, and in the Valley up to San Bernardino.
All hovering around the main SoCal action.
~ OMK
Picard, I've printed out the CW from the LAT site for years, using various Win10 laptops, desktops, printing to ink jet and laser printers from HP, Epson and one or two other brands that don't remember. My isp is cox cable when I'm at home, and either Verizon or public WiFi when I'm away. Never had a problem with any combination. Here's the URL I use:
https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword
If you use IFruit, you're on your own!
jEESH - one bad square.
Hi All!
Thanks Katherine for the puzzle. WEES, that NE was a WAGfest.. Congrats on the LAT debut.
"Oar deal"? Really, MManatee? ;-) Thanks for the fun expo - love me some Moody Blues! //fun link too, CED
//BTW, DW, in Puerto Rico with her students, went to a manatee rescue facility this morning
FIW: jEESH | jIEFEI
WOs: qUATRO (Hi KS!), WHISky -> WHISKEY sour -> NEAT
ESPs: ARNICA, DIEU, yIFEI, THE HAT
Fav: R.I.P. STAN Lee. He has a whole new generation of fans (my Girls are two) due to the Marvel Movies
Beck - WHERE ITS AT.
//Thanks for Psychedelic Shack, Jinx.
Thanks for the Keys, HG. And yes, Bob Newhart's finale is still one of the greatest moments on TV. See also M*A*S*H
Good luck with the account woes, Montana. It's great to see you back even as Anon. B-Negative? No, I like to B-Positive in life (and my ABO type :-))
Also a big Welcome Back to Kazie!
Lem - WHAT-ABOUT-ISM -- lazy arguments trying to equate one bad to another (usually about a competitor) but is completely different.
IM - when you just can't win you joke about it... Love it! I hope you're dry now.
WC - God Speed eBuddy. Did you not know they put shellfish in there (or just didn't care 'cuz it was yummy?)?
Picard & Ray-O: LOL... I read it as Hi-Circle. Like the upper-echelon. #DyslexiaInAction :-)
I read ELLISON's book in HS. English teacher made us pick a book from her shelves. "Cool! SciFi," I thought... Took me about 50 PAGES before I realized the narrator was NOT a dude with an invisibility potion / cloak. Powerful story, however.
I don't know her new music but Aimmee MANN was front for TIL Tuesday //see what I did there :-)
Y'all have a great eve!
Cheers, -T
Picard,
Have you tried selecting "save to PDF" as your printer? I've done that when I've run out of paper, toner, and/or a working printer. Then I've been able to print the PDF when I've resolved the problem.
AnonT. That's incredible... Manatees trained to rescue Puerto Rican students...!!!
Puzzling thoughts:
I started to fill in the puzzle in today's paper, and then said, " Wait, WHAT??!"
MM will "get" my humor, as he asked both Bill and me to solve this LAST week, to see if he was missing anything from the puzzle, theme-wise. I stopped filling at WHISKEY, NEAT. A CSO to Tinbeni (where's he been?), who abhors ice in his Scotch. So Andy, if you're reading these posts (lurking), I'll raise my first toast at sundown to you! I also like my WHISKEY, NEAT
The puzzle was ok - the YEESH crossing wasn't my favorite but the puzzle has its moments. Nice debut by the constructor, and a thoroughly enjoyable recap by the stinky sea cow
Thank you Katherine Baicker for a challenging Thursday puzzle, I completed it barely with a lookup. but I sorta / otta enjoyed it ...
Thank you Mal Man for your extensive review that explained all.
I was also befuddled at many places YEESH / YIFEI etc and ARNICA , as many of you were, but I muddled through it all ... not something Id enjoy doing for a living ...
I am familiar with Homeopathy, as followed by Samuel Hahnemann (sp?), Wiki article.
... and, it is very popular in certain parts of India, ,,,, it may not cure you, and it certainly takes a lot of time and patience, but it prolly will not kill you ... ;-x)
On the Other Hand ... Here is the Amazing James Randi, R.I.P. , .... calling it a fraud of the worst kind ... Youtube
BTW, Western Medicine, which we are familiar with, is called Allopathy .... and, in addition there is Ayurvedic Medicine ( Hindu med.) and Unani (Muslim meds.) and ofcourse, Chinese Medicine.
Have a nice evening, all. and a great weekend ahead...
Wolfsbane von Helsing. One of the all time great cinema scenes
SubG, not when it's a pure Natick like YEESH. Nor a spelling of qUATRO with a C. I should've caught the last, as ARNICA reads better. I missed a very difficult xword by misspelling the Dnieper River(EI). That still smarts*
Actually in the Latin it's Iesus(INRI**) which would become YEESH.
Picard, as in? Riders of the Purple Sage The definitive western novel written by Zane Grey in 1912
WHISKEY NEAT? Covered NEATly by C-Moe on the CSO to Tinbeni
WC
* With Jean SMART on the cover of Parade I still needed all perps
** Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews(PILATE'S sarcastic reference)
Rather long but..
Re. Homeopathy and non AMA certified "Treatment ". Apparently Massachusetts passed laws cracking down on "Eastern" medicine.
One type is Reiki which has only one thing going for it. It seems to work. Along with this is psychosomatic "pain". Again , pain is pain and 'cure" means pain is gone.
Speaking of… Thanks Anon-T for your concern. They took an XRay which saw some degeneration in the ankle. Which I had a cast on for weeks in 2nd grade. Still walked to and from(½ mile) school including lunch break. I stopped at a convenient store and asked for a glass of water. Owner told me to get lost. Then he saw the cast. But no Coca-Cola.
I even have some pain pills to go with non NSAID Gout pills.
I should be fine tomorrow. Got an Ace bandage too.
WC
Hi Y'all! After 20 years of writing for newspapers, (despite the fact I haven't published anything for pay since 1998) WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW are indelibly inscribed on my brain. So I didn't go looking past those for a theme that turned out to be WHAT? There were a lot of WHAT? questions in my mind throughout the entire puzzle. When I was writing for pay, my strength was digging into the issues of the day and presenting facts in such a manner as to promote understanding. When I saw an obvious wrong situation, I tried to educate the voters & politicians to right those wrongs. Mostly I was successful at this. I guess this is why I think crossword constructors should present words & clues that give solvers a fair chance of getting and enjoying the material. I don't mind learning new facts about far away places and people, etc., but YEESH! Some puzzles are on overload.
Good job, MalMan!
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