This just in, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's Read All About It puzzle recap.
Our recently-named editor seems to be consciously, and conscientiously, exposing us to the works of new (and, in today's case, new not just to us) constructors. In keeping with this plan, today's puzzle setter is Emma Lawson. A web search returned Emma's website (Emma Lawson dot com). I contacted her through the website and received this in reply:
"Nice to meet you and the rest of the Crossword Corner team! I'm a college librarian in Vancouver, BC and while I've been doing crosswords since I was a teen, I only started constructing this year. This puzzle is not only my LA Times debut but my first published crossword! Many thanks to Patti and Christina for seeing something worthy in it. I've had a huge learning curve when it comes to constructing but this puzzle felt like smooth sailing the whole way through.
I want to shout out the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory who paired me with a mentor (hi Freddy!), the Crosscord Discord server, and the Inkubator team -- they're all so welcoming and friendly to new constructors."
Congratulations, Emma, and please allow me to extend, on behalf of everyone here, a warm welcome to the Crossword Corner!
Now, let's take a look at your puzzle. The reveal is provided at:
59 ACROSS: What an investigative journalist might do, and what the answers to the starred clues literally do: BREAK A STORY.
At four places, marked with stars for our convenience, we find synonyms for STORY broken into two pieces with those pieces placed so as to bracket the rest of that clue's answer.
17 Across: *Locavore movement: FARM TO TABLE. FABLE Locavore, a mashup of local and omni/herbi/carne vore, was coined on Earth Day in 2005.
24 Across: *Insulating layer around a nerve: MYELIN SHEATH. MYTH While I am pretty certain that we've seen this answer before I could not remember it. Thanks perps.
37 Across: *Accept a difficult role: TAKE UP THE MANTLE. TALE In the Bible, the prophet Elijah left his cloak behind when he ascended to heaven. A new prophet, Elisha, picked up this mantle to wear and also took over Elijah's role.
50 Across: *Use a randomizer to decide, say: SPIN THE WHEEL. SPIEL A lengthy or extravagant speech or argument usually intended to persuade.
I found the puzzle to be fairly straightforward except for the mid-west section where MYELIN, YUZU, ANI (as clued) and ROTA all converged to form something of a Cluster Natick. Fortunately, I knew OVITZ and the rest of the perps. A final WAG for the Y and the computer pronounced the puzzle solved. If I had been working in pen/pencil and paper, which is difficult to do in the water, I probably would have looked up YUZU and/or ROTA (after the fact) to confirm the FIR.
As for the rest of the clues/answers, here is a brief description:
Across:
1. High standards: IDEALS.
7. All-in-one product's selling points: USES. Many USES.
11. Open page on a web browser: TAB.
14. Weasellike pet: FERRET. What's brown and sounds like a parrot? A FERRET.
15. Spot for pore strips: NOSE.
16. "Don't Bring Me Down" band: ELO. Electric Light Orchestra THE ANIMALS would not fit in the allotted space.
ELO - Don't Bring Me Down
The Animals - Don't Bring Me Down
19. Also: TOO. Also, ALSO is often clued with TOO, too.
20. Mos. and mos.: YRS. YeaRS
21. Diary: LOG.
22. Identity __: THEFT. A mini theme with 6 Down.
28. Bounce back: REBOUND.
31. Phone notification: ALERT. Be a lert, The world needs more lerts.
32. Former Disney president Michael: OVITZ.
33. Aromatherapy locale: SPA. We often visit SPAs in our puzzles.
34. Snakelike fish: EEL. See, also, 7 Down
42. Alex and __: jewelry company known for bracelets: ANI. Usually clued with an avian reference. This jewelry company was unknown to the author. Most jewelry companies are.
43. Have debts: OWE.
44. Witherspoon of "The Morning Show": REESE.
45. Invisible urban pollution: NOISE. The smog we can see.
48. Fake names: ALIASES.
53. Refers to: CITES.
54. Harley-Davidson's stock symbol: HOG. HOG is slang for a Harley motorcycle. It is also the acronym for the Harley Owners Group, a collection of enthusiasts.
55. Friend: PAL.
58. Maker of Good Grips kitchen tools: OXO.
64. Tear: RIP.
65. One of Eve's sons: ABEL. Murdered by Cain. He had no children of his own.
66. Dressing with anchovies: CAESAR. A salad reference and not apparel reference.
Anchovy Dressing
67. Super Mario Bros. console: NES. A video game reference. Nintendo Entertainment System. Last Saturday we had Wii as the clue for this.
68. Sup: DINE.
69. Florence's role in "Black Widow" and "Hawkeye": YELENA. Unknown to this marine mammal. Perped.
Down:
1. Dubious: IFFY. Indeed.
2. Letter opener: DEAR. Cute clue.
3. Texts the wrong person, say: ERRS.
4. Branch: ARM.
5. Word before "It Go" and "It Be," in song titles: LET. Also, "It Bleed".
Idina Menzel With Jimmy Fallon and The Roots - Let It Go
Paul McCartney and Billy Joel - Let It Be (2008 Shea Stadium)
The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed (1981 East Rutherford New Jersey)
6. Pinched: STOLEN. A mini theme with 22 Across
7. 34-Across, to a sushi chef: UNAGI. See, too, 34 Across (duh).
8. Cry noisily: SOB. Could have been clued more nastily.
9. Night sch. class: ESL. English As A Second Language
10. Quietly fume: SEETHE. Emma could have gone with a Ray Charles reference. What'd I say?
11. Private discussions: TETE A TETES. Français - head to head
12. In the air: ALOFT.
13. Diner option: BOOTH. Not the food, the seating
18. Snitched: TOLD. Ratted out. Dropped a dime.
23. The first "H" of HRH: HER. Her or His Royal Highness. What an odd word, Highness.
24. Sunbeam floater: MOTE. Dust in the wind, Dude.
25. Citrus hybrid used in Japanese cuisine: YUZU. Thanks WAG.
26. Kitten-lifting spot: NAPE.
27. Shut noisily: SLAM. Straightforward. Have we seen enough poetry clues for this one?
28. Duty roster: ROTA. New to me.
29. __ Rachel Wood of "Westworld": EVAN. I am familiar with the original movie. I am not familiar with the TV series. I didn't know women were named EVAN. Thanks perps.
30. Some halters: BIKINI TOPS. They come in all sizes and shapes. Today's "I'd better pass on the graphics" moment.
33. That woman: SHE.
35. Alternatively: ELSE.
36. Vintner's dregs: LEES. The general sediment that forms in wine after fermentation.
38. Fancy-schmancy: POSH. What's the difference between a badly dressed man on a unicycle and a POSH dressed man on a motorcycle. A tire.
39. __ pop: Belle and Sebastian genre: TWEE. Huh? Thanks perps.
40. Singer India.__: ARIE. A frequent visitor. Four letters three of which are vowels.
41. "Snow Crash" novelist Stephenson: NEAL. Snow Crash is not quite as good a read as Cryptonomicon but it's still a fine book. I have been known to use Hiro Protagonist as a screen name.
46. Number of World Series wins for the Nationals: ONE. In 2019.
47. "No way to sugarcoat this": IT'S BAD. Oh, the things people say.
48. "I see now": AH OK. Ah, the things people say.
49. Mid-size Subaru: LEGACY. I drove one just like this for fifteen years:
1997 Subaru Legacy Outback
50. Obvious disdain: SCORN.
51. Folklore trickster: PIXIE.
52. Pod member: WHALE. In keeping with today's theme, it might have been clued something along the lines of "A type of story" or "A ____ of a tale".
55. Selfie stance: POSE.
56. Galway Bay's __ Islands: ARAN. Located off the coast of Ireland (or Eire or Erin in crossword puzzles).
57. Harp constellation: LYRA.
60. Squeeze bunt stat: RBI. A baseball reference. Run Batted In
61. Poetic twilight: EEN. EvENing
62. RSVP convenience: SAE. Self Addressed Envelope Not, in this instance, stamped.
63. __ Aviv: TEL. A major city in modern day Israel . . . and the last of the seven fill-in-the-blank clues used today.
DNF. this was way beyond Wednesday difficult! Five blank or wrong, all clustered around YUZU; + I don't know how many WAGs. No need to enumerate, since you probably did, too. How many letters in this puzzle? Divide that in half, and you'll get my WAGs!
Hand up from anyone who did this puzzle just on your own knowledge, without a single Wild Ass Guest? ESLs, Every Single Letter from crosses are allowed.
Without the bubbles, even with the reveal, I don't think I would have figured out this one. I'd have been looking for some semantic link between the carrier words. so: with the circles, a good theme; without the circles, unreasonably difficult.
If it weren't for you folks, I'd quit the LAT now. I'll continue only because it will give me something to discuss with you all! This is a very important part of the Internet to me.
I keep a cat for protection from a THEFT in the night. Not be a watchdog, to give a burglar a fright. When I'd hear a ghoulie break I'd lie there: ALERT, awake! Now I think "It's just the cat", go back to sleeping tight!
From ABEL to CAESAR, assassination has been used To keep the favored king, from power to abuse. Sometimes it would REBOUND, Make a martyr in the ground. Murder is a method that never should be used!
I'm glad you're not going to quit this blog Owen. Your poems are one of the highlights of my day. As for the puzzle, whew! Before I came on this blog I had no idea if I had " yuzu" and "Yelena" right. It turned out I did, and I managed to squeeze out a FIR , so I'm happy. But what a slog(
Twas not to be. Three unknowns: EVAN, OVITZ, and YUZU, packed into the Sierra Nevada, did me in. ROTA came to mind immediately, but REsOUND, LEGend, AH so, and ARum slowed me down. My grid is a Wite-Out wonderland. Impressive debut, Emma. Thanx for the music-filled expo, Mal-Man.
USES: Alton Brown insists that every tool in his kitchen must have multiple uses. Many tools in our kitchen are made by OXO -- they get it right.
TAKE UP THE MANTLE: Elijah/Elisha -- so that's where that saying originated. It has nothing to do with revamping the fireplace.
DNF. Mid west section a total disaster. Yulu, Ovitz, and even Ani were unknown. Not sure I like the theme, especially with circles, and the hint, break a story, seemed vague.
Subgenius, this is the type of puzzle I was referring to earlier in the week as to why I do not like circles. We get stuck with clunkers like Ovitz, Yuzu, Florence someone, Myelin, etc., just for the "joy" of getting a few synonyms broken-up. Not worth it to me. So, the moral of the story is, I do not like circles.
Welcome Emma Lawson, thank you for your puzzle and for the time you spent communicating with Joseph. While the cluing may be more obscure, the inside look is more real.
Despite my personal position as Corner Pop Culture guru, other than Michael Ovitz, the rest required perps and "educated" guesses.
How would one see the theme without circles? That would be even harder.
FIW today and like OwenKL I had five wrong squares. (But it is Thursday today, not Wednesday.) Like MalMan, my cluster Natick was the crossing of EVAN, ANI, OVITZ and YUZU. I made a careless mistake not checking the perp POSH when I put "on" instead of "UP" THE MANTLE. It would have fixed YUZU. My other Natick crossing was YELENA and ARAN where I put an "m." The spelling of MYELIN was helped by seeing MYTH first. The rest of my puzzle squares were pristine and for that I am happy. It's a good debut puzzle, Emma, thanks!
MalMan, thanks for your excellent review. I don't Google answers as I solve, but prefer to take my chances and check your review to see how close I get. Thanks for explaining it all.
It is Thursday and the week is flying by. Have a good day, everyone!
Before going to the write-up I decided to check for pop-cul and, I saw TEAL as "novelist Stephen…". Why not the color? Then I looked again at TAKE UP THE MetTLE. Aha, MANTLE. And of course (India)ARIE.
I see I guessed wrong on the pair of pure Naticks. I had OVITs/YUsU and ALI/EVAL. And… There's an A on LYR_,YELEN_ not e
Fortunately, I remembered HOG and OXO was recent.
UNAGI and UMAMI I get mixed up. They even have UNAGI UMAMI. One is (freshwater) EEL and the other a kind of taste the Japanese identified
Duty roster wasn't a ROll(Call) but TETE A TETES filled quickly after TET..
Squeeze bunt would also be a SAC
The circles gave me the TA(KE) which at least eliminated roll/ROTA
I finally grok'ed BIKINI for TOPS, else Cali wouldve been unfinishable
Musings -A two cell crackup at the west edge with, guess what, obscure proper names. -At least I got YELE_A/ARA_. For some reason obscure geography seems to be more fair -FERRETS kids brought to my classroom had a foul odor. -Seeing and hearing ELO was fun but slowed my musings as I had to listen to the entire song -Like the KC Royals, the Nationals won ONE World Series and the main players got big money to go elsewhere -Oops, add two more bad cells in the SW. SNORT/SCORN and NOTES/CITES. Completely fair. -Me too, Wilbur, in a squeeze bunt, the batter gets an RBI and a SAC -Hmmm… A perfect day. What to do, what to do? AH OK, FORE!
DNF. Thought it might be just the decaf not kicking in, so I watched NY dominate Tampa Bay in the first game of the Eastern Division playoffs, then spent some time pulling up ivy in my back yard. Wide awake by then, I tried again with only modest success. Ended up getting the theme, but left 5 spaces blank up in Oregon territory.
I thought this one had the germ of a very fun puzzle, but unfortunate crosses extracted every kernel of fun from my experience. I think I'll start scanning the clues before I print a blank puzzle, and skipping the ones with a lot of "constructor/editor shows off" clues. Had I done so today, I would have skipped this one.
I have just realized why I lose so many things I type on the computer, like my blog today. I lose email messages before I send them too. When I try to highlight a section I sometimes go from right to left and it erases. I guess it must always be left to right. Then most of the time I do not retype my post here. I'm busy now and will try again later. I got most of the puzzle very fast, except for that Natick clump on the Pacific coast and a silly problem in Texas. We seem to get so many Natick clumps these days. Is it the editor or the constructor?
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Emma, for an interesting challenge. As a former newspaper writer, I thought the theme was AH OK. Very good one, MalMan! Thanks.
I started out poorly, trying "morals" long before IDEALS. 'Squeeze" before STOLEN. "Assume the MANTLE before TAKE UP.
I agree that the west central block was just one big natick. DNK: MYELIN, YUZU, OVITZ, ANI, ROTA, EVAN. Didn't think of REBOUND or BIKINI until everything else filled.
Never heard of YELENA, or LOCAVORE. Lots of WAGs & red-letter help if nothing more than to point out I was wrong again.
YR: interesting about losing things on your computer. Thanks. I'll try to remember that. My computer "disappears" things for reasons I can't figure out. There seem to be a lot of little "short cut" commands that I don't know and keep hitting. I spend more time re-doing or undoing than I do solving the puzzle.
Not an easy puzzle... DNF, the "Japanese fruit" and "Disney Guy" wouldn't cross. (I only remember "Eisner'). As is not uncommon I didn't suss the "split clue" answers either.🙄 Inkover: take on/TAKE UP...
"pore strips"? "randomizer"? "TWEE" wha? "YELENA" who? Saw the entire run of "Westworld" but didn't know EVAN
Odd cluing for LET ("It be", "It go"). UNAGI/EEL..I've learned so much about sushi from these puzzles.🍣...😛
Loss of the MYELIN sheath around a nerve (BTW: very technical for a Thursday puzzle, surprised not more groaning 🤬 from the crowd) is the main cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). High incidence of MS here in Central NY with Syracuse (LIU) with the highest rate of any city in the the country.
I drive a Subaru Outback, great car but I started filling Legend instead of LEGACY. I love me a good "Cæsar salad" ( but skip the anchovies 🤔
Defunct Swedish wheels.....SOB Hay space in the barn....ALOFT When the book came apart we had it ___ ..REBOUND Accumulating points in a game...SCORN Our H2LH is off to see the _____ CITES
Have a great day..downpour yesterday ⛈ soaked the cellar rug a bit..🙉
SS (also known as AnonymousDNLC): I get your point about circles, but I must admit that if I hadn't suspected the circles would reveal "myth" there's no way I would have gotten "myelin sheath," not being any kind of biologist or health professional. I'm just sayin'
Just for you folks information: I googled "Black Widow" and found out that "Florence" refers to Florence Puch, an English actress who portrayed "Black Widow," a figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) who was a former Russian spy. I couldn't tell from the description if she was a hero or a villain (perhaps a little of both?) "Black Widow's" actual name is Yelena Belova. FYI.
As a writer who has been known to BREAK A STORY now and then, I enjoyed the theme.
But hand up I am assuming it was our new editor who ruined a perfectly good puzzle with that utterly impossible Natick Cluster in the west. How can anyone WAG a woman whose name is EVAN? Apparently the utterly unknown ALEX is also a female. ANI? Really? ROTA is NOT in American English. It is in British English. Had ROTE figuring it was short for "rotation" and would have that same sound. I am proud that I got everything except A, N in ANI. Ugh. SEETHE was very appropriate today.
MYELIN SHEATH may not be in everyday use, but it is an enduringly valuable thing to know. It is made of cholesterol. A number of infamous diseases are caused by a breakdown of the MYELIN SHEATH. Notably, Multiple Sclerosis.
Since I started with Break a story, I quickly got the circles, unfortunately Like a few other people I crashed in the Midwest. For the Disney guy I wanted to put Eisner, but it didn’t fit.
From Yesterday: Jinx, AnonT, Vidwan, Lucina Thank you for the discussion about BALBOA PARK in comparison with other city PARKs.
Yes, AnonT you should go back to Golden Gate Park to see the bison. I am sure I have photos if people are interested.
Lucina, glad you also saw SLOTHs in Costa Rica. What surprised me was to see one in a city park in San Jose! Where did you see them?
Lucina, I will add my condolences on the loss of your last uncle. Where were he and his son in Sacramento? My parents lived near Sacramento State. Sacramento gets very little attention, but it is quite beautiful and is relatively affordable.
Vidwan, thank you for the very kind words about my life meanderings. One of these days I will decide what I want to be when I grow up.
My father took me to see THE NATURAL when it came out. It was a very tragic story that I never stopped thinking about. How a person with great potential can make one mistake and they might never recover from it. Apparently, the real life story it was based on was not as tragic as the movie version.
I really appreciated the combination of toughies and easy items in this Thursday puzzle, Emma--many thanks for this great debut! Thank you for getting Emma to comment, Mal Man, and thanks for your always helpful assistance.
I loved having the 'letter opener' turn out to be DEAR. Got it as soon as the D was in place.
SPA and EEL were easy, but I would never have gotten OVITZ--or YUZU for that matter.
'Have debts' couldn't be anything other than OWE, but I wanted SMOG for that urban pollution, although I should have figured that SMOG is not as 'invisible' as NOISE.
I guess maybe this puzzle is a little "Fancy-schmancy" or POSH.
Thursday thrills! Thank you, Emma Lawson. This took quite a bit longer than usual. I had to FERRET out some unknown fill. YUZU, YELENA, MYELIN SHEATH (this did not appear in my biology class) and one day soon I might remember UNAGI/UNAMI.
SPIN THE WHEEL is more like a Wheel of Fortune type of clue but "randomizer" helped to elicit the final answer.
I love OXO tools.
We haven't seen India ARIE in a while though she used to appear in puzzles often.
Names unfamiliar to me are OVITZ, NEAL, YELENA, EVAN but perps were solidly helpful. At least I know REESE.
TWEE Pop?? Is this English?
AH, OH, I have vague recollections of BIKINI TOPS.
Thank you Emma, our latest NOVEAU not NEUF contributor and congrats on your debut! Despite this puzzle being just about right for a Thursday I FWDM (Finished With Dumb Mistakes). I loved the theme and it really helped to explain what was in the circles.
And thank you MalMan for another funny, illuminating review. I realize that your pen and paper don't work under water but if you're running out of time for answers I'd suggest you consult the cheat sheet that we get with every puzzle (you know, the one that ends in ".puz.txt"): the LAT pays us by the hour and we wouldn't want to run up the clock would we?
A few favs:
17A FARM TO TABLE. We are committed (or should be) LOCAVORES and until recently LOCAL was located just outside the kitchen. Now it's found in the abundance of markets making a bundle on "organic" vegetables". "Inorganic vegetables" are what: stones?
24A MYELIN SHEATH. MYELIN is a mixture of proteins and phospholipids that keep the electrons coursing down the AXON to tickle nearby nerve cells, from jumpiing the track.
37A TAKE UP THE MANTLE. My undoing, as I filled "ON" instead of UP. For the life of me I don't know what I thought was so "Fancy-schmancy" about a NOSH.
50A SPIN THE WHEEL. Wanted "BOTTLE" to decide who get's kissed next.
54A HOG. My hippy cousin Michael tools into Chesapeake Bay country on his HOG to buy steamed crabs. You wouldn't know it from his do, but he's also an expert on Staffordshire ceramics.
7D UNAGI. I love UNAGI, but it's very oily and gives me indigestion.
A clever PZL from Ms. Lawson. Some (above) would say too clever. I was also blocked in the mid-west (left middle) sector. I did not remember OVITZ and never knew Ms. Wood's name. Fortunately, I could still get the theme answers because they had their own logic. FABLE, MYTH, and TALE made sense. I had to pause at SPIEL because I think it less of a story and more likely a pitch. But its portion of SPIN THE WHEEL carried it off. ~ OMK ___________ DR: One diagonal, far side. It is slim in vowels, but if we borrow an "a" from the partial diagonal just above, we can find an anagram (11 of 15 letters) that refers to an excellent device for achieving one's dreams! I mean a...
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Emma (welcome fellow-Canadian, even if you are on the other side of the country!) and MalMan. I FIWed today with difficulty like MM and others in the mid-west. I had ROTA (maybe that was Canadian-British advantage today) but did not know OVITZ, EVAN, ALI or YUZU. I WAGged incorrectly with Smith, Ali. Even DH did not know that Subaru, and since I thought 69A was Helena I did not see LEGACY. But I saw the theme.
TWEE was our new word for the day. I changed TAKE on THE MANTLE to UP. Hello ATLGranny Smog and ozone wouldn’t work; it was NOISE pollution. (Yes, smog is not invisible) hello Misty
I noted SHE and HER. HRH Elizabeth II is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this weekend. A remarkable woman who has performed her duty in an exemplary fashion for those 70 years, (no matter what your view of the monarchy is).
My kids taught me that swiping left versus right does different things with texts, emails, etc...
Todays puzzle? DNF!
I had three words left to go in the mid west, when I must have accidentally swiped right. The whole page moved right, and back to that awful advertisement screen. Nothing I tried would bring it back as an almost completed puzzle. I could only watch the Ad again and start the puzzle over.
So I tossed the iPad onto the couch next to the positive Covid test...
DW and I think it was the wedding. Bride and groom have already had it, and are happily on their honeymoon. Luckily, we both got our second boosters early May in anticipation. But it still sucks to be sick...
Well, sheesh, I was enjoying the process of solving this puzzle until I hit that aforementioned west side. No way to use logic, reasoning, or educated guessing to solve OVITZ, EVAN, ANI, and YUZU if you didn't already know these "know it or you don't" answers. So this crossword puzzle is also partly a cross-trivia puzzle or cross-factoid puzzle. I don't come here to play Jeopardy. I'm starting to feel the same as Owen and Jinx about it.
By the way, Owen, I enjoy reading your comments and hope you decide to continue discussing with us all. Same to you, Jinx; I think you and I think more alike than either of us may realize.
By the way, isn't the title His/Her Royal Highness for princes and princesses, the term His/Her Majesty being the proper way to refer to the monarch?
I have unburdened myself of the huge weight of stress I have been feeling this past month by making the firm decision to not get an MRI. The information I have been getting from the doctors and medical assistants where I get my health care has been inconsistent and incomplete, with the result that I feel negative vibes about it all. I get the strong feeling that they care more about the doctor's convenience and preferences than they do about my comfort, concerns, and insecurities. The way they brush off my claustrophobia with statements such as "You'll be fine" (no, I won't) and "You'll have a mild oral sedative" (mild? why not strong?) are off-putting and condescending. So no, I am officially declining to undergo this procedure, and the fact that my stress about it is now gone does far more, I think, to benefit my health than squeezing my large body into a narrow hole for an hour can possibly do. And no, they don't even have any open MRI machines.
We have many rotas for volunteers in our church. They are lists or schedules of who will do a particular job on what day, i.e. greeters, lectors, altar guild, lay Eucharistic ministers, coffee hour hosts, money counters, etc. And we are a small church. I knew MYELLIN SHEATHE, but forgot it needed a Y. CED, sorry you have covid. I hope it is mild. Even having a mild case, my first 5 days were quite unpleasant, but not the worst malady. After that the hard part was the final 5 days of quarantine. I was sick in bed Saturday after my second booster on Friday. I felt fine on Sunday and Monday and proceeded normally, but I most have overdone it, because I was very exhausted Tuesday. I am back to normal these last two days. The possibility of long term covid is scary.
Nope, not today. OvITz xing EvAn (xing AnI) and YUzU left three squares blank. DNF.
Thanks for the grid Emma and congrats on the LAT debut.
Wonderful tunes to read the expo by, MManatee. Thanks.
WO: Roll -> ROTA, LEgS -> LEES ESPs: TWEE, ARIE, NEAL, MYELIN (thank you theme!), YELENA Fav: After Tuesday's Sugar Coat theme, "IT'S BAD." DEER's clue was cute too.
Perps kept ozone from being invisible pollution.
{B+, B}
Hand-up, WC -- my first thought was also SAC. Hand-up, Ray-O -- Disney and Eisner are the only ones I know. However, I add anchovies to my Caesar.
CED - sorry to read you're under the weather with Covid. We had covid before the vaccine existed and it sucked! for two weeks. DW tested positive again last week but she was only puny for a day. YR - DW had long Covid - Dr.s were doing all kinds of tests thinking something worse (like lupus or ??). It wasn't until DW got her second Pfizer shot that all the long-symptoms went away.
Wiki say: TWEE pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 NME compilation C86. Characterised** by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. //Now I have to go lookup NME and C86 (I know what a C64* is :-))
Cheers, -T *Commodore 64 **Might just be (British) English, Lucina :-)
CED: so sorry that you got the "booby prize" from the wedding. Hope your case is mild and you are soon back to your ornery best. Hugs!
I looked up OVITZ to see why so many of us didn't know him. He was with Disney only TWO years from 1995-97. Old and obscure. So why did he wind up in a puzzle like that natick snarl? Not cute!
Picard I linked the original story that Malamud based THE NATURAL on. It was Eddie Waitkus , decorated WWII soldier who was shot by a deranged fan in 1949. He went on to have a career for Cubs and Phillies but appeared yo gave lingering PTSD
WC @7:55 PM TTP posted a way to get a comment editor a day or so ago - here's a repeat: 1. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the cell screen to "View web screen" 2. Resize the screen to geezer legible letters. 3. You'll now have a comment editor with all the old features. 4. Psst. Don't tell Blogger about or they'll take away.
errata - I typed "DEER's clue was cute too". Amazing I still have dear / deer issues after DW made so much fun of me for 34 years. See, while at Basic, I wrote her daily... "Deer K" "So, what, you think I'm a fawn?" Me: "?" "Deer is a Bambi, not how you 'Start a letter.'" Me: "But you know I faun over you." #Save(?)
My funny for today: Sister texted sib-group: "Dad Fact: It's impossible for a dad to look for studs with a stud-finder without first scanning himself and saying, "Found One!"
(CEO) Bro texted back: "When I was single I'd take a stud finder to bars, hand it to the hottest girl in the joint, and say "in case I get lost..."
Saturday week, Little Sis will be in Houston. Party!
My earlier comment was from my phone, which kept erasing my comments and wouldn't let my use my ALIAS (Big Easy). I kept it short, unable to really write much. I caught the story breaks but it took perps to fill UNAGI for UMAMI, ANI, and YELENA. With my total lack of knowledge of MYELIN, YUZU, ANI, ROTA, EVAN and ANI bunched together I was at a complete loss in getting a toehold even with MOTE and BIKINI in place.
I hope to REBOUND before my doctor's visit tomorrow am and finish on correctly.
CanadianEh! ~ Looks like the anti-monarchists are just waiting for Lillibet to die to make their move--and the same holds for several Commonwealth nations, to scuttle the monarch as ceremonial head when Charles ascends the throne.
I have alway admired Elizabeth from a distance, and she has certainly earned her Jubilee. ~ OMK
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DNF. this was way beyond Wednesday difficult! Five blank or wrong, all clustered around YUZU; + I don't know how many WAGs. No need to enumerate, since you probably did, too. How many letters in this puzzle? Divide that in half, and you'll get my WAGs!
ReplyDeleteHand up from anyone who did this puzzle just on your own knowledge, without a single Wild Ass Guest? ESLs, Every Single Letter from crosses are allowed.
Without the bubbles, even with the reveal, I don't think I would have figured out this one. I'd have been looking for some semantic link between the carrier words. so: with the circles, a good theme; without the circles, unreasonably difficult.
If it weren't for you folks, I'd quit the LAT now. I'll continue only because it will give me something to discuss with you all! This is a very important part of the Internet to me.
I keep a cat for protection from a THEFT in the night.
Not be a watchdog, to give a burglar a fright.
When I'd hear a ghoulie break
I'd lie there: ALERT, awake!
Now I think "It's just the cat", go back to sleeping tight!
From ABEL to CAESAR, assassination has been used
To keep the favored king, from power to abuse.
Sometimes it would REBOUND,
Make a martyr in the ground.
Murder is a method that never should be used!
{B+, C+.}
I'm glad you're not going to quit this blog Owen. Your poems are one of the highlights of my day. As for the puzzle, whew! Before I came on this blog I had no idea if I had " yuzu" and "Yelena" right. It turned out I did, and I managed to squeeze out a FIR , so I'm happy. But what a slog(
ReplyDeleteSorry, that last should be "slog!"
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteTwas not to be. Three unknowns: EVAN, OVITZ, and YUZU, packed into the Sierra Nevada, did me in. ROTA came to mind immediately, but REsOUND, LEGend, AH so, and ARum slowed me down. My grid is a Wite-Out wonderland. Impressive debut, Emma. Thanx for the music-filled expo, Mal-Man.
USES: Alton Brown insists that every tool in his kitchen must have multiple uses. Many tools in our kitchen are made by OXO -- they get it right.
TAKE UP THE MANTLE: Elijah/Elisha -- so that's where that saying originated. It has nothing to do with revamping the fireplace.
DNF. Mid west section a total disaster. Yulu, Ovitz, and even Ani were unknown. Not sure I like the theme, especially with circles, and the hint, break a story, seemed vague.
ReplyDeleteFinished the book in just under 7 minutes today.
ReplyDeleteOwen, speaking of today, it's Thursday.
Lots of obscurity in today's puzzle.
Oh joy, circles.
Subgenius, this is the type of puzzle I was referring to earlier in the week as to why I do not like circles. We get stuck with clunkers like Ovitz, Yuzu, Florence someone, Myelin, etc., just for the "joy" of getting a few synonyms broken-up. Not worth it to me. So, the moral of the story is, I do not like circles.
Welcome Emma Lawson, thank you for your puzzle and for the time you spent communicating with Joseph. While the cluing may be more obscure, the inside look is more real.
ReplyDeleteDespite my personal position as Corner Pop Culture guru, other than Michael Ovitz, the rest required perps and "educated" guesses.
How would one see the theme without circles? That would be even harder.
Thank you MM and eMMa.
FIW today and like OwenKL I had five wrong squares. (But it is Thursday today, not Wednesday.) Like MalMan, my cluster Natick was the crossing of EVAN, ANI, OVITZ and YUZU. I made a careless mistake not checking the perp POSH when I put "on" instead of "UP" THE MANTLE. It would have fixed YUZU. My other Natick crossing was YELENA and ARAN where I put an "m." The spelling of MYELIN was helped by seeing MYTH first. The rest of my puzzle squares were pristine and for that I am happy. It's a good debut puzzle, Emma, thanks!
ReplyDeleteMalMan, thanks for your excellent review. I don't Google answers as I solve, but prefer to take my chances and check your review to see how close I get. Thanks for explaining it all.
It is Thursday and the week is flying by. Have a good day, everyone!
Before going to the write-up I decided to check for pop-cul and, I saw TEAL as "novelist Stephen…". Why not the color? Then I looked again at TAKE UP THE MetTLE. Aha, MANTLE. And of course (India)ARIE.
ReplyDeleteI see I guessed wrong on the pair of pure Naticks. I had OVITs/YUsU and ALI/EVAL. And…
There's an A on LYR_,YELEN_ not e
Fortunately, I remembered HOG and OXO was recent.
UNAGI and UMAMI I get mixed up. They even have UNAGI UMAMI. One is (freshwater) EEL and the other a kind of taste the Japanese identified
Duty roster wasn't a ROll(Call) but TETE A TETES filled quickly after TET..
Squeeze bunt would also be a SAC
The circles gave me the TA(KE) which at least eliminated roll/ROTA
I finally grok'ed BIKINI for TOPS, else Cali wouldve been unfinishable
WC
FIW today since LYRA should have been known
Musings
ReplyDelete-A two cell crackup at the west edge with, guess what, obscure proper names.
-At least I got YELE_A/ARA_. For some reason obscure geography seems to be more fair
-FERRETS kids brought to my classroom had a foul odor.
-Seeing and hearing ELO was fun but slowed my musings as I had to listen to the entire song
-Like the KC Royals, the Nationals won ONE World Series and the main players got big money to go elsewhere
-Oops, add two more bad cells in the SW. SNORT/SCORN and NOTES/CITES. Completely fair.
-Me too, Wilbur, in a squeeze bunt, the batter gets an RBI and a SAC
-Hmmm… A perfect day. What to do, what to do? AH OK, FORE!
DNF. Thought it might be just the decaf not kicking in, so I watched NY dominate Tampa Bay in the first game of the Eastern Division playoffs, then spent some time pulling up ivy in my back yard. Wide awake by then, I tried again with only modest success. Ended up getting the theme, but left 5 spaces blank up in Oregon territory.
ReplyDeleteI thought this one had the germ of a very fun puzzle, but unfortunate crosses extracted every kernel of fun from my experience. I think I'll start scanning the clues before I print a blank puzzle, and skipping the ones with a lot of "constructor/editor shows off" clues. Had I done so today, I would have skipped this one.
I have just realized why I lose so many things I type on the computer, like my blog today. I lose email messages before I send them too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I try to highlight a section I sometimes go from right to left and it erases. I guess it must always be left to right. Then most of the time I do not retype my post here. I'm busy now and will try again later. I got most of the puzzle very fast, except for that Natick clump on the Pacific coast and a silly problem in Texas.
We seem to get so many Natick clumps these days. Is it the editor or the constructor?
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Emma, for an interesting challenge. As a former newspaper writer, I thought the theme was AH OK. Very good one, MalMan! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI started out poorly, trying "morals" long before IDEALS. 'Squeeze" before STOLEN. "Assume the MANTLE before TAKE UP.
I agree that the west central block was just one big natick. DNK: MYELIN, YUZU, OVITZ, ANI, ROTA, EVAN. Didn't think of REBOUND or BIKINI until everything else filled.
Never heard of YELENA, or LOCAVORE. Lots of WAGs & red-letter help if nothing more than to point out I was wrong again.
YR: interesting about losing things on your computer. Thanks. I'll try to remember that. My computer "disappears" things for reasons I can't figure out. There seem to be a lot of little "short cut" commands that I don't know and keep hitting. I spend more time re-doing or undoing than I do solving the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNot an easy puzzle... DNF, the "Japanese fruit" and "Disney Guy" wouldn't cross. (I only remember "Eisner'). As is not uncommon I didn't suss the "split clue" answers either.🙄
ReplyDeleteInkover: take on/TAKE UP...
"pore strips"? "randomizer"? "TWEE" wha? "YELENA" who? Saw the entire run of "Westworld" but didn't know EVAN
Odd cluing for LET ("It be", "It go"). UNAGI/EEL..I've learned so much about sushi from these puzzles.🍣...😛
Loss of the MYELIN sheath around a nerve (BTW: very technical for a Thursday puzzle, surprised not more groaning 🤬 from the crowd) is the main cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). High incidence of MS here in Central NY with Syracuse (LIU) with the highest rate of any city in the the country.
I drive a Subaru Outback, great car but I started filling Legend instead of LEGACY. I love me a good "Cæsar salad" (
but skip the anchovies 🤔
Defunct Swedish wheels.....SOB
Hay space in the barn....ALOFT
When the book came apart we had it ___ ..REBOUND
Accumulating points in a game...SCORN
Our H2LH is off to see the _____ CITES
Have a great day..downpour yesterday ⛈ soaked the cellar rug a bit..🙉
Congrats to Emma on her first puzzle. But like others, a lot of unknowns for me. Sometimes just not on the same wavelength as the constructor.
ReplyDeleteSS (also known as AnonymousDNLC): I get your point about circles, but I must admit that if I hadn't suspected the circles would reveal "myth" there's no way I would have gotten "myelin sheath," not being any kind of biologist or health professional. I'm just sayin'
ReplyDeleteJust for you folks information: I googled "Black Widow" and found out that "Florence" refers to Florence Puch, an English actress who portrayed "Black Widow," a figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) who was a former Russian spy. I couldn't tell from the description if she was a hero or a villain (perhaps a little of both?) "Black Widow's" actual name is Yelena Belova. FYI.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer who has been known to BREAK A STORY now and then, I enjoyed the theme.
ReplyDeleteBut hand up I am assuming it was our new editor who ruined a perfectly good puzzle with that utterly impossible Natick Cluster in the west. How can anyone WAG a woman whose name is EVAN? Apparently the utterly unknown ALEX is also a female. ANI? Really? ROTA is NOT in American English. It is in British English. Had ROTE figuring it was short for "rotation" and would have that same sound. I am proud that I got everything except A, N in ANI. Ugh. SEETHE was very appropriate today.
MYELIN SHEATH may not be in everyday use, but it is an enduringly valuable thing to know. It is made of cholesterol. A number of infamous diseases are caused by a breakdown of the MYELIN SHEATH. Notably, Multiple Sclerosis.
Here is my ARTICLE about our WHALE watching trip of a lifetime three years ago.
I shared this back in 2019, but it may be new for some.
Since I started with Break a story, I quickly got the circles, unfortunately Like a few other people I crashed in the Midwest. For the Disney guy I wanted to put Eisner, but it didn’t fit.
ReplyDeleteI love Oxo kitchen utensils.
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteJinx, AnonT, Vidwan, Lucina Thank you for the discussion about BALBOA PARK in comparison with other city PARKs.
Yes, AnonT you should go back to Golden Gate Park to see the bison. I am sure I have photos if people are interested.
Lucina, glad you also saw SLOTHs in Costa Rica. What surprised me was to see one in a city park in San Jose! Where did you see them?
Lucina, I will add my condolences on the loss of your last uncle. Where were he and his son in Sacramento? My parents lived near Sacramento State. Sacramento gets very little attention, but it is quite beautiful and is relatively affordable.
Vidwan, thank you for the very kind words about my life meanderings. One of these days I will decide what I want to be when I grow up.
My father took me to see THE NATURAL when it came out. It was a very tragic story that I never stopped thinking about. How a person with great potential can make one mistake and they might never recover from it. Apparently, the real life story it was based on was not as tragic as the movie version.
MM Nice, informative write-up. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a FUN Thursday puzzle.
I'm still "Toasting: everybody every night at Sunset.
Cheers!
Thanks, Tinbeni. Great to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteSláinte!
Almost easy peasy!
ReplyDeleteEdward here in Los Angeles. Finally my degree in biology came in handy.
I really appreciated the combination of toughies and easy items in this Thursday puzzle, Emma--many thanks for this great debut! Thank you for getting Emma to comment, Mal Man, and thanks for your always helpful assistance.
ReplyDeleteI loved having the 'letter opener' turn out to be DEAR. Got it as soon as the D was in place.
SPA and EEL were easy, but I would never have gotten OVITZ--or YUZU for that matter.
'Have debts' couldn't be anything other than OWE, but I wanted SMOG for that urban pollution, although I should have figured that SMOG is not as 'invisible' as NOISE.
I guess maybe this puzzle is a little "Fancy-schmancy" or POSH.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteThursday thrills! Thank you, Emma Lawson. This took quite a bit longer than usual. I had to FERRET out some unknown fill. YUZU, YELENA, MYELIN SHEATH (this did not appear in my biology class) and one day soon I might remember UNAGI/UNAMI.
SPIN THE WHEEL is more like a Wheel of Fortune type of clue but "randomizer" helped to elicit the final answer.
I love OXO tools.
We haven't seen India ARIE in a while though she used to appear in puzzles often.
Names unfamiliar to me are OVITZ, NEAL, YELENA, EVAN but perps were solidly helpful. At least I know REESE.
TWEE Pop?? Is this English?
AH, OH, I have vague recollections of BIKINI TOPS.
MM, thank you.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Owen, I look forward to seeing your post first and reading your daily poems. Please take heart and continue entertaining us.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun puzzle. And a great write up by MM.
ReplyDeleteI always did the puzzle on paper and now do it online and find it’s much easier this way and saves a tree, or two.
Thank you Emma, our latest NOVEAU not NEUF contributor and congrats on your debut! Despite this puzzle being just about right for a Thursday I FWDM (Finished With Dumb Mistakes). I loved the theme and it really helped to explain what was in the circles.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you MalMan for another funny, illuminating review. I realize that your pen and paper don't work under water but if you're running out of time for answers I'd suggest you consult the cheat sheet that we get with every puzzle (you know, the one that ends in ".puz.txt"): the LAT pays us by the hour and we wouldn't want to run up the clock would we?
A few favs:
17A FARM TO TABLE. We are committed (or should be) LOCAVORES and until recently LOCAL was located just outside the kitchen. Now it's found in the abundance of markets making a bundle on "organic" vegetables". "Inorganic vegetables" are what: stones?
24A MYELIN SHEATH. MYELIN is a mixture of proteins and phospholipids that keep the electrons coursing down the AXON to tickle nearby nerve cells, from jumpiing the track.
37A TAKE UP THE MANTLE. My undoing, as I filled "ON" instead of UP. For the life of me I don't know what I thought was so "Fancy-schmancy" about a NOSH.
50A SPIN THE WHEEL. Wanted "BOTTLE" to decide who get's kissed next.
54A HOG. My hippy cousin Michael tools into Chesapeake Bay country on his HOG to buy steamed crabs. You wouldn't know it from his do, but he's also an expert on Staffordshire ceramics.
7D UNAGI. I love UNAGI, but it's very oily and gives me indigestion.
Cheers,
Bill
Musings:
ReplyDeleteSubgenius @5:35 AM Looked like sad SLOG( to me.
Picard @12:06PM ROTA may be Brit slang. It shows up in a lot of mysteries. It's their shorthand roster I think.
Tinbeni @12:33 PM I knew it. Must be why I get that relaxed glow every evening around that time.
Lucina @1:41 PM OXO makes the best potato peelers this side of Peoria.
A DNF today. YUZU, OVITZ, MYELIN, EVAN, ROTA area slayed me today.
ReplyDeleteA clever PZL from Ms. Lawson. Some (above) would say too clever.
ReplyDeleteI was also blocked in the mid-west (left middle) sector.
I did not remember OVITZ and never knew Ms. Wood's name.
Fortunately, I could still get the theme answers because they had their own logic. FABLE, MYTH, and TALE made sense. I had to pause at SPIEL because I think it less of a story and more likely a pitch.
But its portion of SPIN THE WHEEL carried it off.
~ OMK
___________
DR: One diagonal, far side.
It is slim in vowels, but if we borrow an "a" from the partial diagonal just above, we can find an anagram (11 of 15 letters) that refers to an excellent device for achieving one's dreams!
I mean a...
"PH(a)T WISHBONE"!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Emma (welcome fellow-Canadian, even if you are on the other side of the country!) and MalMan.
ReplyDeleteI FIWed today with difficulty like MM and others in the mid-west. I had ROTA (maybe that was Canadian-British advantage today) but did not know OVITZ, EVAN, ALI or YUZU. I WAGged incorrectly with Smith, Ali.
Even DH did not know that Subaru, and since I thought 69A was Helena I did not see LEGACY.
But I saw the theme.
TWEE was our new word for the day.
I changed TAKE on THE MANTLE to UP. Hello ATLGranny
Smog and ozone wouldn’t work; it was NOISE pollution. (Yes, smog is not invisible) hello Misty
I noted SHE and HER. HRH Elizabeth II is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this weekend. A remarkable woman who has performed her duty in an exemplary fashion for those 70 years, (no matter what your view of the monarchy is).
Glad to see you her today, Tim.
Wishing you all a great day.
Show off clueing is for the birds.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks,
ReplyDeleteMy kids taught me that swiping left versus right does different things with texts, emails, etc...
Todays puzzle? DNF!
I had three words left to go in the mid west, when I must have accidentally swiped right.
The whole page moved right, and back to that awful advertisement screen.
Nothing I tried would bring it back as an almost completed puzzle. I could only watch the Ad again and start the puzzle over.
So I tossed the iPad onto the couch next to the positive Covid test...
DW and I think it was the wedding.
Bride and groom have already had it, and are happily on their honeymoon.
Luckily, we both got our second boosters early May in anticipation.
But it still sucks to be sick...
Well, sheesh, I was enjoying the process of solving this puzzle until I hit that aforementioned west side. No way to use logic, reasoning, or educated guessing to solve OVITZ, EVAN, ANI, and YUZU if you didn't already know these "know it or you don't" answers. So this crossword puzzle is also partly a cross-trivia puzzle or cross-factoid puzzle. I don't come here to play Jeopardy. I'm starting to feel the same as Owen and Jinx about it.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Owen, I enjoy reading your comments and hope you decide to continue discussing with us all. Same to you, Jinx; I think you and I think more alike than either of us may realize.
By the way, isn't the title His/Her Royal Highness for princes and princesses, the term His/Her Majesty being the proper way to refer to the monarch?
I have unburdened myself of the huge weight of stress I have been feeling this past month by making the firm decision to not get an MRI. The information I have been getting from the doctors and medical assistants where I get my health care has been inconsistent and incomplete, with the result that I feel negative vibes about it all. I get the strong feeling that they care more about the doctor's convenience and preferences than they do about my comfort, concerns, and insecurities. The way they brush off my claustrophobia with statements such as "You'll be fine" (no, I won't) and "You'll have a mild oral sedative" (mild? why not strong?) are off-putting and condescending. So no, I am officially declining to undergo this procedure, and the fact that my stress about it is now gone does far more, I think, to benefit my health than squeezing my large body into a narrow hole for an hour can possibly do. And no, they don't even have any open MRI machines.
Whew.
Good wishes to you all.
It may help to have a friend in the room with you. Lowers the level of stress and you can always decide to stop the test. Goodvluck!
DeleteCED, I commiserate with you. (LW and I got our second boosters 2 days ago, and are glad to have that out of the way.)
ReplyDeleteWe have many rotas for volunteers in our church. They are lists or schedules of who will do a particular job on what day, i.e. greeters, lectors, altar guild, lay Eucharistic ministers, coffee hour hosts, money counters, etc. And we are a small church.
ReplyDeleteI knew MYELLIN SHEATHE, but forgot it needed a Y.
CED, sorry you have covid. I hope it is mild.
Even having a mild case, my first 5 days were quite unpleasant, but not the worst malady. After that the hard part was the final 5 days of quarantine.
I was sick in bed Saturday after my second booster on Friday. I felt fine on Sunday and Monday and proceeded normally, but I most have overdone it, because I was very exhausted Tuesday. I am back to normal these last two days.
The possibility of long term covid is scary.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteNope, not today. OvITz xing EvAn (xing AnI) and YUzU left three squares blank. DNF.
Thanks for the grid Emma and congrats on the LAT debut.
Wonderful tunes to read the expo by, MManatee. Thanks.
WO: Roll -> ROTA, LEgS -> LEES
ESPs: TWEE, ARIE, NEAL, MYELIN (thank you theme!), YELENA
Fav: After Tuesday's Sugar Coat theme, "IT'S BAD." DEER's clue was cute too.
Perps kept ozone from being invisible pollution.
{B+, B}
Hand-up, WC -- my first thought was also SAC.
Hand-up, Ray-O -- Disney and Eisner are the only ones I know. However, I add anchovies to my Caesar.
CED - sorry to read you're under the weather with Covid. We had covid before the vaccine existed and it sucked! for two weeks. DW tested positive again last week but she was only puny for a day.
YR - DW had long Covid - Dr.s were doing all kinds of tests thinking something worse (like lupus or ??). It wasn't until DW got her second Pfizer shot that all the long-symptoms went away.
Wiki say: TWEE pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 NME compilation C86. Characterised** by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love.
//Now I have to go lookup NME and C86 (I know what a C64* is :-))
Cheers, -T
*Commodore 64
**Might just be (British) English, Lucina :-)
CED: so sorry that you got the "booby prize" from the wedding. Hope your case is mild and you are soon back to your ornery best. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI looked up OVITZ to see why so many of us didn't know him. He was with Disney only TWO years from 1995-97. Old and obscure. So why did he wind up in a puzzle like that natick snarl? Not cute!
Picard I linked the original story that Malamud based THE NATURAL on. It was Eddie Waitkus , decorated WWII soldier who was shot by a deranged fan in 1949. He went on to have a career for Cubs and Phillies but appeared yo gave lingering PTSD
ReplyDeleteOK, let's relink the Eddie Waitkus / THE NATURAL story again..
WC
It's tough not having preview.
DeleteWC @7:55 PM TTP posted a way to get a comment editor a day or so ago - here's a repeat:
Delete1. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the cell screen to "View web screen"
2. Resize the screen to geezer legible letters.
3. You'll now have a comment editor with all the old features.
4. Psst. Don't tell Blogger about or they'll take away.
errata - I typed "DEER's clue was cute too".
ReplyDeleteAmazing I still have dear / deer issues after DW made so much fun of me for 34 years.
See, while at Basic, I wrote her daily... "Deer K"
"So, what, you think I'm a fawn?"
Me: "?"
"Deer is a Bambi, not how you 'Start a letter.'"
Me: "But you know I faun over you." #Save(?)
My funny for today: Sister texted sib-group:
"Dad Fact: It's impossible for a dad to look for studs with a stud-finder without first scanning himself and saying, "Found One!"
(CEO) Bro texted back:
"When I was single I'd take a stud finder to bars, hand it to the hottest girl in the joint, and say "in case I get lost..."
Saturday week, Little Sis will be in Houston. Party!
Cheers, -T
My earlier comment was from my phone, which kept erasing my comments and wouldn't let my use my ALIAS (Big Easy). I kept it short, unable to really write much. I caught the story breaks but it took perps to fill UNAGI for UMAMI, ANI, and YELENA. With my total lack of knowledge of MYELIN, YUZU, ANI, ROTA, EVAN and ANI bunched together I was at a complete loss in getting a toehold even with MOTE and BIKINI in place.
ReplyDeleteI hope to REBOUND before my doctor's visit tomorrow am and finish on correctly.
Good EEN.
I see a favorite player from the old Boston Braves Sibby Sisti had a small role in the movie, THE NATURAL. I just loved the name.
ReplyDeleteWC
CanadianEh! ~ Looks like the anti-monarchists are just waiting for Lillibet to die to make their move--and the same holds for several Commonwealth nations, to scuttle the monarch as ceremonial head when Charles ascends the throne.
ReplyDeleteI have alway admired Elizabeth from a distance, and she has certainly earned her Jubilee.
~ OMK
Waseeley @2:15: "Now it's found in the abundance of markets making a bundle on "organic" vegetables". "Inorganic vegetables" are what: stones?"
ReplyDeleteThe alternative might be "synthetic," as in 'synthetic lettuce,' or some such grisliness.