Good morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap. It will be somewhat briefer than usual as as Valerie and I have been at Bass Lake (near Yosemite) this week with my grandchildren, a few good friends, and their grandchildren.
Our constructor today is Karen Lurie, or perhaps Karen Urie (see below). Karen has had several puzzles previously reviewed here, most recently less than two weeks ago on July 5th.
Let's start with the reveal:
51. "Oh, admit defeat already!," and advice that was followed to form the answers to the starred clues: JUST TAKE THE L. Just take the LOSS. Or, as applied in the grid, remove the letter L from the start of three common phrases. The results are three odd, but not nonsensical, phrases with entirely different meanings from the originals.
These are the starred clues and answers:
20. *Research on the ampersand?: AND MARK STUDY. A Landmark Study is an important and influential report on a topic of interest. An ampersand is this mark: &. We use it to symbolize the word AND. If you research the & symbol then you have have done an AND MARK STUDY.
31. *Ambien, for one?: AID TO REST. The common expression is Laid To Rest. From its funerary roots, the expression Laid To Rest is more often used to indicate that a situation has been resolved as in: At the end of this recap I hope to have Laid To Rest any lingering questions about the clues and answers. Ambien, of course, is a sleep medicine and, therefore an AID TO REST.
44. *Folds?: ENDS A HAND. Lends A Hand is pretty self-explanatory. Here, the clue is a poker reference. To Fold is to drop out of the betting at which point you have forfeited any money that you have previously bet on the poker hand.
Here is what this all looks like in the grid:
. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Karate match exchanges: BOWS. Exchanging BLOWS would not fit.
5. Exams for coll. credit: APS. A pluralization of the Advanced Placement exam. Meh.
8. Hydro __: bottle brand: FLASK.
13. Perfect copy: EDIT. Perfect, in this case is used as a verb (with the accent on the second syllable). A perfect (adjective) copy could be a clone.
14. __-portrait: SELF.
16. Otherworldly: EERIE. Things often get EERIE in our puzzles due to the word's high vowel content.
17. Wee: TINY. Recently, we have seen oh so many instances of EENSY, TEENSY, WEENSY, ITTY, ITSY BITSY and the like.
18. "Quite so": TRUE.
19. Without exception: EVERY.
23. Brief "If you ask me (and even if you didn't)": IMO. In My Opinion.
24. Current: HIP. Neither an electrical nor a hydraulic reference.
25. Rapper Lil __ X: NAS. He appears often.
28. Wan: ASHEN.
34. Brazilian city: RIO. RIO de Janeiro
35. Otherwise: ELSE.
37. World Heritage Site org.: UNESCO.
38. School units: CLASSES. CREDITS was a pretty good, but incorrect, first thought.
40. Chest of drawers: DRESSER. What did the Ikea DRESSER say to the aliens after landing on their planet? "I come in pieces."
41. Valiant: HEROIC.
42. Sound like a pig: OINK.
43. Press coverage: INK. A now somewhat outdated colloquialism as newspapers continue to lose subscribers.
46. Must-haves: NEEDS.
48. Shares again, on Twitter: RTS. ReTweetS? Meh.
49. Energy Star certifying org.: EPA.
50. Tammy Duckworth's title, briefly: SEN. SENator. Democrat from Illinois.
60. Fallon's predecessor: LENO. Hosts of "The Tonight Show"
Jimmy Fallon and Jay LENO
61. Tire swing holder: ROPE. TREE would have fit and the E would have worked.
62. Peabody, e.g.: AWARD. The Peabody is an AWARD given for excellence in radio broadcasting. The Sherman in an entirely different matter.
63. Shoots the breeze: YAKS. Also, large, hairy animals.
64. Continent with 11 time zones: ASIA.
65. Insurance spokeslizard: GECKO.
66. Root word?: RAH. To root, as in to cheer for a team.
67. "To Kill a Mockingbird" star: PECK. Gregory.
Down:
1. Pre-release software version: BETA.
2. Asgard god: ODIN. As I am sure that I have mentioned before, I first learned of ODIN and Loki and Thor from reading Marevel comic books as a child.
3. Leaf blower: WIND. A bit of misdirection if one first thought of those noisy, but water saving, devices. Also, the output of those devices.
4. Buffalo: STYMIE. Not used as the animal but, rather, as the verb.
5. Intro to physics?: ASTRO. Often clued with reference to the Houston, TX baseball team.*
6. Fringe benefit: PERK. Short, and intentionally misspelled, slang for perquisite.
7. Frozen drink: SLUSHIE.
8. Nurture: FEED.
9. "Schitt's Creek" co-creator: LEVY. Dan and Eugene LEVY. Either one.
10. "__ we done here?": ARE.
11. Lancelot or Mix-a-Lot: SIR. On the TV show "Two and a Half Men" it was SIR Craps-a-lot.
12. Vital: KEY. Synonyms for necessary/essential.
15. Really stinky: FETID.
21. Unrealistically common affliction in soap operas: AMNESIA. My girlfriend just told me that she has AMNESIA. Who does she think she is!?
22. Positive shift: UPTURN.
25. Scottish monster, affectionately: NESSIE. The Loch Ness Monster.
26. Rise: ASCEND.
27. Baby birds?: STORKS. Not chicks.
28. Sagittarius symbol: ARCHER.
29. Mum: SILENT.
30. Stockpiles: HOARDS. Why do dragons HOARD jewels and gold? Because cash is flammable.
31. Beast of burden in many fables: ASS. Karen and Patti have teed this one up. Who am I to pass on the chance?
The Rolling Stones
32. Support for a proposal?: ONE KNEE. A marriage proposal.
33. Hi-__ graphics: RES. RESolution.
36. Tres __ cake: dairy-soaked dessert: LECHES.
39. Sea plea, briefly: SOS. A rhyming clue.
40. Took care of: DID.
42. Really hot: ON A TEAR. Idiomatic for having success over a period of time.
45. In a fitting way: APTLY.
47. Set up: ENTRAP. If you ask a cop what their favorite movie is they have to tell you. Otherwise it's ENTRAPment.
50. Smidge: SKOSH. From the Japanese word sukoshi (pronounced skoh shee).
51. Weightlifting move: JERK.
52. Reverse: UNDO.
53. "Eso Beso" singer: ANKA. Paul ANKA wrote, and performed, many other songs but "Eso Besso" is the one that seems to appear most frequently in our puzzles. I wonder why that is. Lots of vowels and esses, I suppose.
54. Sprinkler attachment: HOSE. I do not attach a hose to my sprinklers. They must mean an attachment used for sprinkling.
57. Tattered cloth: RAG. Or a song by Scott Joplin.
58. Blow away: AWE.
59. Big name in laptops and lipstick: MAC. We are all familiar with the Apple MACintosh computer, the actual MACintosh apple, MAC and Cheese and the Big MAC. In keeping with recent trends, however, the author/editor elected to go with lipstick. Oh, well. What the L.
Big Mac Edition
Karen, you are invited to post whatever the L you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or anything else in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you.
FIRight, but it took some doing! I had YAM instead of RAH and couldn't suss the second word of the reveal. That gave me ON A.EAY and S.OSM. I got the missing L hint, but searched the entire themers before finding the L was always in front. Finally erased YAM, and got ON A TEAR and SKOSH, tho I thought it was the sound when a Koosh-ball hit a wall. JUST TAKE THE L (?LOSS?) is a meaningless phrase to me, so that further hampered me.
"The GEICO Gecko's real name is Martin, named after the advertising agency that created him. This character is so beloved that GEICO is working hard to protect his good name." If the GEICO Gecko rates a 10, the GEICO Pig and LiMu Emu are tied at -2 !
Alphabets come from various lands. An Alpha linguist may have a BETA in the hand! Our own has changed, Which goes to explain Why our twenty-seventh letter was once & !
The Sorcerer's Apprentice had a quirk (just one?) When he cast a spell, he went as ASHEN as a swan! He didn't wave a baton, Or a staff to cast on -- He used his paleness as a Magic WAN!
Cute, the way Karen got the L out of here. I only went wrong when _NE____ showed up, and confidently inked in KNEEPAD. Wite-Out, please. This was a nice, quick romp. D-o managed to grasp the theme, even if he missed the reveal. Thanx, Karen and Mal-Man.
Xxxxx. I actually didn't know & was called an ampersand. But given the theme (L) it was easy to work out
Easiest Thursday in awhile but I FIW on GEiKO. I knew the Lizard but thought they wanted the Co. But I already had the K from JERK. MAi made no sense but I just TOOK THE L
Of course taking the (e)L is how I got around in Boston
I see we have RAG in its noun form. Tony, Stay away from it
FIR, but misread the clue and had to erase geico for GECKO. Waited for tree/ROPE and preq/perc/PERK (I use "perq".) DNK that FLASK, that RAMEN, that NAS, that cake, or that lipstick.
I knew I had heard of Tammy Duckworth, but it took a perp or two to remember the context.
"Continent with 4 letters" would have been just as easy and would have used less INK.
Sports reporters often say "took the L" when naming the pitcher or goalkeeper charged with the loss according to the league scoring rules. Like any other statistic, it doesn't tell the whole story, and can actually be quite unfair.
Thanks to Karen for the fun, easy-for-Thursday puzzle. Nothing to be a Karen about here. My favorite was "perfect copy" for EDIT. And thanks to our Mal Man for your usual mix of information and mirth.
Thanks, Karen, for an interesting puzzle that I enjoyed and FIR! So often while I am working puzzles, words come to my mind that I haven't thought of lately but are the fill needed. Puzzles fluff up my vocabulary. I got the theme and figured L stood for loss, not the train.
My only WOs came near the end when I confidently wrote in tree for ROPE and tap for RAH. Perps cleared up that area. And thanks, MalMan, for your delightful review clearing up other questions and humoring us, even during your holiday!
Rain continues and mushrooms are appearing along the sidewalks, but it hasn't been so hot. Hope your day goes well and is interesting.
Ms. Duckworth sounded familiar, but wasn't sure if she was a "SEN"atory or a "SEC"retary.
I stumbled with alien before eerie, and tree before rope. (Isn't a rope part of a tire swing? If it's just the tire, well, isn't that just a tire? There's no swinging involved.)
Good morning and I'll JUST TAKE THE 'DUBYA' instead of the L on Karen's nice puzzle today. The reveal was apparent as soon as AND MARK STUDY was filled. Both AID TO REST and ENDS A HAND were filled without seeing the clues. And strange as it may seem. "Ambien, for one?"- I couldn't sleep last night so I broke a 10mg pill in half and took one at 1:30 this morning; good for 5 hours.
Hydro FLASK & Eugene LEVY were unknown as clued but the L was an easy guess for the fill.
RTS- never have and never will for an idiotic APP that I'll never download. Facebook, What's App, Instagram, TikTok, GroupMe, Facetime, Messenger, and countless others. You could spend your entire life consumed by nothing just like a billion other fools. You go to a restaurant and see four people at a table and all four are looking at their phones.
STYMIE- a term used in pool and formerly in golf before players marked their ball on the green. But I've never heard it used as a synonym for Buffalo.
MAC- the computer was easy but the lipstick- maybe 'stick' the MAC between the 'lips", but I don't get it.
ANTACRTICA- continent with 24 time zones or is it just one?
I was rejoicing that this was so easy for a Friday. Ooh! It's only Thursday. Fewer names today. Didn't know FLASK or LEVY, but EVERY supplied the perps. TAKE THE L in football lingo means take the loss. Nice theme. In my Japanese class the the U in SUKOSHI is pronounced, but barely, kind of like our schwa. Sukoshi has three syllables, each with a vowel sound. SK? There are no digraphs in Japanese. "Tonkotsu ramen is a ramen made with tonkotsu (pork bone) broth, which means it takes the name from the soup's ingredients. Shoyu ramen on the other hand, is named after the ingredients used which is shoyu (soy sauce) flavored sauce." BE, I agree, I never use those apps either. I hate when a restaurant's only menu online in on Facebook. STYMIE and BUFFALO can both mean perplex, as the pigeon illustration said. I have seen it in print often and heard it sometimes. Intractable problems can stymie or buffalo us.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Karen and MalMan. I FIRed in good time and got the theme (although my first thought for 51A was “throw in the towel”.
Of course this Canadian had no idea who Dckworth was, but OTOH I did know LEVY and ANKA. We aren’t going to shuffle off to Buffalo? Oh, STYMIE. Yes I know that meaning.
I smiled at the usual meaning for RAG today. Another smile for “root word?= RAH”. I had Waxen before ASHEN, and ON A roll before TEAR.
We’ll take some of that rain ATLGranny. I’m off to water the dry garden. Wishing you all a great day.
My usual, non-existent observational skills led to a very surprising reveal. The best of the three themers, IMO, is Ends A Hand; the other two are sort of clunky. I went astray on Tree/Rope and Slurpee/Slushie. Is there even a Slurpee IR? I liked the Oink/Ink duo and the C/A Baby Birds?=Storks.
Thanks, Karen, for a fun solve and thanks, MalMan, for a very entertaining review. As usual, I’ll need a return trip to view the many graphics. Enjoy the remainder of your vacation.
Letters missing from the clue answers..ELSE. ..took a few beats to figure that out..
As suspected "perfect" in perFECT copy is a verb. Had to perpwait on slurpee vers. SLUSHIE. Easy puzzle and theme nearing the dreaded end of the week.
DW accidentally came upon a current TV episode of "Days of Our Lives" and was able to tell me what was basically happening and who was who. She hadn't seen an episode in 20 years. Definitely no "Soap Opera" AMNESIA for her.
HydroFLASK?..I put LEAD for "pipe problem" first, perpcorrected...
If no bus in Chicago _____ JUST TAKE THE EL. Brit Mom with little to say....MUM Huns, for example...HOARDS They "nourished" their pet, ____ twice a day...FETID One thing a Tibetan Ox doesn't do....YAKS Back part of a Donkey costume...ASCEND (ðŸ¤)
Ever run into a crossword where there could be two different possible plausible answers? Last to fall, I had 19a without exception= e*er*, crossed by 9d. "Schitt's Creek" co-creator: LE*Y (possible Natick) crossed by 12d. Vital: KE*
So my only option was to do an alphabet run on KE blank which which came to a crashing halt at "G", because everyone knows that a "Keg" is "vital" to any outdoor party! (And with apologies to Tinbeni, also ice...)
I don't have too much to say about this puzzle. I sussed the gimmick pretty quickly, and everything else pretty much fell into place. There were a couple of foreign language terms, but they perped pretty easily. I'd say this was a walk in the park, particularly for a Thursday. FIR, so I'm happy.
I bounced all over the grid for a FIR. So, better than yesterday's INKy mess.
Thanks for the puzzle Karen. Lot's of fun word-play in there.
EPIC recap, MManatee. That's for the tour.
WOs: NoS->NAS X, too quick with the pen and w/ W in place, added another to AWw ESPs: N/A Fav: ASTRO for both physics [see: James Webb images and our local baseball team.
Sparkle: STYMIE, SKOSH, JERK, FETID, AMNESIA's & EDIT's clues. LEVY [interview] is a tip'o'the-hat to all the great comedians Canada exported.
{B+, A}
WC - I'll stay away from the noun. ;-)
BigE - moderation, dude. I only have LinkedIn & Twitter (for hot info-sec news) but I find if I try to interact - there's an hour+ wasted. Same with The Corner ;-) But here it's more fun.
Lucina - I thought of you at Tres LECHES. I've had it a few times... and, it is rich. I'll just stick with tiramisu and espresso for the after-meal.
ATLGranny - the radio keeps saying we will get rain. But, unless it's a deluge, I don't want it - makes the humidity more humiditory (?). I heard Houston might drop below 80F tonight - maybe the A/C will finally get some rest.
Thank you Karen. Accept my BOWS for a fun PUZZE and an unexpectedly easy Thursday FIR.
And thank you MalMan. Briefer? How was it briefer? But as Garrison used to say, it was "not too bad".
A few favs:
13A EDIT. Perfect clue.
20A AND MARK STUDY. Brings to mind a disturbing trend in scientific studies, i.e. the failure of LANDMARK STUDIES to be replicated by scientific peers. This has led to an increasing need to RETRACT previously published papers. The Retraction Watch websitelists over 250 retracted or questionable papers on COVID19. This is serious stuff.
43A INK. We've stopped subscribing to the paper version of the Baltimore Sun, because it wasn't worth the extra cost. We subscribe the the digital version for local news and events, but mainly use it to get the LAT puzzle and the Jumble. The only real drawback is that it's not very easy to read the comics, so I rarely do that anymore. Sniff.
2D ODIN. I'm familiar with this god as WOTAN, the shadowy character who lurks his way through Wagner's 4 opera EPIC, "The Ring Cycle".
12D KEY. The last to fall, but it was VITAL to my FIR.
27D STORK. Cute clue for cute babies.
31D ASS. The performance of "Beast of Burden" was worth it just to see Charlie Watts.
Since I usually start with the reveal, I was about to JUST TAKE THE L since I could not figure out how ETHEL fit in this puzzle, but I soon figured it out and it all fell into place and turned into an enjoyable trip.
Musings -Seeing (L)ENDS A HAND GAVE me the gimmick out of the blue -JUST TAKE THE L – Don’t call timeout with your team down by 20 and there are 5 seconds left in the game -In my career, I have taught three ninety minute and six forty minutes CLASSES per day -We don’t listen to any of the late-night TV hosts. We prefer HGTV or Diners, Drive-ins and Dives -After To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus became a popular name. After WWII, Adolph faded. -I am watching the British Open on TV and the golfers would have to drive 3 hrs northwest to get to Loch Ness -I had no idea on lipstick but I am looking right as MAC(Book Pro) as I type this. -I had a great time with a leaf blower and toilet paper in front of 40 elementary kids yesterday and as soon as I can figure out how to post that video, I’ll show it to you.
Well, Thursdays are usually toughies for me, but this one was manageable, happily, so many thanks, Karen. And I always enjoy your commentary and pictures, MalMan, thanks for those too.
Hmm, is it time to EDIT my SELF-portrait? Hope it doesn't get too EERIE in my seniority.
Teaching CLASSES for all those decades was pretty HEROIC, don't you think? Nowadays I'd probably NEED somebody to LEND A HAND.
Should LENO get an AWARD for saving all those cars from crashing by hoarding them?
Okay, is that insurance critter a GEIKO or a GECKO? Let's get this straightened out.
I'm making progress on what is sure to become the lANDMARK study of the attitudes of Cornerites regarding the merits of social media. Big Easy, I'll put you down in the "undecided" column.
Bill, I also have trouble reading comics on my PC. Fortunately the two papers I have online-only subscriptions to (Virginian Pilot and Ocala Star Banner) both allow me to zoom in, and alternatively, click on a story to bring up a bigger version in a side panel. If you are using a Windoze machine you could also reduce the resolution to make everything larger. My laptop allows me to "unpinch" the screen to make everything bigger, but not all do that.
Misty, Geico is the firm and GECKO is the spokeslizard. IIRC, "Geico" originally meant Government Employee Insurance Company. USAA remains US military-only, and is supposed to be a very good choice for those who qualify.
Hand up never heard of "JUST TAKE THE L". It is annoying in the same way that BAE is. It is not any shorter to say it than the full word. Learning moment.
Got the concept of a missing L right away. But struggled to get the reveal. Tried TREE and LIMB before ROPE. Hand up SLURPEE before unknown SLUSHIE. FIR.
There are many kinds of GECKO and I have shared other GECKO photos before. Leopard GECKOs are native to deserts of South ASIA and do not have sticky toes. They make good pets as they are hardy and they like being held and are easy to breed. Very low environmental impact.
From Yesterday: Jinx Thanks for validating that I found the correct Budweiser FROG SUPER BOWL ad. So much creativity goes into those ads. More interesting for me than the games!
TTP, AnonT Thank you for the tips regarding replacements for our PLASMA TV. It was not very expensive when I bought it in 2009 and it is still giving beautiful images. We have a Best Buy and a Costco right across the street from us. I do occasionally look at the OLED TVs and I agree they are quite nice. Now that we have a house we have room for a bigger screen.
CanadianEh Thank you for the kind words about my ROCKET launch video! I was in awe at how there was no contrail... and then it suddenly appeared out of thin air!
I am very grateful that we can view these amazing launches from our neighborhood. I did once make the drive to the actual launch site at Vandenberg. But about a quarter of the time or more the launches are scrubbed (rescheduled) and it would feel bad to drive two hours round trip and not see it. In this case they were giving high odds that it would be scrubbed due to dense fog.
Misty - I know you know Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Gray." DW & I live in our world and don't chage. Your SELFie will be all that.
LOL BigE as 'undecided', Jinx.
Geico's Gecko - did anyone click my [unwittingly apropos link] from Planet Money last night? //Cool lizards, Picard.
HG - I got video unavailable :-( DW still can't believe I'm a 13yro boy trapped in a man's body. But what good is life w/o stupid-fun?
Anyone need a story? I just met with potential buyers / renters(?)... She was looking around the yard and we got to talking. Me: "Where you from?" 'Springfield, IL' "(?!?) No way! Which part?" [of course it was the posh side of town] "I grew up North-End near 3rd & Eastman - three blocks from Lincoln Park. "Pop now lives at W. Maple Ave N." 'That's near Oak Ridge Cemetery, right?' "Yes, Pop likes that his neighbors never complain."
They know my BIL (who owns a bar in Chatham), we went to the same school (St. Joe's) 2 years apart, and!, the same Nuns beat the smirk out of us.
How nutty is that? A few Prairie People from the same TINY-Midwest town are in Sugar Land, TX discussing property.
Blew my mind so I had to call Pop [he was out fishing with (Army) Bro]. All he could say was, "Well... Serendipity, Son. This is why you don't piss-off people. Never know when you'll see them again."
In elementary school for 32 years we taught from opening bell to dismissal bell with a hour for lunch sometimes, but usually a half hour with recess or lunch room duty. I often helped students if I had the spare half hour. We had planning time for three forty minute periods a week, one each, when our kids had art, music and gym. Spending the full lunch hour to rest or do your own thing was rare, but happened.
The teacher next door to my room was called a wiz at teaching science. She would do a lesson similar to the toilet paper caper as a show without anchoring it to science concepts. I called them magic shows. I had some of her students the following year. They remembered the shows, but none of the concepts. Gary, I admire a teacher like you who does both.
Hi Y'all! Enjoyable puzzle, Karen, doable despite some stumper clues for me. Eventually I had some mind shifts. Great expo, MM, thanks!
I got the missing "L" theme early, but didn't know what the reveal had to do with the clue for it until MalMan explained LOSS. Too much language is being abbreviated these days & I am clueless about too much.
Last fill was NE corner. DNK Hydro-FLASK, SIR, KEY = vital (I was thinking vitals as in a hospital: respiration, heart beat, blood pressure, etc.) DNK LEVY or anything else about Schitt's Creek except for seeing the title on my TV guide channel. Doesn't sound appealing.
I joined Facebook as the only way to see news about my relatives, including my out-of-state son's family. Now FB has quit allowing me to post anything on my own FB "page" Grrrr! No idea why.
Being so late to post a comment, I find everything I was gonna say already done been said! Reading all the comments just reinforces the fact that I am the least capable CW solver here. This CW took me 32 to FIR; everyone else thought it was “fast and easy for a Thursday”. Oh, one comment I can make: two clues depended entirely on which word or syllable got the emPHAsis. PERfect copy or perFECT copy. And baby BIRDS or BABY birds. Both clever clues. Thanx for the fun, KL. And thanx for the nice write-up, MM.
Finally got back to the corner! I really liked this puzzle, because I actually got to finish one, what with all I’ve been doing at the museum this summer. We’ve had kid and/or adult tours almost every day. I’m not complaining; it’s just what we do during the summer.
(Of course, there was the group of 65 kids scheduled for this past Tuesday who never showed up nor called. Their not showing didn’t bother me, but not being able to contact them DID --- voice mail --- because we had two pilots cooling their heels at another airport, waiting to do a fly-by and a slide presentation for them.) We’re weighing corrective measures.
SKOSH is one of my favorite words. My dad brought it back from Korea. Unknowns were FLASK (in that context), NAS, ODIN (as clued) and LEVY. Perps to the rescue! Since I don’t tweet, perps also got RTS for me.
I won’t state it as a fact, but my earliest recollection of TAKE THE L was hearing it on ESPN’s Sports Center way back when.
47 comments:
FIRight, but it took some doing! I had YAM instead of RAH and couldn't suss the second word of the reveal. That gave me ON A.EAY and S.OSM. I got the missing L hint, but searched the entire themers before finding the L was always in front. Finally erased YAM, and got ON A TEAR and SKOSH, tho I thought it was the sound when a Koosh-ball hit a wall. JUST TAKE THE L (?LOSS?) is a meaningless phrase to me, so that further hampered me.
"The GEICO Gecko's real name is Martin, named after the advertising agency that created him. This character is so beloved that GEICO is working hard to protect his good name."
If the GEICO Gecko rates a 10, the GEICO Pig and LiMu Emu are tied at -2 !
Alphabets come from various lands.
An Alpha linguist may have a BETA in the hand!
Our own has changed,
Which goes to explain
Why our twenty-seventh letter was once & !
The Sorcerer's Apprentice had a quirk (just one?)
When he cast a spell, he went as ASHEN as a swan!
He didn't wave a baton,
Or a staff to cast on --
He used his paleness as a Magic WAN!
{A-, B+.}
Good morning!
Cute, the way Karen got the L out of here. I only went wrong when _NE____ showed up, and confidently inked in KNEEPAD. Wite-Out, please. This was a nice, quick romp. D-o managed to grasp the theme, even if he missed the reveal. Thanx, Karen and Mal-Man.
Xxxxx. I actually didn't know & was called an ampersand. But given the theme (L) it was easy to work out
Easiest Thursday in awhile but I FIW on GEiKO. I knew the Lizard but thought they wanted the Co. But I already had the K from JERK. MAi made no sense but I just TOOK THE L
Of course taking the (e)L is how I got around in Boston
I see we have RAG in its noun form. Tony, Stay away from it
WC
FIR, but misread the clue and had to erase geico for GECKO. Waited for tree/ROPE and preq/perc/PERK (I use "perq".) DNK that FLASK, that RAMEN, that NAS, that cake, or that lipstick.
I knew I had heard of Tammy Duckworth, but it took a perp or two to remember the context.
"Continent with 4 letters" would have been just as easy and would have used less INK.
Sports reporters often say "took the L" when naming the pitcher or goalkeeper charged with the loss according to the league scoring rules. Like any other statistic, it doesn't tell the whole story, and can actually be quite unfair.
Thanks to Karen for the fun, easy-for-Thursday puzzle. Nothing to be a Karen about here. My favorite was "perfect copy" for EDIT. And thanks to our Mal Man for your usual mix of information and mirth.
Thanks, Karen, for an interesting puzzle that I enjoyed and FIR! So often while I am working puzzles, words come to my mind that I haven't thought of lately but are the fill needed. Puzzles fluff up my vocabulary. I got the theme and figured L stood for loss, not the train.
My only WOs came near the end when I confidently wrote in tree for ROPE and tap for RAH. Perps cleared up that area. And thanks, MalMan, for your delightful review clearing up other questions and humoring us, even during your holiday!
Rain continues and mushrooms are appearing along the sidewalks, but it hasn't been so hot. Hope your day goes well and is interesting.
This took 7:23 to get to the finish ine.
Ms. Duckworth sounded familiar, but wasn't sure if she was a "SEN"atory or a "SEC"retary.
I stumbled with alien before eerie, and tree before rope.
(Isn't a rope part of a tire swing? If it's just the tire, well, isn't that just a tire? There's no swinging involved.)
Good morning and I'll JUST TAKE THE 'DUBYA' instead of the L on Karen's nice puzzle today. The reveal was apparent as soon as AND MARK STUDY was filled. Both AID TO REST and ENDS A HAND were filled without seeing the clues. And strange as it may seem. "Ambien, for one?"- I couldn't sleep last night so I broke a 10mg pill in half and took one at 1:30 this morning; good for 5 hours.
Hydro FLASK & Eugene LEVY were unknown as clued but the L was an easy guess for the fill.
RTS- never have and never will for an idiotic APP that I'll never download.
Facebook, What's App, Instagram, TikTok, GroupMe, Facetime, Messenger, and countless others. You could spend your entire life consumed by nothing just like a billion other fools. You go to a restaurant and see four people at a table and all four are looking at their phones.
STYMIE- a term used in pool and formerly in golf before players marked their ball on the green. But I've never heard it used as a synonym for Buffalo.
MAC- the computer was easy but the lipstick- maybe 'stick' the MAC between the 'lips", but I don't get it.
ANTACRTICA- continent with 24 time zones or is it just one?
I was rejoicing that this was so easy for a Friday. Ooh! It's only Thursday. Fewer names today. Didn't know FLASK or LEVY, but EVERY supplied the perps.
TAKE THE L in football lingo means take the loss. Nice theme.
In my Japanese class the the U in SUKOSHI is pronounced, but barely, kind of like our schwa. Sukoshi has three syllables, each with a vowel sound. SK? There are no digraphs in Japanese.
"Tonkotsu ramen is a ramen made with tonkotsu (pork bone) broth, which means it takes the name from the soup's ingredients. Shoyu ramen on the other hand, is named after the ingredients used which is shoyu (soy sauce) flavored sauce."
BE, I agree, I never use those apps either. I hate when a restaurant's only menu online in on Facebook.
STYMIE and BUFFALO can both mean perplex, as the pigeon illustration said. I have seen it in print often and heard it sometimes. Intractable problems can stymie or buffalo us.
YR, that must be similar to the U in Yokosuka, a naval port SW of Tokyo. (Yo Kooz uh ka -- the uh is barely pronounced.)
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Karen and MalMan.
I FIRed in good time and got the theme (although my first thought for 51A was “throw in the towel”.
Of course this Canadian had no idea who Dckworth was, but OTOH I did know LEVY and ANKA.
We aren’t going to shuffle off to Buffalo? Oh, STYMIE. Yes I know that meaning.
I smiled at the usual meaning for RAG today.
Another smile for “root word?= RAH”.
I had Waxen before ASHEN, and ON A roll before TEAR.
We’ll take some of that rain ATLGranny. I’m off to water the dry garden.
Wishing you all a great day.
Good Morning:
My usual, non-existent observational skills led to a very surprising reveal. The best of the three themers, IMO, is Ends A Hand; the other two are sort of clunky. I went astray on Tree/Rope and Slurpee/Slushie. Is there even a Slurpee IR? I liked the Oink/Ink duo and the C/A Baby Birds?=Storks.
Thanks, Karen, for a fun solve and thanks, MalMan, for a very entertaining review. As usual, I’ll need a return trip to view the many graphics. Enjoy the remainder of your vacation.
Have a great day.
Letters missing from the clue answers..ELSE. ..took a few beats to figure that out..
As suspected "perfect" in perFECT copy is a verb. Had to perpwait on slurpee vers. SLUSHIE. Easy puzzle and theme nearing the dreaded end of the week.
DW accidentally came upon a current TV episode of "Days of Our Lives" and was able to tell me what was basically happening and who was who. She hadn't seen an episode in 20 years. Definitely no "Soap Opera" AMNESIA for her.
HydroFLASK?..I put LEAD for "pipe problem" first, perpcorrected...
NESSIE's American cousin "Champ" in Lake Champlain
If no bus in Chicago _____ JUST TAKE THE EL.
Brit Mom with little to say....MUM
Huns, for example...HOARDS
They "nourished" their pet, ____ twice a day...FETID
One thing a Tibetan Ox doesn't do....YAKS
Back part of a Donkey costume...ASCEND (ðŸ¤)
RayO, there was the Canaanite ASS owned by Balaam who YAKked but to no avail.
Sometimes it's the ASSes we meet that we should listen to
WC
Hola!
For some reason I awoke early this morning and so finished the puzzle in good time. Thank you, Karen Lurie and MalMan. CSO to my niece, Karyn.
I believe I mentioned before that we saw Jay LENO'S estate in Rhode Island as well as the multistory building where his many cars are stored.
I like the pun in AID TO REST.
Tres LECHES is very rich as you can imagine three kinds of milk would be.
One of my friends uses the term: SKOSH as in "it's just a SKOSH." She's originally from the midwest.
I don't know if it was the L, but I've taken a train from Long Island to Manhattan.
I believe I'll return to bed now and read you all later.
Have a grand day, everyone!
FIR (but I didn't want to...)
Ever run into a crossword where there could be two different possible plausible answers?
Last to fall, I had 19a without exception= e*er*, crossed by 9d. "Schitt's Creek" co-creator: LE*Y (possible Natick) crossed by 12d. Vital: KE*
So my only option was to do an alphabet run on KE blank which which came to a crashing halt at "G", because everyone knows that a "Keg" is "vital" to any outdoor party! (And with apologies to Tinbeni, also ice...)
All I can say is What the EL!?!.
Lucina
A cake made with 3 leeches?..oh. wait..never mind. 😄
Actually had a piece of Dulce de Leche cake at a grad party last Sundat which was delicioso
😘
I don't have too much to say about this puzzle. I sussed the gimmick pretty quickly, and everything else pretty much fell into place. There were a couple of foreign language terms, but they perped pretty easily. I'd say this was a walk in the park, particularly for a Thursday. FIR, so I'm happy.
Hi All!
I bounced all over the grid for a FIR. So, better than yesterday's INKy mess.
Thanks for the puzzle Karen. Lot's of fun word-play in there.
EPIC recap, MManatee. That's for the tour.
WOs: NoS->NAS X, too quick with the pen and w/ W in place, added another to AWw
ESPs: N/A
Fav: ASTRO for both physics [see: James Webb images and our local baseball team.
Sparkle: STYMIE, SKOSH, JERK, FETID, AMNESIA's & EDIT's clues.
LEVY [interview] is a tip'o'the-hat to all the great comedians Canada exported.
{B+, A}
WC - I'll stay away from the noun. ;-)
BigE - moderation, dude. I only have LinkedIn & Twitter (for hot info-sec news) but I find if I try to interact - there's an hour+ wasted. Same with The Corner ;-)
But here it's more fun.
Lucina - I thought of you at Tres LECHES. I've had it a few times... and, it is rich.
I'll just stick with tiramisu and espresso for the after-meal.
ATLGranny - the radio keeps saying we will get rain. But, unless it's a deluge, I don't want it - makes the humidity more humiditory (?).
I heard Houston might drop below 80F tonight - maybe the A/C will finally get some rest.
Back to work. Cheers, -T
Thank you Karen. Accept my BOWS for a fun PUZZE and an unexpectedly easy Thursday FIR.
And thank you MalMan. Briefer? How was it briefer? But as Garrison used to say, it was "not too bad".
A few favs:
13A EDIT. Perfect clue.
20A AND MARK STUDY. Brings to mind a disturbing trend in scientific studies, i.e. the failure of LANDMARK STUDIES to be replicated by scientific peers. This has led to an increasing need to RETRACT previously published papers. The Retraction Watch website lists over 250 retracted or questionable papers on COVID19. This is serious stuff.
43A INK. We've stopped subscribing to the paper version of the Baltimore Sun, because it wasn't worth the extra cost. We subscribe the the digital version for local news and events, but mainly use it to get the LAT puzzle and the Jumble. The only real drawback is that it's not very easy to read the comics, so I rarely do that anymore. Sniff.
2D ODIN. I'm familiar with this god as WOTAN, the shadowy character who lurks his way through Wagner's 4 opera EPIC, "The Ring Cycle".
12D KEY. The last to fall, but it was VITAL to my FIR.
27D STORK. Cute clue for cute babies.
31D ASS. The performance of "Beast of Burden" was worth it just to see Charlie Watts.
59D MAC. DNK MAC lipstick.
Cheers,
Bill
"Just say Ethel" was my version of admit defeat! So that was throwing me for a Loss! And SKOSH was not in my vocabulary! But cute puzzle!
Since I usually start with the reveal, I was about to JUST TAKE THE L since I could not figure out how ETHEL fit in this puzzle, but I soon figured it out and it all fell into place and turned into an enjoyable trip.
I too filled in yam before rah. All good.
waseeley - if you're going to mention Charlie Watts...
Dude! link him :-)
He was Jazz at heart but one of the greatest R&R drummers ever. -T
Musings
-Seeing (L)ENDS A HAND GAVE me the gimmick out of the blue
-JUST TAKE THE L – Don’t call timeout with your team down by 20 and there are 5 seconds left in the game
-In my career, I have taught three ninety minute and six forty minutes CLASSES per day
-We don’t listen to any of the late-night TV hosts. We prefer HGTV or Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
-After To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus became a popular name. After WWII, Adolph faded.
-I am watching the British Open on TV and the golfers would have to drive 3 hrs northwest to get to Loch Ness
-I had no idea on lipstick but I am looking right as MAC(Book Pro) as I type this.
-I had a great time with a leaf blower and toilet paper in front of 40 elementary kids yesterday and as soon as I can figure out how to post that video, I’ll show it to you.
Well, Thursdays are usually toughies for me, but this one was manageable, happily, so many thanks, Karen. And I always enjoy your commentary and pictures, MalMan, thanks for those too.
Hmm, is it time to EDIT my SELF-portrait? Hope it doesn't get too EERIE in my seniority.
Teaching CLASSES for all those decades was pretty HEROIC, don't you think? Nowadays I'd probably NEED somebody to LEND A HAND.
Should LENO get an AWARD for saving all those cars from crashing by hoarding them?
Okay, is that insurance critter a GEIKO or a GECKO? Let's get this straightened out.
Have a great day, everybody.
Here's the video. Elementary kids go nuts of this stuff:
Toilet Paper and Mr. Bernoulli demonstrated by what my daughter calls “the world’s oldest 10-yr-old”
I'm making progress on what is sure to become the lANDMARK study of the attitudes of Cornerites regarding the merits of social media. Big Easy, I'll put you down in the "undecided" column.
Bill, I also have trouble reading comics on my PC. Fortunately the two papers I have online-only subscriptions to (Virginian Pilot and Ocala Star Banner) both allow me to zoom in, and alternatively, click on a story to bring up a bigger version in a side panel. If you are using a Windoze machine you could also reduce the resolution to make everything larger. My laptop allows me to "unpinch" the screen to make everything bigger, but not all do that.
Misty, Geico is the firm and GECKO is the spokeslizard. IIRC, "Geico" originally meant Government Employee Insurance Company. USAA remains US military-only, and is supposed to be a very good choice for those who qualify.
Gary - you need to open up the permissions on that ...
Jinx, put me down for solely using the Crossword Corner.
Hand up never heard of "JUST TAKE THE L". It is annoying in the same way that BAE is. It is not any shorter to say it than the full word. Learning moment.
Got the concept of a missing L right away. But struggled to get the reveal. Tried TREE and LIMB before ROPE. Hand up SLURPEE before unknown SLUSHIE. FIR.
Here is a photo of my pet Leopard GECKOs from when I was a grad student.
There are many kinds of GECKO and I have shared other GECKO photos before. Leopard GECKOs are native to deserts of South ASIA and do not have sticky toes. They make good pets as they are hardy and they like being held and are easy to breed. Very low environmental impact.
From Yesterday:
Jinx Thanks for validating that I found the correct Budweiser FROG SUPER BOWL ad. So much creativity goes into those ads. More interesting for me than the games!
TTP, AnonT Thank you for the tips regarding replacements for our PLASMA TV. It was not very expensive when I bought it in 2009 and it is still giving beautiful images. We have a Best Buy and a Costco right across the street from us. I do occasionally look at the OLED TVs and I agree they are quite nice. Now that we have a house we have room for a bigger screen.
CanadianEh Thank you for the kind words about my ROCKET launch video! I was in awe at how there was no contrail... and then it suddenly appeared out of thin air!
I am very grateful that we can view these amazing launches from our neighborhood. I did once make the drive to the actual launch site at Vandenberg. But about a quarter of the time or more the launches are scrubbed (rescheduled) and it would feel bad to drive two hours round trip and not see it. In this case they were giving high odds that it would be scrubbed due to dense fog.
Misty - I know you know Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Gray." DW & I live in our world and don't chage.
Your SELFie will be all that.
LOL BigE as 'undecided', Jinx.
Geico's Gecko - did anyone click my [unwittingly apropos link] from Planet Money last night? //Cool lizards, Picard.
HG - I got video unavailable :-(
DW still can't believe I'm a 13yro boy trapped in a man's body. But what good is life w/o stupid-fun?
Anyone need a story?
I just met with potential buyers / renters(?)...
She was looking around the yard and we got to talking.
Me: "Where you from?"
'Springfield, IL'
"(?!?) No way!
Which part?" [of course it was the posh side of town]
"I grew up North-End near 3rd & Eastman - three blocks from Lincoln Park.
"Pop now lives at W. Maple Ave N."
'That's near Oak Ridge Cemetery, right?'
"Yes, Pop likes that his neighbors never complain."
They know my BIL (who owns a bar in Chatham), we went to the same school (St. Joe's) 2 years apart, and!, the same Nuns beat the smirk out of us.
How nutty is that? A few Prairie People from the same TINY-Midwest town are in Sugar Land, TX discussing property.
Blew my mind so I had to call Pop [he was out fishing with (Army) Bro]. All he could say was, "Well... Serendipity, Son. This is why you don't piss-off people. Never know when you'll see them again."
Um, Sage advice, sure, but... Dude!
Y'all have a great afternoon.
Cheers, -T
Is this toilet paper video visible now?
-Toilet Paper Video
LOL! Yep, got it HG (the kids are so happy!). -T
Yup, that one is visible, Husker.
Anon T... lived all my childhood life across from a large cemetery
My Dad's groaner...'"Why is there a fence around the cemetery?".....Because people are dying to get in"
🙄
In elementary school for 32 years we taught from opening bell to dismissal bell with a hour for lunch sometimes, but usually a half hour with recess or lunch room duty. I often helped students if I had the spare half hour. We had planning time for three forty minute periods a week, one each, when our kids had art, music and gym. Spending the full lunch hour to rest or do your own thing was rare, but happened.
The teacher next door to my room was called a wiz at teaching science. She would do a lesson similar to the toilet paper caper as a show without anchoring it to science concepts. I called them magic shows. I had some of her students the following year. They remembered the shows, but none of the concepts. Gary, I admire a teacher like you who does both.
Hi Y'all! Enjoyable puzzle, Karen, doable despite some stumper clues for me. Eventually I had some mind shifts. Great expo, MM, thanks!
I got the missing "L" theme early, but didn't know what the reveal had to do with the clue for it until MalMan explained LOSS. Too much language is being abbreviated these days & I am clueless about too much.
Last fill was NE corner. DNK Hydro-FLASK, SIR, KEY = vital (I was thinking vitals as in a hospital: respiration, heart beat, blood pressure, etc.) DNK LEVY or anything else about Schitt's Creek except for seeing the title on my TV guide channel. Doesn't sound appealing.
I joined Facebook as the only way to see news about my relatives, including my out-of-state son's family. Now FB has quit allowing me to post anything on my own FB "page" Grrrr! No idea why.
-T, here's your daily earworm. You're welcome.
Being so late to post a comment, I find everything I was gonna say already done been said! Reading all the comments just reinforces the fact that I am the least capable CW solver here. This CW took me 32 to FIR; everyone else thought it was “fast and easy for a Thursday”. Oh, one comment I can make: two clues depended entirely on which word or syllable got the emPHAsis. PERfect copy or perFECT copy. And baby BIRDS or BABY birds. Both clever clues. Thanx for the fun, KL. And thanx for the nice write-up, MM.
I liked this puzzle. As Anonymous T said, lots of fun wordplay in there.
ATLGranny, I like the way you said puzzles "fluff up" your vocabulary. Nice phrasing.
The guy who used to be my boss has a cabin at Bass Lake.
Good wishes to you all.
-T @10:51 AM Thanks for the video.
Finally got back to the corner! I really liked this puzzle, because I actually got to finish one, what with all I’ve been doing at the museum this summer. We’ve had kid and/or adult tours almost every day. I’m not complaining; it’s just what we do during the summer.
(Of course, there was the group of 65 kids scheduled for this past Tuesday who never showed up nor called. Their not showing didn’t bother me, but not being able to contact them DID --- voice mail --- because we had two pilots cooling their heels at another airport, waiting to do a fly-by and a slide presentation for them.) We’re weighing corrective measures.
SKOSH is one of my favorite words. My dad brought it back from Korea. Unknowns were FLASK (in that context), NAS, ODIN (as clued) and LEVY. Perps to the rescue! Since I don’t tweet, perps also got RTS for me.
I won’t state it as a fact, but my earliest recollection of TAKE THE L was hearing it on ESPN’s Sports Center way back when.
Thanks, Karen and Mal Man!
Waseeley @ 10:25 ... About 'retraction': Isn't this just reversion to the mean?
Dear Jinx @1:46 -- for some reason, the concept of 'keelhauling' keeps popping up. Earworms, indeed.
Thanks for the reference on retraction of scientific articles on covid. Very important!
Fun to watch the rocket launches over the Channel Islands also.
Oh! Oh! How many will try this at home!
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