google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday July 12, 2022 Catherine Cetta

Advertisements

Jul 12, 2022

Tuesday July 12, 2022 Catherine Cetta

Does this make me look fat?  Each theme answer contains a "cut" carbohydrate.  Cutting or limiting carbohydrates from one's diet may help with weight loss.

17-Across. *   Performer who may wear harem pants: BELLY DANCER.  BEER

25-Across. *   People in a love-hate relationship: FRENEMIES.  FRIES

36-Across. *   Body-lifting exercises: CHIN-UPS.  CHIPS

47-ACROSS. *   Veers from the straight and narrow: BREAKS BAD.  BREAD

And the unifier:

56-Across. Dieting advice, and what the answers to the starred clues literally do: CUT THE CARBS.

Across:
1. California wine region near Sonoma: NAPA.  How Napa Valley became known for its wines.



5. Not quite: ALMOST.

11. Zamboni surface: ICE.  The Zamboni is named after its inventor, Frank Zamboni (Jan. 16, 1901 ~ July 27, 1988).


14. Nowhere to be seen, for short: AWOL.  Absent Without Leave, or Absent Without Official Leave.

15. Simple shelter: LEAN TO.


16. Prom rental: TUX.


19. Lob's path: ARC.

20. "Star Wars" heroine: LEIA.  Leia was portrayed by Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; Oct. 21, 1956 ~ Dec. 27, 2016).  Sadly, she died young.



21. Taylor Swift's "__ Song": OUR.  I'll spare your ears.

22. If not: ELSE.

23. Tree frog sound: CHIRP.


27. Transmission choice for driving uphill: LOW GEAR.


29. Stockpile: AMASS.

30. Chips __!: cookie brand: AHOY.  This made me think of our dear friend Spitzboov.

31. Creme Egg candymaker: CADBURY.  Everything about the Cadbury Creme Eggs, but didn't know to ask.



35. Hearty holiday drink: NOG.

37. Spigot: TAP.


40. Ambushed: WAYLAID.

41. Corn Belt tower: SILO.

42. Storybook brutes: OGRES.

45. Tracks down: LOCATES.

51. Pet rabbit's home: HUTCH.


52. Wallop: SOCK.


53. Feel crummy: AIL.

54. Carpenter's clamp: VISE.  Everything you wanted to know about Bench Vises, but didn't know to ask.

55. Source of milk for pecorino cheese: EWE.  Everything you wanted to know about Pecorino Cheeses, but didn't know to ask.

60. Time zone word: Abbr.: STD.  As in Central Standard Time.

61. Dined at a bistro, say: ATE OUT.

62. Nerd: GEEK.  Did you know that the word Geek originally referred to a carnival worker who would bite the heads off live animals? 

63. That lady: SHE.  It could have been Her, so I had to wait for the perps.

64. Tinkers (with): MESSES.

65. Avant-garde: EDGY.

An Avant-garde hairstyle
Down:
1. Capture: NAB.

2. Knock the socks off: AWE.

3. Tadpole: POLLIWOG.  Is there a difference between a polliwog and a tadpole?



4. Hay fever, e.g.: ALLERGY.

5. "Marriage Story" actor Alan: ALDA.  Alan Alda (né Alfonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; b. Jan. 28, 1936) is probably best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H.  Marriage Story was a 2019 film.


6. Actress Thompson: LEA.  Lea Thompson (née Lea Katherine Thompson; b. May 31, 1961) is probably best known for her role as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the Back to the Future films.  In those films, she played the mother to Marty McFly, who was played by Michael A Fox (b. June 9, 1961).  In real life, she was only 10 days older than her "son".


7. Regal home: MANOR.

8. Promptly: ON CUE.

9. Rudder's locale: STERN.

10. Only Canadian MLB city: TOR.  The Toronto is the home to baseball's Blue Jays.  Hi, Canadian Eh!


11. Firenze locale: ITALIA.  Better known to English speakers as Florence, Italy.  Did you know that Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, hence her first name?


12. Swear words: CURSES.


13. More than necessary: EXCESS.

18. Cry of pain: YIPE.

22. Television award: EMMY.


23. Tartan-sharing kin: CLAN.

Men of different clans, as evidenced by the tartans.

24. Santa's jolly syllables: HO HO.

25. Physically delicate: FRAIL.

26. Disneyland hat pair: EARS.

28. Sore: ACHY.

32. Genetic material: DNA.

33. Construct: BUILD.

34. Bun, e.g.: UPDO.  Oh, a hairstyle, not an item of food.


36. Wine barrel: CASK.


37. Giggled self-consciously: TITTERED.

38. Smart __: know-it-all: ALEC.

39. Swanky: POSH.  One of Spice Girls was known as Posh.


40. Like disappointing coffee: WEAK.


41. McMuffin meat option: SAUSAGE.

42. Think too much (about): OBSESS.

43. Old-__ forest: GROWTH.  Did you know about the Old-Growth Forest Network?

44. Ebb: RECEDE.
46. Rather smart: CHIC.

48. Cook in some olive oil, say: SAUTÉ.

49. Tugs at a fishing line: BITES.
50. Choir section: ALTOS.

54. November honorees: VETS.  We have lots of Veterans on this blog.

56. Pic taker: CAM.  As in a Camera, also known as a smart phone.


57. Shade on a color wheel: HUE.


58. Plead: BEG.

59. Big __ Country: SKY.  Hi, Montana!




Here's the Grid:




חתולה


52 comments:

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Catherine Cetta nice table this morning, but a low-carb diet would never work for moi. Gotta have my beer, bread, chips, and fries. Thanx for the NAPA map, Hahtoolah; I would've guessed it was much further south. "POSH" sounds very British to me ear. Zipped right through this one, saw the circles, noticed the reveal, got the theme, time to take my temperature -- I must be sick. Thanx, Catherine and Hahtoolah.

"Old GROWTH forest" -- Firefighters are making Herculean efforts to save the sequoias in the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite. We went to Yosemite for my 50th birthday.

desper-otto said...

"me ear?" Thanx, Otto-correct.

kazie said...

Desper... and I thought your "me ear" was just an attempt at humor in a british accent!

For once I breezed right through this one with barely a pause. Only one I had to perp was OUR song. I was so glad of my easy success, I didn’t even think about the theme until reading the blog.

Nice blog job Hahtoolah!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased reduce for RECEDE and fixed POLLyWOG. Waited for laeh/LEAH, cadbery/CADBURY, and rna/DNA. As usual, the Tuesday puzzle was easier than the Monday offering. Got the theme early, which helped me get the reveal. Reverse of my usual pattern.

These days, drivers choose "D" for driving uphill. Downhill, too. I learned on a stick, and it comes in handy.

You never want to get that STD letter from the local department of health.

On September 19th, you can probably hear D-O say "yo HO HO and a bottle of rum sounds good to me ears, arrrr".

Thanks to CC2 for the fun romp (in the paper), and to Ha2la for the graphic explanation.

FLN - Thanks to CED for the RF Cafe link. New bookmark. $5 to clean the tuner? Who could afford that? Hell's bells, that would buy 15 gallons of high test! (BTW, the cabs used business band, not citizens band. CB is AM, while BB is FM, as was TV audio before digital broadcasting.)

Anonymous said...

Spare my ear on Taylor Swift but post a Spice Girls video. What a snob!

unclefred said...

FIR in 16. Woulda been faster but two dopey misspellings in the SW took a while to resolve. OBcESS:OBSESS and RECEed:RECEDE. Grr! Just carelessness. Other than that a fast fill. Thanx CC2 for this terrific Tuesday CW. Like D-O, I even saw the theme, for me with the first theme clue. Oh, another dopey misspelling also needed correcting: POLLyWOG:POLLIWOG. Very nice write-up, Hahtoolah. I bit on your “tadpole/polliwog” link. As I thought, they are one-and-the-same critter. I very much need to give up beer, but find it very difficult. I LOVE beer. Unfortunately, I LOOK like I love beer.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I saw the foods/drink entries but was really surprised by the fun reveal. I ditto DO on the Chips and Fries, but I can do very nicely without Beer and Bread, especially Beer. This was a typical Tuesday with some fresh fill, e.g., Polliwog, Belly Dancer, Frenemies, etc. No unknowns and only one w/o, Manse/Manor.

Thanks, Catherine, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for lots of chuckles, particularly at the Ogre cartoon and the Single Socks. Too funny!

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

I got the carburetor cleaned today in 4:06.
Oh, not that kind of carb.

Oh joy, circles....

I originally spelled "polliwog" as "pollywog" like my UncleFred did, but "chyrp" raised a red flag.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

This classic hit goes out to Anon @7:42.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

7:24, not 7:42. I htae when that happens.

OwenKL said...

Oh, I want to be a CADBURY bunny!
Being creamy-filled chocolate would be sunny!
I could deliver eggs at Easter,
To adults I'd answer "Yes, Sir".
And imbibe drinks of NOG made with honey!

My ears wouldn't be just for show,
As hopping down lanes I would go!
With chocolate in EXCESS,
My ears could express
How I'd love every child to know!
("Here, have a bite!")

{B+, B+.}

ATLGranny said...

Today I had a sloppy FIW, not proofing well before reading Hahtoolah's Tuesday review. It happens. I caught my misspelling of POLLyWOG (Hi, Jinx, unclefred & Anon), changed MANse to MANOR (like IM), but didn't correct my hesitant C to an S in OBSESS and the perp didn't raise an alarm. My BAD, Catherine. Thanks for the diet puzzle.

Hahtoolah, thanks for clearing up questions and jollying me up after my disappointment today. We have an old fish pond with lots of POLLIWOGS eating mosquito larvae. Thanks for the link explaining tadpoles and POLLIWOGS.

DO, I thought "me" ear was intentional, too, since you often make witty remarks.

FLN: Sorry to hear your eldest caught COVID, AnonT. We heard from three family members recently who caught it too. Mostly mild cases so far.

Hope you all have a great day!

Hahtoolah said...

Good morning, Crossword friends. I would find it hard to give up chips and bread, not so much with beer and fries. At least cookies weren't on Catherine's list of carbs to cut! I couldn't cut out cookies!

D-O, your "typo" of "me ear" was quite apropos!

QOD: None are so old as those who have outlived their enthusiasm. ~ Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 ~ May 6, 1862), American essayist and philosopher

Jinx in Norfolk said...

And for Fred and IM, a little beer ballad by a guy who was born and bred about 10 miles from my childhood home. He used to eat in our restaurant on his way to his job as a DJ at a 1,000 watt daytime-only AM radio station. No one had a clue that he would become famous in Nashville.

OwenKL said...

BTW, I'd like to brag on my artwork. Here are the 4 latest I've made into jigsaw puzzles at Jigidi.

Left Or Right #1, 56 pieces.
Left Or Right #2, 104 pieces.

Terraces, #1, 56 pieces.
Terraces, #2, 112 pieces.

56 pieces are small enough they can be worked on a cell phone. Over 60 needs a full size screen.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Catherine and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed in good time and saw the carb theme (thought we were going to the baseball game in TOR at first, but Jays are AILing).
No whiteouts.

Plenty of CSOs today. Moi with TOR (thanks Hahtoolah), Tin with ICE, all our GEEKS, those with roots in ITALIA, Montana in Big SKY country. And Argyle with HOHO, and Spitzboov with AHOY and STERN (RIP).

Shall we EAT OUT at a place with BEER on TAP, or go POSH and CHIC and wear our TUX to the MANOR in NAPA Valley? Remember not to drink to EXCESS and encounter a DIU (from yesterday).

Wishing you all a great day. (Please see my late post yesterday for birthday report and thanks!)

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Liked the puzzle, the theme? Hated it (does that make us FRENEMIES?) Beer, chips, fries and bread all part of a my food pyramid, The junk food pyramid. As Julie Andrew's sings " 🎼"These are a few of my favorite things"🎵 ...Add CADBURY Eggs

Plus Don't forget...

Inkovers: exceed/EXCESS, manse/MANOR

At University I walked along a "Zamboni surface" of cobblestone/asphalt rarely ICE. Via Zamboni, a main University thoroughfare

Hey Alfonso, what's wrong with D'Abruzzo? Mr. Alan ALDA..😉

"Smart" ___ : A**, too short 🤭

Couldn't go a ___ without coffee...WEAK.
Yesterday's dryer mate...SOCK
To unlock most doors you need...ACHY
Most laughing mammals..TITTERED 😅
____ beast...MANOR

Thanks for the laughs H2LH. (I TITTERED as well) 😆

waseeley said...

Anon @7:24 AM Chacun à son goût!

Yellowrocks said...

Easier than yesterday's puzzle. Susan thanks for your wit and info.
Thanks for the Yosemite sequoia info. I looked up Mariposa Grove to find the origin of its name, because I love butterflies (mariposa in Spanish). I found no reference to butterflies. I call them my totem. Family and friends give me butterfly jewelry and a butterfly cake on my birthday. Also, I love angels. I suppose I want to fly freely.
Most of free Kindle Prime Reading books are by British or Australian authors, so British words like posh do not seem British to me.
Being a Poe aficionado, cask brings to mind, not beer, but Amontillado.
That tree frog's song does not sound like a chirp to me, but the fill was easy.
Chips and bread are my carb downfall. BLT and many other sandwiches with chips, yummy.

Wilbur Charles said...

I saw BEER and when I saw CHI?? I thought we'd have CHILI.

I've been eating as much and whatever I like without adding weight but two late nights at Dennys is going to challenge that.

I add a zero alcohol BEer to chamomile tea and drink same at night. Each trip to bathroom I chug the mixture and go back to sleep

Xword was a smooth run just had to excise the Y for I.

Owen, I moved one jigsaw piece and will stick to xwords and Jumble*

If not eclectic we certainly have a diverse taste in music. Said Dennys was playing 50s which drives Betsy crazy

I just loves me my Berry, Holley and Domino

WC

Ps I finally got ahold of the Sunday tbtimes and solved 98% of Sunday but the SKIS clue messed it up. The GODOT clue was great.

But what I missed was hbds to Anon-T and waseeley

** NtSo Wordle of which I'm stuck with N,H,I,T ? and 2 guesses left

Subgenius said...

I actually found this puzzle to be a little easier than yesterday's. Other than first putting "yike" in place of "yipe" I didn't have too much trouble with this puzzle. FIR, so I'm happy.

Vidwan827 said...


Thank You Catherine Cetta ( CC2 ) for a nice and easy Tuesday. I had so much time left over that I actually looked at the circles and made some sense out of it....
I don't like beer, have completely stopped other alch drinks, cant eat bread or fries, too much potassium, .... so I have to gorge on Quaker Oats-meal and milk ... yummy. ( Milk also has high potassium, but who cares.)

Thank you Hahtoolah, ... loved your Jack n'Jill joke ... must show to grandkids, and the Ogre cartoon - learnt for the first time that they were also cannibals, er, maneaters.
Btw, I saw the headline on the video of Tree Frog mating (??) and was quite curious, but it was ( alas ) the ... Mating Call ...oh, oh, somewhat more sedate. ;-)

But .... I enjoyed your history links on Napa Valley ... a phenomenon, ( take that, France ! ) and I learnt all about it in the 2008 movie, 'Bottle Shock'. A blind wine taste testing is probably as close as it gets in unbiased fairness to the double blind clinical drug studies used extensively with drug efficacy testing, required by the FDA, and commonly used today.

... and the links on the invention of the Zamboni ... although the name is probably, Italian, he was very much a native-born American with an irrepressible Can-do Yankee philosophy !!! The name Zamboni is probably as generic as Xerox.

I was at first, confusing the name Pollywog with Golliwog .. a well beloved character, Neddy (?) from Enid Blyton's books. The latter is considered racist now, and is one the reasons Blyton's books are not stocked in British libraries. My mother knitted and had made a golliwog for me, with black wool and cotton stuffing, when I was 4, and it was my favorite doll. ( It was my only doll. ) What does a kid of four know about racism, and plus I had never met anybody or heard of anybody, of that race. Later on, I learnt that WOG was a british colonial epithet against the 'native' indians, as well, something to do with westernized oriental gentleman.

My post is too long already ,,, so please have a nice day, you all.



Vidwan827 said...


Wilbur Charles,

On your Wordle ... try G ... a common word, that happens every day.

Vidwan827 said...


Anon-T
Happy Birthday, belatedly (!) ... my apologies for missing a wonderful and interesting blogger and constructor, that we are lucky to have out here.
Your birthday is in good company with Waseely and CanadianEh !
Maybe it is the zodiac sign of good bloggers.

waseeley said...

Thank you CC2 for today's NATICK-free walk in the park. And thank you Hahtoolah for the STD Tuesday hilarity.

CUTTING CARBS? Depends on which CARBS. The problem is that all the CARBS in CC2's circles contain what are often referred to as "empty calories". The problem with "empty calories is they don't satisfy hunger because they are "missing something". Thus we tend to binge on them to satisfy the feeling that "we haven't eaten enough". This is because they have been emptied of the essential nutrients that naturally occur in unrefined carbohydrates. These missing nutrients are primarily the B complex vitamins Thiamine and Niacin, that are required to digest carbohydrates. Unrefined carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole grains, molasses, etc. are much less likely to result in binge eating. Eating proper portions (based on your overall caloric needs) of protein, fresh vegetables, unsaturated fats, unrefined carbohydrates, and fruits are the best way to sustain a balanced diet. Bon Appétit!

Cheers,
Bill

Wilbur Charles said...

Got it, c. The J blog. My brain seems foggy lately, how'd I ever FIR Saturday

Monkey said...

Smooth CW today. I didn’t know tree frogs chirped.

I always enjoy Hatoolah’s little funnies especially the cat needing his coffee. That’s me when I get up in the morning.

This blog is so much fun to read; so many clever, funny contributors.

TTP said...




HA !

I guess I wasn't taking any CUT THE CARBS diet advice yesterday, as I had all 4 of those. Lunch was two PBJs, Cape Cod Kettle CHIPS, and 2% milk. Supper was a steak with a side of Ore-Ida Crispy Crowns* (effectively, the FRIES), and a couple of BEERS.

Waseeley, I made my PBJs with 4 slices of Butternut Whole Grain White. 4 slices of it provide 50% of the daily value of Thiamin, and 40 % of the Niacin.

* Yooper Phil, it's amazing to me that I still haven't found Ore-Ida Tater Tots at Walmart after all this time. Their website shows they have them in the 5LB bag for our local store, but they are never there. It also shows the 32oz size, but it always shows "Out of Stock". Have you been able to by them since we last talked about this ? Just so odd to me.

Thank you, Catherine and Hahtoolah.


WILBUR CHARLES, please do not reveal the Wordle word of the day or the letters that are in it. That spoils the fun for other Wordle player that haven't yet solved it. Consider it to be the same faux pas as revealing the results of the daily Jeopardy contest before the left coast stations have even aired the program.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

What an inky MESS I made this morning... Oy!

Thanks for the grid Catherine but, like D-O, I need my CARBs for brain-energy. And, being of the ITALIA persuasion, do NOT take away my pasta.

LOL post-game [there's another, OKL] re-cap, Hahtoolah! Thank you for the smiles.

WOs: Away->AWOL, breakDANCER, uma->LEA, Croak->CHIRP, ACHe, cOnK->SOCK, her->SHE
ESPs: N/A
Fav: I like how Catherine took 'a new word' (FRENIMIES) and used it in the theme. Not easy.

{A, B+}

FLN:
Thanks TTP. Eldest's fever broke but she's still WEAK. There will be no house showings today.
ATL Granny - yeah, two days down is mild compared to what DW (5 weeks) and I (2 weeks AWOL) suffered back around Memorial Day 2020.
Thanks for the HBD wishes, C, Eh!, Vidwan, WC, et.al.

D-O: your Otto-correct was right... 'me ear' caught me eye & made me giggle.

Jinx - we have a Supreme Justice that proclaimed his love for beer.
//I tried that quip on DW - she wasn't having any of it.

waseeley - yes! A balanced diet allows one to enjoy w/o issues. I start w/ a high-protein breakfast, puzzle, coffee, V8, water, & orange juice. I finish with whatever I'm hungry for.

Nice CARB work, SS @ 8:05.

Back to the (no-carb) salt-mines. Cheers!, -T

Misty said...

Delightful Tuesday puzzle, Catherine--many thanks. And thanks for your neat commentary, too, Hahtoolah.

I had the hardest time getting POLLIWOG--just not a part of my vocabulary. Even when it finally dawned on me, I first spelled it wrong with a Y instead of the I, and then wondered which Tree frog sound would have a Y in it.

What saved me was HOHOHO--I do still remember what Santa says every Christmas. And it was fun to see that cross another Christmas item: that hearty holiday drink: NOG.

The bottom left corner had some grim stuff like those OGRES that might wallop or SOCK you.

But the bottom middle had great food items: a chance to CUT CARBS if you EAT OUT, or to have some BITES at home, if you SAUTE yourself some supper. And then there's eve some SAUSAGE to consider. Makes me hungry just thinking about all this.

Have a great day, everybody.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-18 holes on a beautiful summer day.
-Life without CARBS? BEER is the only one in which I do not indulge.
-Our beautiful NAPA guide carried twenty wine glasses with just her hands
-Carrie Fisher’s hilarious and poignant stand up Wishful Drinking is worth searching for
-Did anyone else call LOW gear as granny?
-Is all that expensive bottled water just coming out of someone’s TAP?
-Time Zone – On the International Space Station they are always on Greenwich Mean Time
-Off to see Joann’s mother at the home. Read y’all later.

Wilbur Charles said...

Mea culpa. I started to delete the letters. Btw, I put raspberries or strawberries into the PBJ.
PS, cone back to J-ville

ATLGranny said...

OwenKL @ 8:34 AM

I did your two smaller jigsaw puzzles on my phone and want to tell you how much I enjoyed your artwork this way. Fun!

Picard said...

Very happy to see few proper names today. And none were crossed. Yay! Got the CUT THE CARBS theme early which helped a bit. Corporate food engineers deliberately mix sugar, fat and salt to create addictive foods.

Happy to see TREE FROG CHIRP crossed with POLLIWOG.

Here is a video of my pet TREE FROGs eagerly eating.

I may have a recording of them singing. More of a croaking than a CHIRP.

Lucina said...

Hola!

NAPA is one of my favorite places in the world! Besides being fertile with many, many acres of grape vines, there is much to see including two monasteries (Christian Brothers & Camaldolese), large wineries with tasting rooms, some free some not, and many other wine-related sights including a large castle.

ITALIA is another one of my favorite places and I've visited many of her cities and enjoyed their charm and great food. We even went down to the catacombs on one visit.

CUT THE CARBS is something I have been forced do, not so much for the fattening factor as for the, well yes, for the fattening factor.

My GROWTH stopped at 4'11".

On my first trip to Morocco, we were treated to a BELLYDAINCER show. Thirty years later, on my second trip they were no longer allowed.

Hahtoolah, I knew it was you as soon as I saw the cartoon jokes! Thank you for a great job; I'm glad you have returned and I hope you had a good trip.

I used to love CADBURY chocolate but then they changed the ingredients somehow and now they taste like soap and I no longer buy them. Sigh. It's just as well since I really should not eat chocolate.

Have a delightful day, everyone!




Lucina said...

Picard:
Thank you for sharing he photos of your TREE FROGS. I saw some similar ones in Costa Rica.

Big Easy said...

Good afternoon. I FIR but never noticed the circles until the reveal was almost filled by perps. I don't know any of Taylor Swift's songs other than the ones I'd heard years ago where she was trashing ex boyfriends. Didn't know either LEA or ALDA or 'Marriage Story'- perps for those unknowns.

Wasn't sure of the spelling of POLLIWOG until the perp for 'I'.

LOW GEAR- I don't many Gen-X, Y, or Z 'kids' know anything other than DRIVE in an automatic transmission.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Picard - Great frog video. I can picture one of them croaking “We had the look. We did the tongue thing. . . . We could have been big.” (Budweiser Superbowl commercial, in case you don't keep useless trivia in your mind.)

FLN: -T, the Apple logo on my Apple II box is just plain red. Don't remember what the actual computer's logo looks like. I need to open 'er up and have a look-see. Should have sold it last Christmas season, when folks had plenty of stimulus money to spend, and inflation was mostly under control.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Granny gear - We used that term for a gear that was used only when the truck or (farm) tractor was loaded. When it was unloaded we just started out in 2nd. Oh yeah, on a 4WD vehicle, we called 1st gear with the transfer case in low a "granny" as well.

Monkey said...

Picard: enjoyed your tree frog video. They are cute little creatures. We have one, a tiny one, that’s taken up residence on the edge of our garbage can. Why he would like it there, I don’t know.

ATLGranny said...

Bicycles have gears too, and I found the granny gears very helpful on steep hills.

Anonymous said...

To Anon @ 7:24: Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "All of life is a dispute over taste."

desper-otto said...

ATLGranny, the center gear (the one that supports the pedals and the sprocket) went out on my bicycle--developed a 1/4" wobble at the sprocket teeth. I wound up buying a new bike -- this one has 7 speeds. I've found that 2nd gear is just right for our pedals through the 'hood. We don't have any uphills steep enough that 1st gear is required nor downhills steep enough for 3rd.

TTP said...


Wilbur Charles, thanks for understanding.

Also, other things are eating up my time. I'm not spending as much time here, either. On most days, it's just to scan but not read most of the comments. Some days / nights I just scan the comments to make sure there's no spam that's made it though the filters.

ATLGranny said...

DO @ 3:12 PM

We do have some steep hills and I would have been pushing my bike up instead of riding if I didn't have 21 gears with the lowest gears available at times.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Anything that has SAUSAGE in it I like. Gotta like a puzzle that has POLLIWOG in it.

I wonder if Starsky ever had a rabbit HUTCH.

My grandmother's brother was pure-blood CLAN MacBeth and as such was entitled to wear the tartan, which he did almost every day.

The name of the town of Los ALTOS near here has nothing to do with a choir or a range of human voice.

Good wishes to you all.

Michael said...

Owen @ 8:34: Thank you (I think) for the puzzle -- LoR #1, great work! -- but I shot about 30 minutes on that! I'll try #2 when there's more time to blow.

Michael said...

So quickly we forget! NAPA of course means "North American Parts Association." (Really, it does.)

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Enjoyed your fun puzzle, Catherine, despite the no CARBS message. Loved your chuckle-worthy expo, Susan. Needed that today.

Never understood why Jack & Jill thought they could go up a hill to get water, since most water wells etc. are in low places.

I gave up BEER after the first taste. Haven't had FRIES in ten years. Only eat tostitos chips with chili occasionally. Eat brown whole wheat bread daily, but only a slice at a meal. I won't talk about a ban on ice cream. I told my daughter the only time I'm happy any more is when I eat ice cream. Love sausage. Pat out all the fat that I can with paper towels.

Picard, interesting frog video. Couldn't decide what kind of bugs those were?

Anonymous T said...

Michael - Oh, yes... I remember the NAPA commercials on Gramp's am radio in his workshop.

OMK - LOL Jackuspostus.

Picard - Cool frogs. I should get a vid of Frankie (our Covid-era red-eared turtle Eldest rescued from the pool - still had some shell on his head, poor guy) SNARF'n' a blueberry.

D-O: I've done the MS150 (Houston to Austin 180mi bike ride) a few times. Training in Sugar Land does NOT prepare one for the foot-hills before hitting Austin's terrain. Granny-GEAR indeed.

@3:11 - Nietzsche also said god was dead. Though, he didn't specify which god.

And speaking of gods.... No one mentioned the mind-blowing / AWE inspiring James Webb Telescope images NASA released today.
TBH, they look like cheap Sci-Fi book covers [and for $10B they could just be making this s*** up] but holy-cow! -- we are seeing galaxies interact!
//How big do we feel now? :-)

That's all I got. Cheers, -T

Michael said...

Oh, Tony, so I'm not alone. Also as I saw the Webb photos, I sent the URL to my son, who was equally stunned.

I think WASP-96b is impressive -- measuring water vapor at 1,150 LY?? -- wow.

But the one that makes me glad for beer, is SMACS 0723. I looked at the photo, and after a while Psalm 131:1 popped up, " I do not concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me." (Not being 'religious' here; just my reaction to this image.)

Anonymous T said...

Michael - It's a shame I can't click a *thumbs up* on Blogger 'cuz your last paragraph deserves it. -T