The Singing Walrus Presents Sun, Moon and Stars
Good morning cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here to present today's recap with an assist from his friend The Singing Walrus. Today's puzzle setter is often-published (NYT, LAT, USA Today, etc.) constructor, Rebecca Goldstein. In today's outing we have a fairly straightforward theme so let's go right to the unifier (which proved helpful to this solver):
49 ACROSS: Classic arcade game with pixelated aliens, and what three answers in this puzzle have: SPACE INVADERS.
Released in 1978, most of us probably played SPACE INVADERS. Some of us, I would guess, to excess. Arcade game graphics have, of course, come a long, long way since then. As for the theme, each themed answer contains a celestial object. In a bit of a double play on words, those objects are found in what some call SPACE and they might also be said to INVADE each themed answer's SPACE.
17. Film festival hype?: SUN DANCE FEVER. The SUNDANCE film festival is held every year in Utah. FEVER as a synonym for hype is a bit of a stretch but not entirely opaque. Without the INVADER - Dance Fever.
27. Bucket list item for an aspiring astronaut?: COLLECT STARDUST. We are stardust . . . Without the INVADER - Collect dust.
33. Nagging newlywed?: HONEYMOON BADGER. Without the INVADER - Honey Badger. BADGERs? . . .
Raul's Wild Kingdom
1. Seat on the sidewalk: BENCH.
6. Guatemalan girl: CHICA. Esta es la primera lección de español de hoy.
11. Guffawed: ROARED.
13. Enters a password: LOGS ON. We often do not know, at first, if it's going to be LOGS ON or LOGS IN.
14. Airport city east of Los Angeles: ONTARIO. Those of us in SoCal probably had an easier time with this than did those folks in other locations. Still, roughly 4.5 million passengers flew into/out of ONT last calendar year.
16. Lil Nas X song subtitled "Call Me by Your Name": MONTERO. Unknown to this solver. Thank you very much, perps.
19. Small songbirds: LARKS. A hand up for first trying WRENS.
20. Excel function: SORT. A spreadsheet/database reference.
21. Himalayan ox: YAK.
23. NYC airport on Flushing Bay: LGA. Airport code for LaGuardia and our second airport clue/answer today. Named for the former NYC mayor (1933 through 1945), Fiorello LaGuardia.
24. Frozen Four game: SEMI. The Frozen Four is collegiate hockey's tongue-in-cheek equivalent of the SEMI Finals of NCAA Basketball tournament aka the Final Four. Only four teams left in the elimination tournament.
25. Dip in the Mediterranean?: AIOLI. A sauce. SWIM was too short (and in the wrong sea).
31. Cookbook writer Garten: INA. Today, we are also visited by ID INA (see 42 Across, below).
32. Traditional March 14 dessert: PIE. March 14th can be written as 3/14. Pi, of course, is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. As Pi equals approximately 3.14 some wag decided that 3/14 should be known as Pi day. . . or PIE day.
42. Menzel who won a Tony for playing Elphaba in "Wicked": IDINA. IDINA is very well known for her work in Frozen.
43. Iowa State city: AMES.
44. Good Grips brand: OXO.
45. Sausalito summer hrs.: PDT. Pacific Daylight Time. A bit of misdirection if you thought that the clue referred to a town in Italy rather than a town in Marin County, California.
46. Bygone Russian royal: TSAR.
47. H.S. class with a unit on heredity: AP BIO. Advanced Placement BIOlogy
53. French houses: MAISONS. C'est la leçon Français d'aujourd'hui.
54. Citation software: ENDNOTE. A computer software reference.
56. National park in Utah: ARCHES.
57. Fiddle (with): TINKER. Idioms.
58. Outwitted a Predator?: DEKED. Neither a hunting reference nor a CIA drone reference. The Predators are a National Hockey League team. A DEKE is a fake-out maneuver on the ice.
59. Requirements: NEEDS. (see 16 Down?)
Down:
1. Dude: BRO.
Dude One: Hey, Bro?
Dude Two: Yeah Bro?
Dude One: Can you pass me that pamphlet?
Dude Two: Brochure.
2. When dinosaurs roamed the earth: EONS AGO. We get something less scientific than MESOZOIC which would not have fit in any case.
3. __ gas: NATURAL. But it's all right now. In fact . . .
4. Jack-in-the-box appendage: CRANK. Not a fast food reference.
5. Collections of cattle: HERDS.
6. David who won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award: CONE. A baseball reference. During the 1994 strike-shortened season, David CONE played for the Kansas City Royals.
7. "House Hunters" channel: HGTV.
8. "That's a terrible hiding spot": I SEE YOU.
9. Pens in: CORRALS. Not a reference to writing something.
10. "Should I take that as __?": A NO. Apparently, yes.
12. Part of una semana: DIA. Esta es la segunda lección de español de hoy. Semana = week. DIA = day.
13. Studio site, maybe: LOFT. As in a studio apartment. Hand up for first thinking of LOT and wondering "Why the extra square?"
15. Beginning: ONSET.
16. Scholarship basis: MERIT. Often, we see NEED used as the answer (see 59 Across?)
19. Business ltrs.: LLC. Limited Liability Company. Letters is abbreviated, ergo . . .
22. Baby fox: KIT. A baby beaver, ferret, muskrat, or skunk is also called a KIT.
24. Phony deal: SCAM. IIRC, SCAM was also an answer two weeks ago.
25. Diva's time to shine: ARIA.
Nicola Keen and Jan Hartley
26. Carded: IDED. IDentifiED
28. Home security?: LIEN. Not a deadbolt . . . or a scatter gun. A lender's right to seize the property for non-payment.
29. New Age singer from County Donegal: ENYA. It's almost always ENYA.
30. Silver Alerts, e.g.: APBS. All Points BulletinS. A Silver Alert is a public notification system to broadcast information about missing persons - particularly senior citizens.
33. Toddler's perch, at times: HIP. Hand up if you first thought of LAP.
34. "If I had to bet ... ": ODDS ARE. What are the odds of a chronic gambler calling the addiction helpline? No, seriously. I have $100 riding on this.
35. Sweat the small stuff: NIT PICK. After nitpicking a small detail in my friend's story, he said to me "What are you? President of the Pedantic Society?" Vice President, actually.
36. Grove of palm trees, maybe: OASIS.
Ubari, Libya
37. Muscat's country: OMAN.
38. Chutzpah: NERVE. די היינטיקע יידישע שיעור (today's Yiddish lesson)
39. Lose it completely?: GO BROKE. A car stopped in front of a hotel. The driver immediately realized that she was bankrupt. What was going on?
40. Lived and breathed: EXISTED.
41. Kanga's kid: ROO. An A.A. Milne reference.
46. Hamilton bills: TENS.
47. Use as an ingredient: ADD IN.
48. Tubular pasta: PENNE. A Macaroni, a Penne and a Spaghetti were drinking wine in a bar one evening. They saw a noodle sitting by herself and discussed inviting her to join them. They all agreed she looked Cannelloni.
50. Tennis great profiled in ESPN's "30 for 30" special "Arthur and Johnnie": ASHE. It's almost always ASHE.
51. Like Sarah Lawrence since 1968: COED. CO-EDucational. Both genders.
52. Social insect: ANT.
53. Furious: MAD.
55. Triage ctrs.: ERS. Emergency RoomS Centers is abbreviated . . . yeah, yeah we know.
Here is how all of this appears in the grid:
Rebecca, you are invited to post anything that you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.
____________________________________________
Well, this puzzle got me. I FIR, but I’m not too happy about it. Why, do you ask?
ReplyDeleteBecause of David “Cone”!
ReplyDeleteI ended up looking him up on Wikipedia, because the perp was no help either, being a complete Natick. Oh well, live and learn!
ReplyDeleteFIRight! One natick I guessed right, the N in MONTERO + CONE.
ReplyDeleteGot the theme before the reveal, so a clear win! Becca could have flagged the themers with a *aSTARisk*!
When a lad LOGS ON to a site for fun
His Dad may feel it's reality to shun!
A Father-child walk,
A Father-child talk,
To explain nature, like, "That's a LOG, SON!"
"We are all STAR-DUST," so said Carl Sagan,
Our elements gathered by our birthing SUN!
From the Big Bang,
To the End of Time,
Our same atoms will eternally be spun!
{B+, B+.}
YAK reminds me of one of my past favorites, July 13, 2017:
ReplyDeleteThe LLAMA and the YAK are examples that are classic
Of convergent evolution, they are in fact quite graphic!
Long woolly coats for mountain cold,
Sure-footed, on steep crags to hold,
But llamas don't have horns, because the Andes have less traffic!
Hi Y'all! Liked the theme, thanks, Rebecca. Thanks, for the expo, MalMan.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of the game SPACE INVADERS but had no trouble getting the theme to light up.
DNK: ONTARIO in California, MONTERO, Exel functions = SORT, SEMI, IDINA, MAISON, CONE as clued.
Thank you, red letters for helping me enjoy this.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteDNF. Guessed COlE rather than CONE. Bzzzzzt. Noticed the invading space objects, so I guess that's something. Thanx, Rebecca and MalMan.
FIR, but erased wrens for LARKS, ana for INA, and tamper for TINKER. DNK INA, MONTERO, IDINA, MASIONS, or that ENDNOTE is an app. Where the hell was "oboe" today? We had ASHE, INYA and ANT, leaving that slender woodwind conspicuous by its absence.
ReplyDeleteSince we pick our restaurants by whether we can take Zoe-the-greyhound, we dine outside a lot. DW is intrigued by jets flying by, so I use FlightAware to tell where they are going to or coming from. I've learned a lot of the airport codes because of that. (Reagan - KDCA - still confuses me sometimes.)
There are a lot of scholarships available to folks who can't get them on MERIT.
The medicos don't call them ERS anymore. They are EdS - Emergency departmentS now. Not to be confused with ED clinics, where a lot of old guys hang out.
Thanks to Rebecca for the fun puzzle. I think it had a perfect level of difficulty for Thursday, even though even I was able to solve it. And thanks to MalMan for delivering another funny illustrated review.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI had no clue about the theme and even after filling in Space Invaders, it took me a minute or two before I picked out the heavenly bodies. I needed perps for Ontario, Montero, and End Note. APBs filled in easily enough but I never heard the term Silver Alerts. I stumbled over Amiga/Chica and Wrens/Larks, but David Cone was a gimme. Badger brought a chuckle as it reminded me of an exchange many years ago. My husband and I were going to check on the progress of a house we were having built and when asked our business by the guardhouse attendant, my husband jokingly said, “We’re going to badger the builder”, which was met with a reply of “We don’t have any builders here named Badger.” 🙃
Thanks, Rebecca, for a fun Thursday challenge and thanks, MalMan, for the top notch summary. I love your puns and humor, the sillier the better, I say. 🤣
Owen @ 5:05 Two 👍!
FLN
Michael, I saw that error as soon as it printed but was too annoyed to make a second correction. I’m think it was my error but Mr. Know-It-All Autocorrect is never around when you need him! 🤭
Missed Anon T chiming in. The move must have “done him in,” as Eliza Doolittle might say!
Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Thank you, Rebecca, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee.
When dinosaurs roamed ? First thought was the name of the epoch (Mezozoic) or one of the subepochs (Triassic, Jurrasic). Oh duh. Keep it simple. Worked out EONS AGO. I see after reading MM's review that he went there, too.
Guffawed ? for ROARED ? Why so simple ? We could have had a labored clue like "Past tense of Katy Perry hit with the lyric "Louder, louder than a lion." Similar to the one for ASHE "Tennis great profiled in ESPN's "30 for 30" special "Arthur and Johnnie"
HGTV. Does that stand for Husker Gary TV ?
I watch a lot of cooking shows. Trying to increase my skills in the kitchen. I don't recall that I've ever heard of AIOLI described as a dip. It seems to be most often used as a sauce or as a condiment, but perhaps I've just not paid enough attention and it is also used as a dip.
MM, yeah, INA lives a lifestyle in the Hamptons that I am totally unfamiliar with. I like her though.
I don't understand the badgers clip. Was that from a movie ?
1994 strike shortened season. Tony Gwynn had a legitimate shot at hitting 400. I would have loved to see it.
Wasn't it in ARCHES that some dimwitted moron decided to knock over the rock that had been balancing for time eternal ?
True. I know ONTARIO, Canada, and Ohio, and Ontarioville, IL, but ONTARIO, CA is new to me. That could have been a Topanga crossing for me, but the perps were fair. Same with the unknown MONTERO. I barely know the rapper's stage name.
MERIT. It was also a cigarette, IIRC. I used my GI Bill and Pell Grants to help pay for school. And part time jobs and side hustles.
I liked "Home Security" for LIEN and "Lose it completely" for GO BROKE.
Wow, fun facts - collective nouns. We all know a HERD of cattle, pack of dogs, a gaggle of geese, a covey of quail... I was today years old when I learned "a loveliness of ladybugs." Who knew ?
Gotta run. Annual this morning. Can't forget to retrieve the printout pages of notes of things that I want to cover with the Dr.
I got into orbit in 8:31.
ReplyDeleteI knew Cone, but thought that was very obscure. I didn't know "Ontario" or "maisons" (I dislike foreign words in the puzzles), and I struggled to parse "Eons ago."
Couldn't figure out how to make "hockey" fit where "semi" belonged. Also, the final/championship game is still part of the Frozen Four, even though there's just two of the four remaining.
I'm a big proponent of the U.S. National Parks, and I love Arches National Park. I think the "p" in "park" in the clue should be capitalized.
TTP, the badgers clip is a parody of "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" from the Bogart movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" when he asks the banditos for ID. Also parodied in many other films and shows, including "Blazing Saddles". Probably also used by Wisconsin's opponents.
ReplyDeleteDavid Cone is now a broadcaster for the Yankees.
Thanks for the chuckle Jinx .
ReplyDeleteI don’t comment from my phone as it won’t recognize my handle OAS
Cheers
Creative puzzle with a few challenges but ultimately doable. Slow start because I thought the Eocene period might be spelled Eoscene - so eventually had to change to to EONS AGO- but it slowed the NW solve. When I lived in Northern California - learned of all those alternative airports like Burbank and ONTARIO that allow you to avoid LAX and be closer to your destination in some cases.
ReplyDeleteTTP - did you tell your doctor's office that you needed an extended appt since you have "pages of notes" of things to cover. I run into that all the time - people don't make appts for issues/problems that come up and save them all to add into their annual- which is why doctors are always running behind! Rant over!
Thanks MM and Rebecca!
It was a tough one to FIR today, finishing at the cross of two unknowns- MONTERO & CONE. The NE had me stumped until I changed Logs IN to LOGS ON and allowed CORRALS, CHICA, and AIOLI to jump on the grid.
ReplyDeleteAgnes, I must be a SPACE cadet as I didn't notice the SUN, MOON, or STAR as being INVADERS.
TTP & inanehiker- I was thinking Cretaceous, Triassic, and Jurassic before EONS AGO appeared, changing AGE to AGO.
IDINA- only know from crossword puzzles.
AP BIO was a WAG
ENDNOTE- all perps for that unknown
BUD or BRO for "Dude"? had to wait. Ditto for SHAM or SCAM.
MERIT vs NEED? Either way, it's a way for someone else to pick up your bills. Nice gig if you can get it.
Subgenius- Saturday night my BIL said he couldn't name a single MLB player and I said I know about two-BRYCE & JUDGE but couldn't say which team they played for.
d-otto- CONE made more sense than COIE and what is MOITERO? So it was MONTERO for my WAG.
Musings
ReplyDelete-My son-in-law is an auction addict. He has a Space Invaders console in the corner of their dining room
-CHICA is fine but it reminds me of this lovely song that is a variation of that word
-In another life I may understand why the filthy, misogynistic lyrics of Lil Nas, et al. are now mainstream
-AMES is home to our assistant editor Christina Iverson
-AP classes allow kids to get a lot of credit before paying big time tuition at colleges
-Golfers constantly TINKER with their putting style
-Silver Alert – When a senior walks away, the nursing home calls it elopement
-Husker Gary TV? Nope, TTP, but we do watch that and Diners, Drive Ins and Dives before lights out. :-)
Rebecca Goldstein (she/her)
ReplyDeleteRebecca is a scientist developing immunotherapies for cancer. A New Yorker at heart, she lives in the Bay Area with her wife. Rebecca started making crosswords as a pandemic hobby and has been published in several venues, including the LA Times, USA Today, and Universal, with more to come. Find Rebecca on Twitter at @Rebecculous.
Thank you Rebecca for a smooth Friday landing. I didn't really need the theme for the solution, but did find it after the fact.
ReplyDeleteThank you MalMan for another superlative review. Loved the bling, especially the BADGER riff. A real TREASURE.
Some favs:
6A CHICA. New fill for SRTA and NIÑA.
16A MONTERO. SWAGGED a lucky Natick killer for this and 6D.
27A ... STARDUST. "... we are billion year old carbon".
32A PIE. And it's Einstein's birthday! I'm sure he liked PI too.
49A SPACE INVADERS. I was never very EPT at video games. Lost count of the annihilations I endured before calling it quits. How did you win it anyway?
47A AP BIO. Bred a lot of Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit flies) in this class and got to play with radioactivity. Mr Pottler was my all time favorite teacher.
25D ARIA. The incorrect spelling of LAKME told me somethin' was afoot right away. Here's how it shoulda' been done (BTW Netrebko seems to be persona non grata at the moment).
Cheers,
Bill
Husker @9:10 & 9:11A Thanks for the ABBA clip Gary and for the TEA on Rebecca.
Thank you, billocohoes,for providing the Badger back story. The clip was from the Weird Al movie "UHF".
ReplyDeleteMusings 3
ReplyDelete-Another HONEY BADGER
BE, I thought COLE was more likely than CONE. MOLTERO/MONTERO, what's the diff?
ReplyDeleteTo further elucidate my rather cryptic posting earlier today, now that I have a computer I can use with a large keyboard and a large screen (unlike my Iphone, which is great, but has its limitations): I have never looked up ANYTHING on a crossword before I solved it before (if that makes sense) so it was with a feeling of embarrassment and shame that I had to admit looking up David Cone's name this time. I will strive very hard never to do that again, I can tell you that!
ReplyDeleteLoved that the grid design looks like the Space Invaders video game! Clever!
ReplyDeleteThank You Rebecca Goldstein for a very challenging puzzle that I eventually completed. I couldn't understand how the popular old arcade game, Space Invaders, fit into the theme ....
ReplyDeleteI spent about fifty dollars at a local Mall, in the 1980s, trying to advance to the fourth level of the game ... then I figured ... it was cheaper to pay ten dollars to a kid who was an expert, to play the game, at my request, and watch him advance ... and see the last levels ... at the Mall game room.
I also used the kid, and his father, to show me the top levels of Conan the Barbarian .... Now, the entire game and sequences is on Youtube, for free.
Oh, Sun, Moon and Stars...
Thank you MalMan for a clear review of the puzzle.
The puzzle had not only foreign words, but also technical terms and naticks only a native or afficianado would've known. Anyway, that's a Thursday, for you.
Have a nice day, you all.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIR with just two corrections - BURBANK/ONTARIO; ANA/INA
Synergy Girl @ 10:27 --> good catch on the grid's appearance! The black squares at the top and bottom do look like they could shoot at the SPACE INVADERS
Thanks, Rebecca and MM for the Thursday fun - hope I can tickle your funny bone manana, with or without the Spanish translations. Spoiler alert: it's a doozy
ps: CHICA does mean "girl" in Guatemala, but in some of the other LA countries, it has a much different meaning
Vidwan, thanks for teeing up, sort of, another clip from "UHF":
ReplyDeleteConan The Librarian
Having iPad issues today, something to do with memory,
ReplyDelete(Not sure if it's the iPad, or mine...)
But not finding many suitable silly links for the theme, so I am going with an oldie I posted before:
90 degrees, the goes wrong show, full episode.
And my (not so smooth) segue is "jack in the box "crank."
To recap, the premise is the plays set was mistakenly built wrong, parts of which are at 90 degrees
Pls refer to time index 8:00 to hear the reveal from the dogs open mike, that the set was built cheap by a toy maker that has only previously built "toy boxes."
Pls refer to time index 21:30 to see the beginning of the beer/bear joke, which concludes at 23:00 when she puts down "the bear" which triggers the first "crankless" jack in the box.
Pls refer the the shows very closing moment, time index 29:00 to see all the crankless jack in the boxes..
And, if that is not silly enough for you,
here is a link to play space invaders online Where all the buttons actually work! ( No jack in the boxes ). ( I hope)
Delightful Thursday puzzle, Rebecca, a little tough but doable--many thanks. And your commentary is always a delight, MalMan, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteWell, this puzzle sure had a lot of critters, who pretty much ROARED, like the OX--wait, no, that was OXO, wasn't it? But how about the YAK, and the BADGER, and the always lovable ROO?
But I'm sure the LARKS sing rather then roar.
And all these animals EXISTED in NATURAL times, living in HERDS, or in CORRALS. Well, except for the ANTs--they can live anywhere they want to.
But none of the animals live in MAISONS, that's for sure. Buildings like that probably have ARCHES and a LOFT, and are quite suitable for living CO-ED, and delightful if they're located on an OASIS. But you probably need a LIEN if you GO BROKE, but still want to stay there.
Well, now that all the humans and animals are taken care of, let's get on with the rest of our day.
Have a great one, everybody.
OK... This calls for a forest shaking bellow of UTTERLY UNFAIR! As others have noted, there was absolutely NO WAY to figure out the utterly unknown cross of MO?TERO/CO?E. Thinking that rap "musicians" use weird letters, I guessed X. Why does editor Patti Varol insist on spoiling a perfectly otherwise delightful puzzle? I loved the SPACE INVADERS theme.
ReplyDeleteMalMan Thanks for some exceptionally good images/videos today. Thanks for the Singing Walrus SUN, MOON, STARS. Never heard of them. I looked up the BENCH and it is in Kiev, Ukraine!
Here are notable BENCHes around the world.
That one is #4. But please note that the Whale's Tail #8 is here in Santa Barbara! I am sure I have several photos of it, but no easy way to search at that level of detail!
From Last Saturday:
Husker Gary I meant to thank you for the back story on bell hooks. Wonderful!
From Yesterday:
I posted a detailed reply, but I am not sure anyone saw it. I will re-post it below.
Repost From Yesterday Evening:
ReplyDeleteRayOSunshine, WilburCharles, Vidwan, CanadianEh Thank you for your kind comments about me posing with the SEVEN OF NINE costume. Sorry if I wasn't clear. It was that particular BORG character referenced in the puzzle: SEVEN OF NINE
Or are you asking which one is me? I am the one with the hat.
Vidwan Thanks for asking. There are many reasons I enjoy some science fiction. I enjoy the rare science fiction that offers a visionary, positive view of the future. Many of the aspects of the current world started as such a vision, for better or worse. Notably, the vision of freeways started at the 1939 World's Fair. They forgot to include the traffic jams.
Jules Verne offered a future that included travel to the moon, under the ocean surface and into the Earth. Things didn't go exactly as he envisioned, but it probably played a part in making these adventures come true in some way.
Star Trek offered a positive vision of future society as well as of technology. An end to war, prejudice and superstition. A future of exploration and increased understanding.
Dante Yes, in real life SEVEN OF NINE actress Jeri Ryan indeed was a knockout. The article you linked was quite complete. Including the story of her husband Jack Ryan who ran for Senate against Obama. It came out that she divorced him for trying to coerce her into public sex acts that she did not want to perform.
Jayce Yes, we seem exactly on the same page. It is about being helplessly bound with no possibility of escape if something goes wrong. As a physics person, I suspect that the large bore machine has a smaller magnetic field because of the basic physics. The coil is further from your body, making the signal weaker.
FIW due to not knowing Mo?tero and Co?e. I'm pretty sure I would have a FIR if the clue were "ice-cream _____". Nevertheless, a learning moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rebecca, for the fun Thurs. workout. Favorite clue was Dip in the Mediterranean.
Thank you, MalMan for the write up. If I walked by that bench, I would have wanted to sit on it for a bit.
Cute Badger story Iris Miss!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Rebecca and MalMan.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed, but required a few WAGs and perps. I will not NITPICK about the possible Natick of CONE and MONTERO already mentioned.
I got called out to the garden and forgot to look for the theme when I came back.
Roar yesterday - past tense today.
CHICA not niña. What’s the difference in usage, Lucina? And CMoe says there is another meaning.
Hand up for Lap before HIP, Wrens before LARKS.
Can I take a CSO with ONTARIO when it is in California?
This Canadian does not know all the Presidents on your bills. Ditto for Sarah Lawrence. A couple of perps and a WAG worked.
Same for MONTERO.
We have Amber Alerts and they are for children.
I have learned LLC. We have LTD.
I do know my NHL teams, and DEKED.
I had the dinosaurs roaming in the ______ age.; then it perped to AGO and I entered Ages AGO; then EONS perped
GO Berserk was too long. BROKE was needed. But we did have MAD.
We had SIGN ON and ADD IN, HERDS and CORRALS.
Love your humour today OwenKL.
Great catch on the grid design, SynergyGirl.
Congrats on your move AnonT. Hope all is going well.
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks for the Benches link, Picard. Very unique. Some of them look more comfortable than others, and I am not sure that I could get out of #5. The rotating one was very practical.
ReplyDeleteRe your post FLN, I’m not sure if this was the part you were referring to - “Or are you asking which one is me? I am the one with the hat.”. If so, I think it was meant as a joke, misidentifying you as a CYBORG.
I’m not a big science fiction fan and can’t comment on that.
Puzzling thoughts 2:
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that in early June Miss Margaret and I visited the Arches National Park, and hiked to the iconic arch that MM showed in his blog today. Well worth the visit but be aware that the National Parks Org is only allowing so many vehicles into the park during the peak summer days/hours, and in order to enter you might need to register in advance. And be prepared to spend a fair amount of time in the queue when your entry time comes
CanadianEh! @ 12:52 --> I'm not sure for which of the Latin American countries this applies, but in at least one of them the word CHICA connotes a girl of ill repute - or so I've been told. I do know for a fact that many Spanish colloquial words have a different meaning, depending in which country you're visiting. When I traveled that area for business some 15+ years ago, I had at least three or four Spanish language translation booklets
ReplyDeleteBill of Cohoes, thank you. I will look for that Bogart movie. I don't think I've ever been able to sit through Blazing Saddles, but I have seen parts of it here and there.
Picard, my Topanga is your Cone. With three letters, AL Cy Young winner was a gimme. The name of that canyon wasn't for me some time ago though.
Inanehiker, an extended appointment ? I didn't even know that was possible. I was kinda sorta joking earlier about pages of notes. There were just three main topics, but I wanted to make sure that I had my notes to make the most efficient use of our time together. I know he can look in Epic for the answer to some of his questions (eg When was your last ...?, but I respect him too much so I try to make sure I'm prepared).
We didn't go into extra innings or OT, and I surely didn't wait until he had his hand on the door to drop a bombshell question or issue on him. Somewhere sometime ago, I read an article about common Do's and Don't's, both from the patient's perspective and from the health care professional's perspective. Very enlightening.
Who would've guessed your doctor doesn't want to talk your health when you run into him/her at the golf club :>) I kid. OTOH, I don't need to receive the scornful look and summary lecture when I make the comment that I checked symptoms about my condition at The Mayo Clinic, WebMD or the Cleveland Clinic ("10 minutes of internet is not the same as 30 years of education"). I think it has to be a partnership, and I trust in the education and experience that he/she has received. I feel I have to be an advocate for myself as well, and the more I can learn, the better that partnership will be. My rant over.
Big Easy, you wrote, "MERIT vs NEED? Either way, it's a way for someone else to pick up your bills. Nice gig if you can get it." I'll take your comment with a grain of NaCl, but you hit a nerve. I am extremely appreciative of the Pell Grants that I received from the government and thus from the taxpayers. My service to the country got me the GI Bill. Without those two benefits, my life would have been entirely different. In a different school system with better resources, I might have qualified for scholarships and may not have needed to take the route I took. But I am more than certain that the monies I received have been paid back to the government and the taxpayers in the form of income-tax-paid, many, many magnitudes over. End of second rant.
Finally, a lucky WAG - David CoNe. Don't know a thing about rappers or MLB pitchers that far back.
ReplyDeleteHG@10:01 - Tyrann Matheiu played for the Texans in 2018 - great player who lived up to his nickname, for sure. Now with the Saints who we'll be playing Saturday in a preseason. Yeah, the Texans have been reeking for the previous three seasons.
So excited - got 3/4" rain yesterday. First time it's rained in my neck of the woods since the last week of May.
FIR in 29. Or maybe a DNF. I had to cheat twice to get this CW completed. Lotsa DNFs. Tough CW for unclefred. Thanx for the brain strainer, RG. Nice write-up, MalMan.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle and noticed the interesting grid pattern right away. Last to fill was, you guessed it (and I guessed it wrong!), the N crossing MONTERO and CONE. Had to change LOGS IN to LOGS ON because CIRRALS sure didn't look right. Unlike MONTERO which, to me, could just as well have been MOLTERO because the name COLE seemed more likely than the name CONE. But hey, names are names and are often 100% un-deducible because they can be spelled any doggon way or be any doggon thing. Like IDINA. Anyway, overall, I enjoyed this puzzle and the theme.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of SPACE INVADERS, I was in the business of writing computer games back then, and 95% of them were designed to be unwinnable: each round would get successively harder until eventually the player would be overwhelmed and lose. Many games had no scenario or outcome for a case in which the player could win. Looking back, I think it was due not only to lack of imagination in designing the games, but also to lazy programming because no code had to be written to produce the tada or fireworks or whatever. It was easy to simply pop up a message YOU LOSE.
MM, I love your recap, and was especially intrigued by that photo of that sidewalk bench. I also like your jokes.
Owen, I very much enjoyed your verses today.
Good wishes to you all.
Jaycee @3:38 PM Thanx for insider's answer to my question about the win-ability of computer games. I did win an early Apple RPG once called "What is the most amazing thing?". The final answer was "You!", complete with fireworks 🎆🎆🎆
DeleteThanks, Jayce, and all of the others for your kind comments.
ReplyDeleteI completely missed that the lower portion of the grid pattern mimicked the lower portion of the game (and, therefore, the top also although inverted).
Back from Rochester, quick visit, saw our 3 y o twin grand nieces. Now back in the ADK.
ReplyDeleteTechnically a BENCH is next to a sidewalk, it would be in the way if "on" it. "Pens in" thinking "writing" held me up for a while. (Mman). PENNE, Ital. for feathers and pens.
Thought partly perped AIOLI was a sauce not a "dip" like Malman implied. Will TSAR ever be spelled correctly in a CW? I knew the "French houses" but not the Guatemalan (Sp) girl. Driving back from Rochester today passed through ONTARIO county.
SPACEINVADERS, Pacman was too short. Ah, Preditor is a team (capital P) so DEKED works (another term I learned here).
ENDNOTE, a WAG/Perp (a "werp"?). GO "Bonkers" wouldnt work and a wrong interpretation of "lose it"
Li'l Nas (a rapper I know only from here) song unknown. WEES, Didn't know know "David" either.
JINX..No OBOE?...what about OREO!! Pi day? C'mon.. Have gone from ER to ED back to ER. Sometimes depends on the city or the hospital itself. But it seems it's always been OR.
Inkover: lap/HIP, (Mman again)
Spot for the sickest ...ISEEYOU
Diving sites...CORRALS
Harbinger....OMAN
You don't have it ____!!...ENYA
Malman who is "The Singing Walrus"?
Ray O - from their Facebook page:
ReplyDeleteWe produce fun kids songs and other educational media for teachers and parents. We are teachers and professional musicians who produce fun kids songs and other educational media for teachers and parents. Our songs are interactive, easy to sing along, and very catchy! Many of them are written in a call-and-response structure, which encourages the children to really engage with the music and learn new things in a playful way.
Here's a link to several songs on YouTube:
The Singing Walrus - YouTube
The Singing Walrus is, of course, not an actual friend of mine. As a manatee, I refer to all sea creatures as friends.
FIR. Thanks, Rebecca and MalMan.
ReplyDeleteMONTERO, IDINA, OXO, MAISONS, were my only unknowns; perps to the rescue. Well, CHICA was technically an unknown, but I remembered that the area at the mouth of the Rio Grande down at the Tip of Texas is called Boca Chica (Small Mouth), so I felt confidant plugging in CHICA for 6A.
14A --- Um, most of the airport cities in the United States are east of Los Angeles.
I actually know who David CONE is, from back when I actually cared about major league baseball. Of course, since I don't watch any professional sports these days, the current crop of players can certainly cause me problems.