Theme: LETTER OPENERS (38. Envelope-slicing tools, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have?)
18. *Chophouse selection: T-BONE STEAK.
24. *Wayfair and Amazon: E-TAILERS.
54. *Army fare during WWII: C RATIONS.
60. *Moving day rental, for some: U HAUL TRUCK.
Boomer here. TECU does not spell out anything.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving coming soon. I think we might be having meat other than T-bone steak. I don't think C-rations would fill the bill either.
Note for last Friday 11-11: Happy Veteran's day to all who served! My memory is bowling a 672 series to help Fort Campbell, Ky. win the 3rd Army bowling tournament.
Across:
5. Metal corrosion: RUST. This does not show up on older cars the way it used to.
9. Braid: PLAIT.
14. Sermon-ending word: AMEN. A former priest cane to our home last week for a visit. Part of my hospice.
15. Norway's capital: OSLO.
16. Underground molten rock: MAGMA. Hot stuff.
17. Like cotton candy: SPUN. Hi Ho come to the fair
20. Fat-based bird feed: SUET. Not sure why birds like this stuff.
22. __-Mex cuisine: TEX. Not sure why anyone likes this stuff.
23. "Picnic" playwright William: INGE.
27. Glowing remnant in a fireplace: CINDER. We don't use our fireplace anymore. Too messy.
29. Weep loudly: SOB.
30. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.
31. Get __ of: discard: RID. Every Tuesday morning for us.
32. Beast of burden: ASS. Look behind you!
33. Fragrant shrub: LILAC. Green grow them all sparkling with dew.
35. Tapered off: ABATED.
42. Jab: POKE AT.
43. Rough wool fabric: TWEED. I never liked TWEED.
45. Coll. dorm figures: RAS.
48. Cabernet, e.g.: RED. RED and WHITE - Fight, fight, fight.
49. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.
51. "Good Girls" actress Whitman: MAE. Mrs. West also.
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52. Texas city on the Rio Grande: EL PASO. A bid in Bridge.
56. Blueprint detail, for short: SPEC.
57. Sci-fi saucer: UFO. I never daw one..
59. Method: Abbr.: SYST.
63. "Game of Thrones" actress Headey: LENA. Miss Horne also.
66. Commuting option in Ga.'s capital: MARTA. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
67. "What __ is new?": ELSE. Nothing.
68. Pub pints: ALES. I prefer Ginger ALE.
69. County of southeast England: ESSEX.
70. Prep for publication: EDIT. I am doing this now
71. Folk story: MYTH. Mostly baloney.
Down:
2. Roadie's armload: AMP. 100 minimum per home.
3. Like travel mugs: REUSABLE. Not toilet paper.
4. Lassitude: ENNUI.
5. Bad to the core: ROTTEN. Do not eat that apple.
6. Laptop port letters: USB.
7. Post office openings: SLOTS. Draw poker is my favorite.
8. Muscle quality: TONE.
9. U.K. leaders: PMS. Afternoons.
10. "E pluribus unum" language: LATIN. I took four years in high school.
11. Discussion outline: AGENDA.
12. Pictures: IMAGES.
13. "Any __?": "Who's interested?": TAKERS.
19. Fire up: EXCITE.
21. Voting members in a certain college: ELECTORS. The entire USA last Tuesday.
24. Subj. often taught by a native speaker: ESL.
25. Drudgery: TOIL. Too much work.
26. Laughed heartily: ROARED.
28. Sense of self: IDENTITY.
31. Bird of prey: RAPTOR.
34. Org. with a racket in its logo: ATP.
36. Feathery accessory: BOA.
37. Dawn droplets: DEW.
39. Barely make, as a living: EKE OUT. Win at golf by one stroke.
40. From a distance: REMOTELY.
41. "Beautiful Girls" singer Kingston: SEAN. Not in Kingston trio.
44. __ Plaines, Illinois: DES.
45. Job application component: RESUME.
46. Socially dominant figures: ALPHAS. Alpha males.
47. Asparagus units: SPEARS. Britney's favorite veggies.
50. Easter egg holder: BASKET. 5 months away.
53. Sharp, as some angles: ACUTE.
54. Was able to: COULD.
55. Ramadan faith: ISLAM.
58. Unoccupied: FREE. No charge.
61. Hardly strict: LAX. West Coast Airport code also.
62. CBS forensic series set in Vegas: CSI.
64. Butterfly catcher: NET.
65. Powdery residue in a fireplace: ASH.
Boomer
Notes from C.C.:
1) Our friend Mendal visited Boomer yesterday. So heartbroken to see Boomer so thin and unable to eat much. Takes him lots, lots of effort to write a Monday blog these days, but he's the Boomer.
 |
| Mendel & Boomer, 11/14/2022 |
2) Big Easy sent me these two pictures. He said these are "picture of us from a 60's dance where everybody wore Hippie clothes."
 |
| Diane & Big Easy |
41 comments:
Boomer, I couldn't make head nor tail out of theme either
My only glitch was mps/PMS and solving online: typos
Thx Boomer
WC
Good morning!
Had to put a C in my K RATIONS. Otherwise, this grid was Wite-Out-free. Zipped right through it, missing the theme along the way. Reveal, too. [Sigh] Thanx for the outing Ed, and for the expo, Boomer. (Not sure why anyone likes TEX-Mex? Them's fightin' words.)
Lots of proper names, (8) especially for a Monday, including the SEAN:MAE natick, which I managed to correctly guess the A. I did know many of the proper names, which of course is a big help. 23A I wanted AGEE but perps gave me the correct INGE. Overall a fun Monday level CW: FIR in 11 minutes. I even got the theme, but only after the reveal. This is my personal fastest solve in as long as I can remember, which I like a lot. Thanx for the fun, EB. Thanx too to Boomer for his nice write-up. I especially liked Boomer’s comment that toilet paper is not reusable!! That got a big grin. I’ve got some good friends staying with me for a few days then they are off on another of their world tours. I can’t even list all the places they will go to for the next three months. I’ll mention where they are in my comments. Their schedule would be the death of me. David is asleep ten minutes after take-off, and arrives well rested. I’ve never been able to sleep on flights, and would never get caught-up rest-wise, and be constantly exhausted. Anyway, have a good week, everyone.
FIR, but erased weaned for ABATED, c-ration for K-RATION (hi Mo), and meg for the equally-unknown MAE.
MARTA was a handy way for me to get to and from the airport. I worked kitty-corner to the northern terminus of it, and I could walk across the street and ride all the way to Hartsfield. Not so great to get to a Braves game. Supposedly, there was a dispute between Ted Turner and the powers that be when MARTA was being planned, and they intentionally routed the tracks away from the field. That was short-sighted (as most vendettas are), because MARTA had to provide (free) shuttle buses to and from the train station to Turner Field. (MARTA also runs the buses, but everyone there means the train when they say MARTA.)
Thanks to Ed for the fun, nearly-easy Monday puzzle. Even the Natick was an easy guess, and I stopped my alphabet run at "A". And thanks to Boomer for the grins. BTW - I was a member of TECU, the Telephone Employees Credit Union. Now part of the much larger Bay Port Credit Union.
Oops, k-rations for C-RATIONS
Hola!
Not sure why anyone likes Tex-Mex???? It's delicious! That's why. For those of us who enjoy hot, spicy food, it's mother's milk. I COULD eat it every day and did growing up.
Thank you Ed Beckert, for this easy Monday puzzle. I breezed through it until I stopped in my tracks at the Natick of MAE/SEAN, two unknown names. I finally worked it out and for a Monday they COULD have been clued differently. We all know which MAE would have been familiar. The same with LANA. She was a head TURNER.
I can just imaging the fragrance emanating from that field of LILACs.
For me, two years of LATIN. And I'll take a CSO at ESL which I taught for many years.
Thank you, Boomer, for stepping up though we all know you are not feeling your best. Kudos to you! Just keep on keeping on!
Now, I think I'll return to bed.
Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!
What EES about the Natick of “Mae” and “Sean.” Also had the unknown “MARTA.” Everything else came quickly and easily. FIR, so I’m happy.
Hello All,
Usually I go through a Monday puzzle very quickly, not today. A couple of bumps in the road. That’s ok
Boomer, you are so funny and delightful in your blogs. I wish you well. You bring a smile to my face every day.
Very chilly here this morning in the Lower Hudson Valley of NY. I love the change of seasons. After very unusual warm weather last week I’m happy to welcome cooler weather. Have a great day everyone!
OK "Letter opener" is very simply an opener which is a letter.
Hand up for eschewing Tex-Mex. C-rats are what we had at Basic. c. Above for my thoughts on Ham and Lima. Fortunately there were enough southerners to trade with
WC
FIR. My pet peeve is having proper names cross. I find this to be poor crossword etiquette. Sean and Mae as an example. No way to prove this via perps.
Barely broke the 4 minute mark with a 3:59 today, and it didn't cost me a C note, T bill, or T bond.
Seemed like a lot of proper nouns (the Sean/Mae intersection mentioned already, Essex, Marta, Lena, etc.) for a Monday, even in this Patti Varol era.
Congrats to Unclefred for his new possible PR.
Thanks for plugging-away Boomer. Keep at it.
Good Morning:
This was a perfect offering for new and beginning solvers. The theme was obvious early on and the reveal placement confirmed it quickly. We can all agree that Mae and Sean were clued for the younger solvers, but the perps were fair, so no complaint. My only w/o was Twill before Tweed, a common error for me.
Thanks, Ed, for a smooth start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for ‘splainin’ it all. Your indomitable fighting spirit is an inspiration to us all. Thanks, CC, for sharing the photo of Boomer and those of Big Easy and his lovely bride.
Anonymous @ 6:41 ~ The Upper Hudson Valley is very chilly, also. I couldn’t believe how much the temps had changed when I went out late yesterday afternoon. Brr! I also like the change in seasons, but I just wasn’t prepared for such a drastic change from our recent November balmy weather. Welcome to the Blog.
I have to take my car in for inspection/winterization later. My mechanic is 3 minutes away, so I drop off the car, he brings me home and when the car is ready, rinse and repeat!
Bill, I have to watch Magpie Murders again today, as I fell asleep in the middle of the broadcast last night. Actually, I DVR’d it and started watching it around midnight and then Mr. Sandman dropped by. 😴
Have a great day.
Thanks, Ed for my FIR Monday! I almost had a WO free grid, but thoughtlessly put SYSm which slowed me down when I worked on the perp. I finally saw the error and fixed it, giving me REMOTELY. Of course!
With the first two themers, I noticed the two consonants starting each. When I got to the third, I was thinking MREs, but it was too short. Nice reveal, Ed. I know MARTA and have a pass to ride it. (half price for senior citizens)
MAE and SEAN were both unknown names to me but the A seemed most likely. Thanks, Boomer, for your extraordinary desire to continue writing your Monday reviews. We appreciate it and enjoy your remarks. Hope you are more comfortable now and enjoying your visitors.
Hand up for liking TEX-Mex. I usually fix something each week with corn tortillas, my favorite.
I noticed CINDER and ASH which reminded me of the fires we enjoyed in our fireplace over our cold weekend. Hope you all are staying warm!
Fast and breezy Monday - WEES about changing the K to C with the rations.
Thanks for another fun blog Boomer - I figured you dissed the TEX-MEX to get a rise out of the cornerites - since it's probably 10-1 those who like it vs not. I'm sure you enjoyed another Viking victory yesterday! We were just talking the other day about how few ethnic restaurants there were growing up - even pizza- that are now ubiquitous!
I have ridden the MARTA before when I went down to a conference in Atlanta, but stayed with a friend north of there- very user friendly.
We had a fireplace in our old house but didn't use it much because of the hassle of getting it started it - so now we just have to flip a switch to start it.It's great when we want to get a little less chill in the air - but don't want to turn up the heat of the whole house.
I took 2 years of Latin- would have taken more - but the teacher that came the second year was really pathetic - so didn't go on for the third. Looking back I wish I'd taken Spanish - I could have used it everywhere I have lived!
Thanks Boomer and Ed!
For those who do it - yesterday's WORDLE was fun for me!
Oh and I forgot to mention from yesterday - congrats to CC on the upcoming Xword book!
Forgot to wish George(Big Easy) a Happy Birthday. Lovely picture
Boomer, rearrange the opening letters and they spell CUTE, kynda what we have today (A)CUTE theme.
Unknowns "Beautiful Girls" crossed with "Good Girls" COULD have been a FIW but WAGed the connector letter A correctly and EKEdOUT a FIR (WEES)
Watched GOT but didn't know and hadda perp LENA. Inkovers: amts/ALES
MARTA? an Atlanta Ge lady who'll take you for a ride? 😆
ALPHA, , A,ά is the LETTETOPENING the Greek ALPHAbet. I see CINDER burnt completely to ASH later in the puzzle
MAGMA: I remember from HS Earth Science class that it's called lava once it's spewed outside the volcano... kRATIONS COULD not work, (LIU l..K-Rations were lighter than C-Rations, and three meals a day netted only 2,830 calories.)
SUET: "bird feed", unless the squirrels get there first 🐿....Alls I know about "Brian" is his consistent CW 3-letter last name answer. ROARED..so lions, and tigers, and bears must have a great sense of humor.. UFO? thought they were called UAPs now 😆.
Æsop's cwazy wabbit lost the race by a___.....HARE
Armani and Brooks Bros online...ETAILERS
>Snakelike fish that give TED talks...ELECTORS.
"Dear sirs", and "Gentlemen"...LETTEROPENERS.
One who loves wine along with Brian's music: ____ phile....ENO
It may be chilly or chili (Tex-Mex) in the upper and lower Hudson Valley but not where we are, no not the Mohawk Valley it's chilly there too but 80 and sunny in Orlando.
CC you and Boomer are one amazing couple.
👫
Musings
-I did an alphabet run after I finished the puzzle and was amazed at how many other words are prefaced with a single letter. D-DAY leapt to my mind so close to Veteran’s Day.
-SUET is very popular with the unwanted grackles who visit from March to June
-MAE West, LENA Horne and SEAN Connery didn’t make it today
-SPECS for new restrooms at school where I sub had sinks, paper towels but no soap dispensers
-“That ship has sailed”. Generals are always prepared to fight the last war. WWI used old tactics in when facing new weapons.
-My new MacBook Pro came without USB or HDMI ports, so I had to buy one of these
-Britain’s PM has to face the MP’s regularly and not hide behind lackeys
-Neither snow nor rain nor physical infirmities will stay our faithful friend Boomer from the swift completion of his wonderful comments.
Wilbur Charles:
A LETTER OPENER is also a tool, much like a knife, with which to open LETTERS. I have several some of which I bought in my travels as souvenirs.
I saw this cartoon somewhere
🦖🦖...What the dinosaurs realized when they showed up too late to board the Ark...🦕 🦕
"That ship has sailed"
Always enjoy your sense of humor Boomer. Thanks for getting it done my friend. GC
Hi All!
Thanks Ed for a quick Monday romp... X-celent grid.
Fun expo, Boomer. Your humor is still there but I'm not liking how thin you're getting. You must eat, Ludwig.
God Speed good buddy.
WOs: mpS->PMS, unknown singer? Starts with an S? Sade? -> SEAN
ESPs: SEAN | MAE, LENA, MARTA
Fav: TEX-Mex & (Old) EL PASO
I'm guessing Boomer doesn't like spicy food (upper-Midwest and all that). I love Tex-Mex -- a cheese enchilada is simply 'comfort food.'
Fun pix, BigE. Thanks for sharing -- you groovy cat, you.
Reading y'all's stories about MARTA made me realized I rode it once from the airport out to a park-n-ride where my buddy picked me up. I met-up with my family (who drove out earlier to visit buddy's wife) and we drove on to ASHville for the weekend and then on to IL.
Latin - don't know when they stopped teaching it at Catholic Schools. So, I never had it but did get one year of Spanish. Only class I ever got a D in.
Everything I know about Latin [Monty Python]
Ray-O: this?
Back to work. Y'all have a great Monday.
Cheers, -T
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Ed and Boomer (continued thoughts and prayers).
I FIRed in good time, and saw the Letter theme (with the mid-puzzle reveal).
One inkblot to change Twill to TWEED (hi Irish Miss).
Hand up for WAGging that possible Natick cross of SEAN and MAE.
This Canadian had no clue about MARTA even when it filled in. And this Canadian is not touching ELECTORS and your American colleges. I would need a crash course in politics which is off-limits here.
I too noted CINDER and ASH (plus POKE AT?). Do they start with MAGMA.
I took three years of high school LATIN with an excellent teacher. It served me well with all the prescription abbreviations (many of which are no longer used). But it also is the basis for many English words (like AGENDA which fittingly is right beside it in the CW).
SUET is on my shopping list, but not for the birds. It is an ingredient in my Plum Pudding recipe, which I need to be making soon so it can age for Christmas.
I smiled at OBI today. I saw a Vanity licence plate last week that took me a minute to decipher - MRSOBI1
Yes, inanehiker, I saw your Wordle CSO yesterday.
FLN- belated Happy Birthday, Big Easy.
Wishing you all a great day.
For some reason I saw the theme right away. Sometimes I surprise myself. I too had k- rations for C-RATIONS, and used WAG for MAE MAE and SEAN. Just this morning I was visiting with my grandnephew’s wife and she was talking about her stubborn father-in-law who lives in EL PASO. This world is rife with coincidences.
We went from summer to winter in a matter of hours. Not to my liking.
One MAE will do. Sorry.
FIR but I'm always a couple of minutes slower than unclefred. This puzzle had a fun gimmick. Well done, Ed!
SUET and MARTA were in the punchbowl. I just needed to move on to other clues for them to rise to the top.
Boomer, "four years of Latin"?! I imagine that helped you in so many small ways over the years. The rest of us go through life not knowing what we don't know.
Ray-O @ 9:28. There's something you might like in tomorrow's blog.
Good morning. Thank you, Ed, and thank you, Boomer.
Quick solve after sleeping in. Nice review to give me some smiles.
TEX-Mex cuisine ? That's a basic food group !
To cut costs, LATIN and a couple of other classes were deleted just before I became a freshman. Some other classes were only available to students if they went into vocational training programs at an area-wide school in the city. Wrestling, cross-country and girls basketball got eliminated. Baseball and track almost got ditched. Football and boys basketball were kept. Track was then eliminated between my soph and junior years. Tough times fell on the valley after the collapse of the steel industry, so scaling back was the norm.
Gotta run.
Inanehiker @ 8:10AM
The township I grew up in was very small with no ethnic foods or pizza until the 60s. I also remember that about that time the first McDonald's opened in a larger nearby town.
The smallness of my hometown meant that the community high school only offered two years of one foreign language which fortunately was Spanish and it has turned out to be useful.
Finally, my daughter and I have been comparing Wordle experiences and discovered we got different ones to solve yesterday. Hard to compare our results and we wonder what basis they use when assigning the puzzles. We are different generations but similar in other ways.
Like the old days, I solved it so fast my pencil was always in motion. I skipped while waiting for a perp or two and moved on, then circled back. I had all the perps surrounding the A in MAE and SEAN, only an A would give me two names. I knew Des Plaines, IL where my sister used to live.
Here is another fan of TEX MEX.
I like this cooler weather. I am not a fan of the 80's, and abhor the 90's.
Boomer thanks for your bravery and steadfastness while feeling ill. I always enjoy your posts. You take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.
I studied two years of Latin, two of German and a semester of French in HS. In college I studied four years of German and one of Spanish. I studied several years of Japanese in adult classes in my sixties. That was the most difficult one. Because I was older when I studied it, I have forgotten 99% of my Japanese.
When I was touring Germany with a group I stayed behind one day and hung out by myself in a town where little English was spoken. I began recalling a lot. I think immersion is the best way to learn languages. Now that ship has sailed for me.
In this immediate neighborhood more Spanish would have been useful, with many opportunities to practice it.
ATLGranny. One time I read that there have been times that Wordle changed the word in the middle of the day because of feedback or some other reason. Perhaps you solved the Wordle early in the day, then it was changed, then your daughter solved it???
Fun Monday puzzle, many thanks, Ed. And hang in there, Boomer--your Monday commentaries are such a pleasure and just delight us. Take good care of yourself, we need you and care for you.
Bit of literary culture in this puzzle, drawing our attention to LETTER, needed for creating a MYTH, if not for creating IMAGES, and playing an important role when we EDIT texts, whether in English or in LATIN. Well, enough about that, time to say AMEN.
Have a good day, everybody.
Anon T @ 10:49
Yep, that's the cartoon. 👍
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Ed! Thanks, Boomer, for making us smile. Prayers for you.
Am I really the only person who knew MAE? She's one of my favorite actresses. Helped to do downs first and have M & E to jar my memory. Did not know SEAN.
Hand up for loving TEX-MEX. I eat it (mild) once or twice a week. Settles my stomach for some reason. I lived in a small town too and never had pizza until I graduated HS and moved away. The only TEX-MEX we ever ate was chili soup every Friday in the school lunchroom and it was too mild to really qualify as T-M.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with a few w/o's, as I was TWISTing instead of PLAITing in the NE Corner
Boomer, great to see you smiling. Love your attitude!
Agree with what EES about the SEAN/MAE crossing but I managed to get it with an educated WAG
I'm sure there are others - like I - who miss the daily limericks. This one I penned yesterday and probably has NOTHING to do with the puzzle, but I thought it was worth posting:
An ex-girlfriend bought newest edition
Of the book "Kama Sutra". Decision
To present it to me,
(given our history)
Has put me in an awkward position ...
Enjoy the week ahead and the cooler weather ...
👍
A fine Monday morning offering from Beckert by way of Boomer.
This was smooth sailing all the way through. I shall have to tell my wife it includes one of her favorite words: MAGMA.
~ OMK
__________
DR: Two diagonals, perfectly balanced between the sides.
On the near side, the anagram (13 of 15) pertains to the ENNUI that might set in if you lived back in pre-Biblical times, an era of MYTH.
'Twas then you might have been bored by the regularity of appearances by Leviathans and other monstrous critters, so much so that you would refer to them [yawn] as the ...
"USUAL BEHEMOTHS"!
A QUESTION FOR THE CORNER. Has anyone had contact with, or seen a message from Owen this past week or more?
He has not been seen on the Jumble site since leaving a cryptic call for help on 10 November at 3:07 am, asking to "Call 911."
No action was taken then, as that early morning-posting was presumed to be a hack. But we have not heard from him since, and he does not respond to email.
~ OMK
OMK - re: OKL: I have not. I recall him saying was going to the hospital but it's been radio-silence since. I've checked the J-site and it's just been you hosting. -T
Easy Monday solve.
MARTA-only know of it because DW would ride on it from the ATL airport when she had a meeting in Atlanta.
LENA, SEAN, MAE- perps for those unknowns today.
CINDER & ASH- burned wood exactly ONE time in our fireplace; too messy to clean up and we decided to get a ceramic natural gas log installed.
unclefred- sleep on a plane? can't do it. Flew 5.5 hrs. non-stop from MSY to SEA on 11-5 and 4 hours yesterday from SEA to MSY- didn't sleep a wink.
Not only can you pre-order C.C.'s puzzles from Amazon but you can also order "hippie clothes", which is where we got ours. Just make sure you order at least two sizes larger; it took the third shipment for their 3XL shirt to fit my XL size.
Ray - O - Sunshine & I saw TECU as the perfect anagram of CUTE.
I just figured the clue for 53D lacked space for including a reference to it.
~ OMK
Anonymous T @4:10 ~
It is most alarming,
as his 11/10 posting also said "I'm being tortured."
Granted, some folk in a hospital may over-react this way to treatment, but this is still unsettling under the circumstances--that we have not heard a word since then.
~ OMK
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