Hello Cornerites!
sumdaze here, taking a look at Spencer Leach's puzzle. My first thought when seeing the empty grid is that it reminded me of the Message Monster forever stamp from 2021.
Do you see it?
I think the monster might be waving hello. Let's make today's theme:
Monstrous Waves
We'll begin with the 3 themers:
17. Across* Medical scan with a wand: ULTRASOUND. First used for medical purposes in Glasgow in 1956, ULTRASOUND is an imaging method that uses sound waves to produce images of structures within a patient's body.
Since an ULTRASOUND uses sound waves, this answer feels a bit too close to the theme. Perhaps something like "Puget Sound" would have done more to separate this themer from the reveal.
27. Across* "Channel Orange" Grammy winner: FRANK OCEAN. Every Single Perp for me.
In 2012, Frank Ocean won 2 Grammys -- one for Best Urban Contemporary Album for Channel Orange and another for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for No Church In The Wild with The-Dream, Jay Z and Kanye West.
44. Across* Comment after a joke that doesn't land: TOUGH CROWD.
 |
| Rodney Dangerfield |
Then the reveal:
60. Causes a ruckus, and what the end of each answer to the starred clues does: MAKES WAVES. The 3 types of WAVES the themers make are:
 |
| SOUND WAVES |
 |
| OCEAN WAVES |
and CROWD WAVES
Next we'll check out the swell fill clues.
Across:
1. "Whatever floats your __": BOAT. Whatever makes you happy.
5. Cuts of pork: CHOPS.
Miss Piggy demonstrating pork CHOPS
10. New York MLB team: METS. Sometimes we are expected to remember that they play at Citi Field.
14. Really get to: RILE.
15. Patient contribution: CO-PAY.
16. Aid and __: ABET.
19. British conservative: TORY. Whigs and Tories in under 500 words
20. Valentine symbol: HEART.
19. British conservative: TORY. Whigs and Tories in under 500 words
20. Valentine symbol: HEART.
21. Three-pronged Greek letter: PSI. My memory trick for this letter is Poseidon carried a trident.
22. Mint family herb: THYME. I do not usually think of THYME as being related to mint but I figured Burpee (seed company) would know.
23. Multiuse tool with lots of attachments: DREMEL.
 |
| DH has one. His eyes light up when he thinks of a project that requires it. |
25. Phone up: CALL. You know, "dial".
31. "How sad for you": BUMMER.
31. "How sad for you": BUMMER.
 |
| Hummer Bummer |
35. "A mouse!!": EEK. Yesterday's puzzle's theme.
36. Sporty car roof: T-TOP.
 |
| Barbie has a pink one. |
38. Being kept cold: ON ICE.
39. Box set component: DVD. At first I thought this was one of those video game console questions.
41. Pottery oven: KILN. kiln FAQs
42. Actor's prompt: CUE.
43. Pungent sushi condiment: WASABI. Real WASABI vs. Fake WASABI
47. Farm animal with horns: GOAT. Like cattle, both male & female goats can have horns.
48. Badger at the comedy club: HECKLE. What members of a TOUGH CROWD do.
52. "That's the answer!": BINGO.
Inglourious Bastards (2009) 2 min. clip
55. Freight weight: TON. Axle Weight Limits by State...and Canada, too!
57. Message-spelling board: OUIJA. Do you say wee-juh or wee-jee? Both are correct. The first pronunciation matches the spelling but the second is more common.
59. Slim woodwind: OBOE. Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 was originally composed in Spring or Summer 1777 for oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis from Bergamo (1755-1802).
57. Message-spelling board: OUIJA. Do you say wee-juh or wee-jee? Both are correct. The first pronunciation matches the spelling but the second is more common.
59. Slim woodwind: OBOE. Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 was originally composed in Spring or Summer 1777 for oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis from Bergamo (1755-1802).
62. Bird's __ soup: NEST. I have heard of this soup but I had assumed it was made with noodles. I am surprised to learn that it is made with actual birds' nests. link to a 5-star recipe and very interesting info
 |
| bird's nest soup |
64. Peace Nobelist Walesa: LECH. We meet again! Clued yesterday as "48D. Polish Solidarity hero Lech", Polish born LECH Walesa was in the news almost daily in the early '80s. This bio on NobelPrize.org tells his story much better than I can.
65. Post-breakup pair: EXES.
George Strait singing All My Ex's Live in Texas
66. Like bogs: PEATY.
67. Superficially highbrow: ARTY. Peaty's best friend since 2nd grade.
Down:
1. "Dude!": BRUH. Recipient of today's Giant Leap award for spelling. Apparently "Bro" is very GenX and the Millennials have made the leap to BRUH.
67. Superficially highbrow: ARTY. Peaty's best friend since 2nd grade.
Down:
1. "Dude!": BRUH. Recipient of today's Giant Leap award for spelling. Apparently "Bro" is very GenX and the Millennials have made the leap to BRUH.
2. Used lubricant on: OILED.
3 min. video on Turkish Oil Wrestling
3. Place to say "I do": ALTAR.
4. __ Haute, Indiana: TERRE. With 58,525 people, Terre Haute is the 15th most populated city in the State of Indiana.
5. IV units: CCS. Cubic CentimeterS. There are 2,000 CCs in a 2 liter bottle of soda.
6. Ruckus: HOOPLA.
7. "Mr. Holland's __": Dreyfuss film: OPUS.
Official Trailer (1996) 2:50 min.
8. Froze, perhaps: PANICKED. Good clue.
9. Pink Floyd guitarist Barrett: SYD. Y do I always misspell his name?
10. Students with a lot of problems?: MATHLETES. super awesome kids!
11. Goth-like aesthetic of some TikTok guys: E-BOY. Husker Gary gave us this link in his 10/22/22 blog.
12. Time in office: TERM.
13. Eye affliction: STYE.
18. Withdrawal charge: ATM FEE.
9. Pink Floyd guitarist Barrett: SYD. Y do I always misspell his name?
10. Students with a lot of problems?: MATHLETES. super awesome kids!
11. Goth-like aesthetic of some TikTok guys: E-BOY. Husker Gary gave us this link in his 10/22/22 blog.
12. Time in office: TERM.
13. Eye affliction: STYE.
18. Withdrawal charge: ATM FEE.
22. Gentle handling, for short: TLC. Tender Loving Care
24. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.
24. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.
... To forgive, divine. (Alexander Pope)
... But it feels divine. (Mae West)
... To admit it, superhuman. (Doug Larson)
... To purr, feline. (Robert Byrne)
26. Perfectly fine: A-OK.
28. At no point: NEVER.
29. "__ baby!": "Way to go!": ATTA.
30. Clueless gamer: NOOB. We've seen some spelling variations for this. In many fields, NOOB is short for "newbie" which is slang for someone new to something.
31. __ choy: BOK. a staple at my house. Here's why:
26. Perfectly fine: A-OK.
28. At no point: NEVER.
29. "__ baby!": "Way to go!": ATTA.
30. Clueless gamer: NOOB. We've seen some spelling variations for this. In many fields, NOOB is short for "newbie" which is slang for someone new to something.
31. __ choy: BOK. a staple at my house. Here's why:
32. Foot or furlong: UNIT. MATHLETES have to remember to label their answers with the correct UNIT.
33. Ventimiglia of "This Is Us": MILO. Also the #4 male dog name in Nov.22 according to Rover.com
33. Ventimiglia of "This Is Us": MILO. Also the #4 male dog name in Nov.22 according to Rover.com
Milo Ventimiglia
What do you think? Keep or ditch the beard?
34. Happy Meal chicken option: MCNUGGETS.
39. All-purpose roll: DUCT TAPE. Is it "duck" tape or "duct" tape? Actually, it's both!
The first name alludes to the tape's development: an elastic glue appended to a cotton duck fabric backing. Troopers in WWII utilized it to seal ammo cases, repair shoes and do the million different things a duct tape can do. The tape was particularly helpful for its capacity to oppose water, which kept running off the elastic. The "duct" name change really happened post-war, when HVAC experts thought that it was valuable for fixing AC pipes. Source: 10 Really Cool Products Invented by the U.S. Military
40. Bovine disease, familiarly: MAD COW. AKA Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). According to the CDC, there have been 6 cases in the U.S.
42. "__-ching!": CHA. Also a financial literacy program for kids grades K-6.
43. "SummerSlam" org.: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment
45. Slime: GOO. If you've got a lot of Goo, you can get Goo Gone.
46. "How cool!": OH NEAT.
49. __ Lumpur, Malaysia: KUALA.
49. __ Lumpur, Malaysia: KUALA.
50. Gallbladder neighbor: LIVER.
51. Kick out: EJECT.
52. Dog biscuit shape: BONE.
53. Wild mountain 47-Across: IBEX.
52. Dog biscuit shape: BONE.
53. Wild mountain 47-Across: IBEX.
male Alpine Ibex
56. Gumbo pod: OKRA.
58. Like a newly reborn phoenix, probably: ASHY. I see what they did there.
60. Floor-washing tool: MOP.
61. Relatively timid: SHY.
Here's the completed grid:
That's all for today. I encourage you to not waive your rights to comment!
46 comments:
I found it easy as expected... but it doesn't look beginner-friendly like a Monday should be. DREMEL was new to me, not a Monday word anyway.
Like the previous writer, I had never heard of a “dremel”, or an “eboy” either (and spellcheck doesn’t like either of them!) Those two gave the puzzle slightly more “crunch” than the usual Monday puzzle. But, anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Lost my post, and it was a real winner. Now you're stuck with this one. Noticed the encore appearances of EEK and LECH today. Stuck an N in "aesthetic" and was looking for an ether-like knockout drug, not EBOY. Didn't recognize FRANK OCEAN. The result: This one took twice as long as a typical Monday. Not d-o's finest moment. Thanx, Spencer. Super expo, sundaze. (Your "Tory" link is broken.)
EXES: Strait's EXES live in Texas, so he lives in Tennessee. I live in Texas, and my EX lived in Tenessee.
DUCT TAPE: Good for almost any job...except duct repair. You need that shiny aluminum tape for sealing ducts.
TERRE Haute: I know it as the home of the old Columbia Record Club. Remember it?
KUALA Lumpur: It's a 4-hour drive from Singapore. Locals call it K-L.
Confession time: I have a FIW on this Monday, putting DRaMEL and TERRa. The irony is that I have a Dremel (but haven't used it lately). My other excuse is I had the "terra" as used with "cotta" spelling in mind which is similar to the Spanish "tierra." Next time I will remember it's TERRE Haute, Indiana! But I digress....
Thanks, Spencer, for a Monday puzzle with a bit of bite. Not too easy. And thank you, sumdaze, for a jolly start to the week. Your cartoons and extra information is Hahtoolah-like. High praise!
We're having a cold spell for Christmas this year, making the descriptions of "Being kept cold" and "Froze, perhaps" particularly apt today. Hope you all are staying warm and cozy!
FIR, but struggled a little because I can never remember how to spell ouija. I really need to master that!
Took 4:32 for me to ride the wave today.
Like the earlier birds, I struggle with spelling Terre Haute and Ouija, and I'd never heard of "eboy." I also didn't know "Frank Ocean" or "Channel Orange."
Approximately 8 years ago, I received a Dremel as a Christmas present, and it has come in handy many times.
MATHLETES,(had to capitalize to fool spell check), what the heck?
I’m glad to see others found this a tad crunchy for a Monday, because when I FIR in 15 I thought, “Oy. 15 minutes for a Monday!” DNK Channel Orange or Frank Ocean, or ebony. DNK BRUH, or MATHLETES. Also can never remember how OUIJA is spelled. I did get the theme, which I usually only see after reading the blog. Anyway, thanx SL for a slightly crunchy but still fun start to the week. And thanks too to Sumdaze for the nice write-up. BTW, to remove goo nothing beats WD-40.
Should say eboy not ebony. Spellcheck again.
FIR, but erased ditto for ME TOO and evict for EJECT.
OK engineers. Does SOUND MAKE WAVEs, or is sound carried in WAVEs? Seems like I recently heard a discussion of explosions in space. They are silent, because there isn't anything (gas, liquid or solid) to carry SOUND.
CSO to our dear CC. You remain in our thoughts and prayers.
I would link Knee Deep in the HOOLPLA by Starship, but I'm minding my gigabytes since I'm on the road. But "ruckus" twice in one puzzle's cluing suggests we pay attention.
I only knew MATHLETE because Rosie O'Donnell's character on the TV sitcom Mom said she was one.
I love my DREMEL. Would love to have a cordless one with a lithium battery.
FLN: Fred, why not just go to the LAT Web site (https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword)? It's free, and is almost always works correctly (as long as non-english character sets are not required). I use it every day, but in spite of that it is good resource.
Thanks to Spencer for the fun Monday exercise. Good to see you were available For Hire on this puzzle (as if you haven't heard THAT a million times). My favorite was "all-purpose roll" for DUCT TAPE. Saved the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts. And thanks to Sum for the fun review. You are no NOOB in your new role.
Hola!
Thank you, Spencer Leach! You gave us a crunchy Monday puzzle but that's ok, I like a challenge and life has given me several in just the past two weeks. Those are not the kind I like, however.
And thank you, sumdaze. Are you the permanent Monday sherpa? If that information has been posted I missed it.
DREMEL is a foreign word for me. Thank you for the illustration. I never would have known it.
Otherwise this was a fairly straightforward solve. However, I was surprised to see OUIJA there.
The Phoenix Zoo has a couple of IBEXes.
I finished yesterday's puzzle but never got to post since I was also working on my Christmas cards. Now I just have to mail them. Even when I was working I was not this late with sending cards. See paragraph one for the reason.
I still don't have a car other than the rental which I love and wish I could keep it. It's a Rav 4. So nice! I think I'm going to buy an Elantra. Does anyone have experience with that one?
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Lucina, yes, sumdaze is now our permanent Monday blogger. She's proven herself to be more than able, and is a welcome addition.
Since you're loving that Rav4, have you considered that model for purchase? Elantra and Rav4 are rated similarly by Consumer Reports -- scoring 73 vs 72, and both are "recommended."
I'm confused, Lucina. On Saturday you said you had purchased a Nissan Rogue and had it delivered to your carport. Did you return it?
Thank you Spencer for a great start to the week for which I got a FTPR (Failure to Proof Read). You certainly deserve a WAVE for this one. Anywho ...
And thank you sumdaze for a very imaginative theme explanation, which you seem to be doing mostdaze you're up.
Some favs:
92D THYME. DNK they were mints. You can always tell a member of the mint family because they have SQUARE STEMS. The only thing I have against THYME is that it has small leaves and stems (never checked them for squareness) and take a lot of fuss to get any quantity of them for a recipe.
25D DREMEL. [Not DRAMEL dummy!] I make frequent use of these to grind drips of pots that I fire in my 41As.
41A KILN. The history of KILNS goes back at least 9000 years. As they didn't have electricity in those days, they used to fire with fuels (wood, coal, dried cow dung, anything that would burn). Unlike electric kilns, the flames in fuel fired kilns tend to react with the glazes producing all sorts of accidental and often beautiful effects. Also fuel fired kilns can be fired more economically to much higher temperatures, e.g. 2500 F (1300 C). This capability was largely do to the invention of downdraft kilns (e.g. "anagama kilns" by the Chinese in circa 9000 AD. This enabled them to create very durable Stoneware and Porcelain ceramics.
38D DUCT TAPE. Seems that it's the solution for just about everything for Canadian comedian Red Green.
Cheers,
Bill
D-Otto, thanks for the heads up on the link. I think I have it fixed now.
= )
Good morning. Thank you, Spencer, and thank you, sumdaze.
Didn't know of Frank OCEAN, but do know of R&B artist Billy OCEAN, who was very popular in the 1980s.
EEK theme yesterday, and as an answer today.
Slime as an answer yesterday, and as a clue today.
Walesa as an answer yesterday, and in the clue today.
D-O, Terre Haute is also the home of Indiana State University. Among others, three sports celebrities you probably never heard of went there. Larry Bird, Tommy John and John Wooden. St-Mary-Of-The-Woods college is also in Terre Haute. Scenic setting near the Wabash River.
Speaking of WAVE, our Bose Wave music system is having problems. It wouldn't play the Johnny Mathis Christmas songs CD Saturday. That's a tradition as she bakes cookies all day. My George Strait and Alan Jackson CDs wouldn't play either. Then Sunday morning at 6am the alarm started going off. I thought I got it turned off, but it went off again this morning. Something to mess with today.
I use Goo Gone, Goof Off, citric based cleaners, Pine Sol and/or WD-40 to removed adhesives and other sticky substances and grime, depending on the material, or if it's on me.
SubG, et al., spell check in the Blogger compose window is a function of your browser. It's far from perfect. Your spell check results might vary based on whether you are using Edge, Firefox, Safari, Android, Chrome etc.
OTOH, Google Search uses an enhanced spell checker with a much more extensive library. So if you think that a word may not really be a word, try keying it in to the Google search bar and pressing enter.
Specialized libraries and dictionaries are often implemented in software apps and word processing tools for those that use specialized words. Can you imagine being a doctor like Inanehiker or a pharmacist like CanadianEh and having every fourth or fifth word underlined as if it were spelled incorrectly ? Many of these tools also give the users the ability to add new terms and product names as needed. The same is true for many commonly available word processing apps used on home computers.
Gotta run. That Bose Wave is not going to diagnose and fix itself.
Learning moment: whigs and tories
Never knew they were left and right.
Surprise moment: that I learned the above on a non political blog about words...
(Yes, the link for above is fixed, but the bird nest soup link is still oprahsized... :)
Now,
Hmm,
How can I possibly make this crossword theme to be about Cats...
OOH! DNF, and it’s a Monday CW. My brain must be foggy today. I didn’t know OCEAN, so didn’t make the connection with WAVES.
The mice are are after us again. EEK.
Least favorite clue lately, Bruh! Come on. Duh, huh, bruh? Favorite clue the "patient contribution". Had me thinking. Why don't I ever remember how to spell OUIJA?
CED. Thanks for the heads up on the soup link. I just fixed it. It really is interesting!
D-Otto. I also meant to say thank you for the supportive compliment!
I'm on my way out the door now. I hope there aren't any other links to fix but things do seem to come in threes.... OOF!
Good Morning:
Peaty and Arty and Ashy went unto a bar and ran into Bruh . . . .
No problems with the solve but, as others have noted, there were a smattering of non-Monday words, e.g., EBoy, Dremel, Ibex, Frank Ocean, etc., maybe even Ouija. I had a few stumbles, too, with On Tap/Ice, Evict/Eject, and Loins/Chop. I thought the reveal was going to be something that Roared but, more fittingly, Made Waves was spot on.
Thanks, Spencer, for a pleasant start to the week and thanks, sumdaze, for an excellent review and commentary. I really enjoyed the videos of Inglourious Basterds (Christoph Waltz was riveting), and Mr. Holland’s Opus, both outstanding movies. And who doesn’t get a smile from Miss Piggy and Kermit. Your imaginative reproduction of the Message Monster stamp is amazing. (I’ve never laid eyes on that stamp.) Milo V won my heart in This Is Us, beard or no beard! And, today, that shy little bunny closing out the write up made my day. Your blogging skills are definitely not those of a Noob, but those of a seasoned veteran, much to our good fortune! Brava!
Have a great day.
AtlGranny:
The Nissan Rogue is my rental car which I have to return this week.
It's so nice reading you all. Thank you for your CONTRIBUTIONS.
Lotsa UNK's for Moon Day.. FRANK OCEAN?....."Goth-like aesthetic of some TikTok guys" ? yikes, not very Mondayish and totally perped. Did anyone older than 20 know EBOY?..(Was soooo glad to see our little CW buddy OBOE pop up 😄)..Anyhoo..... So... the theme is WAVES: ULTRASOUND, OCEAN, CROWD (like the wave at games). But ULTRASOUND "wand"? probe or transducer. Used to evaluate the gallbladder and LIVER.
Thought a DREMEL was some kyna tool I had never hoid of but seems to be the name of a tool company. Constructor musta got backed into a corner and googled the letters to come up with a clue to match those letters 🤔
Seems that those CW eye infection: STYES, are back after a disease free interlude.
What is a DUTCH APE? Oh, I C, hadda minor problem reading vertically 🤓 DUCTTAPE!! Brother to Bro to BRUH. what's next Brrr ?... A TOUGH CROWD is likely to HECKLE...good combo... like OPRAH eating OKRA. Almost tried ditto for METOO
WASABI: a little dab'll do yah. 🙊
"You'll find that Chinese cabbage ___ in the produce section"...BOK
Marie Kondo: "Get rid of anything that doesn't spark ____ " ...CHOY (maybe her book first? ðŸ¤)
Aussie Teddy bear...KUALA
Sadly exhale....Ψ
No need to ___ ALL your mistakes....ERR
If anyone would like a white Christmas will gladly ship snow. The view from our deck Adirondack Lake Easka this AM...Put your order in now for on-time arrival time Christmas Eve!! ❄❄❄
Musings
-Volcanoes and earthquakes can make Infrasound waves that are too low for humans to hear but can RILE up elephants
-FRANK? Danny OCEAN must have been in jail.
-TOUGH CROWD – No one could turn that around like Johnny Carson
-LECH – Sometimes it just takes one brave person to stand and say, “ENOUGH!”
-FDR broke the unspoken, but understood, two-TERM limit that had stood since Washington
-To ERR is human, but to really foul up you need a computer (Paul Ehrlich)
-ATTA flour gets Mondays off
-Before center pivot irrigation, MILO, which requires much less water, was a common crop. here
-If something broke at my M-I-L’s house, her first thought was DUCT tape and then “Call Gary”
-When Apollo 11’s LEM ascent stage blasted Neil and Buzz (and the others) off the Moon, it shook the ground but made no noise. It also registered on the Seismic instrument they deployed.
-Nice job, Renee!
Nice puzzle to start the week. My dog groomer uses a dremel tool on my dog’s nails, instead of clipping. It makes them nice and smooth. Bruh and Bae I could do without. Gary, I am reading, “The Apollo Murders” written by Chris Hadfield, a former astronaut. It’s a historical science fiction story set in the Apollo era of space flight. Have you read it?
Off to my daughters to make beef tamales. Adios!
Yuman
I have searched and found this to fill my long winter days.as well
https://www.amazon.com/Mysteries-of-Apollo-Season-1/dp/B0925C354K
This is too funny!
Emails from UPS re a package coming from Pennsylvania:
12/13-Scheduled delivery-12/14-10:15-2:15
12/16-Rescheduled delivery-12/20-12:30-4:30
12/16-Rescheduled delivery-12/17-1:45-5:45
12/18-Rescheduled delivery-12/20-12:30-4:30
12/19-Received at 11:15
Ray O @ 10:36 ~ Thanks for the offer Ray, but we have enough of the white stuff right now!
Greetings! Thought there were a bunch of Wed./Thurs. clues in this Monday puzzle. Never heard of DREMEL, FRANK OCEAN, EBOY or MATHLETES. 43A I had the _A_A_I. Tamari and WASABI both fit. Picked the wrong one. Never had (or wanted to have) sushi, so not up on the condiments.
Natick with 43A, 43D and 30D.
Loved the George Strait clip. One of my favorite movies is Pure Country.
Tante Nique, re: Mouse - I've had success with anti-rodent plug ins. So far, so good.
Thanks, Spencer for the puzzle. And thanks, sumdaze for the informative and entertaining review. Mondays are in good hands going forward.
Waive my right to make a comment and not MAKE WAVES. Don't get me RILEd up (there's no chance of that happening). It's THYME to make a comment. For a puzzle that should be the easiest it starts out at 1D with an abbr. for an incorrectly spelled word:
BRUH for BRUTHER for BROTHER. What happened to 'dude'? Well, whatever floats your BOAT, not mine (I sold it). But BRUH, MILO, FRANK OCEAN, and E-BOY were solved by perps. NOOB - learned it here. MATHLETE is new to me and was filled by perps- I had to look up the clue because it looked strange.
Slim woodwind? all of them are slim. Flute, Clarinet, OBOE, English horn, Fife, Piccolo, Bassoon. But Saxophones are made of brass with reeds- a hybrid.
Well OILED? Somebody really drunk.
IV units- ml or CC. The UNIT designation for every drug and IV changed to milliliters many years ago.
Acesaroundagain- BRUH and BAE- a couple of my least favorites.
Yuman doesn't like them either.
RosE- get a cat for your mice problems. I have a yard cat and some of his buddies (that I don't feed) hang around. Never seen a mouse or rat in the 32 years I've lived here.
WEES, a little crunchy for a Monday but doable with perp help as always, took me almost 14 minutes for the FIR, which is usually about a mid/late week time for me. EBOY? MATHLETE? 🤷♂️ Thank you Spencer for today’s challenge.
Very nice write up Sumdaze ~~ Boomer is undoubtedly smiling down knowing Monday’s are in good hands 😊. I first thought of SOUND as relating to Puget Sound, not sure what the constructor actually meant?
Have used a Dremel tool a lot, indispensable in certain applications, they make an ear-piercing sound so ear plugs are a must.
Anyone else read about the controversy surrounding the shape of yesterday’s grid in the NYT?
Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Spencer & sumdaze.
I sailed through the top part, slowed down a little in the south, but FIRed and saw the WAVES theme. Was 6D and 60A ruckus in the clue a clecho, or a NO NO dupe? No HOOPLA here.
My inkblot was at the cross of DVD and DUCT TAPE. My boxed set contained BVDs, and thinking of a dinner roll, I was entering bUtTer.
I can't let DUCT TAPE pass without a link to Red Green! What- waseeley beat me!
If you are not familiar with Red Green, here's a good intro for Americans.
Bold link: DuctTapeForever
MATHLETES took a while to dawn. Great clue!
I too noted the EEK from yesterday, plus LECH Walesa.
I say wee-jee.
Thanks sumdaze for including Canada in those axle weights.
DH does not own a DREMEL (I've never heard of it), but he owns every tool that it replaces! (Red Green might need one too.)
IM- your first line is fabulous!
You and Ray-o must have gotten the lake-effect snow like Fort Erie & Buffalo. We only had a dusting.
Yes Big Easy. We have used ml (not cc) here too for eons it seems (although it must have been very lousy penmanship to confuse cc with u).
Bold link: ISMP_DangerousAbbreviations
Lucina- good luck in the car hunt.
Yuman- I have read that book by our Canadian astronaut. Chris Hadfield said that 95% of it was true (and of course he has the experience to know).
Wishing you all a great day.
CanadianEh! @1:26 PM My RG link may have been before yours, but yours is priceless. We really need to keep spreading the word of this totally unique and hilarious series (I'm bookmarking it for future evangelization efforts!).
waseeley @9:27 AM As "9000 AD" won't be here for circa 7000 years, make that "900 AD".
RosE: thanks for the tip on mice. My EEK was metaphorical left over from yesterday.
Many years ago the house we lived in had a large empty field behind it and as we were going off to sleep, a mouse scampered across our pillows. Needless to say I frEEKed out. I left DH to deal with it and we never spoke about the event again.
I sorta liked this puzzle, which I feel was kinda polluted by BRUH and EBOY. Thanks for the enjoyable and informative write-up, sumdaze.
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Spenser, for a fun & fast puzzle. Thanks, sumdaze, for a great expo.
Gripes & DNK about WEES. Everything perped in pretty well.
MILO is a farm crop that made me some nice income last month. Pretty in the fall fields when the seed heads turn rust colored.
Wanted MAstitis before MAD COW for the bovine disease. We had a cow, back in the days when that disease was prevalent overseas, who showed signs related to MAD COW and got everybody excited from our vet to state-level college vets. She staggered around and finally keeled over. Necropsy showed she had a brain tumor instead. Such a relief for cattlemen.
Just a PSA, re: the danger of Dremels.
I don't know about the real, brand name Dremel, as I bought one of those $6- knock offs at harbor freight, just to see if they could be useful for anything.
(My plan was to use it to remove rock hard grout from the shower tiles before a recaulk.)
Never got around to that, because I have been using it for all sorts of unexpected jobs.
I liked it so much, I got a $20- cordless knock off, which I used on my scooter carburetor.
To pass some EPA law, they filed the heads of the screws that hold the carb together so no one can alter them.
But the downside is you can't clean them, and with ethanol gas, you need to buy a new one every 6 months...
So I used the dremel to cut new screwdriver slots into the cut off screws. "Problem skirted."
Findings:
I beg you to wear eye protection, and gloves. And a face mask for the dust they create. But most importantly, always use it at an angle away from your face. In addition to flying debris, the tool bit can slide out of the holder and go flying. Or worse yet, a cutting disc can shatter. It's just not worth losing an eye over...
Now today, I hear using it to file your nails?
(Believe me, I have thought of this, perhaps on slow revs.)
But watch this PSA first...
To Tante Nique - glad your mouse problem is not current, but oh, my goodness!!!! What a brazen fellow to run across your pillow!!! Or "How to lose a night's sleep in one easy lesson!!!!"
To BigEasy, thanks for the suggestion, but I'm just not an inside cat person, and I don't want to attract feral ones around my birdfeeders. I'll stick with the plug-ins.
Unusually tough for a Monday XWD, I thought.
Thanks to sumdaze for doing the honors, and to Mr. Leach (any relation to Archie?) for the PZL.
Had me going In the middle section, appropriately around TOUGH CROWD.
~ OMK
_____________
DR: Three diagonals, far side.
Because of its abundance of vowels, the center diag offers a shortened anagram (only 11 of 15), one that refers to habitats for the common Branta canadensis.
Naturally, I speak of...
"GOOSE HOVELS"!
or, if you prefer,
"GEESE HOVELS, but we can't have 'em both.
I get Zoe's nails DREMELed. Actually, most places cut them with traditional clippers, then finish them off with the tool. Maybe it depends on whether I've let her go too long between trimmings.
Lucina - I love my 2001 RAV4 that has >200,000 miles on the clock. It is a better car than my 2013 CRV with 70,000 miles. I bought both new. (It isn't my favorite car - that would be my '63 Corvair convertible, my 1967 Mustang Fastback (looked like Steve McQueen's car in Bullitt), or my 1991 Mercedes 300SD. They weren't good cars, but I loved them.) If you loved that rental RAV, I suggest you try Carvana or one of the other big online sellers, and not settle for a car you don't love.
Hi All!
Thanks for the puzzle, Spencer and it appears this is your LAT debut. Congrats.
Great expo, sumdaze. You took to blogging like a fish to water.
WOs: BRaH, SiD (and I know better ;-))
ESPs: FRANK OCEAN, MILO, LECH
Fav: MATHLETES (I almost entered MATH major b/f I got the CALL)
FLN:
Great pinch-hitting, D-O.
Congrats on another Eagle Scout, waseeley.
Fun video, Picard.
DREMEL - a nearly worthless tool for all but the smallest jobs (unless you have $$$ for TONs of new blades (they seem to snap after 20 seconds of use!)*).
D-O: yes, I had Columbia Records subscription. One had to mail it off as soon as you got the post-card or you'd get another album you didn't want (and find an extra lawn to mow).
I also have the aluminum tape for real duct work.
Sherry - re: MATHLETE - It's nerd Olympics (actually, it's called Academic Decathlon). I competed in math, physics(IIRC), and was a substitute for Lit (read 60 books one summer - all the classics blur together... Who had the Crucible and who had the Scarlet Letter?).
KS / UncleFred - My trick is to think it's French-Jamaican: OUI, JA mon? :-)
//dyslexia == thousands of little mnemonics just to spell simple words (not that OUIJA is simple - vowels galore!)
Jinx - We built this city on Rock & Roll.
Hand-up: Huge fan of Red Green (I didn't know there was a movie, C,Eh!)
Never an issue with a mouse but...
Visiting college chums, DW & I got the floor in the loft (we were young) and, while sleeping, I thought DW was playing footsie with me - then it moved funny.
Turns out the folks who rented the apartment before our chums lost their guineapig before moving out.
Cheers, -T
*or maybe I'm doing it wrong(?) SpeedySolver @7:43 / Jinx / CED - what's your secret(s)?
In the early 1970's, ultrasound was beginning to be used in Europe for the diagnosis of heart diseases. In 1972 and 1976. My cardiologist spouse spent sabbaticals in London and Stockholm in preparation for setting up the first echo lab in So Cal.
Anon T ~ I sent you an email yesterday that’s probably buried under an avalanche in your Inbox. 😉
IM - fortunately it was to my Blogger email address which made it easier to find.
//I get ~400 emails a day in my work account - many are system-alerts that only takes a few seconds to dismiss (or, horror-of-horrors is important! and eats the rest of the day) and only about 50 of them are from co-workers needing something. I've replied.
YooperPhill - Yes, I saw the HOOPLA re: NYT on Twitter. I mean, if you cross your eyes you can see it(ish). //you know what I just realized? I forgot to Tweet my own horn re: LAT & NYT puzzles :-( Too late now.
I best get some chores done. DW's only request for Christmas is a spic-n-span house b/f we head to IL.
Cheers, -T
FLW* "I'm still licking my wounds from the Saturday disaster. Wait til next Saturday " I got retribution by FIR on Saturday
I bought a boxed set of Sherlock at a discount store
Ah, MATH "Problems"
Rosie was on Mom? Which character?
Feel free to expand on "success with anti-rodent plug ins". I've used yahoo version
Wow, first the infamous Adam's write-up now this? Will Shottz must be meme proof
Or for that matter make an offer for the Rav4 to the rental company. Low ball and work up
Crucible was whats his name and Scarlet Letter was Nathaniel sumfthin
Always learn something new (Red Green) and once I get to YouTube I get all sorts of links I can't refuse such as Ny fav Orbisin
Echo kudos to sumdaze. Nice to get some crunch on a Monday
WC
** From last week(Monday)
Jinx et al:
Thank you for the advice. I already love the Rav 4 and will try to buy one. Tomorrow I will go to pick up a check from the insurance company. They are paying the full price (I looked it up on Blue Book).
I finally sent Christmas cards so that's a relief. Tomorrow: grocery shopping and possibly my nails.
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