Today's constructor is Damon Gulczynski, a real blast from the past, who last visited us on February 18, 2010
and was reviewed by none other than C.C. Burnikel. Her review is worth
reading if for no other reason than to see some commenters who were
members of the fledgling Corner, some whom I know and some I do not.
While he was away it seems that Damon was spending a lot of time at that other newspaper (and thanks to them we have this capsule bio).
Today Damon wants to ask us some
Questionable Questions
using
2 word clues, which are questions about the question we're asked to
fill in. There's no reveal, but these and only these 5 Across clues end in ?:
17. Trick question?: WAS THIS YOUR CARD?
A question a card sharp might ask: shuffle and cut the deck, ask the
mark to "pick a card, any card", have he/she insert it back in the deck,
shuffle again, pick a card, and pop the question. Don't ask me how it
works?
38. Burning question?: WHERES THE FIRE? A question a cop might ask a speeder. The real burning question might be "how much is the fine?".
49. Leading question?: WHO'S WINNING? Everybody was asking this question about the World Cup until December 18th. In case you were living in a cave, it was Argentina.
58. Probing question?: FIND ANY THING YET?. Grandma asks this from time to time on Easter afternoon as the kids are probing the bushes for eggs in the back yard.
Here's the grid:
More questions for you to answer:
Across:
1. Young chaps: LADS.
5. Methodology: Abbr.: SYST. SYSTEM. I found many
definitions for these two terms and they seemed vague, inconsistent,
contradictory and sometimes circular. In my experience a METHODOLOGY is a formal, documented approach to defining the requirements and designs of INFORMATION SYSTEMS. There are many such methodologies. YMMV.
9. Played over: RERAN.
14. Samoa's biggest city: APIA. Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima); and several smaller, uninhabited islands. APIA is on Upolu island. Not to be confused with American Samoa, which is located 64 km (40 mi) Southeast of Samoa. IIRC D-O served in the military in America Samoa. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
16. Prenatal test, for short: AMNIO. Short for Amniocentesis, which is a diagnostic test that may be recommended by your health care provider following an abnormal triple test result. Inherited or genetic concerns lead some parents to choose amniocentesis to determine if specific genetic disorders may be present in their baby.
[Theme clue].
20. Role for Flockhart: MCBEAL. Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy drama television series starring Calista Flockhart and originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997, to May 20, 2002.
 |
| Calista Flockhart |
22. "That's it!": AHA.
[Theme clue].
29. Fictional Wolfe who was born in Montenegro: NERO. Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. The character also appeared in a 2011 TV Series on A&E:
31. Netflix's "__ White People": DEAR. Dear White People is an American comedy-drama television series on Netflix that follows several black college students at an Ivy League institution (the fictional Winchester University), touching on issues surrounding modern American race relations through a progressive lens.
32. By way of: VIA.
33. "Battle of the Sexes" loser: RIGGS. In tennis, "Battle of the Sexes" describes various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman, or a doubles match between two men and two women in one case. The term is most famously used for an internationally televised match in 1973 held at the Houston Astrodome between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old Billie Jean King, which King won in three sets. What was he thinking? The match was made into a movie starring Steve Carell Emma Stone:
35. Like dried rose petals: PAPERY.
[Theme clue]
41. Bumps: RAISES.
42. "__ Meenie": Kingston/Bieber hit: EENIE.
43. "CODA" communication method: ASL. American Sign Language. CODA is a 2021 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. It stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the titular child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of her family, a teenager who attempts to help her family's struggling fishing business while pursuing her own aspirations of being a singer. The movie uses deaf actors to play the deaf characters, who, along with Jones, communicate in ASL.
44. Blues singer Thomas: IRMA. Irma Thomas (née Lee; born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans." Here's her cover of Jerry Ragovoy's Time Is On My Side:
45. Soaks (up): SOPS.
[Theme clue]
54. Currency of Laos: KIP. KIPS were trading for 17,296.782 for a dollar on the day this was written. This will tell you if that number has changed.
55. Roth investments: IRAS.
56. Screenwriter Cody who won an Oscar for "Juno": DIABLO. Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a fairly typical 16-year-old teenager with attitude and a quick tongue. She decides to experiment with sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). This results in an unwanted pregnancy.
Diablo Cody, is the pen name for Brook Maurio (née Busey; born June 14, 1978), an American writer and producer.
 |
| Diablo Cody |
63. Hawaii or Alaska, on many a map: INSET.
64. Bread served with mattar paneer: NAAN. Peas and paneer is our all time favorite Indian dish. You can substitute cottage cheese for the paneer, buy it in Indian food stores, or make your own. Here's a recipe for the mattar paneer:
 |
| Mattar Paneer |
66. Grind, as teeth: GNASH.
67. Fail suddenly, with "out": CONK.
68. Turn down: DENY.
Down:
1. Wyatt Earp, for one: LAWMAN. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys.
 |
| Wyatt Earp |
 |
| Apachean tribes, c. 18th century WA: Western Apache N: Navajo Ch: Chiricahua: M Mescalero J: Jicarilla L: Lipan Pl: Plains Apache |
4. Fill until full: SATE.
5. Places to recover after going downhill fast: SKI LODGES. A CSO to MalMan. When he's not frolicking in tropical lagoons, he spends his time going downhill (but I understand not as fast as in former days).
6. "Sweet!": YES.
7. Farm pen: STY.
8. Over the line: TOO FAR. For some reason, this hit by Brewer and Shipley was the first thing that popped into my head. DNK the railway station. Hand up if you do?
9. Like more expensive art, often: RARER.
10. Awards show host: EMCEE.
11. Genetic molecule translated into protein: RNA. DNA would have fit as well, so you have to wait for perps. Here's a simplified view of the translation process. PET PEEVE: I have a lot of problems with orthodox explanations of this process because they employ circular reasoning, a logical fallacy formally known as petitio principii and commonly called "begging the question". For example, a key component of the translation process involves a large enzyme (a type of protein) called a ribosome, which is a complex assembly of various proteins and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Thus proteins and RNA are precursors to the synthesis of proteins and RNA.
Thus the premise assumes the conclusion. Scientists have been trying
to explain how this process originated (was "bootstrapped") ever since
Francis Crick formulated his famous central dogma in 1958. So far the explanations all boil down to this:
13. Go-ahead: NOD.
18. Conned: HAD.
19. Short address: URL.
24. Photo sources: NEGS. NEGATIVES, a term which might seem a little negative to any Gen X,Y, or Zers reading this, i.e. anyone who was raised taking digital pictures with cellphones. This article will give you much more than you'd ever want to know about the ancient analogue world of film photography, but it does have a lot of pretty photos.
25. Conference of Magic and Wizards: EASTERN. That is the NBA conference of the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards. As near as I could tell it has nothing to do with Harry Potter.
26. Assert as true: AVER.
27. Bleak: DIRE.
28. "Woot!": YAY. A CSO to Anonymous -T. I hope he's way better by the time he reads this.
30. Rich deposits: ORES.
34. Intense anger: IRE.
35. No-frills drawing style: PEN AND INK. This is MC Escher's "No-frills" pen and ink sketch,
 |
| Hand with a Reflecting Sphere MC Escher, 1935 |
36. "100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time" org.: AFI. I think we can all guess #1 - here are all them from the American Film Institute.
AFI is also an abbreviation for A Fire Inside, an American rock band from Ukiah, California, formed in 1991. Since 1998, it consists of lead vocalist Davey Havok, drummer and backing vocalist Adam Carson, bassist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Hunter Burgan, and guitarist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Jade Puget. Originally a hardcore punk band, they have since delved into many genres, starting with horror punk and following through post-hardcore and emo into alternative rock and gothic rock. Here's their emo hit Leaving Song Pt. II from their Platinum album Sing the Sorrow:
38. Break-even proposition: WASH.
39. Oldest city in Hawaii: HILO. Around 1100 AD, the first Hilo inhabitants arrived, bringing with them Polynesian knowledge and traditions. Although archaeological evidence is scant, oral history has many references to people living in Hilo, along the Wailuku and Wailoa rivers during the time of ancient Hawaii. Oral history gives the meaning of Hilo as "to twist", no doubt the origin of everybody's favorite crosswordese dance. Hilo was about 800 years old when this picture was taken in 1907 (not bad for a film camera).
 |
| Hilo, Hawaii 1907 |
40. Half up front?: HEMI. HEMI as in "half"; "up front" as in "prefix", as in HEMISPHERE:
44. Thinking alike: IN SYNC.
46. "No objection here": OK BY ME. Sounds like these conversers are IN SYNC.
47. Enter en masse: PILE IN. This clue was last seen on the Corner in a DAB puzzle on October 20th, 2022, reviewed by -T (who co-incidentally illustrated his theme title with a lithograph by MC Escher).
48. Like bad cell reception: SPOTTY.
50. Teams: SIDES.
51. Intense anger: WRATH. As in DIES IRAE ("Day of WRATH"), the Latin poem used in the Catholic Office for the Dead. Here's Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting a commemorative performance of Verdi’s Requiem on the 20th anniversary of 9/11:
52. McKellen who plays Gandalf: IAN. Here's Ian McKellen in what is for me the most memorable scene in the Lord of the Rings. It expresses not only WRATH, but intense SADNESS: (spoiler alert: don't watch this if you haven't seen LOTR; you owe it to yourself to see the whole saga first):
53. Martini ingredient: GIN.
57. Matured: AGED. I didn't know that GINS could be AGED. You might have to give away your AGE to get into this site.
58. Newton fruit: FIG.
59. Overnight option: INN.
60. DOD intel arm: NSA. No Such Agency is just down the pike from where we live.
61. Living-in-harmony principle: TAO. Good advice whatever your beliefs.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. waseeley
38 comments:
Although you folks know that I use and enjoy most of the acronyms used on this blog, I have to admit I don’t know what “IIRC” means. Would someone indulge me and briefly explain?
Now, in terms of the puzzle, I found it fairly easy with no hints of a conundrum like the “soup” or “soap” of yesterday. True, there were a couple of obscure proper names, but on the whole I found it eminently fair and solvable. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Yay, easier than yesterday. D-o managed to finish this one unscathed. Even figured out the themey questions. Sorry, Bill, I never visited American Samoa. I spent two years spinning records at AFN Guam. Our OIC somehow decided we could operate for a year with no budget whatsoever. We had to use our Coke mess to buy electron tubes and phono needles. Thanx for the quizzical questions, Damon, and for the erudite tour, Waseeley.
ROTH -- Dw and I each have a regular IRA and a Roth. But the required withdrawals from the regular IRAs more than meet our needs, so the Roths go untouched.
Subgenius @4:44 AM Good morning! IIRC, IIRC is an acronym for If I Recall Correctly.
SubG - IIRC. If I recall correctly, it is an abbreviation of If I Recall Correctly. :-)
Thanks, waseeley and TTP! My “cup runneth over” with helpers and helpful explanations!
SubG, welcome.
Bill entered his response at 6:29:48, and I pressed enter at 6:30:04. He must be one of those highfalutin typists that uses more than two fingers :>)
FIR, but erased DO IT ALREADY for DONE ALREADY (a question you never want to hear from your lover), esl for ASL (sometimes get my autofills mixed up), find anything new for FIND ANYTHING YET, and glow for EMIT.
I'm again reminded how one Cornerite's easy puzzle is another's quagmire. I really struggled with this one, especially near Boca Raton. Didn't really enjoy working on this one, and kinda wish I had TITT.
PILE IN reminded me of the 11 dead at the Cincinnati The Who concert. In a heartbeat some wag started selling tee shirts proclaiming "I'd Walk Over You to See The Who".
Never saw Ally, but Loved Calista as Kitty in Brothers and Sisters.
FLN, TTP, my "EVA Longoria and MLB baseball player EVAN Longoria are sister and brother" moment was when I worked at the PBS station on the campus of Marshall University. One of the engineers told me that John Madden was supposed to be on the Marshall football team's chartered plane that crashed, killing everyone aboard, and that was why Madden refused to fly. Hogwash, but I believed it for years. (I won't get into what my IT "buddies" told me about TAR files.)
Thanks to Bill and Teri for the interesting and informative tour.
Hola!
Thank you, Damon and Bill. I finished this surprisingly quickly.
This kind of puzzle is not very challenging. The question almost fills itself. Nevertheless, it almost awakened me.
DIABLO Cody came to the forefront when the movie, JUNO, came out. Has she done anything else?
Jenny HAN is unknown to me. However, Wuatt Earp is a very familiar LAWMAN.
That's all for now. More later.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
I finished this in 6:29 without question.
That said, I didn't know today's female novelist (Han), nor today's female screenwriter (Diablo).
Seems like a high dose of 3-letter words, but I'll wait for the official Ms. Irish Miss count.
I'm hoping to visit American Samoa sometime in the next couple years. Anyone been?
Enjoyable puzzle.
FIW. Had don't already, and failed to see the error of 25D. Oh well.
I struggled to FIR today. Not on Damon's wavelength. Great theme clues for simple fills. It was OK BY ME. It took a V8 moment to change REDID to RERAN and DNA to RNA in the NE so AID and NOD finish it. WAS THIS YOUR CA__ was down and I struggled to get CARD. The SE wasn't any easier with unknowns KIP and DIABLO. Changed POUR IN to PILE IN. I don't DENY it looks messy because I work the puzzles using PEN AND INK.
HAN, DEAR, & PAPERY- unknowns filled by perps.
IRMA Thomas is a local who I've talked to multiple times. We would go to her New Years Eve show at the Marriott until the Marriott quit having it. She was taking a line-dancing class with DW, got tired, and came an sat beside me as I was watching the class. We talked about all the times in the 60's when Diane would go to the lounges where was singing. The 'legal age' was 18 back then but bars in NOLA would serve anybody over 15.
TTP @6:49 AM It was only useful thing I learned in High School.
Good morning. Thank you, Damon, and thank you, W.A. Seeley. (I'm guessing)
Started in the middle and nailed EASTERN right off the bat. The low hanging fruit took me southward to my first theme fill: "FIND ANY THING YET ?"
RIGGS - Did anyone watch Jeopardy and Celebrity Jeopardy last night ? One of the clues was about that tennis match, and the answer was, "Who is Billie Jean King ?" IIRC, it was crossword favorite AISHA Tyler that answered it.
DNK DIABLO. Had DIA, and tried DIAnne, DIAnna, but no va.
I entered kansAN for Wyatt Earp, but according to Bill's Wikipedia link, he was an Illinoisan by birth.
Speaking of Kansas, that was some game last night between Kansas and Ar Kansas. :>)
I took Bill's link to the Feb 18th, 2010 review and comments of Damon's earlier crossword. The very last comment was spam and has been deleted. Also, it appears that some of the links in the comments have been hijacked (like the link for Lois' cake), so be cautious.
8D Over the line clue. Argyle linked the Lawrence Welk video of the One Toke song in the Feb 18, 2010 comments. Lawrence Welk supposedly thought it was a gospel song. He would never have had them on his show if he knew what the subject matter was about.
I guess I should read all of the previous reviews and comments to get rid of spam and bad links. I'll be back later :>(
Jinx, I remember hearing the tragic news of the Marshall plane crash when it happened. I've watched the movie of the efforts to rebuild the program "We Are Marshall" more than a few times. I just had to go read about the tragedy and about the movie again. In the season that followed, they lost the first game back. It was an away game at Morehead St (that you might be familiar with), but then won their first home game against Xavier.
I've been reading the AFI Top 100 list Bill linked and reading about some of those movies and quotes. I've got to get productive.
See all y'all later n'at !
What a week, this time simply DNF RIGG(S)(S)TERN amd NE(G)S blanks filling me with WRATH & IRE..😡. Guess the CW was a breeze for EE except for this putz-el.
Inkovers: Mrs/URL, now/NOD
Ultrathin? Some new polymer? What..OH ultra THIN!
I may have AGED but DW denies I have "matured".🤪....
The screenwriter's name is DIABLO 😈 (well I'll be da..ed)
Let's over come failure and have some pun..
Irish name opener often .....EMCEE
Da lawyer lost his license when he was found drunk in____ DISBAR.
Where many of us boomer babies bathed...
...INSYNC
One who changes colors...DIRE.
Extremes in one town...HILO
Busy day, I'll use that as my excuse.😌
Musings
-WHO’S ON FIRST fit for “Leading question”. Leading off first base?
-NBA EAST worked too.
-WHERE’S THE FIRE? If the officer says, “Do you know how fast you were going?”, say nothing.
-Billie Jean King took a big risk in playing Bobby Riggs and it was one of the “most watched” sports events in history
-NAAN can be made using “chakki atta” flour which we have seen here recently
-TOO FAR – Yes, TTP, here’s the story One Toke Over The Line and Lawrence Welk
-I’m always on the lookout for a 3.14 sub job for a math teacher
-The southern HEMISPHERE is starting summer as we start winter
-FIG Newtons seemed to be liked or hated. I am in the former camp.
FIR today in spite of a serious slowdown in the center. Until I decided it was really DONE ALREADY and not "do it", I couldn't see NEGS or be reminded of RIGGS. Not being sporty, I was thinking more about some event like Dragon Con so EASTERN was a surprise. My learning moment today. Thanks, Damon, come back sooner!
The theme style was fun, figuring out the connections like leading and winning, probing and finding. Thanks waseeley (and Teri) for today's extensive review. Plenty of information to come back to and read more thoroughly as the day goes on.
The temperature has warmed up now and will make my daily walk a big pleasure. Enjoy your day!
Good Morning. I thought this was a Thursday-worthy puzzle, The NE was the last to fill. Not a walk in the park but finished. Thanks, Damon. I went back in my records and found I had done your puzzle in Feb 2010, also a Thursday!! Nice!!
My recollection of "The Battle of the Sexes" is my gripe with sportscasters Rosie Casals and Howard Cosell. I was attracted, probably like many, for the celebrity and hype, knowing little or nothing about tennis. Casals spoke only to those knowledgeable to tennis rules & regs. Not that I was expecting Tennis 101, but they missed an opportunity to entice anyone to the game. I thought they should have known their audience. (Which is true in many and various circumstances...) So, tennis, pfft..
i had no clue about "Woot" Is that a word?
WAGs & perps for IRMA, DIABLO and HAN.
Thank you, Bill and Teri for your excellent revie and collaboration.
The Battle of the Sexes was heavily advertised so that even a non-sports fan like me knew about it.
RoseE @10:35 AM The only person I've ever heard use the word "Woot" is -T. He'll probably be along later to explain it
Train station looks like the South Shore line Chicago terminal.
-Charlie Echo.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with nary a w/o or much delay. Crunched through a few sections but came out unscathed
Thanks to Damon, Bill, and Teri
Bill, I read through C.C.'s review and the comments from Damon's 2010 LAT puzzle. Interesting to see that back then, Ron, Susan, and Melissa were regular commenters; now they are regular bloggers and rarely comment - that may explain why I'm finding myself commenting less these days as the recaps can take a couple of days (at times) to write
Interesting to see that Damon used just one abbr. in his 3-letter word entries (URL)
See y'all tomorrow
I found this difficult. Especially in the areas around MCBEAL and RIGGS and unknown DIABLO. Saw S--TTY and thought that could not be what they mean. FIR.
Nothing spectacular, but here I was at HILO's General Albert Kualiʻi Brickwood Lyman Passenger Terminal.
Apparently, Albert Kualiʻi Brickwood Lyman was the first native Hawaiian to become a general in the US military.
Bill Seeley Thank you for the writeup. Special thanks for the "One Toke Over the Line" song which I also thought of. It is funny how this song made it onto the Lawrence Welk Show. No one seemed to notice that "Toke" is a hit of cannabis. They just heard "Jesus" and "Mary" and the country gospel sound and thought it was a religious song!
From Yesterday:
AnonT Thanks for your writeup yesterday. Amusing indeed that TONY was part of the puzzle. Thanks for the kind words about my CRECHE/MAGI photos. I was sorry they did not have the live animals again this year.
Gary, thanks for that link about the song being played on the Lawrence Welk show.
@11:47, Yes, a pic of the old Randolph Street station for Metra Electric and the South Shore lines. Now it's Millennium Station and is under Millennium Park.
So much nicer now.
Yes, Thursday worthy puzzle, so I struggled with it, unlike others who thought it was easier than yesterday’s which I breezed through. A few weeks ago someone commented on the variety of abilities and knowledge from the members of this corner.
I’ll admit it was a clever and fun theme.
WOOT? I’ve never seen or heard that word before.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Damon, and waseeley and Teri.
Interesting that the previous Feb 2010 CW by Damon had a theme of The Line, with one themer answer being OVERDRAW - over the line. Was 8D today a brilliant flashback or just a coincidence.
I FIRed, but was glad for perps to fill some of the unknowns (IRMA, AFI, KIP, HAN, DIABLO.
One major inkblot when I merrily entered SKI chalet before perps forced LODGE.
Another one where I entered PENcil ??? before PEN AND INK perped.
Redid changed to RERAN. , Yin to TAO.
I was leaning towards AVER, but waited to eliminate Avow.
Marshall was too long- it was LAWMAN Earp.
I LOLed at SPOTTY reception. It usually goes with Acne clueing.
Yesterday we were fighting between Soup and Soap; today we have SOPS.(I lurked as it was a busy family day)
WRATH and GNASH go with that Dies Irae.
Wishing you all a great day.
Does anybody have a good website to do the LA Times Puzzle on? I have been using the LA Times website itself for some time, but recently they started putting an ad over the top of the puzzle while I'm trying to solve it. It'll come up several times and prevent working on the puzzle for a minute or so each time. It's very annoying.
Hi All!
All great Questions, Damon. Thanks for the puzzle - took a bit but it was worth it.
Wonderful write-up, Waseeley. Thanks for explaining EASTERN - I was still casting spells until you 'splained it.
WO: eSp ->ASL
ESPs: APIA, IRMA, KIP, HAN, DIABLO,
Fav: GNASH is a fun word
PEN AND INK - Pop is pretty good. No M.C. Escher, him, but good for a non-artist.
HG - thanks to the link to the One Toke coda.
w00t - is shortened form of "Wow Loot!" from old MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) [text-based computer games]. If you found (or killed someone with) loot, you'd exclaim w00t! The meaning has changed to convey any excitement.
BTW - woot[.]com has deals of the day on nerdy loot. // I just looked, Woot is now owned by Amazon and has more than just electronic goodies.
Back to work; play later.
Cheers, -T
-T @3:14 PM woot! I knew you'd come through on woot!
Today, waseeley brings Mr. Gulczynski's XWD into focus.
A toughie for Thursday. It taxed my P+P, and I needed several cheats to bring it under control.
I sometimes have the hardest time with multiple words, not knowing where the breaks come. I was stuck for a time with FIND-A NOTHING YET?
Seemed like a dated, phony Italian accent...
AVER - A good word, often put to improper use these days. It seems to be the policy position of nearly half of one of our parties.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Just one diagonal, near end.
It yields a curious anagram (13 of 15), one which seems to refer to an eager Wordle player, one who is working with the Bot's 2nd starter word.
Rushing onward from that word, the player might be heard to mutter a...
"SLATEY GIDDYAP"!
If anyone is interested in Pop's PEN AND INK, this hangs on my office wall.
He drew it in '03 - he's gotten much better with semi-retirement time on his hands ;-)
Cheers, -T
-T @5:32 PM Well he was pretty good in '03. Is this a local scene? Send us some more when you get a chance.
AnonT:
Nice! Your Pop is talented! I agree. If you have more, show us.
One of my granddaughters shows early signs of talent, too. I gave her art supplies for Christmas.
What a great feeling to pay off a car! The insurance money came through, I deposited it, then went to the dealership and paid it. That is the first time ever, for me. I've always had a four or five year loan. It's a good thing, too, because who knows how much longer I'll be around!
A challenging Thurs. puzzle for me. I had to re-work a few areas to fill all the boxes and then still had a FIW. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Damon's challenge.
Thanks, Waseeley, for your informative & entertaining recap, esp. the NERO Wolf video!
I liked the theme.
Anon-T: what a lovely picture your dad drew. I really like the PEN AND INK almost as much as i like water colors. My two favorite art media.
FIW. I had AMINO for 16A, which also made 11D and 12D incorrect.
Hey! I’m happy as a pig in slop! Until this evening, I had almost half of the grid still empty. I looked at it off and on all day long, and I got absolutely nowhere. I was ready to give up completely, but I wanted to take just one more look. When I was still stumped, I drafted Mr. Wite-Out to obliterate about a good third of my fills, fell back and regrouped, and somehow everything fell into place. I honestly cannot remember which of the long fills opened the door for me, but it doesn’t matter now. I do know that slapping in NBAEAST for 25D was a big problem, so that was probably the first one, but there were others.
Thanks, Damon and Teri and Bill!
Sat next to another Maryland Terp when I was finally exiled to Houston. His wife and he had planned for years to pull up stakes and retire in American Samoa. Shortly after we drummed him out, they made the trek to check out the place. They came back and reported that their house down on Galveston Island would be just fine for the rest of their lives, thank you very much. I think the medical facilities were at the top of the list that changed their minds. Good thing for us! They had some great parties down there - at least once every summer.
Beautiful pen and ink, -T.
Fln… I finally know what IIRC means
"I work the puzzles using PEN AND INK" Some troll-anon trashed me for using that (technically) redundant expression
I like Pop's P&I drawing
I too thought Thursday was unusually tricky. FIW but themes and much clueing needed gray matter exercise
WC
Ps, I've finally caught up with Wednesday and Thursday writeups
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