O-Men
Jon Stewart once said of USA Today puzzles, "I will solve [it] but I don't feel good about myself." [cite: Wordplay trailer]If you don't know, today's constructor, Erik Agard (ironically, no Os in his name), is a 3-time Jeopardy! (and the 2018 ACPT) champ and, as now-editor of USA Today's x-word, has really upped-the-game for that paper's puzzle.
Jon Stewart's gonna need to revisit his comment. //The floor is yours, good sir. :-)
Read a little about Erik [WikiP]. For more, just Google him.
I'm not a big fan of names in puzzles but, um, that's the core of the theme!
All but one name was totally unknown, so that's fair(ish). Today's offering presents fresh clues for stale fill [see: RENO] and, while I'm still just an apprentice, I can appreciate the build.
A look at the O-Dudes first:
1a. *Fictional swordfighter with a horse named Tornado: ZORRO.
ZORRO was my first thought, but I wanted omega for 1d (always check the perps, people) and I started trying to remember Three Musketeers' (and the horses' they rode in on) names.
20a. *"Parasite" director: BONG JOON-HO. I'll be honest, all perps and I had to Google how to parse the good director's name. I'm not much for movies much less who was in them (unless they're comedies - then I'm all over that).
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. [WikiP]. #Learning!
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| The guy's got Bling |
31a. *Abolitionist who was the first person executed for treason in the United States: JOHN BROWN. The nuns at St. Joe's taught us this song [Pete Seeger's version] in kindergarten.
40a. *Former MLB pitcher nicknamed "Flash": TOM GORDON. I'm sure Boomer (R.I.P.) had this card.
52a. *Marvel supervillain who created deadly robot clones of himself: DOCTOR DOOM. Yeah, that guy.
66a. What one might say after figuring out what the answers to the starred clues have in common?: OH, MAN.
See? Men with only O(h)s in their name.
A nice Tuesday puzzle with a bit of learning. What's not to like?
And now, for the rest of the grid:
Across:
1. [See: theme].
6. Weight: HEFT.
10. Early aughts music buys: CDS. More O's, er, zerO's. The early aughts (2000's) - when one could still hear, and buy(!), music without autotune.
13. French bottled water brand: EVIAN. You pay for that water; I'll just drink it out of the tap and save my cash.
14. At any point: EVER. Did you EVER? [That Dog (I had this on CD)]
15. "Go bother someone else!": SHOO. Ooo!, more Os.
16. Midterms and finals: TESTS. Wait, I was supposed to remember stuff after syllabus-day? Oy!
17. Largest city in Washoe County, Nevada: RENO. Washoe County is named for the Washoe people who were there first.
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| Washoe County |
18. Hard precipitation: HAIL. Hail storms - not fun for your car's finish nor windshield.
19. "Rules __ rules": ARE. Them's the breaks (if you're caught breakin' them :-))
20. [See: theme]
22. Leisurely walk: STROLL. Ah, finally, time to slow down and think about stuff...
Jack Handey
25. __ football: ARENA. Not to be confused with the NFL - WikiP will tell you.
26. Promises of eventual repayment: I.O.U.S. My Amex bill come January.
28. Health product chain: GNC. General Nutrition Center. They sell nutrients you could just get from eating real food. 'Nuff said.
29. Holiday lead-in: EVE. Christmas will be led in with one (lasagna dinner at Pop's!). So will New Years. And then there's Amex-bill eve.
31. [See: theme]
35. Smart __: know-it-all: ALEC. Trebek! Oh, wait, that was Alex...
36. Bring to mind: EVOKE. Well, you see what Smart ALEC brought to (my) mind :-)
37. Aussie animal, for short: ROO. Also, a Jr. in Milne's wonderful stories.
38. Deceive: LIE TO. Would I Lie to You? [Eurythmics]
39. __ ex machina: DEUS. Gods from (in?) the machine.
40. [See: theme]
42. Form 1099 org.: IRS. April will be here before we know it.
43. Org. concerned with toxins: EPA. 'Concern' seems to depend on the administration.
45. Ohio border lake: ERIE.
46. Completely stop: CEASE.
48. Formally charge: INDICT. Someone is getting time for something, maybe.
52. [See: Theme]
56. Female pig: SOW. See also: 23d & 38d.
57. Masjid prayer leader: IMAM. I like the specificity of the clue - better than the generic "Muslim leader" or some such.
58. Cut, as grass: MOWN. I don't think I saw this clue while solving but I'd have missed past-tense for "cut" for a bit, I'm sure.
59. Throb: PULSE.
61. Slippery fish: EELS. I like the fish-plural here.
62. Not doing anything: IDLE. Me doing this expo? //I should really start the wash.
63. Quartz type: AGATE.
64. Internet access option: DSL. My backup to fiber. What do y'all use to get on-line?
65. Throw in the trash: TOSS. And then dig it out ala éclair.
George eats from the bin
66. [See: theme]
Down:
1. Greek Z's: ZETAS. I was thinking, "English alphabet end equivalent to the Greek alphabet end" and nearly entered Omega.
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| Greek Alphabet |
2. Not veiled: OVERT. Or, "not the bride"(?)
3. Platform on a stage: RISER. Stage(s) above the stage. Eldest sang in choir - I was sure at least one of those kids were going to fall off the riser.
4. Zodiac rodent: RAT.
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| Chinese Zodiac Calendar |
5. Add-__: extras: ONs.
6. Day saver: HERO.
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| Dudley Do Right |
7. Balanced: EVEN. Karma always evens it out in the end.
8. __ shui: FENG. One of DW's BFFs warned us not to buy our old house because of it's feng shui: "Money will just run out the front door." I don't know if there's anything to her Vietnamese wisdom but,... we did spend a ton of money fixing the foundation :-(
9. USC athlete: TROJAN. The J was my last fill. [see: 12/10's LAT "SEC" clue for my (lack of) NCAA divisions knowledge :-)]
10. Did an uncanny impression of: CHANNELED. When a comedian can really CHANNEL someone...
Rich Little channels Carson and Rickles
11. Slumped-shoulders response to a task: DO I HAVE TO? Yes, and have it on my desk by 8am.
12. Unaccompanied: SOLO.
15. Sneaker, e.g.: SHOE. I was hoping for a reference to the old hacker movie.
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| A burglar, a spy, a fugitive, a delinquent, a hacker, and a piano teacher... And those are the good guys. |
20. Indistinct memory: BLUR. Some weeks are all a BLUR.
21. Fantasy creature: ORC. J.R.R. Tolkien and every D&D game I played. Nasty little buggers, them.
23. Pig talk: OINKS. Not Latin?
Not Peppa
24. Dangling ear part: LOBE.
27. "In a sense, I guess": SORTA. ish.
28. Small garden party?: GNOME. The little ornaments protecting your garden (or stealing your underwear!)
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| Forbes Explains |
30. Class studying demand curves, for short: ECON. Supply and demand (expectations) over time. Quants have fun with these.
31. "Star Wars" knights: JEDI. May The Force be with you (and also with you).
32. Gets past: OVERCOMES. Some things, like Catholic school, are hard to overcome. [see: above ;-)]
33. In-home appointment: HOUSE CALL. A relic of the past come back to being by Tele-Docs. One plus of the pandemic(?).
34. "Wow, this rocks!": WOO! I wanted 'Rad', MAN.
35. Broadcast: AIRED.
38. Meat cut: LOIN.
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| No sows were harmed in this image |
41. Not looking good: GRIM. Dark clouds hang over... #O-MEN
43. That, in Spanish: ESO.
44. Allow: PERMIT. A six-year-old in CA is the first to get a Unicorn Permit. //read the whole story - it's the kind of 'feel-good' we all need.
47. Dispensers of 20s: ATMS. Cute. I read 'of THE 20's' and had tommy-guns in my head for a moment.
49. Five Pillars faith: ISLAM.
50. __ Rica: COSTA.
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| Middle America? |
51. Preadolescent: TWEEN. Almost there, kid. Just a little bit of more of the world (and, apparently, curse words) to learn before you're 13.
52. Ran out of battery: DIED. Some afternoons are like that. Nap time!
53. Extinct bird: DODO. Hand-up if you remember our dear DoDo here at The Corner.
54. Nocturnal birds: OWLS. I like the feathered-friends side-by-side.
55. Singles: ONES. Not something ATMS offer.
59. Kung __ chicken: PAO.
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| Yummers! |
60. "Blech": UGH. Um, yep.
The Grid:
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| Erik's Grid |
WO: exams -> TESTS
ESPs: BONG JOON-HO | TROJAN, DEUS
Fav: DO I HAVE TO?
Erik, it was a pleasure breaking-down and making silly comments about your puzzle. I look forward to more LATs from you (yeah, I know you have a day job). Thanks for the puzzle!
Well, there you have it folks. Another expo in the books. I hope y'all enjoy'd the puzzle and my little fun with it.
Now it's your turn - gimme your $0.02.
Cheers, -T
38 comments:
“Bong Joon-Ho” - really?? That name seems a bit much for a Tuesday puzzle. And I have to admit, friends, that even after I got the reveal I didn’t understand the theme until T explained it. But anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
FIW, thinking it was FENn shui and not knowing BONnJOONHO. Hand up for erasing exams for TESTS. I had an instructor who told the class on the first day: "Everything in the syllabus will be covered in this class. Topics not covered in lecture will be covered in TESTS." Also erased cvs for GNC, and wow for WOO. I think of WOO as a way one tries to win a prospective mate. Waited for ESa / ESO.
FLN:
-T, if you "let the tool do the work", you will break fewer blades. Also, "use the right tool for the job". Don't expect your sidecutting drill bit to shape 1/2" armor. But it works great on 1/4" Plexiglass.
WC, Rosie was great in Mom. She played the head of a gay AA chapter where Christie and Bonnie attended after a sexual escapade caused Bonnie and Christie to flee their regular meeting. Rosie mentioned that she once lived with a train-wreck bisexual woman and her adorable 7 year old daughter for two years. Bonnie spoke to let everyone she isn't bisexual, just "flexible." Christie called her "aunt" Jeannine. Just a few episodes, but very well written and funny as hell.
Good morning!
Hand up for that EXAMS/TESTS SNAFU. Was also certain that ZORRO's horse was DIABLO, not TORNADO -- saved by the difference in length. LIU and then recalled that DIABLO was the Cisco Kid's horse. D'oh. Got 'er done, but ZORRO and JOHN BROWN were the only themers I recognized. Nice romp, Erik, and thoroughly enjoyed your expo, Anon-T (especially the unicorn story).
DSL: Tried to get a DSL line for internet service when we first moved up here to the sticks. AT&T said the infrastructure wouldn't support it. Had to bite the bullet and go with cable. My backup is a cell hotspot -- unfortunately, when there's an area-wide power outage, our one-bar cell tower also goes dark, so it's not a reliable fall-back.
TROJAN: As kids, we played cork ball in the streets -- a thermos cork, wrapped in medical tape with a stick for a bat. When we decided to form teams, we needed some good team names. Dad suggested the Trojans and the Sheiks with a totally straight face.
tOOk 4:31.
Thought it would be a definite FIW when I saw the clue for "Parasite" director. I loved the movie, but had no idea of the director, producer, actors, actresses, etc. Fortunately, each and every crossing word fell into place. Then, I had a similar reaction when I read the clue for the baseball pitcher, but I guessed that it was a play on "Flash Gordon." "Tom" also fell into place.
Otherwise, a smooth puzzle, even if I didn't see the theme.
FIW. Never heard of Bong Joon-Ho and misspelled Feng Shui. I had Fenn instead, and it made no difference sense-wise to the director's name.
Hola!
Nicely done, T! Thank you. Will you be our Tuesday regular? I like your style.
This puzzle definitely had some HEFT though I, being a heavy lifter when it comes to puzzles, had no trouble with it. TOM GORDON did give me pause but nine perps and I had it!
DOCTOR DOOM was fun to see on the grid though I know nothing about him. I can only imagine.
Have I EVER mentioned how much I loved COASTA RICA?
My granddaughter loves ZORRO, the movie, and has watched it numerous times. I like it, too, but once or twice is enough for me. I wonder if that was Catherine's debut role. No. I just looked it up and it was A Little Night Music.
Again, well done, T. Thank you, Erik Agard, for the challenge. Have a lovely day, everyone!
Well Tony, I'm also not a big fan of proper names in puzzles either but I managed the FIR with a WAG at the cross of two unknowns. BONG JOON HO & CHANNELED. I've never heard of the director and know what a CHARNEL house is so it wasn't going to be Bong JooR Ho and CHARNELED.
Oh, I remember Alex Trebek wanting to put a pie in Erik's face on Jeopardy over a Saturday puzzle he couldn't finish.
TOM GORDON and DOCTOR DOOM were also unknowns but both were easy fills after a few perps. Same as d-otto with only knowning John Brown and Zorro.
CDS- in my lifetime it's gone from 78's to 45's to 33's to cassettes to CDS to MP3 to streaming. Somewhere in there was reel-to-reel. But those ear worms of songs you hate will always be in your head. No power source needed.
Kung PAO chicken- my neighbor's (C.C. Tseng) restaurant calls it Kung BO chicken, as do many other Chinese restaurants in the area.
Good Morning:
I was going to say that I knew of only one of the men, John Brown, until I read the write-up and discovered that Zorro was also a themer. I completely missed that asterisk, so I paid no mind to the name, short as it is. This didn’t seem like an Erik Agard puzzle to me, but it’s been awhile since I’ve solved any of his offerings. I like a puzzle that has some wordplay and is not just fill in the blanks with random words. I did like the two birds side by side, the Sow and Oinks pairing, and, also, Small Garden Party=Gnome.
Thanks, Erik, and thanks, Anon T, for entertaining and educating us and for holding down the fort for the globe-trotting Hahtoolah. I enjoyed the Rich Little impressions and although I’ve heard of the movie, Sneakers, I never saw it, but the star-studded cast could entice me to give it a look. Nice job, Tony. (I hope you received my email reply last night, as there seemed to be a glitch while sending it.)
Have a great day.
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Eric and AnonT (thanks for Dudley also!).
I FIRed in good time, and saw the O theme.
My only slowdown was in the NE, waiting for the unknown JOONHO to perp. The corner opened when I parsed DO I HAVE TO.
Plenty of double O words today. SHOO, DODO, SOLO, ROO crossing WOO (thought of Misty’s WooHoo). Nice catch T on the “aughts” clue.
I thought of SNL with their many sketches with uncanny impressions.
We have DSL. Unfortunately no other choice for our area. Waiting for fibre-optic.
Big Easy- no 8-tracks?!
Wishing you all a great day.
FIR today on the Erik Agard Tuesday puzzle. It's nice to see he can construct easier puzzles too, appropriate for early in the week, as well as his usual daunting Friday or Saturday ones. Thanks!
I eased around the puzzle though there were slow parts and multiple WOs for a few words: tra/ErE/EVE, for example. The unknowns were perp-able and the theme was interesting. OH, yes! Thanks, Anon-T, for the breezy review in your inimitable style. I enjoyed it and learned as well.
Favorite today was "small garden party?" GNOME. We have a small German GNOME who has happily lived with us for the last thirty years.
Hope you all have a sunny day. We're having rain which sets the mood for the Memorial I'm going to this afternoon.
I came back to post that I love the movie "Sneakers." It's really well written, with a great cast. Ms. Irish Miss, you should definitely put that in your queue to watch.
-Anonymous from 7:00 a.m. (who remains anti-circles)
ATL Granny- my fav was GNOME also. We too have a gnome (called Elfie) in our garden that belonged to my parents (at least 50 years old). My children loved it, and now so do the grands. There may be a fight over who will inherit it.
OHMAN!.For a Tuesday not a STROLL in the park.. Started with an UNK 1a, (nor were 2a or 3a obvious 😲) ....ZORRO, you mean Don Diego De la Vega?, (which masked man came first, ZORRO or the the Lone ("unaccompanied") Ranger?). A good thing Zorro used a name that starts with a Greek ZETA, imagine trying to quickly slash a letter E into Sgt Garcia's pants!!
I FIR cuz i flipped a coin for SOLO and BONG JOON HO not an E. Theme: OHMAN: cuz so many O's in the answers and each is a MAN? That's it I guess.
Obligatory sports and sci-fi clues. ARENA football a learning moment. (So you can get a concussion in the comfort of an air-conditioned ARENA)....."Ran out of battery". Odd way to describe a battery that died.🤔
A "day saver" who's not a dirty RAT!!
Yah don't gotta use SORTA if yah don't hafta. 🙉
WOO needs a Hoo? If it's AIRED shouldn't it be "broadcastED". If you're introduced to someone in Italy the polite response is "LIETO" (lee-AY-toh) "delighted"; but don't LIE TO them if you're not...😄
Pairs IMAM/ISLAM, SHOO/SHOE & what IM said.
Seven of them....CEASE
Lament...MOWN
Ed Sullivan had a really good TV ____ ...SHOO
Small sultinate...OHMAN
Finally stopped 🌨. A guy blows the snow off the driveway but yours truly shovels the walks...anybody know of a small electic powered snowblower (plug or battery) for small jobs. 🤔
SS @ 9:26 ~ I wasn’t 100 percent sure that the 7:00 post was you because you didn’t include your usual Bon Mot puzzle reference. We have another Anon who posts his time which can be confusing determining who is who. I always know it’s you, however, when you refer to me as Miss Irish Miss. I’ll take your advice on Sneakers, if it’s still available on Netflix. (If you don’t like SS, how about HC for Hates Circles!) 🤭
JOHN BROWN and Zorro were the only names I knew though DOOM was easy to guess. Nice theme, though at first I had the theme wrong thinking the name should include OH, then I looked at ZORRO and DOOM and knew I was wrong. Anyway, fun puzzle though I would prefer no proper names in the theme.
Anon-T: if I remember correctly you had a bout of Covid. You seem to have recovered well and quickly. Congratulations.
DH was a Trojan, graduated from USC many years ago.
I’m not going for a STROLL today, the weather is too nasty. And then the frigid air will descend upon us, and I hate the cold, though the forecast is for sunshine and that always makes the cold a little more tolerable.
Musings
-I doff my hat to you from here on the 3F prairie if you knew BONG JOON-HO
-STROLL – Did anyone else do that fun line dance?
-My next two blogs will fall on Christmas and New Year’s EVE
-Here is what happened on the east end of Lake Erie last Sunday
-All right I CEASED but did I desist too?
-Baby boomer quiz: Fill in the blank: “Here I come to save the day, That means that _____ _____ is on the way.”
-My curse of a good musical ear in 9th grade was that I had to sing a SOLO
-The most famous ECON curve.
-Nice job, Tony!
I loved the movie “Parasites”, but BONGJOONHO was all perps. I got FENG correct because I read that the holes in many skyscrapers in Hong-Kong are called “Dragon Holes”, and are there to let the dragons fly from the mountains to the sea, thus giving the building the needed feng shui. I don’t know if I believe that, but it’s what I read. 12D LONE:SOLE:SOLO W/O mess. FDA:EPA another W/O. 1D I wanted OMEGA, but perps didn’t allow it. Anyway, FIR in 18, and I did get and like the theme, although most names were mostly filled with PERPS. Thanx EA for the fun. Anon-T for the fun write-up, a big ankthay uyah.
Thank you Erik fOr a Tuesday FIR. I shOulda knOwn it was yOu from the crunchier than usual clues/fills (unlike yesterday's easy-peasy puzzle which I FIW). But wOe tO me if I thOught for secOnd abOut thrOwing in the tOwel.
And thank you -T for a sparkly review. Keep it up kid.
Some favs:
1A ZORRO. Don't know what possessed me to pencil in CISCO. He wielded a revolver and not a sword, and everyone knows his horse's name was DIABLO, not TORNADO. He did have an O though.
10A CDS. Some of us geezers still get our music on CDS. I mean how would you listen to music if your 64D was down? (confession time - actually I get most of my music on FM radio)
39A DEUS. I know it was LATIN, but it was actually all Greek to me. Basically a totally unexpected 6D.
48A INDICT. We can only hope.
64A DSL. FIOS with 4G for a backup.
23D OINKS. Speaking of LATIN, hand up if you know the work who's LATIN translation was once in the NYT Top Ten Books list? But just a hand up - don't tell everybody, they'll find out soon enough.
50D COSTA. A young lady from Costa Rica was a Cub Scout leader for a couple of our Grandsons (the ones who both achieved Eagle Rank in the last year (proud Granddad ☺)). She spoke flawless English and we didn't even know it, but she wasn't a U.S. Citizen at the time. She came out at meeting, confessing her love for our country (I think she is now). From everything I've heard, not only is Costa Rica beautiful, but it's also the only stable democracy in Central America.
Cheers,
Bill
Ms. Irish Miss: You are right to call me out for my subpar (not to be confused with my good friend, SubG) reference to the theme today. I went with "tOOK" to represent the use of only the vowel "O." I was rushed this morning (that's my excuse for a lame effort), which is why I also forgot to share my affinity for "Sneakers." Very underrated movie.
(I am amused, and flattered by "SS," but don't feel comfortable referring to myself with that moniker.)
Then how about repurposing SS: Super Shar-pai, or Sew-er Solver?
Hi Y'all! Saw the constructor name. Knew it would be Agard hard, so almost didn't start the puzzle then decided to go ahead. OH MAN! 20 minutes on a Tuesday! Filled it. Not happy.
Hand up for knowing only ZORRO & JOHN BROWN of the theme entries. Didn't know ZORRO's horse, WAG. DNK: ORC, GNC, GNOME, WOO, TROJAN as clued.
"Early aughts": my first thought was early 1900's then 0001 etc. Reread and got it. Duh!
Thanks, Tony, for guiding us thru.
Canadian Eh. Sorry about leaving off the 8 tracks and 4Tracks. The 4tracks made a very brief appearance.
Mr. Agard's PZL started our Tuesday well, and Anon T did a grand job 'splainin' everything!
Toughest for moi was the nexus of 21D and 20A. An Asian name perp'd with a "Fantasy creature" could be almost anything! I lucked out, but still...
~ OMK
_____________
DR: Just one diagonal, far side.
It is a Doozy! --with a JACKPOT anagram (15 of 15 letters)!
This is how we identify being thrown by a giant prehistoric flying dino, the one with a wingspan of 7 meters, and a long toothless beak.
We are lucky to be thrown aside by such a critter in...
"A PTERANODON TOSS"!
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR - thanks Dash T for the fun recap and explanation of the puzzle. I stopped opening your Wiki links though, as every one I viewed was asking for a donation
ZORRO didn't resonate right away, but after ZETAS and the other perps, it made sense; even though I was unaware that he drove an Oldsmobile ...
HG, the "fill-in-the-blank" is Mighty Mouse
Whenever I see the name of the historical JOHN BROWN, I visualize him as Raymond Massey, who portrayed him in more than one film.
I visited Harper's Ferry once, the site of Brown's last stand, and it stirred me deeply. What a strange convergence of persons! It was Robert E. Lee who arrested Brown and took him to the nearby courthouse to be arraigned.
Brown was an extremist, an absolutist, but because he was an abolitionist he ended up on the "right side" of history. Leaving to one side his championing of an enslaved class, which side do you suppose he would be on in our current socio-political division?
~ OMK
Fun Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Erik. And always enjoy your commentaries AnonT, thanks for your offering too.
OH MAN, DO I HAVE TO respond to this puzzle? I'm not an early RISER, and my PULSE is still a bit slow, and my spirit is a bit IDLE, and I don't have the energy to EVOKE a STROLL. My best way to OVERCOME this inertia might be to focus on the critters, play with the ROO, or the EELS, or that SOW, or the OWLS, though I think none of them produce OINKS. Okay, so I'm not a HERO, but I'm also not GRIM--that's worth something, isn't it?
Have a good day, everybody.
SS @ 12:47 ~ My apologies, I missed the tOOk, not surprising as I missed Zorro as part of the theme, too! More proof that my observation skills need sharpening. Would you feel more comfortable if SS meant Shy Solver? That’s sort of apropos, n’est-ce pas? Sneakers is not available on Netflix, but I may track it down somewhere else.
I’m not into Hallmark movies but I have to give a shout out to a current movie that is Troy-centric. It’s titled ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” and it airs at 10:00 tonight. It’s loosely based on a real-life mock trial that was held in Troy about five years ago. The trial was to decide, once and for all, the true author of the legendary poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas which was attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, but was disputed by the family of Henry Beekman Livingston, Jr., who was supposedly the rightful author. Like most adaptations, much literary license is taken, but the ties to Troy are factual, as the poem was first published in the Troy Sentinel in 1823. The movie wasn’t filmed in Troy but it highlights Troy’s yearly tradition of a Victorian Stroll which takes place downtown with people in Victorian costumes and horse-drawn carriages and an overall Victorian atmosphere. Schmaltzy, but heart-warming.
FIR, thanks to good perps. Fun puzzle. Excellent write-up!
Hi All!
Glad y'all got a little post-puzzle entertainment from the expo.
I'll be honest, I nearly missed the theme. I was thinking a progression of the count of Os in names or some such. I even had that in my closing ("am I missing something?" and listed them in order)
And then!, after trying to explain a joke [redacted] and what I meant to TTP*... It dawned on me: The only vowel in the names is O! D'Oh!
Misty - Love'd it! Inertia is good.
Lucina - no, I'm not a regular host nor would I have time for that. Just helping out at The Corner (cleaning tables, doing dishes) while others take a well-deserved break.
IM - I got the email. As for Sneakers, it might be a little dated. Or maybe not - could be War Games good. I might re-watch Sneakers tonight 'cuz of Anti-Circle's comment (I'm still in quarantine 'cuz DW wants her next shot and "I can't get sick again!" :-))
Cool back-story on 'Twas... I didn't know there was a kerfuffle / dispute.
C, Eh! As a fan of Moose & Squirrel, I can't think of Hero w/ Dudley in my mind's eye. FIW, I almost spelt it fibre (I seem to remember that's how we spelled it back in the 90's - Jinx?)
TanteNique - Yes Covid. Being vax'd helps keep it down to just sleep for two days (I had it in May '20 and it kicked me for 3+ weeks!). I may have pushed it yesterday 'cuz I need a nap :-)
Nice DR find, OMK.
SpeedySolver - Own it, Bro! Maybe you're not ACPT worthy but to us, you're a genius. //needs context: FF to 1:00 Real History of RUSH :-)
Ray-O: LOL - you CHANNELED Ed Sullivan's speech-pattern perfectly :-)
Did anyone click the Forbes link under the underwear-gnomes image? Just curious.
I've never had a gnome on the lawn but I did have a frog in the pool (it was a sprinkler head and, when it broke, why not?). In the spring, when frogs would inadvertently enter the pool, I'd always find at least two (alive) worshiping the giant idol.
Cheers, -T
*TTP keeps me from being a total dunce. Best. Proof. Reader. Ever. //next to DW, of course :-)
*oops - C, Eh! FWIW (For What It's Worth) I almost spelt it fibre... Mea. -T
HG and CM..my Mighty Mouse link must have not made it to print...lol
I completely forgot about Andy " Man on the Moon" Kaufman's version ...😄
Thanks
Dash T gives me far too much credit. I don't think that I suggested a single change to his review.
Back later.
I liked this puzzle.
Re. ECON… Keynes fundamentals are routinely ignored by politicians
WOO(Hoo) HI Misty? Is today your birthday?
After a second I recalled Tom Gordon . Awhile back, methinks. Lots of sports tomorrow
The key to the stroll is the Look. Utter indifference on the guys face
"Pops" gave it away that our host was Anon-T. Yes, the Mighty Mouse question came just after link to same
WC
Well, fellow Bloggers, I finally have a car! It's a Nissan Altima, 2020 and I really like it.
With 6,829 miles on it, I'm happy. I loved my Honda, but I believe this one will certainly grow on me. Now, I have to return that Rav 4.
It was an exhausting morning (signing what seemed like a ream of papers) at the dealership which just made me feel my age and I really, truly, hope to never go through that again. It's amazing what new features cars now have and with which some of you are already familiar. For one, no key slot. Just throw down the key and push the START button. It's a strange sensation, that.
The geek in me screamed - "That handset does not fit the modem-coupler!" and "No!, you just can't hang-up the phone to stop a trace just by taking the handset off the coupler. Switch hook-guys! Switch-hook."
Of course, the technology is dated and some of the encryption-talk is gobbley-gook.
But otherwise, a fun movie that really shows some good social-engineering hacks. Thanks IM & SS for getting me to watch Sneakers again (and I got three baskets of laundry folded ta' boot. Found 1/2 my kitchen towels, I did.).
Congrats, Lucina on finally getting a car. I too have been flummoxed by the amount of paper-work -- My credit-union gave you the check, now sign the title, send it to them, and give me the keys.
//Oh, BTW, keep the key in your purse. I can't tell you how many times I've left my key in the passenger's-seat while I ran into the hardware store. Amazing I still have a car :-)
Cheers, -T
Glad you liked my jokes, Anon T. And no, Wilbur, it's not my birthday--yet--but it's coming up at the end of the week. We have to be thankful for our seniority at this time in our lives.
i sense a danger in this automatic world. While the key isn't inserted in the keyhole, it just sits there, will I forget it? Or will there be a beep because it's still in the car? I guess all that will be revealed.
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