Today's constructor made his last LA Times appearance on on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. That puzzle featured phrases whose last word referred to one's tush. Today, Tom uses some interesting clues to refer to a person (the pronoun "one"). All of the clues are a form of play-on-words (go figure!!) which seems to be Patti's "m.o." for Friday puzzles. Hmm. M.O. (modus operandi) for Moe? Moi? Coincidence? Well regardless of whether this is intentional on our editor's part, I'm perfectly fine with it! Let's explore the 5 entries, shall we? Maybe "one" of them was your favorite ...
17-across. Wet one?: CRYING BABY. Maybe some of you have noticed my absence from the board lately. The reason was my grandson, daughter, and son-in-law were visiting us here in AZ for a 9-day stretch beginning on New Year's Eve. My daughter and s-i-l mixed pleasure with business (she had a five day conference in Tucson; he was playing a gig with the Tucson Symphony), and Margaret and I got to engage with my 2-1/2 year old grandson. Babysitting duty, yes, but also some wonderful playtime with a really cute kid! My grandson was a crying toddler at times, but not because of a "wet" diaper. Seems that kids at this age who are not yet potty trained actually prefer having a wet (or "loaded") diaper next to them. The "crying" was usually observed when we changed his diaper!
23-across. Day one?: MORNING PERSON. None of the five of us, grandson included, are MORNING PERSONs, thank god! I greet the day usually when I dang near please, thank you! Retirement brings me that "luxury"
35-across. Air Force one?: HELICOPTER PILOT. Yes, this fits. When the POTUS is flying via HELICOPTER, that vehicle is also known as Air Force One. The PILOT is the "one" in command of flying it from point A to point B. Don't believe me? Look it up!!
45-across. Number one?: TAX ACCOUNTANT. Well, after the University of Georgia took TCU to the woodshed this past Monday night in the College Football Playoff Championship game, THEY are "number one". But in today's puzzle, the CPAs rule. They are famously known as "number crunchers", and are always busiest during TAX season. I haven't used a TAX ACCOUNTANT in some years, but this Spring I might, as the purchase of a new house (with my partner, Margaret) may require a "number one" to accurately help us with the tax preparations
56-across. Cellular one?: BIOLAB TECH. This was MY favorite of the 5, as the play-on-words for "Cellular One" (a cellphone provider) fit very nicely with the "reveal" (BIOLAB TECH), as these ones study all sorts of animal and plant "cells"
Here is the grid, then on to the rest of the clues/entries:
Across:
1. Slightest: LEAST. The "st" ending for the clue made this entry easy. As with desper-otto, this one likes to start his puzzles with a correct answer
6. Knocks: RAPS. I snuck a peek at (6-down. Shabbat services leader: RABBI), to confirm that RAPS fit into this spot
10. Delicacy: TACT. I had to visit my Thesaurussaurus to confirm this interesting clue, but alas, he was of no help. Perps to the rescue!
14. Sign of autumn: LIBRA. The zodiac lists LIBRAs (or is it LIBRAns?) as those born between September 22 and October 23, clearly making them a "sign" of autumn
15. Arizona's __ Fria river: AGUA. [edf dot org] says: "The 120-mile long AGUA Fria River originates approximately twenty miles northeast of Prescott (pronounced "PRESS-kit", by the way; not "Pres-SCOTT") and flows generally south past the communities of Prescott Valley (where it is joined by Lynx Creek) and Dewey-Humboldt. A CSO, once again on a Friday, to our resident Arizonan and bilingual Cornerite, Lucina. She gets a second CSO with: (43-down. Una y __ vez: Spanish for "time after time":) OTRA.
16. Fish-eating duck: SMEW. This:
19. "Veep" Emmy winner Tony: HALE. [imdb dot com] says: "Tony Hale was born on September 30, 1970 in West Point, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Arrested Development (2003), Veep (2012) and Toy Story 4 (2019). He has been married to Martel Thompson Hale since May 24, 2003. They have one child
20. Parisian possessive: SES. Frawnch (a CSO to our erstwhile blogger, Splynter)
21. Streaming service acquired by Fox in 2020: TUBI. TUBI is one of the streaming channels I've downloaded on my Roku, but it's unknown to me as I've never watched it. So once again the perps came to the rescue
22. Seating request: AISLE. I always asked for an AISLE seat on my airline flights until I started traveling internationally. On longer flights I prefer a WINDOW seat, as I would rather be the one stepping across my fellow passengers when nature calls, and I need to do a "number one"
27. Big name in game shows: SAJAK. As in Pat SAJAK - the co-host of Wheel of Fortune. That show is in its 40th season, believe it or not
28. Lack of practice, metaphorically: RUST. Excellent clue
29. Fashion's Oscar __ Renta: DELA. Not too many other familiar phrases or names that begin with DE LA
30. Last of the Oldsmobiles: ALERO. This is becoming a crossword staple
32. CDs with three or four songs: EPS. "Vinyl" lovers would know this if the clue read "45's" with two or three songs"
39. Sun spot: SKY. Excellent clue
40. Made a choice: OPTED. It's been over two years since I OPTED to be a blogger here
41. "You're so right!": AMEN. Don't ask me why, but my first stab at this was "TADA"
42. Two piece?: DUET. Don't ask me why, but my first stab at this was "SUIT". Interesting that we have a clue with the word "two" in a puzzle that is all about number "one"
43. Tribute creator: ODIST. And it cleverly crosses (33-down. Ada Limón, for one:) POET.
50. Leave red-faced: ABASH. [dictionary dot cambridge dot org] says: "to embarrass someone or make them feel uncomfortable: Her elder cousins abashed her by commenting on her shyness. They tried not to be abashed
51. Senator Booker: CORY. If memory serves, CORY Booker was one of the 20+ candidates who ran for POTUS back in 2020
52. Like steak tartare: RAW. Here is a 5-star rated recipe for this dish
55. Astronaut Christina who spent 328 days in space: KOCH. Her bio
59. Art Deco master: ERTE. Another crossword puzzle staple, although some editors are now frowning on the use of this as it (ERTE) is not part of ones daily reference/usage. But if it fits, then sobeit
60. Hebrides isle: IONA. Also a college in New Rochelle, NY. Their current men's basketball coach is none other than Rick Pitino
61. More than most: EVERY. I know we have several golfers who visit this blog. When I saw the clue, "more than most", the first thing that came to mind was this iconic call from Gary KOCH at the Players Championship:
62. Sgts. and cpls.: NCOS. One of seven abbrs in today's puzzle. Hard not to have this many when you construct a puzzle with 5 long entries. My overall impression of Tom Locke's work, though, was pretty "clean"
63. "Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker James: GUNN. Whatever happended to PETER GUNN??
64. Sees: DATES. Do the current millennials refer to dating as SEEing someone? I liked this clue. And it fit nicely with (45-down. Spoken for:) TAKEN
Down:
1. Some bus. entities: LLCS. Limited Liability CompanieS. [irs dot gov] says: "A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business structure allowed by state statute. Each state may use different regulations, you should check with your state if you are interested in starting a Limited Liability Company. Owners of an LLC are called members." Digging further: What does LLC mean in simple terms? LLC stands for limited liability company, which means its members are not personally liable for the company's debts. LLCs are taxed on a “pass-through” basis — all profits and losses are filed through the member's personal tax return. I'm sure that they use a 45-across when filing
2. Word with a harp on some euro coins: EIRE. This is the reverse image of Ireland's euro coin; notice the harp
3. In a really bad way: ABYSMALLY. I found only two prior uses of this word in crossword puzzles
4. "__ Lanka Matha": South Asian national anthem: SRI.
5. Mystical Hindu text: TANTRA. [webmd dot com] also has a reference to TANTRA sex: "What is the real meaning of TANTRA? In Sanskrit, the word tantra means woven together. People who practice Buddhist and Hindu meditation may also practice tantric sex as a way to “weave” the physical with the spiritual. This practice brings together spirituality and sexuality and emphasizes the importance of intimacy during a sexual experience. An early form of foreplay?
7. Over: AGAIN. ABOVE was my first entry here and had me stymied for the longest time
8. Crawl space?: PUB. The "?" in the clue made me realize it did not refer to the "space" under a house/foundation. AGAIN, a very good clue
9. For example: SAY.
10. CafePress purchase: T-SHIRT.
11. Pile up: AMASS.
12. Instrument with an end pin: CELLO. When I googled for an image, the word endpin had no space in it. The endpin helps support the CELLO
13. Many a middle-schooler: TWEEN. Is 'TWEEN still a contraction for the word "between"?
18. Goopy buildup: GUNK. Use this to get rid of it, maybe?
22. Storyteller credited with the fable "The Wolf and the Crane": AESOP. Friday clue. I've heard of AESOP and his fables, but "The Wolf and the Crane" is not one that readily comes to mind
24. California town with an annual music festival: OJAI. Perps to the rescue
25. Avarice: GREED. Thesaurussaurus DID confirm this one
26. Contented rumble: PURR. The "rumble" part of this clue threw me off, but I am not a cat "lover"; more of a cat "tolerater"
27. Go for: SEEK.
29. MLB sluggers who don't play the field: DHS. Designated HitterS. This only used to be a position found in the American League, but is now used in the National League, too. This guy is the only Major Leaguer who is both a pitcher AND a designated hitter. And he is very good at both
30. Is __: likely will: APT TO. Easiest of the clues/entries today
31. Wireless standard initials: LTE.
32. Nightmarish movie location: ELM STREET. Appropritate entry for a "Friday the 13th" puzzle??
34. RR stop: STN. I never know when STN or STA is the better fit for the abbr for STATION
36. Sectional, e.g.: COUCH. Not a word often seen in crossword puzzles, but then again, it uses the lesser popular vowels (O and U), and two unpopular consonants (C and H)
37. Cartel HQ'd in Vienna: OPEC. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Its history here
38. Armitage of "Big Little Lies": IAIN. IAIN Armitage (/ˈiːən/; born July 15, 2008) is an American child actor. He is known for starring as Sheldon Cooper in Young Sheldon, a prequel to The Big Bang Theory
42. Quick races: DASHES. SPRINTS was too long
44. Guest room piece: DAY BED. Based on its name - DAY BED - one might guess that your guests don't sleep at night. What are they? Vampires?
46. Multiple-choice choices: A, B, OR C. I LOVED multiple-guess, er -choice questions on quizzes and tests. True/False, OTOH, was sometimes like flipping a coin when you didn't know the answer
47. Blade for a hobbyist: XACTO.
48. NCAA school with the most first-round WNBA draft picks: UCONN. University of CONNecticut is also the alma mater for our erstwhile Friday blogger, Lemonade714 (aka, Jason). Both their women's and men's basketball teams have won multiple NCAA championships, and the WNBA and NBA are littered with their alumna and alumni
49. "Dunkirk" director Christopher: NOLAN. Perps. I wasn't thrilled by this one crossing 63-across as it was a Natick for me until I looked up one of them
53. Land parcel: ACRE.
54. __ and wherefores: WHYS. I thought I'd give the pigeons a shot at explaining this one
56. Generous: BIG.
57. Marker: I.O.U.. PEN fits, too, but if you had any part of BIOTECH LAB in the across word, then it didn't. Another great clue, as the word "marker" (in this context) is defined as: (see #4)
58. New Deal energy prog.: TVA. Last of the abbrs. Tennessee Valley Authority. Well dam!!
Ok, guys and gals, that's all for this session. I am going to end with a limerick today, written in the mind of a 2-1/2 year old. It kinda sums up the week+ I spent with my grandson. I'd insert a picture or video but my daughter prefers I limit my posts about him to Facebook. But I will tell you, one day he might be a great baseball player. The kid can hit from a T-Ball tee like nobody's business!! See y'all in a couple of weeks ...
I played t-ball with my favorite Gramps
Swung so hard that my arms felt some cramps!
We were all here in Tucson
Mom read "B is for Bison"
Followed up by "Lady and the Tramp(s)"
Well, friends, with French, Spanish and some pretty obscure names, I’d say this puzzle achieved the “Friday “ level of difficulty! And the gimmick was pretty subtle, and took a while to “suss.” Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, a theme needing no reveal. Even this blind squirrel was able to crack that nut. Hmmmm, is it TANDRA/DUBI or TANTRA/TUBI. WAGged correctly as my final fill. Thanx, Tom and C-Moe. (Sounds like you had a fine week. Did daughter and SIL commute back to Mesa daily?)
Prescott Valley : I've got a cousin living there. I last saw him at a class reunion in '78.
Endpin : Brings to mind a Hermione Gingold schtick as a bow-legged cello player. Just watched it, and it's not as humorous as I remembered.
deeper-Otto: We were all staying at an airBnb in Tucson, so no commute necessary; BTW, we recently moved from Mesa
DeleteFIR, but erased viole for CELLO, and no, I have no idea what I was thinking. Too many unknowns to list, but CafePress and HALE are two that cross.
ReplyDeleteHand up for thinking of smart phones before BIOLAB TECH.
OK, C-Moe, I LIU. The only choppers flown by the USAF are the Iroquois and the PAVE Hawk. Don't think El Presidente will be riding in them. Marine One is traditionally a Sea King, but they're using White Hawks too to ferry the CIC.
Can't remember seeing IAIN as a name. Guess it is to Ian, as Ian is to John, and Goeff is to Jeff.
Hand up for thinking of Henry Mancini music when GUNN filled itself in.
FLN: -T, I remember in the early days of fiber optics in telcom. The proponents of fiber (or fibre if you are still kissing up to C-EH!) noted that it wasn't subject to rain fade, a bane of transmission engineers. Digital microwave aficionados replied that radio wasn't subject to backhoe fade. Nothing more fun to watch than an engineer cat fight.
Thanks to Tom for the fun challenge. And thanks to C-Moe for the fine review.
The helicopter for POTUS is called MARINE One.
DeleteDNF, the SE corner did me in. I just couldn't see bio lab tech.
ReplyDeleteAs C-Moe pointed out, a good many really clever clues in this CW. Too many names for my liking, but I still managed to FIR. “Fish-eating ducks”. Don’t all ducks eat fish? Anyway, a slow slog fest to get this one done, but eventually…. Thanx TL for all the great clues. And thanx too to C-Moe for the terrific write-up.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Thanks, Tom, for an interesting challenge. Thanks, CMoe for your fine expo.
ReplyDelete"Blade for a hobbyist" stumped me for a while. Tried sword, epees, etc. EXACTO finally dawned on me when I perped ---CTO. I spent many hours with an EXACTO in my hand for work (not hobby) back in the 1980's & '90's when I worked for newspapers. Then we still did layouts by trimming printouts with EXACTO knives & using wax to affix them to big layout sheets to go to the printer. Duh!
Gimmee: daughter played a CELLO.
CafePress: thought this was a new-fangled French coffee maker. Bzzzt!
TANTRA: Do we actually have a heterosexual clue here for once? I've seen TANTRA sex counseling sessions on a couple TV shows. Heterosexual. Yay!
Liked the theme and got it early. Didn't help the fill much with some. Took perps, some of which were slow in coming.
Knew a local kid who went on to pilot that POTUS helicopter. He was a graduate of Annapolis & in the Marines.
Took 10:36 for me to be a solving one.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I mostly agree with the prior commentators about this puzzle. Not thrilled with the foreign words and the quantity & quality of some proper names, but it was a good Friday-level puzzle.
POTUS helicopter is not Air Force One it is Marine One. The 747 is Air Force One and any plane the President is in is Air Force One
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Goo Gone would work on partially-filled crossword grids that require substantial cleaning up.
ReplyDeleteFollowing up on Anonymous @ 7:59, the Army has by far the most extensive helicopter fleet/pilots. Ergo, Army One or Marine One would have been a more suitable clue.
ReplyDeleteI see one responder wrote in regarding the clue of Air Force One and I suspect ANY Marine helicopter pilot will take offense to this incorrect entry. Any helicopter that the President travels on is designated Marine One AND NEVER flown by the Air Force.
ReplyDeleteYou all missed that the word one in the clue was NOT capitalized and therefore didn't refer to an aircraft carrying the President.
DeleteGood catch, Anonymous! You are correct that the word "one" after Air Force has nothing to do with the POTUS and his flying vehicle. Thanks for the comment, and thanks to the others who Looked It Up! C-Moe
DeleteWhat did I like about the puzzle? Tom's play-on-words and misdirecting clues.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I NOT like? Patti's continual WNBA clues and too many proper names, especially the cross of two unknown names- NOLAN & GUNN. SMEW, T-SHIRT, KOCH, HALE, IAIN, OTRA, TUBI, TANTRA- other unknowns filled by perps. WAGS for AESOP, OTRA, & U-CONN.
After I FIR I noticed that all the theme fills were people.
The Air Force One chopper is usually called MARINE ONE.
One change today. My 'Two piece' SUIT became a DUET. I'm APT TO fill in a cross word after one letter but OPTED to change SUIT to DUET after OPEC was filled.
MORNING PERSON- me. But if I'm up too early (3:00) I'll lay on the COUCH and try to get back to sleep.
GUNK and 'Goo Gone'? Nope, I used a product with the name GUNK to spray on the engine to clean it from road grime.
DW (who has the 29D initials - DHS) has an Amazon Firestick to watch Netflix. She rarely uses it and when she can't figure it out, she asks me to figure how. (I've never used it). She just needs to change the input.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteOh, boy, do I have memories of the AGUA Fria River! Luckily our rivers are just dry beds most of the time. My car rolled (yes, literally) down the embankment one dark night when returning home from a party. It was also the night (at said party) I met my future husband though I didn't know it at the time. He later told me he knew it.
I had enough presence of mind to press the panic button which caused the lights to flash. Some kind people saw it and stopped to help me.
I had a Natick at TANTRA/TUBI. Did not know either of those.
Great clue for SKY.
POET/ODIST appropriate crossing/meeting.
Mama mia! Soon it will be time to visit the TAX ACCOUNTANT.
Ta Ta and adios for now. Have a fun Friday, everyone!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the solve and the theme, but I still miss the old-fashioned Friday head scratchers, ala Jeffrey Wechsler, et al. As Moe pointed out, there were several clever clues and, conversely, several challenging ones, i.e., the ones for Poet, Agua, Otra, Koch, etc. I knew Iain, but wasn’t sure of the spelling, but I didn’t know Tubi or Tantra, but a WAG saved the day. The low three letter word count gets a thumbs up from me, despite the numerous abbreviations.
Thanks, Tom, for a fun Friday solve and thanks, Moe, for a cheery review filled with interesting facts and observations. I believe our feline aficionado, Hahtoolah, is also a UCONN grad. I’m a big Steak Tartare fan, in fact I made some about a month ago, so that recipe interested me. It’s very similar to mine with the exception of capers and lemon and the type of mustard, as I use only Dijon. Loved your parting limerick!
FLN
Sumdaze, Hi right back!
Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteWell, the weeklong streak is over: DNF today. My main problem area was the bottom. I thought of BIO LAB TECH but expected it would be clues with abbr. By missing the first three letters, I didn't get BIG and IOU which I knew, unlike IONA and GUNN, which I didn't. Plus, at the beginning I misspelled ABYSMALLY, which I didn't catch, more often happening with down fill. Anyway, I enjoyed filling the rest and thank you, Tom.
I did get the theme which was pretty straight forward: clues with "one?" Many of my first thoughts for fill were like yours, C Moe. T-SHIRT took some time to fill the S and H but SMEW seemed most likely and I finally got it. Thanks, C Moe, for the review full of information about the puzzle and your busy week.
Favorite clue that filled by perps: PUB. I was getting nowhere trying to get a three letter word for crawl space in the basement. PURR was fun fill too.
Anon at 7:46AM, you're always the ONE finding a humorous connection with the puzzle!
TGIF and stay warm!
Musings
ReplyDelete-My favorite puzzles tease me and make we work. This was just such a puzzle!
-I was ONE who looked too long for a gimmick that was already in the open.
-Margaret, “Hawkeye, you could at LEAST get out of the jeep while I change the tire.” Hawkeye’s response
-Earworm alert: To the town of AGUA Fria is the first line of a 1959 Marty Robbins song
-ERTE is less acceptable compared to a D-List actor in an obscure streaming series?
-Somehow, I remembered TANTRA from a Saturday puzzle last year
-SAJAK was picked out of oblivion by Merv Griffin and has ridden it to a $70M fortune
-M/C – When in doubt pick “C”
-Gotta start vacuuming.
DNF, my Natick was IAIN/ODIST/POET. Now that I look at it I realize what a great clue Tribute creator is. I kept thinking of a car maker. The rest, if I didn’t know it, perps helped. So good CW in MHO.
ReplyDeleteLucina: what a story.
I am not a MORNING PERSON since I’m retired. I do however need a routine, so I get up and go to bed at the same time almost every day and I sleep like a BABY, not a CRYING one.
FIR. I hit a snag in the NE before I went to the Library Committee meeting. When I returned, the answers quickly dawned on me. Interesting how the subconscious works. I understood the theme early on. I doubted IAIN, but it had to be. Only TUBI was ESP. From TAN I finally dredged up TANTRA.
ReplyDeleteUNA Y OTRA reminds me of the saying once and again.
Many of my contemporaries call a sofa a couch.
A--A Fria River. OOOH! Cold water- AGUA.
Hernando de Soto, Hernando FROM THE grove.
Lorenzo de Medidci
In German from the is VON. I always like the name Walther VON DER Vogel Weide, from the bird meadow. He was an early German lyrical poet. We read some of his poems in my college German class. Today I couldn't do that.
Thank you Tom for a ONEderfull Friday FIR with a helpful theme, suitably crunchy for this DOW.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks MOE for your mindful M.O. in the revelation of the meanings of all the clues. Not only are you back, but back in rare, even TARTARE, form.
Favs:
16A SMEW. I like fish too and it's always fun to learn about a new competitor. Beautiful bird.
23A MORNING PERSON. I'm a morning person, but not this MORNING.
35A HELICOPTER PILOT. I think you should be obsessive if you have to deliver the POTUS somewhere. He certainly could use all the help he can get these days.
45A TAX ACCOUNTANT. A reminder that I have clear all the recyclables off the top of my desk. I know our 2022 TAX records are down there somewhere.
55A KOCH. DNK Christina. A truly remarkable human being. Wow!
56A BIO LAB TECH. I was ONE in HS.
64A DATES. My favorite fruit.
4D SRI. I hope the troubles in SRI LANKA abate so they can film the next season of Good Karma Hospital, and maybe even the next HOLI festival.
8D PUB. Favoritist clue. Is Tom English? Don't we have BAR crawls in the US?
22D AESOP. You know it's going to be a good day when you learn a new fable.
Cheers,
Bill
Thank you Tom for your puzzle. It took me 2 breaks to make a fresh cup of tea while my brain continued to suss, but I FIR. FAVs: Crawl space? Sun spot
ReplyDeleteC-Moe, thank you for your terrific write-up even though you had family visiting! My take on 10A is you could substitute TACT for "delicacy" in a sentence like, "We'll need to treat this matter with some delicacy." Very tricky clue!
CSO to DH, a retired Marine HELICOPTER PILOT. And CSO to me for TAX ACCOUNTANT. I volunteer to do taxes through IRS VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Program). We'll be starting up here pretty soon. If you know someone who needs free tax help, suggest they look for a VITA program in their area. Extra complicated situations can be out-of-scope.
Fun, if slightly tough, Friday puzzle--many thanks, Tom. And always enjoy your commentary, Chairman Moe, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a MORNING PERSON, so I'm glad I no longer have a CRYING BABY to wake me up at the crack of dawn. I still remember how EVERY day I used to take the baby on the COUCH with me, and try to calm it down by being a POET and an ODIST. But poetry didn't work and I finally opted to play my CELLO--it was the LEAST I could do, and I was delighted that it worked. Pretty soon the baby began to PURR, and before you knew it, we had formed a happy DUET and all was well.
Have a good day, everybody.
No internet (still) so I'm tethered to my data-plan...
ReplyDeleteDNF - Tom beat me up but good. ABYSMALLY, I'D SAY.
Thanks for the puzzle, Tom & Thanks for the expo C.Moe.
I'll just add (b/f turning off data - I've got this cached so I can read y'all in a bit) Julia making tartare [Letterman] //missed your chance Chairman :-)
-T
Just to add to my story above, traffic was not nearly as heavy as it is these days and the road I was on was nearly isolated so I thank God for those people who were passing by.
ReplyDeleteChrmn Moe is on duty today. He brings us a Locke XWD.
ReplyDeleteNot an easy go, nor should it be for a Friday PZL. I managed all but CRYING BABY and some of its perps. The big loser in this long combo was 8D, where I had PUN instead of PUB (which was by far the better fill, no complaints).
Oh, and I'm sorry to say I kept with AM SO for 41A. It made sense at the time, and gave us HOST for 33D instead of POET.
Ah, well, what is it that the philosophers say? Ya can't win 'em all? Izzat right?
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals, far side.
The center line gives us an anagram (14 of 15) of the psychophysical condition of the guy (mostly males, but some females, too, those who can't rein it in) who has just had his thirteenth birthday, the one that finally and forever vaults him beyond middle-school TWEEN-ship.
He (sometimes, she) is now an...
"ECSTATIC TEENER"!
Back when I made an honest living, we called Friday "POETS day." Piss On Everything, Tomorrow's Saturday.
ReplyDeleteAlso, alternating Fridays were "Good Friday" or "Passover", depending on whether it was payday.
The boss called them "mother's days". "Pay this mother, pay that mother, pay the other mother," etc.
Happy 13th, everyone.
I have the same things to say about this puzzle that you all have already said. I very much liked your exposition, Chairman Moe.
ReplyDeleteI was an Air Force one but didn't fly anything, including helicopters. And I am definitely not a morning person.
Good wishes to you all.
The people trivia and the over use of foriegn names is getting exhausting.
DeleteThis is the least desirable way to add difficulty to a puzzle.