Puzzling thoughts: This appears to be a first-time collaboration (and Sally's LA Times debut) between two relative newcomers to crossword puzzle construction. Wendy has been featured here, both solo and in a collaboration, as well as soloing at USA Today. Sally is a crossword blogger of USA Today puzzles, so I suppose their collaboration came through that association. Regardless, their effort today was quite good and fun to solve
The puzzle uses circles within the entries (yes, I know that frustrates some of you folks!). Each of the circles spells out the name of a 3-letter tree (ASH, ELM, and OAK). But it isn't until the theme (62-across. Decorate for Christmas, in a way, and how to make sense of the answer to each starred clue?: TRIM THE TREE) is revealed that we know just why. In each case, when you "TRIM" the "TREE", the starred clues begin to make sense. Still confused? Let's chop some wood and see how:
17-across. *Pilot's reputation among airport agents?: GATE CRASHED. At first, I thought this could be "GATE CRASHER" - as a play-on-words for the clue - but when you snip the word ASH, "GATE CRED" certainly fits, as "CRED" is another term for reputation
Again, when 30-across (*Triage site's gooey alternative to sutures?: ELMERS GLUE) appeared, ELMER'S GLUE could be a punny definition for the clue. But after felling the ELM tree, we are left with "ER's GLUE" as the p-o-w
The final entry (46-across. *Practice for "The Voice" while in the shower?: SOAKING WET) becomes "SING WET" when the OAK tree is chain-sawed, and the stump removed!
The list of 3-letter trees is somewhat finite: ASH, BAY, ELM, FIG, FIR, OAK, and YEW. Finding a way to remove those tree names from a common phrase and create a play-on-words was not easy. Another possible way of using a trimmed tree from this list to form a play-on-words could be: "Favorite after-shave of shrimp boilers?": OLD BAY SPICE. Another that came to mind: "What Adam does when his is dirty? TURN OVER A NEW FIG LEAF; but neither fits THIS theme.!! ;^)
Here is the grid, followed by the other clues:
Across:
1. Statistical concerns: BIASES. Not too many words fit here; EPOCHS maybe?
7. Daddy: PAPA.
11. Texting initials: SMS. SMS stands for Short Message Service and is commonly known as texting. It's a way to send text-only messages of up to 160 characters between phones. Twitter shortened this to 140 characters
14. "Won't be long now": I'M NEXT. I'M guessing that no one in this waiting room was hoping to be "NEXT"!! ;^)
15. Wilson of "The Internship": OWEN. A trailer:
16. Feel sick: AIL. Does anyone else here think when they feel sick that they have COVID?
19. Food Network host Garten: INA. aka, The Barefoot Contessa
20. Long-billed bird: SNIPE.
21. Hijab, for one: VEIL. Moe-ku #1:
Muslim gal who said
She won't wear a head cover
Just made a VEILed threat
22. Sharp set: HDTV. Ha Ha! Sharp is a brand of TV's
23. Longtime Farr co-star: ALDA.
25. Abate: LET UP.
27. Some K9 canines: LABS. And here I thought they were all either German Shepherds or Belgian Malanois
34. Q.E.D. part: ERAT. A CSO to all of our Cornerites who are/were lawyers: "Latin abbreviation for quod erat demonstrandum: "Which was to be demonstrated." Q.E.D. may appear at the conclusion of a text to signify that the author's overall argument has just been proven"
35. Mauna __: LOA. KEA fit ... until it didn't
36. Some rugged sandals: KEENS. Most of the images I saw for KEEN shoes looked like sneakers. [Bootworld dot com] says: "A Keen shoe has a wider toe box compared to most shoes because it ensures comfort and breathability. This extra wiggle room is essential if you are on your feet all day hiking and working. Many Keen shoes also feature adjustable elastic bungee lace closures to accommodate different foot styles and ensure a perfect fit"
37. HS equivalency test: GED. QED and GED in the same puzzle
38. Freebies at some crossword tournaments: PENCILS. Also, they're "freebies" at most golf courses but usually don't come with an eraser
41. __ text: accessibility feature: ALT. [from many websites] "Alternative (Alt) Text is meant to convey the “why” of the image as it relates to the content of a document or webpage. It is read aloud to users by screen reader software, and it is indexed by search engines. It also displays on the page if the image fails to load, as in this example of a missing image"
42. "Just Mercy" actor __ Jackson Jr.: O'SHEA. Trailer:
44. Doc's org.: AMA. Whew! Glad that today's clue didn't refer to Ask Me Anything!
45. Bali's continent: ASIA. My partner Margaret spend a couple years living in Bali a couple decades ago; she was involved with a scuba diving business there
49. Shepherds' docs?: VETS. Oh? THIS is where they reference the "other" K-9 pooch!!
50. Cooler brand: IGLOO. Appropriately named
51. Italian bubbly: ASTI. "Spumante" is a more accurate description of this clue, but was too long
53. Perseverance's home: MARS. All you need to know
55. Itinerary: PLAN.
57. Flags down: HAILS. How did the term "HAILs" a taxi come to be? Fun fact: [livexp dot com] "Hail is the action used to stop a taxi using your arm and hand. Yes, they mean the same thing. To "hail" a taxi is a bit less common in America. "Hail" is the action of calling a taxi, like raising your arm to get the attention of the taxi driver"
61. Having celebrated many birthdays: OLD. Now that I've reached my 7th decade, I guess I can admit that I am "OLD"
64. __-1099: govt.-issued tax form: SSA. Tax time is nigh; we have an appointment with a tax advisor next week
65. Cause an emotional reaction: MOVE. Multiple meanings here ... "MOVE" as in one of the verb forms: "provoke a strong feeling, especially of sorrow or sympathy, in". For example, "he was moved to tears by a get-well message from the president". But the noun form ALSO conveys this: Moe-ku #2:
Relocation is
Quite problematic. I was
Quite MOVEd by my MOVE
66. Good scents: AROMAS.
67. First car, for many?: TOY. Could've been clued: "First DOG, for many?"
68. Mountain goat: IBEX. Crossword "oldie"
69. Heavenly figure: SERAPH. "SERAPHim and Cherubim" is a Biblical term ...
Down:
1. Majors, in baseball slang: BIGS. "SHOW" fits, too ...
2. Supermodel whose signature fragrance is "Love Memoir": IMAN. [wikipedia dot com] "Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid is a Somali supermodel, actress, and entrepreneur. A muse of the designers Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Yves Saint Laurent, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. She was married to the rock musician David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016"
3. __-lock brakes: ANTI. Fun Fact: These now "standard features" on automobiles were originally created for use on trains and aircraft
4. Overlook: SEE PAST. [dictionary.cambridge.org] "SEE PAST: to not be influenced or have your opinion changed by something : He has been able to see past stereotypes and photographed the Cherokee as a dynamic presence in today's world. The diversity of the gathering helped people see beyond their own viewpoints"
5. Perform beyond expectations: EXCEL. Maybe what these two constructors (and hopefully, your blogger du jour) did today?!
6. Philharmonic sect.: STR. Abbr for STRings
7. Put forward: POSE. Another "Friday" clue
8. For some time: AWHILE.
9. Kitchen gadget: PEELER. RICER, DICER, SHREDDER, et al, did not fit
10. Plus: AND.
11. Asked nicely: SAID, "PLEASE". Believe it or not, this entry has been used just twice before in crossword publications
12. Julep herb: MINT. We also use it in an acai cereal bowl (breakfast treat); but a Mint Julep is usually consumed by us whilst watching The Kentucky Derby
13. Croat or Pole: SLAV.
18. Island where Excalibur was forged: AVALON. Learning moment: [wikipedia dot com] "Avalon, literally meaning "the isle of fruit [or apple] trees"; also written Avallon or Avilion among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 1136 Historia Regum Britanniae as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle of Camelot"
22. Enormous: HUGE.
24. Proofer's mark: DELE. Another crossword "oldie"
26. Tuts: TSKS.
27. Bricks that are painful to step on: LEGOS. Indeed!!
28. Childish retort: ARE SO. AM TOO fits
29. Trouble with locks?: BAD HAIR DAY. Cute clue
31. Colorful parrot: MACAW.
32. Like new matches: UNLIT. Or candles
33. "¿Cómo __?": ESTAS. Have I ever had a Friday blog where there wasn't a Spanish phrase, followed with a CSO to Lucinda???!!!
38. Bucket: PAIL. Moe-l'ick:
You remember the nursery rhyme drill
When two kids took a PAIL up a hill?
Are you taken aback
That you didn't know Jack
Never really had fallen for Jill?
39. Clarifying phrase: I MEANT.
40. Cable row targets, for short: LATS. Learning moment: [masterclass dot com] "A seated cable row is a compound exercise that utilizes a weighted horizontal cable row machine to work muscle groups in your back and arms. Cable machines include a bench for comfortable seating and foot plates to brace yourself against as you pull the weighted cable." Your "LATS": [according to healthline dot com] "The latissimus dorsi muscles, known as the LATS, are the large V-shaped muscles that connect your arms to your vertebral column. They help protect and stabilize your spine while providing shoulder and back strength. Your lats also help with shoulder and arm movement and support good posture." Here is a pic:
43. Med. readouts: EKGS. Unlike cable row exercises, this is something that C-Moe is more apt to have done
45. Earhart, for one: AVIATOR.
47. "S'okay": NO PROB. I actually found myself saying this once or twice ...
48. Start streaming: GO LIVE.
52. "Voilà!": THERE. Usually what I say when the blog is done!
53. More than half: MOST.
54. In addition: ALSO.
56. MC alternative: AMEX. I think the catch phrase was "Don't leave home without it"
58. "__ Vep": HBO miniseries about a remake of the silent film "Les Vampires": IRMA. I am usually stumped whenever a clue involves the initials "HBO". I haven't been a subscriber to that service in decades
59. Vault: LEAP. So, every four years we celebrate "Vault year"?
60. Meeting, informally: SESH. This phrase, unlike 47-across, is one I never use
62. "Oof, didn't need to know that": TMI.
63. Possesses: HAS.
VOILA!! Please add YOUR "puzzling thoughts" below. See you in a couple weeks ...
39 comments:
I saw the “trees” quickly and finally got the gimmick after seeing the reveal. And I wonder if SS will complain about the circles, or admit it’s a clever conceit? Anyway FIR, so I’m happy.
FLN- for Charlie Echo - Ah! A fellow Heinlein enthusiast! Wasn’t he the greatest Sci-Fi writer EVER? (Some may say Asimov, or Clarke, but what do they know?)
Thank you, Sally Hoelscher and Wendy L. Brandes, and thank you, Chairman Moe
Very clever, ladies! I absolutely loved the reveal TRIM THE TREE as the key to making sense of the three theme answers.
Timely, too. There was a lot of tree trimming around here yesterday, and there will be in the days to come. The ice storm dropped many huge branches from the towering 60 to 80 foot ELMs around the neighborhood. We lost cable, but some neighbors were w/o power for 18+ hours. Across the street two yards are a mess, but fortunately the limb didn't take out the roof on either house.
BIASES - Statistical concerns. We just had "leading questions" the other day. I seldom respond to surveys.
HDTV - Sharp set was sly.
ELMERS GLUE - Triage site's suture substitute - Most of the tin knockers I know carry super glue (cyanoacrylate) in their vehicles for the inevitable cuts to the fingers. I s'pose some of them carry Elmer's Krazy Glue.
KEENS - unknown. My longest hikes were in army boots.
O'SHEA Jackson, Jr. - Looks like he might be his father's twin. Just needs to perfect his beard a bit.
AROMAS - I chuckled at the punny clue.
Overlook - First thought was skip over, thinking about the way D-O commonly reads theme reveals.
Trouble with locks - clever clue for a fun answer. BAD HAIR DAY indeed.
IRMA Vep - no clue. As Abejo would say, "Four perps and I had it"
SSA-1099 - Haven't signed up yet, but did gather all the tax docs and created a summary page for our appointment next week.
EXCEL - Nice job, Moe.
Put forward - First thought was posit, but POSE fits as well.
HUGE - Like the massive ELM limbs that snapped off like toothpicks due to the heavy ice. Everything was covered in thick, glimmering ice. It looked like a scene from a Hallmark Christmas-time movie.
"Like new matches: UNLIT. Or candles" - Or a sober sot.
By the old daily scheduling standards, not very difficult for a Friday. I don't think Patti is concerned about degree of difficulty on a given day. That's fine by me, especially when they are this clever.
FIR, getting my Natick IRMA x SERAPs but missing @ SESs. Erased CRASHEd.
I'm not crazy about my KEENS. Unlike Tevas, my KEENS' heel strap is made of plastic and irritates my skin when I walk. If I'm going more than a block or two, I have to wear socks, which kinda sucks, er, defeats the purpose of wearing sandals.
Al Jolson sang a song about AVALON (California, the town on Catalina Island):
I found my love in Avalon
Beside the bay.
I left my love in Avalon
And I sailed away.
I dream of her in Avalon
From dusk till dawn.
So I think I'll travel on
To Avalon.
POSEd the shovel to the bucket: "You OK? You look a little PAIL."
I had a work pal who married a Mexican woman. He said when they first met, the only Spanish he knew was "como ESTA frijoles", or "how you bean?" (He also said learning Spanish affected his English - he was prone to saying "the window close" instead of "close the window". AND I could never tell when he was kidding.)
Thanks to Sally and Wendy for the Friday fun. My favorite was VET. And thanks to C-Moe for the visuals and 'kus.
Good morning!
My TRENDS had to give way to my BIASES. (Have I ever mentioned....?) The VISA MC alternative didn't play, either. C-Moe said yesterday that today would be easier than yesterday. Nope. Disagree. I saw the trees in the circles, and thought TRIM THE TREE just meant putting crap around the tree. Never occurred to me that the tree, itself, should be trimmed from the entry. Too cute for d-o. Thanx, Sally, Wendy, and C-Moe.
AIL -- Thinking about C-Moe's question, I realized that it's been over a decade since I've "AILed." Interesting that it's also been over a decade since I retired.
SSA -- Got my SSA-1099 early, but had to wait until 2/17 to receive my final 1099 -- the Vanguard brokerage statement. Got my taxes filed later that same day.
I found the puzzle just plain weird, with abbrs. NO PROB, ALT-text (never heard of), LATS, SESH, and CRED & E.R. I knew GATE CRASHER wouldn't work. After I trimmed the trees from the fills the ERS GLUE still didn't make sense. But I FIR after a bad start. Had to change SHOW to BIGS, EXTOL to EXCEL, and STILT to SNIPE to get the NW.
KEENS- I'm on the third pair, they're waterproof. Also wear Keen shoes. Very, very comfy.
MC & AMEX- got them both.
outta here
FIR. Never heard of keens but the perps took care of that. I only got part of the theme, missing what was left when you removed the tree. For a Friday CW, I found it to be easy, more like a Tuesday effort.
Took 5:35 to finish this one, which caused me hapPINEss.
Ok, SubG: Oh joy, circles...
These circles didn't bother me, but didn't add anything to the solve either. Most circle puzzles are usually too gimmicky for my taste, but the "books on tape" was an exception.
Isn't the plural of Lego, Lego?
In 48D's answer, "go live", there's another potential themer: olive tree.
I agree with KS about the difficulty level. Today's obscurities and/or unknowns didn't seem to cross each other.
It was easier than yesterday. I have a FIR Friday and understood the theme after the reveal, which also explained why GATE CRASHED rather than CRASHEr, my first thought. Thanks, Sally and Wendy.
A few other places I actually wrote in my first thoughts, leading to WOs for being hasty: That is/I MEANT, am too/ARE SO, and SESs/SESH. Perps fixed those as well as filling a word I didn't notice, ALT. Just as well since I didn't know it . Thanks, C Moe, for all the fun and info today. Well done!
Belated Happy Birthday to OMK. I enjoy your posts.
TGIF, everyone. Enjoy!
Good Morning:
You couldn’t miss seeing the trees because of the circles, but the reveal was clever and spot on. I needed perps for Keens, Mars, and Irma, but no w/os. SSA was timely as I just e-filed my tax return on Wednesday. I agree with TTP that Patti isn’t following the previous formula for specific daily difficulty levels. Personally, as I’ve mentioned before, I miss the Friday head-scratchers.
Thanks, Sally and Wendy, and thanks, Moe, for the fun, facts, and frolic, especially your poetic musings. Interesting list of K-9 breeds, most of which were new to me in this role, except for the German Shepherd.
Have a great day.
Very clever! I thought it was too simple and easy for a Friday with the circled trees, and then I read the write-up. Thanks to C-Moe for a very lucid explanation. Never heard of KEENS, SESH for session, and found the clue for GATECRASHED puzzling.
Enjoyed it, Sally and Wendy!
Jinx @ 5:58 Some people where I grew up would say “Raise down the window”.
This is Parsan. This won’t let me publish under that name. WHAT?
I was trying to think of a word for a dog's tooth(canine)
Jesuits loved QED. Lottery counter has free PENCILS too
Opener didn't fit either(PEELER). I first thought of mynah for that bird
I was thinking of cabled abs
AVIATOR/Amelia's
TMI: c. Prostate exam talk(especially if it involves a camera)
I never grok'ed the eventual theme even though SOAKING WET etc didn't work
re. Surveys. Who answers their phone these days. My out of state area code saves me from robo-dial
If this was an "easy" Friday then it must be me. I refrained from my CBD smart gummy(save it for Saturday)
Jinx, having had a lot of French I'm prone to want to use it when apropos
WC
Nice "write-up " C-Moe
As to the difficulty levels, which many people have commented on, including my good friends IM and SS, I would say that Monday and Saturday retain hints of their former relative difficulty, but the rest of the week seems up for grabs.
Thanks, Moe, for the fun write-up! Wendy and I had a great deal of fun collaborating on this puzzle, and I'm delighted to be making my LAT debut!
Anon @ 8:30, I'm a hillbilly, and where I grew up a lot of people say "unthaw" when they want to warm up something from the freezer.
WC - I had a Greek boss who could understand English very well, and could speak it fairly well. Until he had to defend something he said, or a decision he made, and then his go-to was "I must have misinterpreted."
Hola!
Friday puzzles used to be either difficult or impossible but today it was a breeze. Thank you, Sally and Wendy. I haven't seen Hoelscher since the late Sister Mary Louise died.
KEENS are new to me. Never heard of that brand of shoes.
Mauna Kea or Mauna LOA. Wait for the perps.
One of my friends had two giant MACAWS in cages, of course, and they squawked constantly.
Sigh. I'll take a CSO at OLD.
When she lived in Concho and Holbrook my grandmother had no running water so PAILS were placed in every bedroom and emptied in the morning. Luckily I was too young for that job but I still remember the AROMAS.
Thank you, CMOE. Have a fabulous Friday, everyone!
I filled all but two cells in just a short time. The two cells in the NW came to me after a break. Very easy for a Friday.
I was trimming the tree with the additional letters added to the trees. Now I see you trim the tree by chopping it out. Very clever.
LATS, ALT, KEEN and IRMa were unknown but easily perped.
"Pain in the English" site says,"Using a brand name as a noun isn't grammatically incorrect. But the company may specify how it likes to see the trade name used in print. So colloquially, "Hand me those LEGOs, please," is probably fine. But if you were writing in a newspaper, "The child threw five LEGOs at his friend's head," you should expect a letter from the company asking for a correction to "threw five LEGO brand bricks," or something similar." I always said, "You have to pick up all these Legos and put them in the box." To me it seems similar to saying Fords or Cadillacs.
BE, only GATE CRASHED seems weird to me, a little stretched.
Lots of clues I didn't know. Tough one for me.
Musings
-GATE CRED must mean that a performer has to have credibility to draw a big crowd to get a big payday
-ER’S GLUE took a while but I remembered that’s what the ER doc used on me two years ago
-BIASES fuel the 24-hour news cycle. “Point with pride vs. View with alarm”
-I warn phone pollsters that as soon as I see this is a “Push Poll”, I’m hanging up.
-Another rover on MARS took this intriguing picture of itself and its shadow
-MOVE - This story/video brought a lump to my throat yesterday. She is from a tiny school deep in Nebraska’s Sandhills and her teammates had quit.
-When a reporter POSES a tough question, the pol sometimes later must issue a statement saying, “What I MEANT…”
-Today we meet at the home as they want to MOVE 100-yr-OLD MIL into hospice care.
-Way to go, Moe!
Once again, FIR but visited the Corner to make sense of it. GATE CRASHED, not GATE CRASHER? OHHHH, trim the tree! Thank you, Chairman Moe!
Not easy, not too hard. The NW corner was the last to fall. I saw the trees very quickly, but never got the full reveal. I agrée GÂTE CRASHED is a little off.
I didn’t know O’SHEA, nor KEENS. Some of us here have celebrated many birthdays, a nice roundabout way of saying OLD.
I liked THE BAD HAIR DAY clue.
Congratulations to Sally and Wendy for a fun cooperation and for Sally’s LAT debut.
Jinx@ 9:15 Also a hillbilly but prefer Mountaineer.
FIR. Perps to the rescue for the obscure and arcane, but as usual, the theme taxied right past my gate. Wanted "Ho Chi Minhs" for rugged sandals, but it wouldn't fit. SubG, I read my first Heinlein, Space Cadet, in 5th grade. My intro to science fiction, and over the years, read everything else he wrote. Definitely the best. Ever read any H. Beam Piper?
Fun and pretty easy puzzle, although I've never heard of KEENS and ALT TEXT; perps to the rescue also for IRMA (never subscribed to HBO), and OSHEA. Coincidentally, today is O'Shea's 32nd BD, per "Birthdays" in the Chronicle, which I glanced at after finishing the puzzle. Fav clue/answer - Sharp set - HDTV.
Great recap, Moe!
I have to quote NaomiZ,
OHHHH...
Saw the trees but failed to see how clever it was.
(Why does this always happen to me?)
I also had to research the Lego/Legos/Legi? Brewhaha...
After digging then the noun/adjective/trade name debate, I decided it's best to just Leggo the whole thing...
C-Moe, you wrote a lively and informative review, but I can't agree with your yesterday teaser about today's puzzle.
Got the trees in the circles and the reveal, but left it there,.. Too much else to focus upon.
Hopscotched through the middle, south & east.
DNK: KEENS, IRMA. O'SHEA. Went for ARE tO instead of ARE SO. Had no idea what the "cable row targets" meant, so LATS was ESP. We usually see meeting filled with SESS, not SESH.
The NW was a shambles, so DNF. I know of IMAN, but not by her fragrance. Tried stasis instead of BIASES, because I've heard of the majors called the SHOW and never got to BIGS, so off to a not good start down & across the NW.
Not a fan when the NW is so difficult. Like a curt introduction.
I’m running very late today, so did not have time to read all the comments. Anyway, very nice, fun CW, managed to FIR in very good time, for me, on a Friday. In fact, the CW seemed more Wednesday. And not very many proper names, either. Thanx, SH&WLB, for the fun. And thanx too to CMoe for the terrific write-up.
Parsan, I couldn't root for the Mountaineers (of the University of South Pittsburgh, aka WVU), but I have to admit I admire Bob Huggins. But if the shoe fits... oh yeah - forgot who we were discussing - we don't wear shoes unless we're getting gussied up.
CED - I'll go out on a limb here and guess that things like that happen because of a lack of risk identification. Kind of reminds me of when Norfolk planned their light rail line. They apparently assumed that their 100+ year old records of underground utilities were correct. They were so surprised when they weren't. I offered, as a certified Project Management Professional, to take over the project's risk management role, and do it for free. They basically told me "run along, sonny. We've got this." Many more delays and overruns ensued.
I liked Sally and Wendy's puzzle! (Thanks for posting, Sally!) After I got SOAKING, the circles helped me to go back and fill in ALM & ASH. Before that I was trying to make surgery GLUE fit.
I liked SAID PLEASE and its symmetrical partner, BAD HAIR DAY. Shepherd's docs? and Perseverance's home were good, too.
Hand up for wearing KEENS sandals. Great arch support.
It took me a bit to see MOVE. BTW, nice Moe-ku. You EXCEL, as usual!
"Show" before BIGS and "safe" before LEAP. It all worked out except for the very end. I had SESs. So close!
TTP@5:46. I had to look up "tin knocker".
H-Gary@10:07. Gonna be a tough day. My thoughts are with you.
❤️🩹
FLN, Many thanks to all who sent me B'day CSOs yesterday. Much appreciated.
A special thanks to CrossEyedDave for burning down Shaxper's Globe again--this time on my behalf!
Quite an honor.
I had no idea Lucina was my same age. Or I, hers!
A fine PZL today from the Hoelscher/Brandes team. Chairman Moe moderates--and brings us some clever, new "Moe-kus."
Today's diagonal anagram (see "DR," below) brings me back to my research days, when I investigated the role of hypnosis (and self-hypnosis) in acting.
~ OMK
___________
DR: Just the one diagonal, near side.
Its anagram (13 of 15) refers to an hypnotic method; i.e., inducing a trance by placing a hand on the subject's forehead.
Hypnotherapists-in-training may learn how...
"TO PALM BECHARM"!
Gary, I'm sorry to hear that about your MIL. I hope it's a good place that treats its patients well.
Jinx @ 12:16 “BeatPitt” ,common mantra, sound good to me! Huggins is having a rough year. Football in trouble too. It was a big mistake to join the Big 12. No rivalries based on years of competition, games too far away for fans to get too, recruiting hard when up against big money schools. That’s the answer to it all—money.
Excellent puzzle! Great premise, fun clues -- thank you, Sally and Wendy, and thank you, Chairman, for the blog!
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Sally (thanks for dropping by) and Wendy, and CMoe.
I FIRed and saw the Trimmed Trees. I had the ASH and ELM, but had entered Singing WET fro 46A. ING was changed to OAK.
Another inkblot to change Outdo to EXCEL.
Also one letter change - Add to AND.
I PENCILed in LOA, but was prepared to change to REA if needed.
I always get GRE and GED mixed up.
I learned your American SSN p, and now must add SSA.
HD TVs are give a sharp picture. Great clue.
I think of a hijab as more of a headscarf covering the hair and neck. I think of a veil as covering the face, and thought the clue did not match. But I see that a veil can be many types of coverings.
I thought of knitting with those cable rows, but LATS perped and I saw the row-ing.
CSO to OWEN.
HG- sorrow to hear about your MIL. I remember the photo from her 100th birthday party last year. My mother turned 100 last year too.
Wishing you all a good day.
Hi All!
Thanks Sally (Congrats!) & Wendy for a fun grid. Perfect "Friday hardness."
Thanks for swinging by The Corner, Sally.
Thank you C. Moe for pointing out what I missed theme-wise. I didn't think to take the trees out and form new words. That's an extra-layer of "oh, nice" on this puzzle. //D-O: Yep, putting crap around the tree :-)
And I completely missed Sharp as a brand - I was simply thinking picture quality as 'sharp.'
WOs: upNEXT, tuCAn [sic?], wAveS -> HAILS
ESPs: IMAN, OSHEA, IRMA
Fav: Perseverance's home - took me two perps before the red-planet rover dawned on me.
FLN: Michael - Early-teen me read the Foundation trilogy. I should probably read it again as I only remember the crux.
HG - God speed to your MIL.
KEENS - I picked up a pair in Ashville (I didn't pack for hiking). DW makes me keep them in the garage because they have a penchant for retaining the AROMA of feet. //Jinx, my KEENS are all leather uppers - very comfy.
I also have some Keen-looking Land's End sandals - they don't retain stink as much.
C, Eh! - GRE == Graduate Records Examination - gets you into Grad School. GED == General Educational Development - a HS degree equivalency.
Jinx - Did you read about the epic risk-mgt failure in Spain? New trains too wide to fit in some tunnels(?!?).
Randal Monroe uses html ALT-text to great fun at xkcd.com [scroll over the image with your mouse and wait for it...]
Back at it. Cheers, -T
Parsan and Jinx: Pitt grad here; can't say anything nice about the Hoopies (WVU), but Huggins is an effective coach. Pitt holds a decisive edge in FB vs WVU but not so much in BB. Though I'd like to see them play now as the Pitt team currently is much better than earlier this year
Late to the party, having spent the day with our youngest granddaughter who today turned 12.
Thank you Sally and Wendy for this clever puzzle, and as a committed dendrophile I was sorry for the fate suffered by these trees, but it was worth it for the FIR.
That said, I knew that as the trees were pretty obvious, there had to be more to the theme than mere Christmas decorations. 17A made me suspicious with CRASHED instead of CRASHER, but I wasn't able to suss it until MOE's EXCEL-lent and funny recap.
Faves:
22A HDTV. Just got a new one, albeit a SAMSUNG not a SHARP.
27A LABS. Our two had all the discipline of recruits on day 1 of boot camp and they pretty much maintained that level for 15 years.
39A PENCILS. I solve all of my puzzles with a Tornado Crossword Puzzle PENCIL. I keep a spare should I ever lose one.
1D BIGS. SHOW --> BIGS.
11D SAID PLEASE. THANK YOU!
Cheers,
Bill
Further on RAH (as used by the fandom; expands to Robert Anson Heinlein): I must submit to all, that Heinlein's last book, "To Sail Beyond the Sunset," stinks. Muddy plotting, absence of editorial oversight, etc.
OTOH, the RAH notes that Spider Robinson worked up into "Variable Star" is classic SF.
Post a Comment