Puzzling thoughts:
First off, I will explain why I chose the "theme" that I did. Every one of us bloggers has plenty of time to solve the puzzle, and write a recap for you all to read (and enjoy, we hope). Today's offering by Enrique was both a challenge for me to solve, but also a challenge for me to grasp. I just didn't "get it"
So what did I do? Why, contact my other brother from another mother, Malodorous Manatee, and ask for his assistance. After a few text messages and phone calls, Joseph sent me the following:
"Each of the three themed answers can be viewed as consisting of two words. But, in order to answer the clue appropriately, the second word must, itself, be split into two words." Aha! Thank you, again, MalMan, for explaining this!
Enrique is a recent crossword puzzle hobbyist/constructor. He started solving puzzles just a few years ago, and has already been published (as a constructor) in the NY Times. This is his third puzzle at the LA Times
Please allow me to map out this puzzle and see if you agree with MalMan about the reveal ...
Let's start with the reveal: 57-across. Brief moment, or what three long answers in this puzzle have?: SPLIT SECOND
Now, let's insert the grid:
19-across. Dinner and drinks with a preacher?: HOLY MAN DATE. The SECOND word in this entry is MANDATE. But if you SPLIT it into two words, MAN and DATE, it fits the clue
26-across. Thousands of years, for a megalith?: STONE MASS AGE. The SECOND word in this entry is MASSAGE; split in two it becomes MASS AGE. A megalith is a STONE MASS, and a thousand years is an AGE
45-across. Exam for a certificate in mediation?: PEACE PRO TEST. The SECOND word in this entry is PROTEST, and when divided becomes PRO and TEST. A PEACE PRO is, I suppose, a person who administers meditation. And I guess they have to be TESTed in order to do it. This one was my least favorite of the three
The puzzle was clever for sure, but I'm glad that I had over a week to solve, review, and prepare my thoughts. Today, my thoughts are going to be mostly in picture form ...
Across:
1. Otherwise occupied: BUSY.
5. "Checkmate!": "I WON".
9. Concert gear: AMPS. Interesting word, AMPS. It can represent the abbreviation for AMPLIFIERS as well as the abbreviation for the "juice" that runs amplifiers, AMPERES
13. "__ upon a midnight dreary ... ": ONCE.
14. Origami bird: CRANE. A couple of us on a Limerick and Haiku chat group put together a series of limericks about origami. My most recent one sort of fits this clue/answer:
Origamists, I hear, don't last long;
Folding paper can often go wrong.
I suppose you could say
That there will come a day
When they stop and submit their swan song
15. Henhouse: COOP. Moe-ku:
Car guy turned farmer
Gave his hens a free-range roost:
A Coupe DeVille COOP
16. "¡__ mío!": DIOS. I wonder ... when Latinos want to use "OMG" in a text message, do they use "DM" instead?
17. Rabbit kin: HARES. [according to Merrium Webster dot com] Hares are distinguished from rabbits by their larger size, longer ears, and longer hind legs. They also tend to live alone or in pairs in above-ground nests, whereas rabbits often live together in groups of up to 20 in underground tunnels known as warrens
18. Color of unbleached linen: ECRU. That seemed like a forced clue, but then again, it is Friday
22. Actor Jeong: KEN.
23. "Quite so": INDEED. A favorite word of mine. In German, they use the word "genau"
24. Move, roots and all: REPOT. Or in our case, as new home owners, it's to UNPOT. As you read this, Margaret and I are buying 3 vines, 2 shrubs, and a patio tree
31. __ Diego: SAN. What is the most popular opera in SAN Diego? Why, Carmen, of course!! ;^)
34. CNN anchor Burnett: ERIN. I don't watch CNN so this was a perped-in fill
35. Brain teaser aid: HINT. What I would've liked more of in today's puzzle. My solving time today was just south of 30 minutes
36. Bouillon cube maker: KNORR.
38. "Queen __": pop music nickname: BEY. Who is known as "Queen BEY" you ask? "BEYoncé. Her name conjures more than music, it has come to be synonymous with beauty, glamour, power, creativity, love, and romance. Her performances are legendary, her album releases events. She is not even forty but she has already rewritten the Beyoncé playbook more than half a dozen times" [as copied from us dot macmillan dot com]
40. Big fetes: GALAS.
41. Quechua speaker: INCA.
42. Nonpayment risk, for short: REPO.
44. Squalid digs: STY.
50. "Same!": ME,TOO. DITTO fit this
51. Titter: TEEHEE. Our thesaurussaurus:
55. Golf ball position: LIE. TEE also fit
60. Gumbo pod: OKRA. Moe-ku two:
TV Host turned chef
Starts food show in New Orleans
Called: OKRA Winfrey
62. Miso soup base: DASHI. The only DASH I know is Dash T ...
63. Possess: HAVE. OWN didn't fit
64. Ray: BEAM. Remember where the high BEAM activater was on a Coupe DeVille?
65. Like some rural roads at night: UNLIT. Unless there's a full moon
66. Rid of wrinkles: IRON. The verb
67. "__ there, tiger": EASY. What literally can be said to golfer Woods, these days, whenever he has to take an awkward step
68. Poems of praise: ODES.
69. Ice cream brand with a birthday cake flavor: EDYS. CrossEyedDave gets the shout out, here. Looking forward to seeing what kind of cake he links to today
Down:
1. __ Tree: place of enlightenment in Buddhist tradition: BODHI. I had LOTUS, which f***ed me up for a good 15 miuntes or so until the perps came into view
2. Collective bargaining group: UNION.
3. Give a good talking-to: SCOLD. Does any kid really get SCOLDed these days? Or do they just get sent to the "time-out area"
4. "Okay, I get it": YES! YES!. Not exactly what I said to Joseph, but close! ;^)
5. Country where Farsi is spoken: IRAN. Made me think of another pun ... the answer: CDC. The question: Place where Fauci is spoken?
6. New Orleans voting district: WARD. If you show up at one of these with an OKRA in hand, you're good to go!
7. Like challenging pushups: ONE ARM.
8. Lipton rival: NESTEA.
9. Royal flush card: ACE. The highest hand in poker (royal flush) when wild cards/jokers are not in use
10. Nojito and nada colada, for two: MOCKTAILS. I seem to recall my parents referring to these as "Shirley Temples"
11. Sweat outlet: PORE.
12. Like some silk or sugar: SPUN. Who didn't eat these SPUN sugar concoctions when visiting a state fair?
14. Garment similar to a hijab: CHADOR. I guess when I made my VEILed threat last time I blogged, Patti and Enrique called me on it!! ;^) [nytimes dot com says] "The CHADOR has no fasteners; it is held in place under the neck by hand. Black is the preferred color in public, but women often wear colorful versions at home or at the mosque. Hijab: The term has become a catchall, particularly in the West, for all Islamic veils, but is mainly used to mean a head scarf"
20. Parking post: METER. Some of these today don't take coins any longer; just credit cards
21. Short music releases: EPS. I've seen this word used quite often; it's borderline "crosswordese"
25. Job safety org.: OSHA. Another common crossword word
27. Bit of cacao: NIB. [Oxford Languages Dictionary definition] "noun: nib"
1. the pointed end part of a pen, which distributes the ink on the writing surface; a pointed or projecting part of an object. Example:"slide the tile into place until the nibs hook on"
2. shelled and crushed coffee or cocoa beans. In the USA, they're also small pieces of caramel, licorice, or other sweets
28. Month before febrero: ENERO.
29. Little pest: GNAT. BRAT also fit
30. Site with handmade crafts: ETSY.
31. Omit: SKIP. What I've done for several clues today on my recap
32. Actress Hathaway: ANNE. ANNE Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, she was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2015 [Wikipedia]
33. Sign at some museums: NO CAMERAS. I thought it was NO CAMERAS ALLOWED?
37. Sack __: RACE. Might be difficult to do whilst eating Cotton Candy ...
39. Thus far: YET. Have you been enjoying the recap, YET??!
40. "Check it out": GO SEE. Hands up for iPhone users? Especially whenever you ask Siri to find something for you? What does she say? She says, "I found this on the web; check it out"! And for those of us whose partner has an Android phone ...
43. Watch the birdie?: PET SIT. Was this Enrique's clue or Patti's? The same letter sextet could be clued: What he does to a friendly dog?
46. UFO beings: ETS.
47. Tegan and Sara, for one: POP DUO. Are some of you asking who Tegan and Sara are? I did, and had to cheat a bit to confirm that it was a POP DUO
48. "Independence Day" director Emmerich: ROLAND. [Wikipedia] "Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry"
49. Computer pro: TECHIE.
52. Stockpile: HOARD. Would AMASS fit?
53. Diplomat: ENVOY. [Merrium-Webster] "en·voy ˈen-ˌvȯi ˈän- : a diplomatic representative who ranks between an ambassador and a minister. : a representative sent by one government to another. ambassadors and other envoys"
54. Perfect places: EDENS.
55. Ear part: LOBE. Is there any room for another piece of jewelry here?
56. Store whose packages typically contain Allen keys: IKEA. Not to be confused with ALICIA Keys
58. Archipelago part: ISLE. "ISLE be back in two weeks, like it or not!" ;^)
59. __ end up: THIS.
61. Sedaris of "The Mandalorian": AMY. This is how IMDb describes her
Comments are always welcome ...
49 comments:
This was a very clever puzzle (although as C-Moe said, that last themed entry seemed to be “stretching it” a little bit). I didn’t have too much difficulty with it. FIR, so I’m happy.
FLN: To SS, also known as Anonymous DNLC: You know SS, I call you my “friend “ or my “good friend “ (and you reciprocate, which I appreciate) but it’s almost like an “inside joke” between us, isn’t it? Because not only have we never met, I actually have no idea who you are! But it really doesn’t matter, does it? Your sparkling wit, as well as your unfailing gentlemanly courtesy towards Ms. Irish Miss (also one of my favorite persons here!) makes me proud to call you “my friend “ even if I never solve the enigmatic mystery of your identity. God bless you, anyway!
You cannot keep a CRANE in a COOP.
Out the roof his head will shoot!
A hen is small,
A crane is tall,
He wouldn't fit even if he'd stoop!
I really like ice cream, I reckon.
It makes my waist fight armageddon!
My weight ain't right,
My belt is tight,
But I'll still take banana SPLIT SECONDS!
{B, B+.}
I zoomed through this. Until i got to CHADO_ /E__N /_EY with that very tough NIB clue. Pretty sure I've seen that clue for ERIN but still, CHADO_/E_IN is a potential Natick and BEY also has no reason to be there (BEG/GET instead of BEY/YET?) Just... https://imgur.com/sO4QeU7
Good morning!
The arcane BODHI at 1d? (Have I ever mentioned...?) Nice CSO to Misty at ROLAND. D-o managed to get the puzzle, and even managed to read the full reveal clue. But did he get the theme? Nope. Thanx for that, Mal-Man and C-Moe. (Remember when the hi-beams were switched by a button on the floor, operated by the left foot?) Too clever, Enrique.
INDEED: Evokes Leonard Nimoy's Spock.
EPS: Seems weird that "Short music releases" would be Extended Plays. They're only short when compared with LPs.
KNORR: My cheater kits of choice for Classic Brown Gravy and Hollandaise Sauce.
A neighbor lady is coming by this morning to have her taxes done. That'll finish up this year's tax season for d-o.
Oops, forgot to post this. Here's a famous one-armed push up.
Thank you, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, and thank you Chairman Moe.
Chairman Moe, yesterday you wrote that, "... tomorrow's puzzle is a bear" so I was all psyched up for a good challenge. I didn't have much difficulty, except for the northwest, and that was self-induced. Otherwise, it was a walk in the park, and I finished in just over 12 minutes.
In the northwest, I'd entered AND HOW for "Quite so". That caused a bit of a delay. "And how" is an accurate answer for quite so, and seemed to be locked in with my correct answers at 2 and 3 down. But 1 and 4 down weren't yet known, and I was missing the first 6 letters of HOLY MAN DATE and the first 3 of STONE MASS AGE. So I reread the reveal, and looked again at PEACE PROTEST and saw that it could be parsed as PEACE PRO TEST.
That was enough to allow me to get HOLY MAN DATE and STONE MASS AGE. So YES YES fell and I changed AND HOW to INDEED. So CHADOR perped in. Thankfully. The puzzle was solved.
METER also pretty much perped in, and I had an "Okay, I get it moment." As a clue, "Parking post" held me at bay because I started to fixate (bad thing to do when solving) on the clue in the sense of hitching post. The type of hitching post you lash your reins around, not the type where you betroth your significant other.
I'll have more to write after reading your review. For now, it is time to go make a pot of coffee.
even after the explanation, I do not get what the theme is. The only part I get is that the 2nd word is split, but there must be something else which escapes me.
FIW. Never heard of chador or Bey. Took a WAG at that section and guessed wrong. Got all the theme answers, but couldn't figure out what split second had to do with anything. Also too many proper names in this CW for my liking.
Took 6:41 today, which is lickety-Split for a Friday for me.
Dashi & Bodhi were unknown.
Theme seemed a little forced, but clever splitting of the words. And hey, no circles!
SubG, I appreciate you too. You do realize that I know about as much about you (and most others on here) as you do me, right?
And, yes, I also appreciate Ms. Irish Miss. She always seems to provide an accurate, concise, and fair review of a puzzle.
I also appreciate all the time, effort, and wit of the daily reviewers. Some of you seem to have obtained a part-time job working on this blog.
Thank you.
Good Morning:
I agree with TTP about the difficulty level but I think it took me a little bit longer to finish. I understand the theme, but I think it’s lacking in tightness. For example, Holy Man is in the language, but Holy Date is a stretch, IMO. Ditto on Peace Pro and Peace Test. The only one that rings true is Stone Mass and Stone Age. Dashi and Bodhi were unknown, as was Roland, as clued, and I needed the review to understand Nib, as clued.
Thanks, Enrique, for keeping us on our toes and, thanks, Moe, for making sense of the theme (thanks, Joseph!) and for the Moe-kus, especially the Origamists, and the rest of the visuals.
SubG and SS, thank you for your kind words. I enjoy your daily comments and observations.
FLN
PK, sorry to hear of your health issues. Glad you checked in and hope you see some improvement in the coming days.
Have a great day.
Yes, I remember when high beams were switched on by a floor button by your left foot. Most cars I drive don't have enough foot room for the switch, which often got hidden by the floor mats anyway.
Wow, a FIR Friday after C Moe's comment yesterday! I didn't expect to be able to finish it, but little by little....
Thanks, Enrique. The theme took me a while to understand, but finally I saw the second word could be SPLIT to work with the clue better. Aha! So, it's that simple.
My unknowns were solved with the help of perps, always appreciated. And I appreciated your careful review, C Moe. Learning moments abounded as well as Moe-kus and pun fun.
My paper printed a small i at the beginning of clue 16 A instead of the upside down exclamation point used in Spanish expressions. Only when I read C Moe's review did I understand the clue, but I had filled in DIOS by then.
Good to hear from you, PK.
Have a good Friday, all!
Moe, how does the national association of arbiters ensure the proficiency of their members ? By giving them a PEACE PRO TEST of course. I'm sure you and Owen can come up with something for that :>)
Moe, inre your INDEED comment - genau. I still confuse genau and genug.
Desper-otto, yes, BODHI was unknown, but I knew DIOS Mio. H.S. Spanish teacher Miss Morris would be proud. And yes to KNORR suaces and gravy mixes. Their brown gravy mix is A1 excellent.
Last summer my neighbor lady asked me if I would PET SIT her parakeet and feed her fish. The fish part would have been easy. Add flakes once a day. But she has this whole drawn out routine for the parakeet. In the morning, move the cage to the sun room from the kitchen. Open the drapes. Take off the birdcage cover. Add the birdseed. Turn on the TV so the bird has company. Reverse those steps in the evening. Too much. Better for her grandchildren to take on those tasks.
I used to tune in to Squawk Box every weekday morning to listen to market news back and forth banter of ERIN Burnett, Becky Quick, Joe Kernen, and the other guy (just LIU - Andrew Ross Sorkin).
I call them Allen wrenches, not Allen keys. YMMV. I call the ones with splines Bristol wrenches. Woodruff keys are the half moon discs that are sometimes used to spline gears to shafts.
Unknown author, for short @ 7:00AM, the three "in the language" theme answers of HOLY MANDATE, STONE MASSAGE, and PEACE PROTEST (two words each) are to be parsed as three words each to match the clues:
HOLY MAN DATE - Dinner and drinks with a preacher
STONE MASS AGE - Thousands of years, for a megalith
PEACE PRO TEST - Exam for a certificate in mediation
The reveal tells you to SPLIT (the) SECOND (word) to make the answers fit those clues.
PK, glad to see you back.
Unlike MM I noticed the SPIT SECOND word. I FIR but with three WAGS to finish I didn't like a few areas, starting with 1D- BODHI- never heard of it and my newspaper's print for 16A was "i____mio!" It would be either RIOS or DIOS; either way was a guess for two unknowns.
MASSAGE was already filled by perps before I looked at the clue and then STONE let me complete the unknown CHADOR. But the NI_ for the chocolate had me thinking a SIP of hot cocoa until I read the "Queen ___"- absolutely no idea about her. Lots of prima donnas out there. NIP looked okay but Queen PEY didn't and at least I knew NIB was a word.
DASHI, ROLAND, and the POP DUO (and Queen BEY) of Tegan & Sara were unknowns and in the last SPLIT SECOND I removed SUSHI and finished the grid with DASHI.
ONE-ARM pushup? TWO arm pushups are hard these days.
PET SIT for a bird? That's a new one.
WARD for a NOLA voting district. The wards still have over 25,000 dead people registered because the Registrar of Voters is too lazy to remove those who died or moved. A big bruhaha going on right now over a recall petition for the incompetent mayor.
Speaking of NOLA, KEN Jeong is a doctor who practiced at Ochsner Hospital before me got his acting gigs.
Hurray for me: I managed to FIR, AND I got the theme. Very clever CW, thanx EHA. Only W/O IWIN:IWON. I thought of LOTUS for 1D but waited for perps, thus avoiding the W/O. Irish Miss, the way I see the theme clues are: the first part of the clue doesn’t necessarily pair with the last part of the split clue. You have two words or three. For instance, HOLY MANDATE can be split into HOLY MAN DATE. STONE MASSAGE can be split into STONE MASS AGE. PEACE PROTEST can be PEACE PRO TEST. Anyway, never heard of NIB being a word for a “Bit of cacao”. That’s new to me. Fun CW overall. And thanx too for the terrific write-up, CMoe.
As with Big Easy and some others, my word was “iDios” instead of the inverted Spanish exclamation point. Made it a little more difficult to solve, but I got through it.
Fairly easy, except for 13 proper nouns.
Thanks Enrique. I really like this puzzle, even though I got an FIW due to an FTPR which would have revealed a stoopid mistake. Couldn't see the theme, even after an intense scrutiny of the reveal and the theme clues.
Thanks for splainin' it MOE [and thanks to Joseph for 'splainin it to MOE]. Liked the POESIE and the toons too.
Favs:
1D BODHI. Got this because my BIL is a Buddhist, although I had it spelled BOHDI until it didn't work with 19A.
20A METER. You still have COINS Moe?
21A EPS. Isn't he an actor?
27A NIB. Never 'eard of the second def.
28A ENERO. Are there any other months in the Spanish ANO.
34A ERIN. Don't watch CNN either, but she's become crosswordese.
52A HOARD. Had AMASS, but eventually HOARDED it.
7D ONE ARM. INEARP didn't work. [Pay attention Bill!]
47D POP DUO. Had DUO and POP just PERPED UP.
49D TECHIE. I'm a recovering TECHIE. Some around these parts might say "Not soon enough!"
59D THIS. EveryBODY'S favorite I bet.
Cheers,
Bill
Musings
-A very nice Friday entry and Patti even let a common ANNE be used
-DIOS Mío – Spanish adjectives come, uh, second. The “D” also gave away BODHI.
-We fans of Zorro had to let DON go for ___ Diego :-)
-I have offered to help my dear HOARDING friend to clean up her STY, but she sees no problem
-SCOLD – This very quickly turns into being about you and not the offender or the action
-That cotton candy is $8 in Yankee Stadium
-Were licorice NIBS part of anyone else’s childhood?
-The sign just before entering the Sistine Chapel clearly said, “NO CAMERAS and NO TALKING”. Both of those directives were completely ignored!
-Is/Was there a better POP DUO than Don and Phil Everly?
-Gotta go so I can talk to my hearing aid guy at 10 a.m. on the phone.
DNF, because I shot myself in the foot by entering Nestle instead of NESTEA, which I knew of course. Otherwise got the SPLIT SECOND theme when I saw HOLY MAN DATE.
A few unknowns like DASHI, BEY, ROLAND. At first I had tee for LIE, but quickly corrected it. All in all nice puzzle and great recap from our Chairman.
FLN. C-Eh!. I did see the PANDa, but couldn’t make it fit.
FLN Misty. I enjoy your little “stories”. Keep them coming.
A fine workout for a Friday, Mr. Anguiano. Very clever INDEED! Starting at the bottom, SPLIT SECOND made PEACE PROTEST - PEACE PRO TEST obvious. Did not know ROLAND, DASHI or BODHI and with CHADOR, METER, and YES YES in place 23a “Quite so” became agreed in stead of INDEED. NW last to fill.
Tetley before NESTEA and tee before LIE. Did anyone see the hole-in-one on the 17th yesterday?
Yesterday, the excellent food critic of the Albany Times Union, Susie Davidson Powell, wrote a page and a half article on MOCKTAILS, naming 12 restaurants locally where they are available and each with a picture of a delicious looking drink.
Thank you Chairman Moe for a very informative write-up. I appreciate your honesty in needing help. It just shows that, like golf pro who can miss the cut, even you crossword geniuses sometimes are flummoxed, just like the rest of us.
FIR, somehow! Thank you, perps and WAGs. Could not figure out the theme at all until Moe's enlightening review. D'oh! Now I see! MICHAEL & ANONT FLN: right on the mark. Lam Son 719 start to ugly finish from the door gunner seat on a slick.
Well,
Todays entry opens itself up for a silly link-fest.
But, before all that, puzzle was not too difficult, except for the NW corner that refused to fill quietly. I also put in in Ne thinking to finish it with Nestle, and left agape by perps...
Rabbit cousin? Four letters?
I couldn't help but feel something was missing here...
I try to be open minded about tasting different foods, but I have never found a Miso soup I liked.
to me miso soup tastes like dishwater...
Coup deVille light switch?
I would have guessed on the floor, but I was surprised by this one!
The birthday cake picture started out as sort of take on Rodney Dangerfields routine about how his parents were always too cheap to get him a birthday cake, so they gave him a picture of one. I have never been able to find a copy of that particular Dangerfield routine, but I have been offering diet friendly birthday cakes ever since...
The only Knorrs recipe I know: especially in a bread bowl!. This is the one dip you do not have to worry about people double dipping, because if you get in between me and the dip, I will bite your fingers off!
Anywho, as I started out saying, this theme is ripe for silly links, and will probably cause a multi-post ink blot.
I will start by asking, did any of you cheat on this puzzle?
FIR, but not that quickly. The B in NIB and BEY was my only doubtful entry. I now vaguely remember NIB in reference to candy, but not chocolate. I would have been more certain if the clue said candy instead of cacao. I think of NIB as he point pf a pen. Never heard Beyoncé called BEY.
Wih the reveal I sussed the theme, which I thought was great. I like the way TTP and unclefred explained it. The first word does not have to go with the third word.
Finally I made an ABC run for the D in BODHI which rings a very distant bell. DIOS made sense.
For a time I was into Japanese cooking and made my own DASHI. BTW, MISO does not mean soup any more that vegetable means soup. It is just an ingredient.
I have a friend who hoards in her car. Only the driver's seat is not filled to the roof. I wonder how she managed to find thigs when her car was in the shop. I have not seen her house.
I haven't seen a Shirley Temple in years. I do like both Bloody Marys and Virgin Marys.
ROLAD was ESP. Color of unbleached muslin/ecru was a gimme. Great descriptor.
A mediator is a peace pro. I liked that theme answer.
Let's see. Paul and Art, Jan and Dean, Karen and Richard, Sonny and Cher , Ike and Tina, Captain and Tenille were pretty successful. I definitely will not include Paul and Paula
Tough, but fun, Friday puzzle--many thanks, Enrique. And always enjoy your commentary, Moe, thanks for that too.
YES, YES, I was going to SKIP my comment today, but Tante Nique kindly gave me a HINT that I should do it, and I didn't want to SCOLD myself, so here I am. Thankfully we got some drinks right at the beginning, and that NESTEA was a good breakfast start, with some MOCKTAILS waiting for us later in the day, maybe to HAVE along with some OKRA. NO LIE, that might cheer us up enough to writes some ODES to all of these great puzzle constructors. Glad I don't have to PET SIT today, it's not much fun to have to take care of that CRANE and those HARES in that COOP--at least those critters weren't bitten by GNAT. Well, gotta go--HAVE some clothes to IRON.
Have a great weekend coming up, everybody.
SS @7:30 AM Your comment about the reviewers reminded of the ad for volunteers for our local fire department:
"No pay,
Odd hours,
Cool hats."
TTP @[time obscured by ad] genau = "exactly"
genug = "enough"
Hola!
Gracias, Enrique, for this lovely rompecabesas! In Spanish, puzzle literally means "head cracker" or "head splitter".
I finished it quite early this morning but was not feeling well so went back to bed. Since I did not have any adult medication so I took a double dose of my gr. grandson's cough medicine and it made me drowsy.
I know of and watch ERIN Burnett on CNN.
I know of Queen BEY only from crosswords and Entertainment Tonight. And I see that I spelled it wrong! Queen BEE!
I tend to have HOARDing problem and wish I could find a cure. It's not as bad as it could be but it's bad enough.
Corrected SUSHI to DASHI which is foreign to me.
BODHI perped itself.
Thank you, Bill, for helping me understand the theme and some of the clues.
Have a fanstastic Friday, everyone! Because it's St. Patrick's day our Bishop dispensed us from abstaining from meat today.
Misty @9:42 AM Ditto for me on your "Mad Libs" Misty.
CED @11:09 AM So that's what you look like!
"Potato Leek soup" ROTFL/LMAO!
And to answer your last question - "I didn't have to, I screwed it all up by myself".
Anonymous @12:09 PM The POP DUO at 47D were not Paul and Paula, but Tegan and Sara, who as everybody knows were Dr. Who companions in the pre Y2K series.
Ms. Lucina: I'm not sure about the impact of Daylight Savings Time, but I believe you sprung ahead one week. St. Pat's is the 17th, and today is still the 10th.
Waseeley: That's a good ad. For the safety of your community, I hope it is effective.
FLN, TTP Thank you for restoring my censored post yesterday!
I have given up trying to find a rational explanation for why that jerk of a Blogger lashes out as "it" does. I have no "rep," unless it is one that has been unreasonably slapped on me by the Blogger itself.
And I ask you, politely, to give up with the guessing. Unless you have clear proof as to why my posts have been sometimes blocked, it does no good to suggest explanations. That only furthers the insult of being censored--by suggesting I have done something wrong or earned my punishment.
Others, equally innocent, have been singled out at times. Ask CanadianEh! what she thinks of the Blogger's treatment of her on the Jumble site.
If this is not an evil-minded person but indeed A.I. at work, the emphasis must be on "artificial."
But again, thanks for helping out yesterday!
~ OMK
_____________
DR:. Let's see if this post survives the Censor's eye.
There are three diagonals on the near side, none in opposition.
The central line has too many vowels to serve our purpose.
Turning to the lower line, we have a likely anagram (12 of 14 letters) of a joint project--of some unnamed type.
All we can say is that it may fairly be described as a "fraternal attempt," or a ...
"BROTHERLY TRY"!
Waseeley @ 1:11,
I said I keep confusing them. I know what the words mean. It's just that sometimes when speaking German, I use genau when I mean to use genug, or vice versa. Verstehen Sie ? My MIL was very patient (and amused) with me when I spoke my broken German, but she always knew what I was trying to say. OTOH, my wife and one of my BIL's would make fun when I stumbled over some words. :>)
Anyway, glad you looked them up, so now you too know what they mean.
Lucina, corned beef went on sale at 25% off on Wednesday at the grocery store, so I bought two. One for next week and the other went in the freezer.
Old Man Keith, thanks, but I'm not guessing. It's not a person. It's Blogger's AI. We know for a fact that using certain words on an "All Ages" blogspot will cause the AI to put a comment in Spam. No doubt about that. None whatsoever.
At other times, suggestive content will get filtered. Sometimes, deservedly so. If your comments are too sexually suggestive or explicit, or depicts subject matter not suitable for an All Ages blog, they'll get filtered.
As for getting a "rep", whoever is admin over at the Jumble site (Owen?) needs to make sure that they mark CanadianEh's comments as "Not Spam" so the AI can learn. If it remains in the spam filter, the AI learns that the action was probably correct. If no action is taken, the AI will likely continue to flag some of her comments as spam. So scour the spam filter, and mark them "Not Spam" so the AI will learn that she (her blogger profile) is not spamming.
Do you remember back when Cross Eyed Dave repeatedly had his comments being flagged as spam ? I'm sure he does. Comments from Dave were probably scrutinized a little more stringently than the rest of us, and it surely didn't help that he always had so many links in his comments. So Argyle had to constantly republish Dave's comments. I haven't seen any of Dave's comments in the Spam filter in a couple of years...
Additional puzzling thoughts:
Sorry if I gave any of you false hope of doing the puzzle. I solved it well over a week ago and honestly didn't recall if it was or wasn't difficult to solve. I suppose that since I didn't "get" the theme straight off, I figured it was hard!!
We are finally getting some decent weather here in the Valley of the Sun. Mid '70's all week; glorious sunshine; perfect
Once again, a CSO to MalodorousManatee for pointing out the not-so-obvious theme
Parsan @10:53 --> trust me, dude, I can flub up with the best of them!! As I've so often said, it's a blessing for we bloggers to have the puzzle (and answer grid) available several days ahead of the publish date. This usually allows me (speaking for myself, but pretty sure the others, too) enough time to solve the puzzle without cheating, and to clearly suss the theme. This was not the first time in my 3 years of blogging to be stuck
Thanks for the CSO Ch. Moe. I believe, however, that it was our back and forth kicking it around that led, eventually, to the light going on.
It is snowing here in Gunnison County, Colorado. The skiing is good but the visibility is not. The forecast is for more of the same for several days.
Thank you too for your kind support, Waseeley.
I liked this puzzle, but, like several of you, choked on the crossing of NIB and BEY. It was a short alphabet run to get the B, but even then I didn't know what it all meant. BODHI was not a problem for me, since I have studied Buddhism and the life of its founder. Also, since I had entered I WIN, I was unable to parse or understand INEARM, so I tried I WON and still didn't parse ON EARM. As for DIOS and its misprinted clue, I just shrugged and moved on.
I think I'm getting pretty good at identifying clues that are Patti's. The pattern, it seems to me, is to have the title of a book, song, album, movie, or TV show, within quote marks, in the clue. Not particularly imaginative, in my opinion. Heck, a bot could do that. Just randomly select from a database.
Anyway, this puzzle, IMO, was well constructed and displayed much imaginativeness, with the aforementioned unimaginative exceptions.
Ol'Man Keith, I once had a post deleted because it had the word pr0st1tute in it. I used the word to describe certain roles in opera. Once I "hid" the word as I have done here, the post was not deleted.
Good wishes to you all.
MOE @3:19 PM FYI, I discovered a while back that Parsan, like inanehiker, is a dudette.
Jayce @5:40 ~
I suppose my inclusion of the words Republican & Democrat may have triggered something, although my context was clearly to make an entirely apolitical point.
If that was the case, then the *#@! Blogger needs to pay the penalty, not me. If so, it needs fixing, not excusing.
We don't just dash these posts off; we spend time on them and give them voluntarily-- in order to keep the site interesting & thriving.
You should not have had to re-do your composition.
Our contributions should never be treated like dirt.
~ OMK
TTP ~ I am an admin (along with Owen) on the Jumble site, but I don't know how to deal with the "Blogger."
I did not ask for this privilege. I think Owen conferred it on me so he could take a break.
I know nothing about my duties or perks except how to erase postings (which I never do, except to clean up my own) and how to change the dates for fresh posts.
If you can explain how I can address the Blogger, so it will listen, please let me know!
~ OMK
Chairman Moe @ 3:19 - Thanks for the info on how you solvers get the puzzles early in order to write such interesting and detailed commentary.
By the way, I answer to dudette.
TTP, PS. I don't know how/where to find the "spam filter."
~ OMK
Old Man Keith, I have never seen Blogger's AI filter a politically oriented comment.
Okay, got it. You are an admin on the Jumble blog. Here's how to approve comments that have been erroneously filtered as Spam:
1) In the upper left corner of the comments page is an orange box with a white letter B. Right click it.
2) Select "Open in new tab". It will open the Blogger dashboard.
3) On the dashboard, directly under the orange box w/ the white B will be a list of blogspots that have you listed as either an Author, an Admin or an Owner.
4) Highlight the one that indicates the Jumble blog, and click it. It may be shown under the draw down menu twistie submenu (inverted solid carat symbol).
5) The title under the orange B will change to Jumble Blog or what ever it is named. Now click "Comments" in the left menu panel. The right side of the page will now change to a listing of all the comments that have ever been written on the blogspot.
6) In that right-side panel, notice the word "All" at the left mid-top of the page that also has an inverted carat. Click it.
7) Select Spam. All comments that are being filtered from reader-view are now shown.
8) The comments are segmented by commenter name with the first two lines of the comments shown. On the far right side is a scroll bar. Scroll down until you see a comment from CanadianEh. Hover your cursor over the comment segment.
9) You will see a Trash Can icon and a Check Mark icon. Click select the Check Mark icon to approve her comment.
10) Repeat for each of her comments in the Spam filter.
Summary statements:
- As you approve them, you are teaching Blogger AI that her comments have erroneously been filtered. The AI will change its confidence factor that her comments are spam, and over a relatively short time it should start publishing her comments w/o issue.
- Not from her of course, but if you approve comments that are of an adult comment nature that are on a blogspot that is configured for "All Ages", you risk having Blogger taking the entire blogspot completely offline. They don't mess around. They'll send you a takedown notice for various issues and if you don't address them, your blogspot may disappear.
- Also of course, this is C.C.'s blogspot. If Blogger's AI has determined that content is inappropriate for the blog's rating, I don't approve it simply because a commenter has a different opinion of whether it is appropriate or not. I will not take the risk that her blog might be taken down. None of us would want that.
Just to clarify, if you are an Admin, Blogger will not send you the takedown notice. They will send it to the Blog owner, so Owen would get that email, not you.
Hi All!
Fun puzzle, write-up, and banter at The Corner today. So, thanks everyone!
Short on time as we went to see Drunk Shakespeare only to find our tickets are for next Friday. Oh well. Had a nice dinner at La Fisheria (very good!) and then drove home.
Theme was clever and I figured out the SPLIT with PRO TEST. Cute.
WOs: I WiN, aNERO, diTto, Lay->LIE
ESPs: BODHI | DIOS, AMY, ROLAND (Hi Misty!), CHADOR
Fav: PET SIT was a left turn from "Smile for the camera" which I was thinking at birdie.
CED - LOL comics. I needed that after coding a script to pull logs.
Cheers, -T
Well, I had another one-square FIW. Hey, I really think this is the first Friday puzzle I’ve actually finished, not only because of the degree of difficulty, but also because I work on Fridays, and if we’re busy, I don’t get to mess around with it too much at work. I did have most of it done before I even went to bed this morning, so all I had to do when I got home this evening was try to fill in the holes.
Usually, when I’m proofreading, I’ll put a question mark beside the “I ain’t sures.” Didn’t even bother this time, there were so many.
Oh, my one error…. For some stupid reason, I changed Queen Bee to Queen Bea, when I should have should have known better. Red Forman is calling me again!
Just to show how lucky I was, BODHI, CHADOR, NIB, ROLAND, AMY, and DASHI were all unknowns.
Thanks, Enrique, Chairman Moe and MalMan.
FIW on BOnHI and of bits DIOS
Yes , the high BEAM activater was on the floor next to clutch
WARD? I thought it was Parish
HG, Paul McC referred to them as Phil and Don
Just finished Saturday. Forgot that I'd never got around to posting.
WC
Anonymous@1:36
Most of today I spent thinking it was the 17th until I was on the phone with a friend and she set me straight. I have no excuses except that days blur into each other and it's hard to distinguish one from the other except Sunday when I go to church. And I have two clocks that exhibit not only the time, but the date as well. It's a matter of paying attention.
So I still have another week to prepare for St. Pat's day. Our book club meeting is scheduled for the next day (March 18h) and I'm glad that I still have time to finish the book.
Thank you for the alert, though.
TTP ~ Thank you!
I will save your very detailed directions and find time to see if I can make use of them.
I understand that the Blogger may not give me the same response as it may the owner. In that case, I will try to get answers from Owen.
Thank you again! You are being most helpful.
~ OMK
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