Good morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with this morning's review of a puzzle constructed by Amie Walker. I had the pleasure of recapping one of Amie's puzzles last July and in that puzzle she added a letter or two to common expressions and, thereby, created new and different expressions. In today's offering, she leads us in the opposite direction and deletes a single letter to yield definitions for three themed clues (all of which are starred for our convenience). The reveal comes at:
50 Across: "Stay alert!," or a phonetic hint to the answers to the starred clues: KEEP AN EYE OUT. The phonetic hint is that we must delete an I. An "eye for an I" in the reveal, as it were.
The starred clues are found at:
19 Across: *Relocation specialist?: MOVE PRODUCER. Movie Producer before the deletion.
Steve Martin - Insurance Agent/Claim Adjuster
42 Across: *Lift for Mom's mom?: GRAN ELEVATOR. Grain Elevator. Lift being, in this case, British English for what we in the USA call an ELEVATOR.
This is how the completed grid looks:
. . . and here are the other clues and answers:
Across:1. PC shortcut key: CTRL. The classic being CTRL ALT DEL
5. __ Jansen: kid-lit detective with a photographic memory: CAM. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
8. More than a few: MANY.
12. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA. A TV reference.
12. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA. A TV reference.
13. Repaired, maybe: TAPED. Yes, maybe. Not often the best way to repair something.
15. Facial tissue additive: ALOE.
16. God of war: ARES. MARS would also have fit, and meet the definition, but would not work out.
17. Market directives that have yet to be executed: OPEN ORDERS. A financial market reference.
21. Study closely: PEER AT. Hand up for first trying to make PERUSE work out.
22. Intended: MEANT.
34. Land divisions: ACRES. 5,280 feet per mile x 5,280 feet = 27,878,400 square feet per square mile. 27,878,400 square feet divided by 43,560 square feet per acre = 640 acres per square mile.
35. Maker of Don't Bossa Nova Me Around nail polish: OPI. This brand often appears. It's probably one that I should commit to memory.
36. Light air: LILT. Air as in a happy tune or song.
37. Tennessee athlete: TITAN. A professional football team. Formerly the Houston Oilers.
40. Cutoffs fabric: DENIM.
41. Walk quartet: BALLS. A baseball reference. The new baseball rules regarding allotted time to throw a pitch and for the batter to be ready to hit are going to seem a bit odd at first.
45. Tag line?: NOT IT.
Please Forgive the Animals for Not Knowing
Their (There, They're) Contractions
46. Spectators on "Ted Lasso," e.g.: EXTRAS. Some are created with CGI. Another TV reference.
55. Evasive reply to "Why do you ask?": OH NO REASON. The reply is often an untruth.
58. Ancient letter: RUNE. From Germanic alphabets used in the 3rd to the 13th centuries.
59. Lug: HAUL. Hand up for TOTE (although that's often clued as a pledge drive giveaway).
60. Makes a baby blanket, say: KNITS.
61. Jazz legend James: ETTA. This rare talent is a frequent visitor so we cannot say "At Last" she has arrived:
62. Bird in the starling family: MYNA. To enforce a ban against exporting MYNA birds, a country trained lions to guard its frontiers. One day two smugglers tried to sneak a MYNA bird out of the country while the border lions were sleeping. The big cats woke up in time and captured the smugglers, who were accused of transporting MYNAs across state lions.
64. Cubicle surface: DESK.
Down:
1. Muscle woe: CRAMP. I flexed my glutes and got a cramp. That was a pain in the butt.
2. Pang: THROE.
3. Superman player: REEVE. In the 1978 movie "Superman" and in three sequels.
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FSuperman-Reeve-body-56df97d65f9b5854a9f6c7cf.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=cd1539b241ed8a5839323dd78a1ada59074660c9791bf122de949ff6d9526a36&ipo=images)
4. Use an engraving machine, say: LASER CUT. I found this one to be just a bit of a stretch.
5. Guitar accessory: CAPO. Let's say that the guitarist knows how to play a song in the key of G but the singer wants to do it in A flat. Put the CAPO on the first fret and play just as you would in G.
6. Mimicked: APED.
Humans Pretending to Be Apes Aping Human Choreography
7. Set of dishes?: MENU. Word play. Not plates.
8. Some ladies of Spain: MADRES. Spain was a bit of misdirection except to let us know that the answer might be, and was, a Spanish word. Some ladies everywhere are mothers. A somewhat open-ended clue in that there are many, many possible answers.
9. Yard sale?: ALE. As in a yard of ALE. A yard is a tall beer glass holding 2 1/2 imperial pints.
10. "That's neither here __ there": NOR.
11. "Bingo!": YES. Aha! Oho! Yea! Another open-ended clue,
13. Sandwich that might have queso fresco and crema: TORTA. A Mexican street food lesson.
14. OB-GYN, e.g.: DOC. Abbr/abbr
18. Brother in Roman lore: REMUS. Romulus and REMUS had a wolf for a foster mother. The legend says that they founded Rome (named for Romulus).
Romulus and Remus
20. Buddies: PALS. Good PALS don't let you do stupid things . . . alone.
23. Lagoon border: ATOLL. I often forget if it's one T and two L's or vice versa.
24. Landlocked country in South Asia: NEPAL.
25. Abridges: TRIMS. An editing reference. No one says that they're going to abridge the hedges.
27. Location of the fictional town Horseshoe Bay on The CW's "Nancy Drew": MAINE. Another TV reference.
28. Play ender, often: ACT IV. This clue and answer is always a bit of a punt whether it is ACT IV or ACT I or ACT II, etc.
29. Pulitzer category: DRAMA. There are 21 categories. Yet another open-ended clue.
30. Fox Sports NFL sideline reporter Hale: JEN. Another TV reference.
31. Square up: ALIGN.
32. TNT component: NITRO. triNITROtoluene
33. Rub it in: GLOAT.
37. __ Aviv: TEL. A major Israeli city.
38. Exchanged: BARTERED. SWAPPED did not quite fit.
40. Dissuade: DETER.
41. Like classic Volvos: BOXY.
1975 Volvo 240
43. Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA. Born in 1856. Musk was born in 1971. NIKOLA should have had the foresight to trademark his last name.
44. Chilly temps: TEENS. As you read this I am at 9,500 feet in Colorado. The forecast low tonight is fourTEEN ° F.
Looking West From Mt. Crested Butte
47. Path: ROUTE.
48. Reunion attendees: AUNTS. Again, an open-ended clue. This could refer to a family reunion (and it did) or a school class reunion or a military service reunion, etc.
49. Cookout choice: STEAK. Lots of possible answers fit this clue, too.
51. Startled cry: EEK. Often, EEK a mouse! More often, we see the homophone EKE (out a living).
52. Huff and puff: PANT.
53. Craigslist caveat: AS IS. I saw an ad on Craig's List that read: "Radio, one dollar, volume stuck on high." I thought to myself, "I can't turn that down . . ."
54. __ bene: NOTA.
55. Resistance eponym: OHM. We're talking (electrical) physics here not political resistance.
56. Pile near a pitchfork: HAY.
57. Convent figure: NUN.
Well, that wraps things up for today . . . and, you may well be thinking, NUN too soon.
As you read this, Valerie and I are most likely driving through Utah or Colorado. Hopefully, running on clear roads behind the storm that came through California on Wednesday headed east. Stay safe, everyone.
____________________________________________
53 comments:
With the first themed fill, I understood the gimmick, which made it easier to solve the rest of the puzzle. To me, this puzzle seemed easier than the standard Friday puzzle (if, indeed, there is any such thing anymore.) FIR, so I’m happy.
Thank you, Amie Walker, and thank you, Marvelous Manatee
Easy week has ended. Sort of. Maybe. Today's FIR was just over 18 minutes, but some of that time was self imposed due to typing down answers while I was in across, and vice versa. I was watching This Old House and kept forgetting to press the space bar to toggle the clue direction. Plus, the usual amount of normal typos.
And it surely didn't help that some of my initial guesses almost right. For instance, I had "THROb", "sell ORDERS", "LASER oUT", "ACT Ii", "RoMUS" (I guess from Romulus?), "whAM" and Alums before AUNTS.
I suppose it would have helped if took the time to verify that the answers worked with the perps before typing them in (but what fun would that be?), and it would help if I didn't just bounce around picking off the low hanging fruit.
Plus it would have helped if we hadn't lost power early last evening. What a pain. Just after I got it fired up and the extension cords run to the refrigerators and some key lights, the utility power came back on. So then reverse the entire process. I'm getting too old for the whole process. Time to get a whole house generator system with an automatic transfer switch.
Poor typing skills, lack of concentration, and being fatigued... Those are my rationalizations for the length of time it took today. :>)
"... transporting MYNAs across state lions." - Groan worthy :>)
(Coincidentally, there was a spam comment at 3:50 for Lion Dates, Lion Honey and Lion Syrup)
JEN Hale... Colleen Wolfe on the NFL Network is my favorite NFL sports reporter and program host.
It's about 4:30 in the morning where you and Valerie are MM, so I hope you two aren't out driving at this hour. Enjoy the fun.
Back to bed. See all y'all later n'at !
Good morning!
Yay, d-o figured out the theme without needing the reveal, which he failed to completely read. This was a smooth solve with nary a hiccup. Thanx, Amie and Mal-Man. (I won't say "Break a leg.")
PANT: There's a large, elderly dog which we often see on our morning march through the 'hood. You can hear him PANTing a half-block away -- sounds like a steam engine.
TTP, This Old House is in reruns here during BFM week(s). Speaking of a whole-house generator, I've got a replacement on order for my 13-year-old 20KW unit. I've given up throwing money at it. After replacing most of the innards, it still won't start reliably, and can't maintain speed under load. The swap-out should occur in the next couple of weeks. This is going to be an expensive year -- roof also needs replacing and HVAC is on its last legs. Ah, the joys of home ownership.
First pass yielded seven fills, which included THROB and ALUMS instead os THROE and AUNTS. Also NICOLA not NIKOLA. I found this to be a difficult CW, but in the end I did manage to FIR, and did find it amusing. Also did see the theme with the first theme fill, which helped. Thanx, AW. Thanx too to MM for the excellent write-up.
Good morning. After OPEN ORDERS and MOVE PRODUCER were both filled I was wondering- was BORDERS or MOVIE was the missing word? CLAM ADJUSTER took care of that with the I out. Not that MANY unknowns filled by perps today. CAM, RHEA, OPI, EXTRAS, TORTA, MAINE, JEN
ALE- back in college I remember one place that sold beer by the yard or half-yard. Reminded me of a blunderbuss with liquid as the ammo.
unclefred-NIKOLA Motor Company's Badger is a fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck. TESLA has the car. I don't know if I'd want to drive with a hydrogen cylinder in my vehicle.
FiW. Had laser out instead of cut, and didn't know torta or Jen, so the theme answer eluded me, even though I understood the theme.
FIR, but erased niger for NEPAL and ramus for REMUS (UNTIE!!!). Took forever to get a foothold in Chicagoland, but APED and DOC led to OPEN ORDER (I thought of "stop," short for "stop loss" ORDER.) Waited for kapo/CAPO, but knew what it was, having spent a bit of quality time with a terrific musician in Louisville. I think that I mentioned before that she could pick up a new instrument, fiddle around with it, and play it fairly well within a day or two. Her main instruments were guitar, piano and flute, but she liked toying with her new sax.
Apollo 13 wouldn't have made it back but for repairs made with duct TAPE. Actually, a work-around made using duct TAPE.
I've been to Mexico many times, but haven't dared eat the street food. Maybe that's why I didn't know TORTA. In Ensenada I once asked for huevos rancheros, and the bilingual waiter said "you want ranch eggs?" Guess it is a "made for Americans" dish.
Earlier this week TSA caught a guy trying to check a suitcase containing explosives. The explosives were modified fireworks and butane, and were considered dangerous regardless of intent. The guy had a petty rap sheet, and they picked him up at his house after he didn't respond to security's intercom page at the airport.
Thanks to Amie for the fun challenge, even if there was too much showbiz for my liking. And thanks to our MalMan for delivering again. Hope you stay warm. We're supposed to get that cold front too, with high temps dipping to the low 80s tomorrow before rebounding into the mid 80s starting Sunday. There's also a 60% chance of rain tomorrow, so we'll be in survival mode until the front passes.
BTW - TTP/DO, those generators want to be run. My 7.5 KW Onan in the RV gets started at least once a month for an hour or so, with as much load as I can put on it. When I'm not using the RV, I run it every 7 - 10 days. GTE used to run their big Caterpillar generators monthly under load for what seemed like a half day. They don't wear out, they rust out.
For a Friday it turned out to be an easier puzzle than expected. FIR! Slow at the start. For example I had three tries for 5D: pick/CAse/CAPO, but figuring out the theme gimmick helped me pick up speed. Thanks, Amie.
Many times I thought "Oh, sure!" when I filled a word, like BALLS. I hadn't been thinking about baseball. And LILT for a song was a surprise. I had neon for the gas. Hand up for THROb, TTP and unclefred. Thanks, MalMan, for your review confirming my grid and adding humor along with information about the puzzle. Hope your trip goes well.
D-Otto, our PBS station is fundraising now too, with the usual "special" shows while they Beg For Money.
Have a good start to your weekend, everyone!
Took 9:57 for me to fnsh ths one.
Seemed like an easy Friday (as noted above) despite "many" unknowns (Cam, the Spanish ladies, the Spanish/Mexican food, the Roman brother, the Latin word, Jen, and Rhea).
In keeping with the theme: TGF?
Good Morning:
SG @ 4:04 (such an ungodly hour!) ~ I’m afraid “our” standard Friday puzzles are, mostly, a thing of the past and I, for one, miss the challenge and solving satisfaction they provided, especially Jeffrey Weschler’s brain busters. Today’s offering was a pleasant enough theme and solve, but nowhere near the level of difficulty of the past. I Toted before I Hauled and I needed perps for Cam, Jen, and Maine, all as clued. Rhea has become a gimme due to her frequent appearances, as has Opi.
Thanks, Amie, and thanks, MalMan, for a chuckle-laden commentary and the informative review. I enjoy your humorous asides and “Dad” jokes. Loved the Aloe/Thyme duo and the playful kitty “tagging” the unsuspecting canine. Safe driving!
Have a great day.
Musings
-Every town in Nebraska has huge GRA(I)N ELEVATORS
-Amie, why did you choose that clue for CAM? OH, NO REASON.
-The trainers for the KC Chiefs TAPED Mahomes’ ankle to keep him playing
-The only time we saw the stadium where the TITANS play, it was full of Cumberland River water
-Gotta run to Omaha so surgeon can evaluate my progress
Too much going on today so a self imposed DNF but the theme was clever. Packing/preparing for a week long CME conference in Phoenix.
Always a new clue for ALOE (like Oreo). "Pang" not really a THROB? (Cuz it's THROE!) and twinge too long.
OPI many of us guys learnt from the puzzles. Once again I forget "Midori's" last name. (What happened to OJ's Judge ITO?) Woulda never got ALE from "yard sale" without perps.
Way to go when the road is closed....DETER
Secure a screw...TITAN
Germans had a perfectly good alphabet till the Romans had to ____ it..RUNE
One trouser...PANT
Lucina if you see this, any suggestions on good Mexican/Spanish eateries in Phoenix?
🌞
The CAM/CAPO/TORTA group was a lot of unknowns, but the "photographic memory" led me to CAM to unlock the north.
Of course in the genius Mel Brooks film, Max and Leo were Broadway PRODUCERS, not MOViEs. Too bad Amie couldn't work in "A Christmas Story" - "You'll shoot your EYE out, kid!"
Irish Miss @ 8:28 a.m. - Actually, IM, it’s not quite such an “ungodly hour.” Because of the difference in time zones, I actually posted at 5:04 a.m. not 4:04 a.m. Still disreputable, I know, but not quite as bad.
CAM/CAPO was a complete WAG on the C
Yes, I remembered OPI after 3 perps
With the T I first thought TERPs then I recalled NFL
RUNES appear to be Norse in origin and related to Odin
THROE/THROb. Not George REEVEs the original. Also AUNTS/Alums
BOXY yes but very popular distinguished by the rectangular Grille
NFL host? Give me Suzie Kolber she of the"> Joe Namath Kiss! incident(which she handled so smoothly)
Thx maloman for the entertaining write-up and dad humor
WC
Working from the bottom up, I had KEEP A look OUT before KEEP AN EYE OUT turned up with down clues. That made the missing “i’ obvious in the long words. BLAM seemed wrong and I kept trying to fix it. Didn’t know TORTA, CAM or RHEA but they filled in quickly.
TTP @ 5:22 My favorite female sports announcer is Dottie Pepper of the GOLF Channel and CBS, Did not know JEN.
A true story: My 9 year old son was in Massachusetts at Williams College for a week at tennis camp. Also on campus is the long running renowned Williamstown Theatre Festival. He phoned me from a phone booth on the Main Street in town. “Mom, Mom, guess who’s in the next phone booth? It’s Superman!!! Is he going to change his clothes?” Christopher REEVE was appearing at the festival in The Front Page.
Why does autocorrect insist on capitalizing Main Street?
Interesting write up MM, and an enjoyable puzzle Annie! I liked the misdirections for MENU and ALE. I never count the time it takes to do the puzzles, preferring to take my time, reflect on the clues and answers for personal association. Perhaps I have more free time than most.
Fun theme with amusing answers!
I have been to the TITANs stadium whose sponsor with naming rights is NISSAN. It was amusingly confusing because it was the end of Music City Marathon my husband was running.
The marathon was sponsored by Toyota so there was big signage and new models for both car companies.
Thanks MM for a fun write-up and Amie for the puzzle!
Hola!
Not bad for a Friday. I agree with IrishMiss that the challenges of the past no longer exist.
However, the clever misdirections did take a while to figure out.
I really liked GRAN ELEVATOR!
ETTA James has become a regular on crosswords.
I'll take a CSO at MADRES since I am a mother and another at OPI. That's the brand used at the nail salon where I go.
Erased BASES for BALLS.
Ray-O
I'm not too familiar with restaurants in Phoenix but there are two excellent ones in Scottsdale, Lupe's on Marshall Way and Cien Agaves on Main Street as well as in far northern Scottsdale. If you don't mind the extra drive, it's worth it.
Have a fabulous Friday, everyone!
Lucina: Muchas gracias.🙂
Thank you AME for the FRDAY FR. _ thoroughly enjoyed T!
And thank you MaloMan for another witty and informative review. We'll expect a whether report from Colorado and weather you're having a good time or not. :-)
Some favs:
5A CAM. New to me. I've got her bookmarked for a grandkid gift or two.
13A TAPED. A CSO to Husker, TTP, -T, and all you DIYERS out there -- All 299 episodes of the "Red Green Show" are now available on ROKU and YouTube. Red could fix anything with DUCT TAPE.
26A CLAM ADJUSTER. Martin is a genius!
41A BALLS. I once asked a very busy manager I worked for how he managed to keep so many balls in the air at once? "Easy" he said, "every now and then I drop one".
35A OPI. YES! New crosswordese that I've finally memorized.
50A KEEP AN EYE OUT. Most people think of the Biblical injunction "An EYE for an EYE ..." as a justification for vengeance, but it actually means that the punishment shouldn't exceed the crime, e.g. someone should be executed for putting another's EYE out.
3D REEVE. Christopher was the singular REEVE. George, the plural one played Superman on B&W TV.
4D LASER CUT. Funny MM, I thought this was rather incisive fill.
18D REMUS. I guess he and ROMULUS flipped a denarius for the naming rights.
24D NEPAL. LAOS was too short.
27D MAINE. Looks like we're having a special on kid-lit detectives today.
52D PANT. Today's Jumble featured Golden Retrievers.
55D OHM. Or a Hindu MANTRA.
Cheers,
Bill
TTP @5:27 AM We have a lot of trees over power lines in our neighborhood and have had several long outages (circa 1 week) in both the Summer and Winter. One of the last things we purchased before retirement was a natural gas powered 14KW GENERAC (Honeywell). I think it has more than payed for itself in potentially lost frozen food and misery.
41A - Walka proud Joe Dimaggio!
Ray-o. Best of all, Barrio Cafe on 16th St in Phoenix
SG @ 9:00 ~ I forgot about the time difference but 5:04 is just as ungodly as 4:04 in my book. To this night owl, non-morning sleepy head, any hour before 8:00 am is ungodly! 😴 🥱
The clue "Walk quartet" and fill "Balls" reminds me of what Confucius said: "Baseball wrong: man with four balls cannot walk."
Ray-O
Also COMEDOR GUADALAJARA at 1830 S. Central in Phoenix is also excellent. It's a centralized place where our family meets when we want to be together.
Well an EYE theme is fit for me today. And a lovely, pleasant CW for my return to solving.
Cataract surgery is interesting. I was awake throughout the procedure but remember only bright lights and some kind of noise. The doc told me the next day that we talked, but I have no memory of that. My only gripe is that I have to this again on the 15th. I wish I could have done like Jayce.
IM, I agree 4:04 am or 5:04 am, no difference they’re both ungodly hours.
Greetings! Began my usual path through the puzzle along the northern border and was going nowhere. Thought uh oh, this is not my day. But then I went to the south, got some fills and worked my way up to the top. Yea! Thanks, Amie for a nice challenge.
Thanks, MalMan, for all the info and links in your recap. How perfect it was your day to review this puzzle. You fit right into the theme: MaIlMan!! ;-)
My Natick was CAM/CAPO. All I know of CAPO is from The Godfather movies.
I think we've had RHEA Seehorn clued before, but I only watched Better Call Saul for half an episode and then changed the channel. I guess RHEA Perlman has bee replaced.
Fast Friday FIR! A real perp fest. Didn't even see a lot of the clues until MMs review. After the first run through, I slipped into "Wheel of Fortune" mode, looking at the words instead of reading the clue. Hey, whatever works! Pat, may I buy an E? Didn't see the theme- went by so quickly.
Sorry, two edits: MAIL Man (In this font, Capital I looks like lower case l.
And, been, not bee. There! My keyboard OCD doesn't like to leave those things uncorrected.....
D-O
I’m wondering if you could do us a favor…what’s the brand of the 13 year old generator that has failed?
I echo Charlie Echo @11:34 - this was my quickest Friday in recent memory by far, and I believe I solved it slightly faster than this week's Monday puzzle (?!). The wonders of not having GBBO BAUER DSW in one corner. I got the theme from MOVE PRODUCER and KEEP AN EYE OUT filled in easily from there. I'll say the themers didn't really sparkle, in my opinion.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with a few corrections; it took me just under 17:00 on the computer to solve so I can't GLOAT
I "got" the gist of the puzzle when I fixed a few things in "GRAN ELEVATOR"; CLAM ADJUSTER was my favorite of the trio
Thanks MM for the recap and groans; hope you and Valerie have a wonderful stay in CO
Ray-O-Sunshine: here is another restaurant in Tempe that attracts a lot of diners and has been a staple in the area for 4 decades Aunt Chiladas. When and where are you going to be here in the Phoenix area? Send me an email if you have any free time and want to meet - I live in the East Valley
For all you Jazz fans. I'm sure you heard that saxophone great Wayne Shorter died yesterday at age 89. He left his Footprints all over the Jazz Age.
D-O, yes it was a rerun TOH on Create. We also get very old TOH and ATOH reruns on the Samsung and LG streaming channels from way way back. Also, LG Channels started showing episodes of Dragnet from 1958. Never saw those before. Jack Webb had a different partner and was much younger and thinner then.
Jinx, I run my 8500KW portable once a month. I learned that when I was in the Army because in addition to the huge stationary generators that could keep the base powered if necessary, we had two combat engineering battalions with large trailer generators designed for mobile needs. They ran those all the time.
A couple of houses away, my neighbor has a Generac whole house system that turns itself on every Saturday afternoon, runs for maybe an hour, collects diagnostic information codes, stores them in memory, and I believe it also sends them to his smart phone. I'm leaning towards the Generac over the Kohler. Big expense that warrants serious study.
I see many of us had or wanted throb today, so I don't feel so bad about that.
Wilbur Charles, yes to Suzie Kolber, and Parsan, yes to Dottie Pepper, too.
Bill, good to know about Generac. BTW, pick up a small roll of that Gorilla Glue adhesive tape and test it. Better than the Flex Tape brand.
The big winter storm front that was supposed to dump wet heavy snow in Chicagoland veered eastward and headed for northwest Indiana. That's good. Snowblower is back out to the shed as we are supposed to be in the 60's early next week.
Back to the house projects. Sorry about the Kolkata spam staying on the blog while I was busy this morning. Hope know one clicked on it.
Jinx, like TTP, our generator gets "exercised" every week. But in the last year or so it's become very hard-starting -- goes into "overcrank" shutdown or starts and then goes into "underspeed" or "undervoltage" shutdown. A local servicing company has racked up almost $2K in repair parts/labor visits trying to solve the problem. No joy. AnonPVX, the 20KW unit is a Generac. The replacement unit will be a 22KW, also Generac -- they no longer offer a 20KW. We have frequent power outages here in the "sticks," I'd estimate 10-plus outages per year, each of several hours duration. We were on generator power continuously for over two weeks after Harvey. I'm not anti-Generac -- I look at it like an automobile purchase. After 13 years sitting out in the elements, it's rusty and sluggish and probably due for replacement. (While writing this I received confirmation that the new generator will be installed next Monday morning.)
TTP @12:24 PM I click on both the profile and the embedded link, but never got around to notifying you about. They both had what appeared to be sports scores. Do you think it was infectious?
Parsan - I like Dottie Pepper too. I remember when she played, and she kinda reminded me of John McEnroe. I heard it said that she "could start an argument in an empty room." She seems so mild mannered now.
I most admire Erin Andrews for the grace she has displayed after that creep modified the peephole in her hotel room and plastered her nekkid pictures all over the internet. Unlike the current crop of pop tarts who pretend to be embarrassed, she did nothing to put herself in the position. Worse, she is reported to be a devoutly religious woman, which no doubt made overcoming her embarrassment even more difficult. (Of course, she does work on Sundays, so there's that.)
I agree with those who say that this was an easy Friday compared to the past. Time was I could never finish a Friday in less than 10 minutes, but I did today. Nevertheless, it was a very entertaining puzzle and reveal. I'm glad to be back. Well done Anne and Malman.
DO, your homeownership travails echo mine. Since October I have had to replace both my heat exchanger and its back-up furnace, all 18 windows, took out my shower/tub surround in favor of a walk-in shower, replaced the master bathroom floor, and just signed a contract for a new roof. And I'm not done yet. I am determined to leave the young lions a sound home. All this and I have a mountain of medical bills from being in and out of the hospital so much lately. Getting old ain't for the faint-hearted!
Even though I don't get around very well nowadays, I'm still cooking. It's my last source of pleasure, my recreation. Tonight, we are having pasta Milanese, a dish I copied from my favorite Northern Italian restaurant. It's cheese filled ravioli, hand made from that same restaurant, smothered in a home-made Alfredo sauce that contains bacon and shrimp. Diners are requested to leave their diets at the door.
That's all for now. It's good to be back, if only occasionally.
Cya!
i
Delightful Friday puzzle, many thanks, Amie. And thanks too for the helpful commentary, MalMan, also much appreciated.
The clues for the theme words were just a riot this morning beginning with that relocation specialist who turned out to be a MOVE PRODUCER. If he produced movies, his actors have probably APED characters in their roles to heighten all that DRAMA near the end, in ACT IV.
But my favorite, of course, was that GRAN ELEVATOR that would give Mom's mom a lift, or maybe HAUL her. Hope she kept warm by wearing some KNITS, not DENIM but decorated with some TRIMS. Bet her AUNTS would like those too.
Since we had a CLAM ADJUSTER who probably offered OPEN ORDERS at restaurants, I looked for some food for the MENU, but didn't find much except that STEAK near the end, or maybe even a TORTA (whatever that is). Could be served with some ALE.
Enough fun for now--have a great day, everybody.
TTP - Can you post a picture of that 8500KW (8.5 megawatt) portable generator? Also, what do you port it with, a Caterpillar D9 dozer? (Glad I don't make typos, except of course on days that end in "y".)
Wasseley, speaking of duct tape, do you recall the two shows that Mythbusters did on just using duct tape? The neatest thing was creating a "rope bridge" using rope made from duct tape. They also wi.d! had a segment on stopping a car using a barrier made only from duct tape. Turned out both performed admirably. Wild!
Got CAM and CAPO but couldn't make much progress from there.
Had lots of fun with today's puzzle. FIR. Like Parsan and RosE , I started at the top but got the most progress at the bottom working up. Had to work today, so took a while to get back to finish.
fun puzzle to go sailing with...
I took it (& guests ) to the beach, but it was so windy we were getting sandblasted.!
Opted for an inland lake beach, which was better as we didn't need to break any umbrellas, just sat under the coconut palms for shade. (DW hates it, thinks we are going to get eaten by alligators.)
Waseeley,
Don't click on any links you have doubts about. But if your curiosity gets you, it won't hurt to copy and paste it in a website like this...
Reading your comments about aging generators got me curious... I didn't know you had to replace the motor brushes???. Doesn't make much sense that a natural gas generator would have brushes, unless of course they are in the (alternator???). Hmm, sounds like something to YouTube binge watch before bedtime tonite.
TGIF. Thanks for the fun, Amie and MalMan(have a great trip).
I finished and saw the Dropped I theme (was trying to add an I to OPEN ORDERS d’uh - no *).
But officially. FIW since I arrived here to discover that my NE corner (last to fall) did not get corrected. I had Tons for 8A, corrected the T to M when I got MADRES, scratched my head at Ole (still scratching with ALE since I never heard yard applied to that), and I missed changing SES to YES.
Ah well, I didn’t fall into the Throb trap. Did anyone fill AUNTS as their first fill?
I had Edits before TRIMS (that’s for hair!).
We had “more than a few”, Lots, A Lot, Tons, MANY unknown names today. Perps to the rescue.
Favourite was the clue for BALLS.
Second was DUCT (for reminding me of Red Green).
Good to hear from you Bluehen.
TTP-that snowstorm is crossing the border and heading our way. Where are those Customs people when you need them!
Wishing you all a great day.
Jinx, maybe that's why my back hurts this morning :>)
It's the Briggs & Stratton 30555 (if you really want to search and see a pic of it).
And oops, it's a 7500W generator, not the 8500W model.
Bill, the dangers of visiting malicious sites are many, and you don't always have to press a link at a malicious site to get infected. That AWOL Dash T character can explain it much more betterer than I can. Things like "drive by downloads" and cross site scripting (XSS) can get you.
I had already deleted the spam when I mentioned it, so I can't tell you for sure one way or the other, or what cookies to look for, but I would do this if I were you:
- Make sure your antivirus definitions are current and run a scan
- Make sure your browser is updated to the latest level. I know that Chrome and Firefox, as well as some antivirus product browser add-ons will often warn you if you are headed to a dangerous web site.
- Look at your browsing history from this morning about the time frame of when you clicked them, and jot down the url. If it was a blogger profile, that part would be ok, but if the "blue name was a website, and the link in the comments was a website, then jot that info down. Then go into your browser settings and see if you can find any cookies that were deposited on your computer. Delete them.
Cookies aren't necessarily bad, per se. They are actually very important components in client/server (browser to website) relationships, but bad cookies from malicious websites are no one's friend, and should be deleted "just because".
That's the best I got...
Dash T is under a tremendous workload so he's probably only coming up for air every once in a while, so even if I had the original url, I wouldn't bother asking him to run it through his sandbox tools.
CanadianEh!, I know, right? If only there were as adept as those lions in MM's 62A comments.
Sometimes after raking the leaves or snow blowing the driveways, I feel like I'd like to put up some kind of border or covered dome to keep it all out for a while.
Another clever puzzle from AW! I managed a FIR but needed the reveal for 26A.
FAVs: Set of dishes? Tag line?
Hand up for owning a (used) BOXY Volvo in the early '90s.
Anonymous@8:24. Your slly antcs make me grn.
Tante Nique. I'm glad your operation went OK!
Thanks for your write-up MalMan! I especially liked the kitten playing tag. Safe travels!
CED @2:08 PM Looks like a useful website (I've saved it), but you need to watch out. Not sure people will know what to do when you're serious like that.
TTP @2:15 PM Thanx. Note the URL CED posted for testing nefarious URLS and I'll try to locate them (the profile was really the same URL as the embedded link). IIRC I opened them on my cellphone, which as a realtime scanner called MalwareBytes, and it didn't complain about anything.
Bill, thanks. I saw CED's link, but I already have a tool to check site status. This company checks billions, yes billions, of sites every day, and they are a known commodity that's pretty good at what they do :>)
Paste this one in your browser and bookmark it:
https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search
MalMan serves us this 1st Friday of March by offering Ms. Walker's XWD.
Several proper names in fills today. Luckily, perps solved the problem ones.
Didn't cotton onto the theme for a while, but it helped with 19A and 26A. Turned out to be quite clever, methought...
~ OMK
___________
DR: Two diagonals, one to a side.
On the near side, the anagram (14 of 15) describes the strange activity required when sweet buns with dried fruit are passed around at a funeral service but are accidentally dropped near diggers at work.
What else is there to do but...
"EXHUME TEACAKES"?!
TTP @ 3:57 PM Thanks for that. Got it.
I succeeded in keeping an eye out. Enjoyed the theme gimmick and chuckled aloud at CLAM ADJUSTER. Like Parsan, BLAM seemed wrong and I kept trying to fix it. To me, the CTRL key isn't, per se, a shortcut key, as it doesn't do anything by itself. However, since key combinations such as CTRL-C (for Copy), CTRL-V (for paste), and CTRL-F (for Find) are, I suppose, shortcuts that only work because the CTRL key is pressed simultaneously with the letter key, the CTRL key could be considered a shortcut key in that context. So could the ALT key, or the ⌘ key on a Macintosh.
Tante Nique, I'm glad your eye surgery went well. Your experiences of it are similar to mine: bright lights and a soft humming sound of the cataract smashing machine.
Good wishes to you all.
Jayce @6:13. I prefer ultra sound machine to “cataract smashing machine” but you’re correct, that’s what it does. BRR!
Ray -0 @10:35 AM If any of you meet up out there, be sure to take pictures.
Well, another one-square FIW. I never did notice the missing I in the themed clues, a fact which might have contributed to my not seeing the error of my ways in 26A. OTOH, I usually don’t do this well on Friday puzzles, but as others have mentioned, it was much easier.
Thanks Amie and MM!
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