Good Morning, Cruceverbalists! Malodorous Manatee here with another Friday recap. Does anybody remember the stage show version of Peter Pan? For some reason, after sussing out today's theme, the "I Won't Grow Up" song from that show became an ear worm for me. "I Won't Glow Up" would be such an easy spoof.
I had never heard of GLOW UP before encountering it in today's puzzle. There seem to be some worthy concepts wrapped up in a GLOW UP:
In any event, our puzzle setter, Natasha Erickson, has, in this puzzle, riffed on the Glow Up "label". At four places (all Down clues/answers instead of the far more commonly seen Across) Natasha has employed a word that is roughly analogous to GLOW. The UP gimmick is that we have to spell out the word from the bottom up instead of from the top down. Quite disconcerting, at first. We sense pretty quickly that something fishy is going on but it takes a while to sort it out. The reveal helps but comes at what would likely have been one of the last places a solver would reach:
51 Down: Positive personal transformation, in slang, and what the answer to each starred clue literally has?: GLOW UP. A synonym for GLOW is to be placed in the squares from the bottom UP.
Here are the four themed clues/answers, all starred for our convenience (or, for at least one of us, annoyance):
5 Down: *Possible symptom before a bad headache: MIGRAINE ARUA. Read ARUA from the bottom up and we get MIGRAINE AURA.
10 Down: *Quick-to-wake sorts: THGIL SLEEPERS. Similarly, THGIL becomes LIGHT SLEEPERS, and so on.
18 Down: *Small sign that things will improve: REMMILG OF HOPE. GLIMMER OF HOPE
22 Down: *Morning exhortation: RISE AND ENIHS. RISE AND SHINE.
Here is how this all looks in the grid:
. . . and here is the rest of the story:
Across:
1. CIO partner: AFL. In 1955, the two unions merged.
4. Mosey: AMBLE.
9. Literary musketeer: ATHOS. The Three Musketeers were ATHOS, Porthos and D'artagnan
14. Natori Feathers undergarment: BRA. A learning moment. That's okay. We all enjoy learning.
Natori Feathers BRA
15. "Ta-da!": DID IT.
16. __ Island: RHODE. The State.
17. Life, for one: BOARD GAME. Lots of possible answers for the clue. E.G., prison term. We have seen the answer that was used several times previously.
19. Concur: AGREE.
20. Fashion magazine that's also a French pronoun: ELLE. A frequently-referenced mag on this blog.
21. Reuben bread: RYE. Just add corned beef, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut.
22. Softball stat: RBIS. Run Batted In S
23. Thailand, once: SIAM.
24. "Same here": AS AM I. Was it going to be SO DO I?
26. Toy company based in Billund, Denmark: LEGO. It was enough to know that LEGO is a Danish company.
29. Garlicky dish: SCAMPI.
31. Ocho menos seis: DOS. Today's Spanish cum math lesson.
32. Jazz style: SCAT. Often clued with a reference to Ella.
33. Solar wind particle: ION. The solar wind continuously flows outward from the sun and consists primarily of protons and electrons in a plasma state.
34. Christmas __: EVE.
35. Hideout: LAIR. How did the canine scientist get into her secret lair? Through the labra door.
36. Serranos, e.g.: CHILIES.
40. More than willing: EAGER TO.
42. __ Kong: HONG. Was it going to be KING?
43. Courses for coll. credit: APS. Advanced Placement courseS
45. Formerly, in bios: NEE. A mom takes her young son to the doctor one day. She tells the doctor that her child's knee hurts and the doctor refers her to a nephrologist becuase it 's a kid knee problem.
46. Petrol brand: ESSO. "Petrol" in lieu of "Gasoline" alerts us to think Canadian.
47. Issa of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse": RAE. Didn't John Lennon compose a song of roughly the same name?
48. Olympian's violation: DOPING.
The All Drug Olympics
52. Utah's Capitol __ National Park: REEF.
53. Water bill basis: USAGE. The California legislature is toying with mandating an income based system for utility bills. I am not sure how that will encourage conservation.
55. Sci. that studies biodiversity: ECOL. ECOLogy
56. __ egg: vegan baking ingredient: CHIA. I had never heard of a CHIA egg. CHIA Pet, yes. Another learning moment. Thanks, perps.
58. Radar __: GUN.
Radar O'Reilly Would Not Fit
59. Silver State city: RENO. There are lots of cities in Nevada. ELKO is another with four letters.
60. Blacksmith's wear: APRON.
62. Bit of Valentine's decor: CUPID'S BOW. Also the name of a certain part of one's lips and a form of lip enhancement surgery.
64. Snuck: CREPT. Two somewhat odd past tense words.
65. Whereas, briefly: ALTHO. "Briefly"hints that the word might be truncated.
66. Canberra sch.: ANU. It's mascot should be the EMU.
67. Place to have reservations: HOTEL. Cute. Not reservations as in doubts or second thoughts about something.
68. Camera option: FLASH. On / Off / Automatic
69. Rep. group: GOP. The moniker Grand Old Party for the Republican Party first appeared in print around 1884.
Down:
1. Convent leader: ABBESS.
2. Cavort: FROLIC.
3. Playmate of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, and Po: LAA LAA.
4. Verb on a dipstick: ADD. Is your car down a quart of oil. Perhaps you should check.
6. Annual milestones, briefly: B'DAYS. BirthDAYS
7. Tart citrus drink: LIMEADE. LEMONADE was too long.
8. Summer in Monaco: ETE. A French lesson often presented in crossword puzzles.
9. Many a Yemeni: ARAB.
11. Early rail transportation: HORSE CAR. I have watched thousands of TV westerns but cannot recall any references to this.
12. Amanda Gorman's "__ to Our Ocean": ODE. Didn't know the work but it's almost always ODE.
13. "Catch my drift?": SEE. See?
25. "Get out of the way!": MOVE.
27. Pace: GAIT.
28. Other, in Mazatlán: OTRO. What was that last letter going to be? An A or an O? What will constructors do if the Latinx concept catches on.
30. Taro dish: POI. I couple of years ago I went to Hawaii where I got really sick. Upon my return my boy asked me what had caused the illness. I replied, "POI, son."
36. "If I Could Turn Back Time" singer: CHER.
37. Spigot attachment: HOSE.
38. Away from prying eyes: IN SECRET.
39. Beauty spots?: SPAS.
41. Logical start?: GEO. ECO? NEO? THEO was too long.
44. Bird that cries "Mine! Mine! Mine!" in "Finding Nemo": SEAGULL.
49. Sprain treatment: ICE BAG.
50. "You're doing it all wrong!": NO NO NO. Anything said here would be redundant.
54. Sanjay of CNN: GUPTA.
57. Like some LAX flights: INTL. LAX is the code for Los Angeles INTernationaL Airport
60. German "Drat!": ACH.
61. Whiz: PRO. Coulda' been ACE.
62. Half-__: coffee spec: CAF.
63. [Head slap]: DOH.
Well, that will Sew Up things for today. Glad that you were able to Show Up. Have a great weekend, everyone. I hope that no one gets nauseous and feels like they have to . . . oh, never mind. Maybe you can stream this flick:
ATHOS ambulates through the rues of Paris, Porthos paces about looking garish. D'Artagnan dreams of Deeds Herculean, And Aramis AMBLES round the parish.
A popular place for a GUN show Is the SILVER STATE city of RENO. Much better would be If they'd all AGREE To only shoot CUPID'S BOW ammo!
This puzzle started off simply enough, but it soon became evident that certain answers weren’t making sense. It wasn’t until I got to the reveal, which was tricky in itself, that I had a “glimmer “ of what was going on. But suddenly the V-8 can hit, and I KNEW what was going on! I modified certain of my answers accordingly (“chilies”, anyone?) and got the hoped for “flip over” that indicates success. So, this puzzle, which started off deceptively simple, then became very complex finally, with my understanding of the gimmick, became simple again. A worthy Friday puzzle, which I finally managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
ATHOS, RHODE, and AGREE were solid, but yielded THG... as the start of 10d. Ominous. It wasn't long before d-o saw the LIGHT, but not the theme. GLOW UP was unknown, filled itself, and the clue remained unread. D'OH. Yup, LEMONAD did the Hokey-Pokey. Interesting puzzle, Natasha. (Have you ever collaborated with a Boris?) Enjoyed your groany expo, Mal-Man. ("kid knee" / "labra door" / "poi, son" indeed.)
MIGRAINE AURA: Been there, done that. Suffered from migraines through my early thirties, and then they suddenly stopped. No idea why, but I'm happy that they did. My aura was a small sparkly circle which slowly, over many minutes, expanded out of the field of vision. I still see the aura occasionally, but no headache follows.
D'Artagnan was the 4th Musketeer. Aramis was the third. Horsecars were horse-drawn trams. "The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail track."
GUPTA was UNK but paucity of pop-cul was appreciated
SumD said it perfectly. But no GLOW of success for ol' one-box Wilbur- FIW. Had a nice streak going
WC
FLN, -T, Harmon Killebrew came up with the Washington Senators in the 50s and became a Twins legend. 1967 saw the Pennant Race come down to a rapturous weekend in Boston
Three Musketeers is a double misnomer, since there were 4 of them, and they principally used swords, not muskets. I LIU: "What is a chia egg? A chia egg is simply made from water and whole chia seeds. Once combined, they become gelatinous, kind of like the texture of an egg. Chia eggs work well to bind baked goods together." There are also flax seed eggs.
Grokked the theme early when MIGRAINE AURA had the second part spelled ARUA. We've had the answers go up before on a vertical answer - but this is the first I remember that only one of the two words went up and the other down
I've never heard of GLOW UP, but perps came to the rescue Other thoughts were already covered by others above
FIW, MIGRAINsARUA x CHILIsS. For some reason I didn't remember that serranos are chilies until the MalMan set me straight. I was certain that Natori Feathers must be some kind of traditional Native American garb, until I saw the picture.
We are camping on the banks of the Cashie River near Windsor, NC. We are here because Norfolk is holding Harbor Fest this weekend, featuring fireworks that are longer and closer to our house than the usual Independence Day stuff (and are held two evenings), and Zoë has a very hard time with them. It is really quiet here, and it gives us a chance to explore several smaller communities that we've only driven past. While I was setting up the outside stuff (electricity, water, sewer) a deer AMBLEd by, seemingly unconcerned with my presence.
FIW. I had grow up, which made more sense to me than glow up and had no idea about 55A. Seems the whole puzzle was a bit contrived. I struggled with migraine aura since I am unfamiliar with this, having never had a migraine. I really dislike altho, although I suppose it's used somewhere by someone? Hmmmm. If not for "glow up" I would have finished this correctly.
Took 11:08 today, but this one made me want to throw up....
I agree with KS, except I wouldn't say "a bit". Too contrived. I have not heard of "glow up", and I hope I don't hear of it anymore.
I appreciate the ingenuity of the puzzle, but it just didn't work.
I didn't know migraine aura, which meant a backward (upward?) spelling of an unknown was more so difficult. Anu & altho isn't a pretty pair. See also, siam & asami.
I found Capitol Reef to be a lovely national park, with some good trails/hikes. It's overshadowed by Zion and Bryce Canyon (in the SW corner of Utah) and Arches and Canyonland (in the SE corner of Utah). Capitol Reef is in the middle of those duos. Worthy of your time if you're in the area.
I could tell there was some gimmick going on when I filled the NE with very solid perps and the upside down LIGHT at THGIL showed it. I'd already filled the left side and REMMIL-G just looked strange but after OF HOPE was filled by perps. I saw the 'light' at RISE AND ENISH but have to say finishing was tough. My UNI and CUPID ROSE wouldn't work until I realized I had filled ELKO instead of RENO; then SLEEPER woke up. That my shot over the BOW as in bow wow, not CUPID'S 'bo')
GLOW UP? Never heard of it and I would say as a fill it should be NO NO NO. ANU-unknown but it fit. The only other unknowns were CHIA and LAA LAA. I want my CHIA eggs over easy.
GUPTA-CNN- their ratings are in the toilet, going down the drain. They just fired the CEO who was hired less than a year ago to try and improve them. He didn't and the odds are against any new chief improving the network. Too much competition. You don't "hitch a ride to a dying star". You'll go down in flames with it.
FIR but the SE corner was very slow. I confidently filled RISE AND shine before I figured out the gimmick. It wasn't until I wrote out the phrase for 18D that I saw the reversed GLIMMER. Then the other phrases made sense. The reveal explained the reason for the reversals, though I wasn't familiar with the expression GLOW UP. Perps were essential to the solve with unknowns like ANU and the Natori Feathers undergarment.
The review is full of original humor: POI son, anyone? Thanks to both Natasha for a clever puzzle and to MalMan for a clear explanation that entertained us as well. Much appreciated!
Most of the puzzle was relatively easy. The long themers gave me fits. I was sure of the theme answers and all the perps had to be, but one word in each themer was scrambled. Why? Then I saw aura running upwards and also glimmer. Finally I changed grow up to glow up. It had to be ECOL. AHA! Glow up is new to me, but nevertheless seems to be perfectly valid. Learning moment. Underwear with three letters. BRA was my first thought. If you or a family member has severe migraines, you know about migraine auras. I have seen GUPTA on TV. Capitol REEF National Park. All perps. New to me. I have been to 4 other national parks in Utah. To me, most lip enhancements are not improvements. They seem unnatural because they don't match the other features. Seeing the word scampi makes me cross. I love it, but no longer order it here. Where's the garlic? It is not scampi without garlic. The horse car running on rails seems to be a city thing. The pictures I have seem of them look much like the electric trolleys in my grandma's day. They ran on rails, too, and had a pole connecting to an electric wire overhead. We country kids loved to ride on them.
Good Morning! I was having fun with this puzzle until the very end. What?? What?? I was humming along and didn’t pay much attention to the fill because I trusted the ACROSS. I didn’t see the theme until I got to ENIHS. AHA. WO there, but okay. I went back & verified the others. Thought that captured it --- wrong. The SE gave me fits. NO NO NO went in, came out and went back in. DNK ANU. “Rep” was pretty vague in the clue. Could have been the abbreviation for various words. Had ECOL but decided “Positive personal transformation” had to be GROW UP. ALTHO I’ve never heard of ECOr, I changed it and FIW. Now I learn GLOW UP is a term (I’ve never heard of before) but see how it fits the theme. Grumble, grumble. MalMan, you saved the day with your humorous recap. You’ve turned my snit into a grin. Thanks!!
Like several others, I started to scratch my head when several theme answers didn't look right. My V8 can hit when ARUA filled. Took a second look and saw the upside-down spellings. The reveal solidified the theme.
Otherwise, today was an easy filled. Knew my musketeers and chilies. FIR. Thanks MM for your witty analysis and Natasha for your "contrived" contribution to our enjoyment.
This CW felt just right for me. I was lucky enough to detect the theme early with the RISE AND shine entry, which led me to glimmer OF HOPE, and the rest is history as they say. Not to say it was all smooth sailing. For a long time I hung on to peppers instead of CHILIES.
I really appreciated the low USAGE of pop culture vocabulary though one was essential to this puzzle: GLOWUP, totally unknown expression but easy to figure out.
M-M was a wonderful guide, and I liked OwenK’s ruminations on that swashbuckling (there’s an interesting word) trio/quartet.
Musings -I had three bad cells and still loved this puzzle. CHIA/RAE/AURA did me in. -It took flaSh, altHo, cupId, shiNe and usagE to tip me off to the gimmick. -I am pro BEETS but anti SAUERKRAUT -SCAT or SKAT? Today I learned that SKAT can only be a card game. -Super hero and their portrayers are now very common fare here -The blacksmith shop next to our house always smelled of burning coal -How ‘bout this, MM? A Sioux electrician ran power to a community bathroom. He wired a head for a reservation. -I no longer check my oil, but for my first car it was, “Check the gas and fill up the oil” -John Wayne’s character rode in this HORSE CAR on his B-DAY on the way to his death in The Shootist -Unless you are asked, never tell a fellow golfer, “You are doing it all wrong!”
Hand up never heard of GLOW UP. I soon figured out that half of the theme answers went UP, but struggled to figure out the GLOW part. Last to fill was ANU, which sounded very wrong. Very clever theme and construction! Honored to FIR.
In my recollection, Athos, Porthos and Aramis were the three Musketeers in the beginning, and D'Artagnan was a kid they picked up, who had to grow (glow?) into being a Musketeer. Anyone confirm that???
In keeping with this week's pattern of progressively easier puzzles, breezed through this one once I figured out the kynova strange but ingenious theme.... So parts of the clue answers "grow up". Didn't notice the "aglow" till MM's radiant reveal.
I ASSume 50% of us (like me) put King instead of HONG first. Does a "Chia" pet lay that "vegan" egg
Wouldn't a feathered undergarment... tickle?..😆😅🤣, may explain why the "Natori" tribe are constantly giggling.
SNUCK, (Reminds me of Sarah Snook who played "Shiv" on "Succession"). "Tinky winky"? (what a toddler does in the loo?).
🧠 An AURA precedes "classic" migraine, most sufferers have no AURA, "common" migraine. Those with an ARUA have a different problem dyslexia.
Cher's original lyrics were "If I could turn back time...I'd take these tattoos off my behind" 😁
WEES: ARAMIS was the third Musketeer (even had his own perfume) not D'Artagnan. Don't forget Annette, Cubby and Darlene.
The lumber industry is a _____... BOARDGAME What one of the 7 Dwarfs was accused of ..DOPING European bathroom fixtures that confuse Americans...BDAYS
Mal Man...Kid knee and "Poi, son" ("I hadda LEI in bed for a week!")....🤣🤣🤣
This was fun, thanks Natasha, and the review was amusing and informative MalMan.
Grow up had to be wrong because the clue said “slang”, ergo GLOW UP. It couldn’t be aura in 5d. because Issa RAE wouldn’t let me, therefore MIGRAINE ARUA and it all made sense as I looked at the long answers;. remmilgofhope became GLIMMER OF HOPE, and thgilsleepers became LIGHT SLEEPERS.
RISE AND SHINE sung many times as a councilor at camp many years ago: “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory, Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory”, etc. Will I get cancelled for writing God on this no religion blog?
The SEA GULL, a wonderful play by Anton Chekhov. However, we were WVU students playing 19th century Russians — I’m sure we were terrible.
Wow, I am impressed with myself! I managed to FIR even though I couldn’t figure out what was going on for quite a while. Eventually I did see some words going up, but still didn’t really suss the theme until the reveal….which was the very last thing to fill. Like most, I have not heard GLOWUP. When the fill was complete I had to look at the CW and write down the up words before the V-8 can hit. Very clever CW. Again, I give myself a Gold Star for completing it. DNK ABBESS, SERRANOS, or LAALAA. W/Os ABBOTT:ABBESS, OTRA:OTRO. I had the CH and the ES at 36A and wanted to fill CHEESES, not knowing what SERRANOS are, but waited for perps. Thanx NE for the entertaining CW. And thanx MalMan for the terrific write-up. Several CW fiends mentioned this was easy for a Friday, and they must be correct, because I managed to FIR. Now, where did I put that little box of gold stars?
Another tough Friday for me... Very enjoyable tho, quite the workout... I saw "glimmer", but could not see the other risers. I have trouble parsing vertical versus horizontals...
Verb on a dipstick had me going for way, way too long... you should not put such clues in a family crossword...
My fav had to be no!no!no! (Filling it out in pen was a delight!) I want to fill it out again, it felt so good...
Anywho, what was the theme again? 8 would reload the blog review 9n my iPad, but it is old and the ads have slowed it down to a crawl...it would take ten minutes to reload ... which reminds me, MalMan, that gif of squid ward got stuck and I had to , well let's not go TMI, but it was ugly... (unfirtunaltely most readers won't know squidward, but I am very familiar with him) I would post links, but, you know, TMI is all over the place these days...
As I've said many times, I like my puzzles to be straight forward without gimmicks! Yet, this one was clever, I admit even though I did not see the cleverness until reading the Blog.
My daughter is one of those who suffers with debilitating MIGRAINES.
Ah! CHILIES! Yum yum. And I love shrimp SCAMPI, too.
Our trip to HONG KONG was great fun with a really good guide who kept us informed and on our toes, literally. However, I can do without the high humidity.
LIMEADE, lemonade, iced tea, iced water are all necessary for survival in the high desert where I live.
Why Natori Feathers? Plenty of us can relate to that fill!
CSO to my late mother, LALA though it's LAALAA.
Somewhere on my shelf I have a book called JONATHAN SEAGULL.
CHER is not only a good singer, but a good actor as well. I especially liked her in "Tea with Mussolini". If you've never seen it, it is worthwhile looking for it. I believe it's from about 1999.
No HAF-CAF for me! I want my caffeine!
Thank you, for the entertaining narrative, MalMan! Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
I meant to comment too that Owen mentioned “The Three Musketeers” as being misnamed, as the use swords, not muskets. I always wondered about that. Why are they called musketeers if they don’t use muskets? It think it was MalMan that threw in some Mouseketeers, which made me smile.
I was sound asleep, and I dreamt that my iPad was beside me on the nightstand, but I didn't have to pick it up, I just thought about writing on the blog, and I was!
Talk about A.I. This was amazing! I could just think about writing posts, and the iPad would copy my thought verbatim. (You should have seen all the posts to the blog I made! You missed it all!)
Anywho, Let me beat you to the punch here for a sec, I know what you are going to say...
It took me some time to figure out the theme, but the rest of the fill was relatively easy IMHO. Thank you, Natasha. Lip “enhancements” usually result in a ducklike appearance - ludicrous!
MM I thoroughly enjoyed my deep dive into your Glowup description. Lots of good stuff, and I realized I have put some of the ideas into practice - never too late to improve! I always enjoy your unending supply of “groaners”.
Thank you Natasha for an initially confusing puzzle. I had some good guesses for what the starred down answers should have been but couldn't get them to perp. When I finally got to the reveal I saw what the gimmick was and with a few adjustments here and there managed a FIR. I seems that vertical themes often play games with the direction of the fill and this was a good example.
And thank you MalMan for turning the THGIR things EDISPU down to make ESNES of it all 🙃🙃🙃. ... and for all the merriment 😁.
A few favs (the associations are free):
29A SCAMPI. SCAMPI is the name of detective Brian Lane's dog in our favourite detective series NEW TRICKS.
32A SCAT. Also useful for tracking animals in the woods. Something I learned in Scouts.
52A USAGE. A CSO to Yellowrocks.
Cheers, Bill
Ray - O @10:36 AM I occasionally get MIGRAINE AURAS but I don't suffer from lysdexia. 🙃
Lucina, synchronicity! Just yesterday I pulled "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" down from the bookcase to reread as soon as I finish my current Elizabeth George novel. It's been decades, but I vaguely remember I liked it. Comment to the CC posters. You are a funny, funny group. I had several "burst out laughing" moments reading today's posts. 🤣🤣🤣
I suggest a new blog shorthand - SGT for Stupid Gimmick Theme. Those who don’t enjoy them could bypass the SGT puzzle and wait for tomorrow’s offering. I did FIR but had I known beforehand, I would have skipped it.
I liked your puzzle, Natasha! It was fun to see how the solid horizontals were going to work vertically. I saw the gimmick and was expecting something like "Lighten up" to be the reveal. I wasn't familiar with GLOW UP either, but it works.
I confidently entered FLAX egg because I bake with them. For each "egg", combine 1 Tbsp. flax seeds with 3 Tbsp. water. Leave in the refrigerator overnight. I would not substitute them for something touchy like a soufflé but they work great in zucchini bread.
I used to live on a street that was extra wide because, back in the day, it was the HORSE CAR line and the horses needed more room to turn around.
Thank you for your grins & groans, MalMan. Good stuff!
I had a hell of a time trying to turn UP this puzzle. I knew the answers but the fill was all wrong. Oy! Fun, Natasha but next time 1 APR, OK?.
MManatee - that SNL skit is a classic and makes me laugh every time. I'm old enough to remember the context but not so old I forgot the 1st time I saw live on TV :-)
WOs: addle -> AMBLE, Fstop -> FLASH, CUIPD doll ESPs: The dang theme going up! Boy was I slow in the UP take. Fav: Shrimp SCAMPI (what else?!?)
Anyone else still have Turn Back Time echoing through their head?
{B, A+}
LOL re: Boris, D-O. Did I ever tell the story of naming all the computers on the admin net after Rocky & Bullwinkle? And when I broadcast "Byte Me" over the network everyone thought it was Natasha? (she was not plussed)
Ray-O: Don't know if you ever suffered though Teletubbies with sleep still in your eyes and trying to keep the kids still but the baby that was the face of the sun is 25yrs old now.
WC - Why not pastrami? It's the best thing humans did to a cow, like, EVER! And, RosE - yes, lots of sauerkraut and three slices of RYE. I had a Reuben Wednesday at Kenny & Ziggy's - half of it went home and DW polished it off.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day, has a great eve; tomorrow is another puzzle.
Delightful, clever puzzle today, many thanks, Natasha. And I much enjoyed your helpful commentary, MalMan.
Well, telling us to RISE AND SHINE got all of us LIGHT SLEEPERS up and awake and ready to play a BOARD GAME and FROLIC around a bit with a CUPID'S BOW aimed at a game of darts.
A much better idea than having us DOPING IN SECRET at the SPAS in some HOTEL in RENO. NO, NO, NO, I'd rather stay in my LAIR and enjoy some SCAMPI and some toasted RYE bread, and play some LEGO and write an ODE. Feels like a much better day to me.
whoa…talk about a polarizing CW puzzle! Looks like it p.o.ed quite a few of the regulars here, with, what, four comments that were redacted? Is that a record for this blog?
Anyway… I finally “got” the hook on this one — quite the DOH! moment. Weird, but clever; a tip o’ the ol’ fedora to Natasha for a fun FROLIC today!
Interesting puzzle. Hand up for never having heard of the term GLOW UP, but it strongly seems to be the "seed" of the gimmick.
I saw the word "feathers" and prematurely entered BOA. FROLIC made it change to BRA.
Seeing CIO I could only think of a corporate Chief Information Officer, so for the partner I entered CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Nope, not that CIO.
Thinking "Life is just a bowl of cherries" I wanted BOWL to be the first 4 letters of 17across, and LAALAA to be LOWLAA (Lola, get it?)
I know serranos but didn't think of making CHILI plural. DOH!
ME TOO became DITTO which then became AS AM I. ASAMI looks like one of the 5 basic tastes.
For some reason I put HONG Kong in immediately, perhaps because that is where my wife was born and grew up. (It translates to "Aromatic seaport.")
Wanted UNI for that Australian school, but it had to be ANU. Wasn't it Mork who used to say "Anu anu"?
My humor doesn't measure up to yours, MM and others.
I got your back Jayce - Lola //I hope that was your xref :-)
Yes, my first thought was CTO. But #Unions! and I was thinking boa. That I Google'd Natori post-puzzle means I'm going to get ads for braziers for at least a week.
Just a knob of butter, two cloves of garlic, a few baby tomatoes (sliced), and 1/3lb bit of angel-hair. Oooooh, and garden basil to top it off for pretty & tasty. DW didn't want any so I ate it all.
I think I'm out of (over?) comments re: C.C.'s rules so I'll bugger back to my LIAR.
Anon T ..thank you...also think you mean brassieres...braziers: "a stand with lighted coals used for heat". But you may be right. Don't see why the heat can't come from women desirous of burning their bras..😃
Anon @6:08 (TTP)
In my case I deleted my own two posts because I no longer have a way to "preview" and posts print with mistakes. No one redacted them.
Crud on me. I'm bad at spelling. If the computer doesn't underline something in red, I figure it's fine. I also messed up my den/LAIR. But yous guys already know I'm a moron.
And yes, I know the one finger one thumb un-snap trick (even on a 4-clasper). DW hates that when we're watching a programme.
There were three comments that were deleted by the person that wrote them. One by OwenKL, and two by Ray-O-Sunshine. Far from any kind of record for self-deleted comments in a day. You can tell the were deleted by the person that wrote them because they have this format: Comment deleted This comment has been removed by the author.
No comments were redacted. "Redacted - to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release." Focus on the "prior to publication" part of that definition.
No one, including blog authors and admins, can alter another person's comments. The blog author and admins can only delete a comment. In those cases you might read: "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator."
I have removed my earlier comments that were directed at you. They were inappropriate. I apologize.
64 comments:
ATHOS ambulates through the rues of Paris,
Porthos paces about looking garish.
D'Artagnan dreams of
Deeds Herculean,
And Aramis AMBLES round the parish.
A popular place for a GUN show
Is the SILVER STATE city of RENO.
Much better would be
If they'd all AGREE
To only shoot CUPID'S BOW ammo!
{B, A*.}
*but political 😫.
This puzzle started off simply enough, but it soon became evident that certain answers weren’t making sense. It wasn’t until I got to the reveal, which was tricky in itself, that I had a “glimmer “ of what was going on. But suddenly the V-8 can hit, and I KNEW what was going on! I modified certain of my answers accordingly (“chilies”, anyone?) and got the hoped for “flip over” that indicates success. So, this puzzle, which started off deceptively simple, then became very complex finally, with my understanding of the gimmick, became simple again. A worthy Friday puzzle, which I finally managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ATHOS, RHODE, and AGREE were solid, but yielded THG... as the start of 10d. Ominous. It wasn't long before d-o saw the LIGHT, but not the theme. GLOW UP was unknown, filled itself, and the clue remained unread. D'OH. Yup, LEMONAD did the Hokey-Pokey. Interesting puzzle, Natasha. (Have you ever collaborated with a Boris?) Enjoyed your groany expo, Mal-Man. ("kid knee" / "labra door" / "poi, son" indeed.)
MIGRAINE AURA: Been there, done that. Suffered from migraines through my early thirties, and then they suddenly stopped. No idea why, but I'm happy that they did. My aura was a small sparkly circle which slowly, over many minutes, expanded out of the field of vision. I still see the aura occasionally, but no headache follows.
D'Artagnan was the 4th Musketeer. Aramis was the third.
Horsecars were horse-drawn trams. "The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail track."
So, it was GLOW after all. ECOL gave me that but was sure it had to be GROw leaving ECOr???
My goto is Turkey Reuben
tyco/LEGO;kiNG/HONG
Trolleys were horse driven in late 1800s
GUPTA was UNK but paucity of pop-cul was appreciated
SumD said it perfectly. But no GLOW of success for ol' one-box Wilbur- FIW. Had a nice streak going
WC
FLN, -T, Harmon Killebrew came up with the Washington Senators in the 50s and became a Twins legend. 1967 saw the Pennant Race come down to a rapturous weekend in Boston
Three Musketeers is a double misnomer, since there were 4 of them, and they principally used swords, not muskets.
I LIU:
"What is a chia egg?
A chia egg is simply made from water and whole chia seeds. Once combined, they become gelatinous, kind of like the texture of an egg. Chia eggs work well to bind baked goods together." There are also flax seed eggs.
Grokked the theme early when MIGRAINE AURA had the second part spelled ARUA. We've had the answers go up before on a vertical answer - but this is the first I remember that only one of the two words went up and the other down
I've never heard of GLOW UP, but perps came to the rescue
Other thoughts were already covered by others above
Thanks MM and Natasha!
FIW, MIGRAINsARUA x CHILIsS. For some reason I didn't remember that serranos are chilies until the MalMan set me straight. I was certain that Natori Feathers must be some kind of traditional Native American garb, until I saw the picture.
And what about those labra doors?
We are camping on the banks of the Cashie River near Windsor, NC. We are here because Norfolk is holding Harbor Fest this weekend, featuring fireworks that are longer and closer to our house than the usual Independence Day stuff (and are held two evenings), and Zoë has a very hard time with them. It is really quiet here, and it gives us a chance to explore several smaller communities that we've only driven past. While I was setting up the outside stuff (electricity, water, sewer) a deer AMBLEd by, seemingly unconcerned with my presence.
Thanks to the MalMan for the pun and fun.
FIW. I had grow up, which made more sense to me than glow up and had no idea about 55A.
Seems the whole puzzle was a bit contrived. I struggled with migraine aura since I am unfamiliar with this, having never had a migraine. I really dislike altho, although I suppose it's used somewhere by someone? Hmmmm.
If not for "glow up" I would have finished this correctly.
Took 11:08 today, but this one made me want to throw up....
I agree with KS, except I wouldn't say "a bit". Too contrived. I have not heard of "glow up", and I hope I don't hear of it anymore.
I appreciate the ingenuity of the puzzle, but it just didn't work.
I didn't know migraine aura, which meant a backward (upward?) spelling of an unknown was more so difficult.
Anu & altho isn't a pretty pair. See also, siam & asami.
I found Capitol Reef to be a lovely national park, with some good trails/hikes. It's overshadowed by Zion and Bryce Canyon (in the SW corner of Utah) and Arches and Canyonland (in the SE corner of Utah). Capitol Reef is in the middle of those duos. Worthy of your time if you're in the area.
I could tell there was some gimmick going on when I filled the NE with very solid perps and the upside down LIGHT at THGIL showed it. I'd already filled the left side and REMMIL-G just looked strange but after OF HOPE was filled by perps. I saw the 'light' at RISE AND ENISH but have to say finishing was tough. My UNI and CUPID ROSE wouldn't work until I realized I had filled ELKO instead of RENO; then SLEEPER woke up. That my shot over the BOW as in bow wow, not CUPID'S 'bo')
GLOW UP? Never heard of it and I would say as a fill it should be NO NO NO.
ANU-unknown but it fit.
The only other unknowns were CHIA and LAA LAA. I want my CHIA eggs over easy.
GUPTA-CNN- their ratings are in the toilet, going down the drain. They just fired the CEO who was hired less than a year ago to try and improve them. He didn't and the odds are against any new chief improving the network. Too much competition. You don't "hitch a ride to a dying star". You'll go down in flames with it.
FIR but the SE corner was very slow. I confidently filled RISE AND shine before I figured out the gimmick. It wasn't until I wrote out the phrase for 18D that I saw the reversed GLIMMER. Then the other phrases made sense. The reveal explained the reason for the reversals, though I wasn't familiar with the expression GLOW UP. Perps were essential to the solve with unknowns like ANU and the Natori Feathers undergarment.
The review is full of original humor: POI son, anyone? Thanks to both Natasha for a clever puzzle and to MalMan for a clear explanation that entertained us as well. Much appreciated!
FLN Thanks for all the fun links CED and AnonT.
TGIF, everyone!
Most of the puzzle was relatively easy. The long themers gave me fits. I was sure of the theme answers and all the perps had to be, but one word in each themer was scrambled. Why? Then I saw aura running upwards and also glimmer. Finally I changed grow up to glow up. It had to be ECOL. AHA! Glow up is new to me, but nevertheless seems to be perfectly valid. Learning moment.
Underwear with three letters. BRA was my first thought.
If you or a family member has severe migraines, you know about migraine auras.
I have seen GUPTA on TV.
Capitol REEF National Park. All perps. New to me. I have been to 4 other national parks in Utah.
To me, most lip enhancements are not improvements. They seem unnatural because they don't match the other features.
Seeing the word scampi makes me cross. I love it, but no longer order it here. Where's the garlic? It is not scampi without garlic.
The horse car running on rails seems to be a city thing. The pictures I have seem of them look much like the electric trolleys in my grandma's day. They ran on rails, too, and had a pole connecting to an electric wire overhead. We country kids loved to ride on them.
Good Morning! I was having fun with this puzzle until the very end.
What?? What?? I was humming along and didn’t pay much attention to the fill because I trusted the ACROSS. I didn’t see the theme until I got to ENIHS. AHA. WO there, but okay. I went back & verified the others. Thought that captured it --- wrong.
The SE gave me fits. NO NO NO went in, came out and went back in.
DNK ANU.
“Rep” was pretty vague in the clue. Could have been the abbreviation for various words.
Had ECOL but decided “Positive personal transformation” had to be GROW UP.
ALTHO I’ve never heard of ECOr, I changed it and FIW.
Now I learn GLOW UP is a term (I’ve never heard of before) but see how it fits the theme. Grumble, grumble.
MalMan, you saved the day with your humorous recap. You’ve turned my snit into a grin. Thanks!!
Contrive - to invent by exercise of ingenuity. Sounds exactly right for every crossword puzzle!
Like several others, I started to scratch my head when several theme answers didn't look right. My V8 can hit when ARUA filled. Took a second look and saw the upside-down spellings. The reveal solidified the theme.
Otherwise, today was an easy filled. Knew my musketeers and chilies. FIR. Thanks MM for your witty analysis and Natasha for your "contrived" contribution to our enjoyment.
This CW felt just right for me. I was lucky enough to detect the theme early with the RISE AND shine entry, which led me to glimmer OF HOPE, and the rest is history as they say. Not to say it was all smooth sailing. For a long time I hung on to peppers instead of CHILIES.
I really appreciated the low USAGE of pop culture vocabulary though one was essential to this puzzle: GLOWUP, totally unknown expression but easy to figure out.
M-M was a wonderful guide, and I liked OwenK’s ruminations on that swashbuckling (there’s an interesting word) trio/quartet.
WilberC - in these parts anyway, a turkey Reubin is called a Rachel. Some might substitute cole slaw for the sauerkraut, but I like the sauerkraut.
Musings
-I had three bad cells and still loved this puzzle. CHIA/RAE/AURA did me in.
-It took flaSh, altHo, cupId, shiNe and usagE to tip me off to the gimmick.
-I am pro BEETS but anti SAUERKRAUT
-SCAT or SKAT? Today I learned that SKAT can only be a card game.
-Super hero and their portrayers are now very common fare here
-The blacksmith shop next to our house always smelled of burning coal
-How ‘bout this, MM? A Sioux electrician ran power to a community bathroom. He wired a head for a reservation.
-I no longer check my oil, but for my first car it was, “Check the gas and fill up the oil”
-John Wayne’s character rode in this HORSE CAR on his B-DAY on the way to his death in The Shootist
-Unless you are asked, never tell a fellow golfer, “You are doing it all wrong!”
Good Morning:
I’m sorry to say that Thumper and I choose to remain silent this morning. 🤫
MalMan, your fun and punny review put a smile back on our faces. Thank you. 🤭
Have a great day. 😉
H.G. - I first heard that "wired a head" bit on the Dr. Demento show when he played U. Utah Phillips' "Moose Turd Pie".
Thanks, all, for the education on Horse Cars.
Hand up never heard of GLOW UP. I soon figured out that half of the theme answers went UP, but struggled to figure out the GLOW part. Last to fill was ANU, which sounded very wrong. Very clever theme and construction! Honored to FIR.
We literally had a GLOW UP event here that was truly awesome and memorable.
Yes, I really did GLOW UP in one of those things!
MalMan Thank you for the amusing ACROSS THE UNIVERSE take-off!
In my recollection, Athos, Porthos and Aramis were the three Musketeers in the beginning, and D'Artagnan was a kid they picked up, who had to grow (glow?) into being a Musketeer.
Anyone confirm that???
In keeping with this week's pattern of progressively easier puzzles, breezed through this one once I figured out the kynova strange but ingenious theme.... So parts of the clue answers "grow up". Didn't notice the "aglow" till MM's radiant reveal.
I ASSume 50% of us (like me) put King instead of HONG first. Does a "Chia" pet lay that "vegan" egg
Wouldn't a feathered undergarment... tickle?..😆😅🤣, may explain why the "Natori" tribe are constantly giggling.
SNUCK, (Reminds me of Sarah Snook who played "Shiv" on "Succession"). "Tinky winky"? (what a toddler does in the loo?).
🧠 An AURA precedes "classic" migraine, most sufferers have no AURA, "common" migraine. Those with an ARUA have a different problem dyslexia.
Cher's original lyrics were "If I could turn back time...I'd take these tattoos off my behind" 😁
WEES: ARAMIS was the third Musketeer (even had his own perfume) not D'Artagnan. Don't forget Annette, Cubby and Darlene.
The lumber industry is a _____... BOARDGAME
What one of the 7 Dwarfs was accused of ..DOPING
European bathroom fixtures that confuse Americans...BDAYS
Mal Man...Kid knee and "Poi, son" ("I hadda LEI in bed for a week!")....🤣🤣🤣
This was fun, thanks Natasha, and the review was amusing and informative MalMan.
Grow up had to be wrong because the clue said “slang”, ergo GLOW UP. It couldn’t be aura in 5d. because Issa RAE wouldn’t let me, therefore MIGRAINE ARUA and it all made sense as I looked at the long answers;. remmilgofhope became GLIMMER OF HOPE, and thgilsleepers became LIGHT SLEEPERS.
RISE AND SHINE sung many times as a councilor at camp many years ago:
“Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory, Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory”, etc.
Will I get cancelled for writing God on this no religion blog?
The SEA GULL, a wonderful play by Anton Chekhov. However, we were WVU students playing 19th century Russians — I’m sure we were terrible.
Happy day, all!
Nope. TITT. Ridiculous. OTOH, Mal-Mans recap put a smile back on my face.
Wow, I am impressed with myself! I managed to FIR even though I couldn’t figure out what was going on for quite a while. Eventually I did see some words going up, but still didn’t really suss the theme until the reveal….which was the very last thing to fill. Like most, I have not heard GLOWUP. When the fill was complete I had to look at the CW and write down the up words before the V-8 can hit. Very clever CW. Again, I give myself a Gold Star for completing it. DNK ABBESS, SERRANOS, or LAALAA. W/Os ABBOTT:ABBESS, OTRA:OTRO. I had the CH and the ES at 36A and wanted to fill CHEESES, not knowing what SERRANOS are, but waited for perps. Thanx NE for the entertaining CW. And thanx MalMan for the terrific write-up. Several CW fiends mentioned this was easy for a Friday, and they must be correct, because I managed to FIR. Now, where did I put that little box of gold stars?
Another tough Friday for me...
Very enjoyable tho, quite the workout...
I saw "glimmer", but could not see the other risers. I have trouble parsing vertical versus horizontals...
Verb on a dipstick had me going for way, way too long... you should not put such clues in a family crossword...
My fav had to be no!no!no!
(Filling it out in pen was a delight!)
I want to fill it out again, it felt so good...
Anywho, what was the theme again? 8 would reload the blog review 9n my iPad, but it is old and the ads have slowed it down to a crawl...it would take ten minutes to reload ... which reminds me, MalMan, that gif of squid ward got stuck and I had to , well let's not go TMI, but it was ugly... (unfirtunaltely most readers won't know squidward, but I am very familiar with him) I would post links, but, you know, TMI is all over the place these days...
Speaking of TMI!
(Cont...)
Hola!
As I've said many times, I like my puzzles to be straight forward without gimmicks! Yet, this one was clever, I admit even though I did not see the cleverness until reading the Blog.
My daughter is one of those who suffers with debilitating MIGRAINES.
Ah! CHILIES! Yum yum. And I love shrimp SCAMPI, too.
Our trip to HONG KONG was great fun with a really good guide who kept us informed and on our toes, literally. However, I can do without the high humidity.
LIMEADE, lemonade, iced tea, iced water are all necessary for survival in the high desert where I live.
Why Natori Feathers? Plenty of us can relate to that fill!
CSO to my late mother, LALA though it's LAALAA.
Somewhere on my shelf I have a book called JONATHAN SEAGULL.
CHER is not only a good singer, but a good actor as well. I especially liked her in "Tea with Mussolini". If you've never seen it, it is worthwhile looking for it. I believe it's from about 1999.
No HAF-CAF for me! I want my caffeine!
Thank you, for the entertaining narrative, MalMan! Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
I meant to comment too that Owen mentioned “The Three Musketeers” as being misnamed, as the use swords, not muskets. I always wondered about that. Why are they called musketeers if they don’t use muskets? It think it was MalMan that threw in some Mouseketeers, which made me smile.
OMG!
I HAD A DREAM!
I was sound asleep, and I dreamt that my iPad was beside me on the nightstand, but I didn't have to pick it up, I just thought about writing on the blog, and I was!
Talk about A.I.
This was amazing!
I could just think about writing posts, and the iPad would copy my thought verbatim.
(You should have seen all the posts to the blog I made! You missed it all!)
Anywho,
Let me beat you to the punch here for a sec, I know what you are going to say...
It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare,!
What is “ANU” and where is Canberra?
Canberra is they capital of Australia, home the the Australian National University.
It took me some time to figure out the theme, but the rest of the fill was relatively easy IMHO. Thank you, Natasha.
Lip “enhancements” usually result in a ducklike appearance - ludicrous!
MM I thoroughly enjoyed my deep dive into your Glowup description. Lots of good stuff, and I realized I have put some of the ideas into practice - never too late to improve!
I always enjoy your unending supply of “groaners”.
FYI yes we have ESSO in Canada, but we say 'gas', not 'petrol'. That word belongs to the Brits.
DR: 8 x 8
~ OMK
Thank you Natasha for an initially confusing puzzle. I had some good guesses for what the starred down answers should have been but couldn't get them to perp. When I finally got to the reveal I saw what the gimmick was and with a few adjustments here and there managed a FIR. I seems that vertical themes often play games with the direction of the fill and this was a good example.
And thank you MalMan for turning the THGIR things EDISPU down to make ESNES of it all 🙃🙃🙃. ... and for all the merriment 😁.
A few favs (the associations are free):
29A SCAMPI. SCAMPI is the name of detective Brian Lane's dog in our favourite detective series NEW TRICKS.
32A SCAT. Also useful for tracking animals in the woods. Something I learned in Scouts.
52A USAGE. A CSO to Yellowrocks.
Cheers,
Bill
Ray - O @10:36 AM I occasionally get MIGRAINE AURAS but I don't suffer from lysdexia. 🙃
Hmm,
Anons vertical = quit your,day job...
Only took me three hours t9 decipher it....
Good th8ng I'm retired...
I think they meant
D
O
N
'T
Q
U
I
T
Y
O
U
R
Y
A
D
J
O
B.
Lucina, synchronicity! Just yesterday I pulled "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" down from the bookcase to reread as soon as I finish my current Elizabeth George novel. It's been decades, but I vaguely remember I liked it.
Comment to the CC posters. You are a funny, funny group. I had several "burst out laughing" moments reading today's posts. 🤣🤣🤣
They are, indeed, a funny group, Rose!
To the editor….”glowup”….really? Why not just make words up? Oh….wait……
I suggest a new blog shorthand - SGT for Stupid Gimmick Theme. Those who don’t enjoy them could bypass the SGT puzzle and wait for tomorrow’s offering. I did FIR but had I known beforehand, I would have skipped it.
I liked your puzzle, Natasha! It was fun to see how the solid horizontals were going to work vertically. I saw the gimmick and was expecting something like "Lighten up" to be the reveal. I wasn't familiar with GLOW UP either, but it works.
I confidently entered FLAX egg because I bake with them. For each "egg", combine 1 Tbsp. flax seeds with 3 Tbsp. water. Leave in the refrigerator overnight. I would not substitute them for something touchy like a soufflé but they work great in zucchini bread.
I used to live on a street that was extra wide because, back in the day, it was the HORSE CAR line and the horses needed more room to turn around.
Thank you for your grins & groans, MalMan. Good stuff!
Hi All!
I had a hell of a time trying to turn UP this puzzle. I knew the answers but the fill was all wrong. Oy! Fun, Natasha but next time 1 APR, OK?.
MManatee - that SNL skit is a classic and makes me laugh every time. I'm old enough to remember the context but not so old I forgot the 1st time I saw live on TV :-)
WOs: addle -> AMBLE, Fstop -> FLASH, CUIPD doll
ESPs: The dang theme going up! Boy was I slow in the UP take.
Fav: Shrimp SCAMPI (what else?!?)
Anyone else still have Turn Back Time echoing through their head?
{B, A+}
LOL re: Boris, D-O. Did I ever tell the story of naming all the computers on the admin net after Rocky & Bullwinkle? And when I broadcast "Byte Me" over the network everyone thought it was Natasha? (she was not plussed)
Ray-O: Don't know if you ever suffered though Teletubbies with sleep still in your eyes and trying to keep the kids still but the baby that was the face of the sun is 25yrs old now.
WC - Why not pastrami? It's the best thing humans did to a cow, like, EVER! And, RosE - yes, lots of sauerkraut and three slices of RYE. I had a Reuben Wednesday at Kenny & Ziggy's - half of it went home and DW polished it off.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day, has a great eve; tomorrow is another puzzle.
Cheers, -T
RosE
You're right! It is Jonathan Livingston Seagull!
The Reuben. Order it closed faced or you get way too much melted cheese on top. -T
Okay, I just finished reading all 49 pages of the indictment. Now I'm gonna do the puzzle and read all your comments.
Delightful, clever puzzle today, many thanks, Natasha. And I much enjoyed your helpful commentary, MalMan.
Well, telling us to RISE AND SHINE got all of us LIGHT SLEEPERS up and awake and ready to play a BOARD GAME and FROLIC around a bit with a CUPID'S BOW aimed at a game of darts.
A much better idea than having us DOPING IN SECRET at the SPAS in some HOTEL in RENO. NO, NO, NO, I'd rather stay in my LAIR and enjoy some SCAMPI and some toasted RYE bread, and play some LEGO and write an ODE. Feels like a much better day to me.
Have a good one, everybody.
whoa…talk about a polarizing CW puzzle! Looks like it p.o.ed quite a few of the regulars here, with, what, four comments that were redacted? Is that a record for this blog?
Anyway… I finally “got” the hook on this one — quite the DOH! moment. Weird, but clever; a tip o’ the ol’ fedora to Natasha for a fun FROLIC today!
====> Darren / L.A.
Misty - Your story made me think...
Tuesday I was feeling puny. I ate a potassium pill, drank salt water, & ate some basil.
Boss's-boss man txt'd asking how I was doing. I was better and I told him my cure (see: above).
"Basil? Italian enough?" he replied.
Today I sent him a snap of my angel-hair pasta in garlic/tomato/butter with some fresh basil from my garden.
Blew his mind. I did. :-)
Ray-O. Do you do this too to get your body back in order?
C, -T
Interesting puzzle. Hand up for never having heard of the term GLOW UP, but it strongly seems to be the "seed" of the gimmick.
I saw the word "feathers" and prematurely entered BOA. FROLIC made it change to BRA.
Seeing CIO I could only think of a corporate Chief Information Officer, so for the partner I entered CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Nope, not that CIO.
Thinking "Life is just a bowl of cherries" I wanted BOWL to be the first 4 letters of 17across, and LAALAA to be LOWLAA (Lola, get it?)
I know serranos but didn't think of making CHILI plural. DOH!
ME TOO became DITTO which then became AS AM I. ASAMI looks like one of the 5 basic tastes.
For some reason I put HONG Kong in immediately, perhaps because that is where my wife was born and grew up. (It translates to "Aromatic seaport.")
Wanted UNI for that Australian school, but it had to be ANU. Wasn't it Mork who used to say "Anu anu"?
My humor doesn't measure up to yours, MM and others.
Good wishes to you all.
I got your back Jayce - Lola
//I hope that was your xref :-)
Yes, my first thought was CTO. But #Unions! and I was thinking boa. That I Google'd Natori post-puzzle means I'm going to get ads for braziers for at least a week.
What will DW think?!?
C, -T
//It was Nanu Nanu #RIPRobin.
The angel hair dish?...looks delish..special recipe?...😛
Ray-O: nothing special.
Just a knob of butter, two cloves of garlic, a few baby tomatoes (sliced), and 1/3lb bit of angel-hair. Oooooh, and garden basil to top it off for pretty & tasty. DW didn't want any so I ate it all.
I think I'm out of (over?) comments re: C.C.'s rules so I'll bugger back to my LIAR.
Cheers! -T
Anon T ..thank you...also think you mean brassieres...braziers: "a stand with lighted coals used for heat". But you may be right. Don't see why the heat can't come from women desirous of burning their bras..😃
Anon @6:08 (TTP)
In my case I deleted my own two posts because I no longer have a way to "preview" and posts print with mistakes. No one redacted them.
Jayce @5:40 PM Just started it. VERY interesting reading.
Jayce and Bill, it ain"t over till the fat lady sings!!
-T @6:49 PM Ya talkin' bout grills or brassieres? Betcha never learned Ray - O's trick for removing one one handed. 😁
Crud on me.
I'm bad at spelling. If the computer doesn't underline something in red, I figure it's fine. I also messed up my den/LAIR. But yous guys already know I'm a moron.
And yes, I know the one finger one thumb un-snap trick (even on a 4-clasper).
DW hates that when we're watching a programme.
Cheers! -T
Darren, I was out of line. I apologize.
There were three comments that were deleted by the person that wrote them. One by OwenKL, and two by Ray-O-Sunshine. Far from any kind of record for self-deleted comments in a day. You can tell the were deleted by the person that wrote them because they have this format:
Comment deleted
This comment has been removed by the author.
No comments were redacted. "Redacted - to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release." Focus on the "prior to publication" part of that definition.
No one, including blog authors and admins, can alter another person's comments.
The blog author and admins can only delete a comment. In those cases you might read:
"This comment has been removed by a blog administrator."
I have removed my earlier comments that were directed at you. They were inappropriate. I apologize.
Aha, got it, Ray-O! => D.
No worries, friend — I never saw your reply, so no harm, no foul 🤙🏽😎
====> Darren
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