Puzzling thoughts:
First off, there won't be 27 Moe-kus today; not even close. Unlike the last puzzle (and blog) that was a bit "Gross", today's offering from Ms Hale and Ms Deitmer is squeaky clean. In keeping with the trend of Friday misdirection themes, today's "reveal" says all we need to know about how this puzzle works:
40 across.Staple legumes, or parsed differently, what 16- and 24-Across did for 51- and 63-Across: LENTILS / LENT "ILS". Very clever! But if you're still a bit confused, allow me to explain:
16 across. "Alert: Yo-Yo's here!"?: "YOU'VE GOT MA__!". The more common phrase is: "You've got mail!", and I suspect that if Yo-Yo Ma is an AOL user, he hears this all the time
...
This clue "lent" its "IL" to 51 across. Really hot person in the cockpit?: MELTING P(IL)OT. The airline profession, though, is not a "MELTING POT" of demographics. According to a recent article in the [Chicago Sun*Times], "When you hear 'this is your captain speaking' on an airline flight in the United States, more than 90% of the time, the speaker is a white male. Just 3.4% of U.S. airline pilots are Black, 2.2% are of Asian descent, and a paltry 0.5% are Hispanic or Latino. Women make up just 4.6%. Here is an article that shows more diversity among PILOTS in the world
The next "lending pair" are:
24 across. Machines used on a peacock farm?: FEATHER PLOWS. If you add an "IL" to PLOWS, it becomes FEATHER PILLOWS. Fun Fact: The difference between a down and a feather pillow? According to [sleepfoundation dot org] "Sleepers who move around throughout the night often favor down pillows because they mold to their movements. Side sleepers may prefer feather pillows because they can easily fold to fit under the neck. You should fluff either type of pillow regularly, but feather pillows may need extra attention to maintain their loft
So where did the "IL" from PILLOW go? Why to 63 across. Wooden model of an Italian city?: STICK M(IL)AN. [according to Google] "MILAN, a metropolis in Italy's northern Lombardy region, is a global capital of fashion and design. Home to the national stock exchange, it’s a financial hub also known for its high-end restaurants and shops. The Gothic Duomo di Milano cathedral and the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent, housing Leonardo da Vinci’s mural “The Last Supper,” testify to centuries of art and culture"
A STICK MAN (or STICKMAN) might mean two different things, as depicted in the images below:
As you will notice from the next image (the grid) I had one hiccup in the last entry: I originally typed in STILT MILAN in 63-across, so this was "officially" a FIW for the Chairman. I did solve it in about 12 minutes though, so the difficulty was easy/medium ... about a 4.4 on the MOES hardness scale ...
Across:
1. Soft side?: MASH. Not the "Monster MASH", but MASHed Potatoes. Oh, THAT soft side! This word is usually clued to refer to an erstwhile TV program set during the Korean War
5. Recipient of a half-hearted gift?: BFF. I had no clue about the clue; still, I was able to figure it out from the perps. As I got to this entry in the blog, I googled: "BFF Half Heart" ... and here is an image that describes the clue perfectly
8. "I'm all __": EARS.
12. Encouraging start: ATTA. As in, "ATTA boy" or "ATTA girl". Notice that the same ending vowel (A) is used whether it's referring to a male or female. If this was a Spanish word, would one be ATTO and the other ATTA???!!!
13. Square footage: AREA. Probably more clues for this word than any other in the Crossword Puzzle Dictionaries
15. Understood: KNEW.
19. Peak near Catania: ETNA.
20. Book end, perhaps: INDEX. "They lived happily ever after" didn't fit
21. Breezy goodbye: CIAO. HIYA also fit
23. Game, __, match: SET. Tennis term; and one I am sure that was heard quite often by this author/athlete as indicated in (69-across. Arthur who authored "A Hard Road to Glory":) ASHE.
28. Caribbean island with the Pitons: ST LUCIA. According to [nationsonline dot org]: "The Caribbean is home to thirteen sovereign island nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago". Here is a brief video of a plane landing at the George F.L. Charles Intl. Airport
31. Tylenol target: PAIN. I use ADVIL for PAIN (or its generic, ibuprofen)
32. Piggy bank addition: COIN. Do kids even have Piggy banks anymore??
33. __ bunny: DUST. When DU came up as the first two letters (via the perps) I tried DUNE before DUST. Anyone else make this error?
36. Performed a saut de chat, e.g.: LEAPT. As with 5-across, the word filled in via perps; not via my knowledge of what a "saut de chat" is. Once again, Google to the picture rescue:
39. Director Lee: ANG. ANG is officially now, "crossword-ese" IMO
42. Like some larb: LAO. These look like the lettuce wraps I've ordered at P.F. Chang
43. Maestro Zubin: MEHTA. [wikipedia] "Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) ... I wonder ... if the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra went public, would their broker issue an IPO IPO??
45. Tit for tat, maybe: TYPO. Hmm ... tempting as it is, I won't regurgitate the old limerick that begins: "There was once a young girl who begat ..."
46. Ages and ages: EONS. Billions and billions of years. Incomprehensible
47-across. Reusable 5-Down: TOTE, which complements (5-down. Groceries carrier: BAG). This one is even labeled for easy identification:
49. Goes deep: PLUNGES. There's a limit to "how deep" when you use this for your PLUNGES:
55. Prof's email ender: EDU.
56. Philip Marlowe genre: NOIR.
57. Story with a lesson: FABLE.
61. Ruckuses: DINS.
66. Uncomfortable sensation: ITCH, and its "clecho" (67. Uncomfortable sensation:) ACHE.
68. Ilsa __: "Casablanca" heroine: LUND. Somehow I remembered this without having any perp letters to help me. An all time classic movie and role:
70. Dark side of a notable pair: YIN.
71. Chocolate brand owned by Berkshire Hathaway: SEE'S.
Down:
1. Question of permission: MAY I?
2. So much: A TON. I had ALOT before correcting it to A TON
3. Poker variety: STUD. Moe-ku:
Poker entrant used
His STUD earrings as ante
For seven-card STUD
4. "Live it up!": HAVE FUN!. My "go to" birthday greeting is: "Celebrate in style"
6. To, the contrary: FRO. As in "to and FRO"??
7. "Go get it," to a dog: FETCH. Where in the world did the word FETCH originate you ask? [wikionary]: "The verb FETCH is derived from Middle English fecchen (“to get and bring back, fetch; to come for, get and take away; to steal; to carry away to kill; to search for; to obtain, procure”) [and other forms], from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean (“to fetch, bring; to draw; to gain, take; to seek”), a variant of fetian." And now you know
8. Just scrape (out): EKE. Funny; the other day I just scraped out the last bit of peanut butter from the jar and heard Margaret yell "EEK"!!
9. Picnic snack that appears to have picnic invaders: ANTS ON A LOG. Speaking of peanut butter ... BTW, this entry also showed up in a similar position of the puzzle on August 30 of this year
10. Not allow to expire: RENEW. I originally misspelled this as RENUE. My spelling has gotten much worse the older I get ...
11. Goes after a fly: SWATS. One of two solutions for this clue ... in baseball you can also SWAT a fly (as in hit a ball into the air), and then an outfielder could CHASE it (goes after a fly) ... we have an interesting language
14. Tahiti sweetie: AMIE. Cute clue. Frawnch is the official language of Tahiti; hence the use of the word AMIE for sweetie
17. Board VIP: EXEC.
18. Org. with sponsored Medicare plans: AARP. October 15 was the date the period began to enrol into a new Medicare plan. So many choices. If your plan doesn't change and/or your needs don't change, you don't have to do anything. It will automatically RENEW
22. Australian gems: OPALS.
25. Many a "Veep" role: AIDE.
26. Say "neener neener," say: TAUNT. Really? "Neener neener"?? Help me, Google. Ok; two for the price of one. First is an image that mirrors the clue; second is a musical piece by the name "Neener Neener". Enjoy!
27. Deception: LIE. Clecho #2: (28. Deception:) SCAM.
29. Vocal quality: TONE.
30. Small salad and half a sandwich, say: LIGHT LUNCH. Will still probably cost you just shy of $20 in a restaurant these days ... which in my way of thinking is (54. A bit steep:) PRICY.
34. Pig pad: STY.
35. Actress Hedren: TIPPI. [wikipedia] "Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren is a retired American actress. Initially a fashion model, appearing on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961." She is also the mother of Melanie Griffith and grandmother of Dakota Johnson
37. Window section: PANE.
38. Lob: TOSS.
40. Exempli gratia, e.g.: LATIN. Excellent clue!! Not only is exempli gratia LATIN, it means: "Once again, e.g. is short for exempli gratia, a Latin phrase that means “for the sake of example.” As you may guess, you use it to introduce one or more examples"
41. Relax: LOLL. Can you LOLL and LOL at the same time?
44. Ore-Ida offering: TOT. A potato that is about 1 to 1-1/2 years old
46. Requires: ENTAILS. Writing these blogs ENTAILS a lot of time and knowledge of how to use HTML; but it is great fun and we do it for YOUR pleasure! 😉
48. Son of Seth: ENOS. [wikipedia] "Enos or Enosh is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He is described as the first son of Seth who figures in the Generations of Adam, and is also referred to within the genealogies of 1 Chronicles. According to Christianity, he is part of the genealogy of Jesus as mentioned in Luke 3:38"
50. Sch. with a Twin Cities campus: U OF M. Folks in Coral Gables, FL would argue that there is only ONE U of M. This U of M is short for University of Minnesota
51. Marshall McLuhan focus: MEDIA. A CSO to CanadianEh! ... [wikipedia] "Herbert Marshall McLuhan CC was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge"
52. Uses Photoshop: EDITS. Oddly that is one part of blogging that I don't do. I am quite limited in my usage of photo editing aside from an occasional cropping or re-sizing
53. Bhagavad-__: GITA. A partial description from [yogananda dot org] "What is the main message of the Bhagavad Gita?
The Hidden Truths in the Bhagavad Gita | Self-Realization ... The timeless message of the Bhagavad Gita does not refer only to one historical battle, but to the cosmic conflict between good and evil: life as a series of battles between Spirit and matter, soul and body, life and death, knowledge and ignorance, health and disease, changelessness and transitoriness ..."
58. Word with blood or moon: BLUE. The phrase "once in a BLUE moon" refers to the rare times when two full moons occur in the same calendar month. This happens about once every two to three years, on average. The last was on August 30, 2023. Seasonal BLUE moons are when there are four full moons during one of the four seasons. The next one of those will be August 19, 2024. Due to the moon's cycle (approx 29-1/2 days) there can be no BLUE moon in February. And if there is no full moon at all in the month of February it's called a "Black Moon" [space dot com]
59. Rural road: LANE. And many of them are but one LANE in width
60. Finishes: ENDS. Only three more to go before today's blog ENDS!
62. Pronoun option: SHE. or HER; unless THEY identify as a THEY/THEM or HE/HIM. I just go by "Moe"
64. Flat-iron brand: CHI. No longer a Greek letter? Once again, Google to the rescue. Moe wouldn't know the first thing about this; I think Margaret has one but I doubt it's a CHI
65. 2023 role for Ryan, Simu, Kingsley, and others: KEN. For those who haven't seen "Barbie, the Movie", here is the clue's reference
Comments are always welcome ... as are visits from the constructor(s)
32 comments:
There were a couple of obscurities (“Chi,” anyone?) but on the whole this was a fair and sussable puzzle. I got the gimmick pretty much right away, so that definitely helped with the solve. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got the theme, even without the reveal. (Guess who failed to read it?) Saw the way that IL dripped down into the lower rows. That came in handy trying to suss STICK -- GITA and CHI were mysteries. Thanx, Katie and Chandi. Enjoyed your tour, C-Moe.
MEDIA: Back in the '60s a professor of Radio-TV told us that in the future TV would be broadcast direct to our homes via satellite, and local TV stations would become an endangered species. We thought he was crazy.
AARP: If you have a Part-D Medicare Drug Plan, I encourage you to visit medicare.gov, enter your location and prescription drugs, and see which plan is best (cheapest) for you. This year I'll be sticking with my current plan -- first time that's happened.
FIR. A typical Friday puzzle with its share of obscureities, as in chi and See's, exempli gratia.
Anyone else throw down Bugs Bunny before dust bunny?
Got the theme once I solved the reveal and I had my aha moment and everything became clear.
FIW, missing with CHe x YeN. Erased not for FRO, scram for FETCH, and shags for SWATS.
Today is
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (I've been told I don't know which way is up)
INTERNATIONAL CHEFS DAY (remember the TV commercial with the KC CHEFS end zone? Wanna get away?)
NATIONAL CHICKEN AND WAFFLES DAY (I may be the only person in Virginia who isn't fond of this)
NATIONAL BRANDIED FRUIT DAY (never tried it)
NATIONAL YOUTH CONFIDENCE DAY (which is incompatible with...)
NATIONAL GET SMART ABOUT CREDIT DAY (I use my credit cards only as charge cards)
INTERNATIONAL MASTOCYTOSIS & MAST CELL DISEASE AWARENESS DAY (pairs nicely with...)
NATIONAL MAMMOGRAPHY DAY (DW threw such a fit last time that the docs and I have decided not to do them any longer)
I pass the road to Flatiron Corner every time I take the RV to Gloucester, but I think it was named for the clothes irons that were placed on top of a wood- or coal-fired kitchen stove. My childhood pal's family used them. He was the youngest of a dozen kids, and mom and the girls made three squares every day for the fam, including homemade butter and cornbread. As the youngest and too little to work the fields, my friend would fetch water from the well and bring in firewood. The kitchen stove was also the water heater, with a reservoir on the side that provided bathing and dish washing needs.
I remembered ANTS ON A LOG, but misremembered them as being candy (but not SEES.)
TIPPI Hedren? This one's for The Birds.
I think I mentioned that a local big, offshore sportsfishing boat is named Tater TOT.
Can't remember where I picked it up, but I substitute "spendy" for PRICY most of the time. May have been from my sailboat racing days - everything was spendy.
Thanks to Katie and Chandi for the fun challenge. I may have erred when I added Chandi to my "don't bother" list. I'll append a "?" to that note, and give her work another look. And thanks to our Chairman for the sparkling review.
Took 12:43 today.
Got the theme, eventually.
Didn't know quite a few today: chi, gita, McLuhan, the maestro, Tahitian, Latin, whatever language "saut de chat" is (or derived from), or that (crossword favorite) Ilsa had a last name.
I knew today's actress, but thought Tippi was spelled with a "y" at the end. Pilot corrected that.
TGILIF.
I got the theme with the first theme clue, but still managed to make this CW more difficult than it really is by writing AREA at 12A instead of 16A, then struggling with the NW corner for longer than I shoulda before the V-8 can hit. After my total failure yesterday, I was pleased to FIR today. Getting the theme early helped. Nice Friday CW KH&CD, thanx. Thanx to CMoe too for the terrific write-up.
Good Morning! Lots of obscurities in today’s puzzle, but mostly doable, and in some areas with the help of perps. Thanks, Katie and Chandi.
MuSH -> MASH.
DUmb -> DUST.
Last to fill was the South middle. I had to google GITA and CHI, then the perps filled in the rest to finish.
I came to the Blog to find the theme. Too obtuse – so it was meaningless to me. Congrats to C. Moe for explaining it, and for a great write-up. I learned a lot from your in-depth coverage.
32A: I have a piggy bank filled with all the COINs that come out of pockets before they go into the laundry.
44D: TOT - C. Moe, I love your humor!
64D: I guess no one is ever satisfied. All my life I have longed for curls or waves. I can’t imagine why anyone would want an implement to straighten hair! 😄
Good Morning:
This was a super-imaginative idea, so props to the authors for creativity. There were several cute, tricky clues and lots of solid fill. That said, I would still prefer an old-fashioned Friday head scratcher that emphasizes substance over style. Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but as Popeye laments, "I yam what I yam." I needed perps for Leapt, Gita, and Chi and I stumbled over Mush/Mash and Shot/Blue, and I wanted an E on Tippi.
Thanks, Katie and Chandi, an thanks, Moe, for a terrific review. The lack of Moe-kus was more than offset by the voluminous facts and data you provided. Reminders of the great Casablanca are always welcome.
FLN
Thanks to Tante Nique, CanadianEh, HG, PK, Moe, sumdaze, and Vidwan for the well wishes and kind words. PK, I believe my fracture is in the same location as the one that plagued you for four years; I hope my recovery is quicker than yours was! 😉
Have a great day.
A Friday fun 🏃♂️ 🏃♀️ run. Lots of clever clues. Fav today was “ Tit for Tat, maybe”
Bosche Legacy: season 2 airs tonight. Making a big bowl of popcorn and wrapping up in a warm blanket because I know we will binge watch all the episodes…. Enjoy your weekend… kkFlorida
I noticed the added IL for MELTING POT and STICK MAN and the missing IL for FEATHER PLOWS and YOU'VE GOT MA but the LENT ILS theme- I didn't get. Why? I'd already filled it by perps without reading the clue. I managed to FIR but unlike the Chairman I made a correct guess for KEN and CHI was the only logical perp for that unknown. "Flat-iron"- I was thinking flatiron STEAK or the Flatiron Building in NYC, but those had too many letters.
LAO and larb- thank you perps because I had no idea. I LEAPT and TOSSed the LOG through the PANE. That left LAO.
ILSA is pretty standard Xword fare but LUND is new for me.
TIPPI, Melanie, Dakota- nepotism is the movie business. Good gig if you can get it. The job requirement is 'passing the DNA test'.
U OF M- horrible clue. Is that Twin Cities campus at C.C.'s house?
Bhagavad GITA? Perps but instead of telling that dog to FETCH tell it to GIT A stick I just threw.
And NO, I didn't see Barbie nor do I intend to waste the money.
FIR, but struggled with the theme that I finally discovered with 61 across, MELTING PILOT, but although perps helped with it, I was baffled by #16across, I didn’t and don’t understand the clue. I knew AARP had to be right but in addition I failed to “see” the missing IL.
I also don’t know the word “larb”, but got LAO with perps.
We have our Medicare medigap with AARP. It’s a little PRICY, but with all the procedures and doctor visits DH has had over the last three years, we have paid absolutely nothing.
My favorite clue here was tit for tat.
A lovely warm day is in store for us today.
It’s unusual to get Ilsa’s last name clues, it’s usually her first name.
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Katie and Chandi, and CMoe.
I FIRed in good time and saw the LENT ILS theme. Impressive.
One inkblot to change Leaps (wrong tense) to LEAPT.
Any unknowns (due to Canadian disadvantage?) like U OF M, LAO, AARP SEES perped.
But I do know Marshall McLuhan - “ the medium is the message”.
Thanks for explaining BFF half-hearts. Now I get it.
We gave all our grandchildren metal piggy banks shortly after their births. DH always arrives for a visit with loonies and toonies to distribute. More are given when he is acting as Grandpa Tooth Fairy. The oldest of the gang have now moved some of their collection to a bank account, but they still enjoy being able to count their COINs.
DH and I had a wonderful holiday in ST LUCIA. We took a day-trip on the Pirates of the Caribbean sailboat from Rodney Bay to Soufriere near the Pitons, with a side-trip on land to the Botanical Gardens and Sulphuric Springs. Great memories.
Wishing you all a great day.
Tante Nique- re 16A: MA refers to cellist Yo-Yo Ma (as in CMoe’s comment).
The alert is “You’ve Got Mail”
Hope this helps, I had trouble figuring it out too.
Hola!
First, I'll take a CSO at St. LUCIA and though it's spelled differently, it is the same saint.
LENTILS for a LIGHT LUNCH? No thank you.
LUND. I forgot that Ilsa had a surname.
And shouldn't that be PRICEY?
Many years ago, when we lived in Phoenix, our home was burglarized and my PIGGY bank was stolen. It was almost full with pennies. I no longer have a PIGGY bank but I just throw my loose change into a decorative tin.
Bhagavad-GITA was stored somewhere in the back of my mind and quickly emerged.
RosE, I, too, have often wished for curly hair and my daughter and granddaughter who both have lovely curly hair, use a straightener! Lately, though, I've seen my daughter with her natural curly hair. My late DH had wonderful curls.
CIAO for now!
Got 'er done, finally! A true Friday-esque puzzle, but a fun effort. I wanted ACME for flat iron brand, and it didn't fit, of course. Also needed Moe's to explain the theme for me. D'oh!
Thank Katie and Chandi for a fun puzzle. I bear no L WL toward the clever theme as I got a Friday FIR.
And thanx MOE for your (almost) verciless BARE BONES review for which you needn't apologize as you COVERED all the bases.
A few favs:
5A. BFF. Thanx for the pic. This perped but didn't sink in.
10A YOUVE GOT MA. A truly gifted cellist and musician extraordinaire. Here he play's the Prélude to Bach's Cello suite No. 1.
28A ST LUCIA. A CSO to our LUCINA.
31A PAIN. I use Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for my arthritis. Aleve and others are bad for my kidneys.
63A STICK MILAN. We've been to MILAN and visited the Cathedral, which has the crypt of Cardinal St. Charles Borromeo, who instituted many reforms in the Catholic Church (and was almost killed for it!). We could certainly use him today! You could add this image to your examples of STICK MEN.
68A LUND. I needed perps for this fill, which is usually "ILSA" (and I sometimes need perps for the last letter of that).
71A SEES. ESP - never 'eard of it.
9D ANTS ON A LOG. Favorite clue. Learned about this snack in crosswords.
51D MEDIA. McLuhan's message was that "The medium is the message", id est "the medium used to transmit the message is more important than its content".
64D CHI. ESP. I don't have frizzy hair, so I DNK this. Now I do!
Cheers,
Bill
Actually, Ilsas last name was "Laszlo", but she somehow failed to mention this to Rick in Paris. Oops.
I forgot to say that this was a clever CW worthy of Friday. And C-Moe gave us a great recap.
CanadianEh! Thank you for the Yo Yo Ma reference, a musician I admire. This misdirection was a little too much for me.
Chairman Moe takes the part of St. Peter (see DR below) today, granting admission to this Hale/Deitmer PZL...
Pretty easy going for a Friday XWD. Challenging, yes, but do-able with mild P+P.
I was only unsure about 64D (CHI), as it could have taken a different vowel.
My one write-over was 41D, LOLL over LOAF.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Three diagonals, near side.
The center line gives us a fine JACKPOT anagram (All 15 of 15 letters!).
This two-word phrase refers (in all probability) to the near end of the daily line-up at St. Peter's Gate.
Specifically, it designates the next-to-last applicant who hopes to be admitted past that pearly barrier, the ...
"PENULTIMATE SOUL"!
Charlie @12:07 PM By George, I think you're right. Was LUND her maiden name?
OMK @2:03 PM. Brilliant!
OMK
I agree. Brilliant!
Musings
-Another in a long line of “perfect for golf” days and so…
-I thought the gimmick was brilliant
-Rather than read a chapter, kids go to the INDEX and look where to find the answer
-If you do the Jumble, the singular form of one of the fills is the last word to unscramble today
-Prominently featured at the huge Nebraska Furniture Mart now owned by Warren Buffet, et. al.
-TIPPI and Alfred: Hitchcock ruined her career because she didn't want to sleep with him, and he terrorized her. He was never held accountable
Yes, OMK- brilliant.
HuskerG- there have been other days when Jumble words have appeared in a CW. Uncanny coincidences?
Thank you, Katie and Chandi. I had fun solving your clever puzzle! I did have to Google GITA for that "T" but the rest fell into place. FAVs: LENTILS (a staple for me), PAIN & PANE, the two clechos, placement of ENDS, and the clues for LATIN and BLUE.
OMK@ 2:03. Loved today's diagonal!
Thanks to C-Moe for his ILlustrated & ILlustrious review!
-T. Are you OK? I hope you're staying out of the ER -- well, unless you do need to go there. In that case, you should go. How did the follow-up go after cutting out black licorice? I've been very curious about that.
The new David Alfred Bywaters puzzle is due tomorrow. I almost missed the current one, Double Letters.
I got it but didn't get it if you get me. Thanks Moe for explaining it. Didn't spend that long trying to figure things out. I love this blog. GC
Thank You Katie Hale and Chandi Dietmer for a challenging, but finally completed, Friday puzzle. I had a good time completing it. Some of the clues were very complex, and some unfathomable, for me, that is.
Thank You Chairman Moe, for your very descriptive blog ... which made a few clues that I had no idea about, fathomable.
For instance, I had no idea why BFF was the answer to 'half hearted gifts' ..... now, I feel duh !!! I eat a lot of Lentils, regularly, ... but I had no idea on how to parse the word, differently... Thus "Youve got Ma -" made no sense... although I've heard a lot of, ... and about Yo Yo Ma.
The only clues I was solid on, were Bhagwad GITA and Zubin MEHTA... naturally to do with India. The Gita is the equivalent to the Bible, in that most Hindus would swear on it, while taking an oath, say in a courtroom, or an oath of public office. Unlike the Bible or the Torah, however, 95 percent of hindus have never read the Gita, and will never read it in their lifetimes... its just a matter of faith.
MEHTA, a name not typically associated with Parsi's ... which is what Zubin is ... a Mehta is a cloth merchant or a Commission Agent,...one who gives short term loans or factors receivables, ... to other merchants.
Have a good weekend, coming up, all you folks...
Wonder where Anon-T has gone ... maybe hes very busy with his work ....
Sumdaze / Vidwan - I'm here but so busy that I've not even done all this week's puzzles.
//And now DW & I are in NOLA ;-)
Sumdaze - NaCl is still a little out of whack but K and Mg are in range. I miss liquorish!
I have another follow-up in December and if things are normal eat it again - just not as much.
Cheers, -T
I just watched "Steel Magnolias" and had forgotten what a great movie it is. The solid cast of Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Shirley MacClaine, Tom Skerrit, Julia Roberts (her first major role), Dolly Parton and Darryl Hannah. It's my own DVD and I almost forgot how to operate the DVR. I had to call Mark to help me.
The theme is reaching too far for my taste. Lent "IL's?" It wasn't too hard to understand, so what am I complaining about? Anyway, it's hard to come up with novel themes of this sort, so I guess this is what we are left with nowadays. I enjoyed it anyway. Thanks.
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