Thanks to my fellow blogger MalMan who reminded me of this song from my youth. I like this all instrumental version ...
Puzzling thoughts:
You might recall a few weeks ago I blogged a Zachary David Levy puzzle, so I kind of know his "style". His, and most other Friday puzzles use a combination of witty puns and/or homophones. This seems to be the trend at LA Times, as the one MalMan did on the 17th had a similar "feel".
Today's reveal is pretty short and sweet and is located dead-center in the grid: 39-across. Conclude with, and a phonetic hint for the answers to the starred clues: END IN.
Zachary gives us 6 - count 'em - 6 entries to support his reveal. Two of the 6 intersect each other as 4 of the entries lie horizontally, and 2 of them vertically [it'll be clear once the grid is inserted into the blog]. Let's see how this happened:
17-across. *Obstacle encountered at dawn?: EARLY BURDEN. The more common phrase "early bird" is the first part of the pun's phonetics; the second (as it fits the reveal) is at the END, where the letters "EN" are pronounced "IN". BURDEN is pronounced "bird-in"
Next is: 24-across. *Plot where blue bars of soap grow?: COAST GARDEN. Coast is a brand name for a bar soap; Coast Guard is a branch of the US military
Intersecting 24 across is: 11-down. *Everyone's favorite fire-breathing monster?: MAIN DRAGON. OK, so this is where the puns and homophonics got me a bit confused ... the term "main drag" = the most prominent road in a city. Unlike the previous two entries, the punned homophonic part of the answer was not misspelled
47-across. *Time when tall, thick grass covers a golf course?: ROUGH SEASON. Rough seas are unpleasant for recreational boaters; rough, as in the area of grass just outside of the fairway on a golf course, is more lush and thick when the growing season is current
Intersecting 47 across is: 29-down. *Controller part that gets worn out playing "Mortal Kombat"?: KICK BUTTON. The phrase "kick butt" gets a phonetic "in" ending when it describes a feature of a popular video game
At lastly, 58-across. *Shoutout to a ride-hailing app?: UBER MENTION. This is a complete outlier, IMHO, as the word "Übermensch" is taken from Friederich Nietzsche's idea of the Ubermensch, or the superman, as an idea of humans who create their own values based on their experience of life. He presents this idea prominently in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra [various internet sources]. Phonetically, I suppose, the word "mention" could be spelled: "mensch-in"
Four entries that end in "ON"; two entries that end in "EN"; 6 entries whose endings phonetically sound like "IN"
One thing I can say is that Zachary didn't ZHUZH us today!! 😜
One of Zachary David Levy's entries that didn't make the cut today ...
Clue: "Head nurse for the hospital's delivery rooms?" --> MATERNITY WARDEN
On one or two previous occasions where I questioned the theme/reveal/entries, I reached out to my fellow bloggers for assistance. Maybe, as I alluded to on November 16 when I commented on waseeley's blog, I am looking for more than what is just there on the surface. But if any of you, who solved this puzzle and are reading this blog, want to add your thoughts below, please comment. Here is the grid, and then off to the rest of the clues ...
Across:
1. Chuckleheads: BOZOS. If there was something I missed in today's puzzle, then you may call me a BOZO
6. Marcus Aurelius, for one: STOIC. ROMAN fits, too; [Wikipedia] "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a STOIC philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ..."
11. Distraction in a dr.'s waiting room: MAG. MAG, as in MAGazine. The abbr. in the clue gave this away, but I'm gonna say "meh" for this one
14. Meet part: EVENT. Not like the "meet" in "meet and greet" ... like a track meet ... where the 4x400 relay race is one of the EVENTs
15. Confection typically flavored with saffron and rosewater: HALVA. [wikipedia] Recipe for HALVA: "Sesame. Sesame halva is popular in the Balkans, Poland, Middle East, and other areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The primary ingredients in this confection are sesame butter or paste (tahini), and sugar, glucose or honey". Looks like they left out the saffron and rosewater ... maybe that's why I needed perps to solve this one
16. Make public: AIR. Like this blog, perhaps
19. Letters before a take: IMO. The clue for this seemed odd to me ... anyone else?
20. Ruse: PLOY. Let's see what the Thesaurussaurus says about this one:
21. Flamenco shout: OLE. Also heard at Ryder Cup matches ...
22. Sleep study subject: APNEA. Click here for more information
27. Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy: AIKMAN. QB #8 for the Dallas Cowboys. My favorite HOF football player named Troy is this guy:
31. __ roll: HONOR. Moe-ku #1:
Rodney Dangerfield's
Least known quote from "Back to School"
Is "I'm HONOR roll" ...
32. Certain cross-country traveler: SKIER. I cross-country skied when I lived in New England many decades ago. I enjoyed the workout as well as the lack of speed, unlike my Friday counterpart, MalMan who prefers to downhill ski
33. Two or three, say: A FEW. Two = a couple; three or four = A FEW
35. Setup punches: JABS. A pugilistic term
38. Chest muscles, briefly: PECS. PECtorals; here you go, ladies!! 😉
40. Four-award acronym: EGOT. This acronym is quickly becoming a part of crossword-ese
41. Big Apple store: SAKS. A NYC landmark
42. Fibber: LIAR.
43. "Pride Is the Devil" rapper: J COLE. Here is the "official" trailer ... it's "rap" so listen to it if you want, or skip it if you'd rather
44. Soaks up the sun: BASKS.
46. Short revitalizer: CATNAP.
51. "It's open!": ENTER.
52. Soup container: CAN. Moe-ku #2:
The favorite dance of
Campbell's soup containers is,
Of course, the CAN CAN
53. Western gas chain: ARCO. Western CANADA gas chain would be: ESSO
57. Avocado discard: PIT. The word PIT has several synonyms and meanings; oddly, I found very few that lists it as an avocado (or peach) discard:
62. System starter?: ECO. SOLAR didn't fit
63. "They were no match for me!": GOT 'EM.
64. Center of Renaissance art: ITALY. Read all about it!
65. Actor Cariou: LEN. A CSO to CanadianEh! "Leonard Joseph Cariou OC OM is a Canadian actor and stage director. He gained prominence for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street alongside Angela Lansbury for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical" [wikipedia]
66. Pert: SASSY.
67. Anti-anxiety drug: XANAX. Not for those who are "palidromicphobic" 🤣
Down:
1. Appliance alert: BEEP. Unusual clue for this word, but it works
2. Not quite round: OVAL. aka, an ELLIPSE. Have you ever wondered how to calculate the area for an OVAL?
3. Round number?: ZERO. On my computer keyboard, the number "ZERO" looks like an OVAL, while the letter "O" looks more round ... and "ONE" is the loneliest number if you believe in Three Dog Night [this is what happens when you're into your third hour of writing a blog ...]
4. Merely: ONLY.
5. Porcine pen: STY. Porcine = french for "pig"; pigs live in a STY
6. NFL coach with the most career wins: SHULA. Don SHULA
7. Scale allowances: TARES.
8. Not fresh: OLD.
9. Secret suffix: IVE. "IVE" could've been clued as: "___ Got a Secret" (former game show). Secret is also a brand you can use on your PITs
10. Ancient land on the Dead Sea:) CANAAN Looks a bit like modern-day Israel!
12. Mann of pop: AIMEE. When I googled the word "AIMEE", AIMEE Mann comes up in the 4th position on the list of AIMEEs. I'm pretty sure that this filled via perps
13. [But I don't wanna do my homework!]: GROAN. You want a GROAN? Moe-ku #3:
Peruvian owl
Becomes friends with mockingbird
Are they Inca hoots?
18. Windfall: BOON.
23. Cast: PROJECT. Verb form of the clue word
24. Jaguar, for one: CAR. XKE could've fit (that's a Jaguar model)
25. His and hers: THEIR. All of these gender pronouns ... 😕
26. Gala garb: GOWN.
27. Egyptian cobras: ASPS.
28. Maker of BILLY bookcases: IKEA. These:
30. Text, e.g.: MESSAGE.
33. Star __: expensive spice: ANISE. And another clue whose solve sounds "similar" to ANISE: (48. Waiting in the wings:) ON ICE.
34. Rx overseer: FDA. Prescription drug watchdog
36. Whirled weapon: BOLA. I always get BOLA and BOLO mixed up. One you wear and one you whirl
37. Pedometer unit: STEP. I track mine (STEPS) either on my iPhone or Apple watch. I should be doing more
39. Large deer: ELKS. Is this a more difficult clue than "Fraternal order, familiarly" ... ?? Some folks would argue that the plural of ELK is ELK, not ELKS
43. "SNL" alum Hooks: JAN. I hate to admit, but SNL passed me by many decades ago. This was a complete unknown. I will bet that the J COLE crossing with JAN (Hooks) tripped up more than one solver today
45. "I dunno" gestures: SHRUGS. 🤷 🤷
46. Post-op wear for some pets: CONE. One of my favorite SNL sketches was the foibles of the CONEheads; they seemed funnier back in 1978 ... 😅
47. Drive away: REPEL.
49. Surveyor's units: ACRES.
50. __ the Owl: Rice University mascot: SAMMY. College mascot
53. Naan flour: ATTA. Interesting and fun fact: the flour used (ATTA) for the Indian bread (NAAN) is also a palindrome. How weird?
54. "Glass Onion" filmmaker Johnson: RIAN. Another proper name solved via perps. Glass Onion teaser/trailer:
55. Bar mixer: COLA. Believe it or not, I can count on one hand the number of times I have had a COLA this year, and have fingers left over. The only carbonated beverage I drink (as a bar mixer) are Tonic Water and Ginger Beer
56. Black gemstone: ONYX. Odd assortment of letters on the border of the puzzle. Not that many choices of words that could fill this section that end in O, N, Y, and X
59. Campy scarf: BOA.
60. UFO aviators: ETS. The CONEheads, perhaps?
61. Squash: NIX. GOURD didn't fit
So how did you fare today? Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 🍗 🍠 🥧
40 comments:
My understanding of what a “Natick” is are two words, across and down, which are so obscure as to be unsolvable. If that is the case, I noted two “near-Naticks” today. The first was “J Cole” and “Jan” and the second was “Arco” and “Rian .”
On another subject, I’m sure I’m not the only one who put “Roman” where “stoic” was supposed to go, at first. Also “Uber mention” for “Ubermensch” seems kind of a stretch, to me.
Despite such problems and caveats, I eventually managed to FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
Hi Y'all! The best word to describe this puzzle is GROAN! The top tier 2/3 corner was blank after the first across/down pass and remained so until I resorted to red-lettering. Shoulda known SHULA but didn't. I caught on to the theme, but didn't think that was all there was to it. Thanks, Moe, for redeeming a less-than-fun experience. You & genius mentioned my worst snags.
However, I did have a nice Thanksgiving. My son brought me a feast platter that will last for at least three meals. He also brought my HS senior grandson & his girl friend, who is lovely and level-headed and I had never met. My GSon just finished a successful football season where his team was 2nd in the state playoffs. The next week he played 4 different parts in the school play. We had a really good visit.
The "IMO" stands for "in my opinion," which is what some folks say/text before they give their take on something. Hence, the clue. Happy Black Friday, everyone!
Good morning. Thank you, Zachary David Levy, and thank you Chairman Moe.
Desper-otto must be having issues with his drive replacement.
Moe, I had the same feeling about MENTION for mensch.
HALVA was unknown, but it had to be.
It came down to dAN/dCole, iAN/iCOLE and JAN/JCOLE. I guessed d. To quote D-O, "bzzt."
SubG, I had no prob with ARCO / RIAN. We had an ARCO gas stations by us in eastern OH. The funny thing is that the same station was also, at one time or another, a Sinclair, A Sohio, an Exxon, a BP and a Marathon. I think I'm missing one.
The lowercase d in "dr's office distraction" gave me pause. I would have capitalized it. So many rules.
Yup. Troy Polamalu was a game wrecker for opposing offensive players and coaches.
Moe, as an aside, I signed up for the NFL Sunday Season Ticket on YouTube so I could watch all of the Steelers games when they had the $349 introductory offer during the early summer. As it has worked out so far, of the 10 games they've played, 8 of their games were on local broadcast TV here, or on Prime. Sunday's game will also be broadcast here. Oh well. I like it, and when the Steelers aren't playing, I can watch up to 4 games at a time.
Campbell's containers had a hard time holding back the Love pack in yesterday's Turkey Day appetizer matchup. Dallas feasted on Washington for the entree, and the Niners used the Seahawks as dessert.
PK, good to hear from you, and glad you had a nice Thanksgiving visit. Congrats to your grandson.
Dash T, I hope you MIL is better this AM. Did you see the news blurb that United Airlines is considering targeted consumer ads? In other words, interest based. I can see it now. CED getting Liberty Mutual Temu commercials and you getting women's undergarment commercials on the seatback screens. :>)
FIW. The crossing of two proper names did me in. Grrrrr. Jcole and Jan.
Other than that this was a standard Friday puzzle.
FIW. The crossing of two proper names did me in. Jcole and Jan, who would likely know?
Other than that, a fairly standard Friday puzzle.
Took 9:32 today for me to pull the cordon bleu.
SubG, I had Roman, and was sure of it. Stoic, the suffix, and the confection (never heard of that before) were the last to fall for me. I knew Rian Johnson (I'm a fan of Knives Out and the Star Wars movie he wrote/directed, which I think was episode 8, The Last Jedi).
I knew Jan Hooks (does that count as today's actress?).
I thought the mascot owl clue was weird for Sammy.
Once again, I miss the old Friday type puzzles, but at this point, the add/subtract a letter is more than a trend.
FIW, missing my WAG at (yes, the Natick) dCOLE x dAN. Eight erasures, not including a double.
Today is:
BLACK FRIDAY (drop ‘til your credit card drops)
BUY NOTHING DAY (feelthy commie scum)
NATIONAL FLOSSING DAY (couldn’t it be better used to build bikini bottoms?)
YOU'RE WELCOMEGIVING DAY (the day after Thanksgiving we should remember to say, "You're welcome.")
NATIONAL DAY OF LISTENING (encourages you to gather your family and friends and record family history and stories)
NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY (are we going to have a Native American day every day?)
MAIZE DAY (thanks, Native Americans)
NATIONAL SARDINES DAY (something’s fishy here)
Troy AIKMAN's Cowboys were 1-15 in his first season as a starter, then 15-1 the next season. The current Cowboys QB is starting to look as good as AIKMAN. The Cowboys edged out the Commanders (nee Redskins) yesterday 45-10. Ironically-named DaRon Bland shined by getting his fifth interception return for touchdown (pick six,) breaking the NFL single-season record with 7 games remaining. But the best part was the 77 year old Dolly Pardon's halftime show. She, of course, sounded great, but she also looked great dressed as a Cowboys Cheerleader. (She wore a flesh-colored body suit, but still - hard to believe she's 77.)
I find it interesting that a BOON is a windfall, but a boondoggle is not. The evolution of the later is interesting, but too long to explain here.
Thanks to our Chairman for the fun review of this fun sink puzzle.
Looks like what y’all call a pangram
TARES/HALVA was my downfall: had ToRES/HoLVA
Typical end ‘o the week Friday challenge with one theme answer a horizontal entry UBERMENTION …ŪBERmenschen: “Supermen”. (BTW. A great flick, “Super Pumped: the Battle for Uber” with the CEO Travis Kalanick a kind of übermench, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
Inkovers: foot/STEP, pickup/CATNAP, Lou,Lew/LEN, play/PLOY, passage/MESSAGE, soda/COLA , ESSO/ARCO,
“Squash” or the more apt quash for NIX? Jaguar 🐆 (JAG-war or Brit: JAG-you-are) waited for perpaid for CAR not CAt. WAGed Kick on the Mortal Combat console. Figured that the unknown AIKMAN made sense as a last name.
As usual didn’t know the “rapper” so hadda WAG BOLA.
“His and hers” not THEIRs? “
Speaking of rappers
My daughter showed me this SNL rap clip, laughed cuz knew she could have joined the group. The SNL ladies go home for thanksgiving where their parents do everything for them.
Good Morning:
I had no idea how Ubermention fit the theme and even after the explanation, I still think it's an outlier, phonetically, compared to the others. Besides the questionably unfair J Cole-Jan crossing, other perp-required entries were Halva, Sammy, and Rian. We've had Rian before, but not often enough to remember. Some of the cluing was off-kilter, IMO, but Friday's allow for greater latitude in all respects, I guess. I finished in less than usual Friday time but I'd rather struggle with the Friday challenges we were all so used to and, in my case, dearly miss.
Thanks, ZDL, and thanks, Moe, for your detailed and informative review, especially your deconstruction of the theme. Favorite Moe-ku was the Can Can and the Maternity Ward comic brought a chuckle, although it would be easy to picture (no pun intended) this happening with today's rampant selfie-obsession!
FLN
Anon T, hope your MIL is feeling better.
Have a great day.
Fonetic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Zachary and CMoe.
Officially a FIW (thrice) today, plus a Google cheat (for AIMEE)
But I will plead Canadian disadvantage for one (I had Armco instead of ARCO - yes I would have known ESSO!)
Natick crosses were brutal! I chose Ian and I Cole at 43A and D (choice of I, D, J for those unknown names!). At the 15A 6D cross, I had no idea in my multitude of choices, but was leaning towards T or M. H was needed. Maybe I can plead Canadian disadvantage or sports disadvantage here. We have the CFL (with Grey Cup last week).
At least AIKMAN perped.
I did see the theme endings which helped in the solve (even though I wanted END at before IN). But I had to come here to have any clue about UBER MENTI meaning, and I agree it is an outlier, plus a stretch.
I agree that MAG was meh, and ELKS was poorly clued. Deer plural does not have an S and neither should ELK plural if you are referring to the animals. BPOE does allow for the plural ELKS, and referring to that would have been better. (Merriam-Webster Webster agrees, not just IMO.)
ON deck wouldn’t fit. ICE did (thought of Tinbeni!)
Pickup changed to CATNAP with perps.
FLN- AnonT- hope MIL is better soon and out of hospital.
Wishing you all a great day.
It took a while to finish, and I caught the END IN at COAST GUARD-EN. But it still was a FIW with a guess at the cross of two unknowns. IAN &ICOLE looked just as good as JAN & JCOLE. Looks like KS@7:45 had the same problem. Thank you Agnes for your sentiments about it- the same as mine.
The KICK BUTTON was unknown and the perps made it easy. I'm glad IVE was the only logical ending for Secret because HALVA is one I've never heard. The puzzle was definitely Friday worthy.
OVAL next to ZERO - fraternal twins. They may technically be different but when people write, they usually make them the same.
STOIC, AIMEE, SAMMY, RIAN- didn't know them but the perps did. My gastroenterologist names RIAN just retired.
43. "SNL" alum Hooks: JAN. I hate to admit, but SNL passed me by many decades ago. ME TOO.
Yesterday I had some extra guests come I wasn't expecting. A TURDUCKEN brought some SHRIMP & ORZO, CRAWFISH CORNBREAD, CARROT CAKE, and KEY LIME PIE. I didn't know they would show up as we already had too much.
Musings
-The themers were clever and helpful
-MAGS lie untouched in many Dr.’s waiting rooms. Everyone is looking at a cell phone regardless of age
-HALVA: A little learning won’t kill me
-Did anyone AIR their grievances at Thanksgiving yesterday?
-A single Mike Tyson JAB would KO me
-In Miracle On 34th Street, now-defunct Gimbels was competing with Macy’s not SAKS
-It’s the heart of FB season, and LEN Dawson is on the bench
-The concept of ZERO didn’t appear until 1200, so there is no year ZERO. It was 1 BC and then 1 AD
-At the start of every NFL season, teams who win all of their first few games shoot for a perfect season. This was last done by Mike SHULA’s 1972 Dolphins.
-Using “they” for a singular pronoun is tough for me after 77 years of not doing so.
-Huskers are 5 – 6 but are two-point favorites over the 9 – 2 Iowa Hawkeyes.
BE @ 9:25 ~ You're welcome.
HG @ 9:48 ~ In my experience, ever since the onset of Covid, there are no longer any magazines in doctor's waiting rooms. As I'm not enamored with my cell phone, I usually sit there twiddling my thumbs and hoping for a brief waiting period. 😉
Husker - Don Shula’s Dolphins went undefeated in ‘72. Mike is the son I believe.
Nope. Not today. FIW at the unknown rapper and unknown actress. Lots of other meh clues- elks, tares, got'em, stoic...another crossNAME puzzle. At least we had the Chairman to pump the fun back into the morning after it was sucked out!
Jcole and Jan, had no chance there. The theme helped in this one. Got plenty of free "N's". It was an OK Friday. GC
Hola!
WEES and GROAN. I agree with what has been said about the unexpected difficulty of this puzzle, not for the puzzle itself but for the unknowns such as JAN crossing JCOLE. No idea!
I had heard of RIAN Johnson and lingered at the unusual spelling but promptly forgot it.
Yes, I agree: 25D should be THEIRS. I had GOAT before EGOT.
ESSO was my first fill before ARCO! That, of course, caused problems in the corner and finally I just succumbed. I think I'm still too filled with tryptophan from yesterday!
Congratulations to all who finished it without looking!
Coach SHULA was in Phoenix for a brief time and since I watch the news I heard his name many times.
I hope you all enjoyed your feast yesterday. We did and caught up on everyone's news since we had not seen each other in quite a while. It will likely be Christmas before we all meet again. Now, to finish my shopping though I have a good bit of it already.
PK, how very nice of your grandson and his girlfriend!
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Congrats to all the smart folk who didn’t feel there were way too many stretches and guesses here. I had a few incorrect due to mag/groan, jcole/jan. But for the first time, including many dnf’s, I would likely avoid this constructor again if I pay attention to that detail. They put the gas on the stimp meter of unfair greens and rolled into the long rough!!
Got the theme early on, had I instead of J for Jcole and Jan. From crosswords learned Arco is west and Esso north. Never had a Halva. Had fun...
Got the solve in a crossword with terrible clues and an ugly gimmick.
Who could ask for more?
Thank you Zachary for a fun Friday puzzle, evIN though I DNF -- knew neither the rapper nor the comedian and forgot to SWAG something, so I didn't evIN score a FIN.
And thanks MOE for breakIN' it to me gently and fillIN' me IN where I went wrong. And as always I loved the KUS and the TOONS.
Some favs:
18A IMO. Last to fall. My TAKE ON THIS is that it was the cleverest clue
20A PLOY. And I think 18A was Zachary's cleverest PLOY.
22A APNEA. It took 3 sleep studies for the sleep study people to diagnose my sleep APNEA. The person who invents bluetooth sensors to replace the cocoon of wires they expect you to sleep in, is going to make a fortune.
36A JABS. This reminds me that I've got to get some JABS for the latest COVID and FLUE vaccines.
46A CAT NAP. Where I'm headed after I post these comments.
58A UBER MENTION. What's an UBER MENTI? An enormous breath mint?
67A XANAX. I'm pretty sure that this was in yesterday's puzzle. Or am I just being paranoid?
1D BEEP. One of my tasks is to unload the dishwasher every morning. About 2 weeks ago I came downstairs and it was flashing E4 F4 (probably a HEX error code) and had stopped working. We located a repair service and they said they would be over promptly on December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day?). We said OKAY. About a week later it stopped flashing and we were able to start it again. But we're waiting until December 5th to cancel the repair service. Just in case.
6D SHULA. He used to coach the Baltimore Colts years before they left town one day under cover of darkness. I met him once at a Young Life meeting run by my physics teacher. I doubt that that would be legal these days.
10D CANAAN. Also the CANAAN Dog, the national dog of both Israel and Palestine. As they're best friends to both, perhaps they could mediate some sanity over there.
Cheers,
Bill
Oh and BTW the plural of ELK is ELK!
Yes! The plural of ELK is ELK! I agree.
Today I am going to cook a turkey because we really like turkey and want to have one for the many dishes that can be created with it. On Sunday, for my company, ex-colleagues from So Mountain College, I'm making turkey enchiladas. They are delicious!
Worst item among many bad items IMO is “on ice “ for waiting in the wings.
JAN crossing JCOLE required a Google cheat, but other than that I did FIR in spite of many DNKs: JCOLE, ATTA, RIAN, HALVA, JAN. Most perped but JCOLE and JAN is not fair. Watching the Macy’s parade yesterday I was startled to see my high school represented. Apparently Greendale High School in Wisconsin won a marching band competition and thus was in the parade! Then my Packers upset the Lions with a pretty good showing. I loved that the GB coaches finally opened up the game: they’ve been calling plays FAR too conservatively all year. That first play of the game 56 yard pass, which led to a GB TD 4 plays later was a FINALLY moment for me. My neighbors were kind enough to invite this old man over for Thanksgiving dinner, which was really terrific: I didn’t end up by myself. I hope everyone else also had a good Thanksgiving. Thanx ZDL for the entertaining CW (except for that oft mentioned nattick), and thanx too to C.Moe for the excellent write-up.
Hi All!
Boy, Zachary's puzzle was a real noodler. HALVA finally dawned on me and that helped finish it off. Whew!
Thanks, C. Moe, for the fun expo to relax with after the mind-bender.
I started with END ON and with SEASON, BUTTON, MENTION, DRAGON, ON made sense until it didn’t at BiRDoN, GARDoN, and THEoR. Oy!
WOs: Aplenty. ESSO was most egregious as that made COLA soda for a while and ITALY was perp-blocked for a bit.
ESPs: anyone notice names? And STOIC? - still don't know who Marcus Aurelius is (sounds like a Rapper's name - I'll Google later)
Fav: putting the pen down at the end.
I knew BILLY bookcases 'cuz I bought 3 from IKEA for Eldest's apartment in VA. //that and every kitchen gadget that would fit in her small kitchen.
Being in Houston for 20 years made Rice's SAMMY easy fill.
And I guess I'm the only one who remembered JAN Hooks from SNL's Dana Carvey & Phil Hartman days.
MIL update - no issues and discharged from hospital. She's fine. Just too much for one day it seems.
IM - I have Chess.com on my iThing to pass the time (after Wordle, Connections, & Spelling Bee) in waiting rooms.
PK - Sounds like a great time (and leftovers are nothin' to sneeze at).
BigE - what?, no Oyster Stuffin' w/ that turducken?
Time for a CAT NAP b/f second Thanksgiving / drive down to Sugar Land //everything in Houston is at least an hour from everything else.
Cheers, -T
Anon T @ 3:09 ~ Sometimes I remember to bring my iPad with me for appointments, but usually forget it. Glad to hear from someone else playing Connections and Spelling Bee. (I think DO does Spelling Bee, also.) I like Connections and I've learned just how important patience is to really, really, not jump in too quickly. Spelling Bee frustrates me no end and I keep threatening to quit playing. So far, the threats have proved empty. I do enjoy Wordle and Phrazle because they're quick and not too brain-busting. Between all of these exercises, plus the CW and Acrostics, plus Words With Friends, plus 7 Little Words, it's a wonder I have time to sleep! 🤣
I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you! Didn't know Marcus Aurelius!! Sigh. I guess Roman history is dead, too.
He (Marcus Aurelius) was one of the better Roman Emperors though that's not saying much but he was considered an intellectual because he liked the great philosophers and tried to emulate them. I hope I am remembering correctly.
IM - Youngest turned me on to Connections -- Somedays I jump the gun and really bollix things up. But it's a cute game.
Lucina. a) Turkey Tamales sounds great! b) about a month ago Youngest called out of blue, "How many times do you think of the Roman Empire?"
Me: "Huh? Maybe when there's XXI in the crossword."
Youngest: "Well, they say [they - The Hearsay Experts for You*] men think about the Roman Empire at least 5x ("V times", I corrected) a day."
Then, two weeks later, this was on SNL.
Now, about that nap ;-) -T
*I stole that from another SNL bit.
Thanks, Zachary for your Friday challenge. Hand up for guessing "D" for the JCOLE and JAN crossing. Seeing the 6 themers is impressive but some were a better fit than others.
Thanks to C-Moe for his very helpful write-up! Like waseeley, I thought perhaps an UBERMENT was a brand of breath mints. Well, waseeley might have been joking....
FAVs: The IN Crowd, skier comic, Inca hoots moku, and Coneheads on Family Feud.
-T. Happy to hear your MIL is feeling better. Having her family around her was probably the best medicine. Also, yes, that Roman Empire survey result has been making the rounds. Very funny to us females. Judging from his Billy Bookcase, DH probably helped up the average.
Chairman Moe takes over for the deliverance of this Levy PZL...
Tough, but do-able, on this Black Friday morn.
SASSY & SAMMY were lovers. Oh, Lordy...
~ OMK
____________
DR: Two diagonals, one per side.
The far diagonal has a fair balance of consonants & vowels. Its anagram (11 of 15) is of a sticky-faced kid or, as a slang term, a sassy brat whose insults stick!
I mean one who is...
"GLOP-CHEEKED"!
"... drive down to Sugar Land //everything in Houston is at least an hour from everything else."
I know you were speaking figuratively, but it made me think of U-tote-M in Houston. It seemed as if you were never more than a few minutes away from one of those. But then I remembered they were all being closed and then reopened as Circle K. Wikipedia tells me that was circa 1984, so you may not be familiar with UtoteM or their large presence in Houston. Desper-otto would be.
Speaking of D-O, maybe you'd better swing by and give him an assist in getting his 'puter back up and running.
Well, I wanted to like this puzzle. I really did. But I did not like it.
Nicely put, Jayce!
~ OMK
Like KS, BigEasy (and apparently most of the rest here in the blog) I got effed by that JAN/JCOLE intersection; == sigh == woulda had a win here otherwise, but thanks to those two unknown proper names crossing (is there a worse thing in a crossword) I ended up FIW. Do I get any sort of consolation prize because I had everything else right? 🤣
Hand up for wanting to mark Marcus as a “Roman”…until the perps told me elsewise.
Once I grokked the theme, I let out a GROAN. But it was fun!
Hope everyone has recovered from yesterday’s pig-out 🦃
====> Darren / L.A.
Marcus Aurelius just made Jeopardy. Coincidence?
PK- glad you had a lovely family Thanksgiving.
Ray-o- we were only a Q short of a pangram. And IMHCO (the C is for Canadian) we were short a U in HONOR.
CMoe- thanks for the CSO. LEN is also known for his role as the Reagan patriarch in Blue Bloods.
C, Eh! said...
"We were short a U in HONOR."
LO Effin' L.
//can you tell I'm still reading Geddy's book? :-)
Y'all should hear my house right now.
Tomorrow morning is to be a "Celebration of Life" for one of Youngest's BFFs from "this little big" dancing in ballet as an angel. [Oy! the carpool was a bugger!].
Opera degree'd Eldest is practicing "YOU RAISE ME UP" and her sound is amazing.
-T
You know it's dicey when the explanations need explaining:
[[ 17-across. *Obstacle encountered at dawn?: EARLY BURDEN. The more common phrase "early bird" is the first part of the pun's phonetics; the second (as it fits the reveal) is at the END, where the letters "EN" are pronounced "IN". BURDEN is pronounced "bird-in"
Next is: 24-across. *Plot where blue bars of soap grow?: COAST GARDEN. Coast is a brand name for a bar soap; Coast Guard is a branch of the US military. ]]
"Gaslight" was on TCM tonight and since I had never seen it, I decided to watch it. Ingrid Bergman, great, as always and Charles Boyer hardly recognizable as his younger self. In 1944 they were all young, handsome and beautiful and now, all gone. SIT TRANSIT GLORIA. But we can enjoy thanks to the magic of TV.
Anon-T:
When your daughter goes on stage, I hope you will inform us.
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