Theme: Testing the Waters
Hello Cornerites!
sumdaze here, back in the saddle, ready to chat about Matthew Stock's Monday puzzle. We mostly see Matthew on Saturdays so I braced myself for the plunge. We could dip a toe to test the waters...or jump right in!
Let's crawl forward to the other clues:
Our four starred clues are:
5 Across. *Seasonal New England attraction: FALL LEAVES.
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| So gorgeous!! Has anyone taken a leaf peeping tour? |
20 Across. *Show of affection made with fluttering eyelashes: BUTTERFLY KISS. Here is a short history of the term.
32 Across. *Big name in cloud storage: DROPBOX. DROPBOX is a file hosting service operated by an American company headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud space, and client software.
44 Across. *Improvises over a beat: FREESTYLE RAPS.
Amish Paradise is a 1996 single by satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of the 1995 Hip Hop song Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio and Kylian Mash.
Truth be told, I am not sure if this is "freestyle" or not. Weird Al is on my mind because I recently watched his movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) while flying home.
Getting back to the theme...you will notice that we have two answers (5A & 31A) which begin with a synonym for the verb "SINK" (descend; drop) and two answers (20A & 44A) whose first words are the names of swimming strokes.
Then the reveal:
50 Across. Success-versus-failure metaphor, and what can be found at the starts of the answers to the starred clues: SINK OR SWIM.
I like it! The "starts of the answers to the starred clues" are either another word for SINK OR a way to SWIM. I especially liked that FALL and DROP flew under the radar (for me, anyway) until I made my way down to the reveal. 
Speaking of swimming, did you catch C.C.'s swimming videos on her Sunday, Oct. 29th (53A) and Nov. 5th blogs? She showed us her FREESTYLE and BUTTERFLY. I cannot believe she only started swimming lessons this summer. As usual, C.C. is amazing!!
Let's crawl forward to the other clues:
Across:
17. Warmup exam for college-bound sophs: PSAT. The Preliminary SAT is a 2:45 hour test of reading, writing, and math skills. The 'hint' here was "warmup".
18. Jousting spear: LANCE. I used to have a friend named LANCE. We lost touch after I moved away. I hope he is doing well.
19. Entourage: POSSE. This made me think of the HBO show Entourage (2004-2011). It is about a movie star and his POSSE of friends (freeloaders?) who go everywhere he goes.
23. Hashtag on a social media post about gratitude, perhaps: BLESSED. 
25. Actress Sophia: LOREN. She was born on September 20, 1934 in Rome, Italy. She made history in 1961 as the first performer to win an Oscar for a foreign-language role. The movie was Two Women.
26. Lollipop taste: LICK. Not a flavor but rather how one tastes a lollipop. Nice curveball, Matthew!
27. Olympics sled: LUGE. not for 31-Across
28. Feathery neckwear: BOA.
31. 2028 Olympics host country: Abbr.: USA. After 44 years, the Summer Olympics will be returning to Los Angles! My running hero, Joan Benoit Samuelson, was the first Olympic women's marathon champion when the games were held in Los Angels in 1984.
35. The NBA's Thunder, on scoreboards: OKC. OKlahoma City basketball team
36. __ Claire, Wisconsin: EAU.
37. Experiment sites: LABS.
38. Beneficiary of an exfoliation routine: PORE. Are you a Popaholic? I am not making this up. There is an internet craze where people watch Dr. Pimple Popper do her thing. Apparently it is very addicting. This is not a link to an actual video because that would require me to first watch her videos. Sometimes you just have to draw a line....
39. Polish, as shoes: SHINE. DH is a former Marine. He has skills in this area.
41. Pumpkin seeds: PEPITAS. I often add them to recipes (breads, tagines, hummus). They are a good source of iron and magnesium.
47. Polo, for one: SHIRT. "SpoRT" was 60% correct.
48. Causing the heebie-jeebies: EERIE. not an e-lake
49. Tickle Me Elmo toy company: TYCO.
55. Country across the Arabian Sea from Mumbai: OMAN.
56. Opposite of chaos: ORDER. On Get Smart (1965-1969), it was Control vs. KAOS.
57. "Hmm ... bad idea": UH, NO.
58. Writing implement: PEN. and 53 Down. 58-Across contents: INK.
59. Join with heat, as metal pieces: WELD. My uncle worked as a WELDer for PG&E for 35 years. He was built like a prizefighter.
60. __ fun at: POKE.
Down:
1. Closest pal, briefly: BFF. Best Friends Forever
2. Pitching stat: ERA. Earned Run Average
20. "Nothing's stopping me": BECAUSE I CAN. It is not often I feel "meh" about an 11-letter fill.
21. Goof: FLUB.
22. Corporate symbol: LOGO. I love this LOGO for the Kaua'i Marathon. It incorporates three images. Can you see all three? (answer at the end)
23. Color of UNICEF's 22-Down: BLUE. 
24. Salters of ESPN: LISA. Born March 6, 1966, she is an American journalist and former college basketball player. I was surprised to learn that she is 5'2" tall. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O. J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked as a reporter at WBAL-TV in Baltimore from 1988 to 1995.
27. Vinyl records, for short: LPS. "LP", for long, is Long Play.
29. Gumbo pod: OKRA.
30. Top poker cards: ACES.
32. Little-known celebs: D-LIST. Examples include:
52. "__ cares!": WHO.
54. "The Simpsons" bartender: MOE. CSO to our constructor Chairman!
1. Balance __: gymnastics event: BEAM. I do not think Matthew would have added the second part to the clue had this been one of his Saturday puzzles.
5. Theme park transport: TRAM. It is how they move people from their massive parking lots to the multiple opportunities for spending money.
9. Rave's opposite: PAN. A positive review is a "rave". A negative review is a "pan". Today's is not a PAN.
12. Opposite of calor: FRIO. Calor is Spanish for "heat". Frio means "cold".
5. Theme park transport: TRAM. It is how they move people from their massive parking lots to the multiple opportunities for spending money.
9. Rave's opposite: PAN. A positive review is a "rave". A negative review is a "pan". Today's is not a PAN.
12. Opposite of calor: FRIO. Calor is Spanish for "heat". Frio means "cold".
Non-native speakers often confuse the noun calor with the adjective caliente.
13. Crustaceans eaten by whales: KRILL. There are basically two types of whales, the baleen whales and the toothed whales. Baleen whales (including humpbacks and blue whales) have fibrous 'baleen' plates in their mouths instead of teeth, which help them filter and consume huge quantities of KRILL, plankton, and crustaceans. A Smithsonian study found that a blue whale can eat the equivalent of 8,800 quarter-pound burgers in KRILL -- in just one day!
14. Japanese wrestling form: SUMO. Last September, 27-year old Takakeisho won his fourth career title in a come-from-behind victory.
 |
| KRILL Click here for 2 hrs. of a relaxing KRILL aquarium video set to music. |
14. Japanese wrestling form: SUMO. Last September, 27-year old Takakeisho won his fourth career title in a come-from-behind victory.
17. Warmup exam for college-bound sophs: PSAT. The Preliminary SAT is a 2:45 hour test of reading, writing, and math skills. The 'hint' here was "warmup".
18. Jousting spear: LANCE. I used to have a friend named LANCE. We lost touch after I moved away. I hope he is doing well.
19. Entourage: POSSE. This made me think of the HBO show Entourage (2004-2011). It is about a movie star and his POSSE of friends (freeloaders?) who go everywhere he goes.
Entourage trailer (language warning)
25. Actress Sophia: LOREN. She was born on September 20, 1934 in Rome, Italy. She made history in 1961 as the first performer to win an Oscar for a foreign-language role. The movie was Two Women.
 |
| Bellissima Sophia |
26. Lollipop taste: LICK. Not a flavor but rather how one tastes a lollipop. Nice curveball, Matthew!
Classic Tootsie Pop Commercial (16 sec.)
27. Olympics sled: LUGE. not for 31-Across
28. Feathery neckwear: BOA.
31. 2028 Olympics host country: Abbr.: USA. After 44 years, the Summer Olympics will be returning to Los Angles! My running hero, Joan Benoit Samuelson, was the first Olympic women's marathon champion when the games were held in Los Angels in 1984.
35. The NBA's Thunder, on scoreboards: OKC. OKlahoma City basketball team
36. __ Claire, Wisconsin: EAU.
37. Experiment sites: LABS.
38. Beneficiary of an exfoliation routine: PORE. Are you a Popaholic? I am not making this up. There is an internet craze where people watch Dr. Pimple Popper do her thing. Apparently it is very addicting. This is not a link to an actual video because that would require me to first watch her videos. Sometimes you just have to draw a line....
39. Polish, as shoes: SHINE. DH is a former Marine. He has skills in this area.
41. Pumpkin seeds: PEPITAS. I often add them to recipes (breads, tagines, hummus). They are a good source of iron and magnesium.
47. Polo, for one: SHIRT. "SpoRT" was 60% correct.
48. Causing the heebie-jeebies: EERIE. not an e-lake
49. Tickle Me Elmo toy company: TYCO.
55. Country across the Arabian Sea from Mumbai: OMAN.
56. Opposite of chaos: ORDER. On Get Smart (1965-1969), it was Control vs. KAOS.
Max and Siegfried compete for loyalties from a kid genius. (4:30 min.)
Do you recognize Bernie Kopell (Doc from The Love Boat)?
57. "Hmm ... bad idea": UH, NO.
58. Writing implement: PEN. and 53 Down. 58-Across contents: INK.
59. Join with heat, as metal pieces: WELD. My uncle worked as a WELDer for PG&E for 35 years. He was built like a prizefighter.
60. __ fun at: POKE.
Down:
1. Closest pal, briefly: BFF. Best Friends Forever
2. Pitching stat: ERA. Earned Run Average
This is the number of runs a pitcher allows the opposing team per nine innings pitched. Since allowing runs is not a good thing, it is good to have a low ERA. calculation deets
3. Have a bug: AIL. Perhaps a misdirection attempt to make one think of insects as opposed to germs?
4. Clam or oyster: MOLLUSK. Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals, after Arthropoda (insects & etc.). Around 76,000 extant species of MOLLUSKs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000 additional species.
5. Tracked down: TRACED. Relatedly, "skip tracing" is the process of locating a person's whereabouts, often for legal action purposes.
6. Water under the bridge: RIVER. This was literally the best clue today! 😜
7. The "A" of IPA: ALE. India Pale ALE
8. D.C. United's org.: MLS. D.C. United is a Major League Soccer team. They play at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
9. "Shrek 2" character who occasionally succumbs to hairballs: PUSS IN BOOTS. Antonio Banderas voiced this character. Eddie Murphy voiced Donkey.
10. Accumulate: AMASS.
11. Written reminders: NOTES.
13. __ cloth: Ghanaian textile: KENTE. I found this article informative.
14. Bike wheel part: SPOKE. You might expect that all of your spokes are the same length but it is typical to have three (or more) different lengths on one wheel.
16. Back muscles, briefly: LATS.
19. Oven-safe glassware: PYREX. PYREX was launched in 1915 by a New York-based company when it produced a 12-piece line of machine-made glass ovenware. more from Martha S. My oldest piece is 38 years old. I bet there are several Cornerites who can top that.
3. Have a bug: AIL. Perhaps a misdirection attempt to make one think of insects as opposed to germs?
4. Clam or oyster: MOLLUSK. Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals, after Arthropoda (insects & etc.). Around 76,000 extant species of MOLLUSKs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000 additional species.
This 2:26 min. video on MULLOSKs is full of interesting facts!
5. Tracked down: TRACED. Relatedly, "skip tracing" is the process of locating a person's whereabouts, often for legal action purposes.
6. Water under the bridge: RIVER. This was literally the best clue today! 😜
7. The "A" of IPA: ALE. India Pale ALE
8. D.C. United's org.: MLS. D.C. United is a Major League Soccer team. They play at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
9. "Shrek 2" character who occasionally succumbs to hairballs: PUSS IN BOOTS. Antonio Banderas voiced this character. Eddie Murphy voiced Donkey.
10. Accumulate: AMASS.
11. Written reminders: NOTES.
13. __ cloth: Ghanaian textile: KENTE. I found this article informative.
14. Bike wheel part: SPOKE. You might expect that all of your spokes are the same length but it is typical to have three (or more) different lengths on one wheel.
16. Back muscles, briefly: LATS.
19. Oven-safe glassware: PYREX. PYREX was launched in 1915 by a New York-based company when it produced a 12-piece line of machine-made glass ovenware. more from Martha S. My oldest piece is 38 years old. I bet there are several Cornerites who can top that.
20. "Nothing's stopping me": BECAUSE I CAN. It is not often I feel "meh" about an 11-letter fill.
21. Goof: FLUB.
22. Corporate symbol: LOGO. I love this LOGO for the Kaua'i Marathon. It incorporates three images. Can you see all three? (answer at the end)
 |
| Who wouldn't want to answer all of Lisa's questions? |
27. Vinyl records, for short: LPS. "LP", for long, is Long Play.
29. Gumbo pod: OKRA.
30. Top poker cards: ACES.
32. Little-known celebs: D-LIST. Examples include:
- Carrot Top ('90s prop comedian)
- David Hasselhoff (but not in Germany 😜)
- Lindsay Lohan (too many DUIs)
- Scott Baio (Chachi from Happy Days)
- Will Wheaton (the generally most-disliked character from ST:TNG who made several guest appearances as himself on The Big Bang Theory)
33. Wild speech: RANT.
34. Comply: OBEY.
38. Speaks out: PIPES UP. CSO to Splynter who keeps organ PIPES 'UP and running'!
40. "Great blue" wader: HERON. I often see these elegant birds hunting in the little lake near where I walk my dog. When I watched this 2:21 min. video, I learned that they first stab their prey...and that Jeff The Nature Guy thinks they're so cool.
41. Took a quick look: PEEKED.
42. Goof: ERROR.
43. Two of a kind: PAIR.
44. Camera setting that affects depth: F-STOP.
45. Sound alike: RHYME.
46. Tennis great Ivan: LENDL. Born March 7, 1960, he is a Czech-American former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles before retiring in 1994.
50. Go to seed?: SOW. I like the wordplay here. When gardeners say a plant has "gone to seed", we mean that the plant, usually an annual, has directed its energies into producing seeds before it dies. Here, the clue is evoking a person 'going out' into a field to SOW seeds.
33. Wild speech: RANT.
38. Speaks out: PIPES UP. CSO to Splynter who keeps organ PIPES 'UP and running'!
40. "Great blue" wader: HERON. I often see these elegant birds hunting in the little lake near where I walk my dog. When I watched this 2:21 min. video, I learned that they first stab their prey...and that Jeff The Nature Guy thinks they're so cool.
41. Took a quick look: PEEKED.
42. Goof: ERROR.
43. Two of a kind: PAIR.
44. Camera setting that affects depth: F-STOP.
45. Sound alike: RHYME.
46. Tennis great Ivan: LENDL. Born March 7, 1960, he is a Czech-American former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles before retiring in 1994.
50. Go to seed?: SOW. I like the wordplay here. When gardeners say a plant has "gone to seed", we mean that the plant, usually an annual, has directed its energies into producing seeds before it dies. Here, the clue is evoking a person 'going out' into a field to SOW seeds.
 |
| This lettuce plant has "gone to seed". You can see it is no longer putting energy into making tasty leaves. |
51. Anger: IRE.
52. "__ cares!": WHO.
54. "The Simpsons" bartender: MOE. CSO to our constructor Chairman!
Well, I've sunk enough time into this write-up. 😄 Here is the grid:
LOGO answer: (1.) hibiscus flower, (2.) runner in center, and (3.) flower's outline is the shape of the island of Kaua'i 
Notes from C.C.:
Happy birthday to Big Easy (George), husband of Louisiana Tennis Hall
of Famer Diane! George has had a few serious health issues, but he's still playing pickleball and riding his bike.
Big Easy and his wife Diane
42 comments:
There were a few clues I had to wait for the perps to solve (kente, anyone?) But on the whole, this was another Monday “walk in the park.” FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Never noticed the theme on my way through the grid. [Surprise, surprise] Needed sumdaze to 'splain it to me. No surprises, no drama, just a smooth slide to the bottom. Thanx, Matthew and sumdaze. (Welcome back!)
EAU Claire: It's the only major town (if 70,000 qualifies as major) in west-central Wisconsin. It's about 150 miles west of my old stamping grounds.
HERON: It dawned on me that "Great Blue" critter could be an interesting cw clue. The 5-letter answer could be heron or whale.
POSSE: Maeve Higgins proposed a TV show titled "Bear With Me" -- nothing special happens, but everywhere she goes there's a bear with her. (Well, I thought it was funny.)
Enjoyed the fun Sink or swim theme- made me think of CC's prowess in the pool too!
My gimme of the day is KENTE as I have been on several medical mission trips to the Ewe speaking region of Ghana. I was given a KENTE stole as a thank you on one of the trips. Interesting to watch the all male weavers do their thing!
Meeting before work so gotta go!
Thanks SD and Matthew
Very nice start to the week, thanx, MS. No problems except one W/O = OHNO:UHNO. As usual I did not see the theme. Dang! I keep telling myself to look for the theme, but then almost always forget. I also forgot the word PEPITAS and had to rely on perps. Anyway, FIR in reasonable Monday time. Thanx too to Sumdaze for the terrific write-up.
Oh yeah: KENTE also needed perps.
Took 5:10 today for me to get to autumn.
Like the others earlier, I didn't see the theme and didn't know kente. Took a while to parse "becauseican." I knew today's actress (Loren).
Have a great week, everyone.
FIR without erasure, but waited for perp help for SpoRT/SHIRT, _LIST, and _ _NO.
Today is:
WORLD KINDNESS DAY (we are encouraged to spread kindness like an infectious FRIO)
NATIONAL INDIAN PUDDING DAY (excuse me…I meant to type “guardian pudding”)
I knew EAU Claire because John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport and sidekick Virgil "That F***ing Flowers" seem to be there a lot on cases.
Thanks to Matthew for the fun, easy puzzle. My favorite was "heebie jeebies." Fun clue for the first Monday of the week. Ands thanks to sumdaze for the visual treats. Welcome back!
FIR, but the theme escaped me till I got here, and even so, it seems a tad of a stretch.
I had sport before shirt too, and kente and papitas were complete unknowns to me. Fortunately the perps saved the day.
Ho-hum, another easy to please offering from our guest puzzleist, Matthew. Nice combos for sink/swim.
A pleasure to peruse the summation from sumdaze.
Went for SPORT before SHIRT. Tried CoREl before PYREX. wanted colorS before LEAVES, but FIR after all.
Don't be angry. Just ignore the stupidity.
Walk on
Good Morning! Nice puzzle today, with a little bit of crunch. Thanks, Matthew. I’m not usually up for the Saturday puzzle, so I was not familiar with his previous offerings, so no trepidation in seeing his name. I plunged ahead.
The SW gave me pause when I went with SpoRT instead of SHIRT. I had sussed the theme, so I was solid with FREESTYLE and PEN, but I’d forgotten TYCO and relied on perps for OMAN. My other WO was oH NO -> UH NO.
KENTE, PUSS IN BOOTS, LISA - all perps.
LANCE: Jousting is the state sport of Maryland.
PORE: The skin is the largest organ of the body. I’ve seen one or two of the Dr. Pimple Popper show. She’s very good and her patients are in definite need of her care, but I try to avoid those things you just cannot un-see.
NOTES: which is more helpful: Don’t forget, or Try to remember? I’ll go with the positive affirmation since it’s what one wants to accomplish.
Thanks, sumdaze, for your always entertaining recap. I look forward to such a nice start to the week.
Happy Birthday, Big Easy. Best wishes for a great day!
Congrats to CC for her swimming accomplishment in such a short time!
Good morning. Happy birthday to Big Easy.
Thank you Matthew Stock, and thank you Sumdaze.
Smooth solve and fine review. And no one-cell error today! The streak is over!
SINK OR SWIM? I can't float and I can't swim, so I sink. I was able to get the theme.
Sumdaze, your quip at TRAM, "It is how they move people from their massive parking lots to the multiple opportunities for spending money" is on point.
What RosE said, "Thanks, sumdaze, for your always entertaining recap. I look forward to such a nice start to the week."
Inanehiker @ 7:08 a.m. : Dr. “Hiker,” your muti-varied life experiences always amaze and amuse me! Thank you for being you!
Your friend,
SubG
When I filled the unknown BUTTERFLY KISSES by perps my first thought was of C.C. swimming the butterfly, which is a completely unnatural, exhausting stroke. And then she posts an 'old' photo of me an Diane. KENTE, FRIO, PEPITAS, & LISA were unknowns filled by perps.
POSSE- every rap singer with his 'posse' usually goes broke.
DROPBOX- I tried to use it about 15 years ago but found Google Documents easier to share
PYREX, Corning ware, & Tupperware- have some of each over 50 years old
BECAUSE I CAN- we have a friend who has a Kentucky Derby party every year. I noticed a new Corvette in her driveway and asked her why she got another one. She said her convertible messed up her hair and "because I can". It was also her birthday..she's 82.
Sandra Lee, aka Dr.Pimple Popper- That's one of the only two shows I watch on TV. DW hates it. Seeing other people's problems make you realize how lucky you are not to be in that condition. The other show is "Penn and Teller's Fool Us". I have the DVR set to record all the first runs.
Musings
-My mower has gathered, chopped up and bagged 99% of our FALL LEAVES
-The Balance BEAM leaves little room for ERROR
-LUGE: 90 mph on a cafeteria tray is not for me
-All reminders I use are events scheduled on my iPhone with an alert set as well
-VINYL records are making a comeback even for this artist. I don’t know why.
-A constructor in Lincoln has me “proof” his puzzles and he had PEPITAS in one last week
-It would upset me if a neighbor had dandelions and let them GO TO SEED
-Fun write-up, Renee!
-HBD George!
A few perps and WAGS, saved the day. I solved the reveal first so knew what to look for in the theme entries. Cute theme.
Thank you Sumdaze for that article on KENTE cloth.
Isn’t little-known celebs an oxymoron?
Happy birthday to Big Easy.
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Matthew and sumdaze (welcome back).
I FIRed in good time and saw the SINK OR SWIM theme.
Perhaps a little crunchier than the usual Monday.
No inkblots, but some hesitation and waiting for perps.
Ie. I had no idea about calor (or FRIO when it perped). My Spanish is very limited. But I know some French, like EAU.
We had PEPITAS in a CW last week.
I thought I might have to ask DH, but OKC, LISA, USA, MLS perped.
I didn’t know which SAT was the warmup. P perped.
Hand up - KENTE was all perps.
Happy Birthday Big Easy.
Wishing you all a great day.
Monkey - "little-known celebs" is a lot like "locally famous," a term I hear fairly often.
sumdaze, when I read "I used to have a friend named LANCE" I thought you were setting up an OJ Simpson dad joke.
Big Easy - If your friend goes to the Kentucky Derby instead of hosting her own party, she would love the tour through the Corvette assembly plant in nearby Bowling Green. Sounds like she would be up for the trip - good for her!
Learning moment: pepitas
(They just call them pumpkin seeds here...)
Hmm, I wonder what they call donut seeds?
Pore cleansing reminded my of a video I saw showing sebaceous filaments oozing from nose blackheads, (thanks a lot, and uh, no...) I won't provide a link here as it is something you can never unsee...
Happy birthday Big Easy! Curiously, Google does not have any pictures of a "big easy" birthday cake. But,
here is what you would get at the Big Easy Bar & Grill today...
The theme? I almost forgot...
Easy and enjoyable FIR today, but one has never truly solved the puzzle until the big reveal has been grasped, and for that I needed help from sumdaze. FALL and DROP, okay, but BUTTER and FREE? Silly me. Thanks, sumdaze!
Happy Birthday, Big Easy!!
FLN. Picard, I liked your fog waterfall video. Very poetic!
FLN. Vidwan, interesting indigo info!
I liked this Monday crossWORD offering. The few names were at least not DLIST "celebrities". The Spanish and KENTE clues were unknown, but perped nicely. It seems like too many of our recent constructors keep that DLIST handy! Once again, the theme floated past just out of reach. Missed it by THAT much! Thanks Sumdaze, for the D'oh! Moment. (And the "Get Smart" clip.)
Hola!
Happy birthday, Big Easy (aka, George)! Have fun celebrating.
And happy birthday to my baby sister, Yolanda, in Charlotte. She must be out celebrating because she did not answer her phone.
Thanks to Matthew Stock for the Monday musings. I enjoyed the puzzle and finished in good time.
Here we have very little water under the bridges so not many RIVERs, only dry beds. And we have CALOR in abundance but not much FRIO. Maybe in January or February.
I've never tasted OKRA.
My daughter told me to be very careful with my PYREX dishes because apparently they are valuable.
Sadly, my BFF died a few years ago but I am lucky to still have several others around and we will be meeting for lunch on Sunday. Birthdays, you know, and I am not the oldest; there is one older than I am.
It is a wondrous sight to see the FALL LEAVES. My friend Kathy and I went a few years ago and drove from Connecticut to Vermont. it was gorgeous!
I just finished a book by Gail Tsukiyama about a SUMO wrestler, "The Street of a Thousand Blossoms". She is a prolific writer.
CSO to my niece's husband, LANCE. He was formerly in the Secret Service, and we can always count on him for a good story.
Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!
Good Morning:
My past solving experiences with Matthew's offerings have not been positive but I found today's more to my liking. I missed the theme until the reveal which always adds to the challenge of the solve, IMO. Butterfly Kiss is an unknown phrase to me as were Freestyle Raps and Drop Box, but all were easily inferable. Frio, Kente, Lisa, as clued, and Pepitas are not Monday words, but perps were fair and that seems to be Patti's rule of thumb, so no foul. Sport/Shirt was my only w/o. Nice CSO to our Chairman, Moe!
Thanks, Matthew, and thanks, sumdaze, for the wit and wisdom in your very detailed review. Welcome back, we missed you!
Happy Birthday, George, hope you day is special. 🎂🎁🎊🎉🎈
Have a great day.
FIR, but had never heard of Kente, I thought it was Krill so guessed right. Yes, CC is amazing with her swimming.
"I've got more to say on Matthew's puzzle but I'll just leave you with this for now" say...
12a) David Lee Roth in Spanglish.
Love'd the expo!, sumdaze.
Back to work, -T
PYREX used to be good, then years ago they decided that the temperature proof borosilicate glass they were using was too expensive, no more borosilicate glass, so now they are not temperature proof, and the name now say Pyrex, not PYREX.
If you have the older PYREX it’s worth holding onto.
A fun Monday 🏃♀️ jog in the park. A few unknowns but the perps were fair so no wite-out needed. A witty theme. Thanks Matthew.
Thanks Sumdaze for the informative and educational recap. I enjoyed the clip of Max and Sigfried. That brought back memories of one of my favorite TV shows from the 60’s😊…….. kkFlorida
sumdaze Thank you for the Get Smart clip! Hand up I thought of KAOS when I saw CHAOS. And what a coincidence. I also watched Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on our recent flight back from Iceland. It took awhile for me to realize it was all made up.
Enjoyed the SINK OR SWIM theme. RISES UP before PIPES UP. I had a girlfriend from Germany who liked to give BUTTERFLY KISSES. Never heard of it otherwise. She was a professor here at the University of California, but it was only a one year position.
Here I was as a child in NEW ENGLAND with my mother and a backdrop of FALL LEAVES.
Hand up had COLORS before LEAVES. I took it for granted as a child and realize now how special it was.
Big Easy Happy Birthday!
From Yesterday and Today:
Lucina, sumdaze Glad you enjoyed my TIBURON Waterfall of Fog video. We have plenty of fog here in coastal California. But I have never seen such a waterfall of fog before or since that enchanting visit to TIBURON. My friend was a medical doctor. I was recovering from being hit by a car and he invited me to his TIBURON medical conference on pain as a subject of study for traumatic chronic pain. Sadly, my friend died soon after and he was quite young.
Yup. I have several old time PYREX dishes, including 2 pie plates, one a 9” and the other a 7”. I treasure them, especially since I like baking fruit pies.
Freestyle isn't technically a swim stroke; it is a swim category. The front crawl is the name of the stroke that people associate with freestyle. Freestyle simply means what its name implies: you are free to use whichever stroke you prefer. Front crawl is the fastest, so that's what everyone uses.
This started off more later-in-the-weekish. Usually I have most of the upper third filled. Not today. Maybe Matthew thinks today is Saturday. Sooo I totally screwed up the SW cuz I stuck with sport. My excuse I did the puzzle in the Syracuse airport and waiting for takeoff to Orlando on my phone. ( how can you use that as an excuse? BECAUSE I CAN ☺️
KENTE?I always forget if it’s KRILL or cRILL. “Polo for one”, tempted to fill Marco
Inkovers: foot/PORE, C/DLIST, uh/ah/OHNO.
How many put LICK for “lollipop taste” before considering a flavor first. Oops
HBD Big easy.
Taking off bye
Speaking of swimming highly recommend the film “Nyad”
Ray-O, just because I saw it before D-O and Jinx... You said, "My excuse I did the puzzle in the Syracuse airport and waiting for takeoff to Orlando on my phone"
Don't you think you'd make better time (and be more comfortable) going to Orlando on a plane?
TTP - I totally missed Ray-O's iPhone 737. I do love me some misplaced modifier. I was gonna suggest to him that if I was him (if I were he?), I would accidentally-on-purpose lose the return portion of my ticket. Maybe "find" it around Mother's Day.
I liked this puzzle, sumdaze's write-up, and all your comments.
Happy birthday, Big Easy!
Thanks SubG for the kind words - fun to make connections on the Corner!
And I was in a rush to get to work this morning - I forgot to send birthday wishes to Big Easy- enjoy your day - or now evening
Fun Monday puzzle, many thanks, Matthew. And your commentary was very helpful, thanks for that too, Sumdaze.
Never heard of KRILL or PEPITAS, so I had to depend on the surroundings to get those.
But there were many delightful words in this puzzle, like BLESSED and that BUTTERFLY KISS. And it was fun to see PUSSIN-BOOTS going downward.
Enjoyed reading all your comments. Have a great week coming up, everybody.
Sumdaze is on the job, bringing us this Stock PZL...
Yes, I found this unusually tough for a Monday XWD. But then, I feel I need a nap today, w/ a very sleepy brain.
I was awakened several times by the sound of my pen dropping to the floor.
That SPORT/SHIRT trap was a good 'un!
Finally figured it out, but...
~ OMK
___________
DR: Three diagonals, far side.
The center line's anagram (11 of 15) is the way many of us feel toward lousy elitists.
Don't we become just like them when we think of them as...
"CRUMMY SNOBS"?!
Thank You Matthew Stock, for a relatively easy Monday puzzle, that I had no real trouble going after. The SINK OR SWIM also came in rather easily. We all generally expect 'easy A' Mondays, and we were not disappointed.
Thank You Renee Sumdaze for a charming and engrossing commentary. I found your links very engrossing and learnt a lot... thank you, once again 1!!@!!! The first time when I saw what a krill looks like ... they look miniature prawns/shrimp ....
Have a nice week ahead, all you guys... ( and, ofcourse, that includes gals ...)
I forgot to wish Big Easy -George, a very happy birthday ! And may your year be so joyful and full of happiness.
Thank You sumdaze, for your comment on my two bits on indigo, last night... I wonder if anybody reads my ravings when I go off the deep edge ... its just something I can't help ... even though I regret it later, and afterwards ...
Lucina, I can't believe you've never had or tasted Okra. I try to buy then every so often , ... for every week when they are in season. They can be boiled in soup, ( jambolaya eg. ) or coated with flour and deep fried in oil, or filled with spices and gently sauteed etc., you should try them at least once, and soon...
TTP. I loved your comment on Ray-O's misplaced grammer .. and Jinx for the name of such a flub ... misplaced modifier... Thank YOu both.
Ray-O goes to the south and Florida so often ... that he probably has a rental seat on SouthWest Airlines... Happy and safe trails to him !
On the CW, BUTTERFLY KISS - I never heard of ... KENTE, I thought came from Kunta Kinte - from ROOTS 1974-75 ?, and PEPITAS, I eat this every week for breakfast and tea snacks ...
Good NIght, all.
Hi All!
Matthew's puzzle was fun but central CA gave me fits.
Also, I apparently don't know the difference between C & K.
Thank you sumdaze for the excellent expo & fun comics. I try to copy you & Hahtoolah on my expos, but yous keep raising the bar.
*hangs head in shame*
WOs: Every C was a K [see: cRILL, MOLLUSc, TYcO]
ESPs: nope. A few perps and I got it.
Fav: WELD 'cuz solder didn't fit :-)
Happy Birthday Big E! -- it's fun to be part of a blog with someone else who also lived in / knows Shreveport.
Cheers, -T
oops,... I take that back. One K (TYkO) was a C. #Dyslexia! ;-) -T
I have my mother’s (all original) PYREX - nested mixing bowls and covered casserole sets - which she got after she came home from serving in WAC in WWII. So closing in on 80 yrs old? WOW
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