Puzzling thoughts:
Full confession ... yours truly, Chairman Moe, was on a recent holiday visiting some of my family back east. And upon return, and with a deadline to meet for his blog, Moe is going all "Cliff Notes" with the recap. Probably not fair to Ms. Brandes and Ms. Walker, as their puzzle today had a very interesting theme and reveal ... but Moe will give it his best shot, as always ... on to the themers:
18 across. *Place that experiments with soup recipes?: PHOTO LAB. Notice, too, the TWO circles ... more about those, later
32 across. *Curling team's specialty?: PERFORMING ARTS. Notice, too, the three circles ... circles, FOUR a change - more about that in a MOE-ment
39 across. *Penalty boxes?: TEMPERATE ZONES. Notice, too, the three circles in letters seven, EIGHT, and nine (in this entry)
And the reveal? 57 across. Balances, or, phonetically, how to make 18-, 32-, and 39-Across match their clues?: EVENS OUT.
So, if you look at the circled letters in each entry they spell out "TO", "FOR", and "ATE". Each of those are the phonetic pronunciation of "TWO", "FOUR", and "EIGHT". Three "EVEN" numbers. And when you take the "EVEN (number)S OUT", the entries match their clues ... a PHO LAB might be where a soup chef - not to be confused with a "sous" chef - would experiment with different recipes and ingredients. Wonder if this guy ever experimented there??
The second entry had Moe a bit confused as his original thought about "curling" was the Olympic sport. But Wendy and Amie had other ideas ... when the letters "FOR" are removed, the "curling team" specialty is PERMING ARTS ... this, maybe?
Fittingly, to throw me off (after I thought curling was the ice rink sport), was the clue "penalty boxes?" that led to TEMPER ZONES (when the letters "A, T, and E" were erased). And as anyone who has witnessed a hockey game, the penalty box is kind of a "time out" spot for players who engaged in a brief moment of bad temper ...
Here is the completed grid; then on to the rest of the clues!
Across:
1. Tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Or if split into a two-word answer, the clue might've been: German boy's affirmative to his father?
7. Cannabis compound: THC. TetraHydroCannibanol (C21H30O2). I did a double-take here; thought it said "cannibal compound" and I was thinking "POT". How about a cannibal on cannabis?
10. Grabber in an arcade game: CLAW.
14. Out of bed: ARISEN.
15. Ingredient replaced by applesauce in some recipes: OIL. Any cooks/bakers out here who can confirm this?
16. Participated in a bike-a-thon, say: RODE.
17. Check again: RE-TEST.
20. Oscar of "Moon Knight": ISAAC. All perps for this man with two first names
21. Geological periods: EPOCHS.
22. ABBA classic: SOS.
23. Humble homes: HUTS. HOVELS wouldn't fit
25. Fate: KISMET. [vocabulary dot com] "When you encounter something by chance that seems like it was meant to be, then it could be kismet, your destiny". KISMET is also the name of a Broadway musical which debuted in my birth year
29. Trait carrier: GENE.
30. Gimlet need: GIN. [clecho alert!!] 61 across. Gimlet need: LIME
31. Spanish bear: OSO.
36. Big rig: SEMI.
37. "Montero" singer Lil __ X: NAS.
38. Employs: USES.
44. Brown, for one: IVY. This clue threw me off until the perps arrived; Brown is the name of an IVY League school located in Rhode Island
45. 128 oz.: GAL. Actress Gadot would've worked, too
46. Swag bag contents: LOOT.
47. Accept an extension: RE-SIGN. Note the hyphen, as RESIGN would mean to quit
49. "Eww!": BLEH. Glad to see that the constructors didn't use a five-letter word for this clue ...
50. Boy: LAD.
53. "Beats me!": NO CLUE. What I usually say when trying to solve a Saturday puzzle; here, at Newsday, or at NYT Crosswords
55. Boxer Ali: LAILA. She is as famous as her dad when it comes to crossword puzzle clues for Ali
60. Silverware wrap: NAPKIN. Too fancy for me; I prefer my silverware to be unwrapped
62. Old lang.: LAT. LAT is also the name of the newspaper that syndicates this puzzle
63. Cool-weather lining: FLEECE. The verb meaning is much different ... as this now decade-old Moe-l'ick suggests [a bit risque]:
A young hooker ran into a priest,
Shortly after her "John" had deceased;
She confessed, she had sinned,
But she felt no chagrin,
There were scores from his flock she had FLEECEd
64. Goad: SPUR.
65. Expected: DUE.
66. Girls: LASSES.
Down:
1. City Hemingway called "a moveable feast": PARIS. Once again, perps to the rescue
2. Defensive retort: ARE SO. AM, TOO fits
3. Flatbreads served with labneh: PITAS. Labneh is a yogurt-based spread
4. On the briny: ASEA. Crossword-ese
5. Response in the kitchen: YES, CHEF. Does this entry seem forced to you? I've not worked in a kitchen at a restaurant, so I wouldn't know if this retort is common ...
6. Pantry pest: ANT. And if not in the pantry, then surely at a picnic ...
7. Issuer of a Mickey Mantle card sold for a record amount: TOPPS. [espn dot com] "The wait is over. After more than a month of fanfare, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card with a 9.5 grade from grader SGC -- the "finest known example" of a 1952 TOPPS Mantle -- has sold with Heritage Auctions for $12.6 million including buyer's premium. It's the most ever paid for any sports item, card or memorabilia"
8. Sunny greeting: HI HO.
9. Press for time?: CLOCK IN. Clever clue
10. Symbol on the Swiss flag: CROSS.
11. "haha": LOL.
12. Poet laureate Limón: ADA. Another proper name filled by perps and a WAG
13. Part of a mitt: WEB. This; the part between the thumb and first finger:
19. Whatsis: THING.
21. Never-ending: ETERNAL.
24. __, dos, tres: UNO.
26. Code creator: MORSE. SOS is ... --- ...
27. "The Hundred Dresses" Newbery honoree Eleanor: ESTES. Another proper name
28. Shovel pass, e.g.: TOSS. Shovel pass as in football; a humorous look:
29. "Get a __!": GRIP.
30. Princess of "Enchanted" and "Disenchanted": GISELLE. Is it me or were there a bunch of obscure proper names in today's puzzle? Maybe that is a (32 down. Pet-ty offense?:) PEEVE. [Another clever clue]
33. TV awards: EMMYS.
34. Small rug: MAT.
35. May, to Peter Parker: AUNT. Spiderman reference
36. Mix things up: STIR.
40. Easy-to-make waffles: EGGOS.
41. Lost heat, as a shower: RAN COLD.
42. "Special Ops: Lioness" actress Saldaña: ZOE. [see my response to 30 down]
43. "Fan-cee!": OOH LA LA!. Like a NAPKIN-wrapped around silverware
48. __ Hebrides: INNER. Islands off of Scotland; I recently found a new single-malt Scotch whisky from the Isle of Raasay which is located in the INNER Hebrides (MalMan, please note)
49. Montana city named for a landform: BUTTE.
50. Taps a heart button, say: LIKES. An option on Facebook
51. Writer Munro: ALICE. [wikipedia dot com] "Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013"
52. Many Lego House employees: DANES. Lego building blocks were invented/created in Denmark; Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen
54. Feast with haupia and poi: LUAU.
56. Gibbons, e.g.: APES.
57. Lauryn Hill trio?: ELS. Ahh, clever; there are 3 "L's" in this clue Lauryn HiLL
58. Short "Kind of a big deal": VIP. Odd clue; but I guess a VIP is "kind of a big deal", person-wise
59. Outback bird: EMU.
60. Giants and Titans org.: NFL.
Sorry to be so brief and have no Moe-ku's or Moe-l'icks ... maybe next year ... Wishing all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas (three days from now). See you in 2024!
I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but this puzzle didn’t seem hard to me at all. Aside from a few semi-obscure names, it was almost a “walk in the park.” I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be a different story, however. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteSorta got the theme this morning. Well, d-o's countin' it anyway. Noticed the 2-4-8 in the circles, and noticed that the themers made sense if the circled letters were removed. But, d-o failed to read the full reveal clue, so didn't get the "Evens out" portion of the theme. Came in under ten minutes, so it couldn't have been too tough. Thanx, Wendy, Amie, and C-Moe. (You'll frequently hear "Yes, Chef" on TV cooking shows. Many restaurants wrap the silverware in a napkin -- an easy package to grab and place on the table.)
INNER : Hebrides was incorrect on yesterday's Jeopardy!. The EurO category mandated ORKNEYS.
FIR, but erased KISMaT for KISMET, because ESTES was more likely than aSTES.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
FOREFATHERS' DAY (the Old Colony Club of Plymouth, Massachusetts introduced the observance in 1769)
NATIONAL DATE NUT BREAD DAY (don’t think I’ve ever had this, but I liked the date shakes I bought on the road to Palm Springs)
Greyhound CSO to my Zoё.
I agree with Sub that this one wasn't all that difficult. Lots of unknown celebs, but with names that are familiar in other contexts.
Most penalty time is served not as the result of TEMPER, but either good, hard play or even an oopsie. For example, if a coach's challenge is unsuccessful, the team is assessed a 2 minute delay of game penalty. Same thing if the puck is inadvertently knocked into the crowd, unless it is deflected there by an opponent. Too many men on the ice (bad substitution), ditto. Hooking, tripping, boarding, slashing, interference, and high sticking will get you 2 minutes in the sin bin, usually the result of aggressive play that was mistimed or just a goof.
Thanks to Wendy and Amie for the Friday challenge, and to our Chairman for 'splainin' it all.
Thank you Mr. Chairman for the explanation because EVEN though I did FIR and with EVENS OUT, I didn't understand the TO, FOR & ATE (two, four, & eight). My brain was stuck on what PERMING had to do with skaters with brooms, not beauticians.
ReplyDeleteOIL, ISAAC, ADA, ESTES, GISELLE, ZOE- all perps for those people and lipid.
THC- I just read an informing article about all the children ending up in hospitals after eating 'gummy bears'.
KISMET- a weird one for me two weeks ago. After playing pickleball on Thursday with a group of guys, one of them was wearing a shirt with the logo of a tennis club. I told him we used to belong but resigned years earlier. He asked if I knew a certain person and I told him I did but hadn't seen him (except on television presenting trophies) in four years, and that was in NYC at the US OPEN. The NEXT DAY -Friday- I was the only person sitting in a hotel lobby/bar in Baton Rouge and who walks in? My friend, who I hadn't seen except on tv when the trophies were presented to Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff. He was president of the USTA. Truth is stranger than fiction.
Just glad I completed the puzzle cuz I sure as heck didn't get the theme.
ReplyDeleteFIR. I agree with Chairman Moe, lots of answers seemed forced to me as well. And the theme was totally a mystery until I got here. Maybe if I had said it out loud? Still a stretch.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my least favorite things, circles and proper names, appeared today. Fortunately the perps saw me through.
Subgenius you are a super genius in my book.
ReplyDeleteMy brain must be muddy this morning, I could not finish and didn’t see the theme. The whole NE was left almost all blank, to make matters worse I had traLALA. I missed most of the proper names, but I did know ALICE and LAILA.
C-Moe, thank you for a lively recap. It really helped my understanding of the CW.
Big Easy. What a coincidence indeed.
Good Morning! The North came together with just a few blanks, then I dropped down to the South. As with yesterday, the middle slowed me way down. Eventually, with the help of perps and WAGs, it all came together. But the theme, I had no idea. I got as far as the 2-4-8, but it wasn’t until I got to the recap did I see the rest of it. Thanks, Wendy and Amie.
ReplyDeleteEnchanted is a fun movie with Amy Adams and McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey.
C-Moe, I had to laugh at your take on 60A. My thought was of eating at a diner where the silverware comes wrapped in a napkin with a little paper sleeve holding it together. Fancy, indeed!! 😄😄😄.
And thanks for your review. No apology needed, filled with fun & info.
Yes, an easy Friday puzzle. I saw the even numbers, to, for, ate and thought the clue was pretty lame. After C Moe suggested taking the even numbers out to better explain the fill, I realized the theme was great.
ReplyDeleteWe waitresses wrapped the silverware in napkins to make it easy to grab everything in one bundle including the napkin. The upscale eateries do not do this.
I have read of substituting applesauce for oil. I never tried it. Why mess with success?
I remember the Toni home perms in the 1950's. Do you? My grandmother gave me my first one. I don't have any friends who use any kind of home perm these days.
I received an early birthday card today from a longtime friend. It was full of irises and butterflies. I was delighted she remembered that irises are my favorite flower and that butterflies are my personal symbol. I have so many butterfly pins and earrings.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteMore puzzling than the puzzle itself was the use of Asterisks AND Circles, on top of the explicitly referenced clue for the reveal. The circles themselves stand out like a sore thumb. I thought there were several very clever cluing misdirections, particularly the clue for Resign, which took me forever to accept. I've never heard the term Shovel Pass, so Toss was hard to parse, mainly due to having Osa when Oso was needed. Ada, Estes, and Giselle, needed perps, but Isaac, Zoe, and Nas were familiar by their names alone, but not by the referenced clue. I wasn't keen on Bleh, but being a fan of Clechos, I liked the cluing for Gin and Lime. As Fridays go of late, this was on the easier side, although it took a few seconds to see the Two, Four, Eight feature of the Evens Out reveal.
Thanks, Wendy and Amie, and thanks, Moe, for the very detailed explanation of the theme and informative review. It was neither brief nor Cliff Note-y, as you covered all the bases. Yes, Chef, as DO mentioned, is as common in the kitchen as Yes, Sir is in the military. I agree on the preponderance of proper names today, but I found the perps fair, so I guess it's just business as usual, per the present-day standards. Your "Fleeced" Moe-L'ick was chuckle-worthy! 😆
Has anyone seen Maestro yet? I know Ray O liked it but I'd be interested in hearing other opinions. Speaking of Ray O, I hope we hear from him soon.
Have a great day.
Let's see, circled letters that are homonyms of what they are really supposed to mean, and are to be removed from answers that are still very hard to get. Add in some obscure names...oh it must be Friday! Even though I quickly got EVENS OUT I didn't connect it to the theme. But I rarely try too hard to figure out themes if I'm not stuck. I just got the longer words from perps and scratched my head on how they answered the clues. I was fooled into thinking of Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup can for PHOTO LAB but of course that's a painting, not a photo.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it didn't take that long to complete the puzzle. I do have a couple of specific complaints though.
ARE SO does not sound defensive. I picture the exchange as "YOU'RE A ___!" "AM NOT!" "ARE SO!" AM NOT is the defensive retort. ARE SO continues on the offensive. Show me otherwise.
BLEH for EWWW doesn't sound right at all. BLEH sounds like a review for a boring movie. Maybe I'm wrong. In general I really dislike these "words" that are sounds that people make that are not well-defined.
ELS. A trio of Ls. Let's just stop with this. It's neither cute nor clever.
Thanks Wendy and Amy for a very doable Friday FIR (although I was hanging from a cliff in the EAST until the very END).
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you MOE for another fun, albeit short, review -- "brevity is the soul of wit" (Shakespeare).
10A. CLAW. They're rigged for the house.
15A OIL. Applesauce? Sacrilege!
44A IVY. Fool me once shame on YOU. Fool me twice shame on ME. We had a CLUE in this HUE just recently.
45A GAL. I would have preferred a picture.
11D PARIS. He did more than "call it a moveable feast" -- he wrote a memoir about it.
5A YES, CHEF. Our constructors probably had this show in mind when they composed this clue -- I couldn't find exactly the right clip, but "YES, CHEF" was definitely the way the cooks in this kitchen responded to this CHEF. Regrettably this hilarious series only lasted 3 seasons (Lenny Henry probably told off the producer). It's definitely worth tracking down -- here's the wiki.
Cheers
Bill
Musings
ReplyDelete-Clever
-I knew of Lord Byron’s daughter ADA Lovelace and her computer work and had seen ADA as Assistant District Attorney (Jack McCoy’s role on Law And Order)here and then this ADA appears.
-That ISAAC and ESTES are another dip into the bag of Friday obscures with better clue options
-The transfer portal has made college athletics the wild, wild west. Many are choosing not to RE-SIGN with their old teams
-A former principal of mine would have loved to have us CLOCK IN and OUT everyday. He was much more of a building manager than an instructional leader.
-GISELLE is a name Rhea Seehorn’s character used when she scammed with Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul
Frantic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Wendy and Amie, and CMoe (welcome back).
ReplyDeleteI finished with two Google helps for the NE corner (the W in CLAW, and poet ADA).
I saw the TWO, FOUR EIGHT, and their removal for the themers to match their clues, but I needed CMoe’s explanation for EVEN. Several layers to the theme today.
Thankfully, unknown names like ZOE, ISSAAC, ESTES, GISELLE perped, as did AUNT.
ELS perped and I assumed Lauren Hills was a place in Chicago. LOL, she is a rapper (like Lil NAS X).
I had no idea about labneh, and waited for perps to decide between Naan or PITA.
Loves changed to LIKES. I still think that heart emoji implies more than Likes.
Yes, Jinx, NHL hockey plays involving real temper will see the player ejected to the dressing room. Sitting in the penalty box may be more common for displays of temper in more minor leagues or under international rules.
I noted LAD and LASSES.
Favourite clue EVENS OUT between “ Pet-Ty offense” and “Press for time”.
Wishing you all a great day.
'You kids aren't old enough to play this game with us." "Are so!"
ReplyDeleteSnoopy says BLEAH often. Bleh seems normal to me for disgusting. You stick your tongue out, make a face and say BLEH. You could use it for yucky stuff, not to insult the chef.
Actually the theme answers came easily to me and provided many perps.
Well, I did ask for gimmicky fridays back again...
ReplyDeleteSo I can't complain. The circles were needed. And I did ask for the puzzlement.
Actually, I can complain.
(Rant ahead: skip this part for your mental health..)
Cutlery wrapped in a napkin is most welcome by this OCD sufferer.
The one thing I cannot abide, is restaurants that lay their silverware on a bare table. Especially an outdoor table. Or worse yet, thinking they are being fancy by putting the water glasses upside down on a bare table.
I don't care how many times you wipe down that table, (with a cloth that hasn't been changed all day). People cough and sneeze on that table! Birds shit on that table! How many half eaten bites of food have been on that table!!. And you want me to put that fork in my mouth, that glass to my lips, and all the while I am thinking I am licking the saliva that some one has hawked onto the sidewalk while trying hard not to regurgitate onto said table... no thank you. Please go on and enjoy your meal. Ignorance is bliss.
End of rant...
My apologies, I wouldn't wish OCD on my worst enemy. It makes life a living hell .
That was the most convoluted garbage yet
ReplyDeleteCan't believe it was actually printed
Bleh? No, thats forced. I didn't think much of the theme. Thanks Moe for getting it. I guess you could call the way I feel about the theme, "bleh". GC
ReplyDeleteAlthough the puzzle was easy for a Friday. Not getting the theme didn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI liked the puzzle and thought the themers were creative. I worked my way through it, feeling more and more confident I’d FIR - then I hit the wall at the crossing of THC and TOPPS. I didn’t know either and wagged PHC and POPPS…. Bzzt! Also didn’t realize until the comments that I had misspelled GISELLE, using a Z instead, so NAS was wrong too. Oh well, close enough for horseshoes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy(love your name!) and Amie for the workout, and thanks C Moe for the tour.
I haven’t seen Misty lately. Does anyone know if she’s OK? She lives right around the corner in Laguna Beach, and I’ ve always hoped we could meet in person.
Busy busy busy with last minute Christmas stuff - like everyone else!
I forgot to ask - what does PEEVE mean, as clued? What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteDear Wendy, PEEVE is clued this a way because people have PET PEEVES that are things that annoy, often times, only them, so they are their Pet-ty things.
DeleteFIW…had PERFORMING GAR(d)S (the clue said “phonetically”) and didn’t know the perp. Even with the circles the clever theme threw me.
ReplyDeleteInkovers: hiya/HIHO, Giselda/GISELLE, no idea/NO CLUE
ANT AUNT in these parts pronounced the same. If anyone saw “The Bear” YES CHEF was repeated constantly.
Cardiac procedure took longer than normal, 5 1/2 hrs, required multiple ablations. Painless procedure. All catheters, probes go in and are removed during general anesthesia. Discharged same day to hear that a good friend and colleague had succumbed to ALS. Have mixed feelings about it. 3 years of devastating progressive paralysis.
IM @ 10:11 …Forgot to mention had the procedure at Albany Med. Our hospital hasn’t completely ramped up the cardiac lab yet. ….BTW you never said whether you liked the film.
Took 9:09 for me to be the odd man out.
ReplyDeleteOh joy, circles!
And asterisks too?
I knew today's actress (Zoe), but not from the clued movie/show.
I knew today's female athlete (Laila), from prior crosswords.
"Bleh."
Wendybird, a "pet peeve" is a minor offense.
Zipped through to an FIR. seemed like the easiest puzzle I've seen in a while. The theme? Clever! Too clever for me, though. Whooshed by, high over my head. Needed Moe to hit me on the noggin with the V-8 can. Liked the Moe-lick too. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy experience is similar to everyone else so far- I finished this right but didn't understand the theme until CM explained it!
ReplyDeleteI can affirm that lots of recipes in baking can have applesauce as a healthy substitute in the ingredients.
Even though Oscar ISAAC is most known for being the hero, Poe Dameron, in the newest/last Star Wars movies - he is a gifted versatile actor like Meryl Streep who just becomes whoever he is playing. One of his first movies he played Joseph in "A Christmas Story" if you are looking for a seasonal film over the weekend to watch.
My daughter loved Amy Adams as GISELLE in the musical "Enchanted" so that was a gimme
Thanks CM for the blog and Wendy & Amie for the puzzle
Yesterday was my last day of work until next Thursday- ready for the break!
Ray-O, so glad to see you back & I send you continued good wishes for an uneventful recovery.
ReplyDeleteCED, your "rant" described maybe the extreme, but I'm of like mind about utensils and upside-down glasses/cups on a bare table. Just good healthcare practices to have a (clean) barrier between.
Ray-O - glad the ablation (s) went well - have a relaxing weekend to recupe!
ReplyDeleteRay O @ 12:27 ~ Glad to hear you sounding so chipper after your extended ordeal. Hope Albany Med treated you well. I have very mixed feelings about Maestro and have only watched the first hour so far. My first viewing only lasted a half hour because I was so frustrated by not understanding a lot of the dialogue due to rapid-fire exchanges, Cooper's nasally, sometimes mumbling speech, Mulligan's Main Line Philadelphia accent (Bernstein's wife was born in Costa Rica and educated in Chile), and many indirect camera angles. These annoyances continued in the second half hour, which I also found slow-moving and boring. My major disappoint was the lack of scenes focusing on his conducting and composing talents. Perhaps the final hour will be closer to what I expected. Nonetheless, both stars give masterful performances.
ReplyDeleteDitto re Maestro. Could not finish watching it. Tried 2x.
DeleteI make pancakes with applesauce as one of the ingredients. Buttermilk, too.
ReplyDeleteLW and I have been to restaurants where the table is stickier after being wiped than before.
I liked the puzzle theme once the Chairman explained it.
Names:
Oscar ISAAC (or is his name ISAAC Oscar?)
Lil NAS X
LAILA Ali
ADA Limón
Eleanor ESTES
GISELLE
May, to Peter Parker: AUNT
ZOE Saldaña
ALICE Munro (all I could think of was Munro Leaf and H. H. Munro aka Saki)
Ray-O, I hope all that ablation is working for you.
Good wishes to you all.
Puzzling thoughts II:
ReplyDeleteCED @ 11:21 ==> yes, your OCD tendencies are definitely there; I have mixed OCD moments but I am perfectly fine with the five second rule, even if the doctor who wrote this disagrees ...
Glad to see that most of the comments are positive about today's puzzle
Truth be told, it took me 1/2 the normal time to write my blog for today; given the savings of time and your feedback, my future ones will resemble today's. There is (obviously) no template for we bloggers on how to write it, other than making sure there's a visible solved grid. I strive to describe (as best as I can) in detail the "constructor's angle"; in other words, what was the theme about and how did she or he or they get there
Speaking of which - and this is primarily for waseeley - I still can't "get" the reveal/theme of yesterday's David Alfred Bywaters puzzle ...
As an aside, I have fallen "victim" to whatever flu/cold that might be going around. Travel has gotten busier so I might have done well - in hindsight - to have worn a mask when I was in the airport(s). So far the symptoms and degree of severity are minimal; might be due to my having taken every vaccine
Once again, Happy Holidays all and thanks for the kind words
I don't either MOE! Fun puzzle though. The thing I like about DAB is the minimal P&P and his wordplay. Plus he has IMHO the most beautiful website around.
DeleteCheers,
Bill
Jayce @ 2:59 ==> OSCAR ISAAC
ReplyDeleteDuly noted, Chairman Moe. Thanks for splainin' the evens out bit. I hope that your cold does not get worse and that you feel better very soon.
ReplyDeleteC-Moe, sorry to hear you're not feeling well. But now that the dust has cleared and TEMPERs have subsided, I'll opine that the real truth of the masks lower than N95 grade is that they don't protect the wearer, since the virus is much too small to be trapped. I think the value of them is that if the wearer sneezes or coughs, the mask 1) slows down the airflow, thereby shortening the distance that the wearer's viruses travel, B) disperses the outgoing air, some straight through the mask and some around the edges of the mask, further shortening the danger zone, and III) traps some of the snot-encased virus in the mask.
ReplyDeleteRay O, so glad your procedure went well. When I get back from my winter sabbatical, I think I'll ask my PCP if I'm a candidate for ablation. We have a supposedly highly rated heart hospital about a block from my house.
Musings 2
ReplyDelete-As usual I are with Irish. Her opinions on Maestro are the same as mine. I fast forwarded to see if there were any scenes about music and I did enjoy them. Otherwise, BLEH...
Thanks to Wendy and Amie for their fun, clever puzzle! I liked the 2, 4, 8 gimmick. FIR and got the theme. Enjoying that while it lasts. Tomorrow is Saturday....
ReplyDeleteI want to work in a PHO LAB.
Saw the CSO to Jinx's ZOE.
waseeley@10:34. Next summer try substituting apple sauce for OIL in your zucchini bread recipe. Smashed bananas work, too.
Thanks to C-Moe for running us through the numbers! I liked your title! I also first thought of the Olympic sport.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say it was a "walk in the park," but I did get it done. Thanks, Windy & Amie, for the fun theme. Thanks C. Moe for the serviceable review ;-)
WO: yech -> BLAH
ESPs: [not enough electrons to list the names]
Fav: IVY's misdirection and PEEVE's clues are cute.
Nice you're back in fine form, Ray-O.
I've never worked in a pro-kitchen so take this for what it's worth: my understanding is that YES CHEF ensures communication between the chef and the kitchen staff. Yes Chef is similar to WILCO (I understand and will comply) in the military. BTW, IIRC, I it was last Wednesday (theme: Chop, Dice, etc) that I used #YesChef in the expo - KISMET :-)
Waseeley - that is a LOL clip of Chef!
Time to trim the tree. Cheers, -T
Chairman Moe, thanks for clarifying Oscar Isaac’s name.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks @ 11:02, that's a good example for defensive retort. But your explanation for BLEH (with example of BLEAH) just underscores my point that trying to make words out of sounds of reaction that come out of people is a lame way of fitting letters into a puzzle, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI finished the puzzle early this morning but I am still in a daze thinking about my niece. I just can't believe she is gone. My mind wanders to memories I have of doing things with her and wishing I could talk to her.
ReplyDeleteI managed to finish most of my wrapping but still have a few packages for tomorrow. No decorations or tree. I will just dress up the table for Christmas Eve dinner. The turkey is thawing and will be ready by then. What a strange Christmas this will be for me and for all the family. It reminds me of the year my dad died though it was much more stark then. My mother was completely shaken. He died less than a month later.
Yes, this was surprisingly ease for a Friday! Even though I did eventually grok the theme, I’m feeling it was a swing-an’-a-miss; I guess constructors think they are expected to come up with a snazzy theme no matter what. But props to Wendy and Aime for some great clues — the “Pet-ty offense?” and “Press for time?” were both gems, along with “Code creator”. Yeah there are the usual mass of proper names (including a cw original sin— crossing ALICE and LAILA…BLEH!) but they fell nicely to the perps for the most part
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of BLEH, I’m happy that I’m not the only one old enough to know that that word is Snoopy’s version of “yech”. Not a word that Snoop Dog would likely use, though…
Hey Chairman Moe, you DO realize that if those Cannabis Cannibals ingest enough THC, they’d get one hella case of the munchies, yah? 🤣
====> Darren / L.A.
Wendy- Misty has been posting on the Jumble Blog. She is fine.
ReplyDeleteRay-o - glad that the ablation went okay. Hope you have improvement.
Lucina - thoughts and prayers as you navigate this season of peace, joy and hope with so much fresh grief. Go easy on yourself and those close to you.