Theme: "County Fair" - Each common phrase contains an Irish county.
23. Subway request: HOLD THE MAYO.
33. Light verse best not shared with kids: DIRTY LIMERICK.
53. Actress who plays Anita Hill in the HBO film "Confirmation": KERRY WASHINGTON.
67. New Year's Eve popper: CHAMPAGNE CORK.
91. "C'mon, live a little": LET YOUR HAIR DOWN.
120. Matinee idol of the 1930s and 1940s: TYRONE POWER.
A perfect puzzle for our Irish Miss and Steve Marron. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I'm
not familiar with County Down or County Tyrone, but any puzzle by Doug
Peterson is a treat. His grids, including Saturdays, are always super
clean and smooth. Doug is also a super solver. This pic is from ACPT 2008.
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| Doug Peterson & Will Shortz |
Across:
1. Ancient fabulist: AESOP. Also a pricey soap brand.
6. Pesky insects: GNATS.
11. Shelter org.: SPCA.
15. __ capsule: TIME.
19. Set of beliefs: CREDO.
20. Betray, in a way: RAT ON. I know OMERTA.
21. Chalky powder: TALC.
22. Make muddy: ROIL.
25. Bibliography abbr.: ET AL.
26. Roadside retreats: INNS.
27. Club music genre, familiarly: EDM. Electronic Dance Music.
28. "We can seat you now" buzzer: PAGER. Pagers were very popular when I was in college. We only had one phone in school building.
29. "Funny, right?": GET IT.
30. Travel document: VISA.
31. Beach town atmosphere: SEA AIR.
37. Geek (out): NERD.
39. Unit of resistance: OHM.
40. Travelers' gp. with annual dues: AAA.
41. Vehicle in many a Jack London story: SLED.
44. Filling station number: OCTANE.
47. Unbelievably impressive: SCARY GOOD. Great fill.
56. "I Can't Drive 55" singer Hagar: SAMMY.
57. "Until we meet again, chérie": ADIEU.
58. Drought relief: RAIN.
59. Elizabeth's role in Marvel movies: WANDA. Elizabeth Olsen. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
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61. Leonine feature: MANE.
62. Like a small vineyard, perhaps: TEN-ACRE.
64. Clothing pioneer Strauss: LEVI.
65. Sign-on need: USER ID.
72. Like a live fumble: IN PLAY.
76. "What __ is new?": ELSE.
77. Hind site?: TAIL END. So many fun clues in this puzzle: 113. Kick starters?: FEET. 112. Santa Fe foursome: TIRES. 121. Passing remark?: YEA.
82. Editor's "Lose this": DELE.
83. "Open wide!": SAY AH.
85. Shopper's reference: LIST.
88. Revved up: EAGER.
89. Pixel pattern: IMAGE.
94. Stagnate: GO NOWHERE.
96. Refuse to be associated with: DISOWN. 109. Refuse to yield: INSIST.
97. "Which __ say ... ": IS TO.
98. Bud visitor: BEE.
99. Dowel: PEG.
100. Hand sanitizer ingredient: ALOE.
114. __ apso: LHASA.
115. Browning spots: OVENS.
117. Non opposite: OUI.
118. Driver of many trailers: ADAM. Adam Drive the actor.
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119. Recover from a run: PANT. Oh guys, my 25-meter freestyle
record is now 30 seconds. It was 35 seconds last December. Butterfly is
still a mess. I'm in the stage between butterwhy and buttercry.
123. Arizona landform: MESA.
124. "Laugh-In" comedian Johnson: ARTE.
125. Tackle again: RE-TRY.
126. Sidestep: EVADE.
127. Elysian locale: EDEN.
128. Cherished: DEAR.
129. Cinch of a course: EASY A.
130. December candy shapes: CANES.
Down:
2. Slowly cut into: ERODE.
3. One of Marge Simpson's sisters: SELMA.
4. Somewhat strange: ODD.
5. Course with a crust: POTPIE.
6. Hall of Fame pitcher Maddux: GREG. We used to have a ton of his cards.
7. Known as: NAMED.
8. Gaming trailblazer: ATARI.
9. 75-Down, e.g.: TOY. 75. Figure included in the Gotham City Cycle Chase set: LEGO BATMAN.
10. __-Cat: winter vehicle: SNO.
11. Girder alloy: STEEL.
12. Soul icon LaBelle: PATTI.
13. Insurance filing: CLAIM.
14. Knee injury common among athletes: ACL TEAR. And
15. Pub entertainment with a host: TRIVIA GAME. Doug is terrific themeless constructor.
16. Like some bonds: IONIC.
17. Belarus capital: MINSK.
18. Disney character loosely inspired by "The Snow Queen": ELSA.
24. Soil-loosening implement: HARROW.
29. Athletic center: GYM.
32. Tenor Bocelli: ANDREA.
34. Samurai without a lord: RONIN. 浪人. Literally "wanderer". Same in Chinese.
35. In those days: THEN.
36. Sunshine, slangily: RAYS.
38. Region with many Commanders fans, briefly: DC AREA.
41. Card game in which 10s score higher than kings and queens: SKAT.
42. News article intro: LEDE.
43. "__ go bragh!": ERIN.
45. Airport security org.: TSA.
46. Sushi tuna: AHI.
47. Barrel strip: STAVE.
48. Like some water cooler cups: CONIC.
49. Plus: AND.
50. Ilhan of Congress: OMAR. The 5th district. I live in the 3rd district.
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51. Luxury hotel chain headquartered in Dallas: OMNI.
52. Recolored: DYED.
54. Desert plant in the asparagus family: YUCCA.
55. "The Sweet Escape" singer Stefani: GWEN.
60. Paranormal vibe: AURA.
63. "House of the Dragon" actor Ifans: RHYS.
64. Shirt size abbr.: LGE.
66. Slalom competitor: SKIER.
68. __ lemon: citrus hybrid: MEYER.
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69. Dish: PLATE.
70. Pallid: ASHY.
71. Capital west of Montreal: OTTAWA.
72. "Yeah, man": I DIG.
73. Pixar clownfish: NEMO.
74. Course of action: PLAN.
78. Part of LPGA: LADIES.
79. Swelled heads: EGOS.
80. Semiaquatic salamander: NEWT.
81. 007's first film foe: DR NO.
84. Flagon beer: ALE.
85. Video game brother: LUIGI. The Mario Brothers.
86. Org. with auditors: IRS.
87. "Dexter: New Blood" airer, for short: SHO.
90. Still-life jug: EWER.
92. "To a ... " poems: ODES.
93. Waiting to buy tickets, say: IN LINE. Boomer and I used to
stand in line for over 4 hours to get those Twins bobbleheads. He loved
those activities. He could talk up a storm with anyone.
95. Shoe insert: HEEL PAD.
99. Educational ad: PSA.
101. Unsolicited, as a manuscript: ON SPEC.
102. Relinquished: CEDED.
103. Charter: LEASE.
104. Chicago airport: O'HARE.
105. Soda with a Piña Colada flavor: FANTA.
106. Autumn blossom: ASTER.
107. Classifies: SORTS.
108. Off-white shade: IVORY.
110. Sioux City resident: IOWAN.
111. Upholstery choice: SUEDE.
113. Struggling actor's dream: FAME.
116. Singer born in County Donegal: ENYA. One more county reference.
120. Uno + due: TRE.
122. Reproductive cells: OVA.
C.C.
I ALMOST understood the theme, after I had finished the whole puzzle. The ends of the themed answers looked to me like counties in Ireland; at least, some of them did but I wasn’t sure. But now that C.C. has explained it to me, all becomes clear.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, FIR, so I’m happy. (And, by the way, a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to our own Irish Miss and to all of Irish heritage or simply “Irish at heart”!)
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteIt all came down to ED_/SE_DA, and d-o guessed wrong. Bzzzzt. What's so special about Assisi that so many so-called saints come from there? I've heard of Francis, but CLARE wasn't clear. Don't think I've ever heard of a MEYER lemon, but it filled itself. When LIMERICK appeared, I looked back and noticed MAYO, and the theme became obvious. Timely. Thanx, Doug and C.C. (County Down at 0:50.
WANDA: There's a woman named Wanda who we often see on our morning march through the 'hood. She's quite the gardener. We call her Wanda-Woman.
SKAT: My father played SKAT most of his adult life. Three guys would get together on Monday evenings. They'd begin play at seven-thirty, break for a single beer at nine, and would finish before ten. On a really bad night one could lose as much as 15-cents.
PAGER: My former boss provided each of us with a PAGER, so we could be reached at all hours. I kept mine at my desk at home...with the battery removed.
ED_/SEL_A???
DeleteOops, here's that closing parenthesis: ")"
ReplyDeleteHaving been one of the complainers last week, I found this puzzle to be quite enjoyable. A nice mix of sports, science/technology, traditional culture, and yes...pop culture and "lingo", without an overwhelming amount of either (although I could have done without the geek/nerd out cluing). The theme made sense too.
ReplyDeleteThumbs up on this one!
FIW, because my kick starters are tees, not FEET. (To quote an old corny joke's punch line, "silly rabbi, kicks are for trids.")
ReplyDeleteToday is:
ST. PATRICK'S DAY (or Lá Fhéile Pádraig. I’m of Welsh descent, but close enough to wear the green)
NATIONAL CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE DAY (doesn’t seem the same without my green beer)
NATIONAL IRISH WOLFHOUND DAY (ok, I made this one up. But the Irish Wolfhound
used to be my favorite breed, until the retired racing greyhounds weaseled their way into my heart
Isn't DIRTY LIMERICK redundant?
Remember the day the music died, when the marching band "refused to yield?"
There used to be a naturist resort called Elysian Fields on Topanga Canyon Highway. My neighbor was a member, and I remember that her skin looked like (yesterday's fill) TAN shoe leather.
I lived in Atlanta when Maddux was nearly unhittable. His success was that he avoided most of the strike zone. He lived on the inside upper and outside lower corners. He was also a SCARY GOOD fielder, winning 18 Gold Gloves.
The story goes that early California settlers came across a bunch of YUCCA trees they thought were palm trees, and named their desert town Palmdale.
IN LINE. Except if you are in NY or NJ, then you are "on line."
In these parts, I see far more Redskins (crossword favorite) merch than Commanders gear. There are also a lot of folks sporting Steelers and Cowboys attire.
Thanks to Doug for the fun workout, and to CC for the tour. I especially like learning things I didn't know about Boomer.
FIR, mostly because of several WAG's in the right places, such as the crossing of Selma and EDM? Hmmm?
ReplyDeleteI got the theme early when I entered Kerry Washington, but it was no use to me since I didn't know all the counties.
This was a lot easier than last Sunday, but not a real pleasure to do.
Took 14:44 today for me to take the tour of Eire.
ReplyDelete(Was "Eire" missing from this one?)
Meyer, stave, harrow, & Tyrone Powers were the most unknown to me today.
Enjoyable puzzle.
C.C. - good job on lowering your PR.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone, and especially Ms. Irish Miss.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteWell, these Irish eyes were smiling this morning, thanks to Doug's wonderful puzzle. I'll admit the theme won me over early on, but that's just one, small factor. The grid was smooth and clean, with no dreck; the cluing was a nice blend of tricky and straightforward ; the perps were consistently fair; the fill was lively and fresh; there were only 21 TLWs, a rare feat in a Sunday grid; and, most importantly, to me, a very satisfying and enjoyable solve! I caught the theme at Kerry Washington which then allowed me to fill in Champagne Cork, Let Your Hair Down, and Tyrone Power based solely on the clue and not a single letter of help. Being familiar with all of the counties was a big plus, naturally. My only w/o was Mario/Luigi and the perp-dependent unknowns were the usual suspects of proper names: EDM, Sammy, Wanda, Selma, Ronin, and Rhys. Doug also gave us two Easter Eggs with Enya and Erin (Go Bragh) and a nod to Patti, as well, at 12D.
Thanks, Doug, for a most pleasant Sunday challenge and a special treat for the Irish solvers and thanks, CC, for the review and commentary and CSO. Loved your Butterwhy - Buttercry comment. Also, your comment about Boomer talking up a storm to anyone brought back very fond memories of his blogging persona and his larger-than-life presence. He is greatly missed.
Happy St. Paddy's Day to all! ☘️ (Thank you, SubG and SS, for your best wishes).
Nice puzzle by Doug and fine review by C.C.. No others need apply.
ReplyDeleteWanted St Francis but he was too big. Started with DItTY but it got DIRTY when LIMERICK showed up. FIR, with only those two rethink.
Erin go Bragh. Have a great day, all.
The universe has a nasty sense of humor.
Swish
Thanks, Doug. Thanks, C.C.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun and appropriate for the day.
Like D-O, I wasn't familiar with CLARE OF ASSISI but she had to be. There were a few other answers that needed perp help, but no show stoppers.
I knew of each of the counties except DOWN and CLARE.
After solving Doug's "Country Fair" puzzle, I solved Evan's fun "Color-Coded" puzzle: Evan Birnholz Sunday Crossword Puzzle.
DEAR Doug and Patti,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the SCARY GOOD puzzle today! I did not know the county names, but FIR and enjoyed it.
Thanks to C.C. for everything, and a big shout out to Irish Miss.
Yes, a fun puzzle with all the requisites for a fine CW. I got the theme at LIMERICK, then looked back at MAYO and my suspicion was confirmed.
ReplyDeleteI really like themes that match that day’s celebration. It shows the extra effort applied by the constructor.
I knew only two proper names, ARTE and TYRONE POWER, yes I’m showing my age, but again perps were kind for the others. The SW was the hardest. I didn’t know the LEGO TOY, wanted tees for FEET(by the way clever clue) and role for FAME. But I finally got it straight.
I also liked the bud visitor clue. A simple little 🐝.
I admire your P&P CC. Obviously you are getting SCARY GOOD at swimming. Are the Olympics in your future?
Oops. I forgot to wish Irish Miss ☘️ a happy St Patrick’s day.
ReplyDeleteA few unknowns in this one, EDM and MEYER, but I got a FIR in a little over 25 minutes. Sussed the theme cuz I recognized about half the counties. Thank Doug for the Sunday outing and to C.C. for the recap! SO to Irish Miss ☘️, and happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!
ReplyDeleteErin go Yeet! ☘️
“An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass and hot fall off the face of the earth!”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone, especially Irish Miss. My great grandmother was Rose Kelly, so I claim Irish heritage too.
ReplyDeleteExcellent puzzle today with fun themers and several opportunities to expand my knowledge base - HARROW, LEDE. My last fill was in the NW, and I needed Wags to succeed.
We have a Meyer lemon tree in our courtyard which supplies all of our needs and several neighbors’ as well. Thanks so much, Doug. I always look forward to attempting your puzzles.
FLN I love all the names for groups of creatures. Two of my favorites are “Parliament of Owls” and “Exaltation of Larks”.
C.C., thanks for the tour. I especially love the Boomer anecdotes. Congrats on shaving your time and on tackling the diabolical butterfly. You’re a “better man than I am, Gunga Din”!!
As I mentioned yesterday, I prefer to do the puzzle the old-fashioned way--in the newspaper, with pencil or pen. Usually the latter. My newspaper never puts the title of the crossword, so that's something of a handicap. Today, for instance, it would have been useful to have confirmed that I seemed to be finding Irish county names in the long reveals.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I found this puzzle to be an improvement over last Sunday's. Oh--on Sundays for some reason my newspaper also omits the name of the constructor! But thanks to this blog, I know Doug is the brains behind it.
Thanks, Doug, for a clever and versatile puzzle. Alas, I was a DNF, because I came under barrage in the SW, where there was an armada of partly identifiable foes coming at me. They turned out to include LHASA (evidently a dog), MEYER lemons, ADAM, LEGOBATMAN, and above all, CLAREOFASSISI. Wait a minute, not to offend anyone, but she sounds like something from Monty Python--like maybe someone's sister in Life of Brian.
Despite my SW full of smudges and white spaces, I had fun overall with Doug's handiwork.
Thank you Doug for constructing (and Patti for timing it) this wonderful St.Patrick's Day puzzle. And thank you C.C. for leading this tour of Irish Counties. I managed to solve the puzzle AND got the theme, FIR the first time this "puzzle weekend" (IMHO they include Fridays).
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle brought back many memories ...
Years back we had a dear friend named Gordon (now deceased) who was a travel agent who specialized in small group tours of Ireland. He once led us on a visit to the counties MAYO, CLARE and GALWAY (the latter not too crossworthy).
MAYO had many attraction, including this one of the many memorials to St. Patrick in Ireland; and the village of Cong, where the Quiet Man, starring Marion Robert Morrison (better known as "John Wayne"), was filmed.
Among the many other places we visited was the Avoca Weavers and where I bought my first "Irish Rainhat" (I lost two and am on my third - see my blog profile pic). They're a wool tweed and are effectively waterproof -- the tight weave traps and holds a layer of water keeping any more from getting to your head. A simple, ingenious work of craftsmanship that keeps your head dry and warm in the winter.
I have a granddaughter named CLARA, who is named for CLARE OF ASSISI, who was inspired by St. Francis to start her own religious order.
In COUNTY CLARE we visited the Burren, a rugged landscape with many neolithic monuments to unknown heroes ...
... and we visited the spectacular Cliffs of Mohr. Irish weather has been characterized as all "Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers", and Gordon told us that this was his third trip to the Cliffs, and the first two times all he could see was fog. That day was one of those "Sunny Spells".
Cheers
Bill
Happy St. Paddy's day everyone!
Musings
ReplyDelete-It took today’s date, the title and CORK for the gimmick to come to me.
-EDM and ASMR have entered our lexicon
-A TEN-ACRE plot around here is a garden for peeps with 24-row equipment
-Joann’s LIST that says laundry detergent is not enough for me when I confront the seemingly endless options
-Well done, C.C. In the words of Dori to Nemo, “Just keep swimmin’”
-GREG did not have a high velocity fastball, he was a true pitcher not a thrower.
-This is a hand-operated HARROW
-The NATS ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in MLB attendance last year
-Six-letter Canadian capitals west of Montreal ending in “A”: I have been to REGINA but not OTTAWA
-Here we say “waiting IN LINE”. I’ve heard others say, “Waiting ON LINE”. You?
-St. Clare’s Basiica is just down the street from St. Francis’
SCARY GOOD (NaomiZ beat me to it) Sunday. Thanks for the fun, Doug and C.C.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed in good time, and then remembered to look at the title. My previous disappointment that there was no Irish theme (and the Saint was not Patrick) changed to glee over all those Irish counties (plus C.C.‘S great Easter Egg catch with the clue for ENYA).
ERIN GO BRAH is another Easter Egg. (IM saw it)
EDM, RONIN, RHYS, MEYER were complete unknowns that perped.
GO NOWHERE took a while to parse.
Soil changed to ROIL.
CSO to Ray-o with those RAYS.
I’ll take a CSO with OTTAWA. (HuskerG, Ottawa is worth a visit, especially in the spring when all the tulips are in bloom.)
And of course the whole CW is a CSO to Irish Miss.
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all.
I liked this puzzle except for that EDM/SELMA crossing. Good reading you all.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the rest of you, I found the puzzle boring. Didn't get the theme. Just a bad attitude as I recover from my knee replacement surgery on Thursday, I guess.
ReplyDeleteScary good Sunday puzzle. The gimmick was obvious, but I missed it. I was looking for fairs instead of counties. I visited many of those counties on my tour of Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI had one V8 can error. I knew the card game was SKAT but spelled it with a C. Cerry makes no sense, but I didn't change it.
Two DUH senior moments.
I have heard of St. Clare of Assisi. I learned ronin from Shogun.
When I was a kid, a farmer plowed and harrowed our very large church lawn using a horse for both. Starting in the 1940's tractors were used to plow and harrow.
Limericks probably began as children's poems. When they were later enjoyed in bars they often became bawdy. Some limericks are merely humorous. Of course, the bawdy ones are more memorable.
I hear both inline and online here in NJ. Inline is probably a bit more common. It seems to vary by region in the US. To me "es macht nichts." Why argue over small vs little? In my Japanese language class one student indignantly said, "Last week you said this is the word for small. Today you said something else is the word for small." As you might guess, he soon dropped out.
The only fill that surprised me was Meyer lemon. New to me. "It is not a lemon, but is instead a cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo."
"Their limited season and fragile skin (which makes them more difficult to ship) naturally make them more expensive and harder to get your hands on than regular lemons."
This was a crunchy slog for me. Saw the theme with CORK but it didn’t help much (except maybe to see LIMERICK) as I do not have an expansive knowledge of Ireland’s geography.
ReplyDeleteThat SW corner took forever… wanted IM IN instead of I DIG, and ROLE or PART instead of FAME. IN PLAY and IMAGE took a long time to suss because of the tricky clues and I had no idea what kind of Batman we were talking about.
But I was not giving up because I was on a streak: This made 7 days in a row of FIRs! Woohoo!
- “Until we meet again” is pretty much a precise translation of “au revoir.” “Adieu,” on the other hand, I’ve always taken to mean, “I don’t expect we will ever meet again.”
- “Ronin” is a super-cool action thriller starring Robert DeNiro, whose character equates with being a master-less samurai. It has the best car chase of all time, imho. Highly recommend.
Hmm,
ReplyDeleteBasically spent all day in the sun, so I'm fried. And I did the puzzle early this morning, so it's hard to remember...
But, being St Patty's day, I wanted to post something silly. (My mothers maiden name was Leary...)
So, with apologies to Irish Miss,
hmm, could this be construed as too political?
Hmm, hmm,
Being an (Ex) Aussie, maybe some funny slang might be in order.
here is attempt #2 at silly...
I would attempt silly #3, but I think Drank soemth8ng green...
Thanks to Doug for a St. Patrick's Day themed puzzle! Unfortunately, I missed the gimmick this time. I had a 1-box FIR at TYRONEPOWEl X TIlES. Nice misdirection on the Santa Fe vehicle, Doug!!
ReplyDeleteEDM = learning moment
Saw the CSO to PATTI!
MEYER lemon trees are common here.
Thanks to C.C. for explaining the theme and for her bright review! We're lucky to have you!
ProfM@3:53. I hope you feel better soon. Pain is no fun.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone...especially those with Irish heritage. Aren't we all a bit Irish today?
As I saw posted on the Facebook — except the Scottish, we are Scottish!
DeleteAz Jim, I haven't seen Ronin, but the best car chase I've seen was by an old-time actor named Steve McQueen. He was famous for doing his own stunts. In the movie Bullitt, McQueen drove a Model T wildly through the streets of San Francisco. (OK, actually is was a 1968 Mustang Fastback, but both cars were from wayyyy back.)
ReplyDeleteOf course, that’s the classic. And my father had me well-versed on Steve McQueen—like how he also rode the motorcycle in The Great Escape (sorry I haven’t figured out how to italicize on here). And one time in my HS Driver’s Ed class our teacher showed us the scene from Bullitt and had us write down all the traffic laws that were broken.
DeleteIt is phenomenal but by today’s standards it just seems a little tame. Ronin has the same type of gritty feel and btw its [best] car chase takes place on the streets of Paris.
Jinx, "Bullit" ranks supreme, but next up for me would be "The French Connection" car chase scene with the 1971 LeMans... My first LeMans was a 1970.
ReplyDeleteForgot I was also going to mention French Connection. It’s a good one too but I’m tellin ya, Ronin’s takes the cake.
DeleteAlso no one ever mentions The Blues Brothers when it comes to great car chases. It has a pretty epic one!
AJ, this program uses carats (<, to start) and (< / to close).
ReplyDeleteItalics are with the letter i ; bold with the letter b.
Sample: < b > the letter i < / b > No spaces between characters or letters.
AJ, this program uses carats (<, to start) and (< / to close).
ReplyDeleteItalics are with the letter i ; bold with the letter b.
Sample: < b > the letter i < / b > No spaces between characters or letters.
Top o’ th’ evenin’ to all!
ReplyDeleteThis is what I’d call a finely tuned crossword — apropos to the day, a snazzy mix of amusing and twisted clues (the ones for SEA AIR, TAIL END and ADAM are the winners to me), and still solvable without grokking the theme (ol’ D here is totally dumb on things Eire…). I’ll take on your constructions any time, Doug — thanks for the fun!
Had “emo” before EDM ( yeah, that SELMA intersection needed a traffic light 😆) and the mid-west block had me spinning the grey matter, as I’d never heard of SKAT as a card game — just as a term for wild animal poop. Never knew about LEGO BATMAN either, nor WANDA as a Marvel character…only as a fish I once knew…
ARTE Johnson did one of the funniest bits on “Laugh-In” with his dirty-old-man persona. From time to time I’ll still recite his basso-profundo “dee-dee-dee-DEE-dee-dee” gag, much to the consternation of my wife; “what is your major malfunction??”
AZ Jim, I can see that you and I are cut of common cloth — after masterless samurai, the next RONIN memory-jolt is the movie of the same name. You beat me to it! Best chase scene ever made. “French Connection” ain’t bad — but not RONIN level. And besides the “Bullitt” and “Blues Brothers” (didn’t that one wreck something like 145 cop cars?) don’t leave out Nicolas Cage in the remake of “Gone in Sixty Seconds”, and also “Baby Driver” — some killer stunt-driving in both of those flicks, too.
Oh! We just had a real-life one tonight here in L.A. — some lady running from the cops drove her BMW X5 at about 70 across the sand at Venice Beach, right into the water! Only in L.A., right? 😎
Hope y’all had a safe St P’s day!
====> Darren / L.A.
I'll have to search for and watch the Ronin movie.
ReplyDelete<b<\ bold <i<\ italic
ReplyDeleteitalics
ReplyDelete