HURDLES
Today's
construction makes two Rebecca puzzles in a row for me, AND the second
in a row that's 16 x 15. Plus the fourth grid of hers that I have
blogged since I started guest blogging last year. Two spanners and two
10-letter theme answers. IMHO there was some meh fill, but that may be
due to the fact that I am getting "older" and not keeping up with the
world as it races past me. The theme clues/answers:
17. Undercover undertaking: STEALTH OPERATION
36. Winter getaway deal: SKI PACKAGE
43. Meet, Maps, and Drive, e.g.: GOOGLE APPS
62. Bend over backward, or what each set of circled letters is: JUMP THROUGH HOOPS - three synonyms for "jump", which 'bound' from one word to another, while being "circled" by a hoop.
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Pleads: BEGS
5. Clear as day: LUCID - eh, I like this better when referring to dreams
10. Brunch side: HASH
14. "Lunch __ a Skyscraper": iconic New York photograph: ATOP - I did not know it was a publicity stunt; the Wiki
15. Trip to see Africa's "Big Five": SAFARI - I did not know there was a "set" that should be on one's African safari bucket list; they are listed here on this site
16. Capital city with public transit ferries: OSLO - this strikes me as being "Ektorp", but there's "Norway" it's going to be Swedish 😜
20. Owns: HAS
21. __ Lingus: AER - Crossword staple
22. As of now: TO DATE
23. Toy that may get stuck in a tree: KITE - ah. Not "POM"
25. Sweater pattern: ARGYLE - a shout-out to our dear departed Santa
28. Fully __ nachos: LOADED
30. Apt rhyme for tear: WEAR - "wear & tear"; took me a minute
31. Lovers' quarrel: SPAT - and - 50A. Tizzies: ADOs
35. Garden shelter: ARBOR - my maiden excursion on my new tractor
did not go so well; trashed my garage door track, twice, trying to get
it out; knocked myself silly when the folding roll bar folded on my
head, then when I was out mowing, first the roll bar snapped a branch off my
pine tree and then....
38. "Wild" card game: UNO
39. 4-Down sigh: AHH....
41. Country north of Kenya: Abbr.: ETHiopia
42. Unlikely to reprimand: LAX - not the airport this time
47. "Don't cry for me" singer: EVITA
49. Web content std.: HTML - oops, I tried HTTP
51. Soaks in a salt solution: BRINES - meh. Don't care for the 'verb'; salt solutions...better
52. "Even still ... ": AND YET. . .
54. "So I __": "LIED" - OK, "So I LIED" - that's not really my tractor 😁
55. Infinitesimally small: ATOMIC
58. Things put in to power?: AAs - bitty batteries
59. Wheelbarrow groove: RUT - yeah. meh.
67. Novelist Rice: ANNE
68. Vehicles with pedal assist: eBIKES - I have such a short drive to work, I considered buying one of these for the exercise and to save on gas
69. All over the place: AMOK
70. Fridge incursion: RAID
71. Folder contents: FILES
72. Top diving scores: TENS
DOWN:
1. Swinging soiree: BASH
2. Gospel icon James: ETTA
3. Makes a big noise: GOES KABOOM - remember this game~?
4. Relaxation station: SPA
5. Judy Garland co-star Bert: LAHR - you won't find this lion in Africa
6. Mysterious sight in the sky: UFO - I wondered if this would be the 21st century "UAP" answer
7. Tube top?: CAP - ah, toothpaste, e.g.
8. Intense anger: IRE
9. "Traitor!": DIRTY RAT
10. Choose a spot in an open office: HOT DESK - never heard of this;
I have been booted from several desks (workbenches, actually) at my job
because I fill two roles - I am a pipe organ technician, but also the
next CAD pipe organ design guy; since I painted the CAD office, my
co-workers seem to think that my other work space has been 'conceded' .
Sigh.
11. Most populous continent: ASIA - Antarctica comes in a close second. . . .
12. Gumball machine opening: SLOT - meh. There's a coin "slot", but the opening is sort of like a hinged gate, if you ask me
13. Make sharp: HONE
15. Camel in a caravan, maybe: STEED - yeah, I suppose. I happen to like camels - I want a stuffed one to add to my Webkins collection; I have two dinosaurs and a dragon; used to play on the computer with my once-step-daughter
18. Like some job moves: LATERAL - I would have thought splitting my time between two "offices" at work would be considered "lateral". Bzzzt.
19. Early web portal: AOL
24. Eager reply to "Who wants this cookie?": "I DO~!" - I was expecting "ME~! ME~!"
25. Uncomfy, casually: AWKward
26. Hiking gear rental co.: REI- Crossword staple
27. Stops and stares: GAPES
28. Guffaw: LAUGH
29. "I take it back": "OR NOT. . ."
32. Race car or kayak: PALINDROME - the same spelling, forwards and backwards
33. Banded gemstone: AGATE
34. Home state of Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion: TEXAS - did not know this, nor would I care. I guess I AM getting old(er). Filled via perps.
36. Suspicious: SHADY - I'd link Slim Shady, but the lyrics....
37. Think of fondly: CHERISH
40. Captain cook?: HEAD CHEF - har-har
44. Rented a yurt, maybe: GLAMPED - High living while "roughing it"
45. "The Bells" poet: POE - also did not know this; filled via perps
46. Hollywood hrs.: PST
48. Strive (for): VIE
51. Slight depression, with "the": BLAHS - not the BLUES, but 60% correct
53. Tiny issue: NIT
55. Cracked just a bit: AJAR
56. Mackerel relative: TUNA
57. Potent prefix: OMNI
58. Life times?: AGES
60. Wish __ a star: UPON
61. Tuts: TSKs
63. Squeeze play stat: RBI
64. Menorah liquid: OIL
65. "Aloha 'Oe" instrument, briefly: UKE
66. Granola grain: OAT - four in a row, letters three, that's all you're gonna get from me~!
Splynter
My favorite clue was the one for the palindrome. Besides that, I had a little difficulty with the “apt rhyme for tear” (d-oh!). Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteHand up for HTTP. Tried LEERY before SHADY elbowed in. Saw the circles before starting...then forgot about 'em. The reveal was necessary, but the circles weren't. Has anybody heard "AWK" for awkward, ever? Thanx, Rebecca, and also our fill-in in-house organ-grinder, Splynter.
Big 5: What, no hippo, no giraffe?
POE: That was my first (and only) acquaintance with the word "tintinabulation."
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, Rebecca. I would write that it was a HOP, SKIP and a JUMP to finish, but that would be a LEAP of the facts. I was so ready to plug in JUMP after getting the first two, but that would have messed up the puzzle and your reveal. That, and GOOGLE APPS was a no-brainer for me, so LEAP it was.
Anyway, it was a little bit of a slower solve this morning, and some of that was due to having a couple of momentary power outages that caused the internet connection to drop. Annoying. But I am thankful. As I write, there are ~ 800 reported power outages in the Chicagoland and Northern Illinois area affecting 20K customers.
Not the only reason though. A few early entries had to be changed. One was having leery before SHADY.
HOT DESK - New term to me, too. Perps led to the answer. Thanks for the link, Splynter. We had mobility centers that fit the bill. Aka productivity centers. Badge in, and then sign for a desk, an office or a conference room as required. Great in concept, but people... So then more rules and procedures to adhere to...
PALINDROME was not the first thing that came to mind at race car and kayak.
Loved the clue "Fridge incursion" for RAID.
What is the word that I use to describe?
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could...
Oh yeah, CHERISH. The Association. 1966. I had to look up the group and year.
Just lost power for a third time.
Time to copy, paste and publish.
Back later.
FIR, but erased of late for TO DATE, shy for LAX, and hear for LIED.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
NATIONAL LUCKY PENNY (the first U.S. penny was the size of a half dollar and made of pure copper)
NATIONAL TAFFY DAY (my favorite is the saltwater variety you get down the shore)
SAFARI is becoming Africa's OBOE or OREO.
I really wanted an apt rhyme for tear to be "beer," as in that great Hank Williams classic There's a Tear in My Beer.
I've probably mentioned this a time or twelve, but I took a picture of the LAX Medical Clinic sign and got it published in National Lampoon. I got a one-year subscription extension for my trouble.
The singer had to be EVITA, because "Madonna" didn't fit.
DNK that ETTA was known for gospel.
Tiffin, the manufacturer of my RV, uses the motto "roughing it smoothly." Every coach comes with it somewhere on the exterior, usually high on the backside.
TTP, I also thought of The Association's big hit at CHERISH. I actually liked Along Comes Mary better. I was surprised that you don't have your electronics protected by UPS. I have them for my desktops, DirecTV receiver and its power inserter, the cable modem, and all nodes on my mesh WiFi network.
D-O, I had the same thought for AWK. I wonder what the youngins would think if we made a puzzle using some old ASCII characters like ACK, NAK and BEL.
FLN - Monkey, I wonder what Sigmund would say about "Junx." Too funny!
Thanks to Rebecca for this fun Wednesday challenge. Hand up for liking PALINDROME best. And thanks to Splynter for another fine review. That snapshot needed a mirror in the background to become the perfect shot.
Just realized that I submitted tomorrow's "today is" today. I'll list today's list tomorrow. Phew - say that fast five times.
ReplyDeleteTTP, I remember Cherish very well. My girlfriend's brother and I made a week-long road trip that summer. Spent a night at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Saw the Smothers Brothers and Jimmie Rodgers (Honeycomb) in concert. Dined on filet mignon from room service at the Lodge at Jackson Hole. Great trip!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a puzzle that required circles in order to illustrate the theme which, by the way, had a fun and clever reveal. The only true unknown was Hot Desk and the only w/o was Blues/Blahs. The fill was especially lively with Goes Kaboom, Head Chef, Palindrome, and Dirty Rat. The AAs/Ahhs and I Do/Ados were cute duos but Awk was just plain ugly and, with the 22 TLWs, detracted from the overall solving enjoyment, IMO. CSO to our dear Argyle.
Thanks, Rebecca, and thanks, Splynter, for a great review and for pinch hitting once again.
Have a great day.
FIR. Circles, grrrrr. I suppose we needed them but they are a hop, skip, and a leap away from fun.
ReplyDeleteTwo clever answers, cap and palindrome. But several bizarre ones, like hot desk, steed, awk, glamped?
Overall this was a typical Wednesday puzzle with some Saturday clues thrown in. I give it a meh!
Hey Jinx.
ReplyDeleteYou were asking about James Lee Burke. Nope, I have not read him, nor do I intend to, after your mixed reviews as well as those of someone (Monkey?) who wrote that he found Burke's books to be grim and brutal. Grim and brutal I do not need.
Have you ever read A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole? It's a very funny and picaresque novel about an unforgettable character named Ignatius J. Reilly, who lives in New Orleans.
Toole describes Ignatius so well, you can vividly picture Ignatius in his furry hunting cap with big ear flaps, pushing his hot dog cart down the street, walking in such a way that the hat's ear flaps bounce and flap in rhythm. And Ignatius insulting everything and everybody in sight.
I liked the book so much I taught it to my 11th grade literature students. I understand there is now a statue of Ignatius Reilly on Canal Street, wearing his hunting cap with the ear flaps.
Oh--and the book won the Pulitzer.
Took 7:05 today for me to bounce around the grid.
ReplyDeleteHotdesk?
I think of "jumping through hoops" as in doing more (often unnecessary) work.
I think of "bending over backwards" as in conceding more.
I knew today's writer (Anne) but wasn't sure about the geography lesson (Eth).
Oh joy, circles!
T.Ken, I'll add Toole to my list to watch for. I don't mind grim and brutal, at least occasionally, but there are so many good authors (and book factories like James Patterson) that I don't want to spend time with a book that's hard to read. At my age I'm pretty sure that I'll run out of years before I run out of books I want to read.
ReplyDeleteFIR but took a little longer than a normal Thursday. 🙋♂️ for having to correct HTTP, LEERY, BLUES, never sure if it’s AAH or AHH. I would classify AWK as an ERM, a seemingly made up word for the sake of fill that nobody has heard or uses. Didn’t know a camel could be a STEED, have always seen a horse reference in the cluing. TEAR, having two pronunciations was a little roadblock which required an A-Run. The clue for HOT DESK implied a verb answer, but sounds like a noun to me. James Cagney supposedly never said “You DIRTY RAT”, but that’s the line most often used to impersonate him. All in all I enjoyed the solve, thanks Rebecca, your puzzles never disappoint!
ReplyDeleteThanks Splynter for your recap, glad that wasn’t your tractor in the ditch!!
Methinks "Hot Desk" probably derives from "Hot Sheets" where day and night workers share the same bed, but not at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteThis was clever by Rebecca Goldstein and as has been noted, a little dross is needed to fit in all the long vertical fill. I'm looking especially at AWK and ETH. Ugh! However, the W in AWK completed WEAR which was in doubt for a while. TEXAS was a surprise for me, too, but I believe it's the only five letter state. Oh, no Maine.
I, too, thought of Madonna before EVITA.
I've seen Heavenly HASH on menus.
"Toy that might get stuck in a tree" only in a Peanuts cartoon.
Thank you, Splynter; you have a flair for this job.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! It's graduation day at my granddaughter's elementary school. She is the last one in E.S but then my great-grandson will start in the Fall.
Could not remember the "N" in palindrome, and it's perp took ESP to find it...
ReplyDeleteSplynter, welcome, you are now fully initiated into the Tractor club!
(Just stay away from hills, because it goes downhill from here...)
Just a PSA,
Eventually, things will get gummed up and your mowing blades will not fully stop (brake) and you will be too lazy to drop the dang mowing deck one more time because it's a pain in the *ss. Be very mindful at all times where your toes are when getting on and off the dang thingie...
Now why does this puzzle remind me of the DMV?...
Oh, one more PSA,.
You need to be very skilled at jumping thru hoops at the DMV because you don't want to get the police involved...
Lucina, there's also Idaho.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! A slow-going this morning but I made it through. Thanks, Rebecca. Even with the circles, I didn’t pause to see the easily discernible theme. That’s on me.
ReplyDeleteBRINES: I most always BRINE (verb) poultry and pork. It really does keep the meat more moist.
AWK, really…? The downside of texting, I suppose.
WO: GAwks -> GAPES; Blues -> BLAHS
I’ve been known to say, “..OR NOT” under my breath..😜
Thanks, Splynter. Glad to know the tractor wasn’t yours, but what a maiden voyage!
There were some clue answers I had never heard of: hot desk was the first, awk. for 28 down which was not abbreviated, 44 downs clue rented a Yurt- glamped, 46 down Hollywood hrs- pst. New clues for me
ReplyDeleteJinx, "...down the shore." I thought it was a Maryland expression. Seems VA can also claim it. I wonder if it came S. to VA or N. to MD, or maybe it's an Eastern seaboard expression. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteAnother CW mercifully free of lots of proper names. So to quote #1 commenter, I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteI did miss a small area however, I couldn’t get AWK and REI, though I know we’ve had that one before. We’ve also had GLAMPED, before, and I remembered it, but I still don’t like it.
I too wanted SKIP to be followed by JUMP and not LEAP. The JUMP turned up in the reveal.
So all in all a nice, fair CW to start my morning off pleasantly.
Splynter thanks for the recap and I’m so glad you lied about your tractor misadventure. That photo of Linch ATOP a skyscraper always makes me dizzy to look at, even now as I write about it my stomach is doing flips, well not literally of course. LOL.
I corrected the misspelled LUNCH and it still ended up misspelled. Let’s hope this time the correct spelling sticks.
ReplyDeleteGot in some more sleep.
ReplyDeleteHad a few more momentary outages. Just long enough to knock out the gateway. Jinx, I've thought about getting a UPS for my desktop and gateway, but never get a round tuit.
Let's not forget Maine as a 5 letter state.
"Remember the Maine" became the rallying cry for the hawks that propelled us into war with Spain, following the onboard explosion in the bay of Havana in early 1898. The Wikipedia article on the Spanish American War is a pretty good read.
Oh, and in Maine, the expression for the coastal area is "Down east."
D-O, that sounds like a great get away trip. We tuned into the Smothers Brothers weekly TV program. I haven't heard that "Honeycomb" song in decades. Just played it on YouTube. You Tube was on auto play, and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine followed.
Gotta run again. Have to clean up the kitchen dishes and get some other things done before golf this afternoon.
I love to see Rebecca Goldstein's name at the top, because I know that she (and Patti) are going to keep me entertained. Today's was no exception.
ReplyDeleteSome of the clues were quite enjoyable, like 32D (PALINDROME). Another palindrome I like, BTW, is "A Toyota." I dreaded 47A, because I am terrible with singers' names, but then as I was working out the answer, I was relieved and delighted to discover EVITA.
9D (DIRTYRAT) made me think of Edward G. Robinson and Jimmy Cagney. [Extra credit: Name some films of Cagney and/or Robinson where he did NOT play a bad guy.]
I also loved "fridge incursion," and the answer to "makes a big noise," and 44D where I was picturing a glamping couple from, say, Beverly Hills, staying at a yurt.
I have no problem with circles. And here we had HOP, SKIP, and JUMP. Except Rebecca and Patti had to change the third one to LEAP. I'm guessing they had to do that because otherwise their long theme clue at 43A would have had to be something like COUNTERJUMP or BUCKJUMPER. Yuck.
One nit--and I'll be glad to stand corrected on this. It's 63D "Squeeze play stat," with answer being RBI. My nit is that a squeeze play is not always sucessful, in which case there will have been no runs scored--therefore, no RBIs. Right?
The puzzle had two grid-spanners, and they both measured 16 spaces, I'm guessing because the constructors needed 16 spaces for a couple long ones.
Thank you, Rebecca and Patti, for a fun and entertaining morning, due to your lively and clever crossroad.l
Managed to FIR, but I found this offering to be a bit AWK. HOTDESK and GLAMPING caused my nose to wrinkle, and IRE for INTENSE ANGER seems a tad mild. " Rage" would have been more apt, IMHO. D-O, I have many happy memories of the bar at the Broadmore, and their yard-long beer glasses!
ReplyDeleteFIR and enjoyed it! The circles helped with the solve, which I think is a plus.
ReplyDeleteSome of you naysayers clearly lack urban Millennials in your lives. The ones I know definitely say when something is AWK.
The same youngsters say that when I went on SAFARI, I GLAMPED.
Having been to brunch more than a few times, I was surprised to see HASH as a side rather than avocado toast or something like that. LOADED nachos are also too heavy for me!
Fabulous job, Rebecca and Patti! Many thanks for reviewing the cluing, Splynter!
T-K, thanks for the shout out to John Kennedy Toole and A Confederacy of Dunces. I read that book back in 1980 when I was a college student, and it remains my favorite work of contemporary fiction to this day. The book has a very interesting back story, but I won’t go into it now.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable puzzle that filled in easily after some corrections -of late/TO DATE, blues/BLAHS, ogles/GAPES - and the HOP, SKIP, and LEAP JUMPed right out, but then I hit the Virginia area and had tift,snit/SPAT, nix/LAX and it took forever to get PALINDROME (oh, of course!).
ReplyDeleteMonkey@10:09 - Everytime I see that picture of the men ATOP the skyscraper or other photos of great heights my hands and feet tingle and if I look at them long enough I feel sick. AND YET, I don’t know why that happens. I think IM wrote of having the same problem.
Tehachapi Ken@7:55 - The circumstances about the publication of the book are very interesting. My daughter loved it! It clearly required a certain sense of humor.
Lucinda@9:05 - They grow up fast, don’t they? My granddaughter graduated from college on Saturday. Two down and one to go. Time just speeds by.
Splynter, the hurdles cartoon was funny and the info on the ATOP photo was very interesting! Thanks!
Happy day, all!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Like others, the old name for the triple jump; HOP, SKIP and JUMP came to my mind
-To DATE our spring rainfall has taken most of our state out of drought conditions
-A teacher’s decision between being too LAX or too strict is an easy one
-Lenny Welch’s fabulous song: When you just give love, And never get love, You'd better let love depart, I know it's so, AND YET I know, I can't get you out of my heart. Enjoy.
-James Cagney declared, “I never said, “Mmm, you DIRTY RAT!”
-Off to North Bend to get my newly regripped clubs but not play. 8” of rain did that. Then were headed to get some new “blue flats”, uh, not for me.
-Nice job, Splynter.
I’m around lots of millennials but I’ve never heard them say “AWK”, but maybe they’re not urban.
ReplyDeleteI had a parrot once. He often said AWK.
ReplyDeleteMY wife and I stayed in a yurt in Outer Mongolia. It was comfy, but certainly not glamping.
ReplyDeleteT.Ken, hadn't thought about the possibilities when a squeeze play is attempted. Of course it could work, with everyone safe (hit, RBI.) Or work with the runner out at first (sac, rbi.) Or the bunter could miss the ball, or the pitcher could throw a pitchout (1-2 putout, caught stealing.) Or it might just be a putout at home (lots of combinations between pitcher, catcher, and the corners.) I've seen double plays on a poor bunt (1-2-3) and a popped up bunt (1-5,) especially on a suicide (vs safety) squeeze. There are other possibilities of course, but I think these are the fairly common ones. Well they were, before the DH and aluminum bats spoiled a fine game.
ReplyDeleteRosE, my stepdaughter has spent most of her life in NJ, and that's where I picked up "down the shore." Up there it means "Jersey Shore," but I think of it as "massive Sunday traffic jam" in season.
Most enjoyable puzzle for me in a long time. After I read a James Lee Burke novel I say I’ll never read another one but I get drawn back in by the characters and settings. I’ve read them all. You need to at least try one.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear from several of you about Confederacy of Dunces, and that you also liked it very much. There is indeed quite a backstory, but when discussing the book with Jinx in Norfolk, I chose to focus on that great buffoon Ignatius J. Reilly.
ReplyDeleteJinx, down the shore. It sounds like it's a Mid-Atlantic saying. 🌞⛱⛱🌊
ReplyDeleteOur favorite pizza place here has that LUNCH ATOP A SKYSCRAPER photo on the wall. No, it was not Photoshopped. Staged, but very real.
ReplyDeleteI puzzled over the circles as HOOPS theme, but FIR. Hand up HOT DESK seemed wrong. Learning moment.
Splynter Thank you for the LUCID HOT DESK image.
Here we GLAMPED at our LUCIDity Festival.
I have a LUCID dreaming practice and have been to several workshops. Including at the LUCIDity Festival and in very remote retreats.
Slightly tough, but still interesting and fun Wednesday puzzle, so, many thanks Rebecca. And your commentary was a big help, thanks for that too, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteWell, not much more to say after all these helpful comments. Actually, I would love to take a SAFARI if I could take it to OSLO. Wait, that couldn't work--I'd need a SKI PACKAGE for that one. TEXAS might be better.
When I saw HEAD CHEF, I wondered where all the food was. Of course--we got some HASH right in the very beginning, and later on some TUNA, but no dessert. Might better just to head to the SPA. Oh nuts, that wasn't a SPA--just a SPAT. Never mind--time for a nap.
Have a fun afternoon with a LAUGH or two, everybody.
Thanks to Rebecca for her puzzle. Cute theme!
ReplyDeleteFAVs: Tube top? and Things put in to power? (Not "into"!)
Hand up for getting the heebie-jeebies when I see that ATOP photo -- but I also really like the photo!
FLN: Thanks, TTP and -T for the props!
Thanks to Splynter for another fun review! I liked your title/theme. You had me going with the tractor!
"IMHO there was some meh fill, but that may be due to the fact that I am getting "older" and not keeping up with the world as it races past me."
ReplyDeleteNicely put,Splynter, and heartily seconded.
I just realized I forgot to weigh in on "down the shore." I'm tearing up just thinking about it because I grew up in Drexel Hill PA, a suburb of Philadelphia, and our summer home was in Ocean City NJ, aka Heaven. Or the Shore.
ReplyDeleteI live near the Pacific now, about the same distance from that ocean as I used to be from the Atlantic. But when I tell people out here I'm down the shore, I just get a blank stare. What--are they deaf?
I remember when the triple-jump was called the HOT SKIP & JUMP. I never noticed the circles until after completing the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHOT DESK- I've never heard of it either and I certainly did not need one. I had three offices and my own desk in each of them.
TGF-COOGLE because GLAMPED would not be on the grid without GOOGLE in place. Unknown to me.
OSLO- didn't know that one but it filled easily.
E-BIKES- some people can't resist trying to juice them up to go faster and as a result many are catching on fire. A few people in NYC have died when the bikes caught on fire.
Race Car and Kayak can join "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama", Madam I'm Adam, and "Able was I ere I saw Elba" (looking for Bonaparte)
Whirling Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Rebecca and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed in good time and saw the theme early when HOP appeared. But I erred in wanting HOP, Step and Jump (for triple jump) which created a few inkblots. But this Canadian has learned REI which gave SKIP. I have heard HOP, SKIP and Jump, but never LEAP. is it a regional expression.
Oh joy, circles! But they were the HOOPS. I actually thought Meh when I saw the reveal.
Are we trying to rhyme Tear as the drop that falls from your eye, or driving quickly down the highway. Oh, the rip. I almost had a Natick at that first letter, W, since I had A _ L (see above for Leap), and AWK was not in my slang vocabulary.
I had Peron before EVITA.
Hand up for Leery before SHADY.
IS IT Aah or AHH?
I had Gawks before GAPES.
Great memories of our SAFARI in Kenya (south of ETH). We saw the BIG 5 plus Zebra, Hippos and more.
The Big 5 list was originally the 5 hardest African animals to hunt on foot.
No camels. (Since when is a camel a STEED - I thought that only referred to a horse that was ridden?)
Wishing you all a great day. I’ll finish reading you all later.
I enjoyed most of this puzzle and wrinkled my nose at a couple of things (AWK, AHH, and TSKS).
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand a camel being a STEED, and I'm not going to bother looking it up.
Paraphrasing is at best an arbitrary and subjective process. It's like asserting, "Oh, so what you're saying is xyz". Someone else might assert, "Oh, so what you're saying is abc". But going backwards from xyz or abc to what was actually said is inherently impossible. Here are the actual instances in today's puzzle:
"Even still ... ": AND YET
"Traitor!": DIRTY RAT
"I take it back": OR NOT
You all probably remember many more from previous puzzles.
Does anybody remember any other song from Evita other than "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"?
Does anybody remember any other song from Cats other than "Memory"?
Does anybody remember any other song from The Phantom of the Opera other than "The Music of the Night" and maybe also the song called "The Phantom of the Opera"?
Very cool write-up, Splynter.
Good reading all your comments.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteA fun puzzle from Rebecca and a banger of an expo from Splynter. Thanks both y'all.
Splynter - cool backstory of Lunch Atop and LOL POM stuck in a tree. When Eldest's BFF moved to Egypt with her family, they'd still communicate via Webkins (even after the Green Revolution).
WOs: Started HOTelling at HOT DESK, BLueS
ESPs: N/A
Fav: HEAD CHEF's clue and PALENDROME [TMBG]
Re: HOT DESK - the companies I've been at call it hoteling; basically your desk for the day (or the week) you're in the office.
Beyonce in Texas - ~20 years ago, DW would see her jogging through our Missouri City, TX neighborhood.
AWKward - I don't like it, but working with Gen-Zs, I've heard it (pronounced Aaaawwk).
Enjoyed reading y'all throughout the day.
Cheers, -T
A-T says it’s the Gen-Z’s who say AWK. That might explain why I have not heard it since I don’t know any of that generation.
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