Punny
Funny Papers
Funny Papers
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| xkcd |
Before we retired, our daily newspaper was delivered to our door printed on cheap, recyclable newsprint. After retirement we found that we were paying a premium of $50 dollars a month more for home delivery and switching to email delivery seemed like a no brainer. What I didn't foresee was that the latter was not a very convenient way to read the comics, a habit I'd had since childhood. While it is possible to have individual webcomics like xkcd shown above, delivered via email, all of the daily and Sunday funny papers are just not as easy to read on a screen as they are in the paper with your feet propped up on the sofa.
To remind us of what we're missing, our very own Corner constructors, Renée Thomason (sumdaze) and Zhouqin Burnikel (C.C.) are taking us back to those days with 5 punny theme clues where the second word of the fill is a classic comic strip ...
16A. Popular comic strip at a deli?: DILL PICKLES. Pickles is a daily and Sunday comic strip by Brian Crane focusing on a retired couple in their seventies, Earl and Opal Pickles. Pickles has been published since April 2, 1990.
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| Pickles by Brian Crane for July 15, 2024 |
23A. Popular comic strip on an ocean liner?: SALTED PEANUTS. Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, and still continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential comics in history.
37A. Popular comic strip at a pub?: TAP SHOE. TAP is Brit slang for a pub and tap shoes are worn for a once popular style of dancing. Shoe is a comic strip about a motley crew of newspapermen, all of whom happen to be birds. It was written and drawn by its creator, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, from September 13, 1977, until his death in 2000 but continues due to the efforts of a dedicated team led by Susie MacNelly (Jeff's widow). I thought this one might be timely -- here are editor Shoe, reporter Cosmo and Sen. Batson D. Belfry at a press conference ...
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| Wednesday, Jul. 17th, 2024 |
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| July 10, 2024 |
61A. Popular comic strip at a talk show?: CHATTY CATHY. Cathy is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life: food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes fun at the lives and foibles of modern women (at least those prior to 2011). It took me a lot of random searches to find this one, but this just could be the moment where the classic Cathy AACK enters crosswordese ,,,
Here's the grid ...
Across:
1. Wile E. Coyote's vantage points: MESAS. These vantage points don't turn out to be much of an advantage in the end ...
For you die hard W.E.C fans, here's a pictorial history of just how far Coyote was willing to go to capture the Road Runner (which he never did), just how short (or far) he fell, how many ACME products he purchased over the years, and just what they might have cost him?
6. Cantilever, sometimes: BEAM. A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilever can be formed as a beam, plate, truss, or slab.
10. Brooding type?: HEN.
13. Very angry: IRATE.
14. 42-Across lane: AISLE.
15. Store in a wine barrel: AGE.
16. [Theme clue]
18. "The Commitments" loc.: IRE. A friend of mine turned me on to this film years ago. The Commitments is a 1991 musical comedy-drama film set in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It tells the story a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named "The Commitments". The film doesn't have an original film score, but the soundtrack features fourteen classic soul songs from that time. Here's Chain of Fools sung by Aretha Franklin ...
19. Slushy treat: ICEE.
20. Italian three: TRE. Today's Italian lesson.
21. Like hardened mud on tires: CAKED.
23. [Theme clue]
27. "That's for sure!": I'LL SAY.
29. Treaty partner: ALLY.
30. Some karaoke performances: DUETS. These guys sound just like the originals! ... 😀
31. NCR device: ATM. NCR provides a lot more than just essential crosswordese.
32. Mint and Snapchat: APPS. Mint was a personal financial management app before it was acquired by Intuit, Inc. in 2009.
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| Snapchat logo |
36. Portuguese feminine pronoun: ELA. Today's Portuguese lesson: SHE.
37. [Theme clue]
41. Garnish on uramaki sushi: ROE. Inside out sushi rolls. ROE are the fish eggs used for garnishing them ...
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| Ungarnished Uramaki sushi |
44. Lacuna: GAP.
45. Figure of speech: TROPE. A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech.
47. "Gangnam Style" style: KPOP. Korean POP. Wild stuff ...
49. Future ENT's course: PREMED. Aspiring Ear Nose and Throat doctors must get through PREMED before being accepted into medical school.
50. [Theme clue]
55. Collection: ARRAY. This seems like a simple relationship, but apparently an ARRAY is only one of many types of collections (don't ask me to explain this -- I can't 😀).
56. Work on an order?: EAT. If you're working on your food, you're eating too fast!
57. Point in the right direction?: EAST. EAST as in RIGHT on a map.
60. Grumpy companion: DOC.
61. [Theme clue]
65. Bird that can run faster than Usain Bolt: EMU. How fast can a human possibly go ...
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| Usain Bolt 28 MPH |
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| Emu 31 MPH |
66. Day divisions: HOURS.
67. Finish off: USE UP.
68. Gentle touch: DAB. A little DAB'll do ya' ...!
69. Brand that makes Froot Loops waffles: EGGO. A nested brand ...
70. Sauce that originated in Genoa: PESTO. We make our own --
67. Finish off: USE UP.
68. Gentle touch: DAB. A little DAB'll do ya' ...!
69. Brand that makes Froot Loops waffles: EGGO. A nested brand ...
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| Or maybe a contested brand? There is nary a mention of Froot[sic] Loops in the above link |
70. Sauce that originated in Genoa: PESTO. We make our own --
1. puree some crushed garlic and parmesan cheese in 4 TBSP olive oil in a blender,2. pack the blender with Basil leaves, and3. puree to a smooth paste.
We preserve it by spooning the paste into mini muffin pans, smoothing with a knife, covering with wax paper, and freezing overnight. Next day we pop the "muffins" out with a warm dinner knife, and put these "pesto patties" in plastic freezer boxes separated by wax paper. They can then be added to stir fries, soups, and stews as needed. They seem to keep forever.
Down:
1. Skirt length: MIDI. Teri was wearing a tartan wool MIDI when I met her in the doorway of Mr. Saterlie's Modern and Contemporary History class in the 11th Grade. The rest is history ...
2. "True Blood" vampire Northman: ERIC. DNK this character. This could also have been clued "Viking ____ the Red".
3. Potential new client: SALES LEAD.
4. If nothing else: AT LEAST.
5. Bi Visibility Day mo.: SEP. Month is abbreviated, so September is abbreviated.
6. Went by tandem: BIKED. A CSO to sumdaze and her DH?
7. Night school subj.: ESL. English as a Second Language.
8. Drink made from hops: ALE.
9. Drink made from agave: MESCAL. There are many types of agave. Mezcal, sometimes spelled MESCAL, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave. A related spirit, called Tequila, can be made only from Blue Agave.
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| Blue Agave |
11. Bird that stands on cattle: EGRET. Unlike other herons and egrets, this species typically feeds in dry fields, often following cattle (or other animals) and waiting for them to flush insects into view.
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| Cattle Egret on a horse Worcester Co., Maryland |
14. McMansion plot: ACRE. Here are some McMansions under construction in a new community not far from where we live called The Courts of Hidden Waters. There was an actual mansion there years ago used for retreats by the faculty and staff of the University of Maryland at Baltimore. It was hidden by trees and you couldn't see it from the road. The old mansion and the trees are all gone now and the new mansions are clearly visible less than a half a block from the road. Note the CSO to -T on the sign -- I think it's his East Coast side hustle ... 😀
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| The Courts of Hidden Waters (they don't look like ACRE plots to me) |
22. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA. Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (b. April 16, 1996) was born in Miami and raised in Buenos Aires and London. Taylor-Joy left school at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career. After a series of small television roles, her breakthrough came with a leading role in the horror film The Witch (2015). In 2020, Taylor-Joy starred as Emma Woodhouse in Autumn de Wilde's directorial debut Emma, an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel of the same name. Reviewing the film, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone deemed Taylor-Joy "incandescent" ...
24. Anchor's position in a relay: LAST.
25. Camino de Santiago element: PATH. My oldest granddaughter walked the 500 mile Camino de Santiago ("The Way of Saint James") after graduating from college. The 2010 film The Way tells the story of a father and his son who walked this PATH together ...
Martin Sheen
Emilio Estevez
26. Red Muppet: ELMO. This one ...Emilio Estevez
27. Notion: IDEA.
28. Quiet moment: LULL.
31. African viper: ASP.
33. Teens in tuxedos: PROM DATES.
34. Leader of the Holy See: POPE. The word "see" comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning 'seat', specifically the seat of a bishop. The Holy See refers to the office of the Bishop of Rome, currently held by Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina in 1936 and was elevated to the Papacy in 2013.
_FXD.jpg) |
| Pope Francis |
38. Open-mouthed: AGOG.
39. Daddy: PAPA.
40. To be, in Biarritz: ETRE. Today's French lesson. Biarritz is a small town in France on the Atlantic coast about 260 mi SW of Bordeaux. It is rumored to be the home of those notorious aliens the Coneheads. 😀
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| Småland |
48. Id, ego, and superego, collectively: PSYCHE. That's the Freudian interpretation, but in Greek mythology Psyche (Latin Anima) was the goddess of the soul and was often represented as a beautiful woman with butterfly wings. She was born a mortal woman and was eventually granted immortality, with beauty that rivaled even Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
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| Psyche Abandoned by Pietro Tenerani |
50. Tired of it all: JADED.
51. Diffuser output: AROMA.
52. Nickname for Ernie Banks: MR CUB. A signature clue from C.C. no doubt. Some memorable moments in Ernie's career ...
53. Like some thrift store finds: RETRO.
54. Saturated __: FATS. Are all saturated fats unhealthy?
58. Not open: SHUT.
59. Keyboard goof: TYPO. This is much less of a problem now that we have auto-defect. 😀
62. Fail to share: HOG.
63. Mo. before 5-Down: AUG. Month is abbreviated so August is abbreviated.
64. Sippy __: CUP. Great baby shower gifts ...
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| tommy tippee sippy cups |
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Bonus feature: Peanuts vs. Garfield: Charles Schulz secretly considered Jim Davis his arch-rival
After I finished this fun puzzle, I went back and saw all the comic strips that were referenced. This puzzle had some challenges, but, on the whole, didn’t seem all that difficult to me. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteCrapola. I was almost finished commenting, then the browser tab closed itself.
ReplyDeleteFIR, but erased itsy for ITTY, light for AROMA, and tequla for MESCAL (UNTIE!)
Today we got PAPA and POPE. POPE translates to PAPA in Spanish and Italian.
I used to golf with an AROMA diffuser. Especially when someone else was ready to putt.
Cornerites cherish a special form of HAIKU called the Moeku.
Thanks to sumdaze and CC for the fun, challenging Thursday puzzle. And thanks to Bill for another fine review, and for sharing your boy-meets-girl story. This oldie from the Beatles is just for you.
What a pleasant way to start the day with my morning coffee! A finely constructed grid by the duet of Renee and C.C., followed by a well illustrated and informative write-up from Bill and Teri! Thank you all for your efforts. Off to the golf course so I will further comment later. Good day to all!
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice Thursday romp with no off-the-wall cluing. PSYCHE was slow to come to mind, and d-o wasn't aware that "lacuna" meant GAP, so KPOP almost turned to KRAP. Whew. Recognized all of the comic strips. (I still read Pickles.) Thanx to our corner quartet, sumdaze, C.C., waseeley, and Teri.
Here's the bi-weekly DAB puzzle. David has this to say about it ...
ReplyDeleteToday’s puzzle’s title is of course drawn from the warnings commonly found on packages containing machine-readable documents or frame-worthy prints. But for me it’s also a motto to live by. When I’m faced with a dispute, having taken care in advance to place myself beyond all doubt on the right side, I refuse ever to compromise, knowing as I do that any deviation from my side must arise from some fundamentally wrong and probably evil motive in my opponents, dishonestly concealed. Rather than bend in any direction, I vilify those opponents ever more scurrilously, until either they or I tire of arguing. This may not get anyone anywhere, but it passes the time, and it helps me feel good about myself, which is after all (on the advice of my therapist) the point of most everything I do.
D-O Thanks for the Beatles' tune. Teri is still in dreamland, but I'm sure she'll say "He's so sweet!". 💏💏💏
Bill, that was Jinx, not moi.
ReplyDeleteSorry Jinx!
DeleteFIR. Finally a puzzle appropriate to the day of the week. This was challenging but doable.
ReplyDeleteI loved the theme with different comic strips.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
Took 7:06 today to get to the far side.
ReplyDeleteSeemed easier than (what was a traditional) Thursday puzzle, except for today's foreign language lessons. We got both Portuguese and French today. And, lacuna was unknown to me too.
I thought of "tap" as meaning the attachment to a keg at a bar, such as, "Which beers do you have on tap?"
Jinx @5:28 AM Re the Beatles' tune: My son and I are taking an online course in classical music and the instructor posed the question, "How do we define great music?" His answer was, "Music that will last". The Beatles' music will be played in the future along with the music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteOnly $50.00/month? Why I get to pay $59.95 for a paper that has slanted, worthless local columns, extremely biased leftists OP-ED opinions, and lots of national news from other sources. I keep it ONLY for the four page comics section and crossword puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of puzzle, I caught the gimmick early, with TAP being unknown for pub.
SEP, GAP, ANYA, PATH- unknowns today.
Never heard of Mint but I didn't have a smartphone in 2009.
BTW, ALDI Nord and ALDI Sud are not the same company. They agree years ago to split up territories, Northern Europe and Southern Europe.
ALDI Nord owns Trader Joe's.
Aldi Sud owns the Aldi stores in the US.
The fun theme was evident right away. This seemed easier than a usual Thursday puzzle, with the exception of the H in SHOE and PATH. I never heard of Camino de Santiago. I see that it is a pilgrim path. I was thinking of Camino as ROAD. Drat! Of course, path makes sense. I was separating the 37A at the wrong place. TAPS _OE. I dimly recognized the comic strip displayed. I have seen it only a few times. I didn't know it was called SHOE. Shoulda had the H. MY P&P is shorter than it used to be.
ReplyDeleteMy PA Dutch grandma used notioned as an adjective. She is notioned that way, meaning that is the way she thinks.
I liked the double meanings, such as TAP in a bar and TAP SHOE.
SS @8:16 AM I also interpreted it as Brit slang for "pub" which has an array of "taps" to choose ales from. It is also a type of shoe, which puns into Jeff MacNelly's cartoon. In my searches for an explanation for this (which was not immediately obvious), I stumbled upon this tap shoe ale tap on ebay. I decided not to use it, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to share it.
ReplyDeleteBE @ 8:46 AM Thanks for the shopping advice -- that explains why Aldi's and TJ's are such different types of store in the US. BTW, if you can afford to throw away $59.99 a month just to read the funny papers, you're either still working or you invested well! 😀
ReplyDeleteWaseeley- I forgot. DW reads the obits. I don't.
DeleteA McMansion built on a one acre lot? Really? I have seen many McMansions around here. The buildings always took up more than half the lot.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Renee and C.C.’s puzzle and a break in our heat are both welcome today!
-Would you walk out onto this glass-bottomed cantilevered platform?
-A chain reaction of ALLIES started WWI
-The British and German soldiers declared their own LULL on a Christmas Eve
-Maria, a foreign exchange student from Brazil, loved the people but she hated Nebraska winters: “ELA odiava os invernos de Nebraska!”
-BTW, Maria’s English was flawless.
-I don’t think there was a MIDI in PSY’s video :-)
-We have cattle and EGRETS around here but I have never seen one ATOP the other
-Ernie never even got to play in a World Series while with his hapless Cubs
-Loved the write-up Bill and Teri. I too prefer comic strips in the daily paper
We all loved the Cubs!
DeleteI didn’t know PICKLES comic, but that didn’t present a problem. I don’t get to read comics in our print paper anymore and I miss them. Thank you Waseely for including some in your fine review.
ReplyDeleteI tripped up in the SW. I couldn’t remember JAMES, had fed up for JADED, etc. Bummer..
I saw the film The Way. It’s wonderful.
Husker @9:58 AM I would and I have walked out on that cantilevered slab of glass looking straight down on the Grand Canyon. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! Fun puzzle, fun theme. Thanks, sumdaze and CC!
ReplyDeleteI’ve enjoyed the comics ever since I started reading the newspaper as a kid, maybe more discerning now, but still part of my daily routine. Favorites are Calvin & Hobbs, Wallace the Brave (love the seagull!) and Frazz.
Comment: Much more of a fan of Snoopy and Woodstock than Charlie Brown et al.
ESP: IRE (as clued), GAP, ANYA, ETRE, MR CUB
FAV clues: DOC
As soon as I saw the “I” our EKTORP, IKEA 😄
Thanks, Bill & Teri. Confused – you get your newspaper by email? Why not subscribe directly to the paper’s E-paper (electronic delivery)? So many convenient features (such as zoom or single article viewing). I switched from delivery for the same reason, and none of the hassles of missed or wet paper!
Happy 80th birthday to Tehachapi Ken. Wishing you a wonderful day to celebrate!
RosE @ 10:11 AM Actually I canceled my subscription to the local rag a few months after it was taken over by a billionaire who immediately got directly involved with the editorial policies of the newsroom. As his and my political views sharply differ I eventually dropped the paper. I now subscribe to the Baltimore Banner which focuses on local news. I get most of my national news from the NYT and various other sources fed to me on a daily basis by Google (based on what it thinks my buying habits are 😀).
ReplyDeleteIn early childhood, I was intrigued by the comic strips in the Los Angeles Times, and asked my mother every morning to help me read "Nancy." That's how I learned to read, and I grew up with Nancy and Sluggo, Dick Tracy, Brenda Starr, and the girls in Apartment 3-G. Lucky for me that DH loves to pore over newspapers every morning, so I still get to read the funnies at breakfast and solve the crossword puzzle on paper. Today's puzzle was a delight. FIR!
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to come up with JADED, and MR CUB was a mystery to me, so that corner was the last to fall.
Waseeley did a wonderful job explaining and illustrating today's puzzle. Many thanks to him and Teri, and of course to Renee (sumdaze) and Zhouqin (C.C.) for the marvelous entertainment.
Any puzzle that starts with Wiley Coyote is alright by me! Got the FIR with some enjoyable P&P. I also miss the funny papers, but not enough to pay the outrageous prices being asked for a diminished product. Chatty Cathy reminded me of her scary counterpart, Talking Tina. (Be nice to your daughters doll!)
ReplyDeleteFor a while I subscribed to www.gocomics.com. It didn't cost much, and had all the comics printed in the local fish wrapper,plus a bunch I used to like but had forgotten about. With DW needing more and more care, I let it lapse because I didn't use it much.
ReplyDeleteWhat a satisfying and FUN puzzle today! I loved the theme - Pickles has become my new favorite in the LA Times, , and Shoe was the only unfamiliar strip. I also loved the Ernie Banks clip - Jack is a lifelong Cubs fan (pays many extra $$ for TV package that shows every game) and reveres “Mr. Cub”.
ReplyDeleteIt’s always fun to learn new stuff as well. I plan to search for the movie “Commitments”; I didn’t know egrets rode on cows; I’d love to make the pesto “patties”, but I need the specific amounts of garlic and fresh parmesan - would Teri be kind enough to help me? I LOVE pesto, and it’s a pain to have to make it from scratch every time.
Thanks so much, Renee and C.C. for a creative, enjoyable, interesting adventure, and thanks Bill and Teri for the great tour you always provide for us. Fingers crossed for pesto help.
“Pearls Before Swine,” anyone? Also, “Non Sequitur.” I’m hooked!
ReplyDelete“Non Sequitur” for the win! Especially ObviousMan!
Delete====> Darren / L.A.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite sections of the newspaper, the comics! I love to read them. I subscribe to the local paper for the obits, the above referenced comics, Dear Abby and local news. Today, for example, all the news from yesterday's voting will be detailed. I'm not sure how much it costs because it is billed on my credit card and I haven't looked at the statement in a while. I guess I should.
EAST was my favorite cluing. Clever!
Ignorant as I am of sports, I thought Ernie Banks was MR. OCT as I've heard that title before but no, he's MR. CUB. Who knew? Not I.
There is a McMansion being built north of where I live. I pass it every time I go to the grocery store and it fascinates me because it looks so out of place in our ordinary, middle class neighborhood. I wonder if the people who will live there will be satisfied to dwell among lesser folk. Ours is an old area so most people here are not young although there is a school not too far away so there must be some young families here. Time will tell.
Is BIKED a nod to the co-constructor?
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Lucina, Mr October was Reggie Jackson. He got the nickname because he played in so many World Series in October and hit so many home runs in them. He played for several teams, among them, Kansas City Athletics and the New York Yankees.
DeleteErie Banks was Mr Cub because he played his whole career with the Chicago Cubs and the team never played in a World Series while he was with the team. He was one of their best players.
Wendybird @1:23 PM Actually I make the pesto patties, so I'll take a stab at the amounts, which depend a lot on how big your blender is and how much basil you have. But here's a swag:
ReplyDelete4 tablespoons of olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 packed cups of fresh basil leaves
I don't think you can go too far wrong with the above proportions.
Blend until smooth, and then follow the instructions in the blog for making the patties.
Bon appetite!
C'mon people, join in. See yesterday's (07/31/24) comments at 3:29. Let's give Tehachapi Ken a warm birthday greeting!
ReplyDeleteHappy 80th Birthday to Tehachapi Ken!
ReplyDeleteFour score!
If you're anything like me, your birthday wish will be for crossword puzzles with no circles. Oh joy!
Me (again from 8:16 a.m.)
Well what started out as a sweet day with the fun FIR puzzle and glowing review soon turned sour on the golf course. Carded a quad snowman on hole #1, and hitting 5 🌳’s the first 5 holes didn’t help matters much either. Frustration like that doesn’t come cheap! Enough of my tribulations.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the theme and the solve today. Was unfamiliar with what a McMansion is, or a lacuna. Thought Camino de Santiago might be food so PATE needed the E changed. Also had to correct FED UP to JADED, and I think I’ll always need perps for ANYA cuz I never remember anyone with that name. Both IKEA and ALDI were Ektorps for me. HAIKU is often my starting word in Wordle, and if no letters match, followed by peony.
Oh yes, forgot to wish Tehachapi Ken a happy 80th!! 🎉 Hope to see you back on the Corner soon 👊🏼
ReplyDeleteTerrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, sumdaze and C.C., waseeley and Teri.
ReplyDeleteOfficially a FIW since I erred in the SW corner (I see that I am not alone). This Canadian guessed at Hayes GARFIELD; I was waffling (see EGGO) between Pat and Tap, and didn’t consider DAB.
But I did get the Comics theme.
I noted PAPA and K-POP, POPE and TROPE.
Favourite was the clue for EAST.
MY IPad has the new Blogger format at this moment. I can see CED’s point that we will have to reread the whole thing the next day to see all the comments, as they won’t be in order of posting time.
I need to recharge and must sign off.
Happy 80th Birthday to Telachapi Ken
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to write in yesterday, because I was going to weigh in on the subject of armoires. I lived in Paris for a couple years, and we had an armoire in our bedroom, just like most French bedrooms. Two things: armoires are necessary in France because of the paucity of closet space; and they are by no means antiques!
Today's puzzle included one of my favorite ballplayers, Ernie Banks. He was not only a top player (first ballot Hall of Fame), but he was an enthusiastic ambassador of the game he loved. His favorite expression was "Let's play two!"
I liked this puzzle a lot, as well as waseeley's exposition and all your comments.
ReplyDeleteThanks to waseeley for his excellent write-up! Add me to the list of those who developed a daily comic habit in childhood.
ReplyDeleteH-Gary@9:58. That cantilever is not my cup of tea. I'm happy to stand 20yds. from the edge.
Lucina@1:38 & C-Eh!@2:50. I liked the EAST clue, too. C.C. wrote that one (of course).
Happy 80th birthday to Tehachapi Ken! It was good to hear from you today.
Thanks to everyone for their kind comments, to the amazing C.C., and to the LA Times editing team!
Lee@3:33
ReplyDeleteThank you! What I know about sports would fit in a THIMBLE. All I've learned on the subject is from crosswords and posters like you.
Happy birthday, Tehachapi Ken! wow! Only 80. I'm way ahead of you.
Wile E. Coyote actually did catch the Road Runner once. And then held up a sign asking what he should do now.
ReplyDeleteBi Visibility Day mo. Really? Who cares.
ReplyDeleteA nice walk-in-the-park puzzle. No obfuscation today, making it a very Thursdayish cruise.
ReplyDeleteBill, thanks for that Wile E Coyote link to all the stats of his exploits! I was/am a huge fan of Chuck Jones (the animator and writer of most of the Roadrunner cartoons). Brilliant details and story lines, really funny stuff for old and young alike. And there IS a “final episode” where Wile E. does succeed — and it’s one of the funniest things ever if you’re a Roadrunner cartoon fan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HR1-aVQn9os. Enjoy!
====> Darren / L.A.