"May I cut in?"
Today veteran constructor Micah Sommersmith treats us to a letter insertion theme. For the punny version of the theme clues the answer to the above question is YES. For the in-the-language version the answer is NO ...
17A. Accumulation on neglected steps?: STAIR DUST. Joni Mitchell sings the words "... we are STAR DUST, we are golden, we are 10 billion year old carbon ..." in her classic song Woodstock ...
24A. Institute for invective?: TIRADE SCHOOL. With the high cost of college these days, increasing numbers of high school graduates are going to TRADE SCHOOLS. They generally cost less than college and enable students to enter the work force more quickly. Here are some programs offered at Maryland trade schools.
And the reveal ...
64D. Question on the dance floor, or an apt title for this puzzle: MAY I CUT IN.
... the inserted letter of course being I.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Carrie-Anne of "The Matrix": MOSS. Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in The Matrix series (1999–present). Her parents named her for an old Holley's song. 😀
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| Carrie-Anne Moss |
9. Satirical bit: SKIT. These guys invented the genre ...
13. Unit of length: INCH.
14. Superfood berry: ACAI.
15. Midmorning hr.: TEN AM.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Disentangle: UNTIE. A CSO to Jinx.
20. Netflix's "__ Kai": COBRA. Cobra Kai is an American martial arts comedy-drama television series and a sequel to the original The Karate Kid films created by Robert Mark Kamen. Here's the Season 6 trailer ...
21. Thing of the past: RELIC. One of the most fascinating relics is the Greek Antikythera mechanism developed in the late 2nd century BC and discovered by divers from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera in 1901. Upon close examination it was discovered to be an analogue computer that could be used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance ...
23. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA. An mRNA vaccine works by triggering your immune system to create antibodies. Antibodies are proteins in the body. They fight bacteria and viruses that cause disease. The preceding link contains a great video on how they work and is definitely worth watching.
24. [Theme clue]
27. Actress/activist Milano: ALYSSA. Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress, producer, activist, and former singer. She has played Samantha Micelli in Who's the Boss?, Jennifer Mancini in Melrose Place, Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed, and many other roles in TV and films. As an activist, Milano is known for her role in the MeToo movement in October 2017.
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| Alyssa Milano |
31. Feline sign: LEO.
32. Experts who may recommend rebooting a PC: IT PROS. We used to call that "Getting out of the car and getting back in again". Don't get me started on how the boys in Redmond get away with this kind of stuff. 😡
35. Lab rodents: MICE.
39. "Pale Blue Dot" author Carl: SAGAN. Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, and science communicator. His best known scientific contributions are his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and the assembly of the first physical messages sent into space, the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, which were universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. Here is his iconic monologue from The Pale Blue Dot ...
Every time I hear this I am reminded of Dr. Lewis Thomas, who writing in his book The Lives of the Cell, suggested an alternative to Sagan's plaque and record --"I'd send Bach. All of it. It would be bragging of course ...". 😀
41. Georgia airport code: ATL.
42. Elided address: MLORD. An elision commonly heard upstairs at Downtown Abbey.
43. Color-changing gem: OPAL. The value of these gems has dropped significantly in recent years due to their frequent appearance in crossword puzzles -- e.g. last Thursday.
44. Reaction to bright light, for some: SNEEZE. Among other more technical terms this has been called the ACHOO syndrome!
46. Carried the day: WON.
47. Paintballs, e.g.: AMMO.
49. National Gallery of Canada locale: OTTAWA. The museum is particularly known for its Indigenous art, e.g. a recent exhibition by Mohawk artist Shelley Niro. I was particularly taken by this brilliant "sound sculpture" by artist Janet Cardiff called Forty-Part Motet, a reworking of Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis' Spem in alium (Latin for "Hope in any other"). Here is Janet's description of it ... Here's the work it was based on ... 51. [Theme clue]
56. Verse opener?: UNI. Also Britspeak for University.
57. Percolate: LEACH. Also the surname of the great Bernard Leach, the father of British Studio pottery in the mid 20th Century. Village craft pottery had been all but destroyed by the industrial revolution in the previous century and Leach revived it by elevating it to high art.
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| Stoneware bottles, thrown and paddled Bernard Leach, circa 1950 |
58. Prefix with gram: INSTA.
62. Dismally dull: BANAL. Or a description for the commonness of evil, as described in the book by philosopher Hannah Arendt ...
66. Flight path?: AISLE. "Please fasten your seat belts and prepare yourself for landing". 😀
67. Word with "open" or "up in": ARMS. We seem to see a lot more of the latter than the former in the world these days.
68. Number for a letter?: RENT. I.e. the cost for letting an apartment ...
71. Star of Life wearers: Abbr.: EMTS. Worn by Emergency Medical Technicians ...
1. Catchall category, briefly: MISC.
2. Glom __: ONTO.
3. Wound covering: SCAB.
4. Tops: SHIRTS.
5. Short-lived trend: FAD. "Fashion is merely a form of ugliness so absolutely unbearable that we have to alter it every six months!" -- Oscar Wilde, 1883.
6. Luxury car brand: ACURA. Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America.
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| 2024 Acura TLX Premium Sports Sedan starting at $45,000 |
8. Cagney or Lacey: TITLE ROLE. Cagney & Lacey is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very different lives: Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless) is a career-minded single woman, while Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) is a married working mother. The classic trope of the mismatched detective duo.
9. Rough finish: STUCCO. A rough clue too -- Crossword Tracker has never seen this clue before. Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture.
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| Baroque stucco on the ceiling of the Rotonde de Mars Louvre Palace, Paris Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy, 1658 |
10. "The Masked Singer" panelist Jeong: KEN. The Masked Singer is an American reality singing competition television series that premiered on Fox on January 2, 2019. Celebrities sing songs while wearing head-to-toe costumes and face masks concealing their identities. Hosted by Nick Cannon, the program employs panelists who guess the celebrities' identities by interpreting clues provided to them throughout each season. Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke appear in each episode and vote alongside an audience for their favorite singer after all performances have concluded. The least popular is eliminated, taking off their mask to reveal their identity.
11. 101-level course: INTRO.
12. Indigenous Caribbean language: TAINO. The Taíno were historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. The Taíno language was a dialect of the Arawakan language group. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles.
The Lucayan branch of the Taíno were the first New World peoples encountered by Christopher Columbus, in the Bahama Archipelago on October 12, 1492. Here is stone statue in Puerto Rico dedicated to Agüeybaná II, a Taíno hero remembered for his bravery in fighting the Spanish invaders during Taino rebellion of 1511 ...
.jpg) |
| Agüeybaná El Bravo |
18. Trail mix bit: RAISIN.
22. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – c. 2181 BCE) as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces and protects his heir, Horus. In Roman times, Egyptians across the country celebrated her birthday by carrying the local cult statue of Isis through their fields, probably celebrating her powers of fertility.
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| Isis nursing Horus Ptolemaic Period 332–30 B.C. |
26. Code with tags: HTML. Hypertext Markup Language is standard language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is the underlying language in which our reviews are written and this paragraph looks like this in HTML.
The tags are the symbols <> and </> -- e.g. <b> ... </b> mean start/stop boldface. But this a simple example -- HTML has a complex syntax and it can be quite unwieldy to hand code (except for wizards like -T 😀), so we use an application called Blogger that generates the HTML for us. Blogger is an example of a WYSIWYG editor ("What You See Is What You Get") and is much easier to use.
27. To boot: ALSO.
28. __ of faith: LEAP.
29. Meditative discipline: YOGA.
33. Long shots?: PANORAMAS. Odds are they can be created with most cell phones. 😀
34. GPS suggestion: RTE.
36. "The Music Man" setting: IOWA. It has a reputation for being a stubborn state ...
37. Brag: CROW.
38. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay: EDNA. Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her poem "Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"; she was the first woman and second person to win the award. In 1943, Millay was the sixth person and the second woman to be awarded the Frost Medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry. Here's her "The white bark writhed and sputtered like a fish".
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| Edna St. Vincent Millay 1922 |
42. Like grams: METRIC. It's a shame that the metric system never caught on in the US. Formulating and compounding ceramic glazes using English units would be a nightmare.
44. "Peter Pan" pirate: SMEE. The villain HOOK didn't perp, but SMEE seems like a likeable pirate ...
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| Smee |
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| Rex's Roar |
50. Length of service: TENURE.
51. Home of Buena Vista Social Club: CUBA. The Buena Vista Social Club was a musical ensemble primarily made up of Cuban musicians, formed in 1996 and "discovered" by American guitarist Ry Cooder. The group's eponymous studio album was recorded in March 1996 and released in September 1997, quickly becoming an international success. This prompted the ensemble to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam and New York in 1998. We were fortunate to see them perform at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore some time after that. Here's Chan Chan, one of their hits from the documentary film by Wim Wenders ...
52. Broadcasting: ON AIR.
53. Washer cycle: RINSE.
54. Close call: SCARE.
55. Oregano kin: THYME. MARJORAM wouldn't fit.
59. Woody part of 55-Down: STEM. My big gripe about THYME -- separating all those tiny leaves from all those the woody stems ...
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| Thyme |
61. Terro trap targets: ANTS.
63. In the style of: A LA.
65. Belief system: ISM. For example DARWINISM -- the name of a scientist + ISM. Believe it or not I still haven't found another example of this.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
55 comments:
I realized what the gimmick was from the first themed fill, and that made the rest of the puzzle easier to solve. On the whole, I didn’t find this puzzle terribly difficult, in spite of a few obscure names. FIR, so I’m happy.
Well, the names I knew, ALYSSA, SAGAN, ISIS, SMEE and EDNA outnumbered the names I DNK - MOSS, KEN, MILLER and ALAN, so I guess that helped me get a FIR in 15:06. Not being an anthropologist schooled in Caribbean culture I wasn’t aware of the Buena Vista Social Club or the TAINO people, so perps for that and CUBA. I liked the theme and the reveal and enjoyed the solve, thanks Micah for your work.
Bill and Teri - I know your detailed write-ups take a lot of time and research, well thought out and educational, always makes for an enjoyable read, thank you for that! Especially liked the Monty Python clip, makes want to revisit their films. The other day I was reading some dialogue from the “Holy Grail” and DW wondered why I was LMAO. Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of ideologies named after people. My brother has always been afflicted by the ACHOO syndrome, I never knew it was an actual thing.
FIR, but erased et al for MISC and basil for THYME.
Joni Mitchell wasn't at Woodstock because her manager thought it was more important to go on The Dick Cavett Show.
I've been to the San Diego ZOO many times. IIRC, in those days their jingle was "you belong in the ZOO, the San Diego ZOO." Wonder if Splynter has worked on the giant pipe organ in the adjacent Balboa Park?
My golf buddy who owns a pest control company uses and recommends Terro liquid ANT traps.
Thanks to Micah for the fun Thursday challenge, and to Bill 'n' Teri for another fine tour.
Good morning!
D-o had a good time solving this one. The theme really didn't need a reveal, but we got one anyway. Thanx, Micah, waseeley, and Teri. (You really outdid yourself on this expo. Very nice.)
SAGAN: Voyager Golden Record -- I've got the audio on my music server. Sagan's wife selected the eclectic music ranging from indigenous African folk music to Stravinsky to Chuck Berry (Johnny B. Goode).
ZOO: I visited the San Diego Zoo many times when we lived in SOCAL. "Rex's Roar" is a more recent addition.
CUBA: Buena Vista Social Club was quite a sensation. Pianist Rubén González died back in 2003.
The prognosticators of precipitation keep promising, but so far we've seen nothing. It's been 40+ days since we had rain. Maybe today...
YP @5:29 AM Do any of the ideologies in the list consist of the name of a scientist + ISM. Please post those. I'd love to see them!
Here's today's DAB puzzle, entitled "Double plays"
David has this to say about it ...
That’s right—not baseball, but paronomasia. This is another of a series of puzzles on this website that encourage you to move from the physical to the mental, from the material to the spiritual; that offers you a way to transcend the vile, dust-choked, filth-smeared circumstances of earthly existence and approach the empyrean realm where the soul communes with eternity.
FIR, despite a slew of proper names which thankfully the perps helped solve. Other than that a quite typical Thursday puzzle.
I got the theme early on with tirade school, and the rest fell into place nicely.
But overall, for me this puzzle was meh!
I hate it when I have no idea about 1A. Even with STAIR DUST filled, perps didn't help because I didn't know COBRA; I finished the rest of the puzzle before finally finishing the NW. Other than proper names, most by perps, TAINO was the only other unknown. I didn't know MOSS ALYSSA, ALAN, MILLER, CUBA,
HTML- got it but had no idea what 'tags' referred to.
ACURA- We had one. I don't know how they define 'luxury car' these days but it was just a pricier Honda. Every car these days comes equipped with what was formerly call 'luxury' extras, including some you don't want or will never use. Sunroof, Sirius XM, gauges that provide all types of data you'll ignore, itty bitty lights that tell you something is on or wrong,...etc.
The ACURA pictured at 'only' $45,000 is LESS than the average price of new cars sold these days- which is $48,400 according to Cox Automotive.
Definition of activist- blowhard with inside connections in the media.
Took 7:11 today for me to fiiniish this one.
I had a similar solving experience to my neighbor YooperPhil, as I knew many proper names, yet didn't know many proper names. I didn't know one of today's actresses (Moss), but knew the other two (Miller and Alyssa). You could say that I knew the Disney pirate, but no the Disney composer. Taino was new to me, as was the Cuba clue.
I thought "Horizon: An American Saga" was awful. Anyone else agree? Disagree?
A nice offering with a cute theme for today. Thank you Micah as well as Bill and Teri for your efforts. (My wife has a cat named Micah) I also have a daughter named Alyssa.
I am on a roll. This is the sixth puzzle that I have FIRED in a row going back to last Saturday. Amazing!! Didn't know I had it in me.
DO often complains about filling in 1A wrong. Today I went right in with MOSS. The Matrix is one of my favorite movie series and I knew Ms Moss.
Better late than never, but not before breakfast.
Serious.
Puzzle solvers come in many different sizes, but Bill/Terri (one identity to me) remind me of the limitations of an American education. I do not know what I did not learn. I did however read Molière and would suggest he was a pioneer of satire and skit as were Chaucer, Pope and and Shakespeare.
Wiki lists: Bayesianism, after Thomas Bayes
Comtism, after Auguste Comte
Darwinism, after Charles Darwin
Lamarckism, after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Lysenkoism, after Trofim Lysenko
I know nothing of studio art and the the work of Mr. Leach seems nice, but I tend to think of Archibald Leach and his impact on modern culture. The picture of Alyssa Milano to me does not do her justice and she was a cute teenager who grew up to be a pretty woman.
Overall the write-up was a wonderful addition to an enjoyable puzzle. Be well all and the holiday and the new month.
Also, how about Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust and Rita Ora was the 4th judge on Masked Singer this past season. Too much TV time
Big Easy,
I happen to work for a local car dealership group and it seems "luxury" keeps being redefined. The system seems to be to create a feature that you can only find in certain high priced car brands. Then, over several years, that feature will work its way down to other brands. Then a new feature will be added to the high priced line, and so forth.
For example one of the latest is cooled seats, which can now be found in the Acura brand. Not all models, just the top. It started in the Porche and Mercedes lines
This system also allows the prices to be raised as well.
Good Morning:
I hope today's comments reflect a less rancorous and unkind tone than yesterday's. As Jayce said, "C'mon, folks, let's please be civil to one another."
The theme was obvious from the get-go but the reveal was so unexpected, especially because the expression is so formal. I doubt these words are ever spoken at any of today's dance scenes. However, it fit the themers just fine. The solve was relatively quick and easy, except for a perp wait on Taino, Alan, and Cuba. There were only 12 TLWs, which is always a plus in my book, but I still can't understand the reasoning behind the use of fill-in-the-blank clues for common words such as Cobra, Onto, Prep, and Leap. IMO, the result is either a too simplistic or too vague answer, neither option adding any value to the solve or the solver.
Thanks, Micah, and thanks, Bill, for the fact and interest-laden review. That photo of Smee looks more like Doc of The Seven Dwarfs. Thanks also to Teri.
Have a great day.
Good Morning! I suspected the theme with STAIR DUST, and the other themers confirmed it. Clever!
Perps for MOSS, TAINO and RENT, this took forever to make sense to me, but don’t get me started on the number of “?” clues in this puzzle…. UGH!!
WOs: entry -> INTRO; penta – INSTA(gram)
Thanks, Bill & Teri for the wealth of information you gifted us today.
Musings
-MOSS, ALAN, MILLER: Common names with impossible cluing. Why does Patti… Ah, never mind, I’ve seen this movie before.
-TAINO and Buena Vista Social Club were also uber obscure but I enjoyed reading about it
-SNL SKITS can be even funnier when people who are not really funny but are "famous" try to be.
-Mr. SAGAN’s Voyager Golden Record aboard Voyager 1 (and 2) has been traveling at 11 miles/second (a million miles per year) for 46 years and has barely progressed beyond our solar system
-Yes, Lemon, LEACH could have been clued as Cary Grant’s surname at birth
-Number for a letter was fun to parse
-MEAL prep, my wife’s favorite meal is one someone else prepares!
-I remember my science teacher in 1959 telling us, “We will all be using metric units within 10 years.”
-Nice job Bill and Teri and, as usual, What Irish Said!
Today's puzzle by Micah struck me as straightforward, well-constructed, and clever. Isn't it interesting that the mere insertion of the letter "I" into a word can drastically alter the meaning? And Micah made sure that the change resulted in something amusing.
I also appreciate the personal shout-out at 10Down! (Alright, it was for Mr. Jeong)
Are IT pros like the Geek Squad? Those folks have come to my rescue on several occasions.
Hey, I would appreciate some feedback on my thoughts on crosswords. It seems to me that there is an unwritten pact between constructor/editor and solver. Solvers agree to give their best effort to solve the puzzle. And in return, the constructor/editor shows respect to the solver. For instance, constructors should be aware that even if they are personally conversant with, say, pop culture and social media, their solvers may not share that knowledge or interest.
Constructors' entries should be challenging, fair, satisfying, and fun. The goal should not be to show off, but to demonstrate respect to the solvers.
Thanks, again, Micah, for providing us with an enjoyable Thursday-approproate challenge.
FWIW
-I discovered yesterday that my blurry eyesight in one eye is because of a cataract. My optometrist said he would contact a very good ophthalmologist we have in town to get me scheduled in for surgery. He said Dr. Terp’s office should contact me within a week or so. They did so in less than two hours and I see them at 2 pm today.
-I was surprised to do some research and find out this is the most common surgery performed in America, is painless, takes less than 20 minutes and relief is almost instant. Anyone else have an experience with this procedure?
Lee- I left out automatic windows. Every car I've owned in the last 40 years has had at least one go bad. Mercedes 450-SEL, Mercedes 560-SEL, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Murano SL, and Mercury Grand Marquis. My current vehicle is a 2022 Toyota Highlander, which does not fit the luxury category but it cost over $46,000 two years ago. Sun roof? I never opened them in either Mercedes and haven't opened the one on the Highlander. Why invite a potential water leak. Wife's current Mercedes has never had the sun roof open either.
I loved the theme and the clever reuse of phrases by adding a measly I letter. That was the fun part.
I didn’t like however all the proper names that I had to rely on WAGS and perps to enter. This is not a TIRADE, just a personal pet peeve.
waseeley outdid himself with the great info he provided us with. All in all, a good morning.
I had cataract surgery in one eye this past December. You just have to wear an eye shield over a patch for a few days.
For the record (haha) Joni Mitchell's original lyrics did not include the number 10 in the line about carbon, and she only used it once in the outro. When CSNY recorded their more up-beat cover, they felt the gap after "we are golden" needed something. So they added "we are billion year old carbon" to the chorus all the way through. Side note: when CSN in later years played this live, they returned to Joni's laid-back tempo and dropped the carbon line again.
I enjoyed this one. Seemed like most of the clues were in my wheelhouse, and the ones that weren't perped and wagged nicely. Cute theme, too!
Hola!
CORNIER STORE just makes me laugh! Good job, Micah. CSO to my cousin's son, MICAH.
When we go to San Francisco we like to have breakfast at the BUENA VISTA Restaurant. Now I wonder if the owners could have been from CUBA.
We have MILLER ROAD here in Scottsdale.
DOWNTON Abbey is often misspelled as "Downtown".
I'm eager to solve DAB's puzzle so I'll be back later.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
T-Ken, I mostly agree with your thoughts on crossword puzzles, and after seeing Ms. Irish Miss's comment today, I read through some of yesterday's later posts. I would like to add that I think it's acceptable to offer a critique of a puzzle, just as it's fine to critique movies, tv shows, music, art, etc. I express my personal dislike of foreign words and too many proper names in puzzles so that others can receive a solver's feedback. I also think people take the criticism too far.
Hopefully, constructors/editors will show us more respect by stopping using those dreaded circles....
-I remember my science teacher in 1959 telling us, “We will all be using metric units within 10 years.”
I remember complaining about the post office giving me a bunch of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins as change when I bought stamps. He said that the post office was no longer giving change using paper dollars, and pontificated that dollar coins were the future, and that paper dollars would soon be discontinued. Almost a half-century later, I'm still getting bills in change. (I also remember a "expert" telling me (circa 1980) that computers would soon make paper obsolete. Called it our "paperless society.")
That was quick! Must have a Mercedes lease payment coming due! I've had both eyes done, as has my DW. No problems, except that you must follow the post-op eyedrop regimen to the letter. Our eye coverings came off the next day, which may be a per-patient variable.
What is it with Mercedes and windows? We were returning to Virginia from New Jersey one Sunday when a rear window wouldn't come back up. Daughter knew someone who ran a body shop, and he agreed to take a look. Nothing obvious, so he put a sturdy plastic sheet over the window frame. I was nearly deaf after listening to that loud flapping for hours. The cruise controls seemed to have a relatively short life span as well. Brake pads wore out quickly too, but I think that was a tradeoff of feel and sound over longevity.
Re the "scientists" cited above who have spawned "isms" ...
Thomas Bayes was in fact not a scientist, but statistician and a philosoper.
Auguste Comte was a philosopher and a mathemetician.
Trofim Lysenko was a pseudo-scientist whose agricultural experiments led to the starvation of millions of people in Stalinist Russia.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was indeed a scientist, but his theories of the inheritance of acquired characteristics were later discredited. It is interesting that Charles Darwin actually thought that Lamarck's theories had merit.
It is even more interesting that in modern times Lamarck's ideas re inheritance have been at least partially proven true -- the science of epigenetics has shown that certain types acquired characteristics can indeed by passed to progeny.
I had both eyes done in December/January. It wasn't painful, but I'm not very happy with the result. I'd opted for good distance vision and reading glasses close-up. My distance vision is 20/60, so I still need glasses for both reading and distance, and a second pair with a midway prescription for computer use.
Some "isms"
socialism
communism
Catholicism
Americanism
nationalism
I'm sure there are many more.
I just finished DAB's puzzle and I would recomment his "Double Plays (on Words)". Like all of his puzzles it doesn't require a knowledge of up-to-minute modern references. He does have a few references to recent modern history, ancient history and historical figures. He has a respectable number of TLWs (12 by my count) and only one foreign word (which anyone who follows the Tour de France would know). What he does have are 6 cleverly contrived "questionable" plays on words. Definitely worth 10 minutes or so of your time.
Micah gave us an excellent puzzle today, with a theme that was easy to see, and a cute reveal to tie it together. DNK a few names, and never heard of sneezing in reaction to bright light, but FIR and enjoyed it!
Waseeley and Teri, thanks for the informative review. I loved listening to the Carl Sagan clip. HIs POV is mine. I'm sure he had an influence on me -- along with Dad, whose work led him to think in geologic time. Alas, there is no ISM for either of these scientists!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Micah, and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed in good time, and saw the added I theme.
Several inkblots to change Et Al to MISC, Entry to INTRO.
Plenty of unknown-to-me names (MILLER, ALYSSA, KEN, ALAN, even fellow-Canadian MOSS), but perps were friendly.
The NW corner was the last to fall. I WAGged ONTO and CO(I had BRA and wondered about LI).
But this Canadian knew OTTAWA (and I hope by now that the rest of you knew it too!). METRIC was a given, but I knew INCH too (although I thought of Foot first). I am old enough that I was taught the Imperial system and then switched to metric in the 70s when it began to be used significantly in Canada. In pharmacy, metric is far better for calculating than the old apothecary measures (drams, ounces). Is there a word like ambidextrous that can be used for being able to think in both systems?
I have a mild form of the ACHOO syndrome. It was most bothersome when I was pregnant!
Favourite clue today was for RENT; AISLE was a close second.
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings 2
-Oops, I ERRED when I said the Voyagers are covering a million miles/year at 11 miles/sec. The math didn’t seem to make sense when I reread it. The Voyager covers about 325 million miles per year. At that rate it would still take it 18,000 years to cover one light year! Currently Voyager is over 163 billion miles from Earth and it takes over 22 hours to get data from it and of course that time is increasing.
- Dr. SAGAN’s comment of the size of space.
-I do like that the new comment format feature that allows replies to other specific postings and not just append them to the bottom. I try not to stray from the comments for the day but we are like a family and the cataract feedback is very helpful to this apprehensive family member.
Got the theme with the first theme clue which helped to FIR in very good time (for me) for a Thursday CW. Clever theme, leading to fills that made me smile. DNK TAINO, and amazingly my knowledge or ignorance on the many names was identical to YP @5:29. Thanx for this fun, witty CW MS. Bill, your write-ups are always both fun and informative, but today you really outdid yourself, a total grand-slam home run. I LOVED the video regarding the ancient calculator, it absolutely blew me away. I had no idea about that. They said they are in the process of building a replica, that will be amazing when completed. The illustration for MRNA vaccines was also terrific. I understood how the MRNA vaccines worked, but that really cemented the mechanism. Your entire write-up today is a total winner, thanx so much for all the time and effort you always put into your write-ups. HG, you probably don NOT wanna hear my story of cataract surgery. The surgery was quick and healing also very fast, but ten days later I suffered a retinal detachment in the right eye. It took three surgeries to finally fix it, but that was followed by two more retinal detachments, and more surgery. I was just in to see the eye surgeon yesterday, and he is watching yet another developing problem in that eye which might require yet more surgery. That would be the sixth. Meanwhile, the left eye has a huge membrane floating around in it, that detached from the vitreous humor in the eye. The retina surgeon doesn't want to do surgery on that eye, he says my eyes are too prone to retinal detachments. AND for the lens replacement I used the guy that uses what is supposed to be the safest, gentlest method, paid way extra for his "safe" robotic laser technique, $10,600 out of pocket. I hope you have better results.
HG @10:07. Several of us cornerites have had cataract surgery. In retrospect, it is no big deal, but it is a bother, mainly all the drops you need, and the procedure, though quick, is a little scary. But my doctor’s team was super helpful and reassuring.
Further -- Never did have a patch, but had to wear an eye shield when sleeping for the first week, so I couldn't accidentally scratch my eye. I had the two-in-one eyedrops, so I didn't have to keep track of multiple bottles and multiple treatment times.
I had both eyes done & am delighted with the results. If you have an option for laser technique, I recommend it. Procedure was a breeze and outcome exceeded my expectations.
Gary,
I think one of the most remarkable things about Voyager I is that it is running with only 70 KB of memory, about the size of the early versions of MS-DOS and the Apple II computers. What is truly amazing is that it developed some sort of glitch a few years ago and started sending back gibberish -- and the maintenance team (which must have turned over least once or twice in the last 50 years) was able to https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2024/04/22/voyager-1-sending-data-to-earth-for-1st-time-in-5-months/">remotely debug it get it workingwith a round trip signal time of 45 hours!
Waseely’s blog was the bright spot today. The puzzle i found rather “meh-ish.” Ennui for me. Sorry, Micah, just my mood today.
Gary, though my cataract surgery was several years ago, I do recall that it was painless and except for wearing the eye patch, almost unnoticeable. But what a difference it has made on my eyesight! Now I wear glasses only to read whereas I used to wear them at all times before that. Good luck with yours.
Sure, constructors should be fair. But it’s also fine to include a full gamet of topics in a crossword, knowing people won’t be familiar with all of them, as long as the clueing is fair - either from perps or from giving some hint as to what type of answer you’re looking for, so you can at least make an educated guess.
I often think of it in terms of percentages: Will 20% of solvers know this? 10%? If you’re getting down around 5% of cw solvers that will know the name of some random actor, I think it’s getting too obscure…
None of this has anything to do with today’s cw, btw.
Good Thursday with a helpful theme. Thank you Micah. Could not figure out how that RENT clue worked until I came in here. Uggh… that definition of ‘letter’ would’ve taken me a long time to think of. But FIR so I’m satisfied!
Bill - I see Lemonade answered your question about ideologies named after scientists, the overwhelming majority of “isms” are named after people are from the fields of social and political or religion and philosophical. Also, thanks for the link to the DAB puzzle.
I’ll add my two cents: Had both eyes done in May a week apart. Just a sedative. Done in less than a half hour. Option to have it done robotically and choice of various types of lens implants. Had to wait for healing after a few weeks for eyes to adjust cuz I still needed new glasses, many don’t need glasses at all or just readers.
Not bad for a Thursday. “Eliminate a letter” fairly str8forward theme. Some totally unknown proper names as usual.
“Separating all those tiny leaves from those woody STEMS” well, just take your THYME 😀
Does a SKIT have to be “satirical”? INTRO and ISM are “ briefly” clues too? For “thing of the past” first try was retro.
Guess cuz it’s alreasy Thursday we couldn’t be offered a clue like “reaction to pollen” for SNEEZE.
Was a bit surprised by yesterday’s “kerfuffle”, “set to” and “ado” over INA Gartner. She has appeared not too infrequently, barefoot or not. But Carl SAGAN OTOH has appeared in billons and billons of puzzles 😲
Definitely an uptick in Covid infections but so far symptoms are milder. Now that school is back in session the numbers will likely rise further.
Ray-O, the Carl Sagan you.re thinking of never said "billions and billions," but this Carl Sagan did.
For ATLGranny and Tante Nique and anyone else who might be considering it, I hereby offer some information about my experience with it, on the belief that being well informed in advance is beneficial. I'll not repeat what your doctors have instructed you or will instruct you, as that would be redundant. Just my own experience.
I was at the facility for almost 4 hours, having shown up at the scheduled time of 8:00 AM and being discharged at approximately 11:15. 90% of the time was spent waiting around and undergoing preparation; the surgery itself took about 10 minutes per eye. I was taken into a prep area where I had to take off my shirt and put on a hospital gown. I did not need to take off my pants and could even keep my shoes on. Then I lay back on the bed. I asked them to put pillows under my knees so my legs could be bent, which for me is more comfortable than lying 100% flat. They ask you a lot of questions about your medical history, what medications you are taking, and about your allergies. Several different nurses came in, asked me the same questions over again, typed on the computer, then left. I had to sign a consent form. They hooked me up to a heart monitor and oximeter (standard stuff), and a nurse inserted an IV, through which they would administer the sedative to relax me.
Then I lay there, and lay there, and lay there. Eventually the surgeon came in and wrote a "1" on my forehead over my left eye and a "2" on my forehead over my right eye. Since I was having both eyes done, this was less important than for someone who was having one eye done, because he has to make sure he does the correct eye. But he did do my left eye before my right eye.
Then another nurse came in and dripped about 6 or 7 different drops into my eyes. Among the drops was an anesthetic to numb my eyes and a dilator to dilate my pupils. I don't know what the other drops were.
(Continued in next posting.)
(Continued from previous)
Finally (!) they wheeled me into the OR, got me positioned, put a hair net on my head, put an oxygen cannula in my nose, and the anesthesiologist started running the sedative into my IV. Soon I was very relaxed and calm and in a nice "happy place." More drops in the eyes. Then the surgeon came in and chatted with me a little. The room lights were turned off and that big, bright, operating light was turned on. The doctor draped my face to cover everything but my eye. He affixed what looked like reverse tweezers to hold my eyelids open. It was not uncomfortable at all. I was 100% at ease. Then he began. I felt that something was touching my eye, but there was no pain at all. I could hear the sound of a machine. The main thing was the "light show," flashes and swooshes of light, almost psychedelic, as he removed my cataract-dimmed lens and inserted the artificial lens. 10 minutes and done.
The he started all over again on my right eye with a new drape over my face and all new instruments. Same light show. 10 minutes and done. He put special goggles on me, to protect the eyes, and left. I was wheeled back to where I had been prepped, and where my shirt was waiting for me. I couldn't see much, and I think I blinked a lot. They helped me get up on the bed again and removed the heart monitor stickers from my chest and remove the IV apparatus from my arm. In about 10 minutes, I could see well enough, through all my squinting and blinking, to take off the gown and put on my shirt. Somebody called my wife on the phone to tell her I was ready to go home and to bring the car around. They helped me get off the bed and into a wheelchair, which a burly man pushed, and wheeled me down the parking spot where they had told my wife to be waiting. The burly man helped me get into the passenger seat, and then it was goodbye and off we went back home.
(To be concluded)
(Final chapter of my story, which I posted in full about a year ago. Now suddenly it is too long to fit into 1 or 2 postings))
I kept the goggles, and I wear them at night when I sleep, to protect my eyes. I need to keep doing that for a week or 10 days or so. By the way, if you have only one eye done, you will be given an eye shield that you tape on to cover that eye, like a pirate, except that the shield is transparent so you can see.
I hope this lengthy memoir inspires confidence in you and helps you to better know what to expect. I had been putting this operation off for several years, due to fear, but my son, who had the procedure done several years ago, finally convinced me to do it. I'm glad I did. I had forgotten just how white toilet paper is!
If anyone wants more information or has questions, feel free to email me at the address in my profile.
Jinx @5:20 PM ROTFL and LMAO! 😁😁😁
Neat Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Micah--I really enjoyed it. And I'm always delighted by your pleasant commentary, Bill and Teri, thanks for that too.
Nice to see a puzzle start with a FACT, like an INCH at TEN AM, when we had to get ready to do some cleaning like DUSTing that STAIR. But that's no reason at all for a TIRADE in SCHOOL or anywhere else, for that matter. I imagine some folks found this a RIOT with a chance to SNEEZE on the way down the AISLE. So all is well, as long as we don't get taken over by any ANTS.
Have a lovely evening, everybody.
Jinx et al, add BMW to the list. It seems German car mfr’s source their window regulators from the same mediocre supplier; mid-00 Bimmers considered window cranks to be an annual maintenance item.
Thanks to Micah for a relaxing romp through the grid!
Grokked the theme easily on the first themer STAIRDUST, which set up the succeeding ones very nicely. Great fun on the way to a FIR. Thanks to Bill & Terri for their usual collection of cheap entertainment (I’d forgotten that rip on Sagan by Carson; genius!).
And yeah — Honda + $$ = Acura. Never been a big fan of either (except for the NSX, which is a hoot on the track).
====> Darren / L.A.
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