Pros minding
their Ps and Qs
their Ps and Qs
Veteran Pravan Chakravarthy last appeared here with co-constructor Matthew Stock with a themeless puzzle, reviewed by Husker Gary. Pravan is a double major in linguistics and physics at the University of Chicago and a crossword editor himself. Today he solos with a theme that seems to have some similarities to last Thursday's puzzle, which was all about long vowel sounds. Scanning the theme clues below you'll see long Ē and
Here are the theme clues which all start with "Professional who minds their ..." ...
17A. Professional who minds their peas: VEGETABLE FARMER. We've planted a vegetable garden for years. I have two problems with peas: (1) they're not very smart (training them to climb trellises is very tedious) and (2) fresh peas are very sweet and taste like candies so they often don't make it to the table.
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| Sweet Peas |
26A. Professional who minds their cues: BILLIARD PLAYER. What's the Difference Between Billiards, Pool, and Snooker? The latter is very popular in England and probably the most famous snooker player is ne'er do well Andy Capp. In this cartoon Andy has a revelation about snooker after going on the wagon ...
48A. Professional who minds their p's and q's: ETIQUETTE COACH. The most famous etiquette professional was undoubtedly Emily Post (née Price; c. October 27, 1872 – September 25, 1960), an American author, novelist, and socialite famous for her book Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, first published in 1922.
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| Emily Post 1922 |
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| St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church 175th Anniversary Mass |
Here's the rest ...Across:
1. Many "Futurama" characters: ALIENS. Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom originally created by Matt Groening, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. He finds work at the interplanetary delivery company Planet Express, working alongside the one-eyed mutant Leela and the robot Bender. This should give you the picture ... 7. Like some exams: ORAL.
11. Mandible: JAW.
14. Get together: TEAM UP.
15. "Say Nothing" streaming service: HULU. More Hulu, but this isn't a fantasy -- it's a 2024 historical drama about four generations in Northern Ireland during The Troubles ...
16. Many a Lagunitas brew, briefly: IPA. Here's their history. Here are some brews (definitely a Gen-Z brew) ...
17. [Theme clue]
20. Hershey toffee bar: SKOR. Skor is a chocolate toffee bar produced by The Hershey Company. It was first marketed in the United States in 1981 and in Canada starting in 1983. The Skor bar consists of a thin slab of butter toffee covered in a milk chocolate coating.
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| Red Kangaroo |
23. Vow locale: ALTAR. We've attended several weddings celebrated at the ALTAR shown in 63A.
25 Promos: ADS.
26. [Theme clue]
32. Drop out of a conversation?: ELIDE. Clever clue. Not the converser, but a sound maybe, e.g. KANGA in 21A ...
34. Zoo doc: VET. Become a zoo vet and someday you might get to take care of a Scarlet Macaw ...
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| Scarlet Macaw |
37. Sheepskin boot brand: UGG.
40. Turn brown, maybe: ROT.
42. __-de-France: Paris's region: ILE. The Île-de-France (/ˌiːl də ˈfrɒ̃s/; French: [il də fʁɑ̃s] ⓘ; lit. 'Island of France') is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the Paris Region.
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| Île-de-France Region |
43. Sac fly result: RBI. A fly ball is often caught resulting in an out, but if there are 1 or no outs already, a runner on third can tag up and score, resulting in a Run Batted In.
44. __ & Perrins: LEA. For many this brand is synonymous with Worcestershire ("Wooshtershire") sauce.
48. [Theme clue]
53. __ feeling: GUT. Gut feelings are real, but Should You Really ‘Trust Your Gut’?
54. Astonishing deeds: FEATS.
55. "Same here": SO DO I.
58. Some Energizers: AAAS. Like the ones you put in your remote ...
59. Event in a convention center: EXPO. This video was showing at everybody's favorite booth at an EDS/HP EXPO I once attended ...
63. [Theme clue]
66. Safflower __: OIL. What is it and does it offer any health benefits?
67. Get better: HEAL. One of the great things about getting older is all the things you can heal from. 😀
68. Demonstrate clearly: EVINCE.
69. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, e.g.: TOY. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is a two-player action toy and game designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1964. It features two dueling robot boxers, Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, mechanically manipulated by the players, and the game is won when one player knocks the opposing robot's head up and off the shoulders. Available from Amazon ...
70. Play directive: EXIT. One of the most dramatic play EXITS ever, occurred on the evening of April 14, 1865 (Good Friday) at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. during a performance of Our American Cousin attended by President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd. After shooting Lincoln with a pistol at close range, John Wilkes Booth leapt from President's box onto the stage and cried "Sic sempre tyrannis!" ("Thus ever tyrants") and "The South is avenged".
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| The Presidential Box and the pistol |
71. Highs and lows: RANGES. Tim Storms (born August 28, 1972) is an American singer and composer. He holds the Guinness World Record for both the "lowest note produced by a human" (0.189 Hz (G−7), set in 2012; and the "widest vocal range" (10 octaves). Here he sings Lonesome Road with music by Nathaniel Shilkret and lyrics by Gene Austin ...
Down:
1. Off-roaders, for short: ATVS. All Terrain Vehicles.
2. Scallion's cousin: LEEK. Leeks are one of the key ingredients in Bouillabaisse. Here's Julia Child's recipe.
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| Bouillabaisse |
4. Green mineral: EMERALD. Emeralds are gem quality Beryl, an ore of the metal Beryllium (BE). They are ranked with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires as the most precious gems. During the filming of Cleopatra, Richard Burton purchased the emerald and diamond brooch shown below as a wedding gift for his fiancée Elizabeth Taylor. Worn by the actress at their marriage in 1964, the brooch was later sold in The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor: The Legendary Jewels Evening Sale at Christie’s in New York in December 2011. It weighed 23.56 carats, realised $6,130,500, and remains the most expensive single stone emerald jewel ever sold.
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6. Peloponnesian War victor: SPARTA. The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War, was an ancient Greek war fought between the states of Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.
7. "Heavens to Betsy!": OH LORDY. "... won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ..."
8. Regrets: RUES.
9. Sitcom character whose real name is Gordon Shumway: ALF. Gordon Shumway, also known as "ALF", is the protagonist and title character of the American television series ALF, and several spinoffs. The name "ALF" is short for "Alien Life Form". Actually Gordon Shumway's real name is puppeteer Paul Fusco (Paul is the one on the left) ...
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| Paul and ALF |
10. Capital of Angola: LUANDA. Luanda is the capital and largest city in Angola, a country on the coast of west central Africa. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport, and is the most populous Portuguese-speaking capital city in the world.
11. Rock icon Hendrix: JIMI. Here's his cover of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower ...
12. Big galoots: APES.
13. Apprehensive: WARY.
18. Wild hog: BOAR. Also a domestic male pig.
19. Pink-cheeked: ROSY.
24. In __ of: LIEU. Today's French lesson: "In place of".
25. In addition: ALSO.
26. 16-Across, e.g.: BEER.
27. "Isn't that something": I'LL BE. Until you aren't.
28. Calculus calculation: LIMIT. As any higher level math I had is over 50 years old, I asked Pravan for a layman's explanation for a LIMIT and here is his contribution ...
.jpg) |
| Luanda, Angola skyline |
12. Big galoots: APES.
13. Apprehensive: WARY.
18. Wild hog: BOAR. Also a domestic male pig.
19. Pink-cheeked: ROSY.
24. In __ of: LIEU. Today's French lesson: "In place of".
25. In addition: ALSO.
26. 16-Across, e.g.: BEER.
27. "Isn't that something": I'LL BE. Until you aren't.
28. Calculus calculation: LIMIT. As any higher level math I had is over 50 years old, I asked Pravan for a layman's explanation for a LIMIT and here is his contribution ...
Here's a video that has some of those more complicated scenarios ...
29. Part of rpm: PER.
30. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" musical: EVITA. Evita is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader, activist and actress Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and death. Here is the mononymic Madonna with Evita's signature song ...
31. Reminder of the past: RELIC. I resemble that remark!
35. Virginia __: TECH. Virginia Tech (VT), officially the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI), is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. It was founded as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872.
38. Surplus: GLUT. There's certainly more than enough of it. If we could just figure out a good way to spread it around.
39. "Isn't that something": GEE. "Yeah, most things are".
41. Social finesse: TACT. Not a problem I have. 😀
45. To blame: AT FAULT. It's certainly to AT FAULT for a lot of earthquakes. 🙃
47. Was a buttinsky: NOSED IN.
49. Inventor Sikorsky: IGOR. Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972) was a Russian (Ukrainian)–American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the Sikorsky S-2, the second aircraft of his design and construction. His fifth airplane, the S-5, won him national recognition and F.A.I. pilot's license number 64. He received many honors for his achievements, including recognition by Time Magazine in 1953.
50. Brunch order: QUICHE. Order one or make one yourself -- here's Sally's quiche recipe.
51. Ginseng and oolong: TEAS. Ginseng tea is a traditional Korean tea made with ginseng root. While it is called a tea, ginseng tea does not contain tea leaves. It is a herbal tea infusion made out of the ginseng plant's root. Oolong tea is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea made from the dried leaves of the tree Camellia sinensis.
52. Holiday featured in the animated film "Hop": EASTER. On Easter Island, a young rabbit named E.B. is intended to succeed his father as the Easter Bunny. Ignoring his father's orders, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a music drummer. It's really a hare raising film ...
55. Andy Murray, e.g.: SCOT. Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born in Glasgow, Scotland on 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis coach and former player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray won three Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbledon (in 2013 and 2016), and one at the US Open (in 2012), and reached eleven major finals.
56. West Virginia neighbor: OHIO. Yep -- they're neighbors!
57. As expected: DULY.
58. Berry from the Amazon: ACAI. Hand up if you've ever eaten an ACAI berry?
60. Short word on a yellow road sign: XING. It kind of makes you wonder why ...?
61. Stat for a marathon: PACE.
62. Individuals: ONES.
64. Curse: HEX. Also geek speak for HEXADECIMAL, a base16 number system used on IBM mainframes. Anyone who has ever been called in the middle of the night to debug a HEX dump from a mainframe abend has probably done their share of cursing.
65. Egg cells: OVA. OVA are much more than just crosswordese -- this G rated video gives you a tiny glimpse of their role in human reproduction ...
35. Virginia __: TECH. Virginia Tech (VT), officially the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI), is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. It was founded as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872.
38. Surplus: GLUT. There's certainly more than enough of it. If we could just figure out a good way to spread it around.
39. "Isn't that something": GEE. "Yeah, most things are".
41. Social finesse: TACT. Not a problem I have. 😀
45. To blame: AT FAULT. It's certainly to AT FAULT for a lot of earthquakes. 🙃
47. Was a buttinsky: NOSED IN.
49. Inventor Sikorsky: IGOR. Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972) was a Russian (Ukrainian)–American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the Sikorsky S-2, the second aircraft of his design and construction. His fifth airplane, the S-5, won him national recognition and F.A.I. pilot's license number 64. He received many honors for his achievements, including recognition by Time Magazine in 1953.
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| Igor Sikorsky |
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| Bacon quiche |
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| Ginseng root |
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| Camellia sinensis |
55. Andy Murray, e.g.: SCOT. Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born in Glasgow, Scotland on 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis coach and former player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray won three Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbledon (in 2013 and 2016), and one at the US Open (in 2012), and reached eleven major finals.
_2.jpg) |
| Andy Murray 2012 US Open |
56. West Virginia neighbor: OHIO. Yep -- they're neighbors!
57. As expected: DULY.
58. Berry from the Amazon: ACAI. Hand up if you've ever eaten an ACAI berry?
60. Short word on a yellow road sign: XING. It kind of makes you wonder why ...?
62. Individuals: ONES.
64. Curse: HEX. Also geek speak for HEXADECIMAL, a base16 number system used on IBM mainframes. Anyone who has ever been called in the middle of the night to debug a HEX dump from a mainframe abend has probably done their share of cursing.
65. Egg cells: OVA. OVA are much more than just crosswordese -- this G rated video gives you a tiny glimpse of their role in human reproduction ...
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Epilogue ...
As I was putting the finishing touches on this review this article popped up in my inbox: Why solving crosswords is like a phase transition, by Baltimorean Jennifer Ouellette, a writer for Ars Technica and wife of renowned physicist Sean M. Carroll -- enjoy! (I'm sure Pravan will).
Epilogue ...
As I was putting the finishing touches on this review this article popped up in my inbox: Why solving crosswords is like a phase transition, by Baltimorean Jennifer Ouellette, a writer for Ars Technica and wife of renowned physicist Sean M. Carroll -- enjoy! (I'm sure Pravan will).
36 comments:
You have to admire a crossword constructor who can put in four grid spanning themers! And they weren’t terribly difficult, either. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Gak. It all came down to a single letter...and d-o didn't get it: DUL_/TO_. Along the way there was oak/ELM and out/Run/RBI. Not my finest hour. SKOR was just a Heath Bar in disguise. Tim Storms' voice sounds like one of those Sardukar singers in the Dune movies. This hasn't been a good week for d-o -- no "explosive percolation." Thanx, Pravan, waseeley, and Terri.
Here's the bi-weekly DAB puzzle. Here's what David has to say about it ...
Where would crossword constructors be without abbreviations? How many themes would have to be discarded if it weren’t for EEO and EOE? And the AAA and the ABA and the ACA and the ADA and the BBA and the BBB and the BBC? Indignant solvers may complain that they’ve never seen a screen referred to as an SCR, that SSRs aren’t much talked about anymore, that SPR is not a season they’ve encountered outside of a crossword, that an STR is not and has never been an orchestra section, or a narrow maritime passageway, or a stock unit, or a riverboat, or a soft-shell clam. And they have a point. But what they don’t consider is just what these guessable letters may have spared them in the way of unguessable jargon, or trivia, or slang. This puzzle is a grateful tribute to the hard-working, much-abused abbreviations that have got us all out of more than one tight cruciverbal corner with minimal semantic damage.
FIR. I found today's puzzle to be extremely easy, especially for a Thursday. In fact i breezed through so fast that I made two mistakes that perps had to correct. I spelled ugg like ugh, and threw down run instead of rbi.
The theme was clever and impressive considering the length of each long answer.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
Took 5:44 today for me to find the kewpie doll.
I didn't know the Angola capital or the French region, and struggled to remember Lea and to parse "nosedin"
I originally had "robots" before "aliens". Has anyone ever told you what it's like to err on 1A?
Oh, yeah. Me too.
Thanks. Methinks that Patti has run off DAB and JefWesh from the LAT puzzle.
Thursday puzzle. Spelled etiquette wrong, perks fixed, spelled vegetable wrong plus stuck with meetup made NW corner a mess. Otherwise an enjoyable solve.
Greet the day.
Good Morning:
I loved the freshness and playfulness of the theme and the varied “professional” categories. Luanda was the only unknown and Run/RBI was the only w/o, an error I’ve made before. My only criticism is the solve was much too easy for a Thursday offering. I don’t mind early week puzzles having more crunch, but late week puzzles should always be more challenging and difficult, IMO.
Thanks, Pravan, for a fun puzzle and thanks, Bill, for the always wide-ranging and informative review. Enjoyed the Evita Clip, even though I’m not a Madonna fan. Also enjoyed the Energizer Bunny as that’s my nickname for my sIster, Eileen, who is 88 going on 35! The altar at St. Charles Borromeo is breathtakingly beautiful. Oh, also enjoyed the recipes! You and Teri certainly aim to please. Thank you both.
I hope Jayce’s absence isn’t due to anything serious.
Have a great day.
FIR but struggled a bit in the SW corner, where I held onto “METOO” instead of “SODOI” for way too long. I agree that it was fairly easy for a Thursday.
Here’s one “they” missed: Professional who distorts “their” pronouns for reasons that can only be described as PC-gone-wild: SJWPUZZLEEDITOR
Easy for a Thursday with a few hiccups promptly resolved just needed a clue to scare me like HEX!!! Fun wall-to-wall clear theme answers helped with perps
Sometimes you feel like a “cashew or a pecan “(or a pee-KAHN) and sometimes you don’t. Alls I know about “Futurama” is there’s a girl with a ponytail and one eye. Calling APES “galoots” is blatant simian-shaming! And a “sack fly” is not an insect. Figured baseball and catching a fly would be an out
Classy, elegant but noisy shellfish : “clamorous”? Demonstrate clearly exhibit a bit too long
I googled SODOI a Romanian word. LIU 🫣
Check out an ex military who wants to be an “Zoo doc”. ___a ___, as a future ___ … VET, VET, VET
Mend a bad guy’s fractured calcaneous. ___ a heel’s heel… HEAL,
Stove in a cabin on the prairie. ___ on the ____ RANGE, RANGE
“Hang down you head ‘as expected’ Tom“___ DULY
That ____ the score …. EVINCE
Happy Thor’s Day
This was the first puzzle I enjoyed this week. Hardly any obscure names or faux celebrities, two theme grid-spanners, and only a Z short of a pangram. Speaking of which, I wonder how difficult it would be to construct a sort of anti-pangram puzzle, one that contained, say, not one E, T, A, or R. Anyway, nice job today, Pravan!
I will probably be corrected on this observation--including by son Jim--but I don't think every sac fly necessarily results in an RBI. If there is a runner on second, and the batter hits a flyout to the outfield deep enough for the runner to advance to third, there is no RBI. Isn't that still called a sac fly?
Jinx, I'm with you on 26A: it should be BILLIARDS, not BILLIARD. Also, even though you think you're a terrible speller ("bad spelars, untie!," etc.), actually you're not. Today, for instance, you nailed such headaches as predecessor, unchaperoned, and unprecedented. You did miss Cincinnati, but don't we all? I had a student from Cincinnati who got tired of my always botching the spelling of her city, so she showed me you double the middle n, because it comes before the t. Leave the t alone.
Pravan, thanks again for a fresh, entertaining, and satisfying Thursday challenge.
Musings
-I try to mind my p’s & q’s at our site by always complimenting the amazing constructors while only making occasional comments about items that I don’t know. I am not immune to learning.
-Exhibit A: Like Sub G, I am so impressed with the clever and lengthy themers and learned the capital of Angola.
-Emily Post’s best rules. Uh, not any that apply to my life. :-)
-Baseball peeps probably think Bobby Thomsen had the most famous RBI’s in MLB history
-I will tell you that our birds turn up their noses, er, beaks at safflower seeds but love sunflower seeds
-Our temp RANGE today on the mighty Platte River is 30F to 50F. Golf?
-At our dear friend’s recent funeral, she requested live plants in LIEU of flowers
-The area of a circle is the LIMIT of the sums of the areas of inscribed triangles
-Many policies seem to be AT FAULT for California’s horrible fires
-You’re my age if you remember this: "Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a DULY authorized organization swings into action. It may be called the State Police, State Troopers, Militia, the Rangers... or the Highway Patrol"
-How do deer know to cross at DEER XING signs? :-)
-There can only be a sac fly if a run scores.
-Thanks Bill and Teri.
Addendum
-Loyalty paid off today. My wife’s car had a dead battery, so I called the dealership where I have done business for 50 years. They were at my house in 15 minutes, jump started the car, adjusted the negative post at the shop and are charging it now. The only charge is, uh, what they put on the battery!
I agree with what others have said about today’s puzzle, for me it was the easiest of the week, FIR 10:24, and M,T,W were in the same time range. It must be hard to gauge the difficulty of a puzzle, as is often said on here, what is a breeze for some is a struggle for others and vice versa. This may be the last “walk in the park” of the week, as C-Moe alerted us yesterday, tomorrow’s is a “doozy”. In this grid, LUANDA was unknown as was LIMIT as clued. “Hop” was the Ektorp in needed for Easter. Thank you Pravin for today’s creation, original theme and solid clueing!
Bill and Teri ~ thank you for another in-depth report, Thursdays are always an entertaining education. My math skills have always been LIMITed, and if that is a layman’s explanation, safe to say I’ll never understand calculus.
FLN ~ JzB, prayers to your family, especially your granddaughter for what she has to endure, hope for a full recovery.
I enjoyed this CW. The theme was playful indeed. What á relief to solve á word puzzle instead of á name puzzle. My only unknown was LUANDA. I’m not familiar with Lagunitas beer so I hesitated entering my favorite kind of beer, IPA.
EMERALD is my birth stone and beryllium which it is related to was the color of one of my favorite cars, a 2005 Infiniti FX35. Infiniti used that color only one year. When asked the color of my car I loved pronouncing that fabulous word with á little trill on the R sound.
Thank you waseeley for all the good info and links.
A sac fly has to score a runner, a sac bunt only has to advance a runner to the next base.
Pravan, not Pravin (dang autocorrect)
For you baseball fans, Bob Ueker died today at the age of 90.
Hola!
Thanks to Pravan Chakravarthy for today's puzzle. I solved it very early this morning then returned to bed. I enjoyed the various occupational categories and wondered how welcome an ETIQUETTE COACH would be these days. When my family comes for dinner I try to teach my grandchildren the proper setting of a table and I can only hope it sticks. It is set with a tablecloth and we use cloth napkins.
I've learned a new city, LUANDA, which I had not heard of before, not even on Jeopardy!
The only thing I can see to account for California's fires are extremely dry weather. It's the same situation we have here and fires abound in the high country because of that. A bolt of lightning often triggers fire that burns a vast section of mountain vegetation.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
If I minded my p's and q's, I wouldn't post stuff like this...
Thank you Waseely, you got me thinking... (always dangerous...)
So Booth jumped in the stage, and called Lincoln "a tyrant." Hmm,
I seem to sense a great potential for discussion here. Too bad we can't discuss politics here, so I'll mind my p's and q's.
(Unless, is there a time limit on discussing politics? Hmm, I may have to do some calculus to figure this one out...)
Pretty easy FIR for a Thursday puzzle. The paraphrases, as usual, sucked some of the enjoyment out of it, at least for me. Isn't that something? (Twice!) Same here? And can someone please explain to me how "Heavens to Betsy" can possibly be considered as a CLUE for "Oh, Lordy?"
My Phoenix cousins say the same. The suffering of people is being exploited and badly needed aid threatened unless “conditions” are met.
I knew the “Sic semper Tyranis” quote but never heard of “The South is Avenged” part. Booth probable added “Owie, my ankle!”
"Mind your Ps and Qs" is from when type for newspapers was set by hand, which had to be done upside down and backwards by the typesetters, and it was easy to confuse a "p" for a "q". Anyway, fun CW, Monday-on-a-Thursday, 13 names but only 5 DNKs. METOO confused the SW for a while until SODOI perped. Needed perps to get ETTIQUETTE spelled right. Quite a few CWs lately with "ORAL" as a fill. Most of my tests in college were written, but I did have some oral exams. These days, the only oral exams are from the DDS. Then every few years there is an exam on the other end of the line, when the proctologist does his thing, but it's not called an "anal exam", as opposed to an oral exam, it's called a colonoscopy. Lea and Perrins is the only Worcestershire sauce to buy, anything else is a poor, not-even-close imitation. Thanx PC for the fun, clever CW. And thanx too to Bill for the terrific write-up.
Thanks, Bill - the DAB puzzle today was very clever. The LABAMBA was my favorite
Fun Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Pravan. And your delightful pictures along with your commentary were a pleasure today, as always, Bill--thank you and Teri for that treat too.
I suppose back in the old days, people might have worried that ALIENS from other worlds might TEAM UP and maybe create a lot of NOISY ANTICS that would require a VET to keep their FEATS under control. But, OH LORDY, we're lucky that we no longer need to be WARY about that, and can let the ETIQUETTE COACH and the CHURCH CUSTODIAN handle any sort of problems these days. So let's enjoy our morning with a glass of BEER to go with our QUICHE, and then plan on an early afternoon nap. How does that sound?
Have a delightful day, everybody.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Pravin, and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed in good time and saw the Ps and Qs theme.
Three inkblots. I started Down since I was having trouble with 1A, but I had SUVS before ATMS entered the field.
Then, I had a Grower in the field before FARMER perped.
Farther down, Me Too changed to SO DO I (ditto also came to mind).
Favourite was the clue for ELIDE.
We had literal Easter Eggs today with EASTER beside OVA.
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks, Ken. Now if I can only remember that helper phrase. I should know how to spell it, since that was often a family destination. We would go to the Dreamland swimming pool, maybe Coney Island (no, not THAT Coney Island,) catch a Reds game at Crosley Field, go downtown for a bowl of chili or lunch at Chock Full O Nuts, or watch the ponies run at River Downs race track. I've played in the fountain that appears on the opening of WKRP in Cincinnati.
What a fun guy. I hope they inscribe his tombstone with "He missed the tag!"
Bill O'Reilly' "Killing Lincoln" is a great read. No politics, but a well-researched narrative.
Hey everyone, Pravan here. I'm glad you all enjoyed the puzzle! I got the theme from a joke book I perused a lot as a kid. The joke was as follows: "What's the difference between a gardener, a billiard player, a precise man, and a church janitor? The gardener minds his peas... (etc etc)." I got really lucky that synonyms for all of those professions fit in a grid together. It was also nice to see many of my original clues survive till publication, as well as some great ones from the editors (32A and 47D, for example).
Anyway, have a great rest of the week, and I hope to see you next time!
Thanks to Pravan for a fun puzzle and for sharing with us his inspiration!
Thanks to waseeley for another terrific write-up! I never tire of that herding cats ad. They nailed that one.
Thanks for dropping by Pravan. It is always great to hear the story behind the CW.
Pravan @8:35 PM Thanks for stopping by. It was a great puzzle and a great time was had by all!
Very clever theme and delightful puzzle, Pravan! Thank you for sharing the charming joke behind it.
Thank you, Pravan. This was a really fun puzzle to solve. I hope you give us more very soon.
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