On the last Saturday in February we celebrate National Tongue Twister Contest Day. So let's see how you would do with these two beauties. For this contest let us know which you think, the Guinness or MIT nomination, is the winner of hardest limerick ever.
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| Guiness Candidate M.I.T Candidate |
Today's constructor is Jim Quinlan. I could not find much about him on the web but did run across this "musing" from him that sounds like something that crosses my mind on many occasions:
I can't help but anagram and make wordplay with stop signs when I'm driving. It's annoying. Those big white letters just ask to be messed with. POTS, TOPS, SPOT, OPTS. Am I alone in this? I hope so. Anyway, "Stop Sign" sounds an awful lot like "Stop Sighin'!" ["Quit feeling sorry for yourself!"] or "Stop lyin! [Quit telling falsehoods!]
Four speed bumps for me:
33. Strauss creation: LEVIS - I wasted time with OPERA before LEVI's riveted blue jeans came to mind
32. Start to stop?: NON - I wasted time with ESS
51. "Wow!": OOH - I wasted time with GEE
Let's what else Jim has for us before I have to go see Sally selling seashells by the seashore.
Across:
1. Like some VIP treatment: ALL ACCESS - I think I'd rather have gone to Crystal's party
10. Global Chic designer: IMAN - The now 63-yr-old widow of David Bowie
14. Dog trainer's hand signal, say: VISUAL CUE - Awww15. It'll blow over soon: CRAZE - Cabbage Patch Kids, fidget spinners, hula hoops, etc.
16. Running smoothly: IN A GROOVE - I'm sure Boomer has been in one of these frequently for his many high scores in bowling
17. Schindler with a list: OSKAR - I've said it before, it's a movie where I couldn't stay until the end
18. Stings: SET UPS - Real movie fans will remember when Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorff SET UP Doyle Lonnegan Give me my money back! (4 min.)
19. Academic acronym: STEM.
22. Beat but good: ROUT and 58. Shut out, in a game: BLANK
24. Absorption processes: OSMOSES
29. Algerian seaport: ORAN - Where America started WWII in across the Atlantic in November of 1942 during Operation Torch
31. __ Pig: British preschool TV show: PEPPA - I landed on this show once as it is near ESPN on our channels. It is a syrupy departure from the Looney Tunes, et al of my ute
35. Mexican president after Calderón: NIETO.
37. Gets all mushy: BREAKS INTO TEARS.
40. Kipling's "Lone Wolf": AKELA.
41. Feudal servants: SERFS - Not peons this round
42. Daffy depiction?: CEL - hurry, only one left!
43. Can't get enough of: ADORE.
45. Abounding: RIFE.
46. Anti-discrimination initials: EEO.
47. Mexico's largest lake: CHAPALA - Just south of Guadalajara
49. Cunning: ARCH - Iterations of Batman's most attractive ARCHENEMY (Halle Berry's my fav)
52. Passed on: OKED - _ _ E D was not DIED. I then OKED the correct fill
54. Very little: A TASTE.
60. "Pardon, sir ... ": SAY MISTER - "SAY MISTER Burnikel, did you get this one?"
62. Salon option: RINSE.
63. Counting-out rhyme opening: ONE POTATO - ONE POTATO, two potato, three potato, four...
64. Flexible, in a way: AC/DC - We have this radio and it can go either way65. Secretly communicate in class, pre-texting: PASS NOTES - I see very little of this in 2019 schools post-texting
Down:
1. Dollar competitor: AVIS - EURO currency gave way to a rental car company
2. Feature of a busy amusement park: LINE - Everyone says how they "hate" the It's A Small World Ride at Magic Kingdom, but even it has very long LINES
3. What needs to be passed on the way to the bar, briefly?: LSAT.
4. Foretell: AUGUR - Shakespeare's Sonnet CVII - "And the sad AUGURS mock their own presage; Incertainties now crown themselves assured" says these foretellers aren't always successful
5. Musical "Late Late" segment: CARPOOL KARAOKE - A lovely 23 minute version with Sir Paul singing his timeless music in the car while touring Liverpool with a big finish!
6. Snowstorm news: CLOSURES - This last big show is going to happen today on a weekend so NO CLOSURE. Sorry teachers, er, kids!😏
7. Prefix with tourism: ECO - ECOtourists and ECOwarriors are frequent puzzle visitors
8. Explorers, e.g.: SUVS - Ford's version
9. Manage: SEE TO
10. Gp. concerned with cheaters: IRS
11. Stops the fight: MAKES PEACE - Teddy won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping MAKE PEACE and end the Russo-Japanese War in 1906
12. Rhododendron family bloomer: AZALEA TREE - AZALEAS ring the famous 12th hole at the Master's and are a sure harbinger of spring
13. __ out: gets excited in a geeky way, in slang: NERDS
15. Popular place for lurking trolls: COMMENT SECTION - Our COMMENT SECTION follows my diatribe. Trolls should remain under the bridge
23. Former TV talk show host Smiley: TAVIS - TAVIS has some issues these days
25. Taylor tot: OPIE - That's sheriff Andy's boy
26. Sun and Sky org.: WNBA - I just blogged these two teams two weeks ago and still got fooled for a while. Arrrggghhh!
28. "Little help?": I NEED A HAND - The clue is short for, "Can I get a little help here?"
30. Pilot's digit: NINER - Can you see the 29 on the runway amid the tire marks. Runway 29 is short for a heading of 290 (WNW) where the 0 is dropped and we get Runway Two-NINER
34. Narrow furrow: STRIA - Nourison's twilight, twister, STRIA carpet
36. 2017 Tony winner about the '90s Israel-PLO accords: OSLO The Playbill
38. Somewhat off: ALOP - Merriam Webster Dictionary says, "Huh?" Oxford English says, "Lopsided"
39. Cloverleaf segments: OFF RAMPS.
44. Mammal with a rack: ELK - That's one...
47. G.I. Joe nemesis: COBRA.
50. Lacks choices: HAS TO.
53. Perfumery that created Tabu: DANA - DW's fragrance when we were dating. Ahhh...
55. Bit of sports trivia: STAT - "Whose home run record did Babe Ruth break when he hit 60 in 1927?" (*Answer at the bottom)
56. French bean?: TETE.
57. Winged god: EROS.
59. Situation Room gp.: NSC - The National Security Council was formed by President Harry Truman
61. Assent: YES.
Time for you to toot your own horn:
* Babe broke his own record of 59 home runs in 1921
Note from C.C.:
Happy 80th Birthday to dear Keith Fowler (Ol' Man Keith), longest-living Fowler on record. How are you celebrating this milestone, Keith?
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