Today is a natural fit for the many tea connoisseurs on this site. This is one of many areas where my tastes are quite plebeian and can be satisfied with generic Lipton that you can see my green friend savoring below. I can hear C.C. and Steve roll their eyes right now! My mother's stock remedy for a cold was tea and toast.
Our neighbor did bring us a large supply of Tazo tea for minding her house while she was in Minneapolis and it is delicious as well. Do you have a favorite?
Our neighbor did bring us a large supply of Tazo tea for minding her house while she was in Minneapolis and it is delicious as well. Do you have a favorite?
Today's constructor is our Canadian friend Craig Stowe. I last blogged one of his wonderful themeless Saturday puzzles on U.S. Navy Day October 13, 2018. My start today was in the SW and then built quickly to a satisfying "got 'er done"
Across:
1. Likelihood of success: PROSPECTS - Kids are quickly learning what training or degrees greatly increase their PROSPECTS of success
10. __ change: CHUMP - CHUMP change to me and Warren Buffet are two very different commodities
15. Ritz offering: HOTEL ROOM - Segue - Speaking of famous people from Omaha, Fred Astaire had a big hit in 1946 with this Irving Berlin song written in 1927 about the opulent Ritz apartment/hotel at 465 Park Avenue in NYC.
16. Award, say: HONOR.
17. Confides in: OPENS UP TO - Be careful what info you solicit
18. Invest, as with a quality: ENDUE - Not a common word for me
19. Word reportedly coined in Seuss' "If I Ran the Zoo": NERD - At the time it was just an silly imaginary animal - And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo/And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep, and a Proo,/A Nerkle, a NERD, and a Seersucker too!"
20. Glimpse: PEEK - What is the kitty glimpsing?21. Ideal places: EDENS.
22. Puts on the right track: ORIENTS - My legally blind friend must be ORIENTED for every golf shot but does very well!
24. Trade talk subjects: EXPORTS
26. Qtr. components: MOS - Your estimated tax payments for the 2018's fourth QTR are due in the MO of January, 2019
27. 1991 political thriller with eight Oscar nominations: JFK - Rotten Tomatoes consensus: "As history, Oliver Stone's JFK is dubious, but as filmmaking it's electric"
28. It may be flat: FEE - Not TAX as it turns out
29. Latin 101 word: AMAT - A fun one-minute chant
31. Sensitive subjects: SORE SPOTS.
34. It doesn't require a long answer: QUICK QUESTION.
36. One may include three kings: FULL HOUSE - Appropriate in the season of Epiphany?
37. Official records: ACTA - Learned (and almost forgotten) in cwd's
38. Chinese zodiac critter: RAT - The next Year Of The Rat is 2020
39. Hit in a box: BAT - This batter is out because his foot is completely out of the batter's box when he contacted the ball
40. Cartoonist Browne: DIK - When Mort Walker spun off Hi and Lois from his Beetle Bailey strip (Lois was Beetle's sister), he recruited Dik to do the art work while he came up with the gags. Dik eventually started his own iconic strip Hagar.
41. Flies: AVIATES.
44. Party store stock: PINATAS - Paul Coulter's Sunday's puzzle clued this as "One getting smashed at a bash"
48. British bishop's topper: MITRE - Some will recognize this MITRE-wearing bishop who had his own 1950's TV show. Answer at the bottom *49. Hustles: HIES - Lady Macbeth to Macbeth - Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear (Hurry home, so I can talk to you)
51. Essence: CORE.
52. Conservatory exercise: ETUDE - This looks like some serious exercise
53. Strength, in a "1984" slogan: IGNORANCE - Explanation of all three
55. Gas that glows when condensed: RADON - It is usually not made to glow because it is so radioactive
56. Connected on LinkedIn, say: NETWORKED - It seems to make it easier to make a connection in the business world; much like Match.com does in the dating world.
57. Clairvoyants: SEERS - A mathematician at Temple University coined the phrase "Jean Dixon Effect" where an occasional correct prediction by someone like Jeane Dixon is celebrated and their many wrong ones are overlooked
58. Family guys: GRANDDADS - A proud appellation for many here!
Down:
1. Player of singles: PHONO - Mine was always stacked pretty high!
2. Rodeo competitor: ROPER - A hard event for me to watch
3. "Scary Movie" actress Cheri: OTERI - She is not on this poster and is listed way down in the credits. Fellow SNL cheerleader with Ferrell must have seemed too easy for Rich on a Saturday
6. Goes off: ERUPTS which 13. The Italians call it Mongibello: MOUNT ETNA - Just last Christmas Eve
7. Manages: COPES - MIL has COPED with living alone as a widow for over thirty years
8. Lug: TOTE - Before collaborating with Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II wrote "TOTE that barge, lift that bale" for Showboat with Jerome Kern supplying the melody
9. Like many American workplaces: SMOKE FREE and restaurants, airplanes, bowling alleys and best of all for me - teacher's lounges!
10. Pet store sound: CHEEP.
11. 1953 John Wayne film: HONDO - Also a CSO to our Skip
12. In the way: UNDERFOOT - One day of Kindergarten subbing cured me
25. Classic sports cars: XKES - In my teens our town's only doctor drove what is easily the most 23. Top-__: NOTCH vehicle seen there then and since
27. Tilter's milieu: JOUST - Henry II famously lost an eye and subsequently died after a JOUST in 1559
30. Legion: MULTITUDE.
31. Suppressing: SQUASHING.
32. Soil: STAIN.
33. Magician's directive: PICK A CARD - A cool trick. Give it 30 seconds
35. Asian beef source: KOBE - If you are willing to pay $350 for KOBE beef, you can get this steak in The Old Homestead Steakhouse in NYC even though it is not on the menu. My lovely bride would 40. Repudiate: DISOWN me if I ordered it
36. Constitution bigwigs: FRAMERS - Legislators and judges have twisted and turned the 18th century words chosen 230 years ago
42. Passion: ARDOR.
44. Prefix with gram: PENTA - Religious symbolism in many sects including wiccans
45. Maker of the Mighty Dump: TONKA - 1960's toy nirvana! (Name came from Lake MinneTONKA)
46. Curving: ARCED - This blindfolded Globetrotter ARCED the ball perfectly
47. Cluster of sunflowers: SEEDS - They are so closely associated with ball players, they are in every dugout in bags or...
50. Disney CEO since 2005: IGER - He has announced that a Star Wars Land will open at Disney Studios in Orlando this year at a cost of a billion dollars after some older attractions are demolished. I may have to make my 41st visit.
54. Angling need: ROD - Equipped with a reel
*Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is the MITRE wearer
