Theme: Connect the dots. Click here. The circled letters A through J (the tiny bubbles from 57A) make the outline of (a little fishy from 38A) if you trace a line to each one in alphabetical order after completing the puzzle. (Note, the circles do not appear on the LA Times applet, you can see them if you do the Across Lite version on Cruciverb.com).
19A. Vast expanse (and a fitting setting for this puzzle): DEEP BLUE SEA.
38A. Somewhat suspect (and a hint to what can be found by connecting the circled letters in alphabetical order): A LITTLE BIT FISHY.
57A. Don Ho hit (and what the O's in this grid represent): TINY BUBBLES.
19A. Vast expanse (and a fitting setting for this puzzle): DEEP BLUE SEA.
38A. Somewhat suspect (and a hint to what can be found by connecting the circled letters in alphabetical order): A LITTLE BIT FISHY.
57A. Don Ho hit (and what the O's in this grid represent): TINY BUBBLES.
This was kind of different, I don't remember doing any other connect the dots puzzles, but I'll bet it didn't help anyone very much in solving. However, this seemed more like a Monday or Tuesday to me today anyway, less than 10 minutes to complete it.
ACROSS:
1. Ones minding their peas in queues?: PODS. Pea pods hold their seeds all in a row. There are many stories about the origin of the phrase this plays on, but investigations by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007 when revising the entry turned up early examples of the use of Ps and Qs to mean learning the alphabet. The first is in a poem by Charles Churchill, published in 1763: “On all occasions next the chair / He stands for service of the Mayor, / And to instruct him how to use / His A’s and B’s, and P’s and Q’s.” It is more likely to be that than any of the more fanciful explanations.
5. __ band: PEP. Student sports boosters.
8. Where the music stops?: HARD C. The last letter of the word music has a "k" sound.
13. Uprising: RIOT.
14. Consider judicially: HEAR.
15. End of __: AN ERA. An overused trite phrase.
16. Bony beginning: OSTE. From the Greek word for bone: osteon.
17. Scots Gaelic: ERSE. Early Scottish variant of Old English Irisc or Old Norse Irskr "Irish"; applied by Lowland Scots to the Gaelic speech of the Highlanders (which originally is from Ireland)
18. They might be executed by a judge: STAYS. Original meaning is to stand (related to editor's "stet"), to come to a halt.
22. York's title: Abbr.: SGT. Alvin York, a Tennessee sharpshooter who was deeply religious/pacifist early on, and a conscientious objector to the war. He took out a German machine gun nest by killing 28 soldiers, but he saved 132 others, so he was fighting to save lives.
23. __ Lanka: SRI. Honorific for "beautiful".
24. Fourth-cen. monastic: ST. BASIL. Of Caesarea, (now Turkey) known for his care of the poor and underprivileged.
26. a.m. beverages: OJS. Skip the juice, which has been pasteurized and is concentrated sugar, eat an orange instead...
29. Citric __: ACID. A weak acid found naturally occurring in citrus fruits, it is added to soft drinks to make them sour. The commercial production technique is cultures of A. niger are fed on a sucrose or glucose-containing medium to produce citric acid. The source of sugar is corn steep liquor, molasses, hydrolyzed corn starch or other inexpensive sugary solutions. After the mold is filtered out of the resulting solution, citric acid is isolated by precipitating it with lime (calcium hydroxide) to yield calcium citrate salt, from which citric acid is regenerated by treatment with sulfuric acid. Yummy! Eat an orange instead...
32. Finesse shampoo maker __ Curtis: HELENE.
33. Shows inattention at a lecture, maybe: NAPS.
35. Shrinking sea: ARAL.
37. Chicago commuter carriers: ELS. Elevated trains.
43. Folksy negative: NAW.
44. Identical: SAME.
45. Very wide shoe: EEEE.
46. Lessens: ABATES. From O.Fr. abattre "beat down, cast down." Related to batter, to fell or slaughter found in abattoir.
49. "Voila!" cousin: TADA. Japanese: Yatta!
51. ENTs, e.g.: DRS. Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors.
52. Bonding capacity measure: VALENCE. Chemistry bonds between atoms to make molecules.
54. Actor Wallach: ELI.
56. Ideal conclusion?: IST. Suffix clue. The most charitable definition of idealist is one who pursues high or noble purposes or goals, such as justice, charity, altruism, equality, fairness, etc. As Terry Pratchett's character "Death" says: "You have to believe in things that aren't true, else how can they become so?"
63. Gaming pioneer: ATARI. The word "atari" in Japanese is a term in the board game of GO for one or more stones that are one move away from being surrounded and thus captured.
65. Judge: DEEM. To pass judgement, to form an opinion. Related to doom, which also meant judgement, condemnation.
66. "Please allow me": MAY I. Or, with "mother" a children's game similar to Simon Says.
67. Old dwelling for 68-Across: TEPEE. From Dakota (Siouan) thipi "dwelling, house."
68. Western natives: UTES. (Utah) from Spanish yuta, name of the indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of the Great Basin, perhaps from Western Apache (Athabaskan) yudah "high" (in reference to living in the mountains).
69. Ready for use: PREP. Used as the verb form here, to get ready. PREP is apparently one of those words, like "rhino" that we use without considering it an abbreviation.
70. 20% of seventy-six?: ESSES. There are 10 letters in "seventy-six", two of which are the letter "s", so 2 is 20% of 10.
71. Gambling area: PIT. We just recently had pit boss.
72. Bad lads: CADS. Shortening of Cadet, "a jumped-up member of the lower classes who was guilty of behaving as if he didn't know that his lowly origin made him unfit for having sexual relationships with well-bred women." [Anthony West, "H.G. Wells: Aspects of a Life," 1984]
DOWN:
1. Urge: PROD.
2. Seine feeder: OISE. French rivers.
3. Heap affection (on): DOTE. Or what a mairzy eats.
4. Self-help segments: STEPS. A 12 step program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems.
6. Lessen: EASE.
7. Basketball ploy: PRESS. Short for pressure. Often called a full-court press, this is an attacking defense employed in the backcourt before the ball crosses center court, where the objective is to force a turnover.
8. Argues (with): HAS A BEEF.
9. Tiny crawler: ANT. Also formerly called an EMMET from *ai- "off, away" + *mai- "cut," (maim). Thus, its name means "the biter off".
10. Like much real estate, annually: REASSESSED. Originally meant to fix the amount of tax on, so to place a value on.
11. Bombay product: DRY GIN. Bombay is a brand name of gin distributed by Bacardi.
12. Way to relocate a king: CASTLE. A chess maneuver which protects the king and frees up the rook.
14. Like rotini: HELICAL. Pasta.
20. Support in a dresser drawer: BRA.
21. Sudan neighbor: Abbr.: ETH.iopia. Today's geography lesson.
25. Kate's sitcom pal: ALLIE. 80's sitcom starring Susan St. James and Jane Curtin.
26. "Leaving __ Jet Plane": ON A. We've had lots of Peter Paul and Mary lately, so here's the guy that wrote the song.
27. Flier to Tokyo: JAL. Japan Airlines.
28. Lumbar punctures: SPINAL TAPS. Cerebro-spinal fluid analysis can be used to diagnose certain neurologic disorders, particularly infections (such as meningitis) and brain or spinal cord damage.
30. Inflames: IRES.
31. Pat: DAB AT.
34. Declare: STATE.
36. 5-Down's capital: LIMA. along with 5D. See 36-Down: PERU.
39. ATM output: TWENTIES.
40. Latin hymns: TE DEUMS. Literal translation: "Thee, O God, we praise". According to the Devil's Dictionary (Ambrose Bierce) on the similar sounding word tedium: Many fanciful derivations of the word have been affirmed, but so high an authority as Father Jape says that it comes from a very obvious source -- the first words of the ancient Latin hymn Te Deum Laudamus. In this apparently natural derivation there is something that saddens.
41. Slip floater, to its owner: HER. Boats referred to with feminine gender.
42. "Absolutely!": YES.
46. Fly: AVIATE. Latin "avis", bird.
47. Moistens with drippings: BASTES.
48. Acoustics, e.g.: Abbr.: SCI. One of the sciences.
50. Priestly garb: ALB.
53. Turn out to be: END UP.
55. High-tech debut of 1981: IBM PC.
58. "__ do fear thy nature": Lady Macbeth: YET I. "It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness." She is expressing doubt that he has the backbone for the ruthless action it will require to take and retain the kingship.
59. Epitome of redness: BEET.
60. Pasternak heroine: LARA. Dr. Zhivago...
61. Scrutinized: EYED.
62. Uses a straw: SIPS.
64. R&B artist Des'__: REE. You gotta be.
Al
69 comments:
Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - I was gonna skip the puzzle today as I'm scrambling to get everything done before we leave tomorrow, but I remembered that Al was blogging and I can always use the education.
This was a pretty easy Thursday puzzle for me - I kept expecting twists that never appeared. Needed a bit of perp help for the Lady Macbeth quote and Des'Ree, but otherwise a straightforward solve while trying to figure out what the circles were going to lead to. Been a long time since I did a 'connect the dots'; this could open up interesting possibilities for the more DF among us. And who else was surprised when 'valence' popped right out for 52A?
Today is Boys' Club Day.
Did You Know?:
- In 1968, J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film rights to The Lord of the Rings for $15,000.
I guess I am getting old because I did not find this as easy as Al and Dennis, though the connect the dots did make for a silly but different puzzle. Al your write ups are always worth the read, and now on to a Thursday
Hello Puzzlers - This is my first "connect the dots" puzzle, and it sure seems clever to me! I can only guess at the difficulty in keeping the circles in the right places, in order.
Not very hard overall, but perp help was needed in plenty of places. OISE doesn't look familiar even now. TE DEUMS? Never heard of 'em. Same for ST BASIL. At least ERSE went right in, thanks to puzzles past. HARD C was slow to appear.
Not a killer for a Thursday, but high marks for the niftiness factor.
Morning, all!
Not a particularly easy effort for me, either. Aside from the fact that I didn't have any circled letters in my version, the NE corner was way out of my wheelhouse. I had no idea which YORK we were talking about (all I could think of was "The noble duke" or Fergie). I've never heard of ST. BASIL, didn't know HELENE Curtis and had no idea that DRY GIN was a Bombay product.
I finally managed to figure out that we were talking about Sergeant York, which let me fill in that section, but I spent a lot of time looking at blank squares and playing "guess the letter."
The rest of the puzzle was pretty straightforward, but the clue for 41 made my head hurt...
Hello fellow cruciverbalists!
Decided to stay up very late to enter this, as it is really late in the day when I get around to it. Wonderful write-up, Al! Nice puzzle, Peter!
Did it w/o the circles, as usual. But it went more quickly than Wed. offering.
I have accumulated a few answers and comments. To wit:
Lifeline Screening only costs $132 if you can get your blood test and osteoporosis done elsewhere for free.
EddyB--I really enjoy Castle also. According to tvguide.com there is no chance Beckett is dead! (You can find much more than you ever want to new at their website. They have WEBFIED everything in the way of future programs, past programs and gossip that could possibly interest anyone.)
JD--You continue to produce cute pics for us!
Re Lawrence Welk. Some of you mentioned being forced to watch it. One of my worst such hours. Also had to watch Spade Cooley and Liberace. The accordion player on Welk was Myron FLORIN. Couldn't possibly forget that.
Have a nice day!
Good Morning, Friends. I'm with Lemonade on this one. I found it rather difficult. I plodded through and finished without too much outside assistance.
The puzzle was clever, but I am not sure I really liked the connect the dots in the midst of a crossword.
I am sure I am not the only one who initially thought of Tea instead of OJ for a breakfast drink.
We had a discussion (at least in the commentary) of the Shrinking ARAL sea earlier this week.
I'm not keen on the EEEE and ESSES answers.
The controlled flooding into the Atchafalaya is preventing the Mississippi River from flooding, but is causing a lot of distress for those people living in the affected areas.
QOD: In politics stupidity is not a handicap. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Good day folks,
Ditto Lemonade & Barry, not a particularly easy solve today, especially the NE which was last to fall. No circles so I had to rely heavily on perps. In addition to the NE, valence, tada (started with tata), helical, Allie (had Ollie). & ibmpc caused smoke to exit from my ears. Certainly no speed run. I thought the theme clues were the easiest part of the puzzle.
I honestly do not know if Ct reassesses property annually or not. Every five years or so we get a notice about how much our home & property values have increased. The "town council" makes sure our taxes increase annually though! That clue (10D), Hardc & St Basil were my dilemmas in the NE.
No rain today so it's back to my "to do" list. Surprising how much longer it takes me to complete a job now then it did a few years ago. And how I don't get all worked up if a chore isn't done as perfectly as it was previously.
Al, As always, a very informative write-up. Thank you.
I'm on the Lemon, Barry G. & Hahtool team.
At first I had "A LITTLE BIT silly" for 38-A. Boy did that take a looooonnnggg time to fix.
Yup, I actually connected the circles.
Saw our "FISHY" ... the 'got HER done' ...
ST BASIL a learning moment I'll soon forget.
Only got SGT York because I realized I needed the 'G'.
Not a big fan of the 'Hard-C' type of clues.
OJ'S for breakfast? Do you have more than one type of Orange Juice in the morning?
(Must admit, my first thought was Avatar, but it wouldn't fit).
Still, it was a FUN Thursday.
Thanks Peter.
Good morning.
Doing the puzzle online doesn't give me the option of connecting the circled letters.
Two 'lessens' this morning - EASE and ABATES.
OJ's next to Citric Acid was neat.
Remember when you could get ten's from ATM's?
The English version is that bartenders in pubs would keep an eye on their patrons drinking and tell them to mind their Pints and Quarts.
To keep food from freezing Eskimos use refrigerators.
In the 1830's ketchup was sold as medicine.
The cat is the only domesticated animal not mentioned in the Bible.
The Flintstones were the first prime time couple shown in bed.
Have a great Thursday!
Hi all. I enjoy reading the comments as they show how different we all are as puzzlers. I also found it tough but only in a couple of places. Hard c was tough, as was tedeums. St basil, valance and esses made me want to reach for a bottle of valium! Other then that the themes were easy and I didn't worry about the circles until I was done.
Good morning, all. Thank you, professor Al, for a very informative write-up.
The TINY BUBBLES (circles) actually helped me solve this one. I just wasn't getting the York and Bombay clues, had HAS A tifF and had changed HELENE to Eilene to try to make things mesh. All of the other circles were filled so I played connect the dots and got the G and H. Everything else became clear at that point.
ESSES slowed me a bit and I spent too much time trying to think of a four letter starter to tack onto bony before I realized that this was the one time in a hundred that the constructor was NOT going for a prefix to the clue word.
The little fish is timely since we're heading out to The Boathouse for dinner tonight. It seems someone around here is celebrating the big 70 today.
Good morning Al, CC, et al., Excellent job, Al. Always learn something with you. Thank you.
Hand up for the slog, and I didn't have dots to connect online. Feel deprived of that unique connection-having something straight between us-that special 'bonding'-drat! so much for my 'valence'. 'O- I- SEe -it's all good tho'. I'll be
'reassessed' tonight in my CASTLE. A little DRY GIN alters STATEs of consciousness, NAWs turn to YESes, ESSES get slurred, BRA sNAPS get undone, pANTS get lost, & PRODding and PRESSing EASEily END UP as the TADA mark for VALENCE. Maybe I should SIP(s)HARD-Cognac instead. What? And miss one of the bETHt soIRES with the bOISE? NAW! Not a chance!
Tinbeni: LOL with your comment on St. Basil.
Hello everyone,
Does Al's write-up look complete in your screen?
C.C.
Al's write-up looks perfect to me ... but after doing the puzzle ... a few OJ's with DRY GIN have come into play.
Cheers to all at Sunrise ...
Good morning Al, C.C. et al.
Great write-up, Al. But did anyone notice that the "Tiny Bubbles" referred to in 57A actually represent the "O" cluster in the NW corner (1A, 13A, 16A and 26A)? There are no O's anywhere else in the puzzle!
I didn't have the circles, so this reference was probably more obvious to me.
My only "meh" on this one was at 45A, with the ugly EEEE. Other than that, a great puzzle, and more like a Tuesday.
Have a great day everyone!
C.C.: I was able to see the entire commentary today. I hope we aren't getting another blitch!
Good morning all. Nice write-up, Al. C.C.: Al's write-up looks complete.
What a bright and shiny puzzle. Not much harder than a Tuesday. No searches needed. WAGS included ST BASIL and AN ERA. My 'aha' moment came with VALENCE. Thought of bonding by government entities, bonding as an adhesive, and social bonding. But the 'V' tipped it in the atomic direction. I thought ESSES was cleverly clued. HER, referring to boats, was kinda neat, too. Appreciated the not often seen fill like REASSESSED, HELICAL, HAS A BEEF, and SPINAL TAPS. BZ to Peter; well done.
Have a good day.
Hearti, good catch on the TINY BUBBLES rising up from the LITTLE FISHY's nose. Cute, indeed, and I'm sure was intentional by the constructor.
C.C., it's complete here too.
Grumpy, whose birthday?
I have to agree with Lemonade & Barry. Had some difficulties in the nw corner. Originally put depose for 12 down, way to relocate a king,then figured out it was castle & it all fell into place. Never heard of a pep band,
(5 across),just a pep squad. Circled letters didn't help with the theme.
Good Morning C.C., AL and all,
Al,loved your write-up. LOL re:3D comment.And, Oh My Darlin' John Denver!
The puzzle was fairly smooth; my biggest hurdles were ST BASIL and CASTLE; followed by TE DEUMS. Well, thanks, perps.
I was so dense, that I didn't 'get' the idea of 'drawing' on the puzzle- connecting the dots, so to speak. I have seen one or two before and wished that I could bump into one. Really disappointed in myself. Oh well,bring it on, Peter. Thanks
Hahtool, that's the second of your QODs in such a short period of time, that has grabbed me. Funny!
Thanks.
Have a nice day everyone.
oops, sw corner was problematic not nw. Didn't catch the only "o's" ref. in the grid.
Grumpy: I have a feeling this is your big day. Happy Birthday.
MJ: we've missed you. Happy Birthday to you, too.
Creature: glad you like the QOD today.
Sherry: My thought exactly. Never heard of a pep band either...pep squad and pep rally, and my favorite pep-to bismol, but never pep band. BEETs me!
Grumpy1, Super Happy birthday to that someone around here-there turning the big 70. I wish you/yours many more.
Hahtool and Lois, many thanks. Dennis, that would be moi.
Regarding the origin of Minding P's & Q's, I've heard an alternative explanation that seems plausible. In olde England beer was sold in Pints & Quarts and buyers had to keep an eye on the bar tender to insure they were not shorted or given too much head. They were "minding their Pints & Quarts" which was abbreviated to P's & Q's. Whether that's right or not, I like the explanation.
NJG
C.C.,All's complete.
Tinbeni, missed your remark on first go-round:'learning moment you'll soon forget'.LMAO
Grumpy, Happy Birthday! 70's a 'biggee', but still 'doable'.
Grumpy, a most HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Helluvan accomplishment.
Also, added you to the list so we don't miss your next 30 or so.
I barely managed to finish 92% of the puzzle - and boy, am I disappointed to find out that many people think its a Mon or a Tues ! (Tells you how we 'set' our standards - )
Al, you are a genius - your knowledge on Chem is profound !- and I used to be a Chem Engr. I use Citric Acid extensively in my cooking, ( its more precise than lime juice - ) - but I never studied how it was made. I know Citrates and Oxalates are used extensively in Cancer Chemo-Organic-complex salts, because of their solubility in water, and hence in blood. I also know, too well, that Citrates and Oxalates are one of the major culprits of kidney stones.
I loved the John Denver link - have heard the song many, many times but never knew all the words.
Finally, re the QOD - knowing Napoleon's biography - Stupidity apparently, was not a major handicap in military campaigns either. His incessant war mongering ravaged the young men and the wealth (and greatness ? ) of France, perhaps forever.
I struggled with parts of the puzzle. Don't know where my brain was.
HEARTRx-great catch on the o's. I missed that.
Enjoyed the connect the dots!
WINDOVER-youre SEW/SOW comments yesterday were funny. But, it makes you an old so and so!!!
I am a big time sewer. But not a sower. At this point I wish the yard would just disappear!! We've had so much rain a blackbird in the yard got lost in the tall grass.
Grumpy 1, congrats on your three score and ten.
MJ, where are you?
Did I mention it was nice to hear from Moon the other day?
HH, heading to Connecticut next week end for my 50 year reunion from grammar school. Make it stop raining and warm up, at least a little, please.
Outstanding puzzle Mr. Collins!
(in case you stop by to read the
comments)
Had to really use the old noggin to finish wo lookups
(which is why I enjoy some puzzles more than others)
Grumpy 1, happy happy birthday! I hope you have lots of TINY BUBBLES tonight, or maybe a few SIPS of DRY GIN, but don't END UP getting too TEEPEE.
What a hoot! A nice, decent level, some clever cluing, clues that supported the theme and a connect-the-dots to top it off! Well done Peter! And, wait, if you order now, a great write-up!
Musings
-Posting late because we had to accompany MIL to doctor very early this a.m. Procedure (yup, that one) revealed all is well but she has lots of time to sit around and worry!
-I see much NAPping in church but the guys with the pointed hats in Rome ain’t concerned
-Prods around here contain electricity!
-Our new Husker blogger we met yesterday is in the real estate assessing biz
-YET I saw the YETI, doctor. Really!
-Hahtool, your QOD is reinforced everyday!
-Does anyone else remember Pep Clubs like this (no idea where this one was located, but were standard in my high school days)? We did not have a pep band.
-HBD Grumpy! Your age now matches Iowa’s Interstate speed limit! 5 more for Nebraska.
-Broke 40 yesterday with a 39 but weather today is more March like!
Good Morning All, I thought this one was a clever (and tough) Thursday level puzzle.
cruciverb.com had the connect the dots circles for the fish. Since I don't print the puzzle, I had to do a "follow a pencil" outline on my monitor. I did notice that the clue for TINY BUBBLES referred to "O's", not the circles. As Marti said, "There are no O's anywhere else in the puzzle!" The O's were a special bonus to indicate the little fishy's "Blurp...blurp...".
1A)Peas/PODS reminded me of the upscale maternity wear shops "A Pea In A Pod". If you're pregnant, you might as well be stylish. As I recall, I wore what looked like gunny sacks. ('Thar she blows!)
Lots of perp help was needed for, ST BASIL, REASSESSED, HER, TE DEUMS, VALENCE and (Des')REE.
I enjoyed seeing Bombay DRY GIN emerge. I like a refreshing Sapphire gin and tonic on a hot August night.
Grumpy1:
HBTY. I don't really want to catch up, let's both keep rolling. But I'm only 5 behind you.
Treefrog:
Guess I had that coming. ;}
Hello.
Outstanding construction. Connected
the dots. Went by so fast tho.
Grumpy 1. welcome to the 70s.
WH. Something else we agree on is Thunder Road. Watched it the other night from Netflix.
JD. Happy to have met Cameron.
Decided to keep my beard for the new DL photo this afternoon.
Sharks pulled another 3rd period dissappearing act last night.
Take care.
Carl Sandberg wrote a lot of metaphorical poetry. Here's one that represents May as our youth. (The metaphor is better than the reality of a lot of cold rainy weather this month.)
FOLLIES
Shaken,
The blossoms of lilac,
And shattered,
The atoms of purple.
Green dip the leaves,
Darker the bark,
Longer the shadows.
Sheer lines of poplar
Shimmer with masses of silver
And down in a garden old with years
And broken walls of ruin and story,
Roses rise with red rain-memories.
May!
In the open world
The sun comes and finds your face,
Remembering all.
I liked the puzzle today, very clever! Thanks for the write up, Al.
Although when I finished up and singled out the circled letters all I came up with was a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i. Duh. I couldn't figure out how the alphabet and the "bubbles" came into play. Double Duh.
Big fan of Bombay gin. My husband introduced me to Sapphire shortly after we met, about a hundred yrs. ago. Still have the husband. Still drinking the gin!
EddyB - I agree, Sharks looked pretty sad last night. I think they need to connect the dots!
Happy Thursday all!
Hi There ~!
Late to the party, had to see a doctor - got hurt at work, nothing terrible.
I liked this one - as a constructor, I know the challenges, and I caught on to the "O"s in the NW only, an added bonus. I was meh on EEEE, and the long way to get to "HER" (had to come here for the V-8) but you gotta let 'em slide every now and then.
I thought this was right for a Thursday, and with a little extra "connect the dots", too, which I couldn't do online - had to come here for the image - thanks for that Al, and the lessons, too.
I won't link any Spinal Tap, you all know I love that movie.
I love the rain ~! Four days and counting ~!
Splynter
One more post before I head off to practice for this evening's chorus concert. I'm having trouble getting the ending harmony of Beethoven's "Hallelujah" and Cole Porter's "Another Op'nin', Another Show". (Our director loves an eclectic range of songs.)
Windhover, from last night... I loved your synopsis and commentary on Thunder Road.
Al, another learning experience. Dr. Dad may remember, I'm not very good at retaining scientific explanations. He helped me a lot and you do too. Thank you.
Grumpy 1, I've got a year to go to reach 70. Happy Birthday and congratulations on reaching middle age.
Good Morning, folks! It is still morning. Thank you, Peter, for a great puzzle. Thanks Al, for your expertise.
Enjoyed this puzzle. Got through it easily. There were a few thinking spots, but were obtained.
Enjoyed ESSES. Thought that was really clever. Took me a while to catch it, however.
Thought PODS was clever, too. My peas are growing very well in my garden.
Not really a Don Ho fan, but TINY BUBBLES was easy.
Had to get a newspaper to see the circles. The Fish appeared.
Perps helped with TETEUMS.
ARAL has been a frequent answer of late. Too bad what has happened to it. We humans are tough on Mother Nature. However, sometimes Mother Nature fights back.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Thanks, all, for the birthday wishes. WH, I'll certainly do my best to stay five years ahead of you.
On the bright side, my lovely bride says that I'm still a sexygenarian :)
Over the hill... and picking up speed!
Did anyone, also notice that the letter "I" is where the (supposed) fish's (?) eye is supposed to be ?
Afternoon, Al, CC and All,
Started this one first thing this morning and finally got to finish it with a late lunch. I really thought it was tough but fun. No circles printed out so the upper half was a bit of a slog. Similar probs/ issues as Barry and Hondo. Once I got 38A the bottom half fell together, with help of course. After all, it is Thursday.
Happy Birthday Grumpy! You share one with my Dad who is 8 years older than you. I'm fortunate enough to be able to have a cocktail with him tonight. Hope you'll have fun with your family as well.
Al, Great write up as usual. I always learn something when I read them.
Gotta see what I missed yesterday.
Have a good one.
I just noticed, one of the only things in common with Christianity and Hinduism is that one the most sacred Hindu plants (Tulsi) is called, in the west, as Sacred Basil. ( in western lexicology, ofcourse - ). I wonder if the herb 'basil' ( as in, sweet basil ) has the same cognate or derivation as the monk or prelate, St. Basil.
Al ?
Ocimum basilicum, via old French basile < Latin basilicum < Greek basilikon (phuton) "royal (herb)".
Hello everybody. Al, thank you for a terrific writeup. By golly, I'm definitely gonna stick to eating oranges rather than buying the juice. I laughed out loud, very loudly, at your DOTES comment :)
Except for "ugly" entries like EEEE I liked this puzzle. Connecting the dots enabled me to fill in the G, without which I might never have finished the NE corner. HARDG made me say, smilingly, "Jeeez." Didn't much care for the clue to PEP.
Grumpy1, congratulations on reaching the big Seven-Oh.
Clear Ayes, thanks for the Sandburg.
More later maybe.
Wow, a Thursday puzzle I was able to finish without consulting the g-spot! Tiny bubbles and deep blue sea were the first theme answers I got. There were some very misleading clues today like “where the music stops” –hardc, and “20% of seventy-six” – esses. I tried fitting in $15.20 but that didn’t fit! One question though, did I learn a new French word today that a river is Oise or is that a name of a river in France? I got “bony beginning” – oste as I thought of osteoporosis which Thelma suffers from, poor dear. Helical, Tedeum, and valence were all learning moments today.
Speaking of learning moments….Al, you completely lost me on your break down on citric acid, but like several more have said I do learn something from you every Thursday.
Drdad, I never knew that bit of trivia about the Flintstones. I always thought their bed looked uncomfortable.
Grumpy, enjoy your birthday!!
Dennis, enjoy your trip. I just checked the extended forecast and it looks like you will be having perfect weather!
I think this started out as a 21x Sunday puzzle. But it was scaled back.
HeartRex- You could change ALLIE to ALL IN... YES to YDS and get NEED instead of EEEE.
HARDC- Doc Gagliardo's nickname.
Good morning Al, C.C. and all,
Another fun puzzle with an even better write up from Al.I have not read most of the blog as it is a gardening day (again).
I DNF the SW corner even though I got spinal tap and twenties (liked that one). Liked the tepee/utes connection.Did not like esses!!! No circles, but they would not have helped.
Te Deums ? Latin I did not help there, and I sang those for 12 years!!
Al, thankfully I squueze my OJ, but I prefer the whole orange. DH has juice (not tea..my 1st thought too Hahtool).
Dr Dad, odd fact about cats since they were so revered in Egypt. Oh, and I remember when coke was sold as medicine at the 5& dime.
Grumpy, a VERY happy birthday to u.
Al, I wonder if Maria is listening to John Denver?????
Later....
Ms Perp :)
I was surprised at the number of people that didn't like or get PEP-band. When I was in school, there was always a small subset of the marching band that was called the pep-band. They played at the pep rallies and at the basketball games or other events where a band was appropriate but the entire marching band would be to large.
My lovely wife says that her school had several pep-bands so they could cover more events without tying up the same band members so much.
Of course, all of this was waaaay back in the day... things may be different now.
Another vote for this puzzle being none too easy. I got it done, went to Cruciverb, printed out the answer grid so I could draw the fish. I didn't catch the significance of the tiny bubbles until HeartRx mentioned it. That and the I for the fish's eye, very clever.
I too turned 70 this year. I am required to take minimum distributions on my Tax Sheltered Annuity. My tax guy will tell me how much withholding I need.
Here in California we're protected from having increasing real estate values increase our property taxes by more than a little each year. That ballot measure, Proposition 13, has kept a lot of seniors from having to move due to exorbitant property taxes and it has also been partly responsible for our underfunded state budget. A two-edged sword for sure.
Not surprised Al missed the tiny bubbles since he spent less than ten minutes on the puzzle.
Slow down and sip your O.J. and don't chug it.
Trip, stumble and fall pretty much describes my puzzle-solving today. No, I didn't see the theme, but I rarely do. Yes, I did finish.
Sgt. York was a Tennessean who used his hunting skills to kill and capture the enemy. He described his tactics by comparing them to killing geese flying in formation. It's a great story and he is a hero to all my fellow Tennesseans. Even though we've lived in NC for years; We are Tennesseans at heart.
We love "Castle" too! Thanks for mentioning the site. I'll check it out.
Grumpy, have a marvie-do tonight and always. Is 70 the new 50? I certainly hope so!
Safe travels to Dennis and anyone else who's on the loose.
As always, xoxoxo, to Al!
Guten Tag, peeps,
This one looked harder at first than it turned out to be. I had lots of distractions today so it took me a while, but I had no lookups. A couple of mistakes, though: 38A, 'risky' for 'fishy' and 8D, 'beer' for 'beef'. Both would have worked, I guess. A little trouble parsing IBMPC; I kept thinking about ICBMs and foolishly tried to make something like that out of it. I didn't recognize the Big Blue! Oh, well!
Gotta read the others!
Hasta la vista! (don't know how to spell 'auf weederzane'.)
Auf Wiedersehen
I'm through banging on the keyboard. What will be, will be.
Speaking of oranges (well, somebody was), GAH and I recently finished off our first sizeable crop of big, juicy, sweet oranges from our dwarf navel orange tree. We got about 4 dozen and are looking forward to a bigger crop next time.
I marks the spot@12:40, excellent catch! (Haha...fish joke) Peter A. Collins' puzzle gets more and more clever. The TINY BUBBLES series of O's was a bonus. The I/Eye position was super star. As with all other puzzle/fish connections, I can only assume it was purposeful.
I forgot to mention earlier that I liked 35A/ARAL and its reverse LARA at 60D.
It brought a smile to see the rhyming 72A)"Bad lads/CADS...I know it when I see it.
Thanks, Lemonade! I'm really a good speller . . . . in English.
I was very good in 'phonics', as you can probably tell.
Happy Birthday, Grumpy 1.
Hondo, I know what you mean about
things taking longer to do than they did a few years ago. And because of that they make you more tired, I've found. Sometimes I wonder, though, if all of that is true because we've taken retirement so seriously that we've just become "rusty". I feel pretty lazy a lot of the time!Have I just let myself get out of practice?
Al, I love your educational blogs and hope I'll remember what I've learned. You do an awfully good job of research for us. Thank you.
Didn't want the day to pass without wishing Grumpy a happy Happy Birthday. Dinner on the Naples waterfront should be an exquisite treat. Hoch soll sie leben. Dreimal hoch!
Happy Birthday Grumpy!
Bill G.--Prop 13 is always in danger of being reversed. The Jarvis Org lives on. I give them a check each year.
In light of today's puzzle, it's just flat-out strange that the Norwegian translation of AUF WIEDERSEHEN is NUDE FISH ARE WEE.
Jerome,
OMG
Happy birthday Grumpy! I would have said so earlier but it slipped my mind. The old CRS is acting up again.
I too noticed the Bad lads/CADS but forgot to mention it. Geez... There was lots of clever stuff in this puzzle though I didn't notice it all at first. Impressive!
Avg Joe, I meant to add I tried to fit "Wallah" for voila...didn't fit either.
Did I get it??
Tomorrow will finally mark hubby and my 50th wedding anniversary. We will celebrate Saturday with a reception for family and friends. We are exhausted with all the preparation but are so thankful to God for the health with which to do all of it. Wife got princess cut diamond earrings! WOO HOO!
I check in to see how ya`ll are doing,occasionally. Anyone know if Jimbo is still around?
My best to you all!
Okay, must be a blitch...when I signed on it said I might be the "magic number" poster. Now it's 67?
I was remiss to wish you Hondo a fast and safe recovery for your upcoming surgery.
MFCounselor, have a nice trip to CT for your 50 year reunion. If I remember correctly it was an all boys school. Are you and your fellow classmates allowed to bring a date? I think it would be neat if it was a toast to what must have been a bunch of testosterone packed dudes.
Ahh, not only did I get it (the number) but I got a chance to see my Linda post!! Happy, Happy Anniversary to you!!
Still keeping up your end of the deal?
Linda, unfortunately we haven't seen Jimbo, one of my favorites, in quite some time - hopefully he'll check in again soon.
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