google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 Bruce Haight and Loren Smith

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Mar 27, 2018

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 Bruce Haight and Loren Smith


Bruce Haight and Loren Smith team up to delight us with a puzzle where each of the theme answers start and stop with a W. 

18. "You think anyone cares about MY opinion?" : WHAT DO I KNOW ?

24. Boatload (of) : WHOLE SLEW

39. "Let's see here ... " : WELL NOW.

52. Overall concept of the universe : WORLD VIEW

58. Eye-of-newt concoction : WITCHES BREW

And the reveal:
49. Crammed (into) ... and, when aptly hyphenated, like 18-, 24-, 39-, 52- and 58-Across : WEDGED.  Aptly hyphenated as W-EDGED.

ACROSS:

1. "__ show time!" : IT'S.    So many movie scene choices.  This supercut that's 3:45 in duration must have taken hours to edit. 

4. Get some rays : BASK. Sunbathe.

8. Weak, excuse-wise : FLIMSY. Lame.  If it is important to you, you will find a way.  If not, you will find an excuse.

14. Stanley Cup org. : NHLNational Hockey League. Things you might not know about the Stanley Cup

15. "See ya" : TATA.  We recently had the initialism TTFN for Ta Ta For Now.  I thought it originated as texting shorthand, but it apparently originated in the '40s.

16. Change from five stars to three, say : RERATE

17. Drink with jam and bread, in song : TEA.  Lyric in the song "Do-Re-Mi", from the movie Sound of Music.

20. Nocturnal birds : OWLS.  See 50D.

22. HBO miniseries "Big Little __" : LIES.  Haven't seen any episodes.  Wikipedia indicates it's a  mystery drama set in Monterey, CA.

23. Easy-to-scam people : SAPS

27. Caramel-filled candy : ROLO

28. "Hold the Hellmann's" : NO MAYO.  Qué ?  Tengo muchas ganas de mayo.  (see Google Translate, as required.)

29. Protein-building acid : AMINO

31. Mother in Calcutta : TERESA

35. "On the Beach" novelist Shute : NEVIL.  Thank you perps.   Found this overview of the author  Editor Eric's Greatlit: Authors and the novel.     Might be a handy site to bookmark.

36. Texter's #1 pal : BFF.   Best Friend Forever.

41. Finish : END

42. "You win" : I LOSE

44. Ophthalmologist's concern : MYOPIA.  Today's co-constructor, Bruce Haight, is "an ophthalmologist in the San Diego area, originally from Wisconsin."

46. Myanmar, once : BURMA

47. Gives the go-ahead : ALLOWS.  Also lets, but not let's.  Punctuation matters.  

51. Scent : ODOR

55. Guthrie of folk : ARLO

56. Manufacture : MAKE

57. Designer Gucci : ALDO

62. Sense of self : EGO

63. "You can say that again!" : AND HOW !   We are all looking forward to Argyle's return. AND HOW !

64. Christmas season : YULE

65. U.S. House member : REPresentative.

66. "You can say that again!" : YES YES

67. City near Tulsa : ENID.  Located about 105 miles WNW of Tulsa,  about 70 miles NNW of Oklahoma City, and about 110 miles SSW of Wichita.    Nicknamed the "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma and the United States.



68. Radical '60s campus gp. : SDSStudents for a Democratic Society.

DOWN:

1. Visiting the area : IN TOWN

2. "My Generation" rock band : THE WHO. OK, I could have linked the song in the clue, but decided to link "Love, Reign o'er Me" instead. The songs were ranked #3 and #5 respectively in Rolling Stones magazine's list of the Top 50 Greatest Hits by The Who.

 
3. Zigzag ski event : SLALOM

4. "Before I forget," in texts : BTW. By The Way. 

5. "Say __": doctor's directive : AAH

6. Buy time : STALL

7. Longtime "Today" co-host Couric : KATIE.

8. Some big dos : 'FROS.  Hairdos, Afros.  NBA Hall of Famer Julius Winfield Erving II. More widely known as Dr. J.
 

9. Kauai garland : LEI

10. Exasperating : IRKSOME

11. "Holy smokes!" : MAN ALIVE

12. Drop by, colloquially : STOP ON IN.  Homey. Welcoming.

13. Evergreens shrubs : YEWS

19. Drops on the grass : DEW

21. Wood strip : SLAT

25. Glasses and goggles : EYE WEAR.  Corrective and protective, and sometimes both.  An ophthalmologist, such as Dr, Bruce Haight, might recommend these.

26. Achy : SORE

27. Acted without restraint : RAN WILD

30. Overused, as jokes : OLD

32. Shade tree : ELM

33. Foxy : SLY

34. "I'll take that as __" : A NO

36. Lobster eater's protection : BIB 

37. The "F" element in CFC : FLUORINE. Chlorofluorocarbon.  CFCs are widely used as refrigerants. Not good for the ozone. Many will recognize the DuPont brand name of Freon.  Paraphrased from Wikipedia. 

38. Full-size cars of the 1960s-'80s : FORD LTDs.  A brother-in-law bought a new one in '73 or '74 after getting a significant job promotion.  The car was huge, well-appointed, and had a very comfortable ride, along with a large V-8 gas-guzzling engine that was standard equipment back in the day.

40. Lustrous white gem : OPAL

43. Kissy-kissy : SMOOCHY

45. Thomas __ Edison : ALVA

48. Persian Gulf ships : OILERS

50. Descends suddenly : SWOOPSGreat Gray Owl swoops in for a rodent. Beautiful photograph.

52. Used to be : WAS

53. "All right, so long" : OK BYE

54. "Friends" episode, now : RERUN

55. Not 1-Down : AWAY

56. Kitty sounds : MEWS. CrossEyedDave links the best kitty cat videos, but I'll give it a shot with mews.


59. Groundbreaking invention? : HOE.  Nice clue. Also, long clue for such a short answer.

60. Quarterback Manning : ELI.  QB of the "N.Y. football Giants."   Two-time Super Bowl MVP. 

61. Marry : WED

See all y'all later n'at ! 

TTP



52 comments:

KS said...

ROLO is becoming daily fare. Nice puzzle. Did not get the theme, even after completion. Had the aha noment when i got here. Doh!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Hand up for missing the theme. Again. I looked at those theme answers and wondered where to put the hyphens. D'oh! I'm never sure if it's EYEWARE or EYEWEAR. Tried to run AMOK before I went WILD. But I got 'er done. Thanx, Bruce, Loren and TTP. (Loren, where did your Muse go?)

Unknown said...

Nice Tuesday challenge. Thanks to Bruce and Loren for a cute theme, and to TTP for the tour. I had symmetrical troubles (not all bad, symmetry feeds my OCD!): thought 12D should have been STOPiNoN; and, wanted FLOURIdE for 37D. The crosses quickly cleaned those up, so on with the day! Have a great one, all...

Oas said...

FIR Thanks Bruce and Loren . Only two unknows were ALVA abd ALDO so WAGGED the A . Caught the them sorta as in the long crosses the words started and ended in W . I enjoy the puzzles and the comments . Thanks to all and best wishes especially to Argyle.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I missed the theme too. FIW - I had STOP iN oN. Didn't know ROLO nor NEVIL, so perps didn't fix my goof. The perps did cause me to fix FLUORIdE.

I wish House members and the fourth estate would quit calling representatives "congressman". They ARE members of congress of course, but it is as if they are ashamed to be part of the lower house. No one would call a senator "congressman", but it would be just as accurate.

One nit: I think the clue for "world view" could have been better. I am relatively sure that modern day scientists think that the universe doesn't actually revolve around the earth, so one's world view wouldn't be a universal concept.

Really fun puzzle today, if a bit crunchy for Tuesday. Thanks Bruce and Loren. And thanks to TTP. You are doing a fine job, but I hope you are soon replaced by a jolly bearded man.

Oas said...

D. O. I gave up on the hyphen as well and N.B. I first thought fluoride as well but waited and the lesser known FLUORINE was my last fill.

D4E4H said...

Good morning you Corniferous writers,

Thank you Mr. Bruce Haigt, and the Queen of the Paraprosdokians, Ms. Loren Smith for this pleasant Tuesday level puzzle which I FIR in 20:06. I worked it sans theme, (and hope our reviewer can 'splain). The jury will disregard words in ( ). I just got it, W-EDGED. ¡Groan!

Today's paraprosdokian: in Loren's honor is: She often stood outside in order to be outstanding.

On to the review, thanks TTP for everything except the link at 50D. I saw the Great Gray Owl swoop, and I saw an arrow that took me to the next picture. Each PIC would make Picard proud. The problem is, they just went on, and on. I finally gave up, and opened the Corner anew.

Young Man Keith will enjoy the diagonal today. I forget to look for them until I finish the CW.

Ðave

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

This was a little sunshine on a cloudy day. Thanks, Bruce and Loren, for what I saw as fresh fill. Lots of fun and a little ooomph for a Tuesday. I especially liked the "clue" W fills--although like D-O, I didn't see where it was going. WITCHES BREW was my favorite today. I loved teaching that Scottish Play--number two behind Hamlet. High school kids really liked both of them.

TTP, thanks for quite a fine tour. I enjoyed it. We are lucky here to have so many talented characters.

AND as Jayce said yesterday: "As I often start my posts, 'I enjoyed the puzzle today.' I usually enjoy them and since having tried my hand at constructing I definitely appreciate the constructors. Having a crossword puzzle to solve every day and having this blog to come to afterward are pleasures I would not want to do without."

Hear! Hear! And thank you C.C. for bringing the Corner to life.

Have a sunny day. I will be working very hard on that as Old Sol is hiding out today in the Chicago area.

Anonymous said...

W-edged?? I still don’t get it!

desper-otto said...

The theme answers have a W at each end.

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks. Bruce and Loren for a fine puzzle. Thanks TTP for ably stepping in and doing the honors with an interesting review.
I saw the W's bracketing the fill, but didn't parse wedged in. No unfamiliar words. LINER before OILER held up the SE for a bit.
I saw Nevil Shute's On the Beach when it debuted in 1959 and once more in reruns. Surprisingly I never read the book. This novel has been referred to in print, time and time again.
It is interesting to visit the historical Edsion sites in NJ.
"Genius is 1% inspritation an 99% perspiration." Thomas Alva Edison

TTP said...

Me too, Jinx. AND HOW !

To wit, ERRATA:
- After typing, "Punctuation matters." in 47A, I typed "Dr, Bruce Haight" in 25D.
- I also somehow lost my link to C.C.'s interview that should have been part of the 44A comments. Here it is: C.C.'s Interview w/ Bruce Haight


D4E4H, I saw that. Sometimes it is better to open the links and pictures in a new tab. But they were beautiful pictures by the NatGeo finalists, weren't they ?

Desper-otto, I wondered as well. I saw an earlier puzzle that was Loren Muse Smith. But in a later collaboration with Jeff Chen, she was Loren Smith.

Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Spitzboov and John28man from last Tuesday, and PK on Thursday last week. PK, you and one of my sisters are the same age, give or take a few months.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Unlike yesterday's FIW, this got the tada quickly and resoundingly. The only w/o was Amok/Wild, hi DO. I, too, needed TTP's parsing of W-Edged to understand the reveal and theme. Mighty clever, IMO. When we first moved to Naples, in 1985, there was a very popular restaurant called "The Witches Brew." I wonder if it's still there.

Thanks, Bruce and Loren, for a fun solve and thanks, TTP, for filling in for Argyle; you're doing a great job. Loved the kitty link as I'm sure CED did, that is, if he's not too busy basking in the Naples sunshine!

Lemony, FY (from yesterday) thanks for that article which very succinctly explained Chalazion. When my doctor told me what I had, I had to ask her to spell it because I had never heard that word before. We learn something new every day, eh?

Have a great day.

VirginiaSycamore said...

Thank you Bruce, Loren and TTP for a wonderful puzzle and explanation.

Anonymous at 8:19, the W-EDGED is also a pun on double-edged, such as a double-edged sword.

Live Well, Heal and Prosper
VS

Spitzboov said...

Anon @ 0819 - W-edged. There is a W on each edge of the phrase. Like book-ends. I know; 'meh'.

Easy enough solve today but the fill felt unspectacular. No real 'aha' words.
OILERS - In normal conversation, the clue would point to 'Oil Tankers'. Those 'at sea' would consider OILER to be an oil bunkering replenishment vessel. While the clue is technically correct, the way it is used is stilted.

Anon-T - FLN, your reference to FLN before; it does sound funny, on its face, but I'm confident the right key people could be gotten ahold of within Verizon.

Good job, TTP.

D4E4H said...

TTP at 8:29 AM

Finding your errant comma was almost as much fun as the CW.

C.C.'s interview with Dr...... Bruce Haight ties to two of his previous CWs, Nov. 15, 2015, and Nov. 3, 2015. I would like to work these two CWs, but do not know how to find a blank puzzle page. ¿Can anyone help me? I don't want only to study the finished CW, and read the review. The review and comments are so much more meaningful just after working the CW.

Ðave

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Erasures and reckoning a hyphen placement made for a fun solve
-I forbid my kids to give FLIMSY excuses for late projects, I insisted they say, “I am not done and will be ready tomorrow” instead
-NO MAYO here, we are a Miracle Whip house
-I LOSE on a Friends RERUN Joey! You almost had it!
-MYOPIA keeps me from tracking a long tee shot. Yeah, I hit one once in a while!
-Opinions of REP’s hasn’t risen
-Say AHH initiates my gag reflex. On the other hand turn your head and cough…
-Name that tune – “Out all night and RUNNIN’ WILD, Woman sittin' home with a month-old child

Jay Green said...

"stop on in". Really? Who says that? I got fixated on "come on in", which is what we said growing up in NC and VA. :) I had to cheat to get past it. Otherwise a great puzzle.

Northwest Runner said...

I've always found it curious that an LA paper has Hellman's and Edy's in the puzzle when they brands don't appear on West Coast shelves.

Spnia said...

Great puzzle................I love it.................two days in a row.

Yellowrocks said...

NR, The constructors and editors are not necessarily West Coast people, nor are all the solvers.
Wikipedia: Hellmann's and Best Foods are brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise and other food products. The Hellmann's brand is sold in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and also in Latin America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Canada and South Africa. The Best Foods brand is sold in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains, and also in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Hellmann's and Best Foods are marketed in a similar way. Their logos and web sites resemble one another, and they have the same English slogan: "Bring out the best".

While growing up and with my husband we had Miracle Whip. Yuck. As soon as I was on my own I switched to Hellman's or Kraft's mayo as second choice.

Lucina said...

Thank you, Bruce, Loren and TTP for an entertaining grid and expo. Of course, I didn't get the theme, so thank you for that, TTP.

It was a quick and easy sashay around the grid with nothing LIMSY about it. I've never seen "Big Little LIES" but it emerged from the perps and haven't seen MANALIVE since reading comics in my youth. St. TERESA is also the name of my parish church.

Hand up for FLORIDE before FLORINE which ANDHOW corrected. Laser corrected my MYOPIA.

Best wishes to Argyle with hopes he reads this.

Have a wonder-filled day, everyone!

Lucina said...

Oh, oh, hand up for MAYO, too!

Misty said...

A Tuesday delight, Bruce and Loren, even if it was a bit of a toughie. Both the northeast and southwest corners took a bit of work, but I got them in the end without any cheating. And I loved the theme, although it took me a minute. I noticed the W at the beginning and end of each theme entry, but had to look at WEDGED again before I understood the "aptly hyphenated" W-edged meaning. Very, very clever--many thanks Loren and Bruce. And a great job walking us through the puzzle, TTP.

After more than two weeks of 7-8 hour sleeps without any medication whatsoever, I woke up at 3 am and had trouble getting back to sleep. Should have taken an Advil PM, but I'll do that tonight. I have a stay-at-home day today, so will manage fine.

Have a great day, everybody, even if it isn't very sunny. We do have sun here, but it's still surprisingly cold for the end of March in California.

Grumpy said...

WHAT DO I KNOW ? "Let's see here ... " "See ya" "You win""You can say that again!"
. "You can say that again!" "Holy smokes!" "All right, so long"
Shouldn't there be a limit to these inane exclamations?
What a slog, and all that for W-EDGED? Meh.

Wilbur Charles said...

FLN:. I knocked off the xword in my travels, read the blog posts but fell asleep before commenting.

The coming of Krispy Kreme to Boston was much anticipated . Mmmm . Then, I went for a donut and coffee . Bought the donut after waiting in line then was told that if I wanted coffee i would have to go to the coffee line . I knew then they were doomed.

At the end of a hard fought and lost series against the 76ers the Celtics fans shouted "Beat LA, beat LA" . A Tale of Two Cities, indeed ..

WC

Now for Tuesday

AnonymousPVX said...

A fairly easy Tuesday run today, no issues.

Wilbur Charles said...

Ok, Tuesday. BTW, I've enjoyed the write-ups lately . Thanks . Nice to see Argyle is coming around . This xword moved much faster than Monday .

Re. LIES .
Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive

Author anyone?

Running out of juice
.

WC

Anonymous said...

Re yesterday's question from Lemony -- When I was a junior at Shawnee Mission West in Kansas City , Kansas , I stored my flute in the Experimental Theatre in Murphy Hall on Band Day. That theatre really intrigued me, and when I moved to the Chicago area for my senior year, out of state tuitions at KU were cheaper than in state tuitions at Illinois schools. I think it was $200 a semester.

Becky

WikWak said...

HG: “Dang me, dang me. They oughtta take a rope and hang me. High from the highest tree... woman don’t you weep for me.” — Roger Mi”ler

CanadianEh! said...

WEDGED Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Loren, and TTP.
I missed the theme but got the Tada. Virginia S even added an extra level to the theme.

I was going to comment on all the exclamations and text speak, but Grumpy @11:04 beat me to it. But I rather enjoyed picking them all out. To each his own!

I thought the house member was a REPublican and wondered why the DEM was not mentioned. WHAT DO I KNOW, LOL, you must forgive this Canadian. We call our Parliamentarians Members.

I remembered reading On the Beach by NEVIL Shute in a high school English class. That was the Cold War era and the doomsday scenario in the novel seemed a distinct possibility. This generation likes to think it could never happen.

On a more cheerful note, NHL was a given for this Canadian who was raised on Hockey Night in Canada. Thanks for the link TTP. Most of the info I already knew but it was an interesting reminder. Maple Leaf fans have been waiting for another Stanley Cup win since 1967. Hope springs eternal for this year. . .

OK BYE. TATA.

CrossEyedDave said...

Alas, the Witches Brew in Naples closed in 2015,
And is now an empty lot.

No links today, this Ipad is not very link friendly...

Spent Sunday, Monday on the beach, but very smoky due to
The swamp being on fire east of Marco Island.
How does a swamp burn you ask?
(Ask peat...)
Very dry here...

No smoke today but too windy for the beach,
Will just have to go to True Luc’s Happy hour
For 2 dollar oysters instead...

Bruce Haight said...

Thanks TTP- great write-up! I'm surprised so many people had trouble grokking the theme- probably should have been a Wednesday. I'll take responsibility for the fill, but the theme was all Loren's. She is a genius at coming up with interesting fresh wordplay ideas. Bruce Haight

Tinbeni said...

TTP Great job "pinch-hitting" for Argyle. Excellent write-up.

Bruce & Loren: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.

Fave today was the theme WITCHES BREW ... I've had a few of those. LOL

Needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get MAN ALIVE from the clue "Holy Smokes" ...

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.

Cheers!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Breezed through the solve, then paused for a minute to parse the W- edged theme concept. Thanks for pinch hitting, TTP.

Never noticed the Senator/congressman distinction before, but now that it’s out there, it does seem to be the style these days.

Picard said...

Mostly smooth, quick solve! Had to get quite a few theme answers before I was able to parse W-EDGED! That helped speed the rest of the puzzle solve!

Hand up with desper-otto I got stuck a bit thinking EYEWARE until I realized it is EYEWEAR! Hand up with Northwest Runner a bit peeved about the regional name HELLMANN'S. I spent much of my life back east, so I did know that one. Yellowrocks went above and beyond the call of duty explaining the regional names. But it does not change my gripe about such regional names.

It is always CHRISTMAS SEASON here at the JULE Hus in nearby Solvang, CA

Even though we are not Christians, we have some of their decorations on our door.

CC, Spitzboov, AnonT, D4E4H and others: Thanks for your continued support and creative ideas for dealing with the shut down of my 22 year old web site. You nailed it AnonT: There is no one at Verizon corporate headquarters in NY or NJ who even answers the phone!

We will be travelling for awhile starting in a few days. Not likely this will be resolved before we leave.

Lucina said...

Bruce:
I hope you will return and read further. Themes usually escape me so it's not only yours and Loren's. Luckily we have our knowledgeable and perceptive Corner Bloggers who in their analyses point out the theme for denser folk like me.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Didn't notice the W's or get the theme but that did not detract from the pleasure. Wanted DERATE instead of RERATE, which made me wonder if ADOS (before I got FLIMSY) was the answer to "Some big dos" which I think would not be allowed. Then getting FLIMSY turned on the light bulb. Other than that, all was smooth.

I always spell FLOURINE wrong.

We saw Big Little Lies and frankly didn't like it. If you want to watch it, we can recommend watching only the first, or first two, episodes, and the last episode, skipping the ones in between.

LW makes a delicious potato salad, which includes hard-boiled eggs and MAYOnnaise.

I loved Roger Miller's work. Dang Me has some pretty cool guitar pickin'

Misty, would counting ovines help you get back to sleep? Seriously, I find if I just bore myself enough I go to sleep okay.

Bill G, your Birch John Society joke yesterday was funny. I liked it.

Ha ha, just ask peat.

Best wishes to you all.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Bruce & Loren, thanks for a fun, mind-engaging puzzle. Hand up for noticing the W's but not parsing the W-EDGED without TTP's help.

TTP: how great that you stepped in and enlightened us. Thank you for the Bday wish & regards to your sister. I hope you are kind to her. My one brother who is 11 yrs. younger than me teases, "You are older than dirt." My baby brothers get by with almost anything with me. I changed his dirty diapers and carried him around on my hip. Three darling little bros who were blessings.

FORD LTDS: drove 5 of them in succession back in the day. Comfortable for six or eight people, depending on size. Back seat held a lot of gigglers for long-distance school trips.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ta- DA!
A not-so-tough gift from the Haight/Smith Team today. Chewy, yes, but in the sense of figuring out which of several possible fills to apply, so needing to wait on perps to know which way to commit.
In the end, all fell into place with neither fuss nor feathers.

I agree with Misty about the cold weather we're experiencing in SoCal.
The days are gloriously sunny. Only yesterday I pulled that old expression on my wife: "Another day in Paradise!"
But the temp doesn't rise to match the optics. Nights are extremely cold, and in a house such as ours, with extra high ceilings, we can't get rid of the chill unless the daytime temp gets really high.
I suffer a lot from the cold, especially on my legs and feet that feel icy - to the point of actually stinging. It feels like it penetrates to the marrow and triggers something very like a SAD effect.
I would turn on the heat, but my wife is just the opposite. She relishes the cold, and we have a pact that I won't touch the heat if she doesn't hit the A/C in mid-summer.

You might say, Nature is our *#@! guide. [Sigh...]


____________
Diagonal Report: One only - the main line (NW t SE).

.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Bruce and Loren! Fairly easy solve and I didn't get the theme, of course. Thanks or the expo, TTP! You're doing a great job!

dEmotE/RERATE, adOS/FROS, RANamok/RANWILD, oLeg/ALDO. Thanks to perps, things were resolved with a couple look-ups.

Leelanau Cellars Winery in the little finger of Michigan, north of Traverse City, has a spiced red wine called WITCHES BREW. It's sweet so a little goes a long way for me.

I've tried Krispy Kreme donuts. Meh.

Rain here, all night. We haven't quite dried out from our 8" from last month. More mud.

Have a good evening.

Loren Muse Smith said...

Hey everyone! And @TTP, I second Bruce's thanks on the great write-up. And I, too, was surprised to read that some had trouble seeing the theme. I guess I just can't turn off the part of my mind that re-parses words. We toyed around with "hedged" (ham sandwich, home stretch) and I think maybe "pledged" (peanut oil)? I don't remember now. And maybe "dredged" (Darth Vader, dead ringer)...

Bruce is da bomb. A beast at designing a grid and filling it.

@D4E4H - Hah! Yup - that's a sure way to be outstanding!

Thanks again for all the comments!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Woops!
I forgot to send my daily well-wishes to Argyle! He must know he is not forgotten as he works his way through rehab.

D4, thanks for the heads up, although I can't say I take much pleasure from spotting a single diagonal. It's the multiples that warm my blood.

The one case in which a single diagonal would be exciting is if it contained its own message. I am waiting for a constructor to catch on and send us a "hidden message" via that route. It might be even worked into a theme!
Meanwhile, I check diagonals for anagrams. I can't say I've found anything yet but strained nonsense.

Mme Defarge, glad to hear that your HS kids took to Macbeth and Hamlet!
In my 11th grade days the only Shakespeare taught was Julius Caesar, probably because it has the least salacious language. They're all great choices, of course, although Hamlet suffers in many ways from what TS Eliot identified as its lack of an "objective correlative".
As an actor I always found that to be the reason for its great popularity in performance, because that means it's up to the main actor to provide his own purpose, his own arc.
Did you ever get around to asking your classes to take a stab at Hamlet's problem or super-objective? (Stanislavsky's zadacha.) What a discussion that can be!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Not for everyone.

I mentioned above that Shakespeare's Caesar is known to modern teachers for its "clean" language. I'm sure I am forgetting or overlooking something arcane in the text, but I can reveal the only "dirty" line we found when I was playing Mark Antony years ago at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Actors being what we are, we sought for little known interpretations of our dialogue. Rick Risso, who was playing the title role loved to joke about an unexplored, er, relationship between his character and mine. He struck gold one day when he leered at me on stage in Act I, scene 2, and gave a different spin to his line, no. 213/14.

Misty said...

Well, if the Advil PM doesn't help, I'll try counting cows and sheep, Jayce.

Interesting marital negotiations over warm and cold, Ol'Man Keith. Hope you work it out in this strange constantly changing weather we're having these days.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thanks, Misty, I know we'll survive.
But I spend part of each day now trying to think of ways to relieve the cold, from wearing sweat pants to how many layers of blanket I should wrap myself in while sitting on the sofa for the TV News.

Speaking of NEVIL Shute, gang, I recall reading On the Beach years ago and then seeing the movie. I was greatly moved by each experience.
I have to say, though, that I never gave so much attention to the meaning of the title as I did this week while reading the current New Yorker piece on Rachel Carson.

The article emphasizes how Ms. Carson is best known for her opus, Silent Spring, with its attention to the effects of pesticides on the land. But the chief focus of her career was on the ocean, and most specifically on the tidal areas - the beaches - where life is constantly in flux and the greatest events of our cosmos regularly occur.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Bruce & Loren for a WoW! puzzle. I saw all the Ws and knew that was the gimmick. Then I puzzled for a second where to put the hyphens... V-8! It's in the reveal: W-edg'd. Cute.

TTP, you really know how to put on a SHOW; thanks for the expo and THE WHO.

Two "stray" W's - THE WHO and AND HOW. YULE see them now :-)

WOs: I put BIB across instead of down; FLO?RINE; ALdA Edison; and, hand-up, EYE Ware.
ESP: NEVIL
Fav: THE WHO

Runner-up: 7d is a CSO to SMOOCHY DW [hey, THE WHO will be here for me after she wises up and dumps me]

Re: "Drop by" if used as an invite it works. Eg. "If your IN TOWN, STOP ON IN."
I was a Midwestern Miracle Whip kid. That changed as soon as I got to the South. Now it's only Hellman's.

Picard - sorry it's still such a PITA. Spitz, I was making a joke FLN, but sounds like it turned into a curse on Picard.

OMK - MAN ALIVE, what's the line, man?

CED - LOL (ask peat).

OK, BYE. -T

Yellowrocks said...

OMK, why are you so cold? Don't you have any type of heat in The house? The temp here is 39 and falling, but I can be as warm as I choose.

Lemonade714 said...

Good to see Loren Muse Smith back and Bruce has become one of our prolific puzzlers. Thank you both. I enjoyed the theme and the comments from Loren and Bruce stopping by were fun. Loren, you seem to be in every ACPT picture I have seen, good job.

Speaking of which, TTP, you have done a great job fitting in while filling in.

Becky, thanks for the additional insight though I cannot imagine out of state being less than in state. I do recall I paid $190.00 per semester.

You all were very entertaining.

D4E4H said...

inanehiker FLN at 8:05 AM

I wrote "Thank you. Somehow your "earworm for the day" cleared mine. I have had a complicated song stuck where my brain used to be, for days, and now I can't even remember what it was. Thanks again."

Your treatment kept my earworm in his ear wax nest till 525p today. "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino" is back.

Ðave

Wilbur Charles said...

I read the synopsis of On the Beach and definitely have a different memory of it

I know my life in the sixties parallels the theme as I see it. That is, how one accepts the inevitable. In the sixties that was Vietnam, the cloud that could be run from or through. Enough depression talk although the novel was very depressing, no?

Misty, if you have to go that route use Tylenol PM . Advil is for pain and use sparingly.

Btw, I'll take a CSO on BTW .

PSHAW . Nero Wolfe. I just finished a pair . In the"Golden Spiders" the lawyer threatened a "replevin".

I agree with NO MAYO . If you look up "ubiquity" you'll see a jar of Hellman's.

WC who keeps an oil based heater for Florida nights that dip into the fifties or , shudder, the forties.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Yellowrocks,
Please read the rest of my original post (@4:30), and I think you'll see the answer to your question.