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Constructor: JIM PAGE
Relative difficulty: EASY
THEME: none
Word of the Day: LEINE (47D Hanover's river) — The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river (and so of the Weser river as well) and 281 km in length. (per wiki)
• • •
Reverse psychology works, my friends. I announced yesterday that I would be stumped today, because I never finish both Friday and Saturday puzzles in the same week. Not so, as it turns out --- this has been maybe my third or fourth complete weekend ever. In fact, I think I found this easier than yesterday's.
Speaking of yesterday, I cannot overlook the coincidence of Elton John's LEVON (46D Elton John hit) appearing today. I have enjoyed some Elton John tunes over the years, mostly back in my Classic Rock period, but, frankly, was never enough of a fan to buy his albums and listen to them deliberately. Also, I have never been particularly good at deciphering song lyrics, no matter how much I loved the song (kissthisguy.com could have been made just for me). So I was stumped on this clue for a long time (I contemplated "Devon"), because I always thought the lyric was "Leave on," a sort of British, poetic-license version of "mosey along" . But I went and got the video:
and here's the thing: there is totally a line in there where he says "Levon sells cartoon balloons in town." For those keeping track, yesterday we had the clue, "They often include balloons" for the answer CARTOONS (which I loved, because I enjoy animated cartoons, editorial cartoons, and generally any other cartoons you can come up with, more than I probably should). I can't tell you what the cosmic significance of this coincidence is, but I have to believe it means something. Please feel free to discuss the metaphysical ramifications in the comments. Or to simply dismiss it as Mr. Shortz messing with our heads a bit. Or to develop a complex conspiracy theory that ties it to global warming. Go nuts --- the inmates control the asylum this week. But you still need to limit yourself to three posts. We're living in a society, after all. Just sayin.
I may be a little oversaturated with election coverage, but I strongly suspect Mr. Page has presented a Mitt-Romney-is-a-douche mini-theme today. The Mitt recently traveled to Europe for a (8D Common thing to plan a vacation around) THREE-DAY WEEKEND [I can't confirm he took his yacht and stashed his (37A Crown polisher) DENTAL HYGIENIST [heh-heh] in the (40A Sleeper's option in a sleeper) LOWER BERTH {which, incidentally, has the same number of letters as "Bottom bunk" --- just sayin}, who persuaded him to (15A Water-park) DROP ANCHOR for a while en route].
Either that, or he strapped the family horse on top of a jet in a giant crate to deliver it [the horse, Rafalca --- how long before BEQ sticks that in a Monday themeless?] to the Olympic dressage events. I'm a little out-of-touch with current events lately.
Anyway, he was the latest (61A Old Glory saluter, most likely) U.S. NATIONAL to display (63A They're abandoned in charm school) BAD MANNERS across the pond, according to (57A Examination by those most qualified) PEER REVIEW.
[I totally resisted the opportunity to insert AREAR into that little fantasy. Just sayin.]
The Colbert Report
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Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Bullets:
- 13D Farthest / UTTERMOST — I have the uttermost disdain for this "word."
- 3D Informal name for a monkey / JOCKO — I had (and have) no idea, but it appeared from crosses nevertheless.
- 34D Brit working with nails, say / ENAMELLER— Yesterday, my fascination with British English came in handy when "rubber" popped up, but this one I had never heard. It seems to fit with other Britishisms, though, and I got it pretty easily.
- 36A Ghost's sound / OOOO — BOOOO!
- 38D Powerful Syrian city in the third millennium B.C. / EBLA --- A.) Shouldn't that be B.C.E.? and B.) My knowledge of third-millennium metropolises is weak, unfortunately, which contributed to my willingness to abandon ALLAH when LEINE appeared.
- 1D Big name in relief / ADVIL™ --- I took a couple of ibuprofen today after a recalcitrant drill bit made a tree-bracing job harder than I thought it should have been, but I was slow getting to this brand name. I hate advertising.
- 12D It's likely to have bass parts / MENS CHOIR--- Every time I review this puzzle, I see MENSCH and think a MENSCHOIR should be a place where nice, honorable folk hang out together (for which impromptu, last-minute substitutes should be eligible. Just sayin). Then again, it kinda reminds me of abbatoir, in which case I'll just stay here at home enjoying my non-life.
- In one of those malapop moments, I spent a few extra seconds wondering why (17A Singing pair) VOCAL CHORDS wouldn't fit when I needed CORDS. Then this CHOIR came up later. Feel free to speculate on the metaphysical ramifications in the comments. Dad's not home. But three-and-out. I mean it.
Speaking of bass lines,
please tip your host. If Rex can't maintain his Cal-Ripkin-like consistency (summer travels notwithstanding), we might all be subject to amateur commentary like this weekend's every day. Donations link at upper right on this page. Just sayin.
Signed, treedweller, on behalf of
Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Hey, two in a row. Guess I can cancel the EEG. Like treedweller (thanks for subbing again with a fine write-up), this was easier than yesterday's for me, but not as zippy, and a tad more cringe worthy...OOOO, URE, ENAMELLER, and lotsa three letter crosswordese (which is fine in early week puzzles)...
ReplyDeleteFar fewer erasures than yesterday and mostly concentrated in the NW: ike for CAL, sgtS for NCOS, Aleve for ADVIL, and AloSS for APASS. So, easy-medium over all with the emphasis on easy--easium?
And, Evan's heuristic paid off! I did not know LEINE or LEVON or the furniture guy, but EERO I've seen a lot (where's Saarinen when you need him). So I plugged it in and ta da!
Easy but I did have a little hold up in that NW corner!So many relievers and what exactly is JOCKO's formal name? CAL AMIA AWS does not delight the eye.the longer answer are not bad but the shorter fill just is! thanks again oh dwellerintrees!
ReplyDeleteI sailed through this one a lot easier than yesterdays, was feeling pretty good about myself until I got stalled in the NE corner, did not know 18A ANTA and SMUG just wasn't coming to me. Wanted ouTER pOST for 13D. Finally unscrambled that area but it wasn't easy. I also had dEVON at 46D before ALLAH came to light.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up @Treedweller, you always make me laugh.
GEARsmiTH, DENTAL assIstanT, USveTeran (doesn't even fit*) BADhAbits (ditto*) never heard of LEVON or LEINE, no not easy at all. But praise ALLAH for EERO I finished.
ReplyDelete*should probably eat something before attempting a Saturday puzzle.
I found this on the easy side.
ReplyDeleteWrote in 1A ADJACENTTO immediately and made a lot of rapid progress in the NW trying not to get complacent (I did not get SMUG until almost at the end of the puzzle).
And thank you for not crossing EBLA and LEINE. If confronted with EB_A and _EINE I probably would have guessed "r".
More of a medium for me, I found it more difficult than Friday. A lot of words/names I just never knew - JOCKO, LLOSA, LEINE, LEVON (Yes, I know this song, but never knew the title).
ReplyDeleteTwo of the easiest clues for me were the two longest in the middle cross.
Also didn't help that I threw in bar for 57D and left it there way too long. Finally erased it and voilà! Amazing how that happens.
DNF. Lots of fun until the SE. Briefly considered EERO ( I'd seen Eero Saarinen in xwrds), but neither LEVON nor LEINE seemed right -- so I bailed. Liked the rest of the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWhat is URE? How is flee LAM? Who is JOCKO? Ugh!
ReplyDeleteHe's on the flee? She is lamming?
ReplyDeleteI had a Steiff Jocko the Monkey when I was a kid . Other than that - who knew?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/26126533@N05/3777157305/
Today's puzzle felt like a Monday
Why do people feel compelled to cram political views into everything? It's sad, Rex.
ReplyDelete@wordie - SCRIPT + suffix URE = SCRIPTURE.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the LAM = Flee is awkward.
Thanks, @milford
ReplyDeleteI didn't see anything political in this particular puzzle. What are you referring to? If you meant people saluting their national flag, it is unfortunate you resent this apolitical act.
ReplyDeleteThis Jim Page puzzle was one of those that filled in very efficiently until, with the end in sight, all came to a halt when a very small number of clues weren’t making any sense. In this instance the trouble came from the extreme lower right and, even though PEERREVIEW, USNATIONAL and BADMANNERS were filled in, Hanover’s river, Sir Elton’s hit, Syria’s ancient city and a noisy hurricane were mocking all efforts to finish.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the river was the Seine? The Rhine? Maybe the hurricane yowled instead of howled? Could the city be EBLO? EBLA? Was the song DIANA? DEVON? Time for trial and error, until inspiration struck and praise be to ALLAH, with this one word the puzzle was quickly completed. I was happily spared a triple Natick, never before having encountered LEVON or LEINE and was pleased to learn that Saarinen isn’t the only one with the first name of EERO to be found in the Helsinki phone book.
Except for that small piece, the puzzle didn’t have the usual Saturday difficulties, as entries like DROPANCHOR, CDPLAYERS, MENSCHOIR, even INDIRA and MORGEN came quite easily, opening up large swaths of the grid for comfortable solving, with very few clues challenging the imagination.
Fun, but overall a tad disappointing for a Times Saturday themeless.
Went out day drinking yesterday with Jesser and santafefran.We had lunch,shot pool and gossiped our little heads off about each and every one of you.I had no idea about some of the shenanigans you folks get up to.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever get a chance to meet up with other puzzlers, even if you are not the ACPT type, I urge you to take it. You would be hard pressed to find a better way to spend a Friday afternoon.
Fire up the *red alerts*---the *one* and only Evil's *vocal cords* are about to unleash some true script*ure* on you, Tree....
ReplyDeleteThe current *smug* president, who Harry Reid assures me prays to *Allah* because some unnamed source told him so, is screwing up *HMO* service and *OR's* with his bad medicine---better keep plenty of *Advil* on hand, *Jocko*, since so much *less* quality medical care will exist. Luckily he's got instant access to free medical work, including his *dental hygienist* and *enameller* to help keep his *droll* smile bright as his ratings sink faster than an Italian cruise ship.
The fact that any *U.S. National*, especially our president, constantly goes overseas and apologizes for American exceptionalism is worse than anything Romney did.
In the *span* of four years Barack's ruined our economy---Obama bin *ein* financial moron, adding trillions of debt to his *credit card* that we taxpayers have to underwrite.
In 2008 we said of his hope/change: *It'll do*. In 2012 he won't again enjoy *a pass* and he'll be looking *arear* as he goes on the *lam* from his current digs to reestablish citizenship in some *uttermost* place like Chicago (all yours, Rahm!) or maybe Kenya.
*NCO's* and officers everywhere will welcome the end of his *misdone* term in office with *howls* of joy and *yells* of "No Mo Bama". A *three day weekend*? More like a four-year early retirement.
I'll be *dropping anchor* in my favorite *pub* for some *ale* to celebrate. *Cal* Coolidge is smiling in his grave, since he's got another former president destined to fall *adjacent to* his low rating in history books.
*Aw*, don't I have *bad manners*? *Oooo*---deal with it.
Evil
Dude, you need to breathe or you'll need that Obamacare sooner than later. And won't that be a joy for you.
Delete@Treedweeler - I don't comment very often but I have to say how much I enjoy your write ups. They're funny and informative. Thank you for filling in at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteApparently my refusal to provide my mobile number to Uncle Google caused Blogger to eat my comment. Let's try again...
ReplyDeleteJOCKO/JOCKy? MENS CHOIR/ MEt'S CHOIR? E-RO/L-INE? Two out of three ain't bad. If I thought more about AtTA/ANTA I could have gone three for three. Otherwise, an easy Saturday for me, too. ADVIL was preceded by bayer (I'm an aspirin guy, not a vitamin I guy) and aholiDAYWEEKEND preceded THREE DAY WEEKEND. Those were just minor blips, though.
@ED - If you stop watching the propaganda arm of the southern Democratic party (AKA-Fox News) you'll be a lot less angry about the good things happening in our country.
Free Sail ALE? Fuller's ALE? I have Two-Hearted ALE chilling in the fridge. I might just have to find some Hemingway to read this afternoon.
Ah yes, a Bell's beer! From the great city of Kalamazoo!
Deletejocko: a W African name for chimpanzee*
ReplyDeletelam 2 (lm) Slang
intr.v. lammed, lam·ming, lams
To escape, as from prison.
n.
Flight, especially from the law: escaped convicts on the lam.
*Both chimpanzees and monkeys are primates, although monkeys are less closely related to humans.
The main obvious difference between the two is that monkeys have tails; chimps and other apes do not.
And what the British press called Michael Jackson in the 90s. Racist much? I hate that word.
DeleteGuten MORGEN! (What I said for thirty years when walking into my classes). A quite Germanic puzzle today, not only with that greeting but also EIN, LEINE, UNSER (German for "our"), and ERLE (alder). I managed to come up with "Leine" from having been an exchange student in Germany in 1963! (Thank goodness long-term memory is one thing that still works.) The spelling in the clue, "Hanover," was tricky for me, since in Germany the city is spelled with 2 N's. I know that the English spelling of the city is with one N, but I wondered - in an earlier-week puzzle, would the clue have been written with "Hannover" to show that Germany was meant and not, say, Hanover, NH?
ReplyDeleteAfter getting off to a good start in the NW, I purred through the territory west of the Mississippi. I knew I shouldn't feel SMUG, though, and indeed I got stuck in the area around EBL_. It finally came down to the L?VON/ ?ERO cross. Like Jae, I applied Evan's Natick heuristic and wrote in an E, for the same reason, although LEVON looked quite strange.
Treedweller, your write-up is a delight! I love how you found the German MENSCH in the men's choir! I totally did not see that. I agree, you don't want the association with "abbatoir." How about "boudoir" instead?
Anonymous @8:56AM
ReplyDeleteYou are either ED setting up his post or you are the cause of ED's rant which is probably not what you had in mind. ED does not like anonymous posters and this sometimes sets him off.
May I suggest that the following be added to the FAQ page. I am sure that RP can express it better.
Q. What is wrong with posting as Anonymous?
A. Three things:
1. People are more likely to be rude when anonymous. Accountability lessens this tendency.
2. There is no context for other readers to understand the remarks. For example, if a poster adopts the name Caruso and usually posts interesting information about opera clues, then if you are interested in opera you will stop scrolling down the list and read the post.
3. Rex Parker will not read your posting.
It is very easy to post with a name. Instead of choosing Anonymous as your identity, chose Name/URL and type in your posting identity (it does not have to be your real name). Leave the URL blank.
Treedweller, you totally rock! Love your sensayuma! Sensayuma, what's that? Good crossword answer some day. Sensayuma is not sensamilla, don't get confused when the right clue shows up. An easy puzzle with a few tricky spots. People seem to have gotten hung up the same places I did. Leine and Levon. Allah gave us the L's -- and a higher power said, "try Eero. It's a new Eero clue!" One of the fun things about crosswords is the think outside the box element. Rose in a field? Rose as a flower? Rose as a first name? Nothing happening. A few crosses.... Oh, Rose as a last name. Who'd-a thunk? For Pete's sake! So many who? what? clues that were useless without crosses. Stuff outside my frame of reference. Llosa. CRT. PDAs. 43 Across eventually made sense when "pub" appeared. That was kewl. "OOOO"??? EEEEK!
ReplyDeleteEvil got a little too evil today. I'm calling you out, Evil. Most crossword puzzle solvers are way smart, and sure are smart enough to easily take you to the mat (verbally, of course -- not NRA style, the pen is mightier than the sword style -- duh!) if you keep up the trite political comments.
@Carola: I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteCould do both today's and yesterday's puzzles w/o any major hitch in spite of spending an ungodly amount of time in my first COURSEA-based massive open online course (that's MOOC for you!) and getting into the usual trouble in the forums for speaking my mind and not being a toadie.
I'm glad I stopped by to find treedweller, whom I consider an old friend...
Jim Page, I apologize for my BAD MANNERS in clicking "publish" before I said thank you to you for the puzzle - a perfect Saturday for me.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@r.alph and others -- I suspect what set ED off was treedweller's riff on Gov. Romney. My advice, as always, is don't take the bait...just sayin...
ReplyDeleteBring it, Merle. And if you're 'way smart', next time you 'call me out' you might want to get up to speed by reading the reviewer comments first. Einstein....
ReplyDeleter.alph: Either you're ED setting up ED's anonymous post setting up ED's comments, or you too failed to read Rex's substitute explaining the gratuitous Romney 'douche' theory to which I responded.
Z: Yes, I really should avail myself of some truly objective sources---maybe MSNBC, or the New York Times, or....
rotflmfao! Thanks for the laugh!
Evil
@treedweller - Another splendid write-up
ReplyDeleteAnd a nice puzzle from Mr. Page. Even though I DNF, I enjoyed this one. The AHA moments kept coming. The NW corner has a few empty squares. I had ADVIL (after writing in MIDOL), CHIMP and IKE. Still one of my best Saturdays in a long time.
The NE is a little messy as well after entering UNSER for 21A giving me BOYS CHOIR forcing me to change PETE to -OUE at 16A (I prefer OUTERMOST). Eventually things got right after realizing my error at 21A. Talk about butterfly effect.
I liked 37A and 8D, but did not like 36A and 13D (what happened to UTMOST?).
@ED - Just noticed your avatar. Very funny!
ReplyDeletePS. Please vote for me.
PPS. Please donate to my campaign.
Have a nice day and God bless the USA.
Not happy with this one. Too easy for a Saturday, and between ANTA, URE, AMIA, KTS, and worst of a OOOO I was getting irritated. OOOO? Really?
ReplyDeleteMy captcha word is Useduch.
Not easy here. DNF, mostly due to NW and bits of NE LEINE/EERO crossing? Really? LLOSA/JOCKO? Sure it's Saturday, but really.
ReplyDeleteGood indirection at 31A Oxford offering; got stuck with TIE. Yeah, I had no idea. Challenging, but a bit short of the mark, IMHO.
lol treed weller... fun commentary today. Always reassuring for a struggler to have that "oh wow, he had the very same issues" feeling. But after finishing a Friday AND a Saturday... there's hope, indeed.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the writeup, as did almost all of us.
ReplyDeleteEasy here. Either I am getting better or late week puzzles are getting easier. Plenty of gimmes here and there throughout.
The SE was my hardest section. EBLA was unknown, as were LEVON, LEINE, and EERO (at least with that surname). Hanover is a German city (ruling out the American ones in IN and NH and probably elsewhere), so RHINE is the obvious, inescapable way to fill in __INE. That left me __RAH as the praiseworthy individual, and that obviously is OPRAH!
Soon (actually after a couple of minutes, which is an eternity in crossworld) ALLAH came to mind and the H in LHINE got axed. I was left with __RO, and Mr. Happy Pencil smiled upon the two E's with which I then completed the puzzle.
Used UPPER BERTH, knowing that the UPP could easily be LOW. IT'LL DO settled that. UNSER off the U was a pure guess that worked. OOOO - all I can say is OOOO!
Well done, Mr. Page. Thanks. Also thanks to my fellow Texan Treedweller for the writeup.
Also found this puz quite easy. Funny when I saw jocko in the grid, I immediately thought of Michael Jackson (one of his non-insulting nicknames), and knew he had a pet monkey. But a little research showed that monkey was a chimp named Bubbles...no doubt that name will show up in a puz soon.
ReplyDeleteEasy but fun puzzle write up OK but I agree this should be a no poltics zone. Just don't think you are really qualified nor do I want your opinion in my puzzle blog
ReplyDeleteA "kt" may sit next to a rook. A "castle" is a move, not a piece. And no, I don't think your politics belong in this blog.
ReplyDeleteOh, you have been Well Treed(, or is it, you who have Treed Well?): Thanks for your write-up. My experience was similar to yours. LEVON and LEINE sure didn't look like anything I had ever seen before.
ReplyDeleteGutsy of you to open the door. Someone had to walk through it. Thanks to you Evil for taking on that task.
I was reading Locke last night (evidence that I too need a life). This line caught my eye: "[I]t would, methinks, become all men to maintain peace and the common offices of humanity and friendship in the diversity of opinions, since we cannot reasonably expect that any one should readily and obsequiously quit his own opinion, and embrace ours with a blind resignation to an authority which the understanding of man acknowledges not."
It wasn't easy but it felt easy for a Saturday. I did have to Google once.
ReplyDeleteI think the Romney dog on the roof of the car story has had its 15 minutes. The jokes about it are growing old to me.
@ treedweller - i always love your writeups.
ReplyDelete@tobiasd, @jesser, and @santafefran - did you really play pool? Because, as irecall, @jesser has a huge issue with that word.
Though i don't keep a record of such things, i believe i would be hard-pressed to find an easier sat puzz. The only speed bump i hit was in the NE. Not a perfect puzzle, but a very satisfying solve.
P.s. and i have a new hip!! Which is allowing me to walk on both legs without (much) pain for the 1st time in a year and a half!! I wish i could thank obamacare for it!! But ill just have to save my thanks for the future - when it will help me!! Sorry to anyone i offend with these off-topic remarks!
Hi tree,
ReplyDeleteFYI, pretty sure the clues for CDPLAYERS and REDALERTS are numbered separately. Just sayin.
Just stopping by to say that I can't wait to hear about Lollapuzzoola!
ReplyDeleteAnyone that's there today, please fill the rest of us in!
Was it really necessary to inject moronic political comments into the write up? Does even the crossword puzzle in the NYT have to be dragooned into service for Obama? Give it a rest.
ReplyDeleteAs a federal employee (retired) I pretty much planned my life around THREEDAYWEEKENDs, and I was married to a DENTALHYGIENIST so I saw right through the "Crown polisher" clue. With those grid spanning answers in place I pretty much whizzed through the rest of the grid (with the usual speedbumps).
ReplyDelete@Treedweller - fabulous write-up; thanks.
@Hazel - congratulations ln your new hip; may you enjoy it for many decades to come!
Back to the pool.
@ED Touché.
ReplyDeleteI yield to those who object to the political references. I don't want this to become a political battleground, either. In my defense, I don't think everyone who enjoys taking shots at Romney is a fan of Obama. Still, I kinda forgot that not everyone here leans left. It is the NYT puzzle, after all. I should have realized it would be off-putting to some. I apologize.
Thanks, Tree. Great write-up otherwise. Peace be unto you.
ReplyDeleteDoug
@Ulrich -
ReplyDeleteDon't be too impressed - I had to double-check "Erle" to make sure I was remembering correctly that it's a tree. But - that paid off with an interesting footnote on etymology relating to Goethe's "ERLkönig," which appeared in a fairly recent puzzle: a North German variant of Erle is Eller; and in translating a Danish tale of the elf king into German, Herder misunderstood Danish ellekonge (elf king) as N. Ger. Eller + könig, so mistranslated ellekonge as Erl(en)könig, the word Goethe then used in his ballad. http://www.dwds.de/?qu=Erle
@ nemo paradise -
ReplyDeleteRook and castle are synonymous in chess. When I played, a million years ago, we called them castles. My dictionary says the term is informal and old-fashioned. So am I. It's Saturday. S**t happens.
I'm calling foul on 44 Across. It was an easy get on the crosses, but the clue is simply not correct. The clue ("Put on") does not mean "WORE" in any sense. Sure, they are related, but they are NOT the same thing.
ReplyDelete"Put on" refers to the action of dressing. "Wore" is the past status of actually having something on.
I've been rolling this over and over, and I cannot think of a single sentence in which those two things can be swapped.
Well don't feel bad. I thought it was aHs HORE.
Delete@Hazel, yes we did play pool--@jesser and @tobias were running the table and I was the clown with a cue. However, I was the leader in the Negroni category--the first one quite weird and the second one at a different watering hole just perfect. @jesser brought his sweetheart Yorkie, Toby along for the festivites AND we got to admire and sit in his mint black Ford Elite.
ReplyDelete@Treedweller, love it when you fill in for 31.
@Lewis. I don't think Mitt the Twit's putting his dog on the roof of his car is in any way a joking matter. He doesn't even think that he did anything amiss. If I wouldn't trust him with my dog, I certainly wouldn't trust him with my country.
@santafe- i thought it was billiards not pool! Wrong again!! That car sounded v. Cool.
ReplyDelete@ dirigonzo - thank you!
@ED - Never trust anyone who wants the job. -Socrates (paraphrased a little).
ReplyDelete@Carola: Yes, and I lived for four years in a village on the Mosel (Moselle) called "Eller".
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't resist pointing you to some musing of mine w.r.to translations of the Erlking available on the web: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ujf/blog/Erlking.html
Won't say much about Lollapuzzoola today, since it is already so late (I had to get home, do today's puzzle, read Treedweller's blog and all the comments to get to this point!)
ReplyDeleteGood time at LP5, with Tita, Sparky, Karen from the Cape, imsdave, Puzzle Girl, Vega, host of stellar constructors (bad idea to make a list - surely forgetting more people than I am remembering.)
Hope others will comment tomorrow.
Didn't find today's NYT easy: 6 D, SAES; 13 D, OUTERMOST; 46 D, DEVON, other boo-boos.
Another ego-booster prior to Lollapuzzola - almost perfect Sat, excepting MEtSCHOIR (the Met has a choir, right, John V?) xing Naticky AtTA.
ReplyDelete@ED - regardless of proclivities, there are no objective sources - only varied sources. Deal with it.
@hazel- congrats!!
@Tobias - I totally agree!! We've had some fabulous reunions here on the right coast...
Thanks TreeDweller & Mr. Page.
Since I'm so late to Saturday, will tell Lollap stories tomorrow...
EASY????? EASY????? I want some of what you're smokin'.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sway, I like puzzle toddler puzzl,ebaby puzzle, this puzzle too as it needs logical thinking to be able to complete. Will you be trying this out on your pupils?
ReplyDeleteplease follow this link
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.woozle&hl=en_GB
@ED Really? And I always thought you were a fart smella.
ReplyDeleteRon Digo
Well, this felt Saturday appropriate to me. I got most of it, and then with a little help from Google, I was able to finish. Got hung up in the same places as have already been mentioned. Some lucky guesses along the way helped. I delayed entering CREDITCARD because it sounded too straight forward for a Saturday, but when I finally did drop it in, that entire section became visible.
ReplyDeleteSome of the real time posters have mentioned watching Andy Murray and Roger Federer in the Olympics. This morning I'm watching Murray, and yesterday I watched Fed, at the USOpen (that's a USTA event!) while puzzling. Talk about synchronisity.
Re Politics. In this election year it's impossible to avoid. I'm appalled at the venomous lies being spewed out, by people who should know better. However, I hope this forum can stay above the fray.
@treedweller, great writeup, thanks for filling in for Our Fearless Leader.
This one pretty much worked itself out after I gave up DENTALassistant and Bayer. Like treedweller, and apparently many others, I guessed at EERO. Came here to see if that corner with those strange crosses was OK or a complete foul-up, and was pleasantly surprise.
ReplyDeleteKnow @Hazel will be happy with her new hip. Mine's still going strong after 10 years! The miracles of modern medicine are much to be appreciated, I have several spare parts which have added much to my life!
I hope this blog doesn't become a forum for politics. The fact that you think a candidate is the greatest/worst ever has NOTHING to do with crosswords, and makes for unpleasant personal attacks! My sermon for the day!
DNF cause I had GEARsmiTH instead of TOOTH, so CRs and HMm made no sense. Came here for the solution. Seems like the clue for 42A needed "gland." I liked the clue for 15A, "Water-park?"
ReplyDeleteAgree with @DMG that we should tone down politics for a couple of months. Go Seahawks!
Guys, I am with @notsofast on this one. Any puzzle that contains ANY--let alone ALL- of the following:
ReplyDeleteANTA
LLOSA
EERO (as clued)
ERLE (as clued)
SSRS (still no clue what that is)
ENAMELLER
EBLA
LEINE
can't possibly be called easy.
And that doesn't even count such weird entries as UTTERMOST, MISDONE, and OOOO. I mean, look--I finished, and with no errors (!), but was not by any means confident that I had a correct solution. [That's right, I'm old school; I don't solve on screen and get an instant acceptance/rejection. I actually write on the newspaper. So I'm a dinosaur. Sue me) I was really naticked in the SE, for example. Thought John's hero was LiVON, like pitcher Hernandez. That left me with ALRAH, RHINE and IHRO--I nearly left it that way! Finally decided that 45a had to be ALLAH, but LHINE?? Ick. In the end I just hoped that a world that could produce one EERO might produce two, one of whom, at least, more than five people have EVER heard of!
Only one other writeover: my REDALERTS started out as REDlighTS.
Spacecraft: I didn't find the puzzle to be particularly easy, either, although I did solve it with no errors.
ReplyDeleteSSRS are the Soviet Socialist Republics that made up the Soviet Union until it dissolved in 1991. The use of the abbreviation in the plural seems to be crosswordese rather than standard English.
Thank you, @Joshua. Of course [head slap!] it's the SSR's that made up the U. It just didn't register on this feeble brain.
ReplyDeleteLesson of the day: trust your first instinct. Another Saturday OWS DNF.
ReplyDeleteHad ADRENAL/EBLA and then overanalyzed it. I thought ADRENAL is an adjective (I know, I Googled it after the fact, and apparently it is also technically a noun) and the clue called for a noun, so pondered whether the last letter could be anything else. ADRENAe could be a latinized plural, maybe, and EBEA sounded just as good as EBLA. Does anyone actually know the names of these villages from 5,000 years ago? I suspect these things make it into puzzles because some constructor finishes a puzzle and realizes "oh, sh*t! I've got 'EBLA' in my grid. I'm going to have rework this ... wait, I should first Google EBLA and see if it's actually a word. Woohoo! It is! Boy, that saved me some time and effort." Anyway, I reluctantly changed the L to an E, confident that whichever choice I made, it would be the wrong one, and it was.
@SueMcC 12:02 PM - so your captchas are actually giving you useful advice now? Wish mine would, as long as it isn't "Eat More [anything]", 'cause then Chick-fil-A would sue the daylights out of them. ... On second thought, maybe them suing the captcha folks would be pretty cool... And what's with the Chick-fil-A name anyway? I've never been to one (there aren't any in my area) but usually such names indicate that someone is trying to avoid a false advertising lawsuit. I'm therefore assuming that Chick-fil-A doesn't actually serve fillets, but rather, amalgamations of ground up gizzards, feet, beaks, etc.
Apparently, at least from the comments, I'm the only one who had "jesus" before ALLAH. Obamanation indeed.
Oh, and EERO Aarinao? Who/hatTF is that???
@notsofast - Amen, bro.
Why does jackj use the passive voice?
ReplyDelete