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Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: LIGHTNING (58A: What the ends of 16-, 26- and 42-Across mean)
Theme answers:
- EHUD BARAK (16A: Israeli P.M. before Ariel Sharon)
- CHOCOLATE ECLAIR (26A: Custard-filled treat)
- BIRMINGHAM BLITZ (42A: Luftwaffe attack on the British Midlands, 1940-43)
The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in the United Kingdom, beginning on 9 August 1940 and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, England's most populous British city outside London, is an important industrial and manufacturing location. In total around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in World War II, behind only London and Liverpool. (wikipedia)Also, oddly
The Birmingham Blitz are a professional basketball team that plays in the American Basketball Association (ABA) based in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 2011, the team is owned by Birmingham Blitz LLC. The Blitz play their home games at Bill Harris Arena. (wikipedia)
• • •
Speaking of TRASH, I had TOTAL there at first (28D: Totally destroy), which, now that I'm typing out the clue, I see was obviously wrong. I also wrote in NERD for WHIZ (1A: Brainiac), ROUSE for ROUST (50A: Awaken), TENS for PENS (!) (63A: Staples of bank counters), and, weirdly, TEAM UP for BEAM UP (42D: Bring back to the Enterprise). Also weird—the two cross-referenced clues seemed like they sped up rather than hindered my solve. I was able to get first parts of them (BOLO, EASE) from crosses, and then somehow kept in my mind what the second part of each answer was going to be (TIE, INTO), such that when I finally ran into those [See blah blah blah] clues, I was able to drop in TIE and INTO without hesitation. I didn't like MOSHED at first, but ... the more I think of it, the more it seems legit. Maybe I just don't like the scare quotes around "pit." [Danced in a pit] is correct. No need for scare quotes. it's a mosh pit. That's what it's called. Just because it's somewhat metaphorical doesn't mean you have to get all "" on it.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Never heard of BIRMINGHAMBLITZ either, and I grew up in England right after WWII. I had Battle of Britain to start with, and wondered why the clue only mentioned the Midlands..
ReplyDeleteThat was a tough theme to figure out. I Googled BARAK and ECLAIR after I was done just to really see the lightening connection, interesting stuff. I remember learning about the BLITZkrieg from dad who lived through it, so that one made sense to me, but the others were learning moments.
ReplyDeleteI knew that dancing in a pit was slam dancing, didn't know that MOSHing or MOSHED was also a term used for the same.
I see that the dreaded ICE DAM is back, must have been caused by the nasty ICE RAIN! Or was that in a LAT puzzle. Can't keep 'em straight.
Another easy puzzle with a not so easy theme. Liked it.
Easy Wed., no pauses, no erasures, no WOEs. Cute, clever, and pretty smooth. Plus, I learned something. Liked it.
ReplyDeleteLiked it. Also had nerd for WHIZ and had arise rather than ROUST or ROUSe. But liked the downs, especially the three in the SW. Wanted to put in stir in for INFUSE, but ROLL IN made that a no. INFUSE is such an elegant concept. For me, the week is three for three so far.
ReplyDeleteEXIT VISA immediately calls to mind Casablanca.
ReplyDeleteTuesdayish time. Not sure that this constitutes a theme, but nice trivia. Nothing really strikes me as wonderful or awful. A competent, well - done puzzle.
My pit dancing was GO GOED which makes the same amount of sense to me as MOSHED. Then I remembered the BIRMINGHAM BLITZ because my sister-in-law was a "Brummie" and her son and daughter developed that ear screaming accent. They now live in London and magically developed a very posh speak...
ReplyDeleteLike @chefwen, I looked up the meanings of each theme answer. Somehow ECLAIR, with all that delicious cream and icing filling, doesn't conjure up an image of LIGHTNING. Maybe Eureka!
Are JAM JAGS HOE's?
amUSING Wed.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteRelatively easy puz, although didn't get too much on the first run through. But going back through, it filled in nicely. Started in the NE,then basically went counter clockwise. One writeover, smASH->TRASH. After all the Scrabbling, really wanted the pangram, alas, no Q or Y.
Kinda obscure theme, but learnt ECLAIR is LIGHTNING in French! Very well put together puz, light dreck, and some snappy answers. Abd no ASS!
LA DI DA
RooMonster
DarrinV
I would expect a WHIZ like Rex to finish LIGHTNING fast, but even I finished this one with EASE. I only had to REDO the BeRMINHAM to BIRMINGHAM because I initially started with BERLIN until I figured out there was BLITZ involved.
ReplyDeleteWho can't love a puzzle that has, at its CENTER, the to DIE for, CHOCOLATE ECLAIR!! The mere thought of chocolat triggered the IDEE FIXE in my head that my body NEEDS a pain au chocolat for BREAKFAST. I SUPPOSE I could start SLIDING into bad habits by BENDing my rule of not eating sugary foods before noon. Then again, I might WEEP over the results should I succumb to that temptation.
I also liked the slight TIE DIE era VIBE that INFUSEd the puzzle.
I also (@Rex ET @ALII) thought it too easy for a Wednesday. I meandered through it (my usual solving style) with UPTurn for UPTILT, ROUSe for ROUST, and ALIa for ALII being my only misses, eventually corrected. So I laugh in the face of its difficulty. HA HA, HOE HOE HOE.
ReplyDeleteLooking for wacky juxtapositions, I was only able to ROUST a few INFUSEd in the grid:
NEEDS JAM (if you’re like me, a must for toast)
WOK TEAM (stir-fryers band together)
TRASH VIBE (whatever that is, it can’t be good)
VAST VEE (a huge gaggle of Canadian geese)
TIE DIE (what you hope happens to that usually ugly present that you’ll never wear; also the possible style of said gift)
And my favorite --
ALIAS EXPO (aka for a flasher)
That said, this missive
will ABATE to
my usual
Cheers
I had a REDO in the NW quad due to 'poi' before PAP and 'hoho' before HAHA (I was channeling Santa). Other than that, no writeovers in this smooth as silk Wed. solve.
ReplyDeleteIronic fact of the day: JAGS' parent company since 2008 is Tata Motors, an Indian entity!
@Aketi, hand up for drooling over CHOCOLATE ECLAIR, the pastry equivalent to my favorite dessert, Boston cream pie. Double yum.
If you're unfamiliar w/ ROZ Chast's work, her 'cartoons' are witty, charming and hilarious, all at once.
I SUPPOSE this was on the easy side for a mid-week, but no complaints here. Thanks, JS and WS.
Yep, pretty easy. BIRMINGHAM BLITZ was easy as I am currently reading Home Fires about the English Women's Institute's contribution to the war effort.
ReplyDeleteWho knew? What an interesting, eye-opening theme, and I learned something from it. That's the good news. The bad news is that the theme was completely unneeded in order to solve the puzzle and that, therefore, it didn't enhance -- or affect at all -- the solving experience. Only after the fact did I come to appreciate it. Wish it could have been employed, somehow, in a harder puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThe cross of EHUDBARAK and NERUDA Naticked me, my only error. Ignored the theme altogether. Had ALIve before ALIAS . Fun Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteTruly an electrifying puzzle!
ReplyDeleteNot much to say about this one. I think we've reached the point where "sometimes-pierced body part" just means "body part," and all shots arc, but let them go -- INFUSE, though -- introduce? I thought it meant "soaked in," "fully permeated by."Can one of you cooks edify me here?
ReplyDeleteAgree with Kathy. I lived in Birmingham for 6 years before moving to the States and I have never heard the term "Birmingham Blitz".
ReplyDeleteice dam..birmingham blitz..and too many others I did not know. Did not like the puzzle!!!
ReplyDeleteVeryEZ but extremely creative to work in the three different languages with English words.
ReplyDeleteMy only DNF was UIES as I had UeES--also feel the spelling is totally arbitrary so it needs to be addressed in future puzzles!
Liked cluing for ROLL IN and PENS.
Thanks JS
Why is the same word in four languages not a theme? Quacks like one to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I liked it just fine.
No surprise that Rex didn't see a theme till post-solve...he didn't even see half the clues!
After ECLAIR and BLITZ I knew both words meany lightning, but didn't know BARAK did. So had to wait for the revealer for that learning moment.
@Z...and 51A reminds me of the judge's friend in "Miracle on 34th Street" telling him he'll have the CIO and the AF of L after you..."
29A surfaced one of those travel vignettes we'll always remember. At the Café Suiça (Swiss Café) in central Lisbon, at midday, this dapperly dressed old gentleman was leaning up against the railing at the outside tables, nursing a cup of coffee. Whenever a pretty young girl would walk past, he would tip his hat to her, and then give her a little spray from his LAPEL flower. It provided endless delight to him and his buddies. I wonder if he's still there, or if nowadays that is just too creepy a thing. It seemed harmless to me, but the worlds a different place.
There were plenty of fun clues/fill. I usually spell it LAhDIDAh, whenever I spell it (Which is never, of course), but that was one I liked.
The same season that we get our ICEDAMs, we are also getting our 500' of GRAVEL plowed into my flowerbeds. Sigh.
Liked your puzzle, Mr. Stulberg.
I think soaked in is better than introduce. Tea is infused.
ReplyDeleteEasy Wednesday, with some of the same false first thoughts a lot of you have. I learned the meaning of Barak.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in London I buy a little Portuguese custard tart every afternoon for my "tea". Always pick the darkest, almost black one. I think they're called Nata. Delish.
Oops, just found I made a mistake: AFLBIO/bans.
Easy for a Wednesday, and yes, once I had EASE I wrote in INTO; same with BOLO and TIE -- actually got them all by looking at word lengths. What I did *not* remember at first was BLITZ. So the revealer really helped. I knew ECLAIR means "lightning", and I know that two of the canonical reindeer are Donder and Blitzen (thunder and lightning). So I realized it had to be BLITZ there, and only then remembered it meant air raid in the Hitler era.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite bartenders is from Birmingham. Quite difficult to understand, sometimes -- and I have no trouble at all with Geordie or Yorkshire or Cockney or braid Scots.
I have a small window in the end-of-semester flurry of activities to offer some brief comments, tangential to the main thrust of the generally positive VIBE to @Jacob Stulberg's puzzle.
ReplyDelete@ROZ Chast is not only a godsend to the crossword community by virtue of the somewhat unusual spelling of her three-letter first name [two easy letters coupled to a Z; only a fictional character in the sit-com "Frasier" is another plausible route to this same entry], but also for her funny, insightful, and utterly unique body of work. I dare anyone to keep a straight face during the 3 minutes it will take to watch this YouTube clip. More seriously, I cannot recommend this New Yorker "sketchbook" [later expanded into this award-winning book] highly enough.
Seeing one Israeli political leader in the puzzle made me wonder whether MOSHE_D could have been parsed/clued with respect to another one.
A 3 minute Wednesday would, well, electrify me. But did manage to turn in a time just north of 20, which put it near my best (yes, still in a different league on that front). Also started with NERD. Went through ARISE, RAISE, ROUSE - didn't get to ROUST until I sat there staring at EXI_VISA. Got to BLITZ way before BIRMINGHAM, and somehow TEAMUP, which replaced REDOCK, kept me stuck there way too long. Sat there with ICEJAM again for too long as well...
ReplyDeleteStill don't see how DTS is a wino's affliction, for short, but am sure that'll be a DOH when I see it. My kids loved MULAN, can't count how many times I've watched it.
Decent theme, some interesting answers, and a solve 100% on my own make it all good in my book.
Easy and enlightening. I liked the little "drama masks" NW corner, with WEEP next to HAHA.
ReplyDeleteZippy Wednesday, way too easy but fun. Loved the knowledge gained about my favorite fattening food - will annoy and enlighten everyone I meet today with "Did you know that CHOCOLATE ECLAIRE means . . .?"
ReplyDeleteI'll bet everyone had ROUSe before ROUST unless they had EXITVISA first. I think a VISA is a VISA and the EXIT VISA exists for "Casablanca" (tipping cap to @Z). Hand up with the crowd that lived in England for a time (three years) and yet learned the term BIRMINGHAM BLITZ today.
@Rex (from yesterday) - Usually love the movies and TV shows you mention in this blog, but saw "Wanda" recently. I was talked off the ledge by a professional, and should be back to normal fairly soon. That movie should come with a depression warning.
Time for some Random Nonsense! (Haven't done in a while, of course, no one clamoring for me to start again...)
ReplyDeleteS PEAR- Curvy fruit?
LAP ELS- Go around golfer Ernie?
CENTER- One who collects pennys?
MO SHED- Mariano Rivera outbuilding?
A DAM- A thing A beaver makes?
G RAVEL- Wrap $1000 bills together?... or
GRAVE L- Serious 12th letter?
ICED AM- Cold morn?
WOK- Four balls in Chinese baseball?
And last two may not be safe for work!
WEE P- Small tinkle?
IS UP POSE- XXX stance?
You're welcome. :-D
RooMonster
Can we just get one ENO-less week? Although today it was balanced with a ROZ, so the score for this one is zero.
ReplyDeleteOther than being a tad easy for a Wednesday, I thought it was just fine with the lightning demi-theme. I had not heard of Neruda, Mulan, shawm or Birmingham Blitz but, the crosses essentially gave you no 'choice' but to fill them in. If you have to complain, it should be about a few too many crossword trivia answers such as egad, Enid and zed. I will now Google shawm to see what it looked like. I guess a four letter word with 3 vowels in it (oboe) is too helpful to crossword constructors to be out of the NYT crossword puzzle for too many days.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't heard from OFL for quite a while about the downfall of the NYT puzzle. Have things improved?
ReplyDeleteI'm with @z -- A competent, well-done puzzle (and, @z, its easiness sped up my solve). Normally, like @nancy, I like the theme to help with the solve, but I think it gets a pass if it didn't help with the solve but teaches something, and this one did.
I dutifully put in ZZZ for 4D after seeing it last week (I think it was last week), but that didn't last for long. I do love puzzles that have long answers that I never heard of, with fair crosses; It makes it more of a puzzle. There's an EASE up, and a double-E mini-theme, and answers I especially liked were BEAMUP and EXITVISA, which I SUPPOSE could be related.
@old timer (from late yesterday) -- Split Decisions puzzles are always among my favorites, too, and like you, I highly recommend Sunday's Variety puzzle in the Times Mag to everyone here. I found it relatively easy, with the exception of the two Across answers at the center bottom and directly above the center bottom. But I did get them, then checked them to make sure I was right.
ReplyDeleteI was taking a bite of my chocolate croissant as I came to chocolate eclair. A fortuitous sign for the whole day!
ReplyDeleteIn the olden days, you could use either Blitz or Brasso to keep your insignia shiny for inspection.
Quote of the day: Just because it's somewhat metaphorical doesn't mean you have to get all "" on it.
ReplyDeleteAgree that the puzzle was a little too easy in general, but not fair to try to make up for that by crossing EHUDBARAK and NERUDA.
ReplyDeleteLovely language course Jacob, thank you. I know BLITZen, Dasher, Prancer and Vixen, and I love ECLAIRs, but didn't know what BARAK meant until today. I love to learn new things. Don't you?
That dam ICEDAM again! We had its plural on Monday.
A HAHA here, LADIDA there, and TIE DIE right next to each other made this a fun puzzle.
Did you know that Francisco Goya was born in ARAGON, Spain? So was guitarist and composer Gaspar Sanz (1640–1710). Here is his "Canarios" as played by Narciso Yepes. At the request of Andrés Segovia, composer Joaquín Rodrigo incorporated this lovely Sanz tune into his "Fantasía para un gentilhombre", played here by señor Segovia himself.
Enjoy your Wednesday.
An easy Wednesday for me, though I had a few writeovers. EHUDBARAK was my first entry which led to WOK, but I put in cheW at 5A and esAu at 7D even though he's not on most "biblical patriarch" lists. Fixed that and backed into the NW, and at 3D, started to put in "coUld be(e?)" but too short. I misread the clue for 49A as "Wino's affection" and put in pTS but SLIDING became obvious after all the other crosses were filled in.
ReplyDeleteSo a fun exercise, and I learned BARAK means LIGHTNING. I liked seeing ROUST and watching the fog ROLL IN.
Thanks, Mr. Stulberg.
This was another one of the cognitive dissonance problems. i only have about 200 books about World War II in my library, and a quick look at the indices indicates not one reference to the Birmingham Blitz. So I put in Battle of Britain and was screaming at the puzzle. then when Birmingham slid in to place, I remembered that I had been to a Blitz game in Alabama, then I tried to find commons relationships between the theme answers and obscure sports teams and it didn't work. this is the third time that the NYT has had answers that are just plain wrong this week.
ReplyDeleteNeruda never came here to Natick, but Ehud Barak sure did.
Where is there a bank where the pens are not stolen? Contrary to the clue, I've never seen a bank pen, just the little chains or cables hanging loosely from their little stands. Maybe it's just a California thing though.
ReplyDelete@fiddlleneck and
ReplyDelete@ludyjynn
I just INFUSED my boiling water with a winter CHOCOLATE tea blend to compensate for not eating the pain au chocolat for BREAKFAST or the ECLAIR au chocolat for lunch, but not sure that CHOCOLATE-INFUSED tea will ABATE that GNAWing mouth worm for chocolate that I've developed today. I may have to go for some Boston Cream Pie.
@quilter 1 - I suspect you are aware that PBS just finished up broadcasting the first season of a ITV series based on Julie Summers's book about the Women's Institute during WWII.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing was worth it for "beam up." What a nice way to start the day.
ReplyDelete@jberg - Food Lover's Companion "Infusion (ihn-FYOO-zhun) An infusion is the flavor that's extracted from an ingredient such as tea leaves, herbs or fruit by STEEPING them in a liquid (usually hot) such as water, for tea. In today's culinary parlance, sauces that have been variously flavored (as with herbs)are also called infusions.
ReplyDeleteCome now, crossing UIES with UPTLIT gets no opprobrium at all? UPTILT? UIES???
ReplyDeleteDon't like "It's possible" for "I suppose" - not quite the same thing. "I suppose so" would be more equivalent.
rUbe before BUTT, UeyS before UeEs before UIES. ROUSe before ROUST. UIES?????? Can you tell I'm incensed about this?
If it's not too late, can I just say how muchI *like* the regular posters here? I'm sure I don't have to say that ROZ Chast is the best New Yorker cartoonist of her generation.
ReplyDeleteI've been to ARAGON, many years ago. It is incredibly beautiful, and, I concluded, the main reason to visit Andorra, on its northern border.
And the only place I've ever been in South America is Chile -- a cousin and I went to Santiago and after a few days, drove to Puerto Montt, taking in most of the sights in between. Including a trip to Valpo (did you know that Valparaiso means "Valley of Paradise"? NOT!! But an interesting place all the same, and we ended up seeing all three of Pablo NERUDA's houses. Having not been to the far South, or the deserts of the far North in Chile, I tell anyone who cares to listen that the three places where Neruda lived are the three best reasons to visit central Chile. Though actually, the very best reason is the Isla Grande de Chiloe. If I lived in Chile, I would want to live there and fly up to the capital once or twice a year just for an urban experience.
@mac...yes...they are called pasteis de nata...cream pastries.
ReplyDeleteAnd when they're good, they're very, very good.
I think I was about 40 before I dared to try one. You see, nata also means that awful film that develops on top of hot chocolate...
You're there, cradling a warm mug of delectable chocolaty delight, when suddenly, that yucky film touches your lip... aaagh! blech!!
So, as a kid, and persisting well into adulthood, I thought they were pastries filled with that...
We have so many cooks on this blog -- and not just the 3 chefs (bea, wen and kit) either. So I thought you all might enjoy the lovely piece in today's Times Food Section by Jacques Pepin: "Memories by the Spoonful." (You'll have to Google it yourselves; I can send links on my email, but not on this blog.) It didn't make me want to cook -- nothing ever does THAT -- but it certainly made my mouth water. Especially the "amazing chicken liver flan."
ReplyDeleteI first came across BARAK as the biblical judge who, with Deborah, defeated the Canaanite armies of Sisera. Interestingly, the Wiki page on Barak says the name means 'black' in Hebrew, and 'LIGHTNING' in Arabic. In the very next paragraph, however, it says the name in Hebrew means to kneel or bless, so I'm left Wiki-mystified but willing to accept Google Translate which says: LIGHTNING, bolt, glitter, gloss, luster, sheen, shine and several others. Altogether, a very adaptable word, and the spark for a cute theme, so no static coming from this corner currently.
ReplyDeleteWill more on infusion cause confusion? Besides steeping in liquids, infusions can also be made directly with solids. Vanilla-infused sugar just has the scrapings from the vanilla bean stirred directly into the sugar. Sweet!!
Can't help enjoying a puzzle with TIE DIE and A DAM ICEDAM, and to top it off, until I got the reveal I thought we were working a tribute puzzle to ALIAS ZED. That's no SLI_DING, people, just a little TRASH talk.
Nice one, thankyou @JacobS, and @Gill-fleur, keep a stiff upper chin!
APT SLIDING VIBE
ReplyDeleteISUPPOSE USING LIGHTNING quick moves are ASPECTS to dread
when one NEEDS to EASE INTO the groove for a slow ROLLIN bed.
--- MULAN LADIDA-NERUDA
I must beg @George Baranay's pardon, but has he never heard of ROZ Kelly, who so spicily played Pinky Tuscadero on "Happy Days?" As her cousin Fonzie would say: "Aaaaay!"
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting learning experience--though not with BLITZ, which I already knew. But when I turn to the fill, that's when my attitude does a, well, 180, if you get my drift.
WOE'd me once with that ICEDAM; never again. ARAGON reminds me of Lawrence Welk--or rather, the Stan Freberg parody of same. His telecasts originated in the ARAGON Ballroom. I can still hear Stan:
"Turn-a off-a the bubble-a machine-a! Gee Dad, it was a Wurlitzer-a!"
Now don't get MADD. No offense meant. This was all pre-Age-of-Taking-Offense. I yearn for a retutn to those days.
@rondo: the above-mentioned ROZ was a definite yeah-baby in her day. The y.b. of the current season is Katherine McPhee. When will Paige and Walter "interface?" Well, they've already done that, with breathless results. The question is: when will they "interbody?" Anybody's guess. I know my mother was hooked on "As the World Turns" for YEARS waiting for two lovestruck kids to get up the guts to admit it. Might be quite a while.
Oh, forgot to grade. Memory-jogging: B. Theme: C+. Fill: D-. Overall: C-.
ReplyDeleteCertainly didn’t know the theme until the revealer. Knew the meaning of BLITZ, but not the others. No write-overs, so probably not difficult in the whole xword puz spectrum
ReplyDeleteAnother missed opportunity to clue HAHA as “Packer Clinton-Dix”, as the Pack goes deeper INTO the playoffs and the Vikes don’t.
Anyone else find the humor in JAGS crossing DTS? Or are you MADD?
This recent deficiency in yeah babies must ABATE. Maybe tomorrow’s puz will be INFUSEd with ‘em.
A WHIZ through this puz with EASE, even if we’re USING PENS.
Not easy for me. More of a normal speed slog. I quickly entered zzz for the last word in the dictionary, which was recently the correct answer here or maybe LA Times. I guess today it is zed due to the Oxford English dictionary vs Merriam's Dictionary. What could be more trivial than last words in specific dictionaries? Must say something about all of us, but I'd rather not know what.
ReplyDeleteLIGHTNING fast Wednesday. Now I have to go find a CHOCOLATE ECLAIR. Yum!
ReplyDeleteSmooth and easy, like some music, preferably jazz.
ReplyDeleteMaybe too easy for a Wednesday, when the puzzle could help sharpen us up for the rest of the week.
One writeover: ueys before UIES. Probably not the last time that one will occur.
ReplyDeleteIt probably doesn't matter, but the post, @Anonymous 3:59 was from me. I must have missed keying in my cyber name.
I know it's late, but like to JAM in:) Never heard of BIRMINGTON BLITZ. As a pen and paper gal, I had 38 down New Yorker cartoonist as Roy, thus blity. Blity? Like maybe blighty? Oy!
ReplyDelete@Rondo yesterday. Ha ha:) You so funny!!
@leftcoastTAM. Hands up for UEYS. And it does matter to moi, later posts:)
@Burma shave. You rock:)
And to all syndies, I'm a with you!
Have my Mom, who started me on crosswords, in a nursing home now (Alzheimers). Not easy.. But lights up when she can answer OBOE. And insists OTIS will be there.
Yay for crosswordese!
My brain was in a fog today, so DNF big time. Didn't know the name of the blitz. I'm so afraid of lightning, I'm amazed I didn't know that answer. But I'm not MADD. I can't always be a WHIZ.
ReplyDeleteDiana, Lady In Waiting for Crosswords
@Burma Shave, just caught up with the Syndi comments since Monday - congrats on nearing your one year anniversary. Your use Monday of I ELECTORAL was classic.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed how intelligent, often diverse, comments has dramatically decreased since the absence of writers like lms? Where is she? Please come back, Loren. You were one of the main reasons I read this blog.
ReplyDelete