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Swahili sir / TUE 10-13-20 / Resource from bog / Bygone days old-style / Follower of face or fork
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Constructor: Amanda Rafkin
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:29)
Theme answers:
- "BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" (17A: Bob Dylan song that was a #2 hit for Peter, Paul & Mary)
- KNOWING WINK (25A: Sly signal)
- TOWING WINCH (44A: Device for pulling a vehicle)
Jule Styne (/ˈdʒuːli staɪn/; born Julius Kerwin Stein, December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was a British-American song writer and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Funny Girl. (wikipedia)
• • •
Happy to see the Monday puzzle. Better late than never. No idea what that thing was yesterday, but this puzzle reassures me that someone out there can still make a competent Monday-type puzzle, so I look forward to things being back to normal next week. In the meantime, yes, this theme is just fine. Revealer is original and themers express it well. Not sure how I feel about *all* of the first words in the themers being present participles, but ... no, actually I do know how I feel, which is I don't care that much. A little more variety in word type might've been nice, but it's a pretty restrictive theme. The fill is the fill—bit of a YAWN, listing toward olden (STYNE, BWANA ... ELD) and clunky (ONEBC, NOSTEP, YOS). I had most of my trouble in and around ONEBC, where I had two crosses wrong (one from HIS instead of YOS, the other from BLOTS instead of BLOBS). Also couldn't remember STYNE's name at first. Otherwise, very easy overall. OK, that's it. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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104 comments:
Pleasant overall. Having LAIDEYESON paired opposite your ONEANDONLY. Like something out of a NORA Ephron film.
Just thinking about some of the fill in this puzzle makes me FEEL OK. Love CHOPIN and BELA (though truth be told I prefer Fleck to Bartok). And Peter, Paul, and Mary played a coffee house on campus at UC Berkeley while I was there, c. 1962. A true 60s experience!
First, WINKLEVOSS WINKLEVOSS -- nice. Second, a crossword puzzle just saved your life, if I'm not mistaken.
Easy. Yes, the Monday puzzle finally got here a day late. This was fine. A straightforward theme/reveal, reasonably smooth grid, and a couple of nice long downs, liked it a bunch!
@ Rex - Good thoughts going out for you all! God Bless 🙏
Peace 🕊
Figures. The one time I decide to look to OFL for inspiration or controversy or any ideas for writing about and...nothing. It was an entertaining read though - but poor Alfie!
The puzzle was easier than yesterday and the theme was cute if not exactly heart-stopping. No complaints. What a bore. *YAWN*
🧠
🎉🎉
@bocamp from yesterday -- thanks so much for the link(s)! I was able to download the book in pdf and to my kindle. How has that website escaped my (or anyone's) notice for all these years? Another marvelous find provided by you - you are a treasure, sir!
Poor Rex! Oh my, what a day he had! I guess little Archie is sorta growing up- enough to need the op, but not so much that he doesn’t still play like a kitten. And the gas on top of that- yikes, I can smell it too.
And I agree, it’s Monday. I enjoyed skipping lightly through it, BLOWIN and KNOWING and TOWING while waiting midnight for Prime Day to start. My one mistake was that I had hiS until LAIDEhESON required the switch to YOS, which took no time at all.
So far, nothing I want is a deal, but the solve was a lovely diversion.
9 names, 1 foreign word....
Poor baby Alfie, give him a nose Boop from me.
Rex is right, another Monday/Tuesday switch. Finished this pup in no time flat. Nary a write over. WIN WIN all around. Onward to Wednesday.
Blowin always seems wrong, even if it is a great song. Did the 'G' just get blown away?
Speaking of WIN WIN and […coffee holders], how about a cup of Joe on November 3?
Sometimes themes will cause the constructor to come up with terrific answers that have never appeared in the NYT puzzle before, as we have today with WIN WIN SITUATION and KNOWING WINK. Welcome to the fold, you two, and may you be used again!
Jeff Chen points out that this was a tight theme, that is, there are very few, if any, additional theme answers to be found out there. He did find a couple, one of them being WINKLEVOSS TWINS, and I have to say, I smile every time I hear that name, which feels to me like it belongs in “Jabberwocky”.
This is a lovely and junk-lite grid teeming with answers that push happy buttons in me. Congratulations on your solo debut, Amanda, and thank you for making this!
I’ll take yesterday’s puzzle over this any day. We see this embedded word theme too much. To make matters worse - today’s was flat and sparse. The fill was BENIGN at best - workmanlike so it all went in quickly and methodically but not a lot of splash. Did like all the musical references and LOONIE is a cool word.
I came of age in the 70s - immersed in The Ramones and The Jam etc. However - I always held on to my early piano instruction with Sister Mary George - a Franciscan and a technician who taught using CHOPIN exclusively. I love the waltzes and the polonaises.
So - it was nice to see CHOPIN today but it didn’t make up for the rest of the puzzle.
Monday for sure, and fun to boot. So sorry for your troubles Rex - the gas part is scary. Hope everyone recovers well.
Never heard of KCUPS, but I’ve heard of KRUPS and know they are something to do with coffee, so my late night host was RONAN.
Also unfamiliar with STYNE. Fortunately all the crosses including ROWAN were solid there.
Are SALAD bars still a thing? I thought they, along with other various restaurant bars, went away when COVID-19 arrived.
“Some shapes on lab slides”? Really? That’s the best you can do for BLOBS?
Yep on the Mondayness. Beyond that not much to say.
Bela Bartók reminds @Joaquin of Bela Fleck. I’m reminded that Bela Lugosi’s dead.
Get well soon, Alfie!
I like this so much I wish it was a larger puzzle.
Pretty easy especially after having the equivalent of a Tuesday yesterday, actually easier than yesterday’s. Had TOWING hitch before I figured out I needed WINCH for the second WIN. I thought the fill was fine and liked the theme, cutesy but that’s OK. Thanks Amanda.
@kitshef (7:08) K-cups are little pods filled with coffee that go in your Keurig brewing machine. Makes a single cup of coffee in about 60 seconds and it’s soooo good.. A little expensive if you normally buy plain old Folgers, etc. but by watching for sales on different coffee brands, I can usually keep it to about $.50 a cup.
This almost didn't feel like a rex write-up.
Take a breather.
Hope all feel better for a win win.
Played a bit hard here. Lots of switching between acrosses and downs. Nothing to complain about, a very fair challenge.
@whatsername Whenever I've had the opportunity to use a KCUP machine, like in a hotel or waiting room, I've had issues, got no coffee to come out, or broke the damn thing.
I did have someone else make me one, and it was an excellent cup of coffee.
I like that you extreme coupon for yours, as I also heard they can be pricey.
Why is Rex being so nice - maybe he doesn’t like the constructor ?
The entire SW section is bad form - unless you are a Natick/PPP fan - you have WES and ROWAN crossing STYNE, and we’ll call LOONIE at least borderline trivia/PPP (CHOPIN gets into the act as well), so if there are any astrophysicists in the crowd - they would instantly recognize the Dark Matter in that section and hope that the crosses cooperate. The rest of the puzzle is fine - don’t know why the editors at NYT seem unable to close the deal on a crisp, clean, non trivia-laden Tuesday - either they don’t care about the shoving experience for beginners, or they are lazy ?
One and only
One bc
A one
Two too many ones
Re: KCUPS - Please just don’t.
Peter Paul and Mary right off the bat is a good start, as they comprise much of my folkie repertoire. Had a chance to sing with Peter on stage at a small venue around here ("Come on up if you want to sing along.") and (Noel) Paul Stookey's daughter addressed our Osher class, as she lives nearby, and that's all my celebrity claims to fame for today.
I have used a WINCH to wind wire on the side of a power company truck and to pull a truck up a mountain. I have never heard of one referred to as a TOWINGWINCH, but we take our wins where we can find them, I guess.
Really tight theme and the fill was fine, knew all the proper names, liked LAIDEYESON, like LOONIE and also its big brother TWONIE, which are both good ideas, as is getting rid of pennies.
Nice Tuesdecito, AR. Thanks for the fun.
@Giovanni (8:33) I got hooked on K coffee when I was still working because my boss had one in his office that I used. So then I bought myself my very own as a retirement gift. Surprisingly, I have found the best prices at neighborhood grocery stores and supermarkets which put them on sale.
@Z (9:03) I noticed your link is from March 2015. A great deal of progress has been made since then. Many pods are now recyclable and
according to Keurig, they are working toward 100%. Granted you need to go to the trouble of disassembling them and emptying out the coffee grounds, but it’s no different than rinsing out your cans and milk cartons. The cup of Donut Shop brand which I drank this morning has the triangle symbol as do other brands I’ve tried.
Very cute, delightful reveal. I also liked the musical GROUPing of Peter, Paul, and Mary, BELA Bartok, and CHOPIN SONATAS. As the one and only cook in the house,the cross of NO-STEP PREP reminded me (longingly) of the Brothers Grimm story about the magic table that sets itself with an array of the most delicious dishes. On the other hand, my usual multi-STEP PREP dinner routinedoes keep me occupied in these tending-to-drift, self-isolating days.
@Kevin C, thank you for pointing out the love-at-first-sight pair LAID EYES ON + ONE AND ONLY (perhaps a KNOWING WINK from the constructor?)
@Rex, wishing you and Alfie restorative rest.
"Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude..."
As You Like It,
Act II, scene vii
Smooth solve.
HAR: Mostly not a sarcastic laugh syllable on this blog, I'd say.
LOONIE: A Canadian gimme! (Take that, all you American sports teams' mascots!)
PREP: "Dicing food or *turning on the oven*, e.g." seems a little too prescient for Rex. His experience was PREP for disaster, happily averted.
Is NO STEP, phrased exactly that way, really a warning on aircraft wings? (Answer: Who knows? No one's been on a plane for months.)
Healing mews to Alfie.
Pleasant enough puzzle, and pleasant enough review.
Mike, you are quite lucky your house did not go up in flames. Decades ago I was working alone at a fast food place that had a gas stove, or something like that, used to heat up the hot dog condiments and hamburger grill. The knob that turned the gas on and off was loose, unknown to me. I was rushing to leave after manning the place the entire day and night. I truned the knob quickly and did not realize it bounced back on a very small amount. When the owner arrived the next morning, he smelled the gas throughout the store. Amazing that the walk in freezer did not blow the place up when it turned on during the night. While he carefully aired out the store, some of the gas remained inside the fixture. Probably too oxygen deficient in there to be a hazard. But when he lit a match and tried to light the fixture, the match enter a zone in which the oxygen concentration was just right for a big boom. Luckily, nothing was damaged. But the owner was livid at me the entire day. Perhaps I should have been more careful, but he should have fixed that loose knob.
I much prefer solving crossword puzzles to slinging hamburgers any day, regardless of the quality of the puzzle.
4 DOWN
That's all I got
I enjoyed it very much. I think that Amanda Rafkin is a sharp cookie. She has co-authored a couple of other smart puzzles here.
Very sparkly, no junk (maybe HAR), only ten Terrible Threes, and it bubbled up some pleasant memories. BWANA Devil was one of the first 3-D movies. I saw it when it came out in 1952. A spear came out of the screen flying straight at my head.
KNOWINGWINK. Great!
A few days ago, PITS was in the puzzle and it promoted some comments about pitted v. unpitted olives in a Greek salad. Unpitted much tastier, everyone said. I’ve always used pitted Kalamatas assuming that the tastes were the same but I was wrong. I made one last night and using those natural beauties from Greece made the tomato, cucumber, red onion, and feta sing.
I like WIN WIN SITUATIONS. We've been in the fail fail for far too long. Goodbye 2020. Thanks for being miserable.
This is a debut? Que BELA. And you use LOONIE and BLOBS and WARTS and EPIC EGOS and guess were my mind wanders to.....I'm glad your STASH didn't include an orange popsicle.... Speaking of SNIT:
@Z....My son gave me a Keurig. I'm a coffee snob. He had one and made me a cup of delicious coffee and he made sure I'd have one for my ONE daily cup. Someone then told me that the K CUPS generate a ton of plastic waste and they don't break down. Visions of little sea turtles washing up on our shores filled with unwanted Sanka. I then bought a reusable little cup and filled it with my favorite Peet's. See? I've saved the planet. I don't use it much anymore except to make my husband's tea. They are really quite useful for heating up water quickly. By the way.....if you really want a good cuppa, try the French Press.
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? The answer, my friend, is blowin up his arse....
Two of my favorite songs of all time memorialized. Two days ago it was OL' MAN RIVER and today it's BLOWIN' IN THE WIND. For me, that's a WIN-WIN SITUATION.
Are you mad, Canada? Putting a LOONIE on your dollar coin? What are you trying to say, Canada? Oh, wait, I may need you after Nov 3, so I'd better not make fun of you. But the LOONIE???? Really!!!!
Today was proof positive that one teensy tiny mistake you're sure of can really mess up your solve. I blew through this puzzle until I got to the Far East, where HIs instead of Yos for "casual hellos" really loused me up. You try to see LAID EYES ON when you're looking at LAIDEH------. I straightened it out eventually, but it took longer than the entire rest of the puzzle.
Is it really necessary to write NO STEP on the wing of an airplane? Do you really think all the passengers aboard are LOONIE?
A puzzle I found cute and mostly very easy.
@Carola—and Chopin liked to write in E-flat (not to mention D-and G-flat).
Had a window of twinge when I saw @Z’s Atlantic link. But saved with @Whatsername’s response. My only regret in trading in my Fit for a Forester was that the Subaru dealer has a giant urn for waiting customers while the Honda outlet provided great KCUP dark roast. But when others are ICEdIN, we really enjoy the all-wheel drive .....oh and the puzzle was great Amanda. PP&P is never a bad ear worm for a Tuesday. Hope Rex recovers from his traumatic experience— and Allie too!
@PabloInNH - I too was going to comment that a TOWINGWINCH is not an actual thing, but decided not to for two reasons
a) Old timey towing trucks have a winch that picks up the front of the car, whence it is towed away. It's not the winch that does the towing, but maybe that's close enough to make the entry not provably false, and
b) I woke up having a night-marish dream about GODOT, and the previous discussion here about his being a character (and being god) in the play. According to my psyche, Beckett wrote two versions, one in Swedish just to suck up to the Nobel committee. Beyond that, GODOT was god, and in fact was personified by Pozzo. The entire play was prescient of America ca 2020, when all our troubles are caused by our (Vladimir & Estragon, Reps & Dems) being unwilling accept god. I sure as hell don't need this in my life, and I'm not going to risk replicating it by picking nits about TOWINGWINCH
Not only do they all start with participles, they all rhyme. Hard to think of alternatives. DRAWING IN THE WINE doesn’t make much sense.
In addition to all the music, I liked the power-hungry big EGO with OMNIpotent.
PDQ Bach wrote something LOONIE SONATAS, didn’t he?
Hey All !
Re:KCUPS - Recycle!!! They're making them recyclable now, stop throwing them in the trash!
**Recycling In General**
You can recycle just about anything. Regular city-trash-recycables-pickup take plastic, tin, aluminum, paper products (which includes newspaper, paper [as in 8x11 sheets, etc.], envelopes that mail [e.g. bills, etc.] comes in [even the ones with the window film thing]), cardboard (including paper towel and toilet paper holders), glass, water bottles, and water bottles (yes I said it twice, Please stop throwing water bottles away!).
Anyway, Eco-Roo aside, thought this a nice theme. The ole brain decided not to notice the rhyming First-Words, BLOWIN, KNOWING, ToWING, til Rex pointed it out. Some more B's today, sans FLOWERS though.
Agree with the "should've swapped YesterPuz with todays" group, even though I know that gets the ire of one of the Anons who says that's just silliness talk.
Nothing EPICally wrong with this puz, decent fill, even has a HAR! And YOS for @M&A. I FEEL OK after doing this puz.
IMG is Ethan Hunts org. Reminiscent of "Org.? What org.?"
Three F's
BENIGN LOONIE
RooMonster
DarrinV
Z,
Come on man!! If you're gonna go Bela Lugosi's Dead, you gotta go with a link to The Hunger. Catherine Deneuve ( and S. Sarandon). Do your link thing.
Thanks in advance.
anyone else only know BWANA because of the Zappa song?
thats scary Rex. Hope you’re OK. Did you know that gas really has no smell? They artificially put that scent into it to make people aware
Pete- Modern tow trucks have winches too. That's how they get up onto the flat bed. What old timey trucks had was a hook; flat beds don't have that hook of course. But winches? They all got that.
Alfie - What’s it all about? Getting better.....please do.
@Whatsername - I’m a 8-cup French Press person, so I don’t need the convenience of a single cup product. There’s also increasing chatter out there about the difference between “recyclable” and “recycled” so Keurig’s claims don’t especially move me. FYI - I’m also that guy who eschews plastic straws (much harder to do than you would think - I end up being given a straw about 25% of the time even after saying I don’t want one).
@Gill I - 🙋🏽♂️on coffee snobbery, although I’m nowhere near the heights of coffee snobbery. My local roaster only buys from small farms and they vet the growers, that seems snobby enough.
@10:26 Here you go.
Very thick thread: SEWINGTWINE. Well, perhaps not.
I liked the side-by-side duos EGOS SORE and CRAFT ASEA.
I guess I’ll watch some of the confirmation hearings now and see if I can BARRETT. The Handmaids Tale was painful enough in the fiction version.
Nice non-Sunday puzzle by Amanda Rafkin, who I think is producing consistently good stuff.
Well, for me it was a WIN-WIN SITUATION.
By now, I’m sure y’all have noticed (win - theme.)
Yes, very Monday it was, and enjoyable.
Get well, Rex-cat!😻 And very lucky save - 💥on the gas.
Have a win-win day., everyone.😎
👍🏽🧩❤️🧩👍🏽
@Nancy:
it's a bird, not an Orange Sh!tgibbon (not my coinage, but I cleave). it really should be called the Queenie, since she's on the front; the bird's on the back. the wife knows one of the Seagram clan. I've trying to get her to pester the clan member to adopt us. no luck so far.
@Roo:
before you get all flustered with the rest of us, check with your with local eco folk or fake news media. the fact is, all too often, that 'recycle bin' ends up in the landfill along with the rest of the trash.
@10:32
anyone else only know BWANA because of the Zappa song?
no. Tarzan movies.
In Iceland, there is no regular garbage. They recycle 100%. At my airbnb, the owner was showing us the 3 divided bin system: organic material, paper, plastic & other. We asked but where do we put the garbage? There wasn't a garbage! It was interesting taking everything apart and sorting into the correct bin. Things like the top thin plastic saran wrap type wrapper on cheese, we would throw out here, they recycle. I needed to toss a broken pen, I put it in plastic.
@Nancy, @Nancy (10:15 a.m.)
We don't have LOONIES on our one-dollar coins! We have the beautiful LOON, a lovely presence on our northern lakes with its haunting call. We call the coins LOONIES affectionately, and because we all have self-deprecating senses of humour. (And because we're all related to Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Bob and Doug McKenzie, Martin Short, the cast of Schitt's Creek, etc.)
LOONIES -- scroll down: the ones near the top show the classic design
Sorry Rex & Alfie (well, maybe not in that order)
@SamStone 6:11am
Maybe the G floated downRIVER with the D of OL' MAN. But @Nancy may have unintentionally ruined that joke. At least I don't think that was her point.
Hands up for drip coffee for more than 2 cups. Keurig with reusable cups filled with grind-at-home coffee. The Keurig was 5 bucks at a thrift store. Cleaning the cups does add to the water problem. See Z's link.
I was in a Natick traffic jam for a while knowing neither Mr. Bean nor the Canadian coin nor the theme. Guessed ROnAN giving me WINNIN' SITUATION which fit the clue except that the theme would have to be something about dropped G's versus undropped G's. And that couldn't be sensible. Many nanoseconds of blank staring to see WINWIN. So the reveal was a HUGE aha moment and by far best part of the puzzle for me.
Aren't Feelok and Nostep "Star Wars" characters?
Movie trivia: In "The Social Network", all the Winklevoss twins' scenes were filmed with two separate actors, but ultimately Armie Hammer's face was also CGI-ed onto Josh Pence's body so they would look identical.
Pretty nice puzzle. Additional music credits:
27d: Ella Fitzgerald
42d: Michael Franks
23d: Frankie Valli
Say "Hi" and "Stop that!" to Alfie for me.
8 WIN s in the puzz. 👍🏽
@Anonymous - It's probably not wise to post on a public forum that you're eager to join a cult dedicated to sex-slavery, even if you do post anonymously. We know more than you think.
@Z, thanks for the KCup link. The article is from five years ago, says, “K-Cups are extremely profitable, selling standard coffee grounds for around $40 per pound.” Ah, right. Well I get fair trade, organic, shade grown, women’s cooperative single source coffee for $13 a pound, delivered to my door. I have a 12 cup drip coffeemaker I bought at Big Lots for ... hmm, I dunno, $20? It’s programmable so I have a pot of coffee waiting for me when I stumble out of bed. No mucking around with filters (I believe with the Keurig you have to muck around with filters)). When I just want one cup I have some pour over devices. The grounds can be composted of course, and the paper filters, (either unbleached or, the Mellita ones are bamboo) I toss them in the compost bin, we’ll see. No plastic waste anyway..
@Pete, -I take your point about provoking long fruitless discussions, which is why I was reluctant to say that such a thing does not exist, only that I had never heard it referred to that way. As Anon (10:35) points out, they're out there, even if they haven't entered my poor little vocabulary yet.
To quote old friend Burns Martin once again, "It's a poor day when you can't learn something.".
@Amanda - I was 'knowing" all the answers; thx for this "melodic" Tuesday. 😉
In my wheelhouse; flew thru it in under Mon. ave. time.
___
Béla Viktor János Bartók
@Frantic Sloth 1:06 AM - re: the "Babe"
yw and thx for the kind words. :) "digger" is part of my Pinterest name, inspired by my granddaughters' lab, who was always digging up treasures, hence the handle.
Unfortunately, my "digging" has yet to uncover the mystery of "Babe's" adoption rebuff. I'll give it another shot today.
___
"Blowin' In The Wind" - Bob Dylan (Live On TV, March 1963)
Peace Béke Paz Amani Pokój Paz 🕊
Giovanni,
Yeah, of course Iceland recycles everything. Have you even thought about what you're saying? It's prima facie absurd.
Below is the proof.
https://www.sorpa.is/en/locations/Ur%C3%B0unarsta%C3%B0ur
One more thing, don't believe the, increasingly common, headlines which say Iceland has eliminated Down syndrome. They haven't. They do kill almost all children so diagnosed in utero. But killing a kid isn't the same as eliminating a syndrome.
Thanks Z. I believe I may have conflated the open with another scene from the movie. Been a long time. Apologies to the board.
I was waiting for someone who actually knows to wade in, but here goes: a nephew of mine owns a two seater something or other, and has taken me for a ride in it. You do have to step on the wing to reach the cockpit, but right next to the area you can put your weight on, is a big warning that says NO STEP. I think that’s actually what it says, but I’ve only seen it that one trip and it was a few years ago. It probably did not say “DO NOT STEP HERE” because NO STEP can be much larger letters and really hit you in the face. Where is Evil Doug when we need him?
Had "ONE AND DONE" for life partner. Same thing?
@Z....It was because of Alton that I switched to a French Press. I won't ever go back to any other method. The 4 minutes steeping makes all the difference. He's a genius....
As to recycling....I hope and wish everyone does. I, too, don't use straws unless they are the reusable types. I don't like being anal to the point of being anal but dang...we only have this one planet. I've seen too many pictures of animals gagging and dying because of our uncaring stupidity. Now I'm sounding anal again!
For those of us who use only the down clues early in the week, the across words should at least be plausible answers. YOS is not.
anyone who's into French Press (humble self for those times I'm into coffee; comes and goes) you need whole beans and a decent grinder. those propeller-in-a-cup $10 jobbies aren't worth a damn. get a manual turned, ceramic burr grinder. about $40 on the innterTubes. you get a very uniform grind, important to French Press. unless you like to chew coffee bits.
@Lewis (6:24) YES YES YES on the cuppa Joe. 🤞
@Barbara S (10:01) and @Ellen (11:59) The words NO STEP have been on every small aircraft I’ve ever seen which is quite a few. Not sure about the larger ones, but the purpose is to keep you from stepping/standing on something that could be easily damaged.
@GILL (10:13) Hopefully you read my earlier post that most of the K cup pods are recyclable now. I have one of those little refillable cups too but the coffee never seems to turn out as good as the pre-filled ones. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. Love your version of one of my all-time favorite songs.
@Z (10:26) Those straws used to bug me too but not any more. So many servers tend to pick up your glass by the top of the rim so their fingers are right where you’re about to put your mouth. These days I insist on one,
@Gill. (10:13 & 12:06) I noticed you seem enthralled with the terminus of the alimentary canal today. Hope you're OK.
Absolutely, if you have a cheap grinder and you think you're enjoying your French Press coffee, you're confused.
@Barbara S. (11:15) -- Nice coins. Nice LOONIES. Thanks for sharing. I must say, though, when I scrolled down to the earlier "Lucky Loonie" coins -- the ones where the bird is in full flight -- I must say that it looked to me for all the world like the Bald Eagle. :)
Glad to know you and yours are OK. Scary. PLEASE be more careful. Now I'm going to be extra-vigilant about making sure all our gas burners are off on our stove/oven each night. BTW, you haven't sent out any recent photos of that handsome boy (I mean the cat, not you); please do so.
Easy compared to yesterday. Days have been switched it seems.
I think Keurig makes terrible coffee. My daughter who had a Keurig was kind enough to provide me with a drip cone and good coffee beans and a grinder when we went to visit -- in fact, I think they ended up replacing their Keurig unit when they moved to a more convenient house. Nice they have recyclable cups, but nothing can beat grinding good beans and using a paper filter, or a French Press.
It has not occurred to me that my whirly grinder would be unsuitable for a French press. There is an art to using it though -- when I need uniformly even grounds, I have learned how to pulse it so the grind is espresso quality.
Any puz with both BLOWIN & SWEARIN is a WINner, in M&A's booklet.
KCUPS? First thought: Kilo-CUPS? -- That's a mighty big soundin single servin. Order extra cinnamon rolls with that, darlin.
Couple days ago, M&A writ up a runtpuz entitled "Almost a No-Win Situation". Woulda made a nice dessert puz, for here today … but my test solvers haven't had the pleasure, yet. Comin soon, tho. But, I sorta digress.
staff weeject pick: HAR. Also partial to YOS. Plus really luv them weejects that are also a thing, in reverse. See also: RAW. TIN. WES. IRA, in a stretch. EMO close, but no cigar.
Sparkly ACTS of wordfare: BENIGN. LAIDEYESON. CRAFT. CHOPIN. BLOBS. STASH.
Didn't know: NOSTEP. KCUPS. That ONEBC was the end of particular "era" … definitely the last year before the start of one, tho. Unless there was a year zero, I'd grant. [Kinda lookin forward to an AT Era and/or AC-19 Era, btw. Insert KNOWINGWINK, here.]
Thanx for the fun, Amanda darlin. Real nice job. Keep em comin.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
**gruntz**
@anon 11:48 there you go again with your trite latin phrases. That's how I tell you apart from the other anon, you can't write a post with adding a cliché Latin phrase. I guess you think it makes you sound smart. Have you even thought about what you're saying? Because it comes across as obnoxious as all fuck. And you come across as a bored try hard loser with no friends.
So glad that you and your wife are OK!
Nespresso pods or “capsules”” are wholly recyclable.
There's only one Latin word in the phrase in utero. But setting aside that error, what does it that have to do with my points?
You've addressed neither, merely called me a name.
It was you who made a silly claim; specifically that Iceland doesn't produce garbage. They do. And I provided a link to the government website which demonstrates that fact.
The second point is also true. Many, many news outlets have trumpeted Iceland has having eliminated Down syndrome. That is also factually false. But both these truths are incidental. More important, you sound angry, possibly deranged or altered. Is there anything I can do to help you? Even if there isn't I hope you feel better soon. And of course learn the art of argument.... sans ad hominem.
--Cicero
Ditto
America has a LOONIE too, but spelled looney.
@old timer:
I have learned how to pulse it so the grind is espresso quality.
that's exactly why those machines don't work for French Press. you need a very coarse grind. drip, vacuum, and espresso can get away with fine to medium and even mixed because you've got a small pore filter (vacuum, a bit less so) to keep the bits out of the drink. use espresso grind, however uniform, in a French Press, and you'll be chewing your java.
Personally, I think Alfie turned the stove on. Or was it a range? Or an oven, or worse, a broiler?
Seriously, cats are know to turn on ovens if they try to jump up.
Also “tastes great” - mine made a convert of an Italian purist friend. Tons of crema.
For myself, I think Alfie was chasing an intruding salamander.
Heh, had that same situation with one of our girls. She got spayed and also is a little fireball. She managed to get the head cone off and rip some of her stitches out and then run around bleeding all over. Good times.
**SB HAIR PULLING ALERT**
Stuck one one word (maybe 2), and just cannot find it. I thought maybe if I complained here, the *magic* will happen and I'll find it soon after this post!
RooMonster Follically Challenged Guy
@Whatsername....of course I read you. What would a day on this blog be without a smile and a twink from you? I know the K CUPS are recyclable now but I'm so enamored with my Peet's and watching my French Press being pressed so slowly and lovingly down the hatch, that I'm not changing my sinister ways. By the way, all of you "know-it alls-grinder machines-beans have to be just so.....Pfffft. The secret is the press you buy. You can use any bean you want...espresso, course, you name your desire. The filter in the press filters the beans just so. I only drink one cup a day and it has to be the best thing I wake up to. And it is. I buy Peet's (already ground) and it's perfect. I've also done the fresh beans, grind your own, and I don't taste the difference. I'm going to be a coffee critic in my next life.
@Whatsername - thanks and maybe there is a chance I'll remember that next time. Coffee is simply not a part of my world.
Today’s USA TODAY crossword is also by Amanda Rafkin. Also well-done. A very similar theme and absolutely no junk.
**** SB ALERT ****
-10 🤞
Peace Béke Paz Amani Pokój Paz 🕊
@Nancy (1:32 p.m.)
I can't see it myself, but different sensibilities. For one thing, their bills are so different. But it may be that coin engravings are not the best medium for eliminating ornithological ambiguity. We'll welcome you with open arms on Nov. 4, but man, oh man, I hope it won't be necessary.
@Ellen S. (11:59 a.m.) and @Whatsername (12:55 p.m.)
I'm glad you addressed NO STEP. I have no experience of small aircraft, so thanks for that.
@Anonymous (11:07 a.m.)
"Queenie" wouldn't work because she's on all coin denominations. But you've given me the perfect opportunity to offer the "dad" definition of the toonie (our two-dollar coin which has a polar bear in place of the loon).
[...Drumroll...]
TOONIE: A coin that features the Queen on the front with a bear behind.
@Barbara S 5:18
Nobody wants to see the Queens behind!!
HAR, thanks for the big laugh.
**SB**
No luck on the complaining mojo. Threw in the towel.
Roo
**** SB ALERT ****
@RooMonster - Congrats on the -1 🐝
-4 here; not ready to pack it in just yet. 🤞
Peace Béke Paz Amani Pokój Paz 🕊
@Anonymous (2:46) "There's only one Latin word in the phrase in utero. But setting aside that error . . . ."
However, there are TWO Latin words in "prima facie." You seem to have overlooked that.
Yikes. Hope tomorrow's a more peaceful day in the Parker household.
@anon don't forget the mixing of French and Latin in "sans ad hominem"
There's only one Latin word in the phrase in utero. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Your Latin is even worse than your reading comprehension skills. At least you managed to get @Giovanni, @anon8:28, and me laughing at you.
I’ve been in abstentia because I’ve been working at Election Services (If you want a blow by blow of all the steps taken to count an absentee ballot in NC I can provide it. Yowser. More importantly, if you vote absentee make sure you follow all the directions and if you live with someone also voting absentee don’t mix your ballots up (about 20 of the 3,000 ballots we processed tonight were spoiled because they came in the wrong envelope)) so I missed out on the fascinating coffee discussion. Put me firmly in the “the right beans are the sine qua non” of a good brew. And, no, that doesn’t mean you need to spend $100/lb. My local roaster charges $13-$15 a pound and offers a fine variety of excellent beans. If you start with good beans you have lots of leeway with everything else. I do grind my own beans because I often buy two pounds at a time and you start losing some of the flavor the moment you grind a bean, even if you keep the beans in an airtight container. But the loss is often so subtle that most people can only really tell if they do a side-by-side comparison.
**** SB ALERT ****
-2 will try tomorrow morning. 🤞
Peace Béke Paz Amani Pokój Paz 🕊
Not EPIC, but one of the BETA themers I’ve LAIDEYESON in quite some time.
BENIGN ACTS?
It’s an EPIC WINWINSITUATION, sir,
AND TONITE we MEET for drinks;
THE ONEANDONLY TIME I LAIDEYESON her
NORA cast ONE KNOWINGWINK.
--- CONAN CHOPIN-STYNE
Had some trouble with this one: what the heck is a KCUP? Something you put in the cupholder of a K-car?? Also DROP. That means to release a single?? Who knew?
How many death does it take till we know
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is BLOWININTHEWIND...
That's why they call Bob Dylan a genius: his words are timeless.
KCUPS start my day. They’re neat, clean, and easy to deal with, sort of like this WIN-WIN puzzle.
Hesitated over ELD, YOS crossed by ONEBC, and ROWAN crossed by DROP and STYNE.
Favorite themer: KNOWINGWINK.
Nice work, Ms. Rafkin.
ONEBC almost got me. Good one.
@Spacey - good use of the reference.
onward
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for 2021
KCUPS - for Keurig single-serve coffee makers. Nothing to do with Dolly Parton. HAR HAR.
This puz is proof that tuesdays don't have to suck.
In the corners are my golf TEES.
Nora by default.
Keep it on the road and you'll have a no-WINCH SITUATION.
What unexpected events and distractions did the author experience on the day of solving the puzzle, and how did they affect his day? Tel U
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