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Clear component of blood / MON 8-18-25 / Stow away, big-time / Colorado Plateau natives / "I am ze locksmith of love, no?" speaker / Baked item whose name suggests how much of each ingredient to use
Monday, August 18, 2025
Constructor: Andrea Carla Michaels and Christina Iverson
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- DAFFY DUCK (18A: "You're despicable!" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc)
- ELMER FUDD (24A: "I'm hunting wabbits" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc)
- WOODY WOODPECKER (40A: "Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha!" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc)
- PEPE LE PEW (51A: "I am ze locksmith of love, no?" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc)
- BUGS BUNNY (62A: "What's up, Doc?" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc)
Pepé Le Pew is an animated character from the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, introduced in 1945. Depicted as a French anthropomorphic striped skunk, Pepé is constantly on the quest for love and pursuit of romance but typically his skunk odor causes other characters to run away from him.
Although initially a feature character with his own series of shorts, Pepé has drawn in increasing accusations of harassing clearly unwilling women as a subject of humor. The female characters in his films often flee from him, and his behavior is often seen as a form of stalking and implied sexual assault. (wikipedia)
• • •
The Downs-only solve was easy once I got DAFFY DUCK. From there, I could see that the letter pattern in the next themer (ending in two "D"s) almost certainly meant ELMER FUDD, and from there I needed only the tail end of WOODY WOODPECKER to get it. As a visual aid, here's the tail end of WOODY WOODPECKER:
When you know you're hunting famous cartoon characters, then the themers pretty much reveal themselves with a few crosses. This means that all my struggle came up top, before the theme clicked into place. I couldn't think of what the [Clear component of blood] was and so wrote in PLASM (?) (instead of SERUM). I couldn't see THERAPY because ... well, that's a very generic answer. What kind of THERAPY? You mean *physical* THERAPY? Because that's what it's (generally) called (in a rehab context). The thing that threw me the most, though, was the phrase "Stow away" in 6D: Stow away, big-time (HOARD). "Stow away" is what you do on a boat when you don't want to (or can't) pay your fare. Having recently finished watching the entire run of The Love Boat, I feel like an expert on this subject. It's the "away" part that's messing things up. If you "stow" lots of things in your house, then you're a HOARDer. But if you "stow away, big time," I assume you are just really good at hiding on boats, or else you stowed away on, like, the best boat. Like the QEII (now a floating hotel in Dubai!?)
My [Pained cry] was an "OUCH!" and a "YEOW!" before it was a "YIPE!," which seems more a surprised cry, to me (19D: Pained cry). I got my OTOS and my UTES confused again, but sorting it out wasn't too hard (30D: Colorado Plateau natives). I had to hunt down a typo/error at the end because somehow, in the early confusion of trying to gain a Downs-only foothold, I thought -CP looked better than -LP as a possible Across answer (PCP?) and so wrote in NFC instead of NFL at 21D: Falcons' and Eagles' org. I was right, too. Those teams are both in the NFC. But I was wrong, of course, as ALP > ACP for 28A: Mont Blanc, e.g.
Bullets:
- 5A: Breakfast chain that punnily used a kangaroo in its early commercials (IHOP) — I love when crosswordese clues contain lore. If you're gonna give me the answer I've seen a million times before, tell me something I don't know! I vaguely remember the kangaroo days of IHOP. I've talked before about collecting all the NFL helmet magnets from IHOP in the late '70s. I remember the restaurant had an iconic vaulted roof. Let's see if I can find the iconic kangaroo... omg did they really do a parody of R. Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" Looks like they did. This looks sooooo familiar that I have to believe I saw it before I ever knew the comics icon being referenced
[Promotional stickers, I remember these!]
- 44A: Newspaper opinion piece (OP-ED) — your regular reminder (for those who need it) that the "OP" in OP-ED does not stand for "opinion" (it stands for "opposite," as in "OPposite the EDitorial page")
- 10D: Baked item whose name suggests how much of each ingredient to use (POUND CAKE) — one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. So ... a four-POUND CAKE.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd (*new*)]
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77 comments:
A cheap and cheerful Monday (and I mean that I the best way) from the master of such things, Andrea Carla Michaels and her collaborator of the day, Christina Iverson. Working downs-only I could see all my favourite childhood cartoon characters emerging as I progressed. Did not know they were all voiced by Mel Blanc, so that was nice to discover.
A few stumbles and a few nits along the way … at 19D I had Yeow, a real pained cry. Nobody says YIPE when they’re in pain, do they? And speaking of things nobody says, I’ve been involved in many mortgage renegotiations in my time and I have never heard anyone, not my wife (the real financial brains of this operation), not the mortgage expert from the bank, not nobody! ever use the term REFI (22A). Not said in my world, except when my world and Crossworld collide.
Also, in my world, 37D HOEs are pretty ineffectual “ground breaking garden tool”s. Yes, they are fine if you have soft, loamy soil but if you have dense, clay based soil like I have, you’d better have a mattock. Think of it as a hoe on steroids. Or a pick-axe with a flat blade. Whereas a hoe will only penetrate about an inch into the soil, no matter how hard I swing it (and I break them fairly often), a mattock will dig 6 - 8 inches deep and allow me to rake up the roots of the weeds and get rid of them. I can’t really fault the constructors and editors of the NYTXW for this (they apparently don’t get out much) but I just want you to know that the hoe, while useful in some situations, is not the super tool the puzzle continually makes it out to be.
Was that a rant? Sorry. I’ll spare you the rants I had planned about the puzzle’s limited knowledge of Dada practitioners and the dark underbelly of rehab THERAPY. You’re welcome.
ACME and Christina, it was fun, I just had to let off a bit of steam.
Bueno, ¿no eres especial?
Love Mondays, but this might be a little too Mondayish. All those are iconic characters from my childhood, and it's pretty groovy they're all voiced by the same guy, but otherwise there's very little to love here. We're unlikely to ever see Pepe ever again as he didn't survive the MeToo movement (and he shouldn't have).
Tofu is punishment protein to wrangle you back to murder meat. It's ghastly goop. And completely unnecessary in a healthy normal plant based diet.
Third appearance of TATA in three days. That's alotta toodling. I think if you POKE a bear you'll be saying goodbye sooner.
People: 6 {not counting theme entries}
Places: 2
Products: 4
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 78 (29%)
Funny Factor: 2 😕
Uniclues:
1 Make a confused baby anatidae.
2 Signature line for an expert in surviving numerous self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
3 Great name for a carrot company.
4 A paddle.
5 Dessert forks.
1 BIRTH DAFFY DUCK
2 ELMER FUDD, PHD
3 BUGS BUNNY GROWN
4 THERAPY CLUB
5 POUND CAKE PLOWS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: One meeeeeelion dollars. EVIL BOTTOM LINE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Medium. My only problem with this one was not knowing the symbol for EUROS which caused some hang ups in the SE which lead to medium.
@Rex - Thanks for the IHOP kangaroo sticker.
Fun, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1037 was another pretty easy Croce for me. The SW gave me the most resistance. Good luck!
Easy, especially for seniors who remember Mel Blanc and his vocal repertoire. I liked the puzzle more than Rex did.
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Rock alternative (5)
2. Source of schadenfreude? (6)
3. Smack in the middle of a crowd, in brief? (3)
4. Bond classification (6)(4)
5. Like Manhattan in the 80s and 90s? (6)
PAPER
GERMAN
PDA
ACTION HERO
UPTOWN
My favorite used-before clues from last week:
[Collector's item, informally?] (3)
[New Jersey?] (4)
IOU
CALF
Easy, breezy and fun, as I would expect on a Monday from @Acme and Christina Iverson. Liked it a lot more than @Rex and @Gary Jugert did. Th-th-that's all, folks!
Definitely harder than easier puzzles, and easier than harder puzzles, and about the same degree of difficulty as the rest.
I guess I’m too easily pleased. Took this to be an enjoyable light-hearted homage to Mel Blanc and a well-known band of Warner Brothers characters. I’m sure ACME and partner thought this was more likely to be published around some Mel Blanc memory. Anyway, brief hangups were leading with “task”instead of CASE and “Cart” instead of CLUB, but otherwise smooth sailing. PEPE was always a sorta obnoxious character but as our cultural norms have progressed his behavior is being seen as more nasty than inadvertently oafish.
Random thoughts:
• Strong fauna presence with DUCK, WOODPECKER, and BUNNY in the theme answers, plus SWAN, MULE, TEACUP dog, not to mention the magic dragon.
• WOODY WOODPECKER is just a gorgeous grid spanner. I wonder if Andrea/Christina were also considering SYLVESTER THE CAT, also at 15 letters.
• The difference between early- and late-week clues: For HOARD today, [Stow away, big-time]; for the same word a week ago Sunday, [Mega-store?]
• Fun fact – Mel’s birth surname was Blank. He changed it to Blanc after a teacher told him he would amount to nothing and be like his name, a “blank”. (Wikipedia)
• Lovely PuzzPair© of IHOP and BUGS BUNNY.
• Thank you, Rex, for pointing out that terrific theme echo -- [Mt.Blanc. e.g.].
The theme got me thinking about how, as a kid, I loved watching cartoons on tv, and left me with a warm feeling that has lingered. Thank you, Andrea and Christina!
Huge Looney Tunes fan here, so I enjoyed seeing the characters. I can’t begin to describe how much joy Mel Blanc-voiced characters have given me throughout my life.
But ELMERFUDD is a miss relative to the others. Yes, Blanc voiced him at times, especially early iterations, but Arthur Q. Bryan voiced Elmer’s most classic version. As an example, in What’s Opera, Doc?, perhaps the best known Bugs-Elmer caper, Elmer is voiced by Bryan, with the exception of the angry scream “SMOG!” which Blanc overdubbed.
Harmless entertainment - perhaps loosely built and wide open but fun and early week easy. Would have liked to see Foghorn in there.
Antmusic
With such a trivia laden grid - probably would have been better to keep the stragglers out - LAUREN, ERNST, EDWIN et al. No real pushback anywhere - liked POUND CAKE and NO DICE.
THERAPY?
Pleasant enough and brought a chuckle - unlike yesterday’s Pig Latin garbage fest.
The Plimsouls
I think you have conflated “stow away” and “stowaway”.
My favorite outcome from today’s puzzle is Gary’s comment regarding TOFU - I’m imagining some mad scientist working for the meat packing industry intentionally concocting a replacement so bad that people go back to their carnivorous roots - love it !
I was a little surprised to see PEPE LEPEW included, but Rex addressed that appropriately and I don’t think it’s worth getting all lathered up about.
To my ear (and eye, I guess) both YIPE and YOWIE seem a little out of place - maybe because we get OWIE quite a bit and I have either an unconscious or a recency bias, or both.
Hey All !
Looney Tunes. A fave growing up. Then came Tiny Toons, which were actually pretty funny. Also, Animaniacs, with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. That was clever and funny. One of the best. Plus, my personal fave after Animaniacs, Darkwing Duck.
Nice list of Blanc's. He voiced so many characters, it's amazing how he could keep them apart, and consistent.
Nice to see ACME again. And Christina, too.
I'm a man of FEW words this morning. Sometimes you get lucky. Har.
TH-TH-TH-THATS ALL FOLKS!
Happy Monday.
Six F's - YOWIE
RooMonster
DarrinV
Blanc did indeed provide the voices for all of these at one point or another, but the iconic Elmer Fudd voice from the WB classic cartoon era that most remember was largely provided by Arthur Q. Bryan, mostly forgotten today.
Blanc's contract called for him to be the only one to receive on-screen credit for voices on WB cartoons, so many have the mistaken idea that he and only he did all the voices from that era.
great puzzle! 19 seconds shy of a monday best. i didn't know mel blanc did woody woodpecker, so that threw me for a bit.
Might not have been noticeable to downs-only solvers, but having YIPE and YOWIE in the same puzzle (pretty much clued as if they’re the same word) felt like a dupe. I suppose they might get to call themselves theme adjacent though?
Super-easy Monday if you are, or were, a cartoon guy, and I very much was. About the only answer that didn't go in instantly was TEACUP which does not strike me as a proper size for anything that's actually a dog.
I watched a bio of Mel Blanc on youtube some time back and the man was absolutely amazing. Dozens and dozens of voices and somehow all different. How do you do that?
Also many years ago I took a graduate course in comedy and in addition to the classics and modern writers the professor threw in things like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. I still remember his observation that the proper comedic response to the universe is "What's up, Doc?". Great course.
Wonderful breezy Mondecito, ACM and CI. And Call Me smitten, but Could I have lots more like this please? Thanks for all the fun.
Yay, ACME! Downs only, it was fairly easy — though I did have to look at the last few across clues in order to finish — but I never read the themer clues so I never saw that Mel Blanc was named in them. Perhaps I knew this in the deep recesses of my brain, but if I did, I forgot that he also voiced WOODY WOODPECKER — a character I associate immediately with the name Walter Lantz. I see that Blanc “originally” voiced WOODY but then a bunch of others did so.
I’ve never seen that IHOP promo, it wins a prize for offensively and cleverly wacky commercial exploitation!
Yep, Freestyle 1037 was very easy. 2nd-easiest ever for me.
The kind of old-style 'list' theme that you don't see much these days but that I really enjoy. My one nit today is that four of the five themers are alliterative, but ELMER FUDD is not.
Solved the puzzle doing it only Acrosses - has Rex ever given a reason not to do it that way, I wonder…..?
And *I* think you should consult a dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/stow-away
On paper, I go back and forth. But in the app I always do all the crosses in order first and then the downs. The app just functions better that way.
Totally depends on how the puzzle is constructed IMO
That’s what I came here to say. Arthur Q. Bryan is the familiar Elmer Fudd voice, not Blanc (although Blanc was usually the only voice actor credited). Apart from the Blanc shout in “What’s Opera, Doc?”, the only other time Blanc voiced Elmer that springs to mind is “The Scarlet Pumpernickel”, in which Elmer has only one line and they either couldn’t get Bryan or they didn’t want to pay him to read it. That’s also the only cartoon I can think of in which both Daffy Duck and Sylvester appear together. Contra what things like “Tiny Toons” and “Space Jam” would have us believe, the Warner Bros. cartoon characters were never an ensemble, like the Muppets. The characters typically only appeared in specific groupings. Porky and Daffy were frequent co-stars, as were Bugs and Daffy, but Bugs and Porky seldom appeared together. Obviously, characters like Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam existed as antagonists for Bugs, so they never appeared together that I can think of, especially since Yosemite Sam’s presence nearly always implied a historical setting, while Elmer nearly always appeared in contemporary settings.
@kitshef, I know what you mean about 53D. It was clued as €€€.
Super easy Monday since all of the theme answers were very well known. But enjoyable because who doesn't like to see Looney Tunes characters show up in a crossword?
The one answer that held me up even slightly was 29A, for which I needed all the crosses.
Thanks, Acme and Christina!
Cartoon characters regularly mutilate one another yet Pepe Lepew is unacceptable for (usually unsuccessful) attempts to kiss a cat who got a white stripe on her back.
In an OPED IHOP UPTOP for a buck APOP. You shoulda seen it. Great photo-op.
Assistant: I think your amazing new bra is ready for trials.
Inventor: Yes. Let's CHEST TEST this TATA STRAP
POUNDCAKE is frequently served at animal shelter birthdays. It's good to have such an easy recipe since each dog has 7 birthdays per human year.
Cute lil puzzle. Thanks, Andrea Carla Michaels and Christina Iverson.
Well, THAT was easy! After I saw how easy it was I began a neurotic race against time to set a new PB crazy as that sounds, Personally, I think it was a waste of talent to slot these two pros on a Monday but they were the ones who provided us with an enjoyable (on a Monday) puzzle for which I thank you, ladies :)
Fun, with just a little bit of crunch, so a perfect Monday. You can't go wrong with Mel Blanc. But I can never remember how to spell "Le Pew"; I always want it to look more French, with lots of vowels, like PIEAU!
One clue was a little awkward, I thought: "Question that might precede 'Try me'." That didn't prompt WOULD I for me. I think a better clue would have been "Answer to the challenge 'You wouldn't have the nerve to do that!"
How many puzzles in a row have had TA-TA now?
I’m talking about solving Mondays ONLY by Acrosses. As Rex says he solves Mondays only by doing the Downs. Is there a reason he picked Downs instead of Acrosses?
A very smooth grid and a very easy puzzle. Which was exactly what I wanted in the wake of my Covid fog and fatigue. It's so rare for me to know all the names in a pop culture-based puzzle, but in this one I did. Did everyone? Or are some of the names great big "Huhs?" to younger generations?
@Lewis, I noticed your PuzzPair, too, and asked myself, "Did Bugs ever hop?" My main image is of him lounging about with a carrot :)
The cartoon references brought back childhood memories
My thought was "Snarf dessert" = POUND CAKE.
Mel Blanc, an alumnus of Lincoln High School was a featured guest at the 100th anniversary. He did many of his voices. Then told the story that while running down the hall doing Woody Woodpecker he ran into the Principal. Got in big trouble. Liked this puzzle.
What a fun puzzle. Made my Monday!
Easy/Fun fill-in-the-Blancs MonPuz. WOODYWOODPECKER was kinda the non-Looney Tunes outlier, puztheme-wise. Also, PORKYPIG was pretty ticked, that he got snubbed.
Lil M&A was a definite Looney Tunes cartoon fan ... especially for the Road Runner ones. Luved the little puff of dust, when the coyote's fall off a cliff hit bottom, seen from far above. Hey -- I knew he'd always survive.
fave all-time cartoon character was Donald Duck, tho. He always sounded like he was swearin, even tho he weren't.
staff weeject pick: ALP. Had a super-apt Mont BLANC clue.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {"What's up, Doc?" speaker voiced by Mel Blanc} = BUGSBUNNY. No crossers were needed.
some other fave stuff: THERAPY [snubbed Porky has now Blanc-checked in for some of that]. ECOLOGY. WOULDI & its clue. NODICE. POUNDCAKE. TIP's MonPuz ?-marker clue.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Iverson & ACME darlins. ACME: Looney Tunes supplier for Wiley Coyote, so she was born to do this here puz.
Masked & Anonymo11Us
... and, th-th-that's not all, folks! ...
"Follow Directions" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
p.s
@Gary Jugert dude, from yesterday: Thanx. And U R pretty day-um funny, yourself.
Man! The stuff folks know/care a lot about has me beFUDDled, seems somewhat DAFFY, not that it BUGS me!
Mel Blanc was a great talent, and certainly deserves a tribute puzzle. I don't know if this dte has any significance (it's not his birthday), but never mind that -- and I loved thinking about all those cartoon characters. And I know it's supposed to be an easy puzzle--but why, why, WHY put Blanc's name in all the clues, rather than letting us figure out what the theme is! And better yet, if feasible, put his name in the grid and use it as the revealer. The device of revealing the theme through the clues falls flat for me.
Aside from that, it's a very easy puzzle. I did like the "small piece of China or small dog" clue, a clue-type that ACME excels at. I think of BIRTH as an occasion for celebration, rather than the celebration itself--but I know fashions are changing, and that may come soon.
We got home about 5 PM Sunday after a wonderful weekend in Stonington CT; I had tried to stop newspaper delivery, but I hadn't given the Times enough notice so they delivered the Saturday paper, which was waiting on our porch. I went straight to it, still tired from the drive, and I didn't do well -- had to look up at least two, maybe three answers. I won't say more to avoid spoilers, and I won't post a comment on Saturday, because it's so late. But it was not a fun way to come home.
Glad to see you back on the blog, dear lady and hope you’re feeling much better by now.
I just wrote a comment, but it doesn't look like it has posted. I'll go read Rex and the rest of you and see if it turns up.
Ridiculously easy, even for me. Although I love all the Mel Blanc characters!
Hi Nancy, hope your treatment and recovery are going well.
I'm not all that young, and I did know all the names, but it did take some thought to come up with PEPE LE PEW.
It's been a long time since I've seen a movie with a 'short subject,' so I don't know how younger people can be expected to know anything!
Aha! Blogger is no longer telling me that my post will be published after moderator review--that's what puzzled me before.
@Rex, other kinds of rehab might involve other kinds of therapy; addiction treatment, for example.
My favorite thing about this blog is when people with special knowledge about some aspect of the puzzle give us some juicy information. Like today, with the voices of Elmer Fudd.
@Anon 9:26 -- I had the same reaction that Anon 11:06 did: How is it possible for anyone to know all this exceptionally arcane stuff? Then I thought: Maybe we don't need AI at all. Maybe if you cram enough people into a room or onto a blog ("approaching infinity" as they say in the Calculus realm) someone will know absolutely everything about something.
There's one other explanation -- and that is that Anon 9:26 is actually @JOHN X. However, this explanation would only make sense to JOHN X himself, I'm pretty sure.
Count me ìn as someone who really got a kick out of this puzzle. I am just fine with a puzzle with a very simple theme on a Monday. I’m also glad that Rex mentioned that ACME and CI are very good constructors in spite of the tepid review.
Ok. Now I’m going to make a comment on PEPELEPEW and risk some “blowback.” All I can say is, as a child, never did I ever really associate LePew with “sex.” I DID associate his overtures as “trying to romance.” But that’s not my point. I saw Pepe as an example of how NOT to do things and I wonder if that how “cartoon aged” boys would see it….you do NOT come up to the girl (or black cat with an accidental white paint stripe), grab her and kiss her. I wonder if anyone sees it “my” way or whether I’m just a hopeless “naive” case.
@Les, you might enjoy reading French Dirt by Richard Goodman. It isn’t very long and involves more than vegetable gardening in south France…but I think you’d get a kick out of it.
Brand new book re underbelly of rehab therapy: Rehab:An American Scandal by reporter Shoshana Walter
Oh, and ps…a backhoe is a pretty good ground breaking tool…;)
@Nancy 10:36 AM
Good to have you back.
For those in a mood for a challenge, the New Yorker’s web site has an Erik Agard puzzle available that I believe will appear in their next hard copy issue. I think it would be considered a challenging Saturday level puzzle here.
If you were able to tackle this past Saturdays offering from Byron W, you might find this one of interest as well. It relies quite a lot on arcana, and also seems to have a bit of an infatuation with “icky” stuff like snails, moles and moldy growths. I occasionally don’t mind punching above my weight class - after sparring a couple of rounds with this one, my arms were killing me, my legs were wobbly and my manager suggested that I throw in the towel before I get myself killed.
Good luck if you decide to give it a go.
A fun romp.
Surprised at an early comment re 29A - that
one came faster for me than the cartoon characters.
@egs, I loved your take on the pound cake.
@ Jt agree re awkward clue.
Thanks Lewis for the reminder of those fun clues.
I especially liked your 1, 2, an3, and the "new jersey" d(which I had not seen before"
@Anonymous 8:46 and others, the reason I do downs-only is because the theme answers are usually acrosses. Their theme relationship makes it easier to get those long guys without the clues.
@Nancy - I enjoyed your suggestion about getting a really big room. After all, if we had an infinite number of monkeys, and an infinite number of typewriters, they would eventually type out all of the great plays and novels.
It’s nice to see that you’re feeling well enough to solve and post a few comments today - best wishes for a continued recovery.
After a fiendishly difficult Saturday and a drag of a Sunday, this was a perfect fresh Monday. Solving down clues only, I finished cleanly without looking at a single across clue. Of course the theme really helped. And who doesn't love Mel Blanc?
My only gripe is a very minor one: as others have said, YEOW is the real answer to 19 down.
Thanks Andrea for a fun puzzle!
Wow! Two interesting book recommendations. Thank you Beezer and MJB for those. And yes, Beezer, I have a backhoe but I'm not the most competent operator so I use it sparingly.
Rex does it because it gives him a challenge on Mondays. I have gotten used to the “downs only” blather after he started this but I still find it a TAD annoying. However, it’s his blog and I guess that folks who have climbed a truly challenging mountain (without sherpas or the like) would find lesser climbs quite boring.
Interesting. I have NEVER had the part you said “after moderator review.” I DO get something akin to “something’s wrong” but sometimes I’m in “such a hurry” I don’t pay attention to it. For me, it just says something like “your post is publishing”. Ha! Guess I’ll know once I hit “publish button”
I stand corrected. First it says “publishing”, then it says “your post will be visible after approval.”
I now consider it my duty ( maybe as homage to @Z) to clear up the great “YIPE” controversy. YIPE (with no S) definition in M-W:
“to cry out sharply especially from surprise or pain”
This is to be distinguished from YIPEs or yikes…which are fairly interchangeable. (Feel free to look up THOSE definitions)
I loved all these cartoon characters when I was a kid and being reminded of them brought on some pleasant reminiscing. I am, however, a bit perplexed by PEPE LE PEW being described as a "rapey skunk". I always thought he was a caricature of himself and his overly self confident romantic approach was a parody on how not to flirt. He always failed.
By the way, there was a character on a couple of episodes of "The Simpsons" that reminded me of PEPE. It was Jacques who became Marge Simpson's bowling instructor. He told Marge he had fallen for her charms and that "some divine pin spotter must have placed us side-by-side". Here's a short YouTube video of them at the bowling alley. Toward the end Jacques has another hilarious bowling analogy for his growing attraction for Marge.
@Nancy, I see zero similarity between Anon 9:26 and John X. John X talked about submarines, military, and other things that were…”blue” tinged in the X rated way (no pun intended). If anyone reminds me of John X, it’s Dash Riprock, and HE needs an interpreter to get through his comments.
I happened to have messaged with our @GILL today. She sends her wishes for your quick recovery and plans to be back on the blog after taking a bit of summer R&R.
Anonymous 9:54AM: not a bad point, and I would add FWIW that I believe Pepe was to the best of my knowledge wholly "unsuccessful". But I think a crucial difference is that the violence in cartoons is quite plainly "cartoon violence", whereas Pepe's behavior is arguably much more on-the-nose, i.e., not far (if at all) removed from behavior frequently observed in the real world. Just consider the dozens of reports from women about the unwanted advances of the current commander-in-chief ("I just start kissing them, grab them by the ..."), on planes, in dressing rooms, you name it.
Beezer
About Pepe LePew.
I don’t remember seeing that character in decades, but my memory is like yours, that he was not presented as a positive character but one who deservedly is ridiculed. I don’t particularly remember even feeling sorry for him. One point. In those days Americans were big on ridiculing foreigners with strong accents in English speakers That would turn me off now. Cheap humor.
BTW Wikipedia says Penelope Pussy ( aka Fifi) was his love interest AND that she was attracted to LePew when he had briefly lost his scent. Confusing.
As usual I did not follow Rex’s train of logic whe he criticized the puzzle’s choice of cartoon characters. To me Mel Blanc voices is a fine theme and the ones chosen I have no problems with. I felt his comments were really stretching to complain. Interesting story about the spelling of his last name.
When I was doing the puzzle, I thought of another answer for the Mont Blanc clue. Possibly not Monday appropriate. PEN.
Enjoyed the puzzle
I think both comments (7:39 and 9:02) are incomplete. I don't agree that RP (or Professor Sharp) conflated a noun with a verbal phrase; he seems to know the difference. But if Liminal Mike means that the verb phrase can also function as a transitive verb (to stow away things), and not only as an intransitive verb (to stow away on a ship), then I would certainly agree, and I've heard that usage all my life. Here I think Anon 9:02 might have consulted more than one dictionary, for example this one.
A little hard getting started but then took off. Nice one.
Good comparison. Donald Le Pew indeed.
The stow away vs. stowaway concept reminds me of the movie “Cast Away” not being “Castaway”. Nice use of nuance there with the movie title, in my opinion…
@Gary, I’m a tried and true carnivore but I occasionally partake of what you call “punishment protein” and it’s not that bad. The secret, at least for me, is to get the firm stuff, cut it into cubes you can handle with chopsticks, and fry the shit out of it. I mean hot pan, hot oil (maybe sesame), fair amount of salt and black pepper, chilis if you like (I don’t). I wait until the tofu is golden brown and crispy, cuz crispy is what makes it seem like it’s not tofu and remove it from the heat before I add some really thinly sliced garlic and stir as it cools.
In another pan prepare your regular sort of stir fry - onions, various coloured bell peppers, bok choy, and maybe some mandolined carrot. Finish with your fave Asian sauce from a bottle or home made. I’m partial to a concoction that includes a small amount of soy, a splash or two of fish sauce, same amount of rice wine vinegar, and a slug or two of hoisin (my spell check wanted that to be hot sin, but that’s another personal preference thing). Combine the crispy tofu with the veggies and dig in.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to grill some veal.
I agree that Pepe was the stock character who thought he was cool and sexy but was laughably not. Any woman could easily fend him off. In fact it showed the power females have over such males. In no way does it glorify stalking; just the opposite.
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