Theme: Investor's quipTheme answers:
- 20A: Start of an investor's quip (I BOUGHT STOCK IN A).
- 39A: Quip, part 2 (BLANKET).
- 41A: Quip, part 3 (FACTORY).
- 55A: End of the quip (BUT IT SOON FOLDED).
So, I guess they do have to be somewhat successful, otherwise nobody would have heard of them and we'd just be mad about it. The point is, you need to know about the ALOUs (4D: Any of three baseball brothers). If you're not a sports person, don't worry — these guys are pretty easy to see if you know what to look for. Felipe Alou was the first Dominican to play regularly in the major leagues. His brothers, Matty and Jesús, followed shortly behind. Felipe's son, Moisés also played professional baseball until just last year. Clues for these guys will often include one or two of their first names, or they will be referred to as a "baseball family" or "major league brothers." You will learn other trivia about them in some late-week puzzles, but if you remember these basics you're on your way.[Crosswordese in today's puzzle that we've already covered includes ARAL (29A: Asian inland sea), À MOI (11D: Mine, in Metz), STYES (33D: Eyelid maladies), and DELE (62D: Take out, editorially).]
I'm trying a new thing where I solve the puzzle at night and then blog about it in the morning. Not really sure how much I like it. I thought it would force me to go to bed earlier, but I just stay up late reading instead. I also thought that as soon as the kids left for the school bus it would be calm enough that I could concentrate on this, but sometimes (like, say, this morning), my kids don't have what I would call a real smooth transition.
PuzzleDaughter was in tears this morning because she didn't read for her whole 20 minutes last night and now she's going to flunk third grade. PuzzleSon was still stewing about a perceived insult from his sister last night. So I was still running on the Mom Adrenalin when they left and crashed off of it, like, five minutes later. But here I am now, so let's just go ahead and talk about the puzzle.Let me tell you what I don't like about blogging sometimes. Sometimes I'm in a great mood and I sit down to solve a puzzle I'm going to blog and I visualize myself loving the puzzle.
I think about all the fun little words I'm going to come across, all the "aha" moments I'm going to have, and the sense of satisfaction I'll feel when I'm done. Then I think about how much fun it will be to sit down and share it all with you guys and follow your responses throughout the day. When it happens like that, I love it! When the puzzle is a complete disaster, on the other hand, I hate it. Fortunately, this one was somewhere in the middle. But even though I didn't hate it, it always feels like kind of a bummer not to love it. What didn't I love? Well, I'm not a big fan of quotation/quip puzzles. If the quip is really super clever or funny I don't mind it. But I don't want to go through the work of piecing together a quip and then not be dazzled by it. Today's quip? Not so much.But how about the fill?
- 6A: 1/2 fl. oz. (TBSP.). I wanted dram here. I don't know what a dram is, but it sounds cool. And for more weights and measure see 31A: Butcher's units: Abbr. (LBS.)
- 10A: Copacetic (JAKE). Not sure I've ever heard JAKE used this way. Anyone?
- 14A: Absolut alternative, briefly (STOLI). Have a STOLI with a couple ROLOs (15A: Caramel-filled candy) and that sounds like quite the snack.
- 23A: Firefighting aid (HOSE). Firefighters will be visiting the kids' school tomorrow, which I think is an awesome thing to do on that particular date. If you guys see firefighters and police officers tomorrow, thank them! They are true heroes!
- 25A: Pleasing breeze (ZEPHYR).
- 43A: Dentist's request (RINSE). I wrote in smile and immediately felt like an idiot.
- 65A: "Chestnuts roasting ..." co-writer (TORMÉ). The Velvet Fog.
- 71A: Weasellike mammal (SABLE). I initially entered stoat.
- 9D: College in Claremont, California (POMONA). Shout-out to Rex's alma mater.
- 13D: Place whom Sundance liked (ETTA). We talked about ETTA before but in her usual incarnation as Ms. James's first name. Today she's ETTA Place, the Sundance Kid's companion, played by Katharine Ross in the 1969 Newman/Redford movie.
- 40D: Neat and trim (KEMPT). Typically seen in its UN- variety.
- 57D: Chapeau's perch (TÊTE). French!
Everything Else — 1A: Syrian president (ASSAD); 16A: Fail to include (OMIT); 17A: Hawk's hook (TALON); 18A: Reason to cram (EXAM); 19A: Kentucky Derby entrant (COLT); 24A: Turndowns (NOS); 34A: Gallic she (ELLE); 35A: Appointment (DATE); 37A: Words on a desk box (IN/OUT); 44A: Pool table boundary (RAIL); 46A: Sensible (WISE); 47A: One way to get directions (ASK); 48A: "Serpico" author Peter (MAAS); 50A: Good-sized chamber ensembles (OCTETS); 52A: 45 or 78, e.g.: Abbr. (RPM); 53A: Elmer Fudd, for one (TOON); 63A: Western team that beat the Crimson Tide in the 2009 Sugar Bowl (UTES); 64A: Source of a suit (TORT); 66A: Fill fully (SATE); 67A: 20th century basso Pinza (EZIO); 68A: Cyberletters (EMAIL); 69A: If's partner, in logic (THEN); 70A: Quantum __ (LEAP); 1D: Piedmont wine region (ASTI); 2D: Attempt (STAB); 3D: With no help (SOLO); 5D: Lifeboat, perhaps (DINGHY); 6D: Old waste allowances (TRETS); 7D: Premium opera house spot (BOXSEAT); 8D: Blind part (SLAT); 10D: Athletic types (JOCKS); 11D: Mine, in Metz (À MOI); 12D: Ceramics baker (KILN); 21D: Golden __: Mongol invaders (HORDE); 22D: Baby's ailment (COLIC); 25D: Striped equine (ZEBRA); 26D: Perry of fashion (ELLIS); 27D: Big board (PLANK); 28D: Coop moms (HENS); 30D: Get a new mortgage on, briefly (RE-FI); 31D: Certain NCO, slangily (LOOIE); 32D: Pop (BURST); 36D: Gillette Mach3 predecessor (ATRA); 38D: Food-minus-pkg. measure (NT. WT.); 42D: Standoffish (ALOOF); 45D: Oregon city near the mouth of the Columbia (ASTORIA); 49D: Dutch brew (AMSTEL); 51D: Bills with Franklin on them (C-NOTES); 52D: Up from bed (RISEN); 54D: Leading the league (ON TOP); 55D: Narc's arrest (BUST); 56D: Westernmost D-Day beachhead (UTAH); 58D: Move like sludge (OOZE); 59D: __ Linda: San Bernardino suburb (LOMA); 60D: Far from flashy (DRAB); 61D: Jannings of old movies (EMIL).
63 comments:
31 Down clue is wrong. the answer, "looie" refers to lieutenant which is a commissioned officer NOT an NCO - non-commisssioned officer. "Sarge" would be an NCO
31D: Certain NCO, slangily (LOOIE)
But NCO = Non-Commissioned Officer and Looie = Lieutenant, a commissioned officer, of higher rank than the highest NCO.
I agree this was a rather DRAB (60 dn) puzzle. Was really offended by 31 dn "Certain NCO, slangily" LOOIE. That is slang for lieutenant which is a commissioned officer rank. Corporals and sergeants are NCO's.
I guess I wasn't the only one.
31 down annoyed me, too
Not only are SABLEs like weasels, they are weasels.
@PuzzleGirl, would you believe I'm listening to another Chili Peppers song while reading your post? "Give It Away" came up in iTunes (I prefer "Under the Bridge").
You just know that somewhere out there, someone finished filling in the quip, laughed, and said, "Honey! You've got to hear this! It's hilarious." And then he returned to his hobby of watching moss grow.
Not challenging enough for a Thursday puzzle...very plain and drab.
I seem to remember that the phrase "we're jake" was used by Redford's character Hooker in the movie "The Sting." It meant "we're even, all paid-up."
Not much to say about this puzzle. I also wanted dram, and I was not familiar with jake/copacetic. Now I am and I still don't like them.
Hey, 31D was a last-minute slip. Don't get too upset. It can happen. Forgive and forget.
I guess the last "Anonymous" must have been the constructor! If so, that's a pretty big slip! As an Air Force brat, myself, it took a long time to figure out that clue knowing that a lieutenant is not an NCO!
@Orange, I laughed out loud about your quip of hubby watching moss grow. I'm not that much of a fan of quip puzzles, anyway, but this quip should have FOLDED before it started!
@ Anonymous 8:02, it's shoddy constructing and editing. Had a similar one recently with insect vs. arachnid.
Having high standards isn't a bad thing.
Puzzle girl, thank you for your inciteful write-up. This blog has REALLY helped me develop my solving skills. I used to be toast by this time in the week.
Long time ago I worked with a faux-intellect who used to pepper her speech with random COPACETIC references. It kinda got annoying. Oh well, I also didn't get the jake/copacetic connection.
But doc moreau's explanation makes sense.
I thought it felt more Thursday than usual lately - missed astoria and tort - couldn't make bolt work...because it was just wrong.
Easy puzzle, am not a big quip fan, but a BLANKET FACTORY sounds like an interesting place to visit. I didn't understand LOOIE when I saw it. JAKE I have heard of. The most difficult crossing for me was ASTORIA/EZIO.
Quick fill mistakes were ALTOONA for ASTORIA and STOAT for SABLE (there's an antelope with that name too). I liked the change in ETTA cluing and love the word ZEPHYR.
Everyone rushing to point out Looie first! My husband had some choice army words.
I got 2 out of three French words (elle tete amoi). Did I really get a HS diploma w/o taking French?
Two on CA geography (Pomona, Loma)
Well, it is a big state.
Had the worst time with 36D Atra crossing 44A rail. Guy stuff.
53A toon. Shouldn't it be clued as an abbrev? Or is there really a rule about how late in the week?
The sable is in that fascinating classification of vertebrate mammal carnivores, some of which are smelly, and some surprisingly closer to cat than dog (mongoose, hyena). Go to carnivora for exciting info.
6A There was a math aid, "A pint's a pound the world around." Since we (US) are/is becoming the last place to use pints, the 2nd part makes less sense. But the first part helps US. If a pint's a pound, and a pound is 16 oz.; and a pint has 2 cups, so a cup has 8 oz. and a cup has 16 Tbsp, well then it follows. It's best to draw a picture.
I don't know Jake and hope I do know Jack.
@Sfingi: TOON has been a word in its own right since the 1930s, so no abbreviation cue is needed.
I'm curious to know who Anonymous 8:02 is. Constructor? Editor Rich Norris? L.A. Times crossword fact-checker? Someone else?
Wow, our military-rank-expert puzzle solvers are really on top of things this morning! That error went right over my head...I was just wondering LOOIE vs. LOUIE.
I agree, the quip wasn't a real knee-slapper but I still thought much of the fill was OK. @PG: I haven't heard JAKE used for anything other than someone's name, so that was new. After putting in SOLO and ROLO, I thought there might be a mini-theme going on and starting looking for polo and bolo but no.
I went for the baby ailment CROUP before correcting to COLIC. Did not know Mel Torme co-wrote "The Christmas Song" (chestnuts, etc). I liked the crossing of UTAH with UTES. TRETS rang a little bell and I think it may have been discussed here before or maybe a Word of the Day over at Rex's place?
Well, I'd best get off my duff here and go try to get this place a little more KEMPT.
JAKE - (from the 20?-40?)is slang in the progression adopted by each new generation that includes hip, hep, cool, A-OK, etc. I can remember my aunt saying "That's jake with me". 19aCOLT reminds me that a few fillies have run in the KD. Rachel Alexandra beat this year's KD winner in the Preakness and went on to 9 straight wins including the Woodward Stakes here in upstate NY at Saratoga on Sat. She's awesome!
My mother-in-law's first name was Zephyr. I always liked it; thought it was kind of a hippie name, but she was born in 1913.
two friends of mine named their son (now 3 months old) ZEPHYR. his older brother is named cedar. i'm waiting for their third child to be named after some sort of rock. i suppose peter works, although it's a bit too mainstream for their tastes. gneiss would be a nice name, maybe for a girl.
TRETS! i hadn't seen that one in a while. it looks even worse in the plural. but overall the fill was pretty good. can't say the theme excited me at all. orange's moss-growing quip was about 5 times funnier, which is to say that it wasn't particularly funny. (sorry orange.)
nothing to add to the lieutenant/NCO brouhaha, but i just wanted to point out that i remembered LOOIE being one of the few scrabble words with one consonant and four vowels. the alternate spelling, LOUIE, is also valid. i bet i can't come up with the others off the top of my head, but EERIE, AERIE, AIOLI, AUDIO, QUEUE, AALII, AQUAE... MIAOU... ZOEAE... i'm struggling here. OURIE? i think that's a valid word. but not OUTIE, despite its occasional appearance in crosswords. and yeah, now i remember why i never really took up scrabble competitively. as much as i like words, there's something soulless about memorizing lists of them. you're literally better off not remembering what they mean.
Taking a puzzle clue's error as a personal affront is just weird. Having high standards is one thing. Have zero allowance for the occasional imperfection is unreasonable. Apparently the puzzle f'd up today re: LOOIE. We get it. Rich will get it. Everyone will get it. Indignation is hardly warranted.
TRETS is godawful.
I did this very quickly, with most of my stuck-time (all of it, in fact) coming as a result of dropping COUGH where COLIC was suppose to go.
rp
My uncle, who fought in WWII, occcasionally uses JAKE as in "He's jake" or "You jake?". I translate that to "ok".
I liked the Utah Utes in the SW corner, and actually found myself liking the quip in 4 parts. It was a challenge to piece together.
I thought this was a good Thursday puzzle. Nice to see ZEPHYR (doesn't come up often, I always think of the name of a train). AMSTEL took me a little while, 'cause for some reason I always think it's spelled AMSTEHL.
Looking forward to seeing/reading all you guys again tomorrow!
@Rex - Why is TRETS "godawful" if it is in the dictionary, when other times people have been criticized for questioning real words. I am only asking because I am new at this and am trying to learn what makes a word good and why one is considered bad in a crossword puzzle.
Though this was kind of easy for a Thursday. Liked Pomona since I live in Claremont. Also I know two people named Zephyr. Both are women.
@Novice: Do you use the word "tret"? Do your friends use it? Did you ever hear your parents say it? Has it shown up in any newspaper, magazine, or book you've ever read?
For perhaps 99.5% of us, crosswords are the only place we ever encounter a word like "tret" (unless we happen to land on that page in the dictionary and randomly see it). It is an old word that has outlived its usefulness to the average person. One's life is scarcely improved by learning the word (aside from now being able to fill it in more quickly in a crossword). A word like "jackanapes" is old (500 years!) and outdated, but at least it's a funny word that would make an entertaining insult. There's nothin' you can do with "tret" to liven it up.
What TRETS tells us in a crossword is "The constructor took a shortcut. Sure, the word next to it, BOX SEAT, is cool. But the constructor could probably have worked to change the fill in that section to ditch TRETS and use fill that's more familiar and/or more lively.
Would the puzzle have lost anything to have:
THAR
HOLA
ATOM
with THAT'S, HOT SEAT, A LOT, and RAMONA going down?
novice: dictionary support is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a word to be a good crossword entry. if it's not in any dictionaries, it's not a word, and therefore it shouldn't be in a crossword. (i'm talking about words here; obviously there are other types of valid fill, such as multi-word expressions, proper names, and common abbreviations.) but merely being in the dictionary does not make it okay.
as i see it, the two things that are awful about TRETS are:
1) TRET itself is crosswordese. it's a regular repeater in crossword puzzles, and yet how many of us ever talk about trucking or shipping weight allowances? very few, that's how many. raise your hand if you are happy when you see TRET in the grid. (now, TRET's partner TARE is a little better; you might actually TARE a balance in a chem lab, or a supermarket scale, or even a bathroom scale. so it's not a specialist-only word.)
2) under what conceivable scenario could you imagine yourself needing to pluralize this concept? it's like VALORS or MODESTIES or DEISMS. more than one TRET? seriously? i know in scrabble, anything goes as as far as inflected forms, but here it seems unbelievably awkward.
@Orange - great explanation! thanks!!
@Joon - thank you also!!
Nothing more to say. East Coast puzzle victory for today. I am going to RINSE this puzzle out of my system and get back to work. Hope tomorrow is a better West Coast effort.
JAKE is in my unabridged Webster with four meanings: an uncouth rube; money; dandy and first rate; and a Jamacian alcoholic beverage.
Copacetic can also mean first rate, and, like jake, is U.S. slang.
Loved your Raindrops, PG!
Thanx all for the great JAKE revival.
I remember an old fellow talking about Jake-leg, a neurological condition caused by drinking bad booze in the 30s, but that's not copacetic.
@Orange Are there more like TOON? Is ZINE also a word, now?
@Joon I like OUTIE - and INSIE. Use them often enough in reference to bellybuttons. Or are they outsie, outy, insy? Or all of the above? What about Disney words,like fragelistic?
As @PG likes to say, Thanks for the edjumication or today, we could say: Thanks for the Etta-cation on Trets & Looie. Agree that Trets is a useless word. In Florida, there is a town called Zephyrhills and Zephyrhills bottled water (which I think is a Nestle company-does anyone remember Farfel the dog?)so zephyr was famliar. After I filled in looie from the crosses, I researched the NCO rankings, only to find what those above have already commented on. Emil Jannings, the FIRST person to be presented an Oscar and First Best Actor-was a silent film star, but with advent of talkies (he had a thick German accent)and agreeing to make propaganda films for the Nazis, he found his Hollywood film career soon folded. I guess he must be a staple in CW, but being a newbie, I found this interesting. Wanted croup for colic, too. Didn't know Astoria, Oregon was the first permanent American settlement along the Pacific Coast, named after Astor's Pacific Fur Company. Puzzle was "meh" but blog/comments redeemed it.
I thought the quip was ok.
Very fall like here in connecticut so I am making beef stew and taking some to my grandson Jake and his family
@chefbea, it IS quite cool in the NE! I can almost smell that beef stew simmering! I'm sure Jake will be copacetic with Grandmom's stew! A glass of Asti might be nice with it! Stoli, if you'd like something warmer. Is Jake a jock, too? It's good soccer and football weather!
@Rex At least the constructor clued with "Old" waste allowances when he used TRETS. I think we talked before about how archaic that word is.
@PG I guess that's why we'll never see the baseball player named Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha in a CW.
And thanks for the "Raindrops" clip... I loved the movie Sundance Kid... I think that made the Newman/Redford pair very popular.
What the heck is JAKE? I've used copacetic in sentences before (actually I think that word is pretty cool), but never heard of JAKE. So that and ETTA (13d) gave me some grief. Otherwise I sailed through this puzzle. I sort of like puzzles with quips for a theme, but I prefer quotations from famous people.
I love the word ZEPHYR. I'm just sitting here now in my screenhouse enjoying the morning ZEPHYR and hearing the chirping school kids on the playground behind me.
Oh yeah, and I felt sooo smart when I was able to confidently fill in AMOI (11d) after learning that word from your blog last week.
@sfingi: Yep, zine is a word. Here's a dictionary definition: noun, informal, "A magazine, esp. a fanzine. A webzine. Also 'zine." When you encounter a crossword answer you think should have an abbreviation cue and it doesn't, just look it up in an online dictionary or two. Crossword editors tend to meticulously follow their own abbreviation guidelines, so you will rarely catch them flubbing these.
@eileen still waiting for you to e-mail me re: chataqua
I kinda like the word tret, (a) because I know it and (b) because I used it a lot when I was in the steel industry in charge of shipping and receiving, O.K. it was many moons ago, so yeah, because I know it.
Only write-over was LOO over the SARge I had already filled in.
JAKE --- (American Heritage Dictionary-slang) fine; suitable; all right.
"Jake" is dated, for sure, but I've heard it or read it from time to time, usually meaning OK.
"Looie" for an NCO is clearly a mistake. It's not the first error I've seen in these puzzles and probably won't be the last.
I was glad to see a quip puzzle again. I've really missed them since the new eds took over. Not so much obfuscation as some, esp. on the weekends. I don't mind challenging my vocabulary, but I not only don't like trivial pursuit in a crossword, but also I find it boring. I'm not a mind reader, so I don't appreciate overly "cute" clues that have you wracking your brain trying to decipher what in the heck the author is trying to say...or staying tied to Google all the time.
This was OK by me, and I enjoyed having a quip again, even if it wasn't spectacular or hilarious. Nice change.
Just because trets are only important to truckers, does that make the word unacceptable?
@Argyle, nobody has said that TRET is unacceptable as a crossword answer. But where BOX SEAT is delicious, TRETS is merely technically edible. The people who would enjoy fill like TRET and EDILE and AMAH and obscure Indonesian tree names or Japanese deer are, I suspect, the folks who solve with the aid of a crossword dictionary. They want things they can look up in the book. Clues that bend a word's meaning in unexpected directions can't be solved with a crossword dictionary, so if that's not the kind of challenge the solver is looking for, he or she might not enjoy a Friday LAT crossword.
Too many people are getting so up-tight over "wrong clues", "offensive phrases", unaccepatable vs. acceptable usage, etc.
It gets worse and worse in this blog.
FOLKS, AREN"T CROSSWORD PUZZLES AND THIS BLOG SUPPOSED TO BE FUN?
I know critiquing and opining is copacetic, but hey, loosen up a little!
Forgot: Loved JAKE.
And I'm POMONA c/o '91, so :)
rp
This is all a matter of taste and a capricious conversation at best. Crosswords are so hopefully compromised with crosswordese in every area that we quite often look like fools by knowing certain tidbits that are only applicable to them. Take a look back at the last week conversations whether it is ATNO, KAYO, or NTWT.
I don't quibble with words as long as it is in the dictionary. Which is why I won't walk the line of how unusual a word is and should it be in the crossword. Some puzzles are difficult and they'll have words you never heard of, deal with it.
My problems are more related to outright errors, horrific/many abbreviations, forced fill (variant spellings), unusual/many foreign words, and words exisiting only in the crossword universe.
I guess I'm beating a dead horse, but 31D killed me trying to figure out what rank in what branch of service had "L-OO-E" as a slang term :-) (as a former "looie" myself, I didn't think that'd be the answer). Oh well. And I guess I don't see errors very much in crosswords, so it was one of those "ooh, I found an error!" moments that made me feel smart, if only for a fleeting moment! On a Thursday, no less, which are still quite hard for me.
I am a new puzzler and have tried to choose an identity to comment, but alas I am so inept at this computer stuff that I have had no success. so for now I will have to remain anonymous!
I loved the puzzle today. I took one look at it and thought, no way can I solve this. But surprise, I just kept plugging away and viola I got it finished with only one Google! Even got the theme! Hooray for me. I am just now able to solve most of Thursdays' puzzles so you can understand my thrill.
I love this website. I have learned so much about puzzles, construction of puzzles, clues, etc. It is great. I must admit I do not like it when commenters complain that a Friday or Saturday puzzle is too easy. some of us work very hard to have a modicum of success on Friday or Sat. Please be patient with us.
Thanks for all you do and thank you for helping me along in the wonder and joy of solving crossword puzzles.
florida grandma
Welcome Florida grandma...from connecticut grammy
aka chef bea
Have got to agree with Rex that ANON must be the constuctor. Curious that he/she didn't ID her/him-self and found the prickly entry kinda odd, but then again constructing the puzzles is a very hard job and I admire the creative endeavors!
@chef bea: Believe it or not: we have been practically living up at Lake Chautauqau! I tried to send you an email last week but obviously it did not go through. I will try again.
Happy Puzzle Solving!
Eileen
Third try: did not like TRETS at all or incorrect cluing for LOOIE but it wasn't a "puzzle-breaker." Chiefly, I didn't like the theme, which I found neither "quippy" nor memorable. But: liked: ZEPHYR, ROLO (found out what they are) and really liked the appropriate west coast flavor to this LA Times puzzle today-POMONA, LOMO Linda, ASTORIA (OR, not Queens!), ALOU (the brothers played most of their careers on west coast teams). So very enjoyable Thursday and a testing one to boot. I return east from Seattle tomorrow and will miss the Tacoma News Tribune esp for the puzzle and daily color comics!
@Florida grandma - This is all rather new to me too. Here is what I did to get a user name. 1. left click in the circle next to Name/URL. 2. Go to Name (or Username) and type in the name you have chosen. 3.Left click on Publish your comment. Hopefully that will do, but I make no promises. Good-luck!
@eileen
My e-mail= chefbea1@yahoo.com
Oh yes -- Is anyone else excited that the JOCKS take the field tonight for the first game of the 2009-2010 NFL season?
@Orange -I guess I'll go with the Free Dictionary. With Scrabble, my only sport, we always agree to a dictionary first.
Not to beat it to a bloody pulp, but to me, tret/trett was a Deutscher word; but, now the Free Dict. seems to indicate it is a 4% add-on after the tare is subtracted from. I'd prefer an example.
Everyone has their favorite inclusions. @*David* is close to mine.
@Anonymous 4:14 I had a little trouble getting my handle in, but I still can't hold on to the orange Blogspot thingy and have to go with the gray profile thingy. Oh, I hear they're called icons, but I've always been an iconoclast.
You guys nailed my two nits:
Looie is suddenly decommissioned? I'm a Major and Lieutenant Commander (MAJ) (LCR) (LCDR) - am I now a pissant?
and 71A - Sable=weasel=ermine, depends on the season.
I thought I had issues with fencing malaprops (epees being mixed with foils and sabres), but now my rank and nickname? (yes, I am known as "The Weasel." Wanna know why? Sorry. No can do. I'd have to DELE you.
btw, I just succeeded at solving Matt Gafney's crossword contest for five weeks in a row. (I usually only got three weeks in out of four) If I can, you can:
http://crosswordcontest.blogspot.com
If you really want to bug him, remind him how much he looks like Seth MacFarline.
Sorry, MacFarlane. Seth MacFarlane. Creator of Family Guy, American Dad and now The Cleveland Show. I can't post the pix here, so google them. Sepparated twins?
Looks like I get the last word!
@PG: Thanks for blogging even when you don't feel like it! I don't know where I'd be without the three of you (certainly NOT a better puzzle solver than before I found this blog!)
Thanks to all of my fellow commentors as well, without you I may have never known (nor cared) what a TRET was. Wasn't TETS, "Asian Celebrations" clued earlier in the week?
Saw the NCO mistake and thought, aha! I've found an error, only to find that many non-military folks found it too, drats!
I'm with PG on the quotation/quip puzzles, unless they're historical or memorable (i.e. a new joke you might tell the next day).
@Charles Bogle: Glad you enjoyed our little paper. I love the color comics too! Have a safe trip home. BTW, how did your daughter's tests come out?
@All: Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.
P.S. I think the 60 or so of us here should mount an effort to bring "Jake" back!
Instead of I'm/we're COOL, I'm/we're OKAY, I'm/we're GOOD - insert JAKE! It's retro-chic!
When we bring it back into the lexicon, we can all celebrate with a cyber High-Five!
@Rex, Orange and PuzzleGirl: did we break the 60-comment barrier for the first time? Congrats on an obviously very successful blog!
Post a Comment