Feb 3, 2009

Tuesday February 3, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: A Sacred Journey

17A: 1941 Bing Crosby movie: BIRTH OF THE BLUES

40A: 1937 Paul Muni move (with "The"): LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA

61A: One of Donne's sonnets: DEATH BE NOT PROUD

None of the above theme answers was familiar to me. I thought there would be an odyssey of struggle waiting ahead when I read the clues. Was surprised that most of them crumbled quickly.

Had trouble with HMO (62D: Ins. choice). "Insurance" did not come to my mind readily at all. I need an additional word "Medical" for the clue, either "Medical Ins. choice" or "Med. Insurance choice".

Besides "LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA" and "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL", what other movie titles include the word LIFE?


1A: Painter's base: GESSO. Wikipedia says GESSO was "traditionally mixed with animal glue, usually rabbit-skin glue". Does modern GESSO contain any animal product?

29A: Yellowish-green olivines: PERIDOTS. Nice rings. Peridot is the August birthstone. Don't know how it differs from emerald.

32A: University in Waco: BAYLOR. The largest Baptist university in the world.

37A: Seraglio: HAREM. I forgot the meaning of "Seraglio". Italian for "enclosure". I often wonder if men really are not allowed inside HAREM.

46A: Heroic in scope: EPIC. Watched "Gandhi" the other day. Couldn't fully understand his mindset. Overly idealistic.

49A: Supporter: ADHERENT. Supporter of a "cause", isn't it? Nehru was an ADHERENT of Gandhi's philosophy and legacy, but he is not an ADHERENT of Gandhi, right?

55A: Dope or skinny: INFO. And FACT (57D: Actual event).

58A: One of the Ionian Islands: CORFU. Here is the map. Upper left corner. Prince Philip was born there. Lots of decorative stuff on his uniform.

69A: Van Duyn and Washbourne: MONAS. Van Duyn was a Pulitzer-winning poet (1991). Washbourne played Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in "My Fair Lady" (1964). Did not know the former, and forgot the latter.

72A: Some golf tournaments: OPENS. "Some tennis tournaments" too. Rafael Nadal just won Australia Open. Stunning. Another history in the making.

73A: Dutch painter: STEEN (Jan). Here is his painting offered at European Fine Art Affair last year. With the current global economic crisis, I don't expect any "shock and awe" in 2009, unless it's another Rembrandt.


2D: Samuel's mentor: ELI. I guessed. Bible is definitely my Achilles' heel. Holy smoke, is it really ELI Manning?

13D: Durante feature: NOSE. A prominent NOSE indeed.

22D: Cameos and pippins: APPLES. I've had enough APPLES this winter. I am craving fresh peaches & nectarines.

27D: Adam's second: ABEL. And ONAN (59D: Judah's son). No trouble with either of them.

28D: Tom, Dick or Harry, etc.: NAME. What's so special about those three names? They don't rhyme or anything. Or are they just random picks?

35D: Bounces back: REACTS. I suppose so.

41D: Big pot of stew: OLLA. Olio can be "Big pot of stew" too.

43D: Japanese fighter of WWII: ZERO. No idea. Strange number ZERO. Why not name their fighter EIGHT? 8 is a lucky number for both Chinese and Japanese.



Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - this would've been the fastest puzzle I ever did.....right up to south central. Even though I knew the theme answer for 61A, I stopped cold at the confluence of Corfu, Onan and Monas. Finally pulled Onan out of my, uh, rear and then Corfu looked vaguely familiar and Monas became the only logical fill for 69A. Other than that, my only problem with the puzzle is that 'reacts' doesn't seem like a good answer for 'bounces back'. Rebounds, yes; to me, react is a response to stimuli.

Today is The Day the Music Died - in 1959, when the plane carrying the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly crashed in a field in Iowa.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches." -- Socialite Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Martin said...

I did not like this puzzle. For starters, I didn't like the theme fills: the first two were movie titles so why not the third? There's no movie title with fifteen letters beginning with "Death of"? I checked the imdb and found a 1981 TV movie called "Death of a Prophet" starring Morgan Freeman as Malcolm X. Now look at the puzzle again: the fills immediately above and below the third theme entry (CORFU and MONAS) were a bit weak in that they are obscure proper names. Surely this could have been done better.

Well, I did this puzzle a few hours ago and I'm still on vacation so I got out pencil and paper and I wrote down my own clues.

58A Even
61A 1981 Morgan Freeman TV movie
69A Open
70A Lift
72A Sections
50D Perceive as sound
51D Mistakes
53D Less dangerous
59D Acidic
60D Pyridine
62D Jump on one foot
63D Eggs
64D Way to stand
65D Get a move on
66D Language suffix
67D Time to go to bed?

I'll wait a while before posting the new answers.

The puzzle took 20 minutes, 27 seconds by the way. I wanted ON CALL for ON HOLD and DAME or MA'AM for LADY.


C.C. Burnikel said...

I also flinched a bit at the REACTS clue. Hmmm, another interesting quote today. "Fill what's empty".

Great 15-letter movie title. "DEATH ON THE NILE" is another candidate.

Your SITKA & Sarah Palin comment brought a smile to my face.

I've always been for "Less is more". My brain is not big enough to explore a wider range of unknowns. I prefer penetrating deeper into a few subjects that truly interest me.

Anonymous said...

Good morning C.C.:

If you saw a Peridot and an Emerald together, you would know the difference; as an August birth, I had a birthstone ring given to me when i was young, and it was not verry pretty. I always wondered how April got the Diamond (who devised these charts) and felt even wors when I learned August was once the Diamond. Oddly, while the puzzle was easy, Mona was also my last letter in, though Ins. choice is often HMO, or PPO.

C.C. Burnikel said...

You are a real diamond in disguise then. Don't feel bad.

Kevin & Dr. Dad,
Baseball players seem to always have MRI whenever they have a fractured bone.

Great Blue Mountain clue. I plan to have more guest-blogging in the future. It looks fun.

Thanks for the correction on Swiss FRANC.

Dennis said...

C.C., what's happening to you? "Fill what's empty"? "I prefer penetrating deeper"? Are you hanging around with Lois??

In answer to your 'zero question' - I've always been a student of fighter aircraft technology, so I can help a bit with this one. The plane is officially known as the A6M; 'A' means it's a carrier-based plane, '6' means it's the 6th such plane made for the Imperial Navy, and 'M' is for Mitsubishi. Its Japanese Navy designation was 'Type 0 Carrier Fighter', hence the 'zero'. The allied name for the plane was "Zeke".

Bill said...

Wow, two days in a row! Three, if you count Barry's x word.
Done, done and done. No "G's", some slow spots but they got finished. I agree that reacts and bounces back are not quite the same.
And, Dennis, the x words we've been getting have been mostly "in house" constructors, (I think). So the trib doesn't have to pay them extra. With their financial problems they probably can't afford Barry S. (and other)
x words.
Off to the Dr's for a kidney pounding.
CY'All Later

C.C. Burnikel said...

You said "Fill what's empty" earlier, and you said "to broaden" yesterday morning. I was merely stating my opinion. Why "Type 0" fighter instead of "Type 1" or "Type 2"?

Clear Ayes,
What exactly is a high maintenance woman?

Thanks for additional information on LABAN.

Re: Quatra/TETRA. Interesting question. Funny too.

NYTAnonimo said...

I got hung up on MONA and ONON also. Finally cheated on that last word to solve the puzzle.

Searched the IMDB and found another movie starting with Life-Life of Brian. Like yours and the original better though C.C..Had never heard of PERIDOTS before.

GESSO and STEEN reminded me of this link. You'll really like it if you enjoy art.

C.C. Burnikel said...

I agree, most of the puzzles we've been offered lately are "in-house" construction, mainly from our editor himself. Good luck with the "pounding".

The LIFE movie title needs to have 15 letters though.

Martin said...

58A Even = AT PAR
69A Open = OVERT
70A Lift = RAISE
72A Sections = PARTS
50D Perceive as sound = HEAR
51D Mistakes = ERRORS
53D Less dangerous = SAFER
59D Acidic = TART
60D Pyridine = PPTS
62D Jump on one foot = HOP
63D Eggs = OVA
64D Way to stand = PAT
65D Get a move on = HIE
66D Language suffix = ESE
67D Time to go to bed? = TEN

DEATH OF A SALESMAN would have been a perfect theme fill but it is one letter too many. DEATH ON THE NILE is one letter short.


Col_Gopinath said...

Good evening from India,
Got stuck at couple of places. What's the connection between Skinny and INFO?? And why is LEYON a troublesome car. Got PLAT from the down clues another new word learnt today.

Kazie: As per my m-i-l there is no seperate servant class in Sri Lanka so I suppose you can use any common name, however I have asked her to give me the names of the servants she had when she was there shall send them across when she does remember them. Send me your e-mail ID and I shall send it direct to you without cluttering this blog.

Linda: Rudyard Kipling is not talked about much, by the present generation, I am sure my sons would never even have heard of him. I remember his Jungle Book and Gunga Din from my school days, otherwise I am not a guy who is into literature I prefer the science fiction/espionage variety.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

This puzzle started out looking a bit fierce, but ended up being more of a lamb. What saved my bacon this morning was the fact that I somehow managed to pull GESSO, PERIDOTS, ONAN and CORFU up from the depths of my hind brain. That, and I actually knew DEATH BE NOT PROUD. ONAN, btw, is famous for having a sin named after him -- Onanism.

Other unknowns today were BIRTH OF THE BLUES, LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, and MONAS, but I was able to get them all via the perps. I also had no idea that there was an apple called a cameo, but fortunately I had vaguely heard of pippins before.

Basically, this was another schizoid puzzle from our beloved editor cum creator that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be an easy puzzle or a hard one. For example, the clue for 21A used two very well-known actresses, but then we get "Van Duyn and Washbourne" for 69A? Go figure...



"Skinny" and "dope" are both slang terms for information. As in, "Can you give me the skinny on that candidate?"

As for LEYON, it's actually LEMON (30D is THEM, not THEY).

Dick said...

Good Morning CC and all. Another easy one today, I finished with no outside help. Like the other posts the only place I slowed down was in the central south but it was doable from the perps. I had to guess 69A as "Monas" but it sure seemed like the only answer. The cross of "Onan" and "Corfu" also slowed me down for a bit.

I agree that 38D "reacts" is a stretch, but the perps confirmed the answer.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday. It's off to the gym and then to the physical therapist.

Barry G. said...


How about "LIFE OF DAVID GALE" (with "The")?

dougl said...

I was stuck at Zero/Reacts/Zola for a while, but managed to get it finally. Didn't help that I hadn't heard of the movie. And I agree with the rest of you that Reacts did not sound like an appropriate answer to Bounces Back.

Anonymous said...

hello all,
I am a new (found this site about two weeks ago while searching for a clue) lurker. I appreciate the gentle repartee that seems to characterize most of the posts, as well as the help with clues. I can usually complete this puzzle but do get stuck occasionally. My local paper, the Lexington Herald-Leader, carries this puzzle and the NYT puzzle, which I normally do quickly early in the week but don't even try Friday or Saturday.
In re: today's quote: A few months ago I read a biography of ARL in which the above quote appeared. It seemed to be her response to the relaxed sexual mores of the '60s. A more famous quote of hers was "If you can't say something nice about someone, come and sit next to me". Quite a lady.
Anyway, I enjoy the blog, and will probably continue to lurk. Carry on.

kazie said...

Hi to all, new lurker Windhover, welcome!
I had no real trouble today, other than having to guess GESSO from perps. I'd never heard of it. I agree about react too.

CORFU was a gimme. I was there in April of 1970. At that time it was idyllic. We stayed in the youth hostel, and a lot of young people rented motor scooters to get around. At a little pub, the locals taught us their Greek dances while they tried to chat us up a bit, all in fun. We had gone there by ship from the Italian port at Bari, and it was a wonderful intro to Greek culture before we reached the mainland en route to Athens.

kazie said...

Thanks again. I updated my profile so you can reach my email from there.

Frey said...

Got through this one with no googles.... nice and easy.

@DENNIS.... thanks for the explanation on the ZERO... I always thought it related to the dot in the flag :):):) Oh well...

@DICK... Congrats on the STEELERS...sorry its two days late... great ending too.

Anonymous said...

Constructor could have clued 35D as "Slaps his face".

Anonymous said...

Mark - Buenos Aires

C:C: Tom, Dick and Harry is slang for "everybody" or "all sorts of people" eg "Every Tom, Dick and Harry now has a cell phone."

Anonymous said...

mark - Buenos Aires

c.c. continuing what has been said on the diversity of this language and the ability to make nouns into verbs, consider floor,table, chair, milk, sugar, beer, glass, all can be made into verbs

"he was floored by the question"
"he tabled the motion"
"he chaired the meeting"
"he milked his auntie for every cent she had"
"he sugared the proposal by offering a free holiday"
"he got beered up last night"
"he got into a fight and somebody glassed him"

the list seems endless - map, shelf, paper, box, book, sun, sky, bottle, canal, ship, pin, staple, pen etc

DoesItinInk said...

This was a very easy puzzle. I breezed through it. A few unknowns…though I knew PERIDOTS, I did not know what “olivines” were, and despite eight years of parochial grade school, I did not know ONAS to be “Judah’s son”. I too did not know ZERO to be a “Japanese fighter of WWII”, but it was easily obtainable from the crosses.

@cc: “Tom, Dick and Harry” are such ordinary names that they represent “anybody” (as in any “Tom, Dick or Harry”) or “everybody” (as in “every Tom, Dick and Harry”).

Steen’s painting of the “Sacrifice of Iphigenia” made me curious of the story. I had forgotten it from the Iliad. “Iphigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra…. Agamemnon was gathering an army at Aulis for the attack on Troy when he angered Artemis by killing an animal at her temple. Artemis caused the winds to become calm so the ships could not sail to Troy. The seer Calchas determined that Iphigenia must be sacrificed to appease Artemis. To get Iphigenia to come to Aulis she and her mother were deceived by telling them that she was to marry Achilles. When she arrived in Aulis she was quickly led to the altar and sacrificed. But as the knife was about to enter her throat Artemis substituted a deer for her and took her to Tauris.” So sad to think that a father could consider sacrificing his daughter for a war.

g8rmomx2 said...

c.c. and all,

c.c.: How about the following movie titles: My Life Without Me and Death at a Funeral

Windhover: Welcome, hope you stick around!

I agree with everyone that reacts does not sound right for bounces back.

I originally had Edsel for troublesome car, but changed it to lemon. I only got Zero from the perps. Although I did get Olla for Big pot of stew, isn't the meaning of Olla the earthenware pot itself and not the dish? Unless you add the word Podrida, which is a stew then.

BarryG: How did the birthday celebration go for the little guy?

Have a great day everyone!

ferd 77 said...

still cant do 70 across!! Help and dont understand leyon or 65 down.GRR

Ferd 77

DoesItinInk said...

@Pete: 70A is TORSO, 65D is ORE. If for “leyon” you mean 45A, then the answere is LEMON.

DoesItinInk said...

58A par
61A 1981 Morgan Freeman TV movie...Death of A Prophet
69A Open...overt
70A Lift...raise
50D Perceive as sound...hear
51D Mistakes...errors
53D Less dangerous...safer
59D Acidic...tart
60D Pyridine...ppts
62D Jump on one foot...hop
63D Eggs...ova
64D Way to stand...pat
65D Get a move on...hie
66D Language suffix...ese
67D Time to go to bed?...Ten

Very clever! Though I do think the clue for PPTS was a bit obscure. It took me a long time to verify it on Google. How about "Mtg closing costs" (percentage points)?

Auntie Naomi said...

Good Afternoon C.C. and Co.,

17:08 for me this morning. That's a bit longer than I thought it was going to be at first.

I pulled GESSO out of the deep recesses and got GAB as a result. CORFU was a gimme as it is another place to which I have been. It is quite different from the islands of the Aegean, being much greener.

The BIRTH OF THE BLUES was a ridiculous movie that was such a product of the times.

"Death in Venice" is 15-letters, if spelled in Spanish (Muerte en Venecia). Of course, that would not have worked in the puzzle for other reasons. You gotta admit Mahler's Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony is incredibly beautiful. BTW, C.C., we went to the 'Music and The Brain' event last night. Such a treat to listen to Franz Welser-Möst speak while sitting a mere ten feet directly in front of him. It was a great way to spend the evening.

Barry G. said...


A good time was had by all. He even managed to get a few presents that he still wants to play with three days later...

Anonymous said...

I think the reason LEMON is used to describe such things as a troublesome car is that although we like to have lemon in various foods and drinks, the fruit or juice is quite bitter by itself.
I grew up in the Chicago area and there is a city called Galena northwest of there. I was curious how it got such a strange name and learned that it is the name of an ore that is mined in that area.

Anonymous said...


HMO - homeowners insurance, also.

Sort of follows along with 'homeowners association'. I sell real estate so I see this abbreviation often. I was a title agent and saw it then, also.

HMO is also a health insurance plan.

WM said...

C.C. Gesso is now a 100% polymer emulsion that is used as a binder and base for pretty much any kind of paint. About 3 coats is sufficient. I always sand down the final coat a bit before painting. Before all the polymers that are now in use, animal skin glues in a powder form that were mixed with water were often used to seal the canvas surface, which was then often coated with white lead-based paint. Also a tone ground of a thinned out color is often used so that there are no little white spots glaring through the painting.

Rabbit skin and horse hide glues are still available. I have only used them in the preparation of Theatre "flats" for scene painting. They smell awful.

The puzzle was ok and I did get the theme answers with help from the perps. Some unknowns that kind of filled themselves in on their own.

Dennis...Thank you for the Japanese Zero info. My husband thought they were called ZERO because of the circular design on the wings. So now, we are both better informed...that's why I love this site.

ClearAyes...Would it be possible for you to post the Quark recipe that worked for you? Would muchly appreciate it. Thanks

kazie said...

That free rice link is great! I managed to donate about 1400 grains just on the art, and then I went to French and German vocabulary and whizzed through those too. Barry G could even improve his French there! (After he gets rested up from the b'day party!)

Anonymous said...


It is ONAN who is the son; the term Onanism is attributed to the biblical reference to "spilling one's seed upon the earth" which was rather frowned upon. Of course that was at a time when we were supposed to "go forth and multiply" before crowded cities, smog and global warming. I wonder how many of this group remember the day the plane crashed with the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly; I do which is both nice and a little sad. DEATH BECOMES HER, would be my movie title; very funny.
C.C., thank you for the jewel of a compliment, I enjoy every facet of this blog.

As for pictures, I am too old or old fashioned to know how to do that...


Linda said...

Concerning the Japanese zero... It was infinitely more maneuverable than our F4F`s. A naval aviator by the name of John Smith Thach , aka "Jimmy", devised an aerial maneuver the allowed the slower American planes to "trap" the Zeros in cross-fire.
It was named the "Thach Weave" and was used a late as the Vietnam war.

Today`s riddle: What gets larger the more you take away? (can`t WAIT for your clever answers!)

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, A nice easily solved puzzle today. My only sticky place was the cross of ONAN and MONAS. I guessed at MONAS because Mones, Monis, Monos and Monus just looked silly.

what other movie titles include the word LIFE? There are lots of movies containing the word LIFE, Defending Your Life, Lust for Life, It's A Wonderful Life, This Boy's Life, Life Stinks and many more. The only 15 letter one I could think of is Imitation of Life, a 1959 potboiler starring Lana Turner.

WM said...

Linda...a hole(no DFness there)

Anonymous said...


Well the hole came too quickly, but...

The National Debt.

A negative Number.

Anonymous said...

following the hole response, I would like to add, debt!

Anonymous said...

Tom, Dick, and Harry were names used to refer to tunnels in the the movie "The Great Escape." I believe these are chosen because they are 'generic' names and the Nazi's won't know that the POWs are referring to escape tunnels. The Great Escape is an amazing movie and I would recommend it to everyone. T,D, and H are just a simple way to refer to men/people in general.

Clear Ayes said...

I had never heard of poet Mona Van Duyn, so I did a little G-ing. Her poetry is a good example of why a lot of people don't like poetry, too convoluted and difficult to understand.

Earth Tremors Felt in Missouri

The quake last night was nothing personal,
you told me this morning. I think one always wonders,
unless, of course, something is visible: tremors
that take us, private and willy-nilly, are usual.

But the earth said last night that what I feel,
you feel; what secretly moves you, moves me.
One small, sensuous catastrophe
makes inklings letters, spelled in a worldly tremble.

The earth, with others on it, turns in its course
as we turn toward each other, less than ourselves, gross,
mindless, more than we were. Pebbles, we swell
to planets, nearing the universal roll,
in our conceit even comprehending the sun,
whose bright ordeal leaves cool men woebegone.

I prefer John Donne. Although not "officially" a poem, here's a famous poetic excerpt from his Meditation XVII -

No man is an island, entire of itself;
as well as if a promontory were,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

WM said...

Lemonade714...I would agree with a negative number. But, with debt, you add to it to make it larger and if you are taking away, then you are diminishing the size of the debt...ergo(I've always wanted to use that word)...the debt(owed) gets smaller.

But maybe that is just my convoluted thinking.

Linda said...

wolfmom, lemonade714:
...all good answers, I was thinking more along the lines of: Hillary`s ego...a three-year old`s on Weight Wathcher`s...

Linda said...

...Weight Watcher`s

carol said...

Hi C.C. and all, late excuse.
Fun puzzle and no googling or c/w dictionary either! I did not know 40A but the perps took care of it. I wonder if tomorrow will be the hammer.

I do remember the "Day the Music Died".. it is still clear in my mind. Several of the artists of that day have died in plane crashes, the one that really got to me was the death of Ricky Nelson. I always "panted" after him...Elvis was a heart stopper too, but to me, a little scary. Of course I'm older and "wiser" now. ;0

embien said...

9:35 today. I had a typo in OLLA (had OLLO by mistake) and it took quite a while to go through the grid to find the error.

I could just not get on the same wavelength as the constructor as I didn't know any of the titles off the top of my head. Putting EASEL in for 1a: Painter's base (GESSO) didn't help. Ugh.

Clear Ayes said...

C.C. What exactly is a high maintenance woman?. That's a tough question.

She insists on expensive clothes, shoes, hair styling, manicures and pedicures. Beautifully furnished homes and exotic vacations are also high on her "gotta have" list. Typically, she depends on a man to furnish those benefits. Money spent on her seems to be the yardstick by which she measures her own personal success. Imelda Marcos and any of the Donald Trump wives are (probably unfair) examples who come to mind.

In addition, she is most likely to be emotionally needy. She has to be the center of attention and be told how beautiful she is and how much she is loved.

But, just like "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", "high maintenance" is in the mind of the woman being maintained and the person doing the maintaining.

If a man is wealthy enough to support her, he may not consider that she is particularly high maintenance.

Some women have become successful on their own, Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart for example, and consider the "good stuff" only what they have worked hard for and deserve. Although they spend a lot of money on the good life, I don't think they would considered themselves to be "high maintenance".

Carol, I loved Ricky Nelson too!

Wolfmom, Thanks for the information on GESSO. BTW, I emailed the Quark recipe to you.

Anonymous said...

thank you does it in ink,,,now i complete it!!! Ferd 77

Anonymous said...

I too had easel, was not giving it up either. Funny how one can be so sure of a word.
Have a great day.

kazie said...

Geri and Embien,
You're not the only ones--I had easel for a short time too.

JD said...

Good afternoon C.C. and all,

I'm so enjoying all the additional comments from the newcomers.

This was a great puzzle for me today, just enough names to let me know I was on the right track. But, I started out with prime for 1A and ended up with GASSO.LOL. No clue who Samuel's mentor was. I ran out of steam at 73A, and decided to bypass "G", and collect /correct any mistakes here.Did use a dictionary to find what olivines were.This was all at 6am, and now I am waiting for my art class to arrive.

Auntie Naomi said...

In my haste, I failed to follow NYTAnonimo's link to the Free Rice site. It is terrific. I suspect it took me a bit longer to get to 1600 on the paintings. I had fun, though, and plan to do some more of it. I have only done the paintings, as yet. I mailed the link to my sister-in-law, who majored in art. Thanks for pointing it out; and thank you NYTAnonimo :)

Martin said...

Re: Tom, Dick and Harry. They aren't just generic names: they are common names, in the sense that common people go by those names. More formal versions would be Thomas, Richard and Harrison.


It was also wrong. I googled PPTS and Pyridine came up right away but it should have been clued as "Pyridinium salt".


NYTAnonimo said...

Glad you enjoyed the art link kazie and PromiseMeThis-a young friend and I were playing the vocabulary game and she's the one who discovered the other subjects. BTW is there a story behind your name PromiseMeThis?

Someone called me a "high maintenance woman" because I "pamper" myself after my 45-50 minute swim with a warm shower, shampoo and lotion-LOL! It's relative-depends on who you're talking to and what they're used to, but there are extremes.

kazie said...

NYTAnonimo and Promiseme,
I went back after my meeting, and tried the Italian, Spanish and English grammar. My weak point there was punctuation, but it was fun guessing in the other languages too, and they give multiple chances to get them right.

Anonymous said...

Promise Me This: In reply to your post last night. No, the pot-belly pig was properly mourned, not eaten. However, your in-laws would probably not have appreciated the standard breakfast with bacon and ham.

to Linda and wolfmom,

Sometime ago I established an identity, used it once and then could never get my comments posted after that. So when I discovered I could post 'anonymously' that's what I've done. I'm too technologically impaired to figure out any thing that is very involved. Sorry. Dot

JD said...

NYTanonimo, that is an addictive web site.Guessed enough art for about 2000 grains, but will go back and try different things. Thanks!

Dot, keep on writing; we love hearing from you.

Crockett1947 said...

@dot Please continue to post. The avenue you've chosen works for others here as well, and it's not like you're not taking ownership of your posts since you sign them.

Thanks for the Sun Prairie information, especially about the Congressional Record. As others have said, this is a marvelous blog for learning about all sorts of things!

WM said...

I have to add in that Ricky Nelson was a really big deal back then, having grown up with Ozzie and Harriet. But I think I also sent in for an autographed photo of Tony Dow on Leave It To Beaver... I was pretty young at the time.

ClearAyes, Thanks for the Quark recipe

Linda...Sorry for the dull answer...I am often too literal for my own good.

Welcome to Windhover and Dot, just keep posting with you name at the bottom...

We found the Rice Website awhile back and it really is fun and for a good cause.

Actually, I also put in EASEL for 1A and it took a very long while for me to give it up...GESSO, though known to me seemed like a really obscure xword choice and the SIR in 3 down worked!

Linda said...

Forgot to add that I wrote about "The Thach Weave"(by "Jimmy Thach") because he was a semi-local celebrity. Many people say that his invention actually turned the tide of aerial war. Of course that was WAY before my time (she says with all her fingers AND TOES crossed.)