Here you will find photos, poetry, and possibly somelight-heartedfoolishness. For the Heavier Side of JzB see my other blog, Retirement Blues. (There be dragons!)
I claim copyright and reserve all rights for my original material of every type and genre.
Every day visits* From Moose, Goose, and Orb Weaver All seized by Haiku
"Why moose and goose?" you may ask. Back on 2/04/13 Pirate wrote a haiku with an elk in it, and I responded with one with a moose and then included him every day. A few days later in comments Mystic asked "Where's the goose?" So I started including her with this post on 2/07. A week later on the 14th, Mark Readfern asked for and received a spider. The rest is history.
*Well, most days, anyway. Grant me a bit of poetic license.
25 A. Hyundai's home : SOUTH KOREA. The country of origin for this vehicle. At this point you might think we had an auto-related theme, but it was not to be.
49 A. Easter season feast : PALM SUNDAY. This is a moveable feast falling the Sunday before Easter and marking the beginning of Holy Week. It celebrates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem on a donkey, symbolizing peace.
Hi gang, Jazzbumpa here, playing life guard today. Happy to have the unifier, since I was asea without it. Interesting entry by our fearless leader, along with long-time Corner regular and nautical expert, Al, aka Spitzboov. Congrats on your first puzzle, Al! Now, let's all have a stroll along the BEACH, get some sand between our toes, and see if we can avoid getting it in other places.
Theme: TIME OUT FOR HOCKEY SEASON. And just in time, as the first of the regular season openers occur tonight, with the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary flames hosting the Vancouver Canucks. Seven more games follow on Thursday. My beloved Red Wings don't open until Friday, when they host the Maple Leafs [which I saw referred to as a dysfunctional organization with a psychotic fan base] now led by former Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.
Today's theme entries are all hockey infractions. Hockey is a rough, physical game, but there are limits, at least in theory. For a minor penalty, the offending player is given a 2 minute time out, and his team mates must play a man short, either for the duration, or until the other team scores. For a major penalty, the duration is 5 minutes and the team with the man advantage may score as many goals as they are able to. The team with the man advantage is said to be on the power play.
17 A. Sleeping in the great outdoors, e.g. : ROUGHING IT. AKA camping. Not a lot of fun in the rain. After camping with me one time, the LW made a strong case about the virtues of indoor plumbing. In my role of excellent husband, I take such things very seriously. The ROUGHING penalty involves excessive physical contact.
23 A. Making sense : HOLDING WATER. Indicates a sound concept, by analogy to a bucket that does not leak. The HOLDING penalty involves grabbing the opponent's body, equipment or clothing.
38 A. Fair odds : FIGHTING CHANCES. This indicates a possibility of success, given sufficient effort. The FIGHTING penalty is the only major on today's list. Often they cancel, since it generally takes two to tangle; but uneven numbers sometimes participate, and actual melees have been observed at times. With this kind of variability, it is possible for one or both teams to end up one or two men short while the penalties are served.
49 A. Airport agent's request : BOARDING PASS. This is what gets you onto the plane. The BOARDING penalty involves pushing an opponent violently into the wall surrounding the skating surface, while he is facing the wall. This is often a blind side hit.
And the unifier -- 60 A. Hockey punishment for the starts of the longest across answers : PENALTY BOX. This, also known as the sin bin, is where the time out is served.
There are many more ways to go wrong in a hockey game, and you can read about them here. And it can get a whole lot worse. The Shark's infamous repeat-offending goon Raffi Torres has now been suspended for half the season due to a brutal hit to the head of Anaheim Ducks player Jakob Silfverberg in a pre-season game. Torres received three penalty calls on the spot, and the longest suspension in hockey history after the league review.
Hi gang, JazzBumpa here to referee this match. Let's strap our skates on and get going.
1. Great Salt Lake component, to a chemist : NACL. NaCl outside the all caps world of puzzles, is the chemist's symbol for sodium chloride, common table salt. I know this 'cuz I are one.
5. Moved for a better view, in a way : SAT UP. More of a posture adjustment than a movement.
10. Lucy's partner : DESI. Lucille Ball and DESI Arnaz. He is known to have had many other partners [in a DF kind of way,] a serious drinking problem, and a tendency to smoke way too many Cuban cigars.
16. Pair in a loaf : ENDS. I take it this is referring to the heels on a loaf of bread
19. Big East or Big South org. : National Collegiate Athletic Association
20. Generation : AGE. With baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and millenials, this is the AGE of generations.
21. Org. recommending flossing : American Dental Association.
22. Like many stunts : RISKY. If they were safe, they wouldn't be stunts.
28. In the past : AGO.
29. Start of a spelling rule broken by deists? : I BEFORE E. The word "deists" cleverly illustrates the breaking of the given rule. I'm very cool toward self-referential clues, no matter how clever.
33. Flooded : AWASH. Inundated, and one of the dreaded a-words.
36. Bring __ a substitute : IN AS. Rather an awkward partial.
37. Co-star of Burt in "The Killers" : AVA. Ms. Gardner plays Kitty Collins opposite Mr. Lancaster's Ole "Swede" Anderson in this suspense thriller based on a story by Ernest Hemingway.
66. Clanton foe : EARP. As I reported here, back on May 13th, The EARP brothers, Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt along with Doc Holliday were on one side against Billy Claiborn, Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. The combatants were only a few feet apart, and the incident was over in a matter of seconds. It took place at a narrow vacant lot next to a photographer's shop, not at or adjacent to the eponymous corral. Probably the most famous gunfight in the history of the old west, but it was not well known to the American people until 50 years later.
67. Jazz finale? : ZEES. A call out to me? I suspect not, since it is a self-referential description of the last two letters of the word.
68. Schmoes : DOPES. Stupid or obnoxious people.
69. Leaf support : STEM. Plant life details.
Down
1. Ravi's musical daughter : NORAH.
2. Disco era suffix : A GOGO. Term borrowed from the French, originally meaning something like "in abundance," later indicating a suggestive style of dancing.
3. Mean : CRUEL.
4. Wing alternative : LEG. Chicken or turkey parts.
5. Flatly denied it : SAID NO.
6. Hit __: experience delays : A SNAG. Anything holding up progress.
25. Take the top medal : WIN GOLD. Olympically speaking
26. By surprise : ABACK. Unexpected way to be taken.
27. New Age musician John : TESH. John. I'm not linking.
30. Compete in a heat : RACE. Heats are the preliminary rounds. What were you thinking?
31. At any time : EVER.
32. "Nothing to it!" : EASY.
33. Siesta hrs. : AFTS. Afternoons.
34. Charging cable, e.g. : WIRE.
35. Not fer : AGIN. Down-homish vernacular for pro and con.
36. Graphic novel artist : INKER. Not an adult getting paid to color, as you might expect. The INKER interprets and embellishes the original pencil drawing. The colorist applies color.
39. Isle of Mull neighbor : IONA. Inner Hebrides islands. Iona is a small island just west of Mull, home to about 200 people. It is known for it's tranquility and natural beauty, and serves as a location for religious retreats and tourism.
40. Land : ALIGHT.
41. Tide type : NEAP. The tide just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is the least difference between high and low levels.
46. Classic Fords : T-BIRDS. The T stands for THUNDER.
47. Accelerator particle : ION. Used in high energy physics.
48. Mournful tolls : KNELLS. The ringing of bells, as at a funeral.
50. Physical likeness : IMAGE. A picture or sculpture.
51. Chance to swing : AT BAT. Baseball, not Hockey's FIGHTING penalty. Every time a player completes a turn batting, that is considered a plate appearance. There are several events in which a plate appearance happens, but not an AT BAT These include a base on balls, hit by pitch, sacrifice bunt or fly, and some other rare occurrences. Most batting stats are based on AT BATs.
52. Three-ingredient treat : S'MORE. Graham cracker, chocolate and toasted marshmallow. A treat best enjoyed around a camp fire while ROUGHING IT
53. Common dinner hr. : SIX PM.
54. Nabisco cracker : RITZ.
55. Concert reed : OBOE. Most common X-word music maker. The orchestra tunes to it.
56. About 500 pounds of cotton : BALE. Heavy.
60. Scholar's deg. : PHD. Doctor of Philosophy in some specialized field.
63. Aye or hai : YES. That's agreeable, in both Scotland and Japan. Do you say aye or hai to this puzzle? I have my nits, but won't call any major penalties. Here's hoping your team wins all its games - unless they're playing my team, of course. Now it's time for me to skate off into the sunset. But first an aside, re: the Oxford comma. In my usage, it occurs when I'm demarcating a list of multi-word phrases, as in the DESI comment at 10 A, but not when I'm demarcating a list of single word items. Cool [on ice] regards! JzB
Theme: Vowel progression. The theme words have A, E, I, O, U, and even Y as their respective second letters, in each case surrounded by the letters L and N.
18. Aggressive property seizure : LAND GRAB. Usually on a large scale, by a government, rich developer or trans-national corporation.
23. Red Square shrine : LENIN'S TOMB. His embalmed body has been on display there since shortly after his death in 1924.
32. Pet hair picker-upper : LINT ROLLER. A spindle-mounted roll of one-side adhesive paper used to pick up fibrous materials.
42. Green Hornet's great-uncle, with "The" : LONE RANGER. Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet, is the son of the LONE RANGER's orphaned nephew Dan Reid. He's a newspaper publisher by day, and an incognito crime fighter by night. Both characters originated at Detroit radio station WXYZ during the 30's.
52. Stretch between new moons : LUNAR MONTH. Equal to 29.53059 days.
61. Sharp-sighted : LYNX EYED. Similar to eagle-eyed or hawk eyed. I was not at all familiar with this phrase, but it is legit.
Hi gang, It Jazzbumpa, your progressive host for today's linguistic excursion. This simple theme is elegantly executed. Let's see what else we can find.
Across
1. Radiated joy : BEAMED. With a smile that brightens your whole day.
7. "Hi and Lois" pooch : DAWG.
11. Fair grade : CEE. Assuming the teacher grades fairly.
14. Smithy fixtures : ANVILS. An ANVIL is a flat topped iron or steel block upon which metal objects can be hammered and formed.
15. Literary pen name : ELIA. Charles Lamb first used this pseudonym for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had once worked. He borrowed the name from an Italian coworker.
16. Half of a steep price? : ARM. The other half is a leg.
17. Refused : SAID NO.
20. Video game pioneer : ATARI.
21. Unit to plow : ACRE. Down on the farm.
22. Church section near the altar : APSE. Oh-oh: religion.
25. Suffix with church : GOER. I thought it was two words, but the clue is correct.
26. Disdainful chorus : BOOS. Sometimes accompanied by hisses.
27. Golden Fleece ship : ARGO. Mythical ship named for it's builder, Argus. In it, Jason and his crew, known as the Argonauts, sailed from Iolcos in search of the golden fleece. 29. Campaign funding org. : PAC. Political Action Committee. Of which we may not speak.
37. Cope with change : ADAPT. Don't get left behind.
40. Long-jawed fish : GAR. Several species inhabit the waters of eastern North America, Central America and the Caribbean Islands.
58. Away from port : ASEA. Sailing, like Jason and the Argonauts.
59. Lots : A TON. After the LAND GRAB, the developer was able to sell A TON of lots.
60. "Gone With the Wind" family name : O'HARA. Gerald and Ellen and their daughters Katie Scarlett, Susan Elinor [Suellen,] Caroline Irene [Carreen] and three younger brothers who died as infants.
63. '80s-'90s Mets pitcher nicknamed "Dr. K" : GOODEN. Dwight Eugene Gooden also played for the Yankees, then Cleveland, Houston and Tampa. The nickname comes from analogy to basketball's Dr. J. - Julius Irving, and the letter K, the standard baseball symbol for a strike out. He led the National League in K's in as a rookie in 1984 and again in1985. His later career was marred by drug and legal problems. He retired before the 2001 season with a record of 194-112.
64. Stan of Marvel Comics : LEE. Stanley Martin Lieber [b Dec. 28, 1922] is an American writer and publisher of comic books, actor and television host. He co-created Spiderman, The Hulk, and many other characters.
1. __ reader: grade school text : BASAL. Highly organized texts containing short stories, excerpts and original material, designed to improve reading skills. The metabolism series only uses a minimal amount of energy. [Full disclosure: I just made that up.]
2. Related maternally : ENATE. A Latin-derived word. Paternally related is AGNATE.
3. Birdlike : AVIAN. Also from the Latin. Any bird-brained relative is AVIATE.
4. Central vein of a leaf : MID RIB. AKA primary venation.
5. Weather-affecting phenomenon : EL NINO. This year's looks to be pretty large. Expect warmer and drier winter conditions in the northern U.S. as far east as the Great Lakes basin; and cooler, wetter conditions for most of the South and up the East Coast almost to New England.
6. Brit. military decoration : DSO. Distinguished Service Order, awarded for meritorious service, especially during combat.
7. Big name in auto parts : DELCO. Originally Dayton Electrical Engineering Laboratories Co., founded by Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds in 1909.
8. Apprehension : ALARM. The dreads.
9. Place to get a Cab : WINE BAR. Cabernet Sauvignon. And after an evening there, take a taxi home.
10. Wander (about) : GAD. Traveling in search of pleasure rather than a destination.
11. One sharing a ride : CAR POOLER. Usually to and from school or work.
12. Rub off : ERASE.
13. Dying fire bit : EMBER. Only you can prevent forest fires.
19. Honkers on the ground : GAGGLE. A flock of five or more geese, not in flight. In the air, they are a skein.
21. Punctuation in email addresses : AT SIGN. This thing: @. Technically, it is called "the commercial at." It also has several nicknames, including snail and whirlpool.
24. Costa del __ : SOL. The sun coast, comprising the towns and communities along the southern Spanish coast in the province of Malaga.
28. "The Twilight Zone" creator Serling : ROD.
29. Buddy : PAL.
30. Brouhaha : ADO. It can be about nothing.
31. Kitchen gadget with a magnet : CAN OPENER.
33. Pester : NAG.
34. Rock-boring drill : TREPAN. Used for sinking a shaft into the ground. The term also refers to drilling holes in the cranium for medical purposes - a practice that goes back to neolithic times.
35. Historical period : ERA. The ERA of TREPANATION continues.
36. Dream letters : REM. Rapid Eye Movement.
38. Binoculars brand : PENTAX.
39. Otto minus cinque : TRE. Italian numbers. Also, 8, 5 and 3 are Fibonacci numbers. Fibonacci was Italian. Coincidence? I think not!
43. Ameliorated : ALLAYED. Improved something that is bad, as compared to relieved suspicion, fear or worry. Near miss on the correspondence.
44. Play about robots : RUR. By the Czech writer Karel Čapek. R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The play premiered in 1921, and introduced the word robot to the world. Rossum's robots were artificial people made from synthetic organic material, capable of independent thought. In the end, they revolt and destroy humanity. I doubt that the phrase "I'll be back" was spoken.
48. Kiss : SMOOCH.
49. Sounds of seasonal joy : HO-HO-HO. Santa calling.
50. Phones : CALLS. Santa doesn't usually do it this way.
51. Up to this moment : AS YET.
53. Unborn, after "in" : UTERO. Within the uterus.
54. Points of connection : NODES.
55. Apex antonym : NADIR. High and low points, respectively.
56. Lott from Mississippi : TRENT. Career politician from 1968 through 2007; since then a professional lobbyist, and a near-clecho with 59A. This month, I am plagued by politics.
57. Puts on a hook : HANGS.
62. Brit. recording giant : EMI.
63. Enlistees, briefly : GI's. Initialism for Government Issue, referring to army soldiers and air force airmen, and occasionally marines and sailors when the yare not ASEA. Originally, the reference was to Galvanized Iron in the military inventory and supply records for such metal equipment as trash cans.
Well, that wraps it up. We were able to progress all the way to the end. Hope you enjoyed the journey. Cool Regards! JzB
Wednesday, September 9, 2015, Pawel Fludzinski and Amy E. Hamilton
Theme: It's another Wednesday, By Cracky! We are presented with beautifully common two-word phrases, beginning coincidentally with B and C. Is this a bold concept?
20 A. *Competition won by a knockout? : BEAUTY CONTEST. I have to admit I love this brilliant clue. In one sense, a knockout is physically incapacitating one's opponent in a combat sport. in another it's lady of beguiling charm.
53 A. *Nonviolent revolution : BLOODLESS COUP. A Coup [d'état] is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually by a group of insiders. It's bloodless if done by non-violent means.
31 D. *Arm-strengthening reps : BICEP CURLS. The barbell is curled upward from waist level to the chest.
Big contraction
And the unifier -- 66 A. Recently retired NCAA football ranking system, and, as a plural, a hint to the answers to starred clues : BCS. Acronym Finder lists 106 various things, from Bar Code Scanner to Bangladesh Civil Service that might be indicated by the abbreviation BCS. But, with the beginning of football season we have the somewhat more topical BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES. This was a system in place from 1998 through 2013 that used 5 Bowl games involving 10 of the top rated college football teams in a vain attempt to define a national champion. Whether this was worth doing is a topic I'll let remain undiscussed.
Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here - though with symphony season back in session perhaps I should be Classical Bumpa, at least for today. [Wait - that's backwards. Oh, well.] At any rate, we have five long horizontal and vertical two-word theme answers, one a grid spanner, with the initials B and C. We needn't go back to Old Testament times, nor will our excursion take us to British Columbia, Boston College, nor Baja California. Let's see if we can blithely conquer this puzzle, before conceding.
Are we having fun yet? Here we have in-the-language phrases that otherwise have nothing in common reimagined as descriptions of showing disrespect to a variety of otherwise innocent objects. For some reason, being made fun of is never fun. Go figure.
17. Make fun of boxing gear? : KID GLOVES. These are GLOVES made from the soft, supple skin of young goats. Handling something with KID GLOVES means giving it very gentle treatment. To KID can mean a variety of things from mock and tease playfully to deceive. Be careful if you do that to boxing GLOVES.
25. Make fun of Harleys? : RIDE BIKES. Harleys are popular American-made motorcycles with many riders. To RIDE is to ridicule or harass with carping criticism, a bit harsh for "make fun of."
38. Make fun of sweater styles? : MOCK TURTLE NECKS. These are articles of clothing made with a collar folded over to form a tube, with both edges of the tube fastened to the garment at the neck line. One can make fun of real TURTLE NECKS, where the tube is twice as long, folded over, and only fastened at one end of the tube.
50. Make fun of tunes? : PUT ON AIRS. This phrase means to act in a haughty manner, pretending to be superior. In a different sense, AIRS are songs, and one could make fun of them. But to "put on" means to deceive or mislead, for amusement or to make someone or something look better than it is.
62. Make fun of Porky and Petunia? : ROAST PIGS. To roast someone is to hold an event with that person is guest of honor; and a series of speakers subject him or her to [ostensibly] good natured ridicule. To ROAST a PIG is to cook the entire animals over an open fire
Hi gang, JazzBumpa reporting for duty. This is a fun-making theme, but a bit loosey-goosey in terms of exact correspondence to the verb in the clue. Well, I'm not going to make fun of it. Let's see what other fun is in store.
Across
1. Moments, briefly : SECS. Not brief moments of DF, though those can be fun, but SECondS, briefly.
5. God with a bow : AMOR. AKA Eros, AKA Cupid. Could inspire a brief moment of DF.
9. Like some elephants : ASIAN. They are smaller, less wrinkled, and more hump-backed than their African counterparts, with different anatomical features in the head and face.
14. Jai __ : ALAI. Popular X-word puzzle game, played in a closed space using a ball and large, curved wicker baskets.
15. "Game over," to Kasparov : MATE. The end of a chess game, when the losing king cannot escape. Garry Kasparov (b 1963) is a Russian former world chess champion and political activist.
16. Forrest's shrimp-loving friend : BUBBA. From the movie Forrest Gump.
19. Lusitania sinker : U-BOAT. The Lusitania, launched in 1906, was the world's largest passenger ship. It was torpedoed and sunk on May 7, 1915, six days out of New York, bound for Liverpool, killing 1198 passengers. It was 11 miles off the coast of Ireland in a German-declared war zone, and sunk in 18 minutes. This event was influential [a straw, if you will. Vide infra - see 61 A.] in bringing the U.S into the war two years later.
20. StyleBistro and Slate : E-ZINES. Electronic magaZINES.
21. "Into the Woods" (2014) director Marshall : ROB. He is a stage and screen director and choreographer, who won several awards for directing "Chicago" in 2002. "Into the Woods" involves an original story of the baker and his wife, which is used to tie together several otherwise unrelated fairy tales. Also last Wednesday's theme clip. Am I in a rut?
23. Schlep : TOTE. v. To haul or carry a burdensome load. That's no fun at all.
24. Arles article : LES. "The" in French
27. "Gigi" novelist : COLETTE. Also French. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954) was a novelist, journalist, actress and mime.
30. Barcelona-born muralist : SERT. Josep Maria Sert i Badia (21 December 1874 – 27 November 1945)
57. Human rights advocate Sakharov : ANDREI. (May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989) Russian nuclear physicist, and later dissident and human rights activist, earning him state persecution and a Nobel peace Prize. The Sakharov prize, awarded annually by the European Union for dedication to human rights and freedom is named in his honor.
60. "¿Cómo __?" : ESTAS. Spanish "How are [you?]"
64. Requests for Friskies, maybe : MEOWS. Cat food brand.
65. Half of zwei : EINS. From 2 to 1 - a German division.
66. Rules, to GIs : REGS. REGulations.
67. Proverbial reason for a break? : STRAW. Only if it's the last one on the camel's back.
4. One of the Declaration of Independence's 56 : SIGNEE. One who signs on, not someone who gets signed on.
5. "Famous" cookie guy : AMOS. Wally AMOS learned cookie baking from his aunt. Later in life, as a talent agent with the William Morris agency, he would often send cookies to celebrities he wanted to woo. In 1975 he left it all behind and became a cookie entrepreneur.
6. Big D cager : MAV. Dallas MAVerick professional basketball player.
7. "SNL" alumna Cheri : OTERI. (b 1962) This frequent crossword gal was on SNL from 1995 to 2000.
8. Patches, as a lawn : RESODS. I wanted RESEEDS, but that has to many letters.
9. __ Dhabi : ABU. Middle East country.
10. Foreign film feature : SUB-TITLE. English translation of foreign-language dialog. printed near the bottom of the screen Not sure what it has to do with titles.
11. Discontinued Apple laptop : I-BOOK. Sold from 1999 to 2006.
12. Let up : ABATE.
13. Archibald and Thurmond of the NBA : NATES. Archibald played on several teams from 1970 to 1984. Thurmond played with 3 teams from 1963 to 1977
18. For fear that : LEST. This word comes to us from Old English, via Middle English. I have no idea how LEST - which literally means "The less that" got transmogrified into "For fear that" - but that is commonly how it is defined. We don't do A, lest B happen. It is a preventive, and fear has nothing to do with it. /rant.
From Dictionary.com: "before 1000; Middle English leste, contraction of the lesse the, thi les the; late Old English the lǣste, earlier thȳ lǣs the, literally, whereby less that ( thȳ instrumental case of the demonstrative and relative pronoun, lǣs less, the relative particle.)
22. "Saturday Night Fever" group : BEE GEES.
25. Raise : REAR. Take care of and support until mature. Also, a horse REARS by raising up on its hind legs, but I can't find a connection between these meanings.
26. Machine gun partly named for the Czech city in which it was designed : BREN. First designed and manufactured in Brno, Moravia, this gun was popular with the British armed forces from the 30's through 1992.
27. Showed up : CAME. Arrived at an event.
28. Take too much of, for short : O.D. ON. Over-dose, figuratively, as on chips, in yesterdays 39 A.
29. "Doonesbury" creator : TRUDEAU. Gary, purveyor of a classic politically oriented newspaper cartoon.
33. Pay stub abbr. : YTD. Year To Date.
35. Insurance risk assessors : ACTUARIES. They use mathematics, statistics and financial theory to study uncertain future events, especially those of concern to insurance and pension programs.
36. Ring stats : TKOS. Technical Knock Outs. These occur in boxing matches when it is determined that the match can not safely continue.
37. "Understood" : I SEE. Got it.
39. "Rashomon" director : KUROSAWA. Akira KUROSAWA (1910-1998) was a highly influential film maker who directed 30 films over his 57 year career. Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese movie which uses the plot device of having several characters provide contradictory versions of the same incident. It won several awards and is considered on of the greatest films of all time.
40. Many a "Divergent" reader : TEEN. "Divergent" is a trilogy of dystopian young adult novels set in post-apocalyptic Chicago.
41. "It's all false!" : LIES. Accusation of mendacity.
46. Petrol measures : LITRES. British spelling of metric units for automobile fuel.
48. Huff and puff : PANT. Should be huff OR puff. Together, they are a pair of pants.
49. One who knows the ropes : OLD PRO. Way back when I was young, an OLD PRO told me that youth and skill were no match for old age and treachery.
50. Sonnets, say : POEMS. A literary form using meter, rhyme, imagery and other devices to evoke meaning beyond what is in the mere words.
51. Unexpected victory : UPSET. So called because the favored team is toppled, thus UPSETing the natural order of things, or alternatively because of the way they feel about it.
52. Sylvan Learning employee : TUTOR. Franchised and corporate supplemental learning centers that provide personalized learning programs for primary and secondary education students.
53. Work on, as a stubborn squeak : RE-OIL. When one OILing simply isn't enough.
57. No. 2 : ASST. ASSistanT.
58. Frittata ingredients : EGGS. An Italian dish similar to an omelet or crustless quiche, incorprating a variety of other ingredients such as meat and cheese.
59. "That __ last week!" : IS SO. This awkward partial belongs in an assessment that something ephemeral has become quickly outdated.
61. Sacramento-to-San Jose dir. : SSW. South-SouthWest
This is so 1968
63. 365 días : ANO. Years in Spain, sadly lacking the tilde.
Well, we had some retro music, an eggy treat, and I got to carp a little bit. That's about as much fun as I can handle in one day. Hope you don't MOCK me for it. Cool regards! JzB
Of the fourJerry Kilbride examples, the potato one seems abstract and mysterious. In the other three there is a deeply touching moment with a unique person - so something very concrete. This appeals to me.
This has been a difficult summer. Early in June my mother had a stroke. She was fairly stable for a few days, then went rapidly down hill. She spent her last few days at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, a beautiful location, where she received quality care. Sadly, she was not aware in any obvious way of us or her surroundings.
That period was physically and mentally exhausting. I really haven't fully recovered. So I'm in the right frame of mind to be inspired by Jerry Kilbride.
Theme - INTO THE WOODS. The theme answers are the names of trees, but clued differently, of course [though cluing as the trees' woods or fruits is only slightly different] and they are located at the puzzle's periphery, thus surrounding all the other fill.
1 A. Hearth dust : ASH. That is what is left of the wood when the fire is done burning. Sadly, the ASH tree is under attack from a green boring beetle. I thought this might be why fewer baseball bats were being made from ash and more from MAPLE, but that turns out not to be the case. The word is derived from Latin, via Old English, meaning spear in both languages, which can provide another hint as to one of its uses
4 A. Snapple's __ Madness : MANGO. A fruity beverage made of kiwi and vegetable juices, MANGO puree and other stuff. The eponymous tree is tropical and cultivated for its fruit.
9 A. Jet black : EBONY. A deep black color, named for the wood of the EBONY trees - several species of the genus Diospyrosnative to Africa and Asia. The wood is used for decorative and ornamental purposes.
65 A. Syrup type : MAPLE. Made by boiling down the sap of the tree of the same name. There are other syrups made from corn and sugar cane, but only pure MAPLE syrup will adorn my pancakes!
66 A. __ Rapids, Iowa : CEDAR. Iowa's second largest city straddles the CEDAR River, named for the red CEDAR trees that grow in its Minnesota and Iowa watershed.
67 A. C&W's __ Ridge Boys : OAK. They started in the 40's as country group Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers [I am not making this up] who evolved into the OAK Ridge Boys [because that was where they usually performed,] a gospel singing quartet that changed their focus in the 70's, thus generating several country and crossover hits. Of course many personnel changes occurred over the years. The tree whose name is at the heart of all this is native to the northern hemisphere.
1 D. Jam fruit : APRICOT. Well, this could have been just about anything - but as is it is one of my favorites. Apricot trees are from the genus prunus - bearing fruits with a stone seed at the core.
13. Robin Hood's bow wood : YEW. Again, the wood and its tree. "The secret to the Yew bow’s strength and beauty is it’s natural laminate of heartwood and sapwood. The heartwood is where the power comes from, it’s ability to be compressed and return back to its original shape is almost unmatched in any other wood. The sapwood of the tree is superior under tension and protects the heartwood from being able to break, but also adds beauty. This is why some Native North American tribes believe this tree was put on earth for the making of bows and referred to it as the chief of the forest, being a small tree mostly almost vine-like under towering Old Growth forests."
27. Cookie fruit : FIG. Fruit and tree - an Asian species in the mulberry family, cultivated since ancient times.
39. Trident, e.g. : GUM. Well - this is different - and confusing. Trident is a brand name for sugar-free chewing gum. People have been chewing gum made from various tree bark extracts for millennia. In recent decades, though, natural gums have been replaced by polybutadiene, a synthetic polymer (yum!) GUM tree can refer to various types of trees from the eucalyptus, angophora or corymbia genera, native to Australia and/or Tasmania. The American Sweet GUM tree is completely different, native to the southeastern U. S., Mexico and Central America.
46. Poison drunk by Socrates : HEMLOCK. Here, we have a case of mistaken identity. Socrates' bane, corium maculatum, is a poisonous biennial herb of the carrot family, also known by several other names such as carrot fern, poison parsley and devil's bread. These plants contain several chemically similar highly potent alkaloids that attack the nervous system leading to paralysis of resperitory muscles. The completely unrelated and nontoxic HEMLOCK tree includes several species of the genus tsuga, tall conifers in the pine family, pinaceae. The crushed foliage exude an aroma similar to that of the poisonous plant, hence the name.
58. Common street name : ELM. Many American cities once had shady tree-lined streets - hence the name transfer from the tree. In the mid 20th century, elm growth in North America and Europe was devastated by dutch ELM disease, an affliction caused by three related fungus species spread by the ELM bark beetle. It's ben a mightmare.
And the unifier: 36 A. Like a shady boulevard ... and like this puzzle, in terms of its 12 border answers : TREELINED. Which by this time should need no further explanation.
"The goal of CD's Utabukuro is not difficult, because I just ask you to share a haiku or tanka which you admire. That haiku or tanka can be one of a classical or non-classical haiku poet or one by yourself. You can choose what ever you like, but it has to be a haiku or tanka. Maybe the haiku brings you sweet (or sad) memories or you just like it. Explain why you have chosen that haiku or tanka to share here "in" CDHK's Utabukuro, poem bag, and ... that is the second task for this feature, write/compose an all new haiku inspired on the one you have chosen."
This one has phrase and fragment structure, first-third line interchangeability and a deeper, though rather dark, meaning. Not sure of there is an official kigo here, but the image to me is very Spring-like. I can't stand spiders in the real world, but have great affection for them in my haiku.
inspired haiku
in the green meadow
a fat toad sits pondering
the taste of spider
My affection for amphibians is boundless. On its own, this one seems quite classical to me. In the context of its inspiration, though, there is more than a hint of irony. Maybe that makes it a senryu. I can live with that.
What has any of this to do with an origami frog? To answer that, see the link in the first line above.
