google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, July 30, 2015 Jeffrey Wechsler

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Jul 30, 2015

Thursday, July 30, 2015 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "Fifty Shades of Grey"

20-Across. Defiant challenge : TRY STOPPING ME.

32-Across. Would-be immigrant's concern : ENTRY STATUS.

40-Across. Nashville VIP : COUNTRY STAR.

50-Across. Romance novel staple, another word for which is aptly hidden in 20-, 32- and 40-Across : SECRET MEETING. I love it when the reveal perfectly describes the theme, as this one does.  Jeffrey seems to like these hidden word themes, and I get to see him a lot in this Thursday spot. Lots of fun clues in this one, that got a chuckle from me when I figured them out.


Across

1. Each : A POP. I love filling in 1-A immediately.

5. Subtly cruel : CATTY. Meowwww.

10. Stock items: Abbr. : MDSE. Merchandise.

14. Couch potato's aid : TIVO.

15. Bizarre : OUTRE. Way out there.

16. Severely damaged sea : ARAL.

17. "Think you can manage?" : FEEL UP TO IT?

19. Beatle George's Indian friend : RAVI. Harrison and Shankar.

22. Dishevel : MUSS.

23. Matzo's lack : YEAST. Ironically followed by:

25. Approach to a landing? : RISER. Stairs, but it also describes YEAST.

28. Grass plot around a sundial, in "Jabberwocky" : WABE. So-called by the characters in the poem, because it goes way before and way behind the sundial.
Twas bryllyg, and yslythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe. 

31. __ chi : TAI. Not to be confused with chai tea.

35. Believer's suffix : ISM.

36. Binding oath : I DO. Only about 50% of the time, it seems.

37. "__, With Love" : TO SIR. One of my favorite Sydney Poitier movie. Also a hit song by Lulu.

38. Comprehend : SEE.

39. Scand. country that borders Russia : NOR. I wanted Fin. first.

43. Commercial suffix with wheat : ENA. Before she left for work every day during the school year, my mother would make a big pot of WheatENA, Maypo, Cream of Wheat, or Oatmeal. I still love all of them!
44. Antlered deer : HART.

45. Hops driers : OASTS.

46. Aqua __: corrosive acid : REGIA. "Royal water," or nitro-hydrochloric acid is so-called because it can corrode the noble metals gold and platinum.

48. X-rated stuff : SMUT.

56. Part of RNA : RIBO. I wanted to put in "acid," but thought that probably wasn't it because of the clue for 46-Across.

57. Watergate figure : DEEP THROAT. Anyone remember the brouhaha caused by the movie of the same name?

59. Barbara of "Mission: Impossible" : BAIN. Remember Cinnamon Carter?

60. Bottled-up sort? : GENIE. Fun clue!

61. On a break, say : IDLE.

62. Rustic accommodations : INNS. Out of the way spots for TRYSTS?

63. Old Norse texts : EDDAS.

64. Con's confines : CELL.


Down

1. Org. regulating explosives : ATF. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

2. Painter Mondrian : PIET. I owned a Mondrian minidress in the 60's.

3. Concluded : OVER.

4. Nylon, for one : POLYMER.

5. Egyptian Christians : COPTS.

6. Road runners : AUTOS. Another fun clue!

7. Trans Am roof option : T-TOP. This is the Hurst style T-TOP.


8. Road __ : TRIP.

9. "Snowman" in a fur coat : YETI. Yesterday, he was a mysterious mountain climber!

10. Homer's beloved : MARGE.

11. Ones earning play money? : DRAMATISTS. See what I mean? Here's another great clue!

12. Helps by arriving early, with "for" : SAVES A SEAT.

13. Priest who mentored Samuel : ELI. All perps.

18. Unreasonable interest : USURY. Loved this clue, too!

21. Scientific Bill et al. : NYES.

24. Ski race equipment : TIMERS. Huge V8 moment - I was all over poles, skis, goggles, helmets....

25. "The Bucket List" director : REINER.

26. Bali citizen : INDONESIAN.

27. Container seen above seats : STORAGE  BIN. "Luggage" bin just wasn't working with any of the perps...

28. "The Weavers: __ That a Time!": folk documentary : WASN'T. I remember their version of "Guantanamera."

29. Quarreling : AT IT.

30. Third U.S. VP : BURR.

33. Ancient portico : STOA.

34. Band commitment : TOUR.

40. Sear : CHAR.

41. "__, I do adore thee": Shakespeare : YOUTH.

42. Swiftian : SATIRIC.

47. Screen array : ICONS.

48. Old photo tone : SEPIA.

49. Deals (out) : METES.

51. A Möbius strip has just one : EDGE.

52. Upset, with "off" : TEED. Not me.

53. Fix : MEND.

54. Joint : NODE.  Oh, I was thinking of something you smoke.

55. Chutzpah : GALL. Love that word, "chutzpah." Does it come from Yiddish?

56. Box score stat : RBI.

58. Business card no. : TEL. I think it would have been fun to clue this as "No-tell mo-___.""

T-t-t-hat's all, folks!
Marti

Note from C.C.:

Here is a great picture of Windhover (Larry) and Lucina. Lucina said "I was visiting a friend in the Convent so that explains the religious items in the background."

Windhover & Lucina

46 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What Marti said! I held off trying to figure out the theme 'til after completion, and smiled right out loud at the discovery. Nicely done, Jeff Wex.

I've never set out to memorize all of Jabberwocky, but do know the first line. I read some background once about Slithy Toves, the place called the Wabe, and the time of day known as Brillig. How a child is supposed to work all that out is beyond me.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Pretty straightforward for me today. I was able to grok the theme immediately upon reading the theme reveal and found the hidden TRYSTs throughout, so that was nice. Needed perp help to remember whether it was WABE or GABE, but that didn't slow me down much.

Last thing to go into the grid was ENA. Never heard of WheatENA. Maybe it's a regional thing?

Oh -- and I'm pretty sure that, while a Moebius strip has only one side, it definitely has two EDGEs. I really didn't want to take SIDE out and put EDGE in as a result, but the perps were very insistent. Anybody else agree?

Barry G. said...

OK, never mind. Apparently a Moebius strip has one one side and only one EDGE. Thank you, Wikipedia!

Lemonade714 said...

Two weeks and Jeffrey goes back to Thursday with another fun effort. As marti said the reveal makes the theme, I also liked each of the theme fill especially TRY STOPPING ME.
There also was lots of sparkle FEEL UP TO IT, DEEP THROAT, POLYMER, DRAMATISTS, SAVES A SEAT, INDONESIAN, STORAGE BIN and SATIRIC.

Thanks JW and MARTIN.

Lemonade714 said...

Great to see Windhover and Lucina, really nice picture. Where were you?

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. This was An Affair to Remember! Fun Thursday puzzle.

I, too, had Fin(land) before NOR(way), but Norway and Russia share a teeny, tiny strip of border.

Can you follow the EDGE of this Mobius Strip?

I tried Mess before MUSS and I really wanted Road Rage in lieu of Road TRIP, and I'm not even angry!

I also really wanted Acid instead of RIBO-.

I think of INNS as being more quaint than rustic.

Instead of WheatENA, I thought of WheatIES. My mom used to make Wheatena every morning in the winter. We had to eat it all before setting off for school. I hated it.

CHUTZPAH actually has its origins in ancient Hebrew.

Another hot one today. Stay cool!

QOD: The trick is growing up without growing old. ~ Casey Stengel (July 30, 1890 ~ Sept. 29, 1975)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This felt just right for a Friday...except that it's only Thursday. I've got Wite-Out on my Wite-Out. I always get my COPTS and PICTS confused. Nylon was a PLASTIC. And for some reason I was pretty sure it was PAUL Mondrian. Homer's beloved wasn't HELEN -- oh, we're talking TV here. D'oh! TAI CHI/CHAI TEA -- very cute, Marti.

My PORN turned to SMUT, and yes, I do remember the brouhaha over DEEP THROAT, and it wasn't about Watergate. My densest moment came while trying to figure out what TITERS had to do with ski racing. That slippery M was the last to fall.

I blew right past the theme. I saw "Romance novel staple..." At first I thought THE CENTERFOLD, but it wouldn't work. There was enough there to suss out SECRET MEEETING. I never finished reading that clue.

Nice pic, you guys. But, somehow, I have trouble picturing Windhover in a wimple.

Lemonade714 said...

Barry I grew up in Connecticut and WHEATENA was one of the regular hot breakfasts during the winter. Bathrooms, where were you when you mother was feeding it to you ? I also did not like it, preferring oatmeal or even better MAYPO!

Anonymous said...

Bathrooms?

What about turning off the mis-named "auto-correct"?

What about previewing posts?

Big Easy said...

The ten longer fills were easy. They solved the puzzle for me because I never heard of Aqua REGIA or wheatENA and didn't know what a Mobius strip was. WABE and WASN'T were unknowns and I correctly WAGGED 'W'.

A better clue for 57A would have been 'Linda Lovelace movie role'. But I don't think that would have made the newspaper.

CATTY- talking behind someone's back. Why do women hold grudges so long?

Just downloaded Windows 10 on two computers. I'll see if I like it better than 7 or 8.

Hahtoolah said...

Nice photo, Windhover and Lucina. What was Windhover doing in a convent?

Lemonade: Why would anyone eat anything, to say nothing of Wheatena, in the Bathroom?

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks Jeffrey for a a pleasant Thursday start. I didn't see the theme (of course) but the entries stared falling into place after my first run through. My favorite was GENIE because I really wanted Type A. Overhead would not fit into the BIN! Ditto here on FINland. I thought I was so smart for remembering my geography. Ha! Thanks, Marti, for taking us through today.

Knitting tip from Madame Defarge: Be careful with the join when knitting in the round, or you certainly will end up with and unwanted MOBIUS. You'll never get your foot into a MOBIUS sock! ;-)

Have a wonderful Thursday. The humidity is down in the Chicago area, and for me, that makes all the difference in the day. Sunny and hot with little humidity. Mmmmm.

Avg Joe said...

Tricky outing. Had an awful time letting go of Vow instead of I Do. That caused lots of problems cuz Ena was a complete unknown, bathroom or not. But the perps managed to get it worked out in the end.

Hatoolah, my guess would be that he was looking for loopholes :-)

Husker Gary said...

I had a tough time getting started but rolled when I did. Theme was fun but impossible to find until reveal. Long side-by-side fill are like magic tricks to me. How’d they do that?

Musings
-Walk the hospital halls – “FEEL UP TO IT?”
-Didn’t you think landing approach was more like this?
-Yeah, like I had a chance on a Jabberwocky word!
-My STAG left to make room for HART
-Yes, Marti, I remember the Deep Throat controversy. Is that SMUT now or not?
-Where Woodward (Robert Redford) met DEEP THROAT in All The President’s Men
-IDLE? - All your have to do is read is the headline.
-Being a COPTIC Christian can be dangerous to your health today
-SAVING SEATS (1:43) is the worst!
-With luggage fees, those STORAGE BINS are getting a real workout
-BURR was also a good shot
-It’s hard to believe these guys are still on tour. YOUTH, I do adore thee!
-Nice snap Windy and Lucina!

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't a "Believer's suffix" be IST, not ISM?

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Interesting write-up.
I was thinking that 24-d, Ski race equipment, was a CSO to you and was going to be poles before TIMERS appeared.

C.C. Thanks for the Windhover & Lucina picture.

TRYST as a theme in a grid with DEEP THROAT. Sounds good to me!

Only needed ESP (Every Single Perp) to get WABE and "The Weavers" tune "WASN'T That a Time!."

YOUTH is wasted on the young ...

Cheers!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a fun and clever offering with just the right amount of bite. Hand up for AEC before ATF and stair before riser. Fav clue was Ones earning play money=dramatists. Filled in the reveal which helped with getting Try stopping me.

Great job, Jeffrey, and snazzy expo, Marti, as usual.

Storms expected later today which should alleviate the humidity. Hooray!

Nice picture of Windhover and Lucina; is it a recent one?

Have a great day.

HeartRx said...

Hahtoolah, thank you for that link to chutzpah. Fascinating!

CanadianEh! said...

Fun Thursday puzzle. I had the theme solved and worked backward to find TRYST?
Thanks Jeff and Marti.

WEES - hand up for Mess before MUSS, Acid before RIBO, Rage before TRIP, Stag before HART, Vow before I DO. I was trying to fit in Tents for rustic accommodations. My geography was a little lacking when I put DEN instead of NOR and I had Polynesian before INDONESIAN.

I've never heard of WheatENA. Is it like Cream of Wheat?

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for a fine review.

Got started in the NE this time with ARAL and RAVI. ELI fell, and then I headed South and bounced around all over the puzzle. A word here and a word there.

Needed a lot of Perps to finish this puzzle. Took me about three hours.

Never heard of WheatENA. Had my share of Cream of Wheat and Oatmeal as a youth and do not like either of them. We called oatmeal Glurt. I do not eat that stuff anymore since I left home at age 19. That was 50 years ago.

Did not know WABE, perps to the rescue.

I also tried ACID before RIBO and FIN before NOR.

Theme was real good. Did not catch it until I was done and then looked for it. Clever.

Liked USURY. Good clue/answer.

I had IST at 35A, and TITERS for 24D. Finally I caught TIMERS in my head and that fixed that area. Puzzle done.

Lots to do today. I watered my garden yesterday because it has been dry for about a week and very hot. Sweet corn is doing great and I have 70 tomato plants and 40 peppers growing great!

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Yellowrocks said...

Surprisingly quick solve for a Thursday. I did this in a few minutes of down time at PT, waiting for my turn. My first entry was COPTS. Another early answer was ELI.
Hahtoolah @ 6:35, my thoughts exactly. Most of the inns I know of are quaint but comfortable, not rustic.
I held off on MESS or MUSS and awaited perps. MUSS seemed more likely.
I knew of Wheatena, although we seldom had it. We mostly had oatmeal. I detest every type of hot cereal and most types of cold cereal. The only way I eat cold cereal is without milk. I don't like mushy cereal.
To Sir With Love is one of my all time favorite movies. My husband wouldn't see it with me, so I went with a girlfriend. I watched it again more recently on Netflix.
Many airlines have changed their carry-on rules so the standard carry-ons we have in our luggage sets are now too large.
I questioned the plural, EDDAS, and discovered that there is a Elder or Poetic Edda and a Younger or Prose Edda both dating to around the 12th century.

TTP said...

Good (late) morning all. Too much fun during and after our golf tournament yesterday !

Like Barry, getting the reveal helped. At that point, I looked at COUNTRY STARS and immediately saw TRYSTS. That helped with the other theme entries.

What Hahtoolah said inre both mess/muss and wheaties/wheatena. Never heard of or ate Wheatena. And what Desper-otto said about porn/smut.

Similar to Tin's comments about WABE and the Weavers. BTW, the Weavers are as obscure to me as Phil Ochs. Did I miss a decade ?

Same favorite clue as Irish Miss. Bounced around like Abejo.

Like Yellowrocks, To Sir, With Love is a favorite movie.

I guess - upon reading my comments - I could have just mailed it in (dogged it), with a WALOWEES (With a little of what everyone else said).

Nice picture of Windhover and Lucina. D-O, what is a wimple ?

Off to cut the grass and then water the flowerbeds and gardens.

Thanks Marti. Liked your review. No-tell motel indeed. That would be where some TRYSTS happen. Made me think of that movie, "Same Time, Next Year" with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn. They had a once a year Tryst for 25 years after meeting at a INN.

Misty said...

I too thought this felt more like a Friday than a Thursday puzzle, but I gave it my best shot and in the end I got it, I got it! Many thanks, Jeff--always like your puzzles--and you, too, Marti, always like your expo.

The southeast and mid came first and thank goodness I got the reveal early and saw the TRYST in CounTRY STar. When it occurred to me that the others might all be TRYST too, it all fell into place. But, like others, I too had FIN before NOR, ACID before RIBO, MESS before MUSS, and IST before ISM.

Have a good Thursday, everybody.

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

Aha! I almost completed a Jeffry Wechsler; only had to look for REINER though had I thought a little more I believe it would have surfaced.

Hand up for FIN because I have crossed that border and didn't realize Norway abutted it too. Also, ditto on POLYNESIAN. ELI was easy but not RAVI; I have no recollection of their friendship.

I've never heard of wheatENA but RIBOnucleic rolled out quickly. How well I remember Barbara BAIN. We watched that program every week.

The theme definitely helped with some of the other theme answers.

Last week I attended the 60th anniversary of my former classmates; the Central House of the Congregation is in Dayton, OH and I spent a serene and peaceful week there. Windhover drove up and took my friend, Sr. Dee (Dolores) and me to lunch. Afterward we visited and took photos. The weather, incidentally, was perfect. I was expecting high humidity but temps were in the 80s all week and very pleasant. See what happens when you visit nuns! Thank you for the nice comments.

Thank you, Jeffrey, for today's challenge and Marti for your witty review.

Google Guy said...

TTP - in regards to wimple: look it up!

Mr. Google said...

TTP: What is a wimple?

Occasional Lurker said...

Thank you, Hahtoolah for that historical explanation of Chutzpah. A beautifully written article.

Said with some levity ...

.. I did not realize that the jewish sages were 1. so argumentative and split hairs on every word and phrase. 2. Had a certain degree of levity, even when G-d was concerned... 3. had innumerable discourses on relatively inane matters. They must have had an inordinate amount of time on their hands.

I read and reread that article and came away totally confused. Too bad, they did not have a US Supr,Ct (SCOTUS) to decide matters once and for all. (most times - ). It appears that, with time, a new group of sages could command a majority and reinterpret the sacred scriptures to his ( I don't think there were female sages ....) school of thought. With all this, it is a wonder that several centuries later, there is some consensus on anything, at all. Maybe, this is the clearest meaning of Chutzpah. The right to disagree, with complete and absolute freedom, with anybody and everybody.

Is there ANY concept of heretics in Judaism ?

Mr. Google, the second, said...

The word 'wimp' has a different etymological derivation from 'wimple'. Just saying.

Lucina, IMHO, you are beautiful and look magnificent. Strictly platonic.

SwampCat said...


What a hoot! I loved this one, although I struggled with it. In the end it was well worth the struggle because the clues were so clever. Too many great ones to mention, .... WEES.

Thanks, Jeff, and you, too Marti, for the witty write up.

We had a humongous storm last night that even closed the Causeway over Lake Pontchartrain for a while. It should have cooled things off, but this morning New Orleans seems as hot as always.

Stay cool!

desper-otto said...

TTP, the Weavers are from even earlier -- think Goodnight, Irene from 1950. Pete Seeger was one of the founding members. I remember that song well. In 1950 I was living downtown on Main Street in a tiny Wisconsin town. Right across the street was a local watering hole, complete with juke box. I fell asleep many nights to the strains of Goodnight, Irene.

Lucina wrote, "I was visiting a friend in the Convent, so that explains the religious items in the background." I had trouble picturing Windhover living in a convent. :)

Lucina said...

D-otto:
Well, Windhover was not "living" in the Convent, merely visiting in one of the many sitting rooms. It's a very large building and visitors are warmly welcomed.

IrishMiss@9:11
The picture was taken last Friday, July 24th.

Mr. Google the second:
Thank you.

Jayce said...

This puzzle gave me much enjoyment. Liked the theme. At first I thought maybe the three theme answers each had a different word for SECRET MEETING, but soon realized they all contained TRYST. Which is a pretty cool word. Like chutzpah. Which makes me think of Tonopah in Arizona and Ivanpah in California. Which makes me wonder what "pah" means anyway. Which makes me wonder which is the noun, which is the verb, which is the adverb, if any, and which is an adjective, if any, in "And ye mome raths outgrabe." End of train of thought.
I wanted INA instead of ENA, as in Purina; and thinking of wheat brought to mind semolina. Nope.
Excellent photo of you and Windhover, Lucina! Thanks for sharing it.
Best wishes to you all.

Bluehen said...

Late to the party so WEES, especially about the misdirections. I confidently entered several answers like everyone else only to have to change them when I progressed to the Down clues. Shouldda glanced at the perps when starting with the across clues. Overall, though it was a very entertaining puzzle and expo. Thank you Jeffrey and Marti.

Only complete unknown was wheatENA, and from what some of the others have said, thank goodness for that. I am familiar with the comparable hot cereals like Cream of Wheat, Oatmeal, and Malt-O-Meal, and don't care for any of them. Growing up on the farm, we had breakfasts of our own fresh eggs and our own ham or bacon, coffee for the adults and cocoa for my sister and me, and either toast or pancakes. Juice? We didn't have any orange trees!

FWIW, I second Anon's comments re: ISM vs. IST.

That's enough for now. I have to get dinner ready for the table and I'm sure by then, my Low Alcohol light will have begun to flicker!

Cya!

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

First puzzle in two weeks, as I just got back from a trip - 6 time zones difference has me still wondering what's day and what's night, although coming back was a bit easier to adjust to than going over

Answered the Wechsler eventually, with my fair share of write-overs: had CAN YOU DO IT before FEEL UP TO IT; had SHRS before MDSE; PORN before SMUT, which made my 41d guess, "YORIC", although I figured THAT was wrong! Had TICK before TEED. Those were all of the "misteaks" (!!) Great theme and cluing; tough for a Thursday (and first puzzle in 14 days) but I managed through.

Lots of WAGS and PERPS helped fill in some blanks; favorite clues/solves were 25a (approach to a landing = RISER and 11d (ones earning play money = DRAMATISTS)

Tinbeni: at the airport I made a nice purchase at Duty Free - a 1L bottle of Talisker Dark Storm for about $47. It usually sells for about $75 for a 750ml where I shop. Not your "everyday" Scotch, but one I'll have for special occasions

Temp's where I went were in the mid to high 30's; even hit 40 one day . . . but that's in "C." !!

So, what did I miss here at the Corner? Everyone OK?

CrossEyedDave said...

The reveal was easy to find, it just filled itself in, as did the other theme answers once tryst was revealed. The rest of the puzzle was indeed that, a puzzle.

PLastic b/4 polymer
side b/4 edge
Both WheatIES & INA b/4 ENA

I felt comfortable enough with all my WAGS to call the puzzle done, only to find I made a bunch of dumb mistakes...

Doesn't a Gramatist have something to do with plays?
Tao instead of Tai
ist instead of ism
which resulted in Toters instead of timers (some strange Biathlon equipment?)

But i really felt robbed when I discovered I had Usury correct, but changed muss to mess...

Secret Meeting?

It started out as a mobius sock, but they kept going & made a fashion statement.

Well, what do you know... Mobius Cats!

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. That was a very enjoyable puzzle and writeup. WEES about chutzpah. I also like 'verklempt.'

Barbara and I saw The Weavers in concert at Cornell, probably in 1962 or 1963. I fell in love with them as representatives of early folk music because they seemed to enjoy what they were doing so much. Their reunion album was wonderful too.

coneyro said...

Today's puzzle was delightful.

I put in SECRETMEETING, and found TRYST hidden right away in the first long fill. From there, the other answers came easily. Congrats to J.W. Very ingenious.

WheatENA is a hot cereal that originated in N.Y. Very popular on the east coast. I loved it as a child. Very nutty taste. Added cream, brown sugar, and cinnamon to it. Delicious and warm on a cold winter morning. If you poured it into a buttered pan, and let in chill in the fridge, you could make slices and saute in butter. Top with honey or jam, add eggs on the side and the result was pure heaven.

PIET & WABE were my only unknowns but crosses took care of it.

CHUTZPAH is taken nowadays to mean having a lot of nerve. But it's so much more. When one speaks out against injustice while others are silent, the CHUTZPAH, the iron strength of conviction that leads one to open his mouth, the "nerve", in other words, is a really powerful thing.

The sun finally blessed us today. After six days, it's about time.

TO SIR, With Love, is a film I've seen umpteen times over the years. The theme song, sung by Lulu, was an earworm I couldn't get rid of. A wonderful movie that never feels dated.

And that enough from me today.

Jayce said...

Big Easy, please let us know how your upgrade to Windows 10 went. Thanks.

CrossEyedDave said...

Secret Tryst?

I should have known it was Usury, but I am still not sure about mess/muss...

Secret Meeting?

The answer is to show you silly links!

Ol' Man Keith said...

THIS is the first time in a long while that the theme answer actually helped me. Once I read the clue, the word TRYST leaped right out-- and the rest of this fairly difficult pzl fell into place. It also gave me the perp that solved the Möbius clue, as I was one who had SIDE as my starting answer.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Barry G.-
Did anyone else answer you about the side/edge Möbius confusion? The key to answering hinges on whether one includes time in the test. I guess this is why the object is such a delight! In a static world, it exhibits two sides and two edges, but in a world of movement/change, i.e., Time, the two resolve into one. At any single unchanging spot along the strip, one can point to two sides and two edges, but when one traces (travels) a finger along a side or an edge, they are found to be unitary.

windhover said...

As Lucy said, we met again last Friday in Dayton, Ohio. She was there to reune with her former Sisters and I made the 6 hour round trip from here on the Ridge.
A couple of you noted the incongruity of the Windhover in a convent, but the sisters were without exception welcoming. I got the obligatory hug from a 101 year old. I thought I'd have to wait 32 years for that. Our friend Lucina and her friend Dee are very dynamic; pick your topic and they can talk to you about it. Five hours went by so quickly with nary a lull in the conversation.
To be honest I was a bit surprised the Crucifix didn't fall off the wall when I walked in the room (it appears to be a bit skewed in the picture) but as I said its a very comfortable and welcoming place and most of the sisters never met a stranger.
When Lucy made this trip four or five years ago she and Dee drove to Lexington. It was my turn and worth every mile and minute. We talked as I left about "next time", but we all know (as Jim Morrison said) "the future's uncertain and the End is always near."
Thank you, Lucy, for a great day.
The puzzle: I've said before that Thursday is my favorite puzzle day (the Goldilocks factor) and this one did not disappoint.

Lemonade714 said...

Larry good to see you and your words

Yellowrocks said...

Have any of you run into the new carry-on size restrictions on airlines?
Have any of you read The Thornbirds or anything by Rosamunde Pilcher or Jodi Picoult all best sellers?
Great pictures and commentary, Windhover and Lucina.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Great puzzle, Jeffrey! Swell expo, Marti!

Liked the theme.

Had most of the love-mentioned write-overs.

Know Jabberwocky by heart but had no idea what a WABE was.

Nonetheless, finished w/o cheats in about 20 minutes.

Three hours in the dentist chair this afternoon. Thought that I would perish, for sure.

Nice pic, Lucina and Windhover!

Cheers!

Lucina said...

Yellowrocks@9:34
Not once did I see anyone turned away or have their luggage removed in the four airplanes I boarded. I thought some of the suitcases seemed overly large but they all fit.

Windhover:
We did have a good time, didn't we? Thank you for the kind words.