"Hey, I wouldn't use that lemon peel if I were you." "Rind your own business!" (This was the zest that I could do.)
@Mike may I politely ask why you do this with almost every puzzle? I would ask the question my mother would: what would happen to this message board if everybody indulged themselves this way? Has no one ever asked?
@Jake G. What’s the point of the message board?
@Mike (I'll try this again. The emus must have loved it so much they SATON it.) Orange you glad I'm not doing the tired old "orange" pun? I really don't see the apeel. Then I went on to say that I really enjoy sparring with Mike, even though he puts me on the mat every time. It's like getting the chance to strike out to Sandy Koufax.
@Mike I love your puns. A high point of my day.
@Mike Mike from Munster is the Man in my book and is one of the select group of people I seek out here each day. We’d be the lesser for his absence.
@Mike Your daily puns bring an extra bit of gentle joy to life. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and dedication in sharing your creative humor. If everyone tried everyday to add a little extra joy to the world, well, we would be living in a world of people who uncovered their good hearts.
@Mike Another pithy pun! The comments wouldn't be the same without you, Mike, and we worry when you're not here. Jake, everyone who comments on the puzzles is "indulging" themself. It's what the comments are for, to share opinions, gripes, stories, and time after time, Mike's brilliant puns are at the top of the list because people love them.
@Jake G personally I dislike puns quite a lot. They rub my brain the wrong way... I actually scroll quickly past Mike's daily post just to try and not read it 🙈 (true story Lol). But no way you're going to get anywhere this crew, they love the puns. So let's let them enjoy their pun. It's all pun and games to them. (Ok that was actually painful for me Lol please don't ever make me do that again)
@Mike Mike, I don't comment very often, but I just have to add my voice the chorus of positive comments about your wonderful puns. I look for them every day, and they give me a little lift, sometimes just when I need one. Thanks, and keep posting them.
Ah, those pleasure habits that boost the day and never grow old. For me, some I love are reading before going to sleep, a dash of cashews here or there, rubbing my dog's belly, watching the birds at the feeder ... and Mike from Munster, purveyor of joy-bursts. Thank you, Mike. You are a treasure.
It's how I always remember it. BACTRIAN camels have two humps like the letter B. Dromedary camels have one hump like the letter D.
@Keith Good mnemonic.
@Keith Wish I'd heard that before I lost a fortune in that camel deal I did a couple of years ago. I walked in and said, "Why aren't there more humps!"
@Keith That’s how I remember the camels, Never fails.
Today I learned that "horse race" and "bowler hat" have the same number of letters.
@Matt and today I learned the same thing about Grates and Chafes.
I wanted [Enterprise enterprise] to be something like BOLDLY GO (where no man has gone before). 🖖
@Bob My nerdy heart blocked me on that entire corner for a LONG time.
@Bob I did, too. Was a bit of a let-down when I had to cheat and... Otherwise, some nice cluing. All in all, it is a fairly gentle Saturday, only eleven cheats required.
I found this one appropriately challenging. I love entries like COSLEEPER and LASER MAZE. I didn't know either one by name, but once I got close to completing them I knew they were correct. The all-too-infrequent commentator of late, Puzzlemucker, once said that what Mike(from Munster) does is a lot harder than it looks. I whole-heartedly agree. Most of us can come up with occasional puns, but to pick a relevant topic every single day and then, well, we all know the amazing and entertaining work he does and what a great guy he is and how lucky we are to have him here. Why on Earth would somebody go after him? I don't like anyone attacking anyone here, but it would at least make sense if you were to question someone inconsistent and frequently incomprehensible, unfunny, rude, smug or annoying. (I'm too polite to name names, and I don't want to hurt my feelings.)(Everyone is welcome to tell me I'm none of those things, i.e., LIE TO ME.) Please keep doing what you do, Mike!
@ad absurdum Who went after Munster Mike? And why? His posts are comedy gold and guarantee me at least one smile every day.
@ad absurdum It's almost funny (but isn't). The original attacker is now playing every possible side of the "who me" de-fence after learning he was a minority of one. Mike from Munster, our universal good. :)
At one point, for 41A, I had B_C_RI__, and in a myopic (and likely presbyopic) moment thought, "Surely it can't be 'bi-curious!'" Mercifully not.
@Nathan That may be the comment of the decade! (It would have been even better if you had included the clue!)
My comment didn't post yesterday. Normally I'd accept it and move on, but I spent over an hour on it. So I'm gonna try posting it again, but I'll split it into 2 parts. I apologize if it isn't entertaining enough to warrant such a blatant breach of protocol. [Takes in the trash?] is one of my favorite clues ever. Wow. I'm gonna post a few snippets from my favorite deleted scenes: "Frankly, my dear ... I think we should give us another shot. You complete me." "What do you think of your new glasses?" "They're awesome! I don't see dead people anymore!" "Boohoo boohoo. 'Come back, Shane, come back, Shane!' There's no crying in the Old West, Joey! So sck it up and tell me what's so goldarn important I had to ride back a goldarn mile with a goldarn bullet in me!" "I, um, I forgot." "See, this is why nobody wants to have no kids no more."
"Luke, I am your father. ... Psych! You should see your expression. LOLIADMV{Laugh Out Loud In A Deep Mellifluous Voice). But seriously, I did know your father. We put ourselves through Jedi U. as baristas at Starbucks. I could never figure how to spell anyone's name though so I got fired for writing things on the cups like 'Slimy sloth-like stinkball in need of an evening out'. " "That bites. Hey, even though you're not my dad ... Wanna have a catch? Maybe just for a parsec or two." RICK You played it for her, you can play it for me! If she can stand it, I can! Play it! SAM (starts playing "As Time Goes By" but then sings--) Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
@G I tried to respond and thank you, but naturally it didn't show up. LOLIADMV!(I don't think that's gonna catch on.)
@ad absurdum @G Love it! I don't remember JEJ's Verizon message, but I did think of this LOLIADMV. Maahvelous! <a href="https://share.google/y1coIOvuGttyTKLQm" target="_blank">https://share.google/y1coIOvuGttyTKLQm</a>
I just had a weird number coincidence happen that caught my attention. Today is my 1542 day streak of solving these puzzles AND I solved this one 15:42 faster than my average 🤯 I just shared the screenshot with my family I was so excited 🤣 I’m sure they’re rolling their eyes at me 🙄 Anyhow, I enjoyed this one. I retired my Irish DANCE MOM status this past year. I will kind of miss creating those crazy wig updos for my daughter, but I’m appreciating getting my weekends back. Thank you, Adrian and Christina!
@Jacqui J, Nice streak! That is impressive.
What a diverse collection of answers in the box today. • People types -- POET, SLOB, DANCE MOM, LONERS. • Places to go – DENS, REC CENTERs, SEAS. • Animals – BEES, FLEAs, BACTRIAN camels, LEOs with dens, HORSEs racing. • Tastes – POI, LEMON RIND, ATTA. • Utterances – AS IF, AHOY MATEY, LIE TO ME, I CARE. • Things from the past – RUNESTONE, NAZCA lines, ARGOS. Each of these triggered images and memories, which brought brain pings – pinpoints of light where the mind was sleeping, -- and what started out as riddle cracking became an outing as well. And what’s an outing without a funny moment? Mine was when I convinced myself that there was such a thing as a Mondrian camel. Sure, this was a solve, Christina and Adrian. But it was a happening, a rich experience as well. Thank you both!
@Lewis My funny moment was in response to "Simplest possible phone plan". It just had to be ONE cAll, right? As in, You get one call. Nothing could be simpler than that plan. I stuck with it until my certainty was crushed by a RENTACAR.
Good solid Saturday, fun clues and interesting answers. I liked DANCEMOM, LEGOSETS (shout out to my LEGO obsessed grandson), LASERMAZE, and STORYARCS. RENTACAR tripped me up for a bit because I wanted it to be rental. I smiled when I saw PENN (my law school alma mater) clued as Brown alternative (gotta love those disguised capitals). And how could I not love a puzzle with a clue pairing my two favorite male soul singers (apologies to Smokey Robinson). Cupid and Wonderful World sung in Sam Cooke’s ultra smooth voice are as good as soul/pop music gets, and A Change Is Gonna Come gives me chills every time I hear it. As for Marvin Gaye, there are many versions of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, but none better than his. Just as good were his efforts to meld soul music with social awareness like What’s Going On and Mercy Mercy Me (the ecology). But most of all nothing could put you in the mood more than his Let’s Get It On. Sadly, both of them died violent deaths way too early.
@Marshall Walthew And don't forget the immortal California raisins commercial where they sing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine"!
I had to look up SHADE (never heard of this usage), FEY (I know of her, but I'm not familiar with "Mean Girls" and who was involved), ACCRA (I know the city but not what it translates to, and at the time I looked it up I had almost nothing there so I desperately needed crosses), BEES, POI (never heard of it), LEO (I never bothered to learn about zodiac signs, associating them with superstition), ORTON (well, duh; the familiar Randy Savage wouldn't fit), and EVERY. With those hurdles out of the way I was able to complete the puzzle. BACTRIAN was a gimme, strangely. I learned it when I played hangman with my maternal grandmother as a kid. She used it to hang me 🤷🏽. She was not a nice person. But at least I learned the word. Back then I remembered everything I heard and saw. The Polish spelling is almost the same, we just use a K where you do a C. I also guessed LOHAN even though I've never seen the film (or any other featuring her). I must have heard of it in the past. What's a community court? Either we don't have that over here or we call it something completely different. I took Lucyfer the puppy on his first long-ish walk yesterday, to get raspberries at the farmers market. On our way back we met a lady walking a young standard poodle, a lovely girl with a perfect white coat. She was so tall! Lucek will probably be even larger. So cool! Today we will go for his first walk in the forest.
Oh, and I had to get EMERY BOARD from crosses. I've never heard of EMERY before. By now I've looked it up. Oh, *that*! I know the thing, but I don't think it has a specific Polish name. If it does, I don't know it. We just call all products for filing nails, well, nail files, "pilnik [file] do paznokci [for nails]".
@Andrzej Bactrian sounds like either a mouthwash or a spray-on antibiotic. But, yea, I knew it was the camel.
@Andrzej At first I thought you were describing the woman not the dog. Oy.
@Andrzej I, too, loath astrology. However, the zodiac signs do have some importance because they mark a portion of the sky. So we can say Jupiter is in Aquarius at the moment, then we are saying Jupiter is in the part of the stellar background that we call Aquarius. So the planets are often in the zodiacal constellations. I just wanted to interject that. Leos are like that. Oh, and while the whole astrology stuff is bunk, it is absolutely true that Leo is the coolest sign of them all. Obviously.
@Vaer Maybe I was 😉 @Francis Yeah, I guess I knew that about zodiac signs, on some level, but even though I have always enjoyed spotting the constellations, I never got any pepper into it. I seem to remember having as a kid a map of the sky with the zodiac sign zones marked.
@Andrzej community court: at the local RECreation CENTER you can find basketball and volleyball courts open to the public. Pretty good misdirect.
@Andrzej It surprises me sometimes which bits of Americanese stick to you. I barely remembered the other Randy, even though I was an occasional WWF viewer years ago. (I just recognized the name because it would blather out of McMahon's mouth at times, but I have no idea what he looks like, unlike Savage.) Thirding or fourthing the strong distaste for "Astrology" and its frequency in the puzzle... Although I suppose the various religions get equal time too... Fun to hear your Lucy updates. :)
@Dan Your comment reminded me of Freakonomics. When one is born can have a bearing on one's relative age among classmates, which may (or may not) affect success in school and sports. Makes more sense to me than astrological signs, but I'm an Aquarius and happily question it all. 😉
this saturday bactrian fought me, spat and grunted at me and im pretty sure even sat on me at one point. finally got to the oasis after a grueling hour.
That was really fun to solve. Thanks Adrian and Christina.
The magic of eight hours of sleep! I hit a wall about two-thirds of the way through last night, and then steadily knocked out the remainder while enjoying my first mug of tea on the screen porch on this delightful 64 degree morning.
@Eric The power of sleep, yes, but also the amazing workings of the sub-conscious mind, that continues to PONDER the clues, even while we're asleep!
Finally finished a Saturday with no help! My heart was pounding when I put in the last letter (STORYARCS) and couldn’t believe there were no crumbs!
I felt really good doing this one. It seemed to hum right along. I doubt I had to change more than three of fours squares. So, for me it was a dandy puzzle. I won't object if people want to consider it rather tame for a Saturday. I'm thinking a COSLEEPER is a means of being able to sleep safely with an infant? I've never encountered it. I thought DANCEMOM was clever. My mom, in the late 50s when I was still single digit age, wanted me to learn to tap dance. My WWII veteran father, a no nonsense kind of guy, quietly put the kibosh on that, much to my relief. Although, now, I kind of wish I'd learned to dance at some point in my life. I think I would have had a lot more fun. I certainly would have had more dates. I'm long past thinking I'll ever remember the names of the Three Musketeers. I really didn't get into that story as a kid. Something about those dainty little bendy swords and precious little thin mustaches. I preferred the hirsute Vikings and their rigid swords.(Calling Dr. Freud...)
@Francis I had a brief brain blip on the Musketeers clue, wondering why Annette was too short to fit. And later, when I had only the AR, wondered why a name that came after Annette alphabetically was the answer.
@Francis I couldn’t pull it out of my head today, but my reference for the Three Musketeers oddly is Slum Dog Millionaire. Watch it if you haven’t seen it!
@Francis I don’t think knowing how to tap dance would have helped you in the dating department. Ballroom or tango, maybe.
@Francis we had a Co-Sleeper with our kids, it looks sort of like one of the "pack and play" cribs with the mesh sides etc. and attaches to the bed with a strap between Mattress and Box Spring. I was surprised to see it in the grid, but it was the first long entry I filled in this one.
@Francis I too had never heard of a cosleeper. It seems one of the benefits is it makes night feeding easier.
Now that's a puzzle. Many, many groan inducing clues. Not sure if this was intentional, but NEED/S and SEAS would have been valid/plausible responses to two different clues. I put them both in the wrong spot and ruled out them as an answer to the right spot because I had already used them elsewhere. Took a long time to correct those. 25 minutes in the end, but it felt a lot longer. 10 week streak now, 70 days, twice as long as my previous best
Usually on a Saturday, my guesses are way off. Today, it just clicked for some reason. Less than 40% of my average Saturday time :) I should get up to organise the kids' breakfasts now.....
@Ciarán It's amazing how much the time depends on being on the same "wavelength" as the constructors. For me, this one took 25% more than the average Saturday! But no complaints; I enjoyed the puzzle.
Loved this puzzle just the right amount of difficulty. And I will give a thumbs up to anything that references the Parent Trap remake—used to watch it in the car every single road trip with my kids, it never got old. The single best family film ever made in my opinion. Amazing sound track and the resplendent Natasha Richardson who left us way too soon.
@SP Although I know her film work, until I just now looked her up, I didn't know a thing about Natasha Richardson's stage work. Including a Tony for "Cabaret"?! (Kit Kat Club)
I wish that 55A had been clued as “Black national anthem” rather than the generic “protest anthem”. America simply could not exist without Black people.
Faith, If it wasn't already a gimme, IMO your suggested revision to the clue would have bumped it up a notch. Forgetting the crossword, I like the idea of it being the National Hymn, just as we have a National Anthem.
@Jane Wheelaghan I believe most of England (including the C of E) have pretty solidly denounced that as idolatrous and nationalistic.
Somehow out of the deep recesses of my memory BACTRIAN appeared. Until then I was at an impasse on the west side. Then I loved EMERYBOARD. Kept racking my brain for computer terms until the crosses slammed my palm to my forehead. Very nice, thanks!
A fun puzzle today with a nicely calibrated challenge. My only issue is cluing "bonus entry" as a "kind of contest." An "entry" is not a type of contest any more than an "at bat" or "overtime period" is a type of sport, even if that is the realm in which they occur.
“With one breath, with one flow, you will know…” I had to give a hearty laugh at seeing BACTRIAN come together. There is absolutely no way I would have known this except for the fact that I have just started reading the 4th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series (great read for any D&D/HitchHiker fans) where the local population are the two different types of camels. Reading is indeed, fundamental. Had fun with this one - a nice Saturday.
Mikes puns, Lewis daily dissections and acknowledgments, these are joy bringers. I'm remembering several years back one thoughtful soul often included a musical link( I loved those), So it's all sorts of different souls making joy with words, How fortunate are we!
@Paul J I've only been around these parts the last couple of years, so there could have been someone else but I think you may be thinking of the lovely Sotto Voce... She still posts out here, but not as frequently lately. But if you check in daily on the comments you'll find her and her musical links here and there. ☺️
Sheesh. I started out breezing through this, thinking I was really on the right wavelength. Maybe I'll even get a PB! Nope. Not even close! The bottom half had me thoroughly stumped! I refused to let go of STARTREK for much too long. Excellent clues all around. Thanks for the challenge and for teaching me some new words! (I'm looking at you, BACTRIAN and NAZCA).
Tough but fun! Hope all y’all have a great Saturday. Thanks, Adrian and Christina!
I guess I was vibing with the constructors. This feel pretty easily. Much easier than last Saturday. I think I woulda crushed this if I didn’t get hung up on “simplest phone plan” as ONEline instead of ONERATE. Bees from tears doesn’t make sense to me. But I guess sadness of tears begets angry bees? Fun Saturday which restored my confidence (until next Saturday). Thanks.
@Weak There's a bee called a sweat bee and they live on perspiration and tears. I've had this article tucked in my "Oddities" folder for several years. Doctors discover four live bees feeding on tears inside woman's eye <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/10/doctors-discover-four-live-bees-feeding-on-tears-inside-womans-eye?CMP=share_btn_url" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/10/doctors-discover-four-live-bees-feeding-on-tears-inside-womans-eye?CMP=share_btn_url</a>
When I saw the names of Adrian and Christina, I knew that this crossword would be a treat, and it really was (not lying to anyone!). Smart clues and a flawless fill. One awkward entry here and there is fine, and the crosses were generous enough for them. Great experience!
One of my most satisfying solves I can remember, numerous attempts over about 12 hours, I finally removed the paper after emery and it all fell magically into place. The best type of Saturday puzzle in my book, really challenging with nothing at all unfair
Fun Saturday for me and very unlike my usual Saturday struggle. I almost hated to see it end. Got off to a good start & at about 3/4 through went to my granddaughter's softball game(they won handily). Got home and finished with our new puppy's help and no puppy nips.
Yesterday I shed blood, sweat and tears to get to the gold star. Today I confidently strode through the clues, filling in answers with aplomb. Oh, the agony and the ecstasy of crosswords!
Fun puzzle. Great to get it done before I go to sleep. Like so many times, I thought it was getting me and then it came together. I like to think I’m good at these and then I see the times of people who beat my good times. It keeps me going. 😊
"I particularly noticed and appreciated the ancient history trivia, a nice break from trendy factoids" I liked those a lot too! Not an ELM or OREO in sight either, I think.
Moira, No ELM today; we have ASH. (No OYS or GRR for ASIF?)
I thought this was a really good puzzle. Challenging in a fun way.
Fun Saturday--felt easier to me than yesterday's, and that's just fine. Also: "Digital file" ftw!
@Josh I instinctively filled in EMAIL and waited for the crosses for the remainder. Wow, was I wrong!
I so badly wanted ONEline as “Simplest phone plan” to cross with LiNkedIn as “Enterprise enterprise” as I didn’t have much else in the SE. Overall a tough but fair Saturday!
@Mark P I kept thinking Enterprise was the USS Enterprise. Couldn’t come up with anything…
@Mark P @MB I kept in ONEline for waaay too long, and while I assumed [Enterprise enterprise] could be either the car rental or Star Trek reference, all I could come up with was lend-A-CAR. OY indeed! I'm still unclear why ONE RATE is the [Simplest phone plan]. Aren't they all/each a single rate? I dunno, I pay a flat fee for 5gig/month. 🤷♀️
@G - Way back in ancient history, night and weekend calls were cheaper than daytime calls.
A Saturday puzzle I actually enjoyed! I didn’t solve it without lookups and Auto Check but I was amused by several clues. My fave was 15D [Digital file?]. And no boring filler! Kudos to Adrian and Christina!
I was surprised that I solved the NW corner quite quickly and thought this would be a quick solve for a Saturday. But I had to look up some answers, as I don't follow WWE and I had no idea of the flour. The SE corner took a long time, and I finally solved the brick building clue last; that answer made me smile. I finished slightly faster than my average. Fun puzzle.
@Tom - I had to ask my husband the Randy from WWE, and he knew it right away. The only Randy I knew was Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and I knew he had passed on. I haven't watched WWE in decades.
Speaking of DANCE MOMs, my fellow Kentuckian Steve Zahn has just released a movie, "She Dances", in which he has to become a DANCE DAD to chaperone his dancer-daughter, who co-stars in the movie. <a href="https://tribecafilm.com/films/she-dances-2025" target="_blank">https://tribecafilm.com/films/she-dances-2025</a> I'm curious to see if the movie will get a wide release.
@The X-Phile Speaking of moms, and one of your posts earlier today, would you be offended if I stole "your mama's a Kantian deontologist" next time I play the dozens.
Very fun themeless solve this morning, Adrian and Christina - I hope we see more collaborations from the two of you! Alas, I missed matching my personal Saturday Best by 40 seconds due to an untimely, non-emergency distraction in my household! Needless to say, it HIT A NERVE!😩😂
Did three-fourths of the puzzle in record time and then got stuck on a handful of entries. The NAZCA-LASERMAZE cross was punishing!
I was tickled and slightly shocked today when I achieved a Saturday Gold Star in 29 minutes. I don't rush, look things up, or try for a streak. I'm just enjoying the AHA moments! (with all you folks!)
@Karolina Goodness, I struggled with this. Took me 38+ minutes (although some of this is attributable to my forgetting to pause when the phone rang, I reached over to turn down the radio and knocked it onto the floor while still trying to beat the automatic handoff to voicemail...well, you get the picture.) My nemesis was the NE quadrant. I hsd the whole west side filled, but was completely stymied by ACCRA and its crosses and neighbours. I had to (Oh, shame!) reveal a square before I could dig my way out.
I could only remember single humper - dromedary. Thank you for the reminder - I hope to memorize two-humper but alas, I am at the stage of life where I am forgetting more than I could acquire or reacquire information.
@Heidi I swear before the crosses made it more obvious that this was a camel, I thought it should be WEDNESDAY but that didn't fit. You know calling Wednesday Hump Day I figured that it was in the middle of the week, so two humps.
@Heidi And I couldn't think of dromedary, only bactrian. Together we have a complete brain.
Thanks Adrian and Christina, including for the quad stacks. Most enjoyable.
Whew. And Wow! Typical tough Saturday for me, and had to look up some things early on but then just had a ton of 'aha' moments as I worked things out from the crosses. And... seven debut answers in this one, but only two of them were completely unfamiliar terms to me. That's pretty amazing. A couple of puzzle finds today. First one is a Tuesday from February 21, 2006 by Lisa Wiseman. Here are the three theme clues and answers: "Always" EIGHTDAYSAWEEK "Occasionally" ONCEINABLUEMOON "Time that won't come in all eternity" TWELFTHOFNEVER Thought that was pretty clever. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/21/2006&g=35&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/21/2006&g=35&d=A</a> I'll put my other puzzle find in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Friday from January 2, 2004 by Sherry O. Blackard. This one was just amazing in the construction. Two triple stacks of 15 letter answers, each running down one side of the puzzle (left and right). Those stacks - first down the left side: DISCHARGEPAPERS INTERNALREVENUE REALESTATEAGENT And then the right side: CLOSEBUTNOCIGAR DAMENELLIEMELBA SLEEVELESSDRESS And - you would think those triple stacks would be very restrictive about the possible crossing answers, but... the only two debut answers among all the crossing answers were: STANDGUARD and MILKIER That must have been some piece of work to put all that together. Here's that Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/2/2004&g=11&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/2/2004&g=11&d=D</a> I'm done. ....
As feared, 10 minutes over average to continue my trend for the week. I need a nap after this one. SO many false starts, from thinking natural history had to start with BIO to LASEREYES to SEMAPHORE for ship-to-ship communication to LEMONPEEL instead of RIND to desperately trying to fit something Star Trekky into Enterprise enterprise. So much bactrian-tracking. But, a solid relief when the gold star popped! Great workout!
Holy cow. PhysicsDaughter and I ended up with some sharing...between the type (ye olde r+n and m confusion) and her eyes that currently can't work together (next cataract surg is Monday, h'ray!) it's not surprising that she needed help even reading the clues. She gave me the first two letters of 11D and I suggested that she think of her brother for 25A. "The Parent Trap" has been remade at least twice too often...IMHO. This really GRATES nope CHAFES. And I was so, so proud to think of AQABA for 9A.... Could have happily lived out my life w/out being reminded of Erich SEGAL and his sappy, soppy novella...but oh well. See you guys tomorrow.
@Mean Old Lady Yes. The novel was truly dreadful but the movie was worse.
AHOY MATEYs! Just wondering how many here know what an Aldis lamp is? If you've ever watched "Sink the Bismarck" or other such movies, those are the round lights with the shutters whereby ships communicate with Morse code. But it fit the squares, as did semaphore. Laughed when I finally got 17A. Curious mix of gems and clunkers today, most of which have been cited already. Is LEO a period of time associated with the Zodiac sign? I don't read the horoscopes, so I don't know any of that "moon is in the seventh house" jargon. Apparently, it's "Fat Bear Week," as our ursine friends pack on the last few kilos of fat to prep for hibernation, so DENS was timely.
@Grant I love reading about Alaska's annual Fat Bear Week so thanks for pointing out this timely connection with DENS! Also, as an Aquarian and not a LEO, my "moon is [actually] in the seventh house" so your zodiac reference gave me a laugh - cheers!
Grant, "Sink the Bismarck" was a great one, wasn't it? I see you went first for a means of communication. Lindsay LOHAN and Tina FEY told me it was more personal.