Geoff Offermann
Charleston
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Charleston
It is official. I completed the archive today. Total of 11,453 puzzles. Streak at 1847. I’m still not doing Pips.
Thanks for the puzzle. ‘‘Twas fun. Thank you also for using shading instead of circles.
App has crashed seven times tonight. Been crashing like once per day the past week. I deleted and re=installed. Anyone?
Name drop alert…my father-in-law is buried next to the immortal Rick James in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo NY. Went smoothly for me. Knocked half off my average for a Friday.
@Charles Anderson Hoo boy. Bye Felisha.
@Mick Yes. They’re very busy trying to find Noah’s ark.
Quibble about 63A, it’s not THETOTALPACKAGE, it’s just TOTALPACKAGE. /sarcasm regarding yesterday’s forum off/
That was the hardest Monday in a while mostly because I had no idea what THE SIS STATEMENT was. :-)
@Lee Not according to Wikipedia. The derivation of the phrase is not clear. One suggestion is that the phrase refers to the whip-like "cat o'nine tails", an instrument of punishment once used on Royal Navy vessels. The instrument was purportedly stored in a red sack, and a sailor who revealed the transgressions of another would be "letting the cat out of the bag". Another suggested derivation is from the "pig in a poke" scam, where a customer buying a suckling pig in a sack would actually be sold a (less valuable) cat, and would not realize the deception until the bag was opened.
I finished a bit under average time for me, but then took another few minutes trying to find how to get the rather obvious lower two theme answers. Once I did, I figured out the third one on top and learned something I never knew before. Well done.
@Steve L Next thing you’ll tell me is the Earth isn’t 6000 years old!
@SBK If you’re referring to my comment “Bye Felisha”, that is not name calling. It is a phrase of casual dismissal first encountered in the 1996 movie Friday. I am not looking for argument. The point of my post was that it’s my opinion that politics should stay out of the forum. I get enough elsewhere.
@Mike Samesies. Still was easy to fill, but had to read Deb’s reveal to finally appreciate the creative clues.
Interesting wrinkle! Thanks.
I am about a month or so away from completing the archive. Just August through December of 2013 to go.
My wife and I hiked on the Camino de SANTIAGO in Spain last fall. It was then that I learned that Santiago means St. James in Spanish. Hebrew Ya’akov -> Latin Iacobus -> Spanish Iago Etymology is fascinating. “Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global” by Laura Spinney is on my list of books for 2026. Anyhoo…fun puzzle. Thanks!
@Francis If there isn’t a blue wave come November, we’ll know the end is here.
@Geoff Offermann 17 times in 17 minutes.
Hmmm. What day is today?
Dang…we didn’t have any naked parties at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute!
My old eyes are too dim to see the circles. Have I mentioned ever how much I dislike them and could they be made more visible? :-) Anyhoo, I read Sam’s blog entry and I am blown away by how they played out! Well done, my fellow “Geoff with a G”!
@Tish Infielders will cheat in when say the bases are loaded, they are expecting a bunt and have to make a play at the plate or the game is over.
IDLEST? Harrumph.
This was pretty straightforward for me. Any issues were confidently crossed. RILKE was novel, but finished the crosses with MONEYTREE which was also a new one but it couldn’t have been anything else at that point. I’m not sure if I would have known FONDANT in my younger days but I have a friend who went to culinary school in NYC and specializes in cakes. My favorite of her designs is her recreation of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in fondant. Also, I’ve only seen pictures of it, but she made a replica of St. Patrick’s Cathedral out of gingerbread as her school final project. Stained glass windows, spires, the works. Absolutely brilliant. Alas, she doesn’t do it anymore. It was hard to make a go of it when one sells a cake for $500, the ingredients are $600 with 50 hours oh time invested. It was truly art what she did.
Quite impressed, Nick. What a debut. I look forward to many more.
@Jake I couldn’t type it in that fast if I had the answers! ;-)
It’s always immensely satisfying when I am seemingly stuck on a Saturday with about half the grid to go, give in to fatigue, then wake up fresh and solve the last half with determined fang and claw. 7 minutes over average. Excellent puzzle. Full marks for fun! And that was an easy peasy hard sudoku! The top third filled in short order.
* 12 minutes under par for the crossword * Queen bee * Wordle in 4 * Purple first in Connections, no mistakes * Spangram first in Strands * Sudoku sweep * Mini in a minute Not keen on Pips, but I love a lazy Sunday. On to football. Go Bills.
@strgzr In this case, a distinction without palatable difference. ;-)
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight I’ll take a stab at this. Dad had two boys and mom had one when they united families. Kevin was their first together followed by two more. Speaking of mailing cookies, I mailed four each to my brother in San Francisco and my sister back in Buffalo. $16 Oy! I made springerles, a traditional anise flavored German cookie. I used to make these and others with my mother on wintry Buffalo days many years ago. There’s a special rolling pin used only for springerles that leaves a pressed design on each cookie. I inherited mom’s so it’s my job to make these each Christmas.
Happy birthday! It was another tough one for me this week. I’ve been a few minutes above average every day. Thank you for the excellent challenge. I’ve never heard of arepa and congee before. Yummers! Speaking of cooking, I finished making my annual French onion soup last night. It all starts with saving every unused end of onions, garlic, shallot, and leek for the year and freezing until I have enough to make a nice base for the stock. Then I add roasted oxtails to finish the stock, simmer for a good while, and defat. Lastly, I caramelize a dozen or more of assorted onions et voila! I also tried my hand for only the second time at sauerkraut. My first try maybe a decade ago was a failure and I've finally gotten the resolve to try again now that I’ve gotten some proper airlock fermenting Mason jar lids. Bon apetit!
Fun, quick romp. Thank you! Pedantry alert…for Strands, it’s “daylight saving”, not “daylight savings”.
So very sorry about your friend. I can empathize having lost several friends at a young age. And what a lovely way to honor him. I enjoyed your debut and look forward to many more. Good luck in school!
Congratulations, Deb. You will be missed.
@Andrzej To be caught flat footed is to be caught unprepared, not on one’s toes. A pupu platter is a selection of Chinese hors d’ouervres.
Had me going there for a bit as I had Qs rather than QQ. Overall, not too easy, not too hard for me. It cleared my morning cobwebs for sure. Speaking of, my family called cobwebs Irish lace. Must be the German side. ;-) This Buffalo native had never heard that our fair lake was ever called Lac du Chat. Half way through August 2013 in the crossword archive leaving just the rest of that year to complete the archive entirely. That’s 11,301 puzzles. Oy!
@David Ramos I used to do them with my parents too.
@Bill I remember her book The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank. :-)
Laid up with a cold so knocked out October ‘13 in the archive. Just November and December of ‘13 to go to complete the archive.
@dutchiris All the best wishes to you!
@Jacqui J Thanks. Due to illness, I was able to bang out the last two archive months in a few days. What to do now? ;-)
Pretty tough overall but tempered with a few helpful ones. What else could it be that “beeps when tested”. That’s 11 letters in the bag!
@Matt K. Honestly wondering why anyone would read Wordplay before solving?
@Sarah As a former fraternity member, BROEY was cringey.
@Kevin Well done. I’m about 9 months behind ya!
Just 2014 left to go in the archive.
@Suzzzanne My roommate freshman year was from Wuh-stuh. He lives in Tuscany now. Speaks fluent Italian with the Worcester accent. ;-)
@LBG Or maybe one of the puzzles in an airline magazine with half the answers filled in. ;-)
Very enjoyable Saturday romp. Thank you. Also, have just December ‘13 to complete the archive.
@jp inframan Sorry to hear that. I loved it. I had one of those ultra satisfying cliche experiences where I was at an impasse, took a break, and then an epiphany.