Mike
Michigan
Ugh, derma (not a word, it's dermis) and gene set (not a phrase ever used, it's genomes).
Just for the ornithological record, woodpeckers do not, for the most part, feast on tree sap. Typical species of woodpeckers you might commonly see (or hear) like downys are eating the bugs in the wood. Only a subset of woodpeckers species, the sapsuckers, as the name implies, go for the sap.
Well, "finishing" and actually "solving," where that means gaining the satisfaction of seeing how the whole thing works including the non-existent underlines are two very different things. Sheesh does nobody test-drive these things?
I call foul...the "corners" of the genres amount to uncrossed squares. If you don't know the answer for 5D, for example, you have no way of picking up that letter from the end of 1A.
@Chris The clue is "who's asked," not "who asked.". It is Elsa whom Anna asks to build the snowman.
@Robco Well aren't crossword puzzles, by definition, contrived things? I mean, somebody has to make them, no? And also, I got uracil right way and Danae with a bit of thought so, again by definition, possible. It's fine if you don't like the puzzle; just go easy on the absolutes.
As a chemist, I didn't love "atno" as an abbreviation for atomic number. The sincere question I have that I hope someone will answer (nonsnarkily, please - we know crossword answers are not definitions) is, when "Abbr." is ina clue, even a tricky Friday one, can that mean any old combination of letters from the complete word(s)? Because "at. no." is pretty much that. "At" is not a recognized shorthand for atomic, while "no." for number is...would "atono," for a five-blank fill, be acceptable? Same logical, but seems off. Anyway, reminds me of the expression/equation tiff of yesterday. FWIW, Z is the appropriate shorthand for atomic number.
Huh. Never noticed the rebus/Schroedinger circles. Also, "sort" as a word processor function? Did y'all mean spreadsheet?
@Jane Wheelaghan "They paved paradise and put in a parking lot."
@Lewis And their sister, Covalent Bond. Who is always going on about wanting to share everything.
I was imagining a heckelphone as a PDQ Bach invention, but alas no. RIP maestro Schickele.
I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took a jart to the knee...
@Bruce D SMS (Short Message Service) is not an initialism used in text (sorry if this is triggering, but, LOL as laughing out loud, for example). Rather, as the clue correctly implies, it is the format by which most texts via cellphone are transmitted. Would you object to, say, HTML in a crossword clue as "Website format, for short"? Kind of the same idea.
"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." Psalm 27 3, KJV.
My retriever does not shed. He adorns the house with golden glitter (so he thinks anyway).
Someone must know, when's the last time the triple play of OREO, OBI, and TSAR appeared together? Too bad Yoko Ono and Brian Eno didn't show up,
@Workingmom123 MDs, if medical school; DMAs for art depts; DNPs for nursing schools, to name a fews
@AK Well there are humans on Baffin Island, I guess. More to the point, I think if you count Australia as an island, then Madagascar comes out 5th. If not, 4th. Who decides what's an island and what's a continent anyway?
Sooo...type in BLANK in all the squares that contain the letter T, then ignore those squares and complete the puzzle as though they weren't there? Okie Dokey.
@Brent it's an inside joke to make new puzzle solvers feel excluded.
@ad absurdum I am sanctioning this comment.
Fun fact about US 10...about 60 miles of it consists of Lake Michigan by way the SS Badger between Ludington and Manitowoc. It's a fun way to bypass Chicago if you're road tripping in the Great Lakes area.
Unless "cousin" means three letter bit that might prefix to a last name, Van is not at all related to Mac or Ben; it is never used as "son of." The Dutch cousin would be "zoon," coming after the father's name, not before.
Regional accents are interesting...I pronounce "silence" with the middle syllable like the I in pin - maybe related to the pen/pin overlap, which I do. Where do folks say si-luh-nce, I wonder? (FYI I currently live in Michigan but grew up in the southwest.)
Brits and others who might have made comments about Americanisms can take solace in PHYSIO.
@Xword Junkie Oh goodness, PNG and JP(E)G are completely different. If you don't like both ending in G, consider that the one is Graphics and the other is Group. Or maybe, sort of like complaining that "apple" and "orange" both end in E.
43 across is why turning on the "undo send" option in Gmail (mine is set for 5 seconds) has saved me lots of embarrassment over the years. Maybe we can have that option too when we hit "submit" here?
Learned about duck duck gray duck just now from the comments. We MichiGANDERS say GOOSE.
Pots and pans notwithstanding, my beef is "ton" as the approximate weight of the Liberty Bell. Nothing weighs ton. It might weigh about a ton, or one ton, or, heck, even 0.57888493 tons, but not just ton.
@Ombeady I think the etiquette in this discussion section is just different from that of, say, the Spelling Bee. Pretty much figure on seeing answers revealed here any time, it's just the way this forum is used.
@Ran. S but, why? This isnt Scrabble where you're not allowed to used capitalized/proper nouns. I'm genuinely curious what the obection would be.
One more gripe, if it's not been mentioned before - seems to me the "bend" spots are unchecked squares. If you thought, for example, a nice Chihuly would make lovely lawn ornaments, there is no way to rule out GREEN GLASS for 54 D.
Why would there be "activities" on a cassette tape though? And why would one need to wind it up when cassette tapes kinda wind themselves? Of course like all us GenXers I have hand-wound plenty of them after they got tangled (the Bic pens I found most useful for this)...I guess that was an activity?
@Mike DMAs for music depts I mean. DFAs for art. And a few EdDs in education depts.
Weighing in on the papaw/pawpaw discussion. As a resident of Michigan and not too far from the city of Pawpaw, I am obviously pro double double w. That said, after some googling, it seems the papaw and the pawpaw are in fact two different fruits, with papaw being another name for the papaya, and indeed tropical. Whereas the pawpaw is a fruit native to temperate North America. Anyways that's what Wikipedia says (<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba</a>), with the clue correctly calling for the tropical papaw, not the local pawpaw.
@JohnWM He sounds kinda mean to me.
I know that ship done sailed long ago, but I still hate seeing (the nonword) "bicep" as a backformed singular of (the already singular) "biceps."
Some have mentioned not noticing the bit of bold text - I didn't see it either, but neither did I notice the strike-through on the rent clue, so the "ahah" moment of the theme got a little diluted. My fault, I know, trying to get old eyes to focus on a little phone screen.
@Pani Korunova Indeed, lots of scientists are feeling pretty mad today.
@A Agreed - I tried proprioception, which would more accurately fit the clue, but of course it's too long.
@Mike Oh, lots of comments in the unchecked squares issue. That's what I get for commenting first, reading second. I do wish I could afford a Chihuly on my lawn though!
@Lorel Answer: Well if it alerted the solver as to to rebusness, yes, that would work. But how would one know?
@Chris Having no idea what an HBCU is, is not exactly a flex.
The OBOE duck brought memories of an LP record we had when I was a kid - Peter and the Wolf on one side, Carnival of the Animals on the other. Anybody recall that record from maybe late 60s or early 70s? Or who the narrator is? I'm googling it but coming up empty. Anyways - poor duck!
Years of listening to Car Talk got me the answer to 4A immediately. Thanks Click and Click.
Do people really purchase mason jars? I always assumed you just inherited them from your mom. And your aunts. And your Grandmas. And your neighbors. Can you tell me have many, many mason jars in our basement?
Saturday night supper tonight is hamburgers (beef bought from a former student who raises the animals) on BRIOCHE BUNS from Aldi ;). With a slice of American cheese and, always, olives. West Michiganders of a certain age may remember Mr. Fables olive burgers... delicious!
I have one of the few Civics that's a coupe. Looks kind of cool I guess but the big doors are kind of a nuisance