Jim
Ottawa, ON
20
Comments
0.259
Avg Sentiment
8
Positive
7
Neutral
5
Negative
Ottawa, ON
It's interesting how random events can lead to an easy answer. Calvin and Hobbes comics have been popping in my social media feed a lot...probably because I read them! A very recent one had Calvin struggling with a math problem, so he asks Hobbes what a "peck" is. Hobbes's answer: "a smooch", with his happy goofy grin. Calvin then looks back at the problem and mutters something about not understanding math at all! So PECK:SMOOCH was a gimme today!
Brilliant! I knew by the title this had something to do with US states (not that much of a challenge to us Canadians, me thought). But the phonetic twists had my synapses in a tizzy. But I got 'em all!
According to the "National Day Calendar: website, today is National Drink Wine Day! I don't know if this is just a Canadian thing or not. But if it is, our neighbours to the south (note the spelling) are certainly welcome to join in! I too was stumped for a minute or two with DIC/DISH, but got it. Without the help of wine too (the sun's not quite of the yardarm yet...)
IMHO a cue is non-verbal, like a nod (my original attempt). I guess I'm thinking of stage work where the actors receive silent indications. Also thinking of cue cards, which are read. An actor backstage could get a "you're on next" whispered verbal cue, but more likely it would be a tap and a point. Yes to me is not a cue, it's an affirmative response. The NW corner was the last to fall for me because I stuck with "nod".
OK puzzlers, what are your "games within the game"? By this I mean what added level of frustration do you inflict on yourself as you wend your way through the week's grid? One of the obvious ones (I believe) is to solve only using the down or across clues. Or to avoid the "theme" clues and see if you can figure out the pattern from the rest of the fill. For today's, I attempted to solve by both avoiding the theme entries, and also keeping a contiguous solve going, meaning I didn't skip to an empty section. All answers had a "neighbouring" square filled in as I proceeded. And I also attempted to go from the NW corner to the SE corner doing this. I know, as my wife says, I obviously have way too much time on my hands! Curious to know what others do.
I was so hoping 8D would be "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE". But alas, after confidently launching with that quickly realized it wasn't to be. A tougher solve as many have noted. But I'm on the way to rebuilding my streak. That ended a few weeks ago with a trip to Europe. Halted at 900+...
@B Actually it does come in handy. In Windows it calls up the Task Manager, where you can force-quit applications or force reboot, lock your PC, etc. I do go back to the old MS-DOS days and will on occasion use DOS in a command prompt window. Great for sorting and renaming files. If you're an old hack like me that is...
I started this last night, got about halfway done. Got back to it this morning. I had figured out the theme, so it was just a matter of working through the balance of the clues. Entered the last letter...no go! Started going through clue by clue looking for the error. Unfortunately, my laptop typing also falls prey to fat finger syndrome, and I accidentally flipped back to the main games page! No problem...just reopen the puzzle. Dang, the work was not saved and I had to start over! No problem, my dotage is so bad that I couldn't zip through the clues again. Hit the last letter and bingo! Puzzle solved. Didn't discover what I missed the first go, but man, what a stellar PB time! :-)
Sometimes I try to do all the 3 letter answers, then the 4 letter and so forth. Test your power of observation to see only the grid. I like the Minis that have no black squares. I'll do an "around the horn" solve. Top clue, then right, then bottom etc.
OK cruciverbalists...is there not a "rule" or at least an general practice that the clue cannot contain part of the answer? I was thrown off with 37A trying to avoid "...CAN YOU" since the clue was "...CAN I?" The CAN is in quotes, so I eventually went with it. Aside from spelling "ERICA" instead of "ERIKA" I managed to get through the puzzle. I've seen "NUMBER" used with ETHER before but it misdirect me for a bit. I'm not sure when zeros were accepted in math, at least in the western world, and that's where I tried to go! (Go Jays Go!!)
My initial entry for 14A, once had "_______PHONE" via crosses, was IPINTERNETPHONE. I had ISLES for "14D: Dots on a Map" too Boy did I go in the wrong direction!
I was hoping 35D would have been REDCENTS, especially after I got "RULEOFTHUMB". Admittedly a bit of a stretch for the clue, but it is Saturday. I was also wondering who the obscure anthropologist expert Mr/Ms Wailer could be...
As a Canadian, who was born in Quebec, I have to say the "excuse my French" is just a bit offensive. Had the clue been "A non-PC comment after an oath", it might be OK. But seriously, is swearing (oaths) on a par with speaking French? Otherwise, this is very clever puzzle that I enjoyed. I don't want to appear thin-skinned here, just want to point this out...
To further clarify my comment: It's not that I am all that bent out of shape by the term. I wouldn't get up and challenge someone to a duel if I heard them say this in a bar! (I've heard a LOT worse...) But when the NYT has replaced "Eskimo" with "Inuit", and no longer refers to a specific northern Scandinavian indigenous group as "Lapps", I find it odd that this got through. I recognize that it's meant as a humorous flippancy, and it's a clever clue/answer combination. I will move on with out much trauma! M2₵ :-)
@Banjo Nelson: I questioned the Shel clue as well. Had it in, took it out, put it back, took it out. Once I got the down clues there was no choice.
Nice puzzle! I knew the 3 finger salute, and that must be a debut. Of course, it's a necessary tip whenever you get the Blue Screen of Death. I initially was stuck on 32A, since I started 24D with SOLID. So the "O" was forcing me to OSCAR...which made no sense, but it is a Friday. And I don't know if I'll ever eat a burrito now...very few foods are enhanced with the descriptor "wet".
@Dr Janelle: UPNEXT is a common baseball term, but not an obscure one. :-)
@Paul: I'm not sure I see the relevance of your question and comment. To your French kissing comment, a term of endearment in French is "mon petit chou". Which literally means "my little cabbage". These things are idiomatic, which are the hardest to translate. BTW, some translations of "rouler une pelle" have "snog" as an answer. And a descriptive parsing of "rouler une pelle" is more or less accurate, if a tongue can be viewed as a shovel -- shape and perhaps use -- and rolling, well, that makes sense.
@Nick: Now that's funny, and clever! :-)
@Paul: Thanks for the clarification, Paul, appreciated. I am a word-nerd too, which is probably why I do the xword. I'm not offended by the colourful (note the spelling) French term for passionate kissing -- it's kind of fun to learn these things. I love word origins. People are amazed when I tell them that "goodbye" come from "God be with you", and dandilion stems from "dente de lion". Fascinating too are the French curses that originate from Catholic rites, as opposed to the scatological English ones. Good on you too for ESL teaching. Of course, in Canada we have ESL/FSL. :-D
All 20 comments loaded