Shooter video game franchise / MON 5-11-15 / Jersey Shore pal of JWoww / Palmtop organizers for short / Onetime colleague of Roger Ebert

Monday, May 11, 2015

Constructor: Joe DiPietro

Relative difficulty: Easy



THEME: Mall of America / Wall of Sound / All of Me / etc. — theme answers follow the following pattern: "-ALL OF whatever"

Theme answers:
  • CALL OF DUTY (16A: Shooter video game franchise)
  • BALL OF FIRE (29A: Very lively sort)
  • HALL OF FAME (45A: Cooperstown or Canton destination)
  • FALL OF ROME (61A: Empire collapse of A.D. 476)
Word of the Day: ERICH Fromm (26D: Psychoanalyst Fromm) —
Erich Seligmann Fromm (German: [fʀɔm]; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologistpsychoanalystsociologisthumanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. […] Beginning with his first seminal work of 1941, Escape from Freedom (known in Britain as Fear of Freedom), Fromm's writings were notable as much for their social and political commentary as for their philosophical and psychological underpinnings. Indeed, Escape from Freedom is viewed as one of the founding works of political psychology. His second important work, Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics, first published in 1947, continued and enriched the ideas of Escape from Freedom. Taken together, these books outlined Fromm's theory of human character, which was a natural outgrowth of Fromm's theory of human nature. Fromm's most popular book was The Art of Loving, an international bestseller first published in 1956, which recapitulated and complemented the theoretical principles of human nature found in Escape from Freedom and Man for Himself—principles which were revisited in many of Fromm's other major works. (wikipedia)
• • •

You'll pardon me if I don't spend a lot of time on this one. The theme is nothing. The grid is adequate. I like that the constructor took advantage of the thin theme (just four 10-letter answers) to give us a couple of interesting long Downs (GENE SISKEL, SMALL WORLD). I didn't like ENWRAP (48D: Bundle up). It seems to mean "wrap." Also, no one ever uses it. So it's yucky, especially in an *easy*-to-fill grid like this. But otherwise, except for SNOOKI (an answer that already feels embarrassingly dated), there's nothing off-putting here. It's all familiar. I think I would've appreciated a more ambitious grid here—maybe a MALL OF AMERICA across the middle. But that would've made filling the grid cleanly much harder, and no one who cares about complexity of theme or density or any of that stuff really pays much attention to Mondays anyway. I think if I were trying to make this puzzle as elegant as possible, I'd've eliminated other "-ALL" words from the grid (SMALL WONDER, WALL-E). But no matter. It's a placeholder puzzle. EASY. Fine. Moving on…


I have circled (in pencil) the three parts of the grid where I hesitated or otherwise lost momentum. Only one of these parts is interesting. The two non-interesting parts: I blindly wrote in JPG where GIF was supposed to go (before I'd even finished entering JPG, I knew it was wrong and GIF was right; crosses confirmed this) (10A: Internet image file, familiarly); also, I had -UFFY at 46D: Common cat name and could think only of SCRUFFY, which didn't fit, and then SCUFFY, which I don't think is an ACTUAL cat name. But WALL (of) E got me FLUFFY. Which brings me to my one interesting screw-up: I'm flying through the grid, not noticing any theme (typical for a Monday) when I come to an answer that ends -FROME (61A). So naturally (well, naturally to me), I didn't even look at the clue; I just wrote in ETHAN. I mean, what else ends in "-FROME," I ask you.
    Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

    75 comments:

    jae 12:12 AM  

    Easy for me too.  Looked for some unifying "meta", wasn't there. 

    I did have Ethan before ERICH...wrong Fromm...Frome...

    Thanks for not using the Disney ride as a clue.

    Pretty solid Mon. Liked it.

    Mike 12:22 AM  

    Just ridiculously easy. I barely glanced at the grid, and it was my fastest solve yet would've been sub-3 min if it weren't for a typo.

    Anonymous 12:26 AM  

    The last part of all the themers have 4 letters. Mall of America would have been inconsistent.

    The I'm not a robot question has gotten harder. Are you trying to keep Porker from posting?

    chefwen 2:50 AM  

    EASY as pie. I'm guessing it is Monday. No liquid paper was wasted on this puppy. Speaking of puppies, avatar was chasing cattle and stepped into a wash and broke his his right leg, will be in a splint for eight weeks, which has to be changed every three days. Have fun Jon. Wrapping bandage is Green and Gold with little bones on it. Go Pack!

    Thomaso808 4:04 AM  

    Taking from @Lewis yesterday, this puzzle was no work and no fun. To give it credit the fill was ok and that counts for a lot on a Mon theme. It must be virtually impossible to make a Mon require work and be fun.

    As to PDAS, can we retire the Personal Digital Assistant meaning and going forward limit it to Public Display of Affection? Not that I am in favor of promoting the latter, but really I think smartphones have killed the former.

    Funny thing about POI and TARO. There is neither a letter T nor a letter R in the written Hawaiian language. Technically, poi in Hawaii is made from KALO, not TARO, even though most people, including Native Hawaiians, orally refer to the plant as taro. When the missionaries came to Hawaii in 1820 and created the written form, they did their best to represent what they heard into their familiar consonants, but in doing so reduced the subtleties of the actual language. I think they heard a lot of K's and not so many T's, and a lot of L's, and not so many R's, so the subtle T's and R's got lost. I think that's an example of unforeseen consequences - good people trying to do the right thing, but in the process creating a negative result.

    Lewis 6:20 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    Lewis 6:23 AM  

    I agree with @anon12:26 that Rex is wrong when he says "The theme is nothing". I couldn't come up with another theme answer where the last word is four letters, and all the answers Joe found felt very natural. Can anyone come up with another theme answer? I thought it was clever of Joe to suss this theme out.

    That said, this felt too easy for the New Monday that Will has given us this year, puzzles with a bit of a bite, yet still easier than a Tuesday.

    I like the L square at 42 (and the WALLE double L so close by). I was thinking INCA should be INCAn, given the clue, but I'm wrong, says the Internet. A member of that civilization is called an INCA. Finally, this puzzle is fairly high in double letters (14), but not in that rarefied zone of 15+.

    @thomas808 -- Very interesting background on the Hawaiian language, thanks for that!

    John Child 6:54 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    John Child 6:57 AM  

    "Jes' Fine" for a Monday.

    Z 7:32 AM  

    @Lewis - The four by four structure limits the -ALL words available, B, C, F, G, H, M, P, T, W all start words, but some (Pall of doom?) seem less than suitable.

    My Tigers lost on an IHBP (that's Imaginary Hit By Pitch), but I'm not bitter. Honest.

    joho 7:41 AM  

    FALL O FROME.

    @You are right @Lewis, I think Joe found all the in-the-language phrases that fit the theme sequence. Interesting observation by Joe!

    Easy peasy start to the week: Nice!8

    Loren Muse Smith 7:49 AM  

    Right across the plate Monday, y’all. The only notes I have in the margin are DRUB and “great” (that I had for I’M SET).

    I’m sure DRUB has been in the grid before, but I sure don’t remember it. So, cool that it’s there with TROUNCE. I don’t know which I’d rather be.

    Man, we sure got drubbed last night. Sounds like it involved being dragged around by LLAMAs.

    Man, we sure got trounced last night. Sounds like a bunch of FLUFFYs ambushed your head.

    I agree, Rex – ENWRAP is a funny word. Makes you want to revisit ENSUE, huh? Hey! You don’t like my comments??? So ENSUE me! Just think of what you could do with entire or entree.

    Speaking of ENSUE, we had an intrepid little male cat in Chattanooga that we did not name FLUFFY; Mom and Dad are Johnny Cash fans, so, yeah…. his name was SUE. I guess be beSUEd him.

    SMALL WORLD really confused me for a while; I was kind of looking for a pinwheel placement of themers and GENE SISKEL just wasn’t cooperating.

    All in all, I thought it was a good one, and, as @Lewis and @joho pointed out – pretty much exhaustive of themer possibilities. Thanks, Joe!

    Aketi 7:51 AM  

    @leapfinger regarding your last comment yesterday. I think you missed my link to the peer reviewed article that actually provided statistics. I posted that in direct response to your comment about most common injuries pointing out my flawed logic and sketchy knowledge of anatomy. Admittedly, the article cited secondary sources for those statistics and I wasn't up to the challenge of evaluating the original sources for their validity.

    Still smiling over ZIPLINE

    RooMonster 7:58 AM  

    Hey All !
    Put me in the Like column, and no, not the thumbs-up-internet-like-button-thing! Two little cheater squares, but if the result is clean fill, it works fine.

    Hands up for Ethan, and wondering why the crosses weren't working! Should have clued FLUFFY as "Gabriel Iglesias"! Liked tbe two Beat clues. Have SNOOKI and YETI in same puz. Coincidence?

    Agree with the Rex line about being more elegant without other double L words. Just sayin.

    SERA SERA
    RooMonster
    DarrinV

    Lewis 7:59 AM  

    Factoid: BICS are the best selling pen in the world, with the 100 billionth sold in 2006; also, since 1991 the caps have had a small hole to reduce the risk of suffocation if the cap is inhaled.

    Quotoid: "The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have." -- ERICH Fromm

    Leapfinger 8:02 AM  

    Does the concensus opinion cast a Pall of Doom?*

    I thought WALL.E and SMALL WORLD muddied the waters.

    In the upper half, seemed that more was dated than just SNOOKI.

    De SNOOKI BUS non est disputandum.
    __________________

    @Aketi, a late reply on yesterblog, and a Thankyou to @dick swart


    *if nowhere else, Isaiah 25:7

    Aketi 8:03 AM  

    Hmm, my first post seems to have disappeared, so hopefully this won't end up as a repeat.

    @chefwen, sorry about your puppy's injury. Didn't notice before that you live in Kauai which is one of my favorite places on the planet.

    @Thomaso808, interesting how oral languages can be influenced by the missionaries efforts to write them down.

    @Mike, acheived my best solve time ever, but typing on the iPad is so slow that I'll never break the 10-minute mark.

    Like the ORCA POD cross.

    Dorothy Biggs 8:07 AM  

    First time, I think, breaking the 5 minute barrier. Granted, that's with no cat fighting for my attention, but still. One thing about going that fast and looking back at the completed puzzle, there are lots of words that I didn't even know I filled in: APNEA, SPASM, and FUEL. Didn't even see 'em.

    As to another themer how about BALLOFyarn?

    I thought ENWRAP was a bit of an outlier in a puzzle full of straightforward words and phrases.

    ERICH Fromme is an author well known to me from my days of reading books by psychologists. He is my WCW, for what it's worth.

    Also for what it's worth, "To WHOM it may concern" is about the only time I use the word WHOM. Funny, I shy away from using "whom" because it sounds so grammatically pretentious, yet I use "ostensibly" and "albeit" all the time. Language, vocabulary, and culture is a weird thing.

    Also, one of my favorite parts of posting here is the approval by the site that I am not a robot. Good feeling.

    Anonymous 8:14 AM  

    Scruffy the Cat was an 80's band...

    joho 8:24 AM  

    @chefwen, I forgot to send my quick healing wishes to your spunky avatar. I have a feeling he may be an unwilling patient!

    jberg 8:31 AM  

    i'm amazed at the gall of some, who think there are not other possible theme answers. Ball of yarn is OK, but not in combo with BALL OF FIRE. Or, as @Loren might say, y'all do come over soon.

    I've seen ENWRAP only in the passive -- he sat there enwrapped in cushions, basking in the glow of the fire. That's about all there is to say about this one.

    AliasZ 8:35 AM  


    OMAN, this was a perfect Monday romp, easy as Mondays should be. The _ALL OF_ something (all of me) theme was light and FLUFFY, didn't take long to get it unless one is given to over-analysis. Pall Mall Street in London would have been nice as a revealer, except Pall of Mall is not a thing, I don't think. By the way, the internet image file in my link is a JPG, not a GIF. SMALL WORLD and WALL-E were only there to confuse Rex. Small wonder.

    Much to like in this Joe Di gem. It sang a MELODY to me. Loved the DRUB/TROUNCE echo, the mention of BICS Beiderbecke, Fernando LLAMAS and of the instant messaging crowd, the IM SET, reminiscent of the jet set. EN-SUE and EN-WRAP made me wonder of there is also EM-SUE and EM-WRAP. CHEAPO FIBBER sounds like a sci-fi villain who scared WALL-E half to death.

    To close, let us listen to some real fancy CELLO playing by János Starker in the Sonata for Solo CELLO, Op.8 by Zoltán Kodály.

    Enjoy!

    Dorothy Biggs 8:55 AM  

    @jberg I see what you did there.

    Elephant's Child 9:08 AM  

    @NCAPrez, does "For WHOM the Bell Tolls" ring a ____ ?

    AAliasZ, how did The Strong One come to be running around nekkid, I wonder?

    Say, all of y'all aren't pulling the collective leg(s) of your Southern cousins, are you?

    So many questions, so little time.

    btw, just because a HORA can be danced at a wedding doesn't make it a wedding dance.

    quilter1 9:21 AM  

    Yes easy. I thought it interesting for a Monday. Different from the usual eels and Miss Eyre.

    Aketi 9:24 AM  

    @leapfinger, reread your late reply on yesterblog. Thx, I am feeling better now that my rib cage is no longer sounding like bubble wrap popping with every breath.

    chefbea 9:34 AM  

    I agree - easy Monday puzzle. When I saw small world...I wanted 10 down to have ALL in it

    Nancy 9:34 AM  

    @Lewis -- from The Things I'm Really, REALLY Glad I Didn't Know Department:

    I write everything -- full length books included -- in longhand, and I've been using BIC pens exclusively since WAY before 1991. Are you telling me I was IN DANGER OF SUFFOCATION (!) from the BIC caps, of all things, in the decades before the little hole was added? Good grief! I guess I should count myself lucky to be alive. I had absolutely no idea!

    RooMonster 9:41 AM  

    Some random nonsense for y'all...

    The CHEAPO from OSLO, whilst playing the CELLO, usually SAYS NO to TARO.

    Play an EASY MELODY, and even WALL E wants to hook up with FLUFFY SNOOKI (who may be a YETI)

    ONCE, ZED, ERICH, and a FEMALE FIBBER named LAURA rode LLAMAS to the RUHR. Their STOOLs were NUMB after, so they took the ACTUAL BUS on the way back.

    Me EN SUE like the "BOOMS ROOMS"!

    And now back to your regular nonsense!

    RooMonster

    Bob Kerfuffle 9:53 AM  

    A nice, gentle puzzle for all of those suffering hangovers after yesterday's Mothers' Day festivities ...

    Arlene 10:00 AM  

    Ahhh yes @Bob K -
    I binged on authentic French macarons - perfect confections.
    Monday puzzle was an easy solve even with my sugar high.

    Leapfinger 10:04 AM  

    Shoot,everything is coming up in weird sequence so not only did I not see your last night's link, @aketi, but your first comment of this morning was alsonot there when I wrote. My intent was not to attack any logic, so if it read that way I hope you will (orperhaps already have) changed your mind. It's perfectly valid to consult someone in the field; it's just that the reliability can vary with experience. Triage is a funny thing; in the ER, some things that aren't immediately emergent can crop up later, and be equally devasting. Like Natasha Richardson's head injury, or cardiac contusion, in the instance under discussion. I've worked both the ER and non-emergent care, so I've had a chance to see some of the results of this kind of oversight myself, and am probably over-sensitized to the phenomenon. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

    Anyway, I took a sort of swan-dive in a parking lot about 2 years ago, and did stuff to my rib-cage that made it necessary for me to sleep in a recliner for a couple of weeks, so I'm in awe of someone who'll compete in martial arts with damaged ribs. All the luck to you!

    If you want to respond in any way, why don't you email me, so we don't annoy all the nice people?

    Ludyjynn 10:06 AM  

    Shades of my childhood in this puzzle. One Sunday in 1964, Dad says, "let's go to the World's Fair today." So the five of us cram ourselves into the Chevy Bel Air and we're off to NY. "It's A SMALL WORLD After All" is now ringing in my ears; memories from the cool ride at the Fair which Disney later installed at the Florida theme park. BTW, you can catch the whole MELODY and ride videos on YouTube if you need an earworm today!

    ERICH Fromm was a gimme because "The Art of Loving", paperback edition, sat on a bookshelf in the house where I grew up. Don't know if anyone ever actually read it.

    I have yet to meet a cat named FLUFFY. I had a cat named KC who would ENWRAP my head with her body the moment my head touched the pillow at night. Like a nice pair of furry earmuffs for 18 years.


    @Lewis, thanks for the BIC factoid. I always wondered about that hole in the cap.

    Thanks, JD and WS. I'm now STOKEd to start the day.

    Name that tune 10:12 AM  

    Today I will demonstrate how lazy I am by criticizing an answer that isn't even in the puzzle (SMALL WONDER). I would remove this from the grid. Oh wait, it's already NOT IN the grid. No matter.
    Then, I will say I like the puzzle, largely because there was no theme. Of course, there was a theme, and a relatively interesting one for a Monday, but I was simply too lazy or too dense to see it.

    Carola 10:17 AM  

    Easy and fun. I liked the idea of a domesticated abominable snowman: FLUFFY x YETI.

    weingolb 10:18 AM  

    Set a personal best time today. Grandmother's name and grandmother's cat's name were in the fill to help me out with that, no doubt.

    Luckily neither is SNOOKI.

    Best of all would've been a backwards themer in the mix. Ooooh ahhh.

    El Cheapo 10:19 AM  

    @Lewis, that small hole now makes BIC caps suitable for use inan energency tracheotomy. Saves dismantling a perfectly good ball-point pen just to use the barrel.

    Andrew Heinegg 10:23 AM  

    Nice quote, as usual, Lewis

    Andrew Heinegg 10:25 AM  

    Nice quote, as usual, Lewis

    Dad 10:26 AM  

    I started doing NYT puzzle about 2 year ago, this puzzle skyrocketed to #1 on the charts as easiest puzzle in the last 2 calendar years for me.

    Dorothy Biggs 11:01 AM  

    @ludy: To your point about cats named Fluffy... I've never encountered one either, nor have I met a dog named Rover, Fido, or Spot, along with never having eaten pizza in a place called angelos.

    Dorothy Biggs 11:01 AM  

    @ludy: To your point about cats named Fluffy... I've never encountered one either, nor have I met a dog named Rover, Fido, or Spot, along with never having eaten pizza in a place called angelos.

    old timer 11:19 AM  

    Fast time for me on paper: 7 minutes, and that's as fast as I ever get. Reason: This is one of these rare puzzles (for me) where it works to write in only the Down answers. I started with the across across the top, and all the way down the left side. And I had BARN for a place to square-dance (though truth is, you'll more often see that kind of dancing at the Grange Hall, rather than in an actual barn).

    But after those acrosses, pretty much all downs, with no need to look at the across cluses. Did get FALLOFROME from FLUFFY, so no need to think of Ethan.

    Mr. Porker did catch @Rex in a flub: Not only is there no "small wonder", the "wonder" part would not have fit. BFD.

    Anonymous 11:21 AM  

    @Old Timer - Yes, Mr. Porker did catch @Rex in a flub - Rex was talking about SMALLWORLD, not SMALLWONDER. Unfortunately, Mr. Porker was too friggin stupid to recognize that.

    Joseph Michael 11:25 AM  

    Not one for the HALL OF FAME. But an easy OK Monday puzzle. Liked the shout out to Roger Ebert and GENE SISKEL.

    Went for 1A from ROARS to ZOOMS to BOOMS. (Thank you, Bic pens)

    In addition to MALL OF AMERICA (biggest mall in the US) which Rex already mentioned, other themers could have been: GALL OF THE EARTH (common perennial herb) and WALL OF SILENCE (unwritten rule among cops not to report a colleague's misconduct).

    However, I think Joe got it right by staying with the same ten-letter pattern for all four ACTUAL themers.



    Me and You and a Dog Named Boo 11:31 AM  


    @NCA Pres,

    I have never met a dog named Rover, Fido or Spot either, but I know one named Rex.

    Mike R. 11:35 AM  

    Porker nailed Rex not only on the blatant flub, but also on missing the theme entirely. Rex: "The theme is nothing." "The theme [is] "ALL OF whatever." This is simply incorrect. The theme is 10-letter phrases, with words of 4-2-4 letters, with letters 2-6 being ALLOF. Much more difficult and complex than Rex gives it credit for, and just fine for a Monday.

    Anonymous 12:11 PM  

    Dang. I was 2 across clues from not needing them at all. I solved the rest using down clues only. And really had I been more patient (I'm not on Monday puzzles because they're so simple), I wouldn't have needed the crosses.

    Not showing off (as if that is), just trying to make a Monday puzzle a bit harder.

    Masked and Anonym007Us 1:07 PM  

    yep. If yer theme is ?ALLOF????, then this puz pretty much covered the high spots.

    Of course, U open up a whole Shoppin Mall of America of possibilities, if that last ???? can be a might longer...

    Top picks:
    * WALLOFFTHEPATIO. Grid spanner!
    * TALLOFTWOCITIES. Ditto.
    * MALLOFFICERCOP. Paul Blart gets a well-deserved promotion.
    * YALLOFASUDDEN. Ok, maybe a little desperate.
    * GALLOFILLSWINOS. More of a slogan suggestion, I reckon.

    Thanx for the cool crossword, Joe.

    M&A
    home.

    **gruntz**

    chefbea 1:11 PM  

    @Ludyjnn - I went to the world's fair in NYC in 1964. Didn't see you there!!

    Anonymous 1:51 PM  

    Yup, no decent cat would ever let itself be called "Fluffy."

    Also, do Canadians "zed" their alphabet?

    Ludyjynn 4:05 PM  

    A belated thanks to @Leapy, @Lewis, @Teedmn, and @NCAPres. for your supportive comments yesterday re my creative effort. Much appreciated.

    @ChefBea, are you sure we weren't standing next to one another for hours, shooting the breeze, while waiting to get into the fururistic IBM exhibit? I thought that was you!

    @ChefWen, adding my hopes for a quick recovery by your pup from his recent misadventure.

    Benko 4:10 PM  

    @anonymous151: Yup, Canadians "zed" their alphabet. Hence, aloud, Rush's "YYZ" is correctly pronounced "Y Y Zed."

    mathguy 4:28 PM  

    I'm late. We're in West Palm Beach on vacation. I printed up the puzzle for The Closer to take to the pool. She lost interest and didn't bring it back. I did it pretty quickly on my iPad. Not much fun.

    wreck 5:05 PM  

    @Z lives pretty close to Canada -- maybe he should change his monicker to "Zed."

    Anonymous 5:35 PM  

    34 across is a mistake - song is que sara sara.

    Teedmn 5:38 PM  

    I see, using Google, that wALLOFpain can be a thing but I would have no idea how to clue it and it sure would have cut into my near if not ACTUAL record solving on paper time.

    I have a friend who was running a marathon (perhaps his first) who had "hit the WALL-E". He ran past a spectator who was playing "It's a SMALL WORLD After All" and in his heightened emotional state, ran over to her, and with tears in his eyes and voice said, "It is a SMALL WORLD, isn't it?" Thus I always get a chuckle when I hear the phrase SMALL WORLD.

    Thanks for the puzzle, JD.

    Teedmn 5:39 PM  

    Playing on an accordion. Spectators do weird things.

    Nancy 5:42 PM  

    @Ludyjynn & @chefbea -- It really is a SMALL WORLD. I, too, was at the 1964 World's Fair in NYC. I spent quite a bit of time at the FLUFFY Lady Clairol Pavilion with my college friend, Jill,-- she of the light-brown hair, blue eyes and peaches and cream complexion. We each tried on different hair colors. She looked great in every color, from platinum to auburn to jet black. I, with jet black hair and dark brown eyes, looked good in NO other hair colors. All you could see were my eyebrows, also black. "I guess I will never be able to color my hair," I told her. And, thus far, I never have.

    Sorry I didn't run into the two of you on the fairgrounds. If we had had PDAS with us, I'm sure we would have found each other.

    chefbea 5:47 PM  

    @nancy ..I think I did see you...but not @Ludyjinn

    Z 6:49 PM  

    @wreck - If you haven't gotten enough of left-wing politics and Ultimate frisbee news you could always follow @Z_Zed_Zed on Twitter.

    chefwen 9:10 PM  

    Bucky sends his thanks for all the good wishes.

    @Aketi - Pretty sweet here, I'm a lucky girl.
    @joho -Yup, he's pretty feisty, still managing to three leg it after the kitty.

    Hand up for being at the EXPO. Dear old Dad was a big believer.

    kitshef 9:49 PM  

    @Ludyjynn, @chefbeam, @Nancy, @chefwen, I was there, too. All I remember is Dinoland. When trying to sleep that night, I could hear my heartbeat in my ear, but I thought I was hearing a brontosaurus coming at us.

    Unknown 9:52 PM  

    fastest monday/solve evuh !

    Anonymous 10:40 PM  

    I had a threesome with @Nancy and Chefbea at the world's fair.

    Anonymous 11:51 PM  

    Yup, Canada ends the alphabet with a Zed, as does the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. If you throw in the Asian subcontinent, with English-speakers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh...
    It's E-Zee to C
    That US is a minor-E.T.
    Amid the well-bred
    Where Zed is sed.

    Hartley70 3:39 AM  

    I too spent a day at the 1964 World's Fair, but I wouldn't have seen any of you. I was busy making googly eyes at my sophomore high school boyfriend. I think "It's a Small World" was playing somewhere in the background.

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    Burma Shave 8:32 AM  

    FIBBER

    OMAN, that BALLOFFIRE who always SAYSNO is missing her CALLOFDUTY.
    When a FEMALE PAWSAT you and wants to go, it should ACTUALly be EASY booty.

    --- MELODY “FLUFFY” AMES

    spacecraft 11:50 AM  

    "IMSET?" Who says that? Bingo players, when they Need One More Number. (CALLOFBINGO?) And that poor W in the SE: suffers the double ILLS of ENWRAP and PAWSAT. Hmm, PAWSAT: an orbiting dog pound?? I guess it's not too terrible if those are the only SPASMs.

    I fully expected to see a clip from the old FIBBER McGee and Molly show in OFL's blog. Nah. Too old-school. Mini-theme: DRUB, TROUNCE, KOS.

    Some don't like the extraneous "-ALL"s but I think of them as bonus themers. Especially the adorable WALL-E. This was a harmless piece of Monday FLUFF (Y). Not enough to NUMB the brain, but on the HOLE, OK. B.

    rondo 11:56 AM  

    This puz was as EASY as the spellcasters are annoying – plenty. But DNL ENWRAP, tried my hardest not to put it in, but it just wouldn’t go away.

    CHEAPO is a record store here in the Twin Cities. New and used vinyl, cassettes, and CDs. All cassettes are used I suppose. I still get an occasional 33 1/3 RPM vinyl for the Technics direct-drive. Just purchased $1000 worth of Polk Audio towers to pump the tunes through, so IMSET.

    Don’t have cable, but SNOOKI not a yeah baby. LAURA Linney or Dern moreso.

    Didn’t finish in 2 minutes, but pretty EASY anyway.

    664 is a good start

    rain forest 1:14 PM  

    Easy, yet clearly competent Monday puzzle which I...liked (surprise).

    I did this with mostly acrosses, and when looking it over afterwards, I marveled that GENESIS KEL was a partner of Roger Ebert.

    Loved seeing ZED, a far stronger and assertive letter than the wimpy ZEe favoured by some. It clearly announces the end of the alphabet, while zee makes it sound like there's more. Nissan 350 ZED--a hot car: Nissan 350 ZEE--meh. Yeah, there's that stupid Zorro song, but that can be fixed:

    Zorro, the fox who's clearly well-bred,
    Zorro, who makes the sign of the ZED!
    (Not exactly of Burma's quality, but I don't have the lurid gene).

    Nice to be able to zip through a puzzle with nary a PAWS.

    Drinks from the captcha. I guess numbers are no more, at least for me.

    DMG 1:45 PM  

    Monday good. Fortunately SNOOKI came from the crosses. Think in the old days it would have been clued with reference to singer Lansen. Or was that SNOOKy?? Think he was on the Hit Parade. Love to see "olden" words crop up. Today we get DRUB and TROUNCE to go
    with the recent HUNKERED. On a more modern note, just when I thought all things computer are jpeg, I learn there's also something called GIF-what's a grandma to do?

    @Lewis: You had me looking deeply into my Bic cap, where I discovered not one, but a floret of holes! We are surrounded by unseen wonders!

    @rain forest: My robot master brings strange wonders whenever I consult him-sometimes numbers, sometimes pictures, sometimes gibberish. Lately he seems loathe to let me report back on his offering before whisking it away. Curious fellow!

    123 = why bother!

    leftcoastTAM 4:38 PM  

    L.A. air problem: PALL OF SMOG

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