Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Today's time: 41:49, which might be the slowest time I've posted yet on this blog!

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What a slog by Robert Fisher.  What a slog.  The theme is euphemisms, and somewhat clunky ones at that: "falling down" is TESTING GRAVITY, "speeding ticket" is AWARD FOR FAST DRIVING, etc.  None of these is particularly amusing to me.  I mean, calling "dead" POST-RETIREMENT!  Ha!  What a laff riot.

  • Update: User Kimberly opined that this are less euphemisms and more properly "spin."  Which makes a bit more sense.  But I'm still not a fan.

Robert ILER played A.J. on The Sopranos, which I watched every episode of and adore, but I couldn't remember his name and he hasn't exactly burned up the screen in the past decade.

And good old Iler crossed at the L on "Charlotte AMALIE, Virgin Islands," which is the capital of the US Virgin Islands, but I mean, I've never heard of it.  So, and I'm ashamed to admit this, I ran the alphabet at that nexus until I got both words.  (*IDER?  *AMADIE?  *IRER?  *AMARIE?)

For "prep for the runway, maybe" I guessed *VOGUE and then *DANCE??  But it wasn't a fashion runway, it was for a plane, and DEICE.

"Locale for two of the Quad Cities" is IOWA.  And I'm sorry to be a coastal elitist (who lives in Texas) about this, but come on.  Wikipedia, take it away:
The urban core consists of five principal cities: Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois. These cities are the center of the Quad Cities Metropolitan Area, which as of 2013 had a population estimate of 383,781 and a CSA (Combined Statistical Area) population of 474,937. 
Betterndorf?  East Moline?  475,000 people?  I'm sure they're very pretty and folksy, but we must not call them cities.

The Bosc pear is named after Louis BOSC, a biologist who also classified mushrooms and helped protect people hiding from the Terror during the Revolution.

SEGO Canyon, in Utah, is famed for its rock art and ghost town.

Jaguar XK-E was an answer exactly seven days ago.

"MAMA Can't Buy You Love" is a 1979 song by Elton John, off his lesser-known The Thom Bell Sessions three-song EP, which was his de rigeur attempt at the Philadelphia soul sound.

I'm not familiar with the phrase TAG END, but I guess it's kosher.

I'm not a fan of the new country and have never heard of ERIC Church, though he seems like a good guy, with several charitable causes and a pro-marijuana stance.

"Ratcheting wheel mechanism:" PAWL.  Now I consider myself a guy with an extremely wide vocabulary, but I've never encountered this word.  But then, I'm mostly a book-larnin' nerd, and not much cop at doing things with my hands and engineering and whatnot.  It looks like this.

"Bit of wind:"  *GUST?  *LUFF??  No, PUFF.

Sir Edwin Landseer's The Monarch of the Glen is a portrait of a STAG.  And it's quite an impressive picture!  Interesting tidbit is how many brands appear to have used it or a reasonable facsimile for its logo.  Challenge Butter, I'm looking at you.

OTTO I was a Holy Roman Emperor who consolidated power in Europe, defeated the Magyars, and is mostly known as "Otto the Great."  And I think he drank a good deal.

Woof.  Even though I knew a lot of the answers, there was also much I didn't, and with the usual Sunday vague clues, this left me both tired and without a feeling of accomplishment.  It wasn't a bad puzzle, except for the execrable joke theme answers, just not very fun.

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