Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Thursday, April 26 - Mike Nothnagel

It's gonna cost you! That's the theme of Thursday's puzzle, a clever rebus by Mike Nothnagel.

I'm usually slow to catch on to these things, but my legal background made 21A (Frequently used adverb on Court TV) a gimme. The problem was how to fit a 9-letter word into six squares. I don't remember much about the periodic table, but I had enough in the NE corner that I could guess that 9D (One column in the periodic table) had to end in gases. Et voila! With LEG in one square, I had my 9-letter word (allegedly) in six squares, with Noble Gases intersecting.

The theme, listed in the title, was revealed at 37A: Bargaining phrase...and a hint to this puzzle's theme.

And what's it gonna cost you? Not an arm and a leg, but two of each.

I didn't even start the puzzle until 9:30, after returning from book club, and I still have to make the frosting for a German Chocolate cake--from scratch--before heading to bed.

So, that's where I'm heading, and I'll turn over the rest of the puzzle commentary to Rex, Orange and Donald.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the puzzle.

Good night...

Linda G

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've said before that I really like rebuses (rebi?) and the reason is having that aha! experience when you just know that the correct answer is too long for the space. I always like to take note of the moment(s) when that occurs, and in this case it began with 48A, where I felt in my bones that the answer was WarmS, but was clinched with 17A when I could see that BarmITZVAH was the probable answer. Still, I couldn't grasp the theme at all at that point nor did I realize that some LEGS would be part of the game until much later. This avocation is an endlessly humbling experience.

Norrin2 said...

Speaking of endlessly humbling, I had SEED at 58Down and so ended up with CIRCLE GRAPE (instead of graph) for 60A: Something never shown in bars. I think I was thinking of slot machines -- or maybe I wasn't thinking at all.
Anyway, feeling very humble.

Anonymous said...

German chocolate cake. I was an adult before I tasted this delicious treat. It is my alltime favorite.

Is your cake for a special occasion? On second thought German chocolate cake makes any occasion special.

I love rebus puzzles. They can be so frustrating (especially when you encounter your first one) but so gloriously satisfying when you get that aha moment. Almost as satisfying as eating German chocolate cake.

Linda G said...

Rebi -- works for me : )

The only drawback to German chocolate is that you don't frost the sides, so it looks rather pathetic. But it'll taste great.

Special occasion, yes. The director of the nonprofit (I've been there four weeks now) makes a cake -- from scratch -- for every employee's birthday. Today is hers, so I was asked to make one for her. German chocolate is, of course, her favorite. She is, in no particular order, a Benedictine nun, an incredibly sharp business woman, an extremely caring person, somewhere in her seventies but looks late fifties, and she has a PhD and two masters degrees. Can you tell I'm impressed!

Norrin2 said...

Never mind the cake. What book did y'all discuss in book club?

Linda G said...

Oh, yeah, Robert's into books. You wouldn't have liked this one. Sister Mine by Tawni O'Dell. We have a queen each month and she gets to pick the book, so sometimes they're meaty, other times they're fluff.

Next month's will be good, but I can't remember the title. I'll let you know sometime. It's not fluff.

I see you and I both listed The Time Traveler's Wife as a favorite. Excellent read.

Norrin2 said...

"The Time-Traveler's Wife" is absolutely my favorite book ever. The scene where Henry travels into the future after he and Clare have been trying so hard to have a baby and he meets his daughter at that museum and learns -- well, you know what he learned -- is the most devastating thing I've ever come across in fiction. I've got goose bumps right now just thinking about. That book and those characters seemed so real to me, I remember telling my wife, "Man, I'm glad I don't have chrono-displacement disorder" like it was a real disease.

For a while, I bought extra copies and gave them away to anybody who said they were looking for a good book.

Man, what a book!

And if you thought today's Sun Puzzle was rough, wait till you see Friday's.