Friday, April 18, 2008

Friday, April 18 - Joe DiPietro

Last night was the after-tax-season dinner for Don's employees. Everything was excellent...the company, the food (bacon-wrapped filet...yum) and just the right amount of wine. To top it off, Joe DiPietro's puzzle was one of the most enjoyable Friday puzzles I can remember. I got hung up a bit in the northwest, but the rest of it came together so nicely.

The long stacks were all multiword. As much as I love them, I don't always get them...but several of these were gimmes. I may have just been on his wavelength...but is it possible that meat is brain food for me?

6A: "This is how it's really done..." (step aside). Not quite a gimme, but I got it with only the TE.

16A: Tried to buy (put a bid on).

18A: Improving (on the mend)...one of the gimmes.

57A: Site of Mackinac Island (Lake Huron). Come to think of it, I struggled a bit here. A wrong answer at 45D: "You __ kidding!" threw me...I had must be, rather than the correct weren't. Once I had some of the downs, though, I worked through it.

62A: Begins to attack (opens fire).

64A: Retired (went to bed). At first, I was thinking of retired in the normal sense.

1D: Certain rental arrangements (net leases). I was befuddled by the cross at 1A: Films are shown in them (nabes). I just looked it up...it's slang for neighborhood theater. We never said that in my neighborhood.

2D: Spirits (aqua vitae)...Latin for "water of life."

3D: Quit meddling (butted out). We had that not too long ago, and I was happy to remember it.

34D: Americana symbols (apple pies). Happily, one of the gimmes.

35D: Takeover (coup d'etat)...with a few letters, it couldn't have been anything else.

36D: Bygone Montreal event (Expos game). The cross at 40A: Curse (pox) always reminds me of the scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" when George Bailey says, "A pox upon me for a clumsy lout."

Other favorite answers or clues:

17A: It's all for the Italians (tutto).

28A: "About Last Night..." co-star, 1986 (Rob Lowe). Either I didn't see it or I don't remember it...or I don't want to remember it...but it was based on David Mamet's award-winning play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago."

38A: Florida island (Sanibel). It pays to have grown up in south Florida.

47A: Rival rival (Alpo). I was thinking of the Rival that makes appliances...but a clever clue.

51A: Exam takers now, exam givers later (premeds).

7D: Main ingredient in tekka maki (tuna).

13D: "Holy Sonnets" poet (Donne).

25D: "Indeed!" (to be sure).

26D: "The Seven Year Itch" co-star (Ewell). I only knew that Marilyn Monroe was it, but the crosses put it together.

29D: Ocean blue (briny). I was thinking of a color at first.

49D: Freak out (go ape). This was too good to pass up...and funny even if you happen to like Bush.

I took the day off so that Don and I can do something fun, and it's nice to be able to blog leisurely with a cup of coffee. He and the boys are still asleep, so I think I'll go watch the birds.

Some of the comments are getting through...others still aren't. Blogger doesn't really have a way to contact them...you "join" their support group and post your question or problem. If you're lucky, someone sees it and responds. Basically, there's no support...but I don't pay them for the Blog, so what's to complain about?

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Had a bit of trouble with docks = curtails. And for Expos game, had to dock the World's Fair idea. Very good puzzle.

Linda, is the "Type the characters you see....." thing a permanent "feature"?

Linda G said...

I'll take that out again soon. I started getting spam comments again...since I'm not getting comments via email, I can't find them to delete them. They're frequently on posts from several months back.

But I'm happy to see that your comment posted ; )

MBG said...

This was a fun puzzle, but I ended up with one space I couldn't fill in. Never heard of the slang word NABES or of NET LEASES. I went through the alphabet trying to see what would fit but nothing made any sense to me. Oh, well, better luck tomorrow.

Linda G said...

I opened a new yahoo account just for comments. I just got an email that Anna had sent one. Hooray!

Anonymous said...

"Sanibel" and "Rob Lowe" and "premeds" were the first things I put in the puzzle.

Tough puzzle but lots of fun!

Kitt

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Linda G said...

The spam started just a few hours after I changed the settings. I hope that all of you know not to click on any links in a comment unless you know who posted it. If it just says, See Here...don't.