Constructed by: Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
Quicklink to comments
Theme: Game Changer
Each of today’s themed answers includes a string of letters that are circled in the grid. These strings of letters are the names of GAMES in which the order of the letters has been CHANGED:
- 60A. Ump’s controversial call, perhaps … and a hint to this puzzle’s circles : GAME CHANGER
- 17A. Literally, “Ireland forever” : ERIN GO BRAGH (includes “BINGO” changed)
- 24A. Accident investigation site : CRASH SCENE (includes “CHESS” changed)
- 37A. Gently towels off : PATS DRY (includes “DARTS” changed)
- 51A. Eavesdrop : LISTEN IN ON (includes “TENNIS” changed)
Bill’s time: 6m 41s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Hubby’s “better half” : THE MRS
Mr. is an abbreviation for “master”, and Mrs. is an abbreviation for “mistress”.
7. Metaphorical china shop culprit : BULL
The idiom “like a bull in a china shop” has been around since the early 1800s.
17. Literally, “Ireland forever” : ERIN GO BRAGH (includes “BINGO” changed)
“Erin go bragh!” is an anglicization of an Irish phrase “Éirinn go Brách!”, which translates as “Ireland Forever!”
Our modern bingo is a derivative of an Italian lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” that became popular in the 16th-century.
20. Pie __ mode : A LA
In French, “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America, the term has also come to describe a way of serving pie. Pie served à la mode includes a dollop of cream or ice cream, or as I recall from my time living in Upstate New York, with a wedge of cheddar cheese.
24. Accident investigation site : CRASH SCENE (includes “CHESS” changed)
It is believed that the game of chess originated in northwest India, evolving from a 6th-century game called “chaturanga”, a Sanskrit word meaning “four divisions”. These four (military) divisions were represented in the game:
- Infantry (now “pawns”)
- Cavalry (now “knights”)
- Elephants (now “bishops”)
- Chariots (now “rooks”)
28. Vacuums, say : CLEANS
The first practical portable vacuum cleaner was invented by James Spangler in 1907. Spangler sold the patent for the design to his cousin’s husband, William Henry Hoover. Hoover then made his fortune from manufacturing and selling vacuum cleaners. Hoover was so successful in my part of the world that back in Ireland we don’t use the verb “to vacuum” and instead say “to hoover”, and a hoover is what we call a vacuum cleaner, regardless of who makes it.
30. Meteorological light shows : AURORAS
The spectacular aurora phenomenon is seen lighting up the night sky at both poles of the earth (the Aurora Borealis in the north, and the Aurora Australis in the south). The eerie effect is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms at high latitudes.
34. You might get a bad one in the rough : LIE
That would be golf.
35. Cosmetic surg. option : LIPO
Liposuction (lipo) dates back to the 1920s when it was developed by a surgeon in France. However, the procedure quickly lost favor when a French model developed gangrene after surgery. As a result it wasn’t until the mid-seventies that modern liposuction took off, after being popularized by two Italian-American surgeons in Rome.
36. Leia’s love : HAN
Han Solo is the space smuggler in “Star Wars” played by Harrison Ford. Ford was originally hired by George Lucas just to read lines for actors during auditions for “Star Wars”, but over time Lucas became convinced that Ford was right for the pivotal role of Han Solo.
The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.
37. Gently towels off : PATS DRY (includes “DARTS” changed)
Darts is a wonderful game that’s often played in English and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 in sequence.
41. Safari beast : GNU
A gnu is also known as a wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. Wildebeest is actually the Dutch word for “wild beast”.
49. Crazy Horse, for one : LAKOTA
Crazy Horse’s Lakota name translates literally into English as “His Horse is Crazy or Spirited”. Crazy Horse was one of the tribal war party leaders at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. Crazy Horse surrendered to the US Army in 1877. He was fatally stabbed while in custody, apparently trying to escape after having surrendered. The circumstances surrounding his death are still shrouded in controversy.
53. Speed skater Ohno : APOLO
Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.
66. Commentary piece : OP-ED
“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.
67. Eight-time Best Actor Oscar nominee who never won : O’TOOLE
Irish actor Peter O’Toole got his big break in movies when he played the title role in the 1962 epic film “Lawrence of Arabia”. But my favorite of O’Toole’s movies is much lighter fare, namely “How to Steal a Million” in which he stars opposite Audrey Hepburn. O’Toole never won an Oscar, but holds the record for the greatest number of Best Actor nominations without a win.
69. Sundae crunch providers : NUTS
There’s a lot of speculation about how the dessert called a sundae got its name, but there seems to be agreement that it is an alteration of the word “Sunday”.
Down
1. Uno e due : TRE
In Italian, “uno e due” (one and two) is “tre” (three).
2. Wife of Zeus : HERA
In Greek mythology, Hera was the wife of Zeus and was noted for her jealous and vengeful nature, particularly against those who vied for the affections of her husband. The equivalent character to Hera in Roman mythology was Juno. Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
3. “See no __ … ” : EVIL
The old adage “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” originated in the 17th century. The phrase comes as an interpretation of a wood carving over a door in a shrine in Nikko, Japan. The carving depicts the “Three Wise Monkeys”:
- Mizaru, covering his eyes
- Kikazaru, covering his ears
- Iwazaru, covering his mouth
6. “America Runs on Dunkin’,” e.g. : SLOGAN
Dunkin’ Donuts started using the slogan “America Runs on Dunkin’” in 2006, and it is still around to this day.
Dunkin’ Donuts was founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Now the chain has over 15,000 restaurants in almost 40 different countries. The company’s biggest competitor is actually Starbucks, as over half of Dunkin’ Donuts’ revenue comes from coffee, and not donuts.
8. “Born in the __” : USA
“Born in the USA” is a 1984 song (and album) written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written three years earlier as the title song for a movie, but was never used. That film ultimately was released as “Light of Day” starring Michael j. Fox. The original intention was for Springsteen to star in the film himself.
10. MacNeil’s longtime co-host : LEHRER
Jim Lehrer is a former news anchor with PBS for the “PBS Newshour” show. Lehrer is also associated with presidential debates and has moderated 12 such events.
Robert MacNeil is a retired Canadian journalist who co-anchored “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” on PBS for twenty years.
13. Skater’s maneuver : AXEL
An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.
18. Head honcho : BOSS
“Honcho” is a slang term for a leader or manager. The term comes to us from Japanese, in which language a “hancho” is a squad (han) leader (cho).
23. Carbon compound : ENOL
An enol is an alkene with a hydroxyl group, sort of part-alkene and part-alcohol. The term “enol” therefore, is a portmanteau of “alkene” and “alcohol”.
29. Sign of an impending merger? : LANE CLOSED
The “zipper merge” or “late merge” is encouraged by most traffic authorities when two lanes of traffic are merging into one. The alternative “early merge”, where cars move out of the lane that is closing before reaching the merge point, tends to be discouraged. The favored technique is to use both lanes until the merge point, and then alternate (zipper) from each lane through the merge itself. That said, one should always obey whatever instructions are given by the traffic authorities at the scene. And I know, a lot of people think it rude not to merge early …
31. Sleep problem from the Greek for “absence of breathing” : APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.
33. Chaz Bono’s mom : CHER
Chaz Bono is the only child of the singers Sonny and Cher (although they both have children from other marriages). Chaz was named Chastity Sun Bono at birth and told her parents at the age of 18 that she was a lesbian. More recently Bono underwent gender reassignment surgery, and Chastity has legally changed his name to Chaz.
34. “Dropped” ’60s drug : LSD
LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
40. Musician Ono : YOKO
The artist Yoko Ono operates the website ImaginePeace.com. I checked it out once and found these lovely two quotes:
- Imagine all the people living life in peace … John Lennon
- A dream you dream alone is only a dream, a dream you dream together is reality … Yoko Ono
43. Diamond of song : NEIL
I saw Neil Diamond in concert back in the mid-nineties, and I must say he does put on a great show. His voice is cracking a bit, but that didn’t seem to spoil anyone’s enjoyment. I’ve also seen Diamond interviewed a few times on television, and I wouldn’t say he has the most scintillating of personalities.
46. Broadway performer’s recognition : TONY NOD
The Tony Awards are more completely referred to as the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre. The awards are named for Mary Antoinette “Tony” Perry, who was a co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
48. Equiangular geometric figure : ISOGON
An isogon is a polygon with equal angles in the corners. Examples are squares and equilateral triangles.
49. “The Mod Squad” member : LINC
The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.
53. Pequod captain : AHAB
The most famous whale-hunting ship in fiction has to be Herman Melville’s Pequod, which was featured in his novel “Moby Dick”. The Pequod is a skippered by the maniacal Captain Ahab, and the young chief mate is the thoughtful and intellectual Starbuck. Starbuck’s name was lifted and used by a Seattle-based coffee company.
54. Rollin’ stone, in a Motown classic : PAPA
“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” is a 1971 song that was originally released by a Motown act called the Undisputed Truth. The song was re-released the following year by the Temptations, and became a number-one hit. The Temptations version is an impressive twelve minutes in length, with an instrumental introduction that lasts almost four minutes.
58. Brazilian soccer hero : PELE
“Pelé” is the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who has used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. Pelé is now retired, and for my money was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He is the only person to have been part of three World Cup winning squads, and is a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames is “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).
61. “The Simpsons” storekeeper : APU
The fictional Kwik-E-Mart store is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on “The Simpsons” TV show. Apu is married to Manjula, and the couple have eight children. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph.D in computer science that he earned in the US. Apu’s undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class of seven million students …
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1. Hubby’s “better half” : THE MRS
7. Metaphorical china shop culprit : BULL
11. Rest area? : SPA
14. Bring to light : REVEAL
15. “That makes sense” : I SEE
16. __ paper : WAX
17. Literally, “Ireland forever” : ERIN GO BRAGH (includes “BINGO” changed)
19. Swelling reducer : ICE
20. Pie __ mode : A LA
21. Figured out : GOT
22. Ward off : REPEL
24. Accident investigation site : CRASH SCENE (includes “CHESS” changed)
28. Vacuums, say : CLEANS
30. Meteorological light shows : AURORAS
33. Ill-mannered : CRASS
34. You might get a bad one in the rough : LIE
35. Cosmetic surg. option : LIPO
36. Leia’s love : HAN
37. Gently towels off : PATS DRY (includes “DARTS” changed)
41. Safari beast : GNU
42. Equal : EVEN
44. Protective housing : POD
45. Survey choice : OTHER
47. Need for a return, usually : RECEIPT
49. Crazy Horse, for one : LAKOTA
51. Eavesdrop : LISTEN IN ON (includes “TENNIS” changed)
53. Speed skater Ohno : APOLO
55. Put a stop to : END
56. Sound from a toy : YAP
59. Possesses : HAS
60. Ump’s controversial call, perhaps … and a hint to this puzzle’s circles : GAME CHANGER
65. Imitate : APE
66. Commentary piece : OP-ED
67. Eight-time Best Actor Oscar nominee who never won : O’TOOLE
68. Unfavorable : BAD
69. Sundae crunch providers : NUTS
70. Squeezed (in) : WEDGED
Down
1. Uno e due : TRE
2. Wife of Zeus : HERA
3. “See no __ … ” : EVIL
4. Endangers : MENACES
5. Word after dust or do : RAG
6. “America Runs on Dunkin’,” e.g. : SLOGAN
7. Beginning : BIRTH
8. “Born in the __” : USA
9. Stocking stuffer? : LEG
10. MacNeil’s longtime co-host : LEHRER
11. Unlock a cellphone screen, perhaps : SWIPE RIGHT
12. Show anxiety, in a way : PACE
13. Skater’s maneuver : AXEL
18. Head honcho : BOSS
23. Carbon compound : ENOL
25. Sign of a sore throat : RASP
26. Expressed : SAID
27. Stage coach? : CUER
28. Hunger for : CRAVE
29. Sign of an impending merger? : LANE CLOSED
31. Sleep problem from the Greek for “absence of breathing” : APNEA
32. Like lemons, e.g. : SOUR
33. Chaz Bono’s mom : CHER
34. “Dropped” ’60s drug : LSD
38. Date with the doc : APPT
39. Roomy bag : TOTE
40. Musician Ono : YOKO
43. Diamond of song : NEIL
46. Broadway performer’s recognition : TONY NOD
48. Equiangular geometric figure : ISOGON
49. “The Mod Squad” member : LINC
50. “You said it!” : AND HOW!
52. Food and shelter, for two : NEEDS
53. Pequod captain : AHAB
54. Rollin’ stone, in a Motown classic : PAPA
57. Enthralled : AGOG
58. Brazilian soccer hero : PELE
61. “The Simpsons” storekeeper : APU
62. Fulfilled, as a deadline : MET
63. Wolfed down : ATE
64. Embarrassed : RED
How long was I asleep last night? This is tomorrow’s puzzle…..I think.
I guess Bill is still on the road and did a twofer last night. I just spotted today’s puzzle below….
Jeff, …. look at it this way …. you gained a day. Even Einstein, with his theory on Relativity couldn’t do that. Bill, did apologise yesterday ….
I read some of this puzzle yesterday – and, what, with my memory, promptly forgot it. So, it was a delightful pleasure, doing it all over again.
Why, my wife reads the same Agatha Christie mystery books, atleast two times, every year ! Fortunately, being primarily an anesthetist, she doesn’t have to remember her patients, since they are, generally, ‘one shot’ deals ….
Thanks for the horchata info, ( btw, wikispeaks begs to differ from you – ). Oh, I wish languages were more phonetic, and straight forward in their pronunciation. I’d love to come to Houston, where I have a classmate, who is now a famous, (or infamous – ) astrologer – who I avoid like the plague.
Todays puzzle was easier than yesterdays’ – for which I am grateful. 1 Across, fooled me for some time. I thought the female equiv. for Hubby was Hussy. 🙂 The long answers were easy, which helped.
Phenol is not an enol ….
Bon mot for the day …..
A phenol is a benzene ring ( not an alkene ) with an alcohol ( -OH) radical.
Although, sometimes used as a soap, in ancient times, it can burn your skin. Good bathroom disinfectant, though, and has the ‘antiseptic’ odor… the smell of hospitals – its use was pioneered by the giant in ‘cleanliness’ Joseph Lister. Still used by podiatrists for treating ingrown toenails, and as a dilute spray for sore throats, as an oral analgesic – like in Chloraseptic !
Finally, a joke. Two weeks ago, I saw a car license plate which read MRLSTR . I was so excited, thinking that this guy may be a direct descendent of the famous Dr. Joseph Lister !!! It turns out, he is ‘mere’ real estate agent ….
Have a nice day, all.
If that license plate in your joke had changed the first R to an O there would have been some interesting, (probably by law enforcement) reactions…And then it would have been a plate for Morris Lester…whew!
I had not a clue to the theme until I got to Bill’s blog. No wonder I can never figure out the Friday meta with the WSJ grid…D’oh!
9:16, no errors on this. Nothing overly stiff, but a few too many missteps.
@Jeff, @Bill, @whoever
After what I wrote last night, I thought about it and decided to go ahead and scrape times for Bill’s NYT blog. Got them from 03-01-2011 to yesterday (could have gone earlier, but it’s a bigger set of data than Kaleko’s run, and figured it was enough). Since I got that done, I’ve been reading this and trying to figure out how to duplicate the statistical analysis therein.
But from what I did do (separate by day, sort by time spent), just reading the raw data has been quite interesting. Let’s just say, Bill, you’ve improved quite a bit since 2011. 🙂
Anyway, if there’s anything anyone wants to know from what I have here let me know. Then again, I might just zip it all up and offer the raw data for whoever wants to play. If anyone has any thoughts, let me know.
An interesting solve for me today. When I entered the final character, I got the silent treatment, so I went looking for my error and found it: I had put in DAKOTA instead of LAKOTA, giving me DINC instead of LINC. So I tapped the “D” to select it and tried to type an “L”. And nothing happened. So I tried to erase the “D”. And nothing happened. I tried various other things. And nothing happened. Except that the clock was still running. Eventually, I just closed the tab, waited a minute or two, opened a new tab, and tried to go back to the LAT web site. Instead, I got to some site telling me that I had won some prize or other! So I closed that tab, waited a minute or two and tried again. This time, I was able to get back to the LAT site, wait through one of the old familiar commercials and, finally, get back to the puzzle! I then changed the “D” to an “L”, got the happy little “success” message, and stopped the clock at 11:02. Actual time for the puzzle? Anyone’s guess.
I hope this isn’t an omen for the rest of my day … ???
@Vidwan … I had never heard of “wikispeaks”, but I was intrigued by your comment and tried to find it. All I was able to come up with was a site telling me that “Wikispeaks.com is for sale” (at an exorbitant price, I might add). (I also looked for “wikispeaks.org”, but found nothing.)
In any case, this YouTube site agrees with Jeff and Carrie (and me, for what that’s worth … ?):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBS8qTR_Q4
My day continues to be interesting! … ???
Bill, my second post.
The driver behaviour that you mentioned, about the last minute zipper merge, in case of a lane closing, gave me some second thoughts. Normally, I hate, hate, hate those drivers who merge at the very last second, and jump the queue ahead of everyone else. How very rude ! I saw a lot of that in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, and it used to get me really upset …..
Now, I find that, that, is the preferred style of behavior, by traffic experts, no less. My big learning moment of today. Thank you.
Crossword solving, a la Bill Butler should be a required course in the senior class in high school. A learning about life course.
12 minutes for this one. I got a little confused in the lower right with the NOD portion of TONYNOD, OTOOLE, and I had “indeed” before ANDHOW. Eventually I figured it all out. The mensa site I’m using doesn’t show any circles so I had to survive without them.
I finally ditched my morning paper I’d been reading in hard copy since I was about 9. The Houston Chronicle is now just a hair under $50/month to have it delivered to your house daily. I was appalled when it went over $40, and that seems like just a couple of months ago. I thought they’d fight to try to keep my business, but when a customer of a couple of decades decides to drop your product, the Houston Chronicle just says “good-bye”….
As for the pronunciation of “h” in Spanish, it probably varies quite a bit. I know even the city of Houston is supposedly pronounced without the “H” as “YOU-ston”, but I’ve always pronounced the “H”. Some parts of Latin America barely pronounce “s” in many words like dollars (dolares) is often pronounced “dolare” so it’s plausible the “h” sound has some variance in Spanish. “H” is never pronounced at the beginning of a Spanish word. But one state in Mexico is “Coahuila” and it’s pronounced “kwa-WE-lah” so go figure. Also the famous Cuban cigar “Cohiba” pronounces the “h” as we do in English so the only set rule is there aren’t any……
Best –
David Kennison, (my third post). my humblest apologies, I did not do my reasearch, and flubbed a ‘cite’ just to buttress my point. I haven’t heard of Wikispeaks either, but it sounded appropriately authoritative (sp.?) enough ! I should have known better than that with the high IQ of the eminent contributors around here …!!! My sincere apologies, and also for having wasted your time. This is unconscionable .
I went to Wiki and checked this as well. You are absolutely right.
So, the spanish ‘h’ rule is: If there is a word starting with ‘H’ … don’t pronounce it !!! However the ‘ech’ sound may creep in, through other innocuous letters, like J’s. 🙂
On Darts, todays mini-theme …. I have a riddle, courtsey of a Bill Graham, who is a recreational mathematician. If there is a dart board, with two circles only – one with 5 points, and another with 7 points. And an unlimited number of darts to shoot, and an unlimited number of tries …. what is the largest “impossible” number, or sum, that can exist ? You obviously cannot get a 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 etc….. what is the largest number you cannot get through the combinations and permutations of darts and tries ?
Hint::: It is much easier than appears at first glance.
Answers tomorrrow, or today after 8 pm.
The final rules on the pronouncement on the Spanish ‘H’
My weird day continues! In the morning, I sit with my back to a glass patio door. A few minutes ago, for the first time ever, a bird smashed into the door hard enough to leave behind some feathers. I turned around (after jumping out of my skin ?) just in time to see it fly off, so it wasn’t fatally injured, but I have to think it wasn’t entirely well, either. (I may also have seen the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock disappear into the bushes at the end of my yard. Perhaps I’ll just go back to bed for the rest of the day … ?.)
@Vidwan … No problem. I was hoping “Wikispeaks” was a real thing, as I often find myself wondering how something is pronounced (particularly in French, a language I have not studied at all, even though I have picked up quite a few phrases in the language). The Google translation facility is usually pretty helpful …
Have to think about the “darts” puzzle …
@Vidwan … Thanks for the link to the article about pronouncing the “h” in Spanish. Very informative …
As for the “darts” puzzle: The answer would appear to be 23. There are no non-negative values of M and N for which 5M+7N=23, but there are non-negative values of M and N for which 5M+7N=K for K=24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 (five in a row) and therefore such values for all larger values of K (just by using additional multiples of 5). There is probably a more elegant way to look at this and to state the answer, but I’m pressed for time.
A zipper merge, where traffic alternates to enter a single lane, is perhaps the last vestige of civilized behavior in the USA. It is amazing that drivers, who are exceedingly rude in other situations – cutting people off, whipping across multiple lanes of the highway and tailgating – seem to still give deference to a quite old-time consideration of others when facing a traffic merge. IMHO 🙂
@Vidwan: My Mom used to also read Agatha Christie novels from the library multiple times, always realizing right at the end that she’d read that one before. To avoid this, she took to going to page 20 and filling in the 0 in ink. That way she avoided re-reading the whole novel. Maybe your wife could try that one.
David K., your answer is not only correct, it was very elegantly derived. ( for the record, I did it mechanically, by the process of elimination …. ). You are either a math amateur or a professional. I did not imagine that anybody in our small coterie would even try to attempt this, leave alone solve it.
There is an arabic (?) saying ….
He who knows, and knows he knows – is wise – follow him,
He who knows, but knows not, he knows – is asleep – awaken him,
He who knows not, and knows he knows not – is a student – teach him,
But he who knows not, but knows not he knows not, – is a fool – shun him.
David, you know where you stand … 🙂
In a general case, of two circles valued at A and B, the generalized equation for the ‘maxima’ of impossible numbers would be ? …. either AB-A-B or 2(A + B)-1 or 2(A + B) + 1 or ??? Actually, it is a little more complicated, if even numbers are involved, or if the smaller value has a common factor with the bigger value. You will notice, if the values are 2 and 3 then the maxima and only impossible value is 1.
My over-the-limit post – To Mr. Piano Man. You posted just before me, and I don’t want it to appear, to ignore you. Thank you for your suggestion of darkening the page 20 etc., Actually these Agatha Christie books, are our own ! We could just as well write on the front cover ! But I guess there is a pleasure in reading them again and again.
Did you hear the story of a certain ethnic, who would read every mystery novel, starting from the middle of the book ? When asked why, he said because it doubles my pleasure …. by the time I reach the end I know who the murderer is, but I don’t know who was murdered … thus I have to read the front of the book – hence two mysteries in one book !
A little joke. Bill, forgive me for so many posts today.
Had to Google for TONY NOD and GAME CHANGER. Had UPS before RAG and Indeed before AND HOW. I’m on a different wave length than most of you whom I expect are much younger. There’ll come a time when I quit because of language usage and references to too many young entertainers.
Since I woke up too late, there were no more free papers out today and I had to do the puzzle online. It took me 15 minutes with no errors.
apropos the non-existing wiki-speaks I read a lot of German articles online and make frequent use of Google translate. Although I’m fluent, I still could use plenty of improvement. In addition to translations, there is a little speaker, which you can click to have it read to you. Here is <a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=nT#es/en/horchata" title="Horchata"
Greetings!
Fun comments, everyone! SFINGI!! Don’t say that! We need you — ?
Good Wednesday puzzle. I noticed the theme about halfway through.
Where has Bella been?
Sweet dreams~~™?